in his English translation which is that which most importeth his simple Reader that looketh not into the Latin and this is that he translateth the former sentence of the Canon thus as before yow haue heard Though he should carry many people with him to hell yet no mortall creature may presume to say why doe yow so But in the Latin neither heere nor in the Canon it selfe is there any such interrogation at all as why doe yow so And therfore I may aske T. M. why doe yow ly so Or why doe yow delude your Reader so Or why do yow corrupt your Author so Or why doe yow translate in English for the abusing of your Reader that which neither your selfe doe set downe in your Latin text nor the Canon it selfe by yow cited hath it at all Is not this wilfull and malicious fraude Wherin when yow shall answere me directly and sincerly it shall be a great discharge of your credit with those who in the meane space will iustly hold yow for a deceauer 59. His fourth answere to the former argument of Gods prouidence is the difference he saith of Kings and Popes in this point for that the Papall power saith he which will be thought spirituall if it be euill may be the bane of soules the power of Princes is but corporall therfore feare them not because they can goe no further then the body Thus he And did euer man heare so wise a reason And cannot euill Kinges and Princes be the cause of corrupting soules also if they should liue wickedly permit or induce others to doe the same And what if they should be of an euill Religion as yow will say Q. Mary and K. Henry were and all Kinges vpward for many hundred yeares togeather who by Statutes and lawes forced men to follow the Religiō of that time did all this touch nothing the soule who would say it but T. M But he goeth forward in his application for that bodily Tyranny saith he worketh in the Godly patience but the spirituall Tyranny doth captiuate the inward soule This now is as good as the former and is a difference without diuersity so farre as concerneth our affaire that a man may with patience if he will resist both the one and the other And euen now we haue seene that when any Pope shal decline from the common receaued faith of Christendome he cannot captiuate other men but is deposed himselfe Wherfore this mans conclusion is very simple saying Therfore heere is need according to Gods prouidence of power to depose so desperate a spirituall euill wherof it is written if the salte want his saltenesse it is good for nothing but to be cast vpon the donghill Marke then that concerning the spirituall that God hath ordeined eiiciatur foras let it be cast out but concerning the temporall resiste not the power 60. Lo heere and doe not these men find Scriptures for all purposes This fellow hath found a text that all spirituall power when it misliketh them must be cast to the donghill and no temporall must be resisted and yet he that shall read the first place by him alleadged out of S. Matthew shall find that the lacke of saltenesse is expresly meant of the want of good life and edification especially in Priestes and Preachers and yet is it no precept as this man would haue it to cast them al to the donghill but that salte leesing his taste is fit for nothing but to that vse S. Paul in like manner to the Romanes doth not more forbid resisting of temporall authority then of spirituall but commaundeth to obey both the one and the other which this man applieth only to temporall which he would haue exalted obeyed and respected and the other contemned and cast to the donghill Oh that he had byn worthy to haue byn the scholler of S. Chrysostome S. Gregory Nazianzen or S. Ambrose before cited who so highly preferred spirituall authority before temporall how would they haue rated him if he would not haue byn better instructed or more piously affected No doubt eiecissent foras they would haue cast him forth to the donghill in deed and there haue left him and so doe we in this matter not meaning to follow him any further except he reasoned more groundedly or dealt more sincerly 61. Yet in one word to answere his comparison we say that both temporall spirituall Magistrates may doe hurte both to body and soule for as the temporall may preiudice also the soule as now hath byn said so may the spirituall afflict in like manner the body as when the Pope or Bishoppes doe burne Heretikes so as in this respect this distinction of T. M. is to no purpose yet doe we also say that when spirituall authority is abused it is more pernicious preiudiciall then the other Quia corruptio optimi est pessima The best thinges become worst when they are peruerted and spirituall diseases especially belonging to faith be more pernicious then corporall for which cause God had so much care to prouide for the preuention therof in his Christian Church for the conseruation of true faith by the authority vnion visibility succession of the said Church and diligence of Doctores Teachers Synodes Councels and other meanes therin vsed and by his assistance of infallibility to the head therof which head though in respect of his eminent authority he haue no Superiours to Iudge or chastise him except in case of heresy as hath byn said yet hath he many and effectuall meanes wherby to be admonished informed stirred vp and moued so as he being but one in the world and furnished with these helpes bringeth farre lesse danger and inconuenience then if all temporall Princes who are many had the like priuiledge and immunity And this euery reasonable man out of reason it selfe will easily see consider 62. As also this other point of no small or meane importance to wit that English Protestantes pretending temporall Princes to be supreame and without Iudge or Superiour in matters of Religion as well as ciuill and secular they incurre a farre greater inconuenience therby then they would seeme to lay vpon vs. For that if any temporall Prince as Supreame in both causes would take vpon him the approbation or admission of any sect or heresy whatsoeuer they haue no remedy at all according to the principles of their doctrine wheras we say the Pope in this case may and must be deposed by force of his subiectes all Christian Princes ioined togeather against him so as in place of one generall Pope which in this case is vnder authority they make so many particuler Popes as are particuler Kings temporall Princes throughout all Christendome that are absolute and consequently without all remedy for offences temporall or spirituall in manners or faith 63. And now let vs imagine what variety of sectes and schismes would haue byn at this day in Christianity if for
As for example wheras they write that God is omnipotent and can doe all thinges and vse his creatures to what end and vse it shall please him yet cannot he neither by his ordinary nor absolute power either by himselfe or by another concurre to the making of a lye fraudulently to deceaue the vnderstāding of man or Angell or induce another so to deceaue the same with intention indeed of deceipt or fallacy Of which point of doctrine the said Schoole-Doctors and others after them doe dispute largely vpon the third article of S. Thomas his second Part and first question of his Summe of Deuinity demaunding this doubt VVhether any kind of deceipt or falsity by any meanes mediatly or immediatly may proceed from God which they hold negatiuely that it is impossible he being truth it selfe and the fountaine of all truth and sincerity in others And albeit there be many and great arguments alleadged out of Scriptures which in shew doe proue the contrary to wit that God not only can by his absolute power but hath also oftentimes in effect deceaued others by meanes of wicked spirites as S. Augustine also holdeth and is euident by many places of Scripture as 2. Reg. 22. where to deceaue Achab it is said Dedit Dominus spiritum mendacem in ore omnium Prophetarum God gaue a lying spirit in the mouth of all his false Prophettes And Esay 63. Ezech. 14. Iob 12. Rom. 1. it is said expressely that God deliuereth men into a reprobate sense which is the worst sort of deceauing a mās vnderstāding that may be yet to all this they answere out of the ancient Fathers and Scripture it selfe that God doth only permit men to be deceaued and to belieue vntruth but doth not concurre actually or effectually to the same by any cooperation of his to any falshood or vntruth whatsoeuer nor can he doe it by any power of his for that he should impugne himselfe which is truth And this is the greatest and highest detestation of lying vsed by our Doctors that possibly can be imagined and yet will the lying Minister say that they are 〈◊〉 Fathers and patrons of lying But let vs see more of our Schoole-Doctors in this behalfe 39. Our learned countreyman also Alexander of Hales liuing before S. Thomas and as some say was his Maister being held for one of the most learned of all Schoole-men that euer were before or after him doth handle diuers questions very learnedly and piously about this point for detestatiō of lying as namely one VVhy theft and man-slaughter may be lawfully permitted in some cases and lying neuer Also how it cōmeth to passe that the least degree of lying that is to wit an officious or 〈◊〉 which in ordinary imperfect men is only a venial sinne may come to be in men of perfection a mortall and damnable sinne concluding thus Quod sicut de Adam dicitur quòd ratione status sui peccauit mortaliter ita iste ratione status in hoc genere peccat mortaliter As it is said of Adam that by reason of his high state of innocency he sinned mortally in eating an apple by disobedience so this man professing perfection of life in a religious state by any sort of voluntary lying sinneth mortally for which he alleadgeth diuers authorities of S. Augustine as namely this Sanctus vir c. A holy man that doth perfectly cleaue to God which is truth it selfe is forbidden either purposely or rashly to vtter vntruth and for that the Scripture saith He that lieth killeth his owne soule and againe Thou shalt destroy all those that speake lies perfect men doe fly with all care these kindes also of least lies in such sort as no mans life may be defended therby least they hurt their owne soules while they goe about to profit another mans flesh 40. Againe the said Father in another place Tam sibi clausum deputat ad subueniendum hominem per mendacium quà m si per stuprum transire cogatur A good and perfect man doth thinke the way so shut vnto him from helping another man by any kinde of lye though neuer so officious as if it were required at his hand to helpe him by cōmitting rape or incest nay yet Halensis goeth further proposing this question Whether if a man did certainly know that by any least kinde of lying on his behalfe he might conuert an Infidell to Christianity and not otherwise whether he might doe it or no and then concludeth that he may not in any case alleadging this reason out of S Augustine that as it is not lawfull for me to procure another mans chastity by my owne sinne of carnality so much lesse is it lawfull to bring another man to the knowledge of truth by my corrupting of truth So this holy Religions Countreyman of ours whose cōscience let the indifferent Reader compare with that of this irreligious Minister who not only in iest or officious lying to any mans good either in body or soule but in malicious lying in preiudice of both is euery where taken most manifestly as before yow haue seene and shall againe after vpon sundry occasions 41. Well then this seuerity of doctrine is taught by our Catholicke Deuines against the sinne of simple lying But if we talke of lying in an oath which is periury euery man may imagine how much more earnestly the same is detested by them in so much as the famous Doctor Nauarre before mētioned who is held to be one of the most liberall and largest in admitting Equiuocations both in wordes and oathes with the due circumstances and hath written three whole Treatises about the same yet is he so seuere and rigorous against lying and periury as he teacheth that it is a mortall and damnable sinne to sweare falsely euen in iest And others yet goe further auouching that it is damnable to sweare 〈◊〉 by euill custome yea sometimes also though the thing in it selfe be true which he sweareth the reason wherof they alleadge to be this for that the act of swearing being actus latriae as Deuines call it that is to say an act of highest honour to God for that he is cited and alleadged in an oath as an infallible witnes the man that accustometh to sweare rashly putteth himselfe in manifest danger to sweare also falsely therby sinneth mortally albeit for that time he sweareth the thing that is true but as easily would he haue done it thogh it had byn false in respect of his yll custome of swearing rashly and consequently no lesse dishonour and contempt doth he vse towardes the Maiesty of Almighty God therin then if he had sworne false which is an important note for rash swearers to consider of and remember 42. Well now all this being so will our Minister still stand in his obstinate calumniation that we are louers of lies patrons of periury defenders allowers of falshood Doctors of
some other Christ himselfe without explicating his owne meaning in one parte of the sentence meant of the one sorte of death and in the other parte of the other For where he saith Your Fathers in the desert did eate Manna and are dead he meaneth there of the temporall death of the body and in the other clause of the Antithesis But he that shall eate of this bread shall not dye he meant of the eternall death of the soule though others also referre it to the eternall lyfe of the body after resurrection 48. In like manner that sentence of our Sauiour to the yonge man in S. Matthwes Ghospell Dimitte mortuos sepelire mortuos Suffer the dead to bury the dead hath a playne equiuocation Christ vnderstanding in the former those that were dead in spirite and in the second dead in body and yet was this no Cosenage nor deceipt in our Sauiour nor had it beene sacrilegious impiety to sweare it All which being so we hauing tantam nubem testium as S. Paul saith so great a cloud of witnesses and these omni exceptione maiores without exception for their credit and the absurdity and folly of this second proposition appearing so manifest in it selfe as it doth what should we stand to examine the arguments and reasons that may be brought for it by so fond a disputer as now Tho. Morton is proued to be For so much as no reason can serue for vpholding a paradox so ridiculous as this is euen to common sense And yet for that he putteth downe foure arguments or reasons for the same as before hath byn sayd let vs see breifly what they are 49. His first argument for this conclusion is drawne from the forme of an oath set downe by vs before and heere againe alleadged by him out of Tolet and other Authors of ours for of his owne he seemeth to haue 〈◊〉 That an oath is a religious inuocation of God eyther expresly or by impluation for witnes of our speach and the wordes 〈◊〉 or implicitè are added for that when we sweare by creatures we sweare by them in respect of the truth of God that is in them and so by God himselfe implicitè 50. Now then out of this principle T. M. taketh vpon him to proue this proposition That whensoeuer or to whom 〈◊〉 we sweare we are bound in conscience to answere directly that is to say to sweare to his intention to whome we sweare which we haue proued before by generall consent of Deuines lawyers to be false and Cicero himselfe hath so determined the case in like manner as yow haue heard when a man should be compelled to sweare to theeues but yet let vs heare how Tho. Morton will proue this his new and strange Deuinity His syllogisme is this in his owne wordes The competency of God saith he by whome we sweare maketh euery one competent Iudges and hearers to whome we sweare But by swearing by God wheme we cannot deceaue we Religiously protest that in swearing we intend not to deceaue Ergo Our deceipfull Equiuocating is a prophanation of the Religious worshippe of God 51. This syllogisme I leaue to be discussed by Cambridge Logitians where I heare say the man learned his logicke if he haue any for heere he sheweth very little or none at all no boy being among vs of foure monethes standing in Logicke or Sophistry which will not hisse at this argument both for forme and matter For as for forme it is toto ridiculous the syllogisme hauing no medium terminum at all nor the coÌ„clusion any coherence with the premisses nor with his chiefest purpose that he would proue nay which is most absurde wheras according to Aristotle whome as yow haue heard T. M. tearmeth the Oracle of Logitians a good Syllogisme hath only three terminos wherof the one is called Maior extremus the other Minor extremus and the third Medius terminus this syllogisme of his hath six terminos and wheras the Medius terminus should be repeated in the Maior and Minor propositions the conclusion should consist only of the extremes as if a man should say Euery man is a liuing Creature Peter is a man Ergo Peter is a liuing Creature Heere the word man is medius terminus and so repeated in the Maior and Minor proposition Peter and lyuing creature are the two extremes wherof is framed the third proposition or conclusion by connexion of the said extreemes by vertue of the medius terminus that hath part in them both 52. But now Thomas Mortons syllogisme hath no such medius terminus nor any such connexion of his propositions togeather but euery one of them hath his extremes to wit his 〈◊〉 and praedicatum separatly not one depending of the other and consequently it is no syllogisme or argument at all concluding any thing in forme no more then this syllogisme Euery man is a liuing Creature Euery oxe is a four-footed beast Ergo Euery Asse hath two long eares Where yow see that there be six termini as in Tho. Mortons sillogisme without connexion or dependance one of the other And as much concludeth this as that And now compare this his skill I pray yow with that bragg of his in the beginning of this his Treatise against Equiuocation when he said to his aduersary Dare yow appeale to Logicke This is the art of artes and the high tribunall of reason and truth it selfe which no man in any matter whether it be case of humanity or Deuinity can iustly refuse who would not thinke but that the man were very skilfull in that art wherin he presumeth to giue such a Censure 53. But now let vs helpe him out to make his foresaid syllogisme in forme It should haue gone thus if he would haue said any thing in true forme The competency of God by whome we sweare maketh euery one competent Iudges to whom we sweare But in euery oath we sweare by God either exprefly or implicatiuely Ergo in euery Oath they are competent Iudges to whom we sweare And then by an other inference againe he might haue argued that vnto euery competent and lawfull Iudge we haue confessed before that a man is bound to answere directly and to sweare to his intention and not only to his owne Ergo in no oath to whomsoeuer may a man Equiuocate which is his principall proposition And thus had his forme of reasoning byn good according to the rules of Logicke though in matter it had â—yn false as now also it is For that his first Maior proposition can neuer be proued to wit That the competency of God by whom we sweare maketh euery one competent Iudges to whom we sweare that is to say for so much as God by whom we sweare is competent Iudge of all this maketh euery one to whome we sweare by God to be our competent and lawfull Iudge which is most absurd euen in common sense For that a man
a heauenly Kingdome insomuch as S. Augustine doth doubt whether in the old Testament the Kingdome of heauen was euer so much as named and much lesse promised for reward and therfore those things that were then done amōg them foreshewed only or prefigured diuine thinges that were to succeed vnder the new Testament the other being not diuine but humane and earthly So Salmeron 5. Heere then are sundry important corruptions fraudes vttered by T.M. the one that the Iesuites and namely Salmeron are inforced to allow the temporall King to haue byn Supreme ouer the high Priest in spirituall matters vnder the old law wheras he doth expressely affirme and prooue the contrary both out of the Scripture it selfe by the sacrifice appointed more worthy for the Priest then the Prince many other testimonies as that he must take the law interpretation therof at the Priestes hands that he must ingredi egredi ad verbum Sacerdotis goe in and out and proceed in his affaires by the word and direction of the Priest and the like as also by the testimony of Philo and Ioseph two learned Iewes and other reasons handled at large in this very disputation and in the self same place from whence this obiection is taken And this is the first falsification concerning the Authours meaning and principall drift 6. The second corruption is in the wordes as they ly in the Latin copy as they are by me before mentioned Vbi id euenisset mirum esse non debere If any such thing had fallen out as was obiected to wit that Kinges sometimes had prescribed to the Priests what they should doe in Ecclesiasticall things deposed some c. it had byn no maruaile for somuch as their Ecclesiasticall Kingdome or Synagogue was an earthly and imperfect thing but yet this proueth not that it was so but only it is spoken vpon a supposition which suppositiō this Minister that he might the more cunningly shift of and auoid left cut of purpose the most essentiall wordes therof Vbi id euenisset if that had happened c. as also for the same cause to make thinges more obscure after those words of Salmeron that stand in his text Synagoga Iudeorum dicebatur terrenum potius quà m caeleste regnum The Synagogue or Ecclesiasticall gouernment of the Iewes was called rather an earthly then a heauenly Kingdome wheras contrary-wise the Ecclesiasticall power in the Christian Church is euery where called Celestiall after those wordes I say this man cutteth of againe many lines that followed togeather with S. Augustines iudgmēt before touched which serued to make the Authors meaning more plaine and yet left no signe of c. wherby his Reader might vnderstand that somewhat was omitted but 〈◊〉 againe presently as though it had imediatly followed 〈◊〉 cùm populus Dei constet corpore animo carnalis pars in veteri populo primas tenebat Wheras Godes people doth consist of body and minde the carnall or bodily part did cheifly preuaile among the Iewes and heerwith endeth as though nothing more had ensued of that matter thrustnig out these wordes that immediatly followed and made the thing cleere which are Et ad spiritualia significanda constituebaiur and that kinde of earthly power was appointed to signify the spirituall that was to be in the new Testament wherby is euidently seene that Salmeron vnderstood not by carnalis pars and regnum terrenum the temporall Kingdome of Iury as this Minister doth insinuate to make the matter odious but the Ecclesiasticall gouernment of the Synagogue vnder the old law in respect of the Ecclesiasticall power in the new wherof the other was but an earthly figure or signification 7. But now the third corruption most egregious of all is in his English translation out of the Latin wordes of Salmeron for thus he translateth them in our name In the Synagogue of the Iewes saith Salmeron was a State rather earthly then heauenly so that in that people which was as in the body of a man consisting of body and soule the carnall part was more eminent meaning the temporall to haue byn supreame In which translation are many seuerall shifts and fraudes For wheras Salmeron saith Synagoga Iudeorum dicebatur potius terrenum quà m caeleste regnum the Synagogue or Ecclesiasticall power among the Iewes was called rather an earthly then a heauenly Kingdome he translateth it the Synagogue of the Iewes was a State rather earthly then heauenly and this to the end he might apply the word of earth to the temporal Prince and heauenly to the Iudaicall Priestes which is quite from Salmerons meaning Secondly those other wordes of Salmeron being Cùm populus Dei constet ex corpore animo wheras the people of God doe consist of body and minde meaning therby aswell Christians as Iewes and that the Iewes are as the bodily or carnall part of the man and the Christians the spirituall and consequently their Ecclesiasticall authority earthly and ours heauenly this fellow to deceaue his Reader putteth out first the word Dei the people of God and then translateth it in that people to wit the Iewes the carnall part was the more eminent meaning saith he the tēporall which is false for he speaketh expressely of the Ecclesiasticall power among the Iewes which he calleth carnall and terrene in respect of the spirituall Ecclesiasticall among the Christians and not the temporall or Kingly power vnder the old Testament as this man to make vs odious to temporall Princes as debasing their authority would haue it thought And Salmerons cōtraposition or antithesis is not betweene the temporall and Ecclesiasticall gouernment among the Iewes but betweene their Ecclesiasticall gouernment and ours that of the Synagogue and this of the Christian Church wherof the one he saith to be terrene earthly the other spirituall and heauenly the one infirme the other powerfull ouer soules c. So as all these sortes and kindes of corruptions being seene in this one little authority yow may imagine what will be found in the whole booke if a man had so much patience and time to leese as to discusse the same exactly through 8. A little after this againe he bringeth in an example of the King of Israell Ozias who for presuming to exercise the Priests office in offering of incense being first reprehended and resistest for the same by Azarias the high Priest and fourescore other Priestes with him in the Temple was for his presumption presently and publickly in all their sightes punished by God and stroken with a leprosy and therupon remoued by the authority of the said high Priest first from the Temple and common conuersation of men and then also from the gouernment or administration of his Kingdome the same being committed to his sonne Ioathan all the dayes of his Fathers life about which example M. Morton first of all bringeth in Doctor
deceauing and the like will he still defend that there is nothing but lying in Rome and that the Sea Apostolike graunteth out full priuiledge of lying as before yow haue heard him auouch how then if I shew that all this and much more against lying which yow haue heard out of the Schoole-men and ancient Fathers is not only allowed admitted by the Sea of Rome but translated also by the Popes therof into the corps of their Canon law and so not only approued but commended and commaunded also to be obserued Can any thing conuince more our Ministers Calumniation then this Let any man looke then vpon the second Part of Gratian his Decretals throughout the two and twentith Cause for fiue whole questioÌ„s togeather there he shall find not only the substance of all this that heere I haue said but much more cited out of all the ancient Fathers Popes Councels to this effect 43. For there he shall find set downe out of S. Augustine and Canonized the foresaid distinction of eight sortes or degrees of lying with a reprobation of them all where hauing cited those wordes of S. Augustine Non est igitur mentiendum in doctrina pietatis quia magnum scelus est primum genus detestabilis mendacij we must not lye concerning doctrine of piety or marters touching our faith for that it is a heynous sinne and the first kind of detestable lying he passeth downeward by all the rest excluding them one by one and concluding Quòd neque pro 〈◊〉 temporali commodo ac salute veritas corrumpenda est neque ad sempiternam salutem vllus ducendus est opitulante mendacio Neither is truth to be corrupted for any mans temporall commodity nor is any man to be brought to eternall saluation by the helpe of a lye So S. Augustine And so Gratian that alleadgeth him aboue foure hundred yeares gone and so all the Popes that haue Canonized this saying of his determined it for Canonicall law euer since to our dayes And with what impudency then saith this Minister from whence shall a man except priuiledge of lying then from that place where as your owne learned Bishop saith there is nothing but lying which in deed is lying vpon lying for that Espencaeus whome he 〈◊〉 in the margent saith not so there is nothing but lying as in another place shall be shewed and if he did yet the thing it selfe is euidently proued to be false by this that we haue alleadged out of the Popes Canons affirming all sortes of lies whatsoeuer to be indispensable Let any man then belieue these fellowes that will be deceaued 44. But the Popes Canons goe yet further and doe decree determine out of the authority of the same Father S. Augustine and other Fathers sundry pointes of greater perfection against the sinne of lying as this for example Quod non licet alicui humilitatis causa mentiri It is not lawfull for any man to lye out of humility saying lesse of a mans selfe then truth permitteth And againe in another Canon Non licet mentiri vt arroganâ—ia vitetur it is not lawfull to lye that arrogancy therby may be auoided 45. And as for periury which is a lye coÌ„firmed with an oath the said Canons are so seuere as they doe not only detest the same both in him that forsweareth in him that induceth another therunto but doe also appoint greiuous penitentiall punishmentes for the same As for example Qui compulsus à Domino sciens peierat saith one Canon vtrique sunt periuri Dominus miles Dominus quia praecepit miles quia plus Dominum quà m animam dilexit si liber est quadragint a dies in pane aqua paeniteat septem sequentes annos If any man compelled by his Lord shall wâ—ittingly forsweare himselfe both of them are periured as well the Lord as the seruant the Lord for commanding and the seruant for that he hath loued his Lord more then his owne soule let him doe pennance by fasting in bread and water fourty dayes and seauen yeares afterward Et nunquam sit sine paenitentia saith another Canon let him neuer cease to repent and doe some penance for this greiuous sinne so long as he liueth And heere is to be noted that S. Anselme doth cite this punishment out of the penitentiall decrees of our ancient Theodorus Archbishop of Canterbury wherby it apperteineth the more to my Lord that now is of that Sea to looke to this his Chaplaine or miles Morton and finding him guilty of lying against his owne often oathes and solemne protestations as we haue discouered him in this our answere to cast some little aspersion at least of penitentiall satisfactions vpon him And if forty dayes in bread water may seeme to much let him fast some fower with contrition and that perhaps may doe him more good then any bookes or writing against him But to retourne to Gratian. He reciteth diuers other Canons out of sundry ancient Councels Fathers and Popes decrees as out of S. Augustine Homicidam vincit qui sciens ad periurium hominem prouocat he passeth a murderer in wickednes that wittingly doth prouoke another man to periury and the reason heerof is added in the Canon for that a murderer killeth but the body this the soule nay two soules both his that forsweareth his owne that prouoketh So that Canon which me thinketh were seriously to be considered by them that force others to sweare against their consciences knowing or presuming probably that the swearers consciences are opposite to that which they are forced to sweare and consequently according to this rule of S. Augustine doe murther eternally both their owne soules and those of them that doe vrge them therunto Neither shall it be needfull to adde any more in this place seing the said Canons are extant to be read and seene by al and allowed authorized and set forth for sacred and authenticall by all Popes whatsoeuer 46. My conclusion therfore vpon this fifth consideration is that for so much as Romish Catholicke doctrine doth teach and prescribe all this rigour and seuerity against lying and periury which in Protestants bookes touching cases of conscience we haue not hitherto seene expressed it may well be inferred that if Equiuocation were held for lying it would in no case be allowed by the same doctrine as lying is not And that if the Sea of Rome did giue out priuiledges for lying and periury she would not authorize such seuere penitentiall Canons against the same and that if nothing but lying were there as Morton saith there is not then were this lying also that she doth acknowledge these Canons which yet is proued by the printed bookes that are extant therof and to these inferences I doe not see what can be answeared or brought to the contrary except only our Minister would say that all our Doctors are deceaued in distinguishing
his former proposition For if it were lawfull for Saint Athanasius to vse this Equiuocation in speach and fact for deluding his persecutors then had it bene lawfull also to sweare the same without sacrilegious prophanation if they had vrged him vnto it For as all Deuines hold that which may lawfully be said may also lawfully be sworne what will T. M. answere tò this what will he answere to that euasion of S. Paul mentioned by vs before when for escaping the hands of the Iewes that pursued him in iudgement he vsed an apparent equiuocall speach saying That his trouble was about the hope and resurrection of the dead Paul knowing saith the text that one parte of them that pursued him were of the Saduces that denyed the resurrection of the dead and the other of Pharises that held the contrary he cryed out in the iudgement-place saying De spe resurrectione mortuorum ego iudicor I am called to iudgement about the hope and resurrection of the dead which was true in one sense but false in another wherby the Pharises being deceyued tooke his parte Et facta est contentio sayth the text inter Pharisaeos Saducaeos soluta est multitudo and vpon this equiuocall speach there arose a dissention betwene the Pharises and Saduces one interpreting it in one sense and another in another and so the people departing the iudgement brake vp And what will Thomas Morton now answere to this did S. Paul lye in this Equiuocation or was his dissimulation impious for that one part was deceaued or had he committed 〈◊〉 prophanation if he had sworne it I demaund him also of that equiuocall oath of the Patriarch Ioseph who in one conference with his brethren did twice sweare vnto them 〈◊〉 Equiuocation that is to say with a reserued sense different from that he vttered to them in wordes the Scripture saying VVhen his brethren had adored him he knowing them to be his brethren spake sharpely vnto them as to strangers saying yow are spyes sent to discouer the strength of this land I sweare by the health of King Pharao yow shall not go hence c. And againe Per salutem Pharaonis c. I sweare by the health of Pharao that yow are spyes when notwithstanding he knew them not to be spyes so thought of them in his mynd And will T. M. say that this was a lye or at least a sacrilegious prophanation of an oath But I must go yet a little further in prosecution of this folly against the Minister 44. What then will he say to all those former examples of Equiuocall propositions which I haue alleaged out of holy Scripture out of the new Testamént and from the mouth of our Sauiour himselfe especially such as haue verball equiuocation in them As Dissolue this temple and I will build it vp againe in three dayes where the word temple hath euidently two significations and was taken in the one by Christ our Sauiour in the other by the Iewes And the other Our friend Lazarus sleepeth And againe The maid is not deed but sleepeth where the word sleepeth is equiuocall and hath two significations the one of death the other of naturall sleepe and Christ vnderstood it in the one and his hearers in the other And so the like where Christ said vnto the Iewes Abraham vidit diem meum gauisus est Abraham did see my day and did reioyce the word see is equiuocall and signifieth eyther seing in flesh or seing in spirite and the Iewes being deceyued with the equiuocation of the word vnderstood it in one sense and Christ in another wherupon they said vnto him Thou hast not yet fifty yeares of age and hast thou seene Abraham And therupon tooke stones to cast at him 45. And the very like example is of our Sauiours speach vnto the Samaritan at Iacobs well by the Citty of Sychar If thow knewest the gyfte of God and who it is that saith to thee Giue me water thou wouldest aske of him and he would giue thee liuing water where the word water being equiuocall signifieth both the element of water and heauenly grace which is the water of lyfe euerlasting which Equiuocation the woman not vnderstanding tooke it in the common sense of naturall water and asked him how he could giue her water for so much as he had no bucket to draw it vp in but Christ our Sauiour addeth an other equiuocall speach to her saying That he which shall drinke of the water which I will giue him shall neuer thirst more where not only the word water but the word thirst also is equiuocall hath two different senses wherby the woman deceaued said Giue me I pray of this water that I may thirst no more nor come hither to draw vnderstanding still of materiall water 46. Now I would demaund that for so much as all these speaches were manifestly equiuocall and had double senses and significations and that 〈◊〉 ech one of them the hearers were deceaued conceauing another sense then that which Christ mentally reserued to himselfe I would demaund I say whether notwithstanding this they were not true of themselues and whether Christ might not as well sweare them as speake them And if Thomas Morton will haue many examples togeather wherin Christ our Sauiour after his manner of swearing which is Amen amen dico vobis doth sweare or auouch by oath sundry equiuocall propositions let him looke vpon the later parte of the sixt Chapter of S. Iohn where Christ doth put the Antithesis betwene himselfe and Moyses and betwene the bread that Moyses gaue from heauen that which he was to giue being his owne flesh and betwene the lyfe that Manna gaue and that which his flesh was to giue and he shall fynd many equiuocall propositions both verball and mentall auouched by our Sauiour vnder this kind of oath repeated at least three or foure tymes in that matter One example of ech kynd shall suffice 47. When he saith Amen amen dico vobis qui credit in me babet vitam aeternam Truly truly I say vnto yow that he who beleeueth in me hath lyfe euerlasting this is a mentall reserued proposition as before hath byn shewed for that it is not true generally that euery one that beleeueth in Christ hath lyfe euerlasting but he that beleeueth accordingly which was reserued in Christs mynd and then the wordes immediatly following Ego sum panis vitae I am the bread of lyfe haue a verball equiuocation signifying of bread that gaue tēporall lyfe or spirituall lyfe as also the other words that ensue Your Fathers did eate manna in the deserte and are dead but he that shall eate of this bread shall not dye Dying heere signifyeth eyther the death of the body or the death of the soule and Christ meant of the later 〈◊〉 the Iewes of the first Nay which is more to be obserued as Euthymius noteth and
very Iesuites also against whome he rageth most bitterly euen in the next precedent lynes before his said conclusion calling them the Theologicall Alchimists of our tyme that can extract aurum ex carbone and the Monopolists of all 〈◊〉 in whome notwithstanding he saith no art to be singuler but that of Equiuocation and other such like intertaynments of his vnciuill Vrbanity wherby he would seeme to his Reader pleasant and ingenious but in deed maketh himself ridiculous For that all men know now or at least wise his Reader will by this our Answere that the doctrine of Equiuocation in certayne Cases and with due circumstances is not Alchimy of the Iesuites but the ignorance of Morton and his fellowes who ascribe that vnto them as the chife Authors which was in vse many hundred years before they were in the world And as for the Monopolie of artes if he vnderstand therby their teaching aboue others of liberall Artes and sciences in their schooles throughout Christendome it is true in a certayne sorte that this kynd of Monopolie or preeminent labour may be granted vnto their endeauours of their Godly instruction institution of youth And happy had it beene for Tho. Morton if he had beene brought vp vnder that Monopoly for it is like he would haue had if not more grace yet more witt at least and vnderstanding then to haue obiected vnto them as heere he doth that no art is singuler in them but that of Equiuocation wheras the doctrine of Equiuocation as Catholickes hold it and we before expounded it is no art but a sound position in Deuinity belonging to the direction of a good Conscience against lying wherof Morton and his fellowes haue so learned the art and confirmed the habit therof by repetition and multiplication of so many actes as it floweth now from them with as great facility in euery occasion as the notes and tunes of singing do from him that hath made a long habit therin or as the fingers of a musition that without deliberation or thinking of the player do runne their stoppes and performe their perticuler motions by vertue of the habite before made and confirmed 8. For proofe of all this I referre my selfe to that which hath byn set downe in the former Chapters and especially in the sixt and so will heere shut vp all this Treatise adding only some few lynes of aduise and admonition as wel vnto myne Aduersary as also vnto them whome he by his iniurious and slaunderous sycophancy hath sought to draw into hatred and danger of the State and so to him I say let him remember what the Iustice of God doth menace and threaten vnto false accusers of their brethren as haue wrongfully traduced so many innocent persons as this fellow hath both in his Epistle to the King and Preface to the Reader and throughout all his virulēt and spitefull Treatises being three or foure in number against all sortes of Catholickes and the 〈◊〉 body therof accusing them of most heynous rebellions and heathenish Equiuocations and for blood-thirsty men and speakers of lyes without conscience and himselfe forsooth to be a Minister of simple truth naked innocency and to hate all lying and equiuocating euen from his very soule But these things we haue sufficiently I suppose layd open before throughout this worke and haue shewed him if I be not deceyued to be one of the foulest and most frequent lyers that euer perhaps set pen to paper in these our dayes 9. And now at this very instant hauing written hitherto cometh to my handes the Catholicke Treatise it selfe of Equiuocation before mēcyoned against which Morton frameth his answere and promiseth A full satisfaction in the tytle of his booke of which Treatise not hauing byn able to procure the sight vntill this tyme I fynd so much occasion of new matter giuen therby against the shifting falshood of this Minister as I might dilate my selfe to the making of a newe Treatise if I would pursue the particulers of his said deceipts and abuses therin offred For wheras he professeth A full answere and satisfaction as hath by r said which importeth as much as that he would answere it wholy and truly to the full satisfaction of euery indifferent Reader he is so farre of from performing that as he hath not touched or so much as mencyoned the tenth part therof in his answere albeit the whole 〈◊〉 it selfe be not large nor conteyneth aboue 8. or 9. sheetes of written paper nay he doth not so much as name or mencion diuers whole Chapters therin and those which he doth touch he doth it with such art and subtility skipping hither and thither forth and backe at length and crosse-wise taking heere a sentence and there an other as though his principall care had byn not to be vnderstood or at leastwise not to be found out where he walketh wherof I shall giue heere some short tast or note as it were with the finger wherby the rest may be coniectured Stand attent then gentle Reader and marke his manner of answering 10. First then to begin his confutation pag. 48. he layeth hands on the first wordes or tytle of the Preface alledging therof six lynes for his purpose as for the ground of his whole workmanship and then in the same page he steppeth from the Preface to the fifth Chapter of the Treatise and taketh thence three lynes then pag. 53. he recoyleth backe to the second Chapter cyting seuen lynes from thence pag. 55. he aduaunceth himselfe forward againe to the third Chapter and produceth an eleuen lynes and then in the very next leafe in two seuerall tymes he draweth from the same Chapter some 9. lynes and after some ten pages of silence cyteth 4. lynes more from the said third Chapter of his Aduersaryes Treatise from whence presently in the next leafe pag. 70. he giueth a large leape to fetch 3. lynes out of the tenth Chapter which is the last of all and from thence in the next 〈◊〉 pag. 72. he runneth backe againe to the 4. Chapter and alleageth but 7. lynes only pag. 73. fiue lynes more pag. 78. 7. lynes more out of the said 4. Chapter and then geuing a stryde to the 8. Chapter pag. 80. he bringeth thence 〈◊〉 3. lynes to worke vpon then pag 85. giueth a skipp backe to the 4. and 7. Chapters and out of them both draweth some 6. or 7. lynes towards his buylding and from hence againe pag. 88. he stretcheth himselfe to the tenth Chapter for some 3. or 4. lynes to helpe himselfe withall and pag. 93. and 99. for some 9. or 10. lynes more and with this endeth his whole answere 11. And now consider prudent Reader what manner of full satisfaction this is that in so little a Treatise leaueth out so principall partes vnanswered as that of ten Chapters he omitteth wholy three without mencion therof which are the first sixth and ninth Chapters and then in the other