though God wot vpon most dislike occasions in as great execration as those whom the ancient Fathers excommunicated 2 A notable instance to iustifie this assertion wee haue in the seuenth Synod or second Nicene Councell The point in debate was whether such Prelates and other Ministers as had fauoured the Eiconaclastae and withstood the worshipping of Images were to be receiued againe into the Church and to be restored to their dignitie vpon their submission The bookes being produced by which it did appeare that Athanasius Cyrill and other ancient Pillars of the orthodoxall Church had receiued notorious heretikes into their fauour and communion againe a Bishop of the Prouince of Sicilia learnedly puts in this exception or caueat The Canons of the blessed Fathers which hitherto haue beene produced were enacted against the Nouatians the Encratists and Arians But as for the Masters of this present heresie in what ranke shall wee place them Vpon which a Deacon of the same Church and Prouince propounds this question Whether is this new sprung heresie greater or lesse then those heresies which haue beene before it To all which the great Herod of Constantinople Tharasius being reconciled quoad haec to the Romane Pilate Pope Adrian makes this learned answer Euill is alwaies the same alwaies equall This is true saith Epiphanius the venerable Deacon of the most holy Church of Catanes Vicar or Deputie for the most blessed Thomas Archbishop of Sardinia but especially true in causes ecclesiasticall or matters concerning the Church from whose decrees to swarue in matters great or small is all one seeing the diuine Law is violated in both cases And after him one Iohn a venerable Monke Vicegerent for the orientall thrones as if his part had beene to act the Parasite in the Comedie and to turne magnas into ingentes gaue this verdict This heresie is worse then all other heresies and of all euils the very worst c. But was this great Patriarch Tharasius so stoically senslesse as not to be offended with this illiterate rough-shod Asse that thus would claw him like a Spannell For if this heresie were worse then all other heresies or the worst of euils the most excellently illiterate Patriarch and the venerable Deacon were grosly ouerseene in their sentence That all errours or heresies in matters ecclesiastike were equall Or will any Christian be so senselesly partiall as to thinke that this illiterate factious Councell could be Prophets or Doctors infallible in their conclusions when they bewray themselues to be grosse heretikes or more then heathenish Stoicks in the premisses that Malum semper est idem aequale that euill is alwaies the same alwaies equall Thus by the selfe same stroke of Authority by which this Councell did de facto thrust all other out of the visible Church that would not worship Images they haue declared themselues to be excommunicated de iure from the holy Catholike Church 3 In this assertion the ancient Fathers vnanimously accord that defection or swaruing from the Catholike Faith doth exclude men from the Catholike Church and by consequence from saluation but about the extent or precise limits of holy Catholike faith or about the exact list of Articles to be beleeued their concord is not so generall What particular opinions did induce or argue a defection frō Catholike faith or diuorce from the Catholike Church was neuer consented vpon by the ancient Fathers nor could their ioynt authoritie in this case be so great as in the former The latter ages of such as in respect of vs are ancient are in this point various and superstitious But of the vse effects or iust causes of excōmunication we shall haue occasion to speak more particularly hereafter The rules most pertinēt to our present busines which serue as an entry to the main controuersie betwixt vs the Romanists are two 4 The former immediately concernes Prelates or Church Gouernours They are alwaies to remember that this power is giuen them not for destruction or to shew their owne greatnesse but for the edification of others and therefore neuer to be vsed but vpon speciall and weighty occasions Hee that strikes fiercely with his spirituall sword at feathers doth alwaies either wound himselfe or wrest his arme neither is it safe to measure the iustice of Prelates proceedings by the euent or to collect that God doth approue their sentence because the partie sentenced by them may often come to a wofull or feareful end They may dye in their sinnes and Gods iustice may be manifest in the manner of their death and yet for all this their blood may bee required at their hands which did thus rule them with a rod of iron or feede them as the Apostle sayes with the sword when they should haue nourished them with the milke of the Gospell or at least haue vsed salutari seueritate wholesome seueritie towards them The second caueat concernes priuate men and it is that they be more vnwilling to separate themselues from the visible Church then to be cut off from the common-wealth wherein they liue The occasions of voluntary separation ought to be more weighty and hainous in respect of the parties from whom they voluntarily separate themselues then are the causes of excommunication for which inferiours are violently yet iustly separated from the Church by their Gouernours Cato as one saith could not haue committed so hainous a murther by killing another man as by killing himselfe for I thinke it had scarce beene possible for him to haue killed any Romane that had lesse deserued death than himselfe did yet not in this respect onely but simply and absolutely it was a greater sinne in him and is more vnlawfull for any man to kill himselfe then to kill another The rule is as true in this point of spirituall murther that is of vnlawfull separation actiue or passiue from the visible Church Though it be a grieuous sinne in Gouernours to depriue their inferiours of all communion with the visible Church vpon light and vnnecessarie occasions yet it is a greater sinne in inferiours to depriue themselues of the same communion vpon the same or like occasions especially if they bee not certaine elsewhere to inioy the like or equiualent cōmunion without disturbance Such as intend a separation must alwaies respect as well terminum ad quem as terminum à quo whom they goe to as from whom they depart It is a motto better befitting Christians in violent persecutions by heathens then in voluntary separation from Christian Churches Quos fugiam habeo quo fugiam non habeo I know from whom I flye but whither to flye I know not To forsake the Church wherein wee haue beene baptized for the foule abuses that wee know by experience to bee committed in it before we be certaine in what other Church we may be admitted in which there is not in some kinde or other the like or worse abuses or more vnsufferable grieuances were as
Inhabitant of China or of Terra incognita can be saued is a great deale more safe then to thinke God hath no meanes vnknowne vnto vs by which he may and doth saue some euen in those countries wherin there is no visible Church or Christian Congregation or whose Inhabitants haue no commerce with any Christians Wee see by experience that God teacheth such as are borne deafe and dumb many things by the eye or other external suggestion which such as haue the vse benefit of eares tongue could not learn either by sight or other externall sense Now albeit the Apostles rule faith commeth by bearing be most vndoubtedly true and true likewise that without faith it is impossible to please God yet were it an hard censure hence to conclude that none such as are born deafe and dumbe can be saued The Apostles saying then that faith commeth by hearing must bee limited by its proper subiect that is men to whom God hath giuen the gift of hearing So must the Maxime now in question extra Ecclesiam non est salus out of the Church there is no saluation bee limited or restrained to its proper subiect Howbeit the exact limitation of it might best bee made or taken by such as haue occasion to dispute with the Iewes or Heathens It is onely or especially true in respect of such Iewes Turkes or heathens and their seuerall progenies as haue commerce with Christians The former Maxime with reference to such men is vniuersally true if we take the visible Church vniuersally or indefinitely vnlesse such men associate themselues to some visible Church or other they cannot be saued And in some cases it may be vndoubtedly true in respect of some particular visible Church but so true onely ex accidenti or hypothesi by accident or vpon supposition As if a Iew or Mahumetan by profession and birth should liue in this kingdome hauing no possible meanes of associating himselfe to any other congregation of Christians than such as conforme themselues to the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England it were both safe and orthodoxe to lay the former Law or Gospell as hard vnto him as the Papists doe vnto vs to tell him in plaine and peremptory tearmes that there were no meanes for him to escape the horrors of hell and miseries of the world to come vnlesse hee would become a member of Christs Church planted here amongst vs. Or in case he and other more such as he is were to leaue vs and to reside in some other State or Kingdome we were bound in conscience to apply the like medicine vnto him or them and to tell them there were no hope for them to escape the wrath of God but by becomming the sonnes of God no hope to become the sonnes of God but by becomming the children of some visible Church indued with power and authoritie to baptize them into Christs death and resurrection Of heathens then or infidels or of whosoeuer not as yet professing Christianitie yet hauing commerce with Christians and liuing within the call of the visible Church that of Cyprian is vniuersally true Hee that hath not the Church for his Mother cannot haue God for his Father Albeit by the Church in this saying we meane a visible Church 2 Of such as haue beene actuall members of some visible Church but haue either separated themselues from it or haue beene cast out of it by Ecclesiastike censure or coactiue power neither of the former Maximes extra Ecclesiam non est salus Et qui non habet Ecclesiam Matrem non habet Deum Patrem out of the Church there is no saluation And he that hath not the Church for his Mother hath not God for his Father is vniuersally true if we speake of the Church visible whether particular indefinite or vniuersall Both must be limited by the reasons or occasions which did moue the parties to forsake the Church wherein they were baptized or by the causes for which they were excluded or cast out of it It is here supposed that if the causes why they are excluded from one visible Church bee iust and good and the exclusion it selfe legall and formall the parties thus iustly excluded from one cannot lawfully be admitted into another visible Church 3 Swarez in his treatise to my remembrance de causa formali and in that question An dentur plures formae in vno composito whether there bee more formes than one in one body mentions a Synod which anathematizeth all such as dogmatically doe hold tres animas in vno viuente three soules in one liuing body And had the spirituall sword been put into Lactantius his hands it is very likely he would haue put all such Philosophers Geographers or Astronomers as had held the Antipodes to haue sought out a visible Church in that region At the least if his arme had beene so long as the Iesuits make the Popes hee would haue cut them off from all Communion with any visible Church or congregation of Christians within the Hemisphere wherein he liued And no question but euery visible Church hath such power and authority that it may so it will tyrannically abuse the power which God hath giuen it cut off euery inferiour member de facto But being cut off though from the vniuersall Church visible vpon no greater occasions or iuster causes then these late mentioned they do not thereby cease to be members of the Church which is to vs inuisible that is of the Church which is Holy and Catholike 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no not to be visible members of the Holy Catholike Church taken in a secondary sense that is of the Catholike Church which is visible to vs. Of which and of the ground of this distinction betweene an actuall member of the present visible Church and a visible member of the Holy Catholike Church we shall speake hereafter But to hold tres animas in vno viuente three soules in one liuing bodie is not so great an error in Diuinity or so meritorious of excommunication as either to affirme that there be two persons or to deny that there be two natures in our Sauiour Christ He that should dogmatically hold the affirmatiue or negatiue specified deserueth to bee vtterly cut off from euery visible Church And one and the same stroke of the spirituall sword which cuts him off from being a member of the visible Church doth incontinently cut him off from being a member of the Holy Catholike Church in what sense soeuer taken or to speake more properly hee doth depriue himselfe ipso facto of all communion with Christ or his body the Church by denying the vnity of his person or by confounding his natures And hauing thus apparantly excommunicated himselfe from that holy Church which is only knowne vnto God to vs invisible the visible Church stands bound in dutie of conscience and allegiance to Christ to depriue him of all communion with her or any member of hers either in the
hearing of the word of Christ or in the administration of the Sacraments bound she is to withdraw from him all benefits or comfort of Christs death and passion which are committed to her dispensation vntill he repent and bee reconciled againe vnto Christ 4 From this truth some excellent writers against the vsurped power of the Romish Church in the vse or exercise of Peters keyes some I say aswell before Luthers time as since haue gathered this generall doctrine That the visible Church hath only power to declare who are separated or excommunicated ipso facto from the holy Catholike Church she hath no power so to separate or excommunicate any excommunicatione majori by the greater excommunication vnlesse they haue first excommunicated themselues or voided their hopes or interests in the holy Catholike Church by hereticall positions or opinions or by lewd and scandalous misdemeanours Of this opinion was that famous Weselius which was intituled lux mundi before Luther arose or the light of the Gospell which we now enioy did break forth But though the doctrine be true yet he and such as follow him extend the truth of it a little too farre and beyond its proper subiect There is a meane betweene this opinion and the contrary extreame of the Romanist which cannot be found out without some diuision of such errours or other causes as either iustly deserue or at least may be pretended to deserue excommunication or vtter separation from the visible Church Some errors in Diuinitie as we say are heresies ex specie of so deadly a nature that they induce a separation from the Holy Catholike Faith euen in their very first degree Of this ranke are all such errours in Religion as are directly opposite or contrary to those fundamentall points whose positiue beliefe is necessary to saluation which he that beleeues not is infidelis secundùm infidelitatem purae negationis that is such an Infidell as they are which cannot say the Lords Prayer the Creed or ten Commandements by heart or know not the generall contēts of them and which peremptorily to deny or contradict doth argue infidelitatem prauae dispositionis an infidelitie of contradiction We say in Logicke Euery contrarietie if it be direct and full doth necessarily include a contradiction as he that saith nix est alba Snow is white doth as fully contradict him that saith nix est nigra Snow is blacke as hee that should say nix non est nigra Snow is not blacke For album esse to be white is somewhat more then non esse nigrum not to be blacke The rule is applyable in Diuinity and of good vse in this present argument If not to beleeue there is one God if not to beleeue that this one God is the Author of goodnesse and the rewarder of such as seeke him be infidelitas purae negationis a priuatiue infidelitie and argue an absolute priuation of life spirituall then to beleeue there bee more Gods then one or that God is not the Author of goodnesse but it is all one whether we serue him or serue him not is an errour ex specie in its kind hereticall and deadly If it be infidelitas purae negationis an infidelitie priuatiue not to beleeue the incarnation of Christ as certainly it is for all such as doe not beleeue it are Infidells then to bee but positiuely perswaded that Christ is not truly man is an errour ex specie hereticall a deadly heresie infidelitas prauae dispositionis an infidelity of cōtradiction or contrariety Againe if not to beleeue the Sonne of God is truly God or if not to beleeue that this true Son of God was incarnate for vs necessarily argue a priuation of life spirituall and be as we say infidelitas purae negationis a priuatiue infidelity then if any man which acknowledgeth Christ bee of opinion that he is not as truly God as he is man this man by entertaining such an opinion doth vndoubtedly separate and disunite himselfe from the holy bond of Catholike faith and by consequence stands excommunicated ipso facto from the Holy Catholike Church and depriued of the communion of Saints whether the visible Church doth her duty or no in depriuing him of all communion with her selfe or with her members yea though the Pastors or Gouernors of the visible Church could by bribery or other sinister respects be mis-swayed if not to abett or maintaine him in it yet to vse conniuence towards him Now of all such errours as are ex specie hereticall and necessarily induce a separation or disunion from the holy Catholike Faith or Church the former assertion of Weselius is true to wit That the visible Church doth not by her authoritie cut them off from being members of the holy catholike Church but onely declare them to be no members of that Church And of all persons excommunicated by the visible Church or that separate themselues from the visible Church for feare of being censured vpon these causes or occasions the former Maximes are vniuersally true There is no hope of saluation for them vntill they returne againe into the bosome of the visible Church by vnfaigned sorrow and by true submission and repentance Yet suppose they neuer returne againe to the visible Church they are not therefore depriued of saluation because they are extra Ecclesiam visibilem out of the visible Church but because they were cast or went out of it vpon such causes or occasions as did first make them to be extra Ecclesiam sanctam catholicam out of the Holy and Catholike Church Or in case by repentance they returne againe into the visible Church whence they were cast out and obtaine saluation yet are they not therefore saued because they are in the visible Church saue onely as it is the meane or an instrument of reuniting them vnto the Holy Catholike Church or of ingraffing them into Christ Other opinions or errors in religion there be that be ex specie very dangerous yet not deadly vnlesse they be in a high degree or perhaps in the highest degree not deadly in themselues vnlesse they be mingled with some spice of some other pertinacie or disobedient humor more then ariseth meerly from the strength or habit of the errour or from the nature of the obiect about which the errour is To be perswaded that the blessed Virgin did not continue so pure a virgin all her life time after our Sauiours birth as she was before is certainly an errour ex specie very dangerous yet nothing so deadly as the errour of Eutyches which held that our Sauiour Christ did not after his resurrection and glorification continue as truly man as he was before So long as a man holds errours of this second ranke onely to himselfe being not sufficiently enlightned by the messengers of truth to discern their danger nor admonished by pastorall authority to abandon them as it cannot bee denyed that hee is soule-sicke so it is not safe to affirme that hee is
for taking armes against King Iohn After the same Innocent the third vpon what displeasure I know not excommunicates King Iohn armes the French King with the spirituall sword to make warre authorizing King Iohns owne naturall subiects to rebell against him vntill the poore King was brought so low that he was content to become the Popes Farmer of his owne Kingdome but being once admitted his Tenant and become Farmer to the Church of Rome his priuiledge was greater and his person more sacred than it had beene by being Gods Vicegerent For the Councell of Lateran excommunicated all such as did or should molest or vexe him so long as hee remained the Churches Rent-gatherer This strange ods hath the holinesse of that Church of other things which by Gods Law were counted holy that whatsoeuer doth but touch it nay whatsoeuer hath but vicinitie with it and relation or reference to it straight way becommeth Holy and capable of greater priuiledges then Princes or the Lords anointed are 6 From this superexcellent Holinesse of their Church they now pretend that euery Cleargie or Church man is exempt from all Iurisdiction temporall as if their persons on whom the Pope or his Bishops lay their holy hands become more holy and sacred then royall power it selfe which as the Apostle saith is from God so sacred and holy that no temporall sword may touch them lest their calling should be polluted Some professed reformers of their Schoole Diuinitie since the light of the Gospell brake forth haue not beene afraid or ashamed to plead that this exemption of the Cleargie from secular Iurisdiction is de iure diuino by diuine Law and ratified by that Text Spiritualis homo diiudicat omnia ipse autem à nemine iudicatur Hee that is spirituall iudgeth all things yet he himselfe is iudged of no man But were the allegation true or pertinent either there should be no spirituall men besides the Pope and so the subiect of the proposition should be homo singularis one man onely or if there be more spirituall men they should all of them bee Popes to iudge all others and be iudged of none no not of the Pope of Rome himselfe vnlesse hee be no body For these are conuertible Qui omnes dicit neminem excipit Qui neminem dicit omnes excipit He that saith all excepteth none and hee that saith none excepteth all But howeuer if all Cleargie men may by the Pope be exempted from all Iurisdiction temporall and he may make as many Cleargie men as hee list or list to be made by him and make such Lawes for them as it pleaseth him who sees not how easily he may bereaue Princes of their naturall subiects The case betwixt them is on the Popes side like a game at draughts or Chests wherein the one partie hath gotten the start or aduantage to make as many Kings as he list and the other hauing lost his opportunitie of taking the like aduantage must bee sure to loose the game if the play hold 7 Againe seeing they make the Pope to bee the supreame head in al causes Ecclesiasticke or spirituall and ouer all Ecclesiasticke persons I see no reason but that euery Priest and Iesuite of the English Scottish and Irish Nation should bee indited for mocking his sacred Maiestie as often as they instile him their Soueraigne Lord. For euery one that in good earnest cals the King his Lord is presumed to acknowledge himselfe to be the Kings Subiect Now euery Subiect is a Subiect in respect of Iurisdiction To be the Kings Subiect and not to be subiect to the Kings Iurisdiction implyes a contradiction So that in finall conclusion for English Priests to call the King their Lord and yet to professe and beleeue that their persons belong not properly to his Iurisdiction but to the Popes is all one as if they should say Noah indeed was Iaphets Father and Iaphet did well so to call him but Iaphet was not Noahs sonne nor did he owe him any filiall obedience as certainly he did not if he had beene exempted from Noahs paternall Iurisdiction after the same manner as the Romish Priests are from Iurisdiction temporall But to submit the whole temporall power and lawes made by it to the spirituall power as it resideth in the Pope is to make all Princes and Monarchs more subiect vnto him then inferiour or secular Magistrates are to them not so much as meane Lords in fee but meere Tenants at will Yet is this subiection of all temporall power vnto the Popes spirituall power not the opinion onely of the Romish Cleargie or flattering Canonists euen their Ciuilians are infected with this hereticall and trayterous doctrine Witnesse that otherwise learned and ingenuous Ciuilian Balthazar Ayala sometimes chiefe Iustice of the Spanish Armie vnder the Prince of Parma Lib. 1. de iure et officijs belli cap. 2. sect 27. 8 If wee put both these positions together to wit That the Pope hath power to exempt all Ecclesiasticke persons from Iurisdiction temporall and to subiect all temporall lawes to spirituall lawes of his making we may repeale or antiquate an ancient and vsuall distinction of the sword spirituall and temporall For by these deuices they haue put such a spirituall handle vpon the temporall sword and giuen the Pope so fast hold of it that if hee and Christian Kings should at any time fall at variance his Holinesse so long as this doctrine stands authentique may bee sure to haue the drawing of it and poore Christian Princes to whom the sword by right more ancient then the Popedome is properly belongs must bee contend to defend themselues with the scabbard For these and many like reasons our forefathers departure from the visible Romish Church was most iust and necessarie on the behalfe of Prince and State and in respect of lawfull and Christian policie 9 The reasons on the behalfe of euery priuate man were in two respects againe most necessary First because that Church did and doth vtterly deny euen to her owne children the free vse of means either altogether necessary or most expedient to saluation These she will not giue vnto her own children no nor sel them at any lower rate then the Deuill sets vpon his wares that is they must fall downe and worship her Secondly and principally because the Church did and doth rigidly and peremptorily exact our beliefe and profession of many doctrinall points and vpon such beliefe inioyne many practices of both which some are ex specie for qualitie so hereticall and diabolicall others ex gradu et cumulo for degree or multitude so deadly as they manifestly induce a separation from the Holy Catholike Church or nenessarily argue a contradiction to the Holy Apostolike and primitiue faith So that besides the excessiue price which the Romish Church sets vpon her own childrens necessary food they may not eate it after they haue bought it vnlesse it be mingled with deadly poyson The doctrine of the Popes supremacie