Doctor Hills Reasons for Upholding of Papistry Unmasked, Refutation
To D. Hill, as a briefe answere to his two letters prefixed before his booke.
AS he is not to be commended for skill at his weapon, who frameth vntounto himselfe a man of straw, and then at his pleasure doth pricke or strike him: so you are not in too high a degree to be thought well of, for your knowledge in Divinity, who in the entrance of your petty worke, do forge vntounto your selfe an Epistle put out in the name of other, where-vntounto you may say, or not say, what best fitteth your owne humour. You, who can be Fitz-Williams in steede of Hill, are capeable of such a quality; & in composing of your former letter you cannot much dissemble it; when you pretende, your friends, the two Citizens that write vntounto you, to be first so learned, as out of aBud. ex Cicer.Budaeus, or Tully to call you Opinator vehemens, and secondly so zealous as to seeke to reclaime you from your course: and yet you bring them in, making no mention of Christian perswasion drawn from Divinity, or the word of God; but only multiplying vpō you worldly reasons of Countrey and Parents, and friends, & preferment, and other such like matters. Such of our people as are grounded in Religion, can readily yeeld some account b1. Pet. 3. 15of the hope that is in them: but such as withall do make show of learning, may be presumed in a matter of this nature would intersert somwhat, which might savour of spirituall contemplation, especially their letter being sent to one of that minde, wherof throughout this treatise you shew your selfe to be. But this devise of your owne seemed vntounto you the most cleanly shifte, that by such a cFighting with a shaddow.foreign you might hauehave some colour to divulge your rottē Reasōs; yet taking heed too, that you vrge not your selfe over-hard, least you might bee deemed more vnwise, then some of your Popish … …selues a voluntary pennance, vvill not lash themselues sorer then agreeth vvith their ovvne fancy.
In your Answere to this imaginary Letter, you woulde hauehave your Reader conceiue in you a most firme resolutiō to persevere in Papistry, since no Parents are so deare vntounto you as the father of all fathers. Which iudgment of yours were to be prized at a high rate, if it were certaine and vn-questionable, that you did walke aright. For there is nothing in the world like the pleasing of that e…e, which dPsa 121. 4. Chrys…m 23 … G…n.neither slumbereth nor sleepeth: and as S. Hierome could say, e…pist. 8. Tom. 9.It is better to blush before sinners vponupon earth, then before the holy Angels in heaven. But if you mistake your walke, and runne in the way of falshood, in steede of the path of truth; & so depriue your selfe first of the company of your earthly Parents, and then of the comfortable presence of that father which fitteth in heaven; you resolue amisse, and the issues of your race are the issues of death, so that the fruit of your persistance, or pertinacy rather, is no lesse then truly miserable. fMat. 15. 2.When the Pharisies stood stifly for the Tradition of the Elders, & S. gAct 22. 4.Paule was so vehement for his old opinions, that hee persecuted the way of Christ vntounto the death: When S. hAugust de m…us Eccl Cath 1. 18.Austen for nine yeares space could not be reclaimed from Manicheisme, they thought they had done well, and verily beleeved, that those their courses were acceptable to the Almighty: and yet indeede they were most displeasing in his sight, most exorbitant from the rule of his commaundements. God iudgeth not by the imaginations and conceipts of men: but according to those prescriptions which he hath laide downe in his word, so is his determination. And whether your opinions doe agree with that his sacred Scripture, vvee shall sift in time and place.
In one Periode you tell your friends, that they louelove you amore concupiscenti…, rather then amore amicitia, seeking their owne good thereby: yet you adde in the very next sentence, that whatsoever they write or say, you knowe it proceedeth from louelove and affection, and fro… true am…, but yet savouring meerely of flesh and blood. Here wee woulde gladly knowe, howe true amity should be in any, and not amor amicitia. You had neede explane this Paradoxe.
If you were borne and baptised in Popery, it may seeme that your birth was in Q. Maries daies: but how you should receiue confirmation in the same errors, vnlesse it were after your flying beyond the seas, we cannot tell. It is one thing to be generated, another to be regenerated; one thing to hauehave a birth, another a new birth. And as touching your Baptisme, you should remember that you were baptised into the faith of Christ, not into the beleefe of the Bishop of Rome; who for his owne part shall stand or fall to God, but shall not so answere as to cleere the soules of other. iEpiphanius in Ancorato.Origen shall not stand by vsus in the day of iudgement; neither shall any other so assist vsus, as by his protection to savegard vsus. Neither is it sufficient to say, that after this or this sort I was baptised, and therefore I will continue in the same; in as much as the Iewe may say so farre, touching his Circūcision in Iudaisme, and the Mahumetane concerning his Circumcision in Mahumetisme: yea the Arrians were baptised in Arrianisme, and other Heretikes receaved that Sacrament after the obliquities of their Heresies. It is ill to begin amisse: but it is worse to persevere in the by-waies of vncertaine errour. Tullie could recount it for a faulte, that kAcademicar. Qu…st. 4.men in the weakest time of their age, either listning to some friend, or being inveigled by one oration of some body which they have first heard, they iudge of thinges vvhichwhich they knovve not, and looke vntounto whatsoever discipline they bee caried as vvith a tempest. vntounto it they doe cleave as to a rocke, and never examine vvhether it be right or vvronge. Yet such as these, in their elder yeeres might have saide for themselves; In this have vvee beene conversant even from our youth: therein have vvee had our education; and therefore novve vvee are not to varie from it: This determination had not beene good in Philosophie, neither is the like to it commendable in Divinitie.
Your magnisike bravado of embracing that which is so auncient and vniversall, is but a blaze to dazle the eies of your credulous disciples. If in defence of your superstition, you bee able to shevve ought of more antiquitie, then the vvord of God is, we will soone yeelde vntounto you: but verily in comparison hereof, all for which you striue is but plaine novelty. Neither doth the wide spreading of errour, alter the nature of it into truth, or giuegive any priviledge for the warrant of the same: for then should the service and obedience of Sathan bee of higher worth then the verity of Christ, in as much as the feare of God hath ever beene contained within more narrow listes, then the devotions and ceremonies performed to the Devill. Truth is not to be esteemed by the multitude of the followers, but by the reality of it selfe. But in the processe of this worke, there will be occasion more then once to speake of this argument. That ioy of yours, that you follow not any new opinions, as of Puritanisme, Brownisme, Martinisme, or of the familie of louelove, is but slenderly supported: for among men of vnderstanding, it is no better to holde a long continued vntruth, then a late-sprung-vp falshood. The one is to defende an inveterate errour, and the other to mainetaine a later mis-conceite. And probably against the former it may be obiected, that as lA…ist Top 3. l. foreign.Bonum quò antiquius, eò melius: so on the contrary side, Malum quò antiquius eò peius. In those matters which deflect from the rule of right, the heavier sentence doth ever light, according to the measure or quantity of of the variation from the rule, not according to the age or youth of the opinion. That is but a circumstance: the other is the maine consideration.
Great carefulnesse you pretende to satisfie your friendes, that it is not on any heady or braine-sicke fantasticalitie, that you are so addicted to the Romish profession: But while you ioine there-vntounto, that you hauehave no purpose to perswade other to your superstition, as beeing daungerous because prohibited by the lawes of the lande vvherein vvee live, vvee dare not entertaine that on your Popish credit. For we are not so simple but to see, that this mMat. …3 15.compassing of sea and land, this labouring to disgrace our Religion and the professours of it, this forging and faining so many vntruthes, this magnifying of the Papacy & the members thereof, & the publishing of al these, & that in the vulgar tongue, is to no other ende but to make proselytes if it may be, to enlarge the kingdome of Antichrist, to extende the territories of the Pope, to stay and intricate the passage of the stronge, to intangle the weake, to perverte the simple, to abuse those who are light of beliefe, to feede the humour of the male-contented, and to minister more poyson to those who are already intoxicated vvith the cuppe of nApoc. 17. …fornication, reached out by the whore of Babylon. And in respect of this your proiect, we marveile not at all at your braving and facing, that you are able to afford vsus infinite moe Reasons, vvhy your profession is true Religion. VVe are now well acquainted vvith such bragges as these are, and our youngest Divines who looke into your workes, which come from beyonde the seas, doe despise it and contemne it in you al; that vvhen you hauehave spent many yeares in compiling your pamphlets or greater bookes, yet it must be said to be done in a few weekes or monthes, or as Campians Reasons were, oConclusio decem Rationum.munusculum contextam operis in itinere subcisivis. And when you hauehave raked togither all that you can say, yea & stolne it also from the works one of another, yet you coulde make large volumes more, and fill the vvorld vvith the ever-flowing streames of your continuall running rivers. Of this wee shall neede no better instance thē your selfe; whose huge boasts wil be displayed, to be but base and poore shiftes; and your Quartron will be manifested to be, for a great parte thereof, but borrowed stuffe, and that of such meane qualitie, as that hardly it may goe in the number of the buttons and lace, vvhereof you talke: that is to say, for Pedlerie and paultry ware it may bee reputed, and not as ought of any precious accounte or reckoning. You had neede therefore intreate your friendes (as you doe) to take all vvell, which if they doe vponupon this your request, and so yeelde you your defire, it is much more of their kindenesse and curtesie, then of your deserving.
The protestation, which you make of loyal and duetiful affection toward our and your Soveraigne, is in shewe somewhat, if in truth your hearte and actions doe directly and indirectlye corresponde there-vntounto. But it may be demurred vponupon, whither those who are in highest authority, and by long experience and manifolde intelligence hauehave vnderstoode their course who are brought vp in the Seminaries, will giuegive credite to your wordes. You doe not so daunce in a net, as that you can see every body, and no body can see you. There is much and very much preiudice against you, such as wil not in hast, vponupon the naked word of a person suspect, be satisfied for. We know this your Maxime, that faith given, or promise made to an Hereuke may be broken. We know, that with you the Pope is Christes Vicar, and his voice is to be obeyed as an immediate Oracle of God. We vndoubtedly vnderstande that diverse of the Romane Bishops hauehave done their worst to depriue her late sacred Maiesty of her crowne and dignity. We finde that many of your Predecessors and Schoole-maisters, hauehave in printed books much reviled and railed against the Lords Annointed, and some doe yet persist. We are assured that the companies of your fellow students, are mainetained by the late professed enemies of our Religion, Prince, and Countrey. We hauehave it confessed by men of their owne sort, that many of the English beyonde the seas are at the sole devotion of the Spanyard. It cannot be denied that the Rectours and chiefe men of, or neere your Seminaries, as Allen, Bristow, Stapleton, Parsons, & other, hauehave either by their actiōs, or their writings, or both, declared themselues known traitours against our dead Soveraigne & the State, as also that diverse of the leaders did with their best indevours helpe forward the invasion, Anno 1588, and some of the meaner sort came in the fleete. And as certaine it is, that sundry both Irish and English Priests and Iesuites hauehave beene principall instigatours of the Irish tumults. At home, albeit of late there hath appeared some difference between such as are vnited to the Arch-Priest, and the rest which oppugne him, yet in this our Q. Elizabeth did certainely finde that they al agreed, that to their vitermost they did knit pThe proclamation. Nov. 5. 1602as many as they could fast to the Pope, diminishing the number of those who were assured to her Highnesse, and encreasing his account, who heretofore had as a temporall Prince his banner displaide in the field, and stil to her death continued his warlike Stratagems against her Maiesty. And from this roote of being reconciled to the Romane Bishop, it ariseth, that many of your followers are male-contented with the present state, and insinuate so farre as they dare, that they wish another governement. Al these scruples make against you; besides the frequent conspiracies by some against the life of our late gracious Queene, and by others, the iustification of such Rebels as hauehave lift vp their sword against her. And well it were, if together with her death, the wicked malice of that false generation had dyed: but it is otherwise, as by the attempts of that Quodlibeting Watson and other his complices, is evident to all men. They hauehave by printed books, made infinite protestations of alleageance and loyalty, the least sparke whereof doth novv see me never to hauehave resided within their breasts: which well demonstrateth what credit may be given to actiue stirring Papists. Now for your part if you approue these thinges, your heart is not sounde: and if you dislike them, you renounce many Theoremes, and much also of the practise of Popery: and then you may be a witnesse to your selfe, that as many of your forerunners and fellowes hauehave swarved in these actions and positions, so they and you also may goe astray in your other pointes of Papistrie, vvhichwhich you at this time doe not more eagerly defende, or confidently mainetaine, then your predecessours and copartners hauehave done the rest before named. But vntill this doe enter into your hearte, and you by evident demonstration do shewe vsus some better fruit, you must giuegive vsus leaue with a watchfull eie to obserue you, and to holde you no more loayll, then wee hauehave good assuraunce thereof. An enemye canne humble himselfe, and make faire vveather, till hee can gaine opportunitye to effecte his longe-vvished and principall desires.
VponUpon this I pray you to ruminate in your chamber at Phalempyne or Palempyne, vvhence you date your letters; which vvee vvill not imagine to bee Pampelyne or Pampelune in Navarre, nor othervvise beate our braynes to knovve vvhat this meaneth, since an Examination hath detected, that Master Fitz. UUilliams, that is to say, you Doctour Hill, brought your booke your selfe to be Printed, not at Antwerpe, as the first page falsly signifieth, but in Englande, and there where either blacke or white Lordes or Ladyes beare either game or name avva…e. God sende you so much grace as to see and consider your ovvne courses, to recall your vntruthes, to repent for your slaunders, and to make satisfaction to those simple and superstitious people, vvhom by this following libell you hauehave abused.