ALLEGED UNITY OF THE CHURCH OF ROME. 241
Queen Elizabeth bis daughter, — not placing them, as you now feign, among the number of them whom I affirmed to be reported by you as a company of contemptible persons. But now, upon a confidence that you have shifted your hands of a necessity to reinforce this as- sertion, which you find, it may be, in yourself an incompetency for, you reflect back upon some former passages in the " Animadversions,'' wherein the general objections that you lay against Protestancy are observed to be the same for substance that long ago were by Celsus objected unto Christianity, and say, " So likewise, in the very begin- ning of this your second chapter, you spend four leaves in a parallel betwixt me and the pagan Celsus ; whereof there is not any member of it true. ' Doth Fiat Lux,' say you, ' lay the cause of all the troubles, disorders, tumults, wars, within the nations of Europe, upon Protestants ? doth he charge the Protestants, that by their schisms and seditious they make a way for other revolts ? doth he gather a rhapsody of insignificant words ? doth he insist upon their divisions ? doth he manage the argximents of the Jews against Christ, etc. ? — so doth Celsus, who is confuted by Origen.' Where does ' Fiat Lux,' where does, does he, does he any such thing ? Are you not ashamed to talk at this rate ? I give a hint, indeed, of the divisions that be amongst us, and the frequent argumentations that are made to em- broil and puzzle one another, with our much evil, and little appear- ance of any good in order unto unity and peace ; Avhich is the end of my discourse. But must I therefore be Celsus ? Did Celsus any such thing to such an end ? It is the end that moralizeth, and speci- fies the action. To diminish Christianity, by upbraiding our frailties, is paganish ; to exhort to unity, by representing the inconvenience of faction, is a Christian and pious work. When honest Protestants in the pulpit speak ten times more full and vehemently against the divisions, wars, and contentions that be amongst us, than ever came into my thoughts, must they therefore every one of them be a Celsus, a pagan Celsus ? What stuff is this ? But it is not only my defa- mation you aim at ; your own glory comes in the rear. If I be Celsus, the pagan Celsus, you then, forsooth, must be Origen that wrote against him, honest Origen; that is the thing. Pray, sir, — it is but a word, — let me advise you, by the way, that you do not forget yourself in your heat, and give your wife occasion to fall out with you. How- ever you may, yet will not your wife like it perhaps so well that her husband should be Origen." Such trash as this must he consider who is forced to have to do with you. These, it seems, are the medi- tations you are conversant with in your retirements. What little regard you have in them unto truth or honesty shall quickly be dis- covered unto you. L Do I compare you with Celsus, or do I make you to be Celsus ? I had certainly been very much mistaken if I VOL. XIV. 1 6
242 A VINDICATION OF THE ANIMADVERSIONS ON FIAT LUX.
had done so, Zg rriv 'Adrivav. to compare a person of so small abilities in literature, as yon discover yourself to be, witli so learned a phi- loso2)hei\ had been a great mistake. And I wish you give me not occasion to think you as much inferior unto him in morals as I know you are in your intellectuals. But, sir, I nowhere compare you unto him; but only show a coincidence of your objections against Protest- ancy with some of his against Christianity; which the likeness of your cause and interest cast you upon. 2. I did not say, " You had the same end with him:" I expressed my thoughts to the contrary; nor did compare your act and his in point of morality, but only showed, as I said before, a coincidence in your reasonings. This you saw and read ; and now, in an open defiance of truth and ingenuity, express the contrary. Celsus would not have done so. But I must tell you, sir, you are mistaken, if you suppose that the end doth so absolutely moralize an action that it of itself should render it good or evil. Evil it may, but good of itself it cannot ; for, " Bonum oritur ex integris causis, malum ex quolibet defectu." Rectifying the intention will not secure your morality. And yet, also, on second thouofhts, I see not much difference between the ends that Celsus proposed unto himself upon his general principle, and those that you propose to j^ourself upon your own ; as well as the way whereby you proceed is the same. But yet, upon the accounts before mentioned, I shall free you from your fears of being thought like him. 3. When Protestants preach against our divisions, they charge them upon the persons of them that are guilty, whereas you do it on the irrinciples of the religion that they profess; so that although you may deal like Celsus, they do not. 4. The scurrilous sarcasm wherewith you close your discourse is not meet for any thing but the entertainment of a friar and his concubine; such as in some places, formerly, men have by public edicts forced you to maintain, as the only expedient to presei've their families from being defiled by you. 5. Let us now pass through the instances that you have culled out of many charged upon you, to be the same with those of Celsus, concerning which you make such a trebled outcry, " Does he, does he, does he?" The first is, "Doth ' Fiat Lux' lay the cause of all tumults and disorders on Protest- ants ?" " Clames licet, et mare coelo Confundas," Juv. vi. 282. " Fiat Lux" doth so, chap, iv., sect. 17, p. 237, sect. 18, pp. 242, 243, sect. 20, p. 255, and in sundry other places. You add, " Doth he charge Pro- testants, that by their schisms and seditions they make way for other i-evolts ?" He doth so, and that frequently, chap, iii., sect. 14, p. 187, etc. " Doth he," you add, " gather a rhapsody of insignificant words, as did Celsus ?" I say he doth, in the pretended plea that he insists on for Quakers, and for Presbyterians also, chap, iii., sect. 13, pp. 172, 173, etc. Again, " Doth he manage the arguments of the Jews