The orthodox faith and vvay to the Church explaned and iustified in answer to a popish treatise, entituled, White died blacke; wherein T.W. p. in his triple accusation of D. White for impostures, vntruths, and absurd illations, is proued a trifler: and the present controuersies betweene vs and the Romanists are more fully deliuered and cleared. By Francis White Bachelour in Diuinitie, and elder brother of Doctor Iohn White.

Section 1.

T.W. IT being a certaine truth, that from Scriptures, euill vnderstood, proceed most heresies. M. White (a faithfull friend thereof) well knowing by daily ex∣perience, that no one thing in truth is more auailable, either for the first beginning or propagation of heresie, then generall libertie granted to the vulgar people of reading and expoun∣ding the Scripture; doth hereupon much labour, in proofe of his supposed necessitie thereof, &c.

Answ. In this assertion are contained foure particulars: First, most heresies proceed from Scriptures euill vnder∣stood. This position is questionable: for many heresies proceed from other causes, as well as from Scriptures e∣uill vnderstood, to wit, from Philosophiea 1.1, Col. 2.8. and from traditions of men, Mark. 7.8. and from ignorance of holy Scripture, Math. 22.29. Saint Augustine saith,

that all heretikes do not reade the Scripturesb 1.2. And S. Hie∣rom: The questions of heretikes and Gentiles are the same, be∣cause they follow not the authoritie of the Scriptures, but the sence of humane reasonc 1.3. And the same Father produceth heretickes maintaining errors in the dialect of our Pa∣pists: We are the sonnes of those wise men who from the begin∣ning haue deliuered vnto vs the Apostolike doctrine: the chil∣dren of the ancient, &c.d 1.4

2. T.W. No one thing is more auaileable for the first be∣ginning or propagation of heresie, then generall libertie gran∣ted to the vulgar of reading the Scriptures, &c.

Answ. Leauing out the word expounding, which is your addition, and no part of D. White his assertion; this po∣sition is false. For Philosophie, Tradition, and neglecting the Scriptures,* 1.5 are more auaileable to cause heresies, then the generall libertie of reading the Scriptures, which is onely an occasion by accident, 2. Pet. 3.16. and no cause of heresie. Chrysostome saith: From hence arise innumera∣ble euils, that the Scriptures are not knowne: Hinc erumpit multa illa haeresium pernicies: hence breaketh out, that ma∣nifold mischiefe of heresies, from hence ensueth disso∣lute lifee 1.6, &c. And Gregorie and Bernard say, In this deepe of holy reading, both the lambe may wade and the Elephant swimf 1.7 And S. Augustine: Holy Scripture, like a familiar friend, without any colourable deceit, speaketh to the heart both of the learned and vnlearnedg 1.8.

3. T.W. Because heresies arise from the Scriptures euill vnderstood, therefore the generall reading of them must not be permitted.

Answ. 1. If for euils which happen by occasion and accident, that which is good shall be remoued and taken awayh 1.9; man who is prone to abuse all things, must haue the vse of nothing in this world. Igne quid vtilius? &c. There is nothing more profitable then fire, yet it is possi∣ble for negligent or malicious persons to consume the house by it.

2. I would gladly vnderstand, why the reading of the Scripture by lay men, doth rather occasion heresie, then the reading thereof by Bishops and Priests; or why the reading thereof in a knowne language should rather do this, then reading the Latin translation, or the original text? The most pernicious heresies, which hitherto haue imbroiled the Church, receiued their originall from Priests; as appeareth in Ariusi 1.10, Nestorius, &c. No man, saith Hierom, can frame an heresie, but he that is of excel∣lent giftsk 1.11, &c. And Gerson and Aeneas Siluius produce the same Father saying, There neuer happeneth any notori∣ous euill in the Church, but Priests are the cause thereofl 1.12.

3. Stupid ignorance and grosse infidelitie, Eph. 4.18.19. 1. Cor. 14.20. Heb. 5.13.14. following vpon the ta∣king away of the Scriptures from the people, euen as darknesse succeedeth the remouing of light, are to be pre∣uented and auoided as carefully as heresie.

4. T.W. D. White a friend of heresie, maintaines gene∣rall libertie of reading and expounding the Scripture.

Answ. 1. There is not any word in all my brothers dis∣course, of libertie to be granted to the vulgar, of expoun∣ding the Scripture. In plaine places the Scriptures ex∣pound themselues: and as Augustine saith, rather require an hearer or reader, then an expositorm 1.13. And for that which is more difficult, the common people haue the ministerie

of the Church, and daily recourse to their Pastors, and tracts and expositions of Scripture, collected by the lear∣ned: and they are permitted by our doctrine to rely in nothing vpon their owne priuate spirit, as this Popish Priest obiecteth.

2. If D. White be a friend to heresie, because he main∣taineth the translation and reading of holy Scriptures in a knowne tongue, then Moses, and Christ, and the Apo∣stle Paul, and all the primitiue Fathers were fautors of heresie, because these in generall exhorted the people to reade the Scripture, Deut. 6.7. &c. Iosh. 1.8. Ioh. 5.39. 2. Tim. 3.15. Reuel. 1.3. That man, saith Augustine, which feareth God, doth diligently enquire his will in the holy Scrip∣turen 1.14. Theophylact deliuers this compendium of the do∣ctrine of the Fathers: Say not, that it belongeth onely to reli∣gious men to reade the Scriptures, for it is the dutie of euery Christian, and most of all of such as deale in worldly affaires, because they being as it were shaken with a tempest, haue grea∣ter need of spirituall succouro 1.15.

T.W. M. White grosly abuseth S. Hierom in these words: Hierom writeth of Paula a gentlewoman, how she set her maides to learne the Scripture; and many of his writings are directed to women, commending their labour in the Scripture, and encouraged them thereunto, &c. But what is this to vs, who allow not onely religious women, such as these were, whom M. White fraudulently calleth Paulaes maides; but euen the Lattie to reade the scripture, supposing they be humble, discreete, and vertuous: and hauing such a master by them as S. Hierom was to teach them? &c.

Would not any man thinke this Minister distracted, thus producing that against vs, which confoundeth himselfe? Do not these religious women in reading the Scripture, require

S. Hierom a Priest to be their maister? And doth not he pro∣fesse to teach them, not what he had learned himselfe from any imaginary spirit, but from the famous Doctors of the Church? Yea, doth he not plainely and humbly acknowledge his doubting and ignorance in his explication thereof: None of which I am sure is Orthodoxall with Protestants.

Answ. I will passe by your declamation, of distracted minister, &c. and fulfill the common by-word: Giue lo∣fers leaue to talke. The truth is, you are taken in a crampe, and cannot tell which way to turne your self. Fora 1.16 S. Hie∣rome and all the Fathers, do so expresly maintaine our doctrine concerning the generall reading of holy Scrip∣ture, that you are vnable to put by the matter, so much as with a specious glosse. And therefore you bawle a∣gainst the Moone: and then fetch in by head and shoul∣ders an extrauagant discourse about S. Hierom, indeed to diuert the Reader from the point in question, and to leade him a woolgathering after your fables.

But as touching the present matter of Paula, her rea∣ding the Scripture: 1. It is certaine, that she being a lay woman, did ordinarily reade the Scripture by S. Hieroms perswasion: who saith in the same Epistle; that by her continuall reading, she had the Scriptures without booke,b 1.17 and by the sentences thereof she fenced her breast, as with the ar∣mour of God against all manner of vices, &c.

2. This woman imposed a daily taske of reading the Scriptures vpon the Sisters, and women conuersing with her, whereof diuers were her maides, as appeareth by S. Hieroms words, in the end of the Epitaph placed in the margentc 1.18.

3. This Father, in other parts of his writings most plainely requireth, and commendeth the reading of holy

Scripture by all sorts of lay people, euen by little chil∣dren.

In an Epistle to Letad 1.19, (a married wife, and no Nun) he instructeth this Matrone, concerning the education of a child her little daughter, and saith as followeth: Let the childe be deafe in hearing instruments and minstrelsie: but cause her to render euery day a taske of the flowers of holy Scripture. Let her not be sought for in the preasse of secular people, but in the closet of the Scripture, asking counsell of the Prophets and Apostles, concerning spirituall nuptials. Let her first learne the Psalter, and with those heauenly songs auoke her selfe from light sonnets. Then let her be taught to gouerne her life out of Salomons Prouerbs: and repaire to Iob for examples of vertue and patience. Let her then come to the Euangelists, and neuer lay their bookes forth of her hands. She must with these drinke in the Acts of the Apostles,* 1.20 and hauing inriched the cellar of her breast with this substance, then let her conne the Prophets without booke, and commit to memory the fiue bookes of Moises, the Kings, Chronicles, and volumes of Esdras. And then at the last without any perill, she may learne the Canticles. But let her be cautelous in Apo∣criphall bookes, and if she reade them, vnderstand that they are not those Authors whose names they carrie, and that many things faulty are mixed in them, and it is no small wisedome to finde gold among drosse.

The like exhortations to reade the Scriptures, are found in his Epistles, to Saluinae 1.21; to Furiaf 1.22, to Dema∣triadisg 1.23, to Celantiah 1.24. And instructing Gaudentius about the education of Pacatula an infanti 1.25, he saith: When the rude and toothlesse girle shall come to seuen yeares age, let her learne the Psalter without booke, and make Salomons bookes, the Gospels, the Apostles, and Prophets, the treasury of her

heart. And lastly, this Father commandeth lay persons to haue the word of Christ, not onely sufficiently,* 1.26 but in abun∣dance, so as they may be able to teach and admonish one ano∣ther.

T. VV. S. Hierom allowed Paula to reade the Scripture, being a religious Nun, discreet, humble, &c. and hauing S. Hierom her maister, who expounded not the Scripture by a priuate spirit, &c. Romane Catholikes giue the same libertie to lay persons equallie qualified.

Answ. 1. This Father doth not onely permit and tole∣rate, but inioyne the reading of the Scriptures not one∣ly to Nuns, but to children of seauen yeares old, and to all kinds of lay personsa 1.27, as I haue proued before.

2. The Protestants require the same helps of expoun∣ding Scripture, and the same humilitie and reuerence in the reading thereof, which S. Hierom mentions.

3. Whereas this T. W. and before him Bellarmine,b 1.28 Gretsar, and other Controuersars giue out, that their Church graunteth libertie of reading the Scriptures in vulgar translations, to such lay persons as are able to doe the same with profit: the truth is, that they condemne all reading of Scriptures translated, by the people; and this appeares by their doctrine and practise. Their do∣ctrine is deliuered by Stapleton and others in this man∣ners. 1. The generall permission of reading the Scripture, is impious, and pernitiousc 1.29. 2. God requireth no lay person to reade the Scripture, neither is the same necessary or profitable to spirituall education, but a thing meerely indifferent, and of delight onelyd 1.30. 3. The Scripture translated into a vulgar tongue, is not authenticall, or a rule of faithe 1.31. 4. They which

translate Scripture, are the seminary and causes of heresie* 1.32.

And touching their practise, let these particulars be obserued.

1. In Countries wholy papisticall, no vulgar translations are permitted: neither any parcels, Epitomies, or Summaries of the Bible, or of the Stories thereof: nor any Prayer bookes in the vulgar tongue, hauing in them any Psalmes, or Canti∣cles taken out of the Bible. See the decree of Pope Cle∣ment 8. and the Spanish expurgatorie Index, in the mar∣gentf 1.33.

2. Whereas in former times, it was permitted in the Index of Bookes prohibited, set forth by the authoritie of the Trent Councel, Regula 4. To Bishops and Inquisitors, by the aduice of the Confessor and Parish Priest, of such lay persons as desired it, to graunt licence of reading Popish vul∣gar translations: Now the said liberty of permission is quite taken away by a later Index of Pope Clement the 8. and In∣quisitors may grant no such licences as beforeg 1.34.

Thus our aduersaries may tell their friends a tale of a permission, to discreet and humble persons, to reade the Scripture translated: But their mother Church of Rome, both disgraceth the vulgar translations compo∣sed by her owne Disciplesh 1.35, and will tolerate vulgar tran∣slations no further then thus: to wit, where the same cannot be hindered, the people by conuiuence or tolera∣tion,

are rather permitted to reade their owne vulgar translations, then to vse oursi 1.36: And their gouernors, like Cato and the Emperor Adriank 1.37, (who pronounced it expedient to set certaine Countries at libertie, because they were vnable to hold them in subiection:) giue their people leaue to doe that which they cannot hinderl 1.38.

Notes

• a 1.1

  Tertul. cont. Marc. l. 5. c. 19. Omnes baereses ex subtiloquen∣tiae viribus & Philosophicis regulis constāt. De praescrip. c. 7. De praescrip. c. 7. Euseb. hist. l. 5. c. 25. Chrys. prolog. in 1. Cor. Hieron. in Esa. l. 9. c. 28. & in Ierem. l. 1. c. 2. & contra Pelag. ad Cresiphon.
• b 1.2

  Aug. de Gen. ad lit. l 7. c 9.
• c 1.3

  Hieron. in Hos c. 7.
• d 1.4

  Hieron. l. 7. E∣sa. c. 19.
• * 1.5

  Espenc. com. Tit. ca. 1. digr. 2. pa. 105. Quasi vero haere••es ex Scripturarum studio, ac non potius ex neg∣lectu & igno∣rantia nascan∣tur?
• e 1.6

  Chrys. arg. ep. ad Rom.
• f 1.7

  Bern. serm. paru. s. 64. Greg. in ep. ad Leand. praefix. moral. Chrys. 1 Cor. hom. 6. Qui sa∣lutem consequi volunt, Scriptu∣ris vacent.
• g 1.8

  Aug. ad Vo∣lus. ep. 3. Greg. Rom. ep. prae∣fix. moral. sup. Iob. ad Leandr. ca. 4. Diuinus sermo, ficut mysterijs prudentes exercet, sic plerumque superficie simplices refouet. Habet in publico vnde paruulos nutriat, seruat in secreto, vnde mentes subli∣mium in admirationem suspendat. Quasi quidam quippe est fluuius, planus & altus, in quo & agnus ambulet & elephas natet.
• h 1.9

  August. contra Faust. Manich. lib. 22. cap. 97. Neque medi∣cinae vitium est, si vel insani sc∣ipsos, vel ma∣ligni alios, fer∣ramentis medi∣cinalibus peri∣munt.
• i 1.10

  Tripar hist. l. 1 c. 12. Arius in ordine presby∣terorū erat, &c.
• k 1.11

  Hieron. ••up. Hos. c. 10.
• l 1.12

  Gers. de defect viror. eccl. n. 48. Aen. Silu. hist. Austr. 852.
• m 1.13

  Aug. in Ioh. tr. 50.
• n 1.14

  Aug. de doct. Christ. l. 3. c. 1.
• o 1.15

  Theophylact. c••m Ephes. 6. Aug. de Temp. ser. 55. Non so∣lum vobis ••uffi¦ciat, quod in Ecclesia lectio∣nes diuinas au¦ditis, sed etiam in domibus ve¦stris, aut ipsi le∣gite, aut alios legentes requi∣rite & libenter audite.
• a 1.16

  Espenc. com. in Tit. 2. pa. 257. Hieronymus, tantus alioqui mulierum ad Scripturae stu∣dium & lectio∣nē hortator, &c. Hieron. in Psal. 86. Dominus narrabit, & quo∣modo narrabit? non verbo, sed Scriptura. In cu∣ius Scriptura? in populorum, &c. Dominus narra∣bit, in Scripturis populorum, in Scripturis san∣ctis. Quae Scrip∣tura populis omnibus legi∣tur, hoc est, vt omnes intelli∣gant, non vt pauci intellige∣tent, sed omnes. Hieron. ep. 27.
• b 1.17

  Ib. Scripturas sanctas memo∣riter tenebat.
• c 1.18

  Ipsa assidere lectulo, &c. om∣nium ancilla∣rum praeuenire officia.
• d 1.19

  Epist 7.
• * 1.20

  imbitat.
• e 1.21

  Epist. 9.
• f 1.22

  Epist 10.
• g 1.23

  Epist 8.
• h 1.24

  Ep. 14.
• i 1.25

  Ep. 12.
• * 1.26

  Hieron com. 3. cap. epist. ad Coloss.
• a 1.27

  Arbor. Theos. to. 1. l. 8. c. 11. Sacrae literae o∣lim verlae erant in vulgarem lin∣guam, & eas Hieronymus in Dalmaticam linguam verti••.
• b 1.28

  Bellar. de verb Dei. l 2. c. 15. Vi∣demus concedi¦lectionem eius∣modi librorum ijs, qui cum fru∣ctu vti possunt, id est, ijs qui fa∣cultatem ab or∣dinario obtinu∣erint. Gretsar. def.
• c 1.29

  Stapl. rel. c. 5. q. 3 ar. 4 Peres. A••ala de trad. p. 1. Bellar. Le∣desm. P. Soto. Hosius.
• d 1.30

  Stapl. ib. ar. 4. explic articuli.
• e 1.31

  Arbor. the osoph. tom. 1. l. 8. c. 11. Qui sacras literas in vulgatem linguam transferunt, sunt ipsi haeresium fontes & seminaria.
• * 1.32

  Stapl. ib. pag. 531.
• f 1.33

  Asor. instit. mor. p. prim. l. 8. c. 26. Quaeres an permittantur conscripti vul∣gari lingua, pre∣cationum hora∣riarum libelli, in quibus conti∣nentur Psalmi & Cantica ex Biblijs excerp∣ta? Resp. In In∣dice Hispaniēsi regula 6. & 7. omnes huius∣modi libri con∣scripti lingua vernacula pro∣hibentur. Et in Indice nouissi∣me edito, iussu sanctissimi Do∣mini nostri Cle∣ment. 8 obseru. circa regulam 4 prohibentur sa∣crae Scripturae partes, tam noui quam veteris Testamenti. Et insuper sum∣maria & etiam compendia historica Bibliorum, & librorum sacrae Scripturae, quocunque vulgari idiomate con∣scripta, & quidem inuiolate praecipitur obseruandum.
• g 1.34

  Index Clement 8. circa reg. 4. Trid. animaduertendum est, circa supra scriptam quartam regulam Indicis, felicis Rectoris Pij Papae 4. nullam per hanc impressionem & editionem de nouo, tribui facultatem Episcopis vel inquisi∣toribus, aut regularium superioribus concedendi licentiam, emendi, legendi, aut retinendi Biblia vulgari lingua edita cum hactenus mandato aut vsu sanctae Rom. Eccles. & vniuersalis inquisitio∣nis, sublata ijs fuerit facultas concedendi huiusmodi licentias.
• h 1.35

  Posseuin. appar. sac to. 1. verbo Biblia. Versio Italica, Versio Gallica: ex Caluiniana versione, plura extemporarie in multis locis, desumpta fuerunt, &c.
• i 1.36

  Index Hispan. reg. 6. Prohi∣bentur Biblia, vulgari lingua, cum omnibus suis partibus (ac si dicat, Bib∣lia & eorum partes. Asor. l. 8. c. 26.)
• k 1.37

  Spartian. vita Adrian.
• l 1.38

  Stapl. rel. c. 5. q. 3. ar. 4. pa. 535. propter cor∣ruptas haereticorum translationes, &c.