her securitie then was it time to make him Antichrist and to pursue his party with fire and sword The title of the ensuing Kings not being questioned by the Pope made him an object of lesse hate and his adherents subject to lesse crueltie and the Religion was fashioned to the humor of the Prince yet with some regard to popular faction Lastly the liberty of warre giving licence to those infinite Sects which lay lurking in every corner of the English Church to sally forth and to appeare to the world in their different colours every one tooke notice how few were grounded on those Tenets whereon the Church of England is built and how by leaving the true proposall of Gods Word and the ancient rule of Divine Faith men come to be so unsetled in all points of Faith that their Religion is as changeable as private fancies and publike factions And that all may see how the curse of Cain the first father of Hereticks as being the first opposer of Gods true Worship is fallen by inheritance upon our English Protestants their last change is to turne into Quakers whose Sect is nothing else but Protestancy fallen into a Paulscy and inclining to a suddaine Apoâ—lexy THE INDEX OF THE CHAPTERS CHAP. I. How Protestancy begunne and came into England CHAP. II. Of the nullitie of the English Protestant Clergy CHAP. III. Of Heresie CHAP. IV. In what doth the obstinacy of Heresie consist CHAP. V. Of the Catholick Church CHAP. VI. VVhether all Christians be thâ— Catholick Church or whether it may bâ— composed of any two or more Congregation of them if agreeing not in all matters whatse ever which any one Congregation or Church pretends to be revealed by God CHAP. VII VVhether the testimony of tâ—â— Catholick Church be infallible not onely 〈◊〉 Protestants terme them in fundamentall bâ— also in not fundamentall articles of Faith CHAP. VIII VVhether any reformed 〈◊〉 Protestant Church of the world be the Catholiâ—â— and Apostolick Church And whether thâ— pretended clearnesse of Scripture doth sufâ—â—ciently propose their doctrine as Divine reveâ—â—tion CHAP. IX VVhether any Puritanicall Congregation be the Catholick Church by reason of their pretended spirit CHAP. X. VVhether that Congregation of persons which live in communion with and subjection to the Roman Church be the Catholick and true Church of God CHAP. XI VVhether Transubstantiation and the lawfulnesse of the worship of Images be sufficiently proposed by the testimony of the Roman Catholick Church as Divine revelation and whether Protestants have any lawfull exceptions against them CHAP. XII VVhether Protestancy be Heresie CHAP. XIII VVhether any Protestants may be saved 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 II. A Dialog between a learned Protestant Minister and a Catholick Cloune CHAP. XV. Of the difference between Christian Faith and the historicall beliefe of Protestants A TREATISE OF THE NATURE OF CATHOLICK FAITH AND HERESIE WITH Reflexion upon the Nullitie of the English Protestant Church and Clergy CHAP. I. How Protestancy begunne and came into England IN the yeare 1516. there was no other Religion in our parts of the world acknowledged Catholick and Apostolick but that which Protestants are now pleased to call Popery In the yeare 1517. Leo the X. Bishop of Rome following the â—cample of other Popes granted and published Indulgenâ—â—s to all such as voluntarily contributed towards the war â—gainst the Turke who at that time was growne formiâ—able and threatned all Christendome having added Syria â—â—d Egipt to the Otteman Empire 2 The Archbishop of Mentz to whom the Pope comâ—itted the businesse of Indulgences in Germany appointed one Iohn Tetzel a Dominican Friar to preach in the publishing of them notwithstanding that for a long time before this office had beene given to the Augustin Friars The preferment of Tetzel was ill taken by Martin Luther who being an Augustin Friar and a famous Preacher expected himselfe should have beene the man named to preach and publish the Indulgences but seeing his hopes frustrated he resolved to write as much against Indulgences and the Pope as he had prepared to preach in favour of both 3 Therefore taking occasion of some abuses which are unavoydable in things that passe through many hands he printed certaine Conclusions and Libells against Indulgences These were condemned and burnt as hereticall by Iohn Tetzel Luthers Competitor who at the same time exercised the office of Inquisitor in Germany This fire did so warme Luther and added such flames to his hot disposition that most parts of Europe felt the smart of it For being once engaged and enraged by Tetzels Declaration against him he would not recant his first error but added others by denying Purgatory the Popes authoritie merit necessitie of good workes c. 4 Amongst others who writ against Luthers novelties one was Henry the VIII King of England composing a learned Booke in defence of the seaven Sacraments the Popes supremacy and his spirituall jurisdiction over all Christendome this Booke moved the Pope to adde to Henry the VIII titles that of Defender of the Faith which had beene the most glorious of all his titles if he had not so violently opposed afterwards the Popes primacy which he then so piously maintained against Luther But being weary of his wife Queene Catharine despairing to have issue male by her and enamoured of Anne Builen because the Pope refused to declare his marriage with Queene Catharine invalid he made himselfe Pope of England challenging all spirituall jurisdiction within his owne Kingdomes and by Act of Parliament made it treason to acknow ledge any spirituall jurisdiction of the Pope in his Dominions himselfe being proclaimed spirituall Head of the English Church This was the occasion and beginning of the pretended Reformation Henry the VIII notwithstanding did stick to the old Religion in all points the Popes primacy onely excepted because he thought no other of the new Religion was necessary to marry Anne Bullen and to enrich himselfe by the spoile of Monasteries He persecuted all other novelties and herefies in such a degree that though many crept into England in his reigne yet very few durst professe them because as many as did were burnt by his command 5 To King Henry the VIII Sect. 2 succeeded his sonne Edward the VI. a child of 9. years old his unkle the Earle of Hartford was made Protector both of the King and Kingdome he was inclined to Zuinglius his heresie Twenty dayes had scarse passed after his Protectorship but his fingars did so eagerly itch to be doing and tampering about innovation in Religion Horinshed Stow and others an 1547. as upon the sixth of March next following he sent away Commissioners into all parts of the Realme to pull doâ—â—ne Images and other Ecclesiasticall ornaments He also invited out of Germany divers Sectaries of what Religion soever but especially
some circumstances prove more then any others Qui tacit consentire videtur 9 As soone as Master Mason published his Records Fitz Herbert suspected them his words are these It was my chance to understand that one Master Mason hath lately published a Booke Wherein he endeavoureth to prove the first Protestant Bishops Consecration by a Register Thou shalt therefore understand good Reader that this our exception against the English Clergy is no new quarrell now lately raised but vehemently urged divers times heretofore many yeares ago yea in the very beginning of the late Queenes reigne urging them to shew how and by whom they were made Priests Bishops c. And what trow you was answered thereto was there any Bishop named who had consecrated them was Master Masons Register or any other authenticall proofe thereof produced by â—aster Jewell or Master Horne No truly This then being 〈◊〉 I report me to the judgement of any indifferent man What redit Master Masons new found Register deserveth being proâ—uced now after fifty and odde yeares to testifie this Consecraâ—ion whereof not so much as any one witnesse was named nor â—ny Register pretended by those whom it most imported to prove 〈◊〉 5. or 6. yeares after it was supposed to be done This and much more did Fitz Herbert print in the yeare 1613. in his Appendix to the Discovery of Doctor Andrews absurdities â—alsities lyes c. I say that no mention was ever made of Registers or Records testifying Parkers Consecration at Lambeth untill Master Masâ—n printed his Booke by Master Abbots command For though in a Booke called Antiquiâ—ates Britanniae pag. 39. edit Hanoviae an 1605. there be a Register of the Protestant Bishops in England thrust in with-but any necessity or purpose immediatly after Saint Austin the first Archbishop of Canterbury yet that very Register doth not mention any certaine place or forme of their Consecration so that it might be performed as well at the Nags-head as at Lambeth But that all the world may see how this very Register was forged I will set downe the words of the learned Author of a Booke called The Iudgement of the Apostles and first agein points of Doctrine questioned betweene the Catholicks and Protestants of England printed an 1633. Pag. 209. It hath beene pretended from a new borne Register of Mathew Parker that â—he was made a Bishop by Barlowe Scory and three others by vertue of a Commission from Queene Elizabeth and this new worke was acted on the 17. day of December an 1559. but â—alas they had then no forme or order to do such a businesse Pag. 349. VVhereas this printed Booke of Parkers Antiquitates Britanniae is the first that mentioneth any such pretended Consecration of him and the rest and the other VVriters seeme to borrow this from thence in the old Manuscript of that Booke which I have seen and diligently examined there is not any mention or memory at all of any such Register or Consecraâ—ion of either Mathew Parker Pag. 211. or any one of those pretended Protestant Bishops as the obtruded Register speaketh of And any man reading the printed Booke will wanifestly see it is a meerly foisted and inserted thing having no connexion correspondence or affinitie either with that which goeth before or followeth it And containeth more things done after Matheâ— Parker had written that Booke But now let us see how thâ— Protestant Clergy was charged with the nullitie and illgalitie of Ordination and how they never stopt the Adversaries mouths with Masons Registers or Records 10 Consider saith Doctor Bristow what Church that iâ— whose Ministers are but very lay-men Mot. 21. unsent uncalled uncoâ— secrated holding therefore amongst us when they repent anâ— returne no other place but lay-men in no case admitted no nâ— looking to minister in any office unlesse they take Orders whicâ— before they had not Master Fulke who was ignorant of noâ— thing in this point that Master Mason did know answering Bristow his objection denyeth ordinary calling to bâ— alwayes necessary which desperate shift he would neveâ— have used if he had beene provided of so easy and sufficient an answer as Master Masons Records would have afforded him if they had beene authenticall or extant 11 Master Reynolds Calvino Turcis lib. 4. cap. 15. There is no heardman in all Turkie which doth not undertake the governmen of his heard upon better reason and greater right order and authoritie then thesâ— your magnificent Apostles and Evangelists can shew for thiâ— divine and high office of governing soules reforming Churches c. 12 Doctor Stapleton in his Counterblast against Masteâ— Horne pretended Bishop of Winchester hath these urging speeches Fol 7. 9. To say truly you are no Lord VVinchester nor elsewhere but onely Master Robert Horne Is it not notorious that ye and your Collegues were not ordained according to thâ— prescript I will not say of the Church but even of the very Statues How then can you challenge to your selfe the name of the name of the Cord Bishop of VVinchester Fol. 301. You are without any Consecration at all of your Metropolitan himselfe poore man being no Bishop neither 13 Doctor Harding in his Detection of sundry foule errours against Master Iewell Fol. 129. You tell not half my tale which truly is noted by many that Master Iewell passes over the difficulties without answering or mentioning I laid for my foundation out of raint Hierome the se words Ecclesiaâ—onest quae non habet Sacerdotem that is no Church which hath not a Priest or Bishop c. for Sacerdos as you know doth signifie both a Priest and Bishop I aske then as well of your Bishoply vocation and of your sending as of your Priesthood c. These being my questions Master Jewell you answer â—â—ither by what example hands were laid on you nor who sent â—u but onely say he made you Priest that made me in King â—dwards time Verily I never had any name or title of Priestâ—od given to me during the raigne of King Edward I onely â—ke the order of Deaconship as it was then ministred furâ—er I went not c. Truly after I had well considered with â—y selfe these questions which in my confutation I moved unto â—u I tooke my selfe neither for Priest nor yet for lawfull Deaâ—n in all respects by those orders which were taken in King â—dwards dayes being well assured that those who tooke upon â—em to give orders were altogether out of order themselves â—nd ministred them not according to the Kite and manner of â—e Catholick Church as who had forsaken the whole succession 〈◊〉 Bishops in all Christendome and had erected a new Conregation of their owne planting the forme whereof was imaâ—ned in their owne braines and had not beene seen nor praâ—ised in the world before 14 Master Iewell answers all this with profound silence â—s though it had never beene written albeit he would haâ—e the world believe that he
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