of Faith because it is not a matter altogether so necessary for all men and because for this reason peradventure it is omitted in the Nicen Creed the knowledge of which Creed seemeth to be sufficient for fulfilling the Precept of Faith Lastly for this cause peradventure Augustine and other of the Fathers expounding the Creed doe not vnfold this mystery vnto the people Thus he But perhaps your Author hath reason for what he saies Certainly none at all Only he rakes together all the vehement and passionate speeches whatsoever hee can finde to haue passed from any of our pens in heat of contention to worke all the disgrace he can vpon vs. And if any of vs for proofe of his Conclusion draw his Argument from an Article of Faith then shall say as sometimes through too much eagernesse men vse to doe the Controversie is about such an Article loe saith your Author by and by a difference in matters Essentiall and Fundamentall whereas notwithstanding we all agree in the Article and the difference lies only in the Conclusion And seeing in all disputations it is the manner to fetch proofs from common Principles assented vnto on all sides what folly is it leaving the Question in debate to make that the matter of controversie wherein we all perfectly accord If any in pursuing their quarrels haue suffered themselues to bee transported with passion farther then becomes Christian charitie I acknowledge humane infirmitie vndertake not to defend them Yet you may knowe that others haue proceeded much farther For in that of Theophilus Patriarch of Alexandria and Epiphanius B. of Cyprus against Chrysostome they grew to such violence that Epiphanius and he cursed one the other many were slaine in taking of parts the Cathedral Church of Constantinople and the Senate house were burned to the groūd Chrysostome himselfe lost both his Bishopricke and life in banishment Which made Baronius beginning to entreat thereof to vse these words A shamefull contention in the Church the lamentable narration whereof I now take in hand wherein shall bee described the bickering and cursed persecution not of Gentiles against Christians or Hereticks against Catholikes or wicked men against good iust men but which is monstrous and prodigious of Saints and holy men one against another But what is there all peace in the Romish Church no quarrell no contention at all So would your lying Masters haue all their credulous schollers to beleeue though all the world knowe to the contrary For haue there not beene therein about thirtie Schismes and some of them continuing many yeares together wherein Pope hath beene against Pope one thundring excommunications against another and by their factions renting the whole Christian world asunder Haue there not beene long quarrells betweene the Franciscans and Dominicans about the Conception of the blessed Virgin Mary Doth the Church of France at this day admit of the Councel of Trent which you count the chiefest stake in your hedge Was there not of late a foule bickering betweene the state of Venice and the Pope about the power hee would haue vsurped over them I suppose you are not such a stranger in England but you may haue heard of the infamous dissentions betweene the Secular Priests and Iesuits Which themselues were not ashamed to publish to the world For a tast thus say the Seculars of the Iesuits and you may assure your selfe they were repaid in their owne coine Howsoeuer Iesuits talke of their perfections holinesse and meditations exercises yet their plat-forme is heathenish tyrannicall satanicall and able to set Aretine Lucian Machiavel yea Don Lucifer in sort to schoole It seemeth impossible for Antichrist to invent a more sleightie plausible and colourable devise nor with greater art more cunning tricks bring it about to make him be credited then the Iesuits haue invented and put in practise Iesuits teach that the Catholique Church must now hang vpon the Monarchie of K. Philip and his heires A Iesuit maintained that a man that is no Christian may be Pope There is not a Iesuit nor a Iesuits fautor any where to bee found but hath a foule tast of Atheisme Iesuits impudence to deny all truths against them as lies obiect any slaunderous lie as a truth The Pope said of them that on the one side they pretended piety and zeale and on the other shewed the very spirit of the Divell in pride contumacy and contradiction c. They haue three maxims times are changed and wee are changed in them all for the time and nothing for the truth divide and rule Of Father Parsons also thus in particular A bastard vnhonestly begot basely borne a Wolsey in ambition a Midas in Mundicity a traitor in action The villany of this bastardly Renegate Parsons cursed be the houre wherein he was borne the sonne of sinne of iniquity of sacrilege of the people of the Divell The great Emperour illegitimate irregular abstract quintessence of all coines coggeries and forgeries Parsons the bastard of Stockersey O monster of mankinde fitter for Hell then middle earth Thou giuest occasion to divers to thinke thou art not a meere man but some Fairy-brat begotten by an Incubus or Aërish spirit vpon the body of a base woman I might be infinite in this kind but this is enough to let you see that all the distemper lies not on our side but that your very ring-leaders can outrage one another and farre exceed vs in bitternesse and tartnesse And least you should thinke that all your quarrells are rather about by matters then in points of Doctrine know that herein also you are miserably distracted and divided Your ancient Schoolemen Thomas Scotus Durandus Occam and the rest what almost doth any one of them say but is straight gainsayed by another Is it not ordinary also with your new writers Bellarmine Suares Gregory of Valentia Stapleton and others one to controll and confute the others opinions Bozius saith Warmington blameth many excellent Divines namely Bellarmine calling them new Divines and teachers of false Doctrine The Vulgar translation of the Bible I suppose is made Authenticall by your Trent Fathers yet saith the Iesuit Mariana there hath beene of Late especially in Spaine such disputation moued about it among Divines and pursued with such heat and eagernesse and implacable hatred on each side that from reproaches and contumelies wherewith they disgraced one the other they came at length vnto the tribunalls and that side which was most confident vexed their adversaries most greevously accusing them in point of religion as wicked proud arrogant such as boldly elevate the authority of the bookes of God and the credit of that interpretation which the Church every where vseth and is tearmed Vulgar preferring and bringing in new interpretations contrary to the Lawes both of God and man and the decrees of the Tridentine Councell not long since published And now at this instant what deadly warres are
glorie thereof one of the Word another of the Flesh. The glorie of the Word standeth in two things first that hee is the eternall Sonne of the eternall Father begotten after an vnspeakable manner of his owne substance and therefore the brightnesse of his glory and the expresse image of his Person A name too excellent for the Angells themselues For neuer did the Father say to any of them Thou art my sonne this day haue I begotten thee Secondly that being so begotten hee is consubstantiall and coequall with his Father neither counteth he it robbery to bee equall with him For though he be the Sonne and not the Father yet being of the same Substance hee is one and the same God with him and may iustly challenge vnto himselfe the fulnesse of the Deitie as farre forth as the Father A glory infinitely transcending that of any creature The glorie of his Flesh is likewise double of Assumption and Communication Of Assumption by which it was taken into the divine nature For as soone as it began to haue being in the wombe of the blessed virgin it was prevented from subsisting in it selfe and was drawne into the vnitie of the Person of the Sonne of God eternally to subsist therein The highest dignitie that a creature can aspire vnto That of Communication is whereby glorious things are communicated vnto his humane nature And it is either Personall or Habitual Personall is that whereby as the nature of man is truely giuen to the Person of the Sonne so the Person of the Sonne is truely communicated vnto the nature of man Wherevpon because in the Person of the Sonne is the fulnesse of all perfection and all the essentiall attributes of the Deitie as namely Omniscience omnipotence omnipresence and the rest therefore doe wee say that all these attributes and that fulnesse of perfection are communicated also vnto the Manhood Howbeit not Physically and by effusion as if the same properties which are in God should formally and subiectiuely be in man as heat transfused from the fire is inherent in the water For that which is infinite cannot bee comprehended of that which is finite How then Personally in the sonne of God So that by reason of the hypostaticall vnion there is such a reall communion betweene them that the sonne of man is truly the Sonne of God and consequently also Omniscient omnipotent omnipresent and the rest The want of due consideration hereof was it that bred that monster of Vbiquitie and that great quarrell betwixt vs and the Saxon Churches Communication habituall is that whereby the fulnesse of grace was bestowed vpon him to be subiectiuely and inherently in his Flesh. And this is the glory of his Vnction For the spirit of the Lord rested vpon him the spirit of wisdome and vnderstanding the spirit of counsell and might the spirit of knowledge and of the feare of the Lord. By this Spirit was he annointed with the oile of gladnesse aboue his fellowes yea he receiued the spirit without measure or limit both for the essence vertue thereof intensiuely and extensiuely to all effects and purposes both for himselfe and others So that in his Will there was perfect iustice without taint or staine in his Minde perfect wisdome and knowledge both Beatificall whereby he saw God farre more clearly then any other as being more neerely vnited vnto him and Infused whereby he knew all heauenly and supernaturall verities which without the revelation of grace cannot bee knowne yea Acquisite and Experimentall also whereby hee knew all whatsoeuer by the light of reason and nature might bee knowne So that he was ignorant of nothing which hee ought to know or might make to his full happinesse And this was his Habituall glory Now the Glory of his Office breefely was to be the Mediator betweene God and Man An office of so high a nature that it could bee performed by none but only him who was both God and Man For herevnto it was necessary that he should be a Prophet a Priest and a King A Prophet as an Arbiter to take knowledge of the cause quarrell depending betweene them and as an Internuntius or legate to propound expound the conditions of peace that are to be concluded vpon A Priest to be an Intercessor and to make interpellation for the party offending and then to be a Fideiussor or Surety making satisfaction to the party for him A King hauing all power both in heauen and earth to keepe and preserue the Church so reconciled in the state of grace to tread downe vnder his feete all the enimies thereof Wondrous Glory and farre aboue that of any creature And this is the Glory he was already possessed of Wanted he yet any further Glory yes verily and that in regard both of his Divine and Humane nature Of his Divine for the Word had now emptied himselfe of his glory Emptied himselfe I say not simply and absolutely for he could no more in such sort abdicate his glory then cease to be himselfe it being essentiall vnto him and his very selfe but oeconomically and dispensatiuely vailing couering it vnder the cloud of his flesh For if as St Leo saith the exinanition of the divine Maiesty was the advancement of the servile forme vnto the highest pitch of honour then by like proportion the advancement of the servile forme was the exinanition of the divine Maiesty This Exinanition or Emptying of himselfe was in his Incarnation conception nativity obedience actiue to the law of nature as being the sonne of Adam and to the law of Moses as being the sonne of Abraham Passiue in suffering hunger and cold and wearinesse a thousand sorrowes wherevnto the infirmity of his flesh was subiect In this state Christ now stood neither had he as yet recovered the Glory whereof he had emptied himselfe nay he was not as yet come to the lowest degree of his humiliation For though they were instant and nere at hand yet his agonie his sweating of bloud his arraignment his crosse his death his emprisonment in the graue were not yet come All which did more more eclipse the glory of his Deity so that this Glory of the word as yet he wanted In regard of his Humane nature hee had not yet deposed humane infirmities as hunger thirst feare sorrow anguish and the like Neither had hee obtained incorruption impassibility immortality nor that glorious purity strength agility clarity of the body which he expected together with the fulnesse of inward ioyes and comforts in the Soule Adde herevnto that the actions of his mediation namely of his Prophecy Priesthood and Kingdome had not nor could not bee hitherto performe gloriously but only in such an humble manner as suted with the state of humiliation in which presently he stood To make all plaine though as the Schoole speaketh he were Comprehensor in termino affectione iustitiae yet he was viator extraterminum
our minds should continually be taken vp To bend our eyes toward heauen and fixe our hearts vpon earth is a fouler solecisme in religion then that stage-player committed in action who when he said O heaven pointed to the earth and when O earth pointed vnto heaven Eies likewise that are vnchast full of lust how dare they looke vp vnto that holy place or that holy one that dwelleth therein As pure hands so pure eyes are to be lifted vp else shall our prayer be turned into sinne vnto vs. Such hands such eyes wee cannot haue vntill the heart be sanctified If that be cleane the eyes are cleane also and we may boldly advance them towards the throne of grace not wavering or doubting but stedfastly beleeuing wee shall obtaine what we aske The same Spirit that perswades vs to crie Abba Father testifieth of the Fathers loue and warranteth vs with confidence to repaire vnto him Et quid negabit qui iam dedit filios esse What will he deny who hath already vouchsafed vs the Adoption of Sonnes Nay quid negabit qui filium nobis dedit Haueing giuen vs his Sonne how can he but with him giue vs all things Indeed considering our owne vilenesse and the glorious Maiesty of God it is reason wee should cast downe our eyes and approach vnto him with feare and trembling Howbeit as hee said Qui apud te Caesar audet dicere maiestatem tuam nescit qui non audet nescit humanitatem so say I whosoeuer dares to present himselfe before God knowes not the greatnesse of his Maiestie but whosoeuer knoweth his facility and louing kindnesse needs not feare boldly to lift vp his eyes vnto the hils from whence his helpe cometh And if such confidence may be vsed in Private Prayer how much more in the publike congregation of the Saints For a three-fold cord is stronger then a single to draw downe the blessings of God from heaven And so many congregations are so many armies as it were offering such violence vnto the kingdome of God and with such importunatenesse assaulting him that it is impossible for them to be repulsed They therefore are much to be blamed who neglect I had almost said despise the assembly of Gods people preferring their owne private devotions vnto the publike Liturgy of the Church Of whom I say no more but this it is much to be feared least they that doe so pray with more pride and hypocrisie then true devotion when they are at home But de gestu oculorum of the gesture of his eyes so much Sermo oris the speech of his mouth followeth He lifted vp his eyes to heaven and said The Prayer was vocall and yet in regard of God voice needed not The Prayers of Hannah of Moses of Nehemiah were Mentall only yet God heard them If he were such a God as Baall of whom the Prophet Elias jestingly said Cry aloud for hee is a God either he is talking or he is pursuing or he is in a iourney or peradventure he sleepeth and must be awaked then speech happily might be necessarie But our God knoweth what is in man and needeth not that any should testify of man He discerneth the thoughts and intents of the heart and all things are open yea he knowes thoughts long before they be conceiued Neverthelesse this example of our Saviour Christ manifestly sheweth that Vocall prayer is also convenient yea in some cases necessary In publike Prayer and when wee pray with others as now our Saviour did with his Disciples speech is necessarie Else how shall the rest consent and say Amen therevnto Expedient also it is in regard of the Angels both good and evill The good for as our Repentance so our devout Prayers also doe much reioice them The evill for as a Father saith Confitearis Deum apud te vt Diaboli audiant circa te contremiscant propter te confesse God that the Divils may heare which are about thee and tremble because of thee Neither is it inconvenient in respect of our selues And first to discharge the debt we owe vnto God offering vnto him the Calues of our lips For the tongue was created to blesse God withall And as Beleeuing is of the heart so ought we also to confesse with the mouth Againe to stirre vp the more devotion in Prayer For as St Augustine saith Affectus cordis verbis excitatur orantis care of speech restraines the wandring of the minde and the more vehement and significant the words are the more is the heart affected Lastly because of the redundance of the affections vpon the body For as a vessell full of new wine will burst with the working thereof except it be vented so is it with vs in our strong passions vntill they be vttered While David held his peace hee was much troubled his heart was hot within him and the fire burned vntill hee spake with his tongue When his heart was replenished with ioy then his glory that is his tongue also reioiced And our Saviour Christ in the daies of his flesh because of his vehement sorrowes and feares offered vp Prayers and supplications with strong crying and teares And thus you see both what necessity and expedience there is of Vocall prayer But this is not all our blessed Saviour had a further aime in it when he thus prayed He vttered it by word of mouth not only for the present comfort of those that heard him but as I conceiue that it might be registred and recorded as a perpetuall Canon of that glorious Intercession which he maketh for his Church in heauen For although it were deliuered here on earth yet it pertaineth to the state of glory also and therefore would our Saviour haue it registred both that from hence the Saints might deriue sound comfort and consolation vnto their soules and bee furnished of a true patterne of Prayer with what wisdome sobriety and convenient brevitie they are to speake vnto God So that this Prayer is of singular vse in the Church and will bee throughout all generations for ever more But I presse this point no further All which hath beene said touching it I thus apply First it maketh for the comfort of plaine and simple yet honest minded people that although they haue but little skill to set words and formally to deliver their minds yet their Mentall Prayers and short Eiaculations are pleasing and acceptable vnto God God forbid it should be otherwise For in the approach of death when sicknesse hath sealed vp our lips or in the time of persecution when tyrants bereaue vs of our tongues haue we together with the losse of speech lost also ability to pray No verily For though with Moses wee sâ—y nothing yet our thoughts may cry so loud in the eares of God that he may say vnto vs as sometimes hee did vnto Moses Quid clamas ad me why dost thou
evills that befall them vnto the godly as in old time the gentiles did to the Christians and nowadaies Papists doe to Protestants ingratitude in requiting the much good they enioy by them with nothing else but hatred and persecution Well doth Solomon confound Fooles and Wicked for were not wicked men meere fooles they would neuer thus malice their best friends nor seeke to destroy them by whom themselues are preserved from destruction For certainly will they nill they sapiens est stulti redemptio the wise man is the fooles ransome as saith Philo and iust men are the pillers of the house the brazen walls of a country the charets and horsemen of a nation without whom the world is but a stage of vanity a cage of vncleane birds cannot long subsist Wherefore although to our griefe we see wicked men too thicke sowne among vs yet because so many good men are mingled with them let vs reioyce and be glad giue God hearty thankes for them hoping that while they continue with vs Gods blessing shall continue vpon vs also And when it shall please him to translate any of them from hence let vs solicite him with our devoutest prayers vt vno avulso suppullulet alter Aureus simili frondescat virga metallo the one branch being pluckt off another golden one may grow vp in the place thereof for the perpetuation of his favours towards vs. Secondly doth God in executing iudgement distinguish betweene good and bad sparing the one and punishing the other here is a right precedent for you my Lords and other iudges and rulers of the land to imitate Yee are in scripture stiled Gods and in this principally are yee to resemble God Ye are carefully to separate betwixt the pretious and the vile not so as to iustifie the wicked and to condemne the innocent for both are an abomination to the Lord saith Solomon but to punish the evill doers and to praise them that doe well for to this end are ye sent as St Peter saith There is no greater cause either of apostasie in the Church or of sedition in the commonwealth then when they that deserue well of both are vilipended or neglected and lewd vnworthy men are honoured with the reward due vnto vertue Oh therefore let vertuous worthy men find grace in your eyes let them in the name of God be cherished and countenanced by you ever remēbring that they are the meanes of much good vnto the place where they liue As for wicked men bend your browes vpon them and as they deserue it let them feele the edge of your sword Pinguior victima mactari Deo non potest quam homo sceleratus a fatter sacrifice can yee not kill vnto God then a wicked man If yee spare him yee spare not your owne selues judex ipse damnatur cum nocens absolvitur the iudge himselfe is condemned when the guilty person is absolved And seeing so many Amorites yet remaining in the land they now begin to pricke sorer in our sides then heretofore hoping for a linsey wolsey Church at least ere long it is high time for you to looke carefully herevnto Tranquillitas est vbi solus Petrus navigat tempestas vbi Iudas adiungitur saith Ambrose if Peter saile alone all is calme if Iudas saile with him nought but storme and tempest If we cannot vtterly be rid of them let them be hewers of wood drawers of water with the Gibeonits God forbid they should steere at the helme and be proud commanders Thirdly and lastly doth God sometimes enwrap both good and bad in the same punishment This my Lords is a mysterie vnimitable and farre aboue your reach and to follow God in such actions were to make your selues as ridiculous as little children who will needs put vpon them their fathers coats though they be no way proportionable vnto them Theodosius the Emperour for the fault of one man at Thessalonica involved many innocents into the same punishment but hee was faine to doe penance for it before he could be receiued into the Church by Saint Ambrose If Polititians thinke they see reason of state in it yet policy must yeeld to religion the rule whereof is Fiat iustitia ruant coeli evill may not bee done that good may come of it For the least evill of fault is greater then the greatest evill of punishment that being evill in nature this only to sence otherwise an act of iustice it selfe Neverthelesse albeit this act of God be not to be imitated by vs yet seeing the wicked by reason of their mixture with the Godly draw downe common plagues vpon them both it ought to be our wisdome first to labour for their conversion and if it may be to worke them into Gods favour then if this cannot bee effected either to separate them from vs by the hand of iustice or to separate our selues from them at least wise in dislike affection For as Solomon saith He that walketh with the wise shall be wise but a companion of fooles shall be afflicted And thus much of the first part which is Gods action now of the second which is Abrahams affection How Abraham stands affected in this particular case of Sodom is cleare and evident by his words Be it farre saith he from thee to doe this thing to stay the righteous with the wicked and that the righteous should be even as the wicked be it farre from thee He vtterly mislikes that the righteous should perish together with the wicked and desires rather that God would be pleased either to spare the wicked Sodomites for those righteous ones which happily were among them or else to deliver the righteous from the destruction of the wicked In a word he seemes to be solicitous for them all both for the Sodomites whether good or evill in generall and in particular for his brother Lot who dwelt among them But here it will happily be said what doth Abraham prescribe vnto God impose a law vpon him Is God to be ruled by man and divine actions to be directed by humane affections Farre be such temerity farre be such presumption from the Father of the faithfull No he knowes and confesses himselfe to be but dust and ashes and that God is not only Liberrimus agens one that freely doth whatsoever hee will both in heauen and earth but also Sapientissimus needing no counsellor to advise him but knowing best himselfe what is to be done He doth not therefore presume to order the actions of God but only proposeth his humble sute vnto God neither doth he take vpon him to direct him but to deprecate for others It will peradventure yet farther be said that God had already signified his purpose vnto Abraham and what he meant to doe Which being so it had beene his dutie to laid his hand vpon his mouth and to haue rested in his will without farther contradiction or opposition And here caeca
is of God by which words the vse of meanes is no way excluded For whether it please God to worke by meanes or without meanes his Providence ever ordereth and disposeth all The selling of Ioseph the spoiling of Iob the rayling of Semei the incest of Absolon the crucifying of Christ and the like sins though they were committed by men and through the temptation of Satan yet God chalengeth the doing of all to himselfe Not that he wrought all by an immediate hand of Providence for this were to make him the author yea the only author of Sinne then which there cannot bee a greater blasphemy but because of the concourse of his Providence with the meanes permitting directing and determining all So that to come to an issue although it be granted that in all lots the whole disposition is of God yet it followeth not but in some lots as namely some Games at Cards and Tables wit skill industry may be vsed vnder God for obtaining the victory Whence also it followeth necessarily that all lots so disposed of by God are not therefore meere lots But you will not let this passe so N. N. It s of Gods disposing or of thine or of Fortunes disposing chuse which thou wilt I care not If it be of Gods disposing 't is that I would haue it s that the Scripture will haue If it be of thy disposing I know thy dishonesty If it be of Fortunes disposing then there were fortune Which if thou wilt doubt of I leaue God to confute thee DEFENCE These are now the second seething of these cole-worts and you doe not well to cloy our stomakes so soone againe with them To avoide tautologie therefore I referre you for answere to what is already said where I haue shewed that in sundry Games both at Cards and Tables not only God but man also disposeth and that without Dishonesty yea and Fortune too if you will not quarrell with the word but vnderstand thereby a Casuall accident or Chance not ordered by mans forecast or providence Where you say you will leaue them who doubt if there be fortune to Gods confuâ—ing it may please you to remember that God ordinarily reformes mens errours not by his owne immediat Magistry but by the Ministry which he hath ordained And therefore you much forget your selfe to neglect the performance of your Ministeriall duty and to leaue vs poore soules vnto Gods extraordinary instruction N. N. It doth cause contentions to cease for it disposeth the thing in controversy whether it be mony or victory whose it shall bee Let no profane Iester vent his wit here or blaspheame the word of God by saying that there Gaming doth rather cause contentions such as are braulings oaths curses blasphemies and the like and therefore doth not cease contentions but cause contentions it is not the Lot but their vnlawful vnholy vse of it that causeth this DEFENCE That a Lot stinteth contentions or controversies is not denied for the applying of a casuall event for the determining of a doubt is the very forme of a lot Neverthelesse in diverse Games as is already said both at Cards Tables it is not the Lot only but it and art also that disposeth whose the mony or the victory shall be As for the obiection if it bee not a Chimera of your owne braine some merry Gentleman I thinke made it to dally with you and to sport himselfe withall Wherevnto your answere is no lesse pleasant that not the lot but the vnlawfull vnholy vse causeth Contention meaning thereby as I conceaue it the vsing of it in Games which is a meere begging of the thing in question that it is vnlawfull to vse lots in gaming Besides you are to know the lots in gaming are not in themselues causes either of Peace or of Contention Not of Peace for this proceedeth from a farther compact made betweene those who referre themselues to a lot Otherwise howsoever the lots fall if such mutuall obligation be wanting the quarrell is not stinted Not of contention for those outrages you speake of rise only from the corruption of them that play as either their ambition that they cannot endure to bee beaten or their covetousnesse that vexeth them when they loose their wealth or the like Take these corruptions away and let moderate and temperate men only play and you shall haue neither Braulings nor Oths nor Curses nor Blasphemies nor the like furious behaviour amongst them And thus much in answere to those reasons whereby you would proue Cards and Dice to bee meere lots N. N. I come now to proue that it is vnlawfull to vse Lots in Gaming or light matters My reasons for it are these First Gods servants haue neuer vsed it but it vrgent great and weighty matters As for example in the choice of Kings Priests 1. Sam. 10. in the division of lands Iosh. 14. To knowe who was in fault that Israel fell before their enimies Ios. 17. to knowe whether Ioses or Mathias were to succeed Iudas Act 1. DEFENCE Vnto this assertion I oppose the contrary affirming that it is lawfull to vse Lots in gaming or light matters nay farther that the most serious businesses are lest fit for lots the lightest most fit For what thing is there in the world more vncertaine then a meer Chance What that lesse regardeth right or wrong true or false good or bad fit or vnfit What matter soeuer be to be decided the Lot is indifferent to either side and cares not which way it fall And hence it is that by lot neither doth the Church trye the fitnesse of her Ministers nor the Lawyer the right of his Clients cause nor the Physitian the state of his patient Neither is it the manner of wise men to referre any thing vnto a lot vntill by their wisdome and providence they haue so disposed of all things as it is not much materiall which way the lot fall Were the question referred to a lot of any great consequence of great consequence also must the fall of the lot be and if it fall amisse great inconveniences must needs ensue thereof But if wise men so order and cast their businesses as it is indifferent vnto theÌ„ howsoeuer the lot fall that cannot bee of any great moment which they referre vnto a lot But I forget that I stand rather in the place of an Answerer then Replier and therefore I come directly to your Arguments Your Argument standeth thus That which the Servants of God never vsed but in vrgent great and weightie matters is not to bee vsed in gaming or light matters But the Seruants of God neuer vsed Lots but in vrgent great weighty matters Ergo Lots are not to be vsed in gaming or light matters The Major it seemes you take for granted for you goe not about to proue it The Minor you endeauour to confirme by certaine examples out of holy writ which we will by and by examine In the
Bellarmine this confession that it followeth not necessarily where succession is there is a Church Nor Continuance For the malignant Church hath lasted hitherto and will yet longer and many of the Churches planted by the Apostles are now failed which yet were true Churches Nor Visibility For the Church of Greece which you count Hereticall hath ever since the first founding of it beene and is still Visible And such Persecutions and Scandalls may arise in the Church as may much eclipse the glory thereof reducing the Saints to a small number scattering the Ministers suspending the exercise of Ecclesiasticall discipline and interrupting the publike service so as the true Professors seeking shelter from the storme shall hardly bee discerned So was it vnder the old Testament in the daies of Elias so vnder the new when the whole world groned vnder Arianisme and so shall it bee in the time of Antichrist as out of your writers in the former treatise I haue already declared Nor lastly Vnitie For as the Church of God is one so the Divels Babylon is also one And who knowes not what jars and dissentions sometimes were among the Corinthians and Galatians and betweene the East and West Churches about the celebration of Easter which neverthelesse were true Churches And thus you see how vncertaine and deceivable your notes be If this yet be not enough to perswade you I hope being backed with authority of your great Cardinall Bellarmine it may suffice who maketh them in themselues to bee but probable N. N. If it could be proved that these notes belong to the Protestant Church it would much alter your opinion I. D. It seemes you take for granted that these notes are to be found in the Romā Church But you presume too farre Was never a more broken Succession in any Church then that Who at the first succeeded whom is vncertaine namely in what order Linus Clemens Cletus Anacletus should stand About thirty Schisms haue beene therein some of them continuing scores of yeares together in which haue beene two Popes three Popes at once neither could it easily bee discerned which was lawfull Pope Fifty of them in a row were Monsters rather then Men Apotacticall and Apostaticall rather then Apostolicall How many haue intruded themselues into that See by Simonie How many haue beene intruded at the pleasure of harlots Yea a Whore hath sitten in the Pontificall chaire So saith Sigebert Marianus Scotus Bergomensis Iohannes Stella Nauclerus Iohannes Lucidus Baptista Ignatius Balaeus Sabellicus Ranulphus Petrarch Boccace Mathew Palmer Trithemius and Martinus Polonus all which it will bee hard for your new vpstarts of yesternight to outface or controle As for the rest of your Notes if the present Church of Rome be much degenerated from its Primitiue purity and nothing resemble that which Saint Paul first planted there as I am ready to proue whensoever you shall call vpon me for it then are they not to be found therein For neither hath it continued the same nor is the profession by which it is Visibly the same nor is it One with it selfe For of other differences and dissentions among you you shall heare more anon in the due place But can wee finde them in the Protestant Church Let vs trie That the Succession of Bishops in the Church of England vntil Arch-Bishop Cranmers time was lawfull I know you will not deny That he and all the Bishops in the time of K. Edward and Q. Elizabeth and so downeward were Canonically called and consecrated what stronger proofe can you desire then the publike Registers of every See Out of which so much as concernes this businesse is now published to the view of the whole world designing both the time when the place where together with the names of those Bishops that imposed hands And this is so cleare that your owne Cudsemius comming into England of purpose to obserue the state of our Church thus writeth concerning the state of the Calvinian sect in England it so standeth that it may either endure long or be suddenly changed and in a trice in regard of the Catholike order there in a perpetuall line of their Bishops and the lawfull succession of Pastors receiued from the Church for the honour whereof wee vse to call the English Calvinists by a milder tearme not Hereticks but Schismaticks Touching your other three Notes I presume it will not be denyed that a Church professing to beleeue in the Lord Iesus and by him in the holy and blessed Trinity and confessing all the Doctrines contained in the Scriptures together with the three Creeds of the Apostles the Nicene and of Athanasius hath hitherto continued Visible and in Vnity from the Apostles times And such is the Church of the Protestants for all this we both professe and confesse and whatsoever wee affirmatiuely hold the same in a manner doe you affirme with vs. For as for the Negatiues they are but novelties nor can you proue them out of any Antiquity Succession therefore Continuance visibility vnity belong vnto our Church I must entreat you to remember your promise and according therevnto to alter your mind And so much for your preamble N. N. Your treatise was not intended to me Howbeit you thank mee for my reply acknowledging your inability to answer and hoping I expect it not from you I. D. Whether your Treatise were intended to me or no is not much materiall Sure I am it was delivered mee as from you and therevpon did I returne you that reply which had it taken due effect I should haue had more cause to thanke God then now you haue to thanke mee Answer from your selfe I confesse I expected none◠for I knew your insufficiency But I hoped you would haue taken counsell of some more sufficient then your selfe and vpon conference with them haue sent me your common Answer Which because you haue not done being conscious to your owne inability it is a manifest argument of wilfull obstinacy and that you will not bee perswaded though be perswaded N. N. Notwithstanding you haue no reason to beleeue mee seeing other Divines not Papists only but Protestants also seeme to vnderstand the Fathers as you doe I. D. It is a foule vntruth that Protestants vnderstand the Fathers as you doe as shall by and by to your shame appeare In the meane season know that what I haue said I haue not barely affirmed but soundly proved and neglecting demonstratiue reasons meerely to bee swayed with humane authority is no other then to put off common sense and to forget that wee are reasonable creatures N. N. I except only against two or three passages the rest therefore are truly related and the letter of them is for the reall Presence Which how it can bee and yet no Transubstantion you vnderstand not The word Transubstantiation was indeed devised in the counsell of Lateran but the thing was alwaies beleeved of the ancient Fathers as appeareth by their words