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
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
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
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
their soules with God and the resurrection of their bodies to come 4 It is Poperie rather that consisteth of negatiues as it is euident by their manifold oppositions to the doctrines before rehearsed as that the scriptures conteyne not all things necessarie to saluation that the Church can not erre that the scriptures are not fit to be read in the vulgar toong that the Pope is not Antichrist that faith onely iustifieth not that there be not two onely sacraments that Christ onely as one mediator is not to be inuocated These negatiues with a number more the Romane separation maintayneth And where they affirme and set downe any thing positiuely they affirme their owne fantasies the doctrine of the Trinitie onely and some few other points excepted and oppose themselues therein to the scriptures 5 First what if many Churches haue bene erected in poperie Were not many Temples also built in the time of Paganisme as at Rome to Diana to Honor. q. 13. to Matuta q. 16. to Bona. q. 20. to Saturne q. 42. to Horta q. 46. to Vulcane without the citie q. 47. to Carmenta q. 56. to Hercules q. 59. to Fortuna Parua q. 74. to Aesculapius without the citie q. 94. to Apollo at Delphos q. 12. to Ocridion at Rhodes q. 27. to Tenes at Tenedos q. 29. to Vlysses at Lacedaemon q. 48. with many other Not the building therefore of Churches Temples and other Monuments but the end whereto they were first founded maketh them commendable Secondly let it be considered to what intent these Monuments were erected in the popish time and so many Monasteries builded not for the most part of any true deuotion or to the honor of God but pro remedio animae pro remissione peccatorum in honorem gloriosae virginis for the remedie of their soule for the remission and expiation of their sinnes to the honor of the glorious Virgin As King Ethelstane after the death of his brother which he had procured builded in satisfaction two Monasteries of Midleton and Michelenes Elfrida for the death of Ethelwold her husband builded a Monasterie of Nunnes in remission of sinnes Queene Alfrith in repentance of her fact for causing her sonne King Edward to be murdered founded two Nunries one at Amesburie by Salisburie the other at Werewell let any man now iudge what good beginning those Monasticall foundations had Thirdly it will be an hard matter for them to proue that all the founders of Churches Colledges and other Monuments were of the Romane opinion 〈◊〉 â—eligion as now it is professed For Charles surnamed the Great who is said to haue builded so many Monasteries as be letters in the A B C held a Councell at Frankeford where was condemned the 2. Nicene Councell with Irene the Empresse that approued the adoration of Images which is now maintayned by the papall corporation In King Ethelstanes time the Prince was acknowledged to haue the chiefe stroke in all causes whether spirituall or temporall as it may appeare by diuers constitutions by him made for the direction of the Cleargie In this Kings raigne diuers Monasteries were builded as the Abbey of Midleton and Michelenes In King Edmunds time the opinion of transubstantiation was not generallie receiued but then newly hatched by certaine miraculous fictions imputed to Odo Vnder this King the order of the Monks of Bennets order increased and the Abbey of S. Edmundsburie with great reuenues indowed In King Edward the Martyrs raigne Priests were suffered to haue their wiues and were restored to their Colledges and Monks thrust out by Alpherus Duke of Mercia In this Kings time were founded the Nunries at Amesburie and Werewell I trust then that in these times when neither images were adored nor the Princes authoritie in ecclesiasticall causes abridged nor transubstantiation beleeued nor the mariage of Ministers inhibited all went not currant for Poperie as it is now receiued Fourthly this age of Protestancie for this 40. yeare in England vnder the happie regimeÌ„t of our late Soueraigne Queene Elizabeth hath beene more fruitfull of pious works in building of Hospitals Almes-houses free Schooles Colledges in the Vniuersities speciallie in Cambridge founding of fellowships schollarships erecting of Libraries speciallie the Vniuersitie Librarie at Oxford by the liberall charge christian care of Maister Bodlie a religious and well disposed Gentleman then any like space of time which can be named vnder the regiment of the papall Hierarchie See more of this elsewhere And concerning the godlie care of the foresaid vertuous and liberall Gentleman he deserueth to be compared either to Pamphilus which erected or Acacius and Euzonius which enlarged and amended the famous Librarie of Caesarea in whom that sentence of Hierome vttered of Pamphilus is now verified Beatus Pamphilus cum Demetrium Phalereum Pisistratum in sacrae bibliothecae studio voluit â—quare imagines ingeniorum quae vera sunt aeterna monumenta toto orbe perquireret Blessed Pamphilus equalizing Demetrius Phalereus and Pisistratus in taking care for Libraries he sought for the images of mens wits the only true and eternall monuments through the whole world 6 I suppose rather that all things requisite to true religion are wanting in Poperie where the people are nusled vp in ignorance no edifying in their Churches where all the seruice is muttered in an vnknowne toong no reading of scripture which should make them wise to saluation no comfort in prayer to saluation which they vnderstand not seldome receiuing of the sacrament and that but in one kind and so it is maymed and defectiue in the sacramentall effects where then there is no knowledge in themselues no edifying toward others no true prayer to God no comfort in meditation of scripture no strength in the celebration of the sacraments where men are taught not to relie only by faith vpon Christ but to trust in their merites not to rest in Christs mediation but to seeke for the intercession of Angels and Saincts not to be content with a spirituall worship of God but to prostitute themselues to dumbe Idols not to cleaue only to the scriptures in matters of faith but to runne vnto traditions How then doth this religion obserue all things nay rather how are not all things there wanting that are requisite to true religion And as the liuing haue small comfort so as little hope is there of the dead whose soules after they haue passed the troubles of this life they send to Purgatorie flames there to suffer more then euer they endured before like as a Ship hauing escaped the dangerous surges of the Sea should suffer wracke and be lost in the hauen Of such comfortlesse doctrine that saying of Plutarke is verified Death to all men is the end of life but to superstition it is not so for it extendeth feare beyond a mans life then hell gates are set open fierie streames and infernall riuers are let go and horrible darkenes
before they vsed to call theÌ„ their nephews Alexander the 6. had also diuers basely begotteÌ„ as Caesar Borgia another Duke of Candie and Iuffredus Paulus the 3. had a wicked sonne like the father Petrus Aloisius Bloudie Bonner here in England had diuers base children to whom he gaue in farme diuers of the lands belonging to his See An hundred such examples might be shewed of popish Prelates that kept their concubines and filled the Church with bastardie But would any man thinke that this Ignatian Frier so much misliking concubines would not therein cleare his owne order and discharge themselues of that crime whereof they accuse others yet let vs heare what one of their fellow Masse-priests reporteth Haue you not beard I pray you how not long since a Iesuite here in London erected a kind of familie of loue lecturing by night three or foure nights together to his auditors all of women and those faire ones for the most part Haue you not heard of the night meeting for feare at leastwise I am sure you haue heard of many do know some who missing their wiues the while haue scratched their heads where it itched not and bit their lips Therefore this obiection I returne and cast it as his owne dirt vpoÌ„ the libellers face We may say vnto him as S. Paul to the Iewes Thou that teachest another teachest thou not thy selfe And that old saying is verified vpon him He taketh vpon him to be a phisician of others and is diseased himselfe Hierome well said Perdit authoritatem docendi cuius sermo opere destruitur He loseth the authoritie of teaching whose speech is ouerthrowne by his owne doing And Menander could haue told him That not the words but the manners of the speaker perswade THE ANSWERE TO THE TENTH Section of the Authors defence to all inferior subiects The Apologie THe summe of the Epistlers defence here is this to perswade the inferior sort to embrace Poperie Because all their auncestors were of the same religion they liued by pensions farmes annuities almes of religious houses no fines or enhanced rents c. no forfeitures turning out of farmes destruction of woods c. no wife to prouide for ioynture no daughter to endowe c. no elder sonne to enrich with new inheritance not so many iarres and quarels in lawe The Antilogie THis Popes Pedler openeth his pack to euery one and is odious in obtruding the same wares for like a tired hackney he keepeth his old tract and still treadeth in the same steps He hath said nothing in this Section which is not alleadged before he broacheth the same stale stuffe wearying his reader with his vaine repetitions and long periodes that I may say to him as Hierome against Iouinian Quotiescum que â—um legero vbicunque me defecerat spiritus ibi est distinctio totum incipit totum peâ—det ex altero totus sermo omni materiae conuenit quia nulli conuenit As often as I reade him I finde no distinction till I want breath euery sentence begins and yet hangs vpon another whatsoeuer he saith is fit for euery matter because it fitteth indeede none But to answere this babler and Battist although not all yet most of our Auncestors were popish what then So were their Auncestors Paganes Few of the Apostles Auncestors were of their faith If this Achitophels counsell had taken place neither the Apostles should haue receiued Christ and refused the Elders traditions nor England haue embraced the Christian faith at their first conuersion from Paganisme Indeede Stephens obstinate hearers did well follow this popish counsell Ye haue alwayes resisted the holie ghost as your fathers did so do you Act. 7.51 Thus this Popeling would perswade the people of England to resist the truth because their forefathers did so 2. They had pensions farmes froÌ„ Abbeies without fines or forfeitures a great matter whereas they were before farmers and pensioners now they are owners and possessors of Abbey lands They gaue almes to maintaine idle vagabond and lewd persons and made a great rabble of impudeÌ„t beggers besides their mendicant friers And was it so great a matter for Abbeies to do all this when they possessed the third part of this land Concerning raising of fines enhauncing of rents destruction of woods these are no fruites of the Gospell they which professe it in sinceritie are as far off from these oppressions as any Papist and is it so charitable a worke to preserue woods and destroy and dispeople townes as some of your friends in Northamptonshire and other places haue done Is more coÌ„passion to be shewed to trees then men to woods then townes And it is no maruaile if many tooke no great care to prouide iointures for their wiues dowers for their daughters inheritance for their children for the Monks had inough to aduance their owne kinred and because they were so kind louing to mens wiues daughters it had been an vnnaturall part to neglect their children 3. What hath he alleaged here for Poperie which the Pagane Idolaters might not pretend for themselues thus the superstitious women reasoned in Ieremies time When we burnt incense to the Queene of heauen c. then had we plentie of victuals and were well and felt none euill But since we left off to burne incence c. we haue had scarcenes of all things and haue been consumed with the sword and famine Ieremy 44.17.18 Thus Symmachus reasoned for the Paganes Secuta est factum fames publica quando in vsum hominum concussae quercus quando vulsae herbarum radices Publike famine followed the fact when the Idols were destroyed wheÌ„ was it heard of before that men did shake downe acornes and pull vp rootes for foode Thus many simple people were wont to say it was a merry world wheÌ„ we might haue 20. egs for a penie a bushell of corne for six pence All this while they coÌ„sidered not that while they had abundaÌ„ce of earthlie things they were pined for waÌ„t of spirituall though they sate by their flesh-pots had bread their bellies full as the vnthankefull Israelites murmured Exod. 16.3 yet they considered not that all this time they were held in the spirituall bondage of Egypt Therefore we frankelie professe though the Gospell should bring scarcitie trouble warre penurie with it and yet it hath florished with all temporall blessings with peace abundance plentie yet had we rather with Moses suffer affliction with Gods people then to inioy the pleasures of sinne to possesse all the pleasures and riches of the world with an euill conscience and corrupt religion And we say with the Prophet Dauid Thou hast giuen me more ioy of heart then when their wheate and wine increased Psal. 4.7 We reioyce more in the truth of religion then all prosperitie abundance whatsoeuer and as Hierome well sayth Nudam crucem nudus sequar nec lucra seculi in Christi quaeras militia I will follow
repented of It is to be feared rather that they which die in the popish communion without repentance of their idolatrie cannot be saued For no idolaters can inherite the kingdome of God and he that is vnder the kingdome of Antichrist cannot be vnder the kingdome of Christ. Ye promise saluation to your Disciples as the Pharises did to their proselites making them twofold more the children of hell and your Masses affoord like helpe to the commers to it as the Priests Corban did to the suiters to the Altar We know that out of Gods Church there is no saluation Duae portae sunt porta paradisi porta Ecclesiae per portam Ecclesiae intramus portam paradisi There are two gates one of paradise another of the Church by the gate of the Church we enter the gate of Paradise this gate of the Church the Gospell only openeth which teacheth iustification by faith alone in Christ who is the doore and the way Neither is it like that the Ignatian seducers can promise saluation to others wherein they faile themselues as their owne fellowes haue censured them All Iesuites except they amend their manners and reforme their order are damned for heretickes and thrust out of Gods Church as Apostataes Atheists c. to whom their credulous simple schollers might say as Agesilaus to the Thasians that offered to make him of the number of the Gods First saith he make your selues Gods and then I will beleeue ye can make me one too The second Inuectiue HE would shew that it is more reasonable to giue credite to so many preceding Archbishops of Canterbury then to the three protestant Archbishops Cranmer Parker Grindall these he doth first extenuate and then extoll and magnifie the other 1. For the first he sayth they were of three diuerse religions in substantiall points yea of seuen or eight diuerse religions 2. None of them burned for protestancy quartered for denying the supremacie a Saint for life renowmed for learning 3. Cranmer condemned of high treason proued publikely periured and to haue counterfeit the hands and consents of fifty Clergie men recanted his errour was in the case for relapse for ignorance was hissed out of the common schooles of Oxford p. 215. 4. The Archbishops their prodecessors S. Augustine S. Laurence Mellitus Iustus Honorius c. others 68 in number many most holy and learned men miraculously approued of God p. 126. Therefore it is more equall to credite these then the other The Defensatiue 1. WE depend not for our faith vpon any Archbishops whether Papall or Protestants we receiue not our faith of men neither are pinned vpon their sleeues for our iudgement in Religion the Apostle hath taught vs that we should not haue the faith of our glorious Lord Iesus Christ in respect of persons Iam. 2.1 Yet the three Protestant Bishops rehearsed prouing their faith by the Scriptures are more to be credited then all their predecessors grounding their beleefe vpon humane traditions Neither did they vary as is surmised in the substantiall and fundamental points of religion or were therein of three diuerse much lesse of seuen or eight sundry religions 2. Though to be quartered for denying the supremacy and maintaining the forraine iurisdiction of the Pope be a condigne punishment for trayterous Papists and proper vnto such rebellious and disloyall persons as the Iudasites and Baals Priests haue bene found to be yet it is certaine that blessed Cranmer was burned for Protestancie as were learned Ridley godly Latimer zealous Hooper constant Ferrar all Protestant Bishops Cranmers godly life and Episcopall vertues his sobernesse gentlenesse charitie humilitie soundnesse of doctrine diligence in his calling are at large set forth by the graue pen of that faithfull seruant of God maister Fox such as in few of his predecessors are to be found neither his aduersaries are euer able to confound His learning also was well knowne as appeareth by his learned bookes as that of the Sacrament which as he himselfe testified was set foorth seuen yeares agoe then and no man hath brought any authors against it 3. He was acquited and pardoned of high treason and not thereof condemned as he vntruly reporteth stood onely in the case of doctrine he was not periured hauing taken an oath to the Pope onely vnder protestation as he himselfe confesseth And if he had sworne obedience simply to the Pope it was an vniust oath like vnto Herods and not to be kept The law saith Illicitum iuramentum non valet an vnlawfull oath is of no force And their owne Canons say Iuramentum contra bonos more 's non ligat an oath against good manners bindeth not So is the oath made to the Pope it is vniust to Princes to whom due obedience is denied and against good manners in that disloyaltie to the Prince is thereby maintained The Popish Bishops rather were periured that being sworne to the King first tooke afterwards a contrarie oath to the Pope as Bishop Cranmer obiecteth to Bishop Brooke whereas their first oath was lawfull and iust and therefore firmely to be holden Those fifty Clergie mens hands were not counterfeited by Cranmer but subscribed by themselues for the abrogation of the Papall iurisdiction Indeed Fisher charged Archbishop Warrham with counterfeiting of his hand in the sitting at Blacke-friers about the businesse of the kings mariage He recanted his errour and executed iust reuenge vppon his right hand that was the instrument of his rash subscription first consuming the same in the flames of the fire This is no more disgrace vnto him then Peters teares and repentance for denying of his Maister neither was he by their law in case of relapse when he was adiudged to the fire hauing not as yet shewed his remorse of conscience and repentance for his vnaduised act of subscription He was hissed indeed of the young headie schollers but that argueth their temerity not that reuerend fathers simplicity The Donatists serued the Catholike Bishops after the same maner making such a noise that they could not go on in their defence say also that Augustine the other Catholikes were therfore disgraced and put to silence 4. Cōcerning the Popish Archbishops 1. if nūber might preuaile the high priests by a greater proportion exceeded our Sauiour Christ and his Apostles and the pagan sacrificers the Christian Bishops and preachers 2. Many of them were not very holy men whereof some were disloyall to their princes as Thomas Becket to Henry the second Robert Winchelsey to Edward the first Thomas Arundell to Richard the second who was by Parliament adiudged a traytor Diuerse of them were busie malitious vncharitable contentious as Baldwine Stephen Laughton Richardus Magnus had great strife with the Monkes of Canterbury Boniface Kilwaruy with the Archbishops of Yorke for bearing vp of their Masse in London and Kent Iohn Peccham with Thomas Bishop of Hereford such