Sall (Andrew)
True Catholic and Apostolic Faith maintain'd in the Church of England, Oxford: Printed at the Theater, 1676. 8vo, full contemporary calf, boards with double gilt-fillet borders with flower corner-pieces, red and black speckled edges; pp. [2 (title, imprimatur)], [7 (Dedicatory)], [28 (Preface (27), blank)], [10 (Contents (9), blank)], 189, [1 (blank)], [2 (Title Second part, blank)], 234, [2 (blank)]; provenance: "W.H." (pencil inscription to ffep and mss notes throughout).
It is possible to forget the violence and passion which surrounded controversy in the 15th and 16th-century Church of England, in this our more secular age. Differences in theology and liturgy can seem quaint and trivial, but to men like Sall they were matters not merely of life and death, but of eternal life and death. Sall was a Jesuit, and Professor of Divinity at colleges in Spain, but converted to the Anglican faith after debates with Thomas Price, Archbishop of Cashel. This choice was such a significant one that Price sent a mounted guard to escort Sall to his palace when rumours of his choice began to circulate. It was only the Earl of Essex's decree ordering regular clergy (ones who were members of religious institutes such as the Jesuits) to leave Ireland which tipped Sall's hand. Sall originally argued that there was salvation outside of the Roman church, and that the Anglican way was the safer course, in his thesis at Trinity College, Dublin, but he wrote this follow-up as a defence against arguments published against him. It is interesting that Sall felt he must argue for the presence of a catholic, apostolic faith in the Anglican tradition. During this period in England it was argued there was too much Catholicism in the Church, derived from the Roman leanings of the Stuart monarchs, a fierce debate which ultimately led to the Glorious Revolution and the exclusion of Catholics from public office - such as the Crown.