their Religion of the Church before they wrote it G. H. 4. Here I must confesse I could not but wonder what Mr. Dr. meant if hee had read and beleeued Saint Pauls Epistle to the Galathians in affirming that hee learned his Religion of the Church whereas himselfe in the first and second Chapter of that Epistle inforceth the contrary with so many and so inuincible arguments that they can not but instantly stop the mouth of any who would offer to open it in defence of Mr. Doctours assertions Now I certifie you brethren saith hee that the Gospel which was preached of mee was not after man for neither receiued I it of man neither was I taught it but by the Reuelation of Iesus Christ. Secondly for Saint Marke and Saint Luke though they learned their Religion of the Church by hearing the Apostles as the Apostles themselues did from Christ by hearing and seeing him yet doth it not follow but the former as well as the latter wrote by the instinct and direction of the holy Ghost nay doubtlesse it were no lesse then impietie once to imagine the contrary To which purpose the words of Bellarmine are worthy obseruation Vt vere dicitur Epistola principis quae à principe dictatur etiamsi is qui eam scripsit antea sciebat quae scripturus erat ita dicitur immediatum Dei verbum quod scriptum est ab Euangelistis Deo inspirante dirigente licet scripserint ea quae viderant vel audierant As that is truely sayed to be the Letter of a Prince which hee dictates though hee who wrote knew before what he would write So is it the immediate word of God which is written by the Euangelists God inspiring and directing them though they sawe and heard those things before which they wrote Lastly for S. Luke he learned not the actes of the Apostles which he wrote from the Church himselfe being an actour in a chiefe part of them and whereas Mr. Doctor affirmes that he was not of Christs company whiles he was vpon the earth Sâ—ella a Writer of the Church of Rome in his Enarrations vpon the 24. of S. Lukes Gospel and the 13. verse assures vs that graue Doctors by whome I take it hee meanes the Fathers were of opinion that S. Luke was one of those two Disciples whom our Sauiour instructed as they were iournying to Emmaus B. C. 5. That diuers others did write the Religion of Christ as they did apprehend it but their Gospels and Epistles were reiected by the Church Luke 1. 1. G. H. 5. In the Primitiue Church a great part of the beleeuers but specially their guides were miraculously indued as with other gifts so with a discerning spirit and that not onely in differencing the sinnes and persons of men but iudging of their writings so that though they wrote a trueth touching the Christian religion yet were they able to discerne whether that trueth were written by speciall illumination and instinct of the same spirit wherewith themselues were inspired whereupon wee haue good reason to accept what they accepted as Canonicall and as Apocryphall to reiect what they reiected but for the present Church though it should tenne thousand times reiect the whole or any parcell of that written trueth which they accepted yea though one from the dead or an Angel from heauen should preach any other Gospel yet ought wee rather to accurse then beleeue him notwithstanding the Church of Rome as if she were inuested with equall or higher power though indeede shee reiect no booke as Apocryphall which that Church accepted as Canonical yet doth she accept and impose diuers bookes as Canonicall which that reiected as Apocryphall B. C. 6. That at the day of iudgement there will be no writing to try true Religion from heresie but only the eternall trueth of Christ in the soules of his Saints G. H. 6. But that Eternall trueth of Christ in the soules of his Sainâ—s is the same and none other then which is contained in the holy Scriptures now the Gentiles indeed in as much as they haue sinned without the Law they shall also perish without the Law that is without the Law written saue onely in the tables of their hearts but the Iewes in as much as they haue sinned in the Law shall be iudged by the Law saith Saint Paul and our Sauiour There is one that accuseth you euen Moses in whom ye trust whereby none other thing can bee vnderstood then the Law written by Moses B. C. 7. That the Scriptures were written by men of the Church admitted Canonicall by Councils of the Church preserued from tyrants by the care of the Church and euer vntill late expounded by the consent of the Church G. H. 7. That the Scriptures were written by men of the Church we confesse yet so as withall it cannot bee denied but those holy men wrote as they were moued by the holy Ghost We also confesse that they were admitted Canonicall by the Councils of the Church that is declared not made to bee so and likewise that hitherto they haue been preserued by the care of the Church which therefore is called The pillar and ground of trueth neither ought they to be expounded but by the consent of the Church if wee speake of exposition to bee publikely allowed and receiued touching fundamentall points otherwise both Caietane and Andradius and Iansenius and Maldonat and diuers others of the Church of Rome in sundrie places professe that they rest not satisfied in any interpretation giuen by the Fathers but preferre either their owne or some other found out in this age So that if Mr. Doctor by the Church vnderstand the Fathers wee haue no reason to barre our selues of that liberty which the chiefe Doctors of the Church of Rome both challenge as due and practice as needfull yet so as wee vse that libertie with moderation and sobrietie the people submitting their iudgements to their Pastours and the Pastours in seuerall to their bodie vnited or represented where no very cleare and manifest reason appeareth to the contrary B. C. 8. How fewe men are able to reade and expound Scriptures any way and whether it be not easier to beleeue the Church then to beleeue a few priuate men that say they can expound Scriptures better then the Church G. H. 8. If wee should follow the rules and practise of the Church of Rome fewer would bee able either to expound or reade the Scriptures then now are Espencaeus a Dr. of the Sorbon witnesseth that hee was told by an Italian Bishop that his Countreymen were terrified from reading the Scriptures lest they should become herettikes but the Doctor demaunding what Arte they then professed why quoth the Bishop both the Lawes but specially the Canon And Robert Stephens demanding some of the Doctors of the Sorbon in what place some passage of the New Testament was written they answered that they had read it in Hierome or the decrees but for
AN ANSWER TO A TREATISE WRITTEN BY Dr. CARIER By way of Letter to his MAIESTIE WHEREIN HE LAYETH DOWNE SVNDRY POLITIKE CONSIDERATIONS By which hee pretendeth himselfe was moued And endeuoureth to moue others to be reconciled to the Church of ROME and imbrace that Religion which he calleth CATHOLIKE By GEORGE HAKEWIL Doctour of Diuinity And Chapleine to the PRINCE his Highnesse B. C. Mine heart will vtter foorth a good matter I will intreat in my workes of the King G. H. Giue thy iudgements to the King O God and thy righteousnesse to the Kings sonne IMPRINTED AT LONDON by IOHN BILL 1616. Cum Priuilegio TO THE KINGS MOST EXCELLENT MAIESTIE DREAD SOVERAIGNE HAD this Letter of Dr. Carier beene imparted or the drift of it onely reached to your Maiestie it would haue deserued none other answere then your Maiesties priuate censure and might well haue beene buried in silence with the Author of it But now that it not only aymes in particular at all the members of the bodie Politike First the Nobles then the Commons and lastly the Clergie but withall is published to the view of the World and spread through all the quarters of your Land for the better effecting of that it aymes vnto and is not a little magnified by the Romish faction It must needs argue in vs either want of wisedome in preuenting a mischiefe or of power in prouiding for our owne safetie or of zeale and sinceritie in our loue to the Trueth if it should passe without some discouery aswell of the malicious scope to which it tends as the weakenesse of the arguments by which it endeuours to perswade The maine end which it driues at is either a totall reconcilement to the Church of Rome or if that cannot be a partiall toleration of the Romish Religion The generall meanes by which it striues to compasse this end are first by working a destraction euen amongst those your Subiects who euery way conforme themselues aswell to the doctrine as the discipline of the Church of England established by publike allowance in making some Puritanes and some Protestants who in his language can endure the state of the Church of England as it is but could be content it were as it was implying thereby the rest to be Puritanes some Caluinists and some temperate men who cannot but in iudgment approue the trueth of that Religion which he calles Catholike thereby implying the rest to bee Caluinists the one he termes the greatest enemies of the Clergie the other his honest and louing brethren wherof he professeth he knew many and himselfe to be one whereas in trueth if any such there be the difference should rather haue beene made betwixt Protestants and Papists English and Romish Catholikes since they who could be content the Church of England were as it was before the Reformation can in my iudgement bee none other then Papists and those that in their iudgement approue the doctrine of the pretended Catholike Religion can as farre as I apprehend it been none other then Romish Catholikes Thus those whom we call Papists he calles Temperate Protestants and those whom we call Protestants he calles State Puritanes The second generall meanes for the compassing of his desired end is an indeuour to worke an vtter seperation betwixt our Church and other reformed Churches specially those of France and the Netherlands whom therefore in contempt hee calls Hugonots and Geux and their doctrine Caluinisme intending thereby as I conceiue either to weaken our strength by leauing vs to stand single or which is worse to inforce vs at length to relapse vpon Rome And to this purpose is hee bold to affirme that their doctrine makes as much against the Religion of England as that of Rome whereas the writings of the most learned men aswell on their as on our side our harmonies of Confessions the testimonie of our aduersaries nay the Pope himselfe in his Bull against Queene ELIZABETH your Maiesties Bookes and practise in the matching of that Noble Ladie your daughter and in permitting those Churches the free exercise of their Religion within your dominions so plainely euince the contrarie that I wonder hauing let fall so foule a blot from his pen he durst present it to your Maiesties view and yet I neede not wonder considering hee was not ashamed to tell your Maiesty that for any thing you haue written in your Apologie or Premonition you may when you please admitte the Popes Supremacie in spirituals which must needes argue either that he was meerely ignorant what your Maiesty had written or cared not at all what himselfe wrote regarding rather the euennesse of his Stile and the cadencie of his sentences then the trueth of his assertions like false windowes bearing proportion with the rest of the building but without light By the trueth of these assertions your Maiestie may make an estimate of the whole piece in which if I can iudge any thing I haue not met within the narrow compasse of so short a treatise so formally pend and carrying so faire an outside so many weake arguments so many grosse mistakes so many notorious falshoods so many irreconciliable contradictions so many sandie and disioynted consequences howsoeuer were his proofes neuer so strong so sure so true so consonant so coherent yet was hee a man most vnfit to intermeddle in a businesse of vnion and pacification who was so farre ingaged to one partie as by his owne acknowledgement hee was perswaded that all the Religion at this day prescribed and practised by the Church of Rome is the true Catholike Religion and promiseth particularly to iustifie it from point to point when time and opportunitie should serue and your Maiestie together with vs of the same profession he rangeth among Iewes and Infidels and heretiques for refusing to ioine with them in the worship of Christ in the Sacrament But God blessed not his vaine proiect Mr. Henrie Constable dying within fortnight after he came from Paris by Cardinall Perrons appointment to Leidge to conferre with him and himselfe a while after in Paris within a moneth of his comming thither to conferre with the Cardinall yet as the Apostle speakes of Abel being dead he yet speaketh though in a different manner and the speach of dead men commonly prooues more effectuall more profitable or more dangerous then that of the liuing For your Maiesty there is God be thanked no feare at all the obligations by which you haue tied your selfe to the Religion established amongst vs being so many and so strong and withall his motiues for inducement to the contrary so weake dealing with your Maiesty as the deuill did with our Sauiour who being beaten from Scripture fell to the promising of the glory of kingdomes which notwithstanding was not in his power to performe onely for their sakes some Replie seemed not vnnecessary of whom it may truely be sayd which hee falsly affirmes of your Maiesty that they imbrace shadowes
censure of wise men might deseruedly haue purchased some more respectiue termes of the Father whereas Thuanus the most vnpartiall and iudicious Historiographer of our age giues this testimonie of him that he was a Prince of singular naturall indowments and such a one in whom had hee not too much loosed the reines to this pleasure you could hardly find wanting any perfection Nay after his diuorce from his Queene and from the Church of Rome the Bishops which hee named sayth hee were honest men and good Schollers being euer himselfe a great Patron of learning which testimonie I the rather alledge because the Spanish expurgatorie index hath rased it as also diuers other verie memorable passages in this Author B. C. 5. Thus I satisfied my selfe at Schoole and studied the Artes and Philosophie and other humane learning vntill being Master of Artes and fellow of Corpus Christi Colledge in Cambridge I was at last by the Statutes of that house called to the studie of Diuinitie and bound to take vpon me the Order of Priest-hood then I thought it my duetie for the better satisfaction of mine owne soule and the sauing of othermens to looke as farre into the matter as possible I could that I might find out the Trueth and hauing the opportunitie of a very good Librarie in that Colledge I resolued with my selfe to studie hard and setting aside all respect of men then aliue or of Writers that had mooued or maintained Controuersies farther then to vnderstand the question which was betwixt them I fell to my prayers and betooke my selfe wholly to the reading of the Church Historie and of the ancient Fathers which had no interest on either side and specially â— made choise of S. Augustine because I hoped to find most comfort in him for the confirming of our Religion and the confuting of the Church of Rome G. H. 5. After your perusing the Chronicles of England you betake your selfe to the reading of the Church Historie and ancient Fathers and in speciall make choise of S. Augustine in whom you find the doctrine of Rome euery where confirmed and ours confuted But I would faine know whether one maine point of the doctrine of the Church of Rome be not the Supremacie of that Sea and whether a chiefe feather in that wing be not Appeals from forraine parts Now whether S. Augustine approued them I appeale to his practise being one of those Bishops in the Councell of Carthage who discouered and disclaimed the impudencie and forgerie of the Church of Rome in challenging that as right which some of constraint had performed and others of courtesie had graunted for which himselfe with his Fellow-Bishops were excoÌ„municated by the Bishop of Rome and for any thing I can finde in the Church Historie so died Some of his workes I haue read specially those of Christian doctrine and of them I will be bold to say that they confirme no one point of Romish doctrine controuersed at this day and surely there if any where had beene the proper place to declare the Bishop of Rome Supreame iudge in all controuersies B. C. 6. In this sort I spent my time continually for many yeeres and noted downe whatsoeuer I could gather or rather snatch either from the Scriptures or the Fathers to serue my turne But when after all my paines and desire to serue my selfe of Antiquitie I found the doctrine of the Church of Rome to be euery where coÌ„firmed by most profound demonstrations out of holy Scripture made most agreeable to the trueth of Christs Gospel and most conformable to all Christian soules and saw the current opinions of our great Preachers euery where confuted either in plaine termes or by most vnanswerable consequence although mine vnderstanding was thereby greatly edified for which I had great reason to render immortall thankes to our blessed Sauiour who by these meanes had vouchsafed to shewe himselfe vnto mee yet my heart was much grieued that I must be faine either not to preach at all or to crosse and varâ—e from the doctrine which I saw was commonly receiued G. H. 6. I haue perused your Common-place booke written for the most part with your owne hand and indeed it thereby appeares that your noting might more deseruedly bee termed a snatching then a gathering though by your will you solemnely bequeath it as a rich legacie to C.C.C. in Camb. whereof you were a Fellow but you found the doctrine of the Church of Rome you say euery where confirmed by most profound demonstrations from holy Scripture in trueth I must confesse they are so deepe that throughout this treatise they are inuisible but I much desire to knowe by what profound demonstration from holy Scripture you would proue the adoration of images the administration of the Sacrament vnder one kinde the exercise of publike prayer in a language not vnderstood of the people or lastly the Bishop of Romes vsurpation ouer the temporals of Princes vnlesse you bring Bellarmines profound demonstration to that purpose Pasce oues meas or Baronius Surge occide manduca or the Canonists fecit Deus duo magna luminaria much like a profound demonstration I haue heard of for proofe of the Salique law the lillies neither labour nor spinne therefore the Crowne of France ne tombe point sur laquenouille fals not to the distaffe or like that of a Frier who would needs proue that ten worlds were made in the first Creation and that out of our Sauiours wordes in the Gospel annon decem factisunt mundi but he was well answered by his brother in the words following Sed vbisunt nouem and did hee not deserue the title of D. profundus trow you for so profound a demonstration By such like profound demonstrations you find the doctrine of the Church of Rome made most agreeable to the trueth of Christs Gospel which for the Sacrament is drinke yee all of this and for the power of his ministers my kingdome is not of this world wordes deliuered as it seemes out of a propheticall spirit as foreseeing what errours should in after ages spring vp in his Church but you doe well to say that those doctrines were made agreeable to this trueth they may bee made so or at leastwise made to seeme so by forging and hammering vpon the anuill of mens conceits howbeit in themselues they are not so as the belles seeme to the childe to ring that tune which runnes in his head B. C. 7. Being thus perplexed with my selfe what course I were best to take I reflected backe againe vpon the Church of England and because the most of those Preachers which drewe the people after them in those dayes were Puritans and had grounded their diuinitie vpon Caluins institutions I thought peraduenture that they hauing gotten the multitude on their side might wrong the Church of England in her doctrine as well as they desired to doe in her discipline which indeed
your posteritie can expect the like honour or securitie from them which you might doe from Catholike Princes if you were ioyned firmely to them in the vnitie of Religion G. H. 11. His Maiestie neither needes nor desires aduancement from forraine parts or parties yet we cannot but acknowledge that those whom you call Geuses of Germanie a nicke name first imposed on the Netherlanders by Barlamont a Spanish factor who withstood the bringing in of the Spanish Inquisition among them and vpon occasion of that name tooke for their deuice a wallet and a dish with this Inscription Faithfull to God and the King euen to beare the Wallet Inferring thereby that they were better Subiects then Barlamont and his adherents are more able vpon all occasions to second his Maiestie specially vpon the Seas then any other State in Christendome What seruice they did vs in the yeere 1588. by keeping the Prince of Parma from ioyning with the Spanish fleete which had swallowed vs vp in conceit it is well knowen and no doubt but being confederates and friendly vsed they would be readie vpon like occasion to performe the like friendly office And for those whom you call Catholikes I would know how many of them labor to aduance their confederates farther then it stands with their owne aduantage or reputation In matter of Religion the Netherlander Heluetian and French differ not at all and from some States of the higher Germanie they differ not so much as the French Catholike from the Romish and Spanish in as much as the latter admit of the Councell of Trent the former not so and againe which is another notable and maine point of difference the former submit the Pope to a generall Councell the latter not but as they haue made him transcendent ouer Kings so haue they ouer Bishops too not onely single but assembled in Synode So that vpon the matter they were as good keepe themselues at home and saue so much trauell and charge But to graunt those whom notwithstanding you call Caluinists without exception or distinction were not agreed of their owne religion yet to say that the rules of particular and transitorie honour depend vpon the principles of vniuersall and eternall truth it can by no meanes be admitted as a true principle since those rules by reason may be and by practise are as certaine and constant amongst Infidels as Christians No people were euer more punctuall and precise in termes of honour then the ancient Grecians and Romanes yet were they we know without God in the world without the knowledge of vniuersall and eternall truth And the same may be iustified of many of the Easterne princes at this day but I cannot but meruaile at your folly specially taking vpon you to play the Statesman in telling his Maiestie that the Caluinists will neuer agree together in making any one king ouer them all as if any Prince in Christendome were so sencelesse as to expect it or they so mad as to offer it considering they are all either vnder the obedience of other Soueraignes or free Estates of thēselues And yet no doubt but as great securitie may be expected from them as from your Catholikes though his Maiestie were vnited to them in Religion in as much as they maintaine not the lawfulnesse of aequiuocation nor acknowledge any superiour power able to assoile them from the obligation of their oathes and solemne promises What reason hath his Maiestie if hee were as firmely ioyned to them in the vnitie of their Religion as the Pope himselfe could desire to expect greater securitie from them then his Predecessors found at the hands of their Ancestors or themselues vpon occasion and opportunitie finde at the hands each of other Nay if they find no securitie many times from the Popes themselues who are the pretended heads of that Religion with what assurance can they expect it one from another being thereby onely linked together as members vnto that head It hath beene sayd of some of them how iustly I leaue to those who haue made triall that they neither sing as they pricke nor pronounce as they write nor speake as they thinke the latter of which if we may credit Comines might iustly be verified of Lewis the XI of France who made shew of deuotion in the vnity of that religion no man more in so much that he would often sweare by and kisse his Nostredam of lead which he euer wore as a brouch in his hat yet what little security other princes of the same religion found at his hands in their contracts with him the same historiographer who was well acquainted with his secrets witnesseth and were he silent yet his counsell giuen to his sonne Charles the eight that hee should learne no more latine but this Qui nescit dissimulare nescit regnare would speake as much which lesson is indeede onely recorded of him but it may rather bee wished then thought that it is not learned and practised of the greatest part of the great ones in the world Machiauels name being hatefull and odious to all but his rules and preceps too much imbraced of some B. C. 12. The third reason of my hope that Catholike religion should bee most auaileable for the honour and security of your Maiesty and your children is taken from the consideration of your subiects which can be kept in obedience to God and to their king by no other religion and least of all by the Caluinists for if their principles be receiued once and well drunke in and digested by your Subiects they will openly maintaine that God hath as well predestinated men to be traitours as to be kings and hee hath as well predestinated men to be theeues as to be iudges and hee hath as well predestinated that men should sinne as that Christ should die for sinne which kinde of disputations I know by my experience in the countrey that they are ordinary among your countrey Caluinists that take themselues to be learned in the Scriptures especially when they are met in an alehouse and haue found a weaker brother whom they thinke fit to instruct in these profound mysteries and howsoeuer they be not yet all so impudent as to holde these conclusions in plaine termes yet it is certaine they all hold these principles of doctrine from whence working heads of greater liberty doe at their pleasures draw these consequences in their liues and practises and is this a religion fit to keepe subiects in obedience to their Soueraigne G. H. 12. Your third reason to perswade his Maiesty to the renouncing of his owne religion and the imbracing of yours is by bearing him in hand that none other will keepe his subiects in obedience and least of all the Caluinisticall But is it possible so learned and so wise a man as you take your selfe to bee should write in this maner and withall remember that your letter was directed to his Maiesty who hath long since proclaimed
shallow as proceeding rather from affection then iudgement is this because if a man aske you say in cold blood whether a Roman Catholike may be saued the most learned Church-man will not denie it Wherein if we be more charitable to you then you are to vs in passing censures of damnation it should in my iudgement rather argue the goodnesse of that Religion from whence such charity flowes towards mens persons then be vrged as a proofe for the approbation of that erronious doctrine which in it selfe it condemns The Turke is too liberall in admitting all Religions to the hope of saluation and on the other side you are too niggardly and sparing in shutting out all from the hope thereof which receiue not the marke of the beast in their foreheads or hands We desiring to runne a middle course betwixt both extremes as we shut out all such who directly deny the merits of CHRIST so doe wee passe a fauourable censure on those who deny him not of malice but of ignorance and that not directly but by consequence It is true that S. Paul hath in the fifth to the Galatians If yee be circumcised CHRIST shall profit you nothing That is if a man put his trust in Circumcision or in any thing else beside Christ though with Christ in the matter of iustification he is abolished from Christ and the merite of his death and Passion Now what confidence the Romanists put in their owne satisfaction for veniall sinnes and temporall punishment either in this life or in Purgatorie due to mortall their writings testifie but yet our assurance is that many of them when they come to make their last account betwixt God and their owne Conscience and throughly consider of the weakenesse and corruption of their owne nature for the vncertaintie of their owne proper righteousnesse and for the auoiding of vaineglory according to Bellarmins aduise they rest wholly in the alone mercie and goodnesse of God renouncing in particular that merite of worke which their Church in generall for her owne aduantage maintaineth and teacheth them to maintaine Or lastly God of his Graciousnesse may accept of their repentance for vnknowen sins and consequently for their erronious opinons which by reason of their education they vnwittingly imbrace yet this charitable construction of ours can bee no sufficient warrant for vs either to shut our eyes against a knowen trueth or to open our eares to hearken to any motion of reconcilement to a knowen errour Now whether a Romane Catholike may bee a good subiect wholly submitting himselfe to Romish positions I referre the reader to his Maiesties speech in Parliament in the yeere 1605 who should know what belongs to his owne state and to mine answere to the 12. Sect. of this Chapter a part of his Maiesties very words in that speech are these I therefore doe thus conclude this point that as vpon the one part many honest men seduced with some errors of Popery may yet remaine good faithfull subiects so vpon the other part none of those that truely knowe and beleeue the whole grounds and schoole conclusions of their doctrine can euer prooue good Christians or faithfull subiects If then we bee so farre diuided both in God and in the king how can we but be vtterly diuided in our selues B. C. 20. Truely there is no reason at all but onely the violence of affection which being in a course cannot without some force be stayed The multitude doth seldome or neuer iudge according vnto trueth but according vnto customes and therefore hauing beene bred and brought vp in the hatred of Spaniards and Papists cannot chuse but thinke they are bound to hate them still and that whosoeuer speaketh a word in fauour of the Church of Rome or of Catholike religion is their vtter enemy and the Puritanicall Preacher who can haue no being in charity doth neuer cease by falsifications and slanders to blow the coales that hee may burne them and warme himselfe But if your Maiesty shall euer bee pleased to commaund those make-bates to hold their peace a while and to say nothing but that they are able to proue by sufficient authority before those that are able to iudge and in the mean time to admit a conference of learned and moderate men on either side the people who are now abused and with the light of the Gospel held in extreme ignorance are not yet so vncapable but they will be glad to heare of the trueth when it shall be simply and euidently deliuered by honest men and then they will plainely see that their light of the Gospel which they so much talke of is but a counterfeit light in a theeues lanterne wherby honest mens eyes are dazeled and their purses robbed and it will also appeare that there is not indeed any such irreconciliable opposition betwixt the Church of England and the Church as they that liue by the schisme doe make the world beleeue there is neither in matter of doctrine nor in matter of State G. H. 20. You farther endeuour to prooue in the entrance of this Section that the diuision of the Church of England from the Church of Rome ariseth rather from affection then iudgement in as much as the multitude doth seldome or neuer iudge according to trueth but according vnto customes Now whether it be the Church of England or the Church of Rome that stands vpon multitude and that multitude vpon custome the Bishop of Rome himselfe shall be the iudge nay not onely your multitude but the chiefest pillars of your Church stand most vpon it if you had but looked into your great Cardinals notes of your Church you should haue found antiquity or custome to haue beene the second howbeit both Acosta and Xauerius in their seueral writings made the Indians standing vpon their customes the chiefe difficulty of their conuersion to CHRIST It was Symmachus the Pagans argument in his Epistle to Theodosius the Emperour recorded by S. Ambrose Seruanda est tot saeculis fides nostra sequendi sunt maiores nostri qui secuti sunt foeliciter suos Our religion which hath now continued so many yeeres is still to bee retained and our ancestours are to bee followed by vs who happily traced the steps of their forefathers and is not this Mr. Doctors owne argument to perswade his Maiesty to the Romish religion in the 2. and 10. Sect. of this Chapter how comes it then to passe that in this place he findes fault with those that iudge according to custome and makes it a popular errour teach that a while and indeed we may be brought to shake handes with Rome she standing vpon a pretended truth of antiquity but we vpon the antiquity of trueth in as much as our Sauiour said not I am antiquity but I am trueth And S. Cyprian his blessed Martyr Antiquity without truth is nothing els but ancient errour Now the reason you giue that our
they bee not silenced they must say nothing but what they are able to prooue by sufficient authority before those that are able to iudge as if our Bishops were ignorant that it belonged to their charge to take notice of the preaching of vnsound doctrine within their Diocesse and accordingly to censure it or knowing what is their duety in that behalfe they were more vnwilling or vnable to performe it then Doctor Carier and his Colledge of Critickes and in the meane time a conference must be had of learned and moderate men on either side such belike as your selfe like Metius Suffetius luke-warme halting betwixt two opinions rowing to the shore and looking to the Sea holding with the hare and running with the hound who publikely pray for the King and priuately worke for the Pope true learning we reuerence and Christian moderation we highly esteeme but Science falsely so called bent to the patronage of falsehood and neutralitie vnder the vizard of moderation to the reconciling of error to trueth is but the abusing of faire and honourable Titles to base and malicious ends which imputation you labour to fasten vpoÌ„ vs as if by the light of the Gospel we held the people in extreme ignorance wheras the Prophet Dauid tels vs that the word of the Lord was a lanterne to his feete and a light vnto his pathes and S. Peter You haue a most sure word of the Prophet to which you doe well that you take heede as vnto a light that shineth in a darke place but you beare vs in hand that the light of the Gospel holds men in extreame ignorance Zachary prophesied of his â—onne the Baptist that he was ordained to giue light to them that sit in darkenesse and in the shadow of death to guide their feete into the way of peace and the Baptist himselfe of CHRIST that he was that true Light which lighteth euery man that commeth into the world But you tell vs that it serues to dazell mens eyes and rob their purses And no doubt had you liued among the Pharisees in the time of CHRIST or Iohn the Baptist you would haue called their doctrine a counterfeit light in a theeues lanterne aswel as ours being in substance the same with theirs And for ignorance I may bee bolde to say it with a thankefull acknowledgement to God for it that a good part of our people are more expert in the Scriptures and are better able to yeeld an account of that faith which is in them then many of your Prelates and Priests whereof some beare the name of the brotherhood of ignorance and all at least by your practise acknowledge her the mother of deuotion in as much as you withhold the trueth in vnrighteousnesse like Esopes dog you neither eate hay your selues nor suffer others to eate it You pretend the key of Knowledge but you neither enter in your selues nor suffer others to enter you neither reade nor esteem the Scriptures your selues as you ought nor suffer the people to reade them but seale them vp in an vnknown language to the vse of a few with whoÌ„ you please to dispense B. C. 21. For matter of doctrine there is no reason that your Maiestie or the Kingdome should be molested or burthened for the mainetenance of Caluinisme which is as much against the Religion of England as it is against the Religion of Rome and will by necessarie consequence ouerthrow not onely the Catholike Church the Communion of Saints and the forgiuenesse of sinnes but also all the Articles of the Creede saue onely so much as the Turke himselfe will be content to beleeue which will be easie to proue vpon better leasure The doctrine of England which is contained in the Common prayer booke and Church Catechisme confirmed by act of Parliament and by your Maiesties Edict wherein all Englishmen are baptized and ought to be confirmed and therefore there is some reason that this should be stood vpon But this doctrine in most of the maine points therof as hath bene touched before and requireth a iust Treatise to set downe in particular doth much differ from the current opinions and Catechismes of Caluinisme doth very neere agree with or at least not contradict the Church of Rome if wee list with patience to heare one another and those points of doctrine wherein wee are made to be at warres with the Church of Rome whether we will or not doe rather arguethe corruptions of the State from whence they come then are argued by the grounds of that Religion wherevpon they stand and the contradiction of doctrine hath followed the alteration of State and not the alteration of State beene grounded vpon any trueth of doctrine G. H. 21. We are now come to one of the maine points you driue at howbeit you seeme onely to glance at it in passage and to draw it on vpon the bye which is to put vs off from all fellowship and communion with those Churches who acknowledge Caluin to haue beene an excellent instrument of God in the abolishing and suppressing of Poperie and the clearing and spreading of his trueth that so being separated from them we may either stand single and be encountred alone or returne againe to our old bias and relaps vpon Rome and so through Caluins sides you strike at the throat and heart of our Religion For our parts we all wish with the Reuerend learned Prelate of our owne Church that you were no more Papists then wee Caluinists no more pind on the Popes sleeue then we on Caluins whoÌ„ we esteeme as a worthy man but a man and consequently subiect to humane error and frailtie We maintaine nothing with him because he affirmes it but because from infallible grounds he proues it whereas the Popes bare assertion with you is proofe sufficient You are so sworne to his words that they are of equal or higher authoritie with you then Pythagoras his precepts with his Schollers ipse dixit is enough for your warrant but for vs we imbrace Caluin as himselfe doth authors not diuine vsque ad aras so farre foorth as with diuine hee accordeth and no farther This is our iudgement of Caluin but to say that the doctrine which he maintaines is as much against the Religion of England as it is against that of Rome is a desperate assertion and such as can neuer be made good did all our fugitiues lay their heads together and were all their wits turned into one And I much meruaile what you meant pretending so much tendernesse of conscience and diligence in search of the trueth to suffer your malice so farre to preuaile vpon your iudgment as to let so foule a blot so manifest a falshood to drop from your pen and not only so but to present it to the scanning of so learned a Prince and to publish it to the view and censure of the world For if Caluins
themselues and their forefathers had bene kept in awe and obedience vnto God and their kings G. H. 24. The Commons might haue beene disburdened of their Subsidies had those reuenues and treasures which came or might haue come to the Crowne by the downefall of monasteries bene imployed as they might haue bene the plates and wires of gold of Beckets onely shrine together with the pearles and precious stones of inestimable value filling two great chests But God so ordered the matter for their laying of sacrilegious hands as it may be thought vpon those tenths which by himselfe were consecrated to himselfe that neither it nor the rest prospered neither was the king thereby much inriched nor the Commons relieued it beeing like the dead flie in the boxe of oyntment or the Colloquintida in the Prophets pottage Now for the peoples liberty in making lawes at their own pleasure to liue as they listed it is a matter fondly surmised and published of you not promised by the State nor demanded or expected by them The Lawes Ecclesiasticall were in King Henries time and by his authority appoynted to be compiled and digested by a certaine company of Bishops and other diuines ioyned in Commission with Ciuill and Canon-Lawyers to the number of 32. but this worke being leâ—t imperfect by the death of that king was afterward finished in the dayes and by the command of his sonne Edward which my selfe haue seene though by the vntimely death of that king also it neuer yet receiued publike allowance And for other lawes as the world knoweth they neither could nor can make any without the consent of the Lords spirituall and temporall and the approbation of the king And lastly how the lawes of your Church crossed their affections let their often and dangerous rebellions for the restoring of them testifie there beeing none in trueth more fitting to the humour of a natural minded man as may appeare by this that a man of no religion and like white paper or sponged tables apt to receiue any impression will sooner imbrace yours then any other in the world From this you digresse to their studying of the Scriptures that they might be able to confute confession satisfaction penance and to declaime against that tyranny of the Church whereby themselues and their forefathers had bene kept in awe and obedience to God and their king For their studying of the Scriptures it is indeede a great eye-sore to you because thereby your malice in withholding your followers from reading them and withall your burdensome traditions thrust vpon them for your owne honor and gaine but to their paine and grieuance are clearely discouered and discerned from that which before you call eternall trueth but to them nothing can bee more profitable or to their guides more comfortable so it bee done with reuerence and â—obriety and as our Preface to the Bishops Bible exhorts not so much to dispute and contradict as to learne and obey as being a practise which both our Sauiour himselfe and his Apostles and the holy Fathers of the Primitiue Church specially S. Chrysostome in diuers homilies often and earnestly exhort their heares vnto And for the confutation of those poyntes you name I am of opinion and I thinke not without reason that many of our people are better able by Scriptures to confute them as they are now held and vsed amongst you then your greatest Bishops and Cardinals are from thence able to proue them of whom some haue not sticked to professe that they thought that time which they passed in reading the Scriptures to be of all other the most vnprofitably spent preferring Tullies Orations before Pauls Epistles and Aristotles Ethikes before Solomons Prouerbes B. C. 25. To the Clergiemen that would turne with the times beside the possibilitie of present preferment by the alteration was giuen shortly after leaue to marrie to purchase and to enioy the profit and pleasure of the world as well as the laitie and what carnall minded Monke or Priest would not with might and maine keepe open the breach after he was once plunged in it rather then to be in danger to forgoe so pleasing a coÌ„moditie Hence did arise a necessitie of speaking and writing against Vowes Vrginitie Pouertie Fasting Praying Watching Obedience and all that austeriâ—ie of life which is by the Lawes of the Church required in a monasticall and Priestly conuersation G. H. 25. Little hope was there giuen for the present to the Church-men that yeelded to the King for matter of preferment since the Abbots and Priors were not onely turned out of doores but their houses rased and their goods and lands confiâ—cated And for the Bishops none of their places thereby fell voide they all Rochester onely excepted ioyntly concurring with the king in casting off the Romish yoke and for their marrying purchasing neither of theÌ„ were permitted during the reigne of king Henry who liued reigned somewhat aboue 14. yeres after the breach with Rome Howbeit if wee may credite Mr. Cambden an vnpartiall Antiquarie Churchmen were not forbidden mariage in England till the yere 1102. then Anselme Archbishop of Canterburie sayeth hee offered violence both to nature and to the Scriptures which he writes vpon occasion of one Ealphegus a Priest famous for his learning who was married and dwelt in the South part of Deuonshire And further he alledgeth the words of Henry of Huntindon touching that act of Anselme He forbadwiues to the English Priests being neuer before forbidden which to some seemed a thing very decent to others as dangerous least whiles they aimed to a puritie aboue their reach they might fall into horrible impurities to the dishonour of CHRISTS Name and their profession Those words of Cambden before quoted together with these of Huntindon by him alledged are commaunded to be rased by the Spanish Index But they might aswell haue rased those of theâ—I â—I in Platina auouching that hee saw great reason why Priests should be restrained of mariage but greater why it should be restored them or those of Cassander by that ouer rigorous and vnseasonable constitution speaking of restraint of marriage in Churchmen wee see much grieuous and abominable scandall to haue arisen in the Church or those of Mantuan touching S â— Hillary Bishop of Poictiers in France Non tibi progenies nocuit non obfuit vxor Legitimo coniuncta toro Or lastly those of the same Poet speaking of the father of Nazianzen Praesule Patre satus nam tunc idiura sinebant non horruit illâ Tempestate Deus Thalamos cunabula toedas And in another place of the father of Basil and Gregorie Nyssen Tutius esse volunt qua lex diuina sinebat Isse viâ veterumque sequi vestigia patrum Quorum vita fuit melior cum coniuge quam nunc Nostra sit exclusis Thalamis coniâ—gis vsu. And if marrying be allowed them I see no reason but they should withall be allowed purchasing as they are and alwayes haue
Emperours or Christian Princes besides this the Councell it selfe layed a foundation for that which the fourth generall Councell further built vpon in equalizing the See of Constantinople or new Rome to that of the olde The thirde generall Councell was held at Ephesus in the yeere 430. summoned by Theodosius the younger against the Nestorian heresie which diuided Christ into two persons it consisted of 200. Bishops This Councell in which S. Cyrill was president not onely prescribed and limited the Popes Legate and others that were sent in ambassage to the Prince what they should doe but added this threatning Scire autem volumus vestram Sanctitatem quòd si quid horum contemptum fuerit neque Sancta Synodus habebit rata neque vos Communionis sinet esse participes Wee giue your Holinesse to vnderstand that if any of these things which we haue appointed you be omitted by you neither will this holy Synode ratifie your actes nor receaue you to the Communion By which it is euident that the lawful and generall Councell of Ephesus thought they might and sayd they would not onely controle but euen excommunicate the Popes Vicegerent if hee did not that which was enioyned him by the Synode The fourth and last generall Councell which his Maiestie reuerenceth as Orthodoxe was the great Councel of Chalcedon consisting of 630. Bishops called by Martian the Emperour in the yeere 454. against Eutiches who in extreame opposition to Nestorius confounded the natures of Christ making of two distinct natures but one whereas Nestorius rent asunder his person making of one two This great Councell then gaue the Bishop of Constantinople equall priuiledges with the Bishop of Rome as may appeare in the fifteenth Acte of that Councell and when Paschasinus and Lucentius who represented the person of Leo then Bishop of Rome the next day desired of the noble men that sate there by the Emperours appointment as Iudges and Moderatours that the matter might be brought about againe and put to voices pretending that it was not orderly past the Councell that in the absence of the Popes Legates had made this Decree in their presence confirmed the same they contradicting and labouring as it had beene for their liues to withstand it And since his Maiestie and the Realme haue vndertaken the defence of these foure Councils it were to bee wished they might if not otherwise yet by publike authority bee faithfully translated by some chosen men of our owne out of their Originals and where diuerse readings offer themselues vpon comparing of the best printed Copies and Manuscripts the most likely might bee giuen the worke would not bee great and the benefit in my iudgement issuing from thence not small Now for such things as may in shew bee drawen out of these Councils to make against vs and for the Church of Rome I referre the reader to Bellarmines Apologie against his Maiesties Premonition where hee hath put together whatsoeuer either diligence could obserue or malice wrest so that whosoeuer shall now gleane after him shall gaine as little credite to himselfe as aduantage to his cause yet whatsoeuer he hath said or for his purpose pressed from thence is so fully and sufficiently answered by a reuerend learned Prelate of our owne as if our Doctor would haue dealt either as a Scholler or an honest man hee should first haue vndertaken the confutation of that answere before hee had againe pressed his Maiestie with the triall of those Councils From the first Generall Councils hee proceedes to the most ancient Fathers but what neede any farther question of single Fathers since wee haue heard them spâ—aking met together in Councill His Maiestie confines himselfe to the first 500. yeeres and to their Vnanime consent and that in matters of saluation and all this granted hee doth not alwayes promise a stedfast beleefe but an humble silence Now Bellarmine despairing belike to put the matter to the triall of their testimonies complaines that his Maiestie descends not lower and stoopes aswell to the later writers as Bonauentâ—re and Thomas and Anselme whereas our Controuersies are of that nature as they cannot bee receiued as sufficient witnesses in the deciding of them they fell vpon those times which the farther distant they were from the fountaine the more filth they gathered and as the winds are hot or cold dry or moyst according to the qualitie of the Regions through which they blowe and waters relish of the soile through which they run so did they of the ages in which they liued And for the most ancient Bellarmine himselfe commonly dazels the eyes of the world either with the bastardy of false or the corruptioÌ„ of true Fathers whom hee esteemes as they make more or lesse for his purpose none otherwise then merchants doe their casting counters sometimes in his valuation they stand for pounds sometimes for shillings sometimes for pence sometimes for nothing Ireneus and Iustin Martyr who succeeded Polycarpe and Ignatius the hearers and disciples of S. Iohn the Euangelist held that the deuils were not tormented nor to bee tormented before the generall day of Iudgement in which opinion they are seconded by Epiphanius and Oecumenius neither doe I see sayth Bellarmin how we may defend them from errour of Origen he sayes who liued about 200. yeeres after CHRIST that hee was seene to burne in Hell fire with Arrius and Nestorius of Tertullian who liued about the same time that he was an Arch-heretike of no credit Sozemen hee accuses of falsehood in his Apologie touching Paphnutius his proceeding about the marriage of Churchmen and the Fathers yeelding vnto him in the Nicen Councill touching the iurisdiction of Bishops Ieromes opinion saith he is false and in its proper place to bee refuted S. Augustine expounding those wordes as wee doe Thou art Peter and vpon this Rocke will I build my Church he charges with errour out of his ignorance in the Hebrew tongue Whereby we may perceiue what account themselues make of the ancient Fathers who call most hotly for a triall by them And in trueth if Mr. Doctour had well considered how Policarpe S. Iohns scholler as I sayd before withstood Anicetus Bishop of Rome about the obseruation of Easter and Polycrates Victor in the same businesse how vehemently Stephen was resisted by Cyprian Bishop of Carthage dying as a martyr and Canonized for a Saint to whom hee imputes errour and the maintenance of the cause of Heretikes against the Church of God the defence of things superfluous impertinent false naught contrary to themselues presumption frowardnesse peruersenesse blindnesse of heart inflexible obstinacie Lastly how Athanasius that renowned Patriarch of Alexandria that stout champion of IESVS CHRIST that pillar of the Church and hammer of Heretikes was persecuted for the Catholike faith Pope Liberius consenting and subscribing to the Synodal sentence whereby he was excluded from the Communion of the Church as witnesseth Binius in his
man of their owne side reiects it as a meere â—able for hee reports that hauing for the space of full seauen yeeres fought with diuers diseases and griefes yet was he therefore neuer a whit lesse diligent in his function nor absteined from continuall writing and at length died of the disease called the difficulty of breathing Nay Genebrard though farre from the ingenuitie of Thuanus and one that raileth most impotently vpon Caluin yet durst not charge him herewith and was ashamed to defile his Chronicle with such an impudent lie Fr. Iunius saith that hee was at Geneua then wen Caluin dyed yet neither saw nor heard nor knew nor perceiued any such thing nor so much as euer dreamed of any such matter In a word he was visited in his sickenesse by sundrie excellent personages by the Syndicks of the Citie by the Ministers by others all which are witnesses of the sickenesse whereof hee dyed And Theod. Beza who faithfully wrote his life and death whereof as he saith hee had beene a spectator sixteene yeeres together testifieth that in him was proposed vnto all a most excellent patterne of Christian both life and death which saith he is as easie to calumniate as it is hard to imitate These things considered I referre mee now vnto the Readers indifferencie whether is more worthy of credite the whole Citie of Geneua and so many notable men present at his sicknesse and death and testifying of his peaceable holy and Christian departure or one Hieron Bolseck a Knight of the poste twice banished thrice a runagate who of a Carmelite became a Physitian or rather a Quacksaluer a sworne enemie to Caluin one that had beene from Geneua more then ten yeeres together and had sold his pen vnto his Lords and friends to defame Caluin And thus much in defence of those men whom the Dr. termeth the Monsters of our age Now although the vnhappy end of some particular men be no demonstratiue proofe and scarce a coniecturall signe of the falshood of that religion which they professe and that Church in which they make their last end yet that it may appeare in requital of the Dr. or rather the Cardinal how vnhappily some zealous persecutors of such as haue forsaken fellowship with the Church of Rome haue ended their liues I could referre the Reader to a large Discourse touching that point toward the end of the second part of the Acts and Monuments and also in Hassenmullerus in the conclusion of his booke Neither can the like iust exception bee taken against their euidences as against that of Bolseck and Cochlaeus But I will content my selfe with the testimonie of Thuanus a professed member of that Church which Mr. Doctor cals Catholike yet such a one as besides his great paines and diligence in the search of trueth had singular meanes for the finding of it out himselfe being now President in the Court Parliament of Paris where his father had bin Premier President before him This man then testifies first of the Cardinall of S. Andrewes in Scotland who condemned George Wiseheart vnto the fire that standing at a window sumptuously set forth with cushions and hangings of silke to behold his execution George being exhorted when the fire began to burne to be of good courage This flame indeed answered hee is painefull to my bodie but it doth no whit dismay my minde but hee that now from aloft lookes downe so proudly vpon me as arrogantly as now he sits so ignominiously within these fewe dayes shall hee lie along which soone after came to passe for being miserably slaine his dead body was in the open sight of all laide along in the same window from whence he had so ioyfully beheld the burning of Wiseheart And so the euent saith Thuanus verified his Prophecie Iohn Roman a Monke and cruell persecutor inuented a new kind of torment for the persecuted he would draw vpon their legs boots full of hote boiling grease and then setting spurres vpon their heeles iestingly would demand of them whether they were not sufficiently appointed for their iourney But vnderstanding that a summons was granted out against him by the Parliament of Aix to answere for his cruelties and that by the commandement of Francis the I hee fled vnto Auinion where thinking himselfe safe from men yet hee escaped not saith Thuanus the vengeance of God For he was spoiled by his owne seruants of all that he had and brought to extreme pouertie his body also was so full of loathsome vlcers that oftentimes he wisht for death which yet he could not obtaine but after a long time and horrible torments Oppeda another bloody persecutor being called to answer for his more then barbarous cruelties in the Parliament of Paris by the appointment of the said King Francis scaped indeed that danger by the commendation of the Guise and together with his Collegues was restored vnto his former dignity neuerthelesse soone after he was striken with horrible paines in his entrailes wherewith he was a long time tormented and at length in the mids of most cruell torments breathed forth his cruell soule God saith Thuanus inflicting on him that iust punishment which the iudges exacted not which though it were long in comming yet fell the more heauily when it came Albaspineus when Protestants were brought forth to execution aduised to stop their mouthes that they might not speake vnto the people Not long after falling deepely in loue with a certaine woman he fel withal out of his wits and being strikeÌ„ also with the lowzie disease he died in most grieuous torments his friends putting a bridle into his mouth to force him to receiue some sustenance which yet he frantikely refused hauing decreed to famish himselfe because of the vnsufferablenesse of his paines Ponsenatius another butcher being fallen into great debt hauing riotously wasted both his owne patrimony and his wiues dowry vpon conscience of his wicked life fell likewise mad whereupon despairing of his saluation being chained vp by his friends with lamentable shrikings and rending of himselfe hee finished his life in extreme pouerty Finally Cardinall Crescentius the Popes Agent in the Council of Trent hauing spent much of the night in writing letters to the Pope and at length rising from his chaire he seemed to see a dog which with huge iawes firie eyes and eares hanging downe to the ground furiously came towards him and by and by couched vnder the table then calling his seruants and light being brought when hee saw the dog no where appeare he was astonished at it and thereupon fell into many sad cogitations and so into sicknesse which he no sooner felt but presently hee despaired of life although his Physicians and friends gaue him good hope of recouery At last being caried from thence to Verona and euen at deaths dore he would often call vpon them that attended him to take heed of the dog and to keepe him from comming vpon his
more often Recognized it in his prayer before his Sermons 4 Pag. 220. Where among such famous Doctors as were conuerted lately to the Romish Religion hee reckons Dr. Bull for one 5 See the late B. of Lincolnes answere to a namelesse Catholike p. 115. 6 May 21. 1610 7 His Maiesty there speakes of the French King Henry the IV. 8 Nâ—sâ— itaque idexpâ—ctâ—â—ur a serenâ—ssimo Regâ— vâ— palam â—or am vniueâ— so mundo profiteatur sâ—metâ—â— ad sidem cogâ— non vâ—deo quo modo aâ—imus Regius in tâ—m iusta 17a tanto perâ—â—â—lo suo suorum pâ—ssit ad corum parâ—es propius aâ—â—edere 9 See the relation of the state of religion in these Westerne parts which it were much to be wished the Author himselfe would perfect and publish 10 Brittaâ—nom 〈◊〉 pag. 324. 1 I can shew it in the Authors owne Letters that he had a purpose of publishing it 2 He hath now gotten more name and fame by running away from vs then by any acte that euer hee did among vs. 3 The Credite he had in Court was won by his hypocrisie 4 He was like enough to aspire to higher preferment but while he remained like himselfe not like to attaine it 5 What intiâ—ing baits could these be vnto him who by his own acknowledgement felt the state of his body such that hee could not long enioy them 6 The wauering was in his braine not in their opinions 7 Hee professeth indeed that hee found a large opposition betweene the new French as he calleth it and the old English but betweene the English and the Râ—mish none at all or â—o small as it might easily be reconciled Chap. 2. Sâ—ct 29. 8 Or rather a counterfeit light from him who is transformed into an Angel of Light 9 His owne relation shewes how slowly he proceeded in this businesse as being in hope of higher preferment and yet in despaire of longer life 10 Catholike Roman I take to be as much as Kent and Christâ—ndome 11 Had Mr. Dr. done so he had rested where he was Cap. 2. Sâ—â—t 36. 1 You might haue named Scripture as well as art but it seemes you purposely forbore it lest you shou'd seeme a Caluinist 2 In your 2. chap. 21. Sect. you affirme the doctrine of the Church of Eng. to be that which is conteined in the coÌ„mon prayer booke and Church Catechisme very nere agreeing with or at least not contradicting the Church of Rome 3 Had you brought any proofe from the Scriptures ancient Fathers for the trueth of that Religion which you call Cathol you would haue thereby giuen vs some reaâ—on to thinke â—ou had indeed studied them 4 Your reconcâ—liation of religâ—oÌ„ was nothing else but a renouncing of the truth 5 It is maruell you had not imparted knowledge by writing 6 Your place compelled you not to preach points of Râ—mish doctrine 7 Catholike Religion is not hated in England but the religion of pretended Catholikes is iustly restrained 8 You might as fully and â—reely haue enioyed the preâ—ence of our blessed Sauiour in the vnitâ—e of the English Church as the Râ—mish 9 How can there be a dayly oblation of that which himselfe offered once for all Heb. 7. 27. 9. 28. and 10. 10 10 When his Maiâ—sties reasons are answered why he should not bee already esteemed in the vnitie of the Catholike Church prayer for his admission into it will bee admitted 11 Your dueâ—ie would better haue appeared in writing somewhat in defence of his Maiesties writings 12 Your auowed presence at the dayly oblation as you call it was a sufficient declaration of your reuolt 13 How sufficiently either of these two bee shewed I leaue it to the indifferent Reader to iudge 14 I wonder that any hauing affiance in his Holinessâ— pardons should desire his Maâ—esties 15 Hee is indeed likely to bee a faithfull seruant to his Maiestie who flies to the tents and pleads the cause of his sworne enemies 1. Pâ—t 3. 4. 1 It was such a schisme as the Apostle practised when certaine were hardened disobeyed speaking euill of the way of God he departed from them and separated the discsples Acts 19. 9. and gâ—ue the like commandement to others if any teach otherwise and consenteth not to the wholsome words of the Lord Iesus and from such separate thy selfe 1. Tim. 6. 3 4 5. 2 This ambition of yours was it which being some what crossed or not fully satisfied caused your apostâ—sie as it did Arrius his heresie 3 Yet himselfe afterward iustifies it chap. 2. sâ—ct 21. 4 Doe men gather grapes of thornes or figs of thistles and can either duety or loue be expected from such subiects and friends better is the hâ—tred of an open enemy then the loue of such a friend 5 Ab ouo vsquâ— ad maluâ—â— He repeats the same phrase in diuers other places * Colâ—ss 2. 23. * Esai 1. 12. 6 Great zeale and neutralitie in Religion seldome stand together as neither doe gâ—eat zeâ—le and vehement ambition 7 We grant as much tâ—at the gates of hell shall neuer vtterly prâ—uaile against it Non bene câ—n 〈…〉 vna sede morantur ambitio zelus * Iames 3. 16. * Rom. 10. 2 * Lâ—ke 16. 8. * 2. Thes. 2. 7. * Matth. 10. 1â— 1 He indeede deliueredit to his Apostles and disciples to continue but sure wee are it continued not by that succession and in that Church which you call visible and perpetuall or at least not as he deliuered it the enuiâ—us man came in the night and sowed tares amongst it * Matth. 19. 8. 2 Obserue here the great zeale of this man which himselfe boasteth of in the 2. Sâ—ction going before * Matth. 13. 5. 25 1 It is to be noted that some of thesâ— Vniuersities professe in their published instruments that they tooke an oath to deliuer and to study vpon the foresaid questions as should be to the pleasure of God and according to conscience the copie whereof is to be seene in our English Chronicles 2 After the determinations of these Vniuersites were read in open Parliament there were shewen aboue a 100. bookes drawen by Doctours of strange regions which all agreed the Kings marâ—age to be vnlawfull 1 How learnedly you vnderstood the state of the question betwixt vs appeares afterward in setting downe the opinion of the Church of Rome touching Images 2 No mention at all of reading the Scriptures that was too base a worke for so great a Clerke 1 How comes it to passe then that the profouÌ„d Doctors for prooâ—e of many doctrines of that Church forsake the Scriptures flie to traditions 2 As if in your learning the Gospel were not Scripture 3 Belike then we in these colde Northerne Climats haue no Christian soules 4 When those Preachers shal be named and their current opinions specified and the passages quoted by which they are conâ—uted I doubt not but the vnanswerable
consequents will finde a sufficient answere in the meane time you must giue vs leaue to suspect that Doluâ— latet in vniuersalibus falshood insists vpon generals 5 Wee haue good reason to thinke you were not so much grieued for crossing those great preachers you speake of as that thereby your prefeâ—ment was crossed 1 Such a profound demonsration is that of Bellarmine out of Petrus Damianus to shew the reason why in the Popes old Seales S. Paul was on the right hand of S. Peter because forsooth Paul was of the tribe of Beniamin and Beniamin signifies the sonne of the right hand and for this he quotes Gen. 35. and 42. * Matth. 26. 27. * Iohn 18. 36. 1 It seemes then your Puritane for you tell vs before those preachers were such may be a very honest man yet afterwards you tell vs their principles are such as ouerthrow all honesty 2 As loth as you were to oppose them in publike yet you did as farre as you durst as your selfe afterwards confesse 3 The faith in which you were baptized is the â—ame which now is professed in the Church of England and that I am sure no man expected you should oppugne * Luke 16. 26. 1 I had thought before that a Puritane and a Caluenist a creature of Schisme in your language had bene all one 2 If Dauid himselfe bee a Schismatike as you make him how were the creatures of Schisme to strong for him 3 Those whom you call temperate men we may suspect to bee neutrals made of lincie whoolsie neither hote nor cold but halting betweene two opinions 1. Kings 18. 21. 4 That which you call honest preaching of the Trueth wee take to be the neerest approching that may be to Româ— gates 5 Herein you failed not in that at last you vnmasked your owne hypocriosie * 2. King 9. â— â—â— * Ierem. 51. 9. 1 You might more properly haue applied fiery to your desperate Cath. for such was their practise 2 There needed no great violence to aggrauate the haynousnesse of that plot 3 How comes it then to passe that notwithstanding all this in the next chap. you so earnestly labour the conuersion of his Maiestie and the whole Realme Ex oreâ—tuâ— condemnaberis serue nequam Luke 1â— 22. 1 What needed any great wit or learning for the iustification of that doctrine which by your owne confession holds no point expresly contrary to antiquity 1 To allow the people images for religious vse and then to admonish them that they take heed of idolatry is as if a man should put an hungry horse into a goodly pasture and then command him not to eate or a child vpon the top of a lâ—dder and then bid him take heed of a fall 2 Why do they couer them in Lent then 3 We should indeed haue our conuersation amongst the Saints in heauen but not amongst their images on earth M. Hooker in his 5. booke of Ecclesiastical policie Sect. 65. 1 I tolde you before you were prepossessed with preiudice which made you obiect so weakely 2 Had it taken effect they would haue abhorred it as Sixtus did the Friars murthering of Henry the III. of France in the Consistorie of Cardinals where he compares it to the worke of our Redemption 3 A likely matter that his Maiestie should make complaint in a iudicial proceeding to him in whom he professeth that he acknowledgeth no right of proceeding iudicially in the censure of his owne Subiects 4 All those Writers whom you call Catholikes doe so condemne it as they seeme rather to thinke it vnfortunate in the successe then mischieuous in the plot 5 What authoritie this is will appeare in Pius his Bull whose words are these And him alone hath hee made chiefe ouer all nations and kingdomes who may alone root out destroy scatter waste plant and build that the faithfull people knit together with the band of mutuall charitie might be kept in the vnitie of the Spirit 1 How could your hope bee such since your resolution was to the contrary as appeares by your own words in diuers passages before 2 Your selfe within a fewe lines after acknowledge you found many 3 So that it seemes by your owne confession the greatest corruptions are to be found in the Church of Rome seeing by Gods wheate field in your vnderstanding can bee meant none other but that Church in which in your opinion grace most aboundeth 4 Belike then you saw some broad difference in the circumstance 5 You made sure worke for that by carrying ouer store of monies with you by obtaining pensions from the Pope the Q. Mother of France and Cardinall Peâ—â—on * Gal. 2. 21. * Col. 2. 20 21 22 * 1. Pet. 1. 19. 1 It may bee those afflictions serued to free you from Purgatorie as you presume in the conclusion of your letter otherwise I see not why you should afflict your selfe for chusing the only supposed meanes of your saluation 2 You disputed with such learned men as you could meet with and yet auoided the companie of Catholiks you promise his Maiesty to remember him at the dayly oblation and yet you abstained from their Churches 3 That which you call peace is a betraying of 〈◊〉 the trueth and 〈◊〉 that which you call a reconciliation is a rent froÌ„ forreine reformed Churches 4 I marueile who gaue you authoritie to bring M. Casaubon ouer from France 5 Hauing receiued this answere What moued you to be so saucie and importunate to mooue his Maiestie the second time to entertaine Societie with that Church 6 Though you loued that Romish religion well you loued your life better 1 In what sense Rome may bee termed the mother â—hurch see in mine answere to the 45. Section 2 His Maiestie termeth him the Patriarch but not the Primate of the West 3 Where was your great zeale then to sweare against your conscience for fashion but did you not take it again when you came to yeres of discretion at the taking of your degrees at your institution in your Benefices at your admittance to your Prebendry and Chaplenship and oft recognize the truth of the summe of the said oth in your prayer before euery sermon you made How then comes it now to passe that you would not take it again to gaine the greatest preâ—ermeÌ„t in yâ— world but that you were out of hope to get any or by your owne confession long to enioy it 4 The Bishops in K. Hen. the 8. time thought themselues as good Christians as your selfe yet they tooke it or at least made a shew of taking it with a good conscience besides you call thâ— consciences or the Christianity of your honest brethren of the Clergy into question who haue taken the same oath it may be more then once and yet being good Schollers as you pretend they could not be ignorant what offence they incurred in taking it 1 Master Dâ—â—lington in his inference vpoÌ„ Guicciardines Degression
Page 3. 2 Page 200. 3 Which Dispensation was first granted contrarie to the opinion of all the Cardinals of Râ—me being Diuines Hall ann Hâ—nry 8. 4 In the yeere 1562. and againe in 1571. 5 Apol. for the Oath of alleagiance p. 108. 6 Eusebius lib. 3 de vita Constantâ—i * Psal. 91 11. 7 Such a precedenciâ— hath the Emperour before Christian kings but no command ouer them 8 B. Bilson part 2 of Christian subiection p. 237. 1 This penalty was not inflicted for taking Orders but for returning after Orders taken such a penalty did Solomon impose and execute vpon Shimei 1. King 2. 2 There is lesse doubt of the Episcopall being of our Bishops then of those that deriue their being from the Popes in regard of their manifold schismes and if it came to scanning the Archbishop of Canterbury hath faiâ—er euidence to shew for his right to that See then the Bishop of Rome to the Popedome nay the Pope to the Bishopricke of Rome * Roâ— 11. 18 c. 1 He that examines the writings will easily find you wrote without booke 2 Such a Catholike then as your selfe the Sâ—ate standing as it doth can by your owne confession bee no good subiect 3 As if onely Puritanes were at the making of those Statutes or they alone make care and conscience of the execution of them 4 A mâ—rueile it is that a man of your age and experience should conceiue or affirme that to belong to the office of a Iustice of Peâ—câ— which appertaines to the Iudges or Iustices itenerant 5 Your hope must needes be grounded vpon a vaine presumption of some strange and sudden alteration in his Maiestie considering his full resolution and your many infirmities but your hope is perished with your selfe and so may all they who entertaine the like 6 You speake as if the naturall birth of a man gaue him interest in the Saints of heauen whereas there they put off all carnall affections and become like vnto the Angels 7 The Saints of heauen haue no knowledge of the particular conuersion of a sinner by any ordinary intuition but by reuâ—lation extraordinary 8 Many Saints no doubt are triumphant which were neuer militant in that Church which acknowledgeth the Pope her head 9 Where no offence is committed there needs no pardon to be either demanded or granted 10 The seruice you intended was nothing els but a plotting with the Pâ—pâ— and his Factours how you might betray the liberty of your Countrey and submit your Soueraignes neck to the yoke of his seruice 11 Vnlesse the Church of Rome draw neerer to vs then hitherto shee hath made sheâ— of it cannot bee but with the preiudice of all the honest men in England and honesty it selfe that a neerer vnion betwixt her and the Church of England should be concluded then already there is 1 Contrâ— literâ—â— Patâ—â— 2. c. 92 2 This Booke was written by my L. Burleigh L. Treasourer wherein hee pâ—ouâ—s that no Romish Catholikes were then executed but for iustifying the Bul of Pâ—us V. which Card. Allen replied vnto but so weakely as the trueth is thereby streâ—gthened 3 This samâ— poiâ—t is againâ— confirmed by his Maiesty in his booke Dâ— droâ—â— dâ—s Râ—yeâ— Pagâ— 113. 4 Ego intraproximum trimestro â—el sâ—mestre tot puta quinque vel sex reconciliaui pro quibus spondere ausiâ— quod quaecunque occasiâ— inciderit a parte nâ—stra â—â—turi sint omnes Tâ—rt Torti 138. 1 I suppose your meaning is to be accounted so 2 I haue not met with any that teacheth it but holy Father Aristotle in the entrance of his Politikes 3 That which you call the malice of the times was the iust censure of your superiours procured by your own malice against the trueth 4 What seruice could you do by dying but by remouing a dangerous instrument 5 So then you seeme to confesse that for religion you were of the same mind long before you went hence as since you haue declared your selfe which notwithstanding in diuers other places you contradict 1 Pol. lib. 3. cap. â— In methodâ— histâ— vt apparet in 〈◊〉 ex purgatâ—riâ— 1 That is you haue put off a Diuine to put on a Statesman but the prouerbe is Monachus in aula piscis in arido and your owne saying is that false Religion is but a policie for the temporal seruice of Princes 2 What securitie did it procure to Henry the IIII. and the 7. Emperours or to Chilperike Phil. lebâ—l Lewis the XII or the 2. last Hen. of France and if there be no securitie but in that religion what religion is that which will admit of no security in any but it selfe 3 They were aduanced by the grace of God and their owne right not by the Roman Religion which in a maner is all one with the Bishop of Romes authoritie by which Histories recorde how king Iohn and diuers other his Maiesties predecessours aswell of England as France and Scotland haue bene aduanced and protected 4 Why then if the Roman Religion had remained amongst vs should they still haue beene prayed for as if they had remained in Purgatorie 1 All this must be vnderstood of the Church of Rome which first curseth and then by all meanes laboureth to confound such as oppose against her imputing her owne deuillish plots to Gods working 1 See Lipsius his admiranda or de magnitudine Remani Imp. 1 It is rather Rome that is fallen from the vnitie of Christs Church 2 You are somwhat more fauorable to her herein then Bocius in his 12. booke and 3 chapter of the signes of the Church Terenixa passim pradicatur ex illicito coitu ac propterea fuitincemitijs Angliae publicis decretum vt illi defunctae in regno possent succedere ex huiusmodi concubinatunati A most malicious lie 3 She came vpon the religion professed and established in her sisters reigne which you call remainders of deuotion and wee denie it not but how comes it to passe that her sister was so vnfortunate if the onely comming vpon her remainders made Q. Elizabeth so happy 4 That which you cal maintaining of warre amongst her neighbours his Maiestie in her ensuing Epitaph termes the relieuing of France and supporting the Netherlands hee might iustly haue called it the setting vp of a iust King in his owne kingdome and the freeing of a free Estate from the vniust vsurpation of a forreine power 5 For feare of failing wee are yeerely supplied with a new Mission of shauelings from the fountaine but sure I am perswaded if this current were stopped our peace and prosperitie would be both more honourable and certaine then it is 1 That is as far as the drift of your reason proposed in the 2. and 3. Section of this Chapter 2 To conferre is not properly by a bare permission but by donation 3 Kingdomes may be bestowed vpon wicked men for many other reasons besides the sinnes of the people
afford as many sufficient and learned Preachers and that in a more substantiall and conscionable fashion then the Popes Hierarchie and that London alone affords more then Rome it selfe and their readinesse to supply Sermons is not so much out of any good will they beare that exercise as out of ill will they beare vs. Iohn Aduenâ— lib. 30. Anal. Boio 1 So that in Mr. Doctors Logick an honest Protestant may thus be defined One that can endure the State of England as it is and could be content it were as it was that he might receiue more benefit 2 You tel vs before that all false religions in the world are but humane policies and we as truely returne it vpon you that this humane policie fauours of a false religion 3 Many of them though they professed themselues dead to the world yet were they aliue to the flesh Renulfus Câ—str lib. 7. 1 Indeede by the forme of words yet extant in the masse booke and vsed by the Priest it is supposed that a number should Communicate daily with him but it seldome is so 2 If wee had no vse of confessours yet might and ought inferiors be kept in awe of hell fire by their Preachers and superiours be tolde of their errours in state by their Counsellers but you seeme to assure his Maiestie that if hee will not be told of his errours in confession he shall in rebellion * 2. Cor. 5. 18. 1 Bell de peâ—â—t lib. 3. Cap. 2. 2 Epist ad Front pag. 129. 3 Premon 125 4 See nouell doct in the ende of the Premon the 3. 5 Epist. ad Front pâ—g 140. 6 Pag. 326. 7 That is they doe not binde him to present the party confessing as appeares both in the body and title of the Canon * Gal. 5. 1. 1 If in those middle times when all things ranne in a current course there were not so many Statutes made in Church matters it must be imputed rather to the want of occasion then of power the plantation or reformation of the Church chiefly giuing occasion to the making of lawes in Church matters 2 When the name of a Parliament began in England is vncertaine See my L. Coke in his Preface to the ninth part of his reports 3 I take the raising of new houses to be no hinderance to the Common-weâ—lth the Lawyers themselues being a part of the Commons 4 As 〈◊〉 the Ciuill Law came not from the Roman Infidels â—hich notwithstandâ—ng stand well enough with the authoritie of the Ecclesiasticall Courts 5 What you call Catholike I know not but sure I am that since King Eth. time many Statutes haue been made for the restraâ—ning of the Bâ—shop of Romes vniuâ—t vsurpation neither doâ— finde that hee â—â—â—tered any thing in the lawes of the kingdome saue onely by commaâ—ding them to be turned into his mother tongue 6 Iâ— by better times you meane the restitution of the Romish Religion or the recoÌ„ciliation of our Church to Rome you had certainly very little reason to expect them from the learning wisedome and moderation of those that are now the chiefest in that profession the chiefest of all hauing both fâ—equently and fullâ— declared himselfe to the contrary and suffred for it by the slanderous tongues and pennes of malicious Romanists and namely Eudaemon and Parsons 1 Bod in lib. 1. de â—epub cap. 8. 2 See Monsâ—ir Seruius the Kings Attourney generals speach in the end of the reformation of the Vniueâ—sitie of Paris 3 Spâ—culum Iust. anno 712. 4 Statut. 21. Râ—â— 2. cap. 11. 5 Comment cap. 49. 6 A God containes the Sea within his owne bounds and marches so is it my office to make euery Court containe it selfe within its owne limits see his Maâ—â—sties Speech in Parliament 1609. 7 Cap. 17. 1 What thoâ—â— Clergie men are wee desire to know and who in your sense are Caluinists 2 What those points of doctrine are wee shall see in the next Section 3 That his Maiesties fauour to the Clergie is such as not to giue way to their ouerthrow and in stead of them to set vp a few stipendary Preachers we haue had good triall and are bound to blesse God for it but sore against the will of all Romane Catholikes it is that his Maiestie should fauour them so much 1 How Caluin himselfe though he were a stipendary Minister pleased Master Maior and his brethren let his banishment more then once for his free preaching testifie 2 We are assured that both his Maiesty and his heire apparent are so well resolued in this point as they wil neuer put it to the question 3 Our Sermons are not so cheape as your Masses which notwithstanding are in a manner the very life and soule of your Priesthood 4 The vntrueth of this assertion appeares in mine answere 5 As if all those who are called Lords and goe in Rochets were not by their place conformable to the discipline had often before they come to that place subscribed to the doctrine established by Law 6 They may more easily turne Lay with you where Lay men are admitted to the administration of the Sacrament 7 These kinde of Clergie men desire no satisfaction from you but wish you had bin as carefull to maintaine that trueth which once you professed as to confute their pretended errours which confutation notwithstanding you speake much of but no where performe nor so much as vndertake 8 You may rather call them temporizing then temperate 9 It were well that others knew them too if any such there bee who in iudgmeÌ„t approoue the trueth of that religion which you call Cath. and yet proâ—â—sse themselues not onely members but Ministers of our Church but our hope is that their number is not such as you vaunt of it being vnpossible that honest men and good Schollers should take the oath of Supremacie and subscribe to our articles of religion and yet in iudgement approue the authority of the B. of Rome which is in a maner the substance of that religion 10 Had ours had the like temperate course held with them or the like liberty afforded in Queene Maries dayes they would haue thought themselues happy 11 Their wiues and children are bound to pray for you in regard of your fatherly care of them 12 It is well that you account your selfe one of the honest men and good Schollers but they are so farre I hope from accounting you one of them as they vtterly condemne and mislike your courses 13 But it pleased God you should die among strangers and not liue to see that toleration you desired neither shall any of them we hope that yet liue and desire to see it 14 As if the whole fortune of Greece depended vpon your submission to that Church 15 What assurance can there bee on our parts from them who hold yâ— faith is not to be held with heretikes but you forgot your promise made to my Lords Grace of