by razing out these euil humours from the body 8. And now your Maiesty hauing seene by the former discourse how many points of ould condemned heresies haue bene reuiued and renewed againe by the Protestants of our tyme and that contrariwise almost twenty seueral positions about principall points of controuersy held by the said Protestants to be Papisticall are asserted by the said ancient Fathers as Catholicke in their dayes euen from the first age after the Apostles with repetition and confirmation of the same in the subsequent ages by the chiefe Doctors that liued therin and that the said positions or assertions were neuer noted or censured by the Church for erroneous hereticall or scandalous This I say is and ought to be your Maiesties prudence and loue of your euerlasting good so waighty an argument and motiue as nothing more For alas dread Soueraigne if the sentence of S. Paul be iust and true that an hereticall man is damned by his owne iudgement and if that of S. Augustine before cited be not false that whosoeuer houldeth any one of those eighty three heresies which he reciteth in his book to Quod-vult-Deus or any other whatsoeuer which shall spring vp hereafter cannot be a Christian Catholick consequently must needes be an hereticke Alas I say my dread Soueraigne and alas againe in what eternall dāger doth your Princely soule consist in that by the euill currēt of the tyme and temerarious course of such as you giue credit vnto your Matie is drawne to hould and defend not only sundry of those positions which S. Augustine and before him S. Epiphamus do recount for condemned heresies by the Church in their dayes but many other also yea all the opposit propositions to the Catholick assertions before mentioned out of the ancient Fathers as namely about Free-will Iustification good workes inuocation of Saints reall Presence Primacy of the Church of Rome and the like 9. And truly to haue such a grand Inquest or rather Parliament of Peeres to beare witnes against a soule for conuincement of heresy at the day of Iudgement as the rankes of these Fathers are in all the first and purest ages of Christian religion maketh my soule to tremble euen in thinking of it For if the cause were temporall that there went therin but only the interest of your Maties temporall and terrene Kingdome yet were the case frightfull to see so many great lawyers and Iudges vpon the one side so resolute as the Fathers shew themselues to be But now for so much as the matter concerneth an euerlasting and heauenly Kingdome and sentence irreuocable in it selfe neuer alterable or to be changed and of such inflexible seuerity as no respect no regard no difference of Prince Potentate or people is to be held it maketh the Consideration more hideous and dreadfull 10. And it may further be added to this Consideratiō that in this publike triall about this point of Protestant Religion your Matie is not only to haue this venerable ranke of forraine Fathers Doctors for aduersaries therin but so many domesticall also as haue bene Catholicks within all your Realmes for these thousand yeares at least I meane Bishops Pastors and Gouernours of those flocks togeather with the flockes that were once subiects of your Ancestors nay all your Maiesties Ancestours themselues which are of most consideration I meane aboue two hundred Kings of both Crowns that haue gone before you and togeather with the discent of their Noble Bloud left also in their inheritance of Catholicke Religion as of their Kingdomes to be defended by your Maiesty which no doubt had bene most Nobly performed if the strangest case that euer perhaps fell out in the world had not happened to hinder it and such a one as all posterity may and will wonder at and this is that being violētly depriued at once as it were in your cradle of both your Parents who should and would haue instilled to your tender eares the most honorable inheritance of Catholick religion the opposite and contrary fects were in place therof powred into your Maiesties Noble Brest by such as had bene Authors or instruments of both their ruynes and meant no doubt also to be of your Maiesty if they should not find you plyable to their designes for ouerturning of that Religion whereof they were enemies 11. This then is the case most dread Soueraigne notorious to the whole Christian world And further that if your Maiestyes noble Grandmother Regent of Scotland had not bene vexed and turmoyled with rebellions tossed and tumbled wearied out and brought to despaire by the first Scottish and English Ghospellers if your Noble Father and Grandfather had not beene horribly murdered if your renowned mother had not beene pursued taken cast into prison driuen out of her Realme and finally made violently away in terra aliena if all these things I say had not beene done your Matie by all likelihood had neuer bene a Protestant And shall we thinke that of such Diabolicall premisses there could ensue any good conclusions or any godly or wholesome effect of so abhominable causes 12. I deny not but that the inscrutable wisdome and prouidence of almighty God doth often times draw out of the counsailes and actions of euill men good effectes as out of the wickednes of the Iewes and Gentils that pursued and murdered our Sauiour he wrought the saluation of the world but neuer doth he this according to the coūsailes and purposes of the wicked that is to say these effectes are neuer intended by the wicked As for example that the redemption of mankind or saluation of the world was neuer intended by the Iewes or Gentils that persecuted our Sauiour and procured his blessed passion 13. But here in our case the matter falleth out quite contrary for that the chiefe and prime intention of those wicked whome I haue mentioned was to effectuate this very point that now we see brought to passe to reuolue that crowne expell Catholicke Religion pull downe Monasteries and Churches driue out or destroy the Princes that then gouerned as also their issue if they should leaue any or els getting the same into their hands the better therby to haue Title of gouerning in the infants name to preserue it so long as it might stand commodious for them after to dispose therof as time should tell them to be best But their chiefest ayme of all was vnto that which out of an infants education they might probably hope for and now haue arriued vnto which is that during the time of that education they might perhaps so inchaunt the mind of the young Prince so change his iudgment and affection from the iudgment and affection of his said parents and other progenitors as when he should come to the yeares of vnderstanding to discerne the merits of mens actions and affections towards him he should approue for good all that was done to his highest hurt to wit in matter of Religion
appertayning to his euerlasting saluation to the ruine and destruction of his parents to the reuolution of his Kingdome the like And shall we thinke that God would euer concurre with such men to such designements God hath permitted theÌ„ for our sinnes for the sinnes of thousands els that haue perished and are to perish therby but any concourse of his to such mens intentions no pious mind can yield vnto 14. For if this should be granted that God did concur with the actions of these seditious men in drawing his Maties infancy by so turbuleÌ„t wicked meanes from the vnion of that faith and religion which all his parents and predecessours professed for so many ages togeather then must it follow that the same God neuer concurred with the other I meane his noble Auncestours by whom notwithstanding he did worke and achieue throughout all those ages so many notorious workes of Christian piety as perhaps by no Nation more And to thinke that all this notwithstanding they liued out of his fauour depriued of true faith infected with erroneous doctrine deceiued with false Sacraments were no members of his true Church but rather cast out from his face and deliuered ouer to the delusion scorne and power of Sathan were no doubt temerarious impiety to imagine or affirme 15. Wherefore most Noble and renowned Prince and Soueraigne I do not onely out of the dutifull zeale of a louing deuoted subiect exhibite this humble Petition to your Maiesty but also on the behalfe of our Sauiour Iesus Christ intreat that it may please your Highnes if not to entertaine and cherish yet not to persecute that Religion wherein your Ancestours haue liued so honourably and piously for that this would be to persecute them in their religioÌ„ And your Maties Princely nature I know cannot but abhorre the hatefull name of persecution and violent proceeding as well knowing out of your owne great Prudence that nothing is more durable or more subiect to hatred and malediction in the world especially the cause being so vniuersall and common to so many other great Princes and some of them the neerest of your Royall bloud as all men see it is 16. But the very fundameÌ„tall reason indeed is that this Catholick Religion is no nouelty or innouatioÌ„ but that whereunto your Maiesties realmes were first coÌ„uerted from Paganisme when they were made ChristiaÌ„ wherunto they yielded their obedieÌ„ce promised subiectioÌ„ submitted the regimeÌ„t of their soules professed coÌ„stancy therin to the worldes end And now then in any iustice can they be punished for houlding that which was so solemnely sowne rooted and so generally admitted so long and faithfully contiued so firmely grounded so deliuered and soe commended by our Fathers to this their posterity If all our great Grandfathers and ancient Predecessors were aliue againe might they not as lawfully be pursued and persecuted for their religion as we are now for the same If they should looke vpon the Churches which themselues builded to the honour of Christ for diuine seruice and especially for the vse of the publike Sacrifice vsed throughout Christendome at that day and should see the same not only taken away but penall Statutes also made against the fame by imprisonment vexatioÌ„ paymeÌ„ts of money and other tribulations would they not complaine of great iniustice done vnto them in that so sharpe persecution should be laid vpon their children for keeping their depositum or pledg receiued as the Apostle saith and for obseruing their fidelity both to God and them 17. Wherefore most noble Prince let this be as farre from your action or permission as it is from your Royall InclinatioÌ„ and disposition to be a persecutor of those that stand only in defence of their consciences and these not framed vpon wilfull fancy as all those of Sectaries and Innouators are but necessarily laid vpon them by obligation of religion left vnto them by tradition of Gods whole Church and by the Church of England in those dayes as a principall member thereof whose Communion in religion if these men do breake and leaue now for what cause soeuer eyther of feare flattery ambition worldy fauours and preferments perills or persecutions then must they consequently breake of for euer that eternall band and lincke of being saued togeather or euer enioying more the one the other in the next life for that no association can be for eternity in the life to come but by obseruing one and the selfe same religion in this world Which cogitation doth strongly worke with your Highnes Catholick subiects and they do hartily pray our Sauiour Iesus that it may no lesse worke with your Maiesty in like manner FINIS De praescript c. 16. De vnitate Ecclesiae contra Petil Donatist c. 2. De vnitate Ecclesiae Dan. 6. 17. Leo seriâ— 1. de resurrectione Lib. de paientia c. 4. 2. Cor. 7. 11 Lib. de patientia 1. Petr. 3. 15 His Maiesties protestation Iob. 19. 23 24. Salust About the words Catholick and Heretick and that they can neuer agree Gen. 21. 9. 14. The implacable hostility betweene heresie Catholick religion Gen. 26. 22 Gen. 13. 9. â— 4. Regum 9. 18. 19. 22. Dogmata noua Dij alieni Deut. 13. VinceÌ„tius Lyrinensis contra baeres c. 15. â— Reg. 18. De vnitate Eccles. cap. 5. Gen. 28. 17 1. Tim. 3. 15 Matt. 28. 20. De vnitate Ecclesiae The Catholicke cannot be a chuser but admitteth that which is deliuered Psal. 1. 5. Tertull. de praescript The 1. Ecclesiasticall vse of the word Heretick Cor. 11. 1. 9. De praescript aduers haer cap. 4. Tit. 3. 10. 11. Iibd c. 6. Ibidem Ibid. v. 31 De praescript c. 16. Act. 5. 17. 15. 5. 24. 14. Concerning the word Catholicke how eminent it is De praescript cap. 4. 5. 6. c. The Fathers iudgments about the words Heretick Catholick In Catal. Virorum illust Pacian Epist ad Sempr. 3. Reg. 3. 15. 19. Matt. 18. 1â— 2. Cor. 13. De praescript c. 26. Aug. lib. coÌ„tra Fundament in Epist. c. 4. Hebr. 12. 1. Lib. aduers. haeres c. 5. The couÌ„sell direction of Vincentius Lyrinensis about being a Catholicke Matt. 24. 14. The Consideration and consultation of the writer about his chang in religioÌ„ De vnit Eccles. De praescript cap. 32. What is required to prooue the Protestant Church Catholick Ibid. c. 32. Lib. de praescript cap. 21. 22. De vnit Eccles. Cyprian de vnit Eccles. Of the dreadfull misery of being an Hereticke Apud Pacian Epist. 1. Gen. 35. 18. Ioan. 1. 2. 1â— 1. Tim. 6. 20. 27. Cap. CoÌ„menit aduers. haereses Vincent in praf Iohn 3. 8. D. Thom. 2. 2. quaest 10. art 6. Heresy is worse theÌ„ Iudaisme or Paganis me Ratio formalis credâ—â—di An hereticke hath no diuine faith at all and why Matth. 7. 15. 16. The description of Heretickes by Christ our Sauiour De praescript c. 4. aduers. haeres c. 36. A notable interpretation of Vincentius Lyrinensis
point thereof not only of those articles which he there setteth downe principally against the Arians and other heresies as did also the Councell of Nice for that otherwaies some man might obiect and say that the ninth article of the Apostles Creed I belieue in the holy Catholick Church the Cōmumō of Saints which S. Athanasius mētioneth not were no article of beliefe and that a man may be saued without the faith therof especially for so much as the said article with the other three next ensuing to wit I belieue the remission of sinns the Resurrection of the flesh and Life euerlasting togeather with the fifth article he descended into hell all which are permitted by the Nicen Creed do not belong to the integrity of the whole Catholick fayth which were an Heathenish absurdity to imagine 18. S. Athanasius then as also that ancient Orthodox Councell of Nice albeit they set downe and expounded those articles in their Creedes which the Churches necessity instantly required to be explayned in those tymes against the heresies which then most infested and troubled the Church yet were they ioyntly euer of this opinion and beliefe that whosoeuer did not belieue all and euery point of the whole Catholicke fayth and that firmiter fideliterque that is both firmely and faithfully as S. Athanasius his wordes are shall most certainely be damned euerlastingly And conforme vnto this I haue shewed before in the first Chapter of this booke the vniforme consenting seuerity of all antiquity that any the least heresy or errour defended obstinately and with pertinacity against the Church be it but one sentence word fillable nay letter is sufficient to cast a man out of the bosome of the Churches vnity into hereticall prauity and Diabolicall nouelty and consequently to bring a man vnto euerlasting perdition and destruction both of body and soule And this we haue already proued by the vnanime verdict of S. Athanasius S. Basill S. Nazianzen S. Hierome S. Augustine and others which S. Augustine in the very closing period of his booke of heresies directed to Quod-vult Deus pronounceth bouldly and denounceth confidently against all heretickes and heresy that whosoeuer doth hould any one of these heresies registred in that booke of his or any other that should spring vp afterwardes he cannot be a Catholicke Christian and consequently cannot be saued for that he houldeth not the whole Catholicke fayth entirely and inuiolably 19. And now to descend from the generall to the speciall and to make iust proofe of all the former accusations and imputations laid vpon the Clergy of England first the Ministers of that Church do stiffly hould sundry of those heresies which S. Augustine hath recorded for heresies and as condemned of the Church in his tyme in that booke of his before cited 20. And for example it cannot be gainesaid but they deny all externall Sacrifice and Prayer for the dead with the Hereticke Aerius this is one heresy and a capitall one too if we do belieue S. Augustine Secondly the Protestants fall into another heresy of Aerius for they deny Statua solenniter celebranda esse ieiunia sed cùm quisque voluerit ieiunandum ne videatur esse sub lege that solemne fasts appoynted by the Church were not to be obserued but that euery man should fast when he would least he may seeme to be vnder the law These are the words of S. Augustine out of Epiphanius and is not this the very speach of our Ministers Preachers of England at this day Nay I haue heard some of them my selfe proceed so earnestly in their rayling humour against this sacred and Angelicall abstinence that they haue not sticked to condemne the holy time of Lent as Popish and superstitious tending quite to the ouerthrow of mans health and bodily constitution and therfore that the authors therof said they wanted wisdome and discretion for instituting it in such a time of the yeare as the spring is when man his body requireth the best and purest nutriments 20. Thirdly there is also recorded by S. Augustine haeres 69. the heresy of the Donatists that affirmed that the Vniuersall Church was wholy corrupted and perished except only amongst their followers And do not the Protestants to auoid the iudgement of the Church vtter the same contumelious slaunder at this day condemning all others to iustify themselues 21. Againe do not the Protestants fall into the heresy of the Iouinianists as it is registred by the same S. Augustine haeres 88. that held the equality of sinnes and did equall marriage with Virginity And therupon was the cause saith S. Augustine that diuers sacred Virgins consecrated to God by the holy and lawfull vow of sacred single life left their profession and married And is not this also practized and defended by protestants at this day do they not deny all Euangelicall Counsailes of perfection deluding Scriptures and reiecting Fathers though neuer so many neuer so pregnant for prouing and conuincing of this Witnesse a Treatise lately published by a former Minister of your Church in defence of the doctrine of Euangelicall Counsailes not long since preached by him in the Vniuersity of Oxford 22. I pretermit the heresie of the Manichees that denied Free-will and of the Nouatians who would not grant that Priestes had authority in the Church to remit sinnes All which ancient heresies with many more which I purposely omit being held in like manner in some degree or other yea defended with great resolution by our English Ministers they cannot be accompted to belieue entirely and inuiolably the Catholick faith and Creeds which condemne all these for heresies 23. And furthermore if besides this we will but consider the variety and multiplicity of other new sects of these our dayes with which our English Ministers do participate and make open profession to communicate as with their brethren we shall diserne clearely that they cannot so much as pretend to hould the sincere integrity of one only faith And the reason is for that they haue euer hitherto admitted for brethren and men of one faith the Lutherans for example who expressely condemne them for hereticks and professe in the open eares of the world themselues to dissent really from them in diuers weighty and capitall pointes as touching the Reall Presence the person of Christ Iustification freewill the law the Ghospell and many other more of like nature as by their owne bookes and writings doth appeare And how then may they be sayd to agree with the sense and meaning of S. Athanasius his Creed which pronounceth damnation against all such as do not faithfully and firmely hould the whole entyre Catholicke faith without any violation in any one article at all And so let vs passe vnto the two other Creedes to wit vnto that of the Councell of Nyce and the Apostlicall 24. In the Nicene Creed for the better and further explication of Christ his Godhead and equality with his Father against the Arian heresie there
the ancient Church gathered and assembled foure within the compasse of one age and an halfe and the Protestant Princes and people do bound and border nearer togeather then did the Christians in former tymes which were in a manner dispersed here and there farre and neere ouer the whole face of the earth 27. If reply be made that then there was but one Emperour to affoard his Imperiall consent for the assembling of the Synod now since the diuision of the Empyre into many Dukedomes Princedomes Kingdomes and free States there be many particuler Princes whose wills and iudgements can more hardly be agreed whose assents are with greater difficulty to be required and obtayned I answere this euasion is but a meere collusion and therefore must not be suffered to passe without due reprehension For since the forsaid diuision of the Christian world into seuerall Kingdomes and states many generall Councell haue bene called and gathered amongst Catholickes as before hath bene shewed yea and that in the middest of tumults vproares and garboyles in the temporall estates of the Christian world and this a man of common sense and reason may comprehend imagin to haue byna greater let and impediment vnto the gathering of Generall Councells then any incumbrance and inconuenience that the Protestants surmise or pretend But the truth is heresy and schisme originally grounded vpon proper election priuate inuention stubborne selfwill and proud conceipted iudgment togeather with obstinacy against the Churches authority this I say can neuer abide that exact discussion which a generall Councell doth require For how can the Protestants thus deuided as they are and knowing the weakenes of their owne cause indure parly and treaty eyther with the Catholicks whome they accompt aduersaries or among themselues with their owne Sectaries 28. Not with Catholickes as may be seene by examples of ancient hereticks condēned in these 4. first Generall Councells to wit the Arians in the first the Macedonians in the second the Nestorians in the third and the Eutichians in the fourth who fled what they could those Councells appealing only to Scriptures whereof there is one notable example amongst many others in the last of these foure Councells I meane that of Chalcedon wherein the Archimandrite and Archereticke Eutiches being sent vnto with Notaries from this graue and learned Councell to yield an accompt to the Councell of his hereticall opinion held of one onely nature in Christ after his Incarnation he first bethought him of this euasion to say that he would agree and subscribe to the expositions of the Fathers that had sate in the Nicen Councell and that of Ephesus but this was but meere collusion for thereby he only meant most craftily and heretically to euade and fly both the other two Councells of Constantinople that had already dealt against him and condemned him as also this of Chalcedon that was now gathered against him to heare his cause and to be his iudge 29. But yet secondly for feare that he might yield also to farre in this he added presently an exposition saying Si verè aliquid contingat eos in aliquibus dictis aut falli aut errasse hoc neque se vette reprehendere neque subscribere solas autem Scripturas scrutari tamquam firmiores sanctorum Patrum expositionibus If not withstanding it had happened that the said Fathers of the Nicen and Ephesine Councells had bene deceiued and erred in many of their sayings then would he neither reprehend the same for modesties sake nor yet subscribe therunto but that he for his part would attend himselfe wholy vnto the Scriptures alone as being more firme and sure then the expositions of any Fathers whatsoeuer And is not this spoken like a Protestant 30. Thirdly when he had repeated and vrged againe his blasphemous heresy of one only nature in Christ in presence of those graue and reuerend Prelates that were sent by the whole Synod to take his confessiō and further when he had read vnto them a booke compiled Apologetically for defence of the same heresy he then tould them openly and plainely that this was his faith according vnto the Scriptures and as for the other to wit the Catholicke assertion that Christ consisted of two natures diuine and humane vnited in one person he said flatly Neque se didicisse in expositionil us sanctorum Patrum neque subscriberevelle sicontigerit ab aliquo ei tale aliquid legi quia diuina Scripturae meliores sunt Patrum doctrinis That he had neither learned any such assertion in the expositions of the holy Fathers he meaneth the blessed Fathers of the Nicene and Ephesine Councells nor yet would he for his part admit and imbrace it if any such thing should happen to be read vnto him out of their writinges and his reason was that which is so cōmonly vrged by Protestants for that the diuine Scriptures are better then the doctrines of all Fathers the which though it be true in it self yet was his meaning to deceiue therby as you see thinking by this faire glosle goodly pretence of Scripture to haue auoyded and escaped the tribunall and censure of the Catholicke Church in that time but the Councell condemned his opinion and person notwithstanding his shifting euasions to the contrary 31. And truly the very Consideration of this particuler I meane the conformity of spirits in this ould heretick and diuers of the new Protestants that cry out with sull and open mouth to haue all thinges in Generall Councells tryed by Scriptures alone left in me a very great impression and the matter it selfe seemed vnto me very considerable and worthy of all diligent attention For I patticulerly reflected vpon that sentence of Caluin wherin in my poore iudgment and opinion I rightly compared the two Arch-heretickes togeather and whether I wrong Caluin let his owne wordes witnes and his best fauorites and sectarirs defend their Maister from speaking like an hereticke I meane like Eutiches Nulla saith he nos Conciliorunt Patrum Episcoporum nomina impedire debent quo minùs omnes omnium spirituum ad diuini verbi regulam exigamus verbo Domini examinemus num ex Deo sunt VVe are not to passe for Councels Fathers Bishops it is not in naming of all or any one of them can barre vs from examining all kynd of spirits according vnto the squared rule of Gods word and we may call them vnto accompt sift them by the word of the Lord whether they are of God or no. So far he 32. And here also I remēbred that I had seene the conditions required by the Protestants of Germany when as they were inuited to come vnto the Councell of Trent at the very first gathering thereof and the said conditions were published in a seuerall booke which did beare this Inscription Causae cur Electores Principes c. The causes why the Electors Princes and other addicted to the Cōfession of Augusta do not come to the
that it was plaine madnes in the hereticke to make so small accompt of them Nay he further resolued and with mature deliberation concluded that the dogma ticall faith and belief of all these Fathers conspiring and agreeing togeather in one was to be defended against him and against all other such like hereticks as he was no other waies then Christs Ghospell was to be defended against Infidels His words are these 20. Aduersus hanc autem miserabilem quam deus auertat insaniam sic respondendum video libris tuis vt fides queque aduersus te desendatur istorum sicut contra impios Christiprofessos inimicos etiam ipsum defendetur Euangelium Against this miserable desperate madnes of thine which God turne from thee I do see that I must so answere to thy bookes that the faith of these Fathers be defended against thee as the very Ghospell it selfe of Christ is to be defended against impious men and as against the very professed enemies of Christ. So he And yet in another place pressing againe the authority of the said Fathers he doth intreat his aduersary Iulian to belieue these holy Fathers and by them to be made friendes with him yea to be reconciled vnto him and to the Catholicke Church from which he stood as yet separate And is not this the very same offer we make to the Protestants at this day And then S. Augustine going on forwardes in ratifiing their authority saddeth presently for further corroboration of the Doctrine and tradition of antiquity Quod credunt credo quod tenent teneo quod docent doceo quod praedicant praedico istis crede mihi credes acquiesce istis quiesces à me c. What these fathers do belieue I do belieue what they hould I hould what they teach I teach what they preach I preach yeald vnto these and you will yeald vnto me haue peace with these and you will haue peace with me And last of all saith he If you will not by them be made friendes with me at least wise be not you by me made enemy vnto them a goulden sentence and then he goeth forward saying shall Pelagius and Celestinus the Authours of your heresy be of such authority with you that you for their society will leaue the fellowship and company of so many and so great Doctors of the Catholicke faith and Church dispersed from East to West frō North to South and those both ancient and neare vnto our age partly dead and yet partly liuing So he 21. Which speach of S. Augustine doth seeme vnto me so fitly and properly to touch and concerne the Protestants of our dayes who for the loue of Luther Caluin Authors of their nouelties do forgo all the Doctors of the Catholicke Church not only ancient but moderne also as that nothing in my iudgment can be produced of nearer affinity to hould greater correspondency or be more like or more semblable 22. Neither yet doth S. Augustine determine only that the Doctors of the Church are absolutely the best witnesses and iudges in matters of Controuersy that arise and spring vp after their dayes but togeather with his authority which had bene alone sufficient he yealedeth a very substantiall and conuincing reason for the same and it is this that the Fathers could not be partiall iudges of such causes as came into Controuersy after their deaths for that they gaue forth their verdict and iudgment before any controuersy was stirred or moued about the same And thus much do his wordes import as they follow 23. Tunc de ista causa iudicauerunt saith S. Augustine quando cosnemo dicere potest perperà m quicquam vel aduersari velsauere potuisse Nondum enim extiteratis c. The Fathers did iudge of this cause at that time when no man can say that they did wrongfully fauour or disfauour any party For that you Pelagians were not then in the world with whome we might haue contention about this question c. They did not attend vnto any friendship eyther with vs or with you they did not exercise amity or emnity with eyther of vs they were angry neyther with you nor with vs neyther yet had they commiseration towards any of our partes that which they found in the Church they held that which they learned they taught that which they recyued and learned from their Fathers by tradition they taught and left vnto their children We did not as yet plead with you before these Iudges yet by them was our case decided and determined nor you nor we were knowne vnto them and yet do we out of their workes produce their sentences against you VVe had as yet no strife with you nor pleaded any cause and yet haue we conquered you by their verdicts Hitherto are the wordes of S. Augustine 24. VVhich when I had considered pondered well with my selfe as also reflected vpon all S. Augustine his former sentences compared them all togeather and conferred them with the state of our present time and manners of men therein I seemed to behold as in a cleare glasse before the eyes of my vnderstanding the very person and selfe same cause of S Augustine to be in the Catholicke writers of our dayes as contrariwise also that of the Pelagians and of other old heretickes to be in the Protestants the one and the other making like accompt of the ancient Fathers I meane the Catholickes esteeming them highly and standing to their iudgment the others reiecting them where they make against them which as it hath bene sufficiently proued before so might I here adioyne also many other proofes therof if I would spend more time in alleaging their sentences Let M. VVhitakers assertion speake for all who of this matter writeth thus If you argue from the witnes of men be they neuer so learned and ancient we yeeld no more to their wordes in cause of sayth and religion then we perceaue to be agreeable to Scripture Neyther thinke you your selfe to haue proued any thing although you bring against vs the whole consent swarme of Fathers except that which they say be iustified not by the voyce of men but of God himselfe The second Consideration AS my first consideration was wholy conuersant about the iust deserued credit of ancient Fathers agreing to geather in generall eyther in the full voice of all or in the greatest part and consent of them so was my second imployed about the same credit authority of particuler Fathers eyther one or two or more auerring any thing which was not reprehended by others in matters of religion About which poynt I saw lesse ascribed in his Maties Booke vnto their promerited estimation then Catholickes do hold in their Orthodox assertions and much lesse then I my selfe had purposely read and obserued in the former mentioned holy Father S. Augustine concerning that poynt For as his Maiesty yealded lesse to the common consent of Doctors which must
set downe touching the authority of particuler Fathers 57. Touching the article of Iustification which is an other head besids those 9. or 10. before mentioned the Magdeburgians write thus of the Fathers of this age Iustitiam coram Deo operibus tribuerūt They did attribute to good works their iustice before God which if you read in the places of the Fathers by them mentioned and alledged you shall easily discerne it to be the very same doctrine that Catholickes do hould at this day though misreported slandered and abused by hereticall calumniation For that the said Fathers do hould nothing els but that this iustice by them mentioned doth proceed from the grace of Christ as frō the principall originall concurrent concomitant cause therof though yet not excluding the cooperation of mans will stirred vp and strengthned by that grace 58. Next to this they handle De bonis operibus of good workes and the merit therof which Chapter they beginne thus Magis quà m superiori saeculo Doctores huius aetatis c. The Doctors of this third age did decline more from the true doctrine of Christ and his Apostles about the merit of good workes thē did the Doctors of the precedent age And here I would intreat the ingenuous and iudicious Reader to consider what kind of accusation this is and the rather for that they are not abashed for the making good of this accusation to cite diuers places out of Tertullian Origen Cyprian and others that do plainely auerre the merit of good workes reprehended by them And as for S. Cyprian they alledge this place out of him in his sermon de Eleemosyna Peccata post baptismum commissa eleemosyna bonis operibus extingui That sinnes committed after baptisme are extinguished by almes and good workes for which they say that he alleageth three places of Scripture First that of Toby the 4. Sinnes are purged by almes and fayth The second is out of Ecclesiasticus the 3. As water doth extinguish fire so doth almes sinne The third is the speach of Christ Behould thou art made whole take heed that thou sinne no more lest some worse thing do happen vnto thee Notwithstanding all which Scriptures and the venerable authority of that blessed Martyr S. Cyprian in expounding them the Magdeburgians do condemne the sentence with all the Scriptures as erroneous so as it auayleth not Fathers to alleage Scriptures when they do not interpret them as the Protestant would haue them 59. As for the Article of Pennance they beginne with it thus Plaerique huius saeculi Scriptores doctrinā de poenitentia mirè depranāt The most part of the writers of this age do you note the most part do wonderfully depraue and peruert the doctrine of Penance And the reason is for that they make mention of satisfaction in doing of pennance For proofe whereof they cyte diuers places out of Tertullian Origen and S. Cyprian As for example How much tyme saith Origen homil 3. in lib. Iudicum thou hast spent in offending of God so much spend in humbling thee vnto God satisfacito Deo and do satisfaction to God And S. Cyprian lib. 1. epist. 3. Peccata ablue redime satisfactionibus wash of and redeeme thy sinnes by satisfaction And in the third booke of his Epistles and 14. epistle he saith Lapsos auxilio martyrum apud Dominum adiuuari posse S. Cyprian is of opinion that such as fall into sinne may be holpen with God by the intercession of Martyrs Heere then besides satisfaction is intercession of Martyrs 60. In the article of baptisme they take vp and reprehend S. Cyprian sharply for writing thus in his first booke of Epistles the 12 Epistle Oportet mundari sanctificari priùs aqua à sacerdote c. The water of baptisme must be purified and sanctified by the Priest that he which is baptized may haue his sinnes washed away Where S. Cyprian say the Magdeburgians dareth to auouch that he which baptizeth conferreth the holy Ghost and doth inwardly sanctify him that is baptized A very great absurdity forsooth if you marke it especially yf you conferre it with their Protestanticall opinion that hould the Sacrament of Baptisme to wash only the externall man and not the internall 61. The same Magdeburgians also accuse the same Saint Cyprian for that lib. 1. Epist. 12. he speaketh dangerously as they call it of Chrisme holy vnction in baptisme Vngi quoque necesse est eum qui baptizatus sit vt accepto chrismate id est vnctione esse vnctus Dei habere in se Christi gratiam possit It is necessary for him to be annointed that is baptized to the end that hauing receaued the holy chrisme or vnction he may be annoynted of God haue the grace of Chryst in him 62. Furthermore they do reprehend the said S. Cyprian for that he writeth primo libro Epist. epist. 3. Eucharist in altari sāctificatur The Eucharist is sanctified vpon the Aultar And lib. 1. epist. 3. they reprehend him for saying Sacerdotes sanctificare calicem that Priests do sanctify the cup. And againe for wryting thus Sacerdotum vice Christi sungi Deo Patri sacrificium offerre That the Priest performeth the office of Christ and offereth sacrifice to God the Father And diuers other such speaches aswell out of Tertullian and S. Martial in epistola ad Burdegalenses do displease them 63. In the controuersy of Prayer vnto Saints their first wordes are these Videas in Doctorum huius saeculi scriptis non obscura vestigia inuocationis Sanctorū You may see in the writings of the Doctors of this age manifest signes of prayer vnto Saints for you haue say they the forme set downe in Origen a litle before the end of his second booke vpon Iob Obeate Iob or a pro nobis miseris O Blessed Iob pray for vs afflicted Non obscurè etiam sentit Cyprianus say they Martyres Sanctos defunctos pro viuentibus orare Cyprian lib. 1. epist. 1. in fine That is S. Cyprian is plainely of opinion that Martyrs and Saints after their death and dissolution do pray for those that remayne behind them on earth aliue 64. I pretermit many other points but especially those eight or nyne heads which I touched in the precedent age wherof much more might be spoken here as namely of Primacy of the Church of Rome for auerring of which they greatly stomake and reprehend Tertullian and S. Cyprian saying Tertullianus non sine errore sentire videtur libro de pudicitia claues soli Petro commissas Ecclesiam super ipsum extructam esse Tertullian erroneously seemeth to thinke that the keies were only giuen by Christ vnto S. Peter and that vpon him the Church was builded And then they do cyte fiue seuerall places out of S. Cyprian they might haue cyted many more and all antiquity with him as concurring with Tertullian in this his opinion And further they