Doctor Hills Reasons for Upholding of Papistry Unmasked, Dialogue 8

Doctor Hills Reasons for Upholding of Papistry Unmasked · Dialogue 8

p. 302THE EIGHTH REASON. Scriptures.

T. HILL.

NEither may heere the Protestant reply and say, that the Papists builde vponupon Miracles, Uisions, Prophecies and vponupon such like, but not vponupon the UUorde; for all that they alleadge, are most agreeable to the word of God. Neither doe they teach any doctrine but such as is derived out of the holy Bible.

p. 303G. ABBOT.

HOw you build vponupon the Scriptures, and what account you make of the word of God, we need no better man to declare then your selfe, who do evidently shew to all the worlde, in what reverende esteeme you hauehave the sacred Oracles of the Lords booke, when you thinke this to bee a fit place to speake of the Scriptures, after your false imputed name of Catholikes, your Uanity and Cousening, your Perverting of Consciences, your lying Miracles, and other your not base, but most base and refuse stuffe. And as you doe place it worthily, so you insist vponupon it largely, in this your whole Pamphlet consisting of an 187. Pages, allowing not full out one leafe vntounto that, which is the aaLuk. 10: 42Luke 10:42Unum necessarium, the sole anker of our hope, the foundation of our confidence, the ioy of our harts. VVherein you do as your graund Captaines do teach you, who vse but meane speeches concerning this word of God, yea and your Conventicle of bbSession: 4.Trent wickedly equalling and making of the same authority the traditions of men with the written Scripture; which sacrilegious impiety and impure blasphemy, while your auditours do not perceiue & decline, they shew themselues not only blinded but bewitched with the cup of the ccApoc: 17: 21whores inchantments. And even with the like reverence you do vse it here, as it were casting it into an odde corner, and naming it no otherwise, but as to fill vp your nūber, so skirting by it, or skipping over it as the ddPli: l. 8. 40 Solin: c: 25dogs in Egypt do by the river Nilus, where they dare not stand and drinke, but lap as they runne, and runne as they lap for feare of a Crocodile. So when you come to the Scripture, you wil stand to nothing, but touch and goe, for fear least some thing should here start out, which should devour you and your Popery. If you had beene a man of mettal, if there had beene ought in the Bible assuredly making for you, you should from thence hauehave cleered some question, as the sacrifice of your Masse, the Supremacy of p. 304your Pope, the lawfulnes of your Priest-hood, or one thing or another questioned and controversed, & not hauehave dealt by it, as one would handle thornes, or take a coale of fire in his hand, being glad when he is first rid of it. Well, we must beare with you for your brevity in this Chapter: but for the manner of this your placing, I cannot chuse but smile, to thinke how you were troubled in this your short consultation, whither you should now be beholding to Campian, or to your old Master Bristow: for borrow needs you must: that is your profession: & Bristow you must not leaue, no not for a little moment, especially since eeMotiv: 8…somewhere he hath these very matters: And yet notwithstanding some variety of stealing would do well: not all out of Bristowe. The resolution then grew that Campians concisenesse was fitter here for your humour, and his very words you would vse. But to set them as the ffCam. Rat. ….Iesuit did, in the forefront of your booke, were to lay your selfe too open; for some body might hauehave taken his booke, and first read it out of Latin, and then your first Chapter if it had beene your first Chapter, and read it in English. To satisfie both then, you took this honest course, that the words should be Campians, and the Methode should be Bristowes, you placing the treatise of the Scripture behind, as worthy Bristow had done before you. This sheweth that you hauehave a prety wit of your own. To come now to the matter, our reply is in truth as you say, that the sandy foundation of all your rotten building doth rest vponupon vncertaineties, your miracles are most fained, your visions are forged, your Prophecies false, all of them out of date, no inforcement of verity to be gathered from them. And on the otherside, you hauehave little acquaintance with the word of God, neither by your good wils do you desire it. That which you doe, you are vrged vntounto by vsus, and then you wrest, you wring, you straine, you stretch, to make some shew for that, which originally is dravvne from your humane inventions. And when it is once set vp, then you labour to hauehave some colour to warrant it, or at least to make some glose howe simple folke may take it for good payment. Your workes of supererogation, whereby a man may doe more then deserue heaven for himselfe, and hauehave somewhat to spare for other, your dispensatiō of the treasure of your Church by the p. 305Indulgences of your Pope, your Canonizing of Saints, your creating of Lumbus, your forging of Purgatory, & a multitude more or rable rather of vpstart novelties since the age of the Apostles, are derived frō the tricks of their wit, who hauehave made their purse, their belly, and their worldly pompous honour to be their God, their summū & solum bonū. As for the sacred word, frō thence they are not taken; vnlesse you meane that they be so derived out of the holy Bible, as that they were never in it; & so we deny not, but your superstition may be taken out of it. But were these controversed matters but probably to be collected out of the sacred Oracles, you would not runne to such beggerly shiftes, as in this whole Pamphlet of yours, you are driven vntounto. They must make a shew with Counters, & cary about thē a purse full stuffed with them, who want gold and silver, & yet cannot for beare, but they will be craking.

T. HILL.

ANd for the maintaining thereof, they are not compelled to deny certaine parts of Gods holy Booke, as the Protestants and their Prede▪ Aug. lib. 28▪ con faust c: 2. & de vtil. cred. cap. 3.cessours, heretikes, hauehave beene inforced to doe. The Manichees for that their heresies were so manifestly confuted by the Gospell of Saint Matthew, and by the Actes of the Apostles, as they sould coine no answere, nor other shift, they denyed them to be Scripture. The Ebionites because the Epistles of Saint Paule disproved most plainely Circumcision, which they maintained, denyed them to be Scripture. Luther reiected the Epistle of S. Iames, because it was so plaine against the doctrine of only faith. His of-spring refused the Bookes of Tobias, of Ecclesiasticus, of the Machabees and of some others, because in them is plainely taught the Doctrine of the custody of Angels, of Free-will, of Praier for the Faithfull Soules departed, and of Praier to Saints, all which they deny, and therefore must they needs deny those parts of the holy Bible.

G. ABBOT.

2 YOu charge vsus with denying of some partes of Gods holy booke, as not making for vsus: and certainely we shoulde repute our selues men impious and irreligious, if wee tooke any p. 306thing away from that which is so absolute, that it may well bee compared to a Circle, where if any thing be added, it maketh a balke, if any thing be subtracted, it maketh a bracke. We do right wel know, that he who taketh away ought frō the word of the everlasting God, the Lord shal take away his ggApoc. 22. 19.Rev 22:19portion out of the booke of life, (for the speech may be applied to the whole Scripture as wel as to S. Iohns Revelation) But we wil you to remēber the other part of the holy Ghosts divisiō, that God shal adde the hhVers. 18.plagues writen in that booke, to him who addeth ought to the book of the Lord. Whē therfore you labour to establish that for authētical, which is not inspired frō the holy Ghost, but a matter seperat & seiunct, you may iustly fear least you incurre that peril, which you would post of to vsus. What heretiks hauehave done against the Divine volume, we dislike and detest as wel as you. We condemne it in the iiAugust de vtilit. credend cap. 2: & 3:Manichees that they accepted not the old Testament; that they questioned the Gospell of Saint Matthew as not being that which S. Matthew wrote, because it manifestlie shewed that Christ was born a mā, which they denied; that they extenuated the authority of the Acts of the Apost. as being much corrupted. For this their-sacrilegious attēpt, we cēsure thē as deep ly, & cōdēne thē as much as you do. The like mind we do cary of the kkEuse: Eccl. Hist▪ l: 3: 21:Ebionits, whose opiniōs sprūg vp in the time of the Evāg. S. Iohn, & they wold gladly hauehave retained circūcisiō stil, as being a necessary duty of the Lawe, & that which Christ & his Apostles had received in their own persōs. And because S. Pauls Epistles had so directly oppugned this their cōceit, as also had shewed the whole ceremonial law to be extīguished, they would clean hauehave expūged thē out of the Canō. We repute these for evil heretiks, & we accept of al the bookes of the old Testamēt, which can be proved to be the Testamēt, & we questiō nothīg of the New. Only as you wold not like, if vntounto the new Testamēt the Gospell of Nicodemus, or Hermes his Apocriphal Pastor shold be sewed, so we cānot endure that those tracts should be reputed part of the Hebrews Canō, which the Iews never knew. These 2. Periods of the Manichees & Ebionits, as also the 2. next touchīg Luther & his of-sprīg, you hauehave trāslated word for word out of Cāpiās first Reasō. And if there had bin in you grace, & an indifferēt mīd, you p. 307might also hauehave seene this slāder cōcerning Luther llGul. Wh… taken Resp. ad Ration. Campiani…answered. But your meaning is to be wilfully blind. There is nothing more false then thar Luther reiected the Epistle of Iames. He acknowledged it as Scripture, & cited it as he did other books. And how shāfully was Cāpian put to his plūges, whē havīg Luthers works laid before him, & being bidde turne to that place, where Luther so depressed & vilefied that Epistle, he could find no such thīg, but said it was so in a copy of Luthers works which was at Prage in the Emperours Library. And if any had sought it there, then the booke had beene removed to some other place, as the mmMunsten Cosmogr: l: 2:tree which Aeneas Silvius saith was sought in diverse coūtries, & still missed; that tree I meane whose leaues fallīg into the river, were turned into Barnacles. You might do wel in behalfe of Campian to shew some one of Luthers followers in Germany, Dēmarke or else-where, who is so opposite to S. Iames his Epistle: for those whom some cal the Rigidi Lutherani, do sinke nothing which he held. Since thē both they & we, & al who professe the reformed Religion, do accoūt it Canonical, it is but an idle speculation to make that obiection. And why should Luther fly that booke as crossing the doctrine of only faith, since all other who maintaine that doctrin, do accept of that Epi. also. S. Iames doth not thwart that which S. Paul had taught: for the spirit of God is not cōtrary to it self, & if there be any difficulty in one nnIac: 2: 24:single text of that Epistle, it is to be explicated out of other places, which are more cleere & opē. S. Paule thē in his Epistles to the Romans & Galathiās, hath so manifested that point of Iustificatiō by faith alone, that he who without preiudice wil read the text, shal never need any Cōmentary. It is so plaine that diverse Papists looking into that, & laying aside false and perverted glosses, hauehave embraced that doctrine. ooSleidan. l: 21:Vergerius who intēded to write against Luther in that Argumēt, was by traversing of it, caught himselfe. Nay Ferus and Albertus Pighius who otherwise is a grosse Papist, hauehave subscribed vntounto it. And wheras our Papists obiect, that S. Paul saying that a mā is iustified without the workes of the law, doth meane nothing else but the ceremonial law; that is lōg since refuted & resolved by S. ppAug: de spirit. & liter, cap, 14:Austē otherwise. The same father also doth notably shewe, that there is no contrariety betvveene the tvvo p. 308qqIn 83, quaest, c. 76.Apostles; for that when S. Iames doth say that a man is iustified by works, he doth no more crosse S. Paule, then the same Apostle doth crosse himselfe rrRom. 2. 13.Rom 2:13saying, The hearers of the Lavve are not righteous before God: but the doers of the Law shall bee iustified. That it is most true which S. Paule hath, that a man is iustified by faith without workes, because no works done before beleeving, helpe toward iustification: but that in beleeving actually a man is reputed iust before God, & that if he die immediatly, having no time to worke, yet he by beleeving is iustified: Notwithstanding that if he liue he ought to bring forth good fruit. His cōclusion is that S. Paule doth speake of workes going before faith, & S. Iames speaketh of works following that faith which hath iustified. And a right beleefe wil not be without them, if it have time to shew it selfe. I might heere adde how frequent a thing it is, with diverse Doctors of the Church, to vse the word of onelyonly faith in speaking of our Iustificatiō; but of that hereafter. Thē to shew that neither Luther nor we need feare the Epistle of S. Iames, as crossing our other doctrine, we say that S. Paule doth speake of acceptatiō to be iust, S. Iames intendeth a declaration that we are iustified: the one beateth on that before God, where the setled apprehension of faith prevaileth, which notwithstāding wil not be without his convenient fruit; the other mentioneth that before men, who know not the hart, but must iudge of that which is externall, & therefore it is rightly said by the Apostle, in their persons, ss…, 2. 18.Shew mee thr faith out of th…e owne workes.

3 Whom you meane by the of-spring of Luther we cānot telt but if al who refuse those books be termed his of-spring, his children shalbe a thousand yeeres elder then himselfe; for many of the most anciēt fathers did disclaime the books of Tobias, Ecclesiasticus, & the Machabees for being Canonical. & if the rule of ssHist, Ecol, lib, 3. 19,Eusebius he good, (as no wise mā wil deny it), that the Canonical volumes may be distiguished frō the Apocryphal & suppositious, by the iudgmēt of the church, by the stile, by the matter & purpose of the books, they had great reasō not to acknowledge thē; for the Church vniformly did never admit thē, & they are not writtē in the language of the Iews, to whō ttRom. 3, 2.Rom 3:2were cōmitted the Oracles of God, & therfore if they were part of Gods Oracles before p. 309the comming of Christ, these Iewes should hauehave admitted them and retained them: which they did not: and the matter of them is but meane and ignoble in comparisō of the vndoubted Scripture. What a doubtful narration is that in uuCap. 6. 17Tobias, that a spirite should smell a perfume, (when spirits hauehave no flesh & bones, by the testimony of uuLuc: 24. 39Christ himselfe, & cōsequētly no organes of sc̄e) & that the hart & liver of a fish should drive away the Devil? Which if it were so, S. Peter was much overseene, when he taught vsus how to repulse Sathā, by xx1 Pet. 5: 9.1 Pet 5:9resisting him being stedfast in the faith. For it had bin an easier way to have said, get you the hart & liver of such a fish, & make a perfume with it, & he dareth not come nigh you. And this would wel hauehave beseemed S. Peter to set men to catch such fish, in remēbrance of his owne occupatiō, since himselfe was a fisher. But what if yong Toby had met with such a spirit, as those were of whom Christ saith, yyMatth. 17. 21.Matt 17:21This kind goeth not out but by fasting and praier? The treatise called Ecclesiasticus, if for any cause it should come into the Canon, it must be for Salomons sake, whom many would hauehave to bee the authour of it. But the Preface it selfe remaineth, confessing it to be the worke of Iesus Sirachs sonne, & of another Iesus his grande-father: and the booke mētioneth zzCap: 48. & 46.Elias, Ezechias, Iosias, Ieremy & diverse other, who lived hundreds of yeeres after Salomon. And howe questionable a narration is that in it, that aaCap 46. 20:Samuel should tell of Saules death after his owne burial, which as diverse learned men thinke, is a report to be beleeved in Necromācy rather thē in Divinity. For if the souls of the righteous being departed, be in the hād of God, which our Romanists must cōfesse out of the booke of bbCap: 3. 1:Wisdome, & we do beleeue out of the saying of David ccPsal 31. 5.Ps 31:5Into thine hād I cōmend my spirit, if those who die in the Lord, ddApoc: 14: 13:do rest frō their labors, how shal we suppose that the soule of such an excellēt Prophet as Samuel was, might be at the cōmand of so base & vile a witch, to be fetched frō heaven at her pleasure? Or what rest shal other faithfull men and women bee imagined to hauehave after this life, if Necromancers, VVitches and Coniurers hauehave such power over them? Albeit therefore that some of the auncient speaking according to the ee1. Sam: 2…: 15:letter of the texte, doe name him who appeared, Samuel, because hee came vp in the likenesse p. 310of Samuel, as ffEpistol. 80.Basile when hee saith that the VVitch raised Samuel from the deade, and some other not sifting the pointe doe affirme it to bee the soule of Samuel himselfe, as ggAntiquit. 6. 15Iosephus the lewe, and hhDialog … Tryphon:Iustinus Martyr, yet other more exactly looking into it, tell vsus otherwise, as S. Austen when he calleth that which appeered iiDe doctr. Christ lib. 24 23.the image of Samuel, and especially Basile who elsewhere more advisedly pronounceth that kkBasil in … cap 8.they were Devils, which hissing with their voice did transforme themselues into the habite and person of Samuel. Yea llChron l 1:Genebrard himselfe maketh a great doubt whither it were Samuel or no, and citeth Tertullian and diverse other of the Auncients resolving the contrary. As for the bookes of Machabees there be many thinges in them, that no man can maintaine (& therfore no part of them is so much as reade in our Church) as that mm1. Mach. 1. 7:1 Macc 1:7Alexāder parted his kingdome among his servants while he was alive, that the nnCap 8 7.Romanes tooke the greate Antiochus aliue, that they tooke from him ooCap. 8. 8.India, and Media, and Lydia, and gaue them to King Eumenes: that they had a Senate consisting of ppVers. 15.three hundred and twenty men who consulted daily: that they yeerely committed their qqVers. 16.government to one man, whom all obeied; and that there was no hatred or envy amongst them. Also it wil never bee made hang togither that Iudas should be aliue in the rr2: Math 1. 10.Matt 1:10hundred fo…escore & eight yeere, and yet he should be slaine in the ss1 Mac 9. 3.1 Macc 9:3hundred fifty and two yeere. Neither that Antiochus should ss1 Mac. 6. 8:1 Macc 6:8die in his bed for griefe and sorrow, and in another place should be slaine in the temple of tt2. Mach: 1: 13. 16.Nanea, and there hauehave his head and the heads of his company cut of, and in a third uuCap. 9: 28:passage should die a miserable death in a strange country among the mountaines, & that should be only by the uuDan 8. 25.Dan 8:25hand of God, & without any helpe of man. Nor that xx2. Mach 1. 18.2 Macc 1:18Nehemias should builde the Temple & the aulter at Ierusalem, vvhen indeede they vvere yyEzr. 313. & cap 6: 15:builte before his comming vp; nor that it is to bee founde in the vvorkes of zz2. Mac: 2: 1:Ieremie the Prophet, that he commaunded the people who were ledde away captiue, to take fire with thē. Moreover it were worth the knowing, how by good Divinity the fact of Razias aaCap. 14: 42:murthering himselfe may any wise be cōmended. And whether such as were the pen-mē of the holy Ghost, do vse to craue pardon of their infirmity p. 311& insufficiēty, in delivering that which is to be named Canonical Scripture, which the bbCap: 15: 39author of the later book of the Machabees doth. Many more such blemishes are to be foūd in these tracts, which evidently shew that no doctrine of infallible verity can be grounded vponupon them: but where they hauehave ought agreeing with the Canonical Scriptures they may bee accepted, because they consent with the other; where they hauehave ought disagreeing, that same cannot be warranted because it is in these Apocriphal to be found, but it is to be repudiated as the errour of a man, since a greater, (God himselfe who speaketh in his owne word,) doth impugne it.

4 Now for the points of doctrine which you would vrge out of these bookes, thus we say. That Angels are deputed to safegard Gods elect we doubt not; for the ccPsal: 34: 7:Angel of the Lord pitchethroūd about thē that feare him, & delivereth thē, & those whō the dd2: Reg: 6. 17:servant of Elizeus saw, do testifie so farre, neither do we so much as call it into question, but that they are eeHebr. 1. 14,Heb 1:14ministring spirites, sent & imploied in messages, as the ffLuc, 1, 26,Angel Gabriel was to the Virgin Mary, & when and where otherwise it pleaseth God. But what can our Papists collect hence? That they are to be prayed vntounto, or that they are to be worshipped? We find no warrant any where for the former: & they thēselues refuse the latter. I ggApoc. 19: 10,Rev 19:10am one of thy fellow servaunts saith the Angel to Iohn, Worship God. Or can they proue that an Angell doth so sensibly, & serviceably waite on men, as this mentioned in Tobias is reported to do? And if they could, what doth it crosse any point in our religion, since al must be done by the Lords appointment, & the glory must be given vntounto him? As for free-vvill in that sence which the Church of Rome doth teach it, we deny. Neither doth the text of Ecclesiasticus hhEccle. 15, 15,Sir 15:15necessarily inforce it, being as fit to be vnderstood only of Adam in his first creation, as otherwise. And the words of this writer being soberly taken, may cary no other sence then vvhat is to be found in vndoubted bookes of iiDeut: 30, 19,Scripture; vvhichwhich textes notwithstanding we deny not, but by comparing place to place give them their right exposition. VVe acknovvledge the freedome of mās hart to do evil; as also that by the Spirit of God the will of the regenerate is freed to do good; but this is not so much p. 312liberum as liberatum arbitrium not so much a will free, as freed, nothing being in the power of man himselfe, but all bestowed by God. But concerning this we shal speake more largly hereafter. The place of the kk2. Mac: 12 42…Machabees is too weake, to proue praier for faithfull soules lying in Purgatory to be lawfull. The text it selfe in the Originall is so perplexe, that an evident and certain sence cannot be made of the words. And who doth not see there, that they were not faithful persons, but rather grosse sinners which were slaine, and such as may bee thought to hauehave received a iust iudgment from God, both on body and foule, for medling with the Anathema or excommunicate thing? Iudas therfore who was a man so experienced in the law of Moses, could not be so simple as to send an offring, or to cause praiers to be made for the soules of them who were thus flaine, (especially when all offrings were prescribed in the Leviticall law, but there was none immediately concerning the persons of dead men, but all for the living:) this therefore was the misse-conceite of the authour, writing therein his owne fancie, rather then the fact of Iudas. For that worthy man wel knewe, that the atonement and reconciliation was to be made, for the rest of the people and army which lived, who might smart in and for their fellowes sinne, as their fore-fathers had done for the llIosua. 7. 5.Josh 7:5transgression of Achan. The offring then and praier at Hierusalem was to prevent this, and not for the soules of them who dyed in their sinne, and were not godly persons as the wordes of the Authour may seeme to import. That men should pray to Saints, I finde nothing in these treatises. Only somewhat there is that mmMac. 15: 12 14.Onias and Ieremy did pray for the whole people of the Iewes. And what will you infer vponupon these? You might vnderstand, that we deny not, that the Saints in heaven do pray in general for the good of the Church: but that they in particular, know our wants, heare our callings, vnderstand our wishes, that remaineth for you to proue. Besides you might perceiue that this was a Vision, wherein things are represented otherwise then really they are, as it was with S. Peter, who conceived that a nnAct: 10. 11sheete full of all cleane and vncleane beasts was let downe vntounto him, which neverthelesse I trust you will not say was so indeed. So that from the words & circumstances of a Vision, p. 331you can concludingly evince no more, then from the words and circumstances of a P…rable: and that is little: but from the end, vse, and scope of both, you may to good purpose collect somewhat. And yet farther without impiety it may be doubted whither the Generall here did not vse a tricke of war, which Alexander and other Graund leaders hauehave experimented, that is to incourage men by a dreame artificially fained and reported, the benefit whereof in worldlye mens iudgement is such, that ooCa: 20: 146Leo Imperator in his military precepts hath this for one, Thou shalt cause in thy souldiours alacrity to the battaile, if on the day of fighte thou rising in the morning, shalt say that some dreame was sent vntounto thee from God, which doth incite thee to invade thine enemies, and sheweth thee some kinde of helpe to fight. Then if you had your will touching the authority of these controversed books, you could not make one quarter of the gaine by them as you suppose, but since they are not of the right stampe, we may not allow thē to you. Be the matter in thē for vsus or agaīst vsus, we may not authorize those for Authentike Scripture, which God hath not so authorized. In the 2. of the Machabees there is a place against Limbus Patrū, where one of the seven brethren saith, ppCap 7: 36My brethren that hauehave suffered a little paine, are now vnderunder the divine covenant of everlasting life, that is to say, at that very time inioying it, and in possession of it, for if it be vnderstood but of the way thither, the mother and brother yet remaining aliue, were also vnderunder that covenant of assured hope: but we account not of this testimony, neither do wee vrge it, because the booke whence it is taken, is Apocryphal.

T. HILL.

FOr Heretikes ever framed the Bible to their opinions, changing, wresting, paring, and somtimes flatly reiecting al which made over-plainly against such Doctrine as they devised, and so doe most impudently the Protestants now. Wheras the Catholikes ever squared their Doctrine by the line and the levell of the Word of her Spouse, and therefore never had cause to reiect the least iote of the holy Bible, and at one worde the Catholikes followe the Bible, but the Protestantes force the Bible to followe them.

p. 314G. ABBOT.

5 WHat heretiks do to the Bible, or how they intreat it, we respect not, neither doth it make ought against vsus, til you hauehave first proved vsus to be heretiks. Nay look you well to it, whither you do not seclude vsus from being heretiks; since we do not change, wrest, & pare the Bible. We allow al Scripture to be Scripture, we wrēch nothing, we alter nothing, but avow that our collections and interpretations, are consonant to other places of Gods sacred word, and in all points material are to be warranted out of some, or many of the ancient fathers of the Primitiue Church, which when any of you shall iumpe vponupon, we never refuse to put in trial with you. Now that you Pseudo-Catholiks do that indeed, wherwith you wrongfully charge vsus, how can you deny, when you admit for qqCōc: Triden▪ Sess: 4…authenticall no copy nor translation of the Scripture, but the vulgar Latin, which hath diverse flawes and gaps in it, much being missing which is in the Originall Hebrew & Greek? When almost in al your rrVaux Catechi. Horae beatissim. Virginis.Catechismes & other books you leaue out the second Cōmandement touching Images, as too plainly cōvincing your idolatrous carved & painted stuffe in Churches. So whē in the Eucharist you take the Cup frō the ssCōc: Constat. Sess 13people, cōtrary to Christs institution, & the relation of the forme of that Sacrament by S. Paule, expoūding ssMat: 26. 27Drinke you all of this, to be meant of the Clergy only, how do you wrest and pare? As when you say, that your Masse is a dayly reall sacrifice, wheras the ttHeb: 7: 27: cap: 10: 18▪Author to the Hebrews so copiously disputeth, that there is no more sacrifice for fin. Briefly you do little better then take away all the Bookes of the Bible, when for so many yeares togither you willingly suffred not the laity to looke into them: And how do you pervert the Scripture to confirme that abuse, as when uuIn Apolog.Staphilus directly applyeth to that purpose the text, uuMat: 7: 6:GiueGive not that which is holy vntounto dogs, so accounting the laity to be no better then dogges and swine. Yea your great Rabbins, Peter xxLib: 3: Distinct: 25Lombard the Master of the Sentences, & Thomas of yyAquin: 2.Aquine can finde so much in that place of Iob, zz…: art: 6.The Oxen were plovving, and the Asses were feeding in their places, taking the oxen plovving to signifie the Priests reading the Scripture, & the Asses feeding p. 315Iob▪ 1. 14.Job 1:14to be the people not troubling their heads with such matters; but contenting themselues to beleeue in grosse, as the Church and Cleargy do beleeue, Are not these sweet men, & do they not frō dogs & swine, & Oxen & Asses, proue their matters handsomely? Thus you square your doctrine by the level of the Babilonish harlot, & no otherwise: folowing the Bible verily as many in Lō don do follow the Law, when they go to Westminster after the Iudges who know much law, but their followers study & vnderstand little of it. So you sometimes let the Bible stand in your Libraries or studies before you, but you look little in it, & take very small acquaintance of it; & when any thing commeth to bee questioned, you had leifer be tryed by any thing then that, and for traditions you wil striue as for your soule, knowing they must do the deed in vpholding your Popery, or els al wil to the groūd; for in the Scripture it hath no footing. But we contrarywise doe teach our people to cary with them Gods booke, to read it and meditate on it, to try our teachīgs therby, & not to force the exposition thereof to their own humour, but to the purpose of the holy Ghost. And so I leaue you, and this your slaunder.

6 Here to proceed a litle farther in the matter of this Motiue; we are charged (as the Reader doth see) to offer iniury to the scriptures, in denying those to be Canonicall whō the Romanists do grace with that name. But what is our fault? Is it that we do not allow all that to bee of vndoubted authority, which is within the cōmon volumes of the Bible? Yea that is it, as M. Bristow & his fellows belike wold say. We answer that if this be it, the Church of Rome it selfe is gilty of that crime. For are there not 2. books which are cōmonly called the 3. & 4. of Esdras, which thēselues evermore cōprise within their Bibles, & yet repute not Canonical? No better triall of this then by the aaSession▪ 4…Councell of Trent, which reckoning vp the sacred. Volumes doeth with those vvhichwhich are not controversed, yea with those which are past controversie, ioyne Tobias, …dith, Wisdome, Ecclesiasticus and the two books of the Machabees, but of these of Esdras not a word. Heere then by the iudgement of that renoumed Synode, (which curleth as many as ioine not with it) some tractes in the Bible are now as good as leaped out of the Bible. p. 316This fact of theirs wil warrāt our proceedings; since by the same reason wherefore they seclude some, may more bee shut out, if they do deserue it. Gentle Genebrard saw this wel, and therfore he was desirous, although it were but by the head & shoulders, to hauehave pulled in these two bookes againe. bbLib. 2: Chron: An. 3638. & postea:He therefore more then once is vehement for them, & would make vsus belieue, that although in the first Synode which long since did canonize the bookes of holy writte, they were not admitted, yet in a later Synode the Canon was made larger. And reasons for this he maketh shew to giuegive. But it is too late Genebrard; you come after the faire. The Councel which cannot erre hath shut them out of dores: the Pope hath ratified their Decree, & therfore you lose your labour; and you are but one man against so many Fathers; therfore best pul in your hornes. For as with your owne side you are like to gaine nothing, so otherwise you wil pul an olde house on your head, whē by your example you teach vsus, that a private man may question, yea conclude against that which your Counsels hauehave determined. Where by the way, let not the simple and vnlearned Christian wonder, that in this best booke the Bible, there should be any thing which is not properly a member of it; for we therin as also in reading some part of them publikely, doe but imitate the custome of the most auncient & purest ccZanch. in Observat: in cap. 1… Confessiō:Churches, ioyning that with Gods most sacred word, which vniversally hath bin ioyned among Christians, since almost the eldest times, and is not refused by the most reformed Churches at this day; but we distinguish these writings from the divine volumes, and note them by the name or appellation of Apocripha, as hidden in comparison of the bright light of the other, which may wel endure the light and sunne-shine. And by a little Preface before those doubted bookes as also by the Articles of Religion agreed on in Cōvocation, An. 1562. we teach what opinion the Church hath of them; that they are not received to be publikely expoū ded, nor to confirme matters of doctrine, but only as they cōsent with the other which are Canonical; or onelyonly as the writings of some godly men, which may serue to giuegive light to the history, or containe some not vnprofitable instructiōs touching good manners. And these things in our Sermōs & writings we do fequētly p. 317notify. So that this indifferent course being held, there is no iust cause of offence givē either to the weake beleever, or to the malitious & clamorous adversory; that being done which anciently in the best Christian Churches was done, and yet the people be taught but howe and in what sence it is done. Nay, our Church hath beene so carefull for giving any vvay iust occasion of scandale in this matter, that it permitteth the Minister to reade in steede of any of these Apocriphal Chapters, other Canonicall lessons vponupon the Sun-daies and Holy-daies, and therefore much more vponupon the working-daies, as hee in his wisedome & iudgement shal see fit, requiring of him prudence & discretion in that behalfe. Which appeareth in the Second Tome of Homilies, set out by publike ddAn. 1563.authority almost in the beginning of her late Maiesties raigne. For there in the eeAn admonition to al Ministers Ecclesiasticall.Preface this advertisement being given, to all Ministers, For that the LORD doth require of his servant whom bee hath set over his housholde, to shevve both faithfulnes and prudence in his office &c. some thinges are advised vntounto him touching his duty, but lastly this is subnected and subioyned, And vvhere it may so chaunce some one or other Chapter of the olde Testament to fall in order to bee reade vponupon the Sundaies or Holy-daies, vvhichwhich vvere better to bee chaunged vvith some other of the New Testament, of more edification, it shall bee vvell done to spende your time to consider vvell of such Chapters before hand, vvhereby your prudence and diligence in your office may appeere, so that your people may hauehave cause to glorifie GOD for you, and bee the readier to embrace your labours, to your better commendation, to the discharge of your consciences and their owne. Which pointe being well considered, avoideth all blame from the Church of England, even in the eyes of them that would seeme most quicke-sighted, it being not onelyonly permitted to the Minister, but also commended in him, if vvisely and quietly hee doe reade Canonicall Scripture vvhere the Apocryphal vppon good iudgement seemeth not so fitte, or any Chapter of the Canonicall may bee conceived not to hauehave in it so much edification before the simple, as some other parte of the same Canonical may be thought to hauehave. For the wordes wil very well cary both these.

7 VVell then, if there bee reasons why the Church of Rome p. 318doth shut out from the Canon these bookes of Esdras, and yet they are printed and bound vp with all their ordinary Bibles, if the same or such like exceptions may bee taken, against Iudith, Tobias, and the rest, is there not as great reason that they also should be secluded from the Canonicall, albeit they remaine in the volume of the Bible? The exceptions against all these controversed writings are many, but I will reduce them briefly to these three plaine heads, which I meane to touch. First the matter of the bookes of Esdras is slight and vaine, without maiestie, and vnworthy the holy and sacred spirit of God. Secondly these tracts are not to be founde in the Canon of the old, that is, the Iewish Church. And thirdly in the computation of Christians they are also reiected. If we lay these lines and rules to the rest, we shall finde them of very little different quality. For first the matter of them is not coherent with the rest of the vndoubted scripture. In ccCap: 5. 12Tobias, the Angell vtteteth somewhat of himselfe, which cannot literally be avoided: when he saith to old Tobias, I am of the kinredos Azarias, and Ananias the great, and of thy brethren. So, it is a narration worthy at the least to be pawsed vponupon, that the ddCap: 6: 13:seven husbands of Sara should be killed by an evil spirit, the first night of their mariage. Of the hart and liver of the fish I hauehave spoken before? Is it not a likely matter that eeCap: 8. 9…Raguel would make a graue for him, whom the day before hee so advisedly tooke for his sonne in law, now to bury him before hee was dead? They are not matters to bee commended by the penne of the holy Ghost, that Iudith should ffIud: 10: 3: 4dresse and tricke her selfe more then became a matrone, that so she might allure Holofernes to wantonnesse; that shee ggCap. 12: 12 14: 18: c: 13: 1should make shew as not to deny to lie with him: that shee should tell such evident hhCa. 10. 12. 13vntruthes to his servants at her first taking, and to iiCa: 11: 15: 16himselfe afterward. That the Iewes should hauehave peace so long in her life kkCa. 16. 25.time, and a great while after her death is a matter vnprobable, since these warres of Holofernes, are saide to be made in the time of King llCap. 2. 1.Nabuchodonosor, and while the first temple or mmCa: 16: 20Sanctuary stood. Nay the consultation concerning this warre, is reported to be in the nnCap. 2: 1…eighteenth yeare of Nabuchodonosor, & we finde in the book of the oo…: King: 25 …:Kings, that in the nineteenth yeare of his raigne, the p. 319same king sent Nabuzaradan his steward to Hierusalem, vvho burnt the house of the Lorde, the Kinges house and all other of worth in the citty. Adde to this, that whereas the writers of the bookes of Kings and Chronicles, are most exacte in setting downe all great warres, and victories of the Iewes, from the time of Saul to the ruinating of the first temple, there is not one word of any person or circumstance belonging to this warre in them, nor in any other vndoubted booke of holy writ. Yea Iosephus who was a Iew, and with much learning and labour continueth the story of his countreymen, from Adam to his own daies, hath not the least mention of this Iudith, or ought appertaining to her, which he being so desirous to cōceale nothing, which might make for the honour of his people, would never in such deepe oblivion hauehave buryed. These things may well be questioned.

8 The book of Wisdome is by some of the Popish Synagoge, not only accounted to be Canonicall Scripture, but also reputed to be ppSixt. sent: Bibli. lib: 1. & 8:Salomons, if not for the compiling, yet at least for the matter. And the reason therof is yeelded, because there is in it a praier in the qqSap. 9. 1.name of Salomon. But rrVide Sixt. Senens. vbi supra Bellar de verbo Dei li. 1. 13learned men of our parte, rather hold it to be the worke of Philo the Iew, (which also Bellarmine citeth out of S. Hierome) and that not the elder Philo, but even the same who with some other of his countrymen, was sent in embassage to the ssPhilo de legat. ad caium:Emperour Caligula, to intreate him that the Iewes might not be forced to accept of, and to erect his image or statue at Hierusalem, which they held to be contrary to the law of their Moses. He therefore compiled that worke insinuating to Kings and great men moderation in their governement, terrour of torments after this life, and the extreme vanity of Idols, matters most fit for their present purpose to Caligula; & to giuegive never the lesse credit to all his words, he was contented that Salomons name should be vsed in the praier before mentioned, because the name of wise king Salomon was famous over al the world. And that for this purpose, …the booke of Wisdom was made, the whole drift of it may very well purport. Now if there were nothing els in this treatise to check it selfe, yet that bloudy ssSap 4. 3…sentence and censure against all borne in bastardy, woulde bewray that it was written with an humane spirite, and not by divine p. 320authority. For although God be pleased sometimes to lay a temporal punishment vponupon men so borne (as he also doth on other persons) yet he, who, (so that we serue him and feare him) hath professed of himselfe to be no ttAct: 10, 34respecter of persons; he who blessed Phares being in fornication begotten vponupon uuGen: 38, 18 29.Th…ar, so that our Saviour Christs petigree according to the flesh, is uuMatth. 1, 3Matt 1:3derived from him; he who forgiveth the parents committing adultery or fornication, so that they doe repent, which was xx2, Sam: 12 13:Davids case, adding to his adultery, murther also; he wil much more pardon the child that is innocent in that behalfe, and not accessary to the crime of his nocent parents, and will not lay that fearefull iudgement vponupon him, that neither he nor any who descend frō him shall long prosper. The examples are manifolde, how God hath powred various temporall blessings on the issue of such as hauehave beene borne in fornication, as we need look no farther then to William the Conquerour, tightly termed yyHaillan Histo: lib: 6:Guillaume le Bastard which notwithstanding ought to incourage none to cōmit that fleshly sinne, but rather they are to feare and tremble at it, since God may iustly destroy both the bodies and soules of such offen ders. But this I hauehave spoken to shew, that the saying of that authour cannot be iustified in Divinity; neither may any man goe about to advouch it, since albeit all hope well, yet few are assured that all things are right in their owne birth. Nay Papists thē selues among whom be pretty store of bastards, as wel as among other men, saw this well enough, which caused their zzHugo cardinal. Lyra Glo. interl: & ordinar. D…oni Car thusian:Commentatours vponupon that place, to flie the literall sence, and to interpret it of bastards spiritually meant, that is heretikes and such like. Of the bookes of Ecclesiasticus and the Machabees I hauehave spoken before, and therefore say no more of them but this, that S. Austen who thought reasonably well of the bookes of the Machabees, yet coulde not tell how to iustifie the aa2. Mach: 14. 42:commendation of Razias killing himselfe, and therfore is shrewdly bbAug. epist 61.plunged how to salue all, by allowing the book and disallowing the fact. Since then the matter of these volumes hath such imperfections in it, that it cannot keepe coherence with the vn-questioned Oracles of the sacred Scripture, and the Spirit of the Almighty is ever vniforme, & never dissenting from it selfe, if the other books p. 321do stand, as not a ccMat: 5. 18:title of them shall perish vntounto the worlds end, these then must needs fal from that high credit to which Papists would bring them, and we are not to blame, when we acknowledge not them for divine, who hauehave no such slampe vponupon them.

9 Secondly we referre our selues to the iudgment, of the lewish Church before Christ, vvhose the Scriptures then vvere, and to whom were commended the ddRom. 3: 2:Rom 3:2Oracles of God. Among them eeLuk: 24: 27 44:Moses and the Prophets and the Psalmes, by a generall name comprised all▪ Scripture, but otherwise for order and memorie sake, they reduced al their books to the two ffSixt▪ Sen: Bibli: lib: 1:and twenty letters of the Hebrew Alphabet, and as in them they comprehended al & every particle, which they and we do receiue, so they shut out also from thence, al which they & we now do expunge. No better witnes of this, thē that learned Iosephus who ex ggContr: Apion. lib. 1▪professo hādleth this, & sheweth the dignity & prerogatiue of the divine inspired writings, aboue all other, the credit of whom he holdeth doubtful & vnsure. Now in the nūber of those of sacred authority, he hath neither Tobias, nor Iudith, nor any one of their companions. hhSpec. AugS. Austen doth witnes, that the Iewes do not accepte Ecclesiasticus & Wisdome into their Canon; & else where more thē iiDe…civita: D…il: 18. 36. cont… epist: Gauden: l. 2once, he cōfesseth that they also seclude the books of the Ma chabees. kkIn Synop.Athanasius also acknewledgeth, that the books of the old Testamēt are but 22. answering to the 22. Hebrew letters, & so saith Epiphanius in his treatise, De mensuris & ponderibus, & Hilary in his Prologe on the Psalmes hath the same. Where it is to bee observed, that the Iewish reckoning of these 22. bookes, is some what different from that ordinary enumeration which we doe vse, for they diverse times comprehende two bookes vnderunder one; but yet so it is exactly, that vvhatsoever vve containe within the compasse of the Canon, they receaue the same, and vvhat vvee doe reiecte they also refuse. And that there is such a secluding of some bookes by the Ievves, Thomas llPart: … qu▪ 89, art: 8:Aquinas maye bee a vvitnesse, vvho maketh doubte vvhither Ecclesiasticus bee of authority or no, saying, The booke of Ecclesiasticus, if it hauehave authority, because among the Hebrews it is not received in the divine writing…. So that if vvee follovve the Church p. 322before Christ, vntounto whome most properly the Olde Testament did belong, we must repute them as now we do Apocryphal, & hold their credit to be suspect. Neither may this bee helped, by saying that there was some later Synode vvhichwhich made a larger Canon among the lewes, …s mmChronog. lib. 2.Genebrard would say, if hee could tell what hee saide, for that is a fable of his owne inventing, & directly crossing the Councel of Trent, as formerly I hauehave shevved.

10 Thirdly among the Christians there is much more against these writings thē there is for thē. I wil briefely cite what I finde amōg some of the Ancient, which may seeme to helpe thē, nnLib. 3. Epist 9. ad ….Cyprian citeth somewhat out of Ecclesiasticus vnderunder the name of Salomon. Truth: but it is for the likenes of the sentences there, to those in the Proverbes, which also hath caused some other to take it for Salomons, not looking exactly into the impossibility of the matter. This therfore is but weake. ooLib. 2. de princip…js.Origē bringeth somewhat out of the story of the Machabees. Wel: but so he doth also in the same place ou: of the Liber Pastoris, which neverthelesse no wise Papist wil say to be Canonical. Yet else-where he ppLib: 10. c. 16 ad Rom.saith of that Hermes or Pastor, that it seemed to him a very profitable booke, and as he thinketh inspired from God. No man therfore wil attribute much to Origens iudgement in that behalfe. qqStromat…Clemens Alexandrinus doth cite the story of Tobias. But even so doth he mētiō the Gospel secundū Aegypties; but he nameth neither the one nor the other Canonical. Yea but rrDe Tobia cap 1.Ambrose writīg vpō Tobias, nameth that a Prophetical book: So he doth indeed, & that is of more force thē any yet mētioned. But his iudgmēt in this is not to be warranted, since ssDe bono mortis c. 11.else-where he citeth the fourth of Esdras as true Scripture. And we are not ignorant that his skil was little or nothing in the Hebrew, wherby he might best hauehave beene acquainted with the customes of the lewes. In S. Austen I finde little concerning Tobias and Iudith; onelyonly in the enumeration ssDe doctr. Christ. l: 2: 8of the Canonical Scripture; he citeth them once, and there he hath the bookes of the M…chabees, as also VVisedome and Ecclesiasticus, which for a likely-hood to the bookes of Salomons, are called as Salomons. So ttSer…: 131▪ de Tēpore.else-where according to the co…on custome neere him, he tearmeth Ecclesiasticus p. 323Salomons booke. But deliberately he doth explicate that point, where he saith uuDe civit. Dei. la 7: 20.Custome hath obtained, that Wisedome & Ecclesiasticus should be said to be Salomons for some no small likenesse of the speech. But the more learned doe not doubt, that they are not his; notwithstāding the Church especially that of the West, hath long agone received them into authority in the one of whom which is called the Wisdome of Salomon, the passion of Christ is most openly prophecied. It was written after the passion of Christ, even in the daies of Caligula, if Philo were the author of it. Thē it is cleere by S. Austen that they were not Salomons work…, but yet he would hauehave thē to be Canonical. And that he hath also in another place, uuSpeculum Augustini.The Church of our Saviour doth receive them, yet the words of him immediately before are, The Iewes doe reiect from the Canon the booke of Wisedome and Ecclesiasticus. Thē by the cōfession of this renoumed mā, the Iewes did repudiat thē. Yea & that he acknowledgeth els-where: xxDe curo pro mort. gerend. c: 15.The book of Ecclesiast. is spokē against out of the Canō of the Hebrews, because it is not in that. And in his yyLib. 2: c. 20Retractatiōs, The Iews doe not receive the booke of Wisedome into Canonicall authority. Were it not then to be wished heere, that S. Austē had remēbred his own rule, which is, zzDe doctr. Chr. l. 2. 8.that such bookes principally should bee esteemed Canonicall, which are so accepted of al churches; but of such as are in doubt, that they are most to be approved whom most Churches do allow. Then if the Iewish Church refused these, and the Easterne Church wholy among the Christians, & great ones also in the Westerne provinces, vponupon whom he seemeth principally to rely, S. Austen by his owne sentence is much opp…gned and refuted. And of these in the East & West Church you shall heare anone.

11 Touching the bookes of the Machabees, as it is said before that S. Austen reckoned thē among the Canonical volumes, so aaDe morib. Cath Eccl: cap. 23.elsewhere he calleth the secōd of them Scripture. In his bookes bbLib. …8. 36.Decivitate Dei, he expoundeth it to be so among Christiās, not in the lewish Synagogue Not the Iews, but the Church doth account the bookes of the Machabees for Canonical, by reason of the vehemēt & wōderful suffring of some Martyrs. And yet the same father in another place speaketh mu…h more coldly & faintly for thē, ccContra secū …. Gaudent, Epist▪ lib. 2.For the Scripture which is called the Machabees, the Iews do not accoūt as the Law, the Prophets, & the Psalmes, to whō the Lord doth give testimony p. 324as to his witnesses, saying, It must needes bee that all thinges are fulfilled, which are written concerning me in the Law & in the Prophets & in the Psalmes but it is received of the Church not vnprofitably, if it soberly be read…r beard. This even by his owne extenuation carieth but smal comfort with it. But there is a worke vnderunder the name of S. Austen intituled ddLib: 2: 34:De mirabilibus sacrae Scripturae, where by the Authour the book of Machabees is secluded from the Canon. Notwithstā ding we do not vrge th…t to be his, but take it for a counterfeit, & rather yeeld that S. Austen framing his iudgment to some others opinion in the Westerne Church, did repute these also Canonicall. Yet here that is to be remembred, which briefly before I touched concerning S. Ambrose, that this mistaking in this worthy Father grew, by his want of knowledge in that tongue, wherein the old Testa, was originally writtē: by which means he was not acquat̄ed with many things appertaining to the Iewish church; vntounto whō since al Scripture before Christs time was cōmitted, if these had bin Scripture, they also should hauehave bin cōmended, & then they should hauehave bin written in the tongue which they vnderstood, that is to say in the Hebrew, & not in the Greek, which was a lāguage of the Gētiles: & as eeAut l: 30. 9Iosephus testifieth, the Iews did not accōmodate thēselues to the learning of any tongue but their own, which is to be interpreted of the ordinary sort of thē. But all these controversed writings are only in the Greeke▪ and not in the Hebrew, which is a maine argument against them, and ruinateth the very foundation of them. Now that S. Austē knew nothing of the Hebrew, he in his own ff…pist. 131.modesty most ingenuously confesseth, as also in another place he acknowledgeth that he had but little skil in the Greeke, I ggCont. liter. Petilian▪ DO nat. lib. …:truely hauehave attained vntounto very little of the Greeke tongue, and almost nothing. And this made the iudgment of S. Austen the more defectiue in that behalfe. Now as this great Doctour might bee overtaken, partly by his ignorance of the Hebrew, and many circumstances belonging to the Iews, & partly by leaning to the opinion of some other neere about him in the Westerne Churches of Italy & Afrike, so it is a matter very probable, that the hhCōc. cart. 3. can 471Coūcel of Carthage induced by the same reasons, and most of all by the authority of S. Austen, mighte exorbitate in their Censure, vvhen they put all these p. 325Apocriphal bookes among the writing… Canonical. For there assembled none but such Prelates as were about Carthage, which standeth toward the West of Africa, in comparison of the East Churches. The same causes doubtlesse moved iiDecret▪ Innoc…n Cō c…js.Innocentius the Bishop of Rome, and therefore of the Westerne Church, to put all these books into the Canon, Tobias excepted of whō he saith nothing. An errour once begon, goeth plentifully forward, & is not stayed vponupon the suddaine. Whēce it was that kkGelas. Epist. in Concilijs.Gelasius cō ming after Innocētius, did in this case treade the steps of his Predecessor, whē himselfe togither with sevēty Bishops, doth define al these writings to be sacred Scripture. Notwithstāding he who wil looke the Decree of Gelasius, as llPart 1 Dist. 15. 4:Gratian citeth it about this matter, shal see that the iudgmēt of Gelasius cōcerning the Canō is very weake, & little to be regarded. And in those decrees of his which are found amōg the Coūcels the same wil appeere, whē he maketh meaner things thē these cōtroversed books to be of irrefragable authority. For in the very next Decree to that which I formerly mentioned, he saith thus touching an Epistle of Leo one of his Antecessors in the Roman see, The text of the Epistle of Pope Leo, if any mā shal dispute of evē to one iote, & shal not revere…ly receive it in all things, let him be accursed. This heate doth shew, that Gelasius was not too too much advised in his determinations of this nature, but followed the tract of those that wēt before him, without farther ventilating or disquisitiō. And this is the most of that which by mine own reading, I find in Antiquity making for the iustification of these Apocryphal bookes. And some such shewes there be for the story of Susanna, & of Bel with the Dragon, which also are not in the Hebrew, & therfore togither with the fragmēts of the booke of Esther, & some other of equal sort, are by vsus held to be no Scripture. Hee who would behould what farther may be saide for these things, let him looke mmDe verb… Dci. lib. 1.Cardinall Bellarmine where he shal finde a many weake citatiōs, agreeing in substance with those whom before I hauehave named. Now if we looke what is against them, we shal easily discover testimony of greater ponderosity to overturne them, then is any to support & vphold them.

12 VVhat the Iewes did or doe esteeme of them, you hauehave p. 326heard before. OnelyOnly take this with you, that nn… l. c. 10.Bellarmine can say out of S. oo…n Prolog. gel…at:Hierome, that all these bookes togither are reiected by the Hebrewes. Now let vsus see, what witnes the Easterne Church giveth of them. ppEccl. Hist. lib▪ 4: 2…:Eusebius hath an Epistle of Melito sometimes Bishop of Sardis in Asia the lesser, where Melito himselfe saith, that of purpose he travelled to Hierusalem & into Palestina, to know what were the Canonical Scriptures of the Church before Christ: and there he setteth downe all those bookes which wee admit, & none other. This was very soone after the age wherin the Apostles lived. It is heere to be marked concerning this holy man, as also of al the rest whom I shall name, that they never had in this businesse reference to ought, but to the course of the Iewes, accepting their iudgement for the bookes of the olde Testament to be that, wherevnto Christians also should cleaue. Not long after that time came Clemens Alexandrinus, of whom qqLib. 6: 11:Eusebius writing saith that hee cited the bookes of Wisedome and Ecclesiasticus in his vvorkes, vvhichwhich bookes saith Eusebius, all men do not receiue. And he addeth, as it may seeme to prevent, least any man vponupon his example should attribute much to those two, that he cited also the Epistle of Barnabas & of Clement. By the iudgement then of Eusebius, Wisedome & Ecclesiasticus at the least are books cōtroversed. Soone after came rrCap: 19:Origē who lived at Alexādria in Aegypt. And he reckoneth vp the Canō of the Iews cōprised in two & twēty volūes, accepting all that which we accept, & not naming the other, saving the Machabees, which he saith to be reiected of the Iews. That worke of Origē wherin that was cōtained is now lost, & yet in those which remain, he saith that the book of Wisdome, ssDe principij…. lib 4. 3…is not accoūted of authority with al. Athanatius after his time lived also at Alexandria, & he sheweth what was held for Canonical, & what was refused. ssIn Synopsi.There be Canonicall of the old Testament two and twenty bookes, equal in nūber to the Hebrew letters. For among the Hebrewes the elemēts of the letters are so many. But besides these there be yet of the same old Testamēt other books not Canonical, which are read only to the Catechumeus. Heere is a most manifest distinction betweene the Canonical and the Apocryphall, and a signification that these inferiour volumes were only read, to such as were novices in the faith, but p. 327they were not accounted authentical & vnquestionable. Next I ioyne Epiphanius who lived in Cyprus, & he ttHaetes 8:rehearseth for Canonical Scriptures of the old Testament the Iewes bookes, & the other not admitted by them he expungeth for Apocryphal. And in a uuHaeres: 76:second place, reckoning vp al the divine writings, he shutteth out these Apocryphal fellows, only after al the volumes of the old & new Testamēt rehearsed, he nameth also the Wisedoms of Salomō & of the sonne of Sirach. He nameth thē I say, but after al the right ones; & yet least any man should take advā tage of the mencioning of those two, heare him else-where, uuDe mensuris & pō deribus:Among the Hebrews there are two and twenty bookes. For th…se two bookes written in verse, The Wisedome of Salomon which is called Panaretus, of all kinde of vertue, and the Wisedome of Iesus the sonne of Syrach, & the nephew of that Iesus vvho wrote that Wisedome in Hebrew, so that his nephew interpreting it did vvrite it in Greeke, are profitable and comm…dious, but are not put into the number of those vvhichwhich are received. How corruptly thē doth xxDe verbo Dei. l. 1: 14:Bellarmine deale, who citeth Epiphanius as an allower of these two bookes, and denieth that hee spake against them, otherwise then according to the opinion & iudgement of the Iewes. But infinite such base shiftes are to bee found in that Cardinall. In the meane time we see, that thus Epiphanius who was very wel skilled in the Hebrew, keepeth close both with the Iewish Canon, and the iudgement of the Easterne Church.

13 Gregory Nazianzen hath a yyDe veris libris Scriptur▪little treatise in verse, of purpose made to shew what are the books of the old & new Testamēt inspired frō God. He in the old reckoneth vp two & twenty books, after the Iewish fashiō so oft aboue mētioned, & no more. There he putteth al these whō we acknowledge, & vouchsafeth not so much as to name Tobias or Iudith, or any one of those whō we seclude. And so doth he againe zzDe recta educationead Selencum. To all these so famous & learned men of the East & Greeke Church, wil I adde for the conclusion, the Councel of Laodicea, which in the last aaCanon. 59Canon recapitulateth all the Canonicall bookes of the old Testament, but hath not one of those whom the Romanists vvould gladly thrust vponupon vsus. Nowe is it not a greate sinne thinke you, for vsus to ioyne in iudgement vvith so many learned and holie p. 328men, with all the good and religious Hebrews, who were before the time of Christ, withal the Eastern Church without impeachment, for ought that I can truely find? Are not we worthy to be reviled and revelled at, as renters, tearers and clippers of the sacred Bible? I doe marvaile why we should be Heretikes for not admitting of these Apocryphals, since so many Fathers and reverend Doctors of the Primitiue Church, did the same that wee do, and yet heretiks they are none. Yea but the Romanists doe louelove to be tried by themselues. And great reason, The Westerne Churches, they will say, hauehave ever beene of another minde. Wel yet here is but one against two, and then by S. Austens rule before named, the matter should go on our side. But what if we find in the Latin Church, as much against it, as for it? Are not our popish people in a prety case, for railing vponupon vsus as if we were manglers & de…ūcatours of the Bible? Hilary was a Bishop of Frāce, and bbProlog su per ….he saith that there bee two and twenty bookes of the olde scripture. See his own opinion consonant with that of the Greekish and Iewish Church, vntounto which number saith hee some doe adde Tobias and Iudith, and so make foure and twenty. Marke that they be but some who do adde more: and these doe adde but two, so that the Machabees and the rest are vndoubtedly gone in his iudgement, nay I may say in his minde these two also. But if any man be in this cause to be heard it is Hierome, whom Lodovicus Vives some-where did truely call miraculum orbis, the miracle of the worlde. Hee lived a good while at Rome, and thought highly of that Church, and therefore would not hastily break from any thing, vvhichwhich generally, or vvith good ground was there received. Hee travailed into Palestina, and there spent much of his time, and by longe conference vvith a Ievve, and other his extreame labour, attained to the exact knovveledge of the Hebrevve tongue, and there-vponupon as some thinke translated the vvhole Bible into Latin, as others suppose reformed and castigated that version, vvhichwhich is called the Vulgar; and is now only currant among the Papists. Also hee made those learned Commentaries on the Prophets, which labour may truly be said to be the glory and beauty of all his vvorkes, vvhichwhich yet otherwise are renoumed sufficiently. Then if any man bee p. 329to be heard in this Argument, it is this Hierome, and that deservedly. Hee then speaking of Iudith, bestovveth this ierke on it, ccEpist 10:UUee doe reade in Iudith, notvvithstanding of it please any man to receiue that booke. But aftervvarde hee goeth more generally to vvorke, and ddEpist: …06.sheweth which are the Canonicall bookes, even those whome vvee holde for Canonicall; and vvhichwhich are Apocryphall, even the very same that wee reckon for Apocryphall. Neither hath hee yet done, but continuing in the same iudgement, he sheweth how and in what manner, the Church readeth and accepteth those inferiour bookes, eeEpist: 115.As therefore the Church indeed doth read the bookes of Iudith, of Tobias and the Machabees, but doth not receiue them among the Canonical scriptures, so it may read also these two volumes, that is Ecclesiasticus and the booke of Wisdome, to the edification of the people, not to confirme the authority of Ecclesiasticall doctrines. What would he hauehave said thinke you, if he had seene our Papists bring these bookes, as the chiefe pillers of praier for the dead, and intercession of Saints, and other such like Apocryphal trumpery.

14 And that there were more learned men of the Westerne Church, in the same minde with Hierome, wee appeale to that treatise on the Creede of the Apostles, vvhichwhich some suppose to hauehave beene written by Cyprian, and for that cause it is found among his workes, but more generally it is thought to be of Ruffiuus his doing, who very well might speake for the evidency of truth, but is not to be imagined to say any thing in favour of Hierome, with whom he had hote & great ff…nvect cō tra Hieron.controversies. He there then enumerateth the volumes of Canonicall Scripture, even in the same order as we do, but disclaimeth Tobias, Iudith, & their fellows, & then subioyneth this, gg…e symb. Apostolor.These are they whom the Fathers hauehave concluded within the Canon, out of which they would hauehave the assertions of our faith to appeare. The rest they would hauehave indeed to bee reade in the Churches, yet not to bee produced to get from them the authoritie of faith. And then, These things hauehave wee said, that th…se vvho doe receiue the first elementes of faith, may know from vvhat fountaines of the word of God, their draughtes are to bee dravvne. So that in these you see the sound & substantial iudgment of the most learned in the West Church, evē in the most ancient daies of it, & this hath bin p. 330cōtinued ever since, vntil our time, by mē of the greatest knowledge throughout all ages yea such as were lights in the Church of Rome it selfe. Nay hhGreg epi: ad Leandr. & sup. Iob: 5Gregory himselfe within 600. yeares after Christ, accepted of Hieromes translatiō or Castigation, vsing no other, but sticking so close therevnto, that as a learned man of iiD Fulk: in pref… Rhem Testam. 29. Greg in Evang. Hom. 34.ours hath observed, it being falsly in that copy Domū evertit for domū everrit, he interpreted it after the erroneous putting. And since that time, in the Romane Churches that edition is …urrant, where according to kkIn prolog Galeato.Hieromes distinction, there be no more to be found Canonical, then those whom we so read. I might adde the testimonies of llProlog: in lib: Ios: & Tobiae:Hugo, & of mmIn vltim▪ …sth & epist ad Clem: y.Caretane after him, both men of much learning & both Cardinals of the See of Rome; as also of the Ordinary Glosse…, who in the beginning of those bookes hath thus, Here beginneth the booke of Tobias, which is not of the Canō, & Here beginneth the booke of Iudith which is not of the Canon, and so of the rest. Also of nnDe tradē ▪ dis discipl▪ …:Vives who secludeth Tobias, Iudith, & some other. In breefe I can here alleadge the witnes of many rare and worthy men, even of the Popish writers, and such as lived long before Luthers daies, but I reserue them til some Romanist vrge me farther vntounto thē. But out of al this which hath bin said, I conclude first that the Popes vassals in the Cōvē …cle of Trent, were more then audacious & incroching vponupon God Almighty, when they durst to vendicate that authority, as to put into the Canon that which lieth open to so many iust exceptions, and was repudiated by such, so ancient, and so many, as well of their own as other. And secondly that our Iesuits of late, as Bellarmine & Cā pian, & our other more vnlearned Papistes, as Bristow and the scribler of this Pamphlet, with whom I hauehave to deale, are very hard fore-headed, when they exclaime vponupon vsus, for doing that, which they ought also to do, and call vsus heretikes for imitating the iudgement so mature and well grounded of such persons & Churches. But the pity of all pities is, that their blinde and deafe disciples, our country-men and brethren according to the flesh giuegive credit to such lies, and accept that as the Gospell, which when it i… sea…ed doth fly to ragges and fitters.