conformity in their superstition The pretense of obedience maketh this actiō worse than before contempt of Catholicke vnity I pray you imparte your conceite vnto me I my selfe can see nothing else wheof I doe inferre that by such pretended obedience this act is made worse then it was before For a precept law or commaundment prescribeth a matter to that vertue which it intendeth of which it was not a necessary matter before as the commandement of not eating flesh vpon a fasting day was not a matter of fasting necessary before the law for why one might haue before fasted better with one bitte of flesh than with a dainty dinner of diuerse dishes of fishe but after the law it is a necessary obseruance and matter prescribed vnto fasting So in like maner although to goe to the Church before with hereticks had not bene as alwaies it was an act of religion now being commaunded by the law as an act of religion for that is the intent of the law manifestly pretended in the one or other statute of going to the Church it is only a simple act of obedience but an act of obedience in such a matter principally intended as is the profession of a false religion For euery religiouse act applied vnto a false god or a false kind of worship or a false Society of worshippers is an expresse protestation of the same false worship or vnlawfull fellowshippe So should you first haue proued this action to be lawfull in it selfe Obedience is no excuse but whan the matter thereof is first proued lawfull and then you might haue inferred that your obedience had bene lawfull and you should also haue shewed some end in this law ouer and besides bare obedience other then the end of religion which surely must needes be yeelded to be the very end and obiect of the law And this long experience hath shewed in the Church of God that when temporall Princes must be obeyed in Churches Amb l. 5. ep 33. ad Marcellinam there is farther daunger in it then I list now to speake But you shall see an example of Christian obedience When the Emperour was at greate strife with S. Ambrose the holy B. of Millan about the deliuering certaine Churches in the citty of Millan vnto the Arrians as alwaies before this fearefull abiect age Ibid. S Ambrose his obedience to the Emperour Catholikes wold neuer be found amongst heretickes in Churches S. Ambrose aunswered the Emperour in this maner Trouble not thy selfe O Emperour that thou maiest thinke that thou hast any emperiall authority ouer diuine thinges To the Emperour Pallaces appertaine to the Bishop the Churches To thee is committed the righte ouer the publicke not ouer the sacred walles ⧠And when the same Saint was threatned with death for the same cause by Calligonus the Emperours Eunuch euen in the Church God permitte saith he that thou doe that which thou threatnest for I will suffer that which becommeth a Bishop thou shalt doe that which beseemeth an Eunuch ⧠In which controuersie the souldiers sent word as saith S. Ambrose vnto the Emperour that if he would come abrode he mighte with good leaue But that they woulde waite vpon him if they saw him agree with Catholickes Trew Catholicke Christians were than Recusants otherwise they would passe vnto that companye which Ambrose should gather Such accounte ought Christians to make of auoiding hereticall synagogues I will conclude therfore this matter of obedience with one shorte but inuincible reason You will haue it lawfull for obedience to goe to the Church An inuincible reason that it is not lawfull to go to the Church for obedience Than say I in this maner Whatsoeuer is lawfull to be donne that being by a Superiour commaunded is a mortall sinne to transgresse or to omitte But as you defend it is lawfull to goe to the Church for obedience therfore it is a mortall sinne not to goe to the Church when it is so commanded See I pray you how many Preistes Martyrs men woemen and children you condemne to hell whilest you seeke to maintaine your owne dangerouse wilfull estate §. 10. Now let vs proceed vnto your feare The 9 obiection of Feare which you make as one reason amongst the rest but in deede is the wholl cause of your forsaking God Because you haue not perfectly learned his lesson which saidI will teach you whom you shall feare Feare him which when he hath killed the body hath power to sende both bodye and soule into Hell fier yea verely I say vnto you feare him You saye therfore that you doe as you doe for feare and not voluntarily But nothing is a sinne which is not donne voluntarily Therfore in your action is no sinne at all Where if you had said thus that you doe what you do not voluntarily but nothing not voluntarily donne is a sinne therfore what you doe is no sinne then had your argument bene good but your Maior false for I would then say you did voluntarily what you did But now in your first proposition where you say that you doe a thing for feare and yet not voluntarily you include two thinges most repugnant in them selues For it is impossible that a thing be donne onely for feare and not voluntarily Whatsoeuer is done for feare is voluntary And in thispoint we must begge helpe of heathen Philosophers For so hath feare darckened our countreis vnderstanding that the very principles of all morall actions and of goodnes or badnes in our doinges are called into question For what I pray you if for feare of loasing your owne life you vniustly take away an others because of that feare haue you not sinned If you haue sinned then haue you voluntarilye donne it For * Aug l. 3 de lib. arb c. 17 18. et lib. de vera rel c. 14. lib. 1. retract c. 13 asinne is not a sinne except it be voluntary If IOSEPH for feare of his Ladies slaunder had satisfied her will had he donne against his owne Had the three childrē done against their owne will if they had for feare sacrificed or donne worship to the Idoll And your selfe shall be iudge When you goe to the Church doe you goe against your will doth any man cary you or doe you cary your selfe in such maner because of your feare that you might not stay your selfe at home Surely if feare be so mighty a Passion that it taketh away the free gouernment of a mans wil and not onely threatneth but inferreth violenc to the outward members in vaine did our Sauiour exhorte vs not to feare the world in vaine did he with his heauenly instructions animate his Disciples against incounters whatsoeuer of the aduersaries of his holy truth But let vs decide this question out of Philosophy Onely violence taketh away voluntary In a reasonable creature therfore nothing taketh away the nature of voluntary but constraint Now coaction or constraint
not going to the Church with heretickes yet if you be commaunded of purpose to doe contrary vnto such law by doing it you sinne mortally neither can the Pope dispense that his owne autority be had in contempt This is the common doctrine both in matters of excommunications * Caiet ver contem verbo In Festo licita which are positiue and also in working of holy daies w e also at the least besides Sonday are positiue So that although vpon necessity one may worke vpon such a daye yet were it a mortall sinne if euen with danger of death he wrought at his Lords commaundement for despite of the Church or contempt of that particuler law And the like is in diuerse cases §. 2 Thus much therfore of your autority which you fetch from the Pope Now let vs goe to our English Cardinal of whose autority of dispensing The second obiectiō of the English Cardinalls dispensatiō or altering his opinion I must say no lesse then I said of his superiour Besides that it being held by your lawiers there that it is treason to take meate and drinke of so dangerous a person you may well suppose that it will be a deeper kind of treason to fetch from him his dispensations But he hath perhapps altered his opinion concerning the lawfulnes of this act His opinion is well knowne by all his schollers and more then 20. diuerse places in the new testament of Rhemes and now being sory that he hath heretofore bene so rigorous he hath geuen you to vnderstand how farre you may proceed To this I can say nothing more then I haue said before of the rest but that you may doe well to counsaile all Recusants which haue hitherto paied the statute or otherwise forfeited any thing for their recusancy to chalenge of him a ful restitution of all their damages For he is not ignorant that who vpon rash decision of a question of iustice or iniustice of an act is cause of any mans losse or hinderance is by Gods law and mans liable for the same besides the offence which hee committeh towardes God as well in the same resolution as if withall he haue therby caused the spirituall ruine of many soules which any man may perceiue whether it hath proceeded of his former rigour or no. But the truth is that these are thinges which are fitte onely to be tould or beleeued by Babes §. 3 And what maruaile if you beleeue such reportes of persons so farre off The 3. obiection of the opinion of Preistes in England wheras you are ready to beleeue the same of your Preistes at home with whom because you dare not either for the loue of your owne opinion or for the feare of the penalty of the law go forth of your dores to conferre you are easily drawne to beleeue euery flying false report For I am very credibly giuen to vnderstand that there is not one Catholike Preist in England who differeth from the rest of his brethren one only excepted of whom I heare that no good and godly person maketh any accounte at all least perhaps the ministeriall spirite of pride which must needes haue bene once in him before he was a Catholike should returning vnto his former house make the last things worse then the former especially wheras I vnderstand that the Superiours of Rhemes hearing of his doings sent word to all other Preists by one coming vnto you that they should not feede his contentiouse humour by writing against him but account him rather as a heathen and Publicane And diuerse of our countrey-men are here resolued that he will be very shortly suspended for his singuler perniciouse doctrine This also I am assured of that a certaine other Preist who in England hauing committed vnto writing some fantasticall conceites of his owne concerning this point not finding sufficient credit at home returned to Rome whence he first came with his conceited writinges there freely and voluntarily making an humble submission and reuoking his dreames burned his papers and I heare also that for desire of perfect satisfaction for his former singularity and errour he went after his returne into England to the aforesaid Preist of whose opinion before his departue he had known nothing at all and informed him very charitably of the effect of his iorney But very likely it is that he auailed litle Yet this I do vnderstand that since his returne from Rome this Preist behaued him selfe very well in England before his imprisonment for now they say here he is in Bridewell far contrary to the conceite they had of him with vs. For this I know that at Rome to hinder his returne vnto you and to preuent the returne vnto his vomitte which was feared they would haue either kept him as prisoner or proceeded with him euen so farre as the inquisition if it had not bene feared least it would haue scandalized the countreis there discouered too much vnto them the imperfections of our nation And in the low countrey he should haue bene detained by force if they could haue found of charity who would haue discharged his commons But thankes be to God he hath behaued himselfe otherwise then we looked for God grant that in prison he be the same which he was abrod It would also haue beseemed any humble spirite such as it is not like the other singuler Preist is endowed withall to haue repaired also to his Superiours if he thinke he hath any to enquire theire iudgement seeing himselfe so singuler at home Now then you are vtterly shutte off from the autority of your Preistes at home if you will not venture your soule either vpon the fancy of one who hath since becoming soberer made knowne vnto you the sober iudgements of his graue Superiours or of one who for his too much learning may perhapps haue harboured in his minde his auncient olde acquaintance And if there be any others counsaile them I pray you to keepe their doctrine secrete for feare of what may light vpon them §. 4. Now against all these autorities which you see notwithstanding how they be either rotten or coloured and painted with a counterfaite shew That going to heretikes seruice is against the autority of all learned men of our age I oppose that I may now saye nothing of auncient times in which you will deny perhappes that your estate was fully resembled I oppose I say moste true and reuerend authority of most singuler men which haue florished in our owne age and most perfectly vewed and examined our owne cause First the 12. The Councell of Trēt Fathers of the Councell of TRENT whose learned iudgement in this point is yet extant Neither ought it to be called in to suspicion because it was not generally set downe For both there are sufficient witnesses aliue for the verity therof and it was our owne suite to haue it done couertly and perhappes it was a question vnworthy of publicke discussion
heretickes yet one yeelding vnto an other in wickednes they both agree that they be superstitiouse D. Tho. 22 q. 92. ar 2. Two kind of superstitions and both in heretickes seruice For there are two sortes of superstitions the one consisteth in the worship of a false God which is called Idolatry the other which hath retained vnto it selfe the common name of superstition is found in the vnlawfull worship of the true God which is in seruice of heretickes and such like where other ceremonies are vsed than which Christ and his Church hath ordained These also are of two sortes as well noteth Caietane Verbo Supst For either they be perniciouse or superfluouse Those are perniciouse which are contrary vnto the verity of faith Those are superfluouse which are any wayes contrary to the custome of the Church or otherwise then the Church doth vse The first are alwaies mortall sinnes the second also alwaies when there is contempt or scandall although of themselues they were not perniciouse Iudge you therfore whether both sortes of this second kind of superstition be not in hereticallseruice So that out of the fact of IEHV as you bring an example of going to heretickes seruice because you thinke he did well So I out of the same prooue such dissimulation to be wicked because IEHV did euill See Aug. l. con mend c. 3. See Bannes 22. q. 3. ar 2 dub 1. which I proue by the consent of S. Augustine and all schoole men after S. Thomas the principall ringleader of them all And I maruaile not a litle that you who take vpon you Skill in diuinity did so peremptorily bring the example of IEHV concealing the schoole mens opinion of his fact For you knew vndoubtedly that this Argument was not coined out of your owne witte but bothpropounded and answered before either your selfe or your new confraternity were hatched S. Thomas bringing this example against himselfe to proue dissimulation lawfull answereth it in this maner 22. q. 111. ar 1. ad 2. The dissembling of IEHV it is not necessary to be excused from sinne or from a lye for he was wicked as who did not departe from the Idolatry of Hieroboam yet is he commended and temporally rewarded by God 4. Reg. 10. not for his dissimulation but for his Zeale with which he destroied the worship of BAAL In ep ad Gal. c. 2. Thus S. Thomas And although S. Hierome seemeth to allow of IEHVES dissimulatiō yet you might haue considered that he doth it for to proue S. PETERS dissimulation in Antioch to haue bene without sinne where euen as that which he seeketh to inferre is contrary to S. Augustine and all the Diuines Ep. 19. Ter l. 4. in marcion Cypr ep ad quintū Amb. hie Aug. ep 89.19 Greg. l. 28. mor c. 12. 1. Reg. 21. yea the true meaning of the scripture S. PAVL saying that PETER was reprehensible and diuerse other auncient Fathers So was his antecedent also false and not to be followed although we may also say that he allowed dissimulation in generall but not in this particuler wheras he bringeth other examples of lawfull dissimulations as of DAVID before Abimelech faining himselfe madde and of CHRIST our Sauiour taking vpon him the shape of a sinner that condemning sinne and flesh he might make vs in himselfe the Iustice of God In like maner might IEHV haue a lawfull intention to dissemble and yet in the practise exceed God permitting for so good an end either his sin if he culpably erred or his excusable ignorance if among so many Idolaters he had none to instruct him as in secular and warlike men such particuler knowledge of godly dueties many times we see to be wanting §. 7. 4. Reg. 5. The 6 obiection of Naaman syrus Your next reason is the fact of NAAMAN who after he was conuerted vnto the true God yet had as it seemeth leaue of ELIZEVS the Prophet to be present at the Princes sacrifice vnto Idols The History is this NAAMAN returning vnto the man of God with his wholle company came and stood before him and said Verely I knowe that there is not any other god in the whole earth but onely in Israell I beseech thee therfore that thou receiue this blessing of thy seruaunt But he answered The Lord liueth before whom I stand I will not receaue it And when he was earnest he would not consent And NAAMAN saide as thou wilt But I beseech thee graunt vnto me thy seruant that I may take the burden of two muletts of the earth for thy seruant will not make any more holocaust or sacrifice vnto false Gods but to our Lord. This onely thing there is for the which thou maiest intreate our Lord for thy seruaunt when my Lord shall enter into the temple of Remmon for to worshippe and he leaning vpon my hand if I shall worshippe in the temple of Remmon he worshipping in the same place that our Lord doe pardon thy seruant for this thing who said vnto him goe in peace this farre goeth the history Naaman syrus would receaue Preistes if he now liued Now Sir I doe most hartely wish that you were like vnto NAAMAN SYRVS for then would you giue your blessing aboundantly vnto ELIZEVS and his schollers and cary of the holy land though it were a burden into your house erecting there an Aultar to doe sacrifice vnto the true God and vnto no other But so standeth the case with you such as you are that when once you goe to the temple of Remmon you forget ELIZEVS and the holy land and the sacrifice of the true God and at the very first steppe into hereticall synagogues as it were take your leaue of all goodnes Whether this be true or no I referre my selfe to your owne conscience But to goe directly vnto the matter I say that aswell the hebrew as the greeke and latin word is indifferent in holy scriptures to signifie ciuill and diuine worshippe and importeth no more then to bowe him selfe humbly vnto the ground which we read in Genesis * c. 23. Abraham to haue done for ciuill courtesy to the children of Heth and in the 18. chapter before he did the like to the Angells And in these places also in many more doe the same words signifie either ciuill worshippe to men or religiouse reuerence to Angells or Saintes and so the common doctrine of Diuines is that NAAMAN did not bow vnto the Idoll but vnto the King yeelding him that temporall seruice or ease of his body which was conuenient vnto his Princelye person and greatnes which was also the knowne cause of his presence in that place he being otherwise knowne to detest Idolatry after his recouery from his leper of which you may reade Lyra and other his companions Of going to the Church with the Prince See §. 5.15 and 16. After which maner diuers doe say that for a temporall seruice to a Prince to be donne
alwaies proceedeth of an extrinsecall cause vsing our members contrary vnto our owne will or desire For as in a stone it is violence to be throwen vpwarde because it is contrary to the nature of the stone which would goe downeward of it selfe and proceedeth from an externall cause which is said violently to moue the stone So in a reasonable creature which hath to gouerne it selfe by reason and knowledge whatsoeuer is contrary to the inclination and propension of the will receiued by the same knowledge is violent and properly called constraint The will cannot be constrained and cannot be any way vsed but by an externall cause For whensoeuer the will it selfe agreeth vnto a thing for whatsoeuer respect than is the action voluntary because it proceedeth from the will Yea God himselfe although he may moue the will of a man for * Pro. 21 the Kinges hart is in the hand of God and whither it pleaseth him Aug. Tract 26. in Ioan. Chrysost â—o 9. in Ioan. he will incline it yet doth he not violente the will at all but sweetly draweth it and allureth it For if he drew the will against the will now a will were not a will Most certaine then it is that the will it selfe can not be constrained because it is a will and no way subiect vnto an externall mouer Now the outwarde powers of man may no doubt be subiect vnto an outward strengh The outwarde members of man may be constrained but not by the will and moued against the will For as Aristotle defineth * l. 3. Eth. c. 1 that is violence or constraint whose begining is without the thing the thing it selfe applying no endeuour therunto But certainely we know that a mans hand or foote or anyother parte whatsoeuer yea the wholle body may be moued by an externall cause or begining the hand foote or body beeing not applyed therunto by the will which is mistresse of the wholle And when this happeneth then doe we say that action to haue bene donne violently and constrainedly You goe therfore to the Church if you go carried by force pulled drawne finally so that your selfe apply not your members therunto then was this a violent action against your will and you haue not sinned But if your selfe once moue your members thereunto D. Tho. 1.2 q. 6. ar 5 ad 2 yea ifyou giue an inward consent to be so violented although it be for feare of losse of goods and liuinges although there stand a gallowes of purpose erected for you although the Beadle of Bridewell come behinde you with his staffe fearcely and barbarously threatning you than haue you moued your selfe the begining of your action is within your selfe if not the first motiue which is outward daunger yet the immediate beginning and naturall cause therof you apply somewhat of your owne which cannot be but from the will therfore is your action voluntary For this cause doe both Philosophers and Diuines conclude that what is donne of feare is alwaies simply and absolutely voluntary For although in other times or with other circumstances none would consent vnto that which he doth for feare yet with those condicions being present he doth absolutely yeeld vnto the same Wherefore concludeth S. Thomas that wheras euery thing is properly said to be such as it actually is not as it may be apprehended that is absolutely voluntary which is donne and consented vnto for the present fearfull condition which it hath annexed although as it is imagined and apprehended without the same condition it would be reiected He therfore which by constraint is violented doth nothing but onely suffereth he which is moued for feare because he doth somewhat himselfe is not violented or constrained but the particuler circumstances considered doth voluntarily what-soeuer hee doth although without those conditions it were vnuoluntary The humane lawes of diuerse countreies for that power which the common wealth hath ouer our ciuill actions doe commonly disanull those contractes which are made for feare yet cannot all the lawes of the worlde bring to passe but these contractes must be voluntary albeit the lawe for to punishe the iuiuriouse person doth make them voide neither can feare or any autority make such contract in him which is iniuried to be no sinne if it were of it selfe a sinne to make it You therfore may resolue your selfe that your going to the Church is voluntary And because euery action voluntary in a matter which of it selfe is a mortall sinne deserueth euerlasting damnation although it be donne for feare acknowledge your sinne that you may the sooner obtaine remission And for all this will I vtter somewhat more in this point that you may see I conceale nothing which may stand for you that if this action of going to the Church with heretickes were onely forbidden by positiue lawes of the Church than when there were no scandall it were lawfull to vse it the Church like a most kinde mother neuer intending to bind vnto so great incoÌ„ueniences as in our countrey by the omission of the same action may ensew But this to be no such action as onely humane lawes doe reprooue shall be proued belowe it is sufficient now to haue shewed that onely feare cannot make it voluntary and consequently not iustifie it if it be euill §. 11. But your reason following of your good intention either to pray Catholickly The 10. obiection of a good intention or to saue your wife and children and goodes or landes is moste friuolous The end say you is that which maketh the action either good or badde But my end is good therfore the action also is not vnlawfull Wherin I maruaile no more that you are become a new patrone of going to the Church This reason serueth for the defence of all vice for you haue taken vpon you the defence maintenance of all other wickednes Teach I pray you the murderer to haue an intention of shewing his manhoode the theefe to desire riches that he may liue in his ould age honestly and truely in the common welth the adulterer to procure amity and frendshippe in his neighboures samely and then may you vpon such intentions I will not say dispense with them that they may seriously applye their trades but persuade them that which they doe to be sound and perfect vertue Two kinds of intentioÌ„s There be therfore two kindes of endes and likewise two sortes of intentions in our actions The first is an intrinsecall end which is the very obiect and motiue which the will desireth and that act of the will by which we desire to obtaine that end is properly called our intention There is an other end extrinsecall vnto the acte and not alwaies pretended when we doe not only desire that which is the immediate motiue of our desire but referring that to a farther purpose desire withall to obtaine the same and this is also a kind of intention but extrinsecall and accidentary in our
wholle action and is called a circumstance therof An example of this you may haue in all actions If a man determine to go to dinner the very obiect and motiue and intrinsecall end of his desire that is of his intention is to dine But if he referre this his dinner vnto obedience or vnto the glory of God for whom he intendeth to keepe and increase hiscorporall strength these are extrinsecall endes or circumstances of the first intention or end and his immediate intention being to dine he referreth the same with a farther intention vnto those endes Now this intrinsecall end which we spake of as it giueth the nature and forme vnto the inward action so doth it also giue what goodnes or badnes is in it For if that obiect or motiue be of the owne nature conformable vnto to reason than is it a good action or desire If contrary contrary A good action of it selfe may be corrupted by the circumstances but an euill action cannot be iustified by good circūstances or intentions If indifferent so that it hath in it selfe no certaine or determinate order vnto right reason then is the action of the owne nature indifferent neither good nor badde Yet doth not goodnes or badnes flow into an action onely by the nature of the immediate obiect or end of the same but also by the extrinsecall end yea by euery circumstance and euery meanes taken for the obtaining of the same first end or obiect So that although the action be good of it selfe or indifferent yet if it be referred to a further end which is euill or if any meanes vsed for the bringing to passe of the action it selfe be euill or there wante any circumstance of time place maner or measure necessary than is the wholle action it selfe naught for some circumstance Euen in like manner is the action it selfe naught when it being vnlawfull is donne with all possible circumstances or intention of whatsoeuer farther good Dion c. 4. de diu nom For the generall ground both of Philosophers and Diuines cannot be infringed that good is of the wholle intiere cause but the euill is of euery particuler defect Hence is it therfore euident first that although your remote intentions in going to the Church haue neuer so great colour of piety yet that which immediatelye you doe which is to goe to the Church is your intention also And that you as well intend to goe to the Church although for those extrinsecall endes as hee which stealeth for to geue Almes intendeth to steale and the dissolute woeman which killeth her Infant for feare of geuing scandall intendeth the death therof Secondly that the immediate action of going to the Church being euill it cānot be iustified by any godly or lawfull circumstance Euen as if it were good of it selfe yet might it be made euill by an euill circumstance For good requireth a perfect cause euill is that which wanteth any part of the cause Euen as a man is not a perfect man except he haue all his members perfect yet is he imperfect if with all other good pro portion he doe but looke awry §. 12. The 11. obiection of that nature of Churches As for your last reason it is answered in one worde The Churches are ours in ded But the heretickes seruice and company is not ours Euen as if there were Idolatry or any filthy crime there practised you had no right vnto the Idolatry or other sinne nor might be there present for all your right to the Church But if you haue right to the Church why goe you thither at seruice time or so that you may seeme to be at seruice Greg. l. 3. dial c. 30. Hereticall Churches are Deuils lodgings is it not sufficient at any other season O Sir it is not the Church which draweth you but the seruice And if you knew that Churches prophaned by heretikes haue other maner of inhabitants in them then the holy Angells you would not be very hasty for deuotion to go vnto them euen when they be emptye But you shall heare what S. Hillary saith of those which in his time wente to the Churches where heretickes were gathered for loue vnto the Churches dedicated before vnto God Lib. cont Auxent circa fin Wickedly hath the loue of the walles possessed you wickedly doe you reuerence the Church of God in houses and buildings wickedly vnder these pretenses doe you talke of peace vnto me are more safe the mountaines lakes prisons and dongeons ⧠Where you may see a perfect example of our age and how the most holy Fathers which haue liued in auncient times amongst heretickes accounted no small matter the ioyning themselues vnto theire detestable company For they alwaies esteemed it besides a fauouring and exterior protestation of their sectes a most ready way vnto the wholle ouerthrow of true religion For the heretickes haue alwaies endeuoured with shew of piety to darken true piety The cause why heretickes retain Churches and with maintaining some outward shewe of reuerend antiquitye to blotte out of peoples memory the auncient truth it selfe Such was the inuention of Idolatrous Hieroboam who made Israell to sinne Now saith he will the kingdome returne vnto the house of DAVID 3 Reg. 12. if this people doe ascend to doe sacrifice in the house of God in Hierusalem ⧠And for this cause he deuised new Gods new preistes and prophane temples Euen so is it with you For least the people should haue desire to resorte to the true house of God in spirituall Hierusalem longing after Confession after Masse after holy Catholicke Sermons and the whollevse of Catholicke rites and ceremonies you are fedde with reuerend Churches with gay painted words and seruice in the vulgar tongue not for any affection of piety or inclination of vertue For who knoweth not how litle they seeke for piety or desire for other respects to keepe Churches standing but only to nourish the dissention and maintaine the diuision of ISRAEL from IVDA To this end doe they furnishe your Tables with such dishes as are no more comparable with the Catholike dainties than the Onions of Aegipt with the most delicate Manna of the Desert §. 13. THE SECOND PARTE Hauing now answered sufficiently as I suppose vnto your obiections for other obiections which I must of force helpe you withall I wil after bring forth Other obiections are answered in the progresse of this Treatise there resteth the onely thing which I haue in this wholle discourse supposed and taken as certaine in wihch in deed our wholle disputation doth principally consist that is to proue by necessary groundes that to goe to the Church is an action of it selfe euill and iustifiable for no circumstance at all which I haue hitherto supposed not bringing any argumentes therof other then by answering your obiections must needes be insinuated because it was not my part in this Epistle to proue the truth but to
Of a Protestation see §. 31. § 35 then of his outward action And whether his protestation be sincere or no certaine it is that there is in the action all signification sette apart at such time place a very great contempt of religion and of that person to whose dishonour the signification would tend that is of God himselfe For who doubt eth but that if one should cōtumeliously name his Prince before his face although both the Prince that wholle court knew his meaning to be otherwise yet if such opprobrious wordes were enforced by a forreine enemy for contempte of the Prince A very fite example against Prote testation such action would be deemed treason Wherefore that this wholle matter may be perfectly conceiued Let vs imagine that vnto AVGVSTVS the Emperour came 4. seuerall persons the first contumeliously and also from his very harte saieth AVGVSTVS is an vniust Prince the second contumeliously also although against his conscience vseth the like speaches yet doth he not seeke to make his cōscience known vnto the Emperour or vnto his courtiers being present The third maketh in deed his mind open vnto his maiesty and court that he thinketh not so vndoubtedly of him yet contemptuously either to please an aduersary of his or else moued with greater feare of that aduersary than of the Emperour he vttereth the very same The fourth not after any of these maners but sent by a very loiall subiect of the Emperours bringeth him this relation that a forreine Prince or Lord forgetting his alleageance or duety hath publikely said of his Emperiall maiesty AVGVSTVS is an vniust Prince Most euident it is that the three first hath formally vsed and most traiterously the aforesaid wordes but the last only materially without any crime at all Now to apply this example vnto our purpose there are three kind of men which wickedly and traiterously vnto God and his Church go to hereticall seruice The first is the hereticke himselfe who in this action both signifieth inwardly meaneth a false religion The second is the dissembling scismatike who signifieth it and yet in his hart thincketh it not The third is the same fearfull schismaticke who protesteth that he meaneth not to shew liking of a false religion yet neither can his protestation be knowne to all which see his facte and perhapps also he is not beleeued in the same wheras he may aswell lye in his wordes as in his action and yet although he obtained so much that he might be beleeued cannot be excuse himselfe from contempt and derogation vnto Catholicke truth The fourth onely vseth the action materially with out any signification of falshood or contempt of truth at all as are those whom we haue excused before For as in wordes which are principally instituted for to represent the meaning of the hart there may be the materiall sound of them without the signification which is the forme therof as when one repeateth the wordes of an other although they were blasphemous So and much more may there be in actions or outward signes which are not ordinarily so determined to signify as wordes So may a man cary an Iuy bush vpon his backe home for the fire neuer be thought to pretend selling of wine Bannes 2.2 And a comedy plaier counterfeite Idolatry before an Idoll without any formall or sinfull meaning therof Neither for all this is going to the seruice of heretickes not euill in it selfe All kind of dissimulation in this point For we speake of going to their seruice formally that is when there is annexed vnto the materiall therof a signification contempt or preiudice of religion Finally hereby it appeareth that wee exclude not any from the sinfulnes of the deed who any way guie shew or vse any kind of dissimulation in these weighty matters Such are those which go but pray not there or pray by them selues those which by their owne procuring or consent are put in the booke of cōmunicants or of married folkes or of such like Such as gette licence from the Arches to be married where they will Such as send their children to be christened by ministers or say that the minister christened them woemen which cause the minister to come to their house with his booke and surples as though he should Church them those which receiue comfort of ministers at their death or in sicknes for those * c. Filij De Haereticis in sexto are adiudged by the Canons of the Church euen heretickes and so their goods confiscate after their death those which go with coarses to Burialls if they withdraw not them selues when seruice of the Buriall beginneth nor such as to saue them selues from the danger of the law cause a Catholicke Preist to go into the Church to preach therby to make their neighbours to say or thinke that they go to the Church yea and without such intent if they go so that they seeme to go to hereticall seruice nor those which are married by a Catholicke Priest with the communion booke or otherwise that it may seeme they be married conformably those which hauing secrett Pewes or closettes looking into the Church cause some other to go thither that them selues may be deemed present or those which cause thēselues to be caried to the church for al such haue not lied to mē but * Act. 5. vnto god And although we are not bound alwaies to confesse our religion yet are we bound neuer to deny it or to giue probable occasion to others so to esteme of vs. although without such occasion geuen wee may permitte them to thinke what they list §. 17. Whether this doctrine be scrupulous Neither let any man marueile at these manifold downe falls intosinne or esteeme vs to scrupulous or the way of saluation to straite For this is that straines of the gate * Mat. 7. which leadeth vnto life this is the combate betweene the world and Christ * 10.16 neuer agreeing in one this is that * Psal 18. vnsported law of God which not with standing conuerteth soules and maketh them despising the delightes of the flesh yea the extreme vsages of the world only cleaue vnto Christ and that which is a most happy thing to remaine * Luc. 22. with him in his tribulations in the least iote not swaruing from his holy will Maruaile not though hereticks dissemble amongst Catholikes though they shew no difficulty of making al demonstratiō of feined piety contrary vnto their owne consciences whilest they receiue our Sacramentes professe our doctrine and seeme to detest all heresies They want togither with true religion all constant prosessiō of that which they esteeme for truth Treacheries dissimulations false worshippings dublenesse deceite and all manner of fallacy is farre from those hartes which em brace Christian verety One remedy there is which may deliuer you from this precisenes An easie way to auoid all seruples herein Be at
perfection And therfore a sufficient signe of religion is it in the laity to be present Than may we manifestly inferr that the lay people is also ceremoniously present Whence I inferre that as the minister if in the saying of his cōmunion he were touched of god so that he were resolued to renounce his heresy were bound vnder mortai sinne presently to lay downe his booke It is impossible to receaue Gods grace in the Church of heretickes and not to continew his vnlawfull action no not for one instant So also the lay man going thither for feare and in offering vp such praiers as he can afford almighty God in that place being touched with remorce of conscience of his vnlawfull presence is bound vnder paine of the same sinne to followe immediately the counsell of the Prophett and of the Apostle Esa 52. 2. Cor. 6. Gett ye hence gett ye hence go forth from hence touch not that which is polluted go forth of the middest of your congregation Neither were it sufficient for such to determine that he would go no more for so long as he staied there so long should he continew in the acte of a mortall sinne The heretickes pretence is cere monious Againe the hereticke him selfe euery time that he goeth doth an acte of religion and of his false religion professing his vnity in the church of Caluin therfore so doth the Catholicke also both alike in euery particuler time committ a new offence For although the one with this exteriour act of religion hath ioined the interiour yet sufficient it is that both doe the same exteriour act And the heretickes sinne is dubble for he is an inward an outward hereticke But the other is onely an exteriour hereticke but not an interiour Than that it is not lawfull to receiue the heretickes communion all agree But the very same case is of the presence at seruice Receauing the cōmunion is cere monious although one be more greeuouse than the other therfore it is not lawfull to be present For let vs scanne a litle the nature of receiuing the communion For I pray you why may you not receiue Because this is not an indisterent thing as my presence is what thing more indifferent than to eate a peace of bread because it is geuen me in steed of a farre more excelent thing which Christ instituted So is the seruice roung in your eares in steed of a farre more sacred thing And as you sett litle by the seruice so you may also sett as litle by the bread especially wheras some of your ministers will scant take it vp from the ground if it fall Because I should receiue it vnworthely to my damnatiō What do you now know that Christ is not there that true consecration is not made Doe you receiue euery but of meate which you receiue vnworthely to your damnation because it goeth against my conscience O scrupulous conscience and why goeth it against your conscience or why this more than that Bring forth any cause why you may not receaue and I will bring the same for to disallow your presence The trew cause therfor is for that to receaue is an acte of their religion and so is also to be present at seruice Obedience may excuse as well the one as the other An intention of I knowe not what may cleare them both alike And if to go to the Church be not euill in it selfe neither is receauing Yea greater indifferency is in eating and drincking which hath other materiall reasons of commendable and discommendable than can be in the going to the Church and to such a company which hath no other naturall end at that time and with those conditions but religion The ministers sayng is not ceremoniouse but in respect of the company Againe the ministers saying is an exteriour acte of religion and a ceremoniouse behauiour But his saying is not ceremoniouse but in respect of the company which is there religiously present for to heare him For if one which hath licence to read hereticall bookes did out of the Church at a table for curiosity before great companies read the verve same it were no religiouse or ceremoniouse acte Therfore as well the hearer as the reader are religiously present Presence at Idolatry is ceremoniouse 1. Cor. 10 see Testament of Rhemes Besides To be present at Idolatry after the like maner or to eate idolothites otherwise thē at a prophane seast not in the temple is a profession of the Idolls seruice therfore is the like in this your presence in respect of heresy the one signifying as well as the other heither haue wee in Christian times any other Idolls but heresies nor idolothites but their false seruices shifted into our Churches in steed of Gods trew and onely worshippe Furthermore to vse the vestiments of a Turke in which for the honour of Mahomet there is his picture The vestiments of a Turke see §. 35. or the picture of the mone specially dedicated vnto him is by all Diuines esteemed of it selfe a mortall sinne For no other reason than because such a vestiment is ordained for no other end but to signify religion Caiet verbo Habitus omissio Bannes 2.2 q. 3. ar 2 dub 2. Euch as the offring of incense vnto an Idoll donne in such time and place is determined vnto a naughty end of Idolatry although the intention be sarre contrary But the vnion in praier with a false secte being a ceremony of religion is more neere vnto such a signification than a coate which is prophanely vsed and only a marke of religion Much more than must it be vnlawfull although the intention be neuer so contrary Also in the great and famous controuersie which was betweene the two great lightes of the Church S. AVGVSTINE S. HIEROME Dissembling of any lewes ceremony is ceremonious ep 11. 19 Aug. they both agree in this that the Iudaicall obsernances are perniciouse and deadly As thou saieth Saint AVGVSTINE with a free voice yea although all the worlde were against thee doest pronounce that the ceremonies of the Iewes are both perniciouse and deadly vnto Christians and whosoeuer shall obserue them whether he be of the Iewes or Gentiles that he is tombled downe into the pitt of the Diuell So doe I also confirme this thy saying S. AUgustin and S. Hieromes censure and adde that whosoeuer shall obserue them whether of the Iewes or of the Gentills not onely nuely but also dissemblingly he is hurled downe into the pitt of the Diuell ⧠This doctrine is according to those wordes of S. PAVL Gal. 5 If you be circumcised Chust will profit you nothing what is the reason of this but because these ceremonies are signes of Iudaicall religion Ther Iewes ceremonies more lawfull And is it not lawfull to vse the signes of a religion which was once the onely trew religion in the world and by Gods owne prescript ordained and
Church if you desire to be you may easely dreame it but then are you not of the trew Church but of a dreamed Church But as the trew Church of God is visible it selfe so is the vnion ther which visible And the diuision of other Churches which are in deed not trew Churches but conuenticles or as S. Hierome calleth theē sinagogues of the Diuell being in all the world manifest visible as it were the diuels visible congregations Ep. 11. ad Gerōt de monog As the Church is visible so is the vnion therwith visible who doubteth but the vnion ther which is also visible You know that in Philosophy ENS VNVM be certaine Transcendents which agree to all thinges equally and looke what euery thing hath of Entity that it hath also of vnity Now if Caluins Church be a visible Church and I would to God it were altogither inuisible and sent downe so that the persons therof were safe vnto the Prince of darkenes from whom it first proceeded if Caluins Church I say bee visible than as the being of it is so is the vnity also that is it hath a visible vnity and what vnity is this but that which the wholle world iudgeth a visible frequēting of Caluins congregation The Church you go vnto is Caluins congregation Eph. 6. Col. 1. what is a congregation but a multitude gathered togither and who maketh this multitude but Ihon Thomas and Peter and all that are there If you will from this word All challendge a certaine extra ordinary priuiledge to say that they are all except your selfe you surely doe more than euer was heard of and arrogate vnto your selfe Ro. 5. the deserued Priuiledge of CHRIST our B. LADY who onely are said to haue bene exempted yet with sufficient groundes of scriptures and Fathers from generall sentences such as is that of S. PAVL ⧠in which all haue sinned ⧠But Sir you can no more exempt your selfe from this sentence All these are Caluinists by saying except I than you shall be able at the dreadfull daye of Gods seuere iudgement if you alter not your course to exempt your selfe from go you cursed by saying except I. Mat. 23. What place our Schismatickes haue in Caluins congregation Aug. in Brouin collat 3 The soule of Caluins church Than are you one of Caluins congregation Yet that I may doe you no wrong I will heere put you in minde of a certaine distinction which Catholick Doctours vse that is that some be of the soule of the Church and some of the body For the Church of Christ is not a deade bodye but a body quickned with a liuely spirite The soule of the Church are the inward vertues therof the body is the outward shew Euen so doe I say that in Caluins Church there is a body and a soule the soule is Caluins beliefe and whatsoeuer other dowry of hell it hath for this soule hath no other place than hell fier The body of Caluins church The body therof most fitt for such a soule is the outward profession or shew or vnion or practise and society of Caluins broode Now I confesse that one of these may be without the other And as there may be in the Catholicke Church variety of her members So may there also be in Caluins Sinagogues In the Catholicke Church some are both of the body and soule of the same such as haue both Faith and the outward profession of Catholike religion Others onely of the soule such as haue not the outward vnion and peace with the Church but before God are of such perfection that they be immediately vnited therunto by his heauenly grace Such are those cathecumens which abound with loue of God and trew faith or also excommunicate persons not yet restored in humane Iudgement but restored before God from whom they haue receiued trew contrition and purpose of amendment For God is not tied vnto his Sacraments but can and doth oftentimes immediately iustify those which are throughly conuerted vnto him Finally others there are which hauing no inward disposition at all yet either for feare or some other affection of worldly interest in outward shew doe nothing differ from the rest And these are worthely compared vnto the heares of a mans body or nailes or euill humours which although they be within the body yet are they not animated by the soule as other partes of the body are being depriued of all sense and lost without paine and by nature not fitte to be quickned bvt rather certaine excrementes of the body onely made to adorne and gard the body and to be vsed by the same for the operations of the wholle So than haue we found out your office in Caluins congregation You are not of the soule therof in deed For I hope of the former faith which I know to haue bene perfect in you But as S. Hierome saith although at the beginning no schisme hath false doctrine in Tit. 3. Schisme is the way to heresy yet at the length it forgeth to it selfe some erroneous proposition that it may seeme to haue gonne from the Church with pretense of some cause much like vnto your selfe who first going to the Church for feare now that you may purge your selfe of cowardise basenes maintaine your errour contrary to the generall sense not onely of the Church but euen of morall reason Therfore looke well vnto your selfe least at the length as the losse of charity * 1 Tim. 1. is the way to the losse of faith so your entrance into schisme make you an entrance vnto heresy and so to a generall shipwracke in faith according to the saying of the Psalmist Destroy it * Psal 136. See S. Greg. l. 25. mor. c. 5. destroy it euen vnto the very foundation But yet as I saied you are not of the soule of Caluins religion Neither are you of the body of Caluin as a principall member But you shall heare what you are and I pray you heare it patiently Prou. 27. For better are the strokes of a frend then the kisses of an enemy You are the excrements of Caluins congregation The excrements of Caluins religion receiuing life neither from Catholicke religion nor from Caluins heresy although how could Caluins heresy or any heresie at all geue life vnto the soule and in that body you serue for no necessary vse in which you are the happier and so I hope you will keepe your selfe from any butcherly and tyrannicall exercise but you serue them yet Caluins religion in England hath bene compacted of excrements for an ornament and creditt as though they had a shew of a common wealth And how fitlye is Caluins religion adorned with excrements For if you take way these excrements or at the least if such excrements had bene taken away from the begining in Caluins wholle body there woulde be now neuer a sound mēber But remember I pray you that whilest your
Schisme be incurred that such diuision be made whether Schisme it selfe be directly intended ot indirectly Much like it is if a loose licentious young man should defile his neighbours bedde knowing that he shall be discried and his lemman be killed by her husband this man is also a man slear although he intended principally the satisfying of his filthy desire Or if a theefe vpon the Alpes should take away a poore trauailers apparell wherby the other must needes dye for tolde Or as it hath sometimes hapned if a theefe by feare and threatning shoulde make one trew man to hang an other or that we may bring Caietanes example of this very matter If a man for to fulfill his owne pleasure Verbo Schisma should by shooting in a publicke place against his intention chaunce to kill a man he he notwtstanding incurreth the crime of murder But of this point of your intention or of the motiue of feare I haue sufficiently spoken aboue §. 10.11 where I answered your principall reasons This is most certaine that as in all other sinnes the exteriour action which is the obiect of the interiour geueth the quality therof to the interiour whether such exteriour acte or effect be principally or directly intended or no so long as it is voluntary and foreseene Euen so is it in this exteriour acte of Schisme in which notwithstanding I may say as I said aboue that whatsoeuer other extrinsecall or remote intention you may haue as of feare creditt and reputation in the world for this is it which driueth your selfe and many other vnto the Diuell yet the very intrinsecall end and nature of your action is Schisme and disunion from Christs Catholicke Church So therfore although euery exteriour hereticke were not a Schismaticke yet d ee I say that you are a Schismaticke Now to answere your obiection and to saue the generall grounde of Deuines that euery exteriour hereticke is not excommunicate I say first that if Caietanes opinion bee trew who as you know is a Catholicke author 2.2 q. 12. ar 1. q. 94 ar 1. and of no small account amongst the examiners of actes of mans conscience than euery exteriour heretike is properly excommunicate so euery exteriour hereticke may perhapps be no Schismaticke and yet be excommunicate for heresy Euery exterior hereticke is not excōmunicate yet he is a schismaticke Bulla caenae c. licet de Elect. or if he be also a Schismaticke he may be as well excommunicate for his exteriour heresy as for his schisme Secondly allowing the contrary opinion which is of most Diuines that is that an onely exteriour hereticke is not excommunicate I say that the Churches intent in excōmunicating of Schismaticks is onely to comprehend those which calling them selues Christians either make receaue or acknowledge vnto thēselues a new head as when there are two Popes togither or those who making * Aug l. 1. cōt Parm. in fine a seuerall congregation or ioining them selues therunto vnder what maner of gouerment soeuer make a publike separation from the trew Church or the head or members of the same For it is not necessary as Diuines all agree for to incurre schisme Caietan Bannes The Pope may be a schismatick that the Schismaticke make vnto him selfe a new heade for the Pope him selfe remaining head may be a Schismaticke if he should refuse to communicate with the rest of the body in spirituall thinges or defend secretly or openly schisme or excommunicate the wholle Church or alter generally the Apostolicall and ordinary ceremonies rites customes and seruices of the Church And yet in the Pope this were peculier that he cannot fall into excommunication because he is not subiect to the humane lawes which impose excommunication Schismatickes are excōmunicate only in two cases In these two cases therfore Schismatickes ere excommunicate whan they openlye professe an other head although they beleeue inwardly the vnity of the holy Church and of the head therof for other wise they were heretickes or when they erect or make them selues parte of a new congregation deuided from the vnity of the wholle in other cases although they be Schismatickes yet doe they not incurre such censure And if you aske me what cases these are in particuler I answere that if one amongst Infidells should saye that Christ were not God or deny for feare not from his hart any pointe of Catholicke faith or if in a Catholicke countrey one should vpon any Passion make shew of heresie because here is no diuerse head nor seuerall congregation wherunto he may seeme to vnite himselfe this man is not excommunicate although he be a Schismaticke Contrary it is whē he doth the same for to seeme to vnite him selfe vnto a seditious head or congregation professing the name of Christ or publickly seuereth himselfe Neither is this any strange doctrine that euery Schismaticke is not excōmunicate for who would doubt but that one who maketh him selfe a Turke or a Iew Bannes 2.2 q. 11. ar 4. Sylu. Nauar or an Infidell is a Schismaticke for how can he separate him selfe more from Christ and his Church yet certaine it is that so long as he in his minde forsaketh not Christ or his faith he is not excommunicate although he sinne most greeuously or except he committe exteriour Idolatry which hath a particular excōmunication although not in respect of Schisme but in respect of Idolatry Direct Inquis p. 2. q. 43. Which excommunication also was not before the time of IHON 21 the Pope To this also I adde that according to most Diuines no Schismatickes at all were excommunicate before Bulla Caenae Wherin the intention of the Church doth cōprehend onely such actions as haue bene vsuall in the Church and scandalously are wont to breake the publicke peace therof But such pernicious schismes are onely in the cases aforesaide Againe an hereticke neuer so secrett if he priuately vnto him selfe vtter his heresy is excommunicate for heresy and yet I see not in the practise of the Church but that such as haue speciall autority to absolue from heresye would not sticke to absolue him for all his Schisme which is alwaies annexed vnto heresy The reason her of is this why all Schismaticks are not excommunicate Aug. l. 1. de lib. arb c. 5. D. Tho. 1.2 q. 96. ar 2. for that the holy Church being a certaine cōmon wealth doth not alwaies punish alike equall sinnes but in ordaining of penall lawes hath a regard vnto that which is perniciouse for the wholle body Blasphemy is a greater sinne than thefte so also is adultery yet we know the punishmēts are not alike So is it also in the Church some are excōmunicate for a faulte in one degree others for the same faulte in an other degree are not excōmunicate The cause why the Church excōmunicateth Schismatickes onely in these two cases is for that which these two onely the Church hath bene or may be ordinarily
remember an ordinary distinction of Deuines For there are 2. maner of consents the first is consent Caiet verbo Restit which is cause of the action as when I know that without my consent such action would not be donne An other is a simple consent which onely consenteth Two manner of consents to an other mans sinne and yet is not the cause of the action As if in Parliament there be a Bill put vpp against Catholickes and I know that so many voices being passed already before mine my contrary voice can not hinder but it will be made a law Now if I consent after so many voices as are sufficient for if I should before sufficient voices were graunted the case were altered although I knew what voices were to follow than is not my consent a cause of that law yet is my consent a consent Ro. 1. and so according to S PAVI worthy of death as well as that of the others In like maner of you go to the Church and the minister saieth seruice onely for you than is your consent the cause of his sinne and of the sinne of as many as are there present and than who doubteth but you committ a scandall But if you go at ordinary times when the minister notwithstanding your presence would say seruice and others be there without your inducement or any euill example if this be possible yet is your consent present and so vnderstood by all men and therfore is not your action voide of sandall but by consenting vnto an other mans sinne you are also guilty therof as a coucurrunt though not as the cause or mouer therunto as one which alloweth not as one which commandeth as one which geueth the voice whan the number already is sufficient to make the law Neither is there any doubt but you may as well geue consent vnto an action vnto which you concurre for feare See §. 10. as if you concurred for loue as we haue saied before Than vnto your selfe must you apply the verses of the Psalme Ps 49. Whan thou sawest a theefe thou didest runne with him with adulterers thou didest putt thy portion Thou didest wickedly thinke that I were like vnto thee I will reproue thee and sette thy selfe before thy owne face that is that your own conscience shall iudge and condemne you But least you should thinke I speake this of my owne iudgement not leaning vnto the generall doctrine of Gods Church you shall heare the Martyr Irenaeus his graue doctrine against the Valentinian heretickes and other like L. 4. c. 46. A plaine testimony of S. Ireneus Be not you saith he partakers with them And as there in the schisme of Dathan and Abyron the damnation of the principall sinners was common to the rest because they liked them and conuersed with them So here also a litle leauen corrupteth the wholle heape §. 32. Hitherto you see I haue proceeded from the very necessary groundes of the law of God and of nature THE THIRD PARTE Neither can you by your protestation or intention or pretense of feare or any other motiue whatsoeuer excuse your selfe from the violating of any one of these vertues before rehearsed There are some other reasons of no small force vsed to be alleadged of which because I know you wil make no great account I will be content to say no thing One onely thing will I putt you in mind of that is of the daunger of infection Danger of infection which by going vn to heretickes churches you expose your selfe vnto of which if you make small reckoning esteeming your selfe a great doctour able to answere all maner of heretical obiections yet do I earnestly desire you to remember that once you could say as much in this point of going to the Church as in any other matter of Catholicke religion And O senselesse Galathian who hath bewitched you Gal. 3. Sap. 4. how are you so suddenly altered verely malice hath altered your vnderstāding fiction hath deceaued your soule and therfore most happy had you bene if as the wisdome of God doth speake Dissimulation is the way to infection you had bene thē taken vp vnto god whā liuing amongst sinners you were pleasing beloued vnto God O how trew it is that fiction and dissimulation deceiueth the soules of many in our poore countrey What olde man is now a Protestant who hath not gotten such pestilence by fiction who is now a Cōmissioner of ripe witte who being sonne of Catholike parents hath not bene altered by fiction Yea who is now so earnest persecut our of Catholickes as those which at the beginning of this last reuolte hauing bene Catholickes them selues are now most opposite because they saw they could not haue creditte at the first but by fiction L. 4. mor. c. 27. S. Gregory describeth fower degrees of sinnes both in the minde and in the deede expounding a sentence of IOB and to euery member of that sentence applying one degree The wordes of IOB are these Iob. 3. Wherfore died I not in the wombe or being come forth from thence did I not forthwith perish why was I taken vpon the knees why was I nourished with the papes Fower waies saieth he is sinne committed in the hart Fower degrees of sinne and so many also is it executed in the deedes In hart it is committed by suggestion delection consent and by the presumptuousnes of defence Suggestion is made by the aduersary delectation by the flesh consent by the Spiritt the presumption of defence by pride For the sinne which shoulde terrifie the mind doth extoll it and hauing throwen it downe doth lifte it vp but being lifted vp doth more greeuously bruse it In the same maner is a sinne executed in the deed First the sinne is * Going to the Church secretly secretly donne afterward before the eies of men without any shame therof it is manifested than is it brought in to custome at the last either with the seducements of false hope or the obstinacy of miserable dispaire it is nourished Thus S. Gregory This is the miserable progression of lamentable Schismatickes who trusting too much to their owne cleannes aduenture to touch pitch and much like vnto the lewd persons of the world seeking to enioy their vnlawfull contentments before they be aware conceiue sorrow * Psal 7. and bring forth iniquity which so long they harbour in their vnhappy lappe that at the length they nourish it with their pappes and drinke it in vnto their very harte Thus much for a wise man as you are will be sufficient for the daunger of infection Eccle. 3. least perhapps louing daunger you perishe therein I my selfe haue bene acquainted with a learned religious Professour of Diuinity who according to the necessity of his lectures hauing sometimes Caluins workes in his chamber with great humility a farr contrary spirit vnto that which beareth great sway in our
countrey protested vnto me that he trembled whan hee remembred he had them in his chamber Much more should you tremble at the liuely voice of your blasphemous ghospellers as from whose mouth vndoubtedly the Prince of heresy him selfe belcheth out the smoaky doctrine of his filthy kingdome And it is a thing to quake and tremble at that the Prince of the Apostles who thought him selfe and that with great reason more strong than your selfe was notwithstanding at a girles voice so infected with feare that he repented it all his life after §. 33 Now for the greeuousnes of this sinne The comparison of this sinne with other greeuous offēces which as you see conteineth in it selfe so many sinnes I know not how to deale with you For we haue receiued euen from the first Parents of mankind such inclination to the defence of our owne iniquities that euery one seeketh to make that faulte which he him selfe is subiect vnto the least of all other much like vnto a tale which is for all that no false tale which I haue heard of a Robberye donne betweene London Portchmouth when the theefe taking certaine golden buttons which the true man had vpon his dublett and by chance letting some of them fall the true man sette his foote vpon 3. or 4. of them beeing asked by the theefe who had diligently sought to take them vp whether there were all he anuswered that there were all But the theefe remouing the others foote and spying the buttons tooke them vp and sharply rebuked him for his lye Saying what a lyer a lye is the worst faulte in the world So that I feare very much least as the theefe esteemed his owne faulte lesse then a veniall lye So you will not be induced to iudge aright of your faulte of going to the Church But I tould you before S. Thomas his opinion of schisme who iudgeth it the greatest sinne which may be cōmitted of all others which are not directly against God See §. 73. The hainousnes of Schisme such as are heresy Idolatry other like but only against the neighbour Yea in the same place he saith that sometime Schisme is greater than heresy because it causeth greater harme S. Augustine saith that it is a greater fault L. 2. de bapt c. 6. sacriledge proueth it by the punishment of Dathan and Abyron S. Cyprian is very vehement in the reprehension of schisme saying that the Schismatickes of Christes Church offend more hainously than Dathan and Abyron L. 1. ep 6. ad Magnum because these did not make a new congregation but onely presumed to take vpon them the office of doing Sacrifice which belonged onely vnto Aaron But Schismatickes make a newe congregation opposite vnto Christ his Church But you will surely beare reuerence vnto Christ his owne testimony who appearing vnto S. PETER of Alexandria a glorious Consessour and Martyr Peda in martyrol with a torne coate gaue him this answere demaunding the cause that Arius had torne his vestiment which is the Church Thinke therfore with your selfe of the filthe of this sacriledge and blushe to see your selfe a shamfull patch in Caluins coate whose coat surely is not now a peice of Christ his coate which is altogither vndeuided but a ragged cloute raked out of the sincke of hell although presumptuously arrogating to it selfe the name title of a Church of Christ But we will staye somewhat vppon the generall doctrine of S. Thomas whom willingly I follow for that his authority in common doctrine of Deuines is sufficient to stoppe any mans mouth who pretendeth to beleeue Catholickly 1.2 q. 73. Whence is the greeuousnes of sinns examined This doctour therefore doth define that sinne to be more greeuous which hath an obiect of greater dignity As because all outward goodes are of lesse dignity than man him selfe man being the end of all exteriour things and God more excellēt than man as his finall principall end Therefore is murder a more greuous sinne than these infidelity blasphemye The order of those good things which we must loue and pursew heresie and such like are more hainouse than murder Than according to this rule must you consider what good is taken away by euery vice And that which taketh away that good which is dew vnto God and his Church you must preferre before all other Afterward there followeth the good of your owne soule than of your neighbours soule next of your own body or life than of your neighbours And finally your owne temporall good hath the last place of all So that you may see what account you must make of that action which neither obserueth faith towardes God nor vnity and obedience to his Church nor charity toward your selfe or your neighbour If a man sinne against a man as the holy scripture saieth god may be pacified vnto him 1. Reg. 2. But if a man sinne against our Lord Sinners in the Church easely rise againe who shall pray for him Besides if you sinne within the Church of God you haue a remedy at hand the daily vse of holy Sacramēts doe as it were inuite you to repentance the continuall praiers and Sacrifices of the Church are offered vpp for you to mitigate the wrath of God against you But if you once seuer your selfe from the body Ser. 11. de verbis Do. et ep ad Bonif com 50. S. Augustin saieth that schisme is a sinne against the holy ghost you can receiue no influence from the other members S. Augustine where he expoundeth the wordes of our Sauiour concerning the difficulty of remissiō when a man sinneth against the holy ghost very learnedly discourseth of the sinne of schisme which hee affirmeth to bee the sinne against the holy ghost For that the Schismaticke vniting him selfe to other congregations or rather as this Saint saieth to other segregations and so deuiding the spirite of God cannot in any maner haue the same spirite of God by which only remissiō of sinnes is geuen so that Martyrdome it selfe cannot auaile him Martyrdom profiteth not in Schisme whereas those which sinne being in the Church doe onely sinne against the sonne of man not deuiding the vnity of the spirit And all this hee confirmeth by the authority of S. IVDE who saieth that Schismatickes not holding the head haue no spirit or life within them Neuerthelesse that no man may take occasion hereby to geue him selfe to licentiousnes within the Church let him vnderstand Against licentiousnes in the Church of God that although heresie and schisme in them selues be more filthy abominable and offensiue vnto God than any carnall sinne whatsoeuer yet may schisine perhaps sometime be committed in so small a degree and with such circumstances of feare or want of deliberation or of perfect knowledge or of the smalnes of the matter in which schisme is shewed that although it cannot be excused from mortall sinne yet it may so be diminished
that the greeuousnes of other sinnes lesse in their owne kind but being committed with great disorder and continuance may farre exceed the greeuousnes of schisme Moreouer carnall sinnes are more dangerous Carnall sinnes very dangerouse l. 3. eth c. 12. than such schisme as may be of frailty and feare committed For as the Philosopher teacheth the appetite of delight is vnsatiable whereupon it ordinarily happeneth that a man is very hardly withdrawen from fleshly concupiscence if he be once entangled therwith which is also the cause that the Deuill most of all as S. Augustine saieth reioiceth of Idolatry lechery in Leuit. Isid l. 2. c. 3. But he which once goeth to the Church for feare and with trembling of hart and humble acknowledging of his faulte before God may easely rise againe Furthermore he which is drowned in carnallity for the vehemēt applying of his thoughtes and powers to such senfuall abiectes is hardly capeable of reason and of Gods holy motions and inspirations wherby he may be moued to rise againe which hindering of reason and Gods motions is not ordinarily found in one indeliberate or fearefull acte of schisme Finally as S. L. 33 mor. c. 11. Gregory saieth carnall sinnes haue a certaine filth and infamy ioined vnto them which is not in other sinnes although greater in theire owne nature Wherfore Aristotle him selfe affirmeth 3. Eth. c. 10. that the sinnes of intemperance as well in touching as tasting are of all other most reprochfull because they be about those delightes which are common vnto vs and beastes Wherupon he concludeth thus With such thinges therfore to be pleased and delighted Against those which call carnallity a mans fault is beastly ⧠Those therfore are beastly men which geue them selues to such delightes as they are capeable of not in that they are men but as they are animalia that is liuing thinges which is a name cōmon to them and beastes Schisme a proper sinne of the Diuel Yet on the other side least I should flatter you to much those are Diuelesh men which geue them selues vnto sinnes more proper to Diuells than vnto men which sinnes although they be farre seuered from beastly concupiscence yett doe they imply such deformity as the Diuells onely loued at the beginning as Pride against God and his Church heresy schisme such like For that you may know perfectly your owne estate the first Scismaticke that euer was was Lucifer making a diuision in that holy Church as yet being but militant from whence he was by his detestable schisme throwen out that as of him it is most worthely sald Hier. 2. From the begining thou hast broken the yoake thou hast pulled a sunder the bandes hast saied I will not serue so he might being here permitted to gouerne the darkenes of this miserable world be King ouer all the sonnes of Pride who breaking the sweete yoake of Christ Iob. 41. and renting the holy bandes of his vndeuided garment refuse to serue vnto his holy Spouse Esay 60. Gen. 7. Hieron ep 57 ad Damas Degrees of these kindes of sinne For what nation or kingdome soeuer shall not serue this most glorious Queene shall perish Whosoeuer is out of the Arke of Noe shall be swallowed vpp in the generall deluge I will shew you therfore my opiniō of the degrees of this kind of fault In the highest degree is hee which going to the Church is an hereticke in deede Than followeth he which is not an hereticke inwardly but so goeth to the Church that he seemeth to go with all his hart and as an hereticke Afterward he which being commonly knowne to be in mind and resolution a Catholicke yet goeth to the Church and defendeth it as lawfull and in this degree he may go the deeper if others by his example doctrine be induced either to the same opinion which is worse or to the same practise onely without the inward allowing of his act Perswaders of schime or allowers which is not altogither so hainouse And if this scandali be notably ioined therunto I dare match this person yea and preferre him also to the hereticke him selfe and that by S. Thomas his autority 2.2 q. 39. ar 2. Chrysost ho. 11 in ep ad Eph. who saieth in this maner It may happen that some Schismaticke may sinne more hainously than some Infidell or hereticke either for his greater contempt or for the greater daunger which he causeth or for some such like thing Than lett there followe in this rancke he who vsually goeth to the Church yet all the world knoweth he doth it for feare onely and no way defendeth his owne sinne The nexte company of this band shall be of those which vse to go seldome as once or twise a yeere yet continew in this purpose and meane to sleepe still in their excommunication and separation from the Church of God For this continuance of sinne and of so greate a sinne and contempt of the censure of the Church of how great accounte it is the Councell of Trent declareth Sess 25. c. 3. de refor whan it commaundeth that against such as after they are by name excommunicate remaine in their excommunication for the space of one wholle yeere such proceeding be taken as is ordinary against heretickes or the suspected of heresy Vnto all these in my iudgment doe those men which liue in the shamefull filth of dronkennes and carnalities so that the circūstances therof be not exorbitant yeeld the vpper hand And such a one as once only for feare or some other passion yeldeth to go to the Church yet without any notable scandall or peruerting of others and presently sheweth afterward vnto the wholle world his perfect repentance This man I accounte of an inferiour degree of iniquitye vnto those which continually liue in a filthy state of carnall dishonesty yet I preferre him in this band of wickednes before him which through frailty often falleth into the other sinnes and presently riseth againe One onely sorte of men there is who although they go not to the Church Priestes allowing of this action yet may incurr in very high degree the crime of schisme and these are Priestes if there be any which maintaine this action of whom I need to say nothing in this place Wheras for that learning which God hath bestowed vpon them themselues may consider what censures they haue incurred or may incurre and how great a fault it is opposing thēselues to theire chiefe rulers herein in steede of shepheardes to become wolues But if any one should so forgett him selfe and in corners secretly whisper against the receiued truth such you are bound vnder paine of mortall sinne to detect that by their superiour they may be corrected For it is conuenient that they know how there is one vnto whose decisiō in all doubts in vertew of obedience they are bound to stand who hath long since not failed to make his iudgement knowen
deceitfull leasinges to salsifye the truth Euen as S. PAVL doth warne A man that is an hereticke after the first and second admonition auoide knowing Tit. 3. that he that is such a one is subuerted sinneth beeing condemned by his owne iudgement All this doth Eusebius * l. 4. c. 13. reporte of these Saintes out of Ireneus so that you haue in one thing the autority of many of Eusebius S. Ireneus S. Policarpus S. PAVL and S. IOHN S. De nis The same rigour we reade to haue bene obserued by S. Dionisius an auncient Bishoppe of Alexandria whose owne wordes Eusebius thus citeth l. 7. c. 6. This Canon and this example did I receaue of our blessed Father Heraclas S. Heraclas For hee cast out of the Church such as had departed from the Church not so yet but that they in corporall presence were partakers of the congregation of the faithfull whā they were accused that they had much conuersed with one of those which defended a contrary doctrine vnto the Church ⧠Finally you know very well that if this were the auncient custome of the Church towards all excommunicate persons 11. q. 3. c. cum excommunicato sequenti preced Chrys ho. 25. in c. 11. ad hebr 1. Cor. 5. In vita S. Anthonies last will which were neither heretickes nor schismatickes according to S. PAVLES doctrine who speaking of all such deuided members commaundeth not to eate with them you may much more know the stricte kinde of bond in auoiding heretickes and schismatickes Which lesson the glorious S. Anthony a most perfect master of all holines and Christian dewty not onely taught by example but leste vnto his schollers for his last will and testament Heare saieth he my children the last will of your Father And presently To the Meletians and Schisinatickes doe you not come neere neither ioine your selues in ' communication with the Arrians ⧠Thus much as in so cleare a case for this first point shall suffice But because I know very well Two kinds of tollerations in cōmunication with heretickes that you will say that this custome is now worne out in the Church of Christ you see not the most zealous Catholicks of all to be so scrupulous in auoiding hereticks ciuill conuersation as these examples doe seeme to require I must necessarily say somewhat of two kind of Tollerations which hath iustly enlarged the auncient seuerity of the Church herein c. quoniam multos 11. q. 3. seq The first is necessity wherby wiues children seruants bondslaues are permitted to communicate in ciuill thinges with those to whom they belong Also trauailers strangers for their necessary helpes might of olde haue ordinary traficke in places of excommunicate persons This tolleration hath a grounde in S. PAVLES doctrine 1. Cor. 5. See Saint Chrisost cited before who to the Corinthians writeth in this manner I wrote vnto you in an epistle not to keepe company with fornicatours I meane not the fornicatours of this world otherwise you should haue gonne out of this world But if he the is named a brother c. ⧠Where he sheweth a certaine necessity of ciuill cōuersation with those which make the wholle community of the place where we abide for otherwise as he saieth wee could not liue in this world For which cause he geueth leaue * c. 10. in the same epistle to go to an Infidells feast So that we may ground this tolleration vppon an euident necessity that whan we liue amongst Infidells onely or for the most parte although they be heretickes and fugitiues from Gods Church yet we may vse such ciuill conuersation with them as shall be necessary vnto vs auoiding alwaies daunger of infection and scandall Thus farre may we bouldly aduenture by the auncient permission of the Church But for the auoiding of many scandals and dangers of soules which might happen and for the comforte of fearefull consciences it hath seemed conuenient vnto the wisdome of the holy ghost to yeelde a farther liberty Mart. 5. Ext. ad euitanda See Nauar. c. 27. n. 35 and euen in the countreis where most be Catholickes to graunt by the speciall permissiō of our holy mother the Church that we may freely in all maner of thinges as well spirituall as temporall communicate with whosoeuer hauing incurred excommunication through some crime so punished by the lawes of the Church are not either specially declared and denounced to be so excommunicate or manifestly and notoriously knowen to be strikers of a Clergy man And although some doe except from this tolleration all manifest excōmunicate persons consequently all manifest hereticks according to the limitation of the Councell of Constance yet hath the custome of the Church a trew interpreter of lawes receiued this decree with this generall enlargement as it was also in the Councell of Basill propounded So that this tolleration must be generally vnderstood that euen with heretickes not by name excommunicate nor notorious strikers of the Clergy we may as well in ciuill as in spirituall thinges cōmunicate Whan I say spirituall things I meane such thinges as belong vnto the spirite of God not the inuentions or society of infernall spirits But what manner of spirituall thinges Caluins misteries are and of the vnderstanding of this kind of tolleratiō See §. 7. enough hath bene said aboue Now must I warne you and whosoeuer shall take the paines to geue the reading vnto this my writing that these Tollerations in two cases cannot be any warrant vnto vs at all No Tolleration in two cases they being in whatsoeuer case indispensable First if we finde such communication to be noisome vnto our soules so that we perceiue our selues to waxe colde in our feruour and Catholicke resolution of perseuering in Christian dewty good life and frequenting of Sacraments for this bond of auoiding spirituall daunger doth bind vs in euery sinne Secondly if there be ioined withall an expresse or virtuall deniall of our faith or contempt of the Church or superstitious behauiour or scandall which in going to heretickes Churches doe alwaies concurre For euen as the aforesaide tolleratiō cannot make but if you in murder thefte fornication Idolatry communicate with heretickes you shall sinne as much as before the Tolleration So is it in this case of going to the Church That therfore which is good you may by the tolleration aforesaid doe with heretickes that which is euill is as vnlawfull as euer before And therfore in vnlawfull matters wee must haue recourse vnto the auncient Apostolicall rule of auoiding most constantly heretickes And especially in their seruice as a thing which can neuer be lawfull For if a man may in putting of his cappe to thē as S. IHON saith in his second epistle cōmunicate to their wicked works because he may geue thē countenance encouragement to prosecute the same how much more shal he do the like in the very toppe of their
iniquity which is in their seruice cōtrary Aultar vnto Gods holy Church § 39. For that alwaies euen since the beginning what the Canons haue decreed of auoiding heretickes Seruice l. 6. hist c. 3. Origen there hath bene amongst trew Christians an especiall account of communication with heretickes in theire praiers the great learned clearke Origen and most auncient Doctour shall geue plaine testimonie Of whom thus writeth Eusebius Origen saieth he although being driuen by necessity he conuersed in the same house with Paule an hereticke yet euen at that time was he not affraide to shew euident and open tokens of his trew and Catholicke opinion in matters of faith Going to hereticall conuenticles a tokē of faith For when a great multitude not only of heretickes but also of our men for the greate eloquence which was in Paule did flocke vnto him Origen could notwithstanding neuer be induced to be present at praiers with him As who from his tender age had both seriously obserued the Canon of the Church and had alwaies detested the doctrines of errours Thus Eusebius Where I desire you to marke those wordes Euident and open tokens of his religion To be present at praiers The Canon of the Church And the condemnation of such as being in minde Catholickes were present with Paule at his praiers Diuers maners of praying with he retickes But we must necessarily make some distinction of diuerse manners of praying with hereticks The first manner is whan they pray with vs but Catholickly that is either in a Catholicke congregation or else priuately but yet after a Catholicke forme and manner which maketh such ceremony not to be accounted as an hereticall ceremony but rather as Catholicke So that here I doe not so much shew my selfe to communicate with the hereticke as he to communicate with me This was accounted in the auncient Church alwaies vnlawfull vntill the Councèll of Constance and decree of Martinus the fifth For this degree of communication being not of it selfe vnlawfull neither implying any deniall or contempte of religion nor vnion with the hereticke in his diuision as it was iustly forbidden at the first so for the auoiding of many scandalls and daungers it was permitted after as we lately saied The second maner of cōmunicating with heretickes in praier is when we cōmunicate with them in their proper Churches or if in priuate houses yet after their owne particuler forme and maner And this was that which Origen refused And although hee woulde no doubt haue refused also the first communication as than being vnlawfull according vnto auncient Canons than in force yet was hee by Eusebius iudgement thought in refusing this second communication to haue shewed his Catholicke faith which he should haue denied if he had donne otherwise This second kind of praying with hereticks is in it selfe vnlawfull For it importeth a particuler vnion and association in that in which they haue cutte thē selues from the house of DAVID and erected a new Aultar fashioned new calues and new Gods besides him which cannot be truely worshiped but in the trew spirituall Hierusalem The third kind of communication with heretickes in praiers is to receaue their baptisme or sacrifice of whatsoeuer maner it be or any kind of trew or counterfaite Sacrament And this is in the highest degree of spirituall cōmunion with them alwaies vnlawfull and most detestable as also the second although somewhat in a greater measure of iniquity These three degrees you shall now see plainly set downe in three Canons of the Apostles where by the diuerse punishments contained you may iudge of the greuousnes of euery one The 44 Canon hath thus A Bishopp Priest The Canons of the Apostles or Deacon which shall ioine prarers with hereticks lett him be onely suspended from Communion But if also hee permitte them to doe any thing as Clerks lett him be deposed In the 63 Canon so we read If any Clearke or lay man enter into the Sinagogue of the Iewes or conuenticle of hereticks that he may ioine praiers with them lett him be deposed and excluded from the Communion Finally this is the 45 Canon The Bishoppe or Priest which hath taken the baptisme or sacrifice of heretickes we commaund to be deposed For what agreement is there betweene Christ and Beliall or what portion is there vnto a faithfull with an Infidell ⧠Where although it pleased the holy Apostles to impose sometimes punishments vpon the Clergy onely as which of dewty should be the forme of the flocke yet doth both their reason and the practise of the Church shew the thing to be vnlawfull to euery faithfull Christian But here you very subtelly reply that it is the comming into heretickes Churches for that intent of praier which is condemned in the 63 Canoni not the onely comming without any praier at all Nay Sir that is no good glosse For the 44 Canon imposeth a smaller penance for praying with them and that only to some degrees of the Clergy Therfore here is something more than praying with them forbidden and what is that but going to their conuenticles which going because they will distinguish from that going which may be sometimes lawfull they call it going for to pray And it is alwaies vnderstood that one goeth for to pray whan he is orderly present at the time of praier Neither can mans iudgement which searcheth not the harte esteeme otherwise Neither did euer the custome of the Church according to the politicke and new deuised intentions interpret the presence of a man at seruice or Masse but as a communication in praier For which cause good Catholickes were alwaies bounde to auoide the Chappell or Church whan any excōmunicate person in none of the tollerable degrees shewed before entered in Which if he did not he reputed him selfe to haue cōmunicated with him in praier Nauar. c. 27 n. 20. The 4. Coū cell of Carthage c. 71. 72. howsoeuer lewdly or idlely disposed the excōmunicate person was Thus much of the Canons of the Apostles The 4 Councell of Carthage where S. Augustine was present thus honourably speaketh of your Churches The Conuenticles of heretickes are not Churches but Conciliables with them we must neither praye nor sing ⧠Where if you make the same reply as before I geue you also the same answere And a new reason also for both For wheras praier with them is vnlawfull onely for this respect that we doe make our selues therby of their cōmunion or fellowship what doubt is there but in signification of this vnity it is all one to pray with them and to seeme to pray with thē Or who doubteth but that a shrewd wanton boy kneeling in his mothers presence at his praiers may satisfy her who knoweth not his minde although she be his mother as well in mouing his lippes onely and knocking his beades as if he had praied with greatest deuotion The Councell of Antioch The Councell of Antioch c. 2. With excommunicate
or donations or to receiue any thing by any wills or donations ⧠Thus S. Augustine Where you may obserue the cause of such punishment onely to be the gathering togither into seuerall cōuenticles which he calleth wicked separations and the not communicating with the Catholicke Church So that in S. Augustines iudgement you may see that it is all one to be gathered in Caluins wicked separation and not to communicate with the Catholicke vnity which I pray you what is it else but to be in Schisme l. 1. de bapt cont Don. c. 4. More plainly he calleth those which receiue Baptisme in the Donatistes congregation with an intent after their Baptisme presently to come to the Catholicke Church Schismatickes Such I say he calleth Schismatickes not disallowing the Sacrament but the receiuing of it in that Church which maketh schisme What need is it saieth he to committ this accursed euill euen but one day or one houre For whosoeuer desireth this to be graunted him may either of the Church or of God demaund that it may be lawfull for him but for one day to be an Apostata For there is no cause why he should feare to be an Apostata for one day and not feare to bee a Schismaticke or Hereticke for one day ⧠See how he accounteth the receiuing of the holy Sacrament of Baptisme of an Hereticke although with intent of coming to the Catholicke Church afterward to be Schisme and the persisting after in such congregatiō to continew the schisme Thus much he saieth of such as know the Donatistes not to be the trew Church In the next chapter But they which through ignorance are there baptised c. 5. thinking that to be the Church of Christ in cōparison of the former doe indeed sinne lesse yet are they greeuously wounded with the sacriledge of Schisme Wounded with the sacriledge of schisme ⧠He expoundeth him selfe afterwards because their ignorance cannot be excused Than is it Schisme to receaue a most holy trew Sacramēt of a Schismaticke Why I pray you not because * ibid. c. 2. they receiue baptisme but because they receiue it in Schismatickes Churches therfore the being in Schismatickes Church as one of their society is Schisme The like hee hath in the same booke * c. 8 Those whome they Baptize they cure of the wound of Idolatry and Infidellity but more greeuously they do strike with the wound of schisme Schisme by S. Augustine is more greeuous than Idolatry For Idolaters amongst the people of God the sword destroied but the Schismatickes the earth opening swallowed ⧠Behould what account this holy Doctour maketh of the company of schismaticks in their Churches not because the thing donne which is the administration of Gods most pure Sacrament is euill for he alwaies honourerh it nor because of the sinne of the minister vr worthely exercising his function for such sinne is most often committed euen in the Catholicke Church and cannot defile the worthy receiuour nor because of the euill or false beliefe or schismaticall mind of the receiuer for he supposeth the contrary but onely for that association which is had in a Schismaticall congregation with the same and is not onely committed in the acte of the Sacrament there receiued but euer after by remaining amongst thē is continewed The same Doctour where he intreateth against Emeritus a Danation Bishop Of such as were of the parte of Donatus in harte but yelded to the Catholickes their corporall presence saieth that they are CARNE INTVS SPIRITV FORIS Thā is it also a cleare case that the very corporall presence in Caluins parte maketh one to be CARNE INTVS SPIRITV FORIS that is in fleshe within Caluins Church in spirit without and because as we said aboue none can be of Gods Church deuided See §. 24. but he must be wholly of the same what remaineth but that such are to be esteemed of Caluins S. Gregory l. 1. ep 36. not of Christ his Church Of S. Gregories time we haue most euident testimony Who not onely strictly forbiddeth that any person permitte his children bondslaues or any belonging to his iurisdiction to be baptized by the Donatistes But whan the Inhabitants of a certaine Iland called Caprea L. 7. ep 99. returned frō schisme sending their Embassadours to Rome for their reconciliation he gaue order that if theire fitst Bisshop would be also reconciled to the vnity of gods Church he should remaine their Bishopp otherwise that a new should be made that our Lords flocke saieth he may be secure against the dartes of the deceitfull enemy Which great care considering the tumultes inconueniences which happen where two seuerall Bishops do sitt had bene in vaine if that people might haue receiued theire spirituall things of their olde Schismaticall Bishop Neither is there any cause herof but the exteriour shew of vnion in his congregation wheras the difference in doctrine seruice and Sacraments was none at all Whosoeuer readeth ouer the histories of such Schismes as haue bene heretofore in the Romane Church whan there hath bene diuision of Popes although the Romane Church was neuer deuided but all deuiders haue presently ceassed to be of this Church he shall finde this doctrine of auoiding Schismaticks most cōstantly on both sides to haue bene obserued For as the Schismatickes did arrogate vnto thē selues the name of the trew Church so did they also alwaies paint them selues with the shew of whatsoeuer piety the trew Church should professe L. 6. vitae Sancti Bern c. 6. In the time of that greate Schisme betweene Innocentius the second and Peter Lyon S. Bernard a most carnest defendour of the trew Pastour of the Church at POITIERS before that Church had publickely shewed it selfe to be Schismaticall had offered vnto God in the Cathedrall Church the immaculate Sacrifice But after his de parture the Deane of the same Church broke very impiously but not scotfree the Aultar in which the holy man had celleorated for after a very shorte time he died most desperatly And whan the Prince of that countrey of A quitane who had opposed him selfe to Innocentius came to parley with S. Bernard after much debating of the matter S Bernard gotte him selfe vnto the most effectuall armour of the Diuine misteries When the Prince him selfe was not permitted to enter into the Church but by the Diuine autority of the Saint adiuring hun in the presence of Christes body which vpon the sacred Patene he caried forth of the Church vnto him was at the length mollified and of a wolfe S. william D. of Aquitane became a lambe and of a SAVLE a PAVLE and of a notorious sinner a glorious Sainte and patterne of trew repentance for nourishing the diuision of the Church Than doe we euidently see that on both sides this hath alwaies bene an inuiolable custome that aswell the Schismaticke hath auoided the Catholicke as the Catholicke hath shunned the spirituall communication with