Ship which carry'd the Mother of the Gods which many Mariners hawling all together could not stir Plutarch also in Coriolanus relates that the Image of Fortune spoke and often as the same Author relates in the same Life the Images and Statues were seen to Sweat Bleed and Weep St. Austin likewise tells us of many such Portents that happen'd among the Gentiles lib. 10 de civitate Dei. Tacitus also Hist lib. 4. relates of Vespasian that by his single Touch he restor'd Sight to the Blind and Strength to the Lame Bellarmin cap. 14. de Not. Eccles That both their Diseases proceeded from the Devil who having seiz'd the Eye of the one and the Leg of the other hindred the Use of their Limbs to the end he might seem to heal when he ceas'd to hurt I do not see why the Protestants may not use the same Exception against so many Miracles which the Romanists seign by the Touch either of their Images or their Reliques But I shall here furl my swelling Sails Mr. Prior being ready to explain and enlarge my self whensoever you shall be pleas'd to re-assume and examin this Matter II. Miracles do not of necessity follow Truth For tho' they were necessary in the time of Infant Christianity yet the true Religion being now establish'd and setled over all the World if not manifestly profitable they cease however to be absolutely necessary So that St. Austin lib. 2. de civitate Dei with very great reason said Whoever still enquires after Prodigies to confirm his Belief is himself a great Prodigy I forbear any more let it suffice me only to produce the Fathers of the Second Nicene Council act 4. Why do our Images at this day work no Miracles I answer with the Apostle Miracles are not for Believers but for the Vnbelievers Now then if the Protestants embrace the Doctrin of Christ and his Apostles the Miracles of Christ and his Apostles are sufficient for them Which would be necessary again were they to follow some new and never heard of Gospel before Nor does the difference whatever it is between the Reform'd Churches and the Lutherans whatever it be either in Ceremonies or some Points of Doctrin savour a jot more your precipitate Judgment concerning the Eternal Damnation of the Protestants For you Romanists your selves acknowledge that the Greek and Eastern Christians would be in the way of Salvation would they but submit to the Empire of the Pope tho' they retain'd their Ceremonies and Opinions differing in many Circumstances from the Rites and Doctrin of the Roman Church It is apparent from the Epistle of St. Austin to Januarius that all the Churches did not make use of the same Rites and Ceremonies In the Apostolic Churches also soon after the first dawn of Christianity Disputes and Contentions arose to pass by those that fell out between Cyril and Theodoret Chrysostom and Epiphanius St. Jerom and St. Austin nay between those very Men themselves that reproach the Lutherans and the Reformed with their differences which I would to God they were clos'd up There is the greatest difference among these Upbraiders not only as to Ceremonials as is apparent from so many Orders of Monks varying among themselves in Habit Rules and Public Worship but also as to Opinions as is evident from those most terrible Controversies about which your Theologists most sharply contend and quarrel one with another of the Authority of the Pope above a Council of a Council above the Pope of the Infallibility of the Bishop of Rome of his Power over Kings and Secular Princes the Conception of the Blessed Virgin of the sort of Adoration due to the Cross and Images of Predestination Grace Free-will and the like So that the Doctors of your Communion split themselves into various Sects according to which some are Thomists others Scotists others Real others Nominal others love to be call'd Jansenists and others Molinists Nay there is not any Article of the Christian Faith about which you have not rais'd Contentions and Disputes if not more sharp and eager yet of no less moment then all those which are stirring between the Reformed and the Lutherans And that diversity which you object against us is far inferior to your Dissentions nor is it concerned in the Fundamentals of Christianity in which the Reformed of both Parties are plainly agreed So that it is a kind of Miracle that there should be so little variance between so many Reformed Churches dispers'd all over Europe compos'd of various People and under several Princes tho' among them there is no Church which commands over others nor any intervening Political Tye to constrain them to such an Agreement in Matters of Faith. In the mean time there is no Schism between ours and the Lutheran Churches seeing that we neither separated from Them nor they from Us. In Poland the Brethren of the Helvetian Bohemian and Augustan Confession setting a laudable Example communicated before together by virtue of the Decree of Sendomir And in the Year 1631 in the National Synod of France a Decree was made for admitting the Lutherans as Brethren in Christ and Members of the same Mystical Body to our Communion of the Lord's Supper and for allowing them Brotherly Toleration in those Points wherein they differ from us And tho' they in their Anger pretend that we Err in Fundamentals which through the Mercy of God they will never be able to prove yet we judge more tenderly and better of them so disproving the Opinions which they obstinately defend that we deny them to be in themselves deadly or pernicious to Salvation or that they are such as ought not to hinder Christian Peace between us and them or prevent an Ecclesiastical Communion which might be obtain'd between Churches not agreeing in all things if the Foundation were sound Now we believe that to be a Fundamental Error wherein there is according to the ancient Phrase of the Synagogue a Denial of the Foundation which cannot comply with true Faith and Holiness For neither all Truths even those that are reveal'd are of the same necessity Neither are all Wounds which are given to Truth Mortal nor is every Disease an Epelipsie or the Falling-sickness St. Paul distinguishes between the Foundation and the Superstructure 1 Cor. 3. 11 12 13 14 15. He that meddles with Fundamentals is lyable to an Anathema Gal. 1. 8. In others there is room left for Exhortation Rom. 14. 1. Phil. 3. 15 16. Here the Gnat is not scrupulously to be strain'd at as there the Camel is not to be rashly swallowed We break Friendship with those that are openly Wicked but we bear with the blemishes and infirmities of Friends Nor is that presently to be thought of the necessity of Faith which yet may have a near Relation to it And therefore you canot blame us for offering our Communion to the Lutherans and rejecting the Papal For that between us and them there is not only a Harmony in the Foundation
of our Faith and all the most solid and necessary Points of Christian Religion but also in common Protestancy against the Idolatry Tyranny and foul Errors of the Church of Rome both Sides impugning the Adoration of the Bread Transubstantiation Sacrifice of the Mass Communion under One Kind Justification by Works Traditions not written Purgatory Worship of Images Infallibility of the Pope c. So that it would be much better for us to arm our selves with mutual and brotherly forbearance against the continual Conspiracies of Antichrist then to lay our Sides open to them through our unhappy Discords and Wars by which neither side can hope for Triumph Far more absurd it would be to upbraid the Protestants with their small Number or to infer their Damnation from that For much more numerous is the Number of Christians under the four Patriarchs in the East and the Great Duke of Muscovy and Russia then of those who in the West adhere to the See of Rome Without question the Number of the Orthodox was very small at what time as St. Jerom testifies The whole World groan'd and admir'd to see it self all Arian Scarcity makes things valuable we are not to adhere to a multitude in Evil nor is the broad Way to be trod but the narrow Path which leads to Life not pervious to many If we must be excluded from Salvation for the smallness of our Number By the same reason the Pharisees of old might have damn'd the Apostles and the Heathens the Christians In the mean time they who reproach us with our small Number and glory in their own Multitude when they come to view the face of Europe are compell'd to talk after another rate Bellarmin praefat in Tom. 1. Controver cannot restrain his fury Who is ignorant saith he of that same Lutheran Pest for Truth was a Plague to the Seat of Pestilence as Christ was the Death of Death and a Pest to Hell that sprung up not long since in Saxony and soon after over-ran almost all Germany then spreading to the North and East delug'd all Denmark Sweadland Norway Gothland Pannonia Hungary and then with equal rapidness shooting to the West and South poyson'd all England France and Scotland flourishing Kingdoms once and at last crossing the Alps extended it self even as far as Italy Nor are we to be condemn'd because we call our selves Reformed or Protestants rather then Catholics For we were first call'd Protestants in the public Dyet at Spire Anno Dom. 1529. because our Electors and Princes there protested against the Errors and Superstitions of the Romish Church plainly in the fame sense as in the old Old Version of the 2 Chron. 24. 19. they who after the Death of Jehoiada oppos'd themselves against Idolatry were mark'd out and differenc'd by the same Name but those Idolaters would by no means give ear to the Protesters So that there being no Satisfaction given to our Consciences upon that Protestation deservedly we deserted that Communion which we believ'd to be pernicious to our Salvation Nor are we therefore to be thought to have deserted the Church For as St. Chrysostom says very remarkably Hom. 46. in Mat. He does not separate from the Church who separates Corporeally but he who Spiritually relinquishes the fundamental Truths of the Church We have left them Locally They have forsaken us in Point of Faith We in departing from them have left the Foundation of the Walls They in forsaking us have forsak'n the Foundations of Scripture We are call'd Reformed not because we reform'd the Religion deliver'd us by Christ and the rest of his Apostles but because we cleans'd it from the Rust of Abuses and Corruptions which that holy Religion had contracted through length of time the Subtilty of Satan and the Vices of Men. And this Reformation the People the Princes and Magistrates and those not a few most earnestly and importunately long'd for all over Europe So that the Tridentine Fathers to satisfie the public Demands at least in outward shew were compell'd to add something of Reformation to every one of their Dogmatical Sessions However we do not renounce these Names of Catholic Protestants Reformed or Lutherans seeing that addition of Catholic belongs of right rather to Us then to you Romanists for that the Doctrin which we profess is the Sincere Orthodox and Catholic Doctrin of the Christian Church as the Apostles deliver'd it from the Beginning Reformed we are in reference to the rejecting Abuses and human Inventions but Catholics as we retain the fundamental Articles of the Christian Religion Nor can this Name suit with them from whom we have departed in any other respect then as they retain some fundamental Truths which as yet are common both to them and us but not in respect of their Additions and Traditions in which we dissent from them In vain do you glory against us of retaining this Name by Force For as Salvian of Marseilles says lib. 4. de Provid What is a holy Name without Merit but an Ornament in the Dirt All the particular Assemblies of Heretics says Lactantius lib. 4. Divin Institut cap. ult believe themselves to be the chiefest Christians and their Church to be the Catholic The very Turks would be called Musselmanni that is the Faithful or Catholic but it suffices us to be really Catholics Good leave therefore have you from us O Romanists to usurp this Name as we call the Saracens Mahumetans who nevertheless derive not their Original from Sarah as Sons of the Promise but from Agar the Egyptian Bond-woman Thus all the Prejudices and Foundations of your precipitate Judgment being repell'd and remov'd Venerable Mr. Prior you constitute at length the only Foundation of your Opinion upon this That in regard that Ours is a new Religion it is impossible we should gain Salvation by the Profession But those things which now are old were formerly new The Christian Religion is at this day New to the Chineses and Japanners nevertheless they ought not to reject it for that Reason For this very sake of Novelty the Heathens refus'd Christianity but in vain There is nothing more Ancient then Truth which beheld the true World in its Infancy But false Religion the Older it is so much is it the more Mischievous True it is the Reformation which we profess is New and newly done but the Rule of it which is comprehended in the Word of God is of great Antiquity according to which whatever was added of Human Invention is separated from the Orthodox and Catholic Doctrin to the end that true and refin'd Antiquity might be retain'd Hence the famous Peter Moulin a Frenchman in a large Treatise against Cardinal Perron has more then sufficiently demonstrated the Novelty of Popery and the Antiquity of the Reformed Religion Therefore our Religion cannot be call'd New since that alone propounds to us things to be believ'd which were believ'd by all Men and every where from the Time of the Apostles according
and Circumscrib'd 'T is true I acknowledg a certain Sacramental Presence in the Eucharist but different from that which Thomas has invented not Physical and Real but Moral and Significative which is agreeable to the Being and Nature of the Sacrament as also Super-physical and Real through Faith in Vertue and Operation which does not require a Physical and Real Presence in the Substance either of the Person or of the Thing Joh. 8. 56. 1 Cor. 10. 3 4. As we are undeservedly accus'd of Blasphemy against the Omnipotency so are the Accusations that follow meer Calumnies invented to inflame a hatred against us yet the main Pillars to support the most learned Mr. Prior's Damnation of our Souls It is a Capital Crime This and highly deserving to be immediately rank'd next to the former For in the next place you assert Mr. Prior that we teach That God is the Author of Sin whence you infer that the Devil is our God and that the Reformed go about to recal from Orcus the long since buried Heresies of the Florinians and Manichaeans Nay the Calumny was carried so high that Becanus the Jesuite in his Manual Controv. propounds this Question Whether God be the Author of Sin as one of those which are controverted at this day between You and Us. And tho' we deny'd it and complain'd of the Injury done us wishing Anathema's to all that teach That God is the Author of Sin yet the Imputation continues and our Adversaries would fain persuade us that we believe otherwise then really we do As Mercurie in Plautus would have persuaded Sosias that he was not the same Person he took himself to be However do but turn over the Confessions of Faith the Forms of Consent the Public Catechisms of our Church and try whether you can find in them any thing that â—avours in the least of that Impiety Come to our holy Assemblies vouchsafe to hear our Sermons and try whether you can find any such thing there nay whether we do not openly and professedly teach the contrary as often as occasion offers So far are our Churches from this Blasphemy that they expresly and in formal Terms reject this Proposition That God is the Author of Sin Confess Gal. Art. 8. Belg. Art. 13. They who lay this to our Charge acknowledg that it is Affirm'd by none of us only by certain Consequences they would Wire-draw it from some Sentences of our Doctors acknowledging nevertheless that Zuinglius Martyr Calvin and Beza whom you have charged as guilty of this Crime expresly and in formal Terms have condemn'd that impious Axiom in their Writings and whose Testimonies also your Doctors produce as is to be seen in Bellarmin de amiss grat l. 2. c. 2. and in Becanus after him l. 3. Manual Cont. l. 3. c. 5. quaest 6. § 4. Nay Calvin himself against whom nevertheless you have the greatest Peek is acknowledg'd by your Doctors to have most effectually confuted the same Impiety against the Libertines that upheld it Truly since the Romanists at this day will not allow that to be an Axiom of Faith which is not to be found literally in Scripture but is only deduc'd from a certain kind of Consequence That which is not cannot be that they should justly attribute to some of ours this Assertion That God is the Author of Sin because it seems to be consequentially deduc'd from some of their Sayings seeing it is not only any where expresly Extant in any of their Writings but is also expresly in plain words refuted and rejected by the same Authors So that if every one ought to be the Interpreter of his own words we are rather to believe our own Authors as to their Sense then their Adversaries who do not condemn them for what they have said but with envious Eyes industriously search and prie into their Writings to find out Flaws and Pretences of rejecting and condemning them Ours therefore are desirous to maintain that all the Works of God were known to him from Eternity Act. 15. 18. that nothing lyes conceal'd from him and that nothing happens in the World without some secret Dispen sation of his That he is not what Epicurus dream'd him to be a slothful Spectator of those things which are transacted in the World but that his Eternal Providence sits at the Helm and that he steers and governs the Ship as he pleases himself In him we have our Being live and move as St. Paul teaches us Act. 17. 28. Also that our Sins and Transgressions of his Law are subjected to the Government of his most secret Counsels as Poysons may be wholsomly and profitably administred by a prudent Physitian and as the Sun-beams diffuse themselves over Mud and penetrate rotten Carkasses without being defiled That God often punishes Sins by Sins and that not only the Hearts of Kings are in his hands as Solomon tells us Prov. 21. 1. but universally of all Mankind like a stream of Waters so that he may incline them which way he pleases Lastly after a wonderful and most ineffable manner as St. Austin speaks Enchirid. c. 120. That what is done contrary to his Will is not always done without his Will because it could not be done if he did not permit it neither does he permit against his Will but voluntarily As he is Good he would not permit Evils to be done unless as he is Omnipotent he could bring Good out of Evil. Now tho' some of ours desirous to explain themselves concerning these most constant and perpetual Truths have made use of some Expressions somewhat harsh they are not therefore presently to be condemn'd much less are others to fasten upon them whatever may be squeez'd from their Sayings by certain violent and malitious Consequences But what Sayings of our Divines will you Romanists produce to give credit to your Calumnies the like to which I will not shew you in Scripture Joseph Gen 20. 50. said to his Brethren That the same evil which they had contriv'd against him God had contriv'd for the best to the preservation of a mighty People that is to say Divine Providence concurring with their Theft and making use of it to a wholsom end The Lord himself testifies Exod. 10. 1. That he exasperated and harden'd the heart of Pharaoh and his Servants tho' Moses had wrought all his Miracles in the midst of them By Nathan 2 Sam. 12. 11 12. he declar'd to David That he would stir up evil against him out of his own house and that he would cause his Wives to be ravished before his face and deliver them to his Servants who should lye with them in the open Sun adding also these words Thou didst this secretly but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the Sun. Such like Expressions are to be met with Isai 6. 10. and 63. 17. Act. 4. 27. Rom. 1. 24. And would I be prolix I could demonstrate that there has been nothing said by Ours in this Matter but
79. cont Collyrid The Body of Mary was really Holy but no God. She was really a Virgin and an honourable Virgin but not intended for our Adoration in regard that she ador'd him that was begot of her Flesh And moreover by the Example of the Angel refusing Adoration and Worship from John he proves That much less the Virgin Mary either desires or ought to be Worship'd But what he said particularly of the Virgin that did St. Austin affirm at the same time concerning all the Saints that is to say That they are to be Honour'd in respect of Imitation not to be Worship'd in respect of Religion l. de vera Relig. c. ult V. Neither can they find any thing in us that is repugnant to Chastity Sobriety Mortification of the Flesh and Study of Good Works For to all these things we Pastors frequently and seriously in our Pulpits exhort our Flocks Nor by the Grace of God do we so live that we should be thought to have proclaim'd open War to all Vertue and Godliness For our not allowing that Law of Celibacy so burthenson to the Clergy is no hatred of Chastity when Celibacy it self is that which has turn'd away so many and still hurries multitudes from the true Paths of Chastity Insomuch as Pius II as Platina relates in his Life was wont to say That Wedlock was deny'd the Priests upon good Grounds but that for better Reasons it ought to be restor'd them We are not averse to Sobriety and Fasting because we reject those superstitious Observations upon the Prescribing of which the same thing is said to us as formerly they us'd to say against whom the Apostle writes Col. 2. 21. Eat not taste not touch not and to which upon the score of our Consciences we cannot submit Not that we are so addicted to luxurious Lives or so studious to indulge our Appetites but because they put a Bridle upon our Consciences contrary to the Liberty purchas'd us in Christ and constitute the Essence of Fasting not in humbling the Mind before God and Veneration of his Deity but in the nice Choice of some sorts of Meats and Rejecting others and because they affirm that by such bodily Exercises and such kind of Diet our Sins may be Expiated and that Men thereby merit Eternal Life We do not hate the Mortification of the Old Man while we reject the publick Whippings and affected Macerations of those who had rather exercise Cruelty upon Nature then correct the Corruption of it and who seem to bear a hatred to their own Flesh contrary to that of the Apostle Eph. 5. 29. Whereas they ought rather to submit the Affections of their Hearts to the Will of God. For if it were so much a Duty to Chastize and Enslave your outward and visible Bodies the Baalites Brachmans Priests of the Syrian Goddess the Mahometan Monks and those Whipsters which about Two hundred years ago the Roman Church numbred in the List of Heretics have outdone and still outdo you in those Rigorous Exercises But the Body which thou art to subdue is the Body of Sin and the Members to be extirpated are the Vices of it as the Apostle says Col. 3. 5. Mortifie your Members which are upon earth Fornication Vncleanness inordinate Affection evil Concupiscence and Covetousness which is Idolatry Lastly it is no hating of Good Works to pronounce them necessary for Salvation yet so that they may but only be the way to the Kingdom and not the Cause of Reigning the cause of our Salvation being solely ascrib'd to the Mercy and Grace of God in Jesus Christ and by no means to our own Merits joyn'd with his as if they could be Assistant toward so great a Benefit But would to God that setting aside these Controversies about the Use of Good Works we could but give our Minds both of us to practice them with a sincere Charity then Mr. Prior would not be so highly exorbitant in his Unchristianlike Judgment concerning us Then again how can any Hatred of the most sacred Eucharist be affixed upon the Reformed who urge nothing so much as the entire taking of it under Both Kinds in conformity to the Institution of Christ and who believe concerning it both what the Scripture holds forth and what the Fathers of the Ancient Church deliver But it is no hatred of this most August Sacrament to refuse to Kneel to it and to pay the highest degree of Veneration to it as it is the Custom in your Roman Church We abstain from this Adoration of the Eucharist lest we should pay to the Creature what is only owing to God. The Sacraments are Holy Things which are to be lookt upon with Decency and Reverence but not to be Ador'd The Brazen Serpent among the Israelites was a sacred Thing and as it were the permanent Sacrament of our future Redemption by the Cross of Christ but yet the Israelites were Idolaters so soon as they began to Adore it and Worship it with Frankincense We do not read that the Apostles Worshipt this Sacrament Christ indeed is to be Ador'd in the Use of this Sacrament as in every Religious Performance and in that sense it is true what St. Austin says upon Psa 98. Let no man eat his flesh unless he have first ador'd which words Gloss decret in Can. Accesserunt distinct 2. of Consecration are interpreted of Spiritual Eating so that he thence infers an Argument That no Mouse can receive the Body of Christ But the Sacrament it self cannot be the Object of our Adoration nor can the Presence of the Body of Christ in the Sacrament be the Ground of it Such is the miserable Servitude of the Soul to take Signs and Symbols for Realities so that it cannot lift up the Eye of the Mind above the Corporeal Creature to receive Eternal Light as St. Austin says lib. 3. de Doctrin Christ c. 5. Without doubt Antiquity never knew what Adoration of the Sacrament meant and as little known to them was that Modern Practice of carrying it about the Streets or of erecting to it in the High-ways Altars hung about with Tapestry or of shewing it to the People at certain Hours of the Day when the Mass is not celebrated At that time it was distributed to the People either Sitting or Standing generally upon the Lord's Days when it was chiefly administred as appears out of Justin Apol. 2. but never Kneeling because it was a Crime among the Primitive Christians to Kneel upon the Lord's Day as all the Learned agree Nor do the Romanists deny but that there is some danger of Idolatry in this Adoration because that many things are requir'd in Transubstantiation which whether they are really so as they ought to be is not evidently apparent to any Man. Therefore the Famous Biel lect 50. in Can. letter O proposes to himself this difficulty Because an Error may happen in Consecration by means of which the effect of the Consecration is hindred as if the Person
Rome presum'd about Two hundred years after Christ for that reason to Excommunicate the Asiatic Churches that is to say to renounce Communion with them Irenaeus of Lyons sharply reprov'd him as the Epistles of Polycrates and Irenaeus extant about this Matter in Eusebius declare Hist Eccles l. 5. c. 23. 24. Was Aetius deservedly numbred among the Heretics because he acknowledg'd no difference jure Divino between a Bishop and a Presbyter For it is not evident that the Scripture acknowledges any such difference and that St. Jerom upon cap. 2. of the Epistle to Titus was plainly of the same Opinion nay and according to Medina in Bellarmin That St. Ambrose St. Austin Sedulius Primasius and other the most Famous Fathers of the Church were all of the same Judgment Then again without question Rome does no way approve the Ancients for numbring the Angelics among the Heretics because they gave Religious Worship to Angels which she herself defends or those who by St. Austin are call'd Nudipedales or Pattalorynchites against the former of which it is objected That they went Bare-foot seeing that at this day this is one of the greatest Marks of extraordinary Sanctity among you Romanists The other are tax'd to have profess'd a certain sort of Religious Silence which the Carthusian Monks however make no small part of their Glory Or the Collyridians of Epiphanius Heres 79. who offer'd to the Blessed Virgin little Cakes or Wiggs in Greek call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and gave her the Title of Queen of Heaven Which they that now refuse to do are all accounted Heretics Or the Starolatrae of Nicephorus Hist l. 18. c. 54. who as the Name imports worshipt the Cross which most of you assert is a Duty to be done Gretser the Jesuite affirming who in that follows Thomas Cajetan Valentia and Vasquez that it is the more common Opinion among those of his Religion l. 1. de Cruce c. 49. More paricularly among the Modern Romanists under Gregory VII The Collation of Benefices by Princes and by Caesar was call'd the Simonian and Henrician Heresie And as often as in Matters meerly Political any difference happen'd betwen the Kings and Emperors and the Bishops of Rome they declar'd them Heretics Thus Boniface VIII declar'd Philip the Fair King of France a Heretic because he sent none of his Soldiers to the Holy War. Thus John Albret King of Navar was declar'd a Heretic by Julius II because he took part with Lewis XII tho' the Quarrel was not about Matter of Faith and by virtue of that Condemnation he lost his Kingdom which the Spaniard has kept ever since John XXII pronounced Lewis of Bavaria the Emperor a Heretic because he defended the Cause of the Franciscans at that time out of the Pope's Favour but more particularly that of Ockam I forbear to mention any more We must therefore restrain the Signification of this word and a little more diligently examin who is properly a Heretic to the end we may the more easily prove the Protestants not to be guilty of this Crime An Heretic in my Opinion is one who for the sake of Temporal Profit but chiefly of Honor and Supremacy or of Lordship either founds or follows False and New Opinions Thus St. Austin de utilitate ad cred Honor. c. 1. Now in this sense we are not Heretics For tho' the Opinions were False which we uphold yet we could not be said to follow them for the sake of any Temporal Profit more especially of Honor or Supremacy but only for the obtaining of Salvation and upon the only Motive of our Consciences in regard it is plain to all the World that God has annexed to our Profession Reproach the Cross and Poverty and that the Protestants often experience the Truth of that Sentence of St. Paul All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer Persecution 2 Tim. 3. 12. Let Cardinal Bellarmin come in for a share too Why Because he has lit upon a most powerful means for me to demonstrate to Mr. Prior That We are no HERETICS He therefore c. 8. de not Eccles going about to prove that there is no Church among the Greeks notwithstanding the continued Succession of their Bishops from the Apostles time at least from the Reign of Constantine the Great under whom he believes the Constantinopolitan Church began says That the Greeks were lawfully convicted in three full Councils the Lateran that of Lyons and the other of Florence of Heresie and Schism more especially of the Heresie about the Proceeding of the Holy Ghost from the Son. This Question about the Proceeding of the Holy Ghost I do not pretend to enter into nor do I see any great difference between the Latins affirming the Holy Ghost to proceed from the Father and the Son and the Greeks alledging that He proceeds from the Father through the Son. This is that which I think worthy Observation That after all the Tridentin Decisions whereby the greatest part of the Opinions of our Churches were condem'd for Heresies Bellarmin attributes no other Heresie to the Greeks besides that of the Proceeding of the Holy Ghost Whence it follows that among the Greeks the Marriage of Priests Communicating under Both Kinds and with Leavened Bread the Rejecting Extreme Unction Auricular Confession Transubstantiation Purgatory and Pontifical Monarchy were no Heresies in all which the Orientals agree with us Now if these Articles of the Greeks had bin Heretical how comes it to pass that the Lateran Lyons and Florentine Councils which enquir'd into their Errors past them by But if they were not Heretical among the Greeks in the East why should they be so among the Protestants in the West If among the Greeks it be no Heresie but only a Schism to reject the Papal Authority and to shake off his Yoke why must it be a pernicious and capital Heresie among the Protestants Neither is it to be doubted but that if the Greeks would have subjected themselves in the Lateran Council to the See of Rome all the above-mentioned Articles except the denial of the Pope's Supremacy had been allow'd them Whence it is apparent that those Articles are neither Heretical nor pernicious in Faith nor destructive of Salvation since it was possible that the Greeks retaining them might nevertheless have bin true Members of the Catholic Church and consequently capable of Eternal Life But that no Man may think I am overcuriously romaging for my Justification in the Thesis's of my Adversaries that I may slip out at length at some Back-door I shall add some direct Reasons for our Innocency which cannot be Answer'd First therefore no Man can be traduc'd as a Heretic and branded with an Infamous Crime unless it be sufficiently apparent that He as the Scripture says has receded from the Holy Command of God and suffer'd Shipwrack of his Faith. For as St. Austin says de unit Eccles c. 5. No Man is to be branded with an ignominious Mark unless it be
the Novatians and Donatists made a Schism in the Church because they wou'd not submit to Bishops of Places Canonically instituted but set up Bishops of their own chusing who for that they were destitute of Canonical Election wanted a lawful Calling But there was no such thing could be said of our first Pastors in the Work of Reformation For they were not elected and constituted hand over head in Opposition to others already Canonically instituted as the Novatians in the Roman See oppos'd Novatus against the Council but were lawfully and canonically constituted in their Functions according to all the Ceremonies then us'd in the Church and by the nature of their Calling by which they knew themselves bound to propagate the Truth were constrain'd in their Consciences to oppose themselves against the Abuses and Corruptions at that time crept into the Church and to apply themselves to a Reformation But as they were lawfully Call'd so they could impart that Calling to others and by that means it is deriv'd to us and so by us may be deriv'd to our Successors For they are not to be thought to have lost their Calling for opposing themselves against the Abuses of that Church wherein they receiv'd it Nay they had bin unworthy of it had they not oppos'd themselves against those Corruptions that were so well known to them For every Church that confers upon any Man the sacred Function of the Public Ministry seems to say to him what Trajan the Emperor was wont to say to the Person whom he created Master of the Horse by the delivery of a Sword Vse this in my defence if my Commands are just but if unjust make use of it against me Thus a Pastor Canonically ordaind ought to make use of his Calling to support the Doctrin of the Church wherein he receiv'd it if it be conformable to Truth but if not to oppose it Nor does their being Excommunicated deprive them of their Calling because it was unjust and made use of to support the Errors which they impugned and to keep up in the Temple the Money-Changers Tables which they endeavour'd to overturn Nay the very Romanists themselves confess that the Character of the Clergy is indelible and that an Excommunicated Person may Consecrate Preach and administer the Sacraments effectually Neither is it to be said that the first Reformers were meer Presbyters that could not confer their Calling upon others in regard that Ordination belongs only to the Bishops For in regard the sacred Scriptures do not so plainly teach us what is the difference between a Presbyter and a Bishop and that some of yours particularly Medina confess that the Function of Ordaining may as well belong to a Presbyter as a Bishop you ought not to make any great difficulty in this Case in regard the Dispute is not yet determin'd To which I add That in several places the Reformation began from the Bishops who therefore held their former Dignity in the Reformation which they held before And it is a wonder Mr. Prior that you and yours should carp at the Calling of our Pastors to prove our want of Succession of Pastors when your selves acknowledg that any Man without Orders without a Character without any Call may Consecrate the Eucharist I am contented with one unanswerable Argument Your Durandus in his Rationale lib. 4. cap. 35. § 7. also the Author of the Curates Manual de Sacr. Eucharist cap. 10. and many others give this Reason for the Secreta i. e. the speaking the words of Consecration so low as not to be heard being introduc'd in the Canon of the Mass Because that formerly when the Canon was repeated with a loud Voice the People readily learnt the Rites of Consecrating whence it came to pass that the Shepherds in the Country laying the Bread upon a Stone and repeating over it the Canon and Words of the Consecration presently changed their Bread into Flesh Now either this must be a Fable which however you frequently make use of to establish your Figment of Transubantiation or else you must allow that any Man may Consecrate and Celebrate the most August of all Sacraments tho' neither Call'd nor Ordain'd as we cannot believe those Shepherds to have bin But as the Crime of Schism is falsely laid to our Charge so are we most falsely said to be without the Church without which there is no Salvation We have separated indeed from the Roman Communion but it does not thence follow that we are out of the Church of God in regard that by the Grace of God we are Members of the Catholic Church professing Christianity baptiz'd in the Name of the most holy Trinity in all things adhering to the Head and Foundation Christ Jesus Cardinal Hosius in his Confession acknowledges That the Church is there where-ever the Belief of the Mediator is We have a Belief of a Mediator through the favour of God and therefore we are hated at Rome becaose we acknowledg Christ to be the only Mediator Besides that we have not departed from your Roman Church unless in such things wherein she first departed from the Word of God and the Purity of Antiquity adhering still to the same Communion of Faith and Charity with Her in the Fundamentals of Christianity and knowing that we and the Members of your Communion are Brethren in Baptism as the Israelites and Jews were Brethren in Circumcision tho' in External Worship they differ'd very much Nor can any probable Reason be invented to convince us that any Man ought to be subject to the Bishop of Rome and retain his Communion to the end he may be in a Church out of which there is no Salvation So many Christians as are within the ancient Patriarchates of the East and who exceed you Romanists far in number are not rashly to be said to be out of the Church of Christ because they refuse to be under the Pope's Yoke The Churches of Asia were not excluded from the Covenant of Christ by the rash Excommunication of Pope Victor because they separated from him upon the difference about Easter-day The Roman Clergy separated from their Pope Liberius who had subscrib'd to Arianism without incuring the blame of Schism or the loss of Salvation The Famous St. Cyprian Bishop and Martyr whom your Church afterwards worshipt among the rest of her Saints dy'd out of the Communion and Subjection to the See of Rome divided from her both in Faith and Affection by reason of his Doctrin of Re-baptizing Heretics was very hardly thought of by Stephen Bishop of Rome and yet no Man hitherto made any doubt but that he obtain'd Salvation And therefore 't is an idle thing to exact from us Subjection to the See of Rome to the end we may be in the Church and obtain Salvation especially if the Papacy be now Extinct and that there has bin no lawful Pope for a long time Now this is easily prov'd For that I may pass over in silence so many Schisms
by which the Succession of the Popes was interrupted So many Simoniacal Elections into that See which are recorded in History so many Popes in the Tenth Age to be call'd Apostatic and Renouncers of Christ rather then Apostolic upon the Testimony of Genebrade I use a new Argument to which you Romanists can make no Answer It is confirm'd as well by the Canon Law as by Custom time out of mind That a Pope may constitute a new Law and a new Form for Chusing a Successor which not being observ'd an Election otherwise made is void Hence Julius II grieving that he had invaded the Supreme Authority by Simony made a new Law concerning the Simoniacal Election of the Pope for the future whereby he ordain'd That any Pope who after him should be Simoniacally elected should be lookt upon as an Intruder a Magician a Publican an Arch Heretic and that he should by no means be acknowledg'd for a lawful Pope But that Sixtus V was chosen Simoniacally is a thing which almost every Body knows For that he might be elected he bought the Suffrages of Cardinal d'Este and the Cardinals depending upon him and covenanted with him in a Writing drawn up and subscrib'd with his own Hand that during his Pontificate he would never make Jeronymo Matthei who was de'Este's Enemy a Cardinal upon condition that by d'Este's means he obtain'd the Pontificate Upon which being made Pope by d'Este and his Faction he confess'd himself to be the work of his hands However Sixtus forfeited his Faith to Him and created Matthei Cardinal for all that which Cardinal d'Este took so ill that he sent the Contract between him and Sixtus to Philip II King of Spain who in the Year 1589 sent the Duke of Sessa his Extraordinary Embassador to Rome to give Notice to Sixtus of his Intentions to call a General Council upon the Information of a Simoniacal Election and to require the Cardinals created by the Predecessors of Sixtus and other Ecclesiastics to be present at a Council to be assembled at Sevil but because upon intimation of the Council Sixtus dy'd for Despair the business went no farther This is related in a certain Book entitled Papatus Romanus cap. 10. pag. 200 c. Seeing then that Sixtus was an Illegal and Simoniac Intruder certain it is that the Papacy ceas'd in him so that they who succeeded were no true Popes because they were elected by the Cardinals which he created who being Intruders as created by a Simoniac wanted Right of Election as well according to the Council of Constance as for that according to the Rule of the Lawyers No Man can transfer more Right to another then he has himself And therefore the whole World ought not to be shut up in one City Some are of Cephas others of Paul others of Clement let it suffice a Christian to be of Christ Whoever fears God and works Righteousness in whatever part of the World he is is acceptable to God. If two or three are gathered together in the Name of Christ he will be in the midst of them The Supernal Jerusalem which enjoys her Liberty is the Mother of us all We shall not be Judg'd by the Roman or Popes Communion but by the Communion of Saints and of Christ Therefore we cannot be Schismatics upon this just necessary and sound Separation of ours There are still remaining Reverend Mr. Prior some other Motives of yours to this rash Judgment which you give of us which are now to be brought to the Touch with the rest There are some who believe a Posteriori that we are deservedly to be listed among the number of the Damned because we stand Excommunicated by the Pope and the Catholic Church But in regard these Excommunications do not strike us but either as Heretics or Schismatics they do us no hurt in regard we are neither Heretics nor Schismatics as hath bin already shewn If they are necessarily to be numbred among the Damned whom the Pope has Excommunicated of necessity all in Asia the less who dy'd during the Excommunication of Victor upon the Paschal difference must be by all Christians excluded from the Kingdom of Heaven and that the Sacraments which you our Adversaries nevertheless will allow preserve their Excellency by way of Physical Cause and in general all Public Worship must be depriv'd of their Efficacy in all Provinces which are sometimes subject to Papal Interdiction Nor ought we to pass over in silence that Observation of St. Jerom upon that place of Mat. 16. wherein the Keys of Heaven are promis'd to St. Peter This Place saith the holy Man the Bishops and Presbyters not understanding assume to themselves something of the Pride of the Pharisees even to Damn the Innocent and Absolve the Guilty whereas God regards not the Sentence of the Priest but the Life of the Offender But according to this Saying of St. Jerom all Casuists and Canonists acknowledge that an unjust Excommunication is Invalid and that such an Excommunicate may both Administer and Receive the Sacraments with a good Conscience An Excommunication without a just Cause is not valid in the Interior Court therefore such a one may Celebrate where it is no Scandal says the Jesuite Emanuel Sa voce Excommunicat § 4. But Toletus lib. Instruct Sacram. cap. 10. num 7. more positively asserts That there is no unjust Sentence of Excommunication can bind either as to God or as to the Church But it is unjust as he says again § 1. from some defect which if it be Essential makes it no Excommunication and then it is not to be dreaded neither does it bind either in the Court of Heaven or Earth Which he confirms by the Testimony of several Canonists If therefore we are unjustly Excommunicated and as the Schoolmen Phrase it Clave Errante or with an Erring Key and that these Excommunications are of no force Our Damnation cannot be inferr'd a Posteriori from such Sentences but that they are unjust and null I shall easily demonstrate An Excommunication is said to be null says Toletus ibid. § 4. if it contain an intolerable Error c. Now then a Sentence is said to contain an intolerable Error when any one is Excommunicated because he does that which is Good in it self or does not do that which is in its own act Unlawful Why then are we Excommunicated Surely because we do that which is good in it self applying our selves to the Word of God and will not adhere to those who would have us to be wiser then the Scripture can make us and refusing to do what is evil in it self or at least what we judge in our Consciences to be so and because we adhere not to a Worship unlawful and contrary to Scripture An Excommunication is void if it be pronounc'd by one already Excommunicated or Suspended from Jurisdiction or Interdicted or after a lawful Appeal says Emanuel Sa as above § 1. And Toletus has the same words Now such is
to the Rule of Vincentius Lyrinensis and produces over and above out of the Treasury of the Scripture her most certain Documents Where it is apparent That all those things which we disprove in the Roman Communion are really new and unknown to the Apostles and their Primitive Successors It is a New thing and never heard of by the Ancient Church that the Christian People should be forbid the Use of the Cup in the sacred Eucharist It was a New thing that Boniface II above Six hundred years after Christ should be the first who call'd himself Vniversal Bishop and Bishop of Bishops and long after him that Gregory VII or Hildebrand should presume to lay violent hands upon the Rights of Emperors and Princes Nothing Newer then the Papal Indulgences which first gave occasion to the Modern Controversies at Wittembergh and Zurich Anthony Archbishop of Florence acknowledging part 1. Tom. 10. cap. 3. That as for Indulgences we have nothing in the Scripture concerning them nor from the Sayings of the Ancient Fathers and the Jesuite Valentia agreeing cap. 5. de Indulg That there were certain Catholics before Luther of whose Opinion Thomas makes mention part 3. quest 15. art 5. who said That Indulgences were pious Frauds Moreover that the Eucharist was celebrated of old without Communicants no Man can find in the Writings of the Antients The Adoration of Images was not establish'd till near Eight hundred years after Christ in the Second Council of Nice and that so slenderly that the Decrees of that petty Council were condemn'd and rejected in two Synods assembled at Paris and Frankford by Charles the Great And tho' these Synods were only National hence nevertheless it appears that all the Churches of Germany and France of which Nations those Synods consisted had not then admitted the Public Worship of Images Nay even George Cassander infers from St. Austin upon Psal 113. That Images and Statues were not set up in Churches in St. Austin's time Moreover Bellarmin reports of Scotus That he did not believe Transubstantiation to be an Article of Faith before the Lateran Council that is before Five hundred years ago The Law of Celibacy enjoyn'd the Clergy and the Priests is a very New thing and to which the Clergy of Leige and the Germans would not yield Obedience till about Five hundred years since At length Calixtus II who was created Pope in the Year 1119. constraind them all to submit which produc'd these Verses upon him O bone Calixte jam omnis Clerus odit te Quondam Presbyteri poterant uxoribus uti Hoc destruxisti postquam tu Papa fuisti Ergo tuum nomen merito habent odio The Clergy hate thee Good Calixtus why The Presbyters of old with Wives did lye This thou destroy'dst when thou wer 't Pope created Therefore thy Name is now deserv'dly hated The Apostles never knew what Monkish retirement meant which came into the World about Three hundred years after Christ under Antony and Paul but the Church was utterly ignorant of Monkish Beggery till the times of Francis and Dominic who as all Men know were but of late years I will not undertake here to unravel your whole History otherwise there would appear very little of Antiquity in it For all those Opinions of the Romish Church which we have rejcted are not only new but so new that as the Abuses multiply'd they were dislik'd and reprov'd by all good Men long before Luther's time among whom there were some who being offended at such kind of Innovations and consulting the good of their Consciences openly deserted your Communion as the Wicklevians in England the Hussites in Germany the Waldenses or Albigenses in France and Germany whose public Confessions are at this day Extant conformable to Ours in the principal Heads Nor can I forbear to add in this place a remarkable Testimony concerning the Waldenses whose Names for above Six hundred years has bin terrible to the Roman See given by one Rainer an Inquisitor of the Faith against them about Three hundred years ago and not long since publish'd by Gretser the Jesuite Among all the Sects says that same Rainer that are or ever were there is not any one more pernicious to the Church meaning the Roman then that of the Poor of Lyons meaning the Waldenses for Three Reasons First because more lasting for some say that it has bin ever since the time of Silvester and others deduce it from the time of the Apostles Secondly because more general for there is hardly any Country into which this Sect has not made a shift to creep Thirdly because all others are abominable to God for the Immanity of their Blasphemies but this of the Waldenses only carries with it a great shew of Piety because they live justly before Men and believe truly of God and all the Articles of the Creed only they blaspheme and hate the Roman Church But so much for Them. Thus Mr. Prior you have what as I was willing so it was my desire to Answer to your insipid and inconsiderate Letter Do you see by what has bin said that you have violated the Divine Civil and Public Laws of the Instrument of the Peace of Munster nay which should first have bin said against the Rules of Christianity which proscribes and abominates all such Censures of our Neighbour worse then a Dog or Snake What now remains of Counsel or Remedy for such an unjust Judge I will tell you Implore of God and beseech your injur'd Neighbor through whose sides you have wounded such infinite numbers of Christians to forgive you and to pardon these Transgressions of yours that are of so great weight Endeavour industriously for the future like the smitten Fisherman to Traffic at a better rate and to be transform'd by renovation of Mind to this that you may be able better to prove what is the good Will of God so pleasing and so perfect Beware of being wiser then it becomes you to be and with an unfeigned Charity for the future detest so wicked and perverse a Judgment adhering to that which is more solid and if it may be as much as in you lyes live at Peace with all Men that you may not be overcome by Evil but may overcome Evil by Good. This pious and sincere Counsel if you slight and disregard through Contumacy and Despising it assuredly there will nothing more certainly befal you then this That being depriv'd of Eternal Felicity I repeat your own words after you have finish'd this Mortal Course you will for ever burn with your Seducers in the Everlasting Fire of Hell. From which however the Great God of his infinite Mercy preserve you Amen Farewel and instead of a New-Years-Gift meekly and with patience accept this wholsom Answer and Admonition more precious then Gold or all the Kingdoms of the World. Live soberly and live eternally the Favourer of him who is Visitor of the County of Weeden Most desirous of your Salvation John Herman Dalhusius FINIS The Inscription 2 Cor. 13. 8. Tit. 1. 9. Gal. 6. 9 10. Phil. 1. 6 11 14 27 28 29. James 1. 2 12. Apoc. 2. 10. 2 Tim. 4. 6 7 8 1 Tim. 1. 17. The usual gruonds of the Papists uncharitable Judgment 1. Of Protestants bounding God's Omnipotence Apud Bellarm. de Euchar. l. 3. c. 5. Whether Protestants teach that God is the Author of Sin. Concerning Christ's Despair on the Cross Of Protestants being Enemies to the Blhssed Virgin and Saints Of Protestants being Enemies to Chastity Sobriety c. Whether Protestants be Heretics Whether Protestants be Sehismatics Concerning want of Miracles among Protestants Concerning the Differences of Protestants among themselves Concerning the Number of Protestants who do not submit to the Church of Rome Of the Newness of the Reform'd Religion