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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20606	The rockes of Christian shipwracke, discouered by the holy Church of Christ to her beloued children, that they may keepe aloofe from them. Written in Italian by the most reuerend father, Marc Ant. de Dominis, Archb. of Spalato, and thereout translated into English; Scogli del christiano naufragio, quali va scoprendo la santa chiesa di Christo. English	De Dominis, Marco Antonio, 1560-1624.	1618 (1618)	STC 7005; ESTC S117489	73,138	191

Peter was ordained by Christ an vniuersall Pope ouer mee yet what hath the Bishop of Rome to doe with St. Peter The holy Scriptures giue-in no euidence at all that euer Peter was at Rome Onely humane histories report it And as for diuine Records they plainely shew that he departed not from the coasts of Iudea till the fiftieth yeere of our Lord. Thereafter wee finde in the Ecclesiastique histories that before his going into the West Hieron in Pet. hee preached the Gospell in the Easterne parts in Pontus Cappadocia Asia Bythinia c. for the space of diuers yeeres and that hee suffered martyrdome in Rome about the sixty eight yeere of our Lord. It is not possible therefore that he could haue bene Bishop of Rome so long as fifteene yeeres much lesse twenty fiue Which space of time is very vnaduisedly assigned him by some passable ancient writers But to omit these arguments from computation suerely neither Saint Peter nor any other Apostle was euer made Bishop of any particular City whereto his seat might be entayled by a perpetuity This is repugnant to the very office of Apostleship which was by Christ their Chiefe Lord instituted an order of professed errants throughout the whole world when he gaue them their commission Matth 28.19 Mar. 16.15 to Goe and teach all Nations and to preach the Gospell to euery creature that is to say to all men wheresoeuer throughout the world They had no power therefore to fix themselues on any particular place nor to binde themselues to it but their duty was to attend the enlargement of my tents Act. 1.8 beginning from Ierusalem to the vtmost parts of the earth and when they had founded any particular Church and vnited it to me the vniuersall Mother they were then to passe on for new plantations Who therefore is so hardy as to coope vp Saint Peter at Rome and to binde him to a particular Bishopricke there till the day of his death And if hee finished his course at Rome certainely hee died not with the title of Bishop of Rome but of an vniuersall Apostle For neither that nor any other See could be chosen by him as proper to him beeing by his function and calling to passe to and fro through the world But if hee ended his life in any heathenish place where as then there was no Church planted who then was to be his successor in the Papacie It is therefore a groundlesse and idle assertion to name personall successors to any of the Apostles whenas none of them all was a locall Bishop for as for Iames Bishop of Ierusalem Constit Apost lib. 6. c 14. Doroth. in synopsi c. hee was none of the twelue Apostles but a Disciple beside that number and therfore all Bishops succeed all the Apostles in Solidum that is to say euery particular Bishop whatsoeuer hee bee holdeth the place and office of the Apostles who by Christ's institution committed their charge and office to the Bishops and those to other Bishops and so to others by continuall succession till the end of the world and that by vertue euen of those words of Christ to the Apostles Io. 20. As the Father hath sent me so I send you That is to say As the Father hath giuen mee power to send you soe I giue power to you to send others and to giue them likewise the same missiue power which I giue you and the Father hath giuen me And hereupon it followeth that euery Bishop in respect of the diuine institution hath the very Apostolicall power that is vniuersall in habite or generall qualification which he is enabled to exercise actually in any part of the world But in regard of my restreining precept for the auoyding of disorder and confusion there are long since limitations set downe and particular distinctions of euery ones Diocesse Now therefore when as there is no personall succession vnto any of the Apostles who can fetch his claime from Peter who from Iohn who from any other of the Apostles Nay if such plea were good there could not bee aboue 12. or at the most 13. Bishops in the world And to afford personall succession to Peter onely with deniall of it to all the rest is to beate the aire with idle words and to goe against the Scriptures Certeinely for a thousand yeeres and more I neuer heard in all my family from the mouth or penne of any pious and holy Author that the Bishop of Rome was acknowledged for an Vniuersall Pope Indeed the Bishops of Rome themselues haue endeuoured to make me an vnderling and to put me vnder their feete and to make themselues my Head and Lord and Master with great wrong to my true and onely Head Lord and Spouse CHRIST IESVS but they haue long attempted it in vaine For they haue met with stout oppositions St. Polycrates a most holy Bishop of Asia did strongly oppose S. Victor B. of Rome S. Irenaeus B. of Lions did the like and this befell neere the times of the Apostles Cypr. l. 1. ep 3. l. 3. op 13. Apud Cypr. ep 74. Pamel S. Cyprian beareth himselfe as a companion and Colleague with S. Steuen and S. Cornelius both Bishops of Rome euen in the Vniuersall gouernment of the Church and spareth not to hold his owne against them S. Firmilian B. of Cesarea in Cappadocia handleth the same Steuen of Rome very homely and setteth nought by his excommunications Euseb l. 7. c. 4. Iulij Epist. ad Orientales Socrat. l. 7. c. 5. Sozom. l. 3. c. 5 c. The Church histories are plentiful in shewing how lightly S. Iulius though B. of Rome was ouerpassed by the Bishops of the East and by the Councell of Antioch which for the more part of it was Catholique and Orthodoxe for no lesse matter then that he would make himselfe an Vniuersall Iudge euen in the causes of the Easterne Church and yet in the end hee was faine to sit downe and be quiet The Councell of Nice acknowledgeth not the B. Con. Nic. can 6 of Rome for any other then one of the three then Patriarchs who had their limited iurisdictions so also doeth the first Councell of Constantinople and the Councell of Chalcedon None of the ancient fathers my dearest children for the space of 600. yeeres together hath any the least impression of the Romane Papacie by whom the B. of Rome was neuer taken for other then at the most for Patriarch of the West The Africane Church in those dayes one of my most noble daughters affronted the Romane Church and would not in any wise that she should exercise any power ouer her in the ordering of the Ecclesiasticall policie and went so farre as in open Councels to resist her in which euen the renowned S. Augustine bare his part The like hath bene many times practised by the Churches of Rauenna of Aquilege of Milan And S. Gregory in opposing the title of Vniuersal

THE ROCKES OF CHRISTIAN SHIPWRACKE Discouered by the holy Church of CHRIST to her beloued Children that they may keepe aloofe from them WRITTEN IN ITALIAN BY THE MOST REVEREND FATHER MARC ANT. DE DOMINIS Archb. of Spalato And thereout translated into English CITO LONGE NVNQVAM LONDON Printed by IOHN BILL M.DC.XVIII THE CHVRCH OF CHRIST TO HER MOST deare children wisheth sauing health and peace MY beloued children If the spirituall Wracke of Christian soules could in the approach be sensibly discerned it might of it selfe serue for a warning-marke and all both eminent Rocks and vnder-water shelfs would be discried and so shunned But so much the more dangerous and pernicious is that woefull shipwrack which swalloweth vp an infinite number of you my deare children in that those that vndergoe it neither know nor once all their life long heed this their owne ruine Can I then your dolorous Mother can I brooke this miserable losse can I suffer so many of my children to bee cast away Noe I cannot Needs must I impart the trueth vnto you I am resolued to hide nothing from you When in my yong first teeming daies I felt the wounds and torments of Heathenish persecutions very bitter alas was the anguish of my soule to behold on all sides streaming riuers of the blood of my tender children so impiously shed by most cruel Tyrants persecutors of the faith of IESVS CHRIST my Spouse and Lord. No sooner ceased these tyrannous persecutions but I was beset with other more dangerous afflictions of Heresies whereby the bitternes of my soule was more encreased In asmuchas that first kinde of persecution was onely outward slaying the bodies of my children but not hurting their soules nay rather much benefiting them But this latter pierced inward destroying the soules of many and wounded my very heart euen the faith of my Spouse At length the storme of heresies was hushed and so I sate me downe in peace enioying a faire and goodly calme whē behold Isa 38.17 my griefe was most bitter in peace Peace brought vpō me a greater bitternes then any of my former The persecutions of the Heathen and the mutinies of the Heretiques were indeed a bitter seruice to mee but yet they both had their sweetning For by the former I was made a more fruitfull mother Tertul. Apol. aduers gent. The blood of the Martyrs being the seed whereout more Christians grew and by occasion of the latter my Officers and Ministers became the more watchfull and furnished themselues with more store of knowledge of sound doctrine and pure faith and also fed my children with so much the more exact spirituall nourishment But the bitternes which mine owne Officers and seruants haue by reason of peace through their owne idlenes brought vpon me is become diuers ages since but in these dayes more then euer distastfull to me From these my Ministers comes this your shipwrack they haue set in your way all these Rocks Shelfes Quick-sands wherby so many of you are cast away Peace and idlenesse haue beene my bane As standing-water in wells ditches and puddles through want of motion quickly corrupteth and breedeth wormes toades snakes and other such vermine so peace and idlenesse hath bin to my chiefe Ministers Bishops Prelates the cause of putrefaction And so they following the crooked bent of corrupt nature and running a madding after their owne concupiscences haue first giuen ouer themselues in prey to Auarice Very large haue bin of old the almes and oblations of faithfull and very deuout people for the maintayning of their spirituall fathers After these followed the bounty of Emperours and other Christian Princes and benefactors they in their vnaduised deuotion heaping vpon me more and more riches haue I may say to you brought my Ministers to a good passe For my part I was at my highest and in best esteeme whilest I went in a thinne coate such as I was cladde withall when my Spouse Christ Iesus betroathed himselfe to me My most proper ornaments my truest greatnesse consisteth not in outward pompe nor superfluous worldly commodities but in spirituall and inward vertues My beloued Dauid wrote concerning me Psal 45.13 that the king's daughter is all-glorious within And my worthy sonne St. Hierome hath noted concerning me that Hiero. de vita Malchi after that I was entertained by Christian Princes I grew greater in state and wealth but abated much in vertue In thus saying alas the while hee came too neere the truth Yet this was none of my fault It was mine owne Ministers that haue brought this scar vpō me especially in that they without my allowance or weeting haue diuided among themselues that stocke of temporal goods which by my appointment for diuers ages remayned in common and whereout by the publique dispensers or stewards dayly or monethly portions were wont to bee allotted to euery of those my Ministers for their necessary maintenāce but afterward by their Auarice properly was brought in And I would to God they had there stayed and contented themselues with their parts so assigned to them then had that bene tolerable and now perhaps were necessary But as the guise of the couetous man is neuer to say hee hath enough they haue gone on inuenting new deuises of purchase though with the apparant danger of their owne their peoples my childrens soules and to the no small hinderance of all kind of spirituall gaine Hauing afforded some but neuer full content to Auarice they by the sway of naturall corruption cast themselues farther in prey to Ambition They saw themselues esteemed and exalted by me like fathers respected reuerenced and honored by my children whereupon forgetting that they were no other then my Ministers and seruants and that their office and charge was to serue my children rather then to command euen as they were taught by the example and precept of my Spouse their and my Lord and Master who came not to be ministred vnto Matth. 20.28 but to minister they began to think so highly of themselues and to swell so bigge with the conceit of their office that they pretended themselues to be Lords ouer my house and very Princes and so caried very small respect to me whose ministers and seruants they are After that this Infernall spirit of Ambition had entred into them they now not deigning any lōger to employ their ioynt paines in digging my vineyard which is the very office allotted thē by my Christ Iesus set themselues to contend with one another about Primacy Ancestry and one to domineere ouer the other and to play the commander as is well obserued and declared by my Eusebius Euseb histor lib. 8. cap. 1. These bee the two horrible wilde beasts these the two monsters namely Auarice and Ambition which haue cast my Officers headlong into very important errors so that putting away a good conscience they haue also made some shipwrack concerning the faith And that which is

open neither vntill they come vnto my notice and yet these men would most fondly inflict actuall punishments for faults vnreuealed to them and vpon Delinquents vtterly vnknowen Let no man therefore bee afraid of these Excommunications iniure although they bee ipso facto vpon the very deede or latae sententiae vpon the generall sentence which is an errour nor is it possible that such Excommunications should worke ipso facto neither doth God hold any man for excommunicate vntill hee be namely bound and actually excommunicate Let euery one bee affraid of sinne though neuer so secret and let him looke for punishment from God but let him not feare any excommunication of mine vnlesse it be actually brandished out against him by his lawfull Prelate and that vpon good cause nor can this third Excommunication otherwise worke any whit vpon the soule Moreouer I aduise you that if a Prelate excommunicate any of you and that vpon iust cause for some offence deseruing excommunication if he doe not either by word or deede declare with which of these three Excommunications he doth strike you this his excommunicating though it be speciall and actuall is either none at all or at the most it is to bee vnderstood of the second and not of the third Neither can that stand which the new Canonists auouch that by the indefinite name of Excommunication the greater is to be vnderstood For they confound the second with the third which notwithstanding are most different one from anothers and they would haue the second to bee the greater because it taketh away Ecclesiasticall conuersation from the excommunicate party It must be vnderstood therefore of the second but as not amounting vnto the third which third is the true Excommunicatio maior the grand excommunication For it is true that in the later the former are included but not the later in the former Besides this you are to vnderstand that by my rules taught me by my Spouse none of these Excommunications especially the third can be of force but when the crime is grieuous publique notorious and very scandalous and such as giueth first very great offence to God and moreouer much scandall to the Church And hee that is cleere in his owne conscience and knoweth that hee doth not offend in the sight of God and that the act for which he is excommunicated especially by the Excommunication in iure onely is not of it selfe abhominable nor repugnant to Gods Law let him neuer feare any excommunication at all as making him guilty before God Whilst therefore a Prelate commandeth or forbiddeth any act of its own nature indifferent which is neither commanded nor forbidden by the word of God and imposeth this his command vnder paine of Excommunication you may laugh in your sleeues at it For the not obeying a Prelate in such things as in their owne nature are indifferent seldome amounteth to a mortall sinne and though it were mortall yet it is not such as can deserue the third Excommunication And so when you heare Excommunications thundred out for reading of bookes for not paying of pensions for punishing Priests and wicked Friars according to law with ciuill punishments and such like causes you may take such Excommunications to be made in iest and neede not bee afraid of them for I hold them to bee nothing worth neither was it euer my mind that this sword of mine should euer serue the turne either for temporall affaires or for the priuate ends of my Prelats Take also this with you which is one of my principall ordinances concerning Excommunications that none can excommunicate any other then those that bee in proper subiected to him and of his Diocesse And so the Bishoppe of Rome cannot excommunicate those that are out of the Diocesse of Rome And whosoeuer excommunicateth any that are not subiect vnto him his Excommunication holds not and in this case the Popes thunderbolt is of no more force then that of the Bishop of * A pety Bishopricke in Italy in the dominions of Venice Caurole Indeede any Bishop vpon great cause may deny to another Bishop his communion that is his communication and brotherly complying and spirituall correspondence So also may any particular Church deny its communion to another and this may bee called a fourth kinde of Excommunication but it hath no operation vpon the soule nor is exercised with any power or iurisdiction of one Church ouer another and the action it selfe is meerely negatiue not positiue nor operatiue namely when vpon euidence or deepe suspicion of anothers spirituall corruption mutuall correspondence is shunned And yet in this sort of Excommunication there is very great danger inasmuch as vpon it foule turbulent schismes doe ensue This Rocke as you see becommeth very dangerous vnto you whilest it makes you stumble vpon feares and terrors which withhold you from many actions that would bee profitable and commodious to you and also it maketh you run headlong into the actions of blindefold obedience whence indeede commeth your ruine seeing they will not suffer you to walke in the high-way of your saluation but amuse you in the by-wayes of eternall perdition and hold you in subiection to an Idoll and to him that would haue you deeme him a god vpon earth ¶ The fift Rocke The Commandements of the Church THis is a very great Rocke or rather a maine Sea of Rocks and shelfes heaped vp together and appointed for the spirituall ruine of you my deere Children The ambition of Popes hath hitherto vsurped a Law-making power through my whole family and would haue me bound vnder paine of mortall sinne to obserue their lawes Verely it belongeth to mee in my Synods and Councels to set down certaine practicall rules concerning rites and outward worship which rules are nothing else then certaine good directions and publique instructions requisite and necessary for the establishing of good order for the preuenting of confusion and for the increase of piety But I neuer pretended that they should haue the very nature of lawes but onely of good ordinances and therefore my will was to call them Canons that is to say Rules but not Lawes nor Commandements vnlesse I procure the secular power to giue them the force of lawes From which secular powers Christ hath not freed either mee or any of you as hee hath freed vs from the legall Ceremonies and from the yoake and burden of that law which beeing no part of the Decalogue perteyneth to the gouernment of the soule there yet remayning most full power in Princes and Magistrates as farre as concerneth temporall gouernment whereto all the sort of you are subiect not onely by constraint and for feare but also for conscience-sake as Saint Paul instructeth you True it is Rom. 13.5 that there is also an obedience due vnto the spiritual Ouerseers but this is to be vnderstood of following their good instructions in matter of faith and concerning Christian life Neither was it the minde of Christ to