Featlaei 〈◇〉: OR, Doctor Daniel Featley REVIVED: Proving, That the Protestant Church( and not the Romish) is the onely catholic and true Church.  
In a MANUAL preserved from the hands of the Plunderers.  
With a Succinct HISTORY OF HIS Life and Death.  
Published by John Featley, Chaplain to the Kings most Excellent Majesty.  
London, Printed for Nath. Brook, at the Angel in cornhill. 1660.   

TO THE Sacred Majesty OF Our Royal Sovereign, CHARLES II. By Divine Providence King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c.  
May it please your Majesty,  
SUbjects without their Sovereign are but 〈◇〉; a Headless Trunk; and therefore a heedless people. This hath been for many years( ah, too many!) the maim and Malady of these Your Majesties distracted kingdoms; wherein through the Rage and Tyranny of Faction, 
a 1 Cor. 12.21.  the hand said unto the eye( if I may invert the words of the Apostle,) and the feet unto the head, we have no need of you: yea, 
b Ver. 23.  and those members of the body which we know to be less honourable, on them the errors of the times bestowed more abundant honor.  
But it becometh not me to be one of Solomon's 
c Prov. 20 3.  meddlers; or infandum renovare dolorem. Our long and sad Laments are now( even above hope) drowned in our Joys; and our groans and cries are converted into hosannas to that almighty King of Kings, who alone hath( even to the ecstasy of our Admiration) both preserved Your sacred Person; and restored You to Your People. This year is therefore most truly ANNUS LIBERTATIS ANGLIAE; The Year of your Subjects safest Liberty: For 
— 
d Anson.  Nunquam-libertas gratior extat,  
Quam sub rege pio.—   

e Heb. 12.3.  The contradiction of sinners, and the roman FUGALIA, are turned into Acclamations of Christian Loyalty, and the Voice of Gladness. We, alas, slept out too many years in a dark and stupid Lethargy: and yet now also, even in this unexpected 
f Psalm 126.1.  turning of our Captivity, we are but like unto them that dream. The Lord awake us into a quick sense of our great Deliverances; that the Glory may be his, and his onely, 
g Psalm 136.4.  who alone doth great wonders; who alone doth 
h Psal. 65.7.  still the noise of the Seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people.  
Every Loyal Subject some way or other testifieth his joy for the Miracle of Your Majesties Return: and many express it by their free-will Offerings. I am therefore unwilling to appear empty; although this little Honorary may be unworthy Your Majesties reception. The Author thereof( my dearest Uncle) intended it for Your Royal Father; to whom both he, and mine unworthy self, were most obliged servants: but being denied that honour by the churlishness of the Times, he committed it to my trust, even at a time when( to preserve mine Allegiance) I was compelled to fly upon the wings of the wind.  
But, Diffugere nives, redeunt jam gramina campis. That Storm is turned into a Calm: Now therefore, even by the Command of Christ, QUAE CAESARIS CAESARI. This Book is due to Your Majesty, both as you are the just and undoubted Heir of Your Glorious Father; and as to me a most gracious Master. Little it is; but the iliads in a Nut-shell found acceptance. The subject matter( I suppose) is not unseasonable; it being Your Majesties present Design to restore the true Reformed Protestant Church in these Your Dominions to her Purity, and pristine Glory: in the procession of whose most holy Faith you have been so wonderfully preserved.  
You, GREAT SIR, are not onely Pater patriae, but also 
i Isa. 49.23.  Nutritius Ecclesia; under the shadow of whose wings she finds protection. For even the Church itself is enforced to take Sanctuary, to shun the subtlety and rage of 
k Nehem. 2 19.  Sanballat and Tobiah; the Papists on the one side; and the Sectaries and schismatics on the other. That heavenly grace, and Princely piety and prudence which concentre in Your Majesty; together with Your Royal and Just Title of DEFENDER OF THE FAITH; assure us that you will tenderly cherish this 
l Cant. 2.2  lily among the thorns; and( if not retarded by our impatience) hasten her Restauration. Sad, I confess, is the present condition of our Mother the Church; Jacob and Esaeu struggling in her womb: yet not the rash violence, but the patience and skill of her Midwife must help to deliver her. The tender issue of our younger Brother Benjamin( who think they can 
m Judges 20.16  sling stones with their left hands at an hairs breadth) might more highly advantage( as I humbly conceive) the Work of Christ, if they would be more forward to approve of what the right hand doth. Certainly a moderate compliance, and a discreet Condescension in things indifferent, even on both sides, will best savour of that Heavenly Wisdom, which is first pure, then peaceable, &c. It was the Dove, not the Raven, which brought the Olive-leaf into Noahs Ark. That famous Speech of Abram to Lot is still caconical, 
n Gen. 13.8.  Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen; for we are brethren. I suppose that the legitimate and faithful sons of the Church,( remembering how lately they really suffered what the 
o Josh 9.4, 5  Gibeonitish ambassadors did but counterfeit) will now rather 
p Ezra 3.12, 13.  shout for joy that Your Majesty bath laid again the Foundation of the house of the Lord; then weep in remembrance of the former glory. A thorough Reformation( not hypocritically pretended as of late, but really effected) will be a Work of time: and doubtless that God who hath brought to the birth, will in his own due time give strength to bring forth. Broken joints may soon be well set; but the members must be content to recover strength by degrees. The Lord in mercy preserve your Majesty; and make You a Glorious and Lasting Instrument to repair all our breaches; and to build again the old waste places of his Church amongst us. Thus prayeth  
Your Majesties loyal Subject, and most faithful servant, John Featley.   

CERTAIN DOUBTS OF S. B. Resolved by Dr. Dan. Featly, against Popery, asserting the Protestants Church to be the onely catholic and true Church.  

Dr. Featley's Provise touching the Protestants Evidence.  
I persuade myself, that S. B. makes not these men in each age cited, the onely Professors of the true Church; but that then the Roman Church was a true one, though sick and diseased; and that these men and they were members of the same one catholic Church; also, these stoutly oppose those odd inventions which the prevailing and more populous side pinned and annexed to the Unity of Faith.   

The Answer of Dr. D. F.  
SIr, it grieves me much to see Men of War of the same Fleet, and sailing under the famed Admiral, and with the same commission to fight against Antichrist, fall foul one of the other; although they have Sea room enough, and might safely hold on in their own course, and one need not cross the others hawser; for Ithacus velit & magno mercentur Achivi: This sole consideration withheld me from interposing my judgement in the late unhappy differences between the Champions of the Gospel, concerning the present state of the Roman Church: though I was required so to do by a worthy and reverend Prelate of this Kingdom. Yet because I know you love the truth in sincerity, and propose that among your other doubts, not any way to entangle me, but expedite yourself, or satisfy some of your friends: I will return a punctual answer to the censure of your book:  
And first, Whereas the reverend and learned Prelate would have your book red with this Proviso, That you make not those men in every age cited by you, to be the onely Professors of the true Church: I conceive that caution to be needless: for neither do you assume to yourself, neither did the Adversary put the task upon you, to city all the Professors of the true Religion in all ages;( which had been opus Iliae majus) but to produce some eminent witnesses in each age; which you have done faithfully, and thereby procured you as many friends as you have alleaded testimonies. What the Orator spake of the State, is true in the Church, the Church hath a large field: many may run their razes in it, & be crowned with honor. 
Cic. Phil. 4.  Magnus est in Ecclesia campus, multis patet apertus cursus ad laudem. You have run well, and outstripped many: it may be some hereafter may outstrip you: I know you will account that no loss, because it will be the truths gain. The Evidence which you take out of good Records, and well sorted according to every age, is enough to convince the Romish adversary: and fairer and clearer in any one writer I have not seen. Yet I must confess, that our cause doth not depend onely upon those evidences: Neither do I think any Protestant in the world, will undertake to produce all Records and Testimonies which may be found for the truth of our Religion in all Antiquity.  
Secondly, whereas he addeth, That even then the Roman Church was a true Church, though sick and diseased; and that these men and they were members of the same true catholic Church: I apprehended not sufficiently either the truth of his assertion, or the sincerity of his intention. For what have we to do with the Roman Church? I blushy, that any Protestant should open his mouth for that Whore of Babylon, who hath dyed her garments scarlet read in the blood of the Noble forerunners of our faith: 
●udg. 6.3.  If Baal be a god, let him pled for himself; if the Pope of Rome hath any right, either to the catholic Church, or any true & visible member thereof; let him pled his title by himself, or his learned Council. We are retained by the adverse part against him; but his intention and others, who of late times have set on foot this title of the Church of Rome, I leave to the searcher of all hearts. As for our assertion, I will make bold to demur upon it; and the rather, because Protestants and Papists at this time stand upon the same terms as Brutus and Autonie did after Julius Caesars death: 
cic.. Phit. 4.  Si consul Antonius, Brutus hostis: si conservator reipub. Brutus, hostis Autonius: If the Roman Church be the true Church, the Reformed Churches, which are condemned, and excommunicated, and persecuted to death by her, must needs be false Churches: If Papists are catholics according to the common acception of the word, Protestants, which are the membrum contradivisum, the opposite number, must needs be heretics. And this the late Archbishop of Canterbury, and the rest of his Majesties Commissioners, made a clear case in the censure of the Lady Wotton, who was fined 500 l. for an inscription on the Monument of her Husband, dying a Recusant, Illustrissim●, &c. D. Wottono catholicon, ego catholica hoc posui: To the most renowned, &c. the Lord Wotton, a catholic; I, his Widow, a catholic also, have erected this Monument.  
catholic, if we have regard to the Greek etymology, signifieth nothing but General and Universal; and according to the subject to which it is applied, is either taken in the good sense, or in the ill. For as we red in the Physicians of catholic Remedies, such as are good against all, or the greater part of diseases: so they tell us also of catholic, or epidemical Diseases, such as run through whole Countreys: And in such a sense, I will not eagerly contest with the Romanists, but that Popery may be called catholic; because it cannot be denied, but that the greatest part of Spain and Italy are infected with this disease.  
As for the sense of the word, as it is attributed to the Church, it is double: 1. Either it signifieth Universal, or ecumenical: and so it is taken in the Creed, and is opposed to the Synagogue of the Jews which was confined to a certain time, persons, and places: whereas the catholic Christian Church, is absolutely illimitted, admitting into it believers of all sorts, in all places, at all times. 2. Or it signifieth Orthodoxal, in all points needful to salvation: and fo it is taken for the most part in the Writings of ancient Fathers: by name by Saint Cyril, 
c. 8. catechismystag.  who adviseth, When thou comest into any City to demand, Where is the catholic Church? for that is the proper name of the Holy Church, which is the Mother of us all: and she is so termed, because she catholickly and perfectly teacheth all Doctrines which men are bound to know, &c. and Paciamus, 
Ep. ad Spin Pron.  Christian is my name, and catholic my surname: by the one I am known from Infidels, by the other from heretics and schismatics. And by S. Austine, Although every heresy would seem to be, 
L. Con Ep. fund. c 4. ●exet postremo & ipsum Catholicae nemen, quod non sine causa inter tam multas baereses ista fola Ecclesia ho nomen obtinuit  and affecteth to be called the catholic Church: yet when heretics are asked of Pagans, Where is the place in which catholics meet? none of them dares point to his own house or church. And again, The very Title of the catholic Church holdeth me, which name among so many heresies she alone retaineth. And by Theodosius the Emperor, 
Sozomen● 7 c. 4. Theodosius decrevit, ut illorum ceclesia duntaxat Catholica diceretur, quae Trinitatem aequali honore coleret.  who made a decree that the Church of them should alone be called catholic, which equally worshipped and glorified the three persons in the blessed Trinity. In neither of these senses can the Church of Rome, without either absurdity or impiety, be termed catholic.  
Not in the first sense: for the Roman Church is no more the Universal Church, then Rome, or the Roman Jurisdidiction, is the whole world. This Grand imposture is so discovered by the Bishop of Durham, that I suppose, as the Roman soothsayers could not look one upon the other without smiling, so neither can any Papist term another catholic in this sense, without laughing in his sleeve. Pacianus saith pertinently, That the name catholic belongeth to the stock of the three, which remaineth the same; & est quid totum, and is a kind of whole and entire thing. The Roman Church at the best is but a great Branch, and such a one as we can prove is much withered; and St. Paul teacheth, 
Rom 11.21, 22.  may be cut off: If God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but towards thee goodness, if thou continue in his goodness; otherwise thou shalt bee cut off.  
Much less in the second sense can the church of Rome be termed catholic: for whereas other heretics were so termed, because they held but some one error or other against the catholic Faith: the Church of Rome maintaineth many, and those most grievous and pernicious: as in the Articles, Homilies, and Apology of the Church of England, and in the Harmony of all Prorestants Confessions, is ocularly demonstrated. If any Protestant therefore term the Roman Church catholic, 
Whitaker d● Eccles con● 2 q 5 Nos illos non atiter vocamus Catholicos, quam illi ●os reform●tos & Eva●geli●●●▪ hoc est ●ronice ●●ntum & ●on ex animo.  it is but by an irony, or bitter Sarcasm: like to that of the Lacedemonians, whereby they styled Alexander a God; Quia Alexander vult esse Deus, sit Deus: Because Alexander will be a God, let him be a God. Or that of St. Bernard, whereby he styleth certain heretics apostolics, 
In Cant. ●er 66. ●●ctant se esse Apostolo rum successores & Apostolte●s nominant: nullum ●amen Apoctolatus sui signum valentes ostendere.  because they arrogantly challenged to themselves that title: These, forsooth, call themselves apostolics, and yet they are not able to show any sign or token of their Apostleship: so may we say, and most truly, Papists call themselves catholics; yet cannot show any note or true mark of a catholic in them.  
Thus much for the first Attribute, catholic: the next to which he entitleth the Roman Church, viz. True, is either ambiguous and frivolous, or false and scandalous.  
For first, if he speak of Metaphysical Truth( which is of as large extent as entity, or being) his Assertion, That the Roman Church is a True Church( that is no phantasm or chimera) is, as the French use to speak, an extreme verity; a thing so evident and notorious, that no wise man would contend for it; because no fool ever called it in question. Who knoweth not what we find in Tertullian, that Wasps have their hives, as well as Bees? and that heretics have had their Congregations no less visible( nay sometimes more visible) then Catholtcks? Nay, not onely heretics, but Jews, mahometans, and Heathen Idolaters, have had for many ages multitudes of professors of their Impieties and Superstitions: and not onely visible, but celebrious and solemn Assemblies, in most parts of the Christian world. Truth of existence they have all, but existence of truth( especially all saving truth) they have not. If by truth he understand Logical, or rather Theological truth, opposed to Errors and Heresies in matters of Faith. Then he must necessary revoke his subscription to the Articles of the Church of England, which charge the Church of Rome by name, 
Art. 19  with blasphemous figments, pernicious impostures, and dangerous errors even in matter of faith.  
He must condemn the apology of the church of England, wherein it is alleged for our separation from Rome, 
Apoli y Church of England c 16 divis 1. part 6.  that regard of our own salvation constrained us so to do: and that we are fallen from the Bishop of Rome, 
Part 6. divis. 2. c 20.  because the case stood so, that unless we left him, we could not come to Christ: 
Part 5. cap 15. divis 3.  and that we have renounced that Church wherein there was nothing able to stay a wise man, or one that hath consideration of his own safety  
Thirdly, he must take to task all Davids Worthies that have lifted up their spears against the roman Antichrist, 
Whitaker Succliff Tract. dc Eccles. Downam de Antichristo. Willet Spnops.  who convince that Church, some of scores, some of hundreds, some of five hundred Errors and Heresies. All they who grace that Church with the title of a true Church, must needs intend her to be so either in the first sense, or in the latter.  
If in the first sense, the church of Rome is nothing beholden to them: for they give her therein no prerogative above any heretical or schismatical church existent in the world: The truth of being is common to them all.  
If in the latter sense, the reformed Churches are less beholden to them for by licking the blot of heresy out of the Roman Church, they cast a foul blur of Schism upon all the Reformed Churches. There can be no medium given: either the Church of Rome is heretical, and hath departed from the Faith of the ancient Church; or we are schismatical who have forsaken her communion. Either the faith of the Church of Rome is not justifiable; or our separation from her is not justifiable: For no man ought to separate from the true Church of Christ, but hold good quarter and correspondence with her. As we believe our Creed, so we ought to embrace in our practise the communion of Saints. The true Church of Christ is his mystical body; from which whosoever idivided, is divided from the Head, and consequently from all influence of his spirit: as the Author of the Sermons to the brethren in the desert,( supposed to be St. Austine) strongly infereth, saying, Membrum amputatum non sequitur spiritus: cum in corpore erat, vivebat; precisum, amittit spiritum. The Life doth not run in a member which is cut off: whilst it was a part of that body, it retained life; but being divided from it, it hath lost its spirits. With whom St. Cyprian agrees, Quisquis ab ecclesia segregatur, a promissis ecclesiae separatur: nec pertinet ad Christi praemia, qui relinquit ecclesiam Christi. Alienus est, prophanus est, host is est. Habere jam non potest Deum patrem, qui ecclesiam non habet matrem. Whosoever is divided from the Church, he is separated from the promises made to the Church: nor hath he any share in Christ's rewards, who leaves the Church of Christ. He is a stranger, he is profane, he is an enemy. He cannot call God his Father, who hath not the Church for his Mother. Were not Novatus, 
Reynold prelect. 1. p. 6. error chfirmatus in haeresem evasit.  and after him Donatus, deservedly branded with an indelible mark of Schism, for separating themselves from the catholic Church? and did not their Schism improved, become in the end heresy? I tremble to rehearse thedreadful Sentence which St. Cyprian pronounceth against all of the separation: Tales etiansi occisi in confessione nominis Christi fuerint, macula ista nec sanguine abluitur. Esse martyr non potest, qui in ecclesia non est. Occidi potest, coronari non potest. Such persons are no Martyrs, although they lose their lives for confessing the Name of Christ: this slain will not be scoured clean, no not with blood. Killed they may be, but crwoned they shall never be. And do they then good service to the Protestant Churches, who pluck the thorn of heresy out of the foot of the Roman Church, and put as sharp, and a sharper thorn of Schism into the foot of their own Mother?  
Secondly, the true Church is discerned by two notes especially, viz. the pure preaching of the word, and right administration of the Sacraments; as is expressly affirmed in the Doctrine of the Church of England, Art. 19. the belgic Confession, Art. 20. the Augustan, Art. 7. the Saxon, Art. 11. Ecclesia visibilis est caetus fidelium, in quo verbum Dei purum praedicatur, & sacramenta( quo ad ea quae necessario exiguntur) juxta Christi institutum recte administrantur. i.e. The visible Church is the company of faithful Believers, among whom the pure word of God is preached, and the Sacraments( according to those things which are truly requisite) are rightly administered according to Christs institution. Belg His notis vera ecclesia a falsa discernitur, si in illa pura evangelis praedicatio, ligitimaque sacramentorum ex Christi praescripto administratio vigeat. The true Church is disowned from the false by these marks; if therein the Gospel be purely preached, and the Sacraments rightly administered, according to the institution of Christ. Aug. Habet Ecclesia proprie dicta signa sua scilicet puram & sanum evangelii doctrinam & rectum usum sacramentorum. The Churrch, truly so called, hath two proper marks; viz. The pure and saving doctrine of the Gospel, and the right use of the Sacraments. Sax. praecipue ex voice doctrinae judicandum est quae & ubi sit vera ecclesia: quae voice ve rae doctrine, deinde & legitimo usu sacramentorum ab aliis discernitur. By the doctrine we may chiefly determine what, and where is the true church: which is discerned from the false ones by the soundness of doctrine, and the lawful use of the Sacraments.  
And it is most strongly confirmed by Whitaker Praelec. q. 5. Field of the Church, l. 2. c. 2. M●rton Apol. Cathol. l. 2. c. 38. Willet, Controversies in Gen. de Notis Eccles. q. 4. Rivet, sum. controvers. tract. 2. q 7. Junius, Animadvers. in Bel. l. 4 controvers. 4. c. 2. & deniceps Chemnis. examen, council. tried. p 49. & part. 3. Locor. Theol p. 292. Mornaeus, tract. de Eccles c. 2. p. 15. But these marks are not to be found in the pretended church of Rome, but two contrary foul scars; viz. Impurity of doctrine, & manifold corruption of the holy Sacraments: see Hom. 16. in pentecost. Gallic. confess. art. 28. Papisticos conventos damnamus quod pura Dei veritas ab illis exulet: in quibus etiam sacramenta fidei corrupta sunt, adulterata, falsificata, vel poenitus etiam abolita: We condemn the Popish Synagogues, because they have not the pure truth of God in them; and by reason that the Sacraments of faith are eithercorrupted, adulterated, & falsified by them, or utterly abolished and rejected: For in the Roman Church, as it is at this day, the pure word of God is not preached, but partly apocryphal Scriptures, partly unwritten traditions, are mixed with it. As for that pure Word of God which they preach( namely, the caconical Scriptures, acknowledged by both of us) they preach it not purely, but manifestly detort and pervert it, either by false translations, or glosses and interpretations in all points in controversy between us: And as for the Sacraments, they administer more by five then Christ ever instituted for such, in the Gospel: And as for those that are instituted by him, they corruptly administer them; for they defile Baptism with cream and spittle, and divers superstitious rites: And they violate the Lords H. Supper, by taking away the cup from the Laity, and the substance of both elements, bread and wine, and quiter overthrowing the nature thereof of a communion, making it a private mass; and of a Sacrament, a Sacrifice, properly so called.  
Thirdly, The church of Rome can in no true sense challenge to her self the title of a true Church: for questionless, that can be no true Church, which neither teacheth nor practiseth the truth, which is sometimes taken in holy Scripture, pro veritate substantiae, for substantial truth: so called, in opposition to the types, figures, and shadows of the Law: ometimes pro veritate doctrinae, for doctrinal truth, opposite to all errors and heresies in matters of faith: Sometimes pro veritate morali, for moral truth or honesty, opposite to fraud, dissimulation & lying. Speak we of any of these three, certain it is, the Roman church either hath it not, or not entirely.  
Not the first, Veritatem substantia, the truth of substance: For the presence of the body necessary excludeth the shadows: but the church of Rome at this day retaineth many legal shadows and figures, as the year of jubilee, consecration of oil, Altars, properly so called, and a material and sensible Sacrifice, the Aronical Mitre and Vestments, and other the like Beggarly Rudiments of the Law, wherewith she endeavou eth to p●tch the seamless coat of Christ.  
Not the second: for the Articles of the Church of England, to which we have all subscribed, and the Homilies confirmed in the Articles, charge the church of Rome with error in matter of faith. So we red Article 19. the church of Rome hath erred, not only in their living, & and maner of ceremonies; but also in matter of faith. And in the Hom. for Whitsunday, second part, If it be possible the Spirit of Truth should be there where the true church is not, then is it at Rome. And again, The church of Rome, as it is at this present, is not built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, retaining the sound and pure doctrine of Jesus Christ. And apology of the Church of England, c. 16. Divis. ● p 6. We are gone from that church, which Christ, who cannot err,  told so long before should err. With whom accordeth the French church in her confession, set down in the harmony of Protestant churches, Article 28. Papisticos conventus damnamus, quoa pura Dei veritas ab illis exulet, &c. We condemn the Popish Synagogue, because she shutteth her eyes against the pure truth of God, &c.  
And as little can be said for her moral truth: For( to speak nothing of the power which she maintaineth, in the Pope to dispense with the breach of oaths and Vows, be they never so solemn and sacred) Navarrus, comment. in cap. human. aures: Farsons Mitigation, c. 7. Eudemon Johannes, in his Apology for Garnet: Greg de Val. upon Thomas Southwell, and divers other Jesuits, have lately raled out of the ashes, or rather cinders of hell, the heresy of the Priscillianists, Qui dogmatizabant mendacium: Who taught lies for sound Doctrine. For they teach, That a man may speak, nay swear, that which is false, in words, so he salue it with some mental reservation: for example, a Romish Priest may take his corporal Oath that he is no seminary Priest, reserving in his mind, viz. of Apollo: That the Pope is not head of the church, reserving in his mind, a head of brass, like that set over Brasen-nose college. Neither is this a proper scar of the Jesuits only, but a foul mark of the whole Roman church also: For the secular Priests among them, as well as the Jesuits, are for this new art of lying, called equivocation: though they would not have it to be used hand overhead, but these their Reservations to be reserved for special use in some cases. There is no question to be made of it: such Watson in his Quodlibits, Quodl. 3. Art. 4. but that in some sense, and in some cases, doubtful answers & equivocations may be lawful: and the Treaties above cited of the Jesuits, were set forth with public approbation: neither hath the Pope, nor the church of Rome by any public brief, canon, or decree, branded this Jesuitical art as impious and repugnant to the Law of God, and light of nature.  
Lastly, I cannot conceive how the malignant, and true militant church of Christ, can consist in one and the same Society, no more than Dagon and the Ark, light and darkness, Christ and Belial: for they are not only diversae, but adversae, or opposite. But the church of Rome is the malignant church, and hath so been for many hundreds of years, having put to death( as appeareth in the rubrics of Ecclesiastical calendars) many thousands of true professors, under the name of Dulcinests, Waldenses, Albigenses, Wicklifests, Hussites, Hugonots, Calvinists, Lutherans, and Protestants. If all the water in Tybris cannot wash away the stains of blood wherewith the garment of the Whore of Babylon is spotted, they may well blushy for shane who style this scarlet Strumpet, the true Spouse of Christ: for whom yet they pled, though( like a Lawyer that hath taken a light fee) very weakly and coldly.  
First, they argue thus, Ens & verum convertuntur: i.e. being and true, are convertible terms one with the other; and every thing which hath a being, is truly that being which it is, in truth of substance. A very Thief( say they) is a true man in the verity of his essence, as he is a reasonable creature; for this none can steal from him, nor he from himself, but death: But the church of Rome, be she never so corrupt in faith & manners, is confessed to be a visible Christian Church; ergo a true Church.  
This is to overdo, and so far to over-reach themselves, that they lame their arm, and thereby lessen their own stroke. The more they seem to say, the less indeed they say for the Church of Rome. In flying to a Metaphysick-truth, they in effect aclowledge her to be destitute of Theological. If out of the latitude of their charity, they will extend a true Church so far as verum & ens, i.e. true, and being, will go; all the Conventicles of Arians, Nestorians, Socinians, Anabaptists, & Familists, will come in for a share in the true Church: For they are all companies of men and women, professing the Christian faith; they are all Churches, and( if this metaphysical string crack not) true Churches: Nay, by this reason, Pseudolus, the arrantest cheater in theworld, may be proved to be a true man: Messalina, the most notorious Strumpet that ever lay by Princes side, a true wife: Nero, that monster of men, a good man: The Devil himself, both a true, and a good Angel: For as Ens & verum, i.e. being, and true, so Ens & bonum, i.e. being, and good, are convertible terms; and they may as soon prove by this argument, the Church of Rome to be a good Church, as to be a true; which palpable absurdities, & gross inconveniences, they can no otherwise avoid, then by casting away the former argument; which like an Egyptian reed, if it be learned upon, breaketh, and runneth into their own sides. The truth is, This Argument( how much soever it is made of by many) is no better then a mere fallacy, or Syllogism, consisting of four terms. For truth, as it is applied to Ens, or being, in genere, or generally, in the mayor; or as it is applied to Ecclesia, or Church, which is a determinate species of Ens, or being, is not one and the self same term. Truth, as it is applied in the mayor, to the genus, signifieth no more then veritatem entis, or existentive, truth of being or existence; but in the conclusion, as it is applied to the Church, it signifieth veritatem entis tales, the truth of such a being: to which more is required then to Ens in genere, i●e. being, in general. And as it will not follow, the Devil is a true creature; Ergo, a true Angel; or Messalina is a true woman, ergo, a true wife; so neither will it follow, the Church of Rome is verus caetus, or verum ens, i.e. a true company, or true being, ergo, Vera ecclesia, i.e. a true Church. The argument will no way follow from truth in sensu metaphisico, i● e. in a metaphysical sense; to a truth in sensu thealogico, i. e. in a theological sense: no more then it will follow from truth in sensu physico, i.e. in physical sense, to truth in sensu morale, or, in a moral sense. As if a man should conclude, the great Thief Harpulus is a true man, in sensu physico, or in a physical sense: for he hath the essence of a man, therefore he is a true man in sensu morale, that is, an honest man. This first argument of theirs therefore, is like a false string in an instrument, which can never be tuned to make any good music.  
The 2d string is not much better: which they thus strain,  
Where there is true baptism, there is a true church: But in the Church of Rome there is true baptism, confessed on all hands, for those which are baptized in that Church, we rebaptize not; ergo, the Church of Rome is a true Church.  
In this Argument, they scour up the old harness of the Donatists. August. l 1. de Bap. cont. Dona. c. 10. wherewith they thus fought against the catholic Church How could we( say they) generate & bring forth children to the Church( which you confess we do by our baptism) if we were not a mother, and a true Church, &c.  
Austine answereth that, They who separated themselves from others, breaking the bond of unity and charity, if they retained nothing of all those things in the former society, in omnibus separatisunt, then they were utterly, and in each part, separated from the Church: But if they retained some things which were the same, non se in iis separaverunt, then in those things they did not sever themselves from the Church; & ex ea parte intexturae compage detinen●ur, in that part wherein they retained the same, they were fastened, and held to the Church in that joint, though in others severed: and therefore he whom they gathered to themselves, ex ea parte nectitur Ecclesiae, in qua nec illi separati sunt, is joined to the Church on that part wherein themselves are not disjoined. And after this, applying it to the former question, he saith, That heretics generate children to the Church, by that wherein they are joined to the Church; not by that wherein they are severed from it They are severed from the band of charity and peace, but they are joined in one baptism.  
Yet, to hue, and further to batter in pieces this harness of the Donatists, I will answer particularly to each proposition: And first to the mayor;  
It is most certain, that true baptism cannor be severed from the true Church; yet is not baptism so proper to the true Church, but that it may be found in a false and heretical Church: as S. Austine accutely observes, that the Rivers of Paradise ran out of Paradise. Wheresoever the true Church is, there is true baptism, but not 'vice versa. Wheresoever is true baptism, there is the true Church: for much more is required to the true Church, then true baptism onely: There must be in it the true preaching of the Word, at least, in all fundamental points; and the right administration of both the Sacraments. Saint Austine makes no bones, totidem verbis, to deny the mayor, de bapcont. Donat. l. 6 c. 23. Ecclesiam sicut habent eacholici non habent heretici, & tamen baptismum habent: Itaque sicut potestbaptisma esse, & unde se auret spiritus sanctus. ita potest baptisma esse ubi non est ecclesia. Heret cks have not the Church, as catholics have, and yet they have baptism. Therefore, as there may be a baptism from which the Holy Ghost may withdraw himself, so there may be a baptism where the Church is not. Et cap. 16. Non omnes qui tenant baptismum, tenant ecclesiam: sicut non omnes qui tenant ecclesiam, tenant & vitam eternam. All that hold with baptism, do not hold with the Church; as all do not hold eternal life, who hold baptism. Et c. 7 Baptismum legitimum habent, said non legitime habent. They hold baptism lawful, but they use it not lawfully.  
Secondly, to the minor I answer, That though in the Church of Rome there is true baptism, quo ad legitimam formam verborum, according to the true prescribed form of words by Christ: and therefore is not to be reiterated, because it hath all in it that is essentially required to baptism: yet is it not true baptism, quo ad purum ritum, according to the pure rite: much less quo ad salutarem effectum, according to the saving effect.  
It is not true baptism, according to the pure rite and manner of Administration thereof( for they mingle water with cream, salt and spittle: and thereby, as much as in them lieth, defile this most holy Laver; and according to their own Tenets, they set this seal to a blank. For whereas baptism is the seal of the righteousness of faith, and the Covenant of grace, they denying this righteousness of faith, consequently set this seal to a blank.  
Neither is their baptism true, quo ad salutarem effectum, i.e. according to the saving effect. For so St. Austine expressly teacheth concerning the Baptism of all heretics, l. de Vinco. Bapt. cont. Petil. c. 6. Nihil prodest hereticis ad salutem, quod extra ecclesiam verum baptismum pignorantium & tradunt & tenant. It is no way advantageous to the salvation of heretics, that though they are out of the Church, yet they hold Baptism, and make use thereof. Et l. 4. cont. Donat. c. 1. Ecclesia Paradiso comparata indicat nobis, posse quidem ejus baptismum homines etiam fores accipere; said salutem beatitudines extra eam neminem vel percipere, vel tenere. Ita fit ut cum Paradisi aqua sit extra Paradisum; beatitudo tamen non sit nisi intra Paradisum: Sic ergo Baptismus ecclesia potest esse extra ecclesiam munus autem beatae vitae, non nisi intra ecclesiam reperitur. The Church being compared to Paradise, teacheth us, that even men that are out of the Church may retain the Baptism of the Church; but none out of the Church can partake of the blessed Salvation. Hence it cometh to pass, that although the streams of water do run out of Paradise, yet Salvation is to be had onely in Paradise. So also the Baptism of the Church may be administered out of the Church, but the blessing of eternal Life is no where to be found but within the church.  
They also lay great stress upon this Argument, which is as weak as the former, viz.  
The church of Rome is no worse then the church of Israel, under the revolted kingdom of Jeroboam, and his Successors, who erected Calves in Dan and Bethel, which they went a whoring after; Yet notwithstanding this defection from the true Worship of God, because they continued a profession of God, and of the Law, and retained the holy Seals of his Covenant, they were even then a part of the true visible church of God, and termed Gods people, and his children. Therefore the church of Rome, though very corrupt in faith and manners, must be accounted a true church of God.  
Hereunto I answer, That the case of the Roman church is worse then that of the ten Tribes: For they committed Idolatry but in one kind, the church of Rome in many: the corruption and idolatry in them was practised de facto, but not solemnly ratified by any Decree or Canon of their whole Church, as the superstition and idolatry of the Romish church are.  
Secondly, Those who worshipped Jeroboams Calves, without repentance could not be saved; for no Idolater shall enter into the Kingdom of God, saith the Apostle. 
1 Cor 6.9, 10.  The Prophets which were sent to the ten Tribes, style that Common-wealth a Harlot, and her children bastard children: and as a Harlot before she be divorced, is a wife, but not a true and loyal wife; so was the church of Israel in those days: and so now we grant the church of Rome to be, a church, but not a true church.  
Thirdly, If any of the ancient or later Divines say, there was the true church of God among the ten Tribes, because they had true Prophets among them, and the true Word of God, and the Sacraments appointed by him; their words are to be understood, not of the outward face of that church, and prevalent part in it which adhered to Jeroboam and the Calves, as they were worshipped, the Calves he set up; but of those many thousands which God reserved to himself within those Dominions, who never bowed the knee to Baal, neither lift up their hands to the golden calves: these we grant were members of the true church, as are all such who even in Rome itself and other parts, subject to the Pope, live among Papists, and communicate with them in common Acts and Duties of Christianity, but partake not with them in their heretical tenants, or idolatrous and superstitious Rites. We owe a clearer manifestation of the truth in this point, to the candour of B. Whitgift, who in the Defence of his Answer to the Admonition, p. 625. thus paralelleth the Papists and Israelites: The Papist( saith he) are like the Israelites under Jeroboam; for as those Israelites, so Papists pretend the Law of God, use the Sacraments, profess Christianity, and are not in all points straying from Christian Faith; but yet have corrupted the same with idolatrous worshipping, and divers other kind of superstitions and errors. Therefore Beza said very well. Ecclesia est velut immersa in papatu. The church is as it were covered, or drowned in papism.  
Fourthly, They seem also much to triumph in this Argument, viz.  
Antichrist sitteth in the Temple of God. 
2 Thes. 2.4. showing himself that he is God.  By the Temple of God is here meant the true church: But the Pope is Antichrist: Ergo the church of Rome in which he sits, as in the Temple of God, is a true church.  
With this weapon they do but flourish, 
See Answer to the gag.  they fight not in good earnest; for they who thus argue, believe not the Pope to be Antichrist. They find seven hills at Constantinople, and Antichrist at the Seraglia: Yet, if as the mother of Gratian and Peter lombard, choose rather to be accounted a strumpet; then not to be held the true mother of those great Clerks; so in sober sadness they will rather yield Rome to be Babylon, and the Pope to be Antichrist, then not have the church of Rome to be acknowledged a true church.  
I further answer, That although it seems to me most probable, that by the Temple of God the Apostle meaneth not the Temple at Jerusalem, which was soon after he wrote this Epistle destroyed, and is likely never to be built again, but the church of God, as Austine, and Jerome, and St. Chrysostom, and Theodoret, and Primasius, and Calvin himself, and Beza resolve on this Text: yet this Interpretation will little, or nothing at all help the cause. I subscribe fully to St. Austine l. 20. De Civitat. Dei, c. 19. and St. Jerome in his q. 11. ad Algasiam, That Antichrist shall fit in the church of God: and to Severianus alleged by Orcumenius, that the Apostle speaks not of the temple of Jerusalem, but the church of God: or rather to St. Chrysostom, That Antichrist shall command himself to be worshipped in the stead of God, not onely at Jerusalem, but also in the churches: And to Theodoret, He calleth the temple of God the church in which Antichrist shall arrogate unto himself the chief Seat, endeavouring to show himself as God: And to Theophylact, He sitteth not in the temple, which is Jerusalem, especially; but simply in the churches, and in every temple of God: And to Calvin, comment. in Ep. ad thessaly. That the Apostle calleth the Den of so many superstitions,( viz. the Roman church) the temple of God, because there is a residium, a remainder still of the Proprieties of the church among them, in regard whereof it is the temple of God, though profaned: And to Beza, Predicit Apostolus Antichristum, id est quisquis sedem illam Apostolicam occupavit, non regnaturum extra ecclesiam, said in ecclesiae sinu: i.e. That by the Temple is understood the church of God, in which the man of sin sitteth, usurping the Dominion thereof. Appellatione Templi Dei significatur ipsa ecclesia, in qua homo ille perditus etiam nunc sedet, imperiam fibi usurpans. And I hold, from this very Text it may be demonstrated, that the great Antichrist whom the Apostle here sets out in his colours, shall not be a Jew, Turk, Pagan, or Infidel, but a professed Christian, residing in the bosom of the church. And yet I deny the Rhemists consequence hereupon, That therefore the church of Rome must be acknowledged the true church, and the Pope a member thereof. For though the wild Bore break into the Lords vineyard, and be in the midst of it, rooting up the choicest plants; yet he is no part of the vineyard: and though the wolf get into the flock, worrying Christs Lambs, and devouring his fattest sheep, yet he is not any part of the flock. To rebate therefore the edge, and turn the point of the former Argument upon the adversary, I say:  
First, That the Apostle calleth the Seat of Antichrist the temple or church of God, because it was so: as our Saviour calleth the temple of Jerusalem the holy place, Math. 24.15. because it had been so, although at that time wherein that abominable desolation should stand there,( which he prophesied of) it was a most detestable place; namely, when the Romans came to destroy it: A● we often call the dead Corpses of a man, by his name whose sometimes it was before it fell to be a carcase. So is the Popes See called the Temple of God, in regard of what it was before he set his seat there. For after he fixed his throne there, it became Cathedra pestilentia, Babylon, and spiritual Sodom, and an habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bide, Apoc. 18.2.  
Secondly, That the place where Antichrist sitteth as God, boasting himself that he is God, may be taken for the true Church of God, and yet the present Roman church never the nearer. For it is certain, that the Pope hath his seat in the very heart of the catholic Christian Church; and that he challengeth a kind of Divine Sovereignty over the whole church; and most of all exerciseth his tyranny upon the sincere Professors of the Gospel, who are the found members of the true Church.  
Thirdly, As a Temple, though it be profaned and polluted, and in part ruined, is yet a Temple in respect of the Dedication to Gods honor, and divers parts of Gods Worship truly performed in it: so even the Roman church itself, as it consisteth of the Pope and his adherents, who bear all the sway in it, may truly bee said to bee a church of Christ, in regard of the profession of Christianity in it, though not a true and Orthodox church: As neither can we term a Temple after it is de●●led, or in decay, a pure and a perfect Temple before it be repurged and repaired. And upon these terms all the learned Protestants, who have wrote upon this point, will come in, and easily be reconciled. Those who deny her to be a Church, exclude her not simply from being at all of the church; but from being in Orthodoxei, and entire profession of the catholic Faith, a true church. Those who style her a true church, mean no more then a truly visible company, professing the Christian Faith. When( saith Calvin, Institut. l. 4. c. 2.) we refuse absolutely to grant the title of the Church unto Papists, we do not therefore deny that there are churches among them, but we strive for the true and lawful constitution of the church, whose communion in prayer and doctrine is to be kept. And a little after, Seeing the See of Antichrist, or of the Pope, is placed in the temple of God, it is thereby signified, that his reign shall be such as doth neither abolish, nor take from the name of Christians, or the church. Wherefore it is manifest that we do not deny but that churches remain under the Popes tyranny, though profaned with sacrilegious Impiety.  
Peter Martyr in 1 Kings c. 12. propoundeth this question to himself, Whether since the Papacy erected, there be a church among Papists? And he answereth, That the church was then shaken, and daily is more and more ruinated; so that there remains no more then rudera & frustra parietum, certain broken pieces, and rubbish of the wall. Wherefore we aclowledge their Baptism, we reverence and red the same sacred books as they do; and thus we understand Antichrist to sit in the temple of God, because it was once so, and as yet retaineth quaedam ecclesiae vestigia, certain points of the church.  
Reynolds and Hooker, very eminent men both in their kind, dealing against adversaries most differently affencted, the one sort arrogating too much, the other yielding too little to the Church of Rome, against them both concur in this truth, That though it be neither the catholic church, nor a sound member thereof, yet it is a member. Reynold Thes 5. Romana ecclesia nec est catholica, nec sanum membrum catholicae ecclesiae; yet that it is a part of the visible church, though maimed; and a member, though unsound. Hooker Ecclesiast. Pol. l. 5. c. 68. l. 3. c. 1. For apparent it is( saith Hooker) that all men are of necessity either christians, or not christians. If by external profession they be christians( as all Papists are) they are of the visible church of Christ.  
A Church( saith Philip Morney) may be so far infected with heresies, that from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, there may be nothing sound and whole, and yet so long as they are heretical, they do not cease to be the churches of Christ, no more then a man ceaseth to be a man by reason of some great sickness. Nay, even hereby it may be proved that they are still churches, because they are heretical in the doctrine of Christ; no otherwise then we know by the Diseases wherewith one is effected or pained, that he is a live man, and not a dead corpse. But if any fall from heresy to infidelity, and a total denial of the Faith, then indeed they cease to be churches. And afterwards applying this, which generally concerns all impure and corrupt churches, to the church of Rome, he truly calleth it Omnium impurissimam, & per aliis omnibus quae ad huc fuerunt hereticam: Of all most impure, placed in a more eminent degree of error then all the rest; and heretical above all that ever yet were: yea such as is universally distempered, and hath so heaped heresies upon heresies, that it may seem rather to be a Disease itself, then fallen into diseases. Yet of this roman he saith, Quamdiu vel tenue illud filum reliquum manet ecclesiae nomen, non denegamus, &c. We deny not unto it the name of a church, so long as it holds by this slender thread; as we deny not him the name of a man, who lives, though in a languishing consumption.  
Lastly, Doctor Crakenthorp in his most learned and accurate Defence of the church of England, against the revolted Archbishop of Spallatta, cap. 16. This your Roman Church( saith he) must be accounted both to be in the church, and to be a church, not simply, nor according to the integrity of the faith, nor according to any inward virtue; nor so effectually, that it should avail to salvation for a man to be in it: but yet a church it is in some respects, according to the external profession of faith, and of the word of God, and according to the administration of the Sacraments, and according to some doctrines of true belief; by which, as by so many outward ligaments, she is yet knit to the Orthodox and Cathelick Church  
Fifthly, They dispute thus: 

Out of the true church there is no salvation:  
But in the Roman church there is salvation: 

Ergo, the Roman church is the true church.      
That out of the true church there is no salvation, they confirm by the testimony of St. Cyprian: Non potest habere Deum patrem, qui Ecclesiam non habet matrem: He cannot have God to his Father, who acknowledgeth not the Church for his Mother. And by an Argument rather typick then topic, 

The Ark was a type of the church:  
But out of the Ark none were saved from the Deluge:  
Ergo, out of the church none are saved from the gulf of destruction, but are certainly drowned in perdition.    
The assumption they make good out of the confession of many learned Protestants: Of Luther, l. de Serm. arbit. Of Morney, tract de Eccles. c. 9. George Abbot. Answer to Hull. Reason 1. Sect. 30. Hooker l. 3. Ecclesias. Polit. Sect. 1. & concio. in Abbacuck 1. Field, of the church. l. 3. c. 47. Morton, catholic Appeal. lib. 4. cap. 1. & Grand Impost. cap. 15. And if any rest not satisfied with these concurrent Judgements of learned Protestants, they put weak consciences to the rack with these, or the like Interrogatories, viz. What think you? Were all the Founders of colleges and Halls, all the Kings and Princes of these realms, nay all your grandfathers, and Great grandfathers, who lived before the Reformation in Luthers time, damned, and now fry in the flames of Hell?  
Because with this kind of reasoning they prevail much with men of a tender conscience, and charitable disposition; of whom we may truly say, as Paterculus doth of Cato, Optimo animo nocuit Reipublicae: Out of a pious mind and good nature, they so resolve the former doubt, that they some way wrong and prejudice the Protestant Cause. I will put this fair Piece of coin, currant among very many, to the Test of a more particular Examination, then hath yet been done by any to my knowledge.  
First therefore, I retort the Argument upon the Adversary, that he may thereby either feel the strength of it against himself, or see the weakness thereof as it is urged against us.  

' Out of the true church ' there is no salvation:  
' But out of the Roman church there is salvation:  
' Ergo, the Roman church is ' not the true church.   
In this Syllogism the mayor is theirs. The assumption they will not deny, unless they will confess either that they are within the Roman church, or are out of the state of salvation. To say nothing of the Greek Churches under the Patriarch of Constantinople, and the Egyptians under the Patriarch of Alexandria, and infinite other Christian churches in Africa and Asia, which( as Thevetus a Popish Cosmographer confesseth) are so far from subjection to the Roman church, that they know not whether there be any such or no; and( yet I am sure these men will not cast the Dy upon their salvation) let them look to it, how they can keep off the conclusion, viz. The Roman church is not the true church.  
Secondly, I answer by way of distinction of the terms, of which this Argument consisteth; of which are, 1. Out of the true church. 2. Salvation. 3. The Roman church.  
1. A man may be said to be out of the church in a double sense:  
1. Either because he is out of the communion of the Church.  
2. Or because he is out of the pale, confines, or jurisdiction of any church.  
A church may be said to be true. 1. Either simply and universally, namely such a church as holdeth no error at all in any point that trencheth upon salvation, or is necessary to be required to be believed by any Christian implicitè, or explicitè; but maintaineth entirely all catholic truths in this nature. 2. Secundum quid, or in part; namely such a church as holdeth no error in such points as are absolutely necessary to salvation; and all men are bound explicitly to believe, under pain of Damnation: such as are the first principles of Divinity, and fundamental Articles of our Christian Belief.  
1. When there is a question of Salvation, the meaning may be, 

1. Either of the possibility, viz. whether in such a church salvation by any means may possibly be had?  
2. Or of the certainty of Salvation; whether by the holding of the Doctrine of that church, and living conformable thereunto, a man shall certainly & undoubtedly be saved?    
The Roman church may be, 

1. Either taken for all churches professing the Christian Faith in Rome and Italy, and other countreys subject to the Popes Jurisdiction:  
2. Or for the outward face of the Roman church, holding Pope pus his Creed, affixed to the Council of Trent; and maintaining and practising all the idolatrous and superstitious Rites enjoined by the Pope and his Cardinals.    
According to these Distinctions, in full satisfaction of the former Argument, I set down these Assertions following, which weaken all the sinews, and loosen the joints thereof, viz.  
First, A man may be saved who is out of the confines or jurisdiction of any Church. For a true Believer in the wilderness, or under the Pole, or in Japan, or China, or in any part out of the Christian world, among the Pagans and Infidels may be saved: yet no man can be saved out of the communion of the true church of Christ, either actual and in profession, or at least virtual, or in desire: For all that are saved, must believe the communion of Saints, and be members of Christs mystical body, and have some fellowship both with the Head, and other members. And this is the meaning of Saint Cyprian, That such heretics or schismatics who renounce all communion with the church their mother, so long as they continue in that mind, cannot have God to be their father.  
Secondly, Out of the true church in the first sense( that is, a church which holdeth entirely all doctrines of Faith, implicitly or explicitly, to be believed, as principles or conclusions deducted from them) there may be had salvation: but out of a true church in the second sense there can be ordinarily no salvation. For a sound belief in all such fundamental Points, is absolutely necessary to the very essence of a church: and where there is absolutely no church, there is no calling by the Word and Sacraments: and where no such calling, no ordinary means of Salvation. But where these Doctrines are taught( though many pernicious errors by consequence overthrowing the very foundation, are held) there may be Salvation. For it is very possible that those who live in such a corrupt church, may( with the Bereans) examine the Doctrine of their Teachers by the Scriptures, and embrace such Doctrines as their Teachers propound unto them agreeable thereunto, and reject those that are contrary, as many thousands did in the Arian churches, 
Hilar. cont. ●●●●ent.  whose ears were purer then the mouths of their Teachers.  
Thirdly, In a very corrupt church there must be acknowledged a possibility of salvation, but no certainty and infallibility our of a pure and orthodox church. A possibility of salvation cannot be denied the ignorant especially, because they hold the foundation, and survey not the Building: and the foundation can deceive no man that rests upon it. But a secure way they cannot go where they meet with such corruptions.  
Now wisdom there can be none, in such a point as salvation is, to forsake a church in which there is certainty of salvation, to follow a church in which there is a bare possibility. Nay St. Austine( l. 1. de Bapt. cont. Donat. c. 3. Graviter peccarent in rebus ad salutem ainae pertinentibus eo solo quod certa in certis preponerent: i.e. they should grievously sin in matters concerning the salvation of their souls, if they prefer things doubtful before things certain) chargeth them with a great sin, who in point of salvation prefer uncertainties and naked possibilities, before an evident and certain course.  
Fourthly, There may be certainty of salvation to many thousands of christians, who live within the circuit of the Popes Jurisdiction, and have communion with the Roman church in common points of Christianity, so they join not with her in her errors and superstitions. And farther we cannot deny a possibility of salvation to those who held many of her errors,( as no doubt many of our Ancestors did) so long as they held the main foundation of Protestant Doctrine, to wit, salvation onely by the merits of Christ( which all generally did before the Council of Trent, as appears by the Ordo visitandi infirmos, allowed till then by the church of Rome) and asked God forgiveness at their death, of all their errors known or unknown. But there can be reasonably granted neither certainty, nor possibility of salvation, to such as in the light of the Gospel( where they have means better to inform themselves) hold all the errors and corruptions of the Roman church, and die in the explicit maintenance thereof. For the rule of the Apostle is most certain, no Idolater( remaining such, that is without repentance) shall inherit the kingdom of God. And( besides Heresies) the present church of Rome( that is, the prevalent faction therein) is justly charged by the Reformed churches with manifold Idolatry.  
Lastly, They go about to obscure the matter with a cloud of Allegations and Testimonies; which yet is not so thick, but that the truth pierceth it, and breaketh through with her bright beams.  
In the first place they set Luther against us, 
Ep. Pleb. & Anabat  affirming in one of his Epistles, That there is in the Papacy true Scripture, true Baptism, the true Sacraments, much christian good; nay all christian good: nay moreover, that under the Papacy is true Christianity; imo verus nucluus christianitatis, the very kernel of christianity.  
Next, Calvin Instit. lib 4. cap. 2. Sect. 12. Hinc patet, nos minime negare quia sub Romani ontificis tryanide ecclesia maneant, we deny not but that there remain churches under the tyranny of the Pope; whose seat is placed in the temple of God: whereby it is intimated, that his kingdom shall be such, quod nec Christi, ne● ecclesia nomen aboleat, as doth neither abolish, or take from the name of Christ, or of the Church.  
Junius, lib singular de eccles. Ecclesia Romana, qua id habet in se quod ad ecclesiae definitionem pertinet, est ecclesiae, i.e. the Church of Rome, as it hath in it that which belongs to the definition of a church, is a church.  
Field, the church of Rome is truly a Church  
Zanchius, Pref. l. de Nat. Dei. Satan could not in the very Roman church do what he listed, as he had done in the Eastern; to bring all things to such a pass, as that it should have no more the form of a christian church: And a little after, I do not assent to them which would have the church of Rome to have no less ceased to be the church of Christ, than those Eastern churches, which afterwards turned mahometan. What church was ever more corrupt then the church of the ten Tribes? yet we learn from the Scriptures, that it was still the church of God. And how doth St. Paul call that church wherein Antichrist shall sit, the temple of God? Neither is it any Baptism at all that is administered out of the church of Christ. The wife that is an adulteress, doth not cease to be a wife, unless being despoiled of her Marriage-ring, she be manifestly divorced. The church of Rome therefore is yet the church of Christ.  
Doctor Crathenthorp, tract. M. S. The church of Rome is a true, but unsound, visible church: for wheresoever the outward profession of Faith, and of the Word of God is found, among such as be united by the Sacraments of Christ, and with that mutual duty which is between Pastours and their Flocks, the same cannot but be acknowledged for a visible church, or coetus vocatorum, such a society of men as are outwardly called to the participation of grace and glory.  
The Lord Bishop of Exon, in his Treatise called, The old Religion, cap. 1. Fundamental truth is like that Maronean Wine, which if it be mixed with twenty times so much water, holds his strength The Sepulchre of Christ was overwhelmed by the Pagans without earth and rubbish, and more then so: over it they built a temple to their impure Venus, yet still in spite of malice, there was the Sepulchre of Christ. And it is a ruled case of Papinian, That a sacred place looseth not the holiness with the demolished walls, no more doth the Roman loose the claim of a true visible church, by her manifold and deplorable corruptions.  
And this testimony of his is backed with the Approbations of two right Reverend, and most Learned Fathers in our Church, the Bishops of Duresm and Salisbury; and two Eminent Doctors, the Kings Professor at Oxford; and Doctor primrose Preacher to the French Church in London.  
To answer unto, or rather interpret the above-alledged testimonies in order:  
To the first, which is Luthers, I say, That though Luther in writing against the Anabaptists( who denied Baptism in the Church of Rome, wherein Luther himself was christianed) had reason to make the best he could of that church; yet he attributeth no more to it than Saint Austine, and other Fathers do to the Donatists and other heretics, whom they aclowledge to have among them the Word and Sacraments; which yet they held to be no way beneficial to their salvation, if they persisted in their schisms and Heresies; but would be then available unto them, when they should repent and return to the bosom of the true church. Neither doth Luther say, that papatus est omne bonum christianum, or nucleus christianitatis; that the Papacy is all Christian good, or the kernel of Christianity: but, in, or sub papatu; in, or under the Papacy, is the true Creed, the true Decalogue, the true Lords Prayer, which he termeth the Kernel of Christianity. Wherein he accords with other Protestants, that by reason of these Remains in the Roman church, God may have, and hath, his true church, even where Antichrist hath his seat: or that there are many true Believers throughout all the Popes jurisdiction; or( to use their own words) the Papacy is in the church and the church is in the papacy: yet the papacy is not the church, but a botch, or blain, or plague-sore in it, under which there is sound flesh; yet the plague sore is not the sound flesh For otherways, if we understand by the Roman church not the true Believers( which secretly in it worship God in spirit and truth, and mourn for those abuses which it is not in their power to reform) but the predominant Faction which adhereth to the Pope, and maintaineth all the Errors and Corruptions of that Church. Luther held the Roman church in that sense to be the whore of Babylon, and Synagogue of Antichrist, as he who lists may red in his Book, entitled, Captivitas Babylonica, and in his Answer to the Pop●s Bull, which he termeth, The execrable Bull of Antichrist.  
To the second, which is Calvins, I say, That if his testimony had been alleged entirely, it would have shamed the Alledgers. For though he deny not the title of a Church to Papists, yet in the same place he flatly denieth them the title of a true Church, which is the cardo questionis. His words are, Cum ergo Ecclesiae titulum non simpliciter volumus concedere papists, nonideo ecclesias apud eos esse inficiamur, said tantum litigamus de vera & legitima ecclesiae constitutione, &c. i.e. When as we refuse absolutely to grant the Title of Church unto Papists, we do not therefore deny that there are churches among them; but we strive for the true and lawful constitution of the church, which is required as well in the participation of the Sacraments, as especially the Doctrine.  
Churches he grants to be, to remain under the Popes tyranny; but impiously profaned, miserable afflicted and corrupted with pernicious errors: In quibus semisepultus latet Christus, obrutum Evangelium, profligata pietas, cultus Dei ferè abolitus; in quibus danique omnia sic sunt conturbata, ut Babylonis potius quam civitatis sanctae fucies apareat. Wherein Christ lieth butted, the Gospel overwhelmed, Piety banished, and the Worship of God almost abolished: Lastly, where all things are so confused, that it appeareth rather to be Babylon, then to have so much as a show of the holy City.  
To the third, As Calvin before, so Junius is cited to halfs. The full passage standeth thus in him: The church of Rome ( as it hath that in it which belongs to the definition of a church) is a church: qua vero habet in se adnatum malum, quod Papalitatem dicimus, eo respectu ecclesia non est: as it hath a disease, or evil growing in it, which we call Papacy, in that respect it is not a church. In this place he fitly compares the church to a body or subject, capable both of health and sickness: the sincere and catholic Profession he resembles to Health; the Papacy, or Papal Hierarchy, and other corrupt Doctrines of the Church, he rightly and very significantly calleth a Disease or Sickness; a plague or canker, a consumption or poison in this body: and then concludes, That the Roman Synagogue is a church, but a corrupt church: a church tainted with so strong a poison, as unless it purge out the same, cunnot be saved: and still as more or less Papality is in it, the more weak or strong it groweth: and if God shall( which we earnestly desire he may) administer a strong antidote, it may recover the health which once it had; but if the poison still continue in it, it cannot choose but at length all the vital spirits and passages of breath and life, which now it draweth in a fainting and languishing maner, will be utterly stisted and stopped.  
To the fourth, which is Fields, I need not answer at all: for I grant his Assertion in terminis; especially with his Addition in the same place, not a true church. The Romish Synagogue is truly a church, thut is, a company of men prosessing the Christian Faith: not a true church, that is, an Orthodox or right believing church, but very erroneous and heretieal.  
To the fifth, which is Zanchius, He( as Field, and the rest before) should have rather been produced as a witness on our side, and not against us: for he saith in the very place alleged by the Adversary, That if we bring the Roman church to the touch, she will be cast for a mere counterfeit: she is as far from truth, as truth from falsehood. Yet a church she is; but( as he there addeth) so corrupted and depraved, and with so great tyranny oppressed, that you can neither with a good conscience partake with her in holy things, nor safely dwell by her. She is( to use his similitude) like an adultercss wife, not divorced by her husband; but yet not onely defamed, but openly convinced of whoredom. Such a woman, so long as her husband is pleased not to sue out a Bill of Divorce against her, is a wife, but no true or loyal wife.  
To the sixth, which is Doctor Crakenthorps, I answer: Though in my Copy, in the title of his Treatise I find the church of Rome a true visible church, yet all that is proved in the Argument alleged above out of him, or in that whole Treatise, is but, That the Roman Synagogue is a church; to which the outward preaching of the Word, and administration of the Sacraments, is sufficient. But to prove her to be a true church he must have demonstrated the marks of a true church in her, which are pura verbi predicatio, & legitima sacramentorum administratio; pure preaching of the word, and right administration of the sacraments. These marks he proveth not to be in her most truly and solidly; and therefore his meaning must needs be onely this, That she is truly a church, but not a true or right believing church: a church wherein there is possibility of salvation, not a true church wherein there is certainty.  
To the seventh, which is Doctor Halls Bishop of Exon, I answer: That he, as Doctor Crakenthorp before, referreth true to visible, not to church; and his meaning is, That the Roman is a true visible, but not a true church. Fundamental truth, I grant, is like that Maronean Wine( as I said before) which if it be mixed with twenty times so much water, holds it strength: but the Romish Doctrine is rather like that Wine in the chalice given to Pope Victor, which was mingled with poison. As the earth and rubbish wherewith the Pagans overwhelmed the Sepulchre of Christ, was not the Sepulchre of Christ; and much less was the temple of impure Venus which they built over it, his sepulchre; yet his fepulchre was truly under it: So the Papacy is not the church, though under it the church be. And that this was the meaning of that most learned and judicious Bishop, appears in his Reconciler, page. 60. where he thus interpreteth his own meaning, viz. I say, that she is a true church, but I say withal that she is a false church: true in existence, but false in belief. Trueness of being, and outward visibility, are no praise to her; yea, they are aggravations to her falsehood. And as a cheater is a true, though false, man; so we may & must say, the church of Rome is a true, though false, church. certainly there hath been a true error and mistaking of the sense, that is guilty of this quarrel: And again, that face, that profession, those avowed principles which the church of Rome alloweth, are enough to give it claim to a true outward visibility of a Christian Church; while those damnable inferences which it maketh from them are enough to feoff it in the true style of heresy and Antichristianism.  
As for the renowned Seconds of this Bishop, they rather purge him from any ill meaning, than justify that speech of his. For by name the Bishop of Sarum writeth, that this Proposition of the Bishop of Exons, to wit, that the Roman church remains a true visible church, is an ill sounding Proposition in the ears of Protestants, especially such as are not thoroughly acquainted with School distinctions. For though men skilled in metaphysics hold it for a maxim, Ens verum & bonum convertuntur; that which is true, is good: and that which is good, is true: yet with us he that shall affirm such a one is a true christian, a true Gentleman, a true Scholar, or the like, is conceived not only to ascribe trueness of being to all these, but those due qualities, or requisite actions, whereby they are made commendable, or praise-worthy in their several kindes. In this sense the Roman church is not more a true Church in respect of Christ, or those due qualities or proper Actions which Christ requires, than an arrant whore is a true and loyal Wife to her Husband. I durst upon my Oath be one or your Compurgators, that you never intended to adorn that strumpet with the title of a trne Church in this meaning, &c.  
Thus we see the Testimonies for the truth of the Roman man church are but few; and these neither direct, nor express: whereas the contrary Testimonies are far more, and more express, and of more credit. Therefore if the Suffrages on both sides are truly numbered, or indifferently weighed, we shall surely carry it. For if we add to the Greek, and african, and asiatic, and Ethiopian, and Abyssen, and Indian, and Muscovite Churches, the Reformed in England, France, the Low-countreys, and Germany; we shall find that the whole world in a maner conspireth in this truth, That the church of Rome is not the true church. As the Testimonies on this side are infinitely more in number, so much more direct and express. They that say the Roman is a true church, do but speak it lispingly, in some sense, and with divers restrictions and limitations: but those who deny it, and disprove it to be a true church, speak plainly and roundly, without any ambiguity at all. In the Homily for Whit-sunday, page. 213. We may well conclude according to the rule of St. Austine, That the Bishop of Rome and their adherents, are not the true church: and if we compare the definition of the true church, with the church of Rome, not as it was in the beginning, but as it is presently; then shall we perceive the state thereof to be so far wide from the nature of the true church, as nothing can be more.  
Doctor Whitaker( that golden Taper of Cambridge) cont. 2. q. 6. cap. 1. propounding this question in terminis, An ecclesia Romana sit vera ecclesia Christi visibilis, i.e. Whether the Roman Church be a true visible church of Christ? thus determineth it: We say it is not onely not the onely catholic, but not at all catholic: not onely not catholic, to wit, universal, but we contend it is not a true church of Christ.  
And Willet in his second controversy concerning the Church, quest. 4. page. 115. undertaketh to prove this Conclusion terminis terminantibus, as the schools speak, i.e. e. in concluding terms, That the Roman is not a true visible church.  
Lastly, as the Testimonies on our side are more direct and express, so they are much more to be credited then those which are brought for the adverse part: For one man that sealeth a Truth with his blood, is of more worth then ten who signed it onely with Ink: one Marryr preponderateth ten Confessors. Now whereas those on the contrary opinion cannot produce one true Martyr who died for maintaining this Assertion, That the Roman church is a true church, we can produce divers holy Martyrs, as namely, 
Fox Acts and Monuments.  Master Sanders, Thomas Osmond, William Bamford, Nicholas Chamberlain, Robert Glover, Thomas Man, and others; who have sealed this Truth with their last Breath, and illustrated it by the fire of their Martyrdom, That the Popish Church is not the true church of Christ. These are now arrayed with long white robes; and God forbid that any true Professor of the Gospel should go about to slain them with this foul aspersion, That they died like fools, and suffered for error, or obstinacy, or uncharitably censuring of the church of Rome. I conclude therefore, That though the Romish Synagogue may be truly and rightly styled a church, both opposite( in opposition to Jews, Turks, Pagans, and Infidels, which are apparently out of the church) and positive) positively also in respect of Gods right to her, and tolerating her,( though she deserve to be divorced) and his calling some to the knowledge of the Truth by the Word preached in her, though corruptly; and in respect of her profession of such fundamental Truths as are absolutely requisite to the being of a church: yet that she cannot be called a true church, neither in the ordinary acception of the word in the English tongue: nor in sensu Theologico, in the sense of all the reformed Divines, who have professedly handled the great Question between us, and the church of Rome, de notis verae ecclesiae, of the notes of the true church.   
FINIS.   

A SUCCINCT HISTORY OF THE Life and Death OF THE Learned and Famous Divine, DANIEL FEATLY Doctor in Divinity.  
London, Printed for Nath. Brook, at the Angel in cornhill. 1660.   

A Succinct HISTORY OF THE Life and Death Of the Learned and famous Divine, Daniel Featley Doctor in Divinity.  
Gentle Reader,  
I Must begin with a Petition, both for thy Pity, and for thy Pardon. A friendly importunity( which seemeth to have some tincture of tyranny) imposeth this task, and admitteth no excuse. The guilt of my weakness and insufficiency is controlled by the strength of Arguments drawn from the duty of Consanguinity; of justice to the dead, of bringing glory to God in an endeavour to preserve 
a Psal. 112 6.  the righteous in everlasting remembrance, with many more, which for brevity sake I purposely omit. I am therefore so divided in mine own thoughts, that even that alone might satisfy others, and be an Apology for my silence. But necessity is laid upon me, and I must obey. Sighs abounding at this unwelcome office of winding up in a sheet an Uncle so loving, a Friend so faithful, and an instructor so Learned and Orthodox, are humble Orators, and beg thy pity: and my present absence from mine own study, and the sense of mine inabilities to answer expectation, sue for thy pardon. In hope of both I return thee a promise, That neither propinquity of blood, nor an uncharitable( although in the language of the world deserved) revenge, nor any thing else shall bias me to writ a voluntary untruth: But( according to the Rule of the Great Orator) what I writ, shall be not onely Testis temporum, but also Lux veritatis. Be confident hereof, and red as followeth.  
The first subject I shall insist upon, is the Quid nominis, the Name of Featley: which indeed belonged not to the Doctor; but was the issue of the ignorance and corruption of the times. His right name was Faireclough; and by that name he was ordained both Deacon and Minister, as his Letters of Orders witnessed. All the ancient Deeds, Evidences, and Conveyances of his Elder brother, his father, his grandfather, and the rest of his Ancestors, ran in the name of Faireclough; yea, and his elder brother( my dear Father) did constantly writ his name John Faireclough, as I can justly witness. But even in the days of my good Father, the name( by the mistakes of people) varied and altered from Faireclough to Fairecley, then to Fateley, and at length to Featley, which name he first owned in print of all our Family. He was extracted originally out of Lancashire, where many of the Family do to this day retain the ancient and primitive name of Faircelough, and give the self same Coat of Arms with us, without the least distinction or alteration; which( if I had leisure and opportunity to search) I doubt not but I should prove to be much more ancient then Master Peacham in his Book of Heraldry would make it, who deriveth it but from Bosworth Field, in the time of King Henry the Seventh. The name at first arose from that fair Cliff where his Ancestors long since were seated; for in the Dialect of that County, as well as some others, a Cliff was anciently written Clough; and so from their Seat the Family took denomination of Fairclough, retaining the ancient way of spelling the word. But of this enough.  
My next subject must be the quid rei, or personae, the person himself. The Family of the Faire●●loughs in former times growing numerous, their Estate lessened by the increase of their Issue; for the Land was given by parcels to their children, and each Generation chipped and pared the ancient Demesnry. Amongst those many slips which sprung from the first Root, some kept their possession at home, but some were transplanted into one County, and some into another: Those at home grew in their own native soil, but flourished not much, because they bore so fast. Those abroad betook themselves to several employments, and their fortunes were various. The good old Father of Doctor Featley, was one of those whom Providence removed into another county, and placed in Oxfordshire. There in his youthful days he married Mistress Marian Thrift, and by her he had issue three sons, John, Daniel, and William; and two daughters, Margaret and Anne. Daniel the second son, was born at Charlton upon Oatemoor, and being a studious and ingenious child, he profited at School beyond expectation, insomuch as when he was but twelve years old, he gained no small credit and applause by the latin and Greek verses which he frequently, wittily, and elegantly composed. His father entertaining an employment in Oxford, gained an opportunity to prefer his forward son Daniel to be first a Scholar, and then Fellow of Corpus Christi college, when Doctor Reignolds was President thereof. There he spent many years in his studies, and took his Degrees of bachelor and Master of Arts, performing his Exercises to the Admiration of the University. When he proceeded Master, he was made Terrae-filius at the Act, and gained such honor, that his famed grew high in both the Universities. Then he wholly applied himself to the study of Divinity, and having laid a solid foundation in the positive part, he betook himself to the Fathers, Councils, School-men, &c. His ad mired Disputations, his excellent Sermons, his grave, yet affable demeanour, and his other rare Accomplishments made him so renowned, that Sir Thomas Edmonds being dispatched by King James to lie Leiger-Embassadour in France, he made choice of this Gentleman to travail with him as his chaplain. The command he obeied, and spent three years in France in the house of the ambassador. During that time he became the Honor both of our Religion and Nation; insomuch as his many Conflicts with, and Conquests of the learned Sorbonists, in defence of the Protestants, and opposition to the Papists, caused even those his Adversaries to give him this Encomium, that he was Featlaeus acutissimas a● cerrimusque. Upon his return into England he repaired to his college again; where having spent some time, he proceeded bachelor of Divinity, and preached that elegant, solid, and smart latin Sermon which is extant in his Clavis mystica; wherein among those seventy Sermons, the Reader may find also many English ones preached at Paris, and those likewise which he rehearsed both in Oxford, and at Pauls across. From Oxford he was invited by Mr. Ezekiel Ascot( one of his Pupils) to accept the Rectory of Northhill in Cornwall, and leaving the University, he betook himself thither. But his great renown suffered not his Candle to continue under a bushel; for George Abbot Archbishop of Canterbury sent for him thence, and persuaded him to be his domestic Chaplain, and to leave Northhill to accept of Lambeth Rectory, although the Revenues thereof exceeded not the other. To Lambeth he went, where( after he had continued a while in the Archbishops house) his Lord prevailed with him to take his degree of Doctor in Oxford, that he might entertain the Archbishop of Spalato with an academic Treatment. He yielded to the motion, and acquitted himself with so much honor, that the Doctor of the Chair thought himself affronted by his son Featleys acuteness of Learning, sharpness of Wit, solidity of Judgement, smart Answers, and undainted Courage. The grave Father being puzzelled by his ingenious Son, and in the face of both Universities, and the Flower of the English Nobility and Gentry, besides many foreigners, he made that a quarrel which his son Featley made but his defence: and it proved at length the Task of the Archbishop of Canterbury to compose the difference. From Oxford he returned loaden with learned Honor to his Lord again, and Spalato was so pleased with his Oxford Junkets, that he not onely rendered thanks to Canterbury for his Chaplains gallant deportment, but also gratified Doctor Featley with a Fellowship, or Brothersplace in the Savoy, whereof he was then Master. Long die he continue a Menial servant to the Archbishop of Canterbury without any preferment: peradventure he was too good to rise, and too learned to be promoted, lest he should eclipse the glory of his Seniors. At length the discontents of the Court and City, because Doctor Featley was kept still behind the Hangings, flew to the ears of the Archbishop, whereupon he shortly after gave him the Rectory of Alhallows Broadstreet: But by reason of the thickness of the London air, and the many inconveniencies which he daily met with, upon many solicitations his Lord yielded to an exchange of Broad-street for action, which is six miles from London, and in a pleasant and healthful situation. About the year 1642. and about the forty and fourth year of his age, the Doctor married an ancient, grave Gentlewoman called Mistress joice Halloway, the Relict of Mr. Halloway, and formerly the Relict of Mr. Thompson( both Merchants of London) and daughter of one Mr. Kerwin, who lived in a handsome house of her own in Kennington in Lambeth Parish, and being a great Florist, nourished a Garden which administered a sweet and delicate delight: But this Marriage he for a time concealed, and continued in the domestic service of his Lord. In the year 1625.( that great year of the raging pestilence in London) the Archbishop removed with his whole family from London to croyden, for fear of the infection; where it fell out on a day that Doctor Featley found himself somewhat indisposed in point of health, but endeavoured to shake it off. Howsoever the Bishop was soon acquainted with it,( for great men want not their whispering intelligencers) and presently he commanded the Doctors speedy removal out of his house. Honor, and wealth, and age, and the Ministerial function, were too weak orators to persuade the Bishop to withstand the fear of sickness and death. The weather was rainy, the ways foul, the Doctor not well, yet all these signified nothing, nor prevailed so much with his Lord, as to allow him to stay either in the house or town, or to lend him a Coach for his easier and safer journey. The Doctor took horse, and by the providence of a better Lord, road safely( though in much anguish and grief) to his own house at Kennington, where by the care and nursery of his skilful and loving wife, and a divine blessing upon the means, he soon recovered; for his distemper was but a could. Upon his recovery, he removed his Books and other goods from Lambeth Palace to his own house, and so deserted the service of his Lord. Here I might recollect his many disputes with several Jesuits, as Sweet, Fisher, Musket, and others, which being long since printed, I voluntarily pretermit, that I may not be tedious. I might remember the frowns he received for licencing a Book of Mr. Eltons upon the colossians, and how he acquitted himself before King James, proving that those sheets which gave offence, were added to the Book after his Imprimatur, and so neither licenced, nor so much as seen by him. Hereupon his Majesty receiving such satisfaction, and having heard of the famed of Doctor Featley for his acuteness in Disputations, he was graciously pleased to engage with the Doctor in a scholastic Duel; whereof the Reader may have a full account in that printed Book which is called Cygneacantio. I might call to mind that Book of his, called The Hand-maid to Devotion, that hath lived so many Impressions, and which he composed in that pestilential year, upon his return from croyden: for he was so sensible of the general calamity, that he laid by his polemic Divinity, and wholly devoted himself to the study and practise of Piety and Charity. I might also add many more passages of his former life, most worthy to live to future ages, but that I study brevity, and indeed I want some helps, my memory being treacherous, and my remembrancers dead. I shall therefore hasten to the evening of his life, wherein I shall be the more copious and confident, because some things remain very fresh in my memory, whereof I was an eye and an ear witness, and the rest I shall borrow from the mouths of persons of a clear and untainted repute.  
In the year 1642.( for farther back I intend not to look) the Drums and Trumpets awaked our Nation, and the Riddle of the Parliament puzzelled the understandings of our learnedest Divines. Soldiers were raised for the King and Parliament, but how little they conduced to the honor, profit, or safety of the King, time and bad men discovered to the world. The soft and wanton peace of our nation was soon turned into rough and bloody Wars, Jusque datum sceleri: into un-christian( or howsoever un-Protestant) rebellion and Insurrection against their lawful Prince: and a faction of Reformers so pretended to new inspirations, as if the private whispers of a fanatic spirit had more and true divinity then the whole Church of England. The pretences were specious and prevalent; but the politic fraud, the( Anguis in herba, was carefully concealed. The King( 'tis true) could not err( for as yet they pretended to assert this maxim of State:) but his evil counsellors might To save therefore and defend the Honour and Majesty of the King, his bad council must be removed,( they wanted a true and faithful Glass to make them see themselves) and this must be done by undistinguishing Weapons of Wars, and Engines of the greatest Hostility: not( oh by no means) to hurt the King; but onely to remove his evil Advisers. In brief, upon this very account Kenton Field was surfeited with blood: and shortly after that, the Thames at Brainford was coloured with the Red-coats, whose tincture was as well a London slain, as an Edge-hill dy. Yet a fag end of these flesh-mongers,( a rump of the City Butchers) who escaped dipping in the river, hastened to action where our Doctor was beneficed, and where myself then lived, and constantly preached. So soon as they came thither, to the Church they went: peradventure you may suppose they were zealous and good Christians. But be not deceived: they went not thither to pray, but to plunder; not for devotion, but desolation: to support it by destroying it; as they had lately fought to save the King, by their endeavours to slay him. First therefore they fell upon the Rails( perhaps taking them for Smithfieldpens,) and broken them down and burned them. Had those Reformers been sacrificed in their own holy fire, the innocent sheep and lambs of Christ might have hoped to escape. Their next inquisition was for the Book of Common-prayer( for as they could not do their work without book, so they could not pretermit that book which smelled so rank of piety and loyalty:) but a young child of mine, of his own accord, hide it from their discovery, and so saved it from their violence. And truly if the Bible itself had been in their way, it is probable they would have condemned even that also to their devouring flames as heterodox to their new Opinions. Having burned the Rails, pulled down the Font, broken the Windows, preached for( but misled) the Book of Common-prayer, they grew weary of their villainy for that time, and restend themselves a while. To the Communion-Table they presently repaired, where they sate tippling so long, and so freely,( not onely the strongest Beer, but the strongest Waters also) that having drank too deep of those enlightening spirits, they uttered their minds in the Doctors seat, and in the very Pulpit did that which is worse. The whole Church at length was converted into a Lay-stall, insomuch as when the Parishioners assembled there again, the Religion of these Reformers turned their stomachs, and stank in their nostrils. Yet all this in the judgement of the actors was piety, not profaneness: they had done too little. This concerned but the Steeple house, they had higher thoughts yet; they aimed at the Doctor. But for as much as he resided not at action, some of Urrey's soldiers resolved to keep house for him in his absence, and quartered themselves at the Parsonage, where( not content with an hospitable accommodation) they resolved to offer another sacrifice to Vulcan. Two of his stables they burned to the ground, yea and his barn full of corn: the loss amounting to two hundred and eleven pounds. The zeal of these Incendiaries waxed so hot and furious, that nothing would satisfy them but fire and flames: and when the corn-fed bodies of themselves and their horses were pricked with their provender, they made themselves merry with their the frolic of their bonfires. Yet was not their malice to the Doctor quenched with these flames: some of their tribe pursued him to Lambeth where he then resided, and on the nineteenth day of February in the same year( being 1642.) even on the Lords-day, five of the new doctrined and disciplined men of War rushed into the Church where he was then to preach, even in the time of divine Service, with Pistols and drawn Swords, not to defend, but to destroy the Gospel, and the Professors thereof; and to murder one of the most learned and faithful Dispensers of the Word & Sacraments. There they inquired diligently, and eagerly preached for the Doctor: but Providence snatched him as a brand out of the fire; for an honest Parishioner stopped his journey when he was near the Church, and relating the news, dissuaded him from running into such apparent danger. In the mean while those janissaries growing impatient, and suspecting the Doctor had met with some intelligence to divert him from preaching; in their fury they mortally wounded one of the Parishioners even in the Church, and shot dead another, who but onely pe●p'd over the church yard wall. So fierce and barbarous were these new-inspired Zealots, that neither the sanctity of the day, nor the company of Christians assembled together for the Worship of the onely true God, nor the relative holiness of the Place, nor the sacred duty of Prayer, nor the horrid crimes of Profaneness, sacrilege, murder of Christians, and shedding the innocent blood of the Shepherd and sheep of Christ, nor any thing else could make them relent; but still they continued their resolutions to destroy the pious and harmless Doctor. And when at length they found there was no hope of his coming, what they could not execute in deeds, they performed in words; for they breathed out slaughter and savage murder against him, threatening to chap him as small as herbs to the pot, for suffering the Common-Prayer( which in the height of contempt they called Porridge) to be red in his Church. Surely if God had permitted them to be master of their design, such Porridge would have lost no savour by having so sweet and wholesome an herb chopped into them. Others of these mad brothers of the blade reported, that they would squeeze the Pope out of the Doctors belly. A subtle discovery, a prodigious menace. He who was one of the most resolute, and most victorious Champions of the Reformed Protestant Religion, and of the smartest Scourges of the Church of Rome, was now accused for having a Pope in his belly: and the way to confute him was by a marshal squeeze, by strength of arms and dint of sword. O tempora! O mores! O calamitosam rerum divinarum & humanarum faciem! O the sadness of those times, when accursed covetousness painted over with a dissembled sanctity, seered and crusted the consciences of her paramours; and made them pursue their ungodly designs by calumnious lies, insurrections, treason, sacrilege, murder, and what not? The Papist was supposed the only enemy( but indeed the greatest abbetter) of the new Reformers of the Church: and wheresoever their black designs met with opposition, the bare imputation of Popery gave them a Commission to kill and plunder. Every one was then accused for a Papist that would not be a Sectary; and none were esteemed the Godly party, but those alone who helped to ruin the State, and destroy the Church. Now, alas, was that consummata infoelicitas which Seneca speaketh of, Ubi iurpia non solum delectant, said etiam placent: the abomination of desolation was come upon us, when all sorts of villainies were not onely acted with delight, but also justified as righteous. Well therefore might we mourn out that sad complaint of the same Philosopher, Desinit esse remedio locus, ubi quae fuerant vitia, mores fiunt. farewell Religion, when the old vices passed currant for new virtues; and the most piacular crimes were justified and applauded by the very Reformers. The intoxicated and infatuated people disclaimed Popery, to idolize some few of their Representatives: and pinning their implicit faith upon the sleeves of judgling Sophisters, they took all for Orthodox which the others voted for oracles. Thus did they insensibly lose at once not onely their reason, but also their Prince, their Loyalty, their Religion, their Propriety, and their Peace. But the more sober and judicious Protestants in the mean while cousulted with true Divinity, and the Dictates of well-guided Consciences: and weighed not the present Distractions in the false scales of the cheating Zealots, but in the balance of the Sanctuary. They found our Proprieties invaded, our Houses plundered, our Liberty confined, and( that which is dearest unto us) our pure Religion adulterated with impure schisms, and even doctrines of devils. Each day produced some new Opinion tending to the ruin both of Church and State; and those Enthusiasts who pretended to the guidance of a new and shining light, walked in the darkness of impiety and uncharitableness, trampling upon our Church as the Edomites upon Jerusalem, and crying, Raze it, raze it, even to the ground. Old and sound Truths were exploded, and justled out as obsolete, by a new-found divinity: and a Juncto of Novelists( some whereof peradventure had lately, and too justly been offended with un-warrantable innovations) made the world believe that they had heaven in a string, as the Trent-Fathers had the Holy Ghost in a Port-manteau. Kings were by them accounted useless; Allegiance superstitious; sacred Oaths to our Sovereign Lord, rash and foolish Vows, rather to be penitently retracted, then conscientiously observed; the Calling of Bishops anti-christian; the Ecclesiastical Discipline, a rag of Rome: and all our sheaves must bow to that of New-England and Amsterdam. In the midst of these growing Heresies and Factions, our Doctor( with some others) preached up Loyalty and sound Divinity: yet not without the frowns of our Grandees, and menaces of an approaching Persecution. Hereupon I frequently repaired to him, to consult and advice about the duty and safety of us both: for we clearly foresaw that although the black Cloud which hung over our heads was yet no broader than the palm of a mans hand; yet it might soon over-spread the whole heaven of our Church. We apprehended that that gate which was opened to the wrangling and infatuated Sectaries, would prove a trap-door to them that were sound and orthodox: and that those who preached up the Doctrine of our Church, would soon preach themselves out of their Livings and Liberties. It was therefore his resolution that one of us should travail; for he was unwilling that our Mother the Church should be deprived of us both in one day; although I account myself one of the smallest and most inconsiderable Acomes, and as the least dust of the balance. To this purpose both he had received an invitation from the University of Leyden in Holland, to be Doctor of the Chair for Divinity; and I from a very dear friend, to withdraw to Saint Christophers in the Western Indies, where I had the honor to be the first Preacher of the Gospel in the infancy of that Mother-Colony, in the year 1626. The choice was in him, who( concluding himself unfit to alter his climate, by reason of age, and other infirmities; and for other reasons which I purposely omit) resolved that I must provide and fit myself for the Voyage. His counsel I followed, and away I soon packed; accompanied with my wife, children, servants, and what necessaries my slender fortune at that time afforded me. Sadly we partend; yet hoped that when the storm should cease we might meet again. But before my departure he committed the preceding Book,( which he had composed at the request of Mr. S. Birbeck, the Author of the Book entitled, Christian Evidences) as a sacred depositum; to my trust and care, reserving yet a Copy thereof to himself; and hoping that if either of us should survive the present distempers, it might one day appear in public, for the edification of the Church. On June 24. 1643. I weighed Anchor at Tilbury-Hope, and thence proceeded in my Voyage, in a Ship sufficiently pestered with Brownists, Anabaptists, Antinomians, &c. In the mean while he stayed at home to fight with beasts at Ephesus, and defend the Truth. And indeed he had a fair opportunity for it, being chosen a Member of the Assembly of Divines, and wanting no courage either to preach the Truth in the Pulpit, or to assert and defend it in the Synod. In Lambeth Church( according to his custom) he so scourged the Times, that in July following three mechanic Brownists there present, exhibited against him no less than seven Articles to the Committee for plundered Ministers, Mr. White( no great friend to orthodox Divines) having then the Chair. The Articles are extant in a Book entitled, The gentle Lash, together with the Doctors Answers; whither for brevity sake, I refer the Reader. There he may find how earnestly the Doctor sued for a protection, that he might without peril of his life attend the Committee: and he grounded his fears upon the jeers of his fanatic Adversaries continually scorning him; the musket of one Bagwood, a soldier, presented at him; the report of another soldier under the Command of Captain Andrews, That the Court of Guard at Lambeth should not be discharged until they had made an end of the Doctor; and, that they had a Warrant to plunder him. But how thick and dull ( though long enough) were the ears of that chairman, and how impertinently he answered the Doctors request, by a pretence of ignorance of what was alleged, the judicious Reader may be satisfied in the Gentle Lash.  
And now appeared indeed the dubia crepuscula lucis, the twilight of the Doctors age: for he began his Answer to those Articles, with this heavy Complaint, Hoc uno die plus vixi quam oportuit; this is the first day in all my life, that I ever heard Articles red against me in any Court Ecclesiastical or Temporal, or Committee of parliament. But he comforted himself with the example of Christ, the Prince of our salvation, who was consecrated through afflictions; and with that Apology of St. Cyprian, Nec mihi ignominiosum est pati a meis quod passus est Christus; nec illis gloriosum facere quod fecit Judas, i.e. it is no dishonour to me to suffer of my countrymen what Christ endured; nor gain they any glory by doing like Judas. In brief, the Articles were so false, scandalous, undigested, and indeed foolish, that the Doctor was acquitted; and the compiler of them( one Ambrose Glover, alias, Andrews, a Botcher, who had spent a whole year in stitching them together) was dismissed with sufficient disgrace. But these were not times for Sectaries to be foiled, ( especially at a Committee where the chairman was one of their stoutest Champions) and an Orthodox Divine go away with the Conquest. The Articles were afterward taken into debate by four( too few for a Quorum) of the seventeen Members of that Committee, and right or wrong, they voted him out of his Living at Lambeth, Yet here they paused, and deferred the Report of their Order for above two months together. At length Master White, or some other for him, reported to the House of Commons their proceedings against the Doctor: where it was put to the Question, Whether he should be sequestered, or not? and it was Resolved in the Negative.  
Now the Doctor having his Quietus, he thought himself to be at liberty again to follow his Calling, and most weighty affairs: he therefore betook himself to his studies, both for the Service of God in the Pulpit, and for the discharge of his Trust in the Assembly of Divines. But his Religion and his Loyalty were Crimes unpardonable: and his Vindication of the Truth in those erroneous times, betrayed him to the malice of new Adversaries, and their mischievous Contrivements. The Bishops being voted down, and the Hierarchy of our Church blown away with an unsavoury breath, every one's brain( mens & womens of all sorts) hammered and projected a new Church-Government,( forgetting in the mean while that they had almost lost the very Church itself:) and among the many superfaetations, that of the Presbytery appeared most prevalent. The professors thereof in England learned their Lesson of their brethren in Scotland; whose first and greatest Lecture was the Solemn League and Covenant. it was hatched in Scotland, and sent to the Assembly of Divines in England for their Concurrence. Being proposed in our Synod, the Doctor in a grave and learned Speech, and with solid and judicious Arguments, so strongly opposed it; that those who wanted Learning to answer him, wanted not malice to ruin him. The Reader may be pleased to save me the labour of reciting the Speech, if he vouchsafe to peruse it in a Book entitled Sacra Nemesis, Or, The Levites scourge. There he may find not onely this Speech printed at large; but also others of great Concernment; as also his Sixteen Reasons for Episcopal Government; and many other things well worthy his perusal.  
It seems the times would not bear sound Doctrine: it was therefore concluded by a factious party, that either the Covenant must be suppressed, or the Doctors mouth must be stopped. Every Sectary was willing to help forward the latter, in a seeming defence of the former: although the zeal of some of them was not grounded so much upon their love to the Covenant, as upon their envying his abilities, and madness at his stout and resolute defending the truth. At at last a Plot was laid by schismatics and Sectaries of several judgments( who all concurred( in the great design of silencing the Doctor) & they built upon that marshal Policy, Dolus, an virtus, quis in host requirit? Stratagems in wars are as lawful as battels. To this purpose, about the middle of Sept. in the year 1643, one Armiger Wardner( a proper Esquire, a despicable Felt-maker at that time in Southwark, and afterward a Sutler in the Army at St. Albans) made his Application to the Doctor under pretence of friendship; & privately informed him, as from the Lord Primate of Armagh at Oxford( from whence he pretended he was newly come) That the King was very much offended at his complying with the Assembly: and that he charged him upon his high displeasure, never more to meet with the Divines in Henry the sevenths chapel. The credulous Doctor intending no harm, suspected none: nor considered how strongly and stoutly he had( but a fortnight since) scourged the Covenant in that very Assembly; and that this therefore might be a Plot to affright him into a future compliance, or at least silence, in the synod; or that it might be a snare to catch him, and to bring him into trouble. Evil be to him that evil thinketh; the Doctor thought none: but he seemed indeed a little unsatisfied, in that the Primate had not written unto him: but the cunning deceiver excused that by the danger of the times either to writ, or carry intelligence of such concernment. The good Doctor was truly very much troubled at the contrary commands of the King at Oxford, and the Parliament at Westminster: but the messenger seemed to be grieved for him; and to contrive some means to quiet his thoughts. At length he  told the Doctor, that a word of the Primat's mouth to the King would set all aright again: and that he was presently to return to Oxford; by whom if the Doctor would writ a few lines to his Grace, acquainting him with some passages in the Assembly; and with his desire of his Majesties leave to continue his attendance there: he would not onely deliver the Letter with much fidelity, but also bring him an answer on tuesday following. Upon these fair shows of Armiger Waraners friendship, & many promises of his faithfulness & secrecy; the Doctor caused a kinsman of his to writ what he dictated, Armiger Wardner being in presence: and when he had finished, and red it to them both; the Doctor asked Armiger Wardners opinion, Whether he thought there could be any danger in sending what was written? The Sutler pretended a confidence that there could be no danger in it: and therecupon the Doctor subscribed it with the two first letters of his name in Greek, one within another, thus ; which afterward by the quiblet of a Member of Parliament was interpnted fidelity. He having thus subscribed it, and folded it up after the manner of an ordinary written Paper,( not like a Letter, nor yet sealing it) he delivered it to Armiger Wardner( although his Kinsman laboured much by urgent Arguments to dissuade him from it:) who soon departed, laughing in his sleeve. Towards Southwark he marched: but at the sconce by the way( as it seems the Plot had been laid) he was strictly examined, and preached for Letters. In his pocket was soon found this written Paper; and as soon it was confessed that he brought it from Doctor Featley, and was to carry it to the Primate of Armagh at Oxford The messenger was presently ( for fashions sake) clapped up for a spy; but soon enlarged: and the Note or writing was speedily sent to the close Committee. They immediately perused it, and copied it out: and then gave it again to the self same messenger to carry it to Oxford; hoping by these means to discover that intelligence which( by their own encouragement) might afterward pass between the Primate and the Doctor. In conclusion, after some dayes had passed, and the thing was brought to maturity; the Doctor was sent for by the Close Committee; and charged as a spy and Intelligencer. He answered, that what he sent was but an open note, and no formal or sealed Letter: and if it had been a Letter, yet it contained no matter of intelligence concerning the affairs of either War or State; but onely gave an account of some proceedings in the Assembly touching Religion; and that also, not to any enemy, but to a chosen member of the same Assembly; with friendly counsel to the Primate to beg of his Majesty the Deanery of Westminster, then voided, for his own necessary support. Moreover, if it had been indeed a Letter( as it was not;) and thereby he had sent secret intelligence; yea, and of matters of State; and all this to a known and professed enemy to the State; yet such a Letter could not in reason & justice bring him within the compass of danger, because it was not a transgression of any known Law: for the Ordinance of Parliament forbidding correspondency by Letters to Oxford, without leave of the Houses, or warrant from the Lord General; was not then in being; but was made on Octob. 22th 1643: which was a full month after this Note, Escript, or pretended Letter, was written. Again; if that note contained any dangerous intelligence, or correspondency with any enemy: why did the Committee sand it to Oxford; and not rather suppress it? Or why did not the Committee cause it to be afterward printed, that the world might know the crime of the Doctor? But the Doctors defence was not armor of proof against the malicious resolutions of his mortal Adversaries. The more reasons he urged, the more they were enraged: for what they were not able to answer by thestrength of reason, they howsoever could master by the strength of power. The Prolocutor was nettled because the Doctor had written an Encomium of his special gift in praying not so much ex tempore as de tempore: and the Presbyterians were offended because he opposed the Covenant: and the Sectaries in general were highly displeased, because he both discovered and opposed their Schisms. Hereupon the Committee( being of the discontented party) resolved to silence him: and presently he was voted both out of the Assembly, and out of his Estate and Liberty. On September 30th a Warrant( mentioning no crime) was brought from the Committee, to commit the poor Doctor: and the Officer conducted him to the Lord Peter's House in Aldersgate-street: before which he was so plundered, that he had no more money left him than one bare five shillings Piece of Gold; which he bestowed upon the Officer. So soon as he was laid up, those whose mouths had long gaped and watered at his two Livings, and undoubtedly had been very instrumental to clap him up, skipped hastily into them: Mr. White of Dorchester into Lambeth, and Mr. Philip nigh( this was that nigh, &c.) into action. Thus( oh thus) was the poor Doctor plundered, sequestered, imprisoned, and even quiter lost to the world. Yet( as if malice had pleaded for eternity) they left him not thus: for whilst he was penned up in that noisome Prison, he yet preached constantly every Lords-day to his fellow-sufferers( for they were many, and persons of quality; and their sin was Loyalty:) until at length Isaac Pennington, the pretended Lord mayor of London, stopped his mouth; and gave order that he should preach no more. Many sad moneths did he spend in prison, wanting the sweet and pleasant air at Kennington, the comfortable Society of his Books, his just Revenue, a convenient accommodation, a well-ordered diet, the company of his old and bosom friends; and indeed all things( except a good Conscience) which might qualify the bitterness of a tedious life. In the height of these his sufferings, it happened that a Papist sent a bold challenge abroad into the world, concerning the Antiquity, Unity, Universality, Succession, and perpetual Visibility of the true Church: which threw dirt in the face of the Protestant Church; and( as the Author thought) invincibly asserted the Tenets of the Romanists. The Parliament saw the challenge; but neither could answer it themselves, nor persuade the Reverend Synod,( wherein were yet left many persons of great learning, and much estimation:) but it was recommended to the Doctor; whom they knew to be well versed in the matters in question. Had they first vindicated him from the aspersions of the hackney Mercuries of the times, as Britannicus, Civicus &c. and repaired his Losses, and restored his Livings, and enlarged his Person, and sent him with honor to take his place again in the Assembly; they had given him a just and noble encouragement to answer their desires. But he was a poor Israelite under the Egyptian yoke; and must be content to abate the straw, yet make the brick. When no denial, or excuse, would satisfy; he complained that he wanted his Books: and without them he could not answer expectation. The House therefore voted, That he should have any of his own books which he should require; provided that he should never have more than three of them at one time. By this Vote in the first place his Library was for a while preserved from the itching hands of Mr. White of Dorchester( who had gotten an Order, that he should have the Doctors Books, until the Doctor could get back Mr. Whites, which some under the Command of Prince Rupert had seized at Dorchester:) and the Doctor got a welcome employment, which diverted the irksomness of his sad imprisonment. To work he went, and at length he finished and published his Answer to the Challenge, on August 1. 1644. in a Book entitled, Roma Ruens. Nor may I here forget another Book which he had perfected and published the same year against the Anabaptists, and other Sectaries, called The Dippers dipped: both these books being means to increase his afflictions by the fury of so many heretics and schismatics; and few sound and solid Protestants left, to visit & comfort him. Nor may I omit those foul and odious aspersions which the Sectaries( being enraged with madness at his Dippers dipped) and some others threw upon him, viz. That Doctor Featley was turned ●apist. This abhorred imputation so terribly tormented him( much beyond his losses, and imprisonment) that it compelled him to vindicate himself in manner following.  

Doctor Featley's Manifesto and Challenge.  

WHereas a false and scandalous report is bruited by the Semi separatists and Anabaptists, and readily entertained by divers zealots of the new reformation, That I( who have preached so much against Popery heretofore) now in my old dayes( being ready to leave this world) have fallen away from my holy profession, and am in heart a Papist; there being found many Popish books in my Study: And because I have learned from the mouth of St. Jerome, that though other wrongs may be put up, and answered with silence, committing the revenge thereof to the Righteous Judge, Injustissime judicato justissime judicaturo, i.e. to him who will judge righteously, although himself was unrighteously judged; yet that in suspicione haereseos neminem oportet esse patientem. i. e. no man ought to be silent, when he is charged with heresy: I have thought fit to make known to all whom it may concern, that being chosen Provost of Chelsey-Colledge, I have under the Broad Seal of England a Warrant to buy, have, and keep all manner of Popish Books: and that I never bought or kept any of them but to the end and purpose, the better to inform myself to refute them. And for my judgement and resolution in point of Religion, I profess before God, and his holy angels, and the whole world, that what I have here tofore preached, written, and printed against the errors, heresies, idolatry, and manifold superstitions of the Romish Church, I believe to be the truth of God; and that I am most ready and willing, if I be called thereunto, to sign and seal it with my blood And whereas I am certainly in ormed, that divers Lecturers and Preachers in London, and the Suburbs( who have entred upon the labours of many worthy Divines, and reaped their harvests) do in their Pulpits, after a most insolent manner, insult upon them; demanding, Where are they now that dare stand up in defence of church-hierarchy, or Book of Common-prayer; or any way oppose or impugn the New intended Reformation; both in doctrine and discipline of the Church of England? I do here protest, That I do and will maintain, by disputation, or writing, against any of them, these three Conclusions, viz.  
First, That the Articles of Religion, agreed upon in the year of our Lord 1562. by both Houses of Convocation, & ratified by Queen Elizabeth, need no alteration at all; but onely an Orthodox explication in some ambiguous phrases; and a vindication against false aspersions.  
Secondly, That the Discipline of the Church of England, established by many Laws, and Acts of Parliament; that is, The Government by Bishops( removing all innovations and abuses in the execution thereof) is agreeable to Gods word; and a truly ancient and Apostolical institution.  
Thirdly, That there ought to be a set-form of public prayer: and that the Book of Common-prayer( the calendar being reformed in point of apocryphal Saints and Chapters; some rubrics explained; and some expressions revised, and the whole correctedly printed; with all the Psalms, Chapters, and Allegations out of the Old and New Testament, according to the last Translation) is the most complete, perfect, and exact Liturgy now extant in the Christian world.  
Daniel Featley.   
After the Doctor had made public this his Manifesto and Challenge( or howsoever owned it, as it is printed in The Gentle Lash) I could never hear that any confident Pen durst answer his Challenge; or ever( otherwise than by some impudent lying Mercuries, or such scurrilous pamphlets) cast any further Aspersions of Popery upon him.  
To draw near to a Conclusion: Notwithstanding the great service which the Doctor had done for the Church of England, at the request of the Parliament, by his Answer to that Popish Challenge in his Roma ruens; yet they suffered him to continue in Limbo, in his old prison. But when( after his long and miserable durance) through the closeness and corruption of the air, the noisome stenches of the prison, his bad diet and ill lodging, the want of exercise, and many other inconveniencies, he fell into a dropsy, and other diseases: he became an humble Petitioner to the Parliament, that he might have leave to remove to Chelsey-Colledge, where the air was fresh and wholesome: and his Physicians Certificate was annexed to his Petition, declaring that he could not possibly live, without the benefit of better air. Full sixteen Weekes did his friends and servants bestow upon a daily and wearisome Attendance on the House, in pursuance of his request: for some Members would, but durst not move for him; some durst, but would not. His friends were fearful; but his enemies bold, and violent. At length( when his Adversaries were assured that his death approached; so that now there could be no fear of his further writing, or preaching either against the Covenant, or any Anabaptistical Tenets) they granted him an Order to remove to Chelsey-Colledge for six weekes: for( although they proved prophets, yet) they suspected that if he should be in any hope of recovery, he would fall again to his old game of Opposing the Heresies of ●he times:) provided always, that he should first give good bail for his return to prison at the six weeks end. By ver●ue of this long looked-for Order he was removed to Chelsey-Colledge about the beginning of March, in the year 1644, but neither physic, nor air, nor diet, nor better lodging nor company, nor cordials, nor any thing else could remove his diseases, or give him hope of recovery. There he spun out a short time in much piety, and holy exercises; although wearied with pains, and worn out with afflictions; whereof none were so grievous to him, as the present distractions in the Church and State. On the fourteenth day of the next month( being April, in the year 1645.) the harbingers of death assuring him of his near-approaching dissolution, he set his house in order, and made his last Will and Testament; which began thus:   

A Model of an intended Will to be Confirmed and Executed, if ever Peace return upon Israel.  
FIrst for my Soul, I commend it to him whose due it is by a three-fold right; My Creator, who infused it into me; My Redeemer, who freely ransomed it with his dearest blood; My Sanctifier, who assisteth me now in the greatest and latest assaults of temptation. As for human merits, I renounce them all; accounting nothing in this kind more truly honourable and meritorious, than the contempt of all me●●ts: according to that of St. Bernard, Sufficit ad meritum scire quod non sufficiunt merita, &c.  
The next day he made a Confession of his Faith to Doctor lo, and the Dutch Embassador's Chaplains; saying moreover, That the doctrine which he had always preached, and the books which he had printed against-Anabaptists, and other Sectaries, were agreeable to Gods word: and that he would seal the Protesta●t Religion, as it was established by the Acts of three pious Princes, with his blood. As for the Solemn League and Covenant, he said it was a damnable and execrable Oath▪ made purposely to ensnare poor souls; and and full of malice and treason against our Gracious Sovereign. As for the Church Government then controverted, he said, I dare boldly affirm, That the Hierarchy of Bishops is most agreeable to the Word of God, as being of Apostolical Institution; the taking away whereof is damnable: and that by consequence both the Presbyterian and Independent Governments are absurd, and erroneous; neither of them being ever heard of in the Church of God, till of late at Geneva: nor is there so much as any colour for them in Holy Writ. It is evident( said he) that as the Priests in the Old Tement were above the Levites; so in the New, the Apostles were above the disciples: and that the seven Angels of the seven Churches in the apocalypse, were seven Bishops: and that Polycarpus was Bishop of Smyrna, and Timotheus of Ephesus. And for the Laity, no pregnant proof can be produced that they ever meddled with the Priests Function; or had any power to ordain Ministers. And these things( said he) I intended to have published to the world, if God had spared me longer life: which I might thorough his goodness have enjoyed, had I not been unjustly imprisoned.  
On the next day, being April 17. 1645.( which was the very last day of those six weeks which the tender mercies( that yet are cruel) of his enemies had allotted him for his continuance in Chelsey-Colledge) his spirit waxed faint; and( drawing near to the gates of the grave) he prayed as followeth:  
Lord, strike through the reins of them that rise against the Church, and King; and let them be as chaff before the wind, and as stubble before the fire. Let them be scattered as Partridges upon the mountains, and let the breath of the Lord consume them: but upon our Gracious Sovereign, and his Posterity, let the Crown flourish. This( said he) is the hearty and earnest prayer of a poor sick creature. With which words, and many heavenly Ejaculations, commending his soul into the hands of his faithful Creator, he fell asleep. So soon as he seemed to be departed, his Nephew, my dear Brother Mr. H. F.( not knowing what had happened) came thither to see him: but was entertained with the sad news of his Uncles decease. This struck him into such a grief, and astonishment; that( impatient of delay) he presently caused a small dose of the Doctor's rare and precious Cordial Spirits to be administered unto him; which made him once more to open his eyes: and looking about him, and both seeing the tears of his mourning Kinsman, and hearing his passionate request to speak unto him; he said, Ah Cousin H. the poor Church of God is torn in pieces More he said not; but sweetly and gently groaned out his wearied and fainting spirit; and resigned his Soul into the extended arms of his merciful Redeemer.  
And now( being above the further malice and bloodthirsty cruelty of his savage enemies) provision was made for his honourable Interment: and in Lambeth-Chancel( according to his desire) he was solemnly butted; a very great multitude of persons of honor and quality attending the Funeral Rites; and Doctor Loc entertaining them with a learned and pious Sermon, which was afterward printed: to which I refer the Reader for such further satisfaction concerning those rare Accomplishments of the Deceased, which modesty, and the feared suspicion of partiality, makes me forbear. All that I shall further writ of him, shall be but a short Character of his Person and Graces. He was low of stature; yet of a lovely graceful countenance; and of a convenient strength and health of body. He was of a most sweet disposition, being affable and courteous to all; without the least commixture of that sullen morosity which some men miss-take for gravity. He was generally free from all signs and shows both of pride and anger: onely when he disputed with heretics or schismatics in defence of the sacred Truth, his Zeal and dexterity made them unjustly suspect that he had been choleric. He was such a Compendium of the learned Tongues, and all the Liberal Arts and Sciences; that you would have thought him Learning itself bound up in a little and small Volume. He was most seriously and soundly pious and devout; freely charitable both in giving, and forgiving; and a faithful and true son of the Church of England. He was very temperate and sober in his diet: yet such a lover of hospitality, that he requently and freely entertained strangers at his plentiful( yet not prodigal) Table; seasoning his Discourse with ingenuous, facetious, and harmless mirth; yet never forgetting the gravity of a Divine. He dyed in the sixty fifth year of his age: yet truly if his unjust and barbarous imprisonment had not shuffled those diseases upon him which hastened his end, in human probability he might have attained to the yeares of his aged Father, which were reckoned above an hundred.  
Thus lived, and thus died the dearest to me of all my ablest friends; who very often professed, That all his earthly care was for me, and mine. Yet as he was rendered unable to perform what he seriously intended me; so was I made uncapable of his intended favours, by being then in mine exile. Little did I think that a Gentleman so healthful and temperate, was designed for so short a life, or( in some kind) an untimely death. Oh my grief is renewed by this imposed duty, and I am compelled to writ in the anguish of my spirit. Yet some comfort I receive from the words of Saint Augustine, Vocantur ante tempus boni, ne diutius vexentur a noxiis: mali vero & impii tolluntur, ne diutius bonos persequantur, i.e. The good are taken away, even before their time, that their persecutions may have a period: and the bad are hurried away, that they may persecute no more. My private and particular loss of him in this world, I can better bewail than compute: and truly how much our Church in general will miss him, nothing so much as bad times( I suppose) will discover. Peradventure one day that may be said of him, which that eloquent and famous Orator of Oxford said of Zanchie, Beza, Reignolds, Junius, &c. Cum nondum per aetatem aestimare potuimus,( proh dolor!) amisimus. i. e. Whom we prized not whilst he lived, we lament now he is dead. In brief, he lived and dyed a confessor, and a holy Martyr for God and the King: and he left behind him such Monuments of both; that peradventure future Ages will alter the name in the Poet, to honor him with the verse, Marmora Featlaei vincunt monumenta libelli:  
Reader, I have done; and thanking thee for thy patience, and begging thy charitable pardon of what thou findest amiss; I rest   
Thine in all humility, and true Christianity, John Fairclough, vulgo Featley. London, July 13. 1660.  
FINIS   

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Books to be sold by Nath. Brook at the Angel in cornhill.  
1. THe accomplished Cook, the Mystery of the whole Art of Cookery revealed in a more easy and perfect Method then hath been published in any Language: expert and ready ways for the dressing of Flesh, Fowl, and Fish, the raising of Pastes, the best directions for all manner of Kickshaws, and the most poignant Sauces, with the terms of Carving and Sewing, &c. By Robert May, in the time of his attendance on several persons of Honor.  
2. The Character of Italy, or the Italian anatomised by an English chirurgeon.  
3. The Character of Spain, or an epitome of their Virtues and Vices.  
4. Christian Reformation: being an earnest persuasion to the speedy practise of it, proposed to all. By Richard Parr, M. A. Pastor of Camorwel in Surrey. A piece fit to be known.  
FINIS.