perturbation of Wars as hath been said were not so well known nor distinctly observed nor deliver'd to Writing in those days as otherwise they might have been yet find I some mention tho' dispersed of three several Apostles of Christ to have Preached there to wit St. Peter St. Paul and St. Simon of Chananee sirnamed the Zealous two Apostolical Men also in these first troubled Times to have been sent thither Aristobulus a Roman whom St. Paul named in his Epistle to the Romans and Joseph of Arimathea a Nobleman of Jury that buried Christ Of all which Five we shall speak somewhat in order 20. And first of St. Peter himself to have been in England or Britanny and Preached Founded Churches and Ordained Priests and Dencons therein is recorded out of Greek Antiquities by Simeon Metaphrastes a Grecian And it seemeth to be somewhat confirmed by that which Innocentius I. Bishop of Rome hath left written above 1200 years agone saying That the first Churches of Italy France Spain Africa Sicilia and the Islands that lie betwixt them were founded by St. Peter or his Scholars or Successors For which cause Gulielmus Eysengrenius in his first Centuria or hundred years doth write also That the first Christian Churches of England were sounded by St. Peter under Nero. Whereunto it may be thought that the foresaid Gildas had relation when expostulating with the Britain Priests of his time for their Wickedness for which the Wrath of God had brought in the English Saxons upon them he objecteth among other things Quod sedem Petri Apostoli inverecundis pedibus usurpassent That they had usurped the Seat St. Peter with unshamefac'd feet meaning thereby either the whole Church of Britanny first founded by him or some particular place of Devotion or Church which he had erected And finally Alredus Rienuallus an English Abbot of the Order of Cisterce left written about 500 years agone a certain Revelation or Apparition of St. Peter to an holy man in the time of King Edward the Confessor shewing him how he had Preached himself in England and consequently the particular care he had of that Church and Nation c. 21. If any man ask What time it might be that St. Peter left Rome and went into Britanny and other Countries round about Cardinal Baronius a famous Learned Historiographer of our time thinketh that it was then when Claudius the Emperor banish'd all the Jews out of Rome as in the Acts of the Apostles it is recorded among whom it is like that St. Peter also being by Nation a Jew retired himself and took that occasion to go into divers Pagan Countries to preach the Faith of Christ that thing belonging especially to his Charge as Head of the Apostles according to his own words of himself Elegit Deus per os meum audire gentes verbum Evangelii credere God hath chosen and appointed that Gentiles shall hear and believe the Word of the Gospel by my mouth This then was the cause why he was so diligent and careful to go and preach every-where Christian Religion to the end he might fulfil and accomplish this Will and Ordination of his Master And this was one cause also to wit his absence from Rome why according to Baronius and other Learned Men St. Paul writing to the Romans did not name or salute him in his Epistle whereof our Heretics do brabble much And thus much of St. Peter 22. Of St. Paul's being in Britanny there are not so many particular Testimonies yet the foresaid Theodoretus doth affirm That from Rome he made certain Exoursions in Hispanias in Insulas quae in Mari jacent into Spain and the Islands lying in the Sea near about And in another place as the Magdeburgians do cite him he writeth expresly That St. Paul Preached to the Britains And the like hath Sophronius Bishop of Jerusalem in his Sermon of the Nativity of the Apostles Venantius also Fortunatus a most Learned and Holy. Man writing above a thousand years agone of St. Paul's Peregrination saith thus Transit Oceanum vel qua facit Insula portum Quasque Britannus habet terras atque ultima Thyle He pass'd over the Ocean-Sea to the Island that maketh a Haven on the other side even to the Lands which the Britains do possess c. For which respect Arnoldus Mirmannus in his Theatre of the Conversion of all Nations affirmeth St. Paul to have pass'd to Britanny in the fourth year of Nero Anno Domini 59 and there to have Preached and afterward to have returned again into Italy And so much of St. Paul who having twelve or thirteen years permitted him by Christ after his coming to Rome before his death for helping St. Peter and for assisting the West-parts of the World and St. Peter himself almost twice as much it is not unlike their Zeal being considered and the state of times weighed but that they made many Excursions as the former Authors do write And thus much of them 23. For the Preaching of the third Apostle Symon Chananaeus sirnamed the Zealous we have the Testimony of Nicephorus out of Greek Monuments to whom agreeth Dorotheus a very ancient Writer as also the Greek Martyrology as testifieth Baronius in his Annotations upon the Roman Martyrology And by this also we see that albeit St. Peter had undertaken to preach to the West-part of the World yet did other Apostles also help him therein as St. Paul in Italy and Spain and this Symon in Britanny and other places and St. Philip in France c. 24. Of Aristobulus also St. Peter's Scholar do testifie in like manner the foresaid Authors Mirmannus Dorotheus Baronius out of the Greek Martyrology that he was sent by St. Peter into Britanny and there made a Bishop And that Aristobulus was a principal known Christian in Rome before St. Paul's arrival there it appeareth by the Epistle of the said Apostle to the Romans where he saluteth him in these words Salute those that be of the house of Aristobulus Nor is it read that ever this Aristobulus came back from Britanny to Italy again And this of him 25. Of Joseph of Arimathea his coming into France and his sending thence into Great Britanny either by St. Philip as some say who preached then in Gaul or as Others hold by St. Peter himself as he passed that way to and from Britanny and how he obtained a place to exercise an Eremitical Life for him and his ten Companions in the Island called Avallonia where Glastonbury after was builded albeit I find no very certain or ancient Writer to affirm it yet because our later Historiographers for two hundred years past or more do hold it have come down by Tradition and namely Johannes Capgravius a Learned Man of the Order of St. Dominick and others after him I do not mean to dispute the matter here but rather to admire and praise the Heavenly Providence and
more impudent and more greedy to deceive than they as you shall much more perceive by his last Argument ensuing 12. For my seventh Argument saith he I may make my probation by the plain words of Eleutherius by whose Epistle written to King Lucius we may understand that Lucius had received the Faith of Christ in this Land before he sent to Eleutherius for the Roman Laws for so the express words of the Letter do manifestly purport as hereafter followeth to be seen Thus saith he and citeth for his proof in the Margin Ex Epistola Eleutherii ad Lucium and by this last and strongest Argument of his the silly Fellow thinketh to strike the Nail dead and to prove that King Lucius was a Christian before he received Preachers from Pope Eleutherius and consequently that all is false which Antiquity hath held attributing the Conversion of that Kingdom and of the King himself to the Bishop of Rome For which cause Fox addeth presently Peradventure Eleutherius might help something either to convert the King or else to increase the Faith newly sprung up then among the People 13. So defineth he the matter and consider I pray you what he attributeth to Eleutherius in this Conversion Peradventure saith he he might help something to King Lucius his Conversion And is not this a great matter especially being qualified as it is with the restriction Peradventure If a man should say of Aesop's Fables that peradventure some of them in some points might be true were it not as much as John Fox doth attribute to all this Consent of Authors for this Conversion under Pope Eleutherius seeing he saith not absolutely Eleutherius did convert King Lucius or help indeed thereunto but that peradventure he might help something c. You may mark the diminutives used by Fox to lessen the benefit to wit peradventure might something c. and thereby consider what a holy stomach he hath to Rome and what little account he maketh of the Authority or Consent of all Antiquity when they make against him 14. But now let us weigh further his Proofs and by them also his Frauds and Impostures First of all for Proofs that King Lucius was a Christian before he dealt with Eleutherius he alledgeth the Epistle it self of Eleutherius which he setteth down as authentical citing only in the Margin Ex vetusto codice Regum antiquorum taken out of an old Book of old Kings but telleth not where we shall find this old Book and it may be perhaps of as good credit if it were found as the Book of Gildas before alledged De Victoria Aurelii Ambrosii or as many other fabulous things be in the Story of Geffrey of Monmouth and John Fox after him 15. And indeed if we consider the beginning of the first words of the Epistle it self we shall find certain doubts which neither Fox nor his Fellows will ever be able to solve as first of all that it was written after Eleutherius was dead for so it appeareth by the Account of Time noted in the Title which is this in Latin as Fox relateth Anno Domini 169 Ã Passione Christi scripsit D. Eleutherius Papa Lucio Regi Britanniae ad correctionem Regis Procetum Regni c. Which words Fox omitteth to translate into English for that they make against him and therefore would not have his unlearned Reader to understand the absurdity thereof for they say That Pope Eleutherius wrote this Epistle to Lucius King of Britanny to correct both Him and the Nobility of his Kingdom in the year 169 after the Passion of Christ To which 169 years if we add other 33 which Christ lived before his Passion they make 202 which is 19 years after Eleutherius's Death who dy'd in the year of Christ 184 as all Authors agree For which cause Fox himself in this very place and elsewhere often doth appoint the Conversion of King Lucius to have been in the year of Christ 180 and the 10th of Eleutherius his Reign but this Epistle appointeth it 22 years after to wit Anno Domini 102. So wise a man is Fox in bringing it in 16. Secondly this Epistle was written in Latin and so should Fox have delivered the same unto us wholly if he had dealt plainly But he hath not so done but only giveth us the Title in Latin without any Interpretation as now hath been said and the remnant or at leastwise so much as he thought convenient in English only and this of his own Translation without letting us see the Original and so he playeth the Fox in every thing But to return again to this Latin Title of the Epistle there is another cause why John Fox would not translate it into English and this is for that it is said therein that it was written by the Pope ad correctionem Regis Procerum Regni c. to correct the King and Nobility of the Realm which proveth that the Pope took himself to be their Superior also in those days and they to be subject to his correction For which causes Fox's Scholars Holinshead Hooker and Harrison do leave out this Title altogether in their Chronicles for that the word Correction upon the King and Nobility is an odious thing in these days especially from Popes 17. And thus much of the Title and Fraud used therein Now let us pass to the Body of the Epistle Thus it beginneth in John Fox's Translation Ye require of us the Roman Laws and the Emperours to be sent over unto you which you may practise and put in are within your Realm The Roman Laws and the Emperours we may ever reprove but the Law of God we may not You have received of late through God's Mercy in the Realm of Britanny the Law of Christ c. Thus saith the Epistle and out of these last words John Fox doth frame his former seventh Argument That King Lucius had received the Faith of Christ before he sent to Eleutherius for the Roman Laws Well suppose it was so and that this sending was a second Embassage some years after his Conversion how doth this infer that King Lucius was a Christian before he dealt with Eleutherius or before he sent the first time unto him and so that he was rather converted by Grecians than by Romans as the next immediate words of Fox are And that hence it may be inferred that Eleutherius did rather help perhaps to his Conversion or to increase the Faith newly sprung up than convert him Are not these notorious shifts and shameless windings of our Fox to delude his Reader 18. But you will ask me perhaps how I do prove that this was a second Embassage sent by King Lucius to Eleutherius and the Pope's Answer to the same Whereto I say that this is confessed and proved by Fox himself who writing of King Lucius saith That some years after his Conversion when he had put his Realm in Order for matters
West by the foresaid Pope Leo III. And during this Race of time the said Universal Church flourished greatly by Learned Men and Holy Bishops whereof the principal were St. Isidorus Archbishop of Sevil Sophronius Leontius Theodorus Archbishop of Canterbury Venerable Bede Johannes Damascenus Paulus Diaconus Alcuinus our Countrey-man Vsuardus and others 4. This time had many Learned Councils also whereof two were General the one being the third of Constantinople the other the second of Nice Whereby were beaten down all the Heretics of those days the principal whereof were the Jacobites the Armenians Monothelites Neophonites Lampetians Agnychites Iconomachians or Image-breakers and other the like Besides all this there was added to the Greatness of this Church the new Conversion of many Countries from Paganism to Christian Religion Amongst which may principally be recounted our English Saxons as also by their means divers Provinces afterward of High and Low Germany And this for the continuance and going forward of the Christian Catholic Church in general planted by Christ and brought down by Succession from the Apostles time 5. But if you will talk of our new English Church planted in this mean space and inserted or united to that General Catholic Church as a Branch or Member to the whole Body and as a new Daughter subordinate to her Mother we shall see her progress to be conform thereunto to wit that she multiplied mightily in these 200 years both in Number Doctrin and great Piety of Life which John Fox himself is forced to confess in that he having told us of the Conversion of seven English Saxon Kingdoms within the compass of this time he setteth down divers Tables in the end of all whereof one is of seventeen Archbishops of Canterbury from Augustin to Celnothus that lived with King Egbert and another Table of thirty Cathedral Churches Abbies and Nunneries builded and abundantly endowed by Christian English Kings Queens and Bishops of that time and a third Table of nine several Kings besides many more of chief Nobility both Men and Women who leaving the World and their Temporal States entred into a Religious Life the more strictly to serve Almighty God. All which John Fox is forc'd to recount against himself and findeth no one in all this time of 200 years and much less any company on whom he dareth lay hands to build up his hidden Church in England withal 6. And it is to be noted by the Reader and by us to be repeated again for better memories sake that which before we admonished to wit that Fox findeth these 200 years of our first English primitive Church so barren of matter for his purpose as in the whole story thereof he spendeth only eight Leaves of Paper and these rather in deriding and scoffing the same and principal Pillars thereof than writing any Ecclesiastical History For which cause you shall find these Notes and Titles commonly written over the heads of his Leaves and Pages Augustin's arrival in Kent Gregory the basest Pope but the best Proud Augustin Lying Miracles Shaven Crowns Beda his Birth and the like Of which Learned Holy Man's Story I mean St. Bede he maketh so little account as in the same place reciting a Letter out of him written by a holy Man Ceolfride Abbot of Sherwyn in Northumberland to Naitonus King of the Picts he saith thus The Copy of which Letter as it is in Bede I have annexed not for any great reason therein contained but only to delight the Reader with some pastime in seeing the fond Ignorance of that Monkish Age c. Whereby we may see the drift of this pleasant Fox in these his Acts and Monuments which is to discredit that whole Time and all our Primitive Church 7. But yet to the end that the saying of Christ may be fulfilled in him Ex ore tuo te judico Serve nequam I do judge thee out of thy own mouth thou wicked Servant I shall here set down two National Synods gathered in England in these two Ages by two famous Archbishops of Canterbury the one Theodorus in the year of Christ 680 and related by Beda and the other St. Cuthbert in the year 747 related by William of Malmsbury after Bede's death and both of them set down by Fox And by viewing the Decrees of these two Synods you will see whether those Ages were so fond in Ignorance as Fox maketh them Out of the first Synod held at Thetford Fox gathereth ten Decrees in these words 8. I. That Easter-day should be uniformly kept and observed throughout the whole Realm upon a certain day viz. prima 14 Luna Mensis primi II. That no Bishop should intermeddle within the Diocese of another III. That Monasteries consecrated unto God should be exempt and free from the Jurisdiction of Bishops IV. That the Monks should not stray from one place that is from one Monastery to another without the license of their Abbot also to keep the same Obedience which they promised at their first entring V. That no Clergy-man should forsake his own Bishop and be received in any other place without Letters Commendatory of his own Bishop VI. That Foreign Bishops and Clergy-men coming into the Realm should be content only with the benefit of such Hospitality as should be offered them neither should they intermeddle any further within the Precinct of any Bishop without his special permission VII That Synods Provincial should be kept within the Realm at least once a year VIII That no Bishop should prefer himself before another but must observe the time and order of his Consecration IX That the number of Bishops should be augmented as the number of People increased X. That no Marriage should be admitted but that which was lawful no Incest to be suffered neither any man to put away his Wife for any cause except only for Fornication after the Rule of the Gospel And these be the principal Chapters of that Synod c. 9. Out of the second Synod held at Clonisho Fox gathereth thirty-one Decrees as followeth I. That Bishops should be more diligent in seeing to their Office and in admonishing the people of their faults II. That they should live in a peaceable mind together notwithstanding they were in place dissevered asunder III. That every Bishop once a year should go about all the Parishes of his Diocese IV. That the said Bishops every one in his Diocese should admonish their Abbots and Monks to live regularly and that Prelates should not oppress their Inferiors but love them V. That they should teach the Monasteries which the secular men had invaded and could not then betaken from them to live regularly VI. That none should be admitted to Orders before his Life should be examined VII That in Monasteries the reading of Holy Scripture should be more frequented VIII That Priests should be no disposers of secular business IX That they should take no money for baptizing
other ancient extern Authors before mentioned So as here is neither place nor time left for Joannes Anglicus to have come between them 27. And all these Authors did write as hath been noted either before or with Martinus Polonus who is taken to have been the first Relator of this Fable And tho' in some printed Copies of the Chronicles of Marianus Scotus and Sigebertus somewhat elder than Martinus Polonus there be mention in a word or two of this Tale with this ground ut ferunt as men say yet in more ancient Manuscript Originals found in Flanders and other places no such thing is seen but rather to the contrary with divers evident signs and conjectures that those few words now found in the printed Copies were added by others afterward in Germany where the Work lay for many years during the Contention of the German Emperours against the See of Rome 28. But besides all this there ensueth another Argument more evident in my Opinion than any of the rest hitherto alleged for overthrowing of this Fable which is That about 170 years after this devised Election of Pope Joan to wit upon the year of Christ 1020 the Church and Patriarchs of Constantinople being in some Contention with Rome Pope Leo IX wrote a long Letter to Michaell Patriarch of Constantinople reprehending certain abuses of that Church and among other that they were said to have promoted Eunuchs to Priesthood and thereby also a greater inconvenience fallen out which was that a Woman had crept in to be Patriarch which yet he saith that for the horror of the Fact he would not believe Absit saith he ut velimus credere quod publica fama non dubitat asserere c. God forbid we should believe that which public Fame doubteth not to affirm which is that the Church of Constantinople by promoting Eunuchs to Priesthood against the Canon of the Council of Nice promoted once a Woman to the Bishops See which is so abominable a thing as the horror thereof doth not permit us to believe it c. 29. Thus wrote he which no doubt he would never have dar'd to do if the Patriarch of Constantinople might have returned the matter back upon him again and said This was but a slanderous report falsly raised against the Church of Constantinople but that a Woman indeed had been promoted in the Roman Church How could Pope Leo have answered this Reply Wherefore most certain it seemeth that at this time there was not so much as any rumour or mention of any Woman Pope that ever had been in the Roman Church this being 250 years before Martinus Polonus wrote for which cause also it is thought very probably that this rumour of the Church of Constantinople might be the occasion of the Tale raised after against Rome for that Martinus Polonus being a very simple Man and living so long after as hath been said and hearing an uncertain fame of a Woman promoted to Chief Priesthood might ascribe that to Rome which belonged to Constantinople which being once written by him passed to others after him and so came to our Heretics 30. Finally howsoever this be of the first occasion or invention of the Fable certain it is that most evidently it is a Fable and that if other Arguments failed yet there be so many Incongruities Simplicities Absurdities Varieties and Contrarieties in the very Narration it self as it discovers the whole matter to be a meer Fable and Fiction indeed and a rumour of vulgar people without ground For Martinus Polonus beginneth his Narration thus Post Leonem sedit Joannes Anglus Natione Margantinus After Leo III. sate John English by Nation a Margantine but where this Country of Margantia is no man can tell And it followeth Quae alibi legitur fuisse Benedictus III. which other where is read to be Benedictus III. So as this man seemeth to confound him with Benedict and consequently ascribeth to him the same time of his Reign that is assigned to Benedictus to wit two years and five months and yet presently after he saith That Benedictus was a Roman Son to Pratolus c. 31. Platina that took it out of this Man to make the Tale somewhat more probable beginneth thus Joannes Anglicus ex Maguntiaco oriundus c. John of England born at Maguntiacum c. Then how could he be John or Joan of England if he were born at Maguntiacum and where is this Maguntiacum and how doth it agree with Margantinus used by Polonus But then come in the Magdeburgians and say contrary that he was Moguntinus oriundus ex Anglia of Moguntia in Germany born in England And contrary to this Bibliander another German Sectary contradicteth that again saying in his Chronicles That he was not born in England but brought up and studied there And so you see their contradiction about the place both of Birth and Country 32. But besides this there are infinit other disagreements and inconveniences in this Story for that some do feign him to be Joannes VIII some IX John Fox saith That she was called Gilberta before and that she went with an English Monk out of the Abbey of Fulda in Germany to Athens and there studied in Mans Apparel whereas it is known that Athens at that time had no School in it all nor in any many years before If she were bred also or brought up in England or went in an English Monk's Company as Fox saith and if she were an English Priest's Daughter as the Magdeburgians devise it is like that Prince Alfred or some of his Train residing then in Rome as before hath been said would have heard or known of the matter 33. But John Fox goeth further and telleth us out of his fingers ends That the Cardinals forsooth met solemnly after the death of Leo IV. said their Mass of the Holy Ghost and so proceeded to their ordinary Election and brought forth Gilberta c. But this is all scoffing Foolery for that Cardinals had not the Election of Popes at that time And he that will read the foresaid Anastasius Bibliothecarius that was present at the Election of Pope Benedictus and describeth the particulars thereof shall see another manner of Election in use at that day by the whole Clergy Moreover he shall see that the Custom was not to choose at that time any but such as were known and try'd men and such as had lived for the most part of their Life in Rome it self and had given great satisfaction in their Manners and behav'd themselves well in other inferior Ecclesiastical Charges laid upon them 34. All which being so let any man of reason tell me how it is possible to imagine that men of those times were so fond and absurd as to choose to so high a Dignity among them an unknown Man or Woman whose Parents and Country were not known nor proof had of their Conversation and much more that
hardness of heart for that they had not believed those who had seen him risen from death again Which doubt and hardness of heart in believing he cured wholly afterwards by sending the Holy Ghost 25. But yet hereby we may evidently see that Christ required humility and obedience of belief even in things where our reason or sense resisted requiring us to captivate our understanding to use S. Paul's own word unto his obedience in matters of faith and not only to himself immediately but to those also that teach and preach unto us by lawful ordination and authority from him albeit they deliver us matters above our capacity reach and understanding and this under pain of eternal damnation for that our Saviour himself having given the Commission of preaching in S. Mark 's Gospel aforesaid Ite praedicate Go and preach he addeth presently Qui non crediderit condemnabitur He that will not believe shall be damned And this is sufficient for the first Point about the obscurity of the Object of Faith and Causes thereof 22. The second Point of this consideration is That albeit Almighty God will have us to yield obedience of faith unto him as well for his due honor as for our own utility yet doth he not leave us without sufficient testimony of the truth nor requireth at our hands this obedience but as rationabile obsequium to use S. Paul's words a reasonable obedience or an obedience founded in all reason of probability inducement and credibility For proof whereof we must understand that albeit the most parts of Christian Belief do so surmount as in the former Point hath been shewed the reach and capacity of human reason as they cannot be comprehended thereby tho' of some other there may be also demonstration made as shall be shewed in the fourth Point of this consideration yet for satisfaction of our understandings his divine Piety and Providence hath left unto us so many other proofs and arguments of persuasion and inducement called by Schoolmen Argumenta credibilitatis Arguments of credibility which being laid together and well pondered may justly move any indifferent prudent and discreet man to yield his assent thereunto and to rest fully satisfied of the truth as learnedly you have seen proved these days past by a Treatise set forth in English for answer of the new challenges of the Minister O. E. this matter is handled more largely But for my present purpose it is sufficient to record unto you that of these arguments of credibility are full fraught all the books and volumes of the ancient Fathers thereby to prove the credibility probability and convenience of Christian Religion and of every part and article thereof thereby to leave them inexcusable that will not believe the same whereof it shall be sufficient that I allege only the example of S. Peter who going about to persuade his audience useth these words Non indoctas fabulas sequuti c. Not induced by vain fables as the Gentiles were have we believed and made known to you the power and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ but for that we have been made eye-witnesses of his greatness c. 27. Thus began S. Peter to persuade his Hearers alleging 2 or 3 strong Inducements of credibility for the same First that he and the rest of his Apostles had conversed with Christ himself upon earth and had been eye-witnesses of all his doings And secondly he allegeth that famous Miracle upon the Mount Thabor when he with S. James and S. John were present at his transfiguration and heard the voice from heaven This is my beloved Son hear him And thirdly he allegeth the Predictions of the old Prophets concerning Christ's coming life actions death and resurrection which S. Peter doth prefer before his sight knowledge and experience had with Christ and worthily for that the Predictions of the Scriptures and Prophets being written by God's Spirit so many Ages before Christ was born and now fufilled so evidently in his Person the Apostles sight and experience thereof was but a testimony to the others verity and nothing so certain as the foretellings of the said Prophets so evidently verifi'd in their sights 28. And yet were all these things but inducements and arguments of credibility as I have said and not demonstrations For albeit the truth of Scriptures be most certain and infallible in it self yet to me who must take them upon credit of others either concernings the books themselves traductions or interpretations or some other such circumstances they cannot have the clearness and evidence to convince our Vnderstandings which philosophical Demonstrations have albeit the assent of our Faith induced by these Arguments of credibility together with the help of our pious affection and assistance of God's grace be much more sure firm and immovable than that which is gotten by human knowledge which is partly seen in that a stronger reason coming against my knowledge I do change my judgment but not in Faith if it be sound The cause whereof is for that Faith is grounded upon a more certain foundation than is human science to wit upon the credit and authority of God himself wherein also is to be noted that these Inductions and Arguments of credibility may be much more evident to some than to others As for example the Miracles done by God in bringing home of the Jews from Egypt were much more evident to those Jews that then lived and were present and saw them than to others that came afterwards Albeit the Faith and Belief of some of the later might be as firm and constant as the former And so the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles were more evident to those that saw them than unto us that hear them only by relation tho' yet our Faith may be as good and firm yea more commendable and meritorious than theirs in that we believe them without seeing according to the aforesaid Saying of our Saviour to S. Thomas And this is the great Piety and Mercy of Almighty God that we that come after in the end of the World shall lose nothing if we will by our so late coming but may be equal in merit to the first 29. Well then this is the second Point what Arguments of credibility Christ hath left unto us for proof of Christian Faith whereof as I said all the ancient Fathers Books are full and you may see many in Eusebius's Learned Books De praeparatione demonstratione evangelica but especially in those that before him wrote Apologies for Christians in times of Persecution as Justin Martyr Tertullian and others S. Austin also in 22 excellent Books that he wrote De Civitate Dei gathered many And you may see good store laid up in our English Tongue in the first Book of Resolution c. 4. entituled Proofs of Christianity Which Arguments being indifferently weighed together with the absurdities of all other Religions besides the Christian do make our Faith most
this Principle That every Whole is greater than its Part or that man is a reasonable Creature or like evident things and then is our Vnderstanding forc'd to yield thereunto and consequently hath the less Merit by how much less freedom it leaveth to our will and affection to give our assent or no. But yet this knowledg gotten by human Reason doth not so take away the merit of the other that proceeded of free assent of Faith but that both may stand together in one and the self-same man about one and the self-same thing to wit Faith and Demonstration as distinct lights gotten by different and distinct means the one by Revelation from God the other by Demonstration of Reason for that otherwise this great inconvenience say the Authors that hold this Opinion would follow that learned men should be in far worse case for their merits in Faith than the ignorant for that whensoever the said learned men do come by means of their study to see clearly by Reason the truth of any Conclusion of Divinity or Article of Belief which simply before they did believe only as revealed from God which thing may very well happen and often doth to learned men that then they should lose their former Faith or at leastwise the Merit thereof if it be granted that Faith and Science may in no case stand together 36. But to leave this to be disputed in Schools and to return to our purpose There is no doubt but that some Points belonging to Christian Faith may plainly and absolutely be demonstrated and prov'd by human Reason Science as those which I have here touched of One God his Omnipotency Providence and the like Some other there be which tho' they cannot be altogether so absolutely convinc'd by Demonstrations yet may they in part by way of supposition that is to say by supposing some one or two Points belonging thereunto which the Adversary will either grant or cannot deny As for example Supposing there is a God and that he hath appointed any Religion to mankind and that the Prophets and Prophesies of the Old Testament are to be believed it is not hard to prove and demonstrate the Verity of Christian Religion against either Jew or Gentile And the like is it in this matter here treated by me in this Book against J. Fox and his Fellows about the Beginning Planting Growing and Continuance of Catholic Religion For if you suppose only that Christ is God and that he hath appointed any Religion at all and that the first Religion and Church instituted by him was true and truly meant by him and that he was able to perform his promises made to the first Christians for the Preservation and Perpetuity thereof This I say being granted what I infer in this Treatise followeth by necessary consequence of moral Demonstration as you will find in the perusal 37. These four Points then I thought good gentle Reader to touch briefly in this Preface meaning to make four several Inferences out of the same not unprofitable in mine opinion to the purpose we have in hand For out of the First Point concerning the height and sublimity of matters of our Faith above the capacity of Man's Reason I make this inference That every one ought to come to treat and talk of such things as belong to Faith and Belief with great reverence respect modesty and submission of mind not condemning that which his sense or reason reacheth not unto nor making the Depth of his own Capacity the Rule and Measure of his Belief A thing noted in the Sect of Manichees by S. Austin who writeth That for this cause principally he was nine years of their Company for that they told him still he being a young man desirous of Knowledg that Catholics did superstitiously require Faith before Reason and that They the Manichees forsooth did teach nothing but that which should clearly be discuss'd by force of good Argument and Reason before it was believed c. Vpon which occasion also the said Father wrote that excellent Book beforementioned de Utilitate Credendi of the great utility and infinite commodities which Catholic Christian People have in believing simply by Tradition of their Ancestors that Faith which is established in the Universal Church of Christ tho' their own Reason arrive not to penetrate the same for whosoever openeth once his Ears especially the Unlearned sort to hearken to Human Reasons against the Mysteries of their Faith he is in danger presently either to lose his Faith or at leastwise the Merit thereof together with the peace comfort and tranquility of his mind and thereby openeth a wide gap to the Devil and all his Instruments as well Infidels as Heretics to enter in and trouble the House of his Conscience 38. And as for Heretics it hath been an old practice to trouble or draw men from Catholic Religion or make them stagger by this means of pretending human Reason against Belief as we have shewed by example of the Manichees who took this trick from the old Heathen Philosophers whom S. Hierom for this cause principally calleth the Patriarchs of Heretics The Arians also deceiv'd many by the tricks of human Reason drawing out their Napkins as Theodoretus saith and asking the common people whether Three corners thereof could be One or no and then inferring deceitfully thereupon said No more could Three Persons be One God. The Sadducees founded their Heresie against the Resurrection of the Flesh upon the contrariety it seem'd to have with human Reason which prevail'd afterwards with divers sorts of Heretics that had infinit Followers as Simon Magus Basilides Hymenaeus Philetus Valentinus Marcion Appelles the Ophites Cerdonists Cainites Albigenses and others And now in our days with Zuinglians Calvinists Anabaptists Trinitarians Family of Love Brownists and divers other Sects who do nothing but rave and blaspheme against the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament upon the same ground that it seemeth contrary to Sense and human Reason And finally this is a way to all Misbelief Atheism and Infidelity c. 39. Out of the Second Point concerning Arguments of Credibility for our Belief I infer That seeing God hath left us such store and variety of Arguments for our comfort and consolation in that we believe every man ought to be diligent and careful to seek out and use them and not suffer himself to be overborn by deceitful quarrelling people in a suit of so great importance without looking upon his Writings and Evidences that he hath for the same For how greatly would we condemn the sloth and negligence of a Man who descending for many Ages as lawful Heir from a most Ancient and Noble House of great Riches and Possessions and seeing false Pretenders to make claim thereunto and by slight and intrusion to put both Him and his Posterity from the same How much I say should we condemn him if having whole Chests full of
c. In the end Wilfrid in his Disputation prevailed by his Impostures having bewitched the two Kings that were present King Oswyn and King Egfrid Did you ever hear a more shameless tongue But this he wrote of St. Wilfrid Obiter and by the way in the Narration he maketh of B. Colman But when he cometh to talk of him in particular and severally he is far more bitter and impudent against him telling us first how that after Wilfrid had been in France Italy and Rome to study and there learned the Mathematical Calculations of times out of the Gospels Reversus in Patriam Romanas Consuetudines contra Quartadecimanos sic enim pios homines tunc derisorié vocabant disceptationibus in Synodo publicis defendebat gerebatque circa collum reliquiarum quas Roma tulerat capsulam quandam c. Et Archiepiscopus denique ob haec his similia constitutus bis infra spatium 45 annorum non ob Regum insolentiam ut Polidorus immodesté scribit sed ob suam temeritatem imò malitiam atque neguitias plures Archiepiscopatu pulsus est longo tandem confectus senio periit Anno Christi 710. He returning from Rome to his Country did defend by public Disputations in a Synod the Roman Customs against these men who being Pious and Godly were called scoffingly in those days Quartadecimans he carried about his Neck a certain Box of Saints Reliques which he brought with him from Rome And being for these and other like things made Archbishop he was driven out twice within 45 years from his Archbishopric and this not by the Insolency of the Kings that drave him out as Polidor doth immodestly write but rather for his own Rashness yea Malice and many Wickednesses c. And so at length being consumed with Old Age he perished in the year of Christ 710. 19. Behold here a Narration worthy the Spirit of a new Gospeller and old Apostata against so Venerable and Worthy a Pillar of our Primitive English Church as was St. Wilfrid Mark how he is tax'd for travelling and studying at Rome for defending by public Disputations the Roman Custom of celebrating Easter which yet was defended and decreed openly by the General Council of Nice as before you have heard and after shall be proved for bearing a Box of Reliques about his Neck brought from Rome which no doubt is one of the things that most troubleth the Spirit of John Bale as it did the Devils and wicked Spirits in England who cry'd and were cast out by the same as you may read in them that write his Life 20. Moreover he saith That for his own Wickedness he was driven out of his Archbishopric and so finally perished in the year 710. As for his perishing if he perished that lived so austere a Religious Life converted so many thousand English Heathens to Christian Faith wrought so many Miracles as are recorded of him then woe to Us that cannot imitate so great Holiness and woe to John Bale that ran out of Religion and being a Fryer took a Wench named Faithful Dorothy and that as himself braggeth Neque ab homine neque per hominem sed ex speciali Christi dono Neither from man nor by man but by the special Gift of Christ as tho' Christ did use to divide such Gifts to Fryers that had vowed Chastity And how good a Fellow he became afterward and how pleasant a Companion you may understand by his own words when writing of his Works he saith Facetias jocos sine certo numero feci I have written Jests and Pastimes without any certain number a fit Argument for a new Gospelling Fryer But yet how far this exercise of Jesting was from the Gravity and Holiness of St. Wilfrid no man can doubt And so himself miserable man may be thought to have perished while the other reigneth eternally in Heaven 21. And as for Refutation of the horrible Slander That for his Wickedness St. Wilfrid was driven out of his Archbishopric I have no better means present than to oppose against this lying Apostata the Universal Consent of all Antiquity especially those that wrote his Life as St. Bede and after him Hedius Odo Fridegenus Petrus Blesensis and others who have written both his Life and Death as of a great Saint and his Memory and Festival Celebration is held throughout the Universal Church upon the 12th day of October as all Martyrologies do testifie And thus much of the Insolency of John Bale against the person of St. Wilfrid 22. But now whereas further he is not ashamed to defend the Jewish Custom and the Quartadecimans condemned for it saying That they were pious men and were called by the nickname of Quartadecimans for a scoff only I am forced to deal further therein and to shew him first to be an Heretical and most shameless Calumniator for that the name of Quartadecimani or Quatuordecimani signifying those that observe the fourteenth day of the Moon of March to celebrate Easter is an old name appointed to those that held that Heretical Use for many Ages agone as may appear by St. Epiphanius that wrote 1200 years agone whose words are these Emersit rursus mundo alia Haeresis Tesseradecatitarum appellata quos Quartadecimanos quidam appellant There is another Heresie sprung up in the World of some that are called in Greek Tesseradecatites which others in Latin do call Quartadecimans c. The Explication of which words St. Augustin after him in his Book of Heresies written to Quod-vult-Deus doth set down thus Hinc appellati sunt quòd non nisi quartadecima Luna mense Martio Pascha celebrant These People are called by the Greek words Tesseradecatites and by the Latin Quartadecimans for that they do celebrate Easter upon the fourteenth day of the Moon of March. Unde etiam Quartadecimani cognominati sunt saith Nicephorus lib. 4. Histor cap. 36. for which cause they are called also Quartadecimans 23. And yet further the same men were called also by a third name of Paschatites as appeareth both by St. Philastrius Bishop of Brixia somewhat before St. Epiphanius who in his Catalogue of Heresies numbring up these Paschatites yieldeth the reason of their name in these words Qui asserunt quartadecima Luna celebrandum esse Pascha non autem sicuti Ecclesia Catholica celebrat Who affirm that Easter-day is to be celebrated upon the fourteenth of the Month of March upon whatsoever day it shall fall out and not as the Catholic Church doth accustom to expect the Sunday 24. Well then we see that St. Wilfrid and other Roman Catholics of his time did not invent the name of Quartadecimani for a scoff to disgrace godly men thereby as ungodly John Bale blusheth not to avouch but that it is an old name invented and appointed by the Universal Primitive Church to them that defended obstinatly the Jewish Custom of celebrating Easter-day strictly upon the
of Religion he wrote again to have the Civil and Imperial Laws sent over to him whereby to govern his Kingdom according to Christian Religion 19. All this I say doth Fox set down afterward very particularly shewing that after King Lucius and his Realm had received the Baptism of Christ were made Christians and had turned twenty-eight Heathen Flamens and three Archflamens that were before of Gentiles into so many Christian Bishops and Archbishops All this being done and well settled the foresaid King Lucius saith he sent again to the said Eleutherius for the Roman Laws thereby likewise to be governed as in Religion now they were framed accordingly Vnto whom Eleutherius again writeth after the tenor of these words following Ye require of us the Roman Laws c. 20. Whereby it is evident that this Letter of Eleutherius if it be true and not feigned by Fox was written to King Lucius some number of years after his Conversion seeing he could not setttle his Realm as here Fox describeth but in some good space of time Holinshead Hooker and Harrison Disciples also of this Fox in this do take upon them to determine the Time tho' I know not by what Authority saying That it was three years after King Lucius his Conversion and Baptism The Faith of Christ say they being thus planted in the Island Anno 177 it came to pass the third year of the Gospel received that Lucius did send again to Eleutherius the Bishop requiring that he might have some brief Epitome of the Order of Discipline then used in the Church c. 21. Thus hold they and that upon this second Embassage followed the foresaid Letter of Eleutherius to King Lucius Which if it be true then let them give Sentence of their good Father what an egregious Hypocrit and Deceiver he was to argue out of this Letter That forasmuch as it appeareth by the same that King Lucius was a Christian when this Letter was written Ergo King Lucius was not converted by Eleutherius but by some other before him tho' perhaps he might help somewhat to his Confirmation in Religion c. 22. But now to the substance of the Letter it self or rather of the piece or parcel that it hath pleased Fox and these his Scholars to impart with us You must note first That these good Scholars seeing their Master to have left us this English Epistle of Eleutherius so imperfect and curtail'd as it seemeth to have neither end or just beginning do say that the rest was lost which yet Fox telleth us not Secondly they seeing the Title to make much against them left it out as before hath been said Thirdly touching the very Corps it self of the Epistle set down by him they put it down so different both in Words Sentences Authorities and Texts of Scripture from that which Fox hath as it sheweth either the thing to be wholly feigned by Them or their Master or that they have a great Liberty and Priviledge to alter the same at their pleasures 23. And this would be sufficient for this matter but further perchance you might demand Why this Epistle of Eleutherius is alledged and urged so earnestly by them seeing it seemeth to make so little for them Whereunto I answer That the chiefest Causes seem to be two or three The first That Fox might frame thereupon his former foolish Argument That forasmuch as by this Epistle it appeareth that King Lucius was a Christian when this Epistle was written by Eleutherius it may seem that Eleutherius converted him not nor any other sent from Rome the falshood and childishness of which Argument hath been sufficiently laid open before 24. The second Cause is to found two points of Doctrin thereon The one That Scriptures only are sufficient to govern any Kingdom without other Ecclesiastical Civil or Temporal Laws which yet themselves do not practise where they have Dominion as experience teacheth us The other point is That every King is God's Vicar that is to say absolute and supreme Head in all Causes as well Spiritual as Temporal within his Realm and to this end is brought in the Testimony of this Letter of Eleutherius not only by Fox Holinshead Hooker Harrison Hastings and other of that Crew taking one from another that Argument but even their great Champion Jewell as Holinshead relateth in the first Volume of his Stories 25. The Reverend Father John Jewell saith he sometime Bishop of Salisbury writeth in his Reply unto Harding 's Answer That the said Eleutherius for general Order to be taken in the Realm and Churches here wrote his advice to Lucius in manner and form following Ye have received in the Kingdom of Britanny by God's Mercy both the Law and Faith of Christ ye have both the New and the Old Testament out of the same through God's Grace by the advice of your Realm make a Law and by the same through God's sufferance rule your Kingdom of Britanny for in that Kingdom you are God's Vicar c. 26. These are the words alledged by Master Jewel out of this Epistle which differ not much from that which is in Fox and Holinshead But both of them do add a third Clause out of the said Epistle which is this A King hath his name of Ruling and not of having a Realm You shall be a King while you rule well but if you do otherwise the name of a King shall not remain with you but you shall utterly lose and forgo it which God forbid And then maketh Holinshead this Annotation in these words Hitherto out of the Epistle that Eleutherius sent unto Lucius wherein many pretty Observations are to be collected if time and place would serve to stand upon them 27. So he saith but what Annotations these are he declareth not tho' it be easie to guess by others which he maketh in other places For that in the very next page before he maketh us a very grave Discourse How that Lucius sent to Rome the second time for a Copy of such politic Orders as were then used in the Regiment of the Church but that Eleutherius for divers reasons thought it best not to lay any more upon the Necks of the New Converts of Britanny than Christ and his Apostles had already set down to all men in the Scriptures And is not this a wise Discourse as tho' no Temporal Laws were to be made in a Christian Commonwealth but only those that are set down in Scriptures Who seeth not the madness of these Conclusions or Illations Nay who doth not consider how greatly this matter is against themselves That King Lucius dwelling so far off from Rome as he did yea being otherwise an Enemy to the Roman Nation as these men confess that he was did notwithstanding so highly respect even in those ancient days the See and Bishop of Rome that he submitted himself thereto and demanded from thence direction not
respect of obscurity and contemptibility John Fox may easily joyn his Church with them as also in having some sparkles of true Doctrin but not the whole body of true Doctrin among them 5. He may joyn also in divers particular Doctrins which these men held as peculiar Heresies to themselves and were condemn'd by the Church for such in those days and are held also in these days by John Fox his Church in the very self-same words sense and meaning as they were held by those Heretics As namely he may joyn with the Donatists who said that thy were the only true Church and called the Succession of Bishops in the Church of Rome as Sectaries do at this day the Chair of Pestilence and moreover that the whole Church besides themselves had erred c. which is the common Song of our modern Protestants And further if you will see how near of Kin these Donatists and our Protestants be both in Manners Conditions Doctrin and Belief read St. Augustin Optatus and other Writers that objected against them these things following to wit That they had cast the blessed Sacrament of the Altar to Dogs overthrew Altars broke Chalices and sold them cast a Bottle of holy Chrism out of the Church-window shaved Priests heads to take away their Unction turned Nuns out of their Monasteries to the World polluted all Church stuff and the like And whether John Fox and his Fellows do not joyn also in these Points let the Reader judge 6. They may joyn in like manner with the Eunomians for their only Faith who affirmed as St. Augustin saith quòd nihil cuiquam obesset guorumlibet perpetratio ac perseverantia peccatorum si hujus quae ab illis docebatur Fidei particeps esset That the committing and perseverance in never so great sins could not hurt him that was partaker of their Faith. They may also joyn with the Novatians of that time in denying the Churches power in forgiving sins They may joyn with the Aerians who taught as St. Angustin saith non oportere orare vel Oblationem offerre pro mortuis that we ought not to pray or offer Oblations for them that be dead and further That solemn Feasts are not to be appointed by the Church but every one to fast when he would lest he should seem to be under the Law c. 7. Thus testifieth St. Augustin of him and of Jovinian that followed him both the said Father and St. Hierom that wrote against him do accuse him to have held That all sins were equal before God that fasting from certain meats was not profitable that chast Marriage was equal in honor and merit to professed Virginity in Nuns and that he had been cause that some Nuns had married in Rome and finally that the reward in Heaven was equal to all men And is not this good currant Protestant Doctrin and Practice at this day But let us go forward They may joyn also with the Helvidians or Antidicomarians in impugning our Blessed Lady and equalling Marriage with Virginity And much more with Vigilantius in impugning the continent sole Life of Clergy-men Worship of Martyrs at their Tombs use of Candles and Torches in the Church by day-time Invocation of Saints Vows of Poverty and the like 8. I will go no further for that this is sufficient to see what Communion John Fox his Church did hold in these three Ages either with the common known Catholic Church of Christ or with these lurking Assemblies of Heretics pursued and persecuted by the said Church and for that John Fox is guilty to himself in this behalf he hath proceeded accordingly in his Acts and Monuments For whereas he promiseth a several Book of these second 300 years under this Title The second Book containing the next 300 years after Christ c. he not finding any sufficient matter for his purpose to patch up this second Book withal as he did the former with recounting the Martyrs of those days what shift deviseth he think you to blear his Readers eyes with all and to seem to say somewhat in the continuation of his Story You shall hear briefly and by this one trick you may learn to know the man and his meaning for the time to come 9. First he writeth but five leaves in all for the continuation of the Story of these second 300 years A short Volume you will say for so great and copious an Argument And yet further you must know that of these five leaves he passeth two in telling tales and matters that fell under Pope Eleutherius and King Lucius more than a hundred years before and consequently it should have been told in his former Book by order of Time and Story and then the other three leaves he spendeth in setting down the entrance of the Saxons into England about the year of Christ 449 and the Succession of their Pagan Kings unto St. Augustin's coming So as of all the foresaid glorious Christian Church for 300 years together to wit from Pope Sylvester and Constantine unto Pope Gregory and Mauritius the Emperour wherein she flourished more than in any other three Ages we find only five Leaves designed but scarce three Lines performed Whereby you may perceive how little part John Fox persuadeth himself to have in these three Ages for his hidden Church You may consider also what an honest Bargainer he is and how well he performeth his promise made in the first page of his whole Work wherein he saith That he will set forth at large the whole Race and Course of the Church from the Primitive Age to these latter times of ours c. whereof you see he hath performed nothing at all hitherto either largely or briefly I mean of this Race or Course of any Church General or Particular Domestical or Foreign Good or Bad True or False His or Ours for of the first 300 years he wrote only the ten Persecutions as you have seen and of the second 300 years he writeth nothing at all 10. Which if you consider well is a strange confession of his own weakness and poverty seeing that these three Ages to wit the fourth fifth and sixth are the most abundant of matter that are to be found in the Church of Christ from the beginning and so might he see by the Centuries of his Masters the Magdeburgians who do enlarge themselves much more in these three Ages than in the former enforced thereunto by the multitude of matter tho' all against themselves as before hath been noted and here will also appear which John Fox well perceiving thought best by slight of silence to avoid that inconvenience of treating a History so apparently against himself Which slight notwithstanding or rather flight every man of mean understanding doth easily see considering that according to the Argument of his Book and particular promise made before he should have declared to us That the Religion of Britanny in these 300
will shew thee my Faith by Works And that these good works did proceed of Faith contrary to the Cavil of John Fox is evident by those pious words of the King where he saith Seeing Almighty God of his Mercy and Clemency without any precedent Merit of mine hath given me my Crown I do willingly restore to him again c. 7. But Fox goeth forward in jesting at the said King Ethelwolf saying That he that had been once nuzl'd up in his Youth among Priests he was always good and devout to holy Church c. And then passeth he on to shew How after he had established matters in his own Kingdom he went to Rome and carried with him his little Son Alured or Alfred committing him to the bringing up of Pope Leo IV. as before hath been said where also he re-edified the English School founded by King Offa and destroy'd by Fire a little before under King Egbert Moreover he gave saith Fox yearly to be paid in Rome 300 Marks to be distributed in this manner 100 Marks to maintain the Lights of St. Peter 's Church and another hundred Marks to maintain the Lights of St. Paul 's Church and the third hundred to be disposed in good works at the Pope's appointment At all which Fox jesteth also merrily building his Church by these Mocks and Mews 8. And to like effect he reciteth a Miracle registred by William Malmsbury and by the Charter of King Ethelstone Son and Heir to King Edward the elder which King having escaped a great Danger at Winchester where one of his Subjects named Duke Alfred and other of his Nobles conspiring together presently after his Father's Death would have put out his eyes But he escaping that Danger took the said Alfred Prisoner and for that he denied that he had any such intention the good King thought there was no better Trial than to send him to Rome to Pope John XI to be try'd by a solemn religious Oath before him The Pope made him swear before St. Peter's Altar who forswearing the said Conspiracy fell down presently before the said Altar in the sight of all the People and was carried thence in the arms of his Servants to the aforesaid School or English-men where he died the third night after wherewith the Pope and all Rome remain'd astonished and the Pope sent presently into England to know of the King whether he would pardon him and suffer his Body to be buried in Christian Sepulcher which King Ethelston after consultation had with the rest of his Nobility and by the earnest intercession of Duke Alfred's Friends was content that he should be so buried but yet by Sentence of the whole Realm the Possessions of the said Alfred were adjudg'd to the King's use who bestow'd them all upon Churches and Monasteries to the Honor of God and St. Peter which had given this Judgment in the Controversie 9. All this is testified by the said King's Charter recorded by Will. of Malmsb. and recited by Fox and the said Charter towards the end hath these words Et sic judicata est mihi tot a possessio ejus in magnis modicis quam Deo Sancto Petro dedi nec justius novi quà m Deo Sancto Petro hanc possessionem dare qui emulum meum in conspectu omnium cadere fecerunt mihi prosperitatem Regni largiti sunt And by this means the whole Possession both great and small of Duke Alfred was adjudged unto me which I gave unto God and to St. Peter nor do I know to whom I should more justly give the same than to God and to St. Peter who made my Adversary to fall down in the sight of all men and gave unto me the Prosperity of my Kingdom Thus wrote he about the year of Christ 933 as John Fox counteth and I marvel he would relate this Story being so much against himself and his Religion and in confirmation of ours as it is for that it sheweth that God and St. Peter in those days wrought Miracles in Rome when Fox saith that the Faith and Religion of Rome was far out of order from the true Gospel But this is the misery and calamity of this poor Fellow and his Cause as often before I have noted that either he must write nothing at all of these Times and Ages or else he must write Testimonies against himself 10. I will give you one short Example more where he allegeth us a Narration of a very old Writer which he saith he had in Manuscript lent him by one named William Carre and thereupon he citeth it still by the name of Historia Cariana this Story being written as it seemeth in those Ages and of the Miseries that happened to England by the Incursions of Danes and other Infidels seeketh out the causes of God's wrath in this behalf saying thus In Anglorum quidem Ecclesia primitiva Religio clarissimè splenduit c. In the primitive Church of England Religion did most clearly shine insomuch that Kings Queens Princes Dukes Consuls Barons and Rulers of Churches incensed with the desire of the Kingdom of Heaven laboured and stirred as it were amongst themselves to enter into Monastical Life and into voluntary Exile and Solitariness forsaking all to follow their Lord where in process of time all Virtue so much decay'd among them that in Fraud and Treachery none seemed like unto them neither was to them any thing odious or hateful but Piety and Justice nor any thing in price and honor but Civil War and shedding Blood Wherefore Almighty God sent upon them Pagan And Cruel Nations like swarms of Bees 11. This relateth Fox out of his Carian Story and I know not to what end he should relate it but only to shew that while English-men lived Godly according to the fashion of their primitive Church they esteemed and honored highly Religious and Monastical Life and many leaving the World with the Pleasures and Possessions thereof entred into that Religious Course endeavoring to follow and imitate their Lord and Master therein and that so long was England happy and blessed by God To which effect if John Fox do allege the same then is it evident what a good Conclusion he doth make against himself his Religion at this day that are such professed Enemies to that kind of life so highly here commended and consequently the Relator thereof doth shew himself to be as well John Fool as John Fox not considering what maketh for him or against him 12. But to the end that we should not think that he hath made Peace or Friendship with Monks for all this or that he liketh their Life or Profession any thing the better for so many praises given them by ancient Authors he scoldeth at them every where and upon every occasion writing over the Pages and Titles of his Book these Superscriptions Monks Superstitious Monks Monks married Monks meer Lay-men in old times and the like
a Fox in all things and to deal sincerely in nothing I shall allege the words of the Authors that write of this matter Certain Heretics say they to the number of Eighty were burned in Argentina in Switzerland for that they denied Fornication to be any sin at all for that it is a natural act and that it was as lawful to eat flesh in Lent as at any other time c. 26. Behold what holy Martyrs these were and whether it be likely they were burned by Pope Innocentius seeing they were burned in Argentina Consider also that of Eighty he there maketh a Hundred by the art of Exaggeration and Multiplication Add likewise to these saith he Waldenses or Albigenses with a great number more to which number belonged Raymundus Earl of Tholose Marsilius Patavinus Gulielmus de Sancto Amore Simon Tornacensis c. Here if John Fox do take the Waldenses and Albigenses to be all one Sect as it seemeth he doth by his using the word or and adjoyning the Earl of Tholose as belonging to them both then is it both false and great ignorance also in him For that the Waldenses otherwise called the poor men of Lyons began about the year of Christ 1160 or 1180 as other men write before Innocentius III. came to be Pope Their beginning was by one Waldo a rich Citizen of the Town who giving all his Wealth to a certain Community or Brotherhood of Men whom he called the poor men of Lyons made a Society of them with certain Rules after the form of a Religious Confraternity as Aeneas Sylvius describeth pretending Holiness at the beginning and with that pretence went afterward to Rome and demanded an Approbation of that Society from Pope Lucius as testifieth also Vrspergensis who was then present in Rome and saw them But the Pope seeing certain Superstitions among them refused the same Wherewith they being offended began to cry out against the Pope and therewith to defend divers Errors and most absurd Heresies whereof as some are held at this day by the Protestants so divers are not nor will John Fox I presume defend them As for Example these that follow noted generally by all Authors that write of them 27. I. That all Carnal Concupiscence and Conjunction is lawful when Lust doth burn us II. That all Oaths are unlawful unto Christians for any cause whatsoever in this World because it is written Nolite jurare Do not swear Mat. 5. Jac. 5. III. That no Judgment of Life and Death is permitted to Christians in this life for that it is written Nolite judicare Mat. 7. Luc. 6. IV. That the Creed of the Apostles is to be contemned and no account at all to be made of it V. That no other Prayer is to be used by Christians but only the Pater Noster set down in Scripture VI. That the power of Consecrating the Body of Christ and of hearing Confessions was left by Christ not only to Priests but also to Lay-men if they be just VII That no Priests must have any Livings at all but must live on Alms and that no Bishops or other Dignitaries are to be admitted in the Clergy but that all must be equal VIII That Mass is to be said once only every year to wit upon Maundy-Thursday when the Sacrament was instituted and the Apostles made Priests For that Christ said do this in my remembrance to wit say they that which he did at that time IX Item That the words of Consecration must be no other but only the Pater Noster seven times said over the Bread c. X. By all which and other Articles to the number of thirty three Condemned by the Church which Prateolus and others do recount a man may see that as these Heretics agreed with Protestants in some Points so did they dissent in many more Yea held divers points of Catholic Religion against Protestants together with these Errors And consequently I see no reason why these men should be gathered up by John Fox as choâ—en Members of that Protestant Church but for that they have no other and yet will needs seem to have some And thus much for the Walâ—enses 28. The Albigenses were another Sect of Heretics rising some thirty or forty years after the Waldenses under Innocentius III. Anno Domini 1216. And their beginning was at a Town called Albigium in the Province of Tholosa Who albeit in some points they agreed with the said Waldenses yet as all Sects are wont to do they differed greatly in many other Articles and grew so fast in number as Caesarius saith that in a little time they infected a thousand Cities and great Towns round about and had an Army of 70000. fighting Men to defend their Heresie For which Cause also they called help from the Moors in Barbary but yet were overcome by the Catholic Army that was not above 8000. as Historiographers do write the Captain whereof was the most Christian Prince Simon of Momfort And after this Battel given the most part of those Heretics were Converted by St. Dominicks Preaching 29. The Points that these Men held besides the denial of the Popes Supremacy Purgatory Prayer for the Dead and some other such Articles wherein they agreed with the Protestants of our days they held also many other Articles wherein they disagreed both from the Protestants and us As for Example I. They held with the Manichees that then were two Gods one good and another evil and that as the good God created the Soul so the evil created the Body II. They denied all Resurrection of the Body And that it was in vain for Christians to use any kind of Prayer at all or to have Churches for that purpose Seeing it profiteth nothing all things being irrevocably determined by Gods Providence III. That external Baptism was an idle Ceremony and to be rejected as superfluous IV. That mens Souls did pass from one to another yea through Beasts and Serpents And that God Created no new Souls from the beginning of the World but changeth them only from Body to Body c. 30. These and many other such like Beastly absurdities of theirs are recorded by the Writers of those times and namely by those here quoted And more then this their soul wicked behaviour is related to have been so abominable as Christian modesty doth scarce permit to be repeated as for Example of doing their easement upon the Altar and making themselves clean with the â—all and Corporals thereof Their abusing the Body of a Strumpet upon a high Altar in despight of a Crucifix that stood there whose Ears Nose and Arms they cut off and then tying a Haltar about his Neck they drew him most scornfully about the Streets of Tholosa c. and other like And these are the Saints gathered up by John Fox to frame his new Church 31. And for that all the rest that do ensue in his Catalogue of particular Men of his
is to be Printed severally for that the bulk of these two hath grown to a sufficient bigness for one Tome or Volume only I might note to the Reader in this last Paragraph that as our Adversaries do imitate the Donatists in the Point before mentioned out of their Conference with S. Augustin and other Catholic Bishops so have they done it also hitherto in flying all equal and lawful Conference with us as the Donatists did with those old Catholics so much as lay in their power until it was imposed upon them by commandment of the Emperor at the petition of S. Augustin and the Catholic Party as the said Father doth relate in his forenamed Book written of that Conference telling us two points in particular of their dealing in that Affair which he expresseth in these words Qui causam bonam non se habere sciebant id egerunt primum ne collatio fieret aut causa ipsa ageretur sed quia hoc obtinere minimè poterant id effecerunt multiplicitate gestorum ut quod actum est non facilè legeretur The Donatists knowing they had an evil Cause endeavored first to bring to pass that the Conference should not be made nor the Cause it self be handled at all but when they could not obtain this then went they about to put down so many things in writing as they might not easily be read 33. Thus writeth St. Augustin and for this cause thought he good to set down a Sum of all that passed calling it Breviculum Collationum shewing perspicuously the infinite Cavils Frauds and Shifts of these Heretics to avoid all due trial for when after all other delays both Parties were now met together Instare caeperunt saith he ut priùs ageretur de tempore de mandato de persona de causa tunc ad negotii merita veniretur The Donatists began to make new instance after all other Cavils and Exceptions taken before that first it might be treated about the time that this Conference should endure and about the Emperor's Commandment or Edict and Clauses thereof and about the Person as well of the Judge and Assistants as the Disputers of both parts and finally of the whole cause of difference what had passed therein between them hitherto and then after all this forsooth they should come to examine the merits of the principal Business or Controversie in hand which in effect would never be for that about every one of these Points the Donatists had many Quarrels as S. Augustin sheweth and by each one thereof they sought delays and particularly whereas order had been taken that 18 Bishops of each side should suffice they would needs have all their side to be admitted and so for ostentation sake they entred saith S. Augustin with great pomp into Carthage to the number of 279 Bishops of that Sect of Donatus a pitiful sight for Catholics together with all their Train Other shifts delays and tergiversations of theirs I leave for brevities sake to be read in S. Augustin himself 34. But how well our English Adversaries have imitated this manner of proceeding of the Donatists for shifting off all publick Conference and Trial for these 44 years of her Majesties Reign being so often and earnestly demanded at their hands is sufficiently known and needeth not to be proved or repeated here But if it would please Almighty God to inspire her Majesty to force them thereunto as he did the Emperor to compel the Donatists to a publick Trial I do not doubt but the like Issue would ensue and the like Sentence be given in that Cause by any indifferent Judge as was given by Marcellinus in the former Controversie to wit as S. Augustin's words are Confutatos à Catholicis Donatistas omnium documentorum manifestatione pronunciavit Marcellinus did pronounce by his Definitive Sentence that the Catholics had confuted the Donatists with manifestation of all kind of Learning And so much for this Matter The End of the Second Part. FINIS Cause of Dedication The substance of the Book Time of Trial. 1 Cor. 11. Philip. 1. Ibidem 1 Thes 1. The honorable course of English Catholics Internal Tribulations Esai 1. 1 Cor. 7. Psal 118. Matth. 8. Marc. 4. Luc. 8. S. Paulin. ep 11. ad Severum Gallican orat in Panaegyric 1. Constantini The moral vertues of Constantine before he was a Christian Euseb l. 8. hist c. 26. The strange deliverances of His Majesty from many perils The King 's excellent Book entituled Basilicon Doron Three rare Points of His Majesty's Book No reason to be yielded why a man should be rather of one Sect than another 1 Reg. 3. Hab. 5. Euseb l. 1. de vit Constant c. 11. Sap. 9. Sir F. Hastings in his Reply pag. 192. How the first Part of this Treatise was increased Arist in topicis Cicer. 1. ad Heren de Orator Why the second part of the search of John Fox's Church was added Fox in the title of his Acts and Monuments in his Protestation to the English Church Why the third part of this Treatise was added about the examination of Fox's Calendar The diligence which men ought to use for informing themselves of the truth of Catholic Religion in time of Heresies Possidon in vit Aug. Aug. l. 4 5. confes Athan. in Symbol vers 2. Mat. 13. Aug. l. de morib Eccl. c. 17. Chry. hom 14. in c. 24. Mat. Matth. 24. Marc. 13. Joann 7. 1 Cor. 11. Chrysost opere imperfect in Matt. cap. 23. pag. 962. Chrysost ibid. A representation of such as are negligent in examining the truth of Catholic Religion Dangerous cogitations The contention about the House and Mannor place The Catholic Parties Plea for the House The application of the two former Examples Four points of consideration about matters of Faith. The first point how our articles of Faith are above man's Reason Greg. hom 36. in Evang. Athan. tract de advent 1. cont Apollin Aug. trast 79. in Joan. ser 1. de festo S. Trin. Hebr. 11. First cause of obscurity in Faith. Second cause Ambr. l. 1. de Abraham c. 3. Third cause Joan. 2. How God proceedeth in revealing his Mysteries Gen. 2.6.7.8 Gen. 20.22.23 Exod. 1.2.3 Deut. 33. Act. 7. Jos 15. How Christ our Saviour proceeded in revealing his Mysteries and why he appeared not to all Act. 10. Joan. 20. Christ's Resurrection how and to whom it was made manifest Matth. 28. John 20. Act. 2.10.13.17 Rom. 4.8.14 1 Cor. 15. 2 Cor. 5. 2 Tim. 2. Luc. 24. Marc. 16. 1 Cor. 10. Marc. 16. The second Point of this consideration that notwithstanding the Articles of our Faith cannot be demonstrated by Reason yet have they sufficient Arguments of credibility Rom. 12. 2 Pet. 1. Arguments of credibility used by S. Peter Matth. 17. Arguments of credibility are not so evident as are philosophical Demonstrations Arguments for proof of Christian Religion Arguments of credibility for Catholic Religion against all