published by Pope Pius the fourth were anciently received though newly defined by the Councell of Trent for proofe he instanceth in the first Councell of Nice and compareth that Councell and their Creed with this of Trent hee proceeds by way of recrimination to question the 39. Articles of our Church he accuseth us for corrupting and misinterpreting the Scriptures for declining Traditions Fathers and Councels hee excuseth their Index Expurgatorius and accuseth us for falsifying the Fathers and lastly he concludeth with the doctrine of implicite faith and this is the substance and contents of his answer to my first Chapter All which and whatsoever else is materially contained therein and the rest of his sections following I will take into severall parts distinctly and returne him a moderate answer The Reply to Mr. Lloyd FIrst touching your Trent Creed you complaine that according to the common fashion of our Ministers by way of derision I divide it into twelve points as it were into twelve Articles which say you he and they might with as much reason divide it into foure and twentie Here you begin to quarrell at your first entrance but I hope you will gladly forgive us this wrong for if wee accuse your Trent Fathers for coyning twelve Articles in stead of foure and twentie they and you are more beholding to us for laying the lesser number to your charge and yet if you please to review them you shall finde they fall most naturally within the number of twelve But you would know what difference there is betwixt the Councell of Nice and the Councell of Trent and their two Creeds Let mee tell you if ever the proverb held true Comparisons are odious it holds betwixt the two Councels and their two Creeds the Councell of Trent is not worthy to be named the day wherein the Councell of Nice is mentioned That famous Councell of Nice was the first and best generall Assembly after the Apostles time that was summoned in the Christian world it had in it 318. Bishops Totius orbis terrarum lumina saith Victorinus amongst whom were the foure Patriarchs of the Easterne and Westerne Churches It was called by the first and best Christian Emperour Quasi servator medicus animarum Euseb in vita Conslant orat 3. c. 10. Constantine the Great who was Vocalissimus Dei praeco and as it were the Preserver and Physitian of our soules saith Eusebius This Emperour exhorted the Fathers and Bishops of that Councell Omni igitur seditios â contentione depulsâ literarum divinitùs inspiratarum testimoniis res in quaestionem adduct as dissolvamus Theod. Hist Eccl. l. 1. c. 7. p. 208. to lay aside seditious contention and resolve all doubts and questions by the testimonies of divine Scriptures and accordingly they framed their Creed out of the doctrine of the Apostles and all who were not of the Arrian faction did assent and agree to it saith Theodoret. Now take a view of your Trent Councell and compare them together Your Councell of Trent like Demetrius Assembly was summoned by Pope Paul the third without a lawfull calling the three Patriarchs of Constantinople of Antioch of Alexandria refused to be present the Legates of the Kingdome of Denmark of Suetia and the Dukedome of Prusia were all absent and returned their answer that the a Gravamina opposita Concil Trid. Causa 1. pag. 21. Pope had no right to call a Councell Our Queene b Epit. rerum in orbe gest sub Ferd. 1. ann 1561. apud Scard tom 3. p. 2171. E Belgio in Insulam trajicere prohibuit ibid. Elizabeth of blessed memory disavowed the Councell in so much that when the Pope sent Hieronymus Martinengus as Legate into England to summon our Bishops shee would not suffer him to land or set his foot on her Dominions The French King signifieth by his Legate James Amiot that hee for his part neither held it for a generall not yet for a lawfull Councell but for a private Conventicle and accordingly hee wrote Conventui Tridentino The Emperour Innoc Gentil sess 12. and Hist of Trent l. 4. p. 319. Illyric in Protest contr Concil Trid. Charles the fifth declared by his Embassadour Hurtado Mendoza in the name of the whole Empire that the Bishops wholly hanging at the Popes becke had no authoritie to make lawes in causes of reformation of religion and manners Andreas Dudithius Dudith in Ep. ad Maximil 2. de Calice Sacerdotum conjugio the Bishop of five Churches told the Emperours Maximilian and Ferdinand that the Trent Fathers were like a paire of countrey Bag-pipes which unlesse they were still blowne into could make no musick The Holy Ghost had nothing to doe with that Councell and therefore they could create no new Articles of faith Your historie of Trent tels us The historie of Trent the Spirit was sent in a Carriers cloak-bag from Rome to Trent but when there fell store of raine the Holy Ghost could not come before the flouds were abated and so it fell out that the Spirit was not carried upon the waters as wee read in Genesis but besides them Looke upon your Bishops they were but fortie and two at the first meeting and two of them titular the rest for the most part saith Dudithius were but hirelings Andr. Dudith ut suprà young men and beardlesse hired and procured by the Pope to speake as hee would have them To say nothing of those Emperours who called the first and best Councels and were present in person when as the Popes send but their Legates Euseb in vitâ Constant orat 3. c. 16. Ego intereram Concilio saith Constantine I was present at the Councell amongst you as one of you Touching his Imperiall seat in the Councell Ibid. c. 10. his throne was very great and passed all the rest saith Eusebius whereas there is no greater distance in the time Advertendum quod locus ubi sedet Imperator 〈…〉 tenet 〈◊〉 Pontifex Liber Ceremon l. 2. c. 2. than there is now difference in the places for the Emperour is allowed but to sit at the Popes foot-stoole and it is specially to bee noted saith your booke of ceremonies that the place whereupon the Emperour sitteth may bee no higher than the place where the Pope setteth his feet Your Councell of Trent hath made many decrees for reformation of manners but did they ever reforme this abuse and restore the ancient custome You then that are so confident in equalling those two Councels doe you thinke there is no difference betwixt a conventicle and a generall Councell betwixt a Councell lawfully called and one summoned by usurpation betwixt a late Councell held in a corner of the world in the worst age and an ancient Councell in a most famous citie held in the most flourishing age betwixt a Councell that layes her sole foundation in the Scriptures and one that builds her first Article of faith upon Traditions Bulla Pii
1100 de Gratiano Aiph advers haereses l. 1. c. 2. in fine Ad transmarina qui putaverint appellandum a nullo infra Africam in Communione suscipiatur Bin. in Concil Milevit Cā 22 Codex Can. Eccl. Afric Can. 28. v. Nisi forte ad Apostolican sedem appellaverint Grat. causa 2. quest 6. Placuit fol. Mibi 153. Haec exceptio non videtur quadrare Bell. de Pont. l. 2. c. 24. notwithstanding hee professeth the worke was purged and restored to his integrity by most learned men by the command of Gregory the 13. in the yeare 1580. Your Alphonsus à Castro tells us that this shamefull errour ought to be made knowne to all men lest others by this abuse take occasion to erre in like manner as namely Johannes de Turrecremata and Cardinall Cajetan who both cited this place out of Gratian for the Romish faith and the Popes Supremacie and yet no such thing is to be found in St. Austin The Councel of Milevis alias the African Councell is falsified by Gratian for the Popes Supremacie The words of the Councell are these Those that offer to appeale beyond the Seas let none within Africa receive them to Communion Gratian observing that this was a strong evidence and barre to the Popes Supremacie according to his custome hath thrust in these words into the Canon Except it bee to the Apostolike See of Rome Now what saith Bellarmine to this falsification He confesseth that some say This exception doth not seem to square with the Councell I know not how the squares goe with your men at Rome but I finde that amongst your partie there is no rule without an exception especially if it make against your doctrine St. Cyrill Bishop of Alexandria is purged in the Text it selfe and is forged by Aquinas for two principal points of faith viz. Transubstantiation and the Popes Supremacie Touching the first he saith That we might not feele horrour Aquin. in Catena in illud Luc. 22 Accepto pane c. seeing flesh and bloud on the sacred Altar the Sonne of God condescending to our infirmities doth penetrate with the power of life into the things offered to wit Bread and Wine converting them into the verity of his owneflesh that the body of life as it were a quickening seed might be found in us Here is a faire Evidence or rather a foule falsification for your carnall presence But what saith your owne Vasques the Jesuit Citatur Cyrillus Alex. in Epistola ad Casyrium quae inter ejus opera non habetur illius tamen testimonium citat S. Thomas in Catena Cyrils testimony is eyted by Thomas but there is no such Tract to be found in all his workes Againe touching the Popes Supremacie hee brings in St. Cyrill saying As Christ received power of his Father over every power a power most full and ample that all things should bowe to him so hee did commit it most fully and amply Aquinas in opusculo contra errores Graecorum ad Urbanum quartum Pontificem maximum both to Peter and his Successors and Christ gave his owne to none else save to Peter fully but to him be gave it And the Apostles in the Gospels and Epistles have affirmed in every doctrine Peter and his Church to bee instead of God And to him even to Peter all doe bowe their head by the law of God and the Princes of the world are obedient to him even as to the Lord Jesus And we as being members must cleave unto our head the Pope and the Apostolike See That it is our duty to seeke and enquire what is to be beleeved what to bee thought what to be held because it is the right of the Pope alone to reprove to correct to rebuke to confirme to dispose to loose and binde Here is a large and ample testimony cited in the name of an ancient Father for the honour and power of the universall Bishop This passage is alledged out of Cyrils worke intituled The Treasurie against Heretiques Thesaurus adversus haeticos Tom. 2. p. 1. but whereas there are 14. Bookes written by him of that Title there are no such words to be found in the whole Tract But observe the proceedings of your good Saint hee conceived the authoritie of one Father though rightly cited was not a sufficient proofe for an Article of faith and thereupon to make good his former Assertion hee summons 630. Bishops who saith hee with one voice and consent made this generall acclamation in the Councell of Chalcedon Aquinas in opusculo ut supra God grant long life to Leo the most holy Apostolike and universall Patriarch of the whole World He tels us further it was decreed by the same Councell If any Bishop be accused let him appeale to the Pope of Rome because we have Peter for a rocke of refuge and he alone hath right with freedome of power in stead of God to judge and try the cause of a Bishop accused according to the keyes which the Lord did give him Without doubt this decree was a good inducement for the Church of England to subscribe to the Popes Supremacie if you could make good this proofe out of the Councell of Chalcedon for it is one of the first foure generall Councels which we subscribe unto by our Acts of Parliament An. 1. Elizab. But where are those words to bee found in that Councell Your Pope Zozimus falsified a Canon in the first Councell of Nice as I have shewed and your Popes Champion St. Thomas hath falsified another and both for the universality of the Pope by which you may easily discerne that you wanted antiquity to prove your faith when your men are driven to forge and faine a consent of many hundred Bishops in an ancient and generall Councell See Concil Chalced. Can. 28. Act. 15. for the supporting of your Lord Paramount when as in truth it decreed the flat contrary doctrine Gelasius Bishop of Rome is corrupted Grat. de Consecr dist 2. c. Comperimus Gelasius Pap◠Majorico Johanni Episcopis Ibid. where hee condemneth halfe Communion as sacrilegious his words are these We finde that some receiving a portion of Christs holy Body abstaine from the Cup of his sacred Bloud which because they doe out of I know not what superstition we command therefore that either they receive the entire Sacraments or that they be entirely with-held from them because the division of one and the selfe-same Mystery cannot be without grand Sacriledge Gratian the compiler of the Popes Decrees borrowed his chapter out of that Epistle of Gelasius saith Bellarmine withall prefixed this Title before it Bell. de sacr Euch. l. 4. c. 26. The Priest ought not to receive the Body of Christ without the Bloud Ea Epistola Gelasii quae modò fortasse non extat Ibid. that is to say without the consecrated Cup and yet by Bellarmines confession That Epistle peradventure is not now extant and
Roman Ferus hath left out the word ridiculum est and saith That some will have Cephas taken for the head which is most ridiculous Claudius Espencaeus Bishop of Paris lived and dyed a member of the Roman Church yet is purged because hee speakes not Placentia sutable to your Trent Doctrine In his Commentary on the Epistle to Titus in his first digression hee is commanded to be purged per quinque paginas five leaves together in which hee complaines of the abuses and corruptions growne into the Roman Church and See he shewes that their greedinesse of gaine and love of money caused them to dispence with all kindes of wickednesse as namely with unlawfull and forbidden marriages with Priests keeping of Concubines with incests murders rapes witchcraft killing of Fathers of Mothers of Brothers and things not to be named and under the name and title of the Taxes of the Apostolicke Chamber for so they terme them in which Booke saith hee being publikely and daily printed Taxae Camerae Apostolicae you may learne more wickednesse than in all the summes and catalogues of vices Then hee shewes that the Councell of Trent was a third time assembled by the command of Pius the fourth Adeo tamen Romanam curiaÌ„ repurgare non permisit yet by no meanes would hee permit that the Court of Rome should be reformed And thus in severall pages Ind. Madrid f. 60. Belg. p. 74. Delean tur illa verba in Ep. ad Tit. c. 1. p. 74 p. 76 77 78. 82 83 84. where hee complaines of the like abuses in the See and Court of Rome the Inquisitors command to be blotted out Lastly hee proves out of Gregory the Great and Saint Bernard a Ibid. p. 526. In Tit. c. 3. That every soule is subject to the higher power that is the Priesthood to the secular power the Bishops and Archbishops to Emperours and Kings and in conclusion when it is questioned saith hee touching the reformation of the Clergie and orders of Monkes for sending the Shepheards to their owne folds and compelling them to feed their owne flocks they say it is a thing that belongs to a Synod Res est synodica pontificia Ibid. p. mihi 526. and the Bishop of Rome But was there any Reformation at the Councell of Trent Did the Pope and Councell cause them to bee more diligent in their calling c. This and much more to the like purpose they command to be blotted out Polydore Virgil a member of your Church is purged in many points of Doctrine which make against you Possev Appar p. mihi 294. Tom. 2. Possevine tells us that his Booke De inventionibus rerum is permitted to be read if it be such as Pope Gregory the thirteenth commanded to be purged at Rome 1576. Now if any man list to compare that and Polydore printed at Paris 1528. Parisiis ex Officinâ Roberti Stephani Anno 1528. hee shall finde that the true Doctrine of Polydore is not allowed which protesteth against many points of Popery Polyd. de Invent Rerum l. 2. c. 23. in initio p. mihi 41. but by the Inquisitors command hee is inforced contrary to himselfe to speake the Trent language As for instance whereas the true Polydore saith When God is every where present certainly there is nothing more foolish than to counterfeit his image in your later Editions you have added these words In the beginning after the first creation there was nothing more foolish as if it were wisdome to represent God the Father in these dayes which in the beginning of the world was foolishnesse In his fifth Booke and fourth Chapter Ibid. l. 5. c. 4. p. 84. usque adp 87. your Inquisitors command seven whole pages to bee stricken out and the reason is pregnant The marriage of Priests which is prohibited by a positive Law of your Church is proved to be lawfull yea and in some case commanded by the Apostles Doctrine and justified by the examples of Saint Paul of Peter of Philip and other Apostles that had wives and he addeth that according to Saint Pauls Doctrine the Bishops and Deacons and consequently all orders of Priesthood had them and this custome saith hee continued long in the Church Porro dum sacerdotes generabant legitimos filios Ecclesia faelici prole virüm vigebat tum sanctissimi erant PoÌ„tifices Episcopi innocentissimi Presbyteri DiaconÃque inregerrimi castissimÃque Ib. p. 86 87. Ibid. c. 9. and withall concludes Furthermore whilst the Priests did beget lawfull sonnes the Church flourished with a happy off-spring of men then your Popes were most holy your Bishops most innocent your Priests and Deacons most honest and chaste Then he proves from Pope Pius the second that as Marriage upon good cause was taken from the Priests so it ought to be restored upon better This and much more concerning the marriage of Priests is commanded to be stricken out In his ninth Chapter hee saith Worship thou one true and eternall God but worship thou no Image of any living creature Ind. Belg. p. 175 deleatur say your Inquisitors let it be strucken out In his sixth Booke Idem l. 6. c. 13. and beginning of his thirteenth Chapter he testifies from St. Hierome That almost all the holy ancient Fathers did condemne the worship of Images for feare of Idolatrie He proves from the Law of Moses that nothing made with hands should be worshipped and from the Prophet David Confounded bee all they that worship graven Images Hee shewes further that Gregorie the Great albeit hee reprehended Serenus Bishop of Marsilia for breaking downe of Images yet hee commends him for forbidding the worshipping of them These and the like passages are commanded to be strucken out per octodecem lineas Ind. Belg p. 177. Ind. lib. expurg p. mihi 725. for eighteen lines together Ludovicus Vives a Priest of your second Classis is purged and namely by the Divines of Lovan Plantins print at Antwerpe 1576. in their Edition of St. Austins workes at Antwerp Anno 1576. In his Epistle to King Henry the 8th where he saith that Princes are supreme Governours on earth next under God this is commanded to be blotted out And where he saith The Saints are worshipped and esteemed by many as were the Gods among the Gentiles this passage without a command in the aforesaid Edition is razed out Againe in his Comment on the 8th Booke of the Citie of God he tells us how your Romish Priests upon good Friday doe celebrate Christs passion upon the stage There Judas saith he playeth the most ridiculous Mimick Lud. Viv. in August de Civit. Dei l. 8. c. 27. even then when he betrayes Christ there the Apostles runne away and the Souldiers follow and all resounds with laughter then comes Peter and cuts off Malchus eare and then all rings with applause as if the betraying of Christ were now revenged and by and by
and Hezekias nay farther Polydore accounteth him a dissolute and audacious man who judgeth otherwise of the worship of Images then hath beene approved by the Decree of two or three Councels which he there alledgeth Peresius denieth not the worship of Images but that the picture is to bee adored with the same worship as the prototype or thing represented by it which maketh nothing against the doctrine of the Catholique Church touching the worship of Images Agobardus his drift in his booke De picturis imaginibus is onely against the idolatricall use or abuse rather of images against which hee speaketh very much by occasion of some abuses in his time Although it were true that some silly women or ignorant rusticks should bee so blockish as to conceive some Divinitie in pictures and accordingly adore them yet the use of pictures must not bee taken away for the abuse for the axiome of the law is utile perinutile non vitiatur The Hammer AS those who beheld the head of Medusa wereturned into stocks and stones and presently deprived of all life and sense so those who gaze upon with admiration this head of the Romish doctrine concerning Image-worship become so stupid and senslesse as if they were turned into those stocks and stones to which they give religious veneration A notable experiment hereof we have in a conference in France in which a Sorbon Doctour present hearing how absurdly the Patrones of Images maintained the worship of them said of a truth I find the words of Psalmist verified those that make them are like unto them and so are all they that put their trust in them But wee need not goe so farre for an instance the Iesuit in this Section maketh good that observation shewing us a forehead of the same metall the images are made for which hee pleadeth For he loadeth the Knight with shamelesse calumnies and most impudently defendeth such grosse idolattie as the wiser of the heathen were ashamed of hee whetteth his poysonous tooth and like a mad dogge snaps at all hee meeteth with and farre out-raileth Rabsekah himselfe as the Reader cannot but judge if hee peruse but a few passages ensuing namely first page 298. This is your discourse Sir Humphrey wherein you have given so sufficient testimonie of notorious had dealing especially in the two places of Eusebius and of the civill law that if there were nothing else falsified or corrupted in your whole booke this were enough utterly to deface all memorie of you from among honest men And page 301. What say you to all this Sir Humphrey looke now into your owne conscience and see whether it can flatter you so much as to say you are an honest man And page 205. May not you then beare away the bell from all lying and corrupting fellowes that have ever gone before you Hee that seeth such foule stuffe come out of the Iesuits mouth would hee not thinke that he were sicke of the disease called miserere but I leave his Grobian language and come to consider first what hee laieth to the Knights charge and after how hee dischargeth himselfe of the idolatrie and superstition wherewith the Knight in this chapter burdeneth the Roman Church First he chargeth the Knight with false translation of the Councell of Trent Wee teach that the image of Christ the Virgin Mother of God and other Saints are chiefly in Churches to be had and reteined which Decree he might have translated a little better and more clearely by saying that those images are to bee had and reteined especially in Churches the Latine word being praesertim and his translating it chiefly and placing it so odly gives cause to thinke he had an evill meaning therein as if hee would have his reader thinke that the Councell taught that those images were the chiefe things to be had in Churches c. It is a signe of a light head to stumble at a straw yet here lyeth not so much as a straw in the Iesuits way only he wanted a festrawe to point to the accent which is set upon Churches not upon had the meaning of the Councell and the Knights is all one to wit that images by that Decree were to bee had and reteined chiefly or especially in Churches not to bee had or held to bee the chiefe thing in Churches For no man would imagine that the Councell could bee so absurd and impious as to preferre images before the sacred Scriptures the Font and Chalice the Altar or communion Table much lesse the sacred Symbols of Christs body and bloud Secondly he chargeth the Knight with grosse ignorance in Chronologie But I may aske you saith hee how come you to say the Iewes never allowed adoration of Images for foure thousand yeares when as the people of the Iewes were not such a people above two thousand yeares nay Moyses lived not past 1500. yeares before our Saviour so that of your owne liberalitie and skill in Chronologie you have added 2000. yeares to make your doctrine seeme ancient There is a grosse mistake I confesse but in the Iesuit not in the Knight who saith not 4000. yeares but for almost 4000. yeares in the first edition and in the later editions this scape of the presse is mended and the figure altered For the matter it selfe the Knight might truly have said that the people of God who lived partly under the law of nature partly under the law of Moyses never allowed adoration of Images for 4000. yeares so ancient is the doctrine of the reformed Churches in this point Thirdly he chargeth the Knight with Simbolizing with Iewes in the hatred of Christ You saith hee in alledging the Iewes hate of the crosse as an argument why you should also hate the same tacitly confesse that you love Christ so well as they 1 Cor. 16.22 A fearefull charge for whosoever loveth not the Lord Iesus let him bee anathemamaranatha but a ridiculous proofe for a man may hate an idolized crucifix out of love of Christ because hee cannot endure Christ his honour to bee given to graven images Heate of zeale against idolatrie doth no way argue coldnesse of affection to the true religion 2. King 15.4 Witnesse King Hezekiah the non pareil of a religious Prince who demolished the brazen Serpent and stamped it to powder calling it nehustan though it were an image and type of Christ crucified as Christ himselfe teacheth us Io. 3.14 As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wildernesse So must the Son of man be lifted up Witnesse Saint Peter who loved Christ more then the rest of the Disciples 1 Pet. 4.3 Diligis me plùs quà m hi and yet hee brandeth all Image worship by the title of abominable idolatrie Nay witnesse S. Iohn the beloved Disciple who went behind none in zeale against idolatrie 1 Io. 5.21 saying babes keepe your selves from idols It is one thing to dislike crucifixes in Churches out of hatred of Christ as Iewes Turkes and Infidels
witnesses for proofe of the Catholike Faith beginneth with Martyrs those particularly who being Pastours of the Roman Church suffered Martyrdome successively one after another to the number of thirty three These saith Campian were ours and nameth some of them as Telesphorus Victor Sixtus Cornelius with the particular points which they held conformably with us against Protestants That these Martyrs are ours notwithstanding they died not for any of those points the Knight mentioneth is plaine because they professed the same Catholike Faith which wee doe which wee also prove by the Faith of their successour Vrban the eigth who as hee holdeth their seat so also their Faith for Peters Chaire and Faith goe together as the very Heretike Pelagius confessed to Pope Sozimus saying to him Tu qui Petri fidem sedem tenes Not to stand here upon the most effectuall and infallible Prayer of our Saviour himselfe Oravi pro te Petre ut non deficiat fides tua which proofe must stand firme till Sir Humphrey can tell us what Pope began to vary from his predecessors For adoration of Images whereas the Knight asketh whether any of these three and thirty were canonized for it though there be no speciall mention of any of these three and thirty their adoration of Images yet there is very pregnant presumption thereof by this that Pope Sylvester who was the very next after the three and thirtieth and was Pope in time of Constantines conversion had the pictures of Saint Peter and Saint Paul which it is most like he received from his Predecessors Moreover it is plaine that those three and thirty were ours by their owne decretall Epistles which are so full of those points which Father Campian citeth that the Heretikes have no other shift but to denie the authority of the same Epistles That the consecrated Bread depending upon the Priests intention is the reall Flesh of Christ or that this Priest Garnet by name hath power to consecrate is no matter of Faith but that in the Sacrament the matter forme intentton and all things requisite concurring the Bread and Wine is really and truely converted into the Body and Blood of Christ this is a matter of Faith and this a man is to die for Neither maketh it any matter whether any man have died for it or not for that is more in the persecutors power to appoint what point of a mans Faith hee will put him to death for than in the Martyrs owne who must be readie to die for all and every one as well for one as for another The Hammer IN this Chapter the Knight pulleth the garland of Red Roses off from the heads of all Papists I meane the Crowne of Martyrdome by three most forcible arguments which may thus be reduced into Syllogisticall forme 1. None of those who suffered death for the common Articles of the Christian Faith which we all professe are to be accounted Popish Martyrs But the 33. Popes and all the Martyrs in the Primitive Church suffered death for the common Articles of faith which we all professe Ergo none of them were Popish Martyrs neither can they lay any more or better claime to them then we if so good 2. All that may be tearmed truely Popish Martyrs must suffer death either for the profession of the Trent Faith in generall or some speciall point of it wherein they differ from the reformed Churches But none of the Primitive Martyrs suffered death for the profession of the Trent Faith in generall or any point thereof wherein they differ from the beliefe of the reformed Churches Ergo none of the Primitive Martyrs were Popish 3. If the Articles of the Romish Creed published by Pope Pius were either unknowne to the Primitive Church or not then declared to be de fide none in those dayes could suffer Martyrdome for them But the twelve new Articles of Pope Pius his Creed were altogether unknowne to the Primitive Church or not then declared and defined to be de fide as the Iesuit Page 490. in part acknowledgeth Ergo none in the Primitive Church could suffer Martyrdome for them What wards the Iesuit hath for these blowes we shall see in the examination of the particular exceptions before mentioned To the first It is as true that those 33. martyred Popes were Martyrs of the Romish Religion as that Campion the Iesuit who suffered death for Treason against Queene Elizabeth was a Martyr The truth is that although Campion in his tenth Reason search Heaven and rake Hell also for witnesses to prove the truth of the Romish Religion yet he findeth none as D. Whitaker clearely demonstrateth in his answer to that tenth reason and his defence thereof against Dureus To let others passe those 33. Bishops of Rome the Iesuit mentioneth who now weare Crownes of Martyrdome in Heaven never ware the Popes triple Crowne on Earth P. 486. l. 16. I answer that those Martyrs suffered death not for the points now in controversie with Haeretikes but for the profession of Christianity at the hands of the enemies of Christ They sate as Bishops of Rome they sate not as Lords over the whole Church neither was the cause of their death any contestation with Princes for Soveraignty nor the maintenance of any points now in controversie as the Iesuit himselfe confesseth but the profession of Christianity They were not therefore Martyrs of the Roman Church as she is at this present nor of their Trent Creed but of the Catholike Church and the common faith once given to Saints To the second The Iesuits argument drawne from these 33. Bishops of Rome to Pope Vrbane the eighth fall short at least by 1300. yeares If he should thus argue in the Schooles Pope Vrbane the eighth in the yeare of our Lord 1633. held the Trent faith and beleeved Pope Pius the fourth his Creed therefore the 33. Bishops that suffered Martyrdome under the Heathen Emperours within 300. yeares after Christ held the same faith and subscribed to the same Articles of Trent he would be stampt at and hissed out by all present for who knoweth not that George the Arian immediatly succeeded Athanasius the most Orthodox Bishop and that all the Arian Bishops in Constantius his time held the Sees of those Orthodox Bishops who in the first Councell at Nice condemned that blasphemous haeresie In our memory did not Cardinall Poole a Papist succeede Cranmer a Protestant Bishop and Martyr againe did not Parker in Q. Elizabeths daies a learned Protestant succeed Cardinall Poole an Arch-papist in his Arch-bishoprick of Canterbury What a wooden Argument then is this to inferre succession in Doctrine from succession in the same Chaire This wretched Argument the Iesuit proves as lewdly by the testimonie of Pelagius the Heretike This is indeed to Aske his brother if he be a thiefe or no to aske an Heretike whether your Romish Doctrine be not hereticall Yet so unfortunate is hee in his proofe that even this his onely witnesse how liable
figura which is a figure of the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ Your Ambrose printed at Colein doth mince those words and sayth quod sit in figuram as if it might stand for a figure but were no figure and more particularly in the Canon of your Masse you cite all those former words of Ambrose to prove the Antiquity of your Masse but you leave out the latter which is a figure of the Body and say c Ut nobis corp sanguis fiat dilectissimi fiâ—ii tui Domini nostri Jesu Christi Missale Parv. An. 1626 p. Mihi 82. Grant that it may be to us the body and bloud of our Lord Jesus Christ. And lastly that Ambrose might seemingly appeare to be yours in the point of Transubstantiation whereas he sheweth the power and wonders of God in creating all things of nothing by his word only and from thence concludeth d Siâ—ergo tanta vis est in sermone Domini Jesu ut inciperent esse quae non erant quant ò magis operatorius est ut sint quae erant in aliud commutentur Idem de sacr l. 4. c. 4. Basil ut suprà p. 392. If therfore there be so great force in the speech of our Lord Jesus that the things which were not begun to be namely at the first creation of all things how much more is the same powerful to make that those things may still be the same they were and yet be changed into another thing Here St. Ambrose sheweth plainly that the Elements of Bread and Wine are the same in substance as they were before although they are changed into another nature Your Inquisitours knowing well that such Doctrine is flat contrary to their Tenet which teach that the Elements are not the things in substance they were before Consecration have wisely left out in their late Edition two poore words Sint and et and accordingly the sense runneth after this manner How much more is the speech of our Lord powerfull to make that those things which were Ut quae erant in aliud commutentur Paris An. 1603 Colon. Agripp An. 1616. Tom. 4. p. 173. should bee changed into another thing And by this meanes St. Ambrose a Protestant is become a Masse Priest and with a clipped tongue lispeth Transubstantiation Fryer Walden in writing against Wickliffe cites this place by the halves ut sint et in aliud commutentur he would have the Elements one thing Wald. de sacr Euch. Tom. 2. c. 82 p. Mihi 138. b. and changed into another but excludes the principall words quae erant shewing that they should be the same which they were before and Lanfranck long before him stormed at Berengarius for citing this place out of St. Ambrose in behalfe of our Doctrine and cryes out against him O mentem amentem c. O mad mind O impudent lyar now truly there is no such words to be found in all St. Ambrose his workes Ed. Parisiis 1632. Ex editione Romanâ In quâ quae vel vitio vel incuriâ erant adjecta sunt rejecta quae sublata restituta quae transposita reposita quae depravata emendata c. In the fift age An. 400. to 500. c. But there is an Ambrose lately printed at Paris which makes a great promise of integrity and purity and yet the words are corruptly printed according to your other of Paris and Colein print In the fift age St. Chrysostome Archbishop of Constantinople is razed and purged touching the doctrine of the Sacrament his words bee these If therefore it be so dangerous a matter to transferre unto private uses those holy Vessels in which the true Body of Christ is not but the mysterie of his body is conteyned These latter words comprehended in the Parenthesis Chrys Antwerpiae apud fohannem Steelsium An. 1537. Paris apud Johannem Roigny An. 1543. Paris apud Audoenum Parvii Anno 1557. in the Editions of Antwerpe and Paris are wholly left out there is not a syllable of them to bee seene for indeed the Author of that worke saith negatively that the irue body of Christ is not there which overthrowes the very ground of your Popish presence and although your men make great brags of Antiquity to prove your reall Sacrifice of the Altar out of St. Chrysostome yet in the 19. Homily upon St. Matthew where hee termes it the Sacrifice of bread and wine Sacrificium panis vini they being also privie to this evidence as against their owne doctrine Sacrificium corporis saÌ„ guinis Christi Paris apud Audoenum Pâ—rvuÌ„ An. 1557. in c. 7. Matt. HoÌ„ 19. in their Edition at Paris have taught him to speake the Trent language in these words It is the Sacrifice of the body and bloud of Christ. Touching the Testimony of divine Scriptures St. Chrysostome is purged he tells us in his 49. Homily That from the time that Heresies invaded the Church Nunc autem nullo modo cognoscitur volentibus cognoscere quae sit Ecclesia Christi nisi tantummodò per scripturas Idem Homil. 49 Tom. 2 p. mihi 858. there can be no triall of Christianity nor refuge for Christians who are willing to know the true faith but to the divine Scriptures for at that time there is no way to know which is the true Church but by the Scriptures onely This authority is wholly agreeable to our doctrine and thereupon these times of Controversies and Heresies that have overspread the face of the Church wee say with St. Chrysostome those that be in Judaea let them flye to the Mountaines of the Scriptures But what answer can be made thinke you to the razing of so faire an Evidence Behold a Totus hic locus tanquam ab Arrianis insertus è quibusdam Codicibus nuper emendatis sublatus est Bell de verbo Dei l. 4. c. 11. Bellarmine tells us that this whole passage as if it had beene inserted into St. Chrysostome by the Arrians is blotted out of the late corrected Editions and as our learned Doctor Crakenthorpe in his answer to Spalatto observed there is above 70. lines in the Antwerpe Edition Crakenth in Spalat p. mihi 59. published 1537. purged in this Homily It seemes then it is hereticall doctrine to have recourse to the Scriptures onely for finding of the truth But sure I am it is the part of Heretikes to raze ancient Records and to avoyd the triall of their cause by the sacred Scriptures The fourth Councell of Carthage where St. Austin was present is in part forged in part razed In the 100. Canon it was thus decreed Mulier baptizare non praesumat Concil Carthag c. 100. Let no woman presume to baptize What answer therefore may we expect to this Canon Binius the publisher of the Councels expounds the meaning of it thus The Councell saith he doth decree that a woman should not presume to baptize that is when the Priest is
honour of your Images for whereas Regino faith Concil Franck-ford An. 794. Bin. p. mihi 141. Bin. Not. in Concil Frā c. p. mihi 164. b. The false Synode of the Grecians which they made for the defence of their worshipping of Images was erected by the Bishops assembled at Frankford under Charles the Great Binius the publisher of the Councels declareth that the Acts of the second Councell of Nice in the cause of Images was confirmed by it which is so farre from truth that he is inforced to confesse that therein he doth dissent though unwillingly from Baronius and Bellarmine Quam sententiam optarem esse veram sed suspicor esse falsam Bel. de Imag. l. 2. c. 14. §. Multi and indeed Bellarmine professeth I could wish this opinion were true but I suspect it to be false Againe to make the world beleeve that the Synod of Franckford condemned not the second Councell of Nice the chiefe upholder of Images your men have razed out Nice and thrust in Constantinople which altogether condemned Images Now therefore take a short view of all these your forgeries and corruptions In the first Age you have depraved the Scriptures by your false translations and corruptions and when all could not save your turne you place the Bible amongst the Bookes prohibited In the second Age you have forged Epistles in the names of 31. Bishops of Rome which were none of theirs and to suppresse our Doctrine touching the Communion in both kinds and to uphold your invocation of Saints and Angels you have corrupted Ignatius by a false Translation and you would have the Record razed touching the marriage of Priests In the third age you corrupt Tertullian for your Transubstantiation you falsifie Saint Cyprian for your circumgestation of the Sacrament and your Popes supremacie In the fourth Age you corrupt Eusebius Caesariensis for the Popes supremacie you forge Eusebius Emissenus for your corporall presence you falsifie the Councell of Laodicea for your invocation of Saints and Angels you forge Saint Hierome and Saint Basill the Great for your worship of Images you falsifie Saint Ambrose for the Popes succession in the Roman See and most corruptly for the Doctrine of the Sacrament In the fift Age you have razed two evidences in Saint Chrysostome both which confirme our Doctrine the one concerning the Lords Supper the other concerning our tryall by the Scriptures you have falsified the Councell of Carthage for the baptizing of women and for the shaving of Priests you have falsified Saint Austin for your Purgatory and for your Doctrine of Transubstantiation and your Popes decretall Epistles you have forged the Councell of Africa for the honour of your Apostolicke See you have forged Saint Cyrill for your Transubstantiation and your Popes Supremacie In the sixt Age you have corrupted the Councell of Orange for your Doctrine of merits and for the honour of your Priesthood over secular powers In the seventh Age you have razed Gregory the Great touching the comming of Antichrist you have purged him in an Epistle which maketh against the Popes Supremacie you have falsified the Councell of Constantinople in your Popes behalfe Lastly in the eighth Age you have forged venerable Bede in behalfe of your Transubstantiation and you have falsified the Councel of Franckford in behalfe of your Image-worship and yet for all this you are not ashamed to professe that for ancient Authors you note onely what is amisse but you neither raze nor blot out any thing that corner-correcting say you wee leave for such corner-companions as shunne the light p. 144. What credit can be given to you or your Church let the Reader judge when as by your owne confession the Trent Councell hath decreed it as a thing unlawfull to change any thing in the Bookes of ancient Catholikes Concil Trid. in Ind. lib. prohib de correct 4. p. mihi 32. except a manifest error appeare to have crept in by the fraud of Hereticks or negligence of the Printer Sure I am you will confesse that all these mentioned corruptions are not Errata slips of the Printer And as touching the fraud of Heretickes which did corrupt them your Trent Councell which made the Decree could not meane the Protestants for in those dayes they had printed no Fathers neither had they any Manuscripts but such as were kept prisoners in your Church The name of Heretickes therefore doth properly reflect upon your Pope Adrian upon Gratian upon Stapleton upon Thomas Aquinas upon Cardinall Bellarmine who appeare to be Authors of your falsifications and in generall upon your Roman inquisitors who are the knowne Authors of your corrupting and altering the true Fathers And this must needes seeme very probable to all because they are corrupted chiefely in those main Articles of Faith which make against your Church The ancient Records and Evidences which you have had many hundred yeeres in your possession doe all witnesse these forgeries and corruptions in the printed Fathers and will you claime the Fathers for your Rule of Faith when you make them speake more like children than fathers Shall a Guardian to an infant having possession of his Lands and keeping his Deeds and Evidences during his minoritie raze and falsifie them and thereby intitle himselfe to the Wards Lands because hee was some time possessed of them and can produce forged Evidences for them This is our very case The Church of Rome in her infancie was a faithfull Guardian of her childrens right shee kept the Manuscripts and the ancient Records of the Fathers in that puritie as she first received thē after the Pope had made an universall Title and claime to all Catholike Churches hee intruded into other mens Rights by forgerie and corruptions he made the Fathers speake according to the Trent decrees in an unknowne tongue and now by forged cavillation detaines the possession against the right owners But let me tell you as the Kings Subject you are lyable to punishment in such cases in temporall affaires See the title of Forger of false deeds fol. mihi 180. b. For if any person shall by false conspiracie subtilty and falsity forge any Deed Charter or Writing or shall pronounce publish and shew forth in Evidence any such false or forged Deed or Writing as true knowing the same to bee false and forged and shall be thereof convicted he shall be set upon the Pillory in some open Market Towne and there to have both his Eares cut off and also his Nosthrils to bee slit and cut and seared with an hot iron so as they may remaine for a perpetuall note or marke of his falshood Compare now this humane law with those forgeries of divine Evidences and tell me what you and your fellowes can say for your selves why the same judgment should not be pronounced against you For if the lawes of Kings are so strict in behalfe of temporall records and assurances betwixt men what may wee thinke the Law-giver himselfe will require at their
else doe you and your associates confesse that the contrary Tenets were taught and revived by the Ancients And as touching the name of Antichrist if that be appropriate to Heretikes it cannot touch the members of our Church for we make Christ and his Apostles the sole rule of our Faith On the other side if you consider the Pope either as he sits in the place of Christ as his Vicar Generall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is agâ—â—â—â— Christ in the place of Christ as his Vicar or as he and his adherents teach and uphold a doctrine against Christ for the word Antichrist imports both without doubt they beare the markes of Antichrist and consequently the word Heretike reflects upon your selves Cassander tells us there be some who make the Pope of Rome Almost a God Cassand de officio Pii viri preferring his authoritie not onely above the whole Church but above the sacred Scriptures holding his judgement equall to the divine Oracles and for an infallible rule of Faith I see no reason saith he but that these men should be called Pseudo-Catholikes or Papists Indeed I must confesse I much wonder that any Protestant should give you that honourable title of Catholike especially when you terme them by the name of Heretikes Those that have the marke of the Beast imprinted in their foreheads have borrowed both the Name and Nature from him and therefore your Cardinall tells us Bell. de Not. Eccles c. 4. The word Papist is derived from the Pope such as was Peter And more particularly your Gregory Martin and the Rhemists give you to understand Rhem. Annot. in Acts. 11.26 that to be a Papist is to bee a Christian man a childe of the Church and subject to Christs Vicar You that are so inquisitive after other mens pedigrees see if with all your Heraldrie you can make good your nominal descent from Christ and as you stile him Pope Peter Your Father Bristow Bristow Demand 8. as a knowne Antiquarie in this point gives your Father Bellarmine the lye for he avowes it for certaine that your name Papist was never heard of till the dayes of Pope Leo the Tenth and this was 1500. yeares after Christ and this opinion I am sure is most probable and more sutable to the Noveltie of your Religion But say you we Catholikes stile the Knight and the Reformers by the common name of Hereticks You told me formerly the title of Sir would be left for me now you have added to the title the name of Hereticke and you professe it is the worst word of all It seemes the worst word you have is good enough for me But I pardon you and I must let you know that the name of Catholike is as comely with the Professors of your new doctrine as a golden ring in a swines snout And as touching the name of Hereticke wherewith you charge me you rightly resemble Athalia 4 Kings 11. who when shee understood that Joas the right inheritour of the Crowne of Judah was proclaimed King ranne in her furie to the Temple and cryed out Treason Treason when the treason was not in King Joas but in herselfe that wrought it Your Alphonsus à Castro hath written a Booke against the Heretickes in all ages and in his Index haereticorum I have searched diligently and I finde the names of certaine Popes among them but mine owne name I doe not finde For I professe with St. Austin Errare possum haereticus esse nolo I may erre but I will not bee an Hereticke Shall I make my confession unto you I beleeve all things which are contained in the Scriptures and nothing contrary or besides them as matter of faith necessary to salvation Cum hoc credimus priuscredâ—mus nihil amplius credendum esse Tertul. Ibid. I beleeve the holy Catholicke Church This is an Article of my Faith and this I first received from the Apostles Creed Next I undoubtedly beleeve the Nicene Creed and this was called Catholicke by those holy Fathers to distinguish the Heretikes from the Orthodoxe Christians in the Primitive Church or according to your owne words Chap. 1. p. 2. appointed to be publikely professed by all such as meant to bee counted Catholikes Concil Trid. Sess 3. and for the same cause your Councell of Trent decreed it to be received as a Shield against Heresies and therefore by your owne confession the Councels decree and your Creed it selfe I am free from the name of Heretike Lastly I professe and beleeve Athanasius Creed and that Holy and ancient Father witnesseth of that confession Haec est fides Catholica This is the Catholike Faith If therefore I beleeve the Scriptures and Catholike Church which teacheth the true Faith If I beleeve the Articles of the Nicene Creed which distinguisheth the right Beleevers from the Heretikes If I receive Athanasius Creed which containes the summe and substance of all Catholike Faith and doctrine what remaines then why I should not be exempted from the name of Heretike unlesse I shall acknowledge with you the fourth Creed published by Pope Pius the fourth and consequently subscribe to new particular doctrines which as you confesse doth ever accompanie the nature of Heresie But the Reformers are Heretikes He that shall heare but the word Reformers in all probability will conceive that they were men which opposed some errors or heresies crept into the Church and for that cause desired a Reformation In the Churches of Corinth Galatia Pergamus and Thyatira there were some of the Sadduces opinion who denied the Resurrection others that joyned Circumcision and the workes of the Law with Christ and the worke of salvation The Apostles you know did reprove those errors in their dayes and no doubt many accordingly did reforme themselves Now will you condemne those reformed persons for Heretikes because they differed from the rest with an utter dislike of those errors which the seduced partie retained Surely this is the true state and condition of our Church and accordingly your Trent Fathers made a decree for Reformation in the Councell and pretended that it was summoned to redresse Heresies which were crept into the Church and will you say if they had redressed them the Reformers had beene Heretikes The Rogatian Heretikes would have made the world beleeve that they were the onely Catholikes and the Arrian Heretikes called the true Christians sometimes Ambrosians sometimes Athanasians sometimes Homoâ—sians And in this manner St. Paul himselfe was called before the Judges to make answer to matter of Heresie and according to this way which you call Heresie Acts 24. so worship we the God of our Fathers beleeving all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets They that so rashly pronounce and call every thing Heresie are often stricken with their owne dart Alph. de Heres l. 1. c. 7. saith your owne Alphonsus and fall into the same pit which themselves have digged for others Hee shewes therefore
Religion This you confesse is true in your Councell but to these you answer nothing Concil Trid. Sess 22. Can. 9. You might have added to these abuses both Superstition and Idolatry in the Masse for your Councell confesseth them both and I thinke it toucheth your errors in Doctrine But have you reformed all or any of these things Is your superstitious number of Masses and lights in the Church abated Are your lascivious and wanton songs set to the Organs and mingled with other Church musicke redressed Is your covetousnesse in Priests with their Superstition and Idolatry in the Masse abolished Mirae mirae entis Res. Juvenal These corruptions are things and things as you call them and such as I wonder your Councell was not ashamed to confesse much more to tolerate or rather to practice in the daily sacrifice of your Masse I hasten to the Reformation in doctrine but you tell me it is a Lye the Councell never intended it I instance in private Masse Latin Service c. You answer it is most false for the doctrine is the same still and ever was I perceive your passion makes you much forget your selfe for your doctrine I confesse which is commonly received is the same now that was decreed in the Councell of Trent but that it was ever the same as now it is all the Colledge of Cardinals and Jesuits cannot prove Looke upon your owne confession in those two particular instances Your private Masse where the Priest communicates alone is not the same now as it was heretofore For say you it was the practise of the Primitive Church for the people to communicate every day with the Priest Spectacl pag. 191. Your Prayer in an unknowne tongue is not the same now as it was heretofore for say you Prayer and Service in the vulgar Tongue was used in the first and best Ages Pag. 271. and now the vulgar is become the Latin unknown tongue Take heed therefore of these confessions for by such palpable contradictions you may lose your Proselytes and bring the Lye upon your selfe Againe you confesse that the Councell wisheth that the standers by did communicate not onely spiritually Pag. 53. but also sacramentally and doth not your Church in this wish a reformation in doctrine Doth it not in this preferre the practice of the reformed Churches before their owne and in a manner confesse an error in the allowed practice of the Roman Church Your Councell commands Pastors that have care of soules to expound that to the people which is delivered in the Masse in an unknowne tongue and doe not those that require the Priests to expound it to the people shew likewise that without such exposition the people are little better for the Masse and that the Church intended the people should understand it What is this else but to joyne hands with the Protestants and to acknowledge a reformation needfull in your Church for requiring Service to bee celebrated in a knowne tongue that the people may understand it But that I may make good my assertion and that the Reader may know I have said nothing but the truth in affirming the Councell of Trent did make decrees for Reformation for doctrine as well as manners looke upon the second Session and tell me if they did not professe a reall intention in both Concil Trid. Sess 2. the words of the Session are these Whereas it is the speciall care and intention of the Councell that the darkenesle of Heresie being expelled which so many yeares hath covered the earth the light and parity of the Catholicke truth may shine through the helpe of Christ which is the true light and that those things which need reformation may be reformed the Synod exhorteth all Catholikes assembled or to be assembled and especially those who are skilful in the sacred Scriptures that with continuall meditation they may diligently consider with themselves how these things may bee effected that they may condemne those things which are to be condemned and approve those things which are to be approved that the whole world with one mouth and confession of one and the same faith may glorifie God the Faiher and our Lord Jesus Christ Take a review of the words of your Councell First Praecipua cura intentio ut propulsatis errorum tenebris quae per tot annos operiarunt terram the chiefe care to dispell the darkenesse of errour which covered the earth which words cannot be meant of the Protestant doctrine For our light is pretended by you to be lately come in and but in a part or corner of the world Secondly peritiam habeant sacrarum literarum ut sedulâ meditatione secum ipsi cogitent c. ut probare probanda damnare damnanda queant There needed not this diligence and skill in Scriptures for Luthers Religion for they were condemned before by the Pope Thirdly Nullus debeat c. obstinatis disceptationibus contendere which should not be about Lutheran points but about doctrines of their owne Fourthly in the third Section de extirpandis haeresibus c. which say they is adversus spirituales nequitias in caelestibus which heavenly places are meant by their owne Church not by Luthers as is most evident For they would never acknowledge our Churches heavenly places Now I pray what thinke you of your Councels Decrees Will not they extend to a Reformation in doctrine or will you say that Heresies in manners crept into the Church and the most learned in the Scriptures were chiefly to be imployed for reforming them that thereby there might be one Faith of Papists and Protestants through the Christian world De extirpandis haeresibus moribus reformandis quorum causa praecipue est congregata Sess 3. Looke upon the third Session and there likewise you shall finde a Decree for rooting out of Heresies in doctrine aswell as rectifying of manners and the discipline of the Church and for both those causes saith your Decree the Councell was principally called It is a most evident truth then howsoever you redouble the lie upon me that the Councell did intend a Reformation in doctrine for otherwise to what end should the Pope summon all Christian Bishops out of all Nations even at that time when the Protestants were in number infinite and had discovered and proclaimed the errors of the Roman Church Besides to what purpose were those disputes and oppositions in the Councell against particular points of Doctrine if they had not beene adjudged erroneous and needed a reformation But herein the Reader shall easily discerne the policie of your Church At the first calling of the Councell when these first Sessions were made the number of Bishops were but few about 40. but after the faction of the Popes creatures in multitude prevailed all hope of reformation was abandoned And thereupon the Bishops of Apulia publikely declared that the Trent Fathers were nothing else but the Popes creatures and his bondslaves See
Crakenthorpe and accordingly there was an oath proposed severally to be taken in this manner I vow and sweare true obedience to the Bishop of Rome Bulla Pii 4. c. And all other things likewise doe I undoubtedly receive and confesse which are delivered defined and declared by the sacred Canons and generall Councels and especially the holy Councell of Trent and withall I condemne reject and accurse all things that are contrary hereunto and all Heresies whatsoever condemned rejected and accursed by the Church and that I will be carefull this true Catholike faith out of the which no man can be saved which at this time I willingly professe and truly hold be constantly with Gods helpe retained and confessed whole and inviolate to the last gaspe and by those that are under me or such as I shall have charge over in my calling holden taught and preached to the uttermost of my power I the said N. promise vow and sweare So God me helpe and his holy Gospels Now what good saith Dudithius could be done in that Councell Andr. Dudithius in Ep. ad Maximil 2. which onely numbred but never weighed suffrages Though our cause was never so good we could not come off with victory for to every one of us the Pope was able to oppose an hundred of his owne This Author was sent as Ambassador to the Councell from the state and Clergy of Hungarie and he consirmes what I have testified of their proceedings But observe the mysterie of iniquitie displayed in your Councell after it had continued eighteen years Sess 25. c. 1. Decreâ— de Refor p. 312. and during the lives of eight Popes in conclusion they declared in their last Session contrarie to their former decree of Reformation that the Synod was chiefly called for restoring of Ecclesiasticall discipline and hereby is plainly discovered their deceivablenesse of unrighteousnesse insomuch as I may truly say with that learned Gentleman and Translator of the Trent Historie The Bishops of Rome Sir Nathaniel Brent in Ep. to the Historie of Trent in stead of being Christs holy Vicars as they pretend have beene the greatest and most pernicious quacksalving Juglers that ever the earth did beare Those Bishops therefore that boast of the Law of God and make as it were a covenant with him to renew the ancient Faith and restore it to her first integritie as your Trent Bishops professed let them consider with themselves how neare that Prophesie of David doth concerne them who deny a Reformation For unto the ungodly said God why dost thou preach my Lawes Psal 50.16 17. and takest my Covenant in thy mouth whereas thou hatest to bee reformed and hast cast my words behinde thee CHAP. IV. The summe of his Answer to my Fourth Section TO this Section the title whereof is That many learned Romanists have falne from the Catholike Faith to be Protestants he saith the Catholike Faith is indivisible and they that renounce it in part renounce it in all Hee affirmeth that in Priests who cannot conteine to marry it is a greater sinne than to keepe a concubine This is the substance of his fourth Chapter in answer to my fourth Section The Reply I shewed in my fourth Section that many learned Romanists convicted by evidence of truth either in part or in whole renounced Poperie before their death Pag. 58. That some have renounced the same inpart say you is foolishly said for no man can renounce the Catholike Faith in part it being indivisible If I shall prove your assertion to bee a strange Paradoxe the foolishnesse will returne into your owne bosome For the better illustration therefore of your Tenet Oratio in laudem Athanasii heare what division Gregory Nazianzen makes upon that ground When one taketh up water in his hand saith he not onely that which he taketh not up but that also which runneth forth and findeth passage betweene his fingers is divided and separated from that which he holdeth and incloseth in his hand so not onely the open and professed enemies of the Catholike Faith but they also that seeme to be her best and greatest friends are sometimes divided one from another What thinke you of this ancient Father Is your Faith indivisible by his Doctrine or will you say it is foolishly spoken of him But say you he that ceaseth to beleeve one point ceaseth to beleeve any one as he should And is this wisely spoken thinke you Is not this your latter error greater than the first For proofe therefore of your assertion shew mee that man who before the Councell of Trent held all the points of your Faith as they are now taught and received in your Church I say give me but one since the Apostles time who within the compasse of fifteene hundred yeares beleeved all your doctrines of Faith entirely in all points and for that one mans sake I will confesse your Faith is indivisible and submit my obedience to your Church Your Index Expurgatorius discovers the weaknesse of your opinion I speake not of Authors which were condemned in your first and third Classis for Heretikes Propter suspectam doctrinam Ind. lib prohibit but of those Romanists who in the second Classis are purged for their suspected doctrine as you terme it and yet never forsooke your Church I dare confidently avow that there are above foure hundred of those Classicall Authors all members of the Roman Church never excommunicated never condemned for heresie in your Church and yet are commanded by your Inquisitors to be blotted out in some particular points of doctrine which make against your Trent Faith If these men therefore have renounced your Faith in part how is your Faith indivisible Or if they cease to beleeve one point why doth your Church cite their testimonies and allow their opinions in other doctrines consonant to your Church when as by your Tenet he that ceaseth to beleeve one point ceaseth to beleeve any one as he should If you should forsake all Authors that forsake your doctrine in part or in some particular points you will generally suffer a Recoverie against your owne Church I will give you but one instance It is the common Tenet of the Roman Church at this day that the blessed Virgin was conceived without originall sinne yet the contrarie Tenet is likewise maintained by the members of your owne Church Ludovicus Vives tells us that two orders of Friers Ludov Vives in lib. 20. de Civit Dei cap. 26. p. 828. both fierce and both led with undaunted Generals set this question a foote the Dominicans by Thomas Aquinas and the Franciscans by Duns Scotus the Councell of Basill decreed that shee was wholly pure without all touch of sinne but the Dominicans objected that it was no lawfull Councell and the Minorites of the other side avowed that it was true and holy and called the Dominicans Heretikes for slandering the power of the Church so that the matter had come to