by any discreet man if they do it Well then let us examin this point a little 16. In their Chapter of Doctrin when they talk of these Points of God and the B. Trinity of Three distinct Persons of the Natures and Wills of Christ and other such matter wherein They and We do not differ they alledge these Fathers abundantly And no marvel for as long as they teach Catholic Doctrin they have all the Fathers Works and Volumes for them but when they touch any Point wherein there is controversie between us there they fall out presently with the said Fathers for holding against them As for example in one Paragraph of this Chapter and Doctrin which Paragraph is de lib. Arbitrio they begin it thus De lib. Arbitrio quae commodè tollerabiliter à Doctoribus hujus aetatis tradita videntur sic habent Those things which seem unto us to have been commodiously and tolerably delivered by the Doctors of this Age about Free-will are these that follow Wherein they censure first as you see all Doctors of this Age so greatly extolled by them before as tho' they had delivered many things incommodious and intolerable about Free-will as indeed afterwards in another Chapter entituled The declining of true Doctrin containing the incommodious Opinions and Errors of these Doctors they speak more plainly thus Patres omnes ferè hujus aetatis de lib. Arbitrio confusè loquuntur contra manifesta Scripturae fanctae testimonia Almost all the Fathers of this Age do speak confusedly of Free-will and against the manifest testimonies of holy Scripture And for proof of this they name in particular Lactantius Athanasius Basil Nazianzen Epiphanius Hieronymus and Gregorius Nyssenus condemning them all for not denying altogether Free-will in man after his Fall. 17. Again in the same Chapter of Doctrin and Paragraph de Poenitentia they begin thus Doctrinam de Poenitentia ut gravis per sese magni est momenti ita satis tenuiter frigidè quantum quidem ex scriptis ejus videre est quemadmodum in superioribus saeculis tractatam videas ab hac aetate Nos igitur ea quae de hac parte mediocriter rectè utiliter dicta esse videntur recitabimus The Doctrin of Penance as it is a grave matter in it self and of great importance so we do see it handled by this Age as also by the former Ages very slightly and coldly as we may see by their Writings extant Wherefore we shall recite here those things only of this matter which seem unto us to have been spoken by the said Fathers with some mediocrity rectitude and utility c. See now their Judgment and Censure of all the Fathers not only of this Age but of all the former Ages also since Christ as having written both slightly and coldly And yet further in another Chapter of declining Doctrin they say Poenitentiam haec aetas ut ferè superiores neque rectè definiit neque partes ejus satis explicavit imò nec de Fide necessaria Poenitentiae parte propemodùm aliquid habet This fourth Age as neither the other three before have either given the true definition of Penance nor sufficiently declared the parts thereof nay they speak nothing almost of Faith which yet is a necessary part of Penance 18. Thus they pronounce boldly of all the Ages since Christ not excepting that of the Apostles themselves And who can suffer so wicked a slander as tho' they had made no mention of Faith at all or as tho' when they prescribe Fasting Prayer Sorrow and Tears to Penance they excluded Faith whereas it is evident even unto Children that no man can perform these things except he have first Faith and do believe in him whom he seeketh to please and pacifie I say nothing here of the intolerable Injuries and false Calumniations which they do infer upon the holy Fathers without all cause if their words were examined As for example in this very place they condemn St. Ephrem for depraving Penance and excluding Faith from the same for that he saith Per lachrymas hujus brevissimi temporis peccata Deus dimittit c. Et cum sanaverit mercedem conferet lachrymarum God saith this Saint doth pardon our sins by our tears shed in this short time of our life and when he hath healed us he will give us a reward also for our tears Who seeth not but that this holy Father supposeth Faith in him that doth weep and consequently is not subject to the wicked slander of the Magdeburgians affirming him to exclude Faith Yet thus they use both Him and all Fathers lightly when they cite them to refute their Sentences alledging them commonly with some false Calumniation But let us go forward 19. When they come to speak of the Doctrin of the Blessed Sacrament and Real Presence for that in this they hold with us against the Sacramentaries and Calvinists they do Cite the Fathers abundantly As that of St. Ambrose Didicisti quia quod accipis corpus Christi est Thou hast learned that the thing which thou receivest is the Body of Christ And again Bibi sanguinem è Christo ìdque in veritate non in umbra aut similitudine I have drunk the Blood of Christ and that in truth not in a shadow or similitude And then out of St. Hillary Si verè verbum caro factum est nos verè verbum carnem cibo dominico sumimus If the word of God be truly made Flesh then do we truly receive that Flesh in the Lords Supper And further they allege St. Hierom Arnobius Juvencus and others of this Age that have the like Testimonies and clear Speeches for proof of this verity Which do seem to them so strong and manifest demonstrations against the Zwinglian and Calvinian Doctrin avowing to the contrary That they hold them for obstinatly blind that deny or resist the same And this for that the Doctrin pleaseth them But if we step a foot further to the Doctrin of this Blessed Sacrament made also a Sacrifice and so testified by the same Fathers that affirmed the Real Presence Then our good Magdeburgians that commended them so highly before do flatly leave both them and us and do place their sayings in their other Chapter of incommodious Speeches Accompting them for Straw and Stubble and Erroneous Doctrin Incommode dictum est say they quòd citatur ex Athanasii libello c. It was spoken incommodiously by Athanasius in his Book of the Image of Christ where he denyeth expresly that there is any thing remaining in this World of the Flesh and Blood of Christ but only that which is dayly made Spiritually by the hands of Priests upon the Altar It is a new phrase also of Nazianzen when he saith Mox incruenti Sacrificii oblatione manus commaculat presently he did stain his hands with the oblation of the unbloody Sacrifice Again they
I know my self to have been ignorant in that which indeed I knew not And finally S. Paul to the Hebrews maketh this plain when giving a definition of Faith he writeth thus Est autem fides substantia sperandarum rerum argumentum non apparentium Faith is the substance or ground of things hoped for in the next life and an argument of such things as be not apparent or manifest to humane sense or reason Thus teach they And the matter is clear in it self and confoundeth the politic vain heads of our days who will believe no more than they see or feel or can comprehend by their own understanding 21. But now concerning the causes of this difficulty or obscurity in matters of belief the same Fathers do assign 2 or 3 for principal The first is the heighth and sublimity of the the articles and mysteries themselves that are to be believed which being of God's Secrets do surpass the base capacity and reason of man. As are for example the creation of the world of nothing the trinity of persons in one nature of divinity the incarnation of the Son of God and his birth without violating his mothers virginity the resurrection of our bodies the being of Christ in the Sacrament and the like which human reason cannot reach unto tho' they be not contrary to it but above it Another cause is as S. Ambrose noteth the Majesty of Almighty God who will be believed at his word without being asked for proof or reason for the same For if saith he a grave honorable personage in this life especially if he be of high authority and our superior will take it in disdain to be asked a proof for that he affirmeth how much more ought God to be credited without proof of human reason when he proposeth unto us a matter above our reach or capacity 22. The third cause is that which before I touched that Man might merit more by believing that which he seeth not evident according to the Saying of Christ to S. Thomas Quia vidisti Thoma credidisti beati qui non viderunt crediderunt Because thou hast seen Thomas thou hast believed but happy are they that have not seen and yet have believed And for all these causes if we consider the matter well we shall find that God hath proceeded strangely to man's eye from the beginning of the world in revealing the mysteries of our Faith unto us discovering his will on the one side with infinite testification of his love and desire that we should know them and yet on the other side with such reservation in those revelations as the matter might still be difficult hard or obscure in some respect and this for the greater merit as hath been said of the believer As for example before the flood he appeared to divers Patriarchs from time to time causing them to preach and open to others his will and the truth of that Faith which they were bound to believe but yet he appeared not to all in those days which he might have done if he would and thereby have made the matter more clear and out of doubt but he would have them believe others by words and tradition And the like manner of proceeding he used after the flood with Abraham Isaac and Jacob for instruction of their posterity And then again four or five hundred years after that when he determined to bring the Hebrew people out of Egypt and to give them a written Law he appeared not evidently to all the people but chose Moses to send unto them in his name and spake to him out of a fiery bush at the beginning and at other times out of a cloud on the top of a hill All which things had still their doubts and difficulties for him that would wrangle or had not good will to believe and credit them 23. And finally when the Son of God came himself in flesh to preach tho' he used many and sufficient Arguments to draw men unto him and believe the Mysteries revealed by him as in the next Point shall be shewed yet used he the same course notwithstanding that had been used before for neither appeared he to the whole world as he might have done by his Divinity and Omnipotency but to those of Jewry only nor there to all nor did he work Miracles in every place but where he thought expedient Nor when he rose again from death which is a Point principally in this matter to be considered did he appear to all men or publickly in the Streets of Jerusalem as he might have done and thereby have made his Resurrection clear and out of controversie but he appeared only to his Apostles and Disciples which he expresseth in these words Hunc Deus suscitavit tertia die dedit eum manifestum fieri non omni populo sed testibus praeordinatis à Deo nobis qui manducavimus bibimus cum ilio postquam resurrexit à mortuis Et praecepit nobis praedicare populo testificari c. God hath raised up this his Son from death the third day and gave him to be made manifest not to all the people but unto such as were pre-ordained beforehand by him to be witnesses thereof that is to say us that did eat and drink with him after his Resurrection and to us he gave commandment to preach and testifie to the people c. 24. Behold here the reason why Christ after his Resurrection did not appear to the whole people in Jewry but to his Apostles and Disciples only who were his appointed witnesses to testifie and preach the same to others to the end their Faith might be of more merit according to his former speech to S. Thomas Happy are they who have not seen and yet do believe And for the self same causes we may not doubt but that these his apparitions and manifestations which are recounted in Scriptures to have been made by him at divers times in sundry places and upon different occasions during his abode on earth for the space of forty days after his Resurrection which apparitions arrive to the number of 13 or 14 were made in such particular manner by him as the Scripture recounteth them First to those godly women then to the Apostles then to the disciples going to Emaus and after that to others All I say were so made as still remained place for our free will to merit in believing them and divers did doubt at the beginning as the Scripture saith and Christ was often forced to reprehend their coldness and backwardness in belief as when he said O stulti tardi corde ad credendum O you foolish and slow of heart to believe And at his last departure from them Exprobravit illis saith S. Mark incredulitatem eorum duritiem cordis quia iis qui viderant eum resurrexisse non crediderunt He did exprobrate unto them their incredulity and
hardness of heart for that they had not believed those who had seen him risen from death again Which doubt and hardness of heart in believing he cured wholly afterwards by sending the Holy Ghost 25. But yet hereby we may evidently see that Christ required humility and obedience of belief even in things where our reason or sense resisted requiring us to captivate our understanding to use S. Paul's own word unto his obedience in matters of faith and not only to himself immediately but to those also that teach and preach unto us by lawful ordination and authority from him albeit they deliver us matters above our capacity reach and understanding and this under pain of eternal damnation for that our Saviour himself having given the Commission of preaching in S. Mark 's Gospel aforesaid Ite praedicate Go and preach he addeth presently Qui non crediderit condemnabitur He that will not believe shall be damned And this is sufficient for the first Point about the obscurity of the Object of Faith and Causes thereof 22. The second Point of this consideration is That albeit Almighty God will have us to yield obedience of faith unto him as well for his due honor as for our own utility yet doth he not leave us without sufficient testimony of the truth nor requireth at our hands this obedience but as rationabile obsequium to use S. Paul's words a reasonable obedience or an obedience founded in all reason of probability inducement and credibility For proof whereof we must understand that albeit the most parts of Christian Belief do so surmount as in the former Point hath been shewed the reach and capacity of human reason as they cannot be comprehended thereby tho' of some other there may be also demonstration made as shall be shewed in the fourth Point of this consideration yet for satisfaction of our understandings his divine Piety and Providence hath left unto us so many other proofs and arguments of persuasion and inducement called by Schoolmen Argumenta credibilitatis Arguments of credibility which being laid together and well pondered may justly move any indifferent prudent and discreet man to yield his assent thereunto and to rest fully satisfied of the truth as learnedly you have seen proved these days past by a Treatise set forth in English for answer of the new challenges of the Minister O. E. this matter is handled more largely But for my present purpose it is sufficient to record unto you that of these arguments of credibility are full fraught all the books and volumes of the ancient Fathers thereby to prove the credibility probability and convenience of Christian Religion and of every part and article thereof thereby to leave them inexcusable that will not believe the same whereof it shall be sufficient that I allege only the example of S. Peter who going about to persuade his audience useth these words Non indoctas fabulas sequuti c. Not induced by vain fables as the Gentiles were have we believed and made known to you the power and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ but for that we have been made eye-witnesses of his greatness c. 27. Thus began S. Peter to persuade his Hearers alleging 2 or 3 strong Inducements of credibility for the same First that he and the rest of his Apostles had conversed with Christ himself upon earth and had been eye-witnesses of all his doings And secondly he allegeth that famous Miracle upon the Mount Thabor when he with S. James and S. John were present at his transfiguration and heard the voice from heaven This is my beloved Son hear him And thirdly he allegeth the Predictions of the old Prophets concerning Christ's coming life actions death and resurrection which S. Peter doth prefer before his sight knowledge and experience had with Christ and worthily for that the Predictions of the Scriptures and Prophets being written by God's Spirit so many Ages before Christ was born and now fufilled so evidently in his Person the Apostles sight and experience thereof was but a testimony to the others verity and nothing so certain as the foretellings of the said Prophets so evidently verifi'd in their sights 28. And yet were all these things but inducements and arguments of credibility as I have said and not demonstrations For albeit the truth of Scriptures be most certain and infallible in it self yet to me who must take them upon credit of others either concernings the books themselves traductions or interpretations or some other such circumstances they cannot have the clearness and evidence to convince our Vnderstandings which philosophical Demonstrations have albeit the assent of our Faith induced by these Arguments of credibility together with the help of our pious affection and assistance of God's grace be much more sure firm and immovable than that which is gotten by human knowledge which is partly seen in that a stronger reason coming against my knowledge I do change my judgment but not in Faith if it be sound The cause whereof is for that Faith is grounded upon a more certain foundation than is human science to wit upon the credit and authority of God himself wherein also is to be noted that these Inductions and Arguments of credibility may be much more evident to some than to others As for example the Miracles done by God in bringing home of the Jews from Egypt were much more evident to those Jews that then lived and were present and saw them than to others that came afterwards Albeit the Faith and Belief of some of the later might be as firm and constant as the former And so the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles were more evident to those that saw them than unto us that hear them only by relation tho' yet our Faith may be as good and firm yea more commendable and meritorious than theirs in that we believe them without seeing according to the aforesaid Saying of our Saviour to S. Thomas And this is the great Piety and Mercy of Almighty God that we that come after in the end of the World shall lose nothing if we will by our so late coming but may be equal in merit to the first 29. Well then this is the second Point what Arguments of credibility Christ hath left unto us for proof of Christian Faith whereof as I said all the ancient Fathers Books are full and you may see many in Eusebius's Learned Books De praeparatione demonstratione evangelica but especially in those that before him wrote Apologies for Christians in times of Persecution as Justin Martyr Tertullian and others S. Austin also in 22 excellent Books that he wrote De Civitate Dei gathered many And you may see good store laid up in our English Tongue in the first Book of Resolution c. 4. entituled Proofs of Christianity Which Arguments being indifferently weighed together with the absurdities of all other Religions besides the Christian do make our Faith most
for a time Brentius as appeareth in his Confession of Wittemberg and some others of that Sect. But this Opinion of Luther did not long please his Followers for that Ph. Melancthon his chief Scholar did soon after teach the contrary viz. That the Church was visible to the eyes of men also And the Magdeburgians do hold the same defining every-where the Church to be a visible Company of Men. Which going back of the principal Lutherans in this point it being done by a certain Consultation had thereof among themselves as Fredericus Staphylus the Emperor's Counsellor that had been one of them affirmeth was some Cause perhaps that Calvin coming presently after them took upon him to defend the same Doctrin again saying Nobis invisibilem c. We are forc'd to believe the Church to be invisible and to be seen only by the eyes of God. Lo Calvin putteth necessity in this point of Belief 13. The Causes that moved the chief Lutherans to go back from their first Opinion about the invisibility of the Church were principally the apparent Evidences and Demonstrations which Catholics do alledge both out or Scriptures Fathers common sense and reason for overthrow of that most fond and ridiculous Paradox And first out of holy Scriptures both of the Old and New Testament these men being not able to alledge any one place where the Name of God's Church is applied to an Invisible Congregation the Catholics on the contrary side pressed them with many most evident Texts of Scripture where it was and is used for a visible Company of Men as that in the Book of Numbers ch 20. Cur eduxisti Ecclesiam Domini in solitudinem Why hast thou brought the Church of God into the Desart And again in 3 Kings ch 8. Convertitque Rex faciem suam benedixit omni Ecclesiae Israel omnis enim Ecclesia Israel stabat c. The King turning his face about did bless all the Church of Israel for that all the Church of Israel was present c. Which places and many the like cannot possibly be understood of an Invisible but of a Visible Company 14. And much more if we consider the speeches of Christ and his Apostles in the New Testament as these words of Christ Dic Ecclesiae si Ecclesiam non audierit c. Tell the Church and if he hear not the Church let him be unto thee as an Heathen or Publican But if the Church were invisible neither could a man complain to the Church nor hear the Church Moreover St. Paul exhorteth the chief Pastors of the Ephesians to attend diligently to their charge Acts 20. In quo vos Spiritus Sanctus posuit Episcopos regere Ecclesiam Dei In which the H. Ghost hath placed you as Bishops to govern the Church of God. But how could they being visible men govern a Company that was invisible not to be seen 15. And yet further when St. Paul and St. Barnabas went up from Antioch to Jerusalem the Scripture saith Deducti sunt ab Ecclesia c. They were brought on their way by the Church of Antioch and when they came to Jerusalem suscepti sunt ab Ecclesia they were received by the Church And yet further ascendit Paulus salutavit Ecclesiam Paul went and saluted the Church c. All which places cannot agree possibly to an invisible Church and yet that this was the true Primitive Church of Christ no man can deny 16. And finally when St. Paul doth teach Timothy his Scholar 1 Tim. 3. Quomodo oporteat conversari in Domo Dei quae est Ecclesia c. How he should converse and govern the House of God which is his Church Columna Firmamentum Veritatis the Pillar and Firmament of all Truth Ibid. All this I say had been spoken to no purpose if the true Church of Christ were invisible for how can a man converse in a Congregation which he cannot see or know or how can the Church be a Pillar and sure Firmament of Truth to resolve all Doubts and Questions that may fall out about Scriptures Articles of Belief and Mysteries of Christ's Religion if it be an invisible Congregation that no man seeth discerneth or knoweth where or how to repair unto it nor who are the persons therein contained 17. And lastly not to stand longer upon this matter that is so evident in it self and plain to common sense and reason if the true Church of Christ be a Society not of Angels Spirits or Souls departed but of Men and Women in this life that must be governed or govern therein how can they be invisible And if they must have Communion together in external Sacraments and namely in Baptism and participation of the Body of Christ if they must profess the Name and Doctrin of Christ externally to the World as also to be persecuted and put to death for the same if all men must repair unto them and those that be out of the Church to enter and be received therein and those that be in her to be resolved of their doubts to lay down their complaints to be governed and directed by her and finally to obey her under pain of Damnation how can all this be performed if she be invisible to man's eyes and only seen by the eyes of God 18. To alledge Fathers and Doctors in this behalf were both endless and needless for that all of them every-where almost are occupied in setting forth not only the Visibility but the Splendor also and Greatness yea the multitude and external Majesty of Christ's Church throughout the World in their days and only St. Augustin may serve for all who dilateth himself every-where in this Argument shewing how the little Stone prophesied by Daniel was grown to be a huge Mountain and terrible to the whole World and that the Tabernacle of Christ which is his Church was placed by him in the Sun to be seen of all and that it was a City upon a Mountain which none could be ignorant of and other like Discourses founded on evident Scriptures Whereby is refuted not only the first shift of Luther and Calvin making the true Church of Christ invisible but also the second of these latter Lutherans who tho' overcome with the former proofs do grant the Church to be a visible Company yet do they deny it to be that external conspicuous Succession of Bishops and Councils which have been most eminent in the known Christian Church from the Apostles downward but rather to be some few obscure and contemptible people which they call the Elect that have lived or lurked from time to time in shadows and darkness and known to few or none 19. But this second device is more fond than the former for where shall a man seek out these hidden Fellows to treat with them or to receive Sacraments at their hands how shall they be known how may they be trusted whence have they
perturbation of Wars as hath been said were not so well known nor distinctly observed nor deliver'd to Writing in those days as otherwise they might have been yet find I some mention tho' dispersed of three several Apostles of Christ to have Preached there to wit St. Peter St. Paul and St. Simon of Chananee sirnamed the Zealous two Apostolical Men also in these first troubled Times to have been sent thither Aristobulus a Roman whom St. Paul named in his Epistle to the Romans and Joseph of Arimathea a Nobleman of Jury that buried Christ Of all which Five we shall speak somewhat in order 20. And first of St. Peter himself to have been in England or Britanny and Preached Founded Churches and Ordained Priests and Dencons therein is recorded out of Greek Antiquities by Simeon Metaphrastes a Grecian And it seemeth to be somewhat confirmed by that which Innocentius I. Bishop of Rome hath left written above 1200 years agone saying That the first Churches of Italy France Spain Africa Sicilia and the Islands that lie betwixt them were founded by St. Peter or his Scholars or Successors For which cause Gulielmus Eysengrenius in his first Centuria or hundred years doth write also That the first Christian Churches of England were sounded by St. Peter under Nero. Whereunto it may be thought that the foresaid Gildas had relation when expostulating with the Britain Priests of his time for their Wickedness for which the Wrath of God had brought in the English Saxons upon them he objecteth among other things Quod sedem Petri Apostoli inverecundis pedibus usurpassent That they had usurped the Seat St. Peter with unshamefac'd feet meaning thereby either the whole Church of Britanny first founded by him or some particular place of Devotion or Church which he had erected And finally Alredus Rienuallus an English Abbot of the Order of Cisterce left written about 500 years agone a certain Revelation or Apparition of St. Peter to an holy man in the time of King Edward the Confessor shewing him how he had Preached himself in England and consequently the particular care he had of that Church and Nation c. 21. If any man ask What time it might be that St. Peter left Rome and went into Britanny and other Countries round about Cardinal Baronius a famous Learned Historiographer of our time thinketh that it was then when Claudius the Emperor banish'd all the Jews out of Rome as in the Acts of the Apostles it is recorded among whom it is like that St. Peter also being by Nation a Jew retired himself and took that occasion to go into divers Pagan Countries to preach the Faith of Christ that thing belonging especially to his Charge as Head of the Apostles according to his own words of himself Elegit Deus per os meum audire gentes verbum Evangelii credere God hath chosen and appointed that Gentiles shall hear and believe the Word of the Gospel by my mouth This then was the cause why he was so diligent and careful to go and preach every-where Christian Religion to the end he might fulfil and accomplish this Will and Ordination of his Master And this was one cause also to wit his absence from Rome why according to Baronius and other Learned Men St. Paul writing to the Romans did not name or salute him in his Epistle whereof our Heretics do brabble much And thus much of St. Peter 22. Of St. Paul's being in Britanny there are not so many particular Testimonies yet the foresaid Theodoretus doth affirm That from Rome he made certain Exoursions in Hispanias in Insulas quae in Mari jacent into Spain and the Islands lying in the Sea near about And in another place as the Magdeburgians do cite him he writeth expresly That St. Paul Preached to the Britains And the like hath Sophronius Bishop of Jerusalem in his Sermon of the Nativity of the Apostles Venantius also Fortunatus a most Learned and Holy. Man writing above a thousand years agone of St. Paul's Peregrination saith thus Transit Oceanum vel qua facit Insula portum Quasque Britannus habet terras atque ultima Thyle He pass'd over the Ocean-Sea to the Island that maketh a Haven on the other side even to the Lands which the Britains do possess c. For which respect Arnoldus Mirmannus in his Theatre of the Conversion of all Nations affirmeth St. Paul to have pass'd to Britanny in the fourth year of Nero Anno Domini 59 and there to have Preached and afterward to have returned again into Italy And so much of St. Paul who having twelve or thirteen years permitted him by Christ after his coming to Rome before his death for helping St. Peter and for assisting the West-parts of the World and St. Peter himself almost twice as much it is not unlike their Zeal being considered and the state of times weighed but that they made many Excursions as the former Authors do write And thus much of them 23. For the Preaching of the third Apostle Symon Chananaeus sirnamed the Zealous we have the Testimony of Nicephorus out of Greek Monuments to whom agreeth Dorotheus a very ancient Writer as also the Greek Martyrology as testifieth Baronius in his Annotations upon the Roman Martyrology And by this also we see that albeit St. Peter had undertaken to preach to the West-part of the World yet did other Apostles also help him therein as St. Paul in Italy and Spain and this Symon in Britanny and other places and St. Philip in France c. 24. Of Aristobulus also St. Peter's Scholar do testifie in like manner the foresaid Authors Mirmannus Dorotheus Baronius out of the Greek Martyrology that he was sent by St. Peter into Britanny and there made a Bishop And that Aristobulus was a principal known Christian in Rome before St. Paul's arrival there it appeareth by the Epistle of the said Apostle to the Romans where he saluteth him in these words Salute those that be of the house of Aristobulus Nor is it read that ever this Aristobulus came back from Britanny to Italy again And this of him 25. Of Joseph of Arimathea his coming into France and his sending thence into Great Britanny either by St. Philip as some say who preached then in Gaul or as Others hold by St. Peter himself as he passed that way to and from Britanny and how he obtained a place to exercise an Eremitical Life for him and his ten Companions in the Island called Avallonia where Glastonbury after was builded albeit I find no very certain or ancient Writer to affirm it yet because our later Historiographers for two hundred years past or more do hold it have come down by Tradition and namely Johannes Capgravius a Learned Man of the Order of St. Dominick and others after him I do not mean to dispute the matter here but rather to admire and praise the Heavenly Providence and
his Book contra Judaeos cited by Fox divers years after that again as Pamelius and others do demonstrate in his Life So as Eleutherius reigning fifteen years before Victor as all Authors do agree it followeth that he was Pope twenty five years before Tertullian was a Christian And forsomuch as the Conversion of England is assigned to have been in the fifth year of Eleutherius it followeth that Tertullian was not a Christian in twenty years after that time And thus much for his second Reason now let us hear his third 7. My third probation saith he I deduct out of Origen whose words are these Britanniam in Christianam consentire Religionem That Britanny did consent in Christian Religion whereby it appeareth the Faith of Christ was sparsed here in England before Eleutherius Mark his own Contradiction mark his Inference and note his Imposture He affirmeth out of Origen That Britanny did consent in Christian Religion and yet he saith in his Inference Whereby it appeareth it was sparsed in England Sparsing importeth that particular men here and there were converted Consent importeth a general Conversion So that by Origen's words of consent it may seem that he meant the public Conversion made by Eleutherius and by Fox's own false Interpretation and foolish Inference he is made to say that there were only certain sparkles of Christian Religion in his days in Britanny But the true words of Origen corrupted by Fox do make the matter more clear who disputing against the Jews urgeth them with this Question Quando enim terra Britanniae ante adventum Christi in unius Dei consensit Religionem For when did the Land of Britanny agree in the Religion of one God Before the coming of Christ 8. Here you see the words of Origen first not truly but corruptly alledged before by John Fox and secondly that Origen doth speak them of a consent in Religion throughout all the Land of Britanny and thereby seemeth to signifie not the particular Conversion of several men before Eleutherius his Time as Fox would enforce it but rather the public Conversion as I have said under King Lucius and Eleutherius which Conversion according to the former Account of Fox himself who saith it was in the year of Christ 180 was about 76 years before the Death of Origen for that as Eusebius testifieth Origen died in the year of Christ 256 and was of age 69 when he died so as he was born seven years after our said Conversion under Lucius and consequently he might mean of this Conversion in his former Homily And it is not only Ignorance but wilful Malice and Imposture also in John Fox to make his Reader believe as before in Tertullian so in this Man that he was either Equal or Elder than Pope Eleutherius And for this cause that Origen in his foresaid Homily must needs mean of a former Conversion of Britanny that came not from Rome Consider the Man's Honesty and Wit in these shifts 9. And albeit this may be sufficient and more than enough to shew his false Dealing and lack of Fidelity in every thing he handleth yet will I add his two last Arguments which he calleth his first and seventh and in which as I said before that not only the former two qualities of Impertinency and Error are to be found but manifest Fraud also and wilful Deceit Let us hear his words But first I must both pray and prevent the Reader to take in patience the hearing of one and the self-same thing many times repeated for that we having to deal with three several Parties that do tell us Tales by retail one to another of them to wit Sir Francis Sir Fox and Messieurs the Magdeburgians we cannot well see or set down what each of them saith and borroweth one of another but by repeating the same things yet shall it be very briefly Thus then writeth Fox in that which he calleth his first probation against the first Conversion of England by Eleutherius 10. My first probation saith he I take out of the Testimony of Gildas who in his History affirmeth plainly That Britanny received the Gospel in the time of Tiberius the Emperour and that Joseph of Arimathea was sent by Philip the Apostle from France to Britanny Gild. lib. de Victoria Aurel. Ambrosii Here you see first not only crambe recocta according to the Proverb that is to say Coleworts and other Trash twice sodden but many times also both sodden and set before us for all this you heard before more than once both out of Sir Francis and the Magdeburgians And when all is granted yet is the whole Argument but a vain and childish Cavil for it proveth only that Damianus and Fugatius sent by Eleutherius were not the very first of all that preached Christian Faith in Britanny which we never affirmed but only that Britanny was converted publicly under Eleutherius which this impugneth not And secondly for the receiving of Christ's Faith under Tiberius the Emperour I have shewed before that it is unlikely seeing Tiberius lived but five years after the Ascension of our Savior and that the place alledged for it out of Gildas if he mean the true Gildas now extant proveth it not but only that Christ himself appeared to the World in the time of Tiberius and that the Faith of Christ entred Britanny afterward under Claudius as may appear evidently to him that will read and examin the place with attention Which the Fox perceiving thought it not best to alledge us the said true Gildas published by Polydor Virgil and allowed by all Learned Men of Christendom whose Title is De excidio Britanniae but runneth to a forged Gildas De Victoria Aurelii Ambrosii to confirm his Allegation withal of which Gildas the said Polydor after due Examination of the matter writeth as followeth 11. Extat item alter libellus ut tempestive lectorem nefariae fraudis admoneamus qui falsissimè inscribitur Gildae commentarium haud dubie à quodam pessimo impostore compositum c. Sanè is nebulo longè post homines natos impudentissimus c. There is extant besides another Book also that I may by this occasion advertise the Reader in time of a wicked Imposture which is most falsly entituled The Commentary of Gildas devised no doubt by some naughty Deceiver c. Truly he was the most impudent Knave that ever lived c. Thus said Polydor of the Inventer of this Book and as much would he have said of Sir John Fox that obtrudeth the same for a true Author if he had lived in our days And seeing that the Calvinists themselves of Heidelberg in Germany taking upon them to set forth all the British Writers Anno 1587 as Gildas Geffrey of Monmouth Ponticus Virunnius and others durst not set forth this feigned Gildas alledged by Fox but only the former true Gildas printed before by Polydor it is a token that Fox is
Cùm jam varia grassentur quasi factiones opinionum c. Whereas every where now-adays divers factions of Opinions grow up among them that profess the Gospel there are some among others who by certain Philosophical Reasons go about to evacuate or make void the Testament of our Lord so as they would remove the Presence of the true Body and Blood of Christ from the Communion and would by a certain strange perplexity of words deceive the people against the most clear the most evident the most true and the most potent words of our Savior himself Wherefore your Majesty must principally look to this point and provide that the Articles of our Faith be kept without such Pharisaical Leaven and that the Sacraments instituted by Christ be restored without all corruption and adulteration Thus far the Magdeburgians to her Majesty by which you may perceive why I call them Fox his Masters in lying but not his Mates in believing 7. To come therefore now to our purpose I might as before hath been said if it were not over long use two ways for this positive Proof That these Articles deny'd by Fox and his Scholar were heard of and acknowledged in Eleutherius's time The first by citing the places themselves out of the principal Doctors that then lived but this as I have said would be over-long Yet one place I cannot omit of Irenaeus in the very Age we speak of and written while Eleutherius yet lived The words are these Maximae antiquissimae Ecclesiae c. We shewing the Tradition of the greatest and most ancient Church of Rome known to all the World as founded by the two most glorious Apostles Peter and Paul which Tradition and Faith she receiving from the Apostles hath preached and delivered unto us by Succession of her Bishops from time to time unto our days do confound thereby all those Heretics which by any ways either through delight in themselves or vain-glory or blindness of understanding do gather otherwise than they should For that unto this Church in respect of her more Mighty Principality it is necessary that all Churches must agree and have access that is to say all faithful people wheresoever they live In which Church the Tradition that hath descended from the Apostles hath ever been kept by those that live in any place of the World. 8. And again a little after having for proof of his Faith and confirmation of Apostolical Tradition recounted all the Bishops of Rome from St. Peter to his days he saith Nunc duodecimo loco c. Now in the twelfth place from the Apostles hath Eleutherius that Bishopric and by this Succession of the foresaid Roman Bishops is the Tradition of the Apostles conserved in the Church and the Preaching of the Truth hath come down unto us and this is a most full Demonstration that one and the same lively Faith hath been conserved in the Church from the Apostles time and delivered unto us in Truth c. 9. Lo here Tradition of the Apostles delivered and conserved by the Succession of the Bishops of Rome Lo here the Church of Rome called so long ago the Greatest and most Ancient of all other Churches her Principality both named and confirmed Behold the Obligation of all other Churches of the World yea and of all faithful Christians to agree and have access to Her See here all vainglorious and self-will'd Heretics confounded by Irenaeus with the only Tradition and Succession of this Church of Rome and her Bishops even from St. Peter's time to Eleutherius that lived with Irenaeus What Catholic man could say more at this day And will any jangling Fox or Sir Francis avouch yet without shame that none of these points were ever known or heard of in Eleutherius's time 10. Well then this is one way to confound them if I would follow it But being over tedious I mean to take another and shew out of their own Historiographers the Magdeburgenses that all these Doctrins deny'd by Fox and his Follower here were known and in ure among the chiefest Writers in the primitive Church and first Ages after Christ And first of all to begin with this very matter first named by them Of the Primacy of the Pope and Church of Rome The Magdeburgians have an especial Paragraph thereof De primatu Ecclesiae Romanae under the foresaid Title of the incommodious Opinions Stubble Straw and Errors of the Doctors that lived within the first 200 years after Christ And in that Paragraph they not only do alledge for Stubble this last Authority of Irenaeus by me cited tho' they alledge it so miserably maimed as of six parts they leave out more than five but also another place of St. Ignatius that lived in the first Age with the Apostles themselves to the same purpose which they cite in like manner under the same Title of Straw and Stubble and incommodious Opinions And then passing to the third Century or second Age after that of Christ they cite Tertullian for the same incommodious Opinion about the Primacy of the Roman Church and Bishop saying of him Non sine errore sentire videtur Tertullianus claves soli Petro commissas Ecclesiam super ipsum structam c. Tertullian doth seem not without Error to think that the Keys of the Church were given only to St. Peter and that the Church was built but on him 11. They cite also four or five places out of St. Cyprian where he holdeth the same with Tertullian and so they are both confuted for Stubble-Doctors together Yet go they further with St. Cyprian citing divers other places out of him to the same effect for the Bishop and Church of Rome all which they take for Stubble as where he saith One God one Christ one Church one Chair builded upon the Ark by the Word of our Savior and three or four like places more which for brevity I omit and finally they say of him and three other Fathers of his time Cyprianus Maximus Vrbanus and Salonius do think that one Chief Bishop must be in the Catholic Church c. Lo four old Fathers that lived almost 1400 years agone and were the Lights of that Primitive Church rejected here by four drinking Germans gathered together in some warm Stow of Magdeburg tippling strongly as a man may presume and judging all the World for Stubble besides themselves for which cause the third person in this Quaternity is called perhaps Mattheus Judex But let us go forward 12. They are not content with this rejection of St. Cyprian but they fall upon him again in these words Cyprian affirmeth expresly without all foundation of holy Scripture that the Roman Church must be acknowledged by all Christians for the Mother and Root of the Catholic Church And further yet in another Treatise That this Church is the Chair of Peter from which all the Vnity of Priesthood proceedeth And finally Cyprian say they hath
Age wus nearest to the Apostles yet the Doctrin of Christ and his Apostles began to be not a little darkened therein and many monstrous and incommodious Opinions are every-where found to be spread by the Doctors thereof Perhaps some cause hereof might be for that the Gift of the Holy Ghost in these Doctors did begin to decay for the ingratitude of the World towards the Truth 4. Lo here what a Preface this is to make contemptible to the Reader all the Fathers of the very first Age after the Apostles But what then do you think they will say of the next following You shall hear by their own words in the Preface of that Age which are these Quò longiùs ab Apostolorum aetate recessum est eò plus stipularum Doctrinae puritati accessit The farther that we go off from the Apostles Age the more Stubble we shall find to have been added to the Purity of the Christian Doctrin Thus they say of these two Ages and by this last Sentence you may imagin what they will say of all the Ages following 5. And this is now spoken by them by way of prevention to discredit generally the Fathers of these first Ages when they say any thing against them But when they come to particulars they have notable Quips for them whereof for Example-sake we shall let you hear some few whereby you may as well learn their sharp Wits as heretical Spirits About the matter of Man's Free-will whether it were wholly lost by Original Sin as Protestants say or wounded only as Catholics hold and strengthened again by God's Grace to do good in him that will they write thus of the Doctors of the second Age Nullus ferè Doctrinae locus est qui tam citò obscurari coepit atque hic de libero arbitrio No one place or part of Christian Doctrin began so soon to be darkened as this of Free-will And then they go on thus with the chiefest Doctors of that Age Irenaeus disputes not distinctly and wresteth the Speeches of Christ and of St. Paul in favour of Free-will saying That there is Free-will also in Faith and Belief Sed haec satis crasse dicuntur aliena sunt à scripturis But these things are spoken grosly by Irenaeus and are far from the sense of Scriptures But whether these Good-fellow Saxons may be accounted less gross in Wit or Grace than Irenaeus is easie to guess 6. From St. Irenaeus they pass to Clemens Alexandrinus another Pillar of that Age saying Eodem modo Clemens Alexandrinus liberum arbitrium ubique asserit ut appareat in ejusmodi tenebris non tantum fuisse omnes ejus saeculi Authores verum etiam in posterioribus eas subinde crevisse auctas esse Clemens Alexandrinus doth in like manner every-where affirm Free-will whereby it appeareth that not only all the Doctors of this second Age were in the same darkness but that the same did grow and was encreased in the Ages following Behold here their general Sentence both of this Age and the other ensuing To what end then should we alledge more particulars in this matter seeing their resolution to discredit all In the third Age they do shamefully slander Tertullian Origen Cyprian and Methodius for the same Doctrin of Free-will saying They do abuse the Scriptures intolerably for maintenance thereof 7. For the fourth Age having given this general Sentence Patres omnes ferè hujus aetatis de libero arbitrio confusè loquuntur All the Fathers almost of this Age do speak confusedly of Free-will c. They add also contra manifesta Scripturae sanctae Testimonia contrary to the manifest Testimonies of Holy Scripture And then they take in hand to course seven chief Fathers and Doctors in particular Lactantius Athanasias Basilius Nazianzenus Epiphanius and Hieronymus saying That they were all deceived all in darkness all misled about this Doctrin of mans Free-will So as it is no marvel if Sir Francis's sharp sight discover so many thick Clouds and Darkness in the Catholic Church of our days seeing his Masters the Magdeburgians discover so many in the Primitive Church as by this you may see 8. About the point of Justification they begin the next Age after the Apostles thus Doctrina de Justificatione negligentiùs obscuriùs ab his Doctoribus tradita est The Doctrin of Justification was delivered by the Doctors of this second Age after Christ more negligently and obscurely than it ought to have been And the same they say of the third Age also Hunc summum Articulum de Justificatione obscuratum esse justitiam enim coram Deo operibus tribuerunt that this chief Article of Justification hath been obscured in this Age for that the Doctors thereof did attribute Justice before God unto Works and not to only Faith c. And then again in the fourth Age they reprehend greatly Lactantius Nilus Chromatus Ephrem and St. Hierom for the same Doctrin The other lower Centuries I have not lying by me but it is easie to guess what these men will say of later Ages Authors seeing they do exagitate so greatly the more ancient 9. About the Sacrament of Penance which is another Controversie betwixt us they write in the beginning of the second Age thus Quòd jam tum coeperit haec pars Doctrinae de poenitentia labefactari ex Tertulliano Cypriano Haeresi Novatiana infra patebit That this part of Christian Doctrin about Penance even then in the first Age after the Apostles began to be weakened shall appear afterward by Tertullian Cyprian and the Novatian Heresie Thus they write boldly and confidently as you see And then in the Age following Plerique hujus saeculi Doctores Doctrinam de poenitentia mirè depravant The most of the Doctors of this Age do wonderfully deprave the Doctrin of Penance And what is the reason think you They tell us presently Ad ipsum tantum opus poenitentis seu contritionem eam deducunt de fide in Christum nihil dicunt They reduce Penance only to the works of the Penitent that is to say unto Contrition and do speak nothing at all of Faith in Christ But who doth not see this to be a notorious slander For how is it possible to have Contrition without Faith Consider then how little it is to be wonder'd at if these Companions and others of their Crew do slander and calumniate Us that live in these days when they shame not to do it against so many Holy and Learned ancient Fathers of the Primitive Church But let us go forward 10. About the Perfection and Merit of Good Works these Censurers affirm also That the true Doctrin of Christ in this behalf was obscur'd in the second Age immediatly after the Apostles And they do wonderfully by name fall out with Clemens Alexandrinus for that he saith Gratia salvamur sed non absque bonis operibus We
the first an earnest Lutheran the other two Zwinglians 14. All these demonstrations I say King Henry made this year of his Catholic Opinion and Judgment in all points except in matter of Supremacy which was his own Interest And for the other six years which he lived afterwards he vary'd not from this but rather confirm'd the same as we may see by his burning of Anne Askew for denying the Real Presence in the Sacrament not many months before his death and by his own hearing of Mass in his bed and receiving the blessed Sacrament on his knees when he was not able to stand on his feet but especially by that which Bishop Gardiner testified while he lived and preached the same in a public Sermon at Paul's Cross that the said King not long before his dying day when he sent him Embassador to a Diet in Germany gave him special Commission in secret to procure by the means of some Catholic Princes and of the Pope's Legat and Nuntio there some honorable condition for his Majesty's reconciliation with the Pope and See of Rome again which tho' God of his secret Judgment permitted him not to effectuate by the shortness of his life yet appeareth it by this what his sense in matters of Religion was 15. So then now we have that Catholic Church and Religion continued in England during King Henry's Reign both in Prince and People tho' much turmoil'd by Faction Schisms and Heresie wherein notwithstanding she no more lost her possession and continuance than she did in time of the raging Arians Donatists or other Sectaries that prevailed in power for the present time either generally or in some particular Provinces as Lutherans and Zwinglians also did in King Henry's days in divers places or do at this day which yet was and is so as they are easily distinguished from the other not only by the Divisions and Differences among themselves but also for that the Union of the Catholic Religion doth ever shew it self in some Regions adjoyning yea commonly also even in those very places where these Sects do range and bear most rule some Catholics do remain to contradict them openly and to plead for their old possession and the greater the Persecution is the greater and more eminent is this Catholic contradicting part stirred up and increased by the very Power and Vertue of the Cross of Christ in Persecution as before hath been noted 16. And this was the state of Catholic Religion in King Henry's Reign to wit that it was held and defended publicly except only the Article of Ecclesiastical Supremacy denied to the Pope whereunto notwithstanding many thousands of the Realm never agreed and consequently were truly Catholics Heretics also were punished especially those three Sects that principally ranged at that time to wit Lutherans Anabaptists and Zwinglians all three taking their Origin from Luther so as of all these three Sects King Henry burned many and albeit of the fourth sort of men that opposed themselves against him to wit Catholics he put divers also to death under the name of Papists yet both this very Name as also the different manner of their Deaths but above all the nature of their Cause doth evidently distinguish them from the other and shew that their Deaths were true Martyrdoms and the others due Punishment for their Wickedness 17. For first the name of Papists that signifieth them to hold with the Pope as Supreme Head of their Church importeth no more hurt or offence than if any Sedition moved within any Realm those that hold with the King should be called Kinglings or those for example that hold part with the Mayor of London when any Apprentices would raise Rebellion against him should scornfully be called Mayorists and generally for a man to hold with his Lawful Superiour cannot be termed a Faction and much less an Heresie 18. Secondly the very difference and manner of punishment used by King Henry towards both parts the one by Fire the others by Beheading and Hanging doth evidently shew what difference he made of them the one as of Heretics and the other as of men offending against his State and Person after he had made the Supremacy Ecclesiastical to be a matter of his State and of his Royal Dignity whereby also he shewed that he was no Gospeller 19. But now for the third point which is the most important of all the rest to shew the difference in these mens Causes and that the Catholics suffered innocently for their Conscience and consequently were true Martyrs and that the other sorts of Sectaries were punished deservedly as Malefactors it is not hard to prove to him that is of any mean consideration or indifferency in matters For first who will not grant but that he that is an honest and good man when he goeth to bed for example cannot easily be made an evil man in his sleep without any motive of his affection or free will at all And again He that is a good and true Subject towards his Prince and Countrey this day how can he well to morrow be judged a Traytor the highest sin of all other if in the mean space he change not his mind nor do any act of word or deed contrary to that he did before And yet this was the Cause of the Catholics put to death under King Henry for the Supremacy 20. As for Example Sir Thomas More was Prisoner in the Tower of London upon some displeasure in the year 1534 where he attending only to his Prayers as himself testifieth and to the Writing of some Spiritual Books pertaining to the contempt of this present transitory World there passed in the mean time a Statute in the Parliament-house appointing that whomsoever did not believe the King's Majesty to be Supreme Head of the Church of England in causes Ecclesiastical should be a Traitor and suffer death for it which seeming a new and strange thing unto him and contrary to the belief of all his Forefathers he could not so soon conform himself thereunto and consequently refused when he was demanded to subscribe to the Statute and to make so great a change in his Faith upon the change of others for which soon after he was put to death not for that he had attempted altered or innovated any thing as you see but for that he would not alter and make innovation And this was the proper true cause of all Catholics that suffered for the Supremacy under King Henry VIII 20. But on the contrary side the others that were put to death by him as Sectaries did wickedly and presumptuously alter and innovate of their own heads many things about Belief and Doctrin different from that which they had received and contrary to the Belief of all their Forefathers ancient Christians for many Ages together and that with such obstinacy as no Reason Authority Discipline or Order no Witness Human or Divine could prevail with them and albeit for this obstinacy
Popes of Rome from St. Peter to Pope Silvester which were Thirty-three in number all Martyrs and every one of them condemned the Heretics of his time 13. This accursed new Church also of Heretics had the other quality ascribed in like manner by John Fox to his Church to wit that they were neglected in the Christian World and not regarded in Stories but only to recount them to their shame and damnation Finally the last commendation also was not wanting to them that they were almost scarce visible or known in respect of the flourishing Catholic Church And lastly these congregations and swarms of Heretics tho' never so much divided among themselves continued indeed from the Apostles by a kind of broken Succession of times the one rising and the other falling And they had the last point also specified by John Fox of keeping some sparks of true Doctrin in Religion for that as St. Augustin writeth Nulla falsa Doctrina est quae aliqua Vera non intermisceat There is no Doctrin so false which doth not interlace some true things And this is proper to Heresies for that otherwise if they had no points of true Doctrin they should be rather Apostates than properly Heretics for that Apostates are those that deny all Christ's Doctrin but Heretics do grant some parts and deny others 14. About which point of old Heretics and their Affinity with the Protestants of this Age it is worth the noting That whatsoever some of our late English Writers especially the Minister O. E. or Matthew Sutcliff do prattle to the contrary yet shall you never find any one Article of those that are in controversie and held by us at this day against the Protestants to have been held singularly by any one old Heretic in that sense as we do hold the same and much less condemn'd for Heresie in him or them by the Church in these days or by any one Father thereof And on the other side you shall find divers Doctrins held by them and condemn'd in them by the Church for Heresies I mean the Heretics of the first 300 years which the Protestants do hold at this day properly and in the same sense that those Heretics did And We do condemn the same for Heresies in Them as the Primitive Church did in the Other As for Example that of the Pseudo-Apostoli Heretics called false Apostles who did think only Faith to be sufficient to Salvation without Works against which Heresie St. Augustin saith were written the Epistles of St. James St. Jude St. Peter and St. John. 15. That other point also which St. Ignatius reporteth of certain Heretics in his time Qui non confitebantur Eucharistiam esse Carnem Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi quae pro peccatis nostris passa est Who did not confess that the Eucharist was the Flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ that suffered for us That other Doctrin in like manner that Theodoretus writeth of the Novatians His qui ab ipsis tinguntur sacrum Chrisma non praebent quocirca eos qui ex hac haeresi Corpori Ecclesiae conjunguntur benedicti Patres ungi jusserunt To those that are baptized by them the Novatians they do not give holy Chrism for which cause whosoever returning from that Heresie are to be joyned to the Body of the Catholic Church the holy Fathers commanded that they should be anointed with the said Chrism 16. Cornelius also Bishop of Rome complaineth that the said Novatus and Novatians did not receive the Sacrament of Confirmation For speaking of Novatus he saith Qui sigillo Domini ab Episcopo non signatus fuit quomodo quaeso Sanctum Spiritum adeptus est He that was not signed with the Seal of our Lord by the Bishop how could he think you obtain the Holy Ghost The same Heretics also deny'd the power of absolving from sin in Priests as also Confession and Satisfaction according as the same holy Bishop and Pope Cornelius objecteth unto him by the testimony of St. Cyprian And finally to go no further within these first 300 years St. Hierom objecteth for an Heresie to the Manichees the denying of Man's Free-will saying Manichaeorum Dogma est hominum damnare naturam liberum auferre arbitrium It is the Doctrin of the Manichees to condemn Man's Nature and to take away Free-will So saith St. Hierom and St. Chrysostom and St. Augustin do also testifie the same of the Manichees expresly And tho' perhaps the Manichees held that Doctrin upon other grounds than Protestants do yet in the Heresie it self they do plainly symbolize and agree 17. These are matters then most evident and clear nor can they be deny'd but that these Opinions are held by Protestants at this day in the very same words sense and meaning as they were by the forenamed old Heretics wherein also they were anathematiz'd and condemn'd by the known Catholic Church of these ancient Ages 18. But now when on the contrary side some Sectaries of our time to cure or cover this wound of theirs will needs like Apes object to us again That we hold some old condemned Errors and Heresies also or rather some shadow or similitude thereof you shall ever find one of these two frauds or falshoods in their Objection to wit that either they object unto us that which we indeed hold not at all or at least not in the sense which they object it or that the thing in truth is no Error in it self nor ever was held or condemned for such in the sense and meaning in which we hold it tho' it may have some little external similitude with that which was an Error As for Example O. E. objecteth unto us That we do symbolize and participate with two old Heresies the one of the Angelici qui Angelos adorabant that did adore Angels as St. Augustin saith the other of the Collyridians so called of the Greek word Collyra signifying a little triangular Cake or Bun that those Heretics being Women did offer in Sacrifice to our Blessed Lady But in both these Examples we utterly deny that we agree in Doctrin or Practice with those Heretics seeing that we neither adore nor worship with Divine Honor Angels or other Saints nor do offer Sacrifice to the Mother of God but only to God himself alone tho' in the Honor and Memory also of his Mother and other Saints glorified by him which Doctrin of ours is extant in all our Books So as here is manifestly found the first fraud of our Adversaries which is to object to us that which we hold not indeed 19. And the other falshood also cannot be deny'd whereby they affirm the Doctrin which we truly hold and practise in this behalf about honoring of Saints to have been at any time held for Error or condemn'd by the ancient Catholic Church or Teachers thereof for such Truth it is that the Magdeburgians are not asham'd to note this
West by the foresaid Pope Leo III. And during this Race of time the said Universal Church flourished greatly by Learned Men and Holy Bishops whereof the principal were St. Isidorus Archbishop of Sevil Sophronius Leontius Theodorus Archbishop of Canterbury Venerable Bede Johannes Damascenus Paulus Diaconus Alcuinus our Countrey-man Vsuardus and others 4. This time had many Learned Councils also whereof two were General the one being the third of Constantinople the other the second of Nice Whereby were beaten down all the Heretics of those days the principal whereof were the Jacobites the Armenians Monothelites Neophonites Lampetians Agnychites Iconomachians or Image-breakers and other the like Besides all this there was added to the Greatness of this Church the new Conversion of many Countries from Paganism to Christian Religion Amongst which may principally be recounted our English Saxons as also by their means divers Provinces afterward of High and Low Germany And this for the continuance and going forward of the Christian Catholic Church in general planted by Christ and brought down by Succession from the Apostles time 5. But if you will talk of our new English Church planted in this mean space and inserted or united to that General Catholic Church as a Branch or Member to the whole Body and as a new Daughter subordinate to her Mother we shall see her progress to be conform thereunto to wit that she multiplied mightily in these 200 years both in Number Doctrin and great Piety of Life which John Fox himself is forced to confess in that he having told us of the Conversion of seven English Saxon Kingdoms within the compass of this time he setteth down divers Tables in the end of all whereof one is of seventeen Archbishops of Canterbury from Augustin to Celnothus that lived with King Egbert and another Table of thirty Cathedral Churches Abbies and Nunneries builded and abundantly endowed by Christian English Kings Queens and Bishops of that time and a third Table of nine several Kings besides many more of chief Nobility both Men and Women who leaving the World and their Temporal States entred into a Religious Life the more strictly to serve Almighty God. All which John Fox is forc'd to recount against himself and findeth no one in all this time of 200 years and much less any company on whom he dareth lay hands to build up his hidden Church in England withal 6. And it is to be noted by the Reader and by us to be repeated again for better memories sake that which before we admonished to wit that Fox findeth these 200 years of our first English primitive Church so barren of matter for his purpose as in the whole story thereof he spendeth only eight Leaves of Paper and these rather in deriding and scoffing the same and principal Pillars thereof than writing any Ecclesiastical History For which cause you shall find these Notes and Titles commonly written over the heads of his Leaves and Pages Augustin's arrival in Kent Gregory the basest Pope but the best Proud Augustin Lying Miracles Shaven Crowns Beda his Birth and the like Of which Learned Holy Man's Story I mean St. Bede he maketh so little account as in the same place reciting a Letter out of him written by a holy Man Ceolfride Abbot of Sherwyn in Northumberland to Naitonus King of the Picts he saith thus The Copy of which Letter as it is in Bede I have annexed not for any great reason therein contained but only to delight the Reader with some pastime in seeing the fond Ignorance of that Monkish Age c. Whereby we may see the drift of this pleasant Fox in these his Acts and Monuments which is to discredit that whole Time and all our Primitive Church 7. But yet to the end that the saying of Christ may be fulfilled in him Ex ore tuo te judico Serve nequam I do judge thee out of thy own mouth thou wicked Servant I shall here set down two National Synods gathered in England in these two Ages by two famous Archbishops of Canterbury the one Theodorus in the year of Christ 680 and related by Beda and the other St. Cuthbert in the year 747 related by William of Malmsbury after Bede's death and both of them set down by Fox And by viewing the Decrees of these two Synods you will see whether those Ages were so fond in Ignorance as Fox maketh them Out of the first Synod held at Thetford Fox gathereth ten Decrees in these words 8. I. That Easter-day should be uniformly kept and observed throughout the whole Realm upon a certain day viz. prima 14 Luna Mensis primi II. That no Bishop should intermeddle within the Diocese of another III. That Monasteries consecrated unto God should be exempt and free from the Jurisdiction of Bishops IV. That the Monks should not stray from one place that is from one Monastery to another without the license of their Abbot also to keep the same Obedience which they promised at their first entring V. That no Clergy-man should forsake his own Bishop and be received in any other place without Letters Commendatory of his own Bishop VI. That Foreign Bishops and Clergy-men coming into the Realm should be content only with the benefit of such Hospitality as should be offered them neither should they intermeddle any further within the Precinct of any Bishop without his special permission VII That Synods Provincial should be kept within the Realm at least once a year VIII That no Bishop should prefer himself before another but must observe the time and order of his Consecration IX That the number of Bishops should be augmented as the number of People increased X. That no Marriage should be admitted but that which was lawful no Incest to be suffered neither any man to put away his Wife for any cause except only for Fornication after the Rule of the Gospel And these be the principal Chapters of that Synod c. 9. Out of the second Synod held at Clonisho Fox gathereth thirty-one Decrees as followeth I. That Bishops should be more diligent in seeing to their Office and in admonishing the people of their faults II. That they should live in a peaceable mind together notwithstanding they were in place dissevered asunder III. That every Bishop once a year should go about all the Parishes of his Diocese IV. That the said Bishops every one in his Diocese should admonish their Abbots and Monks to live regularly and that Prelates should not oppress their Inferiors but love them V. That they should teach the Monasteries which the secular men had invaded and could not then betaken from them to live regularly VI. That none should be admitted to Orders before his Life should be examined VII That in Monasteries the reading of Holy Scripture should be more frequented VIII That Priests should be no disposers of secular business IX That they should take no money for baptizing
up by God for lightening the World and impugning the Church of Rome he leaveth to himself a starting-hole for all necessities when he shall be pressed telling us That albeit in John Wickliff 's Opinions and Assertions some blemishes perhaps may be noted yet such blemishes they be which rather declare him to be a man that might err than which directly did fight against Christ our Savior c. 8. Consider I pray you what a Defence this is Perhaps saith he some blemishes may be noted as tho' the matter were in doubt whether he had any blemishes in his Doctrin or no. Which yet after the Fox is forced to confess and to disclaim them openly And further he addeth full wisely That if he have blemishes or errors in Doctrin they are such as do rather prove that he was a man and might err than that he did directly fight against Christ Mark the manner of his Defence His errors do prove only That he was a man and might err And so I say also of the worst Heretics that their errors and blemishes in Doctrin do prove that they were men and erring men yea wicked men also in that they obstinately defended their own errors And so I say of Wickliff in like manner But mark what followeth Rather than that he did fight directly against Christ Which is as much as to say that it importeth not much tho' he impugned Christ indirectly if directly he did not fight against him And may not any Heretics that ever lived be defended in this sort No Heretics do openly and directly impugn Christ but rather pretend to honor him above others bearing ever the Names not only of Christians but also of the best and most reformed Christians and consequently they never fought directly against Christ but indirectly pretending one thing and doing another 9. After John Fox hath greatly justified Wickliff by divers Leaves of Paper together he cometh to set down 23 of his first Articles condemned by the Church of England at that day and that as Fox confesseth by special chosen Judges gathered together to wit eight Bishops fifteen Religious Learned Men of divers Orders fourteen Doctors and six Batchelors of Divinity all which Fox doth name and contemn And yet these Articles tho' in divers points they concur with Luther Zwinglius and Calvin's Doctrin in these days yet in others they do greatly disagree and Fox I think will not defend them As for Example The fourth Article is That if a Bishop or Priest should give Holy Orders or consecrate the Sacrament of the Altar or minister Baptism whiles he is in mortal sin in were nothing available 10. Will Fox yield to this Article think you For if he do we may call in doubt whether ever he were well baptiz'd and consequently whether he were a Christian seeing it may be doubted whether the Priest that baptiz'd him were in mortal sin or no when he did it And again the ninth Article is That it is against Scripture for any Ecclesiastical Ministers to have any temporal possessions at all This Article if Fox will grant yet his Fellow-Ministers and his Lords the Bishops I presume will hardly yield thereunto but will pretend Scriptures to the contrary against Wickliff Let us see the rest The tenth Article is That no Prelate ought to excommunicate any person except he know him first to be excommunicated by God. The fifteenth is That so long as a man is in deadly sin he is neither Bishop nor Prelate The sixteenth is That Temporal Lords may according to their own wills and discretion take away the Temporal Goods from any Church men whensoever they offend The seventeenth is That Tythes are meer Alms and may be detained by the Parishioners and bestowed where they will at their pleasure 11. These were some of Wickliff's first Articles condemn'd at Oxford about the year of Christ 1380 but after he published many worse And I would here know of John Fox Whether He and his Fellow-Ministers will allow of these Articles or no And if not but that they will have them accounted for his blemishes or errors as Fox calleth them then may we also with better reason account for blemishes and errors his other Propositions wherein he agreeth with the Protestants against Us as I doubt not but that John Fox will account those also wherein he agreeth with Us against Him which are many and far more than the former wherein he joyneth with Him against Us as may be gathered by these few Articles alleged here by Fox himself whereby tho' mingled with much other erroneous Doctrin as you see it is evident that Wickliff held divers Points also of Catholic Religion as Holy Orders Consecration Excommunication distinction of Venial and Mortal Sins and other like For which cause I marvel why John Fox would allege these Articles but only to confound himself and to shew that his holy Patriarch Wickliff is so full of blemishes as scarce any unspotted thing can be found in his Doctrin 12. But this is the beggery of this new Church that it cannot be made up but by such Dunghil-clouts gathered together from under the feet of their Adversaries For albeit Wickliff Husse and other like Sectaries did hold many more Articles with Us against the Protestants than with Them against us yet such is the Integrity Purity Severity yea Majesty of our Church that forasmuch as they agreed not in all and every point of Belief we according to the Creed of Athanasius reject them and as spotted and blemished Rags do cast them out to the Dunghil whom poor Fox gathereth up again with great diligence putting them into his Calendar for Saints and chief Pillers of his new Church and so consequently maketh his Church of our Shoe clouts which how honorable thing it may be esteemed let every man judge For if these Heretics did agree with him in all Points of his Doctrin tho' by joyning with them he should shew himself an Heretic yet they not agreeing but in some Points only and impugning him in the rest it sheweth a marvelous base mind and lack of common sense to make them Pillars of his Church as he doth 13. But there is yet another point worse than this which is that he doth not only allow of the Religion of these men but defendeth also and justifieth their Life and Actions in what case soever and tho' never so orderly and lawfully condemned by the Church or State of those days yea tho' they were convinced to have conspired the King's Murther and Ruin to the State or had broken forth into open War and Hostility against the same As did Sir John Oldcastle by his Wife called Lord Cobham Sir Roger Acton and many other their Followers in the first year of King Henry V. which Story you may read in John Stow truly related out of Thomas Walsingham and other ancient Writers 14. He setteth down also without blushing I mean Fox as well
answer That the Name Catholic did not import the universality of Nations professing our Christian Faith but the fulness rather of Sacraments which they held to be in their Church and farther they required that the Catholics should prove that all Nations did communicate with them and their Church which thing when the Catholics most willingly admitted and desired of the Judges that they might be suffered to prove it the Donatists presently ran to another Question slipping from this Cause of the Church that was in hand 21 Thus writeth S. Augustin of this matter whereby you see that the Catholics in those days as we in these did urge those Heretics with the force of this Name Catholic and with the signification and possession thereof on their side importing as they inferred the universality of all Nations professing the Faith of Christ so as they in those days assigned the great universal visible and known Church for the true which Church had been gathered by the Conversion of all Nations whereas the Donatists to flie this Argument were forced to say that the Name Catholic signified only the universality or fulness of Sacraments and consequently in what particular Congregation soever this fulness was sound as in theirs forsooth they pretended it was there was the only true Catholic Church which was a plain shift as you see And is not this the self-same manner of proceeding of all our Sectaries at this day Doth not every one of them brag that their Church only hath the fulness and right use of Sacraments and the true Preaching of God's Word Do not the Lutherans say this Do not the Zuinglians Calvinists Brownists and Puritans Preach the like And do not the Anabaptists and Trinitarians affirm the very same This then was a very shift in the Donatists and so it is in our Protestants 22. After this first running from the Cause S. Augustin sheweth that the Donatists full sore against their wills were brought unto it again by Marcellinus the Tribune appointed by the Emperor to assist in that Conference And whereas the Catholics had given up some days before a large Writing shewing by infinite Testimonies of holy Scriptures that the Church of Christ foretold by his Prophets and instituted by himself could not be any particular Church or Conventicle in Africa or out of Africa but an universal visible and illustrious Church spread over all Nations and with which all Nations converted to Christ should communicate in one The Donatists saith S. Aug. after a long Conference and Council held among themselves did answer this Writing of the Catholics by another large impertinent Writing of theirs but quite from the purpose not answering so much as one Text alleged by the Catholics for this Universality of the Church Non solum saith S. Augustin pertractare sed omnino nec attingere voluerunt The Donatists not only would not handle fully or answer these Testimonies alleged by the Catholics for the Vniversality and extern Majesty of the Church but not so much as touch any one of them 23. And then saith he farther Nec aliquod testimonium in tam prolixa epistola sua proferre ausi sunt de scripturis sanctis quo assererent Ecclesiam partis Donati esse praedictam praenunciatam sicut tam multa Catholici protulerunt pro Ecclesia cui communicant quae incipiens ab Hierusalem toto orbe diffunditur c. Neither durst the Donatists in so large an Epistle of theirs which they gave up bring forth any one Testimony of Holy Scripture whereby they might prove that the particular Church of the part or Faction of Donatus was prophesied or foretold by the said Scriptures whereas the Catholics on the other side brought forth many Scriptures for proof of that Vniversal Church with which they communicate which Church beginning from Hierusalem was spread over all the World. And thus writeth S. Augustin of their dealing in that Point 24. And presently after this he sheweth that they fell to the discussion of a third Point to wit whether the true Catholic Church of Christ to whom he promised those singular Graces and Privileges which the Scripture setteth down should consist of good men only as the Donatists held or of the mixture of good and evil in this Life as the Catholics taught wherein the Donatists thought themselves to have a great advantage First for that it might seem to the simple people there present to be a more pious Opinion to hold that only good men were God's Flock and of his true Church Secondly for that they had many places of Scripture that might seem to favor the same for so saith S. Augustin Illud ostendere tentaverunt prolatis multis testimoniis divinarum scripturarum quod Ecclesia Dei non cum malorum hominum commixtione futura praedicta sit They endeavored to shew by many Testimonies alleged out of holy Scriptures that it was not foretold or prophesied of the Church that she should consist of the mixture of good and evil men c. Behold here how old Heretics abounded also in alleging Scriptures as well as ours at this day but all from the purpose for whatsoever the Donatists alleged out of Scriptures for the sanctity and purity of God's Church it was either to be understood of the triumphant Church in the next Life or of the better part of the Church in this Life to wit such as are not only of the external Body of the Church but also of the Soul as this holy Father speaketh that is to say endued and adorned with all necessary Vertues 25. But on the contrary side when S. Augustin and his Fellow Bishops to prove that Christ's Church in this World consisted both of good and bad alleged those evident Parables of our Saviour used about this matter as that of the Net cast into the Sea that comprehended all kind of Fish both good and bad some to be cast away and some to be used That also of the Barn-floor which had in it both chaff and corn the one to be burned the other to be laid up in God's eternal Granary The other also of corn and cockle permitted to grow in one field to the day of Judgment and of the sheep and goats that live in God's Flock under the self same Shepherds in this World but yet the one to be consumed with everlasting Fire in the end thereof and the other to be taken into eternal Joy. When these Parables I say with many other Testimonies of Scripture had been alleged by the Catholics against the Donatists Heresie it was wonderful to see what shifts deceits and tergiversations they used to avoid the same denying some as invented by Catholics others they sought to avoid by false and crafty Expositions and other such shifts which you may read at large in S. Augustin 26. And for that this may be sufficient for a tast to shew the different manner of proceeding between Catholics and Heretics both