Church according to the Scriptures must needs haue been one chiefe cause of those swarmes of Athiests in Protestant Countreyes whereof their principall writers do so much complayne Whereat I wonder nothing at all For to what end did our Sauiour come into the world but only to espouse his Church in Faith To what end did he instruct her with his preaching redeeme her with his death and Passion and sanctify her with his holy Spirit augment and confirme her with the labours of his Apostles and with the bloud of so many millions of Martyrs but only to make her such a glorious Kingdome euen vpon earth according to all the former Prophesies so constant so stronge so imoueable that she should vphold the glory of his name against Princes and Potentats against Kings and Emperours against Schismaticks Heretikes and wicked Christians and against all the force of the world and on the Diuell himselfe that would seeke withall his arts and engines to suppresse it Wherefore if our Sauiour be the true Messias whose Name was foretold to be Deusfortis Emmanuel Esa 9 6. Esa 7.15 the strong God God with vs and who according to his owne speach came into the world to bynd the strong man which is to say the Diuell that held all the world in peaceful captiuity before his comming then it must needs follow that the Kingdome which he erected shall stand for euer Matt. 16.18 and that the Gates of hâ—ll shall not preuaile against it But on the contrary side if it were true which the Protestants affirme that his Church hath erred ceasing to be the true Church or which is all one that his Kingdome was destroyed and that there came one after him stronger then himselfe that is to say the Diuell who did bynd his body whereof he was the head defiled his Spouse bereaued him of this Kingdome Matt. 12.20 and tooke his vessells and riches from him then of necessity it must be granted either that the former Prophesies of him were not true and that the Scripture is false or els that our Sauiour was not the true Messias who contrary to the Prophets and to his owne promises and protestations to maintayne his Church for euer hath suffered it to perish and therfore was not able to defend it This argument therefore of the largnes glory contynuance visibility and inuincible constancy of the Church is of great force to induce any man whatsoeuer whether he haue the Name or not so much as the Name of a ChristiaÌ„ to become a Catholike For the Scriptures euen as they are in the hands of our enemyes the Iewes â—iâ—t full of the Prophesies of those excellent perfectioÌ„s of the Kingdom of Christ which according to the present tymes and according to the historyes of all former ages we shewe to haue been performed since the death of Christ in the Catholike Church that was planted by himselfe and propagated by his holy spirit which according to his promise was giuen to his Apostles and their successours after them to remayne with them for euer And if it be manifest that this world in respect of the beauty and perfection therof Rom. 1. is the worke of Gods hand condemning all those that do not acknowledge him to be the Creatour of it much more manifest is it Eph. 5.27 that this glorious Kingdome and Church is the worke of God wherein he sheweth the riches of his power of his wisedome and of his infynit goodnes condemning all those that will not acknowledge it and subiect themselues to the gouerment therof SECTION XXIIII Foure other particuler motiues of the Conuersion of Nations of the Miracles of the Martyrdoms and of the vnion of the members of the Catholike Church are briefly propounded VNDER these generall tearmes of Holy Catholike Church are comprised many other partiticuler gifts and graces which being all supernaturall and diuine ech of them is a sufficient motiue to perswade any mans coÌ„science that the Catholike Church is the only blessed of God and the elected spouse of Christ our Sauiour Whereof being entred into this matter of Motiues I thinke good to giue instance in some few remitting you for the rest to other Catholike authours who haue treated more largely of this matter Diuers therfore haue been induced to belieue that the Catholike Fayth is the only true Religion by obseruing that all Nations and Countreys which at any tyme professed the Name of Christ haue been conuerted by Catholikes alone And in this last age since the Protestant religion began they haue reduced and subiected very many Kingdomes vnto the yoke of Christ whereof Philippus Nicolaus Coment de reg Christil 1. pag. 315. p. 52. Sym. Lyth in respons altera ad alteram Gretseri Apol. p. 331. Tertul. de praescrip c. 42. a Protestant numbreth more then 20. In so much as another Protestant in his answere to Gretser the Iesuit sayth The Iesuits within the space of a few yeares c. haue filled Asia Affrick and America with their Idols Whereas in the meane tyme the Protestants haue only sowne tares among the wheat atteÌ„ding as Tertullian sayd of the Heretikes of his tyme not to conuert the heathen but to peruert those that were before conuerted And although they haue sundry tymes attempted to conuert some heathen with hope to possesse their Countreys yet no King or Kingdome or Countrey or Prouince Sarauia in defension tract de diuersis gradibus Ministrorum pag. 309. was euer conuerted by them And Beza sayth plainly that the Protestants may leaue such peregrinatious to those locusts that belieue the Name Iesus Which conuersions of so many sauage and barbarous Nations by the words of a few poore men with a little broken language to imbrace a Religion so far aboue the reach of Nature and in respect of the austerity therof so contrary to flesh bloud and especially to their former intemperate liues and brutish customes as it shewath Gods promises by the Prophets to be dayly fullfilled in them and proueth our Church thereby to be the Church of Christ So it is most euident that their conuerters were supernaturally assisted by the strength of Gods Arme which is sufficient to perswade any indifferent man that the doctrine they preach can be no other then the true Ghospell reuealed by Christ to his owne Apostles Which also is a manifest token that the grounds of Christianity and of our Catholike doctrine are the very same And that the Protestants for want of them can neuer conuert any Heathen Nation to Christian religion denying as they do the grounds therof which are the same with the grounds of the Catholike doctrine Secondly therefore many haue submitted themselues to the obedience of the Catholike Church by consideratioÌ„ of those notorious miracles which in all ages haue beene wrought therin being such marks of truth as no man can deny them to be the seales of God and the signes of his owne hand If I should
world God is one sayth S. Cyprian and Christ is one and the Church is but one and the Chayre therof but one founded vpon Peter by the voice of our Lord. Where he sheweth that as Christ is one with God so the Church being founded vpon S. Peter is one with Christ and according to the prayer of our Sauiour to his Father saying That they may be one as we are one And then followeth in S. Cyprian No other Altar or Priesthood can be established whosoeuer gathereth els where scattereth Lib. de past c. 13. To which purpose S. Augustine also hath these words For Peter himselfe to whome he commended his sheep as one man should do to another he our Sauiour made one with himselfe that so he might commend his sheep vnto him that is to say as to the other part of himselfe that as one was the head the other might beare the figure of the body to wit of the Church and that like the Brydegrome and the Bryde they might be two in one flesh Whereby he meaneth that S. Peter representing the whole Church as the head vnder Christ was made one with Christ the Supreme head thereof according to his owne words in other places saying That Peter the Apostle in respect of the Primacy of his Apostleship did beare the person of the Church by a figuratiue generality And againe Tract vlt. in Ioan. he is acknowledged to beare the person of the Church in respect of his Primacy and as holding the principality of the Apostleship More expresly In psal 108. Ser de verbis Dom. Ser. 2. de an assum S. Leo declareth this vnity saying For so he Peter was ordinated before the rest as while he is called a Rocke whil he is pronoūced to be the foundation while he is constituted the Porter of the kingdome of Heauen we might vnderstand by the misteryes of these appellations the society which he had with Christ. And yet more fully els where Serm. 3. de an assump As my Father manifested vnto thee my diuinity so also I make known vnto thee thy excellency for thou art Peter that is though I be the Rocke inuiolable the stone of the corner which maketh both to be one I the foundation besides which no man can lay another yet thou also art the Rock because by my vertue thou art made solide to the end that those thinges which by my power are proper to me by participation with thee might be made cōmon with thee and me By which wordes these holy Fathers labour to declare the vnspeakable vnity of Christ and his Church teaching how the head thereof in earth is made one by Gods diuine grace in name in place and dignity with the head in heauen For the further explicatiō wherof you shall vnderstād that the vnity which the Church possesseth by this means doth especially consist in 3. thinges the first is vnity of Iurisdiction or Iudiciall power which that it dependeth wholy of one head vpon earth and of the authority giuen to S. Peter is manifestly proued out of those places of the Fathers wherein he is acknowledged to haue the Primacy to be the head Pastour and gouernour of the vniuersall world which also shal be further cōfirmed when we come to speake of the Popes succession to S. Peter The second is vnity and consent in fayth for the mantainance whereof that solidity and strength was giuen to the fayth of Peter vpon which the Fathers according to the Scripture do aknowledg the Church of Christ to be built so strongly as that the gates of hell shall not preuayle against it And therfore S. Cyprian in his booke de vaitate Ecclesiae hauing declared that the Diuell to diminish the great mulutude of the beleeuers increasing so fast had denised Schismes and Heresyes wherby many were blinded and carryed away discouereth the cause therof in these words This is done sayth he beloued brethren because men haue not recourse to the origine of the truth neither seeking the head nor following the doctrine of their celestiall maister And then expounding himselfe he addeth Our Lord speaketh vnto Peter I say vnto thee Thou art Peter and vpon this Rocke c. And againe after his resurrection he sayd vnto him Feed my sheep In which words this glorious Martyr sheweth that according to the doctrine of Christ our maister for the finding out of the truth we must haue recourse to Peter the foundation of the Church and the Pastour therof And thereof he concludeth that albeit the Apostles were all equall in honour and power that is to say of Apostleship yet the Primacy was giuen to Peter that there might be one Church and one Chayre one flock fed by many Pastors with one mynd and consent The like words he also vseth in his epistle to Pope Cornelius where he sayth Lib. 1. ep 3. ad Cornel. For neither from any other cause do Heresyes come vp or Schismes do arise but only from this that obedience is not giuen to the Priest of God and that one Priest for the tyme or one Iudge for the tyme is not acknowlelged in the Church in the place of Christ. Whome if according to the diuine documents of their Maister the whole fraternity obeyed no man would or could moue any thing at all against the colledge of Priests that is to say collected vnited vnder one Priest one Iudge vpon earth in the place of Christ Epist 46. inter epist Cypriani And Pope Cornelius himselfe writing to S. Cyprian signifieth that some being repentant of their Schisme which ignorantly they had made against him confessed their errours in these words We know that Cornelius was elected by God almighty and by Christ our Lord to be the Bishop of the holy Catholike Church c. Our mind was alwayes in the Catholike Church For we are not ignorant that there is one God one Christ one holy Ghost and that in the Catholike Church there ought to be one Bishop so they which is the same in effect with the doctrine related out of S. Cyprian himselfe with which confession of theirs Cornelius sayth that he was much moued willed S. Cyprian to send his letters of the relation thereof to other Churches And to conclude this poynt the saying of S. Hierome is common in euery booke of Controuersy Among the twelue one was chosē that an head being established the occasion of schism might be taken away Thirdly therefore the vnity of the Church is increased and perfected by the vnity in power of Ecclesiasticall Order which as it dependeth of one alone to be rightly conferred so it is more then probable that our Sauiour ordayned it should descend from onealone Epist 1. so I vnderstand with Bellarmine those words of Anacletus that in the new Testament after Christ the Sacerdotall Order came from Peter by which he must meane not the order of Priests who were ordayned by our Sauiour himselfe in
notably Cont. epist Fundam That be would not beleeue the Ghospell except the authority of the Catholike Church did mooue him thereunto so also he sayth as plainly August epist 18. that it was most insolent pride to dispute against it And therefore the mind of man being insatiable of knowledge for which it was created and according to the Philosopher it being better to know a little of Diuine thinges then to haue great intelligence of other matters hence it followeth that to know so many celestiall Misteryes as the doctrine of Christ containeth in so short a tyme with such great ease and infallible certainty being groūded vpon so many conuincing arguments and apparent testimonyes of Diuine authority which doctrine being also that pretious stone that bringeth with it all good thinges and beginneth that happynes in this life which is perfected and rewarded with eternall felicity in the next This I say must needs be a wonderfull strong and excellent motiue to compell all those to enter into the Schoole and Church of Christ whose mynds haue any dominiō ouer their bodyes and are not wholy transported with the pride of life or altogeather drowned in worldly desires or brutish sensuality Whereas the Protestants on the other side professing to haue no other ground of Fayth but only the bare Scripture do shew therein that they haue neither sufficient ground to beleeue that God hath reuealed his secrets to the world nor any Diuino assistance to know and discerne what seerets they are that were so reuealed For first as concerning Scripture denying the authority of the Church as they do if S. Augustine for example should deny the Scripture which he sayth plainely that he would not beleeue vnlosse the authority of the Church did moue him thereunto how I pray you could they perswade S. Augustine by Scripture alone which he would flatly deny that any thing was euer reuealed by God or being reuealed that it was truely deliuered againe or that any part of those thinges which were reuealed was writen by the spirit of God and so recommended to posterity Secondly the Scripture it selfe making mention of many other bookes of Scripture that are not extant though one should graunt that some part of Gods word was written which the Protestants without cause beleeue how could they proue that any part therof remayneth For if some bookes are lost why may not all haue perished Thirdly the malice of the Iewes and the fraud of Heretikes being so great as they are and the diligence of Scribes in writing being no more but humane and the copyes of Scripture being very many and very different one from another and the Hebrew Text hauing beene written a long tyme without vowells and the adding or giuing of diuers vowells making diuers and contrary senses the vowells themselues being but little prickes set vnder the letters and the Characters being so strange and many of them so like one another as they are and therefore it being not only an easy matter to change them but also it seeming almost impossible that they should not haue beene mistaken among so many writers in so many seuerall Countreyes for so many yeares togeather all this considered though a man should graunt that some bookes of Scripture were not lost how I beseech you can the Protestants shew that any part thereof is free from errour and foule corruption especially granting as they do that many places of the Originalls are actually corrupted Fourthly supposing the originalls either to haue remayned perfect all this while or els to be restored by them to their perfection whereof they can haue no other ground but their owne wilfull imagination considering that all their interpreters haue translated with passion and preiudice in fauour of their owne opinions and in opposition to the Roman Church and to the auncient vulgar translation following therein See the Protestant Apol. p. 256. 257. 258. rather the exposition of the Iewish Rabbins the enemyes of Christ then of the ancient Fathers And likewise considering that as their translatours are all deuided among themselues euery one seeking his owne glory so also that they condemne one another of mangling dismembring forging and of corrupting the Scripture with what colourable reason can the Protestants belieue any of their Bibles or particuler versions to be the word of God not rather the word of Tyndall or Caluin or Luther or of some other translatour Fifthly giuing vnto them that some things haue been reuealed by God and were truly deliuered and truly written and that some of those writings haue been preserued by God and still remaine miraculously vncorrupted And that the Caluinists alone or the Protestants of England alone haue only the true version or translation therof the (a) Diony de Eccles hierar c. 1. Orig. in prin peria tract 23. in Mat. Tertul. in l. praescrip l. de corona Milit. Clemens in ep Iren. l. 3. cont haer c. 2. 3. Bafil l. de spiritu sāctoc 27 l. cont Eunom Epiphan haeres 61. Hier. l. cōt Lueif August ep 118.119.86 Cypr. l. de card Chrisoper c. de ablut peaū Theoph in 2. ad Thes 2. Chrysost orat 4. in eandem ep Theod. ibi auncient Fathers of the Church prouing not only by tradition but also by the writen-word it selfe that the word of God is partly written and partly vnwritten what infallible proofes can the Protestants bring out of Scripture that we ought to belieue nothing which is not expresly contayned in the Scripture Especially considering that contrary to their owne ground they pretend to belieue many things which indeed are true but no where expresly contayned in the Scripture as that the Scripture it selfe is the word of God that children may be baptized before they belieue That Baptisme in rose water or any liquour then naturall Elementary water or in the Name of Christ alone is not good and sufficient That the Baptisme of Turkes and Iewes and Heretikes is good in some cases That it is allwayes a sinne to rebaptize That God the Father hath no Father which among many others is one instance of S. Augustine against the Heretikes of his tyme acknowledging no other ground of their Fayth but only Scripture That the Sabaoth day which is Saturday ought not to be publickly obserued as holy which is against the Commaundement of the Law and that all Christians are obliged to obserue the Sunday whereof there is not commaundement to be found in the written word of the Ghospell That our Blessed Lady remayned and continued still a Virgin That Easter day ought to be kept vpon a Sunday That it is lawfull to eat bloud and strangled meats contrary to the words of the Decree of the Church in the Acts of Apostles and the like Many things also they belieue that are meerly fals and not only not contayned in the words of Scripture but also expresly contrary thereunto As that (a) Ephes 5.32 Matrimony is no
togeather in one decreed the same and from that day to this so many thousand Heretikes in our Prouinces being conuerted to the Church haue not thought much or been vnwilling but rather both reasonably and willingly haue obtayned the grace of baptisme And as this custome had contynued a long while in the Churches of Affrica so in the tyme of S. Cyprian it was not only confirmed by many and sundry Councells in that Countrey Apud Cyp. Epist 75. but also in the East by Firmilianus a man of most excellent tallents with the Councell of other Bishops and in Aegypt by Dionysius Patriarch of Alexandria Hier. de scrip Eccl. in Dionys cont haeres cap. 9. another singular ornament of that age whereof Vincentius Lirinensis writeth thus But perchance sayth he this new inuention wanted defence Noc sayth he but so great was the force of wyt which assisted the same so great the flouds of Eloquence so great the number of the Professors thereof so great the similitude of truth so many the oracles of the Diuine Law cited for the same that in my opinion such a conspiracy and consent could haue no way been distroyed vnlesse c. Thus he Whereby it appeareth that S. Cyprian did neither confide so much in his owne priuate opinion nor did oppose himselfe almost against all others as in this place he is falsely calumniated by his dissembling enemy Nor is it true that he was so strongly perswaded either that S. Stephen or the rest were in a manifest errour or that such as had been conuerted from heresy were altogeather impure as his audacious censurer would make vs belieue For in the very words alleaged by him S. Cyprian professeth to iudge of no man and the cause of his Anger against Pope Stephen was because the Pope had written vnto him that he thought those who rebaptized heretikes were to be condemned of errour Wherefore it is euident that S. Cyprian held it only a matter indifferent albeit in hatred of heretikes he thought it best at that tyme to baptize all those that were conuerted from them So that you see how falsly and how fondly this Moisten of Rhetorike chargeth S. Stephen with no little want of conscience obstinacy in his owne opinion whom he thought to extoll aboue measure Secondly in this allegation he discouereth such malice against the Popes of Rome that it reacheth exrendeth it selfe euen to the Saints of heauen and condemneth S Stephen of indiscretion of importune excoÌ„municating of others of casting himselfe into extreme perill of schisme and diuision and instifyeth S. CypriaÌ„ vndertaking a wrong cause and proceeding more violently against the Pope then was conuenient euen by the iudgment of all antiquity For S Stephen the Pope who liued in the second age after Christ gouerned the Church with great renowne dyed a glorious Martyr and behaued himselfe in such manner in this very Controuersy of rebaptization that hauing the flower of Christendome and so many Bishops both of the East and of the West of Greece Aegypt and of Affrica in such number against him in the tyme of a most terrible persecution he brought them all to renounce their opinions and to make peace and concord in their seuerall Countreys Euseb l. 7. cap. 3.4 Hier. cont Lucif as Dionysius testy fieth of those of the East and S. Hierome relateth of the Bishops of Affrica in these words To conclude those very Bishops who had decreed with S. Cyprian that heretikes ought to be rebaptized made a new decree to the contrary And S. Augustine speaking of S. Cyprian himselfe Aug. Ep. 48. sayth that it is very agreable that we should iudge of such a man that he corrected his opinion And the reason for it is most apparant For who can imagine that all the rest recanting and all the world agreeing in one S. Cyprian alone being a man of such emynent vertue and dying as he did a glorious Martyr should obstinatly persist in his owne opinion So that it may be truly sayd that by the care and indeauour of Pope Stephen this opinion was vniuersally condemned by the whole Church before it receiued sentence in the Nicen Councell as afterward it did Whereof the aforesayd Vincentius Lirinensis writeth with great admiration in this manner Wherefore as all from all parts began to reclayme against the nouelty of the matter and that all Priests euery where each one for his owne part did striue against it so Stephen the Pope of blessed memory the Antistes of the Apostolicall Seat with the rest of his Colleagues but yet more then the rest made resistance thereunto Thinking it agreable as may be imagined to go beyond all others in the deuotion of his faith as he did surpasse them in the authority of his place To conclude in his Epistle which was sent into Affrick he made this solemne Decree Nothing must be innouated only that which was deliuered must be conserued For the holy and prudent man did iudge that nothing was to be admitted vnder the colour of piety but that all things should be consigned with the same faith to the children with which fayth they were receiued from the Fathers And a little after he concludeth But what was the end of all those buysnesses what end could it haue but that which is vsuall and accustomed That is to say antiquity was retayned and nouelty was reiected Thus that famous man Vincentius Liâ—inensis of the proceding of S. Stephen in this matter and of the decree it selfe which S. Cyprian tooke so vnkindly of the finall end of the busines for the which this holy Pope is so impiously condemned by the Bishop against all antiquity as that he deserueth thereby neuer more to be belieued in any matter which may concerne the Pope heereafter For not only the Latins but also the Greekes did annually celebrate his memory which is an honour that few Martyrs of the Westerne Church haue receiued And the Donatists themselues who reuyled the opinion of S. Stephen did so much respect the eminent authority of his holynesse and wisedome that as S. Augustine writeth and admyreth they confessed * Episcopatum illibatègessisse August de vnic bapt cont Petil. cap. 14. he could not be touched with any fault in the discharge of his Office And therefore if S. Augustine were now liuing much more would he admire the audacious presumption of this later heretike in calumniating and condemning his proceedings And as for S. Cyprian whose carriage of himselfe he so much coÌ„mendeth in this cause albeit his care of peace in not breaking with the Pope be laudable yet S. Augustine could not deny August de bapt cont Donat. lib. 5. cap. 25. but that he was too much moued in his anger commotiùs indignabatur and that being irritated he ran out into such termes against Pope Stephen as S. Augustine thought not good to touch quia periculuÌ„ habuerunt perniciosae dissentionis because they gaue occasion or
did put the Church in danger of pernicious dissention But it is no maruell though his intention were not bad that an ill cause should be no better defended wherein the greatest commendation of S. Cyprian in my opinion is this that as it is most credible he repented himselfe both of the matter and of the manner SECTION XXXIII VVherein the Bishop is manifestly conuinced of schisme out of the Authority and example of S. Cyprian alleadged by himselfe and the same authority for as much as it seemeth to concerne the Pope is sufficiently answered VVHERFORE this one authority alone produced by the Bishop being almost all the matter of substance and almost the only proofe which he bringeth for any thing he sayth in his whole booke taking vp all things vpon trust as hath been obserued you see notwithstanding how that out of this one place of S. Cyprian alleadged by him we haue proued the Popes Supremacy and the necessity not only of tradition but also of the iudgment of the Church for the defyning of matters in Controuersy and for the condemning of heresy Besides we haue shewed how notoriously he falsifieth the Ecclesiastical history how he cōdemneth not only S Stephen most impiously but also S. Cyprian most absurdly whome he sought most to commend And now that you may perceiue how much this authority of S. Cyprian maketh not only against his cause in generall and his owne credit in particuler but also against himselfe in the very poynt for the proofe and declaration whereof it is inserted by him Thus I argue He that without authority condemneth any other Bishop and refuseth to hold communion with him according to S. Cyprian may be iudged a Schismatike or to giue occasion of schisme but Marcus Antonius condemneth without authority not only his Colleague but also his Superiour the Bishop of Rome not of one errour but of inumerable heresies not of any ordinary fault but of suppressing the Councells of deprauing the Scriptures and ancient Fathers of vsurpation and tyrany ouer the Church of God oppressing pilling and spoyling the same and sucking the bloud of the members thereof And by consequence he condemneth likewise all other Bishops that communicate with him and are subiect to him calleth the vniuersall Church which is vnder the obedience of the Pope by the name of Babylon that is to say the Citty or congregation of the Diuell Therefore Marcus Antonius is a Schismatike according to his owne discourse and according to the words of S. Cyprian which he fondly alleadgeth to proue the contrary Secondly according to the processe of his owne discourse I argue thus He that goeth against the example of S. Cyprian proposed to the vniuersall Church for the auoyding of schisme falleth into the cryme of schisme But Marcus Antonius goeth directly against the example of S. Cyprian propounded by himselfe as a rule for the auoyding of schisme Therfore Marcus Antonius according to his owne rule is falne into the cryme of schisme That Marcus Antonius hath proceeded against his owne rule and the example of S Cyprian which he propoundeth is a thing most manifest For whereas S. Cyprian notwithstanding that he reputed the Pope almost all the vniuersall Church to be in manifest errour would neuer depart from the communion of the Pope but respected him so much that he communicated with those whome he held impure only because the Pope receiued them into his communion Marcus Antonius in the same case hath not only forsaken the Pope but also all those that are vnited with him whome otherwise he thinketh not impur e only because they do not separate themselues from the Pope but still remayne in his communion Wherfore these two arguments produced by himselfe are so conuincing that there needeth nothing els to confound him So that this proofe of his out of S. Cyprian being the substance of his booke and being withall so contrary to his cause to his credit and to himselfe in the poynt of Schisme whereof he intended to cleare himselfe therby may be sufficient to giue you to vnderstand of what substance the matter of his other booke is like to be when it shal be printed For my part I am verily perswaded if it be well vnderstood it wil be found to be more against the Protestants then the Catholikes and more contrary to himselfe then to either of the other And now to draw towards an end of this matter in the allegation of this authority out of S. Cyprian he is so much the more to be blamed in that being of such force against himselfe for as much thereof as concerneth the Popes authority it may full easily be answered For those words of S. Cyprian That none of them made himselfe the Bishop of Bishops c. may very well be vnderstood of those that were present at that Councell and not to conclude in that sentence the Bishop of Rome who truly may be sayd to be the Bishop of Bishops the Father of Fathers the Bishop and Father of the vniuersall Church and the like as hath been shewed That which he sayth A Bishop cannot be iudged but by God alone as he receiueth his authority from God alone ought to be vnderstood that he cannot be iudged in those things which are doubtfull obscure and hidden Aug. l. 3. de baptis cap. 3. For so S. Augustine himselfe doth expound him For hauing recited these words of S. Cyprian As I take it sayth he he meaneth in those questions which are not yet discussed with most cleere perspection And that S. Cyprian belieued that Bishops in cases of heresy or schisme Cyp. lib 5. epist 13. might be iudged and deposed by the Pope is euident in one of his Epistles to Pope Stephen where he exhorteth him that he would commaund the Bishop of Arles in France to be deposed and to appoint another in his place So that you see the childish arrow of this Bishop as it is shot vpward against the Pope doth not aryue vnto him but returneth with greater force to fall vpon his owne head and woundeth him in many places as hath been declared But now to do him a pleasure let vs suppose that Cyprian in these words did glance at S. Stephen and that he meant to taxe him for proceding as he thought too rigorously against him with what conscience or with what honesty I pray you can this strange Bishop alleadge these words of S. Cyprian spoken in the defence of a wrong cause as he knoweth and in his cōmotion anger against the Pope of the which it is most probable and according to S. Augustine we ought to thinke that he repented himselfe against so many playne places expresse doctrine of S. Cyprian as I haue cyted before and which for the full satisfactions of your selfe and the Reader in this poynt I shal be content to repeat in part at this present SECTION XXXIIII Many testimonyes and playne places are produced out of S. Cyprian wherby
the Bishop is euidently conuinced both of Schisme and Heresy IN the tyme of S. Cyprian as the Nouatian Heretikes on the one side denyed that such as were once fallen Cyp. ep 55 ad Cornel. were to be receiued into the Church againe vpon any tearmes whatsoeuer so there were other heretikes who affirmed that all were to be receiued without any pennance or satisfaction for their former sinne For the which cause S. Cyprian sayth of them that they endeauored that sinnes might not be redeemed by iust satisfaction lamentation that wounds might not be washed by teares That weeping and wayling might not be heard to proceed from the brest and from the mouth of such as were fallen that such as were inuolued in defrauding and deceyuing or defyled with adultery or polluted with the cōtagion of sacryfiee to Idols might not make confession of their crymes in the Church whereby all hope of satisfaction and pennance being taken away they lost both the sense and the fruit thereof Which heresy whether it be reuiued by the Bishop or by those congregations wherunto he hath vnited himselfe I shall leaue to your iudgment to consider But one of those heretikes called Florentius Pupianus writing vnto S. Cyprian in the same māner as heere the Bishop in the latter end of his booke addresseth his speach to thē Pope to giue them satisfaction and to purge himselfe of his proceeding against them S. Cyprian to abate his Pryde to make him acknowledge that it was the cause of the schisme and heresy wherinto he was fallen vseth these words among others and sayth From hence Schismes and Heresyes haue risen and do arise because the Bishop which is one and gouerneth the Church is cōdemned by the proud presumption of some and the man whome God hath vouchsafed to honour is iudged of men to be vnworthy And after a while he sayth There speaketh Peter vpon whom the Church was buylt shewing and teaching in the name of the Church That albeit the proud stifnecked multitude of those that would not obay departed from Christ yet the Church departeth not wherefore thou oughtest to know sayth he that the Bishop is in the Church and the Church in the Bishop And so he who is not with the Bishop is not in the Church wherof he concludeth that such do flatter themselues in vayne who not hauing peace with the Priests of God thinke it sufficient to communicate with others The like words S. Cyprian vseth in his epistle to Pope Cornelius where he sayth Cyp. lib. 1. epist 3. That there is no other cause of Heresyes and Schismes but that the Priest of God is not obayed and that one Priest and one Iudge is not acknowledged in the place of Christ in the Church for the tyme. Where also hauing sayd as before that the Church was built vpon Peter at length speaking of the former Heretikes that presumed to go and complaine of him to Pope Cornelius he sayth That they were so audacious as to sayle vnto the Chayre of Peter and to the principall Church from whence the vnity of Priesthood did proceed not considering that they were Romans whose fayth was praysed by the mouth of the Apostle and vnto whome perfidiousnes or error in fayth can haue no accesse The like words againe he wrote in his Treatise of the vnity of the Church where he sayth That men are transported by the Diuell into Heresy and Schisme out of the Church of God because they do not returne to the origen of truth nor seeke the head nor follow the doctrine of their heauenly Maister Which if they considered there were no need of any long treatise or argument but that the tryall of Fayth would be very easy And then shewing what was this heauenly doctrine and what the head and origen of truth which is taught vnto vs he addeth immediatly Our Lord sayd vnto Peter I say vnto thee thou art Peter and vpon this Rocke c. and vnto the same man after his resurrection he sayd Feed my sheep and so concludeth that our Sauiour built his Church vpon him alone and committed vnto him his sheep to be fed and gaue him the Primacy that there might be one Church c. And a little after he addeth This vnity of the Church he that doth not keep doth he beleeue that he keepeth the Fayth He that resisteth the Church and striueth against the same he that forsaketh the Chayre of Peter doth he confide that he is in the Church And to the same purpose els where he sayth Epist 8. ad plevē vniuersam God is one Christ one and the Church one and the Chayre one built vpon Enter by the voyce of our Lord any other Altar or new Priesthood beside one Altar and one Priesthood cannot be erected and made Whosoeuer gathereth els where scattereth Out of which places because it is euident that our fugitiue Bishop with proud presumption cōtemneth that one Bishop who hath the chiefe place in the gouernement of Gods Church and likewise that he contemneth the Successor of him vpon whom the Church was built and who is in the Church and the Church in him because the Chuych is nothing els but the people vnited to the Priest and the flocke adhering to the Pastour And againe because it is euident that he disobeyeth the Priest of God and doth not acknowledge one Priest and one iudge for the tyme in the place of Christ and forsaketh the Chayre of Peter and the principall Church from whence the vnity of Priesthood proceedeth and wherunto no falshood in Fayth can haue accesse that he obserueth not the dostrine of our heauēly Maister neither returning to the origen of truth nor seeking the head which is S. Peter vpon whome alone our Sauiour built his Church and committed the feeding of his sheep vnto him which course according to S. Cyprian is the only cause and occasion and only meanes whereby the Diuel transporteth men out of the Church into Schism and Heresy it cannot be denyed but that your Bishop forsaking the successor of S. Peter the Chayr of Peter who holdeth the place of Christ in the Church forsaketh the Church and in vayne beleeueth to be therein and gathereth not with Christ but scattereth with Antichrist And thus much cōcerning the obiections which he pleased to frame against himselfe SECTION XXXV The conclusion of the Bishops booke togeather with a short Conclusion of this whole Treatise THERE remayneth only the conclusion of his booke wherein because I haue wearied my selfe too much already with sweeping a way the cobwebs of his idle discourse whereunto in respect of the sleightnes and vnprofitablenes and foulnes of the matter the substance thereof may fitly be compared I will only note two or three things vnto you very briefly First therefore as Iudas saluted Christ and sayd Marc. 14.45 hayle Maister and kissed him whom a little before be had sould to the Iewes as a false Prophet
you by this subscription POSTSCRIPTVM TRVTH is the daughter of tyme and as I obserued in the beginning it is good to expect the lame post and the last newes is euer truest Hauing ended this my Treatise there came to my hands a short information of the life and manners of this our Dalmatian Bishop whome before out of his owne words I had sufficiently discouered taken authentically and iuridically vnder the oathes and testimonyes of many lawfull witnesses Whereby it appeareth that he had no lesse cause to feare the manifestation and publication of his former lewdnesse then he discouereth in diuers places of his booke to be exceeding iealous of such a matter many of the particulers related therin being so foule and abhominable that modesty and good manners do not permit me to set them downe For hauing byn lewdly brought vpin his youth before he entred into Religion which it is very probable that he concealed after his Apostacy he returned to his vomit againe and his old gift according to the words of our Sauiour bringing seauen more with him worse then himselfe entred into him and the last of this man was made farre worse then his foule beginning And assure your selfe that nothing doth so much saue his good name if he haue any among you as the turpitude of his former life wherein all men had rather it should be buryed still then defile their pennes themselues and the world with the discouery of it except they be inforced to it But because among other heads of his information there is a poynt or two which will declare by what meanes he attayned to those titles of Ecclesiasticall dignity wherof he vaunteth so much and from whence doth flow all the grace and particuler respect which is giuen vnto him of those that do not know him I thought it expedient to adde this short addition to the end they be not longer ignorant what a Saint they haue gotten to honour their cause and what a pillar he is like to proue to support their Religion You shall therfore vnderstand that Segnia which was his first Bishopricke is a little Citty but most impregnable vpon the Confines of Germany Italy the people wherof commonly called Iscocehi do neither plow nor plant for their sustenance nor card nor spin for their cloathing nor trade with other Nations by way of merchandize but liue altogeather vpon spoyle either of the Turkes which is their profession or els of Christians when they please to mistake the one for the other In which respect it is easier to find those that would refuse if they were either wise or honest then such as would willingly accept the Ecclesiastcall gouerment of this Martiall people Wherefore to come to our purpose it appeareth by the information aforsayd that the Bishop of Segnia being slaine in some enterpize of warre amoÌ„g certaine soldiars of the Emperour with whom he was in company Marcus Antonius de Dominis who was then a Iesuit in profession though not in purpose but desirous to be at liberty forged letters from the friends and kindred of the late Bishop to himselfe as to their kinsman which as it seemeth he was not signifying that the Bishop was not slayne but taken prisoner and entreating him to come to Segnia from whence he might worke some meanes to set him at liberty Vpon the credit of which letters his Superiours as it should seeme gaue him leaue to go thither where first he obtained to supply the place of the late desceased Bishop afterwards to be made Bishop himselfe Which Episcopall function as he got by forgery and Apostasy from his owne Order so he behaued himselfe accordingly in the administration therof For he had his part if not his hand in the prey with the souldiars of that place became a pot companion with them and in how sing and got mâ—ndiâ—ing nothing behind them Being then their Pastour and spirituall Father he defrauded them of foure or fiue hundred Crownes which beget from them vnder pretence of building a Quire in their Church but conuerted the mony to his owne vse And taking occasion to go to Venice he wrot backe to the Iscocchi his gostly children that he had made their peace with the VenetiaÌ„s that they might safely sayle in the Venetian seas vpon which assurance fourty of them sayling to wards Turky were intrapped and slaine by the Venetian souldiars at a certaine 〈◊〉 where they fell into the snare which their reuerend Father in God had layd for them Of which bloudy treachery this audacious Prelate being come to the prefoundnes of iniquity Prou. 1863. was so little ashamed as he was accustomed to boast of his seruice therein done to the Commonwealth of Venice saying that if the Iscocchi could lay hands of him they would make a bagge of his skin as they are accustomed to make of Swines skins for wine and oyle in those countryes and that he expected the first good Bishopricke which might fall in the State of Venice should be giuen him for his desert And so as it seemeth in recompence of this his seruice and expectation of the like when occasion should be offered for policy of State the Church of Spalato was giuen him which though poore in reuenews yet in respect of the Metropolitan dignity was fit to satisfy his ambition By this you may see how truly and litterally that saying is verified of the Church of Segnia vnder his Cure which falsely and impudently he applyeth to the Church of Christ vnder the Pope affirming that it was become a vinyeard to make Noe drunke and a flocke which the Pastour did ouermilke and not only sheer and shaâ—e but also flea and slea for so it is testified against him as you haue heard that he liued a drunken life and not only fleesed his flocke and imbezelled their money but betrayed his sheep into the bloudy hands of their enemyes Wherein the greiuousnesses of his sinne may be compared to the sinne of Iudas Iudas betrayed the innocent bloud of Christ vnder the shew of peace for a little money this second Iudas betrayed in the same maÌ„ner the innocent bloud of fourty Christians his spiritual children not for mony but for spiritual preferment which of all other things being most opposite to the sheeding of innocent bloud was a far fouler Symony more damnable price therof then any money could be And whereas Iudas repented him of his sinne and threw the money from him this other Iudas did glory in his cryme and as yet boasteth of his dignity being the vniust reward of so barbarous a treachery This man notwithstanding his forgery apostasy sacriledge gluttony murther in the foulest and ambition in the highest degree that may be imagined besides his other sinnes not to be named without any amendement or satisfaction to the world for his former life with incredible hypocrisy and impudency Pro. 30.20 only wiping his mouth with the shamles woman in Salomons Prouerbes as if he
as long as they could they haue run themselues out theyr brookes are dry their memory is scarce to be found or that they haue been (y) In psal 203. con 1. Thou shalt alwayes be firme if thou departest not from this foundation for she is the predestinated piller and foundation of truth (z) In psal 110. con 1. It shall not be inclyned from age to age because it is predestinated the foundation and piller of truth Tyconius (a) cōt ep Parm. l. 1. cap. 1. all the voyces of the sacred Leaues beating about him awaked and he saw tho Church diffused ouer all the world as it was foreseene and foretold by the harts and mouths of the holy Prophets Which hauing perceiued he began to auouch and to make manifest to his fellows that no foule sinne or wicked cryme of any man whatsoeuer could preuaile against the promises of God nor effect that Gods word of the Church to come to be diffused euen to the ends of the earth which was promised to the Fathers and is now exhibited or performed should come to nothing (b) De vnitat Eccl. Why do you make voyde the testament of God saying that it is not fullfilled in all Nations and that the seed of Abraham hath fay led in all those Nations where it was (c) In psal 47. But perchance that Citty which hath possessed all the world shall one day be ouerthrowne God forbid God hath founded it for euer If therfore God hath founded it for euer what doest thou feare least the foundation should fayle (d) In psal 101. conc 2. But that Church which was the Church of all Nations is now no more it is perished So say they that are not in her Oh impudent voyce Is not she because thou art not in her Take heed least for the same cause thou thy selfe be not for she shall be though thou art not This abhominable speach detestable full of presumption and falshood not supported by any truth not inlightned by any wisedome not seasoned with any salt vayne temerarious head-strong pernicious the spirit of God foresaw c. Thus S. Augustine whome perchance you neuer imagined to haue spoken so much so playnly and so vehemently for the infallible authority and vniuersall extension with equall visibility and perpetuall continuance of the Church of Christ as you see he hath and yet this is the least part of that which might be alleadged out of S. Augustine alone to the same purpose Whereunto if you add those former testimonyes for the proofe of the Popes Supremacy which I haue cited in the 11. Section of this Treatise thereby you may easily iudge if S. Augustine had been an English man and were now aliue whether he deserued not to be hanged at Tyborne as well as other Priests and Iesuits that haue been martyred there That is to say whether hearing your Ministers teach that the Pope with the whole Catholike Church haue erred and deceiued the world or that the Church hath fayled or remayned inuisible for more then a thousand yeares togeather he would not haue admyred as much as we do now at their deafnes to the voyce of the Prophets at their blyndnes in reading the Scriptures at their impudency temerity and madnes of their abhominable and detestable doctrine and whether he would not pronounce them many tymes accursed as he did the Donatists and other Heretikes of his tyme for the same opinions And now that you may the better perceiue with what great reason S. Augustine was so vehement against this their pernicious doctrine Let vs consider a little I pray you the consequence and effects therof in many of the greatest Maisters and Apostles of the Protestant religion For this made Sebastian Castalio in his Preface to the great Latin Bible dedicated to King Edward the 6. to doubt of those promises of God to his Church set downe in Scripture See Prot. Apology p. 106. sequent For if any man sayth he will affirme that they haue been performed I will demaund of him when If he say in the Apostles tymes I will demaund how it chaunceth that neither then the knowledge of God was altogeather perfect and afterward how in so short a tyme it vanished away which was promissed that at should be eternall and more aboundant then the flouds in the sea The more I do peruse the Scriptures the lesse do I find the same performed howsoeuer you vnderstand the foresayd Prophesies And Dauid George vpon the same grounds came to deny Iesus our Sauiour to be Christ For if that he had beene the true Christ the Church erected by him should haue continued for euer Whereupon also he fell to that madnes that he tooke to himselfe the name and office of Christ and secretly drew many to his opinion for the which he was taken vp burned three yeares after his death by the Protestants of Basil vnto whom he fled before being expelled from the low Countrys for holding the opinion of the Sacramentaries against the doctrine of Luther then there professed His story was written by them of Basil about the yeare 1559. In like manner Bernardinus Ochinus a man so renowned amongst the Protestants as Caluin demaundeth whom Italy it selfe could oppose against him and Iohn Bale sayth of him That he made England happy with his presence and miserable in his absence This renowned man as he confesseth in the preface of his dialogues began to wonder how it was possible that the Church which was founded by the power wisedome and goodnes of Christ washed with his bloud and enriched with his spirit should be vtterly ouerthrowne wherof he sayth the Popes were the cause and afterwards began to teach Circumcision and wrote a booke of Poligamy which Beza sayth that the aforsayd Sebastian Castalio translated out of Italian into Latin and finally became as Beza sayth an impure Apostata against the diuinity of Christ Alinianus a learned Swynglian for the same cause came to be of opinion that the Messias was not yet come so renouncing Christianity became a blasphemous Iew. And to omit Adam Neuserus a learned Caluinist chiefe Pastour at Heidelberg who in the end turned Turke and was circumcised at Constantinople and diuers other Protestants as well of forraine Countreyes as of our owne Nation who haue at length denyed the diuinity of Christ Caluin himselfe was greatly suspected therof in so much as Doctor Hunnius publick Professor in the Vniuersity of Wittemberge wrote a booke called Caluinus Indaizans and since that tyme there is another booke published by a Protestant Lutheran with this title A demonstratiō out of Gods word that the Caluinists are not Christians but only Baptized Iewes and Mahomets which was also reprinted And of this argumēt you may see sufficient matter in that learned booke of M. William Reynolds intituled Caluino-Turcismus which euidence also that according to the Protestants opinion God hath fayled of his promise in aduancing and defending his