The Sum of Christian Religion 2, Title page – Dedication
THE SVMME OF CHRISTIAN RELIGION: Deliuered by ZACHARIAS VRSINVS in his Lectures vponupon the Catechiſm autoriſed by the noble Prince FREDERICK, throughout his dominions:
Wherein are debated and reſolued the Queſtions of whatſoeuer points of moment, which hauehave beene or are controuerſed in Diuinitie.
Tranſlated into Engliſh by HENRIE PARRIE, out of the laſt & beſt Latin Editions, together with ſome ſupplie of wāts out of his Diſcourſes of Diuinitie, and with correction of ſundrie faults & imperfections, which ar as yet remaining in the beſt corrected Latine.
AT OXFORD. Printed by IOSEPH BARNES, & are to be ſold in Pauls Churchyard at the ſigne of the Tygres head, 1587.
TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE, HENRIE EARLE OF PENBROOKE, LORD HARBERT OF CARDIFF, MARMION, AND S. QVINTINE, KNIGHT OF THE MOST NOBLE ORDER OF THE Garter, and Lord Preſident of WALES, Grace and peace, with encreaſe of Honor.
IF in this time of trouble, and diſorderlie age of the world, it may not ſeeme, right Honorable, ouer-great boldnes in mee to preſſe your Honour with theſe my labours, who are already ouer-preſſed with your owne, which with continual and vnceſſant care & watchfulnes you vndertake for the quiet & repoſe of this our Church & Countrie: I ſhal humbly craue of your Honor to lend a fauourable eie vntounto this litle work, & to reach your hand of approbation vntounto it, that ſo beeing fenced with your honourable protection & countenance, it may the more ſecurely & freely put it ſelf in the view, & beare the face & countenance of others. The reaſons & cauſes which hauehave induced mee to preſume thus farre, are ſuch as I make no doubt, but vponupon declaration of them to obtaine and finde your Honour moſt ready and eaſie in yeelding your aſſent. For, were it that your auncient fauour and good will manifoldly extended to my father, who long ſince departed this mortality, had not at all ſtretched to met his ſonne, but had with him alone both liued & died: Yet might not I, without ſome skar of impiety, commit that euer the memory of that ſhould die in mee, the profit & pleaſure whereof I knew in him ſo long to liue. But ſeeing it hath further alſo, as I lately was giuen to vnderſtand, ſo pleaſed your Honour, that this happy courſe of your fauor ſhould not begin & end in one, but ſhould continue & lineally run on; & that the force & vertue thereof, ſhould paſſe continuately from the root vntounto the brāches: much more blameable verily would be my ſilent forgetfulneſſe, & double would the fault be, where dutie doublie is required. In which conſiderations, if I ſhould hauehave made any diſtruſt of your good acceptatiō, or ſhould any way hauehave with-drawen this ſmall preſent, by miſdoubting the welcome it ſhould receiue at your Honours handes: I might hauehave beene moſt iuſtly arraigned & condemned of an vndutiful & vngrateful cogitation, being without al either colour of excuſe, or ſhadowe of pretence to free & acquite mee from it. And that eſpecially, ſeeing the Author, whom I interprete, & the matter which hee conteineth, are both of that qualitie, as, if I ſtoode to waite & expect a fit time & a worthy perſon for them, no time might ſeeme fitter than this for which I ſhould reſerue them, no perſon worthier than your ſelfe to whom I might preſent them.
For this beeing the time, & theſe the euill daies, wherein Satan & the powers of darckneſſe hauehave broken looſe vponupon the choſen of God, & the broode of Antichriſt, hatched long agoe, but neuer fluſh vntill now, hauehave, by the cōmiſſion of their Dam, taken their flight out of their neſts, in which they rooſted for a ſeaſon, & are flowen in flocks abroade into all coaſts & countries chriſtian, to charm with ſweet, but falſe notes of hereticall melodie the hearts of ſilly people, & the wits euen of the Gallants of this worlde: what greater opportunity & more fit occaſion, in reſpect of theſe & the like occurrences, could hauehave offered it ſelfe vntounto me, or I hauehave wiſhed, for the beſtowing of either my paines on this Booke, or this Booke on my deare Country? Which as it giueth place to no Realme nor Region of the earth in the conſtant louelove & faſt embracing of the booke of books the Volume of the higheſt, & the bleſſed trueth of God almighty: ſo is it not behind them in beeing aſſaulted & ſhaken euerie way, what by the caſts & complots of forrainers, what by Diueliſh practiſes, conſpiracies, & proditions of Domeſticals, that ſome-way at leaſt it might be throwen down, clogged with a yoke of ſeruitude, & enthralled to the ſlauery of the man of ſin.
For the better effectuating of which their purpoſes, & more cunning & currant bringing them to paſſe, how of late yeares, yea & daies, many fugitiue perſons of this our Country, ordained & ſacred by their Superiours to this good end, hauehave made their returne in ſwarmes vntounto vsus with outlandiſh minds & Doctrine, to inſpire the people with hereſie & rebellion: none ſo farre in any courſe of life remooued & eſtrainged from publicke action, whoſe eares hauehave not beene mooued, & his verie heart wounded with theſe tidings. No time or ſeaſon which they hauehave omitted, no place, no creeke, no corner in this land which they hauehave not ſought out, no perſon from almoſt the higheſt potentate to the loweſt woorme, whom they hauehave not felt, &, except hee hath beene too ſound, ſounded & wagged & lifted at too, that they might plant & ſupplant, ſet & vnſet, roote in & roote vp,D. Allen, in his Apologie of their two Seminaries; and in other his treatiſes of like tragedie. & all, as one of their old whining Prophets ſoothly & ſolemnly with teares full often telleth the Chriſtian world, to bring vsus home vntounto the lap of our mother, holie Church, of which their Lorde the Pope is holy father. Well may hee be her father, but then ſuch a father doubtleſſe hath he beene vntounto her, as is recounted by ancient Hiſtorie Aruntius a Romane to hauehave bin vntounto his virgin daughter Medullina,Plutar. in Parallel. with whom in the darke, rapt with a pang of drunkennes, he committed inceſt. But were the Church of that remorſe of conſcience & reſolute courage in reuenging herſelfe for this ſpiritual villanie, as was that virgin for ſuffering that corporall force & rauiſhment: Shee would burne within her inflamed with a fiery zeale of holie indignation, & drawing out this inceſtuous Romane, who hath defiled her in the darknes of Idolatrie, himſelfe drunken with the cup of fornication, would bring him vntounto the altar, euen that altar of the Lord, which hee hath made a witneſſe of ſo many his hateful pollutions & inceſts, & there ſlay him before God, for the appeaſing of his ire & wrath towards her, & for the waſhing away of this ſo grieuous a blot & high reproch of her Virginity.
The which that the poore ſeduced people of our land, may bee the better enabled, & more throughlie animated to take in hande & put in execution, who nowe as ſhaken & ſhattered reedes are carried and blowen awaie with eueryevery puffe & blaſt, eueryevery breath & winde of Ieſuiticall mouthes: I hauehave, in charitable regard & commiſeration of their caſes moſt miſerable, taken into my handes this learned Abridgement compriſing in no great roome the very full bodie & courſe of all Diuinity & Chriſtianity, & opened the hidden treaſures thereof vntounto them in their mother-ſpeech, that nowe no longer, (after they are once brought to the light & knowledge of their whole duty, what to God, what to their Soueraigne, what to euerie man & their natiue Country they muſt performe) they ſuffer themſelues to be ſlocked away, by wily merchants, from Chriſt their Maſter; neither ſtand in a mammering, as men rent in ſunder, a part here, & a part there, a part with Belial, & a part with Chriſt, a part with Spaine, & a part with England, a part with the Pope, & a part with Queen Elizabeth: but all may in an vnanimity of cōſent ſtriue one way, folowe one Chriſt, liue loially in their own Country, vnderunder their owne bleſſed Liege & Lady, with all proſperity.
Whoſe perſon then, in a woorke of ſo great moment and ſo good importance, might I hauehave preferred before, or matched in equall ballance with your Honor, to whoſe fauour & patronage I ſhould commend it: of whoſe zeale, wiſedome & induſtry moſt conſtantlie ſhewed in this cauſe of God, her Maieſty, the Church & publike weale of this kingdome, thouſands of thoſe, who are nowe liuing in thoſe Prouinces, ouer which you are placed, cannot but yeelde their teſtimonie to that, the fruit & benefit whereof they liue & ioy in, and which deſerueth not onelie a preſent remembrance, but a perpetuall regiſtring & recommendation to all ſucceeding ages.
In which moſt worthy and noble endeuours, as it hath pleaſed God to make and appoint you a chiefe and principall inſtrument for the continuance of his Goſpel, and for the eterniſing of his name & glorie here amongeſt vsus: So beſeech I him, that it will pleaſe him ſo to make and appoint you ſtill, & with an enlarged bountie & liberalitie ſo to encreaſe the riches of his graces & gifts in you, that you may with ſtrength go forward, continue, and neuer giuegive ouer in this holie & honourable race of your life, & in the glorious quarell of Chriſt & his ſpouſe; vntill when in the end without end you may reigne with him in glorie.
Your Honors moſt humble at commaund, HENRY PARRIE.