thereunto I will make it the conclusion of this whole Treatise Wherefore Brother sayth S. Cyprian if thou wilt dayly consider the Maiesty of God from whome the ordinance of Priests proceedeth If thou wilt beare respect vnto Christ who with his holy pleasure and continuall presence gouerneth both the Prelates themselues the Church with the Prelates If thou wilt esteeme of the innocency of Priests not according to the hatred of man but according to the iudgment of God If thou wilt begin at length to repent thy ◅merity and pride and insolency If thou be contented to make a full and perfect satisfaction to God and his Christ whome I serue and vnto whome with a pure and immaculate mouth I offer continuall sacrifice both in peace persecution vpon these tearmes we may be brought to haue peace and communion with thee Thus though I haue beene much longer then I thought yet at length as I take it I haue sufficiētly cōfuted not only the little booke you sent me the other great volume which it threatneth but also the Author himselfe For I haue proued out of his own mouth that in the whole course of his turning and flying from the Catholike Religion there was neither wisdome nor humility nor obedience but only extreme confidence pride and presumption in his owne wit idle suspitions and iniurious surmyses of fraud and falshood in his own Maisters great ambition with great signes of fearefull Apostasy from that Order whereunto he was vowed strife contention with his Suffragans hatred malice against the Pope who defended them extreme ignorance or extreme impudency in accusing the Catholiks of innumerable errours in affirming the Protestant Religion to be the doctrine of the Fathers opprobrious and most intemperate speaches against the Pope his Superiour and as himselfe calleth him his most blessed Father impious indifferency and neutrality in Religion admiration of himselfe and his booke hypocrisy vnder the cloke of Charity Turkish sicophancy and most vnchristian adulation indiscretion falshood and dishonesty in producing the authority of S. Cyprian so much against his own cause against the truth of the story against himselfe in that poynt against the common and knowne doctrine of S. Cyprian to the contrary And therfore to omit that in this maister-peece of worke which he made to gayne himselfe credit for the rest of his books that are to follow he proueth nothing but euery where beggeth the question sheweth to dissent from the Protestants themselues whom he taketh vpon him to defend all his former vertues which I haue brieflly rehearsed being put togeather I thinke will be sufficient to make any thing that shall come from his penne to be vehemently suspected or altogeather despysed hereafter And truly these good qualityes of his which I may call his prayses because he hath no better do so manifest themselues in all the passages of his booke to euery iudicious Reader that there was little need of me or of any other to haue beene his Brother And now that according as I affirmed in the beginning you may perceiue the entrance of this strange Bishop into England to haue beene no other then the comming of a foule spanell to fawne vpon you who can do no lesse then beray you I frame this Sillogisme The Diuell perswadeth or-induceth no man to forsake the false or to imbrace the true Religion But as hath been shewed it was no other then the spirit of the Diuell that induced the Bishop to forsake the Catholike and to imbrace the Protestant Religion Therfore neither the Catholike can be the false nor the Protestant the true Religion If I had meant nothing els but to discouer the spirit of this man three or foure of the first Sections might haue sufficed for the tryall thereof But because I was desirous by this occasion to lay open and approue vnto you some of the chiefest grounds of the Catholike Religion by which your selues might easily refute whatsoeuer the same author may herafter publish in prosecution of his purposes I went forward and as the matter of his booke requyred First I gaue you a full and euident proofe of the Popes Supremacy And secondly I made it appeare most manifestly that the auncient Fathers taught the same doctrine which the Catholikes now professe and that they vtterly condemned the Protestants and were likewise condemned by them And lastly I haue shewed that as the Protestants of their part can giue no fundamentall reason of their faith nor shew any ground thereof and therefore haue no fayth at all so on the other side I haue declared that the motiues of the Catholike and of the Christian Religion are both the same and be in themselues most reasonable and most forceable to any mans iudgment or vnderstanding that shall duely consider or reflect vpon them Which three poynts being so clerely and manifestly proued doe plainly conuince that out of the Catholike Roman Church there is no saluation Whereof in seuerall places I haue also declared the reasons at large vnto you because that without obedyence vnto the Church as I haue proued there can neither be true fayth nor true iustice without both which it is impossible that God should be pleased or the soule of man be saued Wherefore considering how ready and desirous you haue alwayes professed your selfe to imbrace the truth if euer you came to vnderstand with whom it remayned I will vse no other perswasion but only for a conclusion of my former discourse Iren. l. 4. cont haer cap. 25. I will referre you to the graue Counsell of the most auncient Iraeneus whose words being very worthy of most attentiue consideration are these that follow Where the gifts and graces of God are bestowed there we ought to learne the truth With whom that succession of the Church which is from the Apostles remayneth and that which is sound and irreprouable in conuersation and that which is vndefiled and incorruptible in doctrine doth still continue For these be they who both keep and preserue our fayth and expound the Scriptures vnto vs without danger And now because this answere to your friendly Letter is growne to the iust bignesse of a booke for your greater ease and for the benefit of others it wil be sent to the print And although by meanes thereof it may be very long before you receiue it yet I imagine that when it cōmeth it wil be somewhat the better welcome And because I am verily perswaded Almighty God hath so ordayned that the fall of this Bishop shal be the occasion of the rysing and conuersion of many I will hope in respect of those excellent parts wherewith I know you are indued that if you be not the first you will not be the last that must be cōuerted by this meanes And so with the remembrance of ourauncient loue which I beseech Almighty God to make eternall I rest Your friend and seruant in Christ Iesus C. A. sufficiently knowne vnto
Monsig r fate voi OR A DISCOVERY OF THE DALMATIAN APOSTATA M. ANTONIVS DE DOMINIS AND HIS BOOKES By C.A. to his friend P.R. Student of the Lawes in the Middle Temple Matth. 10 vers 8. Gratis accepistis gratis date Permissu Superiorum M.DC.XVII TO THE READER CHRISTIAN discreet Reader by example of this Apostata thou maist perceiue how easy a thing it is for any man of the meanest capacity to build many wind-mills and Castles in the ayre alone with himselfe and how impossible to discouer but one of thē to the iudgment of others without inconueniences For things not found in truth fall of themselues and often oppresse the builders but howsoeuer they cannot stand if they be duely oppugned I had compassion of this poore mans simplicity reading the Booke which he published for excuse of his flight fraught with so many disaduantages against himselfe which we should not haue knowne if he had byn so wise as to haue kept his owne counsaile They are so many as they would require a greater volume to handle them all at large but some of the chiefest thou shalt find examined in this Treatise And because we may expect the like workmanship from the same workman in the other ten Bookes which he promiseth if he be not holpen by others better maisters of Art then himselfe to ease the labour of further censure hereafter if he be so bold as to publish them I haue thought good to preoccupate the answere of whatsoeuer he hath allready written or his friends may say for him hereafter vnder his name vpon the same subiect And to giue thee at once aforehand sufficiēt principles of Catholike truth wherewith by thy selfe thou maist easily confute his errours without further help ouerthrow the phantasticall Tower of Babel which he hath imagined For the Leuell layed to a crooked worke without any more discouereth what is out of order as the Philosopher teacheth Quod rectum est index sui curui And with this forewarning I betake thee to our Sauiour This 10. of Nouember 1617. THE TABLE OF THE Sections SECTION I. The Bishop his first Reason turned against himselfe And from thence are deduced three arguments which do plainly proue that he was deluded by the Diuell pag. 7. SECTION II. The three former Arguments inforced by three other Circumstances pag. 17. SECTION III. The Bishop his second Negatiue Argument is discussed pag. 22. SECTION IIII. Of the Bishop his Affirmatiue proofes and in particuler of those things that disposed his mind to make mutation of Religion pag. 30. SECTION V. The Bishops Motiues to change his Religion are discussed and the arguments of the ten bookes he promised are all reduceth to one question alone of the Popes Supremacy pag. 43. SECTION VI. Concerning the Popes Supremacy The state of the question is proposed and S. Peters Supremacy is proued by Scripture pag. 52. SECTION VII The former Expositions of the two places aforesayd togeather with S. Peters Supremacy in dignity doctrine and gouerement are proued out of the testimonyes of the ancient Fathers pag. 58. SECTION VIII The conclusion of the first point of this Controuersy which is also further confirmed by the Confession of the Protestants themselues pag. 70. SECTION IX The continuance of S. Peters authority is proued by Scripture and by the Fathers and by the confession of many Protestants and therof is inferred the succession of the Pope to S. Peter pag. 74. SECTION X. The Supremacy of the Pope and his succession to S. Peter is proued by the titles of his supreme dignity in the ancient Fathers and by the foure first generall Councells pag. 78. SECTION XI The Popes Supremacy is proued out of the point of the infallibility of his doctrine by the Authorityes of the ancient Fathers pag. 87. SECTION XII The Popes Supremacy is proued by his being priuiledged from errour in doctrine of Fayth out of the Authorityes of the Popes themselues pag. 99. SECTION XIII The Popes supremacy in Iudiciall authority is proued out of the testimonyes of the Popes theselus p. 104 SECTION XIIII The Popes Supremacy is proued by the ancient and continuall practise thereof in the Catholicke Church pag. 107. SECTION XV. The Conclusion of this discourse of the Popes Supremacy pag. 115. SECTION XVI The absurd and pernicious grounds of the Bishops ten Bookes and his Christian Commonwealth are further discouered and confuted pag. 119. SECTION XVII The substance of the Bishops ten books being thus confuted the mayne paynt of this other Booke which he maketh the ground of his Conuersion That the doctrine of the Protestants differeth little or nothing from the doctrine of the ancient Fathers is disproued by sundry generall reasons and by the Fathers themselues condemning the Protestants opinions for no lesse then Heresies pag. 130. SECTION XVIII The dissent of the Protestāts from the Fathers is proued out of the Protestants themselues condemning the Fathers pag. 141. SECTION XIX That the Protestants dissent very much from the doctrine of the Church is proued out of the Protestāts themselues condemning one another pag. 145. SECTION XX. The conclusion of this Tract concerning the Bishops motiues by occasion wherof the nature of a Motiue is declared the first Catholike motiue of the holynes sanctity of Catholike doctrine is propounded p. 152. SECTION XXI The former motiue is confirmed and by occasion thereof the necessity of keeping the Commaundments to obtaine Saluation is declared pag. 164. SECTION XXII The force of the second Motiue signifyed by the word Catholike in the Creed of the Apostles is declared pag. 176. SECTION XXIII The force of the former Motiue is further declared out of the authorityes of S. Augustine and out of the effect of the contrary doctrine pag. 181. SECTION XXIIII Foure other particuler motiues of the Conuersion of Nations of the Miracles of the Martyrdoms and of the vnion of the members of the Catholike Church are briefly propounded pag. 194. SECTION XXV Of the authority of the Catholike Church in generall pag. 202. SECTION XXVI The same authority and the grounds of Christian Fayth are further declared pag. 217. SECTION XXVII Wherein two motiues that is to say Feare of danger and the Instigation of a certaine spirit which induced the Bishop to change the place of his aboad are propounded and examined pag. 232. SECTION XXVIII Wherein the Bishop his zeale and desire to try which is the last Motiue that induced him to forsake his Countrey is discussed pag. 240. SECTION XXIX The first obiection of the Bishop against himself is discussed Wherein he affirmeth That albeit the King ought to be feared and may not be reprehended yet the Pope is not to be feared pag. 247. SECTION XXX Of Schisme which is the last obiection of the Bishop against himselfe wherein he is proued to be not only a Schismatike but also a manifest Heretik p. 253. SECTION XXXI Wherein is shewed that the authority and example of S. Cyprian alleadged by the
Bishop against the Pope â—â—erthroweth the principall grounds of the Protestant Religion pag. 259. SECTION XXXII Wherin is declared how the Bishop in all aâ—ging the example of S. Cyprian and S. Stephen falsifieth the truth of the story against himselfe p. 264. SECTION XXXIII Wherein the Bishop is manifestly conuinced of Schisme out of the Authority and example of S. Cyprian alleadged by himselfe and the same authority for as much as it seemeth to concerne the Pope is sufficiently answered pag. 269. SECTION XXXIIII Many testimonyes plaine places are produced out of S. Cyprian whereby the Bishop is euidently conuinced both of Schisme Heresy p. 274. SECTION XXXV The conclusion of the Bishops booke togeather with a short Conclusion of the whole Treatise p. 277. THE DALMATIAN BISHOP DISCOVERED By C. A. to his Friend P. R. Student of the Lawes in the Middle Temple WORTHY SYR I haue receaued your Letter The Occasion of this Treatise togeather with a little Lattin Booke or rather a Preface to our fugitiue Bishop dated at Venice printed in London In my mynd you wil be able to make no other vse of him but only to shew him for a tyme vp and downe the streets and after that he may serue you for a stale to publish more Bookes in his name For giuing him his diet and some other small contentment you may do with him what you please In which respect I thinke he may be fitly surnamed Monsignor fate voi wherof euery one that hath been in Italy may be able to giue you the reason by recounting vnto you the Originall story of this application But if you suffer him to write himselfe or that the Booke he promiseth come forth as it came from him though it were as big as the horse of Troy coÌ„tayning in it an innumerable number of our errours besides the Confutation of them as he pretendeth and though it were longer a making Pag. 4.14.21 then the warre of Tray indured as himselfe confesseth yet in my opinion as he hath shamed himselfe already by leauing his Countrey so will he shame you also by his comming thither Which I am bold to say because in this his first peece which he hath exposed to your view like a greene Bush for the sale of his new wyne euery body may easily see the Diuell sitting And in those few degrees which he maketh of the course of his Conuersion he discouereth so many vices that it cannot be denyed the way he tooke could no more bring him to the knowledge of the truth then the fall of Lucifer could end in heauen Which to giue you some tast of the mans wyne and some knowledg of that which hereafter may be expected from him I will take the paines to shew vnto you out of his owne words and out of the seuerall passages of the booke you sent me which for this time I will suppose to be his owne without any addition or alteration by such a speciall priuiledge as now a dayes is not vsually giuen or permitted in that Kingdome His meaning therfore and scope therein is only to proue as he professeth that his sodayne flight from Venice which he calleth his Profection The argument of the Bishops booke and change of place in going for England was vndoubtedly the vocation of Almighty God intending by this discourse to preuent in time those stormes of false imputations as he saith that are like to come vpon him Not that he feareth any thing if yee will belieue him but least it might hinder the fruit of good edification in some and occasion some others to take scandall therat Wherfore he is now pleased to reueale the Secrets of his Counsells and writeth this booke to iustify the same and to make it so manifest vnto the world that God himselfe was the Authour of it as that no indifferent Reader shal be able to doubt therof and they that will presume to write against it being so fully answered before hand shal be wholy confounded by this Apology The old Prouerb saith it is good to expect the lame Post and the last newes are euer truest In the meane time the Bishop excusing himselfe before he be accused which is an ill signe setting that good face vpon the matter which you haue seene and knowing as he saith that we ought not to belieue euery spirit but that spirits must be tryed according to S. Iohn he putteth himselfe to the tryall of his spirit 1. Ioan. 4. and seemeth to proue his Vocation and Profection to haue proceeded from the Spirit of God First Negatiuely because it could not proceed from any other And secondly Affirmatiuely by some other reason His Negatiue proofes are two The first begineth in his probationibus pag. 4. and endeth with Curergo pag. 5. And briefly it is this in effect Continuing in this probation and triall of spirit full ten yeares togeather I neuer aduised nor spake with any mortall man about it nor euer read any Authour against the Roman doctrine whome I detested all that while supra modum aboue measure and therefore this change of mynd neuer came from man But on the other side during all this long space of time I gouerned my thoughts by those rules of spirit which the holy Ghost hath set downe in Scripture and by the Fathers Therfore I haue no cause to suspect it came from an euill spirit And therfore it came from the spirit of God I will not stand to shew the insufficiency of the consequence But I would haue you begin to obserue how contrary to that which he pretended he seemeth now altogeather to neglect his Reader who should haue been edified and as you will perceiue more plainely anone he laboureth as it were to satify himselfe And which is a strange thing seemeth to haue published a Book to persuade himself alone of the truth of the matter Marke therfore I beseech you how with this first argument of his consisting of 2. parts as he sets it downe he so concludeth as he leaueth his Reader altogeather a stranger to the truth of either For who knoweth but himselfe with whome he spake what he read and what rules he obserued And if the rest of his proofes be such as these surely in my opinion it had been better for him that men should haue trusted him still with their courteous construction of the cause of his comming rather then by meanes of this Booke first to bring the matter in question and afterwards for iustification therof to take vp in great all that he saith vpon the courtesy of his Readers credit and to set the truth of this whole booke vpon his score of Trust But especially in the latter part of his argument he was much to blame wherein he proueth that his change proceded from the spirit of God because he obserued those rules for the triall of spirit which the holy Ghost hath left in Scripture For if his proofe be not all one it is
and were preferred to Ecclesiasticall dignity could be allowed to read any such authours Thirdly he sayth that from the first yeare of his Clergy he had nourished in himselfe an inborne desire of the vnion of al Christian Churches inquyring what might be the cause of their Schisme which did excruciate and torment his mynd and doth still consume and wast him as you may perceiue by looking vpon him with such grief and sorrow as is wonderfull Fourthly telling you vnder hand pag. 11. That leauing the Society of Iesus where he had read Mathematickes Rethoricke Logicke and Philosophy preached often done them other domesticall seruice for the which they were very sory to leaue him he sayth Fiftly page 11. and 12. That being made a Bishop and falling to read bookes of printted Sermons Quadragesimalls and others for the exercise of his Episcopall function in preaching he found great abuse of Scripture in them apocriphall and ridiculous examples inuentions of Auarice and Ambition not without superstition wherewith the people were deluded Sixtly he sayth pag. 13. That in reading the Fathers he obserued that his maisters had taught him many thinges against them and that the Ecclesiasticall discipline of our tyme did differ very much from the auncient practise therof These considerations I haue called dispositions which somewhat prepared his mynd to make mutation of Religion because as he saith they made him to see as it were a farre off that matters went not well and because all this while he did not fully consent but made some kind of resistance vnto them Wherein before we passe any further not to confound you with too much matter togeather let vs consider whether that which he hath brought be of any moment to perswade his Reader that his new beleefe proceded from God And to begin with his vehement suspition which was the first seed from whence his vocation sprung wherein and in the other three assertions which follow I wil be content to do him that courtesy which he refused to shew vnto his Maisters and to suppose he cyteth the booke of his conscience aright though none but himselfe can looke into it it appeareth euidently thereby that this new seed of suspition was nothing els but the worst kind of cockle which our enemy and his the Father of Heresy is wont to sow vpon the good Corne of Christ For suspition is nothing els but an opinion of euill without any iust or sufficient ground as the Rhetoritians S. Thom. 2.2 q. 60. art 3.4 Philosophers and Deuines define it And therefore it alwayes importeth some fault and some iniury done to the party who is thereby wronged because vniustly suspected whereof I maruell how your learned Bishop could be ignorant Wherefore to suspect and concerue an ill opinion of so many as he did in a matter of such importance without any reason or sufficient cause was a sinne and that a great one especially in him who at that tyme thought himselfe bound in conscience to belieue entirely the whole doctrine of the Church of Rome For if to doubt of any article of Faith without inclyning to either side be an act of Heresy as all Deuines do affirme then much more to suspect which is to inclyne and to giue some consent to any motion contrary to the very ground of Faith must needs be Heresy But you will say the Bishop made resistance thereunto and therefore he did not sinne against his conscience To which I answere If when the thought therof came first to his mynd he did repell it that then in that case it neuer grew to be any suspition but if once it came to be suspition as he affirmeth it was then hauing cōceiued an opinion of so great euil vpon sleight occasion or rather no occasion at all it cannot be denyed but that he sinned in admitting the same though he might do well afterward in changing his mynd and in opposing himselfe against it And therefore this suspition being so great a sinne it could not be inspired into him from God Almighty So as it can no way be denyed but that this first motion arising in the Bishops mynd against the Catholike Religion was the bad seed sowne by the Diuell which sprung vp out of his owne Malice Pryde Leuity and Inconstancy from whence neither a good tree nor good fruite can be expected For as you know Paruus error in principio magnus in fine and if the light it selfe wherewith he began to worke be darkenes then the works themselues that proceded from it must needs be the workes of extreme darkenes Let vs now proceed to the increase of this his strong and vehement suspition as he tearmeth it occasioned as he saith by the strict prohibition of such books as are cōtrary to the Roman doctrine Which likewise we shall find that as it begun without reason so was it augmented vpon a very false and friuolous reason and as it sprung out of pryde and leuity so was it fed and nourished with pryde and curiosity And therefore the new strength or force which it receiued could not proceed from the spirit of God For supposing as all Catholikes do and as he then did that such kind of bookes are full fraught with the poyson of Heresy which is the most damnable vice of all other it standeth with great reason that they should in no case admit such dangerous warres amongst them for such bookes being once admitted they easily passe from maisters and learned men to the hands not only of Schollers but also of other simple people who not knowing what they are but feeding of all the bread that comes from the Baker and of all the dishes that are set before them insteed of wholesome meat should fall vpon poyson for whose soules their negligent pastors should answere to God at the day of Iudgment For I pray you if some vnquiet and ambitious spirit in other Countreys should make clayme to the Crowne of England and call in question the Kings title though neuer so cleere with vs do you thinke that the Pleas and Processe of such a man should be remitted to the reading of euery yong student or Counsellour at Law in the Ins of Court especially if this Claymer or Pretender had got some Lawyers to be of his side and had made a party which followed him and sought to set footing in England Much more is it necessary for those that haue the gouerment of soules to be iealous of their safty to be vigilant for the preseruation of peace amongst them But you will say vnto me why then are Catholike Latin writers permitted to be read by our ministers and others here in England to which I answere that the case is farre different For first England was neuer yet fully Protestant the Catholike number remayning still very great and therefore the state of England in this respect might do well to follow the example of the primitiue Church wherein after that the Christian Religion
lesse pouerty of meanes and matter in buylding without a foundation as much want of proofe to persuade in giuing you nothing but wordes insteed of other substance But you will reply whatsoeuer he sayth here he promiseth to proue and pursue hereafter in his Booke of Ecclesiasticall Common Wealth I pray you were it fit that when a souldier cometh into the feild to fight he should come without weapons and should thinke either to ouercome his aduersary or to satisfy the beholders of his prowesse by saying that he hath an excellent sword a making Were it not absurd that a Scholler comming to dispute of any Probleme should thinke to satisfy the arguments of his aduersary or to perswade his auditours that the truth were of his side by affirming that he would or that he had composed a great volume of that matter This booke being made by the Bishop to proue his spirit to disproue his aduersaryes and to approue his change of Religion to all those that should here thereof now was the tyme to vse his Weapons to shew his Wisedome and to bring forth his euidence And therefore if he sayle of his proofes it is an euident signe that he is altogeather destitute and vnprouided of them Neither is it true which he sayth That when his worke cometh forth whatsoeuer he hath heere affirmed shal be there proued For how will he proue that Rome hath coyned not a 100. or a 1000. new articles of Fayth in one day but as he sayth innumerable and that euery day How will he proue that the Church of Rome suppresseth the Councells Doth it not make them a rule of Fayth hath it not alwayes preserued them doth it not mayntayne and defend them from the calumniations and contradictions which the Heretikes of these dayes oppose against them How will he proue that we belieue the whole spirit of Christ to remayne in the Pope alone and that all which hath been sayd heretofore in the honour of the vniuersall Church must be applyed to the Court and Pallace of the Pope alone Do we belieue that to be Catholike one holy visible to haue conuerted Nations and Kingdomes which are some of the supernaturall prayses and excellencyes of the Catholike Church whereby she shyneth like the sunne in the Firmament aboue all other Congregations or assemblyes Do we belieue I say as an article of our Fayth that these things agree to the Pope and his Pallace alone That the Pope or his Court is extended ouer al the world That the Vnity Holynes Visibility and Miracles of the Church and of the Pastors and Saints thereof are only to be found in the Pope and his Pallace and that all other Catholike Nations and Kingdomes are excluded from the participation of these graces can this be proued thinke you And can it stand with the grauity and reuerent authority of a Bishop to affirme these things with promise to confirme them making them also the ground of his conuersion Could any ignorant shamelesse Minister whose learning were nothing els but lying Could any Zani or Counterfait that had been hyred to rayle against the Pope haue spoken more fondly more intemperatly or more absurdly The innumerable new articles whereof he speaketh and the whole doctrine of so many Churches impugned by the Church of Rome which he vndertaketh to defend can surely contayne no lesse then all the points in Controuersy betwene you and vs which are so farre from being decided in his Ecclesiasticall cōmon Wealth that for the greater part of them they cannot be so much as mentioned therin For as it appeareth by his owne description therof the 4. first bookes proue only in effect that all Bishops and their Churches by the Law of God are equall And that neither S. Peter nor the Pope nor the Roman Clergy should haue any Primacy or Papacy or Prehemynence aboue the rest In his 5. and 6. Booke he taketh away all kind of iurisdiction from the whole Church not only in temporall but also in Ecclesiasticall matters In his 7. booke he disputeth of the rule of Fayth In the rest that follow he speaketh of nothing els but only of the temporalityes and immunityes of the Church In the 8. he considereth the external gouernemēt of the Church by Lawes and Canons which if he affirme to be lawfull it is directly contrary to his 5. and 6. booke wherein he reiecteth all kind of Iurisdiction from the Church of Christ So that this great booke wherof he braggeth so much contayneth in effect but one Controuersy alone And he that should proue the Popes Primacy and Supreme Iurisdiction ouer the Church of God should ouerthrow the substance of this whole Volume For thereof it would follow directly that the gouernement of Christs church vpon earth is Monarchicall against his first and second booke that the gouernours of the Church are not equall in authority by the Law of God against his third booke That the Pope and Church of Rome hath preheminence ouer other Churches against his fourth booke That the Church of God hath Iurisdiction both Ecclesiasticall directly and temporall indirectly the latter being necessary for the maintaynance of the former against his 5. and 6. booke That the decree of the Pope as Head of the Church in a generall Councell is a sufficient rule of Fayth against his 7. booke The resolution also of the matters contayned in his 3. other bookes is of no great importance and may easily be deduced from the former conclusion Wherefore if he thinke to discharge himselfe of all other poynts in Controuesy by handling the titles of these bookes alone he shall behaue himselfe like a Banquerupt who insteed of the whole debt should scarce make payment of one in the hundred SECTION VI. Concerning the Popes Supremacy The state of the question is proposed and S. Peters Supremacy is proued by Scripture BVT now as oftentymes it falleth out that vnder the fayre shewes of Banquerupt Merchants vnder their goodly inscriptions of many rich commodityes and dissembling text letters vpon pots packs and boxes there is nothing to be found except perhaps some poore refused brockage that is not salable so to make it manifest that vnder these glorious titles of the ten Bookes which the Bishop promiseth there is nothing contayned but false wares and idle tryfles lapt vp in so many bundles of wast paper And to giue you withall some satisfaction in this one point of Controuersy of the Popes Supremacy the occasion being so fit the labour not great the way so well beaten by others I will briefly set you downe some of those euident proofes wherewith the Catholikes are wont to demonstrate the Popes Supremacy in spiritual matters Whereby also it will appeare how well the Bishop hath spent his 10. yeares in reading of the Fathers whether he haue more attended to his study or to his belly For the greater breuity and more perspicuity in handling this ample and copious matter I will reduce all that I
world God is one sayth S. Cyprian and Christ is one and the Church is but one and the Chayre therof but one founded vpon Peter by the voice of our Lord. Where he sheweth that as Christ is one with God so the Church being founded vpon S. Peter is one with Christ and according to the prayer of our Sauiour to his Father saying That they may be one as we are one And then followeth in S. Cyprian No other Altar or Priesthood can be established whosoeuer gathereth els where scattereth Lib. de past c. 13. To which purpose S. Augustine also hath these words For Peter himselfe to whome he commended his sheep as one man should do to another he our Sauiour made one with himselfe that so he might commend his sheep vnto him that is to say as to the other part of himselfe that as one was the head the other might beare the figure of the body to wit of the Church and that like the Brydegrome and the Bryde they might be two in one flesh Whereby he meaneth that S. Peter representing the whole Church as the head vnder Christ was made one with Christ the Supreme head thereof according to his owne words in other places saying That Peter the Apostle in respect of the Primacy of his Apostleship did beare the person of the Church by a figuratiue generality And againe Tract vlt. in Ioan. he is acknowledged to beare the person of the Church in respect of his Primacy and as holding the principality of the Apostleship More expresly In psal 108. Ser de verbis Dom. Ser. 2. de an assum S. Leo declareth this vnity saying For so he Peter was ordinated before the rest as while he is called a Rocke whil he is pronoūced to be the foundation while he is constituted the Porter of the kingdome of Heauen we might vnderstand by the misteryes of these appellations the society which he had with Christ. And yet more fully els where Serm. 3. de an assump As my Father manifested vnto thee my diuinity so also I make known vnto thee thy excellency for thou art Peter that is though I be the Rocke inuiolable the stone of the corner which maketh both to be one I the foundation besides which no man can lay another yet thou also art the Rock because by my vertue thou art made solide to the end that those thinges which by my power are proper to me by participation with thee might be made cōmon with thee and me By which wordes these holy Fathers labour to declare the vnspeakable vnity of Christ and his Church teaching how the head thereof in earth is made one by Gods diuine grace in name in place and dignity with the head in heauen For the further explicatiō wherof you shall vnderstād that the vnity which the Church possesseth by this means doth especially consist in 3. thinges the first is vnity of Iurisdiction or Iudiciall power which that it dependeth wholy of one head vpon earth and of the authority giuen to S. Peter is manifestly proued out of those places of the Fathers wherein he is acknowledged to haue the Primacy to be the head Pastour and gouernour of the vniuersall world which also shal be further cōfirmed when we come to speake of the Popes succession to S. Peter The second is vnity and consent in fayth for the mantainance whereof that solidity and strength was giuen to the fayth of Peter vpon which the Fathers according to the Scripture do aknowledg the Church of Christ to be built so strongly as that the gates of hell shall not preuayle against it And therfore S. Cyprian in his booke de vaitate Ecclesiae hauing declared that the Diuell to diminish the great mulutude of the beleeuers increasing so fast had denised Schismes and Heresyes wherby many were blinded and carryed away discouereth the cause therof in these words This is done sayth he beloued brethren because men haue not recourse to the origine of the truth neither seeking the head nor following the doctrine of their celestiall maister And then expounding himselfe he addeth Our Lord speaketh vnto Peter I say vnto thee Thou art Peter and vpon this Rocke c. And againe after his resurrection he sayd vnto him Feed my sheep In which words this glorious Martyr sheweth that according to the doctrine of Christ our maister for the finding out of the truth we must haue recourse to Peter the foundation of the Church and the Pastour therof And thereof he concludeth that albeit the Apostles were all equall in honour and power that is to say of Apostleship yet the Primacy was giuen to Peter that there might be one Church and one Chayre one flock fed by many Pastors with one mynd and consent The like words he also vseth in his epistle to Pope Cornelius where he sayth Lib. 1. ep 3. ad Cornel. For neither from any other cause do Heresyes come vp or Schismes do arise but only from this that obedience is not giuen to the Priest of God and that one Priest for the tyme or one Iudge for the tyme is not acknowlelged in the Church in the place of Christ. Whome if according to the diuine documents of their Maister the whole fraternity obeyed no man would or could moue any thing at all against the colledge of Priests that is to say collected vnited vnder one Priest one Iudge vpon earth in the place of Christ Epist 46. inter epist Cypriani And Pope Cornelius himselfe writing to S. Cyprian signifieth that some being repentant of their Schisme which ignorantly they had made against him confessed their errours in these words We know that Cornelius was elected by God almighty and by Christ our Lord to be the Bishop of the holy Catholike Church c. Our mind was alwayes in the Catholike Church For we are not ignorant that there is one God one Christ one holy Ghost and that in the Catholike Church there ought to be one Bishop so they which is the same in effect with the doctrine related out of S. Cyprian himselfe with which confession of theirs Cornelius sayth that he was much moued willed S. Cyprian to send his letters of the relation thereof to other Churches And to conclude this poynt the saying of S. Hierome is common in euery booke of Controuersy Among the twelue one was chosē that an head being established the occasion of schism might be taken away Thirdly therefore the vnity of the Church is increased and perfected by the vnity in power of Ecclesiasticall Order which as it dependeth of one alone to be rightly conferred so it is more then probable that our Sauiour ordayned it should descend from onealone Epist 1. so I vnderstand with Bellarmine those words of Anacletus that in the new Testament after Christ the Sacerdotall Order came from Peter by which he must meane not the order of Priests who were ordayned by our Sauiour himselfe in
tymes their own bloud their friends and nearest kynred to whome in vertue piety they were not comparable against whome no other cryme could be proued but the ancient religion of Christendome commonly either iustified or not condemned euen in the consciences of those that apprehended them prosecuted and executed the former lawes vpon them and if we might shew vnto them how by this means they haue crucifyed our Sauiour not once or twise but againe and againe for so many yeares togeather in his holy members I cannot but thinke that representing these things vnto them in vertue of that Word which deuideth betweene the soule the spirit the ioints and the marrow awaking in them the guilt of their owne consciences and the feare of Gods iugments we should inforce them to knock their breasts with the Iewes conuerted at the Sermon of S. Peter and to cry out vnto vs with teares of repentance Act. 2.17 Quid faciemus viri fratres men and brethren what shal we do SECTION XVI The absurd and pernicious grounds of the Bishops 10. Bookes and his Christian Commonwealth are further discouered and confuted AND now to returne to our Bishop I thinke by this tyme you perceiue that albeit this little booke of his be great bellyed like the Father yet his other ten bookes conceaued therin are but like so many bladders full of wind which if euer they come forth are like to shame not only himselfe but you also Not only because the former proofes of the Popes Supremacy are in themselues vnanswerable especially admitting as he doth the authority of the Councells Canons and Fathers of the Church but also in respect of that most absurd and most pernicious Position which he maketh the argument of his fifth booke and is indeed the very foundation of his Christian Commonwealth and the mayne ground of his Diuinity wherein he professeth to hold that there is no Iurisdiction in the Church of Christ Iurisdictionem omnem ab Ecclesia procul reijcio all Iurisdiction sayth he I cast far away from the Church that is to say all power and authority to commaund or to make spiritual lawes or to impose any punishment for the transgression of them A miserable deuise no lesse furious then dangerous and no more repugnant to the Popes Supremacy then directly contrary to the Councells Fathers and to the practise of the Primitiue Church in making lawes Canons and imposing censures vpon transgressours directly contrary as well to the institution of Christ in the authority which he gaue to S. Peter as you haue seene as also to the doctrine and proceeding of the Apostles themselues wherof no man that can read the Scriptures should be ignorant Let euery soule be subiect to the higher powers sayth S. Paul for there is no power Rom. 13.1 but of God c. Therefore he that resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist purchase to themselues damnation Rom. 13.5 And a little after Therefore be yee subiect of necessity not only for auoyding wrath but also for Conscience sake Out of which place we may argue thus The Church hath receiued power and authority from God and therefore they that resist the same resist and disobey the ordinance of God and purchast to themselues damnation That the Church hath receiued power and authority to gouerne from Almighty God is to too manifest for so all the Fathers expound the words of our Sauiour to S. Peter Whatsoeuer thou shalt bind c. and to the Apostles Matt. 16.19 Matt. 18.18 whatsoeuer you shall bind c. And that binding signifieth the imposing of some law or commaundment we find in the 23. Matt. 23.4 of S. Matthew They bind sayth our Sauiour burdens heauy and importable vpon the shoulders of men but they with their finger will not moue them and in the same manner the Fathers expound those other words Ioan. 21.11.16.17 feed my sheep of the gouernment of Christs sheep as you haue heard And our Sauiour signifying how much we are bound in conscience to obey our Prelates sayd vnto them Luc. 1◠16 He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me And againe as my Father sent me Ioā 20.21 so send I you and he that will not heare the Church let him be to thee as an heathen and Publican Act. 16.4 According whereunto it is sayd of S. Paul S. Timothy that passing through the Gittyes they deliuered vnto them to keep the precept of the Apostles and of the Elders 1. Thes 2.23 And to the Thessalonians he sayth You know what commaundments I haue giuen vnto you he that despiseth them despiseth not man but God that gaue his holy spirit vnto vs and if any do not obey our word note him by an epistle 1. Tim. 5. and do not accompany with him that he may be confounded So he writeth to Timothy not to receiue my accusation against a Priest vnder 2. or 3. witnesses And to the Corinthians the weapons of our warrefare sayth he are not carnall but mighty to God 1. Cor. 10.7 vnto the destruction of munitions destroying Councells and all loftynes extolling it selfe against the knowledge of God and bringing into captiuity all vnderstanding vnto the obedience of Christ Act. 15.20 and hauing in a readynesse to reuenge all disobedience c. And in the first Coūcell the Church of Hierusalem made this Decree It seemeth good to the holy Ghost and to vs not to impose any other burthen vpon you but only these necessary things to abstayne from meats offered to Idolls from strangled meats from bloud Can. Apost Can. 62. and fornication And the punishment of those that did eate bloud or strangled meat afterward was so great in the Primitiue Church as that Clarks were deposed and lay men were excommunicated for the same Neither is this most pestilent assertion of the Bishop contrary to Scripture alone and to the Fathers and Councells as hath been shewed but also to the practise and doctrine of the Church of England For I would aske this wild Bishop whether the authority the English Bishops in their spirituall Courts be from God or no If it be then according to S. Paul all men are bound to obey them in that which is iust vpon paine of damnation If it be not then it is no small vsurpation in them to take vpon them such authority whereof the Bishop should do well to admonish them as his friends before he go about to reforme the Catholike Bishops whome he supposeth to be his enemyes In conclusion the necessity of Iurisdiction is so euident in it selfe and the institution thereof so palpable in Scripture that the Puritans themselues who deny the same to Bishops are inforced notwithstanding to challenge so much to themselues as may suffice to excommunicate all those who are obstinatly disobedient in their Congregations And therefore I thinke there is
none but himselfe so drunke at this day with heresy in Christendome as to deny the lawfullnes of all Iurisdiction in the Church of God And as this position is most pernicious to all kind of Churches or spirituall Cōgregations whatsoeuer they be in taking away al obligation of obedience from them so also it is most dangerous to kingdomes and commonwealthes for such as in our tyme haue opposed themselues to the Iurisdiction of the Church haue likewise for the most part denyed their band of obedience to all temporall gouernement And their principall ground or reason is the same in both For no man say they that seeth not another mans conscience can bind the conscience of his brother And that all being made free by Baptisme ought to enioy the liberty of the Ghospell Whereof it followeth that neither sonnes nor seruants nor wyues nor subiects are bound to obay their Superiours for conscience sake but only and at the most either for feare or els for the auoyding of some publike scandall which doctrine if it were once receiued would in short space make Christians worse then Heathens And therefore I marueile how your English Bishops could let such doctrine passe being no lesse contrary to their authority then to the Popes Supremacy and no lesse perillous to themselues then to the gouernement of the whole kingdome vnles perhaps finding their case to be desperate they desire more to offend their enemy then to defend themselues would be cōtent their heresy should sinke so the Catholike Religion might be drowned with it But the Bishop being reputed to haue gotten some learning when he was yong and not being yet so old as to dote for age aboue all it is to be marueiled how he could suster himself to be so much deceiued by the Diuell as to ground his 10. yeares studyes the 10. books of his Christian commonwealth and in a word his whole religion and the saluation of his soule vpon an absurdity so grosse so fowle enormous dangerous to Church and Common-wealth as this is and the strangenes of his illusion is so much the greater because he was so blinded therewith that he saw not how manifestly he was inforced to contradict himselfe not only in other places of this his booke where he grāteth that Christian Princes haue power to do many thinges in the Church and challengeth vnto himselfe I know not what authority ouer Bishops in some cases which should make the Bishop of Canterbury to looke about him but also in the very title of his Booke which he calleth his Ecclesiasticall Cōmonwealth because it doth inuolue a manifest contradiction to this his strange position For vnles it be meerly a dreame and much more fantasticall then Platoes Idaea no man can imagine how any Cōmonwealth should be framed or est ablished without some Iurisdiction or power of gouernement giuen thereunto If he had contayned himselfe within any reasonable bounds and relyed his proofes vpon the Scripture alone interpreting the same according to his own sense how strang soeuer he might perhaps haue made some shift therewith for a while as his fellowes haue done before him But to pretend and contend as he doth that according to the Fathers Councells and Canons there is neither superiority of gouernment in the head nor power of Iurisdiction in the body of Christs Church is an euident signe that as he hath forsaken God so also God in his iustice hath not only forsaken him but also in great part hath taken his wits and reason from him For as S. Augustine sayth of the Prophesyes of the Church that they are more cleere in Scripture then the prophesyes of Christ himselfe because the tryall of all other Controuersyes dependeth vpon the knowledge of the Church so also for the same reason God Almighty in his prouidence hath so ordayned that the Iurisdiction of the Church and the authority of the head therof should be more expresly taught and aboundantly proued by the Doctours Pastours and ancient Fathers then any other point in Controuersy So that he might better haue gone about to proue and maintayne out of the Fathers Canons or Councells that the Sonne is not equall with the Father or the holy Ghost not equall to the Sonne or not proceeding from the Father and the Sonne or that our Blessed Lady ought not to be called the Mother of God or some other of those anciently condemned and rotten heresyes then to proue that there is no Iurisdiction in the Church nor any inequality of gouernment amongst the Pastours thereof And therefore as most impudently he denyeth the latter so it is much to be feared that he faltereth also in the former whereof he giueth many shrewd signes and apparant tokens in this little booke and much more is it likely he will bewray himself in the greater whē it cometh forth For being borne vpon the confines of Turky and Greece in which Countrey those ancient heresyes haue tirannized heeretofore and worse succeeded them in latter ages the suspitions wherewith as he professeth he was troubled when he was yong by all reason were more in fauour of the Easterne heresyes which he knew then of these of the West which he knew not And the bookes of the Arian Greciin heresyes being no lesse forbidden in Italy then the hereticall writers of these westerne parts whereby his suspitions were much more increased it is very probable that they swayed his mind more to that side then to this His maisters also do commonly dispute more against them then against these whome they are content to pretermit in these parts there being no vse of the knowledge of them And therefore by al likelihood his suspitions increased most in fauour of those opinions whereunto he was naturally most affected and wherewith he had more to do and which did more belong vnto him to know then the other did And besides all this that which he maketh his chiefe quarrell against the Pope is only the excommunication and condemnation of those opinions for heresyes which he sayth are not sufficiently condemned by the Church although it be manifest and he denyeth it not that they haue byn condemned by generall Councells And that inborne desire of peace Pag. 35. and vnity which he pretendeth of the East and West seemeth to consist in nothing els but only in permitting euery Bishop at the least to abound in his owne sense and to hold what he list as long as he doth not separate himselfe from the rest nor condemne their opinions And lastly to returne to the matter which we haue in hand by taking away all Iurisdiction from the Church of God he maketh voyd and repealeth the Anathema and excommunication of all former heretikes and by condemning the Fathers and Councells for condemning them without iudiciall authority he restoreth them all to their first pretended pleas and old forged titles And the renewing of these ancient censures condemnations of Heretikes by the Churche of Rome at this
you may know this man to be one of those of whom S. Paul speaketh who taking vpon them to be Doctours of the Law do not vnderstand neither what they speake nor of what they affirme Let vs suppose it were true that his eyes were opened as he saith and that he saw manifestly and clerely in the Fathers Canons and Councells those so many Churches whome Rome hath made her aduersaryes do differ little or nothing from the ancient and pare doctrine of the pure Church What other thing I pray you did he see with his eyes broad open so plainly but only this that he is alienated from the Church of God a deceiuer and a killer of the sheep of Christs a blasphemous defender of many horrible Heresyes a disposer to Arianisme and Turcisme insathanized and 〈…〉 c. according to the purity of the Lutheran Ghospell That he is amalepert wicked furious herecike and a slane of the Diuell in defenthing Luther according to the purity of Caluins doctrine That he putteth no difference betwene truth and falshould Christ and Antichrist God and the Diuell but it one of the Antichristian Swyntsh rabble according to the purity of the Puritants themselues And lastly that he is excommunicated and guilty of a wicked errour according to the purity of the Protestants for defending most impurely that all these Sects togeather do differ little or nothing from the purity of the Ghospell SECTION XX. The conclusion of this Tract cōcerning the Bishops motiues by occasion wherof the nature of a motiue is declared and the first Catholike motiue of the holynes and sanctity of Catholike doctrine is propounded AND this much concerning the Bishops Motiues and the formall Reasons of his conuersion which I haue shewed that being in themselues not only strang but also incredible he neither goeth about to proue in this place nor can possibly proue them in his other bookes hereafter because in them he doth not descend to those particuler points which are in Controuersy betwene vs as is manifest by the titles of his bookes themselues And this one Controuersy alone of the Popes Supremacy according to the doctrine of the ancient Church I which is the substance of all the bookes he promiseth is found as I haue shewed to he most extreme against him and that which he maketh the ground thereof hath been also discouered to be a most absurd and most pernicious position as much contrary to the authority of your Bishops and to the Puritan Eldership and to the title of his owne booke as to the Popes Supremacy and if all were true which he pretendeth to proue in his Common wealth it might shew perhaps the Catholike Religion to be false but yours to be the right it could not proue I haue also made it euident vnto you that the Bishops motiues as they are heere set downe in his little booke are as monstrous vntruths as can be deuised and albeit he may saue them from broad lyes perchance vnder the title of some rhetoricall figure whereof he hath been a Maister yet too much of one thing is good for nothing and he cannot deny but that it is a great disgrace euen to the Art of lying to vse this one figure of manifest vntruth so often By this also that hath beene sayd concerning this matter you will further perceiue the Bishop being a man so deeply learned and after ten yeares study hauing produced such reasons as these for the proofe of your Religion how hard or rather how impossible it is for any man whatsoeuer to giue any sound or good reason for it Wherin also by the way it wil be worthy your knowledge to consider that such reasons as may induce a man to be of any Religion are of two sorts For either they proue euery point of Religion in particuler to be true or els they open and declare the euidence of certaine generall principles which being once receiued draw after them the consent of the mind to all those thinges in speciall which are taught or practised in that Religion Vnto the first kind do belong all those books which treat of particuler Controuersyes as of the Masse of prayer for the dead of prayer to Saints Purgatory and the like which indeed to a man that hath but little will or little leasure to read is a wearisome course and tedious way to tryall Vnto the other doth belong those shorter discourses which some haue tearmed motiues and for the Catholike party may be seen in such as haue handled the notes of the Church in Canipian his ten Reasons in the booke of the Three Conuersions of England in Bristow and others Whereunto besides that they must be generall reasons as I haue shewed two things againe are necessary The one that the truth of them be more euident then the truth of other particulers which depend vpon them The other that they induce almen Heathens or Christiās of what belief soeuer they be to change opinion and to submit their iugdments to the obedience of that Religion for which they are produced This being seene if you please but to examine a little all those Protestants books which haue been published in this kind you shall not find any one argument in them which may be called a generall reason or an vniuersall motiue for the truth of your Religion but either they are no lesse obscure then the Religion it selfe as that the word of God is truly preached and the Sacraments rightly administred amongst you or most improbable as that the Protestants haue beene alwayes the most visible Congregation of all other Christian Churches or that your religion accordeth with the doctrine of the ancient Fathers as here the Bishop pretendeth or el they concerne some particuler point in Controuersy and commonly are not only most improbable as that the Masse is Idolatry that the Pope is Antichrist and the like but also most palbably false as that we hope to be saued without the merits of Christ that we worship stockes and stones that for nication is a veniall sinne such other iniuries of like nature as it pleaseth your vnlearned Ministers for want of knowledge or of better matter to lay vpon vs. Whereas on the other side euery Catholike whether learned or vnlearned wise or simple is able to giue you such a reason of his fayth as may be sufficient to moue any indifferent mind of what belief soeuer to like and imbrace it For Almighty God not inforcing man against his wil but drawing him according to his Nature and demaunding a reasonable obedience of him hath ordayned in the sweetnes of his prouidence that all Christians should make profession of some principall motiues of their fayth wherein many others are vertually conrayned saying in their Creed I beleeue the holy Church Catholike Not only to moue others therby but also more and more to confirme themselues in their beliefe For albeit matter of diuine fayth be infinitly aboue the knowledge of naturall reason which
is not able to comprehend it yet is it not coÌ„trary vnto reason but so agreable thereunto that it maketh vs euidently to see and confesse how much we are bound in conscience to imbrace it and to captiuate our vnderstanding vnto the obedience of it And therfore it is further to be considered that the ponderations and inducements which make men Catholiks are commonly the same with those that make men Christians In which respect as all Christians are bound to know them more or lesse according to their capacity so none can reâ—ect or coÌ„demne them without contempt of Christianity being of such importance therunto as that ChristiaÌ„ Religion caÌ„not stand without them Wherfore that you may the better conceiue what difference there is betweene shewes and substance truth errour light and darknes hauing examined the Bishops grounds published in fauour of your Religion I will heere propound and declare vnto you some generall motiues in the befalfe of our Catholike doctrine The first thing therfore that we will consider shal be the holynes and sanctity of the Catholike Church which laying a sound foundation of obedience and Humility in the harts of her children teaching them before all thinges to captiuate their vnderstanding and to subiect their will in matters concerning their soule to their spirituall Pastours goeth forward with them prescribing them other lessons first of Contrition which consisteth in the loue of God aboue all things that are to be beloued and in the hatred of their owne sinnes with sorrow for them aboue all things that are to be hated Secondly of confession calling themselues to a strict accompt for all their sinnes past in the bitternes of their soule remembring euery sinne in particuler accusing themselues intierly of them to their spirituall Father Thirdly of satisfaction in doing pennance for their offences against the Maiesty of God in making amends for iniuryes done to others and in restitution of other mens good name whom they may haue defamed or goods which they haue wrongfully taken or detayned By which meanes hauing reobtayned the fauour and loue and grace of God and thereby being inabled and strengthned to do his will and to keep his Commaundements they are afterward exercised in all kind of vertue And lastly such as wil be perfect the Catholike faith leadeth further on and giueth them yet a higher lesson teaching them to renouÌ„ce the riches the pleasures and the vayne glory of this world and to offer themselues vp a perfect Holocaust or Sacrifice to Almighty God by consecrating themselues wholy to his seruice in the state of Chastity voluntary Pouerty and perpetuall Obedience vnder the will of their Superiour From which heauenly doctrine deliuered vnto them by Christ himselfe haue proceded those excellent effects of Godly life which the Protestants themselues haue commended in them Centur. 7. cap. 7. colum 181. As the bestowing of almost the whole day inprayer their obedience to the Magistrate their amity and concord easily remitting iniuryes carefull to spend their tyme in honest vocation and labour curteous and liberall to the poore and to strangers and in their iudgments and contracts most true and faithfull Vpon the same foundations also haue been raised all those notable and famous workes of mercy which some Protestants otherwise no friends of ours haue obserued in our Countrey and propounded them to their Protestant brethren for example of Imitation their memorable buildings and ancient Monuments Churches Chappell 's and other Religious houses numbers of goodly Bridges Almes-houses Hospitalls and Spittles High wayes Pauements and Cawseys Famous Colledges Halls Vniuersityes Scholes and Free-scholes Thus M. Stubs who was such an enemy to Catholikes that rayling against them in very many places among other opprobrious speaches he tearmeth them Blasphemers and sacrilegious Papists From this doctrine also hath proceded the in finite number of those that forsake all they haue abandoning the world and entring into religion and many amongst them haue left their large possessions offices and dignityes Crownes and Septers to take vp their Crosse and follow Christ Hence hath proceded that austerity of life aboue the course of nature which the world admyreth in many of them and could not be otherwise supported but only by the vnspeakable consolations and infinite ioyes wherwith it pleaseth God to 〈◊〉 and require them for there extraordinary seruice And to omit their excellent bookes of piety and deuotion and perfect kynd of knowledge in all kynd of learning hence also procedeth that great zeale of the saluation of others forsaking their Countreys induring great labours and exposing themselues to all kind of imminent daungers in the conuersion of other Countreys though neuer so far remote neuer so cruell fierce on barbarous To conclude out of this Schoole haue proceded those infinit nuÌ„bers of Saints and Martyrs among whom we reckon aboue fourscore of the bloud Royall of England besides infinit numbers of our owne Nation And this age of ours hath not fayled to bring forth great plenty of the same fruites in our owne and in forrayne Countreys whose imminent vertues it hath pleased God to recoÌ„mend to the world with his Letters Pattents and broad Seale of supernaturall effects and the ostension of many myracles These vertues therefore of Humility Obedience Pennance Prayer Amity Liberality Iustice Chastity Pouerty Patience Holinshed last Edit part 1. pag. 100. Austerity vpon there owne bodyes Charity and Zeale in the conuersion of others were the arguments wherewith S. Augustine the Monke conuerred our an cestours and wherewith as the Apostles in the Primitiue Church so now the Iesuits and other Religious men of this tyme do ouercome the ignorance of the barbarous the fallacies of Hereticks the pollicyes pryde and ostentation of worldly wisedome in the conuersion of sundry Nations to the Faith of Christ For being sent by the ordinary meanes which God himselfe hath appoynted in his Church and out of obedience to their superiours to preach the Ghospel which in effect is nothing els but this good news that all men of what state or condition soeuer rich or poore whole or sick at liberty or in thraldome may easily attaine vnto perfect felicity hauing grace abound antly offered vnto them through the Fayth meries of Iesus Christ to become the sons of God in this life by louing him and keping his Commaundements and to enioy him in the next by seing him eternally as he is the absolute perfection of infinit vertue in himselfe and the indeficient fountay no of infynit goodnes to those that behold him all men that heare and see such Preachers may easily know them to be sent from God and as the Propher sayd of them to be the seed whome God hath blessed by the workes of God which they do and by that most diuine doctrine of theirs and most Angelicall perfection of life which they teach and practise And now to turne ouer the leafe and to consider the manners of the Protestants they on the
because our iudgment giueth consent thereunto not being moued by any inward experimentall light of our owne reason but only by giuing credit vnto others which as you see being as it were not only the other hand or Canonicall eye of reason but also the Schole-maister thereunto is of such necessity that neither the state of Church and Cōmon Wealth nor the life of man can stand without it Wherefore as in all questions and Controuersyes it is a generall rule and a receiued Maxime that the iudgment of all men or of the most or among the most of the best and wysest ought alwayes to be followed so especially it must needs haue place in the Schoole of Christ the Learning whereof being as it is not only one kind of belief and therefore wholy depending of authority but also such a practicall science as concerneth a matter of no lesse moment then our eternall felicity and endlesse misery And consequently if wisedome will that in sicknes we should follow the directions of all Phisitians or of the most and best learned reiecting such desperate medicynes as a few vnskilfull Empericks or Quacksaluers as they tearme them should propound vnto vs. Or as in matter of law or State busines of great consequence all reason commandeth vs to preferre the iudgment of the most auncient Sages and grauest Counsellours especially being many in number before the instigations of a few Pettyfoggers or yong ambitious heads that aspyre to be Politicks so in the case of the eternall damnation or saluation of our soules it stands vs more vpon most exactly to obserue the former principle as well in relying our selues vpon the doctrine and authority of the most the best and the wisest Deuines as in flying the new deuices of a few disorderly factious and infamous vpstarts that seeke to with draw vs from them First therefore that the truth of Catholike Religion is recommended vnto vs by the testimony of the most is euident in it selfe The Catholike Church possessing so many Countreyes not only in Europe but also in Asia Africa and America both East and West as the Protestants themselues auouch and there being no other Sect of Religion wherein so many do so constantly agree togeather not only the Pagans and Infidells as is notoriously knowne but also the Heretikes being infinitly deuyded among themselues as I haue shewed And that if you respect honesty vertue and good life the Catholikes are also the best is likewise confessed by their enemyes themselues as hath been declared and setting all other considerations apart there being so many Orders and great Religious bodyes among them following the Counsells of Christ in renouncing the riches the pleasures and the pryde and ambition of the world which are the only occasions of sinne submitting themselues to the direction of those who by long practise and tradition and prayer and their owne exact obedience haue learned how to commaund with sweetnes how to defend their Ghostly children from their spirituall enemyes and how to conduct them to the highest perfection of all Christian vertues in which course of spirituall life as S. Bernard sayth very notably he that will be his owne Maister shall haue a foole to his Scholler to conclude their whole life being spent in nothing els but in assisting the Sacrifice of the Church in hearing and reading the word of God in pryuate and publike prayer in mortification of their senses and naturall desires and in other deuout exercises of religious obedience of which sort alone there being many hundred thousands in the Catholike Church besides other innumerable secular people that imitate the liues of Religious persons it must needs be granted that in all human reason so great a number of the like deuout and holy people consecrated to the pure seruice of God cannot be found by the hundreth part in all the rest of the world that is not Catholike being put togeather And lastly that the Catholikes excell especially speaking of the Clergy the rest of the world in all kind of learning knowledge and wisedome both human and diuine may sufficiently appeare by the meanes they haue to attaine thereunto before others by the effects therof in their workes and writings For first as concerning the meanes and helps which God hath prouided for them to arriue to the perfection of knowledge as all the world in respect of Christendome is nothing els but barbarisme so amongst those that beare the name of Christians if any Countreyes excell the rest in quicknes of wit maturity of iudgment and capacity of great vnderstanding they are those that still remayne vntaynted and vntouched from the Schismes and Heresies of this present tyme. And besides this knowne aduantage of naturall tallents the manner and constant course of study amongst them is such as that to speake for examples sake of the Iesuites alone doubtles a meane vnderstanding may sooner attayne to be an excellent learned man by their education then an excellēt wit may come to any mediocrity by the slacke disorderly course of teaching which is held in England or in any other Countrey that is not Catholike Which Syr Francis Bacon in one of his bookes doth acknowledg in great part and your selfe will easily beleeue by their manner of study in Philosophy and Deuinity alone which heer I will briefly set downe vnto you First therefore all their Schollers in these sciences do write for an houre in the forenone and another houre after dinner two seuerall Lectures which their Maisters do dictate vnto them repeating their wordes so leasurely that they need not loose one word of their Maisters readings In this manner they continue in hearing their Philosophy 3. yeares togeather vnder one the same Maister The first yeare is appropriated to Logicke the second to Phisickes and the third to the Metaphisicks of Aristotle In which manner all the questions of moment profit as they depend of one another so likewise they are methodically orderly deliuered vnto them togeather with the explication of the Text and meaning of Aristotle where it importeth The Lecture being ended and they being deuyded into many classes vnder so many seuerall repetitors or moderators appointed to heare them they repeat for halfe an houre their precedent lessons and dispute vpon them one against the other in the Schoole before they departe their Maister being present And afterward they returne to make the like repetitions and disputations for an houre togeather more exactly then before at a certaine tyme prefixed euery day in their seuerall Colledges and Academyes and other places of priuate meetings which tyme being put togeather maketh 4. houres The rest of the day is imployed in study and prayer sauing that in the yeare of Phisickes they bestow halfe an houre euery day vpon Mathematickes and in the yeare of Metaphisickes vpon morall Philosophy which is read vnto them by other Maisters As euery day they dispute of the Lectures giuen them the dayes before so also euery
weeke they haue disputations of the matter giuen them in that weeke And euery moneth as the 3. Maisters of Logicke Phisicke and Metaphisicke can agree they meete togeather in the same Schoole withall their Schollers and dispute one against another in the matters of that moneth wherunto as being more publique other Maisters and Doctors are inuited And besides all this they haue other priuate exercises and helps of learning in their particuler Colledges At the end of the yeare such as haue studyed best are preferred to defend Conclusions publique of the whole yeare and they that haue heard their course of three years and are the most worthy of all their fellows defend conclusions of all Philosophy with great solemnity and concourse of people Which course of study breedeth such emulation among them and draweth them on with such delight of their owne profit that their Superiours haue more ado to keep them from studying too much then els where Maisters are wont to haue in keeping their schollers from doing nothing Their course of Diuinity lasteth foure years The manner of their Lectures disputations is almost the same with the former of the Philosophers sauing that they haue three seuerall Maisters who read euery day in seuerall matters and explicate the most difficult places of the Scripture and Fathers as their former Maister did expound Aristotle and other Philosophers And insteed of Mathematikes morall Philosophy they haue other Lectures of Tongues of the Text of Scripture Besides Philosophy and Diuinity for such as haue lesse tyme or lesse strength of mynd or body there are two other Lectures euery day of Positiue Diuinity which cōmonly is called Cases of Conscience a study as litle knowne to Protestants as there is little care or vse of Conscience amongst them Their course of Philosophy and Diuinity being thus ended such amongst the Iesuits themselues as are thought to be most fit for Schooles are permitted for two yeares to go ouer the whole body of their studyes agayne by their owne priuate industry conferring the same with the doctrine and opinions of other writers afterward they are appoynted and made Maisters to read Philosophy and with tyme Diuinity if their strength and talents do so deserue By this meanes you see that almost of necessity they must haue excellent Maisters and excellent schollers the one is a great help and a great encouragment to perfect the other Besides all this that hath beene sayd of their course of study it is of great moment to consider that all the Maisters and the greatest part of their schollers are Religious men or liue religiously in Seminaryes and Colledges where being freed frō all kind of worldly care and occasion of passion disorder or temptation hauing their set tymes for prayer and honest recreation and such as be Priests offering dayly sacrifice to Almighty God and such as are none confessing and communicating once a weeke at the least they enioy that quietnes of mind sweet peace of conscience which togeather with Gods benediction is most fit for science And thus they cōtinue not only for a while as elswher schollers are wont to do vntill they marry or get preferment but al their lines long without any secular distraction or deniation whatsoeuer And that which I haue sayd of the Iesuites may be also affirmed either wholy or in great part of many other secular Doctours and almost of all Religious Orders the Dominicans Franciscant Augustines Carmelits Benedictins Bernardines and the rest who for euery houre which your schollers or Ministers do commonly spend in study or prayer they that study pray least spend 2. at the least one with the other especially considering the constancy continuance of ours in these exercisus for all their liues and the great inconstancy and discontinuance of yours which is notorious And therfore if the grounds of all kind of learning being soundly layd constant prayer and good life and the study of Scripture be the fittest meanes to find out the truth of Religion and to obtaine true wisedome at the hands of God It cannot be denyed but that the possession and perfection therof must rather be found in the Catholike Clergy then among the Ministord of any other sect of Religion in the world Whereof our Catholike Deuynes in this present age haue also made euident demonstration by their workes and wrytings For whether you respact their erudition in the sacred Tongnes their explications of all arts and scyences and especially their readings vpon all questions of Diuinity their commentaryes vpon all the parts of Scripture their treatises as well of deuntion piety and perfection of Christian life with the meanes to attayne thereunto as also of prayer both vocall and mentall which is againe deuided into meditation and supernaturall contemplation of which later parts the Protestants haue neither the practise nor scarce vnderstand the meaning the number and the excellency of those bookes which the Catholikes haue published in this age of ours is so great and so emiment that no former ages of the world for aboundance and perfection of Scyence put togeather may be compared with it Wheras if you will reflect a little and iudge indifferently you shall scarce find three bookes published by the Protestants vnlesse you will except those of Poetry printed in vulgar languages and in respect of the matter are not worthy to be excepted which are not already contemned by the Protestants themselues and are therfore no way likely to remayne vnto posterity Thus we haue shewed the authority of the Catholike professours for the truth of their Religion whether you respect their number or wisedome or learning or perfection of life to be such as doth most euidently and notoriously exceed the testimony of any other Church or Congregation whatsoeuer Vnto which authority of the secular Clergy and Layty and of all the seuerall Orders and Religious bodyes of the Catholike Church at this tyme if you ioyne the authorityes of all the holy and ancient Fathers whose naturall tallents and supernaturall gifts of learning sanctity wisedome are aboue all comparison And if vnto these againe you ioyne the authorityes of so many general Councells as haue been receaued by the vniuersal Church wherein so many tymes all the learning and wisedome of the whole world haue met togeather And lastly vnto all this if you adde the testimonyes of all Christians for a 1000. yeares togeather as the Protestants themselues confesse and of all the former ages euen from the tyme of Christ as we haue proued by the Fathers of those times vtterly cōdemning the opinions of the Protestants and being mutually condemued by them they come to be so many worlds of witnesses as there hath been ages since the tyme of Christ and visibly make vp that great Mountayne of authority which filleth the world and which all those that will not ascend to know the truth must needs be crushed by it if they resist it and eternally perish
vnder it if they contemne it This is that great benefit which S. Augustine in his booke de vtilitate Credends acknowledgeth that the world in these latter tymes hath receiued of Almighty God who of his infinit goodnes hath prouided that the Catholike Faith being so austere to the eye of flesh and bloud so much aboue reason and so contrary as it is to our corrupted nature should be recommended vnto vs as it were by the generall consent and common beliefe of all people This saith S. Augustine the diuine prouydence hath brought to passe by the predictions of the Prophets by the humanity and doctrine of Christ by the trauells of the Apostles Aug. de vtil Cred. cap. 7. by the contumelyes crosses bloud and death of Martyrs by the laudable life of Saints and in all these things by such myracles as were fit for matters and vertues so great as these according as the oportunity of times required Wherefore seing the assistance of God to be so great and so great the fruite and benefit thereof shall we doubt to cast our selues into the lap of his Church Considering that now euen by the confession of mankind it selfe she hath receaued the prohemynence of all authority from the Apostolike seat by succession of Bishops the Heretikes in the meane tyme hauing barked about her all in vayne partly by the iudgment of the people themselues partly by the grauity of Councells and partly by the Maiesty of miracles hauing been all condemned To which Church not to grant the highest degree of authority is either extreme impiety or precipitate arrogancy For if our soules haue no certayne way to attayne true wisedome and saluation but where fayth beliefe prepareth and adorneth our reason what is it els to resist authority indued or est abbshed with so great labour but to be vngratefull to this help and assistance of Almighty God Thus far S. Augustine of the notable benefit that our faith hath receiued from the Common consent of so many Nations therein which he calleth the confession of mankind and of the wonderfull meanes which God hath vsed for the procurement of this vniuersall testimony vnto the truth thereof For albeit when the Apostles began first to preach all rules and principles of humayne wisedome were inforced to giue place vnto that diuine authority wherewith they were sent to their gifts of Tongues to the myracles they wrought to the power of that spirit which spake by them and to the splendour of those celestiall vertues which proceded from them yet since that time the sweetnes of Gods prouidence hath so ordayned that both these authorityes Humayne and Diuine the wisedome of God and the wisedome that naturally directeth worldly men should be ioyned togeather to the end that all mens wills might be drawne more easily gently and connaturally to imbrace the doctrine of Christ And that all vnderstandings great or small might either be conuinced or conuicted by it The voice of the most the testimony of those that are true and honest and the iudgment example and practise of the wisest being the best part of that light of nature which God hath lent vs for the direction of our liues his infinit goodnes and perfect iustice could neuer haue permitted this authority of the Catholike Church to haue grownâ— to this vnmeasurable greatnes nor could haue made it so inuincibly victorious against all those that haue opposed themselues vnto it confirming the same with so many Prophesies of Scripture and promises of his owne and not only with the ostension of miracles and heroycall constancy of innumerable Martyrs but also with the glory and splendour of so many other benedictions of excellent learning diuine wisedome admirable vnity piety and perfection of vertue as hath been shewed vnlesse it had been so ordayned by him for the recommendation and preseruation of that Truth which himselfe descended from heauen to teach the world and to dye the death of the Crosse for the eternall memory and fructification of it For if in any thing we should be deceiued by the power and greatnes of his authority we might well say it was no fault of ours but rather as S. Augustine affirmeth it were either extreme impiety or precipitate arrogancy Not to be so deceiued what need there any other reuelations or miracles as S. Augustine also obserueth in a case so cleere as this If so many Nations haue been conuerted to the obedience of this supernaturall faith and for so many ages haue been preserued in vnity therby without signes and miracles this it selfe is a most sufficient apparent and perpetuall miracle for the testimony of the truth thereof SECTION XXVI The same Authority and the grounds of Christian Fayth are further declared AS the obiect of reason doth farre exceed the knowledge of our senses so the truth of things supernaturall and diuine do no lesse surmount the light of reason And therfore the end of man and the meanes to attaine vnto it being both of them supernaturall diuine as it was necessary that God should reueale and deliuer the knowledge thereof to his Prophets and Apostles obliging all men to beleeue them so it was also expedient that there should be some certayne meanes ordained and established by Almighty God wherby we might infallibly know what it was that was so reuealed vnto them For otherwise if there be not such supernaturall and certaine help to attaine the knowledge of those Diuine Misteryes which do so much exceed the power and faculty of human vnderstanding to perswade our selues that we shall be able to arriue to any certaine knowledge of them by any human diligence or naturall endeauour alone were as wise a matter as for a man to go about to read in the darke or for him that hath no eyes to iudge of colours Nay it were much more ridiculous For such a kind of darke reading or blind iudgment might be practised or aduentured for some little wager or to make men pastyme but Christians that make their beliefe the rule of their life and death laying not only their fortunes but also their soules vpon it vnles they haue some Diuine help and infallible assistance of the spirit of God to know those things which they beleeue to haue beene reuealed to the Apostles and can no way be discerned by human reason they can neuer be excused from meer madnes and ridiculous folly Vpon what grounds the Catholiks beleeue the doctrine and preaching of the Apostles which is the Ghospell and the obiect of their fayth to haue beene reuealed from the mouth of God and that the Church is perpetually infallibly assisted by God himself in the preseruation of the foresayd doctrine from all stayne or touch of errours hath beene shewed already Almighty God hauing so magnified and fortifyed the authority of his Church as if the will of man be not too much peruerted it is impossible for his vnderstanding to resist it And therefore as S. Augustine sayd
notably Cont. epist Fundam That be would not beleeue the Ghospell except the authority of the Catholike Church did mooue him thereunto so also he sayth as plainly August epist 18. that it was most insolent pride to dispute against it And therefore the mind of man being insatiable of knowledge for which it was created and according to the Philosopher it being better to know a little of Diuine thinges then to haue great intelligence of other matters hence it followeth that to know so many celestiall Misteryes as the doctrine of Christ containeth in so short a tyme with such great ease and infallible certainty being groūded vpon so many conuincing arguments and apparent testimonyes of Diuine authority which doctrine being also that pretious stone that bringeth with it all good thinges and beginneth that happynes in this life which is perfected and rewarded with eternall felicity in the next This I say must needs be a wonderfull strong and excellent motiue to compell all those to enter into the Schoole and Church of Christ whose mynds haue any dominiō ouer their bodyes and are not wholy transported with the pride of life or altogeather drowned in worldly desires or brutish sensuality Whereas the Protestants on the other side professing to haue no other ground of Fayth but only the bare Scripture do shew therein that they haue neither sufficient ground to beleeue that God hath reuealed his secrets to the world nor any Diuino assistance to know and discerne what seerets they are that were so reuealed For first as concerning Scripture denying the authority of the Church as they do if S. Augustine for example should deny the Scripture which he sayth plainely that he would not beleeue vnlosse the authority of the Church did moue him thereunto how I pray you could they perswade S. Augustine by Scripture alone which he would flatly deny that any thing was euer reuealed by God or being reuealed that it was truely deliuered againe or that any part of those thinges which were reuealed was writen by the spirit of God and so recommended to posterity Secondly the Scripture it selfe making mention of many other bookes of Scripture that are not extant though one should graunt that some part of Gods word was written which the Protestants without cause beleeue how could they proue that any part therof remayneth For if some bookes are lost why may not all haue perished Thirdly the malice of the Iewes and the fraud of Heretikes being so great as they are and the diligence of Scribes in writing being no more but humane and the copyes of Scripture being very many and very different one from another and the Hebrew Text hauing beene written a long tyme without vowells and the adding or giuing of diuers vowells making diuers and contrary senses the vowells themselues being but little prickes set vnder the letters and the Characters being so strange and many of them so like one another as they are and therefore it being not only an easy matter to change them but also it seeming almost impossible that they should not haue beene mistaken among so many writers in so many seuerall Countreyes for so many yeares togeather all this considered though a man should graunt that some bookes of Scripture were not lost how I beseech you can the Protestants shew that any part thereof is free from errour and foule corruption especially granting as they do that many places of the Originalls are actually corrupted Fourthly supposing the originalls either to haue remayned perfect all this while or els to be restored by them to their perfection whereof they can haue no other ground but their owne wilfull imagination considering that all their interpreters haue translated with passion and preiudice in fauour of their owne opinions and in opposition to the Roman Church and to the auncient vulgar translation following therein See the Protestant Apol. p. 256. 257. 258. rather the exposition of the Iewish Rabbins the enemyes of Christ then of the ancient Fathers And likewise considering that as their translatours are all deuided among themselues euery one seeking his owne glory so also that they condemne one another of mangling dismembring forging and of corrupting the Scripture with what colourable reason can the Protestants belieue any of their Bibles or particuler versions to be the word of God not rather the word of Tyndall or Caluin or Luther or of some other translatour Fifthly giuing vnto them that some things haue been reuealed by God and were truly deliuered and truly written and that some of those writings haue been preserued by God and still remaine miraculously vncorrupted And that the Caluinists alone or the Protestants of England alone haue only the true version or translation therof the (a) Diony de Eccles hierar c. 1. Orig. in prin peria tract 23. in Mat. Tertul. in l. praescrip l. de corona Milit. Clemens in ep Iren. l. 3. cont haer c. 2. 3. Bafil l. de spiritu sāctoc 27 l. cont Eunom Epiphan haeres 61. Hier. l. cōt Lueif August ep 118.119.86 Cypr. l. de card Chrisoper c. de ablut peaū Theoph in 2. ad Thes 2. Chrysost orat 4. in eandem ep Theod. ibi auncient Fathers of the Church prouing not only by tradition but also by the writen-word it selfe that the word of God is partly written and partly vnwritten what infallible proofes can the Protestants bring out of Scripture that we ought to belieue nothing which is not expresly contayned in the Scripture Especially considering that contrary to their owne ground they pretend to belieue many things which indeed are true but no where expresly contayned in the Scripture as that the Scripture it selfe is the word of God that children may be baptized before they belieue That Baptisme in rose water or any liquour then naturall Elementary water or in the Name of Christ alone is not good and sufficient That the Baptisme of Turkes and Iewes and Heretikes is good in some cases That it is allwayes a sinne to rebaptize That God the Father hath no Father which among many others is one instance of S. Augustine against the Heretikes of his tyme acknowledging no other ground of their Fayth but only Scripture That the Sabaoth day which is Saturday ought not to be publickly obserued as holy which is against the Commaundement of the Law and that all Christians are obliged to obserue the Sunday whereof there is not commaundement to be found in the written word of the Ghospell That our Blessed Lady remayned and continued still a Virgin That Easter day ought to be kept vpon a Sunday That it is lawfull to eat bloud and strangled meats contrary to the words of the Decree of the Church in the Acts of Apostles and the like Many things also they belieue that are meerly fals and not only not contayned in the words of Scripture but also expresly contrary thereunto As that (a) Ephes 5.32 Matrimony is no
had done nothing amisse setting a brasen face vpoÌ„ the matter and telling before hand that he should be caluÌ„niated by his aduersaryes thinking by this deuice to make that his purgation and defence which he had cause to feare as the condemnation and punishment of his former wickednesse he dispatched himselfe from Venice in the shape of a Saint See his own booke pag. 10. 28. compareth himselfe to Abraham and to S. Paul and speaketh of his great zeale as if it had brought him into a consumption and of his Charity as if it put him in danger to burst with crying And this he doth with such coÌ„fidence of his owne worth with such authority as one may plainly see that he assureth himself not only to be able to deceiue you in the opinion of his honesty but to giue rules of beleef and a law of Religion like a new Prophet sent from God to all the world about you Wherein you may choose whether you will admire his strange impudency vnaccustomed boldnesse or the supposition he brought with him of your credulity and simplicity in beleeuing But the iudgment of God hath ouertaken him and that which he feared is come vpon him For not only he is become reprobate in sense but also the little wit and learning he had seemeth to be taken from him And as in his booke he discouereth himselfe to be nothing els but an arrogant Impostor and an irreligious sycophant so also this other Iuridicall testimony which is brought against him being aboue all exception and perchance more authenticall then was euer produced against any other Heretike doth set his abominations against his face in such manner as though it be of brasse it cannot defend him from extreme confusion according to that of the Psalmist God hath sayd vnto the sinner Psal 49.26 c. why doest thou declare my Iustice and takest my Testament into thy mouth thou hast hated discipline in forsaking thy Order and thou hast cast my words behind thee which thou hadst learned therein If thou sawest a theefe in Segnia thou didst run with him and thou didst put thy portion with adulterers liuing in all vncleanesse Thy mouth abounded with malice iustifying thy sinne and thy tongue contriued fraud betraying the innocent bloud Sitting thou didst speake against thy brother writing bookes against the Catholike Religion didst giue scandall to the senne of thy mother and the Children of the Church These things thou hast done and I haue held my peace Wherupon thou didst thinke o wicked man that I would become like vnto thee not punishing thee for thy offences but I will reproue or confound thee and bring forth thy sinnes to plead before thy face against thee Vnderstand these things you that forget God least suddainly he take you away and there be none to deliuer you To conclude considering that such as forsake our Church to come to yours wax coÌ„monly worse then they were before which as I haue noted your owne Authors haue obserued I doubt not but this mans life hereafter if it be looked into but a little especially when his new maske of strangnesse and grauity which he thought good to put on at his first comming among you with tyme and familiar custome shall be worne away will make him to be no more knowne then hated and no lesse contemned then abhorred In the meane â—â—me the infamous shipwrack wherinto he is fallen first of all Vertue which is the merchandize and secondly of Fayth which is the shippe of eternall life lastly of all good name and common honesty without the which this present life is farre worse then any temporall death hath made him a perpetuall and a most dreadfull example for all Religious men to take heed how they breake their first fayth and depart from their Order whereby this miserable man first entred into the way of perdition and for the whole Clergy to beware of ambition which was the morsell wherewith the Diuell entred into him for euery good Christian of the Catholike Church that they haue care aboue all things to keep a good conscience which he neglecting made shipwrack of his Fayth and was therfore giuen ouer by Almighty God into impenitency and hardnesse of hart to heape or store vp wrath to himselfe against the day of wrath and to increase the waight of his owne damnation against the tyme of the reuelation of Gods iust iudgement who shall render vnto euery man according to his workes And thus wishing him no more hurt then I do to your selfe whose good I specially intend by this discourse and making my humble prayer vnto God that once againe he may awake out of the infernall slumber in which he now lyeth and receiue new grace to follow the example of the poore Capuchin his Predecessor who notwithstanding his former Apostasy from vs to you is lately returned from you to the Catholike Church againe â— bid you as before most hartily farewell FINIS Faults escaped in the Printing Page Line Fault Correction 3. 30. in his In his 11. 28. permitting pretermitting 14. 22. one owne 54. 27. to easy to be easy 110. 3. any an 116. 8. infallable infallible 120. 19. purchast purchase 122. 6. the English of the English 126. 5. these those 137. 19. foward forward 149. 25. contemne condemne Ibid. 29. commounded commaunded 38. 30. immiâ—â—nt eminent 179. 12. mortally morally 195. 19. beleeue borrow 197. 10. mortall morall 212. 28. ages age 216. 17. his this 216. 20. arrogancy Not arrogancy not Ibid. 21. deceaued what deceaued What 226. 32. imminent eminent 266. 30. S. Stephen S. Cyprian In the margent pag. 69. the citation is misplaced