Ten Reasons Proposed to His Adversaries for Disputation in the Name: of the Faith and Presented to the Illustrious Members of Our UniversitiesCampion, Edmund, Saint
Religion
Ten Reasons Proposed to His Adversaries for Disputation in the Name: of the Faith and Presented to the Illustrious Members of Our Universities
Campion, Edmund, Saint
Catholic Church -- Apologetic works
sects, and of bad moral character!
I call to witness likewise Princes, Kings, Emperors, and their
Commonwealths, whose own piety, and the people of their realms,
and their established discipline in war and peace, were
altogether founded on this our Catholic doctrine. What
Theodosiuses here might I summon from the East, what Charleses
from the West, what Edwards from England, what Louises from
France, what Hermenegilds from Spain, Henries from Saxony,
Wenceslauses from Bohemia, Leopolds from Austria, Stephens from
Hungary, Josaphats from India, Dukes and Counts from all the
world over, who by example, by arms, by laws, by loving care, by
outlay of money, have nourished our Church! For so Isaias
foretold: _Kings shall be thy foster-fathers, and queens thy
nurses_ (Isaias xlix. 23).
Listen, Elizabeth, most powerful Queen, for thee this great
prophet utters this prophecy, and therein teaches thee thy part. I
tell thee: one and the same heaven cannot hold Calvin and the
Princes whom I have named. With these Princes then associate
thyself, and so make thee worthy of thy ancestors, worthy of thy
genius, worthy of thy excellence in letters, worthy of thy
praises, worthy of thy fortune. To this effect alone do I labour
about thy person, and will labour, whatever shall become of me,
for whom these adversaries so often augur the gallows, as though I
were an enemy of thy life. Hail, good Cross. There will come,
Elizabeth, the day, that day which will show thee clearly which
have loved thee, the Society of Jesus or the offspring of Luther.
I proceed. I call to witness all the coasts and regions of the
world, to which the Gospel trumpet has sounded since the birth of
Christ. Was this a little thing, to close the mouth of idols and
carry the kingdom of God to the nations? Of Christ Luther speaks:
we Catholics speak of Christ. _Is Christ divided?_ (1 Cor. i.
13). By no means. Either we speak of a false Christ or he does.
What then? I will say. Let Him be Christ, and belong to them, at
whose coming in Dagon broke his neck. Our Christ was pleased to
use the services of our men, when He banished from the hearts of
so many peoples--Jupiters, Mercuries, Dianas, Phoebades, and that
black night and sad Erebus of ages. There is no leisure to search
afar off, let us examine only neighbouring and domestic history.
The Irish imbibed from Patrick, the Scots from Palladius, the
English from Augustine, men consecrated at Rome, sent from Rome,
venerating Rome, either no faith at all or assuredly our faith,
the Catholic faith. The case is clear. I hurry on.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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