else doe you and your associates confesse that the contrary Tenets were taught and revived by the Ancients And as touching the name of Antichrist if that be appropriate to Heretikes it cannot touch the members of our Church for we make Christ and his Apostles the sole rule of our Faith On the other side if you consider the Pope either as he sits in the place of Christ as his Vicar Generall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is agâ—â—â—â— Christ in the place of Christ as his Vicar or as he and his adherents teach and uphold a doctrine against Christ for the word Antichrist imports both without doubt they beare the markes of Antichrist and consequently the word Heretike reflects upon your selves Cassander tells us there be some who make the Pope of Rome Almost a God Cassand de officio Pii viri preferring his authoritie not onely above the whole Church but above the sacred Scriptures holding his judgement equall to the divine Oracles and for an infallible rule of Faith I see no reason saith he but that these men should be called Pseudo-Catholikes or Papists Indeed I must confesse I much wonder that any Protestant should give you that honourable title of Catholike especially when you terme them by the name of Heretikes Those that have the marke of the Beast imprinted in their foreheads have borrowed both the Name and Nature from him and therefore your Cardinall tells us Bell. de Not. Eccles c. 4. The word Papist is derived from the Pope such as was Peter And more particularly your Gregory Martin and the Rhemists give you to understand Rhem. Annot. in Acts. 11.26 that to be a Papist is to bee a Christian man a childe of the Church and subject to Christs Vicar You that are so inquisitive after other mens pedigrees see if with all your Heraldrie you can make good your nominal descent from Christ and as you stile him Pope Peter Your Father Bristow Bristow Demand 8. as a knowne Antiquarie in this point gives your Father Bellarmine the lye for he avowes it for certaine that your name Papist was never heard of till the dayes of Pope Leo the Tenth and this was 1500. yeares after Christ and this opinion I am sure is most probable and more sutable to the Noveltie of your Religion But say you we Catholikes stile the Knight and the Reformers by the common name of Hereticks You told me formerly the title of Sir would be left for me now you have added to the title the name of Hereticke and you professe it is the worst word of all It seemes the worst word you have is good enough for me But I pardon you and I must let you know that the name of Catholike is as comely with the Professors of your new doctrine as a golden ring in a swines snout And as touching the name of Hereticke wherewith you charge me you rightly resemble Athalia 4 Kings 11. who when shee understood that Joas the right inheritour of the Crowne of Judah was proclaimed King ranne in her furie to the Temple and cryed out Treason Treason when the treason was not in King Joas but in herselfe that wrought it Your Alphonsus à Castro hath written a Booke against the Heretickes in all ages and in his Index haereticorum I have searched diligently and I finde the names of certaine Popes among them but mine owne name I doe not finde For I professe with St. Austin Errare possum haereticus esse nolo I may erre but I will not bee an Hereticke Shall I make my confession unto you I beleeve all things which are contained in the Scriptures and nothing contrary or besides them as matter of faith necessary to salvation Cum hoc credimus priuscredâ—mus nihil amplius credendum esse Tertul. Ibid. I beleeve the holy Catholicke Church This is an Article of my Faith and this I first received from the Apostles Creed Next I undoubtedly beleeve the Nicene Creed and this was called Catholicke by those holy Fathers to distinguish the Heretikes from the Orthodoxe Christians in the Primitive Church or according to your owne words Chap. 1. p. 2. appointed to be publikely professed by all such as meant to bee counted Catholikes Concil Trid. Sess 3. and for the same cause your Councell of Trent decreed it to be received as a Shield against Heresies and therefore by your owne confession the Councels decree and your Creed it selfe I am free from the name of Heretike Lastly I professe and beleeve Athanasius Creed and that Holy and ancient Father witnesseth of that confession Haec est fides Catholica This is the Catholike Faith If therefore I beleeve the Scriptures and Catholike Church which teacheth the true Faith If I beleeve the Articles of the Nicene Creed which distinguisheth the right Beleevers from the Heretikes If I receive Athanasius Creed which containes the summe and substance of all Catholike Faith and doctrine what remaines then why I should not be exempted from the name of Heretike unlesse I shall acknowledge with you the fourth Creed published by Pope Pius the fourth and consequently subscribe to new particular doctrines which as you confesse doth ever accompanie the nature of Heresie But the Reformers are Heretikes He that shall heare but the word Reformers in all probability will conceive that they were men which opposed some errors or heresies crept into the Church and for that cause desired a Reformation In the Churches of Corinth Galatia Pergamus and Thyatira there were some of the Sadduces opinion who denied the Resurrection others that joyned Circumcision and the workes of the Law with Christ and the worke of salvation The Apostles you know did reprove those errors in their dayes and no doubt many accordingly did reforme themselves Now will you condemne those reformed persons for Heretikes because they differed from the rest with an utter dislike of those errors which the seduced partie retained Surely this is the true state and condition of our Church and accordingly your Trent Fathers made a decree for Reformation in the Councell and pretended that it was summoned to redresse Heresies which were crept into the Church and will you say if they had redressed them the Reformers had beene Heretikes The Rogatian Heretikes would have made the world beleeve that they were the onely Catholikes and the Arrian Heretikes called the true Christians sometimes Ambrosians sometimes Athanasians sometimes Homoâ—sians And in this manner St. Paul himselfe was called before the Judges to make answer to matter of Heresie and according to this way which you call Heresie Acts 24. so worship we the God of our Fathers beleeving all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets They that so rashly pronounce and call every thing Heresie are often stricken with their owne dart Alph. de Heres l. 1. c. 7. saith your owne Alphonsus and fall into the same pit which themselves have digged for others Hee shewes therefore
For indeed those bookes of the Cardinall are no other then the exercise of his readers patience or at the best of his owne wit or imagination To the eighteenth For Wickliff and the Waldenses the Knight insisted not upon their testimonie though well hee might for they were most eminent professours of the truth and most free from those foule aspersions which their sworne enemies and bloudy persecutors cast upon them because his purpose was in this chapter as hee professeth in the title vos vestris gladijs jugulare to cut your throat with your owne swords and condemne you out of your owne mouth as Christ doth the evill servant in the Gospell 'T is true Wickliffe was condemned for an heretique in the Councell of Constance many yeares after his death and barbarous inhumanitie was also exercised upon his bones Yet will it follow no more from hence that Wickliffe was an heretique then that Ieremie was a false Prophet or Christ and his Apostles false teachers because they were condemned by councells of Priests And of all Councells that of Constance carries the least credit because it is not only condemned by all the reformed Churches but by the Roman Church her selfe and the Decrees thereof repealed in later Councells Touching the Waldenses what the Iesuite here writeth of them hee confirmeth by no testimonie and the contrarie may be demonstrated out of Orthwinus Gratius Histoire des Vaudois and the Historie and confession of the Waldenses lately set forth out of authenticall records in French To the nineteenth The Iesuits answer to Durand concerning the materiall part of bread remaining in the Sacrament but not the substance implying that the materiall part of Bread and the substance are different things is not materiall nor true For though the materiall part of any substance be a distinct thing both from the forme the compositum yet is it a substance and hath accidents inherent in it For according to the axiome of the metaphysickes ex non substantijs non fit substantia a substance or substantiall compound is not made or composed of non substances Sith the whole is not distinct really from all the parts united together the compound cannot bee substantiall unlesse the parts of which it consisteth be substances Durand therefore affirming that the materiall part of the bread remained in the Sacrament after Consecration held that some part of the substance of bread remained and therefore the Knight no way wrongeth Durand but Flood the Knight If Durand held that the whole substance of the bread was turned into the body of Christ according to your Trent Decree De Euch. l. 3. c. 13. why doth Card. Bellarmine censure his doctrine as hereticall if he taught not that the whole substance was converted hee must needs hold that some part of the substance remained as it was before which is all the Knight chargeth him with As for that the Iesuite addeth to salve the matter that he acknowledgeth all others to bee against him in this point Durand in 4. sent dist 11. q. 1. let him put on his Spectacles and reade the place againe and hee shall see there are no such words Only I find quest 3. This modest parenthesis salvo meliori judicio Which indeed are respective words befitting a modest man but no way amounting to a confession that his opinion in that point was singular and that all others were against him which notwithstanding Flood puts upon him To the twentieth Touching Gaufridus and Hostiensis cited by the Knight out of Durand In 4. sent dist 10. q. 1. n. 13. it is evident that howsoever they might peradventure incline to that which the Roman Church determined viz. the second opinion that the bread doth not remaine but is changed yet they no way condemne the third opinion viz. the substance of bread remaines and is together with tho body of Christ For as Durand well noteth they call it an opinion not an errour or an heresie neither doe they say it is to bee reproved but let it passe without any censure which they would not have done if they had held Transubstantiation to be a doctrine de fide to be beleeved of all upon paine of damnation To the twentie one Cutbert Tunstall was a Bishop and in great esteeme among all the learned in his time In his Epitaph in Lambeth Chancell he is styled Aureusiste Senex Tunst de Euch. l. 1. pag. 46. de modo quo id fieret fortasse satiùs erat curiosum quemque relinquere conjecturae sicut liberum fuit ante concilium Lateranense and therefore not lightly to bee filliped off and sleighted by a priest and Iesuit de face vulgi by saying that the matter is not great whether Tunstall said that for which hee is alledged or no because one single Author or two contradicted by others carrieth no credit For I find not that hee is contradicted by any His words are these of the manner and meanes of the reall presence either by Transubstantiation or otherwise perhaps it had beene bettter to leave every man that would bee curious to his owne conjecture as before the Councell of Lateran it was left free Neither did that learned Bishop of Duresme ever retract this opinion For Mr. Bernard Gilpin a holy man and a kinsman of the Bishop affirmeth that the Bishop his Diocesan often told him that Innocent the third had done very unadvisedly in that he had made the opinion of Transubstantiation an article of faith Neither doe wee find that any in his dayes or since before Flood taxed this Bishop for this his opinion To the twentie two None more sleight men of worth then those who want it Erasmus will live both in his owne workes and in the writings of the ancient Fathers and other Classick Authours corrected and set forth by him when a thousand Floods and Leomelij and Daniels a Iesu shall bee buried in perpetuall oblivion Erasmus was in great esteeme with Archbishop Waram and Sir Thomas Moore Lord Chancellor of England and of divers Bishops yea and Cardinalls also beyond the Sea and what Tully spake of Aristotle may bee truly said of him A golden river A hellish lake there is in his writings aureum slumen but in the Iesuit his adversarie lacus averni Concerning private Masses Spectacles Paragraph 3. à pag. 187. vsque ad 199. OVR Saviours words take yee eate ye make nothing against private Masse for Christ there spake to all his Apostles who did all eate and out of that place a man might as well say that all must communicate that are in the Church at the same time as two or three S Pauls words where hee inviteth Christians to imitate him are meant of chastening the body fasting and praying and the like in which Protestants follow him not and if the words bee extended to the Sacrament Catholike Priests imitate S. Paul therein because they are readie to communicate with all such as come worthily to
contradict Romish doctrines not out of disobedience to man but out of obedience to him who commandeth us to contend for the true faith and to reprove and convince all gainesayers What Papists intentions are we take not upon us to judge their doctrines we put to the test of Gods word and finde them false and adulterine and all be it some points of their beliefe considered in themselves might seeme indifferent yet as they hold them they are not because they are not of faith Rom. 14.23 and what soever is not of faith is sinne Now no point of the Romish Creed as they hold it is of that faith the Apostle speaketh of that is divine faith because they ground and finally resolve all their articles not upon Gods word but upon the authority of the Pope Resp ad Archiepis Spalaten c. 47. Firmitas fundamenti â—â— firma licet implicita in aureo hoc fundamento veritatis adhaesio valebit ut in Cypriano sic in nobis ad salutem faenum stipula imbecilitas caries in tecto contignatione explicitae erroris opinio non valebit nec in Cypriano nec in nobis ad perâ—â—tiem or Church of Rome which is but the authority of man whereas on the contrary as Doctor Crakent horpe demonstrateth If any Protestant build hay or stubble upon the true foundation he may he saved because be holdeth the true foundation which is that every doctrine of faith ought to be built upon Scripture If the Iesuit wonder at this conclusion let him weigh the Authors reasons and he will be forced to confesse that the errors if there be any in Protestants in regard they sticke close to the true foundation and implicitly deny them cannot in them be damnable whereas the very true doctrines of faith in Papists because they hold them upon a wrong ground and foundation very much derogatory to God and his truth are not so safe To the third With what face can the Iesuit avow this considering that Prieras before alleaged and other writers approved by the Church of Rome mainetaine this blasphemous assertion that the authority of the Church is greater then the anthority of Scripture and all Papists of note at this day hold that the Scripture is but an imperfect and partiall rule of faith all Protestants on the contrary teach that it is an entire and perfect rule of faith Papists believe the Scripture for the Churches sake Protestants the Church for the Scripture sake Papists resolve all points of faith generally into the Popes infalibility or Churches authority Protestants into the written word of God which as Bellarmine himselfe confesseth De verbo Dei non script l. 4. c. 11. containeth all things necessary for all men to beleeve and is a most certaine and safe rule of beleeveing Yea but saith the Iesuit out of Vincentius Lerinensis De verbo Dei l. 1. c. 2. he that will avoid the deceits and snares of Haeretikes and remaine soundin the faith must strengthen his faith two wayes to wit by the authority of the divine law and the tradition of the Catholike Church This advise of Vincentius is sound and good if it be rightly understood and not in the Iesuits sense Vincentius there by tradition of the Catholike Church understandeth not unwritten verities but the Catholike expositions of holy Scriptures extant in the writings of the Doctors of the Church in all ages and we grant that this Catholike exposition of the Doctors where it can be had is of great force to confirme faith and confound Heretikes Vt Scripturae ecclesiastice intelligentiae jungatur authoritas For the stopping of whose mouth that Father saith and we deny it not that there is great neede to add to the Scripture the Churches sense or interpretation albeit as he there addeth which cutteth the throat of the Iesuits cause The Canon of Scripture is perfect and sufficient of it selfe for all things nay rather as hee correcteth himselfe Over and above sufficient cum sit perfectus scripturae canon sibique adomnia satis superque sufficiat To the fourth Here the Iesuit would make his Reader study a little and his Adversarie to muse Vero nihil verius certo nihil certius but it is indeed whether hee be in his right wits or no. For first as Seneca well resolveth one thing cannot be said truer than another one truth in Divinitie may be more evident to us than another but in it selfe it cannot be truer or surer Secondly admitting there could be degrees of certainty at least quoad nos there can be yet no comparison in regard of such certaintie betweene an Article of the Creed assented unto by all Christians and a controverted conclusion maintained onely by a late faction in the Westerne Church But the sitting of Christ at the right hand of his Father is an Article of the Creed set downe in expresse words in holy Scripture Mark 16.19 Luke 24. consented unto by all Christians in the world whereas the carnall presence of Christ in the Sacrament by Tranfubstantiation is no Article extant in any Creed save onely that of Pope Pius his coyning in the yeare of our Lord 1564. It is neither in words set downe in Scripture as the other Articles are neither can it be necssarily inforced or deduced by consequence as foure great Cardinals of the Roman Church confesse Cameracensis Cajetan Roffensis and Bellarmine Neither was this Doctrine of the Romane Church ever assented unto by the Greeke Church nor by the Latine anciently or generally as I shewed before Thirdly the Iesuit contradicteth himselfe within eight lines for having said in the eighteenth line Pag. 384. that Christ his corporall presence in the Sacrament was more sure than his presence in heaven at the right hand of his Father about seven lines after forgetting himselfe hee saith that Wee shall find as much to doe marke as much not more in expounding that Article of the Creed as they doe in expounding the words This is my Body Wherein it is well hee confesseth that Papists make much to doe in expounding the words This is my Body which is most true for by the demonstrative Hoc they understand they know not what Neither this Body nor this Bread but an Individum vagum something contained under the accidents of Bread which when the Priests saith Hoc it is Bread but when hee hath muttered out an Vm it is Christs Body Likewise by the Copula est is they understand they know not what either shall be as soone as the words are spoken or is converted unto or is by Transubstantiation Lastly by Body they understand such a body as indeed is no body without the extension of place without distinction of Organs without facultie of sense or motion and will hee make this figment so incredible so impossible as sure nay more sure than the Article of Christs ascension into heaven and his sitting at the right hand of his
by way of conclusion what hee would have called Heresie Ibid. This would I rather call Heresie saith he to accompt mens writings among the Scriptures of God and so doe they that thinke it a wicked matter to dissent from the writings of man no lesse than it were the judgements of God Now that your men are guilty of such Heresies in the highest degree appeares by his owne confession Ibid. l. 1. c. 2. p. 14. for he complaines of Gratian who did insert the Popes decretall Epistles amongst the holy Scriptures as if they were of equall authoritie with them and he speakes as an eare witnesse of others who in their publicke Sermons have declared that whosoever shall dissent from the opinion of St. Thomas is to be censured for an Hereticke O fortes verbi Dei Praecones O powerfull Preachers of the word of God saith he or rather I may truly say of St. Thomas doctrine l. 1. c. 7. for by this meanes it will come to passe that blessed Bonaventure must be censured of heresie Ibid. p. mihi 31. for he crosseth St. Thomas and blessed Anselme must be suspected of Heresie because contrary to Thomas opinion he thinketh him not a lover of our blessed Virgin who refuseth to celebrate the Feast of her Conception As this Author wrote a tract against Hereticks so likewise he professeth that the head of the Roman Church as well as the members are subject to that capitall accusation whereof you accuse the Reformers and particularly he doth instance from Platina in Pope Liberius for an Arrian Hereticke and Pope Anastasius for a favourer of the Nestorian Heretickes and withall hee resolves the question which without all question is so to bee resolved that the Pope which you make one of the infallible Rules of your Faith may become an Hereticke You shall doe well therefore to forbeare your name Catholicke till you can free your Pope and his adherents from the markes of Heretickes In the meane time I might more justly retort your owne words cum faenore into your owne bosome and say We Reformed Catholickes not onely stile but prove J. R. and the Romanists to be rightly stiled by the common name of Heretickes I proceed to the rest of your accusations Theodoret say you is wholly impertinent Bellarmine his meaning is abused and his words corrupted First touching Theodoret his proofe notwithstanding your exception stands good for if the agreement of both parties in the Nicene Councell in his judgement ought to have allayed the heate of contention in the Church of Antioch I might well conclude much more that the three Creeds and the first foure Generall Councels wherein both sides agree ought to have abated the edge of your sharpe and bitter Invectives against our Church And as for abusing of Bellarmine I assure you it was farre from my thoughts and you cannot be ignorant that the inference according to true meaning standeth thus If Protestants beleeve and hold all things necessarie for all Christians then are they not to be accompted damned persons and worse than Infidels But they beleeve the Apostles Creed they teach the ten Commandements and administer some few Sacraments which in your Cardinals opinion are those things which are simply necessarie for all to know and beleeve and to this argument you answere nothing but you quarrell about words When I translate nonnulla a few Sacraments you say I falsifie Bellarmine for the word few is not there and yet you know well that by nonnulla hee doth not meane omnia Nonnulla is a diminutive terme signifying not none that is some be they never so fevv and therefore those which he meaneth are but few The word utilia is in the same place of Bellarmine and as for other words added or left out they alter not the sense nor are wee bound precisely to the words but to the sense in translating a passage out of any Author But say you what man ever tooke Babylon for a true Church If by Babylon you understand literally the ancient Citie of Chaldea or that famous City in Aegypt once called by the name of Memphis and now of Cair you know well that it is not my meaning so to take it for you confesse that I otherwise expresse my selfe but that a particular Church as namely your Church of Rome which was sometimes a sound that is a right-beleeving Church may afterwards fall into Heresie and become spirituall and mysticall Babylon this is not onely my assertion but your Romanists and fellow Jesuites in the Church of Rome Ribera your fellow Jesuite of Salamanca in Spaine tells us by way of prevention If Rome shall commit the same things hereafter which she committed in the time of John she shall be called Babylon againe as it was in the case of Hierusalem which of a faithfull City once became afterwards a Harlot And according to the Prophesie of St. John he protesteth in this manner We know this truth so perspicuously by the words of the Revelation Ut ne stultissimus quidem negare possit that the veriest foole cannot deny the same Then he concludes Riberae Comment in Apoc. 14. v. 8. in c. 14. num 31. n. 32. Since Babylon shall be the shop of all Idolatrie and of all impieties therefore it cannot be doubted but that this shall be the condition of Rome hereafter I will come nearer to you Your Monke Sigebert about 500. yeares agoe interpreting the words of St. Peter The Church at Babylon salutes you delivereth this doctrine Sigeb Ep. p. mihi 188. in l. Goldasti Replic Hitherto Peter by Babylon did signifie Rome because Rome at that time was confounded with Idolatrie and all uncleannesse but my griefe doth now interpret unto mee that Peter by a Propheticke spirit by the Church of Babylon foresaw the confusion of dissention with which the Church of Rome at this day is rent in pieces Honorius Bishop of Anthun in France speaking of the fall of the Church of Rome not long after the same time cryes out to the members of his Church Honor. Angust in Dial. de Praedest l. arbit Turne to the Citizens of Babylon and see what they are behold the buildings of that damned Citie consider the principall persons there and thou shalt finde the See of the Beast Thus you see the first Babylonian tels what he feared would come to passe in the Church of Rome hereafter but these two later proclaimed openly that Rome was become Babylon many hundred yeares since and for their loud cries their tongues are now cut out by the command of your Inquisitors How undeservedly were these men punished and forbidden to speake the truth let the Reader judge but that which is observable you raze the Records which testifie for us you forbid them to speake if it make against your Church and then you demand of us What man ever tooke Babylon for Rome I will give you one witnesse more who is ancient and
I cite but three Authors and yet none prove the Antiquitie or Vniversalitie of our Faith Then you goe backe againe and you tell the Reader I say nothing here of the mans notable cunning and falshood in making him beleeve as if we did excuse our selves in those things whereof they accuse us If such extravagant excursions and reproches you call a Reply or a Catholike Answer I will lay my finger on my mouth and say with your Cardinall Qui decipi vult decipiatur Briefely the substance of my Assertion was this The three Creeds the Canonicall Scriptures the Apostolike Traditions the foure first generall Councels and the rest were so generally received in the bosome of the Roman Church that for that reason it might seeme a senselesse question to demand where our Church was before Luther Next I shewed that the positive Doctrines of our Church mentioned in our 39. Articles were contained in a very few points and those also had Antiquity and Vniversality then I shewed that those doctrines which they obtruded upon us were but Additions and Negative Tenets in our Articles and that many of those additions were condemned or at least excused by their owne men And I instanced in three Authors before mentioned for three severall points of their Doctrine and this is the substance and true meaning of that Section and thus much by way of advertisement to the moderate Reader Now to answer you distinctly to that you have produced confusedly Your first exception is touching Pope Adrian the sixth you say It is not as Sr. Humphry putteth it to wit if the consecrated Bread be Christ but if it be rightly consecrated And doe not you still by Adrians confession excuse your adoration by implying a condition and is it not all one according to your doctrine For if it be rightly consecrated it is Christ if not it is a Crust and no man amongst your Communicants knoweth what it is because he knoweth not the Priests intention Take it therefore which way you will yet my assertion stands true we condemne you for adoring the Elements for ought you know of bread and wine because it doth depend upon the intention of the Priest whether Christ be there or no but yet you cannot condemne us for adoring Christs rent body in the Heavens and however the Priests doe consecrate yet saith Gerson when the host is adored that condition is ever at lest to be supposed if it be rightly consecrated that is Gers compend Theol. Tit. de tribus virtut p. 111. if it be truely the body of Christ And this is that Pope Adrian hath delivered by your owne confession and therefore they are not to be cleered from Idolatry because they intended to worship one God as indeede there was but one God but because they adored him there where he was not and in that manner as they supposed him to be The case saith Catharinus is like in the host not consecrated Cathar Annot. in Caiet p. mihi 134. For God and Christ is not adored simply but as he is existing under the formes of bread and wine If therefore he be not there but it be found that Divine worship is given to a creature insteede of Christ there is Idolatry also For even in this regard they were Idolaters who adored Heaven or any other thing supposing with themselves that they adored in it the Divinity whom they called the soule of the world Compare then the certainty of your faith with ours which is the point in question and tell me if in this we are not more certaine and safe then you can be First your owne Bellarmine tels us Bell. de Iustific l. 3. c. 8. that none can be certaine by the certainity of faith that he doth receive a true Sacrament No man saith Andreas Vega can beleeve assuredly that he receiveth the least part of the Sacrament Vega l. 9. de Iustific c. 17. and this is so surely to be credited as it is apparant that we live And both give one and the same reason for it For there is no way except it be by Revelation that we can know the intention of the Minister either by outward appearance or by certainty of faith From this dangerous consequence we condemne your adoration and resolve to let you know from your owne men Th. Salistar de arte Praedicandi c. 25. that No man be he never so simple or never so wise ought precisely to believe that this is the body of our Lord that the Priest hath consecrated but onely under this condition if all things concerning the consecration be done as appertaineth for otherwise he shall avouch a creature to be the Creator which were Idolatry Now as this way in the generall is uncertaine and dangerous so likewise there are many other wayes which may easily occasion this Idolatry and therefore you cannot deny us to be in the more certaine and safe way As for instance Iohannes de Burgo who was Chancellor of Cambridge about 200. yeares since gives us to understand that a Priest may faile in his intention many wayes As for example Pupilla Oculi c. 3. 5. c. If the Bread be made of any other then wheaten flower which may possibly happen or if there be too much water in quantity that it overcomes and alters the nature of wine if the wine be changed into vinegar and therefore cannot serve for consecration If there be thirteene cakes upon the Table and the Priest for his consecration determine onely upon twelve in that case not one of them all is Consecrated Lastly if the Priest dissemble or leave out the words of Consecration or if he forget it or minde it not in all and every of these wayes there is nothing Consecrated and consequently the people giving divine honour to the Sacrament all Bread or Cup commit flat Idolatry When I heare the Apostle proclaime to all Christians that he which doubteth is condemned already I cannot chuse but pitty the state and condition of that miserable man who hath a doubtfull perplexed and uncertaine faith who taketh all upon trust and upon the report sometimes of an Hypocrite sometimes of a malitious Priest who hath no intention at all to administer the true Sacrament History of Trent For saith your Trent history if a Priest having charge of foure or five hundred soules were an Infidell but a formall Hyppocrite and in absolving the Penitent baptizing of children and Consecrating the Eucharist had an intention not to doe that which the Church doth it must be said that the children are damned the penitent not absolved and that all remaine without the fruite of the Communion Now let the Reader judge which doctrine is most certaine and safe either that of your Church which may occasion flat Idolatry in the worshiper or our sursum corda with hearts and eyes lifted up to Heaven where we adore our Saviour Christ in his bodily presence according to the
are not written And of S. Chrysostome all things that are needfull are manifestly set downe in holy Scriptures And againe in the holy Scriptures wee have a most exact ballance and rule of all things And of S. Ierome who maketh the Scripture a two edged sword cutting heresies on both sides both in the excesse and in the defect We beleeve saith he because were ade in Scriptures we beleeve not what were ade not And of S. Austine among those things which are openly set downe in Scriptures all such things are to bee found as appertaine to faith and manners And so of S. Cyril all things which Christ spake and did are not written but all are written which the writers of the Gospell thought to bee sufficient for doctrine of faith and manners And of S. Vincentius Lyrinensis the Canon of the Scripture is perfect and over and above sufficient for all things And of the prime of the Schoole-men Gabriel Biel The Scripture alone teacheth us what we ought to beleeve and to hope for what things are to bee done and what to bee shunned and all other things that are necessarie to salvation And of William Pepin Dom. 2. advent sala haec scriptur adocet perfectè planè quid credendum c. The holy Scripture alone teacheth perfectly and plainely what wee ought to beleeve as the articles of our Creed what wee ought to doe as all divine precepts what wee ought to desire as heavenly joyes what we ought to feare as eternall torments And of Scotus In prim sent prol q. 2. sacra scriptura sufficienter continet doctrinam necessariam viatori The holy Scripture sufflciently containes doctrine necessarie for away faring man that is in his travell to heaven Howbeit because Cardinall Bellarmine beareth downe all before him the more to convince this Iesuit and nonplus all Papists I will examine what the Knight alledgeth out of him to our present purpose All thing are written saith he by the Apostles which are necessarie for all men to know If all things which are necessarie for all men to know then all things which are necessarie for all Priests Bishops Cardinals yea and the Pope himselfe to know unlesse the Iesuit will prove them to bee no men Assuredly the Apostles and the Fathers assembled at Nice and Constantinople set not downe a different Creed for the Priest and for the people but one for all Christians Yet I grant that as the measures of the sanctuarie were double to the common so the learning of a Priest ought to bee double at least to that of the common sort a more exact full and exquisite knowledge of all both the principles and conclusions of faith is required in thom then in the other yet nothing is required of them as necessarie to salvation which may not bee drawne out of holy Scriptures in which are contained all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge 2 Tim. 3.16.17 Oecum Chrys in huno locum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lit. ad Phil. Hisp reg Nam quod ad Theologiam attinet quae summa Philosophia est his libris omnia nostrae religionis divinitat is mysteria explicantur quod verò attinet ad eam partem quae moralis nominatur hinc quoque omnia ad omnes virtutes praecepta colliguntur quibus quidem duabus partibus omnis nostrae salutis falicitat is ratio continetur Banes in 1. p. Tho. q. 1. art 8. conclus 1. omnia quae non consonant judico eorum gravioribus censuris inurunt idque tanta facilitate ut meritò irrideantur The Apostle saith not only they are able to make wise unto salvation indefinitely but that the man of God that is the minister of God may be wise not only wise unto salvation but furnished to every good worke that is as S. Chrysostome and Oecumenius expound it fully accurately and exactly instructed And for ever to seale the Iesuits mouth thus much Gregorie the thirteenth Pope of Rome in his letters to Philip King of Spaine freely confesseth thus expatiating in the praises of holy Writ as for Theologie which is the prime Philosophie or metaphysick in these bookes speaking of the Bible all the my steries of our religion and divine knowledge are unfolded and as for that part which is tearmed morall from hence all precepts to all vertues are gathered and on these two parts depend all the course or meanes of our salvation and happinesse 3. To the third What Dominicus Banes wrote of certaine Divines in his time that were so free in their censures of other men that they became a laughing stook to all men of judgement may bee truly applyed to the Bishops assembled at Trent who are so free in casting their thunder-bolts of anathemaes against all that differ from them in judgement that the learned and judicious account divers of their Canons no better then Pot-guns As arrowes that are shot bolt upright fall downe upon their heads that shoot them unlesse they carfully looke to it so causelesse curses fall alwayes upon the cursers themselves and hurt none else This made the Knight so much sleight the bruta fulmina of your Trent Councell Yea but saith the Iesuit It is a heavie thing to have the curse of a mother Apo. 17.5 and such a mother which doth not curse without cause The Church of Rome I grant is a mother but mater fornicationum as shee is tearmed the mother of fornications and abominations of the earth but shee is none of our mother Ierusalem or to speake more properly the catholike christian Church is our mother the Roman Church must speake us very faire if wee owne her for a sister even this sheweth her to bee no Mother that shee is ever cursing us the true Mother would by no meanes suffer her child to bee divided This cruell Stepdame not only suffereth those whom shee would have taken for her children to be cut in sunder but her selfe as much as in her lieth by her curses divideth them from God and all the members of Christs mysticall body yet wee spare to apply the words of the Psalmist unto her shee loved not blessing and therefore it shall bee farre from her Ps 109.17.18 shee delighteth in cursing and therefore shall it enter like oyle into her bowels and like water into her bones Howsoever wee are not scared with the bugbeare the Iesuit goeth about to fright us withall Maledictio matris eradicat fundamenta the curse of a Mother doth roote out the foundation For first the booke out of which he citeth this text is not Canonicall Next we denie that the text any way concerneth us who are blessed and not cursed by our Mother the true Catholike Church as for the Roman Church shee can in no sence bee tearmed our mother For we had Christian Religion in this Island before there was any Church at Rome at all as I have else-where proved at large Lastly the text the Iesuit
Faith or at least send their children to the Donatists to be baptized L. 1. De baptis cont Donat c. 3. Esse vero apud Donatistas baptismum illi asserunt nos concedimus because both parties granted that there was true Baptisme among the Donatists whereas the Donatists denied that there was any true Baptisme among the Catholikes or this the Indian Priests teach that it is unlawfull to take bread from the hand of a Christian the Christians teach that it is lawfull to take bread from an Indian therefore it is safer to take bread from an Indian then from a Christian or have fellowship with an Infidell Indian then with a charitable Christian because a Christian hath a better opinion of the Infidell then the Infidell hath of him as Protestants have a more charitable opinion of Papists then Papists have of them When the Iesuit is sober let him thinke how to give an answer to Bishop Morton his instance whereby he sheweth the invalidity of this mad argument of Iesuits A mad man thinketh other men to be beasts a sober man confesseth that a mad man is a man and no beast is a mad man therefore in the right or in the better case then the sober man because the sober man judgeth better of the mad man then the mad man doth of the sober Concerning the confession of all sides for the safety of the Protestant Religion Spectacles Chapter 18. Ã page 509. usque ad finem THAT the ground of safety which the Knight thinketh he taketh from Catholikes is foolish impertinent and without sense as he setteth it downe for thus he saith it is the safer way to persist in that Church where both sides agree that salvation may be had then where one part standeth single by themselves in opinion for I would know what Church is that wherein there be two sides to agree or disagree or what Church that is that doth not stand single in opinion by it selfe if it be a Church of a different faith as we speake here of a Church A Church must have unity it being a company of men all professing the same faith and Religion therefore it is plaine there is no sense in this principle of his I would aske him whether the Protestants doe not stand single as well as we by affirming of what we deny or denying what we affirme or rather whether he and his Church be not so much more single then we as they have not one on their sides for every million which we have or have had on ours By the Knights argument a man may prove any haeresie that ever was nay Iudiasme and Turcisme to be a safer way then the Catholike or even the Knights Protestant faith for Arius may say he agreeth with us Catholikes in all things save onely in the Divinity of the second Person of Trinity whom he acknowledgeth with us to be an Holy Man and that we stand single by our selves in the assertion of his Divinity Macedonius may say the same of the Holy-Ghost Nestorius of the plurality of persons in Christ Eutyches of the singularity of Natures Sergius Pyrrus and the Monothâ—lites of the unity of will in Christ Ebion Cerinthus Marcion and almost all haeretikes in their severall haeresies may say as the Knight doth of the points controverted that we stand single by our selves in them and so it is the safer way to beleeve onely that wherin they and wee agree nay the Iewes may make the same argument thus That they agree with us that there is one God Creatour of heaven and earth and that the old Testament is Canonicall Scripture for the rest wee stand single and the Turke may say that hee agreeth with us that Christ was an holy man and a Prophet for the rest wee stand single and therefore hee is in the safer way What can the Knight say for defence of his Argument For though Iewes and Turkes doe not agree with us in the profession of the Christian Faith yet I see not why that should be necessary by the Knights Argument and thereby a man may see what a good guide he is and how safe a way he goeth and whether the saying of Salomon be not truly verified of his Safe Way Prov. 14.12 There is a way which seemeth to a man straight and the end of it leadeth to death and consequently to hell for what other is the end of Heresie Judaisme and Turcisme whereto the Knights rule doth leade all such as will be ruled thereby The Hammer SEmper ego auditor tantum nunquam ne reponane Hitherto the Knight held up his Buckler and stood upon his owne defence but here hee setteth upon his Adversarie closeth with him wresteth his owne Sword out of his hand and therewith giveth him as many wounds as Iulius Caesar received in the Senate For besides the 12 Articles of Pope Pius the fourth his Creed in all which the Papists stand single hee inffanceth in eleven points more wherein the Papists agree with us in our affirmative positions but they alone maintaine their affirmative addition wherupon hee condemneth the Iesuit as Christ doth the Evill Servant in the Gospell out of his owne mouth thus That Religion is lesse safe in which the Professours stands single than that in which the parties other wayes dissident agree But in all or most of the affirmative points of Popish Religion they stand single but in all such positive points of the reformed Faith not only Papists but in a manner all Christians of the world concurre with us Therefore the Popish Religion by the Iesuits owne rule is lesse safe To illustrate this by a few instances the positive points of our Doctrine are chiefly these 1. That the three Creeds the Apostles the Nicene and that of Athanasius are to be received upon paine of damnation 2. That religious worship is due to God 3. That God is to be called upon 4. That Christ is head of the Church 5. That hee is our Mediatour and Advocate 6. That hee was conceived without sinne 7. That wee are saved by his merits and satisfaction 8. That the Scripture is a rule of Faith 9. That there are two and twenty Canonicall Bookes of the old Testament 10. That the originals in the Greek and Hebrew are authenticall 11. That there are two Sacraments of the new Testament Baptisme and the Lords Supper 12. That Children of the Faithfull are to bee christened 13. That in Baptisme water is necessarily to be used 14. That Christ is truly present at his Supper and that the worthy Receiver is by faith made spiritually partaker of the true and reall body and blood of Christ 15. That the Sacrament may be administred in both kinds 16. That the Images of Christ and his Saints may serve for Ornaments and Memorials and that there is a lawfull historicall use of them 17. That Peter had a Primacie of Order among the Apostles 18. That there are two places for soules departed