A missive of consolation sent from Flanders to the Catholikes of England.

A preface to the Reader.

AFter Nehemias had informed himself of the men of Juda, that came from his country, of the state of his brethren remaining in the land, and heard that the remnant left in the Province were in great affliction and reproach, he mourned and lamented their case with so sensible an affection, as the sad tincture of his heart had so much discoloured his face, that it seemed to have an unsuita∣ble dye to his office of Cup-bearer, in the King Artaxerxes his presence, though God designed the drawing great light upon his nation, from out the darknesse of his looks.

This allusion me thinks may be well fitted to this Mission of my thoughts into my country; for upon the relations of some of our refugi at brethren, comming out of our coun∣try, of the great affliction and reproach which the remainder of them groane under, and of the demolishment of the walls of spiri∣tuall Jerusalem, I may without affectation, avow the having wept and mourned many

dayes in the sight of my Master, and I may owne the honour of being a Cup-bearer to such a King, as is Soveraigne of all our suffering brethren, and he needed not the symptomes of my face, for the indication of my heart, but knew my sorrows to import a solicitation of relief for my distressed coun∣try; and so of his own first gratious motion, proposed the sending me into the land, with a greater Commission then I durst have pretended, which is, the bringing this his Maendat of consolation & provision from him, to repaire the Temples of the holy Ghost, which may be shaken by the battery of this persecution; for humane Nature in extreame pressures, is very apt to call out with J••b, what is my strength that I can susteine it, or what is my end that I should doe ••patiently? but I hope in God, all such questions will finde satisfacto∣ry anwsers, from our compassionate Prince of peace, in the contents of my Commis∣sion; concerning which, I may say sincere∣ly, my mind did at first make to our great King, rather the answer of Moses, then the suit of Nehemias, for I was much more in∣clined upon the first suggestion to me of this

Mission, to answer I beseech thee Lord, to send whom thou wilt send, then to propound unto the King, the sending of me unto my Nation upon this great designe, but when I had my owne ruminations, turned into an order, from such a mouth I ought to account, as an Organ of Gods voice to me, me thought I heard this Command, Goe on and I will be in thy mouth, and will teach thee what thou shalt speak, so that it is the hand of Obedience, that hath moved my pen into the motion of a ready writer.

Neverthelesse, after this Injunction issu∣ed by the spirituall Court, unto which I deferre all my owne conceptions, I put in this plea, for a suspension of the Order, which may be as pertinently imparted unto you, in respect of your reading, as it was suggested by me, in regard of my writing this Treatise; this it was, that God had long ago set open a Granary of this spiritu∣all food, by the hands of a charitable Joseph, in the time of the first famine, that came upon the land in this kind, and this Maga∣zine, intitled an Epistle of Comfort, stands open and accessible to the whole peo∣ple,

and containeth sufficient provisions, respectively to the exigences of all conditi∣ons; so as this Missive of Consolation, which seemeth but an overlay of the same Mettall, might rather seeme an exuberancy of Zeale, then an exhibition of a requisite supply.

To this my demurre, I have beene answe∣red, that the spirituall appetite of sick man, which is your present estate, must be treated, as the corporeall, which is not excited by familiar, though the best diet: novelty in these cases is often requisite to introduce nourishment; to which reason I did acqui∣esce, considering indeed that if Authors had not still the curious infirmity of Rea∣ders, to justifie their labour, in melting and casting of old matter into new formes and figures to attract curiosity to lecture, even the best spirits of our dayes, needed not saile out of their studies, to venture upon new discoveryes, since the whole intellectuall Globe of Christianity hath been long since inhabited, and perfectly cultivated, by the plantations of excellent Authors: But the nature of man considered, I may rather feaxe the finding too many sick fancies in

these evill dayes, longing for variety of com∣fort, then doubt that this new transfigurati∣on of it should prove redundant to your minds, as already filled with the precepts of Catholique Consolation. Wherefore I may hope the newnesse of this worke may re∣concile you to the prejudices of some novel∣tyes you may meet in it, as the strangenesse of some words, and the errours of a strange Presse; but since these thoughts are addres∣sed to such as are not likely to prosecute the rigour of the law against them, for having taken their character beyond sea, and re∣turning into England, to assist their coun∣trymen by their faculties, I need not much seeke protection for the illegall and questi∣onable points of the impression.

And surely considering a strange tongue, put into the mouth of the Presse, a little stammering may be tollerated, specially, when the Errata's you will finde here, are of a much more dispensable kind, then those we finde in your Country Presses; so that even the errours you shall meete in these leafes, may serve towards the designe of this worke, of recommending patience to you, while the errours of English Presses minister unto

you provocations, and as I had some pain, to make this forraign Mouth speak English, so if I have taken some liberty in making English speak sometimes forraigne Lan∣guage, I may be allowed this license, in com∣pensation of the other part of my constraint, especially when I may pretend to the curtesie of a stranger, in this point, of excusing some Out-landish accent in my tongue, ha∣ving beene nursed with many severall milks, and sucked but little at the breasts of my Mother; but for that milk, which I have drawn from the breast of my spirituall Mo∣ther, the Roman Catholique Church, I hope in God there is none of that, turned or sowered by any novelty passing through my pen; for this matter can have no so ill recommendation as novelty, and variety in this kind were a very superfluous present to you in these times; wherefore I humbly refer every line, drawn by my pen, to the rule of the most holy measures, of the Catholique Church, and account this religious defe∣rence, as the salt of the Sacrifice, which is no lesse requisite then the frankincense, to give it an odour of sweetnesse.

I shall therefore send my part of this

work, justified with this protestation of the Prophet Jeremy, ego non sum turba∣tus, to pastorem sequens, & diem ho∣minis non desideravitu scis; for they who have given all their dayes to God, are ill ad∣vised, if they pretend any part of the assign∣ment of their exchange, in the night of this Age, or in the vapours of the breaths of Men, and those of our function, that affect much a returne of human praise, from the offices of their vocation, may be said to burn their own fingers while they are lighting the Candlestick of the Temple; therefore my addresse of this Missive shall be

Non nobis Domine non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam.

Notes

• 2 Esd. 1, 2.
• Exod. 4.14.
• Exod. 4.14.
• Jere. 17.16. I am not troubled following thee the Pastor, and the day of man I have not desired thou knowest.