6â— de leg cap. 1. upon the will and intention of the lawmaker which is the soule of the law the substance and force of the law doth chiâ—fly depend therefore it by any meanes the will of the lawmaker may be knowne according to it especially we must understand the words of the law But the will of the lawmaker is sufficiently knowne concerning this oath to make it apparently unlawfull for any Catholique to take as appeareth by the words of King Iames of blessed memory saying in his Premonition pag. 9. and in his Apology for the oath pag. 2. and 9. that by the oath of Allegiance he intended to demand of his subjects nothing else but a profession of that temporall Allegiance and civill obedience which all subjects by the law of God and nature doe owe to their lawfull Prince c. For as the Oath of Supremacie saith he was devised for putting a difference betweene Papists and them of our profession So was the oath of Allegiance ordained for making a difference between the civilly obedient Papists and the perverse disciples of the Powder treason by which words it appeareth that King Iames held both the law and the law maker intended by the oath of Supremacie to put a difference betweene Papists and Protestants and that no Papist would take that oath wherein the Jurisdiction of the Pope was intended to be abjured Ergo the said oath of Supremacie is to be interpreted accordingly all doubtfulnesse of words set aside and consequenter unlawfull for any Catholique to take To the Major of which Objection I answer first granting the same Secondly with a distinction that the intentions of the law and law maker are to bee sought when they interpret the law in a truer sense then the plaine words doe as they lie otherwise not lest it want veritie To Suarez I answer that himselfe saith in the place before cited that if at any time the propertie of the words of an oath should induce any injustice or like absurditie concerning the minde or meaning of the lawmaker they must be drawne to a sense although improper wherein the law may be just and reasonable for this is presumed to be the minde of the law maker as it hath beene declared by many lawes in F. tit de lege thus Suarez So that although there were in the words of this oath divers significations impropper and unusuall yet in the opinion of Suarez it might be taken and the words interpreted in the truest sense abstracting from the reall intention of the law maker how much more then say I the words being not improper or unusuall but according to the intention of the law and law maker may they be taken in the more favourable sence which may make the law to be just and reasonable See for this doctrine Can. Cum tu de testibus cap. 16. Can. ad nostram de Iurejurando cap. 21. et de regulis â—â—ris in 6. reg 49. in paenis leg Benignius F. de leg Leg. In ambigua ibidem Hence it followeth first out of the doctrine of the said Suarez that although the words and sentences contained in this oath being considered barely by themselves and without due circumstances to wit the intention of the law and lawmaker and to what end and purpose the sâ—id oath was framed may seeme to some doubtfull and ambiguous although to me they seeme not so that is not cleare and morally certaine and so for one to sweare them in that doubtfull sence were to expose himselfe to danger of perjurie yet considering as I have said that such doubtfull words are to be taken in the more favourable sense and which maketh the law to be just and reasonable and to contain no falshood or injustice If any one sweare those words which of themselves are doubtfull in no doubtfull sense but in a true and determinate sense and wherein they are not doubtfull but cleere and morally certaine there is no danger of perjurie at all It may seeme to follow secondly out of the aforesaid doctrine that such as tooke the oath of Supremacie in King Henry the eighth dayes which rather then those famous and glorious men Sir Thomas Moore and Bishop Fisher would take they worthily chose to die were not to be condemned of perjurie because it might be supposed that they being learned Bishops and Noblemen knowing what belonged to an oath did draw the same to some improper sense which ought to have beene the intention of the aforesaid King to make the law just as if they should have sworne the then King Head or chiefe of the Church of his countrey for that he was Sovereigne Lord and ruler of both persons Spirituall and Temporall all sorts being bound to obey his lawfull civill lawes and commandements And so in this sense although it be a kinde of improper speech every King is Head of the Clergy and all others of his owne Countrey Or peradventure they might sweare him Supreame Head of the Church of England that is Chiefe of the congregation of beleevers within his dominions for so in our language we commonly say him to be the head of a Colledge Court or Citie that is the chiefe and him to be chiefe who is supreame therein The Church being then taken by all Divines for a congregation of men Why might not King Henrie be improperly sworne in the opinion of Suarez Head of the then congregation in England So that what Sir Thomas Moore lawfully and piously refused with relation to the intention of the aforesaid King others might without perjurie take with relation to the law of God abstracting from all unlawfull intentions to wit that every oath be just and reasonable as being to be taken in Veritie Iustice and Iudgement and so what was unlawfull in a proper sence might at lest be free from Perjurie in an improper Thus understanding the first branch and the second and third in the same sence before delivered they might peradventure be excused as I have said from perjurie But never from sinne For considering the state of England in those dayes and the absolute intention of the King which well knowne to the whole world was to be sworne Supreame Head of the Catholique Church Catholique religion still here remaining as I have said his oath was as much different from this now oath of Supremacie as darknesse from light For by this the Queene claimed not the Supremacie granted by Christ to Saint Peter as did her father but onely to be Supreame governour of a Church out of which she would not onely discard the Pope but likewise roote out all Catholique religion contrary to her fathers minde as I have shewed so that the question in the said Kings dayes was about an Article of faith viz. Whether the Supremacie were granted by God to the King or to the Pope Which Article they were bound with losse of their lives to have professed being called thereunto for then did occurre the
partialitie and then they should see whether having this meane of beliefe in a balanced judgement they would attribute their heresies to Gods revelation and deny his revelation to Orthodoxe Articles or no. To the authoritie of St. Thomas I answer that he meaneth such as attribute heresies quatenus tales to Gods revelation and deny his revelation to Orthodox Articles quâ tales as Arch-hereticks did in this reduplicative sense to be blasphemers But not such as take Scripture for the revealed word of God and misunderstand the same in a specificative sense through their own ignorance or infirmitie to be blasphemers Neither did St. Thomas or any other temperate and solid Divine ever inteâ—d to say It may be here first objected that Catholiques in the beginning of Queene Elizabeths Raigne went to Church and so did likewise the Catholiques in Scotland and they were all in a short time subverted Ergo there is danger of subversion in going to Church I deny the later part of the antecedent and say that while the plot of Recusancie was working there was a command got upon the former suggestions that no Catholiques should goe to the Protestant Church So by barring them of their Christian libertie by degrees to bring in Recusancie as a pretended signe betweene a good Christian and a bad Which some few Catholiques then beleeving themselves bound to obey as indeed they were not but might as well withall reverence and obedience have beseeched the Pope to have recalled his command refused the Church Others and those the most part of the kingdome as appeares by the afore Author of the Answer to the Libell of Justice cap. 8. pag. 172. 182. fearing the penalties of the said Statutes did not refuse but continued to goe to Church who being neglected by Priests being but a few then in England and those of most power being for the said recusancy as having no spirituall comfort or instructions in what sense they might truely and lawfully doe what they did to avoyd the said penalties of the Law and likewise thinking that those Priests thought them to doe ill in what themselves found no hurt they dyed as they lived But whether in Protestant tenents or Catholique or whether they would not have dyed Catholiques if they had had helpe especially such as lived before in Queene Maries time I present to any wise and pious mans judgement truly considering the state of those times And afterwards their children being still neglected upon this point of Recusancy and living in ignorance ingendred the Protestant Reâ—igion now on foot So that the cause of their falling was not their subversion as may be proved by witnesses yet alive but over indiscreet zeale in Priests the chiefest heads of whom ayming as is evident at a temporall end neglecting and rejecting such as would not obey their unreasonable command and in the same manner it hapneth with Catholiques that now goe to Church in these dangerous times Who going to Church only to save themselves from ruine and being rejected as judged to be fallen from the true faith by ignorant Priests and therefore not looked after with any Christian instructions or admonitions faine themselves Protestants rather then they will bee thought to live against their conscience Whence I may truely say and prove by the Authour last before cited who confesseth that in the thirteenth yeere of Queen Elizabeths reigne the third part of this Kingdome at least was Catholique that since the fall of Religion in England by this onely Cheate of recusancie tenne soules have beene lost for one gained which is both lamentable and damnable to those that were the first Authors of the same As for the Scots their fall was neither subversion or Recusancie which was never generally admitted because not covertly procured by the Clergie of that Kingdome but want of Priests to administer the Sacraments and give them other spirituall comfort who seeing the soyle not so fertile as ours and the lawes more severe those few that were rather chose to converse on the Northern borders of England then in their owne Countrey And Catholiques there seeing themselves destitute of all spirituall comfort went to Church to save their inferiour portion from ruine who if they had had but plenty or sufficiencie of priests to have instructed them I doubt not but they would have still remained Catholiques And it had been farre more easie so to have conserved them then fallen now to convert them And thus came the bane of Catholique religion into both Kingdomes which are like so to continue remedilesse unlesse they be assisted by Gods infinite and miraculous power It may be objected secondly that divers Popes as Paul the fourth Pius the fifth both the last Gregories Sixtus Clement and Paul the fifth granted to priests their faculties with an intention that they should administer the Sacraments to onely such as abstained from Protestant Churches I answer that it is so said by R. P. but whether it be so in truth or no I know not peradventure such faculties might be granted to such as received them from the aforesaid suggestors hands and to none others Neither did I ever see any faculties as yet so limited nor I hope ever shall For although the aforesaid Popes might be inclined to the said suggestors tribe so admit of their suggestions thinking them to proceed from zeale and not from hypocrisie who likewise thought their pretenses holy and what a Christian like thing it was to suffer persecution for Gods sake and what a number of Martyrs were made in England sanguinem martyrum esse semen Ecclesiae that the blood of the Martyrs was the seed of the Church Further what an abominable people Protestants were Idolaters blasphemous heretiques subversive of soules and many other the like exaggerating speeches upon which any Pope living unlesse he had foreknowne their drift would have done the like Whereas certainly had they but made known the true State of England in those dayes and sought the good of souls and not themselves in truth they ought to have done the said Popes would never have done as they did to us more then to the Scots Hollanders Germans and other nations by subjecting us and all posteritie by this device of Recusancie to all misery and slavery Neither hath his Holinesse that now is ever declared any such thing for I perceive that he better knowing by experience the said suggestors tribe and their plots with their moth-like dealings in most Kingdomes will be advised hence forward how he granteth any more Rescripts or limiteth any faculties upon their importune suggestions As for our Martyrs of England I hope them truely Martyrs because they died not so much for recusancie as for Religion and a good conscience although that might be a meanes to bring them to their death sooner then otherwise Yet I dare not call all of them Saints untill the holy Church doth bid me as having approved of their miracles but most of them I
language adiew or farewell 3. Or the meaning of them may be that which Tremâ—lius and Iunius by comparing this text 2 Kings 5.19 with the 1 Samuel 1.17 collect Quieto animâ— esto ne sis sollicitus de istis rebus quae nihil ad pacem conscientiae tuae faciunt sed potius illâ—m turbaturae sint Deum in te provocaturae Be at peace and take no thought of these things which will nothing conduct to the peace of thy conscience but rather trouble it and provoke the wrath of God against thee 〈◊〉 fourthly the words may carry this sense now thou haâ—t that thou â—â—â—nest for thou art cleansed of thy lâ—prosie Goe home in peace God send thee a prosperous journey for the thing thou wâ—ttest of shall never 〈◊〉 thee for thy Master shall never requiâ—e any such service of thee as to wait on him to his Chappell to worship Rimmon And fifthly what if there be an â—nallage temporis very usuall in the Hebrew Aâ—l mists of obscuritie be taken away if we translate the words thus The Lord be mercifull to thy servant for that when my Master went into the house of Rimmon and leaned on my hand I boweâ— my selfe in the house of Rimmon Howsoever the Prophets valediction Goe â—n peace no more prooveth any approbation of Naamans bowing in the house of Rimmon then of his other demand vers 17. namely Of two Mules load of the earth of the land of Israel and whatsoever Naamans conceit was in iâ— whether he imagined there were any holinesse or vertue in that earth as the inhabitants of Colubraria as Pomponius Mela writeth beleeved that the earth of the neighbour Island Ebusitana was a sovereigne remedie against those serpents wherewith they were infested or whether he meant to make an altar of that earth it is not likely the Prophet would incourage him by his approbation to load his Mules with that earth the former reason being superstitious the latter unwarrantable for they were to sacrifice only in the place which the Lord God should appoint and if the Prophets words carry no approbation but have some other meaning the edge of the Priests argument for assistance at Idol worship is quite dulled p So indeed Hurtado de Mendoza and others by him cited But as the Scriptures saith of Nabal a foole is his name and folly is in him so we may truely say here that Mendoza is Mendosus and Mendax too both faultie and false for Christ who is the truth himselfe teacheth us that our life is better lost to save it then saved to losse Matth. 16.25 he saveth it to losse who saveth it by denying his Saviour and he looseth it to his advantage who looseth it for the testimonie of the Gospell for he shall exchange the losse of a miserable temporall life with blessed immortalitie or immortall blisse If men when they are in danger of death may dissemble their Religion what shall become of the glory of Confessours and crowne of Martyrs At such a time to use the habit and ceremonies of a false law saie of Mahomets or the Persians or the Brachmans or the West Indians who do all their devotions professedly to the Devill himselfe whom they take to be God is it not to deny Christ in our habit and in our actions though not in our words and professions q Surely the Roman Catholiques in England must needs be thought to suffer grievous persecution when as the authour of the answer to the libell of justice cited by this Priest pag. 9. and 10. so much delighteth in it that he would not have a toleration of Catholikes in England if he might and to aske it of God saith he were to aske we know not what for that persecution is better O medicina gravis The truth is the little finger of Queene Mary was heavier against Protestants then Queene Elizabeth her whole loynes against Popish Recusants Neither in her reigne noâ— in the reigne of King Iames nor of our present Sovereigne was any Papist put to death meerely for his conscience but either for some treasonable pâ—actise or violation of some Statute Law the penaltie whereof is Death See pag. 4. G. r The distinction of veniall and mortall sinnes Tostatus learned in Peter Lumbards schoole not in Christs may teach but not truely For although some sinnes may be tearmed veniall comparatè in respect of others that are of a deeper die and so lesse in their owne nature pardonable and excuseable or not at all as the sinne against the holy Ghost and though all sinnes of the â—leâ—t are veniall through grace or quo ad eventum yet there are no sinnes which in their owne nature are not mortall For all sinnes are transgressions of the eternall law and in them the infinite Majestie of God is some waies sligâ—ted and therefore Saint Hieromes generall conclusion is true ep ad Celantiam omne quod agimus omne quod loquimur aut de angustâ viâ est quae tendit ad vitam aut de latâ quâ imus ad mortem What soever we do whatsoever we speake either appertaines to the narrow Way whâ—reby we enter into life or to the broad way which is the roade to death and in his second booke against the Pelagians si ira et sermonis iniuria atque interdum iocus iudicio concilioque et gehennae ignibus delegatur quid merebitur turpium rerum appetitio if unadvised anger and a contumelious word bring us in danger of a iudgement and a councel and hell fire what shall the desire of filthy things deserve and who can say his heart is cleane from all these To make light of sinne aggravateth our conscience even those Naevuli leves aspergines pulviseuli prolapsiunculae peccadiliâ—es as the Romanisâ—s stile veniall sinnes either are transgressions of the law of God or not if they are not transgressions of the law they are no sinnes at all for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all sinne is the transgression of the law 1 Iohn 3.4 or as the Schooles â—ut of Saint Augustine define peccatum est dictum factum vel concupitum contra legem aeternam every sinne is a desire word or deed against the eternall law and if veniall sinnes be transgressions of this law their punishment is death For the soule that sinneth shall die Ezech. 18.4 and the sting of death is sinne 1 Cor. 15.56 and the wages of sinne is death Rom. 6.23 These cleare and evident Texts of holy Scâ—ipture so dazled the eyes of three of their sharpe sighted Schoolemen that they not onely left the common tract of other popish Divines as Bellarmine minceth the matter l. 1. de amiss grat et stat pec c. 4. non nihil a communi theologorum sententiâ deflexerunt but went in the direct way of the reformed Doctours these Schoole men are Gerson 3. part Theolog. tract de vit spirit sect 1ª Iacobus Almaine Opusc. tract 3. c. 20. Iohannes Episcopus Roffensis
and Supremacie Matth. 10.16 Be ye wise as Serpents and Simple as Doves LONDON Printed by I. L. for Nicholas Bourne at the South entrance to the Royall Exchange 1642. A Preface to the Reader Gentle Reader I Am to write of a point of Controversie wherein I know that I shall undergoe the censure of divers sorts of people yea amaze some at the strangenesse of the thing Yet my intention being good as tending to the safeguard as well of souls as bodies of all and I my selfe being constrained by a kinde of naturall necessitie thereto as suffering much not only by the severitie of the Laws for my Religion which is the least but likewise both spiritually and temporally by the malice and treachery of some evill spirits instigating others to take advantage by Religion doe hope to finde approbation therein at least of the wiser sort Although I cannot see but why in reason not pretending the least prejudice to Religion but rather the good of Gods Church as I shall make appeare the weakest sort of Catholiques should not be likewise pleased therewith For although Religion as it is taken for Christian beliefe ought of every man to be professed according to St. Thomas Aquinas and other Doctors 2a. 2ae q. 3. at two particular times viz. when and as often as the glory of God shall conduce therunto or the spirituall good of our neighbour shall be either conserved or augmented thereby grounding themselves upon the words of our Saviour Matth. 10.32 Qui me confessus fuerit coram hominibus confitebor ego eum coram patre meo qui in caelis est Every one that shall confesse me before men I also will confesse him before my Father which is in heaven Yet it is not necessary to salvation that any man at all times and in all places doe confesse his Religion without necessitie Whence if a man should goe out into the Market place and cry himselfe to be of such and such a Religion or should write upon the frontispice of his house in a countrey contrary to his Religion here liveth a Christian a Protestant or Catholike his act would be thought so farre from vertue or religion as that it would be rather deemed presumption or the height of indiscretion Hence it is that although a Catholike be bound under paine of damnation to professe his religion in the twice before assigned yet he is not bound to professe a Recusancy of a thing of its own nature indifferent thereby at all times and in all places to discover his Religion for this were as much in effect as to cry himselfe over the whole kingdome or to write over his doore that he were A Catholike or at least some Sectary For as I shall hereafter say Recusancy is common both to Catholikes Brownists and other Sectaries different in opinion from Protestants which would be an occasion to call himselfe in question for the Religion he professeth whence I may rightly describe the Recusancy of Catholikes no otherwise then to be an indiscreet discovery of a mans Religion without necessitie or obligation whereby he makes himselfe lyable to the penall laws of England for not going to Church Which was brought first amongst them into England by a certaine company of men for temporall ends procured covertly and by indirect means from twelve Fathers of the Councell of Trent and certaine Popes upon false suggestions to the ruine of many men That I proove what I have said it is necessary that I relate the manner how it was brought in In the beginning of Queen Elizabeths reign and the alteration of Religion in England Catholikes went to Church to conforme themselves to the State as they did in K. Edward the sixths time yet privately kept to themselves the exercise of their owne Religion Which some Priests perceiving not convenient for the propagation of their owne family then newly hatched wrought in the Councel of Trent that twelve Fathers of the said Councel not all Bishops yet favourers of the said family might be selected to declare to English Catholikes upon these suggestions following viz. that the Protestants of England were idolatrous and blasphemous hereticks hating God and his Church that their commerce especially at Church would be an occasion of the subversion and ruine of their soules denying and betraying of the true faith giving of scandall to men of tender conscience as breaking that signe which was distinctive betweene the people of God and not his people that it was altogether unlawfull for them to goe any longer to the Protestant Church as appeareth by the words of the said declaration which if I had by me I would willingly have here inserted This declaration being thus obtained they possessed certain Popes to wit Paul the fourth Pius the the fifth the two last Gregories Sixtus Clement and Paul the fifth so strongly with the same and the aforesaid suggestions that the said Popes likewise declared as it is said by certaine rescripts which I never yet could see their going to Church to be likewise unlawfull Which said suggestions had they beene or were they true I should likewise say and grant it unlawfull but not being true as I shall hereafter shew the common opinion of Divines in this point is to be followed to wit that it is a thing indifferent and therefore may be lawfull to frequent the Churches of Schismaticks Now to prove what I have said that it was first brought in by a certaine company of men It is evident in it selfe by the carriage of the businesse for it is altogether improbable that one mans authoritie to wit Doctor Sanders who is named to be the onely Agent herein a man alwaies ill relished in our state and therefore in this point to be esteemed partiall could select so many Fathers out of the said Councel in a matter of such importance upon his owne bare suggestion or that the said Fathers would or ought to have declared the same unlesse they had been made beleeve that the aforesaid suggestions were true in the common opinion of most of the Priests then in our kingdome That it was wrought for temporall ends by the said company the event shewes the same for there is none that have got or do get thereby but onely the said company as appeares by their abundant treasure and rich Colledges for Recusancie begets persecution and persecution almes deeds that God may assist the afflicted in their distresses And by this Recusancie great mens children can get no learning or science within this kingdome but must be sent beyond the Seas each at twentie five or thirtie pound per annum by which their said family was and is propagated and their heape increased Further the politicall invention of recusancie was so sweet and pleasing by reason of the great gaine which it brought that one of the said company Authour of the answer to the libell of Justice all besmeared with wonted pietie so
much delighteth in tribulation which ariseth by this recusancie that he would not a toleration of Catholike religion in England if he might Although in his answer to the Authour of the said libell he saith as knowing him not able to procure of Queene Elizabeth and the State a toleration for Catholikes that upon certaine conditions of his he would accept of the same but when he speakes from his heart of the thing it selfe he saith in his said Book cap. 9. pag. 216. That it is such as to aske it of God were to aske we know not what for that persecution is better That the said declaration and Popes rescripts were got by the aforesaid suggestions appears by the writings themselves as they are cited and further by one R. P. of the same family who wrote a booke printed Anno 1607. Contra Anonymum against a man without name Doctor Wright that it was not lawfull to frequent Churches of heretikes where promiscuously he relates all the aforesaid suggestions as the ground of his opinion and bringeth Cardinall Bellarmine and Baronius with eight others most of them of the same Schoole for the approbation of his case Which case as he puts it I thinke any man living would likewise have approved That these men above others were so laborious and serious for this recusancie appeares in that whosoever would oppose them were presently blasted for heretikes or at least fallen men insomuch that Azorius who wrote that it was lawfull for a Catholike to goe to the Church of Schismaticks was so troubled by the importunitie of these suggestions that he was constrained through feare that that part of his family should have suffered some great temporall detriment by his judicious writing as they say to recant his opinion and hold it not lawfull in our case of England See the said booke pag. 106. by all which any man may easily perceive that the aforesaid company were the busie-bodies and that for their owne ends as I have said upon the aforesaid grounds otherwise why should they more then others have beene so importune as to perswade yea compel Azorius who not perceiving under the species of piety their rare politicall drift wrote a common opinion to the whole world to denie that common opinion to have place in England That the foresaid Suggestions were and are false it is certaine by experience to any that know the state of the Protestant Church of England and that to the ruine of soules as shall be proved in the question following That it was procured covertly and by indirect meanes appeares in that onely twelve Fathers were chosen and the whole Corps of the Councell left out and amongst the rest the Bishop of Worcester there then present who knowing better the State and affaires of our Countrey then all the rest it seemes to me that he might have beene one of the twelve whose authoritie would have given more satisfaction to this point to our countrey then all the other selected But it should seeme that it was declared without any debate as a matter of no great importance although it seemeth to my weakenesse a matter of as great weight as any that was then agitated in the said Councel and therefore to leave a whole Councel in so weighty a matter that concerned the affaires of a whole Kingdome in point of Religion and where we might have had an infallibilitie and to adhere to twelve men fallible by suggestion without any debate or dispute in my judgement cannot be without great suspition of sinister proceedings Partly therefore supposing and partly intending further to prove the foresaid suggestions to be false and consequently the said Councel and Popes to hâ—ve beene abused he will indevour to examine the truth of the matter it selfe according to the principles of Divinitie within the bounds of the Catholike Church who wisheth all happinesse and prosperitie aswell to the said Church as to all the distressed members of the same with as much brevitie as may be in the insuing question A SAFEGARD FROM Shipwracke to a Prudent Catholique Question Whether it be lawfull for a Catholique to go to the Protestant Church I Answer it to be lawfull for him who doth it without a doubtfull conscience or thought of sin which I say because if a man should do that which in it selfe is lawfull doubting or not being satisfied whether it be lawfull or no he would sin in doing the same because he would put himselfe in hazzard or danger of sin and as the Wise man saith Eccles. 3. Qui amat periculum peribit in eo He that loves danger shall perish in the same So he that thinks a thing which in it selfe is indifferent to be sinne and doth the same sinneth because such a man hath a will to doe the thing although it were sin and by reason of his sinfull will commits sin Otherwise as I have said before it is lawfull Which I prove first The thing in it selfe is not forbidden by any Law either by the Law of God or the Church Not by the Law of God for no place of holy Scripture can be shewed by which it is forbidden Nor by the Law of the Church for no Councell or Canon of the Church can be produced for the prohibition of the same Ergo it is lawfull It is secondly prooved by an example of holy Scripture Lib. 4. Reg. cap. 5. where Naaman the Syrian Prince is permitted to goe to the Idolatrous Temple Rimmon to waite upon the Syrian King there offering sacrifice Ergo a man may be permitted to go to the Protestant Churches where neither Idolatry is committed or any hurt done Againe by the examples of Ioseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus Joh. 19.38 39. who although they went to the Synagogue of Jews and so not apparent disciples of our Saviour yet they were his disciples in secret For it is there said that after the death of our Saviour Ioseph of Arimathea because he was a disciple of Jesus but secret for feare of the Jews desired Pilate c. Nicodemus also came he that at the first came to Iesus by night c. by which appeares that the Jews knew not of their Religion It is manifest likewise that all the Apostles as freely conversed in the Synagogues of Jews as out of the same when thereby they could best exercise their function and mission For the Rhemists in their annotations upon the 20 Chapter of the Acts vers 16. Confesse that notwithstanding the festivitie of Pentecost was established among Christians yet Saint Paul might hasten to the festivitie of the Jews Therefore as these holy men might goe to the Synagoue and reserve their Religion to themselves so may a Catholique to the Protestant Churches And indeed it is an essentiall ingredient to the Mission of all Apostolicall men to treate and converse with all men concerning salvation in all places best for their purpose It is prooved thirdly by Azorius tom 1. lib. 8. institut