Church and State then serue to edification c. Appeale pag. 42. 78. 80. Which speeches and the like whether doe they tend but to suppresse those Doctrines of the Gospell whereby God is most glorified and man most humbled shall we spare such When Policarpus met Marcion the hereticke casually and neglecting him was asked of him Dost thou not know vs He replyed I know thee for the Diuels eldest childe Such was the zeale of holy men in times past against not onely those that were Hereticks but hinderers of the truth The Apostle wished that those false teachers of legall righteousnesse were euen cut off which troubled the Church of Galatia Therefore what cause any faithfull Minister of Christ hath to vse sharpnesse of stile to seditious seducers and troublers of Church and State in so famous a Kingdome in so perilous a season too let any indifferent man iudge And consider iudicious Reader if we had not a King seasoned from his very cradle with the knowledge of the true faith of Christ hauing now growne vp therein to a goodly ripenesse in regard whereof we haue small cause to suspect his constancy herein iâ—to what danger were we and Gods religion brought when such kind of Ministers are not wanting to helpe forward the reerecting of the Romish Baal in our Land had they but a young Manasses to restore the Altars and Groues which the good King Ezechiah his Father had pulled downe But to conclude sith these two fore named Worthies worthy to be named againe the Reuerend Bishop of Chichester Dostor Carlton and the Worshipfull Maister Francis Rovs haue so learnedly and zealously confuted some materiall points in the Appeale which like expert archers making speciall choyse of for their marke they haue hit home although I could haue wished that they had with no lesse felicity coped with the rest of the materialls in the booke yet sith they haue ben pleased to leaue behind them some liberall gleanings yea some whole ricks of tares to be cut vp and carried away from Gods wheat field I will craue leaue to shew at least my good will in all hoping my defects will finde pardon of all them who though they can yet forbeare to make their best supply The blasphemer was to be stoned of the whole Congregation some hitting one part some another till he were beaten downe and buried vnder the heape Yet in this Impression the Plea reacheth no farther then the first part of the Appeale Which if it finde courteous intertainment the other part is forth comming and wants but time to helpe the slownesse of the Presse to bring it forth Farewell Thine in the Lord H. B. Good Reader correct these faults with thy pen with others of smaller note The rest are noted in the end of the booke Amend first then reade Page 7 line 19 reade scantling l. 28 r. Doctrines p. 51 l. 13. r. preuifion p. 52 l 6 r. â—ssâ—s p. 54. l. 21. r. 4. 5. l. 29 r. sâ—â—scos p. 82. l. 3 1. â—â—â—â—â—ude 10. l. 9 1. vn 〈◊〉 c. Whence l. 13 1. anima l. 24 1. prâ—â—â—ceth p. 83 l. 15 r. the beginnâ—ng p. 84. l. 35 1. into him p. 85 l. 24 r. quomodo p. 87 l 13 1. â—xecrated p. 91 l. 30 1 ground of hope l. 35 r. his Maiesties A PLEA TO AN APPEALE Asotus Babylonius Orthodoxus ASotus Master Babylonius you are well met Babylonius And you Master Asotus Asotus Sir I thanke you for your last good company at the Ordinary and especially for your both merry and learned discourse wherein among other passages you wittilie disciphered the nature of a Puritan that common opposite to vs both I was much delighted to heare you and haue often thought of you since and shall loue you the better for it for of all men I cannot away with these Puritans a precise sect crosse and contrary to all other men A man may not sweare an oath forsooth nor play the good fellow a little in drinking a cup or two more then needs for good fellowship-sake nor loue a wench and the like but wee must passe their most sharpe censure Nay hauing deeply waighed the matter I am perswaded that were it not for these Puritans wee and you should agree together as louing brethren and Countreymen Babylonius Are you aduised of that friend Asotus you haue hit the very nayle on the head and herein you discouer your wisdome and judgement For it were no hard matter I wis to reconcile you and mee and such as wee are as well in Religion and opinion as we are already in affection were it not for these make-bate Puritans And you haue well said in saying we and you for howsoeuer the Puritans both in England and beyond the seas I meane the Caluinists and Hugenots are called Protestants yet betweene them and vs Romane Catholicks there is a great Gulfe set so that there is no hope of reconciliation betweene vs. And indeed for those ciuill and good fellow Protestants whom I know you meane that hold of the Church of England and of the Doctrine of the Church for the prop and piller of their Faith there is great hope that they will ere long be reconciled to the holy mother Church of Rome for he that beleeueth as the Church beleeueth is not farre from the kingdome of God But these Puritans they will not acknowledge any rule of faith from the Church but are all for Scriptures Scriptures so that so long as they are of that minde there is no hope of reconciliation betweene vs and them vnlesse they will yeeld to this Manime That the Church is the Iudge and interpreter of the Scriptures which they most obstinately deny Asotus But by your leaue Master Babylonius I neuer vnderstood but that the Doctrine of the Church of England was all one with the Doctrine of the Scriptures as I euer haue ben taught Babylonius I will not take vpon me now to dispute that point but haue you not seene an excellent Booke set out of late by one of your most learned Ministers which he calls his Appeale to Caesar. Asotus I haue heard of it the Author is highly commended by some for a great Scholler but a great many on the other side and especially those we call Puritans doe very much condemne the booke saying it is written in the gall of bitternesse and with the spirit of sedition enough to set all in a combustion if his books should passe for currant Babylonius In the gall of bitternesse That was the doome of Saint Peter vpon Simon Magus but by such like puritanicall censures you may the better judge of the worthinesse of the booke which is both learnedly and wittily pend Asotus You say well I thinke neuer a whit the worse of the booke for the Puritans taxing of it nor the Author the lesse learned when you Master Babylonius sticke not so to commend him Babylonius I must needs ingenuously confesse that I like the booke the better
passe wee to the last Chapter touching the Synod of Dort It is but short wherein the Authour saith The Synod of Dort is not our rule And Priuate opinions no rule Doth he not herein say truely Orthodoxus Why then should his owne priuate peruerse opinions be reputed as the rule of the Church of England For it is true no doubt that no Synod or Councell much lesse any priuate mans opinion is the rule of our faith Yet all Synods and Councels so farre forth as their Decrees are grounded vpon the Scriptures we are to imbrace and reuerence But of all other passages in the Appealers Appeale I muse at none more then this his eleuating and slighting the Synod of Dort And what spirit trow we is that man of or possessed with that stands so much for the Councell of Trent and so little esteemes the Councell of Dort I wot well the Synod of Dort is an aduersary to his Arminian Pontifician opinions and therefore no maruaile if he beare it no great good will But considering next vnder God the prime and principall mouer of that Synod his late Excellent Maiestie of eternall memory yea how He promoued it what Princely and prouident care what liberall cost He was at to adorne the Synod with some of the choicest and solidest Diuines that He had in His Kingdome what a zealous desire Hee had by that meanes to quench those fiery flames of dissention blowne by the factious spirits of Inâ—endiaries which threatned the ruine of those neighbour reformed Churches the tayles of which smoking firebrands are not altogether quenched but begin to reuiue hauing for want of vent till now lyen smoathering euen in our Church of England the smoake whereof hath blinded a great many and now the flames threaten to burne moe what a religious care He tooke to establish true religion and to abolish that Arminian roote of bitternesse springing vp and spreading abroad wherewith many were defiled which one act of His Maiestie shall no lesse eternize His name then the most famous and vnparalleld actions Hee atchieued in all His Princely gouernment this I say strikes me with an exceeding wonderment that the Appealer would euer suffer himselfe so farre to be transported with the spirit of contradiction as to fall foule vpon such a learned Synod a Synod of Protestants a Synod of many reformed Churches and which if nought else might haue most moued him a Synod assembled managed concluded by the most auspicious Peace-making spirit zeale wel-wishes and prayers of His late Maiestie yea and to fill vp the measure of his all-daring hardinesse to presume to thrust this booke in the name of An Appeale vnder the protection of our most Excellent patrizing Caesar here I am at a stand What so to disrepute the Synod of Dort O spare it either speake not at all of it or reuerently and honorably at least for the thrice noble religious zealous louer of the truth King IAMES He that so honoured that Synod imbraced those orthodox conclusions of it as that He aduanced those to Ecclesiasticall honours whom Hee had selected and sent to represent the Church of England Which also by the way addes to my wonderment that the Appealer should and that vnder the name of the Church of England dare to oppose the Councell of Dort if he had considered that his late Excellent Maiestie did vnderstand no other but that all the conclusions of that Councell did consent with the Doctrines of the Church of England as also the representiue Church of England as they were of the number of the primest and actiuest Agents in that Synod so with the rest they were the first still in order who by their subscriptions sealed vp their vnanimous assent to all the Conclusions Or can the Appealer taxe the incomparable judgement of that famous King of ignorance either in the choise of that representatiue Church of England or in the state of the Doctrines of it Farre be it His Maiestie knew as well the true state of the Doctrine of the Church of England as the most and greatest Scholars in England that I may not disparadge his Excellency so much as to say He knew it better then the Appealer himselfe And if I might pin my faith vpon any mans sleeue or referre the judgment of the Doctrine of the Church of England to my one man I would haue chosen His Maiestie as the â—â—pire oracle of it before any man liuing And yet He that professed protested writ wrought studied liued and dyed in the maintenance of that one truth wherein by His auspicious vnanimity the Church of England and the Councell of Dort haue confented according to the rule of faith Gods word shall He He I say His sacred ashes be raysed vp againe and by an Appeale be vrged to recaut His former profession to reuerse His iudgment to cancell or to bâ—râ—â— His bookes which no antiquity no iniury of time no elementary flames shall euer be able to abolish I might better appeale to those who were so happy as dayly to heare the wisdome of that our Salomon euen at His ordinary repast They can testifie what zealous protestations He made for the truth and with what vehement derestation He had of the contrary As for instance how did He abominate those that writ de apostasia Sanctorum Which very title of Bertius His Maiestie often in His pious zeale professed His indignation against as a blasphemous doctrine And as in His vsuall and ordinary discourse at table and at other times He shewed His Princely diuine spirit in refuting and refelling all the vanities of Popery and Pelagian Arminianismo so at His death He protested His owne constancy and finall perseuerance in that truth which He had formerly professed All this I say duely waighed I am still in a muse what should imbolden infatuate rather the Appealer to insert any such passage as the depressing and deprizing the Synod of Dort in his Appeale Yet doing so he is not more guilty of ingratitude towards our late Caesar as also of ignorance that I may not say starke folly in addressing this his Appeale to our present Caesar. Doth not the Appealer remember that Hee is the Son the onely Son of such a Father Yea a Son of that naturall and pious affection to His Father as all can witnesse with me Hee might well be a Princely myrrour of filiall piety to many Sonnes whose naturall affection commonly descends rather then ascends Nor only the Sonne the onely Sonne the most naturally and graciously pious Sonne but the very viue and expresse image of such a Father inheriting not onely His Fathers Kingdomes Crownes but which is the Crowne of all and more precious then all His Kingdomes His vertues and graces His wisdome His iudgment and aboue all His religion yea His loue care and zeale in maintaining the same This religion Hee first suckt in with His Nurses milke therein also bred brought vp vnder a religious
it with my best strength courage and skill against the adversary of this grace who saith that the Child of God maâ— fall away totally and possibly also finally from grace and justification Which one Heresy overthroweth the whole tenure and truth of the Gospell it turneth vpside downe the very foundation of our salvation grounded vpon Gods eternall loue in Electing and Predestinating vs in Christ to Grace and Glory those gifts and calling of God without repentance it revineth directly in part and by consequence altogether that wicked heresy of the Pelagians noted by the Reverend Bishop of Chichester and the worshipfull M. Francis Rovs two noble champions of Gods Truth it comes close vp also to make a league with the Councel of Trent to truck with Rome in all that fardâ—ll of Apostaticall doctrines packed vp in the sixt Session of it as of Freewill Iustification Predestination Cortaintie of salvation Perseverance in grace c. In which poynts and many more of that nature coincident to the doctrine of Iustification the subiect of that whole Session I had I confesse formerly taken some paynes in setting downe the true difference betweene vs and the Church of Rome in this mayne fundamentall And having the Treatise by me already finished and priviledged also while the season served for the Presse onely prvented by the last visitation I haue ben the more willing to take this new occasion to borrow at least some Artillery from that greater worke to encounter these fresh Assaults made against the Truth And see how the same motiue that put me vpon the former worke hath drawne me also to this Shall I tell the plaine truth Why not But I must name Doctor Francis White then and discover something which passed betweene him and me in private But this I hope shall not violate the Law of fidelity sith I shall say no more but what himselfe in his Approbation prefixed to the Appeale hath not stuck to make open profession of to the world It is this I having about foure yeares agoe taken a thorow survey of the sixt Session of the Councel of Trent and finding therein Romes Apostacy from the faith of Christ cunningly couched I tooke occasion simply suspecting nothing as then to goe to the said Doctor wishing he would vndertake so worthy a Taske as to declare fully the true difference betweene vs and the Church of Rome in the doctrine of Iustification according to the Councel of Trent But his answer was that the difference was but small between vs. I wondring at his answere No Sir said I then let vs shake hands with them and be good friends For on this foundation stands the maine fabrick of Romes Religion consisting in humaine satisfactions and merits all devised to fill vp the vast emptines of their Iustification from which Roote they all as branches doe receiue life and growth Yet to be sure another time I propounded the same question vnto him his answere was the same and so was my reply Hereupon farre aboue my strength I tooke courage to attempt that taske my selfe leuelled against Pontifician and Arminian Doctrines ioyntly all along and now againe am I no lesse if not much more iustly prouoked to reuiew and reuiue something of that former worke being spurred thereunto more I confesse by Doctor Whites Approbation then Master Mountagues Appeale Nor in such a Cause am I a whit moued with the name and fame of Doctor White He is a learned man I confesse but Truth is better learned Hee is an ancient graue Diuine crowned with an hoary venerablenesse true but Salomon saith The hoary head is a crowne of glory if it be found in the way of righteousnesse And howsoeuer the world may value Truth according to personall respects yet God is no Accepter of persons My brethren saith Saint Iames haue not the faith of our Lord Iesus Christ the Lord of glory with respect of persons He condemnes those that in points of faith preferres the Gold-ring the soft or white rayment before the poore man Tertullian saith Quid si Episcopus c. What if a Bishop if a Deacon if a Widdow if a Virgin if a Doctor if also a Martyr shall fall away from the Rule therefore shall haeresies seen e to obtaine the truth Ex personis probamus fidem an ex fide personas Doe we approue the faith by the persons or the persons by the faith Nemo sapiens c. No man is wise but hee that is faithfull none great none a Christian. Nemo auteÌ„ Christianus c. And no man is a Christian but hee that shall perseuere vnto the end Auolent quantum volent paleae leuis fidei c. Let the chaffe of light faith fly away as fast as they will with euery breath of temptation the cleaner heape of graine shall be laide vp in the Lords Garner Nonne c. Did not some of the Lords Disciples forsake him being scandalized and offended with his Doctrine Yea was not Iudas the Traitor one of the twelue Apostles What then if any great Doctor yea or Bishop fall away from the faith they once professed Is this a sufficient proofe that Gods saints may fall away totally or finally from sauing grace and iustification Will any Appealer or his Approuers make this good by their owne examples of falling away No saith Saint Iohn cited by Tertullian in the foresaid place Phigellus Hermogenes Philetus and Hymeneus forsooke the faith they went out from vs but they were not of vs for if they had beene of vs they would no doubt haue continued with vs but they went out that they might bee made manifest that they were not all of vs. And why weÌ„t they out Saint Iohn a little before admonisheth Gods children to beware of the loue of the world whereupon he giueth them examples of Apostates inferring that the loue of the world drew them away Demas forsooke Paul and imbraced this present world So easie a thing is it for a louer of the world to fall into all heresy the God of this world hauing blinded his eyes Therefore when we see a starre shoote as the vulgar call it doe we as they thinke it to be a very starre falling from the firmament Nothing lesse We know it to be nothing else but an earthy slime falling to the earth whence it ascended in a vapour For earth will to earth Stella cadens non est stella cometa suit Such acry vapours then when you see ambitiously mounting aloft towards the vpper part of the lowest heauen well may they shine there for a time like starres but maruaile not when you see them fall backe againe they were no true starres Sacerdotium quod intus cecidit diu foris stare non potest It was Gregory the greats saying of ambitious simoniacks Was Iudas once in the state of grace iustification because he was an Apostle Indeede Andreas Vega one of the champions of the Trent Councell puts him downe fâ—â— an in instance