world but yet that light which is cast so far abroad is but one and the same she spreads her brannches ouer the whole earth after a plentifull manner she extendes her flowing streames with greate abundance to a great distance but yet is she one head and one roote and one mother who is fruitfull by such store of issue Lib. 1. Epist 6. The same Saint also speaking of the sin of Core Dathan and Abiron implies that the one Church must not only be entirely belieued but followed also in all her doctrines and directions For he saieth that though Core Dathan and Abiron did belieue and worship one God and liued in the same law and religion with Moyses and Aaron yet because they deuided thēselues from the rest by Schisme resisting their gouernours and Priests they were swallowed vp quick into hell S. Basile puts such a value vpon the absolute integrity of all the whole Christian Doctrine which declares what he belieued concerning the necessity of vnity in the Church as to expresse himselfe after this manner S. Basil apud Theodoret l. 4. hist c. 17. Qui in sacris litteris c. They who are well instructed in holy writ permit not one syllable of diuine doctrine to be betrayed or yeelded vp but are willing to embrace any kind of death for the defence thereof if neede require That man of God had beene solicited by some to relent for a time and to yeeld though it were but to a litle he refused in such sort as you haue seene he did it much disdaine to be attēted in that kind S. Gregory Nanzianzene speaking of Hereticks who doe all breake the vnity of the Church seemes yet to apprehend them to be worste of all who whilest indeed they breake it Greg. Nazian Tract de fide Nihil periculosius c Lib. Apo cont Ruff. Propter vnū c. doe yet seeme to doe it least because so they will hardliest be perceaued And he deliuers himselfe in these words Nothing can be more dangerous then those Heretikes who whē they runne streight through all the rest doe yet with one word as with some drop of poison infect the true and sincere faith of our Lord. S. Hierome shewes that the vnity of the Church and faith thereof must be so perfect as that for some one word or two contrary to the same many heresies haue been caste out of the Church And S. Leo saith that out of the Catholicke Church there is nothing pure according to that of the Apostle whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne and els where he saith also If it be not one it is no faith at all Cōcerning this one Church S. Augustine is also most expresse cleere For when the Donatists saith he calumniated the Catholickes In Breui collat collat dici tertiae as affirming that there were two Churches one vpon earth which contained both the good and bad and the other in heauen which contained none but good the Catholicks made them this answere That they did not make two Churches but did only distinguish the two times of the Church saying that the same One only Church was in one state now and was hereafter to be in an other that now it had a mixture of euill men but that hereafter it should haue none iust so as there are not therefore two Christs because once he could dye and now he can dye no more And thus the Catholickes refuted that slaunder which the Donatists had layed vpō thē expresly shewing what they had formerly sayed namely that there was but One and the same holy Catholicke Church And to shewe more ouer by the iudgmēt of S. Augustine In explicatione Psal 54. that the Church in her doctrine was to be truly One he spake thus of the Donatists who called vpon the same God preached the same ghospell sunge the same Psalmes had the same Baptisme obserued the same Easter and the like In those things they were with me yet not wholy with me in Schisme not with me in Heresie not with me in many things with me in a few not with me but in regard they were not with me in a few their being not with me in many could not helpe them Nay S. Ireneus whom I named before implies Lib. 2. cap. 3. not only That it is necessary for a true Christian Catholicke to differ in no one point of the doctrine or faith from other Christans but he must withall not beleeue any thing after a different manner that is to say vpon a different motiue from that for which it is beleeued by other Christians But this point I shall touch hereafter And for the present it may suffice to haue proued the necessitie of most perfect vnity in the Church and that indeede no reasō can be giuē why if there be allowed any more true Churches then One there should not be admitted as well two thousand as two So that now it remaynes for me to shewe also by the iudgment of holy Scriptures and Fathers that out of this One Church there is no saluation It is prooued both by holy scriptures and Fathers that out of One true Church of Christ our Lord no saluation is to be found CHAPTER V. SInce the Church of Christ our Lord is so truely One and but only One it followes easily inough that no saluation can be had out of this Church and that euery heresy or schisme is sufficient to depriue any soule thereof But yet neuerthelesse to the end that men may be wholy left without excuse or rather that they may be the better warned to take heede in time of those miseries which otherwise they are to feele for all eternity I will strengthen also this trueth by the authority of some few Scriptures and Fathers of the primitiue Church For so by degrees it will easily and of it felfe appeare that we Catholickes are not faulty in that wherewith we are so much charged The Prophet Esay thus foretelles the quality and condicion of the then future Church of Christ our Lord and what shall become of them who serue it not Cap. 60. Gens enim regnum quod non seruierit tibi peribit That nation and kingdome which will not serue thee shall perish And now if a whole nation and kingdome shall perish for not seruing what shall become of those priuate miserable people who blaspheme and rent it The same Prophet sayth else where to the same purpose Cap. 54. Omne vas c. Euery vessell or pot which is framed against the shall not succeede or proue well and thou shalt iudge euery tongue resisting thee in iudgment We haue seene already in the new Testament vpon another occasion to prooue the vnity of the Church that whosoeuer obeyes not this One Church is by the order of our blessed Lord himselfe to be held for no other then a Pagan or Publican that is to say for no better then a meere Idolater
humane and fallible motiue whatsoeuer it is cleare that I could haue no supernaturall faith at all euen concerning that one single article of Catholicke doctrine And the same is to be said of the rest whether they be many or few great or smalle And the vndoubted reason hereof is because I giue not my firme assent to it vpon the only true infallible motiue which is the reuelatioÌ„ of God the propositioÌ„ of his Church For whatsoeuer is lesse then this cannot erect and qualifie an act of supernaturall faith with must be absolutely vndoubted and certaine and otherwise it is noe true faith at all but opinion and persuasion or humane beliefe He therfore with belieues not euery particular Article of Catholicke Doctrine which is reuealed and propounded by Almightie God and his Church doth no assent eueÌ„ to any one of them which he belieues vpon the sayd only true and infallible motiue For if he did he would as certainely or rather indeede could not choose but as willingly belieue all the rest since they all come recomended to him by the same Authority And now if there be truth in this which indeed cannot be called into any question the Catholikes and Protestants are farre inough from being of one faith and Church since it is demonstrated that besides the maine differeÌ„ces which runne betweene vs either they or we haue not really any true and supernaturall faith at all of any one doctrine of the Church wherein yet we seeme to consent together For as Turkes and Mores who belieue in God the Father haue yet no true supernaturall faith euen of that one single Article nor the Iewes of any thing contained euen in the old Testament so neither hath any heticke of any thing contained either in the old or new since they all resemble one another in this that whatsoeuer they belieue it is not done vpon that motiue which only can make an act of true and supernaturall faith And thus it shall suffice me to haue proued according to the maine proiect of this discourse that there is but one true faith which is the foundation of the only one true Religion which is exercised in one only true Church wherewith Christians are bound to communicate and that out of this Church there is no saluation to be found and lastly that both Catholicks and Protestants can by no meanes be accounted for members of one and the same true Church of Christ our Lord. But Protestants Qui nolunt intelligere vt bene agant though their reason tell them that al this is true do yet find their Religion to be so vnsoundly built that they can hardly be drawne to an acknowledgment thereof And therefore they are wont to say that such vnity of faith as this whereof we haue spoken is a kind of impracticable thing in this life that the holy Scripture speaking thereof is not to be vnderstood in such a rigid sense that the Fathers of the primitiue Church were too precise that way that their discourse of this kind was metaphysicall and that saluation is no so hard to be obtained but that there is roome inough in heauen for both Religions And finally they obiect that there is no such exact vnity as I haue her described euen amongst vs Catholickes and that theÌ„selues maintaine a sufficiency of vnity in faith both with the Fathers of the primitiue Church and with their owne fellow brethren the Lutheranes yea some moreouer will be so courteous as to professe that they agree euen with vs moderne Papists in all Fundamentall points of faith But I will consider in the next chapter both how litle reason they haue in what they obiect herein against vs and in what also they alleadge for themselues The auoiding of three obiections which they make against vs to disproue our vnitie in faith amongst our selues and of a fourth allegation whereby they would shew that they hold as much vnity both with the Lutherans and euen with vs Catholickes at this day as they are bouÌ„d to maintaine CHAPTER VII THey first striue to impeach our vnity in faith by obiecting that variety of opinioÌ„s in some points which they find by our books to be amongst vs whereby they would inferre that there is also amongst vs a diuersity of beliefe and faith and there is nothing more vsuall with them then this discourse But the answere is shortly and clerely this That wheresoeuer they find our Doctours to be of a contrary opinioÌ„ they shall also find those points in question not be haue bene defined by the Church but left at liberty to be debated and disputed as men see cause Such are a world of difficultyes betweene the Thomists and Scotists de auxilijs betwene the Dominicans and the Iesuites wherein either side defendes that which they take to be the truth opposing the contrary opinion by all the argumeÌ„ts that occure And both sides the while are resolued ready to submit to the iudgmeÌ„t definitioÌ„ of the Church whensoeuer it shall be declared so captiuating their vnderstanding to the obedieÌ„ce of faith as the Apostle exhorts And in the meane time they preserue the spirit of charitie in the bond of peace If our aduersaries could shâ—w that they erected Altare contra altare or that they were resolued not to obey to the definition of the Church when it were declared they should haue reason on their side but otherwise they are either very ignorant or els full of malice who make this obiection And let them either shew what Iesuite and Dominican breakes communion with on another or els betake theÌ„selues to some better prooffes The next obiection is yet more stupide then the former and I wonder how Caluins rage against the Church could put him so farre out of his wits as that he would euer take it into his mouth For it is he who being pricked by our noting their want of vnity towards their fellow brethren thinkes to reâ—ort it backe vpon vs by saying that we are not in case to obiect any such thing against them forasmuch as that forsooth we haue as many sects amongst vs as we haue seuerall Orders of Religious men and then he rekons vp Benedictans Carmelites Dominicans Franciscans whom els he will Wicked man who well knewe that no one of those holy Orders doth differ in any one point of doctrine from any of the rest are so farre from breaking communion with them as that still they preuent one another in all honour and good respects according to the aduice of the Blessed Apostle and much more do they exhibite all possible reuerence and obedience to the same Church and the Prelates thereof The difference which indeede raignes amongst them is who shal strip themselues soonest of all earthly incombrance and so fly the faster to heauen They haue seuerall Rules indeed which were framed by their seuerall Founders those men of God whereby they might the better direct their course to this iourneyes end according
Protestants And then I make account that in the third place it will follow euen of it selfe that both Catholicks and Protestants are not saueable in both their seueral Religiōs without repentance thereof And consequently that no one of vs is to be blamed if conceauing his owne to be the only true Religion he declare the dangerous estate wherein he takes any other man to be who communicates and agrees not with him but rather that he is obliged to let him know it And now I will briefely put my selfe to proue the first assertion concerning the unity of the Church by some texts testimonies of holy Scripture and first of the old Testament In the time of Moyses when it pleased Almighty God to draws a visible people to himselfe and to give them an expresse law and to ordaine varietie of visible sacrifices by the oblation whereof they were to doe him homage and appease his wrath and to institute visible ceremonies for the more deuout and exact performance of the same it was also pleasing to his diuine Maiesty to appoint that howsoeuer the Iewes were to exercise their Religiō in some kinds in their seueral Synagogues yet that sacrifice was not to be offered to him by them but in the only Tēple of Ierusalem He also cōmaunded that in such cases of difficulty as might occure his whole people should be subiect to the determination and decision of the high Priest for the time being and this Deut. cap. 17. vpon no lesse then the paine of death from which sentence there was to be no appeale Let the place at large be well considered and it will easily appeare by the great authority and power which was cast vpon the indiuidual person of one Iudge that there could neither be any other Church nor any other Religion which might pretend to be true if it would presume to disagree dissent from this The same truth is also made euident by the feareful iudgment which fell vpō Core Dathan and Abiron Nū 16. for theire act of disobedience against Moyses and Aaron in so much as that the ground opened it selfe and swallowed them vp aliue with all their goods into the profound pit of hell in the sight of the whole paople for but offering to make a schisme from that one Church wherein he had ordained himselfe to be serued According to this practise vnder the written lawe Almighty God speaking to the Prophet Ezechiel of the times which were to succeede vnder the Messias made a promise that he would giue true Christians a heart which should be most truly one Ezech. 11. Et dabo eis cor vnum And the kingly Prophet Dauid describes the excellency and Maiestie of Almightie God by declaring howe he raignes in his holy place and makes them who inhabite that house to be all after one manner and to be indued with the same affections and dictamēs concerning his seruices Psal 67. Deus in loco sancto suo qui inhabitare facit vnius moris in domo Those words also of the Canticles Vna est columba mea Cant. 6. perfecta mea c. were spokē by the holy Ghost in the person of God the Father with intention to designe delineate the vnity of the Church for so it is interpreted by S. Cyprian De vnit Ecles and he expresses himselfe further thus vpon that occasion will any man thinke that he holds fast his faith if he hold not faste this vnity of the Church Now the same also is deliuered at least as certainely in the new Testamēt and so much more euidently and aboundantly as the Church of God vnder the lawe of grace was to be farre more diffused ouer the whole world and both for the honour of Christ our Lord the safety of his seruants who were so dearely bought by himselfe to be preserued in no lesse perfect vnity thē euer it had enioyed in former times We see therfore that Christ our Lord made it one of his last suits to his eternall father when he stood as it were euen vpon the very brim of death that he would preserue the disciples whom he had giuen him he would make thē al Io. 37. as truly one in affection and will touching things with might concerne his seruice as euen the Father Son were one And it may be noted here with all that in this case he speakes to his eternall Father for our increase of comfort with a compellation of extraordinary tendernes saying Io. 17. Pater sancte serua eos c. Keep them holy Father c. to shew how much his hearte was set vpon this suite When also he was vpō the point of his Ascension vp to heauen he commaunded his disciples to teach all nations to obserue all those things whatsoeuer which he hadū commaded them Matt. 18 v. 9. 20. and he pronounced indefinitely that whosoeuer would not belieue shouldbe condēned which doth clearely relate not only to this or that particular Article but to the whole sūme of Christian doctrine in generall and thus it may be seene that he intended to ordaine an exacte vnity in his Church Marc. 16 v. 26. that whosoeuer should fayle of beleeuing any one point of Christian doctrine should be as sure of condemnation as if he had beleeued but any one or none The Apostles planted this one faith and watered it with all so well that our Lord gaue great encrease to it the holy Ghost declared in the acts of the Apostles Act. 4 That the whole multitude of belieuers had but one heart and one soule And that vessell of the holy Ghost S. Paule considering how very much this point of vnity did import sendes his aduise to the Ephesians Cap. 4. that they should be carefull to preserue the vnity of the spirit in the bond of peace and the word whereby he expresses himselfe implyes no ordinary kinde of care but a most particular solicitude of minde I should neuer make an ende if I would presse all those places of the new Testamēt which declare the intention of our Lord to haue his Church one and only one The very names whereby it is described as for exāple that of the Arcke of Noe of one Kingdome one Cittie one Spouse one vineyard one fielde one barne one ship one net one body many others of like nature which I omit shewe expresly that the Church of Christ our Lord was to be but One. And especially this point was setled by our Lord when he made his owne Church to be the only supreame Iudge euen in all spirituall offences and scandalls and much more in Controuersies of Religion amongst Christians requiring that whosoeuer would not hearken to and obey that Church should be held a very Pagan and Publican Matt. 18.17 without allowing him soe much as any appeale at all euen to the holy Scripture it selfe By which only words of our blessed Lord it is most clearly
naturally prooued that this Church is enriched with those very qualities and markes which are auowed by vs her children contested by the aduersaries thereof as namely with a perpetuall visibility or els he had giuen vs a commaunde which it were not possible for vs to obey For how should we at all times find out and consulte our difficulties and manifest our cōplaints to that Church which at all times could not be seene by the eyes of men with a most certaine infallibility For otherwise a man might perish for beleeuing and professing false doctrines through his obedience to the cōmaundant of Christ our Lord in submitting to an erring Church But especially which makes most to our purpose the entire vnity of the Church is prooued here by the exact obedience which we are obliged to exhibite to the same Church For els if there might be two seuerall true Churches dissenting from one another they might holde me for a Publican and Pagan if I did not obey them both which were impossible for me to doe they cōmaunding contrary things And if one of thē dissented from the other I must be tossed betwixt two damnations For if I should obey that true Church erring I should incurre damnation by obeying her and by embracing and persisting in her errours yet if I should not obey her I should incurre damnation by the expresse sētēce of Christ our Lord himselfe who appoints me to be held a Pagan if I obey her not And this shall suffice for this Chapter wherein we may haue seen what holy Scripture saith to this question and in the next we shall find that the Fathers of the Primitiue Church who follow it as their guide will not fayle to vtter the same voice The expresse vnity of the Church is prooued by the authority of the Fathers of the most primitiue times CHAPTER IIII. THe holy Fathers in the most primitiue times who are iustly called Fathers and reuerenced as such by vs were yet withall most obedient and humble children to the holy Catholicke Church of their time and so treading in those very steps which had beene traced out for them by the holy Ghost in holy Scripture they haue shewed many wayes how they beleeued and knewe that there was but one true Church and that the perfect vnity thereof was to be so very carefully maintained as that whosoeuer broke it must euerlastingly perish I say they haue shewed many wayes what their dictamen was herein for some of thē haue writtē whole books expresly and to no other end at all but to prooue the necessity of vnity in the Church of Christ our Lord as namely S. Cyprian and S. Augustine Others haue written framed expresse Catalogues of all the heresyes which had risen in the Church of Christ our Lord from his Ascensiō to heauē til their own time expresly shewing hereby that both the vnity of the Church was directly broken by the obstinate beliefe of any one doctrine which was held in disobedience to the same Church and withall that whosoeuer did so breake it must forfet the saluatiō of his soule thereby And this was doone by S. Epiphanius Bishop of Cyprus by Philastrius Bishop of Brescia both who are cited to this purpose by the incomparable S. Augustine in his treatise de heresibus ad Quod vult Deū Where himself also maks an exact Catalogue of all the heresies which had sprung vntill his time and where by the way I must needs obserue in a word that he recoūts diuers heresies which are held by the Protestāt Church at this day and particularly that of denying prayers and sacrifices for the dead and then he concludes in the end that whosoeuer should hold any one of them were not Christian Catholick Besides this way of proofe concerning the vnity of the Church I will also cite the Fathers who are full of expresse and positiue texts whereby vpon occasion they proue the vnity of the Church and I will begin with S. Ireneus who discourses thus Lib. 1. cap. 3. Hac praedicatione c. The Church hauing receiued this word preached and this faith as was shewed before and hauing spred the same ouer the whole world doth diligently preserue it as inhabiting one house and doth likewise beleeue those thinges which are taught thereby as hauing one soule one heart in the same conformity she preaches and teaches deliuers it as indeed possessing but one mouth For though there be in the world different expressions tongues yet the vertue and power of Tradition is but one and the same And neither those Churches which are found in Germany nor those others in Spaine nor those in France nor they which are in the Easterne parts nor they which are in Egypt nor they which are in Libya nor they which ar setled in the middle parts of the world doe beleeue or make traditiō of doctrine any otherwise in one place thē in another But as that creature of God the Sunne is one and the same in the whole world so is the preaching of the truth a light which shews euery wheare and illuminates all men who will come to the knowledge of the truth And those Prelates of Churches who haue most power and grace of speache will deliuer no other things but these For noe man is aboue his maister neither will such an one as hath meaner talents in speach make this doctrine and Tradition lesse but since Faith is but one and the same neither doth he inlarge it who is able to speake much of it nor that other diminish it whoe speakes lesse De praescrip aduer Haeret Valentinus c. Tertullian shewes plainly that whosoeuer denyes any one doctrine of the Church reiecteth all for thus he sayeth vpon occasion Valentinus approueth some things of the law and the Prophets some things be disavowes that is be disallowes all whilest he approues some And the same Tertullian De praescrip c. 8. Caeterū multos c. doth also elswhere in the same booke inferre the truth of Catholicke doctrine by the exacte vnity thereof whilest he sayth after this manner Quod apud multos c. That which is found to be one amongst soe many is not to be thought to haue crept in by errour but to haue beene recommended by Tradition S. Cirill Patriarche of Ierusalem Catech. 18. assigning reasons why the Church of Christ our Lord is called Catholicke doth excellently giue this one amongst the rest Quia docet Catholicè id est vniuersaliter c Because she teacheth Catholickely that is to say vniuersally and without any defect or difference all those doctrines which ought to be knowne concerning things either visible or inuisible celestiall or terrestriall S. Cyprian in his booke de vnitate Ecclesiae sayeth thus Ecclesia Domini luce perfusa c. of the vnity of the Church The Church being stroken through by the light of our Lord doth sende her beams throughout the whole
in his Religion and for a most infamous and base person in his conuersation And we may see now further that S. Paule that vessell of election that man who had beene rapt to the third heauen add who had in his heart such a flaming fornace of Charity as to desire to be made Anathema for the saluation of his brethren doth most aboundantly declare the wofull state or all heretickes and schismatickes He requires men to auoid an heretick if he reform not himselfe after one or two reproofes and he names Haereticum hominem indefinitely without specifying in particular what his heresie may be more or lesse He sayth also that an Hereticke is condemned euen by his owne iudgment ad Tit. 3 That their speech is like a Cancer whiche creepes and kills That they attend to the spirit of errour and the Doctrine of diuells That they are hyppocrites and lyers couetous arrogant and blasphemous That they take the apparance of piety vpon them but yet renounce the vertue and substance hereof That they are euer learning but without attayning to the knowledge of truth That as Iannes and Mambres resisted Moyses so doe these also resist the truth being corrupt in minde and reprobates concerning the faith but that they shall not preuaile but their folly shal be made manifest to al as that of Iannes and Mambres was That they haue itching eares which they turne away from hearing the truth S. Iude. And S. Iude saith they ar dūbe Beasts vnfruitful trees twise dead rooted vp cloudes without water waues of a tempestuous sea which beate themselues into the some of their owne confusion for whom the storme of of eternall darknes is reserued and that they are men who walke the way of Cain and Baalam and who perish in the contradiction of Core By all which kind of language a man may easily perceaue how farre both the Apostle S. Paule S. Iude also accounted them to be from saluation whoe haue deuided themselues from the Catholicke Church by heresie or schisme And S. Paule sayth in cleere termes That the workes of the flesh are manifest Galat. cap. 5. which whosoeuer cōmits shall not possesse the kingdome of God Amongst which he reckons expresly contentions emnities dissentions and Sects c. which word Sects in Latin is Heresie in Greeke Now if any one heresie be damnable what shall they be when they come in clusters And if their soules be to be lost who fall into emnity and contentions without repenting themselues hereof what shall become of those miserble creatures who violate maligne and wound the whole mystical body of Christ our Lord which is his Church As for the Fathers De praes aduersus haeret they are as bright as day in this point Tertullian saith that if they be heretikes they cannot be accounted Christians S. Cyprian is expresse and large in this argument and sayth thus Lib. 4. Epist 2. de vnit Eccles Adulterari non potest Sponsa Christi c. The Spouse of Christ cannot be adulterated she is incorrup and chaste she knowes one house purely consernes the Chastity of one bed-chamber It is she who keeps vs for God she sets them forth for his kingdome whome she hath begotten Whosoeuer is separated from the Church and is ioyned to an adultres is separated also from those promises which belonge to the Church nor shall he arriue to the rewards of Christ who forsake the Church of Christ He is an alien he is a prophane person and he is an enemy He can no longer haue God for his Father who hath not the Church for his Mother If a man might haue escapte drowning without being in the Arck of Noe he shall also be able to escape who is out of the Church Ibid. He also saith thus afterwards They cannot remaine with God because they would not continue of one minde in the Church of God Though their bodies should be deliuered to be burnt in the fier or that they should be deuoured by wild beasts such a death would not be a Crown of faith but a punishment of perfidiousnes in them nor would it be a glorious end of their vertue but a destructiō following vpon despaire Such a man may be killed but cannot be crowned Iust so doth he professe himselfe to be a Christian as the diuell doth often falsely affirme himselfe to be Christ according to what our Lord him selfe did forewarme and tell vs thus Many will come in my name saying I am the Christ and they shall deceaue many But as he is not Christ though he shall deceaue many vnder the colour of that name so neither can that man be accompted a Christian who remaines not in his doctrine and faith And in another place he also saith Quisquis 〈◊〉 est lib. 4. Epist 2. whosoeuer he be and what kinde of man soeuer he be he is no Christian who is not in the Church of Christ The like or rather the very same words are vsed by S. Augustine Serm. 181. de tēp else where also he saith thus to certaine heretickes How can you brag Symb. ad Catecum c. 10. Quomodo vos cam c. Lib. 2. contra Gaudon cap. 12. that you hold fast the Faith which our Lord left to his Apostles would you haue men so blind and deafe as not to heare or read the ghospell where they may know what faith our Lord left to his Apostles concerning his Church from which since you are deuided and separated you doe no other thing then rebell against the words both of the body and of the head and yet the while you bragge that you endure persecution for the Sonne of man and for the faith which he recōmended to his Apostles And thē doth the Saint put himselfe to shew our of Scripture That this is that Church of Christ which is spread ouer the whole world De vnit Eccl. Ad ipsam c. The same holy Father saith also No man cōmeth to saluation or life euerlasting who hath not Christ for his head and no man can haue Christ for his head who is not in his bodie which is the Church And els where hee discourseth thus Epi. 152. quisquis ab hac c. whosoeuer is separated from the Catholicke Church how laudably soeuer he may conceaue himselfe to liue yet he shall not haue life but the wrath of God remainesh vpon him for this only crime of being seuered from the Society of Christ And to conclude for asmuch as concernes S. Augustines authority touching this point let this following speech of his be well pondered whereby it will appeare that Cardinall Petron said well when he taught that the name Catholicke was not only a name of beliefe and faith but of Charity also and Communion which whosoeuer should want would also want saluation though he were not wanting in points of faith let vs hearken to S. Augustine who deliuers himselfe thus Et
since Moyses time which furnished vs with the first proofe that there must be vnity in Religion and obedience in the professours thereof that such as should obstinately trangresse were ordained to be put to a first death which might serue them for a Preface to their second destruction Which truth being once graunted I trust they will not take it ill at our hands if we hope well of our selues in our owne way and consequently if we conceaue that we haue no cause to hope well of them if they dy impeditent in theirs they haue no reason to be offēded with vs and the lesse since the Lutherans declare so expresly and resolutely that the Resolution of the Sacramentaries that is to say of our English Protestants is also damnable as hath been seene And this not only for the heresie which they hold in point of the Sacrament but for many others also as appeares by those authours of theirs whom I cited before So that still I see lesse and lesse colour why they should except against vs as if we wanted charity for saying that of them which when they list they not only take liberty to say of vs but euen of one another also and yet do not thinke that they offend Charitie therein As for vs we neither do nor can with any reason conceaue that they breake the lawe of charity towards vs supposing their owne Religion to be true in that they allow not saluation to vs if we dye in ours which consequently must be false And if ours be a false Religion as it must needes be if their Church be true and that we obstinately refuse to obay it we cannot be saued by the profession thereof And so therefore on the other side if ours be true as euen they must giue vs leaue to thinke it and as infallibly we belieue it to be theirs must then be no lesse false then ours is true Now supposing this on both sides it will not be want of Charity in either of vs both to hold and declare the others Religion to be incōpatible with saluation nay it will be want of Charity if we do it not For men are not so made for them selues as that they must not also procure to do their neighbours good and especially in that which most imports And besides the generall tye of one part of mankind to another whereof we are put in minde so many wayes the holy Scripture it selfe is often pointing vs out to our duty in this kind and most especially it doth in one passage of Ecclesiasticus lay a direct obligation vpon vs in these most binding words Cap. 17. Mandauit vnicuique Deus de proximo suo God hath laied a charge vpon euery man that he looke to his neighbour Which as it warrants not the busie or medling humour of any priuate man to intrude himselfe into the secret affaires of another nor obliges him so much as euen to the reprooffe of his knowne sinnes when he hath neither charge ouer that person nor hath hope of amendement by it and when it is not agreable otherwise to the circumstāces and rules of charity which ought to be conducted and carryed on by Christian prudence so yet on the otherside it layes not only a Counselle but a strict commandement not only vpon some one but vpon euery one not to omit opportunity whereby a man may prudently be in hope either to doe his neighbour any important good or else to diuert him from any thing which may doe him any considerable hurt Now if a priuate man must not only be excused if according to the rules of Christian piety and prudence he assist his neighbour in doing well and declaring the danger wherein he is if he doe otherwise but he shall not be excusable in the sight of God if he dischardge not this duty how much more highly shall the Church of Christ our Lord be both authorized and obliged to instruct Christians in the right way and to reduce such others as are in the wrong by making them vnderstand their danger of euerlasting damnation Nay we see by that which past betweene Almighty God and the Prophet Ezechiel that he was appointed to stand Centinell ouer the house of Israel and to heare Gods word out of his owne mouth and so to announce it to his people in his name and that God said thus to him Si dicente me ad impium c. Ezechiel cap. 3. If when I shall say to the wicked mā thou shalt dye the death thou declare it not to him nor aduise him to returne from his wicked way that he may liue that wicked man shall dy in his iniquity but I will require his blood at thy handes But if thou anounce it to him and that yet he will not returne from his sinne and from his wicked way that man indeed shall dye in his owne sinne but as for thee thou shalt haue freed thy soule from death Now therefore if a single Prophet being called to that office by Almighty God be obliged vnder the paine of his owne damnation to aduise men to depart from their wickednes how much more precisely will this obligation lye vpon the Church of God which hath the chardge ouer all Christian soules to teach them that Doctrine which is true and to let them see the danger wherein they are of hell fire if they continue to professe that which is false For the word of God whether it be written in holy Scripture or vnwritten and so deliuered from hand to hand by Tradition is his reuealed will and the Church is his Embasadour Leidger in this world to declare and announce that word and will of his to mankind and to bring them into league with God as S. Paule affirmed of him selfe and of the other Pastours and Doctours of the Church 2. Cor. 5 Legatione pro Christo fungimur c. We are Embassadours on the part of Christ with instructions for the reconciling of man to God And accordingly S. Paule was carefull to let men see their case and to declare the danger wherein sinners were For we haue seene how he warned men to take heede of the speech of hereticks as of a Cancer and else where to auoid them if they did not first reforme them selues after they had beene reprooued once or twice as also that such as departed from the vnity of faith were people who attended to the spirit of Errour and to the Doctrine of diuells and a great deale more of that kind which you shall find related before in the ninth chapter which clearly and fully shewes what opinion the holy Scripture hath of heretickes Besides all this if a man shall eternally be damned for committing of one theft or one act of simple fornication vnles he repent himselfe thereof before he dy Gal. 5. Cōsulta decapes relig which is cleare by S. Paules expresse text much more as Father Lessius shewes shall he incurre those eternall torments
Charity in cōmaunding that mē should be held for no better then Pagans Matt. 16. and Publicans if in any thing of scandall and much more of doctrine concerning faith they disobeyed the Church for his precept of obedience was indefinite and therefore our obedience must not be limited only to this or that That God the Father himselfe wanted Charity who sent Chore Dathan and Abiron aliue Numb 16. and headlong into hell for a meer act of schisme and commanded that whosoeuer would not obey the sentence of the Priest for the time being should without any other remedy be put to death And lastly that Luther himselfe and his most learned Disciples wanted Charity not only for defaming the Church of Rome as the seate of Antichrist the whore of Babylon and the Beast of the Apocalips which printes the marke of damnation vpon the foreheads of her Children but for condemning also all Caluinists for their heresie concerning the blessed Sacrament besides many others which are both imputed and prooued vpon them by the Lutherans As for Luther and his Disciples it costs me little to lay them a side as not importing much what they say saue that their authority is argumentum ad hominē against al such Protestāt Libertins of this nation as so vniustly chardge vs with want of Charity towards them for saying that if they dye in Protestancy they cannot be saued But that which I haue shewed à parte rei namely that the Fathers of the Primitiue Church that the blessed Apostle S. Paule nay that God the Father the Sonne the holy Ghost haue both practised and imposed vpon all Christians and especially vpon the Church and Church-men to declare the danger wherein sinners are to loose their soules by cōtinuing in sinne must needes suffice to exempt vs in the iudgment of any indifferent morall man from offending against Charity for doing the like It is not therefore want of Charity in vs to affirme the danger of their state who are in errour out of a most Christian desire to see them deliuered from the same but it is too euident that their mislike of vs vpon this occasion proceedes in them out of Libertinisme and their too great good fellowship in matters of the soule and out of the meane conceit which they haue framed in their mindes of the vnity of Faith and of Cōmunion both in Doctrine and discipline with the Catholicke Church and of the entirenes of the infallible truth and the vnspotted seruice of Almighty God And what indeed doe they but shew by their whole course that they desire and resolue to belieue and professe according to the occasion and to comply with the superiour powers of this world and to obay the motions of appetite and sense without being euer so much as tould if they can choose that they must loose heauen for their labour Whereby it may be seene that the children are in this as like their Mother as they can looke For who perceaues not that the Protestant Church doth rather carry a respect to outward Conformity then to reall vnity in matter of Religion that indeed they are but as in iest when there is speech of sauing soules in any one Church rather then in another It is true that they make both lawes and Canons whereby they oblidge me vnder a world of penalties to frequent their Churches and to receaue their Sacraments but without caring greately whether men belieue their Doctrine to be true or no. For I put this case If a mā who were knowne to be wholly affected in his heart to the Catholicke Faith should yet for the sauing of his lands or goods resolue to comply with their lawes by going to their Churches and by receauing their Communion yea and withall should declare in company the day before that he was resolued to do so the day after for the only sauing of his estate and for the shewing of his obedience to the Kings lawes though yet withall he were persuaded that their Sacraments were vnlawfull and their Church impure would that Minister refuse to let him goe to his Seruice and or to communicate with the rest Infallibly he would not and we see dayly that they doe not in like occasions For that Church as I sayd aspires not to Vnity but Vniformity But the proceeding of the Catholicke Church is very different and hath that diuine truth which was committed by our Lord to her care in so high account that if she haue but iust cause to suspect that any man belieues not in his hart as she teaches she is so farre from obliging him vnder pecuniary mulcts to repaier to her seruice and Sacraments that she will by no meanes admit him thereunto till he haue first cleare himselfe of that suspicion and sufficienly shewed himselfe free from any such want of beliefe Thus doth the Catholicke Church of this age proceed and thus also did the same Church proceede in the most Primitiue times In so much as that then there were and now there ar certaine mē deputed belōging to particular Churches who were called Ostiarij Whose duty was and is to attend within at the Church doores of purpose to hinder their being present at the celebrating of diuine Mysteries whom they may know to be obstinately auerst either from belieuing any part of the Doctrine or from liuing vnder the discipline of the Catholicke Church This Church which is enriched and endowed with the holy Ghost and consequently with spirituall Fortitude which is one of the seauen prime gifts thereof proceeds like a body which knowes it selfe to belong to an omnipotent head and feares not to avowe both what it saith and what it doth And as on the one side she expresses all the suauity which can be conceaued and is most ready to wrap vp the most enormous sinners of the world and the most mortall enemyes which she hath in the very bowells of her compassion if they will come to God in the way of pennance so yet withall on the other side if men will presume to be soe vastly proud as to preferre their owne fancies before her wisedome which was sent downe from Heauen for the direction of the world and if notwithstāding her most charitable endeauours to reduce them they will yet add contempt and obstinacy to their other sinnes she threatens them with the danger wherein they are and she goes on so farre if she finde cause as to separate them in the quality of heretickes from her Cōmunion and proceeds not against them as against Traitours to Princes or states according to that poore shifte of Protestāts whose guylty Consciences make them not dare though their hearts be well bent that way to punish our Priests capitally as for a corrupt Religion but they set vpon them impudent and false pretext of Treason For as the Catholicke Church is most perfectly charitable so withall she thinkes she cannot expresse that vertue better then by clearely distinguishing betweene truth and