Ship which carry'd the Mother of the Gods which many Mariners hawling all together could not stir Plutarch also in Coriolanus relates that the Image of Fortune spoke and often as the same Author relates in the same Life the Images and Statues were seen to Sweat Bleed and Weep St. Austin likewise tells us of many such Portents that happen'd among the Gentiles lib. 10 de civitate Dei. Tacitus also Hist lib. 4. relates of Vespasian that by his single Touch he restor'd Sight to the Blind and Strength to the Lame Bellarmin cap. 14. de Not. Eccles That both their Diseases proceeded from the Devil who having seiz'd the Eye of the one and the Leg of the other hindred the Use of their Limbs to the end he might seem to heal when he ceas'd to hurt I do not see why the Protestants may not use the same Exception against so many Miracles which the Romanists seign by the Touch either of their Images or their Reliques But I shall here furl my swelling Sails Mr. Prior being ready to explain and enlarge my self whensoever you shall be pleas'd to re-assume and examin this Matter II. Miracles do not of necessity follow Truth For tho' they were necessary in the time of Infant Christianity yet the true Religion being now establish'd and setled over all the World if not manifestly profitable they cease however to be absolutely necessary So that St. Austin lib. 2. de civitate Dei with very great reason said Whoever still enquires after Prodigies to confirm his Belief is himself a great Prodigy I forbear any more let it suffice me only to produce the Fathers of the Second Nicene Council act 4. Why do our Images at this day work no Miracles I answer with the Apostle Miracles are not for Believers but for the Vnbelievers Now then if the Protestants embrace the Doctrin of Christ and his Apostles the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles are sufficient for them Which would be necessary again were they to follow some new and never heard of Gospel before Nor does the difference whatever it is between the Reform'd Churches and the Lutherans whatever it be either in Ceremonies or some Points of Doctrin savour a jot more your precipitate Judgment concerning the Eternal Damnation of the Protestants For you Romanists your selves acknowledge that the Greek and Eastern Christians would be in the way of Salvation would they but submit to the Empire of the Pope tho' they retain'd their Ceremonies and Opinions differing in many Circumstances from the Rites and Doctrin of the Roman Church It is apparent from the Epistle of St. Austin to Januarius that all the Churches did not make use of the same Rites and Ceremonies In the Apostolic Churches also soon after the first dawn of Christianity Disputes and Contentions arose to pass by those that fell out between Cyril and Theodoret Chrysostom and Epiphanius St. Jerom and St. Austin nay between those very Men themselves that reproach the Lutherans and the Reformed with their differences which I would to God they were clos'd up There is the greatest difference among these Upbraiders not only as to Ceremonials as is apparent from so many Orders of Monks varying among themselves in Habit Rules and Public Worship but also as to Opinions as is evident from those most terrible Controversies about which your Theologists most sharply contend and quarrel one with another of the Authority of the Pope above a Council of a Council above the Pope of the Infallibility of the Bishop of Rome of his Power over Kings and Secular Princes the Conception of the Blessed Virgin of the sort of Adoration due to the Cross and Images of Predestination Grace Free-will and the like So that the Doctors of your Communion split themselves into various Sects according to which some are Thomists others Scotists others Real others Nominal others love to be call'd Jansenists and others Molinists Nay there is not any Article of the Christian Faith about which you have not rais'd Contentions and Disputes if not more sharp and eager yet of no less moment then all those which are stirring between the Reformed and the Lutherans And that diversity which you object against us is far inferior to your Dissentions nor is it concerned in the Fundamentals of Christianity in which the Reformed of both Parties are plainly agreed So that it is a kind of Miracle that there should be so little variance between so many Reformed Churches dispers'd all over Europe compos'd of various People and under several Princes tho' among them there is no Church which commands over others nor any intervening Political Tye to constrain them to such an Agreement in Matters of Faith. In the mean time there is no Schism between ours and the Lutheran Churches seeing that we neither separated from Them nor they from Us. In Poland the Brethren of the Helvetian Bohemian and Augustan Confession setting a laudable Example communicated before together by virtue of the Decree of Sendomir And in the Year 1631 in the National Synod of France a Decree was made for admitting the Lutherans as Brethren in Christ and Members of the same Mystical Body to our Communion of the Lord's Supper and for allowing them Brotherly Toleration in those Points wherein they differ from us And tho' they in their Anger pretend that we Err in Fundamentals which through the Mercy of God they will never be able to prove yet we judge more tenderly and better of them so disproving the Opinions which they obstinately defend that we deny them to be in themselves deadly or pernicious to Salvation or that they are such as ought not to hinder Christian Peace between us and them or prevent an Ecclesiastical Communion which might be obtain'd between Churches not agreeing in all things if the Foundation were sound Now we believe that to be a Fundamental Error wherein there is according to the ancient Phrase of the Synagogue a Denial of the Foundation which cannot comply with true Faith and Holiness For neither all Truths even those that are reveal'd are of the same necessity Neither are all Wounds which are given to Truth Mortal nor is every Disease an Epelipsie or the Falling-sickness St. Paul distinguishes between the Foundation and the Superstructure 1 Cor. 3. 11 12 13 14 15. He that meddles with Fundamentals is lyable to an Anathema Gal. 1. 8. In others there is room left for Exhortation Rom. 14. 1. Phil. 3. 15 16. Here the Gnat is not scrupulously to be strain'd at as there the Camel is not to be rashly swallowed We break Friendship with those that are openly Wicked but we bear with the blemishes and infirmities of Friends Nor is that presently to be thought of the necessity of Faith which yet may have a near Relation to it And therefore you canot blame us for offering our Communion to the Lutherans and rejecting the Papal For that between us and them there is not only a Harmony in the Foundation
Rome presum'd about Two hundred years after Christ for that reason to Excommunicate the Asiatic Churches that is to say to renounce Communion with them Irenaeus of Lyons sharply reprov'd him as the Epistles of Polycrates and Irenaeus extant about this Matter in Eusebius declare Hist Eccles l. 5. c. 23. 24. Was Aetius deservedly numbred among the Heretics because he acknowledg'd no difference jure Divino between a Bishop and a Presbyter For it is not evident that the Scripture acknowledges any such difference and that St. Jerom upon cap. 2. of the Epistle to Titus was plainly of the same Opinion nay and according to Medina in Bellarmin That St. Ambrose St. Austin Sedulius Primasius and other the most Famous Fathers of the Church were all of the same Judgment Then again without question Rome does no way approve the Ancients for numbring the Angelics among the Heretics because they gave Religious Worship to Angels which she herself defends or those who by St. Austin are call'd Nudipedales or Pattalorynchites against the former of which it is objected That they went Bare-foot seeing that at this day this is one of the greatest Marks of extraordinary Sanctity among you Romanists The other are tax'd to have profess'd a certain sort of Religious Silence which the Carthusian Monks however make no small part of their Glory Or the Collyridians of Epiphanius Heres 79. who offer'd to the Blessed Virgin little Cakes or Wiggs in Greek call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and gave her the Title of Queen of Heaven Which they that now refuse to do are all accounted Heretics Or the Starolatrae of Nicephorus Hist l. 18. c. 54. who as the Name imports worshipt the Cross which most of you assert is a Duty to be done Gretser the Jesuite affirming who in that follows Thomas Cajetan Valentia and Vasquez that it is the more common Opinion among those of his Religion l. 1. de Cruce c. 49. More paricularly among the Modern Romanists under Gregory VII The Collation of Benefices by Princes and by Caesar was call'd the Simonian and Henrician Heresie And as often as in Matters meerly Political any difference happen'd betwen the Kings and Emperors and the Bishops of Rome they declar'd them Heretics Thus Boniface VIII declar'd Philip the Fair King of France a Heretic because he sent none of his Soldiers to the Holy War. Thus John Albret King of Navar was declar'd a Heretic by Julius II because he took part with Lewis XII tho' the Quarrel was not about Matter of Faith and by virtue of that Condemnation he lost his Kingdom which the Spaniard has kept ever since John XXII pronounced Lewis of Bavaria the Emperor a Heretic because he defended the Cause of the Franciscans at that time out of the Pope's Favour but more particularly that of Ockam I forbear to mention any more We must therefore restrain the Signification of this word and a little more diligently examin who is properly a Heretic to the end we may the more easily prove the Protestants not to be guilty of this Crime An Heretic in my Opinion is one who for the sake of Temporal Profit but chiefly of Honor and Supremacy or of Lordship either founds or follows False and New Opinions Thus St. Austin de utilitate ad cred Honor. c. 1. Now in this sense we are not Heretics For tho' the Opinions were False which we uphold yet we could not be said to follow them for the sake of any Temporal Profit more especially of Honor or Supremacy but only for the obtaining of Salvation and upon the only Motive of our Consciences in regard it is plain to all the World that God has annexed to our Profession Reproach the Cross and Poverty and that the Protestants often experience the Truth of that Sentence of St. Paul All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer Persecution 2 Tim. 3. 12. Let Cardinal Bellarmin come in for a share too Why Because he has lit upon a most powerful means for me to demonstrate to Mr. Prior That We are no HERETICS He therefore c. 8. de not Eccles going about to prove that there is no Church among the Greeks notwithstanding the continued Succession of their Bishops from the Apostles time at least from the Reign of Constantine the Great under whom he believes the Constantinopolitan Church began says That the Greeks were lawfully convicted in three full Councils the Lateran that of Lyons and the other of Florence of Heresie and Schism more especially of the Heresie about the Proceeding of the Holy Ghost from the Son. This Question about the Proceeding of the Holy Ghost I do not pretend to enter into nor do I see any great difference between the Latins affirming the Holy Ghost to proceed from the Father and the Son and the Greeks alledging that He proceeds from the Father through the Son. This is that which I think worthy Observation That after all the Tridentin Decisions whereby the greatest part of the Opinions of our Churches were condem'd for Heresies Bellarmin attributes no other Heresie to the Greeks besides that of the Proceeding of the Holy Ghost Whence it follows that among the Greeks the Marriage of Priests Communicating under Both Kinds and with Leavened Bread the Rejecting Extreme Unction Auricular Confession Transubstantiation Purgatory and Pontifical Monarchy were no Heresies in all which the Orientals agree with us Now if these Articles of the Greeks had bin Heretical how comes it to pass that the Lateran Lyons and Florentine Councils which enquir'd into their Errors past them by But if they were not Heretical among the Greeks in the East why should they be so among the Protestants in the West If among the Greeks it be no Heresie but only a Schism to reject the Papal Authority and to shake off his Yoke why must it be a pernicious and capital Heresie among the Protestants Neither is it to be doubted but that if the Greeks would have subjected themselves in the Lateran Council to the See of Rome all the above-mentioned Articles except the denial of the Pope's Supremacy had been allow'd them Whence it is apparent that those Articles are neither Heretical nor pernicious in Faith nor destructive of Salvation since it was possible that the Greeks retaining them might nevertheless have bin true Members of the Catholic Church and consequently capable of Eternal Life But that no Man may think I am overcuriously romaging for my Justification in the Thesis's of my Adversaries that I may slip out at length at some Back-door I shall add some direct Reasons for our Innocency which cannot be Answer'd First therefore no Man can be traduc'd as a Heretic and branded with an Infamous Crime unless it be sufficiently apparent that He as the Scripture says has receded from the Holy Command of God and suffer'd Shipwrack of his Faith. For as St. Austin says de unit Eccles c. 5. No Man is to be branded with an ignominious Mark unless it be
the Excommunication which is thunder'd over our Heads For it is long ago that the Bishops of Rome through their Simonies have according to the Canons incurr'd the Penalty of most dreadful Excommunications so that they are uncapable of all Jurisdiction For an Excommunicate cannot exercise an act of Jurisdiction without sinning nay if it be a public Excommunication all his Sentences are void says Toletus lib. 1. Inst Sacerd. cap. 13. § 4. And who can question since the first Punishment of a Simoniac is ipso facto Papal Excommunication as Toletus asserts lib. 5. cap. 93. but that he is notoriously and publicly Excommunicated who is notoriously and publicly Simoniacal as I have particularly made it appear of Sixtus V who was nevertheless the Author of that Bull entitled de Coena Domini in the Form in which it is now Extant whereby the Protestants are solemnly Excommunicated every year by the Pope To this I add That they two can have no Jurisdiction over Us who Curse us to the Pit of Hell and so their Excommunications tho' they two were lawful Bishops are void For if a Bishop cannot Excommunicate one that is out of his Diocese or in a Priviledg'd Place as Emanuel Sa affirms as above Sect. 12. By what Right does the Bishop of Rome pretend to Excommunicate us who never belong'd to a Diocese Or to arrogate a general Jurisdiction and Authority over the whole Church of God which he had never any thing to do with In a word we value not their inconsiderate unjust and void Excommunications They are dull and silly Thunders that hurt no body Such sort of Curses God for the benefit of his true Adorers turns into Blessings according to that of David Psal 109. ver 23. From such Tempests the Damnation of the Protestants is no more to be inferr'd then of theirs who formerly profess'd Christ because the Scribes and Pharisees Excommunicated them after their Solemn manner No less ridioulous are they who alledge that the Protestants are therefore damn'd because they profess a Religion which wants the Seal of Miracles Truly you Romanists do very well to put us in mind of your Miracles For most Learned Men of your Communion complain that the Golden Legends of the Saints are stust with Fables and Couterfeit Miracles as you may read particularly in Melchior Canus producing the Testimonie of Ludovicus Vives lib. 2. Locor cap. 6. Their Frauds and Impostures are everywhere obvious by which the saying of Lyranus upon Dan. 2. before the Reformation Sometimes there was in the Church a notorious Delusion of the People by Miracles counterfeited by the Priests and their Adherents for Temporal Gain Those Imaginary Miracles with which the Protestants were to be convinced in regard they are Signs for Unbelievers are not only very seldom wrought before us but are many times said to be hindred by our presence The Mexican and Japanic Prodigies of which the Jesuites so loudly boast are but Imaginations since Acosta Victoria and Canus expresly acknowledge that no Miracles are wrought in India to promote Conversion And Acosta denies that there is any use of Miracles there lib. 6. proc Ind. Salut cap. 17. In those places says he there is no need of any more then good Works and of shining so before Men which the Natives beholding may glorifie the Father which is in Heaven This is the most potent Miracle to persuade But Francis Victoria Relect. 5. Prop. 5. is of Opinion That the Christian Faith is not so sufficiently preach'd to the Barbarians that they should be bound to believe under New Sin For I hear of no Miracles and Signs no Examples of a Life so Religious but of many Scandals and many Impieties Insomuch that Canus applies those idle Relations to the common Spanish Proverb Long Ways long Lies as if they might lie by authority who tell Stories done or counterfeited in remote and distant Regions So that if Xaverius the New Apostle of Japan had had the Gift of Miracles which is so easily believ'd of him he ought chiefly then to have exercis'd his Gift in the Ship which carry'd him from Malaca to Japan where he was forc'd nolens volens To behold the Mariners sacrificing to an Image of the Devil after the manner of their Country and imploring the Answers of the Image touching the Success of their Voyage which as the Barbarians said and believ'd were sometimes favourable sometimes terrible Nor would he have needed had he receiv'd the Gift of working Miracles from Heaven to have spent so much time in learning the Japan Language The words of Xaverius are these So soon as we have obtain'd the assistance of Language we hope that by the assistance of God the business will proceed much better for now we only converse among them like a sort of Images as not long ago in the Tract of the Rhine the Capuchin Marco de Aviano to put off his Miracles ran about like a Barbarian among the Germans for no body understood what he said they talk much concerning us and turn and look one upon another while we are mute and are constraind as it were to go to School again till we have learnt the Elements of the Language Is here I beseech you any Apostolic Character to be found Yet all these are Extant Epist lib. 1. Epist Japan Adject Com. Eman. Acosta of the Transactions of the Jesuites in the East and by Maffaeus the Jesuite set forth at Delingtren Anno Dom. 1571. The Epistle is written by Xaverius to the Society from Congoxima on the First of November 1549. Afterwards the same Maffaeus for what reason I know not left out this Epistle from whence I faithfully transcrib'd the Quotations above-mention'd unless it were that he was asham'd of the Truth in his select Epistles written from India which he added to his Indian History Printed at Cologn Anno Dom. 1589. Moreover not to say any thing of the Work of Reformation begun and propagated then which a greater Miracle can hardly be imagin'd I would fain oppose the two following Observations to those that reproach us with want of Miracles I. Miracles are not always among them with whom they are wrought as a mark of Truth when Heathens and Heretics formerly could boast of Miracles and many shall say to Christ in that day Lord have we not cast forth Devils and wrought many Wonders in thy Name To whom he shall answer Depart from me for I know ye not Mat. 7. 21 23. And there shall come false Christs and false Prophets arm'd with Signs and Wonders by which the Elect themselves if it were possible shall be seduc'd Mat. 24. 24. Thus Allius Naevius the Augur cut a Whetstone with a Razor in the view of all the People of Rome And one of the Vestal Virgins as a confirmation of her untainted Chastity took up Water in a Sieve and carry'd it away And Claudia another of the same Order alone without any help with her Girdle drew along the