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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A69164	Saint Austins religion VVherein is manifestly proued out of the vvorks of that learned Father, that he dissented from popery, and agreed with the religion of the Protestants in all the maine points of faith and doctrine. Contrary to that impudent, erronious, and slanderous position of the bragging papists of our times, who falsely affirme, we had no religion before the times of Luther and Caluine.	Cooke, Alexander, 1564-1632.	1624 (1624)	STC 6059; ESTC S120943	31,927	42

of the greatest Rufflers among them at this day is not ashamed to say Scripturā totam etiam vbi clarissima videtur ita esse difficilem obscuram vt Jnterprete certo egeat qui nobis veram eius sententiam aperiat The whole Scripture euen where it seemes most plain is yet so hard obscure that it stands in need of a speciall Expositor who may open vnto vs the meaning of it But we say though some places of Scripture be wonderfull obscure and standin need of Interpreters yet such matters as concerne Saluation are so plainly set downe that they may easily bee learned without any such set and speciall Expositor as Papists drea●e of Now that S. Austin is of our opinion in both these questions it is plaine by his owne words For speaking of the propagation of Originall sinne and of soules and being sore puzzled about the point at length he concludes thus Illud credo quod eti●m hinc 1. de hac re diuinorum eloquiorum clarissima esset authoritas si homo illud sine dispendio promissae salutis ignorare non posset I verily perswade my selfe there should haue beene plaine proofe hereof in holy Scripture if a man might not be ignorant thereof without danger of his saluation And Jn ijs quae aperte in Scriptura posita sunt inueniuntur illa omnia quae continent fidem moresque viuendi All things concerning faith and manners are plainly set downe in Scripture saith the same S. Austin vpon another occasion Which latter testimony is so pregnant that Costerus the Iesuite is driuen by the euidence of it and another such like testimony of S. Chrysostomes to deny there is any Controuersie between vs and them Sint ne omnia fidei vitae Christianae dogmata ad salutē necessaria in sacris literis perspicue conscripta Whether all the Doctrines which concerne faith and manners being necessary to Saluation are plainly set downe in Scripture for Illud affirmamus cum sanctis Chrysostom August We affirme so much with S. Chrysostome and S. Austin saith he 6 The Papists in some Countries absolutely forbid the People the reading of the Bible in their vulgat tongue though it be neuer so Catholikely translated In some they forbid onely such to read Bibles Catholikely translated who haue not expresse Licenses vnder the hands of the Ordinaries to read them In no place will they permit euery man indifferently to read the Scriptures in their Mothers Tongue as we do Now that S. Austin is of our opinion it is plaine so Eo mihi venerabilior sacrosancta fide dignior apparebat authoritas Scripturae quo omnibus ad legendum esset in promptu verbis aptissimis humilimo genere loquendi se cunctis praebens c. I reuerenced and held the Scriptures worthy of so much the more credit by how much the more I saw them readier for euery man to read and that they framed themselues to euery mans capacity by the plainnes of the words and the familia●nesse of the Stile saith S. Austin And Legite Scripturas ideo voluit Deus vt scriberentur vt nos conso●aremur Read ●aith hee speaking out of the Pulpit to his Auditors the Scriptures for it was Gods will they should be written that wee might receiue comfort by them saith the same man 6 The P pists think it a worthy question How Scripture may be knowne to be Scripture We vpon diuers good cōsiderations think it an idle question And so did S. Austin for Persuasisti mihi non audiendos esse si qui forte mihid●cerent vnde scis illos libros Scripturae vnius veri veracissimi dei spiritu esse humano genert ministratos Thou O God didst perswade mee they d serued not so much as hearing who did aske of me how knowest thou that the Bookes of holy Scripture were giuen vnto the Church by Gods appointment 7 Then Papists teach that the true Church may be known by Antiquity Vniuersality vnity c. but not by the Scriptures onely infallibly Wee say it may be knowne by the Scriptures onely And in this S. Austine is as cleare on our side as M. Caluin for Inter nos Donatistas quaestio est vbi sit Ecclesia vtrum apud nos an apud illos It is a question betweene the Donatists and vs saith he where the Church is whether they or wee haue it Quid ergo facturi sumus in verbis nostris eam quaesituri an ●t verbis Capit is sui domini nostri Iesu Christi Puto quod in illius potius verbis ●am quaerere debeamns qui veritas est optimenouit corpus suum What therefore shall we doe shall wee seeke for it in our owne words or in the words of her owne head our Lord Iesus Christ I thinke wee ought to seeke it rather in his word who is the truth and best knoweth his owne body And afterwards Vtrum ipsi Ecclesiam tene●it non nisi diuinarum Scripturarum libris ostendant If they bee the Church let them make proofe thereof out of the Canonicall Bookes of Scripture onely saith Saint Austin 8 The Papists teach That by working of Miracles the Church may be discerned But wee teach the contrary And so did Saint Austin For he profess●th that though many Miracles had beene done by man of his Religion though some of them had bene Miraculouslie healed and cured the bodies of some Martyrs lying hid for many yeares discouered to Saint Ambrose an old●man well knowne to all the Jnhabitants of Millan restored to his sight vpon touching of the Beere whereon those bodies were carried which is reckoned by Bellarmine as a speciall Miracle Though some had seene Visions some had beene rapt in spirit and heard that either they should not ioyne themselues with Donatus or that they should forsake Donatus yet he and his followes desired not in regard thereof to be beleeued they were the Church concluding Quaecunque talia in Catholica fiunt ideo sunt approbanda quia in Catholica fiunt non ideo ipsa manifestatur Catholica quia haec in ea fiunt Though all such Miracles are to be approued of because they are wrought in the Catholike Church yet the Church is not prooued Catholike because such Miracles are wrought in it 9 The Papists denie That all the Actions of I●fidels are sinne Yet we say they are sinnes And in this St. Austin is so apparently on our side that Papists are driuen to conf●sse it For Sine fide ●tiam quae videntur bona opera in peccata vertuntur The works which are done without Faith though they seeme good are turned into finne saith Saint Austin in one place And in another Virtutes quas sibi animus habere videtur per quas imperat corpori vitijs ad quodlibet adipiscendum vel tenendum nisi ad Deum retulerit etiam ipsae potius

SAINT AVSTINS RELIGION VVHEREIN IS MAnifestly proued out of the Works of that Learned Father that he dissented from Popery and agreed with the Religion of the Protestants in all the maine Points of Faith and Doctrine Contrary to that Impudent Erronious and Slanderous Position of the bragging Papists of our Times who falsely affirme we had no Religion before the Times of Luther and Caluine LONDON Printed by A. M. and are to be Sold in Saint Dunstons Church-yard 1624. To all seduced Papistes SVch is the grosse ignorance of most Papists in these their times that they neither know what they do or should beleeue much like the Colliar that told the deuil he beleeued as the Romane Church did Being asked againe what that faith was answered the same faith that hee beleeued in Surely the deuils gaue better testimony of their faith and knowledge and the Apostle witnesseth it and yet the Popish Prelates will haue their people learne no Creed but this which is to beleeue they know not what No maru●ll then that the Romish Impostors haue taken away the key of knowledge nay they iudge it a meere inuention of the Deuill that lay men should reade the Scripture and they say that some Ploughmen for reading of it were iustly possessed of the Deuill and therefore ignorance of the word is best And as Hosius saith To know nothing is to know all things and instead of Bibles they haue inuented Images and Crucifixes wherwith too many Dames in these conniuing dayes adorne their shamelesse breasts and Masse bookes commonly imprinted with a mixture of red letters to signifie the die of their Religion but as for the Scripture they are farre more dangerous then the ribaldry of Terence the villany of Machiauel or the fabulous lies of their Legends being the maine and principall cause of all heresies and the very beholding of them is enough to infect silly Catholickes therefore much lesse may they read them and if any be permitted to study the Scripture it must bee such a part thereof as hath bin hallowed with their Expurgatory glosse those persons must be such which the Confessor knowes to be stiffe and obstinate Papists vpon whom that iudgement is already fallen They shall heare with their eares but shall not vnderstand they shall see with their eyes but not perceiue And all this is not sufficient but they must haue the permission of the Inquisitor the parish Priest too this is the Canon of the Conuenticle of Trent commended by the Rhemists seconded by Molanus Bellarmine Hosius Sanders and others And now you poore seduced soules why do your holy Fathers constrain you to beleeue ye know not what and restraine you from the knowledge of Scripture whence your faith if it be sound must be truly collected and the ignorance wherof is the root of all error the cause of vnbeliefe is it not because they would haue your soules to depend on their lips vnder whose tongue is the poyson of asps is it not because they would carry their hellish positions practises as in a cloud out of your sight Is it not because they know that the splendor of Gods word wil soone disperse that Egyptian darknesse they keepe you in is it not because like Sathan they would take you at their pleasure But yet such is the impudency of your false prophets that notwithstanding they will tell you that they teach nothing without the speciall warrant of Scripture and that all the Fathers were Papistes and helde their opinions both which are their owne fictions and false For the first they will neither abide the triall of our faith by the Word of God which was the reason that Fisher in his last Conference neither could nor would deny that the Protestants professed the same faith which Christ and his Apostles taught nor yet of their owne religon and the reason is because it wholly depends vpon the Traditions of the new Romish Church which is confirmed by Gregorie the thirteenth where hee sayth Let men receiue with more reuerence what the Pope teacheth then the Scriptures And Canus confesseth that most poynts of the Romane Faith are not contained in the Scripture And Andradius speakes plainly that many poynts of their Faith must needes reele and totter if they were not supported by the helpe of Tradition and this is the cause your Masse-priestes will not endure that the Resolution of the now depending Controuersies betweene vs and them should be by the authoritie of the Scriptures but runne from them to the Fathers from them to the Church fromthence to the Pope from him to Councels and from these to their owne Iudgements Now for the second If the Fathers were Papistes as they say why doe their chiefe Doctors condemne and contemne them Bellarmine saith That Saint Origen was burnt in Hell with Arrius and Nestorius and that Tertullian was a Montanist Alphonsus that he will beleeue Anacletus better then Saint Ierome or Saint Augustine Tollet the Iesuite sayeth That hee will beleeue neither Augustine nor Ambrose nor Chrysostome nor Theodoret nor Photius the like ●steeme they haue of Cyprian Gregorie Beda and the rest i● in any poynt they make against them and their doctrine And no maruell for the Doctors of Paris professe boldly that they will not beleeue either Gratian or Aquinas or Lumbard or Anse●me or Hugo because they were erronious Bellarmine againe condemneth Scotus Durand Gabriel Ariminensis Capreolus and Marsi●ius in the poynt of Free will and yet all these were Popish Writers famous and most eminent in their times Nay which is more worthy obseruation though they teach that the Scriptures and Fathers must haue their authoritie from the Pope and that wee ought to stand rather to his iudgement then the iudgement of the whole world and that when Questions cannot be fitly decided by the Doctors then it is free for him to interpose his Authoritie that he is aboue Church and Councels and that hee may make that to bee the meaning of things which indeed is not as they affirme yet notwithstanding they will not submit themselues in opinion and iudgement to the Pope and therefore the Venetians boldly published Conclusions against Paulus Quintus and his Supremacie Catharinus holds it vnmeet that wise men should bind themselues to the iudgement of the Pope seeing hee is not alwayes assisted by the Spirit of God Almaine saith That it is not necessary to beleeue what the Pope determineth Bellarmine and Caietan hold it lawfull to resist him Franciscus Victoria that it were good a Councell would bridle him and Bozius saith he may be an Her●tike and both teach and write Heresies and many learned Papistes haue written against his Decrees in Councels These things being apparent and true if we may beleeue your owne Writers here

only cited what good acceptance can this Booke expect from you although it doe truely set forth vnto you the mind and iudgement of an holy and learned Father disagreeing from your opinions in sixtie two seuerall poynts If your Teachers will bee tryed neither by Scriptures nor Fathers nor Pope Saint Augustine will hardly preuaile yet because they boa●● to you that all the Fathers were Papistes and especially Saint Augustine ye shall doe well for your better satisfaction and the triall of their spirits to read this insuing Treatise most faithfully and painfully collected from his writings and for your ease digested into a few sheetes of paper To conclude search the Scriptures studie the Fathers and read the Antiquaries and see if in them yee can finde Rabbies comparable to your Clerkes or whether a●y Christian or Pagan e●er taught or did as they whether any of their Priestes like them did seeke to strangle the vitall spirits of humane societie teaching neighbours to rob one another of their goods debtors not to pay what they haue promised seruants to yeeld no subiection fidelity to their masters wiues no obedience to their husbands fathers no loue to their children children no honor to their parents and you Catholicks ●ot to preserue but to seeke the blood and life of your parents brethren kindred and countreymen Did yee euer heare or read of any Churchmen that haue imployed Poynadoes Poyson or Salt-peter as they haue done or can you find or they prooue that euer any Protestant Bishop like Pope Sixtus the fourth with his Legat did murder two Princes in the Church at Masse much like to Pilate that mingled the blood of the Galileans with their sacrifice did euer any of our Priestes mixe poyson with the powder of Adamant in a Communion Cup with the precious blood of Christ to poyson an Emperor as Bernard a Frier did when therewith hee destroyed Henry the 7. at Bonconuent Were there euer such Artizans and Engines of villany of our Religion that with a poisoned knife did stab a King as Clement a Fryer did Henry the third of France or with a spark of fire would haue blowne vp the whole body of a kingdome as Garnet the Arch-priest with his fellowes attempted not long since And yet these are your holy Fathers and Confessors whom you follow and adore take heed therefore what you learne of these let them not alienate your soules from God and your hearts from your countrey and assure your selues that so long as ye follow them ye shall neither get sound comfort nor a good conscience Oh thar ye were wise then would ye vnderstand this ye would consider your latter end St. AVGVSTINES Religion Wherein is prooued that hee dissented from Popery and agreed with the Religion of the Protestants in all the maine points of Faith and Doctrine IT is hottly Controuerted betweene vs and the Papists at this day Whether the Auncient Fathers and especially Saint Austin was of their Religion or of ours The Papists challenge all the ancient Fathers as theirs and especially Saint Austin Of him they bragg aboue measure Hee they say was a Monke a Professor and a stout Defender and a strong maintainer of their Popery vndoubtedly no Protestant The particulars of his doctrine they say touching the seuerall points this day in Controuersie were consonant and agreeable with their now professed Poperie All the Haeresies of this Age Vnius Augusti verbis confutari proteri vel maxime possunt may be confuted and confounded by proofes fetched onely from Saint Austins writings say the Papists Whereof to make some shew vnto the world as Torrensis a Iesuit in the yeare 1569. published in Latine a Collection out of Saint Austins workes of all such speeches as he thought made in any sort for them and against vs intiteling that his Collection by the name of Confessio Augustinian● So about two yeares since one Brereby Priest whether Secular or Iesuite I know not hath published in English such an other Collection out of the same Saint Austins Works intitling it Saint Austins Religion Now for the discouery of this their insolent bragging of Saint Austin I haue thought good to vndertake the proouing of this Assertion Viz. That Saint Austin was rather of our Religion then of the Papists for as much as in the most materiall points he is vndoubtedly for vs and against them That Saint Austin in the most materiall points of Doctrine is for vs and against the Papists the insuing instances proue manifestly For 1 FIrst It is questioned betweene vs and Papists How farre forth Fathers are to be followed And some of them say Scripta Sanctorum sunt ad vnguem obseruanda The writings of the Fathers are to be obserued to a nayles breadth Others Hodie iubentur omnia teneri vsque ad vltimum iota At this day we are bound to beleeue euery thing they say But wee say They are so farre forth to be beleeued as they agree with holy Scripture and no further Against which Assertion of ours they take great exception For This is to giue no more credit to their authoritie then to Iewes Turkes and Hereticks and so it is quite to reiect their authorities saith Kellison Yet St. Austin was of our opinion herein Saint Austin thought not good to follow the Fathers any further neither did he require that any man should follow him any further He as we tooke libertie and gaue libertie to iudge of the Fathers writings according to their agreement or disagreement with holy Scriptures That he tooke libertie to himselfe to iudge so it appeares by this That when he was pressed by Cresconius the Grammarian with a Testimony taken out of an Epistle of Saint Cyprians he answered thus Ego eius Epistolae authorita●e non teneor quia literas Cypriani non vt Canonicas habeo sed ●as ex Canonicis considero quod in ijs diuinarum Scripturarum authoritati congruit cum laude eius accipio quod autem non congruit cum pace eius respuo I am not bound to stand to be tryed by that Epistle because I do not account of Cyprians Epistles as of Canonicall Scriptures but examine thē by the Canonicall Scriptures and what I finde in them agreeable to the holy Scriptures I receiue it with his commendation what I finde to disagree from holy Scriptures with his good leaue I leaue it For hereby we are taught as Erasmus noted in the Margent ouer against these wordes Quomodo tam S. Cypriani dicta quam aliorum Doctorum accipienda sint How farre foorth wee are to esteeme of the speeches of Saint Cyprian and other of the Doctors Againe the same appeares by this that in the Controuersie betweene him and Saint Ierom Whether St. Paul Galat 2 14. reprooued Saint Peter colourably or in good earnest where Ierom alledged seuen Fathers against

thinke not so Neither did Saint Austin thinke so For Fieri nullo modo potest vt quis renascatur antequam nascatur It cannot bee possibly saith Austin that a man should be borne againe before he be borne which sentence doth so distaste the Iesuit Vasquez that he professeth Nulli Catholicorum ita licet opinari No Catholike may thinke so 40 The Papists teach that Exspeciali Dei priuilegio By an especiall priuiledge granted by God the Virgin Mary was freed from all sinne She had so much grace giuen her that shee neuer sinned so much as venially But we teach the contrary and so doubtless did Saint Austin For speaking of Christ Nullus est hominum praeter ipsum qui peccatum non fece● it grandioris aetatis accessu quia nullus est hominum praeter ipsum qui peccatum non habuerit infantilis aetatis exortu There was neuer any man but Christ saith Saint Austin who sinned not in his elder yeares because no man but Christ was free from sinne in his infancy And in another place discoursing vpon the words Iohn 2. 4. Woman what haue I to doe with thee he brings in our Sauiour saying vnto her thus Non competit tibi vt iubeas Deo competit autem vt subdita sis Deo It becomes thee not to command God it becomes thee to be subiect vnto God Which words argue that he reproued her and by consequence that she made some fault For Vbi nulla culpa est nec reprehensio aut increpatio locum habet Where no fault is committed no checke or reproofe should be vsed as Cardinall Tolet obserueth 41 The Papists teach That it is lawfull to represent God in the image of an old man And we teach the contrary and so did Saint Austin For speaking of their sacriledge who turned the glory of the incorruptible God into the similitude of a corruptible man Nefas est collocare tale simulachrum Deo It is a foule fault to expresse God in such an image saith Saint Austin 42 As the Papists allow of representing God in the image of an old man so they allow of the worshipping of such images For Caietan speaking of the images of God and of Christ c. Hac non solum pinguntur vt ostendantur sicut Cherubin olim in Templo sed vt adorentur vt frequens vsus Ecclesia testatur These images saith he are made not for shew as the Cherubins in the Temple in times past but to the end they may be worshipped as the vsuall practice of the Church sheweth But we teach the contrary and so did Saint Austin For Nulla imago Dei coli debet ●isi illa quae hoc est vt ipse No image of God may be worshipped saith he but that which is all one with himselfe meaning Christ Iesus Colos 1. 15. and Heb. 1. 3. 43 The Papists teach That the images of Saints may be worshipped euen with that worship which is due to the Saint himselfe dulia hyperdulia But we teach the contrary and so it seemes did Saint Austin For he speaking of superstitious and euill liued Christians who liued in the Church whom the Church disliked much and laboured to reclaim comprehends amany of them vnder picturarum adoratores worshippers of Images which toucheth the Papists so neere the quicke that Bellarmines best answer is Aug scripsisse eum librum in primordijs conuersionis suae ad fidem Catholicam c. Saint Austin writ that book alledged presently after his conuersion to Christianity at what time hee thought many customes to be idolatrous which vpon better information he held tolerable 44 The Papists teach That Images are lay-mens bookes And we teach they are not Now there is no question but Saint Austin was of our opinion For he speaking of some who imagined contrary to Scripture that Saint Paul was one of our Sauiour Christs best beloued Disciples in his life time because they had seene him and Saint Peter pictured with our Sauiour vpon some wals Sic omnino errare meruerunt qui Christum Apostolos eius non insanctis codicibus sed in pictis parietibus quaesierunt So they deserued to erre saith he who sought for Christ and his Apostles vpon painted wals and not in the Bible 45 The Papists teach That Africa had her Religion from Rome Which we beleeue not Because Saint Austin saith in expresse words Ab orientalibus Ecclesus Euangelium in Africam venit The Gospell came into Africa from the Greeke Church 46 The Papists teach Men may dine on a fasting-day but so doe not we nor S. Austin for he disputing about Saturday fast makes a plaine opposition betweene dyning and fasting giuing vs to vnderstand which is confessed by Bellarmine that he who dynes fasts not he who fasts dynes not 47 The Papists teach It is a sinne against the first Commandement to disswade or hinder any from entring Religion that is according to their language from being a Monke or a Nunne But we thinke not so neither did S. Austin thinke so for it is cenfessed by Claudius Espencaeus that in his 70 Epistle A Monachisms vote Bonifacium reuocauit He disswaded Earle Boniface from Monkery which questionlesse he would neuer haue done if he had been minded as the Papists That to disswade a man from Monkery had beene a sinne against the first Commandement 48 The Papists teach A man may liue chastly and yet play the fornicator for fornication preiudiceth not the popish vow of chastitie But we teach the contrary and so did S. Austin for Ad castitatem pertinet non fornicari non maechari nullo illicito concubitu maculari He that would liue chastly must neither play the Fornicator nor the adulterer nor defile himselfe by any vnlawfull copulation saith S. Austin 49 The Papists teach That neither Monkes nor Clergy-men may liue with their wines like maried men And iure quo nunc vtimur Religiosus professus dominij proprietatis capax non est By the law which now stands in force No Monke hath right or propriety in goods saith Azorius Yet wee teach the contrary And so did S. Austin for he finds fault with the hereticks called Apostolici eo quod in suam communionem non reciperent vtentes coniugibus res proprias possidentes quales habet Ecclesia Catholica Monachos Cleric●s plurimos for that they would not receiue into communion with them such as liued with their wiues like maryed men and had propriety in goods Whereas there were many Monkes and Clergy-men in the Catholicke Church who liued with their wiues like maried men and had propriety in goods To which Espencaeus knowes not what to say saue that in many other places S. Austin saith the contrary And seeing that vna aut altera hyrundo non facit ver One or two Swallowes make not Summer there