in brotherly sort wished the Bishop of Antioch to resist heretiques and to let him vnderstand of the state of the Churches and to be a consort of the Apostolique See in this care to see that the priuiledges of the third See were not deminished by any mans ambition assuring him that whensoeuer he will do any thing for the aduancing of the dignity of the See of Antioch he also will be ready to concurre with him In all which passages betweene Leo and the Bishop of Antioch there is nothing found that hath any shew of proofe of the Popes supremacie Fourthly we say that Cyrill the Patriarch of Alexandria besought Leo to giue noe consent to the attempts of Iuuenall Bishop of Hierusalem seeking to prejudice the Church of Antioch to subject Palaestina to himselfe but that he besought Leo not to permit nor suffer Palaestina to be taken from Antioch and subjected to the Church of Hierusalem as if the whole power of permitting or hindring this thing had rested in Leo is but the false report of the Cardinall according to his wonted manner of misse-alleaging authors for the the aduantage of his cause So that the disposition of this matter rested not wholly in Leo but his concurrence with the Bishops of Antioch and Alexandria was necessary for the withstanding of the attempts of Iuuenall which his concurrence and helpe hee promised the Bishop of Antioch as we haue already heard and was euer ready to yeeld the same vnto him Fiftly we say that Leo did not command Dioscorus the Patriarch of Alexandria but whereas the manner was when the Patriarches were first elected ordained that they should mutually consent one to another and that hee who was newly ordained should send vnto the rest his Synodall letters and testimonies of his lawfull election and ordination Dioscorus being newly elected appointed Patriarch of Alexandria sendeth his Synodall letters to Leo Bishop of Rome that so he might giue his consent receiue embrace him as his fellow Patriarch Leo that these beginnings of Dioscorus might be more sure and firme nothing wanting to perfection fatherly as more ancient and brotherly as of the same ranke with him putting him in mind of some differences betweene their two Churches about the time of the ordination of Ministers and for that it seemed not likely vnto him that Marke the scholler of Peter tooke any other order in this behalfe then Peter did saith vnto him Wee will haue you to obserue that which our Fathers euer obserued making this a condition of the allowance consent he was to yeeld vnto him and vrging the practice of the Apostles sayth hee shall do well if obeying these Apostolicall institutions he shall cause that forme of ordination to be kept in the Churches ouer which God hath set him which is obserued in the Churches of the West that Ministers of the Church may be ordained onely on the Lords day on which day the creation of the world was begun in which Christ rose in which death was destroyed and life after which there is no death tooke beginning in which the Apostles receaued frō the Lord the trūpet of preaching the Gospel the ministration of the Sacrament of regeneration Sixtly we say that Leo intermedleth in the Churches of Africa and requireth some ordained contrary to the Canons to be put from their places tollerateth others and willeth the cause of Lupicinus a Bishop who had appealed vnto him to be heard there because he was Patriarch of the West and these parts of Africa were within his Patriarchship and that yet this his intermedling in so particular sort with the affaires of the Africane Churches was not very pleasing vnto those of Africa as shall appeare by that which followeth Lastly we say that the Church of Rome was the head of all Churches in the sence before expressed and had a presidence of order and honour amongst them and had in that sort as Leo truly saith more subject to it then euer were vnder the Romane Empire but vnder any absolute supreme commanding power of the Church of Rome they were not But saith Bellarmine if the former testimonies of Leo be auoided there is one more yet behind so cleare and full for the supremacie of the Pope that nothing can be sayd in answere vnto it in his Epistle to Anastasius Bishop of Thessalonica His words are these Amongst the most blessed Apostles like in honour there was a certaine difference and distinction of power and whereas they were equally chosen yet notwithstanding it was giuen to one of them to haue a preeminence amongst the rest from which forme the distinctiō and difference that is amongst Bishops hath taken beginning and by a most wise disposition it hath beene prouided that all without difference shall not challenge all vnto thēselues but that there should be in seuerall prouinces seuerall Bishops whose sentence judgment should be first and chiefe amongst the brethren and againe certaine other constituted and placed in greater cities who might take the care of more then the former by whom the care of the whole Church might flow vnto that one seate of Peter and nothing any where might dissent from the head These words truely make a goodly shew and may seeme most strongly to proue the supremacie that the Popes now challenge but in very deede they most powerfully ouerthrow it For the Bishops of Rome will neuer be perswaded in proportionable sort as is expressed in the words of Leo to challenge no more in respect of the whole Church then the Metropolitane Bishops doe in respect of their Provinces and the Patriarches in respect of their Churches of a larger extent For then they must doe nothing but accordingly as they shall bee swayed by the major part of the voyces of the Bishops of the Christian Church For the Metropolitane may doe nothing in his province nor the Patriarch in his larger extent but as they shall be directed swayed by the major part of the voices of their Bishops and yet surely the meaning of Leo was not to giue so much to the Bishop of Rome in respect of all Christian Bishops as pertaineth to the Metropolitanes and Patriarches in respect of their Bishops For the Metropolitane is to ordaine the Bishops of the Province and the Patriarch to ordaine and confirme the Metropolitanes by imposition of hands or mission of the Pall but the Pope neuer had any such power in respect of the Patriarches who were onely to send their Synodall Epistles to him testifying their faith as he likewise to them without expecting any other confirmation then that mutuall consent whereby one of them assured of the right faith and lawfull ordination of another receiued and embraced each other as fellowes and colleagues So that that care of the vniversall Church which Leo saith floweth together and commeth vp to that one chaire of Peter is to be vnderstood only in respect of things concerning the common faith
parts of this Church and Catholiques that thinke the Pope may iudicially erre vnlesse a generall Councell concurre with him which in their opinion is an error and neare to heresie Yea the same Bellarmine sayth that the particular Romane Church that is the cleargy and people of Rome subiect to the Pope cannot erre because though some of them may yet all cannot It is true therefore which I haue deliuered not withstanding any thinge the Treatiser can say to the contrary that the Church including all the faithfull that are and haue beene since the Apostles may be sayd to bee free from error because in respect of her totall vniuersality she is so it being impossible that any errour should bee found in all her parts at all times though in respect of her seuerall parts shee be not For sometimes and in some parts she hath erred and in this sense can no more be sayd to be free from error then a man may be sayd to bee free from sicknesse that in some parts is ill affected But as a man that hath not beene alwaies nor in all parts ill may bee said to be free from perpetuall and vniuersall sicknesse so the Church is free from perpetuall and vniuersall error This the Treatiser saith is a weake priuiledge and not answerable to the great and ample promises made by Christ whereas the Fathers knew no other whatsoeuer this good man imagineth For Vincentius Lyrinensis confesseth that error may infect some parts of the Church yea that it may sometimes infect almost the whole Church so that he freeth it only from vniuersall perpetuall error But sayth the Treatiser what are poore Christians the nearer for this priuiledge how shall such a Church be the director of their faith and how shall they know what faith was preached by the Apostles what parts taught true doctrine and when and which erred in subsequent ages Surely this question is easily answered For they may know what the Apostles taught by their writings and they may know what parts of the Church teach true doctrine by comparing the doctrine each part teacheth with the written word of God and by obseruing who they are that bring in priuate and strange opinions contrary to the resolution of the rest But if happily some new contagion endeauour to commaculate the whole Church together they must looke vp into Antiquity and if in Antiquity they finde that some followed priuate and strange opinions they must carefully obserue what all not noted for singularity or heresie in diuerse places and times constantly deliuered as vndoubtedly true and receiued from such as went before them This course Vincentius Lyrinensis prescribeth But the Treatiser disclaimeth it not liking that all should be brought to the letter of holy Scripture and the workes of Antiquity which setting aside the authority of the present Church he thinketh yeeld no certaine and diuine argument So that according to his conceipt wee must rest on the bare censure and iudgement of the Pope for he is the present Church Antiquity is to be contēued as little or nothing worth Hauing iustified the distinctiō of the diuerse cōsiderations of the Church impugned by the Treatiser that which he hath touching the two assertions annexed to it will easily bee answered For the one of them is most true his addition of not erring being taken away and the other is but his idle imagination for wee neuer deliuered any such thing §. 3. IN the third place he excepteth against Mee because I say the words of the Apostle in the Epistle to Timothy touching the house and Church of God are originally vnderstood of the Church of Ephesus wherein Paul directeth Tymothy how to demeane and behaue himselfe but because I haue cleared this exception in my answere to Higgons I will say nothing to him in this place but referre him thither §. 4. FRom the Apostle the Treatiser passeth to Saint Augustine and chargeth Me th I wrest his words when he sayth he would not beleeue the Gospell if the authority of the Church did not moue him to a sense neuer meant by him These words of S. Augustin are vsually alleadged by the Papists to proue that the authority of the Church is the ground of our faith reason of beleeuing in answere whereunto I shew that the Diuines giue two explications of them For Ockam and some other vnderstand them not of the multitude of beleeuers that now are in the world but of the whole number of them that are and haue beene since Christ appeared in the flesh so including the Apostles and in this sense they confesse that the Church because it includeth the writers of the bookes of the new Testament is of greater authority then the books themselues Other vnderstand by the name of the Church onely the multitude of beleeuers liuing in the world at one time and thinke the meaning of Augustine is that the authority of this Church was an introduction vnto him but not the ground of his faith and principall or sole reason of beleeuing The former of these explications this graue censurer pronounceth to be friuolous First because if wee may beleeue him Saint Augustine neuer vsed these words Catholique Church after this sort in that sense Secondly because he speaketh of that Church which commanded him not to beleeue Manicheus which vndoubtedly was the present Church Thirdly because as he supposeth I can alleadge no Diuine that so interpreted the words of Augustine that which I cite out of Ockam being impertinent To euery of these reasons I will briefly answere And first that Augustine doth vse the words Catholique Church in the sense specified by Me it is euident For writing against Manicheus he hath these words Palám est quantū in re dubia ad fidem certitudinem valent Catholicae Ecclesiae authoritas quae ab ipsis fundatissimis sedibus Apostolorū vsque ad hodiernū diem succedētibus sibimet Episcopis tot populorū cōsensione firmatur that is it is apparant what great force the authority of that Church hath to settle the perswasion of faith cause certainty in things doubtfull that from the most surely established seats of the Apostles by succession of Bishops euen till this present cōsent of people is most firmely setled To the second reason wee answere that the Church including the Apostles and all faithfull ones that haue beene since comprehendeth in it the present Church and so might commaund Augustine not to listen to Manicheus So that this commaunding proueth not that he speaketh precisely of the present Church To the third I say that the Treatiser is either strangely ignorant or strangely impudent when hee affirmeth that I can alledge no Diuine that vnderstandeth the words of Augustine of the Church including in it the Apostles such as liued in their times For first Durandus vnderstandeth them of the Primitiue Church including the Apostles Secondly Gerson will tell him that when
and the two first kindes thereof 432. Chap. 14. Of the third kind of communication of properties and the first degree thereof 434. Chap. 15. Of the third kind of communication of properties and the second degree thereof 438. Chap. 16. Of the worke of Mediation performed by Christ in our nature 441. Chap. 17. Of the things which Christ suffered for vs to procure our reconciliation with God 445. Chap 18. Of the nature and quality of the passion and suffering of Christ. 450. Chap. 19. Of the descending of Christ into hell 453. Chap. 20. Of the merit of Christ of his not meriting for himselfe his meriting for vs. 464. Chap. 21. Of the benefites which we receiue from Christ. 469. Chap. 22. Of the Ministery of them to whom Christ committed the publishing of the reconciliation between God and men procured by him 471. Chap. 23. Of the Primacie of power imagined by our Aduersaries to haue beene in Peter and their defence of the same 479. Chap. 24. Of the preeminence that Peter had amongst the Apostles and the reason why Christ directed his speeches specially to him 486. Chap. 25. Of the distinction of them to whom the Apostles dying left the managing of Church-affaires and particularly of them that are to performe the meaner seruices in the Church 488. Chap. 26. Of the orders and degrees of them that are trusted with the Ministery of the word and Sacraments and the gogouernment of Gods people and particularly of Lay-elders falsely by some supposed to bee Gouernours of the Church 493. Chap. 27. Of the distinction of the power of Order and Iurisdiction and the preeminence of one amongst the Presbyters of each Church who is named a Bishop 497. Chap. 28. Of the diuision of the lesser titles and smaller Congregations or Churches out of those Churches of so large extent founded and constituted by the Apostles 501. Chap. 29. Of Chorepiscopi or Rurall Bishops forbidden by old Canons to encroach vpon the Episcopall office and of the institution necessary vse of Archpresbyters or Deanes 504. Chap. 30. Of the forme of the gouernement of the Church and the institution and authority of Metropolitanes and Patriarches 510. Chap. 31. Of Patriarches who they were and the reason why they were preferred before other Bishops 515. Chap. 32. How the Pope succeedeth Peter what of right belongeth to him and what it is that he vniustly claimeth 518. Chap. 33. Of the proofes brought by the Romanists for confirmation of the vniuersality of the Popes iurisdiction and power 521. Chap. 34. Of the pretended proofes of the Popes vniuersall iurisdiction taken out of the decretall Epistles of Popes 524. Chap. 35. Of the pretended proofes of the Popes Supremacie produced and brought out of the writinges of the Greeke Fathers 533. Chap. 36. Of the pretended proofes of the Popes Supremacie taken out of the writings of the Latine Fathers 539. Chap. 37. Of the pretended proofes of the Popes vniuersall power taken from his intermedling in ancient times in confirming deposing or restoring Bishops deposed 550. Chap. 38. Of the weakenesse of such proofes of the supreame power of Popes as are taken from their lawes Censures dispensations and the Vicegerents they had in places farre remote from them 556. Chap. 39. Of Appeales to Rome 561. Chap. 40. Of the Popes supposed exemption from all humane iudgment as beeing reserued to the iudgement of Christ onely 571. Chap. 41. Of the titles giuen to the Pope and the insufficiencie of the proofes of his illimited power and iurisdiction taken from them 582. Chap. 42. Of the second supposed priuiledge of the Romane Bishops which is infallibility of iudgement 585. Chap. 43. Of such Popes as are charged with heresie and how the Romanists seeke to cleare them from that imputation 593. Chap. 44. Of the Popes vniust claime of temporall dominion ouer the whole world 602. Chap. 45. Of the Popes vniust claime to intermedle with the affaires of Princes and their States if not as Soueraign Lord ouer all yet at least in ordine ad Spiritualia and in case of Princes failing to do their duties 609. Chap. 46. Of the examples of Church-men deposing Princes brought by the Romanists 618. Chap. 47. Of the ciuill dominion which the Popes haue by the gift of Princes 632. Chap. 48. Of generall Councels and of the end vse and necessity of them 642. Chap. 49. Of the persons that may be present in generall Councels and who they are of whom generall Councels do consist 645. Chap. 50. Of the President of generall Councels 649. Chap. 51. Of the assurance of finding out the truth which the Bishops assembled in generall Councels haue 660. Chap. 52. Of the calling of Councels and to whom that right pertaineth 667. Chap. 53. Of the power and authority exercised by the ancient Emperours in generall Councels and of the Supremacie of Christian Princes in causes and ouer persons Ecclesiasticall 677. Chap. 54. Of the calling of Ministers and the persons to whom it pertaineth to elect and ordaine them 686. Chap. 55. Of the Popes disordered intermedling with elections of Bishops and other Ministers of the Church their vsurpation intrusion and preiudicing the right and liberty of others 696. Chap. 56. Of the ordinations of Bishops and Ministers 702. Chap. 57. Of the things required in such as are to be ordained Ministers and of the lawfulnesse of their Marriage 704. Chap. 58. Of Digamie and what kind of it it is that debarreth men from entring into the Ministerie 727. Chap. 59. Of the maintenance of Ministers 733. What things are Occasionally handled in the Appendix to the fifth Booke THat Protestants admit triall by the Fathers 749. Of Purgatory and Prayer for the dead 750. 764. 776. 783. 787. 792. Whether generall Councels may erre 761. The opinion of the Greekes concerning Purgatory 764. Of Transubstantiation 770. The opinion of some of the Schoolemen thinking that finall Grace purgeth out all sinfulnesse out of the soule in the moment of dissolution 772. Of the heresie of Aerius 789. Nothing constantly resolued on concerning Purgatory in the Romane Church at Luthers appearing 790. Abuses in the Romane Church disliked by Gerson 795. Grosthead opposing the Pope 809. The agreement of diuers before Luther with that which Protestants now teach 813. Of the difference betweene the German Diuines and vs concerning the Vbiquitary presence and the Sacrament 819. The differences of former times amongst the Fathers and of the Papists at this day compared with the differences that are found amongst Protestants 823. Of the Rule whereby all controuersies are to be ended 827. That the Elect neuer fall totally from grace once receiued 833. What manner of faith is found in infants that are baptised 837. Of the saying of Augustine that hee would not beleeue the Gospell if the authority of the Church did not moue him 841. Of the last resolution of our faith 844. 856. Of the sufficiency of the Scripture 847. Of Traditions 849. 892. Of the merit of works
of the Bishop of Rome Touching the first which is the neglect of divine lawes infinite multiplying of humane inuentions he pronounceth confidently there can be no generall reformation of the Church without the abolishing of sundry canons and statutes which neither are nor reasonably can be obserued in these times which doe nothing else but insnare the consciences of men to their endlesse perdition That no tongue is able sufficiently to expresse what euill what danger what confusion the contempt of holy Scripture which doubtlesse is sufficient for the gouernment of the Church for otherwise Christ had beene an vnperfect lawgiuer and the following of humane inuentions hath brought into the Church For proofe hereof saith he let vs consider the state of the clergie to which heauenly wisedome should haue beene espoused but they haue committed whoredome with that filthy harlot earthly carnall and diuelish wisedome so that the state of the Church is become meerely brutish monstrous heauen is below and the earth aboue the spirit obeyeth and the flesh commaundeth the principall is esteemed but as accessary and the accessary as principall yet some shame not to say that the Church is better gouerned by humane inuentions than by the diuine law and the law of the Gospell of Christ which assertion is most blasphemous For the Euangelicall doctrine by the professours of it did enlarge the bounds of the Church and lifted her vp to heauen which these sonnes of Hagar seeking out that wisedome which is from the earth haue cast downe to the dunghill And that it is not wholly fallen and vtterly overthrowne and extinct it is the great mercy of our God and Sauiour Touching the second cause of the Churches ruine which is the ambition pride and couetousnes of the Bishop and Court of Rome he boldly affirmeth that whereas the Bishoppes of Rome challenging the greatest place in the Church should haue sought the good of Gods people they contrarily sought onely to aduance themselues ad imitationem Luciferi adorari volunt vt dij neque reputant se subditos esse cuiquam sicut filij Belial sine iugo nec sibi posse dici cur ita facis nec Deum timent nec homines reuerentur In imitation of Lucifer they will bee adored and worshipped as Gods Neither doe they thinke themselues subiect to any but are as the sonnes of Beliall that haue cast off the yoke not enduring whatsoeuer they doe that any one should aske them why they doe so They neither feare God nor reuerence men Wherevpon hee feareth not to deliuer the opinion of many good and worthy men in his time That there beeing a Schisme in the Church by reason of the contention of the three Popes which continued for a long time in that age wherein hee liued it were good to take the aduantage of the time and neuer to restore to any Pope againe that vniversall administration of the temporalities of the Church and swaying the jurisdiction of the same but that it were best that all things were brought backe to that state they were in the times of the Apostles or at least in the times of Syluester and Gregorie when each prelate in his owne iurisdiction was permitted to gouerne them committed to his charge and dispose of the temporalities belonging to the Church without so many reseruations exactions as haue beene since brought in The Popes in time getting all into their owne hands with so many abuses fraudes and Simonies all seruing to maintaine the state of the Romish Court and of that head thereof which long since grew too heauie for the body to beare Neither was this the priuate opinion conceipt of Gerson only but Petrus de Aliaco Cardinalis Cusanus Picus Mirandula innumerable more of the best wisest and holiest men the Church had saw those abuses errours vncertainties and barbarismes wherewith the glory of the Church was greatly blemished and almost quite defaced and wished and expected a reformation Yea nothing was more certainely looked for a long time before Luther was borne than the ruine of that pompous state of the Church the staying of the furious couetous and tyranous proceedings of the Court and Bishop of Rome and the freeing of the Church from that Aegypticall bondage wherein it was holden CHAP. 12. Of the desire and expectation of a reformation of the corrupt state of the Church and that the alteration which hath beene is a reformation WHen the Pope resolued to accurse Anathematise and excommunicate Grostead the renowned Bishop of Lincolne because he contemned his papall Bulles and Letters who was therefore in his time named Romanorum malleus contemptor The Cardinalls opposed themselues saying hee was a right good man and holier then any of them the things he charged the Pope with most true and that therefore it was not safe thus to proceede least some tumult should follow especially say they seeing it is knowne there must be a departure from vs and a forsaking of the Romane See The same Grosteade a little before his death complayning of the wicked courses holden by the Romanists whose scourge he was said the Church should neuer finde any ease from the oppressiue burdens laid vpon her nor be deliuered from the Aegyptiacall bondage shee was holden in till her deliuerance were wrought in ore gladij cruentandi in the mouth of the sword all bathed in bloud Sauanorola holden by many for a Prophet surely a renowned man for pietie and learning tould the French King Charles the eight hee should haue great prosperity in his voyage into Italy and that God would giue the sword into his hand and all this to the end hee should reforme the corrupt state of the Church which if hee did not performe he should returne home againe with dishonour and God would reserue the honour of this worke for some other and so it fell out At that time when Luther began to reprooue the abuses of the Church of Rome things were in so bad state that not onely the blood of Christ was prophaned the power of the keyes by abuse made contemptible and the redemption of soules out of purgatory set as a stake at dice by the pardon-sellers to bee played for but so many grieuances there were besides that all the world sighed vnder the burden of them and wished that some man of heroicall magnanimitie would oppose himselfe When God had stirred vp so worthy an Instrument what did the Pope and his adherents Surely as Guicciardin reports there were that yeere many meetings in Rome to consult what was best to bee done The more wise and moderate sorte wished the Pope to reforme things apparantly amisse and not to persecute Luther least continuing those intollerable disorders abuses and villanies whereof all good men complayned and persecuting him that reprooued them with so great applause of the whole Christian world men should thinke innocencie vertue and piety in him to be
that is fatherly guides of Gods Church and people that only for orders sake and the preseruation of peace there is a limitation of the vse and exercise of the same Heerevnto agree all the best learned amongst the Romanists themselues freely confessing that that wherein a Bishop excelleth a Presbyter is â—…t a distinct higher order or power of order but a kind of dignity office 〈◊〉 imployment onely Which they proue because a Presbyter ordained persaltum that neuer was consecrated or ordained Deacon may notwithstanding doe all those actes that pertaine to the Deacons order because the higher order doth alwaies imply in it the lower and inferiour in an eminent and excellent sort But a Bishoppe ordained per saltum that neuer had the ordination of a Presbyter can neither consecrate and administer the sacrament of the Lords body nor ordaine a Presbyter himselfe being none nor doe any acte peculiarly pertaining to Presbyters Whereby it is most euident that that wherein a Bishoppe excelleth a Presbyter is not a distinct power of order but an eminencie and dignity onely specially yeelded to one aboue all the rest of the same ranke for order sake and to preserue the vnitie and peace of the Church Hence it followeth that many things which in some cases Presbyters may lawfully doe are peculiarly reserued vnto Bishops as Hierome noteth Potius ad honorem Sacerdotij quam ad legis necessitatem Rather for the honour of their Ministery then the necessity of any lawe And therefore wee reade that Presbyters in some places and at some times did impose hands and confirme such as were baptized which when Gregory Bishop of Rome would wholly haue forbidden there was soe great exception taken to him for it that he left it free againe And who knoweth not that all Presbyters in cases of necessity may absolue reconcile Penitents a thing in ordinary course appropriated vnto Bishops and why not by the same reason ordaine Presbyters Deacons in cases of like necessity For seing the cause why they are forbidden to do these acts is because to Bishops ordinarily the care of all churches is committed and to them in all reason the ordination of such as must serue in the Church pertaineth that haue the chiefe care of the Church and haue Churches wherein to imploy them which only Bishops haue as long as they retaine their standing and not Presbyters being but assistants to bishops in their Churches If they become enmies to God and true religion in case of such necessity as the care and gouerment of the Church is deuolued to the Presbyters remaining Catholique being of a better spirit so the duty of ordaining such as are to assist or succeede them in the work of the Ministrie pertaines to them likewise For if the power of order and authority to intermedle in things pertaining to Gods seruice bee the same in all Presbyters and that they be limited in the execution of it onely for order sake so that in case of necessity euery of theÌ„ may baptise confirme them whom they haue baptized absolue reconcile Penitents doe all those other acts which regularly are appropriated vnto the Bishop alone there is no reason to be giuen but that in case of necessity wherein all Bishops were extinguished by death or being fallen into heresie should refuse to ordaine any to serue God in his true worship but that Presbyters as they may do all other acts whatsoeuer speciall challenge Bishoppes in ordinary course make vnto them might do this also Who then dare condemn all those worthy Ministers of God that were ordained by Presbyters in sundry Churches of the world at such times as Bishops in those parts where they liued opposed themselues against the truth of God and persecuted such as professed it Surely the best learned in the Church of Rome in former times durst not pronounce all ordinations of this nature to bee void For not onely Armachanus a very learned and worthy Bishop but as it appeareth by Alexander of Hales many learned men in his time and before were of opinion that in some cases and at some times Presbyters may giue orders and that their ordinations are of force though to do so not being vrged by extreame necessity cannot be excused from ouer great boldnesse and presumption Neither should it seeme so strange to our aduersaries that the power of ordination should at some times be yeelded vnto Presbyters seeing their Chorepiscopi Suffragans or Titular Bishops that liue in the Diocesse and Churches of other Bishops and are no Bishops according to the old course of discipline do dayly in the Romish Church both confirme Children and giue orders All that may be alledged out of the Fathers for proofe of the contrary may be reduced to two heads For first whereas they make all such ordinations voide as are made by Presbyters it is to bee vnderstood according to the strictnesse of the Canons in vse in their time and not absolutely in the nature of the thing which appeares in that they likewise make all ordinations sine titulo to be voide All ordinations of Bishops ordained by fewer then three Bishops with the Metropolitane all ordinations of Presbyters by Bishoppes out of their owne Churches without speciall leaue whereas I am well assured the Romanists will not pronounce any of these to be voide though the parties so doing are not excusable from all fault Secondly their sayings are to bee vnderstood regularly not without exception of some speciall cases that may fall out Thus then we see that obiection which our adnersaries tooke to bee vnanswerable is abundantly answered out of the grounds of their owne Schoole-men the opinion of many singularly learned amongst them and their owne daily practise in that Chorepiscopi or Suffragans as they call them being not Bishops but onely Presbyters whatsoeuer they pretend and forbidden by all old Canons to meddle in ordination yet doe daily with good allowance of the Romane Church ordaine Presbyters and Deacons confirme with imposition of hands those that are baptized and doe all other Episcopall acts whiles their great Bishops Lord it like princes in all temporall ease and worldly bravery The next thing they object against vs is that our first Ministers what authority soeuer they had that ordained them yet had no lawfull ordination because they were not ordained placed in voide places but intruded into Churches that had lawfull Bishops at the time of those pretended ordinations and consequently did not succeede but encroach vpon other mens right To this wee answere that the Church is left voyde either by the death resignation depriuation or the peoples desertion and forsaking of him that did precede In some places our first Bishoppes and Pastours found the Churches voydby death in some by voluntarie relinquishment in some by depriuation and in some by desertion in that the people or at least that part of the
wee are of wee will most willingly listen vnto them But this they doe not and therefore their talking of the Fathers reasoning from succession when they dare not reason as the fathers did is most vaine and idle CHAP. 41. Of Vnity the kindes of it and that Communion with the Romane Bishoppe is not alwayes a note of true and Catholike profession THe next note of the Church assigned by them is Vnity The Vnity of the Church consisteth principally in three things First in obseruing and holding the Rule of faith once deliuered to the Saints Secondly in the subiection of the people to their Pastours and thirdly in the due connexion of many Pastours and the flockes depending on them among themselues All these kinds and sorts of vnity wee thinke necessarily required in some degree in all those societies of Christians that will demonstrate themselues to bee the true Churches of God and deny not but that vnity in this sort expressed and conceiued is a most apt note of the true Church The papists suppose that besides these kinds and sorts of vnity before expressed there is also required another kind of vnity to the being of the Church namely subiection to and vnion with that visible head which as they thinke Christ hath left in his steade to gouerne the whole body of the Church and to rule both Pastors and people This head as they suppose is the Bishoppe of Rome from whose communion sith wee are fallen they inferre that wee are diuided from the vnity of the true Church This last kinde of vnity deuised by the Papists wee deny to bee necessarily required to the beeing of the true Church First therefore let vs see what may bee said for or against the necessity of this kinde of vnitie and in the next place consider what our aduersaries can conclude for themselues or against vs from that kind of vnity which wee acknowledge to be necessarily required to the being of the true Church If the vnion of all Christians with this supposed visible head which is the Bishop of Rome were necessarily required as a perpetuall dutie then was there no true Church in the time of the Anti-Popes when the wisest knew not who were the true Popes and who were vsurpers If they shall reply that it is necessary to hold Communion with the true if hee may bee knowne this hath no more warrant of reason than the former seeing the best learned amongst thēselues thinke that not only the Pope but also the whole cleargy people of Rome may erre and fall into damnable heresies in which case it is the part of euery true Christian to disclaime all communion with them and to oppose himselfe against them and all their hereticall impieties That it is possible for the Pope to erre and become an heretique so many great Divines in the Church of Rome haue at all times most constantly defended that the greatest patrons of the infallibility of the Popes judgement at this day are forced to confesse it is not necessary to beleeue that the Pope cannot erre but that it is onely a matter of probable dispute Thus then it is evident to all that will not wilfully oppose themselues against the truth that consent with the Romane Bishoppe cannot bee made a perpetuall and sure note of the true Church Nay the Grecians most constantly affirme that the Popes taking all to himselfe and challenging to bee head of the vniversall Church hath beene the cause of the Churches division But because Bellarmine is so excellent a Sophister that he is able to proue any thing to bee true though neuer so false and absurde Let vs see how hee proueth that consent with the Bishop of Rome is a note of the true Church in such sorte that whosoeuer holdeth Communion with him is a Catholike and contrarily whosoeuer forsaketh his Communion is an Heretique or Schismatique This hee endeavoureth to make good by the testimonies of sundry of the auncient Fathers wrested against their knowne meanings and vndoubted resolutions in other parts of their workes and writings His first allegation is out of Irenaeus in his third booke and third Chapter against heresies But if wee consider the circumstances of the place and the occasion of the wordes ci◅d by Bellarmine wee shall easily see they proue no such thing as hee laboureth to enforce For Irenaeus in that place sheweth how all heresies may bee refuted by opposing against them the tradition of the Apostles which hee saith wee may easily finde out and discerne how contrary it is to the franticke conceites of heretiques by taking a view of them which were ordained Bishoppes by the Apostles in the Churches of Christ and their successours to this present time which neuer taught nor knew any such thing as these men dreame Now because it would bee tedious to reckon all the successions of Bishoppes succeeding one another in euery Church therefore he produceth the succession of the Bishops in the Romane Church in steede of all because that being the most famous and renowned Church of the world constituted and founded by the two most principall and glorious Apostles Peter and Paul whatsoeuer was successiuely taught and receiued in that Church and consequently deliuered vnto it by those blessed Apostles must needes be the doctrine and tradition of the rest of the Apostles deliuered to all other Churches of the World For what was there hidden from these Apostles that was revealed vnto any of the rest and what would they hide from this principall Church that was any way necessary to bee knowne Therefore saith Irenaeus the producing of the Romane succession is in stead of all For it must needes bee that what this most principall Church receiued from these great Apostles that nothing else the other did receiue from their Apostles first preachers which he expresseth in these words Ad hanc Ecclesiam propter potentiorē principalitatē necesse est omnem convenire Ecclesiā hoc est cos qui sunt vndique fideles Bellarmines sense of these words that all Churches must frame themselues to beleeue what the Church of Rome beleeueth and prescribeth to others to bee beleeued no way standeth with the drift of Irenaeus in this place as may appeare by that which hath beene sayd and therefore this allegation might haue beene spared His next authorities are out of Cyprians Epistles in the first of which Epistles we shall finde that there were certaine Schismatikes that fled from their owne lawfull Bishop and superiours with complaints to other Bishops and Churches and amongst the rest to the Church and Bishop of Rome not knowing sayth Cyprian or at least not considering that the Romanes are such as will not giue entertainement to such perfidious companions nor listen to lying and false reports For that is the meaning of those words Ad quos perfidia non possit habere accessum But Bellarmine wresteth the words to another sense to wit that infidelitie and
and when Paul and Barnabas were companions and their trauels were equall yet Paul is noted to haue beene the chiefe speaker so that though both were worthy of double honour yet Paul especially Some interprete the words in this sort There were some that remained in some certaine places for the guiding and gouerning of such as were already wonne by the preaching of the Gospell other that travayled with great labour and paines from place to place to spread the knowledge of God into all parts and to preach Christ crucified to such as had neuer heard of him before Both these were worthy of double honour but the later that builded not vpon another mans foundation more especially then the former that did but keepe that which others had gotten and governe those that others had gained Thus wee see that these words may haue a very good and true sense without pressing of them to confirme the late conceipt of some few men touching Lay-elders Which construction wee haue no reason to admitte seeing the circumstances of the place doe not enforce it nor no Ecclesiasticall writer did euer so interprete the words before our age So that to conclude this point the name of Presbyter one place onely in the first of Timothy and the fifth excepted where it is a name of age and not of office in the writings of the Apostles doth euer note out vnto vs a Minister of the Word and Sacraments The reason why the Apostles chose this word rather then the name of Sacerdos which wee commonly translate Priest though the English word Priest come of Presbyter was lest there should be a confusion of the Ministers of the old Testament who were to offer sacrifices vnto God figuring the comming of Christ with those of the new and to shew that none should be appointed Ministers but men of ripe age and confirmed judgment But some man will say the auncient Writers mention Seniours without whose advice nothing was done an Ecclesiasticall Senate and a Presbytery or company of Presbyters which gouerned the Church together with the Bishop therefore the matter is not so cleare against Lay-elders as some would make it Wee deny not but that there were Presbyters in the primitiue Church constituted and ordained by the Apostles and their Successours not onely to preach and minister Sacraments but to gouerne direct and guide the people of God also but that they were Lay-men it cannot bee proued The Bishops in the greater Churches and in the Citties had a great number of Clergy-men seruing in diuers sorts as it appeareth by Cyprian and the whole Ecclesiasticall history but out of the whole Clergie at large the Presbytery or company of Presbyters was called forth to the weightiest deliberations and to assist the Bishop for the preseruation of discipline Admonitos nos instructos sciatis dignatione diuinâ sayth Cyprian vt Numidicus Presbyter ascribatur Presbyterorum Carthaginensium numero nobiscum sedeat in Clero that is Know yee that we haue beene admonished and directed by God himselfe to choose Numidicus and to make him one of the company of the Presbyters of Carthage that he may sit together with vs as a Clergy-man by which words it appeareth that there was in Cyprians time a Colledge of Presbyters or Elders in the Church of Carthage which sate together with the Bishop for the hearing and determining of the causes of the Church but that these Elders were Clergie-men and not such Lay-seniours as some would haue Cornelius Bishop of Rome writing to Cyprian se totum Presbyterium contraxisse that is that hee drew together the whole Presbytery or companie of Presbyters for the reconciling of certaine Schismatiques to the Church and that hee called together fiue Bishops also and by common consent ended the whole matter Of this Senate and company of Presbyters Tertullian speaketh in his Apologie when he sayth with vs the most approued Seniours do sit as praesidents to censure offendours and to exercise discipline And of these likewise is it that Hierome sayth writing vpon Esay We also in the Church haue our Senate the company of Presbyters And vpon Titus The Churches were gouerned by the common aduice and councell of the Presbyters For to put it out of doubt that he meaneth not Lay-elders hee sayth in the same place Idem est ergo Presbyter qui Episcopus that is Therefore a Presbyter and Bishop are all one There is onely one place in Ambrose that hath some shew of proofe for Lay-elders His words are The Iewish Synogogue and after the Church had Seniours or Elders without whose councell nothing was done in the Church which by what negligence it grew out I know not vnlesse it were by the sloth or pride of the Teachers whilest they alone would seeme to be something Here is mention of Elders without whose aduice nothing was done but it is not sayd they were Lay-men But some man perhaps will reply that the Elders which Ambrose speaketh of ceased before his time which cannot be vnderstood of Clergie-men therefore they were Lay-men To this we say that Ambrose doth not say the elders without whose councell nothing was to be done ceased before his time and were no more but that the aduising and consulting with them ceased whilest some would doe all themselues If it be sayd that they who thus assumed more then was fitte and excluded those Seniours without whose councell anciently nothing was done are not said to haue bin Bishops but Doctours and that therefore Ambrose speaketh not of Bishops excluding other Ministers of the Word and Sacraments from their consultations but of Clergie-men refusing the aduice of Lay Seniours we answere that Ambrose by the name of Teachers whose sloath or pride hee condemneth in this place might fitly vnderstand the Bishops seeing none but bishops haue power to preach in their owne right and other but only by permission from them Hereupon it is that Possidonius in the life of Augustine saith that Valerius Bishop of Hippo gaue S. Augustine his Presbyter leaue to preach because being a Grecian hee could not very well expresse himselfe in Latine In the Councell of Vase leaue is giuen by the Councell of Bishops to Presbyters for to preach But because this question touching Lay-elders is excellently handled by sundry of our Diuines I will not trouble the Reader with any farther discourse of this matter CHAP. 27. Of the distinction of the Power of Order and Iurisdiction and the preheminence of one amongst the Presbyters of each Church who is named a Bishop CEasing to speake of supposed Lay-elders which the Church of God knoweth not let vs come to the other that were appointed to teach and gouerne the people of GOD. Where first wee are to speake of the diuerse degrees of honour and preheminence found amongst them Secondly of their calling and appointing to the same And thirdly of their maintenance For the clearing of the former of these three
the Bishops vsed for the gouerning and ouer-seeing of certaine parts of their Diocese allotted to them with such limitations as they pleased for counsell aduise in managing of their weightiest affaires and the Arch-deacons which they vsed as spies in all places and trusted with the dispatch of what they thought fit they had for their direction in cases of doubt and for their ease in the multiplicitie of their employments certaine of their cleargie skilfull in the canons and Lawes of the Church whom they vsed as Officials to heare all manner of causes and matters of instance betweene party party but suffered them not to meddle in the censuring and punishing of criminall things or in any matter of office but in case of absence or sicknesse they had Vicars generall that might doe any thing almost that pertaineth to the Bishops Iurisdiction The former are not onely named Officials but Chauncellours though the name of Chauncellour bee not in this sense so auncient as the former Cancellarius originally and properly signifieth a Notarie or Secretarie because these for the preseruing of their writings and notes of remembrance were wont to sit and write Intra cancellos that is Within certaine places inclosing them made in the manner of Checquer-worke But from hence in time it came to be vsed for any one that is employed for the giuing of answere vnto sutors for keeping of Records and notes of remembrance and generally for the performance of some principall duties pertayning to him whose Chauncellour he is said to be CHAP. 30. Of the forme of the gouernment of the Church and the institution and authority of Metropolitanes and Patriarches THis being the forme of gouernment of each Diocese and particular Church let vs consider what dependance or subordination such particular Churches haue For it cannot nor may not be imagined that each Diocese or particular church is absolutely supreme and subiect to no higher authority The Papists are of opinion that Christ constituted and appointed one chiefe Pastour with vniuersality of power as his Vicegerent generall vpon earth placed him in the chiefe City of the world and set him ouer all the other both Bishops and Churches But the auncient Fathers are of another opinion For Hierome pronounceth that all Bishops are equall in order office and ministery whether of Rome Eugubium Tanais or Constantinople howsoeuer riches and magnificence of Churches and cities may make one seeme to be greater then another and Cyprian speaketh to the same purpose saying Let no Bishop make himselfe a Iudge of other euery one hauing receiued his authority from Christ and therefore being accountant to him onely And this he speaketh vpon occasion of a difference betweene him and the Romane Bishops of that time about rebaptization Wherefore let vs examine these contrary opinions and see which of them is most agreeable vnto truth and reason For the confirmation of the former of these two opinions the Romanists alledge many things to proue that the best forme of Regiment and gouernment is a Monarchie and consequently that Christ who vndoubtedly established the best forme appointed one supreme Monarch in his Church To this allegation Ockam most excellently and learnedly answereth in his Dialogues shewing and prouing at large that though the gouernment of one or a Monarchie be the best forme of Regiment in one citty or country as Aristotle rightly teacheth yet it is not the best forme of policie and gouernment in respect of the whole world and all the parts of it so farre distant remote one from another because the whole world and the infinite different countreyes and regions of it regularly may be better gouerned by many whereof no one is superiour to other then by one alone neither is the same forme of gouernment alwayes most expedient for the whole and for each part for greater circuits and for straighter or narrower bounds seeing one man may susteine the burthen of hearing determining and dispatching the greater causes more important matters in one kingdome or countrey but no one can so manage the weightiest businesses of the whole world And that in like sort though it be expedient that there should bee one Bishop ouer some part of the Church and people of God yet there is not the same reason that there should bee one ouer the whole seeing no one canne dispatch the greater businesses and manage the weightier affaires of the whole Christian world Besides he saith it would bee most dangerous that there should be any such one supreme ruler of the whole Church for that if he should fall into errour or heresie all the whole world would bee in great danger to bee seduced the members for the most part conforming themselues to their head and the inferiours to their rulers and superiours That which Ockam saith may be confirmed by the authority of Saint Augustine who thinketh a Monarchie or the gouernment of one supreme ruler most fit for the seuerall countries and parts of the world but not for the whole His words are Feliciores essentres humanae si omnia Regnaessent parua concordi vicinitate laetantia that is The state of worldly things would bee much more happy if the whole world were diuided out into small kingdomes joyfully conspiring together in a friendly neighbourhood then if all should be swayed by one supreme commander Thus then wee deny not but that amongst all the simple and single formes of government a Monatchie is the best for each country and people neither doth Caluine contradict vs herein as Bellarmine seemeth to report for hee doth not simply say that amongst all the simple formes of gouernment Aristocratie is best and to bee preferred but onely in the respect of often declinings and swaruings of absolute Kings hardly moderating themselues so in so free and absolute a liberty of commaunding all as that their wils should neuer swarue from that which is right and good But Bellarmine himselfe thinketh that the mixt formes of gouernment are to bee preferred before any of those simple formes of Monarchy Aristocratie and Democratie as having in them the best that is found in every of those single and simple formes And such is the gouernment of the Church of God Christ vndoubtedly establishing the best forme of gouernment in the same For the gouernment of each Diocese particular Church resteth principally in one who hath an eminent peerelesse power without whom nothing may be attempted or done yet are there others joyned with him as assistants without whose counsell aduice and consent he may doe nothing of moment and consequence whom hee cannot at his pleasure displace and remoue from their standings or depriue them of their honour or any way hardly censure them of himselfe alone but in the case of a Deacon hee must haue two other Bishops to concurre with him and in the case of a Presbyter fiue without which concurrence he may not proceed against
their faith and profession before they were receiued and allowed one of another and before tehy were accounted and reputed for lawfull Patriarches Wherefore presupposing that the gouernment of the Church is not Monarchicall in respect of any one supreame Pastour on earth but mixt and hauing seene how notwithstanding the diuersitie of many Pastours the Church may be preserued in peace and vnity let vs more exactly and distinctly consider what the auncient forme of Church policie and gouernment was If we looke into the monuments of Antiquity wee shall finde that there were aunciently three Subordinations in the Church For the actions of the Bishoppe of each particular Church of a citty and places adjoyning were subject to the censure and judgment of the rest of the Bishops of the same prouince amongst whom for order sake there was one chiefe to whom it pertained to call them together to sit as moderator in the midst of them being assembled and to execute what by joynt consent they resolued on The actions of the Bishoppes of a prouince and a prouinciall Synode consisting of those Bishoppes were subject to a Synode consisting of the Metropolitanes and other Bishoppes of diuerse prouinces This Synode was of two sorts For either it consisted of the Metropolitanes and Bishoppes of one kingdome and nation onely as did the Councels of Africa or of the Metropolitans and Bishoppes of many kingdomes If of the Metropolitanes and Bishoppes of one kingdome and state onely the chiefe Primate was mederator If of many one of the Patriarches and chiefe Bishops of the whole world euery Church being subordinate to some one of the Patriarchicall Churches and incorporate into the vnity of it Thirdly the actions of the Bishops of a whole kingdome and Patriarchship were subject to an Oecumenicall Synode consisting of all the Patriarches and the Metropolitanes and Bishops subject to them Touching prouinciall Councells to the censures whereof the actions of particular Churches are subject they were by the auncient Canons of the Church to be holden in euery prouince twice euery yeare It is very necessary say the Fathers of the Councell of Nice that there should be a Synode twice euery yeare in euery prouince that all the Bishops of the prouince meeting together may in common thinke vpon those thinges that are doubtfull and questionable For the dispatch of Ecclesiasticall businesses and the determining of matters in controuersie Wee thinke it were fit say the Fathers in the Councell of Antioche that in euery prouince Synodes of Bishops should be assembled twice euery yeare The first councell of Constantinople decreeth the same and the Fathers assembled in the Councell of Chalcedon complaine that in some prouinces the Synodes of Bishops are not holden and that thereby many Ecclesiasticall matters needing reformation are neglected and therefore they appoint that the Bishops of euery prouince shall assemble euery yeare twice at that place which the Bishoppe of the mother Citty shall thinke fit to amend all thinges that shall be found to bee amisse in the prouince Here we see the necessity of holding these Synodes and by whom they were to bee called and moderated Wherefore let vs now proceede to see of whom they consisted what causes they examined and determined what the power of the Metropolitane originally was and what in processe of time by positiue constitution vpon due and just considerations it grew to be Touching the persons that prouinciall Synodes consisted of it is cleare and euident that not onely Bishops but Presbyters also were present in these Assemblies and had decisiue voyces whereupon the Councell of Antisiodorum sayth Let all the Presbyters being called come to the Synode in the Citty The Councell of Tarracon Let letters bee sent by the Metropolitane to his brethren that they bring with them to the Synode not onely some of the Presbyters of the Cathedrall Church but also of each Diocese And the fourth Councell of Toledo describing the forme of celebrating prouinciall Synodes hath these words Let the Bishops assembled goe to the Church and sit according to the time of their ordination and after all the Bishops are entred and set let the Presbyters be called and the Bishops sitting in compasse let Presbyters sit behind them and the Deacons stand before them In the first Councell of Toledo we find these words Considentibus Presbyteris astantibus Diaconis caeteris qui intererant Concilio congregato Patronus Episcopus dixit c. that is The Presbyters sitting together with the Bishops the Deacons standing before them and the rest which were present in the Councell assembled Patronus the Bishop said c. The like we reade of a Synode holden by Gregory the Pope The words are these Gregorius Papa coram sacratissimo corpore Beati Petri Apostoli cum Episcopis omnibus Romanae Ecclesiae Presbyteris residens assistentibus Diaconis cuncto Clero dixit c. that is Gregory the Pope sitting before the most sacred body of blessed Peter with all the Bishops of the Romane Church and the Presbyters also the Deacons standing before them and all the Clergie said c. And that Presbyters were not only present in Provinciall Synodes but had decisiue voyces as well as Bishops it appeareth by their subscribing to the Decrees of such Synodes in the very same forme and manner that Bishops did So that it will be found most false and vntrue that Bellarmine hath that Presbyters haue no voyces in Synodes and the auncient forme of our Convocation here in England wherein not onely the Arch-bishops and Bishops but sundry Presbyters also as well out of Cathedrall Churches as Dioceses at large are present and haue decisiue voices will clearely refute the same The causes that were wont to be examined and determined in the meeting of the Bishops of the prouince were the ordinations of Bishops when any Churches were voyd and the depriving and reiecting of all such as were found vnworthy of their honour and place and in a word any complaint of wrong done in any Church was there to be heard Let the prouinciall Synodes be holden twice euery yeare saith the Councell of Antioch and let the Presbyters and Deacons bee present and as many as thinke they haue beene any way hurt or wronged there expect the determination of the Synode The power of the Metropolitane was in calling the rest of the Bishops to the Synode in appointing the place of their meeting and in sitting as President in the midst of them and so were things moderated that neither the rest might proceede to doe any thing without consulting him nor hee to doe any thing without them but was tyed in all matters of difference to follow the maior part and if hee neglected his dutie in convocating his brethren that so things might bee determined by common consent hee was by the Canons subiect to censure and punishment Thus at first all matters were to be heard determined and
continued 85. yeares Milesius perceiuing Paulinus to be ordained Bishop ouer them that were diuided from his communion seemed noe whit therewith to be offended or displeased but spake peaceably to Paulinus desiring him that they might joyne their flockes and feede them together and if sayd hee the throne diuide vs let mee lay the Gospell in it and then do thou sit in it sometimes and I will sit in it at other times and if I dye before thee thou shalt haue the care and charge of all if thou dye before mee the care and charge of all shall be deuolued to mee This counsell Paulinus would not harken vnto and therefore the Emperours officer adiudged the Churches to Milesius and the guiding of the diuided sheepe to Paulinus Whereupon when Milesius dyed though Paulinus would haue had the place yet hee was refused because hee had refused to harken to the Counsell of Milesius and the Bishoppes chose Flauianus a man verie conspicuous for his great labours and one that had exposed himselfe to many dangers for the good of the Church Yet this ordination greatly displeased the Aegyptians and Romanes The reason of which their soe great dislike was for that when there was much contention betweene Milesius and Paulinus it was so agreed that all they that were fit for that Bishopricke or might in likelyhood bee in any hope or expectation of it should sweare neither to seeke it nor accept it while either of these liued nor noe way to hinder but that after the death of the one the other might haue the full and entire gouernement of the whole of which number it was thought that Flauianus was one that therefore not without periury contrary to his vow and oath hee had hindred the reuniting of the diuided parts of the Church This dislike conceiued against Flauianus dyed not when Paulinus dyed but though Euagrius most vnlawfully and against the Canons had gotten the Bishoprique hauing noe ordination but from his predecessour whereas the Canons allow no such nomination of a Successour and besides require the presence of the Bishoppes of the prouince yet would they that at first disliked the ordination of Flauianus take noe knowledge of any of these things but cōmunicated with Euagrius incited the Emperour against Flavianus who being vrged continually by the Bishop of Rome and others no longer to suffer Flavianus to enjoy his place and told that suppressing Tyrants he did ill to suffer the violatours of the Lawes of the Church to escape vnpunished sent for Flavianus thinking to send him to Rome there to be judged in a Synode of Bishops who when hee came into the presence of the Emperour tolde him confidently that if any man would object against his doctrine or life he would desire to be tryed by no other Iudges but his greatest enemies but if the matter were for his Episcopall chaire he would willingly relinquish it that the Emperour might commit it to whom hee would vpon which his confident answere the Emperour dismissed him and bade him to goe home and feed the flocke committed to him Yet long after many complaints were againe renewed against him to the Emperour by sundry Bishops being at Rome fearing to taxe the Emperour himselfe for that he suppressed not the tyranny of Flavianus but the Emperour bade them say what that tyranny was as if he were Flavianus for that he had vndertaken the defence of him Which when they refused to doe professing themselues vnwilling to stand vpon termes with the Emperour he exhorted them to lay aside their foolish quarrellings and to reunite the Churches that had long without cause beene divided for that Paulinus was now dead and Euagrius came vniustly to the Bishopricke and the ordination of Flavianus was so farre forth allowed of that all the Churches of the East with the Churches of Asia Pontus Thracia and Illyricum held Flauianus to be lawfull Bishop of the East Hereupon the Bishops promised to surcease and that if Flavianus would send Legates vnto them they would kindly intreate them and hold communion with him Howsoeuer it appeareth by Socrates that after the death of Euagrius hee procured there should be no Bishop chosen in opposition to him and first pacified Theophilus and afterwards by his meanes Damasus Sozomen reporteth that Chrysostome after he was made Bishop of Constantinople finding that the Aegyptian westerne Bishops dissented from those of the East in respect of Flavianus and that all the Churches throughout the whole Empire were divided about him besought Theophilus to bee pacified towards him and to assist him for the reconciling of Damasus also To this suite of Chrysostome Theophilus yeelded sent certaine to Rome who prevailing sailed into Aegypt and from thence as also from Rome brought letters of reconciliation peace both from the Aegyptian and Westerne Bishops This History I thinke will neuer proue that the Bishop of Rome deposed Flavianus Bishop of Antioche and that hee could not hold his Bishopricke till the Bishop of Rome consented to him For the thing that was sought was not his holding of his Bishopricke as Bellarmine vntruly reporteth but the peace and concord of the Churches divided about him Neither was the difference onely betweene him and Damasus but all the Bishops of Aegypt the West dissented from him likewise and therefore Ambrose sheweth that the examining of the matter betweene Euagrius and him was committed to Theophilus the Bishops of Aegypt and desireth him to make relation of the end he should make to the Bishop of Rome that he also agreeing thereunto an vniversall peace might be concluded So that nothing can bee concluded out of this history for proofe of the vniversall power of Popes Seeing Damasus could neither of himselfe alone nor with the concurrence of the Westerne Bishoppes depose Flavianus nor by any meanes perswade the Emperour to thrust him out of his place but was sharply reprooued by the Emperour for quarrelling with him and required to bee at peace with him that so the Churches formerly divided without cause might be revnited The next instance of the Popes deposing Bishops is that of Sixtus the third who deposed Polychronius Bishop of Hierusalem if wee may beleeue Bellarmine but in truth there was neuer any such thing The circumstances of the whole proceeding against Polychronius Bishop of Hierusalem if there be any credite in the report of Pope Nicholas and the acts of the Councell vnder Sixtus the third were these Two things specially were objected to him the one that hee went about to violate the ancient bounds of the Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction of Bishops set and limited by the Fathers to preferre himselfe before the other principall Bishops and to make his See the first whereas in trueth it was the last amongst the Patriarchicall Sees the other that Simoniacally he conferred Ecclesiasticall honours vpon such as would purchase the same Hereupon the Bishops subiect to him not willing to proceede
in the West had iudged and condemned him ioyned his authority with Cyril the principall of the Bishops that were present that so nothing might be wanting to the perfection of a generall Councell So that it is most certaine that Cyril was president of the Councell of Ephesus not as a Vicegerent onely to the Bishop of Rome but in his owne right though he had the authority direction and consenting concurrence of the Bishop of Rome and all the Westerne Bishops ioyned with the power and authority which he and the rest of the Bishops present had of themselues And therefore Leo saith in expresse wordes that Cyril was President of the Councell of Ephesus as likewise Photius and others affirme The same answer may serue for Acacius For he was not Vicegerent of the Bishop of Rome in hearing and determining the cause of Peter Bishop of Alexandria who was an Eutychian Heretique as hauing none authority of his owne but there was a ioynt concurrence of the Bishop of Rome and the Bishop of Constantinople the later hauing besides his owne right and interest the full power and authority of the other and being likewise to vse the helpe of the Emperour for the reducing of the Church of Alexandria to the vnity of the faith againe in which businesse he failed for though at first he condemned Peter Bishop of Alexandria yet afterwards he was content to cōmunicate with him For which cause he was iustly reprehended as not answering the trust that was reposed in him and as being a fauourer of heretiques and so in a sort an heretique himselfe To these allegations which we haue already heard Harding in his answer to Bishop Iewels challenge addeth another of a Bishop of Alexandria being Vicegerent to the Bishop of Rome out of the Epistle of Bonifacius the second to Eulalius or Eulabius But Bellarmine refuteth that Epistle and sheweth that it is counterfeit and that there neuer was any such Eulabius to whom Bonifacius might write and therefore we will no longer insist vpon the examination of the same but proceed to the proofes which our Aduersaries bring from appeales made to Rome CHAP. 39. Of Appeales to Rome FOR the clearing of the matter of Appeales we must obserue that they are of three sorts Of Lay-men of inferiour Clergie-men and of Bishops Of the appeales of Lay-men there is noe mention in all Antiquity and yet now the Bishops of Rome reserue all the greater causes euen concerning the Laitie to thēselues alone forbidding the ordinary guides of the Church to intermedle with them and very ordinarily admitte appeales of Lay-men to the infinite vexation of men and the great hinderance of the course of all Iustice. Whereas it is most wisely and rightly ordered each Bishop hauing his portion of the flocke of Christ committed to him as Cyprian obserueth that they that are committed to their charge should not bee permitted to runne hither and thither but bee iudged there where the thinges for which they are called in question were done and where the accusers and witnesses may bee present Concerning inferiour Clergy-men the holy Bishoppes in the Councell of Mileuis speake in this sort It hath seemed good vnto vs that if Presbyters Deacons other inferiour Clergi-men complaine of the iudgements of their own Bishops the neighbour Bishops intreated by them with the consent of their Bishoppes shall heare them and make an end and if they thinke good to appeale from their iudgement it shall not be lawfull for them to appeale but onely to the Councels of Africa or to the Primates of their owne Provinces And if they shall make their appeale beyond the seas no man in Africa shall receiue them to the Communion This whole Councell Innocentius the first approued as it appeareth by his Epistle which we finde in the booke of the Epistles of S. Augustin Hereunto Bellarmine saith some answere with Gratian who addeth to the Canon of this Councell forbidding appeales to be made beyond the seas an exception vnlesse it be to the Sea Apostolique But this exception saith Bellarmine seemeth not fitting seeing the Africanes made this decree that men should not appeale beyond the seas especially in respect of the Church of Rome and to restraine the making of appeales thither there neuer being any appeale from the Africans to any other church but to the church of Rome only And yet Stapleton answereth the authority of this Councell as Gratian doth and that out of Iulius and Fabianus Bishops of Rome as he saith The Councell of Sardica saith Bellarmine decreed that the causes of Presbyters and inferiour clergy-men appealing from the iudgements of their owne Bishops should be determined and ended by the neighbour-Bishops and Pope Zozimus as appeareth by the sixth Councel of Carthage and the Epistle of the same Councell to Bonifacius the Pope required the same canon to be reuiued Augustine likewise sheweth that it was not lawfull for those of the clergie vnder the degree of Bishops to appeale out of Africa Neither was this the peculiar priuiledge of Africa alone For the Councell of Chalcedon ordained that if a clergie-man haue ought against another of the clergy the matter shall be heard by the Bishop or by arbitrators chosen by both parties with the Bishops allowance But if he haue ought against his Bishoppe he shall prosecute the same complaint in the Synode of the province This canon of the Councell of Chalcedon the Emperour confirmed saying if any of the clergy complaine against his Bishop for any matter let the cause be iudged by the Metropolitane according to the sacred rules and the imperiall lawes And if any man appeale from his sentence let the cause be brought to the Arch-bishoppe or Patriarch of that Diocese and let him according to the canons make a finall end And yet notwithstanding these canons aboue recited precisely forbidding inferiour clergy-men to appeale to Rome we finde that the Bishops of Rome admitted the appeale of one Apiarius iudged condemned in Africa which caused a great difference betweene the Africanes and him Whereupon the Fathers in the Councell of Africa wish the Bishop of Rome as it beseemeth him to reiect and repell the wicked and vnlawfull appeales as well of Presbyters as of other inferiour clergy-men seeing the ending and determining of their causes is by no decree of any Synode denied to the church of Africa and the Nicene canons most clearely committe both inferiour clergy-men and Bishops to their owne Metropolitanes Bellarmine to cleare the Pope from intrusion and to avoide the testimonies authorities of the holy Bishops and Pastours of the church which we haue produced to shew the vnlawfulnes of appeales to Rome answereth first that though they of the inferiour clergy were prohibited to appeale to the Pope yet hee was not forbidden to admit their appeales which is a most strange answere For if they in appealing did
force of this decree first we must marke that it was made after the diuision and parting of the Bishops of the East from them of the West and so by the Westerne Bishops alone as it may seeme respectiuely to the Prouinces of the West ouer which the Bishop of Rome was Patriarch Secondly that the Africans tooke no notice of it and yet there were Bishops of Africa at the Councell so that in likely-hood this decree was not confirmed by subsequent acceptation execution and practise Thirdly that the Councell of Chalcedon which was absolutely Oecumenicall and wholly approued so of greater authority then this that was not an approued Generall Councell but in a sort onely decreeth the contrary and referreth the finall determination of all causes of Bishops to the Primate or Patriarch which the Emperour also confirmeth and will haue no man to haue power to contradict the end which the Primate or Patriarch shall make Lastly that this canon maketh rather against them that alleage it then any way for them For by this Canon all matters must bee ended at home or in the next Province to that wherein they arise and the Pope may not call matters to Rome there to bee heard but is onely permitted in some cases to send a Presbyter hauing his authoritie and to put him in commission with the Bishops of the Province that so hee and they jointly may reexamine things formerly judged If this Canon were now obserued I thinke there would not bee so great exception taken to the court of Rome in respect of appeales as now there is Quousque saith Saint Bernard to Eugenius non evigilat consideratio tua ad tantam appellationum confusionem Ambitio in Ecclesia per te regnare molitur Praeter ius fas praeter morem ordinem fiunt repertum ad remedium reperitur ad mortem Antidotum versum est in venenum murmur loquor querimoniam communem Ecclesiarum Truncari se clamant 〈◊〉 Vel nullae vel paucae admodum sunt quae plagam istam aut non doleant aut non timeant that is How long will it bee before thou awake to consider this so great confusion of appeales Ambition striueth and seeketh busily to raigne in the Church by thy meanes They are entred prosecuted and admitted beside right law besides custome and order That which was first found out for a remedie is now found to bee vnto death I doe but expresse the murmuring and common complaint of the Churches They cry out that they are mangled and dismembred and there are few or none found that doe not either already grieue at this plague or feare the smart of this euill Yet would not the Africans admit the canon of the councell of Sardica but willed the Pope to send no more any of his clearkes to dispatch causes at any mans suite For that this was to bring in the smoakie puffe of worldly pride into the Church and in very earnest sort besought him not to bee too easie in admitting any appeales brought from them If within a little time after the Bishops of Rome prevailed so farre as that Bishops were suffered to appeale out of Africa to Rome which was the thing claimed by Zozimus but denied vnto him by the Africans it is not to bee marvailed at seeing they still enlarged the extent of their power till they had ouerthrowne the jurisdiction of all the Bishops of the West and alienated the affections of all other from them So that there was a schisme in the church the other foure Patriarches dividing themselues from the Bishop of Rome and at their parting vsing these or the like words as it is reported Thy greatnesse wee know thy covetousnesse wee cannot satisfie thy encroaching we can no longer endure liue by thy selfe But here we shall find a great contrariety of judgment among the greatest Rabbies of the Romish church touching these Africans that thus withstood the claimes of Zozimus Bonifacius and Celestinus For Harding against Bishop Iewels challenge in the Article of the supremacie saith that the whole church of Africa withdrew it selfe from the church of Rome by reason of this difference through the enticement of Aurelius Archbishop of Carthage and continued in schisme by the space of an hundred yeares during which time by Gods punishment they were brought into miserable captiuity by the barbarous cruell Vandales who were Arrians till at length when it pleased Almighty God of his goodnesse to haue pitty of his people of that Province hee sent them Belisarius that valiant Captaine that vanquished and destroyed the Vandales and Eulabius that godly Bishop of Carthage that brought home the Africanes againe and joyned those divided members to the whole Body of the Catholique church A publique instrument containing their submission being made and offered to Bonifacius the second by Eulabius in the name of the whole Province Which was joyfully receiued and whereof Bonifacius writeth to Eulabius Bishop of Thessalonica desiring him to giue thankes to God for the same But Bellarmine proueth at large that notwithstanding this resistance and opposition of the Africans against the claimes of Zozimus Bonifacius and Caelestinus yet there neuer was any apparant breach betweene the Romanes and them And for the Epistle of Bonifacius the second to Eulabius wherein he saith very harshly as Cusanus well noteth that Aurelius sometimes Bishop of the church of Carthage with his colleagues beganne to waxe proude and insolent against the church of Rome by the instigation of the divell in the dayes of his predecessours so condemning Augustine Alipius and two hundreth twenty fiue Bishops more as set on by the diuell to resist the claimes of his predecessors and the Epistle of Eulabius Bishop of Carthage wherein hee condemneth his predecessours and submitteth himselfe to the Bishop of Rome he professeth he greatly suspecteth they are forged counterfeit First because that which is contayned in them cannot stand with that which is most certainely proued known to be true touching the amity and friendship that was betweene the Romane Church and Augustine Eugenius Fulgentius and other Africans after the opposition about the matters of appeales Secondly for that there was no such Eulabius Bishop of Alexandria at that time to whom Bonifacius might write as it appeareth by the Chronologie of Nicephorus of Constantinople Thirdly for that Bonifacius in his Epistle doth signifie that hee wrote in the time of Iustinus the Emperour whereas Iustinus was dead before Bonifacius was Bishop as appeareth by all histories So that we may see what grosse forgeries there haue beene in former times deuised onely to abuse the simple and make the world beleeue that all Bishops and churches subiected themselues vnto the church of Rome And how shamelesse a defender of Antichristian tyrannie Doctour Harding was that could not escape this censure of Bellarmine the Iesuite But it is lâ—…sse to be maruailed at that he should so harden
doubt not of all indifferent Readers And therefore there remaineth but onely one allegation of Bellarmine touching appeales to be examined Gregory the first saith he put Iohn the Bishop of Iustiniana the first from the communion for that he presumed to iudge the Bishop of Thebes hauing appealed to Rome The case was this The Bishop of Thebes wronged by his fellow-Bishops made his appeale to Rome Hereupon Iohn Bishop of Iustiniana the first who was the Bishop of Romes Vicegerent for certaine Prouinces neare adioyning was appointed by the Emperour to heare the cause which he did accordingly But without all indifferencie and in sort contrarie to the Canons and though vpon the discerning of his vniust and partiall proceeding an appeale were tendered to him yet gaue he sentence against the poore distressed Bishop Gregory hearing hereof putteth him from the communion for thirty dayes space inioyning him to bewaile his fault with sorrowfull repentance and teares Truely this allegation maketh a very faire shew at the first sight But if wee remember that the Bishop of Iustiniana the first and the distressed Bishop of Thebes wronged by him were within the Patriarchship of Rome as Cusanus sheweth they were you shall finde it was no more that the B of Rome did then any other Patriarch in like case might haue done within his owne precincts and limits Neither can the Cardinall euer proue that the Bishop of Rome had any such Vicegerent as the Bishop of Iustiniana the first was but onely within the compasse of his owne Patriarchship But saith hee it was a Greeke Bishop that Gregory thus proceeded against It is true it was so But what will hee inferre from thence Is it not knowne that many Greeke Bishops were subiect to the Bishop of Rome as Patriarch of the West was not the Bishoppe of Thessalonica a Greeke Bishop and yet I thinke no man doubteth but that hee was within the compasse of the Patriarchship of Rome as many other also were howsoeuer in time they fell from it adhered to the Church of Constantinople after the diuision of the Greeke and Latine Churches CHAP. 40. Of the Popes supposed exemption from all humane Iudgement as being reserued to the Iudgement of Christ onely OVR Adversaries finding their proofes of the Popes illimited power taken from such appeales as were wont in auncient times to bee made to Rome to bee too weake flie to another wherein they put more confidence which is his exemption from all humane Iudgement Christ whose Vicar he is having reserued him to his owne iudgement onely If this exemption could bee as strongly proued as it is confidently affirmed it would be an vnanswerable proofe of the thing in question But the proofe hereof will be more hard then of the principall thing in controuersie betweene vs. Touching this point I finde great contrarietie of opinions among Papists as men at their wits ends not knowing what to affirme nor what to denie For first there are some among them that thinke that the Pope though hee violate all lawes diuine and humane though hee become publickly scandalous and therein shew himselfe incorrigible yea though hee be a professed and damnable hereticke yet neither is deposed ipso facto by the sentence of the canon nor may be deposed by all the men in the world Which opinion if we admit to bee true the condition of the church the beloued spouse of Christ and mother of vs all is most woefull and miserable in that hereby shee is forced to acknowledge a denouring wolfe making hauocke of the sheepe of Christ redeemed with his precious bloud to be her Pastor and guide Secondly some are of opinion that the Pope if hee become an open and professed hereticke is deposed ipso facto by the sentence of the canon and that the church may declare that he is so deposed Thirdly there are that thinke that an hereticall Pope is not deposed ipso facto but that he may be deposed by the church Fourthly many worthy Diuines in the Romane church heretofore haue beene of opinion that the Church or generall Councell may depose the Pope not onely for heresie but also for other enormous crimes Of this opinion was Cardinall Cusanus Cardinall Cameracensis Gerson Chauncellour of Paris Almaine and all the Parisians with all the worthy Bishops Diuines in the Councels of Constance and Basill Yet the Papists at this day for the most part dislike and condemne this opinion and acknowledge no deposition of any Pope how ill soeuer vnlesse it be for heresie And Bellarmine to make all sure telleth vs farther that the church doth not by any authoritie depose an hereticall Pope but whereas he is deposed ipso facto in that hee falleth into heresie onely declareth the same and thereupon largely refuteth the opinion of Cardinall Caietane who thinketh that the Pope when he falleth into heresie is not deposed ipso facto but that deseruing to bee deposed the Church doth truely and out of her authority depose him First because as he saith if the Church or Councell may depose the Pope from his Papall dignity against his will for what cause soeuer it will follow that the Church is aboue the Pope which yet Caietane denieth For as it will follow that the Pope is aboue other Bishops and of more authority then they if he may depose them so if the councell of Bishops may depose the Pope they are greater then hee Secondly he saith to be put from the Papacie vnwillingly is a punishment so that if the Church may depose the Pope though vnwilling to leaue his place it may punish him and consequently is aboue him For hee that hath power to punish hath the place of a Superiour and Iudge Thirdly he that may restraine and limit a man in the vse and exercise of his ministerie and office is in authority aboue him therefore much more he that may put him from it By these reasons it is clearely demonstrated and proued that if the Church or generall Councell haue authority in case of heresie to depose the Pope at least in some sort it is of greater authority then the Pope And therefore to avoide this consequence as Gerson rightly noteth they that too much magnifie the greatnesse and amplitude of Papall power say that an hereticall Pope in that he is an Hereticke ceaseth to be Pope and is deposed by Almighty God So that the Church doth not by vertue of her authority and jurisdiction depose him but onely denounce and declare that he is so deposed by God to be taken for such a one by men and not to be obeyed This they endeauour to proue because all Heretickes are condemned by their owne iudgment as the Apostle saith and stay not as other euill doers till the Church cast them out but voluntarily depart of themselues from the fellowship of Gods people and cut themselues off from the vnity of the Body of the Church
might not nor did not iudge any B. of himselfe alone 2 That being B. of the first See he with his associates might iudge any other B. or Patriarch but no particular Patriarch with his Bishops might iudg him his because there is no particular person or company of men greater then he and his being chiefe Patriarch of the world but that both hee and his may bee iudged by a generall Councell it appeareth by the eight generall Councell wherein the words now vrged are recited For that Councell taketh order that all the Patriarches shall bee honoured and respected and especially the Bishop of Rome and forbiddeth any man to compose any billes or writings against him vnder pretence of some crimes wherewith they will charge him as Dioscorus did but that if there bee a generall Councell and any question bee moued touching the Romane Church they may in reuerent and due sort determine the same though they may not proceede contemptuously against the Romane Bishop And so first the Councell of Nice gaue lawes as to the other two Patriarches so likewise to the Bishoppe of Rome and included him within his owne bounds and limits Secondly the Councell of Chalcedon made the Bishoppe of Constantinople a Patriarch and the Bishoppe of Romes Peere notwithstanding the resistance of those that were there present on the behalfe of Leo then Bishop of Rome and the other Bishops of the West And this decree in the end preuailed so that after much contradiction and long continued opposition the Bishops of Rome were forced to yeeld vnto it Thirdly generall Councels reexamined and iudged againe thinges iudged by the Bishop of Rome and his Bishops as the Councell of Chalcedon reexamined the iudgement of Leo against Dioscorus and for Theodoret. And the sixth generall Councell the iudgement of Pope Martine with his Synodes against Pyrrhus and Sergius and the eighth the judgments of Nicholas and Adrian against Photius Augustine speaking of the sentence of the 70. Bishoppes against Caecilianus retracted and reuersed by Melchiades Bishop of Rome and his colleagues whom vpon the suites of the Donatists Constantine appointed to heare the matter sayth they therefore appealed to the judgements of the Bishops beyond the Seas that if by any falsehood and slaunders they could preuaile they might gaine the cause if not they might say as all men that haue ill causes are wont to do that they met with bad judges But sayth hee let vs grant that those Bishops that judged the matter at Rome were not good Iudges yet there remained a generall Councell of the whole Church for them to flye vnto where the matter might anew haue beene handled with the former Iudges that their sentences might be reuersed if they should haue beene conuinced to haue judged ill Which thing if they did let them make it appeare vnto vs. Wee proue they did not because all the world communicated with Caecilianus and not with Donatus and his adherents So that either they neuer brought the matter to be scanned in a generall Councell or else they were therein condemned also Here wee See hee clearely acknowledgeth the generall Councell to haue power to reexamine and reuerse the judgement of the Bishoppe of Rome and his colleagues Saint Gregory likewise acknowledgeth the vniuersall Church to be greater then hee and his For professing to follow the direction of Christ in the matter betweene him and the Bishop of Constantinople who willeth vs if our brother offend against vs to go and admonish him betweene him and vs if then he heare vs not to take two or three with vs that in the mouth of two or three witnesses euery word may stand and if he heare not them then to tell the Church he sayth that he had first sent to the Bishop of Constantinople and by his messengers admonished him in all gentle and louing sort and that now he writeth vnto him omitting nothing that in all humility he ought to doe but that seeing hee is thus despised there remaineth nothing but that he vse the helpe of the Church for the repressing of the insolencie of this man soe preiudiciall to the state of the whole Church Fourthly generall Councels haue by their decrees ordained many things concerning the See of Rome either enlarging or limitting the power of it and the exercise of the same as it seemed good vnto them as we see in the Councell of Sardica Hosius with the Bishops there assembled resolued in the honour of the memory of Peter to make a Decree that Bishoppes condemned by the Bishoppes of their owne Prouinces might appeale to the Bishop of Rome and that it might be lawfull for him vpon such appeale to write to the Bishops of the next Prouince to reexamine the matter againe And if hee pleased to send some from himselfe to sit with them in joynt commission Neither did the Bishoppes of Rome Zozimus Bonifacius and Caelestinus vrge the law of Christ or the right of Saint Peter to justifie their claime of receiuing appeales out of Africa but the Decrees of the Nicene Councell And this is farther confirmed in that the Bishops in the Councell of Chalcedon say the Fathers gaue the preheminence to the Bishop of Rome in ancient times because it was the seat of the Empire and that therefore now they would giue the like to Constantinople now become the seat of the Empire and named new Rome And as generall Councels gaue preheminences to the Romane Bishops so also they restrained and limited them in the vse of their jurisdiction when they saw them to incroch too much as the Councell of Sardica tooke order that they should not meddle with the causes of Presbyters and inferiour Clergy-men vpon any appeale but leaue them to to their owne Bishops and the Synodes of the Prouinces and in the case of Bishops appealing not to reuerse the acts of the Synode of any prouince without another Synode of the Bishops of the next Prouince And the Councels of Chalcedon and Constantinople the eighth decreed that the Bishop Rome and the other Patriarches shall confirme the Metropolitanes subject vnto them by sending the Pall or by imposition of handes but shall not intermeddle in the ordination of Bishoppes Fifthly it appeareth that the Romane Bishops are inferiour to the whole Church First in that their Legates rise vp when they speake in generall Councels And secondly in that in the councell of Ephesus when they with others were sent by the councell to the Emperour they were willed precisely to follow the directions and instructions giuen them For that if they did not all their proceedings should bee voided and they rejected from the communion of the rest Sixthly in that the sixth generall councell particularly giueth lawes to the Church of Rome For in the thirteenth canon it reprehendeth the Romane Church because it forbiddeth Presbyters Deacons and Subdeacons to liue in matrimoniall society with their wiues
his Epistle to Michael the Emperour pronounceth that the priuiledges of the See of Rome are perpetuall rooted and planted by Almighty God in such sort that men may stumble at them but cannot remoue them may pull at them but cannot pull them vp therefore he thinketh the Pope cannot erre which is a very bad consequence For the infallibility of iudgment in the Pope is not mentioned among the inuiolable priuiledges of the Church of Rome and therefore the priuiledges of that Church may be inuiolable and yet the Pope subiect to errour neither hath Nicolas one word of the Popes not erring The testimonies of Leo the ninth and Innocentius the third as being late and partiall in their own cause may iustly be excepted against yet do they not proue the thing in question For they speake of the See and throne of Peter in which the faith may continue without failing though the Popes erre and seeke to subuert the same so long as any other that are to gouerne the throne with them perseuere in the true faith Wherefore from the prayer of Christ made for Peter that his faith should not faile they descend to other proofes taken from the promise made to Peter by Christ that vpon him he would build his Church and his mandate requiring him to feede his sheepe and to feede his Lambes which are too weake to perswade vs that the Pope cannot erre or is more priuiledged then other Bishops in this respect First because it is most cleare and euident and confessed by our aduersaries themselues that the Church was builded vpon all the Apostles as well as vpon Peter and there is no kind of feeding of Christs sheepe and flocke that commeth not within the compasse of that office and commission which the other Apostles had in common with him as I haue elsewhere shewed at large Secondly because Peter and his colleagues were foundation stones vppon which the Church was builded in that their doctrine was receiued by immediate and vndoubted reuelation without mixture of errour vpon which the faith of all after-commers was to stay it selfe none of which things agree to the Romane Bishop So that it is no way necessary that there should be the same infallibility of judgment in him that was in Peter and in his colleagues Thirdly because we know and all that are in their right wits do acknowledge that a man may be a Pastor in the Church of God and yet subject to errour and that therefore Christs requiring Peter to do the duty of a Pastor will not proue that the Pope cannot erre Wherefore from the Scriptures they passe to the Fathers and among them first they produce Theodoret who in his Epistle to Renatus a Presbyter saith that among other things the reason why the Romane Church hath a kind of chiefety among other Churches is because it hath euer remained free from heresie From whence I thinke hardly any good proofe can be drawne of the Popes not erring For how will this consequence euer be made good There are many things that make the See of Rome great as the greatnesse of the city the Empire the sepulchers of those common Fathers and Doctors of truth Peter and Paule those two great lights that rose in the East cast forth their beames into all parts of the world but set in the West and sundry other things and among them the felicity and happinesse of it that till the time of Theodoret no heresie euer preuailed in it therefore the Bishop of Rome can neuer erre Seeing Theodoret doth not dispute what may be but sheweth only what by the happy prouidence of God had beene and besides speaketh not precisely of the Bishop of Rome but of the Romane See including the whole company of the Bishops of the West adhering to him which was a great part of the whole Christian Church and more glorious then the rest for that it was more free from hereticall novelties in those times then they To Theodoret they adde Saint Augustine who saith the succession of Bishops from Peters chaire to his time is that rocke against the which the proud gates of hell cannot preuaile His meaning is that what all those Bishops haue constantly and successiuely taught as true must needes be true and what they haue impugned as false must needes be false seeing it is impossible that any errour or the impugning of any trueth should haue bin found successiuely in all the Bishops of that or any other Apostolicall Church whatsoeuer But what is this to the Popes not erring Surely as litle as that of Gelasius in his Epistle to Anastasius the Emperour that the glorious confession of the Apostle Peter thou art the Christ the Son of the liuing God is the roote of all the faith and piety of the whole world that therefore the Apostolique See carefully looketh vnto it that no chinke be made in it that it be not spotted with any contagion for that if it should there were no meanes of resisting any errour But because this maketh not for them the Cardinall helpeth the matter with an vntruth saying that Gelasius proueth that the See of Rome cannot erre because the confession of it is the roote of al the faith piety that is in the world whereas he neither goeth about to proue the one nor speaketh any word of the other but of the excellencie of the confession that Peter made the necessity of preseruing it inuiolable and the care of the See of Rome in and before his time for the safe keeping of the same Wherefore let vs come to the places that are cited to this purpose out of Gregories Epistles which shew plainly they are past shame that manage the Popes affaires defend his cause For whereas Gregory saith that if he that claimeth to be vniuersal B doe fall all the whole Church is ouerthrowne and that therefore there must bee no such vniversall Bishop and particularly sheweth by the grieuous heresies that prevailed in the Church of Constantinople how ill it would haue beene for the Churches of God if the Bishops thereof had beene vniversall Bishops as they sought to be they bring this place to proue that the Pope cannot erre whereas they should haue brought it to shew how dangerous it is that there should bee any one vniversall Bishop such as their Pope desireth to be and that therefore as Cyprian obserueth Almighty God wisely foreseeing what euils might follow such vniversality of power and jurisdiction in one man ordained that there should bee a great number of Bishops joyned in equall commission that so if some fell the rest might stand and keepe the people from a generall downefall The next allegation is out of the Epistle to Eulogius Bishop of Alexandria whereby the Reader may see with what conscience these Iesuited Papists doe cite the writings of the Fathers The wordes of Gregory are these Your most sweete Holinesse hath
neede sent vnto them Germanus and Lupus Bishops and brethren defenders of the Catholicke faith who cleared the I le from the Pelagian heresie and confirmed it in the faith both by the word of truth signes and miracles Besides this condemnation of Palagius by the French Britaines there were sundry Councels holden to condemne both him his wicked heresies in Palestina at Carthage at Mileuise and at Arausicum and it is most certaine that the Church of GOD and all posterities are more bound to Saint Augustine for clearing the points of doctrine questioned by the Pelagians then to any Bishop of Rome whatsoeuer So that it is most vntrue that the Pelagians were condemned onely by the Bishop of Rome for other were as forward in that businesse as he yea the Africans were more forward then the Romanes and drew them into the fellowship of the same worke with themselues The like may be said of the Priscillianistes for it is more then euident out of the Councell of Bracar that they were not condemned by the Bishop of Rome alone but by many Synodes for it is there reported that Leo did write by Turibius notary of the See Apostolike to the Synode of Galitia at what time the heresie of the Priscillianistes began to spreade in those parts and that by his prescription and appointment they of Tarracon of Carthage of Portugall and Boetica met in Councell and composing a rule of faith against the heresie of the Priscillianistes containing certaine chiefe heades of Christian doctrine directed the same patterne of right beliefe to the Bishop of Bracar that then was which heads of Christian doctrine were recited in the first Councel of Bracar the heresie of the Priscillianistes thereupō more distinctly and particularly condemned then euer before In all which proceedings we may see that the Pope doth nothing of himselfe alone but being Patriarch of the West and hearing of a dangerous heresie spreading in some Churches subject to him hee causeth the Bishops vnder him to meete in Councels and to condemne the same Which as I thinke will not proue that the Pope alone condemned heresies or that some heresies were rejected onely because the Pope condemned them or that the Pope cannot erre which is the thing in question Touching Iouinian and Vigilantius their errours are so vncertainely reported some attributing to them one thing and some another and some condemning them for things for which they were not to be condemned that it is hard to say by what lawfull authority or by whom they were condemned but that in their errours justly disliked they were condemned onely by the Bishops of Rome and therefore taken to bee heretickes by the whole vniuersall Church our aduersaries will neuer be able to proue That the errours attributed vnto them are vncertainely reported it appeareth in that Austine chargeth Iouinian with two dangerous and wicked assertions touching the deniall of the perpetuall virginity of the blessed Virgin the mother of our Lord and the parity of sins whereof Hierome who yet was not like to haue spared him maketh no mention And that they were in somethings vnjustly condemned it is euident first in that Hierome blameth Iouinian for saying that married persons virgins widowes if they differ not in other workes of vertue and therein excell one another are of equall merit which the best learned both of the Fathers and Schoole-men do approue as I haue elsewhere shewed at large Secondly in in that he so bitterly inueigheth against Vigilantius for disliking the pernoctations in the Cemiteries and places of Saints buriall vsed in ancient times which a Councell for the same reasons that moued Vigilantius to dislike them took wholly away and forbade them to be vsed any more the Romane Churches haue long since disused But that the Popes peremptorie cōdemning of an error in matter of faith was not taken in ancient times to be a sufficiēt demonstration that they were heretickes that defended such errors after his cōdemning of the same it is euident in that Austine saith that the Churches might doubt stil touching the matter of rebaptization because in the times of Stephen who condemned it and Cyprian who vrged it there was no generall Councell to end the controuersie betweene them and in that after the peremptory forbidding and condemning of rebaptization by Stephen Bishop of Rome Cyprian and his colleagues still persisted in the practice of it and in vrging the necessity of it and yet were neuer branded with the marke and note of heresie but euer were and still are reputed Catholiques Bellarmine to avoid the force of this argument feareth not to say contrarie to his owne knowledge that Stephen and his adherents neuer determined the question of rebaptization But that hee did and that in most peremptory sort and manner it is more cleare and euident then that the Sunne shineth at noone For Firmilianus a famous learned Bishoppe chargeth him that hee caused great dissentions throughout all the Churches of the world that hee grieuously sinned in that hee deuided himselfe from soe many flockes of Christs sheepe that hee was a schismaticke that hee had forsaken the communion of Ecclesiasticall vnity willing him not to deceiue himselfe but to bee well assured that in thinking hee could put all other from the communion he had put himselfe out of the communion of all that hee brake the bandes of vnity with many Bishoppes in all parts of the World as well in the East as in the South with the Africanes not admitting such as came from them vnto him into his presence or to any speech with him and farther commanding the brethren that none of them should receiue them to house So that he not only denyed the peace of the Church and the communion of Christians vnto them but the entring vnder the roofe of any mans house that would be ruled by him and that thus he held the vnity of the spirit in the bond of peace rejecting them as damnable miscreants that dissented from him and calling blessed Cyprian a false Christ a false Apostle and a deceiptfull labourer or workman And Dionysius a famous and worthy Bishop reporteth that he wrote concerning Hellenus and Firmilianus and all the Bishops in Cilicia Cappadocia and Galatia and all the bordering countries that he would not communicate with them for the same cause of rebaptization which yet as hee saith was agreed on in many very great Synodes of Bishops If this bee not sufficient to proue that Stephen determined the question of rebaptization I know not what can bee For first he commaunded that none should be rebaptized when they returned from the societies and prophane conventicles of heretickes but that they should bee admitted with the onely imposition of hands Secondly he deliuered his owne opinion that rebaptization was vnlawfull confidently as hauing so learned of his elders not in doubting manner And thirdly he rejected all them
in appointing some selected men for the visitation of the rest Fourthly in joyning temporall menincommission with the spirituall guides of the church to take view of and to censure the actions of men of Ecclesiasticall order because they are directed not onely by Canons but lawes Imperiall Fifthly when matters of fact are obiected for which the canons and lawes Imperiall judge men depriueable the Prince when hee seeth cause and when the state of things require it either in person if he please or by such other as hee thinketh fitte to appoint may heare and examine the proofes of the same and either ratifie that others did or voyd it as wee see in the case of Caecilianus to whom it was objected that hee was a Traditor and Faelix Antumnitanus that ordayned him was so likewise and that therefore his ordination was voyd For first the enemies of Caecilianus disliking his ordination made complaintes against him to Constantine and hee appointed Melchiades and some other Bishoppes to sitte and heare the matter From their judgement there was a new appeale made to Constantine Whereupon hee sent to the Proconsull to examine the proofes that might bee produced But from his iudgmēt the complainants appealed the third time to Constantine who appointed a Synode at Arle All this hee did to giue satisfaction if it were possible to these men and so to procure the peace of the Church And though he excused himselfe for medling in these businesses and asked pardon for the same for that regularly hee was to haue left these iudge ments to Ecclesiasticall persons yet it no way appeareth that hee did ill in interposing himselfe in such sort as hee did the state of things being such as it was nor that the Bishoppes did ill that yeelded to him in these courses and therefore in cases of like nature Princes may doe whatsoeuer hee did and Bishops may appeare before them and submit themselues to their iudgement though in another case Ambrose refused to present himselfe before Valentinian the Emperour for tryall of an Ecclesiasticall cause Neither is it strange in our state that Kinges should intermedle in causes Ecclesiasticall For Matthew Paris sheweth that the ancient lawes of England prouided that in appeales men should proceed from the Arch-deacon to the Bishoppe from the Bishop to the Arch-bishop and that if the Arch-bishop should faile in doing iustice the matter should be made knowne to the King that by vertue of his commandement it might receiue an end in the Arch-bishops Court that there might be no further proceeding in appeales without the Kings consent From the power which Princes haue in causes Ecclesiasticall let vs proceed to the power they haue ouer persons Ecclesiasticall and see whether they be supreame ouer all persons or whether men of the Church bee exempt from their iurisdiction That they are not exempted by GODS law wee haue the cleare confession of Cardinall Bellarmine and others who not onely yeeld so farre vnto the trueth forced so to doe by the cleare euidence thereof but proue the same by Scripture and Fathers The Cardinals wordes are these Exceptio Clericorum in rebus politicis tam quoad personas quam quoad bona iure humano introducta est non diuino that is The exemption of Cleargy-men in things ciuill as well in respect of their persons as their goods was introduced brought in by mans law and not by the law of God Which thing is proued first out of the precept of the Apostle to the Romanes Let euery soule be subiect to the higher powers and addeth Therefore pay yee tribute For when the Apostle saith Let euery soule be subiect hee includeth Cleargy-men as Chrysostome witnesseth and therefore when hee addeth for this cause pay yee tribute he speaketh of Cleargy-men also Whence it will follow that Cleargy-men are bound to pay tribute vnlesse they be exempted by the fauour and priviledge of Princes freeing them from so doing which thing Thomas Aquinas also affirmeth writing vpon the same place Secondly the same is proued out of the Ancient For Vrbanus saith The tribute money was therefore found in the mouth of the fish taken by Saint Peter because the Church payeth tribute out of her outward and earthly possessions And Saint Ambrose saith if tribute bee demaunded it is not denyed the Church-Land payeth tribute Now if Vrbanus Bishoppe of Rome and worthy Ambrose Bishop of Millaine then whom there was neuer any Bishoppe found more resolute in the defence of the right of the Church say that tribute is not to bee denyed but payed vnto Princes by men of the Church and in respect of Church-land I thinke it is evident there is no exemption by any Law of GOD that freeth the goods of Church-men from yeelding tribute to Princes For touching that text where our Sauiour sayth vnto Peter What thinkest thou Simon of whom doe the Kings of the Gentiles receiue tribute of their owne children or of strangers And Peter answereth of strangers Whence CHRIST inferreth that the children are free brought by some to proue the supposed immunity of Cleargy-men to bee from GODS owne graunt Bellarmine sufficiently cleareth the matter For first hee sheweth that CHRIST speaketh of himselfe onely making this argument Kings sonnes are free from tribute as beeing neither to pay to their owne fathers seeing their goods are common nor to strangers to whom they are not subiect therefore himselfe being the Sonne of the great King of Kings oweth no Tribute to any mortall man So that when hee saide the children are free hee meant not to signifie that any other are free but onely that himselfe was free Secondly he rightly obserueth that this place would proue that all Christians are free from Tribute if it proued any other then CHRIST to bee so for all Christians are the sonnes of GOD by adoption and grace And Hierome writing vpon this place hath these words Our Lord was the Kings son both according to the flesh and according to the spirit descending of the stocke of Dauid and being the Word of the Almighty Father and therefore as being the Sonne of the Kingdome owed no tribute but because hee assumed the humility of flesh it behooued him to fulfill all righteousnesse but vnhappy men that wee are we are called after the name of Christ doe nothing worthy so great an honour He for the great loue he bare towards vs sustained the crosse for vs and payde tribute but we for his honour pay no tribute and as Kings sons are free from tribute These words are brought by some to proue the imagined freedome we speake of but first they are so far from prouing any such thing that Erasmus thinketh Hierome reprehended it and disliked it as a thing sauouring of arrogancy that cleargymen should refuse to pay tribute which hee saith is contrary to the conceit of men in our time who thinke it the height of all piety to maintaine
this immunity And Sixtus Senensis saith that Hierome speaketh not of that tribute which subiects pay to their Princes here in this world but of that which we all owe to CHRIST so that this is that he saith why doe not we wretched men professing our selues to be the servants of Christ yeeld vnto his Maiesty the due tribute of our seruice seeing Christ so great and excellent payde tribute for our sakes S. Austine in his first book of Questions vpon the Gospels saith that Kings sons in this world are free that therefore much more the sonnes of that Kingdome vnder which all kingdomes of the World are should bee free in each earthly Kingdome which words Thomas and Sixtus Senensis vnderstand of a freedome from the bondage of sin but Iansenius rejecteth that interpretation because Austine saith the children of Kings are free from tribute and thinketh that Austines meaning is that if God the King of Heauen Earth had many naturall sonnes as hee hath but one only begotten they should all be free in all the Kingdomes of the world and other apply these words to cleargy-men though there bee nothing in the place leading to any such interpretation But whatsoeuer we thinke of the meaning of Austine Bellarmine saith it cannot bee inferred from these his wordes that cleargy-men by Gods Law are free from the duty of paying tribute because as Chrysostome noteth Christ speaketh only of naturall children and besides prescribeth nothing but onely sheweth that vsually among men Kings sonnes are free from tribute and therefore whereas the authority of Bonifacius the Eighth who affirmeth that the goods persons of Cleargy-men are free from exactions both by the law of God and man is brought to proue the contrary Hee answereth first that haply the Pope meant not that they are absolutely freed by any speciall graunt frō God but only that there is an example of Pharaoh an Heathen Prince freeing the Priests of his Gods mentioned in Scripture which may induce Christian Kings to free the Pastours of Christs Church Secondly that it was but the priuate opinion of the Pope inclining to the iudgment of the Canonistes and that he did not define any such thing So that men may lawfully dissent from him in this point So that we see by the testimonies of Scripture and Fathers and the confession of the best learned among our aduersaries themselues that Almighty God did not by any special exemption free either the goods or persons of Cleargy-men from the command of Princes and that in the beginning they were subiect to all seruices iudgements payments burdens that any other are subiect to and required by Christ the Sonne of God and his blessed Apostles to be so But some man happily will say that though Christ did not specially free eyther the goods or persons of Cleargy-men from the subiection to Princes yet there are inducements in reason and in the very light of nature such and so great to moue Princes to set them free that they should not do well if they did not so Whereunto wee answere that there is no question to be made but that the Pastors of the Church that watch ouer the soules of men are to bee respected and tendered more then men of any other calling and so they are and euer were where any sence of religion is or was The Apostle Saint Paul testifieth of the Galathians that they receiued him as an Angell of God yea as Christ Iesus himselfe that they would haue euen plucked out their eyes to haue done him good The Emperour Constantine honoured the Christian Bishops with the name and title of Gods acknowledged himselfe subject to their iudgment though he swayed the scepter of the World and refused to see what the complaintes were that they preferred one against another or to read their bils but professed that to couer their faults he would euen cast frō him his purple Robe Whence it came that many priuiledges were anciently graunted vnto them both in respect of their persons goods For first Constantine the Great not onely gaue ample gifts to the Pastors of the Churches but exempted them also from those seruices ministeries and imployments that other men are subiect to His Epistle to Anelinus the Proconsul of Africa wherein this graunt was made to them of Affrica is found in Eusebius Neyther is it to be doubted but that he extended his fauours to the Bishops of other Churches also aswell as to them The words of the Grant are these Considering that the due obseruation of things pertaining to true religion and the worshippe of God bringeth great happinesse to the whole state of the Common-wealth and Empire of Rome For the incouragement of such as attend the holy Ministery and are named Cleargy-men my pleasure is that all such in the Church wherein Caecilianus is Bishop be at once and altogether absolutely freed and exempted from all publicke Ministeries and Seruices Neither did the Emperors only exempt them from these seruices but they freed them also frō secular iudgements vnles it were in certaine kindes of criminall causes Wherein yet a Bishop was not to be cōuēted against his wil before any secular Magistrate without the Emperors cōmand Neyther might the temporall Magistrates condemne any Cleargy-man till hee were degraded by his Bishoppe howsoeuer they might imprison and restraine such vpon complaints made And answerably hereunto the Councell of Matiscon prouideth that no Cleargy-man for any cause without the discussion of his Bishop shall bee wronged imprisoned by any Secular Magistrate that if any Iudge shal presume to doe soe to the Cleargy-men of any Bishoppe vnlesse it be in a criminall cause hee shall bee excommunicated as long as the Bishoppe shall thinke fitte This was all the immunity that Cleargy-men anciently had by any grant of Princes and as much as euer the Church desired to enjoy but that which in latter times was challenged by some and in defence of the claime whereof Thomas Becket resisted the King till his bloud was shedde was of another kinde For whereas it was not thought fitte by the King and State of the Realme at that time that Church-men found in enormous crimes by the kings Iustices should be deliuered ouer to their Bishoppes and so escape ciuill punishment but that confessing such crimes or being clearely conuinced of them before the Bishoppe the Bishoppe should in presence of the Kings Iustices degrade them and put them from all Ecclesiasticall honour and deliuer them to the Kings Court to be punished Becket was of a contrary minde and thought that such as Bishoppes degraded or putte out of their Ministery of the Church should not bee punished by the ciuill Magistrates because as hee sayd one offence was not to be punished twice The occasion of this controuersie betweene the King and the Arch-bishoppe was giuen by one Philip Brocke a Canon of Bedford Who beeing brought before
and not these for being sent by men that haue authority though abusing the same they haue a true and lawfull Ministery till they be put from it by superiour authority else were all Ministration of Sacraments and other sacred things voyde performed by such as simoniacally or by sinister meanes get into these holy places The fourth are such as neither are sent of GOD nor of men nor by men but of them-selues of whom our Sauiour Christ saith all that came before me were theeues robbers and of whome almighty GOD pronounceth and sayth by the Prophet Ieremy I sent them not they 〈◊〉 I spake not to them they prophecied This euill is carefully to bee declined and therefore CHRIST would not suffer the diuels to speake that which was true least vnder the pretence of trueth errour might creepe in seeing hee that speaketh of him-selfe cannot but speake lyes These are the foure sortes of them that serue in the worke of the Ministery whereof the last haue no calling at all and all they doe is voide the Third haue a lawfull commission though they obtayned it by sinister meanes and bee vnworthy of it so that they could not bee put into it without the faulte of the ordayners The First had a lawfull but extraordinary calling needefull onely in those first beginnings of Christianity and not longer to continue The second haue that calling which is Ordinary and to continue whereof wee are now to speake In this calling there are three things implied Election Ordination and Assignation to some particular Church whereof men elected and ordained are appointed to take charge In ancient times there was no ordination at large without particular Assignation and sine titulo allowed as it appeareth by the Councell of Chalcedon forbidding any such thing to be done and voyding any such Act if it should bee done and therefore in those times the very electing and ordayning was an assigning of the elected ordayned to the place of Charge they were to take and a giuing of them the power of iurisdiction as wel as of order But this Canon in latter times grew out of vse whence ensued great confusions in the state of the Church as Duarenus rightly noteth yet are we not of opinion that all such ordinations are voyde in the nature of the thing whatsoeuer the Ancients pronounced of them according to the strictnesse of the Canons For seeing Ordination which is the sanctifying of men to the worke of the holy Ministery is a diffeernt thing in nature from the placing of them where they shal do that holy worke and a man once ordained needeth not any new Ordination when he is remoued from one Church to another it is euident that in the nature of the thing Ordination doth not so depend on the title and place of Charge the Ordayned entereth into as that Ordinations at large should bee voyd yet are they not to bee permitted neither are they in our Church For the Ordinations of Ministers in Colledges in our Vniuersities are not within the compasse of those prohibited Ordinations at large and sine titulo and none other by the order of our Church may bee Ordayned vnlesse he be certainly prouided of some definite place of charge imployment And as the Auncient were thus precise in admitting none into the holy Ministery but with assignation of the particular place of his imployment so they tooke as strict order that men once placed should not sodainly be remoued and translated to any other church or charge In the Councell of Sardica Hosius the President of that Councell sayd That same ill custome and pernicious corruption is wholy to be plucked vp by the rootes that it may not be lawfull for a Bishoppe to passe from his citie to any other city For the cause why they doe so is knowne to all seeing none is found to passe from a greater citie to a lesser whence it appeareth that they are inflamed with ardent desires of couetousnesse and that they serue their owne ambitious designes that they may exercise dominion and grow great If therefore it seeme good to you all that such an euill as this is may be more seuerely punished lette him that is such a one bee reiected from all communion euen such as Lay-men inioy To whom all the Bishoppes answered it pleaseth vs well To whom Hosius replyed Though any shall bee found so ill aduised as haply in excuse of himselfe to affirme that hee receiued letters from the people to draw him from his owne city to another yet I thinke seeing it is manifest that some few not sincere in the Faith might be corrupted by reward and procured to desire his translation all such fraudes should altogether bee condemned So that such a one should not bee admitted so much as to the communion which Lay-men enioy no not in the end which thing if it seeme good vnto you all confirme and settle it by your Decree And the Synode answered it pleaseth vs well Leo to the same purpose writeth thus If any Bishoppe despising the meanenesse of his owne citie shall seeke to gette the administration gouernment of some more noted and better respected place and shall by any meanes translate remoue himselfe to a greater People and more large and ample charge let him bee driuen from that other chaire which hee sought and lette him bee depriued also of his owne So that hee bee neither suffered to rule ouer them whom out of a couetous desire hee would haue subiected to himselfe nor ouer them whom g in pride hee contemned and scorned And the like is found in other but as Theodoret sheweth it was ambition and such other like euils that these Holy Fathers sought to stoppe and preuent rather then generally to condemne all Translation of Bishops from one Church and cittie to another For these changes may sometimes bring so great and euident vtility that they are not to be disliked And therefore the same Theodoret sheweth that notwithstanding this Canon Gregory Nazianzen was remoued from his Church and constituted Bishop of Constantinople And Socrates reporteth that Proclus was remoued thither from Cyzicum Wherefore passing by these matters as cleare and resolued of Let vs proceed to see first to whom it pertaineth to Elect Secondly to whom it belongeth to ordaine such as are duly elected and chosen to the worke of the Ministery Touching Election wee thinke that each Church and People that haue not by lawe custome or consent restrayned themselues stand free by Gods law to admitte maintaine and obey no man as their Pastor without their liking and that the peoples election by themselues or their rulers dependeth on the first principles of humane fellowships and assemblies for which cause though Bishops by Gods lawe haue power to examine and ordaine before any may be placed to take charge of soules yet haue they no power to impose a Pastor on any Church against their
quondam oblata turned out of French into Latine by Duarenus and added to his booke De sacris Ecclesiae Ministeriis that there being a great number of goodly Churches founded by the Kings of France when the Bishops of Rome began to prejudice the liberties of them the King the Nobles the Princes of the bloud the Cleargy and commons assembled to resist the vexations oppressions wrongs of the Court of Rome made many good Constitutions for the repressing of such insolencies So Lewys when first the Pope began to meddle in the yeare one thousand two hundred sixty seauē decreed that Preslacies Dignities electiue should be giuen by election and such as are not electiue by collation and presentation of Patrons and that the Court of Rome should extort no money for any such thing out of the Kingdome of France And when notwithstanding this Decree in processe of time the Court of Rome attempted divers things contrary to the liberty of the church of France Charles the Sixth with the advise of his Nobles Prelates Abbottes Colledges Vniversities and other partes of his Kingdome in the yeare one thousand foure hundred and sixe made a Constitution whereby hee restored the church to her auncient liberty and this Decree was published in the yeare one thousand foure hundred and seauen in which yeare Benedict the Pope and his Ministers hauing imposed and exacted great summes of money a new complaint was made to the King and thereupon a Decree made that nothing should bee payde out of France in the nature of Annates or Tenthes and that such as had beene excommunicated for refusall of them should bee absolued againe In the yeare one thousand foure hundred and eighteene a Constitution was made whereby all Reservations and Apostolicall graces as they call them together with all exactions of the court of Rome were forbidden And when as the Romanes contemning all Constitutions ceased not to trouble and confound the Hierarchy of the Church and scattered abroad euery where throughout the World their Reservations and expectatiue graces whence followed great and horrible deformities in the church at last a Generall Councell was assembled for the Reformation of the church in the Head and members which prohibited these Reseruations and expectatiue Graces restored the canons touching Elections and Collations and subjected all that should contumaciously resist yea though the Pope him-selfe to due punishment The Decrees of this councell Charles the Seauenth confirmed with the consent of all Estates of his Kingdome and this his Decree of Confirmation was called the Pragmaticall Sanction But the Popes neuer rested till they had if not wholly ouerthrowne it yet greatly weakened it The attemptes of Pius the Second who beeing a private man in the Councell of Basil set it forward what hee could are not vnknowne as also of Sixtus the Fourth Innocentius the Eighth Alexander the Sixth Iulius the Second and Leo the Tenth who published a Constitution whereby the Pragmaticall Sanction was much weakened though not wholly taken away and those his new Decrees were called Conventa that is agreements betweene the King and him From these Decrees the Vniversity of Paris appealed to a Generall councell And thus wee see how well the Popes fulfill the commaundement of Christ in feeding his Sheepe that labour so mainely the ouer-throw of those canons which being taken away the whole Ecclesiasticall Order is confounded whole countries are made desolate and forsaken Kingdomes are robbed of their money and treasure churches are ruinated and subverted For so did all good men out of wofull experience complaine in former times Wherefore passing by these intrusions vsurpations and tyrannicall inter-meddling of Popes with things not pertayning to them it is evident by that which hath beene saide that the Election of fit Ministers to teach the people of God pertaineth to the cleargy and people by the reasons and grounds of humane societies vnlesse by their owne consent forfeiture restraint of superiour authority cōmaunding ouer them or speciall reasons prevailing more then those generall grounds of humane fellowship it be taken from them As in case of founding churches and endowing them with lands the Patrons haue the right of presenting in cases of intollerable abuses negligences or insolencies the Prince as Head of the people assumeth to himselfe the nomination of such as are to serue in the holy Ministery of the church Some there are that thinke the right of the people in choosing their Pastours and Ministers to bee such as that it may not bee limited restrayned or taken away vpon any consideration what-soeuer and that therefore there is no lawfull Election of Ecclesiastical Ministers vnlesse the people chuse But the errour of these men is easily refuted For seeing the Scripture Word of GOD giueth no such power to the people and all the interest they haue or canne claime is but from the ground of humane fellowship subject to many limitations alterations and restraintes there is no reason to thinke that necessarily the people must euer elect their Pastors In the reformed Churches of France Geneua the people giue no voyces in the election of Ministers but are onely permitted if they haue any causes of dislike or exception to make them knowne to the Pastours and guides of the Church and the power of iudging of such exceptions resteth wholy in them In so much that when one Morellius a fantasticall companion sought to bring the elections of Bishoppes and Ministers to bee Popular and swayed by the most voyces of the people hee was condemned by all the Synodes in France as Beza sheweth in his Epistles That there is no precept in the whole new Testament forcing popular elections it is euident And the onely example that is brought of any such thing is that of the seauen Deacons but first there was some speciall reason why the peoples consent was sought in the election of these Deacons beeing to bee trusted with the treasure of the Church and the disposing of the contributions of the faithfull and secondly from one example a generall rule may not bee gathered Seeing the circumstances of things times persons admit infinite varieties some alleadge that place in the Acts for proofe of popular elections where the Apostles are said to haue appointed Elders or Presbyters by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth that kind of election that is made by the more part of the voyces of the Electors expressing their consent by lifting vp of their handes as sometimes men shew their consent by going to one side of the place or roome where they are whence they are sayd Pedibus ire insententiam But surely these places are vnaduisedly alledged for proofe of popular elections For first the Apostles onely are said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and consequently the election pertayned to them onely and they onely elected for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth to elect and not to gather voyces Secondly though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
wife which hee marryed while hee was yet a Lay-man hee should bee put out of the Ministery of the Church Whereas all the most famous Presbyters and Bishoppes also in the East might if they pleased but were no way by any Law constrained to refraine from the company of their wiues So that many of them euen when they were Bishoppes did beget children of their lawfull wiues A particular and most approued example whereof wee haue in the Father of Gregory Nazianzene who beeing a Bishoppe not onely liued with his wife till death divided them but became the Father also of Gregory Nazianzen as worthy and renowned a man as any the Greeke Church euer had after he was entered into the priestly Office as appeareth by his owne wordes reported by Gregory Nazianzen For after many motiues vsed by him to Gregory Nazianzen his sonne to perswade him to assist him in the worke of his Bishoply Ministery the last that hee most insisteth on is taken from the consideration of his olde age dis-inabling him to beare that burden and performe that worke any longer that hitherto hee had done And therefore intreating him to put to his helping hand he breaketh out into thesewords Thou hast not liued so long a time as I haue spent in the priestly office therefore yeeld thus much vnto mee and helpe mee in that little time of my life that is yet behinde or else thou shalt not haue the honour to bury mee but I will giue charge to another to doe it Heere we see Gregory Nazianzens father was employed in the priestly function before hee was borne and that therefore hee became the father of so worthy a sonne after hee was a Bishoppe or at least after hee was a Presbyter Neither was the father of Gregory Nazianzene singular in this behalfe For Athanasius writing to Dracontius who beeing greatly in loue with a retyred and monasticall kinde of life refused the Bishoply Office when hee was chosen vnto it for that hee feared hee might not in that state liue so strictly as formerly hee had done controuleth this his conceit and telleth him that hee may in the Bishoppes office hunger and thirst as Paul did drinke no wine as Timothy and fast often as did the Apostle So that the Bishoppes Office is no cause of doing ill or doing lesse good then may bee done in other states of life and there-upon assureth him that hee hath knowne Bishoppes to fast and Monkes to eate Bishoppes to drinke no wine and Monkes to drinke it Bishoppes to worke miracles and Monkes to doe none lastly many Bishoppes neuer to haue married and Monkes to haue become fathers of children and on the contrary side Bishoppes to haue become fathers of children and Monkes to haue liued altogether as Monkes without desire of posterity Neither can this authority of Athanasius bee avoyded as Bellarmine seeketh to avoyde it namely that those Bishoppes did ill which hee sayth became fathers of children For Clemens Alexandrinus an auncient Greeke Father sayth expressely The Apostle admitteth the husband of one wife to bee a Bispoppe and that though hee bee a Presbyter Deacon or Lay-man if hee vse marriage aright and so as not to incurre iust reprehension hee shall be saued by the procreation of children Chrysostome accordeth with Athanasius and Clemens Alexandrinus and sayth that mariage is in so high a degree honourable that men with it may ascend into the Episcopall chayres euen such as yet liue with their wiues For though it be an hard thing yet it is possible so to performe the duties of marriage as not to be wanting in the performance of the duties of a Bishoppe wherevnto Zozomen agreeth saying of Spiridion that though hee had wife and children yet he was not therefore any whitte the more negligent in performing the duties of his calling and of Gregory Nyssene it is reported that though he were marryed yet he was no way inferiour to his worthy brother that liued single But some haply will obiect that Epiphanius is of another minde and that hee sayth where the strictnesse of the canon is obserued none but such as are vnmarried or resolued to refraine from matrimoniall society with their wiues are admitted into the ministery of the Church Wee deny not but that he sayth so But hee confesseth in the same place that many in the Church did liue with their wiues in his time and beget Children euen after their admission into the ministery Soe that the strictnesse of the Canon hee speaketh of was not generall but in some certaine places onely as I noted before out of Socrates Nay it is euident by Socrates that howsoeuer in Thessalia Thessalonica Macedonia and Hellas this strictnesse preuailed yet all the Bishoppes of the East besides were left to their owne liberty and howsoeuer some in diuerse places went about to take away this liberty yet the worthyest men the Church had stood in defence of it protesting they would not suffer themselues to bee inthralled in this behalfe to which purpose that of the famous and renowned Synesius is most excellent who when they of Ptolemais would needes haue him to be their Bishoppe which thing hee little desired hee made them acquainted with his present condition and resolued purpose for the time to come God sayth hee the Law and the sacred hand of Theophilus hath giuen vnto mee a wife I therefore tell all men afore-hand and testifie vnto all that I will neither suffer my selfe to be altogether estranged and seperated from her neyther will I liue with her secretly as an adulterer For the one of these is no way pious and godly and the other no way lawfull but I will desire and pray vnto God that exceeding many and most good and happy children may be borne vnto mee Neyther will I haue him that is to be chiefe in ordayning of mee to be ignorant hereof This liberty the councel in Trullo impeached in respect of Bishops but in respect of Presbyters it continueth in all the East Churches of the world euen till this day Greeke Armenian and Ethiopian warranted vnto them by the Canons of the Apostles Iudgment of Bishops Decrees of Councels and the consent of all other partes of the World For first the Apostle Saint Paule telleth the Corinthians hee had power to lead about a wife a sister as well as the brethen of the Lord and Cephas Which words Clemens Alexandrinus interpreteth in this sort Paul feareth not in a certaine Epistle to speake to his yoake-fellow which hee did not lead about with him because he had no neede of any great seruice Therefore hee sayth in a certaine Epistle Haue wee not power to lead about a sister a wife as the rest of the Apostles but they truely as it was meete because they could not spare their Ministery attending without distraction to preaching lead their wiues about not as wiues but as sisters which should minister together with them
flye all are friendes and all are enemies all are tyed vnto her in a bond of amity and yet all are her aduersaries all are of her houshold and yet none are at peace with her all are neighbours and yet all seeke their owne they are the Ministers of Christ and they serue Antichrist soe that nothing remaineth but that the diuell that feareth not to walke at noone day should be reuealed to seduce such as remaine in Christ still abiding in their simplicity for hee hath already swallowed vppe the riuers of the wise and the floudes of the mighty and hath hope to draw in Iordan into his mouth that is the simple and lowly in heart that are in the Church What is therefore the frandulency Maister Higgons so much complaineth of Surely hee sayth it was onely wickednesse of life Bernard complayneth of and I seeme to extend his complaint farther For answere whereunto first I say that I no way extend the wordes of Bernard to any particular kind of euill of life doctrine or violation of discipline but cite them in such generall sort as they are found in him Secondly I say it is vntrue that Higgons sayth that Bernard complained onely of the euill liues of men in his time for in his bookes of Consideration to Eugenius the Pope hee blameth him for medling with thinges more properly pertaining to men of another ranke and sort asking of him Quid fines alienos inuaditis quid falcem vestram ad alienam messem extenditis that is why doe you incroach vppon the bounds of other men and why doe you reach forth your sicle and thrust it into the haruest of other men adding that if the daies were not euill hee would speake many other things Likewise he complaineth of the confusion and abuse of appeales to Rome in this sort Praeter fas ius praeter morem ordinem fiunt non locus non modus non tempus non causa discernitur aut persona That is appeales are made and admitted besides law and right besides custome and order no difference is made of place manner time or cause so that the Bishoppes in all partes of the world are hindered that they cannot do their duties as also of the spoyling of the guides and gouernours of the Church of their authority by exemptions and priuiledges freeing such as are vnder them from their subiection Murmur loquor sayth hee querimoniam ecclesiarum truncari se clamitant demembrari vel nullae vel paucae admodum sunt quae plagam istam aut non doleant aut non timeant Quaeris quam Subtrahuntur Abbates Episcopis Episcopi Archiepiscopis Archiepiscopi Patriarchis siue Primatibus That is I vtter the murmuring complaint of the Churches they cry out that they are mangled and dismembred there are eyther none or very few which either feele not or feare not this plague if you aske what plague Abbots are exempted from the iurisdiction of their Bishoppes Bishoppes of their Arch-bishoppes they of their Primates But hee dissented not from the Papistes in matter of doctrine Surely this is no truer then the rest for it will be found that Bernard hath written that which will not please our Adversaries very well touching speciall faith imperfection impurity of inherent righteousnesse merites power of free-will the conception of the blessed Virgin and the keeping of the Feast of her Conception For I would willingly learne of them whether they will graunt that all our righteousnesse is as the polluted ragges of a menstruous woman that wee must beleeue particularly that our sins are remitted to vs that our workes are via regni not causa regnandi that is the way that leadeth to the Kingdome but not the cause why we raigne that the blessed Virgin was conceiued in sin and that the feast of her conception ought not to be kept In all these things doubtlesse Bernard dissented from the Papists at this day neither did he know or vnderstand any thing of their transubstantiation locall presence priuate masses halfe Communions indulgences the like which are matters of difference betweene vs our Adversaries at this day so that there might be good conformity in substance betweene Bernard and Wickliff his followers though many Articles falsely attributed to him are damned hereticall some things were vttered vnadvisedly by him therefore that which followeth of Falshood Inflexions Pretenses and subtilties is but the bewraying the distemper of Higgons hâ—…e braine who hauing confounded himself in his owne intricate conceipts woulâ—…â—…ke men beleeue other are like vnto him how orderly plainely and sincerely soeuer they handle things The Third Part. §. 1. IN the third part of this Chapter he reflecteth to vse his owne wordes vpon foure passages of mine and professeth that he will detect sundry vntrueths and vanities wilfully committed in the same Wherein the Reader shall finde him as false and as vaine a man as euer he met with The foure passages he speaketh of are these the first that Gerson reporteth that sundry lewd assertions preiudiciall to the states of Kings and Princes were brought into the Councell of Constance and that the Councell could not be induced to condemne them Secondly that they made no stay to condemne the positions of Wickliff and Hus. Thirdly that they condemned the positions of Wickliff Hus seeming to derogate from the state of the Cleargy Fourthly that they condemned the said positions though many of them might carry a good and Catholicke sense if they might haue found a fauourable construction In which of these passages is my falshood and vntruth Doth not Gerson report that sundry lewd positions prejudiciall to the state of Princes were brought to the Councell of Constance to bee condemned and that by no exhortations or entreaties by word or writing the Fathers assembled in it could be brought to condemne them Doth hee not say that they condemned the positions of Wickliff and Hus that they imprisoned some for those errours in the beginning of the Councell and burnt them afterwards Doth he not say the positions preiudiciall to the states of Princes which hee speaketh of were more pestiferous in the life and conversation of men and in the state of Common-weales then those they condemned Doth he not complaine of partialitie respect of persons and the Cleargies seeking their owne rather then that which is Christ Iesus Doth he not say many of the positions of Wickliff might haue had a good sense if they might haue beene fauourably construed Doth hee not protest that he hath no hope of reformation by a Generall Councell things standing as hee found them to doe if there be any vntruth in any of these passages let the Reader censure me as he pleaseth But if all these things be most vndoubtedly true let him accompt of Higgons as of an impudent young man that hath strangely hardened his fore-head as if he had beene a
Councell against VVickliffe simply but in comparison and so doth Gerson and disliketh it as much as I doe condemning it of partiality To the fifth and sixth I say that Gerson affirmed the one to witte that no good was to bee expected by a generall Councell that the seuerall parts of the Christian world were to reforme them-selues and feared the other namely that too great diuersity would follow vppon such diuided reformations as it will easily appeare to any one that will take the paines to peruse the places cited by Mee Neither was it hast and precipitation as Maister Higgons is pleased to censure it but necessity that made our men to doe as they did hauing no meanes to meete for common deliberation To the seauenth I answere that Gerson Grosthead and the rest were members of the Church that was vnder the Papacie but that they were not of the papall faction nor vassals of the man of sin but men of a better spirit To the eighth I answere breefely that I haue most sincerely and truly alleaged the testimony of Gerson and noe way varied from his intention which that the reader may the better be able to discerne I will first set downe what my allegation is and then what exceptions Higgons taketh to it My words are these Touching the second cause of the Churches ruine which is the ambition pride and couetousnesse of the Bishoppe and Court of Rome Gerson boldly affirmeth that whereas the Bishoppes of Rome challenging the greatest place in the Church should haue sought the good of Gods people they contrarily sought onely to aduance themselues his wordes are these In imitation of Lucifer they will bee adored and worshipped as Gods neither doe they thinke themselues subiect to any but are as the sonnes of Belial that haue cast off the yoake not enduring whatsoeuer they do that a man should aske them why they do soe they neyther feare God nor reuerence men This is my allegation now let vs see what it is that Maister Higgons excepteth against in it Are not these the wordes of Gerson Hee cannot deny but that they are but hee sayth Gerson vttered them when there was a Schisme in the Church It is true hee did soe but what then Did not the true Pope whosoeuer hee was amongst those pretenders take as much on him as the rest and is not this note of disgrace fastned vpon all but that Maister Higgons may know that Gerson spake as much of the Pope simply as I haue cited out of him without any reference to pretenders as hee would faine avoyde the evidence of his heavy sentence let him consider what Gerson hath written in his Tract de potestate Ecclesiae where hee goeth about to stop the mouth of flattery giuing too much to the Cleargy and vile Detraction taking too much from it and bringeth in flattery speaking in this sort to them of the Cleargy especially the Pope O how great how great is the height of thy Ecclesiasticall power O sacred Cleargy how is secular power nothing if it be compared vnto thine Seeing as all power both in Heauen Earth was giuen to CHRIST so CHRIST left it all to Peter and his successors so that Constantine gaue nothing to Pope Sylvester that was not his before but restored to him that which had bin vnjustly with-holden and there is no power temporall or Ecclesiastical imperial or regall but frō the Pope in whose thigh CHRIST did write King of Kings and Lord of Lords of whose power to dispute it is sacrilegious to whom no man may say why doe you so though he ouer-turne teare in sunder and ouer-throw all states possessions and dominions temporall and Ecclesiasticall let Mee be reputed a lyar saith hee if these things bee not found written by them that are wise in their owne eyes and if they bee not found to haue beene beleeued by some Popes He addeth notum est illud satyrici Nihil est quod credere de se Non possit cum laudatur diis aequa potestas That is according to that knowne saying of the Satyricall Poet what should not hee perswade himselfe of himselfe that is magnified as equall to God in power For that of the Comicall Poet is true of the flatterer that he maketh fooles to be starke madde These are the sayings of Gerson which I haue laid downe at large that the Reader may judge whether I haue depraued the intention of Gerson or not and whether Higgons had any cause to traduce Mee in such sort as he doth It seemeth the poore fellow was hired to say something against Mee or else he would neuer haue adventured to vent such fooleries yet the last accusation against Mee is not to be passed ouer Gerson saith the Popes will be adored as God and I feare not to adde that the English Reader may vnderstand Mee that they will be adored and worshipped as God out of these premises he maketh an excellent conclusion comparing Gerson to Dauid that commaunded Ioab to saue the life of Absalom and Luther to Ioab that had no pitty on trayterous Absalom in that the one would haue the Pope well dealt withall though he disliked his faults and the other sought to tread him vnder his feete But let the Reader know that as Gerson so Luther was willing to giue all due honour to the Pope contenting himselfe with that which of right pertaineth to him but if hee dishonour God wrong the Church suffocate and kill her children and heretically refuse to be subiect to the Church and Councell if he challenge infallibility of iudgement from which no man may appeale Gerson will tread him vnder feete and reiect him as an Hereticke as well as Luther The Fourth Part. §. 1. IN the fourth part of this Chapter Master Higgons vndertaketh to proue that I haue abused the name and authority of Grosthead to iustifie the Lutheran reformation which he performeth full wisely in this sort Grosthead was iudged a Catholicke and a good man by some Cardinals in Rome therefore hee could not desire that reformation of things amisse that now is wrought If the consequence of this Argument be denyed hee knoweth not how to proue it but willeth his reader to demaund of Mee whether these Cardinals which iudged Grosthead to bee a Catholicke and of the same Religion with them-selues were not reall members of the Antichristian Synagogue proud Romanists factious Papists c. which question is soone answered For I haue distinguished as he knoweth right well the Church in which the Pope tyrannized and the faction of Papists that flattered him and applied themselues to sette forward his proud and vniust claimes till they lifted him vp into the throne and seate of Antichrist the members of the Church and of the faction and though both these liued for a time in the same outward Communion as did the right beleeuers and they that denied the resurrection of the dead amongst the Corinthians yet did they
some men in that Church adulterating the doctrine of heauenly trueth bringing in and defending superstitious abuses disliked by others and seruing as vile instruments to aduance the tyraÌ„ny of the Bishop of Rome Wherefore for the discouery of the vanity of their insolent boastings for the coÌ„firming of the weake the satisfying of them that are doubtfull and that all men may know that wee haue not departed from the auncient faith or forsaken the fellowship of the Catholicke Church but that wee haue forsaken a part to hold communion with the whole led so to doe by the most preuailing reasons that euer perswaded men and the greatest authority on earth I resolued to communicate to others what I had long since in priuate for mine owne satisfactien obserued touching the nature of the Church the notes whereby it may bee knowen and the priuiledges that pertaine to it These my simple labours most Reuerend in Christ I thought it my dutie to offer to your Graces censure before they should present themselues to the view of the world that so either finding approbation they might the more confidently make themselues publike or otherwise be suppressed like the vntimely fruit that neuer saw the Sunne The condition of the times wherein wee liue is such that manie are discouraged from medling with the controuersies of Religion because they are sure besides the vile slanders wicked calumniations and bitter reproches of the common aduersaries to passe the censures of those men who though they will doe nothing themselues yet in the height of a proud and disdainefull spirit with many a scornefull looke smile at the follies of other mens writings as they esteeme them The sinister iudgements of either of these sortes of men I shall the lesse regard for that it pleased your Grace so louingly to accept and soe fauourably to approue these my poore paines bestowed for the clearing of sundry questions concerning tâ—…â—…rch which by your direction and appointment I first entred into It hath biâ—… 〈◊〉 â—…he vaunt of the aduersaries of the Religion established amongst vs that 〈◊〉 written many bookes against vs and none haue beene found to oppose any â—…g against them that they desire nothing more then by writing or disputing to â—…ic the goodnes of their cause But I doubt not but this Nationall Church the gouernment whereof vnder our most gracious Soueraigne is principally committed to your fatherly care shall yeeld men more than matchable with the proudest of the aduerse faction who being animated and hartned by your fauour guided by your directions shall no longer suffer these proud Philistims to defie the armies of the Lord of Hosts For though they proclaime their owne praises with loude sounding trumpets that might haue beene piped with an oaten straw and though they magnifie themselues as if they were the only Paragons of the world and as if all wit learning had bin borne with them should die with them yet whosoeuer knoweth them will little regard the froath of their swelling words of pride and scorne seeing when they haue done vaunting they haue done their best and that which remaineth is little worth their allegations being for the most part nothing but falsifications their testimonies of antiquity the markes notes of their ancient forgeries their reasons sophismes their reports slanders and wicked calumniations their threats the venting of their malice and powring out of their impotent desires their predictions onely manifesting what they wish might be but no way shewing what shall be In the later daies of our late dread Soueraigne Elizabeth of famous blessed memory all their books were nothing but fearefull threatnings of bloody confusions and horrible dissipations of Church and common-wealth which they hoped for and looked after soe soone as it should please God to cut off the thread of her blessed life But he that sitteth in heaueÌ„ hath laughed them to scorne and branded them with the marke of false Prophets For Elizabeth is gathered to her fathers in peace full of daies and full of honour yet they haue not bathed their swords in blood as they desired but God hath disappointed all their purposes frustrated their hopes and continued our happinesse Iosua hath succeeded Moyses and Salomon Dauid and he that disposeth the kingdomes of men giueth them to whom he will hath set vpon the Throne of Maiesty amongst vs a King of a Religious Vertuous and peaceable disposition to whom he hath giuen a wise and vnderstanding heart large as the sands of the sea shore whose delight is in the Law of the Lord who hath chosen his testimonies to be his Counsellers whose constant resolution in matters of faith and Religion daunteth the enemies of it whose admirable vnderstanding in things Diuine more then for many ages the world hath found in any of his ranke giueth vs good assurance that no frauds of any deceiuers shall euer be able to seduce or misse-lead him whose blessed Progenie and Royall issue maketh vs hope that the felicity of these vnited kingdomes shall continue as longe as the Sunne and Moone endure which whosoeuer desireth and seeketh to procure Peace be vpon him vpon the Israel of God Thus crauing pardon for this my boldnesse and humbly beseeching Almighty God long to continue your Graces happie and prosperous estate and to make you a glorious instrument of much good to his Church I rest Your Graces in all dutie RICHARD FIELD WHAT THINGS ARE HANDLED IN THE BOOKES FOLLOWING The first Booke is concerning the Name Nature and Definition of the Church and the different sorts of them that do pertaine vnto it CHAP. 1. OF the Church consisting of men and Angels in the day of their creation pag. 1. Chap. 2. Of the calling of grace whereby God called out both men and Angels from the rest of his creatures to bee vnto him a holy Church and of their Apostasie 4. Chap. 3. Of the Church consisting of those Angels that continued in their first estate by force of grace vpholding them and men redeemed 5. Chap. 4. Of the Church of the redeemed 7. Chap. 5. Of the Christian Church 9. Chap. 6. Of the definition of the Church 11. Chap. 7. Of the diuers sorts of them that pertaine to the Church ibid. Chap. 8. Of their meaning who say that the Elect only are of the Church 13. Chap. 9. Of the difference of them that are in and of the Church 14. Chap. 10. Of the visible and inuisible Church ibid. Chap. 11. Of the diuerse titles of the Church how they are verified of it 17. Chap. 12. Of the diuerse sorts of them that haue not yet entred into the Church 18. Chap. 13. Of the first sâ—…rt of them that after their admission into the Church of God do voluntarily depart and goe from the same 19. Chap. 14. Of the second sort of them that voluntarily goe out from the people of God 20. Chap. 15. Of them whom the Church casteth out by excommunication 22. Chap.
16. Of the errors that are and haue beene touching the vse of the discipline of the Church in punishing offenders 24. Chap. 17. Of the considerations moouing the Church to vse indulgence towards offenders 25. Chap. 18. Of their damnable pride who condemne all those Churches wherein want of due execution of discipline and imperfections of men are found 26. The second Booke is of the notes of the Châ—…h CHAP. 1. OF the nature of notes of difference and their seuerall kindes 29. Chap. 2. Of the diuers kindes of notes whereby the true Church is discerned from other societies of men in the world 30. Chap. 3. Of Bellarmines reasons against the notes of the Church assigned by vs. 32. Chap. 4. Of Stapletons reasons against our notes of the Church 34. Chap. 5. Of their notes of the Church and first of Antiquity 37. Chap. 6. Of succession 39. Chap. 7. Of the third note assigned by them which is Vnity 40. Chap. 8. Of Vniuersality 41. Chap. 9. Of the name and title of Catholike 42. The third Booke sheweth which is the true Church demonstrated by those notes CHAP. 1. OF the diuision of the Christian World into the Westerne or Latine Church and the Orientall or East Church 47. Chap. 2. Of the harsh and vnaduised censure of the Romanists condemning all the Orientall Churches as Schismatic all and hereticall 75. Chap. 3. Of the nature of heresie of the diuerse kindes of things wherein men erre and what pertinacie it is that maketh an hereticke 76. Chap. 4. Of those things which euery one is bound expresly to know and beleeue and wherein no man canne erre without note of heresie 77. Chap. 5. Of the nature of Schisme and the kindes of it and that it no way appeareth that the Churches of Greece c. are hereticall or in damnable Schisme 80. Chap. 6. Of the Latine Church that it continued the true Church of God euen till our time and that the errours we condemne were not the doctrines of that Church 81. Chap. 7. Of the seuerall points of difference betweene vs and our aduersaries wherein some in the Church erred but not the whole Church 83. Chap. 8. Of the true Church which and where it was befâ—… Luthers time 84. Chap. 9. Of an Apostasie of some in the Church 86. Chap. 10. Of their errour who say nothing can be amisse in the Church either in respect of doctrine or discipline 89. Chap. 11. Of the causes of the manifold confusions and euils formerly found in the Church ibid. Chap. 12. Of the desire and expectation of a reformation of the corrupt state of the Church and that the alteration which hath beene is a reformation 91. Chap. 13. Of the first reason brought to prooue that the Church of Rome holdeth the faith first deliuered because the precise time wherein errors began in it cannot be noted 93. Chap. 14. Of diuers particular errours which haue beene in the Church whose first author cannot be named 94. Chap. 15. Of the second reason brought to prooue that they hold the auncient faith because our men dissenting from them confesse they dissent from the Fathers where sundry instances are examined 96. Chap. 16. Of Limbus Patrum concupiscence and satisfaction touching which Caluin is falsely charged to confesse that he dissenteth from the Fathers 99. Chap. 17. Of Prayer for the dead and Merit 101. Chap. 18. Of the Fathers strictnesse in admitting men into the Ministery of single life and of their seuerity in the discipline of repentance 103. Chap. 19. Of the Lent Fast of Lay-mens Baptisme and of the sacrifice of the Masse 106. Chap. 20. Of the inuocation and adoration of Saints touching which the Century writers are wrongfully charged to dissent from the Fathers 109. Chap. 21. Of Martyrdome and the excessiue praises thereof found in the Fathers 114. Chap. 22. Wherein is examined their proofe of the antiquity of their Doctrine taken from a false supposall that our doctrine is nothing else but heresie long since condemned 115. Chap. 23. Of the heresie of Florinus making God the author of sinne falsely imputed to Caluine and others 117. Chap. 24. Of the heresies of Origen touching the Image of God and touching hell falsely imputed to Caluin 133. Chap. 25. Of the heresie of the Peputians making women Priests 134. Chap. 26. Of the supposed heresie of Proclus and the Messalians touching concupiscence in the regenerate 135. Chap. 27. Of the heresies of Nouatus Sabellius and the Manichees 139. Chap. 28. Of the heresies of the Donatists 141. Chap. 29. Of the heresies of Arrius and Aerius 142. Chap. 30. Of the heresies of Iouinian 143. Chap. 31. Of the heresies of Vigilantius 146. Chap. 32. Of the heresie of Pelagius touching originall sinne and the difference of veniall and mortall sinnes 147. Chap. 33. Of the heresie of Nestorius falsely imputed to Beza and others 149. Chap. 34. Of the heresies of certaine touching the Sacrament and how our men deny that to be the body of Christ that is carried about to bee gazed on 150. Chap. 35. Of the heresie of Eutiches falsely imputed to the Diuines of Germany 151. Chap. 36. Of the supposed heresie of Zenaias Persa impugning the adoration of Images 152. Chap. 37. Of the error of the Lampetians touching vowes 153. Chap. 38. Of the heresie of certaine touching the verity of the body and blood of Christ communicated to vs in the Sacrament ibid. Chap. 39. Of succession and the exceptions of the aduersaries against vs in respect of the supposed want of it 154. Chap. 40. Of succession and the proofe of the trueth of their doctrine by it 159. Chap. 41. Of vnity the kinds of it and that communion with the Romane Bishoppe is not alwaies a note of true and Catholike profession 160. Chap. 42. That nothing can be concluded for them or against vs from the note of Vnity or diuision opposite vnto it 164. Chap. 43. Of Vniuersality 169. Chap. 44. Of the Sanctity of doctrine and the supposed absurdities of our profession 170. Chap. 45. Of the Paradoxes and grosse absurdities of Romish religion 172. Chap. 46. Of the efficacie of the Churches doctrine 174. Chap. 47. Of the Protestants pretended confession that the Romane Church is the true Church of God ibid. Chap. 48. Of Miracles confirming the Romane faith 175. Chap. 49. Of Propheticall prediction 177. Chap. 50. Of the felicity of them that professe the trueth 178. Chap. 51. Of the miserable ends of the enemies of the truth ibid. Chap. 52. Of the Sanctitie of the liues of them that are of the Church 179. An Appendix to the third booke wherein it is proued that the Latine Church was and continued a true orthodoxe and protestant Church and that the maintainers of Romish errors were onely a faction in the same at the time of Luthers appearing AN answere to M. Brerelyes obiection concerning the masse publiquely vsed in all Churches at Luthers appearing pag. 185. Chap. 1. Of the canon of the Scriptures 224.
Schismatikes are they that breake the vnitie of the Church and refuse to submit themselues and yeeld obedience to their lawfull Pastours and guides though they retaine an entire profession of the trueth of God as did the Luciferians some others in the beginning of their Schisme though for the most part the better to justifie their Schismaticall departure from the rest of Gods people Schismatikes doe fall into some errour in matters of faith This is the first sort of them that depart and goe out from the Church of God and company of his people whose departure yet is not such but that notwithstanding their Schisme they are and remaine parts of the Church of God For whereas in the Church of God is found an entire profession of the sauing trueth of God order of holy Ministery Sacraments by vertue thereof administred and a blessed vnitie and fellowship of the people of God knit together in the bond of peace vnder the commaund of lawfull Pastours and guides set over them to direct them in the wayes of eternall happinesse Schismatikes notwithstanding their separation remaine still conioyned with the rest of Gods people in respect of the profession of the whole sauing trueth of God all outward actes of Religion and Diuine worship power of order and holy Sacraments which they by vertue thereof administer and so still are and remaine parts of the Church of God but as their communion and coniunction with the rest of Gods people is in some things onely and not absolutely in all wherein they haue and ought to haue fellowship so are they not fully and absolutely of the Church nor of that more speciall number of them that communicate intirely and absolutely in all things necessary in which sense they are rightly denied to be of the Church which I take to be their meaning that say they are not of the Church CHAP. 14. Of the second sort of them that voluntarily goe out from the people of God HEretikes are they that obstinately persist in error contrary to the Churches faith so that these doe not onely forsake the fellowship but the faith also and therefore of these there may be more question whether notwithstanding their hereticall division they still continue in any sort parts of the Church of God But this doubt in my opinion is easily resolued For in respect of the profession of sundry diuine verities which still they retaine in common with right beleeuers in respect of the power of order and degree of ministery which receiuing in the Church they carry out with them and sacraments which by vertue thereof they doe administer they still pertain to the Church But for that they hold not an entire full professiō of all such sauing trueths as to know and beleeue is necessary vnto saluation for that their Pastours and Priests though they haue power of order yet haue no power of jurisdiction neither can performe any acte thereof for that they retaine not the vnity of the spirit in the bond of peace they are rightly denied to be of the Church not for that they are not in any sort of it but for that they are not fully and absolutely of it nor of that more speciall number of them which communicate in all things wherein Christians should This more speciall number of right beleeuing Christians is for distinction sake rightly named the Catholike Church because it consisteth of them only that without addition diminution alteration or innouation in matter of doctrine hold the common faith once deliuered to the Saints and without all particular or priuate diuision or faction retaine the vnitie of the spirit in the bond of peace To this purpose is it that Saint Augustine against the Donatists who therefore denied the baptisme of Heretikes to be true Baptisme and did vrge the necessity of rebaptizing them that were baptized by them for that they are out of the Church doth shew that all wicked ones feined Christians and false hearted hypocrites are secluded from the Church of God considered in her best and principall parts and in the highest degree of vnitie with Christ her mysticall head aswell as ◅retikes and Schismatikes As therefore all they that outwardly professe the trueth and hold the faith of Christ without schisme or heresie are of the Church and are within as the Scripture speaketh yet are not all ofthat more speciall number of them that are intrinsecus in occulto intus but in more generall sort So likewise Heretikes and Schismatikes though they be not of that speciall number of them that in vnity hold the entire profession of diuine trueth are of the Church generally considered and of the number of them that professe the trueth of God reuealed in Christ. And this surely Augustine most clearely deliuereth For when the Donatists did obiect that Heresie is an harlot and that if the baptisme of Heretikes bee good sonnes are borne to God of heresie and so of an harlot than which what can be more absurde impious his answere was that the conuenticles of Heretikes doe beare children vnto God not in that they are diuided but in that they still remaine conjoyned with the true and Catholike Church not in that they are Heretikes but in that they professe and practise that which Christians should and doe professe and practise It is not therefore to be so scornefully rejected by Bellarmine Stapleton and others of that faction that we affirme that both Heretikes and Schismatikes are in some sort though not fully perfectly and with hope of saluation of the Church seeing Augustine in the iust and honourable defence of the Churches cause against Heretikes did long since affirme the same not doubting to say that Heretikes remaine in such sort conioyned to the Church notwithstanding their Heresie that the true Church in the midst ofthem and in their assemblies by Baptisme ministred by them doth beare and bring forth children vnto God The not conceiuing whereof gaue occasion to Cyprian and the African Bishops of errour and afterwards to the Donatists of their heresie touching the rebaptization of them that were baptized by Heretikes For seeing there is but ◅e Lord one faith one Baptisme seeing God gaue the power of the keyes and the dispensation of his word and sacraments onely to his Church if Heretikes bee not of the Church they doe not baptise This their allegation they amplified and enlarged from the nature and condition of heresie and Heretickes and the high pretious and diuine qualitie force and working of the sacraments thereby endeauouring to shew that so excellent meanes pledges and assurances of our saluation cannot be giuen by the hands of men so farre estranged from God There is say they one faith one hope one Baptisme not among heretikes where there is no hope and a false faith where all things are done in lying false and deceiueable maner where he adiureth Sathan that is the vassall of Sathan and possessed of the diuell
passionate zeale that they abandoned the societie of them that did held them not Christians and rebaptised them which came from them to their pretended purer societies The fift of the Luciferians who received men returning from heresie to the Catholique faith without rebaptization and enioyned them penitence gaue them imposition of hands But Bishops that had beene drawne into heresie they would not admitte vnlesse they forsooke their office and ministerie against these Hierom writeth his booke against the Luciferians All these did erre vrging overmuch the Church discipline in casting off the wicked and not admitting the vnworthy to her happie fellowshippe CHAP. 17. Of the considerations moouing the Church to vse indulgence towardes offenders BVt the true Church admitteth and receiveth all that with sorrowfull repentance returne and seeke reconciliation how great soever their offences haue beene not forgetting to vse due severitie which yet shee sometime remitteth either vpon due consideration or of negligence The due and iust consideration moouing the Church to remitte something of her wonted severitie is either priuate or publique perill Private as when the partie beeing of a tender timorous and relenting disposition if hee bee proceeded with rigorously is in daunger to fall into despaire or to bee swallowed vppe with ouermuch sorrow In this case the Apostle hauing excommunicated the incestuous Corinthian writeth to the Church of Corinth speedily to receiue him againe least hee should be swallowed vp with overmuch griefe and in this sorte the auncient Bishoppes were wont to cut off great parts of enioyned penance which remission and relaxation was called an indulgence Out of the not vnderstanding whereof grew the popish pardons and indulgences Publike perill is then when the multitude authority and prevailing of the offenders is so great as that if they be cut off and separated from the rest a schisme may iustly bee feared without hope of any good to be effected thereby in this case there is iust cause why the Church forbeareth to proceede to excommunication For whereas the end of excommunication is that evill doers being put from the company of right beleeuing Christians and forsaken of all may be made ashamed of their evill doing and so brought to repentance this cannot be looked for when the multitude of offenders hath taken away all shame These are the due and iust motiues which cause the Church sometimes to forbeare to punish with that extremitie which the qualitie and condition of the offenders fault may seeme to require But sometimes of negligence not led by any of these considerations shee omitteth the due correction of such as haue offended God and scandalized his people So the Corinthians before the Apostles Letter written vnto them suffered an incestuous person seemed not much to be mooued with so vile a scandall And the like negligence is often found in the Churches of God which notwithstanding their fault in this behalfe continue the true Churches of God still and priuate men may communicate with them that through the Churches negligence are thus tolerated and suffered and that both in publique actes of religion and priuate conuersation without being partakers of their sinnes if they neither doe the same things nor approue like and applaud them that doe and if they neglect not by all good meanes to seeke their correction and amendment CHAP. 18. Of their damnable pride who condemne all those Churches wherein want of due execution of discipline and imperfections of men are found THere are and haue beene alwayes some who possessed with a false opinion of absolute sanctitie and spotlesse righteousnesse reiect the societies and companies of them in whom any imperfection may be found which was the furious zeale of the Pelagians in old time and the Anabaptists in our time Others there are which though they proceede not so farre yet denie those societies of Christians to be the true Churches of God wherein the seueritie of discipline is so farre neglected that wicked men are suffered and tolerated without due and condigne punishment These while they seeme to hate the wicked and flie from their companie for feare of contagion doe schismatically rent and inconsiderately diuide themselues from the bodie of Gods Church and forsake the fellowship of the good through immoderate hate of the wicked Both these doe dangerously and damnably erre the first in that they dreame of heauenly perfection to be found amongst men on earth whē as contrariwise the Prophet Esay pronounceth that all our righteousnesse is like the polluted and filthy ragges of a menstruous woman And b David desireth of Almighty God that he will not enter into iudgement with him for that in his sight no flesh shall be iustified And Augustine denounceth a woe against our greatest perfections if God doe straitly looke vpon them The later though they doe not require absolute and spotlesse perfection in them that are in and of the Church yet thinke it not possible that any wicked ones should bee found in so happie blessed a societie not remembring that the Church of God is compared to a Nette that gathereth into it all sorts of fishes great and small good and badde which are not separated one from another till they be cast out vpon the shore that it is like a field sowen with good seede wherein the enuious man soweth tares like a floore wherein wheate and chaffe are mingled together like the Arke of Noah wherein cursed CHAM was aswell preserued from drowning as blessed SEM. But they will say there may be Hypocrits who for that their wickednes is not knowne cannot be separated from them who in sincerity serue and worship God but if their wickednesse breake foorth that men may take notice of it either they are presently reformed or by the censures of the Church cut off from the rest which course if it be not so holden but that wicked ones without due punishment be suffered in the middest of Gods people those societies wherein so great negligence is found cease to bee the true Churches of God and wee may and must diuide our selues from them This was the errour of the Donatistes in former times and is the errour of certain proud arrogant Sectaries in our time But if the Church of God remained in Corinth where there were diuisions sects emulations contentions and quarrels and going to law one with another for every trifle end that vnder the infidels where that wickednesse was tolerated and winked at which is execrable to the very heathens where Paules name and credite was despitefully called in question whom they should haue honoured as a father where the resurrection of the dead which is the life of Christianity was with greate scorne denied who dare deny those societies to bee the Churches of God wherein the tenth part of these horrible evills and abuses is not to be found We see then the difference betweene the turbulent disposition
the Patriarch of Constantinople the second which conclusion was not of such force but that the succeeding Bishops of Constantinople cōtinued the same challeng their predecessors made as any oportunity was offered sought to aduance their pretended title till at length there growing some difference between thē in the matter of the proceeding of the holy G whome the Latines affirmed to proceede from the Father and the Sonne the GREEKES from the Father only either pronounced the other to be heretickes schismatickes Wherefore let vs see what the religion of the Greeke Church is and whether these Christians be so farre forth orthodoxe that wee may account them members of the true Catholicke Church of God or so in errour that we may reject them as schismaticks hereticks though in number never so many Bernard speaking of them sayth nobiscum sunt non sunt iuncti fide pace diuisi quanquam fide ipsa claudicaverint à rectis semitis That is they are with vs and they are not with vs they are of the same profession with vs touching matters of faith but they hold not the vnity of the spirit in the band of peace although they haue halted also and in some sort declined from the straight pathes in matters pertayning to the Christian faith Touching the state of these Christians the Romanists lay downe these propositions First that there is a double separation from the Church of God the one by heresie ouerthrowing the fayth the other by schisme breaking the vnity The second that schismaticks though they fall not into heresie are out of the Church cut off from being members of the same and consequently in state of damnation Beleeue certainely and no way doubt sayth St Augustine that not onely all Pagans but all Iewes hereticks schismaticks also dying out of the communion of the Catholicke Church shall goe into everlasting fire The third that the Graecians are Schismatically divided from the Roman Church that they haue long continued so that they are excommunicate with the greater excommunication thundred out against all Schismaticks in bulla coenae Domini and consequently are in state of damnation But whether they bee not only Schismaticks but haereticks also as some feare not to pronounce they are not yet agreed Azorius thinketh they are not to bee censured as hereticks and yeeldeth a reason of his so thinking because in those articles of the faith where they are thought to erre they differ verbally onely and not really from those that are vndoubtedly right beleevers and giueth instance first in the question touching the proceeding of the holy Ghost wherein hee thinketh they differ but in forme of words from them that seeme to bee their opposites and secondly in the questions touching the Pope his power priviledges and authority concerning all which hee affirmeth they haue no other opinion then Gerson the Parisians who were neuer yet pronounced heretickes for they yeeld a primacie to the Bishop of Rome but no supremacy They acknowledge him to bee Patriarch of the West amongst all the Patriarches in order honour the first as long as hee continueth orthodoxe and seeketh not to encroach vpon the jurisdiction of others But they deny as also the Parisians doe that his judgement is infallible or his power authority supreame absolute they teach that hee must doe nothing of himselfe in things pertayning to the state of the vniversall Church but with the concurrence of others his colleagues and that hee is subject to a generall Councell All which things were defined in the Councells of Constance and Basil and the contrary positions condemned as haereticall Neither want there at this day many worthy Diuines liuing in the Communion of the Roman Church who most strongly adhere to the decrees of those Councells and peremptorily reject those of Florence and Trent wherein the contrary faction prevayled For the whole kingdome and state of France admit those and reject the other and would no lesse withdraw themselues from all communion with the Roman Bishoppe then the Grecians doe if they should once bee pressed to acknowledge that his power and authority is supreame and absolute that hee cannot erre and that hee may dispose the kingdomes and depose the kings soveraigne princes of the world as the Iesuites and other the Popes flatterers affirme and defend Whence it will follow that they are not onely free from heresie as Azorius resolueth but frō schisme also So that after so great clamours and so long contendings they must of necessity bee forced in the end to confesse they haue done them infinite wrong and sinned grievously against God in condemning to hell for no cause so many millions of Christian soules redeemed with the most precious blood of his dearest Sonne There are sayth Andreas Fricius who thinke that the Russians Armenians and other Christians of the East part pertaine not to the Christian Church but seeing they vse the same sacraments which wee doe seeing they professe to fight vnder the banner of Christ crucified and rejoyce in their sufferings for his sake farre bee it from vs ever to thinke that they should bee cast off and rejected from being fellow citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God having borne the burden endured the heate of the day so many ages in the vineyard of the Lord. Nay rather I thinke there can be no perfect cōsociation vnion of the whole Church without them For the Latine Church alone cānot be takē for the vniversall Church that which is but a part cānot be the whole But some man happily will say whatsoeuer we think of these differēces touching the power authority of the B. of Rome yet in the article of the proceeding of the holy ghost they erre damnably so are hereticks that Azorius was deceived when hee thought otherwise Wherefore for the cleering of this poynt first I will make it evident that not onely Azorius but sundry other great and worthy Divines thinke the difference about the proceeding of the holy Ghost to bee meerely verball Secondly I will shew how the seeming differences touching this poynt may bee reconciled Thirdly I will note the beginnings and proceedings in this controversie The Grecians sayth Peter Lombard affirme that the holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father onely not from the Sonne yet wee must know that the Greekes doe acknowledge the holy Ghost to bee the spirit of the Son aswell as of the Father because the Apostle sayth the spirit of the Son And trueth it selfe in the Gospell the spirit of trueth Now seeing it is no other thing to bee the spirit of the Father and the Son then to bee from the Father the Son they seeme to agree with vs in judgement touching this article of faith though they differ in words Grosthed the famous and renowned Bishop of Lincolne writing vpon a part of Damascen deliuereth his opinion touching this controuersie
in these words The Grecians are of opinion that the holy Ghost is the spirit of the Sonne but that hee proceedeth not from the Son but from the Father onely yet by the Son and this opinion seemeth to bee contrary to ours For wee say the holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father the Son But happily if two wise and vnderstanding men the one of the Greeke Church the other of the Latine both true louers of the trueth and not of their owne sayings because they are their owne might meete to consider of this seeming contrariety it would in the end appeare that this difference indeede and in trueth is not reall but verball onely For otherwise either the Grecians or wee that are of the Latine Church are truely Heretickes But who dares charge this Authour Iohn Damascen or those blessed ones Basil Gregorie the Diuine or Gregorie Nazianzen Cyril and other Greeke Fathers of like esteeme with heresie And again on the other side who dares brand blessed Hierome Augustine Ambrose Hilarie and other like Latine Fathers with the note of heresie Therefore it is likely that though there be contrariety in the words of these fathers so that they seem to bee contrary one to another yet in judgement meaning they agree Stanislaus Orichovius as Andreas Fricius reporteth a man renowned for wit eloquence profound science in divers kinds hath written of the opinions of the Russians and in an epistle to Peter Gamrat an Archbishoppe in Polonia he sheweth how the differences touching the proceeding of the holy Ghost where they seeme especially to bee contrary vnto vs may bee agreed and composed Thomas à Iesu resolueth cleerely that this question touching the proceeding of the holy Ghost is onely de modo loquendi and that the difference is not reall which hee sheweth to be true in this sort The Greekes who deny the holy Ghost to proceede from the Sonne acknowledge that hee is the spirit of the Sonne and that hee is given vnto vs by the Sonne Wee doe not say sayth Damascen that the holy Ghost proceedeth from the Sonne but wee name him the spirit of the Son If any man sayth the Apostle haue not the spirit of Christ hee is none of his And wee affirme that hee appeared by the Sonne was given vnto vs by him for hee breathed vpon his disciples sayd vnto them receiue the holy Ghost but wee neuer say that the Sonne is the son of the holy Ghost or proceedeth from him They teach therefore that the spirit is proceedeth from the Father by the Son as the brightnesse is from the Sun by the beame And that as wee may say the brightnesse is the brightnesse of the Sun-beame aswell as of the Sun but not that the beame is the beame of that brightnesse so the spirit is the spirit of the Son but the Son is not the son of the spirit So then they say the holy Ghost proceedeth or receiueth essence being from the Father onely as from the originall fountaine but by the Son as a middle person in order of subsistence betweene them receiving being immediatly from the Father so mediately deriving cōmunicating it to him Neither Greekes nor Latines therefore deny the holy Ghost to receiue being essence from the Sonne and consequently to proceede from him as from a middle person in order of subsistence betweene the Father him in such sort as the brightnesse that floweth from the sun is from the sun-beame betweene the sun and it Neither of them deny the Father to be the fountaine and the originall as the sunne is the fountaine whence floweth both the beame brightnesse of light And both agree that the Father from whom the Sonne by whom the spirit receiueth being are one cause or one beginning and that by one eternall breathing the spirit receiueth essence or subsistence from them both in such sort as the sonne and beame are one cause and doe by one action send forth that shining brightnesse that floweth from them By that which hath beene spoken sayth Thomas à Iesu it is easie to vnderstand that those Greekes which seeme to differ from the Latines differ but in words only and that the Churches may easily be brought to a reconciliation and agreement if they will but endeavour to vnderstand each the other But the Latines and those Greekes that agree with them speake more fitly expresse the thing whereof they speake better then the other Howsoever it is certaine that some of the Fathers expressed that they conceiued of this mystery in one sort and some in another Tertullian sayth the holy spirit is from the Father by the Son his words are Spiritum non aliunde puto quam a Patre per Filium Hilarie sayth he is from the Father and the Son His words are de patre filio authoribus confitendus est c. When the holy spirit is sent sayth Hierom he is sent of the Father and the Son and in Scripture hee is called sometimes the spirit of the Father sometimes of the Son And again Spiritus à Patre egreditur propter naturae societatem à filio mittitur That is the spirit proceedeth from the Father and in that he is of the same nature and essence with the Son he is sent of him Why should wee not beleeue sayth Augustine that the holy spirit proceedeth from the Sonne also seeing hee is the spirit of the Sonne The Greekes say not expressely that hee proceedeth from the Father and the Sonne for in the creede of Athanasius as it is found in the Greeke the words are the spirit is of the Father not made nor created nor begotten but proceeding without the addition of the Sonne But some of them say he is or receiued being from the Father that he appeared by the Son and is a perfect image of the Son Others that not only the Father but the Son also sendeth the holy spirit Some that hee proceedeth from the Father and receiueth of the Sonne And others that hee is from the Father by the Sonne In all which diversitie of words and formes of speaking there was one the same meaning and therefore no exception was taken by one against another But the controversie that now is touching this point began in this sort The first publishers of the Gospell of Christ deliuered a rule of faith to the Christian Churches which they founded comprehending all those articles that are found in that epitome of Christian religion which wee call the Apostles creed But in processe of time when Arrius and his complices questioned the deity of Christ and denied him so to bee the sonne of God as to bee coequall coeternall and coessentiall with the father Constantine called a Councell and assembled the Bishops of the Christian world at Nice a city in Bithinia these Bishops cleared the poynt in controversie and with vnanimous consent composed a
if they die without Baptisme dare not pronounce of them as the Romanists do 7 They deny confirmation extream vnction to be sacraments 8 Touching the Eucharist they consecrate ordinarily in leauened bread but on Maundy Thursday in vnleavened bread and in wine or the juice of raisons moistened in water and so pressed out They minister the Communion in both kinds to all both Clergie men and Lay-men The priest ministereth the bread and the Deacon the wine in a spoone They giue this Sacrment to infants when they are baptized in this sort The priest dippeth his finger into the consecrated wine and putteth it into the mouth of the child They haue neither eleuation nor reservation nor circumgestation as the Roman Church hath They all Communicate twice every weeke but the Sacrament is neuer ministred in private houses no not to the Patriarch or Emperour him selfe 9 Touching purgatorie they beleeue that soules after death are detained in a certaine place named in their tongue Mecan aaraft id est locus alleviationis that is a place of refreshing in which the soules of such as die not hauing repented of their former sinnes in such full and perfect sort as was sitting are detained and so whether the soules of good men doe enioy the vision of God before the resurrection they resolue not 10 They say no masses for the dead they bury them with crosses and prayers but specially they vse the beginning of St Iohns Gospell The day following they giue almes and so a certaine number of dayes and make feasts also 11 They grant no indulgences 12 They haue no cases reserued 13 They beleeue that the Saints do intercede for vs they pray vnto them they haue painted images but none molten or carued they much esteeme them in respect of those holy ones they represent and make sweete perfumes before them 14 Their Priests receiue no tithes but they haue lands on which they liue 15 Their Bishops and Priests are married but may not marry a second wife and continue in those degrees and orders vnlesse the Patriarch dispence with them 16 They thinke it vnlawfull to fast on Saturdaie or Sundaie and vrge to that purpose the Canon of the Apostles 17 They keepe Saturday holy as well as Sunday following the Auncient Custome of the East Church they eate flesh on that day throughout the whole yeare except only in Lent and in some Provinces they eate flesh on that day euen in the Lent also 18 They fast Wednesdaies and Saturdaies till the Sunne setting and celebrate not on those dayes till the euening 19 Betweene Easter and Whitsontide they eate flesh freely on those daies 20 They abstaine from things strangled and blood observing the Canon of the Apostles in so doing as they suppose and besides forbeare to eate of such kinds of meate as were forbidden by Moses Law 21 The Emperour hath a supreame authority in all causes aswell Ecclesiasticall as Civill though the Patriarch also exercise a spirituall iurisdiction 22 They deny the supremacy of the Roman Bish. But they yeeld a primacie vnto him acknowledging him to be the first amongst Bishops Hauing spoken of the Grecians Assyrians and supposed Monophysites it remaineth that wee come in the last place to treate of the Maronites Touching the name ◠Baronius sheweth that it was not from any heretick named Maron but that there was a holy man so named and that in honour of him a certaine monastery was founded which was named the monastery of St Maron that all the monkes of that monastery were named Maronites These in time as it may be thought ioyned them selues to the Monophysites formerly described though happily not without some litle difference And hence all the Christians that professed to beleeue so as these did were named Maronites They haue a Patriarch of their own who claimeth to be Patriarch of Antioch He resideth in a monasterie some 25 miles from Tripolis in Syria He hath vnder him some 8 or 9 suffragan Bishops These Maronites inhabit mount Libanus and some of them in Damascus Aleppo and some parts of Cyprus Mount Libanus is of such extent that it is in compasse 7 hundred miles It hath no cities but villages which are neither few nor small Within this compasse none inhabite but Christians though vnder the Turke For they redeeme it at a high rate and pay an intollerable tribute to liue without mixture of Mahumetans The particulars of their Religion are these First they beleeue that the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father onely 2 They blesse consecrate the water so often as any are to be baptized And not as in the Roman Church on the Saturday before Easter only for the whole yeare The reason of which observation is for that at Easter and at Whitsontide onely in the Primitiue Church they ministred Baptisme which they did because in baptisme men are mortified to sin quickned in the life of grace by vertue of Christs death resurrection and giuing of the spirit All which things were cōmemorated in these solemnities 3 They neuer baptize males and females together lest they should contract a kind of affinity 4 None baptizeth with them in what necessity soeuer but a Priest or Deacon 5 They require not the intention of the Minister but thinke the faith of the Church sufficeth 6 They baptize not a male till the 40th day nor a female till the 80th in respect of the impurity of the mother which they thinke continueth so long 7 They seeke no confirmation from the Bishop nor haue any other anointing then that which is vsed in baptisme 8 They consecrat the Eucharist in vnleauened bread in a massie loafe out of which they giue a peece to euery cōmunicant 9 They giue the Sacraments to Lay men in both kinds 10 They celebrat but once in one day vpon one the same altar 11 They think the Person of the Holy Ghost to be in the holy oile in such sort as the Person of Christ is in the Eucharist 12 They thinke that the Eucharist receiued into the mouth goeth not into the stomack but presently diffuseth it selfe through all the members of the body 13 On fasting-dayes they celebrate not till the euening which custome Tho à Iesu saith is not to be altered affirming that it was most auncient in the Church of God the Councell of Cabilon related in the decrees prescribing that they should celebrate the Sacrament in the Ember fasts in the euening on the saturday before Easter in the beginning of the night And although saith he the Church yeelding to our infirmity permit the Latines to doe otherwise yet where the old custome may be kept it is not only not to be takē away but much to be cōmended that men when they fast may put it off as long as may be before they eat any thing In former times they did not eat in Lent till the euening as appeareth by the Councell formerly mentioned Which custom continued till
which the Romanists now teach nor power of nature to doe the workes of the Lawe according to the substance of the things commanded though not according to the intention of the Law-giuer to loue God aboue all and to do actions morally good or not sinfull without concurrence of speciall grace nor election and reprobation depending on the foresight of some thing in vs positiue or priuatiue nor merit of congruence and condignity nor workes of supererogation nor counsels of perfection as they now teach nor iustification by perfection of inherent qualities nor vncertainty of grace nor seaven Sacraments properly so named nor locall presence nor Transubstantiation nor orall manducation of the body of Christ nor reall sacrificing of it for the quick the dead nor remission of sinnes after this life nor tormenting of the soules of men dying in the state of saluation in a part of hell hundred of yeares by divels in corporall fire out of which prayer should deliver them nor that the Saints heare our prayers know or are acquainted with our particular wants nor the grosse Idolatry in those times committed and intollerable abuses found in the number fashion and worship of their images nor their absolution as now they define it nor treasure of the Church growing out of the superfluitie of Saints merits not rewardable in themselues to be disposed by the Pope for supplie of other mens wants to release them out of Purgatorie by way of indulgence nor the infallibility of the Popes iudgment and plenitude of his power such and so great that he may depose Princes and dispose of their crownes and dignities and that whatsoeuer he doth he may not be brought into order or deposed by authority of the whole Christian world in a generall Councell These are the errours which wee condemne and our adversaries maintaine and defend these wee are well assured were not the doctrines of that Church wherein our Fathers liued and dyed though wee do not deny but they were taught by some in that Church All these we offer to proue to be errour in matter of our Christian faith and that seeing wee could no longer haue peace with our adversaries but by approuing these impieties wee had iust cause to divide our selues from them or to speake more properly to suffer our selues to be accursed anathematized and rejected by them rather than to subscribe to so many errours and heresies contrary to the Christian and Catholike verity CHAP. 8. Of the true Church which and where it was before Luthers time THus then it appeareth which wee thinke to haue beene the true Church of God before Luther or others of that sort were heard of in the world namely that wherein all our Fathers liued and died wherein none of the errours reproued by Luther ever found generall vniforme and full approbation in which all the abuses remoued by him were long before by all good men complained off and a reformation desired And therefore though wee accknowledge Wickliffe Husse Hierome of Prague and the like who with great magnanimity opposed them selues against the Tyranny of the See of Rome and the impiety of those who withheld the trueth of God in vnrighteousnesse who being named Christians serued Antichrist as Bernard complained of some in his time to haue beene the worthy servants of God and holy martyrs and confessours suffering in the cause of Christ against Antichrist yet doe wee not thinke that the Church of God was found onely in them or that there was no other appearance of succession of Church and ministerie as Stapleton and other of that faction falsely impute vnto vs. For wee most firmely beleeue all the Churches in the world wherein our Fathers liued and died to haue beene the true Churches of God in which vndoubtedly salvation was to be found and that they which taught embraced and beleeued those damnable errors which the Romanists now defend against vs were a faction only in the Churches as were they that denied the resurrection vrged circumcision and despised the Apostles of Christ in the Churches of Corinth and Galatia If any of our men deny these Churches to haue beene the true Churches of of God their meaning is limitted in respect of the prevailing faction that was in the Church and including them and all the wicked impieties by any of them defended in which sense their negatiue is to bee vnderstood For howsoever the Church which is not to be charged with the errours and faults of all that in the midst of her did amisse held a sauing profession of the trueth of God yet there were many and they carrying the greatest shew of the Church that erred damnably and held not a sauing profession of diuine trueth wherevpon Gerson sayth that before the councell of Constance the false opinions touching the power of the Pope did fret like a Canker preuailed so far that he would hardly haue escaped the note of heresie that had said but halfe so much as was defined in the Councell of Constance by the vniuersall consent of the whole Christian world Gregorius Ariminensis sheweth that touching the power of nature to doe things morrally good and to fulfill the law without concurrence of speciall grace touching the workes of infidels predestination reprobation and punishments of originall sinne the heresies of Pelagius were taught in the Church and that not by a few or contemptible men but so manie and of soe great place that he almost feared to follow the doctrine of the Fathers and oppose himselfe against them therein The same doth Gerson report concerning sundry lewd assertions preiudiciall to the states of Kings and Princes which the Councell of Constance could not bee induced to condemne by reason of a mighty faction that preuailed in it though many great ones much urged it and though they made no stay to condemne the positions of Wicklife and Hus seeming to derogate from the state of the Clergie though many of them might carry a good and Catholike sense if they might haue found a fauourable construction Whereupon he breaketh into a bitter complaint of the partialities and vnequall courses holden in the Church and protesteth that he hath no hope of a reformation by a councell things standing as they then did The like complaint did Contarenus make in our time that if any man did debase the nature of man deiect the pride of sinnefull flesh magnifie the riches of the grace of God and vrge the necessity of it hee was iudged a Lutheran and pronounced an Hereticke though they that gloried in the name of Catholikes were themselues Pelagian heretickes if not worse then Pelagians Alas saith Occam the time is come the blessed Apostle Saint Paule 2. Timoth. 4 prophecied of When men will not suffer wholesome doctrine but hauing their eares itching after their owne lustes get them a heape of Teachers turning their eares from the trueth and being giuen vnto fables This Prophecie is altogether fullfilled in our
daies For behold there are many that peruert the holy Scriptures and deny the sayings of the holy Fathers reiecte the Canons of the Church and ciuill constitutions of the Emperours which molest persecute bring into bondage and without mercy torment and afflict euen vnto death them that defend the trueth And that I may conclude many things in fewe words with harlâ—…ttes foreheades and execrable boldnesse doe endeavour to subuert imperiall and regall power and to ouerthrow all lawes both of GOD and man Neither are these young men or vnlearned but they are the elders of the people High Priests Scribes Pharises and Doctours of the Law as they were that crucified Christ so that wee may rightly say of our times that which Daniel long since pronounced in his 13 Chapter Iniquity is gone out from Babylon from the elders and iudges which seemed to governe and rule the people For many that should bee pillars in the Church of God and defend the truth euen vnto bloud doe cast themselues headlong into the pit of heresies Thus spake he in his time of the corrupt 〈◊〉 of the Church wherein so damnable a faction prevailed daungerously pervâ—…ting all things that in the end he submitteth all his writings to the judgment correction of the true and Catholicke Church but not of the Church of malignant miscreants heretickes schismatickes and their favourers CHAP. 9. Of an Apostasie of some in the Church THus then we thinke with Lira that as there was an Apostasie or revolt of many kingdomes from the Romane Empire and of many Churches from the communion of the Romane Church so there hath beene an Apostasie from the Catholick faith in the midst of the Church not for that all at any time did forsake the true faith but for that many fell from the sinceritie of the faith according to the saying of our Sauiour a when the time of Antichrist draweth on iniquity shall abound and the charity of many shall waxe cold and that 1 Timoth. 4 In the last times some shall depart from the faith attending to spirits of errour and 2 Timoth. 3. In the last dayes there shall bee perilous times men shall be louers of themselues men of corrupt mindes reprobâ—…e concerning the faith This hee speaketh of an Apostasie in the middest of the Church it selfe answerably to that of â— Nazianzen who saith that as when one taketh water into his hand not onely that which hee taketh not vp but that also which runneth forth and findeth passage betweene his fingers is divided and separated from that which he holdeth inclosed in his hand so not onely the open and professed enemies of the Catholicke verity but they also that seeme to bee her best and greatest friends are sometimes divided one from another There is no cause then why it should seeme so strange to our Adversaries that our Divines affirme there hath beene an Apostasie from the Faith not of the whole Church but of many in the Church dangerously erring and adulterating the Doctrine of Faith deliuered by Christ and his blessed Apostles And that some say this Apostasie began sooner some later For if wee speake of those grossest illusions wherewith men were abused in these latter ages surely that degree of Apostasie did not enter into the Church in former times For there was no thought in any Christian man liuing sixe hundred yeares agoe that the Pope could dispense the merits of the Saints and giue pardons that hee might depose Princes for supposed heresie that the Sacrament not receiued but elevated gazed on and adored is a sacrifice propitiatorie for the quicke and the dead that Mary was conceiued without originall sinne that the people are to be partakers of the Sacrament but onely in one kinde and sundry other things of like nature But if we speake of a declination from the sincerity of the Christian Faith it is certaine it began long agoe euen in the first ages of the Church Of this sorte was the errour that the soules of the iust are in some part of hell till the last day as Tertullian Irenaeus and sundry other of the auncient did imagine that they see not God nor enjoy not heauens happines till the generall resurrection which was the opinion of many of the Fathers That all Catholicke Christians how wickedly soeuer they liue yet holding the foundation of true Christian profession shall in the end after great torments endured in the world to come be saued as it were by fire This was the errour of sundry of the auncient who durst not say as Origen that the Angels that fell shall in the end be restored nor as some other mollifying the hardnesse of Origens opinion that all men whether Christians or Infidells nor as a third sorte that all Christians how damnably soeuer erring in matter of faith shall in the end be saued but thought it most reasonable that all right beleeuing Christians should find mercy whatsoeuer their wickednesse were This opinion was so generall in Augustines time that very fearefully he opposed himselfe against it and not daring wholly to impugne that which he found to haue so great and reuerend authours he qualified it what he could and so doubtingly broached that opinion which gaue occasion to the Papists of their heresie touching Purgatory For saith he if they would onely haue vs thinke that the soules of men liuing wickedly heere in this World may through the goodnesse of God and the prayers of the liuing find some mitigation of their paines in hell or haue their punishments suspended and differred for a time yet so that they be confessed to be eternall I would not striue with them yea saith he it may be that men for some lighter sinnes and imperfections cleauing to them while they are here may finde pardon remission in the world to come and be saued as by fire which whether it be so or whether there be no other purging but in this life by the fire of tribulation he professeth he knoweth not nor dareth not pronounce Of this sorte was the opinion of a double resurrection the first of the good who should liue in all happinesse on the earth a thousand yeares before the wicked should be awaked out of the sleepe of death and another after the thousand yeares expired when the wicked also should rise and goe into euerlasting fire and the good into euerlasting life which they supposed to bee the second resurrection How generally this errour spread it selfe in the true Church they that haue but looked into the writings of the fathers and monuments of antiquitie cannot bee ignorant The opinioÌ„ of the necessity of infants receiuing the sacrament of the Lords body and blood as well as Baptisme did possesse the mindes of many in the Church for certaine hundreds of yeares as appeareth by that Augustine writeth of it in his time and Hugo de sancto victore so
many hundred yeares after him yea the Greeke and Aethiopian Churches continue that errour and the practise of communicating infants assoone as they are baptized euen vnto this day Touching predestination how many obscurities vncertainties and contrarieties shall we finde Surely before Augustines time many great worthy prelates and doctors of the Church not hauing occasion to enter into the exact handling of that part of Christian doctrine did teach that men are predestinate for the foresight of some thing in thēselues And Aug himselfe in the beginning of his conflicts with the Pelagians was of opinion that at the least for the foresight of faith men are elected to eternall life which afterwards he disclaimed as false and erronious and taught that mans saluation dependeth on the efficacie of that grace which God giueth and not his purpose of sauing vpon the vncertainty of mans will This doctrine of Augustine was received and confirmed in the Church against the Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians And Bellarmine professeth that Augustines doctrine in this case is the doctrine of the Church yet so that many followed the former conceipt as wee may easily see by the writings of the Schoole men many of which do teach that men are elected for the foresight of some thing positiue or priuatiue in themselues Howe farre some did Montanise in the matter of second marriage so farre disliking it that they would not haue it blessed in the Church but imposed penance on them that married a second wife after the death of the first Hierome against Iouinian certaine auncient provinciall Councells are proofes more then sufficient Touching the state of Saints departed their generality of presence in all places their vniversall knowledge of all things and admirable working every where where their memories are solemnized are not more confidently affirmed by Hierome and Gregory than they are modestly denyed and doubted of by Augustine Hugó de sancto victore the Author of the glosse and others That there were superstitions and abuses in the primitiue Churches wee haue such witnesses as the Romanists dare not except against Doth not Hierome confesse that the burning of lights at noone day vsed in some Churches was an act of zeale but not according to knowledge Did not a Councell forbid those pernoctations in the cemeteries and places ef the martyrs buriall which when Vigilantius reproued Hierome with such fiercenesse and rage as cannot well be excused traduced him as the vilest monster the earth did beare Are not these vigils long since abolished Doth not Augustine confesse there were certaine adoratores sepulchrorum et picturarum worshippers of Tumbes and Pictures in the Church in his time It is therefore much to be maruailed at that our aduersaries charge us with I know not what impiety for that wee say there hath beene a defection not only of heretickes from the Church and faith but also in the Church of her owne children from the sincerity of the heauenly trueth sometimes more and sometimes lesse in some things by some and in some other by others That this defection began long agoe but found greater and stronger opposition in the first six hundred yeares then after there being in later times a great decay of the auncient piety whence it came that many moe and worse errours then euer before were broached and they which were in some beginnings before were augmented and more dangerously defended In which sence some of our men haue said that Gregory was the last of the Good Bishops and the first of the bad For that all things since his time haue greatly decayed and the state of the Church beene much corrupted CHAP. 10. Of their errour who say nothing can be amisse in the Church either in respect of doctrine or discipline IT is vaine saith Gerson that some object the Church is founded on a Rocke and therefore nothing can be amisse either in the doctrine or discipline of it nothing that should neede any reformation If it be so saith he then where is the observation of that Canon that Clarks goe not into Innes or Tavernes that Monkes in their owne places attend onely prayer and fasting without intermedling with Ecclesiasticall or secular busines whence is the superfluous pompe and Princely state of Cardinals and Bishops making them forget that they are men what say they to that abhomination that one man holdeth two hundred or three hundred Ecclesiasticall benefices That the sword of excommunication is so easily drawne out against the poore for euery trifle as for debts and that the Lords of the Clergie vse it for the maintenance of their owne temporall states That strangers are appointed by the Pope to haue cure of soules not vnderstanding the language of them ouer whom they are set nor liuing amongst them Open your eyes saith he and see if the houses of Nuns be not stewes of filthy harlots if the consecrated Monasteries be not Faires Markets and Innes Cathedrall Churches dennes of theeues and robbers Priests vnder pretence of maides keepe harlots consider whether so great variety of pictures and images be fit and whether it occasion not Idolatrie in the simple Looke vpon the number variety of religious orders the canonising of new Saints though there be too many already as Briget of Suetia Charles of Britaine the feasts of new Saints being more religiously kept than of the blessed Apostles Enquire if there be not Apocryphall Scriptures hymnes and prayers in processe of time either of purpose or of ignorance brought into the Church to the great hurt of the Christian faith Consider the diversities of opinions as of the conception of Mary and sundry other things See if there be not intollerable superstition in the worshipping of Saints innumerable observations without all ground of reason vaine credulity in beleeuing things concerning the Saints reported in the vncertaine Legends of their liues superstitious opinions of obtaining pardon and remission of sins by saying so many Pater nosters in such a Church before such an Image as if in the Scriptures and authenticall writings of holy men there were not sufficient direction for all acts of piety devotion without these fabulous and frivolous additaments nay which is yet worse see if these observations in many Countries and Kingdomes of the World bee not more vrged than the Lawes of God euen as wee shall finde in the decrees and decretals a Monke more seuerely punished for going without his coule then for committing adulterie or sacriledge CHAP. 11. Of the causes of the manifold confusions and euils formerly found in the Church THese are the euils deformities and sores of the Church which this worthy man in his time cōplained of The causes where of he thought to be principally two First the neglecting of the Lawes of GOD and direction of the Scriptures following humane inventions Secondly the ambition pride couetousnesse
should follow his example but to beginne the new law as Moses did the old and therefore to take it as imposed vpon vs by Christs example in the nature of a precept and to be done in imitation of Christ and as being in it selfe a thing pleasing vnto GOD for that it is an imitation of his Sonnes action is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Caluin rightly noteth and not voide of superstition and errour Now that the Fathers either erred themselues in this sort or sought to abuse others neither Calvine nor wee euer thought For they neuer imagined that the principall reason that mooued the authours and beginners of this fast to prescribe it was the onely imitation of Christs fast or because they thought it it in it owne nature a thing respected by God meerely as an imitation of his Sonnes action but that whereas it is very fit there bee a solemne time at least once in the yeare wherein men may call themselues to an account for all their negligences repent them of all their euill doings and with prayers fastings and mournings turne vnto the Lord this time was chosen as fittest both because that heerein wee remember the sufferings of Christ for our sinnes which is the strongest and most prevailing motiue that may bee to make vs hate sinne and with teares of repentant sorrow bewaile it which could no otherwise bee taken away but by the bloud shed of the Sonne of GOD as also for that after this meditation of the sufferings of Christ and conforming our selues to them his joyfull resurrection for our justification doth immediatly present it selfe vnto vs in the dayes following in the solemnities whereof men were wont with great devotion to approach to the Lords Table and they which were not yet baptized were by Baptisme admitted into the Church Thus then it was not without great consideration that men made choice of this time wherein to recount all their negligences sinnes and transgressions and to prepare themselues by this solemne act of Fasting both for the better performance of their owne dueties in those ensuing dayes of joyfull solemnitie as also to obtaine at Gods handes the gracious acceptance of such as they offered vnto him to bee entred into his couenant For the manner was in the Primitiue Church neuer to present any vnto Baptisme vnlesse it were in the case of necessity and danger but onely in the Feasts of Easter and Pentecost Thus then these being the reasons mouing to institute a set and solemne Fast and to appoint it at this time and season of the yeare rather than any other for the limitation of the number of dayes men had an eye as to a convenient direction to Christs Fast of forty dayes in the dedication of the new Covenant which number also Moses as being the giuer and Elias as being the restorer of the olde Law kept and obserued before him not as if they had beene precisely and absolutely tyed by force of these examples for then they would precisely haue kept that number which yet they did not for the Saturdayes and Sundayes deducted which were not aunciently fasted neither in the Greeke Church nor in some of the Latine Churches there remaine not forty dayes and if onely the Sondayes bee deducted as in the Latine Church there will want of the number for those in capite Ieiunii which being added to the rest make vp the number of 40. were not obserued from the beginning but added afterwards Our Divines therefore doe teach that Fasting is commaunded by Almighty GOD not as a thing in it selfe regarded but respectiuely to those ends before mentioned that GOD hath set no certaine times of Fasting but that the Church may appoint vpon set and ordinary or speciall and extraordinary occasions and causes times of fasting and that men are bound to obey The Fast of Lent they doe not dislike but thinke it may be kept as a convenient tradition of Antiquity dispensable by authority of the Church vpon due consideration of times and persons so that no false nor superstitious opinions bee added but the practise of the Romanists they condemne for that whereas they pretend to follow the ancient custome of fasting to be tyed vnto it they retaine no shew of the auncient fast but make a meere mocke of God man as their own best friends are forced to confesse besides their erronious opinions of merit satisfaction grosse superstition in the difference of meates Thus then we did not put down the true right vse exercise of fasting but the mockery of it do wish that in the ful establishment of the Churches the ancient discipline of fasting due coÌ„sideratioÌ„ had of times conditioÌ„s of men may be restored again If any of our Diuines seeme to dislike that there should be any set fasts as being Iewish it is not the generall resolution of the reformed Churchs but the priuate opinion only of some particular mâ—… who were carried with the hate of Romish errours and superstition in the set fasts to dislike them wholly which aduisedly I see not how they could doe and I am well assured many of very great esteeme do allow and approue the vse of them The next obiectioÌ„ is most friuolous Caluin saith Lay men long since presumed in times of necessity to baptize werein whether they did well or not the Fathers in those times wherein they were suffered thus to do could not nor did not resolue what can be inferred of this Whether they did well or not Caluin saith the Fathers were not resolute and hee think eth their doing can hardly be excused from vsurpation of that which no way pertained to them therefore saith Bellarmine he dissenteth from all antiquity confesseth the doctrine of the Romish Church to be most ancient Let Bellarmine giue vs leaue to reason from his speeches in the same sort he will soone perceiue he hath wronged Caluine Bellarmine saith the Fathers were doubtfull whether if men not yet baptized should attempt to baptize it were baptisme or not he pronounceth peremtorily it is therefore he dissenteth from all antiquity As likewise they doubted whether baptisme administred sportingly were true baptisme or not he his consorts make no question of it therefore they dissent from all antiquitie But let vs proceed to the next allegation Caluin saith it is most certaine that all antiquity is clearely against the Romish doctrine of the reall sacrificing of Christ in the blessed Sacrament that the Fathers did most rightly conceiue of this sacred mystery without derogating any way from the sufficiencie and plenitude of Christs sacrifice A man would hardly thinke any man would allcage this place to proue that Caluin confesseth the doctrine of the Fathers and the opinion of the Romanists are all one and yet this doth the Iesuite so forcible and powerful he is in reasoning that what a man most constantly denieth he can
proue hee affirmeth But he will say that Caluin in the same place doth except against the Fathers Surely he saith hee thinketh they cannot be altogether excused in that they soe much vrged the mysticall sacrificing of Christs body in the Sacrament and thereby made it carry a kinde of shew of a new and newly repeated sacrifice for that by misconstruction of that they meant well others turned the Sacrament into a new offering of the Sonne of God for the quicke and dead The reason doubtlesse that mooued the Fathers so much to vrge that mysticall sacrificing of CHRIST in the blessed Sacrament was for that they liued in the middest of Iewes and Gentiles both whose religion consisted principally in sacrifice the Fathers therefore to shew that Christian Religion is not without sacrifice that of a more excellent nature than theirs were did much vrge that Christ once offered for the sinnes of the World vpon the aulter of his Crosse is dayly in mystery offered slaine and his blood powred out on the holy Table and that this sacrifice of Christ slaine for the sins of the world thus continually represented and liuing in our memories is the sacrifice of Christians If any man shall alleage that these were reasons sufficient to moue the Fathers to speake as they did notwithstanding any occasions of errour that might by ignorant men bee taken Caluine doth not pertinaciously resist for he sayd only what hee thought not peremptorily iudging or condemning those whom so iust and good causes haue made honourable in the Church for ever CHAP. 20 Of the inuocation and adoration of Saints touching which the Century-writers are wrongfully charged to dissent from the Fathers THus then I hope it appeareth that Caluine doth not confesse that the doctrine of the Romanists hath any testimonie or approbation of Antiquity Bellarmine therefore passeth from him to the writers of the Centuries in whom hee hopeth to find something for his purpose but they steade him as little as Caluine did Let vs therefore take a view of that hee sayth Touching free-will iustification merits and the like there is nothing in them but that which hath bin sufficiently I hope cleared in Caluine the things they say being the same Only two things I find imputed to them by Bellarmine and not to Caluine For first they are supposed to acknowledge the Popish invocation of Saints to haue beene in the time of the Fathers and allowed by them Secondly they are charged to blame the Fathers for magnifying too much the excellency of Martyrdome the praises whereof Bellarmin saith they dislike because they will not admit that Martyrdome is a kind of baptisme seruing for the expiation washing away of sin Touching the inuocation of Saints it is euident it was not known in the first ages of the Church nor approoued by the Primitiue Fathers but because it hath mightily preuailed in these later times the superstition and idolatry there in committed hath beene such as cannot be excused therefore for the better answering of Bellarmines cauils and the satisfying of our selues and others let vs consider from what grounds and by what degrees it entred into the Church First there was in the Church from the beginning a true and certaine resolution that the Saints departed do in generall tender respect and wish well vnto their brethren and fellow seruants whom they haue left behind them in the warfare of Christ in this worlde Secondly men grew afterwards to thinke that men departing out of this world carry with them the remembrance of the state of things wherein departing hence they leaue them and that out of their loue which neuer falleth away they do most carefully recommend vnto God the particular necessities of their brethren made knowen vnto them while they liued there Thirdly from hence it came that men entreated their friends yet liuing that if they preuented them and came before them into Christ their maisters ioyfull and happie presence being freed from the daungers miseries and euils of this present life they would not forget to recommend them vnto God that are in them still Fourthly whereas by an auncient custome they did remember the names of the departed at the LORDS table giuing thankes vnto GOD that had made them soe glorious in their life and death through his goodnesse and praying him by their examples to frame them to the like and besides kept the anniuersarie remembrances of the dayes of their death as if they had beene their birth dayes with all tokens of ioy in the orations they made to sett forth the goodnesse of GOD towards them and to propose their example for imitation they did sometimes by way of Apostrophe speake vnto them as if they had beene present and had sense and apprehension of that they spake whereof yet they were doubtfull as appeareth by Gregory Nazianzen Hierome others and not contented thus to commune with them they entreated them if they had any sense or knowledge of things in this world to be remembrancers for them and the Church here below This was a kinde of doubtfull compellation soliciting of them If their state were such as that they could take notice of these things that they would not forget to procure the good of their brethren but was no invocation which is a retyring of our selues in all our needes necessities and distresses with assured hope of helpe to him that wee know can stede vs in what distresse soeuer wee bee Thus then though the Fathers did sometimes when they had particular occasions to remember the Saints and to speake of them by way of Apostrophe turne themselues vnto them and vse wordes of doubtfull compellation praying them if they haue any sense of these inferiour things to bee remembrancers to God for them yet shall our adversaries neuer proue that they did prostrate their bodies bow their knees or make prayers to them in a set course of devotion but this both adoration and invocation of Saints and Angels was directly condemned by them We honour the Saints saith Ierome but doe not worship or adore any creature neither Angels Archangels nor any name that is named in this world or that which is to come The Councell of Laodicea reported by Theodoret directly condemneth this kinde of adoration and invocation not of Saints onely but of Angels also The Popish distinction of Latria and Doulia doth not answere these authorities and testimonies of Antiquity for those erring miscreants mentioned by Paul the Councell of Laodicea Theodoret Epiphanius and others did not thinke the Angels to be God or equall to the Most High neither did they worship them in such sort as to ascribe infinite greatnesse vnto them which the Papists meane by their Latria but they gaue spirituall worship and adoration vnto them in an inferiour and lower degree such as the Papists call Doulia because they thought them to mediate betweene God and mortall men in very high and
that others whom Augustine refuteth in his booke De fide operibus were of opinion that all Christians how damnably soeuer they liue holding the trueth of Christian profession may and shall be saued This he saith is the doctrine of the Protestants If any of vs euer wrote spake or thought any such thing let GOD forget euer to doe good vnto vs and let our prayers bee rejected from his presence but if this bee as vile a slaunder as euer Satanist devised the Lord reward them that haue beene the Authours devisers of it according to their workes But let vs see doth he make no shew of proofe doubtlesse he doeth Luther saith he pronounceth that there is no way to haue accesse vnto God to treate with him touching reconciliation acceptation into his fauour but by faith that God regardeth not workes that a true Christian is so rich in faith that he cannot perish though he would nor how wickedly soeuer he liue vnlesse he refuse and cease to beleeue For the cleering of these places of Luther wee must remember that which Illyricus hath fitly noted to this purpose that there are two Courts of Gods Iudgements most righteous proceeding towards the sons of men the one he calleth forum iustificationis the other novae obedientiae In the first hee saith God requireth perfect righteousnesse fully answering that his Law prescribeth which being no where to bee found but in Christ no way apprehended but by faith in this respect sitting in this Court of exact tryall he regardeth no workes vertues or qualities finding nothing of worth or worthy to be respected but looketh to our faith onely for Christs sake onely at the sole and onely suite of Faith forgiueth sin imputeth righteousnesse Notwithstanding because he neuer saith to any sinner Thy sinnes are remitted but that he addeth goe and sinne no more that vpon perill of forfeiting the benefite receiued and that some worse thing should betide vnto him therefore there is another Court wherein he sitteth giueth commaundement for new obedience and workes of righteousnes though not requiring so strictly that perfection which formerly hee did but accepting our weake indevours study of well doing and in this sort it is that hee will judge vs in the last Day according to our workes Thus then wee see how that though Faith be neuer alone yet in procuring vs acceptation with God it is alone and that though God regard none of our vertues actions qualities as being of any worth in the strictnes of his Iudgment but reject them as vnpure vncleane respect nothing but the humble sute petition of Faith for the purpose of justification yet when we are justified he requireth of vs a new obedience judgeth vs according to it crowneth vs for it That which Luther addeth that a man cannot perish though hee would and how wickedly soeuer hee liue vnlesse he cease to beleeue may seeme hard at the first sight but not to them that doe knowe that Luther is farre from thinking that men may bee saued how wickedly soeuer they liue for he constantly teacheth that Iustifying faith cannot remaine in that man that sinneth with full consent nor be found in that soule wherein are peccata vastantia conscientiam as Melancthon speaketh following Augustine that is raging ruling preuailing laying wast and destroying the integrity of the conscience which should resist against euill and condemne it This is all then that Luther saith that no wickednesse with which faith may stand can hurt vs soe long as faith continueth but if sinne once become regnant and so exclude faith wee are in the state of damnation Against this doctrine of Luther or any part thereof neither Bellarmine nor the gates of hell shall euer be able to prevaile Wee see then how iustly wee are charged with the heresies of the Simonians Eunomians and the like monsters surely as iustly as Bellarmine may be charged with true and honest dealing in this imputation and other that follow CHAP. 23. Of the heresie of Florinus making God the author of sinne falsely imputed to Caluine and others THe next heresie which they say wee are fallen into is the heresie of Florinus who taught that God is the cause and author of sinne This he sayth Caluin Luther Martyr and sundry other of the greatest Diuines of the reformed churches haue defended in their writings Of this sinfull wicked and lying report wee are sure GOD is not the Author but the diuell and therefore wee doe not fully accord with Florinus But that it may appeare how truly these men write and speake of things of soe great moment I will onely positiuely lay downe what wee thinke of this matter and the adversaries slaunders will bee sufficiently refuted For the clearing of our opinion touching this poynt I will first set downe the different kinds of sinne Secondly what God may be sayd to will or decree touching the first entrance thereof And thirdly what when it is entred Sinne as wee know is nothing else but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a transgression of the law The law is partly affirmatiue requiring partly negatiue forbidding the doing of a thing Hence it followeth that all sinne is either of omission or commission Sinne of omission is the not doing of that the Creature is bound to do Sinne of Commission is the doing of that the creature is bound not to doe The not doing of that the creature is bound to doe God may be sayd to will and decree foure wayes First by effectuall opposing against the doing of it in this sort it is impious to thinke that God decreed the omission or not doing of that the creature stands bound to doe Secondly by discouraging and disswading from the doing of it which is no lesse absurd and impious then the former Thirdly by deniall of that grace concurrence and assistance without which it cannot be done this cannot bee imagined in respect of the state of mans first creation but wee must make God the Author of sin and therefore there is none of vs that doth attribute any such thing vnto God But contrarywise Caluin whom Bellarmine seemeth most to challenge noteth fitly to this purpose out of Augustine that God gaue Adam posse si vellet sed non velle quod potuit power to stand and continue in his vprightnesse if he would though hee did not inseparably hould him to it but left him to his owne choice whence followed that euill we now complaine of Fourthly by deniall of that grace assistance and concurrence without which he seeth the creature will not be moued nor wonne to doe it though it haue other more then sufficient graces motiues and encouragements to induce it therevnto In this fourth sense many feare not to say that God negatiuely or privatiuely decreed the sinne of omission or the not doing of that the creature was bound to doe in that he decreed the deniall of
vertue of their owne proper for me Caietan confesseth that God doth not so produce them as an immediat agent but that the 2d causes doe mediate between him and them as secondary principal agents bring forth their effects Yet are not these that is the first the 2d causes partiall but totall causes of all those effects which they produce For the cleering whereof we must obserue that a cause may bee said to be totall either totalitate effectus that is because it bringeth forth the whole effect though some other cause haue such efficiencie also in respect of the same that without the helpe of it it cannot bring forth any such effect as when 2 men draw a ship either of them produceth the whole effect and moueth the whole ship but yet not so wholly but that either hath need of the others helpe and concurrence Or secondly a cause may bee said to bee totall totalitate causoe and that in 2 sorts either so as to produce the whole effect without any concurrence of any other cause in which sense neither God nor the creature neither the first nor the 2d cause must be said to be a totall cause or so as that though some other do concurre yet the being power of working and actuall cooperation of it is wholy from the agent with which it doth concurre and so God is a totall cause of all those effects that he produceth by and together with the 2d causes So that the opinion of them who thinke that God hath no immediat influence into the effects of 2d causes nor immediate concurrence with such causes in producing their effects is to be exploded out of all Christian schools Churches as profane heathnish Wherfore there are who finding that this first opiniō is not to be admitted flie to a 2d little better then the former For they acknowledge that God hath an immediate influence into the effects of all 2d causes but they think it to be general indefinit to be ◅ted determined by the different concurse of 2d causes It is true indeed that God worketh all things as an vniversall cause but this may bee vnderstood wayes For first a cause may be sayd to be vniuersall in the vniuersality of predication as opposit to speciall or particular as an artificer in respect of this that speciall kinde of artificers is generall and is an vniuersall cause of all workes of arte and they of such speciall workes as are incident to their seuerall kinds Secondly a cause may bee sayd to bee vniversall in that it extendeth it selfe to effects of all sorts in respect of something common to them all and not in respect of that which is proper to each of them vnlesse the working of it bee limited and directed by something else The fire warmeth the water with which poison is mingled in the same sorte that it doth any other water and without any difference of it own action And the actions of the sun fire are such as that men make vse of thē to vvhat purposes they please accordingly as their vvorking is differently applied bring forth differēt effects Thirdly a cause may be sayd to be vniversall because the efficiencie and vvorking of it extendeth it selfe to many things according to the seuerall differences of them without being limited and determined by any other thing These men suppose that God is an vniversall cause in the second sense and that his concurrence influence is indefinit generall and such as may be taken and applied by second causes in what sort they will So that the actions of free vvill the actions of euery other second cause haue from the freedome of the wil the particular quality of the second causes that they are of this or that sort good or bad not from the concurse or influence of the first cause which is finde◅init as is the concurse influence of the sun vvith other inferiour causes and as one man may make offer of his helpe concurrence to whatsoeuer another vvill make vse of it So they suppose that God offereth his concurse to second causes to be vsed by them to what purpose in what sort they will According to this conceipt they suppose they can easily cleere the doubt and free God from all imputation of being authour of sin though he concurre immediatly with second causes in to the producing of those actions that are sinfull For say they his concurse influence is indefinit and is by them applied in ill sorte to ill purposes But first this conceipt cleereth not God from being authour of sin And secondly it cannot stand with the grounds of Philosophie or diuinity That it cleereth not God from being authour of sin but rather layeth this imputation on him it is euident For if the concurse of God be generall indefinit indifferent and to be determined by the creature to the producing of good or euill it followeth that when the will of the creature determineth it selfe to the specificall act of sin God also determinately concurreth with it in particular to the producing of such an acte in kinde That this consequence is good it is evident because whosoeuer shall offer his help concurrence cooperation to another indifferently for the producing of good or euill the actes of sin or vertue as it shall please him he concurreth in trueth indeede to the producing of the acte of sin in particular as it is such an act if by the will of the other his concurrence cooperation bee determined to such an acte in particular Wherefore if God for his part offer onely a generall concurse such as is indifferent to the producing of actes of vertue or sinne accordingly as the will of the second cause shall determine it it will follow that God concurreth determinately or in particular to the producing of the acte of sin as being determined to the producing of such an act in particular by the will of the creature before he come to actuall cooperation or concurrence Secondly this conceipt cannot stand with the grounds of true Philosophie or diuinitie For if Gods concurse were onely generall and indefinit to bee determined by the will of the creature the will of the creature should bee before the will of God in respect of the particularity of things yea in respect of some reall acte as an acte it should be simply the first agent For according to this fancie because the creature inclineth to such an acte to put a thing in being therefore God cooperateth Whence it will follow that there are 2 beings of things that God is not simply the first cause of all those things that haue being 2ly It pertaineth to diuine prouidence determinately to will aforehand to appoint what afterwards shall be to moue second causes to certaine and determinate effects so to dispose all things that they may attaine the ends for which they were created But this could
not be if his concurse were indefinite generall only 3ly If it were as these men imagine the determination of the will of the creature should not bee within the compasse of things ordered by diuine prouidence and so God should not haue particular prouidence of euery particular thing That this is consequent vpon the fancie of indefinite concurse it is euident For if Gods concurse bee indefinite and in generall only then doth hee not truly and efficiently worke that the will of the creature shall in particular encline to and bring forth such an indiuiduall actiō And if he be not the cause that it so enclineth worketh his prouidence extēdeth not to such working seing his prouidence extēdeth to those things only wherein he hath a working So that if these things were soe as these men imagine Gods prouidence should extend it selfe to contingent things in a generality only in that he hath giuen to intellectual creatures a freedome to what whē how it pleaseth thē in particular in respect ofthings of this nature hee should haue a presidence onely and no prouidence Neither doth that which is alleaged by these men touching the indifferēt cōcurse of the Sunne or that of a man offering his concurrence in a generality only proue that Gods concurse is such For the Sunne is a finite and limited thing hauing something in act somthing in possibility so is man likewise therefore they may be determined to produce such such indiuiduall acts by the concurse of some other cause But God is a cause of infinite perfection and a pure act hauing nothing admixt of possibility so that his action and will cannot bee determined limited by any other Wherefore the resolution of the best diuines is that Gods concurse influence is not into the effects of 2d causes only but into the 2d causes thēselues So that he doth not only by an immediate concurse influence concurre with the 2d causes for the bringing forth of such effects as they determine themselues vnto but he hath an influence into the 2d causes thēselues mouing working thē to bring forth effects such effects as he thinketh good to worke thē vnto This is proued by sundry reasons First as we see 2d causes do not only produce some certaine effects operations as within some certaine kind but they giue vnto thē their last actuall perfection to bee But this they cānot giue vnlesse they be made cōpleate in vertue actiue by the first agent because an agent must be no lesse actuall then the effect or operation it bringeth forth But euery created agent is mixed compounded of actuall being possibility is not so actuall as an execution that is a 2d act therefore before it can bring forth any execution or effect it must be made cōpleate in vertue operatiue by the actuall motion of the first agent 2ly To bee is a most vniuersall act the proper effect of God onely therefore if wee will speak formally properly 2d causes in that they giue being to their own effects are but instruments of God whence it will follow that they must be moved by him in nature before they giue being to any of their effects For an instrument doth nothing towards the producing of the effect of the principall agent vnlesse it be actually moued by the principall agent 3ly Euery such thing as is somtimes an agent in act sometimes but potentially only must be moued by some mouer that is a pure act hath nothing mingled with it of possibility before it eā bring forth any actiō But the will of the creature is somtimes actually in actiō somtimes but potētially only therefore it must be moued by the first act before it can bring forth any action Which must bee granted for that otherwise the will of the creature in respect of some actions should bee the first mouer of it selfe and the first determiner That which is wrought by God in and vpon the second causes to make them actually to bee in action is a thing that hath a kinde of incompleate beeing in such sort as colours haue a being in the aire and the power of the act in the instrument of the artificer and so often as 2◠causes whether of naturall or supernaturall order haue in respect of the forme inherent in them a sufficient actiue power in the nature of the first act to bring forth their effects the helpe or precedent motion of God whereby he moueth and applyeth the same actiue powers to operate is not a qualitie but is more properly named a powerfull motion whereby the first and most vniversall agent so worketh vpon them that the 2d causes are actually in action euery one in sort fitting to the nature condition of it And to this purpose it is that Tho Aquinas hath that habituall grace is a quality but the actuall help whereby God moueth vs to will a thing is not a quality but a certain motion of the mind And surely it will easily appeare that there is a great difference between these For the habite doth perfit the power of the soule as a forme or first act implying possibility in respect of actuall operation because the habite doth not determine the power actually to worke but fitteth it only for action inclineth it thereunto But this actuall helpe mouing putting forth the 2d causes into their actions doth not perfit the power of working but makes thē actually to be in action Lastly the habit in respect of the nature of it may be the cause of diuerse actions but that actuall help mouing whereof we speak determineth the will to one individuall action yet taketh not from it a power of dissenting and doing otherwise Alvarez a great learned Archbishop that hath lately written with good allowance of the Church of Rome layeth downe these propositions First that God by an effectuall will predetermined all such acts of men and Angels as are good and all such as are not euill ex obiecto though in individuo they be euill sins ex malâ circumstantiâ Which he proueth out of the 10th of Esay where Almighty God saith Assur is the rod of my wroth he is my staffe I will send him to a deceiptfull nation against the people of my fury will I giue him a command a litle after Shall the axe boast against him that cutteth with it or shall the saw bee lifted vp against him that draweth it as if a rod should be lifted vp against him that lifteth it the staff which is but wood Here it is evident that Assur sinned ex malâ circumstantiâ in subduing the nations and yet it is cleere that God predetermined that he should waste and destroy the nations that he sent him to that purpose and moued him so to doe His 2d proposition is this that whatsoeuer is positiue of being in an act of sin though intrinsecally
of Pelagius CHAP. 27 Of the heresies of Nouatus Sabellius and the Manichees THe sixt heresie that wee are charged with is that of Nouatus who would not haue those that fell in the time of persecution reconciled and receiued againe to the communion of the Church vpon their repentance But wee receiue all Penitents whatsoeuer and therefore this lying slander may be added to the rest to make vp a number But they will say the Nouatians were condemned for denying penance to be a Sacrament and that therein at least wee agree with the Nouatians This is as false as the rest for it is most certaine that the absolution which was giuen in the Primitiue Church disliked by Nouatus was not taken as a sacramentall acte giuing grace remitting sinnes but as a judiciall acte receiving them to the peace of the Church and the vse of the Sacraments which had beene formerly put from them This the best and most iudicious of the Schoole-men confesse besides the infinite testimonies that might be alleaged out of the Fathers to proue the same It was then an admitting to the vse of the Sacraments not it selfe a Sacrament But Caluin sayth that the speech of Hierome that poenitentia is secunda tabula post naufragium is impious and cannot be excused and therefore it seemeth he inclineth to the Nouatians heresie in denying the benefite of penitencie to distressed and miserable sinners that seeke it Augustine in his booke De mendacio ad Consentium maketh it a disputable question whether a man that vsually lieth speaking trueth at some one time with purpose to make men thinke it like the rest of his lying speaches wherewith they are well acquainted may not be said to lie when hee speaketh trueth because hee intendeth to deceiue and doeth deceiue Surely if this man should speake any trueth I feare the Reader would thinke it a falsehood because his ordinary manner is seldome or neuer to speake any trueth Doeth Caluine say the speach of Hierome is impious and not to bee excused as hee reporteth he doeth Surely no but that if it be vnderstood as the Papists vnderstand it it cannot bee excused For they conceiue thereby that the Sacrament of Penance is implied which Hierome neuer thought of But hee will say the Nouatians refused to haue those that they baptized to receiue imposition of hands with which was joyned in those times the anoynting of the parties with oyle Surely so they did but so doe not wee for we tâ—…inke of the vse of imposition of hands as Hierome doeth in his booke against he Luciferians But touching the vse of oyle though at that time there was no cause for the Nouatians to except much against it yet now that it is made the matter and element of a Sacrament and that by a kinde of consecration the ground whereof wee know not wee thinke we doe not offend in omitting it no more than the Church of Rome in omitting innumerable ceremoniall obseuations of like nature that were in vse in those times The seauenth is the heresie of Sabellius which he sayth was reuiued by Servetus So it was indeede that Seruetus reuiued in our time the damnable heresie of Sabellius long since condemned in the first ages of the Church But what is that to vs How little approbation hee found amongst vs the just and honourable proceeding against him at Geneva will witnesse to all posterity The eighth is the heresie of the Manichees which taught that euills which are found in the World were from an euill beginning so making two originall causes the one good of things good the other euill of things euill It is true that this was the damnable opinion of the Manichees But will the shamelesse companion charge vs with this impiety I thinke hee dareth not for hee knoweth that wee teach that all the euils that are in the World had their beginning and did proceede from the freedome of mans will which while hee vsed ill hee ouerthrewe and lost both himselfe and it that while hee turned from the greater to the lesser good and preferred the creature before the Creatour hee plunged himselfe into innumerable defects miseries perplexities and discomforts and justly deserued that GOD from whome thus wickedly hee departed should make all those things which formerly hee appointed to doe him seruice to become feeble weake vnfit and vnwilling to performe the same But saith he Luther affirmeth that all things fall out by a kinde of absolute necessitie whence the heresie of the Manichees may bee inferred The aunswere to this objection is easie for Luther taketh necessitie for infallibilitie of event thereby meaning that all things fall out infallibly so as God before disposed and determined but doth not imagine a necessitie of coaction enforcing nor a naturall and inevitable necessitie taking away all freedome of choyce as our adversaries injuriously impute vnto him If this of Luther faile as in deede it doeth Bellarmine hath another proofe and demonstration that wee are Manichees for that Calvine denyeth man to haue freedome of choyce in any thing whatsoeuer This is a most false and injurious imputation For though Calvine deny that man can doe any thing in such sort as therein to bee free from the direction and ordering of Almighty GOD yet hee confesseth that Adams will in the day of his creation was free not onely from sinne and miserie but also from limitation of desire and naturall necessitie and left to her owne choyce in the highest matter and of most consequence of all the rest and that man by making an euill choyce did runne into those euills which he is now subject vnto Calvin then is not worse than the Manichees as making God the Authour of those euills which the Manichees attribute to an euill beginning as Bellarmine is pleased to pronounce of him but is farther from that hellish conceit than Bellarmine is from hell it selfe if he repent him not of these his wicked and hellish slanders But sayth hee the Manichees blamed and reprehended the Fathers of the Olde Testament and so also doeth Calvine therefore Calvin is a Manichee This is as if a man should thus reason with Bellarmine Porphyry blamed Paul as an arrogant man for reprehending Peter that was his auncient and before him in the faith of Christ and Bellarmine diliâ—…eth him for persecuting the Church of GOD in the time of his infidility therefore Bellarmine is as bad or worse than Porphyry For the Manichees thought that the Old Testament was from an euill beginning and therefore exaggerated all the faults and sinnes of the Fathers that then liâ—…ed for confirmation and strengthening of this their blasphemie But Calvin hateth this impiety more than the Romanists who imagine a greater difference betwixt the state of the Iewes and the Christians that hee doeth It is therefore an ill consequence Caluine doth not hide nor excuse but condemne the murder and adultery of Dauid the drunkennesse of Noe and the
a more sound and sincere profession of Christian verity than the Romanists doe It is true indeede that many of the famous Churches of the world haue beene swallowed vp of Mahometisme and Barbarisme but to attribute that their fall to their separation from the Church of Rome is vpon as good ground as to attribute the cause of Goodwin-sands to Tenterton-steeple That which he addeth that none of the Churches divided from Rome had euer any learned men after their separation sheweth plainely that his impudencie is greater than his learning For what will he say of Oecumenius Theophylactus Damascenus Zonaras Cedrenus Elias Cretensis Nilus Carbasilas and innumerable more liuing in the Greeke Churches after their separation from the Church of Rome Surely these were more than matchable with the greatest Rabbines of the Romish Synagogue But saith hee they could neuer hold any Councell since their separation If hee meane generall it is not to bee marvailed at seing they are but a part of the Christian Church If Nationall or Provinciall it is most childish and by sundry instances to be reprooued CHAP. 42. That nothing can bee concluded for them or against vs from the note of Vnitie or division opposite vnto it THus hauing cleared that which Bellarmine objecteth to prooue that subjection to and vnion with the Bishop of Rome is implyed in that vnity which is required to the being of the Church Let vs come to the other part and see whether any thing may bee concluded from that vnity which wee confesse to bee required to the being of the true Church either against vs or for them First therefore the Iesuite reasoneth against vs in this sort All they that are of the true Church must hold the vnity of the faith once deliuered to the Saints but there are sundry Heretikes erring damnably in matters of faith as Zuincheldians Anabaptists Trinitarians and the like gone out of the reformed Churches therefore they are not the true Churches of God If this kinde of reasoning were good hee might proue that those Churches wherein the Apostles liued were not the Churches of God because out of them proceeded sundry heretikes as Hymenaeus Philetus Nicolaus Simon Magus and the like But sayth he there be two differences betweene the Apostolike Churches and the reformed Churches in this respect the first that the doctrine of the reformed Churches it selfe and of it owne nature breedeth dissention the second that when there is difference growne they haue no rule by direction whereof to make an end of controversies But the divisions that grow from the Catholike Church proceede meerely from the malice of Sathan and haue no foundation in the doctrine of it and if any difference doe arise it hath a mâ—…anes to end all controversies by which is the determination of a Councell or the chiefe Pastour Both these differences we deny for neither doth our doctrine of it selfe breed dissention and diversitie of opinions neither are wee without meanes of composing controversies if they arise If Bellarmine will proue that our doctrine of it selfe breedeth division hee must shew that the grounds and principles of it are vncertaine and such as may occasion errour contrariety and vncertaintie of judgment which he neither doth nor can doe For the ground of all our doctrine is the written word of God interpreted according to the rule of faith the practise of the Saints from the beginning the conference of places and all light of direction that either the knowledge of â—…gues or any part of good learning may yeeld This surely is the rule to end all controversies by and not the authoritie of a Councell or the chiefe Pastour as Bellarmine fondly imagineth For they both must follow the direction of this rule in all their determinations Whereupon the Booke of God and monuments of Antiquity were alwayes wont to be brought into the Councels whereby the Fathers might examine all matters controversed or any way doubted of Now as wee want not a most certaine rule whereby to iudge of all matters of controversie and difference so in examining things by the direction of this rule wee require that Christian moderation in all men that euer was found in the seruants of God that no man presume of his owne wisdome iudgment and vnderstanding nor hastily pronounce before conference with others â— For the spirits of the Prophets are subiect to the Prophets and God is the God of order and not of confusion It is therefore a vile calumniation of Bellarmine when hee sayth that with vs euery one preferreth himselfe before others and euery one taketh on him peremptory iudgment of another For contrariwise wee teach all men to submit their priuate opinions to the examination of others the meaner to respect those of greater place and quality the fewer the more and those men which pertinaciously contradict the doctrine agreed vpon by consent of all that are in authority or the greater part wee reiect from the communion of our Churches and so with vs an end is made of all controversies The rule then with vs is most certaine and infallible knowen to all to wit the scripture or the written word of God expounded according to the rule of faith practice of the Saints and the due comparing of one part of it with another in the publike confessions of faith published by the Churches of our communion In all which there is a full consent whatsoeuer our malicious adversaries clamourously pretend to the contrary and all those that stubbornely resist against this rule or any thing therein contained and refuse to bee ordered by it wee reiect as factious and seditious schimatickes Thus doe wee disclaime all Anabaptists Familists Zuinchfeldians Trinitarians and all other Sectaries whatsoeuer But sayth Bellarmine how is it then that there are soe many diuisions not only from your Churches but also in your Churches and amongst them that you take for your brethren and men of your owne communion as Lutherans Caluinists Flaccians Melancthonists Hosiandrines and the like To this wee answere that this diuersity is to be imputed wholly to our aduersaries For when there was a reformation to be made of abuses and disorders in matters of practice and manifold corruptions in very many parts of Christian doctrine in a Councell by generall consent it could not be hoped for as Gerson long before out of his owne experience saw and professed by reason of the preuailing faction of the Popes flatterers but this was necessarily to be assayd seuerally in the particular kingdomes of the world it was not possible but that some diversity should grow while one knew not nor expected to know what another did Yet it so fell out by the happy prouidence of God and force of that maine trueth they all sought to aduance that there was no materiall or essentiall difference amongst them but such as vpon equall scanning will bee found rather to consist in the diuerse maner of expressing one
hee beleeueth whatsoeuer the judgement of the Pope bee And yet the same men which thus teach doe say it is no matter of faith to acknowledge or not to acknowledge the infallibility of the Popes judgement and that a man may bee a true Catholicke that thinketh the Pope may erre These two assertions are directly contradictorie The first they embrace because they find the authoritie Papall to be the surest stay of all their false faith and Antichristian profession and the second they are forced vnto because they dare not condemne so many famous renowned and great Divines as haue beene of that opinion as Durandus Gerson Cameracensis Almaine Waldensis and innumerable moe By this their contradicting of themselues not yet knowing whereon to ground their faith it is evident they haue no faith at all Secondly if wee should graunt them to haue any faith yet will it bee found to be Sophisticall or meerely humane For the reason ground and cause of their perswasion touching things Divine is the testimony of the Church infallibly led into all truth and that there is a Church thus ledde into all trueth whose testimony is vndoubtedly certaine and true they beleeue because the Church telleth them so as if a man should beleeue the reports of such a man because he is wise faithfull and honest and beleeue him to be so onely because he saith so To avoide this Sophisticall circulation sundry of the Schoolemen doe freely confesse that the ground of their faith is nothing else but the multitude and consent of men nations and people agreeing in the profession of it and consequently that it is meerely an humane perswasion and that they haue no faith at all which alwayes stayeth it selfe vpon the certainty of the first trueth Thirdly they teach that mortall men are neuer bound to giue GOD thankes for the greatest benefite that is bestowed on them in this world Nay that to giue him thankes for it were grievous sinne This is most evident for the greatest benefite of all other is justification but for this no man may giue God thankes because no man knoweth whether hee hath receiued it or not nor can assure himselfe of it without intollerable and inexcusable presumption Nay some of these seducers are not ashamed to write that euery man is bound to doubt of it with so fearefull doubting as may cause trembling applying that place of the Apostle to that purpose Worke out your saluation with feare and trembling Now I thinke hee which should come to God and giue him thankes for that which whether hee hath receiued or not hee is so doubtfull that he trembleth for feare should but mocke God and mistake his owne meaning Fourthly they hold that Paul and so many more as knew certainely they were in state of justification did sinne damnably in saying the Lords Prayer and that they did as foolishly as if a man should come to God and aske of him the creation of the world which was made long agoe CHAP. 46. Of the efficacie of the Churches doctrine THus were it most easie for vs to shew in many other particulars that the course of their doctrine is full of palpable absurdities But let these few instances suffice and let vs passe from the sanctity of the Churches doctrine to that the Iesuite addeth touching the efficacy of it where he affirmeth two things the first that heretickes neuer conuert any from infidelity to the faith the second that the Church of Rome hath conuerted This which the Iesuite so confidently deliuereth is partly false and partly to no purpose at all For whereas hee sayth heretickes neuer convert any from infidelity to Christianity the conuersion of the Moscouites by the Greeke Church at that time when it was in his iudgment hereticall and schismaticall abundantly refuteth him besides some other examples that might be alleadged Touching the other part of his speech that the Church of Rome hath conuerted many nations to the faith it maketh nothing to the purpose For wee haue already shewed that wee doubt not but the Church in which the Bishop of Rome with more than Lucifer-like pride exalted himselfe was notwithstanding the true Church of God that it held a sauing profession of the trueth in Christ and by force thereof did conuert many from errour to the way of trueth yet was not the state of that Church such but that a damnable faction of wicked ones was found in the midst of it who being the vassals of that cursed Antichrist adulterated the trueth of God and brought his people into a miserable estate holding men in worse then Babylonical captiuity These men the Romanists succeed at this day For the clearing of this matter see that which I haue noted before to this purpose CHAP. 47 Of the Protestants pretended confession that the Romane Church is the true Church of God THe next note whereby Bellarmine endeuoureth to proue the Romish Synagogue to be the true Church of God is our owne confession Surely if he can proue that we confesse it to be the true Church he needeth not vse any other arguments Let vs see therefore how hee proueth that we confesse the Romane Church to be the true Church of God Luther sayth he clearely yeeldeth it Caluin and others in effect acknowledge the same This wee deny for neither Luther nor Calvin nor any of vs doe acknowledge that the Popish religion is true religion or the Romish faction the Orthodoxe Church of God It is true indeede that Luther writing against the Anabaptists doth affirme that the life of true Christianity was preserued in the middest of those Churches wherein the Pope did formerly tyrannize which thing we haue more fully cleared before But that any part of that doctrine the reformed Churches haue reiected was to be accounted the doctrine of the Church or that those wicked ones in whose steppes the Romanists at this day doe insist peruerting the strait wayes of God and adulterating his heauenly trueth were liuely members of the Church Luther did neuer so much as dreame That which is alleadged out of Caluin touching Bernard and other holy men liuing dying in the Romane Church is to no purpose For we neuer doubted but that the Churches wherein those holy men did liue and die were the true Churches of God and held the sauing profession of heavenly trueth though there were innumerable in the middest of them that adulterated the same to their endlesse perdition whose successours the Romanists are at this day There is therefore a great difference to be made betweene the Church wherein our Fathers formerly liued and that faction of the Popes adherents which at this day resist against the necessary reformation of the Churches of God and make that their faith and religion which in former times was but the priuate and vnresolued opinion of some certaine onely In former times a man might hold the generall doctrine of those Churches wherein our Fathers liued and be
vncertainety of finding out the trueth by that meanes Thirdly whereas they say wee haue no miracles and therefore not the true faith and Religion wee deny both the antecedent and the consequent For first the restoring of the purity of religion in our age hath not beene without wonderfull demonstration of the power of God to confirme the trueth of our doctrine and the equity of our cause as may appeare by that which is reported by Illyricus the English Martyrologue and other histories of better credite than those out of which they report their miracles And besides we say though we had no miracles wee are not thereby conuinced of errour For the vse of miracles was specially if not onely in respect of infidels as Caietane sheweth in the place aboue mentioned out of 1 Corinthians 11. and the authority of Gregorie in his tenth Homily and serued to make the mysteries of God seeme credible to such as were wholly auerse from them So that now the faith being already generally planted receiued in the world and confirmed by the miracles done by Christ and his Apostles and nothing being taught by vs but the same which was deliuered by them in the beginning nothing contrary to the confirmed and receiued doctrine of the Church of God then in the world when those differences betweene vs and our aduersaries began there is no reason they should vrge vs to confirme our doctrine by miracles If they require vs to confirme our calling and Ministery as being extraordinary wee say it is not extraordinary as hath beene sufficiently cleared in the note of succession That which Bellarmine addeth that Luther and Calvine attempted to doe miracles but could doe none is but the lying reporte of his owne companions their sworne enemies whose testimony in this case is not to be regarded CHAP. 49. Of Propheticall Prediction THe next note of the Church vrged by them is Propheticall prediction The certaine foreknowledge of future contingent things is proper vnto God and therefore none can foretell such things before they come to passe but they to whom God reuealeth them but that this kind of reuelation is made only to them that are of the true Church I thinke Bellarmine will not say For then what shall wee thinke of Balaam and the Sybils so that prediction of future things is no certaine nor proper note of the true Church But if it were it would not helpe them not hurt vs. For those men they speake of that liued in the dayes of our fathers prophesied of things to come were of the true Church and many of them did most certainely foresee foretell the ruine of the Pope his estate and the alteration reformation of the Church in our time gaue most cleare testimony vnto that which we haue done Neither is there any better proofe of the goodnesse of our cause than that that which we haue done in the reformation of the Church was before wished for expected foretold by the best men that liued in former times in the corrupt state of the Church That which Bellarmine scornefully reporteth of Luthers false lying prophesie that if he continued but two yeares in preaching the Gospell the kingdome of the Pope should be ouerthrowen shall wee doubt not bee found true to the confusion of the enemies of Gods trueth Religion notwithstanding all the indeuours of the Iesuites to make vp the breaches of Babylon which must be throwen downe till not a stone be left vpou a stone But that Luther foretold many things before they came to passe wherein his predictions were found most true wee haue the testimony of Melancthon Illyricus diuers others CHAP. 50. Of the felicity of them that professe the trueth THe next note of the true Church assigned by Bellarmine is the temporall felicity of them that are of it It was but his priuate fantasie that mooued him to assigne this note of the Church For his fellowes the Diuines of Rhemes in their annotations vpon the fift of Matthew doe vtterly disclaime it saying in expresse precise wordes Wee see then that the temporall prosperity of persons and countreys is no signe of better men or truer Religion But let vs suppose these pettie Diuines are deceiued in this their iudgement though if they bee wee must condemne all the Primitiue Christians that were in the times of the ten bloody persecutions and let vs grant that the Cardinall sayth truely that temporall felicity and prosperity is a note of the true Church and Religion what doeth hee gaine by it surely nothing at all for he is most blind that seeth not the prosperity of all those Countries of Germany Denmarke England Scotland and the like where the reformed Religion is maintained and the long life happy Reigne of those Princes that haue most favoured and sought to advance the same as of great ELIZABETH of famous memory late Empresse of England c. who as she was the great glorieus protectour of the Reformed Churches so was she the wonder of the world in respect of the happy successe shee had in all things she tooke in hand and the perpetuall course of felicity and prosperity that euer attended her notwithstanding the daungerous attempts of bloody miscreants the hired slaues of the sonne of perdition How the professours of this Religion though fewer in number forsaken destitute of all worldly assurances and being by the falshood treachery of their bloody enemies oftentimes brought as it were to nothing in France other places haue yet strangely and indeed miraculously lifted vp their heads againe to the terrour and confusion of their proudest enimies hee that seeth not is a stranger in the world Wherefore I I will leaue the consideration of this note to the indifferent Reader not fearing any great preiudice that can grow from thence against our cause CHAP. 51. Of the miserable endes of the enemies of the trueth THe next is the miserable end of such as are enemies of Gods true Religion It is true that God hath oftentimes shewed his iudgements most clearely against the wicked enemies of his trueth and glory so that in the end the impiety of their former courses was made to appeare as wee see in Herode Arrius Nestorius and others but that any such thing fell out to Luther Caluine or any of those worthy men Bellarmine is pleased in this place to slander we vtterly deny And to the lewd and lying reports of Coclaeus Bolsecus we oppose the testimony of Iunius Melancthon and others And surely it was the worlds wonder that Luther opposing himself against the bloody Romanists against whom no King nor Emperour in later times resisted but he wrought his owne ouerthrow should notwithstanding liue so long die so peaceably and be buried so honourably as few of his ranke haue euer beene Touching Caluine there were many witnesses of the manner of his sicknesse but of his death none but the
wordes When a Lay man saith the Lords prayer or any other devoutly his affection is lifted vp toGod reficitur affectus non intellectus sed quandò intelligit reficitur affectus intellectus and this the Apostle sheweth to be true in respect of the publique prayers because if the people vnderstand the prayer or blessing of the Priest melius reducitur in deum devotius respondet Amen And then proceeding to those words If thou blesse c. hath these words What shall hee doe that supplieth the place of the vnlearned Which words import as much as what doth it profite the simple people that vnderstand not as if he should say litle or nothing because they know not how to conforme themselues to him that is the minister of the Church by answering Amen and that for this cause in the Primitiue Church the blessings and all other things pertaining to the publique seruice of God were in the vulgar tongue but after that people were multiplyed and increased and they had now learned to conforme themselues to the Priest by standing when the Gospel is reade and by adoring the Eucharist the seruice was in Latine and that it sufficeth now that the Clearke doth answere for the whole people Here is confession that the people profiteth litle or nothing when the praiers and blessings are in a tongue they vnderstand not that therefore the Primitiue Church had the seruice in the vulgar that while it is in Latine they cannot themselues but another must answere Amen for them and that yet now they haue learned by standing or kneeling differently to conforme themselues to the Priest according to the different things he doth which a deafe man that neuer heard word may doe by obseruation of the eye it is well enough But Cardinall Caietan vpon the same place hath these words Out of this doctrine of the Apostle Paul it may be gathered that it were better more for the edification of the Church to haue the publique prayers that are reade in the hearing of the people pronounced in a tongue common to the cleargy and people and vnderstood of them both then in Latine And when hee was challenged by the Parisians for saying it were better to haue the prayers said in the Church in the vulgar rather then in the Latine tongue his answere was that they recited not his words fully for he had not said it were better but it were better for edification nor that the prayers should be said but that the publique prayers should be said in the vulgar tongue and this his assertion hee said was grounded vpon the authoritie of the Apostle Cardinall Contarenus proposing the question what is to bee thought of such prayers as ignorant men make without vnderstanding answereth that it is to be conceiued that they are of force in respect of the affection of the mind and intention they haue to pray vnto God though they know not what they desire or pray for but that they want the fruit which they should haue if they vnderstood those prayers that they vtter with their mouthes for then they would direct the intention of their mindes and their desires to God for the obtaining in particular of such things as with the mouth they pray for and they would bee more edified by the pious sense and vnderstanding of their prayers And he concludeth that they pray not in vaine but that they would pray better if they vnderstood the meaning of their prayers And to the same purpose Harding against Bishop Iuell saith it were better the people should say their prayers in their owne tongue that they might the better vnderstand them Innocentius the 3d seemeth to haue had due consideration hereof therfore he prescribeth that because in sundry parts there are mixed within the same city or diocesse people of different languages hauing in the vnity of the same faith different rites and manners the Bishops of such Cities or Diocesses shall prouide fit men to celebrate divine service according to the diversities of their rites and languages to minister the sacraments of the Church vnto them instructing them both by word and example Some restraine the words of Innocentius to the Greeke and Latin tongues only as if he had only allowed the hauing of the seruice in different tongues in those citties and places where Greeks and Latines met But I see not why these words should be thus restrained seeing there is no question but this Pope would allow that which Iohn the 8◠his predecessour others had don in permitting nay in cōmanding the seruice to be in the Slauonian tongue And besides how he could say that the Greeks in some parts of the world agreed with the Latines in the faith whom he so bitterly reproueth for very maine differences in religion and who as Thomas à Iesu testifieth most stiffely hold their owne religion though they liue vnder Princes of the Roman profession I know not Wherefore to grow to a conclusion it appeareth that anciently all Churches that euer most of the Christian Churches had their seruice in a tongue vulgarly vndestood that if any had not it was either because they knew not how to write any thing in their owne tongue or because that which was their naturall tongue ceased to be so after they first had the seruice in it that many had soe in the West Church when Luther first shewed his dislike of Romish errors abuses that there neuer wanted worthy diuines Bs Praelates of great esteem who vrged the vnfitnesse of hauing it in a tongue not vndestood the necessity of the vulgar that all in whom there was any sparke of grace sought to haue it vnderstood And therefore as I noted before out of Iohn Billet sundry Churches though they had their seruice in Latine yet caused the same things that they read in Latine to be expounded in the vulgar others as the Bs in the third councel of Tours that such things should be read to the people in the vulgar as might informe instruct them in all points of Christian faith religion their words are these We all with vnanimous cōsent haue thought fit to ordain that euery B. shall prouide and haue homilies containing necessary admonitions that so they that are vnder him may be taught our meaning is that these homilies shall containe instructions touching the catholike faith according to their capacities concerning the euerlasting rewards of the good eternall damnation of the wicked the resurrection last iudgment such works course of life whereby men may attain or whereby they are sure to be excluded from eternall life And we ordaine that euery B. take care to translate the same homilies plainely and perspicuously into the vulgar Roman or German tongue that all may the more easily vnderstand the things that are vttered vnto them Among other articles proposed in the councell of Trent by the Embassadors of Ferdinand
the Emperor cōcerning the necessary reformation of the Church one was that Happily it were to be permitted that in some places prayers faithfully translated into the vulgar tongue might be intermingled with those things that are sung in latine Likewise in the articles of reformation exhibited to the councell of Trent by Charles the 9◠In sacrificio paraecialibus Euangelium apertè dilucidè pro populi captu copiose ex suggestu exponatur quo in loco quae plebano praeeunte fient preces linguâ fiant vernaculâ peractâ autem re diuinâ latine mysticis precibus lingua etiam vernacula publicae ad Deum preces fiant ibidem plura Which thing if it had bin granted by the councell no new nor strang thing had bin brought in for as Hosius testifieth the Church neuer forbad to sing in the Churches in the vulgar tongue in time and place It were to be wished sayth Erasmus that the whole service of God might be celebrated and performed in a tongue vnderstood of the whole people as in auncient times it was wont to bee and that all things should bee soe plainely and distinctly sounded out that they might bee vnderstood of all that list to attend And Cassander fully agreeing with Erasmus and alleadging to this purpose the Popes permitting of it to the Slauonians vpon the hearing of a voice frō heauen the authority of Caietan sayth It were to be desired that according to the mandate of the Apostle and the auncient custome of the Church consideration might be had of the people in the publike praiers of the Church and in the hymnes and lessons which are there read and sung for the peoples sake and that the ordinary and vulgar sort of beleeuers might not for ever bee wholly excluded from all communion of prayers and diuine readings and hee addeth that vnlesse there bee a reformation in this and other things there is no hope of any durable peace or consent of the Church and professeth hee cannot see but that they to whom the government of the Church is committed shall one day giue an account why they suffered the Church to bee thus miserably disquieted and rent in sunder and neglected to take away the causes whence heresies schismes do spring as in duety they should haue done So that in this poynt as in the former we see the Church wherein our Fathers liued and died was a true Protestant Church CHAP. 5. Of the three supposed different estates of meere nature grace and sinne the difference betweene a man in the state of pure and meere nature and in the state of sinne and of originall sinne THey of the Church of Rome at this day imagine that God might haue created a man in the state of pure nature or nature onely aswell without grace as sinne and that in this state of pure or meere nature without any addition of grace hee might haue loued God aboue all and haue kept all the commaundements of God collectiuely so as to breake none of them at the least for a short time though happily hee could not haue holden on constantly so to keepe them all as neuer to breake any of them seeing there would haue beene a contrariety betweene reason and that appetite that followeth the apprehension of sense in that state of pure or meere nature So that according to this conceipt grace was added not to inable man to loue God aboue all to keepe the severall cōmaundements which hee hath giuen to doe the workes of morall vertue For all these hee might haue beene able to performe out of the power of nature without any such addition but to make him able constantly to keepe all the commaundements of God collectiuely so as neuer to breake any one of them and to keepe them so as to merit eternall happines in heauen Hence they inferre diverse things First that the losse of grace or originall righteousnes that was given to Adam doth not depriue those of his posterity of the power of louing God their Creator aboue all of keeping his commaundements divisiuely and doing the seuerall workes of morall vertue though happily not with that facilitie that in the state of grace hee might haue done them Secondly That Infidels and such as haue no fellowship with the Saints people of God nor any part in his grace may decline sinne and doe the workes of morall vertue Thirdly That all the contrariety that is found in the powers of the soule the rebellion of the inferiour faculties against the superiour the pronenesse to euill and difficultie to doe good would haue beene the conditions of meere nature without addition of grace or sinne and consequently that they are not sinne in the state wherein wee are that these evills are not newly brought into the nature of man by the fall that as man would haue beene mortall in the state of meere nature because compounded of contraries so out of the contrariety of sensitiue and rationall desire hee would haue found a rebellion in himselfe of the inferiour faculties against the superiour that as a heauy thing falleth not downeward while it is stayed but falleth so soone as the stay is taken away by reason of the same nature it had while it was stayed and as a ship that lay quietly while it was stayed with an anchor vpon the remouing of the same is driuen with the windes yet in no other sort then it would haue beene before if it had not beene stayed so all these contrarieties differences and pronenesse to desire things contrary to the prescript of right reason would haue beene in meere nature as the conditions of it would haue shewed themselues if grace had not hindered them and that there is no other difference betweene a man in the state of pure or meere nature and in the state of originall sinne then there is betweene a man that neuer had any cloathing and him that had but by his owne fault and folly is stript out of all betweene whom there is no difference in the nature of nakednesse but all the difference standeth in this that the one is in fault for not hauing cloathes the other not so For they suppose man would haue beene carried as strongly to the desire of sinfull things in the state of pure nature as now that freewill is not made more weake then in that state it would haue beene nor the flesh become more rebellious then it would haue beene without grace before the entrance of sinne This opinion ◠Bellarmin followeth and professeth that though some of excellent learning thinke that both Thomas and the best and most approued of the schoolmen were of a contrary iudgment yet they are deceiued in so thinking and that this is the opinion of them all Against these erroneous conceipts that are indeede the ground of all the points of difference betweene them and vs touching originall sinne freewill the power of nature the workes
darke the length breadth and other dimensions of a thing but not whether it be faire or foule white or blacke So men in this obscurity of discerning may finde out that there is a God and that he is the beginning and cause of all things but they cannot know how faire how good how mercifull and how glorious hee is that so they may loue him feare him honour him and trust in him as God vnlesse they haue an illumination of grace The difference therefore betweene those of the Church of Rome and vs touching originall sinne consisteth in two points First In that they make the former defects of ignorance difficultie to doe good pronenesse to euill contrarietie betweene the powers of the soule and the rebellion of the meaner and inferiour against the better and superiour consequents of nature as it might and would be in it selfe simply considered without all defection and falling from God that originall righteousnesse was giuen to prevent and stay the effects that these naturally would haue brought forth and that these are not the consequents of Adams sinne but that onely the leauing of them free to themselues to disorder all is a consequent of the losse of that righteousnesse which was giuen to Adam and by him forfaited and lost that they proceede from the guilt of sinne but that they make not them guilty in whom they are But we say that these are no conditions of nature simply considered that they cannot bee found but where there is a falling from God that they are the consequents of Adams sinfull aversion from God his Creator that they are a part of original sinne and that they make men guilty of grieuous punishment so long as they remaine in them The second thing is that originall sin is indeed according to their opinion the privation of originall righteousnes but as original righteousnes was not giuen simply to inable men to decline euill and do good but collectiuely constantly and meritoriously to decline euill doe good so the privation of it doth not depriue men of all power of declining euill doing good but only of the power of declining all euill and doing all good collectiuely meritoriously But we say that originall righteousnes was given simply to inable men to decline euill to doe good and that without it the nature of man could not performe her proper and principall actions about her principall obiects So that the privation of it depriveth a man of all power of knowing loving fearing honouring or glorifying God as God and of all power of doing any thing morally good or not sinfull and putteth him into an estate wherein hee cannot but loue and desire things that God would not or so as hee would not haue him yea of louing other things more than God and and so as to dishonour God in any kind rather than not to enjoy the things he desires So that if wee speake of originall sinne formally it is the privation of those excellent gifts of diuine grace inabling vs to know loue feare serue honour and trust in God and to doe the things he delighteth in which Adam had lost If materially it is that habituall inclination that is found in men averse from God carrying them to the loue and desire of finite things more then of God and this also is properly sin making guilty of condemnation the nature and person in which it is found This habituall inclination to desire finite things inordinately is named concupiscence and this concupiscence is two fold as Alensis noteth out of Hugo for there is concupiscentia spiritus and concupiscentia carnis there is a concupiscence of the spirit or superiour faculties of the flesh or inferiour the former is sinne the latter sinne and punishment For what is more iust then that the will refusing to bee ordered by God and desiring what hee would not haue it should finde the inferiour faculties rebellious and inclined to desire things the will would haue to bee declined It remaineth therefore that wee proceede to proue that this doctrine was receiued taught continued in the Churches wherein our Fathers liued died till after Luthers time I haue shewed already that Gregorius Ariminensis professeth that Adam in the state of his creation was not inabled to perform any acte morally good or so to doe any good thing as not to sin in doing it by any thing in nature without addition of grace which thing he proveth out of the master of the sentences whose words are these speaking of the first man before his fall Egebat itaque homo gratiâ non vt liberaret voluntatem suam quae peccati serva non fuerat sed vt praepararet ad volendum efficaciter bonum quod per se non poterat That is The first man needed grace not to free his will for it neuer had been in bondage but to prepare and fit it effectually to will that which is good which of it selfe it could not doe And he confirmeth the same out of Saint August his words are these Istam gratiam non habuit homo primus quâ nunquam vellet esse malus sed habuit in qua si permanere vellet nunquam malus esset sine quâ etiam cum libero arbitrio bonus esse non posset sed eam tamen per liberum arbitrium deserere posset nec ipsum ergo Deus esse voluit sine suâ gratiâ quem reliquit in eius libero arbitrio quoniam liberum arbitrium ad malum sufficit ad bonum auâ—…m parumest nisi adiuuetur ab omnipotenti bono quod adiutorium si homo ille per liberum non deseruisset arbitrium semper esset bonus sed deseruit et desertus est that is The first man had not that grace that might make him so will good as neuer to become euill but truely hee had that wherein if hee would haue continued hee should neuer haue bin euill and without which notwithstanding all the freedome of his will he could not be good yet by the freedome of his will he might loose it wherefore God would not haue him to be without his grace whom he left in the freedome of his will because free will is sufficient of it selfe to doe evill but it is of litle force or rather as the true reading is of no force nothing to do good vnlesse it be holpeÌ„ of the omnipotent good which helpe if maÌ„ had not forsakeÌ„ by his free will he had ever beene good but he forsooke it and was forsaken Thirdly he proueth the same in this sort Si Adam ante peccatum potuisset per suas vires naturales praecise agere actum moraliter bonum ipse potuisset facere se de non bono bonum posito quod aliquando fuisset sine omni actu voluntatis cum suis taÌ„tum naturalibus aut de bono meliorem deo illum non specialiter adiuvante that is If Adam had power before the
afterwards when they are grown inveterate for that then they will corrupt the monuments of antiquity 8 That the whole present Church may be ignorant of some things and erre in them but that in matters necessary to bee knowne and beleeued expressely it cannot erre and that it cannot erre in any the least thing with pertinacie such and so great as is found in Heretickes Ninthly that Councels and Popes may erre in matters of greatest consequence This our opinion thus layde downe is defended by Waldensis Occam and others Waldensis saith the Church whose faith neuer faileth according to the promise made to Peter who bare the figure of the Church when Christ said I haue prayed for thee that thy faith faile not is not any particular Church as the Church of Africa within the bounds whereof Donatus did inclose it nor the particular Romane Church but the vniversall Church not gathered together in a generall Councell which hath sometimes erred as that at Ariminium vnder Taurus the Governour and that at Constantinople vnder Iustinian the younger but it is the Catholique Church dispersed through the whole world from the Baptisme of Christ vnto our times which doth holde and maintaine the true faith and the faithfull testimony of Iesus CHAP. 6. Of the Churches office of teaching and witnessing the truth and of their errour who thinke the authority of the Church is the rule of our faith and that shee may make new articles of our faith THus hauing spoken of the Churches assured possession of the knowledge of the truth in thenext place wee are to speake of her office of teaching witnessing the same touching the which our adversaries fall into two dangerous errours the first that the authority of the Church is Regula fidei ratio credendi the rule of our faith the reason why we belieue The second that the Church may make new articles of faith Touching the first of these erroneous conceipts the most of them doe teach that the last thing to which the perswasion of our faith resolueth it selfe the maine ground whereupon it stayeth is the authoritie of the Church guided by the spirit of truth For say they if infidels and misbeleeuers demaund of vs why we beleeue the Trinity of persons in the Vnity of the same Divine essence the Incarnation of the Sonne of God the Resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come we answere because these things are contayned in the Scriptures If they proceede farther to aske why wee beleeue the Scripture we answere because it is the word of God if why wee beleeue it to bee the word of God because the Church doth so testifie of it if why we beleeue the testimony of the Church because it is guided by the spirit of truth so that that vpon which our faith settleth her perswasion touching these things is the authority of the Catholique Church ledde and guided by the spirit of truth If it be said that it is one of the things to bee beleeued that the Church is thus guided by the spirit therefore that the authority of the Church cannot be the reason cause of beleeuing all things that pertain to the Christian faith because not of those things which concerne her owne authority Stapleton who professeth to handle this matter most exactly Sometimes seemeth to say that this article of faith that the Church is guided by the spirit and appointed by God to be a faithfull mistrisse of heauenly truth is not among the Articles of faith nor in the number of things to be beleeued Which the Rhemists vpon these words The Church is the pillar and ground of truth most constantly affirme saying We must beleeue heare and obey the Church as the Touchstone Pillar and firmament of truth for all this is comprised in the principle I beleeue the holy Catholique Church Sometimes that though perhaps in that Article it be implyed that wee beleeue whatsoeuer the Church teacheth vs yet not necessarily that wee beleeue that the Church is a faithfull and infallible witnesse mistresse of trueth And sometimes as in his triplication against Whitaker he sayth that when we professe that we beleeue the holy Catholike Church we doe not onely professe to beleeue that there is such a Church in the world but that wee are members of it and doe beleeue and embrace the doctrine of it as being guided infallibly by the spirit of trueth and that wee are taught in the Articles of our faith that the Church ought to bee listned vnto as to an infallible mistresse of heauenly trueth Surely it seemeth his braine was much crased when he thus wrote saying vnsaying saying he knew not what That which he addeth that this proposition God doth reveale vnto vs his heavenly truth teach vs the mysteries of his kingdome by the ministery of his Church is a transcendent wherevpon that article wherein wee professe to beleeue the Catholike Church doth depend as all the rest do is not an Article of the Creede doth but more more shew the distemper of his head But in that which hee addeth for confirmation hereof that we do not professe in the first Article of our faith to beleeue God as the reuealer of all hidden and heauenly truth and to rest in him as in the fountaine of all illumination is the note brand of an impious miscreant For this doubtlesse is the first thing implyed in our faith towards God that we yeeld him this honour to be the great master of all trueth vpon whose authority we will depend renouncing all our owne wisedome knowing that as no man knoweth the things of a man but the spirit of a man so no man knoweth the things of God but the spirit of Got and that flesh and blood cannot reueale these things vnto vs but our father which is in heauen That the precept of louing God aboue all is not distinctly set downe among the rest of the tenne commaundements but is implyed though principally in the first yet generally in all is to no purpose If he thinke it is not at all contayned in the Decalogue his folly is too too great CHAP. 7. Of the manifold errours of Papistes touching the last resolution of our faith and the refutation of the same THus wee see hee cannot avoid it but that the Church is one of the things to be beleeued therefore cannot be the first generall cause of beleeuing all things that are to be beleeued For when we are to be perswaded of the authority of the Church it is doubtfull vnto vs and therefore cannot free vs from doubting or settle our perswasion because that which setleth the perswasion must not be doubted of There is no question then but that the authority of the old Testament may bee brought to proue the new to him that is perswaded of the old and doubteth of the newe and the authoritie of the newe to
we should haue no greater certainty of things Diuine and revealed then such as humane meanes and causes can yeeld And so seeing wee can neuer bee so well perswaded of any man or multitude of men but that we may justly feare either they are deceiued or will deceiue if our faith depend vpon such grounds we cannot firmely vndoubtedly beleeue Nay it is consequent vpon this absurd opinion that the Children of the Church and they of the houshold of faith haue no infused or Diuine faith at all for that whatsoeuer is revealed by the God of truth is true the Heathens make no doubt but doubt whether any thing were so revealed and that any thing was so revealed if these men say true we haue no assurance but by humane meanes and causes But the absurdity hereof the same Canus out of Calvin doth very learnedly demonstrate reasoning in this sort If all they that haue beene our teachers nay if all the Angels in Heauen shall teach vs any other or contrary doctrine to that we haue receiued we must holde them accursed and not suffer our faith to bee shaken by them as the Apostle chargeth vs in the Epistle to the Galatians therefore our faith doth not rely vpon humane causes or grounds of assurance Ne mens nostra vacillet altius petenda quà m ab hominum vel ratione vel auctoritate scripturae authoritas Besides our faith and that of the Apostles and Prophets being the same it must needes haue the same object the same ground and stay to rest vpon in both but they builded themselues vpon the sure and vnmooueable rocke of Diuine truth and authority therefore we must doe so likewise If any man desire farther satisfaction herein let him reade Canus and Calvin to whom in these things Canus is much beholding Others therefore to avoide this absurdity run into that other before mentioned that we beleeue the things that are diuine by the meere and absolute command of our will not finding any sufficient motiues reasons of perswasion hereupon they define faith in this sort Fides est assensus firmus ineuideÌ„s that is faith is a firme certaine ful assent of the mind beleeuing those things the truth whereof no way appeareth vnto vs. For father explication and better clearing of this definition of faith they make two kindes of certainty for there is as they say certitudo evidentiae and certitudo adhaerentiae that is there is a certainty of evidence which is of those things the truth whereof appeareth vnto vs and another of adherence and firme cleauing to that the trueth whereof appeareth not vnto vs. This later they suppose to bee the certainty that is found in fayth and there vpon they hold that a man may beleeue a thing meerely because hee will without any motiues or reason of perswasion at all the contrary whereof when Picus Mirandula proposed among other his conclusions to bee disputed in Rome hee was charged with heresie for it But hee sufficiently cleared himselfe from all such imputation and improued their fantasie that so thinke by vnanswerable reasons which I haue thought good to lay downe in this place It is not sayth hee in the power of a man to thinke a thing to bee or not to bee meerely because hee will therefore much lesse firmely to beleeue it The trueth of the antecedent wee finde by experience and it evidently appeareth vnto vs because if a doubtfull proposition bee proposed concerning which the vnderstanding and minde of man resolueth nothing seeing no reason to leade to resolue one way or other the minde thus doubtfull cannot incline any way till there bee some inducement either of reason sight of the eye or testimony or authority of them wee are well conceipted of to settle our perswasion Secondly a man cannot assent to any thing or judge it to bee true vnlesse it so appeare vnto him but the sole acte of a mans will cannot make a thing to appeare and seeme true or false but either the euidence of the thing or the testimony and authority of some one of whose judgement he is well perswaded Thirdly though the action of vnderstanding quoad exercitium as to consider of a thing and thinke vpon it or to turne away such consideration from it depend on the will yet not quoad specificationem as to assent or dissent for these opposite and contrary kinds of the vnderstandings actions are from the contrary and different appearing of things vnto vs. Fourthly the sole command of the will cannot make a man to beleeue that which being demanded why hee beleeueth he giueth reasons and alledgeth inducements but so it is that in matters of our Christian faith we alledge sundry reasons mouing vs to beleeue as Christians doe as appeareth by the course of all Diuines who lay downe eight principall reasons moouing men to beleeue the Gospell namely the light of propheticall prediction the harmony and agreement of the Scriptures the diligence of them that receiued them carefully seeking to discerne betweene truth and errour the authority grauitie of the writers the reasonablenesse of the things written the vnreasonablenes of all contrary errours the stability of the Church and the miracles that haue beene done for the confirmation of the faith it professeth Fiftly if there be two whereof one beleeueth precisely because he will and another onely because hee will not beleeue refuseth to beleeue the same thing the acte of neither of these is more reasonable then the other being like vnto the will of a Tyrant that is not guided at all by reason but makes his owne liking the rule of his actions Now who is so impious to say The Christians that beleeue the Gospell haue no more reason to leade them so to doe then the Infidels that refuse to beleeue With Picus in the confutation of this senselesse conceipt wee may joyne Cardinall Cameracensis who farther sheweth that as a man cannot perswade himselfe of a thing meerely because hee will without any reason at all so hauing reason hee cannot perswade himselfe more strongly and assuredly of it then the reason hee hath will afforde for if hee doe it is so farre an vnreasonable acte like that of a Tyrant before mentioned Durandus likewise is of the same opinion Assentiri nullus potest nisi ei quod apparet verum igitur oportâ—…t quèd illud quòd creditur appareat rationi verum vel in se vel ratione mâ—…dij per quod assentitur si non in se sed tantùm ratione medij illud medium apparebit verum vel in se vel per aliud medium si non est processus in infinitum oportet quòd deueniatur ad primum quod apparet rationi esse verum in se secundum se That is No man can yeeld assent to any thing but that which appeareth to him to be true therefore whatsoeuer a man beleeueth must seeme and appeare vnto him to bee
gratiâ infinita increata That is Christ merited for all sufficiently on his part in that grace was found in him not as in a particular man but as in the Head of the whole Church for which cause the fruit of his passion might redound to all the members of the same Church and because as Damascene sayth by reason of the vnion of the natures of God and Man in his Person he doth the workes of a man in a more excellent sort then any meere man can do the benefite and force of his working and operation extended to the whole nature of Man which the action of a meere man cannot do The reason of which difference is not to be attributed to any habituall created grace but to that which is increate for that the finite grace that is in Christ that is his vertue and worke of vertue is availeable for the good of many it is from his infinite and increate Grace CHAP. 21. Of the benefits which wee receiue from Christ. HAuing spoken of the Satisfaction and Merit of Christ it remaineth that we speake of the benefites which we receiue from him which are all most fully expressed by the name of redemption which is the freeing of vs from that miserable bondage and captiuity wherein we were formerly holden by reason of Adams sin This bondage was twofold first in respect of sin and secondly in respect of punishment In respect of sinne we were bondmen to Sathan whose will we did according to that of the Apostle His seruants ye are to whom ye obey In respect of punishment we were become bondmen to Almighty God the righteous Iudge of the world who vseth Sathan as an instrument of his wrath and an Executioner of his dreadfull Iudgments against such as do offend him and prouoke him to wrath These being the kinds of captivity and bondage wherein we were holden it will not be hard to see how we are freed and redeemed from the same There is no redemption as the Diuines do note but either by exchange of prisoners by force and strong hand or by paying of a price Redemption by exchange of prisoners is then when wee set free those whom we hold as captiues taken from our Enemies that they may make free such as they hold of ours and this kind of redemption hath no place in the deliuerance of sinnefull men from sinne and misery but their deliuerance is onely wrought by strong hand and paying of a price For Christ redeemed vs from the bondage of sinne in that by the force and working of his grace making vs dislike it hate it repent of it and leaue it he violently tooke vs out of Sathans hands who tyrannically and vnjustly had taken possession of vs but from the bondage of punishment in respect whereof we were become Bondmen to Almighty God hee redeemed vs not by force and strong hand but by paying a price satisfying his justice and suffering what our sinnes had deserued that so being pacified towards vs he migh cease to punishvs and discharge Sathan who was but the Executioner of his wrath from afflicting vs any longer In this sort do wee conceiue of the worke of our redemption wrought for vs by Christ and therefore it is absurdly and vntruely sayd by Matthew Kellison in his late published Suruey of the supposed new religion that we make Christ an absurd Redeemer for we speake no otherwise of Christ the Redeemer then we haue learned in the Church and House of God But for the satisfaction of the Reader let vs see how he goeth about to conuince vs of such absurdity as hee chargeth vs with The Protestants sayth he do teach thē which nothing can be more absurd that Christs passion was our Iustice Merit Satisfactiō that there is no Iustice but Christs no good workes but his workes no merit but his merite no satisfaction but his satisfaction that there is noe justice or sanctitie inherent in man nor none necessary that no Lawes can bind vs because Christs death was the ransome that freed us from all Lawes Diuine Humane that no sinnes nor euil workes can hurt vs because Christs Iustice being ours no sinnes can make vs sinners that no Hell or Iudgment remaineth for vs whatsoeuer wee doe because Christs Iustice being ours sins can neither be imputed to vs in this life nor punished in the next and that herein consisteth Christian liberty A more shamelesse slanderer and trifling smatterer I thinke was neuer heard of For some of these assertions are vndoubted truths against which no man may oppose himselfe vnlesse he will be branded with the marke of impiety and blasphemy as that Christs passion is our justice merite and satisfaction that there is no merite properly soe named but Christs merite no propitiatory and expiatory satisfaction but Christs satisfaction and the other are nothing else but shamelesse and hellish slaunders and meere deuices and fancies of his idle braine without all ground of truth as that there is no justice nor sanctity inherent in Man nor none necessary that good workes are not necessary that noe lawes canne binde vs that noe sinnes nor euill workes canne hurt vs and that no hell nor judgment remaineth for vs whatsoeuer wee doe For we most constantly affirme and teach that there is both justice and sanctity inherent in Man though not so perfect as that hee may safely trust vnto it desire to bee judged according to the perfection of it in the day of Tryall Likewise wee teach that good workes are in such sort necessary to saluation that without Holinesse a desire at the least to performe the workes of sanctification no man shall euer see God Neither doe we say that no Lawes can binde vs as he slaunderously misreporteth vs but wee constantly teach that not to doe the things contained prescribed in the Law of God is damnable damning sinne if God vpon our repentance forgiue it not And therefore Bellarmine though hee wrongeth vs in like sort as Kellison doth yet in the end like an honest man he confesseth ingenuously that he doth wrong vs and sheweth at large that Luther in his booke de votis Monasticis defineth the liberty of a Christian to consist not in being freed from the duty of doing the things prescribed in the Law of God as if at his pleasure he might doe them or leaue them vndone but in that there are no works forbidden in the Law that may stand with Faith so euill that they can condemne vs nor none there prescribed performed by vs so good as to cleare defend justifie vs So making vs free non ab operibus faciendis sed defendentibus accusantibus that is not from the necessitie of doing the things that are commaunded as good but from seeking justification in workes or fearing condemnation for such euil workes as wee consent not fully vnto but dislike resist against and seeke remission of Whereunto Caluin agreeth teaching that Christian
and tying them to the performance of certaine duties Secondly of sinnes Thirdly of punishments to be inflicted by Almighty God and Fourthly of punishments to be inflicted by men The bond of Lawes is of two sorts For there are diuine lawes and there are humane Lawes God bindeth men to the doing of what hee pleaseth and Men that are in authority either Ciuill or Ecclesiasticall to such things as they thinke fit Touching these bonds none haue power to loose but they that haue power to binde so that what God by precept bindeth vs to doe none but God can free vs from the necessity duty of doing it and what the Church or Magistrate binde vs to no inferiour power can loose vs or free vs from Loosing in this sense opposed to binding by law and precept is in two sorts By Reuocation and by Dispensation Reuocation is an absolute Abrogation of a Law in respect of all places times persons and conditions and that either by expresse and direct Repeale or by generall neglect and long continued disuse Dispensation is in respect of certaine persons times places and conditions of Men thinges so that a dispensation permitting the Law to retaine her wonted authority onely freeth some particular person or persons at some times in some places and in some condition of thinges from the necessity of doing or leauing vndone that which vnlesse it be in consideration of such particular circumstances the Law-giuer meant should be obserued but in such cases not so Heere the question is moued by occasion of that kinde of loosing which is by reuersing Lawes formerly in force whether God the giuer of the morall Law may revoke the same and dispense with men for the not doing of things there prescribed of the doing of things there forbidden The answere is that these Lawes are imposed vpon men by the very condition of their nature and creation as the very condition and nature of a man created by GOD requireth that he should honour loue feare and reuerence him that made him and therefore touching the precepts of the first Table that concerning the Sabaoth excepted it is cleare and euident that they cannot be altered nor Man by God himselfe discharged from the duty of honouring loving and fearing God so long as he hath any beeing Touching the precepts of the second Table it is resolued that GOD cannot dispense with man or giue him leaue to doe the thinges therein forbidden as to steale murther or lie For all these imply and involue in them that which is simply euill and to bee disliked but by some alteration in the doer or matter of action he may make that not to bee euill that otherwise would bee euill and consequently not forbidden as namely that to bee no theft or murther which otherwise would be as when hee commanded the Israelites to spoyle the Aegyptians they did not commit the act of robbery for robbery is the taking away of a thing from the owner against his will but these thinges which the Israelites tooke away were the Aegyptians no longer after God the supreme Lord had spoyled them of the title they had therevnto and assigned the same to the Israelites So likewise for one man to take away the life of another hauing no authority so to doe is murther and no man can be dispensed with lawfully to doe any such act but for a Magistrate to take away the life of an offender is a lawfull act and no act of murther and so if Abraham had slaine his sonne Isaac it had not beene murther being authorized so to doe by God who hath supreme authority in the world and may justly as a Iudge for sinne found in men take away the liues of whom he pleaseth and as supreme and absolute Lord bring all to nothing that for his wills sake he made of nothing though there were no sinne nor fault at all But touching Ceremoniall Iudiciall and Positiue Lawes of God concerning Sacraments and obseruations of what kinde soeuer seeing they are imposed after vpon the being of nature wee thinke that God may alter them at his pleasure so that at one time it may bee lawfull to doe that was forbidden at another The Gouernours that God hath set ouer his Church and people by commission from him may interprete what is doubtfull in these Lawes of God or in those of the other sort but yet according to the Law but they may not abrogate or dispense with any Law of God either naturall and morall or positiue established concerning the vse of Sacraments and things pertaining to Gods worship and seruice But concerning those Lawes that were made by the Apostles and Primitiue Fathers touching matters of outward obseruation the succeeding Guides of the Church may either dispense with them or reverse them vpon the due consideration of the difference of times Men and things And so wee see to whom it pertaineth to binde men with their lawes and to loose them from the bonds thereof The bond of sin which is the second kinde of those bonds I mentioned is two-fold for there is Vinculum captivitatis and Vinculum servitutis that is a man that is a sinner is so bound that hee can neither returne to doe good nor leaue off to doe euill for sinne holdeth him in a bond of captivitie that hee shall not returne to doe good and with a bond of seruitude that he shall not cease to doe euill And though God hath so ordered the nature of Man that hee who will doe euill shall thus bee entangled yet it is man that thus entangleth wrappeth and bindeth himselfe and not God But for the bond of eternall condemnation and the punishments following euill doers which is the third kinde of those bonds wherewith I shewed that men are tyed and bound it is of GOD. From these bonds of sin and punishment inflicted by GOD none but hee alone can free men by his fauour and the worke of his grace as the supreme and highest cause none but Christ by Merite Satisfaction The Ministers of the Church by the Ministery of the Word and Sacraments may convert Men to God instrumentally making them partakers of his graces bringing thē into such an estate wherein they shall be sure for Christs sake to finde mercie with GOD for the remission taking away of their sinnes They may pray for them and out of the knowledge of their estate assure them of remission But other power to vnloose and vntie these direfull horrible bonds of sinne and punishment they haue none only the punishments which they haue power to inflict they haue authoritie to diminish lessen or take away so that whom they bind with the bonds of Ecclesiasticall censures punishments those by the same authoritie they may vnloose For as the Guides of Gods Church may prescribe enjoyne and impose certaine actions of Mortification and penitentiall conversion vnto GOD so when they see cause they may release from the same as by
will in the administration of the Church being to giue an account of his actions vnto the Lord. Here wee see Cyprian speaketh in the very same sort in the case between him and Stephen as he did in the Councell of Carthage and that generally hee maketh all Bishops equall and no one subject to the judgment of another but to the judgement of God only and the company of their fellow Bishops And that he did not thinke the Bishop of Rome to haue an infallibility of judgment or a commanding authority ouer other Bishops it appeareth in that writing to Pompeius of Stephens answere to his letters and sending him a copy of the same answere he telleth him that by reading it hee may more and more note his errour in maintaining the cause of heretiques against Christians and the Church of God and feareth not to pronounce of him that he writeth many things proudly impertinently vnskilfully improuidently and contrary to himselfe and which more is contemning his prescription that heretiques should not be rebaptized but bee receiued with the imposition of hands onely hee chargeth him with hard stiffe and inflexible obstinacie Firmilianus with the Bishops of Phrygia Galatia Cilicia and other regions neere adioyning assembled in a Synode at Iconium consented with Cyprian and Firmilianus writing to him telleth him of their resolution and chargeth Stephen with folly who bragging of the place of his Bishoprique and pretending to succeed Peter on whom the Church was founded yet bringeth in many other rockes and new buildings of many Churches in that hee supposed heretiques to be truly baptized who are out of the communion of the true Church whereas the Church was specially promised to be builded on Peter to shew that it must be but one And in great dislike and reprehension of Stephen he saith he was not ashamed in fauour of heretiques to deuide the brotherhood and to call Cyprian the worthy seruant of God a false Christ a false Apostle and a deceiptfull and guilefull workeman whereas all these things might much more truly bee sayd of him and therefore guilty to himselfe Praeuenit vt alteri ea per mendacium objiceret quae ipse ex merito audire deberet that is By way of preuention hee falsely and lyingly obiected those things to another which himselfe truly and deseruedly might haue had objected to him by others Such and so great were the oppositions of Cyprian and his consorts against Stephen and his adherents in the matter of rebaptization whereupon Bellarmine saith it seemeth that Cyprian sinned mortally in that hee obeyed not the commandement of Stephen nor submitted his judgement to the judgement of his superiour That hee erred in the matter of rebaptization we willingly confesse but that he knew not the power authority and commission of the Bishoppe of Rome or that he would euer haue dissented from him or opposed himselfe against him in a question of faith if hee had thought his power to bee vniuersall and his iudgment infallible we vtterly deny For then hee should not onely haue erred in the matter of rebaptization but haue beene a damnable heretique and and haue perished euerlastingly whereas yet the Church of God hath euer reputed him a holy Bishop and a blessed Martyr Thus hauing examined the testimonies of Cyprian vsually alleaged for and against the supremacy of the Pope let vs proceed to the rest of Bellarmines witnesses The next that followeth is Optatus out of whom it is alleaged that there was one Episcopall Chaire in the whole Church appointed by Christ. But because this is the same which was formerly alleaged out of Cyprian already answered in the answers to the allegations brought out of him therefore without farther troubling of the Reader I referre him to that which went before The next vnto Optatus is Ambrose out of whom three seuerall places are produced in the first his words are these as Bellarmine citeth them Though the whole world bee Gods yet the Church onely is called his house the Gouernour whereof at this day is Damasus For answer hereunto we say that this testimony rather witnesseth their forgery then confirmeth their errour For the Commentaries attributed to Ambrose wherein these words are are not his and besides this addition the gouernour whereof at this day is Damasus may be thought to haue beene put in in fauour of their fancie touching the Papall vniversalitie of jurisdiction it is so sudden causelesse and abrupt In the second place Ambrose reporteth of Satyrus that before he would receiue the Sacrament of the Lords body he asked of the Bishop by whose hands hee was to receiue it whether he held communion with the Catholick Bishops and namely with the Romane Church To the inference of our Adversaries and the conclusion they seek to deriue draw from these words in fauour of the Papacie I haue answered elsewhere whither I referre the Reader Wherefore let vs come to the third and last place of Ambrose His words are Wee follow the type and forme of the Romane Church in all things and againe I desire to follow the Romane Church in all things Surely this place of all other most clearely confuteth the errour of the Romanists touching the infallibility of the judgement of the Roman Church and Bishop and the necessitie of absolute conformity with the same For in this place Saint Ambrose sheweth that in the Church of Millaine whereof he was Bishop the manner in his time was that the Bishop girding himselfe about with a towell in imitation of Christ did wash the feete of such as were newly baptized and after great commendation of the same custome objecting to himselfe that the Romane Church had it not first he saith that perhaps the Church of Rome omitted this washing because of the difficultie and great labour in performing it by reason of the multitude of those that were baptized Secondly whereas some said in defence and excuse of the omission of this washing in the Romane Church that it is not to be vsed as a mysticall right in the regeneration of them that are new borne in Christ but in the ciuill entertainment of strangers the offices of humilitie and ciuill courtesie being very farre different from the mysteries and sacred rights of sanctification he reproueth them for so saying and endeauoureth to shew that this kinde of washing is a sacred and mysticall right tending to the sanctification of them that are newly baptized and that out of the words of Christ to Peter Vnlesse I wash thee thou shalt haue no part in me and then addeth the wordes alleaged by Bellarmine I desire in all things to follow the Romane Church but notwithstanding we also are men and haue our sense and iudgment and therefore what we finde to be rightly obserued any where else we also rightly obserue keepe we follow the Apostle Peter wee cleaue fast vnto his devotion and hereunto what can the Church of Rome answer Whereby wee
authority so to do Which kind of reasoning I thinke the Reader will not much like of Touching Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria Paule Bishop of Constantinople and Marcellus Bishop of Ancyra deposed by the Orientall Synode their complaints to the Bishop of Rome and other Bishops of the West of the wrongs done vnto them how the Bishop of Rome with the Westerne Bishops fought to relieue them with how ill successe and how litle this instance serueth to proue the thinge in question I haue shewed before as likewise Theodorets desiring Leo with his Westerne Synodes to take knowledge of his cause Soe that it is a vaine bragge of Bellarmine that to these and the like testimonies of Antiquity nothing is nor can be answered CHAP. 38. Of the weakenesse of such proofes of the supreme power of Popes as are taken from their Lawes Censures Dispensations and the Vicegerents they had in places farre remote from them HAVING examined the pretended proofes of the illimited vniversality of the Popes authority and jurisdiction taken from the power they are supposed to haue exercised in former times ouer other Bishops by confirming deposing or restoring them let vs come to their Lawes Dispensations Censures see if frō thence any thing may be cōcluded If they could as strongly proue as they cōfidētly endertake that Popes in ancient times made Lawes to bind the whole Christian Church dispensed with such as were made by general Coūcels cēsured al men as subject to them of necessity we must be forced to acknowledge the fulnesse of all power to rest in the Romane Bishops But their proofes are too weake to make vs beleeue any such thing For first touching the decrees of Popes they did not binde the whole Christian Church but the Westerne Provinces onely that were subject to them as Patriarches of the West And secondly they were not made by them without the consent and joint concurrence of the other Bishops of the West assembled in Synodes and sitting with them as their fellow Iudges with equall power of defining and determining things concerning the state of the Church as appeareth by the Decrees of Gregory the first who sitting in Councell with all the Bishops of the Roman Church the Deacons and inferiour Clergy-men standing before them made Decrees and confirmed them by their subscriptions the rest of the Bishops and the Presbyters also who sate in Councell with them subscribing in the very same sort that Gregory did And of Decrees in such sort made Leo speaketh when he requireth the Bishops of Campania Picene Thuscia to keepe and obserue the Decretall constitutions of Innocentius and all other his predecessours which they had ordained as well touching Ecclesiasticall orders as the Discipline of the Canons or otherwise to looke for no fauour or pardon And in the very same sort are the words of Hilarius to be vnderstood when he saith That no man may violate either the divine constitutions or the Decrees of the Apostolique See without danger of losing his place For this he spake sitting as President in a Councell of Bishops assembled at Rome of things decreed by Synodes of Bishops wherein his predecessours were Presidents and Moderatours as he was now but not absolute commaunders But Bellarmine saith that Pope Anastasius the yonger in his Epistle to Anastasius the Emperour willeth him not to resist the Apostolicall precepts but obediently to performe what by the Church of Rome and Apostolicall authority shall be prescribed vnto him if hee desire to holde communion with the same holy Church of GOD which is his Head Therefore the Pope had power to command and giue lawes to the Emperour and consequently had an absolute supreme authority in the Church Surely this allegation of the Cardinall is like the rest For Anastasius doth not speake in any such peremptory and threatning manner to the Emperour but acknowledging his breast to bee a Sanctuary of happinesse and that he is Gods Vicar on earth telleth him in modest and humble sort that hee hopeth hee will not suffer the insolencie of those of Constantinople proudly to resist against the Evangelicall and Apostolicall precepts in the cause of Acatius but that he will force them to performe and doe what is fit and in like humble sort beseecheth him when he shall vnderstand the cause of them of Alexandria to force them to returne to the vnity of the Church The last instance of the Popes Law-giuing power brought by Bellarmine is the priviledge granted to the Monastery of Saint Medardus by Gregory the first in the end whereof we finde these words Whatsoeuer Kings Bishops Iudges or secular persons shall violate the Decrees of this Apostolicall authority and our commaundement shall be depriued of their honour driuen from the society of Christians put from the communion of the Lords body and bloud and subjected to Anathema and all the wofull curses that Infidels Heretikes haue beene subject to from the beginning of the world to this present time A strong confirmation of the priviledges graunted is found in these wordes but a weake confirmation of the thing in question for the priuiledges were graunted and confirmed in this sort not by Gregory alone out of the fulnesse of his power but by the consenting voyce of all the Bishops of Italy and France by the authority of the Senate of Rome by Theodoricus the King and Brunichildis the Queene So that from hence no proofe possibly can be drawne of the Popes absolute power of making lawes by himselfe alone to binde any part of the Christian Church much lesse the whole Christian world Wherfore let vs passe from the Popes power of making lawes to see by what right they claime authority to dispense with the Lawes of the Church and the Canons of Generall Councels The first that is alleadged to haue dispensed with the Canons of Councels is Gelasius But this allegation is idle and to no purpose For first it cannot bee proued that by dispensing he sought to free any from the necessity of doing that the strictnesse of the Canon required but those onely that were subiect to him as Patriarch of the West And secondly he did not dispense but vpon very vrgent cause and driuen by necessity so to doe and yet not of himselfe alone but with the concurrence of other Bishops of the West assembled in Synode The other instances that are brought of the dispensations of Gregory the first are nothing else but the instances of the ill consciences of them that bring them For Gregory did not dispense with the English to marry within the degrees prohibited as the Cardinall vntruely reporteth but only aduised Austine not to put them that were newly conuerted from such wiues as they had married within some of the degrees prohibited in the time of their infidelity lest hee might seeme to punish them for faults committed in the daies of their ignorance and to discourage other from becomming Christians Neither
And therefore Hierome saith that Liberius impatient of any longer continuance in banishment subscribed to hereticall prauity and so returned to Rome as a conquerour and cast out Felix who had possessed himselfe of the Episcopall chaire and put divers other of the Clergie also out of the Church and Bellarmine himselfe confesseth he hath seene in the Vatican Library manuscript Epistles of Liberius some written to the Emperour and some to the Easterne Bishops wherein he signifieth plainly enough that in the end hee was content to yeeld to the will of the Emperour And besides if the Romanists doe not acknowledge that Liberius was a conuicted hereticke there being no other cause but heresie for which as they thinke a Pope may lawfully bee iudged and deposed they must put Felix who was Pope while Liberius yet liued out of the number of Popes whom yet their church doth worship as a Pope Saint and a Martyr So that wee see Liberius was justly judged and condemned as an hereticke and that seeing a Pope in that he becommeth an hereticke ceaseth to be Pope hee lost all the priuiledges that belong to Peters successours and so might decree for heresie yea I thinke there is no reasonable man but will confesse that his subscribing to heresie that is the head of the church is a decreeing for heresie Now that he subscribed to heresie we haue the expresse testimony of Saint Hierome After the banishment of Liberius by the meanes of Acatius Bishoppe of Caesarea in Palestina who was a great man with Constantius the Emperour Felix a Deacon of the church of Rome was chosen Bishop and appointed to succeed him This Felix as Theodoret testifieth was a Catholicke and held the profession of faith agreed on at Nice but communicated freely with the Arrians Wherevpon hee was so much disliked by those that were Catholickes that none of them would once enter into the house of prayer while he was within For that though he were not in perswasion and vocall profession a full Arrian yet by communicating with them and being ordained by them he consented to their wicked and hereticall courses Neither doth it appeare by any history of credit that euer he refused to communicate with the Arrian heretickes during the time he quietly possessed and enioyed the Bishopricke of Rome But the contrary is more then probable because when Liberius subscribed and was thereupon sent home with letters of commendation from the Arrian Bishoppes assembled at Sirmium they carefully prouided for Felix his continuance in the Episcopall office still and desired that the violences and outrages committed in the time of his ordination when the people for the loue they bare to Liberius were in an vprore and some of them were slaine might be forgotten and that both of them might sitte and gouerne the church together as Bishops of the place which fauour the Arrian Bishoppes would neuer haue shewed to Felix if he had disclaimed their communion So that it is more then probable that he neuer forsooke the communion of the Arrian hereticks For Liberius returning as a conquerour so soone as hee came to Rome cast him out of the Church and shortly after hee dyed and therefore I cannot see what reason the Romanists haue to put this good man into the Kalender of their Pope Saints whose entrance into the Episcopall chaire was not onely schismaticall there beeing a catholicke Bishop yet aliue suffering banishment for the catholicke faith but violent bloudy also for he got the place by the meanes of bloody heretickes making himselfe guilty of all the sinnes of those heretickes with whom he communicated and of whose relinquishing and abandoning the communion and fellowship of the Arrians there is no mention found in any Authour of credit but in the Authour of the Pontificall only who hath as many lies as words in his narration concerning Felix For first hee saith he sate but one yeare three moneths and three daies whereas it is reported by Theodoret that Liberius had beene more then two yeares in banishment before suite was made to the Emperour for his returne all which time Felix was Pope Secondly he saith Felix declared and published Constantius the sonne of Constantine to be an hereticke and that Constantius was rebaptized or the second time baptized by Eusebius Bishoppe of Nicomedia neare vnto Nicomedia which thing is most false as Binnius in his Annotations telleth vs because both Athanasius and Socrates doe affirme he was baptized by Euzoius an Arrian when he was ready to die And Hilarius after the time of this supposed baptisme inueyeth against him for that not being baptized he presumed to prescribe to the Church a forme of faith Thirdly he saith Felix built a certaine Church while he was a Presbyter whereas it is certaine that of a Deacon hee was made a Bishoppe and neuer liued in the degree of a Presbyter And fourthly touching the death of Felix he is very vncertaine and doubtfull and others speake nothing of his martyrdome at all Heereupon as both Bellarmine and Binnius report in the time of Gregory the thirteenth in the yeare of our Lord 1582. where certaine learned men in Rome were deputed to correct the Martyrologe they were doubtfull whether they should put his name into the new Martyrologe or not seeing both his entrance into his Bishopricke was violent bloudy and schismaticall and his end vncertaine and they inclined to leaue it out which they had done if a certaine marble chest had not beene found in the Church of Cosmas and Damianus the 28 of Iuly the day before his wonted and accustomed feast with this inscription in olde characters Heere lyeth the body of Felix the Pope and Martyr who condemned Constantius the hereticke Whereby wee see how little reason the Roman Church hath to worship this Saint and to admire the providence of God in preseruing this See Apostolicke from heresie in that as they would beare vs in hand Felix after he heard of the subscription of Liberius who thereby ceased to bee Pope condemned the Arrians was admitted by the Catholickes and became a true Bishop suffering death vpon the returne of Liberius as if the very See did change the mindes of all that sit in it and make them good how bad soeuer they were before whereas Felix being in his entrance a schismaticke in communion if not in profession an hereticke and in his ordination which was voyde no Bishop and no history of credite reporting either his condemning Arrianisme or his admission to bee a Bishop after the deposition of Liberius by the Catholickes or what his end was it appeareth that heretickes and schismatickes may possesse the chaire of Peter and bee worshipped for Pope Saints after their death But whatsoeuer became of Felix they say Liberius after the death of Felix became a Catholicke and got the loue of the Catholickes and so by their acceptation of him became a
like For with money they themselues may not meddle Pope Iohn the two and twentieth following Nicholas and finding by experience that these Fryers did but abuse the world with their faire shewes of perfection condemned their hypocrisie and would be no patron of it as his predecessour was First therefore hee shewed that perfection consisteth essentially in charity wich Paule nameth the bond of perfection that the abandoning of propriety in things maketh nothing to perfectiō farther thē it excludeth the care that is wont to be found in men in getting keeping disposing of them weakning the act of diuine loue So that if there be as much carefulnesse in men after the disclaiming of propriety in things as before their seeming pouerty maketh nothing to Christian perfection Now he sayth that after the ordination of his predecessour these Fryers were no lesse carefull in getting and keeping things both by begging judiciall suing and the like meanes then any other mendicants that haue some things as their owne in common And that therefore howsoeuer they pleased themselues their obseruation was of no more perfection then theirs that had something of their owne in common Secondly he shewed that these mendicants hauing the vse of such things as are giuen to them and the Church of Rome the propriety in name and title but not in deede being onely to secure them in the vse thereof and to make no benefit that it is but a single right the Church hath and that they are in trueth and indeede no poorer then they that haue thinges of their owne seeing they may change the vse of one thing for another or at least cause the procurator designed by the Church of Rome to change things into money and buy for them such as they rather desire to haue making vse of all things that come to their hands at their pleasure as much as they that haue them of their owne Thirdly hee pronounced that to thinke that Christ and his Apostles had nothing of their owne in speciall or common and that they had no right to vse such things as they had to sell them giue them or with them to buy other is contrary to the Gospell condemneth Christ and his Apostles of iniustice and ouerthroweth the whole Scripture Yet Pope Nicholas defined that Christ his Apostles had nothing of their own either in speciall or common and that the hauing of a common bagge no way contrarieth this conceit seeing that was but by a kinde of dispensation in the person of the weake and imperfect and to shewe that he disliketh not them that come short of his perfection Thus we see Pope Nicolas erred in a matter of faith patronized hypocrites in their faignes shewes of counterfeit perfection was disliked and contraried by his owne successour Iohn the two and twentieth for the same by reason whereof there grew a maine difference betweene Pope Iohn and the Franciscan Fryers hee charging them with heresie and persecuting them from place to place and they likewise disclaiming him as a damnable heretique and no Pope The principall men on the Fryers part were Michael Caesenas and Occam the great Schoole-man who hath written much against Pope Iohn touching this argument Neither is Pope Iohn though in this point of Christian perfection hee were of a sounder better judgment then his predecessor any happier thē he For he is likewise charged with errour in matter of faith that not vniustly by the same Friers that he so much hated persecuted For as Occam testifieth in his Dialogues hee taught that the soules of the just shall not see God till the generall resurrection and that not faintly or doubtingly but in such passionate and violent manner as not to endure those that thought otherwise Gerson likewise in his sermon vpon Easter day before the French King and his Nobles sayth That the theefe on the crosse in that very hower that Christ spake vnto him was made happy and sawe God face to face according to the promise of Christ made vnto him This day shalt thou bee with mee in Paradice and that thereby the doctrine of Iohn the two and twentieth is proued false that was coudemned by the Diuines of Paris with the sound of trumpets before King Philip vncle to the King before whom then he spake the King rather believing the Diuines of Paris then the Court of Rome Bellarmine to deriue the hate of this matter from the Pope to others would willingly fasten this errour on Caluine and to that purpose alleageth two places out of him But neither of them proueth any such thing For in the first he speaketh not of any stay of the Saints departed without in outward courts out of heauen till the resurrection as the Cardinall strangely misunderstandeth him but sheweth by a most apt comparison that as in the time of MOSES Law the high Priest onely entred into the Holiest of all to make an attonement and all the people stayed without So none but Christ goeth into the presence of God to make peace and to worke the great worke of reconciliation and that all the sonnes of men are to expect without till hee bring them assurance of fauour and acceptation And in the second place where saith that the dead are joyned with vs that liue in the vnity of the same faith his meaning is not that faith opposite to sight is found in the Saints after death as it is in vs but that they haue a cleare view and present enjoying of those things which we beleeue Neither is there any thing found in Caluine that may any way excuse the errour of Pope Iohn Thus then I hope it doth appeare by that which hath beene saide that Popes are subiect to errour that they may become Heretiques and define for heresie and that therefore the second supposed priviledge of the Roman Bishop which is infallibility of judgment is found to haue no proofe at all Wherefore let vs proceede to the third which is his power to dispose of the kingdomes of the World and to ouer-rule the Princes and Potentates thereof CHAP. 44. Of the Popes vniust claime of temporall dominion ouer the whole world TOuching the right and interest of Popes in intermeddling with secular affaires and disposing of the Kingdomes of the world there are three opinions among the Romanists The first is that the Pope is soueraigne Lord of all the world or at least of all the Christian world and that the Princes of the Earth are but his Vicegerēts and Lieuetenants The second that the Pope is not soueraigne Lord of the world nor of any part thereof and that therefore hee may not at his pleasure intermeddle with the affaires of Princes but only in case of some defect foūd in them as when they faile to doe their duty or seeke to hinder the common good especially of the Church The third that hee may not at all
Simeon and Leui Priest-hood and knight-hood Bishoply power and that which is Princely must rise vp together for the rescuing of Dinah their sister out of the hands of him that seeketh to dishonour her Vi charitatis etsi non authoritatis that is By force of charity though not of authority So that according to his opinion the chiefe Ministers of the Church inuest the Princes of the world with their royall authority according to the saying of Hugo but giue them not their authority they may iudge of the actions of Princes but they may not praeiudicare they may not preiudice Princes They may in the time of neede come to the succour and in the time of danger reach forth the helping hand to the ciuill state shaken by the negligence or malice of ciuill princes but it must bee by way of charity not of authority as likewise the ciuill state may and ought to bee assistant to the Ecclesiasticall in like danger defect or failing of the Ecclesiasticall ministers The next argument that our Aduersaries bring is taken from a comparison between the soule and body expressing the difference betweene the ciuill and Ecclesiasticall state found as they say in Gregory Nazianzen But that we may the better vnderstand the force of this argument we must obserue that in the comparison which they bring they make the Ecclesiasticall state and spirituall power like the spirit and diuine faculties thereof and the ciuill state like the flesh with the senses and sensitiue appetite thereof And as in Angels there is spirit without flesh in bruit beasts flesh and sense without spirit and in man both these conjoyned so they will haue vs graunt that there is sometimes Ecclesiasticall power without ciuill as in the Apostles times and longe after sometimes ciuill without Ecclesiasticall as among the heathen and sometimes these two conjoyned together And as when the spirit and flesh meete in one the spirit hath the command and though it suffer the flesh to do all those things which it desireth vnlesse they be contrary to the intendments designes ends of it yet when it findeth them to be contrary it may and doth command the fleshly part to surcease from her owne actions yea it maketh it to fast watch and do and suffer many grieuous and afflictiue things euen to the weakning of it selfe Soe in like manner they would inferre that the Ecclesiasticall state being like to the spirit and soule and the ciuill to the body of flesh the Church hath power to restraine and bridle ciuill Princes if they hinder the spirituall good thereof not onely by censures Ecclesiasticall but outward inforcement also This is the great and grand argument our Aduersaries bring to proue that Popes may depose Princes wherein first wee may obserue their folly in that they bring similitudes which serue only for illustration and not for probation for the maine confirmation of one of the principall points of their faith which whosoeuer denyeth sinneth in as high a degree as Marcellinus that sacrificed vnto Idols and Peter that denied his maister Secondly we see how much Princes are beholding vnto them that compare them to bruit beasts and at the best to the brutish part that is in men common to them with bruit beastes If they say Nazianzen so compareth them they are like themselues and speake vntruly for he compareth not Princes Priestes to spirit and flesh but going about to shew the difference of the objectes of their power maketh the spirit to be the obiect of the one of thē the flesh of the other Not as if Princes were to take no care of the welfare of the soules of their subjects as well as of their bodies but because the immediate procuring of the soules good is by preaching ministration of the Sacraments Discipline which the Prince is to procure and to see wel performed but not to administer these things himselfe as also because the coactiue power the Prince hath extendeth onely to the body and not to the soule as the Ecclesiasticall power of binding and loosing doth Thirdly we may obserue that if this similitude should proue any thing it would proue that the ciuill state among Christians hath no power to do any act whatsoeuer but by the command or permission of the Ecclesiasticall For so it is between the spirit the body sensitiue faculties that shew themselues in it The Philosophers note that there is a double regiment in man the one politicall or ciuill the other despoticall the one like the authority of Princes ouer their subjects that are freemen the other like the authority of Lords ouer their bondmen and slaues The former is of reason in respect of sensitiue appetite which by perswasion it may induce to surcease to desire that which it discerneth to be hurtfull but cannot force it so to doe the other of reason and the will in respect of the loco-motiue facultie and this absolute so that if reason cannot winne a desisting from desire in the inferiour powers that shew themselues in the body yet the will may command the loco-motiue faculty either cause al outward action to cease how earnestly soeuer sensitiue desire carry vnto it or to bee performed how much soeuer it resist against it as it may commaund and force the drinking of a bitter potion which the appetite cannot be wonne vnto and the rejecting putting from vs those things that are most desired Neither can the appetite and sensitiue faculties performe any of their actions without the consent of the will reason For if the will commaund the eyes are closed vp and see nothing the eares are stopped and heare nothing how much soeuer the appetite desire to see and heare Neither onely haue the soules higher powers this commaund ouer the inferiour faculties in respect of things that may further and hinder their own good and perfection as they may command to watch or fast for the prevention and mortification of sin but they may also at their pleasure hinder the whole course of the actions of the outward man withdraw all needfull things from the body and depriue it euen of life it selfe though there be no cause at all so to doe So that if the comparison of the ciuill and Ecclesiasticall state to the soule and body do hold from thence may it be inferred that the Church hath power to commaund in all things pertaining to the common-wealth and that the ciuill magistrates haue none at all For the lower faculties neither haue nor ought to haue any commaund further then they are permitted by the superiour neither can they doe any thing contrary to the liking of the superiour though neuer so just reasonable And so we see how silly a thing it is to reason from these similitudes and that they that so do build vpon the sands so that all the frame of their building commeth to the ground The third reason brought by our Adversaries is this
earnest and promised confidently to pacifie Ambrose he bade him goe with speede and himselfe followed after in hope of reconciliation trusting vpon the promises of Ruffinus But when Ambrose saw Ruffinus he sayd vnto him O Ruffinus thou doest imitate the impudencie of shamelesse dogges for hauing beene the aduiser and counsellor to so vile murthers thou hast hardned thy forehead and hauing cast away all shame blushest not after the committing of so great and horrible outrages against men made after the image of God And when he was importunate with him and told him the Emperour was comming full of fierie zeale he brake forth into these words I tell thee Ruffinus I will not suffer him to passe the thresholds of Gods house and if of an Emperour he become a tyrant I will ioyfully suffer death Whereupon Ruffinus caused one to runne to the Emperour to desire him to stay within the Court But the Emperour being on the way when the messenger met him resolued to come forward and to endure the reproof of the Bishop So hee came to the sacred railes but entred not into the Temple and comming to the Bishoppe besought him to vnloose him from the bands wherewith hee was bound The Bishop somewhat offended with his comming told him the manner of his comming was tyrant-like and that being mad against God he trampled vnder his feete the lawes of God Not so said the Emperour I presse not hither in despite of order neither doe I vniustly striue to enter into the house of God But I beseech thee to vnloose me to remember the mercifull disposition of our common Lord and not to shut the doore against me that hee would haue opened to all that repent What repentance therefore saith the Bishoppe hast thou shewed after so grieuous an offence what medicines hast thou applied to cure thy wounds It pertaineth to thee sayth the Emperour to prepare the medicines that should heale mee and to cure my wounds and to me to vse that thou prescribest Then sayd Ambrose seeing thou makest thy displeasure iudge and it is not reason that giueth sentence when thou sittest vpon the throne to doe right but thy furious proceedings make a law that when sentence of death and confiscation of goods shall bee passed there may passe thirty dayes before the execution of the same that so if within that space it be found vniust it may be reuersed or otherwise it may proceede This law the Emperour most willingly consented to make and thereupon Ambrose vnloosed him from his bands and he entred into the Temple and prayed vnto God not standing nor kneeling but prostrate vpon the earth and passionately vttering these words of Dauid My soule cleaueth to the pauement Lord quicken me according to thy word Here we see an excellent patterne of a good Bishoppe and a good Emperour and it is hard to say whether Ambrose were more to be commended for his zeale magnanimous resolution and constancie or the Emperour for his willing and submissiue obedience But of deposing Princes here is nothing Ambrose being so farre from any thought of lifting vp his hand against the Emperour that he resolued to subiect himselfe vnto him euen to the suffering of martyrdome if neede should require But saith Bellarmine Ambrose exercised ciuill authority in that hee tooke notice of this murther of the Emperour beeing a criminall cause and forced him to make a ciuill law for the preuenting of furious and bloodie proceedings in iudgment This surely is a weake collection for the Church hath power by vertue of her Ecclesiasticall iurisdiction to take notice of such horrible crimes as murther to punish them with spirituall punishments Neither was the inducing of Theodosius to make a ciuill law for the preuenting of such like euils as he was now censured for before he would reconcile him to the Church an act of ciuill authoritie But such testimonies as this is they that haue no better must be forced to vse That which followeth of Gregories confirming the priviledges graunted to the Abbey of Saint Medardus in such sort that whatsoeuer Kings Iudges or secular persons should go about to violate them should be depriued of their honour proueth not the thing in question For it is evident that the confirmation of these priviledges was passed not by S. Gregory alone but by a whole Councell and more specially by Theodoricus the King and Brunichildis the Queene who might binde their successours and other inferiour secular Rulers vnder paine of deprivation though neither Gregory of himselfe nor yet a councell of Bishops could doe any such thing by their authoritie alone Wherefore let vs proceede to the next example Gregory the second saith Bellarmine excommunicated the Emperour Leo the third who was an enemy to Images he forbade any tribute to be payde him out of Italy and consequently depriued him of part of his Empire Surely if Greg. the second of himself alone had had such power as to forbid all Italy vpon his dislike to pay any more tribute to the Emperour there were some good shew of proofe in this allegation But if wee examine the stories we shall finde the case to haue beene farre otherwise then Bellarmine would beare vs in hand it was For first Gregory did not excommunicate Leo of himselfe but called a Synode to doe it Secondly he did not forbid the paying of tribute out of Italy to the Emperour but the circumstances of the History are these Leo seeking to win the Bishop of Rome and the people of Italy to the casting downe of Images in the West as he had done in the East Gregory the Bishop did not onely refuse to obey him but admonished all other to take heed they did no such thing for feare of any Edict of the Emperour By which exhortation the people of Italy already mis-conceited of the Emperours governement were so animated that they were likely to haue proceeded to the election of a new Emperour and Nauclerus sheweth that the decrees of the Bishop of Rome disswading the people of the West from obeying the Emperour in casting downe of Images were of so great authoritie that the people and souldiers of Ravenna first and then of Venice beganne to make shew of rebellion against the Emperour and his Exarche or Lieutenant and to inforce the Bishop of Rome and the other people of Italy to disclaime the Emperour of Constantinople and to chuse another in Italy And that this rebellion proceeded so farre that euery city putting downe the Magistrates of the Exarch set vp Magistrates of their owne whō they named Dukes but that the Bishop of Rome at that time pacified thē and by his perswasions stayed them from chusing any new Emperour in hope that he would amend So that we see the Bishop of Rome with his Bishops by their authority did nothing but stay the people from obeying the Emperours vnlawfull Decrees as they iudged them but no way went about to depose the
detestable Beast of pride hath crept vp euen to the seate of Peter Prouide alwayes well for the peace of the Church and fare you alwayes well Thus wee see how the popes not contenting themselues with the fulnesse of Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction though they had no just title vnto it proceeded yet further partly by the fauour of Christian princes and partly by fraud and violence got to be great princes in the world stayed not till they made challēge to be ouer the mightiest Emperors to dispose of their crowns dignities So shewing thēselues to haue the perfect marke and character of him of whom the Apostle speaketh Who sitteth in the temple of God as God and is lifted vp aboue all that is called God Yet could they not so prevaile in these their hellish practises nor so carry away the truth of GOD and the liberty of his Church into captiuity but that there were euer found both Christian Emperours and learned Diuines to resist them in their vniust claimes CHAP. 48. Of generall Councels and of the end vse and necessity of them HAuing examined what may be said for proofe of the Vniuersality of the Bishop of Romes power and iurisdiction first we finde that the Sonne of GOD gaue him no power in the common-wealth but a Father-hood onely in the Church Secondly that in the Church hee neither gaue him an illimited power of commaunding nor infallible iudgement in discerning but that the greatest thing that either hee canne challenge or wee yeeld vnto him is to be the prime Bishop in order and honour the first and not of himselfe alone or out of the fulnesse of his owne power but with the joynt concurrence of others equall in commission with him to manage the great affaires of Almighty God and to gouerne the Christian Church so that the fulnesse of Ecclesiasticall power and iurisdiction is in the companies assemblies and Synodes of Bishoppes and Pastors and not in any one man alone I shewed before that in the churches founded and established by the Apostles contayning whole Citties and places adjoyning though there were many ministers of the word and sacraments yet one was so the Pastour of each of these Churches that the rest were but his assistants and might doe nothing without him and that therefore there was an inequality established euen from the beginning not of order onely but of degree also betweene such as are Pastours of Churches are named Bishops and such as are but their assistants named by the common name of Presbyters yet is the power of him that excelleth the rest in degree in each Church fatherly not Princely for things were so ordered in the beginning that as the Presbyters could do nothing without the Bishoppe so the Bishop in matters of moment might doe nothing without his Presbyters and thereupon the Councell of Carthage decreeth that the Bishoppe shall not presume to heare and sententiate any mans cause without the presence of his Clergie And though it bee said that the Bishop alone may heare and determine the causes of such Cleargy men as are below the degree of Presbyters Deacons yet that alone excludeth not his Cleargy but the concurrence of other Bishops which in the causes of Presbyters Deacons is necessarily required For without the presence and concurrence of his Cleargy the Bishop may proceede to no sentence at all If any difference grew betweene the Bishop and his Cleargy or if consenting any one found himselfe grieued with their proceedings there was a prouinciall Synode holdentwise euery yeare in which the acts of Episcopall Synodes might be re-ëxamined These prouinciall Synodes were subordinate to Nationall Patriarchicall Synodes wherein the Primate of a Nation or Kingdome or one of the Patriarches sat as President And in these Nationall or Patriarchicall Synodes the acts of prouinciall Synodes might bee re-ëxamined and reuersed Of all which I haue spoken before in due place and vpon fit occasion haue shewed at large of whom these Synodes doe consist So that it is euident that the power of Ecclesiasticall iurisdiction resteth not in Bishoppes alone but in Presbyters also beeing admitted to Prouinciall and Nationall Synodes and hauing decisiue voyces in them as well as Bishops nor in any one Metropolitane Primate or Patriarch within their seuerall precincts and diuisions but in these and their fellow Bishops joyntly and that much lesse there is any one in whom the fulnesse of all Ecclesiasticall power and the right to command the whole Church doth rest So that this fulnesse of power is found only in the generall assembly of Pastors called a generall Councell Wherefore now it remaineth that wee speake of Generall Councels Wherein first wee are to consider the vtility and necessity of such Synodall assemblies and meetings Secondly of whom they must consist Thirdly what assurance they haue of diuine assistance direction and Fourthly who must call them Toucing the first the causes why generall Councels are called are three The first is the suppressing of new heresies formerly not condemned The second a generall vniforme reformation of abuses crept into the Church The third the taking away of Schismes growing in Patriarchicall Churches about the election of their Pastors the reiecting of intruders violently and disorderly possessing themselues of those Patriarchicall Thrones And so wee finde that the Councell of Nice was called by Constantine for the suppressing of the damnable heresie of the Arrians the eight generall Councell by Basilius for the ending of the difference that was growne in the Church of Constantinople about Ignatius and Photius contending for the Episcopall chaire and that all Generall Councels intended and sought the reformation of abuses there being scarce any one wherein Canons were not made for the reformation of disorders in so much that the Fathers of the sixth Generall Councell hauing only condemned the Heresie of the Monothelites and made no Canons met afterwards againe many of them and made those Canons that are now extant and are the chiefe directiō of the Greeke Church vnto this day These being the causes for which Councels are called it is euident that the holding of them is not absolutely and simply necessary but in a sort onely For Heresies may bee suppressed by the concurrence of Prouinciall Synodes holden in the seuerall parts of the world as they were in the first 300. yeares when there were no Generall Councells But one part of the Christian Church seeking the helpe of another in common dangers and one part readily concurring with another as for the extinguishing of a dangerous fire threatning all or the repressing repelling of a common enemy by mutuall intelligence passing from one to another they abandoned Heresies newly springing vp and preserued the vnity of the common faith Neither was this course holden onely in the time of persecution during the first 300. yeares but afterwards also in the time of the Churches peace wee finde the same course to
The eight was holdenat Constantinople about the difference betweene Ignatius and Photius and called by Basilius the Emperour as appeareth by the Appendix to the Acts of that councell collected out of diuerse Authors by Surius and extant in the second part of the third Tome of Councels set out by Binnius So that wee see all the Eight Generall Councels were called by the Emperours and not by the Popes which thing is so cleare and euident that our Adversaries dare not deny it but seeke to avoyde the evidence of the truth against which they dare not directly oppose themselues by all the shifts they can devise for first they say that though it be not so proper to the Pope to call Councels but that others may doe it ifhee assent vnto it or approue it yet that without his Mandate Assent or Approbation of such indiction and calling no councell is lawfull Secondly they say that the Emperours called councels by the authority of the Pope and thirdly that happily they presumed aboue that was fit forthem to doe Wherefore let vs see how they proue that they say That the right of calling Councels belongeth to the Pope and not to the Emperor and consequently that the Emperour may call none without his assent Bellarmine endeauoureth to proue in this sort They that meete in councels must bee gathered together in the name of Christ to be gathered in the name of Christ is to be gathered by him that hath authority from Christ and none hath authority from Christ to call together the Pastors of the church but the Pope onely therefore none but the Pope may call councels To this argument wee answere that indeed they must meet in the name of Christ who assemble in councels but that to meete in Christs name importeth not in the promise made by Christ a gathering together of them that meete by his authority And that the Cardinall can neuer proue that the Pope and hee onely is authorized to call together the Pastours of the churches That to bee gathered together in Christs Name importeth not to bee called together by publike authority as Bellarmine vntruely affirmeth it is evident by his owne confession in that hee acknowledgeth that the gathering together in Christs Name to which hee hath promised to joyne his owne presence may bee verified of many or few Bishops or Laymen priuate or publike persons about priuate or publike affaires whereas priuate men meeting about priuate businesses are not gathered together by any one hauing authority to commaund them but by voluntary agreement among themselues and therefore Andradius telleth vs that both by the circumstance of Christs speech and the commentaries of the holy Fathers it is euident that his wordes agree to euery meeting of such men as beeing joyned together in Faith and charity aske any thing of GOD and particularly produceth Chrysostome expounding Christs wordes as Calvine doth whom Bellarmine taxeth to wit that they are saide to bee gathered together in Christs Name whom neither respect of private gaine induceth nor the ambitious desire of honour inviteth nor the prickes ofhatred and envy incite driue forward whom the inflamed loue of peace the feruent affections of Christian charity impell and not the spirit of contention in one word they who meete to seeke out by force of diuine grace with common and heartiest longing desires sought and obtained what especially pleaseth Christ and what is true For they that come together to set forward and aduance their owne priuate designes and to serue their owne contentious dispositions and to deceiue miserable men with the glorious name of a Councell are by no meanes to be thought to come together in Christs name nor to hold Ecclesiasticall assemblies but such as are most pestilent and hurtfull of which sort they were which were holden heretofore in the time of Constantine and Constantius at Tyrus Ierusalem Antioch Sirmium and Seleucia and infinite other conuenticles of Heretiques to which that most aptly agreeth which Leo the Pope pronounceth of the second Councell of Ephesus to wit that while priuate causes were promoted and set forward vnder pretence of religion that was brought to passe by the impiety of a few that wounded the whole Church But sayth Bellarmine this note of meeting in the feare of God with desire of finding out the truth and doing good discerneth not lawfull Councels from other seeing all that meete in Councels pretend that they come together out of a desire of the common good and not for priuate respects and that therefore this is not to meete in Christs name which is strangely sayd of him as if lawfull Councels rightly proceeding in their deliberations might not bee discerned from other by any thing that other may pretend or as if this his silly argument might sway against the circūstances of Christs words and the Commentaries of the holy Fathers Wherefore passing from this first exception against his Argument wee secondly answere vnto it that Christ did not giue the power of calling Generall Councels to the Pope alone as hee alleageth and in what sort Christ committed his Church to Peter to be gouerned by him as likewise in what sence it is that Leo sayth Though there be many Pastours yet Peter ruleth them all we haue largely declared already So that from hence nothing can bee concluded to proue that Christ gaue the power and right of calling Generall Councels to the Pope alone And thirdly we say that though it be true that Christ did not leaue his Church to be gouerned by Tiberius Caesar an Infidell so continuing or to his successors like vnto him in Infidelity yet hee that promised to giue Kings to be nursing Fathers and Queenes to be nursing mothers vnto his Church left it to bee gouerned by those nursing Fathers and nursing Mothers which he meant in succeeding times to raise vp for the good comfort and peace of his faithfull people after that their faith patience and long suffering more precious then gold should bee sufficiently tryed in the fire of tribulation Wherefore let vs passe to the Cardinalls second argument which is noe better then the first For neither hath the Pope power either Ciuill or Ecclesiasticall to inforce all Bishops to bee present at such assemblies as hee shall appoint neither did the Emperours informer time want meanes to inforce all to come when they called for them And touching the present state of things wee are not so foolish as to thinke the right of calling generall Councels to rest in the Emperour hauing so little command as now hee hath but wee place it in the concurrence of Christian Princes without which no lawfull Generall Councell can euer bee had His third reason taken from the proportion of Metropolitanes and Patriarches calling Prouinciall and Patriarchicall Synodes holdeth not as I haue shewed before Neither that which seemeth of all other to bee strongest taken from the ancient
the Kings Iustices for murther vsed vile and contemptuous speeches against them which though it were proued against him before the Arch-bishoppe yet hee was only depriued of the benefit of his Prebend and driuen out of the Realme for the space of two yeares for so horrible and bloudy a crime This was one of those sixteene Articles concerning the ancient customes of the Realme whereunto Becket and the rest of the Bishoppes did sweare and whereof hee so soone repented againe namely that Cleargy-men accused of any crime should at the summons of the Kings Iustices appeare in the Kings Court to answere to such things as to that Court should be thought to appertaine and in the Ecclesiasticall what pertained thereunto and that the Kings Iustices should send to see what was there done and that if they should bee conuicted of any enormous cryme or confesse the same the Bishoppe should not protect thē then which course nothing could be deuised more reasonable Neyther is it absurd for sheepe to judge their Pastors in these cases as Bellarmine fondly affirmeth That the Councell of Chalcedon and Toledo forbid Cleargy-men to leaue the Eccesiasticall Iudges and to prosecute their quarrels one against another before Temporall Magistrates and the Councells of Carthage and Agatha condemne them that chuse rather to bee tryed in Ciuill Courts then Ecclesiasticall when they haue power to chuse or that begin suites there without the permission of their Bishoppe no way contrarieth any thing that I haue sayd for howsoeuer some things are to bee handled in the Ecclesiasticall Courts as properly pertaining to them either naturally and originally or by graunt of Princes and other thinges concerning Church-men not to bee brought into Ciuill Courts but in due sort and with respect had to their places and rankes yet neuer had they any such absolute exemption and immunity but that in criminall causes such as theft murther and the like and in tryall of the title oflands and inheritances and the right of aduocation of Churches they were to bee tryed in ciuill Courtes and no other whether the differences grewe betweene Lay-men and Cleargy-men or Cleargy-men among themselues As likewise they were to do homage and sweare fealty for such lands honours and Baronryes as they held of Princes Thus wee see how fauorable Princes haue beene in graunting priuiledges concerning the persons of such as attend the seruice of God Neyther were they lesse carefull to free such lands and possessions as they indowed the Church with from such burdens taxes and impositions as other temporall possessions are subject to So that howsoeuer in the Apostles times and long after euen till the time of Ambrose as it appeareth by his writtings the Church-lands payd tribute yet afterward by Iustinian and other Christian Emperours they were freed from those impositions Neither is it to be maruailed at that Christian Princes out of their deuout and religious dispositions were thus fauourable to the Church seing euen the Heathen Princes did as much for the Idolatrous Priestes of their false-Gods for we read in the booke of Genesis that in the time of that great famine that was in the dayes of Ioseph when the people of Egypt were constrained after all their money and cattell were spent to sell their land to Ioseph the Steward of Pharaoh in whose hands all the prouision of Corne was to buy them bread so that all the land of Egypt became Pharaohs yet the Priests were not forced to sell their lands for they had an ordinary from Pharaoh and they did eate their ordinary which Pharaoh gaue them And when as afterwardes Ioseph let the people enjoy their land again which he had bought for Pharaoh yet so that onely foure parts of the increase thereof should bee to themselues for the seed of their fieldes for their meate and for them of their householdes and their children to eate and the fifth part should be Pharaohs whose now the land was the land of the Priests was free from this rent and charge as not being Pharaohs Yet were not the priuiledges and immunities which Christian Princes gran◅ed to Ecclesiasticall persons to prejudice other men nor to lay too heauy a burden on them and therefore it was lawfull for Princes when they saw any inconveniences in that too much of their land by passing into the right and possession of Church-men was freed from seruices and charges to stop the passing of any more into such dead hands as would yeeld them no helpe and cleargy-men were bound in conscience voluntarily to contribute to all publike necessities when need required though the Temporall Magistrates might not impose any thing vpon them as we find it ordered in the third councell of Lateran and in the fourth vnder Innocentius the third yea if they should contemptuously and presumptuously refuse to beare part of the common burdens notwithstanding any pretended priviledges the supreame Prince might force them to put too their helping hand rather then the whole state of the cōmon-wealth should bee shaken and indangered or other parts and members of it too heauily burdened as Duarenus learnedly and excellently sheweth This may suffice touching the exemption of Cleargy-men either in respect of their persons or goods the right by which they inioy the same And thus haue we runne through all the different Degrees Orders of Ecclesiasticall Ministers and shewed what their power office and authority is both seuerally and assembled in councels and what power Princes haue to commaund ouer them or to intermeddle with the businesses and affaires more specially belonging to them CHAP. 54. Of the calling of Ministers the persons to whom it pertaineth to elect ordaine them NOw it remaineth that we first treate of the calling of Ministers for No man taketh this honour vpon him but he that is called as was Aaron◅ Secondly of the things required in them and thirdly of their maintenance Touching the first which is the calling of Ecclesiasticall Ministers Saint Hierome noteth that there are 4 sorts of such men as are imployed in the businesses affaires of Almighty God The first are such as are sent neither of men nor by men but by Iesus Christ as the Prophets in olde time and since the comming of Christ those Twelue designed immediatly to the Worke of the Ministery by Christs owne voyce specially called Apostles The second such as are sent of God but by man as Bishops and Ministers which succeede the Apostles and deriue their commission from them The third are such as are sent of men and not of GOD who are they that are ordained by fauour of men not judging rightly of the quality of them that are to serue in this calling who yet are not simply denyed to bee sent of God as if they had no commission from him but therefore onely because if the Ordainers had done their duties they should haue made a better choyce and sent other
These men therefore make 2. sorts of vowes naming some simple and other solemne and affirme that the latter do debarre men from mariage and voyd their mariages if they do marry but that the former do so debarre them from marrying that they cannot marry without some offence and yet if they do their mariage is good and not to be voyded The Diuines of the Church of Rome as Caietane rightly noteth differ much in opinion about the difference of these vowes For some of them thinke that they differ in such sort as that one of them is a promise onely and the other a reall and actuall exhibition that the solemnity of a mans vow consisteth in a reall and actuall exhibition of himselfe and putting himselfe into such an estate as cannot stand with marriage But this opinion as hee rightly noteth cannot bee true seeing there is no such repugnance simply and in the nature of the thinges betweene the Order of the holy Ministery and Marriage as appeareth in that the Ministers of the Greeke Church as tyed by noe vowe are judged by all to liue in lawfull Mariage notwithstanding their Ministery and also in that the entering into noe religious Order voydeth mariage vnlesse it be approued by the Church There is therefore as he sheweth another opinion that it is not from different nature of the vowes that the one voydeth mariage contracted and the other doth not but from the authority of the Church that will haue mariage after a vowe made in one sort to bee voyd and not in another The latter of these two opinions Bellarmine sayth Scotus Paludanus and Caietane follow and as Panormitan reporteth the whole schoole of Canonistes And these do answere to the authorities of the Fathers denying mariages to bee voyde after a solemne vowe that they are to bee vnderstood to deny them to be voyde by Gods Law and that there was no Law of man then passed to make them voyde when they liued that they knew of and that therefore they might rightly bee of opinion in those times that no vowes made insuing marriages to be voyde seeing no vowes doe voyde marriages by GODS Law and there was no law of man in their time making marriage voyde in respect of a vowe made to the contrary Soe that euen in the judgment of many of the best learned of our Aduersaries themselues Mariage after a vow is not voyd by Gods law but only by the positiue Constitution of the Church which will haue it so to bee But against this positiue Constitution two things may be alleaged first that it began from that erroneous conceipt which Anstine refuteth in his booke do bono viduitatis as it appeareth by the Epistle of Innocentius grounding his resolution for voyding of mariages in this kinde vpon that verie reason of their beeing espoused to Christ which haue vowed vnto GOD that they will liue continently Secondly that the Church hath no power simply to forbidde any man to marry whom Gods Law leaueth free seeing single life is one of the things that men may be counselled and advised vnto but cannot be prescribed and imposed by commandement that the Church may keepe men from mariage if they will inioy some fauours as wee see in Colledges and Societies or that She may by her Censures punish such as vnaduisedly and without just cause shall breake their vow and promise wee make no question but that She may simply forbid any one to marry how faulty and punishable soeuer otherwise wee vtterly deny Neyther is the reason that is brought to proue this power to bee in the Church of any force For though it were graunted that the Church by her authority for respectes best knowne to her selfe may forbid a man to marry with some of those with whom God permitteth him to marry yet wil it not follow that she may absolutely forbid any one to cōtract mariage seeing parents to whom it pertaineth to direct the choyce of their children may forbid them to marry with such as they iustly dislike and yet they may not simplie restraine them from marying So that though it were yeelded that the Church for causes best known to her selfe may forbid mariage with moe then the Law of God doth and that in such sort as to void it hauing greater power in this behalfe then naturall parents yet would it not follow that shee may simplie forbid any one to marry and voide his mariage if he do whereas the Law of God voideth it not And so vvee see that as mariage after a solemne vow is not void by the Lavv of God so the Church hath no power to make any law to make it voyd But because though it be so yet it may seeme that no man that had vowed the cōtrary can marry without sinne it remaineth that wee proceede to consider and see whether there be any cases wherein a man that vowed the contrary may marry without offence to God First touching this poynt the Schoole-men generally resolue that the Pope may dispence with a Priest Deacon or Sub-deacon to marry though he haue sollemnely vowed the contrary by entring into holy Orders because the duty and bond of containing is not essentially annexed vnto holy Orders but by the Canon of the Church onely Aquinas and they of that time thought hee might not dispense with a Monke to marry For that single life is essentially implyed in the profession of a Monke and cannot be seperated from the same as it may from the office and calling of a Priest But since that time the generall opinion is that he may because though single life cannot be separated from the profession of a Monke yet he that is a Monke may be freed from that profession that he hath made and cease to be a Monke Neither is this onely the opinion of the Schooles but the practise of Popes hath concurred with the same For as Petrus Paludanus reporteth a Pope reviued a Monke who was next in blood and to succeed in the Kingdome of Arragon and dispensed with him to marry a wife for the good of that Kingdome Caietan sayth the like is reported in the stories of Constantia daughter and heire of Roger King of Sicily who was a religious woman and of fifty yeares of age and yet by the dispensation of Caelestinus was called out of the Cloyster and permitted to marry with the Emperour Henry the Sixth who begatte of her Fredericke the Second And Andreas Frisius reporteth out of the Histories of Polonia that Casimirus sonne of Mersistaus King of Polonia was a Monke and ordayned a Deacon and yet when after the death of Mersistaus his father there was none to sway the Scepter of that Kingdome whence many mischiefes followed Benedict the Ninth gaue him leaue to marry a wife making him to leaue his Cloyster his Vowes and Deaconship that so there might bee a succession in that Kingdome So that there is no question but that for a
any Papist at this day If Gerson or any other whom I honour held this heresie they held it not heretically as the Romanists now doe euen as Cyprian helde the heresie of rebaptization and sundry of the Auncient the heresie of the Millenaries but not heretically so that Vincentius Lyrinensis saith The Fathers were saued and the children condemned the authors of errours acquited the followers of them in the same cast into the pit of hell But Mr Higgons saith Bernard whose sayings touching the not punishing of such as are freed from the impurity of sin I alleadge thereby to ouerthrow the erroneous conceipt of Papists touching Purgatory admitteth Purgatory therefore I traduce the Testaments of the dead to establish such doctrines as they impugne For answer whereunto I say that whether Bernard admit Purgatory or not yet may hee haue a sentence which supposing all sinfulnes to be purged out in the moment of dissolution proueth that there is no Purgatory to which purpose I alledge him therfore traduce not the testaments of the dead to establish any Doctrines they impugned as M ◠Higgons vntruely vnjustly chargeth me For my distilling our Church out of the writings of learned men liuing vnder the Papacie I shall haue a sitter place to answere him when I come to his Appendix where I will make it appeare that the Israel of God hath not binforced as he vntruely saith it hath to seeke to the Philistines as the distressed Israelites did for the sharpening of their tooles when there was no Smith in Israel but that the Israel in Canaan deriueth it self from that Israel that sometimes was in Egypt in misarable bondage enjoyeth the jewels and treasures fighteth against the enemies of God with the weapons brought from thence And thus much touching Gregory §. 2. IN the next place hee commeth to Augustine whom he saith I haue likewise abused The words wherein the supposed abuse is offered vnto him are these The Romish manner of praying for the dead hath no certaine testimony of antiquity for no man euer thought of Purgatory till Augustine to avoide a worse error did doubtingly runne 〈◊〉 after whom many in the Latine Church embraced the same opinion but the Greeke Church neuer receiued it to this day 〈◊〉 inwhich words he saith I note the temerity irresolution and folly of Augustine the Reader I doubt not will note his temerity and folly in censuring me thus without a cause for I note not Saint Augustine for temerity nor make him the Author of a new fancy as hee falsely chargeth mee but shew that whereas there were very dangerous opinions in the Church in his time touching the state of the departed many of great esteeme thinking that men dying in mortall sinne and adjudged to hell shall in the end come out thence and be saued hee sought to qualifie the matter in the best sort hee could with least offence vnto them and to bring them from that error and therefore sayth If they would acknowledge the punishments of such to be eternall and thinke onely that they may bee mitigated or suspended for a time or that men dying in the state of grace yet in some lesser sinnes are afflicted for a time in the other world though he know not whether these things be so or not yet he would not striue with them This is not to be the author of a new fancy but in hope to reclaime men from a great extremity to leaue something lesse dangerous in the same kind doubtfull and this is all that I say of Saint Augustine neither is this my priuate fancy but the Graecians in that learned Apology before mentioned haue the same obseruation to wit that hee wrote not those things which hee hath touching Purgatory out of a certaine perswasion and as vndoubtedly holding them to be true but as it were in a sort inforced and for the avoiding of a greater euill which was this that there is a purging of all sinnes after death as some then thought So that as it seemeth thinking it something a violent course directly to go against the opinion of many and fearing his words would not seeme probable if whereas others thought all sins may be purged out after death he on the contrary side should say none may be purged hee chose rather to goe in a middle way not contradicting that which is lesse absurd and inconuenient that so he might more easily bring them he had to deale with from that which was farre more inconuenient then too much to exasperate thē This was the apprehension the Grecians had of Augustines writings touching this point which whosoeuer shall without any sinister affection peruse will find to bee righte and true Touching irresolution it was farre from Augustine in matters pertaining to the rule of faith but in other things wherein men may bee ignorant and doubtfull and dissent one from another without danger of eternall damnation no man was more slow to resolue no man more inclined to leaue things doubtfull But howsoeuer that hee was doubtfull and vnresolued in the points concerning the state of the dead it is euident in that he sayth If they whose mercifull error he refuteth would onely thinke the paynes of them that are in hell to bee mittigated or suspended hee would not greatly striue about it though I am well assured hee would not willingly haue resolued that these things are so The like may be sayd touching the temporall affliction of good men dying in the state of grace but yet with some lesser sinnes for hee was euer doubtfull concerning the same and neuer resolued that they are vndoubtedly in a state of temporall afflictions as Maister Higgons vntruly reporteth and thence inferreth many things childishly against mee but that they are in a state wherein prayers may auaile thē which two things are very different For the Graecians in their Apology before cited admit remission of sinnes after this life and yet deny that there is any estate of temporall affliction And I haue shewed before how sinnes may be sayd to bee remitted after this life in the enterance into the other world without admitting Purgatory-punishmēts But it cannot be excused that I say Augustine fearefully opposed himselfe against the error of thē who thought all right-beleeuing Christians how wickedly soeuer they liued shall in the end bee saued Surely the Graecians said as much before and are in good hope to be excused and therefore I am in some hope that I may be also for I do not say that he so feared any thing as to conceale any truth he was thorowly resolued of and which hee held necessary to be knowne of all but that he feared to offend them hee dealt with farther than of necessity hee must and therefore resolued to yeeld to them as farre as possibly hee might without impugning knowne and resolued truthes they being many and of great esteeme that were otherwise minded then he was Thus
expresly We retaine it in our Colledges I obserued before that wee must carefully distinguish the generall practise and intention of the whole Church from priuate conceipts the whole Church commemorated the dead offered the sacrifice of praise for them prayed for them in the passage for their resurrection and consummation all which thinges we allow so that neither Doctor Humphrey nor we condemne the Vniuersall Church but thinke it were madnesse soe to doe but the priuate fancies of such as extended their prayers farther thinking they might ease mitigate suspend or wholy take away the paines of men damned in hell for of Purgatory no man thought in the Primitiue Church wee reject This erroneous conceipt and practise Aerius rightly condemned and Doctor Humphrey and wee all agree with him in the same dislike but he did ill to impute this errour to the whole Church and to condemne that which was good and laudable vppon soe weake a ground Of the difference which Maister Higgons would faine make betweene our commendation of the dead vsed in colledges and that vsed anciently whereof Saint Augustine speaketh I haue spoken before wherefore let vs come to his last exception against Doctor Humphrey which is that hee handleth the matter artificially to make a credulous reader beleeue that Saint Augustine himselfe doth conuell the vse of prayer for the dead by those sentences of the Apostle that we cannot reape if wee sowe not here and that wee must all stand before the iudgement seate of Christ that euery one may receiue according to the things hee hath done in his body whether good or euill This imputation is nothing else but a malitious and impudent charging of him with that he neuer thought of For the onely thing he sayth Augustine held proued by these sentences is that vnlesse we depart hence in a true faith wee canot be relieued by any deuotion of other men after we are gone Which is so vndoubtedly true that I thinke Higgons him-selfe dareth not deny it But that Augustine thought that men dying in the state of grace and faith of Christ may bee holpen by the prayers of the liuing hee neither made question himselfe nor euer sought to make his reader beleeue otherwise Neither doe wee dissent from Augustine in this point if the prayers hee speaketh of bee made respectiuely to the passage hence and entrance into the other world as I haue shewed before The onely thing that is questionable betweene Vs and our Aduersaries being whether prayers may releeue men in a state of temporall affliction after this life whereof Augustine neuer resolued any thing what-soeuer this pratling Apostata say to the contrary These things being soe let the reader judge whether the detection of falshood and ill dealing in Doctor Humphrey could possibly occasion Maister Higgons his change as hee would make the world beleeue there being nothing found in his whole discourse that is not most true and iustifiable by all course of learning But because hee is sufficiently chastised by others and knoweth too well the true cause of his running away to bee things of a farre other nature then those he pretendeth I will prosecute this matter no farther against him The Appendix §. 1. NOw it remaineth that I come to the Appendix which he addeth to his booke which hee deuideth into two partes whereof the first concerneth Mee the second D. Morton which hee hath answered already In that part which concerneth Me he vndertaketh to proue that I notoriously abuse the name and authority of Gerson Grosthead c. to defend the reformation made by Princes Prelats in our Churches Wherefore that the reader may perceiue I haue not abused these reuerend worthy men but that he wrōgeth both Them Me I will take the paines to examine his whole discourse though it will be very tedious soe to do by reason of the cōfused perplexed manner of handling of things in the same without all order method In the 1. chapter he doth but lay the foūdatiō of his intēded building therefore gathereth together a great nūber of positiōs sayings out of my book miserably māgled torne one frō another all which shall be defended whē he cōmeth to say any thing against them in such sort as that it shall evidently appeare that there is no falshood or collusion in any part of my Discourse as this false and treacherous Fugitiue is pleased to say there is Onely one thing there is heere that may not bee passed ouer because it hath no farther prosecution in that which followeth His wordes are these Whereas Bellarmine doth object the intestine divisions and conflicts of the pretensed Gospellers this Doctor turneth him off with this answer wee say that these diuersities are to bee imputed wholly to our Adversaries for when there was a reformation to be made of abuses and disorders in matters of practise and manyfold corruption in many points of Christian Doctrine and in a Councell by a Generall consent it could not bee hoped for as Gerson long before out of his experience saw and professed by reason of the prevailing faction of Popes flatterers it was not possible but that some diversity should grow while one knew not nor expected to know what another did This he saith is a very admirable devise For answere hereunto we must obserue that the divisions of this part of Christendome are of two sorts the first is from the faction of the Pope the second among them that haue abandoned the vsurped Authority of the Pope That the Pope and his adherents were the cause of the former of these divisions and the consequents of it is affirmed by better men then Master Higgons I will not deny saith Cassander a man highly esteemed for piety learning by the Emperours Ferdinand and Maximilian that many in the beginning were moued out of a Godly affection more sharply to reprehend certaine manifest abuses and that the chiefe cause of this calamitie and distraction or rent of the Church is to be attributed to them who puffed vp with the swelling conceipts of their Ecclesiasticall power proudly disdainfully contemned and repelled them that admonished them rightly of things amisse And therefore I do not thinke that any firme peace is euer to be hoped for vnlesse the beginning thereof be from them that gaue the cause of this diuision that is vnlesse they that haue the gouernment of the Church remit something of that their too great rigor listning to the desires of many godly ones correct manifest abuses according to the rule of sacred Scripture the ancient Church from which they are departed c. Touching that saith c Contarenus which the Lutherans say in the first last place of manifold and great abuses brought into the Church of Christ against which they so exclaime concerning which they haue made so many complaints to expresse their greiuances I haue nothing to say but first of all to
the notorious negligence of the Court of Rome in omitting to doe that which is fitte other to base corruption and therevpon sheweth that an appeale was put in on the behalfe of the Lords of Polonia to the next Generall Councell against which exception was taken that it was not lawfull to appeale from the Pope in any case or to decline his iudgement in matters of faith contrarie to the lawes of God and the decrees of the same Conncell and to the vtter ouerthrowing of all those thinges that were done in the Councell of Pisa and Constance in reiecting the pretenders and electing a new Pope professing that hee is well assured there will neuer be any reformation of the Church by a Councell without the presidency of a guide well affected and prudent stout and constant of which sort he insinuateth the Pope then beeing was not Thus wee see Gerson thought it no impiety in modest sort to taxe the Popes negligence and in most resolute manner to condemne as impious against the Lawes of God and man his pride in denying appeales from himselfe as if no man might decline his iudgement in matters of faith Which things being so let the reader iudge whether that one poore sentence of Gerson mangled and rent from that which went before and followeth after doe bring more aduantage to Master Higgons his cause then it doth preiudice the same when it is ioyned with the other parts of his discourse in the same place But thus doe these Madianites slay themselues with their owne swordes and turne their weapons vpon themselues to the vtter ouerthrow of their bad cause From this particular of the Popes supremacy wherein Master Higgons hath foyled himselfe and hurt his cause hee proceedeth to some generall euidences whence as hee saith it may be proued that Gerson neuer fauoured the Protestanticall reformation The first is for that speaking of the Romish Church he saith Wee must r◅ue the certainty of our faith from it The second for that hee preached zealously at Constance against the articles of Wicklife and the Bohemians For answere to the first of these allegations the reader must remember that Gerson doth clearely resolue that the Pope may erre not onely personally but Episcopally and iudicially also and consequently that wee must not ground our faith vpon his resolutions as certaine and vndoubted The like may be said of the Romane Church that is the Romane Diocesse Prouince or Patriarchship for if it haue any more infallibility of iudgement then other particular Churches it hath it from the Bishoppe which it cannot haue seeing he is not free from errour himselfe the meaning therefore of Gerson is not that wee may or must take whatsoeuer the Romane Diocesse Prouince or Patriarchship deliuereth vnto vs to be vndoubtedly true but speaking of the Indians who are Christians and yet doubting whether they hold the faith of Christians sincerely or not hee saith it may be feared least they doe not seeing ◅ey are diuided from the Roman Church from which the certainty of faith is to ◅e sought to shew that the truth certainty of faith is to be sought in the vnity of the vniuersal or Catholique Church the beginning being taken frō that which of all others is the first and chiefest and hathhitherto beene most free from damnable heresies For otherwise that he is no way resolued that the determinations of the particular Roman Church Diocesan Provinciall or Patriarchicall doe absolutely binde all to receiue them it is most cleare and euident in that in his discourse of the meanes of procuring vnitie betweene the Greekes and Latines one speciall cause of the breach betweene them being the determination passed by the Latines touching the proceeding of the Holy Ghost without the consent of the Greekes he wisheth men to consider whether as we are wont to say of the Articles of Paris that they binde none but such as are within the Diocesse of Paris so it may not be saide that the determinations of the Latine Church binde none but those that are within the compasse of the same which he could not nor would not doe if he thought the infallible direction of all the rest to bee in the Romane Church alone and that all euery-where were bound to receiue as vndoubtedly true whatsoeuer it deliuereth as the Romanists at this day doe thinke Besides this it is to be obserued that by the name of the Romane Church the person of the Pope whom the Romanists name the Virtuall Church is not meant nor the Diocesse or Prouince of Rome alone but the whole Latine or West Church subiect to the Bishop of Rome as Patriarch of the West which wee are perswaded neuer yet erred from the Faith but had alwayes in it many worthy men professing and maintaining the trueth of Religion howsoeuer some erred damnably in the midst of it and a separation be now growne betweene the true members of that Church and such as were but a faction in the same So that that which Gerson hath of fetching the certainty of our faith from the Church of Rome proueth not that hee would haue beene an enemy to the Protestanticall reformation for he speaketh not of our fetching the certaintie of our Faith from the Pope or Court or Diocesse of Rome but of the Indians fetching the certainty of their Faith from the Roman that is the Westerne Church But that he neuer thought that all Christians and Churches of the West are to fetch the certainty of their Faith from the Pope or Court of Rome it is evident In that he commendeth the French King that condemned the heresie of Iohn the two and twentieth touching the soules not seeing God till the Resurrection with sound of trumpets the Nobles and Prelats of France being present and beleeued rather the Vniuersitie of Paris then the Court of Rome Neither is the next proofe of Gersons preaching against the Articles of Wickliff and the Bohemians any better then this for hee preached against such Articles as were brought to the Councell of Constance by the English and Bohemians now those Articles were many of them impious and hereticall nay hellish and blasphemous in such sort as they were proposed by them that brought them as that God must obey the Diuel that Kings or Bishops if they be reprobates or if they fall into mortall sinne cease to be Kings or Bishops any longer and that all they doe is meerely voide whereas Wickliffe neuer deliuered any such thing nor had any such impious conceipt as they sought to fasten on him neither is it to be maruailed at that impious things were falsly slanderously imputed to him seeing we are wronged in like sort at this day For there are who shame not to write that we affirme God to be the author of fin that we teach that God doth sin that man sinneth not that God onely sinneth and that God is worse then the diuell with many other like
scholler in the schoole of impudency a farre longer time then yet he hath beene But happily he may find vanity in these passages of mine though no vntruth Let vs see therefore what hee saith what aduantage saith hee can Doctour Field gaine from Gersons improbation of the afore-said lewd assertions preiudiciall to the states of Kinges and Princes why doth hee presse the authority of Gerson whose medicine hee knoweth to bee very sharpe against the disease of all such Princes as by the infection of Heretickes are seduced from the integrity of the Catholicke faith to wit persecution by fire and sword Surely heere Theomisus Higgons bewrayeth more then vanity for as if he meant presently to become a traytor against his Soueraigne whom he his consortes suppose to be seduced from the Catholicke verity he beginneth at the very first to talke of sharpe medicines against such Princes and those prescribed by Gerson as he telleth vs but hee will be found a lying and cogging mate for Gerson in the place cited by him hath nothing for the Popes deposing Princes for heresie or any thing else which yet is that medicine he meaneth nay wee are assured hee neuer held any such trayterous position but writing against the flatterers of Princes hee wisheth Princes to take heed they listen not to such men as will instill into them many false opinions touching their power and absolutenesse contrary to the faith and trueth of God whereby in the end they may make themselues so odious as to bee pursued by fire and sword by their subiects So that whereas Gerson speaketh of errours in faith concerning the state of Princes bringing them to doe things so odious as to bee persecuted with fire sword this good fellow turneth his words to another sence as if he had meant that for error in faith the Pope were to depose Princes and whereas to meete with certaine false and foolish suggestions made to some Princes contrarie to the doctrine of faith hee setteth downe certaine propositions whereof the first is that Princes must not iustifie themselues and thinke they offend not whatsoeuer they doe and that the Lawes Ecclesiasticall and Ciuill will auaile for the furtherance of this consideration hee turneth the words into this sence that these Lawes are auailable for the deposing of Kinges so treacherous and trayterous is this Fugitiue become already From this first obseruation he proceedeth to a second saying that if the reformation wished for by Gerson consisted onely or principally or at all in the redresse of lewd assertions preiudiciall to the states of Kings the Protestants haue not effected that which he desired their positions being dangerous likewise and therevpon breaketh out into a long and large discourse concerning the positions of Protestants touching the state and power of Princes But surely he is like a Spaniell not acquainted with his game that runneth after euery bird that riseth before him and is to bee taught better before there will be any great vse of him For I bring not the report of Gerson touching hese assertions so much to shew what he would haue reformed as to make it appeare how strangely things were carried in former times how little hope he other good men had of any reformation by a Councell seeing these positions so dangerous apparantly false could not be condemned in the Councell of Constance by reason of a mighty faction prevayling in the same so all that he saith vpon this false ground is nothing to the purpose notwithstanding if the man were worth the medling with or the matter required it it were easie to shew that Protestants are farre from holding any such trayterous opinions as Papists defend But I haue resolued to confine my selfe to the defence of my selfe against his childish exceptions and no way to follow him into any other of his idle discourses Touching Gersons condemning certaine-positions attributed to Wickliff and Hus and Husses suffering in the cause of CHRIST against Antichrist and the idlenesse of Higgons in charging Mee with contradiction in that I graunt the one and affirme the other I haue spoken already But so plentifull hee is in objections that nine thinges more remaine in this chapter not obiected before which hee obiecteth to mee The first is the extenuation of the turbulent and impious positions of Wickliff in that I say they seemed to derogate from the Cleargy Secondly that I conceale the impiety of Wickliff in other thinges Thirdly that I cite in one place things found in diuers places Fourthly that I exaggerate the seuerity of the Councell of Constance against Wickliff c. and make as if Gerson had disliked it whereas he did not Fiftly that I say Gerson desired a reformation and thought that it was to be assayed seuerally in the particular Kingdomes of the world there being little or no hope of doing any good by a Generall Councell Sixtly that the proceeding in this worke of reformation seuerally in diuerse parts of the world without a common deliberation was the cause of those differences that now appeare in the reformed Churches according as Gerson feared it would fall out 7ly That I say Gerson Grosthead others were of the true Church who yet were mēbers of the Church of Rome Eigthly that I misalleage a saying of Gerson And the nineth that whereas Gerson sayth the Popes sought to be adored as God I say they sought to bee adored and worshipped as God To euery one of these I will answere in a word To the first that I extenuate not the impious positions falsely and maliciously gathered out of Wickliffes workes as that God must obey the Diuell and if there be any other like but accurse them to the pitte of hell but speaking of those which in Gersons iudgement were not so hurtfull neither to the conuersation of men nor the state of common-weales as those against Princes which the Councell of Constance could not bee induced to condemne I say of them they seemed to derogate from the Cleargy because I know not certainely vppon what ground or in what sence many of them were vttered by him To the second I answere that I concealed not the impiety of any articles where-with Wickliffe was charged but hauing no occasion to speake of any other but such onely as were not so bad in Gersons iudgement as some they in the coūcell could not be induced to condemn I had no reason to censure thē any otherwise then I did for had they beene so bad as Maister Higgons would make them to be the Pope and Councell were not very good that could by no meanes bee induced to condemne such as were farre worse as Gerson telleth vs. To the third I say that it is lawfull for a man to cite in one place out of one author thinges found in him in diuerse places or else Maister Higgons is too blame who doth so To the fourth I say that I exaggerate not the seuerity of the
Pope sought to ouerthrow the order of the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchie to encroach vpon all Bishoppes and guides of the Church and to vsurpe such an illimited vniversall and absolute authority as no way pertained to him feared not to call him Antichrist to compare him and his Courtiers to that Behemoth that putteth his mouth to the Riuer of Iordan thinking he can drinke it vp to pronounce that it is most true that before his time was said of him and his execrable Court Eius avaritiae totus non sufficit orbis Eius luxuria meretrix non sufficit omnis That the Church was holden in Babylonicall captivity by this Antichrist and that her deliuerance would neuer be wrought but by the edge of the sword that must be bathed in blood This is the true report concerning Grosthead in all which there are neither fictions nor exaggerations as Higgons pretendeth by which it is evident that there was as little Communion between the Pope challenging as he did then and doth now infallibility of judgement vniversality of illimited and vncontrouleable power right to dispose the Kingdomes of the World as there is betweene light and darknesse the Temple of God and Idols CHRIST and Antichrist So that he was no Papist seeing he ouer-threw the Papacie and if in any thing he erred as liuing in corrupttimes it is not to be marvayled at neither did his errour in some particular thing so much prejudice his piety and sanctity as that he may not bee called a worthy and renowned Bishop seeing hee held the foundation and stroue for the truth as farre as hee knew it euen to death And therefore the exceptions of the Author of the booke of the Three Conversions against Master Foxe touching this Bishoppe and some other mentioned by him and recorded in the number of Martyrs and Confessors are little to be regarded for that men might be members of that true Church whereof we are holding the foundation and carefully seeking out and maintaining the truth as farre as they knew it though they were otherwise perswaded in some things then either Master Foxe or we are which need not to seeme strange to Master Higgons nor any other of that side seeing they thinke many to haue beene members of their Church and Catholiques that dissented from them in all the questions concerning the Pope to which all other as Master Higgons telleth vs are subordinate and besides in the questions of originall sin free-will justification merite satisfaction the number of the Sacraments and sundry other like things Thus wee see how zealously Grosthead the worthy renowned Bishop of Lincolne opposed himselfe against the tyrannicall vsurpations and incroachments of the Pope and feared not to call him Antichrist for the same Neither was he alone in this opposition but we shall finde that the whole state of England after many complaints against the Popes incroachments vsurpations and tyrannicall intermedling in things no way pertaining to him to the ouerthrow of the Hierarchy of the Church told him in the end that if these courses were continued they should bee forced to doe that which would make his heart to ake Thus faith Mathew Paris at last the poore Church of England that had bin long vsed as an Asse to carry the Popes burdens in the end grew weary opened her mouth as Balaams Asse did to reproue the folly of the Prophet that not without just cause in the judgement of all the world for howsoeuer the church of Rome challenged to be the Mother of all churches and the Popeto be the Father of all Christians yet the one proued a cruell stepmother the other an vnkind vnnaturall Father so that they both lost the hearts of all men But what did the Pope vpon the complaints of so great a church nation as this of England did he ease her burthens or any way listen to her most reasonable suits no verily but was so vnmercifull as the same Paris testifieth that hauing so sore beaten vs he beate vs againe in more cruel sort then euer before onely because we cryed therefore let him not be angry with vs because we haue kept our word with him that neuer kept any with vs haue indeed done that which maketh his heart to ake as our fore-fathers threatned him long before these groanes of our wrōged Mother her often renewed bitter complaints before any was found to worke her deliuerance doe iustifie that which we haue done to be no more then in duty we stood bound to do neither is there any better proofe of the goodnes of our cause then that that which we haue done in the reformation of the church was long before wished for expected fore-tolde by the best men that liued in former times in the corrupt state of the church But because Mr Higgons is pleased to tell vs that if there be no better proofe the cause is bad the patrons worse because these best men we speak of will not speake for vs I will take a litle paines to shevv the goodnes of this proof vvhich I doubt not but the Reader vvill find to be better then that Mr Higgons or any other of his Romanists shall euer be able to vveaken it All that vvhich vve haue done in the reformation of the church cōsisteth in 3 things the first is the condemning of certain erronious opiniōs in matters of doctrine the 2d the shaking off of the yoake of Papall tyranny the 3 the remouing of abuses superstitious observatiōs Novv then if it be proued that the best best learned in former times thought as vvee doe in matters doctrinall that they complained of the heauie yoake vvhich the Pope laide on them and desired the remoouing of such abuses as vvee haue remooued I thinke this proofe vvill bee found very strong and good I vvill therefore first beg◅ vvith matters of doctrine and so proceede to the other points not intending to run through all the controversed points of doctrine but some onely for example and because the question is onely of the judgment of men liuing in latter times in the corrupt state of the Church vnder the Papacie I will passe by the Fathers and speake of such as liued since their time Touching the Canon of Scripture which is the rule of our faith wee deny the bookes of Tobit Iudith Ecelesiasticus Wisdome Machabees the song of the three Children and the story of Bell and the Dragon to bee Canonicall Scriptures So did Hugo de Sancto Victore Richardus de Sancto Victore Petrus Cluniacensis Lyranus Dionysius Carthusianus Hugo Cardinalis Thomas Aquinas Waldensis Richardus Armachanus Picus Mirandula Ockam Caietan and Driedo to say nothing of Melito Bishop of Sardis Origen Athanasius Hilarius Nazianzen Cyrill of Ierusalem Epiphanius Ruffinus Hierome Gregory and Damascen Here wee see a cloud of witnesses deposing for vs. And what better proofe of the goodnesse of our cause canne there be then that so
the whole composition and forme of the sacred prayer called the Canon agreeth onely to a publike ministration there being often mention made in it of the people standing round about offering and communicating so that some ancient expositors of the Roman order thinke the Canon ought not to bee vsed but in a publike ministration To which purpose Micrologus obserueth that the prayers vsed after the communion are appliable onely to such as haue communicated and therefore willeth them not to neglect to communicate that desire to enioy the blessing of these praiers Clichthoueus vppon the Canon of the Masse sayth that which some note that the Priest soe often as hee celebrateth should giue the Sacrament to all that stand by is Auncient and agreeable to the custome of the Primitiue Church when the faithfull did euery day receiue the Sacrament according to that Sanction of Calixtus the Pope After the consecration let all communicate and that of Anacletus who willeth them to bee excommunicated that beeing present at the consecration communicate not which Andradius will not haue to be restrained to the Ministers assisting but extended to all the people and that by the authority of Dionysius and Iustine Martyr Cochlaeus against Musculus de sacrificio missae hath these wordes In olde time both Priest and people as many as were present at the sacrifice of the Masse after the oblation was ended communicated with the Priest as it is evident by the Canons of the Apostles and the Epistles of the most ancient Doctors c. Afterwards the devotion of the people decayed yet the Cleargy and Ministers communicated still when all they did not communicate yet at least the Deacons and Subdeacons communicated as the Authour of the Romane Breviary testifieth Whereupon saith Cassander some godly and learned men doe wish that this ancient custome were restored that at least the Ministers might communicate with him that celebrateth as agreeable to the practise of the Primitiue Church and making much for the dignity and gravitie of this Mystery In the Churches of Aethiopia all communicate in both kindes twise euery weeke to this day Iohn Hofmeister expounding certaine prayers of the Masse hath these wordes the thing it selfe proclaimeth it that as well in the Greeke as Latine Church not the Priest that celebrateth onely but the rest of the Presbyters and Deacons the whole people or at least some part of the people was wont to communicate which custome how it ceased and grew out of vse may seeme strange but it were greatly to be wished that it were restored againe which thing might easily be effected if the Pastors of the Churches would do their duty for the Priests themselues are in fault that few or none of the people are found to communicate in that they doe not invite stirre them vp to communicate more often as appeareth by the writing of a certaine Diuine not vnlearned in the former age in which he reprehendeth certaine Pastours of that age wherein hee liued who tooke it ill that some of their Parishioners though liuing very laudably desired to communicate euery Sunday That the Sacrament was ministred in former times in loafe bread as we minister it at this day it is evident by the booke called Ordo Romanus by Durandus sundry other authorities In auncient times the manner was to giue the holy Sacrament into the hands of the communicants as wee doe and not to put it into their mouthes as the Papists doe What shall I speak saith Andradius of the vse of the holy Eucharist which now no man may lawfully touch but the Priests whereas it was wont to be carryed by the Deacons to such as were absent and to be giuen to Laymen into their hands whence proceeded that exhortation of Cyrill of Hierusalem full of piety and religion that each communicant should fasten his eyes vpon those hands that receiued the holy Eucharist and kisse them with the kisses of his mouth that so he might communicate to the rest of the members the holynesse of the Eucharist The custome of circumgestation saith Cassander is contrary to the manner of the Auncient and would neuer haue beene liked of them who held this mysterie in so great respect that they admitted none to the sight of it but such as they thought worthy to be partakers of it whereupon all such as might not communicate were ejected before the consecration and therefore it seemeth that this circumgestation might be omitted Crantzius praiseth Cusanus who being the Popes Legate in Germany tooke it away vnlesse it were within the Octaues of the feast of Corpus Christi the Sacrament being instituted for vse and not for ostentation Touching the honour of Saints Gerson Contarenus and others reprehend sundry superstitious obseruations wish they were wisely abolished Whether the Saints particularly know our estate and heare our cryes groanes not onely Augustine the Author of the Interlineall Glosse but Hugo de sancto Victore also will tell vs it is altogether vncertaine cannot be knowne whence it followeth that howsoeuer being assured they pray for vs in a generality wee may safely desire to bee respected of God the rather for their sakes yet it is not safe to pray to them Neither is this a new conceipt of ours but Guilielmus Altisiodorensis saith it was a common opinion in his time that neither we doe properly pray to Saints nor they in particular pray for vs but that improperly we are said to pray to thē in that we pray vnto God that the rather for their sakes at their suite we may finde fauour and acceptation with him Touching the abuse of Images and how much it was disliked in former time let the Reader see Cassander How great complaints were made long since against the forced single life of the Cleargy and how many and great men desired the abrogation of the law that forced men so to liue I haue shewed at large else-where That in the Primitiue Church they had their prayers in the vulgar tongue Lyra confesseth and Caietane professeth that he thinketh it would be more for edification if they were so now and confirmeth his opinion out of the Apostle Saint Paul Thus haue I giuen the Reader a taste of the iudgement of those that liued in former times both concerning matters of doctrine now controuersed the Popes incroachments now by vs restrained and also such abuses as we haue remoued by which I thinke it will appeare to be most true that amongst many good proofes of the equitie of our cause there can no better be desired then that what wee haue done in the reformation of thinges amisse the worthiest men in the Church wished to be done before wee were borne And therefore Master Higgons hath little cause to say Our cause is bad and the Patrons worse That which hee addeth that
it is to bee maruailed at that I distill the religion and profession of Protestants out of Catholickes is to bee laughed at as most ridiculous for out of whom else should I distill it but if hee thinke they were all Papists whom I cite for proofe of our cause because they liued vnder the Papacie hee is deceiued for a great difference is to be put betweene the Church and faction in the Church wee deriuing our selues from the one and they from the other The second Chapter §. 1. WHerefore now let vs returne to see what Master Higgons hath further to say hee will conuince Mee he saith of singular vanity in that I say there is no materiall difference betweene those whom hee and his consorts call Lutherans and Zuinglians That the reader may the better bee able to discerne how ignorantly Higgons excepteth against Mee I will set downe at large what I haue written touching this matter Answering the calumniation of Papists traducing vs for our diuisions my wordes are these I dare confidently pronounce that after due and full examination of each others meaning there shall be no difference found touching the matter of the Sacrament the Vbiquitary presence or the like between the Churches reformed by Luthers Ministery in Germany and other places and those whom some mens malice called Sacramentaries And in my third booke answering the obiection of Bellarmine charging the Germane Diuines with the heresie of Eutiches in that they say the humanity of Christ is euery where Vbiquity being an incommunicable property of the Deity that cannot bee communicated to the humane nature of Christ without confusion of the Diuine and Humane natures I haue these wordes he should remember that they whom he thus odiously traduceth are not so ignorant as to thinke that the body of Christ which is a finite limited nature is euery where by actuall position or locall extension but personally onely in respect of the conjunction and vnion it hath with God by reason whereof it is no where seuered from God who is euery where This is it then which they teach that the body of Christ doth remaine in nature and essence finite limited and bounded and is locally but in one place but that there is no place where it is not vnited personally to that God that is euery where In which sence they thinke it may truely be said to be euery where This construction of their sayings who defend the Vbiquitary presence is no priuate or singular device of mine as Master Higgons would make men beleeue but Master Hooker a man so farre excelling Theophilus Higgons in learning iudgment that hee is not worthy to bee named the same day hath the same precisely in the very same wordes and alloweth it as Catholicke and good and indeed who but an ignorant Nouice that hath not learned the principles of the Catechisme would impugne it Yet Maister Higgons sayth I haue fayled exceedingly in two poyntes the first in saying there is no place where the body of Christ is not vnited personally vnto that God that is euery where and that it doth subsist euery where the second in saying the humane nature of Christ may rightly be sayd to be euery where in as much as it is vnited personally to that which is euery where This second saying is none of mine for I haue no such words as the reader will soone perceiue if he peruse the place but my words are these The body of Christ is not euery where by locall extension but personally only in respect of the vnion it hath with God by reason whereof it is no way seuered from God who is euery where and againe there is noe place where it is not vnited personally to that God that is euery where in which sence the Germane Diuines thinke it may be sayd to be euery where Wherefore let vs see what Maister Higgons can say against any thing deliuered by Mee touching this point he sayth I haue fayled for that though the Diuine person wherein the humane nature subsisteth bee euery where yet the humane nature subsisteth therein finitely and in one determinate place the Vnion it selfe being a created thing For the better clearing of this point and the vnderstanding of the Doctrine of the Church resolued on by the best learned in the Schooles wee must obserue that there is a beeing of essence and a beeing of existence or subsistence the beeing of essence which the humane nature of Christ hath is finite and limited as is the essence of all other men but beeing of existence it hath none of it owne but that of the Sonne of God communicated to it which is infinite and Diuine Deus in incarnatione verbi sayth Picus Mirandula fecit essentiam humanitatis sine suo esse vt dicitur á multis Doctoribus That is Almighty God in the incarnation of the eternall word produced the essence of the humanity without that finite and created actuall existence which left to it selfe it would haue had as many Doctours doe affirme and the person of the Sonne of God hauing in it the fulnesse of all beeing drew the nature of man to the vnity of that infinite beeing it had in it selfe and communicated the same vnto it so that the humanity of Christ neuer had any other beeing of actuall existence or subsistence but that of the Sonne of God communicated to it And farther the same Picus sayth Esse corporis Christi substantiale est increatum Diuinum quod est suppositi Diuini cum in Christo non sit nisi vnum esse actualis existentiae substantialis That is the substantiall actuall beeing of the body of CHRIST is the increated beeing of the Sonne of GOD seeing in CHRIST there is but one beeing of actuall existence This which Picus Mirandula hath deliuered is the resolution of Thomas Aquinas Caietan and all the best learned in the Romane Schooles whence it followeth ineuitably that the humanity of Christ in the being of actuall existence and subsistence which it hath is not limited or contained within any bounds of place but is euery where howsoeuer in respect of the being of essence which is created finite it be shut vp within the straites of one place at one time and therefore it is noe better then Heresie that Higgons hath that the humanity of Christ subsisteth finitely in the person of the Sonne of God for if it subsist finitely the subsistence it hath is finite and if it haue a finite subsistence then are there two subsistences in Christ the one finite the other infinite and consequently two persons which is flat Nestorianisme But sayth Higgons the vnion it selfe in Christ is a created thing therefore the beeing of actuall existence or subsistence which the humanity hath is finite Truely it had beene fitte the poore Nouice had beene set to Schoole for a time before hee had beene permitted to write for he bewrayeth grosse ignorance in
then matchable with the greatest Rabbins of the Romish Synagogue wheras Bernard some other were matchable with them For answere whereunto let the reader obserue that I neuer call the whole Latin Church by the name of the Romish Synagogue out the faction that prevailed in it therefore I meane not all the Doctours of the Latin Church by the name of the Rabbins of the Romish Synagogue but such onely as serued as vile instruments to advance Papall tyranny superstition error So that though Bernard Alexander of Hales Bonaventura Scotus Lyranus Gerson some other should be granted to haue bin matchable with Damascen Theophylact Oecumenius yet will it not follow that I haue vttered any vntruth for I deny that any of these were of the Papall faction The next supposed crimination is a most iust reproofe of the grosse ouer-sight of Bellarmine where he saith none of the Churches separated from Rome or none of the Churches of Asia and Africa as Higgons restraineth his words could euer hold any councell after their separation which cannot be avoyded by Higgons though it seemeth he would willingly doe the Cardinall some good seruice that he might become fellow Chaplaine with Mathew Tortus For if the Cardinall meane Generall Councels it is not to be marvailed at seeing they are but a part if Nationall or Provinciall it is too childish and may be refuted by sundry instances Whereunto Higgons hath nothing to say but that if Bellarmines wordes be extended to the Greeke Church his fault is vnexcusable seeing that Church hath holden Provinciall Councels since her separation whereof as Master Higgons thinketh he speaketh and not of Generall but that his words are restrained to the Churches of Asia and Africa which could neuer hold any such after their separation In this Apology of Master Higgons there are more absurdities then words For first he can giue no reason why the supposed Schismaticall Churches of Asia and Africa should be lesse able to hold Nationall or Provinciall Synodes then those of Europe Secondly the Greeke Church is principally in Asia so that if the Greeke Church had the power of convocating Provinciall Synodes some of the Churches of Asia were not excluded from partaking in it Thirdly if this were not the common misery of all diuided Churches this infelicity grew not from their separation but from some other cause and then it maketh nothing for proofe of the necessity of adhering to the Church of Rome as to an head to which purpose Bellarmine bringeth it Fourthly that other Churches may hold Provinciall Synodes namely those of Asia Africa it is most evident For first touching the Aethiopian Christians h Damianus à Goes out of the report of a learned Bishop of those parts sheweth that they haue Councels and that they make Lawes in them Of a Synode holden by the Nestorians wee reade in Onuphrius in the life of Iulius the Third In the Councell of Florence we reade of certaine Orators sent thither from the Armenians in the name of the Patriarch of Armenia his Cleargy which could not be done without some Synodall meeting Lastly seeing many Councels were holden in auncient times in shew Generall by such as were Heretiks what reason can Higgons giue why these Churches hauing a subordination of inferiour Cleargy-men Bishops Metropolitans cannot so much as call a poore Provinciall Synod If this be not childish trisling to say no more let the reader iudge how partial soeuer he be And therfore I say now againe as at first that if Bell. mean general coūcels when he saith the diuided churches could hold none after their separatiō it is not to be marvailed at seeing they are but a part if National or Provincial it is childish seeing it is most evidēt they might hold such Councels neither can his yeares dignity or other ornaments Master Higgons speaketh of priuiledge him so farre but that wee may and will taxe his wilfull ouersights as they deserue notwithstanding the boyish pratling of Theophilus Higgons The conclusion of this chapter touching our want of good manners towardes Bellarmines grace and other such lights of the world as shine in the darknesse of Popish blindnesse and superstition sorteth so well with the next part of this chapter which is concerning my inciuility towardes the Cardinall that one answere may suffice for both That I haue not wronged him by imputation of false crimes I hope the Reader will beare Mee witnesse vpon view of that I haue answered in my owne defence The 2. part of the third Chapter §. 1. WHerefore let vs see wherein my inciuility consisteth It is forsooth in aggeration of base odious and vnworthy names as Cardinall Heretike Hereticall Romanist Impious Idolater Shamelesse Iesuite Shamelesse Companion with his idle braine and sencelesse fooleries This is Master Higgons proofe of my inciuility If I make it not appeare to all men that haue their sences that I haue reason to phrase the Iesuite as Higgons speakes so as I haue done let Mee bee condemned of inciuility But if I had just cause to vse him as I did let this foolish flatterer hold his peace Wherefore to begin with the first Shall he charge vs with twenty execrable damnable Heresies all which he knowes we accurse to the bottomlesse pit of Hell may not I call him a Cardinall Hereticke or Hereticall Romanist without note of inciuility Shall he at his pleasure because he weareth a red Hat charge vs with Heresie Impiety for impugning the adoration of Images forbidden by Almighty God and may not I call him an impious Idolater Shall it bee lawfull for him to say that Elizabeth our late Queene of blessed memory tooke vpon her and was reputed to bee chiefe Priest in these her dominions and shall it not bee lawfull for me in reproofe of so impudent a slander and defence of my late dread Soueraigne the Lords annoynted and the wonder of the world to tell the Iesuiticall Friar that he is a shamelesse Iesuite that durst so say Shall he without conscience or feare of God against his own knowledge charge vs with the hellish Heresies of the Maniches touching two originall causes of things the one good of thinges good the other euill of thinges euill and shall it not be lawfull for me to aske the question whether hee be not a shamelesse companion in so charging vs Shall a Iesuiticall Frier be freely permitted in so vile sort to wrong so many mighty Monarches States people of the world as professe the reformed religion may a man say nothing to him without incurring the note of inciuility and want of good manners Shall he charge vs with palpable grosse senselesse absurdities may not we tell him the grosse absurdities which hee vntruly imputeth vnto vs are but the fancies of his owne idle braine Shall hee bee suffered to vtter senselesse fooleries in wronging Caluine other men as good as
or inducement to make vs beleeue things we know not but it must be the report of such an one as we know cannot be deceiued nor will not deceiue It must therefore be evident to euery one that firmely and without doubting beleeueth things not knowne vnto him vpon the report of another that he that reporteth them vnto him neither is deceiued nor can deceiue Whence it followeth necessarily that things are as he reporteth These things presupposed I demaund of this Treatiser whether he and his consorts assent to the Articles of the Christian Faith induced so to doe by the evidence of the things in thēselues or by the report of another That they assent not vnto thē induced so to do by the evidence of the things in thēselues they all professe but by the report of another I demand therefore who that other is whether God or man if man then haue they nothing but anhumane perswasion very weakly grounded wherein they may be deceiued for euery man is a lyar If God let them tel me whether it be evident in it self that God deliuereth these things vnto thē pronounceth them to be as they beleeue or not If not but beleeued only then as before by reasō of authority that either of God or man Not of God for it is not evident in it self that God deliuereth any thing vnto thē not of men for their report is not of such credit asthat we may certainly vndoubtedly stay vpon it seeing they may be deceiued deceiue other They answere therefore that it is no way evident vnto them in it selfe that God deliuereth the things they beleeue but that they perswade themselues hee deliuered such things vpōthe report of men but such men as are infallibly led into all truth See then if they doe not runne round in a circle finding no stay They beleeue the resurrection of the dead and the like things because God revealed it they beleeue that God revealed it because it is so contained in the Scripture and the Scripture because it is the Word of God and that it is the Word of God because the Church so delivereth and the Church because it is a multitude of men infallibly led into all truth and that there is a Church infallibly led into all truth because it is so contained in Scripture and the Scripture because it is the word of God and so round without euer finding any end Out of this circle they cannot get vnles they either groūd their Faith vpon the meere report of men as men humane probabilities or confesse that it is evident vnto them in it selfe that God speaketh in the Scripture and revealeth those things which they beleeue which if they doe it must bee in respect either of the manner matter there vttered or consequent effects In respect of the manner there being a certaine diuine vertue force and majesty in the very forme of the words of him that speaketh in the Scripture in respect of the matter which being suggested and proposed to vs findeth approbation of reason inlightned by the light of grace in respect of the consequent effects in that we finde a strange and wonderful change wrought in vs assuring vs the doctrine is of God that hath such effects which is that we say which they condemne in vs. The Treatiser would make vs beleeue that there are two opinions amongst them touching this point whereof the one is as he telleth vs that wee beleeue the Church because the Scripture teacheth vs that shee is to be beleeued the Scripture because the Church deliuereth it to vs to be the word of God And the other that by the assistance of God together with the concurrence of our naturall vnderstanding we produce an act of supernaturall Faith by which wee firmely beleeue the Articles of Christian Faith not for any humane inducements but for that they are revealed by Almighty God without seeking any further which if it be so it must be evident in it self to thē that follow this opiniō that God hath revealed deliuered the things they beleeue that by one of the 3 waies before mētioned thē they fal into our opiniō for if it be not evidēt to thē in it self that God speakes in the scriptures reveales the things they are to beleeue they must go further to be assured that he doth so speake and reueale the things that are to bee beleeued either to proofe of reason or authority For no man perswadeth himselfe of any thing but vpon some inducements Proofe of reason demonstratiue I thinke they will not seeke and probable inducements they may not rest in therefore they must proceede to some proofeby authority which can bee no other but that of the Church and then they ioyne with them that follow the other opinion and beleeue the articles of Christian faith conteyned in Scripture because God hath reuealed them and that God hath reuealed them because the Church telleth them so and the Church because the Scripture testifieth of it that it is led into all trueth which is a very grosse sophisticall circulation This the Treatiser did well perceiue and therefore to helpe the matter he distinguisheth the cause of beleeuing and the condition necessarily requisite that the cause may haue her working in shew making the Diuine Reuelation the reason or cause that we beleeue and the Churches proposing to vs the things to be beleeued a condition only and not a cause in sort as the fire alone is the cause of the burning of the wood but the putting of one of them to another is a necessary condition without which that cause can produce no such effect but this shift will not serue the turne For it is the fire onely that burneth the wood though it cannot burne vnlesse it be put vnto it so that in like sort if the comparison hold the Diuine Reuelation must of and by it selfe alone moue induce and incline vs to beleeue the things proposed by the Church as being euident vnto vs to be a Deuine Reuelation though without the Churches proposing we could take no notice of it Euen as in naturall knowledge it is the euidence of trueth appearing vnto vs originally found in the first principles and secondarily in the conclusions from thence deduced that is the sole and onely cause or reason of our assent to such principles and conclusions though without the helpe of some men of knowledge proposing them to vs and leading vs from the apprehension of one of them to another happily we should not at all attaine such knowledge But this euidence of the Diuine Reuelation in it selfe the Treatiser will not admit For it is no way euident in it selfe to him that God hath reuealed any of the things he beleeueth but the onely proofe besides humane motiues or reasons which are too weake to bee the ground of Fayth that he hath is the authority of the Church So that the Ministery of the Church is
not onely a condition but a cause of that perswasion of fayth which they haue yea the authority of the Church is the formall cause of all that faith seduced Papists haue And therefore the distinction of a cause and condition helpeth them not It is true indeed that the Ministerie of the Church proposing to men thinges to bee beleeued is onely a condition requisite to the producing of a supernaturall act of fayth in respect of them that haue some other thing to perswade them that that is true which the Church proposeth besides the authority of the Church but in respect of such as haue no other proofe of the trueth thereof it is a formall cause Now this is the condition of all Papists For let them tell Mee whether they beleeue the Scripture to be the Word of God without any motiue at all or not and if they doe not as it is most certaine they doe not whether besides such as are humane they haue any other then the authority of the Church if they haue not as doubtlesse they haue not they make the authority of the Church the formall cause of their faith and fall into that sophisticall circulation they are charged with For they beleeue the articles of religion because reuealed and that they were reuealed because it is so contayned in the Scripture and the Scripture because it is the Word of God that it is the Word of God because the Church telleth them it is and the Church because it is guided by the spirit and that it is so guided because it is so contayned in the Scripture this is such a maze as no wise man will willingly enter into and yet the Treatiser commendeth the treading of these intricate pathes and telleth vs that two causes may bee causes one of another That the cause may bee proued by the effect and the effect by the cause and that such a kinde of argumentation is not a circulation but a demonstratiue regresse that two causes may be causes either of other in diuerse respects we make no question For the end of each thing as it is desired setteth the efficient cause a worke and the efficient causeth the same to bee actually enjoyed Likewise we doubt not but that the cause may be proued by the effect and the effect by the cause in a demonstratiue regresse For the effect as better known vnto vs then the cause may make vs know the cause and the cause being found out by vs may make vs more perfitly and in a better sort to knowe the effect then before not onely that and what it is but why it is also So the death of little infants proueth them sinners and their being sinners proueth them mortall The bignesse of the footstep in the dust or sand sheweth the bignesse of his foote that made that impression And the bignesse of his foote will shew how bigge the impression is that he maketh but this maketh nothing for the justifying of the Romish circulations For heere the effect being knowne in a sort in itselfe maketh vs know the cause and the cause being found out and knowne maketh vs more perfectly to knowe the effect then at first wee did but the case is otherwise with the Papists for with them the Scripture which in it selfe hath no credit with them but such onely as it is to receiue from the Church giueth the Church credit and the Church which hath no credit but such as it is to receiue from the Scripture giueth the Scripture credit by her testimony And they endeauour to proue the infallibility of the Churches judgment out of the Scripture and the trueth of the Scripture out of the determination and judgement of the Church Much like as if when question is made touching the quality condition of two men vtterly vnknowne a man to commend them to such as doubt of them should bring no other testimony of their good and honest disposition but the testimony of each of them of the other It is true then which I haue said that to a man admitting the Old Testament and doubting of the New a man may vrge the authority of the Old and to a man doubting of the Old and admitting the New the authority of the New but to him that doubteth of both a man must alledge neither of them but must bring some other authority or proofe so likewise to him that admitteth the Scripture and doubteth of the Church a man may vrge the authority of the Scripture but to him that doubteth of both as all doe when they begin to beleeue a man must alledge some other proofe or else hee shall cause him to runne round in a Circle for euer and neuer to finde any way out Wherefore to conclude this poynt let our Aduersaries know that wee admitte and require humane motiues and inducements and amongst them a good opinion of them that teach vs as preparing fitting vs to fayth Secondly that wee require a supernaturall ayde light and habit for the producing of an act of faith Thirdly that we require some diuine motiue inducement Fourthly that this cannot be the authority of the Church seeing the authority of the Church is one of the things wee are to bee induced to beleeue Fiftly that wee require the ministery of the Church as a propounder of all heauenly trueth though her authority can be no proofe in generall of all such truth Sixtly that the Church though not as it includeth onely the beleeuers that are in the world at one time yet as it comprehendeth all that are or haue beene is an infallible propounder of heauenly truth and so acknowledged to bee by such as are assured of the trueth of the doctrine of Christianity in generall Seauenthly that the authority of this Church is a sufficient proofe of the trueth of particular things proposed by her to such as already are by other diuine motiues assured of her infallibility §. 7. FRom the authority of the Scripture which he would faine make to bee wholy dependant on the Church the Treatiser passeth to the fulnesse and sufficiency of it seeking amongst other his discourses to weaken those proofes which are brought by Mee for confirmation thereof Affirming that though I make shew as if it were a plaine matter that the Euangelists in their Gospels Saint Luke in the Actes of the Apostles and Saint Iohn in the Apocalyps meant to deliuer a perfect summe of Christian doctrine and direction of faith yet I bring no reason of any moment to proue it Whereas yet in the place cited by him I haue these wordes contayning in them as I suppose a strong proofe of the thing questioned Who seeth not that the Evangelists writing the history of CHRISTS life and death St Luke in the booke of the Acts of the Apostles describing the comming of the Holy Ghost the admirable gifts and graces powred vpon the Apostles and the churches founded and ordered by them and Saint Iohn writing the Revelations
example of it in Scripture yet I affirme that it is no vnwritten tradition in that the grounds reasons and causes of the necessity of it are there contained the benefites that follow it Neither doth the place alledged by him out of Augustine proue the contrary the words of Augustine as commonly we reade them are these the custome of the Church in baptizing infants which is not to be despised or lightly regarded were not to be beleeued were it not an Apostolique tradition But whosoeuer shall consider the place will soone perceiue that Augustines meaning is that the custome of the Church in baptizing Infants which he saith is not to be despised or lightly regarded is to be beleeued to be no other but an Apostolical tradition not that it were not to be beleeued if it were not an Apostolicall tradition howsoeuer as it seemeth esset in stead of esse is crept into the text For it is something harsh to say the custome of the Church in baptizing infants is not to be beleeued vnlesse it were an Apostolicall Tradition Seeing such a custome might be beleeued though it were not an Apostolicall Tradition And besides the drift of Augustine in that place is to vrge the necessitie of this custome and to haue it beleeued to be Apostolicall and not to weaken it as if it had no support but bare tradition which can neither stand with the opinion of Augustine the truth of the thing it selfe nor the iudgement and resolution of our Adversaries themselues who thinke that the Baptisme of Infants may be proued vnanswerably out of Scripture in that CHRIST saith the Kingdome of Heauen belongeth to litle children and yet pronounceth that except a man bee borne a new of water of the spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdome of Heauen Wherein yet they contradict themselues as they doe likewise in some other things which they produce as instances of vnwritten traditions and yet goe about to proue them by Scripture Neither will the Treatisers evasion serue the turne that they goe not about to proue any thing necessarily out of Scripture that they pretend to be holden by vnwritten tradition but probably only for we know they bring Paedobaptisme as an instance of vnwritten traditions and yet say it may bee vnavoydably proued out of Scripture as they propose the testimonies of it The like may be said of the consubstantiality of the Sonne of God with the Father and the proceeding of the Holy Ghost from them both brought by them as instances of vnwritten verities and yet prooued as strongly by them out of Scripture as any other point of Faith For if they shall say an Heretique will not yeeld himselfe convinced by such proofes it will bee answered that no more he will by any other in any other point nor by the tradition of the Church neither which yet I suppose they will not make to be a weake proofe in that respect §. 9. THe next exception taken against Me is that I haue not well said that a man may still doubt and refuse to beleeue a thing defined in a Generall Councell without Hereticall pertinacie and that Generall Councels may erre in matters of greatest consequence What I haue written I will make good against the Treatiser For it is not so strange a thing as he would make vs beleeue to thinke that Generall Councels may erre that a man may doubt of things defined in thē without heretical pertinacie seeing not onely our Diuines generally so thinke but sundry of the best learned in the Romane Church informer times were of the same opinion as I haue else-where shewed at large Neither were it hard to answere the authorities hee bringeth to prooue that Generall Councels cannot erre if a man would insist vpon the particular examination of them But this may suffice in a generalitie that the Fathers produced by him blame and condemne in particular the calling of things in question that had beene determined in the Councell of Nice and some other of that sort and not generallie the doubting of any thing determined in any Councell how disorderly soeuer it proceeded In the second Councell of Ephesus there wanted not a sufficient number of worthy Bishops yet because hee that tooke on him the Presidentship vsed not accustomed moderation neither permitted each man freely to deliuer his opinion it was not accepted nor the Decrees of it receiued From the not erring of Councels the Treatiser passeth to the question concerning the Churches authority in making new Articles of faith and seeketh to cleare the Romane Church from the imputation of challēging any such authority by my confession my words alleadged by him to this purpose are these Our aduersaries confesse that the approbation and determination of the Church cannot make that a truth which was not nor that a Diuine or Catholique truth that was not so before But the good man hath vsed this poore sentence of mine as Hanun vsed the messengers of Dauid whose garments he cut off in the middle a wrong afterwards seuerely and yet most iustly reuenged by Dauid For it followeth in the same sentence that Papists do thinke that the Church by her sole and bare determination may make that veritie to be in such sort Catholique that euery one must expressely beleeue it that was not soe and in such degree Catholique before Whereby it appeareth that they attribute a power to the Church in a sort to make new Articles of faith in that shee may make things formerly beleeued onely implicite to bee necessary to bee expressely beleeued not by euidence of proofe or apparant deduction from thinges expressely beleeued but by her bare and sole authority which not onely wee but sundry right learned godly and wise in the middest of the Church of Rome euer denied Wherefore let vs passe from this imagined aduantage to consider the rest of his exceptions §. 10. IN my third booke and first Chapter speaking of the Patriarche of Constantinople I haue these words In the second generall Councell holden at Constantinople he was preferred before the other Patriarches of Alexandria and Antioch and set in degree of honour next vnto the Bishoppe of Rome in the great Councell of Chalcedon hee was made equall with him and to haue all equall rights priuiledges and prerogatiues because hee was Bishoppe of new Rome as the other was of old Hereupon the Treatiser breaketh out into these wordes I cannot doe otherwise but maruaile that a man of his place and learning doth not blush to committe such a notorious vntrueth to the Print and view of the world For not to speake of the falshood of the first part of his affirmation because it is in some sort impertinent that which hee saith of the Councell of Chalcedon is most vntrue repugnant to all antiquity and not onely contrary to all proceedings and the history of the sayd Councell but also to the wordes of the Canon by him alleaged
excommunication they may restraine from vse of Sacraments societie of Beleeuers and benefite of the Churches praiers so by Absolution they may free from all these bonds againe Neither is this kinde of binding and loosing lightly to bee esteemed of or little regarded for he that for his contempt and disobedience is debarred from the vfe of the Sacraments from enjoying the societie of the beleeuers and partaking in the benefite of the Churches prayers is vndoubtedly excluded from all accesse to the Throne of grace in Heauen all acceptation there so consequently no lesse bound in Heauen then in Earth and he that is vnloosed from these bonds on Earth is vnloosed and set free in Heauen that without all restraint he may goe boldly to the Throne of Grace to seeke helpe in the time of neede Thus wee see the diuerse kindes of binding and loosing that the Guides of Gods Church haue power and authority by Lawes and precepts censures and punishments to binde those that are committed to their care and trust and when they see cause by reuersing such Lawes and precepts wholly or in part and by diminishing releasing taking away such censures and punishments to vnty them and set them free againe The bond of Diuine Lawes they may no otherwise meddle with then by letting them know who are so bound how straightly they are tyed The bonds of sinne and punishments by Diuine Iustice to be inflicted they haue no power and authoritie to vnloose but they concurre as helpers to the vnloosing of them by the Ministery of the Word vvinning and persvvading men to convert vnto God to cast their sinnes from them and by the Sacraments instrumentally communicating vnto them the grace of repentant conversion and the assurance of remission and pardon In all these kindes of binding and loosing the Apostles were equall seeing our Aduersaries themselues confessing they had the same power of Order and jurisdiction in like extent within the compasse whereof all these kinds of binding and loosing are confined Wherefore let vs proceede to speake of the power of remitting and retaining sinnes giuen to the Apostles by Christ our Sauiour To remit sinne properly is nothing else but to resolue not to punish sinne and therefore hee onely may properly be sayd to remit sinne that hath power to punish it Now as sinne is committed against the prescript of God our Conscience and Men in authority soe GOD the conscience of the Sinner and the Magistrate and Minister haue power to punish sinne GOD with punishments temporall and eternall of this life and that which is to come the Conscience with remorse the Magistrate with death banishment Confiscation of goods imprisonment and the like and the guides of the Church with suspension excommunication degradation and such other censures Hence it followeth that GOD onely is sayd properly to remitte the punishments that his justice doth inflict that the conscience onely vpon repentance canne take away that bitter and aflictiue punishment of remorse wherewith shee is wont to torment and disquiet the minde of the offendour and that the Magistrate and Minister onely haue power to take away those punishments that in their seuerall courses they may and doe inflict Notwithstanding the Minister by the Word perswading men to repentance procuring remission and out of his prudent obseruation of the parties conuersion vnto GOD assuring him that it will goe well vvith him as also by the Sacrament instrumentally communicating to him as well the grace of repentant conuersion as of free remission that soe hee may heare the very sound and voyce of GOD in mercy saying to the heart and spirit of the repentant Sinner I am thy Saluation may bee sayd in a sort to remitte sinne euen in that it is an offence against GOD not by way of authority and power but by winning and perswading the sinner to that conuersion which obtaineth remission from GOD and by the Sacrament instrumentally making him partaker as well of the grace of remission of sinne from GOD as of conuersion from sinne to GOD. There are but foure things in the hand of the Minister the Word Prayer Sacraments and Discipline By the word of Doctrine hee frameth winneth and perswadeth the sinner to repentant conuersion seeking and procuring remission from God By Prayer he seeketh and obtaineth it for the sinner By Sacraments he instrumentally maketh him partaker as well of the grace of remission as conuersion And by the power of Discipline he doth by way of authority punish euill doings and remit or diminish the punishments he inflicteth according as the condition of the party may seeme to require By that which hath beene sayd it appeareth that to bind and loose to remit to retaine sins are equiualent the same saue that to bind and loose is of more ample large extent in that it implyeth in it the binding by precepts lawes the loosing which is by reversing or dispensing with the same And therefore hauing shewed that the Apostles were equall in the power ofbinding and loosing we need ad no farther proofe that they were equall in power of remitting retaining sins Wherefore let vs proceede to the promise of Christ made to Peter that vpon the Rocke mentioned by him he would build his Church and let vs see whether any peculiar thing were promised vnto Peter in that behalfe The Church of God we know is compared in Scripture to a City an House and a Temple and therefore the beginning proceeding and increasing of the same is rightly compared to building Now in building there must be a foundation vpon which all may rest and stay that is put into the same building and the foundation must be sure firme immoueable for otherwise it wall faile and so alll other parts of the building wanting their stay will fall to the ground Now nothing is so firme sure and immoueable as a Rocke and consequently no building so strōg as that which is raised vpon a rockie foundation wherevpon our Sauiour sheweth that a House builded on the sand is easily ruinated soone shaken to pieces but that an House builded vpon a rocke standeth firme notwithstanding the furie and violence of the flouds winds and tempests and compareth a Man rightly grounded and established in his perswasion and resolution to an house so built By a Rocke therefore in this place is meant a sure foundation that will not faile nor be moued or shaken how great a weight soeuer be laid vpon it In a foundation there are three things required The first is that it bee the first thing in the building the second that it beare vp all the other parts of the building the third that it be firme and immoueable For as Christ saith If the eye that is the light of the bodie be darknesse how great is that Darknesse So if that which is to support and beare vp all doe faile shrinke all must needs be shaken and fall a
to doe all these things this power the Princes of the World haue not at all much lesse the supreame authority to doe these things but it is proper to the Ministers of the church And if Princes meddle in this kinde they are like to Vzziah that offered to burne incense for which he was stricken with Leprosie The power of Iurisdiction standeth first in prescribing making Lawes Secondly in hearing examining and judging of opinions touching matters of Faith And thirdly in judging of things pertaining to Ecclesiastical order ministery and the due performance of Gods diuine worship seruice Touching the first the making of a Law is the prescribing of a thing vnder some paine or punishment which hee that so prescribeth hath power to inflict Whence it is consequent that the Prince hauing no power to excommunicate put from the Sacraments and deliuer to Satan can of himselfe make no canons such as Councels of Bishoppes doe who commaund or forbid things vnder paine of excōmunication and like spiritual censures but hauing power of life and death of imprisonment banishment confiscation of goods and the like he may with the advice and direction of his Cleargy commaund things pertaining to Gods worship and seruice vnder these paines both for profession of Faith ministration of Sacraments and conversation fitting to Christians in general or men of Ecclesiastical order in particular by his Princely power establish things formerly defined and decreed against whatsoeuer errour and contrary ill-custome and obseruation And herein hee is so far forth supreame that no Prince Prelate or Potentate hath a commaunding authority ouer him yet doe we not whatsoeuer our clamorous Aduersaries vntruly report to make us odious make our Princes with their Ciuill States supreame in the power of commanding in matters concerning God and his Faith and religion without seeking the direction of their Cleargy for the Statute that restored the title of Supremacie to the late Queene Elizabeth of famous and blessed memory prouideth that none shall haue authority newly to judge any thing to be Heresie not formerly so iudged but the high Court of Parliament with the assent of the Cleargy in their Conuocation nor with them soe as to command what they thinke fitte without aduising with others partakers of like precious Faith with them when a more generall meeting for farther deliberation may bee had or the thing requireth it Though when no such generall concurrence may bee had they may by themselues prouide for those parts of the Church that are vnder them From the power and authority wee giue our Princes in making lawes and prescribing how men shall professe and practise touching matters of Faith and Religion let vs proceed to treat of the other part of power ascribed vnto them which is in judging of errors in Faith disorders or faults in things pertaining to Ecclesiasticall order and ministery according to former determinations and decrees And first touching errors in faith or aberrations in the performance of Gods worship and seruice there is no question but that Bishops and Pastors of the Church to whom it pertaineth to teach the trueth are the ordinary and fittest Iudges and that ordinarily and regularly Princes are to leaue the iudgement thereof vnto them But because they may faile either through negligence ignorance or mallice Princes hauing charge ouer Gods people and beeing to see that they serue and worship him aright are to iudge and condemne them that fall into grosse errours contrary to the common sence of Christians or into any other heresies formerly condemned And though there be no generall fayling yet if they see violent and partiall courses taken they may interpose themselues to stay them and cause a due proceeding or remoue the matter from one company and sort of Iudges to another And hereunto the best learned in former times agreed clearely confessing that when some thing is necessary to be done and the ordinary guides of the Church do faile or are not able to yeeld that helpe that is needfull wee may lawfully flye to other for reliefe and helpe when these two things do meete in the state of the Church sayth Waldensis to witte extreame necessity admitting no delay and the want of ability to yeeld reliefe in the ordinary Pastor or Guide wee must seeke an extraordinary Father and Patron rather then suffer the frame fabricke and building of the Lord Christ to bee dissolued If any man happily say that Ambrose a most worthy Bishop refused to come to the Court to be judged in a matter of faith by Valentinian the Emperour and asked when euer hee heard that Emperours iudged Bishops in matters of faith seeing if that were granted it would follow that Lay-men should dispute and debate matters and Bishoppes heare yea that Bishoppes should learne of Lay-men whereas contrarywise if wee looke ouer the Scriptures and consider the course of times past wee shall finde that Bishoppes haue iudged of Emperours in matters of faith and not Emperours of Bishoppes and that therefore it cannot bee without vsurpation of that which no way pertaineth to them that Princes should at all medle with the iudging of matters of faith This obiection what shew soeuer it may seeme to carry is easily answered for first the thing that Valentinian took on him was not to iudge according to former definitions but he would haue iudged of a thing already resolued on in a generall Councell called by Constantine the Emperor as if it had bin free and not yet indged of at all whereas we do not attribute to our Princes with their Ciuill Estates power newly to adiudge any thing to be heresie without the concurrēce of the State of their Clergy but only to Iudge in those matters of faith that are resolued on according to former resolutiōs And besides this Valentinian was known to be partiall he was but a nouice and the other iudges he ment to associate tohimselfe suspected therefore Ambrose had reason to do as he did Wherefore let vs proceed to the other part of the power of jurisdictiō that cōsisteth in iudging of things pertaining to Ecclesiastical Order Ministery Concerning which point first it is resolued that none may ordaine any to serue in the worke of the Ministery but the spirituall Pastours and Guides of the church Secondly that none may judicially degrade or put any one lawfully admitted from his degree and order but they alone Neither doe our Kings or Queenes challenge any such thing to themselues but their power standeth first in calling together the Bishoppes and Pastours of the Church for the hearing determining of such things and in taking all due care that all thinges bee done orderly in such proceedings without partiality violence or precipitation according to the Canons and Imperiall lawes made to confirme the same Secondly when they see cause in taking things from those whom they iustly suspect or others except against and appointing others in their places Thirdly