he who first meÌ„tioned the match is the 〈◊〉 father of lies so coÌ„sequently may promise that which is not in him to Iohan. 8. 44. perform you gladly would chaleÌ„ge the coÌ„pleting of the bargain that your master vnder SathaÌ„ may have so large a kingdome And that you may the better prove it as that cuÌ„ning deceiver alleaged mis-alleaged the c Luk. 4 10 Scripture it selfe so you doe to your Auditours yea so strictly you do follow him that wheras he cited what he had to say out of a Psal. of David you also begin in that sorte labouring to evict a false CoÌ„clusioÌ„ froÌ„ a right true PropositioÌ„ That the Church of the Messias must be throughout al Nations David you say foretelleth you cite vs for that purpose a verse of the 18. Psal. as you reade it after the Septuagint of the 19. as we more truly account it out of the Hebrew d Psal 19. 4 Thâ—… 〈◊〉 is gone forth through all the earth their words into the â—…ds of the world which seÌ„teÌ„ce whosoever coÌ„sulteth that text shal se properly originally to meane the course of the heaveÌ„s which being in coÌ„tinuall motion being whirled about the CeÌ„teâ—… the earth do testify to all nations that there is a supreme power guiding governing the whole world And this doctrine to wit that from the ordering of the Creatures the being of a God may be collected S. Paule doth also teach But that saying of David the same e Cap 10. 18 Apostle as f Rom 1. 20. you suppose extendeth farther to the doctrine of the Apostles Preachers Verily the words also cited by S. Paule do caâ—… the same sence for the Creatures no otherwise if you naturally literally do take theÌ„ then I may truly say that you caÌ„not g Bellar de verb. Dei lib 3. cap 3 invincibly demonstratively inferre that out of them which you desire NotwithstaÌ„ding because S. Paule per spiritum Apostolicum by the Apostolike spirit which was in him which is not to bee fouÌ„d but in the compilers of the New Testament might adde alter explicate apply places of the olde Testament to that which the words did not literally cary at the first because our Saviour Christ himself did so being ful of that spirit which spake by the Prophets because also some of the olde 〈◊〉 fathers alluding heerevnto have not properly but by allusion referred this Chrysost in Mat 24â—… August Epist 80. Scripture to the preaching of the Apostles wee will not stande with you but accept it for the generality as you here wold haue it as it is to some such purpose formerly alleaged by mee It is therefore condescended vnto that immediately almost after Christs asceÌ„sion the Gospel was divulged East West North South in very many countries but whither in every particular Nation vnder heaven we dare not say since all is in the Scripture taken for a great part as h Math 3 5 then went out to Iohn Hierusalem alludâ—… all the region round about Iordon which is to say very many inhabitants of those places and they persons of all qualities And else-where i Luk. 2 1 all the world being a most general speech yet is so restrained that it must imply no more then so much therof as was subiect to the Romanes Which was much at that time but farre from the whole earth It is also truth that in another Psalme the Roial Prophet vnder SalomoÌ„s person who was a figure of Christ doth foretell that the k Psam 72 10 11 Kings of Thâ—… fit of the Heâ—… shall bring presents the Kings of Sheba Seba shall bring gifts â—…ea all Kings shall worship him all nations shall serve him inteÌ„ding the Messias But will any man so take this according to the letter that there should never be King not Agrippa not Domitian not Sapores but should be ChristiaÌ„s al natioÌ„s at al times should entertaine the faith This extent must be so coÌ„sidered that at one time or another before the day of iudgement Christ Iesus should bee preached in some part of all â—…uine regions here and there Kings and Queenes whcÌ„ God should be pleased to call theÌ„ should submit their scepters vnto the Lord of heaven But you might well perceive that these thinges are spoken by an Anâ—… he sit betweene the lewish Church which was restrained within the compasse of one lande and so coÌ„tinued for many ages and the Church vnder the New TestameÌ„t which should at one time or another be variously diffused through all general places of the world And what else do those two texts out of the Revelation insinuate vnto vs but that Christians should be picked from many nations people farre otherwise theÌ„ while the lewish Synagogue did flourish but you will not I trust inferre that all nations at all times or all people of all Nations should belong to the true sheepe-folde but there may be ebbes and flowes the Church in the l Apoc. 12. 6. wildernesse at the time appointed m 2. Thes. 〈◊〉 3. Apostasy revolting n Luk. 18 8 faith cant to be found among men since there is nothing fore-tolde by the Spirite of God but must have his accomplishment And therefore since we are warned of both there must be an age of paucity as well as of plenty a waning of the Moone as well as a full or waxing But what vrge you heere-vpon T. HILL THese thinges with many such like on Holy write are no wise verified in â—…y Relegion vnder Heaven but onely to the Romane Catholike Church for that 〈◊〉 but it as every man knoweth hath had any large sâ—…pe to account vpon in any age And it hath bin for these thousand yeeres at the â—…east throughout both the Hemispheres in such forte that the Sâ—…nne stretcheth not his bâ—…s further then it doth and hath done yea there is 〈◊〉 nor people nor climate in the world which hath not heard of and 〈◊〉 some measure received the Catholicke Romane Religion G. ABBOT 2. IF you take Religion heere for the true service of God we deny Popery to be Religion If you take it for devotion in what sence soever then vvhat say you to the Saracâ—…nsfaith which for many hundreds of yeere while it possessed so much of Asia as Persia with Media Arabia with the countrie adioyning besides what is added within these 300. yeares by the raigns of the OttomaÌ„â— in Africa al the Northren part froÌ„ Aegypt to Marocco alonge the Mediterrane Sea and in Europe some thing as the kingdome of Granado in Spaine and diverse times more then that there was nothing inferiour for circuite of land to the boundes of the whole Westerne Church wherin only the Pope dominered And shal Mahumetisme herevpoÌ„ be coÌ„cluded to be that faith which must save mens solus But good Sir when the Primitiue Church did
one of these then the other But when his Holinesse list he can goe farther then this as Pope Leo the 10. did when d Ioh Fox in Eccles Histor Cromwel went to renue the Pardons of Boston For there among many other favours one was that it shold be lawful for the brethren of the Fraternity at Boston to eate milke egges butter on forbidden daies yea in Lent it selfe yea fleshe also by the advise of a ghostly father and a Physitian and all this without scruple of conscience So that if the gentle Pope list vvho wil knowe vpon what tearmes he parteth with his dispensation the thing is no sin which some of the wiser Pseudo-Catholikes have smelled out as we may imagine when so freely in Rome it selfe in Paris some of that Balaamitical cōgregation make no cōsciēce so that it be secretly done to feed some or the greatest part of Lent on flesh as diverse of our traveilers do constantly report And we haue no smal store of these in England too which in their harte loue his Holinesse well but yet will not part vvith their fleshe on fishe daies for his sake Some bee vviser then some 11 Fifthly we doe not finde that any set daies of fasting vvere appointed by Christ or his Apostles and the Popish daies differ somewhat at this time from those of the Primitive Church so that they haue neither warrant from GODS vvorde nor yet from the auncient Diverse of those whome they call their Ladies Eves were not so much as heard of long agone Fridaie and Saterday are nowe the ordinary daies of abstinence and VVednesday is almost quite discontinewed saving in some few places and on some fewe set times Some of the olde Church hearde of Friday and VVednesday◅ and that not onely foure times in the yeere as you heard before out of Leo but otherwise also yet of Saterday no worde VVee have saith e Homil 10 in ◅tic Origene the fourth and sixth dayes of the vveeeke vvherein vvee doe solemnely fast This was the Wednesday and Friday the first in computation beeing our Sabaoth or Sunday f Heres 75. Epiphanius hath as much who is he in all the world which assenteth not that on the fourth day and the day before the Sabaoth he meaneth the Iewes Sabaoth vvhich was Saterday a fast is decreed in the Church And if we must also bring forth the Constitution of the Apostles how they did there decree that on the fourth day that before the Sabaoth there should bee fasting everis where the Pētecost excepted c. And in another g In conclusion liber cōtt heres place hee hath That the fasts were so delivered by the Apostles of Christ. Thus some of the most auncient kepte them in a forme differing from that of these moderne times VVhere also you may observe that it was the fashion of those times to attribute to the Apostles all thinges for which themselues were earnest if they had beene so derived to them from their predecessours that they vvell knevve not the first erecter or inventer of them vvhich before the ende of this Chapter vvill bee more manifested But for this present Saint Augustine vvho lived after Epiphanius and for his iudicious labours vvas inferiour to none of the vvorthiest Fathers of the Church vppon good advise speaketh thus h Epist 8◅ If you aske my opinion in this matter I revolving it in my minde doe see that in the vvritinges of the Evangelistes and Apostles and in all that vvhich is called the Nevve Testamente fasting is commaunded But vppon vvhaat dayes vvee ought not to fast and on vvhat dates vve should I doe not see it defined by the precept of the Lord or his Apostles If Saint Augustine had ever heard of any authenticall Constitution from the Apostles heere had beene a good time to have mentioned it And so it had beene for Saint Chrysostome when hee teacheth his hearers that God had lefte virginity fasting not as matters imposed on men by necessity but arbitrary and at their owne choice His wordes are these i In 1◅ ad Corint Homil. 9 Thou canst not fast nor exercise virginity But thou maiest of thou wilts and those vvho can doe accuse vs. Yet notwithstanding God hath not beene so severe and rough to vs neither hath hee commaunded these thinges nor appointed them by l◅vve but hath leste them in the free-vvill and choice of the auditours These Fathers then could not finde that any sette dayes of fasting vvere imposed by GOD by the Apostles or any other of sufficient povver else they vvoulde not haue spoken as they did And among the Canōs fathered on the Apostles as k In concilijs Isidore citeth them there is no such matter to be foūd which maketh vs bold vpō the warrant of all these to thinke the speech of Epiphanius to be too large and that so much the rather because l Vt supra Origene who went long before him mentioneth the daies but hath not one worde that they were so ordered by the Apostles These are therfore cōstitutiōs but of men they who came after thē especially in the Westerne Church have varied frō them as appeereth by rather accepting of Saterday then Wednesday or by adding some where this last to the other which sheweth that they thēselues imagined the ordināce not to be Apostolical We then finding thē so at first erected then varied by mē do holde thē but to be humane cōstitutiōs for order comelines sake we retaine them as having received them from our Auncesters concerning whom we are of that iudgment wherof every milde sober man should be that is to say for the reverence which he beareth his predecessours to professe that he willingly receiveth frō them al things which he doth not find either directly or by a consequent contrary to the word of God This rule directeth vs in these set daies for fishe we keepe them but yet teaching our people in what sorte for order decency not for religion superstition For we dare not goe so farre as Papistes doe but wee rather abominate their doctrine when they make the keeping of fasting daies one of the m Horae beatisi virginis Vaux in Catechis commaundements of their Church and annexe vnto them that the n Vaux Ibi. charitable keeping of these commaundementes bringeth everlasting life but the contemning of these preceptes and such like of holy Church bringeth everlasting damnation do so hardly pursue those who haue eaten forbidden meates on their fishe daies as that nothing but life will make satisfaction for the same According wherevnto a o Centur 16 in An. 1538. yong gentleman of Tholose was served in Fraunce beeing burnt to ashes at Paris for eating fleshe vvhen it was not permitted by the Romane Synagogue The like examples I might produce of men so served in Scotland for the same cause and England hath had some mightily molested
custome and not by any lavve from the Apostles although saith he they of Asia say that they haue their tradition from Saint Iohn the Evangelist and they of Rome saye they haue theirs from Saint Peter But hee reiecteth both their sayinges because they coulde bring no written testimonie of either of these vvhich is a good course for vs also to examine traditions called Apostolicall by From Easter he commeth to Lent and therein sheweth that even in his daies which was late the manner of keeping of it was very different Those saith hee who are at Rome doe fast three vveekes togither before Easter the Saterdaie and the Sundaie beeing excepted But they vvho dvvell in Illyria and all Greece and they vvho dvvell at Alexandria doe sixe vveekes before beginne those fastes vvhich are kepte before Easter and that time they call Lente Some contrary to the custome of these making seven weekes before that feast the beginning of their fasting although they doe fast onely fifteene daies and that with some distaunce being put betweene yet notwithstanding they call this Quadragesima or Lent Wherevpon I doe not a little wonder how these though they differ in the number of the daies yet all cal it by one name Quadragesima Diverse doe giue diverse reasons of this name devised of their owne heade Moreover they doe not only differ in the number of the daies but in their abstinence from meate they folow diverse courses For some doe altogither abstaine from all kind of living creatures some amonge living creatures doe eate only fishes some togither with fish doe eate also birdes and doe saie that they are bredde of the water as it is in Moises Some doe forbeare from fruits covered with hard shels and from egges others doe eate dry breade only others not so much as that There bee who when they haue fasted to the ninth houre doe vse various kindes of meates In severall nations they fast severally whereof there are almost infinite causes And because no man can shewe any precepts concerning it set downe in writing it is manifest that the Apostles therein did giue free power to everie man minde and will that each man should doe that which is good beeing induced vnto it neither by feare nor necessitie This severall sort of fasting we doe know to be in the Churches 14 Hence then iudge whither it came from the Apostles or no and conferre these thinges with the place of Saint Augustine before mencioned where hee speaketh in generall of fasting daies And here Doctour Hill appeareth your great skil in antiquity when cōtrary to so direct records you avouch that your Lent and fasting daies are now kept as they were in the daies of the olde Fathers which is as false as any thing possibly can bee yea taking it of the very Church of Rome it selfe which so late as Socrates lived that is at least till Theodosius the younger kept it but three weekes and that with some daies interrupted And least that you should thinke that onely Socrates reporteth this heare f Sozom. l. 7 19. Sozomen in the same argument who intreating of the severall customes of diverse Churches in many circumstaunces saith thus of Lent That Lent wherein the people fasteth some doe reckon for sixe weekes of daies as the Illyrians and those who are towarde the West as also all Lybia and Egypt with them of Palestina some for seven as they of Constantinople and the nations lying about even to the Phaenicians some seatteringly or interruptedly do fast three weekes in these sixe or seven other doe continuately keepe the three weekes vvhich immediately goe before Easter some two weekes as the followers of Monta◅ Such varietye of opinions vvas there in the Primitiue Church It is now the resolution of our Romanists that Lent is no Lent vnlesse it bee for forty daies since it is an imitation of Christ vvho fasted g Mat 4 2 fortye daies and forty nights But besides that there are other reasons assigned why it should be for that space h Aq◅ 2 2 q. 147. art 5 Aquinas out of Gregory as hee saith yeeldeth vs these First because the vertue of the ten commaundementes is fulfilled by the foure bookes of the holie Gospell And the number of ten being multiplyed by foure ariseth to fortie Or because in this mortall body we consist of the foure elementes by the pleasures of which bodie vve goe against the commaundements of the Lord which are received by the ten commaundements Wherevpon it is fit that we should afflict that flesh fortie times Or because so we striue to offer to God the tith of our daies For since the yeare is continued for 365. daies and we are afflicted for thirty six daies which are to be fasted in the sixe weekes of the Lent wee doe as it vvere yeelde to God the ◅the or tenth of our yeare Here a man may knovve some reasons more then he knew before why Lent consisteth of forty daies But what adoe there was to hammer it to this set number it is marveilous to beholde There are certaine decrees which are put out in the names of some of the most auncient Bishops of Rome Among these i Decretal Epist Teles phori Anastas in vita Telesp Telesphorus is made to write thus We doe decree that seven full weekes before the holy Easter all Cleargie men that is such as are called into the lot of the Lorde shall fast from flesh because as the life of Cleargie men shoulde bee different from the conversation of lay men so also in their fasting there should bee a difference Here then the Cleargy did fast fifty daies rather then forty keeping no Shrouetide but beginning Lent at Quinquagesima and fasting the Sundaies as well as the rest For so Polydore k Lib. 6. 3. Virgill collecteth vpon the place for fiftie daies they were to fast every daie not one beeing omitted And the words of the Decree doe cary so much seven full weekes But see what an inconvenience did arise herevpon A supposed Constitution of the Apostles vvas broken by this For some holde that on the Lordes daye or Sundaye no Christian might fast VVhere once againe wee finde that matters vvhich may most iustly bee doubted of are called Constitutions or traditions Apostolical For hovve came it about that the most auncient Fathers and the vvriter of the Epistle fathered on Telesphorus knevve not that there vvas such an ordinaunce VVell l Haeres 70 Epiphanius speaking of fasting and mourning saith it is an ordinance of the Apostles Hee vvho afflicteth his soule on the LORDES daye is accursed to GOD And in m In Conclus libri contra haereses another place speaking as plainly hee saith that there were no fastes vppon the LORDS dayes and that therefore the Communion vvas celebrated in the morning that aftervvardes they might eate that daye Howe may that of Telesphorus and this supposed Apostolicall custome or Constitution stande togither And yet n Part
1 Decret Distinct 4. 5. Gratian as late as hee vvrote vvhich is about foure hundred yeeres since vvas contented to cite that Decree of Telesphorus as if it might haue his vse in our daies either to know it or to keepe it 15 Nowe did those vvho came after like of this supposed ordinaunce of that Romane Arch-bishoppe No such matter For concerning the length of time the Councell of Orleans did take order by an expresse Canon o Concil Aurelian Canon 20 This is decreed for all Priests that before the solemnity of Easter not Quinquagesima but Quadragesima shall bee helde Thus the time of the Clergyes Lent was abridged That the time of fiftye daies was in vse before it may appeere by Saint p Serm de Eb◅tate Basile mentioning that the fast of Lent vvas for seven vveekes VVhere by the vvay this may bee noted that these vvoordes crosse that other speech cited by me before touching the fast onely of five daies and therefore one of the two Sermons may goe for a counterfeite Touching fasting on the Sundaye another Pope not long after is brought in to correct that And this is q Decret Me◅chad Melchiades who in his Decretal Epistle is thus sette downe to write The fast then of the Lordes daye and of Thursdaye no man must celebrate that there may bee a true and vnfained difference betvveene the fast of the Christians and the Gentiles of these vvho doe beleeve truely and of Infidels and Heretikes Thus the Sundaye is leapte out of Lent But heere is another trouble vvithall for by this Decree it hath taken away the Thursday also and so the dayes of Lente are shrewdely shrunke In this distraction was the olde Church about this fast no man almost being able distinctly to tell vvhat to make of it for the number of the dayes They vvho harkened to Telesphorus had a Quinquagesima for a Quadragesima fiftye or at least forty and nine dayes for fortye They vvho beganne at Quadragesima Sunday and kepte all till Easter had fortye and two daies to their Lente and so as r Vbi supra Polidore hath for a good while it was kepte They vvho began at Quadragesima and slipte out the Sundayes had but thirty and sixe daies to vvhich Aquinas alludeth as before is signified And if after Melchiades they vvoulde cull out Thursdaies too the fortye vvoulde bee but thirtye Heere then at last to mende all and to strike the finall stroke commeth Gregory the Greate about sixe hundred yeeres after CHRIST and because hee vvill have forty daies and yet the Sundayes too put out of question to bee no fasting daies hee added s Poli. Virg vt supra foure daies more to Lent that is to saye those which are before the Sunday tearmed Quadragesima beginning Lent on that VVednesday vvhich for the solemnity of ashes thē appointed by him to be vsed is called Ashe-vvednesdey from vvhich time vntill easter-Easter-day if the Sundaies bee quite exempted from the number there may bee reckoned fortye dayes And that in Gregories time the Sundayes were so shut out appeereth partely by that of himselfe testifying that s Homil. 16 in 40 Homil they did not celebrate fast on the LORDS daye in the Lente So that vvee may saye of this Lent as it vvas saide of Rome t Virgil Aeneid ◠Tantae molis erat Romanam condere gentem And yet there bee in England persons Popishly affected vvho if they bee questioned vvithall are not quite resolved in the pointe whether the first foure daies after Shrovetide bee properly of Lent or no vvhether that bee but a preparing and clensing vveeke and vvhether good-Fridaye as it is called and Easter Even bee to bee solemnized as a parte of a Lenten fast or for some other reason and so consequentlye vvhether the Sundaies bee not to bee fasted as naturall members and a true portion of the forty daies or no and if they bee not to bee so fasted then by what rule a man may not eate flesh vpon them Thus is Popery tyed togither with points When therefore you right learned M. Doctour doe so clerke-like tell vs that in the daies of Saint Basile Saint Gregory Nazianzene Saint Leo S. Chrysostome Lent and other fasting daies were vsed as they are nowe in the Catholike Church are you not ashamed of your selfe and do you not condemne either your owne ignorance for writing you knowe not what or audaciousnesse for assevering so earnestly that which is so grossely false But you doe well to vphold Popery by that meanes the doctrine of Antichrist and Sathan by all kinde of lyes If you cannot blush for your selfe yet all modest Papists may blush for you to find in what sort such companions as you are make no conscience to say ought in that which they hold to be their religion I haue taken a little paines to instruct you concerning the first ancient and most different observation of Lent and I let you farther know that for vniformity with other Christian Churches and conformity to that vvhich we receiued from those who so long agone went before vs wee keepe Lent not superstitiously as you and yours doe but according to the laws of our most Christian Magistrats who cōmande an abstinence from flesh not for any sanctity which is in such forbearing but for other wise and civill reasons And as herein our law alloweth a toleration to such as by necessity of sicknesse or otherwise are enforced to feed on flesh so it convinceth all such as wilfully or carelessely doe transgresse without any other reason saving their owne greedy appetite So that wee accounte such men offendours before God albeit not simply and immediately for the eating of Gods creatures yet consequentlye for dis-obeying the Edicts of godly Princes to whom they are to yeeld obsequiousnes and that for u Rom 13 5 conscience sake In this therfore you very discreetly accuse vs of you cannot tell what as you doe in that also which now followeth T. HILL AND they who be given to Lust to Gluttony to Ambition to Covetousnesse and doe teach such doctrine as necessarily bringeth foorth such fruites must needes contemne S. Basile S. Chrysostome S. Hierome and S. Austen who haue written so excellently of the Order Rule and Vertues of Monkes G. ABBOT 16 HEre now followeth a rable of wicked slaunders to which you are so inured that you bee not your selfe vnlesse almost in every leafe you plentifully powre them out You charge vs here with many sinnes and truth it is that in our Realme there are too many as there will ever bee in the militant Church But yet it is easie to bee iustified that the Gospell hath so farre imprinted the feare of God in some the good laws established the feare of man in other that no Popish Realme nor Countrey may for moral civill behaviour bee compared to England Those brutish beastly sensuall sins which are commonly winked at in Italy and
and fight vnder his banner And something they must returne for their hungrie pensions needy mainetenaunce which they receive from his Holinesse and the King Catholike besides the containing of their favourites heere in their former courses by refreshing their wittes with novelties and the solacing of their owne discontentments vvhich doe the lesse gaule and gripe their vnquie◅ hartes while their heades are busied with inventing and their handes with writing that which whether it be true or false tending to edification or destruction they little care or consider 2 But of the two it is more to be marveiled at that after so long and plentifull a flowing forth of the water of life there should yet be anie of our countri-men and women remaining at home who will tast of puddle water yea bee as greedie to drinke thereof as the maisters of the broken cisternes can bee ready to propose it vnto them That come there forth any pamphlet of what small worth soever yet some or other will either for their ignorance admire it or for their vnsetlednes entertaine it or for their perversenes embrace it as if it were some divine Oracle descended from aboue But this is the instabilitie of their iudgment who are once c Gal. 3. 1. bewitched like the foolish Galathians that although Christ hath beene so lively testified vnto them as if hee had beene crucified before their eies yet if newe teachers come one after another they will earnestly attend listen vnto thē The world is not so altered but that in their passage to d Num. 11. 4. Canaan some Israelites wil loath that Māna which is c Ps. 78. 25. the bread of Angels long to be againe in Aegypt If there were never philosopher so absurde to invent any fond opinion but there were some auditours as absurde to maintaine and follow the same who can conceive but that vntill the destructiō of that whore the famous strumpet with the f Apoc. 17. 2 cup of whose fornication many of the Kings and much of the people of the earth have bin dronken shoulde stil have some inamored on her As there ever will be deceivers so there shall be some which will be deceived Satan cannot give over his g Iob. 2. 2. compassing the earth his skoutes messengers vvill entend his service Some children of Idolaters to the worlds end shall vnto the h Exo. 20. 5. third and fourth generation participate of their parents curse God with-drawing his grace from them and not opening their eies the peevish will decline stumbling at some rocke of offence weake women to shew themselves to be Eves daughters will rather i Gen. 3. 1. chuse to harken vnto the serpent then to God almighty young ones for want of iudgment and discretion wil credulously listen to a Sirens Song Thus it hath bin and thus it wil be Not withstanding the Magistrate by his charge the Minister by his duty indeede every Christian in his place is both for pieties and charities sake to endevour to plucke as many as he can k Iud. 23. out of the fire as Saint Iude speaketh 3 Yet this being graunted that such leaders and such followers there be and will be it may neverthelesse be much marveiled at that the wisedome of Poperie is so blinded and the ability of English fugitives is growne to so low an ebbe in the Seminaries that to make good their party they haue no better means to vse but such base ones as in this booke or libel are presented to the world Especiallie since this treatise is pretended to come from a Doctor of Divinitie and one taking degree in one of those Vniversities which by themselves bee l See Reason 15. and Bristow Motive 31. reported to bee so famous as that almost he who may but smell the smoake of them or breath but a while on the ayre there shal be inspired with knowledge have more learning Metaphysically infused into him thē among vs is to bee attained to in many yeares And can a man of the highest degree in schoole there for the maintenance of his cause bring no better then such worne broken stuffe as heere is cōgested and heaped togither Yet worship betide him who not long before the birth of this tract put out the m Certaine Articles or forcible Reasons 1600. Pamphlet that the Protestants haue no faith nor religion that the learned Protestantes are Insidels that the Protestants are bound in conscience to avoide all good workes that the Protestants teach that God is worse thē the Devill and such other worthy conclusions to which n D. Barlow D. Buckley two learned men haue made reply For although he had but little honestie in propounding such prodigious and portentuous monsters yet he had more wit since that caried some ◅ūble with it albeit in such fort as that those who respected it were more afraide then hurt That which comming vnawares seemed to the improvident at the first to be some clap of thunder was at the last discerned not to be so much as the striking vp of a drumme It was no otherwise but a fewe stones shaken togither in an empty barrell Yet the wile of the man is to be commended that he could set som good words on it as the Montibank◅ doth vse who after open protestation that he hath somthing to sel of admirable vertue of incōparable value of inestimable benefite which the Graunde Seigneour of the Turks the Great Duke of Muscovy the Emperor of Germany wil accept of and desire yea earnestly call for which to have at their neede Lords and Ladies will thinke themselves most happie doth at the length after all this flourish produce some lippe-salve or other such toy as mooveth laughter in some and serious indignation in other who have not beene acquainted with the Mountibankes custome 4 But this gallant with whom I haue to deale and who speaketh as hereafter you shall heare imagining that all the men in England are as blind as he would have them to be hath sent vs a fresh garment made of other mens olde clothes which the most of vnderstanding have seene and knowne to bee both worne bare and torne like the Ruines of Time And hee hath little altered the verie fashion of it saving peradventure to sette the right sleeve where the left formerly was and something now before which erst stood behinde Indeed some peeces he hath shrunk drawne thē in narrower to make them seeme the thicker some other few for in sooth they are but few he hath enlarged with a skirt or hem of new cloath and yet willing to buy as little stuffe as possibly he might in some places he hath sewed two or three ragges togither so to make a pretty peece The truth is that now almost o An. 1574. thirty yeeres since a coūtry-man of ours whom D. Fulke not vnfitly called Bl◅ring Bristow did with much bouldnesse
and little learning put forth a booke which he called his Motives vnto the Catholike saith VVhich as then for satisfying of the simple repressing of the craking insolency of the adversary it was answered by a worthy man p D. Fulkes Retentives who now resleth with the Lord yet since that time howsoever by some Romanists Banke-rupts of better matter it hath ever now then slightly beene talked of almost generally it hath lien contemned of all scant worthy the naming or serious recounting Yet of late because Master Parsons was busie about State-causes or the supporting of his weake and languishing Arch-priest and they have not manie other which may keep the mint going in the yeare 1599. some body thought good to revise their olde tâ—…inkets and for lacke of richer stuffe out were put these Motives againe printed at Antwerpe as in the first Page is prefixed And albeit this were a Crambê whereof most stomakes which received it had surfeted before yet this honest friend D. Hill thought he would not leave it so but the verie next yeare q 1600. after and from the same forged place printed with the same letters for any difference that may bee seene betweene them sendeth this script vnto vs as if it were some new excellent booke wheras indeede much of the forme manner and almost all the matter for the ground thereof is taken out of Bristow 5 Yet of his olde Rectour M r. Parsons hee borroweth some fevve Memorandums and heere and there a touch from Campian and a finger he hath in Staphilus translated by Stapleton on al which he bestoweth ever now and then a little viperous aspersion of his own if among so much taken vpon trust we may iudge that to be his owne which perhaps might bee found to belong to some other if we had vse of all their bookes dictates which they retaine among them Had it not bin better for one of that learning which this title doth entend to have translated a peece of Bellarmine or Gregory de Ualencia out of Latine into English If the worke had bin but meane yet this had bin gained by the bargaine that every English Papist Protestant almost had not bin acquainted with the matter before hand But to take an olde English booke and to make a new English booke of it is but to take an olde garment and to turne it and newe dresse it where when all is done because it is not onely turned but rotten stuffe also it deserveth no better then to be turned out of dore that it may finde no place in the conscience of any Christian man or woman Where by the way it may be observed that reasons for Popery grow fewer fewer for M r. Bristow being of likely hood desirous to have made them vp fiftie did stretch his witte so farre as that tales quales he brought thâ—… to eight and forty But D. Hill hath reduced his number to five twenty And though he would have his frieÌ„ds beleeve r In his second letter that he can adde many more yet the Reader shall finde that in these he hath involved almost all the remainder of Mr. Bristowes matter as in the processe hereof shall be declared And if heereafter he bring more by Gods assistaÌ„ce he shal have theÌ„ examined In the meane while I will be dealing with these whoÌ„ after the French fashion he vttereth by the Quartron and calling them A Quartron of Reasons doth intimate vnto vs that being wayed in the ballance of the Sanctuary they are as much worth as a quarterne of raysings Let vs see now what proofe is made of his first stout proposition T. HILL BEfore the comming of the Messiat there was not any People or NatioÌ„ which did serve the true and living God but only the Iewes al other whatsoever being overwhelmed in a Sea of blindnes wor sâ—…ipping false Gods which indeede were Devills and therevpon the Maister Devill Lucifer was tearmed Princeps huius muÌ„di that is Prince Ioan. 12. of this world for that he was 〈◊〉 and worshipped in all Landes Kingdomes Iewry and that in part onely excepted which miserable state and condition God of his infinite mercy greatly pittying promised in time to send a Saviour which should redeeme all Nations People free them from that pittifull servitude and blindnesse and bring them to the knowledge of true and right Religion by suffering death and consequently by planting a Church to the which all Nations should repaire Thus he did fore-tell by diver se sundry Prophets as by Esay who saide the Church should be as a mountaine to the which All nations should slowe And manie people shall goe and say Come and let vs ascend to the Cap. 2. mountaine of our Lord and after Idols shall vtterly bee bruised and to be briefe all this Chapter yea all the rest in a manner fore-shevv the same matter declaring most plainely the conversion of all Nations to the Church of the Messias and â—…vv Kinges and Queenes should come Cap. 49. 60. Dan 2 7. Psal 47. Mich. 4. Luc. 1. Psal. 71. and 〈◊〉 homage vnto it and that it should ever continue vvithout interruption and that it should be most ample and large the Prophet David most manifestly fore-telleth saying that it should extend froÌ„ Sea to Sea and from the river to the endes of the world and how the Aethiopians should fall downe Before the Messias with the Kinges of Tharsis Arabia and Saba and to be short all Kings People should acknowledge this Church as innumerable Prophecies of the olde Testament doe plainely foreshew Heerevpon it was that good men thirsted and longed so greatly for the comming of the Messias knovving that by him all people which sate in darkenes and in the shadow of death should be lightened delivered and set in the right way to Heaven And so our Saviour bâ—…selfe being now in the way to Ierusalem to suffer saide Now the Prince of this world shall be cast out and If I shall bee exalted from the Ioh. 12. earth I will draw all to my selfe meaning by his Passion to dravv all people from Heathenish Idolatrie to serve him G. ABBOT 6 I will not dispute with you whether the maister Devil whom the Iewes termed s Luc. 11. 15. Beelzebub bee called Lucifer or no and whence that opinion had both his beginning and progresse neither will I handle any other thing of like nature which properly belongeth not to that which is in difference betweene you and mee But I will condescend vnto you that some Iob or Iethro or some fewe such excepted the Church for the ordinarie compasse of it vvas after the entrance into Canaan vvithin the boundes of Israel that is the twelve Tribes at the first and afterward in Iewry accounting that to comprehend the men of Iuda and Beniamin with the Levites And on these tearmes it stood till the comming of our most blessed Saviour
Christians was tearmed 〈◊〉 Theotecâ—… the child of God 〈◊〉 Euseb. Eccl Histor. 9. 9. And as it fell out that Hierusalem which once was x Isai. 1. 21. the faithfull cittie afterward became an harlot so it commeth too oft to passe that such as whose Auncesters have had a good name that not vndeservedly do theÌ„selves decline from the vertue of their predecessors yet wil strive for the name still Beth-el in y 〈◊〉 Reg. 12. 32. Ieroboams time was vnwilling to parte with the name of Beth-el the house of God but it rather deserved to be called Beth-aven the house of vanity The Priests Levites as may be gathered by the consequeÌ„ce of the text in Malachy by the Lords answere there did beare themselves bolde that they were Gods Priests and other there were none they were of the seede of Levi which Tribe the Lord had separated to be his chosen inheritance they were the onely Levites but heare what God said to it 〈◊〉 But 〈◊〉 are gone out of the 〈◊〉 Malach. 〈◊〉 8. way yee have caused many to fall by the lawe yee have broken the covenant of Levi saith the Lord of hostes Hee reputed that but a painted sheath with a woodden weapon in it How did the a Ioh. 8. 39. Iewes boast that they were Abrahams seede Israelites sonnes of Iuda the â—…nant of the posterity of the Patriarkes but Christ telleth them If yee were Abrahams children yee would doe the workes of Abraham Our Saviour in the RevelatioÌ„ doth meete with such marchants who being in truth of the Synagogue b Apoc. 3. 9. of SataÌ„ did call theÌ„selves Iewes and were not but did lye And among the Christians there have bin men desirous of names which were not fit for theÌ„ or else the Apostle would not have said c 1. Cor. 5. 11 If any that is called a brother bee a fornicatour or covetous or an Idolater or a railer or a druÌ„kard or an extortioner with such a one eate not The name of a brother in Christianity is much as presupposing to have God a father to him who is indeede the father of all the faithfull yet there bee brethren in name who are farre inough from God goodnes d Hist Eccl. 3. 18. Evil names as we find in Theodoret being set on good men do nothing obscure them The Christians were not hurte when Iulian in a scorne to our Saviour Iesus alwaies tearmed them Galileans and if Socrates saith Theodoret had beene called Critias or Pythagoras Phalaris or faire Nireus foule Thersites it had nothing impayred their true reputatioÌ„ So it is in applying good titles to bad persons they are not for the same in any more estimatioÌ„ with such as be of vnderstaÌ„ding WheÌ„ theeves by a common phrase are tearmed good-fellows light huswives are called honest women neither the one nor the other are the honester for that nominatioÌ„ Those who are ordinarily called by the name of Iesuits do little that may savor of the spi rit of Iesus vnles to seduce youth to inveigle beguile the wealthy to play al trickes of Machiavel to coÌ„spire the death of Princes to plot how to set kingdomes in coÌ„bustioÌ„ cuÌ„ningly to sow secret discord sedition be the imitatioÌ„ of our blessed Redeemer which no man but one inspired by the Devil may acknowledge What maÌ„ of learning is ignoraÌ„t that the Saracens are descended froÌ„ Hagar from her sonne Ismael and therefore should be called properly Hagarens or Ismalites as the e Psal. 83. 6. 1. Chr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scripture doth warraÌ„t And yet as it was observed by Sozomen more theÌ„ a thousaÌ„d yeeres agone to the end that they may avoid the imputatioÌ„ of bastardy by Ismael and of basenes by Hagar who was but a bond-woman they take f Sozom. Eccl. Hist. 6. 38. to theÌ„ the name of Saracens as if they were derived from Sara the right wife of Abraham Neither can there ought bee saide why the Romanists should bee the true Church because they are called Catholikes but the same may be said for these MahumetaÌ„s why they should be the sons of the free womaÌ„ not of the bond For the name is most ancient and they are every where knowne by it if SaraceÌ„s be but spoken ech-one that hath ever heard of theÌ„ vnderstaÌ„deth that they and they alone are meaÌ„t by it in Asia Europe Africa yea in America also this by custome ruÌ„neth curraÌ„t without coÌ„trolemeÌ„t yet wee know that it is neither so nor so I might adde more exaÌ„ples as of those who are coÌ„moÌ„ly not only in EnglaÌ„d but in other parts of Europe called Aegyptiaus and yet neither they nor their fore-fathers ever came neere to Aegypt 8 Our Seminary men therefore doe seede their followers ' but with draffe huskes in steed of corne wheÌ„ they lay before them such meate as this is they who live by such diet are not fedde but corrupted poisoned by it Let matters be wel wayed and there is nothing farther froÌ„ Catholicisme theÌ„ Popery is For shall wetake the word as it signifieth The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Vniversally or generally Augustin lib. 3. contra â—…audeÌ„t and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth import vniversal and so the Catholike Church in our Creede or else-where doth signify the Church vniversally diffused That of the Romanists may not truly be reported to be so For as the Congregations in Asia those vnder Prester-Iohn do no way admit therof so those of Greece with many thousands in Europe do not coÌ„sort with it yet are Christians too howsoever the Pope doth repudiate theÌ„ as Schismatiks because they wil not kisse his feete How the Vniversal should in this case be so limited as to exteÌ„d no farther then one Particular our Logicke caÌ„not find g Contra haeres c. 3. VinceÌ„tiâ—… Lirâ—…s doth define that to be Catholike which is beleeved every where at all times and of all The Papists cannot truly avere that this agreeth to their Profession Or shal we take Catholike in that sence as our Iesuits seeme to take it when they as the secular h Sparing Discoveriâ—… of English Iesuites Priests report of them would appropriate the faith Catholike to the temporall government of the king Catholike as if it vvere a principle that al of thaâ—… Beleefe must for their bodies bee vnder his Regiment as for their soules vnder the Roman Bishop yet they wil not be in the right since many of our English Recusants make the worlde beleeve that they have no great minde to beare a Spanish yoke howsoever some other secretly Hispaniolized little lesse then dis-Englished or traitorified by the Iesuits do earnestly but most foolishly and vnadvisedly thrist after it But a great number also in France Italy other Popish parts of Christendome would for themselves forbid those banes Or must we expound Catholike for Orthodoxe true in which
that they alone can so oft see the Devill And they alone can haue the Devils in them which finde worke for the exorcists He is simple that seeth not that this was a devise to driue men froÌ„ the participation of the Lords supper A third he hath that a great many CoÌ„munion bookes lying in a sicke mans chamber were caught vp by a fire which seemed to haue many hands so were throwne into a flame He who wil so lightly bestow so much of his beleife as to credit this may demurre vpoÌ„ this actioÌ„ whither it were not the Devils owne deed who caÌ„not away with the Communion booke therfore burneth it not because it is bad but because it is against him so have his disciples doÌ„e And the like may be expouÌ„ded of the black doge before not enduring that the people shold participate of those holy misteries It might also be asked what so many CoÌ„munioÌ„ books did in one ChaÌ„ber NotwithstaÌ„ding we rather hold al these things to be humane fictions or if they were done to be diabolical illusions 6 BVT heere to come neerer the state of this wise Reason It is most true that there was a time when visions dreames Prophecies were of good force God vsing to do by his children as Iob speaketh that is talketh to theÌ„ in s Iob. 33. 15. dreams visioÌ„s of the night wheÌ„ sleepe falleth vpoÌ„ theÌ„ they sleepe vpoÌ„ their beds So s Gâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abimilech was warned in a dreame to abstaine froÌ„ Sara t Cap 28 â—…2 lacob had his dreame of the ladder u 1 Reg 3. 5 SalomoÌ„ was willed in a dreame to aske what he wold And of this sort we find very many other which advertised meÌ„ of the Lords special wil in many particulars In like maÌ„ner there is warraÌ„t for diverse visioÌ„s as wheÌ„ God coÌ„forted 〈◊〉 Iacob in a VisioÌ„ when he appeered to 〈◊〉 Gen. 46 3 x 1 Sam 3â—… 1 Samuel professing what iudgmeÌ„t he would bring vpoÌ„ the house of â—…li So in the new TestameÌ„t y Act 1 3 Cornelius z Cap. 9. 121 Ananias had their visioÌ„s And for Prophecying Moses all other who were so inspired froÌ„ the Lord do sufficieÌ„tly speake And yet even in those daies we find that it was not safe to trust al things which came in the nâ—…me of prophecyings visions dreames For there were false Prophets as is plaine by a 1. Reg 22 11. Zidkiah many more And Ieremy schooleth the people b Ier. 27. 9 Heare not your Prophets nor your soâ—…thsayers nor your dreamers who say vnto you thus Yee shall not serve the King of Babel for they prophecy a lie vnto you And in another place he saith of other c Cap â—…3 10. â—…5 They speake the visioÌ„ of their own hart not out of the mouth of the Lord. And afterward God saith I have heard what the Prophets said that prophecy lies in my name saying I have dreamed I haue dreamed This is theÌ„ a daÌ„gerous thing for credulous people to be deceived by vnlesse they chaÌ„ge their iudgmeÌ„t bee very wary God therefore addeth farther d Vers. 28. The Prophet that hath a dreame let him tell a dreame he that hath my word let him speake my word faithfully It is then Gods word faithfully looked into which must be the directioÌ„ to the speaker the hearer Else how soone might meÌ„ be deceived That e 1 Reg. 13. 9 18. Prophet of the Lord may veryfie this who himselfe was quickly beguiled through credulity at the instance of another Prophet f Nehem. 6â— 10. perswading him directly against Gods wil revealed vnto him NotwithstaÌ„ding Nehemiah being wiser wheÌ„ he might haue bin so catched by Shemiah preteÌ„ding a revelation did not harken vnto him but looked to that duty which was coÌ„mauÌ„ded him And that was it wherin mens spirit of discretioÌ„ did coÌ„sist in those daies to look whether they furthered the Lords service or no when they spake whether other approved circumstances did concurre for in other general matters the good the bad might externally seeme to ioine The place of g Deuter. 13. 1 Deuteronomy is in this behalfe worth the coÌ„sidering where it is saide that a Prophet may come or a dreamer of dreames and may give a signe or a wonder that also may come to passe yet he may be a deceaver drawing to false Gods and is not to be followed Then eveÌ„ in those times visions dreames prophecyings taken in themselves were but tickle things to rest on neither had they any sure grouÌ„d but from the word by which they were to be tried That without them was forcible they disagreeing from it were nothing 7 But now since that Christ is come we are taught in no sort to depeÌ„d vpoÌ„ theÌ„ for the doctrin is general coÌ„cerning al things h Hebr. 1. 1â— At sundry times in diverse maÌ„ners God spake in the old time to our fathers by the Prophets In these last daies he hath spoken vnto vs by his sonne which Antithesis doth intend that miracles al means saving the word of Christ are now cut off froÌ„ resting our vndoubted faith thervpoÌ„ But in special touching visioÌ„s miracles wheÌ„ the i Luc. 16 29. Rich maÌ„ is brought in as desiring that Lazarus might straÌ„gly be sent or appeere as a ghost or in some vision to warne his brethren our Saviour frameth Abrahams answer They haue Moses and the Prophets let them heare them as holding that alone to be sufficient and cutting of all other points from being matters of certainety where-on to rest our faith and soules And yet as it was said of Miracles before we deny not but that after the asceÌ„sion of Christ the death of the Apostles some seldom times visions might be shewed to some of the elect for their privat instructioÌ„ satisfactioÌ„ or comfort as k Eus. Eccl. Histor 4. 14 Polycarpus did dreame that he shold be burnt for Christ l Lib. 5 27 Natalius by stripes giveÌ„ him or seeming to be giveÌ„ him by Angels was revoked froÌ„ heresy to an Orthodoxe opinioÌ„ so was m Hier epist 22 ad Eust Hierom froÌ„ overmuch studying Tully humane learning n Theo 516 Theodosius did dream that he should be Emperour Where obserue we two things first that these visions were touching privat mens maâ—…ere not to teach much lesse to broch any new or vncertain doctrine to the Church for which purpose our Papists do vrge their visions especially to establish Purgatory the appurtenances therevnto Secondly that albeit in some few God did this yet it was not laid downe as a fundameÌ„tal matter that there should alwaies in the Church be such persons neither might any maÌ„ presume to say that continually there should be such a vocatioÌ„â—… neither could any person by an assured faith
Ecclesiasticus Wisdome into their Canon else where more theÌ„ i Deâ—…civita Dâ—…il 18. 36. contâ—… epist Gauden l. 2 once he coÌ„fesseth that they also seclude the books of the Ma chabees k In Synop. Athanasius also acknewledgeth that the books of the old TestameÌ„t are but 22. answering to the 22. Hebrew letters so saith Epiphanius in his treatise De mensuris ponderibus Hilary in his Prologe on the Psalmes hath the same Where it is to bee observed that the Iewish reckoning of these 22. bookes is some what different from that ordinary enumeration which we doe vse for they diverse times comprehende two bookes vnder one but yet so it is exactly that vvhatsoever vve containe within the compasse of the Canon they receaue the same and vvhat vvee doe reiecte they also refuse And that there is such a secluding of some bookes by the Ievves Thomas l Part 〈◊〉 qu 89 art 8 Aquinas maye bee a vvitnesse vvho maketh doubte vvhither Ecclesiasticus bee of authority or no saying The booke of Ecclesiasticus if it haue authority because among the Hebrews it is not received in the divine writingâ—… So that if vvee follovve the Church before Christ vnto whome most properly the Olde Testament did belong we must repute them as now we do Apocryphal hold their credit to be suspect Neither may this bee helped by saying that there was some later Synode vvhich made a larger Canon among the lewes â—…s m Chronog lib. 2. Genebrard would say if hee could tell what hee saide for that is a fable of his owne inventing directly crossing the Councel of Trent as formerly I haue shevved 10 Thirdly among the Christians there is much more against these writings theÌ„ there is for theÌ„ I wil briefely cite what I finde amoÌ„g some of the Ancient which may seeme to helpe theÌ„ n Lib. 3. Epist 9. ad 〈◊〉 Cyprian citeth somewhat out of Ecclesiasticus vnder the name of Salomon Truth but it is for the likenes of the sentences there to those in the Proverbes which also hath caused some other to take it for Salomons not looking exactly into the impossibility of the matter This therfore is but weake o Lib. 2. de principâ—…js OrigeÌ„ bringeth somewhat out of the story of the Machabees Wel but so he doth also in the same place ou of the Liber Pastoris which neverthelesse no wise Papist wil say to be Canonical Yet else-where he p Lib 10. c. 16 ad Rom. saith of that Hermes or Pastor that it seemed to him a very profitable booke and as he thinketh inspired from God No man therfore wil attribute much to Origens iudgement in that behalfe q Stromatâ—… Clemens Alexandrinus doth cite the story of Tobias But even so doth he meÌ„tioÌ„ the Gospel secunduÌ„ Aegypties but he nameth neither the one nor the other Canonical Yea but r De Tobia cap 1. Ambrose writiÌ„g vpoÌ„ Tobias nameth that a Prophetical book So he doth indeed that is of more force theÌ„ any yet meÌ„tioned But his iudgmeÌ„t in this is not to be warranted since s De bono mortis c. 11. else-where he citeth the fourth of Esdras as true Scripture And we are not ignorant that his skil was little or nothing in the Hebrew wherby he might best haue beene acquainted with the customes of the lewes In S. Austen I finde little concerning Tobias and Iudith onely in the enumeration s De doctr Christ. l 2 8 of the Canonical Scripture he citeth them once and there he hath the bookes of the Mâ—…chabees as also VVisedome and Ecclesiasticus which for a likely-hood to the bookes of Salomons are called as Salomons So t Serâ—… 131 de TeÌ„pore else-where according to the coâ—…on custome neere him he tearmeth Ecclesiasticus Salomons booke But deliberately he doth explicate that point where he saith u De civit Dei la 7 20. Custome hath obtained that Wisedome Ecclesiasticus should be said to be Salomons for some no small likenesse of the speech But the more learned doe not doubt that they are not his notwithstaÌ„ding the Church especially that of the West hath long agone received them into authority in the one of whom which is called the Wisdome of Salomon the passion of Christ is most openly prophecied It was written after the passion of Christ even in the daies of Caligula if Philo were the author of it TheÌ„ it is cleere by S. Austen that they were not Salomons workâ—… but yet he would haue theÌ„ to be Canonical And that he hath also in another place u Speculum Augustini The Church of our Saviour doth receive them yet the words of him immediately before are The Iewes doe reiect from the Canon the booke of Wisedome and Ecclesiasticus TheÌ„ by the coÌ„fession of this renoumed maÌ„ the Iewes did repudiat theÌ„ Yea that he acknowledgeth els-where x De curo pro mort gerend c 15. The book of Ecclesiast is spokeÌ„ against out of the CanoÌ„ of the Hebrews because it is not in that And in his y Lib. 2 c. 20 RetractatioÌ„s The Iews doe not receive the booke of Wisedome into Canonicall authority Were it not then to be wished heere that S. AusteÌ„ had remeÌ„bred his own rule which is z De doctr Chr. l. 2. 8. that such bookes principally should bee esteemed Canonicall which are so accepted of al churches but of such as are in doubt that they are most to be approved whom most Churches do allow Then if the Iewish Church refused these and the Easterne Church wholy among the Christians great ones also in the Westerne provinces vpon whom he seemeth principally to rely S. Austen by his owne sentence is much oppâ—…gned and refuted And of these in the East West Church you shall heare anone 11 Touching the bookes of the Machabees as it is said before that S. Austen reckoned theÌ„ among the Canonical volumes so a De morib Cath Eccl cap. 23. elsewhere he calleth the secoÌ„d of them Scripture In his bookes b Lib. â—…8 36. Decivitate Dei he expoundeth it to be so among ChristiaÌ„s not in the lewish Synagogue Not the Iews but the Church doth account the bookes of the Machabees for Canonical by reason of the vehemeÌ„t woÌ„derful suffring of some Martyrs And yet the same father in another place speaketh muâ—…h more coldly faintly for theÌ„ c Contra secuÌ„â—… Gaudent Epist lib. 2. For the Scripture which is called the Machabees the Iews do not accouÌ„t as the Law the Prophets the Psalmes to whoÌ„ the Lord doth give testimony as to his witnesses saying It must needes bee that all thinges are fulfilled which are written concerning me in the Law in the Prophets in the Psalmes but it is received of the Church not vnprofitably if it soberly be readâ—…r beard This even by his owne extenuation carieth but smal comfort with it But
bedde-stuffe vvere of a moderate and competent quality neither to neate nor too verie abiect bicause in these for the most parte men doe either vse insoleutlie to boast themselves or to abiecte themselves by both not seeking those thinges vvhich are Iesus CHRISTES but their ovvne But this blessed man as I saye kepte the meane neither declining to the right hand nor to the lefts Thus saith Possidonius wherevpon Erasmus fitly asketh this question n Observat. in margine UUhere was thou the letherne girdle and the blacke coule But besides this they haue forged certaine o Ad fratres in eremo books in the name of S. Augustine as if he the Bishoppe of Hippon had given orders and instructions to his Friers vnder him But this is as like the worke of S. Austen as an Owle is like an Eagle or a Cuckow to a Nightingale as the improbability of many things vvhich are in it the basenesse of the matter the barbarousnesse of the stile the foolish and shamelesse narrations and many other thinges maye demonstrate to every one who hath but halfe an eie or one graine of salt in him Yet so must Popery bee peeced togither with a faire title at the least although the stuffe be rotten 21 Heere looke we backe a little to the ancient Monkes and not any way curiously to trace their originall were there not even almost in the very time of their first institution many absurdities and incongruous superstitions which did creepe in every one by a voluntary will-worship adding what he thought good Was not the great p Sozo 1 13 Anthony who had so many followers a man vtterly vnlearned and did not he thinke even the least knovvledge a hinderance to his speculatiue devotion Did not the Heremits shew great presumption when being but simple persons diverse of them they wilfully refused the society of men the fellowship of cōmunion of Saints by their solitarynesse putting themselues more freely vpō Sathans temptations by debarring their soules of the word preached the Sacrament of the Lordes supper received and the comfort of the Minister or any other Christian brother Did not the too exquisite severity of q Lib 3 13 Eustathius the Monke who is supposed to be the true authour of the book intituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cōmonly reported to be S. Basiles where so much is of the life discipline of Monks grow to absurd observations and such as were quite disagreeing from the laws Ecclesiastical There are reckoned vp many opinions of him his scholers which were condemned in a Councel at Gangrae as that he disliked mariage would not pray in their houses who were wedded despised maryed Priests thought rich men to be shut out frō heaven detested those who eate flesh and other such like monkish imaginations Some women perswaded by him or his leste their husbands put on mens apparrel and fell to adultery These persons lived about the time of the fore-named Fathers who in their bookes cōmended the good parts which were then exercised doubtles gaue those precepts which they did giue to reforme the abuses And as succeeding generations came on did not the superstitious devises of Monks increase as is to be seene in Evagrius Some did shut themselues into little houses r Evagr hist Eccl. l 1 21 which were so low narrow as that they could neither stand vpright in thē nor ly otherwise then double Some both men women living in the wildernes did onely cover their privities for the rest went naked both in the hottest coldest wether Some refusing all foode of men did eate only the grasse of the ground would not endure the presence of any persons but woulde run away and hide them in the rockes Other counterfeyting themselues fooles laboured to bee without all passion These woulde not refuse to goe into tavernes or brothel-houses they would be in bathes with women and as among men they lived as men so among women they were as women Yet did those ages so doate vpon monkery that even these were commended and helde for holy men Thus if wee take these olde lads in their best times they had imperfections inough but of the good qualities which were in any of them those vvho came after embraced but a few Onely the ignorance of Anthony went almost currant through all that was as good as hereditary to them But the olde devoute service of God was of late turned into hypocrisie fasting into perpetuall belly-cheere scarcity and penury into aboundance and lordly possessions of landes charity was converted into hart-burning and envie humility into pride sobriety into Venereous and Sodomitish lust their piety was but formality their idolatry was infinite Thus it grewe forwarde by little and little till it came to the height of vngodlinesse Howe soone this beganne maye bee gathered by him vvho vvrote the treatise commonlye called Cyprians De duplici martyrio There vvee thus read s Cypr. de dupl mart Not anie deserte place sacke-cloath for a garment pulse for meate neither fasting nor lying on the bare grounde doe make a perfect monke Under these covers lyeth hid sometimes a minde verie worldly which is so discovered if they bee called to any Ecclesiasticall office There you shall see some of them most easilie to bee overcome vvith delightes more impatient of iniuries more desirous of vengance then any other of the ordinarie people What is the cause Because they haue more exercised the body then the minde This began betimes but as they grew in yeares so many of them grew in horrible wickednes It is a long while since s Eccl. Hist. Ang l 4 25 Beda lived yet in his Ecclesiasticall story he mencioneth that a Monastery called Colindiurbem was consumed with fire for the lasciviousnes and wantonnes which was there founde in both men and women So did God punish them But in S. Bernards time a carnall kinde of behavior had over-growne almost all which caused him earnestly passionatly to complaine t Bernard in cena Domini cap 3. How many monkes be there in S. Benedicts monastery who do laugh when other men doe mourne who reioice when other are sadde In their bodie they are cloistered in their mindes wanderers and never standing still Slow to their reading tardy to their praying in the Church sleeping in the refectory vvaking For their long watchings grieving but for their long bankets reioicing This was the mortified life of many monkes in that holy mans daies And how this was afterwarde amended in England may bee testified by the survey which by Visitation of the Kings Commissioners was taken vnder King Henry the eight of famous memory when by othes of the religious persons themselues much Sodomitry other vncleannesse was detected and afterwarde was published to the world by a printed booke some notes wherof are to be seene in the French Apology of u Cap. 21 Henry Stephanus made in defence of Herodotus
Such small affinity had and haue your late monkes with those of whom we read among the old writers But for absurdities of doctrin especially in commending themselues they go beyond all those of auncient times as I will instaunce in the Franciscanes who maintaine these points which yet are disliked by some other Papists and by some other excused or defended I will cite them out of a great Papist and a Capuchine Frier Gregory of Naples 〈◊〉 That the rule of S. Francis is that life of Iesus Christ which himselfe observed in this world imposed on his In libris corrigeÌ„dis Apostles to keepe and caused to be written in the Gospels and that whosoever doe contradict this rule of S. Francis do contradict or impugne the Gospel of Christ and if they persevere in it are heretikes That S. Frauncis is the Angell of whom it is said in the Apocalyps I saw another Angell having the seale of the living God That no man can bee damned who weareth the habite of S. Francis that is to say saith this favourable interpreter who togither with the habite beareth workes appertaining to salvation That once a yeare S. Francis descendeth to Purgatory and draweth out from thence their soules who living were of his order and leadeth them to Paradise that is saith the interpreter Capuchine he goeth not actually in his owne person but by his vertue in as much as hee intreateth the Maiestye of God for his brethren Gods clemency giveth him pardon for some souls That the order of S. Francis shal endure for ever Thus they teach their Novices bring vp their Friers and preach vnto the people There must needs be much vertue goodnes and mortification where they speake so hypocritically for themselues so basely or blasphemously for Christ our Saviour T. HILL AND generally vvhereas the Doctrine of the auncient Fathers is cleane contrary to the Doctrine of Protestants no marveile though they be reiected by them as they ever haue beene of Heretikes And although Iewell in his Sermon at Pauls Crosse most impudently challenged the Catholikes to bring any thing for certaine points of their Religion out of the Doctours of the first sixe hundred yeares yet Laurence Humfrey Humfridus in vita lew â—…lli his puâ—… fellow confessed that he gaue granted to the Papists more then was meete and was to himselfe iniurious c. and so hee confessed against his companion that the Fathers of the Primitiue Church were on the Papists side and consequently not on theirs G. ABBOT 22 THis may be put in the Catalogue of your TranscendeÌ„t vntruthes which keepe within no compasse in which behalfe you are inferiour to no Papist that hath wrote without a vizarde Your generally here standeth in steede of your olde and auncient All so much frequented by you Then the Doctrine of the auncient Fathers is not only contrary but cleane contrary to the doctrine of Protestants Or else you caÌ„not tell For if you were well opposed I feare that scholer-like you haue read over but a fewe of those Fathers and that causeth you to give both so bold so blind a sentence But it is inough for men no deeper in Popery then you are to know the names of some of the Fathers but for their iudgment coÌ„cerning theÌ„ to take that vp by tradition from their Superiours or Readers who vpoÌ„ ignoraÌ„ce or malice speake what they list You cite sometimes the MagdeburgeÌ„ses And caÌ„not you in those Centuries of yeeres wherin the old Doctors lived find the Magdeburgenses citing some of the Fathers vvho in all questioned points of religioÌ„ speake for vs oppugne your Papistry Neither can you find this in any other Protestant that we want not the auncients to take our part Hath Peter Martyr no such thing in all his works nor Chemnitius nor Calvin or Bishop Iewel whoÌ„ anoÌ„e you name or that x D HuÌ„frey worthy maÌ„ who wrote his life or Bucer or M. Nowel Is S. Cyprian yours in the matter of the Primacy when he doth not only call y Epistol 3 Cornelius the Romane Bishop by the appellatioÌ„ of brother not of Lord nor superiour but in direct termes cutteth the cable whervnto the anker of supremacy is tied Thus he hath z De simplicitat praelatoruÌ„ Although after his resurrectioÌ„ he giveth equal power to al his Apostles saith As my father sent mee c. yet that he might manifest an vnity he disposed by his owne authority the originall of vnity beginning of one That in sooth were the rest of the Apostles which Peter was endued with the like felowship both of honor power but the beginning commeth froÌ„ an vnity that the Church may bee shewed to be one Yea doth your owne Romane Bishoppe Gregory herein ioine with you That I may not stand any longer on particulars but referre questioÌ„s to their places where you give occasioÌ„ to haÌ„dle theÌ„ I say but this in breefe is there any ancieÌ„t Father Greeke or Latin who ever taught as you teach coÌ„cerning the admissioÌ„ Divinar Instit. lib. 2 19 adoratioÌ„ of images which Lactantius so oppugneth as y e be saith that 〈◊〉 there is no doubt but there is no religioÌ„ whersoever is simulachruÌ„ animage which is to be vnderstood if it be retained to a religious vse b In Epist ad Ioan. Episcop Hierosolomitaâ—… Epiphanius going through a Church where was a veile hanging which had in it the picture of Christ or of some Saint tore it as being in the church coÌ„trary to the Scriptures and wheÌ„ he had done of his own charge seÌ„t thither another veile Nay c Lib 7 Epist 109. Gregory himself although he could like that images shold be in churches to be as books to the ignoraÌ„t yet he would not endure that they shold be adored For this point theÌ„ I could wish you y e after your presuÌ„ptuous definitioÌ„ as Claud the Emperour of whoÌ„ d De morte Claudâ—… Seneca merily could say that he was such a Iudge as could determine a cause hearing but one party speake sometimes neither you would doe that which it may bee feared you haue not done before that is fall to reading of the Fathers many times you shal meete w t that which caÌ„not chuse but gawle you drive you to Bellarmines sophisticatioÌ„s not to yeeld to a truth but to see how you caÌ„ cavil against it What you say here against Bishop Iewel that revereÌ„d maÌ„ one of the hartbreakers of your Popery e Ration 5 CaÌ„piaÌ„ had before you where by D. Whitaker it received his answere And before him f Motiv 14â—… Bristow had it who was also answered by D. Fulke yet so oft as you stil cite it so oft must we refute it Truth the it is that the excellent servant of God M. g Laur Humâ—…d in vita Iuel Iewel not impudeÌ„tly but ChristiaÌ„ly vpoÌ„ great deliberatioÌ„ advise did chaleÌ„ge any