that to us for a crime which inevitable necessitie hath forced us to doe God knows with what a deal of constraint we are come thus farre how troublesome a thing it hath seemed to us to renounce the duties and services which we owe to them to whom we bear so much respect and love our Princes our Fathers our Friends our Countreymen But what shall we doe when we find our selves surprized with necessity Ye see that our consciences torment us that they represent to us heaven and the eternity thereof hel and its punishments and which is more yet the will of God our Soveraigne Father This is not a toy nor can we please our selves in it You have seen that our belief doth necessarily bring along with it all these considerations Shall we preferre yours before them Shall we violate the motions of our conscience Shall we disturb the peace thereof and overthrow that which we beleieve to be the law of our Soveraigne God to please you Shall we venture willingly and knowingly to provoke His anger to avoid yours Shall we fear lesse to offend Him then to displease you You your selves I know very well will condemne such a loosnesse and in stead of approving it will extremely abhorre it For ye know and teach as well as we both by word and example that we owe all to God who looks upon the religion of our consciences Be pleased then to bear with us if we preferre what we believe to be the interest of His glory before your desires and our own And in other things where your contentment will not overthrow His service we shall freely acknowledge that we owe you our whole utmost are ready to testifie it by actions therein to do your absolute pleasures though it be with the losse of what we count most precious on earth our bloud our life it self Onely suffer us to reserve our consciences to our selves or rather to Him whole and entire over which no man can reign without affronting our God And if you think that the judgement we make concerning these matters is an errour be pleased to take the pains candidly to shew us it We shall willingly examine your proofs we shall bring pliant minds and as full of prejudice in your behalf as you can wish as persons that have all the interests in the world to perswade us to desire to live in your communion if it may be with the peace of our consciences We honour as well as you the H. Scriptures given and preserved to the Church by the Providence of God to be the laws and fountains of his Faith Let us we pray see you prove from thence the Articles which you presse so strongly or at least the principles whence they may be clearly and lawfully deduced If you shew them us and after such a manifestation we continue scrupulous we then neither can nor will denie but that you will have just and good cause to esteem us Schismaticks But if you cannot or do not me thinks you should have no reason to refuse what we request viz. To bear with our separation and not hereafter to give it the odious name of schisme which agreeth onely to such separations as are made by a pure and voluntary opinionativenesse grounded onely upon the peevishnesse ambition envy hatred animositie or the like passion of such as depart from the Communion of a Church without a true and necessary reason THE END * Ecclesia non in parietibus consistit sed in dogmatum veritate Ecclesia ibi est ubi sides vera est Caeterùm ante annos 15 aut 20 parietes omnes hîc Ecclesiatum haeretici possidebant Ecclesia autem illîc erat ubi fides vera erat Hieron in Psal 133. Nemo mihi dicat O quid dixit Donatus aut quid dixit Parm. aut Pontius aut quilibet eorum quia nec Catholicis Episcopis consentiendum est sicubi fortè fallantur ut contra Canonicas Scripturas aliquid sentiant August de unit Eccles c. 10. in Edit Lugdun Honorati Anno 1562. Ecclesiam suam demonstrent si possunt non in sermonibus rumoribus Afrorum non in Conciliis Episcoporum suorum non in literis quorumlibet disputatorum non in signis prodigiis fallacibus quia etiam contra ista Verbo Domini cauti redditi sumus sed iâ— praescripto Legis in Prophetarum praedictis in cantibus Psalmorum in ipsius Pastoris vocibus in Evangelistarum praedicationibus laboribus hoc est in omnibus Canonicis Sanctorum librorum autoritatibus Eodem lib. c. 16. ejusdem edit Vtrum ipsi Ecclesiam teneant non nisi divinarum Scripturarum Canonicis libris ostendant quia nec nos propterea dicimus credi oportere quod in Ecclesia Christi sumus aut quia ipsam commendavit Optatus Ambrosius vel alii innumerabiles nostrae communionis Episcopi aut quia nostrorum Collegarum Conciliis praedicata est aut quia per totu orbent tanta mirabilia sanitatum fiunt c. Quaecunque talia in Catholica fiunt ideò approbantur quia in Catholica fiunt non ideò manifestatur Catholica quia haec in ea fiunt Ipse Dominus Iesus cùm resurrexisset à mortuis discipulorum oculis corpus suum offerret nè quid tamen fallaciae se pati arbitrarentur magis eos testimoniis Legis Prophetarum Psalmorum confirmandos esse â—udicavit ibid. Non audiamus Haec dico sed haec dicit Dominus Sunt certè libri Dominici quorum Autoritati utrique consentimus Ibi quaeramus Ecclesiam ibi discutiamus causam nostram Eod. l. c. 2. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys in Act. hom 33. * It is entituled A memoriall for Reformation or A Remembrance for them that shall live when Catholick Religion shall be restored into England Wherein are directions in so many severall chapters what he thought best to be done as well in the Court as Countrey with the King and Counsell as with the rest of the Nobility and Commonalty Clergy as Laity when this Nation shall be as he said he was confident it would be reduced In summe he would have its Grand-Charter burnt the manner of holding lands in fee-simple fee-tail frank almain Kings service c. wholly abolished the Municipall laws abrogated and the Inns of Court converted to some other use That for Lawyers Then for Divines The Colledges in both Vniversities should be wholly in the power of six men who should have all the Lands Mannors Lordships Parsonages c. and what ever else belonged to Church or Cloyster resigned into their hands allowing to the Bishops Parsons and Vicars competent stipends and pensions to live upon according as Bishops-Suffragans and Mont seniors have allowance in other Catholick Countreys These are Parsons own words That at the beginning no mans conscience be pressed for matters in Religion then That publick disputations between Papists and Protestants
Angels and to avoid them as cursed and excommunicated persons if they should take the boldnesse to preach ought else but that Gospel which is already delivered Gal. i. 8 9. To depart straight out of Babylon and not to be kept in there lest we partake at once of her sinnes and plagues Revel xviii 4. In a schole where those of Ephesus are commended for having hated the Nicolaitans and those of Pergamus blamed for having tolerated their doctrine Rev. ii 6 15. In a schole where even at the beginning the children of the Church had continually so much care to separate from the communion of hereticks as Samosatenians Arians and others Who seeth not that according to this discipline it is sometimes not lawfull onely but even necessary to separate from some Societies that make profession of Christianitie and that in this case we must blame not generally and simply all that make a separation but those onely who make it either lightly and without reason or unjustly and without necessity The matter seems sufficiently cleare For since the conservation of such things as are united is the end of union 'T is evident that we are not to entertain any union but onely with them who may help forward that designe and so farre onely as they may help it forward If therefore there be any who under colour of the blessed name of Christ subvert His doctrine annihilate His authority and our salvation 't is so far from being our duty to unite our selves to them that on the contrary we are obliged to part from them because to unite with them were in effect to disunite from Christ and from His body and in stead of coming to salvation to fall into eternal ruine If in a State a City or Province should oblige those that live within it to perform actions that are contrary to the Majestie and service of the Soveraigne the loyal inhabitants may thereupon separate themselves and even oppose and resist the rebels with all their power if occasion be offered For 't is a law generally engraven by nature in all parts of the Universe even in insensible creatures That every thing seeks after the company of that which is like it and with equal violence avoids to be near or have any thing to do with that which is contrary to it So then both the discipline of Jesus Christ and the lawes of Civil societies and even those of nature her self permit us to avoid the communion of such as under any pretence name or colour whatsoever go about to destroy and ruine Christianity What did I say that they permit us nay they command it so expresly that we cannot refrain from such separations without offending God scandalizing our neighbours and destroying our selves And though this be a truth received among all Christians yet there is no Society or company of them wherein it is more strictly and more severely practised then among those against whom we now dispute For who knows not with what rigour Rome hath continually rejected the Communion of those who dissent from her In the infancy of Christianitie she anathematized the Churches of Asia for a matter of nothing viz. because they celebrated Easter otherwise then she and in these later dayes how hath she persecuted with fire and sword all those that would venture never so little to oppose her power and greatnesse How many ages have passed over her head since she broke with the Eastern Northern and Southern Churches with which notwithstanding she boasteth much of her having so great conformity of belief and service So nice is she and delicate in this point that we have seen not long ago the chiefest of her Monks the most exquisite of her Religious Orders fly off and separate from the State of Venice and renounce there her Churches and Altars where all the Articles of her faith were dayly publisht where all her devotions and services were continually celebrated onely upon pretence That this wise Commonwealth would not endure that Pope Paul the fift should bereave her of the power she had to make and execute lawes for the government of her subjects So that if separation simply be a crime who seeth not that our Adversaries are faulty too and consequently are not to be admitted to bring in the accusation against us CHAP. IV. That our Separation from Rome was not made rashly willingly or unnecessarily Object BUt they 'l say that They had reason to do so and that We have none Ans So then now we come to the businesse viz. To examine the causes of our separation before sentence be given against it Let us I beseech you leave the odious words of division and schisme and apply them to none but such to whom we shall find they appertain For if we have not had any important cause of our separation from the Church of Rome if she have not required any thing of us which destroys our faith offends our consciences and overthrows the service which we believe due to God If the differences between us have been small and such as we might safely have yeilded unto Then I 'le grant That men may call our Ancestours Schismaticks may condemn their separation to be rash and unjust and may impute to them all the sad disasters and scandals that have attended that action Bâ—t if they were urged to believe and pressed to do a thousand things contrary to their faith and to their conscience if onely for not doing them they were declared Hereticks enemies to J. Christ and his Church if they were deemed unworthy even of the honours or possessions yea even of that life it self which is enjoyed in this world who doth not see That they deserve the pity of men in stead of their hate and That their withdrawing themselves from people who have Treated them in this manner was just lawfull and necessary according to all the laws of heaven and earth Now it is very apparent that they were forced to make this separation for reasons which they in their consciences judged to be very great and important For excepting the motives of conscience all other considerations evidently obliged them to the contrary In separating from the Church of Rome they pluckt upon themselves all the disfavours of the world they incurred the indignation of their Magistrates the hatred of their Countreymen they exposed themselves to the losse of their goods their honours their friends their very countrey nay all that is sweet neare or deare unto them in this life and to the suffering of poverty ignominy banishment tortures and all imaginable punishments Who can believe that men who had the use of sense and reason as well as their neighbours should ever choose with chearfulnesse where there is no necessity to embrace such a side And though they had been so blind as not to have foreseen that such would be the event of their designe which yet is not a jot probable how should We come to have so little experience as
us she would have us receive with the same faith and respect all the traditions which she approves of Besides the repose and rest in the Kingdome of heaven which she with us promiseth to the faithfull she will have us to believe another in Limbo a prison for children that die without baptisme And besides the torments of hell which she with us threatens to the wicked she denounceth to the faithfull another like it in purgatoric These and severall others like to these are the positions which she addeth to the true and fundamentall Articles of the good Old Christianity and which are the points that divorce us from her Communion For every one knows how carefully she hath established them in her Councels how daily she recommendeth them in her Schools and pulpits how rigourously she exacteth them in confession having long since pronounced and oft since daily still proclaiming and repeating That she esteems them Hereticks Enemies of Christ and worse then Infidels that reject these opinions or any of these And which is more offensive yet not content to teach them by the voice of her Doctours she imprints them in the hearts of her people through continuall observation and use so that among them of her communion the practise of these additionall Articles makes more then a full half of what they esteem Christianity For the greatest part of their service consists in invocation of Angels and Saints in adoring the Sacrament in worshipping images in offering up the Sacrifice of the Altar or in partaking of it in making Confessions and exercising other ceremonies But as for us all the world knows that we have quite another opinion of these matters We content our selves with the intercession sacrifice and monarchy of J. Christ and can joyn to Him neither Saints nor Priests nor the Pope in any of those three qualities which the Scripture of the New Testament attributes to none but Him alone We deem His bloud sufficient for the purgation of our souls having never learnt that either S. Paul or any other Saint was crucified for us nor That after this life the Saints shall enter into any other place but onely one of repose and rest After Baptisme and the Lords Supper we desire no other Sacraments not having heard in His Word that he hath obliged us necessarily to go to the eare of any Priest to receive his absolution or to the hand of any Bishop to have his chrisme We dare not adore the bread which we break nor the cup which we blesse because all confesse That it is not permitted us to adore any but God onely We can neither invocate creatures since we have in the Scripture neither commandment nor example for it nor prostrate our selves before images since we have expresse commands therein against it We scruple at making any thing an Article of our Faith which we have not heard in the Word of God be he an Apostle or an Angel that evangelizeth So that since we find nothing in the Scripture of abstinence from meats distinction of times and other Romane ceremonies nor of the Limbus of infants or purgatory we cannot yet be perswaded that it is necessarie for us to believe them CHAP. VI. That our Separation ariseth not from particular matters of fact or private opinion but from such things as are believed generally by all the Romane Church and so that it is not like to the schisme of the Donatists I Might yet alledge many other differences but this little may suffice to let you see what are the main reasons which oblige us to separate from Rome Whence it appears how unjust a comparison it is that I say not impertinent and silly which some make of our Separation to that of the Donatists For they pretended not to find any thing in the doctrine of the Catholick Church from whence they separated which was contrary to their belief Both the one and the other taught the same faith read the same books exercised the same services The Donatist entring with the Catholicks found nothing either in their belief or discipline which he had not seen and learn'd in his own But as for us 't is impossible that we should enter into the Communion of the Church of Rome without swearing to many doctrines which we formerly never learn'd in the schole of the Scriptures without receiving Sacraments which are utterly unknown to us without bowing our knees before images which is absolutely forbidden without adoring a thing for God whose Deitie we know not without acknowledging him to be the Head and Husband of the Church whom we know to be but a mortall man without subjecting those consciences to an humane which are taught and wont to submit unto none but a divine Authority And as for that which the Donatists alledge That Felix the Ordainer of Cecilian Bishop of Carthage did in former times deliver up the Holy Scriptures to the Pagans during the persecution though it had been true as indeed it was not the Catholicks having clearly justified their innocence in this point by many irrefragable testimonies supposing I say it had been true that he had committed this fault who seeth not that this is not a cause in nature like to those for which we make our separation For this was a matter of fact and not a doctrine a fact of one man that is of Felix alone and not of the whole body of the African Church So that it should have given the Donatists no occasion or cause of separating from Cecilian much lesse any just cause of breaking communion with all Africk For suppose that Felix the Ordainer of Cecilian had committed this fault yet 't is cleare That he did not teach or think that it was lawfull for him to deliver the H. Scriptures up to Infidels but on the contrary by denying that he committed it and standing upon his defence as he did he confessed plainly by consequence that it was a fault The Donatists then might have continued in that communion without any way staining either their Creed or their manners without being forced either to do or believe any thing against their consciences But for all that supposing which yet is manifestly false that Cecilian had defended and preach'd publickly in his pulpit That it was permitted Christians in times of persecution to deliver up the books of HOLY WRIT to the enemies of the Church and supposing again which 't is not fit now to examine that this errour were pernicious and inconsistent with a true faith I cannot discern how the Donatists had any just cause of avoiding the communion of the successours of Cecilian or other Bishops of Africk who unanimously held taught and preached that to commit such a fault was a weaknesse unbefitting the soul of a Christian and made all such submit to the rigours of Ecclesiasticall discipline whom they found guilty of it This crime or what ever you will imagine it was onely Felix's or perhaps Cecilians but not any mans else The
AN APOLOGIE FOR THE REFORMED CHURCHES Wherein is shew'd The necessitie of their separation from the Church of Rome Against those who accuse them of making a Schisme in Christendome BY JOHN DAILLE Pastor of the Reformed Church at PARIS Translated out of French And a Preface added containing THE JUDGEMENT OF AN UNIVERSITY-MAN concerning M r. Knot 's last book against M r. Chillingworth Printed by Th. Buck Printer to the Vniversitie of Cambridge MDCLIII To the Right Worshipfull the Master Wardens and Assistants of the Honourable Company of Mercers LONDON Right Worshipfull THough I am very much obliged to the Authour of this Book and other friends for whose sake I translated it yet I am to none more than unto You whose bounty enabled me of which I have been a partaker untill the yeare last passed ever since the fifth of my age through my education at S. Pauls Schole And that it is not still continued to me is not any cause in You but my superannuation Thus though my catalogue be short I have reckoned up almost all the friends I have living which as my books I ever desired might be few and good if they be not it shall never be my fault And with You whom I number among the chief of them I here deal as Sinaeta in the Persian story did with Artaxerxes who knowing it was the custome of the Countrey to offer the King somewhat each time he rid abroad meeting him accidentally and having nothing in readinesse ran to the river-side where snatching up his hands full of water he presented it to his Soveraigne crying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who considering the gratefull mind wherewith it came graciously accepted it If You shall in like manner vouchsafe to look upon this small book which is presented with the same affection and with my hearty prayers to God for the continuance of His Blessings on You and your Munificence to poor Students as a tender of my many humble thanks which I shall ever acknowledge due to You I shall think it next to the glory of God and conversion of souls the greatest reward to this devoir that can be hoped for by Your obliged servant THO. SMITH Christs-Coll Cambr. Aug. 2. 1653. A Table of the Chapters I. THE occasion and importance of this Treatise Page 1 II. The necessity of an union among believers pag. 2 III. That it is sometimes lawfull to separate from a company of men professing Christianitie p. 3 IV. That our separation from the Church of Rome was not made rashly wilfully or unnecessarily p. 6 V. Reasons of our separation from Rome founded upon the diversity of our beliefs p. 8 VI. That our separation ariseth not from particular matters of fact or private opinion but from such things as are believed generally by all the Romane Church And so that it is not like to the schisme of the Donatists p. 13 VII That there are two sorts of Errours the one overthrows the foundation of faith and obliging man to separate and the other not That the opinions of the Church of Rome which we reject are of the first sort and those of the Lutherans are of the second p. 18 VIII That the adoration of the Eucharist as it is practised by the Church of Rome doth overthrow the foundation of piety and religion p. 26 IX That the opinion of the Lutherans which we bear withall doth not bring with it the adoration of the Eucharist either de jure or de facto p. 32 X. That the dignity and excellencie of the Eucharist doth not hinder it from being a mortal sinne to adore it if it be bread in substance as we believe it to be p. 37 XI That the opinion which those of the Romane Church have of the Eucharist excuseth not such as adore it p. 45 XII The errour of those who think they may give to the Host of the Church of Rome that reverence which she commandeth without adoring it p. 55 XIII That he who believeth the Eucharist to be bread in substance cannot give it the reverence which is practised in the Church of Rome without evident falshood hypocrisie and perfidiousnesse p. 61 XIV That every man who exerciseth the ceremonies and services which the Church of Rome renders to the Host declareth thereby that he adoreth it and taketh it for his true and eternall God p. 65 XV. An answer to the example of Naaman the Syrian objected by some p. 72 XVI That to think it is lawfull for a man to exercise the ceremonies of a Religion which he believeth not doth by consequence diminish the glory of and cast a slur upon the Martyrs p. 78 XVII That this dissembling is condemned by our Lord in the Scriptures p. 81 XVIII That this dissembling grievously offendeth God and scandalizeth men p. 85 XIX That there are many other beliefs in the Church of Rome which overthrow the foundations of our faith and salvation as the Veneration of images the Supremacie of the Pope c. p. 91 XX. A conclusion of this Treatise That They who are of our perswasion are obliged to forsake the communion of Rome and They who are not are to prove and trie their own faith before they condemne our separation from them The Preface THe particulars which I intend to premise are chiefly these two 1. What was the occasion of writing this Apology 2. What is the occasion of printing it The first will lead me to say somewhat of schisme which is the subject of the book And the second to take notice of a large book lately published by the English Jesuites entituled Infidelity unmasked c. I shall speak of both with as much brevity as may be remembring I am to write a Preface not a Treatise I. Of the first Some seditious people in France did in the yeare MDCXXXIII endeavour to raise a bloudy persecution against the Protestants in that nation inciting the Magistrates to constrain them to adorn their houses on that Festival which is ordinarily called in that nation la Feste de Dieu and do other acts of reverence to the Host or to put them to death or banish the refusers Whereupon Monsieur Daillé conceiving in what eminent danger he and all of his Religion were wrote this Apologie which being publickly approved was presented by Monsieur Drelincourt Mestrezat himself and many others deputed by the Protestants of France for that purpose unto the King of France and Lords of His Counsel as containing the Doctrine and resolution of all the Protestants in that Kingdome And through Gods blessing it prevailed with Them so farre that the said destructive counsels were rejected And let not any man imagine That because Adoration of the Host is the chief sinne mentioned in this Tract as being indeed one of the chief causes of our Separation therefore Protestants have nothing else to alledge for themselves though one unanswerable reason is enough and I am perswaded that any unprejudiced Reader will think this such For he that
whole Church had no share in it so that it was an intolerable piece of injustice a strange pride and mad fantasticalnes to abhorre a whole Church for the errours of offences of one particular man I would to God the case between the Romane Church and us had been the like That we had seen nothing deplorable but onely the faults of her Pastours and the disorders of her manners or That such of her doctrines which we cannot receive had been the thoughts of some particular men onely Had there been nothing else we should have lived still together Our Fathers would never have separated from Her Communion or if some strange passion which we dream not of had precipitated them into a rupture and schisme like that of the Donatists We do in our Consciences protest that we would have been afraid to follow their errour and that we would have lost no time of uniting our selves with them from whom we had been so imprudently separated For we cannot but confesse That 't is a piece of very high injustice to impute the faults of men to their profession and to accuse their Religion of those extravagancies which they commit especially if against it In such a case we should questionlesse practise the doctrine of our Saviour speaking of them who sit in Moses chair Matt. xxiii 3. All those things which they bid you observe those observe and do but do not after their works The Church wherein they live is not guilty of their errour especially when it highly and oft out of the mouthes of those very men condemneth the faults and disorders of their lives The Church may say to such fugitives The faults of my children are no fit reason to induce you to abhorre Me. Live in my communion you may and not be obliged to communicate with their wicked deeds Those very men who are thus wicked should drive you from the vice in stead of bringing you to it for if you mark it They carry preservatives in their mouthes against the poisons of their manners But alas 'T was not this that drove us from the Church of Rome 'T was not the fall of one Felix nor the weaknesse of some Cecilians 't was not the covetousnesse of her Prelates the licenciousnesse of her Monks the filthinesse of her Court the excesse and abuse of her Sovereigne Pontifes For though she suffered these disorders with too much indulgence yet she neither doth command them nor openly approve of them Though she very gently tolerate such as were debauched or vicious yet she did not force any to be so No man was for entring into her communion constrained to be a slave to any of those vices which bore sway in the midst of her No a man might have lived within it and yet addicted himself to honesty and goodnesse And as yet corruption had not gained so farre as that ill manners were authorized by publick laws But on the contrary during the worst of times though her voice was weak and languishing yet she made some noise against the impietie of the age And oftentimes those very men that gave ill example in their lives preached against it and decryed it horribly in the pulpit That which hath pulled us from her communion is her doctrine and not her actions that which she commands and not that which she suffers that which she requires of us all and not that which she tolerates in some others the articles of her faith and not the faults of her life For the adoration of the Eucharist invocation of Saints veneration of images and those other articles which we rehearsed before are not such things as she onely tolerates as bad or excuseth as doubtfull but beliefs which she commendeth as true and observations which she commandeth as usefull and necessary to salvation Nor doth she onely practise them in the house and privately but likewise preach them in the Temple as perpetuall parts of her Faith So that if we continue in her communion we must needs make profession of believing them that is make our selves guilty of an horrible hypocrisie confessing with our mouth what we do not believe with our heart Now if these were onely the opinions of some one of her Doctours if it were onely some one Divine that were to be blamed and the rest of their Church disavowed these things we should not for such a matter make any scruple of communicating with Her acknowledging ingenuously That 't is an unreasonable thing to impute the opinions and so the faults of a few particular men to a whole entire body Since we see it often happens that they who live in the Communion of a Church are neither in whole nor in part of the same belief with that Church Thus formerly among the Jewes The sect of the Sadducees had their doctrines apart and the Pharisees had likewise theirs And for a mans being a Jew he was not at all obliged to embrace or hold precisely the opinions either of the one or of the other sect And at this very day in the Church of Rome whence we departed the order of the Dominicans hath some opinions proper to themselves and the Franciscans have others and so likewise the Jesuits others peculiar to their respective Orders If therefore there were in the midst of Her onely some one societie of men that held affirmatively those things which we cannot believe and others lived at liberty either to receive or reject them In this case I confesse that it were very difficult to excuse our Separation since the Communion with that body whence we have departed doth not oblige us precisely to any points contrary to our consciences But who knows not that those Articles which we cannot receive are publick not private Doctrines common to the whole Church of Rome and not peculiar to the Pope and his party established authentickly in her Generall Councels by the suffrages of the Deputies of all the Churches in the world that live in her Communion Articles to the belief and observation whereof she obligeth all sorts of persons whatsoever Clergy and Laity Monks and Seculars Men and Women little and great anathematizing all as Hereticks who teach or believe otherwise and besides the thunderbolts of the Church excommunications making use of fire and sword and what else they can against them where ever she hath power Thus it appears that our cause is no whit like that of the Donatists our Separation arising from publick and universall Doctrines of the Church of Rome whereas Theirs had no foundation or reason but onely a pretended act of one particular man neither confessed nor proved The African Church whose communion they fled from presented them nothing in her Creeds and Service which was contrary to their faith whereas Rome whence we are departed will constrain us to think and do severall things that directly overthrow the doctrines which we in our souls and consciences believe CHAP. VII That there are two sorts of Errours the one overthrowing the
foundation of faith and obliging men to separate and the other not That the opinions of the Church of Rome which we reject are of the first sort and those of the Lutherans of the second Object BUt you 'l say Is it lawfull then to separate from a Church because it preacheth publickly and generally some Doctrine which is contrary to our belief Is it possible that our Soveraign Lord who would have us to beare with the ill manners and actions of men for the good that peace unity brings to a Community should permit us to separate from them for false opinions Suppose that Rome have added somewhat to those things which Christ and his Apostles laid down Yet what need had your Fathers to depart from her so farre This Spirit of concord you speak of which obliged them as you grant to suffer the faults in their neighbours lives how chance it did not make them beare with some in their faith Ans Because there is in this respect an extreme difference between faults in doctrine and in life the first drawing after them a consequence farre differing from that of the latter because that the Church propounds unto us not Her life but Her doctrine to be the rule of our faith and manners Yet which we Protestants confesse all errours in doctrine do not give a man a just and sufficient cause to make a division from those that hold them For the Apostle commands us to receive him that is weak in the faith Rom. xiv 1. and not to trouble him with disputes and to afford him our selves for an example in bearing gently with those who are not of our mind in every thing Let us all who are perfect saith he be of the same mind and if any of you think otherwise God shall reveal even this unto him Phil. iii. 15. 'T is evident that this weaknesse in faith and this diversitie in opinon whereof S. Paul speaketh are errours but such as he would have us beare with Yet since he elsewhere pronounceth anathema against those that preach any other Gospel then that which he preached we must of necessitie conclude that there are two sorts of errours in religion the one such as a man may beare with without dividing from them who hold them and the other such for which he is bound to avoid their communion and this difference dependeth upon the nature of errours themselves For as the truths which we are to believe are not all of equall importance some being esteemed fundamentall and so absolutely requisite that a man cannot come to the kingdome of heaven if he be ignorant of them others being profitable yet not so necessary but that a man may without the knowledge of them serve God and enjoy salvation so it is with errours Some are pernicious and no way consistent with a true piety others are lesse hurtfull and do not necessarily draw in men to perdition S. Paul doth clearly enough discover to us this distinction 1 Cor. iii. 13 15. where after he had said That none could lay any other foundation but that which he had laid to wit Jesus Christ he addeth That they who builded upon this foundation wood hay stubble should have losse in their work when it comes to be tried neverthelesse they should be saved yet so as by fire that is to say with difficulty their person onely or that wherein their chief good consisted escaping a burning An evident signe that there be errours which do not deprive the Authours thereof of salvation much lesse exclude such from happinesse as believe them after Them and take them up when they are dead or gone meerly upon their trust and credit And to conclude who doth not see plainly That there be errours which utterly overthrow the foundations of Christianity ingaging us unavoidably in such things as are inconsistent with salvation and that there be others which do not so As for example if one should think that he were bound to worship the Sunne For seeing the Sunne is a creature and those who worship creatures have no portion in the kingdome of heaven 'T is evident that he who hath such an opinion cannot attain eternal happinesse And 't is so with all other errours which overthrow any of the first necessary and fundamentall articles of Christian religion But the errour of those who believed of old That the Church shall continue a thousand yeares or some long time with J. Christ upon earth after the resurrection is no way repugnant to piety towards God or charity towards our Neighbour nor doth it directly overthrow any of the foundations of the Gospel Though it be in my opinion contrary to divers passages of S. Paul and scarce consonant to the nature of Christs Kingdome A man would scarce believe how necessary it is to mark this difference among the errours of men in matters of religion for preventing that vain scrupulositie and importunate pensivenesse which many melancholy spirits are troubled with who condemne all errours alike and thunder out one and the same anathema against what ever differs though never so little from their apprehensions yet for keeping them from falling on the other side into the indifferencie of profane persons who conform to any thing and swallow a camel as well as a gnat Indeed the true pious person will endeavour to keep himself from all errour and will purge his neighbour too as well as himself so farre as he is able For any deviation from truth though it may be a light and small errour yet 't is an errour that is to say an ignorance and contradiction to the truth and by consequence an evil But a man must be very diligent and circumspect in observing this distinction among errours and acknowledge that one is much more dangerous then another and he should more or lesse abhorre them all according as he shall judge them to be more or lesse dangerous If they be of the first rank viz. those which overthrow the foundations of Christianitie he will bestirre himself with all possible prudence and dexteritie according to his vocation and gifts to free his neighbour from them and if he cannot gain upon him he will yet be sure to save and deliver his own soul from the communion of such as hold them This was the practise of the Faithfull in reference to Paulus Samosatensis Bishop of Antioch and Arius a Priest of Alexandria who held that Jesus Christ was a meer creature throwing down Christianitie from top to bottome by this abominable doctrine But if the errour be of a second sort not pernicious nor inconsistent with the principles of our faith we should do well if we could handsomely to free our brethren from it for it were to be wisht that we might be entirely exempt from errour but if we cannot get out we must not therefore straight sever from them but gently and quietly beare with what we cannot alter yet so that we prejudice not any mans salvation much lesse
our own For as in civil societie we keep not company with such persons as we discover to be guilty of infidelitie or enormous vices because friendship or familiarity with such people slurrieth the honour and reputation of those that make any shew or profession of vertue but we do with a deal of sweetnesse and ingenuitie beare with the faults and frailties of such as are not miscreants at the bottome though notwithstanding their conversation be not altogether free from humane frailties So are we to do in Religion to avoid communicating with those whose errour overthrows the foundations of piety but charitably to teach those who retaining the principles cannot free themselves entirely from all perswasions contrary to truth The Ancients must pardon me if I venture to take notice that they were sometimes too scrupulous and if I may so speak too curious and strait-laced in this particular rejecting oftentimes innocent opinions with very tragical termes and handling such persons as gainsayed them with as much rigour as if they had overthrown the whole Gospel of Christ 'T is a wonder to see how some of them did in a manner sport with changing errours into heresies and all faults into crimes Philastrius Bishop of Brixium who lived in the time of S. Ambrose was among others very hot for he lib. de Haeres cap. 4. Bibl. P P. parte 1. p. 22. cap. 39. reckoned among heresies the opinion of those who attributed the Epistle to the Hebrews to Clement or to Barnabas and to S. Paul and of those who thought the CL. Psalmes in the Psalter were not all composed by David and of those who thought the starres were fastned to the orbs of heaven But none were ever so ready to excommunicate as those very men who keep such a complaining of our quitting their communion upon too slight causes To say nothing here of the lightnings and excommunications of Victor against Asia of Stephen against Africk and divers other Popes as well one against another as against strangers for reasons most an end of very small concernment Let any man reade onely the last Councel held at Trent he shall soon see how liberall they were of Anathema's They were not there content as thunder doth from Heaven to strike the cedars and the tops of the mountains scarce was there any herb in their adversaries fields though never so low and small that scaped their thunderbolts They who doubted whether marriage was a Sacrament or whether the Church can dispense with the degrees established in Leviticus or whether a Bishop be above a Presbyter or whether the reasons that moved Rome to deprive the Laity of the cup were of sufficient validity to that purpose things as every one may see of none or at least very little importance to pietie were excommunicated anathematized as well as they that denyed the divinitie of our Saviour or the truth of the last resurrection And for my part I understand not how it agrees with the mildnesse and gentle behaviour which the Doctrine of Christ doth strictly recommend unto us to have such an inhumane severitie as to be able to beare with nothing to spare no opinion but to make so high a market of the pretended thunderbolts as to let them fly indifferently against the lesse errours as well as against the greatest crimes Well this I am sure of If we would imitate Their examples and justifie our proceedings by the maximes of theirs we might end this question in three words For if he that thinks marriage is not a Sacrament is an anathema to him that holds it is I pray What should they who believe that the Eucharist is not bread but the Creatour of heaven and earth be deemed by those that hold the contrary And if to think that a Presbyter was originally the same with a Bishop give the Church of Rome sufficient cause to curse my communion how much more doth her elevating as she doth the Pope above the Church and above all the Kings in Christendome give me just cause to run away from her But 't is now time we should by Gods assistance clear our own innocence of those crimes which our side is accused of We confesse That Christian charitie is not so active and hot as their zeal Charitie often bears with what it doth not approve of and rejects nothing but what it cannot suffer without hazarding the salvation of our neighbours and our own souls 'T is so farre from excommunicating as the Councel of Trent doth Christians for small errours that I think it would easily beare with in faithfull persons that opinion of the Greeks for which they are so roughly anathematized touching the procession of the Holy Ghost For though I grant it is an errour to believe that the H. Ghost proceeded not from the Father and Sonne but from the Father onely by the Sonne yet if you observe 't is hard if not impossible to understand what prejudice this errour brings to piety and holy life The difference that is between us and such of our brethren as are called Lutherans is of the same nature I confesse 't is as impossible for us to believe as to conceive their Position concerning the body of our Saviour being really present in the bread of the Eucharist But yet 't is possible and I think according to the laws of charity necessary to bear with that in their doctrine which we cannot believe For this opinion in the terms and sense wherein They hold it hath no venome in it that I see It abolisheth not the Sacrament it destroyes not the signe whereof it consisteth it adoreth it not it neither divides nor mutilates it it makes it not an expiatory sacrifice for our sinnes it leaves it both the nature and the vertue of a Sacrament and doth not take any thing formally directly and immediately from Christ either of his substance or his properties onely it would have even the humanity of Christ present in the Eucharist that we may receive the vertue of his death and communicate of his body and bloud as S. Paul speaks 1 Cor. x. in such a manner as they confesse incomprehensible Which hypothesis whiles it goes no further engageth us not in any thing that is contrary either to piety or charity either to the honour of God or the good of men And so it may and ought to be tolerated And this hath been continually our judgement and so declared by the French churches in the nationall Synod held at Charenton in the yeare MDCXXXI by an expresse act wherein they receive such as are called Lutherans into their Communion unto their Holy Table notwithstanding this opinion and some few others of lesse importance wherein They and We differ Oh what a gentlenesse was this excellently becoming Christians worthy to be imitated by all believers in the world and consecrated with commendation to the memory of all succeeding ages a plain illustrious irrefragable testimony of the innocence of our Churches in this particular For
had we been animated with a spirit of presumption untractablenesse and despight as some fondly imagine how could we thus gently bear with those which are at difference with us and in whose communion there are some who either blinded with passion or deceived with calumny have a very ill opinion of us and do outragiously defame us This example one would think might show any man clearly That it is not want of charity but some other very urgent cause which moved us to separate from the Church of Rome For had the differences between us and them been like those between us and the Lutherans what likelyhood is there but that we should have been as ready to joyn hands with them as with these why should we be willing to offend our Countreymen and bear with strangers separate from those that have in their hands our honours our goods our lives and inviolably keep in with such as we have nothing to do with but onely as they are Christians what likelyhood is there that we should not in this point have that complacence for our Princes and naturall Magistrates which we have for such as in reference to civil Societie concern us not Certainly men must needs say we are either very furious and senselesse creatures which censure I think many wise people will not cast upon us or that 't is some great and weighty reason that made us separate from the Church of Rome And this is indeed the chief point of the question For if the doctrines whereupon we separated were of the same nature with those that we differ with the Lutherans about if they were tolerable and such as we could bear with without violating our consciences I confesse that our separation was if not rash as being not grounded upon a sufficient cause yet unjust at the least no separation in any matter being just if it be not necessary But we may truly affirm and confidently call heaven and earth to witnesse that 't is not possible to accommodate our selves to those things which the Romanists require of us without forcing our thoughts violating the peace of our consciences and overthrowing the foundations of Christianity which we firmly believe For we are at contestation not concerning matters that are small and of little importance but concerning the head of the Church concerning the foundation of faith concerning the causes of salvation the service of God the object to which that service should be given the state both of our consciences in this world and of our souls in the world to come CHAP. VIII That the adoration of the Eucharist as it is practised by the Church of Rome doth as we believe overthrow the foundation of pietie and salvation MY intention is not to examine all the particulars of the differences between us one by one to know the weight and importance of each in particular That would cause me to be more large then I intend to be on this subject and would be more tedious to the Reader then necessary for the end I proposed We may with lesse adoe justifie our selves For if among all those points wherein we differ there be but one which overthrows the foundations of Christianitie That is enough to prove the necessity of our separation whether the rest be light or weighty No man being bound to gratifie those who are in any communion so farre as to joyn with them to the prejudice of his own salvation Leaving therefore at present all other Articles to the belief whereof Rome would oblige us I shall onely consider this one viz. the adoration of the Host as they call it which is in my opinion a very important one and I hope I shall shew briefly and clearly that it is not possible to receive it without overthrowing the foundation of our piety here and eternall happinesse hereafter 'T is a Doctrine held by all Believers from the beginning of the world to this present that the Soveraigne and highest kind of honour and service which is ordinarily called adoration is due to none but God alone who created the heaven and the earth and redeemed us through J. Christ This is the foundation of all the doctrine and discipline of Gods people of old the first and principall Article of the divine Law which God pronounced from heaven with the voice of thunder and which he wrote for them with his own finger upon the tables of stone given to Moses Thou shalt not have saith he any other God before my face I can not well here if I would set down all the places wherein His holy Prophets repeat this commandment and comment on it 'T is likewise the great and chief foundation of the Gospel This is life eternall saith our Lord to know thee the onely true God and him whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ Joh. xvii 3. For this knowledge of God and of Christ comprehends likewise the service which is due to them The same God who taught us this truth declareth in an infinite company of places That He can hold them for no other then Enemies and Rebels that break this His commandment then for such who have broke His covenant and renounced His communion protesting That He will punish them very severely both in this world and in the next that He is jealous of His glory and will not by any means suffer it to be given to anothor And to make us the better to conceive the horriblenesse of this crime He represents it to us under the image of the most base and abominable transgressions that are committed in the life of man comparing it to whoredome adultery and all the most foul and infamous symptomes and denominations of weaknesse so that He useth sometimes upon this subject terms and expressions that a man can scarce reade or pronounce without blushing desiring certainly thereby to shew how hatefull this fault is and unbefitting any Believer The truth is Since our Great God hath done us the favour to call us by His infinite goodnesse to His Communion and to enter with us into so close a Covenant that to expresse it to us he tells us that He is our Husband and that we are His Spouse it is sufficiently evident that they who render to any other the honour and service which is due to God commit the same fault which a woman that is married doth when she abandons that to another which is due to none but her own husband So that as adultery is the greatest fault that can be committed against the bond of wedlock so may we be assured that no man can more grievously infringe his covenant with God then by devolving that service which belongs to him upon any creature whatsoever And as adultery doth dissolve marriage so the crime of those who serve creatures dissolves the Covenant with God Which may the better be understood by another comparison God is our King and Soveraigne and we are His subjects Just therefore as a subject cannot more hainously offend his
be more weak or vain Thanks be to God we are not so ill taught as to scruple receiving the Sacrament on our knees Our Brethren of England never receive it otherwise and when we communicate with them we do very easily and readily conform our selves to their order And 't is held among us a matter of such indifferency that though we receive the Holy Supper standing yet we do not exclude them from the number of Brethren who receive it sitting or kneeling And if the Church of Rome had required no other thing of us then onely to receive the H. Communion on our knees I confesse we should have had no just cause in this particular of separating from it since we might with a good conscience perform what they demand But alas how stupid must we be if we believe that she requireth no more of us in this Article how hypocriticall if we pretend to believe it when we do not For all the world knows that the Romanists require us to believe that thing which we see on their Altars and between the hands of their Priests to be really and in truth the eternall Sonne of God and That it hath under the species which our senses see and touch no other substance but His and consequently commands us to adore it to bow our selves before it to give thereto all the humiliation of our bodies and of our souls terminating on it the act of our veneration as on its true object She deeply and plainly excommunicates all such as doubt either of the truth of the first of these two Articles or of the holinesse of the second Observe the Decrees and Canons of Her Councels Concil Trident. Sess 13. the confessions of Her Faith the sermons of Her Ministers the devotions of Her People and the universall practise of all them who adhere to Her communion and you shall find these two points written graven and imprinted all manner of wayes in such legible characters that you shall scarce find any point of the Apostles Creed which she confesseth more clearly or which she presseth more severely You 'l say I am willing to honour the Sacrament but not adore it No saith She you must adore it And lest you should pretend to hide under that equivocall word any veneration lesse then the highest like that which we may render to the creature without offending the Creatour You must render it she saith the worship or service of latria which is due to the true God Well you 'l say but I will addresse this service of latria which she requireth of me to Jesus Christ who is in heaven and not to the Sacrament of his bodie which is upon the earth No saith she I do not intend it so I would have you in the veneration which you make in communicating to render the service of latria to the most holy Sacrament Nullus itaque dubitandi locus relinquitur quin omnes Christi fideles pro more in Catholica Ecclesia semper recepto latriae cultum qui vero Deo debetur huic Sanctissimo Sacramento in veneratione exhibeant ibid. c. 5. See with what a deal of care she hath expressed her sense and excluded all others without leaving them the least place For if she had said that the faithfull should adore J. Christ in the Sacrament supposing the rest of her doctrine had left us in doubt of her meaning we might yet have interpreted this expression as 't is used in the books of some of her Doctours viz. That in receiving the Eucharist we should adore the Lord with whom we communicate by the Eucharist and so we might have pretended that she doth not oblige us to adore any creature But she expresly to exclude all such exposition useth quite another expression saying That the service of latria should be given to the Sacrament So that now there is no reason to doubt of her meaning For what I pray you is it that she calleth the Holy Sacrament Is it Jesus Christ residing in heaven Who is so ignorant as not to know whether it be He or no Is it not precisely that which the Priest blesseth upon the Altar that which he puts into the mouth of the Communicants that which they must swallow down into the stomach Yes that is the very thing to which she would have you addresse your adoration the bending of your knees and the humiliation of your body and in a word all the parts of that inward veneration wherewith you communicate If this be not it which you regard when you bend your knee to any thing else She anathematizeth you she holdeth you for an heretick and a rebell one that deserves the anger of God and eternall fire And that you may know that she hath regard not to the holinesse of the action which you celebrate but to the honour of the subject which is proposed to you she would have you prostrate your self before it not onely at the time of Communion but likewise out of it in the very streets and publick passages and in all places where you meet it An evident signe that Her intention is precisely such as Her self explaineth it to be viz. That you hold this for your true God and finally render it all the honours due to the Soveraigne Deity If then you esteem this subject to be truly a Creature is not this an open mocking of God and men and a miserable deceiving of your self To tell us That you can do that which the Romane Church requireth without adoring that at all which you believe to be but a bare creature For as for that which you said concerning baptisme I confesse that being at yeares of discretion you may receive it upon your knees But if the Church to whom you come for it should command you to believe that which you see in form of water to be really and in substance not water but the true God Creatour of heaven and earth and consequently command you to render adoration to it and the service of latria and to that purpose to fall upon your knees I say That in such a case you cannot obey such a commandment without violating your conscience and treading under foot the Law of God and rendring your self really guilty of adoration of a creature The same I say concerning the Ministers which receive imposition of hands and the Believers who receive the Eucharist upon their knees For if one should teach or command either the one or the other to believe That the Pastor who imposeth hands on them or the portion of the Eucharist which they receive is truly and in substance the great God who created the world and by consequence expresly enjoyn men to adore either the one or the other of these two subjects who doubteth but that this were openly to denie our faith and to renounce our profession when we fall upon our knees before these things after such a commandment But men neither teach nor command any such thing among
enough to shew that we were not transported out of an humour or frowardnesse or other small cause but forced by an extreme and irresistible necessitie to separate our selves from them Whence it followeth that in this case our separation was just That which is necessary being not to be blamed as unjust CHAP. XIX That there are many other beliefs in the Church of Rome which overthrow the foundations of our faith and salvation as the Veneration of images the Supremacie of the Pope c. BUt besides this Article there are great store of others to the profession and practise whereof they will oblige us against our wills which are of so great importance in religion that we cannot confesse them nor observe them any more then that of Transubstantiation without violating our consciences and exposing our souls to an evident danger of offending God and losing that portion in his grace and glory which we desire and hope for For example Believing as we do That there is nothing divine in images and That we are very severely forbidden by our Lord to prostrate our selves before them under pain of moving Him to jealousie and stirring up His indignation against us and our posteritie How and with what conscience can we bow our bodies before those in the Church of Rome offer to them wax-candles dresse them and carry them in procession and go in pilgrimage to places where they are consecrated and perform such other acts as she demandeth of us in her Communion to testifie that adoration which she thinketh due to them in Religion In times past when a report was spred among the Donatists That one Paul and one Macarius both Catholicks would come into those parts and set an image upon the altar where the Eucharist was to be celebrated the Christians were much astonished saying one to another That to eat there was to eat of a thing sacrificed to an idol And Optatus who recordeth it saith lib. 3 pag. 356. E. that if this rumour was true they had good reason to say so If the holy Fathers permitted the Donatists to abhorre the Churches of the Catholicks to avoid communicating with them in the Eucharist as an unclean and profane meat in case they could find any image upon the altar where they consecrated it How can they be excused who communicate at the Altars of Rome partake of her Devotions frequent her Churches where we know not by an uncertain rumour but by the report of our eyes and other senses that every one is full of images where we see them daily consecrated anew and the people crowding to prostrate themselves before them Believing as we do that Christ is the sole Head of the Catholick Church with what conscience can we give that title and this dignitie to the Pope of Rome and kisse his feet and render him all other honours which Rome is wont to give him in relation thereto Believing as we do that the truth of the heavenly doctrine is the onely foundation of our faith with what conscience can we depend upon the Authority of Pope or Councels submitting to them even the books of H. Scripture which are divinely inspired Believing as we do that the sacrifice offered by Christ upon the Crosse hath perfectly expiated our sinnes with what conscience can we swear That there is a necessity and efficacy in the sacrifice of the Romane Altar Believing as we do that invocation by prayers makes part of the service of God and not having learnt in the schole of the Scriptures to pray to any but Him how and with what conscience can we addresse to so many severall creatures those prayers and invocations which Rome commandeth us to addresse to them And particularly how can we invocate Dominicus a Monk Ignatius Loyola Charles Borromeus late Bishop of Millain and others like them who we know hated and persecuted that holy Faith whereof we by the grace of God make open profession By the considerations already represented about the point of the Eucharist it is easie to see that these articles and divers others which for brevity sake I omit overthrow the foundations of Faith and Piety so that it is not lawfull for us to comply with those which hold them CHAP. XX. A conclusion of this Treatise That They who are of our perswasion are obliged to forsake the communion of Rome and They who are not are to prove and trie their own faith before they condemne our separation from them THus I think I have sufficiently justified our Separation from the Church of Rome Whence it appears how lamentable the condition of them is who having the same opinion which we have concerning her doctrine and services do not depart from her Communion but accuse us for so doing For who doth not see that it is a necessary prudence and not a vain superstition to avoid that which men judge to be pestilentiall and mortall and that on the other side it is an unexecusable carelesnesse to doe and exercise continually what men acknowledge to be contrary to the glory of God the edification of their neighbours and the salvation of their selves If I may be permitted to addresse my self in this particular to those who are in so dangerous an errour I shall conjure them by their pietie to God by their charity to men by the care which they should have continually of their own and others souls to think seriously of joyning themselves hereafter to those whose belief they hold and quitting the communion of those whose Faith they disapprove And let them not slatter themselves to think that the Church of Rome retaineth the Apostles Creed and the summe of Christian doctrine since it is evident That one at least of those errours which they adde thereto are mortall For as those good and wholesome meats which a man eateth at his refreshment hinder him not from dying if by and by he swallow some poyson semblably true and wholesome doctrine doth not preserve those which believe it if together with it they entertain some pernicious and damnable errour in other particulars Evil hath this advantage above good that it spreads much farther and is farre more active For neither truth nor vertue can save a man unlesse they be pure and sincere without the intermixture of any ill and dangerous habite whereas errour and vice damne a man be they mingled with never so many truths and vertues For as a man though he be chaste and modest shall not inherit the Kingdome of heaven if he be covetous or a slanderer of his neighbour so shall he not be exempted from hell torments for believing some principall truths of the Gospel if it be found that after all he hath adored creatures or made profession of adoring them But as for you Sirs who continue sincerely in the Church of Rome verily believing all that she teacheth you I shall beseech you That if you do reject our belief you would be pleased at least not to condemne our separation imputing