haue sought to diminish it for at last that losse must needs before God be glorious to me also Wherefore I doe first confesse and truly and sincerely out of my owne conscience doe giue testimony that I did not write the intent of my departing from the Romane Church and the Rockes and the Sermon out of sincerity of heart or out of a good conscience or faith not fained but that I might couer with some excuse my shamefull departure and be more gratefull and acceptable to hereticks to whom wretch that I was I ranne in hast and with whom I familiarly conuersed The ten yeares labour which in the booke of the intent of my departing I boasted of were not spent in mature deliberations graue and aduised Counsels or other discreete discussions of the truth but contrariwise mispent in vaine vnprofitable and malicious purposes and preparations how I might boldly vent and put in practise my hereticall lyes and inuentions thereby to satisfie my malitious anger insomuch as my vocation to doe it was not a Diuine vocation but a deuillish suggestion stirred vp in me not by the holy Ghost but by a wicked spirit a spirit of giddines worse then was that of Saules And I do not doubt to attribute my returne back againe to a true Diuine vocation the holy Ghost calling me to returne vnto my Mother the Catholicke Romane Church 4 I said that the manners of the Court of Rome did cause mee alwayes to abhorre it This I acknowledge to haue bin wickedly spoken for neither then nor yet is wanting in Rome very many notable examples of piety and all Christian vertues which may both delight and incite religious mindes to further deuotion I said that by forbidding the reading of bookes written against the Doctrine of Rome there arise some euill suspitions which gaue credit to the writing of hereticks and made men beleeue that there is some thing in them secretly which Catholicks are not able to answere This I confesse to haue beene iniuriously spoken of me against the Catholicke faith who found in the bookes of hereticks false hereticall scandalous and pestiferous Doctrine from the reading whereof the faithfull are to be kept least it infect their soules Neither is it a thing befitting priuate men to read such bookes but the iudgement in matters of such alwayes did and now doth belong vnto the Shepheards who finding venomous Pastures should remoue their sheepe as farre from them as they can Moreouer the arguments of hereticks are deceitfull Sophisticall and easie to be answered I said that the Doctrine of those who opposed themselues against the Romane Church did either nothing or little differ from the Doctrine of the auncient Church and this is false for the opinions wherein they differ from Catholicks are wholly differing from the Doctrine of the auncient Church and nothing can more connince them then the authority of the auncient Church from which they by their nouelties haue so farre departed that worthily for this respect they are condemned for hereticks by the Church of Rome It is therefore detestable and I detest that which I said that their Doctrines were therefore condemned onely by the Church of Rome because these things they said were repugnant vnto the sensuality and corrupt manners of the Court of Rome I said also that at Rome they coyned new articles of faith by maine force And this I said truly against my conscience for I neuer obserued it at any time and I certainely know that it cannot be obserued by any man For the declarations and explications made by holy Church touching articles and mysteries of faith collected out of Diuine Scriptures and traditions of the Fathers and out of the very rules of faith cannot any wayes be termed new coyning of articles Moreouer I endeauoured to take away the title of Catholicke and vntuersall from the Church of Rome in which I erred very much for by the Catholicke Romane Church is vnderstood not onely that speciall and perticular Church which is at Rome but also the whole multitude and company of all the Churches adhearing vnto the Church of Rome in the vnity of faith and in obedience to the Pope in what place soeuer they be yea in the vtmost confines of the earth And it is most true and was approued by me both by word of mouth as England it selfe may witnesse and by writing in my Treatises of the Ecclesiasticall Common-wealth in that part which I heare is lately set forth in Germany that no Church is Catholicke but the Romane and such as are vnited vnto her For all other congregations of Christians being stayned with heresies and deuided and seperated by Schisme from the Romane Church are and be excluded from the Catholicke vniuersall and true Church of Christ and being as it were blinded together with their blinde Guides doe rush and runne headlong into the bottomlesse pit of perdition which I wickedly affirmed of the Romanes to their great wrong For from the Church of Rome at all times a most glorious light of pure and incorrupted faith came forth and doth at this present lighten all other Churches of Christ whatsoeuer But I remember that in the preface of the bookes of the Christian Common-wealth among other things I vsed some words in which I seeme to put and place in the Catholicke Church all them who haue receiued Baptisme in the name of the Blessed Trinity and in so saying althought the words sound euill and make the hereticall Churches true and sound members of the true Catholicke Church which is most false and hereticall yet my meaning was vtterly to exclude the Arrian Nestorian and Eutichian heresies and all hereticall Churches condemned in former times and to retaine them onely that were Orthodoxall But herein I was deceiued in that I esteemed that there were many more Orthodoxall Churches then are for I erroniously beleeued that many Churches which are infected with the heresies of these later Times and deuided by Schisme did appertaine vnto the Catholicke Church which although it be called Catholicke for that it is vniuersall yet vniuersality doth not comprehend any but those that be Orthodoxall and true beleeuing and dilated ouer all the world and continuing in the Catholicke vnity with the Romane For the vniuersality of the Romane Church consisteth not onely in the perpetuall and neuer interrupted or to be interrupted continuance and firmenesse of faith but is also vniuersall because her Identicall or selfe same faith and soueraigne gouernement hath beene dilated and spread ouer all places and into Nations after the comming of Christ for which respect euen in these later times and ages it is to be called Catholicke no lesse then it was in the times of the auncient Fathers seeing that the faith of the Romane Church is dilated in these our times into the farthest and most vast or remote Regions of the East and West and euen to the vttermost confines of the earth So that her children trauelling too and fro from
the rising of the Sunne vnto the setting thereof professing the faith of Christ and offering cleane sacrifices doe especially at this time fulfill that which our Lord spake by the mouth of Malachie saying chap. 1. ver 11. From the rising of the Sunne vnto the goinng downe thereof great is my name amongst the Gentiles and in euery place it is sanctified and a pure oblation is offered vnto my name Neither was it a lesse iniury and slaunder when I said that I clearly saw innumerable nouelties errors in the Court of Rome which nouelties errors I doe neither see nor yet did euer see and I acknowledge and confesse that it was most false that at Rome there was then or now are any errours by which any destruction of soules may follow or the peace of the Church be disturbed or publique scandalls committed For in truth all the peace all the tranquility of the Catholique Church and the eternall saluation of Soules after God is to be attributed to the care and trauell of the Church of Rome I said that the mightier Bishops vnder the Pope were Bishops onely in name and this saying containeth in it both falshood and wrong and therefore I doe condemne it as euill spoken for they be true and lawfull Bishops made by lawfull ordination I said that the others who were not great men and Princes in temporall things had lost the proper dignity and power of Bishops and this truly is a slaunder for the Hierarchicall subordination was alwayes necessarie in the Church much more I condemne as an heresie those words where I said that vnder the Pope was no more a true Church for as I said and seriously affirmed before onely the Church of Rome with her adherents is the true Church of Christ and the others are not Churches And in fewe words to comprehend much I perceiued that in my former intention I chiefly indeauoured to weaken the supremacie of the Pope and in so doing I confesse that I haue spoken against the faith of the whole Catholique Church and haue erred greeuously For it is euident both by the very institution in the Gospell and by the Apostolicke tradition and the dcfinitions of holy Synods and generall Councels and very many decrees of the Pope and also the common testimony of the Fathers and Ecclesiasticall Histories that the Bishop of Rome was instituted chiefe head of the whole Church immediatly by Christ our Lord as a singular Oracle vnto whom both the East and West Churches in all doubts of Faith should haue recourse for instructions definitions and other sound doctrine in matters of Faith as vnto a Master giuen them from heauen who by his office should teach the Church And any one that is but meanly read may easily finde out very many examples where the Popes of Rome established remooued corrected taught condemned absolued deposed restored and reprehended according to ther office euen the Patriarchs and Prymats of the East And thus reprehended they humbly heard and simply obayed the Popes without resistance or repugnance And to be short it is manifest by the confession of the whole Church that all the spirit of Christ for so much as doth belong vnto the decision of matters of faith doth rest vpon one Supreame visible head of the Church which is onely the Pope and chiefe Bishop St. Peters successour 5 I doe ingenuously confesse that the booke which I called The Rockes of Christian shipwracke did much displease me presently after it was set forth for I wrote it in hast without either study or examining what I did The intent which I had in writing of it was onely to flatter allure the English by all meanes possible to conceiue a good opinion of me at my first comming and so I had no regard whither that I writ and printed were true or no But my desire was to say that which might please the Enemies of the Catholicke Church and especially the ignorant common people And when the doctrine contained in this little booke was by the King and some of the Nobility objected against me at my preparing to depart from England I did euen then in expresse words detest it and afterwards prepared my selfe with all my force to resist the greater part of the heresies which were in it All which heresies I doe now againe reject detest and abhorre and they are these That the Pope of Rome is not the Vicar of Christ vpon earth nor visible head of the whole visible Church of Christ That hee hath no power in temporall thinges That an implicit faith profiteth nothing but much hurteth the faithfull That the Excommunications of the Law are vaine threats That the precepts of the Church binde not vpon paine of mortall sinne That the vnity of the Church is not to be sought for from one onely visible head That the Pope is a deadly Enemy of vniuersall Church That the Masse is not a true sacrifice That the Ceremonies of the Masse are Apish toyes That there is no Transubstantiation That Auricular confession with absolution is not a true Sacrament That there is no Purgatory That Satisfaction after the fault forgiuen is not necessary for the remission of the punishment That there be no Indulgences but of things enjoyned for penance That Saints are not to be prayed vnto That the worship of Images and Reliques are not lawfull That there is no merrit of eternall life by workes These and the like errours and manifest heresies not so much mine or newly inuented by me as by the olde and new hereticks whose fancies and madnesse haue beene from time to time by the Church in generall Counsels condemned for they are miserable Rockes vnto which if any approach they are assured to suffer a lamentable shipwracke of faith and eternall saluation And therefore I departed from them as farre as I might and least I should be vtterly destroyed by them in England it was necessary for me to depart from thence and to returne to the Church of Rome the true port of Catholickes with the which Church I reject detest and accurse all the afore said errours and all others opinions whatsoeuer if there be any more in those bookes which doe not agree with the faith expressed in the Church of Rome and in the sacred Counsels especially in the Counsell of Trent and I doe constantly affirme and embrace the contrary verities viz. That the Pope is by the institution of Christ his Vicar vpon earth and the visible head of the whole militant Church which hath alwayes beene visible with full power receiued from God to rule and gouerne her That he hath also indirect power in temporall matters for the better aduancement of spiritual That an implicit faith is profitable and many times necessary viz. when the explicit faith of some articles is not required vnder penalty That the excommunications according to the Law or de facto pronounced are of force and ought to be feared as brought into the Church with great
THE SECOND MANIFESTO OF MARCVS ANTONIVS DE DOMINIS Archbishop of Spalatto wherein for his better satisfaction and the satisfaction of others he publikely repenteth and recanteth his former errors and setteth downe the cause of his leauing ENGLAND and all Protestant Countries to returne vnto the Catholicke Romane Church Written by himselfe in Latine and translated into English by M. G. K. LVKE 22. 26. Egressus foras fleuit amare LIEGE By Guilliaume Houius with permission of Superiours 1623. Marcus Antonius de Dominis Archbishop of Spalatto declareth the cause why he left England MOst excellently as he doth all other things hath the holy Ghost by the mouth of St. Paul numbred vp amongst the works of the flesh contentions emulations anger quarrels discentions and Gal. 5. 20. sects for I haue had too much triall in my selfe of the vnhappy fruit of this vnluckie tree And now hauing receiued a potion of Diuine grace for my recouery must vomit out that filthinesse which before through the sicknesse of my minde and corruption of my taste I had greedily deuoured which that I might the more safely and speedily performe and correct my selfe in publicke before all the world and condemne to the pit of hell my infinite errours sprung from the wicked intention of my first going into England I haue taken that good counsell first to leaue the Schoole of errours lyes and heresies and then of mine owne free will to returne to the holy Romane Church the one and onely piller and excellent ground of Catholicke truth and the Mother of all Catholickes from whom I had most wickedly departed First therefore I will prosecute this my correction condemnation and detestation of my errours and afterwards I will declare the other causes why I left England and all other hereticall Countries whatsoeuer and returned to the holy Catholick Romane Church 2 It is the most auncient disease of our corrupt humane nature descended from our first Father vnto all his posterity that when we fall into any errour or slide into any vice we doe either finde out filthy excuses as the woman which thou gauest me to be my fellow Deu 3. 2. companion gaue me of the tree and I did eate or else we defend our faults and endeuour to couer them with a counterfait cloake of Iustice and honesty and I confesse that this was my case for which I am very sorrie The disease of my minde in which before my departure from the Romane Church I languished was that contrary to the wholesome counsell of the wise man I trusted too much to mine owne prudence and Pro. 3. 5. out of the confidence of my owne wit being no body I would giue very rash iudgement in matters of faith vnto which also was ioyned a certaine frenzie of anger Not that which some weake Schollers at my going out of England imputed vnto me because I was denied vaine pretended dignities but it proceeded altogether out of mine owne vnreasonable impatience by taking in euill part to be made subiect to others of whom I did vndeseruedly complaine in my booke of the cause of my departing These things draue me vpon the quicke sands and shallowes these cast me vpon the Rockes these sharpened my wit to inuent pestiferous cogitations these made me vainely to pittie the errours of the Romane Church thereby to excuse my departure from it these made me to transcend all limits And that I might seeme to haue done well in leauing the Church of Rome and auoide by some meanes the brand of impudencie rashnesse and heresie in defence of my departure I set forth first an exposition of mine intent and afterwards certaine volumes and little bookes into which I thrust what the Art of counterfaiting and dissimulation had inuented and aduice of the flesh suggested And so as long as the inward disease increased and the spurres of anger pricked my exulcerated minde the itching of my tongue and pen brake forth into madnesse and now my vnderstanding being darkened many things which the Enemies of the Apostolicall sea transported with heresie did beleeue affirme and professe seemed vnto me credible and some-things also true as long as I did not try the Doctrine in controuersie by the touchstone of true Diuinity nor perfectly discusse them for at that time I had neither finished nor yet begun some of the parts of the Ecclesiasticall Common-wealth in which I had purposed to treat of the decrees and rules of faith howsoeuer in the booke of my intent of leauing the Romane Church I affirmed that I had them all ready for the Presse and being thus blinded and relying rashly more vpon the false accusations of the heretickes then vpon the truth of the Catholick faith I wrote the little bookes of the intent of my depaerture from the Romane Church and the Rockes of Christian shipwracke and a certaine Sermon stuffed with errours and heresie and out of my then conceiued hatred which for the most part I bare to the holy Romane Church the Apostolicall sea and the Pope I affirmed these things and many more to be true which before I writ them I knew to be false and hereticall and afterwards in some part corrected them and with my whole heart detested them euen when I writ them and now also I abhorre and detest these little bookes because they containe manifest heresies against Catholicke truthes and are repugnant to sound Doctrine that is to say to the Doctrine which the holy Catholicke Romane Church doth and hath alwayes maintained against which Doctrine whatsoeuer I haue spoken or written that I doe wholy condemne and detest and by the grace of God I will more amply and largely condemne and detest it in the confutation of my bookes of the Ecclesiasticall Common-wealth and of the other bookes which I haue written for I doe wholly submit my selfe and all my bookes to the most holy iudgement and censure of the holy Romane and Apostolicke sea the chiefe of all Churches whatsoeuer 3 In the meane space it is necessary in this my second and truly sound determination to detest that intention of my vnhappy departing from the Romane Church and the infamous Rockes shipwracks chiefly to my selfe and heretiques and not of Catholicks and also that Sermon Neither will I be ashamed by pulling off my garments which I had forged to my selfe to lay open my nakednesse because I haue not beene ashamed against all right and honesty to breake forth into vaine lyes manifest slaunders and silthy heresies The stinging and venome of the Scorpion is cured by the bruising of the same Scorpion which pricked and if the voluntary contrition and bruising of my selfe Diascor lib. cap. 44. may heale the venomous wounds of others if any be wounded by me I will esteeme this my bruising humiliation and mortification most happy Let the glory of the Catholicke Church and of the Apostolicall sea remaine vnmoueable although it be with the losse of whatsoeuer I haue in this life seeing I
reason and by lawfull authority that the Pope may excommunicate the faithfull wheresoeuer they are That the precepts of the Church binde vnder paine of mortall sinne That the vnity of the Church dependeth chiefely of one onely visible head of the same Church That the Pope is the true and lawfull Pastor of the whole Church and according vnto his obligation is zealous of the good of Christs flocke by daily thirsting after and most carefully procuring their eternall saluation That in the Masse is offered a true proper and propitiatory sacrifice vnto God That the ceremonies of the Masse instituted by the holy Fathers and Pastors of the Church by the inspiration of the holy Ghost are holy mysticall profitable and ought to be obserued and kept That in the Sacrament of the Alter there is transnbstantiation that is to say a conuersion of all the substance of bread into the body and of wine into the blood of our Lord Iesus Christ That in the sacramentall absolution which the Priest vseth in absoluting from sins is exercised the true and proper power of binding loosing sins which our Lord hath deliuered or giuen to the Ministers of his Sacraments in the Church That there is a Purgatory after that manner and sort which the holy Romane and Apostolicke Church doth affirme it to be That satisfaction is of great power after the fault remitted for the remission of the punishment also That the vse of Indulgences in the Catholicke Church vnto whom Christ hath giuen authority to bestowe them is very auncient very profitable and approued by the authority of holy Councels That we may not onely lawfully pray vnto Saints but also that it is a good and profitable thing to flye for helpe vnto their prayers and ayde That the worship of Images and Reliques is good lawfull and profitable and cannot be rejected without the blot of heresie That the merrit of eternall life dependeth vpon good workes Also I often times loathed and despised the later generall Councels which be of high authority in the Church especially the Councels of Florence and Trent and sometimes that of Constance And by my meanes it came to passe that a certaine History of the Councell of Trent was published whereof I could haue no certaine knowledge for that it was iustly suspected of forgerie and in these things also I confesse that I haue maliciously erred and now affirme that all the most wholsome decrees of these Councels are worthy of credit and ought to be embraced 6 In a certaine Sermon of mine on the first Sonday of Aduent made at London in the Italian tongue and printed I published almost the same errours which I repeated after in the booke of the Rockes all which I doe now deepely detest In that Sermon I faigned a certaine darke night of Popish errours and of the Church of Rome when in very deede in the onely Church of Rome and in the Churches connexed vnto her is a true and cleare Sunne-shining day and out of her especially in England there is a perpetuall night and most obscure darknesse The light of truth and the true and right vnderstanding of the Scriptures which is in the Church of Rome driueth farre from her the mistes of all these errours wherewith wretched England being ouer-clowded walketh as a blinde man groping for the wall at mid-day I said in the same Sermon and I repeated the same in the little booke of the Rockes that Peter was neuer at Rome yet notwithstanding I know that this is a grosse and an ignorantlye and therefore I doe ingenuously confesse that it ought to be rejected of all men I made the Apostles equall in founding and ruling the Church when yet euen out of the very Gospels and Apostolicall tradition the Supremacie of Peter aboue them is apparant I said that the Bishops succeeded the Apostles with equall power and that they were Bishops of the vniuersall Church in grosse when as they are but Pastors of perticular Churches in their sole particular cares or charges the generall Primacie belonging vnto him who succeeded Peter which is the Pope I said that holy water graynes crosses holy Images the Popes or Bishops benediction Stations habites girdles belts the visitations of Churches Altars Beades Processions and the like were meere toyes when yet it is certaine that the vse of almost all these things is well approued and very auncient in the Catholique Church and ought to be preserued together with the vse of other things of later times added as prouokements to piety aad deuotion I affirmed that there were onely two Sacraments Baptisme and the Supper when yet the Catholicke Church illuminated by the holy Ghost plainely teacheth and defineth that there are seuen true Sacraments All which and whatsoeuer other heresies condemned by the Catholicke Romane Church I also condemne and the things contrary to them being defined by the same I also with a firme faith beleeue holde and professe For most certaine it is that in the decrees of the holy Romane Church reason is not seperated from authority and that the Doctrine of the Schoolemen is altogether consonant vnto the sence of the holy Fathers especially in articles of faith I also confesse that I did vndeseruedly in these little Pamphlets complaine of the Court of Rome as if she had vsurped other mens rights for except she preserue by her lawfull authority ouer them the Bishops and Archbishops in their duties there would presently follow a generall violation of her lawes by them And the Church is then very happy when all her perticular Pastors vnder the most vigilant and highest Pastor doe readily receiue and execute both reformation in manners and the custody of sound and sincere Doctrine from him who hath the soueraigne authority And verily except the benigne and paternall care of the holy Inquisition had watched seriously ouer our Lords flocke the scabbed cattell should not receiue any cure but the filthy Canker would daily encrease The ordinary Armour of that Tribunall is found Doctrine and charitable instructions and not those instruments which out of a minde corrupted with malice in my Pamphlets I haue exagerated by lyes and slaunders and yet sometimes when rotten vlcers cannot be cured with gentle medicines it is both fit and necessary that the Physitians should vse more forceable remedies 7 But when the inward burning of the infirmities of my minde was alayed almost by a miracle about the beginning of the Popedome of the most holy Gregory the 15. whose rare piety singular prudence and continuall holinesse of life was such as that I doe not doubt but that it was cause of his aduancement to that high dignity the holy Ghost illuminating me with a certaine diuine light my minde began to thinke vpon wholsome courses And then the dangers into which I had cast my soule began also euery day more clearely to muster themselues in troupes before me and I did wonder how I had fallen into so great madnesse and errour as to
ioyne my selfe vnto them who were hereticks and absolute and manifest Schismaticks In olde time so great was the crast of a fewe Arians in the Councell of Arminium that by a cunning sleight they almost drew all the Catholicks to seeme Arians And then saith our St. Hierome against the Luciferians all the world lamented and wondred how it became infected with Aranisme But with griefe I speake it so it happened vnto me and much worse and I would wonder and mourne to see my selfe an heretick among hereticks and a Schismatick with Schismaticks But heerein let not the English complaine that I wrong them but rather let them plainely know that I haue done well and as I ought to doe in departing from them and returning vnto my mother the holy woman-Church And as for the laying open of their heresie and Schisme I am compelled to doe it for that it is not fit for mee to be poysoned any longer therewith 8 Concerning Religion there are in England sundry Sects There are Puritanes that is the rigid Caluinists There are some milder who call themselues onely Protestants and reformed There are Anabaptists who are also deuided into diuers Sects There wanteth not Arians nor Photinians and such a like mish-mash of wicked people who though they be not permitted to professe their errours publiquely yet are they not cast forth of their Church nor punished but tollerated whilest they publish their poyson Moreouer that the Anabaptists swarme with heresies none but the Annabaptist himselfe will denie it yet they haue their free meetings in England and the Kings Matestie one day tolde me that lately at London a woman did in an assembly of Anabaptists both make a publicke Sermon and also administer their supposed Sacraments The heresies of the Puritanes are well knowne which are these That there is no free will That God is the Author of sinne That God for his pleafure condemneth many without cause That Christ did not dye for all men That Christ did sustaine the paines of the damned That Infants dying after Baptisme may be damned c. The milder Protestants although they endeauour by all meanes to free themselues for as much as concerneth their opinions from heresie for that they seeme neither wholly to follow Luther nor Caluine but the pure Doctrine of the English Church which they call reformed yet can they not be free from the heresie both of the Puritanes and Anabaptists for that they communicate with them without scruple and if any Puritane or Anabaptist come to their Ecclesiasticall assemblies they neither auoyde nor exclude him And the Puritane Ministers who are almost all wholly infected with all heresies or at least with the heresies of Caluine doe administer the very Sacraments of this false English Church And if that Acatius of Constantinople because he communicated with Petrus Moggus an hereticke of Alexandria if all the East because it persisted in the communion of Acatius was seperated by a long enduring curse from the West how much more are all the English Protestants to be accounted hereticks for that they doe communicate continually with hereticks and doe neither condemne them nor seperate themselues from them but admit them euen when they communicate with them in diuine things Doth not the deformed English Church publickly and openly professe a communion and Ecclesiasticall league with Geneua the mother of the Puritanes and other outlandish Sects infected with Caluinian poyson In the Royall Citie of London by publicke leaue of the King are not the Churches of the French Dutch and Italian Caluinists open and esteemed most louing Sisters of the English Synagogue although they detest the English doctrine profession and rites and be the chiefest fauourers and promoters of Puritanisme in England And also the English Synagogue as much as in her lyeth is most ready to communicate with the Lutherans being polluted with the filthy dregges of many heresies and earnestly laboureth that these Monsters may growe vp together with her into one Hydra that there may be made an vnion of all the reformed Churches as they call them and yet haue no care nor take any paynes to purge their faith and doctrine and pull vp their heresies although the Lutherans hate the Sacramentaries worse then the dogge doth the Snake Of the other English heresies about Faith and Workes and Iustification about the blessed Sacrament and priuate Masses about Merits and inuocation of Saints the veneration of holy Images holy Ceremonies the soules of the departed and the like which these hereticks condemne in their hereticall spirit and which I also in their companies with the same spirit of heresie in former time haue in some part condemned it is not now my intent to speake much by and by I will giue them a touch according to the nature of this place at some other time I will speake more largely of them now I come to speake of their Schisme I haue no doubt at all but that the English Sect which the stayned English call the reformed Church is much more deuided and seperated from the true Catholicke Church then Brittany it selfe is deuided from the rest of the world They themselues will willingly confesse and it is a thing of it selfe most manifest that they are wholy deuided seperated from the Church of Rome and from all the Churches which are subiect vnto her and liue in community with her And seeing that the Romane Church with those which adheare vnto her is according to Catholicke faith truly and properly the Catholicke Church of Christ Doth it not then necessarily follow that the English congregation which they call a Church is altogether seperated from the true Catholicke Church and consequently neither to be the body of Christ nor the house of God nor absolutely a Church which thing as soone as I plainely vnderstood I could not stay any longer in it But they will say it appeareth now vnto thee so who yet in thy bookes of Ecclesiasticall Common-wealth hast called Rome Babylon who hast denied that there was any Church in Rome and also hast taught vs that it was properly a Schismaticall Church But that which thou fayest of our Church is not manifest vnto vs Wherefore I will endeauour that it may be also manifest vnto the English They know very well that I am not Pythagoras whose onely authority amongst his Schollers was accepted for proofe wherefore they should not haue beene moued at these things I spake seeing they were but have astertions and for this cause my words euen yet are vaine for when I bring forth the proofes and examples they are without force and ground The reason whereupon sgrounded my position of Rome to be Babtlon was because the Prophesie in the 18. of the Apocalips could not be interpreted of Rome before it receiued the Christian faith and whilst it was the habitation of the Gentiles But this reason is of no force for suppose that it were true yet it doth not follow that Rome being now Christian should
Saints themselues is giuen vnto them 20 Our aduersaries chiefly vrge two arguments against this our worshipping of holy Images which they thinke so strong as that they imagine we can by no meanes auoyde them and free our selues from the crime of Idolatry and by these they confirme their Schisme to be lawfull The one is the commandement of God forbidding Images to bee made The other that they who doe adore the true God in any externall signe which is a pure creature cannot be excused from extreame Idolatry for they say with Caluine that the Calfe was made by the children of Israell Exod. 32. 4. to represent the true God And in this poynt especially Raynolds the English man an earnest Puritane strengtheneth and foundeth his Treatise of the Idolatry of the Romane Church But I doe not doubt neither can the learned Aduersaries doubt that the most auncient holy Fathers and the Catholicke Church it selfe did know the commandements and the History of the Calfe and neuerthelesse without all difficulty or any scruple they vsed holy Images in euery place with worship and honour But this disputation becommeth not this little booke and I hope I shall haue oportunity hereafter to confute at large Raynolds booke of the Idolatry of the Church of Rome by the authority of which booke England doth now chiefly defend her Schisme In the meane space let me change a fewe words with them I desire them to remember the works of Salomon who indued with heauenly wisedome beautified the Temple which he built not onely with those Images and artificiall workes which God himselfe had commanded to be made such as were the Cherubims c. but also of his owne deuise added many Images and engrauen trees and beasts as brasen Bulles Palmes and Pomegranets and adorned also his throne with Lyons and Lyons whelpes of gold 3. Reg. 10. 19. 20 c. Therefore Salomon vnderstood and expounded vnto vs sufficiently that the precept of the Decalog forbidding grauen Images was neither perpetuall nor yet forbidden by the diuiue naturall law which prohibiteth the adoration of Latria towards Images but onely of the law of God positiue for a time and conditionall to be kept then and so long as there was present danger of committing Idolatry by hauing Images Now because there is no danger of committing Idolatry in Images by vs who are well instructed Therefore that prohibition of the Decalog which forbiddeth similitudes to be made hath no place amongst vs and for this cause the Iconomochi abollishing the vse of holy Images and breaking them and abusing them vnreuerendly were in all times accounted by the Catholick Church for pestilent wicked hereticks and reckoned amongst the Enemies of Christian religion 21 It is most certaine that the children of Israell committed Idolatry in the adoration of the Calfe but I will neuer graunt that the Calfe did onely represent vnto them the true God And it is most false and against the true sence of the holy Scripture to affirme that the Israelites did adore the true God in that Calfe They adored the golden Calfe it selfe and erring most wickedly they thought that it had the Diuinity of the true God And I doe not doubt but that I shall easily demonstrate this out of most plaine places of the holy Scripture in his time and place and then I will dissolue the subtill reasons of Caluin and Reynolds and shew that the true God may euen in corporall signes be adored with compleat Latria without all danger of committing Idolatry to the end that it may more manifestly appeare that the English are grosly deceiued while they dreame by the fopperies of Reynalds to triumph ouer the Catholick Romane Church as fallen into Idolatry and therefore iustly forsaken by them Seeing there is neither euill circumstance nor scandall in our vse of holy Images because we liue not amongst Idolaters and are or may be sufficiently instructed about their lawfull worship how farre it is different from true Latria therfore we may lawfully fall downe before an Image and so adore with true Latria the primatiue patterne if it be to be adored with true Latria As the children of Israell did when they adored God in the cloud at the dore of the Tabernacle and did not adore the cloud Exod. 33. 10. and when they adored him in the fire 2. Paralip 7. 3. and yet herein they did not commit any Idolatry though they adored God in corporall signes They therefore who condemne such like adoration as truly and properly Idolatricall are ignorant of all true and sollid Diuinity Therefore in vaine doe the Protestants cauill at this Idolatry to defend their Schisme and seperation from the Romane-Church and hereby first they pollute themselues with manifest heresie and remaine true Schismaticks for that herein there was no lawfull cause of seperation 22 They doe obiect vnto vs a most open Idolatry in adoring the B. Sacrament for that we adore it with true Latria and by this also our Aduersaries doe excuse themselues from Schismes But they are much deceiued for we are most certaine that the reall and corporall presence of the body and blood of our Lord Iesus Christ in the holy mysteries of the Eucharist is present we adore the very body of Christ which is to be adored with true Latria of it selfe by reason of the hypostaticall vnion lying hid vnder the formes of bread and wine but this question doth not belong vnto this place Wee suppose this reall and corporall presence which supposition is assured vnto vs by faith for that we take it from the Gospell Christ saying when hee held the Bread in his hands This is my body according to the promise he had made saying Ioan. 6. 51. The bread which I will giue is my flesh Wherefore our aduersaries cannot so much as imagine that we in this adoration are guilty of Idolatry and therefore they cannot aleage it in any excuse of their schisme But they are not only truly and properly Schismaticks but also hereticks and therefore I was bound of necessitie to forsake them vnlesse I would haue consented vnto their errours 23 They impute vnto vs secret Idolatry for that we place a spirituall confidence in salt water oyle and the like after exorcismes and benedictions But these things they heape together to the intent that they may disgrace and defame vs and excuse their schisme by what meanes soeuer for they know well that we doe not put any certaine confidence in these things as if we thought that these creatures receiued any certaine and infallible force or power by our exorcismes and benedictions and we doe not call these things Sacraments but holy things which we vse for the increase of our deuotion and put all our confidence in God alone who hearing the prayers of his Church doth distribute his gifts by these creatures through the vertue of the same prayers and benedictions of his Church And the greatest part of these and such like rites we haue receiued
excused because they haue seperated themselues vniustly and without cause from the true Church of Christ which is our Catholicke Romane Church And this thing terrisieth me for Schismaticks exclude themselues from being the sonnes of God as Cyprian affirmeth saying They haue not God Ioh. 11. 52. Deâ—â—â— â—◠〈◊〉 to their Father who will not haue the true Church for their mother Christ died to gather into one the sonnes of God which were dispersed Therefore the death of Christ did not onely worke and doth worke the redemption of men but also the vnion of the Church Before the death of Christ the children of God were deuided and scattered some vnder the law of Moyses others vnder the law of nature all were deuided one from another into seuerall congregations But now since the comming of Christ the diuine wisedome would that all his faithfull beleeuer and true children by faith should make one onely societie throughout the whole world vnder their Captaine and Emperour Iesus Christ and serue him in his warres vnder the standard of the holy Crosse with the same colours and Ensignes of the Sacraments And this society and vnity is a notable effect of the death of Christ which death hath brought to passe that disagreeing Sects innumerable formes of Rites and Religions amongst themselues opposite should ioyne together into a Christian vnity by him Who is our peace and hath made both one and this by the Ephe. 2. 14. Lib. 3. Hexem Crosse whereupon Anastasius of Mount Sinay saith that these words Let waters be gathered into one place are to be vnderstood of the Church assembled together of diuers people and Nations and Sects vnder the vnity of faith For which cause Christ also said of his Crosse If I be exalted from the earth I will draw all Ioh. 12. 32. things vnto my selfe Athanasius in his Treatise of the Incarnation of the word of God sayeth Our Lord exalted in the Crosse stretcheth forth both his armes to invite vnto himselfe onely both the Nations of the Iewes and Gentiles that by embracing them he might gather them both into his bosome but there is but one onely bosome betweene the armes of our Sauiour 29 And Athanasius in the same place thinketh that it is not without mysterie that Christ did choose the death of the Crosse and not the cutting off his head by which his precursor St. Iohn Baptist lost his life nor the deuiding of his body into parts which I saie suffered that in his death he might without dismembring keepe his body whole and intire and take away all excuses from Schismaticks who desire to deuide the Church into parts And Christ our Lord was so pleased with this vnity that with a most seruent prayer in the very last night of his life he required of his Father that he would not suffer his Disciples and the other beleeuers to depart from this vnity and said twice that the cause why he Ioan. 17. 11. 20. 21. prayed for the preseruation of this vnity was That the world may beleeue that thou hast sent me But our Aduersaries nothing considering these things as much as lyeth in them would haue the death and crosse of Christ to be without this most excellent fruit of vnity and by deuisions and schismes giue vnto the Iewes and Pagans occasion to speake ill of and to blaspheme Christ by saying that he was not the sonne of God nor sent by God seeing the vnion which he ordained did not continue but now and then was broken into parts The Church of Christ is one house and one family he who shall withdraw himselfe from this family or goeth out of this house doth not appertaine vnto the family of Christ but is excluded from saluation euen as they who were without the Arke perished in the flood Gen. 8 The Protestants haue cut off themselues from the body of Christ which is the sole Catholicke Romane Church with her inseperable adherents Therefore there be not members of Christ nor is Christ their head neither are they partakers of his holy spirit or gifts They are rotten members and already cut off for that they haue by their owne free will impiously cut off themselues from the body They are branches cut off from the Vine good for nothing but for the fire Neither can he saith St. Augustine be partaker of Diuine charity who is an enemie of vnity 30 By Schisme they haue inenrred the losse of all spirituall goods if they thinke they possesse any If I speake saith St. Paul with the tongues of men and Angels 1 Cor. 13. 1. and haue not charity I am nothing it doth profit me nothing c. According to these words of St. Paul St. Augustine saith that Schismatickes doe not profit 〈◊〉 1. de Bapt. â—◠〈◊〉 4. 〈◊〉 2. by doing good workes Cyprian affirmeth the same many times saying Although a man be slaine for the name of Christ after he is out of his Church and deuided from vnity and charity he cannot be crowned in his death and repeateth the same lib. 1. epist 1. and vnto Iubaâ—â—num and in his bookes de Simplicitate Praelethrum or de vnitate Ecclesiae and de oratione dommica Chrisostom in epist ad Ephes hom 11. followeth him and saith the same 31 I wish they would consider what a horrible sin they haue committed by making this damnable seperation For that Schisme is the destruction of holy Church according to the words of Christ saying Euery Kingdome euided against it selfe be made desolate Luk. 11. 17. Galat. 5. 15. And S. Paul saith Take heed how you bite one another least you be consumed one with another and St. Lib. depoenit â—â— 4. Ambrose proueth that this wickednesse of destroying the Church may be that sinne against the holy Ghost which Christ said is not remitted neither in this Mat. 12. 31. 3 〈◊〉 6. world nor in the world to come So that wicked harlot had rather to haue the childe destroyed then to be restored into the bosome of the owne mother and therefore cryed against her be it neither mine nor thine 〈◊〉 10. â— but let it be deuided So Schismatickes least the faith should be conscrued aliue and whole in the bosome of the true mother the Church doe what they can to deuide it that it may be dead to them both But they labour in vaine to the verifying vpon themselues this saying He that breaketh the hedge a Serpent shall byte him And it is no wonder that in these dayes the English are fallen into many heresies and that Puritanisme doth so much raigne amongst them although at the first seperation they were not polluted with the Lutheran or Caluinian heresies For Ireneus doth excellently Lib. â— cap. 40. li. 4. ca. 43. teach that they who are cut off from the Church doe not drinke of the Fountaine of the spirit of God but digge vnto themselues olde Cisterns and fall into most filthy errours