you may know this man to be one of those of whom S. Paul speaketh who taking vpon them to be Doctours of the Law do not vnderstand neither what they speake nor of what they affirme Let vs suppose it were true that his eyes were opened as he saith and that he saw manifestly and clerely in the Fathers Canons and Councells those so many Churches whome Rome hath made her aduersaryes do differ little or nothing from the ancient and pare doctrine of the pure Church What other thing I pray you did he see with his eyes broad open so plainly but only this that he is alienated from the Church of God a deceiuer and a killer of the sheep of Christs a blasphemous defender of many horrible Heresyes a disposer to Arianisme and Turcisme insathanized and 〈…〉 c. according to the purity of the Lutheran Ghospell That he is amalepert wicked furious herecike and a slane of the Diuell in defenthing Luther according to the purity of Caluins doctrine That he putteth no difference betwene truth and falshould Christ and Antichrist God and the Diuell but it one of the Antichristian Swyntsh rabble according to the purity of the Puritants themselues And lastly that he is excommunicated and guilty of a wicked errour according to the purity of the Protestants for defending most impurely that all these Sects togeather do differ little or nothing from the purity of the Ghospell SECTION XX. The conclusion of this Tract cōcerning the Bishops motiues by occasion wherof the nature of a motiue is declared and the first Catholike motiue of the holynes and sanctity of Catholike doctrine is propounded AND this much concerning the Bishops Motiues and the formall Reasons of his conuersion which I haue shewed that being in themselues not only strang but also incredible he neither goeth about to proue in this place nor can possibly proue them in his other bookes hereafter because in them he doth not descend to those particuler points which are in Controuersy betwene vs as is manifest by the titles of his bookes themselues And this one Controuersy alone of the Popes Supremacy according to the doctrine of the ancient Church I which is the substance of all the bookes he promiseth is found as I haue shewed to he most extreme against him and that which he maketh the ground thereof hath been also discouered to be a most absurd and most pernicious position as much contrary to the authority of your Bishops and to the Puritan Eldership and to the title of his owne booke as to the Popes Supremacy and if all were true which he pretendeth to proue in his Common wealth it might shew perhaps the Catholike Religion to be false but yours to be the right it could not proue I haue also made it euident vnto you that the Bishops motiues as they are heere set downe in his little booke are as monstrous vntruths as can be deuised and albeit he may saue them from broad lyes perchance vnder the title of some rhetoricall figure whereof he hath been a Maister yet too much of one thing is good for nothing and he cannot deny but that it is a great disgrace euen to the Art of lying to vse this one figure of manifest vntruth so often By this also that hath beene sayd concerning this matter you will further perceiue the Bishop being a man so deeply learned and after ten yeares study hauing produced such reasons as these for the proofe of your Religion how hard or rather how impossible it is for any man whatsoeuer to giue any sound or good reason for it Wherin also by the way it wil be worthy your knowledge to consider that such reasons as may induce a man to be of any Religion are of two sorts For either they proue euery point of Religion in particuler to be true or els they open and declare the euidence of certaine generall principles which being once receiued draw after them the consent of the mind to all those thinges in speciall which are taught or practised in that Religion Vnto the first kind do belong all those books which treat of particuler Controuersyes as of the Masse of prayer for the dead of prayer to Saints Purgatory and the like which indeed to a man that hath but little will or little leasure to read is a wearisome course and tedious way to tryall Vnto the other doth belong those shorter discourses which some haue tearmed motiues and for the Catholike party may be seen in such as haue handled the notes of the Church in Canipian his ten Reasons in the booke of the Three Conuersions of England in Bristow and others Whereunto besides that they must be generall reasons as I haue shewed two things againe are necessary The one that the truth of them be more euident then the truth of other particulers which depend vpon them The other that they induce almen Heathens or Christiās of what belief soeuer they be to change opinion and to submit their iugdments to the obedience of that Religion for which they are produced This being seene if you please but to examine a little all those Protestants books which haue been published in this kind you shall not find any one argument in them which may be called a generall reason or an vniuersall motiue for the truth of your Religion but either they are no lesse obscure then the Religion it selfe as that the word of God is truly preached and the Sacraments rightly administred amongst you or most improbable as that the Protestants haue beene alwayes the most visible Congregation of all other Christian Churches or that your religion accordeth with the doctrine of the ancient Fathers as here the Bishop pretendeth or el they concerne some particuler point in Controuersy and commonly are not only most improbable as that the Masse is Idolatry that the Pope is Antichrist and the like but also most palbably false as that we hope to be saued without the merits of Christ that we worship stockes and stones that for nication is a veniall sinne such other iniuries of like nature as it pleaseth your vnlearned Ministers for want of knowledge or of better matter to lay vpon vs. Whereas on the other side euery Catholike whether learned or vnlearned wise or simple is able to giue you such a reason of his fayth as may be sufficient to moue any indifferent mind of what belief soeuer to like and imbrace it For Almighty God not inforcing man against his wil but drawing him according to his Nature and demaunding a reasonable obedience of him hath ordayned in the sweetnes of his prouidence that all Christians should make profession of some principall motiues of their fayth wherein many others are vertually conrayned saying in their Creed I beleeue the holy Church Catholike Not only to moue others therby but also more and more to confirme themselues in their beliefe For albeit matter of diuine fayth be infinitly aboue the knowledge of naturall reason which
day I take to be some part of those innumerable heresyes whereof he accuseth the Sea of Rome to be euery day an authour for otherwise that monstrous Hyperbole of his could haue no proportion and within the number of those other very many Churches which heere he sayth that Rome hath vniustly made her aduersaries must be contayned not only those of the West which are but two or three notoriously knowne but also the other of the East that is to say the Grecians and Arians at the least if the Turkes and Iewes do not also come in to make vp the reckoning of so great a number The fury of Heresy being now ouerblowne wherewith it entred first into our miserable Countrey and the Kingdome hauing been a long tyme setled in a reposed kind of gouernemēt many strangers of good iudgment and well affected to our Nation do wonder to see that it receiueth with tryumph all kind of Fugitiues and Apostata Fryars that come running thither of what life or what religion soeuer they be so long as they professe themselues enemyes to the Church of Rome which many wise men our friends who are lookers on esteeme and affirme to be no lesse dishonorable then dangerous to any well ordered and well gouerned society And in very deed what reputation I pray you can it giue vnto you in the eye of your Neighbour Countreys to see the scumme and vomit of other Nations and their Religious Orders to be so much esteemed and magnifyed among you or what conceit can they make either of your zeale in religion or wisedome in gouernement that open your armes to euery Sectary and your pulpits to euery renegate pretending to preach although his conuersation his intention his priuate opinions or the cause of his comming be neuer so much vnknowne vnto you And at this tyme I pray God it proue not too true that in the shape of a Bishop you haue receiued a most venomous and pestiferous serpent into your bosome For albert as yet he doth not shew his head by discouering his opinions in all the particuler poynts of Christian Religion making demonstration of malice against the Pope alone yet in the windings turnings of this little booke as I haue shewed and especially in destroying all iurisdiction in arrogating to his owne iudgment aboue measure and in challenging liberty to abound in his owne sense he discouereth a most fearefull and deformed body For if this which he pretendeth may be permitted to himselfe and others there is no poynt of Religion which will not presently be called in question euery thing wil be made a quodlibet as the Academikes in Philosophy so you also in Diuinity must hold all things probable and problematicall whereof it will shortly follow that as all the wisedome of the Academy was summed in this one sentence Hoc tantùm scio quòd nihil scio so the Religion of England wil be wholy reduced to this one article hoc tantùm credo quòd nihil credo And the danger hereof is the greater at this tyme because as I vnderstand it is an opinion growing into fashion among you that a man may be saued in any Religion so he belieue in Christ and I haue seene one of your principall Doctours cyted D. Morton in his treatise of the kingdome of Israel pag. 94. who durst to publish in prynt that an Arian might be saued because albeit he deny the Deumity of Christ yet he confesseth Christ to be the true Messies which your Doctour thinketh sufficient for saluation From whence euery man being permitted to abound in his owne sense as the Bishop would haue it your selfe may iudge how easy a matter it is to passe a little further and to thinke that it may suffice to hold that Christ was a great Prophet as the Turkes do or that it is indifferent to belieue whether he be come or no which disposeth to Iudaisme or that a morall life may be sufficient to saue vs in any Religion which is playne Gentility And if this be the vnion of the East and West and of the North and South which the Bishop so much desireth to establish in his Ecclesiasticall Common Wealth I am sure that none but the Diuell can be the head therof and to satisfy the mans ambition if it were to do him good I should be contented for my part that he himselfe should be made the Vicar But thus you see how such as once fall from the Catholike Church which is the body do easily contemne the head thereof who is Christ himselfe and come to loose not only their dewine faith which none can haue but they that belieue the true Church but also to renounce their morall beliefe and former persuasion of that truth of Christianity wherin they were bred which hitherto God be thanked hath been constantly mayntained in our Countrey SECTION XVII The substance of the Bishops 10. bookes being thus confuted the mayne poynt of this other Booke which he maketh the ground of his Conuersion That the doctrine of the Protestants differeth little or nothing from the doctrine of the ancient Fathers is disproued by sundry generall reasons and by the Fathers themselues codemning the Protestants opinions for no lesse then Heresies FOR this important consideration and to meete with the danger of Neutrality in Religion so fast increasing in our Countrey as I fynd it most easy so I thinke it most necessary in these desperate tymes to make some cōfutation of these idle dreams and sottish illusions of the Diuell by shewing plainly out of the rule of Fayth and according to the ground of naturall reason that no man can be saued without the perfect loue of God which requyreth perfect obedience both of the vnderstanding in beleeuing the Catholike Church whome God hath appoynted to teach vs and also of the will in keping Gods Precepts and Commaundements Which indeed were a medicyne most appropriate to the diseases of the tyme and a hatchet layd to that root from whence the Bishops tree is already sprung and which spreadeth a pace in the harts not only of the idle youth which I feare but also of those that take themselues to be the wisest men in our Countrey But because I am loath to be ouer troublesome at this tyme and that this Treatise requyreth some hast which growing in my hand from a letter to a booke should haue been dispatched long since not only to giue iust contentment to your selfe expecting my answere to your letter but also to satisfy others who hauing hard the Bishops tale keep one eare open all this while to heare the reply of the contrary party I will reserue the handling of this matter for a fresher pen and for this tyme I will coment my selfe with those authorityes which I haue a leady produced out of the Fathers pronouncing such as are not vnited with the Pope it be confounded with the succession of his seat built vpon the premise of our Saniour to be
at the least no lesse vncertayne then the thing he proueth euen to himself as euery Reader may easily perceiue And therfore to perswade his friends that he himselfe at the least is well perswaded of it he should haue declared what rules of Scripture they were that he obserued which perchance would haue troubled him more then his great booke with the 10. hornes which was no lesse then 10. whole yeares a making But this man hauing lost his credit at home and being new come into a strange Countrey taketh vp all vpon trust without pawne or surety which is another point wherein he also resembleth Monsignor fate voi And in the end withall his borrowing like vnto his predecessour he may chance though in another kind to be well beaten for his labour And now I might here dispute how improbable the story is which he telleth and how grosse the inuention which he seeketh to put vpon you That hauing no knowledge of your doctrine either by Speach or Reading any of your bookes he should fall iust vpon your Parlamentall Religion For first both Geneua and Saxony were in his way and supposing that the English Angells might haue more power with him then the poore Guardian spirits of those other Countryes Secondly I might obiect his vehement suspition wherof he speaketh pag. 8. That Catholike Authours did not faithfully deliuer the opinions of the Protestants against whom they wrote Which if it be true no man can tell how possibly he should know what points they held either in England or in any other Countrey against the Church of Rome Wherof it would follow that at his comming from Venice he could only be perswaded that the Romane Religion was false and that all other were sufficiently true and that therevpon he resolued to carry his sheres with him and to cut out his Religion according to the fashion of the Countrey where he came In the meane time forsaking his former fayth which though neuer so white his owne pride and malice against the Pope made him thinke to be black and bedecking himselfe with the party-coloured feathers of all other moderne Religions to be the better welcome in all places Pag. 15. we shall plucke him anone like Esops crow and shew him to be naked without any religion at all as you will see heereafter But for the present letting his strange conuersion passe for a Protestant Myracle that which I lay hold on at this tyme and whereupon I must insist a little before I go any further is the first part of his Argument wherein he calleth God and his conscience to witnesse That the persuasion of no mortall man of any sort came euer to his eaves which might moue him to this determination That no man at any time did euer inuite him to it That he vsed the counsell of none at all nor euer conferred or spake with any man about it Pag. 4. That he neuer read any Protestant booke And that if any Roman Prelate detested such bookes he detested them aboue measure For if this be true then say I that hereof it wil euidently follow that he was deluded by the Diuell and was not directed by the spirit of God as he pretendeth And so without any more ado as our Sauiour sayd of the wicked seruant Out of his owne mouth you may condemne him For the first part of his argument ouerthroweth not only the second but also the principall conclusion of his whole booke and sheweth that the alteration he hath made could not proceed from God Which now I will proue vnto you by three arguments very plaine and in my opinion most conuincing SECTION I. The Bishop his first Reason turned against himselfe And from thence are deduced three arguments which do plainly proue that he was deluded by the Diuell BVT first you must note that being in Venice if he had listed to conferre he could not haue wanted sufficient meanes and choice of men with whome he might haue treated most securely For besids al Catholike Deuines with whome he might haue dealt in Confession and vnder the seale of secresy there were others inough of his owne hayre both Italians and strangers and some also of our owne Nation Qui se putant aliquid esse by whose acquaintance also he might haue procured bookes of al your Authours out of Germany France and England And perchance in those declining parts vnder the State of Venice there be too many of such bookes already Supposing therfore which cannot be denied that he might easily haue gotten both men and bookes if he would as they say but haue wished for them out of his owne mouth against himselfe and against the spirit that brought him thither I reason thus The spirit of God is the spirit of wisdome in which respect Goodnes in Scripture is tearmed the Wisdome of God as Vice on the contrary is called Folly And therfore such as are gouerned by the spirit of God Prou. 8.12 are gouerned by wisdome and by the rules of wisdome set down in Scripture But Wisdom dwelleth in Counsell according whereunto it was prophesied of our Sauiour who is the wisdom of his Father Esa 9.6 that his name should be called Admirable Counsellour Esa 11.2 and that the Spirit of Counsell should rest vpon him with which agreeth that which he sayd where two or three be gathered togeather in my name I am there in the midst of them Matth. 18.20 And who knoweth not that one of the principall gifts of his Holy Spirit is called Donum Consilij Which is nothing els but a certaine effect of his grace in the harts of al his children wherby they are aptly disposed to receiue spirituall aduice and wholesom counsell Whereof it followeth that the Bishop who so much despised all kind of counsell in this his probation of spirit could not be gouerned by the spirit of God nor by the rules of wisedome set downe in Scripture For further profe wherof you may remember how in the bookes of Wisdom there is nothing more recōmended vnto vs Prou. 2.12 then to order our affayres by counsell Counsell shall keep thee that thou mayst be deliuered from the euill way and from the man that speaketh peruersly That is to say from the way of perdition and from the Diuell from whom the Bishop admitting no counsell had no meanes to be deliuered Againe Eccles 38.27 Confer thy buysines with thy friend My Sonne do nothing without counsell and of thy doing thou shalt neuer repent thee Which the Bishop in this weighty busines of his soule not forseeing may be sure that the scourge of repentance will follow after him Prou. 15.22 Againe Where there is no counsell there is distraction or dissipation of thoughts But where there are many Counsellours cogitations are confirmed Now the thoughts of the Bishop in this case wanting Counsellours to confirme them could therefore tend to no other end but only to that dissipation diuision which
is found in Heresy Many more places there be which yow know full well Prou. 20.12 and therfore it shall suffice me to alleadg the least part Hast thou seen a man wise in his owne conceit Prou. 28.26.17.12 There is more hope of a foole then of him He that confideth in his owne hart that is to say aduiseth with himselfe in secret is a foole but he that walketh wisely shal be saued Prou. 12.15 The way of a foole is right in his owne cyes but the wise man heareth counsell Which places I will in modesty forbeare to apply to the Bishop in particuler only it shall suffice me to haue produced sentence of iudgment against him from the mouth of Salomon Wherfore I wil leaue it vnto the same spirit to be the executioner that was his deceiuer which I pray God he may foresee and preuent But by this it appeareth sufficiently that he hath not followed those rules of discerning spirits which with a little humility he might haue learned in Scripture And therefore where he doth aske why he should suspect that he was carried away or misled with a wicked spirit I answere that only because he is misled he doth not see it And now because Pryde is nothing els but a vice of the mynd whereby one presumeth of himselfe more then he ought and magnifying himselfe dispiseth others and that the greatest Pryde of all consisteth in an ouerwening conceit of ones owne vnderstanding proper wit and priuate Iudgment therefore the Bishop in his owne wordes condemneth himselfe deeply of the sinne of pryde which as it is the roote of other vices in generall so hath it euer been the very Mother and Dam of Heresy in particuler For besides the impertiment narrations of his learned Lectures and labourious life among the Iesuites of his aduancement to be made a Bishop an Archbishop Primate of 2. straung Kingdomes of his Ecclesiasticall Common wealth which he paynteth out in many pages of his Pamphet wherein he thinketh to excell all other Protestant writers whome he vouchsafeth not the reading and which he hopeth like another Leutathan shall be able to drinke vp Iordan and to ouerthrow the Popes Supremacy Of his pretence to be sent from God to iudge to reforme and to reunite the christian world I say besids all this which commeth in little to the purpose and whereby he seemeth to sound a tryumph before the victory to let passe likewise how finally he likeneth himselfe to Abraham in leauing at the voyce of God his house his parentage and his countrey Wherein he would giue vs to vnderstand that as Abraham preuented with his heroyicall act that excellent saying of the heathen Sequere Deum so he in this our age hath notably reuiued the same Forsaking Dalmatia his noble Countrey to liue heere in England amongst barbarous people for so I must needs vnderstand him page 27. where he confideth that as God rewarded Abraham with the preseruation of the Chastity of his beautifull wife in the hands of Pharao so also he will preserue the beauty of his good name vntouched and vnspotted euen in the hands of barbarous people to edidifie them and not to suffer them to be scandalized thereby To omit all this and likewise to let passe how familiarly he compareth himselfe with S. Paul in his former zeale against the true religion as he sayth in the māner of his conuersion miraculously effected in receiuing his Ghospell as he would haue it seem not from man but imediatly from God in being an vniuersall Apostle as he pretendeth and sent to preach to al Nations And lastly in that high degree of Charity whereby he offereth himselfe to be made anathema for his brethren which the Fathers so much admired but could not imitate permitting I say all these impertinēt insinuations of his owne excellency which for the most part are brought in by head shoulders and serue nothing to the purpose I come to the poynt which I haue in hand Wherein let any man be iudge whether it were not a strang kind of arrogancy and exorbitant Pride in him that wauering in his Faith for more then ten years space and all that while studying controuersies and intending to turne Protetestant as he did he neuer vouchsafed to read any one Protestant authour or to conferre with any mortall man about it Wherefore hauing made his owne pride so manifest and notorious to all the world I frame my second argument against the spirit that moued him to change Religion in this manner The spirit that giueth true faith is the spirit of Humility Which is testified by our Sauiour where he sayth vnles you become little children Matt. 18.3 Gal. 4.1 who differ nothing from seruants but are vnder maisters and tutours according to S. Paul you shall not enter into the kingdome of heauen 1. Cor. 3.18 And to the same purpose S. Paul doth also admonish that if any man thinke himselfe wise he should become a foole that he might be made wise And againe not to pretend the knowledg of high thinges Rom. 11.20.12.16 for the which others might admire vs but to agree and conferre with the humble forbidding vs also to be wise in our owne conceite But the spirit that moued the Bishop to change his religion was no spirit of Humility as hath by a shewed nor regenerated him to become like a child subiecting himselfe to others as to new spirituall parents nor aduised him to confesse his owne ignorance that he might be made wise nor brought him to conferre with humble men simple people for his instruction Therfore the spirit that moued the Bishop to turne his Faith and chang religion could not be the spirit of God Which Argument to make the matter more euident may be framed in this manner The spirit of pride not permitting a man to subiect his vnderstanding to he taught by others is the spirit of Heresy And the reason is because Faith is the knowledge of those thinges which do far surpasse all humane vnderstanding and therfore before we come to beleeue we must acknowledge our owne ignorance and captiuate our owne iudgment submitting the same to obey those that are appointed to instruct vs. For which reason our Sauiour told the Iewes that they could not beleeue because they sought glory one of another That is to say Ioan. 5.44 because desiring the chief prayse of knowledge aboue others they could not submit themselues to beleeue another 1. Cor. 8.1.2 And S. Paul hauing sayd that scientia inflat addeth thereunto that if any man thinke he knoweth something as from himself without a teacher be hath not yet vnderstood how he ought to know That is to say he hath not yet learned which is the way to come to knowledge And therefore els where describing an Heretike he affirmeth that he is proud and knoweth nothing meaning that he knew nothing 1. Tim. 6.4 because he was proud So that
corrupt stomache in him who like the prodigall child when he was at worst loathing the bread of his Fathers house tooke such delight in Swynes meate that it seemeth he can receiue no other nourishment And to say nothing that the queasy stomake of this holy man can now so well disgest the manners and examples of our Court Citty and Country which by your leaue speaking of the die◠of the soule is a signe that he hath not beene vsed a long time to any cleane and wholesome feeding it cannot be denyed but that for a Prelate to abhorre the Court of Rome and to god well in Venice for edification is no lesse ridiculous sauing the honour of many Noble Gentle and Worthy Cittizens therein then if he should haue gone from some Colledge of the Iesuites wherein he liued vnto some handsome stewes for his recollection For besides that hath been sayd before in Rome the law is most seuere against Wantonnes and Licentiousnes in the Clergy which is punished not only with degradation and perpetual infamy but also with the strappado at least And in my tyme a Priest of good exteriour quality being taken in a vineyard-house with a naughty woman his coach horses were confiscate she was whipt and he himselfe was sent to the Gallies But in Venice the more is the pitty there is no punishment at all for those crymes but that Prelates and Religious men if they should be so affected without publique rebuke or any great note of infamy might frequent dishonest houses at their pleasure which perchance made the Bishop like the better of the seruice or rather of the freedome of that Citty And now as touching his merits with the Venetians whereof he speaketh in the next place I feare they are no better then may well be compared to the merits of Iudas with the Sinagogue For as i◠appeareth by his owne discourse a little after he ioyned with thē in the time of the Interdict against the Pope his Lord and Maister And albeit among other his good offices he wrote those Bookes in their defence wherof now he vaunteth yet he went so farre and discouered so much Heresy in them as the Venetians themselues could not chuse but be ashamed of them And therefore he could not expect at their hands any recompence for such a labour What riches he had I know not nor whether or no they were sufficient for that moderate mind which God had giuen him But considering that he left the Iesuites where he wanted nothing and thereupon sought am bitiously one preferment after another Pag 7.10.11 considering also how he was in strife suite of law with his owne Suffragans wherein he was ouerthrownas it should seeme by his owne relation Pag. 14. it had beene better perchance that he had knocke his breast with the Publican crauing pardon for his vnbridled passion then with the Pharisy to haue pray sed God for the moderate mind he gaue him As concerning that which in this case he sayth he hath left for Gods sake You must vnderstand that although he were a Primate yet the rents of his Bishopricke might be somewhat lesse then the fruits of a good benefice are there with you And I haue heard it very credibly reported that they scarsly amount to the value of two hundred pounds per annum And though they were more yet I dare say that hauing leaue to come for England he neuer thought that he should loose much by the bargaine especially imagining himselfe a much greater and worthyer man then Isaac Casaubon was whome the Clergy of England was inforced to pay sweetly and to reward so bountifully as the world knoweth for his comming thither But the truth is and so you will find it that at his comming away he was neither Primate nor had any Bishopricke at all for long before he had resigned the same to his Nephew reseruing a pension to himselfe of three hundred crownes a yeare or there about which not sufficing to maintayne his fat paunch it is most probable that he came into England for the same cause amongst other that the prodigall child went to feed Swyne that is to say for meer want as not hauing sufficient to fill his belly Lastly therefore before I make an end with his second reason because he sayth that he hath read Logicke amongst his Fathers of the Society do but marke a little I pray you the conclusion of his argument wherein you must needs see that the summe of his accompt is a great deale more then the particulers of his reckoning For hauing sayd that neither Ambition nor Auarice did draw him from his countrey he concludeth that no vnbridled affection no temporall necessity no strange euent nor grieuous mischance did compell him to depart which you see is a great deale more then these two particulers alone of the absence of Ambition and Auarice can excuse him from But it is no meruaile the old man should haue forgot the Art of reason whome Pride and discontentment haue made to forget in great part euen reason it selfe The halfe wherof which concerneth his Pride I haue shewed already and the other halfe concerning his discontentment if I be not deceiued you shall heare him confesse himselfe anone for he saith he will tell vs sincerely without fraud or guile what it was that moued him to this departure SECTION IIII. Of the Bishop his Affirmatiue proofes and in particuler of those things that disposed his mind to make mutation of Religion AND with this he beginneth pag. 7. those his proofes of spirit which I call affirmatiue and which reducing them into three heads I wil briely set downe vnto you that you may see the substance of his booke and afterward I shall examine them as I shall haue occasion In the first ranke he setteth downe certaine dispositions as I take it which might prepare his mind to this change In the second he layeth down the reasons that moned him to alter his Religion In the third he produceth those considerations that inforced him to leaue his Countrey and so shewing how much he confided in the prouidence of God that conducted him he laboureth to defend himselfe from Schisme accusing the Pope as the authour thereof and concludeth his whole booke inuiting the Pope to accept of the conditions he offereth and to come to agreement with him Beginning therefore with those thinges that somewhat a far off might dispose his mind to change Religion he saith first pag. 7. That from a boye he was much troubled with a vehement suspition that the Roman doctrine was not true which suspition he euer resisted Secondly he sayth pag. 8. and 9. That this suspition was much increased in him because he saw that neither students were permitted to read such writers as were contrary to the doctrine of Rome being inforced to beleeue that the opinions of those writers were truly deliuered vnto them by their Maisters nor such as had heard their deuinity
was publiquely professed because a great part of the Gentills were not then conuerted not only their bookes and writings were tolerated but their religion it selfe although it were most grosse Idolatry was permitted Besides in England the Catholikes being many wise and learned do not cease by alledging most pregnant proofes important reasons and authenticall testimonyes to mayntaine the truth of their cause and to draw others to imbrace their doctrine In which regard it standeth the Protestants vpon and especially the Ministers to read their bookes thereby to defend themselues and others as well as they can from the force of the Catholike arguments brought against them And for the same cause in France and in Germany and in all other Countreyes where many religions are allowed the Catholike Students and other secular men are vsually permitted to read all kind of bookes the better therby to refute their errours Which this good Bishop thought good to conceale for his owne aduantage But in those other Catholike Countreys which were neuer yet infected with Heresy and where there is no occasion to impugne it there it importeth that the Pastours be very vigilant to keep it out For Heresy being once gotten in it crepeth like a canker and at last breaketh out like a raging fire and burneth so dreadfully that whole Cittyes and Kingdomes and Nations haue been consumed with it in a very short space as may appeare in Greece in Asia in Africa other Countreys And therfore in all ages not only the Fathers Doctours and Prelates but also Men Women and Children of the Catholike Church haue euer concurred with all speed and with might and mayne to quench and ex inguish the least sparke therof By which meanes it is wonderfull to consider in how short a tyme the bookes and writings of all the ancient Heretikes in former ages haue been consumed and abolished by the zeale of Catholikes In so much as of so many millions of their Volumes there is not at this day one left remayning But this good man the Bishop is of another mynd who if it were possible would dig those authours out of hell againe to see whether they were truely cited by chose that wrote against them And for the present he would permit without any occasion such mens workes to be familiarly read whom the Apostle forbiddeth to be saluted Our mother Eue out of a vayne curiosity conferring with the serpent whome she might thinke to be an Angell Gen. 3.2 fell into Heresy but this man out of a curiosity more then monstrous Ioan. 10.3.5 would perswade the sheep of Christ to heare the voyce of a stranger and to conferre with that serpent whome they know and confesse to be the Diuell Wherfore this spirit of his being so contrary to the spirit of the Church to the spirit of the Apostle to the spirit of Christ himselfe and in fine contrary to the light of reason in the Gouernement both of Church and Common Wealth you may easily indge from whence it commeth and to what end it tendeth Whereby you will also coniecture what vnion and coniunction may be of the East and of the West of the North and South with the desire whereof this good Bishop is so much tormented For it can be nothing els but a horrible confusion of them all and the vtter ouerthrow of Christian Religion as we shall see hereafter In the meane tyme that you may the better perceiue his naturall and inborne desire of vnity wherewith his poore hart is so much tormented he wil make it knowne himselfe you vnto by the effects thereof For presently after he tells you that he deuided himself from the vnion of that Society wherunto he was vowed and separated himselfe from the body of that order whereof he was a member like a branch from his vyne from the which being once cut of it was likely he could be good for nothing but to be cast into the fire The great comendations he giueth of his owne learned laborious life whiles he was in Religion I can hardly belieue For writing this booke as he doth to no other end but only to blaze his owne prayses you need not doubt but that euery where he speaketh the most of himselfe or more then the most And supposing it to be true it amounteth God he knoweth but to a very small matter especially being done for humane prayse wherewith he payeth himselfe insteed of others that should reward him for it It may be that in respect of his proud and vnquiet spirit his Superiours were inforced to proue him in many things to see what good they might make of him But in the end it should seeme by his going forth which was like to be vpon some discontentment that they found him fit for nothing The Order of the Society of Iesus may fittly be compared to the sea that casteth forth the dead bodyes or to a vessell of new wine which purgeth all the trash and corrupt matter that is mingled with it and therefore they easily permit such as be not fit for them to depart from them least by staying amongst them being stopt vp close like corruption togeather with the pure wine they should breake the vessell it selfe wherein they are inclosed And albeit for this cause it be more easy for such as are ill disposed to quit themselues of the Society then for any other Religious men to be freed frō other Orders yet the dreadfull iudgments of God haue beene so many and so wonderfull vpon those that haue wrought themselues out of their Company that an honest and a pious mind should be more terrified therewith then with the prisons and fetters of other Orders Whereby also God himselfe hath made manifest to the world that the dispensation which is somtime giuen to those that are dismissed the Society doth acquit them of their vowes according to the cause of their departure which if it be good and sufficient it taketh away the whole obligation but if it be not as I feare me this mans was not they are not discharged before God and their conscience but they remayne still in the laps and in the state of Apostasy from their Religion But you will say he wanted not sufficient cause to depart for he that desireth to be made a Bishop desireth a good worke and this man went forth to be made a Bishop To which I answere that the worke of a Bishop is good but not the desire to be made a Bishop Chry. hom 3. in oper imperf hō 3. in Matt. To desire Primacy in the Church according to S. Chrysostome is neither iust nor profitable And Primacy sayth he desireth those that desire it not and abhorreth those that desire it And the reason is because the worke of a Bishop is a calling of such perfection and such dignity also danger ioyned with it that whosoeuer he be that thinketh himselfe so sufficient for it and so worthy of it as to sue and
lesse pouerty of meanes and matter in buylding without a foundation as much want of proofe to persuade in giuing you nothing but wordes insteed of other substance But you will reply whatsoeuer he sayth here he promiseth to proue and pursue hereafter in his Booke of Ecclesiasticall Common Wealth I pray you were it fit that when a souldier cometh into the feild to fight he should come without weapons and should thinke either to ouercome his aduersary or to satisfy the beholders of his prowesse by saying that he hath an excellent sword a making Were it not absurd that a Scholler comming to dispute of any Probleme should thinke to satisfy the arguments of his aduersary or to perswade his auditours that the truth were of his side by affirming that he would or that he had composed a great volume of that matter This booke being made by the Bishop to proue his spirit to disproue his aduersaryes and to approue his change of Religion to all those that should here thereof now was the tyme to vse his Weapons to shew his Wisedome and to bring forth his euidence And therefore if he sayle of his proofes it is an euident signe that he is altogeather destitute and vnprouided of them Neither is it true which he sayth That when his worke cometh forth whatsoeuer he hath heere affirmed shal be there proued For how will he proue that Rome hath coyned not a 100. or a 1000. new articles of Fayth in one day but as he sayth innumerable and that euery day How will he proue that the Church of Rome suppresseth the Councells Doth it not make them a rule of Fayth hath it not alwayes preserued them doth it not mayntayne and defend them from the calumniations and contradictions which the Heretikes of these dayes oppose against them How will he proue that we belieue the whole spirit of Christ to remayne in the Pope alone and that all which hath been sayd heretofore in the honour of the vniuersall Church must be applyed to the Court and Pallace of the Pope alone Do we belieue that to be Catholike one holy visible to haue conuerted Nations and Kingdomes which are some of the supernaturall prayses and excellencyes of the Catholike Church whereby she shyneth like the sunne in the Firmament aboue all other Congregations or assemblyes Do we belieue I say as an article of our Fayth that these things agree to the Pope and his Pallace alone That the Pope or his Court is extended ouer al the world That the Vnity Holynes Visibility and Miracles of the Church and of the Pastors and Saints thereof are only to be found in the Pope and his Pallace and that all other Catholike Nations and Kingdomes are excluded from the participation of these graces can this be proued thinke you And can it stand with the grauity and reuerent authority of a Bishop to affirme these things with promise to confirme them making them also the ground of his conuersion Could any ignorant shamelesse Minister whose learning were nothing els but lying Could any Zani or Counterfait that had been hyred to rayle against the Pope haue spoken more fondly more intemperatly or more absurdly The innumerable new articles whereof he speaketh and the whole doctrine of so many Churches impugned by the Church of Rome which he vndertaketh to defend can surely contayne no lesse then all the points in Controuersy betwene you and vs which are so farre from being decided in his Ecclesiasticall cōmon Wealth that for the greater part of them they cannot be so much as mentioned therin For as it appeareth by his owne description therof the 4. first bookes proue only in effect that all Bishops and their Churches by the Law of God are equall And that neither S. Peter nor the Pope nor the Roman Clergy should haue any Primacy or Papacy or Prehemynence aboue the rest In his 5. and 6. Booke he taketh away all kind of iurisdiction from the whole Church not only in temporall but also in Ecclesiasticall matters In his 7. booke he disputeth of the rule of Fayth In the rest that follow he speaketh of nothing els but only of the temporalityes and immunityes of the Church In the 8. he considereth the external gouernemēt of the Church by Lawes and Canons which if he affirme to be lawfull it is directly contrary to his 5. and 6. booke wherein he reiecteth all kind of Iurisdiction from the Church of Christ So that this great booke wherof he braggeth so much contayneth in effect but one Controuersy alone And he that should proue the Popes Primacy and Supreme Iurisdiction ouer the Church of God should ouerthrow the substance of this whole Volume For thereof it would follow directly that the gouernement of Christs church vpon earth is Monarchicall against his first and second booke that the gouernours of the Church are not equall in authority by the Law of God against his third booke That the Pope and Church of Rome hath preheminence ouer other Churches against his fourth booke That the Church of God hath Iurisdiction both Ecclesiasticall directly and temporall indirectly the latter being necessary for the maintaynance of the former against his 5. and 6. booke That the decree of the Pope as Head of the Church in a generall Councell is a sufficient rule of Fayth against his 7. booke The resolution also of the matters contayned in his 3. other bookes is of no great importance and may easily be deduced from the former conclusion Wherefore if he thinke to discharge himselfe of all other poynts in Controuesy by handling the titles of these bookes alone he shall behaue himselfe like a Banquerupt who insteed of the whole debt should scarce make payment of one in the hundred SECTION VI. Concerning the Popes Supremacy The state of the question is proposed and S. Peters Supremacy is proued by Scripture BVT now as oftentymes it falleth out that vnder the fayre shewes of Banquerupt Merchants vnder their goodly inscriptions of many rich commodityes and dissembling text letters vpon pots packs and boxes there is nothing to be found except perhaps some poore refused brockage that is not salable so to make it manifest that vnder these glorious titles of the ten Bookes which the Bishop promiseth there is nothing contayned but false wares and idle tryfles lapt vp in so many bundles of wast paper And to giue you withall some satisfaction in this one point of Controuersy of the Popes Supremacy the occasion being so fit the labour not great the way so well beaten by others I will briefly set you downe some of those euident proofes wherewith the Catholikes are wont to demonstrate the Popes Supremacy in spiritual matters Whereby also it will appeare how well the Bishop hath spent his 10. yeares in reading of the Fathers whether he haue more attended to his study or to his belly For the greater breuity and more perspicuity in handling this ample and copious matter I will reduce all that I
because our iudgment giueth consent thereunto not being moued by any inward experimentall light of our owne reason but only by giuing credit vnto others which as you see being as it were not only the other hand or Canonicall eye of reason but also the Schole-maister thereunto is of such necessity that neither the state of Church and Cōmon Wealth nor the life of man can stand without it Wherefore as in all questions and Controuersyes it is a generall rule and a receiued Maxime that the iudgment of all men or of the most or among the most of the best and wysest ought alwayes to be followed so especially it must needs haue place in the Schoole of Christ the Learning whereof being as it is not only one kind of belief and therefore wholy depending of authority but also such a practicall science as concerneth a matter of no lesse moment then our eternall felicity and endlesse misery And consequently if wisedome will that in sicknes we should follow the directions of all Phisitians or of the most and best learned reiecting such desperate medicynes as a few vnskilfull Empericks or Quacksaluers as they tearme them should propound vnto vs. Or as in matter of law or State busines of great consequence all reason commandeth vs to preferre the iudgment of the most auncient Sages and grauest Counsellours especially being many in number before the instigations of a few Pettyfoggers or yong ambitious heads that aspyre to be Politicks so in the case of the eternall damnation or saluation of our soules it stands vs more vpon most exactly to obserue the former principle as well in relying our selues vpon the doctrine and authority of the most the best and the wisest Deuines as in flying the new deuices of a few disorderly factious and infamous vpstarts that seeke to with draw vs from them First therefore that the truth of Catholike Religion is recommended vnto vs by the testimony of the most is euident in it selfe The Catholike Church possessing so many Countreyes not only in Europe but also in Asia Africa and America both East and West as the Protestants themselues auouch and there being no other Sect of Religion wherein so many do so constantly agree togeather not only the Pagans and Infidells as is notoriously knowne but also the Heretikes being infinitly deuyded among themselues as I haue shewed And that if you respect honesty vertue and good life the Catholikes are also the best is likewise confessed by their enemyes themselues as hath been declared and setting all other considerations apart there being so many Orders and great Religious bodyes among them following the Counsells of Christ in renouncing the riches the pleasures and the pryde and ambition of the world which are the only occasions of sinne submitting themselues to the direction of those who by long practise and tradition and prayer and their owne exact obedience haue learned how to commaund with sweetnes how to defend their Ghostly children from their spirituall enemyes and how to conduct them to the highest perfection of all Christian vertues in which course of spirituall life as S. Bernard sayth very notably he that will be his owne Maister shall haue a foole to his Scholler to conclude their whole life being spent in nothing els but in assisting the Sacrifice of the Church in hearing and reading the word of God in pryuate and publike prayer in mortification of their senses and naturall desires and in other deuout exercises of religious obedience of which sort alone there being many hundred thousands in the Catholike Church besides other innumerable secular people that imitate the liues of Religious persons it must needs be granted that in all human reason so great a number of the like deuout and holy people consecrated to the pure seruice of God cannot be found by the hundreth part in all the rest of the world that is not Catholike being put togeather And lastly that the Catholikes excell especially speaking of the Clergy the rest of the world in all kind of learning knowledge and wisedome both human and diuine may sufficiently appeare by the meanes they haue to attaine thereunto before others by the effects therof in their workes and writings For first as concerning the meanes and helps which God hath prouided for them to arriue to the perfection of knowledge as all the world in respect of Christendome is nothing els but barbarisme so amongst those that beare the name of Christians if any Countreyes excell the rest in quicknes of wit maturity of iudgment and capacity of great vnderstanding they are those that still remayne vntaynted and vntouched from the Schismes and Heresies of this present tyme. And besides this knowne aduantage of naturall tallents the manner and constant course of study amongst them is such as that to speake for examples sake of the Iesuites alone doubtles a meane vnderstanding may sooner attayne to be an excellent learned man by their education then an excellēt wit may come to any mediocrity by the slacke disorderly course of teaching which is held in England or in any other Countrey that is not Catholike Which Syr Francis Bacon in one of his bookes doth acknowledg in great part and your selfe will easily beleeue by their manner of study in Philosophy and Deuinity alone which heer I will briefly set downe vnto you First therefore all their Schollers in these sciences do write for an houre in the forenone and another houre after dinner two seuerall Lectures which their Maisters do dictate vnto them repeating their wordes so leasurely that they need not loose one word of their Maisters readings In this manner they continue in hearing their Philosophy 3. yeares togeather vnder one the same Maister The first yeare is appropriated to Logicke the second to Phisickes and the third to the Metaphisicks of Aristotle In which manner all the questions of moment profit as they depend of one another so likewise they are methodically orderly deliuered vnto them togeather with the explication of the Text and meaning of Aristotle where it importeth The Lecture being ended and they being deuyded into many classes vnder so many seuerall repetitors or moderators appointed to heare them they repeat for halfe an houre their precedent lessons and dispute vpon them one against the other in the Schoole before they departe their Maister being present And afterward they returne to make the like repetitions and disputations for an houre togeather more exactly then before at a certaine tyme prefixed euery day in their seuerall Colledges and Academyes and other places of priuate meetings which tyme being put togeather maketh 4. houres The rest of the day is imployed in study and prayer sauing that in the yeare of Phisickes they bestow halfe an houre euery day vpon Mathematickes and in the yeare of Metaphisickes vpon morall Philosophy which is read vnto them by other Maisters As euery day they dispute of the Lectures giuen them the dayes before so also euery
weeke they haue disputations of the matter giuen them in that weeke And euery moneth as the 3. Maisters of Logicke Phisicke and Metaphisicke can agree they meete togeather in the same Schoole withall their Schollers and dispute one against another in the matters of that moneth wherunto as being more publique other Maisters and Doctors are inuited And besides all this they haue other priuate exercises and helps of learning in their particuler Colledges At the end of the yeare such as haue studyed best are preferred to defend Conclusions publique of the whole yeare and they that haue heard their course of three years and are the most worthy of all their fellows defend conclusions of all Philosophy with great solemnity and concourse of people Which course of study breedeth such emulation among them and draweth them on with such delight of their owne profit that their Superiours haue more ado to keep them from studying too much then els where Maisters are wont to haue in keeping their schollers from doing nothing Their course of Diuinity lasteth foure years The manner of their Lectures disputations is almost the same with the former of the Philosophers sauing that they haue three seuerall Maisters who read euery day in seuerall matters and explicate the most difficult places of the Scripture and Fathers as their former Maister did expound Aristotle and other Philosophers And insteed of Mathematikes morall Philosophy they haue other Lectures of Tongues of the Text of Scripture Besides Philosophy and Diuinity for such as haue lesse tyme or lesse strength of mynd or body there are two other Lectures euery day of Positiue Diuinity which cōmonly is called Cases of Conscience a study as litle knowne to Protestants as there is little care or vse of Conscience amongst them Their course of Philosophy and Diuinity being thus ended such amongst the Iesuits themselues as are thought to be most fit for Schooles are permitted for two yeares to go ouer the whole body of their studyes agayne by their owne priuate industry conferring the same with the doctrine and opinions of other writers afterward they are appoynted and made Maisters to read Philosophy and with tyme Diuinity if their strength and talents do so deserue By this meanes you see that almost of necessity they must haue excellent Maisters and excellent schollers the one is a great help and a great encouragment to perfect the other Besides all this that hath beene sayd of their course of study it is of great moment to consider that all the Maisters and the greatest part of their schollers are Religious men or liue religiously in Seminaryes and Colledges where being freed frō all kind of worldly care and occasion of passion disorder or temptation hauing their set tymes for prayer and honest recreation and such as be Priests offering dayly sacrifice to Almighty God and such as are none confessing and communicating once a weeke at the least they enioy that quietnes of mind sweet peace of conscience which togeather with Gods benediction is most fit for science And thus they cōtinue not only for a while as elswher schollers are wont to do vntill they marry or get preferment but al their lines long without any secular distraction or deniation whatsoeuer And that which I haue sayd of the Iesuites may be also affirmed either wholy or in great part of many other secular Doctours and almost of all Religious Orders the Dominicans Franciscant Augustines Carmelits Benedictins Bernardines and the rest who for euery houre which your schollers or Ministers do commonly spend in study or prayer they that study pray least spend 2. at the least one with the other especially considering the constancy continuance of ours in these exercisus for all their liues and the great inconstancy and discontinuance of yours which is notorious And therfore if the grounds of all kind of learning being soundly layd constant prayer and good life and the study of Scripture be the fittest meanes to find out the truth of Religion and to obtaine true wisedome at the hands of God It cannot be denyed but that the possession and perfection therof must rather be found in the Catholike Clergy then among the Ministord of any other sect of Religion in the world Whereof our Catholike Deuynes in this present age haue also made euident demonstration by their workes and wrytings For whether you respact their erudition in the sacred Tongnes their explications of all arts and scyences and especially their readings vpon all questions of Diuinity their commentaryes vpon all the parts of Scripture their treatises as well of deuntion piety and perfection of Christian life with the meanes to attayne thereunto as also of prayer both vocall and mentall which is againe deuided into meditation and supernaturall contemplation of which later parts the Protestants haue neither the practise nor scarce vnderstand the meaning the number and the excellency of those bookes which the Catholikes haue published in this age of ours is so great and so emiment that no former ages of the world for aboundance and perfection of Scyence put togeather may be compared with it Wheras if you will reflect a little and iudge indifferently you shall scarce find three bookes published by the Protestants vnlesse you will except those of Poetry printed in vulgar languages and in respect of the matter are not worthy to be excepted which are not already contemned by the Protestants themselues and are therfore no way likely to remayne vnto posterity Thus we haue shewed the authority of the Catholike professours for the truth of their Religion whether you respect their number or wisedome or learning or perfection of life to be such as doth most euidently and notoriously exceed the testimony of any other Church or Congregation whatsoeuer Vnto which authority of the secular Clergy and Layty and of all the seuerall Orders and Religious bodyes of the Catholike Church at this tyme if you ioyne the authorityes of all the holy and ancient Fathers whose naturall tallents and supernaturall gifts of learning sanctity wisedome are aboue all comparison And if vnto these againe you ioyne the authorityes of so many general Councells as haue been receaued by the vniuersal Church wherein so many tymes all the learning and wisedome of the whole world haue met togeather And lastly vnto all this if you adde the testimonyes of all Christians for a 1000. yeares togeather as the Protestants themselues confesse and of all the former ages euen from the tyme of Christ as we haue proued by the Fathers of those times vtterly cōdemning the opinions of the Protestants and being mutually condemued by them they come to be so many worlds of witnesses as there hath been ages since the tyme of Christ and visibly make vp that great Mountayne of authority which filleth the world and which all those that will not ascend to know the truth must needs be crushed by it if they resist it and eternally perish
thereunto I will make it the conclusion of this whole Treatise Wherefore Brother sayth S. Cyprian if thou wilt dayly consider the Maiesty of God from whome the ordinance of Priests proceedeth If thou wilt beare respect vnto Christ who with his holy pleasure and continuall presence gouerneth both the Prelates themselues the Church with the Prelates If thou wilt esteeme of the innocency of Priests not according to the hatred of man but according to the iudgment of God If thou wilt begin at length to repent thy ◅merity and pride and insolency If thou be contented to make a full and perfect satisfaction to God and his Christ whome I serue and vnto whome with a pure and immaculate mouth I offer continuall sacrifice both in peace persecution vpon these tearmes we may be brought to haue peace and communion with thee Thus though I haue beene much longer then I thought yet at length as I take it I haue sufficiētly cōfuted not only the little booke you sent me the other great volume which it threatneth but also the Author himselfe For I haue proued out of his own mouth that in the whole course of his turning and flying from the Catholike Religion there was neither wisdome nor humility nor obedience but only extreme confidence pride and presumption in his owne wit idle suspitions and iniurious surmyses of fraud and falshood in his own Maisters great ambition with great signes of fearefull Apostasy from that Order whereunto he was vowed strife contention with his Suffragans hatred malice against the Pope who defended them extreme ignorance or extreme impudency in accusing the Catholiks of innumerable errours in affirming the Protestant Religion to be the doctrine of the Fathers opprobrious and most intemperate speaches against the Pope his Superiour and as himselfe calleth him his most blessed Father impious indifferency and neutrality in Religion admiration of himselfe and his booke hypocrisy vnder the cloke of Charity Turkish sicophancy and most vnchristian adulation indiscretion falshood and dishonesty in producing the authority of S. Cyprian so much against his own cause against the truth of the story against himselfe in that poynt against the common and knowne doctrine of S. Cyprian to the contrary And therfore to omit that in this maister-peece of worke which he made to gayne himselfe credit for the rest of his books that are to follow he proueth nothing but euery where beggeth the question sheweth to dissent from the Protestants themselues whom he taketh vpon him to defend all his former vertues which I haue brieflly rehearsed being put togeather I thinke will be sufficient to make any thing that shall come from his penne to be vehemently suspected or altogeather despysed hereafter And truly these good qualityes of his which I may call his prayses because he hath no better do so manifest themselues in all the passages of his booke to euery iudicious Reader that there was little need of me or of any other to haue beene his Brother And now that according as I affirmed in the beginning you may perceiue the entrance of this strange Bishop into England to haue beene no other then the comming of a foule spanell to fawne vpon you who can do no lesse then beray you I frame this Sillogisme The Diuell perswadeth or-induceth no man to forsake the false or to imbrace the true Religion But as hath been shewed it was no other then the spirit of the Diuell that induced the Bishop to forsake the Catholike and to imbrace the Protestant Religion Therfore neither the Catholike can be the false nor the Protestant the true Religion If I had meant nothing els but to discouer the spirit of this man three or foure of the first Sections might haue sufficed for the tryall thereof But because I was desirous by this occasion to lay open and approue vnto you some of the chiefest grounds of the Catholike Religion by which your selues might easily refute whatsoeuer the same author may herafter publish in prosecution of his purposes I went forward and as the matter of his booke requyred First I gaue you a full and euident proofe of the Popes Supremacy And secondly I made it appeare most manifestly that the auncient Fathers taught the same doctrine which the Catholikes now professe and that they vtterly condemned the Protestants and were likewise condemned by them And lastly I haue shewed that as the Protestants of their part can giue no fundamentall reason of their faith nor shew any ground thereof and therefore haue no fayth at all so on the other side I haue declared that the motiues of the Catholike and of the Christian Religion are both the same and be in themselues most reasonable and most forceable to any mans iudgment or vnderstanding that shall duely consider or reflect vpon them Which three poynts being so clerely and manifestly proued doe plainly conuince that out of the Catholike Roman Church there is no saluation Whereof in seuerall places I haue also declared the reasons at large vnto you because that without obedyence vnto the Church as I haue proued there can neither be true fayth nor true iustice without both which it is impossible that God should be pleased or the soule of man be saued Wherefore considering how ready and desirous you haue alwayes professed your selfe to imbrace the truth if euer you came to vnderstand with whom it remayned I will vse no other perswasion but only for a conclusion of my former discourse Iren. l. 4. cont haer cap. 25. I will referre you to the graue Counsell of the most auncient Iraeneus whose words being very worthy of most attentiue consideration are these that follow Where the gifts and graces of God are bestowed there we ought to learne the truth With whom that succession of the Church which is from the Apostles remayneth and that which is sound and irreprouable in conuersation and that which is vndefiled and incorruptible in doctrine doth still continue For these be they who both keep and preserue our fayth and expound the Scriptures vnto vs without danger And now because this answere to your friendly Letter is growne to the iust bignesse of a booke for your greater ease and for the benefit of others it wil be sent to the print And although by meanes thereof it may be very long before you receiue it yet I imagine that when it cōmeth it wil be somewhat the better welcome And because I am verily perswaded Almighty God hath so ordayned that the fall of this Bishop shal be the occasion of the rysing and conuersion of many I will hope in respect of those excellent parts wherewith I know you are indued that if you be not the first you will not be the last that must be cōuerted by this meanes And so with the remembrance of ourauncient loue which I beseech Almighty God to make eternall I rest Your friend and seruant in Christ Iesus C. A. sufficiently knowne vnto