Pope Joan, Title page – To the Papist reader
POPE JOANE. A DIALOGVE BETWEENE A PROTESTANT AND A PAPIS….
Manifeſtly prouing, that a woman called IOANE was Pope of Rome: againſt the ſurmiſes and obiections made to the contrarie, by Robert Be…mine and Caeſar Baronius … dinals: Florimandus Raemondus, N. D. and … Popiſh writers, impudently denying the ſame.
By ALEXANDER COOKE.
LONDON, Printed for ED. BLVNT and W. BARRET. 1610.
TO THE MOST REVEREND FATHER IN GOD, TOBIAS, MY LORD Archb. of Yorke his Grace, Primate and Metropolitan of England.
IT is lamentable to conſider how many ſtarres are fallen of late from heauen, how manie Goddeſſes on the earth hauehave departed from the faith, and giuen heed vntounto the ſpirit of errors, and doctrines of ſlanderers, to wit, the Papiſts. Yet me thinkes it is no matter of wonderment, becauſe we reade, That if men receiue not the louelove of the truth, 2. Theſſ. 2. 10, 11that they might be ſaued, God in his iuſtice will giuegive them ſtrong deluſions to beleeue lies, that they may be damned: for few, or none, of theſe late Apoſtataes, for any thing I can learne, were euer in louelove with the truth. Among vsus they were, but they were not of vsus, as now appeares by their departing from vsus; for if they had bene of vsus, they would hauehave continued with vsus; doubtleſſe they would neuer hauehave falne to Poperie. For though Poperie be managed after the moſt politicke manner, yet in it ſelfe it is a groſſe Religion: and the Perfiters thereof, as ſhameleſſe men in auowing manifeſt vntruths, and denying knowne truths, as euer ſet pen to paper. All which it is as eaſie to proue, as to obiect, againſt them. But my purpoſe at this time is, to lay open their ſhame in denying knowne truths: which though it may be ſhewed by diuers particulars, as namely bybN. …. in his wa…nword to S. Franc. Haſtings wa…chword, …ncounter. 1. ca. 2. Parſons andcIn his reproofe of D. Abbats defence o… Mr. Per…s. Preface to the Reader. p 10. Biſhops denying that they call their Pope their Lord God: bydApolog… ad lib. Iacob. mag. Britann regis cap. 15. p 208. Bellarmines denying that any Ieſuite had any hand in the powder treaſon: by theireBell …. Baron. P… ghius, &c generall denying that Pope Honorius the firſt was an hereticke, and by ſuch like: yet moſt apparently their impudehcy appeares in denying the report of Pope Ioane, which is proued by a cloude of witneſſes in this diſcourſe (which I make bold to preſent vntounto your Grace:) for they are driuen to feigne, to forge, to cogge, to play the fooles, and in plaine Engliſh, to lie all manner of lies, for the couering of their ſhame in this. Onuphrius, Harding, Saunders, Cope, Genebrard, Bellarmine, Bernartius, Florimondus, Papyrius Maſo, Baronius, Parſons, and diuers others, who hauehave ioyned hand in hand, with purpoſe to carrie this cauſe away by ſtrong hand; are ſo intangled in it, that it is with them, as with birds in the lime twigs, which ſticke the faſter in, by how much they flutter the more to get out. VVhichWhich if your Grace vponupon peruſing (at your beſt leiſure) ſhall find true, my humble deſire is, that you will giuegive me leaue to publiſh it vnderunder your Graces name: partly, that by it the ſimpler ſort (for I write not for the learned) may hauehave a taſt by this of the honeſty, or rather the diſhoneſty of Papiſts in hādling of points in controuerſie: and partly, that it may be a teſtimonie of that reuerent reſpect, which I acknowledge due to ſuch Church-Gouernours as your Grace is, who giuegive attendance vntounto reading, which thef1. Tim. 4. 13. Apoſtle willed Timothy to do: and after the example of the ancient Biſhops, preach often: drawing on others, not by words onelyonly, but by example alſo, to performance of like exerciſes. Hereafter, if it pleaſe God, that health, and meanes of bookes ſerue, I ſhall light on ſome more profitable argumēt. In the meane while, I pray God ſtrengthen your Graces hands to the finiſhing of the Lords worke, in the Prouince wherein you ſit, as one of the ſeuen Angels in the ſeuen Churches mentioned in the Reuelation: that by your Graces meanes, the Epha, wherein Popiſh wickedneſſe ſitteth, may be lift vp betweene the earth and the heauen, and caried out of the North, into the land of Sinar, and ſet there vponupon his owne place.
Your Graces at commandment ALEXANDER COOKE.
TO THE POPISH, or Catholicke Reader.
PApiſt, or Catholicke, chuſe whether name thou haſt a mind to: (for though I know that of later yeares thou art proud of both, euen of the nameaBaron annot. in Martyol. Ro. Octob. 16. b. Lorinus in Act. Apoſt. c. 20. v. 30 Anaſtaſius Cochelet Palaeſtrita honoris D. Hallenſis pro Lipſio cap. 1. pag. 6. Papiſt, as well as of the namebBellar. lib. 4. de Eccleſia, cap. 4. Rhem. annot. in Act. 11. 26. Catholicke; yet I enuie thee neither: only I would hauehave thee remember, that that firebrand of hel Hildebrand, commonly called Gregory the 7.cBaron. annot. in Martyrol. Rolan. 10 c. was the firſt man who challenged it as his ſole right, to be called Papa, that is, Pope, whence thou art called Papiſt: and that diuers are of opinion, asdAnnot. in 1. ad Cor. 13. Hugo de Victore noteth, that in ſome ſence the diuell may be called a Catholicke) I offer vntounto thee here a diſcourſe touching Pope Ioane (if thou dareſt reade it, for feare of falling into thy Popes curſe) whoſe Popedome I will make good vntounto thee, not by the teſtimonies of Pantaleon, and Functius, and Sleidan, and Illyricus, and Conſtantinus Phrygio, and Iohn Bale, and Robert Barnes, becauſe thoueIn Indice lib. prohibit. haſt condemned their perſons, and their books too, to hell: but by the testimonies of thy brethren, the ſonnes of thine owne mother, becauſe, asfNouatian. de Trinitate, ca. 18 nu. 86. inter opera Tertulliani one ſaith, Firmum eſt genus probationis quod etiam ab aduerſario ſumitur, vt vertias etiam ab inimicis veritatis probetur: that is a ſtrong proofe which is wroong out of the aduerſarie, when the enemies of truth are driuen to beare witneſſe vntounto the truth. And asgVi…es de Inſtrumento probabilitatis. another, Amici contra amicum, & inimici pro inimico inuincibile teſtimonium eſt: which ſ…unds as I conceiue it, thus. The teſtimony of a Papiſt againſt a Papiſt, and the teſtimony of a Papiſt for a Proteſtant, is without exception. The reaſon why I hauehave framed it in way of Dialogue, was, that I might meete more fully with all the cauils which thy Proctors vſe in pleading of this caſe: and that it might be better vnderſtood of cōmon Readers, who are ſooner gulled with continued diſcourſes. If I hauehave ſpoken truly, I would hauehave thee beare witnes with me vntounto the truth; if otherwiſe, I am cōeent thou ſtrike me. For though I hold thy Papiſme, in ſome reſpect, to be worſe then Atheiſme, agreably to a ſpeech fathered vponupon Epiphanius: foreign, Hereſie is worſe then Infidelity, and by conſequent thy ſelfe a dangerous neighbour to dwell by, becauſe, as one of thine ownehMaldonat. in Ioh. 4. 9. Doctors writes, Certè periculoſius eſt cum haereticis, quàm cum Samaritanis, quàm cum gentilibus, aut Mahumetanis agere: It is queſtionleſſe more dangerous to dwell by an hereticke, then to dwell by a Samaritane, by an heathen, by a Turke: yet I am not ſo farre out of louelove with thee, but I can be content to learne of thee, asiLib. 2. Retract. cap. 18. S. Auſtine did of Tyconius the hereticke, if thou canſt teach me. Yea I profeſſe, that though it may be gathered out ofkRatio. 10. Campian, thy Champion, and Tiburne-Martyr, that thou beleeueſt one heauen cannot hold thee, and ſuch as are of my opinion; thoughlFieri nequit vt Lutheranus mo riens ſaluetur, gehennam euadat ex aeternis ignibus eripiatur. Si mentior, damner ipſe cū Lucifero, ſaith, Co…terus, Reſp. ad refutationem Lucae Oſiandr. Propoſtr. 8. pag. vlt. Coſterus wiſh ſtrangely, that he may be damned both body and ſoule, if any of vsus be ſaued: yet that hath not eſtranged me ſo farre from thee, but that I wiſh thee well, euen eyes to ſee the truth, and ingenuitie to acknowledge it.