His notatis dico illa omnia scripta esse ab Apostolis quae sunt omnibus necessaria quae ipsi palà m omnibus vulgo praedicauerant alia autem non omnia scripta esse But whatsoeuer they can prooue out of the Bible we will receiue as for things which are not necessarie although we discent concerning them they ought not therefore to refuse to communicate with vs. A fourth question is of the authoritie of the scriptures and who ought of right to be iudge of the same They were wont to hold the Church that is the generall Councell to be aboue the scriptures and the vndoubted Iudge of the same we the contrarie Now Bellarmine condescendeth vnto vs that the iudgement of the church specified in the councel of Trent may so farre De verbo Dei lib. 3. cap. 1â— be subiect to the scriptures as to be examined by the scriptures and that the authority of the Church is inferior to the authority of the scriptures His words are these Addo etiam quod etsi haereticus peccat dubitando de auctoritate Ecclesiae in quam per Baptismum regeneratus est neque est eadem conditio haeretici qui semel fidem professus est Iudaei aut Ethnici qui nunquam fuit Christianus tamen posito hoc dubio hoc peccato non male facit scrutando examinando an loca scripturae Patrum à concilio Tridentino prelata ita sehabeant modo id faciat intentione inueniendi veritatem non calumnian di Deberet quidem ille sine examine recipere doctrinam Ecclesiae tamen melius est vt examinando praeparetur adveritatem quam negligendo remaneat in suis tenebris And againe in the same Chapter Decimum quartum argumentum Si Pontifex indicat de scripturis sequitur Pontificem seu concilium esse supra scripturam si scripturae sensus â—sine Pontifice seu concilio non est authenticus sequitur verbum Dei accipere robur firmitatem à verbo Hominum Respondeo hoc argumentum quod ab haereticis plurimi fit totum in aequiuocatione versari Nam duobus modis potest intelligi Ecclesiam iudicare de scripturis vno modo quod iudicat verúmne sit an falsum quod scripturae docent altero modo quod posito vt fundamento certissimo scripturae verba esse verissima iudicet quae sit vera eorum interpretatio Et quidem si primo modo Ecclesia iudicaret verè esset supra scripturam sed hoc non dicimus quamuis haeretici calumnientur id nos dicere qui passim vociferantur nos subijcere scripturam pedibus Papae At secundo modo iudicare Ecclesiam vel Pontificem de scripturis quod nos asserimus non est Ecclesiam esse supra scripturam sed supra iudicia priuatorum hominum Non enim iudicat Ecclesia de veritate scripturae sed de intelligentiâ tuâ meâ aliorum Neque hinc sumit verbum Dei aliquod robur sed intelligentia nostra Non enim scriptura est verior aut certior quia sic ab Ecclesia exponitur sed mea sententia est verior quando ab Ecclesia confirmatur Thus I could goe almost through all the controuersies betweene them and vs. But I doe content my selfe with the fundamentall points Therefore I exhort them which hold vs for heretikes first to reade diligently to peruse and examine their owne writers and what they hold to conferre their groundes with ours and then to examine their owne iudgements whether they finde vs heretikes or no. And as for those matters which be no fundamentall poyntes although in them wee discent wee must not dispaire of their conuersion For God neither hath nor will reueale vnto them all trueth at once but as the blind man in the Ghospell when hee first beganne to see thought hee sawe Marke 8 men walking like trees but when our Sauiour touched his eyes againe he saw more clearely So God will lighten the darknesse of their hearts and take away the vaile or couering which is before them by degrees vntill they come to the full measure of knowledge which the Holy Ghost shall iudge expedient to be reuealed vnto them Of Faith and Workes TO leaue these generall grounds and to dispute more particularly They hold with Saint Iames that workes do iustifie Iam. 2. Rom. 5. we with Saint Paul iustification by Faith and sith these two Apostles differ in wordes and not in meaning why should wee disagree holding the same which they doe hold Faith goeth before and workes follow after iustification but both do iustifie so Saint Paul argueth from that which is precedent Saint Iames argueth from that which is subsequent and both argue well According to the Grammaticall signification of the word as to iustifie signifieth iustum facere to make a man iust so neither faith nor yet workes do iustifie but God alone according to the acception which is vsed in Law as to iustifie signifieth iustum declarare to absolue a man and pronounce him iust out of the mouth of a iury or a Iudge so faith which is inuisible iustifieth vs before the inuisible god which seeth our invisible faith works which are visible iustifie vs before visible men which see our workes as they be visible and sensible things As the Angels when they came vnto Lot had not beene intertained had they not cloathed themselues with bodily shapes so men cannot discerne our faith vnlesse it be as it were cloathed and beautified with workes But to speake of that which is worst They hold Gen. 19 that workes are meritorious and therefore they worke that they may merit heauen we ascribing lesse vnto our selues and more vnto God thinke not so honourably of our workes and yet wee thinke workes as necessary as they doe and therefore wee will worke and we will worke that we may be saued and wee will worke out our saluation with feare and trembling Wee holde workes necessarie for them which will inherit but not for them which will merit and therefore we worke not that wee may merit Phil. 2. yet that we may inherite and our workes haue these foure necessary vses that by them we may glorifie God benefite our neighbour exercise our faith and make our election sure For with vs this is the very definition of a worke An action of the regenerate according to the Law of God done to these ends that God by it may be glorified our neighbor profited our faith exercised and our election confirmed And although wee worke not for that end as they do yet because without workes we must not thinke to please God wee will worke as much as they doe and the same workes which they doe with the same zeale which they doe which thinke to merit Wee will worke as earnestly as if we thought to merit and yet we wil be farre off from thinking that we merit because when we haue done all that Luc. 17 we are
A PERSWASION to the English Recusants to Reconcile themselues to the Church of England Written for the better satisfaction of those which be ignorant By Iohn Doue Doctor of Diuinitie PSAL. 72. Giue thy iudgement to the King O God and thy righteousnes to the Kings sonne 1. PET. 2. Feare God Honour the King Printed at London by V. S. for Cuthbert Burby dvvelling in Paules church-yard at the signe of the To the most High and Mighty Prince IAMES by the grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defendour of the Faith GRatious and dread Soueraigne I say the truth I lie not my conscience bearing me witnes in the Holy-ghost that I haue with the Apostle great heauinesse and continuall sorrow in my heart for many of my brethren and Country-men And my hearty desire and prayer for them to God is that they may be saued For I beare them recorde that they haue the zeale of God though not according to knowledge which is the onely cause that mooued me to write this short Treatise And because God of his great goodnesse hath vouchsafed your tender yeeres the education of TIMOTHIE and indued your Highnesse since your happy gouernement with princely gifts knowledge to discerne truth and zeale to maintaine truth I humbly present vnto your Maiestie these few lines containing a subiect of so great importance The common voyce and hope of your best affected people is that your Highnesse hath a religious intent to make God yet better knowne in IVDA and his name yet greater in HIERVSALEM to bring all these your Kingdomes to the acknowledgement and profession of one truth so that hereafter HIERVSALEM may be as a walled towne and fenced citty which is at vnitie within it selfe and as it was in the dayes of the IVDGES all ISRAEL may be gathered together as one man from DAN to BEERSHEBA vnto the Lord in MISHPAH The Lord guide and prosper you in all your wayes the Lord establish your house and kingdome the Lord blesse you out of SION that you may see the wealth of HIERVSALEM all the dayes of your life that you may see your Childrens Children and peace in SION Your Maiesties humble Subiect IOHN DOVE ¶ A Perswasion to the English Recu sants to reconcile themselues to the Church of England CHAP. I. It is not enough for them to pray priuatly but it is also required that they ioyne in prayer with the Congregation ALthough the prayers of the faithfull are heard if they be faithfully made in what places soeuer because our Sauiour saith Matthew 7 Whosoeuer asketh he shall receiue and therefore not the Publican onely was Luke 18 2. Reg. 20 heard in the Temple but also King Ezekias in his Chamber Elias vnder the Iuniper tree Ionas in the bottome of the Sea Manasses in the prison Yet the Church is a place more especially Iona 2 oratio Manassis Matth 21. appoynted for prayer it is called the house of prayer and God is more peculiarly present in that house than in all other houses Of the Temple we reade that Gods eyes were open towards that house night and day his name was especially 1. Reg. 8 there he harkened to the prayers of his Seruants which stretched foorth their handes in that place and of them which were in captiuitie if they turned towardes that house which was built for his name A greater promise is made to the prayers of many vnited together than of one and a more fauourable presence of Christ amongst them which make their ioynt petition insomuch that when a congregation is ioyned together in his Matth 18 name he will be in the midst of them and if they agree in earth vpon any thing whatsoeuer they shall desire it shall be giuen of his Father which is in heauen If we lay before our eyes the Stories of the Bible the exercise 2. Ezra 8 of the godly was such In the dayes of Ezra the Scribe it was so All the people assembled themselues together hee brought the booke of the Law of Moses before the assembly of men and women and all that could heare and vnderstand he read from morning vntill mid-day vnto them the eares of all the people harkened to the booke of the Law he preached to them out of a woodden Pulpit he praised the Lord the great God and al the people answered AMEN AMEN with lifting vp their hands and they bowed themselues and worshipped the Lorde with their faces towards the ground In the newe Testament their maner was to meete together on the Saboth day to ioyne in prayer and to heare the word preached and to receiue the sacraments In the Acts of the Apostles at Antiochia was maintained Act. 14 a Lecture of the Law and the Prophets Saint Paul deliuered words of exhortation there after the Lecture and they besought him to preach to them the same sermon againe the next Saboth Saint Paul and his company being at Philippi on the Saboth Act. 17 day went out of the Citty by a riuer where they were accustomed to pray there he preached and conuerted Lydia And no doubt but if our Recusants would heare our Sermons many of them also would be conuerted Vpon the Lords day at Troas the Act. 20 disciples were gathered together to break bread a multitude was gathered together and Paul preached to them When Peter was in prison the Church making a ioynt petition for him obtained a Act. 12 speedy and miraculous deliuery And it was obserued as an especiall vertue in the primitiue Church that they continued together in prayer and breaking of bread and that they had all one heart And to this purpose Saint Paul exhorteth them saying I beseech you brethren in the name of the Lord Iesus Christ that 1. Corin. 1. ye all speake one thing that ye be knit together in one mind and iudgement And againe the God of patience and consolation Rom. 15. graunt that you may be like-minded one to another according to Christ Iesus that you with one mind and one mouth praise God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ The true markes of the visible Church of God are the hearing of the word the participation of the sacraments and publike prayer as out of the scriptures I haue declared Let vs therefore examine the groundes whereupon so many of our nation which would especially be accounted of the true church withdrawe themselues from our publike assemblies refuse to ioyne with vs in so Christian exercises insomuch that whereas it was wont to be reputed a punishment to be interdicted suspended and like Lepers to be shut out of the Congregation they now like Lepers exclude themselues Saint Ambrose needeth not now to excommunicate Theodosius for hee will excommunicate himselfe Sozos li. 7 c. 24 and we haue as much neede to whip them into the Temple as our Sauiour had to whippe them out as hee did in the storie of the Gospel They alleadge
man So then as it was not Saint Peters conscience but the errour of his conscience when he refused the meates as vncleane which God had sanctified and made lawfull so it is not their conscience but the error of their conscience that they refuse vs for schisme heresie which indeed are true gospellers and members of the mysticall body of Iesus Christ as by Gods assistance I wil proue And as the Disciples not knowing of Pauls Act. 9. conuersation were afraide to ioyne with him supposing him to be a persecuter when he was a Preacher so they feare to ioyne with vs supposing vs to be in the wrong way whereas indeed we be in the right And because I haue saide it is not vpon conscience that they sequester themselues from vs I will shew them how many wayes a mans conscience may erre and be deceiued and so carried away from the truth and they are these eight following The first is ignorance so the common sort ignorantly alledge we are heretikes that our religion is not warrantable but cannot know what heresie is neither yet rightly conceiue the groundes either of our religion of their owne For they are inhibited to heare our Sermons Vide Cōcil Trid. Pref. in indicem expurg Greg. Mart. de schis to reade our bookes to haue conference with vs or to be catechized by vs. How then should they knowe our religion They are nourished in blindnesse by their owne teachers which hold it as a principle that it is fit they should be ignorant Neither are they permitted to haue the Bible in their mother tongue How then can they know their owne religion They are vnfurnished and vtterly destitute of all meanes and helpes which may bring them to be able to discerne truth from heresie The second is negligence So they which in some measure are learned doo call vs heretikes which can but doo not reade our bookes although they haue them nor examine the groundes which wee hold although they are able and it is permitted vnto them Concerning their owne doctrine they are contented to receiue it for truth vpon the credit of others without further proofe and to see with other mens eyes heare with other mens eares speake with other mens tongues because they will not spend so much time as to search further and what slaunder soeuer they doo heare of vs they are readie to beleeue it For example Edm. Cāp rat 1. Campion slandereth our Church as if we did offer violence to the holy scriptures affirming that Luther wrote contumeliously of Saint Iames his Epistle his disciples blush not to report the same because hee hath written it without further enquirie whether hee writ the truth or not whereas if they would but vouchsafe to examine the place for their owne satisfaction they would finde it a slaunder which they because of their slouthfulnesse do holde for a truth They are contented to buy Campion alone and Gregorie Martine his Preface with the notes of the Seminaries of Rhemes vpon the New Testament and now and then to reade them But as for Doctor Whitaker his answere many of them suffer it not to be in their studies or if it bee in the Catalogue of their liberarie they do not reade it And as for doctor Fulkes answere to Gregorie Martines Preface and the notes of the Seminaries they are so farre from conferring the one with the other that so they might be satisfied and resolued of the truth as they are contented to giue more mony for the Rhemish Testament alone then for the same booke with Doctor Fulkes answer ioyned with it The third is obstinacie For as the first cannot because they be ignorant and vnable to iudge and depriued of all meanes by which they may be enabled and the second do not iudge rightly because they are slouthfull and loth to take so much paines as to trie the spirites to examine doctrine and conferre places So the third sort of men will not vnderstand the truth because they be obstinate they will resist the holy Ghost and stop their eares against the truth as the adder doth against the charmer and as the Iewes did against Saint Stephen Wee shall not perswade Act. 7. them although wee doo perswade them because instruction and Rom. 10. faith commeth by hearing they wil not heare least they should be instructed and beleeue the truth They say their fathers professed that religion and therefore they will rather erre with their fathers Gen. 31. than embrace the truth with vs like Rachel which would not leaue behinde her the gods of her Father but carrie them with her They were brought vp and instructed in this religion from their childhood and now they say they will not alter They 1. Thes 5. forgot the rule of the Apostle which willeth them to make tryall of all and then to hold that which is best For they will heare none they will holde what they haue held and they will not alter for the better And in so doing what do they but as Pharao Exod. 5. did who saide Who is the Lord that I should heare his voice and let Israel goe I know not the Lord neither will I let Israel goe Whereas the Prophet saith To day if ye will heare his voice Psal 95. harden not your hearts The fourth is perplexitie vnstayednesse and trouble of mind like vnto Saule which after he had put away the Sorcerers and 1. Sam. 28. Soothsayers out of the Land yet when he was terrified by the armie of the Philistines seeing it to be very great and could haue no answere from God neither by dreames nor Vrim nor Prophets asked counsell of a Witch at Endor So diuers which haue renounced that religion and imbraced ours yet lying at the point of death in the midst of their conflicts and tentations thinking vpon the arguments which are brought on each side and fearing to halt betweene two opinions and so die vnresolued because they haue not had at that instant conference with such as were able Gen. 19. to resolue them of all their doubts haue suddenly reuolted and not onely followed the example of Lots wife which looked backe vnto Sodome but also of the people which haue saide come let vs goe backe into Aegipt againe The fift is pride and their owne insolencie whereby they are puffed vp and thinke that all men must be subiect vnto them Num. 14. but they neede submit themselues vnto none As Bernardinus Ochinus writ a Booke in defence of Poligamie affirming that numerosum coniugium multitude of wiues was lawfull supposing that after his Maister Peter Martyr was dead no man was able to match him in writing or in disputation like Golias of Gath which 1. Sam. 17 challenged all commers to the combat And this is the speciall cause why Popes and generall Councels doe erre because they hold it as a principle in their Diuinitie that they cannot erre For
Lutherans to be more cold and the brunt almost passed ouer tooke vpon him to expound the meaning of the Tridentine counsell and to conster all points to as grosse sense as they were euer before But nowe they beginne to incline to vs againe insomuch that Cardinall Bellarmine late Diuinitie Reader of Rome and the learnedest Diuine of that Church which now liueth in the course of his controuersie lectures though where he deliuereth the state of the question he bringeth what may be brought on their side for fashion sake that he may auoide all suspition of heresie with them yet he handleth his matters so cunningly and so doubtfully that in his conclusions he agreeth with vs in many things although in diuers termes wherein his predecessors vtterly dissented from vs. And in many things he sheweth himselfe to be so farre as he dareth a Protestant or at the least not a Papist if we take papistrie to be that which before it was And whosoeuer doth obserue him well shal finde how he discourseth of many things superfluous like one which is more desirous to deceiue the time to fill vp the page with varietie of reading multitudes of Fathers and citations of places then to refute vs. Yet his Volumes are allowed by the Inquisition and he is rewarded for his learned workes Therefore I say papistrie is newely corrected and refined they hold the same conclusions in generall termes which they did but they hold them not as they did they seeke out new defences as if they could not stand to the olde come neerer to vs in iudgement euery day For so it hath pleased God in this latter end of the world to lighten their darknesse and to quicken the dulnesse of their vnderstanding Touching the first if they will vnderstand what heresie is they must distinguish betweene heresie and errour for euery heresie is an error but euery error is not an heresie As there is one error in maners and so euery haynous offence is called a crime as the adulterie of Dauid but such offences as are committed only vpon infirmitie are cald by the general name of errors so there is another error in doctrine and euery man which holdeth a wrong opinion is said to erre as the Apostle did which supposed the Kingdome of Christ to be of this world and that the Gospel was Actes 1. Acts 11. not to be published to the Gentiles and these errors were no heresies but that which is heresie is more dangerous and of an higher nature It is an old saying Errare possum hereticus esse nolo I may easily erre as all men haue done but an heretike I will not be I define an heresie in this maner It is an error stifly and obstinately defended and maintained not by a consequent but directly impugning some Article of faith For example the Disciples Act. 15 erred when they helde it necessarie to be circumcised yet were not heretikes because they were not obstinate for they submitted themselues to the iudgement of the Church and after due consultation was had they consented to the truth Againe that opinion did not directly impugne faith but onely by a consequent for so saith the Apostle Behold I Paul say vnto you if Gal. 5 you be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing for I testifie againe to euery one which is circumcised that he is bound to keepe the whole Law Then if we allow of Circumcision wee hold the Ceremoniall Law to be still in force and by a consequent deny the death of Christ by whose death onely that Law was abolished But Arrius was condemned for an heretike in the councell of Nice for these two causes First he defended his error obstinately vntill his bellie burst and bowels gushed out not yeelding to the learned Bishops of the world which conuicted him by manifest places of the scriptures Secondly hee denied the Godhead of Christ contrary to the article of the Creede which hath and I beleeue in Iesus Christ his onely son and the doctrine of saint Paul which saith hee was mightily declared Rom. 1 to bee the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead and of saint Iohn which saith God was the word It is one thing therefore to denie the faith directly as to say Christ hath not yet suffered and another thing to denie it by a consequent as they which hold a necessitie of circumcision But as for vs we neither hold any opinions obstinately because we wil recant subscribe to the Church of Rome if they can disproue vs by the scriptures Neither doe we impugne any article of faith because wee holde the Creed of the Apostles of Athanasius of Nice of Ephesus of Constantinople which the Papists also do hold and the same Bible which we receiued from them and we expound all these as all godly and learned antiquitie hath expounded them before vs and therefore wee are vniustly charged with heresie That I may come to the second thing which I proposed No Church can be condemned and adiudged hereticall by any priuate censure but it must be publike Therefore they alleage for our condemnation the decrees of the councell of Trent against the authoritie of which councell we take these iust exceptions First they call it a generall councell as if almost all the Diuines of the world had beene assembled there Let vs therefore number how many were present They reckon for the credit of that councell as present sixe Cardinalls foure Legates three Patriarkes two and thirtie Archbishops two hundred twentie eight Bishops and fiue Abbats Wee denie not but at the end of the councel so many were procured to be there but at the beginning when matters were propounded at the time when points of religion were argued and debated they exceeded not the number of fortie Bishoppes foure Legates very small assembly to deserue the name of a generall councell to consider of so many weightie causes Onely therefore at the latter end the Pope seeing almost all Bishops to forbeare comming thither did create new Bishops to make vp a number and grace the councell with their presence and to subscribe to all conclusions for forme sake which they did neither here argued by others nor yet well consider of their selues Therefore let indifferencie be the Iudge betweene them and vs whether so rash a censure was to stand in force Secondly who were there onely our aduersaries which Ioh. 7 were of a contrary religion we were not present so that they did not onely by vs as the Pharisies did by our Sauiour contrary to lawe contemne vs in our absence and our cause being not heard but also the same men were both our accusers and our Iudges If ye aske a reason why we were not there had wee letters of safe conduct either could we haue trusted to such conduct if it had bin graunted What if they should haue falsified their promise made to vs as they did to Iohn Huz in the councell of
commaunded to doe wee are but vnprofitable seruants and therefore we will relie vpon the merits of Christ alone renouncing our selues and our workes Let them iudge then who are safest they or we Our difference is not concerning the worke it selfe but only concerning the opinion which we ought to conceiue of the worke they thinke honourably wee basely of our owne workes but worke the same And certainely the worthinesse of workes doth not consist in the excellent opinion which we conceiue of them but in the true and faithfull working not in the pleasing of our selues with our selues or any thing which procedeth from vs. Of Free will THis question hath bred some difference betweene vs in the schooles and yet if we do vnderstand each other we may be easily reconciled For the scriptures speake so plainely that they take away doubts We are say they not of our selues sufficient to thinke a good thought as of our selues but all our sufficiencie is of God The way of man is not in himselfe neither is it in man 1. Corint 3. Ierem. 10 to walke and direct his steps No man commeth to Christ vnlesse the Father draw him Draw me and wee will runne after Iohn 6 Cant. 1 Rom. 7 thee What good I would doe that doe I not the euill which I would not doe that doe I saith the Apostle To conclude therefore there are three sorts of agents the one working of his meere will and pleasure which is God the other of necessitie which is nature a third betweene both these extreames partly of willingnesse and partely of necessitie which is man And as no man is good against his will so no man hath power to will any thing that is good vnlesse God giueth him that will So saith the Apostle It is God which worketh in you euen the wil and deede Phil. 2 of his owne good will and pleasure And this will may be compared to the eye which being in darkenesse yet is not blinde neither doth it see without the especiall grace of God Of Prayer WE inuocate God alone who we are sure doth heare vs and they confesse that in so doing wee doe well why then will they not ioyne with vs in well doing But as for Saints departed when they pray to them to be prayed for by them they are not certaine that they doe heare them because it cannot be sufficiently prooued why then will they not pray with vs whose prayers they confesse to be voyde of exception They denie not but that it is better to pray to God then to Saints why then had they not rather be sure of the first place then doubt of the second Their prayer to Saints may breede a scruple in their conscience whether they do well or no. For if they heare them not their praiers are idle words but they must answere at the day of iudgement Matth. 12. for euery idle word which they shall speake As we pray not to Saints departed so wee pray not for Saints or any other deceased If they be in heauen they neede not our prayers if in hel no prayers can helpe them and we dare not say they are in purgatory sith purgatory by the confession of Bellarmine is a tradition not containd in the scriptures He writes that there be many things necessary to be known which are not contained in the scriptures he doth reckon them vp in order and he placeth them so first that women were purged from sinne though vncircumcised secondly that children that died before the eight day were also purged from originall sinne thirdly many Gentiles in the old testament were saued fourthly that of necessitie there be some books which are the holy scriptures fiftly that it must be knowne which bookes are the holy scriptures sixtly that the bookes which wee haue in our hands are the holy scriptures seauenthly that the scriptures are to be vnderstood eightly that Mary was a perpetuall Virgine ninthly that Easter is to be celebrated on the Lordes day tenthly that Infants are to be baptized eleuenthly purgatory But marke his words he saith many things are necessary to be knowne which are not contained in the scriptures among those he maketh purgatory to be the eleuenth therefore he affirmeth that purgatory is a thing necessary to be knowne and not in the scriptures and yet as a man that would halte betweene two religions to please vs and not displease the Papists doth lay it vpon Luther saying Credit Lutherus purgatorium esse tamen asserit purgatorium non posse probari in sacris literis Luther saith he belieueth that there is a purgatory and yet saith it cannot be prooued out of the scriptures The question is whether Bellarmine doth not say so as well as Luther If he do not first why doth he not expresse his owne minde to the contrary in that place secondly why doth he in that long catalogue of such things as are not contained in the scriptures reckon purgatory to be the eleuenth He sheweth that the tenth tradition or vnwritten veritie is the baptisme of Infants that Luther and Caluin hold it lawefull and yet his selfe doth not refuse that opinion which they doe hold and the like must be vnderstood concerning purgatory that as Luther denieth purgatory to be contained in the scriptures so doth Bellarmine or else he doth contradict himselfe which said before that Pargatorium est vndecimum eorum quae ignorari non possunt tamen in scripturis non continentur Purgatory is the eleuenth of these things whereof we may not be ignorant and yet are not contained in the scriptures Sith therefore Bellarmine repeating many things which are not contained in the scripture of which one to be purgatory and yet before as I haue shewd granteth all things to be contained in the scriptures which are necessary for our saluation that we should know them ye must beare with vs De verbo Dei lib. 2. cap. 11. if we doe not belieue purgatorie being no matter of saluation to vs to belieue it We pray in our mother tongue what exception doe they take against it Their priuate prayers are in English as it appeareth by their Iesus psalter their Manuall of Meditations and sundry other prayer books which they haue printed I would know why it might not be as lawfull to pray publikely in the same tongue Which is more I haue seene the Masse by them set forth in Spanish the Spanish being in one page of the booke and the Latine in the other In times past the English testament was printed with the English in one page and the Latine in the other and licensed to be printed and publikely sold by King Philip and Qu. Mary And now of late our English Seminaries of Rhemes haue published the New Testament in English with promise also to set forth the old why may not the English Bible be published by vs as well as by the Seminaries and as well be read publikely in our Church
as in their houses But to come to the point See Greg. Mart. his proface at large concerning the Scriptures in English Bellarmine confesseth those prayers which are in a knowne tong to be beter then those which are not vnderstood why then should not that which is inferiour giue place vnto that which is better God is best pleased when he is best serued and he is best serued where he is prayed vnto after the best maner Bellarmines words are these Neque his repugnant scripturae illae populus hic labiis me honorat c Sâ—orem linguâ spiritus meus erat meâ—s autem sinè fructu est In posteriore scripturâ non reprehenditur oratio quae non intelligitur sed ei anteponitur oratio quae intelligitur In the same chapter hee confesseth that the Pope gaue licence to the whole De verbo Dei lib. 2. cap. 16 land of Morauia to haue their publike seruice in their owne tongue why should hee denie the same to vs I doubt not but hee woulde dispense with vs if wee woulde take such a dispensation from him If it be of it selfe euill his dispensation cannot make it good and if it be of it selfe good and according to Gods word it needeth not to be strengthned by his dispensation As he cannot dispense against Gods word so Gods word of it selfe is warranted without mans dispensation They obiect that vntil of late through the West parte of the world publike prayers were in Latine in the Est part in Greeke euen among those nations to whom these languages were no mother tongues I answere that when these nations were first conuerted they were subiect to the Romane Emperour which spake Latine as his mother tongue and therefore all endeuoured to speake as the Emperour spake although it were but broken Latine and therefore receiued their Leiturgie in Latine And as for the East they spake Greeke as commonly as the rest did speake Latine so in Wales their mother tongue is Welch in Cornwall Cornish In Ireland Irish yet in all these places the publike seruice is read in English and the people haue applied themselues to speake English because they are subiects to the King of England But now the Weast part of the world which was commonly called the Latine Church is not subiect to any man that speaketh Latine as his proper language and the Latine tong hath ceased to be familiar among the people wherefore then should not their seruice be now in the tongue which they vnderstand as in the beginning it was in the Latine which they then vnderstood Godly discretion would thinke it fitte now we haue the benefite of printing which in the old time we had not and wee haue such meanes to aduance religion as our forefathers had not that euery people should haue their Leiturgie not onely in that tongue which they doe vnderstand as then it was but also in that tongue which they doe naturally speake and best vnderstand as nowe all reformed Churches almost haue And this consideration mooued the reuerend Father Doctour Morgan now Bishops of Saint Asaph and Doctour Goodman the late Deane of Westminster to take paines for the translating and publishing of the Bible in the Welch tong by which their trauailes and godly indeuours they haue aduanced the Ghospel in their owne country And his Highnesse shal truly performe the office of a King if he take order that all men women and children may be brought to speake English or else that they may haue the leiturgie translated and printed in the Irish tongue It hath bin obiected in the defence of Latin seruice that it is profitable for them vvhich vnderstand it not because say they publike praiers are not made to the people but to god which vnderstandeth in the behalfe of the people which vnderstand not Euen as if an Aduocate should pleade before a Iudge which vnderstandeth for his Client which is not able to vnderstand the state of his owne cause and busines and yet is as effectually handled by the Aduocate as if the Client did vnderstand I answere that it is enough if the Aduocate vnderstand which pleadeth because the Aduocate pleadeth alone but if the Client should ioyne in plea with the Aduocate it were necessary also that the Client should vnderstand because without vnderstanding hee could not pleade and speake for himselfe But our parish Churches are ordained to this end that not onely learned men should resorte thither as in Schooles and Colleges which doe vnderstand Latine but all ignorant people for the sanctifying of the sabaoth and exercise of their religion that not onely the ministers there should pray for them as the Aduocate alone speaketh for his Client but they also should pray for their owne selues and this is the difference betweene the courtes of earthly Iudges and the court of heauen The people come not to the Church onely to be prayed for by the Minister for so they may stay at home in their owne houses and be prayed for in the Church but they come to pray themselues both for others and for themselues to ioyne with the minister in prayer as the Apostle doth teach them saying Now the God of patience and consolation graunt that Rom. 15 ye may be like minded one to another according to Christ Iesus that ye with one minde and one mouth may praise God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ But this they cannot doe vnlesse they vnderstand He that prayeth and vnderstandeth not his owne words may thinke he prayeth when he sweareth and when he prayeth he knoweth not that he prayeth as the high priest prophecied but knew not that he did prophecie as the parret which laugheth knoweth not that he laugheth and the Thrushes Iohn 11. and black-birds sing but know not that they doe sing But because Bellarmine hath compared praying vnto pleading what kinde of plea shall that be which neither Client nor Aduocate doth vnderstand It cannot be denied but in Queene Maries dayes in many of our Churches the seruice was read but not vnderstood nâ—â—ther of the people nor yet the priest and so it is now in some countries where Sir Iohn Lacke latine hath the charge of soules and vnderstandeth not the Masse which he readeth Bellarmine alleadgeth out of Ezra that he read the law before 2. Ezr. 8 the people and prayed in a language which they vnderstood not and yet that the people did answer AMEN He did reade saith he in a strange language that is in the Hebrue for he could not reade in the Chalde because that is a paraphrase and no text not in the Syriac because that translation was not then extant and as for the Hebrue they vnderstood it not as appeareth by these arguments first from the story for after Esdras had read the Leuites came and interpreted which had beene needelesse if they had vnderstood it themselues The second from obseruation For the Iewes saith he forgot their Hebrue tong being