Prefacers the third upon the Neighbouring Lecturers of Northampton and Daventry his fourth upon the Eminentesâ— Chaâ—iots and Horsemen of Reformed Israel whether forraigne or domestique such as Calvin Rivet Walaeus Vedelius Amyraldus Bishop Usher Hall Davenant King James The fifth Upon whole Synods of them at Dort or Westminister in a word upon allmost all the Protestant Name and Glory § 2. And yet which a man would exceedingly stand amazed at who is not acquainted with him though he intended to make most cruell sport he makes his first entrance upon his Theater in his Grave Philosophicall Socratick Grown (a) Epist Deditate pag. 4. and there reads Lectures of Morality nay of Christianity as if he intended to be a Mirror of Patience Moderation Mercy forgetfulnesse of all wrongs forgivenesse charity c. insomuch as he is not afraid to bestow some Correptory Correction upon his Cryptick Patron The Person of honour and integrity for sharpening of his pen a little against me the only deadly publique foe which he hath alive (b) Philanthrop As he saith pag. 4. I think truly he doth this most justly be cause he would forestall him in his own proper work or be jealous of him that he was not like to Correct me more sharply yet more elegantly then himself Thus frequent it is for men to flatter before they stabb Tuta frequensque via est sub amici fallere nomen § 3. But the Jeast in all this is just so soon as he had ended his grave Talke before he had quite layd his assumed Gown or Vizard aside he closeth up his Oversevere Oration with a most facetious stinging Peroration about four-footed Graecians hung upon a beame (a) Dedicat. Epist pag. 9. and thus he ends his first Act and Scene Horat. Spectatum admissi risum teneatis Amici Mulier formosa superné Desinit in piscem § 4. However put he himself into what poisture he pleaseth for the abusing of far better men then himself it is most fitting that he should not scape without some serious Check which I had thought distinctly to have given him according to the several Rancks and Orders mentioned by me p. 10. but for Brevities sake which I shall extreamely affect in all the ensuing work I give it him thus more immethodically according as I find abuses against my self or other dispersed up and down throughout his Satyricall Volume First Epist Dedic l. 7. § 5. Mr. Wasp I possible may Deserve that name habet musca splenem because I have adventured to deale with one of the three Great Master Wasps of this Nation who I from my Soul do beseech God that they may not prove I will not say more stinging then Wasps but than the sharpest hornets that ever were against that very Church which bred them and brought them forth and which they pretend to be of whilst they undermine the soundest doctrines that ever were taught in it We had need to be warned against them Deventum est ad Triarios 2. Epist Dedicat. p. 6. l. 1. 2. That I am in a State of damdation that I am meerly allied to the Jesuites and Socinians Answ first Neither in p. 43. or in p. 174. of my Correptory Correction is there any such Phrase to be found as that of the State of Damnation pag. 43. I say but Hypothetically you are like to be looked on as some of the Planets spoken of Judâ— v. 13. if you repent not the sooner c. And p. 174. I do expresse not my opinion of him but my feares and that upon a very solemn occasion which I would beseeâ—h the Reader comparing of us both there to look after whilest I say I much fear that no man could write thus but one well nigh in the same Condition with Simon Magus Let him give me leave to be jealous over him with a Godly jealously Secondly I charge him not with Jesuitism but in points Controverted viz. of Predetermination Free-will c. My words are p. 15. in your Doctrines about this matter now I was never able to find but that since Judicious pious Reverend Mr. Perkins was by his great Mr. Jacobus Arminius (a) Arminius contra Perkins p. 109. Edâ—tan 8 Ludum Batav 1612. Jesuitarum in Theologicis hisâ—e Controversiis judicium Dominicanorum judicio praefereudum esse clamat Grevin chovius c. Soilicet nemirum credibile est Jesuitarum â—dia in Protestantes multó quà m caeterorum Pontificiorum temperatiora esse fide Grâ—vinchovii DT wisse Liâ— 2. vindic p. 20. Col. 1. provoked to answer Jesuite Bellarmines Criminations against the Orthodox as maintaining God to be the Author of Sin but that all his followers out of him and other Jesuites have been most forward to make use of their objections against us Secondly Nay he himself must needs confesse this if knowing but what his own tenents are he would but resolve us out of his 4th Chap. p. 34. (a) Correp Correct Chap. 4. p. 34. whether in the matters Controverted betwixt us he hold not more with the Jesuites of the Church of Rome then with the Dominicans c. in the same Church Thirdly To my best remembrance in all my book I do not charge him with directly assertive but only with Consequentiall Constructive Socinianisme (b) Corrept Correct p. 85. 178. 157. but how much farther I might without Calumny have promoted this accusation I will leave to the intelligent Reader to Judge if I had pressed what he delivers in his uncorrect Copy about the very Trinity and which I am confident enough no body durst have pinned upon him had he not given it under his own hand p. 2. that unto the Authority of the Fathers we owe the Canon of the Scriptures and our beleif of three Subsistences in one Subctance and to the same sense though not in the same words in his Philanthrophy (a) Philanth p. 104. Chap. 3. Ibid Chap. p. 88. how will be able to prove the Trinity of the persons in the unity of the Godhead when he saith that those who have overthrowne the Authority of Tradition and of the Universall Church which those have never done whom he would accuse of it are utterly unqualified to prove the Baptism of Infants the Sunday Sabbath the very Canon of Scripture the Apostolicalnesse of the Creed or their Pretensions to the Ministry Fourthly possibly since his taking into his bosome the Viperous Socinian Books of S. Castalio and S. Episcopius (b) Philanth Chap. 3. p. 148. Chap. 4. 14. I may have a much fitter opportunity to shew how justly he may be suspected of Socinianism Thirdly Ibid. l. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. making me lyable not only to sequestration but death it self for you know that Servetus was burnt at Geneva for lesse then being a Socinian and what would be done to the Papist that should hold a Parsonage here in England Answ Because here he chargeth deep Si accusâ—sse suffecerit
significavit disertis verbis 2 Cor. 5. Si unus inquit pro omnibus mortuus est omnes mortui sumus Ita Christus dum poená quae fuit maledicta defungitur totum ChristiCorpus ea poenâ defunctum est c. vide etiam in hanc sententiam D. Augustin De pec merit Lib. 1. Cap. 8. This being most plain it would be sâ—perfluous labor to spend more time and paper in giving more particular Answers to his Luxuriant Discourses the rather because most if not all the particulars have upon some occasion or other been sufficiently crushed already And thus I am at last come to an end of that with which if he say true p. 15. all other Opinions in debate must stand or fall and upon which the hâ—nge of all doth turn p. 93. Habemus confitentem reum according to his own Confession then if what I have said against him will hold water as I trust in God it will all the rest of his Book is turned off the hinges and is truncus iners et terrae inutile pondus I shall therefore with all the brevity that I can dispatch what remains § 10. To his § 27. about Scripture Tradition Right Reason from p. 103. to 107. Ans § 1. But that we have met with an Orator who de quolibet Themate if need be can out-wit and out-speak too Ovid versifying upon a flea Dan. Heinsius rhetoricating in Commendation of a Lowse before a Lowsie Senate Erasmus Ovid. de â—â—lice Orat. Dan. Heinsiis de pediculo ad mendicorum Patres Conscriptos Erasmi Encomium Moriae his applauding of Folly and a learned but a known Arminian P. Cunaeus his not jocularly but seriously crying up an Apostate Julian (a) P. Cunaus praef in Divi Caesaris ut Ethnice vocat Juliani laudem ad Syndic Leidensium we should not have had the expenseful waste of almost four pages upon that so slight a mention of Tria sunt omnia in my Corrept Correct p. 43. 44. which yet was not done upon a slight occasion but because he had said p. 2. of his uncorrect Copy as he is pleased to style it that unto the Authority of the Fathers we owe the Canon of the Scriptures and our belief of three subsistences in one substance much the same to what he saith Philanth p. 104. § 2. Unto all this long Discourse then he ought to satisfie himself with this concise Answer 1. That every one who is but in any tolerable measure acquainted with the old Pelagian or the late Arminian Divinity are full well acquainted that it bottoms far more upon that which men falsely call Right Reason then either upon Scripture or Tradition which made Pelagius of old appeal from Divines and Poscere Auditorium Philosophicum as pretending at first what afterwards his Proselytes did as witnesseth Bradwardine (b) Tho Bradward Praefat. Sicut Antiqui Pelagiani ventoso nomine scientiarum saecularium inflati consistorium Theologicum contemnentes Philosophicum flagitabant ita moderni Audivi namque quosdam Advocatos Pelagii licet multum provectos in sacris apicibus affirmantes Pelagium nusquam potuisse convinci per naturalem Philosophicam rationem sed vix arguebatur utcunque per quasdam auctoritates Theologicas satis nudas maximè autem per authoritatem Ecclesiae quae satrapis non placebat that they were beaten by some Authorities of seeming Scriptures and Tradition but could never be beaten by reason And as for that of Tradition it is well known that Austin confutes the summe of Pelagius and consequently of Arminius and T. P. their Divinity which is that salvation is derived to men ex fonte volendi flowes from the Fountain of their free wills by that which was commonly received among the Antients that Quem vult Deus Religiosum facit that is in the Apostles Phrase God gives Grace to whom he wills Rom. 9. 18. I hope Mr. T. P. will not fault my Translation unless he will say that a man may become Religious without Gods efficacious wonder-working Grace 2. That Mr. T. P. by his frequent wresting of good Scriptures his slighting of old Austin his producing of a Decachord of sorry Reasons by his Philosophical Boethian Discourse no way grounded upon ancient Scriptures or Tradition had given a substantial Specimen a full proof not of placing p. 104. Right Reason before Scripture as to point of order in his Book a thing which I was never so simple as to charge him with but which is far worse of setting up that thing which he calls Right Reason higher in his heart and therein as Hereticks of old making their brains their Bible (c) Tertullian Tolle haereticis quae cum Ethnicis sapiunt ut de solis Scripturis quaestiones suas sistant stare non poterunt 3. As for what he quotes or rather mis-quotes out of Rev. Ball his Pulpit-Patron Part. 2. p. 197. § 7. by the Printers I suppose rather than his own mistake and which he saith seemeth to him to be one of the very best Arguments in all that Book Answ 1. It is somewhat a wonder to me that his famous professor of Divinity Jacob Arminius in the Vniversity of Leydâ—n Philan. p. 14. should about such kind of expressions as Mr. Ball useth in the place quoted differ so really from his otherwise most Genuine Son Mr. T. P. (d) J. Arminius Exam praedest Perkin in octavo p. 8. Vitio tibi verti non potest quod antiquorum Theologorum sententias adducis praesertim istâ quam ponis cautione observatâ Nam et ipsi Patres diversis Interpretationibus obnoxii sunt quidem tanto magis quà m Scriptores 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quanto minore minusque perspicuâ veritatis cognitione praediti fuerunt minus accuratè commodè sensa mentis suae enuntiare potuerunt Quod dum cogito nescio an consuluerint Ecclesiae qui hoc seculo Patrum sententias in negotio Religionis sibi usurpandas auctoritatis causâ putaverunt He had divers times said upon occasion of the debated Controversies non stamus Augustino and a very slight estimate he sets upon the Concurrent Testimonies of the Fathers 2. Mr. Ball as its plain by the words of that place as well as by the Argument of the whole Book speaking about Ecclesiastical Affairs not in reference to the Docenda in Ecclesia to Doctrinal Church matters but in reference to Disciplinary and Practical the saying makes nothing for his turn And sure I am were he in the points debated betwixt us but of that Authours Judgement a speedy end would quickly be set to all the Controversies betwixt me and my unkind Neighbour 3. As for the facetious sport which he makes Phil. 105 106. with what in the Margin of Corrept Correct p. 44. was quoted out of Castalio and his Prefacer or an Alter Castalio Answ 1. There is nothing so plain to him who hath but a mind to see that
whilest both of them say according to what I represent p. 44. that in the matters debated about Predestination Election Free will the common man doth judge better by his reason which in that place can be no other then his natural Mother-wit and his senses viz. his five senses than some literate men meaning as Mr. T. P. interprets the matter p. 106. than Calvin and all who hold with him in so saying they must both of them needs oppose both the ancient and modern Church who ever thought these matters too high for natural reason or the five senses 2. That the Plerique or the most in Felic Turp his Text should even whilest he is a reproving me not to understand the Latine Tongue p. 106. be translated by only a few I do not conceive proceeds in him from want of Latin but either out of inadvertency or it may be for any thing I know to the contrary from want of honesty 5ly and lastly Although neither my self nor any opiniated as I am in the debateable matters need we are confident to be afraid of any thing which can be produced against out cause from any valuable Tradition or truly so called Right Reason yet would to God Mr. T. P. would perswade himself and his faction seriously to peruse what John Dallaeus quoted as making for him by himself p. 15. hath wrote about the use of Fathers in reference to the Controversies of our times and if they would but mind John Vedeliâ— his Rationale Theologicum and so keep within the bounds of truly Right Reason I make no question but these following and divers other Scriptures Rom. 8. 30 31. 9. 6. 11. Act. 15. 18. 2 Tim. 2. 19. Ephes 2. 10. Isa 59. 21. Joh. 13. 1. 17. 9. Heb. 13. 21. Phil. 2. 13. 2 Cor. 3. 5. Phil. 1. 6. Ephes 2. 8. 2 Thes 2. 13. and just consequences drawn from them would quickly determine the main matters in debate betwixt us If therefore he or any of his confident and most daring bragging party will needs be appearing again let them not fetch such terrible Cirquedroes as they do from the Antient Fathers before Austin and all after the Canonical Writers and from some crasie Reasons which they urge against plain Scriptures which serve for little but for the tyring of Writers Readers and Printers and I durst give them my word for it they shall meet with Answers to any thing they can say out of Holy Divine Writ though I should resolve to string up my pen verbum non amplius addere Let them try their valour and pelt us with no stones but what are taken from the Vallies of the Sanctuary and we will not by Gods Grace turn tayl to the stoutest of our Antagonists or fear that the head of our cause will ever be broken by them § 11. To his voluminous but monstrous § 28. About the Eternal Cause of punishment sins positive entity its having an Efficient Cause c. on which later he expounds himself from p. 110. to 121. but Contracts himself Chap. 4. p. 20 21. 33. § 1. Answ 1. As to the Title stuck up in the front of this § 28. p. 108 109. and again in the Reare of it from p. 118. to 121. our quarrel about it would quickly be at an end if by eternal punishment he would understand damnation of a finally sinful Creature and by the sole cause of it he would likewise with the Divines Bishop Hall and Bishop Davenant which he quotes p. 107. understand the sole meritorious Cause of its execution but if as may be justly suspected he do by the cause of punishment eternal understand the cause of Gods internal and eternal Decree of punishing men for their sins then first he speaks monstrously and absurdly whilest he would make Sin which sure is no older then man nay not so old and so not existing but in time to be the cause of Gods eternal Decree August Nihil majus voluntate Dei non ergo causa ejus quaerenda est Ench. ad Laur. c. 96. 2. He would make sin eternally foreseen but only potentially then existing to be more efficacious and causal then when it actually exists in time for this latter can only be the cause of Gods executing his decree of damnation but the former is the cause of his purposing or intendâ—ng of it A greater thing it is to be the cause of Gods purpose then to be the cause of the execution of that purpose 3. He spills all that Logick p. 64. which he doth pretend to when he saith that he had never so little Logick as to say That any thing in man could be the cause of Gods Decree 4. He must conclude That it was necessary for all us mortalls to be damned because from eternity the Lord could not but foresee that we should all be either Originally or actually sinful § 2. Though p. 107. he do stoutly deny that his Chap. 3. wherein he grants that every Reprobate is praedetermined to eternall punishment is at any Daggers drawing with his almost whole Chap. 2. where he strenuously disputes that God determines none to punishment yet 1. the thing is most evident for in his p. 17. Chap. 2. of his Correct Copy he saith expresly without any the least colour of limitation of that his saying that man himself is the sole efficient cause of his eternal punishment and again p. 21. that there can be no greater blasphemy then to bring Gods providence into the pedegree of death Secondly As for the only Salve which he hath for this sore Phil. p. 107. viz. that I leave out the terme respectively which he brings in lagging Correct Copy p. 32. First He should have brought it in sooner if he would have had me to have taken some more than ordinary notice of it and not have been so impudent as to write that he never said in his life that God determines none to punishment there makâ—ng a stop as M. B. doth when as in his Chap. 2. he saith nothing else without any stop 2. He should upon provocation have showed which I put him upon p. 135. of my Corrept Correct how the conditionality or absoluteness of it alters the case especially as to sin 's being the condition of Gods eternal Decree when as neither that or any other Conditions could ever be without Gods either decreeing to effect them in time or voluntary permitting that in time they should be wrought by others § 3. As for his vilifying of my Logick which he spends full two pages more upon p. 108 109. and ushers in with this lowd sounding I might almost say lowd lying expression that I will be tampering in matters to which in all likelihood and appearance I was never trained up First Possibly since my training up in that Art I may have lost more learning then yet it appeares that ever he had or was master of Secondly That forsooth our great Logician may appear a very great School-man