and goodnes are imprinted in all the workes of nature and all creatures from tyme to tyme togeather with their being receaue that stamp and impression which they exhibite to be read by all intellectuall natures in one most legible language of nature common to all nations according as it is said Caeli enarrant gloriam Dei c. So in regeneration and in the progeny of Grace the author of Grace Christ Iesus is read and vnderstood in his worke and word of Grace his creatures of grace which is the Church of Christ which by that spiritually and supernaturally creating power receaue the print and characters of Christ Iesus and his truth in their hart 's and soules first which afterward's they manifest in their liues and professions and much more in the death's whereby they proclaime him and the truth of his doctrine to all ages to all nations with the last and lowdest voyce of bloud like to that voyce of our dying Lord who crying with a lowd voyce gaue vp the Ghost O tooto dull and deafe eares which the singar of God hath neuer opened which cannot heare a voyce so lowd and those blind eyes which read not those letters that most legible Scripture of Catholique truth written in the bloud of all ages since Christ redeemed the world with his and those inominate and vnlucky birds of night who flying the triall of the day shining in the Church as in the Tabernacle of the Sunne run into couert and obscurity of darke Scriptures the common rendeuous and retrait of all Heresies which they do no lesse absurdely and preposterously then as if in question of right and title grounded in law they would appeale from the suruiuing law-maker to his written lawes as they would say giue vs your Law 's in writing and then leaue them to vs we will not learne of you the vnderstanding of them for so this euer-suruiuing Law-maker is the holy Ghost presiding in the Church in all iudgements questions of fayth from whom there neuer can be any iust appeale the Scriptures his lawes which are written primarily principally in the soules and hart 's and vnderstandings of this Church In which Scriptures no Heretique or Alien can pretend any right or title of interest at all no authority nor ability of vnderstanding them Therefore although we debate right and truth by testimony of Scriptures against the vniust vsurpers of them to take from them those stoln'e weapons and recouer them to the true titler's as euen in this claime of infallibility of the Church yet this truth we learne not immediately of the Scripture written but receaue it à priori from the originall of the holy Ghost written in that one composed of many homogenious by fayth and charity that one soule I say and vnanimous spirit of the holy Church of all ages For as in our natural body one the same in diuisible soule informeth and enlifeneth the daily new acceding and aggenerate matter of nourishment so this spirit of truth informeth as it were and animateth with the spirit of Grace and truth not only the whole mysticall body of Christ all at once or once for all but successiuely euery acceding and new-borne member of the Church As therefore in processe of naturall growth we do not properly learne that we are reasonable ereatures but by the very hauing a reasonable soule and the vse thereof we know it so Catholiques do not properly learne that the Catholique Church is inerrant or infallible but by being Catholiques we belieue it For of this truth I do not see but in a true sense I might say Est hac non scripta sed natalex quam non didicimus accepimus legimus verùm ex naturâ ipsâ arripuimus hausimus expressimus ad quam non docti sed facti non instituti sed imbuti sumus A truth not written for vs but borne in vs which he haue not learned nor acquired nor read in bookes but by a second nature of Grace we are instantly possest of we haue suckt it and exprest it for which we haue beene made not taught indued with it not schooled to it Therefore I should not doubt to auouch though the whole rable of flesh bloud and heresy reclaime that it is vnderstanding it in equality of proportion no lesse innate and connaturall to a Catholique man as such to belieue that the Catholique Church is indued with infallible authority then it is naturall to a reasonable man as such to know he is endued with a reasonable soule Therefore as he should be thought an absurd and senseles man who should goe about to persuade a man by reason that he hath not a reasonable soule so is he worthily iudged an impertinent pratling Sophist who endeauours to argue a Catholique out of his beliefe of a Catholique infallible Church which stone notwithstanding I know this Aduocate neuer ceaseth to rowle and I could wish he would reflect how he may haue deserued that Sisyphian pennance howsoeuer thus I vnderstand Saxum sudat voluendo neque proficit hilum He rowles the stone and sweats for his paines not those texte therefore of Scripture which this Sisyphus presumes but the visible Church the spouse of Christ his purchase of bloud not a lease for terme of yeares according to the tenure of seruile Agar and her issue which became voyd but an euerlasting in heritance according to the tenure of Couenant made with the progeny of Sarai the house of Israel and the house of Iuda an vnabrogable and term'les decree firme and durable as the constitutions of Nature Hierem. 32. In quam traditi estis c. Rom. 6.17 as the course of sunne and moone This spouse I say hath deliuered vs this truth or rather hath borne and bred vs in it we haue suck't this milke from hir brest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rationall and fraudlesse milke conformable to reason though aboue it and therfore consummating reason and extolling it food for the Children of Obedience vt in eo crescamus that we may grow by that in stature of grace and Christian perfection from which brests and milke of Christian simplicity no errant Sophister shall be of power to remoue vs though he attempt it neuer so confidently or impudently by adiuring vs Thus he adiured a certain Catholique as we will answere at the last day arrainged I trow at the Socinian Barre to be tried by certaine select Iudges or a grand Iury of Pyrrhonian Sceptiques or the new Academy who will neuer pronounce any arrest or sentence at all but what to suspect the doctrine of the Catholique Church to question her authority to call those so many Doctours the starr's and light 's of all Christian ages who haue alwayes taught and supposed this truth so many martyrs who haue obsigned it with their bloud to call them all to their answere forsooth for their holding or teaching this doctrine and to giue this Switzer a meeting and conuincing so that
to himselfe a glorious Church hauing neither spot nor wrinkle nor any such thing And is all this come at length to a de iure not de facto to a what should be only not a what is And is this that state of beauty no lesse permanent then spotles wherein tyme which withers and wrinkles all the beauty of fields ' and flowers ' aruit foenum cecidit flos should cause no fading or impayring because 1. Pet. 1. Verbum Domini manet in aeternum that word of truth is euerlasting which as the forme and soule of beauty in this glorious spouse should neuer abandon her Now doth Christ Iesus thus sanctify his Spouse or no hath he purchast her this permanent Beauty or no If no then is he frustrate of his designe which was to espouse vnto himselfe a Church which should de facto indeed not deiure of duty only be euer Holy for though it be placed in the particular choice of euery single man to be holy or no thus and in such sort that no man is or shall be holy or vertuous of force or against his wil or not freely yet it is not in the particular choice or power of any particular man or men no nor in the malice of Hell it selfe to effect that Christ Iesus shall not haue a holy Church on earth euen to the worlds end For this was the intent of his precious death bloud-shed vt sanctificaret that he might de facto fanctify his Spouse that he might acquire vnto her a perpetuity of beauty not a duty only to preserue it And this intent can neuer be frustrate and yet it should be if the spouse of Christ should only of duty alwayes be holy but were not so indeed Or tell me is she spotlesse who should haue no spot's but hath them Is that a faire face which should be so and is not hath she no wrinkles who should haue none Rem But God hath neither decreed nor foretold that his true doctrine should de facto be alway's visibly profess't without any mixture of falshood Prom. What because he hath not foretold it to you who haue lost your eares of hearing or haue stop't them with humane reason or dwell too neere the Catadupa and the noise of waters or conuerse with bleating or bellowing cattle in fine haue your attention taken vp in the traffick care and tumult of earthly commodities that you cannot heare the musick of the Sphear's or the harmony of heauenly Truth And haue all men forfaited their eares since you haue beene deafe on the left eare or forgotten what you haue heard heretofore with the right But to other men it hath beene told and foretold in all the languages of the world they haue heard it foretold in those words of Esay Esay 35. Eterit ibi semita via via Sanctorum vocabitur hae erit vobisvia directa c. and this shall be a direct or straight way so that fooles shall not mistake it But Socinians are no simple fooles they may mistake it Now if this way be humane reason humanum est errare nothing human as such is exempt from error If the Scripture be this way the wisest may erre in interpreting it and then it is no way or at least not the way of Saints nor the true and straight way when a false interpretation hath distorted it But the doctrine of the Church is that Via Sanctorum the way of Saints wherein the spirit of truth residing according to promise interprets holy Scriptures which then becoms a way and a straight way wherin a Foole shall not erre 1. Cor. 3. Ibid. a Foole I say who hath made himself a foole that he may be made wise by Christian wisedom which is folly to the world and to Socinianisme as the wisedom of the world and Socinian Reason is madnes and folly to God and Christian Religion Againe they haue heard foretold in those words of our Sauiour Math. 28. 16. Ecce ego vobiscum sum c. and those other Et portae tuferi non praualebunt aduersus eam the power of hell shall not preuaile against it the preseruation of the Church of God from error of doctrine from all falshood of heresy They vnderstand it decreed by God Ephes and foretold by S. Paul Et ipse dedit quosdam Apostoles alios prophet as c. ad consummationem sanctorum in opus ministerij which worke of ministery necessarily supposeth visibility of the Ministers and ministred in adificationem corporis Christi for the edifying or building vp the body of Christ which is his Church the members whereof being to accede throughout all ages to this mysticall body by the Visible ministery of those Visible ministers Prelates Teachers and Gouernours inferre a necessity of true doctrine visibly taught or to be taught them by those their Prelates without which truth of doctrine they could not be the regenerate issue of the spirit of Truth They haue likewise heard the Church of God called by S. Paul 1. Tim. 1. Domus Deiviui columna firmamâ—ntum Veritatis the house of the liuing God the pillar and proppe of truth Of the house of God it is said Domum tuam decet sanctitudo Domine Psalm 92. in longitudinem dierum sanctitude becomes thy house O Lord for euer which fanctitude consistes in the rectitude of the vnderstanding and will of man rectified by truth of doctrine both in fayth and manners Ibid. And this is sure that visible house wherin S. Timothy was to be wary and to know how to conuerse for the edification and example of others who should be eye-witnesses and eare-witnesses of his doings and sayings This Church is also the pillar and proppe of Truth which proppe or pillar surely shall stand while truth hath need of a proppe which shall be in order to mankind while man is mortall obnoxious to errour and lapse in question of diuine truth To this pillar of Truth Isa 59. Johan 14.16 Johan 16.13 the spirit of God is by speciall Couenant tied to the worlds end or is himself this pillar of Truth and that spirit of truth which shall teach the Church and by the Church omnem veritatem all truth that is all necessary truth which necessary truth certainly excludes all falshood in doctrine of fayth and manners which are the points in contestation between the Catholicks and Protestants All this and much more the Fathers and Doctors of the Catholique Church haue heard and belieued as foretold and decreed by God concerning the Visible profession of true doctrine in the Church of Christ without any mixture of falshood and the continuance of such Visible Profession de facto not de iure only Nor if you can glosse these Scriptures to anothersense shall they cease for that to tell vs this truth to whom the Catholique Church doth so interpret them and who as sonnes of obedience haue learned to turne the
infallible Church which soeuer that be Nor will it help this Aduocate that soone after his Aduersary as it were directing his speach to Catholiques calleth that Church our Church for to Catholiques this needed no further proofe who belieue it already Whence with them he might presume it as granted according to that of S. Paul sapientiam lequimurinter perfectos we vtter wisedome diuine truth among those who belieue it reseruing that doctrine that our Catholique Roman Church is the true Church of God to the proper place as to be proued against Protestants But you shall take him very often faultring in this Fallacy Fallacy ante-dating his Aduersaries order and therefore seldome answering to the subiect in hand whereof hereafter instances will occurre very plentifully He wil say perhaps he hath fore-inserted his Aduersaries discourse entire and as it lye's in his owne Booke but to this I say againe he answer's is not as it lyes there but misordreth it to his aduantage euen as formerly ordred by himselfe For according to faire play and ingenuous behauiour although he might do well in answering the whole discourse by retaile or by parts yet he should haue taken notice of the relation and connexion of one part with another and so haue answered reason's as reasons positions as positions and not haue made euery reason a position I know he hath learned to analize a Discourse better then so and would esteeme it poore Anatomy only to dissect limbe from limbe ioynt from ioynt and neuer shew the naturall commissure and compacture of limbe with limbe ioynt with ioynt nor distinguish them according to their true Nomenclature and their seuerall both proper absolute relatiue functions But he as though the dissected were only bellua multorum capitum a beast with many head 's so he lectures vpon legs thighs belly eyes eares armes c. all vnder one appellation of Head as though all the parts and members were heads for iust so he hath anatomiz'd his Aduersaries context of speach making euery part as it were a seuerall head and why Because as in a naturall body by reason of that due order and composure of members a certaine mutuall intelligence of influences and sympathies of the members betweene themselues is entertained of which mutuall intelligence and influence depends the life and vigor of euery part and ioindy of the whoâ—e body so in the body of a rationall discourse there is the like influence of one part into another and one part vpholds strengthneth the other and to take away this mutuall correspondence and relation is to take away the very harmony of discourse none who know's what he doth will do it but he who intends to marre the musicke or loues discords and iarrings better then harmony For to this purpose which I haue said what other can be imagined he hath deuided those reasons and confirmations of his Aduersaries position into so many heads or propositions distinguishing them not only by numbers as you say first Pref. and you say againe you say thirdly then fourthly then fiftly but also by seuerally varying the odious phrase as you say confidently inough then you say with sufficient confidence thirdly you say with conuenient boldnes fourthly you say with confidence in abundance when all is indeed but one thing said the Proposition with some few proofes adioyned Yet the fauourers of his cause and person would easily pardon this poore peece of Sophistry or waue it at the least had he achieued his intent by this but now Cuibone what hath he got by this Nihil omnibus actum Tantorum Impensis operum With so much ado with so great expence of honesty and ingenuity laid out vpon a miserably Fallacy to do nothing is intollerable had he yet ouerthrowne those scattered forces or made something of his owne dissections more then a dissector of an oxe can doe now for my part I had no other drift but only to note his Fallacies and Calumnies and to do more in shewing his weake attempts vpon these disranked and dissected parts as they are singly encount'erd by him would proue an enterprise much more easy then needfull Yet because I haue shew'n his insufficiency against his first Prosection which is his Aduersaries Position whereof the ensuing members are as I haue said the proofes I will only employ a dash of pen vpon what he hath against the rest and the rather because I assure my selfe that euen in these too I shall meet with Calumnies and Fallacies these being indeed as the very soule or the naturall and proper language of his pen without which it cannot speake His Answers to his Aduersaries Arguments Fallacious or none SECT XX. Pref. YOu say sayth he againe if this infallibility be once impeach't euery one is giuen ouer to his owne wit and discourse To this he answer's by a distinction Giuen ouer to his owne wit and discourse not guiding it selfe by Scriptures he denyes this to be consequent to infallibility of the Church so impeach't giuen ouer to discourse that is right reason sanaratio say the Socinians grounded on diuine reuelation and common notions consequent deductions from them he denies this consequent to be inconnenient though it follow of the infallibility of the Church denied Answ Now this euasion his Aduersarie foresaw and therfore barred the passage which barre this nimble Aduocate slily skip's ouer taking no notice of it The barre of preuention was this And talke not here so his Aduersatie of Scripture for if the true Church may erre either in defining what Scripture is Canonicall or in deliuering the sense and meaning thereof we are still deuolued either vpon the priuate spirit or esse vpon naturall wit and iudgment What place then for discourse guided by diuine reuelation in colâ—erence of their doctrine who take away the meanes of knowing what reuelation is diuine Either materially in regard of the Canonicall Scripture or formally in regard of the true sense and interpretation of such Scriptures whereof neither the one nor the other can be afcertained without the infallible authority of the Church the only meanes to arriue to this certainty Wherefore if the man be in his wits he will find out his guide and know him to be a sure guide before he put himselfe into his iourney otherwise both the guide and guided may fall into a ditch whence neither his Logick-rules nor all his consequent deductions with twenty ropes to boot will euer be strong inough to pluck him out Now the only guide which guideth reason by Scripture is the holy Spirit the only true and sure interpreter of holy Scriptures This holy spirit is not promised to any priuate man but to the Church it is promised therefore in this Church is infallibly to be found whence he that followeth this company of men not only followeth not a company of beasts Pref. which this Aduocate would insinuate the Church may be but he followeth the holy Ghost
the words of Scripture falsely interpreted I deny it For it is only an apparent and fallacious discourse therefore not discourse truly so called Now to his Confirmation The principles whence we draw these conclusions that is the holy Scriptures are agreed on by all to be infallibly true what is that to the purpose if it be not agreed in what sense they are true Therefore I say the premises may be true the consequence lawfull and good and so the conclusion true according to some sense of the premises but because that sense may be a false sense though the premises of themselues be true therefore the discourse or whole Syllogifme may deceaue and lead into error yea euen so much the more because the consequence is good But his Aduersary hath told him in the 4. Chap. of this Pamphlet so he still like to himselfe nibling and detracting from his Directors credit That from truth no man can by good consequence inferre falshood He tels him what S. Iohn hath told long since Omne mendacium ex veritate non est no lye is consequent from truth which is most true as vnderstood formally no lye is consequent of truth as it is truth but from a materiall truth a lye may follow The Scriptures are always materially true that is true in themselues and from them as true no falshood can be consequent but they may be and are commonly falsely sensed and interpreted and that purposely by Heretiques therefore from them as falsely interpreted falshood may and doth follow euen by good consequence Well then to open the Fallacy Vlceris os and so to let out the corruption Scriptures falsely interpreted are not the Word of God but the word of man the false Interpreter therefore they who are guided by Scriptures so interpreted and now the word of man may be misguided and are so euen by those Scriptures now not holy but prophaned by man His fallacious Answere or Euasion to his Aduersaries Arguments conuincing the necessity of an infallible Church SECT XXVI Pref. YOu say thirdly with sufficient confidence If the true Church may erre in defining what Scriptures be canonicall or in deliuering the sense thereof we must follow either priuat spirit or naturall wit iudgement and by them examine what Scriptures containe true or false doctrine Thus the Aduocate and what sayth he to this All this fayth he is apparently vntrue neither can any proofe of it be pretended Answ Iust so Bellarmine thou lyest Behold an Alexander loosing the Gordian knot What can no proofe be pretended Surely a sufficient diuision or enumeration of parts hath been esteemed a sufficient proofe as excluding out of the thing deuided whatsoeuer is not contained in some part or member of the diuision as if Bachelour Maister Doctour be a sufficient diuision or enumeration of the Degrees giuen in the Vniuersity he who is proued to haue taken no one of these degrees is sufficiently proued to haue taken no degree in the Vniuersity His Aduersary argues thus The authority which must determine what Scripture is Canonicall or what is the true sense of such Scripture is either the Church of God or priuate spirit or naturall wit and iudgment Not the Church according to Protestants therefore either the priuate spirit or natural wit c. If this diuision be good then the inference is apparently true if it be not good let him shew the insufficiency of the enumeration Yes Pref. Other direction we haue sayth he besides either of these three and that is the testimony of primitiue Christians Answ Ridiculus mus But do you marke the subtility of the Logician how sliely he euades and shifts the necessity of being directed by a true Church or by the spirit or by naturall wit We haue befides these the testimony of primitiue Christians And do those primitiue Christians make a fourth member in this diuision of direction distinct from the other three What difference betweene primitiue Christians and primitiue Church and then what difference to our purpose betweene the primitiue Church and the true Church which is the Church to which his Aduersary challengeth this right of direction So himselfe apparently granteth what he so desperately auoucheth to be apparently vntrue and whereof no proofe can be pretended Wherein I also note a Fallacy of fact Fallacy and fraudulent dealing his endeauouring to make his Aduersaries doctrine odicus to the ignorant Reader by his confident or impudent reiection of his reason and branding it with this Censure all is apparently vntrue c. when afterwards he granteth in effect all Surely he hopes his Aduersary will be so blind as neuer to perceaue this grant while he sayth not the same his Aduersary doth in the same words For insteed of his aduersaries true Church he hath Primitiue Christians and why not Primitiue Church as wel might you aske the Diuell why not holy-water The very word Church is Exorcisme to all Heresy as the name of IESVS to infernal fiends Another pelting fallacy you may obserue Fallacy euen in the same period We haue other direction sayth he besides the priuate spirit and the examination of the contents of Scripture As though his Aduersarie had plac't examination of the contents in the number of directions wherby to examine what is contained in Scripture as though he had proposed the very same examination the guide or director to it selfe And why this Because he had somthing which he could except against this examination of contents by shewing how it may faile in direction But what then Who giues this examination the office of Director Not his aduersary Nay rather because it may faile and may meete with many difficulties hence his Aduersary inferreth the necessity of a Director by whose assistance Christians may make this examination of Scriptures and be assuâ—â—d what Scriptures are to be receaued or reiected c. Who or what then is this true guide or director The true Church sayth his Aduersarie What sayth the Aduocate Not the true Church no by no meanes nor can any proofe of this be pretended The Church mera Chymera he will take heed of saying so Well then what other thing if not the true Church No other thing forsooth but another Word What the Primitiue Christians Do you marke how neere he came to the Church and yet escap't it Not the Church not the true Church not the Primitiue Church but primitiue Christians O Scotus O subtility of distinction most true the very name of Church ouerthroweth Protestancy But why not againe primitiue Church as well as Primitiue Christians He knew a primitiue Church will infer a deriuatiue Church it carrieth in the very common notion and obuious signification of the word the nature of a Body a Society a Society of Christians the kingdom of Christ in that Church and kingdom order and subordination commaund and subiection will by necessary sequele force a necessity of perpetuity and visibility in which propriety it must differ from
God and soone after deny it But if the Aduocate will goe back vpon euery such occasion of encounter he will shew no more wit then his horse that being in the way from the Vniuersity would needs be so curteous as to returne back with euery horse he met And I verily thinke as small an occasion and as weake a motiue will draw this man back to Socinianisme as the horse to his manger although perhaps the manger may haue beene the strongest motiue to both retrogressions and though perchance againe the Socinian horse knew better whither he returned and did it with a stronger resolution then his rider howsoeuer he might passe for a sufficient Hieroglyphique of a Socinian who is ready to turne in his way of opinion euery day with whomesoeuer obuious who shall giue him a reason of change stronger in apparence then the former that guided his iourney Againe if he will still float and swimme in Socinianisme vntill all differences of schooles be attoned he may for ought I know dye as he liues and well may he deserue to swimme after death too sowed vp into a lether-sacke and so cast into the sea to be depriued of all the elements at once I need not tell him for what crime that punishment was decreed But if he will not belieue there is any such thing as diuine Predestination vntill it be on all sides agreed whether it be ex praeuisis meritis or no or that there are any diuinely Elct vntill he can be certified why Iacob rather then Esau if he will buy no pots vntil the Potter yield him a coÌ„umcing reason why he made some pottes for baser seruices other for more honorable vses nay if it will not satisfy him to say there was vse for both kinds but will further vrge but why of this clay of this very peece of clay a pot of base seruice since he know's by his owne experience the Potter could haue made it a pot of Honour for so the Poët sayth Argillâ quiduis imitaberis vdâ soft day will take any forme It I say he will stand stiffe vpon these termes of dispute he will neuer fasten vpon any opinion of Diuinity nor buy any pots nor had that pot beene so stiffe when it was clay could the Potter euer haue made it a pot of any seruice whatsoeuer The truth is Christian Religion was neuer brought into the world by coursing and such Coursers vnlesse they change their course are too clamorous and quarelsome to expect admittance into the schoole of peace S. Paul will tell them in playne termes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. if any man seeme ambitious of Victory in contention of dispute we haue no such custome he may do well to matriculate himselfe in the new Academy among those Pyrrhonian Sceptiques whose life and religion is nothing else but dispute Of whom S. Paul may seeme to speake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they befor and foole their soules away in disputes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sayth S. Chrysostome there in the darkenes of discourse and naturall reasons as they are called by S. Leo Terrenarum caligo rationum mists of human reasons which is notwithstanding light and the only light with Socinians Against whom the Propher Esay pronounceth a curse Quiponunt tenebras lucem lucem tâ—nebras who impose the name of darknes vpon light and call light darknes as they who esteeme naturall reason light and the doctrine of fayth darknes Vaequi sapientes estis in oculis vestris Woe to you who are wife in your owne eyes that is the eyes of naturall reason who aspire to the knowledge of supernaturall â—uth by the light of nature therefore euery Socinian is a foolish Icarus ceratis ope Dedalâ—a Nititur pennis vitree daturus Nomina Ponto His Fallacious application of this his Aduersaries Position From truth no falshood in true consequence SECT XXXII Pref. I Might lastly adioyne sayth he that you fettle for a rule vnquestionable that no part of Religion can be repugnant to reason that from truth no man can by good consequence inferre falshood which is to say in effect that reason can neuer lead any man to error Answ This is in effect and really a false glosse but rather indeed it is in effect to say that reason can neuer lead any man to error from a truth by good consequence which is all one as to say no false Conclusion can flow by true consequence from true premises as such which his Aduersary said not vnawares as this Aduocate would haue you thinke but aduisedly and knowingly and which the very walles of their Logique Schooles proclaime Pref. And after you haue done you proclaime to all the world that if men follow their reason and discourse they will if they vnderstand themselues be led to Socinianisme Answ This is indeed nodum in scirpo to seeke a knot in a bulrush as though what his Aduersary sayth were any preuarication against the former principle from truth no falshood by good consequence But this Aduocate cannot touch a line of his Aduersaries discourse but he must sophisticate it one way or other His Aduersary sayth indeed that no man can deny the infallible authority of the Church but he must be left to his owne wit and way 's must abandon all infused fayth if be vnderstand himselfe aright Is this the same as to say that if men follow their reason and discourse they will be led into Socinianisme or rather that if they follow reason hauing reiected the authority of the Church which is to follow reason where reason cannot guide or where reason is blind they will at length be led away from all true religion thenceforward to Socinianisme or whither he list The ground of which discourse may be this or the like Naturall reason as such apprehendeth not supernaturall truth because such truth is aboue reason though not repugnaÌ„t to reason yea rather euery truth is reasonable and conforme to reason truly conceauing For which cause Christian Doctrine is called by S. Peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rationall milke and according to true Metaphysicke all truth hath consistence within the spheare of a reasonable Vnderstanding therefore no truth can be repugnant to reason yet as the Moone though otherwise light by the illumination which it hath from the Sunne by which we see by night yet if it be opposed to the Sunne or interposed betweene the sunne and our eyes becomes both dark it selfe and endarkneth the sunne to vs so Reason standing in opposition to Fayth and that diuine light of day whence it receaues that little night-light which it hath is both it self in darknes and depriues our soules of the light of fayth Whence it comes to passe that Reason thus endarkned taketh Falshood for Truth or from a materiall Truth diuine reuelation misconceaued and so not Truth inferreth an vntruth euen by good consequence Hence now from misconceauing Reason or Reason opposing supernaturall Truth springeth a mutuall
repugnance betweene true religion and false or misconceauing Reason not submitting it self to supernaturall Fayth Nor yet doth it cease to be Reason and discourse truly so called though misapplied for to conclude consequently out of a false principle is no lesse an act of discourse then to inferre truth out of true principles Wherefore notwithstanding this Aduocate his tooto early and antedating Triumph these two Propositions of his Aduersary may stand togeather peaceably That no part of religion can be repugnant to Reason as Reason vndeluded as conteyning it self within due limits as in due subiection to that supreme light whence it is deriued as submitting it self where it is too weak as suffering it selfe to be guided where it is blind to be enlightned where it is darke to be raised to a competent stature or proportion where it creeps vnable to raise it selâ— all which conditions are conformable euen to naturall reason This I say may stand with this other That from Truth as truly conceaued or formally Truth no vntruth can be inferred by good consequence and lastly both these two may admit this third into society of coherence That if men sollow Reason where Reason is darke and blind and weake and in a word cannot guide they may be led into error and from error to error vntill at length they fall into vtter darknes of infidelity and Socinianisme Of Socinianisme I say a most diuellish and perhaps of all other the most dangerous Idolatry as being most neerely allied to the soule of man borne as it were in his bowels nurst and nourish't by selfe-loue cheris't and confirmed and growing daily in greater strength and equall stature with Pride and Self-conceipt For this Supremacy euen in spirituall commaund being once granted to naturall Reason with authority to direct and vmpire in spirituall affaires which authority and power God hath reserued to himself that is to the holy Ghost whose kingdome is the Church what followeth but that the holy Ghost is deposed Reason enthroned in his Chaire where it commaunds absolutely without all dependance or subordination to God from whome it neuer receaued any such authority Thus Reason is made the God of such men and because so made a very Idoll and all Socinianisme is Idolatry yea the last and lowest and basest I dolatry and whither Hereticall Idolatry dâ—uolues at last for euery formall Heretique is an Idolater and euery Socintan a worse then he A most proud Dwarfe a Pygmalion wholy contracted and confined within himselfe whose Reason is all his sayth and consequently his Hopes of no larger extent and his Charity enspheared within the same compasse the obiects or naturall reason Whose will is nothing else but self-loue referring all he doth to his proper interest regard which is indeed the highest place of pride then which the first Precedent of pride the creature that first shewed it to the world he in whom pride was first ideated from whose Pride as from the original source all the pride of temporall or spirituall Ambition all the pride of Schisme and Heresy and Socinianisme and Idolatry are shares and dimanations ascended no higher when he said ascendam ero similis Altissimo I will ascend and be like the most High Thus you see to returne his owne Epiphonema thither whence it came to his due and proper place that is vpon himselfe with what probable matter he might furnish out and iustify his accusation if he should charge his Aduersary with leading men to Socmianisme yet obserue I pray you his pittifull condescendence in the close the clemency and temper of his victory in the much which he sayth he could do and the very little which he doth Pref. Yet notwithstanding all this I do not conceaue I haue ground inough for this odious imputation much lesse should you haue charged Protestants with it whom you confesse to abhorre and detest it Answ Now this is the misery and indeed the point of difference betweene him and his Aduersary that he conceaues he hath not ground inough for this odious imputation therefore imputes it not His Aduersary conceau's he hath nor vainely conceau's but know's and prou's it and therfore chargeth them with it that deserue it to the end they may cease to deserue it abhorre it not only in it selfe but in the necessary cause of it Many a one loueth the Father who loues not the child yet that beloued Father is the parent of that vnlouely child What if the Rauen abhorre her young ones or the Beare perhaps her whelp 's yet both these are the naturall yssue of both effect's as they are the brood and progenie so are they images and resemblances of their causes wherin the face of causes may be seene as in a mirrour And for what other end are looking-glasses made then to reflect and shew the face wherof they present the image Let him first cleare his maintainers from this imputation that Socianisme is the effect of Protestancy or let him shew at least by solid arguments that it is not the naturall issue of Protestancy but as a monstrous birth not intended I do not say by Protestants but by Protestancy according to a Phisicall necessary though not a morall and expressely voluntary intention or lastly that the generation is meerly casuall and occasionall Then let them say they detest and abhorre it otherwise their detestation is like theirs who detest the shame of sinne but loue the sinne Nor is it indeed worth God a mercy to any man to abhorre Socinianisme for it hath certainly a most vggly and deformed aspect to any eye that hath euer lookt Christianity on the face yea I verily belieue if we could see a damned fiend without the sinne of Socinianisme which made him one he would seeme a much more tolerable Spectacle yet this ChaÌ„pion is very confident that he can arme the Mother against the Child commit them in deadly Duell he can do much in this kind and so could she of whom one said Tu potes vnanimes armare in proelia fratres Thou can'st set brothers together by th' eares And if the Sonne chance to fall in the war we haue his epitaph at hand Nati sepulchrum est ipsae Parens the mothers wombe his tomb For I am assuredly persuaded their ends are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 confatall he will die like a Sampson or like an Eleazar perhaps suo sepultus triumpho buried in his triumph Pref. O. but Protestants will fight against Socinianisme her proud Impe not with broken reeds so this Aduocate and out of the paper foriresses of an imaginary infallibility Answ So I belieue but out of a paper fortresse of reall fallibility which he hath raised them in this Volume which I dare say will proue a doughty Fortresse while he maintains it especially so armed if not with broken reed's a reed tho and such a reed of resolution as I trust a little wynd may shake it if it blow in the right corner and
doubt but very many of either Vniuersity haue these talents in great eminency and no meruaile if we consider either so many and choyee wits as in so great a multitude of Pretenders or those excellent meanes wherewith they are endowed for all kind of good litterature Wherein I dare presume to say they are incomparable with any other Vniuersity of Europe and only comparable between themselues as one eye with another in the same face without disparagement to either Which Excellency would be in these kinds far more apparent and testified to the world that neither Enuy nor Truth might deny it especially in those yearly confluences of hearers and witnesses summond by the celebrity of report as it were to the Olympique Games and spectacles of learned Arts so that it might be said of them as someâ— me it was of ancient Rome Famam Rome tuae non pudet historiae if the care and industry of the Electors were rather to grace those publique Exercises by the Excellency of the men then the men by those Exercises As for their talent in preaching let them before they boast be sure whether Enuy do meddle with it at least forraine Enuy if domestique do and then shew vs their commission for preaching Quomodo pradicabunt nisi mittautur how shall they preach vnles they be sent Sicut scriptum est quam specâ—osi pedes c. how faire are the feet of those who preach those good tydings who preach peace signifâ—ing by this sequele and connexion that the speciosity neatnes or cleanes of feet that is of affections requisite in such a Preacher must proceed from the grace and spirit of that diuine mission and commission The quite contrary of which effects hath beene manifestly seene and obserued and notoriously knowne to the world in the preaching of a Luther of a Caluin and the like their preaching was without mission therefore were their feet so foule as the impressions of their foot-steps extant vpon record do clearely testify Therefore also the ayme and scope of their preaching was not peace but mutiny and rebellion and defection from their Mother-Church and from spirituall obedience from Samuel to Saul in whose abiection and excussion of whose anthority they withall abiected and shook off God himself and in Saul and with Saul fâ—ll to Idolatry For he who shaketh of that obedience which God hath establish't in his Church enthroneth another God that is the power or the creature vpon which he transferreth his obedience which he oweth to God which is Idolatry Vpon which breach and defection followed forthwith that deluge of all mischiefe and inundation of Vices ouerflowing those nations wherein Religion had beene in greatest florish Loe the effect of their mission-Iesse preaching Vpon these groundes the examine must goe whether it were or no detraction to say their learning consists in a superficiall talent of preaching or whether he might not haue denyed it to be preaching at all according to the ordinary acceptation of the word as by Christian vse it is consecrated and dedicated to signify Euangelicall Annunciation or the Embassy of God to men vnles perhaps in attributing a superficiall talent of preaching he implicitely meant to deny the substance as indeed that kind of preaching can haue nothing else but superficiality being deuoid of the substance which is diuine truth and spirit It were therefore to be wish'd rather then disliked by this Adâ—ocate or his Clyent 's that they were enuied 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pindar Pyth. â—d 1. and not pittied that so goodly a superficies so much exteriour grace of wit should want the body and interiour worth and substance of diuine truth wherein to subsist Well Syr after all this brauery and presumed excellency of preaching c. if this proue a true imputation of insufficiency in those Deuines when they are pressed by Socinian Arguments who are therefore either caught themselues by their illaqueations or giue occasion to the Socinians of their greater obfirmation or to others to be drawne into the same infidelity If this I say be truth yea and a knowne and testified truth and so neither Calumny nor detraction how will he excuse that insufficiency or at the least deny it to be a great cause of the propagating of that contagion Or lastly which be pretends to doe vindicate his Maintainers from this aspersion Heare how substantially he doth it Pref. As if forsooth because they dispute not eternally Vtrum Chymaera bombinans in vacuo possit comedere secundas intentiones or Whether a million of Angels may not sit vpon a needles point because they fill not their braines with notions that signify nothing to the vtter extermination of all reason and common sense and spend not an age in weauing and vnweaning subtile webb's fitter to catch flies then soules therefore they haue no deepe knowledge in the Acroamaticall part of learning Answ This is his answere Whence you may suspect that Brasmus was his last Acrâ—ama from whom he eame to write this with his pen full of salt and sarcasme to cast vpon the faces of all Schoole-deuines and you may note as in passing by how euen heere as euery where what he blame's in his Aduersary he out-doe's it himself and by this very passage of many you may obserue how familiar he is with the Genius of Detraction which comes from him so easily that I durst almost excuse him and say he takes no notice of it Vsque adeo à teneris assuescere magnum est as some Orpheus play's and sing's by the rules of art which he reflect's not on As for this question of a Chymaera it is no doubt wholy Chymerique and whether it may haue beene the subiect of some Quadragesimall coursing I cannot tell I haue knowne as mad a question canuas't there in my day's as concerning a Pridian and a Postridian which some Diuinity-chaire may yet remember And yet me think 's I could propose this question to be maintained by some witty Inceptor or Commencer affirmatiuely thus Virum Chimaera bombiâ—ans in vacuo debeat comedere secundas intentiones Affirme Then for the more luculent and fraudlesse processe in this graue probleme I would first cleare the termes from ambiguity I would vnderstand by Chymaera a Socinian and him that you might be able to look vpon the monster with lesse fright and horror mask't or vizar'd in Protestantisme then bombinans in vacuâ— that is busy in disputing to no purpose nor with hope or intent to determine any truth or bombinans in vacuâ— buzzing his imposture in some idle and vacant eare or againe bombinans in vacuâ— buzzing and disputing against all principles of Diuinity and Philosophy that there is vacuum in nature that God is not euery where or that it is not certaine whether be be any where And then whether this Chymaera ought to feed only vpon second Intentions whether he ought in conformity to his Principles to be content with such Commons or whether he ought to take commons
blameth that thing which no man can doubt but he wisheth Pref. Your other part sayth he of your Accusation strikes deeper and is more considerable and that tells vs that Protestancy waxeth weary of it selfe that the Professors of it they especially of greatest worth loue temper and moderation c. Answ Is this an Accusation Can his Aduersary possibly be conceaued to blame this Why then doth he so depraue the cleare sense of his Aduersaries words but only to make him odious euen to them whom he commends for their better inclination towards antiquity and truth for their temper and moderation Which simple relation of his Aduersary exhibited without all bitternes of speach or any offensiue style see how he exulcerates With what bitternes of a black Censure as though he had dip't his pen succo nigra loliginis or in felle amaritudinis in the gall of bitternes as S. Peter said to Simon Magus an Apostata from the Church of God and who after his Apostasy returning to his trade deluded many by his encharmed wing's of pride and imposture Heare his owne words after his Aduersaries euen as related by himself and as you are a louer of truth true iudgment take the paines to cōpare them Pref. Which scurrilous libell sayth he voyd of all truth discretion and honesty c. Answ And is not this indeed scurrilous railing void of all truth discretion and honesty For doth this man deserue to be speared or to be treated calmely who tempests so rudely who rides with so loose a bridle of passion or no bridle at all that he out-runs euen himself and self-knowne truth And yet after this he enter's into his Aduersaries bosome to rauish thence a concealed thought contrary to what his words carry before them and contrary to his very thought Pref. For did you conceaue sayth he such inclination of men of worth and learning to your party can any man imagine you would proclaime it and bid men take heed of it Answ I answere No he would not nor doth he any where bid them take heed of it but take notice of the vnsettled condition of all Heresy which either fall's further into Turcisme Socinianisme Atheisme c. as we see it hath in many part 's of the world which haue laps't from the Roman or else floates for euer turnes round as it were in an vncessant wheele of Error 's much like the wheele of Fortune and not a litle in conformity with that vntill they returne to the pillar of truth and partake the firmity and weight thereof from the spirit of truth which resides there whose speciall guift all stability and ballast of soules is without which they are as light as that chaffe which the vnquenchable fire shall burne or as that dust quem proijcit ventus à facie terrae But what wonder to returne thither whence we haue a litle digrest if he make a quite contrary construction of his Aduersaries words since he cannot belieue himselfe who hath so often belyed himselfe Pref. Sic notus Vlysses do we know the Iesuit's no better Ans Yes Aiax you know them and they you Pref. Are they turned preuaricator's against their owne cause Ans I am sure you are Take which cause you will and euen heere good Syr marke if he turne not preuaricator euen against himselfe Pref. Are they likely men to betray and expose their owne Agent 's Instruments and to awaken the eyes of Iealousy and to raise the clamour of the people against them Certainly your zeale to the Sea of Eome testified by your Fourth Vow of speciall Obedience to the Pope proper to your Order and your cunning carriage of all affaires for the greater aduantage and aduancement of that Sea are cleare demonstrations that if you had thought thus you would neuer haue said so Answ Heere before I passe any farther it will not be absurd I thinke to giue him a companion to couple him with Iohn Donne whose words in his booke which he hath entitled with his owne Name Pseudo-martyr are so like these of the Aduocate as if they had beene spit out of the same mouth Heare some passages of the Deans to this very purpose Psendom cap. 4. But all your labour is to vnderstand the present state of kingdoms and where any ouerture is giuen for the Popes aduantage or wherein any opposition or hinderance is interiected against his purposes And againe If they be as they say in their Constitutions but bacula senis the old mans staues the old man is the Pope they are bound to say once a weeke one masse to their Geuerals intention though they know not what it is And of this generall intention the center and basis is the aduancement of that Sea about which these Planetary monkes haue their course and reuolutions And yet more But the Iesuit's in this latter age haue found the vse of the compasse which is the Popes will c. They are more seuere maintainers and increaser's then any other of those doctrines of the Roman Church which we noted to beget this inclination that is to Martyrdom Thus far the Deane Answ Now would I know who exorcised these spirits Who forc't them by any torture to proclame these so high praises of their aduersaries what haue the Iesuit's deserued of these men that they should be so honoured by their testimonies aboue all other Orders or Professors of the Roman Catholique Church For at least to those who acknowledg subiection to the Roman Sea whose approbation without doubt they couet more then of any other they testify their supreme prayse and commendation For what more highly commendable in the iudgments of all such Catholique spirits then their so vigilant seruice and obedience to him whom they iointly belieue to be the Vicar of Christ What more admirably laudable then to be the staff of Christ Iesus in the hand of his Deputy on earth then to make the aduancement of his Church the Basis and Center of their intentions But then chiefly by what so commemorable merit of their Order towards these men mere aliens strangers to them can they haue deserued those diuine Elogies Encomions fitter to be celebrated in the honour of the Apostles themselues to whom indeed they are most due and proper The Iesuit's must needs blush to heare themselues so dignified as to be called Planetary monkes or which is all one Apostolicall monkes for these Planetary monkes wander no whither but whither they are sent with the same commission of the Apostles establish't by those words Euntes in mundum vniuersum c. going into the whole world preach this Ghospell c. And he was sure a Planetary monke 1. Cor. 4. who said of himselfe and his Coapostles instabiles sumus we haue no setled habitation Now for these Planets to haue their courses and reuolutions about the same center with the Apostles the aduancement of the Church and Ghospell of Christ is so high a point
of glory and dignity that the Apostles themselues aspired to no higher Now would I know I say againe who made these penâ— their ennemies trumpets Or who blew them or plaid them to what tune he listed Are they not asham'd of such preuarication But you may pardon them they did it against their will 's they had no such interition in a word digitus Dei hic est they were exorcised Nor haue we cause to glory they will say If we prays'd you with truth's yet we pepperd you with lyes Thus hath this couple preuaricated as you see vnwittingly and vnwillingly True which may be their Apology for any good they do for any Catholique Profession at any tyme A Comicall a Parmenian beneuolence Plus hodie boni feci imprudens quà m sciens anto hunc diem vmquam I haue done more good to day vnawares then euer I did wittingly in my life As for any preuarication of his Aduersary if his words offer a preuaricating sense that is disaduantagious to the writers cause it is an ordinary lapse a very vsuall ouersight as not to obserue all aduantages in the speach or writing of other men so not to foresee or auoid all disaduantages in his owne I assure my selfe he pretends no exemption from the common condition of mortality 〈…〉 which is incertae prouidentia nostra failing of prouidence and caution in many things wherin naturall sagacity of wit or iudgment carries the torch if he haue neither swaru'd from the prescript of Fayth nor Charity If otherwise he haue incurred some disaduantage I verily thinke he will be content rather to seeme lesse prouident then so cunning a dissembler as this Aduersary would make him Notwithstanding the ground of this preuarication layd by this Aduocate is indeed an vntruth of his owne which is this that Pref. As the Samaritan's saw in the disciples countenance that they meant to goe to Hierusalem so you pretend sayth he that it is euen legible in the forehead 's of thâ—se men that they are euen going nay making hast to Rome Answ This had beene preuarication indeed but they are the words which this shameles Atturney infoist's and masketh in a different Character as continued in his Aduersaries discourse and as his words who hath no such Now for that latent or pretexed meaning or intention which this Aduocate this Politique-would-be would seeme to haue decipher'd in his Aduersaries writing it is altogether as improbable as the interpretation is malicious whereby while he pretends to free him from one preuarication much lesse he endeauours to winde him into a greater For what greater Preuarication indeed or what folly more disaduantagious to his cause then to haue gone about to seeme angry yea enraged as this Interpreter intimates against those whose approaches to Catholique Religion in some exterior expressions he describes Sic notus Vlysses Was euer Aiax more mystaken in Vlysâ—es euen then when he raued with madnes Was there any pollicy to endeauour to alienate such men of that temper and moderation yea and learning too to staue them off to beat them from the doores whose reentrance into the house he couets aboue all things O yes forsooth Pref. You foresaw your tyme of preuailing or euen subsisting would be short if other Aduersaries gaue you no more aduantage then these do Answ O Policy beyond the moone We are more likely to preuaile with such or subsist by such who wish vs all extirpated whose daily outcries for so many yeares haue by all meanes endeauoured to awake the Lawes who attempt daily to raze out all monuments and memory of Catholique Religion who are so far from brooking the name of sesuit that they are enemies to the name of Iesus all impressions of which they would deface both in print and picture With these we can hope to preuaile by these subsist rather then with men of temper and moderation as though all aduantages which gaue vs argument or matter to write though we write in our owne bloud were our greatest booty and content O grosse Policy but O witty discoueryl though to find it out where it lurk't vnder a pretended folly of preuarication Sic notus Vlysses as very a Vlysses as he was this slye Aduocate this Palamedes hath detected him Now all the wit of antique and moderne discoueries huic herbam porrigito palmam date yield primacy to this Battus into an Iudex or Touchstone is a stale and fabled metamorphosis sub illis Montibus inquit erant erant sub montibus illis They were there vnder those hill's quoth he and so they were Here is a Battus who hath discouered what was neuer hid hath exposed to publique view the inuisible Eele And hath not the man reason to glory in this discouery Iudge you whether he hath or no And in further conformation of his owne perswasion that he hath indeed found out the Nilus-head retected his Aduersaries drift's and policy and layd them open to the world that no man can doubt but it is the very meaning of the riddle which this Oedipus hath read heare how conuincingly he argues it Pref. out of the sillinesse and poorenesse of his Aduersaries suggestions and partly the apparent vanity and falshood of them So he Answ But he might haue done well to haue told vs in particular what he charged with falshood But we must be content with what he can do He can tell vs something is false but what he cannot tell nor will he particularize of purpose that the Reader may apply this confuse and vndetermined imputation to any particular as he pleaseth and withall suspect all Heare now his solid confutation of those silly suggestions Pref. What if out of Deuotion towards God out of a desire that his should be worhipped as in spirit and truth in the first place so also in the beauty of holynes what if out of feare that too much simplicity and nakednes in the publique seruice of God may beget in the ordinary sort of men a dull and stupid irreuerence c. I say what if out of these considerations the gouernors of our Church more of late then formerly haue set theÌ„selues to adorne and beautisy the places where Gods honour dwels and to make them as heauenly as they can with earthly ornaments is this a signe they are warping towards Popery Answ To all which I answere what if his Aduersary blame none of all these either things or considerations but rather like them well What if he inferre out of all this no such matter as any reall or intended approach to the Roman Church No it is manifest inough what he inferr's which is that which writes and expresseth in words plaine inough that Protestancy is subiect to perpetuall changes And in a more generall way he infers the powerfull working of truth which will infallibly in tyme become victorious The reason because all truth hath existence and subsistence from and in God it is his Word wheras error and
vnderstanding men comparing this Admonition with the profession and function of the Admonisher will interprete it a duety or a necessary Charity They I say who shall consider that the prudence of Almighty God ouer his Church hath for all tymes deputed certaine men to the charge and office of Gardian of Watch of Sentinell according to that of the Prophet Jsa 62 Super mures tues Hierusalem constitui custodes c. Vpon thy wals Hierusalem I haue placed watchmen will not only hold them worthy pardon but prayse too who discharge this office faythfully which followeth in that place Totâ die nocte non tacebunt c. Day nor night they shall not be silent And if men of that charge and prefecture be worthily honoured with the appellation of Angels to them most fitly may be applyed what the other Prophet sayth Angelis suis Deus mandauit de te c. God hath charged his angels to guard thee c. Yea were the Incumbent of such a Ministery neuer so meane of quality yet the obligation fals vpon him with his function to signify the approach of the thiefe or enemy Ezech. 33. and they who shall heare this sound of signification are likewise bound to take notice and stand vpon their Guard And yet if there be any who shall hold either their owne or other the like watchments silence or conniuency in these occasions of impendent dangers their greater prudence or discretion yet euen this their prudhominy or caution may be so much the more exensable if their stilnes be supplied by the barking of others And for this cause they will I thinke at the least excuse if not cherish such who by discharging them vndertake the whole burden of Enuy and perill vpon themselues But to such a minister who hath apostated and reapostated from Religion take which you will who hath delegated any such authority Vnles he will take it for his warrant which is written in the Canticles Posuerunt me custodem in vineis Cant. â— Vineam meam non custodiui they haue appointed me a keeper in the vineyards my owne Vineyard I haue not kept surely almighty God gaue him no such keeping And howsoeuer he think's the preiudice of his Person so often false and faultring in Religion should in equity be no disparagement to his doctrine or disaduantage to his Plea yet it is certainly so great and iust a preiudice that it dischargeth all men from giuing eare or credit to his reasons whatsoeuer they be and whatsoeuer he argues to the contrary in this place might as well Apologize for the Diuel who no doubt could vrge as strong and pressing Reasons against any profession of Religion as this Adnocate hath either learn't or can learne of him and yet I suppose no man is bound with indifference to heare Reason from the Diuell no although he preach Ghospell Yea I dare presume to say had Christ himself beene preiudged in the opinions of indifferent and vnderstanding men by the like presumptions so strongly and clearely made good against him the not acceptance of the Iewes had beene at the least excusable Which he himselfe not obscurely fignified by his appeale to themselues Quis ex vobis arguet me de peccate Who of you can charge me with any sinne as supposing that a sufficient warrant of their recusancy if they could iustly charge him with any sinne much more if they could haue charged him with so grieuous a crime as Infidelity or Socinianisme For who can belioue him who is presumed not to belieue himself For be his reasons neuer so strong yet he will be supposed able to answere them since he belieues not the doctrine built vpon those reasons No. Syr it cannot it must not be otherwise this preiudice must in reason staue off all beliefe vntill it be remoued And if either Bellarmine could haue beene proued a Iew or Peron an Atheist as easily as credibly as this Minister-Aduocate who by these base adiections seeltes to fly-blow their worthily memories with suspition can be proued a Socinian Calumny which is implicitely both Iew and Atheist their works and writings would haue as litle credit and authority as themselues fayth and religion Wherefore the Christian Reader that the streame of this Ministers discourse turned another way may serue to good vse Vt cursum mutaâ—it iniquum fragibus amnis Doctus iter melies knowing that his Saluation depends vpon his impartiall and fyncere iudgment of these things now to harken to Orthodoxe and seriously Christian Doctors rather then to Renegado's and Tâ—aitorâ— to all states of Religion and to bend a more inclinable eare to Vertue then to Vice is no partiality at all will guard himself I hope from such impostors and will regard the person also not only his reasons and who it is speaks to him not only what he speakes knowing that if the Diuell vtter some truthes euen in those truthes he conceales a false and diuellish meaning and after that he hath gained credit by the attractiue splendor of some true doctrines he will hope to be belieued euen when he lyes and so howsoeuer appearing first in the inuesture of light and truth he will proue an Angell of darknes and Imposture It hath beene the vsuall Practise of all hereticall writers to embellish their discourses with as many verities as they could possibly inculcate without apparent contradiction or repugnancy Euen this deuise begot not a little esteeme to the Answerer of Charity mistaken he had employed his care to make his work popular and taking by the intermedling of many Catholique truth's this was it which so much commended it to the vulgar Reader whose capacity could not sound the incoherence and inconsistency of those truth 's with the fashood's which he principally intended to bring into credit by consorting thom with those therefore when he heard his worke so popularly applauded he might haue said with great truth and modesty as she who hearing her self highly praysed for the hayre she wore said Nescis quam pro melaudat nunc iste Sicambram The rest which followeth in this Prefatory Answere to the Direction and immediatly precedeth his Conclusion is a briefe recollection as it seemes of what is scattered in his ensuing Volume trust vp together with a number of points fastned all to one chiefe point and maine head of Doctrine which is indeed a most false Principle in the sense he pretendeth That all things necessary to Saluation are euidently contained in Scriptures Whence it will follow that the beliefe of the B. Trinity is not necessary to Saluation as which in this Aduocates opinion as I haue noted heretofore is not euidently reuealed in the Scriptures And yet grant this principle true it will follow that the authority determining Controuersies of fayth cannot be the Scripture but the Church for it is notorious that some Her eticall doctrines haue beene grounded vpon some ineuident passages of Scripture and those vented as doctrines of
Canonicall Word Therfore I hope I shall do him no wrong in thinking he had a purpose to consecrate his Motiues by a mystery of number I shall also make bold to conceaue him so learned as to know the great vertue and efficiency which not only the Schoole of Pithagoras but the retyâ—ing Cabalists and learned Rabbius yea the holy Fathers themselues attribute to numbers and euen namely to this number of Ten. Whence I will imagine he had here regard to the Decalogue of Diuine Commaundements in conformity to which he proposed to himselfe his Decalogue of Motiues Perhaps he considered with all the reward of such man whose integrity of obseruance and obedience to those Commaund's should receaue singali denarium which denarius diurnus Anagogically vnderstood is life euer lasting that one entire day of Eternity vninterrupted by night or intermission of happines And this Decalogist may haue cause to feare though other cares at this tyme by land and water diuert his feare or imploy it otherwise least at the numbring and counting day this very Decalogue may be obiected against him Nonne ex denarie connenisti mecum Was not your agreement with the Catholique Church ex denariâ— out of your owne Decalogue of Motiues But now he saith he repents the bargaine There was also to be considered in this number a mystery of congruity NoeÌ„ was the tenth Generation of man NoeÌ„ signifieth Rest. So in the tenth Motiue it seemes this Moueable intended to rest and moue no further as all motion's render themselues to some terme of rest vnlesse you will except the Circular and the motion of such men who moue in a Circle of whome the Prophet Psal 11. Jud. in circuitu impij ambulant Wicked men walke in a Circle and as those cloud ' of which S. Iude nubes sine aquâ quae à ventis circumferuntur dry cloud 's without all moisture of diuine Grace as * Socinians those who haue no Grace so much as in their Catechisme what more dry and Graceles cloud 's then they these are hurried round omni vente dectrinae with euery blast and change of doctrine whose Religion hath no residence Ephes 4. And such a one is he who hauing arriued to the truth by ten step 's or Motiues by ten I say the pause and period of number falls back and begin's a new account Semper ad vsque decem numero crescente venitur Because denarius est omnis numerus sayth the learned Mirandula the tenth is all number for thus farre his march and motion was as the progresse of the iust in the path of light Prousâ—b â— Iustorum sâ—mitae quasilux splendens procedit crescit vsque ad perfectum diem the path of iust men as a shinning light proceed's increase's still vntill the noone or perfect day This noon-day or perfect day is the terme period of this progresse this that denarius diurnus the day of diuine Truth as obscurely reuealed to be belieued in this life to be enioyed in the next in the clarity of blissifull vision For this tenth of euerlasting day is the place and residence of the eternall Beatitude of mankind of which S. Austin Attende Serm. de decimit quod creatura decima inter intellectuales creatur as est homo quia Angeli in nouem ordinibus consistunt decimus verò ordo est hominum Obserue that man is the tenth in number of intellectuall creatures for there are nine orders of Angels the tenth order is of men Now this vnhappy man after much study I doubt not and paines taken in the search of truth and Religion hauing now happily aduanc't his progresse Motiues to this number of Perfection and to the hope of communion with Angelicall Hierarchies euen there and then like vnto Lot's wife or the fabulous Orpheus transgre'st the couenant and look't back ibi omnis effusus labor There all the labor was lost or as the Greeke prouerbe hath it Hydria in foribus the pitchard broken in the very entry or threshold And now the mystery of the sacred number fouly betrayed of those ten goodly Motiues nothing remaines to him the Mouer but the number the soule and spirit now departed they moue no more then a carcasse and may therefore not vnfiâ—ly carry before them in their title Nos numerus sumus We are a number Yet euen these though vnnaturally massacr'ed by him who gaue them light Natis sepulchrum Notwithstanding may perhap's reuiued to lfie be Motiues againe and mooue others who will entertaine them though their pittilesse Parent hath cast them off And because I conceaue this resurrection may be atchieued without a miracle I will presume to attempt it though weakly a stronger spirit will performe it more effectually 1. Motiues 2. Remotiues 3. Promotiues or Replicants I. Motiue BEcause perpetuall visible profession which could neuer be wanting to the Religion of Christ nor any part of it is apparently wanting to Protestant Religion so farre as concernes the points in contestation I. Remotiue God hath mayther deoâ—eed nor foretold that his true doctrine should de facto be alwayes visibly professed without any mixture of falshood I. Promotiue or Replicant If by this restrictiue de facto you vnderstand that such visible profession of vnmixt or pure Truth was only so decreed or foretold that de iure it should be so that is of right there ought to be alwayes visible profession of true doctrine without any mixture of falshood but that de facto such vnmixt doctrine to be so professed indeed was nether decreed nor foretold Against this I reply in behalf of your Motiue This were no Priuiledge at all of the Christian Church for de iure of right not only the Church but the Synagogue too was so make profession of true doctrine without mixture of falshood Nay de iure euen the Gentiles should haue worshi'pt God according to truth without falshood and those Philosophers should haue taught the truth which they vnderstood concerning God without mixture of vntruth for the contrary of which they are coÌ„demned by S. Paul Rom. 1. What was then the effect and intent of the spirit of truth so sent as to continue to the end of the world in the Church of Christ Was it only to impose a duty and obligation vpon the Church to teach truth without falshood And was the Church to be Columna veritaetis the pillar of 〈◊〉 de iure only not de faâ—â—o Who can safely leaue or rely vpon that Pillar which only should stand but may as well fall as stand Was this the purchase that cost the dearest bloud of the Sonne of God a duty only and a deeper damnation of the Church not corresponding with this duty Was this the loue of Christ Iesus Ephes 5. towards his dearest spouse so great that he would dy for her to the end he might sanctify her and wash her in the lauer of water in his word that he might exhibit
of difference betweene vs and you which point held by you in opposition to the Roman Catholique hath euer beene countenanc't by any least miracle of our Sauiour or his Apostles or the opposite doctrine of Catholiques confounded by the like testimony For if you make not this appeare by your sunne of Euidence those diuine and supernaturall miracles what will remaine for your confirmation but ignis fatuus I know your Sanctuary when you haue tost turned all your creditable records and euidences you will shew vs forsooth that those points of fayth which you haue receaued and hold of the Catholique Roman Church though the tenure be merely Hereticall that is of voluntary choice because it pleaseth you to hold some such as import no restraint or that some face of truth may appeare like the face and song of Siren's to draw men vpon your rock's of pernicious Heresies those I say you will proue to haue beene attested and confirmed by those miracles of our Sauiour and his Apostles which will help your cause nothing at all but rather weaken it when by such testimony of miracles you can confirme no other doctrine but what you haue receaued from vs. Neither yet are those doctrines yours which you can proue to haue beene so confitmed I say no otherwise yours then those things which you haue stolne or keep by force from the right owners therefore they are with you as children rauish't from their mothers bosome and the company of their brethren by the Turket or Mâ—ret with whome they remayn so sequestred perforce daily testifiyng by their sighes and grones the tyranny of their restraint and their defire to returne to their Mother brethren After this violent manner are those Catholique doctrines with you and thus are holy Scriptures in your not custody but captiuity both of them entertained by you to no other end but to be slaues and seruants to your owne children the peculiar dâ—â—trines of your Schisme to carry torches before them to gaine â—ome reputation of light to those workes of darknes Although for Scriptures as I haue said before and say againe no Heretique hath them properly that is as they are the word of God which they are not but as truly interpreted for which truth of interpretation he can pretend no warrant or title at all For the Scriptures are not only the word of God but the word of the Church which hauing first conceaued them by the holy Ghost the spirit of truth brought them forth to light and bequeathed them from age to age to the children of her obedience made partakers of the same spirit and therfore they only can discerne them to be the word of God which is only discernable to those to whom it is spoken or reuealed by the same spirit which is only in the Church of Christ the one mysticall body of Christ which is also called the spirit of Christ and therefore is not to be found in any other Body or Society of men for then Christ should be the head or heads of more bodies which is absurd blasphemy And as the Church of God alone is endued with this spirit of discretion whereby she discernes what Scripture is the word of God so this Church alone hath the spirit of interpretation of Scriptures and she alone can certainly say this is the sense and meaning of this Scripture who can truly say this is Scripture as only that Daniel cold declare the interpretation and meaning of Nabuchâ—donozors dreame who could tell him what he had dreamed which none of those Wizards or Sorcerers or Enchanters could do who yet professed they would interprete the dreame so he would tell them what he had dreamed But the wise King belieued them not qua sunâ— per Allegoriam dicta But heere good Sir I must tell you as a friend I am ashamed to sâ—â— a man of your expectation hopefull promisings to come forth in this thred-bare liuery of old Heretiques this appeale from Church to Scriptures There was neuer so putide an Heretique which hauing once cast off the authority of the Church could not find some refuge or sanctuary in the darknes of Scripture hauing also togeather with that authority excussed taken to himselfe the freedome of interpreting Scriptures Belie us it Syr. it is and euer will be a maine presumption that you draw â—nder the same yoke with former Heretiques when you can not get out of the same Cart-rout which they haue track't before you Et monstrata diâ— veteris trabis â—rbita â—ulpa For first you haue gone out of the Roman Catholique Church so they from the authority of that Church you appeale to Scriptures so they then you interprete Scriptures according to your single vnderstanding without any other liuing guide or Vocall authority so they being gone out you turne all your power of Pen-gall against that Church whence you went forth so they But neither you nor your patrons nor Apostles conuert any nation to Christian fayth nor they You reduce few sonles from sinfull courses to better life nor they In the whole number of your Patriarches you cannot name one Saint nor they I see how you haue consociated your self and your Clyent 's with the knowne Heretiques of former tymes I would gladly know someone distinctiue signe by which you discerne and vindicate your selues from the formall character or character 's markes or brands of ancient Heretiques In the meane tyme let vs examin the remnant of this Remotiâ—e Rem This booke c. foretell's me plainly that in after ages great signes and wonders shall be wrought in confirmation of false doctrine Prom. But hath it fore told you that in after ages no true miracle shall be wrought in confirmation of true doctrine If not it hath foretold you nothing to the purpose you pretend Rem And that I am not to belieue any doctrine which seemes to my vnderstanding repugnant to the first Prom. Wâ—â—ch seemes repugnant c. to your vnderstanding Most ridiculâ—us 〈◊〉 no such thing was euer foretold you by the Booke of Gods Word you dreamed it But that doctrine is not to be belieued which to an infallible vnderstanding which is the vnderstanding of the Church which is guided by the spirit of truth is not only seemingly but really repugnant to Apostolicall doctrine But still you put vs in mynd of your Character your appeale to your owne vnderstanding you will not out of this Cart-rout Rem But that true doctrine should in allages haue the testimony of miracles that I am no where taught Prom. Are you any where taught the contrary Or that the testimony of miracles promised by our Sauiour is confined within a certain compasse or period of tyme Hath the Church only a lease of miracles for terme of yeare and if it hath when expired that terme or lease Vnles you can tell vs this for ought you know it is yet in being Now the promise of our Sauiour being conceaued and exprest in plaine words
and those of an indefinite and interminate signification without all limitation to tyme or place by what authority presume you to confine it with in the malignant bounds of your vnderstanding or assignement The words of our Sauiour are these Amen Ioh. 14. Marâ— 16. amen dicâ— vobis c. Verily verily I say to you he who belieues in me shall do the works which I do yea greater then these The very like hath S. Marke and elswhere Remâ—t Besides setting aside the Bible and the tradition of it there is as good story for miracles wrought by those who liued and died in opposition to the Doctrine of the Roman Church as by S. Cyprian c. as there is for thâ—se that are pretended to be wrought by the meÌ„bers of that Church Prom. It is false that S. Cyprian dyed in opposition to any then defined doctrine of the Roman Church Secondly proue that any of those miracles were wrought in confirmation of any such doctrine as opposed the doctrine of the Roman Church otherwise you say nothing Remot Lastly it seemes to me no strange thing that God in his instice should permit some true miracles to be wrought to delude them who haue forged so many c. Prom. Now certainly you are a strange Aduocate and will shame your Clyents do what we can In truth by what I haue heard blasphemies are no strang things with you who swallow them with as much ease as Mithridates was wont to take poyson and as easily they come from you Yet first I note your illiterate manner of expression in saying that God permits some true miracles as though true miracles were wrought by Gods permission only not by his positiue concourse and direct intention by reason of which positiue concourse it is truly said of euery true miracle digitus Dei his est the fingar of God is heere as being his worke alone so his alone that no power or force of nature hath any naturall influence into it and wherunto nature may seeme to affoard nothing else but a certain non-repugnance and submission to the prerogatiue power of God which therfore rather Nature thou God may be said to permit And tell me now good Syr seemes it not strange to you that God should positiuely and directly worke a true miracle in confirmation of a falshood for if it be in confirmation of a truth then it deludes not that God should truly lye in the language of fact and reality saying by his miracle This is true doctrine which is false or this is Vertue which is Vice or the like For although Almighty God may permit the abuse and wicked application of some supernaturall worke whereunto he concurreth positiuely as when he concurs positiuely with the Priest consecrating to some mischieuous end if we will imagine so great impiety yet it followeth not that God can concurre positiuely to other miracles with him who intends imposture or confirmation of false doctrine by them For the power of consecrating giuen to the Priest is a permanent resident and consistent power like vnto the naturall faculties of man wherewith as by vertue of a former pact and law of nature God concurreth positiuely in order to the naturall efficiency or exercise of those faculties and to the Physicall entity of their effects howsoeuer oftentymes morally and formally sinfull which law and couenant supposed the abuse of such naturall power is the sole worke and attribute of man only permitted by God But the power of other miracles not appropriated to function or Character or such as to which God hath not obliged himselfe by any former compact with any man either to conserue that power in him or to concurre with it to any miraculous effect is in no man resident but rather flâ—ent and errant as holden of God by a free arbitrary and inobligatory tenure therefore without breaking or frustrating any preeedent Couenant or decree God may withdraw his concurrence to such miracles especially if at any tyme maliciously designed and in this case since he may withdraw himselfe me thinkes it stands not with his iustice and goodnes not to do so And here may seeme to haue place that saying of the ancient Qui non vetat peccare cùm potest iubet For to this kind of miracles if God should concurre positiuely he should seeme to concurre directly to the abuse of the mischieuous application which God forbid we should euer say or thinke with Caluin But now seemes it not strange to you that of a mere delusion and imposture it should be truly said digitus Dei hic est Could any voyce of mortal man reach to so high a note of blasphemy but a Socinian which reacheth euen from Hell to Heauen Though now againe it seemes to me no strange thing that God in his iustice and prouidence should permit such blasphemies to fall from the pens of such Aduocates that the manifestation of them may disabuse the world and awake their negligence and security who suffer themselues to be guided in the affaire of their Soule-saluation by such godles and graceles Blasphemers IV. Motiue Because many points of Protestant doctrine are the dâ—â—ned opinions of Hereticks condemned by the Primitiue Church IV. Remotiue All these were not Hereticks which by Philastrius Epiphanius or 2. Austine were put in the Catalogue of Heretiques IV. Promotiue What kind of answere is this All those were not Heretiques c. Ergo it is not true that many points of Protestant doctrine are the damned opinions of Heretiques that is of some Heretiques condemned by the primitiue Church Or thus Some doctrines are not Heresies which Philastrius numbreth with Hâ—resies for so Bellarmine hath noted De Script Eccles Ergo these doctrines of Protestants are not Heresies or no doctrines of Protestants are Or thus Ergo those doctrines of Protestants which you in your Motiue obserue to haue beene the damned opinions of old Heretiques or those very Heresies which Philastrius supposeth to be Heresies and are not Now is there any ayre or rellish of true Logicke either naturall or Scholasticall in these Paralâ—gicall consequences V. Motiue Because the Prophecyes of the Old Testament touching the Conuersion of Kings and Nations to the true Religion of Christ haue been accomplished in and by the Catholicke Roman Religion and the Professors of it and not by Protestant Religion and the Professours of it V. Remotiue Kings and Nations haue been and may be conuerted by men of contrary Religions V. Promotiue Kings and Nations haue been and may be conuerted by men of contrary Religions Ergo it is not true that the Prophesies touching the conuersion of Kings c. haue beene accomplished by the Catholique and not by the Protestant Professors This inference euery Logician or man of common sense sees hath no force at all But againe the force of the Motiue consists in this That those Prophesies concerning Conuersions haue beene actually fulfilled in and by the Catholique Roman Church which is
indeed a waighty inducement to belieue that to be the true Church foresignified by the spirit of God wherein those signes wherewith God hath fore-marked and predesigned the true Church are euident to be seen then contrariwise if those signes and markes of the true Church are not to be found in the Protestant this ought in reason to induce a man to belieue that the Protestant is not the true Church For where the connexion betweene the signe and the thing signed is indiuisible there the inference is good proceeding from the destruction of the signe to the destruction or deniall of the thing signed or signified As to say heere is not the indiuisible signe Ergo heere is not the thing signed This I say supposing such infallible Connexion which in this case ought to be supposed such deuine prediction and the veracity of God being presupposed which tyeth the signe and the thing signed togeather by an inuiolable and indissoluble knot I say further that it is false that Nations haue been conuerted to the true Religion of Christ by men of contrary Religions which thus I demonstrate Those contrary Religions or Professions of Religion though they might be both or all false yet both or all could not be true as the Roman Orator sayth well pronouncing vniuersally of dissenting opinions Now of the true Religion conuerting men to the true there is no question but of the contrary or repugnant to the true Thus I argue Either the Professors of a false Religion taught and preacht ' according to their false principles or doctrine and then by those they neuer conuerted any to the true Religion or else they taught true principles and true doctrine of Christian fayth If so then if by those true Principles c. they conuerted men to Christian fayth though themselues were not true Christians yet they conuerted as agreeing and consenting with the true Religion not as opposers or as men of a contrary Religion As if a heathen should baptize by applying the matter and forme of baptisme with intention to do what Christians are wont to do by the like application then not Heathenisme but Christian Religion baptizeth by a Heathen Nor can this Argument be retorted by the Protestant for it will easily be made to appeare that Catholiques haue conuerted Nations to and by those doctrines wherein they dissent from protestants whereas neither Protestants nor any other oppugners of the Catholique will euer be found to haue conuerted Nations by preaching the doctrine wherein they disagree from the Catholique but moreouer as for the Protestants they neuer conuerted any neither by their disagreeing nor agreeing doctrines Nay euen this confirmes if at any tyme it so fall out the truth and efficacy of Christian Religion and the accomplishment of those prophetique Predictions when euen the alien or opposer of true Religion who can achieue no one Conuersion to Christianity by his owne repugnant doctrine can and doth effect it by vertue of Christian Truth which I say this supposed that any such Precedent may be cited out of antiquity of some Conuersion to Christian Religion wrought by an alien Professour though the entire Conuersion of a nation by any such separate instrument I belieue hath no Precedent in ancient memory For the reasons which I haue touched heretofore and in a word according to the ordinary and connatuâ—all course of diuine proceedings in such affaires Non hos elegiâ— Dâ—minus See the Examples commonly alleaged answered also in Authours God is not went to make choyce of such men to be his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as S. Paul and after him S. Denis speakes his cooperators or coâ—diâ—tors in the reduction of soules This is too great an honour to be coserred vpon an alion or enemy of Religion So then your fifth Motiue stands yet fast and irremoued by you like to some pillar which raised in the Church by some Architect stands there fix't and firme euen when the workman is gone farre away yea now perhaps dead and rotten or as while many a weary person leaning vpon that pillar findeth case and rest the drunken Artist receaues no ease at all from it but reeles stagger's in the wide field vntil he fall dead drunke vpon the ground or into some ditch c. Iust so M. Aduocate Hac à te non multâ—m abludit imago this is no bad picture of your selfe VI. Motiue Because the Doctrine of the Church of Rome is conformable and the doctrine of Protestants contrary to the doctrine of the Fathers of the Primitiue Church euen by the confession of the Protestants themselues I meane those Fathers who liued within the compasse of the first 600. yeares to whom Protestants themselues do very frequently and very confidently appeale VI. Remotiue The Doctrine of Papists is confess'd by Papists contrary to the Fathers in many points VI. Promotiue Nether will this Motiue be remoued with so weake a push which thus I confirme It is vntrue that any learned Papist confesseth that the doctrine of faith of moderne Papists is contrary to the doctrine of the Fathers in any point of faith theÌ„ defined by the Church If from some they differ in some point now defined then not defined this is no formall contrariety in points of faith that is as they are points of fayth obligatory to belief which they are not before they be defined by the Church which being the sole infallible interpreter of diuine reuelation by propounding any point of doctrine as diuinely reuealed makes it now formally the obiect of necessary beliefe which was before only materially such But neither againe in regard of such differences is this contrariety of some opinions betweene the moderne Papists and some of the ancient Fathers any formall opposition For since they so held those disserent doctrines then vndefined as being ready to let them go when the Church should define the contrary euen in vertue of this readines or preparation of mynd they held implicitely and in a sort equiualently the very same which we now hold after the definition of the holy Church But the Protestants Appeale to those Fathers of the first 600. yeares is a very brag and imposture of a Iewell not worth one barley corne Campian Neque hoc sibi suisque vulnus inflictum Laurentius Humfredas tacuit For since in this vno tertio in this middle terme of submitting all our iudgmeÌ„ts doctrines to the authority decision of the Catholike Church we ioyne with the Fathers both of those 600. all succeeding yeares eueÌ„ to this present age we caÌ„not but meet in the coÌ„clusion of whatsoeuer doctrine of faith As contrariwise for want of this concurrence in one third or middle terme all hopes of Protestants or any Sectary whatsoeuer euer to ioyne with those Orthodoxe Fathers is spes Hypocritarum a vaine presumption rather then any solid hope as of such who couet to make some shew of agreement with those Peeres of Christian Religion thereby to procure
and Gallant men But such is now become his zeale of Religion great pitty no man will belieue it that he had rather be esteemed not wise and Gallant then of no Religion But why thinke you hath he so misalleaged his Aduersaries words Insteed of these This wise and Gallant nation can be of no religion if not Catholique he hath them thus as though his Aduersary said wise and Gallant men can be of no religion if not of his O he would not seeme to grant his Aduersaries religion or that of the Italian nation Catholique for he would faine retaine vnto his cause the name of Catholique as both he and his associates are wont now of later day's to nick-name themselues Catholiques and laugh at one another I suppose for so doing For this name Catholique can no more stick to their profession then were it printed in wynd or water but either they are Catholiques or no if no why do they say they are if yea what is it to them that they who are not Catholique are of no religion Againe either these men conceaue of Catholique Religion as the Italian doth or no. If no then the Italians being of no religion if not Catholique concernes them nothing if they conceaue a like then t' is no disparaging imputation to say they are of no Religion if not Catholique The Italian is supposed by this writer and others who know them so wise and vnderstandâ—â—g as to make this discourse of all Societies of men who professe Christianity this the Roman Catholique is most probably the true Religion he is withall supposed so Gallant that he will not professe a religion which he iudgeth none or not true Whence he concludeth thus Either this is the true or none and then againe Either I will imbrace this or none Now if these men haue the like conceipt if they make the same Antecedent then the Consequent falls likewise vpon them if I say they be alike wise and Gallant without any disparagement at all where is now the indigne Contumely or Execrable Calumny For what other thing is this to say but that he who will not be of that religion which he belieueth the only true wil be of none Otherwise this must needes proceed from some basenes if hauing reiected the religion which he iudgeth the only true if any true he imbrace notwithstanding or seeme to imbrace some other Sect or Profession which he hath in his iudgment à fortiori reiected in reiecting the Catholique And let this Aduocate turne himselfe which way he list play his part in Tragicall Rhetorique in the Eye of the world to stirre vp Passion in the beholders and so to blind them neither he nor any else who know's the Roman and can compare it with any other as now he can shall euer be thought to be of any religion if not Catholique yea and maugre himselfe if he but dare enter into his soule seriously and sincerely all passion and affection whence partiality may arise throwne aside he shall not choose but acknowledge the Roman of all other for ought he know's the most probable In thâ—meaâ—e tyme he will halt betweene God and Belial sacrifice to neither suspend his opinion sustinere assensum as the Academiques were wont to say and consequently suspend and defer all seruice and worship of God whome where he is he know's not with the Papist or Protestant or Greek or Turke no nor how he would or should be serued vnder what notion or name of Deity So what he serues and worships as God for ought he knows is an Idol as the Arrian God to the Roman is an Idol so must the Catholique 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be to the Arrian and the God of Caluin positiue Author of sin no lesse then of grace is an Idol to all Orthodoxe Christians and so of the rest Let the Samaritan erect as many Altars as he will and accost Hierusalem by imitation of empty Ceremonies as much as he list all this notwithstanding while he adores not in Hierusalem Ioan. 4. he adores he know's not what Nos adoramus quod scimus quia salus ex Iudais est For the tyme is come long since when true Adorer's adore the Father in spirit and truth Whence it followeth that they who adore him not in spirit and truth adore not God at all for it is not inough to exhibit the external acts of adoration and religion shooting them as it were at randon as you would say let them fall where they are due wheresoeuer that be with the Catholiques or Protestants or Caluinistes or Anabaptistes or Arrians or Donatists c. for this must be a rational and voluntary Sacrifice or worship to loue whome we adore and know whom we loue for we cannot loue whom we know not and therefore our loue of God must flow from true fayth and beliefe in God without which we cannot know him From all which appeareth that this very obiecting of a Calumny and Contumely is it selfe both calumnious and contumelious both in substance and quality In substance as being a false crime obiected and then in quality of expression amplified with great bitternes of speach in a studied inuectiue and Archylochian style Strange intemperancy of a man who had not so much power and commaund ouer himselfe as to refraine from Calumny and Contumely at the least while he reprehended it Seuerall Calumnies of M. Ch. SECT V. HEnce now from this so bitter inuectiue against one falsely supposed Calumny of his aduersary he floweth into a copious conglobation of true Calumnies of his owne against his Aduersary and his Cause while he employeth for the more enforcing of his arguments or indeed filly fancies and surmises his figure Pretermission as to passe by first to say nothing secondly not to obiect to you thirdly nor to trouble you fourthly In all which first secondly thirdly c. he doth nothing else indeed but trouble entertaining his Reader with meere impertinencies nor answering any thing directly to what his aduersary writeth Pref. To passe by first sayth he that which Experience iustifies that where and when your religion hath most absolutely commaunded three and then Atheisme hath most abounded Answ Now this is a very Preuarication accompanied with a Calumny For what could be said more against himselfe in confirmation of what his Aduersary writeth and he complaineth of that the more wise and Gallant spirits can be of no religion if not Catholique For euery man knoweth where Catholique Religion hath most absolutely commaunded Calum against Cath. Rel. and yet commands and which he himselfe sufficiently intimates in these very words which is the very thing his Aduersary auoucheth saying they are strangers to that wise and Gallant Nation c. And this confirmeth furthermore that those Eminent spirits conceaued the Catholique of all other the most probably true for could they haue iudged some other Sect to haue more probability of truth in it they would rather haue imbraced that
then haue fallen flat into Atheisme therefore their falling thence immediatly into Atheisme is an argument of that former discourse which I haue supposed probably to haue passed in their secret discussions or this or none true Adde vnto this that in that Nation where our Religion hath and doth most absolutely commaund those wise and Gallant spirits were best acquainted with the doctrine taught in it Whervpon blinded with pride or passion or wicked life being not able to discerne the colour of truth by the light of the sunne they despaired to discerne it by candle-light And it is I confesse an experience grounded vpon great reason both of nature and manners Waight's which fall from higher places force their descent through middle obstacles more strongly and therefore fall lowest None but a Iudas called to the eminency of Apostle-ship could haue plunged himselfe into such a depth of desperate treason as to betway to death the Author of life whom when I consider how soone he fell from the spirit of his vocation to be a calumniator fratrum a Diuell as our Sauiour himselfe call's him I am induc'd to thinke he became an Apostle for no other purpose but to know our Sauiour and his doctrine and then betray him And verily I could easily belieue that of the number of those who professe Christianity more turne Atheists of those who haue beene Catholiques then of those who neuer knew Catholique religion as those who haue been bâ—rne and bred in Lutheranisme Caluinisme or the like because from so low a place they do not easily fall so farre Qui iacet in terrâ non habet vnde cadat Who lyes on the ground he fall's no lower vnles perhaps they haue taken these in their way from the Catholique for if they haue so twenty to one vnles they be some duller spirits they stay not there howsoeuer they make shew of such profession but after some short space of entertainment they goe on their iourney from thence to Adiaphorisme in religion where hauing spent some tyme in good fellowship with all professors vntill they haue consumed that litle remnant stocke of Christian or whatsoeuer else beliefe of a God they steale away after a while from thence too keeping on directly in that roade vntill they arriue to the very next Inne and the very last adioyning to the Ferry vpon the bank-side of Death and Damnation commonly called stylo veteri Atheisme now of later yeares the new Academy or Socinianisme By this the Aduocate may see what he hath gained to his Cause by this obiected Calumny Forsooth that reuolt from Catholique religion renders it selfe at last into Atheisme or Socinianisme where such reuolters I make no doubt would be glad to meete him for there men say this indifferent Trauailer dwells though they say again he hath shift of habitations and his iudgment often changeth lodging but that 's his ordinary and more constant rendeuous Calumnies against Miracles SECT VI. THe next Calumny and second in number of the Pretermissions strikes at Heauen and expect that he will haue a fling at God himselfe afore he hath done by mouing iealousy and suspicion of all miracles and histories and records of Saints whiles he would make men belieue the Catholique Church approueth forging of Miracles and lying Legends so he writes which is indeed a notorious Calumny and had he not made so much hast in running back from the Catholique as though he had come thither only to fetch fire of faction he might haue acquainted himselfe better with the practise of the holy Church in this very point of Miracles and relations concerning Saints He might haue admired their exactnes of scrutiny and all the way 's of industry to find out the truth and to reiect whatsoeuer hath the face or least shew of counterfait or vnsound Knowing well that neither truth can be of any durable consistency with falshood they expell one another euen naturally as light and darkenes but besides this Non tali auxilio nec defensoribus istis Roma caret the Catholique Church needs no such subsidies the pillar of truth craues no support of lyes and forgeries She hath in her Archiues records and euidences of this kind so authentique so authorized so testified that blindnes it selfe by no other Exorcisme but that of manifest truth hath beene compelled to see them and confesse them No otherwise then those Ministers of Pharao digitus Dei hic est But giue them leaue to question Saints and miracles who questionles had neuer yet any no not when the tyme most required them to countenance their extraordinary mission when they ran out of the Church to reforme it or as to cry fire fire when they carried it in their bosomes Calumny against holy Ceremonies SECT VII THe third passe or figuratiue omission in these word 's Not to obiect to you thirdly is a spurn'or kick as he goes by Pref. at the weake and silly Ceremonies and ridiculous obseruances so he of the Catholique Church Ans Indeed if they were only Ceremonies without the substance whereunto they relate they were surely silly Ceremonies but if euery least Ceremony include a mystery greater then hath euer entred into his little weake state or vnderstanding who is then ridiculous but he who laugh's at what he know's not yea euen therefore because he knowes it not Yet had the man but stayd to haue learned his Catechisme among vs he might haue knowne the vse and meaning of our Ceremonies now hauing come into the Church as Cato came vnto the Theater only to go out againe what meruaile if he returne a ridiculous censurer of what he only saw and vnderstood not Such post-hast were hardly tolerable in a Spie much lesse in one who comes to see and censure Of whom if I should aske what in particular were sylly and ridiculous in those ceremonies or whether the Church hath not authority to prescribe Ceremonies if the Church of England allow of ceremonies no whit more substantiall then the Roman to say no more will he be strong inough thinke you to find out a disparity Or will he rebell against all I belieue by these and many other the like passages of his booke the Chayres who haue subscribed it litle obserued how lowd an All-arme is sounded to mutinies and seditions and rebellions against all Church-gouernment But now alas euen this may seeme a thing ridiculous indeed in vs who reprehend his laughing and deriding the waiting Gentle-women or maides of Honour who geeres the Queene hir selfe For did he allow of any such thing as Religion Queene of vertues he would not grudge hir due attendance and obseruance of holy Ceremonies nor would he I thinke be so vnmannerly as to find fault with such as please the Queene Calumny against Ecclesiasticall Persons SECT VIII A Fourth Calumny with which he will not trouble vs is Pref. A great part of your doctrine specially in the points contested makes apparently for the temporall ends of the