Medicus Medicatus.

THough the Authour desires that his Rhetorick may not be brought to the test of reason, yet we must be bold to let him know, that our reason is not given to us in vaine: shall we suffer our selves to be wil­fully blind-folded? shall we shut our eyes, that wee may not see the traps and snares [...]aid in our waies? he would have us sleep securely, that the envious man may sowe tares among the good corne: latet anguis in herba; all is not gold that glisters; it were strange stupidity in us, to break [Page 2] down [...] our walls, and let in the Grecian Horse, and not (with Laacon) trie what is within him.

But now to the matter: [...]. 3. First [ Hee tells us, that between us and the Church of Rome there is one faith] then belike he will have us be­leeve with the Romanists, that there be more Mediatours then Christ, that his bo­dy is not contained in Heaven, but every where is newly created of bread; that the Saints are the objects of our prayers, that the Popes traditions are of equall authority with Scripture, that Apocryphall bookes are Canonicall, that we may merit both of congruity and condignity, yea super­erogate; that we may pray to and adore Images, and too many more of these dan­gerous positions must we beleeve, if our faith be all one with that of Rome: this may be indeed religio Medici, the religion of the House of Medicis, not of the Church of England.

[Page 3]Secondly, Sect [ He is not scrupulous in defect of our Churches to enter Popish Churches, and pray with Papists; for though the Heathen temples polluted the Israelites, yet the Popish impieties are not such as pollute their temples, or our prayers made in them] Observe here first, that his words imply a necessity of praying in Churches, whereas Christ bids us pray in our chambers; and the Apostle wills us to lift up pure hands in every place: Moses his prayer was heard as well on the red-sea-shore, as Aarons was in the tabernacle; and Iob was heard as well on the dung-hill, as Solomon in the Temple. God is not now tyed to Mount Sion or Garizim. Secondly, to pray with Papists, is a countenancing and a confirming of their Idolatry. Thirdly, it is a scandall to the weaker brethren, and woe to him by whom scandall cometh. Fourthly, it ar­gues notorious dissimulation and hypocri­sie; and we know what simulata sanctitas is. Fifthly, he that prayes with them, must say what they say, Salve regina, and Ave crux, spes unica, &c. or else hee prayes not with them, though hee be with them. [Page 4] Sixthly, Popish Churches, being actually imployed about Idolatry, doe no lesse pol­lute and profane, then the Heathen Tem­ples did; because Popish Idolatry is no lesse (if not more) hurtfull and impious, then Heathen; for it is grosser Idolatry to worship Images, the work of mens hands, then to adore the Sun and Moon, the work of Gods hands. I reade of foure sorts of Idolatry: 1. Hermeticall, which is the wor­ship of Images: 2. Poeticall, the worship of deified men: 3. Physicall, the worship of the great Platonick animall, the world, or the parts thereof: 4. Metaphysicall, the worship of Angels, or other created spirits: all these sorts of Idolatry are practised by Papists, except the third.

[...]ect. 3.Thirdly, [ At the sight of a Crosse or Cru­cifix he can dispense with his hat, but scarce with the thought or memory of his Saviour.] I will not blame him to remember his Sa­viour as oft as hee can; but then I would have him remember, that our Saviour hath not instituted a painted or carved Crosse and Crucifix to bring us in remem­brance of him; but hath left us his Word [Page 5] and Sacraments; other devices are but will-worship. Secondly, the sight of a Crucifix adored, should rather excite his indigna­tion then his devotion. When Moses and Ezechia saw the golden Calfe and brasen Serpent abused, we reade not of their devo­tion, but of their just indignation: a wood­den cross is but a woodden remembrancer of Christ; and silence at the sight of Idola­try, is a secret consent: and how can any be devout in that wherein God is disho­noured?

Fourthly, [ At a Procession hee hath wept, Sect. when his consorts have laughed, blind with op­position and prejudice.] The difference only is, that they play'd the part of Democritus, but the physician of Heraclitus: now which of these are most blind with prejudice? he that laughs at the folly of superstitious Processions, or he that weeps out of a pre­posterous devotion? But why, Sir, do you weep at such a sight? Is it out of pity, to see such folly? if so, I commend your weeping; but that is not the cause of your sorrow, as appeares by your Book: Is it then, because you call to remembrance [Page] Christs sufferings? but as hee told the wo­men of Ierusalem, so I tell you, Weep not for him, but for your selfe: weep that you have not the heart and Christian courage to reprove such Idolatry; for, by countenancing of it with your teares, and not reproving of it with your words, you make it your owne: amici vitia si feras, fa­cis tua.

[...]. 3.Fifthly, [ You thinke it uncharitable to scoffe the Pope, whom, as a temporall Prince, we owe the duty of good language.] First, how came he to be a temporall Prince? Sure he, whose successor he claimes himselfe to be, said, that his Kingdome was not of this world; and refused a temporall Crowne when it was profer'd him, and told his A­postles, that they should not beare rule as the lords of the Nations did: Non monstra­bunt, opinor, ubi quisquam Apostolorum judex sederit hominum, &c. Saint Bernard will tell you, that the Apostles never affected such principality. If you alledge Constan­tins donation, I will remit you to those who have sufficiently demonstrated the forgery of it. Secondly, wee give him no [Page 7] worse termes then Christ gave Herod and the Rabbies of his time; calling the one a Fox, the others hypocrites, painted tombes, wolves in sheeps clothing. Thirdly, those which you call popular scurrilities and op­prob [...]ious scoffes, are [ Antichrist, man of sin, whore of Babylon:] but these are the termes which the Scripture gives him. Fourthly, I confesse [ it is the method of charity to suffer without reaction] in particular wrongs, but not when Gods glory is in question. Christ prayed for those that persecuted him, but whipped them that dishonoured his Fa­thers House. To suffer God to be wronged, and not to be moved, is not charity, but luke-warmnesse or stupidity. Fifthly, we give the Pope no other language, then what he hath received of his owne party. Victor was checked by Irenaeus for excommuni­cating the Eastern Churches. [...] in [...] Arnulphus Bishop of Orleans, in the Councell of Rhemes, calls the Pope Antichrist: not to speak of Ioachimus Abbas, the Waldenses, Wickliffe, and many more, who give him the same title. Sixthly, how many Popes have justly deserved these titles, if you [Page] look on their flagitious lives, and hereti­call doctrine, that not without cause Ralph Urbin painted the two chiefe Apostles with red faces, as blushing at the foule lives of their successors. What duties of good language do we owe to Zepherinus a Mon­tanist, to Marcellinus an Idolater, Liberius an Arian, Anastasius a Nestorian, Vigilius an Eutychian, Honorius a Monothelite, Sylvester a Necromantick, Iohn the 23. that denied the resurrection, and others? What shall I speak of Sylvester the second, Benedict the ninth, Iohn the 20. and 21. Gregory the seventh, &c. who gave themselves to Sa­than and Witchcraft? I will say nothing of their Apostasies, Idolatries, Whore­domes, Blasphemies, Cruelties, Simonie, Tyrannie, &c.

[...]. 6.1. [ You have no Genius to disputes in Reli­gion] neither had Mahomet to disputes in his Alchoran: it were well, if there were no occasion of dispute; but, without it, I see not how against our learned adversa­ries wee should maintaine the truth. If there had been no dispute against Arius, Nestorius, Eutychus, Macedonius, and other [Page 9] Hereticks, how should the truth have been vindicated? Not to dispute against an He­ [...]etick, is not to fight against an enemy: Shall wee suffer the one to poyson our [...]oules, and the other to kill our bodies, with­out resistance?

2. [ In Divinity you love to keep the road] so did not Eliah in his time, Sect. 6 nor Christ and his Apostles in theirs: If the road be infest­ed with theeves, holes or precipices, you were better ride about; the broad way is not still the best way.

3. [ You follow the great Wheele of the Church, by which you move: Sect. 6] but this Wheele [...]s sometime out of order. Had you been a member of the Hebrew Church, when that worshipped the Calfe, I perceive you would have moved with her, and danced [...]o her pipe: Was it not better to follow the private dictats of Christ and his Apo­ [...]tles, then to move with the great Wheele of [...]he Iewish Church? When the whole world groaned and wondered, that shee was made Arian; was it not safer to steere ones course after the private pole of Atha­nasius his spirit, then to move with the [Page 10] great Wheele of the Arian Church? Had you lived in that time, when the Woman, who had the Eagles wings, was forced to flye unto the wildernesse, being pursued by a floud out of the Dragons mouth; had you (I say) then lived, would not you ra­ther have followed her, then stay at home, and worship Christs Image with the same adoration of [...] nay, worship the Crosse with the same that Christ himselfe is wor­shipped? You cannot be ignorant how disordered the motion was of the great Wheele of the Iewish Church in the dayes of Elijah, Manasses, and Hosea. Christ tells us, that when hee comes againe, hee will scarce find faith upon the earth; how then will the Churches great Wheele move?

[...]ect. 7.[ Your greener studies, you say, were polluted with the Arabians heresie, that mens soules perished with their bodies, but should be raised againe. This opinion, you thinke, Philosophy hath not throughly disproved; and you dare not challenge the prerogrative of immortality to your soule, because of the unworthinesse, or me­rits of your unworthy nature.] First,

your vessell retaines yet the sent of that li­quor, with which at first it was seasoned. Secondly, if you have forgot, reade over againe Plato, and you shall find, In T [...] maeo Philebo. in de ani c. 4. t. & 66▪ that Philo­sophy can throughly prove the soules im­mortality: reade also Aristotle. Will you have reasons out of Philosophy? take these: 1. The soule is of an heavenly and quintes­sentiall nature, not of an elementary. 2. The soule is a simple substance, not compounded of any principles▪ therefore can be resolved unto none: Now, if it were compounded, it could not be actus, [...], and principium. 3. As the soule hath neither matter nor forme in it, so neither are there in it any contrarieties: now all generation and corruption are by contra­ries. This is the reason why Philosophy denieth any generation or corruption in the Heavens, because they are void of con­trarieties. 4. It is a Maxime in Philosophy, Quod secundum se alicui convenit, est ab eo in­separabile; therefore life is inseparable [Page 12] from the soule, because it lives by it selfe, not by another, as the body doth, or by accident, as the souls of beasts do. 5. Mens soules have subsistence by themselves, not by their composita, as accidents, and the formes of beasts have; which is the cause of their decay. 6. The soule hath a natu­rall desire to immortality, which if it should not enjoy, that desire were given to it from God in vaine: At Deus & Natura nihil faciunt frustra. 7. If the soule perish, it must be resolved to nothing; for it can­not be resolved unto any principles, as not being made of them: if some thing can be resolved unto nothing, then some thing was made of nothing; but Philosophy denies this; therefore it must needs deny that, or the corruption of the soule, and conse­quently, it holds the soules immortality. I could alledge many testimonies of Hea­thens, to prove how they beleeved the im­mortality of the soule, but that I study brevity. Thirdly, let not the merits of our unworthy nature deterre us from chal­lenging the soules immortality; for the evill Angels have merited worse then we, [Page 13] [...]nd yet they cease not for that to be im­ [...]ortall. Though by sin we have lost ori­ [...]inall righteousnesse, or supernaturall [...]race; yet wee have not lost the essentiall [...]roperties of our natures: and, indeed, wic­ [...]ed men would be glad, that their soules were as mortall as their bodies; for they [...]now, that the merits of their unworthy natures deserve torments, rather then sleep or rest: therefore this your Arabian opini­on is not grounded upon Philosophy, but ra­ther upon Pope Iohn the 20. his heresie, for which hee was condemned by the Divines of Paris.

Your second errour was that of Origens [That God would after some time release the damned soules from torture. Sect. [...]] S. Austin shewes how pernicious this opinion of Origens is; for it opens a gap to all profanenesse, it de­stroyes Gods justice, which cannot be sa­tisfied without eternity of paine, being the person offended is eternall, and the will of the sinner in offending is eternall, if hee could live eternally: Voluisse [...]t reprobi, s [...] potuissent, sine fine vivere, ut possent sine fine peccare; I take, these are the words of Gre­gory [Page 14] the Great: Besides, this opinion i [...] quite repugnant to the Scripture, which tells us of a worme that never dies, of a fir [...] that's never quenched; of the divell, beast, and false prophet, which shall be tormen­ted for ever, night and day. Againe, if the wicked shall have an end of their tor­ments, why may you not as well thinke, that the Saints shall have an end of their joyes? But it's good to be wise with so­briety, and not to make God more merci­full then the Scripture makes him: it's suf­ [...]cient that God hath freed some of A­dams race from eternall fire, whereas hee might have damned all; his mercy is to be regulated by his owne wisdome, not by our conceipts. If melancholy natures are apt to despaire, when they thinke of eter­nall fire, let them be comforted with the hopes of eternall blisse: therefore, as Au­stin of Origen ▪ so may I say of all his fol­lowers, Tanto errant perversiùs, quanto vi­dentur de Deo sentire clementiùs.

[...]. 7.[ Your third errour, whereunto you were en­clined from some charitable inducements, was prayer for the dead] If the dead, for whom [Page] [...]ou prayed, were in heaven, your prayers [...]ere needlesse; for there is fulnesse of joy [...]nd pleasures for evermore: but if these [...]ead were in hell, your prayers were fruit­ [...]esse; for from thence is no redemption. [...]econdly, if you enclined to pray for the [...]ead, you did necessarily encline to the [...]pinion of Purgatory, for that depends on [...]his; and so you were injurious to the [...]loud of Christ, which hath purged us from [...]ll sinne; to the merit and satisfaction of Christ, to the grace of God and justifying Faith. Thirdly, you had no ground in Scripture, or any warrant from the anci­ent Church in her purer times, to pray for [...]he dead: there was indeed a commemo­ [...]ation of their names, and a meeting of Christians at the place where the Martyrs [...]uffered; but there was no praying either [...]o them, or for them, but onely a desire [...]hat other Christians might be like them; [...]nd their names were rehearsed, that they [...]ight not be obliterated by silence, and [...]hat posterity might know they were in [...]lisse, and that thanks migh [...] be given to God for them; that the living might shew [Page 16] their charity to them, and might be exci­ted to an holy emulation of their vertues; [...], [...]. lib. [...]. cont. [...]. c. [...], ad acuendam charitatem, & in illos quos imitari possumus, et in illum quo adjuvante possumus. This then was the better way, to be remembred by posterity, and not by praying to them, as afterward, when superstition crept by de­grees into the Church.

You have a piece of Rhetorick, ill be­coming a Christian physician, [...]. 9. [ You blesse your selfe, and are thankfull, that you never saw Christ nor his Disciples.] Was it because he or they, by curing all diseases freely, would have hindered your practice? I am sure, Saint Luke, a physician, was not of your mind, who was an inseparable com­panion of Saint Paul. Did not many Kings and Prophets desire to see that which you slight, and could not see it? It was one of Austins wishes, to see Christ in the flesh. Old Simeon was so over-joyed with that sight, that hee desires to depart in peace, with a song in his mouth. The three Wise­men were never so wise, as in undertaking so long a journey to see Christ. It seemes [Page 17] you would not have taken the paines with Zacheus, to climb up a Sycomore tree to see Christ; but hee lost nothing by it: for hee that desired to see Christ, was seen by him, and rewarded with salvation. The [...]oore Hemoroisse got more good by one touch of Christs garment, then by all the physick she had received from those of your profession. [ You would not be one of Christs patients in that nature, as you say, for feare your faith should be thrust upon you.] 'Tis well you are of so strong a faith, that you need no such helps; but presume not too much with Peter, to walk on the sea; with­out Christs help you'l sink: I will pray with the blind man, I beleeve, Lord, help my unbeliefe.

[ You had as leive we tell you, Sect. that the soule is mans Angell, or the body of God, as [...], that is, the first ac [...] and perfection of the body.] It seemes here by your owne confession, you love to humour your fancie; for otherwise you cannot deny the soule to be the first act and perfection of the body, whereas no man can conceive▪ that the soule should be an Angell, except you will [Page 18] follow Origens opinion, that soules and An­gels are of the same species: which is ab­surd; seeing the one are made to subsist without bodies, so are not the other: the one are intellective, the other rationall sub­stances. The Schooles will tell you, that the Angels differ specifically one from ano­ther, how then can they and the soules of men differ only numerically? But this will not relish with you, who loves allegoricall descriptions better then metaphysicall defi­nitions. But tell us how you conceive the soule to be Gods body: Hath God a bo­dy? seeing hee is free from all compositi­on, both of essence and existence, of nature and personalty, of gender and difference; in whom can be no corporiety, because no mat­ter; without which a body can no more be, then a dreame without sleep, or bread without meat saith Scaliger. Now, if any matter were in God▪ then there must be in him a passive possibility, and quantity also, and distinction of parts, all which essenti­ally follow the matter. Besides, God and our soules must make but one compound; and so God and the creature is but one [Page 19] [...]ompounded substance: And whereas the [...]ompound is posterior to the parts com­ [...]ounding, it must follow, that God must [...] after our soules, and must be subject to [...]me cause; for every compound hath a [...]use of its composition. What a strange [...]od doth your allegoricall description de­ [...]ypher to us? Were you not better admit [...] metaphysicall definition of the soule, to [...]it, actus primus corporis naturalis organici [...]tentiâ vitam habentis, then such a wild [...]ncie, that anima est corpus Dei? You were [...] good speak out in plaine termes with [...]lato, and tell us, that the world is a great [...]imal, whereof God is the soule.

[ You say that God is wise, Sect. 13 because he know­ [...]h all things; and he knowes all things, because [...] made them all.] But I say, that God [...]oweth all things, because he is wise; for [...] wisdome is not like ours: ours is got [...] knowledge and long experience, so is [...] Gods, whose wisdome and knowledge [...] co-eternall; but in priority of order, [...]is wisdome precedes his knowledge. We [...]now first the effects of things and con­ [...]usions by discourse ▪ and then come to the [Page 20] knowledge of the principles, which we [...] wisdome: but God knowes the principle [...] and causes of things simplici intuitu, an [...] immediatly▪ being all in himselfe; the effects and conclusions hee knowes in the [...] causes and principles. Secondly, Go [...] knowes not all things, because hee mad [...] them all, but hee made them, because [...] knew them; for hee knew them before [...] made them: he knew them from eternity he made them in time, and with time. Againe, is there nothing that God knowe [...] but what he made? Hee knowes himselfe hee knowes those notions of our mind which we call entia rationis, he knows non [...]entities, and he knowes evill; and yet thes [...] he never made, nor will make.

[...]ect. 16.[ You define not nature with the Schooles, th [...] principle of motion and rest; but a straight an [...] regular line, &c.] Indeed, this is not to define, but to overthrow a good definition the end of which is, to bring us to th [...] knowledge of the things defined: therefore Aristotle in his Topicks will have us to avoid Metaphors, which cast a mist upo [...] the thing defined; every Metaphor bein [...] [Page 21] [...]ore obscure then proper words. But I [...]ee you delight in such fancies; for you [...]efine light, to be the shadow of God: I [...]hink Empedocles his definition would [...]lease you well, who defines the sea to be [...]he sweat of the earth; and Plato defines the [...]oles to be the little feet, on which the great animal of the world moves it selfe. Such definitions are good for women and [...]hildren, who are delighted with toyes; wise men search into the causes and na­ [...]ures of things. But is not Nature a princi­ [...]le of motion and rest? No, say you: What then? [ A straight line, a settled course, Gods hand and instrument.] Is not [...]his obscurum per obscurius? Nature is not a [...]ine, for it is no quantity: nor is it like a [...]ine; for these are entities too remote to make any similitude between them. Na­ture is as like a line, as the ten Plagues of Egypt were like the ten Commandements; a ridiculous similitude. And why is Na­ [...]ure rather a straight, then a circular line? We see the world is round, the motions of the heavens and starres are circular, the ge­neration and corruption of sublunary bo­dies [Page 22] is also circular; the corruption of on [...] being still the generation of another: snow begets water, and water snow; the river [...] returne to the sea, from whence they flow ‘—Redit labor actus in orbem.’ And what say you to the circulation o [...] the bloud in our bodies? Is not Natur [...] then a circular, rather then a straight line▪ Againe, Nature is not a settled course, bu [...] in the workes of Nature there is a settled and constant course; if you will speak pro­perly, and like a Philosopher, which you love not to doe. And suppose wee admit▪ that metaphorically Nature is the hand of God, and an instrument; yet it is not such an instrument, as the hammer is to the house, which cannot move it selfe: but as the fire was to the Chaldeans, and the red sea to the Egyptians; for the one of it selfe burned, the other of it selfe drowned, and moved downwards to its own place, with­out an externall agent: Otherwise you must say, that God burned the Chaldeans, and God drowned the Egyptians, and so you will make God both fire and water. Nay, if Nature doth not worke, and pro­duce [Page 23] its immediate effects, but God in Na­ture; then you may say, It is not the fire, but God that rosts your meat, and extracts your physicall spirits and quintessences: [For you will not have Gods actions ascribed to Na­ture, lest the honour of the principall agent be devolved upon the instrument.] And what else is this, but, with Plato, to make this world a great animal, wherof God is the soule?

Now; if Nature be not the principle of motion, what is that which moveth or al­tereth the water from cold to heat, when [Page 24] it is on the fire? Is it not the nature of the fire? Againe, is not forme and matter the nature of things? but these are causes, and causes are principles of motion. Doe no [...] you know, that the forme actuates the Com­positum, and restraines the extravagancie of the matter? Doth not the matter receive the forme, and sustaine it? but to actuat [...], restraine, receive and sustaine are motions, of which you see Nature is the principle, except you will deny the two internall causes of things; but so you must deny ge­neration and corruption, composition and mixture in Nature, which (I thinke) you will not doe, as you are a Physician.

[...]. 16.You say [ that there is in monsters a kind of beauty, for that the irregular parts are so contrived, that they become more remarkable then the principall fabrick.] It is not their beauty, but their monstrosity and irregula­rity that makes them remarkable; for the eye is as soon drawn with strange and un­couth, as with beautifull objects; the one to admiration and stupiditie, the other to delight: A woman, as beautifull as Venus, will not draw so many eyes, as if she were [Page 25] [...]orne with a dogs head, and a fishes taile.

[ 'Tis not (you say) a ridiculous devotion to say a prayer before a game at Tables. Sect.] I think [...]t is profanation, and taking of Gods Name in vaine: For, what doe you pray for? that God would prosper your game, to win your neighbour [...] mony, to which you have no right? If Abraham durst scarce [...]ntercede to God for the preservation of five populous Cities, how dare you be so bold with him, as to solicite him to assist you in your idle, foolish and sinfull desires, and, in divers respects, unlawfull recreati­ons?

[ You will not have us labour to confute judi­ciall Astrologie; for, Sect. if there be a truth there­in, it doth not injure Divinity.] This is as much as if you would say, Let us not la­bour to resist the Divell; for, if hee loves our salvation, hee doth not injure us. If there were truth in that Art, we would not confute it; but we see there is so much de­ceit, vanitie and impietie in it, that Coun­cels, Canons, civill and municipall Lawes, and Gods Word condemne it: therefore wee confute it▪ You had better then in plaine [Page 26] termes said, that Mercury doth not dispos [...] us to be witty, nor Iupiter to be wealthy then to tell us, [ that if Mercury disposeth [...] to be witty, and Jupiter to be wealthy, you wi [...] thanke God that hath ordered your nativity un­to such benevolent aspects.] I know the Star were made to be signes, to measure time to warme and illuminate, but not to giv [...] wealth and wit; promotion comes neithe [...] from East nor West, but from the Lord▪ It's hee that gives and takes, saith Iob: It's hee that filleth the hungry, and sends the r [...]c [...] empty away, saith the Virgin. His wisdome hath wealth and honour in her left hand▪ Solomon went not to Mercury, but to God for wisdome. Was Abraham, [...]saac, Ia­cob, and other rich men in Scripture, borne under Iupiter? How disposeth he us to be wealthy? Passively? that is, to be capable of wealth, or willing to take it, when it is pro­fer'd us? then I think, the most men in the world are borne under Iupiter: For, ‘Quis nisi mentis inops —’ Who will refuse wealth, when profer'd, except very few? Or, disposeth hee us actively? that is, makes he us fit to raise our [Page 27] owne fortunes? Surely, whereas there be ma [...] waies to attaine wealth; wit in some, learning in others, industry in others, bold­nesse, with hazzarding of their lives, and vigilancie and paines in others: Againe, op­pression, robbery, theeving, lying, and many other waies there be of getting wealth, you must make Iupiter the cause of all these meanes: But if hee can make us rich, what need wee pray to our heavenly Father for our daily bread? You were as good tell us of the goddesse Pecunia, of the god Aescu­lanus, and his son Argentarius, worshipped among the Romans, for being the authors of mony, brasse and silver, that if they dis­pose wealth on us, wee will thank the Su­preme giver for it, not them, as to call Mer­cury and Iupiter benevolent aspects, be­cause they dispose us to be wealthy and witty.

[ You confesse, Sec [...] that the Divell would dis­swade your beliefe from the miracle of the bra­sen Serpent, and make you think, that wrought by sympathy, and was but an Egyptian trick.] It seemes he dealt otherwise with you then with the Ophit hereticks; hee perswaded [Page 28] them that this was a true miracle; and tha [...] therefore Serpents should be worshipped: hee would perswade you that this was no miracle, but an Egyptian trick. Secondly, he might have more easily perswaded you, that the Egyptians and other Nations, from the report of this miracle, learned their worshipping of Serpents, then that Moses learned this erecting of the Serpent from the Egyptians. Thirdly, here could be no sympathy either between the disease and matter of the Serpent▪ which was brasse, (being there was brasse enough in the Ta­bernacle, with looking on which their stings might have been cured:) or between the figure of the Serpent and the wound; for the figure, being a quality and artifici­all, could not be the subject of sympathy ▪ which is a hid vertue, having alwaies a na­turall substance for the subject of it: and seeing that sympathies and antipathies fol­low not the matter of things, and therefore are not elementary qualities, but the speci­ficall [...]orme, there could be no such qua­litie in that Serpent, having no other essen­tiall forme but of brasse, which hath no [Page 29] such sympathy, as to cure an inflammation by the bare look on it afar off. Fourthly, where there is a sympathy between two bo­dies, there is a delight and an attraction of the one to the other. Rhabarb, by sympa­thy, drawes choler to it; but what delight or attractive vertue was there in an artifi­ciall brasen Serpent, to draw out the ve­nome of a wound? Fifthly, where cures are performed by sympathy, there is a touching of the thing curing, and the thing cured: as Rhododendrum, which kills As­ses, being eat by them; cures men of the bitings of Serpents, being applyed to them. Sixthly, had hee told you, that it was not the image of the Serpent, but the imagination of the beholder that cured him, hee had said somewhat; but yet hee had deceived you: for, though the imagi­nation helps much to the curing of some diseases in one or two, perhaps among a thousand; yet it was never knowne, that so many people together, as the Israelites, should have each one of them such strong imaginations, as to be cured by them: It was not then either the image, or the ima­gination [Page 30] that cured them, but their faith in him that was lifted upon the Crosse, as the Serpent was erected by Moses in the desart.

These other perswasions of Sathan [ to make you doubt of Elias his miracle, of the com­bustion of Sodome, of the Manna in the desart] are impious and ridiculous; for though Bitumen and Naphtha will suddenly, and at some distance catch fire; yet hence it will not follow, that Elias used such stuffe for the consuming of his sacrifice; for the stuffe, being a fat substance, gathered from the superficies of the water of Asphaltites lake, or the dead-sea neere Iericho, was as well knowne to Baals priests, as to Elias, being neighbours to that lake. Againe, the Text saith, that the fire of the LORD came downe, which consumed the sacri­fice, and dried up the water; and how could Eliah so deceive such a multitude of people, being there present, as to kindle a fire in the water with Bitumen, and they not perceive it? And though this stuffe will burne in the water, yet water will ne­ver kindle it; for then it should burn con­tinually [Page 31] in the lake from whence it comes. Lastly, the Text tells you of no other [...]tuffe but of wood and water, and the fire [...]hat came downe from God. Secondly, whereas [ Sathan would have told you, that [...]here was a bituminous nature in the lake of Gomorrha, before the firing of that place; and [...]herefore that Sodomes combustion was natu­ [...]all,] hee shewed himselfe to be that lyar [...]rom the beginning; for there was no lake [...]here, till these Cities were destroyed, as [...]he Text sheweth: And it also plainly tels us, that the Lord rained fire from the Lord out [...]f heaven. And if there had been a lake [...]here before of an Asphaltick nature, how will it follow, that the combustion of So­dome was naturall? Was Sodome and the other Cities built in that lake? Who set [...]he lake on fire? How is it, that ever since, [...]hat lake hath been full of Bitumen? that it [...]ever flamed since? if it did, shew us some [...]istory for it. Thirdly, though Manna was gathered plentifully in Arabia in Iosephus [...]is dayes, and then was no miracle; yet in [...]he dayes of Moses, Manna in that same de­ [...]art was miraculous, though not in respect [Page 32] of the matter, yet in regard of the circum­stances; for then forty yeares together fe [...] such abundance, that was able to feed tha [...] populous Nation, the like quantitie wa [...] never knowne to fall before or after. I [...] was no miracle for Christ to feed peopl [...] with bread and fish, but to feed so man [...] thousands with five loaves and two fishe [...] was the miracle. Again, it was miraculous that hee, who gathered most Manna, ha [...] not too much, and hee that gathered least▪ had no want. Besides, it was mir [...]culous▪ that what was reserved till the next day turned unto wormes, except upon the Sab­bath day; and that it should fall six dayes of the week, and the seventh day none to be found, was not this miraculous? Mar [...] also how long it was kept in the urne un­putrefied.

[...]ect. 20.[ You could never be enclined to any position [...] of Atheisme; for, these many yea [...]es, you hav [...] been of opinion there never was any.] I wish you could make this good, and your opi­nion true; but if there have been no A­ [...]heists, how will you call those fooles, who have said in their heart, There is no God ▪ [Page 33] Why did Saint Paul call the Ephesians be­ [...]ore their conversion Atheists, or without [...]od in the world? What was contemptor Deûm Mezentius in the Poet, who acknow­ [...]edged no other god but his right hand, [...]nd his dart, ‘Dextra mihi deus, & telum quod mis­sile libro?’ And Nisus, who thought every mans de­sire to be his god, ‘—Sua cui (que) deus fit dira cupido?’ The Athenians, and [...]ll others, are to [...]lame, who made severe lawes against A­ [...]heists. I have read that Galen, the grand Dictator of your Art, was an Atheist, and [...]oo many more. Secondly, Sect. [ You thinke Epicurus to be no Atheist, for denying Gods providence over the triviall actions of inferi­our creatures.] But, I say, hee is no lesse an Atheist that denies Gods providence, or any other of his Attributes, then hee that denies his Essence. Though Epicurus and Democritus babbled something of a Deity, yet in holding the world to be casually and rashly agglomerated of small atomes, they were very Atheists. And so were Diagoras, [Page 34] Milesius, Theodorus, Cyrnensis, and many o­thers. [...]. 1. de [...]. de­ [...]m. Reade Tully, and hee will tell you▪ whether Epicurus were not an Atheist, who wrote against the gods; & that both he & Democritus were Atheists ▪ for denying that the gods did either help or shew favour to men: And, that as Xerxes was an Atheis [...] in his hands, by pulling downe the Tem­ples of the gods; so was Epicurus in his tongue, who pulled them downe with his reasons. Hee shewes also that Protagoras, who doubted of the gods, was an Atheist; and so are all those, who think Religion to be the invention of wise men, to keep peo­ple in awe. Did you never reade of Poly­phemus in Homer, who confesses, he never sacrificed to any other god but to his bel­ly, ‘ [...].’ It is a certaine Maxime in Schoole-divini­tie, That providence, which consisteth in the ordering of effects to their ends, hath as large an extension, as the causalitie of the first agent: but this gave being to all, even to the meanest things, and so his pro­vidence extends to all, even to the haires [Page 35] of our head, if you will beleeve Truth it [...]elfe: therefore he is doubtlesse an Atheist, [...]hat can say, ‘Non curare deûm credo mortalia quen­quam.’ Thirdly, [ You say, Sect. 2 that the fatall necessity of [...]he Stoicks, is nothing else but the immutable [...]aw of Gods will.] Then, belike, man sins by [...]he immutable law of Gods will. Is this [...]our Religion, to make God the authour [...]f sin, and to take away f [...]om man totally [...]he liberty of his will? But this you doe, if [...]ou make the Stoicall necessity the same [...]hat the immutable law of Gods will is; [...]or the Stoicks held, that what man did, whether it was good or evill, hee did it by [...]n inevitable necessity, to which not onely men, but even Iupiter himselfe was sub­ [...]ect, [...]. there­ [...]ore their fate is termed inevitabile, inelu­ [...]tabile, inexsuperabile, inexorabile. This is the Religion of the Turkes at this day, if you [...]ill beleeve Busbequius: but I did not [...]hink it had been the Religion of a Chri­ [...]tian Physician till now.

[Page 36] [...]. 21.[ You are not yet assured which is the right side of man.] The right side is that where the liver lyeth, which is the fountaine of bloud, wherein our life consisteth; there­fore that side is stronger, and more active, and the limbs thereof bigger; as appeares by the right hand and right foot, which are bigger then the left. I hope you are not so simple as those children in Nineve ▪ which knew not the right hand from the left: Nature hath made this distinction▪ therefore the right hand is honourable a­mongst all men, except amongst those▪ who honour the sword, which (being tye [...] to the left side) gives it the preheminencie: but this honour is by accident. Endeavour to know Christs right hand from his left, that, in the last day, you may stand there with joy amongst his sheep.

[...]ect. 22.[ You wonder how America should be peopled and inhabited by beasts of prey and noxious ani­mals, and yet not a horse there.] If you wil [...] credit Geographers, you shall not need to wonder; for they tell us, there is but a nar­row passage, called the Strait of Anien ▪ between Asia and America; so that, without [Page 37] admiration, men and beasts might be [...]ransported, and swim over thither; and [...]hat the people on both sides of the Strait [...]esemble each other in feature, manners, [...]awes and customes, and other circumstan­ces, and have the same kinds of creatures. And is it more wonder for America to [...]ave those animals, which wee have not, then for Africa to have those which Europe wants, or Europe to have those which are not to be found in Asia?

It seemes you are little versed in the Scripture, when you hold it [ a paradox, Sect. that Methusalem should be longest lived of all Adams children, and that no man can prove it.] What need you any other proofe then the Text it selfe, which is so plaine, and the unanimous consent of the whole Church from the beginning? If you can manifest it to be otherwise, as you brag, doe it; ‘— Et Phyllida solus habeto.’ Secondly, [ You make it doubtfull, Sect. if Judas hanged himselfe.] But the Text is plaine, and the word [...] there, Mat 27.5 is not doubt­full, as you say, but both by sacred and [Page 38] profane Writers it is used for strangling and hanging: so in Homer, ‘— [...],’ strangling the young fawne: [...]. And in Thu­cidides, [...], some were hanged on, or from the trees. I doe not reade this word used in any other sense but for strangling, hanging, or bind­ing the throat; and so the Church hath al­waies expounded it: and yet you will make it a doubtfull word. That other place, which you think overthrowes this, is that of the Acts: [...]. 18. but indeed, it confirmes it; for [...], is fallen downe head-long, or flat: So in Homer, ‘ [...]— [...].’ Iudas then hanged himselfe, saith Saint Matthew; hee fell downe flat, saith Saint Luke, this being the sequell of his strang­ling or hanging: How then doth this over­throw the other? Thirdly, [ You hold it im­probable, that men should build the Tower of Babel in a plaine against the next deluge.] Where then would you have had them build it? On a mountaine? 'Tis like they [Page 39] would have done so, had there been the same plenty of materials, and other con­veniences on the hills, which they found in the plaine. Men must build where they can, not alwaies where they would. Fourthly, 'Tis not materiall, whether it was a messenger, or Peters tutelary Angell that was supposed to knock at the doore; for the word signifieth both: but the Church hath alwaies expounded that place of Peters Angell, and shee beleeves that Angels are ministring spirits: But I think you'l hardly find the word Angelus in the New Testament used for a messen­ger sent from man, but rather the word A­postolus, except Luke 7. where Iohn's disci­ples are called Angels.

[ You cannot prove, Sect. that miracles are cea­sed.] Cessante causâ, cessat effectus; the end of miracles was the confirmation of the Gospel: Now the Gospel is confirmed; therefore you may conclude a cessation of miracles. Secondly, wee heare of no mi­racles that shall be in these later dayes, but of lying wonders. Thirdly, miracles are no essentiall note of the truth; for Iohn [Page 40] Baptist wrought none, yet his doctrine was true. The Egyptian Sorcerers, Simon Magus and others, wrought some seeming mira­cles and wonders, yet their doctrine was false: [...]. 27. but when you say [ There is not one miracle greater then another] you are de­ceived; for though miracles be the extra­ordinary effects of Gods hand, to which all things are of an equall facility; yet these effects are different in themselves▪ and some greater, some lesser. The creation of the world is a greater miracle then the fa­brick of mans body; and 'tis more admi­rable to feed five thousand people with foure loaves, then foure thousand with five.

[...]. 27.You are so mannerly [ that you dare not say, God cannot worke contradictions, and many things else.] But I thinke it is good man­ners to say, God cannot work contradicti­ons, because these have not a possibilitie in them to be made; and therefore are not the objects of his omnipotencie: but that is only the object, which is possibile absolu­tum. So, I think, it is good manners to say, God cannot lie, or die, because it cannot [Page 41] [...]gree with his active power to suffer, or to die: So he cannot sin, because it agreeth not with right reason. In a word, Deus nequit facere, quod nequit fieri. I think then it were breach of good manners to say, that God could do any thing, which were repugnant either to his wisdome, good­nesse, or power. And though his power and will make but one God, yet they are different attributes ratione; for the will commands, and the power puts in execu­tion.

You say [ that they who deny witches, Sect. deny spirits also, and are a kind of Atheists.] A strange kind of Atheisme to deny witches! but is there such a strict relation between witches and spirits, that hee that denies the one, must needs deny the other? Sure, the existence of spirits depends not upon the witches invocation of, or paction with spi­rits. We reade, that Zoroastres was the first witch in the world, and hee lived after the Floud; were there no spirits, I pray, till then? This is as much as if you would say, there were no divels among the Gadarens, till they entered into their swine.

[Page 42] [...]. 33.[ You thinke the Angels know a great part of our thoughts, because, by reflexion, they be­hold the thoughts of one another.] That the Angels know one another, is out of doubt; but how they know one anothers thoughts, is unknowne to mee. This I know, that none knowes the thoughts of man, but man himself, and God that made him; it being Gods prerogative to be [...]. If they know our thoughts, 'tis either by revelation from God, or by some outward signe and demonstration from our selves; for, whilest they are im­manent, and in the Understanding, they are only knowne to God, because he only hath the command of our Wills, from which our thoughts depend.

The light, which wee stile a bare acci­dent [ you say is a spirituall substance, [...]. 33. where it subsists alone, and may be an Angell.] Let us see where, and when it subsists alone, with­out a subject, and then wee will beleeve you, that it is a spirituall substance; And if your light may be an Angel, that must needs be an Angell of light. What a skip­ping Angell will ignis fatuus make? The [Page 43] Chandlers and Bakers trades are honou­ [...]able; those can make lights, which may in [...]ime become Angels; these wafers, which [...]n time become gods.

This Section consists of divers errours: Sect. [...] First, you call the Heavens [ the immateriall world:] so you confound the celestiall world with the intellectuall, which only is imma­teriall, and had its being in the divine in­tellect, before it was made. Secondly, if the Heavens be immateriall, they are not movable; for matter is the subject of mo­tion. Why then doe you call the great Sphere the first movable? Thirdly, an im­materiall world cannot be the habitation of materiall substances; where then will the bodies of the Saints, after the resurre­ction, have their residence? Fourthly, if the Heavens have not matter, they have not quantity and parts. Fifthly, nor are they compounded substances of matter and forme, but simple, as spirits. Sixthly, though they have not such a matter, as the elementary world, yet immateriall they are not: they have a matter, the subject of quantity, though not of generation and [Page 44] corruption. Your second errour is [ that you call Gods essence the habitation of Angels; and therefore they live every-where, where his essence is.] Divinitie tells us, that Angels are in a place definitivè; and that they, as we all, live and move in him, as in our effi­cient, protecting, and sustaining cause, but not as in a place; for Angels move out of one place to another, and while they are on earth, they are not in heaven: but if Gods essence be their habitation, then they never change place; for his essence is every-where, and so you make them partakers of Gods proper attribute, Ubiquity. Your third errour is [ that God hath not subordina­ted the creation of Angels to ours, but, as mi­nistring spirits, they are willing to fulfill Gods will in the affaires of man.] Then, belike, God made them not to be ministring spi­rits to the heires of salvation, but they are so of their owne accord: if so, wee are more beholding to them for their com­fort, protection and instruction of us, then to God, who made them not for this end, but (as you say) for his owne glory: But if you were as good at Divinity, as at Phy­sick, [Page 45] you will find, that Gods glory is not [...]ncompatible with their service to us; but [...]n this is God glorified, that they comfort, [...]nstruct and protect us; for this charge hee hath given to his Angels over us: and so we are bound to them for their care, much more to him for his love, in creating them to this end. Your fourth errour is [ that both generation and creation are founded on contrarieties.] If creation were a transmu­tation, which still presupposeth a subject, I would be of your opinion; but seeing it is not, and hath no subject, without which contrarieties cannot be in nature, I deny, that creation is founded on contrarieties; neither is non-entity contrary, but the totall privation of being, which God gave to the creature.

[ You wonder at the multitude of heads that deny traduction, Sect having no other argument of their beliefe but Austins words, Creando in­funditur, &c.] But I wonder as much at you, who is not better acquainted with our Divinitie; for wee have many reasons to confirm us against traduction, besides Saint Austins authority: At first, that the soule [Page 46] is immateriall; therefore hath not quanti­tie, nor parts, nor is subject to division, as it must be, if it be subject to traduction or propagation. Secondly, the soule existeth in and by it selfe, depending from the bo­die neither in its being nor operation, and by consequence, not in its production, nec in esse, nec in fieri, nec in operari. Thirdly, if the soule were educed out of the power of the matter, it were mortall, as the soules of beasts are; which, having their begin­ning and being from the matter, must faile when that failes. Fourthly, the effect is never nobler then the cause; but the soule, in regard of understanding, doth in excel­lencie far exceed the body. Fifthly, a body can no more produce a spirit, then an horse can beget a man, they being different species. Sixthly, if the soule were propa­gated in or by the seed, then this were a true enunciation, Semen est animal rationale, and so the seed should be man. Seventhly, if the soule of the son be propagated by the soule, or of the soule of the parent, then we must admit transmutation of soules, as we doe of bodies in generation. Eighthly, we [Page 47] [...]ave the Churches authoritie. Ninthly, [...]nd the testimony of Gentiles; De ge anim [...] c. 3. t. Meta lib. 4. for Aristotle [...]cknowledgeth the Intellect to enter into [...]e body from without: And Apuleius, in [...]is mysticall description of Psyche, affirmes her to be the youngest daughter of the great King; intimating, that she is not infu­ [...]ed, till the body be first framed. Many testimonies I could set downe here, if I were not in haste. Tenthly, the Scripture is [...]or us, affirming, that the soules returne to God that gave them, but the bodie to the [...]arth, from whence it came; therefore God keeps the same order in generation, that hee did in creation, first framing and articulating the body and its organs, and then infusing the soule.

[ But the maine reason that enclines you to the opinion of traduction, Sect. is the monstrous productions of men with beasts; for in these, you [...]ay, there is an impression and tincture of rea­ [...]on.] So I may say, that Elephants are [...]en, because in them is an impression and [...]incture of reason, more then in any such [...]onstrous birth. Secondly, if I should grant, that in these equivocall productions [Page 48] there were more reason, then in othe [...] beasts, it will not prove the traduction o [...] the reasonable soule; because the forma­tive power of mans seed, or the vegetativ [...] faculty thereof, which is not the worke o [...] the reasonable soule, being conveighe [...] with the seed, makes organs semblable to these of men; and therefore somewhat fit­ter to exercise functions like those of men▪ in which you may see the shadow of rea­son, but not a reasonable soule, which is not conveighed by the seed, but infused into the body, when it is articulated Thirdly, if mens soules, with the seed, b [...] transfused into beasts, then these mon­strous productions must be men, and so ca­pable of salvation and damnation, of faith and the Sacraments, and the other myste­ries of Religion.

[...]ect. 35.[ You will not have the body the instrume [...] of the soule, but rather of sense, and this th [...] hand of reason.] As if I would say, The ax [...] is not the proper instrument of the Carpe [...] ­ter, but of his hand, and this of the Carpe [...] ­ter; Causa causae est causa causati, what is sub­ject to the sense, is also subject to the soule▪ [Page 49] But, if you will speak properly, the body is [...]ot the instrument of the sense, but the [...]ense rather the bodies instrument; for▪ whether depends the body on the sense, or [...]his on the body? the body can subsist without the sense, not the sense without [...]he body. The whelp hath a body before [...]he ninth day, but not the sight, because [...]he corporeall organ of that sense is not till [...]hen fitted for sight; but to speak Philoso­ [...]hically, the sense is the instrument of the whole compositum.

[ You cannot find in the braine the organ of [...]he rationall soule, Sect. which wee terme the feat of [...]eason.] There is no reason why you [...]hould, seeing you confesse, that this is a [...]ensible argument of the soules inorgani­ [...]ie. Shew me the seats of the Intellect, and [...]he Will, and I will shew you the seat of Reason. [ Though you can discover no more in [...] mans brain, then in the cranie of a beast,] yet mans braine differs specifically from that of [...]he beast. Now, why we call the brain [...] [...]he seat of reason, is, because the ratio­ [...]all soule makes use of the senses and [...]he phant [...]sie, which have their being in, [Page 50] and their originall from the braine.

[...]. 37.[ You find nothing in death able to daunt the courage of a man; and you cannot highly love any that is affraid of it.] Then you would hardly love David, that prayed against it: and Ezechia, that wept so bitterly, when newes was brought to him of it. Sure, Christ, as man, was not quite, exempt from the feare of it: Hee often avoided it, and wills his Disciples in persecution to flie from it. The Apostle shewes, that the Saints desire not to be unclothed, but to be cloth­ed upon. There is something in it able to daunt the courage of man, as it dissolves his fabrick; of a wicked man, as it is an in­troduction to eternall death; of a Christian man, as it is the fruit of Adams sinne, and a part of that punishment laid on him and us all for sin: [...]. Nullum animal ad vitam prodit sine metu mortis, said hee, who feared death as little as you: And the greatest of all Philosophers not unfitly called it, the most terrible of all terrible things.

[...]. 38.[ The Philosophers Stone hath taught you▪ that your immortall spirit or soule may [...]ye ob­scure, and sleep awhile within this house of [Page 51] flesh.] I am sure, the Scripture teacheth you other Divinity, to wit, that the soule re­turnes to God that gave it. Christ did not tell the penitent Thiefe, that his soul should sleep in his house of flesh, but that it should be with him in Paradise. The soule of La­zarus was not left to sleep in that putrefied house of his flesh, but was carried by the Angels into Abrahams bosome. Saint Paul desired to be dissolved, not to sleep in the grave, but to be with Christ; who will not leave the soules of his sons in that hell, nor suffer them to see corruption; whose com­fort is, that, when this earthly taberna­cle of their house shall be dissolved, they have a building given them of God, made without hands, eternall in the Heavens. You see then what a bad Schoole-master the Philosophers Stone is, which hath taught so many to make shipwrack of their e­states, and you of the soules immortalitie.

[ You cannot dreame, Sect that there should be at the last day any such judiciall proceeding, as the Scripture seemes to imply.] It seemes then, that, in your opinion, the Scripture speaks here mystically: but your bare word will [Page 52] not induce us to subscribe to your conceit, being the whole Church from the begin­ning, hath, to this day, beleeved, that Christ shall, in a judiciary way, come as a Iudge, and call all flesh before him; and we shall stand all naked before his Tribu­nall, and receive the sentence of life or death. A mysticall and unknowne way of tryall, will not stand so much with the ho­nour of Christ, as an open and visible, that all may see and witnesse the justice of the Iudge: First then observe, we have the li­terall sense of the Scripture for our beliefe. Secondly, the consent of the Church. Thirdly, Reason; for, as the beginning of the world was, so shall its consummation be: that was not created in a mysterie, as some have thought, but really and visibly; neither shall it be dissolved, but after the same way it was created. Fourthly, it is fit that Christ, who w [...]s not mystically, but visibly and really judged by sinners, should be the visible Judge of those his Judges, and of all sinners: therefore, as the Apostles saw him ascend in glory, not mystically; so they shall see him with reall glory returne. [Page 53] Fifthly, this visible proceeding will be more satisfactory to the Saints, who shall see their desire upon their enemies, and vengeance really executed on those that afflicted them. Sixthly, and it will be more terrible to the wicked, who have persecuted Christ in himselfe and in his members, when they shall look on him whom they have pierced. Seventhly, if you thinke this last Judgement to be but mysticall, then you may as well say with Socinus, that eternall death, and eternall fire prepared for the wicked is only mysti­call, and signifieth nothing else but the an­nihilation of the wicked for ever, without sensible paine; which is indeed to over­throw all Religion, and open a wide gap for impiety and security.

The antecedent signes of Christs com­ing [ you thinke are not consistent with his se­cret coming as a thiefe in the night. Sect.] You must know, that the wars, and signes in the Sun, Moon and Stars▪ are partly meant of those signes, which were the fore-runners of Ierusalems last destruction. Secondly, if wee understand them of the signes of [Page 54] Christs second coming, they are meant o [...] such wars and apparitions, as have no [...] been knowne in the world since the begin­ning, in respect of the extent and numbe [...] of them. Thirdly, though signes goe be­fore his coming, yet men shall be so secure and hard-hearted, eating, drinking, and making merry, as in the dayes of Noah ▪ that they will take no notice of warning thereby; then shall Christ come suddenly▪ as a thiefe in the night.

[...]. 45.[ Hardly hath any man attained, you say, th [...] perfect discovery of Antichrist.] These notes which are given by Christ, Saint Iohn, and Saint Paul, doe most agree to the Pope, who sits in the Temple of God, as God, and exalts himself above all that's called God▪ in throning and dethroning of Kings, and disposing of their Kingdomes at his plea­sure; in pardoning sins, in making of Saints, and dedicating temples and dayes unto them; in dispensing with, cancelling and making of lawes at his pleasure; in tying sanctitie, infallibilitie of judgement to his Chaire, and freedome from errour; in ap­pointing new sacraments and lawes in the [Page 55] Church, and domineering over mens con­ [...]ciences; in dispensing with matrimony for­bidden by Gods lawes, and the law of Nature; in assuming to himselfe those ti­ [...]les, which are due onely to God: These and many other notes have prevailed so far with Wickliffe, the Waldenses, Hus, Ierome, Luther, Calvin, Bucer, and other eminent men of our profession, that they thought they had attained the perfect discovery of Antichrist. If you know any other, to whom these notes doe more exactly agree, name him, and wee will free the Pope from being the man of sin, and childe of perdi­tion.

[ A plant, you say, consumed to ashes, Sec [...] retains its forme, being withdrawne into its incombu­stible part, where it lies secure from the fire; and so the plant from its ashes may againe re­vive.] Admiranda canis, sed non credenda: For, if the forme of the plant be there still, then it is not consumed. Secondly, then Philosophy deceives us, in telling us, that the matter is onely eternall, and the formes perishing. Thirdly, then Art and Nature is all one, both being able to introduce, or, [Page 56] rather, educe a substantiall forme. Fourth­ly, then the radicall moisture and naturall heat, without which the forme hath no subsistence in the plant, is not consumed by the fire, but, in spight of all its heat, lurkes within the ashes; ‘— credat Iudaeus Apella.’ Fifthly, then an Art, being an accident, can produce a substance; and so the effect is nobler then the cause. Sixthly, then from a totall privation to the habit (whose cause was taken away) there may be a naturall regresse. Seventhly, if the forme of the plant be in the ashes still, then it actuates, distinguishes, denomina [...]es, defines, & per­fects the matter (for the ashes are not the first, but second matter) in which it is; and so it is a plant still, lurking under the acci­dents of ashes: as in the Masse, Christs bo­die under the accidents of bread. So by your Doctrine, it is no hard worke to be­leeve Transubstantiation, or the stori [...]s of the Phenix. Eighthly, if the forme of the plant be still in the ashes, then the forme is not in its owne matter, but in another; for so long as the ashes are ashes, they are [Page 57] [...]ot the matter of the plant, but of that [...]ubstance we call ashes. Ninthly, by this [...]lso the appetite of the matter is taken a­way; for to what can it have an appetite, [...]eeing it retaines the forme of the plant? But, I doubt mee, your revived plant will prove more artificiall then naturall; and, [...]ike Xeuxes his grapes, deceive perhaps [...]irds, but not men. So farre as I can per­ [...]eive in Quercitan and others, who have written of Chymistry, this forme of the plant is nothing but an Idea, or a delusion of the eye through a glasse held over a flame, wherein you may see somewhat like a plant, a cloud in stead of Iuno: A sallet of such plants may well tantalize you, they will never fill you.

Though it be true, that where Gods [...]resence is, there is Heaven; yet wee must not therefore thinke, that there is not a pe­culiar ubi of blisse and happinesse beyond the tenth Sphere, wherein God doth more manifestly shew his glory and presence, then any where else, as you seeme to inti­mate, Sect. 4 when you say [ that to place Heaven [...]n the Empyreall, or beyond the tenth Sphere, [Page 58] is to forget the worlds destruction, which when it is destroyed, all shall be here, as it is now there.] First, we deny, that this sensible world shall be destroyed in the substance thereof: its qualities shall be altered, the actions, motions, and influences of the Heavens shall cease; because then shall be no generation or corruption, and conse­quently, no transmutation of elements. Secondly, though this sensible world were to be destroyed, yet it will not follow, that therefore above the tenth Sphere there is not the Heaven of glory. Whither was it that Christ ascended? Is hee not said to ascend above all Heavens, and that the Heavens must containe him, till his second coming? Did not the Apostles see him a­scend in a cloud? Doe not you acknow­ledge it an Article of your Creed? Was not Saint Paul caught up into the third Hea­ven? If you thinke there is no other Hea­ven meant in Scripture then Gods pre­sence, it must follow, that Christs humanity is every-where, because hee is in Heaven ▪ that is, in Gods presence▪ which is every-where; and so you are of the Ubiquit [...]ries [Page 59] [...]aith: therefore we beleeve, as the Church [...]ath alwaies done, that Heaven is locall, [...]r a place above this visible world, whi­ [...]her Christ is gone to prepare a place for [...]s, which is called the Throne of God; where [...]ee have an habitation made without [...]ands, given us of God, eternall in the Heavens. Let us therefore seek the things (not which be every-where, but) which are above, where Christ is at the right hand of God. The Gentiles, Tert [...] de a [...] cap. 5 as Tertullian witnes­seth, were not ignorant of the place of blessed soules, quas in supernis mansionibus collocant, which they placed in these upper mansions of Heaven: Apud Platonem in ae­herem sublimantur, &c.

[ You cannot tell how to say, fire is the essence of Hell; Sect. nor can you conceive a flame that can prey upon the soule. Flames of sulphur in Scri­pture are (you thinke) to be understood not of this present Hell, but of that to come.] Though you cannot conceive how, yet you must beleeve, that the fire of Hell is corporall, and worketh on spirits: Perdidisti rationem, tene fidem, saith Austin. Yet the Schoole­men tell us, divers waies, how the soule [Page 60] may be affected and afflicted by that fire: First, as it shall be united to the fire, and shut up as it were in a prison there. Se­condly, as it shall retaine the experimen­tall knowledge of those paines, which it suffered in the body. Thirdly, as it is the principium and originall of the senses, which shall remaine in the soule as in their root. Fourthly, as that fire shall be a re­presentative signe or symbole of Gods in­dignation against them, and of their losse of his favour, and of so great happinesse, and that eternally, for so small, foolish and fading sinfull delights; these are the cor­porall waies, by which that fire shall tor­ment the soule. And if you hold your Masters Tenent, Mores animi sequuntur tem­peramentum corporis, you will find no more impossibility for a corporall fire to worke upon a spirit, then for the materiall hu­mours of the body to worke upon the soule.

As you thinke Hell and Hell-fire to be metaphoricall, and in mens consciences onely; so you seeme to doubt of the place under earth, [...]. 49. where you say, [ though wee [Page 61] [...]ace Hell under earth, the Divels walk is about [...].] But this is no argument to disswade [...]s from beleeving Hell to be under earth, [...]ecause the Divels are not yet confined [...]ither. By the same reason you may say, [...]e habitation of Angels is not above, be­ [...]ause they are imployed here by God up­ [...]n the earth. Wee beleeve Hell to be un­ [...]er earth, because it stands with reason [...]nd Gods justice, that the wicked should [...]e removed as farre as might be from the [...]resence of the Saints, and the place of [...]oy, which is above. Secondly, as their [...]elight and hopes were not in heaven, but [...]n earth and earthly things; so it is fitting [...]hat their eternall habitation should be within the earth. Thirdly, the name [...] [...]n Hebrew, [...] in Greek, Infernus in La­ [...]in, Hell in English, &c. doe shew, that the [...]lace of the damned is low, and in dark­ [...]esse. Fourthly, the Scripture still speakes of Hell as a place under ground, and the [...]nhabitants thereof are said to be under the earth, and the motion thither is called there a descending. Fifthly, the Gentiles were not ignorant of this, as Tertullian [Page 62] sheweth, [...]pol. 11. Imum tartarum carcerem poenaru [...] cum vultis affirmatis, &c. Iuvenal call [...] Hell, subterranea regna. Virgil, Barathrum ▪ and infernas sedes,

Homer calls it a most deep gulfe under earth, ‘ [...].’

[...]. 52.[ You thinke it hard to place the soules of those worthy Heathens in Hell, whose worth [...] lives teach us vertue on earth.] If there be no salvation but in Christ; if there be no other name under Heaven, by which me [...] can be saved, but by the name of Iesus; if it be life eternall to know God in him; if he only is the way, the life, and the truth; if there be no coming to the Father, but by him; I cannot thinke it hard, if those worthy Heathens have no place in Hea­ven, seeing they had no interest in him, who with his bloud hath purchased Hea­ven to us, and hath opened the gates of that Kingdome to all beleevers. And how specious soever their lives and actions were in the eyes of men, yet without Christ [Page 63] [...]hey were nothing else but splendida pecca­ [...]a, glorious enormities: onely in this I can [...]lace them, that it will be easier for them, as it will be for Sodome and Gomorrha, for [...]yre and Sidon) in the last day, then for [...]ewes and Christians, who have knowne [...]heir Masters will, and have not done it: [...]ewer stripes remaine for Socrates a Hea­ [...]hen, then for Iulian a Christian.

[ We cannot deny, say you, Sect. 5 the Church of God [...]oth in Asia and Africa, if wee forget not the [...]eregrination of the Apostles, the death of Mar­ [...]yrs, &c. nor must a few differences excommu­ [...]icate from Heaven one another.] First, wee [...]eny not, but God hath many who bow [...]ot their knee to Baal in those countries, [...]nd that his Church is oftentimes invisi­ [...]le. Secondly, wee deny, that the pre­ [...]ence of Apostles, death of Martyrs, sessi­ [...]ns of lawfull Councels, can or have pri­vi [...]edge those places from Apostasie. Christs owne presence, and miracles, and doctrine [...]n Iudea, have not given stabilitie or per­ [...]anencie to the Church there. What's [...]ecome of the famous Churches of Co­ [...]inth, Ephesus, Laodicea, Philadelphia, &c. [Page 64] planted by the Apostles themselves? Third­ly, it is not for a few or light differences▪ that we have separated our selves from the communion of the Church of Rome, and of those in Asia and Africa, if wee can call them Churches, which are rather Scele­tons, then the body of Christ. The diffe­rences between the Church of Rome and us are not few, nor small, as you know: The differences betweene us and the Eastern Churches are greater; for most of them are either Nestorians, denying Mary to be the mother of God, and so in effect making two Christs, by making two per­sons; or else they are Eutychians or Mono­thelites, affirming but one nature and will in Christ; and therefore reject the Coun­cell of Chalcedon: such are the Iacobites in Asia, if they be not lately converted, and those other Iacobites in Africk, under the King of the Abyssins. I will not speake of the Greek Church, which denieth the pro­cession of the holy Ghost: Nor of the Cophti of Egypt, who are also Eutychians, and reject the observation of the Lords day, as superstitious, and marry in the se­cond [Page 65] degree. The Georgians in Iberia bap­tise not their children till the eighth yeare of their age, and give them the Eucharist at seven. The Armenians are little better: As for the Christians of Saint Thomas, and the Maronites in Mount Libanus, if they have forsaken their old heresies, they are fallen into those that are little better, by submitting themselves to the Religion and Jurisdiction of Rome.

[ You are confident, and fully perswaded, Sect. yet dare not take your oath of your salvation; for you think it a kind of perjury to sweare, that Constantinople is such a City, because you have not seen it.] To be fully perswaded, and not dare to sweare, is a contradiction: and if you dare not sweare, but what you have seen, then you will in a manner per­jure your selfe, if you should sweare, that Christ was the son of Mary, or that he was crucified on Mount Calva [...]ie; for this you have not seen. What think you, if a blind man should sweare, that the Sun is a great light; for hee hath no infallible warrant from his owne sense to confirme him in the certainty thereof? You have, I per­ceive, [Page 66] [ so much humility, that you meet with many doubts.] But indeed, doubting is not the fruit of humilitie, but of infidelitie: you encline too much to the doubtings of the Church of Rome, which would rob us of the comforts wee reap in our affli [...]tions, and in death it selfe, from the assurance of our salvation: For, if we doubt of our sal­vation, wee must doubt also of our electi­on, and of the certainty of all Gods pro­mises, and of the work of the holy Ghost, when hee seales in our hearts, that wee are the sons of God. And so, to what serve the Sacraments, if they doe not confirme and seale unto us the love of God in sa­ving us? Nay, our faith hath lost its forme and efficacie, if we be still doubting. Saint Paul was not of your mind, hee was per­swaded, that nothing could separate him from the love of God in Christ. And no question but hee would have sworne this, if hee had been required. I deny not, but many of Gods servants have their doubt­ings; but this comforts them, that Christ prayeth for them, that their faith shall not faile, and this assures them of their salva­tion: [Page 67] Though this fire of the Sanctuary be not alwaies flaming, it is not therefore ex­tinguished; and though the eye is not al­waies seeing, it is not therefore blind: ‘—Nihil est ab omm parte beatum.’ No perfection here: the fairest day hath its clouds, and the strongest faith its doubts: but to be still doubting, is a signe of a bad Christian; and, as Seneca will have it, of a bad man; maximum malae mentis indicium fluctuatio.

The second part.

[...]. 2. YOu say, there are mystically in our faces cha­racters which carry in them the Motto of our soules, wherein one may reade our natures, &c. besides these, certaine mysticall figures in our hands, which you dare not call meere da­shes, strokes, or at randome.] Fronti nulla fi­des; how many are deceived by the face and hand? therefore Christ will not have us judge secundum faciem, according to the face or appearance, but judge righteous judgement. I deny not, but sometimes the face proves index animi; and by the face, and other outward signes in Iulians bo­die, as his weak legs, unstable feet, wan­dring and furious eyes, wanton laughters, inordinate speeches, &c. Nazianzen con­jectured of the pravitie of his mind, and wicked inclination. And it was no diffi­cult matter▪ to collect the roughnesse of Esau's disposition, by the roughnesse of his hands. Wee may also by the face and hand judge of the temper and distemper [Page 69] of the body, bloud, and other humours; but peremptorily to determine the fu­ture events of things that befall us, or the disposition of the soule, by Physiogno­my or Chiromancy, by the face and hand, is such a superstitious folly, that the Poet laughs at it, and at him, ‘Qui frontem (que) manum (que) Praebebit vati. Iuve l. 1. sa’ For first, many lineaments, yea oftentimes deviations and inordinate conformities, are in our bodies rather by accident, then by nature. Secondly, Philosophy, good counsell, and education doe much alter the nature of men; therefore Philemon that fa­mous Physiognomer was deceived in Socra­tes his face, thinking that he was a man of a riotous and wicked disposition, whereas his nature, by the study of Philosophy, was quite altered, being eminent for his conti­nencie, fidelitie, and other vertues. Third­ly, man, by reason of his will, is master of his owne morall actions; therefore it is in his power to alter his owne inclinations. Fourthly, supernaturall grace doth quite transforme nature, and can turne a Wolfe into a Lamb, a Saul into a Paul, a Persecu­tour [Page 70] into a Preacher. Fifthly, how vain and ridiculous is Chiromancie, in placing the se­ven Planets in each palme of the hands, and confining within certaine lines and bounds the power and operation of these Stars; so that Iupiter must containe him­selfe within his owne line, and not en­croach upon the line of Venus or Mercury. If men would be more carefull to know and follow him, who only hath the seven Stars in his right hand, they would not so supers [...]itiously dote upon such a ridiculous toy as Palmestry; or, by the lineaments of the hands or face, peremptorily conclude of mens soules, and of their future actions and events.

[...]. 5.[ You hope you doe not break the fifth Com­mandement, if you conceive you may love your frie [...]d before your parents.] The God of love hath ordained an order in our love, that wee are to love those most, to whom wee owe most; but to our carnall parents, un­der God, wee owe our being, to our spiri­tuall parents our well being: therefore they are to have a greater share of our love then our friends, to whom we are not tied [Page 71] in such obligations. Secondly, whereas God is the measure, perfection, and chiefe object of our love, wee are to love those most, who come neerest to him by repre­sentation; but these are our parents, who are to us in stead of God, especially, if they bestow not only being, but also well being and education on us. But what needs the urging of this duty, which is grounded on the principles of Nature?

Your phrase is dangerous, as your love is preposterous, Sect. if it be as you say [ that you love your friend, as you do your God:] For, by this, you take away the distinction which God hath made between the two Tables: the one commanding us to love God above all; the other, to love our neigh­bours as our selves. Nature will teach you, that him you ought to love most, to whom you owe most; but you owe all to God, even that you live, and move, and have your being. Secondly, an universall good is to be loved afore a particular: A man will venture the losse of his hand or arme, to save the body. A good Citizen will venture his life to save his country, be­cause [Page 72] hee loves the whole better then a part; but God is the universall good, our friends are only particular. Thirdly, wee must love our friend as our selfe, because our selfe-love is the rule by which wee square our friends love; but we must love God better then our selves, because it is by him that we are our selves.

[...]. 7. [ For your originall sinne, you hold it to be washed away in your baptisme; for your actuall sins you reckon with God, and you are not terri­fied with the sins of your youth.] Originall sin is washed away, in respect of its guilt, not of its being; the curse, not the sin; the dominion, not the habitation is done a­way: For whilst this root is in us, it will be budding: the leprosie, with which this house of ours is infected, will never be to­ [...]ally abolished, till the house be demoli­shed. Wee must not look to be free from these Iebusites, whilst we are here: Subju­gari possunt, [...]. exterminari non possunt; the old man is not totally cast off, nor the old lea­ven totally cast out: For, if there were not in us concupiscence, there could be no actuall sin; and if wee say, We sin not, we [Page 73] deceive our selves. Saint Paul acknow­ [...]edgeth a body of death, and you had need [...]o pray with David, Cleanse me from my se­cret sins: And againe, Remember not the sins of my youth, with which you say, you are not terrified: but though you know nothing by your selfe, yet are you not thereby ju­stified; The heart of man is deceitfull above all things: And though your heart cleares you, God is greater then your heart. The salt-sea can never lose its saltnesse, the Blackmoore cannot change his skin, nor the Leopard his spots. Againe, wee must not think, that in baptisme sin is washed away, by vertue of the water. What water can cleanse the soule, but that which flowed from our Saviours pierced heart? God in Christ hath done away our sins▪ the baptism of his bloud hath purged us from all sinne, which is sealed unto us by the baptisme of his Spirit, and represented by the baptism of water.

[ You thank God, you have escaped pride, Sect. the mortall enemy to charity.] So did the Phari­see thank God, that hee was no extortio­ner; yet hee went home unjustified. Pride [Page 74] is a more subtle sin then you conceive; it thrusts it selfe upon our best actions: as praying, fasting, almes-giving. As Saul a­mongst the Prophets, and Sathan amongst the sons of God; so pride intrudes it selfe amongst our best workes: And have you not pride, in thinking you have no pride? Bernard makes twelve degrees of pride, of which, bragging is one. And Gregory tells us, that ex summis virtutibus saepe intumesci­mus; even accidentally goodnesse ocassio­neth pride, which (like the scales that fell from Sauls eyes) hinders the sight of our selves, till they be removed: Nulla alia pe­stis plura ingenia abrupit, [...] quàm confidentia & astimatio sui.

[...] 8.[ 'Tis vanity, you thinke, to waste our dayes in the pursuit of knowledge; which▪ if we attend a little longer, we shall enjoy by infusion, which wee endeavour here by labour and inquisition: better is a modest ignorance, then uncertaine knowledge.] Would you bring in againe ignorance, the supposed mother of Devo­tion, but indeed, the true mother of Con­fusion? I cannot be of your mind; you will not have us trouble our selves with [Page 75] [...]nowledge here, because wee shall have it [...]ereafter: But I will so much the rather [...]abour for knowledge here, because I shall [...]ave it hereafter. For the Saints beatitude [...]hall for the most part consist in knowledge; [...]herefore I desire to be initiated, and to have a taste of that happi [...]esse here, that I may be the more in love with it. Shall the Israelites refuse to taste, and look upon the grapes which the Spies brought from Ca­naan, because they were to enjoy all the Vineyards there? By the knowledge of the creature, we come to know the Creatour; and by the effects, we know the supreme cause, whom to know in Christ, is life eternall. For want of knowledge the people perish: it were madnesse in mee not to make use of a candle in the darke, because, when the Sun is up, hee will bring a greater light with him. By kowledge we come neere to the Angelicall nature, who are from their great knowledge called Daemones, and Intelligen­tiae. Shall I not strive to know God at all, because I cannot know him here perfect­ly? God hath made nothing in vaine: but in vaine had hee given to man a desire of [Page 76] knowledge, for, Omnes homines naturâ scire desiderant: In vaine had hee given to him understanding, apprehension, judgement, if hee were not to exercise them in the search of knowledge; which, though it be uncertaine here in some things, vel ex par­te cogniti, vel ex parte cognoscentis, yet all knowledge is not uncertaine. The Christi­ans, by their knowledge in Philosophy, and other humane studies, did more hurt to Gentilisme, then all the opposition and strength of men could doe: which Iulian the Apostate knew well, when he caused to shut up all Schooles of learning, purposely to blind-fold men, that they might no [...] discerne truth from errour. And though modest ignorance is better then uncertaine knowledge, yet you will not hence inferre, that ignorance is better then knowledge; except you will conclude, that blindnesse is better then sight, because blind Democri­tus was to be preferred to a quick-sighted Kite.

[...]. 9.[ The perpetuating of the world by coition, you call the foolishest act of a wise man, and an unworthy piece of folly.] You let your pen [Page 77] [...]n too much at randome: the way which Wisdome it selfe hath appointed to multi­ [...]ly mankind, and propagate the Church, [...]annot be foolish; if it be in your esteem, [...]emember that the foolishnesse of God is [...]iser then the wisdome of man: for, as [...]reat folly as you think coition to be, with­ [...]ut it you could not have been; and sure­ [...]y, there had been no other way in Para­ [...]ise to propagate man, but this fool [...]sh [...]ay. There is nothing foolish, but what [...]s sinfull; but that cannot be sinfull, which God hath appointed. There is sometime foolishnesse in the circumstances, but not [...]n the act it selfe, then the which nothing [...]s more naturall. As it is not folly to eate, drinke and sleep, for the preservation of the individuum; neither is coition folly, by which we preserve the species, and immor­talize our kind.

[ You feare the corruption within you, Sect. [...] not the contagion of commerce without you.] You must feare both, and shun both: Our cor­ruption within is often irritated by out­ward commerce; perhaps our inward tin­der would lye dead, if it were not incensed [Page 78] by the sparkles of commerce without. [...] that handleth pitch shall be defiled; 'ti [...] dangerous to converse with leprous an [...] plaguie people. The Israelites are forbi [...] commerce with the Canaanites; and we ar [...] commanded to dep [...]rt out of Babel, lest we be partakers of her sins:

If you were like the Sun, you might freely commerce with all; for hee shines upon infected places without infection, which you cannot doe: and therefore, to use your owne phrase [ your conversation must not be, like the Suns, with all men,] except it be in causing your light to shine before them.

[...]. 12.[ There is something, you say, within us, that was before the elements.] That something must be the soule▪ which, though Plato and Origen thought was before the body, yet we know the contrary; for God first made the body, and then inspired it with a soule. To give existence to the soule before the body, can stand neither with the perfecti­on of Gods workes in the creation, nor [Page 79] [...]ith the dignity and quality of the soule: [...]ot with the first; for all that God made [...]as perfect: but the soule, without the [...]ody, had been an imperfect piece, seeing was made to be a part of man. Not with [...]e second; for the soule being the forme, [...] was not to exist without its matter, the [...]ody: nor was it [...]it, that so noble a guest [...]ould be brought into the world, before a [...]onvenient lodging was fitted for her▪ Tis true, that the soule can, and doth sub­ [...]st without the body after death; but then is necessitated, because the body failes it, [...]nd the house becomes inhabitable; and it [...] a part of its punishment, & of the bodies [...]lso, for sin, to be separated for a while.

Thus have I briefly pointed at your ab­ [...]rrations, having snatched some few [...]oures from my other occasions (for study cannot in these distracted times:) 'tis not [...]ut of an humour of contradiction or vain- [...]lory, nor of any intention I have to bring [...]ou or your Booke into obloquie, that I [...]ave marked out its obliquities; but only [...]o sa [...]isfie the desire of my friends (for whom we are partly borne) who have laid [Page 80] this charge on me; and to let green head and inconsiderate young Gentlemen se [...] that there is some danger in reading you [...] Book, without the spectacles of judgement for, whilst they are taken with the gildin [...] of your phrase, they may swallow una­wares such pills, as may rather kill the [...] cure them. I have passed by divers slips o [...] lesse danger and consequence, because I want time, and would not seem too Eagle-sighted in other mens failings, whereas I have enough to doe with mine owne, Re­spicere id manticae quod in tergo est. I ac­knowledge there is much worth and good language in your Book; and, because you are so ingenuous and modest, as to dis­claime these opinions, if they square not with maturer judgements▪ I have, with as great modesty and gentlenesse as I could, refelled them; having neither dipt my pen in gall, nor mingled my inke with vineger. The God of truth direct all our hearts in­to the way of truth. Amen.