are lawfully called and proceed orderly are great and awfull representations of the Church that they are the highest Tribunals the Church hath on earth that their Authority is immediatly deriued and delegated from Christ that no Christian is exempted from their censures and iurisdiction that their decrees bind all persons to externall obedience and may not be questioned but vpon euident reason Behold D. Potter cryes We Protestants say that Generall Councels are authorized of God to pronounce a Iudiciall definitiue sentence obliging all persons and you cry the contrary We say and are able to demonstrate that God hath not giuen any such authority to any Society Councell or Congregation of men How do you not feare least by thus contradicting your Potter Isa c. 45. you incurre the curse of the Prophet Vaequi contradicis fictori tuo testa de Samijs terrae Woe vnto thee that darest contradict thy Potter though thou art but (a) Samosatenian a Samian Pot-sheard 31. But I can easely make you friends with the Doctour shewing that else where you contradict your selfe and agree with him that Councels are authorized of God to pronounce a definitiue obliging sentence c. 4. n. 18. in fine I willingly confesse that the iudgement of a Councell though not infallible is yet so farre directiue and obliging that without apparent reason to the Contrary it may be sinne to reiect it at least not to affoard it outward submission for publique peace-sake Hence I thus argue Christian Councels haue power to pronounce a Iudiciall definitiue obliging sentence as you confesse and from that obligation you except no Christian and consequently they can bind all persons of the Church at the least to outward submission and externall obedience for peace-sake But none are fit to pronounce such a sentence but such a Congregation or Society of men as are by God authorized thereto as you also affirme Ergo a Christian Councell or Conuocation of Bishops is authorized of God to pronounce a Iudiciall definitiue sentence obliging the whole Christian world 32. And whereas you say with D. Potter that such Councels be not infallible and so may be questioned or reiected vpon euident reasons and that they do bind vs to externall obedience for peace sake but not to an inward assent that their Decrees are true you contradict what you write pag. 59. n. 17. In Ciuill Controuersies we are bound to obey the sentence of the Iudge or not be resist it but not alwayes to belieue it iust But in matters of Religion such a Iudge is required whom we should be obliged to belieue to haue iudged right So that in ciuill Cōtrouersies euery honest vnderstanding man is fit to be a Iudge but in Religion none but he that is infallible Now seing you say cap. 2. n. 22. That in matters of Religion the office of Iudge may be giuen to none but whome God hath designed for it a Generall Councell which hath the office of iudge to pronounce a Iudiciall obliging sentence in matters of Religion must of necessity be infallible and bind Christians not onely to outward submission but also to belieue that it hath iudged right and according to the word of God Except you will say that God doth assigne and authorize such Iudges as are not sit for the office nor such as the state of Religion doth require Besides to say that Generall Councels haue authority immediatly from Christ to bind all persons to externall obedience and yet that such Councels be fallible and false many times what is it but to say that Christ hath appoynted such Authority gouernement in his Church by the force wherof men are bound to dissemble and play the Hypocrites in matters of Religion For example Generall Councels haue defined That Communion in one kind is lawfull command all Christians to approue and practize it You are persuaded in conscience that this is vnlawfull a sacrilegious mayming of the Sacrament and yet by your doctrine That Councels bind at the least to outward submission and externall obedience you are bound outwardly to practise it and to make a shew as if you did iudge the same lawfull It is therefore euident truth the contrary impious that Generall Councels appoynted of Christ as the highest externall Tribunals the Church hath on earth and which bind all persons to externall obedience are infallible And if they be infallible then they who moued with conceyte of their priuate skill in Scripture which they pretend to haue gotten by the excellency of their wit discourse or by singular illumination from God reiect their iudgment and openly Potest that they may erre and haue erred are proued damnable Heretiques The eight Conuiction 33. PRotesters are Heretiques because they condemne and contemne that Church vpon whose authority they haue belieued Christ and Christian Religion For they haue receaued Christ and the grounds of Christianity by the preaching (a) Cap. 2. n. 101. and vpon the Authority of some Church as you say cap. 3. n. 33. lin 10. Now the Authority of this Church ought to be to them to firme and infallible as their Christianity so as they should rather not belieue in Christ then belieue any thing against them by whome they belieued Christ This you teach pag. 90 lin 2. Why should I not most diligently inquire what Christ commanded of them the Church of England before all others by whose Authority I was moued to belieue that Christ commanded any good thing Can you F. or K. or whosoeuer you are better declare to me what he sayd whom I would not haue thought to haue beene or to bee if the beliefe thereof had beene recommended to me by you c Surely if they were not at all and could not teach me any thing I would more easely persuade my selfe that I were not to belieue in Christ then that I should learne any thing concerning him from any other then them by whome I belieued him This is your discourse full of impieties because what S. Augustine sayth of the whole Christian Catholique Church you apply to the Protestant Church of England It is false that any true Christian belieues in Christ by resting on the Authority of the Church of England nor doth this Church if it make Christians propose her selfe but the Holy Catholique Church for the irrefragable witnesse of Christ It is impious that you would neuer haue belieued Christ nor Christianity if the beliefe thereof had beene recommended to you by vs that is by preachers of the Roman Church and Holy monkes sent you for that office from Rome It is Antichristian to professe that you would more easely not belieue in Christ then learne any thing concerning him from any other then them the Church of England by whom you belieued him so that if the Church of England should fall away from Christ into Infidelity you professe aforehand that you will fall away and become an Infidell with her 34. Hence it is cleere that the
cause to admire your ignorance in Latin yea want of iudgment in playing Monus at her Translation For euery man of wit and common sense must of necessity perceaue that S. Irenaeus could not meane corporall resorting to Rome without being ridiculous For though we should grant that conuenire may signifie to resort yet it is cleere that it doth not signify barely to resort but to resort or come to a place together to meet there in one assembly Now it is ridiculous to thinke that S. Irenaeus would haue all Churchs and all the faythfull on euery side to be bound not only to come to Rome but also to come thither all at the same time at once It is therefore manifest that S. Irenaeus doth attribute powerfull principality to the Roman Church Bishop ouer all Christian Churches by reason wherof all other are bound and obliged in duty to come together with the Church of Rome not by corporal repayre to the Citty but by consent of mind to the Roman Fayth But this more powerfull Principality this Iudicial Authority and Headship the Roman Bishop could not haue by gift of men as you confesse Ergo he had it by diuine appointment as the successour of S. Peter in whom by the voyce and word of our Lord it was instituted So that Protesters by opposing the Church of Rome and S. Peters successour oppose the ground and pillar of all Christian truth and so are Heretiques The sixt Conuiction 27. THE visible Church is the Iudge of Controuersies and therefore infallible in all her Proposals so that to oppose her is as much as to oppose God himselfe and consequently whosoeuer opposeth against the Doctrine of the visible Church is an Hereticke This argument is proposed by the maintayner of Charity c. 6. n. 15. to which you answere cap. 6. n. 13. First you deny the Church to be Iudge of Controuersies How say you can she be the Iudge of them if she cannot decide them and how can she decide them if it be a question whether she be Iudge of them That which is questioned it selfe cannot with any sense be pretended to be fit to decide Controuersies Secondly you say If she were iudge it wold not follow that she were infallible for we haue many Iudge in our Courts of Iudicature yet none infallible Thus you How could you possibly be so obliuious as not once to imagine that both these answeres are direct Contradictions of what you before affirmed Cap. 2. n. 162. you say The Church hath authority of determining Controuersies of fayth according to plaine and euident Scripture and vniuersall Tradition and to excommunicate the man that should persist in errour against her determinations Now if she be not Iudge if her authority be questioned how can she do this Secondly she being Iudge of Controuersies that she must be infallible though Iudges in the Courts of Ciuill Iudicature be not such you affirme cap. 2. n. 17. We are to obey the sentence of the ciuill Iudge and not resist it but not alwayes to belieue it iust but in matters of Religion such a Iudge is required whome we should be bound to belieue to haue iudged right so that in ciuill Controuersies euery honest and vnderstanding man is fit to be a Iudge but in Religion none but he that is infallible Thus you whose words cōtaine an vnanswerable demonstration against your selfe that the Church being Iudge to determine Controuersies of fayth must of necessity be infallible 28. Thirdly you say That though she were a Iudge infallible yet to oppose her declaration would not be to oppose God except the opposer know that she doth infallibly propose the word of God I answere that to oppose the Propenent of fayth (a) Cap. 2 n. 26. That which is either euident of it selfe and seen by its owne light or reduced vnto setled vpon the principle that is so which is euidently credible of it selfe or euidently reduced to such an euident credible Principle is Heresy a vertuall opposing of God and his Reuelation For the Proponēt being a witnesse worthy of all credit the disbelieuer of this proposition must of necessity assent except he be mislead by Passiō against the truth reueal'd or by pride against the proposer therof as I shewed in the preface to the argumēts of this chapter The seauenth Conuiction 29. THE Church gathered togeather in Generall Councels or a Generall Councell of Christian Bishops haue Power to propose define with infallibility the Cōttouersies of Religion bind all Christians vnder paine of heresy to belieue their definitions But Protesters oppose Generall Councels such definitions of fayth which they know and confesse to haue beene enacted by them contending that such Christian Assemblies representing the whole Christian Church are fallible and haue beene many times false as is notorious Ergo they contradict the infallible Proponent of Christian Fayth preferring their owne priuate fancyes and so are guilty of Hereticall obstinacy and pride The maior Proposition of this argument is euident and vndeniable by the perpetuall Tradition and practise of all former Christian ages euen of the Primitiue times For though then they could not meet together all in one place yet they did assemble generally in different places determine the Controuersies of Religion against Heresies that did arise In proofe hereof the testimony of Tertullian is cleere and direct mentioning generall Councels gathered by command no doubt of the Roman Bishop De iciunijs cap. 13. Aguntur praecepta per Graecias illas certis in locis Concilia ex vniuersis Ecclesiis perquae altiord quaeque in commune tractantur ipsa representatio totius nominis Christiani magna veneratione celebratur Behold the notorious Antiquity of the Catholique Tradition about the venerable Authority of General Councells to determine the highest matters of Religion as being the representatiue Church or representations of the whole Christian Name Wherfore Protesters who contemne this Tradition euidently certaine or credible of it selfe and oppose Generall Councels cannot be excused from damnable Hereticall pride 30. But Tradition though neuer so perpetuall and primitiue full and vniuersall will not grow in your garden except the same be watered from your Well with whome nothing is well but what is your owne Thus you write c. 2. n. 85. lin 6. This we know that none is fit to pronounce for all the world a Iudiciall definitiue obliging sentence in Controuersies of Religion but onely such a Man or such a Society of men as is authorized thereto by God And besides we are able to demonstrate that it hath not beene the pleasure of God to giue to any Man or Society of men any such authority The truth of the first part of this saying will establish the authority of Generall Councels from God when the falshood of the second shall be confuted by D. Potter yea by your owne contradiction thereof D. Potter writeth pag. 165. We say that such Generall Councels as
probable and but morally certaine against arguments which seeme demonstratiue and metaphysically certaine and it is a condition very dangerous for men to liue vnder such hard or impossible lawes But God doth not require of vs thinges vnreasonable his yoke is sweet his burthen light Ergo he hath prouided motiues which propose matters of fayth as vndoubtedly and absolutely certaine The fifth Conuiction 16. YOu set downe the principle wheron you rely in teaching the absolute fallibility of Christian fayth Pag. Second edition pag 314. lin 27. 329. lin 27. Had you made the matter of fayth either naturally or supernaturally euident it might haue been a fittly attempered and duely proportioned obiect for an absolute certainty naturall or supernaturall But requiring as you do an infallible certainty of a thing which though it is in it selfe yet is not made to appeare to vs to be infallibly certayne to my vnderstanding you speake impossibilities And truly for one of your Religion to do so is but a good Decorum For the matter of your Religion being so full of contradictions a contradictious fayth may very well become a contradictious Religion Your fayth then let it be a free necessitated certaine vncertaine euident obscure prudent and foolish naturall and supernaturall vnnaturall assent Thus you with a Demosthenian thunder of eloquence discharge your bolts vpon our Church without taking any pitty of a poore company of onely blind men though some drops of Xantippes rayne come mingled therwith 17. But your misery is a poore memory wordes be no sooner out of your pen then out of your mind Forin other places you approue this very contradictious doctrine which here you so fluently declame against For though you say Pag. 330. lin 14. That God cannot infuse a degree of certainty into our vnderstanding beyond the degree of the euidence he giueth vs of the obiect yet cap. 6. num 7. lin 9. 2. Edit pag. 315. lin 5. you say to the contrary Well may we assent to a thing vnknowne obscure and vneuident c. Could any wordes be inuented more directly repugnant to what you said before that assent and euidence must correspond to ech other in degree a probable assent must haue an obiect of euident probability a certaine assent an obiect of euident certainty Now you say absolutely we may well that is not only possibly but also easily assent to a thinge vnknowne obscure vneuident How doth this agree with what you say Cap. 6. n. 7. in fine It is impossible I shold belieue the truth of any thinge the truth whereof cannot be made euident to me with euidence proportionable to the degree of fayth required of me How contrary is this to what you say Cap. 2. n. 154. lin 6. Gods spirit if he please may worke more a certainty of adherence beyond the certainty of euidence But neither God doth nor may require of vs c. And cap 1. n. 9. lin 43. The spirit of God being implored by deuout and humble prayer and sincere obedience may and will by degrees aduance his seruants higher and giue them a certainty of adherence beyond the certainty of euidence Thus you most directly against what you said before that infallible certainty of a thinge not euidently certaine is impossible that if God infuse certainty into the assent of fayth he must infuse also euidence into the obiect and so make the obiect of fayth as visible and euident as the assent of fayth is certaine Which is now the contradictious Religion 18. And where you say that God doth not require of men more then they can do by themselues 2. Edit pag. 315. lin 13. and that the contrary were you say pag. 350. lin 15. as vnreasonable as to bind a man to goe ten miles an houre on an horse that will goe only fiue is impious as disanulling all precepts of diuine and supernaturall actions For why may not God require of a man that is able of himselfe to goe only fiue miles an houre that he goe tenne moued by his hand binding him not to resist but to concurre with that his speciall mouing aboue the strength of natural forces And what Christian dares deny this to be required of all Christians to wit that they come vnto (a) come vnto me all Mat. 11.28 Christ and belieue in him which yet is the worke of (b) This is the worke of God that you belieue God an act which the vnderstanding doth not exercise but by the speciall motion and (c) Except my Father draw him attraction of Diuine grace The sixt Conuiction 19. YOu affirmed in the prealleadged place of the former Conuiction that our Catholike sayth is contradictious free necessitated certain vncertain euident obscure prudent foolish naturall supernaturall vnnaturall assent A declamation backt with no proofe childish fluent Rhetoricke Claudite iam riuos pueri I will make the same good vpon your selfe and proue you do attribute in direct termes these contradictious conditions to your witty witlesse fayth First you make it free necessitated That your fayth is free you say c. 6. n. 7. lin 16. 2. Edit cap. 6. n. 7. lin 16. It is necessary to fayth that the obiects of it the points which we belieue be not so euidently certayn as to necessitate our vnderstanding to assent That it is necessitated enforced by euident reasons you suppose cap. 1. n. 9. lin 15. God requires of all 2. Edit cap. 1. n. 9. lin 2â— that their fayth should be proportionable to the motiues enforcing to it Behold reasons enforce that is necessitate you to assent and so make it a free necessitated assent Secondly euident obscure Euident because you say cap. 6. n. 7. in fine That I should belieue the truth of any thing the truth whereof cannot be made euident to me is impossible Obscure because you say Cap. 6. n. 7. lin 10. Well may we assent to a thing vnknowne obscure vneuident Thirdly certain vncertaine most certaine and infallible cap. 3. n. 86. lin 12. Vse the meanes 2. Edit cap. 3. n. â—6 lin 12. and pray for Gods assistance and as sure as God is true you shall be lead into all necessary truth Heer you professe that Christian Religion is the true necessary way to saluation and that you are hereof as sure as you are sure that God is true Now I hope you are and I am sure you professe to be d most vndoubtedly sure that God is true Ergo 2. Edit cap. 2. n. â— you are most vndoubtedly sure that Christian Religion is the true necessary way to heauen For how can you assure others of that whereof you are not sure your selfe And if this be so then contrary to the ground of your impious errour you here professe certainty of adherence beyond certainty of euidence You say you are as certaine as God is true of Christian sauing truth and yet I thinke you will not say that the truth of Christian Religion
impossible to my reason therfore they are impossible ought to yield to this reason God sayth these mysteries are possible and certainly true Ergo they are possible and certainly true You wil say that though this consequence be most certaine this is the word of God Ergo it is most true yet you cannot be so certaine that this is the word of God as you are of that which you see with your eyes But this is refuted by what you say that the Scripture is proued by Tradition which is as certaine and infallible as Scripture and euidently true and credible of it selfe Ergo your beliefe of Scripture that it is the word of God is also resolued into this one reason vnto which all others must submit and yield themselues humbly subiect God sayth that these bookes are his word and infallible truth Ergo it is so these bookes are his word infallible truth so that Christian resolution of fayth euen by your own confession resteth finally vpon a reason vnto which all human reason and vnderstanding ought to submit and captiuate it selfe You see how by your contradicting your self your errours are ouer thrown and true Christianity established The ninth Conuiction 23. Lond. Edition pag. 340. lin 14. PAg. 357. lin 3. cap. 6. n. 28. thus you write I certaeinly know that I do belieue the Ghospel of Christ as it is deliuered in the vndoubted bookes of canonicall Scripture as verily as that it is now day that I see the light that I am now writing and I belieue it vpon this motiue because I conceaue it sufficiently abundantly superabundantly proued to be diuine Reuelation And yet in this I do not depend vpon any succession of men that haue alwayes belieued it without any mixture of Errour Nay I am fully persuaded that there hath been no such succession and yet do not find ANY WEAKENESSE in my fayth but am so fully assured of the truth of it that though an Angel from heauen should gayn-say it or any part of it I persuade my selfe I should not be moued Thus you many wayes establishing the absolute certainty of Christian fayth and in direct termes contradicting what elswhere you most earnestly affirme 24. First you ouerthrow what you els where (m) Pag. 325. n. 3. say that the certainty of fayth is not equal to that of sense for now you say that you certainly know and that you are fully assured that you belieue the truth of the Ghospell as verily as that now it is day as that you see the light as that when you writ this you were writing which is most assured certainty of sense For you say you are fully assured that without depending on succession you belieue not that which you thinke to be the truth of the Gospell for euery Heretique doth so but the true Gospell consequently you are as sure that what you belieue is the true Gospell as you are sure that it is light which you see at noon-day as you are sure you write when you write And so you professe that the certainty of your fayth is equal to the greatest certainty which can be had by sense If you say you speake this not of ordinary Christian fayth which is rational grounded on reasons but of special fayth which you haue from God infused into your vnderstanding in reward of your holy life I answer this cannot be so because you speake expressely of your fayth which standes v. pon the proofes of Christianity and the motiues of credibility and of that assent which you conceaue because proued vnto you abundantly by the said reasons which is ordinary Christian fayth and so you say in this place that any man may belieue the foresayd truths vpon the foresayd motiues 24. Secondly here you affirme that Christian Religion or the Ghospel is proued to be diuine Reuelation sufficiently abundantly superabundantly to beare the weight of a most certayn and fully assured fayth wherein there is not ANY WEAKENESSE By which you ouerthrow what you say elswhere (n) Pag. 36. that Christian fayth stands vpon two legs vpon two pillars the one that whatsoeuer God reueales is true which is most strong firme immoueable the second that the Ghospel is reuealed of God which pillar you say is weake infirme and instable (o) Pag. 112. â— 154. moralty certayne but not able to beare the weight of an absolute certaine infallible essent free from all weakenesse 25. Thirdly you say that fayth built vpon the forsaid motiues is so firme and so strong so assured as you should not as you thinke be moued though an Angel from heauen should gain-say it which doth manifestly contradict and destroy what you so often contend that the assent built vpon the motiues of credibility cannot be absolutly certaine no not though it were infused into the vnderstanding from God What you say of your self you should not be moued from the fayth of the Ghospel though an Angel from heauen should gain-say it how stubborne and pertinacious in errour you may be against the light of your conscience I do not know but if your fayth of the Ghospell be not certaine and infallible if it be but a very probable seeming or a moral certainty in this case that you could stand against an Angel from heauen prudently and according to the right dictamen of conscience this I will belieue if you can make me belieue that a Shilling-worth is as much as an Angell-worth Otherwise what greater folly then for a meere mortall man of so weake memory and miserable discourse as he cannot write three pages together in good sense without contradicting himself to preferre his priuate seeming his human fallible certainty his moral probabilities that this is Gods word before the word of an Angell and all the arguments he can bring against it 26. I conclude with this demonstration for the infallibility of our Christian fayth God commandeth all Christians and requires of them vnder payne of damnation to stand constant in the beliefe of the Ghospell euen against an Angell from heauen that should Euangelize to the contrary as you suppose truly this being the very doctrine of S. Paul Gal. 1.8 But except God did infuse into the heart of euery true belieuing Christian a most certaine vndoubted infallible assent and adherence to the Ghospel this command were vniust vnreasonable and such a precept as no man prudently might obserue For it cannot be wisdome to oppose the testimony of men and seeming probabilities of reason against the word of an Angel against Angelicall reasons and discourse Ergo God doth infuse and bindeth all Christians to admit a most certaine and infallible assent of the truth of the Ghospel and of Christian Religion That Christian Religion and Tradition is pure and incorrupt both in the fountayne and streame CHAP. III. WHAT may haue been your personal intention in penning and publishing of this worke the searcher of hearts knoweth best The end wherunto your course driueth the
with fallibility and falshood euen the Tradition of the primitiue Church of the very first age since the Apostles For you confesse that the Scripture cannot be proued to be the word of God by the diuinity light of the matter nor by any Apostolicall writing but by tradition c. 2. n. 8. lin 9. and cap. 2. n. 27. lin 33. ONELY by the testimony of the ancient Church Now if the only meanes to know that the Scripture is the word of God be the testimony of the anccient Church and of the primitiue Christians if you make as you do their testimony to be fallible obnoxious to errour and in many things false you make all assurance of this necessary poynt that the Scripture is the word of God impossible You contend our Catholicke Roman Church to be fallible and to haue erred in many things and thence conclude you can rely on her authority in nothing I might say you cap. 2. n. 25. lin 9. as well rest vpon the iudgement of the next man I meet or vpon the chaunce of a Lottery for it For by this meanes I only know I might erre but relying on your Church I know I should erre Thus you of the Roman church which agrees to Tradition vniuersal of the primitiue Christiās for if it be as you say it is fallible we cannot be possibly warranted that it doth not giue quid for quo a scorpion for an egge an errour in steed of Apostolicall doctrine for she hath done so you say in some other vniuersall Traditions and what was done in some was possible in others The primitiue Church as you contend did by vniuersall Tradition and full consent deliuer the doctrine of the Millenaries and of the Communion of Infants for Apostolicall which you say be errours and so it may be that the same consent of primitiue Christians hath deliuered vnto vs the Ghospell of S. Luke and of S. Marke as approued by (g) Cap. 1. n. 7. Wrote indeed by some but approued by all all the Apostles though there were neuer any such thing nor haue we any possible meanes to know whether heerein we be deceaued or no. You say cap. 2. n. 93. lin 11. It was necessary that by his prouidence he should preserue the Scripture from any vndiscernable corruption in those things he would haue knowne otherwise they could not haue beene knowne the onely meanes of continuing the knowledge of them being perished Now the onely meanes to know which Scriptures be the word of God and rule of sayth is as you confesse the testimony of the ancient Churches since the Apostles and yet you say God hath not preserued the same from vndiscernable corruption for the Church hath beene corrupt in some of her vniuersal Traditions from the Apostles so that there is no meanes to be sure that her Tradition about Scripture is incorrupt For you say what was done in some was possible in others and so we haue no warrant that the canon of Scripture is not corrupt vniuersall Tradition of the Church since the Apostles You see that I sayd true that by being a false witnesse against the incorrupt purity of the Primitiue Church you haue beene false agaynst your owne Saluation and haue lost all meanes to be assured of Sauing fayth The fourth Conuiction 12. FROM the second age you proceed affirming that still the mystery of iniquity wrought more openly in the ensuing ages and that in the dayes of S. Austin (h) Pag. 155. lin 20. cap. 3. n. 47. Second Edition pag. 149. 150. the Catholike Church it selfe did tolerate and dissemble vayne superstitions and human presumptions suffer all places to be full of them suffer them to be more seuerely exacted then the Commandements of God (i) Pag. 156. lin 1 doing therein directly against the command of the holy Ghost (k) Ibid. lin 11. permitting the diuine precepts euery where to be layd aside so that these superstitious Christians euery where might be said to worship God in vaine as well as Scribes Pharises Great variety of superstitions in this Kind were then already spread ouer the Church being different in diuers places That (m) Pag. 156. li. 36. this vniuersal superstition in the Church nourished cherished strengthened by the practise of the most and vrged with great violence vpon others as the Commandements of God might in tyme take deep roote and passe for vniuersall custome of the Church and an Apostolique Tradition he that doth not see sees nothing Finally that in S. Austins dayes the Church did not tolerate only such superstitions for but a part only and farre the lesser did tolerate them in silence but the Church or the farre greater part publiquely allowed them practised them and vrged them vpon others with great violence c. 13. Thus you write and make the face of the Church in S. Austines dayes to haue been most miserable full of superstition in which not so much as one could be saued but by repentance and leauing their superstitions which they neuer did But as it is your fury against Gods Church to vtter whatsoeuer comes into your mind to her disgrace without any care of truth so your folly is to forget presently what you haue said and speake the contrary For Cap. 6. n. 101. lin 12. you say that in S. Austin's tyme the publike seruice wherin men are to communicate was impolluted and no vnlawfull thing practised in their Communion which was so true as euen the Donatists did not deny it And c. 6. in fine you say The Church which then was a Virgin now may be an harlot Now if a man would haue studied to contradict your slaunder against the Church of S. Augustins tyme could he haue done it more directly The Church being then as you say it was in her communion and diuine seruice an impolluted virgin how can it stand with what you said before that Christians in all places were vrged with great violence to communicate in superstitions and vaine worships and to lay the commandments of God aside Againe you cleere the Church of that age cap. 6. n. 101. versus finem The Donatists in S. Augustines tyme were separated from the whole world of Christians vnited in one communion professing the same fayth seruing God after the same manner which was a great argument they could not haue cause to leaue them according to that of Tertullian that where there is erring there is variety of errings And is not this a variety yea a direct contradiction in your writing an vnanswerable argument that you erre and wander from the truth Now you say there was then euery where the same fayth the same communion one manner of seruing and worshipping God without any variety of superstitions and errours wheras before you said that in S. Austins dayes all places were full of vaine superstitions vaine worships with great variety of them spread ouer the Church being different in diuers places vrged with great seuerity and