The Foot out of the Snare, Title page – Dedication
THE Foot out of the Snare: WITH A DETECTION OF SVNDRY LATE practices and Impoſtures of the Prieſts and Ieſuits in England. Whereunto is added a Catalogue of ſuch bookes as in this Authors knowledge hauehave been vented within two yeeres laſt paſt in London, by the Prieſts and their Agents.
By IOHN GEE, Maſter of Arts, of Exon-Colledge in OXFORD.
AT LONDON, Printed by H. L. for Robert Milbourne, and are to bee ſold at his ſhop at the great South doore of Pauls, 1624.
TO THE MOST REVErend Father in God, the Lord Arch-Biſhop of Canterbury his Grace, and to the reſt of the Reuerend Lords Spirituall, and the right honourable the Lords Temporal, as alſo to the moſt Worthy and Religious Knights and Burgeſſes of the houſe of Commons, all now aſſembled in this happy Parliament; I. G. an vnworthy Miniſter of the Church, preſumeth to dedicate this euidence of his repentance, and declaration of his beſt endeuours for the Church of England.
IT is the ſafetie of a Ship, to hauehave good Pilots; the ſtrength of a Palace, to hauehave ſure Pillars; the ſecuritie of the bodie, to hauehave cleare eyes; and ſafe-guard of ſheepe, to hauehave vigilant Shepheards: So it is the ſafety of a Countrey, and ſafegard of a Kingdome, to hauehave many wiſe and watchfull Counſellors. Wee neuer had greater reaſon to bleſſe GOD, then in contemplation of the preſent time, in the perfect viſion of ſo many principall Planets now met together in happy Coniunction: ſuch a King, ſuch a Prince, ſuch Honourable Senators, ſuch Aſsiſtants. Pro.The eare that heareth you, bleſſeth you: and the eye that ſeeth you, giues witneſſe to you. The bleſsing of Her that was ready to periſh, is come vponupon you. VnderUnder your ſhadow wee are much refreſhed. The God of bleſsing diſpoſe of your Counſaile. Wee waite for you, as for the raine: and our mouthes are opened wide, as for the latter raine. Ita quiſque vt audit, mouetur.
I need not, neither were it leſſe then boldneſſe and preſumption in me (Right honourable) to ſuggeſt vntounto you, of what weight and conſequence thoſe affaires are, which his Maieſty hath been graciouſly pleaſed to referre to your ioynt conſideration and aduice: neither need I repeat, how deeply you are all intereſſedherein: you reuerend Biſhops, by your ſacred profeſsion; you the Noble Baronage of this Realme, by your military honour, alwaies preſt and ready for the defence of Religion and of this Kingdom, againſt open Inuaders, or ſecret vnderminers; and you the Repreſentatiue Body of the Commons, in regard of the libertie of the Subiect; but moſt of all, the free courſe of the Goſpel without impeachment: by whom is not onelyonly repreſented, but alſo actuated; the deſire and zeale of the body of this kingdom, being a people true-harted, and feruent toward God in the puritie of his worſhip; towards our Soueraigne, in the ſtedfaſtneſſe of obedience; and towards the Lawes, in wiſhes and hopes that they ſhall ſtream forth motu naturali, in their owne courſe, without diuerſion or obſtruction.
But you being at this time imployed about ſo weighty affaires, how may I, the meaneſt of the ſonnes of my Mother, preſume to interrupt you? Are there not the Chariots of Iſrael, and the horſemen of the ſame? Doe the Lords battailes wantſupply? whence ſhould it be expected but from them? But I may ſay, with Epictetus: Your hand euer holdeth an equall balance, and your Sun ſhineth alike on the poore and rich. It may be, one Scout may vponupon occaſion heare & know what an whole Army hath no preſent notice of.
True it is, (and why ſhould I now be aſhamed to manifeſt it to ſuch an Aſſembly?) An euill and ſcandalous report is gone forth of mee, in regard I was the man that was preſent at the Ieſuite Drury his Sermon at the Black-Fryers. I was the ſame day in the fore-noone at the Sermon at Pauls-Croſſe: and lighting vponupon ſome Popiſh company at dinner, they were much magnifying the ſaid Drury, who was to preach to them in the afternoone. The ample report which they afforded him, preferring him far beyond any of the Preachers of our Church, and depreſsing and vilifying the Sermons at Pauls-Croſſe, in regard of him, whetted my deſire to heare his ſaid Sermon: to which I was conducted by one Medcalfe a Prieſt. This being heard of by my Lord Arch-biſhop of Canterbury his Grace, hee ſent for mee within few daies after; and being before him, found mee inclining to their ſide. I layd open my ſelfe vntounto him and confeſſed I had ſome ſcruples in Religion. Wherupon it pleaſed his Grace to afford me his holy counſell and monition: which had that good effect, that albeit my foot was ſtept into the Babylonian pit, yet I often meditated of his Fatherly admonitions. Som other ſpeeches I receiued from his Domeſtique Chaplains, D. Goad and D. Featly: for which I ſhall be bound euer to pray for them: their words left aculeos et ſtimulos; Vade et nè pecca amplius, &c. piercing me the more, being recorded in a publicke narration: which, my checking conſcience did iuſtly take for an inditement to conuict me, & a Trumpet to reduce me. Like the Prodigall, I now returne home with a Peccaui in my heart, mouth and pen, to God and our bleſſed Mother the Church of England: to both I ſay, Peccaui contra coelum et te.
The reaſon why I preſumed to preſent theſe lines to your view, and offer themto your hands, ſeemeth to me iuſt, becauſe ſincere; and excuſable, becauſe in ſome ſort neceſſary, in that the vaſtneſſe of my fault requireth, foraſmuch as from my acquaintance on the left ſide, I can expect little leſſe then indignation and machinations againſt mee by them; whom, partly by my relinquiſhment of them, but much more by diſcloſing ſome of their proceedings, I am like to prouoke in a high degree: it behoueth me therefore to chuſe ſuch Refuge, as may protect mee againſt their malice. I hauehave touched (in a manner) nothing elſe but the behauiour of the Prieſts; whereto, I might hauehave added ſomewhat of my owne knowledge, concerning the inſinuations & incroachments vſed by thoſe of that ſtamp, who profeſſe phyſick: Who, whatſoeuer they doe vntounto the bodies, infuſe into the mindes of many the Kings Subiects, bitter diſtempers; whereby thoſe patients tongues diſtaſte the wholſome food of our Church, and their hearts are ſtricken with antipathy againſt our preſent State. But theſe things I thought fitter foryour Wiſdomes to cure, then for my weakneſſe to declare; my intent in this Treatiſe, hauing beene to act the part of vnmasking the vailed fraud of the Ieſuits & Prieſts: wherin if you ſomtimes diſlike the ſtile, condemn not me for a botcher: for, their Stories I alter not a ſtitch, but giuegive you thē lapt vp in their own clouts.
If the forme and phraſe I vſe in other places bee diſtaſtfull, as either too ſharp, or too light and Ironicall for one of my profeſsion; let my matter bee my Aduocate, that draweth mee thereunto; truſting, that I may be excuſed, if I ſometime light my candle at the Torch of Elias, when he ſindged and ſmoaked out Baals Prieſts from the neſt of the Sanctuary. I ieſt but at their ieſting, that hauehave made a ieſt of God, and of his bleſſed Saints in heauen, by caſting vponupon their moſt pure and glorious faces, the cloud, nay, the dirt and dung of vgly, vnſauory, ridiculous Fables: whereat the ſounder Chriſtians are ſcandalized, wherewith the weaker are deluded & captiuated in ſuperſtition, and the very Iewes & Heathen are driuenfurther off from liſtning vntounto the true & ſacred Myſteries of Chriſtian Religion. For ſurely, no ſmall miſchiefe or danger is it vntounto Truth, to hauehave her precious garment eeked out with patches of falſehood, and, vponupon pretence of imbelliſhment, to bee dawbed ouer with the copper-embrodery of cogging Impoſtures.
In regard of my own particular; hereby I hope, I ſhall regaine that good opinion which I hauehave loſt, and no longer bee cenſured by my friends and others, as at all wauering, inclining and warping toward their ſide: yet withall, you hauehave the Character of mine hart, toward the publicke good of our Church and Commonwealth. I ſay no more, but God giuegive you vnderſtanding in all things. Ride on with your honours; and, becauſe of the Word of Truth, bee courageous and ſtout Nehemiahs. Such a man as I, flee? Nehem. 6.11. The deaw of Gods grace bee vponupon you and your children. And thus, with my vnceſſant prayers for you, I reſt,
The moſt humble ſeruant of you all, to bee commanded in the Lord, IOHN GEE.