the truth to flie to the Scriptures And Tertullian reiects that which is brought if it be not in the Scriptures Origen saith Christ is no where to be sought but in the mountaines of the law and the Prophets Yea Ierome makes the Scriptures the bounds of the church beyond which she may not go Are you able to shew this authority in all particuler points of Controuersie whereof a man may doubt Are you not faine in many particulars to deny the sufficiency of the Scriptures and to run a madding after traditions What talke you then of shewing sufficient authority The bestauthority you can alleadge for many matters is the Popes will who cannot erre as you ridiculously imagine And this authoritie is all the reason you haue in diuers points except such stuffe as Durād brings in his Rationale diuinorum officiorum wherof many of your own men are ashamed I had thought your Friers vow of obedience to their superiours or at least the Iesuits special vow of blind fold obedience head bene the height of all perfection in this life but I perceiue now that there is a greater opinion of holinesse in these vowes then there is cause why For you tye the obedience of euery Christian in such sort to the authoritie of the Church and indeed of his particular pastor yea of euery Priest or Iesuite that comes licenced by Blackwell or some new Garnet that be must beleeue without enquiring any reasō whatsoeuer such a fellow shall deliuer to him for truth This is the obedience one of your Cardinals speakes of Obedience without reason saith Cusan is full and perfit obedience namely when a man yeelds obedience without requiring any reason as a beast horse or other obeies his maister So doth your Popish Clergie vse the people as men do their Asses make them beare and do what they list yea euen to the attempting of most horrible and incredible treasons against their Soueraigne and countrey I will not now dispute what agreement there is betwixt faith and reason nor whether of them is the former nor in what case a man may require reason onely that no man may conceiue amisse of our doctrine concerning our demanding of proofe for that we are enioyned to beleeue he is to vnderstand that we aske no farther proofe but to be perswaded that the point deliuered to vs is warranted by Scripture Let it be neuer so much in seeming contrary to reason if it be agreeable to Scripture we hold our selues bound in conscience to take it for truth though we be no way able to answer such reasons as we know are brought against it Neither yet do we rest satisfied as soone as some place of Scripture is alledged in a doubtfull matter but here indeed we hearken after reason Yet not to prooue that true which we find affirmed in Scripture but to make vs perceiue that such and such is the meaning of the Scripture Whatsoeuer the Scripture saith we acknowledge to be absolutely true so farre as it is deliuered for true by the holy Ghost But what the sense of the Scripture is we thinke it must be prooued by the true vse of reason according to the certain principles of diuinitie and such helps as obseruation of circūstances vnderstanding of the tongs conference of like places logical discourse with such other helps reasonably affoord vs. But why should you find fault with demanding reason or not be most willing ready to ioyne it to your authority since as Cusan saith faith is not abased by reason but exalted euen as water in a vessell supports and lifts vp oyle As for your proofe that therfore we may not demand a reason nor so much as enquire whether the points that are taught vs be sutable to the Scripture or no because Christian beliefe must onely be grounded vpon the authority of God speaking by the mouth of the Church we say that you auouch that which is not true For Christian faith must be grounded vpon the authoritie of God speaking by the pens of his Apostles and Prophets in the Scripture not vpon the authoritie of any company of men liuing from time to time in the world The Church you dreame of will I doubt not in another part of my answer be shewed to be nothing but a fancy and a gay word to deceiue the simple when as by it you meane no more but your clergie or perhaps your Bb. onely assembled in a Councell or the Pope himselfe alone who can with no more reason be called the Church then the head may be tearmed the body or the whole man if I should grant you that he is the head which is both false and absurd The Lord vseth not the authoritie of men to enioyne what they list for a matter of faith but their ministery to beget faith by declaring what he hath reuealed in the Scripture through euidence of truth and power of exhortation testified and made effectuall by the mightie grace of the holy Ghost in the hearts of them that shall be saued A. D. §. 11 The which briefe and compendious resolution of faith whosoeuer will as euery one may securely and as in the discourse following shall be declared must necessarily embrace beside the ease he shall also reape this commoditie that cutting off all occasions of needlesse and fruitlesse doubts questions and disputes concerning matters of faith wherin vnsettled minds spend their time and spirit he shall haue good leisure and better liking then ordinarily such vnquiet mindes can haue to employ his endeuours more fruitfully otherwayes to wit in building vpon the firme foundation of stedfast faith the gold and pretious stones of Gods loue and other vertues in practise whereof consisteth that good life which maketh a man become the liuing temple of almightie God the which temple Gods spirit will not onely visite with holy inspirations and blessings oftentimes in this life but he wil also inhabite and dwell continually in it both by grace here and by glory in the other most happy and euerlasting life A. W. The securitie that ariseth from resting vpon the authoritie of the Church is freenesse not from danger but frō care This latter I confesse will easily be wrought by this perswasion in the heart of a carelesse worldling or a man superstitiously ignorant if he can be senslesly obstinate inough in keeping his eyes and eares from seeing and hearing the truth of God in the Scripture for to such men God sends strong delusions to beleeue lyes that they may be damned which haue not receiued the loue of the truth that they might be saued But alas what shall this ease aduantage them but onely that they may go laughing to destruction as a foole doth to the stocks and whip What necessitie can there then be of embracing such a dāgerous resolution Besides the ease you tell vs now of another commodity that may be reapt by embracing that
not Is this companie of Clergie men onely or of Lay men also If of them then belike these are none of the Church But let vs grant that which as it shal appeare in due place is neither true nor probable that the Clergie onely is the church howsoeuer they may be so representatiuely What assurance can any man haue who liueth not in the time of this assembly I might say in the place too where it is that there was any such assembly that the greatest part agreed to the approouing of such a translation that this is the translation they agreed to Especially seeing two Popes since the last Conuenticle of Trent haue set out your authentical translation diuersly Whether of these two was agreed on How shall I be infallibly assured that these Popes altered nothing in the translation allowed by the Councel Shall I say more What if this Councell vsed not the meanes of examining this translation by the originals What if most of them as it is most certaine had no skil in the originals and so did but leape after some few like sheepe not vnderstanding what they did yet the shoot Anchor holds the Pope allowed of their iudgement What if his skil were but indifferent He could not erre you will say What was the reason why he allowed that translation because the Councel examined and approued it But without him al they might erre especially if they did not vse all good meanes to find out the truth VVho assured him they did Shall we haue the holy Ghost like Mahomets doue to come and certifie the Pope of this doubt This is a matter of fact and in things of such nature the Pope may erre euen iudicially Well I will deale bountifully with you Put case all this be true How shal I attaine to infallible assurance hereof Forsooth some Priest or Frier Iesuite or other telleth me that things so passed and therefore I am bound to beleeue it Then my faith resteth not vpon the authority of the Church but vpō the credit of him that saith he is sent by the Church to make such report Thus it cometh to passe that the beleefe of vnlearned Papists is nothing else but a perswasion they haue that such a priest knoweth what is true and will not deceiue them with any false informations Tell me not of other Priests and Iesuits consenting with him that was thy spirituall father for all these together if there were ten times as many of them are not the Church in which onely this infallible authoritie is to be found And so there can be no such assurance in any vnlearned Papist of the truth of your vulgar or any other translation I confesse it is against both Charitie and Ciuilitie to suspect a man of vntruth without iust cause of suspition but such fruites grow vpon such rootes of Poperie that a man must needs be either vnciuill in giuing credit to nothing though vpon neuer so good reason or else ridiculously credulous in beleeuing euery thing that shal be told him though neuer so much against reason But the spirit of God teacheth and perswadeth men to beleeue the Church Are you they that mocke at priuate spirits and yet are glad to flie to that helpe Is it not as likely the spirit should teach men which is the Scripture as which is the Church And assure them of a translation as of this or that mans ordination and priesthood If such proofes as I haue spoken of before will serue wee are nothing inferiour to you but as well for weight as number superiour If you say the Scriptures enioyne vs to beleeue the church How shall I be assured that they are not in those places that seeme to enioyne such a beleefe falsly translated Because the Church saith they are true in all points What if the Church be deceiued It cannot be Who saith so The Scripture Who tels you the Scripture saith so The Church What is to be ridiculous if this be not It might seeme exceeding strange that euer any reasonable man should be ledde away with such fopperies if the holy Ghost had not foretold vs of it that God would send men strong delusions that they should beleeue lies that all they might be damned vvhich beleeued not the truth but had pleasure in vnrighteousnesse These delusions poore ignorant Papists trust to and to none more then to those which are the maynest of all the authoritie of the Church and impossibilitie of the Popes erring to which whosoeuer firmely cleaueth can neuer be good Christian or faithfull subiect in any Church or state whatsoeuer A. D. §. 2. Secondly they faile in the second condition or propertie which the rule of faith should haue For the Scriptures themselues alone in what language soeuer be obscure and hard to be vnderstood at least to vnlearned men who cannot reade them and therefore the Scriptures alone cannot be vnto vnlearned men a sufficient rule to instruct them in all points of faith as is plaine For locke vp an vnlettered man and an English Bible for a time in a studie and hee will come forth I warrant you as ignorant in matters of faith as he went in if wee adde no other meanes to instruct him but the bare written word which hee cannot reade And yet vnlearned men may be saued and saued they cannot be without an entire and vnfallible faith and this they cannot haue vnlesse there be some certaine rule and vnfallible meanes prouided by Almightie God meet for their capacitie to teach them this faith and Scripture alone as is now proued is not a rule meete for the capacitie of vnlearned men or apt to instruct them sufficiently in all points of faith But what speake I onely of vnlearned men sith also learned men cannot by onely reading the Scriptures be vnfallibly sure that they doe rightly vnderstand them For while they vnderstand one way perhaps they ought to vnderstand another way that which they vnderstand plainly and literally ought perhaps to be vnderstood figuratiuely and mystically and contrarie that which they vnderstand figuratiuely ought perhaps to be vnderstood properly And seeing that it is most certaine that all doe not expound right sith the exposition of one is contrarie to the exposition of another as right is neuer contrarie to right how should one be vnfallibly sure that hee onely expoundeth right hauing nothing to assure him but the seeming of his owne sense and reason which is as vncertaine and fallible as the iudgements and perswasions of other men who seeme to themselues to haue attained as wel as he the right interpretation or sense Moreouer there be many things required to the perfect vnderstanding of Scripture which are found but in very few and those also in whom those gifts are are not vnfallibly sure that they are so guided by those gifts but that both they and others may prudently doubt lest sometimes in their priuate expositions as men they erre And consequently their priuate
well make an end of answering to this treatise because I haue ouerthrowne the maine strength of your discourse and discouered to all men that will not be wilfully blind the weaknesse of your reason but for the better satisfaction of the vnlearned I will follow you from Chapter to Chapter that the truth may the more easily be discerned A. D. CHAP. XI That the Church whose doctrine must be to vs the rule of faith must alwayes continue without interruption from Christ his time till the worlds end A. W. That there alwayes hath bene since the beginning of the world excepting perhaps the time betwixt the fall of our first parents and their faith in the Messiah that there is and alwaies shal be a Church viz. certaine men that are predestinate to life and actually beleeue in Iesus Christ it neuer came into any of our minds to be doubted of that there should be such a companie as you conceipt all the Papists in the world cannot proue A. D. §. 1. Considering what hath bene proued in the former Chapter about the infallible authoritie of the doctrine of the true Church I hope no Christian will deny but that so long as this Church doth continue we haue of it a sure pillar and a firme foundation whereupon we may safely build our beleef For either a man must deny that euer our Sauiour did make any such promise gaue such charge and commission left any such warrant set forth such a commaundement or thundred out any such threats as before is rehearsed which were to denie the Scriptures which scriptures are generally receiued by all Christians no otherwise then as they are the vndoubted word of God or else he must wrest the interpretation thereof both from that which the words of themselues naturally yeeld and also from the common sense and vnderstanding either of all or the most learned and almost of the vnlearned also of the whole Christian world or else he shall be forced to confesse that which not I but Saint Paul hath said Ecclesia est columna firmamentum veritatis the Church is the pillar and ground of truth Onely it may perchance seeme to some of those that doe at this day oppose themselues against the authority of the Church that this was true for Saint Pauls time and perhaps for some three foure fiue or six hundred yeares after but not to be presumed vpon in latter times and namely when Luther began his reformation as they tearme it or now adaies A. W. Considering how weake your proofes haue bene as in the former Chapters so namely in the last about the infallible authoritie of the doctrine of the true Church I hope there is no reasonable man not only no Christian that will build his faith and saluation vpon so tottering a pillar and so slipperie a foundation But because you seeme to dote so much vpon your last Chapter I wil once againe be content to examine the substance of it as it is here repeated by you with some litle alteration Either we must denie that our Sauiour hath so promised charged warranted threatned or we must falsely interprete the scriptures or else we must grant that the authoritie of the Church is a sure pillar and firme foundation whereupon we may safely build our faith But we neither may denie that our Sauiour hath so promised charged warranted commaunded threatned neither may we falsely interpret the Scriptures Therefore we must grant that the authoritie of the Church is a sure pillar and firme foundation whereupon we may safely build our beleefe First in general for your whole syllogisme if the cōclusion you intend were no other thē that you pretēd propoūd that the Church is the pillar groūd of truth as S. Paul saith there would be no question in this matter betwixt vs. For we haue learned to acknowledge the truth of all and euerie part of the scripture But the beginning of this Chapter sheweth that you meane by the Churches being the pillar and ground of truth that we may safely build our beleefe vpon the Churches authority which as I prooued in my answer to that Chapter is no part of the Apostles meaning In this sense must we take your conclusion Secondly in particular I denie your Maior because your disiunction is naught presuming a necessitie where there is none For neither we need to denie that our Sauiour hath so promised charged warranted commanded threatned neither is there any cause why we should falsely interprete the Scriptures and yet we haue no reason to grant that our faith may safely be built vpon the authoritie of the Church No such thing as I haue shewed can follow vpon the words of scripture alledged by you Therefore we need not denie the promises charge warrant commandement or threatning of our Sauiour or else grant the Church such an vnlimited authority Neither will the true sense of those Scriptures either enforce or beare any such illation or conclusion touching the infallible authoritie of the Church And whereas you thinke to face out the matter with naming the common sense and vnderstanding either of all or the most learned and almost of the vnlearned also of the whole Christian world my answer propounding the iudgement of many excellently learned and ancient writers of those places prooueth that to be but a vaine popish brag without all likelihood of truth especially since you that spare not to heape vp testimonies of Fathers when they are needlesse and to quote their bookes and chapters sometimes for a bare phrase alledge not so much as the name of any one author for the proofe of your interpretation of twelue seuerall places of scripture Your proffered seruice in helping vs with this distinction hath more shew of kindnesse then good meaning For it is not brought in to confirme our answer but to giue your selfe occasion of vttering that which you are taught to vrge for proofe of this question But we neither need your aide and haue good cause to suspect your fauours In a word your distinction is such as none of vs euer brought or would bring to answer those places of scripture We confesse that whatsoeuer was promised to the Church in those texts was promised for continuance to the end of the world but we say that the first promise was not concerning the Churches not erring the three last are particular to the Apostles at least for such a measure of teaching But what should I repeat that which was deliuered in the verie last Chapter The thing you harpe vpon though vntunably is that your Romish church or rather the Church of the East West were indeed the pillar and ground of truth for the space of some 600. yeares after Christ but afterwards fell away from that soundnesse of doctrine which before it had cleaued vnto Such a matter there is acknowledged by our Diuines yet no man saith either that the Church erred not in any point during that
Ambrose to enquire after the faith of the Church and that especially in which Church if Christ be a dweller it is doubtlesse to be made choise of But if the people be vnfaithful if an heretical teacher deforme the dwelling the communion of heretickes is to be auoided the congregation must be shunned And a little after If there be any Church that refuseth the faith and holds not the foundation of the Apostles preaching it is to be left lest it taint vs with some spot of vnbeliefe or vnfaithfulnesse Neither will it serue the turne that you referre vs to that which is generally holden by the Church for both the generall faith depends vpon the particular beliefe of the Church or Pope of Rome and is not to be taken for truth because it is generally receiued but because it agrees with the Romane faith as we learned before of your Monkes of Bourdeaux who make the Catholique Church to haue communion with the Church of Rome as the fountaine of truth and of greater authoritie in their iudgement then the Catholicke Church But let vs admit that you desire of beleeuing whatsoeuer is generally holden by the Church I am half afraid this conceit be it neuer so strong wil not procure the quietnes you promise vs. The causes of my feare are these two First I may doubt of such a point as is not yet determined by the Church for example I make question of the Popes authority aboue Councels or theirs aboue him How shall I most certainly be instructed in the truth of this question Enquire say you and find what is generally holden by the Church What if the Doctors of your Church cannot agree about this point That they cannot it appeares by your owne doubting where you make it questionable whether the Pope alone or the Pope with a general Councell be free from error And Bellarmine is faine to take a great deale of paines in answering the arguments of diuers Papists some of them equall to himselfe for learning iudgement and authoritie who make the Pope subiect to generall Councels But of this in due place Say it were generally agreed on Could I thereby be most certainly instructed what is truth in this point May not all saue the Pope be deceiued and perhaps he to without the aduice and assent of a general Councell at least if he haue not in his consistory vpon good deliberation resolued of the matter What shall it auaile me then to know that generally it is thought the Pope is aboue any Councell Supposing this point were generally held to be true though indeed as I said before it is denyed both by priuate men by 2. councels that of Basil the other of Constance which deposed two Popes Iohn the three and twentieth and Benedict the thirteenth And Bellarmine saith that to this day it remaines in question euen among the Catholikes Well put case all men thought as Bellarmine and all such Popish parasites would haue it what were I the nearer as long as there can be no certainty of truth in your opinion where nothing is iudicially determined by a Pope Coūcell The second resō of my doubt is that I know not how to find out either easily as you say euery man may or certainly though with some paines what is generally holdē by the Church for truth in al particular points wherof I doubt Shall I looke into the confessions of seuerall Churches Where are they to be found Shall I trauail into euery particular country to learne what they hold of this or that poynt What assurance can I get hereby but from some speciall men And it is a venture but they will not all agree in euery point What remaines Forsooth that which is all in all I must beleeue Watsō or Clarke or Blackwel the archpriest or if al these will not content me Gerrard Tesmond Hall or without all doubting Garnet the superior of the Iesuites who questionlesse is as void of error as the Pope himselfe Haue I not trow you a sound foundation to build my faith vpon when I haue the word of these equiuocating traitours Priests and Iesuits And yet this is the most I can haue in this case if I be a man vnlearned especially vnable to reade Is it possible any man should be so senslesse as to hazzard his euerlasting saluation vpon such an vncertainty to beleeue he knowes not what because a Priest or a Iesuit tels him that the Church generally doth so beleeue But what if it fall out as it may do that the Priests perswade him the Church holds one thing and the Iesuites affirme it maintaines the contrary how shall a poore soule either settle his iudgement or quiet his conscience Quid sequar aut quem Were it not a directer and certainer course to hold nothing for truth in religion but that which is proued to vs by plaine testimonies of Scripture or certaine consequence of reason drawne from principles euidently exprest or apparētly contained in the knowne word of God The difficulties of translation and interpretation shal be handled in their places which also as I shewed ere while accompany al your writings of priuate men Popes or Councels Now then if their be many particular points of cōtrouersies whereof I may doubt which are not resolued of by any iudgement of the Church nor agreed vpon by the learned of your owne side if I cannot certainly know what is generally held for truth by the Church but as I giue credit to the report of a Priest or Iesuit whom I know to be partiall in the matter because he is one of the Popes vassals subiect to erre because he is a priuate man likely enough to lye because he maintaines equiuocation what madnesse were it for me to forbeare searching and studying of the Scriptures where I am sure the truth of God is to be found and to lose my time and labour in seeking what the Church generally holds and that of those men who perhaps vnderstand not what is held but as they haue bene informed by others who may themselues haue mistaken the true meaning of the Church in that it holds A. D. §. 10. Of which points also If they be desirous they may haue sufficient authority and reason yeelded by the learned of the same Church though they should not so desire reason to be yeelded that without reason be giuen they would not beleeue at all or as grounding their faith vpon the reason giuen sith Christian beliefe ought onely to be grounded vpon the authoritie of God speaking by the mouth of the Church who ought to be beleeued in all matters without giuing any reason A. W. There is no sufficient authoritie for a man to ground his faith vpon but the truth of God reuealed Whatsoeuer is taught without that authoritie is as easily contēned as alleadged Therfore Iustine wils him that would be setled in
Leo faith that is true is a strong bulwarke to which faith nothing may be added by any man from which nothing may be taken because vnlesse it be one it is not faith sith the Apostle saith one Lord one faith one baptisme Is it not euident that he speakes of the points of faith that are to be beleeued For to them may a man adde I speake of power not of lawfulnesse from them may he take wheras the qualitie of faith seated in the soule is free from all such danger The learned father had found by experience that hereticks from time to time tooke vpon them to diminish and augment the faith of the Church that is the articles of religion and therefore denieth them to haue any faith that hold not firmly and onely the truth of doctrine according to the faith of the Church agreeable to Scripture A. D. §. 3. Omni studio saith S. Hierome Laborandum est primùm ocurrere in fidei vnitatem We must labour with all diligence first to meete in the vnitie of faith A. W. Ieroms testimonie wherein either the printer or you reade vnitatem for vnitate which is also the word in the text is to the same purpose that Leos was There are saith Ierome many winds of doctrine and by their blast when the waues are raised men are caried hither and thither in an vncertaine course and with diuers errors then follow the words you alledge Therefore we must labour with all diligence first to meete in the vnitie of faith then in the same vnitie to haue the knowledge of the sonne of God Which last point is added because of Sabellius who denied the distinction of the persons and against whom Ierome speaketh professedly in that chapter as also against Arius Macedonius and Eunomius about the holy Ghost and our Sauiour Christ A. D. §. 4. Hanc fidem saith Irenaeus ecclesia in vniuersum mundum disseminata diligenter custodit quasi vnam domum inhabitans similiter credit ijs quasi vnam animam habens vnum cor consonanter haec praedicat docet cradit quasi vnum possidens os Nam quamuis in mundo dissimiles sint loquelae tamen virtus traditionis vna eadem est This faith the Church spread ouer the whole world doth diligently keepe as dwelling in one house and doth belieue in one like manner those things to wit which are proposed for points of faith as hauing one soule and one heart and doth preach and teach and deliuer by tradition those things after one vniforme manner as possessing one mouth For although there be diuers and different languages in the world yet the vertue of tradition is One and the same Thus saith this Father By whose words we may vnderstand not onely that there is but one faith but also how it is said to be one which might seeme not to be one considering there are so many points or articles which we beleeue by our faith and so many seuerall men who haue in them this faith yet One saith this Father it is because the whole Church doth beleeue those points in one like manner That is to say because the beliefe of one man is in all points like and nothing different from the beliefe of another or because euery faithfull man beleeueth euery point or article for one and the like cause or for mall reason to wit because God hath reuealed it and deliuered it to vs by his Catholicke Church to be beleeued For which reason euery one should beleeue whatsoeuer he beleeueth as a point of Christian faith A. W. Irenaeus as the two former speaketh of the articles of religion many wherof he had recited in the next chapter before whereupon he infers the words you set downe The Church saith he hauing receiued this doctrine or preaching of this faith though it be spread ouer the whole world keepes it diligently c. And this your selfe acknowledge in these words To wit which are proposed for points of faith whereby you expound that which Irenaeus said The Church beleeues those things which is all one with his former words in sense This faith the Church holds So doth Feuardentius one of your learnedst Fryers vnderstand Irenaeus telling vs that he sets the consent of all Churches as a brasen wall that cannot be ouerthrowne against hereticks Of the same things saith Feuardentius they thinke beleeue write and teach the same By this place it is manifest that you take faith as it is a qualitie because you distinguish the points we beleeue from our faith by which we beleeue and so speaking of faith in that sense neuer a one of your proofes is either plaine or certaine But let vs see how you interprete Irenaeus He saith The whole Church doth beleeue alike meaning that all beleeue the same things not that the habit by which they beleeue is of like force like strength in euery particular Church or man which neither belongs to his purpose nor is true The intention or inward strength euen of the Catholick faith may be greater in one mā saith Domingo à Soto then in another and according to that increase our faith Therefore your former reason which you giue why faith is said to be one namely because the beleefe of one man is in all points like the beleefe of another must be vnderstood of likenesse in regard of the articles they beleeue not of any equalitie in the habit or qualitie it selfe and in that sense onely doth Irenaeus say that faith is one Which saith he no man by his eloquence maketh greater no man by his weaknes in speaking of it lesse We see saith Feuardentius that Irenaeus vehemently vrgeth the vnitie of doctrine and consent of faith which we affirmed to be one of the notes of the true Church Therefore whereas you said of Irenaeus that he affirmes faith to be one because the whole Church doth beleeue those things points of faith in one like manner you mistake his meaning and auow that which is vntrue It is great pitie but that such as you are coming in the name and by the authority of the Church should haue absolute credit giuen to that you teach without doubting or examining it at all Your second reason why faith is said to be one neither agrees with Irenaeus meaning as appeares by that which hath bene alreadie said and in the latter part is false too for both it is a fansie of yours that God hath deliuered it to vs by the Catholicke Church since the Prophets Apostles and Ministers are not the Catholicke Church but members of it the last all of them seuerally and ioyntly subiect to many errors though not fundamentall And the reason of beleeuing is simply and onely the authoritie and will of God made knowne to vs by the ministerie of men the holy Ghost enlightening our vnderstanding and enclining our hearts to beleeue But
end of the world professing the true faith and being built vpon Christ vpon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles If then we restraine the Catholicknesse of the Church to vniuersalitie of place wherein as we haue seene persons are also contained The Catholicke Church is nothing else but the companie of the elect taken now ordinarily not onely out of the Iewes as heretofore till the comming of our Sauiour but also out of all nations and people whatsoeuer If we stretch it farther to vniuersalitie of time also which can hardly be prooued out of the ancient writers it comprehendeth all the elect that haue bene are and shall be from the beginning of the world to the end thereof And thus much of the Catholicke Church concerning the meaning and reason of the word Now to your proofe as it lieth not by way of refutation but of explication We grant as I haue said often that the Church is common to all people and places not shut vp any longer within the land of Iewry nor appropriated to the Iews and we condemne them of error who teach as sometimes the Donatists Rogatians did that it is enclosed in Affrick or Europe or Asia or America or any of these and not common to euerie one of them aswell as to any of them But this is not so to be vnderstood as if the Church of Christ must needs be in all these or many of these at once in any one time It is enough that we acknowledge the vniuersality of it de iure thogh we denie it to be here or there de facto To speake plaine it belōgeth to the nature of the Church of Christ to haue all places open to it it is no more tied to Rome or Ierusalem then it is to London or Paris yea it hath spred it selfe ouer the face of the whole earth and hath bene or shall be in euerie particular countrie but this largenesse hath not bene nor perhaps shall be at any one time but by succession as it hath pleased God to affoord the meanes of the Gospell and giue a blessing to it sometimes in one place sometimes in an other as your selfe presently acknowledge But this doth not prooue that it is a marke to know the Church by This reason of the name Catholicke is a mere deuise of your owne and without warrant of antiquitie I say more it is false too vnderstanding it as you do not of the Church of the elect but of a companie of men making knowne profession of the true faith For in the beginning when the Church of Christ was as pure and as glorious as euer it was since it stretched not it selfe beyond the borders of Iewrie but was for a time shut vp within the walles of Ierusalem till the Lord by Herods persecution made way for it to passe into all the world From that time forward it grew mightily and setled it selfe in many countries yea it ceased not to multiply till the reuealing of Antichrist who by little and little corrupted the truth of doctrine euen in the fundamentall points and so destroyed the Church of God out of these parts of the world where it had florished some hundreds of yeares Yet was not the world left without a true Church no not in these westerne countries but such was the state of it as that it remained in a few chosen seruants of God who were hidden like those fifties in Israel from the eies of your rauenous wolues the bloudthirsty Cleargy of your Romish Synagogue Saint Austin in that booke you alledge had to do with the Donatists who insolently and wickedly rent themselues from the vnion of all the christian Churches then in the world allowing no other Church of Christ but that faction of their owne in a part of Africa They neither could nor did charge the Churches which they condemned with any grosse error in doctrine but confidently affirmed without all ground of truth or likelihood of reason that the Churches planted by the Apostles were vanished out of the world for supply whereof I know not by what miracle their Church forsooth sprung vp vpon a sodaine in that corner of Africa This ridiculous conceit of theirs Austin refuteth by shewing that the Church is to be sought and found in the Scriptures and not in the deuises and dreames of men Let vs not heare saith Austin this I say this you say but let vs heare this saith the Lord The Lords bookes are to be had to the authoritie whereof both of vs consent both giue credit both of vs obey There let vs seeke the Church there let vs trie our cause And a little after I will not haue the Church shewed me by mens deuises but by the Oracles of God And againe afterward when the hereticks expound the performance of the promise made to Abraham Thy seed shall be as the sand of the sea and as the Starres of heauen as if it had bene fulfilled in Donatus and his companie Austin answereth Reade vs this out of the Law out of the Prophets out of the Psalmes out of the Gospell it selfe out of the Apostles writings reade it and we beleeue it This foundation being laid in the fiue first chapters Austin proceedeth to prooue the vniuersalnesse of continuance of the Church out of the Scriptures out of the old Testament in the three next chapters out of the new in the test So that the argument you speake of beginneth at the sixt chapter the Maior or propositiō is in the first chapters to the sixt the Assumption or Minor in the other that follow But because you leaue those three chapters that shew what the Church should be out of the old Testament I will follow your course and begin at the ninth where Austin sheweth that the Church was to begin at Ierusalem and so to passe into Samaria and from thence to spread it selfe through the whole world To this he bringeth in the Donatists thus answering These things say they we beleeue and confesse that they are fulfilled but afterward the world fell away and onely Donatus companie remained VVhat doth Austin replie Let them reade this to vs saith Austin as they reade of Enoch of Noe of Abraham Isaac and Iacob and of the Tribes which remained the rest rending themselues away and of the twelue Apostles who continued faithfull when all other fell away These examples the Donatists had brought to countenāce their schisme Austin willeth them to prooue their stedfastnesse when all other Churches failed by the same Scriptures which were to beare witnesse of those whom they alledged He goeth forward to refute other arguments of theirs in the chapter following still pressing them with this that they should shew out of the Scriptures that the Church founded by the Apostles was to vanish away and their faction onely to remaine sincere This was his course and indeed what other course could he haue taken The hereticks as before I
did borrow the propagation of faith and seeds of doctrine I make bold to alter your translation let the skilfull Reader iudge whether I haue cause or no. But what of all these Tertullian doth not say that no Church is to be accounted Apostolicke but that which can without interruption shew her descent from the Apostles nor that euery Church is true that can make such proofe of her original But whereas the hereticks against whom he there dealeth reiected and receiued Scripture at their choise and would neuer leaue wrangling Tertullian appeales to the iudgement of those Churches which were knowne to be founded by the Apostles and in which the truth was most likely to be found As for your argument of succession you shall heare Tertullians iudgment of it Let hereticks saith Tertullian in the same book faine a succession from the Apostles they shall get nothing by it For their doctrine compared with that the Apostles taught by the diuersitie and contrarietie thereof will declare that it came not from any Apostle or Apostolicke man because as the Apostles would not teach contrary one to another so Apostolick men would not deliuer doctrine contrary to the Apostles vnlesse they were such as were fallen away from the Apostles to preach otherwise then they did So then the chiefe triall of a true Church is by the doctrine of the Apostles and their successors in the truth because it is possible for hereticks to shew their descent from the Apostles or some Churches which had their beginning from the Apostles or Apostolicke men Yea it is manifest that the greatest heresies as the foure maine ones condemned in the foure first generall Councels had their beginning of them who could shew their pedegree step by step from the Apostles in respect of outward succession We haue soone how weakly you haue proued that personall succession is a thing belonging to the true Church it remaines that you proue it to be proper to the church and not common to it with heretickes To which purpose you thus reason No vpstart noueltie contrary to the former faith of the Church can haue any Apostle or Apostolicke man for founder thereof Euery heresie is an vpstart noueltie contrary to the former faith of the Church Therefore no heresie can haue any Apostle or Apostolicke man for the founder thereof How much more truly and reasonably spake Tertullian of the like matter when he said that no Apostolicke man taught contrary to the Apostles vnlesse he were such a one as was fallen from the Apostles He saw and acknowledged that it was possible for a man instructed by the Apostles themselues to forsake the truth of doctrine and become an author or maintainer of heresie Doth not Saint Iohn speake of some who being bred vp in the church by heresie departed from it What should I name Hymenaeus Alexāder Phygellus Hermogenes Nicolas and such like Hardly can you name me any heresie that euer tooke rooting but the first plant of it sprung vp in the nursery of the Church Therefore your maior is altogether vntrue being vnderstood as it is of Apostolicke men in respect of personall succession not of succeeding the Apostles in truth of doctrine But you thinke to make good your proposition by Tertullians authoritie who challengeth the heretickes to shew the beginning of their Churches from some Apostolicke men Is it possible you should either write or reade that sentence of Tertullian and not perceiue that it cuts the very throate of your cause Doth not Tertullian in the sentence alledged by you directly confirme our opinion and ouerthrow yours Let them shew vs their beginning saith Tertullian from some Apostolicke man Is that enough I if we beleeue you who define Apostolicknes by personal succeeding the Apostles But what saith Tertullian He in plaine termes requires such an Apostolicke man as perseuered with the Apostles and forsooke them not Now that by this perseuering with the Apostles and not forsaking them he meanes agreement in doctrine I proue it euidently by that which followeth in the same Chapter First Tertullian shewes that it is in vaine for them to pleade succession in place if their doctrine be found contrary to that which the Apostles deliuered I set downe the sentence before Secondly he doubts not to say that by the hereticks disagreeing from the Apostles in doctrine those Churches which cannot proue themselues to be Apostolicke by naming any Apostle or Apostolicke man as the first founder of them may yet conuince them not to be Apostolicke and are themselues to be counted Apostolicke because of their consent in doctrine with the Apostles This is the summe of Tertullians words the words themselues run thus To this triall namely by doctrine as the next sentence before sheweth shall the hereticks be called by those Churches which though they cannot alledge any Apostle or Apostolicke man for their founder as being of late and now daily planted yet agreeing in the same doctrine are neuerthelesse counted Apostolicke by reason of their agreement in doctrine Do you not see that Tertullian disputeth for vs against your pretended succession That he confesseth heretickes may alledge personall succession That he acknowledgeth those Churches for true which cannot deriue their pedegree from the Apostles or any Apostolicke man That he maketh the truth of doctrine agreeing with the Apostles a certaine and necessarie marke of the true Church And are you not ashamed for all this to bring Tertullian for an author of so grosse an error VVere you so blinde that you discerned not this your selfe or did you so despise your Readers that you presumed they would neuer haue the wit to see your ignorance or craft It is now discouered sufficiently and yet this one point more must be added that Tertullian requireth this shew of their Churches beginning not of all heretickes as you deceitfully alledge him if you read him your selfe and tooke him not vpon credit at some other mans hands but onely of those who pleade their continuance from the time of the Apostles If any heresies saith Tertullian dare fetch their continuance from the Apostles time that therefore they may seeme Apostolicke because they were while the Apostles liued we may say let them shew the beginning of their Churches let them vnfould the succession of their Bishops c. With such learning and conscience doe you Papists alledge the Fathers that he must needes be honester and wiser then you that will not beleeue you vpon your bare word VVe see then that to be Apostolicke in your sense is no good marke of a true Church because Hereticall Churches may so be Apostolicke and true Churches not Apostolicke and contrariwise that to be Apostolicke in doctrine as we expound it is a most certaine note whereby a true Church may be knowne and the same that we onely allow of A. D. §. 7. It appeareth therefore plaine enough that these foure properties One Holy
God will haue all men to be saued not euery man p. 53. 55. 57. 58. 203. 257. The meanes of saluation by Christ are such as no man could deuise p. 102. 103. 113. 235. May be knowne what they are by the Scriptures without faith but not acknowledged to be true without faith p. 235. 236. Contempt or neglect of some things not absolutely necessary to saluation may yet depriue a man of it p. 188. The graces of sanctification shall make the enemies of Gods children acknowledge them p. 179. That this maÌ„ is saued rather then that it proceedeth froÌ„ the wil of God p. 203. Sacrament what it is p. 385. Administration of the sacraments not absolutely necessary to the being of a Church p. 226. 227. All things that belong to the right administration of the sacraments are set downe in Scripture p. 230. There haue bin 32. schismes in the Romish Church p. 393. None are properly schismatickes but they that refuse coÌ„munion with some true church p. 275. Schoole-mens writings full of needlesse and endlesse questions p. 20. All the schoolmen haue refuted some of their fellows or bin refuted by them p 313. Interprete and apply the scripture falsly p. 118. Scribes why so called p. 140. What is meant by Christs sheepfold p. 265. Similitudes how they argue p. 50. Scripture the epistle of the Creator to the creature p. 81. Acknowledged by Protestants and Papists to be the word of God p. 87. 42. May be knowne to be so by the matter p. 89. Written for the instruction of all p. 74. 79. 82. Of greater authority then any mans writings or then all mens p. 241. The bounds of the Church p. 61. Ignorance thereof the cause of all euils p. 119. Condemned by the Papists of hardnesse and vncertaintie and vnsufficiency p. 11. 73. 79. 22â— Are not hard p. 74. 75. 76. 77. 82. 94. Papists blasphemies against the Scripture p. 42. 5â— 81. Depriuing the people of them p. 52. Hard places of Scripture must be expounded by the plaine p. 79. Some places of Scripture so plaine that they cannot be mistaken p. 79. Why some places of Scripture are hard some easie p. 76. 82. Scripture expoundeth it selfe p. 82. Reading thereof may breed faith how p 25 26. 34 35 36. 75 76. 114. 235. Exposition of the scripture not tied to the senses of the fathers p. 121 No exposition to bee thrust vpon the church that cannot euidently be proued p. 122. The scriptures left instead of the Apostles to be aduised with in all points of faith p 97. May be vnderstood by naturall wit and learning p. 102. 103. Papists glad to flie to the priuate teaching of the spirit to know the scriptures p. 72. 245. Scripture why called Canonicall p 106. Christians doubting of the scripture how to be dealt withall p. 90. Atheists in the same question how to be dealt withall p. 90 92. Knowledge of scripture to be laboured for p. 20. 74. How far the scripture must be knowne before the church p. 244. 247. Many things required to the perfect vnderstanding thereof p. 73. 81 82. This word Expresly foisted in by the Papists into the question of the scripture p. 88 89 100. The Hebrew and Greeke originals reiected by the Papists p. 52. Interpretation of scripture p. 73. 80. 82. 92. 101. 118. 120. 121. Scripture an absolute rule for saluation p. 7. 17. 96. 97. 322. How alone sufficient to saluation p. 65. 66. 73. 78 96. 97. Sufficient for all matters of faith and maners p. 56. 67. 68. 83. 86. 87. 89. 94. 250. 260. 314 395. All parts of scripture not true in like sense nor of like necessitie to be beleeued p. 38 By what argumeÌ„t the spirit perswades vs that the scripture is from God p 245. Priuat spirit when to be reiected p. 120. What spirits are to be tried p. 252. Who are to trie them p. 254. Sins of infirmitie lesse hainous then sins of wilfulnesse p. 344. Suspition without iust cause against christianitie and ciuilitie p. 72. What succession is to be esteemed p 2. 393. 394. Succession no good mark of the church p. 394 395. Protestants haue succession if Papists haue it p. 392. 409. T The English Translation reproued p. 66 Defended p. 69. 70. Not held by vs to be infallible p. 68. 94. The Rhemish Translation hard to be vnderstood p. 70. The vulgar Translation corrupt in eight thousand places by the iudgement of a learned Papist p. 52 Doubts concerning it p. 71. The generall Analysis of the Treatise p. 4. 5. The summe of it p. 54. What Traditions are to be held for Apostolicall p. â—5 The spirit is to teach all truth how p. 130 God doth not miraculously reueale all truth at once to any man p. 313. Truth manifested by one simple man is to be preferred before the iudgment of neuer so many wise and learned in a Councell p. 249. 250. Truth must be receiued though deliuered by euill men p. 143. 144. Beleefe of euery truth is required as a dutie of sanctification p. 274. The truth hath had witnesse of men from time to time p. 205. From whom truth is hid p 82. Euidence of truth not visibilitie of the church the means of conuersion p. 204 The speedie conuersion of great multitudes by preaching a great argument of truth p. 205. Truth with contention is better then agreement with Antichristianisme p. 317 Without truth the greatest agreement is but a conspiracy against God p. 317. V The Protestants Churches haue meanes to continue vnitie p. 314. Vniuersalitie p. 65. Cannot be seene but onely conceiued p. 177. No certaine marke of the Church p. 293. The state of the question concerning the visibility of the Church p. 197. 209. 219 Visibilitie of the Church p. 174. 176. 198 202. 20â— 214. A Church may for a time be inuisible how p. 202. And yet the flock and Pastor know each other p. ead Why it was necessarie that the churches at the first should be visible p. 204. 205 The Catholicke Church inuisible p. 209 To whom the churches are visible p. 216 Voluntas signi beneplaciti p. 58. 59. W The will of God ought to be a sufficient reason of his doings to all men p. 204 Mans free-will preferred before Gods glorie by the Papists p. 361. Men commonly wonder at that they vnderstand not p. 27. Good workes shall be rewarded though not vpon desert 343. Good workes are not made meritorious by being dipt in Christs bloud p. 365. Faults escaped Page 61. line 16. for seene read said p. 69. l. 9. for which r. with p. ead l. 11. Isidorus Clarius put out the comma p 74. l. 4. in the marg for 13. r. 130. p. 80. l. vlt. for with r which p. 92. l. 28. for be r. he p. 93 l 26. for yours r. you p. 96. l. vlt. for expresly r. properly p. â—7 l. 19 for rule r. vse p. 119. l. 24. put out say p. 134. l. 17. in the mar for vli r. vbi p.
iniuriously you deale with vs herein a blind man may see For we neither claime any such priuiledge of being free from errour in citing and vnderstanding Scripture nor desire to be any farther beleeued for translation or interpretation then we can approue them by euident reason And this you knew well enough and are ready with the rest of your complices to accuse vs of referring all to euery mans priuate spirit But malice is as wel without sight as without shame That of Saint Austin we acknowledge to be most true and find it verified by your Rhemish translation and the applicatiō of Scripture in your Canon law and Schoole-mens writings out of which it is easie to bring a cloud of witnesses to this purpose For the other place of Austin you quote two treatises his 18. tract vpon Iohn and his 222. epistle to Consentius In the former whereof there is no such word to be found nor any such epistle either in the Basil or the old Paris print But in your late edition of Austin at Paris both the epistle and the words are wherein Austin maketh the misunderstanding of the Scriptures the occasion of heresie Who denieth it This may serue vs to proue that the ignorance of the Scriptures is exceeding dangerous euen as Chrysostome saith the cause of all euils In another place the same Austin telleth vs that men are for nothing else hereticks but because not rightly vnderstanding the Scriptures they obstinately maintaine their owne opinions against the truth of them And Tertullian goeth somewhat further shewing that heresies durst not peepe vp without some occasion taken by the Scriptures But he addes that those very heresies may be conuinced by the Scriptures If we misinterprete the Scriptures why do not you great Clearkes that haue the spirit tied to your Church refute our false interpretations by the Scriptures Do we refuse this triall Is it not that we stil vrge to haue all things examined by the Scriptures or is there any thing you more feare then to be confined to the Scriptures What though the diuell and hereticks alledge them Did not our Sauiour himselfe say so too What plea can you make wherein some heretickes haue not gone before you Will you brag of the Church Hereticks also both thinke and say they are of the Church yea they are in all things so like true professors that in Antichrists time as an ancient author speaketh there is no meanes of triall left but the Scripture If you vrge tradition so do heretickes too running vp and downe right like you Papists from tradition to Scripture and from Scripture to tradition They pleade Councels as well as you The Arians obiect diuers against Austin and other writers As for the Fathers was not Austin prest by the Donatists with Agrippin and Cyprian Did not the heretick Dioscorus cry out in the Councel of Chalcedon I haue the testimonies of the holy Fathers Athanasius Gregorie Cyrill I vary not from them in any point I am cast out with the Fathers I defend the fathers doctrine I haue their iudgement extant in their bookes Neither may we rest vpon miracles To let passe what before I said of that point remember what Austin saith Pontius say the Manichees did a miracle Donat prayed and God answered him from heauen The Scripture onely is the true touchstone in these cases if it be hard Let him that hath an heart saith Austin reade those things that go before and those that follow and he shall find the sense A. D. § 7. Wherefore there is no reason whereby we may be assured that such men haue the spirit of God but we may find many reasons to conuince that they haue not this spirit And to omit for breuitic sake the seeking out of any other euen the singularitie or priuatnesse of their spirit is sufficient not onely to moue vs to suspect it but also to condemne it and to assure vs that it cannot be the spirit of truth as it is very well signified by Saint Austin who saith Veritas tua Domine nec mea est nec illius sed omnium quos ad eius communionem publicè vocas terribiliter admonens nos ne eam habere velimus priuatam ne priuemur ea Nam quisquis id quod tu ad fruendū omnibus proponis sibi propriè vendicat suum esse vult quod omniū est à communi propellitur ad sua id est à veritate ad mendaciū Thy truth O Lord is neither proper to me nor him but common to all whom thou doest publikly call to the common partaking of it warning vs terribly to take heed that we will not haue it priuate to our selfe least we be depriued of it For whosoeuer doth challenge that to himselfe priuatly which thou doest propose publickly to be enioyed of all and will haue that his owne which is common to all he is driuen from the common to his owne that is to say from the truth to a lie A. W. To refute this conceit of a priuate spirit which was not worth this ado you argue from the singularitie or priuatenesse of it as if it could not be true because it is not agreeable to the common opinion And surely he that shall be so arrogant and shamelesse as to denie all the points of Religion commonly held vpon a presumption that himselfe onely hath the spirit of God is fitter to be cut off by the Magistrates sword then confuted by the word of Scripture But it is very possible that in some points and places some one man without any reuelation by diligent searching and prayer may finde out that which no other man yet knoweth at least for interpretation of Scripture as it falleth out euery day amongst both Protestants and Papists Therefore your Cardinall Caietan doubteth not to say that God hath not tied the exposition of the Scriptures to the senses of the Fathers and therefore asketh no more then reason when he willeth the Reader not to be offended or mislike it if sometimes himselfe hit vpon a new sense agreeable to the text though it go against the streame of the fathers For which though Canus reproue him without cause Andradius iustly defendeth him And why should he not since as Domingo a Soto witnesseth one mans authoritie and learning draweth numbers after him to his opinion By reason of a saying of Saint Austins saith Soto all the fathers after his time and all the Diuines with one consent haue worthily affirmed that the glorious Virgin neuer committed any actual sinne for all Chrysostome auncienter then he thought the contrary Yet was Austins iudgement in this case but priuate and for truth inferiour to Chrysostomes If publicknesse or generall consent should cary the matter how chance Paphnutius withstood all the rest of the famous Councel of Nice and preuailed We ought saith Picus Earle of Mirandula to
the Church to preach to all nations For your Church is as I haue said your Bb. assembled in Councel not your Clergie men seuerally one by one And it is not our Sauiors meaning to haue such a kind of teaching A. D. §. 6. The warrant we haue in S. Luke Qui vos audit me audit He that heareth you heareth me By which words appeareth plainly that our Sauior Christ would haue vs to heare and giue credit to his church no lesse then to himselfe A. W Our Sauiour by this place hath warranted all men to heare them that teach those things which hee commaunded to be taught besides which if any man teach his owne fancies for matters of faith that of the Apostle belongeth to him Let him be accursed The Apostles were absolutely to be heard without exceptiō as Christ himself all other teachers only so far as they speake according to the word of God He teacheth by this saith Cyril that whatsoeuer the holy Apostles deliuer is to be receiued because he that heareth them heareth Christ Our Sauiour addeth this in the end saith Lyra to shew that the doctrine of his disciples is deuoutly and reuerently to be heard at the least for reuerence of God whose principally that doctrine is But what doth this concerne the church Surely if it may be enforced to make vs heare any besides the Apostles without limiting of our hearing we are bound so to heare at the least euery B. These words saith Bellarmine belong properly to the Apostles and to their successors neither may it be said that this was spoken to all of them ioyntly and not to euery one seuerally Now if it be absurd and worse to hold that we haue warrant to heare euery B. whatsoeuer he teach doubtlesse this place proueth nothing for hearing the Church For by vertue of this speech the Apostles were to be heard without any exception If then it belong to their successors which are as you say Bb. as fully as to them euery B. must be heard and beleeued teach he what he wil. I wil yet say more our Sauior speaketh this of the 72. disciples and of euery two of them at the least Now your opinion is that your ordinary Priests succeed them as Bishops do the Apostles Hence it will follow that whatsoeuer any two Priests preach that must be holden for as certaine a truth as if Christ himselfe had spoken it Do you not see then that this must needs be restrained either to the Apostles or to the doctrine taught He that heareth you preaching that which I haue charged you to preach heareth me So doth your Glosse limit the latter part of the sentence He that despiseth you that is He that will not beleeue in Christ Indeed he that refuseth to beleeue in Christ by the ministerie of men refuseth Christ himselfe whose doctrine it is that we should beleeue in him Therfore your minor is false also in regard of the third part thereof We haue no warrant to heare any man the Apostles being dead but so farre onely as he agreeth with the Scriptures A. D. §. 7. The commandement is expressed in S. Mathew Super Cathedram Moysi sederunt Scribae Pharisaei Omnia ergo quaecunque dixerint vobis seruate facite The Scribes and Pharisies haue sitten vpon the chaire of Moses All things therefore whatsoeuer they shall say vnto you obserue and do Out of which words we may gather that we are bound in all points to do according to the doctrine of the Prelates of the Catholicke Church yea although it should happen that their liues were not laudable but bad For although our Sauiour in this place doth onely in expresse words make mention of the chaire of Moses in which the Priests of the old Law did sit yet he is to be vnderstood to speake also of the chaire of S. Peter his owne Vicegerent in which the Priests of the new law do succeed And this à fortiori because we haue greater reason to thinke that our Sauiour intended in his doctrine to giue rules to the Priests and people of his new law which was presently to begin and to continue till the worlds end then onely to giue documents to those of the old Law considering he knew that it should so shortly cease Wherefore the auncient fathers do vnderstand that place to be meant of the Priests of the new Law and namely S. Augustine who saith thus In illum ordinem Episcoporum qui ducitur ab ipso Petro ad Anastasium qui nunc in eadem Cathedra sedet etiamsi quisquam traditor per illa tempora subrepsisset nihil praeiudicaret Ecclesiae innocentibus Christianis quibus prouidens Dominus ait de praepositis malis quae dicunt facite quae faciunt facere nolite Into that order of Bishops which is deriued from S. Peter himselfe vnto Anastasius who now sitteth vpon the same chaire although some traitor had crept in in those times he should nothing hurt the Church and the innocent Christians for whom our Lord prouiding saith of euill Prelates What they say do what they do do not A. W. This is the only point which is able to make good the consequence of your proposition and therefore if you faile in the proofe of this all is naught But out of doubt you faile here exceedingly and so your reason comes to nothing He that commaunds the Iewes to do whatsoeuer the Scribes and Pharisies who sit vpon Moses chaire say bindeth all to do in all things according to the saying of the Church But our Sauiour so commandeth the Iewes Therefore he bindeth all to do in all things according to the saying of the Church First I say of this syllogisme as of the two last points that if it giue any authoritie to your Church it giueth the same to euery particular teacher For the Scribes and Pharises did expound the law of Moses not in Councels onely but euery one seuerally in the synagogues where they were appointed to teach Therefore if it be absurd to conclude vpon this text that euery Scribe and Pharisey was then and euery Preacher lawfully called is now to be heard whatsoeuer he teach sure no such matter can be wrung out of this place for the Church Secondly this reason maketh the Scribes and Pharises the Church shutting out the high Priest himselfe and all other priests that were not either Scribes or Pharises yea it presumeth which is vtterly false that the Scribes and Pharises were successors to Moses in an ordinarie course of authoritie as you say your Church that is your Pope and Bb. succeed Peter and the rest of the Apostles Can such an argument proue a matter of such importance and doubt Your proposition implieth that our Sauiour intended to giue rules concerning Saint Peters authoritie whom you call his Vicegerent Who wold trifle so in a questiō of such weight First proue his office and your Popes
right to it and then frame such arguments otherwise any man of neuer so little iudgment may find more cause to pity or disdaine your proofe or presumption then to stagger at the force of your reason All things in the Scripture were indeed writtē for our learning and therfore belong to vs so far as the general doctrine reacheth the particular circumstances are alike Wherefore I grant your proposition not because of any succession which could not be in those Scribes and Pharises being of diuers tribes and as your Genebrard saith hauing thrust themselues into the chaire of Moses being empty but because they expoūded the law of Moses among the Iewes as the Ministers of Christ do the Gospell at this day to the Christians Ere I answer to your Assumption I must speake a word of your translation haue sitten The Greeke indeed is so but as Vatablus noteth the praeter tense is put for the present tense Therefore Pagnine doubteth not so to translate it sedent sit Which must needs be our Sauiours meaning For how were it agreeable to reason that he should charge vs to heare the Scribes and the Pharises because they did sometimes sit vpon Moses chaire if now they sit beside it It is our Sauiours purpose to signifie that the expositions of the former Pharisies and of those that taught in his time were not to be reiected or rather it is al one as if he had said do sit But let vs reade the place which way we list it is all one to your minor which I denie To the proofe of it out of the text I answer First the sitting vpon Moses chaire signifieth not succession but teaching the law of Moses For Moses calling was altogether extraordinarie from God both for gouerning and teaching In the former Iosua and the Iudges succeeded him till the people were wearie of Gods ruling of them The other part of his office was to be discharged ordinarily by the Priests and Leuits That ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath commaunded them by the hand of Moses The Priests lips should preserue knowledge and they should seeke the Law at his mouth Ieshua and Bani c. and the Leuites caused the people to vnderstand the law And they read in the booke of the Law of God distinctly and gaue the sense and caused them to vnderstand the reading It was one thing to succeed Aaron another to sit on Moses chaire The chaire of Moses saith Cyril signifieth power of doctrine They sit in Moses chaire saith Origen which interprete Moses sayings well and according to reason And a little after The Scribes and Pharises sit naughtily vpon Moses chaire they sat wel that well vnderstood the law What is the meaning of that saith Ambrose The Scribes sat but because letters are written whereupon the Scribes in Greeke are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 following the interpretation of the letter not the sense of the spirit And afterward Therefore they teaching those things that Moses wrote c. So doth Theophylact expound it They that sit in Moses chaire that is that teach the things that are in the law And immediately before They that exhort to euill life do not then teach out of Moses chaire nor out of the Law Therefore to sit vpon Moses chaire is nothing else but to haue authoritie to expound Moses Law as he himselfe did expound it So the Ministers of the Gospell may be said to sit vpon the Apostles chaire because they haue authority to interpret the Gospel which the Apostles themselues preached Secondly I denie that our Sauiour commanded the Iewes or doth now charge vs to beleeue whatsoeuer they that haue authority to teach vs deliuer or to do whatsoeuer they enioyne This is apparent because himselfe refuteth condemneth their interpretations and doctrines many times as Mat. 5. In many points of which that one is most cleare Ye haue heard that it hath bene said thou shalt loue thy neighbour hate thine enemie but I say vnto you loue your enemies c. In vaine do they worship me teaching for doctrines mens traditions And in the same place he calleth them blinde leaders of the blind and addeth further that if the blinde lead the blinde both fall into the ditch Now can any man be so impious I might say blasphemous as to say that our Sauiour commaunded the Iewes to take such a course as should certainely bring them to destruction Nay rather he warneth them to take heed of their doctrine Take heed and beware he doubleth his admonition to make them more carefull of the leauen of the Pharises And what was this leauen The doctrine of the Pharises saith the Euangelist But what need we go out of this chapter for the point in question Doth he not afterwards call them blinde guides vers 16. 24. fooles blind vers 17. 19 Doth he not in the same places condemne and confute their absurd and lewde doctrine of swearing A man would wonder that euer any man professing himselfe a scholler or teacher should bring such miserable proofes in matters of so great weight But alasse we must beare with you you bring such as you haue if you knew any better we should be sure to haue them But these serue to deceiue your deuoted followers who wilfully shut their eies against the truth The iudgements of God are past searching out and his mercie in opening our eies to see your grossnesse greater then we are able to conceiue Well yet perhaps you haue some colour from antiquitie to countenance your exposition withall You quote Austin what None but Austin in a matter of so great doubt But let vs see why you quote him If to prooue that the Pharisies were to be heard and obeyed in all things there is no such word in his sentence alledged by you For he saith no more then we grant that Our Sauiour prouided before hand that we should not refuse good doctrine because it was deliuered by wicked men Indeed that was the verie purpose of our Sauiour and to that doth Austin apply it otherwhere according to the true sense of it What saith he else but heare the voice of the sheepheard though by hirelings such as Austin in that place saith the Pharifies and Scribes were and such as our Sauiour proueth them to be by their hypocrisie ambition couetousnesse The Apostle sheweth saith Austin in an other place that men without charitie may teach somewhat that is wholsome of such our Lord speaketh They sit vpon Moses chaire c. Whereupon also the Apostle speaking of enuious and malitious men yet such as preached saluation by Christ saith Whether by occasion or in truth Christ be preached Ireioice And in a third place He that speaketh wisely and eloquently but liueth wickedly teacheth many that are desirous
that the church must be visible to the members of it the Pastor must know the sheepe and the sheepe the Pastor Which of vs euer denied this visibilitie or what is this to proue that the Church in the beginning of the Gospell was to be famously visible in the eies of all the world In a word then to your propositions seuerally you must adde to your maior one of these two clauses either to the members of it signifying that the Pastors and sheepe could not know one another vnlesse the Church were then visible to the members of it or to all men meaning that there could not be such mutuall knowledge betwixt the Pastor and the sheepe vnles the church were visible to all men In the former sense your proposition is true but altogether wide from the marke you ayme at In the latter you shoote right but a great deale ouer For though your consequence by this meanes wil proue true and to the purpose yet your minor wil be ouerlarge and your question stil remaine vnproued For it is ridiculous to imagine not onely to affirme that the Pastor and flocke cannot know each other except all the world know them too Why may not the like be said of the husband and the wife the father and the children the maister and the seruants May there not be gouerning and obeying but where all men see these actions performed But I dwell too long vpon so cleare a matter Onely I was desirous to suite my answer somewhat like to your argument for the length of it lest shortnesse might make your followers thinke it not well answered We are now come to the third point of the former part which you conclude thus If men that were out of the church were to come into it for saluation and this could not be vnles it were visible then was this one reason of the visibilitie thereof But men out of it were to come into it for saluation and this could not be vnlesse it were visible Therefore this is one reason of the Churches visibilitie This is the onely argument of the three that hath any shew of reason in it and yet this also is far from any necessary proofe For if in your minor you meane that all and euery man was to come into the Church for saluation as if God had intended the saluation of euery particular man by the publishing of the Gospell your said minor is in that respect false For our Sauiour himselfe giueth his Father thankes that he had hid the mysteries of the Gospell euen there where it was publikly preached from the wise and men of vnderstanding and reuealed it to babes or simple men Yea he professeth that there was an especiall act of God his Father required to the drawing of men to beleefe euen there where himselfe preached most powerfully and that some only and not all were so drawne by God Neither doth the difference in this case proceed from man but from God lest that man which makes the difference betwixt himselfe and another should haue iust cause to boast as if he were more beholding to himselfe of whom he had the very act of being willing to be saued then to God who onely gaue him power to be willing Therefore your glorious and Angelicall D r. Thomas saith that there can no more reason be giuen why God intendeth the saluation of this man and not of that man then why the Mason layeth this stone aboue and that below each of them hauing a like fitnesse to each place But if by men you vnderstand those men that were chosen of God to euerlasting life to whom onely the preaching of the Gospell was effectuall to true faith and saluation then I denie your minor in regard of the latter part also For there was no necessitie of the visibilitie of the Church to that purpose as if God could not otherwise haue procured that they should beleeue and be saued I adde farther that the meanes which it pleased God to vse for the conuerting of those that were then to be saued and ordinarily for publishing the glad tidings of the Gospell was not the visiblenesse of the Church but the preaching of his Apostles So that as I signified before the greatest natiōs of the world embraced the Gospell of Iesus Christ not because they saw some visible Church to which they might adioyne themselues but for the euidence of the truth which some one man or other preached to them without any reference or respect to any visible Church whatsoeuer The dissoluing of the visible Church at Ierusalem was the occasion of preaching the Gospell through the world Hauing thus examined your seuerall proofes I returne now to your principal assumption for the farther confuting wherof I must shew that there may be some reason giuen why it might please God to haue the Churches visible in the beginning and not alwayes To which purpose I must first intreate all men to vnderstand that I do not vndertake precisely to set downe the reasons why God wil haue his churches somtimes famously knowen sometimes hidden from the knowledge of the world For his counsels are vnsearchable and his wayes past finding out Farther I acknowledge in all truth and humblenesse that I hold the reuealed will of God for a sufficient reason of any thing which he doth will though I could in my ignorance obiect somthing against it which might affoord some cause of doubting With this protestation I say these might be some reasons First wheras the means of saluation had bin for a long time shut vp in the land of Iurie and in a manner made proper to the Iewes now the partition wall being broken downe the Gentiles also were to be receiued into the Couenant which to our reason at least could not conueniently haue bene done vnlesse the profession of the truth had bene famous and visible But when once by this meanes the sound of it was gone ouer the world there was no such necessitie of continuing visible Churches Secondly this visibilitie was at the first the more necessarie because otherwise the Iewes to whom first the Gospel appertained being dispersed in many nations could not so easily take knowledge of it now they haue iudged themselues vnworthie of it and the Lord hath giuen it to vs Gentiles Thirdly it was no small proofe of the truth of the Gospell and the power of God working by the ministery of the word that so great multitudes should so speedily be conuerted by so weake meanes there is not alwaies the like vse of the Churches visiblenesse Fourthly though the Lord in his mercie would haue the Gospell published to the world yet when it became generally abused to wantonnesse that mens eares itched after new doctrines and esteemed more of their owne deuises then of the true worship of God appointed by himselfe it pleased his maiestie to leaue men to their owne blindnesse and presumption reseruing to himselfe
reason not only against Scripture were ordained properly as the ministery of the word the seruice of Angels for their sakes that are to be saued according to the election of God Secondly and as it were accidentally for the hardening of them that will not beleeue to leaue them without excuse To make your matter the more likely you tell vs of our Sauiours loue to mankind which in your diuinity is without exception or respect of persons How then can it sute with the purpose of God his Father who hath chosen some to glory refused other meerly of his owne iust will without respect of difference in the parties so chosen refused As for I that loue of mankind wherupon some men conclude that either all or the greatest part of men are loued by God to eternal life it is not to be vnderstood by comparison of men to men but partly of men to the Angels that fell in which respect the Apostle amplifies the mercy of God to vs He tooke not the Angels but he tooke the seed of Abraham partly of men to all other creatures none of which besides man is vouchsafed the honour to be ioyned in vnity of person with the Sonne of God and so to be made heire of euerlasting glory It is needlesse to repeat what I answered before to this place of Isay onely I will say thus much of your exposition that though all that see the Church may know it yet it doth not follow that therefore all men may see it which you make the end of planting a visible Church that euerie man may learne how to be saued We denie not that the markes of the Church are such as that any man who hath the meanes and will vse them with conscience and diligence may come by the grace of God to the acknowledging of it and by the ministerie of it to saluation Such is the truth of doctrine wherein euerie man may be instructed who will submit his reason to the euidence of truth conteined in the holy Scriptures and not wilfully resist or carelesly neglect the worke of the spirit in the ministerie of the word The bands and chaines Austin speaketh of are not said to draw a man out of the world vnto the Church but to hold him in it that is in already And surely he were vnreasonably absurd that being borne in the profession of Christianitie or by any other occasion brought to ioyne himselfe vnto this or that Church would not cōtinue his beleefe vpon those groūds that Austin there mentions as long as there could be no sufficiēt reason brought to the contrarie yea though he could not discerne the truth of many points which he held as he had bene taught But Austin in the same place professeth that the markes he names and all other whatsoeuer whereby he is held in the Catholicke Church are nothing worth in comparison of truth manifestly prooued out of the Scripture But of this matter I shall haue occasion to speake againe hereafter where you propound some of Austins words more at large A. D. §. 2. Of these markes diuers authors haue written at large I for breuitie sake haue chosen out onely these foure Vna Sancta Catholica Apostolica One Holy Catholicke Apostolicke because I hope these will be sufficient and because I finde these especially set forth in Scriptures commended by Councels and generally admitted of all sorts both Catholickes and Protestants as now I am to declare First for the generall admittance of these properties of the true Church I need no other proofe but that both Catholicks and Protestants allow of the Nicene and Constantinopolitane Creed wherein we professe to beleeue the true Church the which Church is there described with those onely foure properties which before I named as though by those onely euery man might sufficiently know that Church which in euerie point they are bound to beleeue Now if besides this proofe out of the generally receiued Counsels some precise man would haue me prooue these properties to agree to the true Church out of the Scripture it selfe this also I may easily doe A. W. So many and diuers are the markes of the Church propounded by your Popish writers that you had good cause to giue some reason why you cull these foure out of all the rest First you alledge breuitie wherof if you had beene so desirous you would not so often haue repeated the same matters You adde the sufficiencie of these their being mentioned in the Scripture commended by Councels and generally admitted by all sorts both Catholickes and Protestants All which taking them in your sense are generally false as shall appeare in the particular handling of them But indeed the true cause is though you will not be knowne of it that Bellarmine out of whom you haue patched vp your whole discourse though he bring fifteene yet confesseth that they may all after a sort be reduced to these foure There are two faults in this proofe whereby you labour to perswade vs that these properties are generally admitted both by Protestants and Papists First though both admit them yet in diuers senses we according to the true meaning of those Councels you according to those phantasies you haue deuised for the establishing of your Apostaticall Synagogue Secondly we admit them not all as markes of the or a visible Church but as hidden properties of the Catholicke Church the mysticall bodie of Iesus Christ which are not to be discerned by the eye of the bodie but by the light of faith as all other articles in the same Creed are What though there be no more properties but those foure there set downe will it follow thence that therefore they are named as though by those onely euerie man might sufficiently know the Church Is that the vse of those points which are deliuered concerning the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost Or rather are they not set before vs as principall matters to be beleeued of them So are also these properties of the Church If any man be so simple as to take your former proofe for good whereas it faileth in the chiefe point you would prooue by it as I haue shewed he is fitter to be pittied then instructed But is it a note of precisenesse to desire proofe for matters of faith out of the scripture Doubtlesse it was then no lesse precisenesse to appoint the scripture for a rule of our faith and as great for our Sauiour Christ and the Apostles to confirme their doctrine out of the scripture For this course of theirs makes vs the bolder to require the like of you whose authoritie we more doubt of whereas if they had stood vpon their priuiledge and neuer troubled themselues with proouing that they deliuered or leauing their doctrine in writing we should easily haue perswaded our selues to rest vpon mens authoritie and not to looke for any proofe by scripture But giue me leaue a little to consider of this
by Saint Gregorie the Pope and that it cōtinued in that faith without knowledge of the Protestants religion which then and for diuers hundred yeares after was neuer heard off as being then vnhatched The like record of other countries conuerted by meanes of those onely who either were directly sent by the Pope or Bishop of Rome or at least communicated and agreed in profession of faith with him we may finde in other Histories Lastly let him shew some space of time in which the Romane Church was not since Christ and his Apostles time or in which it was not visible knowne as we can shew them many hundred yeares in which theirs was not at all Let him I say therefore shew and prooue which neuer any yet did or can prooue that euer the Romane Church did either faile to be or to be visible or being still visible when the profession of the ancient faith which it receiued from the Apostles did faile in it and when and by whom the profession of a new faith began in it As we can shew whē where by whom this new no faith of theirs began Certaine it is that once the Romane Church had the true faith and was a true Church to wit when Saint Paule wrote to the Romanes saying Vestra fides annunciatur in vniuerso orbe your faith is renowned in the whole world When therefore I pray you as the learned and renowned Master Campian vrgeth when I say did Rome change the beleefe and profession of faith which once it had Quo tempore quo Pontifice qua via qua vi quibus incrementis vrbem orbem religio peruasit aliena Quas voces quas turbas quae lamenta ea res progenuit Omnes orbe reliquo so piti sunt dum Roma Roma inquam noua Sacramenta nouum sacrificium nouum religionis dogma procuderet Nullus extitit Historicus neque Latinus neque Graecus neque remotus neque citimus quirem tantam vel obscurè iaceret in commentarios At what time vnder what Pope what way with what violence or force with what augmentatiō or increase did a strange religion ouerflow the Citie and the whole world What speaches or rumors what tumults or troubles what lamentations at least did it breed Was all the rest of the world asleepe when Rome the Imperial and mother Citie whose matters for the most part are open to the view of the whole world when Rome I say did coine new Sacraments a new sacrifice a new doctrine of faith religion Was there neuer one Historiographer neither Latin nor Greeke neither farre off nor neere who would at least obscurely cast into his commentaries such a notable matter as this is Certainly it is not possible if such a thing as this had happened but that it should haue bene resisted or at least recorded by some For suppose it were true which the Protestantes imagine that some points of the faith and religion which Rome professeth at this day were as contrarie to that which was in it when Saint Paule commended the Romane faith as black to white darknesse to light or so absurd as were now Iudaisme or Paganisme as one of their Historiographers accounteth it worse saying that indeed Augustine the Monke conuerted the Saxons from Paganisme but as the prouer be saith saith he bringing them out of Gods blessing into the warme Sunne Suppose I say this were true Then I would demaund if it were possible that any Prince in any Christian Citie and much more that the Pope in Rome the mother Citie could at this day bring in any notable absurd rite of Iewish or Paganish religion for example to offer vp an Oxe in sacrifice or to worship a Cow as God and not onely to practise it priuately in his owne Chappell but to get it publickely practised and preached in all Churches not onely of that Citie but also in all the rest of the Christian world and that none should in Christian zeale continually oppose themselues that no Bishop should preach no Doctor write against this horrible innouation of faith and the author thereof that none should haue constancie to suffer martyrdome which Christians haue bene alwaies most readie to endure rather then to yeeld to a profession and practise so contrarie to their ancient faith that there should be no true hearted Christians who would speake of it or at least lament it nor no Historiographer that would so much as make obscure mention of it Could all be so asleepe that they could not note or so cold and negligent in matters concerning their soules good as generally without any care to yeeld vnto it No certainly though there were no promise of Christ his owne continual presence no assurance of the infallible assistāce of his holy spirit yet it is not possible that such a grosse error should arise among Christiās ouerwhelme the whole world without some resistance The Bishops and Pastors could not be so simple or so vnmindfull of their duetie but they would first note such an euident contrarietie to the ancient and vniuersally receiued faith and noting it they would doubtlesse with common consent resist contradict and finally according to Saint Paule his rule accurse it If therefore this could not happen now nor euer heretofore was heard that any such absurd errour or heresie did or could arise without noting or resisting what reason can any man haue to say that this hath happened at Rome Not being able to alledge any writer that did note the thing the person the time and what opposition was made and continued against it as in all heresies that haue sprung vp of new we can do If there could not a little ceremonie be added to the Masse but that it was set downe in historie when and by whom how could the whole substance of the Masse which consisteth in consecration oblation and consumption of the sacred Hoast be newly inuented and no mention made when or by whom or that euer there was was any such new inuention at all If also Historiographers were not afraid to note personall and priuate vices of the Popes themselues which they might well thinke Popes would not willingly haue made open to the world why should they haue feared to haue recorded any alteration in religion Which if it had bene had bene a thing done publikely in the view of the whole world or if there were any feare or flatterie which might tie the tongues and pennes of those that liled neare hand that they durst not or would not mention such a matter yet doubtlesse others which liued in places further off should not haue had those causes and consequently would not haue kept secret such an open and important a thing as this If lastly the histories which make mention of these priuate vices of Popes and other Christian Princes could not onely first come out but also continue without touch till these latter times what reason can any haue to doubt