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
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
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
THE IVDGMENT OF AN VNIVERSITY-MAN CONCERNING M. VVilliam Chillingvvorth his late Pamphlet in Ansvvere to Charity Maintayned ¶ Imprinted with Licence Anno M.DC.XXXIX TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL my Noble Friend N.H. SYR I must euer acknowledge my selfe obliged in term's of Friendship to satisfy your so reasonable demaund which is only to shew you my opinion concerning a late borne Treatise The Religion of Protestantss a safe way c. For your owne part you professe you are satisfied already for the matter it self that nothing solid or substantiall can come forth for the defence of so bad or offence of so good a cause but the world you say cries it vp and you would gladly see it disabused Indeed as concerning the vulgar acceptance I vnderstand no lesse and withall I remember how the Father or grand-Father of this was the popular applause and acclamation for a while those vpcryes comming often to my eares I said as often I confesse O saclum insipiens infacetum Grieuing togeather with some litle indignation that of true iudgment in writings of this nature there appeared so great penury and barrennes in this Land though I was not ignorant that very many were to be found of either Vniuersity whose more solid erudition and vnderstanding decry'd it as fast though not so lowd But before you haue my censure of the worke it selfe I shall acquaint you with the common voyce if perchance you haue not hard it concerning certaine circumstances of the Worke the why's and wherefor's the motiues to these enterprizings and aduocating for other men first of all concerning his ioint-printing and coedition of his Aduersary with his owne worke some said it was square and faire dealing other 's that it was a prodigious coniunction no losse then the Hippocentaure others that this committing himselfe with his Aduersary in the same volume would cause an odious comparison disaduantagious to the Author Sic interpositus vitio contaminat vncto Vrbica Lingonicus Tyrianthina Bardocucullus Sic Aretinae violant Chrystallina testae Sic niger in ripis errat cùm fortè Caeystri Inter Laedeos ridetur coruus olores Sic vbi multisonâ feruet sacer Athide lucus Improba Cecrâ—pias offendit pica querelas Vindice nil opus est aut charactire malignâ— Stat contra cuius tua sit mihi pagina clamat Which superlatiue difference they obserued as I conceaue rather in the spirit of writing then in the wording And namely they obserue that his personall reproaches his style of contumely compared with the ciuil and mild composure of his aduersary his iocularie and geering humor with the others graue and serious menage his fraudulent and sophisticall syllogizing with his plaine regular discourse his lurking and scotizing and affecting obscurity his ouercasting with mist's of subtile interpretations his aduersaries plaine wordes seeking or making the Knot where it is not parallel'd with the others opennes and endeauour to giue day to truth lastly his immethodicall structure and digesture of the whole worke confronted with the others perspicuity and light of order will appeare in this neerenes and vicinity much more contemptible then if they stood aloof and at distance in seuerall impressions Yet others say againe that euen in this he was wise and prouident in his generation yea that surely some higher power directed his designe as the Goddesse of wisedome is said to haue carried the arrow drawne at the brest of Menelaus vpon his belt so of no force to wound as was intended but yet inough to occasion continuance of the War and the ensuing victory of the Grecians that by these two prouisions diuine and humane of God M. Ch. if this commission be not yet more odious then the former many things are effected commodious to all sides To his aduersary whose worke by this opportunity is euery man's money and in euery mans hand 's Cum Priuilegio hath his protection from his aduersarie and out of a strange mistaking Charity is permitted to fight vnder his Shield like a little Teucer vnder his cozen Aiax buckler shooting not only at the common enemy but euen at Aiax himselfe out of a like confidence perhap's that hauing combatted himselfe and hauing beene too hard for himselfe so often he is vnconquerable by any other Nec quisquam Aiacem poterit superare nisi Aiax Commodious to the reader who hath the ioint-impression at an easier rate both of price and pain 's hath now no more to do but turne the leafe and if he please sing a new song yet with this odd's I confesse that while he read's or hardly read's the Catholique volume miserably contracted like another Homer into a nut-shel he beholds the Protestants Atturney like a new Edgar vnder saile gloriously swelling in displayed Characters Vt populus tumido gaudeat Antimacho Gainfull lastly to himselfe who by this co-impression becomes more vendible and makes a more swift returne of the commodity his friends buy him more greedily out of an appetite and curiosity to see the man committed face to face with his aduersarie how manfully he bestir's himselfe The friends of his aduersarie perhap's conuinc'd with the euidence of his discourse and deductions will be couetous to see what can be said to these how such arguments will be cleared how the Aduocate will vnty the Gordian Knot like an Aristotle or like an Alexander All men I thinke after so large and low'd promises of an vtter confutation will be desirous to vnderstand Quid dignum tanto ferat hic promissor hiatu Thus all sides a man would thinke will be pleased and he the author of this co-impression most of all who hauing beene at great charges and hauing his money out vpon the worke would gladly no doubt see it backe againe together with the fruite of his expectation And to say sooth who sow's but he would reape who plant's a vineyard but he would eat the fruit therof I haue met with some other Censurers who in my iudgment proceed too far this way taking the boldnes to penetrate those adita those very conclaues of men's intentions And whereas there are to be considered two ends in euery artificiall worke the one intrinsique the other extrinsique the former the end of the Art the later of the Artist this being so sacred that he might iustly interdict all ingresse to any mortal man might paint two snakes at the entrance with this Epigraphe Sacer hic locus extra c. Yet to such an Hyperbole of presumption are men arriued in this age that enter they will like any Purseuant into the very in-roomes and bowels of the most secret counsail's and designes of other men But while by glossing his intention they will seeme forsooth to excuse him in my opinion they do but geere him who as though they had heard what he spake in his hart take vpon them to personate him in his owne words What I do in this writing for Protestant's I do it not out
been discomfited as Turnus was sure to be vanquish't by Aeneas Virgil writing the History Now to returne to the consideration of those indigne Contumelies and execrable Calumnies c. Calumny Which I shall not doubt to note as a fallacious Calumny of this Aduocate who would make the world belieue that to be Contumely and Calumny which is no such thing For if the substance of what is written by his Aduersary be a truth at least in the sense of the writer not in tended any way to traduce or disparage but as a discourse and inference of a truth where is then the Calumny Besides if there be nothing harsh or insolent or vnciuil in the expression of this truth where is the Contumely where is the portentuosity or execrability to be discerned vnles perhaps out of the exuberance of his spleeny Rhetorique he will needs phraze it portentuous execrable indigne Contumely whatsoeuer his queazy stomack cannot digest with patience And how then could such a stomack digest these so crude Expostulations cook't with so much bitternes and gall of a Satirical Iuuectiue I make doubt whether any other could but he who can digest his owne vomit For I dare auouch euen in these few lines wherein he expostulates this wrong there is more of the portent and Calumny c. to be found then in both those Treatises as by him supposed of this his Aduersary Nor was it a litle gall and rancor which went into the seasoning of those words of his proper motiues for the Diuel and his instruments to tempt c. Vpon whome he plays with these instruments in consort with the Diuell is no hard ridle to read nor worke for an Oedipus yet it had beene faire dealing to haue pointed out some one or more particulars out of that masse of portentuous and execrable Calumnies c. But he was wiser then so he knew whatsoeuer he should haue pointed at particularly would haue appeared no such portent to any wise man he thought it better to hope his Reader would be either so curreous as to belieue him vpon his word or so negligent as not to examine him or confer the places A Calumny obiected retorted vpon the Obiectour SECT IV. IF that be one of those execrable Calumnies wherewith he complaines that himselfe together with the learned and moderate Deuines of England are loaden by his Aduersary who sticketh not saith he to fasten the imputation of Atheisme and Irreligion vpon all wise Pref. and gallant men that are not of his owne Religion Ans If his Aduersary neither say so nor can by any truth or candor of interpretation be vnderstood to meane so then is this obiection of a Calumny his Calumny who obiecteth it surely he hath taken great paines to small purpose to loade himselfe and his friends so heauily for vnles he will needs pluck it from those shoulders wheron his Aduersary imposed it he hath no cause so to groane vnder the burden For the words of his Aduersary whence he forceth and violently writeth this execrable Calumny are these Direct Chap. 1. They are strangers to that wise and gallant nation who imagine they can be of any religion if they will not be Catholique Out of which testimony concerning the Italian nation to make it odious he frameth this discourse as virtually included in it A wise gallant nation can be of no Religion if not Catholique The Italian is a wise and Gallant nation Ergo the Italian can be of no Religion if not Catholique To which I answere this vniuersall proposition a wise and gallant nation c. is wonderfully strained and indeed with no truth or ingenuity forced out of that particular the Italian a wise and gallant nation can be of no Religion if no Catholique For he might and should in good Logick and honesty take this proposition specificatiuè not reduplicatiuè as thus the Italian a wise and gallant nation c. Not thus The Italian as it is a wise and gallant nation or because it is a wise and gallant nation precisely so that these words wise and gallant may be taken as Epither's or adiections of propriety supposed to be acknowledged in that Nation at the least according to some eminency in those kinds as Homer so frequently applying that Epithete 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neatelybooted Greekes neuer surely intended by that to make their neat bootes any cause of their sacking Troy or any the like effect Yet if in our case these attributes wise and gallant be supposed in the writers intendment to haue some influence into that negatiue the Italian a wise and gallant nation cannot be of any other religion yet it should not follow that wise and gallant were the adequate or the necessary cause of that negatiue Whence it will not follow that euery Nation wise and gallant or all wise gallant yea as wise and gallant as the Italian which equality not withstanding I belieue might be denyed to some other nation without any contumely or disgrace or any wrong done them should be said to be either Catholique or of no religion For though wise and gallan◠be granted a great part of the cause why the Italian cannot be of any other religion yet this being but the partiall cause some other wise and gallant men may be of some religion or Sect though not Catholique But yet suppose that wise and gallant were which cannot be granted the adequate cause and of necessity inducing such an effect and of force to draw out the conclusion to whomsoeuer applyed as thus That such and such are wise and gallant men Ergo Catholiques or of no religion Or thus And they not Catholique Ergo of no religion where shall this Calumny light For first you must subsume the minor before you can determine the Calumny for it can be no Calumny but where it fals Well then I will subsume it for him make him some part of recompence for his paines taken in framing his Aduersaries discourse so very often into syllogism's such as he pleaseth But thus I do it for him and thus he must subsume otherwise for ought I see his Execrable Calumny c. will proue but smoke Wise and gallant men can be of no religion if not Catholique But I together with the learned and moderate Deuines of England are wise and gallant men Ergo I with them can be of no religion if not Catholique Behold heere the indigne Contumely the Portentuous and Execrable Calumny squeezed out of his Aduersaries words meerely by racking them to the worst sense and torturing them forsooth that M. C. or the learned Deuines of England are not wise and Gallant men this is now the worst he can make yea and worse then he can truly make of those his Aduersaries words so Tragically inflamed Now truly I may haue beene mistaken but I should not easily haue belieued that M. Ch. would haue taken it so very grieuously to be ranked with those wise
not able to giue a particular reason of euery article of this Creed The Socinian will say he is bound to belieue no more What sayth Mâ—Ch whome in this Treatise of his we suppose a Christian vntill he declare himselfe a little more expressely a very litle will serue the turne But let him forme his discourse out of this text of S. Peter Euery man is bound to giue a reason of his beliefe or Hope Ergo Euery man is bound to giue a particular reason for euery point of his beliâ—fe or Hope when will he make good this illation by his neuer failing rules of Logick Againe if euery Christian were charged with this obligation to giue a reason to euery one requiring it what kind of reason should that be Must it need 's be a conuincing reason and satisfaction not only in it selfe but respectiuely in regard of the requirers vnderstanding or disposition What if he be a Iew or Infidell or Socinian shall I belieue no more then that wherof I can giue a conuincing satisfactory reason to a Iew Infidell or Socinian Let him tell vs what kind of reason he requires that we may know the obligation he layes vpon vs. In the meane tyme I doubt not to auerre and proue that the meanest Catholique is able to giue a more satisfactory account of euery point of Catholique faith then the most learned Protestant can of any one As thus why do you belieue three Persons one God because sayth the Catholique I belieue the Catholique Church which teacheth me so to belieue And so of the rest Now because no Protestant giues or can giue this reason in coherence with his Protestant principles of necessity he giues a worse if any For whether his reason be his owne or any other humane discourse whatsoeuer independant of this authority of the Church or secluding it or be it Scripture yea Canonicall Scripture interpreted by himselfe or any priuate Spirit he giueth no better an account then an Arrius Eutychius Donatist c. hath or might haue giuen in defence of their Heresies Thus much concerning the abused authority of S. Peter VVords of our Sauiour fallaciously abused SECT XXIII HEnce he proceedeth with some pretty Rhetorique method of blasphemy if you marke him as hauing first prophaned the testimony of S. Iohn after him S. Paul next S. Peter the Vicar and Viceroy of Christ in the Christian world Iam proximus ardet Vcalegon the very next house is a fire it was not probable he could stay himselfe in this precipice Lastly therefore he prophaneth Christ himselfe so truly may it be said of Heresy Inclinata est ad mortem domus â—ius ad inferâ—s semitae eiâ—s Prou. 2. Her howse is hanging towards death and her path's lead to hell Our Sauiours words are these Luc. 12. When you see a cloud rising from the West you say we shall haue raine and so it happen's And when the Southwind blow's you say the summer appreaches Hypocrites know you to discerne the face of heauen and earth and do you not discerne this tyme of my presence or comming But why also do you not discerne what is iust by your selues That is as if he had said you who are so skilfull as to read the prognostick signes of the heauens and by them foretell future euents of weather or seasons why do you not by your selues that is by those internall signes and tokens of your soules remorse of conscience secret inclinations and other the like indicatures of what is iust or vniust why do you not by these discerne what is iust And what affinity hath this discourse of our Sauiour with this Aduocates application that therefore euery man must of himselfe examine and try by his owne discourse or Scriptures interpreted by himselfe what is true doctrine in points of supernaturall beliefe What tokens or prognosticks haue men for these What light of naturall reason or what indicature of inward motions or naturall inclinations shew the truth of supernaturall mysteries And not without some Fallacy hath this interpreter made choice to translate Fallacy iustum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 right rather then iust why of your selues iudge you not what is right because right hath a more apparent reference to matter of doctrine in this positure of words of which doctrine he would haue euery man to be his owne iudge then iust hath which rather implyeth a relation to morall actions Another sentence of our Sauiour abused SECT XXIIII TO as litle purpose and with asmuch violence and irreuerence are those words of our Sauiour If the blind lead the blind c. applied by him For whether in probability follow the blind they who follow the Church of God as their guide to which is promis't the spirit of truth or they who follow either their owne priuate spirit or naturall reason and discourse or the Scripture interpreted by these which is to them as blind as the interpreters of it But by these goodly expositions and applications of Scriptures you see how substantially they are furnish't for examining and trying spirits and doctrines of fayth by Scriptures and naturall discourse and neuer-failing rules of Logick And Good Syr would a man euer wish that any man should make himselfe more ridiculous then to take neuer-failing or infallibility from the Church of God and giue it to Logick-rules This is to robbe Peter indeed but sure it is not to pay Paul His false Logick or misapplication of Logick-rules SECT XXV OBserue now forth with in the close of misapplyed Scripture his fallacious misapplication of Logick precepts and Dialectique forme of discourse Great confidence no doubt he had in the ignorance or negligence of his Reader He hoped to lye hid in these brakes of thorny and intricate Paralogismes to appeare only in gay flowers of soft language Mollit sermones suos extranea Pron 2. so Heresy is wont to soften and file her language Howsoeuer he giues me a warrant by his example to syllogize his loose Periods shape them into Logicall-formes Which for my part I professe to do with much more fidelity then he doth wherein I will appeale to the iudgement of other men yea and especially of those his more learned and more sober Co-academiques Thus then he argueth Discourse truly so called misguideth no man Drawing conclusions out of Scriptures by good consequence is discourse truly so called Ergo drawing Conclusions out of Scripture c. misguideth no man To this I answere that although Discourse truly so called misguideth no man ex vi formae by that forme of lawfull discourse yet ex vi materiae in regard of the matter it often doth But drawing of conclusions out of Scripture by good consequence is discourse truly so called this I distinguish Drawing them out of Scriptures formally taken that is truly vnderstood and this by good consequence is discoursetruly so called I yeild Out of the Scriptures taken only materially that is out of
derogatory from the maiesty of the diuine word to be conceaued in the spirit of man no more then it was from the Maiesty of the Sonne of God to be conceaued in the wombe of the B. Virgin Mary and that as there the Eternall Word was inuested with humane flesh so heere in these spirits of men as in the wombe of the Church the Word of God sowne by the holy Ghost should be inuested with humane notion and brought forth to light of the world in the guise of humane speach and voyce In which sense we may interprete that testimony of the holy Baptist Ego vox clamantis I am the voyce of the cryer as his voyce was the inuesture of that Word of the holy Ghost crying in the desert by which it was conueyed to the eares of mortall men so is the voyce and declaration of the Church the meanes by which the Word of God and all Truth contained in it is conueyed to our soules and vnderstandings And as that cry of the Holy Ghost was first conceaued in the spirit of the Baptist then vttered by his voyce to the world so these Scriptures were first conceaued in the Church those Apostolicall spirits in which they were first imprinted and inuested if I may so speak by the operation and Energy of that fire which appeared in tongues afterwards vttered vpon due occasions in words and writings As therefore those of that tyme heard the voyce of that cryer in the desart from the mouth of the Baptist so all Christians heare and must heare the word of God and diuine truth by the mouth of the Church Well then what this man so confidently auerreth that there is no ground yea that no ground can be pretended why we should hold Gods Church for so he must say if he say any thing against what his Aduersary sayes infallible vnles we first belieue the Scripture diuine I as confidently deny And for as much as respects priority or antecedency of beliefe since the Scripture as I haue said is no other word but what the Church hath and daily doth vtter vnto vs whether historicall or dogmaticall or howsoeuer first conceaued in the vnderstanding and spirit of the Church it followeth that as we haue receaued it vpon her credit telling and teaching vs that it is diuine so we must à Priori belieue the Church as infallible witnes or reporter before we can belieue the infallibility of Scripture which she reporteth it followeth also that we must belieue the Church interpreting the Scripture for it is incredible that any other man should better vnderstand what I speake according as I haue conceaued or what I meane by the words I speake then I my selfe the speaker who only intend to vtter my conceipt It followeth yet further that although there were no Scripture and these Christian Verities had descended to vs only by Tradition and by the testimony of former ages transmitting them successiuely from Christ to this present age we should be bound to belieue the Church that is that continued succession of men belieuing those Christian Verities vnles we will say there was no obligation vpon men to belieue in God and to worship him according to that beliefe before the tyme of Moyses before the Scriptures were For was not Circumcision obligatory before Moyses and was not the posterity of Abraham obliged to belieue and practise that tradition as of diuine authority of which our Sauiour sayth Moyses dedit rebis Circumcisionem non quia ex Moyse est sed ex Patribus He will say You proue the Church infallible by Scriptures your Scriptures must be first belieued infallible I answer we proue this out of Scriptures against such as professe to belieue Scriptures not the Church as out of their owne principles it followeth not thence that we first belieue the Scripturs diuine or infallible For though in methode of confuting such Aduersaries we begin with the Scriptures yet in the methode of belieuing we begin from the Church vpon whose credit we belieue the Scriptures to be diuine and according to this method commencing from the Church Christian fayth was first propagated among nations and imbraced by Heathens Nor will it be to the purpose to reply that Heathens were induced to belieue by reason of miracles This I say is not to the purpose how the Church gained this credit but hence it is inferred that in regard of Christian Beliefe the Church had the Precedency before Scriptures that is the Church was belieued before the Scriptures were belieued Wherefore to conclude this point if it be impiety not to belieue Scriptures as no doubt it is yet it is an impiety no way deducible from this doctrine that the beliefe of an infallible Church is precedent to the beliefe of Scriptures But it is not hard to conceaue by the very carriage of the busines as he handles it what he driues at in all this discourse which is indeed to euacuate all authority both of Church and Scriptures and vpon the ruines of both to build the Godles Socinianisme Therefore all inferences which may seeme any way to perplexe Christian doctrine or force it into straits are his aduantages It was the prudent industry of the Roman Consull to prouoke Catiline whose secret practises and designes vpon the Common-Wealth he had vnderstood into open warre and rebeilion for he supposed no Cittizen would then appeare in his defence or make the oppression of a Tyrant his quarrell As no man would approue the fyering of the house wherein himselfe were or wracking the shippe wherein he sayled himselfe I suppose likewise if this pretended Champion for Protestancy were once discouered and strip't to the naked truth of what he is indeed that is as I haue said a very Socinian Mole vnderworking euen Protestancy it selfe and all Religion no Protestant who hath any zeale of the Religion he professeth would euer be seene in his patronage nor willingly I thinke in his company nor would he vouchsafe the ordinary greeting or salutation as good-morrow Ep. 2. Joan. to him who acknowledgeth neither day nor morning of Christian religion or God saue you to him who doubts whether there be any such thing as God Saluation nor would they thinke him fit to conuerse among Christians who hath disputed himselfe out of all termes of Christian commerce and conuersation His Calumny concerning Protestants reputed Atheists c. by Catholiques SECT XXVIII Pref. YOu say fifthly and lastly sayth this Aduocate with confidence in abundance that none can deny the infallible authority of your Church but he must abandone all infused fayth and true religion if he de but vnderstand himselfe Answ This Aduocate himselfe is no small part of proof of the truth of this Hypothetique who since he hath relaps't from this doctrine of infallible authority of the Church hath withall disclaimed all infused fayth as his Aduersary hath charged him vpon information more then credible wherin that is in abandoning both I confesse
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
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
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
Scriptures Fathers or whosoeuer quoted and cited as theirs which are not to be found in them Of which kind of falsifications our Catholique Writers from the beginning of Protestancy haue discouered almost innumerable and those vnanswerable and vnexcusable whereof your self Syr when you were intra mures at least in inclination or shew or I know not how were a part of testimony and an eye-witnes or else you verified my Verse And euen concerning this very Writer whose sword and buckler you are now there are who remember your obseruation when you said malum omen hauing met with a manifest falsification in the very beginning of his answere to Charity-Mistaken though now you are become Recantatis amicus Opprâ—brijs since he is in your bookes and your commodity in his Cellar's Vincunt benefacta feras Verily such false and fraudulent dealing in a bufines of this religious consequence and therefore to be treated with all reuerence and religiosity ought to be a strong Motiue to lead any prudent and indifferent man into iealousy and suspicion of such a cause and the maintainers of it that neither the cause is the cause of Truth which needes the patronage and defence of lyes nor the maintainers men of a consciencious spirit who can take vpon them the impudence to be the publique Authors of such Therefore the Catholique Writers haue taken paynes to manifest these falsities not in grosse as you do heere but by retaile particularly and namely as hic nuâ—â— here they falsify in this sentence in this very authority misalleaged where no probable mistake can be their apology which if you could do as they giue you example you would haue done it you who haue made calumnies of sober Verities sophismes of plaine and euident deductions you would not haue omitted to lay hold vpon some of those so many falsifications to haue made your Aduersary as odious and faithles as you could wish But you haue found none you can obiect none particularly and namely no not one You know you cannot do it and euen here you falsify your owne testimony I demonstrate you cannot do it because you do it not which in you who attempt to do more then you can to all aduantage of your cause and disparagement of your Aduersary is indeed an euident demonstration as many falsications c. as leaues and nor shew one O ridiculous Hyperbole and most negligent Calumny we see those leaues we see your most prying perusall of them nor blame I that but you who haue the ey 's of an Eagle or Aesculapian snake by which you see the least mote in your Aduersaries eye could so great a beame haue escaped your notice or discouery And for the number of Calumnies which you obiect and those ioyntly with falsifications and this purposely because you can easily by your willfull mistaking and misinterpreting your aduersaries words make vp some number of Calumnies where there are truly none so that if pretended falsifications stand but as Cypher's yet they will serue to double or treble the number of both yet I dare auouch let any man compare this your Aduersaries little Pamphlet with your great Pamphlet his falsifications and calumnies will stand like Cypher's with yours to make yours numberlesse Yet howsoeuer you haue not purged your prime Controuersy-Writers whom in your Motiue you consure as notoriously guilty of falsifications and calumnies no this aspersion stick 's fast vpon them still nor will it be wip't of by casting the like vpon others Clodius accusat Maches Catilina Cetheges Yet neither those Machi nor Cethegi are therefore guiltlesse because Clodius or Catiliue are guilty of the same crimes and this were the accusation or crime by you obiected against protestant-Writers by you the same truly recriminated in Catholique Authors And all men know by experience that euen in false crimes it is much more easy to sprinkle any man's reputation with discredit then to wipe it out againe X. Motiue Because by denying all humane authority either of Pope or Councels or Church to determine controuersies of sayth they haue abolished all possible meanes of suppressing Heresies or restoring Vnity to the Church X. Remotiue Lot all men belieue the Scripture and that only and endeauour to beâ—â—eue is in the true sense and require no more of others and they shall find this not only a better but the only meanes to suppresse Heresy and restore Vnity c. X. Promotiue Ti 's easy to perceaue that you haue tasted hony with Ionâ—thaâ— since your returne from Troy your eyes are now so open illuminate when you haue eaten more fully you will do meruailes Nor is this a petty meruaile that you haue recouered what was abolish't and haue reduced not only to possibility but to existence and actuality the meanes of suppressing Heresies c. without either Pope or Church or Councelâ— which before you had tasted hony seemed impossible to your vnderstanding The secret forces and vertues of nature say the Alchymist naturall Magician are discouered by vexation of Nature After much vexation and toyling of your brayn and body by your so many turn's and return's to and from Religion you haue found at length the Ariadne's threed of a most manifest direction Which threed of direction so often offered to your hand 's spun out of the bowell's of all Aduersaries of the Catholique Church as ordinary as cobwebb's I wonder much how you saw it no sooner It is euident you haue tasted hony For what more ordinary Rendeuous of all Heretiques then Prouocation from the Church to Scripture But no we are deceaued for in this way of discourse wherein you reiect all ordinary meanes of suppressing Heresies you take a shorter course to abolish Heresy it selfe yea to exterminate the very name and essence of it è rerum naturâ out of the world nay out of the vnderstanding of man that there shall not remaine the very notion or definition of it which is a more vniuersall and totall abolition and suppression then if the whole world were regested and reconfounded into the first Chaos or nothing of it For how can there be or euer haue beene any such thing as Heresy in coherence with this discourse For was there euer Heretique who could not pretend his endeauour to vnderstand the Scripture in the true sense yea and sufficient endeauour excluding the authority of the Church Councels c. by employing all the forces of his natural wit personall abilities who can say he employed not his endeauour by all these Then this endeauour only supposed though he belieued the Scriptures in a false sense and vpon that false sense grounded false doctrine euen repugnant to Christian faith yet he was no Heretique by you nay they did him wrong who would molest him any further or require any other beliefe at his hands Who can say now that Arius was an Heretique or Eutyches an Heretique or Manichaus an Heretique Who can say that any of those anciently
falshood spring originally either from the frailty and ignorance of man or from the malice of the Diuell whose worke all Heresy and Falshood is To dissolue which worke of the Diuell the consubstantiall Word of the Eternall Father became man that man in him might become victorious ouer all falshood and Heresy which is the doctrine of flesh bloud the schoole and Iesson of the world which makes a party against Christian Religion Pref. Againe What if saith he the names of Priests and Altars so frequent in ancient Fathers though not in the now Popish sense be now resumed Answ I would fayne know when he will be so good as to shew vs the different sense of these names in the vse of ancient Fathers from the now Popish sense Neuer But at the least by this nominall Conformity the Church of England is put in a state by this regard more iustifiable against Bapists then before being hereby enabled to say to Papists whensoeuer these names are obiected we also vse the names of Priest and Altars and yet belieue neither the corporall presence Pref. nor any proper or propitiatory Sacrifice Answ But to omit that the ancient Fathers most frequently mention a Proper sacrifice too yea and a reall and corporall presence of Christ his body and blood in that sacrifice of the Altar wherin the Priest is sacrificant that all these things names are equally frequented by the vse of ancient Fathers it were well to consider whither this euasion will lead vs to wit into the very Hell of Sonanianisme Will you proue the Fathers belieued the Trinity Why Because there is frequent mention in them of three Persons Father Sonne and the Holy Ghost We Socinians also vse these names and yet we belieue not the Trinity in the now Popish sense nay they might apply this euasion to whatsoeuer mystery of fayth now generally belieued by Christians and of frequent mention in the holy Fathers Pref. Lastly sayth he what if Protestants be now put in mynd that for exposition of Scriptures they are bound by a Canon to follow the ancient Fathers which whosoeuer doth with sincerity it is vtterly impossible he should be a Papist Answ There spake a Iewell Behold the Phenix newly hatcht in his ashes already flush now this was well flowne surely he was resolu'd to strike home And an Hyperbole flyes from him with as great facility as an euen Truth but I know his shift that the Fathers had some priuate opinions which the Church hath antiquated and Catholiques now hold not orthodox therfore they who follow them will this Aduocate say cannot be Papists But this consequence is not worth a rush for those Fathers neuer held those opinions in opposition against the Church but were alway's ready to follow what the Church would determine in those points of doctrine as then vndefined like as they most readily imbraced all her doctrines already defined By which two Catholique properties their actuall conspiring in things defined and preparation to conspire in things to be defined they were truly Papists and whosoeuer follow 's those Fathers in this it is vtterly impossible he should not be a Papist The rest ensuing in his vindication of English Deuines is partly nothingelse but animosity of deniall and offering as it were to course sense with reason to proue by reason that the eyes of men see not what they see or see what they see not partly meere impertinences nothing to disprooue that change and alteration which his Aduersary describes but neither censures nor reprehends at all as this Sophist would make men belieue which done then after his solemne manner of conclusion he triumph's sicut exaltant victores captâ predâ quando diuidunt spolia as victor's are wont to exult hauing gotten some booty when they deuide the spoyles For euen so he deuides his presumed victory amongst his friends giuing euery man his share Pref. And thus my friends I suppose are clearely vindicated from your scandal's and Calumnies Answ No doubt as clearely as those were truly Calumnies and scandal's which were either none or they were his and of his owne making as I suppose I haue clearely proued His Answere to some personall Imputations SECT XXXVII Pref. IT remaineth now that in the last place I bring my selfe fairely off from your foule aspersions Answ Thus the Aduocate now his owne Clyent But by his leaue if this method can stand with the order of Charity which they say begins at home sure it doth not with the order of good Rhetorique according to which order he should first haue remoued his personall preiudices that he might be heard more fauourably in the behalfe of his Clyents or friends God himselfe may seeme to haue prescribed this order Peccatori autem dixit Deus Psalm 49. quare tu enarras Iustitias meas God said to the Sinner why dost thou preach my righteousnes God himselfe would not be iustified by a sinner Which very words of the holy King when that great Origen after his lapse moued by some intreaty of friends to say something out of the Chaire had chanc't to fall vpon them at the first ouerture of the booke are reported by some to haue drawne teares from his repentant silence insteed of speach of explicatiō By this rule then he should not in the last but rather in the first place haue iustified himselfe that so all rubbs of exception against his owne Person being taken away his iustification of other men might haue found a smoother way to the acceptāce of indifferent iudgments But I can as easily pardon his fayling in the rules of Rhetorique as of Logick of which he makes so loud profession and which he hath taken for his Cynosure in Religion in place of the Church of God yet if he affoard vs but truth in any method or order whatsoeuer for my part I can be satisfied Let vs now behold how he wipes off those foule aspersions They are only a number of false and impious doctrines petty charges which he saith he will not name in particular in that professeth his owne discretion and prouidence not to assist his Aduersary in spreading of his owne vndeserued defamation And yet for all that some man would thinke so many and mighty imputations should deserue an Apology Now in one word and that a word which no Socinian cares for he answers all Pref. Whosoeuer teaches or holds them let him be Anathema Againe The summe of all those charges cast vp by your self is this Nothing ought or can be certainely belieued further then it may be proued by euidence of naturall reason whosoeuer hold's so let him be Anathema Answ You haue his Laconique Answer to all Now Syr if the man be yet a Socinian as the presumption that he is is very graue and grounded what hath he said in saying let him be Anathema What waight hath this imprecation in the Socinian schoole Truly as much as a feather blowne to and fro by