A Manual for True Catholics, Title page – Table of contents
MANVALE Catholicorum.
A Manuall FOR True Catholickes.
LONDON, Printed for Leonard Becket, and are to be ſold at his Shop in the Temple neere the Church, 1611.
ENCHIRIDION PIARVM PRECVM ET Meditationum.
Ex vetuſtiffimis Manuſcript. pergamenis deſcripta.
Ex Bibliotheca W. Craſhavi. Theol Bacchal. & verbi Div. Mniſtir. apud Temp. Lond.
A HANDFVL: OR Rather a Heartfull of holy meditations and Prayers.
Gathered out of certaine ancient Manuſcripts, written 300 yeares ago, or more.
By WILLIAM CRASHAW Batchelour of Diuinity, and Preacher at the Temple.
TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE LORD: HENRY THE Noble Earle of NORTHHAMPTON, Lord priuy Seale, Lord Warden of the Cinc que Ports, and one of his Maieſties Honourable priuy Counſell.
RIGHT Honourable, our Aduerſaries amongſt their many obiections againſt vsus and our Religion, vſe this for one, that if wee refuſe their Church, and condemne their faith, wee condemne to hell all our forefathers. But it followeth not: for in ſuch fundamental points as neceſſarily concerne ſaluation, as matter of merit, and meanes of Iuſtification, &c. our fathers in former times were not of the Romiſh faith, but of our Religion: excluding, diſclayming, & renouncing all their owne merits, and cleauing only to Gods mercy, and the merits of Ieſus Chriſt for their ſaluation. This was the faith of the ancient Church, &c. SaintBaſillius in homel in Pſal. 114. Baſil ſaith. Eternall reſt remaines for them which hauehave fought a good fight in this world, yet not for the merit of their workes, but through the rich mercies of God, in whom they truſt.
Saint Hillary ſaith, ourHillarius in Pſal. 51. workes ſuffice not to merit eternall life, but our hope is in the mercy of God for euer and euer.
Saint Auguſtine ſaith,Auguſtinus concione 1 in Pſal. 70. Tua peccata ſunt, merita Dei ſunt: ſupplicium tibi debetur, et cum praemium venerit ſua dona coronabit non tua merita. Sin is ours, Merit is Gods: Puniſhments are our due, but if rewardes come, God crownes his owne gifts, not our merites.
Gregory moral lib. 9. ca. 14.Saint Gregory (a Pope) ſaith, If I doe well, I ſhall hauehave eternall life, not by my merits but Gods mercy.
And long after euen inBernardus ſermone. 15. in Pſal. 90. the darkeſt times; deuote Bernard ſaith, A mans whole merit is to put the whole affiance of his heart in him, that hath ſaued the whole man, and therfore in another place he concludes, My merit is the mercy of the Lord.
All theſe Bellarmine cannotSermone 61. in Cant. meritum meum miſeratio domini. deny, and himſelfe produceth ſome of them or all, but ſhapes ſuch anſweres to them, as it would ſatisfye an indifferent man euen to read him in that pont.
And this was not the faithBellar. to. 4. lib. 5. de luſt. cap. 6. of the principall Fathers only, but by the mercy of God, it was deriued euen vntounto the inferiour, and vulgar ſort, not of the Cleargy alone, but euen of the Laity alſo.
If the monuments of elder ages were extant & vncorrupted, it is more thē maruailous how cleerly this truth would ſhine: that our forefathers were not damned, though they beleeued, not as doth the preſent Romiſh Church: Nay further that they were ſaued by the ſame faith by which wee are at this day, though they were miſled by ſome errours, and nuſled in ſome ſuperſtitions; for which (being ſinnes of infirmity, or rather of ignorance) we hope the Lord was mercifull vntounto them, knowing that euen Dauid himſelfe cried to God to clenſe Pſal. 19.him from his ſecret ſinnes.
But ſuch hath beene the craft and malice of Popiſh policy, that partly the oldeſt bookes are embezilled and extinguiſhed, and thoſe that remaine are ſo altered corrupted and depraued from that they were, that there now remaines not one of many of the teſtimonies, which the former ages yeelded to this truth.
Notwithſtanding the prouidence of God hath not failed his Church: for (do what they could) yet he who ſaid the gates of hell Math. 16.ſhould not preuaile againſt the true faith, hath taken order in ſpight of all plots to the contrary, that ſo many teſtimonies ſhall be preſerued, as ſhall ſufficiently witneſſe to the world that our faith flouriſhed in former ages.
My purpoſe is (if the Lord will) to gather vp ſuch Antiquities though they be ſcattered and almoſt loſt in theſe old worme eaten Manuſcripts wherein they lye buried, which as Gods prouidence hath deliuered from the force and fury of the inquiſitors fire, ſo it is al Chriſtians duties to preſerue them to poſterity.
I hauehave here begun with a Handfull, or rather a Hartfull of holy prayers & meditations worthy to be worne in the hand, and borne in the heart of eueryevery Chriſtian, by which it may euidently appeare that the faith and Religion of the former ages, foure & fiue hundred yeares ago, was euen the ſame by which we looke to bee ſaued at this day.
Let this hauehave leaue (right Honorable) to come abroad out of the corners of obſcurity, into publicke view, in the light & luſtre of your renowned name, who are knowne to bee a reuerencer of Antiquity, a Mecaenas of learning, a practiſer of piety, an enemy to the idolatry, ſuperſtitions, ambitious practiſes, traiterous deuices, and Machiauellian plots of Ieſuites: and a deteſter of ſuch eſpecially, who vnderunder a pretence of Religion, doe cloake and conuey impieties againſt God, and againſt his annointed.
The God of heauen confirme that bleſſed worke of his in your Lordſhip more & more, to the glory of his name, the benefite of this Realme, and to your owne ſaluation in Chriſt Ieſus: So praieth
Your Lordſhips deuoted in Chriſt, W. CRASHAW.
The Contents.
1 A Holy and orthodox Confeſsion of the Trinity, the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghoſt.
2 A godly confeſsion of ſinnes and prayer for pardon, and for eternall life.
3 A godly meditation of mans miſery, and Gods mercy, together with a deuout prayer.
4 The manner of preparing ſicke perſons to death in the ancient times▪ euen in Popery.