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scripture_n	article_n	believe_v	creed_n	2,820	5	10.5298	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A07805	The encounter against M. Parsons, by a revievv of his last sober reckoning, and his exceptions vrged in the treatise of his mitigation. Wherein moreouer is inserted: 1. A confession of some Romanists, both concerning the particular falsifications of principall Romanists, as namely, Bellarmine, Suarez, and others: as also concerning the generall fraude of that curch, in corrupting of authors. 2. A confutation of slaunders, which Bellarmine vrged against Protestants. 3. A performance of the challenge, which Mr. Parsons made, for the examining of sixtie Fathers, cited by Coccius for proofe of Purgatorie ... 4. A censure of a late pamphlet, intituled, The patterne of a Protestant, by one once termed the moderate answerer. 5. An handling of his question of mentall equiuocation (after his boldnesse with the L. Cooke) vpon occasion of the most memorable, and feyned Yorkeshire case of equiuocating; and of his raging against D. Kings sermon. Published by authoritie	Morton, Thomas, 1564-1659.	1610 (1610)	STC 18183; ESTC S112913	342,598	466

absolutely Reserued in the minde the first kinde I graunt to be if he will more then a thousand times vsed in Scripture but the second of his maner of Reserued could neuer finde any Iota in all Scripture to countenance so vile a deuice Which although I haue confuted by many Reasons yet now I will aduenture to turne his owne weapon vpon him First thus 17 If the Reseruation which he defendeth be not to be piously and lawfully vsed in matters of faith then was it an impietie in him to ground the truth of that doctrin vpō sentences of Scripture which concerne the doctrine of faith Secondly thus 18 If I should passe through all the Articles of our Creed to search such kind of Reseruations as M. Parsons did in the spceches of Christ as namely thus first I meaning I a man not a woman 2. Beleeue meaning truly and not fainedly 3. in God meaning the God of Christians not the Idoll of the Pagans 4. the Father meaning by adoption and not by naturall generation 5. Almighty meaning that can doe whatsoeuer he will not that will doe whatsoeuer he can 6. maker of heauen and earth meaning with his word not with any hands so might I passe throughout euery Article of our Christian Creed to collect from euery ioynt word therof all such like vnexpressed meanings as M. Parsons did from the speeches of Christ. 19 Here I may argue thus If all such sentences which according to the custome and vse imply meanings which are not expressed do exemplifie and proue the Romish Mentall Equiuocation then is there a Mentall Reseruation in euery Article of our Faith and so it is vnp ossible but to Equiuocate mentally in the Confession of our Faith But if these implied sences do differ from the Romish reserued sence then was it both wicked absurd to seeke to draw that exorbitant and inapprehensible doctrine of Equiuocating from such sentences of Scripture which are no more Equiuocall then be the doctrines of our Faith 20 The second Case is in the examination concerning their Priesthood where the Priest being asked Whether he be a Priest is licensed to answer according to their daily practize saying I am no Priest with this Reseruation as purposing to tell it you Now then knowing that they hold ordination of Priesthood to be a Sacrament which impresseth in the soule an indelible Character which herein as they say excelleth al other Sacraments in that it aduanceth a Priest a degree aboue all other Christians the end whereof they make a reall Offering vp of Christ as a Sacrifice for the quicke and the dead I tooke vpon me to argue in effect thus Seeing euery Christian will hold it to be an impietie to Equioucate in denying his Baptisme therefore may hee iudge it likewise a wickednes for a Priest to Equiuocate in denying his Priest-dome Vnto which I expected an Answer of M. Parsons but only expected it From Cases we passe to Effects The Impious Effects of the new kind of Romish Mentall Equiuocation The first effect 21 The first is because if this kind of Equiuocating be admitted mans mouth is stopped for giuing either man or deuill the lye because still they may answer that they did not lye for that they conceiued a secret vnsearchable Clause of Reseruation in their minde as when he said vnto Eue Gen. 3. Though you eat you shall not die reseruing secretly that we may suppose thus much dye Martyrs or die Eating or dye In your beds or what not M. Parsons perceiuing the cōsequence returned an Answer M. PARSONS his Mitigation This is childish And is not this goodly stuffe fil for a booke fit for print are these suffered to passe without controlement in England If the Deuill be the Father of lyes and consequently of them that doe lye of what kinde will he proue to be to this Minister that hath beene taken now with so many notorious lyes c. The Reuiew 22 Thus he runneth on with a personall and vnconscionable Inuectiue against me euen vnto the end of the Paragraph not yeelding one Syllable in Answer to the point of Argument It may be he would haue said something if he had not run himselfe out of breath or else Aquila non capit muscas he held it to be too Childish and vnworthy his Answering I am rather perswaded that he perceiued the full force thereof which must be this viz. That if this new maner of Mentall Equiuocation may be once got by hart of people and serue to make a speech true no man shall haue any neede of a lye for couert of any guilt because this Mentall euasion will be both as easie and as secure as any lye consequently he shall be accounted the lyar that shall giue any other the lye I suppose my Reader will hold this to be an Argument yea and peraduenture so forcible that the prouerbe may be inuerted against M. Parsons as thus Musca non capit Aquilas and therefore made he a shift to controle that which he could not confute Which will be apparant by the next point The second Effect 23 Periury being generally held to be a lye in an Oath it must follow that the same Clause of secret Reseruation which freeth a man from lying may deliuer him also from the brand of Periury and so shall neuer any who is experienced in this maner of Equioucating be possibly condemned of periurie whatsoeuer the words be that he vttereth with his mouth And so the witnesses which were suborned against true Naboth and against chast Susanna and against the Iust one yea and against very Iustice it selfe our Lord Christ supposing that they knew the tricke of Equiuocation could not be absolutely condemned of Periurie And so all Tribunals must cancell and extinguish the Title of Periury in their proceeding against vniust witnesses This also I held to haue in it some pith of an Argument but M. Parsons would not so much as mention it It may be he contemned it The third Effect 24 Againe Iesuits and other Priests are not all soule as we may guesse by their doctrine of Equiuocating which they professe for the safety security of their owne bodies one branch of which doctrine is this When any is put vpon the racke saith their Cardinall sometime Iesuit among his general instructions which he giueth vnto Priests and doth reueale the crime of an other although he be not examined iustly and according to law yet herein he doth not sinne because none is bound vpon so great bodily harme to himselfe to preserue the good name of an other Therefore said I when as you make all Protestant Magistrates Incompetent with whom you thinke it lawfull to Equiuocate in your speeches oathes when you are questioned about other men you doe in effect teach your Aduersaries to vse that 〈◊〉 with you as though the onely competent Examiner of you must be the Rack This Argument M.

Senensis nor any Romanist durst euer say that Saints and Martyrs did euer take their voyage vnto heauen by hell Thus then the Vide of Senensis bringeth no doubt in the cause for it is stil plain by the contexts that by it is not meant your Purgatory-fire 8. Finally to Mr. Parsons demaunding why I should ascribe more vnto the iudgement of Senensis then vnto Bellarmine I answer because Bellarmine did write in his heate of altercation but Senensis in the calme of contemplation By which distinction Senensis himselfe discerneth betweene the more and lesse iustifiable sentences of holy Fathers Albeit indeede I doe yeelde to Senensis especially because of the euidence of his proofe SECT IIII. The next Charge against Bellarmine 9. IT follweth in the Preamble Lastly hee professeth to confirme the Doctrine of Purgatory out of most of the Greeke and Latine Fathers And an other Iesuit saith more largely Of all the Greeke Fathers which is an Assertion as false as peremptorie euen by the confession of their owne Bishop saying that There is very rare mention of Purgatory in the Greeke Fathers and that the Latine Fathers did not all at first apprehend the doctrine thereof Mr. PARSONS his Reckoning THis is vnderstood by him as well of the name of Purgatorie not then so much in vse as that the most Ancient writers next after the Apostles time when many things were not discussed so exactly as in processe of time they were did not so clearely handle that matter Nemo iam dubitat orthodoxus saith he an Purgatorum sit de quo tamen apud priscos illos nulla vel quàm rarissima fiebat mentio No rightly beleeuing Christian doth now doubt whether there be Purgatorie or no Of which notwithstanding there was none or very rare mention made among those Ancient Fathers Whereof hee giueth diuers reasons and indeede the same may be said of sundry important other Articles of Catholicke Religion For so much as in the first Primitiue Church when the said Fathers were vnder Persecution and occupied in other weightie affaires against Heretickes and Persecutors they had not time nor occasion to discusse many things which the holy Ghost did afterward make more cleare to the Church by successe of time And yet doth not B. Fisher say that there was no knowledge of this Article of Purgatorie in the very first Fathers but onely his meaning was that the name nature and circumstance thereof was not so well discussed and consequently the thing more seldome mentioned by them then afterward by the subsequent writers And he after proueth it out of many Greeke and Latine Fathers and out of Scriptures The Reueiwe 10. Their Bishop Roffensis confesseth that among the Greeke Fathers there is Rarissima mentio that is Most rare mention of Purgatorie M. Parsons translateth Rarissima very rare which is but a tricke of a nibler Againe M. Parsons will haue vs to vnderstand Rosfensis so as though he had onely meant that The name nature and circumstances were not so well discussed or mentioned by ancient Grecians But Roffensis speaking of Purgatorie it selfe saith that Aliquandiù incognitum fuit serò cognitum vniuersae Ecclesiae c. This is the confession of their owne Bishop Roffensis That is Purgatorie was for a while vnknowen and not till of late knowne to the vniuersall Church With what assurance can the Romanists call the Doctrine Catholicke that is Vniuersall which was not knowne vniuersally in the Primitiue Church of Christ Yet hath Rome adopted this Article of Purgatorie and suffered this Creeper to come into her newe Creede vnder the title of a doctrine necessarie to saluation But more of this hereafter SECT V. The next Charge 11. IF any shall but obserue in this one Controuersie the number of witnesses brought in for confirmation of this their new Article in the name of Ancient Fathers which are by the confession of our Aduersaries meerely counterfeit as Clemens his Constitutions Clemens his Epistles Athanas in Quaestion Eusebius Emissenus Iosephus Bengorion Hieron in Prouerb August ad fratres in Eremo the Liturgies of S. Iames and others All which as they are vrged for proofe of Purgatorie so are they reiected by their owne men I desire to be challenged for proofe hereof as Forged or Corrupted or Apocrypha c. M. PARSONS his Reckoning HE cannot be trusted in any thing he saith For these are not so much as named by Bellarmine except onely the two fitst in a word or two much lesse are they brought in for principall Authors in the Catalogue of Ancient Fathers whose Authorities hee setteth downe for proofe of Purgatorie So as this is one deceitfull vntrueth to make his Reader beleeue that these are our chiefe Authors whereas Bellarmine besides these doeth alleadge twentie viz. Ten of the Greeke Church and as many of the Latine The Reuiew 13. But if this Answere of M. Parsons bee fraught with grosse vntrueths what faith shall any man giue vnto him First I named not Bellarmine in that place but spake in generall of the ordinarie practise of our Aduersaries in alleadging corrupt and counterfeit writers Secondly I called not the foresaid Authors either chiefe or principall as M. Parsons pretendeth And lastly in saying that Bellarmine nameth but the two first of the foresaid Writers viz. Clemens his Constitutions and Athanasius is a notable falshood for Bellarmine alleadgeth Eusebius Emissenus Iosephus Bengorion and S. Iames his Liturgie So that I know not what M. Parsons meant by his denying of this except happily he laid some wager of falsifying and meant to winne it Mr. PARSONS his Reckoning and Charge against his Aduersarie SEcondly it is an other manifest vntrueth to say that our Doctors do confesse all these Authors to be meerly counterfeit For albeit some of them be excepted against or called in question by some Writers whether they be the true workes of the Authors whose names they beare or not and thereof all reputed Apocryphall that is hidden or 〈◊〉 Yet it followeth not that they are meerely counterfeit for that they may bee ancient workes and not to be contemned though not of those Authors The Reueiwe 14. M. Parsons is so transported with passion that hee hath forgotten the last clause which I vsed concerning these Authors to wit that they are either forged or corrupted or Apocrypha and so Apocrypha as being sometime not Obscure onely but euen to be contemned Whereof in these and others I shall giue him such a taste before we end our Reckoning as may I thinke soone set his teeth on edge SECT VI. The last Charge 15. IF he shall furthermore marke said I how true Fathers and Scriptures are instanced in for proofe of the same Article whereof when I speake of Fathers most of them when I speake of Canonicall Scriptures all of them are found by the iudgement of their owne Doctors to be tortured wrested and

forced as it were to say that which they neuer meant c. Mr. PARSONS his Reckoning THis now whether it be not such a wilfull and witting Lie as before I described for a formall malicious Lie such as the Writer did know to bee a Lie when he wrote it I am content to remit my selfe vnto any iudicious and ciuill Protestant in the world For if our owne Catholicke Doctors doe finde this in their owne iudgement how doe they beleeue Purgatorie to be true Why doe they not change their opinion and become Protestants Can M. Morlon answere any thing vnto this lewde and wilfull absurditie and did he not know that he lied when he writ this The Reuiew 16. What meaneth our Quiet Reckoner to reuell so turbulently Will he needes falsifie his owne title The Assertion which I made and which hee calleth a Formall malicious Lie is put vnto the triall in the next Chapter where it will be auouched to be an obseruable iust and incontrollable trueth The reason which hee opposed I shall now confute in this Section and compell him to repent his loose tearmes by an instance which will manifestly discouer a Romish malladie 17. The Doctrine of Indulgences hath beene of late put into their Romane Creede in their Councell of Trent by the Bull of Pope Paulus the fourth This their Doctors will beleeue albeit they confesse concerning Indulgences that There is not found any expresse sentence either in Scriptures or in the writings of Ancient fathers and that in the beginning of the Primitiuc Church there was no vse of them nor yet did they come in vse vntill the feare of a fierie Purgatorie had brought them out Who while they pleade for Indulgences doe it in this maner viz. Indulgences are not therefore to be contemned because the vse of them seemeth to haue beene but of late in the Church for many things are knowne by posteritie which the ancient writers were ignorant of Which we take to be a kind of cracke in their cause especially seeing that for want of better light of Antiquitie they are glad to collect an Antiquitie of them from the Stations vsed anciently at Rome Now what were these Stations Their Onuphrius doeth tell you The word saith he commeth of Stando standing because the people in their solemne Conuents did stand For the ancient Bishops of Rome vpon some set dayes especially in Lent and Holydayes did goe vnto diuers Churches of Rome where a Sermon was made vnto the people there standing and saying Prayers they did afterward communicate with the Clergie and people of Rome in the Diuine Sacraments In all which there is no sent of Romish Indulgences 18. Againe we find them obserue that Pope Boniface the eight about the yeere 1300. was the first who extended Indulgences vnto Purgatorie Which is the Indulgence wherevpon we dispute Besides they tell vs that the inuisible spirituall Treasurie of the Merits of Holy men is the Foundation of Indulgences Notwithstanding Maironis and Durand two of your principall Schoolemen euen of later times Doubted of the truth of such a Treasurie And lastly that some whom they call Catholickes iudged no otherwise of these kinde of Indulgences then of Godly deceits Heere we see more then a glimpse of that light which we professe acknowledged by your owne Doctors I must hereupon make bolde to demaund of Mr. Parsons why their Doctors hauing so great an apparance of the noueltie of this Article did notwithstanding still yeelde vnto the practise of their Church When he shall answere this then may he easily satisfie himselfe concerning his last demaund Master PARSONS his Reckoning BEllarmine hath alleaged ten seuerall testimonies out of the Scriptures of the old Testament with the expositions of the auncient Fathers vpon them which are confessed by Procestants to be Canonicall excepting the Maccabees and Toby which were notwithstanding Canonicall in S. Augustines time by the third Councell of Carthage in which himselfe was present And out of the new Testament he alleageth fiue other places with the expositions in like manner of the Fathers vpon them that vnderstood them to meane of Purgatory And will our owne Doctors say that these fifteene places are all tortured and forced against their meaning and all the Fathers expositions violated against their owne iudgement If our Doctors will say so they must be M. Mortons Doctors and not ours The Reuiewe 19. It is a thing superfluous Actum agere This which I say of the principall places of Canonicall Scriptures wherein your Doctors doe most insist I haue proued also from the meere literal Expositions of your owne Doctors to be inforced beyond compasse and want not a supply of like Answers vnto other Scriptures which haue beene omitted But I shall not need to insist vpon places of Scripture the rather because I am not so greatly prouoked by M. Parsons heereunto who hath reserued his maine violence for the tryall of Fathers 20. Yet notwithstanding one confession of Bellarmine may not be so easily let passe which hath not beene mentioned in my Appeale to wit Cùm nusquam in Scripturis fiat mentio ignis vbi apertè de Purgatorio agitur nihil dubium est qum Cyprianus ad hunc locum respexerit That is Seeing that in no place of Scripture where Purgatory is plainely handled any mention is made of fire it is not to be doubted but that S. Cyprian had respect vnto this place of Scripture to wit 1. Cor. 3. where it is written He shall be saued as it were by fire Which is a sufficient confession that there is not in any place of Scripture any mention of fire wherein there is any plaine proofe of Purgatory except in these fore-cyted wordes of 1. Cor. 3. And can he say that this onely place is plaine for Purgatory fire By no meanes for Bellarmine confesseth hereof that ancient Expositors doe not agree in the interpretation of fire in this place Some vnderstand by fire the Tribulations of this life some the eternall torments some the fire of the last day and some the Purgatory fire How shall our aduersaries presume of any plain place of Scripture for proofe of Purgatory-fire seeing that this their onely plaine place is thus obscured and perplexed with foure different Interpretations CHAP. XI The earnest challenge which M Parsons hath made that I should disannull the allegations of the testimonies of those Fathers whom Iodocus Coccius hath cyted for proofe of the Romish Purgatory SECT 1. Mr. PARSONS his Reckoning COccius produceth vpon the point of threescore Authours within the compasse of the first sixe hundred yeares that confirme the common faith of that Church in those dayes to haue held Purgatory and 〈◊〉 for the dead for Catholike doctrine and for the practise also of praying for the soules departed TO WHAT END DO YOU SAY THIS M. PARSONS To the end that T. M may haue somewhat to