calling Gideons preparation and victory The reuenge of Succoth and Penuel Abimelech's vsurpation AT LONDON Printed by IOHN BEALE and NATHANIEL BVTTER Ann. Dom. 1624. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE MY SINGVLAR GOOD LORD SIR THOMAS EGERTON KNIGHT LORD ELLESMERE LORD CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND CHANCELLOR OF THE VNIVERSITIE OF OXFORD THE SINCERE AND GRAVE ORACLE OF EQVITIE THE GREAT AND SVRE FRIEND OF THE CHVRCH THE SANCTVARY OF THE CLERGIE THE BOVNTIFVLL ENCOVRAGER OF LEARNING I. H. With Thankfull AcknowledgeMENT OF GODS BLESSING VPON THIS STATE IN SO WORTHY AN INSTRVMENT AND HVMBLE PRAYERS FOR HIS HAPPY CONTINVANCE DEDICATES THIS POORE AND VNWORTHY PART OF HIS LABOVRS CONTEMPLATIONS THE NINTH BOOKE The Rescue of GIBEON THe life of the Gibeonites must cost them seruitude from Israel and danger from their neighbours if Ioshua will but sit still the deceit of the Gibeonites shall be reuenged by his enemies Fiue Kings are vp in Armes against them and are ready to pay their fraud with violence What should these poore men doe If they make not their peace they die by strangers if they doe make their peace with Forrainers they must dye by Neighbours There is no course that threatens not some danger Wee haue sped well if our choice hath light vpon the easiest inconuenience If these Hiuites haue sinned against God against Israel yet what haue they done to their Neighbours I heare of no trechery no secret information no attempt I see no sinne but their league with Israel and their life yet for ought wee finde they were free-men no way either obliged or obnoxious As Satan so wicked men cannot abide to lose any of their community If a Conuert come home the Angels welcome him with Songs the Diuels follow him with vprore and fury his old Partners with scornes and obliquie I finde these Neighbour Princes halfe dead with feare and yet they can finde time to be sicke of enuy Malice in a wicked heart is the king of Passions all other vaile and bow when it comes in place euen their owne life was not so deare to them as reuenge Who would not rather haue lookt that these Kings should haue tried to haue followed the coppy of this League Or if their fingers did itch to fight why did they not rather thinke of a defensiue warre against Israel then an offensiue against the Gibeonites Gibeon was strong and would not be wonne without bloud yet these Amorites which at their best were too weake for Israel would spend their forces before hand on their Neighbours Here was a strong hatred in weake brests they feared and yet began to fight they feared Israel yet began to fight with Gibeon If they had sate stil their destruction had not been so sudden the malice of the wicked hastens the pase of their owne iudgement No rod is so fit for a mischieuous man as his owne Gibeon and these other Cities of the Hiuites had no King and none yeelded and escaped but they Their elders consulted before for their League neither is there any challenge sent to the King but to the City And now the fiue Kings of the Amorites haue vniustly compacted against them Soueraigntie abused is a great spurre to outrage the conceit of authority in great persons many times lies in the way of their owne safety whiles it will not let them stoope to the ordinary courses of inferiours Hence it is that heauen is peopled with so few Great-ones hence it is that true contentment seldome dwels high whiles meaner men of humble spirits enioy both earth and heauen The Gibeonites had well proued that though they wanted an Head yet they wanted not wit and now the same wit that wonne Ioshua and Israel to their friendship and protection teacheth them to make vse of those they had won If they had not more trusted Ioshua then their wals they had neuer stolne that League when should they haue vse of their new Protectors but now that they were assailed Whither should we flie but to our Ioshua when the powers of darkenes like mighty Amorites haue besieged vs If euer we will send vp our prayers to him it will be when we are beleagured with euils If we trust to our own resistance wee cannot stand we cannot miscarry if we trust to his in vaine shall we send to our Ioshua in these straits if we haue not before come to him in our freedome Which of vs would not haue thought Ioshua had a good pretence for his forbearance and haue said You haue stolne your League with me why doe you expect helpe from him whom ye haue deceiued All that wee promised you was a sufferance to liue enioy what wee promised we will not take your life from you Hath your faithfulnesse deserued to expect more then our couenant wee neuer promised to hazard our liues for you to giue you life with the losse of our own But that good man durst not construe his owne couenant to such an aduantage he knew little difference betwixt killing them with his owne sword and the sword of an Amorite whosoeuer should giue the blow the murder would be his Euen permission in those things we may remedy makes vs no lesse Actors then consent some men kill as much by looking on as others by smiting We are guilty of all the euill we might haue hindered The noble disposition of Ioshua besides his ingagement will not let him forsake his new Vassals Their confidence in him is argument enough to draw him into the Field The greatest obligation to a good minde is anothers trust which to disappoint were mercilesly perfidious How much lesse shall our true Ioshua faile the confidence of our faith Oh my Sauiour if we send the messengers of our praiers to thee into thy Gilgal thy mercy bindes thee to reliefe neuer any soule miscarried that trusted thee we may be wanting in our trust our trust can neuer want successe Speed in bestowing doubles a gift a benefit deferred loses the thankes and proues vnprofitable Ioshua marches all night and fights all day for the Gibeonites They tooke not so much paines in comming to deceiue him as he in going to deliuer them It is the noblest victory to ouercome euill with good If his very Israelites had been in danger he could haue done no more God and his Ioshua make no difference betwixt Gibeonites Israelited and his owne naturall people All are Israelites whom he hath taken to league we strangers of the Gentiles are now the true Iewes God neuer did more for the naturall Oliue then for that wilde Impe which he hath graffed in And as these Hiuites could neuer bee thankfull enough to such a Ioshua no more can we to so gracious a Redeemer who forgetting our worthinesse descended to our Gibeon and rescued vs from the powers of hell and death Ioshua fought but God discomfited the Amorites The praise is to the workman not the instrument Neither did God slay them onely with Ioshuas sword but with his own
Religion leade all our proiects not follow them let our liues be led in a conscionable obedience to all the Lawes of our Maker Farre be all blasphemies curses and obscenities from our tongues all outrages and violences from our hands all presumptuous rebellious thoughts from our hearts Let our hearts hands tongues liues bodies and soules be sincerely deuoted to him Then for men let vs giue Caesar his owne Tribute feare subiection loyalty and if he need our liues Let the Nobility haue honour obeisance obseruation Let the Clergy haue their dues and our reuerence Let the commons haue truth loue fidelity in all their transactions Let there be trutinae iustae Leu. 19.36 Iust balances iust weights pondera iusta Let there be no grinding of faces no trampling on the poore Amos 5.11 no swallowing of widdowes houses no force no fraud no periury no perfidiousnesse Finally for our selues let euery man possesse his vessell in holinesse and honour framing himselfe to all Christian and heauenly temper in all wisdome sobriety chastity meeknesse constancy moderation patience and sweet contentation so shall the worke of our righteousnesse be peace of heart peace of state priuate and publike peace Peace with our selues peace with the world peace with God temporal peace here eternall peace and glory aboue vnto the fruition wherof he who hath ordained vs mercifully bring vs for the sake of him who is the Prince of Peace Iesus Christ the righteous A COMMON APOLOGIE OF THE CHVRCH OF ENGLAND AGAINST THE VNIVST CHALLENGES OF THE OVER-IVST SECT COMMONLY called BROWNISTS WHEREIN THE GROVNDS AND DEFENCES OF THE SEPARATION are largely discussed Occasioned by a late Pamphlet published vnder the name of AN ANSWER TO A CENSORIOVS EPISTLE Which the Reader shall finde prefixed to the seuerall SECTIONS By IOS HALL LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. TO OVR GRATIOVS AND BLESSED MOTHER THE Church of England THE MEANEST OF HER CHILDREN DEDICATES THIS HER APOLOGIE AND WISHETH ALL PEACE AND HAPPINESSE NO lesse than a yeere and a halfe is past Reuerend Deare and Holy Mother since J wrote a louing monitorie Letter to * * Smith and Robinson two of thine vnworthy Sons which I heard were fled from thee in person in affection and somewhat in opinion Supposing them yet thine in the maine substance though in some circumstances their owne Since which one of them hath washt off thy Font-water as vncleane and hath written desperatly both against Thee and his owne fellowes From the other J receiued not two moneths since a stomack-full Pamphlet besides the priuate iniuries to the Monitor casting vpon thine honourable Name blasphemous imputations of Apostasie Antichristianisme Whoredome Rebellion Mine owne wrongs I could haue contemned in silence Meam iniuriam patienter tuli impietatem contra Sponsam Christi ferre non potui Hieron ad Vigilant but For Sions sake J cannot hold my peace Jf I remember not thee O Ierusalem let my tongue cleaue to the roofe of my mouth It were a shame and sinne for me that my zeale should be lesse hot for thine innocencie than theirs to thy false disgrace How haue J hastened therefore to let the World see thy sincere Truth and their peruerse slanders Vnto thy sacred Name then whereto J haue in all pietie deuoted my selfe I humbly present this my speedie and dutifull labour whereby I hope thy weake Sonnes may bee confirmed the strong encouraged the rebellious shamed And if any shall still obstinatly accurse thee I refer their reuenge vnto thy Glorious Head who hath espoused thee to himselfe in Truth and righteousnesse Let him whose thou art right thee In the meane time we thy true sonnes shall not only defend but magnifie thee Thou maist be blacke but thou art comely the Daughters haue seene thee and counted thee blessed euen the Queene and the Concubines and they haue praised thee thou art thy Welbeloueds and his desire is towards thee So let it be and so let thine be towards him for euer and mine towards you both who am the least of all thy little Ones IOS HALL A COMMON APOLOGIE AGAINST THE BROWNISTS SECTION I. IF TRVTH and PEACE Zacharies two Companions had met in our loue this Controuersie had neuer bin The Entrance into the worke Zach. 8.29 the seuering of these two hath caused this separation for while some vnquiet mindes haue sought Truth without Peace they haue at once lost Truth Peace Loue vs and themselues God knowes how vnwillingly I put my hand to this vnkinde quarrell Nothing so much abates the courage of a Christian as to call his Brother Aduersarie We must doe it Math. 18.7 woe be the men by whom this offence commeth Yet by how much the insultation of a brotherly enemie is more intolerable and the griefe of our blessed Mother greater for the wrong of her owne So much more cause I see to breake this silence If they will haue the last words they may not haue all For our carriage to them They say when Fire Otho Frising ex Philem. Vâ— Chaldeâ—â—â— Ruffin Eccles Hist l. 2. cap. 26. the god of the Chaldees had deuoured all the other woodden Deities that Canopis set vpon him a Caldron full of water whose bottome was deuised with holes stopt with waxe which no sooner felt the flame but gaue way to the quenching of that furious Idoll If the fire of inordinate zeale conceit contention haue consumed al other parts in the separation and cast forth more than Nebuchadnezzars Furnace from their Amsterdam hither Dan. 3. it were well if the waters of our moderation and reason could vanquish yea abate it This little Hin of mine shall be spent that way wee may try and wish but not hope it The spirits of these men are too well knowne to admit any expectation of yeeldâ—nce Since yet both for preuention and necessary defence this taske must be vndertaken * * id Treatis of certaine godly Minist against Bar. I craue nothing of my Reader but patience and iustice of God victory to the Truth as for fauour I wish no more than an enemie would giue against himselfe With this confidence I enter into these lists and turne my pen to an Aduersarie God knowes whether more proud or weake SEP IT is an hard thing euen for sober-minded men in cases of controuersie to vse soberly the aduantages of the times vpon which whilest men are mounted on high they vse to behold such as they oppose too ouerlie and not without contempt and so are oft-times emboldned to roule vpon them as from aloft very weake and weightlesse discourses thinking any sleight and slender opposition sufficient to oppresse those vnderlings whom they haue as they suppose at so great an aduantage Vpon this very presumption it commeth to passe that this Author vndertaketh thus solemnely and seuerely to censure a cause whereof as appeareth in the sequele of the discourse he is vtterly ignorant which had he been
making else-where this sinner worse than the Infidell And the old vulgar can giue no worse terme to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where he findes it yea to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rebels themselues What doth this brand to a Church not Christian onely though you denie it but famous Of whom is truly verified after all your spleene that which the Spirit writes to the Angell of Ephesus Laborasti non Defecisti Say if you can what Article of the Christian and Apostolike faith haue we renounced What Heresie maintaine we Wherein haue we runne from the Tents of Christ What hold we that may not stand with life in Christ and saluation We challenge all men and Deuils in this point for our innocence Distinguish for starke shame of so foule a word or which is better eat it whole and let not this blemish be left vpon your soule and name in the Records of God and the world that you once said of a Church too good for yours Drencht in Apostasie If wee crie Peace whiles you crie Apostasie surely we flatter whiles you raile betwixt these two dangerous extremes we know an wholsome meane so to approue that we foster not securitie so to censure that we neither reuile nor separate and in one word to doe that which your Pastor could exhort the Separators from your Separation for euen this Schisme hath Schismes If we should mislike yet to rest in our differences of iudgement and notwithstanding peaceably to continue with the Church Had you taken this course you should neither haue needed to expect our pittie nor to complaine of our crueltie Surely whether our loue be cruell or not your hatred is whereof take heed lest you heare from old IACOB Cursed bee their wrath for it was fierce and their rage for it was cruell How can you expect compassion when you breath fire and write gall Neuer mention the fury of others indignation till the venomous and desperate writings of Barrow and Greenwood be either worne out with time or by the Thunderbolts of your not rare censures be strucke downe to Hell whence their maliciousnesse came I forbeare to recapitulate how much rather had I helpe to burie than to reuiue such vnchristian exprobrations SEP The first action laid against vs is of vnnaturalnesse and ingratitude towards our Mother the Church of England for our causelesse separation from her to which vniust accusation and triuiall querimonie our most iust defence hath beene and is that to our knowledge wee haue done her no wrong we doe freely and with all thankfulnesse acknowledge euery good thing shee hath and which our selues haue there receiued SECTION XIIII INGRATITVDE and vnnaturalnesse to your mother is obiected The Separatists acknowledgements of the graces of the Church of England in that you flie from her yea now woe is me that you spet in her face and marke her for an Harlot Would God the accusation were as far from being iust as from being triuiall Yet perhaps you intend it not in the lightnesse of this charge but the commonnesse you haue caused me to smart for my charitie yet I forbeare it not What is your defence That you haue done her no wrong to your knowledge Modestly spoken that doubtfully we know your wrong but we know not your knowledge it is well if your wrong bee not wilfull an ignorant wrong is both in more hope of amends and of mercie But is not this caution added rather for that you thinke no hard measure can possibly be a wrong to so vile a Church I aske and would bee denied No you doe freely and with all thankfulnes acknowledge euery good thing shee hath Whatsoeuer you doe to vs I will not any more in fauour of you wilfully wrong my selfe you haue bidden me now to take you as a complete Separatist and speake this for your selfe and yours Let the Reader now iudge whether the wrong of your Sect be wilfull and acknowledgment of our good H. Barr. Praef. to the separ defended Causes of separ def p. 12. Confer with Doctor Andr. free and thankfull Your first false-named Martyr shall giue the first witnesse of the titles of our Church Who saith he that were not drunke and intoxicate with the Whores Cup could affirme this confuse Babel these cages of vncleane Birds these Prisons of foule and hatefull Spirits to be the Spouse of Christ And else-where he calls the people of our Church Goats and Swine Is this any wrong to your knowledge The same Author They haue not saith he in their Churches any one thing in their practise proceedings not one pin naile or hooke according to the true patterne Pref. to separ def Do you not now freely and thankfully acknowledge our Churches good things What is more ordinarie with him and his brother in euill Iohn Greenwood than to call our Ministers Baals Priests Cainites the marked seruants of Antichrist Sellers of the Whores wares Worshippers of the Beast Is this yet any wrong to your knowledge Pastor Iohnson sticks not to say that the Ministerie Worship of the Church of England were taken out of the Whores Cup Gyff refuted touch Donat. Obseruat of M. H. Bar. p. 239. Fr. Iohns Reason 9. against M. Iac. p. 74. Iohns against M. Iac. Excep 3. Nota Bene. and plainly stiles our Church as which of you doe not Daughter of the great Babylon that mother of Whoredomes and abominations of the earth yet more That Hierarchie Worship Constitution and Gouernment which they professe and practise being directly Antichristian do vtterly destroy true Christianity so as their people and Churches cannot in that estate be iudged true Christians Do you not now freely and thankfully acknowledge our good things What can any Deuill of Hell say worse against vs than this That we are no Christians Or what good can there be in vs if no true Christianitie If we denied euery Article of the Christian Creed if we were Mahumetans as your good Pastor sticks not to compare vs if the most damned Heretiques vnder Heauen Ibid. what could he say but no Christians Your Teacher and Pastor which is a wonder agree For your Doctor Ainsworth makes this one head of his poysonous Counterpoyson that Christ is not the Head Mediator Counterpoys p. 127. 131. Prophet Priest King of the Church of England You their Disciple are not yet promoted to this height of immodestie yet what are your good things Euen to you we are Apostates Traytors Rebels Babylonish this is well for a Learner Hereafter if you will heare me keepe our good things to your selfe and report our euill Yea that your vncharitablenesse may be aboue all examples monstrous You do not onely denie vs any interest in the Church of Christ but exclude vs what you may from all hope and possibilitie of attaining the honor of Christendome For when a godly Minister protested to Master Barrow Barr. Conference with M. Sperin as Barr. himselfe hath
with you also from him Doe not talke and purpose and proiect but execute Doe not so doe good that wee may thanke your death-bed for it and not you Late beneficence is better then none but so much as early beneficence is better then late Hee that giues not till hee dyes shewes that hee would not giue if hee could keepe it And God loues a cheerfull giuer That which you giue thus you giue it by your Testament I can scarce say you giue it by your will The good mans praise is Dispersit dedit he disperses his goods not he left them behind him and his distribution is seconded with the retribution of God His righteousnesse endureth for euer Psalme 112.9 Our Sauiour tells vs that our good works are our light Let your light so shine that men may see your good workes which of you lets his light go behinde him and hath it not rather caried before him that he may see which way it goes and which way himselfe goes by it Doe good therefore in your life that you may haue comfort in your death and a Crowne of life after death Now all this haue I spoken not for that I haue ought as S. Paul sayes whereof to accuse my Nation Blessed be God as good workes haue abounded in this age so this place hath superabounded in good workes Bee it spoken to the glory of that God whose all our good works are to the honour of the Gospell to the conuiction of that lewd slander of Solifidianisme London shall vye good workes with any City vpon earth This day and your eares are abundant witnesses As those therefore that by an handfull ghesse at the whole sacke it may please you by this yeeres Briefe to iudge of the rest Wherein I doe not feare lest Enuie it selfe shall accuse vs of a vaine-glorious ostentation Those obstreperous benefactors that like to Hens which cannot lay an egge but they must cackle straight giue no almes but with trumpets lose their thankes with God Almes should be like oyle which though it swimme aloft when it is falne yet makes no noise in the falling not like water that still sounds where it lights But howsoeuer priuate beneficence should not be acquainted with both the hands of the giuer but silently expect the reward of him that seeth in secret yet God should bee a great loser if the publike fruits of charity should bee smothered in a modest secrecy To the praise therefore of that good God which giues vs to giue and rewards vs for giuing to the example of posterity to the honor of our Profession to the incouragement of the wel-deseruing and to the shame of our malicious aduersaries heare what this yeare hath brought forth Here followeth a briefe memoriall of the charitable acts of the City this yeere last past c. And if the season had not hindered your eyes should haue seconded your eares in the comfortable testimonie of this beneficence Euge c. Well done good and faithfull seruants Thus should your Profession bee graced thus should the incense of your almes ascend in pillers of holy smoke into the nostrils of God thus should your talents bee turned into Cities This colour is no other then celestiall and so shall your reward be Thus should the foundation be laid of that building whose wals reach vp vnto heauen whose roofe is finished and laid on in the heauen of heauens in that immortalitie of glory which the God of all glory peace and comfort hath prouided for all that loue him Vnto the participation whereof the same God of ours mercifully bring vs through the Sonne of his loue Iesus Christ the righteous to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost one infinite and incomprehensible God be giuen all praise honour and glory now and for euer Amen FINIS THE HONOVR OF THE MARIED CLERGIE MAINTAINED AGAINST THE MALICIOVS CHALLENGES of C.E. Masse-Priest OR THE APOLOGIE WRITTEN SOME yeares since for the Mariage of persons Ecclesiasticall made good against the Cauils of C. E. Pseudo-Catholike Priest Jn three Bookes BY IOS HALL LONDON Printed for THOMAS PAVIER MILES FLESHER and John Haviland 1624. TO THE MOST REVEREND FATHER IN GOD AND MY MOST HONORED Lord GEORGE Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Primate of all England and Metropolitane one of his Maiesties most Honorable Priuy Councell MOST REVEREND FATHER and no lesse honored Lord IT was my desire and hope to spend the residue of my Time and thoughts in sweet and sacred Contemplation Satan enuying me this happinesse interrupts me by the malice of an importunate Aduersarie Twelue yeares agoe I wrote a little Apologeticall Letter for the Mariage of persons Ecclesiasticall and now thus late when I had almost forgot that I had written it a moody Masse-priest drops out a tedious and virulent Refutation thorow my sides striking at the most Honorable and flourishing Clergie of the whole Christian world labouring not so much for my disgrace what would that auaile him as the dishonour and scorne of our holy Profession in the eyes of our people I could contemne it in silence if the Quarrell were onely mine Now my wrong cannot be distinguished from thousands God and his Church are ingaged in this cause which in my foile could not but sustaine losse neither may I be now silent with safetie without misconstruction Let this hand and Tongue bee no longer mine then they may serue my Master in Heauen and his Spouse on Earth That which I wrote in some three houres he hath answered in three quaternions of yeares and what I vvrote in three leaues hee hath answered in no fewer Pages then 380. Should I follow him in this proportion hee might after some Centuries of yeares expect an answer in Tostatus-hydes whose first word should be Quis legit haec Or if my patience would delay my Reply to the iust paces of his Answer this Volume of his vvould perhaps bee vanished into Grocers shops for waste Paper in thuris piperisue cucullos and vvould no more need answer then now it deserueth one But hearing of the insultation of some Popishly affected who gloried and triumphed in this ACHILLES pro Catholicis I addressed my selfe to the Worke vvith no little indignation and no lesse speed That my selfe-conceited Aduersarie and his seduced abettors may see how little a well-ordered Mariage is guilty of deadding our spirits or slacking our hands At the beginning of this Summers Progresse when it pleased his sacred Maiestie to take notice of this sorie Libell and to question vvith me concerning it I had not so much as read it ouer so newly vvas it come to my hands ere his happy returne be it spoken to the onely glory of him that inabled me I had not only finished this Answer but twice written it ouer with my owne hand and yet made this but the recreation of the weightier businesse of my Calling which now did more then ordinarily vrgeme It was my purpose to haue answered as beseemeth the person
with these that it could not stay the time of the common deliuerie Needs must they be notorious falshoods that are thus singled out from the rest Let them appeare in their owne shapes vgly doubtlesse and prodigious The first is Ex Decad. Ep. 3. Epist 5. Reckoned out of Pappus his Enumeration My peace of Rome makes vp 103. That most shamelesse assertion that Bellarmine vnder his owne hand acknowledges 237. Contrarieties of Doctrine amongst his Catholikes Could the man but haue patience he should finde aboue three hundred What sayes my Detector to this He hath not seene the seuerals yet like a braue man at Armes he professes to kill his enemie ere he can appeare and tels vs those 237 Contrarieties are nothing but 237 lyes in one assertion That there are in them so many vntruths I easily grant for in Contradictions one part must needs be false And Truth is but single They are vntruths then lyes are too broad a word but their owne My assertion shall onely iustifie that they are told let him take care for the rest Obiect But they are not in points belonging to Faith and Religion only in matters vndecided and disputable The sequell shall try that shift Why doe wee forestall our Reader Sol. Who knowes not that there cannot be so many points fundamentall Let him take them as they are I aggrauate nothing It is but onely in such light chaffe as this In the number and extent of Bookes Canonicall wherein Driedo Erasmus Genebrard Caietan Sixtus Senensis are acknowledged to oppose the rest In the Popes infallibilitie of iudgement wherein Gerson Almayne Pope Adrian Eckius Hosius Pichius Waldensis are at quarrell In the reach and originall of spirituall iurisdiction wherein Abulensis Turrecremata Fran. à Victoria Alphonsus de Castro c. proclaime to differ what should I instance in more It is but in the Popes power in Temporalities in the inerrablenesse of Councels whether particular confirmed by the Pope or Generall in the authoritie of Councels aboue Popes in the force of Vowes in the worship due to Images and the like These and such other are the slight Trifles since all cannot be weightie impertinent to faith wherein the Romish Doctors varie Neither doth my assertion of their discord gall him more then of our Vnity O the forehead of Heretikes I said that we in our Church differ onely in Ceremonies they in substance Let him giue leaue to the contra-diuision of these two and I will take leaue to maintaine the indiuision of the Church of England in the dogmaticall points of Faith This boldnesse together with my eminent ignorance makes him admire the scarcitie of learned men in our Countrey that could finde no better Doctors to send to Dort-Conference then Master HALL To your griefe Sir it was a Synode and that noble and celebrious Neither was it out of want that your silly Aduersarie was sent thither This happy Iland which hath no blemish but that it yeelds such Vipers as your selfe abounds as you too well know with store of incomparable Diuines such as may set your Rome to schoole So as the Messenger of Pyrrhus long since called your Italy a Countrey of Kings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Egypt was wont to be called the Countrey of Physicians so may this blessed Iland of ours iustly merit the title of The Region of DIVINES For me I can bee content to bee base enough in mine owne eyes but if my disparagement shall redound to my betters I dare tell him it is my comfort that I was sent thither by a iudgement no lesse infallible then of Paul the Fift Let himselfe or any of his Eaues-dropping companions to whom that place stood open say wherein I shamed those that sent me It was my iust griefe that the necessitie of my health Necessitate propellente proditie est ea tacere quae quis fluâ—â—â—e perfecerit Chrysost in ill vtinam toter assetis c. yea of my life called me off immaturely but since either death or departure must be yeelded to others shall iudge whether I went away more laden with infirmitie then how-euer vnworthy with approbation But that second lye of mine is so loud that all my Brethren of Dort must heare it and they which were lately the Witnesses of my sinceritie gracing mee with the deare Testimonie of their approofe are now made the Iudges of my impudencie What monster of falshood will come forth In my censure of Trauell glancing at the Iesuiticall bragge of their Indian Miracles whereat their very friends make sport I charge Cardinall Bellarmine for an auoucher of these Cozenages who dares auerre that his fellow Xauier not onely healed the Deafe Dumbe and Blinde but raised the Dead to which I adde whiles his Brother Acosta after many yeares spent in those parts can pull him by the sleeue and tell him in his eare so loud that all the World may heare Prodigia nulla producimus This is my Indictment Let me come to my Tryall Cast me if ye can ye reuerend heads I craue no fauour Where lyes this so lewd lye and malicious abuse That Bellarmine sayes thus of the Iesuite Xauier is not denyed That Acosta sayes thus of himselfe and his fellow Iesuites is granted The first lye yet is Acosta was neuer in the East-Indies at all nor Xauier in the West and how then could Acosta spend many yeares in those parts A perilous Plea Who euer I beseech you mentioned either East or West I spake of the Indies in common Bell de notis Eccles l. 4. c. 14. so did his Bellarmine from whom I cited this Claruit etiam in Indiis omni genere miraculorum c. Here is not one of the Indies mentioned but both or either If both liued in the Indies though not in one Towne in one Country in one Indie wherein haue I offended whiles speaking of the Indies in generall I said that Xauier and Acosta liued there Yet this is one lye he saith and that so long a one as that it reacheth as farre as it is from the East to the West from the Artick to the Antarctick Pole wherein I doubt not but your reuerences wil easily marke the skill of this learned Cosmographer Some parts of those instanced Indies differ not so farre not to speake of the small strait of Anian the mentioned Region of Mexico is not aboue fourescore degrees from Iapan Either your construction must fauour him or else this must goe into the Booke of ouer-sights The second lye is that Acosta pulled Bellarmine by the sleeue in this assertion as if hee denyed those Easterne Miracles which he elsewhere confesseth Indeed this sawcinesse were dangerous The red Hat you say is fellow to a Crowne But shall I confesse where I erred My dull head could not conceiue that God should be the God of the Mountains and not of the Valleys Of the East Indies not of the West and yet be the Iesuites God in both
was such reiteration of the same Law shewes the opposition which it still found in the Church and the preuailing vse of the contrary practice The Epistle of Pope Gregory the Third to the Clergie of Bauaria Refut p. 243. which giues that disiunct charge Of either liuing chastely or marying a Wife whom they may not diuorce is no where forsooth extant because he finds it not in his Binius or Baronius as if no water had gone beside their Mill and here I am threatned with the Cornelian Law for forgerie no lesse crime To auoid the perill whereof let my far seene Detector turne to the Bauarian Annals of * * Auent Boyorum Annot. l. 3. Auentine in the third Booke there he shall finde it An Epistle sent to Viuilus and the other Clergie of Bauaria by the hands of Martinian George Dorotheus a Bishop Priest Deacon with this expresse disiunction Aut castè vinat aut vxorem ducat c. That which he brings from the successor of this Gregory Refut p. 244. Zacharias shewes what his Pope wished when he had gotten better footing in Germany but the successe makes for vs for B. Boniface either neuer durst or at least neuer did vrge these Rules to his Germans So I hope his mouth is stopt for my forged Testimonie of his Gregory which could not in his conceit be other because he neuer saw it peepe forth before this in other mens bookes Ywis nothing euer lookt forth of the Presse that escaped that bookish eye witnesse the next passage which if his Superiors could haue had the leisure to haue viewed they had blushed at their Champion This charge of Gregory I said was according to that rule of Clerkes cited from Isidore Refut p. 245. and renued in the Councell of Mentz but by our iuggling Aduersaries clipped in the recitall Here the man cryes out as before of forgery so now of ignorance telling his Readers that I haue onely taken this vpon trust from another mans note-booke Reader by this iudge of the spirit of my Detractor It is true Isidore wrote no Booke of this title But in the second Booke of his Ecclesiasticall Offices hee makes the title of his second Chapter De Regulis Clericorum Of the Rules of Clerkes From this Chapter I cite a confessed passage and am thus censured whereas the Councell of Mentz cites it by this very stile Sicut in Regulâ Clericorum dictum est As it is said in the Rule of Clerkes Is it simplicitie that he knowes not this title of Isidore or maliciousnesse that he conceales it One of them is vnauoidable It is cleere then to his shame if he haue any that the testimonie is aright cited and is it lesse cleere that it is maymed and cut off by the hams in their Moguntine Councell Conc. Mogunt 1. Compare the places the fraud shall be manifest That Councell in the tenth Chapter professes to transcribe verbatim the words of Isidore in the forecited Tract and vvhere Isidore saith Castimoniam inniolati corporis perpetuò conseruare studeant aut certè vnius matrimonii vinculo foederentur Let them liue chast or marry but one Their good Clerkes haue vtterly left out the latter clause and make Isidore charge his Clerkes with perpetuall continencie Let them liue chast He that denies this let him deny that there is a Sunne in the Heauen or light in that Sunne what need I say more Let the bookes speake Here my Refuter doth so shuffle and cut that any man may see hee speakes against his owne heart for to omit his strained misse-interpretation of Isidore since we now contend not of the sense but of the citation how poorely doth hee salue vp the credit of his Moguntine Fathers Refut p. 246. 249. whiles hee saith Isidore spake in generall the Fathers in that Councell more strictly when hee that hath but one halfe of an eye may see that both speake in one latitude of the same persons Those Fathers giuing the same title to that Chapter and professing to follow the Letters and Syllables of Isidore both name onely Clericos in that rule without distinction Away then with this gracelesse facing of wilfull frauds in your faithlesse Secretaries which haue also fetcht two Canons out of Carthage to Wormes and learne to be ashamed of your grosse falsifications and iniurious expurgations else doubtlesse the World will be ashamed of you SECT II. Refut p. 252. to 28◠I Did but name Huldericus his Epistle in mine as a witnesse not as the foundation of my cause my Refuter spends but one and thirty whole Pages vpon him how else should he haue made a Volume In all this what sayes he Little in many vvords and the same words thrice ouer for fayling And first he wonders at my extreame prodigality of credit and serednesse of conscience in citing an Epistle so conuicted by Bellarmine Baronius Eckius Faber Fitz-Simons the Iesuite and others Why doth hee not wonder that the Moone will keep her pace in the skie whiles so many Dogs barke at her below When these Proctors of Rome haue said their worst there is more true authority in the very face of this Letter and better Arguments in the body of it then in an hundred Decretal Epistles which he adoreth Let the World wonder rather at his shamelesnesse who relating the occasion of this fable as he termes it faines it to be only a Lutheran fiction to couer their incestuous mariages whereas their owne Cardinall Aeneas Syluius almost two hundred yeares agoe mentions it and reports the argument of it whereas it is yet extant as Illiricus in the Libraries of Germany whereas Hedio found an ancient copy of it in Holland and our Iohn Bale Archbishop Parket B. Iewell Io. Foxe had a copie of it remarkable for reuerend Antiquity in aged Parchment here in England which I hope to haue the meanes to produce Whereas lastly the very stile importeth age As well may hee question all the Records of their Vatican all report of Histories all Histories of Times He that would doubt whether such an Epistle were written may as well doubt whether Pope Zachary wrote to B. Boniface in Germany a direction when to eat bacon may doubt whether Paul the fift wrote to his English Catholikes to perswade them not to swear they would be good subiects may doubt whether Spider catcher corner-creeper C.E. Pseudo Catholike Priest wrote a scurrilous Letter of aboue two quire of paper in a twelue-yeares answer to three leaues of I. H. It is not more sure that there is a Rome or that Gregory and Nicolas sate there then that such an Epistle was written thither aboue seuen hundred yeres agoe It was extant of old before euer those Lutheran quarrels were hatched Let him therefore goe fish for Frogs in the Pond of his Gregory whiles he deriues thence the vaine pleas of improbability If there were differences in relating the circumstances of that story as I