deeply into them especialy if they be shallow that the fancy which it begets doth stick almost inseperably to the person pleased with it and becomes a real persuasion if the mans soul be so much a slaue to vanity and sensual pleasures as not to reiect those which are against reason It s thought Mr. Walsh by men whom we Catholiks take to be sober and iudicious persons that this is your case You are hugely pleased with the fancy and conceit you haue of your own abilities and wit as being much more penetrating and your iudgment more profound than that of other men this fancy is so deeply rooted in your shallow brains that you look vpon the rest of the world as distracted persons when they contradict you This fancy you preferr before all contrary euidences which are as many as your errors You are so besotted with it and with your own sentiments that you do not perceiue their non sense and contradiction in this condition you will continue I feare vntill you resolue to be humble and forsake those pittifull pleasures which diuert your reason from correcting your foolish imaginations Now that you know the cause of your distemper though the cure must be miraculous and proceed from Gods supernatural grace yet t is by his help in your own power to obtain it whensoeuer like the prodigal child you will return to that mercifull Father who with open arms expects you and will meet you half way Return therefore to your heauenly Father to your holy Mother the Catholik Church to your Seraphik Order of S. Francis and to yourself Return I say before you be preuented by approaching death whose herbingers are already lodged in your diseased body Your dayes can not be many let not that horrid euerlasting night and darkness oppress you at vnawares Let not the terrible Iudge find you in flagranti Burn your heretical bookes that they may not increase the flames which otherwise will torment you in hell fit Jn this world you can not expect any comfort but that of an humble and contrite heart Your Tenets so inconsistent with the safety of Soueraigns render you vncapable of being trusted or rewarded by your own as your age doth of long enjoying preferment if any should by mistake be so mad as to moue for your promotion Though you had bin in the spring of your years yet the vncertainty of human life and the length of eternity after it would make your pleasures very short and inconsiderable how much more now when you draw so neer your end Jf the apprehended sound and summons of the last dayes trumpet did keep Saint Hierom when he was much yonger than you are in such awe that he buried himself aliue in the Caue of Bethleem to the end his mortified body might be glorified in the day of iudgment with how much more reason ought it to terrify you and make you retire to your religious Cell and there chastise your pamperd body with the vsual disciplines of your holy Order to prepare both for your particular iudgment which is so neer at hand and for the generall wherin you will be publikly conuinc't of the falshood of your doctrin and of the folly of your attempts Let not the punctilio of mistaken honor nor the discontinuance of a regular life nor the pride of obstinat heresy work more vpon your ambitious and discontented mind than the example of Christs humility or that of many greater wits than yours who retracted their opinions and submitted their iudgments to the Roman Catholik Church in euery age since the Apostles Take courage then Father Walsh set on a braue resolution God is at hand to comsort and help you the Church militant prayes for you the triumphant longs to reioyce at your conuersion which will be more glorious to you euen in this world than your frailties haue bin dishonorable For my own part I shall commend your repentance more than I haue condemn'd your errors and in the mean time shall not cease to offer my best deuotions that you may return to your wits and a virtuous regular life
THE FRIAR DISCIPLIND OR ANIMADVERSIONS ON FRIAR PETER WALSH HIS NEW REMONSTRANT RELIGION The articles whereof are to be seen in the following page TAKEN OUT OF HIS HISTORY AND VINDICATION OF THE LOYAL FORMULARY Verber auerunt me sed non dolui traxerunt me Ego non sensi Proverb 23.35 THE AVTHOR ROBERT WILSON PRINTED AT GANT 1674. Permissu Superiorum The 12. Articles of Friar PETER WALSH his new Remonstrant Religion 1. THAT Bishops and Clergymen a Hist 1. part Sect. 33. pag. 79. as such can not in conscience contribute by money or any corporal means to help or restore their lawfull Soueraigns against the attempts or vsurpation of Rebells 2. b 1. part of the first Treatise pag. 417. fin That supreme temporal Princes could not can not in conscience grant to the Clergy their subiects the immunities and exemptions which the Church hath receiued from them 3. c Ibid. That no spiritual power as such can inflict any corporal punishment 4. d Pag. 429. That God may work miracles to testify the Sanctity and glory of one who dyes for maintaining a falshood in a controuerted point of Religion 5. e Ibid. That therfore S. Thomas of Canterbury may be inuok't as a Saint though he sufferd for maintaining a falshood 6. f In the Pref. pag 40. Pref. pag. 49. That temporal soueraigns may lawfully make lawes in ecclesiastical matters euen of Faith by their own sole authority 7. g pag. 16. of the Dedic That the Roman Catholiks sin in not taking the english oath of supremacy 8. h Dedic pag. 20 Hence followes that all the General Councels of the Catholik Church for many hundred years were compos'd of Traitors or periur'd persons That all the Roman Catholik Bishops of the world for as many hundred years as they haue taken the vsual oath at their Consecration haue bin and are now either Traytors to their temporal Soueraigns or periur'd to the Pope 9. i Pag. 75. That learned Roman Catholik Authors hold General Councells confirm'd by the Pope are not infallible in defining matters of Faith or doctrin 10. k Pag. 79. That neither Pope nor Bishop nor the General of an Order can in conscience inflict any corporal punishment vpon an irregular Friar for misdemeanors or heresies 11. l Pag. 354. 355. That all Bishops are of equal authority by the â—mmediat law of God and that only JESVS CHRIST can take cognisance of their faults 12. m Decic p. 13. That the Roman Catholik Church hath followed enormous errors euer since Pope Gregory the 7. THE CONCLUSION That honest men for discouering Friar walsh his cheats and opposing these his erroneous Tenets are Traitors to the King and Ennemys to my Lord Duke of Ormond TO HIS GRACE IAMES DVKE OF ORMOND c. YOVR grace will be surprised to see Fâ—â—ar PETER WALSH the great Remonstrator and Reformer of our Irish Loyalty charged with treasonable principles copied out of the tedious History he printed of his own speeches and contests But if this charge be made out against him doubtless your grace will neither protect nor pitty a Friar though seuerely disciplin'd for imposing vpon Christians vnder the notion of Allegiance Tenents inconsistent with loyalty or Monarchical gouernment That your Grace forgaue him his former faults in particular that great one of printing and preaching against the peace of 46. and the royal authority wherwith you were then inuested is an argument of your Christianity and a performance of one article of that peace That you afterwards made vse of him for reasons of state notwithstanding the experience you had of his treasons sheweth your wisdom but is no proof of his honesty As it would be great presumption in me to examin why a minister of state did employ such a Friar so I hope it is no want of respect to your Grace to let you and the world see that his late principles are as treasonable as his practises and seing its very ordinary in statesmen to punish the crimes of malefactors when they are no more vsefull I may rationaly conclude your Grace will not commend or reward Peter Walsh for publishing a book stufft with errors no less dangerous to the state then damnable to the soul My Lord Peter Walsh his conduct and errors haue rendred him so ridiculous and odious that he can not be any more vsefull to your Grace or to the gouernment And though he still endeauors by nonsensical Pamphlets to make himself be thought a fit instrument to promote the Protestant Reformation inculcating among other absurdities that the Roman Catholik Church of these last 600. yeares hath erred notoriously in the doctrin of loyalty due to temporal Soueraigns and that all the Bishops therof haue bin either Traytors to their Soueraigns or periur'd to the Pope by taking the vsual oath hitherto neuer excepted against at their Consecration yet your Grace will be conuinc't if you please to read this short Treatise that this Friar 's rash assertion is not only groundless but iniurious euen to Protestants and in particular to your Grace whose Illustrious family hath giuen to the Catholik Church loyal and holy Prelats as well as great Commanders of Armies and Gouernors of Kingdoms to the english Monarchy And though Ireland had the misfortune of a meeting of Bishops at Iamestown from whom the distraction of the times drew a Declaration and Excommunication not approueâ—d of by the Supreme Pastor or any other Catholik Bishops and as good as condemn'd euen by themselues in the subsequent Assembly of Loghreagh 7. Dec. 1650. Yet certain it is and partly known to your Grace that Doctor Enos his libel against your Grace and the peace of 46. together with Peter Walsh his printed approbation of the said libel and the Nuncius his Excommunication writ and fix'd with Peter walsh his own hand vpon the gates of your Castle of Kilkenny did greater mischief and obstructed more your noble design of preseruing by a seasonable peace in the yeare 46. the late King and his Kingdom of Ireland from ruin then the Bishops Declaration and Excommunication dated at Iamestown could do this being issued an 1650. after the King had bin murthered Ireland lost and past hopes of recouery though Peter Walsh to remoue the blame from himself layes it altogether on those Prelats and writes an absurd History of his own vain endeauors to reuiue a murderd King to keep vnited a diuided Nation and to preserue a destroyd Kingdom This book my Lord is dedicated to your Grace in hopes you will be pleased to peruse it and therby see the most blameable of the Irish Roman Catholike Clergy was not so guylty of rebellion and the ruine of their country as Peter Walsh nor his principles so sound as at first sight they seemd to be I am with all reality and respect Your Graces most humble obedient Seruant N.N. THE PREFACE I PRESENT to thy view Christian Reader a
disciplin'd though I feare incorrigible Friar Thou hast seen him perhaps in a finer but neuer in a more proper dress Nothing becomes so well an Apostat Friar as strip't stuff I mean sound Lashes seasonably and charitably layd on Friar Walsh his decaying fauor and age make it credible to som that these my Animaduersions may work his conuersion I wish they do I am sure they are publisht with no other intention I beseech thee not to iudge of my education or temper by the roughness of my language in answer to a foulmoâ—th'd Author that makes the two late greatest writers of the Church Cardinal Baronâ—us and Bellarmin whose holy liues haue put them in the list of those who are to be first canonised shameless Impostors and all the Roman Catholik Bishops of the world for many ages Traitors and periur'd persons I am forc't to answer this Fool according to his folly as the scripture bids me and in his own language Therfore I am warranted to scold and scourge him into his habit and Conuent Yet I do it as gently as his insolency permits and as charitably as is consistent with my vindicating the innocence of those he traduceth I medle not with his personal frailties I only take notice of his publik treasons which he fathers vpon honest men and in my conscience all the harm I wish him is that he becom one It is natural enough to desire to know how a religious man came to be so madly extrauagant when excess of ambition litle wit and a mediocrity of reading meet in one subiect we may expect to find in his writings abundance of nonsense many nouelties but no true notions Peter Walâ—h his ambition of a Miter was so excessiue 30. years ago that to obtain it be turn'd the greatest Rebel and Nuntionist of the Irish nation and had a greater hand in the reiection of the peace of 46. and by consequence in the destruction of the late King and his people than any man liuing or all the Clergy which he accuseth for it The repulse he then met with after his eminent seruices to the Nuntio and Treasons against the King depriued him of that litle wit he had and euer since he hath bin scribling and printing of libels and troubling the world with an od kind of raw indigested heresies stoln from the worst of Authors but so vnconnected and absurdly applyed by his dull pen that though you may see he hath read som bookes yet you will easily perceiue he vnderstood very few and such as he vnderstood he wrested to a wrong sense No meruail therfore if his notions be false his discourses consuse his arguments weake and his contradictions so frequent that to confute him you need go no further than his own writings He is so transported with passion against the Church of Rome and those two great pillars therof Belarmin and Baronius that he treats and terms them no better than men hired by the Roman Court to Sacrifice all the world to the Popes ambition The rage he is in for not finding out arguments to make this and his other calumnies credible is so extraordinary that he forgets what he said in the foregoing page or line and through his whole work neuer remembers to speake consequently in any one particular But to the end you may be conuinc't I do not iniure him I will instance euen in this Preface one or two of his contradictions in the very main point he pretends to proue and cleer most exactly as being that wherupon he grounds his new religion One of his chief errors is * Peter Walsh in his History and Vind. pag. 417 in fine That supreme secular Princes neither could nor can grant any exemption from their own supreme ciuil coerciue power to the Clergy or Clerks their subiects liuing within their Dominions and remaining subiects to them because this forsooth implies a plain contradiction Vpon this paradox he raises a new Church or Reformation and despairs not to draw Princes from their own and their Ancestors piety by inculcating to them it is an essential part of their temporal soueraignty and Prerogatiue to haue a Spiritual supremacy but so absurdly limited that he thinks it their greatest security to haue their hands tyed by the law of nature and Gods word from honouring the Diuine Majesty and his Church with an exemption to its Ministers from supreme secular Courts He is opposed in this foolish Tenet both by Protestants and Catholiks for we all agree in this that God can not at least did not command temporal Soueraigns not to oblige and honor for his sake the spiritual Ministery by exempting them from the supreme coerciue power of the secular magistrat seing that for the peace of the commonwealth the safety of Princes and punishment of Malefactors it is abundantly sufficient that delinquent Clergymen be proceeded against by ecclesiastical Iudges Let vs now see how palpably he contradicts himself and wearies his Reader in this absurd and fundamental Thesis of his vast volum and new Religion Euery Catholik as well as himself obiects against it the Martyrdom and Miracles of S. Thomas of Canterbury it being euident out of all Histories both sacred and profane that S. Thomas sufferd was canonised and declared a Martyr for defending the immunities of the Church and particularly that of Churchmen from the coerciue supreme power of secular Courts The Friar grants S. Thomas his Sanctity Miracles and Martyrdom but sayes he sufferd and God wrought all those Miracles not because he did or could in conscience pretend that Church men were exempted from the supreme coerciue power of the Secular Magistrat but because he maintaind the temporal and municipal lawes of England then in force by which Clerks or Churchmen were so exempted from the secular supreme Courts Heer is one contradiction If there were municipal lawes in force then in England which warranted S. Thomas his proceedings for the immunity of the Church and Clergymen from the Kings supreme secular coerciue power or Courts and Churchmen had a true right to those exemptions as Friar Walsh confesseth from page 414. to page 418. of his History quoting the lawes themselues how can he without contradiction say that Princes and Parliaments did not nay could not make such lawes or grant such exemptions to Clergy-men How can he pretend such immunities or exemptions are contrary to the law of nature and the word of God He solues this difficulty with an other contradiction For after granting there were such lawes exempting Churchmen made by the Kings and Parliaments he sayes pag. 422. that S. Thomas at the instance and with the concurrence of all the other Bishops condescended to the Repeal of those temporal lawes which fauored the Clergy's exemption But then how was he a Saint or Martyr for defending the lawes that had bin repeald The answer to this is at hand saith Walsh very facil and cleer S. Thomas saith he in the same page 422. though he swore
applauded works which som of them haue printed to assert the truth of Faith Perhaps they do not think him worth their confuting Though I am not particularly concern'd yet seing his book hath so much barbarous railing and heretical nonsense that it is a nuisance to ciuility as well as to Christianity I will shake his fundamental principles to the end the world may not be further abused by them nor by the stories of a virulent pen that vents nothing but heresies against the Church rebellion against Soueraigns enuy against his superiors malice against his equals calumnies against his aduersaries and commendations of himself THE FRIAR DISCIPLIN'D OR ANIMADVERSIONS ON FRIAR PETER WALSH HIS NEW REMONSTRANT RELIGION MR. WALSH I DECLARE to you and all the world that my exceptions against your Religion and Romonstrance are not against the supreme temporal power of Soueraign Princes which I do belieue and shall assert as much as any Catholik Diuine My exceptions are against not only a Spiritual supremacy you attribute to Kings and deny to the Bishop of Rome but also against many new vnheard of errors and in first place against that rash and heretical Tenet of yours viz. * Friar Walsh in his Dedicatory to the Catholiks of the three Kingdoms pag. 13. That all the Roman Catholik Bishops of the world are either Traytors to their Kings or periur'd to the Pope because they take before their consecration an Oath which hath bin taken in the Church many hundred years by all Bishops Item That for the space of these 600. years past the Popes and writers of the Roman Catholik Church for the most part a Idem Ibid. haue maintain'd enormous principles and practises which haue bin cryed down continually by most zealous and godly Prelats and Doctors as not only false wicked impious lxretical vnchristian but as absolutely tyrannical and destructiue of all Gouernment lawes property peace c. 2. That since the owning of such intollerable maxims and wicked actions or the not disowning them are not amongst the marks of a Roman Catholik in general but only b Idem pag. 14. of a certain sect or faction whom som calls Papalins others Puritan Papists and others Popish Recusants the Protestants could not but obserue how since the Oath of supremacy though fram'd only by Roman Catholik Bishops Abots and Doctors of the english nation and defended by the principal of the same occasioned the first separation or schism amongst the subiects of England and Ireland the far greater part of such as continued in the Communion of the Roman Church did seem also to adhere to the foresaid dangerous doctrins and practises i. e. to all the pretences and actings of the Roman Court for as much as they generaly refus'd to disown them either by that Oath of supremacy or by other That it is vnreasonable to think and incredible to belieue c Pag. 14. n. 10. that so many iudicious Princes Parliaments and conuocations who had themselues gon so far and ventured so much as they did only because they would not suffer themselues or the Protestant people gouern'd by them to be imposed on against their own reason in matters of Diuine belief Rites c. should at the same time be so concern'd to impose on others in the like as to enact laws of so many grieuous punishments yea of death itself in som cases c. That we haue no cause to wonder at the Protestants a Pap. 16. n. 10. iealousy of us when they see all the three seueral Tests hitherto made use of for trying the iudgment or affection of Roman Catholiks in these Kingdoms in relation to the Papal pretences of one side and the royal rights of the other I mean the Oath of supremacy first the Oath of Allegiance next and last of all that which I call the Loyal Formulary or the Irish Remonstrance of the year 1661. euen all three one after another to haue bin with so much rashness and willfullness and so much vehemency and obstinacy declined opposed traduced and reiected amongst them albeit no other authority or power not euen by the Oath of supremacy itself be attributed to the King saue only ciuil or that of the sword nor any spiritual or Ecclesiastical power be denied therin to the Pope saue only that which the general Councel of Ephesus vnder Theodosius the yonger in the case of the Cyprian Biâ—hops and the next Oecumenical Synod of Calcedon vnder the good Emperor Martianus in the case of Anatolius Patriarch of Constantinople and the 217. Bishops of Afrik whereof Saint Augustin was one both in their Canons and letters too in the case of Apiarius denyed vnto the Roman Bishops of their time See the same Friar pag. 24. 25. 1. part of the first Treatise saying that the sense wher in the sons of the Church of England take the Oath of supremacy is very Catholikâ— and that they allow a politik not spiritual headship to the King and that only in temporal causes or matters not in spiritual not euen in those which are by extrinsecal denomination only called Ecclesiastical or spiritual If this be so Bishop Fisher Sir Thomas Moor and all the learned english men who sufferd for refusing the Oath were great fools and were ignorant both in the english language and in Diuinity But if this be so Mr. Walsh why is it not declared by publik authority can you be so stupid and barbarous as to think that the King and Parliament of England would be so vnmercifull as to permit so much noble and honest blood to be spilt upon a mistake so easily rectified if they or the Church of England vnderstand the Oath of supremacy as you say they do Jn the 19 page of your Dedicatory you set down the Oath which all Bishops and Archbishops take before their Consecration or Pallium and though it be very ancient and accepted of by all not only Prelats but Princes yet you say pag. 20. they who take it Must be periur'd to the Pope if they proue faithfull to the King Whether so or no to God Iudge you I am sure if they were not Traytors in taking the foresaid Oath to his Holiness they were at least Renouncers of their Allegiance to his Majesty and of their obedience also to the Catholik Church And because you could not but foresee that Catholiks and rational men would not bee their own Guides in a matter of so great importance as the determining the rights of Popes and Princes nor so rash as to iudge the whole Catholik Church or all the Bishops therof were Traytors Tyrants Cheats Vsurpers and Heretiks you endeauor to diuert the Catholik Layty from their duty of consulting the sea Apostolik in this main point of Religion by endeauoring to raise in the same Layty a diffidence of all who aduise so pious and prudent an address you telling the Catholiks of the three Kingdoms pag. 22. n. 18. of your Dedicatory That in the
had no other fault but that it is placed by you in the same line and predicament as to the lawfulness of taking it with the oath of Suprecacy Catholiks are bound to refuse it neither can a Franciscan Friar who reproaches Roman Catholiks with rashness and obstinacy for not taking the oath of Supremacy expect to be their Spiritual Director but rather to be concluded by them an Apostat and must not take ill if his writings should be reiected and burnt as heretical Seing therfore Mr. Walsh your arguments pretending to proue that the two general Councells of Ephesus and Calcedon as well as the Prouincial of Afrik taught the doctrin which Roman Catholiks except against in the oath of Supremacy are found to be mistakes what other arguments do you produce to conuince Catholiks of rashness and obstinancy for not taking that oath None but your own authority nothing but your saying that the Roman Catholik Church hath err'd rashly and obstinatly for these 600. last years because it admitted not a Spiritual Supremacy in temporal Soueueraigns Realy Mr. Walsh I do not belieue your sole authority is a sufficient argument to proue the Church hath erred To proue so rash an assertion you would fain make us mistrust the testimonies of holy and learned Authors of the Church History as Baronius Bellarmin and others They are Impostors you say hired by the Court of Rome to diuest Emperors and Kings of their right of gouerning spiritual and ecclesiastical affairs and to place it in the Pope Your words page 40. to the Reader are If the truth were known it would be found that Baronius and the rest fallowing him were willing to make vse of any malitious vngrounded fictions whatsoeuer against lustinian the Emperor This Justinian was in the later end of his dayes an heretik and took vpon him to make lawes in matters of Faith but he dyed sudenly before he could publish them Yet before he was an heretik he made good Edicts in fauor of the true Faith and for this he is commended by Popes and Councells as a Catholik as also because it s sayd he was reconcil'd at his death Now you Mr. Walsh say that the ancient and modern writers knew well enough he was neuer an heretik but that they diffame him as an heretik because his laws in Ecclesiastical matters euen those of Faith are a perpetual eysore to them because these laws are a precedent to all other good Princes to gouern their own respectiue Churches in the like manner without any regard of Bulla Caenae or of so many other vain allegations of those men that would make the world belieue it vnlawfull for secular Princes to make ecclesiastical lawes by their own sole authority Truly Mr. Walsh I haue endeuored to know the truth of those two Cardinals Bellarmin and Baronius and do find they were both holy humble men so farr from being hir'd by the Court of Rome that neither of them could be persuaded by it to accept of more for their maintenance than what was absolutely necessary for their dignity They liued and dyed in the list of the poor Cardinals both were named Cardinalls against their will both industriously sought to make themselues vncapable of the Popedom Twenty dayes did Baronius resist in the Conclaue the offers and importunities of the Cardinals his friends who were able and resolued to make him Pope vntill at length he persuaded them to choose Leo 11. Both these Cardinals virtues are so conspicuous that many press for their Canonization and it s belieued it will be obtain'd God working Miracles to testify that they deserue it This is the truth Mr. Walsh and the world blames you very much for calling such men Hirelings Impostors c. What shall your friends say to excuse you when they heare you call'd an ignorant spitefull heretik for calumniating such holy men as these Som who obserue your actions say you are hired to write these calumnies and that you haue chosen rather so base and mercenary a way to damn your self and others than to liue quiet and serue God in your Cell according to your rule and profession Good God Mr. Walsh is this possible Can you sell your own soul and the reputation of Saints for such paltrey stuff and at so low a rate as 200. per an If this be true you are vnhappy but Gods mercy expects your repentance for which we your friends can but pray Others think you despair not by your litle bookes and this great Volume to gain the fauor of temporal Soueraings I can not belieue they will by your persuasion degenerat from the example of their renown'd Predecessors and particularly from that of Constantin the great who was so far from making laws for ecclesiastical matters or persons or medling with matters of Faith that his saying and maxim was a Rufinus lib. 10. hist cap. 2. S. Gregor lib. 4. epist 45. speaking to the Bishops Ves Dij estis a summo Deo constituti aequum non est vt homo iudicet Deos I do not think I say Mr. Walsh that Christian Princes will degenerat from this example applauded by all the world when Christianity was in its primitiue purity to follow that of the Emperor Iustinian when he fell from the Faith of Christ Would it not be rashness both in Soueraigns and Subiects to preferr your bare testimony who are to my griefe reported to be the greatest lyar and Impostor in the world before the joint testimony of all orthodox writers and the practise of the whole Roman Catholik Church euer since it began to florish vnder Constantin the great Many except against your stile as well as against the matter You excuse page 43. of your Preface the meanness or rather sadness of your stile all along your book you took no care you say of the language though you took enough of the matter In my opinion you are more faulty in the choice of your matter than in your expression of it But you thought perhaps the matter was so good and necessary for the Saluation of souls that you b Ibidem pag. 43. enlarged often and repeated the same things not seldom where you needed not were your design to write only for the learned or those of quick apprehension But seing those you intended chiefly to speak vnto were the Roman Catholik Clergy of Ireland wherof very few are great Clerks you chose that manner of writing for their sake that the meanest of them might vnderstand whateuer you would be at I am sory to heare this Mr. Walsh will you disgrace your own nation One of them spoke thus to me of you How comes none of the Roman Catholik Clergy of Ireland to haue as quick an apprehension and as much learning as Peter Walsh their Countreyman and one who spent his time more idely than most of them Is it because his forwardness in promoting protestancy against his conscience and his importuning great men to be made an instrument
other than to put the lawfull Proprietor in possession Mr Walsh see how heretical and destructiue your doctrin is Suppose a thing which hath happened and may happen very often Suppose I say an vsurper or Rebell will not go to confession or if he doth will not restore the vsurp't Kingdom or Prouince to his lawfull Soueraign according to his Confessarius his command Hervpon the Bishops of that Kingdom or Prouince according to their duty excommunicat the Tyrant or Rebell for his publik sin and contumacy in keeping out of his Kingdom the lawfull King He contemns their Censures Let me ask you this question Do the Bishops sin in raising of their own accord and as Bishops an Army against the Tyrant or Rebell only to put their lawfull King in possession Answer M. Walsh Do they sin I say in doing this duty would the Pope sin if as Pope he had don the same would Innocenâ— 10. haue sin'd if he helpt to raise an Army in defence of the late King or for the restauration of the present against that vsurper Cromuell would other Popeâ— haue sinn'd in doing the same in prosecution of theiâ— Spiritual Censures in case these had not seru'd theiâ— turn against the Barons when they excommunicated them for their rebellion against King Iohn or King Henry the third Is the whole Catholik Church guiltâ— of heresy and impiety for maintaining this doctrinâ— Speake out Mr. Walsh or at least retract for shamâ— this wicked destructiue principle and accuse not thâ— Church of God as asserting in itself a power preiudiâ—cial to Soueraigns that power I say which hath biâ— so often applied and of its own nature is so appliâ—abâ— to their safety and seruice Do not follow Blacklows he retical principles whom you page 43. 1. p. termâ— learned Priest of the Roman Communion though much for most of his bookes censur'd at Rome They are censured all and censured as Arch heretical And one of them obedience and Gouernment is censur'd for this very doctrin of yours viz. That Subiects sin if they endeauor to restore their disposest and exiled lawfull Soueraign And this Blaklow after all this you and the Blakloistes call a learned Catholik Priest Do you imagin that any Catholik or protestant Soueraign will permit you or a Chapter and Clergy that hold such an Author to be a Catholik and of eminent learning to liue in their Dominions and instruct their Subiects Retire retire to your Conuent good Father Walsh obey your Superiors retract your heretical doctrin so inconsistent with the safety of lawfull Soueraigns submit to the corporal punishment your General will inflict vpon you when you are absolued from so many spiritual Censures you haue incurr'd buisy your-self no longer with Church or state affairs seing you are not sit for either and are so ignorant that pretending to fauor the Soueraignty of Princes you make it vnlawfull for Bishops to ferue them and accuse the Church of heresy for claiming a power to correct with corporal punishments you and such Friars as you are ANIMAD 5. Whether the Roman Catholik Church hath fallen into heresy or hatherr'd enormously these last 600. years for contradicting Friar Peter Walsh his doctrin of a spiritual supremary in temporal Soueraigns and whether all the Roman Catholik Bishops of all the world haue bin for the same 600. years or as least are in this last Century either Traytors to their Soueraigns or periur'd to the Pope for taking the ancient and vsual eath before Episcopal Consecration IT S euident Mr. Walsh by your own words quoted in the first and second Animaduersion that one of the enormous errors wherwith you charge the Church of God for these last 600. years is that the 80. Popes the innumerable writers and all the Bishops therof deny'd to temporal Soueraigns that Supremacy which is attributed in the English oath of Supremacy and a Legislatiue power of making lawes in ecclesiastical matters euen of Faith We haue also quoted these your words of the page 40. n. 3. in your Preface to the Reader If the truth were known it would be found that Baronius and the rest following him were willing to make vse of any malicious vngrounded fictions whatsoeuer against Instinian the Emperor c. by reason his Lawes in ecclesiastical matters euen those of Faith are a perpetual eysore to them because these Lawes are a precedent to all other good Princes to gouern their own respectine Churches in the like manner without any regard of Bulla Coenae or of so many other vain allegations of those men that would make the world belieue it vnlawfull for Secular Princes to make ecclesiastical lawes by their own sole authority for the gouernment of the Church c. To reform therfore this so long erroneus Church and to restore to Secular Princes that spiritual iurisdiction which is giuen them in the oath of Supremacy or a legislatiue power of making ecclesiastical lawes euen in matters of Faith by their own sole authority you Friar Walsh haue found out a Remonstrance wherin all this power and right is asserted and as you say ought to be taken by all loyall Subiects especialy the Bishops who renounce their allegiance by this ensuing oath to the Pope before their consecration which you set down in latin and I translate into inglish The Oath wherby according to Friar Walsh all Bishops are made Traytors pag. 19 Dedic IN. Elect of the Church N. from this hour forward will be faithfull and obedient to S. Peter the Apostle and to the holy Roman Church and to our Lord Pope N. as also to his Successors I will not be in counsel consent or fact that they may loose life or limb or be imprisoned or violent hands laid vpon them in any manner or any iniury don to them vpon any color whatsoeuer The Counsell wherwith they will trust me by themselues their Nuncios or letters I will not reueal to their preiudice The Roman Papacy and royalties of Saint Peter I shall help to retain and defend Saluo meo Ordine against all men I will treat honourably the Legat of the see Apostolik as he passeth by and returns and shall help him in his necessities I shall endeauor to conserue defend increase and promote the rights honors priuileges and authority of the holy Roman Church of our Lord the Pope and of his Successors I will not be in counsell fact or treaty wherin are plotted any sinister or preiudicial things against the Lord Pope or the Roman Church And if I know of any such plots against them I will endeauor to hinder them to the best of my power as also discouer them as soon as I can to the Pope himself or to som other that may giue him notice therof I shall obserue and cause to be obserued to the vttermost of my power the rules of the holy Fathers the Decrees Ordinations or dispositions reseruations prouisions and Apostolik Mandats I shall impugn and prosecute to my power Heretiks
Schismatiks and Rebells to our same Lord or his Successors I will com to the Synod when I am call'd if I be not hindred by a canonical impediment I will personaly visit limina Apostolorum euery three years and render an account to the Lord our Pope and his Successors of my pastoral duty and of all things belonging to the state of my Church and of the disciplin of Clergy and people and of the souls committed to my charge and shall humbly receiue and diligently execute the Apostolik commands If I be lawfully hinderd or detain'd I will fulfill all the a foresaid things by one of my Chapter or â—om other or others constituted in Ecclesiastical dignity or benefice or for want of such by som Priest of my Diocess or for want of such by som other Priest seculaâ— or regular of approued virtue and religion who shall be fully instructed of all the aforesaid things I will certify likewise of the impediment I haue by lawfull proofs which must be sent by the aforesaâ—â— Mâ—sser get to som Cardinal to propose it in the Congregation of the holy Courcel I shall not without consuâ—ting the Pope sch bestow pawn or infeu'd or in any wise alienat euen with consent of my Chapter the possessions which belong to my Table And if I do alienat any thing I am content to incurr the penalties which are contain'd in a constitution made to that purpose So help me God and these holy Ghospells Then the Consecrator answers Deo gratias For my part Mr. Walsh I can not find any Treason in this oath it contrains but such general tyes and words as are vsual in other oathes of obedience and are restraind to a spiritual subiection and superiority in Ecclesiastical matters and with a clause Saluo Ordine meo which you confess King Henry 2. so much excepted against in the oath S. Thomas of Canterbâ—ry and the other Bishops were to take at Clarendon to his Majesty as their temporal Soueraign But you say it s no wonder the Irish Archbishops and Bishops were so disloyal at waterford an 1646. in reiecting the peace c. because they took this oath to the Pope and none of them took the bath of Supremacy or alleigance to the King We know Say you page 20. of your Dedicatory speaking of all Bishops they must be periur'd to the Pope if they proue faithfull to the King Whether so or no to God iudge you I am sure if they were not Traytors in taking the foresaid oath to his Holiness they were at least Renounâ—ers of their alleigance to his Majesty and of their obedience also to the Catholik Church To accuse all Bishops and by consequence the Representatiue Roman Catholik Church or which is all one its supreme Pastor together with all the other Bishops of the said Communion of holding and swearing the lawfullness of Treason and other enormous errors euen but for one year is iudg'd by General Councells and all Roman Catholiks a great heresy What then shall we say of you Mr. Walsh who maintains they haue bin in that desperat condition and heresy these â—00 a Dedic pag. 13. last years and that they took no notice of the loud cryes of many thousands most learned godly Prelats Priests and Doctors besides Laiks putting all those Popes and all those traiterous or periur'd Bishops in mind of their false wiâ—ked impious heretical unchristian and plainly destructine Tenets But first Mr Walsh let me ask you if all the Bishops take the foresaid oath and it s certain they do and haue taken it for many hundred years how can any part of them be most learned zealous and most godly Prelats Can heretiks Traitors and impious Bishops be most zealous and godly men why did you not name at least one of those godly Prelats or writers that cry'd down the Popes and Bishops as holding impious heretical and destructiue principles euer since Pope Gregory 7 You name none but Blaklow the two Barclayes both lay men and the ablest of them but a Romantik Poet one Preston alias widrington hired by Abbots of Canterbury to write against the Pope and make a schism in the Roman Church Redmund Caron and your-self not so much hired as intruding your-selues and pressing state Ministers to hire you for the same ends Are these your thousands of most learned zealous godly Prelats Priests and Laiks Though bad these men be I do not find that any of them doth assert so cleerly the oath of supremacy as you do or say that all the Roman Catholik Bishops who take the vsual oath at their consecrations are Traitors or periuâ—'d What a pretty representatiue Church you make vp of such Bishops But suppose Mr. Walsh there had bin in euery Century these 600. last years or since Gregory 7. thousands of such as these or as your-self that cry'd down som principles and practises of the Roman Catholik Church as impious and heretical and all the Bishops therof as Traitors What then All pious and prudent Roman Catholiks would value such men no more than they do you or so many curst Currs barking at the moon and starrs Preston I did not know som who knew him say he repented his folly and was very much ashamed of hauing bin so egregiously foold by Archbishop Abbots Caron I knew and so did many others who iudg'd him to be no better than a pleasant Friar that had no more s'kill in squsing out a dolefull tune or Cronan than science or sincerity in quoting the Authors he wrests in fauor of those errors wherin he agrees with you My self haue seen him conuicted of vnexcusable falsifications by Mr. Leugar the late Lord Baltimores Priest and all his defence and Apology was to say with heretical pride and passion to that good Priest his Confuter Go go your wayes you litle man You haue heard I suppose of his reply to one D. Pugh a learned man as I am told who questioning Caron for printing contrary doctrins in two bookes answer'd when he writ one of them he was in the King of Spains Dominions but the other he writ in the King oâ—â—â—glands Dominions This indeed is a sincere confession and declaration of the genious and practise of your new remonstrant Church and of your self M. Walsh in particular as shall be now proued ANIMADVERSION 6. Of Friar Walsh his Remonstrant Church Which principles be treasonable and impious those of Friar Walâ—h or those of the Roman Catholik Church for these last 600. years MR Walsh you charge the Roman Catholik Popes and Bishops euer since Pope Gregory 7. with treasonable and impious principles and practises Let vs compare yours with theirs that so the truth may appear You are Pope of this new Remonstrant Church which you confess had euen in its prime but sixty nine Church men in all the world I belieue they are your Cardinals you haue three caps yet to bestow the Cardinals you know are 72. It s good policy to keep som places
Ormond But what is most falsely asserted by Peter Walsh is that in my answer I did giue a touch of the murther he is charged with I toucht not any such thing I am sure I did not intend to be his Accuser in any cause of bloud and I hindred others from accusing him as my Brother Iohn Talbot had also don nay I had him aduertised of his danger by a friend of his own as soon as Father Cauenagh and Father Bremingham attested the murther at Castleton in presence of my Lord Dongan Mr. Chasles White of Leixslip my self and others For though his barbarous inhuman cruelty if what is said of him be true deserues ten thousand deaths yet I would not for all the world concurr to it The thankes he gaue me for letting him know his danger to the end he might retire to his Conuent and do pennance for his sins was to misinforme the honorable House of commons and the committee of Religion by one of the two Mr. Warnhams commonly known by the name of Flahertys Varnham that I did most impudently exercise papal iurisdiction in Ireland by excommunicating and censuring his Majesties most loyal Subiects for subscribing to the Remonstrance And though this was known in Ireland to be a fable yet Mr. Varnham and som others of Friar Walsh his friends auerring it to be very true I haue sufferd much vpon that account and that infamous Friar though a known Traytor to God and the King laught in his sleeue after abusing the Parliament with notoriously false informations and insults for hauing bin so succesfull in exasperating the Caualeer party against one who endeauored to serue many of them in their exile abroad as som of them since were pleased to teftify though too late for my relief and redress of the iniury don to me My buisness is not to exaggerat this mans misdemeanors but rather to warn him once more of his danger and aduise him not to be so publik in London frequenting great Prelats and Noblemens houses vpon whom he must needs draw inconueniencies if he doth not cleer himself of treasons and murthers better then by saying in his great english Tome of Irish Rapsody that all these accusations are lyes or libels of the titular Archbishop of Dublin or of his friends and then tell his Readers he will vindicat himself in his latin Irish work Me thinks he might haue reserued som of his vnnecessary vncouth speeches and tedious repetitions for that work and in lieu therof cleer himself of those foul aspersions at least in a parentesis som of his being long enough to weary any patient Reader and to iustify any honest man This I hope is enough to vindicat me from Peter Walsh his calumnies which do not much trouble me it being the greatest honor of an honest man to be raild at by an heretik I am Your most obliged Seruant PETER TALBOT Mr. Walsh I haue bin assured by credible persons that what this Prelat sayes heer of you and himself is very true and that a man would be laught at in Ireland where these things happen'd if he question'd so notorious matters of fact wherof there are yet liuing many legal witnesses This supposed I must needs blame you for printing such lyes to discredit a Bishop or at least for not prouing what you say of him by more credible arguments than the bare assertion of your-self in your own cause If you being but a priuat person and a petty Friar say pag. 51. of your Preface that the Author of the Dublin libel for writing against you som pretended vntruths ought by the ciuil lawes to be put to death and by the Canon of Pope Adrian be stript naked and whipt with scourges if he can not proue the truth of the particulars of his libel what will the world say of you for writing manifest vntruths of an Archbishop Especialy when you can not proue that he is the Author or that you are iniur'd by that Dublin libel as you call it and for want of an answer to the particulars therin alleged against you remit your english Reader to a latin Irish work not yet composed not euer like to be printed I am troubled Mr. Walsh at this malitious folly of yours But patience I will now consider how your Remonstrant Church came to fail and fall ANIMADVERSION 8. How the Protestants who had formerly a good opinion of Friar Walsh his Remonstrant Church came at length to alter it and be fully conuinc't that both he and his Remonsttant Church-men are Cheats MR Walsh you complain very much pag. 577. seq of the second part of your first long Treatise that the Anti Remonstrants notwithstanding their opposition against you lost nothing either of liberty or other benefits or fanors at home from the Ciuil Magistrate from the Lord Lieutenant or Kings Majesty or his Court Council or Parliament being equal in all such for any material thing to the Remonstrants and on the other side were sure of all euen extraordinary fauors c. from their own Church and from the Conrt of Rome abroad while the Remonstrants were sure of nothing from either but slight from the one and extreme persecution from the other And these fate last years from 1667. to the end of the present year 1672 haue giuen sufficient arguments of both the one and the other During which time those poor Remonsirants had nothing to ballâ—nce all their sufferings but the bare satisfaction of conscience to be slighted so by their friends and persecuted so by their Ennemies for professing and performing their duty to the King atterding to the law of God This is a very sad story Mr. Walsh but the Dublin libel as you call it tells you an other quite contrary and you know it to be true nay you giue a hint of it in the pag 3. of your Preface to the Catholiks which needed an other Preface itself being a large book There you say that the Anti-Remonstrants persecuted your holy Church in a most surious manner with all the vilest arts of malicious Cabals Conspiraties Plots libels and an Impostor Commissary and a forged Commission What 's that Mr. Walsh An Impostor Commissary A forged Commission I pray explain yourself Did the Anti Remonstrants persecute your Remonstrance and Church by an Impostor Commissary and a forged Commission did the court of Rome send such a person and giue him such a commission If so he was no Impostor Well I see those Romans are strange men Is it possible they could be so ill natur'd as to persuade a poor Friar to play the Impostor or that he would be persuade to play the fool and knaue so egregiously meerly to vndermine your Remonstrant Church Good God in what a great mistake hath the world bin these 9. or ten years Truly Mr. Walsh 't is the persuasion of all England Ireland France and Italy that you and the Impostor Commissary agreed to persecute the Roman Catholik Clergy and vnderstood
least one who hath bin the better for his subscription A man would think that my Lord of Iueaghs extraction innocency and merit his breaking General Oneales Army his raising and loosing two or three Regiments in the Kings seruice his venturing himself and his neerest relations in the towns besieged by Cromuâ—ll his constant following his Majesties person and fortune in exile needed no further remonstrance of his loyalty but howeuer that nothing might be obiected against him he sign'd yours and yet is nothing the neerer his Estate I know you pressed my Lord Duke of Ormond very much in Sir Robert Talbots behalf saying it would be a great scandal if the only gentleman in Ireland who neuer would reiect the peace of 46. and sufferd so much vpon that account were not restored to his Estate and yet you see he was and his son is in the same condition with the rest of your subscribers But the most damnable cheat of all Mr. Walsh is that you made the subscribers belieue your Remonstrance was only a recognition of his Majesties supreme temporal authority and right to his Kingdoms but now you declare that it asserts all which the oath of Supremacy doth and that Roman Catholiks are rash and obstinat and by consequence commit a sin in denying to take the oath of supremacy wherof as was well known to such as refus'd to subscribe this your Remonstrance contains the substance which is that temporal Soueraigns may by their own sole authority gouern the Church and make lawes in Ecclesiastical matters euen of Faith To proue this and the lawfullness of your Remonstrance renouncing all those papalin or popish recusants doctrins against which the oath of supremacy was made and is tender'd is the subiect and scope of this great Tome of yours This is your own ingenious confession these your endeauors since the year 61. You should haue told this in the beginning to the Layty and to such of the Clergy as vnderstood not your design and doctrin Now that they all know both you must not admire if euen the subscribers detest you as a betrayer of their souls as well as of the Kings interest not only by your former actions but now also by your bookes and writings inculcating to all Bishops and other Churchmen that they commit a sin if as Churchmen they concurr and contribute with their reuenues or any other corporal means to preserue their King or to restore him if God should for our sins permit an other reuolution and that his right were possess'd by a rebel or Tyrant Is this Christian or Catholik doctrin Hath the spiritual calling or caracter of a Bishop or of a Clergy man such antipathy with the duty of a subiect and of spiritual Father that a Bishop or Priest must sin if either of them apply his temporal goods to the support of his lawfull Prince You may as well maintain that the caracter of Baptism or Christianity must make it a sin in lay subiects to defend or restore their lawfull Soueraign for Christianity is as solemn and spiritual a profession of following Christs doctrin as Episcopacy a Friar Walsh is half a Blakloist and Priestod is I see Mr. Walsh you are half a Blakloist Blaklow and you agree in saying that Subiects can not in conscience concurr to restore a dispossess'd lawfull soueraign but you say it only of the Clergy he of all You ground your error vpon the spirituality and supernaturality of the Clergyes caracter Blaklow vpon the nature of man which as that heretical Traytor pretends in his book of Obedience and Gouernment inclines him rationaly and obliges him to preferr his quiet and share of the human conueniencies of an vsurpt gouernment before the Diuine right which hereditary Soueraigns haue to be temporal Gouernors vnder God of their Subjects and the obligation Subiects haue to venter their liues and fortunes to assert that right and restore their lawfull Soueraigns in case they should be disposest therof It s no more a meruail to me that the b See Doctor Ceorge Leyburns Apology pretended Dean and Chapter of England which commended Blaklows doctrin as eminent after he had writ this destructiue Tenet did also commend your Remonstrance But I admire you should boast so much pag. 55. of their approbation as to print their Dean's letter to the Bishop of Dromore for an euidence therof Consider what credit can such mens approbation as cry vp Blaklows condemned doctrin and bookes for eminent be to yours I am sure such principles as these are not to be tolerated either in the Church or commonwealth Cease then to complain and to wonder Mr. Walsh that our King our Parliaments our priuy Councellors and the Lords Lieutenants of Ireland slight a Remonstrance and doctrin which doth inculcat or inferr so vnchristian Tenets as yours so destructiue to Monarchy and morality so incontinent with the safety of Soueraigns and the duty of Subiects What think you Mr. Walsh of the Clergy of France Do they sin when euery fifth or third year in their Assemblies they voluntarily tax themselues and giue so considerable summs to their King for his occasious They do not giue this help as temporal Peers or Barons of the Realm but as Bishops Abbots Priors Curats c. Do they sin I say in doing this Doth the Spanish Clergy sin in giuing their Milliones voluntarily and as a Clergy to their King Doth the Pope sin for concurring as Pope with them by Bull or licence for these donations If your Remonstrant Church had com to that perfection you flatter'd yourself with sure your Clergy would haue bin very rich for they must not haue giuen voluntarily as Bishops one penny of their Reuenues to the King to defend himself or the Kingdom against Rebells or foreign Inuaders But if an Impostor Commissary comes he way by a forged commission and the Popes authority impose a taxe vpon the Kings Subiects and leuy it by Excommunications and Censures Js your loyal Formulary and Reformation of the Roman Catholik Church of these last 600. years com to this Mr. Walsh Who is the Traytor who is the heretik You for your Remonstrance or all the Bishops in the world for taking the vsual oath at their Consecrations For shame Mr. Walsh repent retract and retire to your Conuent and neuer write more of matters you vnderstand not But before you retire I will solue a very curious and material question put by yourself in the page 579. of the second part of your first Treatise But if any demand saith Friar Walsh sect 2. pag. 579 how it came to pâ—ss that in the year 1648. there was so great and numerous a party of the Roman Catholik Clergimen of Ireland who together with Father Peter Walsh appeared so realy zealously constantly and successfully too for the King against the Nunâ—ios Censures of Excommunication and Interdict that they quite worsted the other side and preuaild euen for and to the actual reduction of
iudicious resolutions of cases of conscience and yet this man was fully persuaded he was Don Sebastian the King of Portugals son and conuersed with his old Father inuisibly euery day Your disease Mr. Walsh is Imaginatio laesa you fancy yourself to be a very learned man you pitty our ignorance and are resolued to reform the Roman Catholik Church so horridly defac't with errours euer since Pope Gregory the 7. I will endeauour to correct this imagination of yours by letting you see that you are not right that is I will proue by one of Saint Augustins arguments in the following Exhortation that you are absolutely mad This is the only way to cure you and to reconcile you to God and his Church I pray read these Animaduersions in one of your lucid interuals and I hope with the assistance of God it will dispose you to repent and retract your follies A Charitable Exhortation to Friar Peter Walsh taken out of S. Augustins works MR. Walsh the great Doctor of Gods Church S. Augustin Ep. 118. teacheth that it is most insolent madness to dispute against that which the vniuersal or Catholik Church practiseth Jf this be true it must be concluded that you are fallen into that distemper as I am almost in despair of your cure For one of the effects of madness is to depriue the distemper'd person so totaly of his wits that he doth not perceiue his own follies A weak or half witted man hath so much sense left as to see his own weakness and want of aduice but a madman doth not see his own weakness nor will he be aduised This is your condition Mr. Walsh and only God can remedy it by opening your eyes to see how ridiculâ—us it is in you or any other priuat person to pretend and maintain that the Church of God hath bin infected with the very highest enormities of principles and practises these 600. years euer since Pope Gregory 7. Item that all the Roman Catholik Bishops of the world are either Traytors to their temporal Soueraigns or periur'd to their Spiritual Superior the Pope for taking before their consecration an oath which neuer was excepted against by any Soueraign Prince or euen priuat person but yourself Certainly you are persuaded that all Christian Soueraigns as well as their Ministers of state and Councellors for many ages were mad seing they not only did not except against the Bishops oath but after the Bishops had taken it permitted them to enjoy the great reuenues of the Bishopriks in their Dominions and trusted them with their consciences and Councells employing them in state affairs and Embassies notwithstanding their being Traytors or periur'd persons Would any one but a mad man trust a Traytor or belieue a periur'd person Mr. Walsh when a man coms to be stark mad he thinks all the world is mad and that himself alone is wise You are arriued to this perfection All Soueraign Princes all their Councellors all their learned and loyal Subiects are so notoriously mad according to the best of your iudgment as to put their neerest concerns into the hands of Traytors or periur'd Bishops Good God! How coms this to pass I confess our sins are great and deserue the seuerest punishments but sure Gods mercy would neuer inflict in this life a punishment of sin wherby is taken away the possibility of its repentance and certainly mad men can not possibly repent But how com you Mr. Walsh to be the only man that escap't this sad punishment Are not you a sinner like the rest of the world Are you the only man in Gods fauor and in your wits Alas what an age is this Nay what a world what a Church is this A Church that for six entire Centuries had not one sober man but Peter Walsh Peter Walsh A man whom we all that knew him took to be no better nor wiser than ourselues But it seems we are all mad and therfore can not frame a right iudgment either of him or of ourselues But Mr. Walsh Jf all the world besides yourself is mad how will you persuade vs that you are sober and we all mad For my own part I declare before hand I will not belieue you in this point and I am consident most men will be as obstinat as I in the good opinion they haue of themselues Remember I tell you it will be a difficult thing to alter it To what purpose then haue you taken the pains to write and print this volume To persuade people they are mad and that their Predecessors haue bin so these 600. years past Set your heart at rest None will belieue you So farr perhaps we may agree with you that either you or we are mad The question then will be whether all the Roman Catholik world or you Mr. Walsh be distracted who shall be Iudge of this Controuersy Not the Pope say you for 80. of them in a row euer since Gregory 7. haue bin mad Let that pass will you be iudg'd then by the Generall Councells of Lateran Lions Florence or Trent You can haue no other exception against them but that euery member of them took the oath which you say must needs make them Traitors or periur'd persons I confess if the oath doth work that effect your exception is rational and all the Catholik world was mad in submitting to the Definitions and Decrees of those Councills and you are the only sober man that hath liued in six ages Without doubt these or the like obiections occurr to yourself if you haue any lucid interualls They occurr'd to all such Reformers of the Catholik Religion as you are They occurr'd to Luther whose Ape you are said to be when he writ How often did my trembling heart beat within me and reprehending me obiect against me that most strong argument Art thou only wise Do so many worlds err Were so many ages ignorant What if thou errest and drawest so many into error to be damned with thee eternally And again Dost thou o sole man and of no account take vpon thee so great matters What if thou being but one offendest If God permit such so many and all to err why may he not permit thâ—e to err Hitherto appertain those arguments the Church the Church the Fathers the Fathers the Councells the cusloms the Multitudes and greatness of wise men whom do not these clouds and doubts yea these seas of examples ouerwhelm You see what lucid interualls and illustrations Luther had I hope you haue the like somtimes These considerations will infallibly cure your most insolent madness of disputing against that which the vniuersal Church belieueth and practiseth if you will entertain them But if you will reiect them and imitat Luther in preferring your own priuat ingment and interpretation of the Scriptures before that of the Church these iliustrations and considerations will not cure your disease nor correct your erroncous fancies When a pleasing impression doth strike or affect the brains it sinkes so