in Christ by this Frierly glosse it is not enough vnlesse he also beleeue the Pope to be Christs Vicar Euen like as these Romanists would haue all Churches depend vpon Rome in the West so the Donatists being caried with the like humour did contend for the South that the Church of God was onely to be found in Africa thereto abusing that text Cantic 1.6 Vbi pascis vbi cubas meridie Where feedest thou and liâ—st at noone or in the South as they interpreted By the same reason saith Augustine Marcion vpon that text Psal. 48.2 Mons Sion latera Aquilonis Mount Sion the sides of the North might also chalenge a priuiledge for the North quia ponticus dicitur fuisse quae partes ad Aquilonem sunt Because he is said to haue been of Pontus which is toward the North. As these Heretikes did striue for the South and North so the Luciferians would haue the Church of God onely at Sardis in the East vnto whom Hierome saith Non ob Sardorum tantum mastrucam filium Dei descendisse That the sonne of God did not only descend for a Sardish mantill that is to saue onely the Sardians Euen so did hee not onely die to redeeme the Romanes Yea if any sect among Christians haue diuided and cut themselues off from Christ the Papists that chalenge most to be priuiledged are most like to be excluded 1. Idolaters shall not inherit the kingdome of heauen 1. Cor. 6.9 such are Papists notoriously knowne to be 2. Heresies also doe shut men out from the kingdome of God Galath 5.20.21 But the Church of Rome holdeth and professeth many apparant heresies as euen now shall be shewed 3. The Apostle saith Ye are abolished from Christ whosoeuer are iustified by the lawe Galath 5.4 But the Papists do seeke to be iustified by the righteousnes of the lawe for these are their owne words True iustice is by keeping the lawe Rhemist in 2. Rom. sect 5.4 The scripture saith If any man shall adde vnto these things I will adde vnto him the plagues written in this booke Reuel 21.18 They which adde vnto the scriptures can not be saued Such are the Papists that beside the written word do receiue many traditions which they call verbum Dei non scriptum the word not written By these and sundrie other reasons which might be produced the pope-catholike is found to haue the least part in Christ vnlesse they do reuoke their errors and repent them of their misbeliefe 3 True it is that Christ will so preserue his Church and euery faithfull member thereof from error as that they shall not fayle in the foundation but as to infirmities of life so to errors of doctrine which are not fundamentall euen the true Church of Christ is subiect till God by his word do otherwise teach them as the Apostle saith if ye be otherwise minded God shall reueale the same vnto you But concerning any particular visible Church such as the Romane and the Latine Church is it is vntrue that it is absolutely preserued froÌ„ error but so long only and so farre-forth as it doth yeeld and submit it selfe to be guided by the direction of Gods word For what priuiledge hath one locall Church more then an other What can Rome challenge more for it selfe then Ephesus Sardis Smyrna and the other Churches of Asia to whom our Sauiour directed his Epistles Reuel 2.3 whose candlesticks are now remoued The earthlie Ierusalem had greater assurance for their continuance and more ample promises then euer Rome had for the Psalme testifieth thus the Lord hath chosen Sion and loueth to dwell in it saying this is my rest for euer yet is Sion now forsaken and Ierusalem become desolate for the promise is conditionall if thy sonnes keepe my couenants c. v. 12. Let not reachles Rome therefore presume before Ierusalem euen vnto the Romanes doth the Apostle speake if God spared not the naturall branches take heed least he also spare not thee Let the Romanists therefore take heed least it happen vnto them as vnto the Iewes as Origene saith alapa Christum caedentes alapam aeternam receperunt ab omni prophetia percussi priuati for giuing Christ a blow they receiued an euerlasting blow being shaken from and depriued of all prophesie The like deadlie stroke proud Rome must expect to be depriued of all propheticall spirite and true iudgement for striking and persecuting Christ in his members 4 Vntrue also it is that the Church of Rome hath condemned and extirped 400. heresies seeing that it may easily be proued that it doth maintaine at this present one hundred at the least of those auncient heresies which haue bene in former time condemned by Irenaeus Tertullian Hierome Augustine Epiphanius Damascene and other of the Fathers From Marcellina the companion of Carpocrates they haue receiued the adoration of Images of the Heracleonites extreame vnction with the Tatians they condemne mariage with the Pepuzians they allow women to be priests in that they authorise them to baptize with the Catharists that some are so iust that they neede no repentance with the Angelici they worship Angels with the Apostolici they admit none to orders as they did not to their communion that had wiues with the Hierarchites they haue brought in Monks and Nunnes with the Euchites canonicall houres with the Priscillianists they make Apocryphall writings equall to the scriptures with the Anthropomorphites they picture God the Father like an old man from the Pelagians they haue borrowed free-will from the Manichees the prohibiting of the eating of flesh Many such heresies are without any wresting or forcing fastned vpon the Romish professors as a learned writer of our Church hath alreadie challenged and charged them with fiftie heresies and another hath proued them guiltie of fortie more and so many as want of an hundred shall be supplied shortlie and the number made vp in the enlarging of the last recited worke as God shall giue strength and abilitie thereunto 5 Neither is it true that diuers generall Councels where the whole Christian world was assembled haue anathematized and condemned the religion of Protestants for whereas in the margent he referreth vs to the Concil Constant. Concil Florentin in Vnion Concil Trident. the first of these by our aduersaries confession was not a generall Councell for whereas Sess. 4. of the Councell of Constance it was decreed that the Pope ought to be subiect vnto the authoritie of a generall Councell Bellarmine telleth vs Non erat tum generale Concilium c. It was not then a generall Councell when as the third part only of the Church was present only those prelates which were vnder the obedience of Pope Iohn if it were not generall in the 4. session neither was it in the 8. session wherein the opinions of Wickliffe and Hus were condemned As for the Florentine
to his owne priuate deduction and deceitfull iudgement ibid. lin 27. If this fellow were not past all feare of God and shame of man he would haue trembled thus to haue blasphemed the seruants of God Paganish infidelitie Atheisme and Epicurisme we detest Iudaicall ceremonies and superstitions we haue renounced with popish trash No man is permitted of his owne head to coyne a new faith The word of God is a rule and direction to Protestants how to beleeue and how to liue These are but popish sclaunders and frierlike inuentions Where truth faileth you your vncharitable tongue helpeth out which was prowd Diotrephes practise against the Apostle pratling against vs saith S. Iohn with malicious words But as Hierome saith Scillaeos canes obdurata aure transibo I will stop mine eare against those backbiters as the Scillaean dogs and Sea-monsters he may for shame hold his peace for as Sophocles saith of the thiefe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that is manifestly taken stealing had need hold his peace So he that is deprehended in a lie for shame may be silent 6. This Catholike Frier goeth about as well as he can to prooue the religion of Protestants to be the cause of Epicurisme Atheisme c. his confused prattle and disordred hudling vp of much homely stuffe I will reduce into some order if I can his simple reason if it be any at all standeth thus That religion wherein a man seeth so many diuisions and no agreement which is vncertaine and ineuident is a palpable prouocation and allurement to Atheisme Epicurisme infidelitie Apolog. p. 14. lin 3.4.16 But such is the religion of Protestants Ergo c. The proposition or first part of this reason being admitted the assumption that the religion of the Protestants is vncertaine full of diuisions hauing no agreement he laboureth diuersly to perswade The first Probation HE reasoneth thus from the lesse to the greater à minore ad mains as wee say in Schooles If in arts Alchymie be refused because of the vncertaintie if for matters of storie the diuersitie of opinions about the originall of the Britaines hath caused many to thinke there neuer was any Brute at all if because some writers as Hierome Orosius Fasciculus temporum differ about the comming of Peter to Rome some Protestants are not afraid to affirme he was neuer at Rome if for the same reason the Protestants denie the bookes of Macchabees Iudith Tobias to be Canonicall scripture p. 13. much more may that religion be doubted of which is so full of vncertainties c. The Solution HE had need be a good Alchymist that out of this leaden argument should draw anie sound or solide reason First where the foundation is false the building must needes be deceitfull this durtie dawber worketh with vntempered morter and patcheth vp his matter with false grounds 1. For neither doe the Protestants denie that Peter was at Rome but that he neither came thither so soone the 2. yeere of Claudius nor continued there so long namely 25. yeeres as the Popish Church holdeth He should haue named such Protestants whom he chargeth with this deniall of Peters being at Rome 2. These doubts and obiections moued by Protestants arise not onely now chiefly by reason of some difference in the historian writers but are grounded vpon certaine places of Scripture which they shall haue much adoe to answere as is elsewhere declared 3. The bookes of Tobie and the Macchabees are not refused onely for that cause for that they cannot be assigned to any certaine time but for other reasons both for the matter which is fabulous and erronious in many points and the manner diuers speeches and places being repugnant and contradictorie So then he hath rapped foorth three vntruths together such a plentifull forge this Frier hath to coyne his Alchymicall stuffe Secondly be it knowne vnto him that the Protestants faith relieth vpon a more sure ground then either Alchymie in Artes or in storie Brutes being in England or Peters comming to Rome the first is phantasticall the second coniecturall the third historicall the first but an inuention the second a tradition the third a collection or collation of times But the faith of the Gospell is grounded vpon the Scriptures not vpon mans vaine phantasie or blind traditions or vncertaine collections therefore this reason hath no shew of probabilitie nor force of consequence the argument is denied I thinke the Frier was telling ouer his beades or busie about his Memento when he thus argued somewhat he would say if he knew what Like as Hierome saith of one Pisoniano vitio laborat eum loqui nesciret tacere non posset He hath Piso his fault hee knoweth not how to speake and yet cannot hold his peace And as Diogenes compareth such which vnderstand not what they say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Like as Harpes making a great sound without any sense The second Probation THis Popish champion in the next place by way of comparison betweene the Pope-catholike Church and the Protestants endeuoureth to shew the vncertaintie of the one by the certaine and infallible authoritie of the other The Cacolike or as he saith Catholike Church for whose election calling preseruing from error and consummation the whole mysterie of Christ was wrought hath condemned and vtterly extirped 400. heresies and by the same infallible authoritie and censure in diuers generall Councels where the whole Christian world was assembled reproued and anathematized those that raigne in Protestants pag. 14. and in this their Catholike Church there was neuer saith he or is any disagreement or contradiction in matter of beleeuing pag. 15. lin 17.18 The Solution FIrst in that he saith the mysterie of Christ was wrought for the Catholike Church where his meaning seemeth to be that Christ died onely for the Church as wee acknowledge this to bee an euident truth if by Catholike Church the true Church of Christ and not the Romane onely to be vnderstood so herein he contradicteth and gainsaith his fellow Friers for Bellarmine confesseth though now a Cardinall yet then an Ignatian Frier when he so writ that Christs blood was shed for Turkes Iewes Infidels quibuscunque impijs and all wicked men whatsoeuer Frier Feuardentius also prooueth that Christ suffered pro cunctis in vniuersum hominibus for all men vniuersallie 2. But where by the Catholike Church hee vnderstandeth the Romane Church that receiueth the B. of Rome as the head of Christs Church and to this Romane Church he applieth and appropriateth the mysterie of Christs worke in the redemption of the world What a grosse absurditie is here vttered and how inglorious to Christ that he died for none but for those which are vnder the Romane iurisdiction As though it were at the Popes deuotion who should be partakers of redemption in Christ the Scripture saith He that beleeueth in Christ shall not be condemned Ioh. 3.18 But now though a man beleeue
Priests do rightlie conclude to be false and vnchristian Ibid. 4 Parsons affirmeth that the consideration of Catholike religion is the principall point in the succession to the Crowne Manifest fol. 63. a. And he seemeth to conclude that succession by birth and bloud is neither of the lawe of God or nature Quodlib p. 30. The Priests hold the contrarie that Catholikes are not bound to stand for a Catholike competitor vnlesse there concurre the right of succession Reply f. 76. a. 5 The Priests affirme We are most confident not onely in the excellencie of our Priesthood but also in the assurance that we in the execution haue a sufficient direction of Gods spirit 6 Parsons calleth this high presumption of heretikes and denieth both that by their character only Priests were made secure from erring and so consequently the sacrament of orders not to conferre grace which is a popish ground as also that they cannot haue such assurance of Gods spirit Manifest fol. 87. a. b. 7 Parsons saith that in Gods high prouidence we find the necessitie and ineuitabilitie of many accidents Manifest fol. 100.1 The Priests say these words taste vnsauourie if not hereticallie to put absolute necessitie and ineuitabilitie in those actions which are subiect to mans wil and reason Replie fol. 98. a. 8 Parsons saith that this position that the life and estate of secular Priests is more perfect then the state of religious men which the Priests maintaine is refuted and condemned not onely by Thomas Aquinas but by S. Chrysostome and other writers of that time Manifest fol. 104. b. 9 The Priests call Parsons interpretation of that place of S. Iohn Trie the spirit c. false and hereticall thereby leading his Reader into a presumptuous error of iudging all both men and matters Replie fol. 101. b. 10 The Priests hold that the Pope as an Ecclesiasticall Magistrate hath no power to moue warre for religion against any tēporal Prince or for whatsoeuer cause or pretence c. and that they would oppose themselues against him if he should come in person in any such attempt and that they will reueale whatsoeuer they shall know therein Imp. consyd p. 38. Parsons full like himselfe calleth these positions pernicious erronious hereticall Manifest f. 13. b. 11. The Priests doubt not to say that the Pope was not endued with the worthie gift of the holy Ghost tearmed discretio spirituum discerning of spirits and that he was deceiued in setting vp the Archpriest Relat. p. 57. Imp. consyd p. 11. Parsons stifly maintaineth the Pope not to haue erred herein Manifest 76. b. In diuers other points these two Popish sects doe differ as may bee gathered out of their late polemicall writings and inuectiues set foorth by one against the other And three hundred more of these contradictions and diuersities of opinion in matters of faith and doctrine which haue been and are in the Romane Church might be brought foorth but that it were needlesse these fewe examples being sufficient to conuince the aduersarie of error and superfluous this being elsewhere in another worke performed whither I pray the Reader to haue recourse Is not this then a shamelesse man that hath told vs so many lies together and blusheth not to abuse such honourable persons with his Frierly glosses if his necke were not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an yron sinew and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his face brasse as the Prophet saith he would neuer haue faced out such manifest vntruths But he may be very well compared to raging and running brooks which as Basile saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they runne carrie euerie thing along which they meete with So doth this bragger huddle vp together whatsoeuer is in his way be it true or false And they thinke it a good piece of seruice if they may with straining and ouerreaching bolster out a bad cause much like to some that Hierome speaketh of who thought they might make bold with their disciples Nos qui necdum initiati sumus audire debere mendacium ne parnuli lactentes solidioris cibi edulio suffocemur And that we which are hardly yet entred must heare lyes least being yet but little ones and sucklings wee might be choaked with stronger meate But though their disciples are credulous and will beleeue them vpon their word they haue small reason to thinke that wise and graue persons will be so easily deceiued The third Probation IN the third place the Epistler seemeth to reason thus that if a man may doubt to giue assent to any religion where there is such diuersitie this being but a speculatiue consent of faith onely exacting an agreement of the vnderstanding how much more doubt and difficultie wil be made c. for the obtaining of heauen c. His reason if it be any standeth thus It is an hard matter among Protestants to make choice of the right faith which consisteth onely in the vnderstanding Ergo it is an harder matter among them to obtaine heauen The Solution 1. IT is no hard matter among Protestants to discerne of the true religion seeing they make the Scriptures the rule of their faith but among Papists it is doubtfull seeing they refuse to bee tried onely by the Scriptures which they blasphemously affirme not to containe all things necessarie to saluation but they runne vnto vncertaine and doubtfull traditions and so as the Apostle saith they measure themselues by themselues where then the rule is crooked such as are their humane traditions how can that be straight which is measured by it But we say with Augustine Regula est illa Our rule is the will of God contained in the Scriptures stet regula quod prauum est corrgatur ad regulam Let the rule stand the word of God and let that which is amisse be corrected according to that rule 2. Neither is there such diuersitie of opinion or multitude of diuisions among Protestants and thereupon such manifest and apparant daunger of a false election as is shewed before And it is an absurd and grosse thing in a disputer still to begge the thing in question He may take himselfe by the nose and his fellow Friers that make among them aboue an hundred sects one holdeth of Francis another of Benedict another of Austine another of Ignatius the founder of the Iesuites like as among the Corinthians some held of Paul some of Apollo some of Cephas So that that saying of Hierome fitteth the Popish professors Nunc quoque mysterium iniquitatis operatur garrit vnusquisque quod sentit Now the mysterie of iniquitie worketh and euery man pratleth his owne fansie 3. Neither is faith onely an act of the vnderstanding and a speculatiue consent If your Popish faith bee nothing els the diuell may well be one of your Catholikes for hee in his knowledge and vnderstanding beleeueth there is a God and consenteth that the Scriptures are true and the historie of
and hatchers of heresies are thereby giuen ouer to greater vngodlines as the Apostle againe saith But the euill men and deceiuers shall waxe worse and worse deceiuing and being deceiued 3. For if the Church of God were then at the worst when heresies and schismes are raised then should the state of the Primitiue Church bee condemned when so many wicked doctrines of Ebionites Basilidians Valentinians Marcionites Arrians Sabellians with the rest were stirred vp by the diuell 4. The reason of this difference is euident because that where the truth is professed the opposition of errors doth giue occasion that the same be more throughly sifted as the wheate is by winnowing made more pure and the light shineth brighter in darknes But where there is no truth or sound knowledge at all there diuisions doe but harden them the more in their error like as chaffe being winnowed is scattered and dispersed and as they which walke in darknes without light the further they goe the more they wander This is the very case of the vnbeleeuing Turkes and of the misbeleeuing Iewes Pharisies Sadduces Herodians they were all out of the way This point is well touched by Augustine Non ad diabolum pertinet quis isto vel illo modo erret omnes errantes vult quibuslibet erroribus It is nothing to the diuell whether a man erre this way or that way all that bee in error are his what error soeuer they hold No marueile then if both Iewes and Gentiles by their diuisions waxed worse and worse because they still were vnder the kingdome of Sathan howsoeuer diuided Secondly if this argument be admitted it would conclude strongly against the Papists whose diuisions are notoriously knowne both to haue been and at this present to be such betweene the Secular Priests and irregular Ignatians both at Rome in France and in England which were happy if it were rid of them both and so hotly pursued on both sides with all reprochfull termes of knaues heretikes diabolicall Machiauels diuels incarnate and such like as they are not able to shew euer to haue been among Protestants And these diuisions not onely to consist in verball differences or repugnance in externall rites and liberties but in materiall points of doctrine as hath been before shewed Therefore among Papists where neither sect holdeth the truth this argument may well hold by this their erronious dissentions and diuersities to conuince them of monstrous and grosse iniquities Thirdly against English Protestants whom this Libeller chiefly impugneth this engine of his hath no force for to Gods glorie be it spoken fewer diuisions haue not been seene in the Church of England excepting some few nouelties of certaine new fangled teachers who in time I doubt not but will waxe wiser then at this present And I trust our domesticall heates shal euery day abate and slake and our contentions at home decrease that wee may with one ioynt force oppose our selues to the common aduersarie like as Abraham rescued Lot from the Gentiles though some priuate iarres betweene their families had broken out before The Grecians are said that when their enemies approched though they had been at ciuill discord before would compound their quarrels to resist their forraine foes And it is written of Themistocles and Aristides two famous Captaines of the Athenians that when they went on embassage together or to conduct an armie Inimicitiam in finibus patriae deposuerunt They laid downe their enmitie in the borders of their countrie It should be a shame for Christians not to be so wise for the defence of the common cause as the Heathen were That saying of Augustine to Hierome is to be embraced Fieri potest vt tibi videatur aliud quam veritas habet dum aliud à te non fiat quam charitas habet You may so long think otherwise then the veritie so that you doe nothing beside charitie If men will needes retaine some priuate opinions yet let them refraine publike dissensions And here an end also of this section THE FOVRTH SECTION THAT THE Authors intent and scope is nothing lesse then to teach a most vndoubted certaintie and vnitie in Popish religion THis section hath nothing worth the answering neither containeth any thing beside slaunders bragges facings and bold assertions 1. He impudently saith and with a brasen face that Protestants may be had in iust suspition that many doubters or deniers at least in affection of all worship are entred in among them Whereas it is out of all doubt that many such Atheists are fostered in Rome Italie Spaine where the name Christian is vsed as a word of derision as is rehearsed before 2. He telleth vs of an ample confutation which he hath written against all Atheists and enemies to religion which he calleth a Resolution of Religion wherein hee hath resolued all doubts that may bee imagined This sure is a worke indeede that can meete with mens thoughts and imaginations This booke we would gladly see which he so often maketh mention of some such thing I haue heard intended but it should seeme the author like to the Beare hath not yet licked this deformed lumpe to perfection If it were ripe it would be a good present for their mother of fornications and her children at Rome to perswade them from Atheisme and Epicurisme And yet considering this yonkers spirituall father graund prouinciall Frier Robert Parsons hath written of this argument before in his Resolution this punie father might haue spared this labour and confessed modestly with Hierome Supersedendum huic labori sentio ne mihi dicatur illud Horatij In syluam ne ligna feras c. I thinke to giue ouer this labour least that of Horace be said vnto me Carrie not sticks into the wood video enim ◠clarissimo ingenio occupata esse meliora For I see a riper head hath brought better stuffe 3. Where he saith that their religion which hee calleth most holie and approued most vnholie and reproued rather is resolued to the most assured and infallible word and reuelation of God This speech it is hard to say whether it hath more subtiltie or lesse honestie For if by the word and reuelation of God he vnderstand not the word written onely but their blind traditions which they vsually call Verbum Dei non scriptum The word of God vnwritten he speaketh craftily for this their Anabaptistical reuelation is not assured or infallible but most vncertaine and deceitfull If hee meane hereby onely the Scriptures of God it is an vnhonest bragge of him for Poperie differeth as much from the word written as darknes from light if it were not so why doe they not stand to their tackle and cleaue onely to the Scriptures why doe they make their traditions vnwritten of equall authoritie with the word written what need had they to denie the scriptures to containe all things necessarie to saluation These grosse positions
more then twentie of the Popes haue been giuen to that diuelish studie How Papists are confuters of Philosophers I leaue it to their owne report of one Maldonat an Ignatian sectarie that in a great auditorie in one lecture laboured to proue by naturall reasons that there is a God in an other that there is none and that the Iesuites do mainetaine at this day by the penne of Rene de la Fon that the Godhead must be proued by naturall reason 2 Vntrue also it is that Poperie hath conquered so many heresies retayning still a great number of them as is before sufficientlie declared neither haue they cause to brag of their vniuersalitie in subduing all nations for poperie was neuer so generall as pagane Idolatrie neither had the Pope euer commaund of all nations the Greeke Church hauing euer been deuided from him and I trust euery day his iurisdiction will be lesse and his account of nations come short as thanks be to God his nailes are well pared and his armes shortned in many famous cities and kingdomes in Christendome 3 Of the Papists it may be more truly said that they haue as many heads so many religions of the diuers sects and schismes in poperie and differences among their writers which rise to the computation of many hundreds relation hath been made before They are the deniers of scripture not Protestants that haue not blushed to say that the Pope may change the forme of words in baptisme that the Pope may dispense against the new testament that the Pope may dispense against all the precepts of the old and new testament that the scripture taketh authoritie from the Church of Rome that no man may lawfullie beleeue any thing by the authoritie of scripture against the determination of the Church Another saith the authoritie of the scriptures is founded in the allowance of the Church Another Apostoli quaedam scripserunt non vt praessent c. the Apostles writ certaine things not that they should rule faith and religion sed subessent but should be vnder Let any man now iudge if these men be not deniers of scripture which do derogate from the authoritie thereof that take vpon thē to chop change it to annihilate the precepts thereof and dispense against it So they not Protestants are the false translators of scripture who allow the vulgar Latine onely to be authenticall which in many hundred places altereth and corrupteth the Hebrue text As Genes 2.8 God planted a garden from the beginning for toward the East Genes 15. she shall breake thy head for he Gen. 4.13 they reade my sinne is greater then I can deserue pardon for then I can beare Gen. 6.5 their cogitation intent to euill for onely euill continuallie Gen. 12.15 and the princes told Pharao for the princes of Pharao saw her Gen. 26.9 why didst thou lye for why saidst thou v. 19. they digged in torrente in the brooke for in the vallie Gen. 35.16 he came in the spring time to the ground which bringeth to Ephratha for there was a little space of ground to come to Ephrah Genes 36.24 found out hoate waters in the wildernes for Mules Gen. 40.13 shall remember thy seruice for shall lift vp thy head Psal. 68.4 exalt him that ascendeth super occasum vpon the west or sunne-set for vpon the heauens v. 6. deliuereth prisoners in strength for in fetters v. 13. though ye sleepe betweene the lots for lien among the pots v. 17. tenne thousand for twentie thousand and a thousand such places might be alleaged wherein they haue corrupted the scriptures The Papists also are the men that forge scripture and other euidences for they thrust vpon the Church diuers Apocryphall bookes of Tobie Iudith Macchabees with the rest which the auncient Church of the Iewes to whom all the bookes of the old Testament and oracles of God were committed neuer receiued nor allowed So haue they forged and deuised diuers other writings as the Decretall epistles of the auncient Bishops of Rome which were Martyrs as of Zepherinus Calixtus Pontianus Vrbanus Fabianus with the rest which are all counterfeit stuffe as are also the leiturgie of S. Iames the writings that passe vnder the name of S. Martialis Abdias Hippolytus Dionysius and many such as is elsewhere declared more at large 4 Neither is it true that popish religion is founded vpon the infallible word of God conteyned in the scriptures but most of it vpon blind fallible and vncertaine traditions and many opinions the Church of Rome holdeth directlie opposite and contrarie to scripture as elsewhere hath been shewed Thus this friuolous aduersarie passeth on along heaping vp sclaunders and vntruths not remembring what the wise man sayth Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord but they that deale trulie are his delight But we neede not maruaile at it for this is familiar with thē with great boldnes to face out their owne forgeries and they may well say in Hieromes phrase domi nobis ista nascuntur we haue plentie of such stuffe at home But as the Lacedemonian magistrates said to Cephisophon the Orator when they expelled him that it was a good Orators part to make his speech answereable to his matter so should this sophister haue done and not to professe truth in his speech where none is in his matter The fift Perswasion 1 I Defend a religion where so much vertue is practised such obedience chastitie pouertie c. 2 Which brought the professors thereof to heauen as religious Heremites Monks Friers Priests Bishops Popes c. 3 Not that religion which made those which before were good chast obedient and contemners of the world to be wicked and giuen to impietie The Disswasion 1 WHat obedience poperie teacheth to their princes the late practises both in England and Fraunce do proclayme to all the world as the treacherous conspiracie of Parry incited by Cardinall Coomes letters of Somerfield and Arden sollicited by Hall a popish priest of Babington with other stirred vp by Ballard Lopez by Parsons Sauage and Yorke by Gifford Squire by Walpoole a Iebusite In Fraunce Iames Clement a Iacobine murdered Henry the third Barriere and Chastell attempted the like against the now King of Fraunce at the instigation of the Iesuites The Prince of Orange was by the like treacherie murdered and the death of the Chancelor of Scotland intended This may suffice to shew their obedience For their chastitie I appeale to the stories written of their vnholie fathers the Popes What place in the Christian world can afford more filthie spectacles of adulterers incestuous persons Sodomites then that Sea and citie of Rome I appeale to the inquisition made in King Henry the eights raigne at the suppression of the Abbeys when in some places the Priests and Monks were descried to haue kept some two some three some sixe some more one among the rest twentie concubines
such also is their chastitie Much agreeable also is their pouertie for Abbeys and Monasteries grew to be so poore that they had gathered a third part of the land and more into their hands in so much that the Kings of this land were forced to make prouision by statutes of Mortmaine that no more lands should be giuen to religious houses without the Kings licence The annuitie which the fiue orders of Friers gathered amounted to an hundred thousand pounds yearely for they had fiue pence a quarter of euery house twentie pence by the yeare which will arise counting but tenne housholds in euery parish and parishes tenne thousand to little lesse summe then is named The new vpstart Ignatian fathers haue also entred the vow of pouertie with the rest And what poore soules they are contemning all worldly riches and pleasures their owne fellowes the secular priests can very well certifie vs. They tell vs that Frier Hawood did ride vp and downe in his Coach and that his pomp and trayne was such that where he came it seemed to be a little Court by his presence Frier Garnets pomp and expences could not be gessed at lesse then fiue hundred by the yeare his apparell very costlie with his two geldings of thirtie pound a peece Frier Oldcorne was able to keepe at once eight good geldings his apparell worth thirty or fortie pound Frier Gerard got by one two hundred pound by another seauen hundred pound of another 160. pound of another 500. pound beside the disposition of 100. pound by the yeare Another Iesuite is reported to haue worne a girdle hangers and rapier worth tenne pounds and a ierken that cost no lesse his apparell with his horse and furniture was valued at one hundred pound He was thought to dispend foure hundred by the yeare and yet had no patrimonie And such is their vowe of pouertie and contempt of the world which this punie Ignatian on his fellowes behalfe and his owne boasteth of 2 As I denye not but that diuers aunciēt Monks Heremites Bishops some Popes of Rome might be and are saued yet that by the popish faith as it is now professed they were saued I much doubt nay I assuredly beleeue they were not it will be an hard matter for him to proue that all these of whom there is hope that they are in heauen were idolaters worshippers of images artolaters adorers of bread inuocaters and worshippers of angels freewill men reposing themselues vpon their merits maintayners of traditions against the scriptures followers of Iewish rites and ceremonies such as the moderne Papists are Nay we are sure they were none such for the auncient Bishops of Rome the Monks and Heremites of former time were of a diuers faith and iudgement in religion then now the Poperie and Monkerie of the Romish Church is for otherwise the Apostle telleth vs directlie that no idolaters shall inherit the kingdome of God And if it be so likely a matter that your Popes are saued why did one of your great Rabbines so peremptorilie giue his sentence of Sixtus 5. none of your worst Popes that he was gone to hell I make no question but welnie an hundred Popes might be named in all probabilitie more like then he to goe to that Limbus whereof some were necromancers some murderers some atheists some adulterers some theeues and robbers some blasphemers all which sinnes by the Apostles sentence exclude from the kingdome of heauen 3 It is a sclaunder that the Gospell hath made those which were before chast obedient c. licentious wicked the contrarie is manifest that they which were in poperie irreligious lewd prophane being conuerted to the Gospell became vertuous holie deuout persons witnesse George Tankerfield Maister Greene Iulius Palmer Mistresse Lewes Roger Holland who of blind and licentious Papists were wrought by the Gospell to be godlie Christians zealous Protestants and constant Martyrs the contrarie hath appeared in Protestants reuolting from the Gospell to poperie who after their apostasie waxed worse and worse This is exemplified in Gardiner Bonner Harding with others the first two of halfe Protestants hauing taken the oath in King Henries raigne against the Pope afterward did violate their oath and a good conscience and beside their licentious life fell to be deadlie enemies to the truth The other of an earnest and modest Protestant was turned to be an intemperate and rayling Papist as his hastie writings do declare We see then what little conscience this man hath thus to charge the glorious profession of the Gospell he shall not be able to shew one example of any that being truly conuerted to Protestancie from Poperie thereby was made worse for the contrarie experiment many instances may be exemplified and that common by word doth shew as much An Englishman Italianate is a deuill incarnate which phrase is not onely vsed of Protestants but it is currant among the Romanists as the secular priests do giue out of one that was a fauorite to the Ignatian friers that he was an Italianated companion and a deuill incarnate Now then against this accuser of the brethren that saying of the Prophet may be well applied he hath conceiued mischiefe and bringeth forth a lye Psal. 7.14 We see the fruites of his long trauaile such as the conception is such is the birth mischiefe in his heart and a lye in his lips Cypriane telleth vs from whence this commeth Scias hoc opus esse diaboli vt seruos dei mendacio laceret vt qui conscientiae suae luce clarescunt alienis rumorib sordidentur this is the diuels worke to belye the seruants of God that they which in their cōscience are vnspotted by others reports should be taynted Democritus said well that enuie was as the truths vlcer so the enuie of our aduersaries would make the truth vlcerous by their malitious reports But our true defense shall be as a salue to this sore and where they would fester with biting corrasies we doubt not to cure with wholesome cordials and against their vaine sclaunders to vse the defensatiue of true dealing that all this roauing shooters darts shall be I trust but as bulrushes and his endeuour as of one that worketh against the streame who while he laboureth to disgrace the Gospell shall gaine shame to himselfe to whome that saying of Hierome may be returned Frustra niti neque aliud fatigando nisi odium quaerere extremae dementiae est to striue in vaine and to purchase hatred with wearines is extreame madnes The sixt Perswasion I Defend a religion approued by infallible signes by thousands of supernaturall wonders which by no meanes could be counterfeit or falslie reported so many naturallie blind restored to sight deafe to hearing dead to life c. which no naturall cause or art of deuils themselues could bring to passe I defend that religion which made them so holie that it