way is by his district iudgement to enlarge the causes of wrath that those which being illuminated would not doe well being iustlye blinded should farther doe wherby they may deserue the more to be punished ⧠God graunt that you may open your eies at the length and find the way of the citty of Cods habitation least in the day of his reuenge from this wilfull darkenesse which you haue incurred Psal 106 you be against your will throwen into the vtter darkenesse From which God of his mercy and by the intercession of his blessed mother deliuer you He which desireth nothing more than that our frendship may through Catholicke vnity be perpetuall S. Cypr. lib. de vnit Eccl. What peace doe the enemies of the brethren promise vnto theÌ„ selues do they thinke that Christ is with them whan they are gathered togither which are gathered togither out of the Church Such although they be killed for the confession of Christs name yet this blotte cannot be washed away euen with blood S. Ambrose vpon the 9. chapter of the Apocalipse comparing the heares of the caterpillers vnto the hereticall Churches saith The Locusts had heares of womeÌ„ for as the Saincts of the Church of God had theire flockes which at certaine times did come togither to celebrate the diuine seruices So also heretickes had theire madde and furiouse people which in diuerse places came togither to the celebration not of diuine misteries but of deuelish seruices The same Father vpon those wordes of the Gospell of S. Luke the 9. chapter whan the vncleane spirit shall depart out of a man This it cannot be doubted but that it is spoken of the people of the Iewes which our Lord before did seuer from his kingdome Wherfore vnderstand thou also that all hereticks and schismaticks are separated from the kingdome of God from the Church And therfore it is most manifest that the meetings of heretickes and Schismatickes belong not to God but to the vncleane spirit S. Cyprian in his 40. epistle euen of Schismaticall Churches speaketh thus There is but one God and one Christ and one Church and one chaire by our Lords voice sounded vpon Peter There cannot be erected an other aultar nor made another Priesthood besides one aultar one Priesthood whosoeuer otherwhere gathereth scattereth it is aduouterouse it is impiouse it is sacrilegiouse whatsoeuer by humane fury is decreed that Gods disposition may be violated Departe you farre from the contagion of such men and euen as if you would auoide a canker or pestilence shunne their speaches In the same epistle hee geueth warning to auoid deceitfull teachers such as are now a daies those which teach to go to heretiks churches Flee the wolues which separate the sheepe from the Pastour flee the venemous tongue of the Deuell who from the begining of the world alwaies deceitfull and false lyeth that he may deceaue â—â—â—attereth that he may hurt promiseth good that he may cause euell offereth life the he may kill Now also do his wordes cleerely shew them selues and his poisons are manifest he promiseth peace that none may come to peace he promiseth saluation that he which hath offended may nor come to saluation he promiseth the Church wheras he endeuoureth that who beleeueth him may vtterly perish from the Church The same in his 77. epistle Our Lord insinuating vnto vs vnity defineth and saieth I and my Father am one vnto which vnity he bringing his Church saieth againe And there shal be one flocke and one shepheard if than the flocke be one how can he be of the flocke which is not amongst the number of the flocke Againe libro de lapsis in fine Such maner of men he speaketh of Schismaticks do you auoid as much as you may theire speach spreadeth as a canker their take passeth abroad as a contagion their hurtfull venemous persuasioÌ„ killeth worse than the persecution it selfe Gen 4. Apoc. 2. S. Hierome ep 11. de Monogamia Let one Eue be the mother of aÌ„ll the liuing one Church the mother of all Christians as cursed Lamech deuided the first into two citties so heretickes teare this into many Churches which according to the Apocalipse of S. IHON are rather to be called Sinagogues of the Deuell than congregations of Christ Laus Deo ac Beatissimae semper Virgini Matri Deiparae MARLAE atê™ omnibus Sanctis FINIS
Schisme be incurred that such diuision be made whether Schisme it selfe be directly intended ot indirectly Much like it is if a loose licentious young man should defile his neighbours bedde knowing that he shall be discried and his lemman be killed by her husband this man is also a man slear although he intended principally the satisfying of his filthy desire Or if a theefe vpon the Alpes should take away a poore trauailers apparell wherby the other must needes dye for tolde Or as it hath sometimes hapned if a theefe by feare and threatning shoulde make one trew man to hang an other or that we may bring Caietanes example of this very matter If a man for to fulfill his owne pleasure Verbo Schisma should by shooting in a publicke place against his intention chaunce to kill a man he he notwtstanding incurreth the crime of murder But of this point of your intention or of the motiue of feare I haue sufficiently spoken aboue §. 10.11 where I answered your principall reasons This is most certaine that as in all other sinnes the exteriour action which is the obiect of the interiour geueth the quality therof to the interiour whether such exteriour acte or effect be principally or directly intended or no so long as it is voluntary and foreseene Euen so is it in this exteriour acte of Schisme in which notwithstanding I may say as I said aboue that whatsoeuer other extrinsecall or remote intention you may haue as of feare creditt and reputation in the world for this is it which driueth your selfe and many other vnto the Diuell yet the very intrinsecall end and nature of your action is Schisme and disunion from Christs Catholicke Church So therfore although euery exteriour hereticke were not a Schismaticke yet d ee I say that you are a Schismaticke Now to answere your obiection and to saue the generall grounde of Deuines that euery exteriour hereticke is not excommunicate I say first that if Caietanes opinion bee trew who as you know is a Catholicke author 2.2 q. 12. ar 1. q. 94 ar 1. and of no small account amongst the examiners of actes of mans conscience than euery exteriour heretike is properly excommunicate so euery exteriour hereticke may perhapps be no Schismaticke and yet be excommunicate for heresy Euery exterior hereticke is not excōmunicate yet he is a schismaticke Bulla caenae c. licet de Elect. or if he be also a Schismaticke he may be as well excommunicate for his exteriour heresy as for his schisme Secondly allowing the contrary opinion which is of most Diuines that is that an onely exteriour hereticke is not excommunicate I say that the Churches intent in excōmunicating of Schismaticks is onely to comprehend those which calling them selues Christians either make receaue or acknowledge vnto thēselues a new head as when there are two Popes togither or those who making * Aug l. 1. cōt Parm. in fine a seuerall congregation or ioining them selues therunto vnder what maner of gouerment soeuer make a publike separation from the trew Church or the head or members of the same For it is not necessary as Diuines all agree for to incurre schisme Caietan Bannes The Pope may be a schismatick that the Schismaticke make vnto him selfe a new heade for the Pope him selfe remaining head may be a Schismaticke if he should refuse to communicate with the rest of the body in spirituall thinges or defend secretly or openly schisme or excommunicate the wholle Church or alter generally the Apostolicall and ordinary ceremonies rites customes and seruices of the Church And yet in the Pope this were peculier that he cannot fall into excommunication because he is not subiect to the humane lawes which impose excommunication Schismatickes are excōmunicate only in two cases In these two cases therfore Schismatickes ere excommunicate whan they openlye professe an other head although they beleeue inwardly the vnity of the holy Church and of the head therof for other wise they were heretickes or when they erect or make them selues parte of a new congregation deuided from the vnity of the wholle in other cases although they be Schismatickes yet doe they not incurre such censure And if you aske me what cases these are in particuler I answere that if one amongst Infidells should saye that Christ were not God or deny for feare not from his hart any pointe of Catholicke faith or if in a Catholicke countrey one should vpon any Passion make shew of heresie because here is no diuerse head nor seuerall congregation wherunto he may seeme to vnite himselfe this man is not excommunicate although he be a Schismaticke Contrary it is whē he doth the same for to seeme to vnite him selfe vnto a seditious head or congregation professing the name of Christ or publickly seuereth himselfe Neither is this any strange doctrine that euery Schismaticke is not excōmunicate for who would doubt but that one who maketh him selfe a Turke or a Iew Bannes 2.2 q. 11. ar 4. Sylu. Nauar or an Infidell is a Schismaticke for how can he separate him selfe more from Christ and his Church yet certaine it is that so long as he in his minde forsaketh not Christ or his faith he is not excommunicate although he sinne most greeuously or except he committe exteriour Idolatry which hath a particular excōmunication although not in respect of Schisme but in respect of Idolatry Direct Inquis p. 2. q. 43. Which excommunication also was not before the time of IHON 21 the Pope To this also I adde that according to most Diuines no Schismatickes at all were excommunicate before Bulla Caenae Wherin the intention of the Church doth cōprehend onely such actions as haue bene vsuall in the Church and scandalously are wont to breake the publicke peace therof But such pernicious schismes are onely in the cases aforesaide Againe an hereticke neuer so secrett if he priuately vnto him selfe vtter his heresy is excommunicate for heresy and yet I see not in the practise of the Church but that such as haue speciall autority to absolue from heresye would not sticke to absolue him for all his Schisme which is alwaies annexed vnto heresy The reason her of is this why all Schismaticks are not excommunicate Aug. l. 1. de lib. arb c. 5. D. Tho. 1.2 q. 96. ar 2. for that the holy Church being a certaine cōmon wealth doth not alwaies punish alike equall sinnes but in ordaining of penall lawes hath a regard vnto that which is perniciouse for the wholle body Blasphemy is a greater sinne than thefte so also is adultery yet we know the punishmēts are not alike So is it also in the Church some are excōmunicate for a faulte in one degree others for the same faulte in an other degree are not excōmunicate The cause why the Church excōmunicateth Schismatickes onely in these two cases is for that which these two onely the Church hath bene or may be ordinarily
is of necessity to saluation Thus Saint THOMAS The ground of this doctrine hitherto sett downe is the infallible rule of S. PAVL Ro. 10. with hart it is belecued vnto iustice but with mouth confession is made vnto saluation But of this kind of affirmatiue precept we needed not here to intreate saue that partly for the necessity therof in our countrey I thought it charitable not to omitt to saye thus much Partly also I thinke it profitable for the better vnderstanding of that which shall follow But most of all for that I desire to engraffe in euery ones mind a great conconceit of the excellency of faith what account we should make of the confession therof §. 20. Now there is concerning this very same pointe of confession of faith A man is alwaies boūd not to deny his faith a kind of negatiue precept forbidding vs euer to deny either in word or deed our faith For so is there in all affirmatiue precepts included also a negatiue As in the precepts of louing God and honouring our Parents which are affirmatiue there is implied a negatiue precept of not hating God or dishonouring our Parents And as the affirmatiue precepts doe not bind vs at all instants to fulfill them So doe the negatiue at euery moment bind vs not to breake them For at no season may a man steale wherby he shoulde transgresse a negatiue precept And yet at all seasons is not a man bound to pray to fast to geue almes to honour his father which are affirmtiue commaundements but in time and place conuenient This precept therfore of neuer denying our faith Mat. 10. Luc. 9 2. Tim. 2. Mat. 26. Aug. l. cont mend c 6. Theophil in Luc. 12. Leo. ser 9 de Pass Do. alwaies bindeth vnto mortal sinne For who denieth Christ shall be denied by him who is ashamed of Christ of him also will Christ be ashamed and this was the sinne of S. PETER for which he wept so bitterly For he neuer lost his inward faith as S. Augustine and others doe affirme but only sinned against the exteriour confession ther of as we may manifestly gather by the promise of Christ that his faith should not faile Against this precept may a man sinne not onely in worde by saying that he knoweth not whether any one point of faith be trew or false A man may deny his faith by deeds aswel as by words Admitting of conserēce by offering to conferre with heretickes as to be instructed by them so going from the schoole of his master Christ and of his mistres the trew Church by saying he is a Turke or Protestant or no Christian or Catholicke or by vsing such wordes as may make others to conceiue that he is no Christian or Catholike at such time as he is asked although the wordes of them selues be indifferent But also in facte or in any signe which sheweth that which in wordes might be falsly or vnlawfully vttered This doth S. Hierome teach neither must we thinke saith he in ep ad Tit c. 1 that in the day of iudgement those onely shall be denied by the sonne of God which in Martyrdome haue denied Christ but all those also by whose worke or speach or thought Christ being denied Ser. de Abra ham denieth or being confessed confesseth ⧠And Saint Ambrose not onely in false wordes but also in dissembled workes a lye is found ⧠And euen as the inwarde dissenting from trew faith is either inward infidelity Apostasy or heresie so the outward shew of a false faith Exteriout heresy or denying the trew faith is called exteriour infidelity or exterior heresy and apostasy And so were alwaies those which had outwardly donne any acte of infidelity in the primatiue Church thought by all Fathers to haue denied their faith Cypr l. 2. ep 7. §. 21. Than out of this wholle most certaine discourse will we thus frame our argument Going to heretickes seruice is exteriour heresy The being present with heretickes at theire seruice in such outward shew as is nothing diuerse from the heretickes them selues is an exteriour act of heresy and consequently a profession of heresye and deniall of Catholicke religion Most manifest therfore is it that such presence is of it selfe vnlawfull and a mortall sinne But lett vs proue our Antecedent Such presence is a ceremonious and religious acte applyed vnto a false congregation and religion But euery ceremony is an exteriour acte or profession of that faith and religion to which it is applied therfore is such presence a profession of Protestants religion That such presence is a ceremonious and religious acte Going to the Church is a ceremony L. 10. ciu c. 6. S. Augustine shall witnesse who expresslye teacheth that whatsoeuer worke is donne that with holy society wee may cleaue vnto God is a kind of sacrifice which truely cannot be without a religious ceremony It signifieth a society of Godlines And what I pray you is the end of coming togither in Churches in all mens opinion but for to cleaue vnto God with holy society than must the coming thither of hecessity be a ceremony And of what religion or society but of DATHAN and ABYRON of such as DAVID did detest Psal 25. whan hee saied I hate the Church of the malignant and with the wicked will I not sitt therfore in this ceremony is implied a profession of heresy Neither is it sufficient to say that your meaning is not to make any such profession but onely to go after a prophane sorte or to vse a lawfull ceremony of your owne religion for that is the meaning of wordes and signes and actions which either their own nature or the common vse of men hath imposed not that w e your selfe would intend neither can you by this word Mountaine make others to vnderstand water nor by Fier an house nor by a horse a man although you would frame vnto your selfe neuer so many CHIMERAS and false imaginations of the same in your braine Besides the being present at Catholicke seruice is a ceremony of Catholicke religion Presence at Catholicke seruice is ceremonious Therfore the being present at heretickes seruice is a ceremony of heresy Moreouer S. Augustine teacheth that no religion can be begonne or maintained without ceremonies A principall signe of religion l. 19. cont Faust c. 11 therfore cannot we shew our religion to God without the same But wherin doth our religion shew it selfe so much as in going to the Church on the holy daies wherin consisteth the very fulfilling of the 3. cōmandement therfore is this a ceremony of our religion Holy daies are obserued especially by going to the Church Further also the Church in the cōmaundement of the keeping of holy daies which no doubt is a ceremony of Christian religion doth prescribe vnto vs the maner therof and bindeth vs to no other obseruance than to be peesent at Masse at the which Diuine
if a man in the brightest noone time of the yeere should hauing his eyesight yet grope for the way And you Sir those also who seeke to make them selues Patrons maintainers of such schisme and detestable practise It is ridiculous now to call this matter into question in this examination or rather condemnation of the learned iudgement of your Superiours and of diuerse holy priesles worthy of theire function and of the great reward which they haue receiued that is of walking with Christ him selfe IN ALEIS QVONIAM DIGNI SVNT because they washed their garments and as it were Ap. 3. Ap. 7. bleached them with the blood of the Lambe you I say and your companions or Fathers if there be any Priest which hath newly bene your ghostly Father to begette you to the Deuell after so many gloriouse confessions after so many deathes after so huge forfeitures of goods landes after so greuous disgraces of the world onely for this pointe which you impugne incurred in examining now whether it be right or wrong seeme to doe as ridiculously as I haue heard to be vsed in some places not farre from you where they first hang the malefactour and afterward consulte of his deserte of death From which places euen as some very pleasantly haue made a forme of a certain Letany that they may escape So doe I desire our good Lord to deliuer all his people from such AFTER IVDGES as your selfe and your companions are But least I should seeme to leane ouermuch to my owne discourses or to the sentence and opinion of our late Founders and Apostles of our recouery vnto me alwaies most graue and reuerend I entend with as much breuity as I may to enter into the consideration of the Canons and practise of the Church that we may see how truth is euer constant and neuer disagreeing to it selfe Yet in all Christian charity I thinke it first necessary by the way to geue you this fraternall admonition The proud arrogancy of the defēders of schisme that whilest you and others scarce out of the A B C whan this doctrine was first vniuersally published by such as now liuing for learning autority and vertew you or they haue not yet ouertaken do set so light by theire sacred censure you shewe your selues scarce as yet entered into the A B C of true vertew and mortification and perfect purgation of hereticall dragges of Pride and singularity And to all godly Catholickes worthy of the glory of that name of the generall renoume of constant confession of theire faith now made publicke in the wholle world and registred vnto eternall memory I say with S PAVL 2. Tim. 3. reasoning of the dangerous times into which it seemeth we are now fallen of you and of your fathers and followers ET HOS DEVITA and such doe you auoide §. 37. In the manner also of requiring the testimonies of antiquity what proceeding is to be vsed in examining the Canons Fathers you deale as ridiculously as if a man by the cōmon sentence of all the Iudges lawiers of the Realme condemned for a Robbery donne in Coome Parke should pleade that he could not iustly be hanged because in all the lawe there is no mention made that he which robbeth in Coome Parke should be hanged All Scriptures all Fathers all Canons are full of most seuere thunderings against your actiō and yet is it not enough to condemne such breakers of Gods peace and his Christian vnity but we must haue forsooth euery particuler accident of your acte the time place manner intention and circumstances all sette downe by Prophesie before hand so condemned This may well serue you to cauill for a while yet cannot it hinder the most iust Iudge to pronounce vpon you dew sentence and deserued punishment That we may not deny our faith that we may not make any outward shew of false religion what cannot be denied in this poynte wt-out heresy that we may not disunite the Church of Christ or deuide his holy garment that we may not contemne his spouse or any waies participate with her traiterous rebells in their rebellion it is so cleare in Scriptures Canons Fathers and perpetuall custome of auncient Ages that to deny it or to doubt of it were a most detestable heresy But because they name not Caluins heresy nor make any mention of England nor touch your Parliaments nor Englishe obedience nor high Cōmissioners nor childishe awe therfore those generall rules are not to be applied to your Churches Countreis Parliaments Intentions which whilest you maintaine see also if there were a law made in England to defend murder whether some also wold not require an expresse Canon to condemn so horrible a crime But as I haue hitherto dealte with you out of Scriptures and the stedfast groundes of Diuinity So will I now deale out of Canons and customes of the Church so that you will promise me to cōfesse your selfe as well included in the generall lawes of Christians as you hope to bee included in the generall promises of Christ and must whether you will or no be included in his generall threatnings The deuision of that which followeth I will therfore deuide this last peice of my discourse into three partes And first shew what hath bene obserued from auncient times of auoiding heretickes vniuersally euen in all ciuill conuersation Secondly of auoiding them in their seruice ceremonies of theire religion Thirdly of the like care of shunning also such as are onely Schismatickes euen in their lawfull rites and ceremonies §. 38. Concerning the first pointe Of the generall bond of auoiding Heretickes Mat. 18. 1. Cor. 5. I need not to be very long considering the charge of Christ cōmanding vs to account those which disobey the Church as heathens and publicans and the doctrine of S. PAVL that with such persons we must not eate and drinke And the admonition of * ep 2. S. IHON who warneth vs that to an hereticke or any erroneous Doctour such are those also which teach that it is lawfull to go to the Church who saieth God saue you communicateth with his wicked workes This did the same S. IHON teach vs also by his example Iren. l. 3. c. 3 S. Ihon Euangelist whan he suddainly departed from the Bath in which Cerinthus the enemy of truth did bath him selfe saying that he feared the ruine of the house S. Policarpe because of his presence S. Polycarpe also out of whom S. Ireneus reporteth the former example sheweth how diligent a follower he was of the holy Apostles of Christ with whom he had bene familier who would not so much as afford vntō Marcion an Arch-heriticke a good looke but when hee meeting him desired him that he would know him he saied I know thee for Satans eldest sonne Such care had the Apostles and their disciples not so much as to speake vnto those which went about with their
iniquity which is in their seruice cōtrary Aultar vnto Gods holy Church § 39. For that alwaies euen since the beginning what the Canons haue decreed of auoiding heretickes Seruice l. 6. hist c. 3. Origen there hath bene amongst trew Christians an especiall account of communication with heretickes in theire praiers the great learned clearke Origen and most auncient Doctour shall geue plaine testimonie Of whom thus writeth Eusebius Origen saieth he although being driuen by necessity he conuersed in the same house with Paule an hereticke yet euen at that time was he not affraide to shew euident and open tokens of his trew and Catholicke opinion in matters of faith Going to hereticall conuenticles a tokē of faith For when a great multitude not only of heretickes but also of our men for the greate eloquence which was in Paule did flocke vnto him Origen could notwithstanding neuer be induced to be present at praiers with him As who from his tender age had both seriously obserued the Canon of the Church and had alwaies detested the doctrines of errours Thus Eusebius Where I desire you to marke those wordes Euident and open tokens of his religion To be present at praiers The Canon of the Church And the condemnation of such as being in minde Catholickes were present with Paule at his praiers Diuers maners of praying with he retickes But we must necessarily make some distinction of diuerse manners of praying with hereticks The first manner is whan they pray with vs but Catholickly that is either in a Catholicke congregation or else priuately but yet after a Catholicke forme and manner which maketh such ceremony not to be accounted as an hereticall ceremony but rather as Catholicke So that here I doe not so much shew my selfe to communicate with the hereticke as he to communicate with me This was accounted in the auncient Church alwaies vnlawfull vntill the Councèll of Constance and decree of Martinus the fifth For this degree of communication being not of it selfe vnlawfull neither implying any deniall or contempte of religion nor vnion with the hereticke in his diuision as it was iustly forbidden at the first so for the auoiding of many scandalls and daungers it was permitted after as we lately saied The second maner of cōmunicating with heretickes in praier is when we cōmunicate with them in their proper Churches or if in priuate houses yet after their owne particuler forme and maner And this was that which Origen refused And although hee woulde no doubt haue refused also the first communication as than being vnlawfull according vnto auncient Canons than in force yet was hee by Eusebius iudgement thought in refusing this second communication to haue shewed his Catholicke faith which he should haue denied if he had donne otherwise This second kind of praying with hereticks is in it selfe vnlawfull For it importeth a particuler vnion and association in that in which they haue cutte thē selues from the house of DAVID and erected a new Aultar fashioned new calues and new Gods besides him which cannot be truely worshiped but in the trew spirituall Hierusalem The third kind of communication with heretickes in praiers is to receaue their baptisme or sacrifice of whatsoeuer maner it be or any kind of trew or counterfaite Sacrament And this is in the highest degree of spirituall cōmunion with them alwaies vnlawfull and most detestable as also the second although somewhat in a greater measure of iniquity These three degrees you shall now see plainly set downe in three Canons of the Apostles where by the diuerse punishments contained you may iudge of the greuousnes of euery one The 44 Canon hath thus A Bishopp Priest The Canons of the Apostles or Deacon which shall ioine prarers with hereticks lett him be onely suspended from Communion But if also hee permitte them to doe any thing as Clerks lett him be deposed In the 63 Canon so we read If any Clearke or lay man enter into the Sinagogue of the Iewes or conuenticle of hereticks that he may ioine praiers with them lett him be deposed and excluded from the Communion Finally this is the 45 Canon The Bishoppe or Priest which hath taken the baptisme or sacrifice of heretickes we commaund to be deposed For what agreement is there betweene Christ and Beliall or what portion is there vnto a faithfull with an Infidell ⧠Where although it pleased the holy Apostles to impose sometimes punishments vpon the Clergy onely as which of dewty should be the forme of the flocke yet doth both their reason and the practise of the Church shew the thing to be vnlawfull to euery faithfull Christian But here you very subtelly reply that it is the comming into heretickes Churches for that intent of praier which is condemned in the 63 Canoni not the onely comming without any praier at all Nay Sir that is no good glosse For the 44 Canon imposeth a smaller penance for praying with them and that only to some degrees of the Clergy Therfore here is something more than praying with them forbidden and what is that but going to their conuenticles which going because they will distinguish from that going which may be sometimes lawfull they call it going for to pray And it is alwaies vnderstood that one goeth for to pray whan he is orderly present at the time of praier Neither can mans iudgement which searcheth not the harte esteeme otherwise Neither did euer the custome of the Church according to the politicke and new deuised intentions interpret the presence of a man at seruice or Masse but as a communication in praier For which cause good Catholickes were alwaies bounde to auoide the Chappell or Church whan any excōmunicate person in none of the tollerable degrees shewed before entered in Which if he did not he reputed him selfe to haue cōmunicated with him in praier Nauar. c. 27 n. 20. The 4. Coū cell of Carthage c. 71. 72. howsoeuer lewdly or idlely disposed the excōmunicate person was Thus much of the Canons of the Apostles The 4 Councell of Carthage where S. Augustine was present thus honourably speaketh of your Churches The Conuenticles of heretickes are not Churches but Conciliables with them we must neither praye nor sing ⧠Where if you make the same reply as before I geue you also the same answere And a new reason also for both For wheras praier with them is vnlawfull onely for this respect that we doe make our selues therby of their cōmunion or fellowship what doubt is there but in signification of this vnity it is all one to pray with them and to seeme to pray with thē Or who doubteth but that a shrewd wanton boy kneeling in his mothers presence at his praiers may satisfy her who knoweth not his minde although she be his mother as well in mouing his lippes onely and knocking his beades as if he had praied with greatest deuotion The Councell of Antioch The Councell of Antioch c. 2. With excommunicate
euer refusing to grant any such letters but to such as were in deed Catholickes in so much that S. Augustine writing to certaine Donatistes protesteth that he doth not send them communicatory but only priuate letters for their conuersion What shall wee than iudge of this association in spirituall thinges neither must you now runne vnto your ould excuse so often by you alleaged and by vs refuted that you doe not communicate with them in praiers whan you doe not pray your selfe For your very presence at their praiers is a communication with their praiers euen as the presence at the same table although you eate nothing is a communication with them in the table and dwelling in the same house or lying in the same bedd is alwaies adiudged * Nauar. c. 27. n. 20. a communication expresly forbidden by holy Canons whan there is not that Tolleration of which we spake before in ciuill cases yet neuer was nor could be graunted in the crime of their rebellion It is very well knowen how in auncient ages neither Catholickes with heretickes nor heretickes with Catholickes would ioine Churches Wherfore of S. Ambrose Amb. in or detrad Basil the Arians sought a Church as we haue saide Of Athanasius the Emperour Constantius demanded a Church for the Arians and S Athanasius in like manner for the Catholickes in Antioch Sozom. l. 3. c. 19 wheras before the Catholickes in priuate houses did vse to meete refusing to come to the Churches of heretickes as great Athanasius also him selfe that worthy immoueable Piller of Christian religion did refuse Theod. l. 5. c. 32 The like petition was made by the Arians in Arcadius time at Constantinople which whan S. Chrysostome resisted signified before Gainas who made such motion vnto the Emperour that the sacred Temple was open and that he did forbidd none but he might pray there if he would But I saith Gainas am of an other religion and with the men of my owne religion desire to haue a Church ⧠These Arians at the day of Iudgement shall cōdemne our politicke Schismatickes The Donatistes Whan the Donatistes had made certaine hymnes in Affrike to allure the people to theire seruice S. Augustine that Catholickes might in all thinges be opposite vnto them made a godly Psalme for them to sing Socr. l. 6. c. 8 Sozom. l. 8. c. 8. which he intituled a Psalme against the parte of Donatus The Arians also in Constātinople whan they by Theodosius had bene forbidden to vse their seruice in the citty and therfore in the night vsed to meete in publicke galleries by sides and quires singing certaine hereticall responses after that the day drew neere were wont to go from thence also singing blasphemous songes against the B. Trinity S. Chrysostome therfore with greater solemnity than euer before performed the like manner of nightly singing and procession in his Church and in shorte space Solemne procession was long be fore in vse See S. Basil ep 63. both in number and in solemnity exceeded the Arians For in this procession there went first a siluer Crosse with Torches kindled and charge was committed to the Empresses Chamberlaine to prouide both the expenses and also the musicke So that in all antiquity we see that heretickes churches and seruices vnto Catholicke Churches and seruices haue alwaies bene as opposite as Babilon vnto Hierusalem as heauen and hell as the citty of God and the citty of the Deuill The people of Alexandria chose rather to dye Theod. l. 2. ◠14. than to go to the Church where an Arian Bishop had possession For which cause S. Athanasius him selfe comforted by writing certaine Virgins to the constant confession of their faith For the Arians hauing found thē once at Catholicke praiers with all manner of brutish cruelty sought to make them professe Arianisme Theod. l. 4. c. 14. The people of Samosata hauing lost their godly Catholicke Bishop Eusebius were such enemies of hereticall wickednes that the Arian Bishop at seruice time was euer alone Yea whan he had bene in the bath some Catholickes comming thither and meeting him going forth neither would they enter whilest he was wtin would not aduenture to washe them selues before the water in which hee had washed was cast forth least by the very water they should haue receiued some filth of hereticall contagion He therfore soone gaue ouer his office and Lucius an other Arian being intruded could not yet alter the mind or constancy of Gods Catholcike flocke forsaken of their Pastour yet as the same author writeth executing them selues the cae of a Pastour which they plainly declared by a childish example but a trew patterne of feruent zeale to auncient religiō For whan this false Bishop Lucius by chance rode through the market place a company of children there playing at ball it happened that the ball slipping from one of thē went betwene the Mules legges on which Lucius rode But the children cried out thinking the ball to be polluted with some great filth Wherfore hauing made a fier passed the ball ofte through the flame reputing that so it might be purged This example of childish piety wheras Theodoret a most graue Bishop and Doctour hath not thought vnworthy of his ecclesiasticall history I also thincke it may very well beseeme my simple writings You may if it please you exhort whosoeuer will take the paines to supply M. FOXES Martyrologe to put this ball in the number of those which haue suffered for the Gospell Very notable is also the Recusancy of the Romane citizens Theod. l. 2. c. 10. who whan Constantius had sent into banishment their Pope Liberius and placed Faelix the second in his roome who notwtstanding afterward was a Martyr would neuer enter into the Church whilest Faelix was there both because he was not their trew Pastour and for that he had communicated with the Arians By which fortitude they obtained of the Emperour the restoring of Liberins to his See But most famous is the Martyrdome of S. Ermigildus Greg. l. 3. mor. c. 31 that most noble young Prince who for refusing to communicate with Arians was by the barbarous King his Father in steed of his Princely inheritance crowned with a Martyrdome and honoured by God after his death with most strange miracles and rewarded with the conuersion of his wholle countrey I could here very much dilate this discourse in the rehearfall of diuerse examples of most constant Catholickes Victor vticensis whom in the persecution of the Vandalles in Africke hereticall sury made most gloriouse mirrours for whosoeuer in our age hath to contend with the like barbarousnes Athenageras in Apol Theoph. Antioch l. 3 ad Autol. Text. l. de spectac Cypr. de spect A great argument might also be brought forth of the auncient custome of the purest age of the Church whan it was generally holden vnlawfull for Christians to be present at the plaies or spectacles of the Gentills
than know you that both they are deuided from vnity and there is now no question leste of cōmunication which cannot be trew but onely in vnity Presence at hereticall seruice expresly forbidden Be you not therfore as if there were no difference betweene Schismatickes and the trew Church indifferently associated vnto both their sacrifices It is not the body of Christ which a Schismatike maketh if we follow truth as our guide Neither can any man faine without reprouing the Apostle that Christ is deuided 1. Cor. 1. One onely is the Church which is Christes body which cannot be deuided in two or more partes For so soone as any departeth frō her he ceaseth to be of any Church at all ⧠How could that auncient holy Bishop more plainly discourse of communication with Schismaticks euen whan they haue trew seruice and Sacraments For that which he saieth that a Schismaticke cannot make the body of Christ See the glosse vpon this place is not vnderstood of want of trew consecratiō if he which taketh it vpon him bee a Prieste but according to the ordinary custome of Doctours which call the trew body of Christ that which is the effect of the holy Eucharist which is the incorporation with Christes misticall body which a Schismaticke cannot make in any or because a Schismaticke him selfe is no parte of that misticall body so that he speaketh not of consecration of the Eucharist but of the vnion of him which is the consecratour S. Augustine disputing against the Donatistes S. Augustines opinion l. 1. de Bap. cont Donat c. 2. 24. q. 1. cap. Si quem forte hath this notable saying which I will sette downe the more largely that you may see how that great Sainte and most graue Doctour of Gods Church esteemed of this exteriour shew of vnion with the trew Church of God which wee defend If perhapps saieth hee extreame necessity driueth any man where he cannot finde a Catholicke keeping in his mind Catholicke peace he doe receaue by some other which is out of the Catholicke vnity that which he would haue receaued in Catholicke vnity he meaneth baptisme if forthwith he depart out of this world we doe not repute him but as a Catholicke And if he be deliuered from corporall death whan he shall yeeld him selfe vnto the Catholicke congregation euen with his corporall presence from whence he neuer departed in his hart not onely we do not disallowe that which he hath donne but with all security and verity we cōmend him because he beleeued that God was present in hjis harte where hee obserued vnity and would not departe out of this life without the Sacramēt of Baptisme which whensoever he found he knew to be Gods and not of men But if any whan he might receiue it in the Catholike Church through any peruersnes of mind doth choose to be baptised in Schisme although afterward he come vnto the Catholicke Church where certaine it is the the Sacrament profiteth which may trewly be otherwhere receiued but not profitt he is peruerse and wicked and so much the more perniciously How a man in necessity may receaue a sacrament of an heretike or schismaticke by how much the more wittingly S Augustine speaketh here of Schismatickes Where he reprehendeth not the seruice or Sacrament but the vnion which is by the outward shew professed Neither yet was it his mind to approue such communicatiō with Schismatickes in necessity that a man may dissemble his recourse vnto them for to be in signe of vnion vnto them but he speaketh of those which were publicke Catecumens in the Church Conc. Trid sess 14. Caiet verbo Absolutio cap. Pastoralis de off iud ord Anglez de Conr. Art 8. Diffic 9. and knowne to desire the Churches Sacrament and as he saieth of the Church already in hart which in their extremity could finde no Catholicke who might actually incorporate them to the same After which maner in extreeme necessity there wanting an other Priest at the houre of death any Catholicke may lawfully and sufficiently be absolued by any trew Priest although an hereticke yea by Luther him selfe if he were aliue So that neither the Priest want dew intention the Penitent make knowne both vnto the Priest and others who might otherwise be scandalized that he wold liue and dye in the Catholicke vnity This is a pointe very good for our countreymen to know as a thing which may happen vnto them to be as profitable as it is most certainly permitted by holye Church So that it be not according to the forme of the communion booke or with dissimulation and dew diligence be vsed for to find a Catholicke Priest But of S. Augustines opinion in this pointe out of whom this Canon was taken we can say much more And if we would say all we should exceed any reasonable volume But our intent is not to bring here the sentences of holy Fathers but in as much as either they shew the custome of the Church or haue theire graue sentences for the gouernment of the wholle Church placed in the body of the Canon lawes This glorious Piller of Christēdome liuing in Affrica amongst the swarmes of Donatistes which at that time molested the Church of Christ being first onely Schismatickes but afterward growing to expresse heresy as alwaies Schismatickes if they continew vse to doe as we haue new oftentimes saied out of S. Hierome in all his workes against Donatistes geueth most plaine testimony of the custome of his daies Going to the Church is schisme in S. Agustines opinion For whosoeuer shal read any of those learned bookes which he writeth of that Schisme shall see that neither the Donatistes with the Catholickes nor these with them would any waies communicate Yea by this great Father it was reputed Schisme for the one parte to communicate with the other in spirituall thinges which whan I say I meane the religious presence at seruice Heare I pray you what this Saint rehearseth of an Imperiall law against this action * Ciuill law See cod de hereticis L. quicunque l. 1. cont ep Parm. in fine See ep 166. Although the conuenticles are seuerall and the segregation wicked yet the law cannot coueniently punish all proper conuenticles wicked seperation congregated Of the other Emperours lawes and iustice except of Iulian the Apostata who only fauoured the Donatistes permitting them to haue Churches which lawes are most vehement against them who is ignorant Amongst the which one generall law against all such as will be called Christians and do not communicate with the Catholike Church but are gathered together seuerally in their proper cōuenticles conteineth thus much that as well be who ordeineth a clergy man as also he which is ordeined be amerced in tenne Poundes of golde But that the very place where the wicked separation is congregated be confiscated There be also other generall commaundemements by which they are disabled either to make will