The Four Principal Pillars of Papistry, Title page – Dedication
TETRASTYLON PAPISTICVM, That is, THE FOVRE PRINCIPAL PILLERS of Papistrie, the first conteyning their raylings, slanders, forgeries, vntruthes: the second their blasphemies, flat contradictions to scripture, heresies, absurdities: the third their loose arguments, weake solutions, subtill distinctions: the fourth and last the repugnant opinions of New Papistes With the old; of the new one with another; of the same writers with themselues: yea of Popish religion with and in it selfe.
Compiled as a necessarie supplement or fit appertinance to the Authors former worke, intituled Synopsis Papismi: To the glorie of God for the dissuading of light-minded men from trusting to the sandie foundation of poperie, and to exhort good Christians stedfastlie to hold the rockie foundation of faith in the Gospell.
Epist. Iud. ver. 9. 10.
Michael the Archangel, when he stroue against the diuell, did not blame him with cursed speaking, but said, the Lord rebuke thee. But these speake euill of those things they know not, and whatsoeuer things they know naturally, as beastes which are without reason, in those things they corrupt themselues.
Haeretici cùm peruersitatis suae rationem reddere non possunt, ad maledicta conuertuntur: Heretickes, when they can render no reason of their wilfulnesse, fall to flat railing.
Printed by Robert Robinson for Thomas Man dwelling in Pater noster row at the signe of the Talbot. 1593.
To the Right Honorable Sir Iohn Puckering Knight, Lord Keeper of the broad Seale of England, and of her Maiesties most Honorable priuie Counsell.
I HaueHave not, neither can forget (Right Honorable) your courteous acceptation of that simple gift, which not long since I presumed to present your Honor withall. Since that time I confesse my selfe a debtor to your Lordship: and therefore hauehave strained my selfe for kindnesse receiued to shew at the least thankefulnesse againe, and to recompense the meannes of that gift by an other of that sort. Iubemur (saith one) colligere fragmentaBarnard. Cant. ser. 5. ne pereant, id est, ne minima beneficia obliuisci: Wee are bidden to gather vp the verie fragmentes and crummes, that is, not to forget the least benefites. First then J will declare the contentes of this present treatise: Secondly, the reasons that mooued mee thereunto: Lastly, why I would hauehave it passe vnderunder your honors name.
First of all therfore, as in my former booke I hauehave gathered together into one summe (the Lord by the gracious assistance of his spirite directing me) the whole doctrine of the Church of Rome, and opinions of Papistes: in that worke but plainely and nakedly offering to the Readers viewe, the substance of the controuersies, and state of the questions betweene vsus: So further I thought it not amisse, to bring to light, and to shew as in the face of the Sunne, the manifold absurdities, inconueniences, shiftes, subtilties, blasphemies, which our aduersaries in defense of their errours are constrained to vse in oppugning the trueth. This I hauehave accordingly perfourmed, I trust, in this worke, that the weaknes of their cause, the beggerie of their Religion, the vanitie of their Councels, and deceite of their heartes might appeare and be made knowen to all the worlde.
This booke I hauehave intituled, the PILLERS OF PAPISTRIE: which is built vponupon lies and vntruthes, faced out with rayling, and bitter speech, propped vp with blasphemies, and patched together with dissonant & contrarie opinions among them selues. The proofe of these particulars followeth at large discoursed in this treatise. First, as touching thir lying and vntruthes, I could hauehave wished that they had embraced his wise counsell, that saith: Aut cauenda sunt mendacia rectè agendo, aut confitenda paenitendo, non autem cum abundent infoeliciter viuendo, augenda sunt & docendo. August. lib. 2. de mendac. cap. 21. But they are so farre from correcting by repentance, that which they hauehave offended in practise, that they are not onelyonly become liemakers, but lie-maisters, not practisers of this craft, but teachers & defenders. Concerning their railing speech, it is al the Rhetorike they vse: Such are no better then sheep-biters, & meacockes among thē, that hauehave not filed & whetted their toongs to smite & wound vsus withall. But here I say vntounto thē, as Augustine did to the heretike Pascentius: Literae tuae nec ad reddenda conuitia me provocant, Epist. 177.nec a reddendis literis me reuocare potuerunt: So neither shall their rayling writinges prouoke vsus likewise to passe the bondes of modestie, and to pay them home in the same kind, neither yet cause vsus to cease from answering their follies.
Nowe as for their blasphemies, it woulde offend a chast and a Christian eare, to heare what horrible and vngodly sayings doe passe from them: in the second piller of this booke we hauehave set downe a whole kenning of them. But as Augustine saieth to some, who the more readily to descrie heretikes, them selues also fel into blasphemie: tolerabilius in suis foueis delite scerent vulpes, quā De mendacio. lib. 2. cap. 9.propter illas capiendas in blasphemiae foueam caderent venatores: The Foxes might more safely lurke in their holes, then the huntsmen, to take them, should fal into the pit of blasphemie. So though we were the foxes, and they the huntsmen, it is no good way for the huntsmen to snare themselues, to entangle the foxes. But we in deede are the huntsmen, and they the foxes, as it is said, take vsus These foxes, these litle foxes, that destroy the vines. Cantic. 2. 15.
Concerning the dissensions and diuisions among papistes, it is no strange thing, as he saith: Omnia vitia errores que mortaliū August. in Math. ser. 11.diuisi sunt inter se & contrarij: apud Idolorum cultores diuisi sunt spiritus Iunonis & spiritus Herculis; Paganus & Iudaeus hostes sunt Christi, sed diuisi inter se; Arrianus & Photinianus haeretici, & diuisi inter se; sic Donatistae, sic Maximinianistae. All vices and errors among men are deuided and contrary to themselues: among the Idolatrous Heathen, the spirite of Iuno and Hercules are diuided; the Paganes & Iewes enemies to Christ, and yet diuided: the Arrians likewise & Photmians, the Donatistes and Maximinianistes: ad also the Scotistes and Thomistes among the Papistes deuided betweene them selues, yet Ambo pertinent ad regnum diaboli, Both doe belong to the raigne or kingdome of the Deuil.
Now the reasons that hauehave moued me principally to enterprise this businesse, were these. First in respect of those countrie men of ours, which hauehave suffered themselues a long time to be seduced and deceiued with false opinions, and a vaine shew of holines, beeing as it were made drunke with the whore of Babylons intoxicate cuppe: that they now at the length seeing the nakednes & beggerie of popish religion, would take heed to themselues in time, and thinke it enough, yea & too much, to hauehave sipped of that poisoned cuppe, lest drinking more deepely thereof, they afterward bee constrained to draw out the dregges, & to be partakers of their plagues: of them we say with Augustine, Licèt non timentur vt perdant, nonEpist. 105. negligendi sunt tamen, vt pereant: Though we feare them not to hurt vsus, yet they must not be neglected and suffered to be lost.
As for their ring-leaders, and sect-maisters, our counsell also to them is, that they would learne at the length to giuegive place to the trueth: Augustine said of some Heretikes: Puto, quòd ipse diabolus,Epist. 167. si authoritate iudicis, quem ipse elegerat, toties vinceretur, nō esset tam impudens, vt in ea causa persisteret. I thinke if the deuill had beene so often ouercome before a Judge of his owne choosing, hee would not bee so impudent as to persist still in an euill cause. But our aduersaries hauehave bene often vanquished euen by their owne iudges, the testimonies of auncient writers and consent of antiquitie, and yet for all this will not yeld. Well, as one saith, Non oramus vt moriantur inimici, sed vt corrigantur, sic mortui erunt inimici, iam enim correcti non amplius erunt inimici: Wee desire not, that our enimies were dead, but amended, and so our enimies shoulde bee deade, for beeing once amended and corrected, they would no longer bee our enemies.
There are other also of our countrimen, who (though not so far gone as the other, yet) are not sufficiently grounded in knowledge, or setled in iudgement to be able to discerne betweene the truth & errour: Qui breuia non valent intelligere, prolixa non amantAugust. Epist. 101. legere, Who can neither vnderstand briefe matters, nor will abide to read long: for their sakes also hauehave I compiled this treatise, neither verie long to worke vnwillingnesse, nor yet too shorte, to hinder vnderstanding. But euen as they, whichAug. solis loq. ca. 14. hauehave tender etes, do not first behold the sunne, but the fire or the starres, or some such like, and then turne them to looke vppon the sunne: so must wee deale with these men, Gradibus perducendi adsūma sunt: By degrees they must be brought to vnderstande the higher points: For their cause cheifly hauehave I vndertaken this labour, that they which are not able to conceiue the chiefe matters in question, yet may safelie take knowledge of the nakednesse and poorenesse of our aduersaries cause.
Concerning my selfe also, some what there was, which in this respect induced me to sei hand to this plough: for as he saith, Vt discamusAugust. ad Dulcit. qu. 4. inuitare nos debet suauitas veritatis, vt doceamus cogere debet necessitas charitatis: As the pleasantnes of the truth doth entise vsus to learne, so the bond of charitie should vrge vsus to teach. And the rather considering that now is the time or not farre off, wherein the fall of Babylon is to bee expected and looked for, according to the prophesie in the Reuelation: EuerieCap. 18. man, that beareth hatred to the scarlet and bloodthirstie whore, ought to shewe his readinesse in defacing and pulling downe the Kingdome of Antichrist. As Christian Kinges and Princes then by their sacred authoritie hauehave begunne for their part to lay Babylon wast, so is it our part to discouer her nakednes: they are the Lordes Captaines to slay the enemie, wee his watch men to descrie the enemies comming: They with battaile, canons and engins, do batter the walles, wee come with ropes of argument and perswasion to pull downe the towers:2. Sam. 17. 23. They fight with Sauls sword, and put on his kingly armour, wee must assault Goliah with Dauids sling & stones out of the brook. The text saith, they shal make the whore desolate and naked, eateApo. 17. 16 her flesh and consume her with fire. It is our part to strip her, and make her naked, and shew her filthines: by the word of God to descrie their corruptions: Then commeth the Christian magistrate, and eateth her flesh and burneth it with fire, that is, draweth out the sword of Iustice after them. Now in the last place vntounto your honor I briefly direct my speech, vntounto whome I do consecrate, and deuote these labours of mine, as a signe of my thankefulnes, and a pledge of further duety to your honor: as also vntounto one, who him selfe is able to iudge of these matters: neither is it the least part of your honors studie & care to be throughly acquainted with the cō trouersies of Religion: as it is most meete honourable personages should be. Themistocles (as Augustine reporteth it) did not care, that he was counted somewhat rude, because he could not sing to the pipe at feastes: interrogatus, quid sciret, respondit, rempublicam ex paruamagnā facere: It was enough for him to know how to enlarge the commonwealth, of a little one to make it greater: so may I say it belongeth chiefly to Christian Magistrates, scire Religionem ex paruamagnam facere, to know how to enlarge and propagate Religion, and to cause the Gospell to flourish.
The Lord hath aduaunced you to this seate of honor: for promotion, (as the Psalmist saith) neither commeth from the East, norPsal. 71. ver. 6. 7. from the West: but it is the Lord that setteth vp one and pulleth downe another. The chiefe husbandman hath planted you as part of an hedge to keepe his vineyard: your honor now is in place to profite the Church of God greatly, in aduauncing of learning, in helping to furnish the Lordes haruest with plenty of labourers, in encouraging the workemen of Gods house, whose bandes doe hang downe, and their knees waxe feeble. There are many in this land, who would gladly be set a woorke, and can not: whose outward wantes doe slake their inward desire: for that olde saying is most true, foreign: there is no such heauie clogge, as pouertie is: And the Poet spake by good experience:
haud facilè emergunt quorum virtutibus obstat
Res angusta domi.
You (Right Honorable) with the rest, as one well saith, pugnatis contra visibiles inimicos, nos pro vobis contra inuisibiles: your honors by sage counsell and aduise, fight against our visible enemies, but we fight for your by our studie and praiers against the spirituall and inuisible: Let therefore the souldiers of this spirituall warfare be encouraged still, cherished and made strong, to fight their battailes lustely. The Lord hath now made your honor a captaine to leade his souldiers into battaile, and to set them in aray: Augustine writeth well vponupon those wordes: Prouerb. 31. 19. She putteth her handes to the *Aug de tempor. ser. 217. … ▪wherue, & her handes handle the spindle: opus tuum in fuso sit, non in colo, in colo enim est, quod facturus es, in fuso, quod fecisti: Let thy worke be in the spindle not in the distaffe: that is in the distaffe, which thou maiest doe hereafter, that is in the spindle which thou hast alreadie done. So when God bestoweth vponupon a man, honor, riches, authoritie: omnia ist a in colo sunt, transeant ad fusum, These things are yet vponupon the distaffe, let them be spunne out, and turned vponupon the spindle. But your worke, I trust, Right Honourable, is alreadie in Fuso, not in Colo: and wee hope, that vntounto your good beginnings, you will adde also good proceedings: and the Lord both vntounto your good proceeding, and vertuous beginning, shal giuegive an happy end. In te nūc puta cunctorum ora & oculos conuersos, & ad spectaculum vitae tuae totam consedisse Angliam: Al mens eies are vponupon your Honor, and hauehave as it were set led themselues to behold your doings: God grant (and we trust) that all things shall be answearable to their expectation. Lastly, the Lord prosper your godlie enterprises, and giuegive a blessing to your holy Counsels, euen the blessing of Caleb: That as Caleb droue the Anakims great Giantes by strong hand out of Hebron, so at the length, by your prudent & godly counsaile, with the assistance of the rest of the Honorable Lords of the Counsell & Nobilitie, vnderunder the leading of our happy Iosua, & gracious Soueraigne, the Romish Anakims, traiterous Iesuites and Seminaries, with other rebellious and hollow harted Cananites, may be weeded out of the Lords fielde in England: that you with faithfull Caleb and Iosua, may also hauehave an euerlasting inheritance, in the heauenlie Canaan, through the onelyonly merites of Iesus Christ: to whom bee praise for euer.
Tui honoris studiosissimus, ANDREAS WILLET.