chiefest Bishops or Patriarks of the East were either Authours or their fautors This was the cause that often the Orthodoxall Bishops of Greece in defence of truth were forced to fly for succour to the Romaine as did Athanasius and Paulus the one Patriarke of Alexandria the other of Constantinople and others (h) Sozom. l. 1. c. 7. To end which dissentions by his Authority Supreme vnder God vpon Earth ouer the flock of Christ he hid procure that Councells might be called in Greece the discipline of the Church requiring that Councells meete examine the cause and punish offenders where the fault was committed Soe that the cause why those Councells were kept in Greece not in Rome was the Purity of the one neuer falling into Heresie and the infelicity of the other neuer to be without inuentours of such monsters 15. This sinceritie likewise of Doctrine as Ruffinus noteth (i) Ruffin in expositione Symboli is the cause that the Church of Rome did neuer add any word or syllable to the Creed but kept the same entyre without addition which saith he happened not in other Churches because other Churches hauing had heresies sprong vp within their owne bowells did add some wordes to the Creed to crosse and meet with such errours which the Romane neuer did nor had need to doe seeing no heresie had neuer beginning in it Thus Ruffinus wherefore seing the Roman Church caused those Councells to be held in Greece confirmed the same afterwards and their Creeds to be receaued through the whole Church who cā deny but we had those foundations of Faith more principally from the Roman then any other Church the Principall Sea from whence saith (k) l. 4. ep 8. S. Cyprian Priestly dignitie one great Pillar and Foundation of Christianity did flow Vnto which Tertullian (l) Praescr c. 31. Irenaeus (m) l. 3. c. 3. Optatus (n) l. 2. cōt Parmen Epiphanius (o) Haeres 27. S. Augustine (p) Epist 165. being vrged by Heretikes did fly as vnto the head deriving Scriptures Creeds and all other Ecclesiasticall traditions from them Wherefore I must thinke that many sick and sory feathers were in that Ministers head that caused you to call them rather Grecian then Roman Plumes though so light a word as Plumes applyed to so graue matters as Scriptures Creeds and Councells doth sauour of the leuity of your phrase 16. This leuity you shew in the prayses you giue to the Church no lesse then in the reproaches Thus you preach Who is he say (q) Lett. p. 67. you that saith not of the true Church with Augustine Non parua Ecclesiae auctoritas well doth her Modesty well doth her fidelitie deserue honorable esteeme she taketh not vpon her to controule the holy Scripture her Mother from whom she drew her first breath she openeth not her mouth till her mother hath deliuered her mynde she commeth not of her owne head with any sleeuelesse arrant Thus you discourse describing the Spouse of Christ and Mother of Christians as a mannerly young Mayd brought vp in Luthers schoole You demaund who is he that doth not say with S. Augustine Great is the authority of the Church And yet you your self are the Man who call that Authority of the Church which S. Augustine in that very sentence reuerenceth as great and venerable idle and sleeuelesse like the Butcher that called for his knife he had in his mouth These are S. Augustines wordes (r) De cura pro mortuis c. 1. We read in the Books of Machabees that Sacrifice was offered for the dead but if this were no where read in the old Scriptures yet ther is no small authoritie of the vniuersall Church which shineth in this custome Behold S. Augustine calleth Doctrines deliuered by the Church without expresse Scripture great shining which you reuile and contemne 17. Thus you contradict the saying of S. Augustine whilst you would seeme to applaud it yet is not this contradiction so witlesse as is your Assertion impious that Doctrines and Decrees of the Church not deliuered in Scriptures are sleeuelesse the perpetuall virginity of the B. Mother after her sacred birth of the Sonne of God you seeme so to beleeue that you would stop your eares against any that should dispute therof (ſ) Lett. p. 39. but where is this written in Scripture what is it but a perpetuall traditiō of Gods Church S. Augustine sayth (t) de Baptism cont Donatist l. 2. c. 7. that it cannot be clearly proued out of Scripture that Heritikes returning to the Church should not be rebaptized yet the Church hath forbidden the same Shall we tearme this prohibition sleeuelesse That these and these bookes be Canonicall and the other Apocriphall where it is taught in Scripture Now he doth not see that Scriptures are the chiefest points of our Faith contayning the fountaine and as it were principles of faith Doe but read your learned Authour Hierome Zanchius who will giue a newer tune then that your Minister piped vnto you That Authour famous in your Cōgregations teacheth (u) Tom. 4. l. 1. de lege Dei that diuers vnwritten traditions concerning doctrine and manners are in the Church which are not only profitable (x) Non solum vtiles Ecclesiae sed ferè necessariae saith he but in a manner necessary which haue their beginning from the holy Ghost which we must reuerence and obey else we contemne the Authority of the Church which is a thing saith he very displeasing vnto God how then doe you preach that the Church neuer openeth her mouth till Mother Scripture haue deliuered her mind 18. I confesse that this your Authour goeth a step backward saying that these vnwriten traditions are not of equall authoritie with the written word (z) Paris authoritatis non sunt cum verbo in sacris literis reuelato but therin he doth cleerely contradict himselfe For the Canon of the Scripture being as he confesseth an vnwritten tradition how can any thing contayned in Scripture be more certaine then some vnwritten traditions are Can any man be more certaine of a truth proued out of Scripture then he is that his proofes are indeed Scripture One may see this doth imply in termes Wherefore great cause had your Doctour Field (a) Of the Church p. 238. to grant that Papists haue good reason to equall their Traditions to the written word if they can proue any such vnwritten verities and his proofe is pregnant because not the writing giueth things their authoritie but the worth and credit of him that deliuereth them though by word and liuely voyce alone 19. Now put these two sayings of your two Doctours togeather and make an argument for traditions let Doctour Field giue the Maior vnwritten verities can they be proued are equall to the written word let Zanchius add the Minor but diuers vnwritten verities and traditions profitable and in a manner necessary for the Church both about faith manners may be proued What doth follow but that some vnwritten verities and traditions are found which haue equall authoritie with diuine Scripture Is
not this argument in good forme Are not the premisses thereof certaine which euen our enemies doe grant May traditions be termed sleeuelesse for which your owne Taylors or Doctours make such glorious winges that therby they fly vp to the throne of diuine Truth 20. But I will not bestow on your suggesting Minister a sleeueles garment but rather grant him a Coate with foure sleeues for his Metaphore by which he maketh the Church Scriptures daughter many Churches as S. Irenaeus writeth (b) l. 3. c. 4. in his time had neuer read any word of Scripture yet did they flourish by keeping the Tradition of Christian doctrine in their hartes Was the Scripture the Mother of these Churches I see not which way you will draw their pedigree from the Scripture except in your next writings you make Scripture Grandmother who hath bin yet scarse 3. yeares a Mother The Church of the old Testament was some thousand yeares (c) 2000 yeares from Adam vnto Moyses before Scripture the Church of the New did flourish many yeares before any Ghospell was written who euer saw or heard a daughter borne before the mother A Sonne before the mother I haue heard of yet he as Man according to which Nature he was her Sonne was not before her So that the Church Child of Scripture a daughter before the Mother is the Pallas of your braine which some Vulcans sharp hatchet hath holpen you to be deliuered of And thus much of your no lesse ridiculous then impious iestes against the authority of the Church 21. After your light skirmish with Scoffes followeth a graue battery of the Churches custome to pray for soules in Purgatory with the Canō of Scriptures (d) Lett. a pag. 80. vsque ad 93. by which you will proue her doctrine in this point to be a Satanicall figment disgracefull vnto the great mercy of God euacuating the Crosse of Christ The places by you alleadged are many but either so triuiall and knowen togeather with the Catholikes answeres or else so ridiculously applied wrung wrested to your purpose that their very sound is able to breake a learned mans head and make him scratch where it doth not itch for want of an answere To giue some few examples What say you (e) pag. 86 shall not Hel gates preuaile against vs and shall Purgatoryes muddy wall hedg vs in Hath the soule of Christ gon downe into the nethermost Hell yet made no passage through the suburbes of Hell Hath he bound the strong Man that he should not harme vs and will he now torment vs himselfe or set we know not whō to do it Thus you Who will not wonder that Purgatoryes wals fall not to the ground with the storme of these your windy interogations shall I make the Logicall Analysis of your Rhetoricall Arguments They be three Ethymens I think The first the gates of hell shall not prauaile against the Church ergo there is no Purgatory The second the soule of Christ went down to the nethermost Hell ergo no Purgatory can be found The third Christ bound the strong Man and took his fortresse ergo Purgatory must vanish away 22. I think Aristotle would be grauelled in these argumēts to find the Mediū to ioyne your extremes togeather For what force hath Christs binding the strong Man that he may not harme his children to proue that God may not chastize them for their sins either by himselfe or another in this world or in the next as he pleaseth when they haue don amisse and committed lesser offences that deserue his lighter displeasure When you say that Hell gates shall not preuaile against vs it is hard to ghesse who those your vsses are Perhaps you meane the Elect Predestinate among whom you number your selfe Let it be so Can you deny but many of your Predestinate and Elect are for robbing and stealing and other such crimes locked vp in London Goales what shall not Hell-gate preuayle against them and shall the wall of a prison mue them vp hath the soule of Christ gon downe into the nethermost Hell and made no passage through New-gates Limbo where sometimes your elect are kept Hath he bound the strong man that he should not harme and shall now a hangman put thē to death You perceaue I hope the vanity of your inferences 23. Let vs heare you preach againe and build a ladder for your elect to passe without Purgatory into Heauen They that dy in the faith say you (f) p. 100 haue peace towardes God they that haue peace towards God are iustified by Christ they that are iustified by Christ are free from the Law and being free from the Law quis accusabit who shall lay any thing to their charge Thus you dispute Where I could lay both folly and falshood to your charge but seing your Protestāt faith freeth you from the Law both of Reason consciēce quis accusabit who dareth accuse you though you write neither wise nor true word I could cast your Elect into Hell from the first step of your ladder For they that dy in the faith haue not peace towards God except their faith be ioyned with good workes S. Iohn (g) Apoc. 14. giuing the reason why the Saintes rest after life saith Opera enim illorum sequuntur illos which you English for their works follow them euen at the heeles But your Protestant faith is so light footed or light headed rather to belieue you shal be saued your charity so heauy heeled to do the good works by which men must be saued that an eternity of torments may passe before your workes ouertake your faith 24. I might also fling them downe from the highest step of all where you say they are free from the Law if you vnderstand it in Luthers sense (h) Tom. 1. Ep. Lat. ep 3◠ad Philippū that though they commit whoredomes or murthers a thousand tymes aday they need not care the bloud of Christ freeth them from the lawe doth not this doctrine togeather with the Authour deserue to be flung into the lowest Hell But if you vnderstand freedome from the law in the Catholick sense that the spirit of Christ maketh that yoke easie and the burden light that in the spirit of loue we may keep the law with great ease as S. Iohn saith (i) 1. Ioan. 5. his commandemcnts are not hard I dare say your Protestants faith hath litle of that spirit that dilateth the heart to runne the way of Gods precepts (k) Psalm 118. that it will neuer be able to get vp this ladder And let thē be indeed iust let them be Saints that keepe the law you obiect that against them that doth cleerely proue a Purgatorie for them in the next life Yea say you but they haue some drosse to
take to your self the Nody you layd on our expositions you seeme in a manner to graunt all to witt that the speach of Christ was indeed senselesse wherein you would fayne haue Maldonate ioyne with you (k) Let. p. 38. you cite him vpon a sentence of Christ saying in this sort Haec oratio hominibus absurda videtur qui non intelligunt Maldonatus sup Matth. 19.14 this speach seemeth absurd to those that vnderstand it not why then say you should this prouerbiall amplification sound soe vncouthly in your eares you would be loath I should serue you with a Non intelligis vnder Maldonates seale But Sir I must by your leaue serue you with Non inuenis vnder the seale of truth Do you consider whether you may not serue your Minister out of whose Note-bookes you copy these falshoods with a Mentiris Maldonats true words vpon the sentence of Christ (l) Matth. 29.24 that it is easer for a camell to passe through a needells eye then a rich man to enter in to the kingdome of heauen are these Absurditas saith he vt videbatur aut potiùs admirabilitas huius sententiae in causa fuit vt quidam Cameli nomine nauticum funem quo Anchorae alligantur intelligerent The absurdity as it seemeth or rather the admirabilytie of this doctrine caused some interprete Camelum a Cable rope by which shippes ryde at Anker Which wordes of Maldonatus make not for you but rather against you We deny not but the doctrine of Christ and his speach may seeme absurd to carnall men by occasion of the height and admirability of his doctrine which the capacity of humayne vnderstanding reacheth not vnto as Maldonatus saith but that the speach and wordes of diuine wisdome should indeed be absurd for want of sense or mystery conteyned in them that he should expresse a truth in a disiuÌ„ctiue speach one clause whereof is senseles which no wise and graue man vseth to doe this absurditie I say and superfluitie of speach we take it a great blasphemy in you to suspect in the doctrine of Christ 25. Hence is answered the Question you make (m) p. 27. It was an old prouerb say you when I went to schoole Veritas non quaerit angulos How commeth it to passe that S. (n) c. 3 29. Markes exposition to wit that the synne against the holy ghost shall neuer be remitted is such a mote in your eyes that you are gauled to the quick that he should decide the question To this I reply with another question how commeth it to passe that the text of S. Matthew being larger in wordes then that of S. Marke is such a beame in your eye that you would haue the same broken in peeces till it be no greater then S. Markes mote The reason is I feare because the partition of Eternity into this world and of the world to come to be two places for remission of synnes is a payre of spectacles through which you must needs see Purgatory except you willfully shut your eyes Is not this quaerere angulos to seeke corners to leaue the open field of S. Matthewes larger sentence seeking a Commentary in S. Marke more retyred and concise speach Seeing S. Matthew is more diffuse in wordes we do him wrong denying them a more copious sense when they may beare it S. Matthew deuideth what S. Marke confoundeth in one the two partes of eternity which in S. Matthew are manifest in S. Mark are hidden how then can S. Marke be thought an expositor of S. Matthew who fouldeth vp what the other layeth open 26. I hope Syr you perceaue this Catholike exposition of Christs wordes or deduction of Purgatorie from them is in it self most sutable with the wisdome of so graue an Author specially backed with the authoritie of so many worthy Fathers expounding them with vs against your mens fancie If S. Augustine changed (o) l. 6 cont Iul. c. 11. vel 23. l. 1. retract c. 23. his exposition of a passage of S. Paul which he had constantly taught before because he perceiued the same was against S. Hilary Gregory Sanctos notosque Doctores Ambrose and other holy and knowne Doctors of the Church Melioribus saith that euer-admired doctor intelligentioribus cessi I yeilded vnto those that were better and more intelligent then my selfe How dare you so peremptorily presume vpon your new deuised exposition contradicted by many not warranted by any ancient Father How did you not feare to lay vpon an exposition receaued generally for many ages in the Church the title of Nody yea to say that the same is backed by noe exemplar proofe besides Hobgoblins (p) let p. 42. 27. What S. Augustine said vnto Iulian the Pelagian who branded the doctrine of original sinne with the title of a Manichean fable may be retorted vpon you that disgrace Purgatory with the style of Satanicall figment Hauing brought six or seauen Fathers for that point of Catholike doctrine he concludeth in this sort saying vnto him (q) l. 1. con Iulia. c. 2. vel 4. finding you in your writings non antelucano conuiuio temulentum sed insano conuitio turbulentum not so much tipled with wine taken next your hart as distempered with senslesse rayling against truth I haue not brought you into Zenocrates schoole where drunken Polemo was made sober but haue summoned you vnto the quiet and venerable assembly of holy Fathers (r) Sanctorum PatruÌ„ pacificum honorandumque consessum Let not my labour be lost behould them that looke on you who sweetly and gently looke on you what sonne are we Maniches are we Hobgoblings or Nodies What can you answere What eies will you lift vp against them You will say you did accuse none of them by name of this errour But what will you do when they shall answere we had rather your rayling teeth should teare our name then our fayth by the merit wherof of our names are written in heauen What sillogismes will you frame What will Aristotles logicke avayle you wherein you would faine shew your selfe skilfull that you may seeme an artificiall disputer against vs Will you dare to drawe your blade of brasse the leaden poyniards of your arguments (Å¿) TuoruÌ„ argumentorum vitrea acies vel plumbei pugiones in their presence What weapons will not tremble and sheuering for feare fall out of your hands (t) Quae abs te arma non fugient nudumque destitueÌ„t dauntted with the maiestie of soe graue a Senate Thus S. Augustine THE FOVRTH CHAPTER THE CHVRCHES PERPETVALL TRADITION to pray for Saints in Purgatory in the next life VVHERE your iâ—sts against the Churches Authorities and Scriptures against this Tradition are answered THAT short and pithy Treatise which you sought to disgrace with froathy lynes alleadged (a) l. 1. p. 1. c. 1. §. 4. for Purgatorie the custome of the Church to pray for the dead and their reliefe in the holy Sacrifice
cruelty not content to haue had the skins of those that would haue had yours you seeke also that their soules yea the soules of others that professe the same faith may be damned for the sinnes of those few Is this Protestant charitie Tantae ne animis caelestibus irae I cannot beleiue that indeed such barbarous desires lodge in your brest I thinke your passionate pen exceeded your angrie wishes yet you cannot deny but it was charity in me to wink at such vnworthy writing and notwithstanding your protested irreconciliable hatred against vs to vse you with all due respect not laying the blemishes to your Valour and Nobility which I might yea I let both your sword and your penne our professed enimies passe without touch yea rather with praise 7 Another tokeÌ„ could I alledg that you want knightly Prowesse namely your singuler dexterity in the vse of the feminine weapon A barking curre seldome bites scarce shall you find one valiant of his hands that doth delight to skirmish with words he semeth to want the courage of valiant Hector to fight in his owne defence that like snarling Hecuba seekes verball reuenge You cannot deny your barking language which as you shame not to professe in the title so likwise you fayle not to performe in your Treatise the first Paragraph wherof not able to number threescore lines chargeth the Church of Rome with all these reproaches Her artificiall shaddowes vgly shape counterfet colours wrinkled deformities bainfull lust forging and forcing the countenance of Antiquitie impious positions whorish practises vsurping impudency impudent vsurpation a shrewish distracted malecontent in her franticke mood pulling hailing spurning scratching tearing all that stands in her way though neuer so noble by descent eminent in place profound in Iudgment famous for â—â—â—rning skilfull in tongues that if they refuse to daunce a round in her Orgious Anticke she wil be sure they shal not passe without a broken head or blacke eie Her suborned Pandars whifling Agents venemous crudities maleuolous aspersions surfeyted stomakes infectious dregs and Hellish drugs cast out of her sulphurious pit 8. These and other snarles you sound out within the compasse of few lines if as you say (s) Counters p. 24. he which bringeth a great army into the feild without victuals or munition is like to goe by the worst you that muster an army of reproaches against the Church without the munition of any proofe without any bit of reason to maintaine and make them good what may you expect I feare you will goe by the worst title that men of your Order haue to be thought a taller man of your tougne then of your hands You make a long discourse of the (t) pag. 19. bushells of salt you eate in forreÌ„ countries Enumerat miles vulnera which made you so wise that you neuer ran on the pikes of needlesse dangers you speake much of your warres but litle of your wounds the cause wherof I do thinke was indeed your Heedines which I doe commend (v) p. 68. Periti bellatoris est non minùs scire fugiendi artem quà m pugnandi and allow that principle of valour you set downe in latin u that a good souldier should know as well how to runn away as to fight which I meane to practise if you challenge me to the field as the Poesy of your Snarle ComitaÌ„tur praelia praelum may seeme to threaten 9. I cannot think that your not being giuen to quarells is the reason you sleep in a sound skin except feare make your tongue lesse vnruly then your pen. You are ready to giue me the lye in defence of a Hang-man (x) pag. 16. because I said he put a Priest to death in Oxford you quarrell with me about a crabb (z) pag. 39. Doth he not deserue say you of me the wood of the crabb that is angry with the crabb of the wood I know not what should make such sowre stuffe so sweet to your mouth that you are iealous it should come nigh vnto mine that you seeme ready to giue me the bastinado for only naming the Crabb after you without adding any syllable of mine owne Well you see that I was sparing in my censure both of your witt and valour your Knighthood keeping my pen in awe that he who shall peruse my lines which you traduce as respectlesse will find I did not vtter one word without due regard of that Honorable Order I did forbeare to thrust at you because you were a Knight though you came on my pen still seeking some Minister on whome I might lay the wound of your inexcusable vntruthes 10. One thing you cannot brooke which I will not deny I spake as I well might without any disgrace to your Knight-hood or iniury vnto truth that I termed your Cursory lines so you name your elucubrations that you say smell of the lampe (a) p. 62. an vnlearned Letter You appeale to (b) p. 10. Parnassus and would wash away this staine with Helicons water you take Sanctuary amongst the sacred Sisters of vvhose familiarity you bragge that were it not that infirmity doth suppresse the virility of your spirit you could perhaps readily shew as many of their fauours as I can though I seeke and search all the corners of my deske I will not contend with you about Parnassus neyther do I enuy your familiarity with the Poeticall Sisters of Apollo his quire vnto whome though in my childehood I knew them yet since I could number thrice fiue yeares of my lyfe I haue bene a stranger my tyme hath bene spent and my delight settled in more worthy and grauer studdy of Philosophicall and Theologicall verities want of which in your cursory lines as you tearme them made me call them an vnlearned Letter and your appealing to Parnassus and bragging of the many fauours affoarded vnto you by the Sacred Systers cannot proue your said Letter to be learned in such sense as I tearmed it vnlearned 11. I would be loath to be so full as you seeme to be of those waters which flowe so fast from your penne as they ouerrun your paper your marginall verses drowning the truth of your text Sobrietie might smile to see the Poetrie of the one snarle at the Prose of the other though sometymes euen when they iarre most a man shall find truth in neyther The first sentence of your Snarle shal be witnesse thereof which may serue as a perspectiue vnto the rest there you say that heresie in all ages hath contriued artificiall shaddowes which your marginall muse gain-sayeth in a Latin verse Artibus impictas ingeniosa caret Importing that witty impiety wanteth art A manifest vntruth as the world knoweth yet no lesse notoriously false is your Prose that the countenance of venerable Antiquitie is the artificiall colour wherewith Heresie doth paint herselfe For that Heresie in former ages still disclaymed from venerable Antiquity still refused to stand to the Tradition of Ancestours still
varnished her wrincled deformityes with faire places of Scripture as is your Protestant practice you would not now be to learne were your knowledge in Ecclesiasticall Hystoryes equall to your skill in Poeticall fables Thus you fight with your text against your margent with your margent against your text with both against the truth nay sometymes your Muse is so madde that in a Poeticall fury she not only crosseth your text but also woundeth your honour Such are the verses you bestow on your Indian weed (d) pag. 38. foeda Tobacciferi quid vult contagio fumi Praeter inauditam per tua membra luem which verses may giue a shrewd suspition that you who haue byn a great friend therof are tainted with that infamous disease 12. But Syr the Learning with want wherof I charged your Letter is neyther Parnassian nor Poeticall nor prophane but sacred holy diuine which not Apollo but Christ teacheth water which not Helicon but Scripture yieldeth gotten not by light familiarity with sacred sisters but by diligent exact reading of Holy Fathers in whose writings what a straÌ„ger you are this my Letter will sufficieÌ„tly discouer It will appeare that you reuile the learned muses of the Christian Church whome you neuer read the doctrines which they most clearly deliuer you dare affirme were not taught but by Heathens Hobgoblius the interpretations they deriue from the foÌ„taine of Scripture you say were fecht from the pit of Hell These things shall be made cleare in the Chapters that follow now to dispach all your toyes before we enter into more serious matter I will shew the vanity of your weake assaults against my Treatise which you seeke to disgrace that the comparison of your pouerty with my (e) pag. 11. nullity may purchase you the title of mediocrity You tearme my booke a (f) pag. 5. little pretty Pigmey yet like one besieging a stronge fortresse you ride thrice about it seeking where you may make a breach to enter battering the lines therof first with flies then with fyes finally with lyes 13. First you search how often I haue named the fly or spider (g) pag. 12. noting in your margent that those two creatures one with the other haue beene forteene tymes put into my whole treatise together charging the same with soloecismes incongruities of speach iesting at a parenthesis which you call iobbing in my first sentence that many a good mans dogge say you hath broken his leg ouer a lesse stile I must confesse sir I doe not bumbast my bookes with your fustian phrases nor builde my stile as you do of strange trees cut from forraine forrests that sure I am none will acknowledge your language to be English except you get a Parliament to naturalize it My drift in writing is not to bee admired but vnderstood which makes mee not sticke to vtter my mind rather in a crabbed then a new created phrase thinking it lesse harme that a cauelling curre pricke his foote then any learned man breake his head To climbe vnto my meaning I am more curious that my doctrine bee true then my speach smooth thinking the booke written in a stile good inough when wordes are so laide in order lines drawne in such compasse that they keep iust proportion with their center to wit truth towardes which I did presuppose the hartes of those worthy Gentlemen vnto whome I wrote did so mainly incline that the thornes of my phrases had it beene more crabbed theÌ„ one iobbing parenthesis can make it would not hold them backe from perusing my Treatise Neyther can I say that therein I haue beene deceiued of my hope 14. But I haue bene you say h for want of a good mydwife fiue yeares in trauaile with my lisping Pigmey wheras you whelped in few months your snarling puppye to which I might answere that a hastie bich bringeth forth blind whelps The seeliest birds are soonest flush (i) Sanctius his animal mentisque capacius altae Natures perfectest worke in many yeares arriueth vnto mature ripenes Minerua's fruitfull plant is long a growing wheras many barren trees spring vp a pace Glauca salix properat sed multùm tardat oliua My fortune is not like yours to haue still a good midwyfe at hand the smoake of your chimney inuiting learned Ministers to your table who as you seeme to confesse (k) p. 61. lend you their helping-hand in the prompt deliuerie of your Impes Wherin you compare your selfe to Iupiter who was faine to send for Vulcan his hatchet before Pallas could come into the world without the help of these VulcaÌ„s their sharp hatchets that hewed it out of your head you might perchance haue bene more yeares in building your faire Pallas then I spent on my litle Pinnace though those that know me can tell that after I seriously vndertook the task I was not about it so many months as yow name yeares In busines of this nature I desire to make no more hast then good speed Sat citò si sat bene The thing is dispatched soone that is perfourmed well None are more subiect to shamefull falles then such as ride post as your cursorie lines seeme to doe in the slippery veyne of writing 15. I know the Fathers eye is a partiall â—udge in the beautie of his owne Childe yet you giue me good hope that my Creatures will not seeme deformed where learning with indifferencie shall passe her censure seeing your curious and carping sight which the least flye could not escape hath not bene able to shew therin any true fault Were not Canon-shot wanting to batter the sides of my Pinnace the substance of my discourse your (l) puerilis sane augusti pectoris reprehensio Arnob. l. 1. con gentes childish squibbs would not flye so fast at the saile of my stile you that accuse me of leaden art could you haue found in my answere leaden sentences to haue made bulletts against me you would not haue sought to cracke my credit with fourteen flyes with solaecismes incongruities of speach Sure I am the most iudicious Censurers esteeme some few such seeming faults not to be (m) vt facit factem naeuus quod dicitur venustioreÌ„ sic vitia quaedam orationis audiunt figurae ornamenta blemishes but rather ornaments in the purest writers both of the Latin and Grecian language The stile is childish which still feareth the rod not daring to depart one sillable from the rules of Grammar neither would you be so sollicitous about a Solaecisme were not the terrour of Eaton schoole still fresh in your memorie As in a consort of sweet voyces a discord now and then doth make the musick more pleasing so the (n) solaecismi sunt apud politissimos vtruisque lâ—nguae worthyest writers haue left some iobbs passe in their workes which do rather delight then offend a Iudicious reader Thus might I defend solaecismes and incongruities of speach which yet you