honour Neither did ever the Jews account of them as Scripture yea to this day they reject them Neither for these reasons onely are they distinguished from the Apocrypha but for many others the divinity purity sublimity appears in the Canonicall Scriptures the futility folly and falsity in the Apocrypha are too too manifest and is there any man so stupid and blockish to think that this age wherein we live cannot distinguish or discerne gold from lead without the Authority of the Fathers There is a vaster difference between the Apocrypha and the Canonicall Scriptures then is between gold and lead Every mans reason will tell him an apparant difference between brasse and beanes But if any be desirous of Authority to distinguish them will not Christs and the Apostles suffice The very Papists that have not abjured all honesty and goodnesse do freely acknowledge and confesse that those onely are Canonicall Scriptures which the Apostles did either write or approve of But they did never approve of the Apocrypha The Canonicall Scriptures of the old Testament did in shadows and figures set forth that which the new Testament clearly speaks They did adumbrate the new Testament expresseth in lively colours one and the same thing They consent one with another and yeeld each other mutuall aid and help Now the Apocrypha do neither foretell the new nor are by their authority and approbation illustrated and declared Christ commends Moses the Prophets and the Psalmes as books without all exception Luke 24. and grounds his doctrine upon them but never honours nor graceth the Apocrypha with his commendations or witnesse How then can the Prelates without great contumely unto the sacred Scriptures say they cannot be distinguished and knowne from the Apocrypha but by the Fathers especially after the judgement of Christ himself is given and hath passed upon the Scriptures for the authorizing of them to be the word and will of God The Fathers as the learned acknowledge were for their times many of them worthy of honour but yet they were subject not to a few errors and often agreed not with themselves and are ever at variance with others and have been indeed the originall and cause of almost all the controversies with which the Churches are now tormented And therefore to conclude this point the Defendant saith that the Prelates are disgracers and contemners of holy Scripture when against so much light of reason and Divine authority they say they cannot be distinguished and knowne from the Apocrypha but by the Fathers Neither is the third Thesis and Position freer from impudency and outrage against the Scriptures then the two former In that they say the meaning of the Scripture could not be knowne but by the Fathers For in this they doe as much as plainly affirme there is an other way to heaven then by the Scriptures which if it be not a contemning and disgracing of holy Scripture then there never was any Nay if it be not blasphemy the Defendant knoweth not what blasphemy is â—and therefore all those that desire salvation and to go to heaven must come to the Schoole of the Fathers and not to the Doctrine of the Scriptures And how then will the poor people doe to be saved that never knew what a Father was Nay how did all those goe to heaven that dyed before the Fathers For the Prelates say that the meaning of the Scripture cannot be knowen without the Fathers and without the knowledge of the Scripture there is no salvation It is most manifest by these expressions of the Prelates that they with their untempered morter would put out the light of the Scriptures and make them not onely inferiour to all mens writings but a very pack of Non-sense for wheresoever there is any sense there can something be gathered out of it especially if it be so large a Booke And howsoever there be many depths in Scripture there is also great perspicuity so that according to the ancient saying as an Elephant may swim a lamb may wade there also But if it should be so as the Prelates say that without the authority and interpretation of the Fathers the meaning of them could not be known and found out then the Defendant affirmeth they should be inferiour to all other writings yea to every Letter and Epistle that men pen with understanding for they ever carry their own sense end meaning along with them or to what end are they otherwise writ If the letter that discoverd the gunpowder Treason had not had a match and light of understanding in it that Popish plot had never been discovered till by its cruell flames it had declared it self and by the funerall of the whole Kingdome had been made known and left those that survived and lived in perpetuall mourning If every Letter writing and book then that is penned with judgement carry its own sense and meaning in it and the books for which the Defendant is now questioned and if all Proclamations Letters and Edicts of Princes are easily to be understood and carry their own interpretation with them so that none after their publication may pretend ignorance dare any man be so bold and adaciou as to say that the Letters and Proclamations of the King of heaven an God of the whole world cannot be understood when notwithstanding David saith they give light and understanding to the simple and that by reading and meditating in the Law and Testimonies of the Lord he grew wiser then his Teachers and Paul that Timothie knew the Scriptures from his youth 2. Tim. chap. 3 verse 13. and notwithstanding all this dare the Prelates affirme that the meaning of this Scripture cannot be knowne without the interpretation of the Fathers We have great cause to praise and blesse God that hath so graciously afforded us better Masters to be taught by It is good ever therefore to listen unto them Let us hear now then what the Prophets Christ and his Apostles have taught us concerning this weighty matter and of so great consequence and let us follow their example and instruction which lead us into all truth and not to listen to the contemners of holy Scripture They send those that are studious of the wayes to heaven to the Law and to the Testimonies Esai 8. to Moses the Prophets and the Scriptures not to the Traditions of the Elders and custome of Antiquity And they that bring any other doctrine are not to be listened unto neither may we bid them God speed The Word of the Lord is the way light and lanthorne to our Feet which send forth sufficiently the beames of truth and shines so clearly of it self as it may be both knowne proved expounded and unfolden by its own brightnesse They do as it were lend lustre unto the Sun from a smoaking snuffe that from the mist of the Fathers would bring light unto the Scriptures God is the Authour of the Scriptures who is the originall and fountaine of all light and
A DECLARATION DEMONSTRATING AND INFALLIBLY PROVING That all Malignants whether they be Prelates Popish-Cavaleers with all other ill-affected Persons are enemies to GOD and the KING Who desire the suppression of the Gospel the advancement of superstition the diminution of the Kings Prerogative and Authority with the oppression of the Subject All which is evinced by strong Proofes and sufficient Reasons By John Bastwick Dr. of Physick LONDON Printed in the Yeare MDCXLIII The simply Portrareture of Mr John Bastwick Dr of Phisick sate Captayne of a foote Company A Declaration of Iohn Bastwick Doctor of Physick infallibly proving that all who desire the suppression of the Gospel the advancement of superstition c. are enemies to God and the King THe said Defendant saving and reserving to himselfe now and at all times hereafter all advantages and benefits of exceptions to the incertainty and insufficiencie and other imperfections of the said Information For answer thereunto so far forth as concernes the said Defendant he saith He doth with all thankfulnesse acknowledge his Majesties great care and zeale at all times for the maintenance and defence of the true Christian faith and Religion and the service of Almighty God love charity and concord among his Subjects and withall that his people and all loyall Subjects have great cause daily to praise God for the happy government they have under him and for that they may for futurity promise unto themselves under his Royalty and Principality especially when he hath so graciously made knowne his pious intentions for the good and welfare of Church and State in that his Majesties Declaration to all his loving Subjects of the causes which made him dissolve the last Parliament published by his Majesties speciall command in which Declaration pag. 21. his Majestie thus speakes For we call God to record before whom we stand That it is and alwayes hath beene our hearts desire to be found worthy of that Title which we account the most glorious in all our Crowne Defender of the Faith Neither shall we ever give way to the authorizing of any thing whereby innovation may steale or creepe into the Church but preserve that unity of Doctrine and Discipline established in the time of Queene Elizabeth whereby the Church of England hath stood and flourished ever since c. These words and solemne protestations of our most pious King cannot but stirre up the hearts loves and affections of all his true loyall Subjects both incessantly to pray for his happy life reign and preservation and also to the utmost of their powers to yeeld all subjection obedience yea and their lives and liberties for the honour of his Crowne and Dignity in the number of which Subjects the said Defendant professeth himselfe to be being willing and ready at all times and upon all occasions not onely to lose his liberty livelihood and estate but millions of lives if he had them in defence of his Empire and Prerogative Royall and doth againe and againe acknowledge and that with the thankfulnesse his renowned Highnesses zeal and care for the maintenance of the true Religion love charity and concord amongst his Subjects and beseech the King of kings and Lord of lords long to continue him among us and to put into his royall heart to remove all scandals in Church and State which have beene such hinderances of the propagation of the Christian Faith and true Religion established in his Majesties kingdoms of the which he is Defender in his dominions and the right instruction of the people in the same who alone are most of the Prelates in generall and the Arch-Prelates in speciall being so farre from seeking the right and due instruction of the people in the true Christian Faith and Religion as the Information would infer as they spend their whole endeavours to take away all the possibility and meanes of instruction which is the preaching of the word that is onely able to save our soules and without which no man can beleeve or come to life eternall as thousand places in sacred Writ witnesse and among other that in the 26. of the Acts where Christ saith unto Paul Rise and stand upon thy feet For I have appeared unto thee for this purpose to make thee a minister and witnesse both of the things which thou hast seene and of those things in which I will appeare unto thee delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom now I send thee to open their eyes and to turne them from darknesse unto light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgivenesse of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith which is in me And Paul was not disobedient to this heavenly vision but preached unto all men that they should repent and turne to God and do workes meet for repentance And this was and is the onely way that God hath appointed to save our soules by for Faith commeth onely by hearing and this preaching was all that Paul did I came not to baptise saith he but to preach the Gospel so that preaching is the effect of all the ordinances and in another place he saith Wo be me if I preach not the Gospel And in the sixth of the Acts the Apostles told the Church That it was not reason that they should leave the word of God and serve tables and therefore they resolved continually to give themselves to prayer and to the ministery of the Word And in the 4. of the Acts when the Rulers commanded Peter and John not to speak nor teach in the Name of Jesus They answered and said unto them Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more then unto God judge ye for we cannot but speake the things which we have heard Here we see the whole office and care of the Apostles was to preach the Gospel and this is onely the work taske and duty of Ministers to publish the same word of life And Paul set his owne example before them for his sedulity in preaching day and night and commands them to follow him in that and chargeth Timothie and Titus and all Ministers in them to be instant in season and out of season in preaching the Word and they that neglect that duty are no Ministers of Christ nor of the Gospell Yea the Bishops themselves and all their Priests as they call them as we may see in the Booke of Ordinations solemnely promise before God and the Church that they will be diligent in the preaching of the Word of God and publishing of the Gospel And for the better stirring of them up to that Duty and Office they reade the 20. Chapter of the Acts concerning the charge that was given the Elders and Bishops of Ephesus for their diligent preaching of the Gospel And in most of all their Prayers before their Sermons they beseech God to blesse the two fountaines of all learning in this kingdome and that he would
all ancient truth and the vetust est Bishops and by the whole Clergy of England in King Henry the Eights dayes as all the Learned and ingenuous doe well perceive and know both at home and abroad So that if the Informers with the Prelates will make this book a libell then let them make holy Scripture the Lawes of the Kingdome and all the ancient records of learned Bishops libells also for the Defendant in that hath said nothing concerning the Presbytery which is not agreeable to them all And for the matters in speciall he is charged with the information viz. That he hath causlesly enveighed against the oath ex officio and other ancient formes of proceedings in that Court and against the Sacred Hierarchy and orders of Bishops Priests and Deacons preferring a Presbyterian parity before it And that he hath falsly and scandalously defamed the witnesses produced against him and falsly and maliciously taxed the High Commission Court it selfe and the Judges therein in generall and some of them particularly and personally with cruelty and injustice with want of wisdome and temperance and that they are perswaders of his Majesty to bloodshed and are upholders of idolatry superstition Popery and Profanenesse and further most maliciously and falsly affirmeth that Canterbury London and Ely are disgracers and contemners of holy Scriptures and falsly traduceth them and the rest of the Bishops for Traytors and invaders of his Majesties Prerogative and that in the said booke there are contained divers other unlawfull and scandalous passages against the established government and setled discipline of the Church of England the Bishops and Clergy and their proceedings which being many and of various nature is delivered into his Majesties Court of Starchamber To all which things that he is here charged with the Defendant will answer with what brevity and the best Method he can and doubteth nothing but whatsoever he hath writ in his Apology against the Prelates and their proceeding shall be made evidently appear to this Court to be most true And to begin with the things laid to his charge in the last place that he accuseth the Bishops to be disgracers and contemners of holy Scripture to be invaders of his Majesties prerogative upholders of idolatry Popery superstition and profanenesse All which is most true for so they are as he hath sufficiently proved against them in that book and doth here also adde that they have greatly dishonoured the King their Master and King James his Father of perpetuall Memory all which he will briefly declare and demonstrate to this noble Court And that they are contemners and disgracers of holy Scripture what can be more manifest when they say that the Scriptures are the refuge of all Schismaticks Hereticks as much as if they should say the good Laws and Statutes of a Kingdom and the Kings Edicts Proclamations are the cause of all disorder wickednes withall what is it to be contemners and disgracers of the holy Scriptures if this be not to say That they can neither be knowne to be the Word of God nor distinguished from the Apocrypha and Prophane Authours nor to be understood and the meaning of them attained unto for their obscurity but by the Fathers If this be not to contemne Sacred Writ then all Orthodox Writers both in ours and all reformed Churches and King James himselfe have accused the Church of Rome most falsly whom they prove blasphemous against God and disgracers of the Holy Scriptures for the same assertions as all their learned writings witnesse with innumerable Arguments in them for proofe of the same The Defendant desireth to know what it is to prophane and contemne holy Scripture if this be not to slight and vilyfie the Authority of it and to preferre humane authority before it which the Bishops did blasphemously saying that they could not be knowne to be the Word of God without the help of the Fathers when every page and leafe of those Sacred monuments breath a Divine Spirit and they are called the lively Oracles Acts 7. verse 38. as if the Scripture had lost his ancient lustre life and Divinity by its antiquity and were inferiour to all other things both Naturall and Artificiall When notwithstanding there is such a Majestie and Splendour in the Scripture as it dazleth the eyes of all those that look into it with his transcendent and heavenly clarity and brightnesse the eyes of whose mindes the God of this world hath not blinded yea under the very law when there was a vaile before the eyes of men so that they could not so clearly see into them as now Christians may yet then such dignity and excellency was discerned in them that at the first reading of them men cryed out the voice of God and not of man and tore their garments for very anguish and fear of the threats in them and never were so ungracious and impious to say How shall we know these bookes to be the Word of God for the holy Scriptures had ever such an innate and Domesticall light beauty and goodnesse in them and carried such testimony and witnesse within themselves ever able to declare themselves divine and holy and to be the very word of the everliving God that they needed borrow no help from without them or fetcht in humane witnesse for the declaring of their divinity There was no need to send unto the Prophets or the Church in old time to enquire whether the Scriptures were the word of God amongst any that were but any thing acquainted with the language of Canaan as is manifestly evident in the 2. of the Kings 22. verse 8.10 and the 2. of the Chron. 34. verse 14 15 19. where it appeareth that when the Booke of the Law was found by Helchia the Priest in the house of the Lord he knew it at the first reading of it to be the word of God the same did the King they were neither of them told by the Church or any Prophets or Fathers that it was the Booke of the Law neither did the King send unto Hulda the Prophetesse to know whether it were a true and authenticke Copy all this needed not it needed then no Godfathers and Godmothers to Christen and give it the name of the Law of God and holy Scripture as without the which it could not have beene knowne there was no need of any such thing or any humane authority for the proofe of that in those times all that were then true Israelites knew it by its own testimony to be the word of God and shall any man now think that the Scriptures are more obscure and dark and harder to be discerned by their own testimony to be Divine and holy then when they had a vail before them and their sacred treasuries of Divine truths were muffled up in so many tipes and mysteries Certainly this is not onely great ingratitude to Gods bounty but very contempt and disgrace of holy Scriptures that their most excellent
fellow in his Kingdoms that will suffer his Imperiall Majestie to be trampled upon the suffer it in silence For his own part this Defendant confesseth that he is but poor and the Prelates have made him so but as rich in Loyalty as any Subject in his Highnesses three Dominions and as Iob said concerning God though the Lord should kill him yet he would trust in him so this Defendant saith Though the King should leave him to the mercylesse fury of the Prelats yet he will ever honour him with his ife and all that ever he hath and as he was borne under obedience under obedience he will die and will ever say vivat Rex let the King live for ever and our gracious God put it into his Royall breast to look into the devilish plots of the Prelates that doe not onely equalize the painted Tombes in Christs time but far exceed them in cruelty and wickednesse This he is resolved living and dying to doe invito Diabolo to give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and to God the things that are Gods for he is bound to this duty by Christ himselfe neither will he ever rebell against his blessed will Now the things that belong unto God as he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and by whom alone kings raigne is an absolute command and Soveraignty over his Church and who requires of all his Subjects that they should love him with all their hearts with all their Soules and with all their mights and that they should not serve him by any of their own inventions And for the manner of his worship he hath abundantly declared it in Sacred Writ And Saint Paul writing unto Titus warnes him sharply to rebuke his auditors that they may be sound in the faith not giving heed unto the commandments of men that turne from the truth and chargeth the Corinthians that they should not be servants of men nor wise above that which is written and sayes unto the Colossians wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world Why as though living in the world are ye subject unto ordinances and Christ himself saith In vain do they worship him teaching for Doctrines the commandments of men By all which it is manifest if Christians will give unto God that which is his and will not worship Him in vaine as they must love him with all their hearts so he onely must rule in them and they must give him his own worship and such service onely both for matter and manner as he requires at their hands and commands from them and not serve him according to mens precepts and devices for in his worship they must not be the servants of men for he is the onely King and Lawgiver in his Church and this is his prerogative Royall which no man may meddle with and this is to give unto God that which is Gods and this duty he the Defendant saith all Christians are bound unto Againe for all Subjects duties toward the King the Defendant saith that must also freely and willingly be yeelded and that by speciall precepts for they are commanded to fear God and honour the King and to be subject unto his Authority in all things in the Lord and to give unto Caesar that which is Caesars Now in regard of his duty both to God and the King and also of his speciall Oath of allegiance the Defendant saith he could do no lesse then that which he did in writing his book being provoked thereunto by an enemy of both And so much the rather because himself and all Christians are commanded to give a reason of their hope to whomsoever shal demand it of them earnestly to contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints he saith in all these respects he could do no lesse in answering that Popeling then that he did by giving unto God the right of his government in the hearts and consciences of men and taking it from the Pope that Vicar rather of hell then of Christ and by giving the King that jurisdiction and authority of regiment in his Dominions and over his Subjects which God hath conferred upon him Both which Authorities Spirituall and Temporall the Pope and Popish Bishops most blasphemously arrogate unto themselves trampling all Divine Lawes and Kinglie regality under their polluted feet making Kings and Emperours their Vassals which is a most horrible arrogancy and usurpation and not to be suffered by either Kings or their Subjects And therefore when this Defendant did nothing but that which by his speciall duty he was bound unto If this by the Informers be thought either Schisme Faction or Sedition he this Defendant is resolved to live and die in it and never to think any a good Subject that is not of his minde He doth withall freely confesse unto this honourable Court that he looked for no ill usage of the Prelates for this his indeavour which when he found at their hands it was the occasion of the writing of many other books since that time amongst the which there is one called Apologeticus ad Praesules Anglicanos c. Dedicated unto the privie Counsell but whether the book that is annexed unto the Bill be the same that the Defendant knoweth not but a book with that Title he confesseth he writ wherein he set downe the proceedings of the Prelates against himself and their dealings towards other of their brethren the theame of which book he the Defendant desireth the honourable Court to take a briefe relation of at this time that they may the better be informed of the falsity of the Information And first for the principall theame and matter of the booke it is the State of the questions in his Flagello Pontificis for which he suffered with the summe of the Arguments he produced for the confirmation of the truth The questions arising between the Babylonian and the Defendant concerning the authority of the Pope were these The first whether Christ did constitute Peter sole Monarch of the Catholick Church The second whether the Pope of Rome if he be a Bishop as he is a Bishop hath Authority and jurisdiction over Kings and Emperors Thirdly whether Popish Bishops be true Bishops or no and of the discussing of these questions the Defendant saith his adversary was the sole cause In the handling of the which the Defendant further affirmeth that he used all the caution that was possible as he supposed for man to use prefacing in his book that being to dispute about the Authority of the Bishop of Rome he desired candidly to be understood of all men for while he disputed of Episcopall Authority he medled nor contended not against such Bishops as acknowledge their Authority and jurisdiction from Kings and Emperours into whose hands the government of States Kingdomes and Common-wealths is by God committed For if the Popes themselves would acknowledge their immense and unlimited authority from Kings and Emperors he the
Bishops and with their owne Arguments wounded them And therefore he could not but take it unkindly that when in this combat they should have helped him against the common enemy they defending him fell upon the poore Defendant to his perdition saying that he meant them that he was erronious and factious in his opinions Now if the Defendant hath erred in the discussing of these truths the Scripture that word of life hath brought him to it which were blasphemy to thinke and therefore when they adjudged this booke to be burnt they might as well have burnt the Scripture also yea all antiquity and the gravest and learnedst of ancient Fathers whose testimonies also he hath made publicke for the greater vindication of the truth against errour and cruelty But that the integrity of the Defendant may yet more clearly appeare he most humbly entreateth this Illustrious Tribunall to heare how the businesse was carried against him at his Arraignment before the Prelates Barre at Lambeth and how submissively he demeaned himself these and how superciliously they carried themselves towards the Defendant on the contrary side When it came to his part to speake for himselfe the Advocate having formerly denied to plead his case any farther then about the witnesses testimonie which he also did very jejunely being an Advocate of such excellent parts of learning and eloquence as he was and also at the Bar renouncing it saying That the Defendant should plead himselfe which when it was put upon him he then first related unto the Assembly the Theame of the booke which was the maintenance of the Kings Prerogative royall Then he told them the occasion of his writing of it that he was provoked thereunto by a Pontifician who often had dared him into the list of dispute which at last he could not deny as he was a Christian and as he was a Subject for by the Word of God he told them and by the Law of the land and his speciall oath he was bound unto it which oath he also read at large in open Court the which also all the Bishops of England and all the Judges of the kingdome had taken and were equally bound with him to observe Then before he entered into the combat with the adversary he showed what caution he used that being to write against the Bishop of Rome and Italian Bishops it was onely as they arrogate their authority over their brethren and the Church of God yea over Kings and Emperours jure divino against such Bishops onely he affirmed he did dispute and read the words of exception formerly cited at the Barre as for such Bishops as acknowledge their jurisdiction power and authority from Kings and Emperours he said he had no controversie against them as he there againe and againe declared himself in the number of which he the Defendant said ours were for all the Bishops of England and in his Majesties Dominions had and received or at least wise ought so to do their authority and jurisdiction over their brethren from him For proofe of which he cited and read publickly the Statutes and Acts of Parliament as follow First that of the first of Queen Elizabeth of famous memory wherein the Oath of Allegiance was ratifyed in the which Statute there are these words That all jurisdiction all Superiorities and all Priviledges and preeminencies spiritual and temporall are annexed to the imperiall Crown which by Oath he being bound to maintaine could do no lesse being provoked by an adversary of regall dignity He read also the Statute which was inacted in the 37. of Henry the eight which is That Archbishops and Bishops and all other Ecclesiasticall persons have no other Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction but that which they received and had by the King from the King and under his Royall Majestie He read also the Statute made in the first of King Edward the sixt in these words That all jurisdiction and Authority spirituall and Temporall is derived and doth come from the Kings Majestie as supreme head in the churches and Kingdoms of England and Ireland and that by the Clergie of both the Kingdomes it ought no otherwise to be held or esteemed of and that all Ecclesiasticall Courts within the said Kingdomes ought to be held and kept by no other power and Authority either domesticall or forrain then that which comes from his most excellent Majestie And that whosoever did not acknowledge and venerate this authority that the same men are ipso facto in a praemunire and under the Kings high displeasure and indignation as the words of the Statute run and the mouth of the law speaks and then with some reason also which the Defendant produced besides the Word of God he shewed That no Romish Bishops had authority over their fellow brethren nor could jure divino challenge it much lesse over Kings and Emperors and therefore so long as the Defendant had the word of God the Laws of the Kingdom and reason it self on his side he told them he thought himself reasonably secure from all danger in that place And then applying his speech unto the right Honourable and noble Lord the Earle of Dorset then present the Defendant told his honour that he could not but wonder that he should stand there at the Bar as a Delinquent for maintaining the Religion established by publick Authority the honour of the King and the glory of his Majesty and that one Chouny a Sussex man a laick as well as himself should write a book and set it forth by publick authority maintaining the Church of Rome to be a true Church and never to have had so much in her as the suspition of error in fundamentall points and that this book should be dedicated to the Prelate of Canterbury and patronized by him which book the Defendant both read and exhibited in Court by which notwithstanding the King himself and all his Subjects were made Shismaticks and hereticks to the infinite dishonour of God our Gracious King and King Iames of blessed memory and our most holy profession and Religion This as the Defendant told the Lord of Dorset struck an amazement in him and especially when the authour of it must be favoured and countenanced by Canterburie and for the defending of the honour and dignity of our church and the honour of the King the Defendant should stand as an evil doer Now when the Defendant was come thus far was then approaching more closely unto them all intending more fully in the pleading of his cause to have set forth their unjust dealing they told him that he railed and Imperiously commanded him to hold his peace which was the reason of his Apologericus ad Praesules Anglicanos where he took liberty to write that and publish it to the view of all the world which he would have then spoke But after they had silenced him they then fell a thundering against him every one as he pleased all of them joyning in this one onely excepted that
had ever been the fiction and excogitations of mens braines as some prophane and Atheisticall men thinke who suppose and say that Religion was by Policie invented to keepe men in awe then the Defendant saith that all men would willingly and without reluctation have embraced and received them given ever them admittance and free entertainment for the world ever loveth his owne Now it is notoriously knowne that no carnall men either love the Scriptures or regard them nay it hath beene alwayes the endeavour and the greatest plot and conspiracy of wicked and ungodly men and the adversaries of the truth either totally to extinguish them or to vilifie their authority as King James of renowned memory in his Apologie to all Christian Princes sufficiently declareth discovering therein the Popes double diligence in that businesse So that were there no other reason but this alone it were of conviction enough to prove the holy Scripture to be the Word of God because it so much opposeth impiety wickednesse cruelty unrighteous dealing errours and darknesse which carnall and sensuall men love more then light And whereas the Prelates with the Papists produce the authority of the Fathers for the maintaining of what they speake and in Court alledged that of Augustine Where he saith that he would not have beleeved the Scripture if the Church had not told him it was the Scripture The Defendant for his part is sorry to see such a profane Sympathie between the Prelates and Papists in these things who deale with true Christians as the Gibeonites dealt with the Israelites in the 9. of Iudges who pretended they were Ambassadours and tooke old sackes upon their asses and old tattered bottles and clouted shoes and ragged clothes and pretended they came from a far Countrey and so the Israelites not taking counsell of the Lord were cousened and deluded by them Even so the Papists and Prelates under pretence of the ancient Writers and with their old shoes mouldy bread of uncouth antiquity rob us of the truth and take away from us the bread and staffe of life by which we should safely and comfortably walk to heaven and happinesse and under the pretence of the Fathers and their authority they abuse and deceive the simple But in this cause Augustine is not very usefull unto them for his authority in this so weighty a matter is to rationall men of no great validity for the Defendant demands of any that hath but the grace of understanding that if Augustine would never have beleeved that there had beene a God without the Church had told him so must his infidelity make others Atheists also This will not be thought good reason amongst the learned for then one mans imperfections should be a rule for multitudes to go to hell and unbeliefe should be a vertue And yet it is not altogether denyed but that the perswasion and report of men may be a motive to stirre up men many times to the hearing and perusall of a thing which of it selfe doth not alwayes beget saith or but very little as dayly experience teacheth us but the thing it selfe seene or heard is that that worketh effecteth it and makes their faith so firme and stedfast that although the same parties should a thousand times after deny that to be so yet they to the death would persevere in that true beliefe As for example we see in the people of Samaria that were by the womans perswasion brought out to see Christ and in some small measure beleeved in him from her relation that he was the Messiah yet when then they had talked with him themselves they openly affirmed that then they beleeved not because the woman had told them but from more excellent reasons and grounds that they themselves had heard him And should the Samaritan woman a thousand times after that have denyed that he had beene the Messiah they would never have beene removed from their faith in Christ for all that The same may be said of Nathaniel in the first of John to whom Philip said That he had found him of whom Moses spake in the Law and the Prophets Jesus of Nazareth and Nathaniel said unto him Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth Philip said Come and see Jesus saw Nathaniel comming unto him and saith to him Behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile Nathaniel said unto him Whence knowest thou me Jesus answered and said unto him Before that Philip called thee when thou wert under the Fig-tree I saw thee Nathaniel answereth and saith unto him Rabbi Thou art the Son of God thou art the King of Israel And howsoever Philip here was an occasion of bringing Nathaniel to Christ yet the sight of Christ and his Miracles were the things onely that begat true faith in him and such a faith as all the Philips in the world could never after have removed him from it againe And so it was with Augustine perhaps that being a learned Infidell or little better a Manâ—â—nee through the perswasions of learned Christians he came to looke in the Word of God as all faith commeth by hearing but doth it therefore follow that that was onely the cause of his faith and perseverance in it or if the Church had not told him so these had beene no other meanes for him to come to the knowledge of the Scripture this doth not necessarily follow But were it granted that had not the Church told Augustine which was the Scripture and the Word of God that he had then never beleeved it to be the Word must this conclusion of necessity be gathered from thence That all men must be like Augustine in this or that the authoritie of men is greater and above the Scripture All these are poore and lame consequences and not beseeming the worthy Fathers of the Church in open Court to publish to the infinite dishonour of holy Scripture and advancing humane authoritie above it which indeed is meete blasphemy against the holy Word of God For would not every man accuse one of folly if another being a stranger and never seeing the King and meeting him in a journey with all his Nobles richly clad as it beseemeth noble Peeres so to be for the honour of their Master and the Majestie of his Court and in this company where there are so many brave personages and all so excellently apparelled and he not knowing which was the King should aske some of his retinue or some Courtier which of those were the King Now doth follow because at that time the man should not have known the King without this information from some of the attendants that the King could no other way have been known unto him or that Kings could be knowne no other wayes but by such informations No rationall creatures wil so conclude at that time he in part beleeved from the Courtiers relation that it was the King but after that he seeth the King in his Court or upon his throne with his Crowne