Lutherans to be more cold and the brunt almost passed ouer tooke vpon him to expound the meaning of the Tridentine counsell and to conster all points to as grosse sense as they were euer before But nowe they beginne to incline to vs againe insomuch that Cardinall Bellarmine late Diuinitie Reader of Rome and the learnedest Diuine of that Church which now liueth in the course of his controuersie lectures though where he deliuereth the state of the question he bringeth what may be brought on their side for fashion sake that he may auoide all suspition of heresie with them yet he handleth his matters so cunningly and so doubtfully that in his conclusions he agreeth with vs in many things although in diuers termes wherein his predecessors vtterly dissented from vs. And in many things he sheweth himselfe to be so farre as he dareth a Protestant or at the least not a Papist if we take papistrie to be that which before it was And whosoeuer doth obserue him well shal finde how he discourseth of many things superfluous like one which is more desirous to deceiue the time to fill vp the page with varietie of reading multitudes of Fathers and citations of places then to refute vs. Yet his Volumes are allowed by the Inquisition and he is rewarded for his learned workes Therefore I say papistrie is newely corrected and refined they hold the same conclusions in generall termes which they did but they hold them not as they did they seeke out new defences as if they could not stand to the olde come neerer to vs in iudgement euery day For so it hath pleased God in this latter end of the world to lighten their darknesse and to quicken the dulnesse of their vnderstanding Touching the first if they will vnderstand what heresie is they must distinguish betweene heresie and errour for euery heresie is an error but euery error is not an heresie As there is one error in maners and so euery haynous offence is called a crime as the adulterie of Dauid but such offences as are committed only vpon infirmitie are cald by the general name of errors so there is another error in doctrine and euery man which holdeth a wrong opinion is said to erre as the Apostle did which supposed the Kingdome of Christ to be of this world and that the Gospel was Actes 1. Acts 11. not to be published to the Gentiles and these errors were no heresies but that which is heresie is more dangerous and of an higher nature It is an old saying Errare possum hereticus esse nolo I may easily erre as all men haue done but an heretike I will not be I define an heresie in this maner It is an error stifly and obstinately defended and maintained not by a consequent but directly impugning some Article of faith For example the Disciples Act. 15 erred when they helde it necessarie to be circumcised yet were not heretikes because they were not obstinate for they submitted themselues to the iudgement of the Church and after due consultation was had they consented to the truth Againe that opinion did not directly impugne faith but onely by a consequent for so saith the Apostle Behold I Paul say vnto you if Gal. 5 you be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing for I testifie againe to euery one which is circumcised that he is bound to keepe the whole Law Then if we allow of Circumcision wee hold the Ceremoniall Law to be still in force and by a consequent deny the death of Christ by whose death onely that Law was abolished But Arrius was condemned for an heretike in the councell of Nice for these two causes First he defended his error obstinately vntill his bellie burst and bowels gushed out not yeelding to the learned Bishops of the world which conuicted him by manifest places of the scriptures Secondly hee denied the Godhead of Christ contrary to the article of the Creede which hath and I beleeue in Iesus Christ his onely son and the doctrine of saint Paul which saith hee was mightily declared Rom. 1 to bee the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead and of saint Iohn which saith God was the word It is one thing therefore to denie the faith directly as to say Christ hath not yet suffered and another thing to denie it by a consequent as they which hold a necessitie of circumcision But as for vs we neither hold any opinions obstinately because we wil recant subscribe to the Church of Rome if they can disproue vs by the scriptures Neither doe we impugne any article of faith because wee holde the Creed of the Apostles of Athanasius of Nice of Ephesus of Constantinople which the Papists also do hold and the same Bible which we receiued from them and we expound all these as all godly and learned antiquitie hath expounded them before vs and therefore wee are vniustly charged with heresie That I may come to the second thing which I proposed No Church can be condemned and adiudged hereticall by any priuate censure but it must be publike Therefore they alleage for our condemnation the decrees of the councell of Trent against the authoritie of which councell we take these iust exceptions First they call it a generall councell as if almost all the Diuines of the world had beene assembled there Let vs therefore number how many were present They reckon for the credit of that councell as present sixe Cardinalls foure Legates three Patriarkes two and thirtie Archbishops two hundred twentie eight Bishops and fiue Abbats Wee denie not but at the end of the councel so many were procured to be there but at the beginning when matters were propounded at the time when points of religion were argued and debated they exceeded not the number of fortie Bishoppes foure Legates very small assembly to deserue the name of a generall councell to consider of so many weightie causes Onely therefore at the latter end the Pope seeing almost all Bishops to forbeare comming thither did create new Bishops to make vp a number and grace the councell with their presence and to subscribe to all conclusions for forme sake which they did neither here argued by others nor yet well consider of their selues Therefore let indifferencie be the Iudge betweene them and vs whether so rash a censure was to stand in force Secondly who were there onely our aduersaries which Ioh. 7 were of a contrary religion we were not present so that they did not onely by vs as the Pharisies did by our Sauiour contrary to lawe contemne vs in our absence and our cause being not heard but also the same men were both our accusers and our Iudges If ye aske a reason why we were not there had wee letters of safe conduct either could we haue trusted to such conduct if it had bin graunted What if they should haue falsified their promise made to vs as they did to Iohn Huz in the councell of
His notatis dico illa omnia scripta esse ab Apostolis quae sunt omnibus necessaria quae ipsi palà m omnibus vulgo praedicauerant alia autem non omnia scripta esse But whatsoeuer they can prooue out of the Bible we will receiue as for things which are not necessarie although we discent concerning them they ought not therefore to refuse to communicate with vs. A fourth question is of the authoritie of the scriptures and who ought of right to be iudge of the same They were wont to hold the Church that is the generall Councell to be aboue the scriptures and the vndoubted Iudge of the same we the contrarie Now Bellarmine condescendeth vnto vs that the iudgement of the church specified in the councel of Trent may so farre De verbo Dei lib. 3. cap. 1â— be subiect to the scriptures as to be examined by the scriptures and that the authority of the Church is inferior to the authority of the scriptures His words are these Addo etiam quod etsi haereticus peccat dubitando de auctoritate Ecclesiae in quam per Baptismum regeneratus est neque est eadem conditio haeretici qui semel fidem professus est Iudaei aut Ethnici qui nunquam fuit Christianus tamen posito hoc dubio hoc peccato non male facit scrutando examinando an loca scripturae Patrum à concilio Tridentino prelata ita sehabeant modo id faciat intentione inueniendi veritatem non calumnian di Deberet quidem ille sine examine recipere doctrinam Ecclesiae tamen melius est vt examinando praeparetur adveritatem quam negligendo remaneat in suis tenebris And againe in the same Chapter Decimum quartum argumentum Si Pontifex indicat de scripturis sequitur Pontificem seu concilium esse supra scripturam si scripturae sensus â—sine Pontifice seu concilio non est authenticus sequitur verbum Dei accipere robur firmitatem à verbo Hominum Respondeo hoc argumentum quod ab haereticis plurimi fit totum in aequiuocatione versari Nam duobus modis potest intelligi Ecclesiam iudicare de scripturis vno modo quod iudicat verúmne sit an falsum quod scripturae docent altero modo quod posito vt fundamento certissimo scripturae verba esse verissima iudicet quae sit vera eorum interpretatio Et quidem si primo modo Ecclesia iudicaret verè esset supra scripturam sed hoc non dicimus quamuis haeretici calumnientur id nos dicere qui passim vociferantur nos subijcere scripturam pedibus Papae At secundo modo iudicare Ecclesiam vel Pontificem de scripturis quod nos asserimus non est Ecclesiam esse supra scripturam sed supra iudicia priuatorum hominum Non enim iudicat Ecclesia de veritate scripturae sed de intelligentiâ tuâ meâ aliorum Neque hinc sumit verbum Dei aliquod robur sed intelligentia nostra Non enim scriptura est verior aut certior quia sic ab Ecclesia exponitur sed mea sententia est verior quando ab Ecclesia confirmatur Thus I could goe almost through all the controuersies betweene them and vs. But I doe content my selfe with the fundamentall points Therefore I exhort them which hold vs for heretikes first to reade diligently to peruse and examine their owne writers and what they hold to conferre their groundes with ours and then to examine their owne iudgements whether they finde vs heretikes or no. And as for those matters which be no fundamentall poyntes although in them wee discent wee must not dispaire of their conuersion For God neither hath nor will reueale vnto them all trueth at once but as the blind man in the Ghospell when hee first beganne to see thought hee sawe Marke 8 men walking like trees but when our Sauiour touched his eyes againe he saw more clearely So God will lighten the darknesse of their hearts and take away the vaile or couering which is before them by degrees vntill they come to the full measure of knowledge which the Holy Ghost shall iudge expedient to be reuealed vnto them Of Faith and Workes TO leaue these generall grounds and to dispute more particularly They hold with Saint Iames that workes do iustifie Iam. 2. Rom. 5. we with Saint Paul iustification by Faith and sith these two Apostles differ in wordes and not in meaning why should wee disagree holding the same which they doe hold Faith goeth before and workes follow after iustification but both do iustifie so Saint Paul argueth from that which is precedent Saint Iames argueth from that which is subsequent and both argue well According to the Grammaticall signification of the word as to iustifie signifieth iustum facere to make a man iust so neither faith nor yet workes do iustifie but God alone according to the acception which is vsed in Law as to iustifie signifieth iustum declarare to absolue a man and pronounce him iust out of the mouth of a iury or a Iudge so faith which is inuisible iustifieth vs before the inuisible god which seeth our invisible faith works which are visible iustifie vs before visible men which see our workes as they be visible and sensible things As the Angels when they came vnto Lot had not beene intertained had they not cloathed themselues with bodily shapes so men cannot discerne our faith vnlesse it be as it were cloathed and beautified with workes But to speake of that which is worst They hold Gen. 19 that workes are meritorious and therefore they worke that they may merit heauen we ascribing lesse vnto our selues and more vnto God thinke not so honourably of our workes and yet wee thinke workes as necessary as they doe and therefore wee will worke and we will worke that we may be saued and wee will worke out our saluation with feare and trembling Wee holde workes necessarie for them which will inherit but not for them which will merit and therefore we worke not that wee may merit Phil. 2. yet that we may inherite and our workes haue these foure necessary vses that by them we may glorifie God benefite our neighbour exercise our faith and make our election sure For with vs this is the very definition of a worke An action of the regenerate according to the Law of God done to these ends that God by it may be glorified our neighbor profited our faith exercised and our election confirmed And although wee worke not for that end as they do yet because without workes we must not thinke to please God wee will worke as much as they doe and the same workes which they doe with the same zeale which they doe which thinke to merit Wee will worke as earnestly as if we thought to merit and yet we wil be farre off from thinking that we merit because when we haue done all that Luc. 17 we are
Constance especialy they holding such a Principle as they are not bound to keepe faith and fidelitie with an heretike But suppose wee had beene present wee should haue stood for ciphers and not for a number because they were linked together in the same confederacie to suffer nothing to passe which might be preiudiciall to the See of Rome Thirdly Bellarmine defineth those councels Tom. 1. controuers 4. cap. 4. onely to be vniuersall where all Bishops of the world either were or might be present these be his words Vbi adsunt aut adesse possunt omnes Episcopitotius orbis and in the next chapter he defineth that councell onely to be lawfull which the Pope hath approoued and the catholikes generally haue receiued But neither all could be present as I haue declared neither haue the greater part of Catholikes yet receiued that councell with the decrees thereof for they are refused by the Catholikes of Germanie France Hungary Bohemy Poland as our owne experience can tell vs. In the third place forasmuch as I haue shewed you that Christians dwelling in one place are to meete together for the exercise of their religion which consisteth in these three things prayer the word and the Sacraments Let vs examine the worde which we teach the leiturgie or forme of prayers which we vse the maner of our administration of the sacraments whereof wee would that they should be partakers Concerning the doctrine as I saide before wee holde with them the same Creede and the same Bible concerning which Bible these haue bin the chiefest differences betweene them and vs which follow First whether all the books of the Bible be canonicall or no They affirme that Tobie Baruch Iudith Ecclesiasticus Wisdome the Maccabees and the fragment of Esther c be canonicall we holde them for Apocripha They prooue them to be canonicall out of Saint Augustine we that they be Apocripha out of Saint Hierome both which doctors are of no small authoritie with the Church of Rome and therefore in this wee differ no more from them than Saint Hierome did from Saint Augustine which did both agree and were easily reconciled S. Hierome interpreteth Saint Augustines meaning that they were canonicall enough to prooue rules of life not groundes of doctrine and faith Thus Saint Hierome answered Saint Augustine in the Primitiue Church thus we haue answered the Papists of our age and Bellarmine since this answere was giuen handling this controuersie at large replieth not against our answer Onely he prooueth in generall termes that they be canonical which we do also confesse but hee dooth not so much as mention this destruction of Cannons of faith and Cannons of good life and manners much lesse dooth hee reply against it therefore wee take it proconcesso as a thing graunted by the Lawes of disputations De verbo Dei lib. 1. capitibus 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15. that hee holdeth as wee holde flâ—eth to our defence and so resteth satisfied with our answer and the case to be cleere betweene vs both Secondly A question hath beene debated betweene vs concerning the Bible forasmuch as there be many editions as Hebrue Greeke Latine which is the best Wee say the Hebrew they the Latine and the councell of Trent hath obtruded to vs one only Latine edition that is the old vulgare translation and decreed that it onely should be authenticall and no other that all others should be corrected by it and it by none Wee grant it fit that for vniformitie in quotations of places in schools and pulpits one Latine text should be vsed and we can be contented for the antiquitie thereof to preferre that before all other Latine books so much we do yeeld to the Councell But forasmuch as that translation hath many faults as al other translations haue because they are the workes of men we preferre the originall that is the olde Testament in the Hebrew and the new in Greeke farre before it forasmuch as they were written by the finger of God the Holy Ghost which cannot erre And Bellarmine condescendeth to our opinion as more sound than the decree of the councell of Trent shewing that wheresoeuer the Latine bookes do discent one from another that it may be discerned which is the truest each of them to be examined by the originall which is of greater authoritie and the Latine bookes to be corrected by them that onely to be sound which agreeth with them and that to be reiected which discenteth from them His words are these Ad aliud de emendatione Latinorum codicum ad Hebraeos De verbo Dei lib. 2. cap. 11 Graecos respondeo quatuor temporibus licere nobis recurrere al fontes Hebraeos Graecos vt illi patres monent Primo quando in nostris codicibus videtur esse error librariorum c Secundo quando Latini codices variant vt non possit certò status quae sit vera vulgata Lectio possumus ad fontes recurrere inde iuuari ad veram Lectionem inueniendam Sic Iosue 5. quidam Latini codices habent Quibus iurauit vt ostenderet illis terram lecte fluentem molle quidam habent vt non ostenderet c vera lectio videtur esse posterior Nam in Hebraeo constantèr additur Non. Sicut è contrariò Iosue 11. Quidam codices habent Non fuit ciuitas quae non se traderet Quidam habent Non fuit ciuitas quae se traderet Et hoc est verius quià conforme est Hebraeo verba sequentia id requirunt Sic Lucae 1. quidem codices habent Redemptionem plebisuae Quidam plebi suae haec videtur verior cùm in Graeco sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A third question concerning the Bible is whether all grounds of saluation all things which are absolutely necessarie for a Christian man to know be contained in the corpes and body of the Bible They haue held in times past that the Bible was insufficient Vide Concil Trident. and therefore they added vnto it traditions which they call vnwritten verities and would haue them to be of as great authoritie as the scriptures as necessary to bee beleeued and obayed but now Bellarmine as if he were ashamed of that ascertion doth relinquish it and after he hath spoken in the defence of traditions what he can concludeth that all things which are necessary are contained in the Apostles His wordes are these Primum De verbo Dei lib. 4. cap. 10 est quaedam in doctrinâ Christianâ tam fides quam morum esse simpliciter omnibus necessaria ad salutem qualis est notitia articulorum Symboli Apostolici item congnitio decem praeceptorum nonnullorum sacramentorum Cetera non ita necessaria sunt vt sine eorum explicatâ notitiâ fide professione saluari homo non possit modo promptam habeat voluntatem ea suscipiendi credendi quando sibi fuerint legitimè per Ecclesiam proposita c
which is the Bishop of Rome and that being seperated from the head we cannot be liuing members of that mysticall body My answere is The head of the Church is Christ 1. Cor 11. and we as members are conglutinate and ioyned vnto that head and to them which obiect that our Sauior Christ in his absence must haue his Deputie that the Deputy or Vicar generall of Christ is the Holy-Ghost which hath the gouernement of the Church Euen as Elias ascending vp let his mantle downe vpon Eliseus to be with him in his steade so our Sauiour departing 2. Reg. 2 Act. 2 Matth. 28. Act. 20. from vs sent downe the Holy-Ghost to possesse his roome and to abide with vs vntill the end of the world Take heede saieth the Apostle to your selues and to all the flocke whereof the holy-ghost hath made you ouer-seers so then the Holy-Ghost hath the gouernement of the Church But say they a visible body must haue a visible head proportionably to the body and therefore some one man must be ouer the Church I deny not but weake men desire a visible obiect still before their eies as the Israelites when Moses was out of their sight but a few dayes Exod. 32. would make a calfe to be their gouernour rather than they would want one to be visibly resident among them And therefore our Sauior because we should not in his absence committe the like idolatry did leaue the visible Sacrament of the Eucharist among vs saying This is my body But yet I do answer that a similitude must not as the Schoolemen say Currere quatuor pedibus agree in all things First therefore it is not simply necessarie that the visible bodie should still haue a visible head in sight as if it could not stand without such an head For God had his Church visible vpon the earth before the Papacie and before the Incarnation of Christ but Christ the head of the Church before his incarnation could not be a visible head So therefore as Christ in his Godhead alone before hee was borne was the head of his Church though inuisible likewise is he now in his Godhead and Manhoode vnited together head of the church visible although vpon the earth not to be seene Secondly the time hath beene when there was a long vacancie of the Popedome by reason of ciuill dissention yet the Church then stood without such an head Thirdly no sinfull man is able to discharge such an office as to be ouer-seer of the vniuersal church Fourthly there must be such an influence of necessitie from the head to the body as cannot possibly be from any man to the Church Fiftly the Pope neuer was reputed as head of the whole Church for the East part of the world that is the Greeke Church was euer so auerse from the Sea of Rome that it could neuer yet be brought either to obedience to the Pope or to ioyne in rites and ceremonies with his Church or to be incorporated into that body or to vse the same leiturgie and forme of prayer which that Church vseth All appellations amongst them haue bin to the Patriarch of Constantinople as to the highest Bishop Sixtly what authoritie soeuer the Pope hath had ouer the Latine Church and West part of the world it hath beene giuen him by humane constitutions onely and generall consent of Princes and States which they suffered him to enioy during their owne good liking and no longer And last of all our owne experience can enforme vs that the Catholike princes which are most of all deuoted to the Sea of Rome will be so farre subiect as they thinke fit and no further Charles the fift late Emperor and King of Spaine tooke prisoner Clement the Pope when hee resisted his proceedings in Italie and Queene Mary made her Cosin Cardinall Pole Arch-Bishop of Canterburie though the Pope withstood it neither doe the Kings of France though of the Romish religion euer suffer the Popes to beare any stroke in the election of their Bishops I wish therefore that they would be better aduised before they lay scisme vnto our charge Chap. V. Of Discord and Inconstancie THe vsuall obiections against vs were wont to be that wee haue sects and diuisions among vs. But so had they oftentimes Eckius against Pighius Thomas against Scotus so had the Apostles Peter against Paul and Paul against Barnabas some were of Paul some of Apollo and some of Cephas We contend about white and blacke round and square but in matters of religion we agree That concerning the booke of common prayer when the masse was first put downe king Henry had his English Leiturgie and that was iudged absolute without exception but when King Edward came to the Crowne that was condemned and other in the place which Peter Martyr and Bucer did approoue as very consonant to Gods word When Queene Elizabeth beganne hir raigne the former was iudged to be full of imperfections and a new was deuised and allowed by the consent of the Clergie But about the middle of her raigne wee grew weary of that booke and great meanes haue beene wrought to abandon that and establish an other which although it was not obtained yet we doe at the least at euery change of Prince change our booke of common prayers we be so wanton that we know not what we would haue I answer they haue done the like they cannot denie it for proofe whereof I referre them to the preface which is set before their owne Breuiary wherein it is specified how many times their owne Breuiary hath beene altered It is no discredit either to them or vs to alter for the better and to correct that which we finde amisse All faults are not espied at once neither is all truth reuealed at once But it is damnable to perseuere and continue in an error after it is found out and not to imbrace a truth after it is reuealed The Church had a time of growing three hundred yeares after Christ being then watered and made fruitefull by the bloud of Martyrs then the religion of Rome was found according to that which Saint Paul doth testifie in his Epistle to the Romanes the Bishops thereof Rom. 1. continued zealous and were commonly martired The Church had a time of florishing three hundred yeares which beganne when Constantine the great granted peace vnto the gospel and persecution ceased so long found doctrine was preached But the Church afterward beganne to decay and so went backeward vntill Gregory the great in whose time corruption began to creepe in and so ranne ouer the whole body of the Church and euery christian Kingdome which were members of that body so that the whole visible Catholike Church through the world was mightily deformed Then Luther in his time beganne a reformation againe though he reformed not the whole yet he reformed some partes like a Phygtion which finding a mans body full of sores healeth some members although he be not able