dutie I beseech our blessed Sauiour to endue you both with the true knowledge of his diuine veritie and with the spirit of Fortitude to imbrace and defend it constantly or that at the least gratiouslie to tolerate and permitte it Your most Excellent Maiesties most obedient and loyall subiect and seruant W.B. THE PREFACE TO THE READER GENTLE READER I meane not here to entertayne thee with many wordes the principall cause that moued me to write was the honour and glory of God in defence of his sacred verity then the imploying of his talent bestowed vpon me as well to fortifie the weaker sort of Catholikes in their faith as to call backe and leade others who wander vp and downe like to lost sheepe after their owne fancies into the right way I tooke in hand particularly the confutation of this booke not onely for that I was thereunto requested by a friend of good intelligence and iudgement who thought it very expedient but also because perusing of it I found it penned more Schollerlike then the Protestants vse to doe ordinarily For first the pointes in controuersie are set downe distinctly and for the most part truely Afterward in confirmation of their opinion the chiefe arguments are produced from both Scriptures Fathers and reason Which are not vulgar but culled out of their Rabbins Luther Peter Martir Caluin Kemnitius and such like though he name them not Lastly he placeth some obiections made in fauour of the Catholike Doctrine and answereth to them aswell as he could And which I speake to his commendation doth performe all this very briefly and clearly So that to speake my opinion freely I haue not seene any booke of like quantity published by a Protestant to contayne either more matter or deliuered in better method And consequently more apt to deceiue the simple especially considering that he withall counterfeiteth to come as neare vnto the Roman Church as his tender conscience will permitte him whereas in deede he walketh as wide from it as any other noueller of this age Wherefore I esteemed my spare time best imployed about the discouering of it being as it were an abridgement of the principall controuersies of these times and doe endeuour after the same Scholasticall manner without all superfluity of wordes no lesse to maintayne and defend the Catholike party then to confute all such reasons as are by M. PERKINS alleadged for the contrarie Read this short treatise good Christian diligently for thou shalt finde in it the marrowe and pith of many large volumes contracted and drawne into a narrowe rowme And read it ouer as it becommeth a good Christian with a desire to finde out and to followe the truth because it concerneth thy eternall saluation and then iudge without partiality whether Religion hath better groundes in Gods word more euident testimonie from the purest antiquity and is more conformable vnto all Godlines good life and vpright dealing the infallible markes of the best Religion and speedely imbrace that Before I end this short preface I must intreate thy patience to beare with the faultes in Printing which are too too many but not so much to be blamed if it be courteously considered that it was Printed farre from the Authour with a Dutch composer and ouerseene by an vnskilfull Corrector the greatest of them shall be amended in the end of the booke Before the Printing of this part was finished I heard that M. PERKINS was dead I am sorry that it commeth forth to late to doe him anie good Yet his worke liuing to poison others a preseruatiue against it is neuer the lesse necessary MASTER PERKINS IN THE EPISTLE DEDICATORIE It is a pollicie of the Diuell to thinke that our Religion and the Religion of the present Church of Rome are all one in substance or that they may be reunited BEFORE I am to deliuer my opinion concerning this poynt I had neede to be enformed what this Author meaneth by these wordes our Religion For there being great diuersities of pretended Religions currant in the world all contrary to the Church of Rome how can I certainlie knowe whether of them he professeth Wherefore good Sir may it please you to declare what Religion you vnderstand when you say our Religion Is it that which Martin Luther a licentious Fryer first preached in Germany or rather that which the martiall Minister Zwinglius contended with sword and shield to set vp in Zwitzerland or perhaps that which Iohn Caluin by sedition wrought into Geneua expelling the lawfull Magistrate thence and by the ayde of Beza a dissolute turne-coate spread into many corners of France Or if by your Religion you meane only to comprehend the Religion now practised in England yet are you farther to shewe whether you vnderstand that established by the State or the other more refined as it is thought by many and embraced by them who are called Puritans for of their leauen sauoureth that position of yours That the article of Christs descent into hell crept into the Creede by negligence and some other such like in this booke These principall diuisions of the newe Gospell to omitte sundry sub-diuisions being famous and receiued of diuerse in England according to each mans phantasie it is meete you expresse whether of them you speake of that it may be dulie considered how the Roman Religion and it agree and what vnion may be made betweene them Now if you meane the hotchpotch and confusion of all these newe Religions togither as by the opposition here vnto the Church of Rome and by the articles following may be gathered then I am cleare for you in this that there can be no more concord betweene these two Religions then there is betweene light and darknes faith and infidelity Christ and Beliall Notwithstanding I thinke that the reason by you produced to proue the impossibility of this vnion is of no value to wit that they of the Roman Church haue razed the foundation for though in wordes they honour Christ yet in deede they turne him into a Pseudochrist and an Idoll of their owne braine A very sufficient cause no doubt of eternal breach and diuision if it could be verified But how proue you that we Roman Catholikes who beleeue Iesus Christ to be perfect God perfect Man and the only Redeemer of Mankinde make him a false Christ and an Idoll or before you goe about to proue it tell me I pray you how this can well stand with your owne definition of a reformed Catholike in your preface There you affirme him to be a Catholike reformed to your liking that holdeth the same necessarie heades of Religion with the Roman Church Now can there be any more necessarie head of Religion then to haue a right faith in Christ can anie other foundation be layed besides IESVS Christ 1. Cor. 3. If then your reformed Catholike must agree with the Roman Church in necessarie heades of Religion as you hold he must either the Roman Church razeth not the
foundation maketh not Christ a Pseudochrist as you say here or else you teach your disciples very pernitiously to hold the same necessary heades of Religion with it But to leaue to you the reconciliation of these places let vs examine briefly how you confirme your paradox that the Church of Rome maketh Christ a false Christ which you goe about to proue by foure instances The first is because the seruant of his seruants may chaunge and adde to his commaundements hauing so great power that he may open and shut heauen to whome he will and binde the very conscience with his owne lawes and consequently be partaker of the spiritual kingdome of Christ Here are diuerse reasons hudled vp in one but all of litle moment for all these seuerall faculties which the Pope enioyeth being receiued by the free gift of Christ and to be employed in his seruice onlie and to his honour and glorie are so farre off from making Christ a Pseudochrist that they doe highly recommēd his most singuler bounty towardes his followers without any derogation to his owne diuine prerogatiues The particulars shal be more particularly answered in their places hereafter Now I say in a word that Christs Vicar cannot change any one of Gods cōmaundements nor adde any contrarie vnto them but may well enact establish some other conformable vnto them which doe bind in cōscience for that power is granted of God to euery soueraigne gouernour Rom. 13. as witnesseth S. Paul saying Let euery soule be subiect to higher powers And that as it is in the 5. verse following of necessity not only for wrath but also for conscience sake So that to attribute power vnto one that is vnder CHRIST to binde our consciences is not to make CHRIST a Pseudochrist but to glorifie him much acknowledging the power which it hath pleased him to giue vnto men In like manner what an absurde illation is that from the power to open and shut heauen gates which all both Catholikes and Protestants confesse to haue beene giuen to Saint Peter and the rest of the Apostles to inferre that CHRIST is made a Pseudochrist as who should say the master spoyled himselfe of his supreame authority by appoynting a stewarde ouer his housholde or a porter at this gates he must be both Master and Man to belike And thus much of the first instance Come we now to the second It is that we make Christ an Idoll for albeit we call him a Sauiour yet in vs in that he giues his grace to vs that by our merits we may be our owne sauiours c. I meruaile in whome he should be a sauiour if not in vs What is he the Sauiour of Angels or of anie other creatures I hope not but the mischief is that he giues grace to vs that there by we may merite and so become our owne Sauiours This is a phrase vnheard of among Catholiks that anie man is his owne Sauiour neither doth it folowe of that position that good works are meritorious but well that we applie vnto vs the saluation which is in CHRIST IESVS by good works as the Protestants auouch they doe by faith onlie In which sence the Apostle S. Paul sayeth to his deare Disciple Timothe Tim. 4. For this doing thow shalt saue both thy selfe and them that heare thee And this doth no more diminish the glorie of our Soueraigne Sauiours infinit merits then to say that we are saued by faith onlie good works no lesse depending if not more aduancing Christs merits then only faith as shall be prooued hereafter more at large in the question of merits Now that other good mens merits may steede them who want some of their owne may be deduced out of an hundred places of the Scriptures namely out of those where God sayeth that for the sake of one of his true seruants he will shewe mercie vnto thousands as is expressely said in the end of the first commandement In like manner I answere vnto your third instance that for Christ to haue taken away by his blessed Passion the eternall payne due vnto our sinnes to haue left a temporall to be satisfied by vs is not to make himselfe a false Christ but a most louing kinde and withall a most prudent Redeemer Wiping away that by himselfe which passed our forces and reseruing that to vs which by the helpe of his grace we wel may ought to doe not only because it were vnseemely that the parts of the body should be disproportionable to the head but also because it is reasonable as the Apostle holdeth Rom. 8. that we suffer here with Christ before wee raigne with him in his Kingdome In your last instance you say that we make Christ our mediator of intercession to GOD thinking out of your simplicity that therein we much magnifie him sing Osanna vnto him Whereas we hold it for no small disparagement vnto his diuine dignitie to make him our Intercessor that is to pray him to pray for vs who is of himselfe right able to helpe vs in all we can demaund being aswell God as Man And albeit one in thought singling out the humanity of Christ from his diuine nature and person might make it an intercessor for vs Yet that being but a Metaphisical cōceipt to separate the nature from the person since the Arrian heresie which held Christ to be inferior to his Father it hath not beene practised by Catholikes who alwayes pray our Sauiour Christ to haue mercy vpon vs neuer to pray for vs. And consequently make him no mediator of intercession but of redemption And to come to your grieuous complaint that withall his Mother must be Queene of heauen and by right of a mother commaund him there Who can sufficiently meruaile at their vnnaturall grosse pates who take it for a disgrace to the Sonne to aduaunce his owne good Mother or else who wel in his wits considering Christs bounty to strangers and his enemies will not be perswaded that on his best beloued mother he did bestowe his most speciall fauours For hauing taken flesh of her hauing suckt her breasts and receiued his nuriture and education of her in his tender yeares and being aswell followed of her as of any other Is it possible that he should not be as good to her as to others vnto whome he was not at all beholding Againe the verie place of a mother requiring preheminence before all seruants and subjects of what dignitie soeuer doth not the right rule of reason lead vs to thinke that Christ the fountayne of all wisdome replenished the B. Virgin Marie his deare Mother with such grace as should make her fit for that place it lying in his hands and free choise to doe it And therefore is she trulie tearmed of holy and learned Antiquity our Lady and Queene exalted aboue all quyers of Angels That which you impute vnto vs farther that she must in the right of a mother commaund her Sonne is no
that you finde no reliefe at all in Saint Bernard touching the mayne point that either the Pope or Church of Rome is Antichrist And all the world might meruaile if out of so sweete a Doctor and so obedient vnto the Pope anie such poison might be sucked Lib. 2. de Cons ad Fugea specially weighing well what he hath written vnto one of them to whome he speaketh thus Goe to let vs yet enquire more diligently who thou art and what person thou bearest in the Church of God during the time Who art thou A great Priest the highest Bishoppe thou art the Prince of Bishops the heire of the Apostles and in dignity Aaron in authority Moyses in Power Peter thou art he to whome the Keyes were deliuered to whom the sheepe were committed There are indeede also other Porters of Heauen and Pastors of flockes but thou art so much the more glorious as thou hast inherited a more excellent name aboue them they haue their flocks allotted to them to each man one but to thee all were committed as one flocke to one man thou art not only Pastor of the sheepe but of all other Pastors thou alone art the Pastor And much more to this purpose which being his cleare opinion of the Pope how absurd is it out of certayne blinde places broken sentences of his to gather that he thought the Pope of Rome to bee neither sheepe nor Pastor of Christs Church but verie Antichrist himselfe There is a grosse fault also in the Canon of Pope Nicolas as he citeth it that the Popes was to be created by the Cardinals Bishops of Rome As though there were some 30. or 40. Bishops of Rome at once but of the matter of election else where M. PERKINS hauing lightly skirmished with a broken sentence or two out of one Catholike Authour flyeth to a late heretike called Ioachim and quoteth Iewell for relator of it A worshipfull testimonie of one heretike and that vpon the report of an other he the most lying Authour of these dayes As for the late Poet Petrarke his wordes might easely be answered but because he quoteth no place I will not stand to answere it But to close vp this first combat a sentence is set downe out of the famous Martir Ireneus that Antichrist should be Lateinos a Roman Here be as many faults as words That learned auncient Doctor discoursing of Antichrist his proper name Cap. 13. out of these wordes of the reuel the number of the beast is 666. And obseruing the letters of the greeke Alphabet by which they doe number as we doe by ciphers sayeth that among others the word Lateinos doth contayne those letters which amount just to the number of 666. and consequently that Antichrists proper name perhaps might bee Lateinos but more likely it is to be Teitan as he sayeth there and lastly that it is most vncertayne what his name shall be See the place gentle reader learne to beware of such deceiptfull merchants as make no conscience to corrupt the best Authours and being often warned of it will neuer learne to amēd Ireneus leaueth it most doubtfull what shall be Antichrists name And among diuerse wordes esteemeth Lateinos to be the vnlikeliest And yet M. PERKINS reporteth him to say resolutely that his name shall be Lateinos and then to make vp the matter turneth Lateinos a proper name with S. Ireneus into Roman an appellatiue which noteth only his country Fie vpon that cause which cannot be vpholden and maintayned but by a number of such paltry shiftes Thus come we at length to the end of M. PERKINS proofs reproofs in his prologue where we finding litle fidelity in his allegations of the fathers badde construction and foule ouersight in the text of holy Scripture briefly great malice but slender force against the Church of Rome we are to returne the words of his theame to all good Christians Goe out of her my people Forsake the enemies of the Roman Church And as our Ancestors did the Pagan Emperours who drewe out her most pure bloud so let vs flie in matters of faith Religion from all heretikes that of late also spared not to shedde abundance of the same most Innocent bloud vnlesse to your greater condemnation you had leifer be partakers of her sinnes and receiue of her plagues And because I purpose God willing not only to confute what M. PERKINS bringeth against the Catholike doctrine but some what also in euerie Chapter to fortifie and confirme it I will here deliuer what some of the most auncient most learned most holy Fathers doe teach concerning ioyning with the Church and Pope of Rome from whose society Protestants labour tooth and nayle to withdawe vs. And because of this we must treat more amply in the question of supreamacie I will vse here their authority onely whome M. PERKINS citeth against vs. S. Bernard is cited already S. Ireneus Scholler of S. Policarpe he of S. Iohn the Euangelist of the Church of Rome writeth thus To this Church Lib. 3. c. 3. by reason of her more mighty principality it is necessarie that euery Church that is the faithfull on all sides to condescend and agree in and by which alwayes the tradition of the Apostles hath beene preserued of them that be round about her Saint Ierome writing to Damasus Pope of Rome sayeth I following none as chiefest but Christ doe in participation ioyne with thy blessednesse that is with the chayre of Peter I knowe the Church to be builded vpon that Rocke Whosoeuer doth eate the Paschall Lambe out of this house is a profane fellowe he that is not found within the Arke of Noe shall when the floudes arise perish And a litle after I knowe not Vitalis I refuse Meletius I take no notice of Paulinus he that gathereth not with thee scattereth that is he that is not with Christ is with Antichrist Marke and embrace this most learned Doctors Iudgement of joyning with the See of Rome in all doubtfull questions he would not trust to his owne wit skill which were singuler nor thought it safe to rely vpon his learned wise neighbours he durst not set vp his rest with his owne Bishoppe Paulinus who was a man of no meane marke but the Patriarke of Antioch but made his assured stay vpon the see of Rome as vpon an vnmoueable Rocke with which sayeth he if we doe not communicate in faith and Sacraments we are but profane men voyde of all Religion In a word we belong not to Christ but be of Antichrists trayne See how flat contrary this most holy auncient Father is to M. PERKINS M. PERKINS would make vs of Antichrists bande because we cleaue vnto the Bishoppe of Rome Whereas S. Hierome holdeth all to appertayne to Antichrist who be not fast lincked in matters of Religion with the Pope and See of Rome And so to conclude with this point euery true Catholike must say with S. Ambrose Lib.
A REFORMATION OF A CATHOLIKE DEFORMED BY M.W. PERKINS WHEREIN THE CHIEFE CONTROVERSIES IN RELIGION ARE METHODICALLY and learnedly handled Made by D.B.P. THE FORMER PART Take yee great heede of false Prophets which come to you in the cloathing of sheepe but inwardly are rauening Wolues By their fruits you shall knowe them MATH 7.15 Printed with Priuiledge 1604. TO THE MOST PVISSANT PRVDENT AND RENOWMED PRINCE IAMES THE FIRST BY THE GRACE OF GOD KING OF ENGLAND SCOTLAND FRANCE AND IREland Defendor of the Faith c. MOST GRATIOVS AND DREAD SOVERAIGNE Albeit my slender skill cannot afforde any discourse worthy the view of your Excellency neither my deadded and daylie interrupted and persecuted studies will giue me leaue to accomplish that litle which otherwise I might vndertake and performe Yet being enboldened both by your high Clemency and Gratious fauour euer shewed vnto all good litterature especially concerning diuinitie also vrged by mine owne bounden duetie and particular affection I presume to present vnto your highnes this shorte ensaying treatise For your exceeding Clemency mildenesse and rare modestie in the most eminent estate of so mighty a Monarche as it cannot but winne vnto your great loue in the hartes of all considerate Subjects so on the other side doth it encourage them confidently to open their mindes and in dutifull manner to vnfolde themselues vnto their so louing and affable a Soueraigne And whereas to the no vulgare prayse of your Majesties pietie you haue made open and often profession of your Vigilancie and care to aduaunce the diuine honour of our Sauiour Christ and his most sacred Religion Then what faithfull Christian should stagger or feare to lay open and deliuer publikely that which he assureth himselfe to be very expedient necessary and agreeable towardes the furnishing and setting forward of so heauenly a worke Moreouer if I your Majesties poore subject haue by studie at home and trauaile abroade attayned vnto any small talent of learning and knowledge to whome is the vse and fruit thereof more due then vnto my so gratious and withall so learned a Liege Finally for a proofe of my sincerity affection and dutifull loue towardes your Majestie this may I justly say that in time of vncertaine fortune when assured friends are most certainely tried I both suffered disgrace hinderance for it being stiled in Print A Scotist in faction therein farther employing my penne in A two-folde discourse which I hope hath beene presented to the viewe of your Majestie the one conteyning a defence of your Highnes honour the other of your title and interest of the Crowne of England And if then my zeale and loue of truth and obligation to your Majesty drewe me out of the compasse of mine owne profession to treate of lawe courses I trust your benigne Grace will now licence me out of the same fountaine of feruencie and like zeale vnto Gods truth no lesse respecting your Majesties eternall honour and heauenly inheritance something to say in matters of diuinity hauing beene the best part of my studie for more then thrise seauen yeares Whereinto I may conueniently enter with that golden sentence with which your Majestie beganne the Conference holden in Ianuary last betweene certaine of your subjects about some controuersie in Religion A loue principium Apoc. cap. 1.8 or conformable to that in holy writte I am Alpha and Omega that is The beginning and the end saith our Lord And applying it vnto Princes I may be bolde to say that nothing is more expedient and necessary for Kinges nothing more honourable and of better assurance for their estate then that in the very beginning of their raigne they take especiall order that the supreame and most puissant Monarch of heauen and earth be purely and vprightly serued aswell in their owne exemplare liues as throughout their Dominions For of Almighty God his meere bountie and great grace they receiue and holde their Diadems and Princelie Scepters and cannot possesse and enjoy them their mighty Forces and most prudent Counsailes notwithstanding one day longer then during his diuine will and pleasure Which that wise King witnesseth Prouerb 4 speaking in the person of Gods wisedome Per me Reges regnant By me Kinges doe raigne And Nabuchodonozer sometime King of Babilon Dan. 4. was turned out to grase with beastes for seauen yeares and made to knowe and confesse that the highest doth commaund ouer the Kingdomes of men and disposeth of them as pleaseth his diuine wisedome But I neede not stande vpon this point being so well knowne and duely confessed by your Majestie But sithens there be in this our most miserable age great diuersities of Religions and but one only wherewith God is truely serued and pleased as saith the Apostle One body one Spirit Ephes 4. as you are called into one hope of your vocation one Lord one Faith one Baptisme My most humble suite and supplication to your high Majestie is that you to your eternall good will embrace maintayne and set forth that only true Catholike and Apostolike faith wherein all your most royall progenitors liued and died or if you cannot be wonne so soone to alter that Religion in which it hath beene your misfortune to haue beene bredde and brought vp That then in the meane season you will not so heauely persecute the sincere professors of the other Very many vrgent and forcible reasons might be produced in fauour and defence of the Catholike Roman Religion whereof diuers haue bin in most learned treatises tendered to your Majestie already Wherefore I will only touch three two of them chosen out of the subject of this booke The third selected from a sentence of your Majesties recorded in the aforesaid Conference And because that argument is as most sensible so best assured which proceedeth from a principle that is either euident in it selfe or else graunted and confessed for true My first proofe shall be grounded vpon that your Majesties owne resolute and constant opinion as it appeareth in the said conference to witte Pag. 75. That no Church ought farther to seperate it selfe from the Church of Rome either in doctrine or ceremonie then shee hath departed from her selfe when shee was in her flourishing and best estate From whence I deduce this reason The principall Pillers of the Church of Rome in her most flourishing estate taught in all pointes of Religion the same Doctrine that shee now holdeth and teacheth and in expresse tearmes condemneth for errour and heresie most of those Articles which the Protestants esteeme to be the principall parts of their reformed Gospell Therefore if your Majestie will resolutelie embrace and constantly defend that doctrine which the Roman Church maintayned in her most flourishing estate you must forsake the Protestant and take the Catholike into your Princely protection To demonstrate vnto your Majestie that we now holde in all points the very same Doctrine which the most approued auncient Doctors and holy Fathers held and deliuered
Because it is to long for an Epistle I reserue it to the booke it selfe for the points it handleth and will here briefly note out of it some such old reproued errors that the Protestants doe reuiue receiue and avowe as the very sinnewes of their Gospell Martin Luther the ring-leader of the newe pretended reformation layeth for the ground-worke of his Religion That man is iustified by only faith and in this he is applauded and followed of all Protestants and yet as testifieth the most sound witnes of antiquity Au de side operibus ca. 14. S. Augustine that only faith is sufficient to Saluation was an error sprong vp in the Apostles dayes against which the Catholike Epistles of S. Peter and S. Iames and S. Iohn were principally directed And the authour of that error was that infamous Sorcerer Simon Magus Cap. 20. as the blessed Martir Ireneus hath recorded in his first booke against heresies Test Socr. ib. 1. hist cap. 17. S. Hier. pref lib. cont Pela S. Aug. de fide cont Manich. Epiph. her 64. PERKIN Pag. 29. Aug. retra lib. 2 c 22. here 82. PERKIN Pag. 163. An other principall piller of Fryer Luthers Religion consisteth in Deniall of free will wherein he jumpeth with the old rotten heretike Manes of whome the Manicheans were named One Proclus an erronyous Origenist taught that sinne was not taken away in Baptisme but only couered as is recorded by that holy man and auncient Father Epiphanius M. PERKINS in the name of Church of England affirmeth in like manner the originall sinne remayneth still and raigneth in the regenerate albeit it is not imputed vnto them Iouinian was accounted a Monster by S. Augustine for defending honest Marriage to be of equall vertue and meritte with chaste Virginity and saith further that this heresie was so sottish fleshly that it could not deceiue any one learned Priest but only some few simple carnall women Yet this our English champion blusheth not to affirme that marriage is not only equall but better also in diuers respects then Virginity The same olde reprobate heretike barked also against approued feasts and fasting dayes so doe most of our Ministers at this time Vigilantius was sharpely reproued by Saint Hierome in a booke written against him and hath beene euer since vnto this day esteemed a wicked hereticke for denying prayer to Saintes and honour to be donne vnto their Relikes And yet what pointe of Doctrine is more currant among the Protestants then this In like sorte one Aerius to the Arrian heresie added this of his owne That we must not pray for the soules of our friendes departed Aug. ad q. vult heres 53. as S. Augustine hath registred And doe not all Protestants embrace and earnestly defend the same A common custome it was of the Arrians and of other more auncient heretikes to reject all Traditions and to rely only vppon the written word Lib. 3. c. 20 Lib 1. con Maximinu as testifieth S. Ireneus and S. Augustine Doe not ours the same rejecting all Traditions as Mans Inuention Xenaias a Barbarous Persian indeed yet in shew a counterfeited Christian is noted for one of the first among Christians that inueyed against the Images of Saintes and the worship donne by true Christians vnto them Niceph li. 10. cap. 27. as both Nicephorus and Cedrenus in compendio doe recorde The reprobate Iewes indeede before him and after euen vntill this day the miscreant Turkes enemies of all Christianity doe dwell still in the same error And yet is not this most vehemently auerred by our Protestants and all Caluinists although they cannot denie but that aboue 900. yeares agoe in the second generall Councell holden at Nice they are by the consent of the best and most learned of the world for euer accursed that doe denie reuerence and worshippe to be giuen vnto the Images of Saintes I will omitte sundrie other heades of the Protestants Religion by all approued antiquity reproued and condemned that I passe not the boundes of an Epistle and seeme ouer tedious vnto your Majestie Especially considering that these are sufficient to conuince that those points wherein the Protestants affirme the present Church of Rome to haue so farre degenerate from the auncient are the very essentiall partes of faith then maintayned by the Romans And the contrary opinions nothing else but wicked heresies of old inuented and obstinately helde against the same Roman See euen as they are nowe in our time and of old also condemned by the same Church in her most flourishing and best estate Wherefore your most excellent Majestie being resolute in that singular good opinion that no Church ought farther to depart from the Church of Rome then shee is departed from her selfe in her flourishing estate must needes recall the Church of England from such extrauagant opinions to joyne with the Roman church in the aforesaid articles which shee in her best time helde for partes of pure faith And in all others also which they cannot directly proue in a lawfull disputation before your Majestie to haue beene altered by her particularly naming the point of Doctrine the author of the chaunge the time and place where when he liued who followed him who resisted him and such other like circumstances which all be easely shewed in euery such reuolte or innouation because the vigilant care of the Pastors of Christes flocke haue bin alwaies so great as no such thinges could be vnknowne let slippe or vnrecorded Thus much for my first reason collected from the vntruth of the Protestants religion The second shall be grounded vpon the vngodlines of it where I will let passe that high point of impiety that they make God who is goodnes it selfe the author of all wicked actions donne in the world And will besides say nothing of that their blasphemie against our Sauiour IESVS CHRIST that he ouercome with the paynes of his passion vpon the Crosse did doubt if not dispaire of his owne saluation being vnwilling to touch any other pointes then such as are afterwardes discussed in this booke The triumphant Citizens of heauen who enjoy the presence of God and happiest life that can be imagined are by Protestants disdaynefullie termed Deadmen and esteemed neither to haue credit with God to obtaine any thing nor any care or compassion on men among whom they once liued and conuersed so kindly And as for the poore soules departed who in Purgatory fire pay deare for their former delightes and pleasures they depriue them of all humane succour by teaching the world to beleeue that there is no such matter Concerning vs Christians yet liuing on earth there is no lesse impyetie in their opinions For they teach that the best Christian is no better in effect then a whited Sepulchre being inwardly full of all wickednes and mischiefe and onlie by an outwarde imputation of Christes righteousnes vnto them are accepted of God for just To thinke that there is
inherent in the soule of Man any such grace of God as doth cleanse it from sinne and make the man just in his sight is with them to raze the foundation of Religion and to make Christ a Pseudochrist wherein I knowe not whether they be more enuious against the good of Man then they are injurious eyther to the inestimable value of Christes bloud as though it coulde not deserue any better estate for his fauourites or vnto the vertue and efficacie of the holy Ghost as not being able by likeliehood to purge mens soules from sinne and endue them with such Heauenlie qualities I omitte the disgrace thereby donne to the Blessed God-head it selfe making the Holie of Holies rather willing to couer and cloake our iniquitie then to cure it And contrarie to his infinite goodnes to loue them whom he seeth defiled with all maner of abhominations Vnto these paradoxes impious against God and slaunderous to Man If it will please your Majestie to adde the prophane carnallity of some other points of the Protestant Doctrine you will doubtles in short time loath it As for example That it is as good godlie by eating to feede the body as to chastize it by fasting That it is as holy to fulfill the fleshly desires of it by Mariage as by Continencie to mortifie them yea that it is flatte against the word of GOD to vowe Virginitie And also contrarie to his blessed will to bestowe our goodes on the poore and to giue our selues wholy to prayer and fasting All which this Aduocate of the English Congregation teacheth expreslie Pag. 132. 162. 166. Is this the purity of the Gospell Or is it not rather the high way to Epicurisme and to all worldly vanity and iniquitie I need not joyne hereunto that they teach it to be impossible to keepe Gods Commaundements and therefore in vaine to goe about it And farther that the best worke of the righteous man is defiled with sinne Wherefore as good for him to leaue all vndone as to doe any Nay if this position of others were true it would followe necessarily that all men were bound vnder payne of damnation neuer to doe any good deede so long as they liue for that their good deede being stayned with sinne cannot but deserue the hyre of sinne which according to the Apostle is Death euerlasting If your Majesties important affaires Rom. 6. would once permitte you to consider maturely of these impieties and many other like absurdities wherewith the Protestant Doctrine is stuffed I dare be bold to say that you would speedely either commaund them to reforme themselues and amend their errors or fairly giue them their Congie I will close vp this my second reason with this Epiphoneme That it is impossible for a Protestant firmely cleauing to the groundes of his owne Religion to hope for anie saluation For they doe and needes must graunt that no man can be saued without a liuely faith and also that a liuely faith cannot be without charity for otherwise it were dead Now then to the purpose No Protestant can haue charity for as witnesseth S. Iohn 1. Epis cap. 5. 3. This is the charitie of God that we keepe his commaundements But it is impossible according to the Protestants to keepe the commaundements therefore also impossible to haue charity Which is the fulnes of the lawe Rom. 13. consequently impossible to haue a liuely faith which cannot be without charity And so finally through want of that liuely feeling faith whereby they should lay hold on Christs righteousnes to hale and apply that vnto themselues they can haue no hope at all of any fauour and grace at Gods handes Without which they must needes assure themselues of eternal damnation in steede of their pretended certayntie of saluation To these two argumēts gathered out of the treatise following I adde a third collected from these your owne memorable wordes related in the aboue named conference viz. Are we nowe come to that passe Pag. 69. that we must appeache Constantine of Poperie and superstition Which argueth that your Majestie judgeth them to haue litle regard of either piety or ciuility that would admit such a thought into their mind as that the first Christian Emperour our most renowmed countriman should be nousled brought vp in superstitiō wherein your Majestie hath great reason for he was most carefully instructed taught the Christian Religion by such holy Confessors whose sincerity in faith had bin tried in the hotte furnace of many strange persecutions And he farther had the good happe to see and heare together in the first generall Councell of Nice many of the holiest and best learned Bishops of Christendome Therefore is it most vnlikely that so Royall a Person deuoted to Religion and hauing so good meanes to attayne to the perfect knowledge thereof as no man could haue better should neuerthelesse in the purest time of it be mis-ledde into errour and superstition If then it may be proued that this most Christian Emperor the glittering ornament of our noble Iland did beleeue such articles of the present Roman Church as the Protestants teach not to be beleeued Will not your Majestie rather joyne in faith with so peerles a Prince who by the consent of all antiquity was for certayne right well enformed then with these whome doubtles most men deeme to be pittifully deceiued Nowe that Constantine was of the same opinion in matter of Religion with the present Church of Rome may euidently be gathered out of this that followeth First he was so affectionate vnto the signe of the Crosse that he would haue it gloriously appeare both abroade in his banners and at home in his Pallace Euseb de vita Constan lib. 3. cap. 2. Lib 2. c. r 4. Lib. 4. c. 26. and in the middest of the Citie of Rome with this Poesie In this signe of saluation I haue deliuered the Cittie With it also he blessed his visage With fasting and other corporall affliction he chastized his body that he might please God He with incredible admiration honoured professed Virgins and made lawes in their fauour Ibidem lib. 3. cap. 47. alibi Chry. hom 66. ad pop Antioch He builded many Churches in honour of the Apostles and Martirs And as S. Chrysostome recordeth He that was reuested in purple went to embrace the Sepulchres of S. Peter and S. Paul and all Princely state laide aside stood humbly praying vnto the Saints that they would be intercessors for him vnto God He farther tooke order for the burying of his owne body in the middest of the Tombes of the twelue Apostles that after his death he might be partaker of the prayers Euseb in vita Const lib. 4. ca. 60. Ibid cap. 71. which should be there offered in the honour of the Apostles Neither was he frustrated of his holy desire for as it followeth in the 71. Chapter of the same booke at his funerals the people joyning with the
transgressing of one huspeled and handled as though they were some haynous rebbels and traytors Who be it spoken without disparagement to others are by them that liue neare them esteemed commonly the most orderly subjectes as true of their wordes as sound in their deedes of as greate charity and hospitality towardes their neighbours and compassion of the poore briefly of as moderate and ciuile carriage and behauiour as most men in their Country So that to begger and vndoe them as the execution of that lawe established must needes doe the poorer sorte of them would be litle lesse then vndoe and destroy all good order and Discipline in the common weale Before I make an end I beseech your Majestie that the old worthy saying of Cassian may diligently examined Cui bonum For whose commodity to what end and purpose must such numbers of most ciuill subjectes be so grieuously molested What is the cause why your peaceable and joyfull gouernment should be so mingled with such bitter stormes of persecution Is it to extinguish the Catholike faith It lyeth not in mans power to suppresse and destroy that which the Almighty supporteth and maintayneth Matth. 16. The gates of hell shall not preuaile against the Catholike Church And let but those graue wise counsailers who haue mannaged the state in our late Queenes dayes enforme your Majestie whether all those terrible persecutions that then were most vehemently pursued did any whitte at all diminish the number of recusantes or rather did not greatly multiply and encrease them from one at the first to an hundred and moe in continuance But it may be they entende by those penall lawes to enrich your Majestie and to fill your coffers Surely the receipts will fall out much to short to grow to any such reckoning And what delight to enrich your treasury and stuffe your coffers with regrets and out cries of the husband wife children widowes and poore infantes when as the best and most assured treasury of a King is by the prudent esteemed to consist in the loue and harty affection of his people Or are these penall lawes and forfaitures ordayned for rewardes vnto such dependents as for these or the like do follow you But the reuennues preferments offices belonging to your crowne of England are abundantly able to content and reward them that shall deserue well of the common weale without that so heauy agrieuance and hart bleeding of others your Majesties good subjectes And your Majesties high wisdome and long experience in gouernment can best remember you that such men are not so mindefull of benefits receiued as the daylie want and miserie will continually renue and reuiue the memorie of the oppressed And when they shall see no hope of remedie the state being nowe setled and a continuall posterity like to ensue of one nature and condition God knoweth what that forceable weapon of necessitie may constrayne and driue then vnto at length If then there be no greater reason of waight and moment why such dutifull and well deseruing Subjects should be so greeuously afflicted for their conscience Let others conceiue as they shall please I will neuer suffer my selfe to be perswaded that your Majestie will euer permitte it before I see it donne If it be further objected why should not your Majestie aswell punish Catholikes in your Kingdomes as Catholikes doe Protestants in some other Countries I answere that in all Countries where multitudes of both sortes are mixed as it is in England The Protestants are tollerated as in France Polonia Bohemia the Catholike states of Germanie and Cantounes according to that of the Gospell Suffer both the wheate and cockle to growe vntill haruest Math. 13. In Spaine and Italie where scarse any Protestants be the case is otherwise But what is that to England Where are very many Catholike Recusants and Catholikely affected in euery degree not only of the Temporalty but in the Clergie also hardly of the highest degrees of honour to be excepted therefore for their number and quality to be tollerated Lastly if there were no other cause but the innumerable benefittes which euery degree and order of men throughout England haue and doe daily receiue from our most Catholike Auncestors As the constituting of so many holsome lawes founding of so many honourable and rich rewardes of learning as Bishoprickes Cathedrall Churches Deaneries Arch-deaconries Residencies Prebendes and Benefices the erecting and building of so goodly Schooles Colledges and Hospitalles and endowing of them with so ample possessions which all proceeded out of the bowelles of the true wisedome pietie and vertue of their Catholike Religion Is not this much more then a sufficient motiue why their heires in faith should be most benignely and louingly dealt with and not for the profession of the same Religion so seuerely afflicted Let the Protestants in those countries where they are most molested appeare and shew that their predecessors in beliefe haue beene so beneficiall vnto the publike weale And I dare vndertake that for their Auncestors sake they shall finde much more fauour then wee sue for Wherefore they can haue no just cause to repine at your Majesties goodnes if vpon men of that Religion which hath beene so beneficiall vnto your whole Realme you take extraordinary compassion It lying then in your Majesties free choise and election whether you will enlarge and extend your Royall fauour vnto an infinite number of your most dutifull and affectionate Subjects who are the most vnwilling in the world to transgresse any one of your lawes were they not thereunto compelled by the lawe of God or else vtterly to beggar and to vndoe both them and theirs for their constant profession of the Auncient Roman faith My confidence in the sweet prouidence of the Almighty is that he will mercifullie incline your Royall heart to choose rather to pardon then to punish because the way of mercie consorteth better with your kinde and tender nature it is of better assurance to continue your peacible and prosperous Raigne it will purchase mercie at Gods hands according to his owne promise Blessed be the mercifull Math. 5. for they shall obtayne mercie I need not adde what a Consolation and Comfort it will be to many score thousands of your subjects and the greatest obligation that can be deuised to binde them to you and yours for euer Nowe what applause and congratulation from forraine Catholike countries would followe this your famous Fact Vndoubtedly all the glorious companie of Kinges and Queenes now in heauen of whom your are lineallie descended and among all the rest namelie your most sacred and deare Mother that endured so much for her constancy in the same Catholike faith cannot but take it most kindly if for God and their sakes you take into your Princelie protection their folowers in the Roman faith and defend them from oppression Thus most humbly crauing pardon of your Highnes if I haue in any thing exceeded the limittes of my bounden
doctrine of the Roman Church nor said in all her seruice We say Shew thyselfe to be a mother but it is not added by commaunding thy Sonne that is your glosse which is accursed because it corrupteth the text for it followeth in that place Sumat per te preces c. Present our prayers to him that vouchsafed to be borne of thee for vs. If any priuat person by meditation pearcing more profoundly into the mutuall loue and affection of such a Sonne towardes so worthie a Mother doe deeme her prayers as forcible in kindnes as if they were commaundements and in that sence call them commaundements according to the French phrase Vos priers me sont des commandements that may be donne without derogation to Christs supreame dignity and with high commendation of his tender affection vnto his reuerent best beloued mother Wherefore to conclude this Epistle if there be no waightier cause then this by you here produced why you your adherents doe not reconcile your selues vnto the Church of Rome you may shortly by Gods grace become new men For we are so farre off from making our Sauiour Christ a Pseudochrist or from drawing one jote of excellency from his soueraigne power merits or dignity that we in the very points by you put downe doe much more magnifie him then you do For in maintayning the authority by him imparted vnto his deputies our spirituall Magistrates and of their merits and satisfaction We first say that these his seruants prerogatiues be his free gifts of more grace bestowed on whome he pleaseth which is no small prayse of his great liberality And withall affirme that there is an infinite difference betweene his owne power merits and satisfaction and ours Wherein his soueraigne honour is preserued entire to himselfe without any comparison Now you make Christs authority so base his merits and satisfaction so meane that if he impart any degree of them vnto his seruants he looseth the honour of all from himselfe Whereupon it followeth inuincibly if you vnfeignedly seeke CHRIST IESVS his true honour and will esteeme of his diuine giftes worthelie you must hold out no longer but vnite your selfe in these necessary heades of Religion vnto the Catholike Church of Rome which so highly exalteth him both in his owne excellency and in his singuler giftes to his subjects AN ANSWERE TO THE PREFACE VPON your preface to the reader I will not stand because it toucheth no point of controuersie let it be declared in your next what you meane when you desire your reformed Catholike to hold the same necessarie heades of Religion with the Roman Church for if the Roman Church doth erre in the matter of faith and iustification in the number and vertue of the Sacraments in the bookes and interpretation of the word of God if she raze the foundation and make Christ a Pseudochrist and an Idoll to omitte twenty other errors in substantiall points of faith as in this your small discourse you would perswade there will remayne verie fewe necessarie heades of Religion for them to agree in And be you wel assured that you are so wide from winning Catholikes by this your worke to a better liking of your Religion that you haue taken the high way to lead them to a farre greater dislike of it by teaching that in so many materiall points it differeth so farre from theirs For al Catholikes hold for most assured that which the most auncient learned holy Doctor Athanasius in his creede deliuereth in the 2. verse Which Catholike faith vnlesse euerie man obserue wholy and inuiolably not omitting or shrinking from any one article of it without doubt he shall perish euerlastingly If S. Basil that reuerent blessed Father of the Church doth hold it the duty of euery good Christian rather to loose his life then to condescend to the alteration of any one sillable in matter of faith Theod. 4. his cap. 17. you may be sure that we Catholikes cannot but carry a very base cōceipt of your doctrine who goe about vnder the ouerworne threedbare cloake of reformation to deface and corrupt the purer and greater part of Christian Religion specially when they shall perceiue the most points of your pretended reformation to be nothing else but old rotten condemned heresies newe scoured vp and furbushed so in shew made more saleable vnto the vnskilfull as in this treatise shall be proued in euery Chapter THE THEAME OF M. PERKINS PROLOGVE And I heard an other voice from heauen say goe out of her my people that you be not partakers of her sinnes and receiue not of her plagues Reuelat. 18.3 ANSWERE TO THE PROLOGVE Exordium Commune THE learned knowe it to be a fault to make that the entry vnto our discourse which may as properly fit him that pleadeth against vs but to vse that for our proeme which in true sence hath nothing for vs nay rather beareth stronglie for our aduersarie must needes argue great want of iudgement Such is the sentence aboue cited out of S. Iohn by M. PERKINS for it being trulie vnderstood is so farre off from terrifying anie one from the Catholike Roman Church as it doth vehemently exhort all to flie vnto it by forsaking their wicked company that are banded against it For by the purple Harlot in that place is signified as shall be proued presently the Roman Empire as then it was the slaue of Idols and with most bloudy slaughter persecuting Christs Saints Those of the Church of Rome being as nearest vnto it so most subject to that sacrilegious butcherie Wherefore that voice which S. Iohn heard say Goe out of her my people that you be not partakers of her sinnes c. can haue none other meaning then that all they who desire to be Gods people must separate themselues in faith and manners from them who hate persecute the Roman Church as did then the Heathen Emperours now doe all Heretikes Vnlesse they will be partakers of their sinnes consequently of their plagues This shall yet appeare more plainly in the examination of this Chapter Where I will deale friendly with my aduersary aduantage him all that I can that all being giuē him which is any way probable it may appeare more euidently how litle he hath to any purpose out of this place of the Apocalipse whereof all Protestants vaunt and bragge so much both in their bookes pulpits Well then I will admitte that in the 17. 18. Chapters of the reuel by the whoore of Babilon is vnderstood the Roman state and regiment which in lawfull disputations they are not able to proue the most juditious Doctor S. Augustine and diuerse others of the auncient Fathers with the learned troupe of later Interpreters expounding it of the whole corps and society of the wicked And as for the 7. hilles on the which they lay their foundation they are not to be taken literally The Angell of God in the very text it selfe interpreting
Peter had beene at Rome Well M. PERKINS is content in fine to allowe of that distinction of Heathenish and Ecclesiasticall Rome which before he esteemed so foolish And then will proue that not the Heathenish but Ecclesiasticall Rome is resembled to the purple Harlot See what confidence this man hath in his owne shutle wit that now will proue this and shorty after disproue it but let vs giue him the hearing in the 3. verse Cap. 18. The holy Ghost sayeth playnely that she hath made all the world drunke with the wine of the wrath of her fornication and yet addeth that she hath committed fornication with the Kings of the earth But this cannot be vnderstood of heathenish Rome for that left all the Kingdomes of the earth vnto their owne Religion and Idolatry and did not labour to bring them to worshippe the Roman Gods Ergo it must be vnderstood of Papall Rome I answere The Roman Empire being the head and principall promoter of all kinde of Idolatrie and maintayning and aduancing them that most vehemently opposed themselues against the Christian Religion who with any shewe of reason can deny but they chiefly committed spirituall fornication with the Kings of the earth if not by perswading them to forsake their owne false Gods which the Pagan Romans worshippe aswell as they Yet by encouraging and commaunding them to perseuer in that filthy Idolatry and to resist and oppresse the Christians wheresoeuer Neither is that true that the Roman Emperours did not labour to bring other Nations to worship new Gods when Nero and Domitian would be worshipped as Gods and for feare of Adrian one Antinous his seruant was worshipped as a God of all men as Iustinus Martyr testifieth in his Apol. to Antonine Euseb li. 4. ist cap. 8. These wordes of the text then agree very well with the Emperours who both were Idolaters and the chiefe Patrons of Idolatry but can in no sorte be applied to the Roman Church which was then as the Protestants cannot deny a pure Virgin and most free from all spirituall fornication But that it is now become Idolatrous M. PERKINS doth proue by his second reason gathered also I warrant you right learnedly out of the text it selfe Cap. 17. vers 16. where it is said that the tenne Hornes which signifie tenne Kinges shall hate the whoore and make her desolate and naked which as he saith must be vnderstood of Popish Rome For whereas in former times al the Kings of the earth did submitte themselues to the whoore now they haue begunne to withdrawe themselues to make her desolate as the Kinges of Bohemia Denmarke Germany England Scotland and other parts In these his wordes is committed a most foule fault by grosse ouersight and ignorance in the verie text What be England Scotland Denmarke as for Bohemia ruled by a Catholike Emperour it must be omitted as also many states of Germanie be these Kingdomes your principall pillers of the newe Gospell comprehended within the number of the ten mentioned there in S. Iohn which hate the harlot Yes marie Why then they are enemies of Christ and Satans souldiers for in the 13. verse it is said of these that they shall deliuer their power vnto the beast which signifieth either the Diuell or Antichrist shall sight with the Lambe the Lambe shall ouercome them because he is Lord of Lordes King of Kinges Is not this doating in an high degree to infame so notoriously them of whom he would speake most honour and to make the speciall Patrons of their new Gospell the Diuels Captaines and fiercelie to wage battaile against CHRIST IESVS See how heate of wrangling blindeth mens Iudgements But you proceede and say Pag. 7. that we further hold that the bloud of the Saintes and Martirs was not shedde in Rome but in Ierusalem Here is a confusion of Men and matters for we say that the bloud of many Saintes rehearsed in the Apoc. was shedde in Rome Cap. 17. by the tirannicall Emperours but the martiring of those two principall witnesses Enoch and Elias recorded in the eleauenth of the same shall be at Ierusalem aswell because the text is very plaine for it Vers 8. specifying that their bodies shall lie in the streets of that great Citty where their Lord was crucified as for that the ordinarie interpreters of that place doe so take it But M. PERKINS holdeth that the place where Christ was crucified signifieth here not Ierusalem but Rome because Christ was crucified there in his members so it might aswell signifie any other place of persecution as Rome the reason therefore being nought worth he fortifieth it with the name of S. Ierome but citeth in the margent a letter of two vertuous matrons Paula Eustochium Epist. 17 Epist. 17 Good Sir if S. Ierome had meant that the Epistle should haue had his authority he would haue set it out in his own name which seing he thought not expedient sette the authoritie of it aside and vrge his reasons if you thinke it worth your labour and you shal be answered In the meane season I hope all sober Christians will take the place where our Sauiour Christ was nailed on the Crosse to signifie rather Ierusalem then Rome And consequently all that you haue alleadged out of Scripture to proue the whore of Babilon to figure the ecclesiasticall state of Rome not to bee worth a rush Now let vs come to the auncient and learned men whome you cite in fauour of your exposition The first is S. Bernard who saieth that they are the ministers of Christ but they serue Antichrist Of whome speaketh that good religious Father forsooth of some officers of the court of Rome Good who were as he saieth the ministers of CHRIST beecause they were lawfullie called by the Pope to their places but serued Antichrist for that they behaued themselues corruptly in their callings And so this maketh more againste you then for you approuing the lawfull officers of Rome to be Christs ministers The second place is alleadged out of him yet more impertinently your selfe confessing presently that those wordes were not spoken of the Pope but of his enemy The reason yet there set downe pleaseth you exceedingly which you vouch so clearly that it seemeth to beare flat against you for you inferre that that Pope and all others since that time be vsurpers out of this reason of Saint Bernard Because forsooth that the Antipope called Innocentius was chosen by the King of Almaine France England c. and their whole cleargy and people For if Innocentius were an Antichrist and vsurper because he was elected by so many Kings and people then belike he that had no such election but is chosen by the Cardinals of Rome only is true Pope This your wordes declare but your meaning as I take it is quite contrary But of this matter and manner of election shall be treated hereafter if neede require It sufficeth for this present
one Wee prooue the contrarie First by the authoritie of the ancient Doctors ORIGEN * Hom. 8. in exod Q. 38 in ex and THEODORET * who in expresse wordes deliuer the same difference of Image and Idoll which is taken out of S. PAVL * 1 Cor. 8. saying that an Idoll is nothing in the world that is such Idols as the Heathen take for their Gods are nothing formallie that is though they bee great peeces of wood or stone materiallie yet they represent a thing that is not that is such a thing to bee a God which is nothing lesse Let M. P. but quote one place in the whole Bible where they are vsed both for one I will cite some-where if you vse the one for the other you must offende all good Christian eares As where man is saide to be made after the Image of God may you say after the Idoll of God CHRIST is saide to be the Image of his Father will you call him the Idoll of his Father Surely hee cannot denie but the seauenth generall Counsell holden about nine hundreth yeares past and gone is so farre off from making Image and Idoll all one that it doeth accurse all them who call the Image of CHRIST and his Saints Idols But TERTVLLIAN * De Idololat sayeth M. P. affirmeth them to bee all one not so neither For hee maketh Idolum a diuinitie of eibos which signifyeth a forme or similitude So that Idolon is but a small similitude or slender Image not so much for the quantitie as for that it representeth but darkely EVSTATHIVS an excellent Greeke interpreter vppon the elleuenth booke of HOMERS ODISSEA descrybeth Idolum to signifye a vayne and vanishing Image as the shaddowe of a man a ghost or phantasticall Imagination And so it cannot bee that all profaine Authors vse these two wordes indifferentlie seeing both in proper signifycation and by the declaration of the learned there is greate difference betweene them But Saint STEPHEN calles the golden calfe an Idoll so it was indeed What is that to the purpose And S. HIEROM sayeth That Idols are the Images of dead-men adde that are taken for Gods True manie Idols bee Images all such as truely represente any person that was once liuing heere but no Images bee Idols vnlesse it bee taken for a GOD And so Idolles requires besides the Image that it bee made a God or the Image of a false God Nowe to those fewe authorities which M. Perk. cyteth in his fauour To them of the counsell of ELIBERIS and EPIPHANIVS which seeme to speake against setting vppe of Images in Churches I will answere in their place to that out of LACTANTIVS Lib. 2. instit cap. 19. Where Images are for Religion sake there is no Religion the force lyeth in false translation of Images for Idols Put where Idols are for Religion there is no Religion But what suppose hee spake against worshipping of Images in gemeral it were not proper to this purpose where we speake onely of making Images and not of all sortes of Images neither but of an Image onely to represent some properties or actions of God That out of ORIGNE * Cont. cell lib. 7. is yet farre wyder Wee suffer not any to worshippe IESVS at Altars Images or Temples because it is written Thou shalt haue none other Gods Here is nothing concerning the making of Gods Image onely Christians are forbidden to goe vnto the heathen Temples and there at their Altars or Idols to worshippe IESVS who hath no affinitie nor can endure any fellowshippe with Idolaters Hauing confuted the Protestants arguments against the making Images to represent some propertie or action of God I nowe come vnto Catholike proofe of them The first reason set downe by M. P. I reserue to the next poynt the second is God appeared in the forme of a man to ABRAHAM * Genes 18 and to DANIEL Who saw the auncient of dayes sitting on a throne * Dan 9. Nowe as God hath appeared so may hee be purtraited and drawen M. P. his answere is not so vnlesse it be expresselie commanded by God REPLY This first is flat against his owne second conclusion where he holdeth it lawfull to present to the eye in Pictures any histories of the Bible in priuate places both the foresaide apparitions bee in the Olde testament and therefore may be painted in priuate places which cannot be truely done without you doe represent God in the same likenesse as there hee appeared And what reason leadeth in wordes to represent those actions of GOD the same serueth to expresse them in liuelie colours Not so sayeth M. P. because when God appeared in the forme of man it was a signe of Gods presence for that time onely and for no longer be it so it might notwithstanding be recorded in writing that the memorie of such majestie joyned with louing kindnesse might endure longer And if it pleased God that this short presence of his should be written to bee perpetuallie remembred euen so the same might be ingrauen in brasse to recommende it to vs so much the more effectuallie For as the famous Poet doth by the light of nature sing Segnius irritant animos demissa per aures Quam quae sunt oculis subiecta fidelibus Such worthie acts as by the eares are to the minde conueyde Do mooue vs lesse then that which is by faithfull eye descryde This argument may bee confirmed by the pictures of Angels of Vertues and other such like of spirituall or accidentall nature for if such things as haue no bodelie proportion or shape may notwithstanding bee counterfeit and resembled in some qualities why may not some propertie or action of God be in like manner represented That thou mayest Reader vnderstande the better what wee meane obserue that pictures represent after three sorts Some expresse to the quick the very shape proportion and colour of the patterne as the liuely picture of man or of any such corporall thing others represent things as they did appeare and were acted as if the Paynter should expresse the meeting of God with ABRAHAM and his entertainement he must then resemble God in the same likenesse of a man in which he shewed himselfe to ABRAHAM Thirdly an Image of a spirituall thing may be drawen not to resemble the nature of it but to leade our vnderstanding by such a similitude into some better knowledge of that thing so are Angels paynted like goodly young men with wings to teach vs that they be of an excellent pure nature euer flourishing and most readie to dispatch with all expedition any imployment to which God sends them and so may God the Father be pourtraited as a goodly old graue man sitting in his throne of majestie attended vppon by millions of Angels as he is described in Daniel 9. to instruct vs how he is eternall infinite wise and of most redoubtable majestie In either of these two latter sorts we hold that God may be