Yet for all this he sets downe a farre longer prayer then can be said at the verie point of time when the Soule is departing from the Body Yea and among the rest to lengthen it out he sets downe thirteene eiaculatorie Meditations and Prayers which he will haue said plainly distinctly and with some pawses So that of necessitie the Soule must bee departed before his prayers be halfe ended And what then Is that so great a matter thinke you His first printed Booke which is yet extant and walkes abroad wherewith Iesuites are mightily helped to draw on Disciples after them blusheth not to make a solemne prayer for the Soule and that expresly and distinctly after it is departed from the Body For after his Eiaculatories ending with Lord Iesus râ—ceiue my Spirit He putteth these words of direction next vnder And these to wit the foregoing eiaculatorie Meditations and Prayers to be repeated vntill the Soule be departed Well The Soule being now departed What then Then O Lambe of God that takest away the sinnes of the world grant him thy peace With this Prayer O Lord with whom doe liue the Spirits of them that dye and by whom the Soulâ—s of thy Seruants after they be deliuered from the burthen of this Flesh bée in perpetuall ioy and felicitie Wee most méekely beseech thée for this thy Seruant that hauing now receiued the absoluâ—um from all his sinnes which he hath committed in this world he may escape the Gates of Hell and the paynes of eternall darkenesse That he may for euer dwell with Abraham Isaack and Iacob in the Region of Light and thy blessed Presence where there is neither wéeping nor heauinesse And that when the dreadfull day of the generall Iudgement shall come he may rise againe with the Iust and receiue this dead Body which must now be buried in the Earth to be ioyned with his Soule and be made pure and incorruptible for euer after in thy glorious Kingdome for the merits of thy deare Sonne our Sauiour Iesus Christ Amen Thus runs the Prayer for the Dead word for word But here the PRINTER steps in and setting forth a second Impression he in an Epistle before the Booke styled The Printer to the Reader Excuses the Authour and verie courteously takes all the blame vpon himself Which he is the bolder to doe because this Booke is Censured as he tâ—rmeth rather through false reports and mistakings in them that either iudge before they see or out of disaffection make sinister construction of that which deserueth better vnderstanding and so good intentions are wrested and truth impeached Note here the fruit of the Authours Deuotions how soone they haue blindly led him into Errour which he desireth may be excused by his good intentions howsoeuer it goeth he meant no harme good man Which also the most ignorant Papist is able to plead for himselfe You must take his good meaning Well Let vs heare out his Apologie So hath it befallen this Hand-full of Collections for priuate Deuotions which was compiled out of sundry warranted Bookes c That 's something But out of what warranted Bookes could he collect or compile Prayer for the Dead That he might expile from Popish warranted Booke as out of the Romane Missal and the like wherewith the Authour seemes to be better acquainted then with GODS Booke So that I feare me some hath taught the PRINTER here to equiuocate a little But what followes It was for the priuate vse of an honourable well-disposed Friend He or She Protestant or Papist Or betweene both Or one whom the Authour by the vertue of this Booke was about to conuert to be a Roman Catholike yet being an honourable person it deserues some pardon for their honours sake Nay rather it is the more censurable that the author should dare to attempt to seduce any honourable personage vnder the colour of his painted-popish Deuotions But what more without any meaning to make the same publicke to the world This is one part of his good intentions Published it is but it was not his meaning How then Though to saue the labour and trouble of writing Copies to be sparingly communicated to some few friends a certaine number of them by leaue and warrant of the Ordinary were printed at the charge of the partie for whose onely vse the same was collected Good Pitty but such a Booke with such deuout prayers collected should be copied out and rather then faile for more expedition to be printed but to be sparingly O warily spoken to some and but some and those but a few friends One of the best reasons you gaue hitherto to extenuate the fault for the fewer were printed and the more sparingly and to the more few communicated the better But how comes it to be printed againe and againe and so lauishly communicated and dispersed euery where Is it not but by leaue and warrant of the Ordinary I assure you the author had extraordinary fauour to get the Ordinaries leaue and warrant for such a Popish Booke for beleeue me Orthodox Bookes and such as impugne Popery and Heresie and propugne the established Doctrine of the Church of England cannot haue the fauour to obtaine ordinary leaue and warrant to be printed but vpon to speake mildely extraordinary tearmes But goe on It hath therefore seemed good to AVTHORITY to giue leaue to the reprinting thereof and permitting the same to be sold to such as please to buy it onely for priuate vse as in former times way hath beene giuen to the printing of priuate Prayer-Bookes Stay there Me thinkes Mr Printer you begin to gather a great deale of confidence already I pray you if I may be so bold what authority is that which you so boldly build vpon and which you put in such Capitall Characters as if you would affright the Reader withall But good Subiects and honest men obey honour reuerence loue Authority are not terrified with it It is for such Printers that are so ready to print Mountebanke Arminianisme and cosâ—ning Popery as you haue done to be frighted with Authority for it carrieth not the sword for naught But if thou dost euill feare Did you neuer heare of one Tucker a printer in Queene Elizabeths raigne who for printing a Booke of Popish Deuotion was arraigned and though the Queens mercy saued his life yet he was confined to perpetuall imprisonment Yet you feare not not only to print reprint but to sell your booke to euery buyer to some who exchange it also for all other bookes which a little before was thought fit onely to communicate and but sparingly to some few friends being set forth at first onely for the vse of the party that bore the charge But do you make no more difference betweene this Popish booke of priuate Deuotions and other priuate prayer bookes formerly printed by Authority and as good Authority as you can bring any in this Church I pray you how long haue you beene a Mr. Printer But
fashion of Refection 〈◊〉 in the Licentiousnesse of drunken Songs And ibid It is questioned whither a man must not fast on the Sabbath but not whither he must not reuell it on the Sabbath which neither is done on the Lords day of those that feare God although they fast on that day And deuout Bernard Obserue the Sabbath which is to exercise thy selfe in the Holy-dayes so as by the Râ—st present thou mayest learne to hope for that which is eternall And that a prophane person may not flatter himselfe as though his voluptuous keeping of the Sabbath may teach him to hope for those eternall and true ioyes in heauen Heare the same Bernard or rather Gillibert whose Sermons are added to fill vp Bernards vpon the Canticles inserted in Bernards workes where mentioning Esay 58. hee saith Non dicit c. He saith not onely that the Sabbath is a Delight but he addeth And Holy and Glorious to the Lord that these things may not bee in the confusion of thy Glory Non sit desidiosum Sabbatum tuum operare in Sabbato tuo opera Dei Let not thy Sabbath bee idly spent but in thy Sabbath worke the workes of God Opus Dei in die siâ—o And surely the Lords day is not called so for nought If it be Christs day sanctified and founded in his Resurrection as S. Augustine saith then what workes are proper for that day whereby it may bee sanctified of vs and wee of it but such as are the fruits of those that are risen with Christ from the graue of sin to newnesse of life and not those which with the swinâ— would lead vs backe to our wallowing in the mire And is not the hearing and meditating of Sermons a speciall part of the sanctification of the Lords day How come we to be sanctified but by the word of God Sanctify them with thy truth thy word is the truth saith Christ. And as we noted before that Deuotion is blind whose lampe is emptie of oyle to supply the light A plaine argument that the Authors whole booke of Deuotion is but a meere counterfeit And to inuy or inueigh against the due sanctification of the Lords day what is it but to raze the very foundation whereon all true religion is built To heare Sermons and not to meditate of them is to receiue water into a Sieue to be an vncleane creature that chowes not the cudde to receiue the seed vpon the highway side where it being vnharrowed and vncouered is by the fowles of the ayre that fowle spirit that raignes in the ayre and in the vnsetled hearts of aery and windy braines to be deuoured The Lords day is the Marketday of our foules He that stands idle in the marketplace is justly reproued Or he that buyes those spirituall commodities needfull for his soule in hearing of the word and goes presently and squanders it away and brings it not home to dispose of it for his weekely vses is an vnprouident housekeeper a prodigall vnthrift of grace because he heares not for afterwards for the time to come Such are they that either are carelesse of hearing the Word or when they haue heard goe and dance it away about the May-pole or walke and talke it away in idle prate or any kind of prophane or profuse recreation Those are like the Wolfe who neuer attaine to any more learning of God then to spell Pater but when they should come to put together and to apply it to their soules in stead of Pater they say Agnus their mindes and affections running a madding after the profits and pleasures of the world Such are enemies to all Godlinesse and expresse their enmitie in nothing more then in their proâ—anation of the Lords Holy-Day If any man would know of 〈◊〉 estate and condition of any Parish in generall in 〈◊〉 Land whether it bee religious or no let him buâ—â—â—quire what conscience they make of the due sanctification of the Lords day That 's the true touchstone of a truely religious man And although all are not that sincerely whereof they make outward profession for there will euer be some hypocrites among sound Professors yet none can be a true and sound Christian who makes not speciall conscience of a religious and sober keeping of the Lords day For this day well kept sanctifies to a man the whole weeke The seuenth day sanctifieth our six as the tenth of our goods doth all the other nine As Elias his meate made him strong to trauell forty dayes and forty nights to Horâ—bâ— so the hearing and meditating of sound Sermons on the Lords day ministers strength to our soules to serue God all the weeke in our particular Callings But I may not transgresse the bounds of my proposed breuity For Conclusion of the Commandements among other offenders against the sixt Commandement he reckoneth those that be sowers of strife and sedition among any men whatsoeuer Now how farre the Author is guilty hereof or whether he may not merit to be put in the forefront with the most grand Authors of strife and sedition not onely to set priuate men together by the eares but the whole Church and state of England in a most fearefull hurly-burly and combustion I referre to all wise men to judge that doe but read this most pernitious pestilent and Popish Booke As it followeth Of the Sacraments of the Church What Sacraments trow we are these The Sacraments of the Church This is written I am sure fiylo 〈◊〉 This title is no where learned but from the Church of Rome from the Councell of Trent and from the shop of Iesuiticall Catechists He learned not this of his Mother Church of England if so he account her his Mother and not rather that other Church to which he intitles his Sacraments for the Church of England sets downe the title simply Of the Sacraments saying also Sacraments ordained of Christ. So that she intitles the Sacraments vnto Christ the sole Author of them But let vs heare what those Sacraments of the Church be or how many Namely Two and Fiue which put together as euery Arithmetician can tell make seuen Now England thou art come to thy seuen Sacraments againe This euery Papist can now bragge off And haue they not reason for there is more in it then the bringing of vs backe to the seuen Sacraments againe he would hereby knit vs fast againe to be one Church with the Church of Rome For these seuen Sacraments he calls the Sacraments oâ— the Church Oâ— what Church surely no Church euer held seuen Sacraments but the Church of Rome nor doe I read of seuen Sacraments beâ—ore Peter Lombard set them downe All the ancient Fathers knew but two Saint Ambrose writing six bookes of the Sacraments could find but two The Greeke Church neuer held but two yet saith our Author the Church holdeth them yea the Catholicke Church of Christ as before in his Preface Whereupon here he concludes
first and second Impressions Now reading ouer diligently both the Bookes I find no difference at all betweene them but only about Prayer for the Dead which we last touched And there we caÌ„not come to discerne your escapes better then by setting downe so much of both the Copies one against the other as is requisite at least for the more full satisfaction of all well disposed Christians The first Impression Lord Iesus receiue my spirit And these to bée repeated vntill the soule be departed Then O thou Lamb of God c. The second Impression Lord Iesus receiue my spirit And these with the prayers following to be repeated vntill the soule be departed O thou Lamb of God c. Here wee obserue a huge difference betweene your Impressions And is this but an Escape or ouersight Certainly it is a very monstrous one and such as a man in his right wits could not easily commit vnlesse in some sit eyther of drunkennesse or madnesse But I spare you Let vs compare the rest With this Prayer O Lord with whom doe liue the Spirits of them that dye c. O Lord with whom dâ—e liue the Spirits of them that dye c. And a little after towards the end And that when the dreadfull day of the generall Iudgement shall come he may rise againe with the just and receiue THIS DEAD BODY which must now be buryed in the earth to bée joyned with his soule and â—e made pure and incorruptible for euer after in thy glorious Kingdome c. And that when the dread-day of the generall judgement shall come he may rise againe with the iust his body being reunited to his soule pure and incorruptible and be receiued into thy gâ—orious Kingdome c. Now Mr. Printer I will not alone take vpon me to judge of these your escapes but rather I referre you to the whole Bench of the most judicious and learned yea and those graue and honourable Sages of the Councell-board Onely this I dare say peremptorily that in the first impression there is an expresse and formall prayer for the Dead but in the second it is qualified and corrected and the case quite altered And yet is all this but an escape of the Printer or ouersight of the Corrector But was not the Author himselfe the Corrector was not his naturall affection earnestly busied in licking his young Beere while it past the Presse and receiued the perfect forme Or being an escape of the Printer how came not the Author himselfe or some of those his neere and deare friends for him first to espy the faults and so to haue them corrected before they came to be found out by others For surely he and his had reason first to read ouer that priuate first impression before it should come to open view it being a booke not of an ordinary stampe and which for the admirable ouerdaring of it was like to runne a most desperate hazzard But it seemeth they would put it to a hazzard They imagined that haply it might passe vnespied and then all would haue beene well enough and you might haue spared your labour of printing your Epistle Apologeticall before the second Impression But yet Mr. Printer you should haue done well which would the more haue cleered the credit of your excuse taking all the blame from the Author to haue cancelled all that Paper beginning O Lord with whom do liue c. Vnto these words Wee most meekely c. Putting all those first six lines among your Errata or Escapes For so much is a part of a gratulatory Collect vsed in the Communion Booke at the Buriall of the dead So that vnlesse this prayer stand still in force for a prayer for the Dead as it was in the first Impression it is very improper for your second and corrected Booke For euen your owne reason Mr. Printer may induce you to thinke that it is improper to vse a Collect for a mans buriall for him that is yet aliue vnlesse you would bury the man quicke And therefore me thinkes you were very ill aduised and seeme to haue for hast committed another fowle escape in that you did not thorowly aduise with your Author about a more exact correction of your escapes that so the booke vpon second and more mature cogitations might haue passed currant aboue all exception to the better satisfaction of all well disposed Christians But did you consult with your Author before you set vpon your correction It may be feared noe Otherwise it is hoped that the Author and his learned friends would haue thought better of the matter then to haue suffered such an absurdity to stand still in the Booke and that vpon a solemne correction And therefore what if they come vpon you and disauoning it themselues lay a further blame vpon you then hitherto you haue taken to your selfe For besides that such an improprietie brings their judgement in question they may seeme to take vpon them to be Innouators turning the Collects which the Church of England hath appointed for the publike buriall of the dead to the priuate visitation of the liuing sicke So that Mr. Printer for all your Apologies and Protestations it is to be feared that your Author will disclaime this your correction as not done by his direction but of your owne head it being left so full of Non sensâ—s and Non sequiturs And what if he shall call in this your corrected Booke and either put out those six lines or else bring his Authoritie for the first to stand in full force and then all will hold a due â—immetry and proportion It will then be the more tollerable to borrow a peece of the Church Collect being a thankesgiuing at the buriall of the Dead turne it into a prayer priuate at least for the dead then to vse it for the liuing But how it was shuffled vp among you you can best tell But tell me in good sadnesse Mr. Printer are you perswaded that any man but of common sense giues any credit to your Epistle Or do you thinke your selfe euer a whit the wittier or learneder that like a Parrot you haue powred it out being infused into you But Dignum patellâ Operculum Will any trow you take these grosse alterations and cobled breakes for Escapes of the Printer Neuer so befoole your selfe Notwithstanding one thing remaines vnaltered that in the same prayer he placeth the soules of Abraham Jsaac and Jacob in a certaine place which he calls the region of light but at the resurrection he allowes them Gods glorious Kingdome This Region of light in his prayer for the dead vnaltered may well be taken for some Limbus patrum different from Gods glorious Kingdome in the resurrection And Limbus and prayer for the Dead will well sort together But to returne to the rest of your Epistle I pray you goe on where we left You see what a trouble your Escapes haue put vs too Onely the Collector hereof and
the Authors will not acknowledge it an errour but put it vpon the Printer But the thing it selfe cryes shame vpon the authors of such iuggling tricks And if there had not beene some maleuolent dispositions in the world to quarrell such impious affronts giuen to Christ and his blessed truth maintained in the Church of England there had not beene so much as one word amisse being all so exactly waighed in the Goldsmiths ballance before it came to bee minted for currant then prayer for the dead would haue passed for a doctrine of the Church of England But maleuolent dispositions haue troubled and marred all But it was nothing but the misprision of a word or two aâ— liable to a faiâ—e and lawfull vnderstanding as otherwise Indeed if so such dispositions cannot bee excused from maleuolency if they judge not chariâ—ably where there is no cause to the contrary Euer take a mans meaning rather with the right hand then with the left if it bee capable of a good instruction But â—ere the quarrell is not about the slip of a word but of a positiue false doctrine The question is whether prayer for the dead may not be taken as well in a good sense as in a bad Charity being judge Yes if blind popish Charity may be judge Nor is it a word or two but a whole solemne prayer of many words and sentences wherein the state of the dead is deuoutly prayed for and that in expresse words After the soule is departed Then O LAMBE OF GOD c. and That he may receiue this body How are these things as liable to a faire and charitable vnderstanding as otherwise Vnlesse it bee a charitable worke to pray for our deare brother after his soule is departed from the body that in his passage betweene earth and heauen which is a farre journey he may not misse or mistake his way by falling into the Pit of Hell or Purgatory Or what faire and charitable vnderstanding are these words liable to when after our dead brother hath receiued a formall absolution from all his sins which he hath committed in this life yet he hath need to be prayed for that he may escape the gates of Hell and the paines of eternall darkenesse What other construction can be made of â—hese words if Charity her selfe were the judge but â—hat according to the doctrine of that Church which â—olds Purgatory after this life and after absolution from a mans sins which Church our Author all along this booke of Deuotions graceth with the name of the one and onely Holy Catholicke Church the Mother of vs all c the soule being in danger to go into purgatory for all his Absolution shadowed heere out by the Gates of hell and the paines of eternall darkenesse close vnto which as it seemeth the soule passing may be in danger to fall therein Therefore the Author deuoutly prayeth that in his paâ—â—age to heauen he may escape the gates of hell and the paines of eternall darkenesse Nor need the Authors impute it to a maleuolent disposition to expound the gates of Hell and the paines of eternall darkenesse of Purgatory especially of finding them wrapped vp mistically in an expresse prayer for the dead But if the Author or any of his consorts can make a more â—haritable vnderstanding of this prayer for the dead we will giue them a charitable hearing But being vnderstood in the worst sense it doth say you not onely loose the thankes due for all the good contained in the worke but c. That were great pitty that so much good as is contained in this worke should be all lost by loosing the due thankes and all by the mistaking of a word or two let fall too but by a slip or misprision But for all that let not the Pretence or good opinion of the good contained in this worke so farre charme our affection to it as thereby to be drawne to take downe withall the poison contained therein as in a mingled golden Cup. It is Scaligers note that Malum non est nisâ—â— boâ—o The originall nature of the Deuill is good wherein all his wickednesse subsisteth But is euery booke to be inrertained for the much good though the Printer say All the good as if it were all good except the slip or misprision of a word or two as liable notwithstanding to a faire and charitable vnderstanding as otherwise contained in it Why The Roman Missall or Maâ—le booke hath much good contained in it in so much as when a motion was made to the Pope to haue it translated into the Mother tongue for all countries he answered Not so least the â—lies to wit the common people should come to taste of the good ointment Yea the Turkes Alcaron hath much good contained in it Are these bookes therefore to be approuâ—d in the true Church of God When one highly commended the Cardinall Iulian to Sigismund he answered Tâ—â—en Româ—nus est And though the Authors predicate neuer so much good to be contained in this booke of priuate Deuotions yet we may answer Tamen Romanus est It is a Romish booke for all that And let me tell you Mr. Printer and so tell your Author that the more he commends all the good contained in this worke the more pernicious and perilous he makes it to our simpler people Satan is neuer more dangerous then when he comes transformed into an Angell of â—igâ—t And that poyson proues the most speedingly mortall that is administred in a cup of the best wine which being of a more penetrating and searching nature then other duller liquor conueyes the poyson into euery vaine of the body spurring the spirits post to their finall period A booke of Deuotion is a golden cup of sprightfull wine pleasant to euery palate but if it be mingled with poison it is the more dangâ—rous especially to vulgar palates who want the quicke and acute judgement oâ—â—ast and relish to discerne it primoribus labris at the first touch taste or sent which as the best and safest antidote may preuent the taking of it downe And so the case standeth with this worke Mr. Printer that the better it is the worse it is â—ith vnder the colour oâ— venerable Devotion that execrable strumpet of Rome vaiâ—ed and hoâ—ded vnder the name of The Church The Church The Holy Catholicke Church the Mother of vs all which is the maine summe and scope of the Authors Deuotion is obtruded and thrust vpon vs to inchant and charme euen those who should be most vigilant and most oculated Aâ—gusses among vs. But besides the good losâ— it doth also say you purhcase to â—he 〈◊〉 nor a reproachfull imputatiâ—â— of way mâ—kiâ—g to Popish Deuotion and apish imitation of Romish superstition If the Author hath purchasâ—d to himselfe such an Imputation it is all at â—is owne cost he hath payd or it and who shall deny it to be due vnto him as his peculiar chattell Yea he hath bought it at a deare