he desrred to have Apostata Friars that had tyed themselves to Sisters assuring himselfe that they would be most plyable to his purpose And so there came into England Martin Bucer a Dominican Friar who had beene an earnest Lutheran Peter Martyr a Cannon Regular that inclined to Zuinglius his opinions but yet came with great indifferency to preach and teach what he should be appointed as afterwards appeared being a Lector in the University of Oxford when the Parliament in London was debating what opinion the Kingdome should followe concerning the Reall presence Peter Martyr kept all his Schollers in suspence untill newes came of the Parliaments resolution to which he accommodated himselfe for having detained his Schollers with tedious glosses upon the words precedent to This is my body not to declare his sense of them before he understood the sense of the Parliament which having received by the Post to be interpreted in a â—gurative not reall way he was presently inspired that this was the cleare sense of the Scaipture and wondered now any could be so blind as not to see a thing so maniâ—est Bernard â—chinus was the third who had beene a Caâ—eclâ—in but being weary of that austere life tooke a woman Annal. Cap. 1543. and writ a Booke in defence of having two wives at 〈◊〉 Some say he died a Jew but the Annalls of the Capuchins testifie that he repented and died a Cathâ— lick 6 These three Apostles of the Reformation were dâ—stributed into three principall fountaines of the Land London Oxford and Cambridge With these joyned Coverdaâ— an Augustin Friar Bale a Carmelite and other Apostates who did so vary in their Doctrine and Religions which they preached to the people that all was in confusion iâ— so much that the Protector writ to Cranmer and Ridley that they should make hast to end the common Servicâ— booke or of Common prayer Doctrine and Rites which they had begunne 7 But from hence arose a great Controversy for thaâ— Bucer would have one thing Peter Martyr another Ochinâ—â— a third Iohn Bale and Miles Coverdale would saine put iâ— their opinions also Above all others did trouble the market two heady Priests Iohn Hooper and Iohn Roger comâ— from beyond Seas the one from VVittenberg the other from Strasburg These two dissenting wholy from thâ— course begunne by Cranmer and Ridley made a great faction against the Common prayer booke especially afteâ— that Hugh Latimer sided with them who was of great regard with the common people 8 The Protector seeing such differences in Religions and confusion called a Parliament an 1547 but the Common prayer booke could not then passe this onely waâ— determined about Religion that none should speake irreâ— verently of the Sacrament of the Altar and that all for mer Statuts made by the Kings of England against what soever Hereticks or Sectaries namely against Lohards VVickliffians Hussits Anabaptists c. should be recalled and annulled So as now every man might thinke say preach or teach what he thought fit 9 But in the next Parliament the Common prayeâ— booke was approved because it seemed in matter of thâ— Sacraments to favour and humour divers Sectaries whâ— before had opposed it Yet the common people in man shires of England tooke armes in defence of the old and Catholick Religion complaining that most Sacrament were taken from them and they had reason to feare thâ— rest if they did not looke to it would follow within short time This was King Eduards Reformation which he could not perfect because he died within six yeares after he had begunne 10 It is very remarkable how in this Kings time it was resolved that whatsoever should be determined by six Bishops such as they were and six men learned in the Law of God or the major part of them concerning the Rites and administrations of Sacraments that onely should be followed so that seaven men in England were thought a sufficient number to change the whole frame of Christian Religion by changing the matter and forme of Sacraments abolishing the Sacrifice of the Masse and the ancient Rites and ceremonies of the Catholick Church which had beene practised for so many ages and reverenced by all the pious and learned men of the world Heresie is alwayes accompanied with presumption yet never did any Sectaries before this time attribute to themselves so much as ours did preferring the judgement of seaven men to that of all the world confirmed by so many generall Councells and holy Fathers The forme of consecrating Priests set downe in the new Ritual is this Receive the holy Ghost whose sinnes thou dost forgive they are forgiven and whose sinnes thou dost retaine they are retained and be thou a faithfull dispenser of the Word of God and of his holy Sacraments in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost See the Ritual printed at London 1607. and for the Act authorising it see Kallend an 3. Ed Vâ— cap. 12. and Mason pag. 94. 11 After King Eduard the VI. reigned his Sister Queene Mary who being a Catholick her selfe restored the Catholick Religion by Act of Parliament Cardinal Poole the Popes Legat absolving the Kingdome from the excommunication and schisme incurred Some Histories of that time relate that 30 thousand Sectaries all strangers Were banished out of England and amongst the rest the two holy Apostles Peter Martyr and Bernard Ochinus All King Eduards pretended Bishops were deposed and imprisoned the Catholick Bishops set at liberty and restored to their Seas This Queene is as much condemned by Protestants for crucltie against their Religion as Queene Elizabeth is censured by Catholicks as if forsooth there were no difference betweene punishing upstart seditious novelâ—ists and the maintainers of that Faith Which had beene in possession from the time Christianity was brought into the Land 12 Queene Mary deceased without issue her Sister Elizabeth was proclaimed Queene notwithstanding that all Catholicks knew Mary Steward the Queene of Scots to be the lawfull heire of the Crowne Queene Elizabeth shewing inclination to the new Religion all the Catholick Bishops refused to crowne her yet at length by great adoe she was crowned and anointed after the Catholicke manner by Oglethorp Bishop of Carlile The Reformation was by Act of Parliament againe established notwithstanding the great opposition made by all the Bishops and others in the upper House The Queene was resolved to puil downe Catholick Religion because Cecill and others of her Councell perswaded her that she could not be secure as long as the Popes authority was acknowledged in England seeing the Sea Apostolick had declared her a bastard and all Catholicks looked upon the Queene of Scots as the true heire to the Crowne 13 Notwithstanding it was the Queenes temporall interest to pull downe Catholick Religion in England yet it was much for her quiet and peace of the Realme to keepe alwayes a resemblance of it in the Clergy as the best remedy against Puritanisme which
to judge that God will do so extraordinary a favour to Protestants who are out of the Church and have not the helpe of the true Sacraments as to give them an act of contrition in the last houre 4 I have often said that I can not but admire to see any person of solid judgement and good understanding a Protestant The more I consider the grounds beginning and progresse of these new Religions the more I am confirmed in my admiration What matter can then be of greater wonder then to see wise men preferre the testimony of some few wanton and dissolute Priests and Friars to the testimony of the grave and ancient Fathers of the Catholick Roman Church Let the Councell of Lateran be confronted with Cranmer and the six or seven Ministers who invented the English Church and with the Parliament that confirmed it Let both the Councells of Lateran and that of Trent be compared with the petty Assemblies of Ministers in the English Protestant Church or in the Kirke of Scotland Dort or any other pretending Reformation Shall a few Ministers know better the Catholick tradition the sense of Scripture and Fathers then the Councell of Lateran wherein sate two Patriarchs and the Pope 70. Metropolitans 400. Bishops 800 Conventuall Priors all learned men out of the most parts of Christendome Shall one Apostate Paulo Dolce his word be taken concerning the Councell of Trent and preferred to the testimony of all the Catholick Churches which hath accepted all its Decrees in matters of Faith I speake not of other Councells nor of the cleare testimonies of Fathers which are obvious to all persons who understand Latin in Bellarmine Coccius and other Authors 5 Most of all I admire to see any person stick to the Common prayer Booke or to that Church as if it were the true Catholick How is it possible that God should permit the publick exercise of Catholick Religion and Church to be brought so low and to so narrow a compasse as we see the Common prayer If Antichrist reigne were come or the Turke had possessed the whole world then it might be thought that the Church fled to the wildernesse and became almost invisible but when through the mercy of God we see Christianity flourish not onely in Europe but in all other parts of the world how is it credible that God should permit the true and pure exercise of Catholick Religion to be invisible 6 Therefore I judge it a duty of conscience and charity to warne all Protestants that they may be pleased to reflect upon the Authors and first Apostles of their Reformation Is it credible that God would make choice of such wicked persons as they were knowne to be to reform his Church Suppose there were some abuses in the Court of Rome must therefore the Popes authority be tread under foot Must Kings loose their Crownes because some Courtiours are lewd If Luther had beene appointed to preach for Indulgences he had never writ against them the Pope or the Church of Rome If Henry the VIII had prevailed with the Pope to declare null his mariage with Queene Catharine of Spaine he had never made himselfe spirituall Head of the Church of England If Calvin had obtained the Bishoprick of Geneva Puritans had never beene so fierce against Episcopacy If Queene Elizabeth had not beene declared illegitimate by the Doctrine and Church of Rome the Common prayer and Reformation had ended with Edward the VI. who begunne it Doth not the world see that these pretended Reformations of Religion were onely pretexts for Princes to obtaine their politick ends and for dissolute and incontinent Clergy to gaine authority whereby their liberty and vices might not onely be excused but applauded by the ignorant and common people Let Protestants therefore examine how things past because ignorance in so important a matter can not be warranted by relying upon other mens judgements seeing they may so easily informe their owne 7 Neither ought they to sooth themselves with that no lesse usuall then groundlesse excuse Agree you Clergy men amongst your selves and we will agree submit our judgements c. But untill then we are not obliged seeing our Ministers are learned and honest men We Catholicks declare to all the world and the same must Protestant do that the Church out of which there is no salvation may be so easily discerned from all false Sects by signes so visible and obvious to all persons though illiterate that to trust to Ministers testimony in so important a matter is damnable negligence especially seeing we charge them of not believing Clergy men nor ordained As for the Protestant Ministers being learned and honest men its certaine that either we or they want learning or honesty and that either they or we impose upon the people manifest falshoods which may easily be discovered by any person that desires to be saved Let our Doctrines and Tenets be examined and it will clearly appeare that the Protestant Faith doth tend to liberty of believing and doing what every man thinkes convenient which is an infallible marke of Heresie and damnation CHAP. XIV VVhether Protestancy be manifestly against reason and common sense and how may the most learned Protestants be convinced in disputes of Religion by every illiterate Roman Catholick SECT I. 1 THe true Christian and Catholick Religion is so evidently credible that all others must necessarily be evidently incredible It is not in Religion as in cases of morall Divinity Two contrary opinions in morall matters may be prudently followed each of them as probable because there are learned men that patronize both If there were two or more Gods and they could differ in opinion or judgement men might accommodate themselves to which they pleased But seeing there is but one God there must be but one Faith and one Religion This one Faith is more then any probable opinion it is an undoubted and prudent assent of the understanding to whatsoever is sufficiently proposed as Divine Revelation An undoubted and prudent assent doth suppose there can be no prudent probability in any other contrary Faith or Church for if once we grant that two Religions are probable or prudently credible we have none at all because we reserve a doubt of both and are indifferent for any True Faith admits no doubts or indifferencies Supposing this no prudent Protestant can take ill that which I intend to prove in this Chap. unlesse he will have Catholicks acknowledge that they have one true Faith or Christian Religion 2 If it be proved that Protestancy is contrary to reason it s evidently demonstrated to be a false Religion because whatsoever is against reason can not be true The true Christian Faith doth perfect the understanding and not deceive that faculty of man whereby he is distinguished from brute beasts God is the Author both of Reason and Religion one must be subordinate to the other its true Faith is above Reason but never stands in opposition with it
yours Cath. Because we never heare of any cleare and undeniable miracles I am sure ye have none to confirme the articles wherein ye Protestants differ from us no nor any that lookes like miracles when they are compared with ours 14 Minist Seeing thou dost not desire to speake of miracles let us returne to Scripture Grant that the texts of Gods Word which we bring against Popery were not cleare must they not therefore be believed because forsooth they are obscure Christian Faith must be obscure honest fellow Doth not thy Parish Priest instruct thee thus Cath. My Pastor and Confessor both tell me that the mysteries of Christian Faith are obscure but never incredible Min. Now friend I have caught thee Is it not incredible that there is no bread in the Sacrament of the Altar Why therefore dost thou believe Transubstantiation as a mystery of Faith Cath. It is rather incredible there should be any bread in the blessed Sacrament for if there were why should all Catholicks deny a thing that hath so great appearance Whether bread be there or no Priests have the same almes for saying Masse no gaine acrues to them by Transubstantiation On the other side its impossible that all Catholicks should be so mad as to contradict their own senses if God had not commanded them not to credit their eyes and tast in this Divine mystery but rather to rely upon his words and believe that the blessed Sacrament is his Body if it be Christs Body it can not be bread because our bodies are no bread and Christs Body is of the same nature with ours 15 Min. Alas poor ignorant soule Christs words must be understood spiritually he himselfe told the Disciples that his words are spirit and life Cath. Iohn 6. I heard our Pastor the last Sonday explaine that same text to confirme Transubstantiation For he said that Christ is in the Sacrament truly and really but with a spirituall presence and that we receive his very Body and Bloud though not in a corporall manner there is some difference quoth he betweene eating of Christs Flesh and eating a piece of beefe This onely was Christs meaning when he said that his words were spirit and life which no way can prejudice Transubstantiation though some Puritans thinke that they are contrary to the reall presence Whether bread be there or no Christs true Body and Bloud is received in the Communion according Protestants so that it concerns them as much as Catholicks to interpret these words of Christs as we do unlesse ye will become Calvinists by saying that ye eate Christs Body by Faith that is ye believe to receive him when ye do not which is a lying and false Faith or that ye receive his grace but not himself and that is to deny in plain termes the reall presence All this did our Pastor teach in the Cathechisme 16 Min. Well in this matter none is bound to believe your Pastor or his Cathechisme we believe that Christ is really present in the Sacrament but how he is there we do not examine neither ought the Roman Church or the Councell of Lateran impose Transubstantiation upon us as a thing necessary to be believed Cath. I have heard talke much of that Councell of Lateran they say there were present thereat the Pope and two Pattiarchs of the East 70. Metropolitans 400. Bishops and 800 other learned men out of all parts of the world If Transubstantiation was not a necessary article of Faith they did very ill to declare it one and condemne as Hereticks all such as denyed it Yet me thinks the testimony of so many learned men is of greater weight I pray Sir pardon me if I offend you I do not intend it then the testimony of any reformed Church to the contrary I never heard of such a Councell in any Protestant Church It s true I heare that the Ministers of Stratzburg and of the Church of Zurick look as reverendly as the Protestant Church of England and have set forth as exact a Confession of their beliefe as ye have done of yours in the 39. articles but I could never learn that any of you had such an Assembly as the Councell of Lateran or of Trent Therefore ye can not blame Catholicks to preferre the testimony of these Councells before the testimonies of the Church of Stratzburg Zurick or that of England which was modeld as our Priests tell us by six Bishops and six other men or the major part of them seven of them were sufficient to cast Christian Religion take away Sacraments alter the matter and forme of them and change the ancient ceremonies Without doubt its more reasonable to rely upon the Councell of Trent then upon the twelve or seven persons that invented the Common prayer Booke and the Ritual of the English Church 17 Min. Hast thou ever heard of one Fr. Paulo who writ the History of the Councell of Trent and describes how the holy Ghost was sent in a bag thither from Rome Cath. I have heard much of that man they say he was no Saint at least of our Church and had a spleene against the Pope If what he writes were true not onely the Bishops and others who were in the Councell of Trent had beene mad or Impostors but all the Catholicks of the world who accepted the same as a true Councell ought to be declared and recorded naturall fooles It s more credible that Fr. Paulo was a lying Knave then that all the Catholicks of the world are naturall fooles or that all the Bishops of the Couuncell were Impostors Therefore I can not believe his History of the Councell of Trent Truly his expression of the holy Ghosts journey in a bag proves him to have been a profane fellow They say his history is both solidly and elegantly confuted by Palavicini the Jesuite It s strange to me how sober Protestants can believe such fopperies and wicked practises of the chief Prelats and persons of the Catholick Church 18 Min. Hold there friend Dost thou thinke that onely the Roman Catholicks are the whole Catholick Church ye are but a part Cath. I am sure Roman Catholick alone were the whole Catholick Church before that Luther and Calvin begun their pretended Reformation They and all ye Protestants differ from us in Faith Therefore ye are no part of the Catholick Church that was called so in the year 1516. If God hath Instituted another Catholick Church since and ye make that appear I am content to call ye Catholicks but untill then Master Doctor you must excuse me Min. Ye and we believe the same things onely ye differ from us in some petty matters not necessary to be believed as Transubstantiation Cath. Do you call that a petty thing which the Catholick Church defined to be a matter of Faith who shall be the Judge of what is necessary or not necessary to be believed Min. Not your Pope nor his Councels because y are a part and have a prejudice