to corruption and that what is incorruptible is also reciprocallie impassible and inalterable what wonder is it then that the wayfarring preparation of the Religion of the Iewes which was corruptible and subiect to perish before it came to the terme of corruption haue tryed manie passions manie accidents manie changes that before it perisht it haue vndergone manie weaknesses Sincopes and faintings that this antient decrepite howse which was one daie to be ruined as the Apostle speaking of the old lawe teacheth vs that that which weares and growes old approacheth to ruine haue somes times bene amazed and shaken that this light that was finallie to be extinguished buried vnder a profouÌd night and in perpetuall darknes haue sometimes bene obscured and dimmed and haue suffered defects and ecclipses And contrariwise that the state of the ChristiaÌ Church that the scriptures declare and prophecie to be incorruptible and not subiect to perish should be freed from all the passions preserued from all these accidens and dispenced withall and warranted from all these interruptions But we haue insisted too long vpon the thesis let vs now come to the hypothesis which is of the estate of the Church vnder the two first periods and principallie vnder that of the Iewish lawe For in regard of the defects of the Iewish Church the aduersaries to Christianitie make nine notable obiections which wee will confute in order one after an other The first is taken from the historie of Aaron Aaron saie they founded the Idoll after which the people Idolatrized It is true Aaron not yet inuested with the high Priesthood founded the golden calfe after which the people that ãâã to saie by Synecdoche a part of the people Idolatrized for Philo the Iew doth particularly saie that the maladie had not seised them all But neither Moyses who was the visible head of the Israelites Church and in whose onely person resided till then the high Priestood nor the whole bodie of the Leuiticall tribe destined to the future guard of the Temple and to the ordinarie ministrie of the lawe were touched with this crime For as soone as Moyses cryed If anie one belonge to our Lord lett him ioyne with me All the tribe of Leui gathered to him to roote out the Idolaters From whence it is that Moyses giues these praises to Leui It is he that hath said of his Father and of his mother I haue not seene them And who hath not acknowledged his Brothers and hath noe more knowne his children for they haue kept thy wordes And that God himselfe saith by the ministrie of Malachy The lawe of truth hath bene in the mouth of Leui and in his lipps there was noe forwardnes he hath walked with me in peace and equitie And that Philo the Iew searching wherefore the Townes of refuge had bene taken of the tribe of the Leuites saith that one reason was because the Leuiticall tribe destined to guard the temple had slaine the worshippers of the golden calfe And therefore saint PAVL citing the same historie reduceth it to the number of some To the end saith he that you become not Idolaters as some amongst them were to shew that this act was not vniuersall For that the sinn was imputed in generall to all the people it was not because they had all participated in it but because they had not endeauored to reuenge and punish it in the act And yet this action was not a iudiciarie action of the Church or a rituall custome of the Synagogue but a tumultuary seditioÌ of the people which was extinguished the same daie consequently could not be reckoned for an interruptioÌ of the Iewish Church for as ãâã as the brute of the tumulte of the Idolators was raised Moyses came downe from the mountaine to remedie it Now what proportion is there betweene the tumulte of a daie and such like clowdes of the Iewish Church whose longest lasted but the twentith part of an age by consequence gaue noe occasion to saie of the Iewish Church that that Cornelius Tacitus saith of the common-wealth of Rome vnder Tiberius Who is he that hath seene the common-wealth the pretended ieterruptioÌ of the Catholicke Church which according to the coÌputation of her Aduersaries hath bene ecclipsed in faith erred in saluation aboue four hundred then yeares as they saie of Epimenides that he fell into a sleepe yong awaked old soe she fell a sleepe yong to witt iÌmediatly after the death of the apostl awaked old that is to saie vpoÌ the end in the last waue of the world The secoÌd obiection is takeÌ from the historie of the symptomes which hapened to the Iewish church betweene the time of Moyses that of Dauid where it is said one while that Micheas mâde an Idoll that six hundred men of the tribe of Dan hauing taken it placed it in Lais a cittie of the Sydonians possessed by them an other while that Gedeon made an Ephod in Ephra and that all Israel went a whoring after it An other while that Israel transgrest and abandoned the Lord. An other while that in the time of Hely the word of God was precious that is to saie rare An other while that in the time of Saule the arke had not bene required that is to saie according to the innouators glosse God had not bene consulted in his word But for the historie of Micheas soe farr is it off that from the act of Micheas which was but a particular act noe more then that of the six hundred Israelites of the tribe of Dan there can bee anie inference drawne that the visible seruice of God was the extinguished in all the people of Israel as Luther affirmes that this historie fell out either at the latter end of Iosua or vnder the gouernment of Othoniel an excellent seruant of God wherein none can pretend that the true seruice was extinguished in Israel And the historian noting that this idoll remained in the cittie of Lais as longe as the howse of our Lord remained in Silo testifies that the howse of God and the seate of the true seruice of God was then in Silo. And whereas the people of Israel tooke occasion to goe a whoring after the Ephod of Gedeon and that the historie of Iudges saith All Israel went a whoriug after it it must be vnderstood of the Israelites of the cittie of Ephra natiue place of Gedeon and others neere to it and that it is written in diuers places of the same history that Israel preuaricated and serued false Gods it is to be vnderstood by Synecdoche of a part for the whole following this sentence of S. AVGVSTINE The scripture hath this fashion of reproofe that the word seemes to be addressed to all yet concernes but some of them And indeede in the historie of Josua not only the scripture saith The children of Israel violated the commaundement and tooke
For first the word Ecclesia Church is deriued from a verbe which signifies to call and not to predestinate froÌ whence S. Paul confirming the vse of this etymology inscribes his first to the Corinthians To the Saints called And in the epistle to the Ephes. he saith One bodie and one Spirit as you are called in one hope of your vocatioÌ And in the epist. to the Coloss. Lett the peace of Christ rule in your harts by which you are called in one-selfe bodie And secondly the Church is a Societie and there is this difference betweene a simple multitude and a societie that the societie adds to the partes of the multitude a condition and a certaine caracter as it were in vertue whereof they may coÌmunicate together Now predestination as it is simple predestination puts nothing into the persons of the predestinate and is not made in them but in God only and by consequent doth not make them actually partes of the Church Our predestination saith S. AVGVST is not made in vs but in God the three other things are made in vs vocation iustification and glorification For that that is alleadged out of saint Paul that God knowes those that are his and hath marked them with his signet must be vnderstood that he hath marked the predestinate in himselfe that is to saie in his eternall determination and not in them as an Architect who designes in his spirit certaine stones that he will imploy in his building markes theÌ not by this mentall designation in them but in himselfe and makes theÌ not by this simple determinatioÌ actuall partes of his building I meane to be briefe that the vnioÌ that coÌstitutes men in the Church is in theÌ now the vnion that the predestinate haue in God as they are simplie predestinate is not in theÌ but in God alone And so it is not the vnion of predestination but that of vocatioÌ that coÌstitutes men in the Church Thirdly S. Paul teacheth vs that the Church is the bodie of Christ and that by analogie to an organicall body God saith he constituted him head ouer all the Church which is his bodie And againe I accomplish that which waÌtes of the passions of Christ in my flesh for his bodie which is the Church Now it is of the essence of an organicall bodie as it is organicall to be composed of diuers offices members and parts If all the members saith S. Paul were one member where should the bodie be And by this reason the schoolemen proue that the heauens are not animated or liuing bodies because they are not organicall bodies and they proue they are not organicall bodies because they are not made vp of heterogeneall and different partes in coÌposition and coÌplexioÌ And therefore it is of the essence of the Church to haue distinction of members organs and offices is the Church doth not arise from the hidden and eternall predestinatioÌ for then the not predestinate could not be ministers and pastors of the Church but from externall and teÌporall vocation And by consequent it is in the externall visible and temporall vocation and not in predestination which is internall to God hiddeÌ and eternall that the being and essentiall forme of the Church consists Fowrthly the same Saint Paul saith that God hath tempered the honor of the members that there might be no schisme in the body Now the predestinate are not capable of schisme as they are predestinat but as they are called so it is not predestination but vocation that frames the bodie of the Church Fiftly he affirmes the Church to be our mother the superior Ierusalem saith he that is ãâã saie IerusaleÌ taken not accordinge to the lowlynes of the legall ãâã but according to the height of the Euangelicall sense is free which is our mother And he addes that it is of her that ãâã writes Reioyce thou barren woman that bringst not forth children Now the Church doth not engeÌder vs by predestination for God alone is the author of predestination and not the Church but by vocation and consequently it is vocation and not predestination that coÌstitutes the Church in the state of a Church mother of the faithfull Moreouer the knowledge of being Children to the mother is before the knowledge of being Children to the father by the interposition of the mothers authoritie saith saint AVG wee are perswaded of the true Father For that that Aristotle writes That in certaine partes of the vpper ãâã where women were common they discerned the children by the reseÌblance they had to theire fathers was good for those people where that similitude had place but we in whose nature the image of God is soe defaced by the spott of originall sinne as we can noe more be knowne to be his children by vertue of naturall similitude only there is noe other meanes for vs to pretend to this quality but that we are regenerated by him in our spirituall mother which is the Church his only spouse And for this cause the Ancientes are soe carefull to saie that he shall not haue God for his Father that denies the Church for his mother and that if any be out of the Church he shall be excluded out of the mumber of the children and to exhort the Christians to doe like the Xanthians in taking the Surname of theire mother that is to say the title of Catholicke We receiue the holy Ghost saith Saint AVGVSTINE if we loe the Church if we be knitt in one bodie by charitie if we reioyce in the Catholicke name and faith Now the certaintie of being Children to the Church cannot serue vs for a meanes and path way to come to the perswasion of being the children of God if the definition of the Church consist in the hidden and inuisible secret of predestination For by this definitioÌ contrarywise we must be assured to be Children of God and comprehended in the Rolle of the predestinate before we can be assured that we are the Children of the Church So the definition of the Church ought to consist not in the hidden and inuisiblie condition of predestination but in the externall and visible condicion of vocation Also we see that our Lord who was the God-father of this Societie and gaue it the name of the Church in that sense that she ought to beare it hath neuer vsed that name neither he nor his Apostles but to designe a visible Societie constituted by externall and temporall vocation For when he saith Vpon this rocke I will builde my Church and the gates of hell shall not preuaile against her And I will giue thee the keyes of the the kingdome of heauen this word in the future tense I will build shewes he speakes of a Church constituted not by prestination which was established from all eternitie but by externall and temporall vocation And the word keyes which signifies the authority of the ministery confirmes it
loue and there is noe spott in thee And in the exposition of Ieremy Thou seest how manie places the Church hath and that this sentence of the Apostle that shee maiebe without spott or wrinkle is reserued for the time to come and for the celestiall places And in the same Commentary vpon the Epistle to the Ephesians Our Lord Iesus accountethe for his members all that are assembled in the Church both Saintes and Sinners but the Saints are his ãâã voluntarily and the Sinners by necessitie And therefore to the consequence that the Protctestates gather from this place of Saint IEROM when they inferr from hence that the Church consistes only in the mumber of the good we oppose these expresse wordes of the fame Saint IEROM As in the Arke of Noe there were liuing creatures of all kindes so in the Church there are men of all nations of all manners as there where together the Leopard and the Goates the wolfe and the lambes so heere are together the iust and Sinner to witt the vessells of gold and the vessells of wood and earth And againe if the Church be alreadie purified what doe we reserue for our Lord And to the consequence that they gather thence that the Church is inuisible we oppose these followinge That is no Church which hath noe priests And againe I could dry vp all the riuers of thy arguments with the only Sun-shine of the Church And a little after We must remaine in that Church which hauing bene founded by the Apostles indureth till this present And in an other place I am ioyned in communion with thy blessednesse that is to saie with the Chaire of Peeter I know the Cburch it built vpon that rocke whosoeuer eates the lambe out of that howse is prophane Of the vnitie of internall faith CHAPT X. The continuance of the Kings Answere THey are vnited in vnitie of Faith at least in those pointes which are necessarie for saluation THE REPLIE THere are seuen batailles to be giuen vpon this article but against a King that will glorie in suffering himselfe to be ouercome by truth and in saying with Darius his Chamberlaines that kings are verie strong but truth is yet more strong And therefore I feare not to incurr Homers sentence When a great king is angrie with his seruant The first bataile is that an vnitie in things necessarie for the Saluation of euery particular man is not sufficient for the constitution of the Church For there are pointes of faith which are necessarie euen with an ineuitable necessitie for the bodie of the Church which are not necessary with the like necessitie in regard of euery particular man as we haue shewed in our sirst Epistle and those which are sufficient for a man ãâã by death and in case of impossibilitie of better instruction are not sufficient for him that can haue commoditie to be more throughly ãâã and those that may suffice for a simple handy craftes man or a labourer cannot suftize for the bodie of the Pastors and the vniuersall Societie of the Church The second bataile is that besides the thinges which particular men are bound to belieue with a distinct and explicite faith there are manie other which they are obliged to belieue with a faith of adherencie and non ãâã which Schoolemen call implicit faith As all the articles that Councells ordaine to be belieued or forbidd to be belieued vpon paine of anathema A vine dresser a laborer an artificer is not bound to belieue them by retaile and with a distinct and explicit faith but it suffizeth that they beleeue theÌ in the faith of the Church to witt that they adhere and consent with the Church which beleeueth them For making profession to beleeue all that the Church where-into they are in corporared beleeues faith embraceth in generall by the meritt of theire obedience all that the same Church beleeues distinctlie though theire knowlege ãâã it not And therefore euen as while children are in theire mothers wombe or sucking at her brestes they liue by the foode and nourishment of theire mother but when they are parted from her they can no longer liue with that communicated nourishment or that infused foode so while simple persons remaine within the bosome and Communion of the Church they liue in those things which are aboue theire capacitie by the faith of the Church which is imputed ahd applied to them by the adherence that they haue with her Such saith Saint AVGVSTINE if before they arriue to the spirituall age of the Soule where they shall noe more be nourisht with milke but with solid meate the last daie of theire life surprise them he that dwells in them shall supplie what they want in theire ãâã because they haue not separated themselues from the vnitie of the bodie of Christ which bad bene made the waie to vs and haue not withdrawne themselues from the societie of the Temple of God And therefore it is necessary that the Church to whom they ought to adhere to obtaine this supplie should be first knowne and visible to them and more ouer that she not only liue with the doctrine which is answerable to milke as is the profession of the articles which simple persons are bound to belieue with a distinct and explicite faith which Saint AVGVSTINE calles the rule of Faith common to little and great but with that which is answerable to solid meate The third battaile is that it is not sufficient to saie in forme of an ãâã proposition they are vnited in points necessary for saluation but it must be said in forme of an vniuersall proposition They are vnited in all points necessary for saluation For as it will not serue a man to liue that he hath all his other partes sounde if he be deadlie wounded in anie member necessarie to life so it will nothing auaile to these societies we talk of to be vnited in other things necessary to saluation if they be wanting in anie one If a man be brought saith saint AVGVSTINE to a Physician grieuonsly wounded in some necessary parte of his bodie and the Physician saie if he be not dressed he will dye I thinke they which present him will not be soe senselesse as to answere the Physician after they haue considered and reckoned his other sound partes what shall not so manie sound partes haue power to ãâã him aliue and shall one wounded parte haue powre to bringe him to his death Now amongst things necessarie to saluation the principall and most necessary is the knowledge and acknowledgement of the Catholicke Church What profitts it a man saith saint AVGVSTINE either sound faith or it may be the onely Sacrament of sound faith when the soundnes of Charitie is wounded with the wound of schisme the only distruction whereof drawhes all the other partes to death And in an other place We had both one baptisme in that they were with me we both read
if anie of her members departe from the rule of faith will preferre the loue of truth before the loue of vnitie She knowes that the supreme lawe in the howse of God is the sinceritie of heauélie doctrine which if anie one forsake he forsakes Christ who is truth it self he forsakes the Church which is the ãâã foundation of truth VVith such separatistes a man truly Catholique neither will nor maic communicate Far what agreement is there betweene Christ and ãâã THE REPLIE HEERE his Maiestie must giue me leaue to saie that he changeth the way of his disputation and goes out of the lists quite from the state of the question For the question is not whether to obtaine the name of Catholicke to attaine to saluation it be necessary to be vnited with anie one of the members of the Church when it comes to be separated froÌ truth but whether to obtaine the name of Catholicke attaine to saluation it be necessatie to be vnited with the whole masse vniuersall Bodie of this Church which the Fathers haue called Catholick Neither is it the question whether there may be anie externall and visible societie wherewith it is vnlawfull to commuuicate but whether such a tyme can be wherein there is noe externall and visible Societie wherewith it is necessary to communicate For to saic that all Communion are not to be desired and that there are Congregations wherewith it is not lawfull to Communicate whieh of vs euer doubted it Nay contrarily doe we not daily pronounce anathema against those that Communicate with heretickes or Schismatickes and in that we ãâã his maiestie to returne to the Communion of the Catholicke Church from that of the Caluinists doth it not proue sufficiently that we holde not that there should be CoÌm union helde with all kinde of sects The state theÌ of the questioÌ to ouerthrowe our Thesis and coÌclude some thinge against vs requires not to proue that there may be Societies wherewith we ought to haue noe CoÌmunion for who denies that but to proue that there may come a tyme wherein there can be found noe externall and visible Societie wherewith it is lawfull to communicate and that this tyme beinge come as Luther supposed it to be when he began to pitch his ensignes in the fielde it is necessary to goe forth from all the Religions that are then to be found visible in the world and to make a new Communion and a congregation a parte See heere what is needefull to be proued and in steede of this the excellent kinge aleageth that if anie member of the Church departe from the rule of Faith the Church must preserr the loue of veritie before the loue of vnitie To this answere of his ãâã we will answere two thinges the first that there is noe incompatibilitie beweene this thesis we must be vnited with the vniuersall bodie of the Catholicke Church And this antithesis if anie member departe from the rule of faith we must not be vnited with it For the one speakes of the bodie of the Church and the other speakes of some one of the members of the Church and the speciall mention os some one of the Church departing from the true faith supposes the staie and perseueraÌce of the rest of the bodie of the Church in the faith Now it is with that bodie from whence that parte that forsakes the faith deuides it selfe that wee say we must haue Communion and vnitie and not with the parte that separates it selfe from the bodie for it is not a meanes to maintaine vnitie to haue vnitie with those that deuide themselues from vnitie The second that there is great difference betweene the rightes and ãâã of the Catholicke Church the preuiledges of particular Churches For the infallible assistance of the holy Ghost was neuer promised to euery particular Church but to the bodie of the Catholicke Church And therefore as the elements are corruptible in their partes but incorruptible in their all soe the Church is corruptible in her parts but incorruptible in her all in such sorte that though some particular Churches may erre in faith and consequentlie cease from beinge Churches neuerthelesse there alwaies remaines one masse of a Churche exempt ãâã corruptioÌ soe greate and eminent that she representes and conserues in herselfe the beinge rightes and prerogatiues of all the whole And soe the obligation that we haue to Communicate with the Catholicke Church is one thinge and an other the obligation that we haue to Communicate with particular Churches For with her wee are bound to Communicate necessarily and absolutely vnder paine of anathema and damnation because out of her Communion none can be saued and with others onely whiles they Communicate with her And the pretence of truth cannot be alleadged to make this obligation conditionall since Saint Paule saith the Church is the fouudation of truth And Saint AVGVSTINE within the wombe of the Church truth hath her dwellinge Nor can it be obiected that the supreme lawe in the howse of God is the sinceritie of heauenly Doctrine For besides that this lawe hath her Statutes written and vnwritten following this precept of S. PAVL followe the traditions that you haue receiued from vs whether by wordes or by Epistles And this testimonie of Eusebius The Apostles haue giuen some things by writing and others by vnwritten lawes And this obseruation of sainct CHRYSOSTOME From whence it appeares that the Apostles haue not deliuered all things by writinges but manie things alsoe without writing it is not only necessary in matters contested to haue a lawe but it is needefull besides the lawe to haue a iudge with authoritie able to oblige and subdue the sense of particular persons to interpret the wordes of the lawe which Iudge as we haue alreadie demonstrated caÌ be noe other but the Church How to vnderstand these wordes of sainct Gregory Nazianzene There is a sacred warre CHAP. XIV The continuance of the Kings Answere THE Church then must flye the communion of those and saie with sainct Gregory Nazianzene that a ãâã for ãâã is better then an infected vnitie And will not doubt to pronouÌce with the same blessed Father that there is a sacred warie THE REPLIE THERE is noe doubt of prouing that there may be some societie whose communion must be auoided for none denies it but of prouing that there may come such a tyme wherein there is noe externall and visible societie wherewith we are bounde to coÌmunicate Now the places that his Maiestie citeth out of S. GREGORIE NAZIANZENE are soe farre from insinuatinge anie such thing as they affirme the quite contrary For S. GREGORIE saith not these wordes against the externall and visible Communion of the Church of his tyme but against the craftie practises of the Arrians which demauÌded vnder pretence of peace to be receiued into the communion of the Church with Confessions of the faith ambiguous and
no Seates annexed to the dignitie of their Seas but the ancientest primate or Metropolitan preceded the others And therefore whatsoeuer extension and communication that the lesse curious authors haue made of the name Patriark to other primates and Metropolitanes yet when there harh been question to speake of the Patriarckes properlie soe called the Church neuer acknowledged more then fiue Patriarckes three ancient and originarie Rome Alexandria and Antioch and two accessorie and supernumerarie ãâã and Constantinople as it appeares both by the testimonie of the Emperor IVSTINIAN who writes the most Blessed Archbishops and Patriarckes which are he of ancient Rome he of Constantinople he of Alexandria he of Antioch and hee of Jerusalem and by the testimonie of saint GREGORIE the great who reckons fower Patriarckes besides the Pope when he saith in his Epistle to Natalis Bishop of Salona If one of the fower Patriarkes had committed such a disobedience it could not haue passed without a greeuous scandal And by the testimonie of the sixth generall Councell of Constantinople which saith to the Emperor CONSTANTINE Pogonat We praie your imperiall wisdome that the copies of this decree may be sent to the fiue Patriarchall Thrones And by the Testimonie of Balsamon who compares the Patriarckes to the Organes of the Senses and affirmes that as there are fiue Senses in the human Bodie so there are fiue Patriarckes in the Church The Patriarckes saith Salsamon are as the fiue senses in one onely and selfe-same head And againe Wee acknowledge the fiue most sacred Patriarckes for the onely head of the Bodie of all the Churches of God And indeede the seauenth Canon of the Councell of Nicea in saying Because the ancient Custome and tradition beares that the Bishop of Ierusalem be honored the Councell or daineth that he haue the next place of honor sauing the dignitie of his owne Metropolitan Doth it not euidently shew two things the one that the Sea whereof the Councell spake before this Canon had a preeminent ranke of honor both before the Bishop of Ierusalem and before all the other Seas of the Church And the other that the Bishop of Jerusalem had the next place of honor after them that is to saie followed them in order of ranke and precedencie and had place of all the metropolitans euen his owne to witt the Arbishop of Cesarea who was Metropolitan of Palestina but without anie Patriarchall Iurisdiction but contrariwise with an obligation to remaine subiect in the first instance to the Iurisdiction of the metropolitan of Palestina and by appeale to that of the Patriarke of Antioch Now there were but three Seas which preceded that of Ierusalem and after that of Ierusalem there were noe more Seas which had fixed places but all the other Primates and metropolitans changed their Seates according to the anterioritie or posterioritie of their promotion And consequentlie the intention of the Councell of Nicea was not to place in the rankes of Seas trulie Patriarchall that is to saie which had Patriarchall place and iurisdiction but onely the three Seas before named there and in the same ranke as they are there named to wit Rome Alexandria and Antioch as saint LEO the first protests to Anatolius Bishop of Constantinople in these wordes I am sorrie that thy charitie is fallen into this faulte to assaie to infring the most sacred constitutions of the canons of Nicea as if thou hadst wacht a time on purpose to make the Sea of Alexandria loose the priuiledge of the second honor and the Church of Antioch the proprietie of the third Dignitie And to this it contradicts not that the same Councell of Nicea saith speaking of the Sea of Antioch Likewise both in Antioch and in other prouinces the priuiledges to be preserued to the Churches For hee meanes by the other prouinces the Easterne prouinces which he would should be subiect to the Bishop of Antioch sauing the right of those who by reason of the too great distance or incommoditie of the waies had accustomed to take the ordination of their Metropolitans from their Synods which hath giuen subiect to Pope Innocent the first to write that by the Councell of Nicea the Bishop of Antioch was established not ouer a Prouince but ouer a Diocesse that is to saie according to the Stile of the ancient lawiers ouer a Bodie and a great number of Prouinces and to saint IEROM to saie that the Councell of Nicea had decreed that Antioch should be the Metropolitan of all the East And to Alexander Patriarke of Antioch to complaine that the Cyprians against the Canons of the Councell of Nicea ordained their Bishop without his permission And to the Cyprians contrariwise to protest that by the Canons of the Councell of Nicea the right of the ordination of their Bishops had bene preserued to them The true Patriarkes then ancient and originarie in regard of Iurisdiction were the onely three Seas of saint PETER Rome Alexandria and Antioch which were all three in some sorte one Sea as saint GREGORIE the great witnesseth to Eulogius Patriarke of Alexandria in these wordes Although said hee there be manie Apostles yet for principalitie the onely Sea of the prince of the Apostles hath obtained the authoritie which is in three places from one onelie for hee exalted the Sea wherein he vouchsafed to set vp his rect and end his present life he hath adorned the Sea to which he ordained the Euangelist his disciple and he hath established the Sea wherein he was resident seauen yeares although he were to depart from it which our Hincmarus long after repeated in these termes the Seas of the Roman Alexandrian and Antiochian Churches are one same Sea of the great Prince of the Apostles Peter And of this ternary number the reason was that saint PETER of whose authoritie and superintendencie wee will treate els where willing in his life time to cast the first foundations of the Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction which ought to be obserued after him and the other Apostles iudged that the easiest meanes to establish it was to settle the principall Seates in those places where the principall Tribunalls of the temporall Iurisdiction were constituted because of the correspondencie which the inferior Citties alreadie had to those Seates Now there were then three principall Citties Metropolitan and Capitall in the Empire bredd from the vnion of the Easterne Empire that is to saie the Monarchie of AlexaÌder of his Successors with the Empire of the west That of Alexandria which Dion Chrisostome calleth the second Cittie beneath the Sunne which was the Seate of the Empire of Egipt and of the other neighbour-Regions after conuerted into the prefecture of Egipt That of Antioch which Iosephus calls the third Cittie of the Roman world and which is intitled by saint Chrisostome the head and mother-Cittie of the East which was the head of the particular Empire of
to saie for the celebration of Prouinciall and nationall Synods for the correctioÌ of minor and particular causes for the confirmation either mediate or immediate of the Bishops of the same prouinces addeth for as much as this also is accustomed to the Bishop of Rome it is certaine that the intention of the couÌcell was not by that to square the Bishop of Alexandria by him of Rome in things that wét beyond the limitts and authoritie of Patriarchall iurisdictioÌ and concerned the iurisdictioÌ of the head of the Church and the gouernment of the vniuersall societie but in those things onely that were withim the bouÌdes and within the facultie of Patriarchall iurisdiction No more then when they measured the power that the other Prefects of the Empire had within the coÌpasse of their prouinces by the power that the prefects of the cittie of Rome had within the prouinces of his Prefecture they preteÌded not by that that in matters that wen forth by appeale from the other prouinces the cittie Prefecte as head of the Senate and Vicar to the Prince was not Superior to all the others nor that wheÌ in a nationall Councell they square out the power that the Archbishops haue ouer the Bishops of their prouinces to the modell of that which the Primate of the natioÌs hath as particular Archbishop ouer the Bishops of his quarter they preteÌd not by that that in things which goe beyoÌd the iurisdictioÌ of the prouinces regard the generall interest of the natioÌ the Primat should not be superior to the other Archbishops nor finallie wheÌ in a regiment of men of warre they measure the power that euery particular Captaine hath to commaund his company by the paterne and modell that the Campe-Master of the RegimeÌt hath ouer his they intend not by that in things which are not in the particular comaund of euerie companie but haue regard to the order the disposition and gouernemeÌt of the Regiment in generall the Campe-Master should not be superiour to all the other captaines For both before the Councell of Nicea when the Church-men of Alexandria would accuse Dionisius the Patriarke of Alexandria their Bishop who was the first Patriarke of the Church after the Pope they transported themselues saith Athanasius to Rome accused him before Dionisius Bishop of Rome presently after the Councell of Nicea when the councell of Antioch Sea of the third Patriarkeship had bene celebrated it was argued of nullitie because saith SOCRATES the Ecclesiasticall law forbad to rule the Churches whithout the sentence of the Bishop of Rome And when the same Councell of Antioch the other councells of the East had deposed S. ATHANAS Patriarke of Alexandria and Marcellus Primate of Ancyra in Galatia and Asclepas Bishop of Gaza in Palestina a cittie of the Patriarkeship of Antioch The Bishop of Rome saith Sozomene restored them euerie one to his Church because to him for the dignitie of his Sea appertained the care of all things And when the Councell of Sardica within twentie yeare of that of Nicea and holden for the Confirmation of that of Nicea and composed of the like or a greater number of Bishops theÌ that of Nicea and at which assisted the same Osius Bishop of Corduba the same saint A THANASIVS then Patriarke of Alexandria the same Protogenes Bishop of Sardica which had assisted at that of Nicea proceeded to the direction of ecclesiasticall causes it did not onely authorize the appeales from the Bishops of all the Earth to the Pope but also declared that it was a very good and conuenient thing that from all the Prouinces the Bishops should referre the affaires to their head that is to saie to the Sea of the Apostle PETER And wheÌ the Councell of Capua which the third Councell of Carthage calls a generall councell deputed Theophilus Patriarke of Alexandria because of the neighbourhood of his Patriarkship to examine the cause of Flauianus Patriarke of Antioch saint AMBROSE writ to him that after he had iudged it he must get the Pope to confirme his iudgement And when the generall councell of Ephesus passed to the cause of Iohn Patriarke of Antioch Iuuenall Bishop of IerusaleÌ said that the ancient custome bare that the Church of Antioch was alwaies gouerned by the Roman and the councell in the Bodie of it remitted the iudgement of the Patriarke of Antioch to the Pope And when Dioscorus Patriarke of Alexandria had in the false Councell of Ephesus condemned and deposed Flauianus Bishop of Constantinople Flauianus appealed froÌ him to the Pope and that saith the Emperor Valentinian following the custome of the Councells And when the Councell of Chalcedon disanulled the false Councell of Ephesus it was voted by Anatolius Bishop of Constantinople that of all the acts of that councell none should remaine in force except the creation of Maximus Patriarke of Antioch because the Pope hauing receiued him into his coÌmunion had iudged that he should gouerne the Church of Antioch wheÌ Theodoret Bishop of Cyre neighbour to Persia and one of the Subiects of the Patriarkship of Antioch who had bene deposed by the same couÌcell of Ephesus had froÌ it appealed to the Pope presented himselfe at the couÌcell of Chalcedon the senators to cause order to be obserued there commaunded he should come in for as much as the Pope had restored him to his Bishopricke And when the Popes Legates bare the first word in the Councell not onely they intitled the Pope the head of all the Churches but also when the Fathers of the councell in their Bodie sent their Relation to the Pope they intreated him as the head of the vniuersall Church Thou hast guided vs said they by the legats as the head doth the members And againe As in this which is for the ãâã we haue brought correspondencie to our head so thy Soueraigntie may fulfill in the behalfe of thie Children that which concernes decencie and they treated Dioscorus Patriarke of Alexandria as ghostly vassall to the Pope ãâã said they hath extended his felonie euen against him to whom the ãâã of the Vine hath by our Sauiour bene committed that is to saie against thy Holynesse Euident and manifest arguments that the Pope had two qualities distinct the one of Patriarke of the West and the other of Soueraigne Vicar of Christ and head of the vniuersall Church and that when the other Patriarkes were compared to him it was in qualitie of Patriarke of the West and not in the quality of Soueraigne Vicar of Christ and head of the vniuersall Church The second Solution is that the Councell of Nicea speakes of the Bishop of Alexandria with restriction and of the Pope without restriction from whence it is that the Senators assisting at the Councell of Chalcedon to cause order to be obserued there after they had heard the lecture of the sixth Canon of the Councell of
Bishop of Rome because of the dignitie of his Seate ãâã care of all thinges belonge is one and the same language or rather that this that Ruffinus saith here that the Bishop of Rome is to haue the care of the Suburbicary Churches and this that he saith elsewhere Rome by the grace of God is the head of all the Christrians is one and the same thing But graunt that Ruffinus by the word Churches Suburbicarie doth intend in generalll all the Churches of the prouinces subiect to the Empire of Rome nor in particular the onely Churches of the Cittie subiect to the Prouostship of Rome but intends the Churches of the Prouinces or Nations where the Metropolitans or Primats acknowledge the Pope immediatly without the intermedling of anie the Patriarks to wit the Churches of the Patriarkship of the west would that hinder that besides the immediate superintendencie that the Pope hath ouer the prouinces of his Patriarkship hee might not haue a mediate superintendencie ouer all the prouinces of the others Hemer if it be lawfull to compare thinges sacred to prophane doth not he teach vs that besides the Commaund Agamemnon had as a particular King ouer the compaines of his owne subiects and the other kings like him euerie one ouer their owne hee had yet beyond that as head and Captaine generall ouer the Armie of the Greekes the vniuersall authority and superintendencie ouer the other kinges and ouer their Companies And will not the aduersaries of the Pope haue it that the Prouost of the Cittie of Rome to whose temporall proportion they pretend to square the Popes spirituall authority besides the ordinarie iurisdiction of his Prouostship wherein they equall him to other Prouosts had besides in the first ages an other extraordinary iurisdiction by which as head of the Senate and Vicar of the Emperor he was superior to other Prouosts and iudged of the appeales of all the Prouinces And saint BASILL that great Archbishop of Cappadocia did not hee consider the Pope some tymes as Patriarch of the west where hee calls him the Corypheos of those of the west and sometymes as head of the vniuersall Church when he writes to those of the west Be it that you repute yourselfe head of the vniuersall Church the head cannot say to the feete you are not necessarie to me be it that you place yourselues in the ranke of the other members of the Church you cannot say to vs that are constituted in one same bodie with you you are not necessarie to me for that he vseth this disiunctiue particle be it it is not there to cast anie doubt but to distinguish the addresse of his speache into two branches whereof the one to witt be it that you repute yourself head of the vniuersail Church had regard to the Pope and the other to witt be it that you place yourselues in the ranke of the other members had regard to the other Bishops of the west And doth not hee himself reporte that Eustathius Bishop of Sebaste in Armenia hauing bene deposed by the Councell of Melitina in Armenia a Catholicke and orthodoxall Councell and hauing brought letters of restitution from Pope Liberius was receiued without forme of processe into the Councell of ãâã in Cappadocia And doth not saint IEROM who was priest of Antioch and creature to Paulinus the Bishop of Antioch and resident within the diuision of the Patriarkship of ãâã say What should the Churches of the East doe and those of Egipt and that of the Sea Apostolicke designing by the Churches of the Sea Apostolicke those which were subiect immediatly without acknowledging anie other Patriarke betweene to the Patriarkship of the Pope And by the Churches of Egipt those which answered to the Patriarkship of Alexandria by the Churches of the East those which were submitted to the Patriarkship of Antioch And yet for all that doth he not write to Pope Damasus about the contention of Vitalis Meletius and Paulinus Competitors in the Patriarkship of Antioch I am ioyned in communion with thy blessednesse that is to say with the Chaire of PETER I know the Church is built vpon that rocke And a little after I know not Vitalis I reiest Meletius I am ignorant of Paulinus whosoeuer gathers not with thee scatters That is to saie doth he not teach vs that the distinction of the Popes patriarkship from the other patriarkships hindred not the Popes superioritie ouer the others And did not Flauianus Archbishop of Constantinople write to Pope Leo Wee haue giuen aduertisment to your Holynesse of the excommunication of Eutyches that you may make his ãâã knowne to all the Bishops resident vnder your pietie And yet for all this did he not when Eutyches pretended to haue appealed to the Pope submitt his iudgemeÌt to that of the Pope And did not himselfe in the second Councell of Ephesus appeale to the Pope And Iohn the second and Anthimus and Menas and Iohn the fourth his successors did they not acknowledge and protest that they were subiect to the Pope And the Popes that came after Leo did not they depose Acacius and Anthimus Patriarkes of Constantinople and iudge by appeale the causes of John Athanasius subiects to the Patriarkes of Constantinople And did not the Pope S. GREGORIE the great call the Bishops of the West his Bishops If the causes said hee of the Bishops which are committed to me are treated by the religious Emperors by the intercessions of strangers miserable man that I am what doe I in this Church but that my Bishops dispise me and haue recourse to secular iudges against me I thaÌke God almightie for it and I impute it to my sinnes Yet did not he saie of all the Bishops in generall If there be anie fault in the Bishops I know noe Bishop but is subiect to the Sea Apostolicke And Iulian the former who liued 1050. yeares past did he not turne the hundred thirtith one new coÌstitution into these words yet more rawe theÌ those of Ruffinus That the Bishop of the first Iustinianea should haue the same right ouer the Bishops subiect to him as the Bishop of Rome had ouer the Bishops submitted to him And yet by this doth he pretend to equall the Bishop of the first Iustinianea to the Pope or to exempt him and his Bishops from the Popes iurisdiction Nothing lesse but by the Bishops submitted to the Pope he intended the Bishops submitted immediately to the Pope without the interposition of other Patriarks as it appeares both by the originall greeke of the law which beares this We ordaine that in all prouinces subiect to him he holde the place of the Sea Apostolicle of Rome following the things defined by the most holie Pope Vigilius And by the lawe of the same Iustinian to Epiphanius which saith We will suffer nothing to passe concerning the state of the holy Churches which shall not be also referred
stranger askes an hereticke where they assemble to communicate in the Catholicke Church none of them dares to shew his Temple or his howse And the reason the title of catholick was not an allurement wherewith heretickes drewe ignorant persons to them but the firme bond by which the true Church drewe to her and retained in her communion all the true faithfull called to the hope of life eternall and amongst other this Eágle of doctors S. AVGVSTINE who saith That I omitt this sincere wisedome which you beleeue not to be in the catholicke church There be manie other reasons which doe most iustlie retaine me in her lappe the consent of people and nations retaines me the authoritie begunn by miracles ãâã by hope increased by charitie confirmed by antiquitie retaines me the succession of Prelates euen from the Sea of Peter to whom our lord committed his sheepe to be fedd after his resurrection vntill the present Bishop detaines me And finallie the verie name of Catholicke retaines me And a little after these so manie and so great most deare bondes of the Christian name doe iustlie detaine faithfull men in the Catholick Church although for the slownes of our vnderstanding of the defect of meritts in our liues truth doth not yet shew her else with manifest euidence Of the cases wherein the Communion in vow with the Catholick Church may be imputed as actuall CHAP. XV. The continuance of the Kinges answere BVT this notable calamitie is particular to the last times whereto wee are arriued that the Catholick Church which must bee communicated with either reallie and by effect or at the least voluntarily and in vowe is ãâã illustrious at this daie then antiently she was and lesse exposed to the view of men and more subiect to bee contested THE REPLIE ARISTOTLE that great Philosopher which steeped his pen say the Greekes in sece in steede of inke teacheth vs that the cittie is before the cittizen to witt not in prioritie of time for a coÌmon-weale can not be without a cittizen but in prioritie of nature that is to saie that the being of the cittizen dependes from that of the cittie and not the being of the cittie from that of the cittizen from whence it appeares that the forme that giues being in the first place to the cittie and then by participation to the cittizen must reside in the cittie in the most perfect manner that it can reside and not in the most imperfect And soe although it suffice to preserue to a cittizen the being of a cittizeÌ that in default of being able to participate actuallie in the communion of the common wealth as when he is hindred by anie locall obstacle either of beeing in a strange prison or remayning in a strange countrie he commnicate there habituallie and in desire which is an imperfect manner of communicating it sufficeth not that the communion where by the common wealth is framed and preserued in being should be a simple habituall communion and in vowe but it is necessarie that it should be a true and actuall communion For when a Cittizen is hindred by anie locall impossibilitie from communicating actuallie with his Common wealth he leaues not to preserue the being of a cittizen prouided that hee communicate therewith habituallie that is to saie in vowe and in desire and communicate not in a politicke communion with anie contrarie societie But when the communion of the bodie of a common-wealth comes to be dispersed and that there is noe more anie comerce or actuall communion in the estate then the common wealth is extinct and hath noe more being and the communion that is habituall and in desire of the cittizens dispersed and noe more communicating one with an other cannot preserue it Now euen that ought to be said of the Church whereof the Psalmist singes propheticallie Hierusalem which is built as a cittie whose participatioÌ is in vnitie to witt that although the coÌmunion habituall and in vow sussice for a particular person in case of impossibilitie for the actuall to make him imputatiuelie a member of the Church that is to saie to cause this imperfect communion to serue him to saluation in default of the other Neuerthelesse the Church cannot be framed nor preserued in the beeing of a Church by a communion only habituall and in vowe but by a reall and actuall communion The which as soone as it comes wholie to cease and to perishe in the Church the Church perisheth and ceaseth to be And therefore this distinction of actuall communion and communion in vowe serues well to shewe that anie one may be imputatiuelie in the Church without participating actuallie in the visible communion of the Church prouided that this defect come from an imposibilitie of participating therein actualie but not to shew that the bodie of the Church can subsist and preserue the being and true title of a Church without visible and actuall communion For contrariwise that this imperfect manner of being in the Church serues to his saluation that is hindred by anie locall obstacle from being able to be there actually it is because the true and actuall communion which as in the Church is imputed to him by the desire that he hath to participate thereof which could not be imputed to him if it were not reallie some where and besides this desire of participation must be stript from all other impediments sauing that which proceedes from loand corporall imposibilities in such sort as all those which are not withheld by distance of place or other like obstacle ineuitable to them from participating in the actuall communion of the Church cannot be said to communicate there in vow nor to be there imputatiuely For nothing dispenceth with men for communicating with the Catholicke Church onely in vow and in will and not reallie and by effect if it be not the exclusion of time and place and besides in the article of death noe more then anie thing can excuse a man from being baptised onelie in vow and in will and not reallie and by effect but the condition of being excluded by the impossibilitie of time and of place and also in the Article of death from the meanes how to be baptised And because when the obstacle proceedes from externall impediments onely that if there were local or temporall commoditie he that communicates with the Church in vowe would communicate therewith actuallie this desire of communion may be imputed for true communion and called a communion in vow But when the obstacle proceedes from internall impediments from him that pretendes to communicate there in vow as of repugnancie to the beleefe and to the discipline and the lawes vnder the conditions whereof the Catholick Church receiues into her communion those that she receaues thereinto in such sort as all corporall obstacles being taken awaie and hee being in place where hee may assist at the Catholicke Church communicate with her hee will not doe it this conditionall
in our owne wordes or in the wordes of her head our Lord Iesus Christ I thinke wee ought rather to seeke her in his word from him that is truth and well knowes his owne Bodie And a while after I would not haue the Church demonstrated by humane instructions but by diuine or acles And againe Let vs then seeke her in the canonicall scriptures He did not intend that to seeke the Church in the scriptures betweene the Catholicks and the Donatists was to seeke the doctrine of the Church in the scriptures that is to saie to examin by the scriptures the point of doctrine which was contested betweene the Church and the Donatists but to seeke the markes and externall and visible characters of the Church in the scriptures to the end that the Church being discerned by those markes the truth of the doctrine contested might be after knowne by the disposition of the Church For the vnderstanding whereof it must be noted that there were two questions betweene the Catholickes and the Donatistes the one of the Bodie of the Church to know on what party either of the Catholickes or of them the true societie of the Church resided The other of the doctrine of the Church to witt the which they or the Catholickes held the true doctrine concerning the Baptisme of heretickes The first question then which is of the Bodie of the Church saint AVGVSTINE wills it should be iudged by the scripture alone for as much as in the precise controuersie wherein the question was which of the two societies was the Church the voice of the true Church cannot be discerned But the second question which is that of the doctrine contested betweene the Catholicks and the Donatists he would haue it decided by the onlie deposition of the Church as a faith full guardian and depositarie of the Apostolicke tradition To seeke then according to saint AVGVSTINE betweene the Catholickes and the Donatists the Church in the Scriptures was not to search the doctrine of the Church in the contentious points of Faith in the Scripture but to seeke the visible markes and notes by which the Church ought to be exteriorly discerned in the Scripture For the Donatists to proue that their Church was the true Church and not the Catholicke Church alleadged human actes and human proofes to witt that the Catholicke Church had receaued into her communion without anie expiation and purgation of preceding pennance those that had deliured the holie Bookes to be burnt and had sacrificed to the false Gods in the time of persecution and therfore that she was polluted with their contagion and was perished And then that the onely faction of Donatus which had remained pure from this contagion was the true Church And saint AVGVSTINE contrariwise saith that against all these words which were human proofes and words for if he that ordained Cecilianus had deliuered vp the holy Bookes in persecution time it was a thing to be proued by human testimonies that is to saie by actes of notaries and clerkes euen prophane the Catholickes had the wordes of Christ wherein the workes of the Church were described to witt that she ought to be visible eminent vniuersall perpetuall and that to examin the Church according to these markes it was to seeke her in the words of Christ and to examine her according to the production of the Donatists it was to seeke her in humane wordes What are saith hee our words wherein wee must not seeke her c. All that wee obiect one against an other of the deliuerie of the holie Bookes of the sacrificing to Jdolls and of the persecutions those are our wordes And a while after I would not that the Church should be demonstrated by human instructions but by diuine oracles for if the holse Scriptures haue designed the Church to be in Africa alone and in a smalle number of Roman inhabitants making their conuenticles in Rockes and mount ãâã and in the howse and territorie of a certaine Spanish Ladie then whatsoeuer records can be produced there are none but the Donatists that haue the Church If the Scripture assigne it to a little number of Mauritanians in the ãâã prouince you must goe to the Rogatists If in a smalle troupe of Bizacenians and Tripolitans prouincialls the Maximinianists haue mett with her If those of the East alone wee must seeke her amongst the Arrians Macedonians Eunomians and others if there be others for who can number the heresies as proper and particular of euerie particular Prouince But if by the diuine and most certaine testimonies of the Canonicall scriptures she be designed in all nations whatsoeuer they produce and whensoeuer it be produced by those that saie there is Christ if wee be ãâã let vs ãâã heare the voice of our Shepheard saying beleeue them not For euerie one of those is not to be found but this which is ouer all is to bee found in the selfe same places where the others are And therefore lett vs seeke her in the holie Canonicall scriptures The places the of the scripture where S. AVGVSTINE would haue the Donatists to seeke the Church are these In thy seede all the nations vpon the earth shal be blessed The children of the forsaken shal be in ãâã ãâã number then those of her that hath a husband This Ghospell must be declared ouer the whole world and then the end shall bee I am with you to the consummation of ages And other such like And the arguments that he bringes to manifest the Church by the Scriptures are these The cittie of God saith he hath this for a certaine marke that she cannot be hidden she is theÌ knowne to all nations the sect of Donatus is vnknowne to manie nations then that is not shee Item You haue the Church which ought to be spread ouer all and to growe till the haruest You haue the Cittie whereof hee that built it hath said the Cittie built vpon the mountaine cannot be hidd It is she then that is most euident not in anie one part of the world but ouer all And other the like But as for the point of doctrine I saie againe and I saie it boldlie that saint AVGVSTINE neuer intended either that the question of the Church betweene the Catholiques and the Donatists should be tryed by the doctrine nor that the article of the doctrine contested betweene theÌ should be decided by scripture but that the point of the Church should be examined by the externall and visible markes that of the externall and visible markes by the Scripture and the difference of doctrine by the reporte of the Church that is to saie by the tradition of the Apostles is to denie that in disputatioÌs against other heresies wheÌ pointes are handled which are heere esteemed to be expresselie treated of by the canonicall Scriptures but that hee often called vpon their iudgment For who doubtes but that where the Scripture is cleere
speaking of the Bishops of the hereticks ' It is vnlawfull that they should make ministers who are none themselues Whereby they doe not intend that the Bishops of hereticks who haue drawne their character from the Church be not Bishops as for the impression of the character but that they are none as for the imposition of the authoritie By meanes whereof the English Bishops can pretend noe Episcopall succession from the Church of the antient Fathers as for the succession of authoritie for as much as if the Catholicke Church which was in England and in other places when king Henry the eigth came to the crowne were not the true Catholicke Church the Bishops of the Catholicke communion were not true and lawfull Bishops as concerning authoritie but only as concerning the character and by consequence neither had themselues the succession of Episcopall authoritie nor could transmitt it to those that haue taken it from them By what right saith sainct ATHANASIVS speaking of the Arrians can they be Bishops if they haue bene ordained by those men which themselues doe slander with heresie And contrariwise if the Church that was at the beginning of King Henry the eigth throughout Europe and in manie other partes of the world were the true Church this selfe-same Church hauing disannulled the episcopall authoritie in those from whom the English at this daie pretend to haue had their mission and hauing deposed and anathematized them they had no more lawfull episcopall authoritie by consequeÌce could not coÌferr it to others And besides if that Church were the true Church the English Church at this daie which is gone out from her communion can not be so nor preserue in her the succession of Episcopall authoritie which cannot be transferred out of the Church And for the succession of the character the English according to their doctrine can in noe secte pretend to it for they hold not if they would hold they cannot doe it for as much as they make profession to agree in the faith in the sacraments with the Protestants of France that order conferrs anie other thing then authoritie nor that it imprints anie sacramentall character which is that only which in mission can be transferred giuen out of the Church And so if by their doctrine they could haue the succession of the character they are fallen froÌ the right of making vse thereof For they communicate with the Puritans of France hold their sheepe for true sheepe and so their pastors for true pastors and for their colleagues and fellowe bretheren Now the ministers of France are not ordained by anie Bishops and so are noe Bishops For hee saith sainct CYPRIAN cannot be a Bishop who succeeding no bodie hath bene ordained of himselfe And not being Bishops haue noe Church since as saith the same sainct CYPRIAN The Church is in the Bishop and the Bishop in the Church and who is not with the Bishop is not in the Church By meanes whereof the English which communicate with them and hold them for their colleagues and fellowe bretheren inuolue themselues into the crime and contagion of all their ecclesiasticall defects and consequentlie fall from all the rightes whereof those with whom they communicate are depriued I add to that that to shew a Church to be successiuelie and representatiuely the antient Catholicke Church it sufficeth not to shew that a part of that Church deriueth the personall successioÌ of her Bishops from the missioÌ of the antien Catholicke Church but all the Church that will preteÌd the inheritaÌce successioÌ of the tittle of catholike must haue the successio of her Bishops deriued froÌ the ãâã of the antieÌt catholick Church For the Bishops Sea is one as saith S CYPRIAN whereof euerie one holdes his portioÌ vndiuidedly And elsewhere The Church is one bound togeather by the cement of Bishops adhering the one to the other Now the English doe not pretend alone to coÌstitute all the coÌmunion of their Church nor to be all the true and pure visible Catholicke Church but doe comprehend into their communion the Protestantes of France as partes of the Bodie of their Church And therefore they canot saie that the Catholicke Church to which they adhere and wherewith they communicate to bee by succession and personall representation the same visible Catholicke Church which was in the time of the fowre first CouÌcells CoÌtrariwise from this that the other partes of the communion to which the English Church adheres communicate not by succession of persons with the mission of the antient Catholicke Church and consequently are at the least schismatikes it issues that the English which communicate with them cannot coÌmunicate with the antient Catholicke Church for none except in error of fact can communicate with the Catholicke Church and with Schismatickes together And finallie I saie that since in all questions of Schismes wee must mount vp to the originall following these wordes of saint AVGVSTINE to the Donatists The question betweene you and vs is where the Church of God should be wee must then begin at the originall why haue you made a schisme The accompt that the English Church will yeeld of the succession of her Bishops ought to be brought to the originall of the Schisme Now therevpon I will aske his Maiestie where the first after the rising vp of Luther and Caluin began in England to separate themselues from the Catholicke Church to imbrace other forme of Religion which they now hold where was this Societie wherein there was together to be found both the succession of Bishops vninterrupted from the first and the succession of doctrine For to goe out from the Church then intituled Catholicke they must range themselues to an other Church which must haue true doctrine and true ministrie by adherence ad communion to the which they might preserue the title of Catholicke and transmitt it to those that should come after them Now where was then this Societie indued with the true doctrine and the true succession of Bishops when the English first separated themselues from the Church intituled Catholike For I will not inquire who is the first from whom she saith that the English Bishops can shew their vninterrupted succession if it be not S AVGVSTIN Bishop of Canterburie whom S. GREGORIE sent thither Nor will I demaund for the preaching of what doctrine S. GREGORIE sent him thither if it were not for the preaching of the same doctrine that was there before the last separation Of the succession of doctrine CHAP. XXIII The continuance of the Kings answere IF the succession of doctrine bee demaunded lett vs mako triall of it THE REPLIE THERE is great difference betweene similitude of doctrine and succession of doctrine Similitude of doctrine is a simple reporte of agreement betweene one doctrine an other but the succession of doctrine properly takeÌ is a deriuation of doctrine continued by a perpetuall vnintermitted chine of teachers and persons taught And
drawne from this example for the desertion of the Catholicke Church God saith saint AVGVSTINE bad that these tribes should be separated not to diuide the Religion but the Kingdome and that ãâã this meanes vengeance might be taken vpon the Kingdome of Iuda But for as much as the ordinarie refuge of those that separate themselues from vs is to haue recourse to the Symptomes of the Iewish people and to inferr from thence the same conclusions of possibilitie of errour and licence of separation for the Christian Church and that to contradict this wee haue not onely promised to shew that there neuer happened anie accident to the visible Iewish Church wherefore they either ought or could separate themselues from her communion but also that if anie such thing had happened the coÌsequence thereof could not bee applied to the Christian Church which is grounded vpon other contracts and vpon other prerogatiues It is best for vs here to quitt vs of our promise and to search the question to the bottome both concerning the Thesis and the Hypothesis In regard then of the Thesis the aduersaries ãâã Catholick religion set this foundation that the Church in all times is subiect to the same Symptomes and to the same accidents there vpon argue thus The visible Church hath had three periods the first vnder nature the second vnder the lawe and the third vnder Grace Now vnder the two first she hath bene corrupted and consequeÌtly vnder the third she may be soe Which is as if one should saie there are three periods in the progresse of the generation of man The first during the which man liues onlie the life of plantes and is yet touched with noe other instinct then simple appetite which the Philosophers call naturall common to herbes aud trees which seemes to correspond to the condition of the first period of the Church wherein she had yet noe lawe or rule but the simple lawe of nature The second during which he liues an animated and sensitiue life which is proportioned to the state of the people of the Jewes because as man in this second progresse harh noe other knowing facultie but that of the sence which is common to him with beastes so all the obiects which were manifestlie propounded to the Iewes and all the promises which were literallie made to them were of sensible thinges And the last wherein man takes possession of the life trulie human and reasonable and is adorned and enobled with intellectuall knowledge which hath analogy with the state of the ChristiaÌ Church where the faithfull are consecrated to God by a perfect lawfull forme of religion and sticke noe longer in terrestriall and materiall obiectes but exalting their thoughtes and their hopes doe nourish intertaine themselues with spirituall and incorruptible promises Now vnder the first and second of those periods the imperfect soule of man which wee call an Embricn is subiect to perish corruptible and mortall the soule of man therefore vnder the third period is not incorruptible immortall For to preduce for a reason of exception and dissimilitude that the forme of a man during all the three periods of this progresse is not one selfe same forme the reason of the ãâã is void for as much as the diuersitie of Gods promises where it so falls out hath noe lesse power to varie the Symptomes of the Church during the three periods of her being then the diuersity of formes to varie the conditions which accompanie the three periods of the generation of man Now that the promises made to the Church vnder the last period which hath bene establisht as S. PAVL saith vpon better promises then the former be wholie different both in eminencie perpetuitie from those that haue bene made to her vnder the two first what Christian can call it in question God first in regard of eminencie and multitude did he not saie to Abraham in thy seede that is to saie as S. PAVL expoundes it in Christ shall all generations be blessed And againe thy seede shal be as the starrs of heauen and as the sands of the Sea And Aggeus describing the future estate of the Church vnder the Enigma of the re-edification of the temple doth hee not saie The glorie of this last howse shall be much greater then that of the first And the Spouse in the canticles speaking of the Jewish Church doth she not singe our Sister is little and she hath yet noe breasts that ãâã to saie is not yet in state to bringe forth and nurse vp children And doth not ãâã crie out Reioyce thou barren woman that bearest not children and thou that art no mother cast forth cryes of ioy For the children of the forsaken shall be much more in number then hers that hath a husband And a while after Lengthen the cords of thy pauillions and settle their posts for thou shalt penetrate on the right band and on the left and thy seede shall inheritt the nations And againe Cast thine eyes about thee and behold all these are assembled for thee they are come for thee thy sonns shall come from farr and thy daughters shall be borne vpon shoulders And doth not S. AVGVSTINE disputing against the Donatists crie out Feare you ãâã ãâã the Jews should aske you where is that accomplished that your Paul hath ãâã of your Church reioyce thou barren woeman that thou bearest not and cast out cryes of ioy that thou hast noe children for the children of the forsaken are more in number then hers that hath a husband Preserring the multitude of the Christians before that of Iewes if your little number be the Church of Christ. And S. HIEROME against the Luciferians Where are these too Religious or rather too prophane persons that affirme there are more Synagogues then Churches And therefore doth not the same S. AVGVSTINE elegantlie compare the historie of the different times of the Church to that of the birth of Iacob for as much that as Jacob in his Birth thrust forth first one arme and then his head and then all his Bodie so the Church before she was borne first thrust forth one arme that is to saie a little part of her societie which was the Synagogue and then her head which is Christ and then all her Bodie which is the Christian Church But against that the aduersaries of the multitude of the Church alleadge that our Lord calls his Church A little flocke coÌmauÌds to enter into the straight gate it is true but it makes nothing for them for that our Lord calls his Church a little Flocke it is in regarde of her birth at the time where of she was the least the basest and most contemptible of all societies and not in regard of her progresse which himselfe compareth to that of a graine of mustard-seede which being at the beginning the least of all seedes becomes in the increase the greatest of all plantes We
in as high fame As was the first inuentour of the same Nor can your worke bee any whit disgrac't By those who think it done with too much ãâã For had it beene in Michaell Angells power To perfect his great iudgment in one hower Hee who for that should valew it the lesse His owne weake iudgment would therein expresse And though wee in a common Prouerb fay That Rome was not built all vp in one day Yet could wee see a Citty great as Rome In all her ãâã in one minute come To such perfection wee might more expresse Our wonders and not make the glory lesse So I conclude with modest truth and dare All their free Censures who can but compare And whosoere shall try may spend his Age Ere in your whole work hee shall mend one Page A TABLE OF THE TITLES AND SVMMARIES OF THE CHAPTERS CONTAYNED IN THESE FOWER FIRST BOOKES OF THE REPLIE TO THE MOST EXCELLENT KING OF GREAT BRITAINE THE FIRST BOOKE CHAP. I. OF the vse of the word Cathòlicke fol. 13. II. Of the conditions of the Catholicke Church 17 III. Of the proceeding of the fathers for the preseruation of the vnitie of the Church 21 IV. Of the necessitie of communicating with the Catholicke Church 23 V. Of the markes of the Church 25 VI From what places of the voyce of the Shepheard the markes of the Church ought to be taken 32 VII Of the examples which we haue from the practise of the Apostles 35 VIII Of the definition of the Church and in what vnion it consists 36 IX Of the vnion of the predestinate and by way of adiunction of the visibilitie or inuisibilitie of the Church 39 X. Of the vnitie of eternall faith 48 XI Of other inuisible vnions 51 XII Of the knowledge that the Predestinate haue of their predestination 52 XIII Of the inequalitie of these two phrases to communicate with the Catholick Church and to communicate with some member of the Church departing from the rule of faith 55 XIV How to vnderstand the words of S. Gregory NazianZene there is a sacred warre 57 XV. Of the pretended precepts to goe forth from the visible communion of the Church 58 XVI Of the consequence of the places alledged by the Fathers for the authoritie of the Catholick Church 68 XUII. Of the distinction of the heretickes and schismatickes 69 XVIII Of the agreement of the auncient Catholicke Church with the moderne 70 XIX Of the conformitie or inconformitie of the sence wherein the word Catholick hath been common to the auncient Catholick Church and to the moderne 74 XX Of the comparison of the Church with the citie built vpon a mountaine 76 XXI Of the conformitie or inconformitie of the Donatists and Protestants in the question of the Church 77 XXII Of the extent of the ancient Catholick Church and the moderne 78 78 XXIII Of the communion that the Bishops of the East had by letters with those of the west 79 XXIV Of these words of the constitution of S. Clement the vniuersall Episcopate is committed to Bishops 80 XXV Of the comparison of the Pope with other Bishops 81 XXVI Of formed letters 113 XXVII Of pretended excommunications attempted against the Pope 116 THE SECOND BOOKE CHAP. I. OF Councells 125 II. Of the effect of Councells for the visibilitie of the Church 127 III. Of the comparison of the Pope with the other Patriarkes 128 IV. Of the difficulties of Scripture concerning the time of S. Peters ãâã at Antioch and at Rome 137 V. Of the Canon of the Councell of Nicea touching the gouernment of the Patriarches 147 VI. Of the addition of the word Churches suburbicarie made by Ruffinus in the Latine translation of the Councell of Nicea 161 VII Of the claime of the Bishops of Constantinople 178 VIII Of the order of sitting in the Councell of Nicea 204 IX Of the order of the sittings in the first Councell of Ephesus 217 X. Of the order of the sittings in the second Councell of Ephesus 219 XI Of the order of sittings in the Councell of Calcedon 220 XII Of the order of the sittings of the fifth Councell of Constantinople 222 XIII Of the order of sitting in the sixt Councell of Carthage 229 XIV Of the order of the sittings in the Councell of Aquilea 231 XV. Of the calling of Councells 232 THE THIRD BOOKE CHAP. I. OF Appeales 244 II. Of the opposition of sainct Ireneus to Pope Uictor 249 III. Of the opposition of S. Cyprian 251 IV. Of the commission of the Emperor Constantine the great for the iudgment of Cecilianus Archbishop of Carthage 264 V. Of the decree of the Mileuitan Councell concerning the beyond-sea Appeales 273 VI. Of the order and distinction of the Councell of Carthage 281 VII Of the African Councell 309 VIII Whether the Latine edition of the African Canons be more faithfull then the Greeke rapsodie 315 IX Of the difficultie touching the Epistles that are at the end of the African Councell 326 X. Of the question of Appeales treated off in the sixt Councell of Carthage 329 XI Of the Councell of Sardica 348 THE FOVRTH BOOKE CHAP. I. THE Estate of the Easterne Church 376 II. What the deuision of the Empire hath wrought to the diuision of the Church 378 III. Of the interpretation of those words Thou art Peter and vppon this Rock I will build my Church 379 IV. Of the indiuisibilitie of the Church 398 U. Of the effect that diuision brings to the Church 399 VI. Of the pretended corruption of the Church 400 VII Of the exclusioÌ of hereticks froÌ the bodie of the Catholick Church 402 VIII Of the qualitie wherein the Catholicke Church attributes to herself the name of whole 410 IX Of the sence where in the Roman Church is called Catholick 411 X. Of the causes wherefore the Roman Church hath cutt off the rest from her communion 413 XI Of the sence wherein the Hereticks belong not to the Catholick Church ibid. XII Of the proceeding of other sects 414 XIII Of the perswasion that other sects pretend to haue of the truth of their Church by scriptures ibid. XIV Of the sence wherein Hereticks haue disputed the word Catholicke 415 XV. Of the cases wherein the communion in vow with the Catholick Church may be imputed as actuall 417 XVI Of the equiuocation of termes diminutiues imployed for negatiues 419 XVII Of the authoritie of the worke iutituled imperfect 422 XVIII Of the vnderstanding of these words of sainct Augustine To seeke the Church in the words of Christ. 423 XIX Of the vnderstanding of the words of sainct Chrisostome in the thirtie third Homelie vpon the Acts. 427 XX. Of the rules to iudge admitted by sainct Chrysostome and sainct Augustine 429 XXI Of the application of the Thesis of this obseruation to his Hipothesis 430 XXII Of the personall succession of the Bishops 431 XXIII Of the succession of doctrine 434 XXIV Of the holding of a Councell 436 XXV Of the reduction of the disputation to
shall remaine trulie vniuersall and Catholicke that the most eminent Fathers of the times of the fowre first Councells haue taught in seuerall regions of the earth and against which none except some persons noted for dissention from the Church hath resisted or that the Fathers of those ages doe testifie to haue bin beleeued and practised by the whole Church in their times And that shall remaine trulie antient and Apostolicke that the Fathers of those ages doe testisie to haue bin obserued by the whole Church not as a thing sprung vp in their time but as a thing deriued downe to them either from the immemorial succession of former ages or from the expresse tradition of the Apostles For these thinges hauing bin holden vniuersallie by the Catholicke Church in the time of the first fowre Councells they could haue noe other originall but from an vniuersall authoritie for as much as in the Catholicke Church which did then so strictlie obserue the rule mentioned by Saint Vincentius Lirinensis of opposing vniuersalitie to particularitie a doctrine or obseruation from a particular beginning could not be slipt in aÌd spread into an vniforme and vniuersall beleefe aÌd Custome through all partes of the Earth and principallie soe as the Fathers that were next after these vniuersall innouations could not perceiue it but it must needes be that all that was then vniuersallie obserued in the Church must haue come from an vniuersall beginning Now there were in those ages according to the beleefe of your ministers but two beginnings of vniuersall authoritie in the Church to wit either the Apostles or the generall Councells for they Will not yeild that the Sea Apostolicke had then anie vniversall authoritie And therefore whatsoeuer was vniuersallie and vniformly obserued in the Church by all the Prouinces of the Earth in the time of the first fowre generall Councells and had not begun in that time but had bin before practised that is to saie before there had bin anie generall Councell in the Church must necessarilie haue bin from the tradition of the Apostles following these rules of S. Augustin Those thinges said hee which we obserue not by writeing but by tradition which are kept ouer all the extent of the earth must be vnderstood to haue bin retained from the appointemeÌt and institution either of the Apostles themselues or from the generall Councells whose authoritie is most wholsome in the Church And elsewhere what custome soeuer men looking vpward can not discerne to haue bene instituted by those of later times is rightlie beleeued to haue bin instituted by the Apostles and there are manie such which would bee too longe to repeate And againe If anie one herein seeke for diuine authoritie that which the vniuersall Church obserues and which hath not bin instituted by the Councells but hath alwaies bin held is iustly beleeued not to haue bin giuen by tradition but by Apostolicall authoritie c. Which Rules of S. Augustin if they haue place in those things which the Fathers of the time of the first fowre Councells testifie to haue bin obserued iu the Church before the fowre first Councells how much more ought they to haue it in those things that the same Fathers affirme not in termes equiualent but expresslie to haue bin instituted and ordained by the Apostles These fiue obseruations then made vpon the theses I will saie to passe vnto the hypothesis that your ministers to whose societie his Maiestie outwardlie adheres are so farr from holding all the same thinges that the Fathers haue beleeued and practised as necessarie to Saluation that in the only Synaxis or Church Lirurgie which is the Seale of Ecclesiasticall Communion the fowre principall thinges for which they haue seperated themselues from vs which are the reall presence of the Bodie of Christ in the Sacrament the Oblation of the Sacrifice of the Eucharist prayer and oblation for the dead and the prayers of the Saints the Fathers haue all vniuersallie and vniformely beleeued holden and practised as things necessarie but in different kindes of necessitie vnto saluation By which meanes if your ministers had bene in the time of the Fathers as ãâã haue for these thinges renounced our Seruice and our Communion so must they for the same causes haue renounced the Seruice and Communion of the Fathers and Consequently the title and Societie of the Catholicke Church I haue said the reall presence of the Bodie of Christ in the Sacrament not but that I could haue gone farther and said the Substantiall transition of the Sacrament into the Bodie of Christ which wee call transubstantiation but I haue been content to saie the reall presence because it is not precisely and particularlie vpon the transubstantiation but vpon the reall presence of the Bodie of Christ in the Sacrament that we ground the importance and necessitie of this Sacrament to Saluation to witt the Communion and Substantiall vnion to the Bodie of Christ which S. Cyrill calls the knott of our vnion with god Nor is it particularly and precisely vpon transubstantiation but vpon the reall presence that the two inconueniences depend for which your ministers in this article seperate themselues from our Lyturgies which are one the adoration of the Bodie of Christ in the SacrameÌt which they will haue to be only sought and adored in heauen and the other the pretended distraction of the vnitie of the Bodie of Christ by existence in manie places in the Sacrament Neither haue I spocken of the prerogatiue of the Roman Church which all the Fathers haue holden for the center and roote of Episcopall vnitie and of Ecclesiasticall Communion because I will beleeue you are sufficientlie read in antiquitie to knowe that the first Fathers Councells and Christian Emperors haue perpetuallie granted therevnto the primacie and supereminent ouersight ouer all religions and ecclesiasticall things which is all that the church exacts as a point of Faith from their confession that enter into her communion to the end to discerne her societie from that of the Greekes and other complices of their Sect wich haue deuided themselues for some ages from the visible and ministeriall head of the Church These fowre points then which are the principall Springes of our dissention and which being agreed vpon it would be easie for vs to agree vpon the rest I saye that the Fathers of the time of the fowre first Councels haue all holden and practised as necessary to Saluation though with diuers kindes of necessitie The reall Presence of the Bodie of Christ and the oblation of the sacrifice they haue holden as necessary with necessitie of meanes for the Bodie of the Church absolutely and for euery particuler person conditionnallie Prayer and oblation for the dead they haue holden as necessarie by necessitie of meanes for those for whom it is done that soe their deliuerace from temporall paines which remaine after this life for sinne coÌmitted after baptisme aÌd for which thy haue not done such penances
as it hath pleased God whollie to accept may be hastned by the prayers and sacrifices of the Church and necessarie with necessitie of precept and to exercise christian charitie and pietie both to the Church that offers them and to the ministers and Pastors by whom she offers them The prayer of the Saintes they haue holden as necessarie to the bodie of the Church and to the ministers by whoÌ they are made with necessitie of precept to exercise the commerce betweene the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant and to particular persons out of the offices of the Church and in their priuate deuotions not neeessary with necessitie of act but only profitable that they may the more easilie obtaine pardon for their sinnes by the concourse of their prayers who are alreadie in the per fect and assured possession of the grace of God but necessary to them and all others with nessitie of approbation that is to saie they are obliged not to contradict them and not to condemne the custome and doctrine of the Church in that article and not to separate themselues from her vpon this occasion vnder paine of falling into Anathema and to be holden for heretickes All which things I will not now stand to proue least I make a Booke of a letter but I doe oblige myselfe to iustifie them when soeuer you shall desire it and to make it appeare both by the vnanimous consent of the Fathers that haue flourished in the time of the first fowre councel's and by the formes which remaine to vs in their writings of the ancient Church Seruice that all the Catholicke Church of their times hath vninersallie and vniformely beleeued holden and practised them throughout all the regions and prouinces of the earth I oblige myself I saie to make it appeare to you that she hath holden these fower thinges in the same sence and in the same forme and for the same end as our Lyturgies are and not as obseruations that then sprung vp but as things that the same Fathers testified to haue bene beleeued and practised from all antiquitie and to be deriued to them by an vninterrupted continuance from the tradition or approbation of the Apostles Soe as they cannot renounce the Communion of our Church vnder pretence of anie of these fowre points without renouÌcing the Communion of the ancient catholick Church and consequently the inheritance of saluation and that by authors and testimonies all able to abide the touch as you know I am curious to make vse of noe other and with cleare and ingenuous answeres to all obiections collected out of the Fathers of the same ages or of ages before them A thing that will be the more easie for me because the proofes that wee will avouch out of the Fathers are proofes which containe in expresse termes the affirmatiue of what wee saie whereas our aduersaries cannot finde one only passage which containes in expresse terme the negatiue but only in termes from whence they pretend to inferr it by consequence and which at a iust tribunall would not merit so much as to be heard For who knowes not that it is too great an iniustice to alleadge consequences from passages and euen those euill interpreted and misvnderstood and in whose illation there is alwaies some paralogisme hidd against the expresse wordes and the liuely and actuall practise of the same fathers from whom they are collected and that may be good to take the Fathers for Aduersaries and to accuse them for want of Sence or memorie but not to take them for Iudges and to submitt themselues to the obseruation of what they haue beleeued and practised To this I will also adde whensoeuer you shall desire it the present Conformitie of all the other Patriarchall Churches in these fowre cases with the Roman and of all those which haue remained euen to this daie vnder their iurisdiction to witt those that are vnder the Patriarchall iurisdiction of the Patriarck of Constantinople as the Grecians Russians Muscouites and Asians of Asia-minor separate from vs neere eight hundred yeares Of those that are vnde the Greeke Patriarch of Antioch as the Syrians Mesopotamians and others yet more Easterne nations for those that obey the Syrian Patriarch as the Maronites perseuer in the Communion of the Roman Church of those that relye vpon the Egiptian Patriarch of Alexandria as the Egiptians whom they call Cophtites and the Ethiopians which haue bene diuided both from vs and from the greekes more then eleuen hundred yeares euen from the time of one of the fowre first Councells to witt of the Councell of Chalcedon For all these hold these fower pointes yea with more iealousie if it be possible then the latine Churches and particularlie the article of the Sacrament where of they doe not only beleeue transubstantiation which the greekes at this daie call in the very self same sence and phrase ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but also exercise the adoration with externall gesture more full of humilitie then ours A manifest proof that these fowre pointes were vniformely holden and obserued by the ancient Cahtholicke Church since all the partes whereinto the ancient Catholicke Church is dismeÌbred doe retaine them vniformly to this daie notwithstanding soe manie distances separations and diuisions through all the regions of the Earth These are in generall the causes that haue moued me to vse that exception in my letter that you obiect to me in yours whereof if the Excellent King of great Brittaine had as well leasure to heare the particularities as he hath capacitie to comprehend them I assure myselfe he would not thinke it strange that I should desire in him the title of Catholique but he would desire it himsefe and put himsefe in state to obtaine it and to cause it to be obtained by those that are depriued of it that is to saie he would add yet to is other Crownes that of making himsefe a mediator of the peace of the Church which would be to him a more triumphant glorie then that of all the Alexanders and of all the Caesars and which would gaine to his Isle noe lesse an honor in hauing bredd him theÌ to haue bredd great Constantine the first deliuerer and pacifier of the christian Church I praie god that he will one daie Crowne all the other graces wherewith he hath indowed him with that and heare to this effect the prayers of his late Queene Mother whose teares like those of S. Augustins Mother doe not onlie intercede for him in heauen but her blood also And likewise keepe you Sr. in his safe and holie protection From Paris 15. Iulij 1611. AN ADMONITION TO THE READER This letter to Mons. Casaubon occasiond the whole discourse ensuing For the letter being shewed to his most excellent maiesty our Souuerain Lord king Iames of glorious memory it pleased him not only to read it but to take paines to answer it as he thought most conuenient To which answer of his maiesty the Cardinall replieth
with that modesty and submission which is due to the person and worth of so high and mighty a Monarch and with that learning and solidyty that might be expected from so great a maister of truth as that most eminent Cardinall was in behalf of so glorious a cause as is the doctrine of the catholique Church THE L. CARDIN PERRONS REPLIE TO HIS MAIESTIES ANSWER TO THE LETTER WRITTEN TO MONS CASAVBON THE FIRST OBSERVATION Reduced into an abridgement by the Kinge THE name of Catholicke doth not simplie designe Faith but also Communion with the Catholicke Church for this Cause the Fathers would not suffer that those should bee Called Catholickes which had separated themselues from the communion of the Church though they retained the Faith thereof For there is one only Catholicke Church out of the which Faith and Sacramentes may be had but not Saluation To this end there are manie places alleaged out of S. AVGTSTIN OF THE VSE OF THE WORD CATHOLIQVE THE ANSVVERE OF THE KINGE CHAPITRE I. TO beleeue the Catholicko Church and to beleeue the Communion of Saintes are put distinctly as diuers thinges in the Creede and it seemes the first was ptincipallie inserted to discerne the Iewish Synagogue from the Christian Church which ought not to be as that was inclosed within the lymittes of one only nation but to be spread in length and breadth through all the regions of the world And therefore the reason is not manifest enough why in the beginning of this obseruation it is said that the title of Catholicke designeth Communion These two thinges are very neere one an other but different notwithstandinge as wee haue shewed THE REPLIE WHEN the Philosopher FAVORINVS disputed against the Emperor ADRIAN and that his hearers were amazed and reproached it to him that he suffered the Emperor to confute him and yielded to him he answered them should not I yield to a man tha commaundes twentie legions Soe if there were noe question in this worke but of humane philosophie secular learninge it should be easie for me to stop my selfe at FAVORINVS boundes and to abstaine to contest with his maiestie or to resist him But since heere wee treate of his interest who hath not legions of men but of Angells and which hath for his title THE KINGE OF KINGES AND LORD OF LORDES and from whom this excellent Kinge himselfe makes profession to holde in Fee his life and Crownes that is to saie the cause of IESVS CHRIST and of his Kingdome which is the Church I will promise myselfe from his Maiesties bountie that he will not mislike where it shall be needefull that I resist and contradict him with all the respectiue libertie that the lawes of disputation yield me Then for the argument of the Creede I will saie after I haue kist my weapones three thinges for my defence FIRST that it is vncertaine whither the cause of the Communion of Saintes be an article aparte or an explication of the precedinge cause and a declaration that the Catholicke Church consistes not in the simple number of the faithfull euery one considered a parte but in the ioinct Communion of all the bodie of the faithfull in such sorte as both clauses make but one article as it seemeth sainct IEROM RVFFINVS and Sainct AVGVSTINE who haue omitted the latter haue esteemed it The SECOND that it is vncertaine whether it signifie the Communion that the faithfull liuinge haue one with an other or the Commerce that the Saintes of the triumphant Church doe exercise with the Saintes of the militant Church by the prayers that the Saints of the triumphant offer for the Saints of the militant and the commemoration that the saints of the militant make of the saints of the triumphant which is that that wee in our Liturgie call to communicate with the memory of the Saintes And the THIRD that whatsoeuer it signifie it is most certaine that the word CATHOLICKE was not added to that of the Church to distinguish the Christian Church from the Iewish Synagogue which had neuer borne the name of Church in qualitie of a title of a Religion when the creed was Composed and by consequence did not oblige the Christian Church to take the Epithete of Catholicke to bee discerned from that from which in all cases she had bene suffieientlie distinguished by the title of Christian but it was added to discerne the true Church from hereticall and schismaticall Societies which vsurpe equiuocally and by false markes the name of Church for that our Lord was the first that affected and consecrated the word ECCLESIA which we vsually translate in Englishe Church to signifie a societie of Religion whereas before neither it nor the Hebrewe word that answeres to it had anie other vse but that which prophane authors giue it which is to signifie Assemblies conuocations Generall Estates as when DEMOSTHENES said to ESCHINES thou wert dumbe to the assemblies where the greeke word is Ecclesijs the conuocations or general meetings And as when Aristotle called the conuocations of Creete ecclesias And as when the Scholiast of HOMER said Iupiter gathered together Ecclesias the Assemblies of the Gods It appeares first by the testimonie of MOSES who forbids bastardes to enter into the Church of Israell And of DAVID who singes I hate the Church of the malignant And of S. STEPHEN who said MOSES was in the Church in the solitarie place that is to saie with the multitude of the people in the desert It appeares secondlie by the testimonie of S. IEROM and of S. CYRILLVS who interpretinge this verse of ESAY Thou shalt bee called by a new name that the mouth of our Lord shall pronounce Doe affirme that this new name must be the name of Church It shall noe more saith S. IEROM be called Ierusalem and Sion but it shall receiue a new name that the Lord shall impose vpon it sayinge to the Apostle PETER thou art PETER and vpon this PETRA or rock I will build my Church And S. CYRILL It shall be noe more called Synagogue but the Church of the liuinge God And finallie it appeares by the verie testimonie of our aduersaries that not only in all the textes of the old Testament where the Greeke translation of the Seuentie vse the word Ecclesia but also in all those of the new where that word hath relation to anie other multitude beside the Christian Church they expresse it by Congregation or Assemblies And if since the coÌminge of IESVS CHRIST and the edition of the creede the Fathers haue sometymes called the Synagogue by the name of Ecclesia or Church it hath bene by anticipation to shew the successiue vnitie of the one and other societie but not that the Iewish Church while it lasted hath euer vndertaken to attribute to herselfe the title of a Church in the qualitie of a title of Religion Neither consequently when the creede was composed was there neede of an
Epithete to distinguish the Christian Church from her for as the starr that the authors call Lucifer although it be the same with that that is called Vesper yet when it goes before the Sonne it beares one name and when it followes him it hath an other soe although the Iewish congregation hath bene in some sorte one same societie with the ChristiaÌ CongregatioÌ neuerthelesse wheÌ this societie hath gone Before her SVNNE which is CHRIST she hath borne one name to witt the Synagogue and when she followes him she beares an other to witt the Church And therefore when our Lord said to S. Peter Dic ecclesiae tell it to the Church and if he heare not he Church let him be to thee as an heathen or a publican And when S. LVKE relates that HEROD sett himselfe to Persecute quosdam de ecclesia some of those of the Church and when saint Paul writes I teach it so in all the Churches And againe bee without scandall to the Iewes and to the Gentiles and to the Church of God And when S. Iames proclaimes If anie one be sicke lett him call the priestes of the Church And when S. Ireneus saith there haue bene sacrifices among the people there are sacrifices in the Church they thought they had sufficiently distinguished without anie other additioÌ the Christian Church froÌ the Iewish Synagogue And contrariwise when the Church of SMYRNA in an age neighbouringe vpon that of the Apostles intitles her Epistle to the Church of PHILOMILION and to all the a Diocesses of the Catholique Church that are throughout the world And when CLEMENT ALEXANDRINVS writes There needes not manie wordes to shewe that the mocke-Councells of heretickes are after the Catholicke Church And when TERTVLLIAN saieth Marcion gaue his money to the Catholique Church which reiected both it and him when he strayed from our truth to heresie And when sainct CYPRIAN aduertised the Bishops of Africke that passed in to Italie to acknowledge and hold fast the roote and matrice of the Catholicke Church And when Saint EPIPHANIVS reporteth that vnder the persecution of DIOCLESIAN those that held the ancient Churches called themselues the Catholicke Church and the Militians the Church of the martyres And when the Emperor CONSTANTINE ordained that all the Oratories of the Heretickes should be taken from them and presently after deliuered to the Catholicke Church they pretended not by the word Catholicke to distinguish the Christian Church from the Iewish but to distinguish the great and the originall bodie of the Church from the particular and later sectes Yet wee acknowledge that the word Catholicke in distinguishing by hervniuersalitie the true Church from the hereticall and schismaticall sectes distinguisheth her alsoe by accident from the Iewish Synagogue as a speciall difference in distinguishing her species from other species of the same genders doth also distinguish it from that of other genders though that be not her proper office for the word reasonable discerninge men from birds fishes serpentes and other beastes leaves him not vndiscerned accessarily from plantes metalls and stones But we maintaine the expresse and direct end for which the Surname of Catholik hath bene added to the Church I saie to the Church and not to the figures of the Church hath bene to distinguish it from hereticall and Schismaticall sectes If I should this daie by chance enter into a populous towne saith S. PACIANVS an author celebrated by sainct Ierom and finde there Marcionistes and Apolinarians it must be reade Apellecians Cataphrigians Nouatians and other such like which call themselues Christians by what surname should I knowe the Congregation of my people if it were not intitled Catholicke and againe Christian is my name Catholicke is my Surname that names me this markes me out by that I am manifested prodor non probor by this I am distinguished And sainct CYRILL of Ierusalem an author the same age expoundinge the creede For this cause saith he thy faith hath giuen thee this article to holde vndoubtedlie and in the holie Catholicke Church to the end thou ãâã flie the polluted ãâã of heretickes And a little after And when thou comst into a towne inquire not simplie where the temple of our Lord is for the other heresies of impious persons doe likewise call theire dens the temples of the Lord neither aske simplie where the Church is but where is the Catholique Church for that name is the proper name of this holie Church And sainct AVGVSTINE in his booke of the Faith and the creede Wee beleeue saith he the holie Church and that Catholicke for the heretickes and Schismatickes name also theire Congregations Churches but heretickes beleeuing in God in a false manner violate the faith and Schismatickes by theire vniust Diuisions seperate themselues from brotherlie Charitie although they beleeue the same thinges that we beleeue therefore the hereticke appartaineth not to the Catholicke Church because she loues God nor the Schismaticke because she loues her neighbour So that it amazeth me that I haue had soe little industrie to explaine myselfe as to haue giuen his Maiestie occasion to answere that the reason for which I had said in the beginninge of my first obseruation that the word Catholicke was not a title of simple beliefe but of communion was not enough manifest For hauinge alleaged these fower places of sainct AVGVSTINE Schismatickes appertaine not to the Catholicke Church although they beleeue the same thinges with vs. Those that disagree soe from the bodie of Christ which is the Church as theire communion is not with all or that it spread it selfe but is found separate in some part it is manifest they are not in the Catholicke Church There is a Church if you cast your eyes ouer the extent of the whole world more aboundant in multitude and also as those that know themselues to be of it affirme more sincere in truth then all the others but of the truth is an other disputation Diuision and dissention makes you heretickes and peace and vnitie makes vs Catholickes And hauinge accompanied them with these wordes of sainct VINCENTIVS ãâã O admirable conuersion or change the authors of one selfe opinion are called Catholiques and the followers of it beretickes And with those of sainct PROSPER ãâã that communicates with the vniuersall church is a christian and a ãâã catholicke and he that communicates not therewith is an hereticke and Antichrist It seemed to me that I had sufficiently shewed that the title of Catholicke is not a simple title of beliefe but of communion also It is true I expected not that a question that had bene anciently moued and adiuged euen with the interuention of the authoritie of Emperors should againe haue bene contested against and put into dispute For in the controuersie of Catholickes and Donatistes vpon the word Catholicke before the decision whereof as sainct Austin saith the Church was neuer
perfectly treated of no more then before the questions of the Arrians the Trinitie had neuer bene perfectlie treated of the thesis or tenet of the Catholickes was that the word Catholicke was a word of Communion and not a word of Simple beliefe The Christian Africans are called saith Saint AVGVSTIN and not with out good right Catholickes protesting by theire proper Communion the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã And againe wee shew by the testimonie of our CoÌmunion that wee haue the Catholicke Church the thesis of the Donatistes contrariwise was that the word Catholicke was not a word of CoÌmunion but of beliefe and obseruation of precepts The Donatistes saith Saint AVSTIN answered that the word Catholike was not deriued from the vniuersalitie of nations but from the fulnes of the Sacramentes that is to saie from the integritie of the doctrine And in the Epistle to VINCENTIVS Rogat Thou thinkest said he then to saìe some subtile thing when thon interpretest the name of Catholicke not from the Communion of the whole world but from the obseruation of all the preceptes and diuine Sacramentes And againe you are those that hold the Catholicke faith not from the Communion of the whole world hut from the obseruation of all the preceptes aud diuine Sacramentes And the iudgement that was made vpon this difference was that the word Catholicke was a title not of simple beliefe but of Communion also After a contention of 40. daies saith OPTATVS Mileuit speaking of the first disputation of the Donatistes the finall senteÌce of the Bishops Eunomius and Olimpius whcih were the Bishops deputed to iudge the possessioÌ of the word Catholicke betweene the Catholickes of Africa and the Donatistes was that that was Catholicke that was spread throughout the world And Saint AVSTINE speaking of the Conference of Carthage The Commissarie said he answered that he could not by ãâã attribute the name Catholicke to anie other then to those to whom the Emperor from whom he had his Commision had attributed it And in an other place citing the law of the Emperors made vpon this Conference The Emperors said he haue forbidden that those that vsurpe the name of Christians out of the Communion of the Catholicke Church and will not in peace adore the author of ãâã should dare to possesse anie thing vnder the title of the Church And againe The Emperors of our Communion haue ordained lawes against all heretikes now they call heretickes those that are not of theire Communion amongst which you are And after disputing with the same Donatists Thou askest said he of a stranger whether he be a pagan or a Christian he answeres thee a Christian thou askest him whether he be a catechumenus or one of the faithfull least he should intrude himselfe vnlawfullie to the Sacraments he answers thee one of the faithfull thou askest him of what Communion he is he answers thee a Christian Catholicke CHAP. II. Of the Conditions of the Catholicke Church The pursuite of the kings answere NOw the King belieues simplie without colour or fraude that the Church oÌf God is one only by name and effect Catholicke and vniuersall spread ouer all the world out of which he affirmes himselfe there can be noe hope of Saluation he condemnes and detestes those which either heeretofore or since haue departed from the faith of the Catholicke Church are become heretickes as the Man ichees or from her Communion and are become schismatickes as the Donatists Against which two kindes of men principally sainct AVGVSTINE hath written the things alleaged in this obseruation THE REPLIE TELESIVS a Stripling of Greece hauing won the prize and victorie of the Combate in the Pythian games when there was question of leadinge him in triumph there arose such a dispute betweene the diuers natioÌs there present euery one being earnest to haue him for theire owne as the one drawing him one waie the other an other waie insteed of receiuing the honor which was prepared for him he was torne and dismembred euen by those that stroue who should honor him most Soe happenes it to the Church All those that beare the name of Christians auow that to her only appertaines the victory ouer hell and that whosoeuer will haue parte in the prize and glory of this Triumph must serue vnder her ensigne But when they come to debate of the true bodie of this societie then euery sect desirous to draw her to themselues they rent and teare her in peeces and in steed of embracing the Church which consistes in vnitie they embrace schisme and diuision which is the death and ruyne of the Church The cause or rather the pretext of this euill comes from two faultes that the aduersaries of the Church commit in the distinction of the word Ecclesia or Church which makes the possession vncertaine and disputable The one is the fraudulent restriction of the terme of the Church to the only inuisible number of the predestinate by which when they feele themselues pressed to represent the succession of theire Church they saue themselues like Homers Aeneas or Virgils Cacus in obscuritie and darknes The other is the equiuocall and captious extension of the same word Church to all Sectes which professe the name of Christ by which when they see themselues excluded from the refuge of theire inuissble Church they haue recourse from darknes to confusion and confesse that there hath bene alwaies a visible Church but sometymes pure in faith and sometymes impure that is to saie now a Church and now noe Church And therefore I attribute it to a singular care of the prouidence of God that his Maiesty saying he beleeues the catholicke Church hath added as to preuent all theses shiftes without colour or fraude For to beleeue the catholicke church without colour or fraude is to beleeue her in the sence that the Fathers haue beleeued and vnderstood her the Fathers I say which haue lest vs these sentences pronunced sometymes as in the hypothesis against the Manichees and Donatists but as in the thesis against all kindes of heretickes or schismatickes in generall that out of the Catholicke Church there is noe saluation that whosoeuer is separate from the Catholicke Church cannot haue life and other such like which his Maiestie protested to approue Now first by the word Catholicke Church these Fathers haue beleeued and intended such a Church as these wordes of Esay ãâã In the last daies the Mountaine of the Lord shall be on the topp of all the Mountaines and all the hills shall flowe to her The people shall walke in thy light and the kings in the brightnes of thy Orient Theire seede shall be knowne amongst the people and theire kinge in the middest of the nations And these of our Lord The Citie built vpon the mountaine cannot be hid Tell it to the Church and if he heare not the Church let him be to thee as
a heathen or publican that is to saie a Church visible manifest and eminent and not a Church either perpetually inuisible or as if she had Giges ring now visible and now inuisible The Church saith Sainct CYPRIAN clothed with the light of our Lord sheds her beames through the whole world And S. CRISOSTOME g It is more easie to extinguish the Sunne then to obscure the Church And againe h The Sunne ãâã not soe manifest nor the ligh thereof as the actions of the Church And Sainct AVGVSTINE a The Church is not hidden for she is not put vnder a bushell but in a Candlesticke that she may giue light to all those which are in the house And of her our Lord hath said The Cittie built vpon the Mountaine cannot be hidd And in an other place b It is a condition common to all heretickes not to see the thinge that is in the world the most manifest and built in the light of all the Nations out of the vnitie whereof all that they doe though they seeme to doe it very exactly can noe more warrant them against the wrath of God then the Spiders webb against the rigor of the cold And againe he hath this most certaine marke that she cannot be hidden she is then knowne to all nations The sect of Donatus is vnknowne to manie Nations then that cannot be she And in deede how could it be that the Fathers had not had neede to be purged with Hellebore who imployed these sentences against the here tickes and Schismatickes of theire ages to presse them to returne to the Church That he shall neuer come to the rewardes of Iesus Christ that hath abandoned the Church of Christ d that he shall not haue God sor his Father that hath not the Church for his Mother e That he cannot liue that withdrawes himselfe from the Church and buildes to himselfe other seates and other dwellinges f That Christ is not with those who assemble themselues out of the Church g That he who shall not be in the Arcke shall perishe at the comminge of the floud h that he which eates the lambe out of his howse is prophane i That out of the Catholicke Church none can be saued k whosoeuer is separate from the Catholicke Church cannot haue life l That the Catholicke Church alone is the body of Christ m That out of this bodie the holy Ghost quickens none n That whosoeuer then will haue the holy Ghost should take heede of beinge separated from her and likewise take heede of entring into her fainedly if they had beleeued that the Catholicke Church had bene an inuisible flocke of predestinate persons knowne only to God and into whose Rolle as appointed from all eternitie none could enter or be added thereu nto SECONDLY by the word Catholicke Church the Fathers did not intend the Chaos and generall Masse of all Christian Sectes Societies as well pure as impure as well heretickes as Schismatickes as our aduersaries doe when they feele themselues excluded from theire refuge of an inuisible Church but by the word Cacholicke Church the Fathers intended a Societie such both for doctrine and Communion as these propheticall Oracles painted her forth o Thou art wholie faire and there is noe spott in thee p Thou shalt be called the citie of Iustice the faithfull citie q Through thee shall noe more passe anie that is vncircumcised or vncleane r I will espouse thee in faith and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. And these Euangelicall decrees s The gates of Hell shall not preuaile against her t The Church is the pillar and soundation of truth u There is noe communion of Christ with Belial nor of light with darknesse x If anie one bring not this doctrine saie not to him so much as well be it with thee for whosoeuer shall saie to him well be it with thee communicates in his wicked workes that is to saie they vnderstood by that terme socitie of Christians extracted and contracted by the iust and sufficient meanes of externall vocation to saluation and distinct and purified from the impurity and contagion of all the hereticall schismatical sectes y If thou hearest in any parte saith saint IEROM of men denominated from anie but from Christ as Marcionites ãâã Montayners or Campites know that it is not the Church of Christ but the Synagogue of Antichrist OPTATVS Mileuitanus z besides the only Church which is truly Catholicke the others amongst the heretickes are esteemed to be but are not soe indeed And againe The Church is one which cannot be amongst vs and amongst you it remaines then that it be in one only place And Sainct AVGVSTINE to Honoratus Although there be manie heresies of Christians and that all would be called Catholickes yet there is alwaies one Church if you cast your eies vpon the extent of the whole worlde more abundant in multitude and also as those that know themselues to be of it more sincere in truth then all the rest but of the truth that is an other Dispute That which sufficeth for the question is that there is one Church to which different heresies impose different names whereas they are all called by there particular names that they dare not disauow from whence it appeares in the indgment of anie not preoccupate with fauour to whom the name of Catholicke whereof they are all ambitions ought to bee attributed And in the booke of the true Religion Wee must holde the Christian Religion and the Communion of that Church that is called Catholicke both by her owne and by strangers for whether heretickes and Schismatickes will or will not when they speake not with theires but with stranges they call the Catholickes noe otherwise then Catholickes And in the Comentary vpon the 149. Psalme The Church of the Saints is the Catholicke Church The Church of the Saintes is not the Church of heretickes she hath bene marked out hefore she was seene and she hath bene exhibited to the end she should be seene And in the booke of Faith and of the Creede Wee beleeue one Church and that the Catholicke for the heretickes and Schismatickes call also theire congregations Churches but the hereticke beleeuinge of God false things violate the Faith And Schismatickes by vniust dissentions separate themselues from brotherly Charitie although they belieue the same thinges that we belieue and therefore neither the heretickes doe appertaine to the Catholique Church because she loues God nor the Schismatickes because she loues her neighbour And certainly how could the Fathers without making themselues ridiculous te theire auditors beate downe the heretickes and Schismatickes with these sentences That out of the Catholicke Church there is noe Saluation that whosoeuer is not in the Catholique Church canot haue life that he shall not haue God for
his father who wil not haue the Church for his mother That Christ is not with those that assemble out of the Church That although they should be slaine for the confession of Christ this spot is not washt awaie euen with bloud That he cannot be à martyr that is not in the Church That out of the Catholicke Church one may haue Faith Sacraments Orders and in summe euery thing except saluation That he that communicates not with the Catholicke Church is an hereticke and Antichrist That noe hereticke nor Schismaticke that is not restored to the Catholicke church before the end of this life can be saued if they had belieued that all the Sectes that professe the name of Christ both heretickes and Schismatickes had bene in the Catholicke Church THIRDLY by the word Catholicke Church they did not intend a Church interrupted and intermitting as that of the protestantes which is borne and dyes by fittes like the Tyndarides but such a Church as these wordes of the prophet describe As in in the daies of Noe I swore that I would no more bring the waters of the floud vpon the earth soe haue I sworne I will no more be angrie against thee Thou shalt noe more be called the forsaken I will place my sanctification in the midst of them for euer I will noe more doe to the rest of this people as in tymes past And these of our Lord The gates of hell shall not preuaile against her I am with you vntill the consummation of all ages The Spirit of truth shall dwell with you eternally Let the one growe with the other vntill the haruest that is to saie a Church permanent eternall and not capeable of ruine Wee acknowledge said that great ALEXANDER Bishop of Alexandria one only Catholicke and Apostolicke Church which as she can neuer bee rooted out though all the world should vndertake to oppose her soe she outhrowes disperseth all the wicked assaulth of heretickes And Sainct ATHANASIVS The Church is inuincible though hell it selfe should arise with all the power thereof against her And THEOPHILVS God in all tymes grants one selfe grace to his Church to witt that that Bodie should be kept intire and that the venome of the Doctrine of heretickes shall haue noe power ouer her And Sainct AVGVSTINE in the comentary vpon the 47. psalme God saith he hath founded her eternallie let not heretickes deuided into factions boaste let them not lift themselues vp that saie heere is Christ and there is Christ. And againe But perchance this Cittie that hath possessed the whole world shall be one daie ruined neuer may it happen God hath founded her eternallie If then God hath founded her eternally wherefore fearest thou that her foundation should fall And in the Comentary vpon the 101. psalme But his Church which hath bene of all nations is noe more she is perished soe saie they that are not in her O impudent voice And a little after this voice soe abominable soe detestable soe full of presumption and falshood which is sustained with noe truth illuminated with noe wisedome seasoned with noe salt vaine rash headie pernicious the holy Ghost hath foreseene it And in the treatie of the Christian combate They saie the whole Church is perished and the relickes remaine only on Donatus his side O prowde and impious tongue And in the worke of Baptisme against the Donatists If the Church vere perished in Cyprians tyme from whence did Donatus appeare from what earth is he sprung vp from what Sea is he come forth from what heauen is he fallen And in the third booke against Parmenian How can they vaunt to haue anie Church if she haue ceased from those tymes And in the explication of the Creede to the Cathecumenistes The Catholicke Church is she that sighting with all heresies may be opposed but cannot be ouerthrowne All heresies are come out from her as vnprofitable branches cut from the vine but she staies in her vine in her roote in her Charitie And the gates of hell shall neuer ouerthrow her Behold without colour or fraud what the Father 's vnderstood by the word Catholicke Church to witt a Church visible and eminent aboue all other Christian societies A Church pure from all contagion of schisme and heresie A Church perpetuall and which had neuer suffered nor neuer could suffer anie interruption neither in her faith in her Communion nor in her visibilitie This Church if the most excellent King haue let hin giue her to vs if not lett him receiue her from vs Aut det as saint AVSTINE said to the Donatists aut accipiat Of the proceeding of the Father for the preseruation of the vnitie of the Church CHAP. III. The pursute of the Kinges Answere THe Kinge commendes also the prudence of the religious Bishops who in the 4 Councell of Carthage as it is heere truly obserued added to the forme of the examination of Bishops a particular interrogatory vpon this point And his Maiestie is not ignorant that the Fathers of the ancient Church haue oftentymes done manie thinges by forme of accommodation for the good of peace and to the end to preuent the breach of vnitie and mutuall Communion whose example he protesteth he is ãâã to imitate and to followe the steps of those that procure peace euen to the Altars that is to saie as much as in the present estate of the Church the integritie of his Conscience will permitt him For he will giue place to none either in extreame griefe he suffers for the separation of the members of the Churdh which the good Fathers haue soe much detested or in his dosire to communicate if it were possible for him with all the members of the mysticall bodie of our Lord Iesus-Christ THE REPLIE IT was not by way of prudence as prudence signifies a human vertue that the Fathers pronounced this decree that out of the Catholicke Church saluation could not bee obtained but by way of decision and as an article of faith For this cause saith sainct AVGVSTINE vpon the Creede The Conclusion of this Sacrament is determined by the holie Church for as much as if anie one be found on t of it he shall be excluded from the number of the Children And he shall not haue God for his Father that will not haue the Church for his Mother and it shall serue him for nothing to haue belieued or done soe manie and soe manie good workes without the true end or butte of the souer aigne good And sainct FVLGENTIVS in his booke of the Faith Holde this firmely and doubt it not that euery hereticke and Schismaticke haptized in the name of the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost if before the end of this life he be not revnited to the Church Catholicke whatsoeuer almes he distribute yea though he should shed his bloud for the name
of Christ cannot be saued And that which the Fathers haue done to hinder the breache of peace and of mutuall communion hath passed noe further then either to tolerate some locall and particular customes which brought more burden then profit as the custome some Africans had not to touch the ground with theire naked feete in the Octaues of theire Baptisme or to endure the manners and conuersation of some vitious men without applyinge the iron corrosiue of excommunication for feare of diuidinge the Church insteede of purginge it from wicked persons From whence proceeded that famous sentence of sainct AVGVSTINE They tolerate for the good of vnitie that which they hate for the good of equitie As for that which they haue done for the reestablishmeÌt of peace it hath beeÌ exteÌded to the yeeldinge somethinge in the seuerity of discipline For when Arrian or Donatist Bishops came backe to the Church the Church in fauour of the people which followed them receaued them by a forme of generall rehabilitatioÌ with facultie to exercise theire Episcopall power Now this was against the ordinary rigor of the Canons And therefore sainct AVGVSTINE hath from thence taken occasion to say Thas as the trees that are inoculated receiue a wound in their barke to giue waie to those branches that should be graffed in soe the Church receiues a wound in her discipline to the end to take in and reincorporate hereticall people which were conuerted and returne together with theire Bishops but not that the loue of peace hath euer transported the Fathers so farr as to yield neuer so little in matters of Faith Contrarywise sainct BASILE witnesseth a That they haue alwaies rather chosen to suffer a thousand deathes then to b betraie one sillable thereof And sainct EPIPHANIVS recited by sainct IEROM saith c That for one word or two contrary to faith manie heresies haue bene cast forth of the Church And S. AVGVSTINE That the thinges contrary vnto faith and good manners the Church doth neither approue them conceale them nor doe them Therefore his Maiestie ought not to haue feared to imitate wholy the zeale of the Fathers for the good of peace and to doe for the restoringe the vnitie of the Church all things that the ancient Catholicke church hath approued practised taught Neither ought he to haue added to his offer the exception of that prouerbe euen to the Altars since our of the true Church such as was that of the Fathers to whose only Conditions wee exact his Maiesties communion with ours there are noe true Altars but only Altars agaiust Altars that is to saie prophane and Schismaticall Altars as those of Ieroboam were and the high places in the time of the law Nor finally should he limit the desire he hath to communicate with all the true members of the misticall bodie of Christ within this Condition if it were possible for it is so possible to communicate with all the actuall members of the misticall bodie of Christ that con trariwise it is impossible except in case of error of fact to communicate with anie one of them but you must communicate either immediately or mediatly with all the rest for the Church is that Societie whereof DAVID said Ierusalem which is built as a Cittie whose participation is in vnitie And sainct CYPRIAN The Catholicke Church which is one is not dismembred nor diuided but keepes herselfe vnited and is glewed together by the cement of the Prelates adheringe the one to the other And sainct AVGVSTINE Those whose Communion is not with all or that doe spread themselues but yet find themselues in some parte diuided it is manifest they are not in the Catholicke Church And againe Whosoeuer defendeth one parte separate from the rest let him not vsurpe the title of Catholicke And in an other place It may be will some one saie that there are other ãâã of God I knowe not where whereof God hath care but I knowe them not But he is too absurd euen in Common sense that imagins such thinges Of the necessitie of communicatinge with the Catholicke Church CHAP. IV. The pursute of the kinges Answere THese thinges beinge soe the kinge neuerthelesse esteemes that he hath very iust cause to dissent from them who without anie distinction and exception ãâã presse this Communion THE REPLIE THere is saith sainct AVGVSTINE noe iust necessitie to diuide vnitie and there is saith againe the same Doctor noe assurance of vnitie but in the Church which built according to Gods promise vpon the mountaine cannot be hidden For besides that the examination of the Church is soe easie and soe certaine as sainct AVSTIN saith I haue the most manifest voice of my pastor who expresses to me and pointes me out the Church without anie ambiguitie And againe this is noe obscure question wherein they may deceiue you of whom the lord hath foretolde that they shall come and saie heere is Christ And that the particular examination of Faith contrariwise is soe dangerous and difficult as yet most learned haue deceaued themselues in it And as sainct Ierom cryeth out There is great danger in speakinge in the Church for feare least by a wronge interpretation the Ghospell of Christ may be made the Ghospell of a man or which is worse the Ghospell of the diuell There is further this difference which is that he who hath the Church is sure to adhere to the true Faith though he know not distinctly all the articles thereof and that he is in the waie of Saluation where he that hath Faith and is not in the Church hath noe hope of Saluation If I haue all Faith saith Sainct PAVLE and ãâã not Charity I am nothinge And Sainct AVGVSTIN He that hath Charitie is secure and none can transporte charity out of the Catholique Church And elswhere If Schismatickes had Charitie they would not rend the bodie of Christ which is the Church By meanes whereof as much as Charitie is more excellent then Faith followinge that oracle of the Apostle but the greater of the three is Charitie soe much the instance of the Church is more necessary then that of Faith Aboue all these thinges saith sainct PAVLE holde Charitie which is the bond of perfection and lett the peace of Christ whereby you haue bene called into one bodie holde the principall place in your hartes And againe lett vs not for sake our Congregation as some haue accustomed to doe And sainct Iude Woe be to those that perish in the Contradiction of Core And a while after people that separate themselues sensuall men not hauinge the Spirit And it is a thinge so acknowledged by the Fathers that they affirme that faith it selfe turnes to increase of damnation to those that possesse it out of the Church yea they holde the cryme of Schisme to be worse then that of infidelitie and Idolatrie Those saith Saint AVSTIN whom
the Donatists doe heale from the wound of infidelity and Idolatrie they hurt them more greevously with the wound of Schisme And for a proofe of his saying he alleadgeth the example of Core Dathan and Abiron and other Schismatickes of the old Testament who were all sent quicke into hell and punished more greevouslie then the Idolators Who doubtes saith he but that was committed most criminally that was punist most seuerelie And therefore as the ancient heretickes haue alwaies against the vnitie of the Church pressed and Cryed out the Faith the Faith soe the ancient Fathers against the diuisions of heretickes and Schismatickes haue alwaies pressed and cried out the Church the Church He shall iudge saith S. IRENEVS those that make Schismes in the Church ambitions men not hauinge the honor of God before theire eyes but rather embracing theire owne interests then the vnitie of the Church and for little and light causes deuidinge the great and glorious bodie of Christ. And a little after For in the end they cannot make anie soe important a reformation as the euill of the Schisme is pernicious And sainct DENIS of Alexandria writinge to Nouatian Certainly all thinges should rather be indured then to consent to the diuision of the Church of God those martyrs beinge noe lesse glorious that expose themselues to hinder the dismembringe of the Church then those that suffer rather then they will offer Sacrifice to Idolls And sainct CYPRIAN Doe those that assemble themselues without the Church of Christ suppose Christ to bee with them in theire assemblie Allthough they should be dragged to death for the confession of the name of Christ yet this spott is not washt awaie from them with bloude the inexpiable and inexcusable crime of discord is not purged vith death t selfe he cannot be a martyr that is not in the Church And sainct PACIAN Although saith he Nouatian hath bene put to death yet hath he not bene crowned Wherefore not because it was out of the peace of the Church out of concord out of this mother whereof whosever will be a martyr must be a portion And Saint CHRYSOSTOME nothinge stirrs saith he so sharpely the wrath of god as the diuision of the Church so as when wee haue done all other kindes of good workes wee shall deserue no lesse cruell punishment deuidinge the vnitie and fulnes of the Church then those that pierced and deuided his owne blessed bodie And S. AVGVSTINE Out of the Catholike Church all thinges may bee had except Saluation etc. They may haue and preach the faith in the name of the Father the sonnne and the holy ghost but they can noe where haue Saluation but in the Catholicke Church And a little after I saie more if a man out of the Church suffer the enemie of Christ I saie not his Catholike brother that desires his Saluation but the enemie of Christ if he suffer him without and that he being out of the Church the enemie of Christ saie to him offer incense to Idolles adore my Gods and for not adoring them he be put to death by the enemie of Christ he may well shedd his bloud but he cannot obtaine the Crowne And in an other place Being constituted out of the Church and separated from the heape of vnitie and the bond of Charitie thou shouldest be punisht with eternall death though thou shouldest haue bene burnt aliue for the name of Christ. Aud againe I goe not to worship the diuells I serue not stockes and stones but I am of Donatus his partie What will it serue thy turne that the Father is not offended since he will reuenge the Mothers ãâã And in his worke against the Aduersarie of the law and the Prophets If he heare not the Church let him be to thee as a heathen or publican which is more grieuons then if he were stricken by the sword consumed with flames exposed to wilde beastes And in the booke of Pastors The diuell doth not saie let them be Donatistes and not Arrians be they heere be they there they appartaine to him that gathers without any distinction Let him saith the diuell adore Idolls he his mine let him remaine in Iewish superstition he is myne let him abandon vnitie and enter into such or such an heresie he is myne And in the profession to be made by the Donatistes returninge to the Church Wee thought it had not imported in which part we had held the Faith of Christ but thanckes be to our Lord that hath taken vs in from the diuision and taught vs that it belonhgs to God who is one to be serued in vnitie And FVLGENTIVS the second Sainct AVGVSTINE and the Phenix borne a new out of his ashes Out of this Church neither doth the title of Christian warrant anie bodie nether doth baptisme conferr Saluation nor can they offer a Sacrifice acceptable to God nor receiue remission of Sinnes nor obtaine life eternall For there is one only Church one only doue one only well beloued one only sponse And againe Beleeue this stedfastly without doubting that euery hereticke or schismaticke baptized in the name of the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost if before the end of his life he be not reconciled to the Catholikke Church what almes soe euer he geueth yea though he should shed his bloud for the name of Christ he cannot obtaine saluation Faire but fearefull lessons for those who thinke that in what communion soeuer they be so they beleeue in Christ they may be saued Of the marks of the Church CHAPTER V. The continuance of the Kinges answere AMongst the proper markes of the Church the King confesseth that that is greatly necessary but his Majesty is not of opinion that it is the true forme of the Church and as the philosopher termes it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that wherein it consisteth THE REPLIE Neither is it necessarie that a condition for to be the marke of anie thing should be the essentiall forme of the thing for then we should haue noe marke of anie substantiall thing For we know not the essentiall forme of anie one of them except only of man and for more then three thousand yeares the true essentiall forme of man was vnknowen witnes the ieast of Diogenes vpon the definition of a man giuen by Plato And therefore Saint BASILE reprocheth it to Eunomius who had boasted that he knew the essence of the Father that he knew not soe much as the essence of the ground whereupon he walked euery daie and that what comes to the knowledge of men are but accidents Neither on the other side is it necessary that the essentiall forme of a thing should be the marke of the same thing Nay contrarywise to be the essentiall forme of anie thing and to be the marke of the same thing are commonly repugnant and incompatible conditions For the marke doth demonstrate the thing to the sense and the
that where of God saith by the mouth of Esay Thou shalt iudge euerie tongue that shall resist thee in iudgement And by his owne The gates of Hell thall not preuaile against her And againe Let him that heares not the Church be vnto thee as a heathen or a publica And by that of S. PAVL God hath placed in the Church Apostles Prophets Pastors and Doctors c. that we may noe longer ãâã little Children waueringe with euerie winde of doctrine And againe The Church is the Pillar and foundation of trutb doth not RVFFINVS write that Saint Basile and Saint GREGORY Nazianzene tooke the interpretacion of the Scriptures not from theire owne sense but from the tradition of the Fathers And doth not Saint AVGVSTINE crie out within the wombe of the Church is the dwellinge of truth And againe All the fulnesse of authoritie and all the light of reason for reparation of human kinde consistes in the only healthfull name of Christ and in his only Church And doth not VINCENTIVS Lirinensis say because all vnderstand not the holie Scripture by reason of the depth thereof in one sense But one interprets it in one fashion an other in an other so that it seemes there may be as many seuer all opinions drawne out of it as there are seuer all men for NouatiaÌ expounds it one waie Photinus another waie Sabellius an other Donatus an other Arrius Eunomius Macedonius an other Apollinaris Priscillianus an other Iouinian Pelagius Caelestius and finally Nestorius an other for these causes it is verie necessarie to auoid the perill as so manie great Labyrinths of so diuers errors that the line of the propheticall and apostolicall interpretation should be drawne according to the rule of the Ecclesiasticall and Catholique sense And háue not the ministers of Geneua themselues noted this in the margent of theire last Bibles The doctrine of Faith requires a domesticall and particular instruction namely in those that are ordained to deliuer it into the Church least they should take it in theire owne particular sense vnder colour of the Scripture And this is it that was anciently called TRADITION in the Church Now if the certainty of the interpretation of the Church ought to be také according to the exposition of the very Geneua Bibles not from the sense of euery particular man but from the traditioÌ of the Church how can it be that the truth of the vnder standinge of the Scripture should be the only certaine and infallible marke to discerne and know the Church But against these proofes the aduersaries of the Church propound obiections which we had best coÌfute before we proceede to an other article The first obiection is that Saint AVSTINE in his writinge against the Manichees after he hath made a longe list of the markes of the Church addes this Among you where no such thing is found as holdes and tyes me there soundes only a promisse of the truth which if it be soe manifestly demonstrated as none can call it in question ought to be preferred before all those things whereby I am retained in the Catholicke Church And from hence they conclude that S. AVGVSTINE held not the other markes for necessary and infallible but onelie for probable and coniecturall since he offered to depart from them if they could demonstrate to him vndoubtedly that the truth was of the other side To this I make two answeres one that the truth whereof Saint AVGVSTINE speakes makes nothing for theire purpose that alleage it For Saint AVGVSTINE speaketh not there of the truth demonstrated by scripture which is that whereof the Protestants vaunt but of the truth demonstrated by the light of naturalle reason which was that that the Manichees promised as it appeares by what he said three lines belowe I would not beleeue the Ghospell if the authoritie of the Catholicke Church did not moue me to it And a little after And therefore if thou must yeeld me a reason set aside the Ghospell if thou wilt tye thy-self to the Ghospell I will tye myself to those by whom I haue beleued in the Ghospell And againe The authoritie of the Catholiks being destroyed I could not beleeue the Ghospell because it is by them that I haue beleeued it And in an other place That which remaines for you is to saie that you will produce areason soe certaine and inuincible as the truth thereof being manifested by it selfe it shall haue noe neede of the authoritie of anie witnes nor of the veritie vertue you must reade of anie miracle The other answer is that Saint AVGVSTINE did not propound this in the forme of a possible condition for contrarywise he disputes of deliberate purpose against the Manichees that the naturall light of reason could not be the waie to come to the knowlege of the truth of saluation but in the forme of an impossible condition and which consequentlie diminisheth nothing from the efficacie of the markes of the Church as it appeares by what he addes immediatelie after But if it be only promised and not exhibited none shall separate me from this Faith which by so manie and so great bondes so calls he the externall and sensible markes of the Church bindes my Spirit to the Christian Religion The second obiection that the aduersaries of the Church oppose is that the externall and sensible marks that the Fathers assigne to the Church as antiquitie perpetuitie eminencie and succession belong not to the Church only for as much as manie other things may claime antiquitie as the Sunne the Sea the mountaines and manie other succession as the Springs the brookes the riuers and manie other vniuersalitie as the aire the earth and the other Elements and euen amougst Religions that of the pagans hath heeretofore had eminencie and vniuersalitie and that of the Iewes hath still antiquitie and perpetuitie Certainlie a childish and ridiculous obiection for first the marks that God hath giuen to his Church haue not bene imposed vpon her to distinguish her froÌ all kindes of things but to distinguish her only from those things that are contained though equiuocally vnder the same next kinde and may be supposed and taken for Churches that is to saie from other Christian societies to witt from hereticall and Schismaticall Sects which challenge and pretend by false markes the title of the Church no more then the markes that Golodmithes giuen to golde that it will not euaporate in the fire and that it will resist the coupelle and the water of separatioÌ are not giue it to discerne it from all kinde of bodies for there are other bodies to which these conditions arc common as glasse and diamondes but to discerne it from false gold that is from metalls made and sophisticated that may be supposed and made to passe for golde And this alsoe Saint AVGVSTINE esteemes the Church would insinuate in the Canticle where after she hath demaunded of her
And when he saith Tell it to the Church and if he heare not the Church let him be to thee as a heathen or a publican And againe the Cittie set vpon a mountaine cannot be hid And in an other place I will pray not onlie for these heere present but for all those that by theire word shall beleeue in me that they may be all one because the world may know that thou hast sent me Euen a blinde man may see that he speakes of an externall and visible Church And when he expresseth the Church by the parable of the barne where the corne is mingled with the strawe and by the parable of the fielde where the corne and the tares should growe together till haruest And by the parable of the nett cast into the Sea where the euill fishes were inclosed with the good And by the parable of the wedding where the hall was full of guests aswell good as badd and by the parable of the wise and foolish virgins which staied for the Spouse in one howse there needes noe Oedipus to vnderstand that he speakes of a visible Church constituted by externall and temporall vocation And when S. Paul saith to Timothee I write these things to thee that thou maist know how thou oughtest to conuerse in the howse of God which is the Church of the liuing God the pillar and foundation of truth And againe In a great howse there are not onely vessells of gold and siluer but also of wood and earth This word to conuerse which cannot haue relation to an inuisible Societie and this word foundation which is not relatiue to truth which hath no neede of foundation but to men to whom the Church serues for a foundation of truth And these wordes of wood and earth doe visibly shew that he speaketh of an externall and visible Church And when he saith in the 6. Chapter of the first to she Corinthians What haue I to doe to iudge those that are without And in the 11. We haue not this custome neither the Church of God And in the 12. God had placed in the Church first Apostles secondly Prophets thirdly Doctors And in the Epistle to the Ephesians The truth of the wisedome of God is manifested to the principalities and powers in the heauenly places by the Church And againe Christ clenseth his Church by the waching of water in the word And in the exhortation of the Priests of Ephesus Take heede to your selues and to all the flocke ouer which the holy Ghost hath made you Bishops to rule the Church of God And when Saint Iames saith is his Catholicke epistle If anie one of you be sicke lett him call the Priests of the Church and let them anointe him with oyle It is more cleere then the sunne that they spake of an externall and visible ãâã And in truth how could it be that these prophesies alreadie soe often repeated In the last daies the mountaine of the Lord shall be aboue all the mountaines The Nations shall come to her and saie lett vs goe vp to the Mountaine of the Lord and into the howse of the God of Iacob and he will teach vs his waies The people shall walke in her light and kings in the brightnes of her OrieÌt Thine eyes shall see Ierusalem a plentifull habitation and a tabernacle that cannot be remoued Theire seede shall be knowne among the people and thire posteritie amongst the generations All those that shall see them shall know that they are the seed blessed by the Lord the nations shall know that I am the holie one of Israel when my sanctification shall be in the middle of them for euer had not bene iliusions and oracles of the Spirit of lyes if the Church should haue consisted only in the hidden and inuisible number of the predestinate into whose knowledge neither men nor angells can penetrate And our Lord himselfe who is the eternall wisedome of the Father had not he bene the most imprudent of all lawemakers to haue left his law exposed to soe manie suppositions deprauations and false expositions whereto the malice of the heretickes of all ages hath subiected it without leauing a depositary to keepe it and a iudge to interpret it or to haue left it an inuisible depositary and an inuisible interpreter But against this inuincible truth there doe arise fiue principall obiectioÌs The first is that our Lord said The gates of hell shall not preuaile against my Church froÌ whence it seemes to followe that the reprobate are noe partes of the Church because the gates of hell doe preuaile against them The Second that sainct PAVL writheth you are arriued to the heauenly Ierusalem to the Church of the primitiues or first borne which are inrolled in heauen from whence it seemes to follow that the Church is only of the predestinate The third that we protest in the Creede I beleeue the Church from whence it is inferred that the Church is inuisible because faith is of inuisible things The fourth that Saint AVGVSTINE saith in some place that onely predestinat Catholicks are true partes of the Church and the true members of the bodie of Christ and puts a distinction betweene those which are in the howse and those that are of the howse and betweene the people knowne in the eyes of God and the people knowne in the eyes of men And the fift That Saint IEROME writes He that is a Sinner and soiled with anie spott cannot be said to be of the Church of Christ. To the first then of these obiections which is that the gates of hell shall not be victorious ouer the Church we saie That the victories which the gates of hell obtaine against particular persons by the vices of theire manners preuaile but against those particular persons that are spotted there with and not against the bodie of the Church for as much as the vices of manners are but iu the persons that commit or approue them and not in the Communion of the Church Those saith saint AVGVST whom the wicked please in theire vnitie communicate with the wicked but those that are therewith displeased communicate not with the wicked in theire actions but with the altar of Christ. For the Church exacts from none of her membres the condition of being vitious to receiue him into her Communion as she exacts from them the profession of the Faith and of the vniuersall ceremonies that she prescribeth to them the participation of her Sacraments and the adherence to her pastors By meanes whereof there is nothing but heresie and profession of error or infidelitie that can be pretended to make the gates of hell victorious ouer the body of the Church because those only cortupt the conditions vnder which the congregation is contracted or gathered and infect the body and masse of the societie for none can enter into anie hereticall societie
without obliging him-selfe to the doctrine whereof it makes profession And therefore saint EPIPHAN interpretes iudicially these gates of hell that shall not preuaile against the Church to be heresies the gates of hell said he are heresies and heresieMasters To the second which is that saint PAVL writes you are arriued to heauenly Ierusalem to the Church of the first-borne which are inrolled in heauen Wee answere he speaketh of the Church triumphant to which he writes that we are arriued in the same sorte as he writes our conuerfation is in heauen that is to saie in hope as when a shipp hath cast his ankor on land which is saith saint AVGVSTINE the symbole of hope it is said to be arriued to land though it be yet in the sea and let vs add that the word first-borne signifies there euen by Caluins owne confession the holy Fathers and ãâã of the old testament Or if saint PAVL speake there of the Church militant and that by the first-borne he intends the predestinate we ãâã he calls it the Church of the first-borne not because it containes only the elect but because the elect are no where els I meane the elect inuested in the temporall grace of theire election as we call the parliament of Paris the Court of the Peeres not because it containes none but Peeres but because there is noe place els wherein the Peeres are inuested in theire qualitie of Peeres To the third which is taken from this article of the Creede I beleeue in the Catholicke Church we saie it sufficeth that faith be either of inuisible things or of things apprehended vnder inuisible conditions as those are vnder which wee consider the Church when we beleeue her to be the spouse of Christ the temple of God the mansion of the holy Ghost the gate of heauen the treasuresse of spirituall graces Otherwise to beleeue in Christ had not bene an article of faith while our lord was in this world And neuerthelesse he saith Who beleeues not in the sonne is alreadie iudged And when the Councell of Constantinople puts this confession of Faith amongst the articles of the Creede of the Church I beleeue one baptisme in remission of sinnes they must conclude baptisme to be inuisible against the vniuersall condition of Sacraments which is to be visible signes of inuisible graces To the fourth obiection to witt that saint AVGVSTINF writeth that only predestinate Catholiques are true partes of the Church and true members of the bodie of Christ and distinguisheth betweene them which are in the howse and them which are of the howse and betweene the people knowne in the eyes of God and knowne in the eyes of man we haue three solutions The first solution is that saint AVGVSTINE intended not that only Catholiques predestinate were true partes of the Church according to the formall beinge of the Church which is common to all that are called but according to the finall being of the Church that is to the end and in the fruits for which the Church is instituted I meane saint AVGVSTINE did not intend in those places to define the Church formally and by what she is in this world but finally and by what she shall be in the other Euen as he that saith only good Citizens are true partes of a common wealth doth not define a common wealth formally and by what it is in it selfe but finally and by what it is in the intention of the law-maker And he that saith a true haruest is only the corne that is gathered from the strawe and not the strawe wherewth it is mingled defines not a haruest formally and by what it is in the feild or in the barne but finally and by what it will be in the garner We confesse saith saint AVGVST that whicked men are together with the good in the Catholick Church but as Corne and strawe And againe Wicked men may be with vs in the barne but they cannot be with vs in the garner For that sainct AVGVST doth not esteeme that the formall and precise condition that constitutes men in the Church is that of predestination internall to God and eternall but that of externall and temporall vocation he shewes it when he saith vpon saint IOHN None can enter by the gates that is by Christ to life eternall which is in vision if by the same gate that is to saie by the same Christ he be not first entred into his Church which is his sheepefolde to the temporall life which is in faith And in the place already alleadged vpon the psalmes Our predestination is made not in vs but in God the other three things are wrought in vs vocation iustification and glorification And in his writings against Faustus Men can be inserted into noe name of Religion whether true or false but they must be tied by the common participation of some signes or visible Sacraments Contrarywise the verie same saint AVGVST which distinguisheth betweene those in the howse and those of the howse teacheth vs that all Catholickes both predestinate and reprobate are in the howse that is to saie in the Church Those saith he we cannot denie but that they are likewise in the howse and then that the formall condition which ãâã the Church is vocation and not predestination but that there are none but the predestinate Catholickes which are of the howse that is to ãâã that are finall peeces inalienable and inseparable from the howse or to speake in termes of lawe that are goodes that the father of the familie vouchsafes to put into the Inuentory of his howse the other being there but for a tyme and as by waie of loane and not to dwell there ãâã euer For when the Church shall passe from earth to heauen and from the state of mortalitie to immortalitie only predestinate Catholickes shall remaine there and not the others The Church saith he is the ãâã the seruant is the Sinner now many sinners enter into the Church and therefore our Lord did not saie the Seruant enters not into the howse but he dwelles not for euer in the howse And againe None can blott from heauen the constitution of God nor can anie blott from the earth the Church of God c. She containes good and euill but she looseth none on earth but the euill and admitts none into heauen but the good The second solution is that this distinction of partes of the Church true and not true and of vessells which are in the howse and not of the howse and of people knowne in the eyes of God and knowne in the eyes of men is not a distinction of Religion but a simple distinction of manners which puts difference betweene the one and the other in regarde of the formall being of the Church and of the externall meanes of vocation which are the profession of the true faith the sincere administration of the Sacramentes and the adherence to lawfull
Pastors but only in regard of internall and finall correspondencie to these externall conditions that is to saie in regarde of the conformitie of manners with the vocation and of the perseuerance in his conformitie of manners They are saith Saint Au so in the howse by the Communion of the Sacraments as they are out of it by the diuersitie of manners And Fulgent after him The good ought not to be seperated from the wicked in the Catholicke Church but by the dissimilitude of manners From whence it followes that when there is question of representing the perpetuitie of the Church for matter of Religion that is for matter of doctrine and Sacramente and of the Communion of Pastors it is an vnprofitable refuge to haue recourse to this distinction of ãâã and of people knowne in the eyes of God and in the eyes of men and of ãâã which are in the howse and are not of the howse since this distinction puts noe barre betweene the one and the other people for what concernes Religion but only for what concernes manners For although the list of the chosen is vnknowne to vs in respect of the secret ãâã and the certainty of election neuerthelesse for what concernes protestation of faith participation of Sacraments and adherence to lawfull Pastors it is alwaies visible if not distinctly yet at least ioyntly with the rest of the called with which in these three cases it constitutes alwaies one and the same Church it not being possible for the elect to be installed in the temporall effect of thiere election and in the estate of saluation vnlesse they make profession to communicate and to be ãâã vnited in all these things with the visible bodie of the Chnrch. For our Lord cryes out He that shall confesse me before men I will confesse him before God my father And Saint Paul Were beleeue in our hartes to iustice but ãâã ãâã ãâã with our mouthes to Saluation And Saint August We cannot be saued vnlesse labouring also for the Saluation of others we protest with our mouthes the same faith we beare in oure harts by which meanes so farr is it of that the Church should be lesse visible in regard of Religion in the persons of the predestinate then in the persons of others as contrary wise ãâã it could be either by error or by infirmitie and feare of persecutioÌ that the externall and visible profession of the true faith the Syncere administration of the Sacramentes and the adherence to lawfull pastors should faile in the person of all others it would be conserued in those of the predestinat following Saint Pauls maxime There must be heresies that the approued may be made manifest And this testimonie of Saint AVGTSTIN The Church is sometimes obscured and as it were dimmed by the multitude of scandall that is to saie of persecutions but yet euen then she is eminent in her stedfast Champions Onely there is this difference that as the vocation which is the condition that settes men in the Church may be possessed in two sortes the one worthily when it is answered by conformitie of manners and inward deuotion from whence it is that Saint Paul praies for the Thessalonians that God would make them worthie of his holy wocation that is to saie make them answere and perseuer to answere by theire inward disposition the externall vocation wherewith he hath honored them The other vnworthily which is when it is not answered by conformitie of manners and life so there are two waies of being in the Church the one worthie and meritorious when theire manners answere theire vocation and the other vnworthie and without merit when they correspond not Which hath giuen ground to the schoole distintion of being in the Church in mumber and not in merit and therefore in the place where Saint AVGVSTIN introduceth more expressely the distinction of those that are in the howse but are not of the howse nor are the howse which is in the 7. booke of Baptisme against the Donatistes euen there to take awaie all occasion of suspicion that this house could be inuisible he addes the keyes and the power of binding and loosing are giuen to her that is the proprietie and practise of the ministrie and that all are commaunded to heare her and consequently to holde her visible vpon paine of beinge reputed heathens and publicans This howse said he hath receiued the keyes and the power to binde and loose and from thence when she censures or correctes if anie one despise her it is said that he should be to thee as a heathen or a publican And in the booke of the vnitie of the Church where he repeates in euery period the same distinction The Church saith he is not hidden because she is not vnder the bushell but vpon the candlesticke that she may giue light to all that are in the howse and of her it was said the Cittie sett on the Montaine cannot be hidd And in the booke of the waie to Cathecise We must said he instrust and incourage the infirmitie of man against temptations and scandall whether without or within the Church itselfe without against Gentiles or Iewes or heretickes and within against the chaffe of the barne of the Lord. And againe Let not the enemie seduce thee not onely by those that are out of the Church be they pagans Iewes or heretickes but also by those that thou shalt see in the Church euill liuers And in the Comentarie vpon the Epistle of Saint Iohn How can I call those other then blinde that see not so great a Mountaine and shutt theire eyes against the lampe sett vpon the Candlestick And not only in those places but in all his other workes he declares that the Church is perpetually visible yea he pronounces that it is an hereticall position or rather the common foundation of all heretickes to suppose that she is inuisible The Church of the Saints saith he is the Catholicke Church the Church of the Saintes is not the Church of heretickes the Church of the Saintes is that which God hath predesigned before she was seene and exhibited that she might be seene And in an other place It is a common condition of all heretickes not to see the thing in the world that is most cleere contituted in the light of all nations out of the vnitie whereof all that they doe can noe more warrant them from the wrath of God then the Spiders webb from the extremitie of colde And againe She hath this most certaine mark that she cannot be hid she is then knowne to all nations the sect of Donatus is vnknowne to manie nations then that cannot be she The third solution is that besides euen the vse of the finall definition of the Church is a forced vse and where with Saint AVG. was constrayned in the beginning to serue his turne to withstaÌd the fraude of the Donatists but afterward he so
corrected or explained it both in the conference that he had with them in Carthage and in his retractations as there remaines noe more colour to abuse it For Saint AVGVSTINE in his first disputatioÌs against the Donatistes finding himself pressed with the arguments that they brought to proue that baptisme could not be giuen by heretickes because heretickes were out of the Church aduised himselfe and particularlie in the worke of the seuen bookes of baptisme from whence this distinction of people knowne in the eyes of God and in the eyes of men is principally taken to helpe himselfe against them not with the formall definition of the Church by which onely infidells and hereticall and Schismaticall Christians are excluded but by the finall definition of the Church that is to saie by the definition of the Church considered according to the finall and future number of those of whom she should be constituted in the other world from which wicked Catholickes are also excluded to the end to inferr from thence against the Donatistes that as euill Catholickes though they were out of the Church defined according to her future permanent and principall being did truly baptise soe heretickes and Schismatickes though they were out of the Church defined according to her present and passant being yet might administer true baptisme And for a foundation of his definition he made vse of Epithetes of Salomon and S. Paul hauing noe spott nor wrinkle and ãâã her such like elogies of the Church which appertained either to the state of the other world or to the puritie of doctrine But after that the Donatistes abused both this definition and the testimonies from whence it was taken to inferre from thence that the Catholicke Communion which was mingled with wicked men was not the Church he changed his proceding in the conference that he had with them at Carthage and declared that this definition belonged not to the Church considered according to the present and formall being which she hath in this world but accordinge to the future and finall being which she shall haue in the next The Catholicks saith he made it appeare by many testimonies and examples of holy Scriptures that wicked meÌ are now so mingled in the Church that although Ecclesiasticall discipline ought to be watchfull to correct them both in words and by excommunications and degradations neuerthelesse not onely being hidden they are vnknowne but euen being knowne they are often tollerated for the vnitie of peace and shewed that the testimonies of scriptures did in that manner well agree together to witt that the places whereby the Church is represented with the medly of the wicked signisie the present tyme of the Church as she is in this world and the places whereby she is designed to haue no wicked persons mixt with her signifie the future state of the Church such as she shall eternally haue in the world to come And a little after so the Catholickes refuted the calumny of the two Churches declaring expressely and instantly what they intended to saie to witt that they had not pretended that that Church which is now mingled with wicked men should be an other Church then the kingdome of God that shall haue no wicked pesons in it but that the same one and holy Church is now in one sorte and shall be then in an other now she is compounded of good and wicked men and theÌ she shall not be soe And in the worke of the Cittie of God made by him after the Conference of Carthage there where the one and other kinde are found that is good euill there the Church is as ãâã is at this present but where the one only shal be there is the Church such as she is to ãâã when there shal be no wicked men in her And in the answere to the second Epistle of Gaudentias written also after the said Conference You see that the Church according to Cyprian is called Catholicke by the name of all and it is not without manifestly-wicked men And in the second booke of his retractations I wrote said he 7. bookes of Baptisme against the Donatistes attempting to defend themselues by the authority of the most happie Bishop and Martyr ãâã in all those bookes where I haue described the Church without wrinckle or spott it must not be takeÌ of the Church as shee in her present being but as being ãâã to ãâã such wheÌ she shall appeare in glorie And againe In my writings to an vnknoweÌ Donatist speaking of the multitude of cockle I said by which are vnderstood all heretickes there wantes a Coniunction which is necessary for I should haue said by which are also vnderstood all beretickes c. whereas I spake as if there were onely cockle out of the Church and none in the Church And neuerthelesse the Church is the Kingdome of Christ from whence the Angells in the haruest tyme will plucke vp all Scandalls which caused the Martyr Cyprian to saie Although we see tares in the Church yet ought neither our faith nor our charitie to be so diuerted as because we see tares in the Church we should therefore seperate our-selues from the Church Which sense we haue also followed els where and principallie against the ãâã ãâã present in the act of the Conference From whence it appeares how much it is to abuse Saint AVGVSTINES wordes against the sense whereto himselfe intendes they should be either corrected or explained to transferr as the protestantes doe that that he spake of the Church considered according to her future and finall being in the other world and applie it to the Church considered accordinge to her actuall being heere and to inferr from thence that she may consist in this world formally in the onely mumber of the predestinate and remaine hidden and visible To the fift obiection which is that Saint Ierom writes vpon the Epistle to the Ephesians The Church is glorions wthout spott or wrinkle or anie such like thing he then which is a sinner and soyled with anie spott cannot be called of the Church of Christ neither subiect to Christ We answere that he meanes not to saie that wicked men are not of the Church which is the body of Christ which fightes heere below but that they are not of the number of the Church which is the bodie of Christ which shall raigne in heauen For soe farr of is it from Saint IEROM to belieue that the promise to be without wrinkle or spott of manners appertaines to the Church considered as she is in this world that he cryes out quite contrarilie against the Pelagians That what the Apostle writes that our Lord will make his Church holy and without spott or wrinkle shall be accomplished at the end of the world and in the consummation of vertues And againe True perfection and without soyle is reserued for heauen when the bridegrome shall say to the bride Thou art wholie saire my
the Scriptures in that they were with me we both celebrated the martyrs feastes in that they were with me we both frequented the solemnity of Easter in that they were with me but they were not with me in all things in schisme they were deuided from me in heresie they were deuided from me in manie things with me and in few deuided from me but because of these few thinges wherein they were deuided from me the manie things wherein they were with me profited them nothing And so it is vnprofitable to those societies whereof his Maiestie speaketh to obtaine the name of Churches that they be vnited in most pointes necessary for saluation if they be not vnited in all and particularly in the knowledge and acknowledgement of the true Catholicke Church and consequently not supposing her to be visible The fowrth battaile is that the vniuersall distinction of things necessarie or not necessarie to saluation cannot be assuredly made by the iudgement of euery particular person but it dependes of the iudgement of the Church For there is noe Sect but belieues that those thinges which they hold are only necessary to saluation and that all which others hold ouer and aboue are either pernicious or superfluous Pelagius and Celestius saith Saint AVG. desiring fraudulentlie to auoid the hatefull name of heresies affirme that the question of originall sinne may be disputed without danger of saith And Saint AVGVSTINE contrarywise cryes out that it belongs to the foundation of faith We may said he indure a disputant which ãâã in other questions not yet diligentlie examined not yet established by the whole authoritie of the Church theire errors may be borne with but it must not passe soe farr as to attempt to shake the foundation of the Church And Luther speakinge of the controuersies of the Reall presence vnder both kindes and of the orall manducation of the bodie of Christ in the Eucharist Zuinglius and Oecolampadius said he alleadge that the question betweene them and vs is a light matter and a little difference not worthie that by occasion thereof Christian charitie should be broken But LVTHER contrarywise cryes out Eternallie cursed be this concord and this charitie because it doth not only miserablie rend the Church but after the diuells fashion mockes her And againe I take to witnesse God and man that I agree not with the Sacramentaries that is with the Zuinglians and Caluinists nor euer did agree with them nor by the helpe of God ãâã will agree with them and that I desire my handes may be cleane from the bloud of all those whose soules by this poyson they haue turned from Christ and slaine And a little after We will auoid them we will resist and condemne them to the last breath as Idolators corrupters of Gods word blasphemers and seducers So that before we can be assured of entire vnitie in things necessarie to saluation we must heare the iudgement of the Church and consequently suppose her to be visible The fifth battaile is that it is not euough for the constitution of a Church that the persons where of it consistes should be vnited among themselues in matters necessarie to saluation if they be not also deuided from the externall communion of all other societies which holde things repugnant to saluation For it sufficeth that we be vnited with anie Congregation which belieueth anie one point repugnant to Saluation although we be well perswaded in all the rest nay and euen in that alsoe to be excluded from the participation of the Church for whosoeuer communicates in matter of Religion with anie Societie is answerable for all the pointes vnder the obligation whereof he receiueth men to his communion From whence it ariseth that a multitude of men of diuers externall communions such as his Maiestie hereafter propounds as a number of men of the Roman Communion a number of men of the Greeke communion and a number of men of the Ethiopian Communion cannot constitute a common Church for as much as though they are vnited in the beliefe of most things necessarie to saluation neuerthelesse there are things repugnant to saluation wherein some of them are vnited by the bond of theire externall Communions with the body of theire Sects which externall vnion though the internall went not with it is sufficient to depriue them from the participation of the Church The sixth battaile is that the vnitie of faith which enters into the essentiall definition of the Church is not simply the vnitie of internall faith but the vnitie of externall faith For the vnitie of faith which concurrs to the formall constitution of the Church is that which serues for a foundation to the commerce of Ecclesiasticall Charitie that is to saie by meanes whereof the members of the mysticall bodie of Christ may acknowledge and embrace one an other as brothers and members of one and the same bodie Now this is the vnitie of exteruall and professed faith and not that of hidden and internall which serues for nothing neither for ãâã nor for saluation if it be not made manifest and externall For our Lord cryes out Hee that will confesse me before men I will confesse him before God my Father And saint PAVL We make confession with our mouthes to saluation And saint AGVST We cannot be saued vnlesse labouring also for the saluation of others we professe with our mouthes the same faith which we be are in our harteÌs And againe Peraduenture said he some one may saie there are other sheepe ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which I am not acquainted with but God hath care of them But he is too absurd in human sense that can imagine such thinges And finally the seuenth battaile is that the vnitie of faith euen externall and professed ãâã not for the constitution of the Church if the vnitie of the visible and Sacramentall Communion with the originall body of the Church and the vniuersall societie of the true pastors be not added to it You are with vs ãâã Saint AVGVSTINE to the Donatists in baptisme in ãâã Creede in the other Sacraments of our Lord but in the spirit of vnitie in the bond of peace and finally in the Catholicke Church you are not with vs. And Saint IEROM There is this difference betweene schisme and heresie that heresie holdes a false doctrine and schisme for Episcopall dissention equallie separates men from the Church Of other inuisible vnions CHAP. XI The continuance of the Kinges answere THey are vnited by the coniunction of spirits and by the offices of true Charitie and aboue all by that of mutuall prayers They are finally ioyned by the communion of one selfesame hope and by the expectation of one promised inheritance THE REPLIE NEITHER can there be a true Communion of Spirits where the visible and sacramentall CommunioÌ of bodies is excluded that is to ãâã where the parties doe noe admitt one an other to the Communion and participation os the
same Sacraments If we be in vnitie saith S. AVGVSTINE what haue two altars to doe in this Citty Neither can the office of mutuall prayers that is to saie prayers made one for an other constitute an Ecclesiasticall vnitie and Communion For Catholickes namely vpon good friday pray for heretickes and heretickes for Catholickes although indeede the exercise of prayers either made ioyntly or exacted one from the other be an office of communion though an vnperfect one And therefore the Councell of Laodicea forbiddes Catholickes to pray with heretickes And the first Councell of Nicea ordaines that those penitentes that had in perill of death receiued the Eucharist theire health beinge recouered should remaine with those that communicate by prayer onely And the Councell of Ancyra admittes a Communion without Obligation And the religious of Egipt driuen away by Theophilius being come to Constantinople were not depriued by Saint CHRISOSTOM of the Communion of prayer He thurst them not saith Socrates out of the participation of prayer but he iudged it not conuenient to admitt them to the Communion of the Sacraments before the knowledge of the cause Neither is true Charitie to be found out of the Church but only an humane affection which can noe otherwise be called charitie but equiuocally None saith saint AVGVST can transport charitie forth of the Catholicke Church And againe Thou hast proued to me that thou hast faith proue to me like wise that thou hast charitie Keepe vnitie Neither can the simple coniunction of hope constitute anie Ecclesiasticall communioÌ for all heretickes and Schismatickes agree in this pointe that they hope eternall life and the promised inheritance Wee saith Petilian the Donatist hauing nothinge yet possessinge all thinges beleeue that our soules are our reuenewe and with out labour and bloud we purohasse the eternall riches of heauen Neither finally can the coniunction in one iust hope haue anie place but amongst those that are called and inserted into the bodie of the Catholicke Church followinge this sentence of saint Paule One bodie and one spirit as you are called in one hope of your vocation Of the knowledge that the predestinate haue of their predestination CHAP. XII The continuance of the Kings answere KNowing I speake of the elect that they are predestinate from before the foundation of the vvorld to be coheires vnited in bodie and copartners of the promises of God in the Ghospell a the diuine Apostle saith THE REPLIE HEere the most excellent Kinge behaues himself like Hippomanes who runninge with Atalanta for masterie cast out golden apples in her way to delaie her with takinge them vp soe his Maiestie putts rubbes in this discourse to staie the course of my pen and to stoppe me to examine them But I hope to remoue them so quickly that I shall be time enough at the end of my carrere To this then I will succinctly saie fower thinges The first that philosophers teach vs that the morall passion which wee call hope from whence theologicall hope hath by analogy borowed her name is alwaies mingled and tempred with feare By meanes whereof those thinges that fall vnder the obiect of hope as are the goods of future life in respect of euery particular man cannot be apprehended with a certaintie of Theologicall faith that is to saie infaillible not to be doubted of otherwise hope should noe more be a vertue distinct froÌ faith against this oracle of sainct PAVL now remaines faith hope and Charitie and these things are three but ought to be embraced with an expectatioÌ mingled tempered with feare as Dauid exhortes vs in these wordes ferue the Lordin feare and reioyce in him with tremblinge And S. PAVL in these Thou subsistest by faith be not pussed vp but feare He that thinkes he stands let him take heede least he ãâã And againe worke your saluation with feare and tremblinge And speaking of himselfe I chastize my bodie and bring it vnder least when I haue preached to others myselfe become a reprobate The second that faith cannot bee but of things reuealed by the word of God for faith saith saint PAVL is by hearing and hearing by the word of God Now it is not reuealed to anie one in the word which God hath consigned to his Church either by writinge or tradition that he is absolutelie of the number of the predestinate and therefore if hee haue not expresse and particular reuelation from God as Saint Paule had who vpon this occasion speakes somtimes of himselfe according to his common condition as simply one of the faithfull and sometymes according to his extraordinary reuelatioÌ of a predestinate person he can not haue anie certaintie of Faith in this respect For to saie that it is reuealed to vs in scripture that whosoeuer trustes in our Lord shall not be coÌfounded And that our Lord himselfe saith who beleeues in me hath life eternall all these pro mises not to speake of other modifications which the scripture puts to them ought to be vnderstood with the condition wherewith our Lord will haue them vnderstood when hee saith who perseuers to the end shall be saued And Saint Paule when he writes See the goodnesse of God in thee if thou perseuere in goodnes otherwise thou shalt be also cutt of Now where is it that this finall perseuerance is particularly promised to anie one in the word of God for if you answere that our Lord saith all that you aske for when you pray beleeue you shall receiue it and it shall be done to you And consequentlie if we demaunde perseuerance we shall obtaine it I answere that he meanes all that you demaunde as you should demaunde it Now the principall condition required to demaunde perseuerance as you should demaunde it is to perseuere in demaundinge it and not to content our selues with demaundinge it once but to demaunde it petpetually followinge this preeept os Saint Paule Pray without ceasinge And againe watch and pray with all perseuerance Far Salomon demaunded wisedome and begged it in faith without staggeringe which is the condition wherewith saint IAMES saith we should begge it but because he did not perseuere to aske it he lost it Now this perseuerance to aske perseuerance where is it promised to anie one in the scripture The third that this beliefe is pernicious both to religion as an enemie to humilitie and good workes and to States and common-wealthes as an enemie to good manners For imprinting in the spirit of euery particular man yea which is worse as well of those that are wicked and reprobate as of others because what is proposed in a Religion for a doctrine necessarie to saluation all doe thinke themselues obliged to holde it that he is assuredly predestinate and that whatsoeuer sinnes he commit he shall infallibly haue leasure and grace to repent him before his death this I say doth puffe vp men with arrogance and
Catholicke Church Saint AVGVST and the other Bishops of Africa answered them that the separation intended by that passage was the morall separation of faith and breach of Communion It was saith S. AVGVST represented what ought to be the separation of the good from the bad in this world that they might not communicate in theire sinnes to witt separation of hart by dissimilitude of life and manners and that otherwise ought not to be vnderstood that which is written goe out from the middle of them and withdrawe from them and touch not theire vncle annesse that is to saie be distinguished in liuing in an other sorte and consent not to theire vncleannesse But the excellent kinge saith that there are other places of scripture whereby is proued that which he pretendes to gather from the allegoricall wordes of the reuelation to witt that the visible Church should become soe corrupt as the faithfull should be obliged to leaue her communion Now the obiections that his Maiestie reserues for vs in this regard are either taken from this interrogatory of our Lord In your opinion the sonne of man when he comes shall he finde faith vpon the earth or from these wordes the moone shall not giue vs her light Which S. AVGVST interpretes of the Church or from this prophecie of Saint Paule the Sonne of perdition shall be seated in the temple of God Or out of these words of the same booke of the reuelation two winges of a great Eagle were giuen to the woeman that she might flye into the wildernesse Or from the examples of the pretended ecclipses and sincopes of the Iewish Church And therefore settinge aside the obiection of the symptomes of the Iewish Church which we remitt to treate of heereafter it is fitt that we solue all the rest presently To the first obiection then which is to the interrogatory that our Lord made to his disciples when he asketh them In your opinion when the Sonne of man comes shall he finde faith on the earth Wee saie saint IEROM and S. AVG. haue answered it longe agoe the one against the Luciferians and the other against the Donatists And haue shewed that this passage is intended not of confessed and doctrinall faith but of iustifiynge faith workinge by charitie and yet not of the extinction but of the diminution of this iustifiynge faith The Donatists saith saint AVG. alleadge that this that our Lord asketh in your opinion the Sonne of man vhen he comes shall he finde faith vpon the earth is to be expounded of the reuolte of all the earth which we vnderstand to be said either in regarde of the perfection of faith which is soe oifficult to men that in the very Saintes who where to be admired as in Moses there was found some thinge wherein they haue staggered or might stagger or for the aboundance of the wicked and the smalle number of the good And saint IEROM speakinge of the Luciferians If they flatter themselues said hee with this sentence written in the Ghospell in your opinion when the Sonne of man comes shall he finde faith vpon the earth let them know that the faith there mentioned is that whereof the same Lord said Thy faith hath saued thee And agaiue of the Centurion I haue not found so great faith in Israell And a little after it is this faith that our Lord hath foretoulde shall be rarelie found it is this faith that euen in those that belieue well is hardlie found perfect Let it be done to thee said hee accordinge to thy faith I would not haue that word pronounced to me for if it be done to me accordinge to my faith I shall perish and yet I belieue in God the father I belieue in God the Sonne and I belieue in God the holy Ghost To the second obiection which is that sainct AVGVSTINE interpretes allegorically these other wordes of the Ghospell then the moone shall ãâã more giue her light to be meant of the Church which in tyme of persecutions whereof he speakes shall not appeare we answere sainct AVGVSTIN meanes that she should not appeare in her carnall and weake members but not that she shall not appeare in her strong and spirituall Champions that she shall not appeare or lesse appeare in her ãâã parte in her strawe in her drosse because that parte will yeild to persecutions but not that she shall not appeare in her more excellent parte in her corne in her golde which contrarywise will then shine more then before This appeares by what he writes in his Epistle to ãâã It is shee said hee that is sometimes obscured and as it were shadowed with ãâã by the multitude of scandalls that is to saie persecutions when the Sinners ãâã theire bowe to wound it the obscuritie of the moone the lawes of theire heart but euen then she is eminent in her moste firme champions And a little after It is not in vaine that it was said of the seede of Abraham that is should be as the starrs of heauen and as the sand vpon the Sea-shore that by the starrs of heauen might be meant the faithfull lesse in number more steddie and more cleere and by the sand which is on the Sea-shore the multitude of weake and carnall men who some-times in calme weather appeare free and quiet and sometimes are couered and troubled with the waues of tribulations and temptations And therefore after he hath said she shall not appeare he adds for as much as manie which seemed to shine in grace shall yeilde to persecutions and fall awaie and some faithfull persons verie firme shall be troubled And againe persecution shall so precede as that defection of some shall followe that he might shew that he meanes not to saie that the Church shall not appeare in her whole bodie otherwise how coulde he crye out in an other place she hath this most certaine marke that she cannot be hidden but that she shall not appeare in some of those that had bene her partes Which neuerthelesse in matter of application of allegories where it is permitted to bow the sense of the wordes to accommodate it to the grace of the application and where interpretors content themselues if the thinge signified answere in anie parte to that signifiyinge it sufficeth to make him say to the end to appropriate the ãâã of the moone to the Church that the Church then shall not appeare that is shall not appeare in some of her partes The third obiection followes which is that saint Paul writes that the daie of the Lord shall not come till the reuolte be first made and till the man of sinne be reuealed and the sonne of perdition who shall oppose and exalte himselfe aboue all that is called God or esteemed an obiect worthie of whorship euen to sitt in the temple of God shewinge himselfe as if he where God Now I will not heere stand to dispute what saint Paul meanes by this reuolte or
Schismatickes but alsoe heretickes Thou art said he to Gaudentius both a Schismaticke by sacriligious dissention and an hereticke by sacriligious doctrine But the principall difference that wee obserue is that all call those that haue begunne with dissention in faith and to whom Schisme hath but the place of an accessory heretickes and those that haue begunne with schisme and to whom heresie is come accessorily after the schisme as the feuer after the wound Schismatickes Of the agreement of the ancient Catholicke Church with the moderne CHAP. XVIII The continuance of the Kinges answere ANd heere most Illustrious Cardinall his Maiestie requires from you that you will represent to your selfe how great Difference there is betweene Saint AVGVSTINS tyme and this of ours how the sace and all the exterior forme of the Church to saie nothinge of the interior is changed THE REPLIE THis is the request that I would myselfe most humblie make to his Maiestie to witt to sett before his eyes the estate of the Catholicke Church in the tyme of Saint AVGVSTINE and of the fower first Councells A Church that belieued a the true and reall presence and the orall manducation of the Bodie of Christ in the Sacrament vnder the kindes and within the Sacramentall kindes as Zuinglius the principall Patriarch of the Sacramentaries acknowledgeth himselfe in these wordes From the tyme of Saint AVGVSTINE that is 1200. yeares agoe the opinion of corporall flesh had alreadie gotten the masterie A church that in this qualitie adored the Eucharist not onely with thought and inward deuotions but with outward gestures and adorations actually reallie and substantiallie the true and proper bodie of Christ. For I will not speake now of Transubstantiation for which I reserue a treatise apart A Church that belieued the bodie of Christ to be in the SacrameÌt euen besides the vse and for this cause kept it after Consecration for domesticall communions to giue to sicke persons to carry vpon the Sea to send into farr prouinces A Church that belieued that the communion vnder both kindes was not necessary for the integritie of participation but that all the Body and all the blood was taken in either kinde and for this cause in domesticall communions in communions for Children in communions for sicke persons in communions by Sea in communions of penitentes at the hower of Death in communions sent into farr prouinces they distributed it vnder one kinde A Church that belieued that the Eucharist was a true full and intire Sacrifice it alone succeedinge all the Sacrifice of the lawe the newe Oblation of the newe Testament the externall worshipp of latria of the Christians and not onely an Eucharistiall Sacrifice but alsoe a Sacrifice propitiatory by application of that of the Crosse and in this qualitie offered it as well for the absent as for the present aswell for the communicantes as for the non-communicantes as well for the liuinge as for the dead A Church that for the oblation of this sacrifice vsed Altars both of wood and stone erected and Dedicated to God in memory of the martyrs and consecrated them by certaine formes of wordes and ceremonies and amoÌgst others by the in shriuinge theire relickes A church wherein the faithfull made voyages and pilgrimages to the bodies of the said Martirs to be associated to theire merites and helped by theire intercessions prayed the holy martyrs to pray to God for them celebrated theire Feastes reuerenced theire relickes made vse of them to exorcise euill spirites kissed them caused them to be touched with flowers carried them in clothes of silke and in vessells of gold prostrated themselues before theire shrines offered sacrifices to God vpon theire tombes touched the grates of the places where theire relickes were kept tooke and esteemed the dust from vnder theire relickaryes and went to pray to the martires not onely for spirituall health but for the health and temporall prosperity of theire families carried theire Children yea theire sicke cattell to be healed And when they had receiued some helpe from God by the intercession of the said martyrs hunge vp in the temples and vpon the Altars erected to theire memory for tribute and memoriall of the obtayninge of theire vowe images of golde and siluer of those partes of theire bodie that had bene healed And when the godly and learned Bishops of the ancient tyme reporte these thinges they celebrate and exalt them as soe many beames flashes and triumphes of the glory of Christ. A Church which held the apostolicall traditions not written but coÌsigned viua voce and by the visible and ocular practise of the Apostles to theire successors to be equall to the Apostolicall writinges and held for apostolicall tradions all the selfe same thinges that we acknowledge and embrace in the qualitie of apostolicall traditions A Church that offered prayers both priuate and publicke for the Dead to the end to game ease and rest for them and to obtaine that God would vse them more mercifullie then theire sinnes deserued and held this custome for a thinge necessary for the refreshinge of theire soules and for a doctrine of apostolicall tradition and placed those that obserued it not in the Cataloge of heretickes A Church that held the fast of the 40. daies of Lent for a Custome not free and voluntary but necessary and of Apostolicall tradition and reckoned amongst heretickes those that obserued it not and duringe the tyme of Lent as in a generall mourninge of Christians forbadd the Celebration of weddinges and the solemnisations of marriages A Church that out of Pentecost held the fast of all the Fridaies in the yeares in memory of the Death of Christ except Christmasse day fell vpon one which she excepted namely as an apostolicall tradition For I speake not of wednesdaies supplyed in the west by satturdaies A Church that held the interdiction made to Bishops Priestes and Deacons to marry after theire promotion for a thinge necessary and of apostolicall tradition A Church that held marriage after the vowe of virginitie a sinne and that by apostolicall tradition and reputed religious men and religious weemen that married after the soleÌne vowe of single life not onely for adulterers but for incestuous persons A Church that held the l minglinge of water with wine in the Sacrifice of the Eucharist for a thinge necessary and of diuine and Apostolicall tradition A Church that held the exorcismes exsufflations and renunciations which are made in baptisme for sacred Ceremonies and of Apostolicall tradition A Church that besides baptisme and the Eucharist which were the two initiatinge-Sacramentes of Christian Religion held Confirmation made with the Chrisme and the signe of the Crosse and allowed onely to Bishops the power
rest For how dost not thou denie the future perfection of these prophecies thou that fearest not to denie soe great in ãâã to which the perfection is due And in an other place Although there are manie kindes of heresies amongst Christians and that all would ãâã to be Catholickes and call the rest except themselue heretickes there is ãâã ãâã Church if you cast your eyes ouer the whole worlde more aboundant in multitude and as those that know themselues to be of it affirme more sincere in truth then all the rest but of the truth that is an other question That which sufficeth for this dispute is that there is one Catholicke Church to which different heresies impose different names they beinge neuerthelesse all called by their particular ãâã that they dare not disauowe from whence it appeares in the iudgement of arbiters not possessed with fauour to whom the name of Catholicke whereof they are all ambitious ought to be attributed By which wordes S. AVG. elegantly declares that the Church was not called Catholicke because she was actually and at one selfe same tyme ouer all NatioÌs but for this cause amongst others that in multitude of people and in extent of nations she exceeded each one of other Christian societies Of the comparison of the Church with the Cittie builte vpon a Mountaine CHAP. XX. The continuance of the Kinges answere FOr heretofore the Catholicke Church like the Cittie built vpon a Mountaine which could not ãâã ãâã was not way subiect to be called in question but was euident and certaine to all in such ãâã ãâã noe bodie of an vndistracted spirit could doubt of it THE REPLIE IT seemes that the excellent King holdes this word that cannot be hidden to haue reference onely to the Cittie built vpon a Mountaine and will not haue it belong to the Church but by accident that is when she reseÌbles the ãâã builte vpon a Mountaine That is to say it seemes that his Maiestie vnderstandes not that this condition to be like a cittie built vpon a Mountaine and by consequent not to be hidden belongs perpetually to the Church but will haue it that the Church sometymes enioyes this condition as when Saint AVGVSTINE writ and sometymes is depriued of it as afterwardes Neuertelesse Saint AVGVSTINE who is the best interpreter that can be of his owne wordes saith that the Church hath this most certaine marke that she cannot be hidd And againe that of her it is said The cittie built vpon the Mountaine cannot bee hidd From whence it appeareth that this Epithete of beeing vnconcealeable belongs not by accideÌt to the Church when she shall be found like the cittie built vpon a hill but appartaines to her properly directly and perpetually For where his Maiestie adds that the Church was then soe manifest as noe man in his right wittes could doubt of her that was true and soe is she still at this day in regarde of all those that agree vpon the true markes of the Church that is to saie in regarde of those that accordinge to Gods promises designe the Catholicke Church by the perpetuitie of her continuance and by the eminencie of multitude and extent ouer nations aboue all other Christian Sectes But to all heretickes and schismatickes who reiected those markes and would receiue noe signe for a note of the Church but onely puritie of manners or triall of doctrine of which they attributed to themselues the iudgement by interpretation of Scripture made accordinge to theire sense the Church was not onely doubtfull but altogether hidden It is saith S. AVG. a condition coÌmon to all heretickes not to see that thinge which is in the world the most apparent an t built in the light of all nations out of whose vnitie all that they doe though they seeme to doe it with great care cannoe more warrant them from the wrath of God then the spiders webbs against the extremity of colde Of the conformitie or inconformitie of the Donatists and Protestantes in the question of the Church CHAPT XXI The continuance of the kinges answere FOR she vvas not shutt vp in anie corner of the vvorld liyng I knowe not vvhere in the South as the foolish Donatistes affirmed but she vvas spread in leught and breadth ouer all the space of the Earth THE REPLIE THE Donatistes held not that theire Church was inclosed by right and for euer into Africa but onely in fact and for a certaine tyme noe more then the Caluinistes who haue pretended that the true visible Church had bene reduced for manie ages into the Prouince of Albigeois and other boundes and afterward in some valleys of Dolphiny And yet the Donatistes did not make this confession with theire good will but in theire owne defence by constraint Contrarywise they attempted with all theire power to shewe that theire Church was not restrained onely into Africa For this cause they kept a Bishop at Rome whom they had sent to a fewe African Donatistes that dwelt there They had plented a pretended Church in Spanie in the territory of a Lady called Lucilla that fauored them They had made the false Actes of the mock Councell of the Arrians holden at Philipopolis neere Sardica to passe current insteede of the true Councell of Sardica because in the letters of those Bishops amongst the names of the Bishops to whom they were addressed theire was the name of Donatus the false Bishop of Carthage one of the Bishops of the Donatistes party thereby to make it credible that the Councell of Sardica had communicated with them yea when they entered into conference with the Catholickes they grewe to be soe impudent but that it was confounded at the instant as to maintaine that theire communion was spread ouer all the earth Heere first saith Saint AVGVSTINE speaking of the conference that he had with Fortunius the Donatist did he attemps to ãâã that his Communion was ouer the extent of the earth I asked him there ãâã whether he could addresse coÌmunicatorie letters which we call formall whither I ãâã appoint and I affirmed as it was manifest to all that by this meanes the ãâã might be easilie determined c. but because the thinge was euidently false ãâã out of this discourse by confusion of ãâã And finally when they ãâã ãâã from the visible ãâã of the Church they had recourse to the ãâã vniuersality and said they communicated inuisibly with all ãâã ãâã and hidden members of Christ which were spread ouer all the world for it is against them that saint AVG. disputes when he writes It ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that God hath other sheepe which I know not but God ãâã care of them he is too absurde in humane sense that imagins such things By ãâã whereof theire cause who haue separated them-selues from vs in ãâã ãâã ages can be noe waie distinguished in the point of the Church from that of the Donatistes Of the extent of the ancient Catholicke Church
manie called it in question yet as for him ãâã reiected it not The Councell of Constantinople surnamed ãâã held longe after condemned it And Photius the Patriarke of Constantinople yet later saith It can hardly be iustified from Arrianisme which makes it to be ãâã that it is not the same writinge which bore that name in Saint Epiphanius ãâã or that it hath since bene salsified by the Arrians Neither doth that booke ãâã either expressely or equiualently that all Bishops are in a sort oecumenicall He saith no more but this speakeinge collectiuely to all Bishops and not distributiuely to euery Bishop Wee write these thinges for confirmation ãâã ãâã of you to whom the episcopat is committed ouer all But if the had said it what could followe of that doth not Saint AVGVSTINE say that the ãâã all charge is common to all Bishops and for all that doth hee forbeare to protest in the same place that the Pope is supereminent in a more high ãâã As ãâã saith hee cease not to rore about the pastures of our Lords ãâã and to seeke euerie side for in-letts to snatch awaie the sheepe bought at soe high a ãâã and that to vs all which exercise the office of Bishops the pastor all charge is common although thou art ãâã in a higher degree And in an other place that in the Roman Church there hath alwaies flourisht the ãâã of the Apostolicall chaire Of the comparison of the Pope with other Bishops CHAPT XXV The continuance of the kings answere BVt then the ordinary ãâã shewed that it was very true and a thousand examples of history may yet easily demonstrate it THE REPLIE ANd wherefore then that we may begin this information in the age of Saint ãâã which was the first age after that of the Apostle and end it in that of Saint ãâã the great whom Caluin will haue to be the ãâã true and lawfull Bishop of Rome when Saint IRENEVS disputes against the Valentinians doth he cry with the Roman Church because of a more powerfull principalitie that is because of the principalitie of the apostolicall Sea it is necessary that ãâã ãâã should agree for that by this more powerfull principalitie Saint IRENEVS meant not the ãâã principality of the Cittie of Rome but an other more powerfull principality to ãâã the Spirituall principality of the Apostolicall Sea wee haue ãâã both from the same Saint IRENEVS who in the ãâã ãâã period called the Roman Church the greatest and ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Rome ãâã the two most glorious Apostles ãâã and Paule And from Saint AVGVSTINE who saith In the Roman ãâã hath alwaies flourisht the ãâã ãâã of the Apostolical seate And from Saint PROSPER Saint ãâã second soule who writt ãâã ãâã of the apostolicall ãâã hath added more greatenesse to Rome by the Tribunall of Religion then by that of the Empire And why then when VICTOR had excommunicated the Churches of Asia the lesser vpon the question of Easter day which they obserued not according to the vniuersall tradition of the Apostles but according to a locall and particular tradition which had bene instituted for a tyme in their Prouinces did not the same Saint IRENEVS reproche to him that he could not doe it and that he had noe more power to cast them out of the Church then the other Bishops onely admonishe him as it shall appeare hereafter that he should not for soe small a matter cut of soe manie and soe great Churches He exhorted him said EVSEBIVS not to cut of all the Churches of God which held the tradition of this ancient custome And RVFFINVS translatinge EVSEBIVS He reprehended him said hee to haue done ãâã to cutt from the vnitie of the bodie soe manie and soe great Churches For as for the slaunders wherewith EVSEBIVS and RVFFINVS hereticall Authors the one an Arrian and the other an Origenist both enemies to the Roman Church doe poyson this history they shall be answered hereafter and it shall be shewed that the censure of VICTOR was soe iust that it was after followed by the Oecumenicall councells of Nicea and Ephesus And why then when TERTVLLIAN priest of Carthage in Africa was fallen into the heresie or rather frensie of Montanus doth he write that Praxeas had inforced the Bishop of Rome who did before acknowledge the prophesies of Montanus Prisca and Maximilla and by this acknowledgement brought peace to the Churches of Asia and Phrigia to reuoke his letters of peace already published and cease to ãâã the spirituall guiftes persuadinge him to belieue false thinges of these prophets and of their Churches and opposing to him the authority of his predecessors For the Montanists of Asia and Phrigia haueing been excommunicated by the Catholicke Bishops and Metropolitans of their Prouinces what right could the Pope haue to receiue them into his communion and to grante them peace if he were not head and superintendent of the whole Church and principally according to the ancient Ecclesiasticall discipline which held that noe Bishop except he were superior could receiue to his communion those that had been execmmunicated by their owne Catholicke Bishops And why then when the same TERTVLLIAN declaimes against the decree of Pope Zepherinus which ordayned that Adulterers hauing done penance ãâã be receiued into the communion of the Church doth he call him though whith a ãâã and hereticall scorne the great high priest and the Bishop of Bishops and the good ãâã and the blessed Pope I heare saith he that an Edict hath been propounded and certainely peremptorilie to witt that the great high priest and the Bishop of Bishops saith I pardon the crimes of adulterie and ãâã to those that haue performed their penance And againe thou dost sweeten thy sermons with all the allurements of mercie that thou canst good shepheard and blessed Pope and in the parable of the sheepe thou seekest thy Goates And why then when the blessed Martyr CORNELIVS had been created Pope did Saint CYPRIAN say that the Emperor Decius bare with more patience to see a competitor arise in the ãâã then to see an high priest of God constituted at Rome or according to the oldest and best Copies theÌ to see an high Priest constituted his riuall in Rome alluding to the two titles that the pagan Emperors assumed the one of Emperor and the other of high Priest and comparing the concurrence that the Emperor receiued in the quality of Emperor hy the creation of a riuall in his Empire with the concurrence that he receiued in the qualitie of high priest by the creation of a Bishop of Rome And wherefore doth he call the ãâã Church the Chaire of Peter and the principall Church and the originall of the ãâã all vnitie They durst saith he saile to Rome and carrie letters from prophane and Schismaticall persons to the chaire of Peter and to the principall Church from whence the sacerdot all vnitie
condemned the orthodoxall doctrine and had excommunicated and not onely excommunicated but put to death Flauianus Archbishop of CoÌstantinople who maintayned the true faith Neuerthelesse these things were not set amongst the principall causes of his deposition but the presumption that he had committed in vndertaking He and his false Councell to excommunicate the Pope and the contempt that he had added to it in not comeing to yeild reason for this presumption to the Councell of ãâã Dioscorus saith Anatolius Arch-bishop of Constantinople speaking to the Councell of Chalcedon hath not bene deposed for the faith but because he had excommunicated my Lord the Arch-bishop Leo and that hauing bene thrice cited he would not appeare And the Councell of Chalcedon in the epistle to Pope Leo saith After all these things he hath extended his ãâã euen against him to whom the guarde of the Vine is committed by your Sauiour that is to saie against thy Holynesse and hath mediated an excommunication against him that striues to vnite the bodie of the Church or according to the other ãâã against thee who makest haste to vnite the bodie of the Church that is to saie against thee that holdest the bodie of the Church in vnitie For with the Greeks it is a common phrase to saie to haste themselues to doe some thing in steede of saying to doe some thinge As when the Emperor IVSTINIAN writt to Pope Iohn surnamed Mercury We haue made haste to submitt and ãâã all the Prelates of the east countries to your Sea insteede of saying ãâã ãâã ãâã all the Prelates of the East to your Sea And as when the Councell of ãâã said Anthymus made haste to cast vs into a worse tempest insteede of saying Anthymus hath cast vs into a worse tempest CARD PERRONS REPLIE TO THE KING OF GREAT BRITANIE THE SECOND BOOKE CHAP. I. Of Councells The continuance of the Kinges answere TO this were added alwaies and as often as they were needefull Councells truly Oecumenicall and not as vve see they haue bene often since Oecumenicall by name but indeede assembled onely out of some prouinces of Europe THE REPLIE AND euen this also very often when there was noe neede of theÌ as the Councell of Arimini compounded of more then 400. Bishops the second Councell of Ephefus called from all the Regions of the world but assembled by hereticall Emperors or gouerned by the abettors of heretickes and from the vnlawfull celebration whereof the one held without the Popes authority and the other against it the successe teacheth vs that as much as Councells are profitable wheÌ the temporall authority seconds the Ecclesiasticall as much are they pernicious when temporall authority vndertakes to performe the office of Ecclesiasticall authority Iointlie that as in human bodies the multitude of medicines is not a signe of health soe in the Ecclesiasticall bodie the multitude of Councells is not a signe of well being witnesse the complaintes of S. Gregorie Nazianz. vpon the multitude of Councells holden after that of Nicea of which he saith that he neuer sawe good come of them that is to witt as much because when the hereticall Emperors medled with the affaires of the Church the ambition to please them which was crept in among the Bishops thwarted the iudgments of the Synod as because the holding subsequent Councells vpon the same matter of those preceding them was to wound and to weaken the authority of the preceding Councells And then howe could the celebration of Councells haue bene a meanes to make men assured of the communion of the true Church if generall CouÌcells lawfully assembled that is according to the externall solemne and vsuall waies might erre in faith as the Protestants pretend and had not the infallible assistance of the holy Ghost but that a particular man esteeming his opinion agreeable to the sense of Scripture and that of the Councell differing from it might yea ought to preferr his iudgement before that of the Councell For whereas his Maiestie saith that the Councells holden in the last ages haue bene Oecumenicall in name but in effect assembled onely from some prouinces of Europe he may obserue if he please that there are two sortes of Oecumenicall Councells the one Oecumenicall indeede the other Oecumenicall in right I call those Councells Oecumenicall in deede which haue bene assembled from all partes wherein the succession of the Episcopall character is preserued whether those parts haue remayned within the Body of the Church or whether they haue bene cutt of from it I call those Councells Oecumenicall in right which are compounded onely of those partes which haue remayned within the body and Societie of the Church and to whom onely as such belongs the right to iudge in matters of Faith as the Councell of Sardica at the which there assisted not the Bishops of the Patriarkeshipp of Antioch because they were Arrians And the second Councell of Nicea at which the Cophtes that is the naturall Egiptians and Ethiopians assisted not because they were Eutychians Now both these kindes of Councells are of equall authority as concerning certainty in decisions of Religion for all the bodie of the true Church being there representatively both in the one and the other the assistance of the holy Ghost is there equally infallible But in regarde of euidence the authoritie of Oecumenicall Councells in deede is more powerfull and eminent in the behalfe of those men which are deuided from the Church then that of Oecumenicall Councells in right For in Councells Oecumenicall in right there are none but Catholicks that are assured that all the body of the Church is there assembled whereas in Councells Oecumenicall in deede each of the parties coÌtesting is of agreemeÌt that all the Body of the Church is there represented And the medley of hereticall or Schismaticall Bishops that is prouided with the onely succession of the Episcopall character but cut of from the communion of the Bodie of the Church hinders not but that in such councells the holy Ghost may worke by the common note of the Assemblie because the true Church receiuing those Bishops there for the effect then present into her charitie and into her communion while they are ioyned with her to the end to seeke meanes to assemblish vnitie she re-enables and restores to them for the tyme of the assemblie the authoritie of the exercise and of the Iurisdiction of their order whereof before there remayned to them nothing but the character To say then that some of the Councells of the latter age haue not bene Oecumenicall because the Greekes or Ethiopians did not assist there is not a valuable exception vnlesse it first appeare that the Greekes or Ethiopians are true and lawfull partes of the Church and haue not bene iustly cutt off and deuided from the Catholicke communion For it sufficeth to make a CouÌcell generall and vniuersall in right that all the partes that remaine actuall within the Body
coÌmunioÌ of the true Catholick church doe concurr to it and it is not requisite that those that are lawfully seperated froÌ her either for Schisme or herefie as are the Greekes who erre in the Faith of the procession of the holy Ghost which his Maiestie himself holdes to be an article of Faith the naturall Egiptians Ethiopians who erre in the Faith of the hipostaticall vnion in the qualitie of Eutichians and Monophysites are excluded froÌ the Bodie of the Church from before the fifth Councell should assist to it And notwithstanding yet euen in these last ages there haue bene Councells Oecumenicall indeede and in the sence whereto his Maiestie imployes this terme when the partes seperated frothe Bodie of the Church whould haue conspired to some re-unioÌ As that of Lateran vnder Pope Innocent the third where there where with the Pope the Patriarckes of Constantinople and Ierusalem and the legates of those of Alexandria and Antioch and more then 400. Bishops and 70. Archbishops from all the partes of the Church aswell Greeke as Latine And that of Florence vnder Eugenius the fourth where assisted the Greekes with their Emperor and their Patriarke and the Legates of three other Patriarkes and the Armenians and the deputies also of the Ethiopians and in both these they were agreed of all the points of Faith which in these daies are againe put to question From whence it appeareth that the wante of Generall Councells could not make the Church to be lesse acknowledgeable in the last daies then she was in the first Of the effect of Councells for the visibilitie of the Church CHAPT II. The continuance of the Kinges answere AND in the ancient tymes it was a firme bond by which all the meÌbers of the Catholicke Church were bound in the frame of one selfe Body which body for this cause was meruailously noble and eminent being so constituted in the view and knowledge of all that none thought they would could haue bene ignorant of her One Faith one policie one Body of the Catholicke Church a frequent visitation of the partes amongst themselues a meruailous consent of all the members an admirable sim pathie THE REPLIE RAther some tyme these were the meanes which heretickes or those Emperors that fauored them made vse of to shake and dissolue the masse and frame of the Body of the Church froÌ wheÌce proceeded the complaintes of the Fathers that after things had been once resolued of in the Church they should noe more holde other newe Councells that after the Councell of Nicea euery other Councell was superfluous and that they neuer sawe any good effect of all those Councells as is by S. GREGORIE Nazianzene aboue said And therefore these rich and magnificent amplifications of eloquence were noe impediments but that the Church when Luther began might haue bene not onely as much but more visible illustrious and eminent then she was manie tymes in those ages witnesse the obiections that the Donatists made to saint AVSTIN of the estate of the Church principallie in the East in saint HILLARYS tyme Such was said saint AVS the tyme whereof Hillary hath written from whence thou thinkest to sett ambushes for so manie deuine witnesses as if the Church were theÌ perished from the Globe of the Earth And saint IEROM because the East striking against herselfe by the ancient fury of her people tore in little peeces the vnseamed coate of our Lord wouen from aboue and that the foxes destroyed the Vine of Christ in such sort as it is difficult amongst the dry pondes and which haue noe water to discerne the sealed fountaine and the inclosed garden therefore I thought I ought to consult with the Chaire of Peter and the Faith praised by the mouth of the Apostles For whereas his Maiestie adds that the Bodie of the Church was then set in such an eminence of view and knowledg that she could not be vnknowne noe not by those that would haue bene ignorant of her this was verie true if you tooke all Catholicke prouinces together and compared them with euery particular Sect and it had place in regarde of those that were within the bosome of the Church which neither then nor since could haue bene ignorant of the Bodie and Societie of the true Church for as much as they all agreed in the hypothesis that the Church ought to be discerned by inimitable and indisputable markes and that those that had them not could not faine to haue them as the communion with the Sea of saint PETER the continued and not interrupted Succession of ministrie and Doctrine the eminencie and vniuersalitie aboue all other Christian Sects taken euerie one a parte and other such like But in regard of those that were seperated from it as heretickes and Schismatickes who would discerne the Church by markes more obscure then the thing itselfe and such as all Sects perswade themselues to haue to witt by the conformitie of Doctrine with the scripture interpreted according to the sentence of euerie particular man there was nothing lesse euident For to those the Church how eminent soeuer she had been hath alwaies been obscure hidden not for the want of her light eminencie but because of their darknes and blindnes This saith saint AVS is common to all hereticks to be vnable to see the thing that in the world is most manifest and constituted in the light of all nations out of whose vnitie whatsoeuer they worke although they seeme to doe it with great care and diligence can noe more profitt them against the wrath of God then the spider webb against the extremitie of colde And againe The Church is not hidden for she is not vnder a bushell but vpon a Candlesticke to giue light to all that are in the Howse And of her it is said The Cittie built vpon a Mountaine cannot be hidd but she is as hidden to the Donatistes who heare so cleere and manifest testimonies which demonstrate her to be spread ouer the whole world and yet had rather blindfold strike against the mountaine then ascend it And other where how can I call those but blinde that see not so great a mountaine and shutt their eyes against the lampe sett vpon the candlesticke Of the comparison of the Pope with the other Patriarkes CHAP. III. The continuance of the kinges answere IF anio one vvere fallen for heresie or Schisme from the communion of one of the Churches I saie not one of the first which vvere the Seates of the fovver Patriarckes but of anie other of those vvhich vvere much lesse as soone as it vvas knovvne he vvas reputed excluded from the communion of all the Catholicke Church THE REPLIE IN the tyme of saint AVSTINE there was yet but three true ãâã Seates in the Church I meane invested with patriarchall Iurisdiction to witt Rome Alexandria and Antioch Ierusalem hauing obtained noe patriarchall diuision till the Councell of Chalcedon For before it was
rootes but not that Ruffinus did not dye an hereticke and anathematized by the Roman Church as saint IEROME insinuates when he saith describing enigmaticallie the reuolte anathema and the sepulcher of Ruffinus who was dead in Sicilia The Scorpion is pres ãâã vnder the Sicilian earth betweene Enceladus and Porphirus it must be read betweene Enceladus and Porphirion who were two of the Giants that the Poeticall fables had said to be reuolted against Jupiter and had bene strucken dead with thunder bolts and couered with the Mountaines of Sicilia With what faith then can they alleadge the words of Ruffinus when the authoritie of the Roman Church is in question by whose Tribunall he had bene condemned and excommunicated you can scarce light vpon a place in Ruffinus translations where there is an occasion presented to speake of the Pope and of the Roman Church but he sharpens and enuenoms it as particularly when Eusebius reporting the history of Pope Victor who had excommunicated the Church of Asia be cause of the question about keeping the pasch saith There are yet to be found letters of the Bishops which handled Victor some what roughlie Ruffinus adds of his owne as prouiding vnprofitablie for the affaires of the Church and in the verse following where Eusebius writes Ireneus exhorted Victor not to cut off all the Churches of God which helde the tradition of this ancient custome Rufsinus turnes it Ireneus reprehended him that he had not done well to cutt off from the bodie of vnitie so manie and so great Churches of God and sees not that in thinking to calumniate Pope Victor he callumniates the councell of Nicea who renewed the same excommunication a thing possibly pardonable in Eusebius who besides that he was an Arrian writt his histories before the Councell of Nicea but inexcusable in Ruffinus who made his translation afterwardes With what colour then would they square the intention of the originall Greeke of the canons of the Councell of Nicea by the addition that Ruffinus a passionate translator incensed against the Church of Rome hath made thereto And as for ignorance what translator was euer more worthie to be refused in that regard then Ruffinus whose clauses are almost as manie prooffs of ignoraÌce and impertinencie for what could be imagined more vnapt then to make of Iames Bishop of Ierusalem Iames Bishop of the Apostles of the Greeke word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which signfies Blessed or happie a Saint called Macarius of Eusebius Pamphilus an heretick and an Arrian Pamphilus a Catholicke and a Martyr of Xistus a pithagorian and Pagan Philosopher XISTVS Pope and Martir An error that S IEROM bitterly reproues and which gaue occasion to saint AVSTIN to stumble and retract vpon the same matter of question which comes of quaero a verbe actiue querimony which comes of queror a verbe deponent of Corepiscopus whereof the Nicea Councell speakes the vacant place of a Bishop and so of infinite others which moued saint IEROM to saie that Ruffinus was so vnapt in both tongues as the Romans tooke him for a Grecian and the Greekes for a Roman And as for bouldnesse and rashnes what interpreter euer shewed lesse Religion or Faith in obseruing the text of his Authors then Ruffinus who hath alwaies taken libertie to add or diminish as it seemed good to him Thy conscience saith saint IEROM speaking to Ruffinus of the translation hee had made of Origen knowes what thou hast added and what thou hast taken away and what thouhast changed from one place to an other as it hath pleased thee And Erasmus in his preface vpon saint HILARY Ruffinus hath ãâã to himselfe the same authoritie in the translation of all the bookes which he hath translated and principallie in that of Origens writings and in that of Eusebius historie but this is not the libertie of an interpreter but the licence of a defiler of an others workes And Scaliger in his annotations vpon the Chronicle of Eusebius It is the custome of Ruffinus saith hee to omitt to peruert and to change the texts as he list With what face then can they now leaue the Greeke text of the Councell of Nicea to haue recourse to Ruffinus translations a perpetuall corrupter of the translations of antiqultie and particularlie of that of the Canons of Nicea where of he Suppresses some diuides others mangles some adds to others depraues some mistakes the sence of others I haue said Suppresses some for he suppresses the twentith Canon of the Councell of Nicea which containes the Ordenance to adore standing in the Sundaies seruice and during the fiftie daies of Pentecoste And that in hate of the resurrection of the very flesh which as an Origenist he opposed no more remembring what he had written of it when he was yet a Catholicke I haue said diuided and multiplied others for he diuided the eigth and the ninteenth Canons into two others and of either of them made two different Canons I haue said mangles some for he mangles the sixt and ecclipseth from it the Rights of the Bishop of Antioch in fauour of Iohn Bishop of Ierusalem whom he pretended to be an Origenist as himself was And maymes the end of the thirteenth And that which the fathers saie of Dying penitents to whom the Councellregrauntes the communion of the Sacrament after the examination of the Bishop with condition notwithstanding that if they chance to suruiue they shall be admitted but to the communion of prayers he interprets it of the examination of the Bishop for penitents recouered I haue said adds to others for he adds to the eighteenth this whole clause That Deacons in the absence of Bishops and priests might distribut the Eucharist And to the ninth ãâã or haue bene conuinced thereof by others which are no more within the Greeke text of the Councell then this of the Churches suburbicary I haue said depraues some for he depraues the ninteenth and saith of Deaconesses in generall that which the Canon onely saith of the Paulianist deaconesses I haue said mistakes the sence of others for in the eigth he is ignorant of the sence of the word Corepiscopus and turnes it the vacant place of a Bishop And in the ninth that of the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and interprets of confession of priests after promotion That which the councell saith of the Confession of Priests before promotion that is to say of the Confession made in the triall of those that were to be promoted to priesthood For whereas some to warrant the clause of the Churches Suburbicary alleadge that Pope Gelasius writing about the end of the same age approued the workes of Russinus excepting those things that saint IEROM had reprehended It is a vaine and friuolous warrantie for as much as Pope Gelasius intended to speake of the workes or dogmaticall translations of Russinus as was the Commentary vpon the Creede and the
ordaine saith hee according to the definition of Councells that the holy Pope of olde Rome shall be the first of all Prelates and that the blessed Archbishop of Constantinople new Rome should haue the second place after the Sea Apostolick of olde Rome Lesse yet is it to be obiected that some latter Greekes saie that the Councells of Constantinople Chalcedon adiudged the primacie to the Church of Constantinople for they will not saie that the intention of those Councells was then to iudge the primacie to the Church of Constantinople but by propheticall spirit to iudge the primacy to the Church of Constantinople after the Roman Church should haue lost it And to this end they pretend that the word after which the Councell of Constantinople made vse of when it saith the Bishop of Constantinople should haue the priuiledges of bonor after him of Rome was not a note of order but a note of tyme that is to say that the Fathers of the Councell foreseeing by diuine inspiration that the Sea of Rome should one daie fall into the heresie of the double procession of the holy Ghost so call they the doctrine of the procession of the holy Ghost by deriuation from the Father and from the Sonne and by that occasion fall from her ranke they ordained that after the Bishop of Rome should haue lost his primacie the Bishop of Constantinople should possesse it Which Zonarus although a Greeke and a Schismaticke reportes and confutes in these words Some said he belieue that the preposition after is a marke of time and not a submission of honor to the Church of Rome and they make vse for the proofe of their opinion of the twentie eigth Canon of the Councell of Chalcedon c. But the 130. Nou. of Iustinian inserted in the third title of the fift booke of the Basilickes giue the Canons otherwise to be vnderstood And a little belowe From hence it appeares manifestly that the preposition after signifies submission and inferioritie And elsewhere the Councell of Chalcedon ordaines that newe Rome should be honored with the same Ecclessiasticall prerogatiues as old Rome and should be preferred in honor before all the other Churches being the second after her for it is impossible that she should be equallie honored in all thinges vnlesse they will saie that those diuine Fathers foreseeing by the light of the holy spirit that the Church of Rome should be cutt off from the bodie of the orthodox and bee banisht from the Societie of the faithfull because of the diuersitie of the doctrine they destined that of Constantinople to be one day the first and so esteemed it then worthie to enioy in all things equall priuiledges to witt when she should haue receiued the primacie as the Roman Chuch had in former time had it And againe But to this sence the thirtie sixth canon of the councell Trullian doth oppose it self which hauing placed the Sea of Constantinople second after that of old Rome adds And after it that of Alexandria and after that of Alexandria that of Antioch and after that of Antioch that of Ierusalem And therefore not onely Nilus Archbishop of Thessalonica writing against the latines confesseth ingeniously that the Greekes neuer disputed for primacie with the Roman Church Wee are not said hee separated from peace for attributing to ourselues the primacie nor for refusing to holde the second place after the principalitie of Rome for wee neuer contested for primacie with the Roman Church But euen amongst the Authors of the last age Duaren although a greate enemie to the Pope acknowledgeth that the sentence of Phocas interuened vpon the word Vniuersall and not vpon the word First Behold his words Boniface the third said hee obtained with great contention from Phocas to be made oecumenicall and vniuersall Bishop Onely he shewes his galle in saying that Boniface obtained from Phocas to be made vniuersall Bishop where hee should haue said that he obtained of Phocas that the title of vniuersall Bishop should be preserued to him alone and that the Bishop of Constantinople who desired to participate in it might be excluded froÌ it For neither did the Bishop of Constantinople dispute the title of Vniuersall Bishop with the Pope but pretended he ought to be therein associated with him neither did the title of Vniuersall Bishop begin to be attributed to the Pope by Phocas but from the tyme of the Emperor Marcian aboue an huÌdred fiftie yeare before Phocas it had bene exhibited to him in the councell of Chalcedon and after that vnder the Emperor Iustinian aboue fiftie yeares before Phocas it had bene giuen him in Constantinople it selfe as it appeares both by the Acts of the Councell of Chalcedon wherein the petitions of the Clerkes of Alexandria presented to the Councell bore To the most holie and vniuersall patriarke Leo and to the holie generall Councell And by the testimonie of saint GREGORIE who wrote to Eulogius Patriarke of Alexandria Your Holynesse knowes that the title of vniuersall Bishop hath bene offerred in the councell of Chalcedon and by the following Fathers to my predecessors And by the Acts of the Councell of Constantinople holden vnder Menas confirmed by Iustinian where the petitions of the Regulars of Constantinople and of Syria and of the Bishops of the Patriarkships of Antioch and of Ierusalem to Pope Agapet were inserted with this inscription To our holy aud blessed Lord the Archbishop of old Rome and vniuersall Patriark Agapetus In such sort as be it that Phocas sentence were vpon the word vniuersall it cannot be said that Phocas was the author of the attribution of this title to the Pope since from the time of the Councell of Chalcedon and since vnder the Empire of Iustinian it hath bene attributed to him or be it that it interuened vpon the word First the originall thereof could not be imputed to Phocas since the Emperor Iustinian more then fiftie yeare before Phocas had written Wee ordaine following the definitions of the Councells that the holy Pope of olde Rome be the first of all the Prelates and that the blessed Archbishop of Constantinople new Rome haue the second place after the Sea Apostolicke of old Rome and be preferd before all the other Seas But it may be replied that S. GREGORIE did not onely condemne the vse of the word vniuersall in the person of the Btshop of Constantinople but refused it himself in his owne For hauing admonisht the Bishop of Alexandria that he should giue this title neither to him nor to the Bishop of Constantinople and the Bishop of Alexandria hauing written to him that hee had abstained according to this admonition from attributing it to the Bishop of Constantinople he replies I said you should giue such a title neither to me nor to anie other and behold in the front of your Epistle which you haue addressed to myselfe which haue made you this prohibition you haue
imprinted this title of prowd nomination Calling me Uniuersall Pope which I praie your most deare holynesse noe more to doe And a little after And certainely your holynesse knowes that this title was offered in the Councell of Chalcedon and since againe by the Fathers followinge to my Predecessors but none of them would euer vse this word because in preseruing in this world the honor of all Bishops they might maiutaine their owne toward God Almightie To this then to make an end wee answere that the word Oecumenicall or vniuersall hath two meaninges the one proper litterall and grammaticall whereby it signifies onelie Bishop And the other transferred and metaphoricall wherby it signifies superintendment ouer all Bishops And saint GREGORIE censered this title in the first sence forasmuch as it would haue ensued from the vse of this word grammaticallie taken and measured by the letter that there had bene but one Bishop onely be it in all the Empire or be it in the particular Empire of Constantinople and that all the rest had bene but his commissioners and deputies and not true Bishops in title and true offices of Christ. If there be one that is vniuersall Bishop saith saint GREGORIE all the rest are noe more Bishops Now saint GREGORIE maintained that all Bishops were true titularie Bishops and true ministers and officers of Christ although concerning iurisdiction they were subordinate one to an other as the inferior iudges of a Kingdom although concerning iurisdiction they be subalterne to the superior Iudges and that there be appeales from the one to the other yet are they not their commissioners or their deputies but are also themselues Iudges in title and ministers and officers to the Prince And therefore he opposed this title as a title full of sacriledge and arrogancie by which he that vsurpes it putts himself into the place of God makeing of Gods officers and euen in that by which they are Gods officers and exalting himfelfe for that which is of the Episcopoll order aboue his Bretheren that is to saie denying to his Bretheren the Essence and the proprietie of Bishops and holding them but for commissioners and substitutes in the Bishops Sea and not for true Bishops in title and true ministers and officers of Christ And in briefe reputing himselfe not as Seruant constituted ouer his fellowe seruants whereof the Ghospell speakes but as the Master and Lord of his fellowe seruants And it is not to be said that the Bishop of Constantinople preteÌded not to the title of vniuersal Bishop in this first sence for when a title hath two sences whereof the one is euill and pernicious it is easie for him that is in possession of such a title to transferr it abusiuelie from one sence to the other And therefore saint GREGORIE reiected absolutelie the vse of the word Vniuersall for feare least vnder pretence of an acception in processe of time it might be captiouslie drawne to the other And for this cause he withstood it not according to the metaphoricall sence which was giuen it but according to the naturall and originall sence which it had For that it was in this sence that saint GREGORIE cried out That he that intituled himselfe Uniuersall Bishop exalted himselfe licke Lucifer aboue his Bretheren and was a fore-runner of Antichrist to wittin as much as the word Uniuersall Bishop tooke from others the qualitie of Bishops and the title of officers of Christ And not to deny in case of iurisdiction the prelature and superioritie of one Bishop ouer others he shewes it sufficiently when hee writes For as much as it is notorious that the Sea Apostolicke by Gods institution is preferred before all other Churches so much amongst manie cares we are most diligent in that which we must haue when for the consecration of a Bishop they attend our will And when he alleadges to distinguish betweene these words Principalitie and Vniuersalitie the example of S. PETER who was indeede Prince of the Apostles and head of the vniuersall Church and notwitstanding was not vniuersall Apostle The care of the Church said hee hath bene committed to the holie Apostle and Prince of all the Apostles Peter the care and principalitie of the vniuersall Church hath bene committed to him and yet he is not called vniuersall Apostle And when he adds that none of the Saints vnder the lawe was euer called vniuersall The Saints before the lawe said hee the Saints vnder the lawe and the Saints vnder grace compounding one Bodie of Christ haue all bene constituted amongst the members of the Church and none would euer be called Vniuersall Certaine proofes that by the vniuersalitie that S. GREGORIE opposed he intended not to exclude the principality and superintendence of one Bishop ouer others not to depriue himselfe of the qualitie of head of the Church noe more then in denying that saint PETER was vniuersall Apostle he denied him to be head of the Apostles that the principalitie superintendeÌcie of the vniuersall Church was committed to him he that contrarywise came from saying The principalitie of the vniuersall Church is committed to Peter nor in denying that any vnder the lawe was called vniuersall hee meanes not to denie that the highest Priest of the lawe was head of the Iewish Church had the superintendencie ouer all the other Priests Leuites And therefore what pretence is left to the Ministers of the excellent King to abuse this passage to calumniate the Sea Apostolicke They saie S. GREGORIE cries out That a Bishop that intitles himselfe Vniuersall Bishop exalts himself like Lucifer aboue his bretheren and is a forerunner of Antichrist it is true but besides this is so too that S. ATHANASIVS cries yet with a stronger voice That an Emperor that makes himself Prince of Bishops and presides in iudgments Ecclesiasticall is the abhomination foretolde by Daniel Who knowes not that there is great difference betweene Forerunner and Predecessor And that Antichrist should not sit in the Seate of his Forerunners for fo are all hereticks and schismaticks noe more then our Lord sate in the Seate of S. IOHN who was yet his Forerunner but not his Predecessor otherwise Antichrist must sit in the Episcopall Seate of Constantinople for it was the Bishop of Constantinople that S. GREGORIE pretended by this clause to qualifie the Forerunner of Antichrist And then what blindnes is it to strike vpon the refusall that S GREGORIE made of the title of Vniuersall and not to see that the same S. GREGORIE protests that by the refusall of this word hee intends not to refuse the qualitie of head of the Church nor superintendencie iurisdiction ouer all the other Bishops Archbishops and Patriarks for what age of S. GREGORYS epistles is not full of testimonies that the Roman Church is the head of all the Churches Heauen in her bosome not so manie Starrs embow'rs The Sea so manie sailes th' Earth so manie Flow'rs He writt
Eustathius he begins the twentith chapter of his second booke with these words In this time Marcus hauing for a short space holden the Bishops Sea of Rome after Syluester Iulius tooke the gouernment of the Sea of Rome and Maximus after Macarius of that of Ierusalem From whence it appeares manifestly either that the word Iulius which is in the precedent booke where Sozomene saith speaking of the Councell of Nicea Iulius Bishop of Rome because of his age was not there is a note which slipt out of the margent into the text and that Sozomene had simplie said as Eusebius The Bishop of Rome because of his age was not there or that insteede of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã wee must reade ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that is to saie ancient or venerable But because we haue handled this matter more at large elsewhere to witt in the preface composed by vs at Rome but published without our name before Gelasius of Cyzica wee will heere content ourselues to remitt the Readers to that and the while wee will examine the place of Sozomene Sozomene then saith ãâã writes At this Councell assisted of the Seas Apostolicke Macarius Bishop of Ierusalem Eustathius Bishop of Antioch Alexander Bishop of Alexandria and as for the Bishop of Rome he was not there because of his age but in his steede there assisted Vito and Uincentius Priests of the same Church This is true but so farr of is it that from hence it followes that Sozomene puts the Popes Legats in the fourth place As contrarywise it is euident euen there that he attribures to them the first For being constrained to followe the tract of his discourse which obliged him since he had purposed to speake of the Apostolicke Prelate which assisted at the Councell to beginne with those that were there in person before he would make mention of those which were there but by their Legats he ââerted of set purpose the order of the enumeration and began with the fourth and last of all the Patriarkes which was the Bishop of Ierusalem who was then but a Patriarcke of honor and then went vp increasing to him of Antioch who was the third and then came to him of Alexandria who was the second to the end to keepe the last place of the progresse for the Popes Legates Now what could be done more expressely and with more note to testifie the primacie of the Pope A man that being to describe an Emperiall diet where the Emperor assisted but representatiuelie would begin with the Princes of the Empire who had assisted there in person but to keepe the greater dignitie to the Emperor would inuert the order of the other Princes and would saie rising from the last to the first of the Princes of the Empire there assisted at the Emperiall diet the Marquese of Brandenbourg the Count Palatine the Duke of Saxony the Archbishop of Collen the Archbishop of ãâã the Archbishop of Ments and the Kinge of Bohemia and as for the Emperor he was not there but deputed two Vicars there to hold his place should hee in doeing so giue the last ranke to the Emperor or the first For that the order reported in Sozomene was the inuerted order and not the direct order of the Sea of the Patriarkes it appeares both by the confession of Caluin who cryes out Amongst the Patriarks Ierusalem hath âenâ the last and by all the Ecclesiasticall histories which teach vs that Ierusalem was the fourth of the patriarkships and Antioch the third and Alexandria the second And by the Canons of the Councell of Nicoa it self which setts Alexandria before Antioch and Antioch before Ierusalem And by the expresse report that Socrates made of the direct order of the Councell taken by the very synodicall booke of S. ATHANASIVS which is thus Osius Bishop of ãâã Uito and Vincentius Priests Alexander of Egipt Eustathius of great Antioch Macarius of Ierusalem In which Catalogue Sainct ATHANASIVS and Socrates put Osius the Bishop and Uito and Uincentius Priests as holding but one and the same place in the first ranke And Alexander Patriarke of Alexandria who was the second Patriarke in the second place and Eustachius Patriarke of Antioch who was the third Patriarke in the third And Macarius Patriarke of Ierusalem who was the fourth Patriarke in the fourth place But they will replie that Eusebius and after him Theodoret and Soâomene make mention but of two Legats of the Pope Vito and Vin ãâã ãâã and consequently that S. ATHANASIVS and Socrates could not place Osius Vito and Vincentius as being all three Legats to the Pope in one same place to this replie then the answere shall be that the Popes ãâã accustomed to send two sortes of Legates to the generall Councells celebrated in the East the one Bishops taken out of the bodie of the Roman Patriarchall Church As Arcadius and Proiectas Bishops to the first Councell of Ephesus Iulian Bishop of Pozzoly to the second Paschasinus Bishop of Lilybea to the Councell of Chalcedon and the other Priests taken out of the body of the particular Roman Church ãâã Vito and Vincentius to the Councell of Nicea Archidamus and Philoâelius to the Councell of Sardica Phillip to the first Councell of Epheââââ Boniface to the Councell of Chalcedon And the reason of this was that the body of the ãâã Church was neuer at the generall councells celebrated out of the ãâã of the West but the Pope held at Rome a Councell of the Bishops of the West whose resolution he sent by a legation to the Councell of the other Patriarchall diuisions assembled in the ãâã ãâã at ãâã confirmed by a Councell holden afterward that which had bene decided at the Councells of the other patriarchall diuisions assembled in the East And from this concourse arose the absolute title of generall Councell The Legats then that the Pope sent to ãâã the voice of the ãâã Church to the ãâã Councells assembled in the East were of two sortes the one taken from the body of the Bishops to represent in generall the whole bodie of the ãâã Church that is to saie ãâã the person of the Pope as of the other Bishops of the West and the other Priests and Deacons taken from the ãâã Clergie of the Roman Church to represent particularly the ãâã and person of the Pope And this was some times the practise of those of the East in the westerne ex pedition For when Flauianus Patriarke of Antioch sent his embassage to Rome to recouer the grace of the Pope hee added to it besides the Priests and Deacons of the Church of Antioch Acacius Bishop of Beroe in Syria one of the Bishops of his patriarkship who was saith Theodoret head of the legation and some other Bishops of the same diuision to the end to shew the consent of his patriarchall Church with his particular Church But let vs leaue those of the East and returne to the Pope The Pope then
to cause the ãâã of the westerne Church to be carried to the generall Councells celebrated in the East sent a legation compounded of two kinde of Legats the one internall and taken from the bodie of the particular Roman Church whom wee with the Councell of Sardica call Legats taken out of the Popes owne side and the other externall and taken out of the order of the Bishops And this legation was sometymes made by two distinct commissions as in the sixth generall Councell the Legats from the popes particular person and those from the Councell of Rome were deputed feuerally And sometymes by a ioynt deputation as in the Councell of Ephesus and Chalcedon Now were those Legats that we call internall that is to saie taken out of the particular Clergie of the Roman Church the principall Legats not in honor except when the Popes legations and those of the Councell of Rome were distinct but as for the instructions and in the report of the Popes intentions And therefore also when there was question of the particular voice of the Pope they were often named alone as in the historie of Sozomene and in the list of the signatures of the Councell of Sardica because they were onely Legats deputed both from the person of the Pope and from the bodie of his Church And of those examples we haue one remarkable in the commission that the Councell of Ephesus gaue to the Bishops that it sent to Constantinople for by this commission the Councell of Ephesus intituled Phillip Priest of the Roman Church Legate from the Pope in these words To Phillip Priest holding the place of the Bishop of Rome Celestine to Arcadius to ãâã c. And intituled not Arcadius Legat to the Pope though he were both Bishop and Legat to the Pope altogether because Phillip was Legat à latire from the Pope that is to saie a Legate taken out of the very bodie of the particular Roman Church and Arcadius was Legat from the Patriarchall Roman Church that is to saie Legat from the Pope and Councell of Rome by meanes whereof when Sozomene and Theodoret say there were two Legats from the Pope at the Councell of Nicea to witt Uito and Uincentius and that S. ATHANASIVS and Socrates put Osius Uito and Vincentius into one place they contradict not one an other for as much as the one speakes onely of the internall Legats that we call Legats a latere of which Osius was none and the other speakes of the Legats aswell internall as externall whereof Osius was one And in this the ancient Greeke and Latine Canonists agree with vs For not onely Hincmarus Archbishop of Rhemes who flourished in the time of Charles the Balde and was not suspected to fauour the Pope much writes At the Councell of Nicea in the place of Syluester Osius Bishop of Cordua and Vito and Vincentius Priests of the cittie of Rome presided But alsoe Dalmatius Bishop of Cyzica in Asia one of the Fathers of the Councell of Ephesus who liued neere a thousand two hundred yeares agoe and after him Gelasius Priest of Cyzica who liued vnder the Emperor Zeno a thousand one hundred and fortie yeares agoe that is to saie in the next age to the Councell of Nicea and from whose pen is come to vs the famous Canon of the Eucharist so much cited by Caluin and by all the Sacramentaries written in the extract of the same Councell of Nicea that Osius was the Popes Legat in the Councell of Nicea and that Vito and Vincentius were his Colleagues At this Councell saith ãâã of Cyzica speaking after Dalmatius of Cyzica of the Councell of Nicea assisted Osius Bishop of Cordua who held the place of the Bishop of great Rome Syluester with the Priests Uito and Vincentius And not onely Gelasius of Cyzica vseth these words but Photius Patriarke of Constantinople the greatestenemie to the Roman Church that euer was amongst the Greekes alleadgeth them neere eight hundred yeares agoe in these words I haue said he read a booke in forme of a historie intituled The Acts of the Councell of Nicea containing three tomes and bearing added he a little after the title of Gelasius of Cyzica in this booke saith he the Author writes that Osius Bishop of Cordua and Vito and Vincentius Roman Priests assisted at the Councell from the part of Syluester Bishop of Rome And not onely Photius alleadgeth them but himselfe in his treatie of the Synods dedicated to Michell King of the Bulgarians and reported by Euthymius writes with Vito and Uincentius was ioyned Osius Bishop of Cordua And indeede for what other cause should Osius simplie a Bishop of the patriarkship of the Roman Church and subiect in the first instance to the Metropolitan of Seuilla in Spaine and by appeale to the Patriarke of the West haue preceded all the Patriarks of the East yea in the East it selfe he that in the Councell of Eluira that we call Elibertin composed of ninteene Bishops of Spaine had held but the secoÌd or according to others the eleauenth place And in the Councell of Arles compounded of two hundred Bishops had had noe ranke amongst the principall Bishops of the Councell but for the same cause for which Uito Uincentius simple Priests of the Roman Church preceded them to witt for the order of his legation for to precede them by vertue of the particular conditions of his person neither age nor antiquitie of promotion nor learning nor desert hath euer giuen ranke in generall Councells to anie simple Bishops before Archbishops much lesse before the Patriarks otherwise the distinction of the Seas had bene introduced in vaine and the personall condition of Osius were good to make his person reuerent but not to make him preside in a generall Councell where the order of the Hierarchy saith Caluin ought to be singularly obserued Iointly that euen in all these qualities there were manie in the Councell that surpassed him For if wee speake of persecutions for the Faith ãâã Bishop of one of the citties of Thebaida who had lost a knee vnder the persecution of Maximinus and an eye whose skarre the Emperor Constantine was wont to kisse was not he there Potamon Bishop of Heraclea in Egipt whom S. EPIPHANIVS calls great Bishop and great ãâã and who in the same persecution had had an eye put out was not he there Paul Bishop of Neocesarea vpon Euphrates whose handes had bene maimed with a hott iron in the persecution of Licinius was not he there And if we speake of the guiftes of prophetie and working of miracles Spiridion Bishop of Trimithunta in Cyprus that Ruffinus calls a man of the order of the Prophets was not he there James that great Bishop of Antioch in Mygdonia otherwise called Nisibis that Theodoret saith had raised againe the dead and whom hee intitles the prince of
execute at Constantinople the rudgement pronounced at Rome against Nestorius Archbishop of Constantinople Adding to thee said Pope Celestine in his Epistle to saint CYRILL the authoritie of our Sea and vsing with power the representation of our place thou shalt execute exactlie and constantly this Sentence to witt that if within ten daies reckoned since the day of this monitory Nestorius doe not anathematise by writing his wicked doctrines c. thy holynes should prouide for that Church without delaie and declare him to be wholie cutt of from our Bodie And in the Epistle to Nestorius read and inserted into the Acts of the Councell Wee haue sent the forme of this iudgement with all the verball processe to our holy fellow-Bishop of Alexandria to the end that he being made our Uicar may execute these things And in the Epistle to the Clergie of Constantinople Wee haue conferred our Uicarship because of the farr distance of places to our holie brother Cyrillus And the Councell of Ephesus in the relation to the Emperor The sentence of him and his before there was anie Synod assembled at Ephesus the most holy Celestine Bishop of great ãâã had testified by his letters and had committed to the most holy and most beloued of God Cyrill Bishop of Alexandria to be his Uicar And saint CYRILL himselfe in the Epistle against Nestorius addressed to the Constantinopolitans Wee are constrained said hee to signifie to him by Synodicall letters that if ãâã speedilie that is to saie within the time defined by the most holy Bishop of the Roman Church hee renounce not the nouelties of his doctrine he shall haue noe more communion with vs nor place amongst the Ministers of God And secondly Celestine making saint CYRILL his vicar it was by forme of commission and not by forme of intreaty Hee committed to him saith the Councell of Ephésus to be his Uicar And Marcellinus Comes of the same tyme with Iustinian Nestorius was condemned at Ephesus in a Synod of two hundred holie Fathers Celestine declaring to the Councell Cyrill Bishop of Alexandria his Uicar for the time And Liberatus the African author of the same age Celestine signified to Nestorius that he had giuen his Uicarship to CYRILLVS And Theophanes the Greeke-historian Celestine of Rome writt to Cyrill of Alexandria to holde his place in the Synod And Balsamon not onely a Grecian but a Scismaticke Celestine when he could not assist at Ephesus and iudge Nestorius in person thought good to permitt saint CYRILL to preside in his place at this Councell And Nicephorus Celestine Bishop of Rome refused to assist at the Councell of Ephesus for the perill of the nauigation but he writt to CYRILL to holde his place there and after that time the fame goes that Cyrill receaued the Tyara and the name of Pope of iudge of the whole world And thirdly who reuealed to Caluin that it was not in the qualitie of the Popes Legats but in his owne name that saint CYRILL presided in the Councell For did not Prosper an author of the same tyme say To the heresie of Nestorius CYRILLS industrie and Celestines authoritie principallie resisted And againe Celestine cutt of the Nestorian impietie aided CYRILL with the Apostolicke sword And the letters of the Bishops writing from Constantinople to the Councell Doe they not beare this superscription To the most holie and beloued of God Bishops and Fathers who by Gods grace are assembled in the Metropolitan Cittie of Ephesus Celestine Cyrillus Iuuenall and others to shew that the Pope though absent preceded saint CYRILL euen in the person of saint CYRILL And did not the Popes legates thanke the Fathers of the Synod because they had shewed themselues holie members to their holie head that is to saie to the Pope And saint CYCILL writing to Pope Celestine Doth he not call him his Father though himselfe were an ancienter Patriark by tenn yeare then Celestine And did not the Councell in the Bodie of it make themselues executioners of the Popes Indgements against the same Nestorius when they said Wee are come not without teares to pronounce this sadd sentence constrained by the force of the Canons and by the letters of our holy Father and fellow-Minister Celestine And then if Alexander Bishop of Alexandria had not presided at the Councell of Nicea but was there preceeded by two simple priests of the Roman Church Vito and Vincentius why should saint CYRILL one of his successors and Patriarke of Alexandria as he was and noe lesse enemie to Nestorius then Alexander was to Arrius haue presided at that of Ephesus a cittie that was in Asia and out of the Patriarkship of Alexandria as well as Nicea was And if that appertained by right to saint CYRILL for what cause did Dioscorus his Successor obtaine surteptitious letters from the Emperor vnder pretence of the refusall that Eutyches made of the Popes legates forasmuch as they had bene intertained feasted and gratified with presents by his aduersarie that is to saie by Flauianus Archbishop of Constantinople to preside at the false Councell of Ephesus And for what cause notwithstanding the said letter was hee accused for this attempt at the Councell of Chalcedon as for a newe and vnheard of enterprize He must said Lucentius Bishop of Ascoli giue vp an ãâã of his iudgement for asmuch as hauing noe right to doe the Office of a Iudge he hath vsurped it and hath presumed to hold a Synod without the authoritie of the Sea Apostolicke which hath neuer bene lawfull neither was euer done And for what cause did the Councell of Chalcedon call his presidencie Tyrannie and Uictor of Tunes author of the following age vsurped principalitie for whereas Caluin adds that at the Councell of Ephesus the other legates of the Pope sate after saint CYRILL that was because saint CYRILL had bene first deputed and before the Councell and that the others came thither but at the end thereof and besides that amongst colleagues of one same legation he that of himselfe was alreadie in greatest dignitie was to precede Of the order of the sittings of the second Councell of Ephesus CHAPT X. THE third obiection of Caluin is That in the second Councell of Ephesus Dioscorus Bishop of Alexandria presided and that although the issue of this Councell was vnlawfull neuerthelesse at the beginning when order was yet obserued the Popes deputies did not question him ãâã the first place An obiection that containes as manie falshoods as wordes For first the second Councell of Ephesus that the Greekes call the Councell of robbery was all disordered from the beginning to the ending Those things shall cease said the lawe which haue taken their originall from iniustice And indeede how could it be otherwise hauing begunn by practises by Steele and weapons for Chrysaphius Master of the imperiall pallace who was an Eutychian and Eutyches his
who had bene iudged in the first instance by the Archbishop of Constantinople and in the ãâã instance by the Pope did the Councell of Chalcedon cry out that Dioscorus and the false Councell of Ephesus had restored to Eutyches the dignitie that the Pope had depriued him of He hath said they declared Eutyches in ãâã and hath restored to him the dignitie taken from him by your Holynesse And wherefore then when John Patriarke of Alexandria had bene deposed from his patriarkship and Peter surnamed Mongus established in his place did John appeale to Pope Simplicius and tooke Synodicall letters from Calendion Patriarke of Antioch to accompanie his appeale John saith Liberatus addressed himselfe to Calendion Patriarke of Antioch and hauing gotten from him Synodic all letters of intercession appealed to Pope Simplicius And wherefore then when Pope Felix successor to Simplicius had deposed the same Peter Mongus Patriarke of Alexandria and Acacius Patriarke of Constantinople and Peter surnamed the Tanner Patriarke of Antioch and that these three Patriarkes trusting vpon the support of the Emperor Zeno who was an hereticke like themselues dispised the Popes sentence doth Victor of Tunes saie that they dyed all three vnder damnation And wherefore then when the Emperor Justin a Catholicke Prince was come to the Empire was the sentence that the Pope had pronounced against them executed soe exactlie that their names euen after their deathes were blotted out of the records of the Churches of Alexandria of Antioch and of Constantinople And that for the rest that had communicated with them but were not comprehended by name within the Popes letters the Emperor was faine to demaund pardon of the Pope for them Wee aske grace saith the Emperor writing to Pope Hormisdas for the names not of Acacius not of either Peter that is to saie not of Peter Patriarke of Antioch and of Peter Patriarke of Alexandria not of Dioscorus or Timotheus of whom your Holynesse letters to vs directed made especiall mention but of those whom the Episcopall Reuereuce hath celebrated in the other citties And wherefore then when Pope Agapet deposed within Constantinople itselfe Anthimus Patriarke of Constantinople doth Liberatus saie The Empresse Theodora wife to the Emperor Iustinian on the one side secretlie offered great presents to Pope Agapet and one the other side tried him with threates to hinder him from deposing Anthimus but the Pope persisted in not hearing her request And Anthimus seeing himselfe cast out of his Sea rendred vp the Archiepiscopall mantle to the Emperors and retired himselfe into a place where the Empresse tooke him into her protection And for what cause when the Councell of Constan ãâã holden vnder Menas speakes of the deposition of the same ãâã Patriarke of Constantinople doth it saie that the Pope had pardoned Peter Patriarke of Ierusalem and the other Bishops of the East that had communicated with him It must not be wondred at saith the Councell if the great Sea Apostolicke still continue to followe the first tract preseruing the Rights of the Church inuiolate and maintayning the faith and granting pardon to those that haue sinned And againe The blessed Pope Agapet of holie and Reuerend memorie comeing into this Royall Cittie hath next God giuen his helping hand to the sacred Canons and hath cast Anthimus out of the Sea which appertained not to him and hath pardoned those who had participated or communicated with him And wherefore then when John Archbishop of Larissa and Iohn Primate of the first Justinianea had iniustly condemned the one in the first and the other in thè second instance Adrian Bishop of Thebes in Thessalia did Sainct GREGORIE depriue the Bishop of the first Iustinianea of the communion for the space of thirtie daies and Ecclipsed the Bishopricke of Thebes from the iurisdiction of the Archbishopricke of Larissa and ordained that if the Archbishop of Larissa should anie more attempt to enterprise anie thing vpon the Bishop of Thebes he should remaine depriued of the sacred communion soe as it might not be restored to him except at the point of death without the leaue of the Bishop of Rome And wherefore then when the same S. GREGORIE restored Athanasius Abbot of Tamnaca in Lycaonia who had bene deposed by John Patriarke of Constantinople and had appealed from him to the Sea Apostolicke did he saie to him Wee declare thee free from all crime of heresie and giue thee free le aue to repaire to thy Monasterie and there to holde the same place as thou didst before But for as much as these shiftes are more then sufficiently confuted by the onely Canons of the Councell of Sardica which were framed to iustifie the restitution of S. ATHANASIVS and in the presence of S. ATHANASIVS himselfe wee remitt the Reader to the Chapter wee shall heereafter make thereof And the while we will examine the obiections that Caluin alleadges against the appeales to the Sea Apostolicke which consist in fiue principall instances which though they are treated of vnder two titles the one of corrections the other of appeales Neuerthelesse for as much as the right of appeales dependes from that of corrections and besides that Caluin mingles the instances of the one with the instances of the other we will treate of them vnder one Title to witt vnder that of Appeales Of the opposition of S. Ireneus to Pope Victor CHAPT II. THE first instance then that Caluin alleageth against the Popes censures is taken from Eusebius an Arrian author and from Ruffinus enemie to the Roman Church his translator who writt that S. IRENEVS reprehended Pope Uictor for hauing excommunicated the Churches of Asia for the question of the daie of Pasche which they obserued according to a particular tradition that S. IOHN had introduced for a tyme in their prouinces because of the neighbourhood of the Iewes and to bury the Synagogue with honor and not according to the vniuersall tradition of the Apostles Jreneus saith Caluin reprehended Pope Victor bitterlie because for a light cause he had moued a great and perillous contention in the Church There is this in the text that Caluin produceth He reprehended him that he had not done well to cutt of from the bodie of vnitie soe manie and soe great Churches But against whom maketh this but against those that obiect it for who sees not that S. IRENEVS doth not there reprehend the Pope for the wante of power but for the ill vse of his power and doth not reproache to the Pope that he could not excomcommunicate the Asians but admonisheth him that for soe smale a cause he should not haue cutt of soe manie prouinces from the bodie of the Church Jreneus saith Eusebius did fitlie exhort Pope Victor that he should not cutt of all the Churches of God which held this ancient tradition And Ruffinus translating and enuenoming Eusebius saith He questioned Victor that he had not
Bishop Iohn had bene satisfied in all conditions and hauing learned from those of your legation that all things had bene accomplished according to our desire I haue by the grace of God admitted the communion of your Church And a little after As for the letters of the Bishop Atticus because they were ioyned with yours we haue receiued them least the refusall of a man alreadie a long while suspended by vs should turne to your preiudice and yet we haue sufficiently and more then sufficiently ordained in the acts what ought to be obserued in his person And Theodoret treating of the same matter Iohn being dead those of the West would neuer admitt the communion either of the Egiptians those of the East nor of the Bishops of Bosphorus and Thrace that is to saie of the diuision of Constantinople till they had inscribed the name of that admirable personage into the rolle of the Bishops his predecessors and esteemed Arsacius that succeeded him scarce worthie of a salutation and as for Atticus successor of Arsactus after manie legations and requests for peace they receiued him finallie but when he had added the name of John to the other Bishops And the third that if what Sigebert writes were true there were great difference betweene suspending themselues from the communion of anie one which was sometymes done by intermitting the commerce of communicatory letters and excommunicating him or making him incommunicable ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and that in the matter of verie excommunications there was great difference betweene minor excommunications which depriued those that were smitten with them from the vse of the Sacraments but depriued them not as is aboue said from the other fruits of the Churches communion and the maior excommunications which tooke awaie not onely the vse of the Sacraments but cast out those that were therewith attainted from the bodie and societie of the Church Now it was with this kind of excommunication wherewith Pope Victor excommunicated the Bishops of Asia who obserued the Pasche according to the Iewish computation Victor saith Eusebius moued with the answere of Polycrates attempted to cutt of at one blowe from the common vnion all the Diocesses of Asia and the neighbouring Churches as Heterodoxall and proscribed them by letters declaring all the bretheren which inhabited those Regions incommunicable And againe Ireneus exhorted Victor that he should not cutt of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã all the Churches of God that obserued the tradition of this ancient custome By which wordes it maie appeare that the meaning of Vistors censure was not simplie to seperate himselfe from the communion of the Asians but to diuide and cutt of the Asians from the bodie and societie of the whole Church and that the remonstrance and exhortation that S. IRENEVS and others made him was not to keepe him from seperating himselfe from the coÌmunion of the Asians but that he should not cutt of the Asians from the bodie and common masse of the Church for the verbes to proscribe and to declare incommunicable expresse an other thing then to seperate himselfe from them the Greeke word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã whereof Eusebius makes vse signifieth to diuide and cutt of from the bodie and from the masse for which cause Ruffinus hath translated it to cutt of from the vnitie of the bodie He reproued him saith Ruffinus for not doeing well in cutting of from the vnitie of the bodie so manie and so great Churches of God And certainlie what subiect of terror had Pope Victor giué to the Bishops of Asia in threatning to excoÌmunicate them if he had intended onely to seperate himselfe from them And why should Polycrates haue said that hauing the word of God for him he feared not those that threatned him if this threat had bene noe more but to seperate himself from their communion and not to seperate and cutt them of from the communion of the bodie and from the societie of the Church For what greater wound had the Asian Bishops receiued in the Popes seperation from them then the Pope in the Asian Bishops seperation from him if the Popes excommunication had bene noe other thing then a declaration that seperated himselfe from their communion Contrariwise the Bishops of Asia minor and of the neighbouring prouinces that the Pope comprehended in his censure being so great number as Polycrates saith that if hee should represent their names the multitude would seeme too great why had it not bene more opprobry for the Pope to be seperated from them then for them to be separated froÌ the Pope if the Popes excoÌmunication had bene but a simple declaration that he departed from their coÌmunion And it can not be said that Eusebius writes that Victor attempted to cutt them of for the question is not of the diminutiue termes which Eusebius whom S. IEROM calls the ensignebearer of the Arrian faction vseth with an Arrian en uie and malignitie against the Romane Church but of the intention of Victor of the Bishops that made their remonstrances to him And yet lesse can it be replied that the other Bishops opposed themselues against it for they opposed it not but in the forme of remonstrances and exhortations representing to him not that he could not doe it and that he enterprized beyond his iurisdiction but that for soe small a cause he ought not to cutt of soe manie Churches from the vniuersall bodie and societie of the Church Wherein was discouered the euill will of Eusebius against the Roman Church who saith that the other Bishops did bitterly reproue Victor when there is question to produce an example of the bitternes of their reprehensions he alleadges for his onely patterne the words of S. IRENEVS where there is not one bitter word to be found which containeth onely simple gentle remonstrances and full of submission to the person of Victor and to the authoritie of his Sea For to represent to the Pope that he ought not to cutt of so manie Churches from the bodie and from the societie of the vniuersall Church was it anie other thing then to confesse that if the cause had bene sufficient as afterward the Councells of Nicea and of Ephesus shewed it to be it belonged to him to cut them of and chiefely in the time of the pagan Emperors vnder whom noe generall councells could be celebrated And to vse the word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã which signifies to diuide and cutt of from the bodie and from the masse what was it but to saie that it was the Roman Church that as the stocke and roote did not cutt her selfe of from the Churches that she excommuni cated but cutt them of from her selfe and in cutting them of from her selfe cutt them of from the communion of the whole bodie noe more nor lesse then the head in cutting of anie member from the communion thereof cutts not it selfe of from that but cutts of that from it selfe
Archbishops or Bishops for what cause was it that when the Pope excommunicated anie other Patriarkes as when he excommunicated Flauianus ãâã and Peter Patriarkes of Antioch or as when he excommunicated Nestorius Accacius Anthimus Archbishops of Constantinople or as wheÌ he excoÌmunicated Theophilus Peter and other Patriarkes of Alexandria hee did for all this incurr noe censure from the Bishops or Catholicke Councells but was reputed to doe what he might doe Whereas when anie other Patriarke yea vnder the pretence of a generall Councell did ãâã the Pope he was punished and deposed for this presumption as for an enormious and extraordinary Sacrilege For what had not Dioscorus Patriarke of Alexandria done in his false Councell of Ephesus he had embraced the heresie of Eutyches he had condemned the Catholicke doctrine he had excommunicated Flauianus Archbishop of Constantinople who maintained it and had not only excommunicated him but alsoe slaine him And neuertelesse ô eminent dignitie of the ãâã Apostolicke these Sacrileges were not the principall causes of his deposition but that he and his pretended Councell had dared to excommunicate the Pope Dioscorus saith Anatolius Archbishop of Constantinople bath not hene deposed for the faith but because he excommunicated my Lord the Archbishop Leo and that hauing bene cited thrice before the Councell he appeared not And the Fathers of the Councell of Chalcedon in their relation to the Pope After all these things said they he hath extended his frensie euen against him to whom the guard of the Vine hath bene committed by our Sauiour that is to saie against thy Holynesses and hath me ditated an excommunication against him who laboreth to vnite the bodie of the Church But why should wee haue recourse to particular examples since the common voice of antiquitie teacheth vs that in all the tumults and in all the confusions of the Schismes and heresies which haue perturbed the Christian Religion the Roman Church hath alwaies bene as the center the principle and originall of the ecclesiasticall communion and as the Ensigne colonell of the armie of Iesus Christ vpon whom all the other Catholick ãâã haue cast their eyes and to whom they haue gathered ãâã separating themselues from the communion of those that communicated not with her and embracing the communion of those who communicated with her For what meane these wordes of saint IRENEVS With the Roman Church because of a more powerfull principalitie it is necessarie that euerie Church should complie And these of saint CYPRIAN The Roman Church is the Chaire of Peter and the principall Church from whence the Sacerdot all vnitie hath proceeded And these of saint AMBROSE Hee asked whether the Bishop of that place consented with the Catholick Bishops that is to saie with the Roman Church And these of Theodoret The Emperor Gratian commaunded that the Churches should he deliuered to those that held communion with Damasus which was added hee executed throughout the world but that the Roman Church was the center the beginning and the roote of ecclesiasticall communion and that whosoeuer was admitted to her communion was likewise admitted to the communion of the whole Bodie of the Catholicke Church and that those who were excluded out of her communion were excluded out of the communion of the whole Bodie of the Catholicke Church And what meane these wordes of saint HIEROM I am ioyned in communion with thy Blessednes that is to saie with the Sea of Peter I know the Church is founded vpon that Rock c. whosoeuer eateth the lambe out of this howse he is prophane And a little after I know not Vitalis I am iguorant of Paulinus I reiect Meletius whosoeuer gathers not with the scatters And againe In the meane time I crie If anie one be ioyned to Peters Chaire he is mine And these of Optatus Mileuitanus At Rome there hath bene setled to Peter the Episcopall Chaire in which there was sett the first of all the Apostles Peter c. to the end that in this onlie Chaire the vnitie of all might be preserued And a litle after In the person of Cyricius all the world coÌmunicates with vs by the commerce of formed letters And againe From whence is it that you pretend to vsurpe to your selues the keyes of the Kingdome you that combate against Peters Chaire by your presumptions and bold Sacriledges But that the Roman Church was the center the principle and the roote of Ecclesiasticall communion and that those that were admitted into her communion were admitted into the communion of the whole Catholicke Church and that those that were excluded from her communion were excluded from the communion of the whole Bodie of the Catholicke Church And what meane these words of saint AVSTIN In the Roman Church hath alwaies flourisht the principalitie of the Apostolick Sea And those of Eulalius Bishop of Syracusa to saint FVLGENTIV Se to turne him from goeing to the Monasteries of Egipt The Countries whither thou desirest to trauell a perfidious dissention hath separated them from the communion of the blessed Peter all those Religious persons whose admirable abstinence is celebrated should not haue the Sacraments of the Altar common with theeâ And these of Victor of Tunes speaking of the rebellion of Vitalian against the Emperor Anastasius the hereticke Hee would neuer promise peace to the Emperor till first he had restored the defendors of the Councell of Chalcedon who had bene banisht into their owne Seas and till he had vnited all the Churches of the East to the Roman But that the Roman Church was the center principle and the roote of the Ecclesiasticall communion and that those who were admitted to her communion were admitted to the communion of the whole Catholicke Church that those who were excluded from the communion of the whole Bodie of the Catholicke Church And what doe these wordes of John Patriarke of Constantinople intend We promise not to recite amidst the sacred misteries the names of those who are seperated from the communion of the Catholick Church that is to saie who doe not fullie consent with the Sea Apostolicke And those of the Emperor IVSTINIAN Wee preserue in all things the vnitie of the most holie Churches with the most holie Pope of old Rome And these of Menas Patriarke of Constantinople Wee follow the Sea Apostolick and obeie it and communicate with those that communicate therewith and condemne those that it condemneth And these of the Bishops returning from the Schisme to the Church in the time of saint GREGORIE the Great I promise I will neuer returne to the Schisme from whence by the mercie of our Redeemer I haue bene deliuered but that I will remaine alwaies in the vnitie of the Catholick Church and in the communion of the Bishop of Rome but that the Roman Church was the center the principle and the Roote of the ecclesiasticall communion and that those
that were admitted into her communion were admitted into the Communion of the whole Catholicke Church and that those that were seperated from her communion were seperated from the communion of the whole Bodie of the Catholick Church Of the oppositions of saint Cyprian CHAPT III. THE second instance of Caluin is taken from saint CYPRIAN and consistes in seauen heades produced by him or by his disciples The first that saint CYPRIAN calls Pope Steuen Brother The second that he complaines because Basilides a Bishop of Spaine hauing bene deposed by a Synod of his Prouince for hauing bowed vnder persecution and an other hauing bene ordained in his place Pope Steuen restored him The third that he saith there were but a small number of lost and desperate persons who beleeued that the authoritie of the Bishops of Africa was lesser The fowrth that he saith that the ecclesiasticall causes ought to be determined where they were bredd The fift that hee affirmes that the Episcopall power is one thing whereof euerie one holdes his portion vndiuidedly The sixth that hee cries none of vs constitutes himselfe Bishopp of Bishopps And the seauenth finallie that he vseth rude wordes against Pope Steuen and accuses him of ignorance and of presumption To the first then of these heades which is that saint CYPRIAN calls Pope Cornelius brother Wee answere he calls him Brother not to denie to him the superintendencie of the Ecclesiasticall gouernement but for two other causes The one to insinuate that the Popes superintendencie ouer other Bishops was not a Lordly Monarchie as that of temporall princes ouer their subiects but a gentle and brotherly Monarchie as that of an elder brother ouer his younger Bretheren which is the title that our Lord himselfe would beare when he made himselfe be called the first borne amongst manie bretheren and which is the memoriall of humilitie that God had giuen to the Kings of his people when he had pronounced Thou shalt take a king from amongst thy bretheren And againe that the kings heart may not be exalted aboue his bretheren From whence it is that the Scripture to represent this brotherly Monarchie as well in the Sacerdotall as in the politicke order saith in the first booke of Esdras And Iosua sonne of Iosedeck ãâã vp and the priests his bretheren and built vp the Altar of God And the other to signifie the vnitie of the communion that Tertullian calls the nomination of brotherhood and to shew that he spake not of the Antipope Nouatianus to whom the Schismatickes adhered but of the true Pope Cornelius and of Steuen his successor with whom the Catholicke Bishops communicated as Erasmus hath acknowledged vpon the same place of saint CYPRIAN in these termes The word BROTHER doth not there signifie equalitie but societie of Religion For that it was a familiar thing for ancient authors to vse the word Brother not to exclude the superioritie ãâã but to expresse the vnitie of communion it appeares by a thousand testimonies It appeares first by the testimonie of saint AMBROSE who calls the Bishop of Rome his holy Brother and neuerthelesse ' in the same place aduertiseth Theophilus Patriarke of Alexandria who was a committee from the Councell of Capua to iudge the cause of Flauianus Patriarke of Antioch to procure his iudgement to be confirmed by the Pope Wee conceaue said hee that you ought to reserr the affaire to our holy brother Bishop of the Roman Church for wee presume you will iudge soe as can not displease him And a little after that Wee hauing receaued the tenor of your acts when wee shall see that you haue iudged things soe as the Roman Church shall vndoubtedlie approue we will receiue with ioy the fruite of your examination It appeares secondly by the testimonie of the Catholicke Bishops of Africa who answered the Donatists in the conference of Carthage that Cecilianus Archbishop of Carthage had bene their brother Hee was saith saint AVSTIN our brother because of the communion of the Sacraments And neuertheles the Archbishop of Carthage was head and Superintendent of all the Bishops of Africa It appeares thirdly by the testimonie of saint AVGVSTINE who calls Aurelius Archbishop of Carthage his brother and neuerthesse saint AVGVSTINE was the spirituall subiect to Aurtlius and had bene made Bishop of Hippo by meanes of the dispensation that Aurelius had giuen to Ualerius to take him for coadiutor and himselfe acknowledged that he was obliged to execute his commaundemeÌts I haue said hee obeied thy commaundements my holie brother ãâã It appeares fowrthlie by the testimonie of Epigonius one of the Bishops of the third Councell of Carthage who calls the same Aurelius his brother and neuerthelesse acknowledgeth in the same place that Aurelius had superintendencie ouer all Africa It appeares in the fifth place by the testimonie of John Patriarke of Constantinople who writing to Pope Hormisdas intituleth him his Brother and neuertheles protests wee doe in all things followe the Sea Apostolicke and preach all that hath bene thereby decided And promise in the tyme to come not to recite amidst the sacred misteries the names of those that are seperated from the communion of the Catholicke Church that is to saie addeth hee that doe not altogether agree with the Sea Apostolicke And finallie it appeares by the testimonie of the Emperor Justinian who ãâã to Pope John surnamed Mercurius Wee demaund that your Fatherlie ãâã may declare to vs your intention by your letters directed to vs and to the most holie Bishop and Patriarke of this famous cittie your brother And neuertheles in the same Epistle and in the Epistle to the Patriarke of Constantinople he affirmeth that the Pope is the head of all the holie Prelates of God And the same may be said of the words Colleague or Fellow-Minister that the ancient Catholique Bishops sometimes attribute to the Pope not to weaken the Superioritie of the Gouernment but to designe the societie of the Ministrie and to shew that the faithfull and wise seruant that the Master hath substituted ouer the companie of his seruants to giue them their nourishment in due season is not Lord but fellowe Seruant to his fellowe Seruants For that the Fathers doe so vnderstand it it appeares by manie Examples It appeares first by the Epistle of the Synod of Alexandria where the Bishops of Egipt call saint ATHANASIVS Patriarke of Alexandria their Colleague who neuerthelesse was their head and had iurisdiction ouer all the Bishops of Egipt and Libia as it appeares both from the sixth Canon of the Councell which giues perfect authoritie to the Bishop of Alexandria ouer all the Bishops of Egipt Libia and Pentapolis And from the Remonstrance that the Metropolitans of Egipt made to the Councell of Chalcedon that they could enterprise nothing without the authoritie of the Bishop of Alexandria It appeareth secondlie by the Epistle of Proclus Archbishop
it is a comparitiue of positiue signification which hath noe other meaning but lesse then it should be that is to saie little or not great enough as when the same S. CYPRIAN writeh in the Epistle to Antonius If the number of Bishops resident in Africa seemed lesse sufficieÌt that is to saie not enough sufficient And the other that if it were a comparison of the comparatiue signification it should noe more haue reference to the Roman Church but to these wordes paucis desperatis perditis interpreting them in the ablatiue and not in the datiue and translating the period in this sence If it be not peraduenture that the authoritie of the Bishops constituted in Asrica who had alreadie iudged of them be esteemed lesse then a small number of desperate and lost men it seemes that the continuance of the period doth afterward declare which compares the number of the Bishops of Africa who had iudged of Fortunatus with those that tooke part with Fortunatus and not with the Roman Church in these wordes If the number of those that iudged of them the yeare past comprehending the Priests and deacons be reckoned it will be found there were more assistants present at the iudgement and at the examination of the cause then of those that tooke Fortunatus part And indeede if saint CYPRIAN had intended this word in a comparatiue signification and in regard of the Roman Church how could he haue said three lines aboue they presumed to saile to the Roman Church which is the Chaire of Peter and the principall Church from whence the Sacerdot all vnitie hath proceeded And how coul Optatus Mileuitanus an African as well as hee saie At Rome hath bene constituted to Peter the chiefe the Episcopall Chaire that in this onely Chaire the vnitie of all might be preserued And howe could saint AVGVSTINE an ãâã as well as either of them say That Cecilianus might despise the conspiring multitude of his Enemies that is to saie of seauentie Bishops of Africa assembled in the Councell of Numidia with him For as much as he sawe himself vnited by letters communicatorie with the Roman Church in which had alwaies flourisht the principalitie of the Sea Apostolicke and with the other Countries from whence the Ghospell came into Africa And againe That he doubted not but that Pelagius and Celestius who had bene iudged by two Councells of Africa whould more easilie yeild to the Popes authoritie drawne out of the authoritie of the holie Scriptures To the fifth head which is that the same S. CYPRIAN saith That there is but one Bishopricke whence euerie one holds his portion vndiuidedlie Wee answere hee vseth this language to insinuate that the Bishopricke cannot be possessed separatelie out of the vnitie and societie of the Episcopall Bodie but not to denie but that in the vnitie of this Episcopall Bodie the functions of Episcopall power are exercised in a more principall and eminent manner in the Roman Church then in the other Churches noe more then when wee saie that the soule is possessed by all the partes of the bodie inseparablie and vndiuidedly wee intend not to saie that for the exercise of her functions she resides not in a more principall and eminent fashion in the head then in the other partes otherwise why should hee call the Roman Church the Chaire of PETER and the principall Church and the originall of Sacerdot all vnitie To the sixth head which is that S. CYPRIAN saith in the Councell holden for the rebaptization of heretickes None of vs constitutes himself Bishop of Bishops Wee answere he speakes there onelie of the Bishops of Africa to whom hee directs his speach and whom hee exhorts to tell their opinion freelie in the Councell without being held backe by the respect of the authoritie that as Primate of Africa hee had ouer them And wee will add that if hee had holden this language euen to taxe and preueÌt the Pope obliquely who afterward condemned him the matter would be of noe weight for as much as this CouÌcell was an erroneous CouÌcell where S. CYPRIAN cast the foundations of the Donatists heresie and that as such it was not onelie condemned by the Pope and by all the rest of the Church but euen by those that had adhered to saint CYPRIAN witnes these wordes of saint ãâã The Blessed Cyprian stroue to auoide the myrie lakes and not to drinke of the strainge waters and vpon this subiect addressed the Synod of Africa to Steuen Bishop of Rome who was the twentie sixth after saint PETER but his strife was in vaine And finallie those that had bene of the same opinion with Cyprian sett forth a newe decree saying What shall wee doe Soe hath it ãâã deliuered to them by their Ancestors and ours To the seauenth head which is of the inuectiues that S. CYP. suffered to slipp out of his mouth after the contention that hee had with Pope Steuen for the rebaptizatioÌ of hereticks taxing him of ignorance and presumption Wee answere it is impietie in Caluin to alleadge them since S. AVSTINE holds them vnworthy to be reported and couereth them with this excuse The things which Cyprian in anger hath spread against Steuen I will not fuffer them to passe vnder my penn And we adde the resistance that Pope Steuen made to the error of S. CYPRIAN was the safetie of the church as saint Uincent Lerin witnesseth in these wordes Then the Blessed Steuen resisted with but before his Colleagues iudginge it as I conceaue a thing worthie of him that he should surmount them as much in Faith as he did in the authoritie of his place Of the Commission of the Emperor Constantine the Great for the iudgement of Cecilianus Archbishop of Carthage CHAPT IV. THe third instance of Caluin is taken from Optatus Mileuitanus and from saint AVGVSTINE who saie that the Donatists hauing accused Cecilianus Archbishop of Carthage and Felix Bishop of Aptunge his Ordinator and besought the Emperor Constantine who theÌ was resident amongst the Gaules to giue them Iudges of the Gaules the Emperor gaue them three Bishops of the Gaules whom he sent to Rome to iudge the affaire with Pope Melchiades But whom doth this Instance combate against but those that alleadge it For the Emperor being constrained by the importunitie of the Donatists and that as himselfe protested against all Ecclesiasticall order to giue them Iudges and hauing giuen them according to their demaund Iudges of the Gaules what could he more expressely doe to testifie the Popes authoritie then to remitt them to Rome and to ordaine that the same Iudges of the Gaules that hee had giuen them should transporte themselues from the Gaules to Rome to the end the cause might be ãâã at the Popes Tribunall and vnder the presidencie and direction of the Pope Was there a Stronger meanes to proue what wee reade in S. ATHANASIVS That antient custome of the Church was that the
little after the sixth of Carthage None constituted in the bond of Marriage can be admitted to Priesthood without promise of Conuersion Secondly it appeares by all the Councells of the African Church which concerne the same matter It hath pleased saith the second Councell of Carthage that Bishops Priests Deacons c. practice intire continence c. to the end that what the Apostles haue taught or according to the Greeke edition giuen by tradition and antiquitie itselfe obserued we also should obserue And againe It hath pleased that Bishops Priests and Deacons or others that handle the Sacraments should liue chastlie and abstaine euenfrom their owne wiues And the fifth Councell of Carthage It hath pleased that Priests and Deacons according to their owne Statutes or as the best copies haue it according to the former Statutes should abstaine from their owne wiues It appeares thirdly by the testimonie of all the doctors of the Latine church and especiallie the African who haue liued in the tyme of those Councells That the Ministrie saith Saint AMBROSE must be preserued inuiolate and immaculate without defiling it with anie coniugall embraces you know it you that with integritie of bodie and incorruption of modestie abst ayning yourselues euen from the vse of Marriage haue receiued the grace of the sacred Deaconship And saint Hierom Bishops Priests and Deacons are chosen either virgins or in widowhood or at least are after their Priesthood eternallie chast And saint AUGUSTINE The soule and penn of the Councells of Africa Wee haue said he accustomed to propound to lay men that haue put awaie their wiues the continence of Clergie men who are often taken by force and against their wills to vndergoe that charge and hauing accepted it be are it with gods helpe lawfullie euen to the end Wee saie to them what would become of you if you were constrained and forced by the violence of the people to vndergoe this charge would you not chastlie preserue the office wherewith you were charged instantlie conuerting your selues to beseeche of God such strength as before your neuer thought of Wherto I might yet add the ancient Greeke doctors as Eusebius who writes Now the ãâã of the diuine word doe necessarilie imbrace abstinence from Marriages to attend to a better imploymeut practizing a generation of spirituall and incorporall children Or as saint EPIPHANIVS that cryes out The holie Church of God receiues not him that hath bene but once married and conuerseth still with his wife and begetts children for Deacon Priest and Bishop But because heere the question is of the custome of the latine Church and particularlie of the African notof the greeke Church I sett the greeke testimonies aside It appeares fourthly by Fulgentius Ferandus an African Canonist of aboue 1100. yeares antiquitie who in his epitomy of the Canons registers the Canon of the Councell of Carthage in these words That Bishops Priests and Deacons should abstaine from their Wiues And by Cresconius an African Canonist likewise of neere a thousand yeares antiquitie who registers it in these wordes That the priestlie and leuiticall order ought to haue no cohabitation with woemen It appeares fistly by the proper text of the Canon which plainely comprehends Bishops which neuerthelesse the Greekes exclude from all coniugall acts and to whom this condition of seruing by turnes and alternatiue weekes cannot agree It appeares besides this by the sixth CanoÌ of the same CouÌcell of Carthage which saith That readers when they are come to the yeares of manhood shall be constrained either to marrie or professe chastitie A thing which necessarily shewes that the vse of Marriage was wholie prohibited to Bishops Priests and deacons And finallie it appeares by Andrew Gesnerus minister of Zurich and the German Centuriators being ashamed of this falshood for Gesnerus interpreting the Greeke translation of the Councell of Carthage hath turned it into these words It hath pleased that Bishops Priests and Deacons according to their statutes should abstaine euen from their wiues And the Centuriators of Germanie epitomizing the same Councell of Carthage reporte it in these wordes That the Sacerdot all and and Diaconall order should abstaine from their wiues But forasmuch as this matter was treated of more largely in the appendix of the conference of Fontainebleau where wee confuted the fable of Paphnucius reported by Socrates and Sozomene Nouatian Authors from whom the later Greekes haue borrowed the occasion of their fall and expounded the Canon of the Councells of Gangres which seemes to fauour them It shall suffice me for an end of this aduertisment to remitt the readers thereunto The second Example of infidelitie shal be taken out of the twentie fourth Canon of the Greeke Rapsody which is the twentie fourth of those thirtie three latine Canons whereof the collection is intituled the sixth Councell of Carthage where the Greeke interpretor hath ecclipsed from the Catalogue of the Canonicall Bookes receiued in Africa the two Bookes of the Machabes Now that this subctraction is a notable falshood appeares by six vnreprochable ' meanes It appeares first by all the latine copies as well printed as manuscripts of the collection intituled the sixth Councell of Carthage in which the two Bookes of the Machabes are expressed by name It appeares secondly by the fortie seauenth Canon of the third Councell of Carthage from whence the canon of the collection intituled the sixth Councell of Carthage hath bene extracted which mentions particularly the two Bookes of the Machabes It appeares thirdly by the Canon of the Canonicall Bookes inserted into saint AVGVSTINS second Booke of Christian Doctrine where the two Bookes of the Machabes are expressly contained and to which saint AVGVSTINE for an impediment that the number should not be varied by anie addition or Subtraction setts to this seale In these fortie foure Bookes the authority of the old Testament is determined And againe repeates the same seale in the Register of his retractions in these words In the place ãâã said hee of the second booke of Christian Doctrine where I haue written in these fortie foure bookes the authoritie of the olde Testament is determined I made vse of the word olde Testament according to the forme of speech which the Church practiseth at this daie but the Apostle seemes to call none the old Testament but that which was giuen in the Mount Sinai It appeares fourthly by the other writings where saint AVGVSTINE speakes of the Machabees as when he saith in the eighteenth Booke of the cittie of God Amongst the volumes seuered from this ranke are the bookes of the Machabees which not the Jewes but the Church hold for Canonicall And in the second booke against the Epistle of Gaudentius the Donatist The scripture intituled from the Machabes the Jewes doe not hold as the lawe the Prophetts and the Psalmes which our
person he foretold him he should noe more ãâã calld Symon but ãâã signifiing most aptlie by that word that vpon him as vpon a ãâã and a stedfast stone he should build his Church And this may be said of the first point of this Article which is of building of the Church vpon the faith or vpon the person of PETER Let vs passe forward to the secoÌd which is of that of the other Apostles The Church saith his maiestie is founded vpon the ConfessioÌ of PETER the other Apostles Here it is needefull to distinguish the diuers vses that this word foundation of the Church receaues in the Scripture for it is one thing to be the foundation of the faith of the Church and an other thing to be the foundatioÌ of the Ministrie of the Church And againe the foundation of the faith of the Church is of two sortes for there is an obiectiue foundation of the faith of the Church and a suggestiue foundation of the faith of the Church I call that an obiectiue foundation of the faith of the Church which is the first obiect that the Church is obliged to knowe and embrace for doctrine of faith and that is Christ of whom S. PAVLE saith None can ãâã anie other foundation besides that which is alreadie laid that is Chrict For the first thing that enters into the obiect of the Christian faith as it is Christian is Christ God and Man crucified for our Sinns And all the other doctrins of Faith haue noe other place then as superedifications and accessories to that I call that a suggestiue foundation of faith of the Church vpoÌ which the Church grounds and assures the beleefe of those things which she holdes for doctrines of faith and this againe is double the one principall and originall to wit the holy Ghost of whom our Lord saith Hee shall suggest to you all thinges that I haue told you and the other instrumentall and organicall to wit the voice and pen of those that he hath chosen to declare vnto vs the misteries of faith with certaine and infallible authoritie And in this sence not only all the Apostles and Euangelists but also all the prophets are foundations of the faith of the Church according to this Apostolicall sentence Wee are edified vpon the foundation of the Prophets and of the Apostles And in this same sence sainct PAVL said in the second to the Corinthians That he had bene nothing inferior to the most excellently great of the Apostles And in the Epistle to the Galatians That he had not receiued his Ghospell from men but from God And that those that seemed to be something that is to saie those that for the more particular familiaritie that they had with our Lord it seemed they should bee more eminent in the doctrine of Faith and should bee the Pillars of Faith had taught him nothing For to be something according to the stile of those ãâã the east is a word not of contempt but of great and extraordinarie estimation I call him foundatioÌ of the ministrie of the Church that hath the superemineÌce and superintendencie of the gouernment and ministrie of the Church which I haue distinguisht froÌ the fouÌdatioÌ of the Faith not but that the primitiue and originall Ministrie of the Church comprehends the Office of reuealing the Faith and that the perpetuall and ordinarie ministrie of the Church comprehends the office of preseruiug and propagating the Faith from whence it is that sainct PAVL calleth the Church The pillar and foundation of faith But because the foundation of the Ministrie extends further and manie as sainct LVKE amongst others haue bene foundations of the Faith of the Church who neuerthelesse haue not bene foundations of the Ministrie of the Church Now it is of this kinde of Foundation to witt of the Foundation of the ministrie of the Church that is treated off in these words of our Lord Thou art Peter and vpon this Rock I will build my Church as it appeares by what followes of the keyes and of the power to binde and loose This qualitie then of foundation of the gouernment and ministrie of the Church to dispute whether since it haue bene extended and communicated to the whole Bodie of the Apostles it is an other point For what S. PAVL saith If they be ministers of Christ I am so more then they is to be vnderstood of the excesse in the labour of the Ministrie and not in the authoritie But at the least when our Lord pronounced these wordes Thou art Peter and vpon this Rock I will build my Church It is certaine that in that instant and in those wordes it was conferred to none but to sainct PETER for the wordes are all pronounced in singular termes and excluding pluralitie Blessed art thou Symon Sonn of ãâã and I saie vnto thee that thou art Peter and vpon this Rock I will build my Church and I will giue thee the keyes of the kingdome of heauen Which sainct AMBROSE declares who after he had said This man to wit PETER when he had heard but ãâã what saie yee that I am presently not forgetfull of his place he made the primacie adds to it It is then this Peter that answered before the rest but for the rest and therefore he is called Foundation Which sainct CYPRIAN likewise acknowledges in these wordes Vpon him beinge one he built the Church And it is not to be said that the Condition of Foundation of the Church hauing bene giuen to sainct PETER in fauour and for recompence of his Coafession all the other Apostles that had part in his Confession ought also to haue their part therein For the qualitie of foundation of the Church was not giuen to sainct PETER in fauour of his Confession simplie for then it should be common to all the faithfull but in fauour of the primacie of his Confession wherein the other Apostles had noe actual part but only by consent and non repugnancie for as much as sainct PETER only answered as illuminated immediately from God the others being silent and not knowing what to saie and learning it but my the means of sainct PETERS Answere Hee was saith sainct ãâã made worthie of first knowing what there was of God in Christ. And ãâã CYRILL of Hierusalem All the other Apostles being silent for this doctrine was aboue their reach Peter the Prince of the Apostles and the ãâã ãâã of the Church not of his owne inuention neither perswaded by human reason ãâã ãâã in his soule by God the Father said to him thou art Christ the Sonn of the liuing God And sainct ATHANASIVS manie yeares before them ãâã ãâã Father reuealed to Peter those thinges whereof our Lord demaunded him ãâã ãâã is not doubt but the same Lord who inquired as if he had first reuealed to ãâã those things that he had knowne from the Father he askes him humanly to ãâã in inquiring
whose sinns yee forgiue shall be forgiuen Which hath moued saint CYPRIAN to saie that Christ hath instituted saint PETER the originall of vnitie PETER saith he vpon whom Christ hath built his Church and instituted him the originall of vnitie And againe One chaire built vpon Peter by the voyce of our Lord. And for this occasion as although in a tree there be but the stocke and the bodie of the tree only that succeedes and is tied by direct continuance with the roote neuerthelesse the other branches are tied to it by oblique and collaterall succession and continuance Soe though there bee but only the Bishop of Rome that is saint PETERS successor in direct succession neuerthelesse all the Bishops are esteemed in some sort to be sett in saint PETERS Chaire and to be in a manner saint PETERS successors to witt by oblique and indirect succession because of the communication that they haue with the Chaire of S PETER But the Bishops are neuer said neither in their whole bodie nor separately to be successor to anie other particular Apostle but are said either in generall to bee the Apostles successors or in particular successors to S. PETER as to him that for being the head of the Apostleship containes in vertue all the Apostolicke Bodie so as neuer anie one Bishop hath called himself successor to anie other Apostle except those that haue succeded locallie to anie one of the other Apostles as the Bishops of Hierusalem are in title successors to saint IAMES BVT against this exposition the aduersaries to the Primacie forme thriteen oppositions the first that our Lord adds presently after speaking to Peter Got behind me Sathan The seconde that he cries out If anie one amongst you desire to bee greatest he shall be the least The third that S. PETER forbids from domineering ouer the flockes The fourth that the Apostles sent PETER and IOHN into Samaria The fifth that S. IAMES voted last in the Councell of Hierusalem The sixth that S. PAVLE names S. IAMES before S. PETER The seauenth that the same S. PAVL saith that the Ghospell of the Gentiles was committed to him as that of the circumcision to PETER The eighth that he saith S PETER walked not right in the Ghospell The ninth that he saith he resisted him to his face because he was reproueable The tenth that S. CYPRIAN writes that the other Apostles were the same that Peter was The eleauenth that EVSEBIVS reportes out of S. CLEMENT Alexandrinus that PETER IAMES and IOHN contested not amongst themselues for the honor but made IAMES Bishop of the Apostles The twelfth that Sainct CHRISOSTOME writeth that the other Apostles yeelded the Throne to IAMES And the thirteenth That the same S. CHRISOSTOME writes that the Principalitie was committed to IAMES To the first then of these obiections which is that our Lord said a while after to S. PETER Goe behind me Satan Wee answere S. HIEROME hath solued it in these words This blessing beatitude and edification of the Church vpon Peter is promised to Peter in future times and not giuen to him in time present I will build said he my Church vpon thee To the seconde which is that our Lord cryes elsewhere If anie one amongst you desire to be greatest let him be the least Wee answere he doth there forbidd the desire and not the effect of the Primacie the Ambition and not the thing the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã and not the ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã witnes this traine that followes as the Sonn of man is come into the world not to be serued but to serue By which he pro pounds himself to his disciples for an example not of an Anarchy but of Superioritie accompanied with humilitie To the third Which is that S. PETER writes not domineering ouer the flocks Wee answere that the Greeke word signifieth a violent Dominion such as that whereof our Lord said The kings of the nations domineere ouer them And such as S. HIEROME representeth it in these words The Princes of the Churches are wont to oppresse the People with arrogance of whom it is written they haue constituted thee Prince be not puft vp but be amongst them as one of them And not a presidencie and fatherlie direction such as was that of Samuell ouer the people of Israell who after he had exercised the Gouernment of Israell and iudged the people many yeares iustified himself in the end saying I haue conuersed with you from my youth to this ãâã answere me in the presence of God and of his annoynted if I haue taken anie mans bullock or his Asse or if I haue commaunded by force and oppressed any one of you And such as that whereof sainct PAVL said Obey your prelats and be subiect to them And elsewhere Let him that presides preside in all diligence And our Lord himself which is the wise and faithfull seruant that our Lord hath constituted ouer his familie It is Peter saith sainct AMBROSE chosen by the iudgement of our Lord to feede his flocke who hath merited to heare feede my lambes feede my sheepe To the fourth which is that the historie of the Actes testifies that the Apostles when it was in agitation to forme the Church of Samaria sent thither PETER and IOHN wee answere it was a mission of request as that when the Israelites sent Phinees their high priest and the princes of the tribes and not a mission of authority To the fifth which is that S. IAMES voted last in the Councell of ãâã Wee answere that in Councells contrary to the order of secular companies those that preside vote first And namely saint HIEROME saith that saint PETER from whose words S. IAMES tooke his Rule was the Prince of this decree To the sixth which is that S. Paule writes that Iames Cephas and Iohn seeing the grace that God had conferred vpon him gaue to him and to Barnabas the right hands of fellowshipp Wee answere that the greeke edition of Complutum and manie seuerall Readings Greeke and Latine haue it Cephas Iames and Iohn Witnesse S. CHRISOSTOME who in his comentarie vpon the Epistle to the Galatians reades Cephas Iames and Iohn and Theodoret who in his comentarie vpon the fifteenth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans alleadging this passage reports it in these words The Apostle teacheth this manifestly in the Epistle to the Galatians for he saith Peter Iames and Iohn who seeme to be the pillars gaue the right hands of fellowship to me and to Barnabas And saint AVGVSTINE who as well in the text as in the comentarie reades Cephas Iames and Iohn And saint HIEROME who not only both in the text and the comentarie reades Cephas Iames and Iohn but euen in his writings against Heluidius citeth the text of saint PAVLE in these words Cephas Iames and Ishn. And moreouer elswhere speaking of saint PAVLS Ordination to the Apostleship saith Paule was ordained Apostle of
and roote of this vnitie and by relation and adherence whereto all the colledge of the Apostles and all the Bodie of the Church might be manitained in vnitie For the thinges which are plurall by themselues and are not one with locall vnitie cannot without loosing their vndiuided pluralitie be reduced to a visible vnitie vnlesse by relation to some thing which by it self may be visiblie one And secondlie to maintaine this vnitie it is necessarie further beside the internall authoritie essentiall to the Apostleship there should be an other externall authoritie and accessory to the Apostleship which might haue the superintendencie ouer the care of the preseruation of vnitie to cause the Apostles to exercise their Apostleship in vnitie And as the office of the cause is to rule his effect he that should be the beginning and originall of this vnitie should likewise haue the superintendencie ouer the rest for what concernes the preseruation of vnitie and by consequence that to him should belonge the supereminent iurisdiction ouer things necessarie to the maintenance of vnitie that is to saie ouer things necessarie to preuent schisme and hinder the disorder and confusion of the exercise of the ministrie as are the distinction and distribution either mediat or immediate ofiurisdiction the suspension limitation of the exercise of the ministrie and other such like Not that the Apostles for their maintenance in vnitie had neede that the effect of this Authoritie should be practised so euidently ouer them as ouer their sucessors because of the assistance that they had euery one in particular of the Spirit of God but to the end to propound to the Church a forme and a modell of the order that she should keepe after their decease ãâã as although there were noe neede of a Councell in the time of the Apostles to decide questions of Religion whereof euerie particular Apostle might be informed with all fullnes and certaintie neuerthelesse the holie Ghost would that they should vse this forme in the matter of legall things to leaue it for a patterne to the Church of the succeeding ages in like occurrences It was then the internall authoritie and essentiall to the Apostleship which consisted in the power of reuealing matters of faith with assurance of infallibilitie to make canonicall writings to institute the first mission of pastors remitt sinns to giue the holy Ghost and other the like that saint CYPRIAN spake of when he said that all the Apostles were indued with equall authoritie and not of the externall authoritie and accidentall to the Apostleship which was instituted to cause it to bee exercised in vnitie THIS appeares first because he touches before and after the originall of vnitie The Lord saith he buildes the Church vpon him being one and commaunds him to feede his sheepe And although he conferr like power after his Resurrection vnto all his Apostles and said to them As my Father sent me so send I you c yet to manifest vnitie he constitutes the Chaire one and disposeth by his authoritie that the originall thereof shall take beginning from one That certainly that Peter was the other Apostles were also indued with a like share of authoritie and power but the originall takes his beginning from one that the Church the Chaire may appeare to be one And a little after according to the antient manuscripts and the citations of Iuon and Gratian He that abandons the Chaire of Peter vpon which the Church is built can he bee confident of being in the Church And elsewhere Peter vpon whom one God hath built the Church and from whom he hath instituted the originall of vnitie This appeares secondly because he calls the Roman Church the Chaire of Peter and the principall Church from wheÌce Sacerdotall vnitie proceedes This appeares thirdly because saint HIEROME after he had repeated the same sentence of S. CYPRIAN in these words Thou wilt tell me that the Church is built vpon Peter though the like be done in an other place vpon others and that the fortitude of the Church doe leane equallie vpon all Adds but amongst twelue one is chosen to the end that a head being appointed the occasion of Schisme might bee taken awaie To teach vs that in all other things the Apostles were equall to saint PETER except in those that had regard to the preuention of Schisme and the preseruation of vnitie for the consideration whereof he had bene constituted head of the Apostles And finallie because Optatus Mileuitanus countryman to the one to witt saint CYPRIAN and timefellowe to the other to witt saint HIEROME cries out Thou canst not denie but that at Rome the Episcopall Chaire hath bene placed by the Apostle Peter c. in which the vnitie was obserued by all to the end that all the Apostles should not attribute to themselues to each one his Chaire but that he should be a sinner and Schismaticke who against the onelie Chaire should erect an other And a little after from whence is it then that you would vsurpe to yourselues the keyes of the Kingdome you that by your presumptions and audacious sacriledges combat against the Chaire of Peter To the eleuenth obiection which is that Eusebius ill translated by Russinus reportes from Clemens Alexandrinus that Peter James and Iohn established Iames brother to our Lord Bishop of the Apostles Wee answere that it is from a faultie Grammar a faultie-diuinitie For the greeke text saith of Hierusalem and not of the Apostles Peter saith he James and John contested not for glorie or opinion for greeke word signifies either but vnanimouslie constituted Iames brother of our Lord Bishop of Hierusalem that is to saie James and John did noe more stand vpon it to dispute for honor with S. PETER as they had formely done but vnited themselues with him to consecrate Iames Bishop of Ierusalem whereto the words of CHRISOSTOME agree about the iealousie that James and John formerly had of the Primacie of S. PETER Harken said hee how this same Iohn that latelie demaunded these thinges afterward wholie yeelds the primacie to Peter TO the twelfth obiection which is that S. CHRYSOSTOME vpoÌ the proposition made by S. PETER in the first of the Acts to substitute an other Apostle in steede of Iudas writes See the modestie of James he had bene made the greeke saith he hath bene made Bishop of Hierusalem yet he saith not a word vpon this occasion Consider also the singular modestie of the other disciples how they yeelded the Throne to him and debated not more among themselues Wee answere that this obiection is Andabates fence For this concession of a Throne hath reference not to S. IAMES but to S. PETER who whilst he spake S. JAMES was soe modest as although he were so excellent that he was after made Bishop of Hierusalem he opened not his mouth and the other Apostles as James and Iohn SoÌns of Zebedeus which had formerly bene iealous of S.
acknowledge that our Lord in calling Peter Cephas did intend to call him Rock and to constitute him for the foundation of the Church as appeares by these words of Rabbi Helias in his Tisbi vpon the exposition of the word Cephas Iesus the Nazarean saith hee called Simon sonn of Bariona Cephas which signifies fortitude for the interpretation of the Hebrew word sela is Cepha which signifies in manie places fortitude meaning that he was the head and fortitude of his religion and therefore he called him Cephas And to this there doe agree all the famous editions of scriptures in what tongue soeuer as well printed as manuscripts For not only the Hebrew editioÌ of the Ghospell of saint MATTHEW published by Munster saith Thou art Cepha and vpon this Cepha Thou art a Rock and vpon this Rock And the Syriack publisht by Moses of Merdin in Mesopotamia and republisht by Tremellius Thou art Kipho and vpon this Kipho thou art a Rock and vpon this Rock But also the Arabicke hath it Thou art Ascara and vpon this Ascara thou art the stone and vpon this stone And the Persian Thou art zeng and vpon this zeng thou art the Rock and vpon this Rock And the Armenian thou art Vimi and vpon this Vimi thou art the stone and vpon this stone And the Ruthenian Egiptian and Ethiopian euen the same Neuerthelesse though the want of the Hebrew and Syriack tongues suffered S AVGVSTINE to fall into this mistake to thinke that the primitiue word Rocke was not there attributed to sainct PETER but only the deriuatiue and that Petrus signifieth not Rock but Rockey or Stonie he hath alwaies acknowledged be it by vertue of the other places of the scripture or be it by vertue of the perpetuall traditioÌ of the Church the same thing that wee conclude out of this passage to witt the Primacie of saint PETER For interpretating a while after these wordes And I will giue thee the keyes of the Kingdome of heauen of the donation of the keyes made to the Church in the person of PETER he saith the Church did then receaue in the person of PETER the keyes because PETER figured the Church And yeelding elsewhere a reason why the person of PETER figured the Church he declares that it is because of his Primacie Hee beares saith hee by a figur atiue generalitie the person of the Church because of the primacie he had amongst the rest of the disciples By which word Primacie he intends according to the stile of the scripture the superintendencie and principalitie as it appeares by these words of Wisedome I haue had Primacie in all nations And by these wordes of the same saint AVGVSTINE Peter denominated from the Rock happie bearing the figure of the Church holding the principallitie of the Apostleshipp And againe who knowes not that this Principallitie of the Apostleship ought to be preferred before whatsoeuer other Bishoprick And elsewhere in the Roman Church hath alwaies flourisht the Principalitie of the Sea Apostolicke Of the indiuisibilitie of the Church CHAP. IV. The continuance of the Kinges answere BVT it hath begun to diminish in luster as being deuided into manie partes as for externall Communion wholie seperate one from an other THE REPLIE Two Opuntine Bretheren deuided the inheritance of their Father with such rigor as they deuided euen to a cupp and to a Coate It is in a sorte thus with the heretickes they doe indeede deuide the Chalice that our Father hath left vs by Testament and where of Dauid singeth The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my Chalice that is to saie they doe indeede diuide the Sacraments of Christ but the coate of Christ which is his Church they cannot diuide for it is alone and indiuisible When the raigne of Israell saith S. CYPRIAN should be diuided the Prophet Achias diuided his Rayment But because the poeple of Christ cannot bee diuided his coate woven of a peece and keeping it selfe whole was not diuided by those that possessed it The coate of Christ indiuisibly vnited preseruing itself whole shewed the indissoluble Concord of our poeple of vs who haue put on Christ. By the Sacrament signe of his coate he hath declared the vnitie if his Church Who then is he so impious so faithlesse and so disturbed with the fury of discord that beleeues that the vnitie of God the Coate of our Lord the Church of Christ can be deuided or dare to deuide it Not but that the multitude of the persons whereof the Church is compounded and which analogicallie is in steede of matter to it may be deuided but this diuision is but a materiall diuision of the Church and not a formall diuision no more then the diuision that the false mother would haue made of the Child had bene a formall diuision for as much as the being and the forme of the whole had not remained in either of the partes but a materiall diuision For the Church as well as naturall organicall bodies may be materiallie diuided but formallie it cannot be diuided that is to saie the members and parts may indeede be seperated from their whole but after the seperation they are noe more members and parts of the Church but ãâã and by abuse of language euen as the members and partes of a Bodie indued with a life animall and sensitiue when they come to be seperated from their whole are noe more members and partes but equiuocally forth as much as they participate noe more of the forme of the bodie wich cannot be possessed but in vnitie nor reside but in one only masse vnited and continued By meanes whereof the Church after the diuision of the externall communion resides only in one of the partes to witt in that from which the others haue diuided themselues and not in the others for the Church is either one or none My Doue saith the Spouse is an onelie one And Dauid Hierusalem that is builded as a Cittie whose participation is in vnitie And saint PAVL One bodie and one Spirit as you are called in one hope of your vocation Optatus Mileuitanus There is one Church which can not be at once amongst you and amongst vs. It resteth then that it be in one place And saint CHRISOSTOME The name of the Church is not a name of diuision but a name of vnion and agreement And saint AVGVSTINE He is one the Church is vnitie nothing answeres to one but vnitie And elsewhere Let euerie other inheritance be deuÌided amongst coheires the inheritance of peace cannot be diuided And therefore when the Fathers saie that hereticks and Schismaticks deuide the Church they intend either that they deuide it as much as lyes in them that is to saie that they indeuor to diuide it or that they deuide it materiallie and not formallie that is to saie that they make thereof manie Societies but not manie Churches Of the effect that diuision brings
to the Church CHAPT V The continuance of the Kings answere AND also which is principallie to be lamented it is happened by this dissipation that there is lesse force in the seperate parts then there was in the whole to resist the enemie of mankinde who as Christ teacheth vs is a wake and attentiue vpon ãâã occasion to mingle the good seede with darnell and tares THE REPLIE AFTER the deuision of the externall communion all the soule the forme and essence of the Church rests in one onlie of the societies which remaine after the diuision and not in the others which are no more trulie partes of the Church but only equiuocallie euen as when a member is separated from a liuing and sensible Bodie all the essence the Soule and forme of the creature remaines in the Bodie from whence that separation hath bene made and not in the part that hath bene separated from it which is noe more a part of the Bodie but equiuocallie and inproperlie And therefore after the separation of hereticks all the same strength vigor and vertue which was in the Bodie of the Church before the separation remaines in the part from whence the separation is made as she that inherits the condition of all and not in the others in such sort as she hath noe lesse force to resist the corruption that the enemie of mankinde would bring in but contrariwise oftentimes more for as much as the constancie of the Charitie of those which remaine in the Church is made the more vnited and the more eminent by the separation of the rest according to this sentence of saint PAVLE There must be heresies that the Good may be manifested And therefore saint AVGVSTINE writes That the Church makes vse of ãâã for the approbation of her doctrine and of schismaticks for the demonstration of her stedfastnes And elsewhere That those that goe forth from the Bodie of the Church are as euili humors by whose purgation the Bodie is eased By meanes whereof his Maiestie ought not to pretend that the alienations of the partes which are seperate from the Bodie of the Church haue left in her from whom they are seperated the lesse vigor to resist the enemie of mankinde and to maintaine her self vncorrupted then there was in the whole Bodie before but contrariwise to presuppose that the same vertue which resided in the whole Bodie is reunited in the part that succeedes it As when one of our eyes hath lost his former light His splendors faire effect shines in the other sight And th'extinguisht beame adds to the cleere-eyes store Who sees alone as much as both could see before Also it cannot be found that since the separation of the Roman Church and the Greeke faction quoted by his Maiestie which is the greatest seperation that euer was made the Roman Church receaued anie doctrine which was not holden by all the Bodie of the Catholike Church when this diuision happened and noe more till then since the separation of the Egiptians and Ethiopian Prouinces Of the pretended corruption of the Church CHAPT VI The continuance of the Kings answere AND what wee now see with our eyes to be happened yea and handle it with our handes it is a ridiculous thing and more then absurd to dispute if heretofore it could be or now can be done THE REPLIE THere was neuer anie age wherein those that seperated themselues from the Church haue not beleeued that they saw cleerly and euidently that she was corrupted and full of palpable and Cymerian darknes otherwise they had not seperated themselues from her The figure of this preiudication preceded in the rashnes of Oza who beleeued that the Arke was about to fall and vpon that beleefe put out his hand to lifte it vp for which he was punisht with death And followed in the incredulitie of the Apostles who while our Lord slept thought that the Barke wherein they were with him was about to perishe in indignation whereof he chidd them for their little faith and taught them that he that keepes Israell doth neither slumber nor sleepe and the historie since hath coÌtinued in all the pretended Reformers of the Church For as Pentheus in seeing his children thought hee had seene Beares Tigers Serpents and other wild beastes and did not perceiue that the euill was not in them but in his sight Soe the heretickes in all ages in seeing their mother that is to saie the Church thought they had seene a troope of Dragons Lyons and wild-beasts and vpon that occasion haue put themselues to flight not discerning that the euill was not in the Church but in their eyes And that it is soe did not the Luciferians saie That the Catholicke Church had bene conuerted into a brothell and was become the whore of Antichrist And did not the Donatists call the Apostolicke chaire the chaire of Pestilence And did they not crie out that the Catholicke Church was become the shield of Romulus And saith not saint AVGVSTINE of them I iustly persecute him that detracts from his neighbour wherefore shall I not more iustlie persecute him that publickly blasphemes the Church c. when he saith she is a whore And the Pelagians when there was alleadged to them the number and the multitude of the Catholicks did they not answere that to finde anie thing a multitude of blinde men auailed nothing And neuerthelesse who knowes not at this daie that they were the blinde men and not the Church And then this pretended corruptioÌ of the Church being the theame of the question debated by vs to cause that to passe as a thing graunted it is to put for a principle that which his maiestie ought if it please him to reserue to be iudged at the end not presuppose at the beginning of the disputation For to saie that there is no thing but is altered and corrupted by age this argument is good for those thinges that are preserued by ordinarie and naturall faculties but not for those that are assisted by extraordinary and supernaturall helpe and to whom these words of Dauid may be applied Thy youth shall he renewed as the youth of an Eagle Now the Church is of this number for our Lord saith of her without exception of time Thou art wholly faire and there is noe spott in thee and shee sings and will sing to the end of the world I am black but I am faire that is to saie I am black in manners but faire in doctrine And therefore S. AVGVSTINE compares her to Sara who when she was old left not to be faire And for this same cause sainct HIEROME citing these wordes of Salomon that the eye that mockes his Father or despiseth the age of his mother the Crowes of the valley shall pull it out interprets them of hereticks who despise the age of the Church Assoone saith hee as the eye of the hereticks mocks the creator his father or despiseth the age
of the Church his mother the cursed and vncleane birds shall peck it out Of the exclusion of hereticks from the Bodie of the Catholick Church CHAPT VII The continuance of the Kings answere THE Roman Church then the Greeke the Antiochian the Egyptian the Abyssine the Musco uite and manie others are members more excellent in truth in doctrine and sinceritie of faith the one then the other but yet members of the Catholicke Church whereof the Masseand contexture as for externall forme is alreadie long agoe dissolued and disassembled THE REPLIE AND what shall then become of that his maiestie lately said that the specificall forme and essentiall marke of the Church is truth of doctrine and that there is noe communion betweene light and darknes and betweene Christ and Belial And that he that leaues Christ who is truth it self leaues the Church which is the foundation of truth if not onlie the Greekes Antiochians and Muscouites who are hereticks in the point of the processio of the holie Ghost which the most excelleÌt King doth with vs hold for an article of Faith which in this qualitie is inserted into ATHANASIVS his Creede and into the Creede of the CouÌcell of CoÌstaÌtinople as it is read in the westerne Church which his maiestie professeth to imbrace but also the Egiptians and Ethiopians which followe the sect of Eutyches anathematised and cast out of the Church by the Councell of Chalcedon neere twelue hundred yeares ag oeaÌd ãâã in the doctrine of the person of Christ which is the fundamentall doctrine of the Church and that whereof S. PAVLE saith None can laie ãâã other foundation besides Christ are Churches and partes of the Catholicke Church A Lacedemonian answered an inhabitant of the Isle of Delphos who told him that the woemen were not deliuered of Child in their Isle but trauelled out of it to be brought to bed and that their dead were not buried there but that they were carried forth of it to their Sepulcher And how then is it your countrie said hee if you be neither borne nor buried there Soe how is it that the Sect of hereticks and namely those of the Egiptians and Ethiopians with whom the CouÌcell of Chalcedon forbidds vs to communicate vpon paine of Anathema and of whom saint Iohn himself tells vs If anie one confesse not that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh he is a seducer and Antichrist And againe If anie one bring not this Doctrine receiue him not into your howses and saie not to him well be it with thee for whosoeuer saith vnto him well be it with thee communicates in his wicked workes should obtaine the being and title of the Church that is to faie of the Spirituall countrie of the Faithfull if to be borne in the grace of God and to breathe their first aire of spirituall life wee must first goe forth of their Societie and if to obtaine Saluation and to rest in peace after death wee must first renounce their communion God said to the Church by the mouth of Salomon Thou art wholie faire and there is noe spott in thee that is to saie as for doctrine and conditions of communion And by the mouth of Esaie None incircumcised or vncleane shall anie more passe through thee that is to saie None that publickly professe a polluted or impure doctrine Hee saith by the mouth of Ezechiell describinge the future state of the christiaÌ church I will establish an alliaÌce of peace with my sheepe and will cause the euill beastes of the Earth to cease Which the Sibilla seemes to haue expressed in these words repeated by Virgill and that sainct AVGVSTINE saith might fitlie be applied to the Church Serpents shall cease swoll'n vp with th'impure blood Of poysenous herbes in their deceiptfull bud And how then should the mock Councells of hereticks which sainct HIEROME calls Denens of wilt beasts whose doctrine he calls the wine of ãâã mingled witd the gall of Aspes be Churches partes of the Church or how should the Church to whom God hath spirituallie giueÌ the same prerogatiue thar the historians attribute corporallie to the Isle of Creete to witt that it can suffer noe venomous beast in it that is to saie noe dogmatizing heretick communicate her name and societie with the venemous sects of heteticks Hee saith by the mouth of Osea I will espouse ãâã in faith And by that of Sainct PAVLE the edification of God is in faith And the most Excellent King himselfe protesteth that the essentiall forme of the Church is faith And how then can the sects not only of the Egiptians and Ethiopians but of all the hereticks which makes as saith S. PAVLE a Shipwracke of faith be Churches and in the Church Hee saith by his owne mouth the gates of hell shall not haue victorie ouer the Church And S. EPIPHANIVS and S. HIEROME interpret those Gates of Hell to be heresies And how then can it be that the hereticall societies into whose communion wee cannot enter without yeelding our selues tributarie to the gates of hell should be Churches and partes of the Church For though vices in manners belong also to the powers of hell neuerthelesse because the vices are but in the persons of those that committ them and not in the communion of the Church for as much as the Church exacts not from anie of her members the condition of being vicious to receaue them into her communioÌ they shall but conquer those particular persons that are spotted therewith and not the Church of the which God hath said by the Prophets Hierusalem shal be called the cittie of truth and the mountaine of the Lord of Hostes and the sanctified hill And by an other the howse of Israel shall noe more from ãâã forward be foyled whereas heresie infects the communions of the Societie where it remaines none being to enter into anie hereticall societie without obliging themselues to the doctrine where of she makes profession and vnder whose condition she receaues men into her communion and by consequent makes the gates of Hell victorious ouer the congregatioÌ wherein shee remaines He coÌmauÌds vs to hold those that heare not the Church for Heathens and PublicaÌs he forbidds vs then from accounting the societies of heÅeticks which heare not the Catholique Church for Churches and partes of the Church but for Societies of ãâã and Heathens He saith to vs That whosoeuer gathers not with him scatters the hereticks then that gather not with him gather not but scatteÅ and so their assemblies are noe more Churches but dispertions He cries out to vs by the Organ of saint PAVLE That whosoeuer declares against what we haue receiued should be an anathema Hee wills then that heretickes should be held by the Church for anathema and consequently excluded from the communion both internall and externall of the Church He teacheth vs by the same Oracle that the Church is our mother
and not our mother as the first Eue was who engendred her children dead to Saluation but as the second Eue who engendred her children liuing From whence it is that saint AMBROSE and saint HIEROME call the Church the true Eue mother of the liuing And how then is it that hereticall sects who amongst the conditions vnder which they receiue men into their communion oblige them to hold killing doctrines should attribute to theÌselues the title of a Church Hee teacheth vs that the Fathers of the Earth will not giue their children a Scorpion for an egge or a Serpent for a Fishe And how then is it that the Church should giue hers poyson insteede of wholesome food or that hereticall sects whose wine saith saint HIEROM is the furie of Dragons and the incurable furie of Aspes should bee Churches Hee teacheth vs that the Church is the Waie the Gate and Entrie into the Kingdome of Heauen yea for this cause himself often calls it the Kingdome of Heauen it is then of the Essence of the Church that Saluation might be therein obtained and the waie howe to come to the Kingdome of Heauen and consequently that amongst the conditions vnder whose obligation she receiues men into her communion there be none repugnant to Saluation Now contrarywise it is of the Essence and of the definition of hereticall and Schismaticall Societies that amongst the conditions vnder which they receiue men into their communion there are conditions repugnant to Saluation otherwise they could not be hereticall Schismaticall And so it is of the Essence and of the definition of the Church not to be hereticall and it is of the Essence and of the definition of hereticall Societies contrarywise not to be Churches nor partes of the Church and they cannot be called Churches nor members of the Church but falselie and equiuocallie as a dead member that is cutt off from the Bodie is noe member but equiuocallie and by abuse of speeche of as a dead man or a man either formed in picture or raised in a Sculpture is noe man but equiuocally by abuse of speech By meanes whereof it is to erre against the Essence and definition of the Church to hold them for Churches or to reckon them in the totalitie of the catholick Church and to this all the Fathers agree Heresies saith Clemens Alexandrinus are equiuocallie called Churches And saint CYPRIAN Nouatianus doth as Apes doe who would seeme to be men though they be not soe so will he seeme to haue a Church though he haue none And againe When the Nouatians demaunded beleeuest thou the remission of sinns by the holie Church they lye in their Interrogatorie for they haue noe Church And the Elibertine Councell If anie one passe from the Catholick Church vnto heresie and returne againe to the Church c. And the Councell of Sardica Wee cast out of the limtts of the Catholicke Church those that affirme Christ to be God and not verie God And saint HIEROME Heretick make in their Church by false appellation that which they made when they were yet heathen And againe Noe hereticall congregation can be called the Church os Christ. And elsewhere In what Church hath he beleeued in that of the Arrians but they haue none And in the same worke If thou hearest in anie place of men denominated from anie other then from Christ as Marcionites Ualentinians Montagniers or Campites knowe that there is not the Church of Christ. And Optatus Mileuitanus Out of the onelie Church which is the true Catholick Church others amongst hereticks are esteemed to be and are not And againe There is one onely Church which cannot be amongst you and amongst vs it remaines then that she must be in one place And S. AVGVSTINE you are with vs in the creede and in the other Sacraments of our Lord c but you are not with vs in the Catholique Church And againe There is one Catholique Church vpon which other ãâã impose other names although themselues be all called by particular names which they dare not disauowe From whence it appeares in the iudgement of Iudges not preoccupate with fauour to whom the name of Catholicke whereof they are all ambitious ought to be attributed And elsewhere The Church of the saints is the Catholique Church the Church of the Saints is not the church of Hereticks She hath bene predesigned before she was seene and hath bene exhibited that she might bee seene And in the Booke of Faith and of the creede Neither do the Hereticks belonge to the Catholick church because she loues God nor the Schismatickes because She loues her neighbour And in the Booke against the Fundamentall Epistle In this Church finallie the name of Catholique detaines me which this Church alone amongst so manie and so great heresies hath so preserued as when a stranger askes where they assemble to the Catholick Church there is noe hereticke dare she we his Temple or his howse And in his Treatise vpon saint IOHN All hereticks and Schismaticks are gone out from vs that is to saie are gone out from the Church Faustinus was not President to a Church but to a faction The holie Ghost hath not glorified Christ with a true glorie but in the Catholick Church for elsewhere addeth hee be it amongst hereticks be it amongst Pagans his true glorie vpon earth cannot bee And vpon sainct MATTHEW Jewes and all other hereticks which doe indeede confesse that there is a holy Ghost but denie that he is in the bodie of Christ which is his onely Church no other certainelie but onely the Catholicke are without doubt like the Pharises who though they did confesse that there was an holie Ghost yet denied him to be in Christ. And in the Booke of the method to cathecise the not instructed Wee must saith hee garnish and animate the infirmitie of man against temptations and scandalls be it without or be it within the Church ãâã against Gentiles or ãâã or hereticks and within against the Strawe in the Barne of our Lord. And againe Let not the Enemie seduce thee not only by those that are without the Church whether Pagans or Iewes or Hereticks but euen by those that thou seest in the Church euill liuers And in the fowrth Councell of Carthage where he assisted in person Let not the Conuenticles of Hereticks be called Churches but mock-Councells And the verie lawe of the Emperors Hereticks rashlie presume to call their Conuenticles Churches Now if this haue place in other heresies to witt that the beeing and title of a Church is denied to them how much more in that of the Eutychians that is to saie of the Egyptians and Ethiopians which destroy not the walles the roofe and the couering onely but the foundation of the Edifice of Faith vpon the which all the other partes of the doctrine are built to witt Christ the corner stone and maintaine
that in Christ there is but one Nature that is to saie confound and steepe the Essence of the humanitie in that of the diuinitie Doth not sainct AVGVSTINE crie out Those that beleeue not that Christ is come in the fleshe c. and that he is risen againe in the same Bodie wherein he hath bene crucified and buried although they should be in all the countries ouer the which the church is spread are not in the Church How can then the true Church haue coÌmunion with this Sect and how can this Sect bee a member and a true part of the Church And how can it bee that of the Roman Church which holdes the contrarie doctrine and of this Sect there should be framed one common Bodie of the ãâã Church and to goe about to ioyne them together in one selfe-same Societie of a catholicke Church and more to add vnto them all other hereticall and schismaticall sects How is it anie other thing then to goe about to ioyne like Mezentius dead bodies with liuing bodies and to make of the spouse of Christ of the doue of Christ which is the only catholicke Church a monster and a Prodigie compounded of all the impious horrible and contradictorie heresies that haue rent the Coate and mysticall Bodie of Christ and to putt communion betweene Christ and Beliall and betweene light and darknes The Catholicke Church then is not a Masse and common Societie which containes in it the confusion of all Sects and of all the multitude of those that are called Christians but it is a particular Societie amongst all those Societies which beares the name of Catholicke or totall Church not because it containes in deed all the rest You will saith Optatus Mileuitanus to the Donatists bee alone all the whole ãâã are not so much as in the whole And saint AVGVSTINE Whosoeuer defends a part separate from the whole cannot vsurpe the title of a Catholick but because she containes them in right and holds habituallie the place of the whole in regard of them For the Church holds the place of the whole habituallie in regard of hereticall and schismaticall Sects and by her eminencie for as much as none of the other considered euerie one a part equalls her in number and in multitude Howbeit saith Saint AVGVSTINE that there are manie heresies of Christians which would be all called Catholickes There is neuerthelesse one Church if you cast your Eies vpon the extent of the whole world more aboundant in multitude and because vnto her alone belonges the prerogatiue of being successiuely spread ouer the whole earth in beginning from Hierusalem whereas none of the others hath the priuiledge but that the most part of them like that kinde of Ape which the Greekes call Callithrix cannot liue but in that climate and vnder the same influence wherein they were bredd And beyond this because all the rest hauing gone forth from her and she hauing as saint AVGVSTINE saith still remained in her stock and roote holdes the places and right of the whole in regard of all the rest noe more nor lesse then that part of the tree in which the life stood and roote rests holdes the place of the whole habituallie in regarde of those that haue bene separated from it They vnder st and not saith hee that amongst the Sects of the Christians there is one true and wholesome and in sort Germinall and radicall Christian societie from whence they haue separated themselues And finallie because all the rest are obliged if they will obtaine saluation to reinsert and reincorporate themselues into the bodie of the Catholick Church Holde most stedfastlie saith FVLGENTIVS that noe heretick or schismatik if he bee not reconciled to the Catholick Church before the end of his life can bee saued Otherwise if all the hereticall and schismaticall Societies which professe the name of Christ might iustlie enioy the title of the Church and were actuallie parts of the Church wherefore had the Fathers imployed these sentences against hereticks and schismaticks That ãâã of the Church there is noe saluation that out of the Church there may be had the faith and Sacraments and all thinges else Saluation excepted that who hath not the Church for his Mother cannot haue God for his Father that hee that communicates with the vniuersall Church is a Catholicke and he that communicates not therewith is an hereticke and Antichrist And howe could the excellent King himselfe haue protested That he beleeues without colour or fraude that the is one only Church in deede and in name Catholicke and vniuersall spread ouer the whole world out of which there can be ãâã Saluation hoped for and condemneth and detests those that heretofore or since haue seperated themselues either from the Faith of the Catholicke Church and are become heretickes as the Manichees or from her communion and are become Schismatickes as the Donatists if the Catholicke Church did comprehend all the Hereticks and all Schismaticks among which there was neuer anie more pernicious then those that destroy the human nature of Christ the only organ of our Saluation as the Egiptians and Ethiopians doe For whereas his maiestie auowes that the frame contexture of the Church is alreadie longe agoe dissolued dissasseÌbled betweene theÌ vs but adds in regard of externall forme S. IOHN in saying to vs If anie one bring thee not this doctrine saie not so much to him as well bee it with thee for whosoeuer shall say to him well be it with thee shall communicate in his wiched works forbidds vs all communion as well internall as externall with theÌ And elsewhere we haue alreadie shewed that when externall and Sacramentall communion is interdicted on both sides that is to saie where there is a reciprocall excommunication and an erection of Altar against Altar there cannot be vnitie either internall or externall If wee be in vnitie said S. AVGVSTINE what makes two Altars in the Cittie And Sainct CYPRIAN The Church which being Catholick is one maintaines herself whole and is ioyned together with the cement of Prelates adhering to one another But against these decisions of the scripture and Fathers there doe arise fowre obiections The first that the word Church doth grammaticallie signifie assemblie and consequently that all assemblies are Churches and so all Christian assemblies are Christian Churches Now this obiection is good in gramar and to interpret prophane authors but not in diuinitie nor to interpret christian Authors amongst whoÌ the word Church hath noe more this vast and large Grammaticall signification as it had before For as when Hormodius and Aristogiton had freed the common wealth of Athens from the slauerie of the thirtie tyrants the Athenian Senate to consecrate their names and to make them reuerenced to Posteritie ordained that from thence forward they should neuer be imposed vpon or communicated to anie other Soe after our Lord had giuen to his
Church the priuiledge to conquer Hell and to deliuer mankinde from the tyrannie and oppression of the deuill that name is become consecrate and affected to her alone and it hath bene forbidden to communicate it anie more to anie other Societie either Paga hereticall or Schismaticall Let not the Conuenticles of hereticks saith the fowrth Councell of Carthage be called Churches but Mock-Councells And the verie lawe of the Emperors That the Donations made to hereticall Conuenticles which they presume rashlie to call Churches be applied to the reuerend Catholick Church THE second that S. PAVLE writing to the Galatians and to the Corinthians calls their Societies Churches and neuerthelesse the Galatians erred in faith imbracing the circumcision with the Ghospell and the Corinthians in not beleeuing the ResurrectioÌ but the snare here is manifest For there is great difference betweene the doctrine of a Church and the doctrine of anie particular person which is deuided from the doctrine of the same Church The doctrine of a church is that which is held by the bodie of that Church vnder the codition whereof either expresse or tacite she receiues men into her comunion not the doctrine which euery particular maÌ straying fro the commo doctrine of the same church holdes against the opinions of the Bodie Now it cannot be found that the Societie of the church of the Corinthians did euer hold that the dead did not rise againe nor that she had exacted that beleefe from those that entred into her communion but onelie that amongst the Corinthians there were some that did not beleeue the resurrection of the dead If Christ saith S. PAVLE be preached to haue risen againe from the dead how is it that there are some amongst you that saie there is no resurrection of the dead And that S. PAVLE made his remonstrance in common it was to hinder them from being seduced by them which spake this language Suffer not your selues said hee to bee seduced euill words corrupt good manners But not that he supposed they beleeued it contrarywise hee exhorts them to remaine firme in that which they beleeued And therefore my Bretheren said hee be stedfast and vnmoueable And for the Galatians soe farr off was it that that error which sainct PAVL cryed out against was the doctrine of the Church of the Galatians as it was the doctrine of those which rebelled against the faith of the Church of the Galatians which doctrine sainct PAVL disputes as if all the Galatians had imbraced it not that they did doe soe but to hinder them from doeing soe as he testifies to them in these wordes I haue this confidence of you in our Lord that you will haue noe other beleefe but that he that troubles you shall beare his iudgement whosoeuer hee be And againe If a man be found in anie crime doe you which are spirituall instruct him in the spiritt of mildness And that this is the true intent of sainct PAVL sainct AVGVSTINE teacheth vs when hee writes to Vincentius Rogatist Thou might'st saie euen as well that manie of the Churches of Galatia were not when the Apostle cryed out O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you And a while after The Canonicall scriptures haue bene wont to make their reprehcnsion in such sort as it may seeme the word is addressed to all and neuerthelesse it concernes but some fewe THE third is that sainct AVGVSTINE disputing against the Donatistes writes That the Church begetts all Christians by Baptisme from whence they would inferr that all those then that are baptized as well Catholiks as hereticks are in the Church but he bringes with it expressely this distinction either in her selfe or without her selfe to shewe that the Church begetts none but Catholicks onely in her selfe as Sara begate but Isaack onely in herselfe and that the rest the Church begets without her selfe For although Ismael were not begotten in the Bodie of Sara but in the bodie of Agar yet he was in a sort begotten by Sara for as much as he was begotten by her that belonged to Sara and was Saras nuptiall right to witt by the seede of Abraham Soe then the hereticks be begotten by Baptisme out of the Church neuerthelesse it is the Church that begetts them euen out of the Church for as much as the baptisme whereby they are begotten and which those that baptise them haue carryed out of the Church belonges to the Church and is of the coniugall rightes of the church and not heresie By which meanes when they returne to the church there is noe neede that the church should baptise them againe The Church saith hee begetts all Christians by baptisme be it in her-selfe that is to saie in her bowells or without her selfe that is to is to saie of her husbands seede be it in her selfe or in the bond-woeman Whereby soe farr is hee from teaching that heretickes are in the church as contrarywise he plainelie affirmes heereby that they are out of the church For the thing wherein catholicks and the Donatists were at agreement was that hereticks were out of the church and the thing where about they disagreed was that the Donatists held that Baptisme could not be out of the church and consequently that heretickes could not haue it And catholicks contrariwise maintained that Baptisme might to be out of the church and consequently that hereticks though they were out of the church left not to haue it The Church saith sainct AVGVSTINE compared to Paradise teacheth vs that Baptisme may be had without her but the Saluation of the beatitude none can receaue or haue out of her for the floods of the fountaine of Paradise rann abouudantlie forth of it And in the Booke following What is saith hee this doctrine that an heretick is pretended to haue noe baptisme because he hath noe Church And againe It is a wonder that there are some that saie that baptisme and the Church cannot be separated and deuided the one from the other And elsewhere But of the Church and against the Church they haue holden the sacraments of Christ and as in a ciuill warr they haue fought bearing our owne Banners against vs. From whence we may discouer the impertinencie of those that conclude that because hereticall Sects haue baptisme therefore they are Churches THE fowrth ãâã is that sainct HIEROME speaking in the person of the Church saith to Hilarie a Luciferian Deacon I am a harlott but yet I am thy mother I committ adultrie with Arius and I did soe before with Praxeas ãâã Cerinthus But it shal be heereafter manifested that this is a ridiculous equiuocation by which they attribute that to S. HIEROME as spoken in his owne sence which he spake according to the sence of his aduersary that is to saie according to the sence of the hereticke against whom he disputeth For to this that some add that a lying man leaues to be trulie a man although he be not a true
man that is to saie a veritable man and then that a Church leaues not to be truly a Church although she be not a true Church it is a Sophisme of the truth of the essence to the truth of the word and of the word verus to the word Verax there being none so young a scholler but knowes that to speake vniuocallie whosoeuer is truly a man is a true man for as much as being and truth are conuertible from whence it is that sainct AMBROSE vseth these wordes true Israelite and trulie Israelite as termes equiualent And that sainct AVGVSTINE saith Euerie soule is by that a soule by which it is a true soule And therefore as the Fathers affirme that there is none but the Catholicke Church that is a true Church From thence saith sainct AVGVSTINE it appeares that the true Church is concealed from noe bodie Soe they also saie that there is none but the Catholicke Church that is truly a Church If you did teach saith sainct AVGVSTINE to the Manichees that mariage were good but virginitie better as doth the Church which is trulie the Church of Christ the bolie Ghost had not predesigned you And whereas it is replied that a man for being lesse or more sound leaues not to be a man and soe that a Church for being lesse or more pure leaues not to be a Church it is an other manifest Sophisme for health is not the essentiall forme of a man nor sicknes the priuation of the essentiall forme of a man but an accident which consequentlie may receaue more and lesse whereas puritie of faith according to his maiesties owne confession is the essentiall forme of the Church and the impuritie of Faith the priuation of the essentiall forme of the Church By meanes whereof noe Societie can hold among the conditions of her Communion and doctrine impure in Faith and contrarie to saluation but shee looseth at the same time the being and title of a Church And therefore the diuersitie of the communions whereinto the Church was deuided when Luther rose must not be alleadged for a pretence to be ignorant where the true Church then was For since the Church ought to be perpetually visible and eminent and that then there were noe ChristiaÌ communions visible in the world but ours that of the Grecians vnder which are coÌprehended the Muscouites the Antiochians that of the Egiptians Ethiopians which is but one that of the Armenians that of the Nestorians that it is of the essence of the necessirie of the Church that she should be pure and impolluted in faith and that all those others by the common confession of vs and of the Protestants are heretickes and corrupt it is not needefull to goe to Delphus to learne that either the Church was perished which as wee haue aboue shewed could not be or that it was our communion which was the Church Of the qualitie wherein the Catholick Church attributes to herself the name of the whole CHAP. VIII The continuance of the Kings answere AND therefore the most excellent King is much amazed when hee sees the Churches which haue bene members of the whole Bodie drawe to themselues all the right of vniniuersalitie THE REPLIE IT hath alreadie bene aboue shewed that by the Catholicke Church the Fathers neuer intended the Masse and totall conclusion of the multitude of Christians but a speciall societie distinct from the beleefe and from the communion of all hereticall and schismaticall sects and which in regard of the Masse and generall confusion of all the multitude of Christians held actuallie but the place of a part and held only the place of the whole actuallie in regard of the particular Churches which were comprehended in deede in her communioÌ For there was neuer anie age since the apostles built the church but there haue bene some heretickes which haue gone forth from the Bodie of the Church neuerthelesse making profession of the name of Christ They haue gone forth from vs saith S IOHN but they were not of vs. And S. IVDE Cursed bee they for they perish in the contradiction of Chore people which separated them selues men animalls hauiug not spiritt And S. AVGVSTINE All hereticks and Schismaticks are gone forth from vs that ãâã to saie saith hee are gone sorth of the Church But amongst this difference of societies making profession of Christian Religion there was alwaies one more eminent in multitude then the rest which hath alwaies remained in her stocke and roote and from whence all the rest are gone forth to whom also the name of Catholicke nath bene preserued not because she held actuallie the place of whole in regard of the rest but onlie of all habituallie as the stocke in regard of the boughes which haue bene pluckt off for as much as in all the separations she remained in the same estate wherein all the Bodie was before the separation and consequentlie hath iustlie inherited the name of totall Church and succeeded onelie in the right and application of the whole as being she alone that represents it The Church saith S. AVGVSTINE Combating against all heresies may be resisted but she cannot be ouerthrowne all heresies are gone forth from her as vnprofitable branches cutt off from their vine but she remaines in her roote in her vine in her charitie the gates of hell shall not preuaile against her Which amazeth me that is maiestie should be amazed that the Churches which haue heretofore bene members of the whole Bodie should drawe to themselues all the Right of the vniuersalitie For the word Catholicke was neuer common to all Christians but onely to a part of Christians to witt to that wherein there remained the actuall totalitie of that which rested in the iust possession of the title of the Church and which in regard of the partes separated retained noe more the effect but only the right of the whole as representing her that before each separation was the whole And therefore so farr was S. AVGVSTINE from extending the totalitie of the Catholicke Church to the multitude of all the sectes of Christians as contrariwise after hauing reported the opinions of the eightie eight heresies he adds What the Catholicke Church holdes against all these thinges is a superfluous demaund since it is sufficient for to knowe that she holdes the contrary to these thinges And a while after There may also be or be made other heresies besides these which are reported in this worke of ours whereof who shall holde anie one shall be noe Catholick ChristiaÌ And elsewhere The Catholick and the heretick are deuided the one against the other And againe They cannot beginn to be Catholick till they haue left to be hereticke And therefore when the hereticall Sects separate themselues from the Catholicke Church and deuide themselues from the part that consents not to heresie they hinder not the title os Catholicke nor the Right of vniuersalitie from being preserued in her
alone and from belonging to her alone noe more then when in a common weale the factious part and which separated it-selfe from the state and reuoltes against the true preseruers of the Estate come to be deuided from that which remaines in the lawfull administration of the Estate this diuision hinders not the part which restes vnited with the Estate from preseruing the right and title of the vniuersallitie of the coÌmon-wealth and those thinges which are done by it alone from being accounted to be done by the whole Bodie of the common-wealth Whose whole being is preserued in this part alone the other by the desertion thereof hauing lost all the part it had in the name and effect of the common-wealth Of the sence wherein the Roman Church is called Catholicke CHAP. IX The continuance of the Kinges answere TO attribute to themselues the title of Catholicke as proper to themselues alone THE REPLIE WHEN wee vse this traine of Epithetes the Catholicke Apostolicke Roman Church we intend not by the word Roman the particular Church of Rome but all the Churches which adhere and are ioyned in communion with the Roman Church euen as by the Iewish Church wee intended not the tribe of Iuda only but the lines of Leui and Beniamin and manie relikes of the lines which were ioyned therewith For S IOHN BAPTIST was of the tribe of Leuy and sainct PAVL of that of Beniamin Anna of the tribe of Aser and neuerthelesse they were all of the people of the Iewes and of the Iewish Church but they were called Iewes and Iewish people because of the adherence and communion that they had with the principall Tribe which was that of Iuda Soe all the other Churches which communicate with the Roman in what soeuer part they are constituted are comprehended vnder the common word of the Roman Church when wee saie the Catholicke Apostolicke and Roman Church because they hold the Roman Church for the center and originall of their communion And in this sence saint AMBROSE saith that his brother inquired if the Bishop of one of the citties of Sardica where he desired to be baptised consented with the Catholicke Bishops that is to saie added hee with the Roman Church And in this sence saint HIEROME saith that the Church of Alexandria glorifies her selfe that she participates with the Roman Faith And in this sence Iohn Patriarke of ConstaÌtinople writes to Pope Hormisdas Wee promise not to recite amongst the sacred mistiries the names of those which are separate from the communion of the Cathoick Church that is to saie that consent not in all thinges with the Sea Apostolick And in this sence Beda vseth these words Our mother the Roman Church In this same sence they comprehend vnder the Greeke Church not only the natuaall Greekes but the Russians and Muscouites although they be distinct in nation and in language from the Greekes yea euen haue their Seruice in a tongue quite different for asmuch as they adhere to the Creeke Church Not that the particular Roman Church may not also in a certaine regard be called Catholicke For the word Catholicke is taken in three sortes to witt either formallie or causallie or participatiuelie Formally the only vniuersall Church that is to saie the Societie of all the true particular churches vnited in one selfe same communioÌ is called catholicke Causallie the Roman church is called Catholicke for as much as she infuseth vniuersalitie into all the whole bodie of the Catholicke church That it is soe to coÌstitute vniuersalitie there must be two thinges one that may analogicallie be insteede of matter thereto to witt the multitude for where there is no multitude there can be noe vniuersalitie And the other to be in-steede of forme thereto to witt vnitie for a multitude without vnitie makes noe vniuersalitie Take awaie saith sainct AVGVSTINE the vnitie from the multitude and it is a tumult but bring in vnitie and it is the people And therefore the Roman Church which as center and beginning of the ecclesiasticall communion infuseth vnitie which is the forme of vniuersalitie into the Catholicke Church and by consequent causeth vniuersalitie in her may be called catholicke causallie though in her owne being she be particular noe more nor lesse then the Galley to which all the other Gallies of a Fleete haue relation of dependancie and correspondencie is called the Generall although she bee but one particular Galley because it is she that by the relation that all others haue to her giues vnitie to the totall and generall bodie of the Fleete And finallie particular Churches are called Catholicke participatiuely because they agree and participate in doctrine and communion with the catholicke Church And in this sence the Church of Smyrna addresseth her Epistle To the Catholick Church of Philomilion and to all the Catholick Churches which are throughout the world Of the causes wherefore the Roman Church hath cutt of the rest from her communion CHAP. X. The continuance of the Kings answere AND to exclude from their communion all the rest which dissent from them in anie thinge or refuse the yoake of slauerie THE REPLIE THE most excellent King may be pleased to remember two things one that antient authors haue written that oftentimes for one only word contrarie to Faith manie heresies haue bene cast out of the bodie of the Church And the other that the societies of the Egiptians and Ethiopians haue not bene excluded out of the Church for refusinge that which his maiestie call the yoake of slauerie that is to saie the Superintendencie of the Roman Church but for hauing imbraced the Sect of Eutyches who with all his partakers was cutt off from the Church by the Councell of Chalcedon and that euen to this daie they are all readie and haue often offerred to acknowledge the Pope whom they confesse to bee the Successor of the Prince of the Apostles if they might be receiued into the communion of the Roman Church without obliging them to anathematize Eutiches and Dioscorus And as for the diuision of the Greeke Church the true cause thereof hath bene the Schisme fallen out betweene Ignatius lawfull Patriarke of Constantinople whom the Pope preserued in his communion and Photius intruded into the Patriarkship by the fauour of the Emperor to which Schisme the Greekes added for an obstacle of reunioÌ as the crabb cast the stone into the oyster to hinder it from shutting itselfe againe the difference of the procession of the holy Ghost and of Schismatickes became flatt heretickes This was the true cause of the seperation of the Greekes and not the yoake of slaueries of the Roman Church of the which neither Jgnatius nor anie of his Catholicke Predcessors had euer complayned Of the sence wherein the hereticks belonge not to the Catholick Church CHAP. XI The Continuance of the Kings Answere AND so on the suddaine to pronounce presumptuouslie that they belonged not in anie thing to the Catholicke Church THE REPLIE This deniall is
expresse wee must haue recourse thereto But wee said that he neuer thought neither in generall that all things belonging to Religion were treated off in scripture nor in particular that the contention betweene the Catholickes and the Donatists concerning Baptisme was of that quality And wee maintaine that for soe manie yeares wherein hee combated with them about this article when there was queÌstion of Searching the cause to the bottome hee neuer produced one proofe out of Canonicall scripture Indeede he hath often alleadged places of Scripture to make some approaches to it and to beate downe certaine defences to solue by scripture the arguments that the Donatists brought out of Scripture to maintaine that the custome of the Church in the point contested was according to Scripture in as much as According signifies not against the Scripture to establie generall theses and preparatiues to proue the propositions that had some simpathy and affinitie with that which hee disputed As for example he doth indeede proue by scripture that what is sound and intire amongst heretickes must not be repeated againe when they returne to the Church but that Baptisme is sound and intire amongst them he doth noe were proue by Scripture He proues indeede by Scripture that there may be ecclesiasticall thinges out of the Church but that Baptisme is of that number he nether doth nor can proue by Scripture He proues indeede by scripture that it is against the commaun dement of God if heretickes haue receaued the Baptisme of Christ in their owne partie to rebaptise them for wee also reade that our Lord answered Sainct PETER Hee that is wholie washt neede washe but his feete But that heretickes receiue the Baptisme of Christ in their Sects and not ãâã polluted and prophane washing which is all the knott of the question he noe were proues by scripture For as hee notes elsewhere Peter of whom this is written had not bene baptised by heretickes he prooues indeede by scripture that they who are out of the interior and Spirituall vnitie of the Church as Judas and wicked Catholickes doe not for that leaue to conferr true Baptisme but that they who are neither inwardlie nor outwardlie in the Church who are out of the vnitie of the profession of Faith and of the communion of the Sacraments of the ecclesiasticall bodie can conferr it he proues noe where by scripture And in Summe the thinges which belong to the Solutions of arguments to probable and coniecturall preparatiues to shewes of possibilitie and non repugnancie to soften and dispose the spiritt of the Readers he doth indeede prooue by scripture but the impression of the last forme the assumption and hypothesis of the sillogisme the proofe of this precise and speciall point that Baptisme whereof Sainct IOHN cryes None may receaue anie thinge except it be giuen him from heauen That Sainct PETER saith to be administred into remission of Sinnes That Sainct PAVL calls the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the holie Ghost and whereof hee writes One faith and one Baptisme And againe All they that are baptized haue put on Christ That this Sacrament I saie may be conferred out of the Church which is the fullnes of Christ which is the sealed Fountaine which is the only dwelling of the holie Ghost which is shee alone that hath receiued the keyes and the authoritie to remitt sinnes that this can subsist amongst hereticks who haue neither faith nor guift from heauen nor the holie Ghost you can neuer finde that in soe maine yeares as saint AVGVSTINE the principall opposite and ouerthrowe of this heresie hath contested her he hath neuer manifested nor could hee nor he hath not pretended to proue by anie passage of Scripture but by the only vnwritten traditions of the Apostles and the generall practise and vniuersall attestation of the Church Wee must saith hee obserue in these thinges what the Church of God obserues The question now betweene you and vs is which of yours or ours is the Church of God And againe Wherefore although in truth there be noe example to be produced of this out of the ãâã Scripture yet we leaue not to maintaine euen in this case the truth of the Scriptures when we obserue what hath bene approued by all that Church that the authoritie of the canonicall Scripture recommendeth And in an other place This is neither openlie nor euidentlie read neither by you nor by me c. But if anie one indued with wisdome and recommended by the testimonie of our Lord Iesus Christ were to be found in the world and that hee had bene consulted by vs vpon this question wee ought noe waie to doubt to doe what he should tell vs for feare of being iudged repugnant not so much to him as to our Lord Jesus Christ by whose testimonie hee had bene recommended Now he giues testimonie to his Church And in the worke of Baptisme against the same Donatists The Apostles saith hee haue prescribed nothing in this matter but this custome ought to be beleeued to haue taken the originall there of from their tradition as there are manie thinges which the vniuersall Church obserues and which are therefore not without cause beleeued to haue bene commaunded by the Apostles although they be not written From whence the contrarie appeares to what his maiestie pretends to inferr from this passage to witt that the scripture only destitute of the vnwritten Apostolicke tradition cannot decidè all pointes of Faith nor refute all heresies For the point in agitation betweene the Catholicks and the Donatists concerning the truth realitie of the baptisme giuen by hereticks was a point of faith and wherein obstinate error would make an heresie The proofe of this is first that the doctrine of Baptisme importes so much to the faith as where there is noe true baptisme there is noe true Church S PAVL teaching vs that God clenseth his Church through the washing of water in the word Now there where the Church is destroyed there is destroyed this article of the Faith of the Creede I beleeue the bolie Catholick Church And secondlie that the vnitie of Baptisme belonges so to faith as S. PAVL saith there is one faith and one Baptisme And that the creede of CoÌstaÌtinople setts amoÌgst the Articles of the Confession of the Faith We ãâã one baptisme in the remission of sinns in such sort as if the Donatists erred in disanulling the baptisme of heretickes and rebaptizing them they destroyed the faith of the vnitie of baptisme and anathematised the character of Christ which had alreadie bene imprinted in the baptized by baptisme And if the Catholicks erre in approuing the baptisme of heretickes and in not rebaptisinge them when they came to them they sinned against the Faith of the necessitie of Baptisme for the constitution of the Church and consequently had noe Church And neuerthelesse neither could this point of Faith be proued nor
the contrarie heresie confuted by Scripture only destitute of the helpe of tradition And although Optatus Mileuitus in the beginning had attempted it neuerthelesse the successe hath made saint AVGVSTINE who hath gone further in this question see and confesse that to compose it there was a necessitie of hauing recourse to the vnwritten Apostolicke tradition And what saint AVGVSTINE alleadgeth in generáll against Petilianus must not be obiected against this If anie one of Christ or of the Church or of ought belonging to the faith or to life declare ãâã then this that you haue receaued in the legall and Euange licall scriptures let him be anathema For himselfe declares elsewhere as it shall appeare hereafter that this word of S. PAVL further signifies against or to the preiudice of The Apostle faith hee hath not said more then but further for if he had said more then hee had condemned himselfe He that desired to come to the Thessalonians to supplie what was wanting in their Faith Now hee that supplies adds that which was not in the thing but takes not awaie what was therein before Of the vnderstanding of the words of S. Chrysostome in the thirtie third homilie vpon the Acts. CHAP. XIX The continuance of the Kinges answere EVEN soe S. CHRISOSTOME as well elsewhere as of deliberate purpose in the thirtie third homilie vpon the Acts handling this question how the true Church may be discerned amongst manie Societies which attribute this name to themselues doth teach that there are two instruments to iudge and decide this question First the word of God and afterward the antiquitie of the doctrine not inuented by anie late bodie but alwaies knowne since the beginning of the Church when she was but breeding THE REPLIE THERE are fowre ãâã to be made vpon this Article the first that sainct CRYSOSTOME giues not this Rule to discerne the true Church from all societies that differ from her in what point soeuer but onlie to discerne her from those that differ from her in the point of Christs diuinitie wherein it is noe wonder if the scripture be more cleere and expresse then in anie other The second that this marke to discerne the Church he giues not to those that are alreadie preoccupated with the opinion of anie of the Christian sects but to the Pagans which were not anticipated with passion for anie of the parties that combated about the pointes of Christs diuinitie and for this reason might seeme to iudge the more impartiallie The third that sainct CHRYSOSTOMES ayme is not to treate seriouslie there of the markes of the Church with the Pagans but to stopp their mouthes and to shew that whereas they said that they would turne Christians but that they knew not on which part to range themselues these were but pretences and not true language The fowrth that hee stopps not there but acknowledging that this meanes because of the subtletie and shiftes of hereticks is not sufficient requires and exactes an other that is to saie that hee reduceth in the last instance all the summe of the question to this point that that is the true Church which hath remained stedfast and immutable in her communion and from whence all the others are gone forth and that came forth from none A Pagan saith hee comes and saith I would turne Christian but I know not to whom I ought to adhere for there are amongst you manie strifes seditions and tumultes I know not which opinion I should choose nor which I ought to preferr euerie one saith I followe the truth whom shall I that am vtterlie ignorant in the Scriptures beleeue seeing both sides as well the Catholickes as the Sects of the Arrians as it shall appeare heereafter protest the same thinge That certainly answereth hee makes much for vs for if wee saie wee must beleeue reasons thou shalt not without cause be troubled but if wee saie wee must beleeue the Scriptures and they be simple and true it is easie for thee to iudge thereof if anie one conforme himselfe to them he is a Christian if anie striue against them he is farr from this rule But what will become of it saith the Gentile if the other coming also saie the scripture affirmes this thinge and thou saist it affirmes an other thinge and that you wrest the scripture into diuers parts each drawing the vnderstanding of the words thereof to his owne side c. Then saith S. CHRISOSTOME we will inquire of the Pagan if what he saith be pretences and excuses and aske him ifhe condemne the Gentiles Hee must saie some thinge for he will not desire to come to vs till first he condemne them wee will aske him then for what cause ãâã condemnes them for he will not condemne them without cause It is manifest that he will saie because their Gods are Creatures and are not the vncreated God This ãâã well answere wee for if this ãâã found in other heresies a clause which euidently shewes that he spoke onely of those heresies which opposed the ãâã of Christ which were those where with the East was afflicted and wee affirme the contrarie what neede more words Wee all confesse that Christ is God but see who combats against it and who combates not against it wee call him God and pronounce of him thinges worthie of God that he hath power that he is not seruile that he is sree that he doth all thinges of himself and they the contrary And then finallie seeing that this attempt succeeded not sufficiently It is not possible saith hee but he that heares without preoccupation should be perswaded For as if there were a Rule according to which all thinges should be squared there were noe neede of great consideration but it would be easie to discerne him that should make wrye lines Euen soe is it nowe But wheresore then would he saie doe they not see it Preiudication and human causes doe manie thinges that replies ãâã they saie also of vs. And how can they saie it for wee haue not seperated ourselues nor haue made noe schisme nor diuision in the Church Wee haue noe heresiarchs wee name not ourselues after the name of anie man wee haue noe leaders as to one Marcion to another Manicheus to an other Arius to an other an other heresi-founder But if wee take the appellatioÌ of anie particular it is not from those that began anie heresie but of those that preside ouer vs and gouerne the Church Wee haue noe doctors vpon earth God forbid wee haue one alone in heauen This also will hee saie the others likewise affirme it but the name that they beare answereth hee to witt of Marcionites or of Manichees or of Arrians conuinceth them and stopps their mouthes By which words it appeares that the last analysis and resolution of the question is all determined in this point that that is the true Church which hath remained vnmouable and stedfast in her communion from whom all the
therefore the Arrians which are at this daie in Polonia or in Transiluania may well preteÌd similitude of doctrine without the ancient Arrians which were in the time of the Councell of Nicea but not SuccessioÌ of doctrine for as much as their doctrine hath not bene traÌsmitted by a liuing perpetuall chaine of teachers and Pââââons taught from the ancient Arrians to them For as the fire of the high places was indeede one in similitude with that which came downe from heauen to serue for a beginninge to the fier of the mosaicell sacrifices but not one in vnitie of Succession there being but the only fier preserued for this effect in the Altar of Hierusalem whicb was one in vnity of Succession with that Soe a subsequent doctrine may well be one in vnitie of Similitude with a precedent doctrine without anie flux of continuance to haue bene betweene them but a Subsequent doctrine cannot be one in vnitie of Succession with a preceding doctrine if it haue not bene deriued from it by a perpetuall channell of instruction and by an vninterrupted traine of teachers and persons taught which is that that the Fathers as wee haue elswhere shewed call consanguinitie or genealogie of doctrine to witt a propagation of doctrine deriued without interruption from Father to sonne as by a tree of consanguinitie euen as children are deriued by a perpetuall traine of generation from their Fathers from their Grandfathers and from their great Grandfathers blood And in this Sence S. ATHNASIVS after he had combated the Arrians by the Scrptures and acknowledged that their obstinancie made them indocill to his argumentes made vse of the Succession of doctrine Behold said hee wee haue proued the Succession of our doctrine deliuered from hand to hand from Father to sonn you new Jewes and children of Caiphas what Predecessors can you shew for your words And sainct PACIAN against the Nouatians I holding myself assured vpon the succession of the Church contenting myselfe with the peace of the antient congregation haue neuer studied discord And so whether shee which is at this daie called the English Church haue similitude of doctrine with the Fathers of the first fowre Councells in the pointes which are in controuersie betweene her and vs is that which is in question and which we denie that she can proue but that she hath succession of doctrine with the Church of the first fowre Councells is a thing which cannot bee so much as Challenged For there is noe man that dare saie that the doctrine that the English Church holds at this daie in the points coÌtested betweene her and vs is come by a perpetuall and vninterrupted chaine of teachers and persons taught from the Church in the time of the first fowre Coucells vnto her seeing that without goeing higher in the beginning of the Raigne of King Henry the eigth she held directlie contrarie to what she holdes now I omitt to saie that besides the succession of the ministrie and the succession of doctrine there is an other third succession which is that of communion by which from age to age the most Antient in the Societie of the Church receiued into their communion those that came in after them and by this continuance and chaine of communion the faithfull of subsequent ages communicated with them of preceding ages a thing which can not be betweene the members of the antient Catholicke Church and the members of her which at this daie calles her selfe the English Church because their Predecessors haue excluded disinherited and excommunicated them For not onely in the more antient ages the generall Bodie of the Catholicke Church had excommunicated by retaile those which held some one point other some an other of this Rapsodie of doctrines which the Puritans call reformation but particularly the English Church excommunicated in the time of Henry the eigth those that held the doctrine that she which is called the English Church now holdeth Of the holding of a Councell CHAP. XXIV The Continuance of the Kings Answere GIVE vs a free Councell and which shall not depend of the will of one ãâã THE REPLIE IF by the word alone his maiestie intends the Pope what CouÌcell was euer more free in this regarde then the second Councell of Nicea which was celebrated in Bythinia a Prouince of Asia out of the West and out of the Patriarkshipp of the Roman Church and in an other Empire and where there were none of all the Latine Church but only two Priests which represented the Popes person Or what Councell was euer more free in the same regard then the Councell off Constance wherein then when the differences of Faith were treated of because the Papacie was in question not only the Pope did not assist there but euen all the three pretended Popes where deposed For what was practised against Iohn Husse Hierome of Prage after they had againe fallen into the doctrine that they had abiured was done the Pope and his competitors in the Papacie being absent and while they proceeded in contumacie against him euen when they publisht the decrees of the Superioritie of the Councell aboue the Pope Or what Councell finallie was euer more free then the Councell of Florence whereat there assisted the Emperor of the East and the Patriarke of the Greeke Church and a great number of Greeke Bishopps who all had libertie to determine and giue their voyces and euen those that gaue them against the commoÌ opinion of the Councell persisted in their obstinancie as Marke of Ephesus returned safely into their countrey And neuerthelesse in those three Councells there were decided almost all those things which are at this daie questioned in Christian Religion For if to make a Councell free it must be holden in the state of a Prince which fauours neither partie of the contestors what Councell can be exempt from calumny For doe not the Arrians put it amongst the reproaches of the Councell of Nicea and of the first of Const that they were holden vnder Constantine and Theodosius who were abettors of their owne partie and whose authoritie preuailed there And did not the Eutychians reproach the Councell of Chalcedon for the authoritie of the Emperor Marcian that had there fauored say they their aduersaries From whence euen to this day they call those that hold the opinion of the Councell of Chalcedon Melchites that is to saie Rogalists or Imperialists but if his maiestie intend by a free Councell a Councell where the Pope neither assists personalie nor representatiuely how can it be that in a time wherein there is no Schisme in the Papacie a Councell shall perfectly represent the vniuersall Church if the visible head of the Church be neither there personallie representatiuely or confirmatiuely And what will become of those antient Maximes That it is not lawfull to rule the Churches or call the Councells without the Bishop of Rome And againe that the ecclesiasticall lawe anulls all decrees made
besides that antiquitie affirmes that the Apostles haue giuen manie thinges by tradition vnwritten to their disciples his maiestie himselfe testifies that he is farr froÌ their opinion that beleeue the vniuersall historie of the primitiue Church to be all contained in the sacred but onlie little Booke of the Actes of the Apostles Of the indefectibilitie of the Church CHAP. XXVII The continuance of the Kings answere THE King Confesseth that his Church hath separated her selfe in manie points from the faith and discipline that the Roman Bishop doth at this daie hold and defeÌd with might and mayne But the King and the English Church ãâã not interpret that to be a defection from the antient Catholicke saith but rather a returne to the antient Catholicke faith which in the Roman Church had bene admirablie deformed in manie kindes and a conuersion to Christ the only master of the Church THE REPLIE AND euen this confirmes our intention to know that there is at this daie noe Catholicke Church a thing directly against Gods promises or that this that wee haue is shee For there could be noe other Catholicke Church but her that was in the time of the first ãâã Councells Now shee if shee haue bene interrupted and she hath bene soe if ours which hath succeeded her haue bene wanting in faith and in vnion with Christ without which a Societie cannot be a Church the English Church which succeedes her not by an vninterrupted continuance cannot be the same Church For what Aristotle saith of Common-wealths may also be said of the Church to witt that when a common-wealth hath interrupted the successiue continuance of her being it is noe more one common wealth in number but an other common-wealth Soe if the antient Catholicke Church hath interrupted the successiue continuance of her beeing she is noe more one and not being one shee is noe more a Church for the Church is one or none And therefore the Fathers cry out that if the Church be once perished she can noe more be borne againe If in S. CYPRIANS time saith saint AVGVSTINE the Church perished from what Heauen it Donatus fallen from what Sea came hee forth what earth hath sprunge him vp For to saie that the English Church accounts not her separation from the faith and from the discipline of the Pope a defection from the antient Catholicke faith but a returne to the antient Catholicke faith and a conuersion to Christ is not the question viz. whether the English Church be conuerted to the antient Catholicke Faith For as it hath bene aboue shewed the name of catholicke is not a name of simple beleefe but of coÌmunion By meanes whereof the English Church might haue all Faith euen to the remouing of mountaines yet if she communicated not with the Catholicke Church she could neither obtaine the title of Catholicke nor the reward of life eternall but should be schismaticall and excluded from saluation And therefore the state of the question in this which is presented is not whether the English Church be return'd to the true faith but whether the Church which possesseth at this daie the name of the Catholicke Church hath lost the being of the Catholicke Church which she cannot haue done if in things important to saluation and constructiue or destructiue to the being of a Church she haue not varied from that of the time of the fowre first Councells which wee on both sides confesse to haue bene the true Church that is to saie if she haue not taken awaie from the practise of the Church of those ages some thing necessarie to saluation and without which saluation cannot be obtained or if she haue not added to the practise of that Church something repugnant to saluation and with which life eternall cannot be obtained From whence it appeares that the office of the English Church in this question is to shew not that she hath returned to the ancient Faith which would alwaies exact the necessitie of a preceding dispute to witt that the Church from whence she went out hath diuerted her selfe from it for the proofe of the auersion should precede the proofe of reuersion but that the Church which wee at this daie intitle Catholicke hath soe diuerted her selfe from the faith of the Church of the time of the fowre first Councells which both they and wee hold to haue bene the true Church as she hath lost being and the iust title of a Church and that saluation can noe more be obtained in her And our office is contrariwise to maintaine that the Church which is at this daie differs not in anie thinge that can destroy saluation and make her loose the beeing and the title of a true Church from the ancient Catholicke Church and that all the points that our Aduersaries obiect against vs as such and for which they take occasion to separate themselues from vs vnder pretence that in our communion Saluation cannot be obtained haue bene holden by the ancient Church Of the sense wherein the Fathers haue intended that their doctrine had bene holden from the beginning CHAP. XXVIII The continuance of the Kinges answere AND therefore if anie one in consequence of this obseruation Will inferr from thence that the English Church because she reiects some of the decrees of the Roman Church is departed from the antient Catholicke Church the King Will not graunt him that till hee haue first proued by solid reasons that all things that the Roman teach haue bene approued from the beginning and ordained by the antient Catholicke Church And that noe man can doe this now nor in the time to come at the least that till nowe noe bodie hath done it is a thing é as certaine to the king and to the Prelats of the English Church as that the Sunn shines à t noone daies THE REPLIE NEITHER is it the question as I haue alreadie manie times said whether the English Church haue departed from the doctrine of the antient Catholicke Church but whether our Church be soe farr strayed from the doctrine of the antient Church as she can noe more be reputed one felfe same Church with the antient Church and that we can noe more communicate with her without losse of Saluation For if she be still the same Church and that amongst the conditions vnder the obligation whereof her communion is participated there be noe doctrine nor custome which is opposite to Saluation it is certaine that out of her Societie though one should haue Faith sufficient to remoue mountaines yet they can neither possessé the Saluation nor title of the Catholicke Church Neither is it the question to knowe whether all thinges that the Roman Church holdes and principallie those which she holdes to be necessary for Saluation haue bene holden by antiquitie and in this qualitie which would be a longe and thornie disputation because of the diuersitie of the acceptions of the word necessarie vnder the ambiguitie whereof there would alwaies remaine a thousand cauills and
himselfe confest in these wordes The Apostles saith hee in truth haue prescribed nothing of this but this Custome ought to be beleeued to haue taken originall from their tradition as there are manie things that the vniuersall Church obserueth which art with good reason beleeued to haue bene giuen by the Apostles although they be not in writing Was this to pretend to seperate themselues from the Church out of iollitie of hart and without anie cause and neither to blame the faith nor discipline of the Church Of the authoritie of the rest of the Christian people which denied to the Church the title of Catholick Chapt. XXXII The continuance of the Kings Answere THE English haue separated themselues by a cruell necessitie from that Church that infinite Christian people that I may speake as modestly as I possiblie can doe not ãâã to be the true vniuersall Church THE REPLIE THat the English Church hath bene iustly forced by a cruell necessitie to depart from the Catholicke Church wherein alone the stocke of vnitie doth reside as our very aduersaries dare not saie that the bodie of Catholicke vnitie was to be found in anie other Societie when the English nation deuided themselues from her saint AGVSTINE will not avow who saith that there is no iust necessitie to deuide vnitie And lesse S. DIONISIVS of Alexandria who was much antienter then saint AVGVSTINE who writes Thou oughtest rather to suffer all kinds of death then to deuide the Church of Christ. For whereas his maiestie adds that an infinite number of Christian people doe not grant her to bee the true vniuersall Catholicke Church if these people can shew that there was an other to whom this title belonged when Luther came into the world wee will confesse her not to be soe but if it be not in their power not only to shewe but to faine an other then this must be shee For the Catholicke Church is perpetuall and their contradiction that are departed from her can not raise anie doubt of her title more then the contradiction of the antient Arrians and other hereticks could cause the antient Catholicke Church to loose this title For in that only that they haue departed from her and cannot shew that she hath departed from anie of all the other Societies which are in being they testifie that she only is the true Catholicke Church that is to saie the true stocke and originall roote of the Church from whom all others by their Schismes and diuisions are departed and gone forth Of the testimonies of our writers CHAP. XXXIII The continuance of the King answere AND that manieÌ of your writers themselues haue a longe while agoe ingeniouslieÌ confessed to haue much varied from the antient in the dogm'as and in the forme of discipline and to haue patched and tacked together manie new thinges to the old manie euill thinges to the good THE REPLIE THOSE writers haue bene such as I haue aboue described as Erasmus Cassander and others who partly in presumption and partlie in ignorance of antiquitie and partlie to gratifie those Princes in whose fauour they haue taken penn in hand haue written thinges which would confound their faces if they were to maintaine them before anie that were versed of purpose in the studie of Antiquitie Of the begging of the principle contained in this hypothesis CHAPT XXXIV The continuance of the Kings answere WHICH is alreadie so knowne to all the world as it is noe longer in thé power of anie to denie it or to be ignorant of it THE REPLIE THIS is to take for a principle of disputation that which is the subiect of the controuersie for not only all Catholickes but also all the Christian Societies in the world more antient then the authors of this diuision and who haue noe interest neither for the one part nor for the other and if they had anie would haue it rather against the Church from which they are separated then for her doe maintaine that all the principall pointes that the pretended reformers calumniate in the Roman Church are of the true faith and of the true discipline of the antient Catholicke Church Of the temporall causes of the separation of England CHAP. XXXV The Continuance of the Kings Answere ADD to this that the Church of England had found the yoake of the Roman Bondage so hard vpoÌ her for some ages past being incrediblie tormented froÌ daie to day with new vexations oppressions and vnheard of exactions as ãâã only cause before iust iudges may seeme to be able to free her from suspition of Schisme and as S. AVGVSTINE saith speaking of the Donatists wicked dismembring For sur ely the English haue not separarated themselues for iollitie of heart from brotherly charitie as the ãâã did THE REPLIE IF it may please your maiestie to call againe to memorie the historie of the Schisme of England you will finde that all those thinges which were alleadged for pretence of the Churches diuision haue noe waie bene the cause thereof contrariwlse that the English Church was more flourishing when this separation happened and the King of England and his clergie more affectionate to maintaine the Faith and communion of the Roman Church then euer they had bene before as appeares by the Booke that he made in defence of the Church against Luther the originall whereof he sent to Rome with these verses such as they are addressed to Pape Leo written with his owne hand Harrie the English King at once doth recommend This worke Leo to thee which publick proofe shall lend To shew which way his faith and friendship both doe bend But that it was the amorous passion of that King who to satisfie the appetite which transported him would cause a iust mariage to be broken and marrie her that he loued his first lawfull wife and by whom he had issue being yet liuing to which the Pope conceaued that he could not with a safe conscience giue consent This was the true and onely cause of all this Iliad of euills From hence gusht all these teares Of the comparison of the English Church with the Iudaicall CHAP. XXXVI The continuance of the Kings answere NOT for feare of the ãâã which was eminent but did not yet presse them like the tenn tribes of the people of the Iewes but after hauing suffered manie ages after the ãâã of vnspeakable greeuances they haue finallie shaken from their shoulders that insupportable burthen which neither their strength was longer able to beare nor would their conscience permitt them to doe it THE REPLIE HERE I might content myself with saying that what was ordained and approued by God in the separation of the ten tribes of Israell from the Kingdome of Iuda was the only di uision of State and not that of Religion For God as saint AVGFSTINE saith commaunds neither Schisme nor heresie And by consequence what pretence soeuer is added of present and not future euill there can be noe consequence
done well in cutting of from the bodie of vnitie soe manie and soe great Churches of God And in truth how could S. IRENEVS haue reprehended the Pope for wante of power he that cries To the Roman Church because of a more powerfull principalitie that is to saie as aboue appeareth because of a principalitie more powerfull then the temporall or as we haue expounded otherwhere because of a more powerfull Originall it is necessarie that euerie Church should agree And therefore alsoe S. IRENEVS alleadgeth not to Pope Victor the example of him and of the other Bishops of the Gaules assembled in a councell holden expresselie for this effect who had not excommunicated the Asians nor the example of Narcissus Bishop of Ierusalem and of the Bishops of Palestina assembled in an other Councell holden expressely for the same effect who had not excommunicated them nor the example of Palmas and of the other Bishops of Pontus assembled in the same manner and for the same cause in the Region of Pontus who had not excommunicoted them but onely alleadges to him the example of the Popes his predecessors The Prelates saith hee who haue presided before Soter in the Church where thou presidest Anisius Pius Hyginus Telesphorus and Sixtus haue not obserued this custome c. and neuerthelesse none of those that obserued it haue bene excommunicated And yet ô admirable prouidence of God the successe of the after ages shewed that euen in the vse of his power the Popes proceeding was iust For after the death of Victor the Councells of Nicea of Constantinople and of Ephesus excommunicated againe those that held the same custome with the prouinces that the Pope had excommunicated and placed them in the Catalogue of heretickes vnder the titles of heretickes Quarto decumans But to this instance Caluins Sect doe annexe two new obseruations the first that the Pope hauing threatned the Bishops of Asia to excoÌmunicate them Polycrates the Bishop of Ephesus and Metropolitan of Asia despised the Popes threates as it appeares by the answere of the same Polycrates to Pope Uictor which is inserted in the writings of Eusehius and of S. IEROM which S IEROM seemeth to approue when he saith hee reportes it to shewe the spirit and authoritie of the man And the second that when the Pope pronounced anciently his excommunications he did noe other thing but separate himselfe from the communion of those that he excommunicated and did not thereby separate them from the vniuersall communion of the Church To the first then we saie that soe farr is this epistle of Polycrates from abating and diminishing the Popes authority that contrary wise it greatly magnifies and exaltes it For although Polycrates blinded with the loue of the custome of his nation which he beleeued to be grounded vpon the word of God who had assigned the of the Month of March for the obseruation of the Pasche and vpon the example of saint IOHNS tradition maintaines it obstinately Neuertheles this that he answeres speaking in his owne name and in the name of the Councell of the Bishops of Asia to whom he presided I feare not those that threaten vs for my elders haue said it is better to obaie God then man Doth it not shew that had it not bene that he belieued the Popes threate was against the expresse word of God there had bene cause to feare it and he had bene obliged to obaie him for who knowes not that this answere it is better to obaie God then men is not to be made but to those whom we were obliged to obaie if their commaundements were not contrarie to the commaundments of God And that he adds that hee had called the Bishops of Asia to a Nationall Councell being summoned to it by the Pope doth it not insinuate that the other Councells where of Eusebius speakes that were holden about this matter through all the prouinces of the Earth and particularly that of Palestina which if you beleiue the act that Beda said came to his handes Theophilus Archbishop of Cesarea had called by the auctoritie of Victor were holden at the instance of the Pope and consequently that the Pope was the first mouer of the vniuersall Church And that the Councells of Nicea of Constantinople of Ephesus embraced the censure of Victor and excommunicated those that obserued the custome of Polycrates doth it not proue that it was not the Pope but Polycrates that was deceiued in beleiuing that the Popes commaundement was against Gods commaundement And that saint IEROM himselfe celebrates the Paschall homelyes of Theophilus Patriarke of Alexandria which followed the order of Nicea concerning the Pasche Doth it not iustifie that when saint IEROM saith that he reportes the Epistle of Policrates to shew the spirit and authoritie of the man he intends by authoritie not authoritie of right but of fact that is to saie the credit that Polycrates had amongst the Asians and other Quartodecumans To the second obseruation which is that when the Pope excommucated other Bishops Archbishops or Patriarkes he seperated himselfe from their communion but did not thereby seperate them from the communion of the Church Wee will doe noe other thing then examine examples that they alleadged for proofe of their hypothesis And yet we will not examine them all for we haue alreadie confuted the most part of them in the Chapters preceding as that of saint HILARY against Liberius and others the like We will onely treat of those that they propound to vs a newe which consist in three principall heades The first is that the fifth CouÌcell of Carthage ordained that euery Bishop that should fall into the cases mentioned by the tenth and thirteenth canons of the same Councell should content himselfe with the communion of his one Church alone from whence they conclude that euerie excommunication did not import priuation of Sacraments The second that Nicephorus writes that Pope Vigilius hauing excommunicated Menas Patriarke of Constantinople for fower moneths Menas yeilded him the same measure And the third that Sigesbert speaking of the proceeding of Pope Innocent in the cause of saint CHRISOSTOME saith that Pope Innocent and the Bishops of the West suspended themselues from the communion of those of the East To the first then of these examples which is That the fifth Councell of Carthage odaines thà t euerie Bishop that should fall into the case of Canons aboue mentioned should content himself with the communion of his owne Church onelie Wee answere two things The one that the censure whereof the Canons of this Councell speake was not an excommunication but a restitution of communion by which those that did fall into the cases whereof there is question might administer the ãâã in their owne Diocesses and to their owne People but not out of their diocesses And the other that the Pope himselfe often vsed ãâã restriction as it appeares by the Epistle of
that the Church was then perished for since the excellent King will haue it that the only assured marke to discerne which either of the Church which hee calls English or of ours is the true Church be it that which is the essentiall forme of the Church and that he pretends to be doctrine it is necessary that he suppose that the difference which are betweene the Church that hee calls English and ours be questions which take awaie the essentiall forme of the Church and destroy the being of a Church And by consequence that that of the one or other Societie which errs in these pointes shall bee depriued of the essentiall ãâã of a Church and destitute from the being of a Church And then if when Luther came into the world there were noe Societie neither visible nor inuisible which held that that the English Church holdes at this daie in the pointes disputed betweene her and vs it followes there was then noe Church Of the authoritie of the worke intituled imperfect CHAP. XVII The Continuance of the Kings Answere AND therefore the excellent King thinkes that he ought with soe much the more Care in so great a floud of different opinions withdrawe himselfe into the mountaines of the holie Scripture THE REPLIE WHEN Nauplius King of the Island of Euboea now called Negrepont would at the returne froÌ the Seige of Troy cause the fleete of the Greekes to be shipwrackt to reuenge the death of his Sonn Palamides hee sett by night torches in forme of a beacon vpon one of the mountaines of his Island at the foote whereof the Sea was full of bankes cliffes and rockes so to drawe their shipps by the hope of a safe hauen to runn hazard and perish in those shores Soe whenantient heretickes whom saint AVGVSTINE calls mountaines for Shipwracke would cause the Catholickes to make shipwracke in Faith the more their doctrines haue bene pernicious and mortall the more they haue adorned and illustrated them with texts and lampes of the scripture This appeares in the heresie of the Arrians who painted and coloured their error with more then fortie passages of the Bible and by this art attempted to call men backe from the externall and sensible markes of the Church which could not bee pretended by false ensignes by those who had them not to reduce them to the only marke of the scripture the interpretation whereof by their subtletie they made subiect to as manie deceipts as there were wordes But aboue all this is verified in the writer from whom his Maiestie borrowes this language who was one of the most passionate Champions of the Arrians For though he cites these wordes without naming the Father neuerthelesse both the termes wherein they are couched and the tracke of those who haue alleadged them before him to witt Caluin in some of the prefaces to his institution the author of the Booke of the Eucharist in the preface to his worke cannot suffer vs to doubt but that they were taken from the author of the worke intituled Imperfect falselie attributed to Sainct CHRYSOSTOME Now that this Author was not onelie an open Arrian but one of the most eager and violent Champions of the Arrians it appeares by this that he calls the Trinitie triangular impietie and the doctrine of the homousians that is to saie of those that held the Consubstantialitie of the Father and the sonne Heresie Not but that I knew well that he is sometimes alleadged euen by Catholickes with the title of saint CHRISOSTOME vnder whose name he had bene first printed at Basle But because it is one thinge to alleadge him in places where hee disputes not against the Church wherein he is excellent and aboue all in the discourse of manners and an other to alleadge him in the places where hee combates with deliberate purpose against the doctrine of the Catholicke Church of his age as he doth in that from whence the words are taken which his maiestie produceth For behold the expresse termes of the passage When you shall see the impious heresie which is the armie of Antichrist sett in the holie places of the Church then let them which are in Iudea flie into the Mountaines that is to saie let them that are in the christian Societie haue recourse to the scriptures And a little after The Lord then knowinge that so great a confusion of things should arriue in the last daies for this cause commaunds that the Christians who are in the Christian Societie being willing to receaue the stedfastnes of the true faith should haue recourse to noe other thing but to the Scriptures otherwise if they cast their eyes elsewhere they shall be scandalized and perish not discerning which is the true Church Now that by this impious heresie and by this Armie of Antichrist he intends the Catholicke Church and the communion of them which beleeue the equalitie of the Father and the sonne he plainelie shewes when he saith in the same Homilie that the great spirituall euills which haue come vpon the Church haue happened in the time of Constantine and Theodosius and that the armie of Antichrist is the heresie and the abhomination of desolation which hath since them possest the holie places of the Church that is to saie the Basilickes that Theodosius coÌmaunded to be deliuered vp to the Catholickes And wheÌ he saith in the former Homilie that the heresie of the Homousians that is to saie of those that hold Christ to be consubstantiall which his Father Fights not only against the Church of Christ but euen against the other heresies which hold not the like And in the nineteneth Homilie when hee calls the worshippers the Trinitie Those that honor the triangular impietie Whereby it appeares that this passage if so farre from giuing fauour to his Maiesties intention as contrariwise it manifestes how dangerous a thing it is to seeke to reduce the markes of the Church to the onelie doctrine drawne from the scripture by the interpretation of euerie particular person since the Arrians in the point which of all others should be most expresse in the scriptures for the catholickes to witt in the point of the diuinitie of Christ for if there be anie thing cleree in a Testament it should be the qualitie of the testator refused all the other markes of the Church and all the other waies of disputation and burnt with desire to fight by the onely texts of the Scripture disarmed from the traditions of the Church Of the vnderstanding of these words of S. Augustine to seeke the Church in the words of Christ. CHAP. XVIII The continuance of the Kings answere AND to seeke according to the Councell that S AVGVSTINE heretofore gaue to the Deuatists the Church in the Words of Christ. THE REPLIE WHEN S. AVGVSTINE said in the booke of the vnitie of the Church there is a question betweene the Donatists and vs where the Church is what shall wee theÌ doe shall wee seeke her