Christs natiuitie death and resurrection he knoweth and confesseth But the right Christian faith beside the illumination of the vnderstanding maketh an assured confidence of the heart and setleth the conscience and maketh vs at peace with God and by this faith euery one that vnfainedly seeketh God beleeueth that he will reward them as the Apostle saith He that commeth vnto God must beleeue that he is and that he will reward those that seeke him Here are two parts of faith expressed a knowledge that God is and a beleefe or assurance that God will reward his seekers and followers 4. The argument proposed concludeth well against Papists that he which is doubtfull of faith is much more doubtful to obtaine heauē for a man may haue their speculatiue faith yet be no whit neerer to heauen nor sure thereof But the right faith which Protestants professe doth put them euen while they liue in assurance and in some sort in possession of the kingdome of heauen as our Sauiour saith He that beleeueth in him that sent me hath euerlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is escaped from death to life Wherefore it is an hard and difficult matter with Papists to obtaine heauen or to be assured thereof though they haue the Popish faith But with Protestants after they be endued with a liuely iustifying faith there is no doubt or difficultie in obtaining the reward for we are kept by the power of God through faith to saluation and the end of our faith is the saluation of our soules He therefore that is in the way of faith is sure to come vnto the end which is saluation I may therefore vse against this Romanist the words of Basile You are guiltie of that which you accuse in another It is an hard matter for your followers to obtaine or be sure of heauen and therfore you iudge so of the Protestants But as Augustine saith Quisquis adhuc malus non putet neminem bonum esse Let not him that is euill thinke no man good Because Popish religion is desperate and comfortlesse thinke not euery religion to be so The fourth Probation THe argument here vrged may be framed thus He whom all or most denie to haue title or interest to a kingdome will faintly take it in hand The Protestants make the kingdom of God vncertaine improbable impossible to be obtained and so denie men to haue interest to it Ergo they are the cause that few aduenture so certaine and painfull a worke for so vncertaine and doubtfull recompence The Solution 1. TO the proposition this may bee answered that although in terrene kingdoms where a title is denied of all there is small hope to obtaine because to a temporall inheritance admittance is by temporall meanes and entrance to kingdomes is made by the fauour and assistance of vnited friends yet moued by the iustnes of the title as the Wiseman saith In the multitude of the people is the honour of the King and for the want of people commeth the destruction of a Prince yet in the obtaining of the kingdome of heauen the case is farre diuers for the children of God haue good title vnto it and great interest in it and will earnestly contend and striue for it though all the world say nay as Elias was not dismaied in his course though he thought himselfe to be left alone and to be forsaken of all men 2. It is an impudent slaunder that the Protestants make the kingdome of God vncertaine improbable or impossible to be obtained these are the proper badges of the Popish Church For how doe not they make the kingdome of God vncertaine when they teach that the certitude of remission of sinnes is a vaine confidence and void of all godlines and others call it a faithlesse perswasion of saluation for a man to be assured by faith that hee shall be saued How is it not also improbable seeing if any among thē are likely to goe to heauen their Popes whom they call holy Fathers Christs Vicars hauing S. Peters keyes to whom the spirituall treasure of the Church is committed to whom it belongeth to canonize Saints who are priuiledged not to erre they in all reason and probabilitie should be most sure to goe to heauen Is it probable that they can open heauen to others and commaund the Angels to carrie other mens soules to heauen that they can canonize others and bee excluded heauen themselues And yet they dare pronounce of some of their Popes and those not the worst that they are damned as Bellarmine is reported to haue said to an English Doctor of Sixtus the last that descendit ad infernum that hee was gone to hell as farre as he could conceiue or vnderstand Yea by their doctrine the kingdome of heauen is impossible to bee had seeing they doe ascribe it to mens workes and merits for this I dare by warrant of the Scriptures affirme that he which maketh account to purchase heauen by his workes and not to obtaine it by faith is not like to come thither For by the workes of the law no flesh shall be iustified This obiection then might well haue bin spared which reboundeth back vpō their own face Thus are they snared in their owne words and so it falleth out vnto this brabler as it is in Iob He that speaketh many words shall be answered againe If hee be loth to haue the nakednes of his mother discouered he should haue followed Hieromes saying Vis me tacere ne accuses depone gladium ego scutum abijciam Would you haue vs quiet you should not haue accused vs if you had laid downe your sword I should not haue needed to take vp a shield Clitarchus could haue told you Vtter not those things which you are loth to heare your selfe The fift Probation THe Mahometanes were neuer more wicked then after the Persian schisme and diuision amongst them Likewise the Iewes were diuided into many sects and religions at the comming of Christ Samaritanes Pharisies Sadduces Essenes c. whereby that nation c. was drowned and ouerwhelmed in such monstrous and erronious iniquities The conclusion must be Ergo Protestants being so diuided are most wicked c. The Solution FIrst this argument is denied for though among the Infidels and misbeleeuers such as the Turkes are and the Iewes were at the comming of Christ where none hold the truth but al are in error diuisions and sects make them worse yet is it not so among those which professe the trueth 1. For there the diuersitie of sects and the springing and publishing of heresies doth make the defence of the truth more glorious and the defenders therof more faithfull and constant as the Apostle saith There must be heresies euen among you that they which are approoued among you may be knowne 2. And yet in the meane time the authors of schisme
yet God thought good to make woman there No persons more giuen to meditation then the Apostles yet they had their wiues following of them to minister to their necessities 1. Cor. 9.5 Nay rather vagrant and vnsetled lust such as raigneth in poperie is a distracting of the mind And they are like to be good Diuinitie Lectures which the Iudasites vse to reade in the nights to the auditories of faire women while their husbands missing of them scratch their heades where it itcheth not as the Masse-priestes report 2 It is not the trauelling abroad or studying beyond the sea and seeking meanes a farre off that can bring a man certainely to true knowledge Which of the Christian professours can compare with Solon Lycurgus Thales Plato Pythagoras for long trauaile visiting of strange countries seeing the behauiour of many nations yet this could not bring them to the knowledge of Christ. The Pharises did compasse sea and land they were greater trauellers then Christ or his Apostles were at the first it did nothing helpe them to the finding out of the truth Euery Church and countrie hauing the word of God may find at home which is the truth aswell as by searching abroad as Moses saith Neither is it yet beyond the sea that thou shouldest say Who shall go ouer the sea for vs and bring it vs but the word is neare vnto thee Hierome saith Desâ—â—t notus tantùm in Iudaea esse Deus in omnem terram exiuit sonus Apostolorum God hath left to be knowne onely in Iudea the sound of the Apostles is gone foorth into all the earth Diuinitie is as well studied at Cambridge as at Rome at Oxford as at Paris and for soundnesse of iudgement and integritie of truth much better without comparison Seneca saith Proprium agri est nihil diâ— pati mutationibus vt remedijs vti It is the propertie of sicke persons to endure nothing long and to vse often chaunges as remedies So this shifting of places and chaunging of countries argueth the sicknesse of the mind Plutarch very well compareth such to hennes that when they haue heapes of corne before them yet do seeke in corners and picke out of the dirt and scrape with their feet So the sicke-braind students hauing much better doctrine at home and more plentie of true knowledge do go further and speed worse Now in the last place this Epistler belike failing of other proofes betaketh himselfe to his protestation The fift point his Protestation IF they wil appeale to the Scriptures I the poore author herof haue studied them all and more then Protestants vse Then after the profession of his reading of the Fathers of the Church historians Councels schoolemen he concludeth with this protestation I take God and the whole Court of heauen to witnesse before whom I must render an account of this protestatioÌ„ c. that the same faith religion which I defend is taught and confirmed by those holy Hebrewe and Greek Scriptures Historians Popeâ— Decrees Scholies Expositions Councels Schooles and Fathers and the profession of Protestants condemned p. 221. That I should not be able to iudge what maketh for vs what against vs I hope no man wil challenge me of so great ignorance That I would willingly erre to follow a profession so austere c. I hope no Reader can be so partiall to iudge c. p. 222. The Concertation THis Ignatian professor as it seemeth dwelled by euill neighbours when he is forced to commend himselfe he boasteth much of his reading and knowledge as though he onely were conuersant in authors I doubt not but that there may be found some hundreds of ministers and this poore author among the rest that can truly say as much of themselues as this bragger professeth At this time therefore I shall need to make no further answer theÌ„ to set a modest contestation against his proud protestation At this time I shall haue vse of that saying of the wise man Answer a foole according to his foolishnesse lest he be wise in his owne conceipt Prou. 26.5 And though I feare as Hierome saith Vereor ne officium putetur ambitio lest that which is but officious should be held to be ambitious that wherunto I am driuen of necessitie should be deemed vanitie yet I say with the Apostle Wherein any man is bold I speake as a foole I am bold also 2. Cor. 11.21 Like as Pericles being depressed and depraued of his enemies was vrged modestly to commend himselfe Are ye angrie saith he with me which thinke my selfe inferiour to none neither in the vnderstanding of things nor in vttering what I vnderstand So to make answer to this vaine challenger in his owne wordes I hope it may be excused because he hath first thereunto by his importunitie prouoked If he will appeale to the Scriptures I haue studied them all and more then Papistes vse if they contend to credit the Hebrew text in the old Testament and the Greeke in the new I haue studied them in those languages and the ancient glosses and scholiaes Latine and some Greeke for their exposition if they will stand to the report of the auncient historians Eusebius Ruffinus Socrates Sozomen S. Hierome S. Bernard and others I haue perused them if they will be iudged by the decrees of the first Popes I haue often with diligence considered the decrees both all that were before the Councell of Nice and after If they will be arbitrated by the present schooles and scholasticall reasons I haue read some of them If they admâ—t the first foure generall Councels of Nice Constantinople Ephesus Chelcedone I haue seene and read them all from the first of Nice to the last of Trent as all approued particular and prouinciall Councels which be extant and ordinarily vsed If they thinke there were euer true religioÌ„ among Christians and that it was exercised in the first sixe hundred yeares I haue carefully read ouer all the works of Origene Cyprian Ambrose Hierome â—ugustine Chrysostom Damascene Pamphilus Eusebius Theodoret Ruffinus Socrates Sozomenus Euagrius Bernard the Imperiall constitutions with other authors old and new and with greater diligence then Ignatian Friers commonly vse to do hauing I thanke God of mine owne writing and collations out of the foresaid Fathers and Writers not much lesse then two reames of paper Yet I take God to witnesse before whome I must render an account of this my protestation that the same faith and religion which I defend is taught and confirmed by those holy Hebrewes and Greeke Scriptures and in the more substantiall points by those Historians Councels Fathers that liued within 5. or 6. hundred yeares after Christ and in many points by them that followed after and the profession of Papists by the same condemned I haue examined and with diligent aduise read ouer many bookes and writings of the best learned Protestants and not any that euer came to my hands containeth any argument
very marrow of Poperie continued and the whole bodie of the Romane doctrine the opinion of the supremacie excepted And ye had beside a breathing time in Queene Maries raigne such as that of Saul who breathed out threatnings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. Act. 10.1 such a breathing as I trust ye shall neuer haue againe in England I hope this was no time of your captiuitie And againe you are somewhat too forward to looke for the reuiuing of the papall kingdome so soone after 70. years stay till you be equal to the captiuitie of protestants that 7. times 70. yeares endured the tyrannie of your terrene god the Pope as long as Israel soiourned in Canaan and AEgypt 430. yeares Exod. 12.40 and much longer and then after that time expired lift vp your heads if you can But because you plead prescription of 70. years you shall haue your mind yet they shall not be the seuenty yeares determined for Iudaes deliuerance but the 65. years which want not many of seuentie which were limited for Ephraims destruction Within fiue and threescore yeares Ephraim shall be destroyed from being a people Isa. 7.8 And we trust in God that the proud idolatrous Ephramites of Rome according to this time taking beginning from the first reformation in England shall haue Ephraims portion and their kingdome come to desolation Concerning your Popes Iubile enioy you the benefite thereof get you packing to Rome and solace your selues there England careth not for Iubile pardons nor for such paltrie pardoners as ye are Protestants haue enioyed through Gods mercie a full Iubile vnder the Gospell in King Edward and Queene Elizabeths happie raignes and now we trust beginneth another ioyfull Iubile vnder our noble King and so our hope is that the Church of God vnder his M. his royall posteritie shall enioy the profession of the truth frō Iubile to Iubile till we all come to celebrate an euerlasting Iubile in heauen The Pope hath lately solemnized his Iubile like as the Iewes kept their Iubile when Christ was put to death who brought deliuerance to his Church but destruction to the Iewes before the next Iubile came So this Popes Iubile wherein they haue confederate to persecute Christ and his members is like to be ominous to that blodie generatiō prosperous we hope to the church of God This Romish Iubile lately celebrated in new Babylon may fall out to be like Balthasars feast which he made in old Babylon the destruction of the citie followed the same night to whō fitly agreeth that verse of the Poet Namque vt supremam falsa inter gaudia noctem Egerimus nosti It was our last and onely night That we thus spent in false delight So may this happily be the last popish Iubile and this great solemnitie may end with a Sardonian laughter according to the saying of the wise man Pride goeth before destruction and an high mind before the fall Prou. 16.18 2. If religion be the bond of peace then can there be no sound peace betweene the Church of God and the synagogue of Rome which is declined and fallen away from the true religion and seruice of God The Popes peace we desire not as we feare not his curse if he loue quietnesse protestants will not offend him if he seeke trouble they can requite him But if Scotland be comprehended in this league and amitie as among other nations this Popes muster-maister hath numbred it I hope England shall haue a share that is now one with Scotland It is vntrue that England can agree with none in religiō it accordeth with Scotland Geneua Heluetia Belgia with the protestants of Fraunce some diuersitie in external right maketh no difference in religion And as vntrue it is that no two protestant Princes can haue this peace together seeing it is most manifest that for 45. yeares there was a firme peace betweene England and Scotland being vnited in religion such as for so long a time was not knowne for fiue hundred yeares while both these kingdomes professed poperie And indeed it is a rare thing to see one protestant Prince offend another with warre but it is very cōmon for Princes and States addicted to the popish profession to wage battel one with another France Spain Naples Millaine the Venetians Geanes Florentines Romaines haue often one with fierce war assaulted another As we shall reade among the Paganes how in Graecia the Spartans Athenians Corinthians Thebanes Argiues Megarensians with other cities did with cruell warre one afflict another so that as the Scripture saith In that time there was no peace to him that did go out and go in but great troubles were to all the inhabitants of the earth Such is the peace among the Romanists neither sound and in truth nor of any long continuance but like vnto Iudas kisse so is the Popes peace and amitie as Ambrose saith Amoris pignore scelus implet pacis instrumento odia serit By a token of loue he worketh mischiefe and by an instrument of peace soweth hatred So his vnholy Fatherhood faineth peace if it be for his aduantage and breaketh it at his pleasure if it may serue his turne better as Eugenius the fourth caused Ladislaus to breake the truce made with Amurathes the great Turke to the great losse and disaduantage of all Christendome Wherein the Pope very well resembleth Cleomenes the Spartane King who hauing made truce with the Argiues for certaine dayes set vpon them the third night after and slue them alleadging for himselfe that he had made truce for dayes not for nights 3. Popish religion can neither make vs at peace with God whom it robbeth of his due honour making other Mediators inuocating Saints worshipping idols nor with Angels who refuse to be worshipped Reu. 22.8 nor with Saints who while they liued refused that adoration which is now ascribed vnto them in poperie as Peter wold not suffer Cornelius to worship him Act. 10.26 To the soules imagined to be in purgatorie it offereth wrong keeping them in torment that by the Scriptures are to rest from their labours Reu. 14.13 Neither can popish professors haue peace in themselues seeing they deny iustification onely by faith by which we are at peace with God Rom. 5.1 That religion agreeth with none but diuels for it maintaineth lying wonders which are by the working of Sathan 2. Thess. 2.9 It forbiddeth to marie and to abstaine from meates which are the doctrine of diuels 1. Tim. 4.1.3 It persecuteth casteth into prison the seruants of Christ which is the worke of Sathan Reu. 2.10 Poperie therefore which derogateth so much from God cannot reconcile vs or make vs agree with God superstition doth not draw vs nearer to God but maketh vs further off Hierome well saith hoc nobis praestat Dei timor vt omnes alios contemnamus timores The feare of God doth make vs to cōtemne all other