Answer to Campian the Jesuit, Answer – Reasons
AN ANSWERE TO CAMPIANS EPISTLE WRITTEN TO THE STVDENTS OF THE two famous Vniuerſities, Oxford and Cambridge.
A Yeere agoe, you write, it fell out, That according to the order of the religion which you profeſſe, vponupon the commaundement of your Superiours, you returned into this Iland. Whether, Campian, you came willingly and of your owne accord; or of a certaine neceſſitie by the order of your profeſſion and Ieſuiticall ſect, you were compelled to returne into England (whence ſome yeeres ago you departed) I will not be inquiſitiue of, becauſe it is not much for the purpoſe we hauehave in hand: It had bin far more glorious for you, and more befitting the perſon you made ſhew to be, not to hauehave crept in obſcurely and by ſtealth, but to hauehave returned with credit and authoritie. But who is he that had power to ſend you an Embaſſage into a forreine country, or what neceſſity lay vponupon you to obey his commaundement, who had no authority to enioyne you a iourney, whither you were vnwilling to goe? If that Spaniſh Souldier, the firſt Author of your Ieſuiticall ſocietie, were now aliue and ſhould enioyne you to ſet your country on fire; would you obey him? I am ſure you would ſay, he would neuer commaund ſo foule a fact. And yet he might better commaund and you execute that, then this thing for which you profeſſe you are now come hither. For whether, I pray you, may we deeme leſſe, to ſet houſes on fire, then to diuert the minds of people from true Religion, to trouble the peace of a Common-wealth, to eſtrange the minds of loyall Subiects from their lawfull Prince, and to turne all things topſie turuie; which yet was the end of your comming, and the order of your profeſſion required no leſſe at your hands? But let vsus heare how you go about your Embaſſage: when, ſay you, I had gone further into England I ſaw nothing more vſuall then vnuſuall puniſhments. But Campian, what be they? Do you eft-ſoones ſo ſlaunder the mild gouernment of gratious Elizabeth, & accuſe it of cruelty, (England neuer enioying a more mercifull Prince) that you affirme you find nothing ſo common as vnuſuall puniſhments? But what new kind of torture hauehave you ſeene in Englād ſince you came into it? Or which of your men can you name who hath bin condemned & put to death for Religion, not only ſince you came into England, but for theſe 23. yeeres, the whole time that good Elizabeth hath ſwayed the Scepter of this kingdome? It is true indeed that ſome few hauehave bin puniſhed who iumpe with you in opinion and Religion; but they died not for religion, but were by open iudgment of law conuicted of Treaſon. There was of late executed one Euerard a Prieſt, ſent from the Colledge at Rhemes into England. Who though he was in daunger to the Lawes many waies, yet might hauehave had his life, but that impudently at the barre he vttered things ſhamefull, vile, and intolerable; For he boaſted himſelfe both to be the ſubiect and Vaſſall of the Pope, euen in England, and affirmed that the Pope was no leſſe the head of the Church of England, then of the Church of Rome. Auouching further that he was verily perſwaded, that the Pope did not erre when he termed Queene Elizabeth an Heretike, and the Patron of Heretikes, and denounced her no lawfull Queene. Euerard was for this confeſſion conuicted and condemned, who afterwards (as if this had not been enough) in priſon profeſſed plainly and directly in the preſence and hearing of Sixteene men of credit; That it was no ſinne againſt God to commit treaſon againſt his Prince. Yet for all this he ſuffered no new and vnuſuall puniſhment, but the ſame that all Traytors ſuffer among vsus in the like caſe. But who are you and what is your religion, that you ſo bouldly obiect crueltie vntounto vsus? Heare me this one thing, Campian, and denie it if you can. It is not long ſince moe of our brethren were condemned by you at one Seſſion, executed in one day, conſumed in one fire, then you can recount to me hauehave yet bin put to death for the Popes cauſe at any time, or by any kind of death, in the whole happie raigne of Queene Elizabeth. Doe but call to mind, Campian, the rare cruelty, the exquiſite tortures, the frequent Martyrdome of former times: and if there be in you any ſparke of humanity, you cannot chuſe but confeſſe that your ſide hath been extreme cruell, and we ſufficiently prouoked to ſeueritie againſt you, and to hauehave repayed you with the like. For what times I pray you can afford vsus ſuch and ſo many butcheries of men, as was to be ſeene when you were Lords ouer vsus, and which are yet freſh in memorie? Tell vsus what ſexe or age you ſpared, and did not bloodilie execute all without difference and diſtinction of learned or vnlearned, male or female, old or young, Children, Virgins, Married, Clergie and Laytie, Biſhops, Archbiſhops eſcaped not your hands? The Martyrs you did beate with roddes, their tongues you pulled out of their mouthes, their hands you burned off with Torches, you tormented, crucified, hanged and beheaded them, you burnt them aliue, and toſted them at a ſoft fire, yea the Infant leaping out of the mothers bellie you receiued vponupon the ſpeares point and caſt it into the flaming fire. To conclude, whatſoeuer barbarous crueltie could inuent, that you were not wanting to put in execution againſt them. And if your crueltie had ended with the liuing, and had terminated in their deathes, it had been leſſe; but ſo raging was your tyranny, that you tooke vp the bodies of Saints interred in the earth, you arreigned them vponupon a day, accuſed them at a barre, condemned them to death, and burned them at a ſtake; euen exceeding thoſe old tyrants in furie, and crueltie. Can you name any one ſuch ſauage fact amongſt vsus? or what was he that was put to death amongſt vsus, whom eueryevery good man that heard of him iudged not worthie of death threefold more then life? Wherefore Campian acknowledge your owne crueltie, and accuſe not ours, which if it were as great as you would make men beleeue, yea if any at all, you would not hauehave ſo eaſilie and ſpeedily obeyed your Principall, commaunding your returne hither. But proceed to tel vsus after your comming what you did: least peraduenture (ſay you) I ſhould hauehave been caught before that any man heard what I had to ſay, forthwith I writ downe my determination and purpoſe why I came, what I ſought for, what manner of warre, and against whom I purpoſed to proclaime it. The end then of your comming was to proclaime warre againſt vsus. But neither he that ſent you was an enemy for any iuſt cauſe on our parts, neither hauehave you duly performed an Heralds office: for you no ſooner ſet your foote vponupon Engliſh ground, but you hidde your ſelfe in corners, that we could enioy no ſight of you. If this be to diſcharge your commiſſion, iudge you. Beleeue me, this ſo tymorous and fooliſh proclaiming of warre, made little for your honeſtie, or the honor of your holy Father that ſent you. The first draught of writing (ſay you) I kept ſtill about me, that if I were apprehended, it might be found with me. A copy thereof I left in keeping with a friend of mine, which vnawares truly to me was ſhewed vntounto many other men, and by them copied out. How true this Narration of yours is, let others conceiue as they liſt, for my part I giuegive no credit at all to it. For if you came, as you ſay, to proclaime warre againſt vsus, ſhall we thinke thoſe letters of defiance were publiſhed without and againſt your priuitie? Beſides your letters of challenge which your fauorites ſpread abroad, were ſo cleerelie written, that they foretold not of an enemie comming on, but pointed at him as alreadie come, and readie to pray vponupon vsus; ſo that after I ſaw your glorious and maruellous challenge, I made full account to ſee you ſhortly after in the middeſt of our Vniuerſities, either Oxford or Cambridge. But why did you ſet downe your determination in writing, except your purpoſe were to publiſh it? you ſay: that it might be found with you, if you were taken. What is that we heare from you, Campian? came you to lurke in holes, and to betake your ſelfe to your hecles, or came you to diſpute? I find no truth in your words, nor liklihood of truth in this tale; I would I could find you had either iudgement or memorie. Hanmer and Charke, ſaie you, hauehave anſwered my challenge: verily theſe two worthie men, now named, hauehave ſo intertained your moſt vaine and more then intolerable bragging ſchedule and Libell, as it well deſerued, and hauehave paſſing well abated your Ieſuiticall and childiſh triumph. But why I pray you, hauehave you ſlipped ouer that anſwere of learned M. Charke, and made no reply to it? you refute all they bring againſt you in one word, ſaying. All that they alledge is to no purpoſe at all. An anſwere ſoone made, and not vnſutable to Campians carriage. but tell vsus why? for ſay you, they can make no anſwere to the purpoſe, but this: we accept your offers, her Maiestie hath promiſed ſafe conduct; come let vsus conferre; how childiſh is it to expect ſuch an anſwere; which if they ſhould promiſe, it is not in their power to performe. Though Campian, perſwade your ſelfe, if this liberty were graunted vsus, it ſhould be as acceptable to vsus in deed, as it is to you in ſhew. If her excellent Maieſtie and her wiſe Counſell did thinke it fit, and for common peace that publike diſputation ſhould be held about Religion, are you ſo ſillie to thinke you ſhould hauehave none to encounter with you, or you ſhould carrie the day without blow or bloodſhed? I am not comparable to Charke, Hanmer, nor infinit others, who are either profeſſors in the Vniuerſitie, or hauehave a charge in the Church, yet I ſhould not thinke my ſelfe fit to liue, if I feared to buckle in any controuerſie with you: for if you be the man, Campian, whom we heere ſome weekes paſt in a great concourſe, diſcourſing what you could, and diſputing your beſt, I ſee not any cauſe, why any one of vsus ſhould feare to ioyne with ſuch an Aduerſarie in any controuerſie. For how did you acquite your ſelf that day? you were dealt withal by our men in ſome parts of your pamphlet, wherin it is likely you could eaſilie giuegive eueryevery man ſatisfaction and leaſt you ſhould complaine you were iniured, if any new thing had been propounded to you. And wheras in the entrāce you bitterly inueighed againſt Luther, & writ that in ſome deſperate mood he called the Epiſtle of Iames a ſwelling, barren, cōtentious, & ſtrawen Epiſtle. The booke was brought you, where you feigned ſuch things were written, and you were willed to ſhew the place; when you ſaw you were taken tardy, you would faine hauehave put off the imputation of a ſlaunderer, and inuented a ſhift, worth all mens obſeruation; for, ſay you, the preface where it was, is purged of it, and yet it is very manifeſt, that there was neuer one word changed in it. At laſt you made this anſwere, which made all men laugh exceedingly, and indeed it was very rediculous; that you would ſend to the Emperour and to the Duke of Bauaria, who ſhould certifie her Maieſtie, that Luther had written ſuch things. But yet in another booke of his, you think you hauehave gotten ſome matter of triumph. For Luther in his booke written of the captiuitie of Babylon, hath this ſaying, that many with great probabilitie auouch, This Epistle to be none of S. Iames, nor to be anſwerable to the ſpirit of an Apostle: heere you cry out, oh horrible blaſphemie? Anſwere was made you, that Luther did not ſay it himſelfe, but brought others in, probablie affirming it. Doe you ſuppoſe there is no difference betwixt theſe two? yet you ſtill vrged the point, and clamorouſly obiected blaſphemie: Euſebius was ſhewed you, who in plaine words calleth this Epiſtle corrupt, and counterfeit; and with this you were put to ſilence, and had not to anſwere: only that you might probablie in ſhew conuince Luther of blaſphemie, you demaunded of our men their iudgment of this Epiſtle. They cleerly anſwered that they accounted this Epiſtle of S. Iames, as all other the Epiſtles and bookes of the new Teſtament, to be Canonicall. Affirming that all our Churches were of the ſame iudgement. And from this you would conclude, that Luther therefore was blaſphemous, becauſe he had written that ſome probablie called the authoritie of this Epiſtle into queſtion. To this our men replied, the conſequence was naught, from our reuerent opinion of this Epiſtle, to inferre, that whoſoeuer made any queſtion of it, did blaſpheme. And heere you plainely yeelded; For when you boaſted of two other reaſons that you had, you produced none at all. After this you came to the old Teſtament, where you accuſe vsus to hauehave raced many bookes out of the true Canon. The teſtimonie of Antiquitie was laid before you, whence it was cleere that thoſe bookes were not Canonicall. Heere you preferred the late Councels and Fathers before the auncient, which may not be permitted you. And you ſet Austine in oppoſition againſt Hierom, when it had been fitter you would hauehave reconciled them. Augustine, he affirmes theſe bookes to be Canonicall, Hierome denies them, yea expreſly, plainly, and euidently. For Augustine our men anſwered, that he vſed the word Canonicall doubtfully, or in diuers ſignification. And that they ſhewed plainely out of Augustines owne words, and Cardinall Caietans. Augustine you ſhifted off, and Caietan you audaciouſly reproached, affirming that the Cardinall loſt all his grace and elegancie, when he once began to Comment vponupon the Scriptures. At length, Campian, you were forced euen in Gratian, not without bluſhing, to acknowledge this ambiguity of the word. And whereas you could not be ignorant of auncient records, it was a wonder to our men to ſee you write, that we had of a ſudden raced out theſe bookes. Surely this word eſcaped you very vnlearnedly and inconſideratly; we hauehave ſtore both of auncient witneſſes, and of others ſucceeding them, who will and can free vsus from ſuch imputation of Noueltie. To paſſe by Origen and Euſebius, Cyprian, or whoſoeuer he was that writ the expoſition of the Creed, we find among his workes after he had reckoned vp all the Canonicall bookes of the old and new Teſtament, he addeth: Theſe are thoſe bookes which the Fathers hauehave included in the Canon, Cyprian. in expoſ. Symbo.where they would that all the grounds of our faith, ſhould hauehave their foundation. Yet we must know that there are other bookes which were not called of our predeceſſors Canonicall, but Eccleſiasticall, as the booke of Wiſedome, ſaid to be Salomons, and another booke of Wiſdome, ſaid to be Syrackes. Of the ſame rancke, is the little booke of Toby, and Iudith, and the bookes of the Machabies. To him I will adde another, later in time, and yet he writ 400. yeeres agoe. Hugo de ſancto victore, a very learned man, and famous in his time. If you hauehave not read, what he hath written in this kind, reade it; if you hauehave read it, remember it, with me: after he had reckoned vp by name the Canonicall bookes of the old Teſtament, in the end he thus writeth. There are beſides in the old Teſtament, Hugo de Sanct. victore in prologo pomi. lib. de Sacram. cap. 7.certeine other bookes, which indeed we reade, but are not written in the corpes of the text, or in the authentike Canon. As the booke of Toby, and Iudith, and Machabees, and the booke called the Wiſdome of Salomon and Eccleſiasticus. I omit others, and many which I could produce in this kind, and that of all ages, out of which the conſtant iudgement of the Church touching theſe bookes may be diſcerned. Which being ſo, doth it become you Campian, to be ſo iniurious vntounto vsus, ſo boldly to affirme that we hauehave latelie croſſed out thoſe bookes out of the Canon? or which of vsus wil be afraid of you triffling ſo childiſhly? pleaſe not your ſelf too much with your wit, neither abuſe the gifts and parts, which you hauehave gotten by nature or induſtry, to defend falſhood, and to vphold the kingdome of Antichriſt. Lay your hand vponupon your hart, and know your ſelfe well, and ceaſe from that arrogancie, with which your vaine ſect hath puffed you vp, leaue off your lying, ſhake off that Ieſuiticall light be hauiour of yours. And as Auguſtine perſwaded Hierome, take to you the grauitie of a Chriſtian, and make recantation. For it is no diſhonor to recant an error, but to perſiſt in it. But let vsus againe come to your preface. There remaineth only for me, ſay you, an account to be giuen of my fact, and euidently to ſhew, and as it were with the finger to point at thoſe Chapters and fountaines, which breed in me ſuch confidence. But we Campian, can ſee no cauſe at all, why you ſhould promiſe ſo great things of your ſelf, or ſo truſt in thoſe fountaines, which are as vaine as may be, and light as water; for theſe your ten heads, which hauehave made you ſo headie and bould, are ſo many guilded lies, vponupon which if you relie, your caſe is farre more lamentable, then of thoſe Iewes whom the Prophet Ieremie reproues: Truſt not in lying words, Jer. 7.4.ſaying, The Temple of the Lord, The Temple of the Lord. And what is your Euenſong but this, or that which is farre more fooliſh and deſperate? But you ſay, You are able enough to proue that this Sunne ſhineth now at midday. Your ſufficiencie all men may ſee. You are as wel able, Campian, to turne the day into night, and to pull the Sunne out of the heauens, as defend theſe heads. Thoſe vnuſuall boaſtings and promiſes ſo vſuall with you, argue a mind proud and ſwelling with arrogancie, and not indued with ſound knowledge and learning. The emptier the veſſels be, the lowder they ſound. VVhat inſolencie I pray you made you adde that of Roſcius Suppoſition? as if the things you defend, were as manifeſtly true as it is impoſſible any man ſhould run 700. miles in two daies. I am aſhamed, Campian, to ſee how vaine you be, and full of boaſting and arrogancy. What, dare you vndertake to conuince all the moſt famous and excellent Churches of the world of error, as directly and plainly, as it is impoſſible for a man to walke 700. miles in two daies? If Campian, you can compaſſe the world in three daies, if you can outgoe the Sun, if touch the heauens with your fingers, if number the ſtarres, if drinke vp the ſea, you may demonſtrate the truth of your cauſe to which you are ſo deuoted. But if thoſe things ſurpaſſe your ſtrength, then ſhall you neuer make this good; no though the whole knot of Ieſuits ioyne with you. Now whereas you intreate vsus to hauehave a care of our ſoules health, we take in good part your deſire and endeuour of our ſaluation. And indeed we our ſelues do giuegive all diligence we can to attaine true ſauing health: to which ſeeing there is but one way, and that plainely laid downe in the Scriptures: we againe beſeech you, that renouncing all humane inuentions, and forſaking thoſe innumerable fictions of Poperie, wherto for theſe few yeares paſt you hauehave bin addicted, you would alſo with vsus labour for that eternall ſaluation, which the Scripture hath propounded to all Chriſtians, and to as many as are deſirous of eternall life. For what profiteth it to wiſh for ſaluation, and miſerablie to erre in the ſearch of it? Wherfore Campian, we pray and beſeech you to returne from theſe your wanderings and errors tending to death, into the plaine and ſtraight way of ſaluation. For this know, ſo long as you remaine a Ieſuite, you neither can be ſaued, nor indeede can deſire it. And heere you ſay you are the briefer, becauſe you will deale with vsus in a Treatiſe following. Therefore now let vsus heare your diſcourſe.
REASONS OF CAMPIANS CHALLENGE RENDRED AND GIVEN TO THE Students of the Engliſh Vniuerſities.
EDMVND CAMPIAN.
My principall reaſons are ten,
1. Holy Scriptures.
2. True meaning of the holie Scriptures.
3. Nature of the Church.
4. Generall Councels.
5. Fathers.
6. Sure ground of the Fathers.
7. Hiſtorie.
8. Paradoxes of the Aduerſaries.
9. Sophiſmes of the Aduerſaries.
10. All manner of witneſſes.