if our Traueller meet not with some one that shall claime kinred or Country of him in a more intire fashion The Society welcomes him with more than ordinary curtesie neither can he refuse except he will be vnciuill to be their guest He cannot mislike the loue of his Country men he cannot fault their carriage And now that they haue mollified the stiffenesse of his preiudice and with much tempting fitted him for their mold he is a tasâ—e meet for one of their best workmen who willingly vndertaking it hath learned to handle him so sweetly as if he would haue him thinke it a pleasure to be seduced Do we thinke this Doctor will begin first with the infallibility of their great Master and perswade him that a Necromancer an Heretike an Atheist cannot erre in Peters Chaire or tell him that hee may buy off his sinnes as familiarly as hee may buy wares in the market or teach him that a man may and must both make and eat his God to his breakfast This hard meat is for stronger mawes He knowes how first to beginne with the spoone and to offer nothing to a weake stomacke but discourse of easie digestion As first that a Catholike so liuing and dying by our confession may bee saued That there is but one Church as but one Christ and that out of this Arke there is no way but drowning That this one Church is more likely to be found in all the world than in a corner in all ages than in the last Century of yeeres in vnity than in diuision And now comes in the glorious brag of the Roman Vniuersality their inuiolate Antiquity their recorded successions their harmonious vnity their confessed magnificence That there is the mother Church as to the rest of Christendome so especially to the English How well a Monarchy the best forme of gouernment beseemes the Church How vnlikely it is that Christ would leaue his Spouse in the confusion of many heads or of none And now that we are but a rag torne from their coat and where was our religion before Luther lay with Bora And what miserable subdiuisions are there in our Protestancie and what a gleaning are we to the haruest of Christendome with infinite suggestions of this nature able as they are plausibly vrged to shake an vngrounded iudgement which if they haue so farre preuailed as that the hearer will abide himselfe hood-winkt with this vaile of the Church how easily shall time leade him into those hatefuller absurdities SECT XVII IN all which proceeding these impostors haue a double aduantage First that they deliuer the opinion of their Church with such mitigation and fauour as those that care to please not to informe forming the voice of the Church to the liking of the hearer not the iudgement of the hearer to the voice of the Church wherein it is not hard to obserue that Popery spoken and written are two things In discourse nothing is more ordinary than to disclaime some of their receiued positions to blanch others It is the malice of an aduersary that mis-reports them they doe not hold that images should bee adored that the wood of the Crosse should be worshipped with the very same deuotion that is due to Christ himselfe that the Church is the Iudge of Gods writings that Paul the fift cannot erre that a man may merit of his maker much lesse supererogate that a mouse may run away with that which either is or was God Almighty that it is lawfull to kill an hereticall King and all other those monsters of opinion which their most classicke Authors haue both hatcht and shamelesly thrust into the light of the world They defie those ridiculous Legends which we father vpon their Church how much do they scorne S. Francis his Bird or his Wolfe or his wounds or his Apostles of Assise Pope Ioane was but a fancy Neuer Pope was an hereticke If now we cry out of impudence and call their allowed Writers to witnes Loe euen they also are forged by vs and are taught to play booty on our side Thus resolued to out-face all euidence they make faire weather of their foulest opinions and inueigh against nothing so much as the spightfulnesse of our slanders It is not possible that any wise stranger should be in loue with the face of their Church if he might see her in her owne likenes and therefore they haue cunningly masked one part of it and painted another so as those features of hers which are vgly and offensiue shal not appeare to any but her own eyes And because bookes are dangerous blabs and will be telling the generations to come how strangely that face is altered with Age and Art therefore their tongues are clipped also and made to speake none but her owne words Out of this licence Exemplar Esist scriptae ad Dominum Paulinum quondam datarium sub Clementis 8. beatae memorie Pontificatu Ibid. Ibid. and hope to winne they can fit their dishes to euery palate and are so sawcy as to make the Church belie it selfe Hence it was that a Spanish Father could teach that it is not of the necessity of faith to beleeue that the present Pope is the Vicar of Christ and the successor of Peter That Hostius the Iesuite could say that the Pope abused his keyes and the authority of the Church in receiuing Henry the fourth That another of his fellowes in a discourse with a French Bishop could disparage the decision of his Holinesse in comparison of a Generall Councell That Menas the Reader of Diuinity at Valledolid following Salas the Iesuite could affirme the lawfulnesse of the mariage of religious persons vpon a doubtfull reuelation That more than one of that Order haue dared to broach Confession by letters against the Bull of Clement the 8. And if these men bee not sparing of their contradictions to that Vice-God of theirs whose vassals they are by peculiar profession how much more boldly will they swimme against the streame of any common opinion that may concerne the bodie of that head SECT XVIII THeir second aduantage is that they regard not with what vntruths they make good their own assertions It is all one with what morter or rubbish they build vp a side From hence flow the confident reports both of their miracles to conuince vs and their slanders to disgrace vs. Father Hayndius a Iesuite of 33. yeeres standing amongst 52. complaints which out of an honest remorse he put vp against his owne Society to their Generall Aquaviua findes this not the least that his fellowes shamed not to seeke the honour of their Order by cogging of miracles What packets flie about daily of their Indian wonders Euen Cardinall Bellarmine can abide to come in as an auoucher of these couzenages who dares auerre that his fellow Xauier had not only healed the deafe dumbe and blinde but raised the dead whiles his brother Acosta after many yeeres spent in those parts can pull him by
him Riches are but a liuelesse and senselesse metall the true God is a liuing God therefore trust in him Riches are but passiues in gift they cannot bestow so much as themselues much lesse ought besides themselues the true God giues you all things to enioy therefore Trust in him the two latter because they are more directly stood vpon and now fall into our way require a further discourse Elchai The liuing God is an ancient and vsuall title to the Almighty The liuing especially when he would disgrace an vnworthy riuall As S. Paul in his speech to the Lystrians opposes to their vaine Idols the liuing God Viuo ego As I liue is the oath of God for this purpose as Hierom noteth neither doe I remember any thing besides his hâ—linesse and his life that he sweares by When Moses askt Gods name he described himselfe by I AM. He is hee liues and nothing is nothing liues absolutely but hee all other things by participation from him In all other things their life and they are two but God is his owne life and the life of God is no other then the liuing God and because he is his owne life he is eternall for as Thomas argues truly against the Gentiles Nothing ceases to be but by a separation of life and nothing can bee separated from it selfe for euery separation is a diuision of one thing from another Most iustly therefore is he which is absolute simple eternall in his being called the liuing God Although not onely the life that he hath in himselfe but the life that he giues to his creatures challengeth a part in this title A glimpse whereof perhaps the Heathen saw when they called him Iupiter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to liue In him we liue saith S. Paul to his Athenians As light is from the Sunne so is life from God which is the true soule of the world more for without him it could not be so much as a carcasse and spreads it selfe into all the animate creatures Life we say is sweet and so it is indeed the most excellent and precious thing that is deriued from the common influence of God There is nothing before life but Being and Being makes no distinction of things for that can be nothing that hath no Being Life makes the first and greatest diuision Those creatures therefore which haue life we esteeme far beyond those that haue it not how noble soeuer otherwise Those things therefore which haue the perfitest life must needs be the best Needs then must it follow that he which is life it selfe who is absolute simple eternall the fountaine of all that life which is in the world is most worthy of all the adoration ioy loue and confidence of our hearts and of the best improuement of that life which he hath giuen vs. Trust therefore in the liuing God Couetousnesse the Spirit of God tels vs is Idolatry or as our old Translation turnes it worshipping of images Euery stampe or impression in his coyne is to the couetous man a very idoll And what madnesse is there in this idolatry to dote vpon a base creature and to bestow that life which wee haue from God vpon a creature that hath no life in it selfe and no price but from men Let me then perswade euery soule that heares me this day as Iacob did his houshold Gen. 35.2 Put away the strange gods that are among you and be cleane and as S. Paul did his Lystrians Oh turne away from these vanities vnto the liuing God The last attractiue of our trust to God is his mercy and liberality Who giues vs 〈◊〉 all things to enioy Who giues vs richly all things to enioy A theme wherein yee will grant it easie to leese our selues First God not onely hath all in himselfe but he giues to vs. He giues not somewhat though a crust is more then we are worthy of but all things And not a little of all but richly and all this not to looke on but to enioy Euery word would require not a seuerall houre but a life to meditate of it and the tongue not of men but of Angels to expresse it It is here with vs as in a throng we can get neither in nor out But as we vse to say of Cares so it shall be with our discourse that the greatnesse of it shall procure silence and the more we may say of this head the lesse wee will say It shall content vs onely to top these sheaues since we cannot stand to thresh them out Whither can ye turne your eyes to looke beside the bounty of God If yee looke vpward His mercy reacheth to the heauens If downeward The earth is full of his goodnesse and so is the broad sea If yee looke about you What is it that hee hath not giuen vs Ayre to breathe in fire to warme vs water to coole vs clothes to couer vs food to nourish vs fruits to refresh vs yea delicates to please vs beasts to serue vs Angels to attend vs heauen to receiue vs and which is aboue all his owne Sonne to redeeme vs. Lastly if ye looke into your selues Hath hee not giuen vs a soule to informe vs senses to informe our soule faculties to furnish that soule Vnderstanding the great surueyor of the secrets of Nature and Grace Fantasie and Inuention the master of the workes Memory the great keeper or Master of the rolles of the soule a power that can make amends for the speed of Time in causing him to leave behinde him those things which else he would so cary away as if they had not beene Will which is the Lord Paramount in the state of the soule the commander of our actions the elector of our resolutions Iudgement which is the great Councellor of the will Affections which are the seruants of them both a bodie fit to execute the charge of the soule so wondrously disposed as that euery part hath best opportunitie to his owne functions so qualified with health arising from proportion of humours that like a watch kept in good tune it goes right and is fit to serue the soule and maintaine it selfe an estate that yeelds all due conueniences for both soule and body seasonable times raine and sunshine peace in our borders competency if not plenty of all commodities good lawes religious wise iust Gouernours happy and flourishing dayes and aboue all the liberty of the Gospell Cast vp your bookes O yee Citizens and summe vp your receits I am deceiued if he that hath least shall not confesse his obligations infinit There are three things especially wherein yee are beyond others and must acknowledge your selues deeper in the Books of God then the rest of the world Let the first be the cleare deliuerance from that wofull iudgement of the pestilence Oh remember those sorrowfull times Aboue 30000. in one yeare when euer moneth swept away thousands from among you When a
rather choke than nourish vs Let him withdraw his hand from his creature in their greatest abundance wee perish Why doe we therefore bend our eyes on the meanes and not looke vp to the hand that giues the blessing What so necesary dependance hath the blessing vpon the creature if our Prayers hold them not together As wee may not neglect the meanes so wee may not neglect the procurement of a blessing vpon the meanes nor bee vnthankfull to the hand that hath giuen the blessing In the first assault Sathan moues Christ to doubt of his Fathers Prouidence and to vse vnlawfull meanes to help himselfe in the next hee moues him to presume vpon his Fathers protection and the seruice of his blessed Angels Hee grounds the first vpon a conceit of want the next of abundance If hee be in extreames it is all to one end to misleade vnto euill If wee cannot be driuen drowne to despayre he labours to lift vs vp to presumption It is no one foyle 〈…〉 put this bold spirit out of countenance Temptations like waues breake one in the â—eke of another Whilâ—â— wee are in this warfare wee must make account that the repulse of one temptation doth but more to another That blessed Sauiour of ours that was content to bee led from Iordan into the Wildernesse for the aduantage of the first temptation yeelds to bee 〈◊〉 from the Wildernesse to Ierusalem for the aduantage of the second The place doth not a little auayle to the act The Wildernesse was fit for a temptation ariâ— from want it was not fit for a temptation mouing to vain-glory The populous Citie was the fittest for such a motion Ierusalem was the glory of the World the Temple was the glory of Ierusalem the Pinacles the highest peace of the Pinacle there is Christ content to be set for the opportunitie of tentation O Sauiour of men how can wee wonder enough at this humilitie of thine that thou worthless so fâ—rre abasâ— thy selfe as to suffer thy pure and sacred Body to bee transported by the presumptuous and malicious hand of that vncleane spirit It was not his power it was thy patience that deserues our admiration Neyther can this seeme 〈◊〉 strange to vs when wee consider that if Sathan bee the head of wicked men wicked men 〈◊〉 the members of Sathan What was Pilate or the Iewes that persecuted thine innocence but limmes of this Deuill and why are wee then amazed to see thee touched and locally transported by the head whe wee see thee yeelding thy selfe ouer to bee crucified by the members If Sathan did the worke and greater mediately by their hands no maruell if hee doe the lesse and easier immediately by his owne yet neyther of them without thy voluntary dispensation Hee could not 〈◊〉 looked nâ— thee without thee And if the Sonne of God did thus suffer his owne holy and precious Bodie to bee carryed by Sathan what wonder is it if that Enemie haue sometimes power giuen him ouer the sinnefull bodies of the adopted Sonnes of God It is not the strength of faith that can secure vs from the outward violences of that euill one This difference I finde betwixt his spirituall and bodily assaults those are beaten backe by the shield of faith there aduise not of such repulse As the best man may bee lame blinde diseased so through the permission of God hee may bee bodily vexed by an old Maâ—yer Grace was neuer giuen vs for a Target against externall afflictions Mee thinkes I see Christ hoysed vpon the highest Battlements of the Temple whose very roofe was an hundred and thirty Cubits high and Sathan standing by him with this speech in his mouth Well then since in the matter of nourishments thou will needs depend vpon thy Fathers Prouidence that hee can without meanes sustaine thee take now further trial of that Prouidence in thy miraculous preseruation Cast thy selfe downe from this height Behold thou art hereiin Ierusalem the famous and holy Citie of the World here thou art on the top of the pinacle of that Temple which is dedicated to thy Father and if thou bee God to thy selfe the eyes of all men are now fixt vpon thee there cannot bee deuised a more ready way to spred thy glory and to proclaime thy Deitie than by casting thy selfe head long to the Earth All the World will say there is more in thee than a man and for danger there can bee none What can hurt him that is the Sonne of God and wherefore serues that glorious Guard of Angels which haue by diuine Commission taken vpon them the charge of thine humanity since therefore in contract them mayest bee both safe and celebrated trust thy Father and those thy seruiceable spirits with thine assured preseruation Cast thy selfe downe And why didst thou not O thou malignant spirit endeuour to cast downe my Sauiour by those same presumptuous hands that brought him vp since the descent is more easie than the raysing vp was it for that it had not beene so great an aduantage to thee that hee should fall by thy meanes as by his owne falling into sinne was more than to fall from the pinacle still thy care and suite is to make vs Anâ— to our selues of euill thou gainest nothing by our bodily hurt if the soule bee safe Or was it rather for that thou couldst not I doubt not but thy malice could as well haue serued to haue offered this measure to himselfe as to his holy Apostle soone after but hee that bounded thy power tether'd thee shorter Thou couldst not thou canst not doe what thou wouldst He that would permit thee to carrie him vp binds thy hands from casting him downe And woe were it for vs if thou werâ— not euer stinted Why did Satan carry vp Christ so high but on purpose that his fall might bee the more deadly so deales hee still with vs he exalts vs that wee may bee dangerously abased Hee puffs them vp with swelling thoughts of their owne worthinesse that they may bee vile in the eyes of God and fall into condemnation It is the manner of God to cast downe that hee may raise to abase that hee may exalt Contrarily Satan raises vp that he may throw downe and intends nothing but our deiection in our aduancement Height of place giues opportunity of tentation Thus busie is that wicked one in working against the members of Christ If any of them bee in eminence aboue others those hee labours most to ruinate They had need to stand fast that stand high Both there is more danger of their falling and more hurt in their fall Hee that had presumed thus farre to tempt the Lord of Life would faine now draw him also to presume vpon his Deitie If thou bee the Sonne of God cast thy selfe downe There is not a more tryed shaft in all his quiuer than this a perswasion to men to beare themselues too bold vpon the fauour of God Thou art the Elect and Redeemed