Discovery of a False Detection, Chapter 1

Discovery of a False Detection · Chapter 1

p. 3THE FIRST PART OF THE Libel of slaunderous vntruths.

The first Slaunder.

THe author of SYNOPSIS is challenged, for saying, that the Canonicall Scripture saith not, that it was Samuel, which appeared to Saul, but that Saul so imagined, and thought it p. 4to be Samuel: A manifest vntruth (saith the Libeller.) For the Scripture saith that it was Samuel, and not that Saul so imagined. p. 123.

The Defence.

FIrst, if this be such an vntruth, why doth he not charge Augustine with it? for he saith it was phātasma, & imaginaria illusio diaboli, a phantasie, and imaginarie illusion of the diuell, libr. ad Dulcit. qu. 6. and he saith, imaginem Samuelis, that the image of Samuel Samuel appeared not to Saul.being dead, did foretell true things to Saul the King, lib. 2. de doctrin. Christian. c. 23.

Secondly, Augustine doth not only so affirme, but prooueth it could not be Samuel: 1. because he was raised by witchcraft. 2. because it were contrarie to the Scripture, that saith, God answered not Saul by Prophets. 3. he telleth a lie, in saying Saul should bee with him: for there is great distance betweene the righteous and the wicked in the next world. 4. because true Samuel would not hauehave suffered himselfe to be adored. See more of Augustines reasons, Synops. pag. 353. The cauiller should hauehave done well to hauehave confuted Augustines reasons.

Thirdly, their owne Gratian thus alleageth out of Isidore: If any man because of the storie, thinke that those things ought not to be pretermitted, which are expressed in the words, he doth p. 5well: Si tamen minime istud veri capit rationem, sed ad visum & intellectum Saul. Ne que enim reprobus factus potuit bonum intellectum habere, &c. So that it be not taken to be so done in deede, but to Sauls sight and vnderstanding: for he being become a reprobate, could hauehave no good vnderstanding. He proceedeth further: Historicus mentem Saulis, & habitum Samuelis descripsit: The historie writer hath described the minde of Saul and habite of Samuel, expressing those things which were done and seene; pretermitting, whether they were true or false. Sic Gratian. can. 26. qu. 5. cap. 14. If the defender then hauehave vttered an vntruth, Augustine, Isidore, Gratian are culpable therein, for saying it was not Samuel in deede, but to Sauls vnderstanding.

The Libeller, not the Defender, hath here vttered an vntruth: for the Scripture saith not, it was Samuel, but onelyonly, Saul knew (or as1. Sam. 28. 14.1 Sam 28:14 the vulgar Latine readeth) intellexit, vnderstood it was Samuel: it was not then Samuel in deed, but to Sauls vnderstanding, as their owne translation; or to Sauls imagination, as Augustine; or sight, as Isidore saith before alleaged. I say then to the Libeller, as Augustine to Petilian the Donatist: Videsne, quemadmodum ista non sententia, sed vesica, non solum inani sono, sed in capite vestro crepuerit: See you not how this your challenge as a bladder is p. 6broken with a vaine crack vponupon your owne head? lib. cont. Petilian. 2. c. 101.

The second Slaunder.

A Manifest vntruth (saith the Libeller) that wee reade Genes. 14. vers. 18. obtulit, he offered bread and wine: for we reade not so, but protulit, he brought foorth, as our Bibles do testifie. A lie also it is, that by force of that word we would establish the sacrifice of the Masse. pag. 123.

The Defence.

FOr the first: 1. Andradius denieth not, but that in some copies, is read, obtulit, he offered: Andrad in 4. defension. 2. Bellarmine thus alleageth out of the canon of the Masse: Quod tibi obtulit summus tuus sacerdos Melchisedech: Which thy high Priest Melchisedech offered vntounto thee, libr. 1. de Miss. cap. 6. 3. The Rhemists affirme, that Melchisedech did offer in bread and wine: Annot. in Heb. sect. 8. It is false therefore, that none of them reade obtulit, be offered.

Secondly, Bellarmine, though he reade, protulit, he brought foorth; yet vponupon the vse of that word he groundeth the sacrifice of bread and wine: and saith, that it is idem, quod offerre, all one, as to say, offer: the word … iatsah, p. 7signifieth to bring foorth, yet it is alwaies (saith he) in the Scripture restrained to sacrifice: lib. 1. de Miss. c. 6. And againe, wherefore with these words (saith he) brought foorth bread and wine, are those ioyned, and he was a Priest of the most high God, Nisi vt intelligeremus panē & vinum à Melchisedecho prolatum, vt offerretur Deo: but that wee should vnderstand, bread and wine to hauehave been brought foorth of Melchisedech, to be offered to God? Let any indifferent man now iudge, whether Bellarmine doth not by force of that word, which is the same (as he saith) as to offer, and the Rhemists which say, Melchisedech offered in bread and wine, establish the sacrifice of the Masse.

Both these lies then and vntruths, are forged out of the Detectors malicious braine, and shaped in his vncharitable conceit: so that we may say to him in Augustines words: Homini homo falsus docendus, fallax cauendus; prius magistrum bonum, posterius discipulum cautum desyderat: A false man is to be instructed, a deceitfull to be auoided; the first requireth a good teacher, the latter a warie learner: Academic. 2. 5. Though I be out of hope to reforme this false slaunderer, yet I trust the reader will take heede of such a deceiuer.

p. 8The third Slaunder.

SYnops. p. 63. of the latter edition: because it is affirmed, that the Communion in one kind, was forged and inuented, and decreed in the Councell of Constance not aboue two hundred yeeres agoe: A grosse vntruth, saith the Detector, because both Thomas Aquinas and Alexander Hales long before allow the Communion vnderunder one kind, and the same Councell of Constance saith, it was consuetudo ab ecclesia diutissimè obseruata, a custome long obserued of the Church.

The Defence.

FIrst, who seeth not the cauilling spirit of this Libeller, that hunteth after syllables, and catcheth after words: the defender was not ignorant, that this superstitious vse of receiuing in one kinde, was in hammering and deuising before the Councell of Constance: but that it then onelyonly began to be enforced and decreed as necessarie to be obserued of all, that no Priest vnderunder paine of excommunication should minister vnderunder both kinds to the people: so that the forging, inuenting, decreeing spoken of, is vnderstood of the necessitie of so receiuing (whereas it was free before) which was first inuented, forged and imposed by that Councell.

p. 9Secondly, that no such thing was generallyCommunion in one kind not ancient. obserued before, it is euident. Concil. Matisconens. 2. can. 4. celebrate about anno 600. and Concil. Vormatiens. can. 31. anno 800. and Concil. Bracarens. 3. can. 1. anno 670. or thereabout: all which Councels allow the Communion vnderunder both kinds: as they are alleaged, Synops. pag. 560. to the which I referre the reader.

Thirdly, Alexander Hales cited by the Libeller, is alleaged by Bellarmine to bee of a contrarie iudgemēt to the rest of the Schoolmen: whose opinion was, that more spiritual fruite was receiued by communicating vnderunder both kinds then in one: in 4. part. sum. qu. 53. memb. 1.

Fourthly, what though this superstition might begin before the Councell of Constance; yet it is cleere, that it was but an humane inuention, which is the thing the Defender would shew: and this may appeare by the confession of the Councell it selfe: that non obstante, notwithstanding Christ did minister the Sacrament vnderunder both kindes of bread and wine, &c. & similiter licet in primitiua ecclesia, &c. and likewise though in the Primitiue church, this Sacramēt were receiued of the faithfull vnderunder both kinds: yet for all this it was decreed, that this custome, was rationabiliter introducta, brought in vponupon good reason.

I say then with Augustine to this shamelesse p. 10gainsayer, that laboureth to conquer with lies: Non bonum est homini hominem vincere, sed bonum est homini, vt eum veritas vincat volentem, quia malum est homini, vt eum veritas vincat inuitum: It is not good for a man to ouercome a man, but it is good for a man willingly to giuegive place to the truth: for it is euil for a man against his will to be ouercome of the truth, epistol. 174. So it were better for this slaunderer to be ouercome of the truth, and to confesse his fault, then to seeke to ouercome with li…s.

The fourth Slaunder.

SYnops. pag. 6…. the name Christian was vsed in the Apostles time, and by the Apostles 1themselues allowed: but it is not certaine that the name Catholike came from the Apostles. This the Libeller calleth a certaine vntruth2 and a lie: because in the Apostles Creede, we are taught to beleeue the holie Catholike Church and S. Iames Epistle hath the title of3 Catholike Epistle.

The Defence.

FIrst, though it might be proued, that the1 Apostles were the authors of the name Catholike, yet is it not so certaine, as that the name Christian, came from them: because p. 11this is directly expressed in scripture, Act. 11. vers. 26. The disciples of Antioch were the first that were called Christians: but for the nameThe name Christian more ancient then Catholike. Catholike, no such proofe out of Scripture can be alleaged. Wherefore in a charitable construction, the words may be taken comparatiuely, that one is not so certaine as the other.

The Creed called the Apostles, is no Scripture,2 but collected out of it, and agreeable to it: neither is it certaine whether it were made by the Apostles: as it may appeare by that which Cyprian writeth of the article of the descension: Sciendum est, quod in Ecclesiae Romanae symbolo non habetur additum, &c. It is to be knowne, that in the symbole of the church of Rome it is not added, he descended into hell, nor in the Churches of the East: Cyprian in symbol. If then the Apostles by their Apostolicall authoritie had set foorth the Creed, it had been great presumption afterward to hauehave added vntounto it. Pacianus also Epistol. ad Symprosian. thus saith: Sed sub Apostolis, &c. But thou wilt say vnderunder the Apostles no man was called Catholike: admit it was so, yet graunt this, when after the Apostles there were heresies, &c. did not the Apostolike people require their surname, whereby they might distinguish the vnitie of the incorrupt people? &c. Pacianus seemeth here to grant that the surname Catholike was not vsed in p. 12the Apostles time: let the Libeller also giuegive him the lie: and consequently his opinion must be this, that the Apostles Creede was not then collected, for there the name Catholike is found, which hee admitteth not to hauehave been in the Apostles time in vse.

Thirdly, is the Detector so ignorant, that3 he knoweth not, the title to be no part of the Epistle, and therefore not to be of Canonical authoritie, as the Epistle itselfe: for if it were so, the Fathers would not hauehave doubted, whether S. Paul were the author of the Epistle to the Hebrues, seeing it beareth that title in the originall: as Tertullian doth ascribe it to Bernabas, others to Luke, or Clement, as Hierome testifieth, catalog. scriptor. Oec…menius also doth entitle it only the epistle to the Hebrues, and so doth Hentenius a Papist translate it. Wherefore the title of Catholike to S. Iames epistle proueth not that name to hauehave bin vsed in the Apostles time: for the titles of the epistles and the postscripts were added afterward by those which copied them foorth.

I maruell then that the Libeller is not ashamed to accuse the author of a lie, for saying, it is not certaine that the name Catholike came from the Apostles: I say with Augustine: Miror si habet in corpore sanguinem qui ad haec verba non erubescit: Imaruell if he hauehave any p. 13bloud in his bodie, that blusheth not to vtter such words: epistol. 164.

The fift Slaunder.

SYnops. p. 115. That the Fathers of the cruell Inquisition cannot erre: is noted for an vntruth and bold assertion, and an abominable lie.

The Defence.

FIrst, what will not this vnshamefast Libeller dare to obiect, charging the writer so vntruly and vnhonestly with a lie for this, as though he had deuised it of his own head: Master Fox out of a good author thus reporteth: The Spaniards, and especially the great Diuines there doe hold, that this holie and sacred Inquisition cannot erre, and that the holie Fathers the Inquisitors cannot be deceiued. p. 930. col. 2. edition 1583.

2. This further appeareth, for that the Inquisitors doe minister an oth to the King and Nobles in these words: Your Maiesties shall sweare, that you will fauour the holy Inquisition, and giuegive your consent vntounto the same, and that you shall not by any manner of meanes hinder and impeach the same, p. 931. Ex quint. part. Martyr. Gallic. impress. pag. 474. Is it then like, that they would absolutely bind Princes to maintaine their proceedings, if they had not this conceit thereof, that they could not erre? for p. 14otherwise to require the Magistrates assistance to vphold their erronious and vniust censures (if they tooke them to be such) were a presumption intolerable: yea, and the decree of Vrbane the 4. were without all shew of reason: Statutum ciuitatis, &c. That the statute of any citie is of no force, where by the businesse of the Ioquisition is hindered: Sext. decretal. libr. 5. tit. 2. c. 9. if so that they did thinke the Inquisitors could erre: for then that exception should hauehave been inserted into the decree.

3. It is Bellarmines position: Concilia particularia à Pontifice approbata errare nonposse: That particular Councels being approued of the Pope, cannot erre: libr. 2. de concil. authoritat. c. 5. But the particular Councels, assemblies, and commissions of Inquisitors, are ratified and confirmed by the Pope: Sext. decret. libr. 5. tit. 2. c. 11. Clemens 4. Ossicium inquisitionis contra haereticos, &c. Apostolica authoritate commissum: The office of luquisition against heretikes, committed by the Apostolike authoritie. This then must be the conclusion from their owne principles, that the Commissioners of the Inquisition cannot erre.

Thus are we and our brethren, the Ministers of the Gospell charged with lying, when we truly report the opinions of our aduersaries: the Libeller must not thinke to carrie away p. 15the victorie with lies. I may say vntounto him, as Aristippus to a Sophister, that went awayforeign. from him criumphing, as though he had conquered him: Abeo suauius te, qui me refelleris dormit urus, &c. I depart to sleepe more sweetely, then thou which hast refelled me. So the defender, being thus most falsely traduced, shall finde more quietnesse of conscience then his accuser. For as Hierome saith well: Apud Christianos, non qui patitur, sed qui facit contumeliam miser est: Among Christians, not he that suffereth, but he that offereth contumely, is wretched: Hieron. Tranquill.

The sixt Slaunder.

SYnops. pag. 227. The auncient manner of election vsed in Rome for a thousand yeeres together, was▪ that the Bishop there should be elected by the whole Clergie, with the consent of the people, and confirmation of the Emperor: a notable vntruth, because 23. of the Popes were martyred by the Pagan Emperors, &c.

The Defence.

NO vntruth is here vttered at all. 1. The writers meaning is plaine enough, but that the Libeller is disposed to cauill, not that continually without interruption that forme was obserued of election 1000. yeeres p. 16together, but that it continued till 1000. yeers after Christ, and all that while no other order was prescribed for the election of the Romane Bishop: and so he expoundeth himselfe afterward, pag. 228. lin. 20. This was more then a thousand yeeres after Christ: the words then are to be vnderstoode, not inclusiuè, as though that forme was perpetually and precisely kept all that time, but exclusiuè, that during that time, no other order was instituted.

2. And an indifferent reader may take these words to bee spoken, not coniunctim, ioyntly together, as though eueryevery one of those three, the consent of the Clergie, people, Emperor, were had in eueryevery election, but rather diuisim, to vnderstand them sunderly, that for 1000. yeeres, one or more of those orders onelyonly were vsed and none other. And so it is euident, that euen vnderunder those heathen Emperors, the consent of the Clergie and people was required, as Cyprian reporteth of the election of Cornelius: Factus est Episcopus de Dei & Christieius iudicio, de Clericorum pene omnium consensu, de plebis quae tunc affuit suffragio: He was made Bishop by the iudgement of God and his Christ, by the consent almost of all the Clergie, and suffrage of the people then present: Cyprtan. lib. 4. epist. 2.

3 And yet more fully to stop the slaunderers mouth, it were no hard matter to p. 17proue, that those first 300. yeeres of the Pagan Emperours excepted, the Emperour for a thousand yeeres did beare some stroke in the election of the Romane Bishop, and was not vtterly excluded till the time of Clement the 5. about ann. 1300. before which time the new deuice of election by the Cardinals only was not fully established: as it may appeare by the constitution of Clement. lib. 1. tit. 3. ca. 2. Ne Romani electioni pontificis indeterminata opinionum diuer sitas, aliquod possit obstaculum afferre, &c. Least the diuersitie of opinions vndetermined, might bring some let to the election of the Romane Bishop. By this Pope also it was decreed, that vacante imperio, during the vacancie of the Empire, the Pope doth, imperatori succedere, succeede the Emperor: Clement. lib. 2. tit. 11. ca. 2. Thus the Emperour was perfectly excluded from the Popes election, when as the Pope intruded into his office. Bellarmine also granteth, that the electiō by Cardinals began but ann. 1179. de Cleric. lib. 1. c. 9. So that by his reckoning, so long the Emperour did beare sway in the Popes election.

I trust by any of these answeres the defender is freed from this false charge. The Libeller should hauehave been better aduised, then to blot so much paper with so many lies, that may bee so soone wiped away. Zeuxis the Painter being reprooued for his slow painting, p. 18answered, that hee tooke a long time to paint, because he would hauehave it last long, which he painted. But the Libellers painted lies, which he hath been so long in colouring, shall in short time all I doubt not be dashed out: he should hauehave done well to hauehave followed Hieromes counsell to Ruffinus: Qui mendacij alterum criminaris, desinas ipse mentiri: You that accuse another of lying, should forbeare lying your selfe: Apol. 2. cont. Ruffin.

The seuenth Slaunder.

SYnops. pag. 583. Neither Lay men, nor midwines are authorized to baptize amongst vsus: this is noted for an vntruth, for both of them are allowed (saith the Libeller) by the Communion booke to be ministers of that Sacrament.

The Defence.

FIrst, the Communion booke, where it setteth down the order of priuate baptisme, maketh mention neither of lay men, nor womenLay men and women not authorised to baptise in the Church of England to be ministers thereof, howsoeuer indirectly by consequence some hauehave so collected: therefore there being no expresse mention of either lay person, or woman, it cannot be so affirmed, that the book doth allow and authorise any such baptisme.

p. 19Secondly, whereas the resolution of doubts is by the booke referred to the iudgement of the Ordinarie, as it may appeare in the preface to the Communion booke: our Ordinaries hauehave thus resolued this doubt, that the booke hath no such meaning to approue any baptisme of such.

Thirdly, the practise of our Church confirmeth the same. For such lay men, or women as take vponupon them to baptize are to be presented, and are punishable by the Ordinarie for the same: yea they which are allowed to bee publike Readers, and no more, if they take vponupon them to baptize, are subiect to the censures of the Church.

Wherfore if neither the letter of the book, nor the sense which is giuen thereof, nor the practise of our Church (to the which chiefly the words excepted against are referred) doe allow any such to baptize, it is a great slaunder of our Church, which hee vttereth, that lay men and women are allowed by the booke for ministers of that Sacrament. Therefore this vntruth may be returned vponupon the deuisers head, and noted both for a rash & vntrue censure. Simonides was wont to say, that he neuer repented him for holding his peace, but for speaking, often. And if this cauiller had been silent, he might hauehave been blamelesse, whereas his hastie pen will purchase him a blot, but that he concealeth his name, and hideth his p. 20face, that we cannot see him blush: I say vntounto him as Ruffinus: Ad incusandum non mo…et fidei diuersitas, sed peruersitas animi: Not the diuersitie of faith, but the peruersitie of his affection hath made him an accuser.

The eight Slaunder.

BEcause it is said, Synops. pag. 29. that Tobie and Iudith were neuer taken for Canonicall, till of late it was decreed by Councels of no great antiquitie: for in the Laodicene Councell, and other ancient Councels they were deemed not to be canonicall. A notable vntruth, because1 they are numbred among the Canonicall bookes in the third Councell of Carthage, anno 47. where Augustine was present. An vntruth2 also it is that the Councell of Laodicea deemed them not canonicall, &c. for the Apocalypse is omitted, as well as Tobie and Iudith 3by the Councell, and hath no more ancient authoritie then the Councell of Carthage, &c.

The Defence.

FIrst, whereas the Laodicene Councell accounteth1 but 22. bookes of the Old Testament Canonical, and calleth the rest there not rehearsed foreign, bookes not canonicall. c. 59. and yet the Councel of Carthage p. 21comming after, decreeth the same to be canonical, as namely among the rest the books of Tobie and Iudith. We cannot thinke that these Councels, being not aboue fiftie yeere one before the other, and so the one not likely to be ignorant of the others proceedings, would decree contrarie things: first, because both these Councels are confirmed in the 6. generall Councell Trullane can. 1. which Councell was not so vndiscreete as to ratifie contrarie decrees.

Secondly, if Augustine were present, it can not be thought that he would subscribe contrarie to his owne iudgement: for whereas the Canon rehearseth fiue bookes of Salomon, Augustine thinketh that the booke of Ecclesiasticus & Wisedome of Salomon were only so called, propter nonnullam eloquij similitudinem, for some similitude of the stile, de ciuitat. Dei libr. 17. cap. 20. And of Ecclesiasticus he saith, This booke was not receiued into the canon of the Scriptures: De cur. pro mortuis cap. 15. Likewise of the bookes of the Macchabees he thus writeth: Iudaei non habent hanc scripturam, sicut legem, Prophetas, & Psalmos, quibus Dominus testimonium perhibet vt testibus suis: The Iewes hauehave not this Scripture, as the law, Prophets and Psalmes, to the which the Lord giueth testimonie as to his witnesses: libr. 2. cont. Gauden. c. 23. How is it like thē that Augustine would hauehave giuen consent to this decree, p. 22if their meaning had been to make these bookes absolutely Canonicall.

Thirdly, seeing the Canon of the Scriptures was confirmed before this Councell, and acknowledgedTwo and twentie bookes of the old Testament only canonicall. of the Fathers, who make but 22. bookes of the Old Testament, excluding all those which we hold to be Apocrypha: as Origen apud Euseb. lib. 6. c. 25. Athanas…n synopsi. Hilarius in prolog. explanat. Psalm. Nazianzen. in carminib. Cyrillus 4. foreign. Epiphan. haeres. 8. Hieron. praefat. in libr. regum: it is not like that the Councell of Carthage would goe against the consent of so many learned Fathers.

Wherefore they must bee vnderstood to take this word Canonicall in a large sense, for all those bookes which were allowed to bee read in the Church, whereof there were two sorts: some were read, ad authoritatem ecclesiasticorum dogmatū confirmandam, to confirme the authoritie of Ecclesiasticall doctrine, such were the right Canonicall: some ad aedificationem plebis, for the edifying of the people, of which sort were the bookes of Tobie, Iudith, with the rest: Hieron. praefat. in Prouer. And these were called Hagiographa, Hieron. praefat. in Tobiam: or Ecclesiastici, Ecclesiasticall bookes: the other Canonici, Canonicall: Cyprian. in symbol. This difference of the holie writings is allowed by Sixtus Senens. lib. 1. bibliothec. Stapleton. lib. 9. c. 6. doctrinal. p. 23that those books are called Protocanonici, Canonicall of the first sort, that are found in the Hebrue Canon: the other, Deuterocanonici, Canonicall of the second sort: and in this sense doth the Councell of Carthage call the Apocryphall bookes Canonicall.

2. Secondly, it is neither absurd, nor vntrue to say that the Laodicene Councell, omitting to make mention of the Apocalypse among the Canonicall bookes, at that time iudged it also not to bee canonicall, for the authoritie of that booke was a long time doubted of: for the Councell calleth all other bookes beside those rehearsed, foreign, bookes not canonicall.

3. But the Libeller hath vttered a great vntruth, that the Apocalypse hath no more ancient authoritie then the Councel of Carthage, which was about anno 420. seeing that Origen long before holdeth it to be canonicall: Homil. 7. in Iosuam: where rehearsing the books of the New Testament, as of the foure Euangelists, the Acts of the Apostles, 14. Epistles of Paul, two Epistles of Peter, the Epistles of Iames and Iude, he further saith: Addit & Ioannes tuba canere per epistolas suas & Apocalypsin: Iohn also proceedeth to sound his trumpet by his epistles and the Apocalypse.

The Libeller then might hauehave been otherwise occupied, then here to hauehave noted an p. 24vntruth vponupon no greater ground: he might hauehave employed his time and pen much better: he should hauehave remembred Platoes saying to his schollers, when they went from schoole: See children that you vse your otium, to foreign.some honest purpose. Or if his pen must needes runne to drop lies, he should hauehave followed Origens aduice: Homo, cui incumbit necessitas mentiendi, diligenter attendat, vt sic vtatur mē dacio, quomodo medicamine & condimento, vt seruet mensuram: He that hath necessitie to lie, must be carefull to vse his lying as a sause or medicine, to keepe a measure: ex apolog. Hieron. cont. Ruffin. But this Libeller neither was forced to lie, and hauing begun, he can finde no measure in so doing.

The ninth Slaunder.

WHereas it is thus alleaged, Synops. pag. 209. Leo the third confirmed by his decree, that the bloud, which issued out of a woodden Crucifix at Mantua, was the very blood of Christ: anno 800. what broadface dealing is this (saith the Libeller) to vent foorth such a shamelesse lie? &c.

The Defence.

1. THough no author in that place be alleaged for the proofe of this storie: if p. 25it had pleased this cauiller to hauehave looked in the end of the booke, hee might there hauehave found these words, after the Errata: Whereas pag. 374. 381. and elsewhere I alleage diuers things of the acts of the Popes, forgetting to cite the authors, I referre the reader to the collections of master Bale out of Platina, Functius and others, in his booke Deactis Romanor. pontific.

2. But because this authoritie will not content him, I will report the very words of Platina in the storie of Leo 3. At Leo cum seditionibus vexaretur ab vrbe discedens Mantuam proficiscitur ad vtsendum Christi sanguinem, A manifest storie denied by the Libeller.qui tum miraculis magno erat in pretio: is autem perbenigne susceptus approbato Christi sanguine ob frequentia miracula, ad Carolum proficiscitur, vt hominem cognoscendae veritatis cupidum eius rei certiorem faceret: But Leo being troubled with sedition, departing from the citie goeth to Mantua to see the bloud of Christ, which then because of miracles was in great price: he being gently receiued (hauing approued it to be the bloud of Christ, because of many miracles) goeth to Charles to certifie him of this matter, being a man desirous to know the truth. How say you now (sir Detector) hauehave you not detected your owne follie and ignorance, to denie a storie written by one of your owne Chroniclers: though here no mention be made of a wooden Crucifix (which must bee supplied p. 26out of master Bale) yet the substance of the storie we hauehave, that Leo approued it (which is all one as to say in his iudgement he decreed it, for here is no consistoriall decree spoken of) to be the bloud of Christ.

3. And if Platina be not of credit sufficient, the like storie is brought in by Ioannes A fable of a bloodie Crucifix.Monachus in the 2. Nicen Synod action 4. how a certaine Iew succeeding a Christian in his house, found there the image of Christ, which hee with other Iewes running vponupon doe wound it on the side, and thereout issued as much bloud as filled a great Hydrie, a water tankerd or bucket: by the which bloud the sicke were healed, and many miracles wrought: and thereof was sent in glasses, to all parts of Asia, Africa, Europa: and the tale endeth thus, Hic est sanguis ille Dominicus, qui apud plerosq, repertus dicitur: This is the Lords bloud, which is said to hauehave been found with many. This Synod, with the acts thereof, was ratified by Adrian 1. the immediat predecessor of this Leo 3. so that it seemeth more likely, that hee by the example of Adrian, might giuegive credit and approue the like fable done at Mantua.

Now let any indifferent man iudge, which of the two hath vented the shamelesse lie: the defender in reporting as hee findeth, or the detector, in malicious denying of that, which he ignorantly knoweth not: he must learne p. 27to be more cunning in histories, before hee take vponupon him to find fault with historical reports. Sure whether he be broad or chittefaced, I know not: for he neither telleth vsus his name, nor dareth to shew his face: yet by his shamelesse writings, we may as well discerne him as by his bold face: to whom that sentence of Augustine may fitlie bee applied, though not altogether in his sense: Libri tui pene totum te nobis exhibent, si enim propterea te non nouimus, quia faciem corporis tui non vidimus, hoc modo nec ipse te nosti, nam tu quo que non vides eam: Your bookes doe shew you whollie what you are: for if wee therefore know you not, because wee hauehave not seene your face, neither do you know your selfe, because you see not your face: August. epist. 9. Hieron. We need no better glasse to shew the Libellers audacious face, then his immodest and slaunderous pen.

The tenth Slaunder.

SYnops. pag. 609. The Masse promiseth sufficient redemption to the wicked, that hauehave spent their life in drunkennes, adulterie, &c. if they come to the Church and heare a Masse, and take holie bread and holie water, or finde a soule Priest, or giuegive somewhat to the Priest to doe penance for them, though they neither pray, nor repent, nor heare the word preached: For this the p. 28Libeller crieth out, a shamelesse mate, a notorious lie, &c. and Roger Holland, that died for the Gospell, who thus much confesseth of himselfe, he calleth in derision, holie Holland, one of Foxes Martyrs, runnagate Roger.

The Defence.

FIrst, as Plato bid Xenocrates a sowre andforeign. austere man to sacrifice to the Graces, so it were to bee wished, that this cauiller had consecrated his pen to Gods seruice, that he might hauehave written with more grace: his bitter raylings and blasphemies toward the defender are answered before. But as Hierome saith: Iniuriam martyrum nequeo surda aure transire: The wrong done to the Martyrs I cannot passe ouer with silence. The Libeller shall one day know, if he repent not, what it is to reuile Gods Saints, when hee shall see them one day enter into heauen, and himself, with all such blasphemous mates, to be thrust out at the doores, Luk. 13. 28. I doe not wonder, if his pen be whet against the liuing, whē it spareth not the dead: I say to him with Augustine to Iulian the Donatist, Cernis quam tibi perniciosum sit, tam horribile crimen obijcere talibus, & quàm mihi gloriosum sit quodlibet crimen audire non talibus: You see how pernicious it is for you to obiect so horrible a crime to such, and how glorious to me to be obiected against with such. libr. 1.

p. 29Secondly, the Libeller produceth certaine reasons to shew that their religion hindreth not good life, but tendeth to vertue: 1. They teach, that a man by grace may keepe the Commaundements, whereas we say it is impossible, which is a discouragement to vertue, the other saith he, is an encouragement. Contrà: Nay rather theirs is a desperate doctrine, because wee see by experience, that there is not the perfitest man, but offendeth against the law, as Saint Iames saith, In many things we sinne all, Iam. 3. 2. and therefore they perswade men, in so teaching, to build vponupon a false ground, and to deceiue their ownePopery stirreth not to godlines of life. soules: whereas wee teach them, that they must seeke their righteousnes, not in the obedience of the law, but in the obedience of faith, yet doe exhort them, that they walke worthie of their calling: S. Paul thus saying: Not hauing mine owne righteousnes, which is by the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, Philip. 3. 9. was not therefore discouraged from vertue, but encouraged, saying, vers. 13. I forget that which is behind, and endeuour my selfe to that which is before.

2. Whereas we teach, that the motions of the flesh be sinfull, though a man consent not vntounto them, because the law saith, Thou shalt not lust, Rom. 7. 7. they say, they may be occasion of much merit. Which of these will sooner perswade to suppresse euill lusts, they p. 30that commend them, or they which condemne them, let any reasonable man iudge? I am sure the Apostle biddeth vsus mortifie, foreign, the very lust, and rising motions of the heart, not to retaine them as a matter of greater merit.

3. They say their confession and satisfaction for the temporall paines of purgatorie, the shame of the one, and feare of the other, prouoke to the encrease of vertue: Is not this like to be a goodly vertue, that is begotten in feare, and for shame of men, to whom they are bound to confesse? The Apostle saith, perfect louelove casteth away feare, 1. Ioh. 4. 18. We rather exhort men to confesse vntounto God, that seeth the heart, and from whom nothing can bee hid, rather then in the cares of the Priest. And as for your purgatorie satisfactions, which may be bought out with money, and redeemed with Masses, they doe but make men more secure.

4. They hold that no man without speciall reuelation can know whether he be predestinate, and that one in Gods grace may fall away. We teach men to be sure of theirCertaintie of saluation nourisheth vertue. saluation: this doctrine (saith hee) breedeth desperate securitie, the other maketh vsus with feare and trembling to worke our saluation.

Contrà. Nay rather he that is sure of his election by faith, thereby is the more encouraged to good workes, knowing that he shall p. 31not lose his reward: as the Apostle exhorteth 1. Cor. 15. Wherefore beloued brethren be ye stedfast, &c. alwaies abundant in the worke of the Lord, for as much as ye know, that your work… is not in vaine in the Lord. And the Apostle saith of himselfe, The Lord will deliuer me from eueryevery euill worke, and preserue me to his heauenly kingdome, 2. Timoth. 4. 18. They then which are sure to be preserued vntounto life, God will guide them with his spirit, and deliuer them from euill workes; and they also shall notwithstanding in a godly feare and carefull endeuour worke their saluation: for the certaintie of the end doth not take away the necessitie of the meanes. But contrariwise as S. Iames saith, The wauering minded man is vnstable in all his waies: So that he which is wauering in the hope of saluation, cannot bee throughly resolued or setled to any good worke.

Thirdly, the Libeller bringeth in Luther and Iacobus Andrea, complaining of greater corruptions, where the Gospell is professed, then in Papatu, in time of Poperie: whence he inferreth, that it is not their doctrine, but Caluins and Luthers, that corrupteth good manners. pag. 138.

Cont. 1. Though of some particular sins, and of particular places and persons, euen where the Gospell is professed, iust complaint may be made, yet it followeth not that p. 32generally Protestants manners are worse, then Papists: vnlesse you wil say, that because S. Paul …aith, that there was such fornication among the Corinthians, as was not once named among the Gentiles, that therefore the Gentiles were to be preferred before them.

2. The cause of corruption of manners among Protestants is not the doctrine, but their vnthankfull receiuing of it. As where S. Paul complaineth thus of the Corinthians: I feare when I come again, least my God abase me among you, and I shall bewaile many of them, which hauehave sinned alreadie, and hauehave not repented of the vncleannes, fornication, wantonnes, which they hauehave committed, 2. Cor. 12. 21. Was Saint Pauls doctrine (thinke you) the cause hereof?

3 Against two of our writers that thus complaine of Protestants manners, I can produce more then twenty of theirs, that crie out against popish corruptions: and some of them euen now wee will heare speake in this cause: that it may be euident to all men, that howsoeuer iniquitie in these euill daies encreaseth both among Protestants & Papists, yet thankes bee to God, the Gospell hath brought foorth more true godlines, with the comfortable fruites thereof, then euer was to be seene in Poperie.

Fourthly, this is alleaged as an argument to cleere their profession from being an hindrance p. 33to godly life, because to perfect remission of sinnes they require three parts of penance, contrition, confession, satisfaction. pag. 139.

Cont. These three we acknowledge, beingPopish penance no true repen tance. vnderstood according to the Scriptures, are necessarie in eueryevery true penitent person: inward sorrow and contrition, with a full purpose to amend the life; confession to God, and to the congregation publikely offended; satisfaction not to God, but to our neighbours for iniuries committed: but as these three are taught and required in Poperie, they doe but make hypocrites, they work not true conuersion.

1. If contrition do proceed in part from mans free will: if it be not necessarie to hauehave a resolute and expresse purpose of newnes of life: if it must be perfect: if it bring not assurance of remission of sinnes: if it must be a meanes to iustifie vsus: if a man must look to merit by it: if it be not necessarie for small fences as well as great: all which positions our aduersaries doe hold; as may be seene at large Synops. pag. 633. to pag. 640: how is it possible for a man by the popish doctrine to attaine to true contrition, which must take beginning in his owne free will, and end to his owne praise, in seeking to merit by it?

2. So likewise, to confesse vponupon paine of damnation all sinnes, neuer so secret, whether p. 34they be committed in minde, heart, will, cogitation onelyonly, or in word and worke: and to none but to the Priest: to get absolution at his hands, and to merit by it: and no oftner but once in the yeere, as the Papists teach: looke Synops. from pag. 640. to 650. who seeth not how farre this is from true confession, which shuld be principally made to God, not yeerely but daily, and in humilitie, not in a selfeloue of meriting by it?

3. Concerning popish satisfaction, to teach, that God must be satisfied by our penall workes, for the punishment due to our sinnes: that the Priest is to that end to inioyne penance: and that it is in the power of the pastors of the Church to remit the temporall punishment: and to applie the merits of Saints, and graunt Indulgences: al which the popish Diuines doe hold and teach, Synops. pag. 667. 655. What a miserable and comfortlesse satisfaction is this? which must be wrought by our selues: whereas wee are not able to answere one thing of a thousand, Iob. 9. 3. and wherein wee must looke for our release and indulgence from men: where the Scripture saith of God not of men, I will be mercifull to their vnrighteousnes, and I will remember their sinnes no more, Heb. 8. 12.

I trust it doth already sufficiently appeare, that there is no vntrueth vttered at all, in charging the popish religion to be an hinderer p. 35of good life: but that we may be yet more fully cleered, I will further auou…h the same: 1. by propounding some choyce points of their holy doctrine. 2. by producing some examples of their holy professors. 3. by the testimonie of some of their owne writers.

1. First, your doctrine of purgatorie paines, which you say may be eased and released by the prayers of the liuing, and especially by the soule Priests, and Masses of Requiem: as it is an engine to to draw aduauntage to your purses, so it breedeth carnall securitie in mens soules, especially in such as are rich, who thinke to leaue behinde them enough, howsoeuer they liue in the meane time, to maintaine a Priest to sing for their soules: and therefore one of your owne Doctors saith: In hoc solo casu melior est conditio diuitis quàm pauperis, quia habet vnde suffragia fiant pro ipso: In this case onelyonly the estate of the rich is better then the poore, because hePopish doctrine breedeth securitie. hath wherwith al Suffrages should be made: Albert mag. de offic. Miss. tract. 3.

2. Your doctrine in prohibiting and restraining of mariage to your Clergie, how it helpeth to holines of life, Bernard well sheweth: Tolle de ecclesia honorabile coniugium, & thorum im…aculatum, …ōne reples …concubinarijs, incestuosis, seminifluis, mollibus, masculorum concubitoribus: Take away from the Church honorable mariage and the bed vndefiled, p. 36shall you not fill the same with fornicators, incestuous, vncleane, effeminate persons, &c. Cantic▪ serm. 66. how well these effects hauehave followed in popish single life, they which hauehave written of their Votaries, hauehave sufficiently declared.

3. The popish doctrine of Pardons and Indulgences, that it is in the power of the pastors of the Church to release à poena & culpa, for daies, moneths, yeeres, is in al mens iudgements an open doore to all carnall libertie: as the Pardoners of Leo 10. did proclaime, that for ten shillings any man should deliuer a soule out of purgatorie at his pleasure: ex Christian. Massaeo libr. 20. Of this abuse some while agoe great complaint was made: Quaestuarij praedicatores quaedam breuia habent, quae in singulis parochijs relinquunt, in quibus continentur tot indulgentiae, quod mirantur viri boni si de conscientia Papae potuerunt illae concedi: The preaching Pardoners leaue briefes in eueryevery parish, wherein are contained so many Indulgences, that good men marueile, that euer they could be graunted with the Popes knowledge: Opuscul. tripartit. libr. 3. cap. 8.

4. They hold that the Sacraments do giuegive grace, ex opere operato, by the work wrought, and that the faith of the receiuer giueth no effi…acie to the Sacrament: Bellarm. libr. 2. de Sacram. cap. 1.

p. 375. They also teach that the wicked do eate in the Sacrament the very bodie of Christ: Rhemist. 1. Cor. 11. sect. 26. Doe not these doctrines now tend to great holines and deuotion: wherby men are made carelesse to examine themselues, and to be prepared by faith to receiue the Sacraments, & wicked men are made more secure, seeing they are borne in hand, that being as they are, they may bee made partakers of Christs bodie?

6. A carnall doctrine also it is, that men may doe more then is prescribed, and of their Carnal doctrine of Poperi….abundance may allot vntounto others such workes of supererogation: Rhem. 1. Cor. 9. sect. 6. 2. Cor. 8. sect. 3. For by this meanes men are made secure to labour for themselues, depending vponupon other mens superabundant workes. But they in so thinking are deceiued: for eueryevery man shall answere for himselfe, one cannot saue anothers soule: Ezech. 14. 20. Though Noah, Daniel and Iob were in the middest, &c. as I liue saith the Lord, they shall deliuer neither sonne nor daughter. VponUpon which words Origen thus writeth: Vnusquisque in proprio peccato morietur, & in propria iustitia viuet, nihil mihi conducit martyr pater, si male vixero: Euerie man shall die in his owne sinne, and liue in his owne righteousnes: my father a Martyr shall not profit me, if I liue euill.

By these particular points of popish doctrine I trust it is cleere, that it is not falsely p. 38charged to bee a breeder of carnall securitie.

Secondly, if the popish religion be such aPopes examples of loose liuing. nourisher of vertue and holines, where is it more likely to be found then in their holie father the Pope, and in that holie chaire? let vsus therefore take a little view of their holie liues.

Some of them hauehave bin Sorcerers and Necromancers: as Siluester 2. aaPlatina.Benedict 9. bbBenno.Gregor. 7. ccSleidano.Paulus 3. with others.

Some were blasphemers, as Iohn 12. did vse to call vponupon the diuel at dice, and to drink to him. Iulius 3. calling for his porke, which the Phisitions forbad him, giuegive it me (saith he)Ex Baleo. all dispetto de Dio, in despite of God.

Some of them theeues & robbers: Iohn 18. as Platina saith, in pontificatu fuit fur & latro, was in his Popedome a theefe and a robber.

Some murtherers: as ddTheodor. Niem.Vrban. 6. that put some of his Cardinals into sackes and drowned them. eeConc. Constant.Iohn 23. the cause of the death of Alexander 5. ffRaphael. Volateran.Sixtus 4. sent to Florence to slay the Medicees. ggVergerius.Paulus 3. caused his sister and mother to be slaine, that he might hauehave the whole inheritance. In hh…nuphrius.Alexander the 6. time, Roma carnificina facta, Rome was made a shambles.

Some of them were adulterous and incestuousHistor. Florentin. Guic…iardin. Sleidano. Agrip. de le…ocin. persons: as Clemens 5. Iohn 23. Alexander 6. Iulius 2. and Iulius 3. Paulus 3. Sixtus p. 39the 4. as witnesse they which hauehave written of their acts and liues.

Such as these holie fathers were, such are their children. In Italie and at Rome, the name of Christian, is vsed as a name of reproch, to signifie a dolt or a foole: Christian. Franch. collat. Iesuit. in fine: such holines and deuotion is to be seene vnderunder the Popes nose. These are your filthie Doctors (sir Detector) more filthie and vncleane your selfe, if your life and name were knowne, then he whom you doe so vngodly blaspheme.

In the third place, let vsus heare their owne writers speake. Against Iacobus Andreae alleaged by the Libeller, I will set Ioannes Andreae, one of their Canonists: Roma fundata fuit à praedonib. & adhuc de prim…rdijs tenet, data In sexto de elect. fundament. in gloss.Roma quasi rodens manus, &c. Rome was founded by theeues, and yet still sauoureth of her beginning, being called Rome, as biting one by the hands.

Budaeus: Sanctiones pontificiae non moribus regendis vsui sunt, sed propemodum dixerim Argentariae faciendae authoritatem videntur accommodare: Popish writers complaine of their owne corruptiōs.The Popes Canons serue not now to guide mens liues, but they serue rather to make a banke to get money. in Pandect.

Vrspergens. in the storie of the Councell of Constance: Spiritum extinguebant, propheticas aspernabantur, Christum in membris suis p. 40persequebantur, eratque plane persecutrix ecclesia: They did extinguish the spirit, defie the voyces of the Prophets, persecute Christ in his members, and the Church became altogether a persecutor: Paralipomen. Vrspergens. pag. 396.

Aeneas Syluius: Refriguit charitas, & fides omnis interijt: Charitie is waxen cold, and all faith is dead: Epistol. ad Caspar. Schlickium.

Nicholaus Cusanus a Cardinall thus saith: Si recte respicimus, omnis religio Christiana paucis dempta, degenerauit in apparentiam: If ye marke well, all Christian religion excepting a few, is degenerated to an outward apparance: excitation. lib. 9.

Bishop of Bitonto: Quibus turpitudinum monstris, qua sordium colluuie, qua peste non sunt foedati in ecclesia sancta, populus & sacerdos: With what monsters of filthines, with what vile vncleannes, with what pestilence be they not corrupted in the holie Church both priest and people? in Concil. Tridentin.

Another thus complaineth: O nos miseros, qui Christiani dicimur, gentes agimus sub nomine Christi: Miserable are we, which are called Christians, and vnderunder the name of Christ play the Gentiles: Francisc. Zephyrin. in Apologetic. Tertullian.

Cheregatus the Popes Legate, thus pronounced at the assemblie of Norinberge: A sacerdotibus iniquitatem populi dimanare, multis p. 41nunc annis grauiter, multisque modis peccatum esse Romae, & inde à pontificio culmine malum hoc atque luem, ad inferiores omnes ecclesiarum praefectos defluxisse: That the iniquitie of the people doth flow from the Priests, that these many yeeres there hauehave been great and many sinnes committed at Rome, that this plague is descended from the high throne of the Bishop to all inferiour gouernours of the Church: Sleidan. lib. 4 ann. 1523.

Many such testimonies might be brought from their owne writers, who hauehave complained of the corrupt manners of all degrees in the Romane Church. I thinke now that wee hauehave been meetly euen with this Sophister, who seemeth to hauehave taken extraordinarie paines, according to his simple skill, to hide the filthines of his mother, but all in vaine.

EueryEvery man that hath been at Rome, can be an eye witnesse of their abominations. Franciscus Petrarch saith, that Rome is the whore of Babylon, the mother of idolatrie and fornication, and saith, that all shame and reuerence is quite departed thence: Cantilen. 92. Baptista Mantuanus hath these verses of Rome:

Viuere qui sancte vultis, discedite Roma,

Omnia cum liceant non licet esse bonum.

All that will liue godly from Rome be packing, all things are there lawfull, onelyonly it is not lawfull to be good. May wee not now p. 42say of Rome as the Lacedemonians of Athens? one saith, The Athenians know what is right, but they doe it not. Another being asked of Athens, said, Omnia ibi pulchra: All things there were very faire and good: because nothing was counted vnhonest. Or as Eudamides said to one that commended Athens: that that citie could not be well praised, quam nemo foreign.ideo laudat, quod ibi factus sit melior, which no man therefore commendeth, for that hee became a better man there. Thus wee may iudge by the fruites what manner of religion poperie is: neither that it is any slaunder at al, to call it an enimy to true vertue and godlines, and a mother of hypocrisie, as their owne writers doe plentifully witnesse.

The eleuenth Slaunder.

SYnops. pag. 908. Saul was neuer truly iust nor righteous: and Iudas when he was in his holiest course was but a theefe and an hypocrite: as the Scripture testifieth: notable lyes, saith the Libeller. pag. 141.

The Defence.

FIrst, to prooue Saul to hauehave been a good man, this text is alleaged, 1. Sam. 9. 2. Saul erat electus & bonus, &c. Saul an elect and good man, and none of the children of Israel better then he.

p. 43Answ. 1. The word translated elect in the vulgar Latine foreign bachur, Pagnine interpreteth a young man, and so is the word, bechurim, youth, taken, Ecclesiast. 12. 1. and so expounded in the vulgar Latine: the meaning then is that Saul was an elect or choise yong man: the Septuagint reade foreign, a goodly great man: the other word foreign tobh, good, Arias readeth, pulchrior, there was not a fairer man: as it is taken Genes. 6. The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were faire, the word is toboth, good: but they were not very good in respect of true goodnes: and in this place the vulgar Latine also readeth, pulchra, they were faire: it might hauehave pleased the translator to hauehave retained the same word here. The text then meaneth, that Saul was a goodly faire man for his bodie and stature: as the next words doe shew, from the shoulders upward he was higher then any of the people: for otherwise, if it be vnderstood of true goodnes, he should bee preferred before all the godly then liuing, yea before Samuel. The Libeller was not well aduised to alleage this text, whereby he doth but display and lay open his ignorance in the text, and blindnes in the true sense thereof.

And further, that Saul was not truly iustSaul neuer truly iust. before God, it appeareth by that Samuel saith, 1. Sam. 13. 14. The Lord hath sought him a man after his owne heart; that is Dauid: Saul p. 44then was not a man after Gods owne heart.

Secondly, Hierome (saith the Detector) lib. 3. aduers. Pelagian. proueth that Iudas was once iust by these words of our Sauiour, Ioh. 17. 12. Whom thou gauest me I hauehave kept, and none of them perished but the sonne of perdition.

Cont. 1. He should hauehave done wel to hauehave alleaged Hieromes words, seeing that bookeIudas neuer but an hypocrite. is long and not distinguished into chapters: but he sheweth himselfe as well seene here in Hierome, as before in the Scripture. The contrarie elsewhere may be gathered out of Hierome, as where hee thus writeth to Hedibia quaest. 10. Deus non saluat irrationabiliter & absque iudicij veritate, sed praecedentibus causis, quia alij non susceperunt filium Dei, alij sponte sua susceperunt: God doth not saue without reason, or true iudgement, but by causes going before, because some receiued not the son of God, some willingly receiued him. Therefore because Iudas was not saued, he did not receiue Christ truly, or aright beleeue in him.

2. Augustine out of this Scripture concludeth the contrarie, that Iudas was a reprobate: Filius perditionis dictus est traditor Christi, perditioni praedestinatus: The betrayer of Christ is called the sonne of perdition, because he was predestinate to perdition: tract. …07. in Ioann. If he were a reprobate from the p. 29beginning, he was neuer a right good man in deede.

3. That Iudas in his holiest course was but an hypocrite & a theefe, the Scripture testifieth, Ioh. 6. 70. HaueHave I not chosen you twelue, and one of you is a diuell? This was spoken, long before Iudas betrayed Christ, when hee was newly chosen, and daily conuersant with Christ, and did the office of an Apostle with the rest. When was hee holier in shew then while he walked with Christ, preached with the rest, and wrought miracles? but euen then hee was a diuell: and when he sate with Christ at the table, and dipped his hand with him in the platter, and as Origen thinketh, was admitted ad mensam corporis Christi, to the table of Christs bodie: tract. 35. in Math. yet euen then and before hee was a theefe, Ioh. 12. 6.

4. I will conclude with that testimonie out of their owne Canon, Caus. 2. quaest. 1. c. 6. where Christ is brought in thus speaking of Iudas: Although he be not yet excluded from you: à me tamen, qui omnia certissime noui separatus & diuisus est: yet I that know all things hauehave separated and diuided him: et si ego per occulti iudicij sententiam damnatum habeo, vos tamen adhuc illum per tolerantiam sustinete: although I by the sentence of my secret iudgement hold him condemned, yet you must tolerate him a while. How then was hee truly iust▪ before p. 46God, when he was alreadie separated and condemned in the iudgement of Christ?

Now sir (Detector) let the Reader iudge, whose mouth hath now ranne ouer: such lips such lettice, we present you your berries as a fit dish for your tooth: & the lies, which you hauehave here forged, as counterfeit stuffe we returne to your owne shoppe. These are your proper colours: such slaunderous spirits most of your sect are led by. One may say of you, as Leo…hidas of Demaratus sons that spake euill of him: Non miror, bene enim eorum nemo loqui potest: I marueile not at it, for none offoreign. them can speake well. Bernards counsell had been good to such swift tongues: Modicum membrum lingua, sed nisi caueas, magnum malum, facile volat atque▪ ideo facile violat charitatem: The tongue a little member, but worketh great mischiefe, it flieth fast, but of charitie soone maketh waste: serm. de triplic. custod.

The twelfth Slaunder.

HEre the Libeller obiecteth foure vntruths together:

1. That Bellarmine is at variance with himselfe, in one place making the Pope the chief iudge of all controuersies, in another the Pope with the Cardinals: which both may well stand together without any variance.

p. 472. That it is affirmed, that Bellarmine for exposition of Scripture referreth vsus to the Fathers of the Church, wherof he maketh no mention at all.

3. False also that hee referreth vsus from generall Councels to the Pope and Cardinals.

4. False also, that hee maketh mention of Cardinals, of whom he saith nothing.

The Defence.

1. WHether there be not variance and diuersitie in these two places of Bellarmine, one while to make the Pope Iudge, another while to ioyne the Cardinals with him, as though hee were not sufficient without them: for why else are they ioyned with him? I leaue it to the Readers iudgement: it is not a matter worthie to be contended about: and I am ashamed to spend time in such friuolous stuffe, but that a brabler must be answered.

2. For the other three points, they are not first of my deuising: that worthie professor Master Whitakers, doth so collect Bellarmines sense, contr. 1. quaest. 5. cap. 3. And it seemeth to be Bellarmines meaning altogether (for his words in this place are not by vsus alleaged). First, that we should hauehave recourse to the Fathers for the exposition of the Scripture: for p. 32he referreth vsus to the Councell of Trent, sess. 4. which prescribeth, that sense of the Scripture to bee followed, which either the Church holdeth, or the ioynt consent of the Fathers.

3. Bellarmine referreth vsus to a Councel confirmed by the chiefe pastor, or to the chiefe pastor, cum concilio aliorum pastorum, with the counsell of other pastors: these two being disioyned, with this disiunctiue siue, or, cannot be taken in any good construction for all one: as the Libeller doth insinuate p. 147. But Bellarmine must be expounded by himselfe, who other where would hauehave appeales made from generall Councels to the Pope, lib. 2. de concilior. authoritat. cap. 17. And so in this place this order is prescribed, that where a Councel cannot resolue of doubts, it shuld bee determined by the Pope with his assistance.

4. Though the name Cardinals, bee not here expressed in Bellarmine: yet his concilium pastorum, councell of pastors, assistants to the Pope, can be no other but the Colledge of Cardinals: 1. For if he did meane any other Councell, it were a vaine repetition of the same thing, to say, a Councell confirmed by the chiefe pastor, or, the chiefe pastor with a councell. 2. It seemeth to be such a councell, as is alwaies readie at hand: so is no other councell but of the Cardinals, that are alwaies p. 49resiant in Rome. 3. Whereas the last reuolution of matters is to the Apostolike sea, distinct. 20. …. 1. By the sea Apostolike they vnderstand not the Pope onelyonly, sed concilium illud, quo pontifex vtitur, but that councell also which the Pope vseth in deciding of matters. Alphons. lib. 1. cont. haeres. cap. 8.

5. Lastly, Bellarmines meaning must be such as is affirmed, to referre vsus for the interpretation of Scripture first to the Fathers, then to a Councell, in the last place to the Popes Consistorie, or else he differeth from their owne Canons, which prescribe this course to be obserued: first, whereas the solution cannot be found, ad diuina recurre scripta Graeca, hauehave recourse to the Scriptures in Greeke: then Canones Apostolicae sedis intuere, looke into the Canons of the Apostolike sea: then manum mitte ad historias à catholicis doctoribus scriptas, take into your hand the histories written by Catholike Doctors, &c. if this will not serue, Seniores prouinciae congrega, gather the Elders of the prouince. This Canon sendeth vsus first to the Fathers, then to Councell: distinct. 20. cap. 3. and in the 1. canon. Last of all, ad Apostolicam sedem referendum, it must be referred to the Apostolike sea.

Now, let the Libeller know, that here is neither shamelesse lying, nor falsification committed by the defender, vnlesse he will make p. 50Bellarmine to speake absurdly and contrarie to the Canons, or vnlesse hee will reuile the dead, that are in blessed rest: who though he can speake well of few aliue, yet I trust he wil spare the dead: vnlesse he be more impudent then that rayler, of whom Pleistarchus thus said, when hee heard hee commended him: Certainly, saith he, credebat me mortuum, heforeign. thought I was dead, for he can speake well of none aliue. As for your vnchristian and scornefull railings, which bewray a corrupt heart and vncleane mouth, I no more regard it, then the croking of frogges: as Hierome writeth of Blesilla: Blesilla nostra ridebit, nec dignabitur loquacium ranarum audire conuitia, cum Dominus eius dictus sit Beelzebub: our Blesilla will smile, nor vouchsafe to regard the railings of croking frogges, seeing her Lord was called Beelzebub: ad Marcel.

The thirteenth Slaunder.

TWo falsifications are here noted, that Bellarmine should say, Antichrist shall be 1verily of the tribe of Dan, and that, he confuteth 2that opinion in the same place, libr. 3. de Roman. pontif. cap. 12. whereas he would beare vsus in hand that Bellarmine doth neither.

The Defence.

FIrst, that Bellarmine sheweth diuers reasons, why Antichrist is no… like to come p. 51of the tribe of Dan, and confuteth that opinion; it is thus shewed: That whereas that opinion is grounded vponupon three texts of scripture, Genes. 49. 17. Dan shall be a Serpent by the way, biting the horse heeles. Ierem. 8. 16. The neying of horses is heard from Dan. Apocal. 7. Twelue thousand are reckoned vp of eueryevery tribe, Dan is left out, because Antichrist should come of that tribe. Bellarmine doth thus answere to all these places: in the first he vnderstandeth Sampson, in the second Nabuchadnezzar, in the third Ephraim he saith is left out as well as Dan: and so he taketh away the grounds of that opinion: what is this els but to confute it, and bring reasons against it, in answering of their reasons, and annihilating the testimonies of Scripture, without the which that opinion hath no shew of probabilitie at all? Neither is it affirmed that hee bringeth reasons to shew certainly he shal not be of the tribe of Dan, but that it is not likely. And I pray you, in like sort, whereas you alleadge diuers places of Scripture to proue the supremacie of Peter, and his successors, he that should answere all those places, and shew reasons, that they are otherwise to bee taken (as Bellarmine doth here) would yee not say, that hee confuted that opinion, and brought reasons against it?

Secondly, where Bellarmine saith, Sine dubio p. 52Antichristus licet verè sit de tribu Dan, finget se esse de familia Dauid: Without doubt Antichrist, although he be verily of the tribe of Dan, shall faine himselfe to be of the familie of Dauid. Doth he not seeme here to think that Antichrist shall be of Dan? 1. If hee speake according to the opinion of others, hee should hauehave said, licet esset, though hee should be, and needed not to hauehave put in verily: and if hee be not of Dan, why saith he, finget, he shall faine himselfe to be of the familie of Dauid? for in case he be not verily of Dan, he should not neede so to faine. What then, though Bellarmines words be reported thus, Antichristus verè erit de tribu Dan, Antichrist verily shall be of the tribe of Dan: here is no falsification, because Bellarmines sense is kept: licet, though, was omitted, because it would hauehave been but a broken sentence so beginning, vnlesse the whole had been alleaged, which had been too long and tedious, where breuitie is intended: and, where for, sit, be, erit, shall be, is read, is it not plaine that Bellarmine speaketh not of the time present, but of the time to come, when Antichrist should be reuealed? for neither he nor they thinke, that hee is yet come. And further, if ye thinke that Bellarmine is not of this opinion, that Antichrist shall come of Dan, you will set him, and your Doctors of Rhemes together by the eares, that so affirme, p. 532. Thess. 2. sect. 8. We are not then falsifiers, but yee are cauillers, that catch at words and syllables. I may say to this carper, as Cleomenes said to the Argiues: Miror foreign.si duarum syllabarum additio vos meliores facit: I marueile if the gaining of two syllables (in this word licet) will make him an honester man. As for your shamelesse words of lying and corruptiō, he belieth him, falsifieth his words: we regard them not, your mouth is no slaunder: neither passe wee to be iudged of such men: but this is our cōfort, as Hierome saith, Aliter liuor, aliter Christus iudicat, non eadem est sententia tribunalis eius & anguli susurronum: Malice iudgeth one way, Christ another, there is not the same sentence of his throne, and of backbiters in corners: ad virgin. Hermonens.

Thus hath the Libeller finished the first chapter of his learned treatise: he promiseth great matters in the rest of his Libell: but he will serue his reader, as Philip did his fellow ghests, who to saue his hostes credit when prouision failed, bid them reserue their stomackes for the dainties, and so they rose an hungred: for take away the railings, sophistications, cauils, slaunders, which are the flowers of this Libell, little els will remaine. As a certaine Lacedemonian sayd of the Nightingale, that it was nothing but a voyce: so the Libeller hath nothing but scoffes, lies p. 54and bragges: And as Theodorus was wont toforeign. say, that he did with the right hand deliuer his orations, the hearers did receiue them with the left: so this cauiller with a sinister eye doth examine, what was without malice or fraud first vttered: It is an easie matter to picke quarrels, and take exceptions against any mans workes. The Libeller should rather hauehave shewed himselfe, and entred into the lists, and handled some controuersie of religion, and taken vponupon him to confute SYNOPSIS, which hee carpeth at. But as one said to Philip when he had ouercome and destroyed Olynthus, that he could not build such a citie againe: so I think it would appose this Sophister and trouble his wit, to set such another booke by it, as that which he seeketh so much to disgrace. But I will proceed to examine the rest of his accusations, not fearing any thing which he can obiect.