being once evident to the world are by the worlds full report declared unto us which is a morall infallibility So that if we have not a Metaphysicall or Mathematicall infallibility of the truth of Miracles yet we have a Physicall and morall infallibilitie as much as we have of any thing we either hear or see Nor doth this Physicall evidence take away the merit of faith because this evidence not being altogether and in the highest degree infallible in it self for our senses may somtimes be deceived it is not sufficient to conquer the naturall obscurity darknesse and seeming falshood of things to be believed upon the testimony of those miracles For the mystery of the Trinity of the Incarnation Reall presence and the like seem as far above the reach of reason as any Miracle can seem evident to sense hence when faith is proposed by Miracles there ariseth a conflict betwixt the seeming evidence of the Miracles and the seeming falshood and darknesse of Catholique Doctrine against which obscurity a man cannot get the victory by the sole evidence of miracles except he be inwardly assisted by the light of Gods Spirit moving him by pious affection to cleave to the Doctrine which is by so cleer testimony proved to be his Word Even as a man shut up in a chamber with two lights whereof the one makes the wall seem white the other blew cannot be firmly assured what colour it is untill day-light enter and obscuring both those lights discover the truth so a man looking upon Christian Doctrines by the light of miracles done to prove them will be moved to judge them to be truth but looking upon them through the evidence of their seeming impossibilities unto reason they will seem false nor will he be able firmly to resolve for the side of faith untill the light of divine grace enter into his heart making him prefer through pious reverence to God the so-proposed authority of his Word before the seeming impossibility to mans reason CHAP. VII That Catholique Tradition is the onely firm foundation and motive to induce us to beleeve that the Apostles received their doctrine from Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ from God the Father And what are the meanes by which this doctrine is derived downe to us § 1. AS Catholique Tradition is infallible in it self so is it most necessary for us there being no other certaine testimony to any prudent man no firme ground or motive to believe that the Primitive Church received her doctrine from the Apostles the Apostles from Christ Christ from God nor no way to bring it downe from those times to these but only the Tradition of the Church For we may observe three properties of the doctrine of faith to be true to be revealed of God to be preached and delivered by the Apostles The highest ground by which a man is persuaded that his faith is true is the authority of God speaking and revealing it the highest proof by which a man is assured that his faith is revealed is the authority of Christ and his Apostles who delivered the same as descending from God but the highest ground that moveth a man to believe that his faith was preached by the Apostles is the perpetuall Tradition of the Church succeeding the Apostles unto this day assuring him so much according to the saying of * De praescr c. 21. 37. Tertullian who maketh this ladder of belief in this sort what I believe I received from the present Church the present from the Primitive the Primitive Church from the Apostles the Apostles from Christ Christ from God and God the prime verity from no other fountaine different from his own infallible knowledge So that he that cleaveth not to the present Church firmely believing the Tradition thereof as being come down by succession is not so much as on the lowest step of the ladder that leads unto God the revealer of saving truth successive Tradition unwritten being the last and finall ground whereon we believe that the points of our belief came from the Apostles which may be proved by these arguments § 2. First if the maine points of faith be to be believed to come from the Apostles because they are written in Scriptures and the Scriptures are believed to be the Word of God upon the report of universall Tradition then our belief that the things which we believe come from the Apostles and from God resteth upon the Tradition of the Church but it is most certaine that the Scriptures cannot be proved to have been delivered unto the Church by the Apostles but by the perpetuall Tradition unwritten conserved in the Church succeeding the Apostles all the other waies by which the Protestants endeavour to prove the Scripture to be the word of God being vaine and insufficient as I have proved before Secondly common and unlearned people which comprehend the greatest part of Christians may have true faith yet they cannot have it grounded on the Scripture for they can neither understand nor read it or if read it yet but in a vulgar language of the truth of whose translation they are not assured therefore must rely upon the testimony of the present Church that that which they believe is the Word of God Thirdly if all the maine and substantiall points of Christian faith must be believed before we can securely read and truly understand the holy Scripture than they are believed not upon Scripture but upon Tradition going before Scripture and that it is so is manifest because true faith is not built but upon Scripture truly understood according to the right sense thereof nor can we understand the Scripture aright unlesse we first know the main Articles of Faith which all are bound expresly to believe by which as by a rule we must regulate our selves in the interpretation of the Scripture otherwise without being setled in the rule of faith by Tradition men are apt to fall into grievous errors even against the main articles of the faith as of the Blessed Trinity and Incarnation of the Son of God as experience doth sufficiently testifie so that reading and interpreting Scripture doth not make men Christians but supposeth them to be made so by Tradition at least for the main points such as every one is bound expresly to know Fourthly they to whom the Apostles wrote and delivered the Scripture were already converted to Christianity and instructed in all necessary points of faith and in the common practises of Christianity and so by what they knew by Tradition could easily interpret what was written but otherwise might easily have failed in the mainest points as some forsaking Tradition did for example the Arrians who were confuted by the Catholiques not by bare Scripture for of that the Arrians had plenty but as it was interpreted by Tradition Therefore none can be supposed to understand the Scripture aright so to know the true word and will of God but by being such as they were to whom the Apostles
higher then the fountain from whence it springs if therefore particular reason be the governour of our faith which reason is a humane and fallible thing it cannot rise to nor support a divine faith But divine faith is that which God requires of us in the businesse of Religion and that which is not such is none And it is convenient that as God ordained man to a supernaturall end namely the blissefull vision of himselfe which is a thing far above all excellencies of nature so he should bring him to this blisse by believing things above the reach of reason which in man is his nature and to beget this faith by Miracles his owne acts which are above the power of nature and by the testimony of those that do those supernaturall acts to whom if he have given his deeds it cannot be doubted but he hath given his word of any part whereof to make any doubt is to call the credit of all into question the house of Faith being like some artificiall buildings whereof if you pull out one pin you loosen the whole frame So if a man disbelieve any one point delivered him by the Catholique Church he unjoynts the whole frame of faith and virtually denies it all and that because they have all the same height of proof to wit the testimony of the Church which if she can lie in one thing she may for ought wee know in another and so in all and thus bring a man to doubt of all and then to denie all And that those men that doe denie some one point of Catholique Tradition though unwritten doe not denie all is not for that they have any faith but out of secular ends and deceiptfull reason § 4. Indeed some Protestants grant that if Tradition be universall and perfectly Catholique it doth oblige to the belief thereof but not otherwise by which universall Tradition they meane such as never any one gainsaid But if such onely are to be called Catholique Traditions there is scarce any thing left for Christians to believe and indeed to that passe have many brought it for some have denied the distinction of Persons in the Trinity others the Divinity of our Saviour others his humanity others the Deity of the Holy Ghost and a hundred more now if no Tradition be to be called Catholique but such as was never denied by any one or some number of Christians then a man may deny the fore-mentioned and many other points and Articles of faith because their Tradition hath not been so universall but that some have denied it yea some books of the Scripture it self were not universally received till about four hundred years after Christ By Catholique or universall Tradition then must be understood that which the Catholique Church hath alwaies taught not which all Christians for then we must look for Tradition in the mouths of Heretiques whose property it is to deny some Tradition or other under pretence that it is opposite to Scripture And if any have taught contrary the Catholique Church hath condemned them for Heretiques which is a sufficient proof that untill such Hereticall Spirits opposed some one or more Traditions of the Church they were universally believed As for example the Doctrine of Christs consubstantiality or being of the same substance with the Father no reasonable man will deny but that it was generally believed in the Church before the daies of the Arch-heretique Arrius and that the Councel of Nice condemning of him was a sufficient proof that the doctrine he opposed was the universall Tradition of the Church by force whereof he was overthrowne and not by Scripture only there being no place of Scripture so plaine but he would give some answer to it and likewise alledge plenty of Scripture in the proof of his own Heresie while he took upon him to interpret it himself forfaking the traditionall sense thereof and would receive no answer to it And if Arrius his denyall of that point of Faith will make it universall for place or the doctrine it self new and so universall for time as some in other instances do alledge because it was then first declared by reason of that opposition then it may be lawfull under the same pretence for men to deny all the Traditions of the Church all the decrees of Generall Councells of the Church and to revive all the Heresies that were in the Church § 5. Moreover to attribute conditionall infallibility to the Church and not absolute in all that she delivers * Chillingworth pag. 118. Pet. Martyr loc Com. clas 4. c 4. sect 21. Confess Helvet c. 17. as some Protestants doe making her infallible onely while she followes the Scripture and Vniversall Tradition is to give her no more priviledge than to a child or fool who are also infallible while they affirm nothing but what is agreeable to Scripture and universall Tradition But if we know not Scripture nor Tradition but by the Churches direction how shall we know in her exposition of Scripture and deciding of controversies that she doth erre unlesse we know it from her also seeing her authority in the one is as good as in the other and by those reasons that we may deny the truth of the one we may deny the other And if she say she have expounded Scripture truly and decided controversies aright by the rule of Scripture and Tradition who shall gainesay her Can any man be so foolish as to think his word is of more credit than the whole Churches Or that his reason is better then hers Or that if she may erre from her rule he may not do so also And if their infallibilities be both of the same strength who in his right mind would not believe millions affirming the same thing rather than one or some few affirming the contrary If there were a rule so plaine and clear that all men understood it and none could pervert it then there were no need of a judge or directer but if the rule be obscure or liable to misinterpretation as all words are let them be expressed never so plainly then it is meet that there should not onely be a Judge but that this Judge should be infallible seeing the businesse concerns the salvation of mankind and not be subject to the petty after-examinations of proud and discontented people as if one or more of them did know the meaning of the rule better than the Judge when that Judge is the universall Church And that which these men affirm in this matter amounts to this wise Maxime That the Church is infallible while she is infallible and so is the Devill § 6. Frivolous then and without foundation is that late started distinction of points fundamentall and not fundamentall and the assertion built thereon That the Church may erre in the one and not in the other and so by consequence we are not bound to believe her in all things Indeed in regard of the materiall object or thing to be believed some points
faith were delivered to them by the Apostles to the Apostles by Christ to Christ by God the fountain of all truth CHAP. IX That there is and ever shall be a visible Church upon earth And that this Church is one holy Catholique and Apostolique § 1. NOw considering all that hath been said before the summe whereof is this That we have no meanes to know certainly the doctrines of the Apostles but only the Tradition of the Church and that that Tradition is and ought to be infallible hence I conceived that this consequence was necessary that there should be and is alwaies a visible Church in the world to whose Traditions men might cleave and that this Church is one universall Apostolicall Holy First there is alwaies a true Church of Christ in the world for if there be no meanes for men to know that Scriptures and all other Articles came from Christ and his Apostles and so consequently from God but the Tradition of the Church then there must needs be in all ages a Church receiving and delivering these Traditions else men in some age since Christ should have been destitute of the ordinary meanes of salvation because they had no meanes to know assuredly the doctrines of Christianity without assured faith whereof no man can be saved And although a false Church may deliver the true Word of God as it is contained in the Scripture and the Creed yea even a Jew or Heathen may do so for this is but casuall yet none but a true Church can deliver the Word of God with assurance to the receiver that the text is incorrupt thereby binding him to the belief thereof Now it is necessary that men have the true Scripture not only casually but they must be sure the Text thereof be uncorrupt therefore there must be a true unerring Church whose authority is so aut hentique that it is a sufficient warrant for men to believe the doctrine shee delivers to come from the Apostles Secondly this Church must be alwaies visible and conspicuous For the Traditions of the Church must ever be famous and most notoriously known in the world that a Christian may truly say with S. Augustine De utilit Cred. c. 14. I believe nothing but the consent of Nations and Countries and most celebrious fame Now if the Church were at any time invisible or very secret and hidden then could not her Traditions be famously known nor could men that were willing to submit themselves to her directions know where to find her out of whose communion they cannot attain salvation Thirdly this Church is Apostolicall that is derived from the Apostolicall Sea by the succession of Bishops and Pastors for else how can we be assured that we have the Apostles doctrine It must be one generation that must certifie another and if there should be any interruption in that time all might be lost and changed And how could the Tradition of Christian Doctrine be notoriously Apostolicall if the Church delivering the same hath not a manifest and conspicuous pedigree and derivation from the Apostles Which is a convincing argument used by S. Augustine Epist 48. circa med How doe we trust out of the divine writings that we have manifestly received Christ if we have not also from thence manifestly received his Church The Church that hath a lineall succession of Bishops from the Apostles famous and illustrious whereof not one hath been opposite in Religion to his immediate predecessor proves evidently that this Church hath the Doctrine of the Apostles For as in the rank of three hundred stones ranged in order if no two stones be found in that line of different colour then if the first be white the second is white and so the rest unto the last even so if there be a succession of three hundred Bishops all of the same Religion if the first have the Religion of the Apostles and S. Peter the second hath and so the rest even unto the last Fourthly this Church is one that is all the Pastors and Preachers deliver and consequently all her Disciples and children believe one and the same Faith For if the Preachers and Pastors of the Church disagree about matters which they preach as necessary points of Faith they lose all their credit and authority for who will believe witnesses on their own words if they disagree in their testimony Fifthly I infer that this Church is universall spread over all Nations that she may be said to be every where morally speaking that is according to common humane account by which a thing diffused over a great part of the world and famously knowne is said to be every where In this manner the Apostle said that the faith of the Romans was renowned in the whole world Rom. 1.12 that so the whole world may take notice of her as of a worthy and credible witnesse of Christian Tradition howsoever her outward glory and splendour peace and tranquillity in some places and at some times be more or lesse eclipsed and shee be not alwaies in all places at once And the reason of this perpetuall visible universality is because the Tradition of the Church is the sole ordinary meanes of faith toward the Word of God This Tradition therefore must be so delivered as that it may be known to all men seeing God will have all men without exception of any nation to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth 1. Tim. 2.4 which they cannot do unlesse the Church be so diffused in the world that all known nations may take notice of her And Gods will that all men should be saved though it be but an antecedent will as Schoolemen call it yet it inferreth two things which some Protestants deny first the salvation of all men secondly the meanes of their salvation In respect of the meanes the will of God is absolute that all men in some sort or other have sufficient meanes of salvation In respect of the end to wit the salvation of all men the will of God is not absolute but as Schoolemen say virtually conditionall that is God hath a will that all men be saved as much as lies in him if the course of his providence be not intercepted and men will cooperate with his grace And the reason why some Nations hear not the Gospell and Word of God is not the defect of his Church but the want of working in the naturall causes to discover such Countries which defect God will not ever miraculously supply But if the Church were invisible to the world and hoarded up her Religion to her selfe either not daring or not willing to professe and preach the same unto others Nations may be knowne and yet the Word of God not known to them If therefore this Church should be hidden for a long time mens souls should perish not through defect in the naturall causes but only through the hiddennesse obscurity and wretchednesse of the supernaturall meanes to wit of the Church not
directions only not obligations Therefore in England many both of the people and Clergie also doe deny some one some another particular according to their pleasure and yet the Generall Church of Protestants and the particular of England doth suffer men teaching and professing contrary doctrines as points of faith to abide in her communion and passe under the name of Protestants And seeing that of contrary doctrines one side must needs be false while the Protestant Church permits both sides to be preached as matter of faith and the Word of God she knowingly suffers the profession of false doctrine and so is the mother of falshood as much as truth and therefore cannot be the true Church The Church of Rome doth not so but if any preach or professe contrary to that which is decreed she shuts them out of her Communion and disinherits them of the title of Catholique As for other points which are without the compasse of her decrees wherein there is a mighty latitude according to the extent of mens reasons she permits every man to hold as his particular understanding shall direct him The Puritanes will have all governed by the written word of God The Chillingworthians will have all guided by particular reason and both sorts differ amongst themselves The Church of Rome more wisely in matters of faith and Religion is directed by the Word of God either written or unwritten and therein her children never differ or if they do are renounced In Schoole points and things undefined her children are guided by their particular reason and herein they do and may differ yet without disunion as well as in points of Philosophie For Schoole points are not points of Religion properly religion being derived à RELIGANDO from binding but in School points men are not bound to the belief of either side but have free liberty to hold or change as they think they have cause untill it be otherwise determined by a Councell And this may be done without the just imputation of division as S. Augustine De Bapt. cont Donat. l. 1. c. 18. l. 2. c. 4. saith Divers men be of divers judgements without breach of peace untill a generall Councell allow some one part for pure and cleer Thus doth he excuse S. Cyprians disagreement and error concerning the baptizing of such as were baptized by Heretiques saying that himselfe durst not have condemned the same unlesse I had been strengthened with the most agreable authority of the Catholique Church to which Cyprian himselfe no doubt would have yeelded if at that time the truth of the question had been made cleer and manifest by a generall Councell Which some refusing to doe after that that opinion of Cyprians was by a Councell condemned to shew the difference of holding against a point defined and not defined Vincentius Lyrinensis chap. 9. thus breakes out O admirable change the authors of one self opinion are called Catholiques and the followers of it heretiques Secondly there is in doctrines a difference between the conclusion or point of faith it selfe and the reason or manner thereof in the former of these unity is required and is performed most axactly amongst Catholiques but in the later which concernes but the reason of that conclusion which reason is for the most part reduced to some Scholasticall subtilty learned men have in all ages and may without breach of unity maintaine their difference For although all men be bound to the decree'd point of faith yet they are not so to the reason and manner thereof unlesse the same also be defined by the Church And hereby are answered all the objections of Protestants concerning the disagreement of Catholiques as of the Thomists and Scotists concerning the Conception of our Blessed Lady of the Dominicans and Jesuites about the concurrence of Grace and Freewill with such like in which the Church hath not yet interposed her Decree And some Protestants affirm out of their profound politicall insight that she never will and that because forsooth she dares not out of fear to displease so mighty a party as each opinion hath And yet they know that the Church was not afraid to decree against the opinions of Luther and his brood notwithstanding she lost some Kings and much people thereby but the losse was not only hers but theirs much more she lost some incurable members but they lost themselves And doubtlesse when she sees it meet to determine any of the controversies amongst the learned shee will doe it without any fear but of God In the mean time we see that their differences of opinions breed no more disturbance in the Church nor rancor amongst themselves than their different colours and shapes of apparrell Brotherly charity is not violated amongst them they will all goe to the same Church they will communicate together and confesse to one another nor is there any of them but if he be asked will say that he will stand to a Generall Councell in any of the points of difference amongst them and submit his judgement to hers But Protestants have no Councells nor any authority to call a Councell out of the extent of their temporall dominions the Articles of Religion which they have agreed upon apart are very different one from another as may be seen in their Harmony of Confessions nor in the same Dominion will they stand to any determination of Convocation Synod or Assembly further than it decrees according to the Word of God of which every one will be a judge for himfelfe And in the mean time they violate brotherly charity make schisms and separations one from another refuse to goe to Church or communicate together and in defence of their differences wage war one against another So that their Harmony of Confessions may more truly be called the confusion of Confessions and their Churches the tumults of Religion The greatest unity they have is not in believing but in not believing though therein they are not exact as I have shewed before their faith as they call it being for the most part negative consisting in denying what Catholiques affirme as denying and not believing the infallibility of the Church the Reall Corporall presence seven Sacraments Invocation of Saints Purgatory and Prayer for the dead with many other abating their positive faith almost to nothing now not-believing is not believing and their profession and union in the most is not of faith but of infidelity And for their positive belief I think it consists in two Articles only That there is a God and that Jesus Christ died for the sinnes of the world and whosoever affirmes more than this it will be no hard matter to find some other Protestants that will deny it what union then is there amongst them but that which was betwixt Symeon and Levi to be brethren in evill and in writing the Articles of their Religion as Draco did his lawes in blood For what nation is there where the Protestant Religion hath settled her foot where they did
though the Apostles their hearers be departed out of this life yet there still remaines a meanes in the world by which all men may assuredly know what the Apostles preached and the primitive Church received of them seeing the Church to the worlds end must be built on the Apostles and beleive nothing as matter of Faith besides that which was delivered of them as S. Paul saith Ephes 2.20 and are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ being the chiefe corner stone CHAP. II. Of the meanes to know which is the Word of God And that all the Protestants Arguments to prove that the Scripture and it onely is the Word of God are insufficient And that the generall Tradition of the Catholike Church is the only assured proof thereof § 1. THese things being supposed the chief difficulty to my seeming consisted in this how we might certainly know now adaies so many ages after the Apostles death what all necessary points that they taught and preached the Protestants said that this was to be found in the Scriptures which were written by them but this did not satisfie my doubt for supposing the Scriptures to be the word of God delivered by the Apostles and others inspired by him yet I wanted some sufficient witnesse or proofe to assure me so much for of my selfe I could not find it The bare word of the Protestants I saw I had no reason to take because they confesse that they may erre and I in this matter not being able to discover whether they did erre or no relying upon a fallible guide must alwaies remaine in uncertainty and fear I observed moreover that although in most of their assertions they might upon examination prove false yet in saying that the Church might erre and taking themselves for the Church they had said most true finding that they indeed had erred in this most important Particular of declareing what is the word of God and what not the Lutherans affirming much lesse for the word of God then the Calvinists and the Church of England doth § 2. Now of necessity one of these sorts of Protestants must erre and that most dangerously the one by beleiving that to be the word of God which is not but the invention of men and perhaps false and foolish Praefat. in Epist Iac. in Edi◠levens as Luther said of S. Iames his Epistle or the other by renouncing that which is indeed the Word of God and so not believing what God himself hath spoken Their Authority being by themselves in their evident disagreement thus broken I descended to consider the reasons by them alledged to induce men to believe that the Scriptures are the Word of God which in general I apprehended to be insufficient because they did not lead the Protestants themselves to an agreement in the quantity thereof But I further weighed them particularly the principall whereof are these § 3. First they say the Scriptures are knowne to be divine by their owne light shining in them Cal. lib. 1. Inst cap. 7. Sect. 2. infine Even as sweet and bitter are knowne by the tast white and blacke by the sight which assertion to me seemed very absurd I confesse indeed much of the Scripture is but the amplification of the Morall Law which is a knowledge engrafted in man by nature by the light whereof we may see that it is true but this proves it not to be the Word of God For though all truth be from God as he is the prime verity and so may be called in some sense his Word yet by the Word of God in this case is meant truth revealed by God immediately unto the pen-men thereof and though we find much thereof to be true as agreeing with the engrafted principles of reason yet this proveth not that it was revealed immediately and extraordinarily which is the circumstance that makes it the Word of God in the sense of those that dispute about it As for the historical parts both of the Old and New Testament the institution of Sacraments with the like they have no affinity with the in-born principles of reason and are therefore not knowne to be so much as true by any light they carry with them much lesse to be extraordinarily revealed by God and so to be his Word Besides if it could be discerned what were the Word of God and what not by the resplendent light thereof as easily as the light is knowne from darknesse as some of them say how could there be so much dissention about the parts thereof as it is knowne there is the Calvinists seeing more to be the Word of God then the Lutherans do and lesse then the Catholikes and yet if it shew it selfe by its owne light the Turks may see it as well as any of them And heere I observed that many had blinded themselves with looking on the light and could not see so far as to discern between corporall and spirituall light but because the Prophet David saith Thy word is a lanterne unto my feet and a light unto my paths Psal 118.105 they conceived the Scripture was as easily discerned by its own light as the Sun True it is that every corporall light that doth enlighten the eye of the body must be evident in it selfe and originally cleer but not so every truth that doth illustrate mens understanding The reason is because the eye of the body cannot by things seen inferre and conclude things that are hidden but can only apprehend what doth directly and immediately shew it selfe but mans understanding apprehends not only what shewes it selfe but by things knowne inferres and breeds in it selfe the knowledge of things hidden Hence though things shewing themselves directly and by their own light be prime principles of the understanding and the meanes to know other things yet also things hidden in themselves being formerly known by the light of authority may thereby become lights that is meanes to encrease our knowledge of hidden things So that speaking of spirituall and intellectuall lights it is false that all lights that enlighten mans understanding to know other things are evident in themselves yea some secondary principles and lights there are which must be shewed by a superiour light before they become lights themselves In which kind is the Scripture being a light only to the faithfull because known by the Churches Tradition to be from the Apostles by the Apostles authority confirmed by miracles to be of God by Gods supreme verity who cannot deceive nor be deceived to be the truth Moreover this conceipt of theirs doth utterly extinguish faith and beleife of the word of God for every thing is so far forth the object of faith that it is not seen as S. Paul saith Faith is the argument of things not seen Hebr. 11.1 In Evang. Ioan. Tract 40. and S. Augustine What is faith but to believe that which thou dost not see If therefore they do see it they cannot properly
be said to believe it but to know it and if so what excellency what vertue what merit what pious affection towards God to believe that which they see plainely before their eyes A bold presumption also it is in them to claime a cleerer degree of knowledge then the Apostles had for they did but see through a glasse darkely 1 Corinth 13.12 but these men are convicted of the divine truth of the things they believe Fran White Orthodoxe p. 107. by the lustre and resplendent verity of the matter of Scripture which is a priviledge which whosoever hath equalls the blessed Saints in heaven whose happinesse it is to see what we believe especially seeing one point of the Doctrine Protestants pretend to see is the mysterie of the Blessed Trinity the true light resplendent veritie wherof no man can see manifestly out of the state of Blisse § 4. Secondly they pretend to know the Scriptures to be the Word of God by the * Whites Reply p. 16.30.68 Feild Appendix pag. 34. Cal. Inst l. 1. c. 7. majestie of the matter and purity of the Doctrine but I conceived that though some mysteries of the Scripture carry a majesty in them in respect of naturall reason and an elevation above it as of the B. Trinity yet other matters of Scripture seem unto reason ridiculous as the Serpents talking with Eve and Balaams Asse reproving of his master with many others Nor could the purity of the doctrine convince me seeing we know that many learned and godly men have written very holily whose writings are not therefore accounted the word of God Besides there are many historicall parts of the Scripture which do not at all touch upon purity therefore cannot be discerned by it Againe they affirme that the Scripture may be knowne by the stile but I considered that God hath no proper stile or phrase of his owne but can at his pleasure al stiles that he did vse the pens of those whom it pleased him to inspire couching his heavenly conceipts under their usuall language and ability of expression whence issueth so great difference of stiles as is on all sides acknowledged amongst sacred Writers and that God did only guide them in the truth they wrote not in the stile for then all their stiles in likelihood should have been alike Indeed God hath an eternal increated manner of speaking which is the production of the eternall word by which the blessed do discern him from all other speakers by the evidence of blissefull learning but no created manner of speaking no not his speaking inwardly to the soule is so proper to God as that it can be knowne to be his speaking by the meer sound of the voice or by the stile without especiall revelation or some consequent miraculous effect § 5. Thirdly the * VVhites Reply p. 19. Harmony of the Scriptures is alledged by some as an argument to prove them to be the Word of God But though this Harmony appeare in divers things yet it is most certaine that there are very many seeming contradictions many of which are but probably answered by Commentaetors by assuming some things without proofe because otherwise they must admit contradictions some places are not fully answered but the Fathers were forced to fly from literall to allegoricall senses as appeares particularly in the foure first Chapters of Genesis the Genealogy of our Saviour and in the reconciling of the Chronologies of the Kings And seeing no man is infallibly sure that all the answers used to reconcile the seeming contradictions of Scriptures are true no man can be assured by the evidence of the thing that there is this perfect harmony in them nor consequently that they are thereby knowne to be the Word of God Moreover if we were infallibly assured that there were this perfect harmony in the Scriptures yet this to me seemed not a sufficient proofe that they are the Word of God because there is no reason forbids me to believe that it may not be also found in the writings of some men yea I make no question but it is to be found and that with lesse seeming contradiction then is in the Scripture yet no man accounts that this proves their writings to be the Word of God Neither as I saw could these pretences before mentioned be laid hold on by the unlearned multitude an innumerable company whereof cannot read at all and when they heare them read if they were asked would say that they see not this light this majestie stile and harmony which their learned men talk of nor do they know what it meanes nor that a tittle of it is the word of God but only because they are told so Indeed S. Peter saith in the behalf of the old Testament 2 Pet. 1.21 That holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost But we are as uncertaine by any thing in the words themselves that S. Peter said this as of all the rest that is altogether § 6. So that I could not find that there was any more then probable arguments to be drawn from the Scriptures themselves to prove them to be the word of God For that which is the word of God and the rule of faith must be certaine not only in some parts but in every part and particle book chapter and line thereof which is impossible to be knowne by the light and evidence of the sense and doctrine seeing many places even by * Field of the Church lib. 4. cap. 15. VVhites Reply p. 35 Protestants confessions are darke obscure and full of difficulties and how can that be knowne to be the Word of God by the light thereof when the light thereof is not knowne As uselesse also to their purpose is the majestie purity stile harmomony or any the like for we believe it to be harmonious because it is the Word of God not to be the Word of God because it is harmonious which wee doe not infallibly see So that upon these considerations I saw no evident certainty out of the Scriptures that they were the Word of God but that they are believed to be such without being seen upon some other Word of God more cleerly appearing to be the Word of God and lesse liable to corruption then the Scriptures are assuring us so much and that is the Tradition of the Church according to the saying of S. Augustine * Aug. contra Epist fundament c. 5. I would not believe the Gospell unlesse the Authority of the Catholike Church did move me To which Hooker one of the learnedest men that ever the Protestant party could boast of agreeth saying * Eccl. Pol. lib. 1. sec 14 p. 36. Of things necessary the very chiefest is to know what books we are bound to esteem holy which point is confessed impossible for the Scripture it self to teach * Ibid. l. 2 sec 4.102 for if any one book of Scripture did give testimony to all yet
still that Scripture which giveth credit to the rest would require another Scripture to give credit to it * Ibid. p. 103. neither could we ever come to any pause whereon to rest unlesse besides Scripture there were something else acknowledged And this something is as he saith * Lib. 2. ca. 4. p. 300. The Ecclesiasticall tradition an argument whereby may be argued and convinced what books be Canonicall and what not § 8. Lastly some say they know the Scripture to be the Word of God by the Spirit of God prompting it to their soules And this of all the rest seemed to me most absurd For first I durst not arrogate this Spirit to my self nor could I know it was in any other His saying the Spirit told him the Scripture was the Word of God did not prove it nor had I reason to believe he had the Spirit more than I without some proof If a mans testimony in his owne case might thus be admitted I saw that no Heretique would want it to support his impiety by ascribing it to the Spirit as * Epiphanhaer 21. Simon Magus did only this H. Spirit he believed to be his Concubine Helena and Protestants ascribe the title of the Spirit to their private fancies If I should have said that I know by the suggestion of Gods Spirit that this or that part of Scripture or that none of it was the Word of God my proof was as good to him as his to me For although the testimony of the Spirit of God be a sure witnesse to him that hath it yet it is none to others unlesse he can prove he hath it by some miraculous effect And without this kind of proof every prudent man hath reason to believe that such a boaster is a lier and intends to deceive others as it is likely of the first Authors of Heresies or else that he deceives himselfe by a strong operation of his fancy which he calls the Spirit because he is told by the doctrine of some Protestants that he must feel that he hath the Spirit as in particular concerning the assurance of his salvation desirous then to be in the right way that which he would have he perswades himself he hath because else he finds himselfe at a losse which begets a horror in him Which to avoid he flies to this pitifull refuge being the best he is instructed to that he may have some stay for his belief and repose for his soul And this happens commonly and most strongly to those that have some zeal but little wit on whom therefore the reflection of their fancy is the stronger and works upon them as upon some I have read and heard of who by their eager desire to be so have strongly conceited themselves to be indeed Kings and Princes and other kind of great and rich men when truly and in all other mens judgements they were either mad-men or fools So that this I perceived was to open a gap to any mans fantasticall pretence whatsoever who had the impudence to ascribe it to the Spirit of God Nor is there any peaceable way to compose the differences amongst men of this nature for each one pretending the Spirit he hath no reason to yeeld to another the holy Spirit being an infallible director wheresoever it is yet when it is different in different men who pretend to it as it often falls out it is a certaine signe that one of them is deceived and both are deceived in the opinion of each other yet neither yeelding to other the contention ends in the action of Zedekiah against the Prophet Micheas who gave him a box on the eare and said 2 Chron. 18.23 Which way passed the Spirit of our Lord from me that it should speake to thee And so it hath fallen out amongst those that derive their knowledge this way that they end their differences by blowes and conquests not by Councels and miracles Plut. And as the sonnes of Pyrrhus asking him who should succeed him in his Kingdome he answered he that hath the sharpest sword so if it be demanded amongst them who hath the Spirit of God and consequently the true Religion It must be answered He that hath the most strength of armes to maintaine it But S. Peter did otherwise who provoked by Simon Magus proved that he had the Spirit of God by raising up a childe from death Egesippus which the other with all his Magick could not do who also challenging S. Peter to fly from the Capitol to Mount Aventine while he was doing so by the prayer of S. Peter he came tumbling down and brake his leg whereof he soone after died If men that boast of the Spirit cannot this way prove it the saying of S. Augustine is appliable unto them * Tract 45. in Ioan. There are innumerable who do not only boast that they are Videntes or Prophets but will seem to be illuminated or enlightned by Christ but indeed are Heretiques § 5. Yet most certain it is that no man can believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God but by the Spirit of God inclining him thereunto for as the Apostle saith Ephes 2.8 Faith is the gift of God But there are two kinds of inspiration of the Spirit of God one immediate without the concourse of any externall ground of assurance the other mediate moving the heart to adhere to an externall ground of assurance making it to apprehend divinely of the authority thereof they that challenge the first are Enthusiasts and run into all the fore-mentioned absurdities they that take the latter way must besides their inward perswasion have an externall ground of belief and then what is there so high and sufficient as the testimony of Vniversall Tradition Agreeable whereunto Hooker saith * Eccles Pol lib. 2. sect 7.8 The outward letter sealed with the inward witnesse of the Spirit is not a sufficient warrant for every particular man to judge and approve the Scripture to be Canonicall the Gospell it self to be the Gospell of Christ * lib. 3. sect 3. but the authority of Gods Church as he saith is necessarily required thereunto § 9. And though it were true that we might know the Scripture to be the word of God without the testimony of the Church yet it doth no where appear that the Scripture is the whole word of God and containes all that the Apostles left unto the Church for their direction so that my first Quere would still be unsatisfied to wit how we should know the whole word of God which the Apostles taught For even that word which is written doth tell us that all is not written and therefore doth S. Paul exhort us to keepe both the written and unwritten Stand fast saith he and keepe the traditions which you have learned whether by word or by our Epistle 2 Thes 2.15 It is manifest that the first Church of God from the creation untill Moses which was about the space
are fundamentall others not that is some points are to be believed explicitely and distinctly others not and more points are to bee believed explicitely by some than by others as I have shewed before speaking of points necessary to salvation But in regard of the formall object and motive for which we believe namely the truth of God revealing it by his Church there is no distinction of points of faith we being equally bound to believe all that is sufficiently proposed unto us as revealed by God whether the matter be great or small and whether the points be fundamentall in their matter or no yet they are proposed unto us by the same authority therefore we are bound equally with the same firmenesse of faith to believe every one as any one For example the Creed of the Apostles containes divers fundamentall points as the Diety Trinity of Persons Incarnation Passion and Resurrection of our Saviour it containes also some points for their matter and nature in themselves not fundamentall as under what judge he suffered that he was buried and the circumstance of time when he rose againe to wit the third day Now whosoever knowes these to be contained in the Apostles Creed is bound to believe them as firmely as the other and the denyall of any one of them is a fundamentall and damnable errour a giving of God the lie For the nature of faith doth not arise from the greatnesse or smalnesse of the thing believed for then there should be as many different faiths as there are points to be believed but from the motive for which a man believes which is Gods revelation testified by the Church which being alike for all objects it is manifest that they that in things equally revealed by God do grant one thing and deny another do forsake the very formall motive of faith Gods revelation and so have no true divine faith at all § 7. Moreover if the Churches infallibility be tied to a certain matter in Religion then it is meet we should know that first that so we may accordingly apply our belief if it be fundamentall then without doubt to imbrace it if not to exercise our liberty and believe it so far as we see cause but then we must know the matter wherein she is infallible distinctly and particularly as also infallibly or else we may mistake and believe when we need not and disbelieve when we ought not Now from whence shall we have this knowledge God hath no where revealed it and it ought to have been revealed together with the Commission given to the Church to teach or else shee might have deceived us before the caution came but the Church it selfe hath told us no such matter we have no such Tradition therefore we must have this most fundamentall point of all the rest which is to know what is fundamentall and what not either by inspiration or by the strength of reason both which are ridiculous or by some authority coequall to the Churches and yet not hers which is most absurd And in this businesse the Protestants seemed unto me to deal as obscurely and deceiptfully as did once Richard the second King of England who in a return to peace betwixt him and his subjects granted pardon to all except fifteen but would not declare what their names were but if at any time he had a mind out of some new displeasure to cut off any man he would say he was one of the fifteen whom he excepted from the benefit of his pardon In like manner the Protestants say we will believe the Church in all points but those that are not fundamentall not expressing what they are and when they have a wanton disposition to deny their belief to something that the Church hath declared they shelter their denyall under the protection of this unlimited distinction and say it is a point not fundamentall And if on the other side they find it for their advantage to close with other Churches they say they are all one Church with them because forsooth they agree in they know not what that is in their inexplicable fundamentalls § 8. But Chillingworth hath undertaken to give us though not a catalogue yet a description as he supposes by which we may discern between fundamentalls not fundamentalls or circumstantialls as he calls them pag. 137. sect 20. The former being such as are revealed by God and commanded to be preached to all and beleived by all The later such as though God hath revealed them yet the Pastors of the Church are not bound under paine of damnation particularly to teach them unto all and the people may securely be ignorant of them And this is even the same obscurity in more words for what is to be preached to all and believed by all and what the Pastors may forbear to preach and the people may be ignorant of especially seeing the same degree of ignorance is not secure to all people alike but receives infinite variety according to their meanes of knowledge is as undeterminable as what is fundamentall and what not But suppose the Pastors doe preach more than they are bound to preach and reveal that truth which if it had not been revealed the people might safely have been ignorant of may they be ignorant or unbelieving now it is revealed to them If they be then they deny that very authority upon which they believed the most fundamentall points which is the ground of all belief and by consequence deny the whole faith From whence wee may see that the Pastors teaching is not to be stinted by the things the people ought necessarily to believe but the peoples necessity of believing ought to be enlarged according to the measure of the Pastors preaching The Church is not confined to the teaching of fundamentalls only for the matter but whatsoever shee teacheth is fundamentall for the forme and motive of beliefe The circumstantialls are as he confesseth revealed by God to the Church and if the Church reveal them to the people the people must either believe them or deny to believe God And though common people and others also may safely be ignorant before they have been instructed yet they may not be so after nor hath God confined the Pastors instructing of the people to any certain matter to fundamentalls only for Christ bids his Apostles teach all nations to observe all things whatsoever he commanded them Matth. 28.20 And though common people may safely be ignorant of many things yet they must not be unbelieving of any thing but by an implicite faith at the least believe all that the Church believes by adhering and resigning themselves to her being prepared to believe explicitly what and when shee shall declare it to them Which faith is originally and fundamentally built upon the Word of God not as written but as delivered by the Tradition of the Church successively from the Apostles upon the authority whereof we believe that both Scriptures and all other Articles of
examine the matter and being infallibly assisted by the Spirit of truth which our Saviour promised should be with his Apostles to the end of the world that is with the Church their Successor which was to continue to the worlds end shee declares what is true and what is false as agreeing with or disagreeing from that doctrine which shee hath received from her Fore-fathers the Prophets and Apostles upon whom shee is built as S. Paul saith built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Ephes 2.20 For as in a building there is not the least stone which rests not upon the foundation so in the doctrine of the Catholique Church there is not the least point which is not grounded on or contained in that which was delivered by the Apostles For example in the principles of every Science are contained divers truths which may be drawn out of them by many severall conclusions one following another These conclusions were truths in themselves before though they did not so appear to us till wee saw the connexion they had with the premises and how they were contained in them And by the many severall conclusions so drawn the truth of those principles doth more shew it selfe but doth not receive any change in it selfe thereby even so in the prime principles of our faith revealed immediately by God and delivered to the Church are contained al truths that any way belong to our faith but it was not necessary that the Church should manifest all these at their first meeting in Councell but only so much in every severall Councell as should concerne the present occasion of their meeting which is some particular heresie or heresies then sprung up and so more according to the successive growth of heresies which when shee hath done shee cannot be charged with creating of a new faith or altering of the old but shee doth only out of old grounds and premises draw such conclusions as may serve to destroy new heresies and shew them to be contrary to the ancient faith In this manner the Church hath grown and increased in knowledge by degrees and shall still do so to the end of the world And as the sun spreads the raies of his light more and more betwixt morning and noon and his beames display themselves in a valley or some roome of a house where they did not before without any change of light in the sun himselfe So may the Church spread the light of her faith shewing such or such a point to be a divine truth which before was not known to be so or which though it were a divine truth in it selfe yet it was not so to us for want of sufficient proposall that is of the Churches wherein the Church resembles our Blessed Saviour her Lord and Spouse who though he never received the least increase of grace and knowledge from the first moment of his being conceived yet the Scripture saith He grew in wisdome and age and in favour with God and men Luc. 2.52 to wit because he shewed it more and more in his words and actions This also further appeares by the method which Catholique Fathers and Doctors observe in and out of Councells in proving and defining points of faith namely by having recourse to the authority of Gods Word conteined both in Scripture and Tradition and to the belief and practise of the Church in searching whereof the Holy Church joynes humane industry with Gods grace and assistance For when any question or doubt of faith ariseth particular Doctors severally dispute and write thereof then if further cause require the Holy Church assembles her Pastors and Doctors together in a generall Councell to examine and discusse the matter more fully as in that first Councell of the Apostles whereof the Scripture saith The Apostles and Elders assembled together to consider of this word Acts 15.6 The Pastors being thus come together and having the presence of our Saviour and his Holy Spirit according to his promise amongst them out of Scripture and Traditions joyning therewith the consent of holy Fathers and Doctors of foregoing times she doth infallibly resolve and determine the matter not as new but as ancient orthodox and derived from her forefathers making that which was ever in it selfe a divine truth so to appeare to us that now wee may no more make question thereof So that from hence it appeares that the Church makes no new Articles of faith such as then may be said to have their beginning but only explications and collections out of the old which were delivered to the Apostles and by them to us And though the Church doe thus grow in the knowledge of points of faith yet this is no newnesse of faith but a maintenance of the old with a kind of increase by way of explicating that which was involved cleering that which was obscure defining that which was undefined obliging men to believe more firmly and explicitly that which before they were not bound so to believe That is only to be called a new faith which is contrary to that which was held before or hath no connexion with it and when we cease to believe that which we believed before this indeed is change of faith the other is but encrease And if this encrease of faith by the declaration of Councells may be called a change and innovation of faith there is no Heretique but may challenge antiquity to himselfe and put novelty on the score of the Church For he may say such a thing for example that the Sonne is of the same substance with the Father was not held de fide a matter of faith before the Councell of Nice therefore it is new That Baptisme administred by Heretiques is good baptisme was not held as a matter of faith before the daies of S. Cyprian therefore it is new And the Heretique may say that he believes only that which was believed before such or such a Councell which he please for the case is alike in all and therefore he believes the antient Faith By which way of arguing he may renounce the decrees of all Councells as Novelties and maintaine many Heresies as the antient Faith Yea by this absurdity a man may deny divers Books of the Scripture as the Epistle to the Hebrewes the second Epistle of S. Peter the Epistle of S. Iames of S. Iude and the Apocalyps with some others because they were not admitted for Canonicall untill 300. or 400. yeares after they were written Yet when they were declared to be Canonicall there was no change of faith in the Church thereby for the believing of these Books was involved in this revealed Article I believe in God and the believing of them to be Canonicall was involved in this revealed Article I believe the holy Catholike Church onely hereby was an increase of the materiall object of our faith to us not in it selfe we being bound upon the declaration of the Church to believe that thing firmely and without dispute
Hier. cont Iov lib. 1. those that married together after their vowes not onely for Adulterers but also for incestuous persons That Church held the g Cyp. Cacil Ep 63. mingling of water with Wine in the Sacrifice of the Eucharist for a thing necessary and of divine and Apostolicall Tradition She held h Aug. de pecc orig cap. 40. Exorcismes Exsufflations and renuntiations which are made in Baptisme for sacred Ceremonies and of Apostolicall Tradition She besides Baptism and the Eucharist held i Aug. cont Petil lib. 3. cap. 4. Confirmation k Aug. de nupt conc c. 17. Marriage l Amb. de poenit c. 7. Penance m Leo 1. Epist or auricular Confession n Aug. cont Parm. l. 2. c. 13. Orders and Extreme-Vnction for true proper Sacraments which are the seven Sacraments which the Church of Rome now acknowledgeth That Church in the Ceremonies of Baptisme used o Cyp. Epist 70. Oyl p Conc. Carth. 3. c. 5 Salt q Gr. Naz. de Bapt. Wax-lights r Aug. Ep. 101. Exorcismes the ſ Aug. cont Iul. lib. 6. cap. 8. sign of the Crosse a Amb. de Sacra l. 1. word Ephata and other things that accompany it none of them without reason and excellent signification She also held b Aug. de an ejus orig l. 3. c 15 Baptisme for infants of absolute necessity and for this cause permitted c Tertul. de Bapt. Lay-men to baptize in the danger of death That Church used Holy Water consecrated by certain words and ceremonies and made use of it both for d Basil de S. Spirit c. 17. Baptisme and e Epiph. har 30. against Inchantments and to make f Theod. hist Eccles l. 5. c. 3. Exorcismes and conjurations against evill spirits That Church held divers degrees in the Ecclesiasticall Regiment to wit g Concil Lacd c. 24. Conc. Carth. 4. c. 2. Bishops Priests Deacons Sub-Deacons the Acolyte Exorcist Reader and the Porter consecrated and blessed them with divers forms and ceremonies And in the Episcopall Order acknowledged divers seats of Jurisdiction of positive right to wit Archbishops Primates Patriarchs and h Hieron ad Damas Ep. 57. Concil Chal. Ep. ad Leon. one super-eminent by divine Law which was the Pope without whom nothing could be decided appertaining to the universall Church and the want of whose presence either by himself or his Legats or his Confirmation made all Councells pretended to be universall unlawfull In that Church their service was said throughout the i Hier. praef in Paralip East in Greek and throughout the k Aug. Ep. 57. de doct Christ l. 2. c. 13. West as well in Africa as Europe in Latine although that in none of the Provinces except in Italy and in the Cities where the Romane Colonies resided the Latine tongue was understood by the common people She also observed the distinction of k Aug. Ep. 118. Psa 63. 83. Feasts and ordinarie daies the distinction of l Hier. ad Helis Ep. 3. Theod. hist Ec. l. 2. c. 27 Ecclesiasticall and Lay habits the m Optat. l. 1. p. 19. reverence of sacred vessels the custome of n Theod. hist l. 5. c. 8. Isod de Diu. Off. l. 1. c. 4. shaving and o Greg. Naz. de pac or 1. unction for the collation of Orders the ceremony of the p Cyrill Hier. Cac. Mart. 5. Priest washing his hands at the Altar before the consecration of the mysteries q Concil Lacd c. 13. pronounced a part of the Service at the Altar with a low voice made r Aug. de Civit. Dei l. 22. c. 8. processions with the Reliques of Martyrs ſ Hier. cont Vigil kissed them t Hier. cont Vigil carried them in cloaths of silk and vessells of gold u Hier. c. Vi. took and esteemed the dust from under their Reliquaries accompanied the dead to their sepulchres with w Greg. Naz. in lul Orat. 3. Wax Tapers in signe of joy for the certainty of their future resurrection The Church of those daies had the pictures of Christ and his Saints both x Euseb de vita Const l. 3. out of Churches y Paulin. Ep. 12. Basil in Martyr Barlaam and in them and upon the very z Prudent in S. Cassian Altars of Martyrs not to adore them with God-like Worship but by them to reverence the Souldiers and Champions of Christ The faithfull then used the a Tert. de Coron milit sign of the Crosse in all their conversations b Cyril cōt Iul. l. 6. painted it on the portall of all the houses of the faithfull c Hier. in vit Hil. gave their blessing to the people with their hand by the sign of the Crosse d Athan. cont Idol imployed it to drive away evill spirits e Paul Ep. 11. proposed in Jerusalem the very Crosse to be adored on Good-Friday In brief that Church used either directly or proportionably the very same Ceremonies that the Roman Church useth at this day And finally that Church held f Tert. de Praescript Iren. l. 3. c. 3. l. 4. c. 32. that to the Catholike Church only belongs the keeping of the Apostolicall Traditions the authority of the interpretation of Scripture and the decision of controversies of faith and that out of the succession a Cyp de unit Eccles Conc. Car. 4. c. 1. of her Communion of b Hier. cont Lucif Aug. de util cred c. 8. her Doctrine c and her Ministry there was neither Church nor salvation d Cyp. ad Pup Ep. 63 ad Mag. Ep. 76. Hier. ad Tit. c. 3. And let the indifferent Reader now judge whether by this face we may know the Romane or the Protestant Church § 3. But because there is between two or three hundred years from the time of the first generall Councell to the Apostles and that some Protestants say that as Mephibosheth in his infancy fell from his nurses lap whereby he became lame and halted all his life after So the Church in the most primitive times fell from the true faith whereby she hath ever since gone awry we will still go on in the quest of the Roman Churches Antiquity even to the times of the Apostles alleadging some one amongst many of every age of the first five hundred years to make the proof the fuller in confirmation of some Roman doctrines that are most mainly gainsaid by Protestants Wherein will appear that false and vaine challenge of Bishop Jewell renewed by D. Whitaker who to the glorious Martyr Campian writes thus * Resp ad Rat. Camp Attend Campian the speech of Jewell was most true and constant when provoking you to the antiquity of the first six hundred years he offered that if you could shew by any one cleer and plain saying out of any one Father or Councell he would grant you the victory
Disciplines you shall find none Tradition is shewed thee for the Author custome the confirmer and faith the observer And in the first age S. Clement speaking of S. Peter reports thus of him g Clem. Ro. Ep. 1. de S. Petre prope fin His daily preaching amongst other divine commandements was this c. every one as farre as he understands and is able to love God with all his heart and his neighbour as himself to relieve the poor to cloath the naked to visit the sick to give drink to the thirsty to bury the dead and diligently to perform their funeralls and to pray and give alms for them § 8. Concerning Traditions in the fift age S. Augustine saith h Lib. 4. de bapt con Donat c. 24. That which the whole Church doth hold and is not instituted by Councells but is alwaies retained is rightly believed not to be delivered but by Apostolique authority And S. Chrysostome i In 1 Thes 2. In 1 Thes hom 4. It is manifest that the Apostles did not deliver all things by Epistle but many things without writing And as well these as those are worthy of the same credit wherefore let us esteem the Tradition of the Church to be believed It is a Tradition seek no further In the fourth age S. Basil speaks thus k Lib. de Spirit sancto c. 27. The opinions which are kept and preached in the Church we have partly out of written Doctrine partly we have received by the Tradition of the Apostles brought to us in a mystery Both which have the same power to piety and no man contradicted these who hath but mean experience of Ecclesiasticall rights In the third age * Heres 61. we must use Traditions saith S. Epiphanius for all things cannot be received from divine Scripture wherefore the holy Apostles have delivered some things by Tradition even as the holy Apostle saith As I have delivered to you and elswhere so I teach and have delivered in Churches In the second age S. Irenaeus thus expostulateth * lib. 3. c. 4. But what if the Apostles neither had left Scriptures unto us ought we not to follow the order of Tradition which they delivered to them to whom they committed the Churches And in the first age S. Dennys tells us that c Areopag c. 1. Eccles Hierar those first leaders of our Priestly Office delivered to us those chief and supersubstantiall things partly in writings partly in unwritten institutions I could give plenty of proofs in all other particulars But as the cluster of grapes which was brought out of Canaan to the Israelites was a testimony of the fruit the Land brought forth Numb 13.23 So this small parcell of antiquity taken out of their great store is proof sufficient that the most antient Church even in all the first ages and the Scripture it selfe in the judgement of those Fathers did teach the same Doctrines that the Roman Church now doth and hath had a perpetuall and uninterrupted succession in those Doctrines and her Pastors and is therefore the self-same Church with the Apostles A thing fore-told by Daniel who cals it a Kingdom which shall never be dissolved Dan. 7.14 And in which the Maxime of wise Gamaliel is verified if this counsell or work be of men it will come to nought but if it be of God ye cannot overthrow it Act. 5.38 39. § 9. But among the Protestant Churches I found no such thing neither Antiquity in their Doctrine but contrariwise their Doctrine condemned by Antiquity as I have shewed before nor yet in the bodie of their Professors And though they alledge some places of the Fathers in proof of their Doctrines yet they corrupt the meaning as may easily appear to those that divesting themselves of all interest can and will indifferently examine the places who shall find that they make not for them Nor indeed can they for my former alledged reason namely that if Antiquity had understood them so to wit in the Protestant sense some or other would either have reproved them for so frequently elswhere affirming the Roman Doctrines as Protestants confess they did as I have shewed or for affirming those Protestant doctrines which were contradictory to them which seeing they did not 't is manifest they believed no such contradictions in their writings but understood those places which Protestants alledge as Catholiques now doe as making nothing to the Protestants purpose But for their Catholique doctrines it is manifest that they cannot be interpreted to comply with the Protestant Religion for if they could why do the most learned Protestants accuse them of Popery It is a rule of * De doct Christ lib. 3. cap. 25. 26. S. Augustine in the interpretation of Scripture which is also as proper for the Fathers and agreeable to reason that where there are many cleer places on the one side and some few obscure places on the other the obscure must give place to the cleer and be reduced to an agreement with them in meaning which rule if it be observed it will easily appeare whether the Fathers were of the Roman or the Protestant Church As for the Antiquity of the body of the Professors of the Protestant religion it whom the antient Apostolicall Church hath her resurrection which like Epimenid◠they say fell asleep when she was yong and waked not till she was old no man knowing what was become of her in the mean while I could not indeed find i◠more antient than some very old men somewhat above sixscore yeares old Pa◠that died in England but few years agoe might have been grandfather to the Religion or at least elder brother to the Father thereof Martin Luther who in the year 1517. like a prodigious Comet began to appear and ingendring with the devill blasted the beauty of the Spouse of Christ and filled the Christian world with Heresie and bloud And in the year 1529. Luther and his Disciples received the name of Protestants from their Protestation and Appeal from the decree of the Diet of Spira in which title the nation of England I think doth more triumph than any of Luthers ofspring And whereas they do pretend some of them to have alwaies had a Being before that time it will fitly be examined in the next mark of the Church which is visibility For the maxime of law will hold good in this case IDEM EST NON ESSE ET NON APPARERE it is all one not to be and not to appear For the present seeing no more of them than yet we doe we may speak to them in the words of Tertullian * Tertul. de praescript 17. QUI ESTIS VOS UNDE ET QUANDO VENISTIS who are you from whence and when came you for either they are as young as Luthers Apostasie or else older than Christ and his Apostles even Jewes and so old that the mark is quite worn out of their mouth CHAP. XIII Of visibility the
after they have thus fluttered up and down finding like the Dove out of the Arke no rest for the sole of their foot they at last fly to the Scriptures think to pearch upon that under whose obscurity and their corruption of them while they will admit none to interpret them but themselves they frame what sense they please as any bodie els may do with great confidence but little judgement as all Heretikes do assure themselves thereof But if they will allow the Fathers for good interpreters as none but those that are puffed up with the Spirit of Pride will refuse to do then we find as I shewed before that even Christ and his Apostles were of the Roman not the Protestant Religion and the first Founders and publishers thereof But Doctor White in his Reply p. 105. concludes thus that this notwithstanding if Protestants be able to demonstrate by Scripture that they maintaine the same faith and religion which the Apostles taught this alone is sufficient to prove them to be the true Church But they that cannot by the markes of the Church set downe in Scripture cleere themselves to be the true Church do most fondly appeale to Scripture to shew the truth of their particular points For what more vaine than to appeale from Scripture setting things down cleerly unto Scripture teaching matters obscurely or not so cleerly Now no particular point of doctrine is in holy Scripture so manifestly set down as is the Church and the markes whereby we may know her No matters about which the Scripture is more copious and perspicuous than about the visibility perpetuity amplitude the Church was to enjoy so that as S. Augustine saith the Scriptures are more cleer about the Church than even about Christ in Psal 30. Conc. 2. and De unitat Eccles c. 5. that the Scripture in this point is so cleer that by no shift of false interpretation it can be avoided the impudence of any fore-head that will stand against this evidence is confounded a Tract 1. in 1. Ep. Ioan. That it is a prodigious blindnesse not to see which is the true Church For b Aug. l. 1. cont Crescon c. 33. l. 13. cont Faust cap. 13. God would have his Church to be described in Scripture without any ambiguity as clear as the beams of the Sun that the controversie about the true Church being cleerly decided when questions about particular Doctrines that are obscure arise we may fly to her and rest in her judgement and that this visibility is a manifest sign whereby even the rude and ignorant may discern the true Church from the false What vanity then is it for Protestants not being able to clear by Scripture the cleerest of all points to appeal to her for the cleering of other points by lesse evident places CHAP. XIV Of the fourth mark of the true Church viz. a lawfull succession and ordinary vocation and mission of Pastors And that it is ridiculous to affirme that Catholiques and Protestants are the same Church § 1. A Fourth mark of the Church is personall succession of Pastors and their mission by ordinary callings which is alwaies to be found in the true Church as is foretold by the Prophet Esay ch 59. v. 2. My spirit which is upon thee and the words which I have put into thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed from henceforth for ever And the Apostle saith of our Saviour Ephes 4.11.12 that he appointed Pastors and Teachers in the Church to the consummation of the Saints for the work of the ministery for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all meet in the unity of the faith And this charge is not to be undertaken by usurpation but by lawfull calling and mission as the Apostle saith Heb. 5.4 No man takes to himselfe this honour but he that is called of God as Aron was to wit visibly and by peculiar consecration And againe How shall they preach except they be sent Rom. 10.15 And our Saviour saith who so entreth not by the doore into the sheepfold but climeth another way is a thief John 10.5 And God in the old Testament reproves those that went without mission saying J have not sent these Prophets yet they ran Jeremy 23.21 I have not sent them saith the Lord yet they prophecie fasly in my name Jer. 27.15 And this is a note of the Church so pertinent that S. Augustine Lib. cont Epist Fundament c. 4. saith the succession of Priests from the very Seat of Peter the Apostle to whom the Lord commited his sheep to be fed even to the present Bishoprick doth hold me in the Church And Optatus Milevitanus reckons all the Roman Bishops from S. Peter to Syricius who then was Pope to shew that the Church was not then with the Donatists who by like succeson could not ascend up to the Apostles and then lib. 2. cont Parmenianum he addes Shew you the originall of your chaire who challenge the holy Church to your selves Now that this mark is found upon the Church of Rome I know no man that denies But the Bishops where they are and Ministers of Protestant Churches cannot thus derive themselves from the Apostles The Roman Church indeed made Luther Priest and gave him Commission to preach her Doctrine but to preach against her Religion who gave him order That Commission seeing he had it not from any Church he had either from himself minting a Religion out of his owne braine coloured with abused Scripture which he then proudly pretended to know better than all the Christian world beside g Tom 7. VVittenberg fo 228 or from the Devill with whom he conferred and to whose arguments he yeelded as himself confesseth Also the succession of the English Bishops and Ministers was interrupted upon their pretended Reformation the lawfull Bishops being turned out and others preferred to their place by the temporall authority of the Kingdome in chief which had no power to choose or consecrate Bishops and ordain Priests Or if they were at first consecrated by lawful Bishops of the Church of Rome as for their credit they pretend yet they had not thereby Commission to preach their new Doctrine differing from the Church of Rome nor howsoever is their succession lawfull for in a lawfull succession it is required that the former Bishops be dead or lawfully deposed but these conditions were not observed in Enland the Catholique Bishops being violently cast out by the Authority of Q. Elizabeth assuming to her self the title of head of the Church a thing never arrogated by any temporall Prince of the world untill her Father King Henry the eight gave the example But it is worth the observation that the Bishops and Ministers of England to maintain the lawfulnesse of their succession do affirm that they were consecrated by Catholique Bishops their predecessors which while they do
not in the setling thereof fill their hands with blood And by Rebellion and unutterable cruelties propagate as they thought the Gospell of peace The Kingdome of England only excepted where the change was made by the Princes Which change not having gon far enough from the Catholique Roman Religion the people having got the sword into their hands doe now attempt according to the patern of all their fellow Protestants to make a second Reformation with such witty Rebellion and cruelty the only things wherin they did ever excercise any wit that as no posterity wil be able to imitate so no posterity will keep it silent but blazon it throughout the world to their eternall infamy when the Religion their Idoll to whom they sacrifice all this humane blood shall be sunk from whence it came to hell CHAP. XVI Of the sixth Mark of the true Church viz. Miracles And that there are no true Miracles among Protestants § 1. ANother mark of the Church is Miracles of which our Saviour saith John 14.10 He that believes in me the works that I doe he shall do and greater of which words the marginall notes of the English Bibles printed Anno 1576. say This is referred to the whole Body of the Church in whom this vertue doth shine for ever And againe Christ saith Mar. 16.17.18 These signes shall follow them that believe in my name they shall cast out devills they shall speak with new tongues they shall take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover In so much that S. Augustine Cont. Ep. Fund c. 4. reckons this amongst many things forementioned that holds him in the Churches bosome saying The consent of people and nations retaines me the authority begun by Miracles nourished by hope increased by charity confirmed by antiquity retaines me the succession of Prelates since the Sea of Peter to whom our Lord consigned the feeding of his sheep after his resurrection to the present Bishops Sea retaines me finally the very name of Catholique retains me which not without cause this Church alone amongst so many so great heresies hath so maintained as when a stranger asks where they assemble to communicate in the Catholique Church there is no heretique that dares shew him his own Temple or his own house § 2. Now concerning Miracles the Protestants say that they are ceased and it is true to wit amongst them since they ceased to be members of the true Church and is therefore a signe that they have ceased to be so For this promise hath no limitation of time but is to continue for ever in the Church Nor do they prove the contrary by Scripture and if they cannot prove it by Scripture according to their own principles they are not to be believed And whereas some do alledge Fathers and Schoolmen to prove that Miracles are ceased they ought to distinguish and to know that there are two manners of being of Miracles to wit ordinary and extraordinary concerning which three things are affirmed First that in the Primitive Church Miracles were absolutly necessary for the planting of the Gospell in the world John 5.36 Acts 4.29.30 and then the gift of Miracles was ordinarily annexed to the ministry of preaching so that most Christians commonly had that gift in one kind or other 1 Cor. 12.28 Acts 8.17 Secondly that since the planting of the Gospell by 12. fishermen which was the Miracle of Miracles no further Miracle is absolutely necessary for men to whom this is known and therefore the gift of miracles is ceased to be ordinarily annexed to the office of preaching or common almost to all Christians as before it was Thirdly notwithstanding this in all ages there were are and ever shal be some speciall places and persons extraordinarily endued with the gift of Miracles for the comfort of Christians and conversion of remote nations to whom the same of the first miraculous planting of our Religion is not come And of Miracles of this kind c Aug. de civit lib. 22. c. 8. Greg. Dial. the writings of the Fathers and all Christian histories are full in so much that S. Augustine having mentioned many Miracles saith what shall I do I am not able to remember all that I know and doubtlesse sundry of ours when they read these will grieve that I have omitted so many which likewise they know aswell as I. And concludes that it would require many books to set downe the Miracles of healing done onely at the monument of S. Stephen * Beda hist l. 1. c. 26. Many Miracles also were done by S. Augustine the Monk who being sent from Pope Gregory above a thousand yeares ago converted the Kingdome of England the third time to the Roman Catholique faith Yea many Miracles were done in severall ages and severall places by Roman Catholiques by the confession of Protestant writers themselves In so much that the Centurists of Magdeburg do make report thereof in their 13. Chapter of every severall Century for thirteen hundred years after Christ out of the credible writers of those severall times In particular e Antonius 3. part Hi◠tit 23. 24. S. Francis S. Dominick and other holy men about their times did abound in Miracles also S. Katherine of Sienna and S. Bernard who being a Roman Catholique is yet acknowledged by f De Ecclés p. 369. post med Whitaker for a true Saint So did g Hackluit Navigat vol. 2. part 2. p. 88. Hartwell of the Kingdome of Congo in the Epist S. Xaverius in his conversion of the Indies of late yeares and many other Romish Priests in the conversion of the Kingdome of Congo in Africa and the same so credible that they are published to the world by Protestants themselves I will instance in some few that have been done in confirmation of some particular points of the Roman Faith Concerning Prayers to Saints S. Augustine de civit Dei l. 22. c. 8. saith that a devout woman called Palladia being diseased did in the presence of him and others pray to S. Stephen at his monument and was presently made whole Concerning Images Eusebius l. 7. c. 14. reports that the woman mentioned in the Gospell whom our Saviour cured of a bloody-flux by the touch of the hem of his garment erected the Image of our Saviour at the foot whereof there sprang up an herb which when it grew so high as to touch the bottome of the garment of the Image had power to cure all diseases c De passione imaginis Christi in Berito alledged in the 2 Councell of Nice Act. 4. Athanasius also and d De gloria Martyr l. 1. c. 22. Gregorius Turonensis make mention that upon violence offered by the Jewes to the Image of Christ blood did miraculously issue from thence The Miracles done by the signe of the Crosse by report of the Fathers are almost infinite in
so much as Couell the Protestant in his Answer to Burgesse pag. 138. saith No man can deny but that God after the death of his Son manifested his power to the amazement of the world in this contemptible sign being the instrument of many Miracles Concerning the neglect of Confession we read divers Miracles in S. Bedes History l. 5. c. 14. S. Francis and S. Dominick preached against the Albigenses who denied Purgatory Prayer for the dead Confession Extreme Vnction the Popes authority Indulgences Images Ceremonies Traditions with many other and are by the Protestants claimed for their Predecessors in the Protestant Faith and wrought many Miracles whereof one of S. Francis is most notable to this purpose and is recorded by Mathew Paris an approved Author amongst Protestants who thus relates it pag. 319. The fifteenth day before his death there appeared wounds in his hands freshly bleeding such as appeared in the Saviour of the world hanging on the Crosse Also his right side appeared so open and bloody that the inward parts of his heart were to be discerned whereupon there repaired to him great store of people amongst whom the Cardinalls themselves demanded of him what this sight imported to whom he said This sight is therefore shewed in me to them to whom I preached the mystery of the Crosse that you may believe in him who for the salvation of the world suffered upon the Crosse these wounds that you see and that ye may know me to be the servant of him whom I preached c. And to the end that you may without doubt persevere in this constancy of faith these wounds which you see in me so open and bloody shall immediately after I am dead be whole and close like to my other flesh Afterwards he yeelded up his soule to his Creator without all anguish or pain of body and being dead there remained no marks of his foresaid wounds Lastly for confirmation of the Reall Presence it is reported that in a town called Knobloch in the year 1510. one Paul Forme a Sacrilegious person went secretly into the Church by night brake the Pyx and stole from thence two consecrated Hosts one of which he sold to a Jew who in disdainfull malice said If thou be the God of Christians manifest thy selfe and thereupon pierced the Sacrament with his dagger whereupon blood did miraculously flow forth This Miracle was so publique and evident that 38. were thereupon apprehended and burned in the Marquisate of Brandenburg and all other Jewes banished out of the said Territory And this is reported for credible not onely by a Surius in Chron. Pontanus l. 5. rerum memorab Catholique but by b Ioan. Manlius loc Com p. 87. Osiander Epit. cent 16. c. 14. p. 28. fine Protestant writers If I should undertake to set down all the Miracles that have been done in the Catholique Church I might say as S. Iohn did of our Saviours doings that if they were all written the whole world could not contain the books Ioh. 21.25 To all which Protestants answer as the Blasphemous Iewes did to our Saviour that they were done by the Devill To whom Catholiques cannot give that answer our Saviour did If I by Belzebub cast out Devills by whom do your children cast them out Mat. 12.27 For your children cast out none And truly I believe that they that do thus accuse the Miracles done by so many holy Catholique men and women would have done the same to our Saviour if they had lived in his daies For Miracles being the last and highest proof of other things can have no proof for themselves but the evidence of sense to them that see them and their testimony and report to others But if as Protestants say the Miracles of Catholiques were done by the Devill how were they Miracles For the Devill can do none though he can do wonders if they were Miracles how were they done by the Devill Now that they were Miracles many Protestants do grant and therefore Chillingworth their Paragon doth also confess that they are done by God whence any reasonable man would infer that his next word would be the profession of himself a Roman Catholique in which Church God works Miracles the last and highest motive of belief But instead hereof O the accursed power of the devill he belcheth forth the most blasphemous speech against God that ever struck the tender sense of a pious eare and saith a In the preface of his book fine that it seemes most strange to him that God in his justice should permit some true Miracles to be wrought to delude them who have forged so many to delude the world As if God the Father of truth would set his seal which is Miracles to confirme falshood to delude the soules of men into sin and so change titles with the Devill and be the father of lies and deceiver of mankind Than which what can be imagined more hellish More true and pious was the saying of Nicodemus and appliable to our workers of Miracles we know that thou art a teacher come from God for no man could do these miracles that thou dost except God were with him John 3.2 But wee may take up the complaint of the Prophet Esay who hath believed our report and to whom is the arme of the Lord revealed Esay 53.1 Protestants will not believe these things and in matter of proof Catholiques can goe no further our Saviour himself did not so that now nothing remaines but for God to touch their hearts with his grace and to move them to believe that which they have most reason to think to be his word which God of his great mercy grant And if they consider it they shall find it the most unreasonable thing in the world to deny Miracles in the Roman Church for that there are and shall be Miracles in the world no prudent man I suppose will deny at least for the conversion of the people Yea we read of many Miracles done in the Church of the Jewes amongst those that were of the true faith and therefore were not intended for conversion but for confirmation or to some other end And why may it not be so in the Church of the Christians Now Protestants or any other Christians doe not so much as pretend to Miracles therfore they that are are amongst Roman Catholiques Indeed I have read of Calvin that for the credit of his new doctrine he would make shew to the people of doing a Miracle and hired one that was sick to counterfeit himselfe dead who when Calvin should speak certain words was to rise up as it were from the dead but he not stirring nor answering at his cue they looked and found him dead indeed b Capcavil in chronicis Pontificum Leodiensium But on the other side the sonne of Calvin being bit by a mad dog and his father not able to cure him he was sent to S. Hubert in Ardenne where the body of that
by the zealous complaints against sin on either side for zealous complaint is hyperbolicall even in holy Scripture But it is manifest that the Protestant Religion hath not that sanctity of life in it that the Catholique hath when neither the founders thereof had any at all nor the followers any more but much lesse than when they were Catholiques In fine compare the lives of Roman Catholiques and Protestants both Clergie and Laity and of the same Nation for that some Nations perhaps are addicted to vice in generall more than others and every Nation to some one or few particular vices more than another the best to the best and the major part to the major part we shall find so have I done and I have heard even Protestants themselves confesse that they are exceedingly overballanced by the Catholiques CHAP. XIX Of the tenth and last here mentioned Mark of the Church viz. That the true Church hath never been separated from any society of Christians more antient then her selfe § 1. THe last Mark of the Church which I will mention is her never going forth out of any visible society of Christians elder than her self of which going out as a note of error and falshood the Apostles say They went forth from us 1 Joh. 2.19 Certain that went forth from us Acts 15.14 Out of your selves shall arise men speaking perverse things Acts 20.30 These are they that separate themselves Jude vers 19. Certain it is that the true Church is most antient as truth it self is elder than falshood if therefore there have risen in the Church men of indifferent judgements or affections from the true Church they have presently made a separation gone out of the Church wherein they were and erected a new Church to themselves As S. Augustine saith Tract 3. in Ep. Joan. de Sym. ad cateth l. 1. c. 5. All Heretiques went out from us that is they go out of the Church and againe The Church Catholique fighting against all Heresies may be opposed but she cannot be overthrowne all heresies are come out from her as unprofitable branches out from the Vine but she remaines in her vine in her root in her charity A vain thing therefore it is for Protestants to charge the Church of Rome with departing from the Word of God and the Doctrine of the Apostles unlesse they can prove that she departed from some former Church that held other doctrine than she doth But certain it is that this cannot be proved seeing she was planted by the Apostles S. Peter and S. Paul and never separated her self from any precedent Church It is true indeed that there were Churches elder than she in time as she is a particular Church as the Church of Ierusalem where the Gospell was first preached and of Antioch where S. Peter was first Bishop with other Churches in Asia but these all agreed in the unity of Faith and were all subject to the Church of Rome after it was planted in union under the head thereof S. Peter and his successors as I shall shew by and by And the Church of Rome did never seperate from any of these but many of these from her in the Heresie of Arius and others as Protestants will not deny If then she did never separate from any elder Church so that men might say here is a Church and there is the Church of Rome once the same with her and now separated from her she must still be the first and true Church or there is none upon earth But certain it is on the contrary side that all the former Churches which Protestants themselves will call Heretiques as Arrians Macedonians Nestorians Entychians Donatists with many others did separate from the Church of Rome and she can tell when and why and no lesse certain is it that all that are now called Protestants and all the pedigree of their fore-fathers Waldo Wickliffe Husse Luther Calvin and all the Kingdomes wherein their followers are were once and first of the Roman Catholique Church and have forsaken her Communion and departed from her and have not joyned to any other Church more antient and subsistent apart from her by which shee was condemned of novelty and separation nor are they able to shew any such Church therefore the Roman must needs be the true Church Or else which is a most absurd and impossible imagination the true Church hath been utterly extinguished and revived againe and that not by the service of such men as proved their calling by miracles or sanctity of life as Roman Catholiques have done to all the nations they have converted but were men notable only for their wickednesse And these amongst many others which might be added and of which much more might be said are those infallible Markes that prove the Church of Rome and those that communicate with her to bee the one true holy Catholique and Apostolique Church That Church of whose infallible and never-erring Judgement the Scripture assures us calling it The ground and pillar of truth which hath the Spirit of God to lead it into all truth which is built upon a rock against which the gates of hell shal not prevaile wherein Christ placed Apostles Prophets Doctors and Pastors to the consummation and ful perfection of the whole body that in the mean time we be not carryed away with every blast of doctrine 1 Tim. 3.15 John 16.13 Mat. 16.18 Ephes 4.11.12 That Church which whatsoever it says God commands us to doe and he that will not is an heathen and a Publican which whatsoever shee shall bind on earth is bound in heaven and whatsoever shee shall loose one earth is loosed in heaven which is the spouse of Christ his body his lot Kingdome and inheritance given him in this world Math. 23.3 and 18.17.18 Of which S. Cyprian Epist 55. saith To S. Peters chaire and the principall Church infidelity or false faith cannot have accesse And S. Hierome Apol. advers Ruff. l. 3. c. 4. That the Roman faith commanded by the Apostles cannot be changed And S. Gregory Nazianzen Carm. de vita sua 'Old Rome from antient times hath the right faith and alwaies keepeth it as it becomes the city which over-rules the world Which being so what remaines to every man but laying aside endlesse dispute about particulars to cast himself into the armes of this Holy mother Church and wholly rely upon her infallible judgement wherein Christ Jesus her husband hath promised and hath reason to preserve her And to submit themselves to the visible head thereof the Pope of Rome of whose authority as I did my self particularly enquire and was moved thereby so I will briefly propound it to others CHAP. XX. That the Pope is the head of the Church § 1. THe Protestants doe usually blaspheme the Pope and Sea of Rome with the title of Antichrist of the Whore of Babylon of the Mother of Abominations of the Beast with seven heads and ten hornes and many other like courteous compellations
and it is the maine designe of some of the Clergie to perswade the people into a belief that he is Antichrist which conceipt when it hath once strongly seized them as it doth yet by very weake and silly arguments they care not to enquire any further but conclude from thence and that justly if it were true that neither he nor his adherents are either Head or members of the Church But the contrary I found most evident by the testimony of all antiquity First that our Saviour appointed S. Peter his Vicar Head of his Church here on earth and after him his successors in the Sea of Rome nor do we read either in Scriptures Councells Fathers or histories that any other of the Apostles but Peter was thought or pretended by any to be the chiefest over the rest and over the whole Church and that it is necessary that some one be Head both reason and authority doe convince Nor is it a denyall of Christ to be the Head while we say that S. Peter was and the Pope is so For Christ we confesse is the Head originally and immediately the Pope derivatively from and by him Christ is the principall the Pope but his deputy and representer and these two headships doe not contradict as some Protestants imagine but are subordinate the one to the other And with as much reason they may deny a King to be head of his Kingdome because the Scripture saith Psal 46.8 God is King over all the earth as deny the Pope to be head of the Church because Christ is so S. Basil Concione de poenit shewes us the difference of their headships Though Peter be a rock saith he he is not a rock as Christ is for Christ is the true immovable rock of himselfe Peter is immoveable by Christ the rock for Jesus doth communicate and impart his dignities not voiding himselfe of them but holding them to himselfe bestowes them also on others He is the light and yet you are the lights He is the Priest and yet he makes Priests He is the Rock and he made a rock Therefore our Saviour saith to Peter Math. 16.18.19 Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevaile against it And I will give unto thee the Keys of the Kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven Nor is it contrary to this as Protestants imagine to say as the Fathers sometimes doe that the Church was built upon the confession of Peter these two expositions not excluding but including one another For they intend that the Church was built causally on the confession of Peter and formally on the ministry of the Person of Peter that is to say the confession of Peter was the cause wherefore Christ chose him to constitute him the foundation of the ministry of the Church and that the person of S. Peter was that on which our Lord did properly build his Church as S. Hilary in Mat. c. 16. saith The confession of S. Peter hath received a worthy reward So that to say the Church is built upon the confession of Peter is not to deny that it is built on the person of Peter but it is to expresse the cause wherefore it is built upon him as when S. Hierome ad Pammach advers error Joan. Hierosol Ep. 91. said that Peter walked not on the waters but faith it is not to deny that S. Peter walked truly on the water but it is to expresse that the cause that made him walk there was not the naturall activity of his body but the faith that he had given to the words of Christ So that these two propositions are both true Peters faith walked on the water and Peters person walked on the water so likewise these the Church is built on the faith of Peter and the Church is built on the person of Peter the confession of Peters faith being the cause why Christ built his Church upon Peters person Againe our Saviour said to Peter Simon sonne of Jonas lovest thou me more than these He saith unto him yea Lord thou knowest that I love thee He said unto him feed my lambs John 21.15 And thus the second and the third time Which speed was directed to Peter alone as appeares by these words more than these whereby he is separated from the rest and by these words is given to him the Ecclesiasticall power to feed and also to governe as the word in the originall doth signifie and that not some alone but all the whole flock of Christ Of which the Fathers give abundant testimony S. Aug. saith Serm. 5. in fest Pet. Pauli speaking of S. Peter that he only amongst the Apostles deserved to hear verily I say unto thee thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church worthy truly who to the people who were to be builded in the house of God might be a stone for their foundation a pillar for their stay a key to open the gates of the Kingdome of heaven And againe Quaestion vet nov Test q. 7◠'Our Saviour when he commands to pay for himself and Peter seemes to have payed for all because as in our Saviour were all the causes of superiority so after him all are contained in Peter for he ordained him the head of them that he might be the head of our Lords flock S. Gregory also lib. 4. Ep. 32. saith ' It is cleer to all that know the Gospell that by our Lords mouth the care of the whole Church is committed to Holy Peter the Prince of all the Apostles for to him it is said Peter lovest thou me feed my sheep and further he applies the places of Scripture spoken to S. Peter above mentioned to this end And S. Chrysostome Hom. 87. in Joan. 21. saith that Peter was the mouth of the Apostles and the Prince and top of the company and therefore Paul went to see him above others As for S. Pauls reproving of S. Peter it was for an error of conversation not of doctrine as Tertullian saith nor doth it any way diminish his Primacy but only shews that an inferiour may reprove his superiour if the matter require it and the manner be not unseemly which no man will deny Therefore this instance is nothing to the purpose being thus also answered by S. Augustine lib. 2. de Bapt. c. 1. § 2. And as Christ ordained S. Peter to be the supreme Pastor and Head of the Church so it was his will that that office should continue in S. Peters successors in the Sea of Rome That there should be one chiefe Pastor alwaies in the Church for the government thereof and deciding of controversies Gods practise in the Church of the Jewes Numb 20.28 Exod. 18.15 c. Deut. 17.8 c. gives us reason to believe who appointed the High Priests therein to succeed
one another to this end That the office of a Pastor is alwaies needfull our Saviour implies in calling his people his sheep and sheep without a shepherd are like to be but il provided for and as they are alwaies sheep so they ought alwaies to have a shepherd which office in ordinary being given to S. Peter first ought to continue out of the necessity of the cause thereof so long as the sheep continue which will be to the end of the world Which S. Peter not being now able to doe in person reason requires that it should be done by his Successors The Apostle 1 Cor. 12.21 compares the Church to a body and saith The head cannot say to the feet I have no need of you which cannot be understood of Christ our head for he may truly say to us all that he hath no need of us it must therefore be meant of some Head here on earth which must continue as long as the Church continues a body and that is to the worlds end And that the successors of S. Peter are this Head S. Chrysostome doubts not to affirm who demanding why Christ shed his blood De Saterdot l. 2. initio Leo Serm. 2. de Annivers assump sua ad Pontific answers It was to gaine that flock the care whereof he committed to Peter to Peters successors And S. Leo Peter continues and lives in his Successors And that his successors are the Bishops of Rome is out of doubt none but they ever assuming it to themselves or having it granted by others For the Bishop of Antioch succeeded not S. Peter in the government of the whole Church but of that diocesse for succession to any in his whole right is not but to him that leaves his place either by naturall death deposition or voluntary resignation now S. Peter living and ruling left the Church of Antioch and placed his Sea at Rome where he also died so that he that succeeds him in that Sea must succeed him both as he was Bishop thereof and likewise as he was Head of the whole Church as for the Bishop of Antioch he did never either possesse or pretend to higher than the third place amongst the Patriarchs Cone Nic. Can. 6. Gelasius In decret cum 70. Episcopis affirmes that the Roman Church is preferred before other Churches not by any constitutions of Councells but she obtained Primacy by the Evangelicall voice of our Lord saying thou art 〈◊〉 upon this rock I will build mâ—… 〈◊〉 And S. Hierome in his 59. Epistle 〈…〉 to Pope Damâ—sus saith To 〈◊〉 she 〈◊〉 require from the Priest the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—â—â—tion and from the Pastor 〈…〉 I speak with the successor of th◠〈◊〉 shoâ—â— c. I following none but Christ in 〈◊〉 joyned in Communion to your holyn sse that is to the chaire of Peter upon that rock I know the Church to be builded 3. whosoever out of this house eates the lamb is prophane whosoever shall not be in the Ark of Noe shall perish in the deluge And S. Aug. writing to Pope Innocentius Epist 92. saith wee think that by the Authority of your Holynesse derived from the authority of Holy Scriptures they will more easily yeeld who believe such perverse and pernicious things Wherein he derives the Popes authority from the Scriptures And S Bernard writing to Pope Eugenius saith thus Thou alone art not only the Pastor of sheep De consider l. 3 cap. 8. Epist 190. ad Innoc. PP but also of Pastors Thou demandest how I prove this Out of the word of our Lord. For to whom I do not say Bishops but also of the Apostles were all the sheep so absolutely and indeterminately committed Peter if thou lovest me feed my sheep which the people of this or that city country or Kingdome Hee saith my sheep To whom is it not plain that hee did not assigne some but all Nothing is excepted where nothing is distinguished c. To conclude James who seemed a pillar for the Church was content with Jerusalem onely yeelding the universality to Peter And with the Fathers apart doe concur the Fathers united in Councell by whom in many Councells this truth hath been declared as in the Councell of a Sess 14. c. 7. Trent the Councell of Florence b Sess ult the Councell of c Respons Synod de authoritat Conc. general Basil the Councell of d Part. 2. Act. 3. Ephesus the Councell of e Sub. Innoc. 3. e. 5. Lateran the second Councell of f Act. 2. Nice the Councell of g Conc. Chal. Act. 1. Act. 3. tom 2. p. 252 edit Venet. Chalcedon as is easy to shew at large if need required § 3. As for the attempt of the Bishop of Constantinople against the Pope it was not for the Primacy and headship of the Church Catholique but only of the Churches of the East And the title of universall Bishop which he claimed was not with intent of superiority over the Pope but over the other Patriarchs who were all of the Easterne Empire and in association with the Pope for those parts yet with subjection to the Pope acknowledging him the root and stock of the universality even as Menas Patriarch of Constantinople in the time of this contention acknowledges saying Concil Constant sub Men. Act. 4. we will in all things follow and obey the sea Apostolique And as the Emperour and Patriarch both acknowledge as S. Gregory lib. 7. indict 2. ep 93. reports in these words Who is it that doubts but that the Church of Constantinople is subject to the Sea Apostolique which the most religious Lord the Emperour and our brother Bishop of the same city continually protest And if it were true as Protestants imagine that the Bishop of Constantinople contended with the Pope for the absolute Primacy over the Christian world this doth no more prove his right than Perkin Warbecks pretention in the daies of King Henry the seventh did prove his right to the crown of England And certain it is that neither the one nor the other did obtain that which he aspired to but were rejected by the voice of mankind which is an argument that their claim was unjust § 4. Another great objection of Protestants against the Popes Primacy is fetched from S. Gregory who was Pope himselfe and is this That he that intitled himselfe universall Bishop exalted himselfe like Lucifer above his brethren and was a forerunner of Antichrist To the understanding of which words I found that the word universall hath two meanings the one proper literall and grammaticall whereby it signifies Only Bishops excluding all others the other transferred and Metaphoricall whereby it signifies the supreme over all Bishops and S. Gregory censured this title in the first sense because that from hence it would have ensued that there had been but one Bishop only and that all the rest had been but his Deputies and not true Bishops and true Officers of Christ as
he saith l. 7. ind 2. Ep. 96. If there be one that is universall Bishop all the rest are no more Bishops Now S. Gregory maintained that all Bishops were true Bishops Ministers and officers of Christ although concerning jurisdiction they were subordinate the one to the other He therefore that usurps that title wholely to himselfe exalts himselfe with relation to the Episcopall order above his brethren denying him the essence and propriety of Bishops and officers of Christ and makes them only Commissioners to him as if they had the originall of that office from him and not from God And in this sense S. Gregory withstood the title of universall Bishop and not to deny in case of jurisdiction the superiority of one Bishop over another and the Bishop of Rome over all For that he maintaines Lib. 7. ind 2. Ep. 62. saying If there be any crime found in Bishops I know no Bishop but is subject to the Sea Apostolique He also addes for explication of the matter in hand Lib. 4. ind 13. Ep. 32. that The care of the Church hath been committed to the holy Apostle and Prince of all the Apostles S. Peter the care and Principality hath been committed to him and yet he is not called universall Apostle In which words hee ascribes the Primacy and headship of the Church to S. Peter yet denies the universality it must therfore needs be that the word universal in S. Gregories sense in this case is not the deniall of the Primacy of Jurisdiction over the whole Church but of his being the only Apostle as if there were none but he such as should derive their authority originally from him not from God And with application to the Pope it is the denyall of his being the only Bishop as if there were no Bishop in the world but he or such as he should constitute his deputies as from himself and not by command from God and as the Officers of God Moreover the Histories of all ages beat record that the Bishop of Rome hath exercised authority over all other Bishops in the world even in all Forraign Nations both before S. Gregory and after and even in his person and therefore he cannot mean the universall Government when he reproves the title of universall Bishop as by creating them himself by confirming them created by others by deposing them by restoring them being deposed by others by appointing them his Vicars by finall deciding their controversies by accepting their Appeales by making Lawes over all the Church by dispensing with them by inflicting his censures by being President in Generall Councells by calling of Councells so far as concerned the Ecclesiasticall authority which is the chiefest though the Emperours concurred therein in regard of temporall authority and of that only to make them obligatory to the secular tribunall and executory by the Ministry of the Officers of the Emperour as witnesseth the sixt Generall Councell Act 18. speaking of the first Generall Councell of Nice which saith The most sacred Constantine and the Praise-worthy Sylvester called the famous Councell of Nice which may also be proved of all the rest And by the saying of Athanasius ad solit That an Emperour presiding in Ecclesiasticall judgements is the Abomination of Desolation fore-told by Daniel And of Osius the Bishop of Cordua in an Epistle of his to Constantius the Emperour Go not about to meddle in Ecclesiasticall affairs and command not us in such matters but rather learne of us God hath committed the Empire to thee and the government of the Church to us And by the Protestation of the Emperour Constantine Pogonat sent to Rome for the holding of the sixth Generall Councell I will not sit as Emperour amongst them I will not speak imperiously In Epist Greg. 2. ad Leon. Imp. Ep. 1. but as one of them and what the Prelates shal ordain I will execute All which do undoubtedly prove the Pope of Rome both by divine and humane Law and by the right of prescription in all ages to be the supreme Pastor and Head of the Church And all the objections urged by Calvin all other invaders of this Sea are but like water furiously beating against a Rock broken into drops and forced creepingly to recoile and to foame and cry through shame and indignation at their vaine and impossible attempts impossible indeed unlesse they have more force then the gates of hell for they shall never prevaile against this Rock CHAP. XXI That English Protestants do much mistake Catholique Doctrine being abused by the malice or ignorance of many of their Ministers And that upon their owne grounds they are obliged to inform themselves more exactly of the truth § 1. AFter all these fore-going considerations for my more explicite satisfaction I descended to the examination of all the particular Doctrines in controversie betwixt the Church of Rome and the Protestants whom I found in all things to be exceedingly over-weighed both by Scripture Councells Fathers and reason Of which I will say no more than I have done but onely to shew in some few particulars how our poore English people are abused by their ordinary Preachers and made to believe monstrous things of the Doctrine and practice of the Church of Rome who for the most part stating the question false and laying to the Catholiques charge the things that they do not teach raise an error out of their own fancy and then fight against it most couragiously under the title of Popery And every young Minister is so valiant herein that he thinks he baffles the most learned Cardinall Bellarmine as Goliah thought he could have done David and in this case for the most part the most ignorant and imprudent are the forwardest And this I add to rectifie the opinions of the lesse learned and to reconcile them so far to the Catholique doctrines as to believe they are not so monstrous as they are vulgarly imagined First then they tell the people that the Papists as they call them are Idolaters in that they worship Images stockes and stones little painted babies and puppets with many such like titles wherewith they make themselves merry and then alledge all the places of the Scripture or Fathers wherein the Idolatry of the Heathen is reproved Now it is most certain that this is an unjust charge against Catholiques first because the worship of Images and Idolls is not all one seeing the words are of different signification as is manifest by those places where it is said Let us make man after our Image Gen. 1.26 And a man ought not to cover his head because he is the image and glory of God 1 Cor. 11.7 with many the like wherein if they say that Image Idoll were all one they must say also that when God made Adam hee made to himselfe an Idoll Secondly Catholiques doe not worship Images as God which the Heathen and Jewes when they had committed Idolatry did as appears by Elias who saith
thereof Mark 14.23 But the second All is restrained to all the Apostles what reason then is there to extend the former words further then to all the Apostles And the reason why Christ said drink yee all of this and did not say eat ye all of this was not as Protestants vainly imagine because Christ fore-saw that some would deny the use of the Chalice to the Communicants but that the first to whom our Saviour gave the cup and so the rest untill the last were to know that they were not to drink all but were to leave so much as might suffice for them or him that was to drink after without new filling and consecration Which forme of words he used most plainely a little before the supper of the Pasche for as S. Luke saith Luke 22.17 Taking the chalice he gave thanks and said take it and divide it amongst you whereas breaking the bread himselfe and giving to every one his part and not the whole to be divided amongst them there was no such necessity of the said words § 6. As for the words of our Saviour doe this in remembrance of me they doe no waies infer a precept of receiving in both kinds First because our Saviour said these words absolutely only of the Sacrament in the forme of bread but in the forme of wine only conditionally doe this as oft as ye shall drink in remembrance of me not commanding them to drink but in case they did drink which was lawfull and usuall in those times but not so now as I shall shew by and by that then they should doe it in memory of Christ So that this precept do this being the only precept given by Christ to his Church concerning this matter and given absolutely of the forme of bread conditionally of the form of wine there is no colour to accuse the Church of doing against Christs precept by communion under one kind only S. Augustine saith Epist 1 18. that Our Lord did not appoint in what order the Sacrament of the Eucharist was to be taken afterward but left authority unto the Apostles to make such appointments by whom he was to dispose and order his Churches But suppose Christ had spoken these imperative words doe this after the giving of the cup yet are they to be understood with restriction to those things that belong to the essence and substance of this action for if we extend it further to the accidentary circumstances thereof in which Christ did then institute and give the Sacrament many absurdities will follow For by this rule we must alwaies celebrate the Eucharist after supper and in unleavened bread the receivers must take it into their hands and the Priest must wash the feet of those to whom he administers it with the like Now seeing to bind men to these circumstances of our Saviours action is in all mens judgements very absurd we must not extend the precept doe this to the said or the like circumstances but acknowledge that the precept includes only the doing of that which pertaines to the substance of the Sacrament of which kind communion in both kinds cannot be it being also a circumstance the substance thereof being intire in one only kind as hath been proved So that the Protestants wrangling thus for the cup doe but fulfill in themselves though in a different sense the prophecy of Isaiah ERIT CLAMOR IN PLATEIS SUPER VINO there shall be crying for wine in the streets Isay 24.11 Thus it appeares that Communion in both kinds is not of the essence or integrity of the Sacrament nor necessary by any divine precept from whence it followes that as a thing indifferent it may be permitted or restrained according as the wisedome of the Church shall think fit For the precinct of humane power streacheth to things indifferent and only to them Things absolutely commanded man cannot forbid things absolutely forbidden man cannot command and therefore the territory of humane legislative power must be in things indifferent or else there is none at all which is against Scripture reason and the most generall beleef and practise of mankind The Apostles practised this power upon the Gentiles by imposing upon them a new law of abstinence for a time from things offered to Idolls and blood and that which is strangled Acts 15.29 which yet Christ himself never imposed but left it indifferent whereas after the Apostles decree it became necessary wherefore it is said that S. Paul walked through Syria and Cilicia confirming the Churches commanding them to keep the precepts of the Apostles and Elders Acts 15.41 § 7. Now the reasons moving the Church to restrain communion to one kind were many and weighty First to prevent thereby the occasion of error for whereas in the primitive Church the use of one or both kinds was indifferently practised as is apparent by testimonies of antiquity yea by the example of the Apostles Acts 2.42 and our Saviour himselfe Luke 26.30 yet when as the Manichean heretiques rose b see Aug. lib. de haer c. 46. Leo Serm. 4. de Quadrag who abstained from wine as a thing in it selfe unlawfull to be drunk and by consequence abstained from it also in the Sacrament holy Bishops did hereupon much commend the use of the chalice But this error being extinguished and another arising c Aeneas Silvius hist Bohem capt 3.5 against the integrity of Christ under either kind as also avouching the absolute necessity of both the Church of God hereupon began more universally to practise communion under one kind and withall in declaration of the truth and for prevention of Schisme did absolutely decree the lawfulnesse thereof with prohibition to the contrary So in more antient times when the Ebionites taught unleavened bread to bee necessary in consecration of the Eucharist the Church commanded the consecration thereof to be made in leavened bread And when the heretique Nestorius denyed our Blessed Lady to be the mother of God and only to be called the mother of Christ the Church condemned him and commanded that she should be called Mother of God And the Church hath ever found this the most effectuall means for the confutation and extirpation of heresie namely by contrary decrees and practise to declare and publish the truth A second reason moving the Church to forbid the use of the cup was the deserved reverence due to this highest Sacrament in consideration whereof the Holy Fathers did appoint most diligent care to be used lest any little particle of the Host or drop of the Chalice should fall to the ground Now the multitude of Christians in laterages being very great the negligence of many in sacred things as great through the coldnesse of their zeale devotion it could not morally be possible but that frequent spilling of the blood would happen if the Chalice were to be given ordinarily to the people d Aeneas Silvius Ep. 13. de errore Bohem. Narrat de Bohem. ad Conc. Basil
to the direct meaning thereof and so either in those things become Popish themselves or accuse their teachers of Popery § 5. Another fraud I have observed amongst the Canonical Protestants which is that when they dispute against Catholikes they have recourse to the Scripture and wil be tried by that only but when they dispute against the Puritanes and other Sects amongst them who deal with them at their own weapon of Scripture only then they have recourse to the Fathers and the Tradition of the Church and use the same arguments against Sectaries that Catholiques do against them and particularly in the points of baptizing of Infants against the Anabaptists and the keeping of the first day of the week holy against the Sabbatarians who would have Saturday for either of which there is not any command in Scripture And shall Tradition serve them in those cases and not in others Or shall Scripture with them prove all other points and not those And this shift is such a one as S. Augustine in Psal 80. witnesses to be common to Foxes and Heretiques For as Foxes have two holes to save themselves by one when they are driven from the other so Heretiques whom the Scripture figures out by Foxes when the Spouse saith Let us take the young Foxes that destroy the vines Cant. 2.15 have a double passage to save themselves by the one when they are assaulted by the other so that he that will catch them must set his nets before both issues and besiege both passages as the excellent Catholique Writers have done and have left them neither Tradition nor Scripture wherby to escape For although the Scripture do not teach all in direct and particular terms that Caliques do yet it teaches nothing that Protestants do in the things they differ from Catholiques And in generall the Scripture teaches all that Catholiques do by referring us to Tradition And this is sufficient for it is not required that all that we believe or do be expresly set downe in Scripture it is enough that there be no Scripture against it for what is not forbidden is lawfull as the Apostle saith where there is no law there is no transgression Rom. 4.15 If then there be no law of Scripture against it it is lawfull especially if it be warranted by the Tradition of the Church to which the Scripture referres us and is to us more evident to come from God than the Scripture is which we do not know to do so but by the Churches testimony So that I found the Protestants were like to the Giant Procustus mentioned by Plutarch who having a great iron bed fit for himself all strangers that he took he layed therein and if they were too long for the bed he cut off so much of their leggs if too short he stretched them out till they came even So the Protestants having built a Religion after the modell of their owne fancy doe examine Scriptures Councells Fathers and all authority by it whereof some they cut off as being too long in affirming more than they do and others being too short for their purpose they miserably serue tenter and rack till they come to the length they desire And had I the wicked ambition by impiety to make my selfe famous I believe I could conjure up new opinions which laying aside the authority of the Church I could varnish with as much reason and Scripture as any they professe Whose attempts have had no better successe then Achelous had in fighting with Hercules who took upon him severall shapes hopeing in one or other to overcome him but was by Hercules beaten through all his shapes and forced at last to take his owne proper shape and yeeld So Protestants fighting against Catholiques are by them beaten through all their changes and formes and shifts through which they wander and are forced at last to take the true forme of Protestancy which is obstinatly to deny the plaine and manifest truth But I heartily pray that it would please God to bring them to the true form which they ought to have which is of Roman Catholique untill which they will like the blinded Sodomites perpetually roule wander and grope in the darknesse of uncertainty and instability till eternall darknesse seize upon them For by embarquing themselves in such an enterprize as is the boarding of the Ship of Peter they are like to arrive at no other port but ruine and destruction § 6. Moreover I found this proceeding of the Protestants to be most uneasonable and full of pride in that they being but few in number especially in their beginning yea but one one infinitely audacious Luther once a child of the Roman Church should presume to correct or reforme the whole Christian world a thing which no man would admit in the private regiment of his own family that a sonne or servant should presume to find fault with and change the customs of the house against the consent of the Father Master and all the rest and assume to himselfe alone to be judge of the cause One earnestly desiring Lycurgus to establish a popular State in Lacedemon that the basest might have as great authority as the highest answered Begin to doe so first in thine owne house which he refused and thereby saw the injustice of his own demand So these men that will not admit within themselves either in matters Ecclesiasticall or civill that they whose duty it is to obey should command they whose duty it is to learne should teach withwhat face can they defend the practise thereof in the Church which is the house of God of which our predecessors were guilty in the first attempt and this present generation in the continuance of their Rebellion Nor let them think that their having of the Bible in the Mother-tongue will save them as if it were like the Palladium to the Trojans a thing dropt down from heaven no man knowes how with this condition annexed that while they kept it in their city they should never perish while in the mean time they extreamly pollute it with two things their interpretation and their conversation whereas the Church of Rome hath not only the word but the meaning of God also as the Apostle saith we have the sense of Christ 1 Cor. 2.16 both proved by never-erring authority And lastly weighing all the Protestants arguments with all impartiality or if there were any inclination of the ballance it was to their side with whose doctrines I had been from my childhood seasoned and had been a teacher of others for the space of neere twenty yeares and to whom to receive contrary impressions I knew must prove extreamly prejudiciall who therefore addrest my selfe to this enquiry with the disposition of a jealous husband seeking that which I was most loath to find yet all this notwithstanding I found that all their pleas and pretences and their answers to Catholiques were weake sleight false or impertinent and like to a certain fish called Sleve