discoursing of the Waldenses a People for substance of the Protestants Religion saith in these termes They are in all the Cities of Lombardy and of Provence No Sect hath continued so long Some say it hath been since Pope Sylvesters time Some since the Apostles These Waldenses believe all Articles concerning God but they hate the Church of Rome 3. So that the Reformed have had a Church and their Religion before Luther A Refutation of this shift of the Jesuites That because Luther was in Error in Regard of his doctrine of Consubstantiation Therefore his Refutations of their Opinions and Doctrines is not to be considerable 1. THis is a strange shift indeed for is it not a miserable perverseness in the Jesuites and others Popish Doctors and Writers that being not able to maintain their own Heresies against Luther they will think to escape in the Judgement of Men from being condemned because Luther himself in one point of Doctrine erred 2. May no man convince Error but such an one as is free from Error at all Himself 3. The Scriptures are left unto us to be our Rule of Truth by them must all Doctrine be squared and directed they sit in the highest Seat of Judgement to give Sentence in every Cause 4. With Them did Luther cut down the Popish Errors 5. But one Error of Luther cannot serve to excuse infinite Errors in the Popish Church The Reformed of England France Holland c. do not Believe whatsoever the late Writers have said 1. VVE are not so addicted in these Reformed Churches as to Believe whatsoever the late Writers have said 2. We are no more partial unto them in this behalf then we are unto the Ancient Fathers 3. Our Religion and Faith hangeth not upon the sayings of Men be they old or young but onely upon the Canonical Scriptures of God 4. And if they be against us so long as Scripture is for us our Cause is good and we will not be ashamed thereof 5. From hence it followeth That therefore most false is it that the Papists say That our Divity resteth upon these late Writers and young Fathers whom the Jesuites and other Popish Doctors do so scornfully compare with the Old Fathers 6. We use not to alledge for proofs authentical of any Doctrine and as the Rule of our Faith Calvin Bucer or others 7. But our Traditive and Use is this Thus saith the Lord Thus say the Prophets Thus say the Apostles Thus the Evangelists Thus it is written in the Scriptures Thus we read in some Book of the Old or of the New Testament Again If Luther or any other Learned Man among the Protestants or of the Reformed in the Churches above mentioned have either Interpreted the Scripture in somthing amiss or have doubted of some one Book of Scripture whereof doubt also hath been made of old in the Church of Christ we are not to defend their Expositions or to approve their Judgement Again The particular Opinions of Luther and Lutherans are not to be objected by the Papists against the Reformation of England France the United Provinces c. 1. FOr these Reformed Churches are not bound to justifie all Luthers sayings and the Lutherans and their private Opinions no more then the Papists will be content to avouch whatsoever hath been spoken or published by any one or other famous man of their Sect. 2. Which thing if they will take upon them to perform then let them profess it or else they offer us the more injury that object still against us a saying which was never either uttered or allowed by us 3. This might suffice men of indifferent Reason § Of Luthers Error concerning the Bodily Presence in the Sacrament LVther retained this Error of his old leaven wherewith in time of Papistry his Judgement was corrupted § Another Answer of the Reformed to the Objection made by the Jesuites against Luther in regard of his Error of Consubstantiation That therefore his Refutation of their Doctrine is not to be considerable THe Reformed again return this answer to that Objection 1. That although Luther therein somthing swarved from the Truth yet that he might bring in other Causes assured thereof out of the Word of God reject the Opinions of such as dissent from the same word 2. Otherwise no Man in Defence of Gods Truth may challenge or bid Defiance to the Adversaries thereof seeing they have no Priviledge or Charter granted to them but that themselves also may be deceived § Again Concerning Luther 1. LVther say the Reformed was an excellent Man and a worthy servant of Christ 2. Whose Ministery especially it pleased God to use in revealing to these Times the Son of Perdition who fitteth in the Temple of God and advanceth himself above God 3. Yet Luther was a Man 4. And therefore no marvel if he were not exempted altogether as from Ignorance so also from Infirmities § Concerning the Contention between Luther and Zuinglius about the Sacrament of the Lords Supper 1. 1. THis Contention and Dissention was a very hard one hotly debated in many Books 2. And the same hath continued since to the great hinderance of the Gospel and offence of many 3. In which contrary Writings and Discourses are found oftentimes harder speeches of either against other then were to be wished 4. Now do come in the Popish Writers like crafty enemies and gathering a heap of such speeches out of sundry of their Books do insert the same in their Books to make their Readers acquainted therewith that seeing such earnest contention among the chiefest Professors of the Gospel they may be further withdrawn in alienation of mind from the love and liking thereof 2. Examination of that matter 1. THose speeches of either against other which are harder oftentimes then were to be wished are yet such as the godly Servants of the Lord in contention about the Truth somtimes are moved to utter against their Brethren 1. S. Paul openly and sharply reprehended S. Peter to his face whereat wicked Porphyrie catched a like occasion to rail at Christian Religion long since as our Adversaries do at these dayes 2. What a violent and troublesome contention was there between Theophilus of Alexandria and good Chrysostome of Constantinople 3. Who knoweth not how sharply Cyrillus a learned and wise Bishop of Alexandria hath written against Theodoretus a good and Catholick Bishop in a Controversie touching the Catholique Faith both Bishops both Catholiques both Learned both Godly both Excellent Pillars of the Church And yet he that readeth both their Writings would think that both were dangerous Enemies of the Church and of the Faith of Christ and to be avoided of all Christians 2. So in the Books of Luther and of Zuinglius and of those that maintain either part appeareth we grant great sharpness and bitterness of Dissention who all notwithstanding if we set the heat of Dissention aside were as godly as learned as zealous Christians as the World had any The Reformed
Roman Faith 2. Yea and at this day they dissent from us in few things as Jeremy the Patriarch of Constantinople hath plainly written Answer of the Reformed to that Exception THe Reformed do answer to this Exception 1. That if that be true why are they then of the Papists accounted Schismaticks Or why do they not Obey the Pope Why came they not to the Council of Trent The Pope by all means hath sought to have them subject to Him but they still contemn him to his no small grief 2. It is true the Emperour the Patriarch and a multitude of Bishops came to the Florentine Council they agreed with them in many Things in others they dissented the Popish Transubstantiation they utterly renounced 3. At that time Josephus their Patriarch suddenly died Eugenius the Pope instantly urged a new Election they denied to make any till they came to Constantinople 4. Do not the Papists see how well they agree We have a Book of Cyril Patriarch of Constantinople in which is set down the Confession of their present Faith whereby it appeareth manifestly that they are farre nearer to the Reformed Churches in Beleif then they are to the Roman 1. The Turks are beholding to none more then to the Pope for their Possession of Greece and the Eastern Empire which hath caused the Miserable Slavery of the Greek Churches 1. IF As our Saviour Christ saith A Kingdome divided against it self cannot stand then the breaking of the strength of the Empire and weakning the power of the Christians and consequently strengthning the Turks must all be inputed to him which did rent and divide the Roman Christian Empires and of one Empire made two 2. As long as the Province and Dominions of the Empire were united We were strong enough against the Turks 3. But After Pope Leo the 10. divided the Empire the Empire of Constantinople which before had much adoe to resist the Turk was now no longer able to sustain the Burthen wanting the greatest part of the Empire 2. O Christian Princes and States unite your selves and consequently join your Forces together to pluck off from that Infidell the Turk the Empire of Greece and to join it with that of the West that so both as in Times past make but one Empire THESIS Of the Reformation of the Church in general 1. WHen the Church is infected with Errors in the Doctrine or loaded with unlawful Ceremonies or Governed by an evil Ecclesiastical Policie the Reformation thereof is not permitted to the People without the consent of the Prince and Soveraign Magistrate 2. But such a Reformation is to be made by the Prince and Soveraign as being a Right which belongeth unto him and which belongeth unto him by Divine and Humane Right 3. Neither also is it lawful to a Minister of a particular Church to change at his will the Ceremonies of his Church but if they are not to be tolerated he must with his Church make his Addresses to the Supream Magistrate to obtain from him the necessary Reformation of the same 4. The Prince being to imploy himself about the Reformation of the Church when she hath need of a Reformation ought to that effect to consult the Divines of his Countrey the most Learned the most Prudent and the most Godly and to convoke a National Synod composed of such Men. 5. It will be well done also by him to join unto his own Divines the Divines of other Reformed Churches that by that Means greater weight may be given to the Reformation which he will effect 6. The Divines assembled must carefully seek out the Truth and when they have found it the Prince ought to ordain and injoin the observation thereof 7. The said National Synod or Assembly of Divines ought to extend the Reformation of the Church to four Heads namely 1. To the Doctrine concerning Faith 2. To the Divine Worship and Service 3. To Ceremonies and outward things 4. To the Ecclesiastical Policy and Government of the Church 8. And in regard of the abovesaid four Heads the said Synod or Assembly of Divines ought to Reform the Church according to the best Form of all 9. Now a better Form of the Church cannot be conceived nor found than that according to which Jesus Christ by himself and by his Apostles did in the beginning establish and confirm the Church 10. Which hath been the Form of the Church in the Times of Christ and of his Apostles we learn it clearly out of the Books of the Evangelists and of the Acts of the Apostles and probably out of the Writings of the Doctors of the Church who lived immediately after the death of the Apostles 11. According to this Form the Church ought to be Reformed in regard of the above named four Heads bringing them back to the first beginning and to the first Springs Thas is to say to the first Antiquity 12 If it happens that between some National Reformed Churches there be a difference in regard of Ceremonies and outward things agreeing well together in regard of the Doctrine for such a difference in Ceremonies the said Churches must not be enemies one to the others But they ought to bear one another Charitably and profitably Of the 1. Reformators Luther Calvin c. What Esteem the Protestants make of the last Reformers Luther Calvin and their Associates And how far it doth extend 1. THe Protestants especially we of the Church of England acknowledge not any factious names of Lutherans Zwinglians or Calvinists with which we are injuriously nick-named by our Adversaries As of old good Orthodox Christians were called Cornelians and Cyrillians by the seditious followers of Novatus and Nestorius Phot. Cod. 280. in Excerptis Eulogii ad finem Libri Act. Conciliab Ephes in Epist Legat. Schism ad sues in Epheso pag. 281. Edit Bin. 1618. 2. With Pacianus we professe Christian is our Name and Catholick our Sur-name 3. We esteem of Luther Zwinglius and Calvin as worthy men but we esteem them not worthy to be Lords or Authours of our Faith or to lead our understanding captive both themselves were far from affecting such Divine Honour and we far from bestowing it We remember who said of Christ Hear him not hear them 4. And therefore though these mens reasons may gain our Assent their Testimony is at the best but probable we believe not what they say but what the prove 5. Much lesse can we endure being once baptized in the name of Christ to be marked with the name of any man as with a note of our servitude We disclaim the name of Calvinists we owe no service we have no dependance upon Calvin nor upon any other man as Doctor or Master of our Faith 6. We owe him and the rest of the first Reformers many thanks for their painful labours which shall remain of honourable account in all posterity We cannot bless God sufficiently for such Instruments of his glory Yet we do not Idolize their persons or adore
conceive How or why are saucy Questions in Divine Mysteries Just Mart. in Expos Fid. 6. I omit the Questions of Predestination being no less debated in the Roman Schools then in the Reformed 7. Their other Differences in Ceremony or Discipline are diversities without Discord 8. All wise men in the World have ever thought that in such things each several Church is left to her own Judgement and Liberty so as she keep her self to the general Apostolique Rule of Order and Edification and to the general Judgement and Practise of the Church Universal See Tertull. de virg vetand cap. 1. Fermit apud Cyprian Epist 75. August Epist so Socrat. Hist lib. 5. cap. 21. c. 9. Though the Body of Religion in divers Reformed Churches and Countries be clothed in divers Suits and Fashions yet for substance it may be one in all In all these contestations as it commonly falls out blessed be God they that are for Truth have ever been for Charity and mutual Toleration as appears by their published Writings all tending to Pacification Vide Junii Parae scripta Irenica 10. Luther himself though of a rough and vehement Spirit yet before his death being tempered by milde Melanchton that honour of Germany did much relent and remit of his rigour against Zuinglius and began to approve the good Counsels of Peace Admonit Neustad de Libro Concord cap. 6. p. 236. And 11. Among the Lutherans all are not of the same intractable Disposition As they in Polonia for instance where the followers of Luther and Calvin have long lived together in a fair and brotherly concord and communion notwithstanding their several Opinions which they still retain vide Corpu Confess Et ibi Poloniae consensum 12. Since then our Discords are of no higher Degree we say as Prudentius a Christian Poet of the Unity of his Times It hath been a little violated but is defended by Faith her Sister in whose company being safely come off she laugheth at her wounds as being easily curable Fraud A Discovery and Refutation of a New Way and Subtle Cunnings of a Seminary Priest of Rhemes against the Reformed Religion 1. THis Way and Cunning is to bring continual Allegations of Testimonies out of the Reformed own Writers craftily brought in their Books to shew a dissention of Judgement among the said Reformed Writers that so the Readers of the Books of those Popish Writers may be Induced to think the worse of the Reformed Religion 2. A Refutation of this New Slight and Device THis Device is full of Fraud Dishonesty and Malice taking Advantage of Mens Infirmities and Imperfections against the Eternal Truth of God which the said Popish Doctors cannot by ordinary and lawful kind of Reasoning Refute Concerning the Acknowledgement of a Seminary Priest of Rhemes That three Articles of the Controversies which were propounded by Bishop Jewell in this Sermon at Paul 's Cross in which he made his Callange were and are of weight 1. The Supremacy of the Pope 2. The Corporal Presence 3. And the Sacrifice of the Mass Examination of this Acknowledgement of the Seminary Priest by the Reformed Doctors 1. 1. IN that acknowledgement the Seminary Priest hath uttered his Judgement of the rest of the Articles that are in Controversie that they are not of such weight as his Church would have them to be esteemed 2. And of these three Articles he might with as good Reason have excepted the two latter and so make the first only a matter of weight 3. For that Article indeed is the substantial Point in maintenance whereof all the Popish Writers Labours are bestowed otherwise were it not for defence of their Popes wicked unreasonable Antichristian Monarchy they could easily agree with us for these two and for all the rest we doubt not 2. But what did the Priest in his Acknowledgement think then 1. Of Private Mass Is it a thing of no weight as there he would have it accounted There is not we suppose any thing in the Rome Church more used or better liked 2. What he did think of the half Communion 3. What he did think of the Latine Service 4. What he did think of Images 5. What did he think of the keeping of the Scriptures in a Tongue unknown to the People 6. And what did he think of other such Heads of the Romish Religion 3. 1. Are they of no weight Are they Trifles Are they not worth the striving for 2. Then let the Popish Writers give over all defence of them 1. Let Private Masses be abolished 2. Let the Communion be administred in both kinds according to Christs institution 3. Let the publick prayers be said in the Tongue that every Countrey useth 4. Let Images be burned 5. And all Idolatry forbidden 6. Let it be lawful for the People of all Countries to read the Scripture in their own Language 7. Let there be no controversie about the other Articles 3. For while they stand so stifly in maintenance of all these and others They cannot truly say and bear us in hand That they are not of weight in their Account The Reformed Churches truly and properly so called are Pure and Orthodox Churches And their Faith is sound and not Hereticall as falsly they are termed by the Church of Rome 1. IT is that which must be acknowledged by some certain Notes and Marks For as we judge of Coine by the pair of Gold Weights and of Metals by the Touch-stone and of Glassen and Earthen Pots by the sound so ought we to judge of the Church by her Marks 2. The true Touch-stone of the Church is the Truth It is the Scripture It is the Word of God For the true Sheep of Christ are those who hear the voice who know him and follow him John 10.27 It is the Lords Camp who marcheth after this Pillar And the Apostles Church is builded upon the Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner-stone Ephes 2.20 We hear saith St. Augustine found Christ in the Scriptures let us also seek there the Church And if they have the Church on their side let them show it onely by the Canonical Books of the Divine Scriptures As to know whether a Line be strait a strait Rule is applied unto it Even also to discern a pure Church from an impure there is no other means than to see and observe whether it doth agree with the Rule of Practice which is the Word of God 3. Under which Word of God the pure Administration of the Sacraments of the Church is also to be comprehended Because the right use of them is prescribed in the Word of God 4. Now by this true and certain mark of the Church we prove that the truly Reformed Churches are pure and Orthodox Churches because from point to point they follow it The Articles of their Doctrine as the generous young Eagle do fixly behold the Sun and without at all feeling the Eye-lids 5. If it were true
Traytor to partake of the Sacrament with his Disciples 4. Yet these pure Sectaries will none of our communion for that some unclean persons presume to come thither 5. To whom we answer as S. Augustine doth to Cresconius Lib. 3. c. 50. Et Epist 48. These evils are displeasing to the good we forbid and restrain them what we can what we cannot we suffer 6. But we do not for the Tares sake forsake the Field For the Chaffe leave the Floor of Christ For the evil Fish break the Net For the Goats sake refuse the Fold of Christ 7. When Religion was partly corrupted partly contemned in Israel and the Prophets cried go out from them and touch no unclean thing Did they then sever themselves from them In Evang. Serm. 8. I find no such thing saith Augustine yet doubtless they did themselves what their Prophets willed others to do 8. Hoc ergo est exire ore non Parcere hoc Immundum non tangere voluntate non consentire 9. Liber in conspectu Dei est cui nec Deus sua peccata imputat quae non fecit Neque aliena quae non approbavit Neque negligentiam quia non tacuit Neque Superbiam quia ab unitate Ecclesiae non â—â—cessit There is a necessity to have a certain Form of Liturgie for the publick Administration of all the Parts of Divine Worship in the Christian Church 1. THis certain and set Form of Publick Liturgie is necessary to entertain Uniformity in a National Church 2. There was such an one in the Eastern and Western Churches as it appears by their Liturgies which are in our hands 3. There is such an one in all the Reformed National Churches As in the National Reformed Church of France And in that of the Low-countries And in the Church of Geneva And in the Reformed Churches of Germany c. 4. By such a certain and set Form of publick Liturgie no wrong or injurie is done to the Holy Ghost as if one would undertake to inclose him within the Bars of certain Words For if that were true Christ should have committed such a fault because he hath given to his Apostles and with them to the whole Church an express and set Form of Prayer David also should have committed the like fault having given us in his Psalms so many Forms of Prayer of Thanksgiving and of confession of Sins Rather let us say that the set Form of Prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Forms mentioned of the Prophet David being proceeded from the Holy Ghost the Will of God is that we make use of them to call upon him by prayer and to render thanks unto him by the very words of his Holy Spirit 5. And concerning the Ecclesiastical set Form which we require and commend by it we do not pretend to prescribe any thing to the Holy Ghost But besides the benefit of a National Uniformity our scope is to succour our common Infirmitie which is done when the Minister in the Administration of the parts of publick Divine Worship doth make use of the help of the Church thereupon and esteems it better to perform it in certain and set words then to let out from his mouth impertinent and ill digested conceptions and words 6. It is left to the liberty of every National Church to frame such a set Form of Liturgie §. The Reformed State and Church of England do condemn utterly and publickly Anabaptists Atheists the Family of Love and also the Separatists 1. ANd if notwithstanding that condemnation there be such in the State of England and secretly in the Church thereof so have there been alwayes Hereticks and wicked persons in the Church 2. And in respect of them the Reformed Religion of the Church of England is no more to be accused then the good Corn may justly be condemned because together with it many Tares and Weeds spring up and cannot be avoided §. From the time of the Reformation of the State and Church of England the Jesuites and Priests did never cease to trouble them and assault them 1. 1. IT is not unknown to the Soveraign Prince and also to the subordinate Magistrates of England how since the Reformation of the Religion and Church of that Kingdom the Adversaries Popes Jesuites and Priests have never ceased to trouble the State thereof and that by their Books in great number written and published and by all other means that possibly they were able to devise and also to defame that holy Religion of Christ which through Gods great mercy and the godly Laws of the Soveraigns is according to Gods word established in this State 2. What they have wrought with many of all Estates and how mightily they have prevailed with that strong and effectual illusion of Sathan which hath advanced Antichrist unto that Supremacie of Power Authority and Credit in the World whereof the Holy Ghost by S. Paul and by S. John hath foretold lamentable experience can witness And that in the backsliding and continual Apostating of many away from us to the final perdition of such Apostates to the grief of the Godly and to the great encouragement and comfort of the Enemy 2. ANd we have no doubt that all the English Jesuites and Seminarie Priests of Rome or of the Colledge of Rhemes are all most wilfully bent and earnestly disposed to do what harm any of them possibly can to the Church of England §. All the English Jesuites and Seminary Priests by their writings have gained nothing against the Reformed Religion of England 1. THese English old Souldiers of the Popish party Sanders Harding Allen Stapleton Bristol have imployed in the assailing of the Reformed Religion of England whatsoever Either Reading Or Leasure Or Cunning. Or Wit Or Diligence Or Malice Could supply unto them and for all this have gained nothing 2. Should New-discovered others of that kind that are not worthy to be compared with these hope to Reform that wherein they have failed §. Refutation of the Censure of the Manners of the State and Church of England made by the Jesuites 1. HE that reproveth the Manners of others it were meet that he should be without fault 2. Now is there so great a change made of Rome upon the sudden Is their Life now such Are there Manners begun to be so godly that the Jesuites being thence returned here Friers dare strive with us about Vertue Shamesastness and Honesty 3. Howsoever there be in England many things done which ought not to be done Yet if the Jesuites shall say that there is as great Impunity and Licentiousness of sins in England as they themselves have seen at Rome which is the very Towre of their Religion and Kingdom all men will judge them to be too too impudent 4. Surely as long as those publick Stewes and Dens of Whores stand still in Rome the Jesuites could scarce honestly make mention of Manners Of the English Service Book and of the Change in it since the
to swerve from the right way See Revel 14.4 6. As on the contrary in the said Scriptures simplicity of Faith is called Virginity See 2 Cor. 11. v. 2 7. The Difference which is between Heresie and Schisme is as the Difference which is between Faith and Charity Heresie is the Poyson of Faith and infecteth the Doctrine thereof Schisme is the wound of Charity and by which the Church is divided which Division is not for points of Faith but for the Ceremonies and Discipline of the Church received and established in her since a long time and well grounded upon the Word of God and that by a Spirit of contention and trouble to purchase the glory of some particular and extraordinary wisdome and sufficiencie 8. Hereticks are called Antichrists 1 John 2. v. 18. because they are fore-runners of the great Antichrist the man of sin and the Son of Perdition Heresie is a most dangerous thing and spreads soon over the whole body of the Church and produceth woful Effects 1. HEresie like a Canker soon spreads over the whole body of the Church 2. And if it be not looked into killeth and that eternally thousands of Souls breaketh the bonds of nature and cutteth asunder all sinews of humane society putteth enmity variance and implacable discords in Families soweth Seeds of Sedition in the State reacheth Daggers and Daggers to Subjects to assacinate the Sacred Persons of the Lords Anointed layeth Traines in the deep Vaults of disloyal hearts to blow up Parliaments and to offer whole Kingdomes for an Holocaust Of the Impudency of Error and Hereticks in these Times IN this wretched Time Error and Hereticks which were wont but to whisper men in the Eare and to mumble between the Teeth have been so bold as to step into the Pulpit and to belch out blasphemies against God and the true Christian Religion Concerning the Books of Hereticks whether they are to be tolerated or absolutely abolished by the Prince 1. Concerning the Books of Hereticks this is our Judgement that of them 1. Some are Magicall 2. Some are Defamatorie Books 3. Some are Blasphemous Books 4. And some are Books full of divers Errors 2. The Magicall Books are to be burned Acts 19.19 3. The Defamatory Books are to be forbidden The Emperours Constitutious do ordain a Capital Punishment for the Authors of them 4. The Notoriously Blasphemous Books of Hereticks are also to be abolished 5. Concerning the Books of Hereticks which containe divers Errors the reading of them is not to be permitted to every one and chiefly not to those who did not yet sufficiently know the grounds of true Faith and Religion 6. But for that they are not absolutely to be abolished but the reading of them is to be permitted to the Learned 7. Which we prove by the following Arguments The first is taken from the Apostles Injunctions Prove all things saith S. Paul 1 Thes 5.21 And S. John 1. Epist 4. v. 1. Brethren believe not every very Spirit but try the Spirits whether they be of God The 2. Argument is taken from the Commodities and Utilities which proceeds from the reading of such Books In the Books of Hereticks such things are written by which the Heresies themselves are confuted Besides it is profitable to know what is happened in every Age. The 3. Argument is this Which of the Fathers hath been free from all kind of Errors And in the Books of the Gentiles and of the Jews many things are contained contrary to the true Christian Faith and yet we do not abolish them Hereticks and Deceivers and Impostors grace themselves with high and strange Titles and glorious Names to blear the eyes of the simple 1. THeudas said he was some great one Simon Magus stiled himself the great Power of God Montanus arrogated to himself the Title of Paracletus the Comforter and to his three Minions Priscilla Maximilla and Quintilla the names of Prophetesses Manes bare himself as if he were an Apostle immediately sent from Christ 2. Therefore it is a silly shift of a bankrupt Disputant in the Schools to argue à vocibus ad res from the bare name of things to their nature De Not. Eccles and yet Bellarmine fights against us with this Festraw We are Sir-named Catholicks therefore we are so The Devil often maketh of women strong Instruments to dispread the Poyson of Heresie 1. SImon Magus had his Helena Marcion his female Fore-runner Apelles his Philumena Montanus his Maximilla Donatus his Lucilla Elpidus his Agape Priscillian his Galla Arius the Prince his Sister Nicholaus Antiochenus his Feminine Troops and Quires and all Arch-hereticks some Strumpets or other to serve them for Midwives when they were in Travel with Monstrous and mis-shapen Heresies Thou sufferest the woman Jezabel We must avoid the familiar company of Gods Enemies and of true Religion for fear of Infection 1. FOr such enemies are like Jacobs Poplar rods they are like the two Rivers in Mercator Axius and Aliacmon like the two Fountains in Spain whereof Maginus 1. Omnia Injecta respuit refuses all that is cast into it 2. Omnia injecta sibi assimilat makes all things cast into it like to it self 2. The danger is noted by Solomon Prov. 6.27 And by the sharp speech of Jehu the Prophet to Jehosaphat 2 Chron. 18.3 2 Chron. 19.2 3. Therefore is the Exhortation of the Apostle Wherefore come out from amongst them and touch no unclean thing 2 Cor. 6.17 4. If Saint John the Evangelist would not stay in the Bath with Cerinthus the Heretick shall we dare freely to communicate with worser Hereticks Of the Chief Errors of the Socinians 1. Their Errors concerning the Vnity of the Divine Essence and the Trinity of Persons THey deny the Trinity of Persons They deny the Divinity of the Son They say that the Birth of the Son is altogether impossible They deny the Divinity of the Holy Ghost They denie that the Holy Ghost is a Person They maintain that the Holy Ghost is onely the Power of God They teach that the Holy Ghost dwelling in the hearts of the Faithful is nothing else but a firm and certain hope of Eternal Life They deny that a particular operation of the Holy Ghost be required for the production of Faith They deny also that in God there be a certain natural Justice and Mercy 2. Their Errors concerning Christ the Mediatour THey deny that there be two Natures in Christ the Divine and the Humane They deny that Christ is risen from the Dead by his own power and vertue They deny that Christ by his Death did satisfie for our sins or that he be dead to merit Salvation unto us They deny that Christ hath reconciled us unto God They deny that Christ be come to fulfil the Law for us on the contrary they say that Christ hath added new Commandments to the Law They deny that Christ upon the Altar of the Cross did offer himself to God for us They deny also that