fervorous than in Disputations beseeching our Lord to forgive my coldness yea my neglect therein and to pardon and free me from all sin and to guide and keep you in all happiness even as I wish for my own Soul through the Redemption of our sweet Saviour and by the intercession of his holy Mother and all Saints Amen Written in hast from Madrid April 14. 1619. Your assured true Friend James Waddesworth Received Iune 4. 1619. To the Worshipful my very good Friend Mr. James Waddesworth at Madrid deliver this Salutem in Christo Jesu THe late receipt of your Letters good Master Waddesworth did diversly affect me with joy and shame and I know not with whether most I was glad to hear of you and your prosperous state much more to receive a kind Letter from you Ashamed therein to be called upon for debt who have ever endeavoured to live by that Rule of the Apostle Owe nothing to any Man Yet not so much for that which you most urge the debt of love sith by that Text it appears that it can never be so discharged as there should not be more behind to pay And your self who challenge this of me do owe me as much or well more For let me tell you I have the advantage of you herein by my Profession for where your love is to me as to a Man or to an honest Man nor can by your present perswasion go any further I can and do love you as my dear Brother and fellow Member in the mystical body of our Lord Iesus Christ. And from this ground to his knowledge I do appeal I do heartily pray for you and bear with you and as the Apostle enjoyns Rom. 15.7 receive you with a true brotherly affection I am not therefore ashamed of this debt but do rejoyce as much in the owing of it as in the payment But my shame grows from the being behind with you in the office of writing Wherein yet hear my honest and true excuse Neither will I go about to set off one debt with another For you may remember how at our parting you promised to write to me touching the state of Religion there which if we shall make out a perfect reckoning I account to be a good debt still But this I say when your Letters of the first of April 1615. came to my Hands I purposed to return answer by the same Bearer who as he told me was to return about the Midsummer following But I had a sudden and extraordinary journey which came between and kept me from home till after the Commencement so as that opportunity was lost Besides upon the reading of your Letters I perceived your intention was to have them imparted to Dr. Hall expecting in a sort some reply from him To him therefore did I send them After some Months I received this answer which though I had once purposed to conceal as not willing to be the mean of any exasperation between you yet now hoping of your wisdom and patience I send you inclosed that it may be some evidence of my true excuse Vpon the receipt of it I began to frame an answer to the Points of your Letter according to your desire full and in friendly terms I had well-nigh finished it when I was presented to this Benefice and thereby entered into a world of distractions These together with the labour of writing it over and uncertainty of safe conveying my Letters to you did make me procrastinate my payment till now to my shame you should need to demand it And that I may by the more shaming my self obtain a more easie penance from you I confess to you I was sometime half in mind having especially differred it so long to suppress it altogether First out of mine own natural disposition who have ever abhorred contention and whereas in matters of Religion there ought to be the fairest Wars I could never yet meet with any of that side of so patient a mind but by opposition he would be unsetled For your self though I knew your former moderate temper and as I remember I wrote to Dr. Hall believed you in that which you protest that out of Conscience you were such as you profess yet methought I perceived by your quick manner to him and some passages in the conclusion of your Letter you were rather desirous to enjoy the quiet possession of your own opinion than come to any further disputation whose is the right And in truth the time of that tryal had been proper before your departure nor you had too far ingaged your self and were to justifie by your constancy the wisdom of your change Besides since the summ of the errour of that side as I have ever conceived it is believing rather too much than failing in any point necessary to salvation that notable place of the Apostle Rom. 14.1 came to my mind especially after that I had once occasion to preach of it where he forbids controversies of disputations with those that are infirm in Faith Who art thou saith he that judgest another Man's Servant he standeth or falleth to his own Master Why should I grieve you and perhaps make my Friend mine Enemy as Saint Paul the Galatians by saying the truth The World is full enough of contentious Writings which as by your Letter appears you had seen ere ye resolved If those had not satisfied you what could I hope to add to them These things moved me but as you say they did not yet satisfie me For all Men are interested in the defence of truth how much more he that is called to be a Preacher of it All Christians are admonished by S. Jude To fight for the Faith once given to the Saints how much more those that are leaders in this warfare How could I say I loved our Lord Iesus Christ if his honour being questioned I should be silent How could I approve to mine own Soul that I loved you if I suffered you to enjoy your own error suppose not damnable Besides that you and perhaps others also might be confirmed in it perhaps interpreting my silence for a confession that your Motives were unanswerable But therein I was not only resolved my self to the contrary but thought it so easie to resolve any indifferent mind as methought it was more shame not to have done it at the first than praise to do it at the last As for the success of my endeavour I was to leave it to God Many and secret are the wayes of his Providence which serveth it self sometimes even of errours to the safer conduct of us to our final happiness Some I had known and heard of more who being at first carried away with the shews of Unity Order Succession Infallibility when they found them empty of Truth and the Cloaks of Pride Ambition Covetousness joyned with an Obstinacy to defend all Corruptions how palpable soever by finding the difference of these Hulls from their Fathers Table had with the Prodigal-Son
print and was published by Dr. Bernard the Text is that of the Revelation 18.4 Come out of her Babylon my people And the design of it is to prove that the See of Rome is the Babylon meant in that Text but in this he mixes an Apology for some that were in that Communion and I doubt not but he had his Friend P. Paulo in his thoughts when he spoke it The passage is remarkable and therefore I will set it down WHerein observe first he calls his people to come out of Babylon a plain Argument that there are many not only good Moral and Civil honest Men there but good Christians not redeemed only but in the possession of the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ which may be confirmed by these reasons First There is amongst these that are under the tyranny of the Romish Babylon the Sacrament of entrance into the Covenant of Grace Baptism by which those that are partakers thereof are made Members of Christ the Children of God and Heirs of Eternal Life And these that have but this Seal of God's Covenant viz. Infants are no small and contemptible part of God's people though as yet they cannot hear this Voice of Christ calling out of Babylon besides this there is a publication of the tenure of the Covenant of Grace to such as are of Years though not so openly and purely as it might and ought yet so as the grounds of the Catechisme are preached sin is shewed Christ's redemption or the Story of it is known Faith in him is called for and this Faith is by the Grace of God wrought in some For the Word of God and his Calling is not fruitless but like the rain returneth not in vain and where true Faith is Men are translated from death to life he that believeth in the Son hath everlasting life Some Men perhaps may object the Faith which they describe and call by this name of Catholick Faith is none other but such as the Devils may have I answer Religion is not Logick He that cannot give a true definition of the Soul is not for that without a Soul so he that defines not Faith truly yet may have true Faith Learned Divines are not all of accord touching the definition of it But if as by the whole stream of the Scripture it should seem it be a trust and cleaving unto God this Faith many there have the Love of our Lord Iesus Christ is wrought in many there now he that loveth Christ is loved of him and of the Father also and because the proof of true love to Christ is the keeping of his Sayings there are good Works and according to the measure of knowledg great conscience of obedience Yea will some Man say But that which marreth all is the Opinion of merit and satisfaction Indeed that is the School Doctrine but the Conscience enlightned to know it self will easily act that part of the Publican who smote his Breast and said God be merciful to me a sinner I remember a good advice of one of that side Let others saith he that have committed few sins and done many good works satisfie for their sins But whatsoever thou dost refer it to the Honour of God so as whatsoever good come from thee thou resolve to do it to please God accounting thy works too little to satisfie for thy sins For as for thy sins thou must offer Christ's Works his Pains and Wounds and his death it self to him together with that love of his out of which he endured these things for thee These are available for the satisfaction for thy sins But thou whatsoever thou dost or sufferest offer it not for thy sins to God for but his love and good pleasure wishing to find the more grace with him whereby thou mayest do more greater and more acceptable Works to him let the love of God then be to thee the cause of well-living and the hope of well-working Thus he and I doubt not but many there be on that side that follow this counsel herewith I shall relate the Speech of a wise and discreet Gentleman my neighbour in England who lived and dyed a Recusant he demanded one time What was the worst Opinion that we could impute to the Church of Rome It was said There was none more than this of our merits And that Cardinal Bellarmine not only doth uphold them but saith we may trust in them so it be done soberly and saith they deserve Eternal life not only in respect of God's Promises and Covenant but also in regard of the Work it self Whereupon he answered Bellarmine was a learned Man and could perhaps defend what he wrote by learning But for his part he trusted to be saved only by the merits of his Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ and as for good Works he would do all that he could Et valeant quantum valere possint To proceed In or under the Obedience of Rome there is Persecution and that is a better mark of Christ's people then Bellarmine's Temporal felicity All that will live godly in Christ Iesus saith the Apostle shall suffer persecution ye shall be hated of all Men for my Names sake saith our Saviour and so are all they on that side that are less superstitious than others or dare speak of redress of abuses yea there is Martyrdome for a free opposing Mens Traditions Image-worshippers Purgatory and the like Add That in obedience to this call of Christ there do some come daily from thence and in truth how could our Saviour call his people from thence if he had none there How could the Apostles say that Antichrist from whose captivity they are called shall sit in the Temple of God since that Ierusalem is finally and utterly desolated unless the same Apostle otherwhere declaring himself had shewed us his meaning that the Church is the House of God and again ye are the Temple of the living God and the Temple of God is Holy which are ye It will be said that there are on that side many gross errors many open Idolatries and Superstitions so as those which live there must needs be either partakers of them and like minded or else very Hypocrites But many errours and much ignorance so it be not affected may stand with true Faith in Christ and when there is true Contrition for one sin that is because it displeaseth God there is a general and implicite repentance for all unknown sins God's Providence in the general revolt of the ten Tribes when Elias thought himself left alone had reserved seven thousand that had not bowed to the Image of Baal and the like may be conceived here since especially the Idolatry practised under the obedience of Mystical Babylon is rather in false and will-worship of the true God and rather commended as profitable than enjoyned as absolutely necessary and the corruptions there maintained are rather in a superfluous addition than retraction in any thing necessary
Salvation I have not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth from the great Congregation of mankind He is near that justifieth me That I have not concealed the Words of the holy one but the Words that he gave to me I have given to you and ye have received them I had a desire and resolution to walk before God in every station of my pilgrimage from my youth up to this day in truth and with an upright Heart and to do that which was upright in his Eyes to the utmost of my power and what things were gain to me formerly these things I count now loss for Christ yea doubtless and I account all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and I account them but Dung that I may win Christ and be found in him not having my own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by Faith that I may know him and the power of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his Death I press therefore towards the mark for the price of the high Calling of God in Jesus Christ. Let nothing separate you from the love of Christ neither tribulation nor distress nor persecution nor famine nor nakedness nor peril nor Sword though as ye hear and see for his sake we are killed all the day long we are counted as Sheep for the slaughter Yet in all these things we are more than conquerers through him that loved us For I am perswaded That neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor heighth nor depth nor any Creature shall be able to separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesu my Lord. Therefore love not the World nor the things of the World but prepare daily and hourly for death that now besieges us on every side and be faithful unto death that we may meet together joyfully on the right-Hand of Christ at the last day and follow the Lamb wheresoever he goeth with all those that are cloathed with white Robes in sign of innocency and Palms in their Hands in sign of Victory which came out of great tribulation and have washed their Robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. They shall hunger no more nor thirst neither shall the Sun light on them or any heat for the Lamb that is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living Fountains of Waters and shall wipe away all Tears from their Eyes Chuse rather with Moses to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season which will be bitterness in the latter end Look therefore for sufferings and to be daily made partakers of the sufferings of Christ to fill up that which is behind of the affliction of Christ in your Flesh for his Bodies sake which is the Church What can you look for but one woe after another while the Man of sin is thus suffered to rage and to make havock of God's people at his pleasure while Men are divided about trifles that ought to have been more vigilant over us and careful of those whose Blood is precious in God's sight though now shed every where like Water If ye suffer for righteousness happy are ye be not afraid of their terrour neither be ye troubled and be in nothing terrified by your adversaries which is to them an evident token of perdition but to you of salvation and that of God For to you is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake Rejoice therefore in as much as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings that when his Glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy And if ye be reproached for the name of Christ happy are ye the Spirit of glory and of Christ resteth on you on their part he is evil spoken of but on your part he is glorified God will surely visit you in due time and return your captivity as the Rivers of the South and bring you back again into your possession in this Land though now for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations yet ye shall reap in joy though now ye sow in Tears all our losses shall be recompenced with abundant advantages for my God will supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Jesus Christ who is able to do exceeding abundantly for us above all that we are able to ask or think After that he blessed his Children and those that stood about him in an audible Voice in these Words God of his infinite mercy bless you all and present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight that we may meet together at the right-Hand of our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ with joy unspeakable and full of glory Amen To which he added these Words I have fought a good fight I have finished the course of my Ministry and life together Though grievous Wolves have entered in among us not sparing the Flock yet I trust the great Shepherd of his Flock will save and deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in this cloudy and dark day that they shall be no more a prey to the Heathen neither shall the Beasts of the Land devour them but they shall dwell safely and none shall make them afraid O Lord I have waited for thy Salvation And after a little interval he said I have kept the Faith once given to the Saints for the which cause I have also suffered these things but I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day After this time he spoke little for as his sickness encreased his Speech failed and he slumbered out most of the time only between hands it appeared that he was cheerfully waiting for his change which at last came about Midnight on the 7 th of February that he fell asleep in the Lord and entred into his rest and obtained his Crown which in some sort was a Crown of Martyrdom for no doubt the sad weight of sorrow that lay upon his Mind and his ill usage in his Imprisonment had much hastened his death And he suffered more in his mind by what he had lived to hear and see these last fifteen Weeks of his Life than he could have done if he had fallen by the Sword among the first of those that felt the rage of the Irish. His Friends went about his Burying and since that could not be obtained but by the new intruding Bishop's leave Mr. Clogy and Mr. Shereden went to ask it and Mr. Dillon was prevailed with by his Wife
his office that distinguished him so much from others yet he could not be prevailed on to interpose in this matter nor to stop the injust Prosecution that this good Man had fallen under for so good a Work Indeed it went further for upon the endeavours he used to convert the Irish and after he had refused to answer in the Archbishop's Court it appears that he was in some measure alienated from him which drew from the Bishop the following Answer to a Letter that he had from him Most Reverend Father my honourable good Lord THE Superscription of your Grace's Letters was most welcome unto me as bringing under your own hand the best evidence of the recovery of your health for which I did and do give hearty thanks unto God For the Contents of them as your Grace conceived They were not so pleasant But the Words of a Friend are faithful saith the Wise Man Sure they are no less painful than any other Vnkindness cuts nearer to the Heart than Malice can do I have some experience by your Grace's said Letters concerning which I have been at some debate with my self whether I should answer them with David's demand What have I now done or as the wrongs of Parents with Patience and Silence But Mr. Dean telling me That this day he is going towards you I will speak once come of it what will You write that the course I took with the Papists was generally cryed out against neither do you remember in all your life that any thing was done here by any of us at which the Professors of the Gospel did take more offence or by which the Adversaries were more confirmed in their Superstitions and Idolatry wherein you could wish that I had advised with my Brethren before I would adventure to pull down that which they have been so long a building Again What I did you know was done out of a good intention but you were assured that my project would be so quickly refuted with the present success and event that there would be no need my Friends should advise me from building such Castles in the air c. My Lord All this is a riddle to me What course I have taken with the Papists what I have done at which your Professors of the Gospel did take such offence or the Adversaries were so confirmed what it is that I have adventured to do or what piece so long a building I have pulled down what those Projects were and those Castles in the air so quickly refuted with present success as the Lords knows I know not For truly since I came to this place I have not changed one jot of my purpose or practice or course with Papists from that which I held in England or in Trinity Colledge or found I thank God any ill success but the slanders only of some persons discontented against me for other occasions Against which I cannot hope to justifie my self if your Grace will give ear to private informations But let me know I will not say my Accuser let him continue masked till God discover him but my Transgression and have place of defence and if mine Adversary write a Book against me I will hope to bear it on my Shoulder and bind it to me as a Crown For my recusation of your Court and advertisement of what I heard thereof I see they have stirred not only laughter but some coals too Your Chancellour desires me to acquit him to you That he is none of those Officers I meant I do it very willingly For I neither meant him nor any Man else But though it concerned your Grace to know what I credibly heard to be spoken concerning your Court neither as God knows did I ever think it was fit to take away the Iurisdiction from Chancellours and put it into the Bishops hands alone or so much as in a dream condemn those that think they have reason to do otherwise nor tax your Grace's Visitation Nor imagine you would account that to pertain to your reproof and take it as a wrong from me which out of my duty to God and you I thought was not to be concealed from you I beseech you pardon me this one errour Si unquam posthac For that knave whom as your Grace writes they say I did absolve I took him for one of my Flock or rather Christs for whom he shed his blood And I would have absolved Julian the Apostate under the same form Some other passages there be in your Grace's Letters which I but I will lay mine Hand upon my Mouth and craving the blessing of your prayers ever remain Your Grace's poor Brother humble servant Will. Kilmore Kilmore March 29. 1630. The malice of Mr. King's Enemies was not satiated with the spoiling him of his Benefice For often it falls out That those who have done acts of high injustice seek some excuse for what they have done by new injuries and a vexatious prosecution of the injured person designing by the noise that such repeated accusations might raise to possess the World with an Opinion of his guilt which much clamour does often produce and so to crush the person so entirely that he may never again be in a capacity to recover himself and to obtain his right but be quite sunk by that vast encrease of weight that is laid upon him But I will give the Reader a clearer view of this invidious affair from a Letter which the Bishop writ concerning it to the Earl of Strafford Right honourable my good Lord. THat which I have sometimes done willingly I do now necessarily to make my address to your Honour by writing My unfitness for conversation heretofore hath pleaded for me and now your Lordship's infirmity allows and in a sort inforces it The occasion is not my love of contention which I have committed to God or any other matter of profit but God's honour and as he is witness yours I have lately received Letters from my Lord of Canterbury whereby I perceive his Grace is informed that Mr. King whom I imployed to translate the Bible into Irish is a Man so ignorant that the Translation cannot be worthy publick use in the Church and besides obnoxious so as the Church can receive no credit from any thing that is his And his Grace adds That he is so well acquainted with your Lordship's disposition that he assures himself you would not have given away his Living had you not seen just cause for it I account my self bound to satisfie his Grace herein and desire if I may be so happy to do it by satisfying you I do subscribe to his Grace's assured perswasion that your Lordship had you not conceived Mr. King to be such as he writes would not have given away his Living But my Lord the greatest wisest and justest Men do and must take many things upon the information of others who themselves are Men and may sometimes out of weakness or some other cause be deceived Touching
to salvation Neither let that hard term of hypocrisie be used of the infirmity and sometime of humble and peaceable carriage of some that oppose not common errors nor wrestle with the greater part of Men but do follow the multitude reserving a right knowledge to themselves and sometimes by the favour which God gives them to find where they live obtain better conditions than others can We call not Iohn the beloved Disciple an hypocrite because he was known to the High Priest and could procure Peter to be let to see the arraignment of our Saviour nor call we Peter himself one that for fear denied him much less Daniel and his companions that by Suit obtain'd of Melzar their keeper that they might feed upon Pulse and not be defiled with the King of Babel 's meat and these knew themselves to be captives and in Babel But in the new Babel how many thousands do we think there are that think otherwise that they are in the true Catholick Church of God the name whereof this harlot hath usurped And although they acknowledge that where they live there are many abuses and that the Church hath need of reformation yet there they were born and they may not abandon their Mother in her sickness Those that converse more inwardly with Men of Conscience on that side do know that these are speeches in secret which how they will be justified against the commands of Christ come out of her my people belongs to another place to consider For the purpose we have now in hand I dare not but account these the people of God though they live very dangerously under the captivity of Babylon as did Daniel Mordechai Hester Nehemiah and Ezra and many Jews more notwithstanding both Cyrus's Commission and the Prophets command to depart This point may give some light in a Question that is on foot among learned and good Men at this day Whether the Church of Rome be a true Church or no where I think surely if the matter be rightly declared for the terms there will remain no question As thus whether Babylon pretending to be the Church of Rome yea the Catholick Church be so or not or this Whether the people of Christ that are under that Captivity be a true Church or no either of both wayes if declared in these terms the matter will be soon resolved Except some Man will perhaps still object Though there be a people of God yet they can be no true Church for they have no Priesthood which is necessary to the Constitution of a Church as S. Cyprian describes it Plebs Sacerdoti adunata people joyned to their Priest They have no Priesthood being by the very form of their Ordination Sacrificers for the quick and the dead I answer under correction of better judgments they have the Ministry of Reconciliation by the Commission which is given at their Ordination being the same which our Saviour left in his Church Whose sins ye remit they are remitted whose sins ye retain they are retained As for the other power to sacrifice if it be any otherwise than the celebrating the Commemoration of Christ's Sacrifice once offered upon the Cross it is no part of the Priesthood or Ministry of the New Testament but a superfluous addition thereunto which yet worketh not to the destruction of that which is lawfully conferred otherwise This Doctrine I know not how it can offend any unless it be in being too Charitable and that I am sure is a good fault and serves well for a sure mark of Christ's Sheep and may have a very good operation to help Christs people out of Babel By this saith he shall Men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have Charity one to another But they call us Hereticks Miscreants Doggs c. and persecute us with more deadly hatred than Jews and Turks yea this is Babylon and perhaps some of God's People in it that are misinformed of us Thus did Saul for a while yet a chosen vessel to bear Christ's Name over the World But let us maintain our Charity to them as we are wont to bear with the weakness of our Friends or Children when in hot Feavers or Phrensies they miscal us Let us remember if they be Christ's people how little loving soever they be to us they must be our beloved Brethren and this of the Persons To this I shall add the conclusion of that excellent Sermon in which there is such a mixture both of serious Piety and of an undissembled sincerity that I hope the Reader will not be displeased with me for laying it in his way NOW should I come to the Motives from the Danger of sin and of partaking in punishment But the handling of these would require a long time let me rather make some Application of that which hath been said already And First and most properly to those that this Scripture most concerns and is directed unto The People of God holden in the Captivity of the Romane Babylon But alas they are not here for this is one part of their Captivity that they are kept not only from hearing the voyce of the Servants of Christ or of S. Iohn the beloved Disciple but of himself speaking here from Heaven and since they are so contented what remedy may there be for those that are thus bewitched unless you My L. L's and Brethren will be contented to become faithful Feoffees in trust to convey this voyce and Message of Christ unto them and by my request you shall be pleased to do it with a great deal of Love As this President of our Lord himself doth lead you as to Brethren and as you hope faithful People loth to sin against him and desirous to please him in all things Tell them then that it is acknowledged by their own Doctors That Rome is Babylon and it is averred That this is the present Papal Monarchy that out of this they must depart by the Christ's own Voyce under pain of being accessary to all her sins and lyable to all her punishments wish them to use the Liberty to read the Holy Scripture and to come out of the blind Obedience of Mens Precepts and Traditions be pleased to tell them further that others may have some colour of excuse that live in such places where they may not discover themselves without danger of the loss of their Goods Honour or Life they may do it here not only with safety but with Reputation and Profit intreat them to beware lest they make themselves extreamly Culpable not only of partaking with the former Idolatries Extortions Massacres Powder Treasons and King-killings of that bloody City but the new detestable Doctrines Derogatory to the blood of Christ which moderate Men even of her own Subjects detest But which she for fear it should discontent her own Creatures and devoted Darlings will not disavow O if they would fear the plagues of Babylon and that of all others the
of Grace where he reduceth the whole practice of Christianity unto three Heads of living Soberly justly and Godly This last directing our carriage towards God the midle most towards our Neighbour and the foremost towards our Selves Now since this is a direction for our whole Life it seems to me that we have no more to do at any time but to conn this Lesson more perfectly with some particular application of such parts of it as are most suitable to the present occasions And as to Sobriety first under which the Vertues of Humility Modesty Temperance Chastity and Contentedness are contained since this is a time wherein as the Prophet saith The Lord of Hosts calleth to weeping and mourning and pulling off the Hair and girding with Sack-cloth you shall by my advice conform your self to those that by the Hand of God suffer such things Let your apparel and Dress be mournful as I doubt not but that your Mind is your Dyet sparing and course rather than full and liberal frame your self to the indifferency whereof the Apostle speaketh In whatsoever state you shall be therewith to be content to be full and to be hungry to abound and to want Remember now that which is the Lot of others you know not how soon it may be your own Learn to despise and defie the vain and falsly called wealth of this World whereof you now see we have so casual and uncertain a possession This for Sobriety the first part of the Lesson pertaining to your self Now for Iustice which respects others and containeth the Vertues of Honour to Superiors discreet and equal government of Inferiors peaceableness to all Meekness Mercy just dealing in matters of getting and spending Gratitude Liberality just Speech and desires God's Judgments being in the Earth the Inhabitants of the World should learn Righteousness as the Prophet speaketh Call to mind therefore and bethink you if in any of these you have failed and turn your Feet to God's Testimonies certainly these times are such wherein you may be afflicted and say with the Psalmist Horrour hath taken hold of me and Rivers of Tears run down mine Eyes because they keep not thy Laws Rebelling against Superiors Misleading not only by Example but by Compulsion Inferiors laying their Hand to them that were at peace with them unjustly spoiling and unthankfully requiting those that had shewed them kindness no Faith nor Truth in their Promises Judge by the way of the School that teacheth Christ thus are these his doings as for those that suffer I am well assured I shall not need to inform you or stir you up to mercy and compassion That which is done in this kind is done to Christ himself and shall be put upon account in your reckoning and rewarded accordingly at his glorious appearance The last and principal part of our Lesson remains which teacheth how to behave our selves Godly or religiously to this belong First the Duties of Gods inward Worship as Fear Love and Faith in God then outward as Invocation the holy use of his Word and Sacraments Name and Sabbaths The Apostle makes it the whole End and Work for which we were set in this World to seek the Lord yet in publick affliction we are specially invited thereto as it is written of Iehoshaphat when a great multitude came to invade him He set his Face to seek the Lord and called the people to a solemn fast So the Church professeth in the Prophet Isaiah In the way of thy Iudgments Lord we have waited for thee the desire of our Soul is to thy Name and to the remembrance of thee With my Soul have I desired thee in the Night yea with my Spirit within me will I seek thee early In this publick Calamity therefore it is our duty to turn to him that smiteth us and to humble our selves under his mighty Hand to conceive a reverend and Religious fear towards him that only by turning away his countenance can thus trouble us against that of Man which can do no more but kill the Body Again to renew our love to our heavenly Father that now offereth himself to us as to Children and to give a proof of that Love that we bear to our Saviour in the keeping of his Sayings hating in comparison of him and competition with him Father Mother Children Goods and Life it self which is the condition and proof of his Disciples and above all to receive and to re-inforce our Faith and Affiance which is now brought unto the tryal of the fiery Furnace and of the Lions Den O that it might be found to our honour praise and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. In the mean space even now let us be partakers of Christ's Sufferings and hear him from Heaven encouraging us Be thou faithful unto Death and I will give thee a Crown of Life Touching Prayer we have this gracious invitation Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will hear thee the example of all Gods Saints and of our Saviour in his agony to this belong the humble confession of our Sins with earnest request of Pardon the complaint of our Misery and danger with request of succour and protection we have besides the intercession of our Advocate with the Father the cry of the innocent Blood that hath been cruelly shed and the Lords own interesting himself in the cause so as we may say with the Psalmist Arise O God plead thine own cause remember how the foolish Man yea the Man of Sin reproacheth thee daily Forget not the voice of thine Enemies the tumult of those that rise against thee encreaseth continually That Psalm and many others as the 6 13 35 43 71 74 79 80 88 92 94 102 115 123 130 140 142. do give Precedents of Prayers in such times as these and the Prayer of Daniel and Ezra 9. of Asa and Iehoshaphat 2 Chron. 14. and 26.12 The Stories of David's flight before Absolom and Iehoshaphat's behaviour when the Enemies came against him of Hezekiah's in Sennacherib's Invasion Isa. 37. and the whole book of Esther are fit Scriptures now to be read that through the patience and comfort of them we might have hope Now because we know not how soon we may be called to sanctifie God's name by making profession thereof you may perhaps desire to know what to say in that day You may openly profess your not doubting of any Article of the Catholick Faith shortly laid down in the Creed or more largely laid down in the Holy Scriptures but that you consent not to certain Opinions which are no points of Faith which have been brought into common belief without warrant of Scriptures or pure Antiquity as Namely That it is of necessity to Salvation to be under the Pope That the Scriptures ought not to be read of the common people That the Doctrine of Holy Scripture is not sufficient to Salvation That the Service of God ought to be in a Language not understood of the people That
Church and ancient Councils there is no succession of true Pastors But among Protestants the said due Form and right intention are not observed ergo no succession of true Pastors The said due Form and right intention are not observed among Protestants in France Holland nor Germany where they have no Bishops and where Laymen do intermeddle in the making of their Ministers And for England whereas the Councils require the Ordines minores of Subdeacon and the rest to go before Priesthood your Ministers are made per saltum without ever being Subdeacons And whereas the Councils require three Bishops to assist at the consecration of a Bishop it is certain that at the Nags-Head in Cheapside where consecration of your first Bishops was attempted but not effected whereabout I remember the controversie you had with one there was but one Bishop and I am sure there was such a matter And although I know and have seen the Records themselves that afterward there was a consecration of Dr. Parker at Lambeth and three Bishops named viz. Miles Coverdal of Exceter one Hodgeskin Suffragan of Bedford and another whose name I have forgotten yet it is very doubtful that Coverdal being made Bishop of Exceter in King Edward's time when all Councils and Church-Canons were little observed he was never himself Canonically consecrated and so if he were no Canonical Bishop he could not make another Canonical And the third unnamed as I remember but am not sure was only a Bishop elect and not consecrated and so was not sufficient But hereof I am sure that they did consecrate Parker by vertue of a Breve from the Queen as Head of the Church Who indeed being no true Head and a Woman I cannot see how they could make a true Consecration grounded on her Authority Furthermore making your Ministers you keep not the right intention for neither do the Orderer nor the Ordered give nor receive the Orders as a Sacrament nor with any intention of Sacrificing Also they want the Matter and Form with which according to the Councils and Canons of the Church holy Orders should be given namely for the Matter Priesthood is given by the delivery of the Patena with Bread and of the Chalice with Wine Deaconship by the delivery of the Book of the Gospels and Subdeaconship by the delivery of the Patena alone and of the Chalice empty And in the substantial form of Priesthood you do fail most of all which Form consists in these Words Accipe potestatem offerendi Sacrificium in Ecclesia pro Vivis Mortuis which are neither said nor done by you and therefore well may you be called Ministers as also Laymen are but you are no Priests Wherefore I conclude wanting Subdeaconship wanting undoubted Canonical Bishops wanting right intention wanting Matter and due Form and deriving even that you seem to have from a Woman the Head of your Church therefore you have no true Pastors and consequently no true Church And so to conclude and not to weary my self and you too much being resolved in my understanding by these and many other Arguments That the Church of England was not the true Church but that the Church of Rome was and is the only true Church because it alone is Ancient Catholick and Apostolick having Succession Vnity and Visibility in all Ages and Places yet what Agonies I passed with my Will here I will over-pass Only I cannot pretermit to tell you That at last having also mastered and subdued my will to relent unto my understanding by means of Prayer and by God Almighty's Grace principally I came to break through many tentations and impediments and from a troubled unquiet Heart to a fixed and peaceable tranquillity of Mind for which I do most humbly thank our sweet Lord and Saviour Iesus before whom with all reverence I do avouch and swear unto you as I shall answer it in the dreadful Day of Judgment when all Hearts shall be discovered That I forsook Protestant Religion for very fear of Damnation and became a Catholick with good hope of Salvation and that in this hope I do continue and increase daily And that I would not for all the World become a Protestant again And for this which here I have written unto you in great hast I know there be many Replyes and Rejoynders wherewith I could never be satisfied nor do I desire any further Disputation about them but rather to spend the rest of my life in Devotion yet in part to give you my dear good Friend some account of my sel◠having now so good an occasion and fit a Messenger and by you if you please to render a reason of my Faith to Mr. Hall who in his said printed Epistle in one place desires to know the Motives thereof I have thus plainly made relation of some Points among many Whereunto if Mr. Hall will make any Reply I do desire it may be directly and fully to the Points and in friendly Terms upon which condition I do pardon what is past and of you I know I need not require any such circumstances And so most seriously intreating and praying to our gracious Lord to direct and keep us all and ever in his holy Truth I commend you unto his heavenly Grace and my self unto your friendly love Your very affectionate and true loving Friend James Waddesworth Sevil in Spain April 1. 1615. ✚ To the Worshipful his respected Friend Mr. William Bedell at his House in S. Edmundsbury or at Horinger be there delivered in Suffolk Kind Mr. Bedel MIne old acquaintance and Friend having heard of your health and worldly well-fare by this Bearer Mr. Austen your Neighbour and by him having opportunity to salute you with these few Lines I could not omit though some few years since I wrote you by one who since told me certainly he delivered my Letters and that you promised answer and so you are in my debt which I do not claim nor urge so much as I do that in truth and before our Lord I speak it you do owe me love in all mutual amity for the hearty affectionate love which I have and ever did bear unto you with all sincerity For though I love not your Religion wherein I could never find solid Truth nor firm hope of Salvation as dow I do being a Catholick and our Lord is my Witness who shall be my Judge yet indeed I do love your person and your ingenuous honest good moral condition which ever I observed in you nor do I desire to have altercations with Mr. Ioseph Hall especially if he should proceed as Satyrically as he hath begun with me nor with any other Man and much less would I have any debate with your self whom I do esteem and affect as before I have written nor would I spend the rest of my life which I take to be short for my Lungs are decaying in any Questions but rather in Devotion wherein I do much more desire to be hot and