Run from Rome, Title page – To the reader
RVNNE FROM ROME. OR A TREATISE SHEWING THE neceſſitie of Separating from the Church of Rome.
Diſputed in theſe Termes: EVERIE MAN IS bound vponupon paine of Damnation to refuſe the Faith of the Church of Rome.
By ANTONY WOTTON. B. D.
REVEL. 18. 4.
Come out of her my people, that ye be not Partakers of her ſinnes, and that ye receiue not of her plagues.
LONDON, Printed by W. J. for Nicholas Bourne, and are to be ſold at his Shop at the South ſide of the Royall-Exchange. 1624.
TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE EDWARD LORD DENNY OF WALTHAM, MY ESPECIALL GOOD LORD.
Right Honorable,
WHen the great God of heauen and earth proclaimed by his Prophet to Eli, 1. Sam. 2. 30 that he would honor them that honour him; he therein implied, both an example and a charge for all men to do the like. Therefore is this actiō of honouring thē that honour God, one of thoſe whereof the holy Ghoſt made choiſe, Pſal. 15. 4. that he might by them giuegive vsus notice of thoſe men which ſhal abide in the Tabernacle of the Lord, and dwell in his holy hill. It is my deſire to performe this dutie to God, by this ſeruice to your Lordſhip: wherein I feele and confeſſe, that I receiue far more then I can poſsibly giuegive. For by deſiring to honour our Lordſhip for your zeale in honouring God, I encreaſe mine owne hope, that I am of their number, who hauehave obtained already ſome part of his grace, and ſhall hereafter hauehave entrance into his glorie. GiueGive me leaue (noble Lord) to forget, in this reſpect, my particular obligation to your Honour, for your continuall bountie to me, and good opinion of me, that I hauehave an vnfained deſire to maintaine the truth of God, profeſt in this famous Church of England, againſt the ſubtill and dangerous errors of the Romiſh Synagogue. For I truly and willingly profeſſe, that the conſideration of your Lordſhips feruent zeale for the glory of God, zealous louelove of his truth, and true deteſtation of Popery, hauehave ſo poſſeſt and rauiſht my heart with a longing after your Honour, that it will not ſuffer any other of your noble vertues (though many and great) either to come into compariſon with it, or to hauehave the leaſt place in my thoughts, while it is in preſence. This (in my apprehenſion) is as much to true honour, as in Demoſthenes opinion, pronuntiation was to true eloquence. Let them, that will dote, vponupon their worldly greatneſſe, as the Peacocke is in louelove with his owne feathers. It is true honour to be honourable in his ſight, who onelyonly is worthy of honour; and yet graciouſly vouchſafeth to giuegive and to command that honour be giuegive to his faithfull ſeruants. This is the foundation of your Lordſhips honour in my heart, and vponupon this ground wil I daily offer vp my poore prayers to God for your good Lordſhip, your noble and truly vertuous Lady, and hopefull of ſpring, that it would pleaſe him to ſhewer downe eueryevery day more & more the comfortable dew of his grace and bleſsing vponupon eueryevery one of you, to the increaſe of all honour in this life, and happineſſe in the life to come, through Jeſus Chriſt our Lord:
In whom I ſhall euer be at your Lordſhips ſeruice to be commanded, Antony Wotton. Tower-Hill May 3. 1624.
TO THE CHRISTIAN READER.
THe Councell of Trent confirmed by the Pope, is the chiefe Oracle of the Church of Rome: from it ſhe receiues all doctrines neceſſarie to be beleeued vntounto ſaluation; Romiſh Catholikes hold it for a principle, that whatſoeuer is deliuered therein for doctrine, is an article of faith, and muſt ſtedfaſtly be beleeued vponupon paine of damnation: he that doth not, is pronounced an Hereticke, and is made lyable to a (ſuppoſed) heauy curſe. What little reaſon there is that Papiſts ſhould yeeld ſuch blind obedience to the Canons of that Councell, may appeare by a plaine (but true) teſtimonie which was giuen thereunto by a Biſhop, a member of that Church and Councell, who was preſent thereat; This teſtimonie I hauehave thought good to prefixe to this my Treatiſe, becauſe in it I diſpute againſt the doctrine of faith deliuered in the ſaid Councell.
Andraeas Dudithius Biſhop of Quinqueccleſiae, Quinqueccleſiae, is acitty in Lungarie, calle… in German …unſ…rchin in Turkiſh …nden or ….and Embaſſadour in the Councell of Trent for Maximilan the ſecond Emperour: in an Epiſtle to the ſaid Emperour, (wherein he deliuereth his iudgement about granting the Cup to the Laitie, and the marriage of Prieſts,) writes thus of the Councell of Trent.
WHat good could be done in that Councell where voyces were taken by number, not by weight? If argument, if reaſon might hauehave preuailed, if we had had ſome and thoſe not many to take part with vsus, though we ſhould hauehave bin but a few: yet had vve ouerthrowne the grēat forces of our aduerſaries: but when all ſtood vponupon number, wherein we were much inferiour, we could not get the better, though our cauſe were the better. The Pope was able to ſet an hundreth of his againſt eueryevery one of ours: and if an hundreth were not ſufficient, he could vponupon a ſundaine hauehave created a thouſand to ſuccour them that were readie to faint and periſh. Therefore we might ſee eueryevery day hungrie and needie Biſhops, and theſe for the moſt part beardleſſe younkers, and wastfully ryotous, come in flocks to Trent, hired to giuegive their voices according to the Popes humour, vnlearned indeed and fooliſh, but of good vſe to him for their audaciouſneſſe and impudencie. When theſe fellowes were ioyued to the Popes old ſlatterers, then iniquitie got the vpper hand and triumphed: neither could any thing be decreed but according to their liking, who thought it the higheſt point of religion to defend the power and royot of the Pope. There was in the Councell a graue and learned man who could not endure this indignitie: but the Councell by terrour threatning and bayting him as one that was no good Catholike, drew him to yeeld to that which he did no way like of. In a word, things are brought to that paſſe by their diſhoneſty who came prepared and made for the nonce, that it ſeemed to be a Councell not of Biſhops, but of puppies: not of men, but of images, who (as it is reported of Daedalus Statues) were moued not by their owne but by other mens nerues, and muſcles. Thoſe hireling Biſhops moſt of them were like Countrey Bagpipes, which muſt hauehave breath blowne into them before they can ſound. The holy Ghoſt had nothing to doe with that Couenticle, all things were argued by human pollicy, which was wholly employed in maintaining the immoderate, & indeed moſt ſhameleſſe Lordſhip & Domination of the Popet. From thence were anſwers looked and wayted for, as it were from the Oracles of Delphos or Dodona: from thence the holy Ghoſt, who (as they brag) is Preſident of their Councell, was ſent ſhut vp in the Carriers budgets and packes, who (a thing worthy to be laught at) when the waters were vp as it falls out many times, was faine to ſtay till they were downe againe before he could repaire to the Councell. By this it came to paſſe that the Spirit was not carried vponupon the waters as in Geneſis, but along beſides the waters. O monſtrous and incredible madnes! Nothing that the Biſhops as it were the Bodie of the Church reſolued of, could be of any force, vnleſſe it came firſt from the Pope as the head of the bodie.
Epigramma G. B. de Rome et papa.
Non ego Romulea miror quod Paſtor in vrbe
Sceptra gerat, Paſto… conditor vrbis erat,
Quumque lupae gentis nutritus lacte ſit Autor,
Non ego Romulea miror in vrbo lupos.
Haectantum ſuperat noſtrum admiratio captum,
Quomodo ſecurum praeſtet ovile lupus.
The ſame tranſlated.
It is not ſtrange a Shepheard raignes in Rome.
For he that built it, was a Shepheards Groome.
Nor is it ſtrange that wolues in Rome abound.
He ſuckt a wolſe, that did the Cittie found.
But this is ſtrange, and farre aboue my skill,
How wolues ſhould keepe the flocke ſecure from ill.