A RETECTION, OR DISCOVERY OF A FALSE DETECTION: Containing a true defence of two books, entitled, Synopsis Papismi, and Tetrastylon Papisticum, together with the author of them, against divers pretended untruths, contradictions, falsifications of authors, corruptions of Scripture, objected against the said books in a certain Libel lately published. Wherein the unjust accusations of the Libeler, his sophistical cavils, and uncharitable slanders are displayed. JOB. 31. 35. Though mine adversary should write a book against me, would not I take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown unto me? Augustine cont. Petilian. lib. 3. 2. Non ago ut efficiar hominim convitiando superior, sed errorem convincendo salubrior: I go not about to be superior unto him in railing, but sounder in refuting his error. AT LONDON Printed by FELIX KYNGSTON, for Thomas man.. 1603. THE PREFACE TO THE READER. SAint Paul both as a Prophet foreseeing the state of Christ's Church, and as an Apostle teaching how we should behave ourselves, saith, There must be heresies, that they, which are approved among you, may be known, 1. Cor. 11. 19 For though it be possible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. to find a country without wild beasts, as they do write of Crete: yet a commonwealth without enemies, a religion without gain sayers, a Church without heresies, is not to be found: Even Creta, which was freed from wild beasts, was pestered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. with brutish beastly men, liars, evil beasts, slow bellies, Tit. 1. 12. The Church of England likewise wanteth not privy whisperers and carpers at religion, maligners of the present state, and professed enemies to all that love the truth: which as heretofore hath diversly appeared to be most true; so the flames of this fire of malice privily kindled, have of late burs●●●orth in a certain slanderous Libel or invective, especially directed and intended against two particular persons, one of excellent learning and singular industry, Master D. Sutcliffe: the other, though not worthy to be joined with him in that quarrel, a well willer likewise of religion, and to his utmost power a defender of the same. These two need not take it to be a disgrace, that they are singled out, and made marks to shoot at: but rather as Eudamidas said concerning the Thebans, whom Alexander only excepted, proclaiming liberty to depart to the rest of the Grecians: This decree though it seem hard, yet is glorious to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. you, because Alexander only feareth you: which though it cannot be said alike of both these defenders, yet as it appeareth, the one is feared of them; so the other hath no cause to fear them. The Libeler having first discharged upon that learned writer before named, doth renew his second battle against the other, laying siege to two of his fortresses, I mean his two books, Synopsis Papismi, and Tetrastylon: in which enterprise he promiseth himself a notable victory, not remembering that saying: Let not him that girdeth his harness, boast himself, as he that putteth it off, 1. King. 20. 11. Augustine saith, Facile est, ut quisque Augustinum vincat, videris utrum veritate, an clamore: It is an easy matter to overcome Augustine, but see it be not rather with crying and outfacing, then in truth, epist. 174. So may we say to this boasting and bragging Thraso: I doubt not but his imagined victory will fall out to be such, as Pyrrhus was against the Romans: If we overcome but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. once more (saith he) we are undone. It had been much better, in mine opinion, if the Libeler had hearkened to S. Paul, to have avoided oppositions of science falsely so called, 1. Tim. 6. vers. 20. that is, not to have opposed himself and his small skill and false knowledge against the truth. But this their opposition redoundeth much to the benefit of the Church of Christ: first, by this means they discover the nakedness of their cause, that cannot be maintained but by railing, and slanders: as Hierome saith: Istae machinae haereticorum, ut convicti de perfidia ad maledicta Apol. 3. adverse. Ruffin. se conferant: These are the engines of heretics, that being convicted of their faithless doctrine, turn themselves to railing. So that one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. reading their mad writings and furious style, may say of them as Diogenes to a phrantike and witless young man: Thy father was drunk when he begat thee. But, as the saying is, Like lips, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. like lettuce, like religion, such writing, like authors, like books: Like to Demonides slippers, which were evil favoured, yet fit for his lame feet. Secondly, by these barking fits and hollow echoes, I trust others will be awakened from their sleep, and bend themselves to defend the truth by them defaced, and maintain religion by them diminished, and hereby be put in remembrance 2. Tim. 1. 6. to stir up the gift of God, which is in them. For (as the Apostle saith) God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power & of love, and of a sound mind; that they may say with Hierome: Breviter respondeo, nunquam me Dialog. 1. advers. Pelagian. haereticis pepercisse, sed omni egisse study, ut hostes ecclesiae mei quoque hostes fierent: I answer briefly, that I never spared heretics, but did wholly study, that the enemies of the Church should also become mine enemies. Onomademus gave counsel, in a certain sedition and commotion in Chius, that all the enemies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. should not be expelled, lest we should then begin to fall out with our friends, saith he. Nasica, when Carthage was destroyed, used to say, that the Roman state was dangerous, because now they had none left, whom they needed to fear. And Antigonus, when he heard that Zeno the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Philosopher was dead, said, That the theatre of his exploits was taken away. In like manner, if Religion had no foreign enemies, we should have cause more to fear domestical contention: and if superstition found no patrons to favour it, the truth would have fewer friends to uphold it: the opposition therefore of gainsayers doth make the defence of the truth more glorious: and the diligence of the adversary to offend, should make us more ready to defend the truth: and as the Oracle answered the Cirrheans, to fight night and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. day in the maintenance of the truth. Like as, when a fire is kindled in a city, it is not fit that the standers by should look on and do nothing, but every one in that case ought to set to his helping hand to quench the flames: so should we seek to put out those sparks of superstition, which begin to be blown from the coals of Popery and false religion. And in this respect, that law of Solon is not much to be misliked: who decreed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. him to be infamous, that in the commotion of the city, would join to neither part. So neither is he to be commended, that in this dissension of religion, standeth as indifferent and a Neuter. Thirdly, a peculiar benefit may arise to the party impugned and traduced, to profit by the admonition of his adversary: for as it were no shame for him, wherein he hath slipped, to confess an error, if he found himself guilty: as Augustine disdained not to retract divers things in his works: and Hierome saith, Imitati estis errantem, imitamini correctum: Ye have imitated me, while I erred, imitate me also now being corrected, Hieron. Ocean. Hypocrates that learned Physician did acknowledge his error about the sutures or seams of the head, and committed the same to writing, lest others might by his example be deceived: So this further use one may Plutarch. lib. de▪ pr●fect. virtut. sent. make of an enemy's reprehension, thereby to become more cautelous, and to walk more circumspectly: as the Prophet David saith, I will keep my mouth bridled, while the wicked is in my sight, Psal. 39 1. Ambrose saith, Laqueus adversarij In Psal. 91. sermo noster; loquimur plerumque, quod excipiat inimicus, & quasi nostro gladio nos vulnerat: Our speech is the adversaries snare; we often utter that, which the enemy catcheth at, and so woundeth us with our own weapon. Antisthenes' used this saying, that he which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. desired to be sound, had need to have either loving friends, or angry enemies: for the one would instruct, the other correct him. For though one be not guilty of that, which the enemy reproveth, yet he may be more wary not to commit that, which offendeth. As Chrysippus answered one that told him that he was evil spoken of by some: But I will so lead my life, that no man shall give credite-unto them. In like manner Philip was wont to say, that he was beholding to his backbiters, for they made him better. And so this carping of the adversary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. will minister occasion of greater circumspection. But now to come a little nearer, to take a general view of this Libelers proceedings: I do note four gross oversights by him committed: I find his affection to be malicious; his matter frivolous; his manner of handling scandalous; his objections to himself contumelious, being guilty of the same crimes, wherewith he upbraideth others. First, if he had espied any such faults in his brother, charity would that he should have been first by private writing or conference admonished to amend them, not at the first by public libeling to seek to defame him. This is our saviours rule, Matth. 18. 15. If thy brother trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between him and thee alone, etc. Upon which words Origen saith: Non vult continuò te evolare in publicum, etc. He will not have thee strait to fly out into public censure, etc. Ruffinus saith well to Hierome: Si ebrietas mihialiqua obrepens sicut patriarchae nudau●rat turpitudinem, lcui palliolo rescripti tui cōtexisses opprobrium, & velasset epistola vigilantis, quem stilus nudaverat dormitantis: If some oversight, as of the Patriarch, had uncovered my nakedness, you should have hidden my shame with the cloak of your private writing, that your waking epistle might have covered that, which the sleepic pen had unfolded. And Plato had good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; reason thus to say to Socrates, reproving sharply one of his friends in a public feast: Had it not been better to have spoken these things privately? And Socrates again to Plato: Might you not also much better have told me of this privately? Secondly, the whole discourse of this Libeler is superfluous and impertinent: for what is this to the truth of religion, or what prejudice to the common cause, if some few places should by some oversight be mistaken? For as Augustine saith: Sine his dici potest, quod volumus: Take them away, and yet we are able to confirm, what we say, cont. Petilian. 3. 20. But it falleth out unto them, as the Apostle saith: They would be Doctors of the law, not knowing what they speak, nor whereof they affirm, 1. Timoth. 1. 7. So this challenger taketh upon him to be a great Rabbin in popish learning, and yet leaving the discussing of matters of religion in question, brawleth about words and syllables. Hierome saith, Quis omissa causa in criminum obiectione versatus est: Who leaving the cause would spend the time in objecting of crimes? aut quid refert si causa cadas, & crimine superes: Or what great matter is it, if you fail in the cause, and prevail in crimes? Apolog. 3. adverse. Ruffin. And what if this caviller had his will upon the defender (which he is never like to have) the cause of religion neither standeth nor falleth with him? I say unto him, as Augustine did to his adversary: Noli attendere quomodo vincatur Augustinus qualiscunque unus homo, sed attend potius utrum vinei poss●● * Homoousion. veritas: Do not mark how Augustine, howsoever but one man may be overcome, but whether the truth may be overcome. And as Callicratides said to the Soothsayer, that foretold victory to the army, but death to the Captain: That the Spartan affairs depended not upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. one man. Neither doth the defence of the truth rely upon any one man's credit. But as joseph said to Pharaoh, so may I in this case, Without me God shall answer, Gen. 41. 16. Now in the third place let us see the manner of his style: which is powdered (I warrant you) with such saucy terms and popish Rhetoric, every page of the Libel so garnished with railing, slandering giving the lie, that he cannot be deemed to have a religious heart, that so profanely and uncharitably handleth his tongue. S. Peter saith, If any man speak, let him speak as the words of God, 1. Pet. 4. 11. Now whether the Libeler do speak the words of God, it shall even now appear in the rehearsing of some of his phrases: wherein as Hierome complained of his adversaries: It a nomen meum frequenter assumitur, carpitur, Ad Theoph. advers. joan. Hierosolym. ac si de libro viventium deletus essem: My poor name is so often abused and carped at, as though I were razed out of the book of life. Photion did compare Leosthenes oration to the Cypress tree, that was fair and tall, but bore no fruit: so his speech was eloquent and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. pleasing, yet not profitable. But this Roman Rhetor, neither bringeth good speech nor good matter: yet were his sharpness somewhat to be borne withal, if he had any colour or just cause so to do: as Hyperides the Rhetorician desired the Athenians to consider not only if he were bitter, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. but if he were bitter unjustly without cause. Now I will gather out some of his sweet flowers. Fuller of lies then leaves. pag. 118. A lie also it is. pag. 123. He hath here belied us. pag. 124 Whether he be a liar or no, etc. pag. 126 Put in print an abominable lie. 127 Palpable lying. 129 Shameless lie. 131 He belieth him. 148 By lying and corruption. 150 He belieth him. 153 A notable liar. 159 A lie it is. 169 A notorious lie. 133 He maliciously belieth us. 140 Notable lies. 141 Sum up his lies. 142 A liar and a falsary. 144 Shameless lying and falsification. 147 Notorious lie. 155 A lie and a knocker. 156 Lies and mad tricks. 161 Hunt all his lies. 170 As the Libel is pestered with lies, belying, liar, so hath it great store of other like stuff of bitter reviling and railing. Mere malice. 124 A proper tale as to set the devil to sale. 132 Filthy Doctor, shameless mate. 133 Runagate Roger. 138 So he blasphemeth Roger Holland Martyr. Shameless untruth. 159 Spruce Minister. 171 A giveth the same answer that Baal did to his suppliant servants. 187 As Balaam deceived Balaak. 187 Perfidiously perverted. 213 Maliciously abused. 215 Malicious dealing. 220 Maliciously suppressed. 220 Cunningly and maliciously. 223 Maliciously abuseth. 231 Unmask malicious dealing. 234 Wear Proclus heretical livery. 238 If he had not cast off all care of conscience, and shaken hands with death, he would never so maliciously have corrupted S. Augustine. 239 Maiming them most disgraciously wickedly perverted. 240 Detest and forsake so malicious a Minister. 245 Without all conscience by shameful shifts. 253 Malice and wilful falsification. 258 If any should deny him the honour of a notable falsary. 246 Shamefully corrupted S. Augustine. 247 A coney-catching trick and in plain English a lie. 251 Most absurdly and maliciously corrupted, etc. 256 Maliciously added. 278 Will not any man now think, that this fellow hath well profited in Zoilus Rhetoric? but such is the manner of popish writers: railing and cursing is one of their common weapons. They show themselves not to fight of Michael's side, that durst not give railing sentence against the devil, jud. 9 nor yet to be of Paul's spirit, that when he called Ananias painted wall, excused it by his ignorance, Act. 23. 5. But this hath always been the guise of heretics and other adversaries to the truth, with evil and slanderous words to assail the professors thereof. Thus did the Pelagians call Augustine, Cultorem daemonum, A worshipper of devils, cont. julian. 3. 18▪ Petilian the Donatist objected against him sin against the holy Ghost, libr. 3. cap. 62. He said further, that he had damnabile ingenium Carneadis, the damnable wit of Carneades, lib. 3. 20. Thus Celsus behaved himself against Origen: whose words we may well use in this case against our adversaries: Si graviter & modestius haec tractaret plus forsitan suasionis sunt habitura, etc. If he handled these things gravely and modestly, he might persuade more: but seeing now he scoffingly and scurrilously uttereth many things, dicturi sumus eum elegantium verborum inopia, ut quae nec nactus esset, nec ●●●●et in tantam incidisse garrulitatem: we may say, that for want of good words, which he was unskilful of, he hath fallen into such a vain of brabbling. Origen. cont. Cels. lib. 6. It is said that the Troyans' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. went to war with great noise and outcries, the Grecians in silence: But how sped they? the stillness of the Grecians prevailed against the Troyans' outcries. Neither must these bragging fellows think to carry all away with great words. They are like to the prattling Pie, that chattereth upon every occasion: or rather to the Vultures and Kites, that follow the smell of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. stinking carrions, but have no sense and delight in wholesome flesh. So is this Libeler ready to take the least occasion to speak evil, and seemeth to sport himself with great delight in filthy and unclean words: That like as Melanthius said of Diogenes tragedy, that he could not see it, because the strange words did hinder the sight thereof: So his uncouth terms, and unseemly speeches, as a stinking mist and gloomy cloud do cover and hide his slender stuff. Augustine would not give the lie to Pascentius the Arrian, though he were worthily detected thereof, but thus saith unto him: If you say those things, which are reported, not to be so done, either your memory faileth you; Non audeo enim dicere te mentiri; aut ●go & fallor & mentior: For I dare not say you lie, or else I am both deceived & do lie, epist. 174. But nothing is more common in the Libelers mouth, than you lie, you bely him, a notable liar, a shameless lie: who herein representeth unto us another Stoical Antipater, who writing and railing against Carneades, was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, one that roared or raved with his pen: or like unto Salmoneus, that counterfeited juppiters' thunder: as Hierome saith, Tu alter nobis Salmoneus omnia per quae incedis illustras, tu flammeus, immo fulmineus, qui in Apolog. 3. advers. Ruffin. loquendo fulminas, etc. You are another Salmoneus, which fire all the way where you go, flashing out lightning, and spitting forth fire in your speech. But like as men use to allay the heat of wine, with cool water; and so, as Plato saith, Deum insanum alio sobrio castigare, To correct a furious spirit with a tame and sober spirit: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. So I trust to qualify this railers furious heat, with a true and modest defence: and not as Heraclitus diseased with the dropsy, desired the Physician to turn the abundance of showers into drought; but to allay his intemperate heat and drought with the pleasant dew of the truth. I am not purposed to answer him in his own vain: for the Scripture teacheth us, that we should recompense no man evil for evil, Rom. 12. 17. Augustine saith to Petilian the Donatist: Si ego tibi vellem maledicta pro maledictis rependere, quid aliud, quam duo maledici essemus, ut ij, qui nos legerent, alij detestatos abijcerent sana gravitate, alij suaviter haurirent malevola voluntate: If I would render evillwords for evil, what else should we be, but two railers, that they which read us, should either of a grave judgement reject us, or else of a corrupt fancy affect us? It is a sufficient defence against a false accuser not to be guilty. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The heathen Philosopher could say, To be without fault is not the least comfort: Crantor. That saying also of Diogenes is much celebrated, who being asked how he might be revenged 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. of his enemy: If thou thyself (saith he) become a good and an honest man. Fourthly, it remaineth to be showed how the Libeler justly incurreth the same offence, which untruly he objecteth to others: as first he is guilty of many untruths: as that none of them read obtulit, he offered, for protulit, he brought forth, Genes. 14. pag. 123. that no author can be cited, that saith the fathers of the Inquisition divers apparent untruths uttered by the Libeler. cannot err, pag. 117. that women are allowed by the Communion book to be ministers of the Sacrament, Libel. p. 129. which is untrue: for neither is the baptizing by women collected out of the book, neither yet is it practised, that I know, in our Church: as a most reverend Prelate hath avouched in these words: For common practice I can say little, but for mine own experience this I dare affirm, that I have not known one child so baptised in places, where I have had to do, no not since the beginning of her majesties reign, etc. And in the same place: I think if the circumstances of the book be well considered, it will appear that the meaning is, that private baptism is rather to be ministered by some Minister (which in time of necessity may soon be come by) then by any woman: Defence of the answer to the admon. pag. 794. This grave testimony, omitted in the answer, I thought good here to insert, which is sufficient to deliver us from the untruth objected, and to rebound it upon the accuser's head. See the answer more at large to the 7. Slander. Besides, a great untruth it is, which he uttereth, pag. 164. contradict. 5. that Luther confesseth, he was stirred up by the devil against the Mass: for in the places which he quoteth in the margin, libr. de Miss. angular. tom. 6. fol. 28. tom. 7. Wittenberg. fol. 443. no such thing is to be found, in the edition printed at Wittenberg anno 1558. neither hath Luther any such title, de Miss. angular. in the 6. tome. The matter which the Libeler aimeth at, by other men's reading (as it seemeth) rather than his own, is in Luther's book, de Miss. private. A slander of Luther, that he should confess he was stirred up of the devil, to write against the Mass. tom. 7. where Luther indeed reporteth, in the beginning of that treatise, how the devil tempted him in the night, and set before him his hypocrisy, in the celebrating of private Masses, contrary to the institution of Christ, and that therein he committed most gross idolatry, in worshipping bread and wine in steed of the body and blood of Christ. And whereas it might be said unto him, that the devil is a liar, he answereth: Ipse sic adoritur: The devil so setteth upon a man, that first he apprehendeth some solid truth, that cannot be denied, & so doth turn and toss it, and doth cast such goodly show upon a lie, that he may deceive the most circumspect: as that thought, that stroke judas heart, was true, I have betrayed innocent blood: But this was a lie: Ergo, you must despair of the mercy of God. So Luther saith, The devil lieth not, when he urgeth a man's sin: Confessus quidem sum, etc. I confessed being overcome by the law of God, before the devil, that I had sinned, and was damned as judas: sed verto me ad Christum cum Petro: but I turn myself unto Christ with Peter. This is the sum of the whole narration, there set down by Luther of this temptation. Any man may now see the cavilling spirits of Papists: Luther only reporteth how Satan displayed his hypocrisy and idolatry, while he was a Mass priest, not to stir him up against the Mass, but to bring him into despair; but that God delivered him with Peter. They may say as well that when Satan sifted Peter, and set before him his sin, which drew such bitter tears from Peter, that Satan moved him to repentance: or that when Paul felt the prick of his flesh, the messenger of Satan sent to buffet him, whereupon he betook him to prayer, that Satan also stirred the Apostle to prayer. So then Luther's conversion and opposition against the Mass was a sequel, but no effect of Satan's temptation: the devil intended his confusion, God thereby wrought his conversion. The like cavil against Luther is uttered by Bellarmine, and vented again by the Libeler, pag. 167. that Luther thinketh that if the devil himself should minister the Sacraments, that they might be fruitful and effectual: whereas Luther saith not if the devil himself, that is in his own person, as the devil: but these are his words, ego pono, but I set down this, Demiss. private. tom. 7. p. fol. 243 p. 2. that if I should afterward know, the devil irrepsisse, to have crept into the office of a pastor of the church, & in the shape of a man to be called to preach and baptise, etc. that the Sacraments therefore are not without efficacy. Thus they curtal and mangle his words, and alter his meaning at their pleasure. Untrue also it is, that the Apocalypse hath no more ancient authority, than the Council of Carthage, p. 130. That Leo confirmed not, that the blood issuing out of a certain Crucifix, was the blood of Christ, pag. 131. That Gregory 7. was not a sorcerer and adulterer. pag. 159. That it is a fabulous tale of the taking up of divers thousands heads of children in Gregory's mote, pag. 160. That father Fox is belied, whereas he is truly alleged contradict. 5. pag. 166. That it is a lie, that Nectarius abrogated private confession, contradict. 6. pag. 169. That the ancient fathers are called heretics, contradict. 8. p. 177. That we should hold, that adultery, murder, idolatry, in the regenerate are no sins, contrad. 11. pag. 202. These apparent untruths the Libeler uttereth, as more at large may be seen in the several answers: and therefore he is worthy of Esop's reward, who being asked what liars gained: That they, when they speak the truth, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. (saith he) be not believed. Secondly, this Libeler is not free from contradictions: he affirmeth, that Saul was elected, and yet damned, pag. 191. contrary to the opinion of Contradictions. the most learned of his side, who though they hold that a man cannot be certain of his election, yet dare not, neither do affirm, that election before God may be lost: nay Bellarmine writeth the contrary, that the elect, per infallibilia media, by infallible means, are directed to eternal▪ life: lib. 2. de great. cap. 9 Likewise he seemeth to affirm, that Martyrs are not to be invocated in the sacrifice of the body of Christ, falsific. 10. pag. 251. contrary to the common practice of the Popish Church, which in the canon of the Mass prayeth to be defended by the merits and prayers of the Saints: see the answer. Thirdly, the Libeler himself is full of falsifications: Falsifications. as pag. 209. contradict. 13. lin. 24. according to his doctrine of original and eternal sanctification: where not the eternal sanctification, but external rather and ecclesiastical of the faithfuls children is spoken of. pag. 244. falsific. 9 he himself leaveth out divers material words in Augustine, as is noted in the answer. He doth the like, pag. 247. falsific. 10. as is declared also in the defence, pag. 226. falsific. 5. in alleging a canon of the Council of Colen, in these words, to hear Mass, he addeth Mass, of his own. Pag. 268. corrup. 7. he misreporteth the words inferring thus: He maketh S. Paul to affirm absolutely that faith worketh by love. See the correction of that corruption. Fourthly, he is found to be a corrupter of scripture: as pag. 123. untruth 1. the scripture saith it was Samuel, whereas the scripture saith only, Saul knew it was Samuel. Pag. 141. untruth 11. he readeth, Saul an elect and good man, 1. Samuel 9 2. for, Saul was a goodly young man and fair. Thus it is evident how the Libelers eyes were blinded, and hoodwinked with self-love toward himself, and hatred toward others, that while he prieth to find faults abroad, he forgetteth his own at home. He should have remembered our saviours words to the jews, joh. 8. Si quis vestrum peccatum non habet mittat primum lapidem: He that of you is without fault, cast the first stone at her. He should have taken the beam out of his own eye, before he had assayed to pull a moat out of his brothers. It falleth out now to him, as Ruffinus saith: Quasi siquis furti alium incusans, id ipsum unde alium arguit in sinu suo contegat furtum: As if a man should accuse another of theft, and hide a stolen thing in his own bosom: Inuectiu. in Hieron. Plato, when he saw any uncomely thing to be done by others, would thus say to himself apart, Whether I myself were not such an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. one. Thus this carper of others, should first have examined himself: whereas now the reproach, which he would fasten upon others, of untruths, contradiction, falsification, corruption, is cast upon himself. Like as Melanthius said to Gorgias the Orator, persuading concord to the Grecians: This man (saith he) counseleth us to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. peace, being not able to persuade himself, his wife, and maid three private persons to have peace at home. And so this detector of others, is detected himself, of untruths, falsifications, corruptions, and that not once or twice, but often: whereas in writing, as in warring, as Lamachus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. said to a soldier craving pardon of his offence, It is not lawful in war to offend twice. THE ANSWER TO THE LIBELERS Introduction. ITremaineth now, that in few words an answer be made to the preamble to the Libel, which consisteth of two parts: the extenuation of the defender, and the challenge of the detector. For the first: 1. Though the defender take not upon him to be a principal dealer in controversies, nor to be a professed challenger, as the Libeler boldly adventureth: but doth confess with Augustine: Absit ut mihi apud catholicos Cont. julian. libr. 6. c. 4. arrogem, quod tibi (apud pontificios) arrogare non pudet: unus sum è multis qui profanas vestras novitates ut possumus refutamus, etc. far be it from me, to arrogate that to myself among Catholics, which you are not ashamed to challenge (among Papists) I am one amongst many that do refute, as we may, your profane novelties, as God hath given to every of us the measure of faith. 2. Yet he maketh no doubt to encounter with this challenger, and is assured he is able to defend, whatsoever by him can be impugned: neither doth he show himself such a terrible hackster, but that a Protestant pygmy, as he scornfully calleth him, at any time dare grapple with this Popish pusio: who every where bewrayeth his ignorance: being neither seen in histories; for than he would not have denied, that Leo 3. approved the blood at Mantua to be the blood of Christ, pag. 131. reported by Platina: nor yet have called that a fable, of the children's heads found in Gregory's mote, p. 160. which is mentioned in the Epistle of Huldericus Bishop of Augusta to Pope Nicholas: neither would he have made doubt of that which is alleged out of Master Fox, concerning Luther's opinion of penance, pag. 166. As the Libeler is ignorant in histories, so neither doth he seem to be conversant in the Fathers: for than he would not have doubted of Augustine's opinion concerning remission of sins had in john's baptism, p. 183. or of Origens' concerning Limbus Patrum, pag. 185. And as he is neither historian, nor read in the Fathers, so he seemeth to be no very good Grammarian: every where writing Tetrastilon, for Tetrastylon, and in one place Apocalypse, for Apocalypse, pag. 130. lin. 14. and here, where he would seem to be most eloquent, he writeth pigmy for pygmy, pag. 118. lin. 20. Like as another bragger one Tannerus a jesuit in a disputation held at Ratisbone, this year 1602. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, four times ignorantly cried out, thrusting out his throat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The Libeler showeth himself a right pygmy indeed, and a silly champion, more worthy to be derided of Grammar boys, for his pygmies skill, than Leo Bizantius that little Orator for his pygmies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. stature. And as meet to be served, as the schoolmaster to whom Alcibiades gave a blow upon the ear, because he said, Nihil se habere Homericum: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. That he had no skill in Homer: as it seemeth he hath not in Greek. 3. As for ravening wolves in sheeps clothing, and your farthel of fables: yourselves are the men, that are best known by this cognisance: such as the Apostle describeth: that make a show of godliness, and deny the power thereof, etc. which creep into houses, and lead captive simple women laden with sin, 2. Tim. 3. 6. which follow profane and old wives fables, which the Apostle would have Theophil. Hieronym. cast away, 1. Timoth. 4. 7. Such as Theophilus writeth of to Hierome: utinam apud vos deponerent hypocrisin, qui occult dicuntur subruere veritatem: I would they amongst you would leave their hypocrisy, that secretly are said to subvert the verity. And Origen speaketh of such: Multi sunt, qui nomen Christi habent, Hom. 3. in Levitic. sed veritatem non habent Christi: There are many which have the name of Christ, but the truth of Christ they have not. True it is, that when you speak of hypocrisy, and following of fables, you speak of your own: as Chrysippus said of one that railed upon him: Thou hast done well, leaving out nothing, that is within 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. thyself. And this which the Libeler hath objected to us but in word, shall be verified upon him in deed: As a cunning artificer said to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Athenians, when another bragging workman had promised much: That which this man hath said, I will perform. 4. Concerning your counterfeit spirit, with the white sheet, and flashing firebox: I fear me that in you the evil spirit doth more than counterfeit, using your tongue and pen indeed, as an instrument of lying and slandering: For he is a liar and the father thereof, john 8. 44. Apolog. 3. advers. Ruffin. And as Hierome saith: Peccare est hominis, insidias tendere diaboli: It is of man to sin, but to lay wait, is of the devil. And it is your own tongue that is the flashing firebox: as the Wiseman saith, He that feigneth himself mad, casteth firebrands, arrows and mortal things, Prou. 26. 18. You as Hierome saith: Flammas ore conceptas tenere non potes, ut Apolog. 3. advers. Ruffin. ille Barrhacabas author seditionis Iudaicae stipulam ore accensam anhelitu ventilabat, ut flammas evomere putaretur: You cannot keep in your fiery flaming words: like to Barrhacabas the author of the jewish sedition, which kindled stubble set on fire with his mouth, that he might seem to cast out flames. So you, as Augustine Lib. 1. cont. julian. saith to julian the Pelagian: Contumelias & maledica verba ardens iracundia libris anhelasti: Burning with wrath, have breathed out contumelious and railing words in your book. But your fire shall flash upon your own faces, as the fiery furnace consumed those, that did heat it for the three children, Dan. 3. 22. And like as sluggish dogs do rend the skin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. and bite the hair, but hurt not the beast: so though you snarl at the man and snatch at his person, you hurt not the cause. 5. You will not examine all his cozening tricks, etc. that were with Hercules to cleanse Augeas stable. It may seem strange, that you dare object cozening▪ and coney-catching tricks, pag. 251. being so full of them yourselves. Are you ignorant what your Quodlibeter hath discovered of the jesuits exercise, which they use to give to landed gentlemen, as how john Gerrard jesuit gave the exercise to Master Anthony Rouse, Master Thomas Euerard, Edward Walpole, 3. Quodlibet. art. 10. james Linacre with others, making them by force thereof to sell their lands, and drawing from some 1000 pound, from some 1000 mark, from one 3500. pounds, namely Henry Drury, who became a lay brother, and was sent to Antwerp, where he died. The like practice the said devout father used toward certain young Gentlewomen, Elizabeth Shirley, Dorithie Rockwood with others, and the Lady Mary Percy, whom he cozened of their marriage portions, and made Nuns of themselves. These are indeed cozening and coney-catching tricks: but that as Hierome saith: Ad caeteros talpae, ad me caprearum oculos po●●ides: You are as blind as a mole toward others, but you cast not a sheep, but a goats eye upon me. But as for Augeas stable, you are not Hercules to cleanse it, and if you were, your Pope's Decretals, Clementines, Extravagants, Legend of lies, and other such dunghill and stable stuff would set you a work, you need not seek elsewhere. In the mean time to requite your Augeas stable, I say with Hierome against jovinian: Lib. 1. adverse. jovin. De tenebrosis libris, quasi de foveis serpentes protraham, neque sinam venenosum caput, spiris maculosi corporis protegi: I will out of his books pull out the serpents as out of their holes, nor suffer his venomous head to be folded within his speckled body. And as of three 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. hundred images of Demetrius Phalereus, not one remained, but all while he lived, were destroyed: so all these monuments of the Libelers folly, shall quickly (I trust) in his sight be overthrown and cast down. And as Demosthenes was wont to say of Photion, when he began to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. speak: Now riseth the hatchet or cutting knife of my sayings: such shall our true defence be to his false detection. Secondly, to answer in a word to his challenge of disputation and conference: that the defender should hold his hands from pen and paper, and come to try the quarrel in the presence of her majesties most honourable Council, with that favour which the French Protestants obtained before the French King, etc. 1. I do not marvel, if the Libeler be loath to have his objections examined by writing: for he feareth least the light should discover his juggling: as Demosthenes answered one suspected of theft, that found fault with his night studies: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. I knew well it grieveth you, that I burn light. And as a certain unskilful Painter having made an evil favoured picture of a Cock, bid the boy drive away the true Cocks, that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. his unskilfulness might not appear: So playeth this bungler, he would have no other writing set by his, that his bold ignorance be not descried. 2. As for trial of the quarrel before the honourable Lords, as I willingly embrace the Libelers challenge, and am ready to take up his gauntlet, if it shall so seem good to their Honours: So in the mean time I send him this Newyeeres' gift: & say no more, than Archidamas to the Ele●ans: That it was good for them to be quiet. And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. where he telleth us, he will fall to it roundly pell-mell, with push of pike, that saying of Pau●amas will very well fit him, to a certain impotent man that gave counsel for war: I would ye did strip yourself naked, that we may see what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. manner of man giveth this counsel to fight. So I could wish that this champion would show himself, that we might see what a proper man he is to maintain such a quarrel: which till it may be had I send him this posy of Hieromes: Moveat manum, figat ●●●lum, eum ad libros provoco, loquamur scriptis ut de nobis tacitus lector judicet cum ad libros venerit, & pedem pedi contulerit, tune sudabit, tunc haerebit, etc. Ad Domnionem. Let him put his hand to his pen, I provoke him to his book, let us confer by writing, that the reader by himself may judge of us: when he cometh to write, and setteth foot to foot, than he will sweat and stick fast, etc. 3. Because our adversaries do make great brags, and pretend a desire, that a free disputation and conference may be had, I will briefly show, that they intent nothing less, then to have the truth decided by a sober and indifferent conference, but only to show their wrangling spirits and froward nature, as may appear by experience already had of their attempts on that behalf. First, in the disputation held at Westminster in the beginning of her majesties reign, the popish disputers did behave themselves very frowardly: 1. Where The perverse behaviour of Popish disputers. they were appointed to deliver their minds in writing, they chose appointed one to repeat their mind in speech. 2. When he had finished, they were asked if they had any more to say, and they answered no: yet afterward when the Protestants had propounded their writing, they said they had much more to say. 3. Upon the second day, whereas they were appointed to confer of the second question, the popish Bishops stood upon it, that they would first tender their mind in the first question. 4. They alleged that they were commanded to provide their writing in Latin, whereas never any other order was taken, but that they should write in English. 5. Whereas they were appointed to begin, they utterly refused, and so through their wilfulness the disputation broke off. See the report hereof penned by Master Fox. pag. 2119. Of the like carriage were certain Jesuits, Hungerus, Gretserus, Tannerus, that disputed at Ratisbone this last year 1602. with Hunnius, Helbronnerus, with other Ministers of the Augustine confession: 1. They before they would dispute, would have the Ministers to prove themselves to be of the Church, and that they had the spirit of God. 2. They propounded a question impertinent concerning Ubiquity. 3. In their disputation Tannerus, with histrionical behaviour, loud outcries, scurrilous scorn, and unseemly gibes, pudoris claustra perrupit, became impudent, as the reporter writeth. 4. When he could not answer, he said nothing, but nego consequentiam, nego consequentiam, I deny the consequence, I deny the consequence. 5. Plus centies clamatum, respondeatur in forma: Above an hundred times they cried out, answer in form. 6. They refused to dispute in the German tongue. 7. When the Scriptures were alleged, they answered nihil ad rem, nothing to the purpose: ex Egidio Hunnio. Before this a conference was appointed at Worms, where because the Protestants would have the Scripture to be the judge of controversies; the Colloquy was broken off. In like manner the Colloquies at Aldenburge, Mompelgard, Baden, by like occasions were without fruit: ibid. And here (I think) I see the old perverse Donatists come forth again upon the stage, who in like manner behaved themselves in the Collation with the Catholic Bishops. 1. Where it was agreed that eighteen only of each side should come to the conference, the Donatists would have all of their side admitted, which were all assembled to the very aged men that could not come. 2. They allege, that the day prescribed for the conference was past, and would have had the Catholics proceeded against by default, where they were not faulty at all. 3. They required the presence of Collat. 1. diei ex Augustin. brevicul. collation. all the Catholics that had subscribed, lest any might be rehearsed that were not Bishops: whereas they had foisted in one's name, whom they (to make a cleanly excuse) affirmed to be dead in the way. 4. Whereas the Catholics said they had 120. Bishops more at home, the Donatists affirmed the same for themselves, whereas they had said before, they were all come to the very aged men. 5. They desire a respite of six days, which Collat. 2. diei. was granted them. 6. They contend, quinam erant petitores collationis, which of them were the first movers and cravers of that collation. 7. The Donatists strive for the name Catholic. 8. They object that the Catholics did defend alienam causam, a cause not belonging to Collat. 3. diei. them. 9 When the Catholics began to prosecute their matter, the Donatists with noise interrupted them, and would not suffer them to proceed, and hardly could the Precedent of that disputation Marcellinus obtain their silence and patience. 10. When as they were bid to sit, they wilfully refused, saying, It is written, I will not sit in the assembly of the wicked. 11. When the Critensian Council was alleged, they took exception against it that it had consulem & diem, the Consul and the day, otherwise then ecclesiastical decrees have, which was untrue, as the Catholics show both by the ancient prophecies, that bare date of the year, and the Council of Melchiades. 12. They take exception, that Lib. post. collation. sentence was given against them in the night. And by these and such other frivolous allegations, that Collation was made frustrate. Now because he maketh mention of the favour which the French Protestants obtained with the King for a conference: I will briefly also show, what manner of favour it was, and how indifferent the proceeding there used. First, the Lord of Plessis desired, that whereas the Bishop of Eureux pretended divers authors to be corrupted in his book against the Mass, that his whole book might be examined, which could not be granted. Secondly, whereas the Bishop had taken exception to 500 places, Plessis required, that the rest might be held as justifiable, which neither was yielded unto. Thirdly, that the Bishop should propound those 500 places to the Lord Plessis, that he might make satisfaction: but neither could this be obtained, pag. 8. Fourthly, the Bishop would have Plessis proceeded against The conference between the B. of Eureux, and the Lord of Plessis, before the French King. for default of appearance, being uncalled and vncommanded, pag. 5. Fiftly, he is denied his action of slander against the Bishop, if he could not prove the 500 places pretended to be corrupted. Sixtly, the issue is this, Plessis must presently without further warning make satisfaction upon the opening of the book, or else it should be examined in his absence, pag. 11. and so about two of the clock in the night the Bishop sent him 60. places, to the which he should make satisfaction the next day at eight of the clock. So these 500 places were brought to 60. but only nine of them were discussed: in some of them the judges suspended, in some they gave sentence with Plessis, in some they were importuned by the Bishop to give their verdict: in the rest they showed too much partiality in judging otherwise then there was cause. The report of this conference is extant, translated out of French. Now all men may see, that these popish challengers stand altogether upon advantages, and call for a disputation, not because they are able to say more than their forefathers, or can expect any better success, but to set a good face upon the matter, that they should not seem to say nothing. A wrangler cannot want words: and they care not, as Ambrose saith, Vt intus in animo perdat, foris victor abscedat: Though they lose a good conscience within, so they may get the victory without. And such are their disputations, as Hierome saith of the Luciferians: Inconditam disputationem Adverse. Luciferian. nox interrumpit, consputa pene invicem facie recesserunt: The night broke off their disordered disputation, and spitting one upon another's face they departed. Yet a sober and modest conference, without facing and braving in words, ●ailing speech, perverse and froward behaviour we mislike not (but that there is small hope to bring the adversary to it) such as Ambrose speaketh of: Collatio inter servos Dei esse debet, In 2. Tim. ●. 2. non altercatio: There should be a collation, not contention between the servants of God. 4. It grieveth you, that I call the popish religion the owl-light of Rome, which always hath been taught (you say) in a visible Church. I think the comparison is fit enough, seeing you refuse the light, as all evil doers hate it, joh. 3. v. 20. and will not be tried by the Scriptures: as some of your crew in a late colloquy, when it was alleged, that Scriptura est norma fidei, The In colloquy Ratis●onae habit. anno 1602. ex Egid. Hunnio. Scripture is the rule of faith, answered, Hoc esse fontem omnium haerese●n, that this was the fountain of all heresy. Ambrose compareth heretics to the Owl, Quae grandibus oculis tenebrarum caligines diligit, splendorem solis horrescit: Which doth with great eyes love darkness, Serm. 43. but abhor the Sun light. Your Church hath indeed been visible, but to the eyes of the world, as the darkness of the night is visible to Bats and Owls, and as the Cimmerians see one another, though they have no Sun light, neither believe that there is any. And though your number hath been greater (though in England it neither is, nor ever I trust shall be) we may say to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. you as Zeno of Theophrastus, that had more scholars: His queer is greater, but mine singeth sweeter. Lastly, as for the ivy todde of his parish of Barley, take you the ivy todde to yourself, as the fittest bower for such a nightbird, that concealeth his name and dare not show his face: and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. as the ivy doth catch hold upon every occasion; so the least rub in your way moveth you to quarrel. But it troubleth you, that pastor● are resiant in their parishes and charges to instruct their flocks and keep out the wolf: which course if every Minister did take (as were much to be wished) such foxes as you are would soon be chased out of their holes and dens, where ye privily lurk. This is the cause why you envy parishes that benefit which they reap by the presence of their pastors, whereby you want that opportunity, which you desire, to seduce the people: for as Hierome saith: Statim ut oves suas recedere velle de proprio grege viderit, diabolus fremit, irascitur, furit, perire sibi existimans, quicquid Christo servatur: The devil as soon as he seeth, that his sheep will go from him, he fretteth, rageth, thinking it a loss to him that is gained to Christ. I say no more at this time, but pray as the Apostle saith, that God may give you and the rest (that are blinded) repentance, that ye may know the truth, and come to amendment out of the snare of the devil. And I would have you thus think, as Hierome saith: Nostra Dialog. 3. advers. Pelagian. correptio vivificatio est, ut haeresi moriens vivas catholicae fidei: Our correption is but a vivification or quickening, that dying unto heresy you may live to the verity. And as Agesilaus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. sent this salutation to vain Menecrates: that he wished him a sound mind: the like I wish unto you: from hence forth I would you did not put us to more business to your own cost: lest as Demades said to the Athenians, that they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. never would decree or agree unto peace without black garments, when they first had smarted for their rash adventures: so you be forced to hold your peace with grief and shame. If reason will content you, you are answered: but if you will brabble still, I can afford you a months work at any time, as I have done now, though I desire to be occupied in more profitable studies: And so I conclude with Hierome against Vigilantius: Si dormitantius in mea rursus maledicta vigilaverit, nequaquam illi brevi lucubratiuncula, sed tota nocte vigilabo: If this drowsy writer shall watch again to rail and speak evil of me, I will awake for him, not by short fits, but whole nights. Thus for this time I take my leave of you (Christian and courteous reader) wishing you heartily to farewell in the Lord. Your hearty well-willer in the Lord, and servant to all that ser●e God, A. W. TO THE MOST HONOURABLE AND RIGHT NOBLE LORD, the Lord Duke's Grace of Lenox: A. W. wisheth increase of grace and virtue in this life, and everlasting salvation in the next. THe holy Evangelist S. Luke writing his Gospel to noble Theophilus, saluteth him by the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is, most worthy or excellent: and the same Evangelist, doubteth not to call the brethren of Beroea, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, more noble Act. 17. 11. and honourable, because they received the word with all cheerfulness. Whereby the Scripture teacheth, that virtue and piety do bring forth true nobility: divine grace being added to a noble race doth make it more honourable: and true Religion grafted into a Princely generation, is more admirable. For whereas to be highly descended of an ancient house, is but an human privilege: as he well saith, Noble birth is excellent, but yet a gift from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. the parents. True piety doth make us (as the Apostle saith) that we be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, partakers of the divine nature, 2. Pet. 1. Plutar. de liber. educan. vers. 4. This your Grace, I know, and am well assured is not ignorant of, nor unexpert in: and as your own nation doth hold you a right Christian Peer, and both a zealous professor, and a constant protector of the Gospel; so we trust, that this Church and Country, to the which you are happily arrived, shall find you. One said of Plato: Non accepit Seneca. Platonem nobilem Philosophia, sed fecit: Philosophy received not Plato noble, but rendered him: he was not noble when he entered, but noble after he had profited in the study of Philosophy. But your Honour both the Church received noble by natural propagation, at your first entrance; and by continuance shall make you more noble by the fruits of your spiritual regeneration. Iphicrates, when one Harmodius descended of the ancient and noble Harmodius, objected to him the baseness of his birth, thus prudently answered: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. My nobility beginneth in me, and yours endeth in you. But, your Honour (noble Duke) as it began not with you, being derived from your honourable parents; so, I trust it shall not die or end in you, being continued by virtue. Now then, seeing God hath exalted you to the honour of this life, advanced you to the favour of your Prince, hath given you both the privilege of nature in your noble condition, and the pre-eminence of grace in your Christian profession; it must be your care to honour God, who hath so highly honoured you: to be a faithful Steward (according to your honourable name) of your greatness, that Religion by you may flourish and wax great, of your favour with your Prince, to countenance the truth, and promote good causes. We heartily pray, that you may be to his Majesty, as an Hur to hold up Moses Exod. 17. hands, which we trust notwithstanding shall remain steady without any prop, and as a faithful Eliakim to be as a sure nail, upon the which we may safely Isai. 22. 24. hang (next under our Hezekiah) the vessels of the Church, the affairs of Religion. God make you as a jonathan to David, a friend to the faithful, as an Ahikam jere. 26. 24. to jeremy, a Patron of the Prophets, as a Gamaliel to the Apostles, a Act. 5. mediator and advocate for the innocent. Concerning my enterprise at this time: as I have already presented to his Christian Majesty, a general treatise of all controversies of Religion between us and the Papists, as a pledge of my service and duty, and testimony of my joy: so unto your Grace as a principal helper under him, and a pillar and Peer of the kingdom, I have been bold to offer this small book (a defence of my former writings against the cavillous adversary) as a token of my love, and signification of that hope, which we all conceive of you. I will presume no further at this time to be troublesome: I heartily wish unto you the Prophets Agurs moderation, that you be neither too much lifted up Pro. 30. 8. with prosperity, nor pressed down with adversity: like unto Photion, that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. noble Athenian, that was never seen either to laugh, or weep: not to rejoice too much in worldly preferments, nor to grieve too much at crossing discontentments: yea I say with S. Paul to Agrippa, God make you like that worthy Apostle, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not only almost, Act. 26. 29. but altogether, in the knowledge of God's word, in faith and zeal: That as Zacharie prophesieth, Holiness shall Zach. 14. 20 be written upon the horse bridles: that your triumphs, your warfare, your martial feats, may be consecrate unto God and savour of religion: that it may be said of you as Ambrose writeth of a religious Earl: Quantum imperatori Ambros. serm. 89. in bello militat, tantum & in pace militat saluatori: He warreth in battle for the Emperor, in peace for our Saviour. And as he again saith: Sub tectum tuum iam sa●uator ingrediatur, etc. Let Christ now enter under your roof, into your house, your family, your heart, that you may enter under Christ's roof and kingdom in heaven: to whom be praise for ever. Your Grace's ready to be commanded in the Lord, ANDREW WILLET. THE FIRST PART OF SURMISED UNTRUTHS. THe Libeler hath thought good, to sort out his uncharitable slanders into four ranks, of untruths, contradictions, falsifications, corruptions of Scripture, and of every kind, he hath produced thirteen places. Thus this blind harper, or malicious carper, hath set us forth an harsh song of four parts, and every part to be played upon thirteen strings: but his false descant shall soon appear, and his lying ditty be displayed. Emerepes one of the Lacedaemonian Ephori, of nine strings of the physician Phrynides instrument, did cut off two, thus saying unto him: Noli maleficium musicae infer: That he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. should not corrupt or mar good music: but we will cut asunder all this unskilful harper's strings, that he offer no longer disgrace, Non Musicae, sed Theologiae, not to harmony, but to theology. This false Detector, after long study and great deliberation, hath culled out of the two books of SYNOPSIS and TETRASTYLON, thirteen places of each sort, in all two and fifty: I marvel, that his Lynx eyes could spic out no more faults, that in thirteen hundred pages, he hath noted but thirteen supposed contradictions, & of thirteen hundred allegations almost of Fathers, could find but thirteen pretended falsifications, and of thirteen thousand places of Scripture well nigh, doth but challenge, and that falsely, thirteen to be corrupted. This sharp Censurer, seemeth to have been divers years in hatching of this Cockcatrice egg, that is now burst forth into a serpent: for he confesseth that he began to note his places, before he had view of the last book, p. 124. he meaneth the last edition of SYNOPSIS, which was Anno 1600. The other edition which he followeth, came forth Anno 1596. so that he may well be thought to have spent four or five years in this profitable study, or so long it may be esteemed, since first he had such purpose: it he had given his mind all this while as carefully to have sought out the ●ruth, as he hath bend and opposed himself against the truth, his eyes might have been opened to see, and his judgement reform to confess the truth. But it falleth out to him, as Augustine saith: De nature. & great. lib. 1. c. 25. Procliviores s●m●s quaerere potius, quid contra ea respondeamus, qua nostro obijciuntur errori, quam intendere, quam sunt salubria, ut careamus errore: We are more ready to seek what to answer to that which is objected against our error, then to mark how wholesome it is, that we may be without error. But notwithstanding his great endeavours, malicious cavils, proud brags, the truth will not be outfaced, nor the righteous cause suppressed: as the Psalmist saith, The Lord shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgement as the Noon day, Psalm. 37. 6. Of these 52. pretended forgeries, he shall not be able to justify one by true and sincere dealing: that it may be said unto him, as Augustine in the like case: Ostendere hoc non potes, Cont. Petilian. libr. 2. cap. 98. non quia ingenium deest, sed quia bona causa: You are not able to show (that you take in hand) not because you want wit, but a good cause. The libeler hath crafty wit enough to show malice, but he wanteth truth to justify his bad cause. Now to the matter. THE FIRST PART OF THE Libel of slanderous untruths. The first Slander. THe author of SYNOPSIS is challenged, for saying, that the Canonical Scripture saith not, that it was Samuel, which appeared to Saul, but that Saul so imagined, and thought it to be Samuel: A manifest untruth (saith the Libeler.) For the Scripture saith that it was Samuel, and not that Saul so imagined. p. 123. The Defence. FIrst, if this be such an untruth, why doth he not charge Augustine with it? for he saith it was phantasma, & imaginaria illusio diaboli, a fantasy, and imaginary illusion of the devil, libr. ad Dulcit. qu. 6. and he saith, imaginem Samuelis, that the image of Samuel Samuel appeared not to Saul. being dead, did foretell true things to Saul the King, lib. 2. de doctrine. Christian. c. 23. Secondly, Augustine doth not only so affirm, but proveth it could not be Samuel: 1. because he was raised by witchcraft. 2. because it were contrary to the Scripture, that saith, God answered not Saul by Prophets. 3. he telleth a lie, in saying Saul should be with him: for there is great distance between the righteous and the wicked in the next world. 4. because true Samuel would not have suffered himself to be adored. See more of Augustine's reasons, Synops. pag. 353. The caviller should have done well to have confuted Augustine's reasons. Thirdly, their own Gratian thus allegeth out of Isidore: If any man because of the story, think that those things ought not to be pretermitted, which are expressed in the words, he doth well: Si tamen minime istud veri capit rationem, sed ad visum & intellectum Saul. Neque enim reprobus factus potuit bonum intellectum habere, etc. So that it be not taken to be so done in deed, but to Saul's sight and understanding: for he being become a reprobate, could have no good understanding. He proceedeth further: Historicus mentem Saulis, & habitum Samuelis descripsit: The history writer hath described the mind of Saul and habit of Samuel, expressing those things which were done and seen; pretermitting, whether they were true or false. Sic Gratian. can. 26. qu. 5. cap. 14. If the defender then have uttered an untruth, Augustine, Isidore, Gratian are culpable therein, for saying it was not Samuel in deed, but to Saul's understanding. The Libeler, not the Defender, hath here uttered an untruth: for the Scripture saith not, it was Samuel, but only, Saul knew (or as 1. Sam. 28. 14. the vulgar Latin readeth) intellexit, understood it was Samuel: it was not then Samuel in deed, but to Saul's understanding, as their own translation; or to Saul's imagination, as Augustine; or sight, as Isidore saith before alleged. I say then to the Libeler, as Augustine to Petilian the Donatist: Videsne, quemadmodum ista non sententia, sed vesica, non solum inani sono, sed in capite vestro crepuerit: See you not how this your challenge as a bladder is broken with a vain crack upon your own head? lib. cont. Petilian. 2. c. 101. The second Slander. A Manifest untruth (saith the Libeler) that we read Genes. 14. vers. 18. obtulit, he offered bread and wine: for we read not so, but protulit, he brought forth, as our Bible's do testify. A lie also it is, that by force of that word we would establish the sacrifice of the Mass. pag. 123. The Defence. FOr the first: 1. Andradius denieth not, but that in some copies, is read, obtulit, he offered: Andrad in 4. defension. 2. Bellarmine thus allegeth out of the canon of the Mass: Quod tibi obtulit summus tuus sacerdos Melchisedech: Which thy high Priest Melchisedech offered unto thee, libr. 1. de Miss. cap. 6. 3. The Rhemists affirm, that Melchisedech did offer in bread and wine: Annot. in Heb. sect. 8. It is false therefore, that none of them read obtulit, be offered. Secondly, Bellarmine, though he read, protulit, he brought forth; yet upon the use of that word he groundeth the sacrifice of bread and wine: and saith, that it is idem, quod offer, all one, as to say, offer: the word 〈◊〉 iatsah, signifieth to bring forth, yet it is always (saith he) in the Scripture restrained to sacrifice: lib. 1. de Miss. c. 6. And again, wherefore with these words (saith he) brought forth bread and wine, are those joined, and he was a Priest of the most high God, Nisi ut intelligeremus panem & vinum à Melchisedecho prolatum, ut offerretur Deo: but that we should understand, bread and wine to have been brought forth of Melchisedech, to be offered to God? Let any indifferent man now judge, whether Bellarmine doth not by force of that word, which is the same (as he saith) as to offer, and the Rhemists which say, Melchisedech offered in bread and wine, establish the sacrifice of the Mass. Both these lies then and untruths, are forged out of the Detectors malicious brain, and shaped in his uncharitable conceit: so that we may say to him in Augustine's words: Homini homo falsus docendus, fallax cavendus; prius magistrum bonum, posterius discipulum cautum desyderat: A false man is to be instructed, a deceitful to be avoided; the first requireth a good teacher, the latter a wary learner: Academic. 2. 5. Though I be out of hope to reform this false slanderer, yet I trust the reader will take heed of such a deceiver. The third Slander. SYnops. p. 63. of the latter edition: because it is affirmed, that the Communion in one kind, was forged and invented, and decreed in the Council of Constance not above two hundred years ago: A gross untruth, saith the Detector, because both Thomas Aquinas and Alexander Hales long before allow the Communion under one kind, and the same Council of Constance saith, it was consuetudo ab ecclesia diutissimè obseruata, a custom long observed of the Church. The Defence. FIrst, who seeth not the cavilling spirit of this Libeler, that hunteth after syllables, and catcheth after words: the defender was not ignorant, that this superstitious use of receiving in one kind, was in hammering and devising before the Council of Constance: but that it then only began to be enforced and decreed as necessary to be observed of all, that no Priest under pain of excommunication should minister under both kinds to the people: so that the forging, inventing, decreeing spoken of, is understood of the necessity of so receiving (whereas it was free before) which was first invented, forged and imposed by that Council. Secondly, that no such thing was generally Communion in one kind not ancient. observed before, it is evident. Concil. Matisconens. 2. can. 4. celebrate about anno 600. and Concil. Vormatiens. can. 31. anno 800. and Concil. Bracarens. 3. can. 1. anno 670. or thereabout: all which Counsels allow the Communion under both kinds: as they are alleged, Synops. pag. 560. to the which I refer the reader. Thirdly, Alexander Hales cited by the Libeler, is alleged by Bellarmine to be of a contrary judgement to the rest of the Schoolmen: whose opinion was, that more spiritual fruit was received by communicating under both kinds then in one: in 4. part. sum. qu. 53. memb. 1. Fourthly, what though this superstition might begin before the Council of Constance; yet it is clear, that it was but an human invention, which is the thing the Defender would show: and this may appear by the confession of the Council itself: that non obstante, notwithstanding Christ did minister the Sacrament under both kinds of bread and wine, etc. & similiter licet in primitiva ecclesia, etc. and likewise though in the Primitive church, this Sacrament were received of the faithful under both kinds: yet for all this it was decreed, that this custom, was rationabiliter introducta, brought in upon good reason. I say then with Augustine to this shameless gainsayer, that laboureth to conquer with lies: Non bonum est homini hominem vincere, sed bonum est homini, ut eum veritas vincat volentem, quia malum est homini, ut eum veritas vincat invitum: It is not good for a man to overcome a man, but it is good for a man willingly to give place to the truth: for it is evil for a man against his will to be overcome of the truth, epistol. 174. So it were better for this slanderer to be overcome of the truth, and to confess his fault, then to seek to overcome with li●s. The fourth Slander. SYnops. pag. 6●. the name Christian was used in the Apostles time, and by the Apostles 1 themselves allowed: but it is not certain that the name Catholic came from the Apostles. This the Libeler calleth a certain untruth 2 and a lie: because in the Apostles Creed, we are taught to believe the holy Catholic Church and S. james Epistle hath the title of 3 Catholic Epistle. The Defence. FIrst, though it might be proved, that the 1 Apostles were the authors of the name Catholic, yet is it not so certain, as that the name Christian, came from them: because this is directly expressed in scripture, Act. 11. vers. 26. The disciples of Antioch were the first that were called Christians: but for the name The name Christian more ancient than Catholic. Catholic, no such proof out of Scripture can be alleged. Wherefore in a charitable construction, the words may be taken comparatively, that one is not so certain as the other. The Creed called the Apostles, is no Scripture, 2 but collected out of it, and agreeable to it: neither is it certain whether it were made by the Apostles: as it may appear by that which Cyprian writeth of the article of the descension: Sciendum est, quod in Ecclesiae Romanae symbolo non habetur additum, etc. It is to be known, that in the symbol of the church of Rome it is not added, he descended into hell, nor in the Churches of the East: Cyprian in symbol. If then the Apostles by their Apostolical authority had set forth the Creed, it had been great presumption afterward to have added unto it. Pacianus also Epistol. ad Symprosian. thus saith: Sed sub Apostolis, etc. But thou wilt say under the Apostles no man was called Catholic: admit it was so, yet grant this, when after the Apostles there were heresies, etc. did not the Apostolic people require their surname, whereby they might distinguish the unity of the incorrupt people? etc. Pacianus seemeth here to grant that the surname Catholic was not used in the Apostles time: let the Libeler also give him the lie: and consequently his opinion must be this, that the Apostles Creed was not then collected, for there the name Catholic is found, which he admitteth not to have been in the Apostles time in use. Thirdly, is the Detector so ignorant, that 3 he knoweth not, the title to be no part of the Epistle, and therefore not to be of Canonical authority, as the Epistle itself: for if it were so, the Fathers would not have doubted, whether S. Paul were the author of the Epistle to the Hebrues, seeing it beareth that title in the original: as Tertullian doth ascribe it to Bernabas, others to Luke, or Clement, as Hierome testifieth, catalogue. scriptor. Oec●menius also doth entitle it only the epistle to the Hebrues, and so doth Hentenius a Papist translate it. Wherefore the title of Catholic to S. james epistle proveth not that name to have been used in the Apostles time: for the titles of the epistles and the postscripts were added afterward by those which copied them forth. I marvel then that the Libeler is not ashamed to accuse the author of a lie, for saying, it is not certain that the name Catholic came from the Apostles: I say with Augustine: Miror si habet in corpore sanguinem qui ad haec verba non erubescit: Imaruell if he have any blood in his body, that blusheth not to utter such words: epistol. 164. The fifth Slander. SYnops. p. 115. That the Fathers of the cruel Inquisition cannot err: is noted for an untruth and bold assertion, and an abominable lie. The Defence. FIrst, what will not this unshamefast Libeler dare to object, charging the writer so untruly and unhonestly with a lie for this, as though he had devised it of his own head: Master Fox out of a good author thus reporteth: The Spaniards, and especially the great Divines there do hold, that this holy and sacred Inquisition cannot err, and that the holy Fathers the Inquisitors cannot be deceived. p. 930. col. 2. edition 1583. 2. This further appeareth, for that the Inquisitors do minister an oath to the King and Nobles in these words: Your majesties shall swear, that you will favour the holy Inquisition, and give your consent unto the same, and that you shall not by any manner of means hinder and impeach the same, p. 931. Ex quint. part. Martyr. Gallic. impress. pag. 474. Is it then like, that they would absolutely bind Princes to maintain their proceedings, if they had not this conceit thereof, that they could not err? for otherwise to require the Magistrates assistance to uphold their erroneous and unjust censures (if they took them to be such) were a presumption intolerable: yea, and the decree of Urban the 4. were without all show of reason: Statutum civitatis, etc. That the statute of any city is of no force, where by the business of the joquisition is hindered: Sext. decretal. libr. 5. tit. 2. c. 9 if so that they did think the Inquisitors could err: for then that exception should have been inserted into the decree. 3. It is Bellarmine's position: Concilia particularia à Pontifice approbata errare nonposse: That particular Counsels being approved of the Pope, cannot err: libr. 2. the council. authoritat. c. 5. But the particular Counsels, assemblies, and commissions of Inquisitors, are ratified and confirmed by the Pope: Sext. decret. libr. 5. tit. 2. c. 11. Clemens 4. Ossicium inquisitionis contra haereticos, etc. Apostolica authoritate commissum: The office of luquisition against heretics, committed by the Apostolic authority. This than must be the conclusion from their own principles, that the Commissioners of the Inquisition cannot err. Thus are we and our brethren, the Ministers of the Gospel charged with lying, when we truly report the opinions of our adversaries: the Libeler must not think to carry away the victory with lies. I may say unto him, as Aristippus to a Sophister, that went away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. from him criumphing, as though he had conquered him: Abeo suavius te, qui me refelleris dormit urus, etc. I depart to sleep more sweetly, than thou which hast refelled me. So the defender, being thus most falsely traduced, shall find more quietness of conscience than his accuser. For as Hierome saith well: Apud Christianos, non qui patitur, sed qui facit contumeliam miser est: Among Christians, not he that suffereth, but he that offereth contumely, is wretched: Hieron. Tranquill. The sixth Slander. SYnops. pag. 227. The ancient manner of election used in Rome for a thousand years together, was▪ that the Bishop there should be elected by the whole Clergy, with the consent of the people, and confirmation of the Emperor: a notable untruth, because 23. of the Popes were martyred by the Pagan Emperors, etc. The Defence. NO untruth is here uttered at all. 1. The writer's meaning is plain enough, but that the Libeler is disposed to cavil, not that continually without interruption that form was observed of election 1000 years together, but that it continued till 1000 years after Christ, and all that while no other order was prescribed for the election of the Roman Bishop: and so he expoundeth himself afterward, pag. 228. lin. 20. This was more than a thousand years after Christ: the words than are to be understood, not inclusiuè, as though that form was perpetually and precisely kept all that time, but exclusiuè, that during that time, no other order was instituted. 2. And an indifferent reader may take these words to be spoken, not coniunctim, jointly together, as though every one of those three, the consent of the Clergy, people, Emperor, were had in every election, but rather divisim, to understand them sunderly, that for 1000 years, one or more of those orders only were used and none other. And so it is evident, that even under those heathen Emperors, the consent of the Clergy and people was required, as Cyprian reporteth of the election of Cornelius: Factus est Episcopus de Dei & Christieius judicio, de Clericorum pene omnium consensu, de plebis quae tunc affuit suffragio: He was made Bishop by the judgement of God and his Christ, by the consent almost of all the Clergy, and suffrage of the people then present: Cyprtan. lib. 4. epist. 2. 3 And yet more fully to stop the slanderers mouth, it were no hard matter to prove, that those first 300. years of the Pagan Emperors excepted, the Emperor for a thousand years did bear some stroke in the election of the Roman Bishop, and was not utterly excluded till the time of Clement the 5. about ann. 1300. before which time the new device of election by the Cardinals only was not fully established: as it may appear by the constitution of Clement. lib. 1. tit. 3. ca 2. Ne Romani electioni pontificis indeterminata opinionum diuer sitas, aliquod possit obstaculum afferre, etc. Lest the diversity of opinions undetermined, might bring some let to the election of the Roman Bishop. By this Pope also it was decreed, that vacant imperio, during the vacancy of the Empire, the Pope doth, imperatori succedere, succeed the Emperor: Clement. lib. 2. tit. 11. ca 2. Thus the Emperor was perfectly excluded from the Pope's election, when as the Pope intruded into his office. Bellarmine also granteth, that the election by Cardinals began but ann. 1179. de Cleric. lib. 1. c. 9 So that by his reckoning, so long the Emperor did bear sway in the Pope's election. I trust by any of these answers the defender is freed from this false charge. The Libeler should have been better advised, then to blot so much paper with so many lies, that may be so soon wiped away. Zeuxis the Painter being reproved for his slow painting, answered, that he took a long time to paint, because he would have it last long, which he painted. But the Libelers painted lies, which he hath been so long in colouring, shall in short time all I doubt not be dashed out: he should have done well to have followed Hieromes counsel to Ruffinus: Qui mendacij alterum criminaris, desinas ipse mentiri: You that accuse another of lying, should forbear lying yourself: Apol. 2. cont. Ruffin. The seventh Slander. SYnops. pag. 583. Neither Lay men, nor midwines are authorized to baptise amongst us: this is noted for an untruth, for both of them are allowed (saith the Libeler) by the Communion book to be ministers of that Sacrament. The Defence. FIrst, the Communion book, where it setteth down the order of private baptism, maketh mention neither of lay men, nor women Lay men and women not authorized to baptize in the Church of England to be ministers thereof, howsoever indirectly by consequence some have so collected: therefore there being no express mention of either lay person, or woman, it cannot be so affirmed, that the book doth allow and authorize any such baptism. Secondly, whereas the resolution of doubts is by the book referred to the judgement of the Ordinary, as it may appear in the preface to the Communion book: our Ordinaries have thus resolved this doubt, that the book hath no such meaning to approve any baptism of such. Thirdly, the practice of our Church confirmeth the same. For such lay men, or women as take upon them to baptise are to be presented, and are punishable by the Ordinary for the same: yea they which are allowed to be public Readers, and no more, if they take upon them to baptise, are subject to the censures of the Church. Wherefore if neither the letter of the book, nor the sense which is given thereof, nor the practice of our Church (to the which chiefly the words excepted against are referred) do allow any such to baptise, it is a great slander of our Church, which he uttereth, that lay men and women are allowed by the book for ministers of that Sacrament. Therefore this untruth may be returned upon the devisers head, and noted both for a rash & untrue censure. Simonides was wont to say, that he never repented him for holding his peace, but for speaking, often. And if this caviller had been silent, he might have been blameless, whereas his hasty pen will purchase him a blot, but that he concealeth his name, and hideth his face, that we cannot see him blush: I say unto him as Ruffinus: Ad incusandum non mo●et fidei diversitas, sed perversitas animi: Not the diversity of faith, but the perversity of his affection hath made him an accuser. The eight Slander. BEcause it is said, Synops. pag. 29. that Toby and judith were never taken for Canonical, till of late it was decreed by Counsels of no great antiquity: for in the Laodicene Council, and other ancient Counsels they were deemed not to be canonical. A notable untruth, because 1 they are numbered among the Canonical books in the third Council of Carthage, anno 47. where Augustine was present. An untruth 2 also it is that the Council of Laodicea deemed them not canonical, etc. for the Apocalypse is omitted, as well as Toby and judith 3 by the Council, and hath no more ancient authority than the Council of Carthage, etc. The Defence. FIrst, whereas the Laodicene Council accounteth 1 but 22. books of the Old Testament Canonical, and calleth the rest there not rehearsed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, books not canonical. c. 59 and yet the Council of Carthage coming after, decreeth the same to be canonical, as namely among the rest the books of Toby and judith. We cannot think that these Counsels, being not above fifty year one before the other, and so the one not likely to be ignorant of the others proceedings, would decree contrary things: first, because both these Counsels are confirmed in the 6. general Council Trullane can. 1. which Council was not so undiscreet as to ratify contrary decrees. Secondly, if Augustine were present, it can not be thought that he would subscribe contrary to his own judgement: for whereas the Canon rehearseth five books of Solomon, Augustine thinketh that the book of Ecclesiasticus & Wisdom of Solomon were only so called, propter nonnullam eloquij similitudinem, for some similitude of the style, de civitat. Dei libr. 17. cap. 20. And of Ecclesiasticus he saith, This book was not received into the canon of the Scriptures: De cur. pro mortuis cap. 15. Likewise of the books of the Macchabees he thus writeth: judaei non habent hanc scripturam, sicut legem, Prophetas, & Psalmos, quibus Dominus testimonium perhibet ut testibus suis: The jews have not this Scripture, as the law, Prophets and Psalms, to the which the Lord giveth testimony as to his witnesses: libr. 2. cont. Gauden. c. 23. How is it like them that Augustine would have given consent to this decree, if their meaning had been to make these books absolutely Canonical. Thirdly, seeing the Canon of the Scriptures was confirmed before this Council, and acknowledged Two and twenty books of the old Testament only canonical. of the Fathers, who make but 22. books of the Old Testament, excluding all those which we hold to be Apocrypha: as Origen apud Euseb. lib. 6. c. 25. Athanas●n synopsi. Hilarius in prolog. explanat. Psalm. Nazianzen. in carminib. Cyrillus 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Epiphan. haeres. 8. Hieron. praefat. in libr. regum: it is not like that the Council of Carthage would go against the consent of so many learned Fathers. Wherefore they must be understood to take this word Canonical in a large sense, for all those books which were allowed to be read in the Church, whereof there were two sorts: some were read, ad authoritatem ecclesiasticorum dogmatum confirmandam, to confirm the authority of Ecclesiastical doctrine, such were the right Canonical: some ad aedificationem plebis, for the edifying of the people, of which sort were the books of Toby, judith, with the rest: Hieron. praefat. in Prover. And these were called Hagiographa, Hieron. praefat. in Tobiam: or Ecclesiastici, Ecclesiastical books: the other Canonici, Canonical: Cyprian. in symbol. This difference of the holy writings is allowed by Sixtus Senens. lib. 1. bibliothec. Stapleton. lib. 9 c. 6. doctrinal. that those books are called Protocanonici, Canonical of the first sort, that are found in the Hebrew Canon: the other, Deuterocanonici, Canonical of the second sort: and in this sense doth the Council of Carthage call the Apocryphal books Canonical. 2. Secondly, it is neither absurd, nor untrue to say that the Laodicene Council, omitting to make mention of the Apocalypse among the Canonical books, at that time judged it also not to be canonical, for the authority of that book was a long time doubted of: for the Council calleth all other books beside those rehearsed, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, books not canonical. 3. But the Libeler hath uttered a great untruth, that the Apocalypse hath no more ancient authority than the Council of Carthage, which was about anno 420. seeing that Origen long before holdeth it to be canonical: Homil. 7. in josuam: where rehearsing the books of the New Testament, as of the four Evangelists, the Acts of the Apostles, 14. Epistles of Paul, two Epistles of Peter, the Epistles of james and Jude, he further saith: Addit & joannes tuba canere per epistolas suas & Apocalypsin: john also proceedeth to sound his trumpet by his epistles and the Apocalypse. The Libeler than might have been otherwise occupied, then here to have noted an untruth upon no greater ground: he might have employed his time and pen much better: he should have remembered Plato's saying to his scholars, when they went from school: See children that you use your otium, to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. some honest purpose. Or if his pen must needs run to drop lies, he should have followed Origens' advice: Homo, cui incumbit necessitas mentiendi, diligenter attendat, ut sic utatur mendacio, quomodo medicamine & condimento, ut servet mensuram: He that hath necessity to lie, must be careful to use his lying as a sauce or medicine, to keep a measure: ex apolog. Hieron. cont. Ruffin. But this Libeler neither was forced to lie, and having begun, he can find no measure in so doing. The ninth Slander. WHereas it is thus alleged, Synops. pag. 209. Leo the third confirmed by his decree, that the blood, which issued out of a wooden Crucifix at Mantua, was the very blood of Christ: anno 800. what broadface dealing is this (saith the Libeler) to vent forth such a shameless lie? etc. The Defence. 1. THough no author in that place be alleged for the proof of this story: if it had pleased this caviller to have looked in the end of the book, he might there have found these words, after the Errata: Whereas pag. 374. 381. and elsewhere I allege divers things of the acts of the Popes, forgetting to cite the authors, I refer the reader to the collections of master Bale out of Platina, Functius and others, in his book Deactis Romanor. pontific. 2. But because this authority will not content him, I will report the very words of Platina in the story of Leo 3. At Leo cum seditionibus vexaretur ab urbe discedens Mantuam proficiscitur ad utsendum Christi sanguinem, A manifest story denied by the Libeler. qui tum miraculis magno erat in pretio: is autem perbenigne susceptus approbato Christi sanguine ob frequentia miracula, ad Carolum proficiscitur, ut hominem cognoscendae veritatis cupidum eius rei certiorem faceret: But Leo being troubled with sedition, departing from the city goeth to Mantua to see the blood of Christ, which then because of miracles was in great price: he being gently received (having approved it to be the blood of Christ, because of many miracles) goeth to Charles to certify him of this matter, being a man desirous to know the truth. How say you now (sir Detector) have you not detected your own folly and ignorance, to deny a story written by one of your own Chroniclers: though here no mention be made of a wooden Crucifix (which must be supplied out of master Bale) yet the substance of the story we have, that Leo approved it (which is all one as to say in his judgement he decreed it, for here is no consistorial decree spoken of) to be the blood of Christ. 3. And if Platina be not of credit sufficient, the like story is brought in by joannes A fable of a bloody Crucifix. Monachus in the 2. Nicen Synod action 4. how a certain jew succeeding a Christian in his house, found there the image of Christ, which he with other jews running upon do wound it on the side, and thereout issued as much blood as filled a great Hydrie, a water tankard or bucket: by the which blood the sick were healed, and many miracles wrought: and thereof was sent in glasses, to all parts of Asia, Africa, Europa: and the tale endeth thus, Hic est sanguis ille Dominicus, qui apud plerosq, repertus dicitur: This is the Lords blood, which is said to have been found with many. This Synod, with the acts thereof, was ratified by Adrian 1. the immediate predecessor of this Leo 3. so that it seemeth more likely, that he by the example of Adrian, might give credit and approve the like fable done at Mantua. Now let any indifferent man judge, which of the two hath vented the shameless lie: the defender in reporting as he findeth, or the detector, in malicious denying of that, which he ignorantly knoweth not: he must learn to be more cunning in histories, before he take upon him to find fault with historical reports. Sure whether he be broad or chittefaced, I know not: for he neither telleth us his name, nor dareth to show his face: yet by his shameless writings, we may as well discern him as by his bold face: to whom that sentence of Augustine may fitly be applied, though not altogether in his sense: Libri tui pene totum te nobis exhibent, si enim propterea te non novimus, quia faciem corporis tui non vidimus, hoc modo nec ipse te nosti, nam tu quoque non vides eam: Your books do show you wholly what you are: for if we therefore know you not, because we have not seen your face, neither do you know yourself, because you see not your face: August. epist. 9 Hieron. We need no better glass to show the Libelers audacious face, than his immodest and slanderous pen. The tenth Slander. SYnops. pag. 609. The Mass promiseth sufficient redemption to the wicked, that have spent their life in drunkenness, adultery, etc. if they come to the Church and hear a Mass, and take holy bread and holy water, or find a soul Priest, or give somewhat to the Priest to do penance for them, though they neither pray, nor repent, nor hear the word preached: For this the Libeler crieth out, a shameless mate, a notorious lie, etc. and Roger Holland, that died for the Gospel, who thus much confesseth of himself, he calleth in derision, holy Holland, one of Foxes Martyrs, runagate Roger. The Defence. FIrst, as Plato bid Xenocrates a sour and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. austere man to sacrifice to the Graces, so it were to be wished, that this caviller had consecrated his pen to God's service, that he might have written with more grace: his bitter railings and blasphemies toward the defender are answered before. But as Hierome saith: Iniuriam martyrum nequeo surda aure transire: The wrong done to the Martyrs I cannot pass over with silence. The Libeler shall one day know, if he repent not, what it is to revile God's Saints, when he shall see them one day enter into heaven, and himself, with all such blasphemous mates, to be thrust out at the doors, Luk. 13. 28. I do not wonder, if his pen be whet against the living, when it spareth not the dead: I say to him with Augustine to julian the Donatist, Cernis quam tibi perniciosum sit, tam horribile crimen obijcere talibus, & quam mihi gloriosum sit quodlibet crimen audire non talibus: You see how pernicious it is for you to object so horrible a crime to such, and how glorious to me to be objected against with such. libr. 1. Secondly, the Libeler produceth certain reasons to show that their religion hindereth not good life, but tendeth to virtue: 1. They teach, that a man by grace may keep the Commandments, whereas we say it is impossible, which is a discouragement to virtue, the other saith he, is an encouragement. Contrà: Nay rather theirs is a desperate doctrine, because we see by experience, that there is not the perfitest man, but offendeth against the law, as Saint james saith, In many things we sin all, jam. 3. 2. and therefore they persuade men, in so teaching, to build upon a false ground, and to deceive their own Popery stirreth not to godliness of life. souls: whereas we teach them, that they must seek their righteousness, not in the obedience of the law, but in the obedience of faith, yet do exhort them, that they walk worthy of their calling: S. Paul thus saying: Not having mine own righteousness, which is by the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, Philip. 3. 9 was not therefore discouraged from virtue, but encouraged, saying, vers. 13. I forget that which is behind, and endeavour myself to that which is before. 2. Whereas we teach, that the motions of the flesh be sinful, though a man consent not unto them, because the law saith, Thou shalt not lust, Rom. 7. 7. they say, they may be occasion of much merit. Which of these will sooner persuade to suppress evil lusts, they that commend them, or they which condemn them, let any reasonable man judge? I am sure the Apostle biddeth us mortify, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the very lust, and rising motions of the heart, not to retain them as a matter of greater merit. 3. They say their confession and satisfaction for the temporal pains of purgatory, the shame of the one, and fear of the other, provoke to the increase of virtue: Is not this like to be a goodly virtue, that is begotten in fear, and for shame of men, to whom they are bound to confess? The Apostle saith, perfect love casteth away fear, 1. joh. 4. 18. We rather exhort men to confess unto God, that seeth the heart, and from whom nothing can be hid, rather than in the cares of the Priest. And as for your purgatory satisfactions, which may be bought out with money, and redeemed with Masses, they do but make men more secure. 4. They hold that no man without special revelation can know whether he be predestinate, and that one in God's grace may fall away. We teach men to be sure of their Certainty of salvation nourisheth virtue. salvation: this doctrine (saith he) breedeth desperate security, the other maketh us with fear and trembling to work our salvation. Contrà. Nay rather he that is sure of his election by faith, thereby is the more encouraged to good works, knowing that he shall not lose his reward: as the Apostle exhorteth 1. Cor. 15. Wherefore beloved brethren be ye steadfast, etc. always abundant in the work of the Lord, for as much as ye know, that your work● is not in vain in the Lord. And the Apostle saith of himself, The Lord will deliver me from every evil work, and preserve me to his heavenly kingdom, 2. Timoth. 4. 18. They then which are sure to be preserved unto life, God will guide them with his spirit, and deliver them from evil works; and they also shall notwithstanding in a godly fear and careful endeavour work their salvation: for the certainty of the end doth not take away the necessity of the means. But chose as S. james saith, The wavering minded man is unstable in all his ways: So that he which is wavering in the hope of salvation, cannot be thoroughly resolved or settled to any good work. Thirdly, the Libeler bringeth in Luther and jacobus Andrea, complaining of greater corruptions, where the Gospel is professed, then in Papatu, in time of Popery: whence he inferreth, that it is not their doctrine, but Caluins and Luther's, that corrupteth good manners. pag. 138. Cont. 1. Though of some particular sins, and of particular places and persons, even where the Gospel is professed, just complaint may be made, yet it followeth not that generally Protestant's manners are worse, than Papists: unless you will say, that because S. Paul●aith ●aith, that there was such fornication among the Corinthians, as was not once named among the Gentiles, that therefore the Gentiles were to be preferred before them. 2. The cause of corruption of manners among Protestants is not the doctrine, but their unthankful receiving of it. As where S. Paul complaineth thus of the Corinthians: I fear when I come again, lest my God abase me among you, and I shall bewail many of them, which have sinned already, and have not repent of the uncleanness, fornication, wantonness, which they have committed, 2. Cor. 12. 21. Was Saint Paul's doctrine (think you) the cause hereof? 3 Against two of our writers that thus complain of Protestants manners, I can produce more than twenty of theirs, that cry out against popish corruptions: and some of them even now we will hear speak in this cause: that it may be evident to all men, that howsoever iniquity in these evil days increaseth both among Protestants & Papists, yet thanks be to God, the Gospel hath brought forth more true godliness, with the comfortable fruits thereof, then ever was to be seen in Popery. Fourthly, this is alleged as an argument to clear their profession from being an hindrance to godly life, because to perfect remission of sins they require three parts of penance, contrition, confession, satisfaction. pag. 139. Cont. These three we acknowledge, being Popish penance no true reap tance. understood according to the Scriptures, are necessary in every true penitent person: inward sorrow and contrition, with a full purpose to amend the life; confession to God, and to the congregation publicly offended; satisfaction not to God, but to our neighbours for injuries committed: but as these three are taught and required in Popery, they do but make hypocrites, they work not true conversion. 1. If contrition do proceed in part from man's free will: if it be not necessary to have a resolute and express purpose of newness of life: if it must be perfect: if it bring not assurance of remission of sins: if it must be a means to justify us: if a man must look to merit by it: if it be not necessary for small fences as well as great: all which positions our adversaries do hold; as may be seen at large Synops. pag. 633. to pag. 640: how is it possible for a man by the popish doctrine to attain to true contrition, which must take beginning in his own free will, and end to his own praise, in seeking to merit by it? 2. So likewise, to confess upon pain of damnation all sins, never so secret, whether they be committed in mind, heart, will, cogitation only, or in word and work: and to none but to the Priest: to get absolution at his hands, and to merit by it: and no oftener but once in the year, as the Papists teach: look Synops. from pag. 640. to 650. who seeth not how far this is from true confession, which should be principally made to God, not yearly but daily, and in humility, not in a self-love of meriting by it? 3. Concerning popish satisfaction, to teach, that God must be satisfied by our penal works, for the punishment due to our sins: that the Priest is to that end to enjoin penance: and that it is in the power of the pastors of the Church to remit the temporal punishment: and to apply the merits of Saints, and grant Indulgences: all which the popish Divines do hold and teach, Synops. pag. 667. 655. What a miserable and comfortless satisfaction is this? which must be wrought by ourselves: whereas we are not able to answer one thing of a thousand, job. 9 3. and wherein we must look for our release and indulgence from men: where the Scripture saith of God not of men, I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and I will remember their sins no more, Heb. 8. 12. I trust it doth already sufficiently appear, that there is no untruth uttered at all, in charging the popish religion to be an hinderer of good life: but that we may be yet more fully cleared, I will further avouch the same: 1. by propounding some choice points of their holy doctrine. 2. by producing some examples of their holy professors. 3. by the testimony of some of their own writers. 1. First, your doctrine of purgatory pains, which you say may be eased and released by the prayers of the living, and especially by the soul Priests, and Masses of Requiem: as it is an engine to to draw advantage to your purses, so it breedeth carnal security in men's souls, especially in such as are rich, who think to leave behind them enough, howsoever they live in the mean time, to maintain a Priest to sing for their souls: and therefore one of your own Doctors saith: In hoc solo casu melior est conditio divitis quam pauperis, quia habet unde suffragia fiant pro ipso: In this case only the estate of the rich is better than the poor, because he Popish doctrine breedeth security. hath wherewith all Suffrages should be made: Albert mag. de office Miss. tract. 3. 2. Your doctrine in prohibiting and restraining of marriage to your Clergy, how it helpeth to holiness of life, Bernard well showeth: Tolle de ecclesia honorabile coniugium, & thorum im●aculatum, ●onne reples ●●●●concubinarijs, incestuosis, seminifluis, mollibus, masculorum concubitoribus: Take away from the Church honourable marriage and the bed undefiled, shall you not fill the same with fornicators, incestuous, unclean, effeminate persons, etc. Cantic.▪ serm. 66. how well these effects have followed in popish single life, they which have written of their Votaries, have sufficiently declared. 3. The popish doctrine of Pardons and Indulgences, that it is in the power of the pastors of the Church to release à poena & culpa, for days, months, years, is in all men's judgements an open door to all carnal liberty: as the Pardoners of Leo 10. did proclaim, that for ten shillings any man should deliver a soul out of purgatory at his pleasure: ex Christian. Massaeo libr. 20. Of this abuse some while ago great complaint was made: Quaestuarij praedicatores quaedam brevia habent, quae in singulis parochijs relinquunt, in quibus continentur tot indulgentiae, quod mirantur viri boni si de conscientia Papae potuerunt illae concedi: The preaching Pardoners leave briefs in every parish, wherein are contained so many Indulgences, that good men marvel, that ever they could be granted with the Pope's knowledge: Opuscul. tripartit. libr. 3. cap. 8. 4. They hold that the Sacraments do give grace, ex opere operato, by the work wrought, and that the faith of the receiver giveth no efficacy to the Sacrament: Bellarm. libr. 2. de Sacram. cap. 1. 5. They also teach that the wicked do eat in the Sacrament the very body of Christ: Rhemist. 1. Cor. 11. sect. 26. Do not these doctrines now tend to great holiness and devotion: whereby men are made careless to examine themselves, and to be prepared by faith to receive the Sacraments, & wicked men are made more secure, seeing they are borne in hand, that being as they are, they may be made partakers of Christ's body? 6. A carnal doctrine also it is, that men may do more than is prescribed, and of their Carnal doctrine of Popery. abundance may allot unto others such works of supererogation: Rhem. 1. Cor. 9 sect. 6. 2. Cor. 8. sect. 3. For by this means men are made secure to labour for themselves, depending upon other men's superabundant works. But they in so thinking are deceived: for every man shall answer for himself, one cannot save another's soul: Ezech. 14. 20. Though Noah, Daniel and job were in the midst, etc. as I live saith the Lord, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter. Upon which words Origen thus writeth: unusquisque in proprio peccato morietur, & in propria justitia vivet, nihil mihi conducit martyr pater, si male vixero: Every man shall die in his own sin, and live in his own righteousness: my father a Martyr shall not profit me, if I live evil. By these particular points of popish doctrine I trust it is clear, that it is not falsely charged to be a breeder of carnal security. Secondly, if the popish religion be such a Pope's examples of loose living. nourisher of virtue and holiness, where is it more likely to be found then in their holy father the Pope, and in that holy chair? let us therefore take a little view of their holy lives. Some of them have been Sorcerers and Necromancers: as Silvester 2. a Platina. Benedict 9 b Benno. Gregor. 7. c Sleidano. Paulus 3. with others. Some were blasphemers, as john 12. did use to call upon the devil at dice, and to drink to him. julius 3. calling for his pork, which the Physicians forbade him, give it me (saith he) Ex Baleo. all dispetto de Dio, in despite of God. Some of them thieves & robbers: john 18. as Platina saith, in pontificatu fuit fur & latro, was in his Popedom a thief and a robber. Some murderers: as d Theodor. Niem. Vrban. 6. that put some of his Cardinals into sacks and drowned them. e Conc. Constant. john 23. the cause of the death of Alexander 5. f Raphael. Volateran. Sixtus 4. sent to Florence to slay the Medicees. g Vergerius. Paulus 3. caused his sister and mother to be slain, that he might have the whole inheritance. In h ●nuphrius. Alexander the 6. time, Roma carnificina facta, Rome was made a shambles. Some of them were adulterous and incestuous Histor. Florentin. Guic●iardin. Sleidano. Agrip. de le●ocin. persons: as Clemens 5. john 23. Alexander 6. julius 2. and julius 3. Paulus 3. Sixtus the 4. as witness they which have written of their acts and lives. Such as these holy fathers were, such are their children. In Italy and at Rome, the name of Christian, is used as a name of reproach, to signify a dolt or a fool: Christian. Franch. collat. jesuit. in fine: such holiness and devotion is to be seen under the Pope's nose. These are your filthy Doctors (sir Detector) more filthy and unclean yourself, if your life and name were known, than he whom you do so ungodly blaspheme. In the third place, let us hear their own writers speak. Against jacobus Andreae alleged by the Libeler, I will set joannes Andreae, one of their Canonists: Roma fundata fuit à praedonib. & adhuc de prim●rdijs tenet, data In sexto de elect. fundament. in gloss. Roma quasi rodens manus, etc. Rome was founded by thieves, and yet still savoureth of her beginning, being called Rome, as biting one by the hands. Budaeus: Sanctiones pontificiae non moribus regendis usui sunt, sed propemodum dixerim Argentariae faciendae authoritatem videntur accommodare: Popish writers complain of their own corruptions. The Pope's Canons serve not now to guide men's lives, but they serve rather to make a bank to get money. in Pandect. Vrspergens. in the story of the Council of Constance: Spiritum extinguebant, propheticas aspernabantur, Christum in membris suis persequebantur, eratque plane persecutrix ecclesia: They did extinguish the spirit, defy the voices of the Prophets, persecute Christ in his members, and the Church became altogether a persecutor: Paralipomen. Vrspergens. pag. 396. Aeneas Silvius: Refriguit charitas, & fides omnis interijt: Charity is waxen cold, and all faith is dead: Epistol. ad Caspar. Schlickium. Nicholaus Cusanus a Cardinal thus saith: Si recte respicimus, omnis religio Christiana paucis dempta, degeneravit in apparentiam: If ye mark well, all Christian religion excepting a few, is degenerated to an outward appearance: excitation. lib. 9 Bishop of Bitonto: Quibus turpitudinum monstris, qua sordium collwie, qua pest non sunt foedati in ecclesia sancta, populus & sacerdos: With what monsters of filthiness, with what vile uncleanness, with what pestilence be they not corrupted in the holy Church both priest and people? in Concil. Tridentin. Another thus complaineth: O nos miseros, qui Christiani dicimur, gentes agimus sub nomine Christi: Miserable are we, which are called Christians, and under the name of Christ play the Gentiles: Francisc. Zephyrin. in Apologetic. Tertullian. Cheregatus the Popes Legate, thus pronounced at the assembly of Norinberge: A sacerdotibus iniquitatem populi dimanare, multis nunc annis graviter, multisque modis peccatum esse Romae, & inde à pontificio culmine malum hoc atque luem, ad inferiores omnes ecclesiarum praefectos defluxisse: That the iniquity of the people doth flow from the Priests, that these many years there have been great and many sins committed at Rome, that this plague is descended from the high throne of the Bishop to all inferior governors of the Church: Sleidan. lib. 4 ann. 1523. Many such testimonies might be brought from their own writers, who have complained of the corrupt manners of all degrees in the Roman Church. I think now that we have been meetly even with this Sophister, who seemeth to have taken extraordinary pains, according to his simple skill, to hide the filthiness of his mother, but all in vain. Every man that hath been at Rome, can be an eye witness of their abominations. Franciscus Petrarch saith, that Rome is the whore of Babylon, the mother of idolatry and fornication, and saith, that all shame and reverence is quite departed thence: Cantilen. 92. Baptista Mantuanus hath these verses of Rome: Vivere qui sancte vultis, discedite Roma, Omnia cum liceant non licet esse bonum. All that will live godly from Rome be packing, all things are there lawful, only it is not lawful to be good. May we not now say of Rome as the Lacedæmonians of Athens? one saith, The Athenians know what is right, but they do it not. Another being asked of Athens, said, Omnia ibi pulchra: All things there were very fair and good: because nothing was counted unhonest. Or as Eudamides said to one that commended Athens: that that city could not be well praised, quam nemo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. ideo laudat, quod ibi factus sit melior, which no man therefore commendeth, for that he became a better man there. Thus we may judge by the fruits what manner of religion popery is: neither that it is any slander at all, to call it an enemy to true virtue and godliness, and a mother of hypocrisy, as their own writers do plentifully witness. The eleventh Slander. SYnops. pag. 908. Saul was never truly just nor righteous: and judas when he was in his holiest course was but a thief and an hypocrite: as the Scripture testifieth: notable lies, saith the Libeler. pag. 141. The Defence. FIrst, to prove Saul to have been a good man, this text is alleged, 1. Sam. 9 2. Saul erat electus & bonus, etc. Saul an elect and good man, and none of the children of Israel better than he. Answ. 1. The word translated elect in the vulgar Latin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bachur, Pagnine interpreteth a young man, and so is the word, bechurim, youth, taken, Ecclesiast. 12. 1. and so expounded in the vulgar Latin: the meaning than is that Saul was an elect or choice young man: the Septuagint read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a goodly great man: the other word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tobh, good, Arias readeth, pulchrior, there was not a fairer man: as it is taken Genes. 6. The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair, the word is toboth, good: but they were not very good in respect of true goodness: and in this place the vulgar Latin also readeth, pulchra, they were fair: it might have pleased the translator to have retained the same word here. The text than meaneth, that Saul was a goodly fair man for his body and stature: as the next words do show, from the shoulders upward he was higher than any of the people: for otherwise, if it be understood of true goodness, he should be preferred before all the godly then living, yea before Samuel. The Libeler was not well advised to allege this text, whereby he doth but display and lay open his ignorance in the text, and blindness in the true sense thereof. And further, that Saul was not truly just Saul never truly just. before God, it appeareth by that Samuel saith, 1. Sam. 13. 14. The Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart; that is David: Saul then was not a man after Gods own heart. Secondly, Hierome (saith the Detector) lib. 3. advers. Pelagian. proveth that judas was once just by these words of our Saviour, joh. 17. 12. Whom thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them perished but the son of perdition. Cont. 1. He should have done well to have alleged Hieromes words, seeing that book judas never but an hypocrite. is long and not distinguished into chapters: but he showeth himself as well seen here in Hierome, as before in the Scripture. The contrary elsewhere may be gathered out of Hierome, as where he thus writeth to Hedibia quaest. 10. Deus non saluat irrationabiliter & absque judicij veritate, sed praecedentibus causis, quia alij non susceperunt filium Dei, alij sponte sua susceperunt: God doth not save without reason, or true judgement, but by causes going before, because some received not the son of God, some willingly received him. Therefore because judas was not saved, he did not receive Christ truly, or aright believe in him. 2. Augustine out of this Scripture concludeth the contrary, that judas was a reprobate: Filius perditionis dictus est traditor Christi, perditioni praedestinatus: The betrayer of Christ is called the son of perdition, because he was predestinate to perdition: tract. ●07. in joann. If he were a reprobate from the beginning, he was never a right good man in deed. 3. That judas in his holiest course was but an hypocrite & a thief, the Scripture testifieth, joh. 6. 70. Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? This was spoken, long before judas betrayed Christ, when he was newly chosen, and daily conversant with Christ, and did the office of an Apostle with the rest. When was he holier in show then while he walked with Christ, preached with the rest, and wrought miracles? but even than he was a devil: and when he sat with Christ at the table, and dipped his hand with him in the platter, and as Origen thinketh, was admitted ad mensam corporis Christi, to the table of Christ's body: tract. 35. in Math. yet even then and before he was a thief, joh. 12. 6. 4. I will conclude with that testimony out of their own Canon, Caus. 2. quaest. 1. c. 6. where Christ is brought in thus speaking of judas: Although he be not yet excluded from you: à me tamen, qui omnia certissime novi separatus & divisus est: yet I that know all things have separated and divided him: et si ego per occulti judicij sententiam damnatum habeo, vos tamen adhuc illum per tolerantiam sustinete: although I by the sentence of my secret judgement hold him condemned, yet you must tolerate him a while. How then was he truly just▪ before God, when he was already separated and condemned in the judgement of Christ? Now sir (Detector) let the Reader judge, whose mouth hath now ran over: such lips such lettuce, we present you your berries as a fit dish for your tooth: & the lies, which you have here forged, as counterfeit stuff we return to your own shop. These are your proper colours: such slanderous spirits most of your sect are led by. One may say of you, as Leo●●●hidas of Demaratus sons that spoke evil of him: Non miror, bene enim eorum nemo loqui potest: I marvel not at it, for none of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. them can speak well. Bernard's counsel had been good to such swift tongues: Modicum membrum lingua, sed nisi caveas, magnum malum, facile volat atque▪ ideo facile violat charitatem: The tongue a little member, but worketh great mischief, it flieth fast, but of charity soon maketh waste: serm. de triplic. custod. The twelfth Slander. HEre the Libeler objecteth four untruths together: 1. That Bellarmine is at variance with himself, in one place making the Pope the chief judge of all controversies, in another the Pope with the Cardinals: which both may well stand together without any variance. 2. That it is affirmed, that Bellarmine for exposition of Scripture referreth us to the Fathers of the Church, whereof he maketh no mention at all. 3. False also that he referreth us from general Counsels to the Pope and Cardinals. 4. False also, that he maketh mention of Cardinals, of whom he saith nothing. The Defence. 1. whether there be not variance and diversity in these two places of Bellarmine, one while to make the Pope judge, another while to join the Cardinals with him, as though he were not sufficient without them: for why else are they joined with him? I leave it to the Readers judgement: it is not a matter worthy to be contended about: and I am ashamed to spend time in such frivolous stuff, but that a brabbler must be answered. 2. For the other three points, they are not first of my devising: that worthy professor Master whitaker's, doth so collect Bellarmine's sense, contr. 1. quaest. 5. cap. 3. And it seemeth to be Bellarmine's meaning altogether (for his words in this place are not by us alleged). First, that we should have recourse to the Fathers for the exposition of the Scripture: for he referreth us to the Council of Trent, sess. 4. which prescribeth, that sense of the Scripture to be followed, which either the Church holdeth, or the joint consent of the Fathers. 3. Bellarmine referreth us to a Council confirmed by the chief pastor, or to the chief pastor, cum concilio aliorum pastorum, with the counsel of other pastors: these two being disjoined, with this disjunctive siue, or, cannot be taken in any good construction for all one: as the Libeler doth insinuate p. 147. But Bellarmine must be expounded by himself, who other where would have appeals made from general Counsels to the Pope, lib. 2. de concilior. authoritat. cap. 17. And so in this place this order is prescribed, that where a Council cannot resolve of doubts, it should be determined by the Pope with his assistance. 4. Though the name Cardinals, be not here expressed in Bellarmine: yet his concilium pastorum, council of pastors, assistants to the Pope, can be no other but the College of Cardinals: 1. For if he did mean any other Council, it were a vain repetition of the same thing, to say, a Council confirmed by the chief pastor, or, the chief pastor with a council. 2. It seemeth to be such a council, as is always ready at hand: so is no other council but of the Cardinals, that are always resiant in Rome. 3. Whereas the last revolution of matters is to the Apostolic sea, distinct. 20. ●. 1. By the sea Apostolic they understand not the Pope only, sed concilium illud, quo pontifex utitur, but that council also which the Pope useth in deciding of matters. Alphons. lib. 1. cont. haeres. cap. 8. 5. Lastly, Bellarmine's meaning must be such as is affirmed, to refer us for the interpretation of Scripture first to the Fathers, then to a Council, in the last place to the Pope's Consistory, or else he differeth from their own Canons, which prescribe this course to be observed: first, whereas the solution cannot be found, ad divina recurre scripta Graeca, have recourse to the Scriptures in Greek: than Canon's Apostolicae sedis intuere, look into the Canons of the Apostolic sea: then manum mitte ad historias à catholicis doctoribus scriptas, take into your hand the histories written by Catholic Doctors, etc. if this will not serve, Seniores provinciae congrega, gather the Elders of the province. This Canon sendeth us first to the Fathers, then to Council: distinct. 20. cap. 3. and in the 1. canon. Last of all, ad Apostolicam sedem referendum, it must be referred to the Apostolic sea. Now, let the Libeler know, that here is neither shameless lying, nor falsification committed by the defender, unless he will make Bellarmine to speak absurdly and contrary to the Canons, or unless he will revile the dead, that are in blessed rest: who though he can speak well of few alive, yet I trust he will spare the dead: unless he be more impudent than that railer, of whom Pleistarchus thus said, when he heard he commended him: Certainly, saith he, credebat me mortuum, he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. thought I was dead, for he can speak well of none alive. As for your unchristian and scornful railings, which bewray a corrupt heart and unclean mouth, I no more regard it, than the croaking of frogs: as Hierome writeth of Blesilla: Blesilla nostra ridebit, nec dignabitur loquacium ranarum audire convitia, cum Dominus eius dictus sit Beelzebub: our Blesilla will smile, nor vouchsafe to regard the railings of croaking frogs, seeing her Lord was called Beelzebub: ad Marcel. The thirteenth Slander. TWo falsifications are here noted, that Bellarmine should say, Antichrist shall be 1 verily of the tribe of Dan, and that, he confuteth 2 that opinion in the same place, libr. 3. the Roman. pontiff. cap. 12. whereas he would bear us in hand that Bellarmine doth neither. The Defence. FIrst, that Bellarmine showeth divers reasons, why Antichrist is no● like to come of the tribe of Dan, and confuteth that opinion; it is thus showed: That whereas that opinion is grounded upon three texts of scripture, Genes. 49. 17. Dan shall be a Serpent by the way, biting the horse heels. jerem. 8. 16. The neighing of horses is heard from Dan. Apocal. 7. Twelve thousand are reckoned up of every tribe, Dan is left out, because Antichrist should come of that tribe. Bellarmine doth thus answer to all these places: in the first he understandeth Samson, in the second Nabuchadnezzar, in the third Ephraim he saith is left out as well as Dan: and so he taketh away the grounds of that opinion: what is this else but to confute it, and bring reasons against it, in answering of their reasons, and annihilating the testimonies of Scripture, without the which that opinion hath no show of probability at all? Neither is it affirmed that he bringeth reasons to show certainly he shall not be of the tribe of Dan, but that it is not likely. And I pray you, in like sort, whereas you allege divers places of Scripture to prove the supremacy of Peter, and his successors, he that should answer all those places, and show reasons, that they are otherwise to be taken (as Bellarmine doth here) would ye not say, that he confuted that opinion, and brought reasons against it? Secondly, where Bellarmine saith, Sine dubio Antichristus licet verè sit de tribu Dan, finget se esse de familia David: Without doubt Antichrist, although he be verily of the tribe of Dan, shall feign himself to be of the family of David. Doth he not seem here to think that Antichrist shall be of Dan? 1. If he speak according to the opinion of others, he should have said, licet esset, though he should be, and needed not to have put in verily: and if he be not of Dan, why saith he, finget, he shall feign himself to be of the family of David? for in case he be not verily of Dan, he should not need so to feign. What then, though Bellarmine's words be reported thus, Antichristus verè erit de tribu Dan, Antichrist verily shall be of the tribe of Dan: here is no falsification, because Bellarmine's sense is kept: licet, though, was omitted, because it would have been but a broken sentence so beginning, unless the whole had been alleged, which had been too long and tedious, where brevity is intended: and, where for, sit, be, erit, shall be, is read, is it not plain that Bellarmine speaketh not of the time present, but of the time to come, when Antichrist should be revealed? for neither he nor they think, that he is yet come. And further, if ye think that Bellarmine is not of this opinion, that Antichrist shall come of Dan, you will set him, and your Doctors of Rheims together by the ears, that so affirm, 2. Thess. 2. sect. 8. We are not then falsifiers, but ye are cavillers, that catch at words and syllables. I may say to this carper, as Cleomenes said to the Argives: Miror 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. si duarum syllabarum additio vos meliores facit: I marvel if the gaining of two syllables (in this word licet) will make him an honester man. As for your shameless words of lying and corruption, he belieth him, falsifieth his words: we regard them not, your mouth is no slander: neither pass we to be judged of such men: but this is our comfort, as Hierome saith, Aliter livor, aliter Christus judicat, non eadem est sententia tribunalis eius & anguli susurronum: Malice judgeth one way, Christ another, there is not the same sentence of his throne, and of backbiters in corners: ad virgin. Hermonens. Thus hath the Libeler finished the first chapter of his learned treatise: he promiseth great matters in the rest of his Libel: but he will serve his reader, as Philip did his fellow guests, who to save his hosts credit when provision failed, bid them reserve their stomachs for the dainties, and so they rose an hungered: for take away the railings, sophistications, cavils, slanders, which are the flowers of this Libel, little else will remain. As a certain Lacedaemonian said of the Nightingale, that it was nothing but a voice: so the Libeler hath nothing but scoffs, lies and brags: And as Theodorus was wont to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. say, that he did with the right hand deliver his orations, the hearers did receive them with the left: so this caviller with a sinister eye doth examine, what was without malice or fraud first uttered: It is an easy matter to pick quarrels, and take exceptions against any man's works. The Libeler should rather have showed himself, and entered into the lists, and handled some controversy of religion, and taken upon him to confute SYNOPSIS, which he carpeth at. But as one said to Philip when he had overcome and destroyed Olynthus, that he could not build such a city again: so I think it would appose this Sophister and trouble his wit, to set such another book by it, as that which he seeketh so much to disgrace. But I will proceed to examine the rest of his accusations, not fearing any thing which he can object. THE SECOND CHAPTER OF supposed Contradictions. The 1. Contradiction. HEre the Libeler objecteth: 1. That Bellarmine is falsified to say, that the spirit of God is witness unto us, that the Scriptures are the word of God. pag. 154. 2. That the Scriptures themselves are witnesses, which words uttered by Bellarmine, show a far different meaning, saith he. p. 155. 3. Another untruth is noted, that Bellarmine should make no mention of the Church, to be a probation unto us of the Scriptures. pag. 156. 4. A contradiction is noted, because it is confessed that Bellarmine should say, that we are not bound to take the Scriptures for the word of God, without the authority of the Church. pag. 148. The Reconciliation. 1. FIrst, what difference I pray you, to say God himself is a witness to us, and the spirit of God is a witness (for this is one exception which the libeler taketh) is not the spirit of God, God? And think you, that when Bellarmine said, God himself is witness, he excluded the spirit? As though the inspiration, interpretation, protection and preservation of the Scriptures be not the work of the spirit of God? 2. Timoth. 3. 16. 2. Pet. 1. 21. Yea but Bellarmine saith in another sense, that God is a witness, not by the inward testimony of his spirit, but by defending the scripture from human profanation by heavenly punishment. Libel. pag. 154. Cont. 1. Is this a good consequent I pray you? God beareth witness to the Scripture sometime by taking vengeance: Ergo, not by the inward testimony of his spirit. Sir Sophister, if your Logic had not here failed you, you would not have made so slender a collection: for whereas Bellarmine maketh the great number of miracles the fifth witness; doth not the Scripture say, Hebr. 2. 3. God bearing witness thereto with signs and wonders and divers miracles? God then is not a witness only by punishments, but by signs and miracles. 2. Bellarmine himself saith afterward in the same chapter: Non omnes per internum afflatum Deus docet, etc. sed per corporales literas, quas legeremus & cerneremus, erudire nos voluit: God teacheth not all by inward inspiration, etc. but by corporal letters, which we should read and see, he would instruct us. We also refuse immediate revelations and inspirations: but God by the lection and inspection of the Scriptures doth instruct us. God then doth use the Scriptures themselves as means of this spiritual instruction, which is the inward testimony of God's spirit, by our outward reading and hearing of the Scripture, inwardly witnessing the truth thereof unto us: how much I pray you differ we now? 3. Whereas Bellarmine maketh these the witnesses of Scripture: first, the truth of the prophecies: secondly, the agreement of the holy writers: thirdly, God himself: fourthly, the perpetual truth of the Scriptures: may it not well be gathered hereupon, that Bellarmine thinketh, that God inwardly working in our hearts by the Scriptures themselves, which we find to be most perfect, consonant, true, doth teach us which is the word of God: for I pray you, who maketh us to acknowledge the Scriptures, by the truth, harmony, constancy thereof? doth not the spirit of God by these means moving and persuading the heart? Bellarmine then is not slandered at all, when it is affirmed, that in this place, he holdeth as we do concerning the means, how to know the Canonical Scriptures: for we also teach, that the Scriptures by no foreign or extrinsical means, but from themselves, the verity, harmony, holiness thereof, (the spirit of God hereby working in our hearts) are known to be the word of God. 2. Secondly, let it be seen whether in a different sense Bellarmine and we in this place (for I deal no further) do make the Scriptures witnesses to themselves. These are his words: Fourthly, the Scripture itself is witness, whose prophecies, if they were true of things to come, why should not the testimonies of things present be true? The Scripture than beareth witness to itself by the constant and perpetual truth thereof: what other thing do we say, but that the Scripture from itself doth prove itself, by the truth, constancy, majesty thereof, to be the word of God. 3. Thirdly, Bellarmine maketh here no mention of the Church, among these five witnesses: 1. The truth of prophecies. 2. The consent of the holy writers. 3. God himself, etc. 4. The Scripture itself. 5. Postremò testis est, etc. Lastly is witness the infinite number of miracles. Now I pray you (sir Caviller) is here any mention made of the Church? your dealing is too childish to send us to other places for Bellarmine's judgement: I know him to be elsewhere corrupt enough, I only urge his testimony against himself in this place. 4. Fourthly, so is your supposed contradiction also reconciled: for to say that Bellarmine in this place, among these five witnesses, maketh no mention of the Church, and that otherwhere he would have the Scriptures depend upon the authority of the Church, is no contradiction in him that noteth this diversity, but in Bellarmine, that varieth from himself. But now somewhat to answer to your blasphemous railings: as pag. 154. God may punish him for such tricks of falsification, tending to the seducing and utter subversion of silly souls, etc. I say rather with S. Paul, God shall smite thee thou painted wall, Act. 23. 3. God will judge all such hypocrites in his time, as make no conscience to slander and revile the members of Christ. And if God do sometime give witness to the Scriptures, as most true it is, by punishing them, that profane or blaspheme them, then how shall your popish writers escape unpunished, that have not been ashamed, thus unreverently to speak of the Scriptures? Hosius saith it is egenum quoddam elementum, a beggarly element: ex Nicol. Gall. Lodovicus saith, Scriptura est quasi mortuum atramentum: The Scripture is as dead ink: Illyric. in vorm. council. The Bishop of Poicters, Scriptura estres inanimis & muta, The Scripture is a dumb and dead thing: Sleidan. lib. 23. Eckius calleth it, evangelium nigrum, & Theologiam atramentariam, A black Gospel, and inky Divinity: Kemnit. pag. 23. Pigghius, Sunt velut nasus cereus, The Scriptures are as a nose of wax: Hierar: libr. 3. cap. 3. And that the children may fill up the iniquity of their fathers, of late this present year 1602. in a certain colloquy at Ratisbone between the Divines of Witemberge, and certain Jesuits: one jacobus Gretserus a jesuit uttered this horrible blasphemy of the Scriptures: A great blasphemy against the spirit of God and the Scriptures. Spiritum sanctum per scripturas loquentem non posse esse indicem controversiarum: That the spirit of God speaking by the Scripture, can not be judge of controversies. And added further: St potest me spiritus sanctus condemnare per hanc scripturam, age faciat, veniat, & dicat, jacobe Gretsere tu erras, & statim transibo ad scamnum vestrum: If the spirit of God can condemn me by this scripture, go to, let him come, and say, thou jacob Gretsere art in an error, and I will strait way go unto your side: ex Egid. Hunnio. If the Lord were not a most gracious and long suffering God, we might wonder, how such blasphemers could go unpunished. God's bountifulness (as the Apostle saith, Rom. 2. 4.) leadeth them to repentance: which God send them, if they belong unto him, that they may repent them of their blasphemies toward God, and their slanders against men: otherwise their judgement sleepeth not, but shall be revealed in time. For as Ambrose saith: Si pro otioso verbo ratio poscitur, quanto magis pro sermone impietatis poena exoluitur: If account shall be rendered for an idle word, how much more for wicked speech shall punishment be inflicted? Bias said to a certain lewd man, He feared 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. not lest he should not be punished, but lest he should not see it. But we, as we fear their punishment in the end; so we desire not to see it, but pray for their repentance and amendment. The 2. Contradiction. SYnops. p. 263. it is affirmed, that marriage was lawful for all men, until Pope Nicholas the 2. and yet in the same page it is said, that Gregory the 1. enjoined his Clergy to live single: and pag. 266. the injunction of single life first proceeded from Siricius: which two were long before Nicholas 2. Alexander 2. or Gregory the 7. who began by public decree to restrain Ministers marriage. The Reconciliation. FIrst, here is no contradiction at all, if these words may find a favourable interpreter: for notwithstanding that divers decrees were made before to restrain Ministers marriage, and some attempted to impose single life, yet till a thousand years after Christ, there was not a general and constant restraint of such marriage. 1. Siricius indeed began first to inhibit the marriage of Priests, about anno 428. yet after him succeeded Silverius son of Hormisda, who was also Bishop of Rome ann. 534 ex Caranz. Concil. sum. 2. Before this in the Nicene Council they would have enjoined single life to the Clergy, but that by the wise advice of Paphnutius the Synod altered their minds. Sozomen. lib. 1. c. 11. Socrat. lib. 1. cap. 11. 3. Gregory 1. though at the first he liked well of single life, yet seeing the inconvenience thereof, when in his mote or pond many children's heads were found, he then altering his mind, confessed with S. Paul, that it was better to marry then to burn: ex epistol. Hulderic. ad Nicolaum Papam. This Gregory Gratian. distinct. 56. cap. 2. Caranza. lived anno 603. yet after him anno 636. came Theodorus Bishop of Rome the son of Theodorus a Bishop: so that we see that all this while, the restraint of Clergiemens marriage was not received generally as a law, necessarily to bind, till the time before expressed. Secondly, whereas the Council of Neocesaria and second of Carthage are objected, that forbid the marriage of Ministers: I answer, that sometime it was decreed against, and sometime decreed with: as Concil. Ancyran. can. 10. Gangrenes. c. 4. which see at large, Synops. pag. 265. and that all degrees of the Clergy might take them wines, until this general restraint, it is there further declared p. 269. to the which places I refer the Reader. Neither need I to spend much time in ●ifting the authorities of Counsels, having to deal with a man utterly ignorant in them, which receiveth them but at the second hand: as it may appear for that, whereas the 37. canon of the African Council, is thus translated: Placuit Episcopos, etc. uxoribus abstinere: It pleaseth us, that Bishops, Priests, Deacons abstain from their wives: he chargeth the translator very simply and ignorantly with corruption, because he ●aith their wives: for it is evident that this Canon enjoineth abstinence from their own wives, as it may appear by the 5. Carthage Council 3. from whence this Canon is taken word forword, as it is alleged by Gratian. dist. 85. cap. 4. Cum de quorundam Clericorum quamuis erga uxores proprias incontinentia referatur: For as much as report is made to us of the incontinency of Clergy men though toward their own wives. Then follow the very same words; It pleaseth us, that Bishops etc. abstain from their wives: for whose wives I pray you doth the Council mean but their own? Thirdly, the Libeler, because Pope Gregory the 7. is said to be a notable sorcerer and adulterer, chargeth him, that so writeth, to be a notable liar: and further saith, that generally all the historiographers of that time, did highly commend him: as Anselmus, Marianus Scotus, Guitmundus, etc. Contrà. What two or three which were partially affected to the Pope, might write in Gregory the 7. no good man. praise of him, it is not much to be weighed: for these three, that are said to witness with him (and yet are they but dumb witnesses, speaking nothing, but only named) we can produce thrice three, that discommend him. Sabellicus and Blondus do describe his great insolence, when he suffered the Emperor in hard frost, with bare legs to wait at his gate three days, Sab ellic. Enead. 9 lib. 3. Blond. decad. 2. lib. 3. Benno Cardinal saith, he poisoned six Popes, that he was a conjuror, a raiser of Devils, and in his rage cast the Sacrament into the fire. Anselmus Rid, whom we set against your Anselm, noteth his sedition, saying, that in the time of his Popedom, both the temporal and Ecclesiastical jurisdiction was shaken and broken, with infinite miseries. Sigebertus Gemblacens. saith, that he troubled the states of Christendom, discharged the subjects from their oath of fealty: Sigeber. anno 1074. Lambertus Scaphnaburg. reporteth, that the Clergy held him to be an heretic, & vesani dogmatis, and of wicked doctrine. Nauclerus: The Clergy said, that he had defiled the See Apostolic with Simony, Heresy, Murder, Adultery, that he was an Apostata: Naucler. general. 26. The Council of Brixia called him, a disturber of the Empire, a subverter of the Church: Vrspergens. anno 1082. The Council of Worms, that he was spotted with many perjuries. Yea, what need we any other witness, when he confessed to one of his Cardinals in his sickness, that he had foully abused his pastoral office, that he had troubled mankind with malice and mischief by the procurement and counsel of the Devil: Sigebert. anno 1085. If then a murderer, adulterer, sorcerer, heretic, Apostata, if a seditious, perjured person be a good man, then may you count Pope Hildebrand in the number. Now we may see how shameless these men are, to call so evident an history a lie: and to count a wicked man holy and blessed, not remembering how the Prophet crieth woe against those, that speak good of evil, and evil of good. Esay. 5. 20. Fourthly, with the like boldness he calleth that of Gregory a fabulous tale, that 6000. children's heads were found in his fishpond or moat, pag. 160. yet it is extant in the epistle of Huldericus Bishop of Augusta, sent to Pope Nicolas 2. which epistle is alleged by Aeneas Silvius, who was afterward Bishop of Rome: in descript. German. The same epistle written in parchment, in an old hand, of good record, Bishop ●ewel of worthy memory testifieth, that he had seen, defence. Apolog. pag. 237. and Master Fox also that painful and godly man saith, he had seen an old copy of the said epistle sent by master Bale to the Bishop of Canterbury, Fox pag. 1154. Of the said epistle also Illyric. maketh mention, in Catalogue. and Melancthon lib. 1. de coniug. And yet for all this the Libeler would bear us in hand, that the epistle is forged, and the rest but a tale. Lastly, that Hildebrand and his fellow Popes about that time did first make a general restraint of Priest's marriage, when marriage began by a public law to be restrained, it is evident out of Aventinus: he condemned such as were married for Nicolaitans, and directed his special letters to O. though Bishop of Constance to separate such as were married, and forbid the rest to marry: but that good Bishop resisted the Pope's proceedings and would not obey. And in the Council of Brixia this is alleged as one cause why they deposed Hildsbrand, for that he caused divorcements and separations amongst the married: ex Vrspergens. To say then, that marriage was first generally inhibited to the Clergy not till a thousand years after Christ, and yet to grant that it might be for sometime restrained before, by particular acts of some persons and places, I hope is no contradiction: What cause then had this caviller, to follow with open cry, a shameless untruth, lies and mad tricks, when as more truly these opprobries do rebound upon his own head? I may liken him to the Lamia in Plutarch, that is feigned to sit blind at home, Libr. de curiositat. laying aside her eyes into some corner, and putting of them on again when she goeth forth: so playeth this companion, he is sharp sighted abroad in looking upon other, and blind in his own house, he cannot see himself. Hierome could have told him: Non facilis est venia prava dixisse de rectis: It is not a fault easily pardoned to speak evil of the right. Hieron. Asellae. The 3. Contradiction. BEcause pag. 63. it is said, Telesphorus brought in the Lenten fast, Calixtus Ember fasts, Hyginus chrism, that lived some 14. or 15. hundred year ago: and yet before, these are called erroneous and heretical opinions. The Reconciliation. THe occasion of these words is to be considered, which was to answer Bellarmine and the Rhemists challenge that the authors and beginners of their religion cannot be showed, as they can produce the authors of ours: whereupon, it is declared out of their Pope's decrees, who were the authors of some of their erroneous usages: as Telesphorus, Calixtus, Hyginus brought in Lent, Ember fasts, Chrism: which is affirmed, not ex sententia scriptoris, of the sentence of the writer, but ex confessione adversarij, by the confession of the adversary: for they themselves do ascribe the beginning of these usages to these ancient Bishops, which their confession, is a good argument against themselves. And that this is the writer's meaning, it is evident, by comparing with this place, that which is handled of this matter in Tetrastyl. pill. 1. part. 3. where all these decrees of Telesphorus, Hyginus, Calixtus are proved to be forged. Telesphorus decree beareth date, when Antoninus and Marcus were Consuls, who were never together in that office. Hyginus epistles are dated, when Camerinus and Magnus were Consuls, which was never. Calixtus 2. epistle confuteth the error of Novatus, that did spring up long after. Other reasons are there showed, why the decrees which go under their name are thought not to be theirs: loc. 15. 16. 21. Thus then is this contradiction healed, that notwithstanding any thing here said: these may be erroneous usages, for all these forged authors: whom although you allege as patroves of great antiquity, yet we think your superstitious observations are nothing so ancient, and confess with D. Sutclife: We shall not find, where the Church of Christ hath enjoined Christians to fast Lent, and Ember days, and vigils of Saints: which the Libeler noteth pag. 24. as an apparent difference between that learned writer, and the other whom he impugneth. I say then to this brabbler, as Eudamidas to a certain Fiddler: Magnus delinitor in re exigua: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. He made a great piece of work of nothing. So hath this Carper fiddled unto us with a loud sound a matter not worth the whistling: he should have done much better to have followed Ambrose counsel; Solliciti esse debemus, ne quid temere vel incuriosè geramus, aut quicquam cuius non possimus probabilem reddere rationem: actus enim nostri causa, etsi non omnibus redditur, ab omnibus tamen examinatur: We must be careful, that we do nothing rashly or carelessly, whereof we can not give a probable reason: the cause of our acts, though it be not rendered to all, yet it is examined of all: lib. office 1. cap. 47. The 4. Contradiction. SYnops. 70. Is it not a substantial point and belonging to the faith to know which books are Canonical, which are not, pag. 56. to know every particular book of Scripture to be Canonical, is not simply necessary to salvation. These speeches are noted to be contradictory. The Reconciliation. FIrst, whereas Bellarmine saith, that they descent not among themselves in any material points, or such things as appertain to faith, and it is answered, I marvel he blusheth not thus to say, himself knowing the contrary: than it followeth, is it not a substantial point, etc. Who seeth not that here he appealeth to Bellarmine's knowledge, who doth affirm elsewhere this a thing necessary to be known, what books of Scriptures are canonical in particular: as libr. 4. de verbo Dei cap. 4. to prove traditions beside Scripture to be necessary, he bringeth this argument in the third place: Tertia probatur ex multis, quae ignorari non possunt, & tamen in scriptures non continentur: Thirdly this is proved, because many things, which we cannot be ignorant of, are not contained in the Scripture. And it followeth afterward: Non satis est scire esse scripturam sanctam, sed oportet scire, quae sit illa: It is not enough to know that there is holy Scripture, but we must know which it is. So How it is necessary 〈◊〉 salvation to know the canonical scriptures. then Bellarmine doth hold it a thing necessary, to know which books are Scripture: but therein they disagree among themselves: Ergo, they descent in necessary points. So that in saying, is it not a substantial point, and belonging to faith to know which books are canonical? there is relation to Bellarmine's knowledge and confession: for that which is necessary to be known, is (I think) a material point, substantial, and belonging to faith. Secondly: neither is there any contradiction in these words, of themselves: for to know which are the canonical books, may be held to be a substantial point and belonging to the faith, and yet not simply necessary to salvation: he knoweth little if he cannot distinguish between a simple and absolute necessity, and a necessity not absolute: as some things are absolutely necessary to salvation, without the which a man cannot be saved: as Hebr. 10. 36. Patientia vobis necessaria: Patience is necessary unto you, that after ye have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. But in another sense the Apostles write, Act. 15. 28. It seemed good, etc. to lay no more burden upon you, than these necessary things: yet was it not simply necessary to abstain from blood and things strangled, but convenient, and profitable for that time, because of offence: so to know which books are canonical, though it be not simply necessary to salvation, if a man hold the foundation: yet is it necessary, as a profitable mean for the increase of faith: and though it be not so substantial as the foundation of faith, yet is it substantial, as many necessary parts in an house are beside the foundation. I may say now to our cavilling adversary, that triumpheth in his contradictions, as Archidamus the Lacedaemonian said to his son boldly adventuring to fight: Aut viribus add, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. vel de animi elatione aliquid detrahe: Either put to more strength, or abate of your courage: So seeing the Cavillers objections are no stronger, he should do well not to be so confident. As for myself, I say with Hierome: Non de adversario victoriam, sed contra mendacem quaerimus victoriam: I seek not so much for victory of an adversary, as for the verity against a liar: Hier. Augustin. The 5. Contradiction. BEcause it is said, that Luther was an excellent instrument stirred up of God to set forth his truth, Synops.. pag. 620. and yet it is confessed, that he erred in divers points, as concerning penance, and the Real presence, etc. The Reconciliation. SIr Caviller, your collection is very weak: May not a man be a profitable instrument in Christ's Church, though he hold some erroneous opinions? Tertullian favoured the heresy of the Montanists in condemning of second marriage. Cyprian and Dionysius Alexandrinus did hold, that they which were baptised of heretics, should be baptised again: Hieron. cattle. scriptor. Papias, Irenaeus, Victorinus, Apollinarius, Lactantius, were all Chiliastes: they did hold, that the faithful should reign with Christ upon the earth a thousand years after the resurrection. Many gross errors are ascribed to Origen, The Father's profitable instruments notwithstanding some errors as that he should hold that in the end the devils should be saved: that men were elected according to the merits of their souls, in a former life, before they came into their bodies: that the torments of hell consist only in the conscience of sin: that there was another world before this: that Christ for the salvation of Devils should suffer in the air, etc. These and many such gross opinions Hierome ascribeth to Origen. ad Auitum, whether they be true or false of him, it is now impertinent to dispute. Few of the Fathers beside can be named, but they had their special errors: will you therefore conclude (Sir Sophister) that these learned Fathers were not excellent instruments in their times? For notwithstanding Luther might in some things be deceived, (whose opinions I will neither now justify nor implead, but only touch your contradiction) yet was he a very excellent and profitable member of Christ's Church. But whereas you scornfully come in with your, what if, as though master Fox were belied, or that Master Fox played some crafty trick: and you will give more credit to Roffensis, and Bellarmine for reporting of Luther's opinion? Here whether you show more ignorance, or malice with boldness (Sir Controller) I cannot say: for master Fox is truly alleged, and he truly citeth Luther's opinions, as they were condemned by Pope Leo under his bull: and this to be one, that where a Priest cannot be had, every Christian man or woman standeth in as good steed: Fox. pag. 1281. col. 2. artic. 13. he maketh no mention of boys, as your Bellarmine saith. Now (my friend) I would think that your holy father Pope Leo in his bull, should be of better credit with you, than Cardinal Bellarmine in his book: you urge me to say unto you as Hierome against Ru●●in. Quid est, quod de ore illo tuo pudentissimo non exeat, video te frontem ferream possidere: What will not that shameless mouth of you●● utter; I see you have a brazen forehead? Whom I may compare to that Merchant of Ch●●s in Plutarch, de animi tranquillit. who sold every man good wine, and kept the sour to himself, of whom his servants said: Our master, bonis praesentibus malis utitur: when he may use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. good things, doth choose the evil▪ So doth this Carper omit the best and take the worst, he changeth good things for evil words. The 6. Contradiction. SYnops. pag. 648. it is untrue, that auricular confession hath been of ancient time used in the Church: in Chrysostom's time it was not: and pag. 650. it was private confession, which was by Nectarius abrogated, to the which Chrysostome agreed. Hence it is gathered, that auricular confession was in use in Nectarius time, for otherwise he could not have abrogated it: how then is it not ancient? etc. The Reconciliation. FIrst, it followeth not, if some kind of private confession were used in the time of Nectarius, that therefore it was the popish auricular confession, which was brought in by Innocentius the 3: whereby every one was bound to confess to the Priest, omnia peccata, all their sins, and that under pain of excommunication while they lived, and to be deprived of Christian burial when they were dead: Decret. Gregor. lib. 5. tit. 38. c. 12. Such auricular and particular confession of all sins we deny to have been used in any ancient time. They confessed privately such sins as were notorious and troubled the conscience: which kind of confession, if it be not turned to an abuse, as than it was, we mislike not, but wish it might be practised. Secondly, the taking away of private confession by Nectarius, showeth an old abuse Auricular confession of no great antiquity. of it: that when it began to degenerate and grow unto inconvenience, than was it abrogated: what contradiction then is there to say, that auricular confession was not used of ancient time, and that private confession was abused in former time and so abrogated? or what do you gain by this, if ye can show your auricular confession to have been condemned and abrogated a thousand years and more since: it is not enough to allege antiquity, but to show the allowance of antiquity. Now where you say it is a lie, that Nectarius abrogated private confession, as you enter not into that discourse, being as is most like somewhat beyond your reach: so I do refer the Reader for our further answer, to the which is at large handled hereof Synops. pag. 649. sure it is that private confession after that was not used in the Greek Church, if your own decree be true: Caus. 33. distin. 1. cap. 9 Some do say that we must confess only to God, ut Graeci, as the Grecians. It was indeed the use of the Heathen priests to urge confession: as the priest required of Antalcidas, what evil he had done, and he answered: If I have done any such thing, the Gods know. As for your lies and other railing speeches, were pass not for them, they show your weakness, they hurt not him whom you shoot at. Alcibiades biting his hand, that he wrestled with, and being asked if he did bite as women: no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. saith he, but as lions: but this backbiter as a woman muttereth in corners, not as a manly lion showing himself face to face. I wish him no more hurt, then that he had followed Hieromes advice: Faciam ne dum volo alium notare culpae, ipse noter calumniae: I will take heed, lest while I am a fault finder of others, I be not found myself to be a caviller. The 7. Contradiction. HEre there is both a contradiction noted, 1. because Synops. pag. 715. it is affirmed, that Silvester, as Damasus reporteth, was the deviser of Chrism, and yet pag. 63. Hyginus (who lived strait after the Apostles) is said to have brought in Chrism. Likewise an untruth is objected, that Silvester 2 should ordain Chrism, because Cornelius before that maketh mention of it. The Reconciliation. FIrst: 1. If either it be answered, that Hyginus brought in Chrism in Confirmation, and Silvester ordained Chrism in Baptism: 2. or that Hyginus is alleged as the author of Chrism by the confession of the adversary, as is before showed, Silvester in our opinion as more likely: 3. or that, Silvester was the first, that made a public decree and ordinance of Chrism, which might be in use before, though not by like authority: Any of these answers may serve to reconcile these two places objected, whereof we most approve the second and the third. Secondly: But Silvester (you say) is not reported by Damasus to have been the deviser of Chrism, but did ordain only, that such as were baptised, should be anointed with Chrism on the top of the head. Contrà. 1. Well then, ye grant us, that Silvester brought in Chrism in Baptism: it followeth, that it is no Apostolical institution. 2. Silvester then was the first, by your confession, that made Chrism a member or part of the Sacrament of Baptism: others made mention of Chrism before, but not of the Sacrament of Chrism: as Bellarmine himself confesseth, that those testimonies, which he borroweth from the Bishops of Rome, as from Clemens, Cornelius, Fabianus, non disertis verbis affirmant confirmationem esse sacramentum, do not directly affirm confirmation to be a Sacrament: the Sacrament confirmat. lib. 2. c. 3. 3. Cornelius, as he is alleged out of Eusebius, reproved Novatus for that after Baptism he received not Chrism: which was a ceremony and complement of baptism, omitted at that time, because Novatus was baptised in his bed being at the point of death. If Cornelius then required Chrism to be annexed to Baptism, I pray you how did Silvester ordain Chrism first to be used in Baptism? I would have you salve up this contradiction between them, before you pick quarrels with us. 4. You have testimonies no less ancient for the proof of Chrism: which because you produce not, I will help you with one out of Fabianus second Decretal epistle. In illa die Dominus jesus postquam coenavit cum discipulis, sicut à sanctis Apostolis praedecessores nostri acceperunt, Chrisma conficere docuit: In the same day, after our Lord jesus had supped with his Disciples, as our predecessors received of the Apostles, taught how to make Chrism. If you speak of lies, here is a lusty one, that our Saviour Christ taught his Apostles to make Chrism. I marvel you did not cite this epistle of Fabians, as you did that of Cornelius to another Fabian: but I more marvel why Bellarmine omitteth it: you might miss it of ignorance, but I think he was ashamed to allege so gross and counterfeited authority. Now as for your Cuckoo song, in crying nothing but lies, lies, we rebound them upon your own head, and cast your dirt upon your own face. I may well compare you, as Themistocles did the Eretrians to the fish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. called Teuthis, that hath a long bone like a sword, but no heart: so you dart forth words like swords, but there is no heart, that is, truth or substance in them. God forgive you, and make you an honest man. I say with Ruffinus: Jnuectiu. Ruffin. Demus veniam ei, qui veniam dare nescit, imitemur david qui comprehensum in spelunca inimicum suum Saulum cum iugulare potuit noluit, etc. Let us forgive him, that knoweth not how to forgive, and imitate David, who when he might would not kill Saul taken in the cave. The 8. Contradiction. SYnops. Epist. Dedicat. to the fourth book: reason, scripture, antiquity, make against them, etc. yet the Libeler will prove by our own confession, that antiquity maketh for them against us. pag. 173. The Reconciliation. FIrst, Caluine (saith the Libeler) granteth that antiquity in divers questions believed as they do: Luther refuseth divers of the Fathers, as Basile, Hierome, and saith that the Devil did grossly deceive Gregory in his Dialogues. Contrà. 1. Is not this well reasoned of this skilful Logician? the Fathers in some small matters held as the Church of Rome doth, as in the ceremonies of Baptism, prayer for the dead, reserving of the Sacrament: Ergo, generally, and in the main points of controversy, as for the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome, transubstantiation, adoration of images, sacrifice of the Mass and such like, they are all with them. 2. And is Luther such an eye sore unto you, because he sometimes refuseth, one, two or three of the Fathers? doth he or we any otherwise, than the Fathers themselves? Saith not Hierome? Scio aliter me habere Apostolos, aliter reliquos tractatores, illos semper vera dicere, istos ut homines in quibusdam aberrare: I make not like account of the Apostles and other writers: I hold that they always speak the truth, the other as men in some things may be deceived: ad Theophil. advers. joann. Hierosol. Do not popish writers take unto themselves The Fathers refused of popish writers the like liberty? Harding refuseth Tertullian and Cyprian: Turrian rejecteth Chrysostome: Arthurus Hierome: Bellarmine Augustine in divers places, and Hilarius, Hippolytus, Apollinarius: See Tetrasty l. p. 142. 143. Bellarmine saith of Sozomene: Eum multa esse mentitum, that he lied in many things, libr. 3. de poeniten. cap. 14. Doth not the libeler himself grant as much? We admit not the authority of one, two or three ancient and holy fathers dissenting from the rest. pag. 133. 3. But you think hardly, that Luther should so speak of Gregory's Dialogues: he might well so do because it is a book full of fables and lies, whereof the devil is the author; neither was it ever written by Gregory: for this Dialogue maketh mention of purgatory fire, lib. 4. dialog. cap. 39 whereas Gregory holdeth but two places after this life, libr. 8. moral. cap. 8. in these words: Whether a good spirit or evil do receive the soul going out of the prison of the flesh; it shall keep it secum in aeternum, for ever with it, without any change: from whence being exalted, it shall not be cast down to punishment, nor being drenched in eternal punishment shall ascend, etc. Hierome himself that learned father speaketh as hardly of one, against whom he had no greater cause: Portat nequaquam vexillum Christi, sed ensign diaboli: He beareth not the banner of Christ, but the ensign of the devil, advers. Vigilant. Yet I excuse not, whatsoever in the heat of affection, might drop from Luther's pen. 4. But is not this a good argument, Caluine, Luther, sometime refuse the Fathers: Ergo, the writer of SYNOPSIS speaketh contraries? Secondly, saith the Libeler, Bellarmine in divers controversies plentifully citeth the fathers: as in the controversies of invocation of Saints, Pilgrimage, Purgatory, unto the which there is no answer at all but silence, as Baal answered his suppliant servants, which bewrayeth the insufficiency of his book, and manifestly proclaimeth antiquity on our side. pag. 175. 176. Contrà. 1. The writer of SYNOPSIS intending the profit not of the learned, but of others, thought it not so necessary to handle at large the testimonies of the Fathers alleged by the adversary: 1. Because the book would have grown by this means to a greater volume, than was fit for every man's leisure to read, or their ability to reach. 2. The treatise being in English, to what purpose should Bellarmine's quotations be produced in that language, which the adversary understood not, and so could not make answer? 3. There be others that have happily undertaken that enterprise, as that learned man, whom the Libeler in his first part traduceth, that Bellarmine shall not want work. 4. As Bellarmine's authorities are omitted, except in some principal controversies; so neither on the other side are our antiquities produced, in such number, as the writer out of his own readings could have alleged, otherwise then of their own testimonies, out of their Canons, and writers specially urged against themselves, and turned upon their own heads. 5. The special grounds both to confirm the truth, and convince error in every controversy, are to be taken from the Scriptures, which he thought most profitable for the instruction of the Reader, and such places out of the Prophets and Apostles are specially and principally handled: wherein he followeth Hieromes advise to Pammach. Simplices epistolae tuae olent Prophetas, Apostolos sapiunt, non cothurnatam affectas eloquentiam, nec more puerorum argutas sententiolas in clausulis struis: Your epistles are plain, smelling of the Prophets, savouring of the Apostles, you affect not curious eloquence, nor as children hunt after sentences. 2. Bellarmine in deed maketh great show of antiquity, but most of his ancient testimonies, are either out of forged authors, or else impertinently alleged, or by him corrupted and falsified: as, to give one instance for many, his dealing in the controversy of purgatory evidently showeth. First, the constitutions of Clemens, Dionysius de ecclesiastic. Hierarch. Athanasius questions add Antiochiam, Gregory's Dialogues, the Liturgy of Basil, Testament of Ephrem, are all bastard writings, which Bellarmine produceth as authentical witnesses for Purgatory. Secondly, Gregory Nazianzen, Eusebius, Epiphanius, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Damascene, are impertinently cited for Purgatory: who indeed make mention of prayer for the dead, but have no one word of Purgatory, neither doth the Greek Church believe that there is any purgatory fire: prooem. ad council. Florentin. Tertullian likewise, Cyprian, Ambrose, Hierome, are brought in to be of the jury for purgatory, but they do not so much as mention it: who so list to take view of their testimonies, as they are cited by Bellarm. libr. 1. de purge. cap. 6. Thirdly, Bellarmine is found to be a falsifier, as Bracarens. council 1. can. 39 these words are added of his own, ut oraretur pro defunctis, that prayer should be made for the dead. Likewise Concil. 6. sub Symmacho, these words are foisted in by Bellarmine: Sacrilegium esse fraudare defunctorum animas orationibus: That it is sacrilege to defraud the souls of the dead of prayer, the Council saith only, it is sacrilege, oblationes defunctorum ecclesiae auferre, to take away the oblations of the dead from the Church, and convert them to other uses. Wormatiens. c. 10. is falsely alleged: Pro suspensis in patibulo esse sacrificandum: That they must sacrifice for those that are hanged: or else he had some new copy of his own which he followed. By these particular instances it may appear, what fidelity Bellarmine hath used in other controversies, and how well antiquity standeth of his side. 3. Whereas it is alleged that invocation of Saints is proved by Bellarmine by the Council of Chalcedon, confirmed by act of parliament, Libel. pag. 175. as though now by the laws of this land it were lawful to pray to Saints. Our answer is, that in deed the Church of England alloweth the decrees of the Chalcedon, and of the other three general Counsels concerning the faith, and their condemnation of the heresies of Arrius in the Nicen, of Macedonius in the first Constantinop. Nestorius' in the Ephesine, Eutyches in the Chalcedon: but all the acts of this Council for other matters it receiveth not. 2. Neither is there any Canon or decree in this Council extant of invocation of Saints: for that which Bellarmine bringeth, is taken out of the colloquies and conferences, and postscripts of the Council, not from the authority of any Canon, or determination thereof. 3. That which he hath of the intercession of Proterius, and of Flavianus: Flavianus post mortem vivit, martyr pro nobis oret: Flavianus liveth after death, let the Martyr pray for us: doth show the opinion which they had that the Saints prayed for them: which is another question. Neither doth it follow, that, if it be granted, that the Saints do pray for us in general, not knowing our particular necessities, not as mediators, but as fellow members wishing the perfection of the rest of the body, that therefore they should be prayed unto: neither can it be showed that those Fathers made any supplication to those Saints, Sancte Proterie, sancte Flaviane etc. Holy▪ Proterius, holy Flaviane pray for us: which form the Church of Rome now useth. 4. Neither was this the voice of the whole Council, but Episcopi & presbyteri Constantinopolitani clamaverunt, but the Bishops and priests of Constantinople so cried, act. 11. 5. And yet we deny not, but that in this time, which was almost five hundred years after Christ, superstition began to set foot into the Church, and these opinions of intercession and invocation of Saints to be embraced, though not in such manner as the Church of Rome now holdeth. Neither do we stand so much upon this, what any Fathers of the Church either a part, or assembled together did hold, as upon what ground of Scripture their opinion was founded. 4. But as for Baal's answer, Baal's shaven priests have better experience thereof, that worship stocks and stones, than they which detest all such abominations. As Baal was dumb and mute, when his priests called unto him, so are popish Images, when they are prayed unto: for they can do neither good nor evil, as the Prophet saith, Esay. 41. 23. Xenophanes wittily derided the like folly in the superstitious Egyptians, that in their solemn Where are▪ Baal's priests. sacrifices used to howl and cry: They are either Gods, then mourn not for them; or men, then do not sacrifice unto them. And a certain Lace demonian to him that made collection for the Idol-temples, made this present answer: Non curo Deos me pauperiores: I care not for such beggarly Gods, that are poorer than I Such are popish images, which of other men's purses are decked and adorned with gold: Such beggarly images, in popery, use to give Baal's answer to their miserable suppliants: which is fit enough for Baal's priests, that mark and disfigure themselves with shaving and cutting, a notable badge of their hypocrisy. As Philip said to one that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. misused his hair: Non posse esse fidelem in negotijs, qui mala fide tractaret crines: That he could not be faithful in his labour, that was unfaithful to his locks. Thirdly, the Libeler would show us to be enemies to antiquity, because it is called, the vain show of moth-worn antiquity: and the 1 vulgar Latin translation of the Bible partly done by Hierome, partly corrected by him, 2 partly received from another most ancient edition commended by Augustine, is termed an old blind Latin translation: and the ancient Fathers, Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Ambrose, 3 Augustine should be called Heretics, because they held that Antichrist should come of the tribe of Dan. Libel. pag. 177. Contrà. True antiquity is not called moth-worn, 1 but that show of antiquity, which Bellarmine pretendeth to prove the name and office of Cardinals, is so called; because like as a garment eaten with moths, hath nothing to commend it, but the oldness thereof: so are his allegations borne out only with the name and show of antiquity. For that alleged out of the Roman Council under Silvester can. 6. showeth neither the name of Cardinals appropriate to the Church of Rome, nor yet their office, which is to elect the Pope: The Canon only saith, that there should be seven Cardinals in Rome, because the City was divided into seven regions: and every one should be a principal overseer of his quarter. This proveth not that there were Cardinals only in Rome: but the principal Ministers of other Churches were so called, as at Naples, distinct. 71. c. 5. at Syracuse, distinct. 74. c. 6. And as for the office of Cardinals in electing the Pope, Bellarmine confesseth it is but of four hundred years continuance, lib. 1. de Cleric. c. 9 Neither is the vulgar Latin translation 2 of Hieromes doing, as thinketh Sanctis Pagninus in praefat. ad Clem. 7. and Driedo lib. 2. c. 1. The vulgar Latin not Hieromes translation. de catalogue. scripture. neither is it that translation of Italy, which Augustine commendeth lib. 2. de doct. Christian. c. 15. not. c. 4. as is erroneously noted in the margin: for Augustine followeth that translation which is much differing from the vulgar Latin now used. But that it is an old blind translation, it may evidently appear to him that will take but a little pain to compare it with the original: as Genes. 3. 15. for (it) shall break thine head, the Latin hath, ipsa, she, referring it to the woman. Genes. 8. 4. for the seventeenth day of the month, they read seven and twenty. Genes. 19 18. for, not so I pray thee, the Latin hath, so I pray thee: leaving out, not. Genesis 24. 22. two sickles, for half a sickle. Gen. 36. 24. Aanh found out mules: hot waters, saith the Latin. Genes. 37. 2. joseph was septendecim annorum, seventeen year old: sedecim, 16. year old, say they. divers hundred of such places might be gathered both out of the old and new Testament, to show the corruption of the vulgar Latin translation. See more here of Synops. pag. 21. 3. It is untrue, that the Fathers are called, Heretics: for none of them are named: but these are the words: It is a very fable and cozening device of heretics to make men believe, that Antichrist shall come of the tribe of Dan: where the Fathers are not noted, who held it as a probable opinion in their time, before Antichrist was revealed: but the Papists, the Heretics of these days, who now in the manifestation of Antichrist, would blind people's eyes, that they should not see him in his colours. Neither is it here assumed, that they are heretics for this opinion, or that it is heresy simply to think that Antichrist shall come of Dan: but they which in other opinions maintain open heresy, do herein also use a point of cozenage to deceive the people. Ambrose concerning the coming of Antichrist, thus saith, The Lord shall not come before there be a defection of the Roman Empire, & appareat Antichristus, qui interficiet sanctos, reddita Romanis libertate, sub suo tamen nomine: and Antichrist appear, which shall kill the Saints, restoring liberty to the Romans, but under his own name: in 2. Thess. cap. 2. Here he delivereth four marks of Antichrist, which all agree to the Bishop of Rome: first, the majesty and authority of the Empire is decayed. Secondly, he hath killed and murdered the Saints. Thirdly, he goeth about to maintain the liberty and jurisdiction of Rome. Fourthly, and that under his own name, for of the Pope they are all called Papists. Now to make men believe, that the Pope is not Antichrist, but that there shall come one a little before the end of the world to be borne of the jews, that shall conquer all the world, and work wonders; what is it else but a cunning sleight of Satan, and a cozening trick of his instruments to keep the people in suspense, and make them unready for the coming of Christ? As Ruffinus thus saith, in Symbol. Scire debemus, quód salutarem Christi adventum, conatur inimicus ad decipiendos fideles callida fraud simulare, & pro filio hominis qui expectatur venturus in maiestate, filium perditionis in signis mendacibus praeparare: We must know, that the enemy goeth about craftily to dissemble and colour the coming of Christ to deceive the faithful, and in steed of the son of man which is expected in majesty, to prepare the son of perdition with lying signs and hypocrisy. Fourthly, to prove the popish religion grounded upon antiquity, the Libeler giveth instance in divers particulars. First, because Austin the Monk is affirmed in Gregory the firsts time to be one of the Captains and ringleaders of superstition, it is inferred that our land was first converted to the popish religion, a thousand years ago. p. 178. Contrà. 1. Austin brought in some superstitious rites, which now the Roman church still retaineth: but yet the grossest points of Popery, as of adoration of Images, transubstantiation, justification by works, and such other, are nothing so ancient. Neither need it seem strange, that some errors crept into the Church a thousand year since, seeing that the mystery of iniquity began to work in the Apostles time, 2. Thessal. 2. 7. and 6. hundred years after Christ, the Church began much to decline and degenerate. 2. Austin the Monk was not the first converter of the English nation: for in Hieromes time the Britain's had received the Gospel: De Hierosolymis, & de Britannia aequaliter patet aula calestis: Heaven is open as well in Britanny as at jerusalem, Hieron. ad Paulin. And Origen above an hundred year Austin the Monk not the first converter of England before Hierome confesseth as much: Mortalium universam naturam verbum pervicit, etc. nec humanum genus aliquod licet spectari, quod non huius susceperit disciplinam: The word hath overcome the nature of the universal world, neither is there any kind of men to be seen, which hath not received the discipline thereof: lib. 2. cont. Celsum. This our country was then many hundred years converted to the faith, before Austin was sent from Rome: And as it began in the holy Apostolic faith, so we trust it shall make an end: and that faith which it received at Christ's going out of the world, we assuredly hope, through God's mercy, that it shall render unto Christ at his coming again to judge the world. 2. Epiphanius and Augustine noted Aerius for an heretic, because he denied prayer and oblation for the dead. Answ. 1. Because Augustine and Epiphanius so thought, doth it follow that all antiquity is on your side, and that all the fathers All the Fathers allow not prayer for the dead. so thought? Cyprian saith: Confiteantur singuli delictum suum, dum adhuc, qui deliquit, in seculo est; dum admitti confessio eius potest; dum satisfactio & remissio facta per sacerdotem apud Deum grata est: Confess every man his sin, while he, that hath sinned is in the world; while his confession may be admitted, while satisfaction and remssion done by the priest is grateful unto God, serm. de lapsis. Ambrose saith: Mors deteriorem statum non facit, sed qualem in singulis invenerit, talem judicio futuro reseruat: Death maketh no man's state worse, but such as it findeth every man in, it reserveth to the judgement to come, de bon. mort. cap. c. 4. Bernard upon these words Eccles. 11. 3. If the tree doth fall toward the South▪ or toward the North, where the tree falleth, there it shall be, thus writeth: Men are as trees, the tree is cut up in death: which way soever it falleth, there it shall be: quia ibi te judicabit Deus, ubi invenerit, videat, quo casura sit, antequam cadat, quia postquam ceciderit, non adijciet ut resurgat, sed nec ut se vertat, etc. for God shall judge thee there where he shall find thee: let the tree look which way it shall fall, before it do fall: for after it be fallen, it shall no more rise, nor turn itself: Serm. paru. 49. If then the state of the dead cannot be altered, if they shall be judged in that condition wherein they die, doth it not strongly follow, that it is in vain to pray for the dead? But what if Augustine himself sometime Augustine against prayer for the dead. be of another mind, what is become then of your show of antiquity? as serm. 21. in Matth. Qualis quisque hinc exierit suo novissimo die, talis invenitur in seculi novissimo die: nihil te adiwabit quod hîc non feceris: unumquemque opera sua iwabunt, aut opera sua pressura sunt: Such as every man goeth hence in his last day, such shall he be found in the last day of the world: nothing shall help thee which thou hast not done here: every man's works shall either help him, or cast him down. Then it followeth that prayer profi●eth not the dead, because it is not done by themselves. And y●t more evidently Serm. ad fratres in erem●● 2. Si dicis, pro quo petere debeas, dico quod pro bene & male viventibus, ut bonus perseveret, malus convertatur, non pro sanctis, non pro damnatis, etc. If you say, for whom must I pray, I say for good and evil livers, that the good may persevere, the evil may be converted, not for the Saints, not for the damned, etc. The author of these Sermons, maketh but two sorts of the dead after this life, the blessed and the damned, for both which it is in vain to pray. It may be objected, that serm. 44. this author alloweth suffrages to be made for the dead. I answer, that that sermon is not like to be Augustine's, because it disagreeth from him in other places: as cont. Pelag. artic. 5. Augustine maketh but two places after this life, heaven and hell: Tertium penitus ignoramus, immo nec esse in scriptures sanctis invenimus: The third place we are ignorant of, nay we find it not to be in the Scriptures. Lastly, what if we should yield you Epiphanius and Augustine for this opinion of prayer for the dead, will ye yield us them for the rest? Epiphanius directly condemneth the adoration of Images, epist. ad joann. Hierosoly, where seeing a painted cloth, habens imaginem tanquam Christi, having as it were the image of Christ, he commanded it to be taken away, because he saw the image of a man hanging in the Church of Christ, against the authority of the Scripture. Augustine, against the carnal presence, the adoration of Images, the doctrine of merits, free will, and in an hundred points more, is wholly ours against the Papists. It were too long to give a particular instance in them all in this place, I refer the Reader to the treatise of the controversies. 3. Concerning Siricius and Gregory's authorities for the inhibiting of marriage to the Clergy, I have answered before, contradic. 2. and what the ancient Church did hold for the lawfulness of the marriage of Ministers, it is showed at large Synops. from pag. 262. to pag 269. Cyprian. lib. 4. epist. 10. maketh mention of one Numidicus a Presbyter, Qui uxorem Ministers married in Origen & Cyprians time. concrematam, etc. adhaerentem lateri laetus aspexit, which cheerfully beheld his wife burning with him, and cleaving to his side. In Origens' time Ministers were married, and had children: Tract. 8. in Matth. Qui à Christianis parentibus enutriti sunt, etc. maxim si fuerint, ex patribus sacerdotali sede dignificatis, id est, Episcopatus, presoyteratus, aut diaconatus, ne glorientur: They which were brought up of Christian parents, especially if they came of fathers dignified with the priestly seat, Bishops, Presbyters or Deacons, let them not boast. Hierome, that great commender of single life, maketh mention in his Catalogue of Polycrates Bishop of Ephesus, who thus writeth in an epistle against Victor Bishop of Rome: Septem fuerunt propinqui mei episcopi, & ego octaws: Seven of my kindred were Bishops before me, and I the eight. All these were long before Siricius and Gregory. How say you now (Sir) is all antiquity against the marriage of Ministers, or are you not proved a vain boaster of antiquity? 4. For the reverencing of Relics, praying to Saints, that it is not lawful for Ecclesiastical persons to marry, that it is expedient for rich men to give all their riches to the poor: they have Hierome altogether on their side, who taught their faith, and wrote in defence thereof against Vigilantius. Libel. p. 18. Contrà. 1. Whereas all these foresaid opinions are proved not to be erroneous, both out of the Scriptures, and by the testimony of Augustine, this answer is made, that Augustine is abused: but he showeth not how, neither doth he examine the authorities alleged out of that father, Tetrastyl. pag. 100 pag. 101. whereby it may be gathered, that either those places were too evident to be gainsaid, or without the compass of this profound Clerks reading: if he had loosened the hold, which we have of Augustine, in those places, we would have produced others to have strengthened them, but now it shall not need, where the adversaries mouth is already stopped. 2. Yet he telleth us, that if we can obtain at their hands, that either Scripture or Augustine make for them, let Hierome a God's name be rejected. Why (Sir) till such time as you have answered both Scripture and Augustine, which are there urged in defence of these opinions, they do make for us. But I think we shall hardly obtain so much at your hands: for you are a liberal gentleman, your manner is to grant nothing, though never so evidently convinced. Brutus was wont to say: Male is videtur florem aetatis collocasse, qui nihil negare auderet: He seemeth to have bestowed his time evil, which durst deny nothing. But I think they have bestowed it worse, that dare deny any thing. But what if Hierome be not so much your friend in these opinions, as you vaunt, where are you then? First, Hierome contendeth not against Vigilantius, for the adoration of Relics, but for Hierome would have Saints relics reverenced, not adored. due reverence to be given them: I am se intelliget Samaritanum & judaeum, qui corpora mortuorum pro immundis habet: He shall see that he is no better than a jew or Samaritan, which counteth the bodies of the dead unclean. And again, Nos non dico martyrum reliquias, sed ne solem quidem aut lunam, non angelos aut archangelos, etc. colimus & adoramus ne seruiamus creaturae potius quam creatori, etc. honoramus reliquias martyrum, etc. We, I say not the relics of Martyrs, but we worship not or adore the Sun or Moon, Angels or Archangels, lest we should serve the creature rather than the Creator: but we honour the relics of Martyrs, that we may worship him, whose Martyrs they are: ad Riparium. What maketh this now for the Papists opinion, that do not only honour and reverence, but adore the relics of Martyrs? 2. Neither is Hieromes opinion altogether currant for the invocation of Saints: Quis enim ô insanum caput aliquando martyres adoravit? quis hominem putavit Deum? Who (O you madbraine) ever adored Martyrs? or took a man to be God? De Petro legimus quod Cornelium se adorare cupientem manu sublevauit & dixit, homo ego sum: We read of Peter, that he lifted up Cornelius, desirous to adore him, with his hand, and said, I am a man. If Martyrs and Saints are not to be adored, than not to be invocated: for invocation is a part of divine adoration. 3. Concerning Ministers marriage, Hierome hath these words: Si Samuel nutritus in tabernaculo duxit uxorem, quid hoc ad praeiudicium virginitatis, quasi non hody quoque plurimi sacerdotes habeant matrimonia? & apostolus describat episcopum unius uxoris virum, habentem filios cum omni castitate: If Samuel brought up in the Tabernacle married a wife, that is no prejudice to virginity, as though many priests now a days enjoy not marriage? and the Apostle describeth a Bishop, the husband of one wife, having children with all chastity. 4. Neither doth Hierome think it convenient always for a man to give all his riches Rich men not bound to give all away. to the poor, but preferreth it only as a more perfect thing: as he saith thus to Vigilantius: Iste quem tu laudas, secundus & tertius gradus est, quem & nos recipimus, etc. This that you commend (that is, for a man to use his riches) is the second and third degree, which we also receive: so that we know, that the first is to be preferred before the second and third. For otherwise Hierome should have spoken against himself, who did not give all away which he had: Quo labour, quo pretio, Barrabanum nocturnum habui praeceptorem? nostrum marsupium Alexandrinae chartae evacuarunt: With what labour, with what price did I get Barrabanus (a certain Rabbin) to teach me in the night? the paper of Alexandria hath emptied my purse: epistol. ad Pammach. & Ocean. Hierome then had money: for otherwise he could not have been at this cost. You see now (master Controller) how well Hierome standeth of your side: and yet if he were yours wholly here, you must lend him to us for many other points, as concerning the Canonical Scriptures, against free will, merits, for justification by faith, and such other, as might abundantly be showed, if either time or place served. 5. Fiftly: 1. In what sense Telesphorus, Calixtus, and Hyginus are said to have been the institutors of these usages, of Lent, Ember fasts, Chrism, is sufficiently showed before, in the answer to contradict. 3. 2. Though they could allege antiquity for these toys, yet this is nothing to the substance of Popery. 3. And if these observations have been of ancient time, yet shall they never be able to show, that they were so superstitiously then kept, with so many superfluous rites, with such opinion of merit, and with such necessity enjoined, as now in Popery. 6. Sixtly, that john's Baptism was divers john's baptism not divers from Christ's. from Christ's, contrary to the opinion of the Protestants, Augustine (saith the Libeler) standeth on our side. Contrà. 1. Augustine is not wholly theirs: for whereas Bellarmine denieth, that the proper end of john's baptism was for remission of sins; Augustine thus confesseth: Tamen ne quisquam contendat etiam in baptismo joannis dimissa esse peccata, sed aliquam ampliorem sanctificationem etc. per baptismum Christi collatam, non ago pugnaciter, etc. Yet lest any man contend, that even in john's baptism sins were forgiven, but that some greater sanctification was conferred by Christ's baptism upon those that S. Paul bid to be again baptised, I will not strive against it. Augustine here seemeth to grant, that john might remit sins in baptism, so that some pre-eminence and greater sanctification be yielded to Christ's. Is not the Libeler now ashamed to say, that he abuseth Saint Augustine, I make no doubt: but who so bold as blind bayard? It is pity that he had not the Author by him to examine this sentence: for he would then have cried out a fresh of falsification, because I rehearsed not all the words, as they are cited now, only for brevity sake, setting down those, which show that, for the which the place is alleged: but now the whole sentence being expressed, there is the same sense, which before out of part was inferred: only in the margin the place is mistaken, the 14. chapter being noted for the tenth. 2. What if we yield you Augustine for this opinion; what have you gained, if other of the fathers testify with us, that make john's baptism and Christ's all one? As Ambrose confesseth: joannes in remissionem peccatorum in advenientis jesu nomine, non in suo baptizavit, etc. john baptised for remission of sins in the name of jesus to come, not in his own, lib. 1. de Spirit. cap. 3. Leo saith: Christus ad joannis baptisma accessit: Christ came unto john's baptism, the consecr. distinct. 3. c. 14. And we are baptised with that baptism, wherewith Christ was baptised. Ambros. serm. 41. Ergo fratres tingi debemus eodem font, quo Christus, ut possimus esse quod Christus: Therefore brethren we must be dipped in the same fountain that Christ was, that we may be the same that Christ is. And Chromatius saith, Nunquam aqua baptismi purgare peccata credentium posset, nisi tactu Dominici corporis sanctificatae essent: The waters of baptism could never purge the sins of believers, unless they were sanctified by the touch of the Lords body: in Matth. cap. 6. We then are baptised with that baptism which Christ sanctified, but that was the baptism of john. Your Master of Sentences confesseth, that john baptised in nomine futuri, in the name of Christ to come, libr. 4. distinct. 2. f. and that they, which did not spem ponere, put their hope in john's baptism, were not baptised again: ibid. and he thinketh that Christ's baptism was instituted in jordan, distinct. 3. g. but that was john's baptism, as Leo before saith: Ergo, john's baptism and Christ's were alone: And if they were not baptised again, that received john's baptism in a right faith, then was it all one with the baptism of Christ. I hope now it appeareth, that antiquity will not yield this point unto our adversaries. 7. Concerning the profession of virginity, he saith, antiquity was of our opinion, because it is confessed, that the Manichees objected unto Augustine, the multitude of their virgins. Ans. 1. I marvel how the Defender here escaped the Detectors' censure: for the words alleged are somewhat mistaken: for the Manichees did not thus object to Augustine: You labour to draw women of every hand to this profession by your profession, that now in your Churches the number of professed virgins exceedeth the number of women: but this is Augustine's objection to the Manichees, libr. 30. cont. Faustum cap. 4. So that this testimony showeth a great affinity between the superstitious endeavour of the Manichees, and the like practice in the popish Church, to make a multitude of virgins. 2. We grant the Fathers allowed the profession How Augustine alloweth profession of virginity. of virginity, where they had received that gift, but much unlike it was to the popish vows of single life. Augustine in the same place thus writeth: Nos hortamur volentes, ut permaneant, non cogimus invitas, ut accedant: We exhort them that are willing to continue, but we compel none against their wills to come. And again, Ipsi tam stultum iudicamus inhibere volentem, quam nefas & impium nolentem cogere: We count it as foolish to forbid those that are willing, as wicked to compel the unwilling, cont. faust. lib. 30. 4. They then forced no virgins, by cunning persuasion, as the Manichees did, nor otherwise to take upon them the profession of virginity, neither did they hold them against their wills: But it is an usual practice in the popish Church, craftily to entice young men and women to profess Monkery, and after they are once entered, they then keep them against their minds and disposition. 8. That Christ descended into that part of hell, which is called Limbus Patrum, and delivered from thence the souls of Abraham and the patriarchs, and other faithful people, that were there kept expecting the redemption of mankind, etc. the ancient Fathers give sentence for us: and it is confessed, the most part of them to have been in this error. Answ. 1. Whereas Origen is alleged in 1. cap. job to prove that the patriarchs went to heaven, a place of life and light, to Abraham's bosom, the queer of Angels, etc. this answer is made, that he suspecteth that Origen is not sincerely alleged: wherein he showeth his great ignorance, and slender reading in the Fathers: the place is truly word for word copied out of Origen. Again (saith the Libeler) Origen believed herein as we believe, and to that purpose he citeth Origen, hom. 15. in Genes. thus speaking, that Christ descended to hell to fetch Adam from thence: Quod enim dicit ad latronem, hody mecum eris in paradiso, non hoc illi solum dictum, sed etiam omnibus sanctis dictum intellige, pro quibus ad inferna descendit: For what he said to the thief, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise, was not said only to him, but understand it to be spoken to all the Saints, for whom he descended to hell. Contrà. 1. By this saying of Origen, all the Saints ascended to heaven, the same day, and Origen against Christ's descension to hell, to deliver the patriarchs. at the same time, when the soul of the converted thief went to paradise. This is contrary to the opinion of the modern Papists, that hold, that Christ's soul, manebat in loco animarum illo triduo, quo corpus iacebat in loco corporum, did tarry three days in the place of souls, all which time his body did lie in the place of the bodies, Bellarm. libr. 4. de Christ. anim. cap. 15. And this is one of Durands' arguments, to prove, that Christ's soul went not locally into hell, but only effectually, in power and virtue, because in the same instant of Christ's death the souls of the Saints were, beatificatae, made blessed, in 3. distin. 22. quaest. 3. And if the same day of Christ's death, their souls were in paradise, according to Origens' opinion, I pray you what time had Christ's soul to be in hell, but only by the virtue and power thereof: which must be Origens' meaning? Unless you will say, that Christ's soul was in heaven and hell in two places at once: which shift Bellarmine is driven unto, saying, It was not impossible unto God, to make Christ's soul to be in two places at once, libr. 4. de Christ. anim. cap. 15. All things are possible, we grant unto God: but where hath he any warrant out of Scripture of this his presumption? 2. And that Origen meaneth not, that Christ did fetch the Saints out of any such hell and place of darkness, as they imagine, it is evident by that which followeth within ten lines after in the same Homily: where Origen upon these words of the Lord to jacob, Genes. 46. 4. I will bring thee back again: Velut si diceret, quia certamen bonum certasti, fidem seruasti, etc. revocabo te iam de hoc mundo ad beatitudinem futuram, ad perfectionem vitae aeternae, ad justitiae coronam, quam reddet Dominus in fine seculorum omnibus qui diligunt eum: As if he should say, because thou hast fought a good fight, kept the faith, etc. I will call thee out of this world to the blessedness to come, to the perfection of eternal life, to the crown of righteousness, which God shall render in the end of the world to all that love him. If blessedness then, perfection of eternal life, the crown of righteousness, be in hell; then jacob went to hell, otherwise not. 3. Because exception is taken against that testimony cited out of Origen upon job, who is thought not to have been the author of that book (for the which I will not much contend, though it be ancient, and sufficiently show the opinion of that time, that Limbus Patrum, was not generally held of the Fathers) I will declare Origens' judgement out of other places of his works: as Tractat. 26. in Matth. Prophetis recedentibus ab hac vita, corpora eorum in sepulchris erant, animae autem & spiritus in regione vivorum: The Prophets departing out of this life, their bodies were in the graves, but their souls and spirits in the region of the living. Again, tract. 30. in Matth. upon these words, they shall gather the elect from the ends of heaven; he thus saith: Electi non solum illi qui ex adventu Christi sunt sancti, sicut quidam magistri haerese●s dicunt, sed omnes, qui à constitutione mundi fuerunt, qui viderunt, sicut Abraham, Christi diem: They only are not the elect, which are the Saints since the coming of Christ, as some masters of heresy say, but all they, which from the beginning of the world saw the day of Christ, as Abraham did. If then the patriarchs were in the region of the living, and were elected, I trust you will not say they were in hell: that is not the region of the living, nor yet a place for the elect. 4. Neither did Origen only of the Fathers impugn your Limbus, but others also. Cyprian serm▪ de mortalitat. Ad refrigerium justi vocantur; ad supplicium rapiuntur iniusti: The just are called to a refreshing, the unrighteous are haled to punishment. If hell be a place of refreshing, than the patriarchs went thither. Ambrose: Qui in sinu Abrahae sedet, susceptus à Christo est: He that sitteth in Abraham's bosom, is received of Christ. The patriarchs then and Prophets were received of Christ, for they were in Abraham's bosom: he that is received of Christ, is not I think in hell. Augustine thus expoundeth these words, Genes. 49. 33. he was gathered to his people: An fort populus non solum sanctorum est, verum & angelorum: This people (it may be) is not only of the Saints, but of the Angels: huic populo apponuntur, qui post hanc vitam Deo placentes fiunt, to this people they are put, which after this life please God, quaest. 168. super Geves. Likewise epistol. 99 Ne ipsos inferos uspiam scripturarum locis in bono appellatos reperire potui: I could never find in Scripture, hell to be taken in any good sense: and there he concludeth, non esse membrum aut partem inferorum tantae illius faelicitatis sinum: that that bosom of so great felicity, was no part or member of hell. The patriarchs then that were in Abraham's bosom, by Augustine's sentence were not in hell, but in a place of great happiness. If they were not then in hell, Christ could not fetch them from thence. Wherefore it is a great untruth, which the Libeler hath uttered, that all the Fathers, yea Origen believed as we do, that Christ in soul descended into that part of hell which is called Limbus Patrum. 9 Ninthly, whereas it is affirmed, Synops. p. 523. that there was no question about the real presence for 1000 years after Christ, till the time of Berengarius, who was sore troubled for maintaining the truth: Hereupon it is inferred, that the Church, till that time, generally believed the Real presence, before Berengarius taught the contrary; otherwise how could he have fallen into any troubles at all, if his doctrine had been consonant, to that which was received before, etc. p. 188. Contra. 1. That till 1000 years after Christ, no other presence was held of Christ in the Sacrament, but spiritual to the faith of the worthy receiver: neither that his body and blood was otherwise eaten and drunk then by faith; & that the substances of the bread and wine, remained after consecration: it plencifully appeareth by the testimonies of Tertullian, Irenaeus, Augustine, Ambrose, Theodoret, Hesychius, Emissenus, Bede, Haymo, Bertram, Rabanus Maurus and others, cited by M. Fox p. 1137. and 1138. it were too long to bring them in speaking here: I desire the Reader to have concourse thither. 2 We have our adversaries confession, Transubstantiation and the Carnal presence, but new doctrines. for the antiquity of this opinion: Decr. p. 3. dist. 2. c. 44. Non hoc corpus, quod videtis, manducaturi estis, etc. Ye shall not eat this body, which ye see, nor drink that blood, which they shall shed, that crucify me, I have commended unto you a sacrament, which being spiritually understood, shall quicken you. c. 48. Suo modo vocatur corpus Christi, cum revera sit sacramentum corporis Christi: It is called the body of Christ after a certain manner being in deed a sacrament of the body of Christ. Dist. 4. c. 131. It is not to be doubted, but every faithful man, Corporis sanguinisque dominici participem fieri, quando in baptismate membrum Christi efficitur: To be made partaker of the body and blood of Christ, when in Baptism he is made a member of Christ: so that Christ is as well present in Baptism as in the Eucharist, which is not after a carnal manner, but spiritually. Twenty such places might be alleged out of their own decrees. Concerning transubstantiation also; Cuthbert Tonstal saith, Liberun fuit ante concilium Lateranense: It was free before the Council of Lateran, and every man was left to his own conjecture. libr. 1. de Euchar. Cusanus saith: Quidam veteres theologi intellexisse reperiuntur, etc. Certain ancient divines are found of this mind, that the bread in the Sacrament is not transubstantiate, but clothed with a more noble substance: Excitat. libr. 6. How then is not the libeler ashamed to say, that the doctrine of the Real presence was generally believed before Berengarius taught the contrary? 3 At what time Berengarius impugned the Real presence, certain superstitious Monks, as Lanfrancus, Guimondus, Algerius, Fulbertus, Hildebrand, held the contrary, so that there was an opposition and parts taken: then the Pope Leo the 6. (not Leo 9 for the figure is mistaken, and the Libelers skill did not serve him to correct it) anno 1049. took part with the Monks and their Monkish opinion, and condemned the opinion of Berengarius: So did Nicolaus 2. that succeeded not long after, cause the said Berengarius to recant in a synod at Rome: ex Wilhel. Malmesburio de gest. Anglor. libr. 3. And this was the cause of Berengarius trouble, because he opposed himself not against the ancient doctrine of the Church, but against the new superstitious conceit of certain Monks, with whom these Popes took part for their advantage. And this may appear by the recantation of Berengarius reported by Gratiane, that he did hold the same faith, Quam Dominus & venerabilis Papa Nicolaus, & haec sancta synodus authoritate evangelica & Apostolica tenendam tradidit: Which the Lord and venerable Pope Nicolas and this holy synod, by their evangelical and Apostolical authority, did deliver to be held. De consecrat. distin. 2. c. 42. This synod than was the first, that decreed the carnal presence. 4 Whereas Berengarius subscribeth to the faith of Pope Nicholas: the body and the blood of Christ Sensualiter & in veritate manibus The Papists are fled from the Pope's faith of the Carnal presence. sacerdotum tractari, frangi & fidelium dentibus atteri: To be sensibly, and in truth handled by the Priests, and broken and rend with the teeth of the faithful: how cometh it to pass, that the Papists are now fled from this faith? For Bellarmine dare not say, that the body of Christ is chawne and rend of the teeth, but the shows and accidents of the bread and wine: de Euchar. lib. 3. c. 10. And the contrary to this faith of Nicolas is alleged by Gratian out of Augustine dist. de consecr. 2. c. 47. Quid paras dentes & ventrem? crede & manducasti: Why do you prepare your teeth and belly? believe and you have eaten. Now let any man judge, whether, as this challenger maketh his brags, antiquity stand sound with the Papists in the doctrine of prayer for the dead, invocation of Saints, adoration of relics, prohibition of marriage, Limbus patrum, the Carnal presence: it falleth out unto him, as Cato was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. wont to say: Qui ridiculis rebus seriam impenderent operam, in serijs fore ridiculos: They which were serious in ridiculous matters, should be ridiculous in serious: so whereas in many frivolous objections before this Sophister was very earnest, and laid on load, in this weighty contention about antiquity, he hath made himself ridiculous. I wish rather, that his eyes were opened, that he might see the nakedness of their religion, and how true antiquity favoureth them not. Thus by justifying their errors, he doth add unto his fault, as Augustine saith: Nolens se esse reum, addit potius ad reatum, sua excusando peccata, ignorat non se poenam removere sed veniam: He that will not be guilty, doth add to his guiltiness, and he little knoweth, that he doth not remove the pain, but the pardon: de continent. c. 5. The 9 Contradiction. SYnops. p. 924. He that is once the son of God is always to the end: this doctrine is noted to be 1. dangerous, 2. false, 3. contradictory to itself. The Reconciliation. FIrst it is dangerous (saith he) that whereas it is said that the children of the faithful are holy even before they be baptised: and so consequently can never fall out of God's grace, it spurreth to all desperate villainy, as to too much experience hath taught us. Contra. 1. The Children of the faithful are said to be holy, not in respect of their eternal election, as though all such were sure to be saved, but in respect of the outward coveuant made to the Church: whereof they are members, being the seed of the faithful: and therefore this is impertinently alleged; and it is as simply inferred, that because the children of the faithful are holy, as the Apostle saith 1. Corinth. 7. 14. Ergo, they cannot fall out of God's grace. 2. Not the Protestants faithful assurance of salvation, but popish religion spurreth some to all villainy, as this land hath had too woeful experience, in their conspiracies, treacheries, rebellions and traitorous practices both against their Prince and Country, though (God be thanked) they have failed of their wicked hope. Assurance of salvation breedeth not carnal security, but godly carefulness, that they may walk worthy of their calling: as the Apostle saith, We are chosen in him, etc. that we should be holy, Ephes. 1. 4. And if Princes, that should give security of their goods to their subjects, were able to guide their hearts, and keep them in obedience, as God doth govern the elect, there were no danger. 3. This disputer ignorantly confoundeth two questions: one of the certainty of election before God, the other of the assurance thereof to ourselves: the first is here affirmed and grounded upon that text, Io●. 13. 1. Whom Election certain. God loveth, he loveth to the end: which text he is never able to answer: and therefore windeth himself to another matter of assurance of salvation: but that our election is certain in Gods eternal decree, the popish Divines themselves do grant, as Thomas Aquinas, Peter Lombard, Gratian, Espenceus, as they are alleged Synops. pag. 824. and I know none of learning amongst them, that deny it, but this brabbler, that every where proclaimeth his own ignorance. Secondly, where that text is urged, Galath. 5. 4. Ye are evacuated from Christ, which are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace: to prove that election may be lost, the answer is soon made. 1. They which seek for justification by the law, are said to fall from grace, not of election before God, but in respect of their appearance unto men, in losing and falling away from the means, which should bring them to salvation. As Ambrose saith writing Election certain. upon these words of the Lord to Moses, Exodus 32. 33. Him that sinneth, will I blot out of the book of life: Secundum justitiam judicis tum deleri videntur, cum peccant; juxta praescientiam verò nunquam in libro vitae fuerunt: In the justice of the judge they then are said to be blotted out, when they sin; but according to God's prescience they were never in the book of life: in 9 ad Roman. 2. Concerning Saul, I have showed before, Saul never elected before God. that ●ee was never elected before God, or truly just: answer to the 11. untruth: and you have brought a goodly text to prove it: Saul was a choice young man and affair, etc. higher by the shoulders, them the children of Israel: Ergo, he was chosen before God: Ambrose saith, Qui credere videntur, & non permanent in fide, à Deo electi negantur, quia quos Deus eligit, apud se permanent: est etiam, qui ad tempus eligitur, sicut Saul & judas non de praescientia, sed de praesenti justitia: They which seem to believe, and continue not in faith, are denied to be elected of God, for whom God electeth, do continue with him: there is also, that is chosen for a time, as Saul and judas, not in God's prescience, but in their present justice: in 8. ad Roman. 3. Thirdly, the same answer we make to the supposed contradiction, that Adam was made subject to everlasting condemnation by his transgression, not before God, but in How the grace of God may be lost. respect of himself and his present state, because by his sin he had deserved it: he was subject to damnation, ex merito suo, non ex decreto Dei, by his desert, not by the decree of God: neither had he utterly lost the grace of God to which he was restored, but in part only in respect of his present feeling. As David saith, Psalm. 51. 12. Restore me to the joy of salvation: he had not lost his salvation, but the feeling, the joy and comfort of it. As Ambrose saith: In terris quateris, in caelis possides: Thou art tossed and shaken in the earth, and yet dost possess in heaven: the obit. Theodos. The 10. Contradiction. SYnops. pag. 1067. to affirm, that Henoch and Elias went up to heaven in their bodies before the ascension of Christ out of Scripture, it cannot be proved; it is evident that they were taken up alive into heaven, but not that they continued alive: out of these words the Libeler, first noteth a contradiction: secondly, a notable untruth. The Reconciliation. 1. FIrst, to remove the contradiction: in that it is said, they were taken up alive, or in their bodies into heaven: it is not meant that they went into heaven with their bodies, but that they were alive in their bodies, when they were taken up from the earth: so that the words must be read with a distinction; their being alive, or in their bodies, must be referred to the first clause, they were taken up, not to the second, into heaven. Thus the Sophister useth a fallacy, conjoining those things, which are to be disjoined: As where it is said, Act. 1. 11. This jesus, which is taken up into heaven, shall so come, as ye have seen him go into heaven: the words must not be taken in a joint sense, as though they did see Christ going or entering into heaven, for a cloud took him from their sight, v. 9 neither was that heaven, whither Christ went, ever seen with mortal eye: but the words must be distinguished: they did only see him go, that is, taken from the earth, and going from them: As there is no contradiction in these words, that a cloud took him from their sight, and yet they saw him going into heaven, no more is there in the other. 2. Secondly, whereas the Libeler affirmeth, that Henoch and Elias are yet alive in their bodies, but not in heaven, belike in the terrestrial paradise, as some have thought, Rhem. in 11. Apocal. sect. 4. And that Henoch and Elias shall come in person in the time of Antichrist, I will briefly show how uncertain both these opinions are. First, that they are alive in their bodies in Henoch and Elias not alive in their bodies. paradise the Scripture showeth not: that place Ecclesiastic. 44. 16. (which is scripture with them) that Henoch was translated into paradise, is corruptly translated: for the word paradise is not in the Greek, as Pererius hath well observed, lib. 3. in Genes. qu. 5. Where that place is urged, Matth. 11. vers. 11. Elias indeed shall come, or is to come: it is rather to be read, venturus erat, was for to come: so readeth Hentenius a Papist in Euthym. so the vulgar Latin translateth vers. 3. where john sendeth this message to Christ: Art thou he, that art to come, without any sense, for Christ was come already: it should be rather read, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which should come, or was to come. 2. The book of Macchabees, which is Scripture with them, saith, 1. chap. 2. 58. Elias was taken up, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: usque, even into heaven: which word, even, importeth not his taking up only into the air, but into heaven indeed. Hierome saith that Henoch & Elias, mortis necessitate superata ita ut erant in corporibus de terrena conversatione ad caelestia regna translati sunt: The necessity of death being overcome, as they were in their bodies, were translated from their terrene conversation to the celestial kingdom. And of this opinion he saith was Theodorus Heracleotes, tom. 4. Miner. & Alexand. that they were translated to heaven, we believe with Hierome, but not in their very bodies: therein I prefer rather Origens' opinion: Sicut ex mortuis primogenitus Christus, ita primus carnem evexit in coelum: As Christ was the first borne of the dead, so he first carried his flesh into heaven, ex Pamphil. 3. Whereas he urgeth that place Heb. 11. vers. 5. By faith was Enoch translated, that he should not see death, to prove that he is yet alive: the Apostle only showeth, that he died not after the usual manner, and common condition; as they which shall be alive at Christ's coming shall not die, but they shall be changed, 1. Cor. 15. 51. which is a kind of death. For otherwise how should that sentence of Scripture be verified, Heb. 9 27. It is appointed unto men, that they shall once die, that is, to all men: wherefore Henoch and Elias, though they died not a common death, yet were they changed, which was in steed of death unto them. 4. Origen thinketh, that Elias descendens Paradise is Heaven. ad inferna, etc. did descend to hell, etc. Hom. 4. in Luc. Ambrose taketh paradise to be heaven: Tum saluus fuero in paradiso cum coepero vivere inter electos angelos: Then I shall be safe, when I shall live in paradise among the elect Angels, serm. 15. in Psal. 119. If Henoch and Elias be in paradise, they are then in heaven. Chrysostome Hom. 21. in Genes. If any man do curiously ask into what place Henoch was translated, and whether he do live to this present: discat non convenire humanis mentibus curiosius ea, quae à Deo fiunt, explorare: let him learn, that it is not fit for men curiously to search out those things which God doth: Hom. 21. in Genes. Augustine: Quid de Helia factum sit, nescimus, hoc de illo tamen credimus, quod verax scriptura testatur: What is become of Elias we know not, that we believe of him which the Scripture testifieth, cont. Faust. lib. 26. cap. 4. Theodoret qu. 45. in Genes. dare not determine into what place Henoch was translated. Rupertus, that Henoch was not translated into the terrestrial paradise, lib. 3. de trinitat. cap. 33. Thomas affirmeth not, that Henoch and Elias are in paradise, but with this addition, ut dicitur, vel creditur, as it is said, or believed; 1. par. qu. 103. ar. 2. jansenius a popish Bishop is of opinion, Henoch, Elias, not in the terrestrial Paradise. that Henoch and Elias are not in the terrestrial paradise, in Comment. super cap. 143. concord. Euangelic. Of the same judgement is Pererius a lesuite, lib. 3. in Genes. qu. 5. Now for the second point, it is as uncertain out of the Fathers, that Henoch and Elias shall come in person in the time of Antichrist. 1. Cyprian saith: Nobis in spiritu & virtute Eliae non alium quam joannem solum, etc. The Angel and our Lord Christ do insinuate none other to come in the power and spirit of Elias, but john only, de singular. Clericor. Likewise Origen: Vide fortassis si joannem baptistam possumus ponere in loco Eliae: See if happily we may not place john Baptist in the place of Elias: in 11. ad Roman. 2. Concerning the two Prophets mentioned Of the two Prophets. Apocal. 11. in the Apocalypse chap. 11. Augustine understandeth the two Testaments, and confuteth them, quiputant hos duos testes duos viros esse, which take these two witnesses for two men, etc. Beda also understandeth the doctrine of the old and new Testament: Ambrose Ausbertus, the holy Church in general in her preachers. 3. Victorinus upon that place showeth, that some understand Helias and Moses, but he would have it to be jeremy. Hilarius contendeth they must be Moses and Helias. justinus thinketh not only Henoch and Elias to be alive, but also those whose bodies arose at the resurrection of Christ, qu. 85. add Orthodox. Hippolytus will have, not only Henoch and Elias, but john the Divine also to come with them before the coming of Christ. Now I refer it to the judgement of the discreet Reader, whether this conceit of Henoch and Elias, be not more like to be a fable, then to have any likelihood of truth, wherein there is such diversity of opinion, and uncertainty amongst the ancient writers. The Libeler bringeth forth nothing but painted papers and empty Apothecary's boxes: he hath painted his lines with the names of Fathers, but produceth not their testimonies: he setteth forth no new stuff, but the scrape of other men's platters. And as Flaminius' host at Chalcis, when he wondered at the multitude of the dishes, said unto him, omnes carnes suillas, they were all but swine's flesh, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. diversly dressed: so this homely host entertaineth his reader but with their wont gross meats, though he would show in the new kind of dressing it, a piece of slovenly cookery of his own: I say then unto him, with Hierome: Aut profer meliores epulas & me conviva utere, aut qualicunque hac caenula nostra contentus esto: Either bring forth better meat, and let me be one of your guests, or else (pull down your stomach) and taste of my provision. And I would that he, that first bid us to eat of his swine's dish (too gross meat for a sound stomach) had grace to receive the wholesome meat that is presented to him for his health. The 11. Contradiction. SYnops. pag. 908. A true lively faith, etc. can never finally fall away, etc. a justifying faith is always actual working by love. pag. 881. no love no faith: Hereof it followeth, that either David and Peter had no faith, when he committed adultery, and the other denied his master, or else that Peter loved his master, when he denied him, and David loved God and his neighbour, when he committed adultery with the wife and slew the husband, etc. pag. 197. The Reconciliation. FIrst, there is a difference between a true faith and a perfect faith: a true faith always remaineth in the elect, though it be not always a perfect and glorious faith: likewise a true faith is not always a like effectual or working, but yet always accompanied with love, though not in the same degree. 2. As than David and Peter's faith failed in these their sins, so also their charity: but it therefore followeth not, that because in one act their faith and charity failed, and in part was impaired, therefore it was wholly extinguished. 3. And that neither of them was given over to a reprobate sense, it may appear, because David upon nathan's admonition repent, and Peter presently upon his denial went forth and wept bitterly. 4. Wherefore your Logic (sir Sophister) here faileth you, and you conclude weakly, from a part to the whole, that because their love failed in part, it was wholly lost: was there no spark of love in David neither toward David and Peter's faith not utterly extinguished. God nor man, nor no goodness left in Peter during their several temptations? When the Moon is in decreasing, hath she lost all her light? the seed, that lieth all the winter buried in the earth, hath it no life in it? So the seed of faith and charity always remaineth in the faithful, though not alike green and flourishing. Because you (sir Caviller) have showed yourself at this time in slandering and railing, an unhonest man, shall I therefore infer, that there is no goodness or honesty left in you? 4. For Solomon the same answer will serve, Salomon's faith not wholly lost in his fall. that though in that heinous sin of Idolatry both his faith and love failed, yet it was not generally or totally extinguished: as the Lord saith, 2. Sam. 7. 15. My mercy shall not depart away from him: but where no faith nor love is, there is no mercy. As mercy on God's behalf therefore did not utterly depart from him: so neither in Solomon was faith quite rooted out: the seed of faith and love lay buried in him, in that his heavy sleep; and was afterward, by God's grace awaked and revived. But how is it inferred, that unless the fire of charity were clean put out in Solomon, idolatry must be a good work and the loving of God? for this wicked act showeth a partial and temporal failing of faith and charity, not a total or final: was there, think you, no goodness, virtue, justice, wisdom (the fruits of faith and charity in God's children) remaining in Solomon in the time of his fall? The contrary is extant in Scripture, Eccles. 2. 9 My wisdom remained with me, even in the midst of his pleasure, the light of wisdom and knowledge was not extinguished in him. 5. Concerning Paul, we affirm, that he was always a member of the Catholic Church (as it comprehendeth the number of the predestinate) not only when he was a persecutor, but even before he was borne, in respect of the foreknowledge and decree of God: yet was he not then an actual and present member of the Church, to the which faith is required: wherefore to dispute that Paul had no faith, when he was a persecutor, is a needless labour, for as yet he was not in act a member of the Church, neither had faith, before he was called, and therefore could not lose, that, which he had not. 6. You blaspheme the Church of Geneva, A slander. and the Protestants, as though they should say or think, that adultery, murder and idolatry in the children of God, be no sins, but good works, and fruits of faith, pag. 202. We are further off from justifying ungodly works, than Papists are: for they hold that some sins are venial and pardonable in their own nature: we affirm, that all sins in themselves, without God's mercy, are mortal, that is, worthy of damnation: they say, that a just man doth not sin in his good works, so much as venially. Synops. pag. 922. we hold that even the best works of the righteous are blemished with some infirmity: they teach, that the motions of the flesh, though never so wicked, are not sinful, if a man give not any consent, Libel pag. 134. we profess, that the very evil concupiscence, though the will concur not with it, is sinful. Now let the world judge, which of us the Protestants, or Papists are furthest off, from allowing, or commending wicked works. 7. But where you charge us to say, that in The virtues of the Pagans, are no true virtues. Infidels to honour their parents, to fight for their country, be damnable sins, pag. 202. we say with the Apostle, Whatsoever is not of faith is sin, Rom. 14. 23. which place Augustine urged against the Pelagians, that justified the glorious acts of the Pagans: and he further saith, Non officijs, sed finibus virtutes à vitijs discernendae sunt: That virtues are to be discerned from vices, not by the act but the end, contr. julian. libr. 4. cap. 3. And again, Virtutes nisi quis ad Deum retulerit, vitia potius sunt, quam virtutes: Virtues, if they be not referred to God, are vices rather, than virtues, de civitat. Dei lib. 19 cap. 25. We condemn not then the good things, which are in Infidels, but their evil affections, whereby they corrupt that which is good: and so this point shall be concluded with that saying of Augustine: Colligitur, ipsa bona opera quae faciunt insideles, non ipsorum esse, sed illius, qui bene utitur malis, ipsorum autem esse peccata, quibus bona male faciunt: It is gathered then, that the good works, which the Infidels do, are not theirs, but his, that useth the evil well, but theirs are the sins, whereby they do good things evil, con●. julian. 4. 3. Now having refuted this Cavillers frivolous objections, my leisure doth a little serve me to answer his injurious speeches: and as for his particular taunts, of crows, birds, and apes, foul puppies, pag. 201. such scoffers we vouchsafe not an answer: but as Magas sent to Philemon threatening war, dice and tennis balls; so we do rebound upon this warlike challengers head, his popish bullet shot. But seeing he goeth further from men's persons to gall religion itself with his profane jests, of Puritanical principles, and the regenerate generation of Geneva; this injury done to the Church of Christ I cannot pass over with silence. Wherein, as Hierome compareth helvidius, he is like to him that set Diana's Temple on fire, Vt qui bene non poterat, male omnibus innotesceret, That he by evil doing might be famous to all, that by well doing could not: so he in kindling a fire against the church of Christ, nobilis factus est in scelere, maketh himself famous in his evil doing. And like as Philoxenus and Gnato two gluttons, did use to blow their noses in the platters, that no man should eat with them: so playeth this trencher man in vomiting his gall upon the table as it were of Christ's Church, that all men might loath it. Therefore seeing he spareth not to revile the mother, the children must not think strange to be evil spoken of: but we say with Hierome: Illud dico maledicta tua mihi gloriae fore, cum eodem, quo Ecclesiae detraxisti, o'er me laceres, & canina facundiam & (filius) pariter experiatur & matter: This I say, that your rails are a credit to me, when with the same mouth, wherewith you derogate from the Church, you wound me, and the son and mother together, do taste of your doggish eloquence: adver. Heluid. The 12. Contradiction. TEtrastyl. p. 118. It is an absurd thing to say a man may lose the confession of his 1 faith, and yet keep his faith sound: Synops. 2 p. 165. Peter lost the confession of his faith, he denied Christ in word: Again, Peter lost not his justification: but it is a perfect faith which doth justify us before God: If Peter were just 3 still, then was his faith perfect, and so his faith was perfect, because it was a justifying faith; and not perfect, because he denied Christ: to this purpose the Libeler. p. 205. The Reconciliation. 1. IT is true, that faith cannot be sound and whole, where a man faileth in confession: and therefore Peter, who lost his confession as Bellarmine saith, was not sound and perfect in faith. 2. Where it is said, That Peter lost the confession of his faith, he might have considered, that those words are uttered, ex confessione adversarij, from the confession of the adversary, because Bellarmine saith, that Peter lost the confession of his faith, and not faith itself: but we say, though Peter failed in confession, yet he utterly lost it not. 3. We confess, that it must be a perfect faith, that is, working by love and effectual, that justifieth us before God, Galath. 5. 6. though no faith is simply and absolutely perfect before God, but in a certain measure: Then the objection inferring a contradiction, if it conclude any thing, standeth thus: A perfect faith justifieth before God; Peter was justified by that faith, which he had when he denied Christ, Ergo it was a perfect faith. The second part of this reason is untrue, for Peter was justified by his former faith working by love, and not by this imperfect and defective faith: his justification in deed was not lost, which he formerly had obtained by faith, but yet as his faith was weakened, so Peter lost not his justification, though the feeling thereof was for a time suspended. his present feeling of his justification for the time was suspended. It followeth not then, Peter's justification was not lost, when his faith was weak, Ergo, he was justified by that weak faith: like as a man's life is not lost in his sickness, yet he cannot be said to live by his sickness. But it will be said, that his justification begun before, was upheld and continued still by the same faith. I grant, that a perfect, that is, a working faith, doth perfectly justify, that is, doth both justify in the sight of God, and giveth a sense and feeling to the soul of the justified: Rom. 5. 1. Being justified by faith, we are at peace with God. Now when faith is weakened, though our justification stand firm before God, because the substance and seed of faith remaineth, yet is it also weakened in our assurance and feeling, and so to our sense for the time as imperfect. This then proveth not a perfect faith, when as our justification remaining in substance, in working and feeling is not perfect. Your silly argument then (sir Sophister) hath no good consequence. I perceive your Logic and Divinity are both much alike: but you are not so much to be blamed, as your master, that taught you no better: as Diogenes seeing an unmanner lie boy, gave his master a blow on the ear, that had instructed him no better. And as Hierome said of jovinians eloquence: Tam elinguis & sermonis putidi, ut magis misericordia dignus fuerit, quam invidia: His style is so rude and so base, that he is to be pitied rather then envied: Dial. 1. adverse. Pelagian. Such is this detectors kind of disputing (to speak nothing of his style) that he hath more need of pity and compassion, then of any confutation. 4. But this contradiction in making Peter's faith perfect and imperfect, may better be returned upon themselves: for Bellarmine saith, that Peter lost not his faith, but the confession only, lib. 4. the Roman. pontiff. cap. 8. And another saith, Petrus non fidem Christi, sed Contradictions of Papists, about Peter's faith. Christum salva fide negavit: Peter denied not the faith of Christ, but he denied Christ, his faith remaining sound. Alan. Cop. If Peter's faith were sound and whole still, then was it a perfect faith: but on the other side this stout champion affirmed, that Peter had no faith: What followeth (saith he) seeing David committed adultery, and murder, and Peter denied his master, but that they had no faith? pag. 197. So Peter had a sound faith and yet no faith. Thus they agree like harp and harrow together. But we say, that neither Peter had at this time a perfect faith, because he failed in confession, nor yet no faith, because Christ prayed his faith should not fail, Luk. 22. 32. but that, though his faith were shaken, yet the substance and seed remained still: as Theophilact well showeth in Luc. cap. 22. Quamuis brevi tempore concutiendus sis, habes recondita fidei femina: etiamsi folia abiecerit spiritus invadentis, radix tamen vivet, & non defi●iet ●ides ●ua● Although for a while thou shalt be shaken, thou hast the seeds of faith laid up in store: although the spirit of the tempter do● cast off the leaves, yet the root shall live, and thy faith not fail. The 13. Contradiction. TEtrastyl. pag. 97. True faith, whereby we are justified &c. cannot be lost and utterly extinguished etc. the gifts and calling of God are without repentance, Rom. 11. 29. 1. These texts, etc. prove not only, that faith cannot be lost, but also that no other gift what soever. 2. Again, Synops. pag. 485. The children of the faithful be▪ ●olie already, even before they are baptised, for they are within the covenant etc. of they 〈◊〉 holy, being borne of the righteous ●eede, how can they possibly perish, although they be unbaptized? In so Howeth evidently that all children borne of faithful parents dying without baptism, are saved, etc.▪ hereof also in followeth▪ that all the jews that came of Abraham be infallibly saved, etc. L●bel. pag. 207. The Reconciliation. 1. FIrst the Apostle speaketh not of all kind What gifts are without repétance. of gifts, when he saith, the gifts of God are without repentance but such gifts as do follow election, and accompany special and effectual vocation for of election the Apostle spoke before 〈…〉 8. As ●…ching election they are beloved for the father 〈…〉 and of vocation in this verse, the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. The Apostle▪ then understandeth not general gifts, but the special graces of sanctification given to the elect, whereof faith is the principal. Thus Ambrose understandeth the Apostle, epist. 8. Noveris Christi dona irrevocabilia, ut credas, quod semper credidisti, nec nimio moerore tuam in dubium adduc as sententiam: Know that the gifts of Christ are irrevocable, that thou mayst believe, what thou hast always believed, and not with too much heaviness make thy sentence doubtful. He inferreth specially that faith is this irrevocable gift. 2. Secondly: 1. Where children are said to be holy even before baptism, it is not understood of such holiness and sanctification as How children are ●aid to be holy. followeth election, but because they are within the general covenant, which God maketh to the faithful and their seed: so that holiness maketh not here a difference between the elect and not elect, but between the children of the faithful and of Infidels: For if the one were not more holy than the other, why should they not be indifferently admitted to baptism? which I think the grossest Papist will non grant. 2. Neither do we say, that all the children of the faithful are saved; that die unbaptized (though in charity we are so to think) because they are within the covenant, and have committed nothing, whereby they have made themselves unworthy of it) but that the want of baptism is no impediment unto such infants, as are within God's gracious election: as the words do expound themselves, how can they possibly perish, though they die unbaptized? So then infants are not by the want of baptism deprived of their election. 3. But how followeth it, that all the jews that came of Abraham be infallibly saved? whereas the question is of those only which the unbaptized, which lived not to the years of discretion to receive or refuse faith. But it will be again objected: All the children of the faithful are holy, and once holy, always holy, therefore they cannot choose but be saved. Ans. They are holy, as I said before, being the seed of the faithful, not by any special sanctification, but by a general vocation, being borne of faithful parents, and so members of the visible Church, admitted to baptism & other Sacraments of the Church. This external holiness and vocation may be lost: for when they come to years of discretion, and then show themselves stubborn and refuse the wholesome means of their calling, they do fall away: and so is verified that saying of our Saviour, Many are called, but few are chosen. Some than are Loly by election, which cannot perish: others are holy Two kind● of holiness, general and special. by vocation, which may be cast off. As Ambrose saith: Tu quidem Domine omnes cupis, sed non omnes curari volunt: Thou O Lord desirest all (in their general calling) but all will not be cured. And again he saith: Inter generalia promissa etc. Deus quaedam à communibus excepta causis, occultiore novit ordinare ratione: Among general promises God excepting some from the common cause and condition, doth deal with them after a more secret manner, lib. 2. de vocat. Gent. cap. 1. So the general promises are made to all the seed of the faithful, but they are specially performed only to those which believe: Confirmavit generalem bonitatem super universos, etc. God hath confirmed his general goodness to all; but part of them, merito fidei divinitus inspiratae ad aeternam salurem specialibus beneficijs provehitur, by the worthiness of faith inspired by God, by special benefits is promoted to salvation: Ambros. lib. 2. de vocat. Gent. c. 10. 4. Thus then are the Cavillers frinolous objections answered concerning the salvation of the jews of Saul & judas, the Church of Rome: all these tasted of God's general goodness in offering to them the external means of salvation, but they wanted the special benefits of true sanctification, and effectual vocation: Where the Libeler by the way is detected of falsehood, pag. 209. urging eternal sanctification: which are words Falsehood. of his own putting in: for where the children of the faithful are said to be holy, eternal and internal holiness and sanctification, is neither mentioned, nor yet intended, but the holiness of their general vocation. 5. Yea, saith he, Turks and jews also shall Untruths. be saved, whose forefathers were faithful Christians: yea, and the devils also, which sometime were in God's grace, pag. 210. Ans. 1. Are Turks and jews, I pray you, holy seed? or doth not the Apostle speak of such children, whose immediate parents were faithful▪ 1. Cor. 7. 14. Else were your children unclean but now are they holy. And are devils in your divinity holy seed? 2. The Papists do more incline to these Papists, not Protestants favourers of infidels. gross opinions of the saving of Infidels and Devils than Protestants: for concerning Infidels▪ they hold, that they in part may believe by their own free will, Rhemist▪ Act. 13. sect. 1. and that their actions which seemed outwardly glorious▪ as in honouring their parents▪ in fight for their country, and such like▪ were not sinful: Rom. 14. sect. 4. contrary to the Apostle, who saith, Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. As touching Devils: first, they do forbid Doctrines of devils. to marry and abstain from meats, which the Apostle▪ calleth, the doctrines of devils, 2. Tim. 4. 3. Secondly, they hold that justifying faith is a general, or universal believing of the articles of Christ's death and resurrection, Rhemist. annot. Rom. 4. sect. 9 which is no other faith then such as devils may have, to believe the historical truth of the articles of faith: for they believe and tremble, jam. 2. 19 Now let any reasonable man judge, whether Papists or Protestants have a better opinion of the Devils and Infidels. The fables of the delivering of Plato and the Emperor trajan out of hell at the prayers of Gregory, and of Falconilla at the prayers of Tecla, are their dreams and devices, and not ours. The first reported by Nicetas to be currant in the histories of the Fathers, in commentar. ad secund. oration. Nazianzen de pasch: the other by forged Damascene, oration de defunct. 5. Now because this ●errie companion maketh himself pretty sport with Balaams' counsel to send women among the Israelites, with the virgins of the word in Cheshire (disciples of Master Harvey) as he scornfully calleth them, that g●d▪ up and down the country to hear Preachers, etc. pag. 181. we will continue this jest a little, and show him his own face in a 〈…〉▪ 1. For ●alamites info●nieation, and Baalites Who are most like to be Balamites. in idolatry, let popish sectaries carry the bell. Do▪ ye think we have forgotten what clean birds, both cocks and hens, were found▪ in the Abbey nests, in England at the suppression thereof? I say with Ambrose: Malim falsum crimen subire, quam verum refer: I had rather bear a false crime, then bewray a true, epistol. 44. Or think you, we know not what your own writers testify of the chastity of your Clergy: as Constitution. Othon. in gloss. Clerici huiusmodi concubinas tenent communiter apparatu honesto nomine appellationis sororiae: Priests commonly keep such concubines in honest apparel, under the name of sisters. And in the same place: Videtur, quod hoc crimen meretricij ecclesia sub dissimulatione transire debeat: It seemeth good, that the church should dissemble and to pass over the crime of whoredom. These are more worthy the name of Balamites, than those whom you slander. One of your late Counsels thus complaineth: Videmus monasteria mulierum in plerisque locis in suspectas de int●m inentia domos, ne quid gravius dieam esse commutata: We see the monasteries of women in most places to be changed into suspected house's of incontinency, to speak no worse of them: colonians. part. 10. cap. 9 2. As for Master Har●ie, though I know him not, I judge him the honester man for your unliking him. For as Diogenes said to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. one that railed upon him, Neither would any man believe me, if I praised you, nor you in dispraising of me: so I think your discommending of the Ministers of the Gospel, will be of no more credit with the wise and discreet, then if I should commend you for an honest man, whom I know not. Your spite and envy is most against those that labour in the Gospel, and strive against your superstitious doctrines: but God that hath hitherto strengthened us, will I trust open our mouths yet wider, to cry out against your abominations. 3. It grieveth you, that women should be given to hear sermons, and to sing Psalms: and I do not marvel at it, for if you might have your mind, both men and women should be as blind as beetles. You are like those, that Hierome speaketh of: Quam viderint pallentem & tristem, miseram & Manichean vocant: If they see a woman pale and sorrowful, they count her miserable and a Manichee: ad Eustoch. So do you those women, that desire by the Gospel to be brought to true sorrow and repentance for their sin. And do you mislike, that devout women should be well affected to the Ministers of the Gospel, and minister to their necessities again? I will answer you with Hierome: Mulieres ministrant saluatori de substantia sua; ille qui de quinque panibus millia hominum pavit, escas sanctarum mulierum non recusat accipere: The women minister to our Saviour of their substance, and he that with five loaves fed thousands, refused not to receive the provision of women: ad Princip. It may be thought, if this disciple of Rome had then lived, he would have carped at our blessed Saviour and his disciples, because they suffered women to resort to their Sermons, and to minister unto them. Thus have we taken a view of his supposed contradictions, the third chapter followeth of this goodly treatise containing pretended falsifications: I make no doubt but to hold him here also at the staves end, that he shall not fasten a blow: for we fear not his slanderous tongue: as Chabrias said, A weak man's strokes, and an unwise man's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. threats are not to be feared. And as Hierome saith: Possum omnes propositionum riwlos uno a Ecclesiae. veritatis sole siccare: I can dry up the stream of his objections with the sun of the truth. THE THIRD CHAPTER OF pretended falsifications. The 1. Falsification. SYnops. pag. 219. Bernard saith, The beast in the Apocalypse, to the which a mouth was given speaking blasphemies, doth sit in Peter's chair: epistol. 126. Bernard here calleth not the Pope Antichrist, which was then Innocentius, but the usurper, that intruded himself. The justification. 1. WHat Bernard faith in other places▪ where he commendeth either Eugenius or Innocentius, it is not to the purpose, neither was this place produced to prove Innocentius or any other particular Pope to be Antichrist, but that Peter's chair should be the seat of Antichrist: which whether these words do show, any poor Grammarian, that can but translate a sentence of Latin, will easily judge. 2. But to make Bernard's mind more fully appear, he reporteth of one Norbertus, that did hold, that Antichrist should be revealed, Antichrist began in Bernard's time. ea, quae nunc est generatione, in that very age, & non visurum se mortem; and that he should not see death, till he saw a general persecution in the Church: epistol. 56. Though Bernard there saith he was not bound, certò credere, certainly to believe it to be so, yet he commendeth this Norbertus, and speaketh reverently of him, calling his mouth, caelestem fistulam, an heavenly pipe. Again, Serm. Cantic. 33. speaking of the prelate's of the church, that used gold in their bridles, saddles and spurs: Ministri sunt Christi, & serviunt Antichrists: They are the ministers of Christ, and yet serve Antichrist. But to whom ●ls I pray you were the great prelate's subject (for they were no small birds, that thus glittered in gold) but to the Pope. We have then both the time of antichrist's coming, the persons, among the Clergy, and the place described, the chair of Peter: I report me now to any indifferent judge, whether Bernard either in word or sense be misreported. I trust, that whosoever readeth your uncharitable accusations, will do as Alexander did, who when a complaint was made against one of his familiars, laid his hand upon one ear, reserving it for his defence, that was absent: So I hope they will suspend their judgement, till they hear your cavils and sophistications answered. And I say with Ambrose: Non erit longi subsellij ista iudicatio, facile est tibi de nostris judicare: This matter will require no long judgement, the discreet Reader will soon judge between us: epist. 40. The 2. Falsification. SYnops. pag. 293. Augustine is alleged to prove that the vow of obedience promised in Baptism, is a general vow of necessity to be kept, in Psal. 75. the Libeler crieth out, that Augustine is falsified, because the rest of the words that follow are not alleged, wherein he maketh mention of other vows, as of virginity, of distribution of our goods to the poor. pag. 217. 218. The justification. FIrst, whereas Bellarmine denieth that our promise of obedience and of piety in Baptism is no vow, Augustine is cited as a witness, not to prove it to be the only vow: for in the same place it is confessed, that there is another kind of vows that directly concerneth not the worship of God, Synops. pag. 292. what cause was there then to allege Augustine impertinently for that which was not in question? We do not use to paint whole pages with long sentences for want of matter, as you do: the question than was this, whether to vow, to believe, to hope in God to live well, be the general vow of Christians, which Augustine there affirmeth, not whether there were any other vows beside, which Augustine also in the same place showeth, but it belongeth to another question. Secondly, whereas S. Augustine, as he saith, taketh a vow in the largest signification, when he calleth these vows, to believe, to live well, etc. as though they were improperly called vows: I will show Augustine's opinion further for that in Psal. 115. Quisquis bene cogitat, quid voveat Domino, seipsum voveat, seipsum reddat; hoc exigitur, hoc debetur: Whosoever thinketh well, what he should vow unto God, let him vow himself, let him render himself; this is exacted, this we owe. Again, Which are the best vows. de tempor. serm. 7. One voweth a cloak, another oil, another wax for the lights, another that he will drink no wine: Non est istud votum optimum, neque perfectum, aliud melius volo etc. ipsum offer, hoc est, animam tuam: This is not the best or a perfect vow, I would have a better thing, offer thyself, that is, thy soul. Origen also is a plentiful witness herein: Hom. 13. in Exod. Non vult Moses, ut offeras aliquid, quod extra te est, etc. Moses will not have you offer any thing without you: take from yourselves and offer to God, as every man hath conceived in his heart: doth gold grow within me or silver, etc. thou hast therefore offered gold to the tabernacle, that is the faith of thy heart. Again, Hom. 24. Scio diversa vota in scriptures referri, etc. I know there are divers vows rehearsed in the Scripture, Anna vowed to God the fruit of her womb, jepthe his daughter, some Calves, some Rams: but he that is called the Nazarite, doth vow himself unto God: this is the vow of the Nazarite, quod est super omne votum, which is above all vows: he that doth this, imitateth Christ, which gave himself for us, etc. If then for a man to vow himself, his soul, his faith to God, be the vow which we owe, and God exacteth; if it be a perfect and the best vow, as Augustine; if it be that which the Scripture requireth; a vow above all vows, as Origen testifieth: then is it most properly and truly called a vow. And the Libeler is found to be the falsifier, that saith neither the Untruth. Scripture nor Augustine properly do call it a vow. What cause then had this intemperate and impatient man to cry out here against malicious dealing, pag. 220. whereas himself is the man, in these unfriendly words, that showeth malice? But God forgive him, I will not render evil for evil, reproach for reproach. Demosthenes well said, I will not enter into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. that combat, where he that is overcome is better than he that overcometh. And Ambrose saith: Haec sunt arma justi ut cedendo vincat, sicut fugientes gravioribus sequentem solent vulnerare ictibus: These are the weapons of just men, to overcome by giving place, as they that fly away use to hurt them worst that follow them: the office libr. 1. cap. 5. I will therefore give way to his reviling speeches, that wherein he thinketh to conquer, himself may be overthrown. The 3. Falsification. SYnops. pag. 297. It was the heresy of the Pelagians and Manichees to persuade men to cast away their riches, they were not noted of heresy, for that they did persuade men to cast away their riches, but for that they maintained that all rich men were bound to forsake all their goods, and that otherwise, they could not go to heaven: Libel pag. 221. The justification. FIrst, all that labour might have been spared, which the Libeler taketh in citing Augustine at large, epist. 106. and lib. 5. contra Faust. c. 10. to show that to be the opinion of the Pelagians and Manichees, seeing he was not ignorant, that Synops. pag. 304. (which place he himself quoteth in the margin, pag. 223.) it is further said, this is the right heresy of the Manichees and Pelagians, that promised the kingdom of God not to any, but to those that cast away their riches. How then is this denied to be the heresy of the Pelagians and Manichees before, being so directly affirmed here? 2. By the way this falsifier of others, hath here played a trick of falsification himself: for instead of these words, they promised the kingdom of God not to any, he readeth, not to one: which though it were a escape in the first edition, is amended in the second. Again, he saith, the Pelagians are noted of heresy, for that Falsification. they did persuade men to vow poverty, or as he speaketh to cast away their goods, p. 210. where these words, they did persuade men to vow poverty, are of his own putting in. 3. Doth not he I pray you, that saith, none but they which cast away their riches shall enter into heaven, consequently persuade men to cast them away? If a man shall hear one of your Seminary priests to avouch, that none can be saved, unless he be a member of the Roman Church, doth he not in effect persuade him to be reconciled to it? It is not said, that this is the whole heresy of them to persuade rich men to cast away their riches: but this was their heresy, because it was an effect and consequent of their heresy: The other assertion that none can be saved, except they cast away their riches, is but an inducement to this persuasion. 4. That is showed to be the heresy of the Rich men not bound to cast away their riches. Manichees and Pelagians, wherein they were contrary to Augustine; for he nowhere persuadeth all rich men to cast away their riches, but to use them well: as in that sentence of his alleged: Si divitiae adsunt per opera bona seruentur in coelo: If riches be present, let them by good works be stored up in heaven. And in many other places: ●s Enarrat. in Psa. 85. Tantum meminerint divites, quod aijt Apostolus etc. Only let rich men remember that which the Apostle saith, Charge them that are rich, that they be not high minded. Likewise in Psal. 136. What is commanded rich men, that they be not proud: Quod faciunt divitiae, hoc caveant in divitijs, caveant in divitijs superbiam: Let them take heed of that in riches which riches make: let them take heed of pride in riches. Seeing then Augustine persuadeth not rich men to cast away their wealth: the contrary was showed to be practised by the Pelagians and Manichees, that persuaded all so to do: if this be not true, that these heretics did so, or if it were affirmed, they did only so, and not further held, that rich men unless they did so could not be saved; then he might have had some reason to cry out of falsification: which crime he himself only in this place hath committed, as I trust doth appear: his uncharitable words: they are by him maliciously suppressed, Libel. p. 220. and pag. 223. cunningly and maliciously: we regard them not: it is better to hear evil, then to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. speak evil, as the old saying is. And I say with Ambrose: Ne aestimet quis plus ponderis esse in ●lieno convitio, quam in testimonio suo: Let no man think, that there is more weight in another man's slander, then in the testimony of his own conscience. The 4. Falsification. SYnops. p. 319. the Council of Colen is alleged against the begging of idle Monks and Friars, part. 11. c. 5. it is falsified saith the Libeler, because that Council alloweth the four orders of begging Friars, pag. 4. c. 7. The justification. FIrst, in that place the Synod alloweth the orders of begging Friars, that were preachers: Quo parochorum in verbi ministerio cooporarij forent, quos absit ut repellamus: That they might be fellow helpers to the parish priests in the ministery of the word, whom (God forbid) we should put by. But what is this to the allowance of sturdy begging Friars, that could not preach? for of such Monks is the question, that are fit for no other service in the Church. Secondly, that this Synod provided not only against lusty common beggars (as he beareth us in hand) but against idle begging Friars, it is evident by these reasons: First, the words are general: Mendicantibus validis, etc. publice & ostiatim mendicare penitus sit interdictum: To sturdy beggars let it be wholly forbidden to beg from door to door. Secondly, they speak of beggars subject, legalibus nostrisque constitutionibus, not only to the Civil laws, but to the constitutions of the church: but to the Canons of the church regular beggars were more properly subject, then lay secular. Thirdly, the reason of the constitution is general: Vtilius esurienti panis tollitur, si de ci●o securus, justitiam negligat; quam eidem frangitur ut seductus iniustitiae acquiescat: Bread is better taken from the hungry, if taking no care for his meat he neglect justice, then is broken to him, that by this means being seduced he should do injustice. But it is a point of injustice as well in begging Friars, as in others, to live idly upon the sweat of other men's brows. Fourthly, other ancient Canons have provided against wandering Monks: as Caus. 16. qu. 1. c. 11. Monachi circumuagantes, Monks gadding about, are called, pseudomonachis, false Monks. Caus. 18. qu. 2. c. 10. Monks wandering in cities, speciem monachicam prae se ferentes: but bearing a show of Monks. It is like that this provincial Synod herein agreed with former Counsels. Fiftly, but begging Friars are not received into Hospitals, if they be sick, but into their own Covents. Ans. This is more than he knoweth, or more than is likely: for if the begging Friars wandering somewhat far from home, did suddenly chance to be sick, where else could they be relieved, then in such Hospitals? Again, the Canon as well forbiddeth them to beg, ostiatim, from door to door, as to be received into Hospitals: then though one clause concern them not, I am sure the other doth concerning begging. 3. The Libeler maketh himself some sport, because the Canons of the Council of Colen are called ancient, etc. which was held not much above 60. years ago: where he again playeth the falsary: for the Council of Aquisgrane Untruth. is first alleged, which was celebrate almost 800. years ago. There is also cited the decree of Pelagius, cause 16. qu. 1. cap. 18. who lived above a thousand year since, and a Canon of the Chalcedon Council, almost a thousand year before: and in regard of these, the Canons are called ancient: against the antiquity whereof I hope he can take no exception. What cause now had this Calumniator, to cry out of false dealing, and that he doth concontrarie to his conscience, if any be left: he showeth what small cause he hath unjustly and untruly thus to slander his brethren. But we have met with another Diogenes, that called himself, the trumpet of railing speech: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. and I had rather he should be a Diogenes, to be loud rather in sound, than such as Antisthenes, that compared himself to the wasps, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. whose wings made but a small noise, but they had a sharp sting. But this Zoilus carrieth all away with a loud sound of words, he woundeth neither us, nor our cause. And as Ambrose saith: Lutum cito colligit amnis exundans, de office lib. 1. cap. 3. So he with a raging stream of words, doth nothing but gather filth to himself. The 5. Falsification. BEcause these words being cited out of the Council of Colen, part. 9 c. 9 Ad audiendum sacrum & communicandum, are translated, to hear and receive the sacraments, and not to hear the Mass. Libel. pag. 227. The justification. 1. HEre is no one word of the Mass, but only, Sacrum, which is in the neuter gender, but Missa is in the Latin, and cannot be the substantive to it: Now judge good Reader, which of us doth translate more truly, he in construing, Sacrum, Mass, or the other in Englishing of it Sacrament. 2. What this Council elsewhere determineth of the Mass, it is not to the purpose: we know it is popish enough in other points and places: the question is, whether this place be falsified: where he hath rather played the falsary, in thrusting in Missa, the Mass, in steed of sacrum, sacred, or holy, which by the word following, communicandum, to communicate, doth show that it may well be referred to the Sacrament. Wherefore the crime objected here offalsification 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. is unjust, and as Plato saith, we count his reviling as smoke that vanisheth: he doth but belch out his own shame, as Hierome saith: Vt ructus è stomacho erumpit, & vel boni, vel mali odoris flatus indicium est, ita ex abundantia cordis os loquitur: As belching breaketh from the stomach, and the breath is a bewrayer of good or bad smell: so the mouth speaketh of the abundance of the heart. As a stinking breath bewrayeth a bad stomach: so foul words show a corrupt heart. The 6. Falsification. SYnops. pag. 623. the Council of Colen is alleged to prove the name of penance rather to betoken the change of the mind and inward contrition and sorrow, than any outward satisfactory work: he crieth out the Council is falsified, because it maketh three parts of penance, contrition, confession, satisfaction. pag. 227. The justification. 1. WHether this Council maketh 3. parts of penance, is not the question, neither is it denied: and therefore he might well have for borne that large citation of the Canons of this Council, being altogether impertinent. 2. The question being then about the use and signification of this word penance, not about the parts thereof: this Council is alleged to show that penance signifieth inward sorrow and contrition: the words are these: Penance is then truly preached, when sins are reproved by the word of God, & incutitur populo timor irae, etc. and there is smitten into the people a fear of the wrath and judgement of God. And afterward, ex animo vereque contritis ac conversis promittatur gratia: To them being truly and in the soul contrite and converted, let grace be promised. In this place no mention is made of satisfaction, and yet this inward sorrow & contrition is called penance: whether this place now do prove, without any falsification at all, such use of this word poenitentia, repentance, or as they say, penance, a simple and mean judgement may easily discern: and this hard Censor might have acknowledged it, if he had not been disposed to cavil. Whom I may compare with Plutarch, to hard hearted nurses: Dum sordes detergunt, carnes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. sauciant: While they take away the filth, they tear the flesh. So Chrysostome saith, that he which raiseth a crime against his brother, doth as it were eat his brother's flesh: No better is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. this slanderer, which feedeth himself by gnawing upon others good name, as their flesh, with his biting teeth. The 7. Falsification. SYnops. pag. 957. S. Augustine is alleged, to show that there was no such strict necessity of fasting in his time, serm. 62. Augustine is said to be falsified, because he thought it necessary to observe the prescript fasts of the Church, when as he noteth Aerius of heresy for denying the same, heres. 53. he also saith it was a sin not to fast in Lent, in the same Sermon. 62. The justification. 1. IT is not true that Aerius was counted no heretic, for holding, statuta solemniter jejunia non esse celebranda, that fasts solemnly appointed ought not to be kept: but Augustine saith, Aerius in Arrianam haeresin lapsus, propria dogmata addidisse nonnulla fertur; Aerius being fallen into the Arrian heresy, did add some opinions of his own: he was an heretic, because an Arrian, for the rest, he was held but a Schismatic and dogmatizer. And Augustine speaketh only of the set fasts and fasting days of the Church, not insinuating any merit or religion to be therein: And such prescript fasts for order sake and civil uses, whosoever contemneth, is but a dogmatizer with Aerius. 2. That in Augustine's time there was no such strict necessity of fasting, as in the Popish Church (for all kind of 〈◊〉 is not simply denied to have been then, but comparatively such strict and superstitious necessity Exceptis diebus dominicis. as they use) it may be easily showed: first, because the Lords days are exempted from the fast; but in Popery all days are alike tied to the Lenton fast. Secondly, they were dispensed Difference between the fast in Augustine's time and Popish fasts. Fox 1184. withal, which by reason of their infirmity could not fast: but in Popery there was no such liberty, as may appear by the story of Frebarnes hard handling, for roasting a pig in Lent for his wife, that longed for it, which pig was buried by the Sum●er in Finsbury field, Fox 1184. Thirdly, Augustine saith, that where a man could not fast, alms might suffice without fasting: but in Popery they would not ●●ffer a man to be released of fasting in Lent, for al●●es deeds. Fourthly, Augustine saith, Nullus prandere praesumat: Let no man presume to dine in Lent. Their abstinence was the whole day, to give themselves to prayer and hearing the word, not from some kind of meats, but wholly from all meats: but this is not observed in Popery, and therefore their Lenton fast is not like that in Augustine's time. Fiftly, than was not the fast so strictly prescribed from cheese, butter, eggs, but only from flesh, as Serm. de tempor. ser. 64. Qui abstinemus à carnibus: We which abstain from flesh, which it is lawful to use at other times, etc. Sixtly, they did not then fast in Lent with any opinion of merit, but to humble their bodies, and make them more fit to serve God: Tum ad Dominum etc. mens purior festinat, cum nulla crapula crassatur; Then the mind is readier for God, when it is not incrassate with meat: but popish Lenton fast is held to be meritorious. I trust by this it appeareth, that Augustine's Lent was far differing from the popish, neither with such strict necessity enjoined: that we may well conclude upon Augustine's sentence: What is now become of your Lent and Ember days, etc. for the Church knew none such in Augustine's time. 3. But Augustine saith, it is a sin not to fast in Lent: that is, as he expoundeth himself, when a man is known, non pro infirmitate non posse, sed pro gula ieiunare non velle, not to be not able to fast for his infirmity, but not willing for gluttony. This we also grant, that he which of a greedy appetite and gluttonous mind shall break the set fasts of the Church, instituted for the exercise of prayer and hearing the word, doth sin. Now what small cause the Libeler had to say, he maliciously, and notably abuseth Saint Augustine, I hope it is evident, he rather abuseth himself in suffering his tongue to range so at liberty. Plutarch could have told him, that an evil mouth is a sign of an evil mind. Origen saith, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. They that speak the words of God, God openeth their mouth: qui falsum testimonium dicit, diabolus aperit os eorum: but they which utter slanders, the Devil openeth their mouth. Hom. 3. in Exod. The 8. Falsification. WHere Bellarm. doth charge the Protestants with the heresy of Proclus: who should say, peccatum in renatis semper vivere, that sin doth always live in the regenerate: because it is translated, that sin doth reign etc. in the regenerate or borne anew, he saith, that this sentence is foisted in of his own: Libel. pag. 236. 237. The justification. HEre is neither whole sentence, nor yet a whole word foisted in, as this foister saith: but only one word translated contrary to his humour, peccatum semper vivere, sin always to reign, for always to live: the sense being the same. For first, I ask him what Proclus heresy was, whether that sin did live, that is, remain in the regenerate, or did live, that is, reign in them. To say that sin remaineth in the regenerate, is no heresy, but catholic and sound doctrine agreeable to the Scripture. 1. joh. 1. 8. If we say we Sin remaineth in the regenerate, but liveth not. have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. And this was one of the errors of the Pelagians: Posse esse hominem sine peccato: That a man may be here without sin: which Augustine confuteth, epist. 89. quaest. 1. by that place of john: and further he saith, Omnibus est necessaria oratio Dominica: The Lord's Prayer is necessary for all, where we pray, forgive us our sins. This doctrine is confirmed by your own Decrees: Distin. 25. c. 3. in gloss. out of Hierome: Res contra naturam pene est, ut sine peccato aliquis sit: It is almost against nature, that a man should be without sin. Likewise, Distin. 81. c. 1. caus. 33. distinct. 2. de penitent. c. 40. how then could Proclus be judged an heretic, in saying that sin remained in the regenerate, which the Catholic Church did also hold? Wherefore his meaning was, that sin did live, that is, reign in the regenerate: much like to the heresy of the Eunomians, that did teach, that the committing of never so great sins should not hurt a man, if he were of their faith, Augustin. haeres. 54. and so they did suffer sin to reign in their disciples. Secondly, in Scripture for sin to reign or live in us, is taken for all one: as Rom. 7. vers. 9 Sin (saith the Apostle) revived, which he expoundeth vers. 14. I am carnal and sold under sin: the Apostle here speaketh of himself, when he was yet uncalled: for sin then to live or revive in us, is to be sold unto sin. And again, Rom. 6. 1. We that are dead unto sin, how shall we live still therein? And afterward The living of sin, and reigning of sin, all one. he expoundeth what it is to live in sin: vers. 12. Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies. So then to live in sin, or sin to live in us, is for sin to reign in us. Thus Augustine interpreteth the Apostle: Qui mortui sumus peccato, etc. eum describit, qui est sub gratia constitutus: cui autem dominatur peccatum etc. adhuc sub lege est: We that are dead to sin, how shall we live therein? He describeth him which is under grace, but he, in whom sin ruleth, etc. is under the law, not under grace, in 6. ad Roman. He then which is under grace, or regenerate, liveth not in sin, nor sin liveth in him: he that is not under grace then hath sin both living and reigning in him. The Apostle also saith, Rom. 12. vers. 11. Ye are dead to sin, but are alive to God. There cannot be both a death of sin and a life of sin together in the regenerate. It is then I trust sufficiently cleared, that the living of sin and reigning of sin is all one. Now (thou accuser of the brethren, whosoever thou art) take your choice, if Proclus by the living of the sin in the regenerate, meaneth reigning, then are we no heretics, for so we hold not: if by living, he understandeth the being of sin: then are you heretics, if you deny it. Your heretical livery then take to yourself, it is fittest for your shoulders, that first shaped it and cut out the cloth: your livery may well be heresy, and your cognisance, hypocrisy: be not offended, if you carry away that you bring: Si dixeris 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. quod vis, audies quod non vis: If you speak what you will, you shall hear what you would not: as Homer saith, What you speak, the same shall you hear again. The Pelagians objected against Hierome, that he was an heretic: I answer you, as he answered them: Egone haereticus, quare ergo me haeretici non amant? Am I an heretic, wherefore then do not heretics (such as you are) love me? lib. 3. advers. Pelagian. The 9 Falsification. WHereas Augustine is alleged, Tetrastyl. pag. 97. in these words: The pomp of funerals, the rites and solemnities of burial, are comforts of the living, no help to the dead: let men therefore perform this last duty to their friends. Serm. de verb. Apostol. 34. to show, that though Augustine seemeth somewhat to be infected with the error of prayer for the dead, yet sometime his speech soundeth to the contrary: hereupon these outcries and exclamations are made: 1. That prayer for the dead is Catholic doctrine, seeing it was believed in the pure time of the Primitive Church, and the contrary opinion by Epiphanius and Augustine sentenced for heresy in Aerius, Libel. p. 239. 2. That Augustine is pitifully mangled and maimed, many of his sentences being left out. pag. 240. 3. That the words are wickedly perverted by false translation. 4. It is a most plain place against the Protestants, to prove prayer for the souls departed. pag. 242. The justification. FIrst, neither was Aerius held an heretic by Augustine, for denying prayer for the dead: but thus he said of him, as I have showed before, that, in Arrianorum haeresim lapsus propria quoque dogmata addidisse nonnulla fertur: That he is reported to have fallen into the heresy of the Arrians, and to have added certain opinions of his own, Haeres. 53. He calleth it not heresy, but dogma, an opinion or sentence: he was counted an heretic because h● was an Arrian. Neither yet in the pure time of the Primitive Church was prayer for the dead generally believed, as I have proved before in the answer to contradict. 8. 4. p. art. 2. And this may further appear, because Bellarmine citeth no Canon more ancient for this matter, then from the third Carthaginian Council, Can. 29. which was above 420. years after Christ: but so long we hold not the pure time of the Primitive Church to have continued, which extended not much beyond the age of the Apostles, if you speak of the purest times thereof. And that Canon maketh no mention of prayer for the dead, but only of the commendation or commemoration of the dead: Si defunctorum commendatio facienda est, etc. Secondly, it is confessed, that many sentences of Augustine are left out, that seem to make for prayer for the dead. But what then? first, whereas it is granted that Augustine held that error, to what purpose should his words be alleged to prove that which was not denied. Secondly, whereas it was affirmed, that sometime his speech soundeth to the contrary, was he bound to allege any but these words, which seemed so to sound? Thirdly, and further whereas the reporter of Augustine, breaketh off the sentence at these words, they are the comforts of the living, no help to the dead, and leaveth the rest that followeth: hath he not herein Augustine's own example, who repeating the same words and sentence himself, with very little alteration, libr. de cur. pro mortuis cap. 2. proceedeth no further, but then addeth other words: for there he saith thus: Curatio funeris, conditio sepulturae, pompa exequiarum magis vivorum solatia sunt, quam subsidia mortuorum: The manner of sepulture, pomp of exequys are rather comforts of the living, then helps of the dead. And there he breaketh off, no further following the course of his speech in the 34. Serm. Fourthly, but what if the Libeler himself hath mangled Augustine's sentence, clipping off that which maketh against him: as these words that follow: Non ergo mortuis nova merita Falsification. comparantur, cum pro eis boni aliquid impendunt sui, sed eorum praecedentibus consequentia ista redduntur: Therefore new merits are not obtained for the dead, when their friends bestow some good upon them, but these merits following are rendered for the other going before. And again, Et ideo istam finiens quisque vitam, nisi quod meruit in ipsa, non poterit habere post ipsam: And therefore every man ending this life, cannot have after it, but that he wrought or merited in it. What reason had this (Carper) now to leave out all these words, which show that nothing is added unto the state of the dead, but what they procured while they lived: which showeth that prayer for the dead is vain and superfluous, if nothing thereby be obtained for the dead, which they had not before. Is not now he himself become a clipper of Augustine's coin, and a falsifier of him, and so is truly guilty of that crime, wherewith untruly he chargeth another? Thirdly, he crieth out of false dealing, because agmina exequiarum, is translated, the rites and solemnities of burial, whereas he thinketh he playeth the better translator to say, the multitude of people attending upon the funerals. Now sir, let us see who hath translated best. Again, you interpret, companies or multitudes: but the other rather readeth solemnities, as Augustine elsewhere interpreteth himself, saying, pompa exequiarum, the pom●● or solemnity of the exequys, de cura pro mortuis cap. 2. and yet the word solemnities implieth also companies or multitudes, without whom there can be no solemnity. All the difference than is about this word exequiarum, you English it, attending upon funerals: the other, the rites of burial. Now sir, is there any, not word, but syllable here that signifieth attending? Then attend what I say, yourself, and no body else (sir Corrector) have falsely translated. But let us now briefly see, whether this word exequiae, do signify the rites of burial, and prayer among the rest. Concil. Toletan. 3. c. 22. Cum Psalmis tantummodo & psallentium vocibus debere ad sepulchra deferri, etc. They that are departed must be brought to the grave with Psalms and voices of singers. Arelatens. 3. in fine: Si quis cantare desideret Kyrieleson, cantet: If any man desire to sing Kyrieleson, Lord have mercy on us, let him sing. This was one rite of the solemnity th●re prescribed for the funerals of the dead. Sext. decret. lib. 1. tit. 6. c. 3. Gregor. 10. Vt solemnibus pro eo celebratis exequijs etc. humiles preces fundantur ad Dominum: That solemn exequys being celebrated (for the Pope deceased) humble prayers should be powered out. I hope these places do clear this point, that exequys are the rites of burial, and that prayer and thanksgiving be●●ng to those rites. Fourthly, this place he saith, maketh not for the Protestants, but against them. First, he hath not answered those arguments from hence enforced: the rites and solemnities of the burial are comforts of the living, they help not the dead, prayer is of the rites of burial: Ergo, it helpeth not the dead. To this he answereth nothing: but see good Reader, pag. 244. where our intent is not to deny the scope of Augustine's discourse, but only to show, that some of his speeches sound otherwise. By the same collection, officia postremi muneris, the offices of the last duty, erga suos, toward theirs, not suorum corpora, the bodies of theirs, may carry a sound contrary to the discourse, that prayer being one of the rites of burial, is one of the last duties to be performed. Secondly, neither is this so pregnant a place as he thinketh, for popish prayer for the dead: for it shall appear that there is great difference between this kind of commemoration for the dead, which Augustine here speaketh of, and that which they use. 1. He saith, Fideles quando moriuntur paululum No Purgatory believed in Augustine's time. à nobis abire, & transire ad meliora: That the faithful that die, go away for a while, and pass to a better place: Ergo, not to purgatory: for that is no better place: neither is it, fidei gaudium, a rejoicing or joy of faith, as Augustine also saith, that our friends go to be tormented in purgatory: they then prayed not for the souls of the dead as broiling in purgatory, as the Church of Rome doth. 2. Whereas Augustine saith, This received from our fathers the whole Church observeth, that for those which die in the communion of the body and blood of Christ, when as they are rehearsed, commemorantur, in their place, ad sacrificium ipsum, at the sacrifice, it should be prayed for. He gathereth from hence, that this was the general practice of the Church to Difference between commemoration, and commendation of the dead, and prayer for the dead. pray for the dead: whereas this only is showed, that their names that were departed, were commemorated in the sacrifice, or Sacrament so called (because then they offered up the spiritual sacrifice of praise & thanksgiving, whereof it is called the Eucharist) and this commemoration, and commendation of the dead (both which words Augustine useth here) was as the common prayers, requests and desires of the Church for them. 3. He saith here, that mortuis nova merita No new merits obtained for the dead, by the prayers of the living. non acquiruntur, that new merits are not by these prayers obtained for the dead. If the simple people were so taught in the popish church, they would not greatly care for their Masses and Dirges, when they are gone: but Augustine for that, thus answereth, that while they lived they obtained, ut possint eis haec utilia esse post mortem, that these things may profit them, when they are dead. But I pray you, if the worthiness of the dead, while they lived, do make the prayers of the living available; was it not much more effectual to make their own prayers available for themselves, while they lived, that they should not need any prayers, when they are dead? This device will slake the prayers of the living one for another for if it be so that my acceptance with God maketh another man's prayers acceptable for me, and he rather doth not make me better accepted with God, what need should I have of his prayers, seeing my acceptance with God will as soon make mine own prayers acceptable as the prayers of another? Yea further let this be marked, that their Masses are not available for the dead absolutely, but with a condition, if they were worthy while they lived, to have Masses said for them when they are dead: then the virtue and worthiness of your Masses must depend upon the virtue and worthiness of those for whom they are said or sung. If you would open this secret to your blind ignorant people, they would little regard your Trentals, Obites, Masses of Requiem, when they are gone. 4. It than appeareth, that if the Church used to pray for the faithful gone to heaven, if they made commemoration and rehearsal of them, yet thinking that they procured no new merit or favour for them: than it followeth, that those prayers were not made upon any necessity, but rather of a tender compassion, piety and pity toward the dead: as Augustine here calleth them, piae chordae Prayer for the dead of pity, rather than necessity in Augustine's time. charorum: the tender and devout hearts of their dear friends. Thus much Augustine showeth, Confess. lib. 9 cap. 13. that his mother dying, Tantummodo memoriam sui ad altare tuum fieri desyderavit: Only desired that remembrance of her might be made at thine altar, and no otherwise. And though Augustine prayed for her: he saith, Credo, quod iam feceris, quod rogo, sed voluntaria oris mei approba Domine: I believe, that thou hast already done, that which I pray for, but approve the voluntaries of my mouth. He therefore prayeth for his mother rather to show his piety and duty toward her, then of any necessity. Thirdly, now because, this (uncharitable Censor) vaunteth of Augustine, as being wholly theirs for prayer for the dead, I will therefore at large show what may be gathered out of that learned Father's works concerning this matter, and draw from thence most strong and invincible reasons against this superstitious use. First, it is superfluous to pray either for the Reason's out of Augustine, against prayer for the dead. blessed in heaven or damned in hell: as Augustine saith, Qui orat pro martyr iniuriam facit martyri; qui orat pro damnatis, nequaquam impetrabit: He that prayeth for a martyr, doth wrong to the martyr; he that prayeth for the damned, shall not obtain: ad fratres in erem. serm. 42. But after this life all are either in heaven or hell, blessed or damned, because there are but two places after this life: Augustine knoweth no third place beside heaven and hell. Duae habitationes, una in igne aeterno, altera in regno aeterno: There are but two habitations, one in everlasting fire, another in the everlasting kingdom, de verb. Apost. ser. 18. Beside these two places: Tertium penitus ignoramus, imo nec esse in scriptures sanctis reperimus: The third place we are utterly ignorant of, nay we find it not in the holy Scriptures. But it will be objected that Augustine's meaning is, that there shall be but two places at the day of judgement, not presently after this life. Ans. Augustine saith: Sub omnipotentis manu tria sunt facta habitacula, primum regnum coelorum, imum infernus, medium mundus praesens: There are three tabernacles made by the hand of the omnipotent: the first, the kingdom of heaven; the lowest, hell; the midst, this present world, cap. 1. de triplie. habitac. He speaketh of the places, that are now present: but if this book shall be doubted of, he saith in another place, in Psal. 57 Est quaedam poena futura ignis gehennae, ignis aeternus: futura enim poena duas habet species, aut inferorum est ubi ardebat dives ille, etc. & altera est in fine, de qua audituri sunt, etc. There is a certain punishment to come, the fire of hell, fire everlasting: this punishment to come hath two kinds, either it is hell, where the rich man burned, etc. another shall be in the end, whereof they shall hear which shall be placed at the left hand, go into everlasting fire. What now is become of your third kind of fire and punishment in purgatory? The conclusion followeth, that it is in vain and superfluous to pray for the dead, seeing they are either in heaven or in hell. Argum. 2. If nothing profit the dead, but what they did themselves, when they were alive, than the prayers of the living cannot profit them now they are dead, for it is none of their acts, neither are they now alive. But the first is true by the testimony of No man profited being dead, but by that which he did in his life. Augustine: Ad spiritus mortuorum non pervenit, nisi quod vivi secum fecerunt, etc. Nothing cometh to the spirits of the dead, but what they did with themselves being alive: if then they did it not when they were alive, nothing cometh to the dead: in Psal. 48. con. 1. Ergo, the prayers of the living do not profit the dead. Argum. 3. If the state of the dead cannot be altered, but in what condition soever they die, in the same they rise to judgement: than it followeth, that prayer is in vain for the dead. But the first is affirmed by Augustine: unusquisque cum causa sua dormit, cum causa sua surgit: Every man sleepeth with his cause, and riseth with his cause. Tract. in joann 49, Redimite vos ipsi dum vivitis, quia post mortem nemo vos redimere potest: Redeem yourselves while you live, for after death no man can redeem you. De rectitud. Catholic. conversat. tom. 9 Quales in die isto quisque moritur, talis in die illo iudicabitur: As a man dieth in this day, so shall he be judged in that day, epist. 80. ad Hesych. Ergo, prayers are not available for the dead. Argum. 4. That which a man hath obtained The soul at rest presently after death if ever. already, if ever he shall obtain it, is in vain prayed for. The souls of the departed are presently at rest, if they be counted worthy. August. Requiem, quae continuo post mortem datur, si ea dignus est, tum accipit quisque cum moritur: Rest, which is presently given after death, every one even than receiveth, if he be worthy, when he dieth, tract. in joann. 49. Ergo, it is in vain to pray for the rest of their souls. Argum. 5. He that departeth this life without sin, needeth not afterward to be prayed Sin is only forgiven in this life. for, to be forgiven his sin: but every one that shall be saved, goeth forth of this life without sin. Augustin. epist. 89. ad Hilar. qu. 1. He that assisted by the grace of God, doth abstain from those sins which are called crimes, and those sins without the which a man liveth not here, doth not neglect to cleanse by the works of mercy, and godly prayers, merebitur hinc exire sine peccato, quamuis cum hic viveret habuerit nonnulla peccata: quia sicut ista non defuerunt, ita remedia quibus purgarentur, adfuerunt: shall procure to go out hence without sin, although while he lived here he had some sins: for as these things were not wanting, so the remedies, whereby they are purged, were present. But what if a man neglect to use these remedies while he liveth? certainly he is deprived of them for ever, he cannot have them afterward. Augustine saith, Noli differre ò homo remedia salutis tuae, quia nescis, quando anima à te repetatur: Defer not O man, the remedies of thy salvation, for thou knowest not when thy soul shall be taken from thee. Ergo, if he that is saved hath his sins forgiven him before he go hence, prayer for pardon afterward is superfluous. Argum. 6. Where there is no remission of sins, nor effectual repentance, there prayer for remission is in vain. But after death, there is neither remission, No repentance unto remission of sins after death. nor yet true repentance. Aug. de temp. serm. 66. Tempus est nunc remissionis poenitentibus, sed tempus erit post mortem vindicationis, negligentibus confiteri peccata: Now is the acceptable time, the time of salvation, now is the time for remission to the penitent, but after death shall be the time of revenge to all those that neglected to confess their sins. Serm. 181. cap. 16. Cum abducti fuerimus ab hoc seculo, ibi poenitebit nos, sed nulla est utilitas poenitentiae: When we are carried out of this world, there it shall repent us, but there shall be no utility or profit of our repentance. Ergo, prayer for remission of sins is in vain, when it cannot be had. Argum. 7. Every man dieth either penitently No hope for the impenitent after death. or impenitently: if he die penitently, all his sins are forgiven him. August. serm. 181. cap. 16. Donec sumus in hac vita, quantacunque nobis acciderint peccata possibile est omnia ablui per poenitentiam: As long as we live in this life, it is possible for all our sins how great soever to be washed away by repentance. For such therefore prayer is superfluous: if a man die without repentance, prayer can not help them, because they enter into damnation. Si sine poenitentia mortui fuerint; non veniunt ad vitam, sed praecipitantur ad mortem: If they die without repentance, they come not to life, but are cast headlong to death, sermon. 217. Ergo, prayer is profitable to none that are departed. Argum. 8. After judgement prayers help not. August. Non post judicium patet precum, aut meritorum locus: There is no place for prayer or merit after judgement, serm. 22. in Matth. But in death every man receiveth his judgement. Aug. in Psa. 32. Misericordiae tempus modo est, judicij post erit: Now is the time of mercy, the time of judgement shall be afterward: Qualis exieris ex hac vita, redderis illi: As you go out of this world, so shall you be presented unto God, in Psal. 36. 1. Ergo, after death there is no place for prayers. I could produce no less, than an hundred of such places out of Augustine, to show, that there is no utility or profit coming to the dead by the prayers of the living: but these may suffice. Wherefore then (will it be said) doth Augustine allow prayer for the dead? I answer, that they did it in some commiseration and tender affection, not of any necessity, as I showed before: and then prayer for the dead was far differing from popish Dirges, and Masses of Requiem, as is before declared. And what if Augustine, or any other Father of the Church, doth seem to like and approve prayer for the dead? that is no sufficient warrant, unless they can show their ground out of Scripture. And this judgement Augustine himself would have used toward his writings: Auferantur de medio chartae nostrae, procedat in medium codex Dei: audi Christum dicentem, audi veritatem loquentem: Let our writings be taken out of the way, let the book of God be brought forth: hear Christ saying, hear the truth speaking, in Psal. 57 Wherefore neither the opinion of Augustine, nor of any other Doctor ought to bind us without authority of scripture, which in this point of prayer for the dead, faileth. Whereas then the Libeler thinketh, that these words, which were sorted out of Augustine, do little make against prayer for the dead; indeed it may well be, that more pregnant places might have been produced out of Augustine, to that end, as any of these before alleged: yet howsoever, for any thing he hath said for himself, there remaineth some life in those objections still, and the party traduced is cleared of the crime of falsification, which cleaveth fast as pitch to the traducers face. As for his ungodly blasphemies of malicious and wilful corruptions, shaking hand with death, detest such a malicious Minister, they do as a filthy some bewray his cankered and corrupt heart, with whom he seemeth to have shaken both hand and heart, that is, the father of lies, and accuser of the brethren. And thus we see how this, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, sophister of many heads, as Plato saith, turneth himself from lying to railing, from railing to falsifying, from that to bragging, and so becometh at the last audacious & past shame. But as Lysias said: They that often offend are most ready to lie. So it is no marvel that he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. spareth not to utter so many untruths, that maketh no conscience of offending other ways: his book every where breathing out nothing else, but unjust accusations, uncharitable surmises, sophistical cavils, intolerable railings. I would he had considered well, when his pen was going, that saying of Hierome: Peccare est hominis, insidias tendere diaboli: To sin of frailty, is of man; but maliciously to lie in wait, is of the devil. The 10. Falsification. WHereas Augustine is cited, Tetrastyl. p. 100 out of libr. 22. de civitat. Dei cap. 10. against the invocation of Saints, these exceptions are taken. 1. That divers of Augustine's words, that set forth the sacrifice of the Altar, are left out, lib. pag. 249. 2. Augustine speaketh of that invocation, which is due only to God: so that his meaning is, that the Martyrs are not invocated as God. Libel. pag. 252. 3. Augustine speaketh not of the spiritual sacrifice of prayer, but of the external sacrifice of the Altar. 4. Augustine is declared to allow invocation to Saints: lib. 6. de Baptis. cont. Donatist. cap. 1. de cura pro mortuis. cap. 4. lib. 22. the civit. Dei cap. 8. The justification. 1. FIrst, if that the rest of the words following in Augustine had plainly set forth your imagined sacrifice of the Altar, was there any cause to allege them, seeing the question was only of the invocation of Saints? you show yourself a fit man to write of controversies, that would bring in by head and shoulders, whatsoever you find in your way, though never so impertinent to the cause. 2. But what if he himself is the falsifier, leaving out the most material words, that take away his hold for the sacrifice of the Altar, may not he be counted a shameless man, that in the same place, where he objecteth a fault to another, committeth the same himself? But this he doth: for whereas Augustine endeth thus: Ipsum vero sacrificium corpus est A Falsifier. Christi, quod non offertur ipsis, quia hoc sunt & ipsi: But the sacrifice itself is the body of Christ, which is not offered to them (the Martyrs) because they themselves are the same (body:) he hath clean pared away, these last words, because they themselves are the same, and supplieth them with an etc. this he doth p. 248. and blusheth not a whit at it. Now in these words lieth hidden the whole sense: the Martyrs are the same body (or as learned Vives expoundeth) ex Christi corpore, of Christ's body, which is the sacrifice. And that this is Augustine's meaning, it doth elsewhere appear: as libr. 10. the civit. Dei cap. 6. Hoc est sacrificium Christianorum, multi unum corpus sumus in Christo: quod etiam sacramento The Martyrs are Christ's body. altaris fidelibus noto frequentat ecclesia, ubi ei demonstratur, quod in ea oblatione, quam offered, ipsa offeratur: This is the sacrifice of Christians, we are many one body in Christ: which in the sacrament of the Altar known to the faithful the Church frequenteth, that in the oblation, which she offereth, she herself is offered. So then that body of Christ is the sacrifice, whereof the Martyrs are members. Is this any other than the mystical body of Christ's Church? But how is the church otherwise offered up in sacrifice, then by their spiritual sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving? Thus then standeth Augustine's reason: The Martyrs cannot be both the sacrifice, and the party to whom the sacrifice is offered; but they are the sacrifice, that is, part of the mystical body of Christ, which is commended unto God by their spiritual sacrifice of prayer. If he can show us how the Martyrs are a piece of Christ's natural body, then will we believe him, that this maketh for the sacrifice which he urgeth of Christ's natural body. 2. Secondly, his evasion is, that they are not invocated in the sacrifice of Christ's body, which hindereth not, but in other public prayers they may: and he insinuateth, that they may be invocated, with an inferior kind of invocation, beside that which is proper to God, as we pray men in earth to be inter cessors for us. Contra. 1. S. Augustine saith, at which sacrifice, as the men of God, that by their confession have overcome the world, in their place and order are named, but not of the Priest, which sacrificeth invocated. When is it most like they should be invocated, but when they are named? if not, when they are named, then sure not at all. 2. And though the very act of the sacrifice be not offered unto them, yet in the public prayers then used beside, they might be invocated, but now they are not: wherefore there is no place for this invocation in public prayers. 3. And why do ye popish priests now invocate Saints and Martyrs in the Canon Contradiction. of your Mass, if they are not to be prayed unto in the sacrifice of the Altar? See how well your sayings and doings, your prating and practice hangeth together: for doth not the priest thus say in the Mass: Worshipping the memorial of the Virgin, by whose merits and prayers grant we may be defended? And say they not likewise in the Mass of Leo: We pray thee Lord, ut intercessione beati Leonis haec nobis prosit oblatio, that by the intercession of blessed Leo this oblation may profit us? Decret. Greg. lib. 3. tit. 41. c. 6. 2. Where learn you in the Scripture to But one kind of religious invocation. make divers kinds of religious invocation? I am sure the Apostle saith, How can they call upon him, on whom they have not believed? Roman. 10. 14. There is no invocation without belief, but we must only believe in God. joh. 14. 1. You believe in God, believe also in me. As for the request which we make to our brethren to pray for us in earth, it is but a civil observation: if ye demand no more to be yielded to the Saints, we shall be soon agreed. 3. Thirdly, here is no mention made at all▪ of the sacrifice of the Altar, or of any external sacrifice offered to God. He saith, Sacrificium-immolamus, we do offer up sacrifice: which phrase Augustine elsewhere applieth Augustine speaketh of spiritual sacrifice. to spiritual sacrifice: as lib. 5. cap. 24. de civitat Dei: Si pro suis peccatis humilitatis, miserationis, & orationis sacrificium deo suo immolar● non negligunt, etc. If they neglect not to immolate or offer the sacrifice of humility, sorrow, mercy or pity (we will not strive about words) (it signifieth pity proceeding of sorrow and grief) and of prayer, etc. all which are spiritual sacrifices. Yea if you be remembered, or have sung your first Mass, your own mouth then said in the Canon, Offerimus tibi hoc sacrificium laudis: We offer unto thee this sacrifice of praise. Your own Mass book will tell you why the Eucharist is called a sacrifice, because therein praise and thanksgiving is offered unto God. 4. Fourthly, whereas he would fain win Augustine's favour to be of his side, I will first show how much without cause they presume of Augustine's kindness, and then answer to the allegations by him produced. 1. Nu●quid aliquis apostolorum dicere auderet, qui credit in me, non credit in me, said in illum qui misit me? credimus enim apostolo, non We must not believe in the Apostles. credimus in apostolum: non enim apostolus justificat impium, etc. Did any of the Apostles dare to say, he that believeth in me, doth not believe in me, but in him that sent me? we believe the Apostle, not in the Apostle: for the Apostle doth not justify the wicked, but to him that believeth in him that justifieth the wicked, faith is imputed for righteousness: in joann. 54. If then it be not lawful to believe in the Apostles, than not to pray to them. Rom. 10. 14. How shall they call upon him, in whom they have not believed? 2. De civitat. Dei libr. 8. cap. 27. Nec tamen Augustine against Prayer to Saints. no● ijsdem martyribus templa, sacerdotia, sacra & sacrificia constituimus etc. honoramus eorum memorias tanquam sanctorum hominum dei etc. quis autem audivit aliquando fidelium stantem sacerdotem ad altar, etc. dicere in precibus, offero tibi sacrificium Petre, vel Paul, vel Cyprian, cum apud eorum memorias offeratur Deo, etc. quaecunque igitur adhibentur religiosorum obsequia in martyrum locis ornamenta sunt memoriarum, non sacra vel sacrificia mortuorum tanquam deorum: Neither do we appoint Churches, Priests, holy things and sacrifices to Martyrs, etc. we honour their memory as of holy men, etc. who of the faithful ever heard the priest standing at the Altar built upon the body of a Martyr to the honour of God, say in his prayers, I offer to thee Peter, Paul, or Cyprian a sacrifice, when at their memories they offer to God: what service soever then is done of the devout, in the places of Martyrs, are ornaments of their memories, not sacrifices of the dead as of Gods. 3. Serm. 14. de natali Domini. Inuoca Virgo sancta Deum tuum, David patrem tuum, non illum david adulterio fuscatum, etc. Holy virgin call upon thy God, David thy father, not that David polluted with adultery, but that David which strove with the devil. If David be not to be prayed unto, what privilege have the Saints of the new Testament more than they of the old? 4. Ser. 6. de Steph. Exaudi me sancte meus, virgins filius, ad me exaudiendum unus: Hear me my holy Lord son of the virgin, one or alone sufficient, to hear me. If Christ alone hear us, Saints are not appointed to hear us, nor we to pray to them. 5. Cont. Faustum lib. 20. cap. 21. Quis antistitum in locis sanctorum corporum assistens altari aliquando dixit, offerimus tibi Petre, Paul, vel Cyprian, sed quod offertur offertur Deo, etc. Which of the Ministers standing by the Altar in the places of the Saints ever said, we offer unto thee Peter, Paul, or Cyprian, but that which is offered is offered to God, etc. And again, Colimus martyres eo cultu dilectionis & societatis, quo in hac vita coluntur homines Dei, etc. We worship Martyrs with the same worship of dilection and fellowship, wherewith holy men are worshipped in this life. A civil adoration then, such as is due unto men, is to How Saints are to be honoured. be yielded to the Saints departed, and no other: 6. De vera religion. cap. 55. Non nobis sit religio cultus hominum mortuorum, etc. honorandi sunt propter imitationem, non adorandi propter religionem, etc. quare honoramus eos charitate non servitute, etc. The worship of the dead is no religion unto us, etc. they are to be honoured for imitation, not to be adored for religion, etc. wherefore we honour them with love, not with service. Here all religious service is denied to Saints, and consequently prayer, which is a part of religious worship. By these testimonies then alleged it appeareth, what Augustine's mind was of the invocation of Saints. Secondly, to answer to the places objected. First, where Augustine saith: Adiwet nos orationibus suis, etc. Let him help us with his prayers, speaking of Cyprian, lib. 7. de Baptis. cont. Donatist. cap. 1. (not lib. 6. as he hath erroneously noted in the margin) this showeth not that Augustine did invocate Cyprian: he doth not say, Sancte Cyprian, Holy Cyprian prey for me: for he, as is before alleged, testifieth, that no priest thus saith in his prayers. But hereby Augustine declareth the communion between the Church triumphant and militant, that they wish well unto us, and do long to see us in their state. And thus Augustine expoundeth himself lib. 5. de Baptis. c. 17. speaking of Cyprian: Praesens est non solum per literas, sed per ipsam, quae in illo maxime viguit, An intercourse of love between the members of the triumphant and militant Church. charitatem, etc. cui ego inhaerere & conglutinari desyderans, orationibus eius adiutus: He is present not only by his letters, but by that charity which did most flourish in him: which charity I desire to be joined unto, helped with his prayers. This then showeth nothing else, but a charitable intercourse between the members of the triumphant and militant Church, that as we give thanks for their deliverance, so they do long for ours, and wish the same. So Augustine in another place: Ergo sancti non petunt pro nobis, etc. Do not then the Saints pray for us? do not the Bishops & ministers pray for the people? yea mark the Scriptures, the Apostles pray for the people, the people for the Apostles. invicem pro se omnia membra orent, caput pro omnibus interpellet: Let all the members pray one for another, and the head make intercession for all, in epist. joann. tract. 1. It is not then all one to say the Saints pray for us in their desires unto God, and we must pray to them. Secondly, where Augustine is alleged, de cur. pro mortuis cap. 4. The affection of him that prayeth and remembreth, doth commend his beloved soul to the Martyr: This showeth not, that humble supplication was then made to Martyrs, but that in their affection and desire, they wished to have the assistance of Martyrs: as Augustine elsewhere in Psal. 69. Audiamus Martyrs & loquamur cum eis ex affectu cordis: Let us hear the Martyrs and speak with them out of the affection of the heart. We then no otherwise speak to the Martyrs, than they speak to us and we hear them, that is in our affection, denotion and desire. Thirdly, concerning that place cited out of lib. 22. de civitat Dei cap. 8. I answer, that many fabulous reports are foisted into that chapter, and so thinketh Lodovicus Vives in his annotations there: In hoc capite non dubium (saith he) quin multa addita ab iis, qui omnia magnorum authorum scripta spurcis suis manibus contaminabant: No doubt but in this chapter many things are added by way of declaration by those, which with their unclean hands defiled all the writings of great authors. This may serve as answer to your counterfiet Augustine: other reasons I could show, to prove these stories counterfeit, but neither time now, nor place here serveth. And what if Augustine notwithstanding or any other Father might be produced directly to speak for the invocation of Saints, if they have not Scripture on their side, as we are sure in this matter they have not, we are not to hear them. Augustine himself saith, speaking of human writings: Hoc genus literarum non cum credendi necessitate, sed cum judicandi libertate legendum est: This kind of writing is to be read not with necessity of believing, but with liberty of judging, cont. Faust. lib. 11. cap. 5. Now, as for coney-catching tricks, monstrous falsification, and your plain English lie: I say no more but with Hierome: Haec sunt sibila serpentis antiqui: These are the hissings of the old serpent, lib. 1. cont. jovinian. I hope it now appeareth, which of the two hath best deserved the name of a falsary: at the length your false packing is discovered, as Men●●der 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. saith: That no liar can long time be hid. The 11. Falsification. TEtrastyl. pag. 112. because the Pelagians opinion is reported to be this, that a man may be perfect in this life, and keep all the commandments: he taketh a double exception. 1. That Augustine is corrupted: because he condemneth not the Pelagians for Heretics, because they taught that men may be perfect in this life, etc. but because they said, that just men in this life were void of all sin, and that the commandments might be kept without grace. 2. The Rhemists nor any other Catholic do hold, that a man may be so perfect in this life, as to have no sin at all, and keep all the commandments without help of God's grace. Libel. pag. 255. The justification. 1. FIrst, the Pelagians did hold these two opinions: first, that a man may be perfect without sin, and keep all the commandments of God in this life. Secondly, that a man is able to do all this without grace by his own free will. These two heretical opinions Augustine in the place alleged h●res. 88 toucheth jointly together: but elsewhere he distinguisheth them sunderly: as libr. de perfect. justit. cont. Celest. ratiocinat. 16. whereas the Pelagian had asked this question, whether a man might be without sin: Augustine answereth: Posse esse hominem sine peccato, neque nos negamus; quando autem possit, & per quem possit, hoc quaeritur: si enim modo est, non omni animae fideli positae in corpore mortali orandum est, etc. That a man may be without sin, we deny not, but when, and by whom, that is the question: for if now, than it were not needful for every faithful soul placed in this mortal body to pray, forgive us our trespasses, etc. And again, epistol. 89. Augustine handleth these two questions severally: first, whether a man may attain to that perfection in this life to be without all sin. Secondly, whether man's free will do suffice to keep all the commandments, quaest. 2. Now then seeing the Pelagians held both these erroneous assertions, it was impertinent to produce that opinion, which to the adversary was not objected. These being then two errors of the Pelagians, that all the commandments may be kept in this life, and that by free will without grace: the first only is objected, and the other as impertinent omitted. 2. But it will be objected, that the Pelagians error herein was not, whether it is possible to keep the commandments, but whether one may be perfect in this life without sin? Ans. All these do depend one upon another: for he that can keep all the commandments is perfect, and consequently without sin. This first is proved by the Scriptures: jam. 3. 2. If any man sin not in word, he is a perfect man: much more is he perfect that sinneth neither in word nor deed. Again, 1. joh. 3. 4. Sin is the transgression of the law: he than that transgresseth not the law, sinneth not: and he that transgresseth it, sinneth. If a man then keep all the commandments, he also sinneth not. Augustine saith: Cur non De perfect. justiciae cont. Celestin. ratio●in. 16. praeciperetur homini ista perfectio quamuis eam in hac vita nemo habeat? Why should not this perfection be commanded, though in this life no man can have it? The perfection commanded, is to keep God's commandments: as a little before he said; Non omni modo ex tota anima diligitur Deus: God is not here loved altogether with the whole heart. And again, Tunc homo justus erit: Then a man shall be just without sin (that is in the next life) when he shall with his whole soul love God. Thus Augustine confuteth Celestius the Pelagian, that affirmed it was commanded, that man should be without sin: showing, that man can neither be perfect in this life, with that perfection which is commanded, nor yet perfectly keep the commandments. Hierome likewise disputing against the Pelagians that held, facilia esse Dei praecepta, that the precepts of God might be done, thus reasoneth: first, Cur ausus es dicere facilia esse, quae nullus implevit? How dare you say they are easy to be done, seeing no man ever kept them? Secondly, whereas they demanded, The Law no man can keep, though assisted with grace. whether the commandments were possible or impossible: he answereth: Si hoc mihi cum Christo commune, etc. If this be common to me with Christ, that is, to have no sin, quid ille proprium habuit, what was then proper to him? Thirdly, Asseris hominem esse sine peccato si velit, etc. You say a man may be without sin if he will, frustra conaris adiungere, non sine Dei gratia: and after an heavy sleep to deceive simple souls, you go about in vain to say, not without God's grace: sic Hieron▪ ad Ctesiphont. Thus Hierome proveth against the Pelagians that the commandments cannot be kept, because Christ only was without sin: Whereupon it must be inferred, that they which keep the commandments sin not: yea he seemeth to mislike the Pelagians assertion, that a man may be without sin, being not without the grace of God. To be then without sin in this life, and to keep the commandments, is all one question both with Augustine and Hierome: and this differing from the other, whether free will be sufficient thereto without grace. Augustine then is neither mangled nor corrupted, when one opinion is singled from the other, and that only produced which is objected. 3. It is one question, whether it be possible by the grace of God to be without sin and to keep all the commandments: another, whether any man, de facto, hath in act lived without sin and kept the commandments. The first Augustine seemeth to grant in these words: Et si non invenitur homo in ista vita sine peccato, id tamen dicitur posse fieri, etc. Although no man is found in this life to be without sin, yet it may be said to be done by the help of God's grace: which that it may 〈◊〉, we must endeavour, we must desire: Tolerabilius in id quisque fallitur, etc. Every man herein is tolerably deccived: for it is not diabolical impiety, but human error, optanda affirmare, licet, quod affirmat; non possit ostendere, to affirm things to be wished, though he cannot show that which is affirmed: epistol. ad Innocent. Augustine seemeth to grant that it is possible by God's grace to be without sin in this life: for what is impossible to the grace and power of God? yet he calleth it a tolerable error, so to affirm: epistol. ad Innocent. But concerning the other point, that the law is impossible to be kept in fact, and that no man ever fulfilled it, Bernard doth evidently witness: Ergo mandando impossibilia non praeuaric●tores homines fecit, sed humiles, ut omne os obstruatur, etc. Therefore by commanding things impossible, he made not men transgressors, but humble, that every mouth should be stopped, and all the world made subject to God, because by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified before him. And again: D● mihi hominem, qui ante omnia ex toto se diligat deum: Give me a man that with his whole self loveth God, & his neighbour as himself: sed ubi ille, quando ista? but where is he, and when shall this be? Serm. 50. in Cantic. This was then the Catholic opinion of the Church, that no man ever in this world kept the law of God: The Pelagians held the contrary, and so do the Rhemists, as even now shall be showed. 2. Secondly, the Rhemists than are not wronged, for these are their own words: It is possible to love God and keep his commandments, joh. 14. sect. 1. they make no mention here of God's grace, though out of other places, that may be gathered to be their meaning, we will not take them short, as this unequal and unfriendly Censurer useth to do, for the omission of a word. Again, they say, that good men do keep all God's commandments, Luk. 1. sect. 7. because the Scripture saith of Zacharie and Elizabeth, they walked in all the commandments of God without blame: what else in effect do the Pelagians say, when they affirm, Vitam iust●rum in hoc seculo nullum habere peccatum, that the life of the just hath no sin at all in this life, August. h●res. 88 For as I showed before, to keep all the commandments of God, and to be without sin, do necessarily the one follow the other. The Pelagians also held, that a The agreement of the Pelagians and Papists. man might be perfect in this life: alleging that text, Matth. 5. Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect, and such other. The Rhemists also say, that a man may be perfect in this life, Though not in respect of the absolute perfectness in heaven: in Philip. 3. sect. 4. Neither did the Pelagians so think, that a man could be as perfect here as in heaven: for they speak of that perfection, which is commanded in Scriptures: which do not bid us to be so perfect: And Augustine confesseth, that such perfection, as in commanded in Scripture, cannot be had in this life, as I showed De perfection. justit. cont. Celestium ratiocinat. 16. before: but yet it is prescribed; because as he saith, Non recte curritur, si quo currendum est nesciatur: A man cannot run well, unless he know whither to run, Quomodo autem sciretur, si nullis praeceptis ostenderetur: And how should it be known, if by no precepts it were shown. 3. Thirdly, it will be objected, that the Pelagians excluded the grace of God, so do not the Papists. Ans. First, though therein they join not with the Pelagians, yet in the other point they do, that the commandments of God may be kept in this life. Secondly, neither did the Pelagians utterly exclude God's grace: for Pelagius, as Augustine showeth, being reproved for ascribing so little to the help of God's grace, afterward qualified his opinion thus, saying, Homines facilius implere posse per gratiam: That men may more easily fulfil by grace what they are bid to do by their free will, Hear. 88 And some of the Pelagians allowed that saying: Potest homo esse sine peccato pergratiam: a man may be without sin by grace. Whereupon Augustine saith: Laetitia repent perfusus sum, quod Dei gratiam non negaret: I suddenly rejoiced, because he denied not the grace of God: de nature. & great. cap. 11. And before Hierome showeth, that they added this to their sentence, non sine gratia Dei, not without the grace of God. And though the Church of Rome in show seem to ascribe more to God's grace then the old Pelagiáns, yet they make grace but a cooperator and fellow worker with man's free will, as Bellarmine distinguisheth grace into gratiam operantem & cooperantem, working grace, and felloworking grace: lib. 2. de great. c. 2. the Rhemists call Gods special motion and grace assistance, Rom. 9 sect. 4. Now then by this that hath been said, it may appear, that Augustine is neither corrupted in this place, nor the Rhemists falsely charged. Therefore is the Libeler found here to be a false witness: For as it is said in the Proverbs 14. 5. A faithful witness will not lie. Theophrastus' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. was wont to say, that we should ●lie such more than Vipers: and we may say unto him with Hierome: Ibiprodidit vera non esse judicia, ubi sunt mentita negotia, seque in rebus carentibus veritate, career judicio vero judicat: There he hath bewrayed there can be no true judgement, where the business is forged, and himself to want judgement, where the matter wanteth truth: ad Geruntij filias. The 12. Falsification. TEtrasty l. p. 142. because Bellarmine thus saying, Augustinus absurdissimum censuit, etc. is translated, Augustine thought most absurdly that the heresy of the Donatists three hundred years after Christ should out of Carthage be propagated into all the earth: whereas Bellarmine's words truly turned into English be these: Augustine thought it a most absurd thing, etc. and so Bellarmine is cleared from fathering a lie upon Augustine. The justification. 1. HE that noted this out of Bellarmine, might be induced to think, that he made bold with Augustine here, because elsewhere he doth the like, in charging Augustine with that which he writeth not: as libr. 1. de verb. Dei cap. 5. he saith: Augustinus in Psal. 126. & alibi saepe Salomonem à Deo reprobatum fuisse scribit: Augustine upon the 126. Psalm and otherwhere often times doth write, that Solomon was reprobate of God. But in that place cited by Bellarm. there is no such thing affirmed by Augustine: for in the exposition of the Psalm I find not so much as Salomon's name, and in the enarration, he only saith: Quid mirum si in populo Dei cecidit Solomon, in paradiso non cecidit Adam? etc. What marvel if Solomon fell among the people of God, did not Adam fall in paradise? and did not the Angel fall from heaven and became a devil? He speaketh of the fall of Solomon, not of his reprobation: for if Solomon fell no otherwise than Adam, he was not a reprobate. 2. The Grammatical construction of this sentence of Bellarmine, Augustinus absurdissimum censuit, quod haeresis Donatistarum, etc. May seem rather to yield this sense, that Augustine thought most absurdly, or a most absurd thing, then that he thought it an absurd thing: for in this translation two things must be understood, both the verb, esse, to be, and hoc, or id, this: so that to make a full sense, the words must be supplied thus: Augustinus hoc absurdissimum esse censuit: Augustine thought this to be an absurd thing, that, etc. But in the other construction there is a full sense in the words expressed, without any supply. Now any simple Grammarian knoweth this, that the words expressed do rather make the sense, if they be perfect, than words supplied or understood. If ever the Libeler taught Grammar boys, he might have remembered, that they are not in construction, to say, supple, or subaudi, to supply such or such a word, where the sentence of itself maketh a full sense. 3. But this is no malicious dealing (Sir Grammarian) if Bellarmine's sense be as you say, to mistake his meaning, especially the right construction of the words bearing the same. A small oversight is neither malicious nor shameful. Bernard saith: Non tam simplex sum, ut simplicem oris prolationem sine cordis duplicitate mendacium putem: I am not so simple to think the simple pronouncing of the mouth without a double heart to be a lie, epistol. 89. Bellarmine is rather to be blamed, that in such ambiguous terms sendeth his oracles from Rome, as Apollo in time past did propound his Oracles at Delphos so doubtfully, that they might have a divers meaning. 4. But what have you gained, if it be yielded to you, that Bellarmine meaneth, not that August. thought an absurd thing, but that it was an absurd thing that the heresy of the Donatists after three hundred years should be propagated into all the world? For in steed of one lie, which Bellarmine is said to father upon Augustine, now is he chargeable with three: for in that cap. 15. de unitat. Eccles. neither the word absurdissimum, most absurd, can be found, neither is there any mention of three hundred years, nor yet is the heresy of the Donatists named: nay Augustine of purpose refraineth to call the Donatists heretics, and their schism heresy: Si mihi per alios vestros concederetur, schismaticos vos libentius, quam baereticos dicerem: If your fellows would give me leave, I would more willingly call you schismatics, than heretics: cont. Crescon. lib. 2. cap. 7. Yea Augustine saith to him (frater Cresconi) brother Cresconius, lib. 3. cap. 63. so far is he from calling him heretic. And as these words are not found in Augustine, so neither is the sense: for he speaketh not of the propagation of the Donatists errors into all the world, but counteth it a ridiculous and mad part to think, that all the Churches in the world should fail, Et earum reparationem ex Africa per partem Donati, etc. And the same to be repaired out of Africa by the sect of Donatus. I say then as Augustine to the Grammarian Cresconius, who contended about a Grammar point with Augustine: In quibus quatuor verbis sive nominibus, quia hoc vel tibi, vel arti Grammaticae placet, etc. primum corrigo & muto: caetera vero tria, quia verissima dicta esse iam, ut puto, sentis, vos corrigite, vos mutate: In these four words or names, because it so liketh you and your Grammar, I will correct and change the first: but the other three, which (as I think) yourself see to be truly objected, do you change and correct. Bellarmine is now much beholding unto you, that for one fault before noted, you have caused three or four more to be descried. 5. Lastly, I marvel at one thing, that he which playeth here the cunning Grammarian in construing of words, saileth every where so grossly in letters and syllables: for in steed of (Tetrastylon) he every where writeth (Tetrastilon) there being no such word, at the least, not in that sense. So likewise in another place this skilful Grammarian readeth the (Apocalypse) of S. john, for (Apocalypse) pag. 130. lin. 14. But as for this point of Grammar construction, which he objecteth, though it be as he saith, I stand not much upon it: but as Demosthenes answered Aeschines that found fault with him, for certain insolent speeches: Non in eo positas esse fortunas Graeciae: That the state of Greece consisted not therein, whether he used this word or that. So neither doth the cause of religion depend upon these points. And I say again as Augustine jested with the Donatists: Nuncia vestris securitatem, ne iam timeant tanquam dialecticum, cui vides adhuc necessariam esse Grammaticam: Bid your fellows be secure, that they fear not him as a disputer, whom they see to fail in his Grammar. And so I end this point with the same Father's words, In ea re, in qua nihil causae nostrae minuitur, facillimum me praebeo: Wherein nothing of our cause is diminished, I pass not to yield myself. The 13. Falsification. TEtrastyl. p. 113. Because where the Rhemists say, Though the Gentiles believed specially by God's grace and pre-ordination, yet they believe also by their own free will. The first clause is omitted, and the last only rehearsed, to fasten upon them the heresy of the Beguardines, that say, the soul needed not the light of grace to lift it up unto God: he crieth out of malice and wilful falsification. p. 238. The justification. 1. IF all these words be put together, the meaning can be no other than this, but that though God's grace do more specially make men believe, yet they also may believe of their own free will, though not so specially. Such a like saying the Pelagians had: Facilius posse implere per gratiam, etc. That they may more easily fulfil by grace, what they do by free will. Whereupon Augustine inferreth, that their opinion was, a man might work by his free will alone, though not so easily, Haeres. 88 And this may be gathered to be their meaning by the words: though they believed specially by grace, yet they believe also by their free will: they speak not of the same action of believing, but of divers, they believed by grace, and believe also: the one of the time past, the other of the time present. 2. What their opinion is of the ability of free will, it may appear in other places. Matth. 12. sect. 1. It is man's free will and election The Papists opinion of free will. to be a good tree or evil tree. Matth. 20. sect. 1. Men believe not, but of their own free will. Matth. 25. sect. 5. Men by their free will have received faith. Act. 27. sect. 3. God executeth not ordinarily his designments toward men, otherwise then by their free will and actions. 2. Peter 1. sect. 1. The certainty (of God's election) and effect thereof is procured by man's free will. If it be in man's free will, procured by man's free will, not but of man's free will, not otherwise then by man's free will; what followeth, but that man's free will can do it alone, though not so well alone (perhaps they will say) as by grace. 3. That free will is not elevated, lifted up by grace, but of it own free consent, let us see their judgement further. Luk. 2. sect. 2. God worketh not our good against our wills, but our wills concurring. joh. 1. sect. 5. Free will to receive or acknowledge Christ, and power given to men if they will to be made by Christ the sons of God, but not forced or drawn thereunto by any necessity. john. 6. sect. 3. God by the sweet internal motions and persuasions of his grace maketh us of our own will and liking to consent to the same. All this while grace draweth not the will, nor yet worketh the will, but only offereth motions and persuasions, and the will of itself consorteth to them, and concurreth with grace. Then it followeth, that grace doth not elevate the will, which is to draw and work the will, but only giveth the hint and occasion: for if grace did elevate the will, than it must draw and work the will, which they deny: so that in their doctrine the will doth elevate itself of itself, to meet grace and to consent to grace of it own power, and so consequently without grace: which their opinion is cousin german to that of the Beguardines. Therefore neither are the Rhemists' words misreported, nor their sense mistaken, nor yet they wrongfully here charged. Thus also have we heard the third part of this song played, we want but the fourth to make up the melody: but we must look for no other stuff, than he hath hitherto uttered. The Ephori among the Lacedæmonians punished Terpander the Musician, because he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. stretched out but one cord higher of his harp to vary his voice: but what is this bold harper worthy of, that hath stretched out so many lying cords to show his variety of slanders? But the further he proceedeth in this kind, the more he showeth his folly. These lines and leaves are but a monument of his intemperate affection: as Crates said of the golden 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. image of the harlo● Phryne's at Delphos▪ that it was a monument of the intemperancy of the greeks. But let him go on in his kind, and let us hear what he can object: ●ay with Hierome: Etiam tibi furenti satisfaciam: I will shape you an answer, though you be in a mad mood. THE FOURTH CHAPTER, containing thirteen corruptions of Scripture. FIrst, he taketh exception against the allegation of that place Luk. 17. 4. If thy brother sin against thee seven times a day, and seven times a day turn again, etc. thou shalt forgive him: which place is urged against the cruel practice of the Church of Rome, in punishing relapsed heretics with death. This it pleaseth him to call a mad exposition: allow this, and when saith he, shall felons and traitors be executed? Ans. 1. He misreporteth the words: for that text is not applied against their law in punishing relapsed and abjured persons with death: but against their cruel proceedings against simple men and women, that yielded themselves to be conformable: which practice is there showed to be both against their own law, which suffereth a man once to abjure his heresy, and against this rule of the Gospel. See the place, Synops. p. 336. 2. Yet is this their law also unjust, to suffer A hard law against persons once abjured. an heretic to abjure but once, being contrary to the saying of our Saviour here, and of S. Paul Tit. 3. 10. An heretic after once or twice admonition reject. 3. They proceeded against such which were no heretics, but held sound and catholic opinions, which they falsely called heresy. 4. Neither is there the like case of Ecclesiastical and Civil judgement: neither is the same course to be held in punishing of Civil and temporal, and spiritual offences: for the one tendeth to the dissolution of the politic body, as the outrages of traitors and felons, and therefore must speedily be prevented: the other though they do spiritually Difference in Civil and Ecclesiastical proceeding. infect, yet are not so dangerous to the outward state, but may more safely be forborn. Our Saviour Christ therefore giveth a rule to his Disciples here, and namely to S. Peter Matth. 18. 21. both how they should carry themselves toward their offending brethren in their private disposition, and in the external dispensation of discipline. So S. Paul showeth to Titus before cited. And Leo epist. 13. Sedis apostolicae moderatio hanc temperantiam observat, ut severius agat cum obduratis, & veniam cupiat praestare correctis: The moderation of the sea Apostolic doth observe this temper, to deal severely with the obdurate, and to show mercy to the corrigible. 5. But because he speaketh of an excellent talon of interpreting, I will give you a taste of his: to prove Saul to be a just and good man, he allegeth this text, 1. Sam. 1. 9 Saul was elect and good, that is, a choice young man and a fair, as it is in the original: Ergo, he was a just man. Christ said, joh. 17. vers. 12. Whom thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them perished, but the son of perdition: Ergo, judas was once just. This collection he fathereth upon Hierome, and alloweth himself, Libel. pag. 142. The like gift of interpreting Scripture is elsewhere discovered in Bellarmine and the Rhemists, Tetrastyl. pag. 128. 129. whither the Reader must be desired to have recourse. And we need not marvel, that they have such a dexterity in applying and expounding Scripture: for they must be all led with the spirit of their head the Bishop of Rome, who sometime applied these words of the Apostle: They that are in the flesh cannot please God, Rom. 8. 8. very profoundly and clerklike against the marriage of Ministers. Innocent. distinct. 82. c. 2. As his faculty is in the interpreting of Scripture, so is it in writing: more scoffs, taunts and reviling terms cannot lightly fall out of any man's pen. But I force not: if I should make my choice I had rather be dispraised, then praised of such: As Antisthenes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. said, when he was commended of certain lewd persons: I fear me (saith he) I have done some evil, because these commend me. And Ambrose might have told him: Non credibile est bene posse eum vivere, qui male loquitur: It is not credible, that he can live well, that speaketh evil: in 4. ad Ephes. The 1. Corruption. GReat exception is taken, because we read, Act. 3. 23. Whom the heavens must contain, etc. whereas it should be translated, according to the Greek and Latin, receive, etc. The Correction. 1. THis is no particular quarrel against the party challenged, but general against the translation received. 2. We read indifferently in one translation, receive, in another contain: being both in sense all one. 3. Gregory Nazianzen so citeth this text, as that it must be understood, that Christ is contained in heaven: orat. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. 4. Beza translateth the word better, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, capere, to contain or hold, than the Latin, recipere, to receive: for this word in the English tongue is a compound, but in the original it is a simple. 5. Whether we read contain with Gregory Nazianzen, or hold with Beza: or recipere to receive with the Latin, or excipere to receive in, as the Siriake translator, or suscipere, as Arias Montanus: we will not greatly contend. For howsoever it be translated, the words following: until the time that all things be restored: do make it an invincible place against Christ's corporal presence in the Sacrament: for if the heavens, contain, hold, or receive his body till his second coming, till all things be restored; then his body before that time is not to be expected on the earth. The 2. Corruption. SYnops. p. 165. He that putteth away a good conscience, maketh shipwreck of faith: A wilful falsification, for the Apostle speaketh not generally, but that certain repelling a good conscience, made shipwreck about the faith. 1. Tim. 1. 19 The Correction. 1. But that this (spider catcher) is disposed to cavil, he might well have peceiued, that the text of S. Paul is not here alleged, but a proposition from thence collected: that whosoever doth put away a good conscience, doth also make shipwreck of faith. 2. And where the Apostle saith, certain: this word maketh a distinction between those that have faith and a good conscience, whereof the Apostle speaketh in the beginning of the verse, and them that make shipwreck of both: not between some that make shipwreck of a good conscience and keep faith, and them which put away both: but the Apostle speaketh in general of all such, that if they put away a good conscience, consequently they also wrack their faith. As the Apostle elsewhere showeth, 1. Tim. 4. 1. 2. That they which depart from the faith, have True faith and a good conscience suffer wrack together. their consciences burned with a hot iron. And Tit. 1. 15. Unto the unbelieving, their minds and consciences are defiled. These two therefore do always go together, the wrack of faith and a good conscience. And so Ambrose saith: Dignus erat perdere inutilem fidem qui non exercuerat charitatem: He is worthy to lose an unprofitable faith, that did not exercise charity, libr. 2. de vocat. Gent. cap. 2. he setteth it down as a general axiom. Likewise Chrysostome upon these words: Vbi vita reprehensibilis sit, dogma item huiusmodi sit necessarium est: Where the life is reprehensible (a good conscience being put away) there the doctrine must needs be such. From the Apostles words he concludeth generally: that wheresoever a conscience of a good life is cast off, the doctrine of faith cannot be sound: and therefore it is an evident sign, that the Libeler making no conscience of lying and slandering, can be of no good faith and religion. As for his loud crying: he hath put away a good conscience, we regard it not: as Demosthenes said to one that had a great voice, but no great wit: Not that which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. great is well, but that which is well (done or said) is great. Augustine saith: Nec malam conscientiam sanat praeconium laudantis, nec bonam vulnerat conviciantis opprobrium: Neither doth praise heal a bad conscience, nor dispraise hurt a good. The 3. Corruption. IN that text jerem. 17. 7. alleged to prove that we must trust only in God, and not in man: these words are foisted in saith he, only, and not in man: and so likewise Psal. 50. 15. only is added of his own. The Correction. BEcause this trifler picketh quarrels at every thing, and taketh exception against the allegation of these and other texts: I will make him one answer for all, and show in what manner the Scriptures may be cited and alleged, without any corruption or falsification, though the same words be not always precisely kept. And this may be best learned from the example of our Saviour Christ and the Apostles in the new Testiment: where in the citing of the old Scriptures sometime they follow the words with some alteration, sometime the sense and not the words; the words are altered divers ways. 1. When as out of other places of Scripture other words are annexed: as that testimony Matth. 21. 13. is taken out of two other places of the Prophets, Esay, 57 7. jerem. 7. 11. 2. Sometime a word is added, which is not found in the text, exegetic●s, by way of exposition: Matth. 4. 10. Him only shalt thou serve: whereas, this word only is supplied to Scripture alleged in sense, not in words. show the sense, being not in the original. Deut. 6. 13. So Matth. 2. 6. art not the least, where this word not is added to show the sense in the accomplishment of that prophecy. 3. Sometime the manner of speech is altered: Matth. 13. 15. The Prophet speaketh in the imperative, make the heart of this people fat. Esay. 6. 9 the Evangelist: this people's heart is waxed fat: Matth. 1. 13. the person is changed: they shall call his name: Esay. 7. 14. she shall call. 4. Sometime another word is used, but in the same sense: Matth. 4. 14. sat in darkness. Esay. 9 2. walk in darkness. 5. The sense is gathered, not the words rehearsed: Matth. 22. 24. out of Deuteronom. 25. 5. 6. Sometime an argument is framed out of the scripture, not there expressed, but from thence collected: as Matth. 22. 32. Christ concludeth the resurrection out of these words: I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and jacob. Thus as Hierome saith: Apostolis curae fuit non verba & syllabas aucupari, sed sententias dogmatum ponere: The Apostles care was not to hunt after words and syllables, but to set down the sentence. And as the Scriptures are not corrupted, when the sense, though not the words, is retained: So may the Scriptures be abused, when the same words are kept, but the sense altered: as Matth. 5. 38. an eye for an eye, etc. the pharisees did use the words, but wrested the sense, when they applied that to private men's revenge, which was lawful only for the Magistrate. Now then to apply these rules: in the places objected there is no corruption: for jerem. 17. 5. it is forbidden to trust in man: then consequently ver. 7. where the Prophet saith, Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, the sense must be, that God only is to be trusted in: therefore, not in man, is added out of the 5. verse: not foisted in, as he ignorantly and maliciously saith. In the other place, Psalm. 50. 15. Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me: an argument is from thence gathered, that we must only call upon God: for who else but God doth deliver us? who else but God is to be glorified for our deliverance? So that this is the order, as Augustine well showeth: Cum tribularis invocas me; cum invocas me, eximam te; cum eximam te iam glorificabis me, ut iam non discedas à me: When thou art in trouble thou dost call upon me; when thou dost call upon me, I will deliver thee; when I deliver thee, thou shalt glorify me, that now thou do not depart from me: in Psal. 49. Therefore to these places to add only, to show the sense of the place, that God only is to be trusted in, only called upon, is no more corruption, then where Moses is alleged to say: him only shalt thou serve, Matth. 4. 10. whereas Moses only saith, him shalt thou serve. The 4. Corruption. BEcause 1. Corinth. 9 5. we read, a sister a wife, not a sister a woman: he crieth out, manifest corruption, a false translation. The Correction. 1. TO translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a sister a wife is more proper, then to say, a sister a woman: for that were superfluous: the word sister implieth a woman: and therefore the Latin interpreter seeing the inconvenience, doth invert the order, and putteth woman in the first place, saying, a woman a sister, contrary to the original. 2. Though some of the Fathers translate a sister a woman, all do not so. Clemens Alexandrin. storm. lib. 3. by this place proveth that the Apostles had wives. 3. Who were fitter to minister to the Apostles, than their own wives, which might be done with less offence? and it is absurd to think, that whereas some of them had wives, as Peter, they would sequester themselves from them, and take other women into their company. And where the Apostle saith, have we not power, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to lead a sister a wife: over what women were the Apostles more likely to have power, then as husbands over their wives? The 5. Corruption. WHereas reference is made to that place, Hebr. 13. 15. and thereupon it is inferred, that there is no sacrifice left, but spiritual, of praise and thanksgiving: these words, but spiritual, is a dram of his own addition. Libel. 266. The Correction. 1. THe Apostles words are not here alleged: which are these: Let us by him offer the sacrifice of praise always to God: whereof but two words only are rehearsed, sacrifice and praise: therefore this caviller might have seen, but that he is wilfully blind, that the words of the text are not cited, but the sense of the place given. 2. Whereas the Apostle biddeth us always offer up such sacrifice, and that God is pleased with such sacrifice, doth it not follow that the Apostle speaketh of spiritual? for such he speaketh of: and if God be with them pleased, they alone are sufficient, other sacrifice beside are superfluous: for if God be pleased with such, what need we seek for any other? 3. Where he objecteth, that there is beside, the spiritual sacrifice of prayer and contrition: he showeth himself herein very childish: as though all these tend not to the praise of God, and the Apostle under the sacrifice of praise comprehendeth the fruits of the lips, where prayer also must be understood, which is called the calves of our lips. Hosh. 14. 3. 4. And if this be a wrong collection from the Apostle, blame also Augustine, who upon these words of the Psalm: I have offered in thy tabernacle the host of praise or jubilation, thus after many other words inferreth: In creatore quid agit? nisi solarestat sermone deficiente oratio: What shall he do to the Creator? where speech faileth, nothing remaineth but only jubilation. He out of these words bringeth in a conclusion of only praise. The 6. Corruption. BEcause it is f gathered out of S. Paul, that a justifying aith is always actual working by love: these w●rds, is always actual are foisted in. pag. 267. The Correction. 1. BEside our general answer, that the Apostles sense is here followed, not his words precisely numbered: the Apostles meaning is cuident, where he saith, neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but faith working by love; that no faith is available before God, but a working faith: then if it cease to work, it is no longer available; if it be not available, it justifieth not: therefore a faith that justifieth, must be always working, which is all one as to say, lively, actual: but that this caviller is disposed to trifle. 2. Neither is S. Paul alleged to prove every faith to be working: for who knoweth not, but that there is a dead faith, which worketh not: but mention is made directly of justifying faith, which is always working: A Falsifier. therefore he showeth himself a notable falsifier so to misreport the words. 3. Augustine out of this place concludeth that it is faith working by love, which justifieth: Fides, quae operatur per dilectionem si in vobis est, iam pertinetis ad praedestinatos, ad iustificatos, etc. Faith working by love, if it be in you, you do belong to the predestinate, to those which are justified, serm. 16. de verb. Apostol. From hence then it is forcibly inferred, faith only justifieth, which is actual working by love: the faith, which they imagine to be in infants doth not work by love: ergo, it is not an available and justifying faith, and so consequently a vain faith, or no faith. To this argument, this doughty Confuter answereth nothing, but certain it is, that children are justified by an habitual faith: and so like a skilful Logician denieth the conclusion. Thus I trust, it sufficiently appeareth, how frivolous and childish his objections are: as for his scoffs and ridiculous terms; of being familiar with scripture, such luck, such gamesters, we pass them over as the words of children not to be regarded, or as of a phrantike person to be pitied: we are taught not to give taunt for taunt, nor to recompense evil for evil Rom. 12. 17. And as Chrysostome saith, No man healeth evil with evil, but evil with good. And I say to this Caviller, as Augustine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. to Petilian the Donatist: Te arbitrari possunt homines, nihil invenisse quod diceres, nisi tibi proponeres, cui malediceres: Men may well think, that you could not have found out what to say, if you had not propounded one unto yourself, to gainsay. The 7. Corruption. BEcause Synops. pag. 730. of the first edition: this sentence is alleged, When we have done all, we are unprofitable servants, and we did no more than was our duty: he crieth out, that the words of Christ are corrupted: because these words, all that are commanded 1 you, and say ye, are left out. Then he taketh upon him to expound this text: that we are 2 unprofitable servants: first, in respect of God: secondly, in respect of our nature: thirdly, we must so acknowledge for humility, etc. pag. 270. 271. The Correction. 1. FIrst: He might easily have seen that the text is not alleged in the same form of words: for Christ speaketh in the second person, when you have done, etc. the sentence is pronounced in the first, when we have done: therefore the sense was more aimed at then the words. 2. So much of the sentence is alleged, as was pertinent to show that no works are meritorious, because when we have done all, we are unprofitable, in which word lieth the force of this testimony in this place: Yet otherwhere the whole sentence is produced, where the occasion so requireth: as Synops. pag. 288. argum. 3. and pag. 662. arg. 2. therefore he had no just cause to complain of corruption. 3. The Evangelists in citing the old scriptures, repeat so much of the sentence, as is to the purpose, and leave the rest: as Mat. 4. 13. out of Esay 9 1. a great part of the verse is omitted. 4. And if this be a point of corruption, Hierome also is a corrupter of Scripture, who thus allegeth this text: Cum omnia feceritis, dicite, servi inutiles sumus: when you have done all, say ye are unprofitable servants. He leaveth out: all things that are commanded you, etc. ad Ctesiphont. 2. Secondly: 1. Our Saviour speaketh of that profit which redoundeth to ourselves: as may appear by the parable, Doth he thank that servant, etc. So likewise, where no thanks is received, what profit to a man is gained or deserved? And if it be taken, as he saith, that we are unprofitable servants to God, this place still remaineth strong against merits: for if God receive nothing from us, then can we not merit or deserve from him. 2. Our Saviour speaketh not of men in the corruption of nature, for they are not Gods servants being not yet called, but of such as are under grace, and do walk in obedience of God's commandments: and so doth Ambrose expound it: Quis tanta salutis beneficia digno possit aequare seruitio: Who can countervail so great benefits of salvation with worthy service? serm. 16. in Psal. 119. 3. And of all other it is most absurd, that Christ biddeth us so to say for humility: as Augustine saith: Quomodo est humilitas ubi We are all unprofitable servants in verity, not only in humility. regnat falsitas: There is no humility, where there is falsity: Non ita caveatur arrogantia, ut veritas relinquatur: Do not so take heed of arrogancy, that you leave the verity: Caus. 22. qis. 2. c. 9 11. It is not to be thought that Christ the verity, would have his Apostles lie for humility: to confess themselves to be unprofitable servants, if they were not so indeed. For a more full answer concerning the true meaning of this Scripture, I refer the Reader to another treatise, Synops. pag. 933. The 8. Corruption. SYnops. p. 668. The Scripture saith, God only forgiveth sins, Mark. 2. 7. it is no scripture, but the wicked Scribes and Pharisees so thought, whom our Saviour reprehendeth. Lib. pag. 273. The Correction. 1. Our blessed Saviour doth not reprehend the Scribes for so saying: who can forgive sins but God only, but because they charged him with blasphemy for taking upon him to forgive sins, not acknowledging the divine power in him: our Saviour rather by his silence approveth that sentence of theirs, as agreeable to Scripture. 2. This saying is called scripture, not because it was uttered by the Scribes and Pharisees, but because it is a principle taken out of the Scripture. Esay. 43. 25. I am he that putteth away thine iniquity for mine own sake, etc. And job saith, Who can bring a clean thing out of filthiness, there is not one? job. 14. 4. If no man can make one clean, than it is God only that can do it. 3. Ambrose citeth this text as scripture: Quis potest dimittere peccata, nisi solus Deus, qui per eos quoque dimittit, quibus dimittendi tribuit potestatem: Who can forgive sins, but God only; who also forgiveth by them, to whom he giveth that power? etc. lib. 5. in Luc. Go now and charge Ambrose likewise to be an abuser of scripture. But in truth you yourself are the man, that abuse yourself and others with these childish and sottish cavils, that do every where proclaim your ignorance, and bewray your evil heart: For as Basil saith, Lying is the very scope and end of impiety. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. But passing over his unchristian terms, and unseemly scoffs, as not worthy the answer, I say with Augustine: In bona conscientia teneo, quisquis volens detrahit famae meae, nolens addit mercedi meae: In a good conscience I speak it, he that willingly doth detract from my good name, unwillingly doth add to my reward. The 9 Corruption. SYnops. pag. 749. To speak simply, death is the wages of all sin, Rom. 6. 23. he hath falsified S. Paul by foisting in the word all. The Correction. 1. THe Apostles sense, not his sentence is there repeated: for in other places, where the text is cited, the words as they stand are repeated: as Synops. p. 747. lin. 17. pag. 656. lin. 31. pag. 775. lin. 50. 2. This word all, is added exegetic●s by way of exposition: for indefinite propositions in Scripture, though they want the note of universality, yet are aequivalent unto them: as joh. 1. 29. Behold the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Ye may as well say that Christ taketh not away all the sins of the world, because all is not expressed, as that all sin deserveth not death: because the Apostle only saith, the wages of sin is death. 3. S. Paul, Rom. 10. vers. 11. alleging the Prophet Esay 28. 16. saith, Whosoever believeth in him, shall not be ashamed: where the Apostle putteth to these words, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, all, or whosoever, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in him, which words the Prophet hath not; will you say that the Apostle falsified the Prophet? Which is not alleged, as though any man had now the like gift of interpreting Scripture as Paul had, but to show that it is lawful, in more words to express the sense and meaning of Scripture. 4. Neither was he the first (whom you challenge specially for this) that thus collected upon this text: but a reverend writer of our Church before him, thus inferreth upon this text, The wages and worthily deserved reward of all sin in general is death, Rom. 6. 23. Fulk Rom. 1. 1. sect. 11. whom I name not here, as though the adversary honoured the memory of that excellent man, but to show, that he neither is one alone or the first, that hath thus cited this Scripture. 5. This Scripture is not falsified at all, because it is the Apostles meaning, that all sin of itself deserveth death: Galat. 3. 10. Cursed Death the wages of all sin. is every one that continueth not in all things, which are written in the book of the law to do them: every transgression then of the law is under the curse, and so subject to death: then consequently every sin: for sin is the transgression of the law, 1. joh. 1. 3. 4. Hierome to this purpose saith: Contemptus cuiuscunque praecepti, praecipientis iniuria est: The contempt of every commandment, is an injury to the commander. And what is he worthy of, that doth wrong to the everlasting Creator and lawgiver, but of death, without God's mercy? 7. In this sense do the Fathers understand S. Paul to have spoken generally of all sin: as Origen. hom. 5. in Levitic. invenimus de peccato, quod sit ad mortem: We find concerning sin, that it is unto death, de delicto non legimus, of offences we do not read, etc. though he make a difference between, peccatum & delictum, sin and offence: the first in committing, the second in omission, which distinction he saith is not always found in Scripture: yet it appeareth by this comparison, that he taketh the Apostle to speak of all sin. Augustine also saith: A Deo est quicquid pertinet ad naturam, ab illo non est; quicquid sit contra naturam: peccatum autem contra naturam est, de quo mors, etc. Whatsoever belongeth to nature is of God; whatsoever is against nature is not of God: but sin is against nature, whereof death, and all things which are of death do spring: ad articul. fals. imposit. art. 5. Here his meaning must be, that from all sin death springeth, because all sin is against nature, because no sin is of God, etc. 7. That place Matth. 5. 22. 23. showeth, that there are divers degrees of everlasting punishment, not that any of those sins there named are exempted from thence, but more or less punished there: as Origen doth gather upon the like place Matth. 23. 15. You make him twofold more the child of hell. We learn by this, that there is eorum qui in gehenna futuri sunt differentia tormentorum, a difference of torment of those, which shall be in hell, because one is simply, another twofold the child of hell. The 10. Corruption. SYnops. p. 907. judas when he was in his holiest course, was but a thief and an hypocrite, as the Scripture testifieth of him. S. Peter saith of Simon Magus, that his heart was not right in the sight of God: there is no Scripture for the first, and in the second place, was is thrust in, for is, Libel. 175. The Correction. FIrst, how judas is proved by the Scripture and exposition of some of the Fathers in his holiest course to have been but an hypocrite, I have showed before, in the defence against Slander 11. whither I desire the reader courteously to look back. I will not use needless repetitions of the same things to avoid prolixity, as the Libeler doth often, as it should seem, for lack of matter: showing his simplicity. 2. The Caviller doth here egregiously show his folly: for the words of Peter are reported in the third person, what he said of Simon Magus, and therefore could not be rehearsed otherwise, then by a verb of the third person, that his heart was not right, etc. Neither is this unusual in the new Testament in the alleging of Scripture, to change the person, & the tense or time; as Matth. 13. 15. that I might heal them, saith the Evangelist: and he heal them, saith the Prophet, Esay 6. 10. And again, Saint Peter saith out of the 16. Psalm, Thou hast showed me the ways of life, Act. 2. 28. having relation to the accomplishment of the prophesy. But the Psalmist saith, Thou wilt show me the ways of life, Psal. 16. 9 3. We ground not an argument upon the change of the tense, but upon the true meaning of S. Peter's words: whether, we say his heart was not, or is not right, it showeth he was but an hypocrite: for he saith, thou art in the bond, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, of iniquity: which words show, that he was knotted and rooted in his hypocrisy, not then begun, but then showed. Ambrose saith: Petrus Simoni, qui magicae artis Simon Magus never but an Hypocrite. consuetudine depravatus putasset: Peter to Simon, that being corrupted with the custom of Magical art thought, that he might get the grace of the spirit with money, said, non est tibi pars neque pars in hac fide, thou hast no part nor fellowship in this faith, lib. 2. de poeniten. cap. 4. From hence I note two things, that Simon did not leave his witchcraft, though baptised, and therefore was not an hypocrite now only, but before: and that seeing he had no part in the faith (as Ambrose readeth, and Gratiane reporteth his words Caus. 1. quaest. 1. c. 19) he was never in heart baptised, for than he must have had part in the fellowship of the faith, whereof he had received the sign. Wherefore by this that hath been said, I trust it appeareth, that he had little cause to say, Doth not silence in this case cry corruption? I may say of him, as Hippomachus of one, that had long arms being commended for a good wrestler: Yea (saith he) if the crown were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. hanged aloft, and to be gotten by reaching and catching: so if the mastery were to be had by lying and overreaching, and catching at words and syllables, not by sound wrestling and grappling, this adversary would soon go away with it. But his silence would have showed his wisdom, whereas his brabbling uttereth his folly: and he shall do well to make amends afterward by holding his peace: as Gennadius reporteth of one Severus seduced to be a Pelagian: Agnoscens loquacitatis culpam usque ad mortem silentium tenuit, ut quod loquendo contraxerat tacendo emendaret: Acknowledging his loquacity, he kept silence unto his death, that he might recompense by his silence, what he had offended in speaking. Gennad. catalogue. The 11. Corruption. SYnops. pag. 473. S. Paul concludeth that a man is justified by faith only, without the works of the law. Manifest corruption, saith he, by thrusting the word only into the text. Libel. pag. 277. The Correction. 1. SAint Paul's words are not here repeated: first, for then the sentence should have been uttered in the first person, we conclude, as it is in the text, not S. Paul concludeth. Secondly, elsewhere, when the text is alleged, the words as they stand, are rehearsed, as Synops. pag. 598. lin. 43. p. 885. lin. 13. p. 887. lin. 9 Thirdly, neither should the sentence alleged have been expressed in other letters, but in the common character, as it standeth in the first edition. pag. 566. lin. 2. 2. The text only then is not here urged, but an argument therefrom concluded, and therein included: that because a man is justified without the works of the law, it followeth, that he is justified by faith alone. So Origen inferreth upon this place: Dicit sufficere solius fidei justificationem, ita ut credens quis tantummodo iustificetur, etiamsi nihil ab eo operis fuerit expletum: He saith that the justification of faith only sufficeth, that one believing only may be justified, though he have fulfilled no work: lib. 3. add Roman. Say now that Origen also corrupteth S. Paul. So likewise Ambrose in 3. ad Rom. justificati sunt gratis, quia nihil operantes, neque fidem reddentes, sola fide justificati sunt dono Dei: They are justified freely, because working nothing, justification only by faith. nor rendering nothing, they are justified by faith only by the gift of God. Again, in 4. ad Roman. Cum videant Abramum, non ex operibus legis, sed sola fide justificatum: When they see Abraham justified not of the works of the law, but by faith only. Ambrose thus concludeth only faith out of S. Paul, without any corruption at all: out of which Father I have twenty like pregnant testimonies at the lest at hand for justification, sola fide, by faith only. 3. Where you say there is no Scripture for only faith, though this place of the Apostle be equivalent to that speech: yet somewhat to satisfy your contentious spirit, I will name you such a Scripture: as Luk. 8. 50. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, believe only, etc. and she shall be saved. 4. Your evasion of works that go before grace, that the Apostle only speaketh of such, will not serve your turn: for even such works are excluded, which God hath prepared for us to walk in, Ephes. 2. 8. 10. This was the old shift of the Pelagians, as it should seem, which Hierome removeth thus writing upon these words, By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified: Quod ne de lege Mosi tantum dictum putes; & non de omnibus mandatis, quae uno legis nomine continentur, idem Apostolus scribit dicens, consentio legi Dei secundum interiorem hominem: Which lest you should think spoken only of the law of Moses, and not of all the commandments, which are contained under this one name of the law, the same Apostle writeth, saying, I consent to the law of God in the inward man, etc. ad Ctesiphont. 5. Whereas S. james saith, that a man is justified of works, and not of faith only, 2. 24. he speaketh not of that justification, whereby we are made just before God, but of the outward probation and testification thereof, as it may appear out of the 22. verse, Was not Abraham our father justified through works, when he offered Isaac his son upon the altar? But Abraham was justified before God by faith at the least thirty years before. Genes. 15. 6. Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness: therefore by this work his faith was proved and made known: as the Angel saith, Now I know that thou fearest God, Gen. 22. 12. he was not thereby justified before God. This distinction of justification Thomas Aquinas alloweth: jacobus hîc loquitur de operibus sequentibus fidem, quae dicuntur iustificare non secundum quod iustificare dicitur justitiae infusio, sed secundum quod dicitur justitiae exercitatio vel ostensio, vel consummatio: res enim fieri dicitur, quando perficitur, vel innotescit: james speaketh here of works following faith, which are said to justify, not as the infusion of justice is said to justify, but as it is said to be the exercise, showing or perfecting of righteousness: for a thing is said to be done, when it is perfected and made known: in epist. jacob. 5. 5. And no otherwise Origen saith, that Abraham was justified by works: Quia certum est eum, qui verè credit opus fide● & justitiae operari: Because it is certain, that he which truly believeth doth work the work of faith and righteousness, lib. 4. ad Rom. Thus S. Paul and S. james are reconciled: the one speaketh of our justification, that is the infusion of justice before God, which is by faith; the other of the testification thereof by works. The 12. Corruption. SYnops. pag. 532. I am the bread, joh. 6. 35. the text is corrupted by leaving out two words, of life, which if he had put to, his argument against transubstantiation had been destitute of all force. The Correction. 1. IF it be corruption of Scripture, sometime for brevity sake to leave out a word: you had best charge our Saviour with that corruption: who saith out of Esay, The spirit of the Lord is upon me, Luk. 4. 18. whereas the Prophet saith of the Lord jehovah. 2. He might have considered, that the argument taken out of this scripture, is set down from Bellarmine's report together with his answer, lib. 3. de Euchar. cap. 24. argum. 1. So that herein is no deceit nor corruption in rehearsing that, which is by others propounded: although it were granted, that some oversight might pass in the first propounders, which is not yet proved: otherwise, when this text is alleged by himself, all the words are expressed: I am the bread of life. pag. 509. lin. 1. 3. It was not necessary nor pertinent to add the rest of the words: neither have they any advantage in putting of them to: for where Christ saith, I am the living bread, or bread of life; so he likewise saith, this is my body (pointing to the bread) which is given for you: but he gave his living, not his dead body for them: As than Christ is not changed into bread, when he saith, I am the bread of life, but it is a figurative speech: so the bread is not changed into his living body, where he saith, this is my body given for you. But here of necessity also a figure must be admitted; as Augustine saith: Corporis & sanguinis sui figuram discipulis commendavit & tradidit: He gave and commended a figure of his body and blood to his Disciples, Enarrat. in Psal. 3. So Tertullian before interpreted, this is my body, that is, a figure of my body, lib. 4. cont. Martion. So then, as Christ is not material bread, but spiritually: so the bread is not his material body, but likewise spiritually. This comparison than standeth still, between these two speeches, though the word (of life) be supplied, that in both a figurative kind of locution must be admitted. The 13. Corruption. THe Scripture saith, that Christ was given only for those that are given to him, to whom he giveth eternal life, john 17. 2. the word only is maliciously added Libel p. 278. The Correction. 1. HEre not so much the sentence, as the sense of the Scripture is applied: doth the Scripture say nothing, but that which in so many words is expressed in Scripture? then should we want Scripture for the probation of many substantial points of our faith. That then is not only Scripture, which in so many words is there found, but that also which may be from thence necessarily collected: As our Saviour maketh that Scripture, which is inferred out of Scripture: as Matth. 22. 31. Concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not heard what is spoken to you of God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living: In these words our Saviour saith, that God speaketh of the resurrection: whereof there is no express mention, but only a natural and proper collection. That then is not only Scripture, which the words only betoken, but which the sense also truly collected, yieldeth, as Hierome saith: Nec putemus evangelium in verbis esse, sed in sensu; non in superficie, sed in medulla; none in sermonum folijs, sed in radice rationis: Let us not think the Gospel to be in the words, but in the sense; not in the outward show, but the marrow; not in the leaves, but in the root, in epist. ad Galat. c. 1. 2. The Scripture here alleged, joh. 17. 2▪ is only produced to prove that the elect only are given unto Christ: the words stand thus, Who are not contented to say, as the Scripture saith, that Christ was given only for those which are given him, to whom he giveth eternal life, john 17. 2. That is, the elect, for to them only is life everlasting given: by the collection out of this text, it doth appear wherefore it is quoted: that the elect only are given to Christ, because they only have eternal life. The argument may be framed thus: Eternal life is given to all those that are given to Christ: none but the elect have eternal life: Ergo, none but they are given to Christ. The proposition of this argument is grounded upon the very words of the text, john 17. 2. But that Christ was given only for those, which are given him, is taken as granted, for none that stand for universal grace, that I know deny this assertion, but the question is, who are given unto Christ. Snecanus a patron of universal grace, affirmeth that judas was given unto Christ, p. 724. we affirm that the elect only are given. Therefore seeing this Scripture was not brought forth to fortify this assertion out of these words, Christ was givenly only for those, etc. he cannot prove any addition. And yet further, this assertion, that Christ died only for the elect given unto him, is evident also out of this chapter, joh. 17. vers. 9 I pray for them, I pray not for the world; but for those which thou hast given me. From whence, this reason may be enforced: Christ prayed only for those which are given unto him; he gave himself to death only for those whom he prayed for: vers. 19 for their sakes do I sanctify myself, which was by sacrificing himself, Rhem. joh. 17. 19 Ergo, he gave himself to death only for those, which are given unto him, that is, the elect. Wherefore both these assertions, that the elect are only given to Christ, and that Christ was given only for the elect, being so evidently deduced out of scripture, it is no corruption to affirm, that the Scripture saith, that Christ was only given for those, that are given him, that is, the elect. 3. Ambrose proveth out of the Scripture, Christ died only for the Elect. that Christ was not given, but only to those which believe: as upon these words of Esay 9 ver. 6. Unto us a child is borne, a son is given: Puer natus est nobis, non judaeis; nobis, non Manichaeis; nobis, id est credentibus, non incredulis, etc. A child is borne to us, not to the jews; to us, not to the Manichees; to us, that is believers, not unbelievers: Sic puer non omnibus natus est, sed fidelibus: So the child was not borne for all, but for the faithful, lib. 3. de fid. cap. 4. Augustine also out of the Scripture proveth the same: Christ died for the children of God, which he showeth by this scripture, joh. 11. 52. jesus was to die for that nation, and not for that nation only, but that he should gather together in one, the children of God, which were scattered. But the elect are these children, and none else: Tales filii filio Christo dati sunt, quemadmodum ad patrem dicit ipse (ut omne, quod dedisti mihi, non pereat, sed habeat vitam aeternam) high ergo Christo intelliguntur dati, qui ordinati sunt ad vitam aeternam, ipsi sunt illi praedestinati: Such sons are given to the son Christ, as he saith to his father (that all that thou hast given me should not perish, but have eternal life) these are understood to be given to Christ, which are ordained to eternal life, they are the predestinate, lib. de corrept. & great. c. 8. 9 Then this must be the conclusion, that Christ died for the elect and predestinate, and none else. And here by the way let it be noted, that where Augustine saith, Christ saith to his father (that all that thou hast given me should not perish, but have eternal life) this sentence is neither found in these very words in the 17. of john, where Christ prayeth to his father, nor in the 6. of john, as the gloss noteth, dist. 4. de poenit. cap. 8. but is rather inferred upon Christ's words uttered in divers places. Let him now cry out also against Augustine, that he is a corrupter & falsifier of the words of Christ. 4. Christ's death we grant was sufficient to all, but effectual only to the elect: and herein we refuse not Peter Lombard's distinction: that Christ offered the price of redemption, pro omnibus quantum ad sufficientiam, sed pro electis tantum quantum ad efficaciam, quia praedestinatis tantum salutem effecit: For all in respect of sufficiency, but for the elect only in regard of efficacy, because he wrought salvation only to the predestinate, lib. 3. distinct. 20. C. Again, he saith in another place: Christus electos tantum sicut se dilexit, eorumque salutem optavit: Christ only loved the elect as himself, and wished their salvation, libr. 3. distinct. 31. D. If Christ only wished the salvation of the elect, than he only to their benefit intended his death. Now ask your Master from whence he hath this tantum, only: if he add it of his own, why do you not refuse him? if he hath his warrant from the Scripture, then is it no corruption to affirm, the Scripture saith, Christ gave himself to death only for the elect, that were given him. 5. Concerning the addition, which Sixtus the 4. made unto the ave Marie: and, blessed be Anna thy mother, of whom thy virgin's flesh hath proceeded without blot of original sin: he would excuse it thus, that these words are not added to the text, neither do they prove out of them that our Lady was conceived without sin. Contra. 1. Why (Sir) as though any of these pretended corruptions of Scripture did add to, or make any innovation in the standing text? your answer here if it were sufficient, may serve very well for all your own objections. 2. It shall be showed even now, if you will have a little patience, that you make bold with the original text, by adding to, and taking from it, by chopping & changing of it. 3. What though this addition of Pope Sixtus be not in the text of your Bibles, yet is it in the text alleged in your service for the Conception of the Virgin Marie: and the Pope granted great indulgence to those which should say the (ave Maria) with that clause: And seeing this annexed piece maketh but one sentence with the (ave Maria) being distinguished by an imperfect point; and blessed is the fruit of thy womb jesus Christ, and blessed is Anna thy mother, etc. it cannot be but an addition to Scripture? 4. You say the conception of the Virgin Marie without sin is not grounded upon this addition, or that we may pray to our Lady: yet this new scripture, together with your new found feast of the Conception, is warranted by the authority of the Papal sea, which hath power to allow Scripture: As it standeth in the decree of Sixtus 4. De ipsius immaculata virginis mira conceptione gratias referant, etc. That they should give thanks for the miraculous conception of the immaculate Virgin, and say Masses, etc. that they may thereby by the merits of the Virgin be made more fit, etc. You imagine then, that her merits are greater because of her sinless conception, and so are ye more emboldened to pray to her: and therefore your invocation upon the Virgin Marie is in part grounded upon her miraculous conception. And all this the Pope ordaineth, by the authority of almighty God, and of his blessed Apostles Peter and Paul: Extrau. commun. lib. 3. t. 12. c. 1. Wherefore seeing the Pope promiseth great indulgence to all those which shall celebrate this festival, and sing Masses in the honour of this miraculous conception, you must either say, that the Pope bringeth in a new service without warrant of Scripture, or that he maketh Scripture of his own: now choose which you will. Now to keep promise with you: it is an usual thing in your Church, both to add to and take from Scripture, as may be seen every where in your vulgar Latin translation: It would fill a large volume to note all the places corrupted, but for a taste I will produce some. Genes. 21. 9 playing with Isaac, saith the Latin, where Isaac is added: 28. 5. Rebeckah, the mother of Esau and jacob, left out in the Latin: 31. 47. both according to the propriety of his language: this clause added. Genes. 34. 1. which she bore unto jacob, left out: 38. 12. the daughter of Suah judah's wife: daughter wanting in the Latin: 41. 22. awaking, and again overcome of sleep, etc. added: 47. 22. they had their ordinary of Pharaoh: out of the common barns, saith the Latin. Exod. 2. 23. And she brought forth another son, and called his name Eleazar, saying, the God of my father is my helper, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Pharaoh: all this is added in the Latin, being not extant in the original. A thousand such places might be remembered, wherein their Latin translation, which they have decreed to be authentical, corrupteth the Hebrew text. But we need not give an instance of lines, seeing they have added whole leaves and books to the Canonical Scripture, as the Apocryphal stories of judith, Toby, Macchabees, with the rest. Now to return unto my kind friend, that hath spied so many faults: what hath he gained, but the name of a false accuser? for there is not one of these devised corruptions, which either by example of Scripture, or like deduction of the Fathers, or by conference with other places is not rectified and ratified. It were an easy matter to requite him with the like, and to pay him home with his fellows faults: as how Bellarmine, Dan. 11. 37. for, he shall not regard the desires of women, readeth, he shall. Tit. 3. 10. after once or twice admonition: once, saith he. judith 5. 18. these words: the temple of the jews had been cast down to the growd: he saith, are supposititia foisted in. Hosius, Rom. 6. 19 for sanctification, readeth satisfaction. Stapleton, Galath. 1. 8, 9 readeth, if an Angel should preach otherwise, than we have received of the Church, etc. These and other such bold adventures upon the Scripture are more at large set down, Tetrastyl. pag. 59 60. where the Reader shall be more fully satisfied for this matter. Thus hath this unfriendly neighbour taken upon him to discover the oversights and 'scapes of these two books, which he hath sought by his wrest, cavils and depravations to mangle and deface: I hope I shall not need to say as Iphicrates of Aristophon with whom he contended: That his adversary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. was strong, but his cause the better: for I fear not, but that the goodness of the cause hath had in this conflict the best success. And as he hath pried and searched into some corners of another man's house, I could wish with Drusus, who when a workman offered for five talents to make his house so close, that none should see into it, said, I will give thee ten, to make it so open that every part may 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. be seen, that all men may see how I live: that he also had taken a perfect view of the whole building: for by his contradictions the truth is more fortified: his dark eye only aimed at the blemishes, the light of the truth dazzled his eyes, that he could not endure to behold it and acknowledge it. I may therefore say unto him, as Augustine to Faustus: Vestrum oculum malevolus error in solam pal●am nostrae segetis ducit: nam & triticum cit● ibivideretis, si & esse velletis: Malicious error leadeth your eye only to the chaff of our corn: for you might espy good wheat there also, if ye were wheat yourselves: cont. Faust. lib. 5. cap. 11. Now concerning the adversaries charge, who heapeth up so many malicious and wilful falsifications of authors, corruptions of Scripture, etc. I speak this in the fear of God and in the testimony of a good conscience, that though in so large a volume, and long a piece of work, some faults by oursight might scape and be passed over (for from errors of negligence, and involuntary slips, what human writer can challenge to be free?) and I say with Augustine: Scripta mea, sicut Dei data, sic etiam errata mea agnosco: My writings as I confess they are God's givings, so mine own errings: ad Simplician. lib. 2. q. 5. Yet I do clear myself (and I trust by this true defence have sufficiently declared the same) from all malicious corruptions, such or so many as are suggested: so that I nothing doubt in this case to say with S. Paul, As for ●e, I pass very little to be judged of you: I judge ●ot mine own self, for I know nothing by myself, 1. Cor. 4. 4. And as Augustine●aith ●aith of the false accusations of Petilian: Nihil eorum quibus me criminatus est mihi conscius sum: I am not guilty of any thing wherewith he accuseth me. And so I conclude with the same Father's sentence: Etiam me in mea causa, sicut inimicus existimari cupit, deficiente & oppresso, victrix erit causa cui seruio: Though I should faint and fail in mine own cause, as the adversary would have it imagined, yet the cause (of truth) which I serve, shall never be conquered: libr. 3. cont. Petilian. cap. 2. Laus Deo: Vincat veritas. Errata. Pag. 3. line 19 Pref. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. p. 5. l. 1. for cationem, r. rationem. p. 20. l. 15. anno 47. r. canon. 47. p. 28. l. 27. non talib. r. cum talib. p. 33. l. 23. fences, r. offences. p. 64. l. 19 general. 26. r. generat. 26. p. 97. l. 12. p. 18. r. p. 180. p. 137. l. 23. Caullers, r. Cavillers. p. 113. l. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the marg. p. 157. l. 13. no heretic, r. an heretic. p. 163. l. 9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in the marg. p. 167. l. 10. again, r. agmina. p. 271. l. 17. piae chordae, r. pia corda. p. 183. l. 28. observation, r. obsecration. p. 202. l. 20. verissima, r. verissime. p. 205. l. 30. consorteth, r. consenteth. p. 209. l. 10. aith, r. faith. Pref. p. 21. l. 6. in the marg. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Places omitted, are thus to be supplied. Pag. 99 l. 19 lib. 1. cont. jovinian. p. 202. l. 20. lib. 2. cont. Crescon. c. 7. p. 203. l. 17. lib. 2. cont. Crescon. c. 2. p. 209. l. 10. ena●rat. in Psal. 26. p. 221. l. 10. lib. cont. Petilian. 3. 2. p. 228. l. 16. tract. 25. in Matth.