2. Decemb. 1631 F. Leander de S. Martino sacrae Theologiae Doctor Hebraeae linguae in alma Academia Duacena professor Regius Benedictinorum conuentus S. Gregorij Angliae Prior. THE LETTER OF THE LORD CARDINALL OF PERRON SENT TO MONSIEVR CASAVBON INTO ENGLAND SIR the letter that you deliuered to Monsieur de la Bodery was deliuered to me by him euen as I was vpon my departure for a voyage into Normandy and since my returne from thence I haue bene almost perpetuallie sicke which hindered me from answering with more speede Now that my disease begins to be at some truce with me I will paie the arrerages of this delaie and will first thanke you for the good office that you haue done me in shewing the letter I writt to you to the most excellent king of great Brittaine and in procuring me an interest in his fauour I will striue so to husband it by my humble seruice s and particularlye by celebrating his prayses which is the only fruite that good and vertuons kinges such as hee doe gather from allthe labours and thornie cares that the burden of a kingdome loades them with as his maiestie shall haue noe cause to be sorrie that it be declared to after ages how he hath honord mee with his well wishes ād how I haue had his 〈◊〉 in reuerence and admiration As for the translation of the verses of Virgill whereof you writt to me that he desires a Copie that which I sent you being lost I deferr yet for some daies to acquit myself of that dutie because I haue put it to the presse with the addition of a part of the fowrth which I haue ended expresselie for his maiestie sake to inlarge my presēte to him As soone as those few Copies which are in doing shall be finished I will not faile to addresse one of them to you to offer vp to him on my behalfe The third point of your letter yet remaines which is that his Maiestie was astonisht at those wordes in my letter That excepting the title of Catholicke I knew nothing wanting in him to expresse the figure of a perfect and compleate Prince and that he pretendes that since he beleeues all thinges that the Ancientes haue with an vnanimous consent esteemed necessarie to saluation the title of Catholique cannot bee donied him Now as on the one side I can not but greatlie praise his maiesties pietie and Christian humilitie in not disdayning to submitt his iudgement adorned with so manie lightes naturall ād acquired to that of those cleare beames of antiquitie imitating therein the wisdome of that great Emperor Thodosius who thought there was noebetter meanes to agree the dissentions which disturbed the Church of his time then to exact from either part an answere whither thy beleeued that the Fathers which had flourish'd in the Church before the separation had bene orthodoxall and that being confessed to summon them to submitt themselues to whatsoeuer they should be found to haue beleeued so on the other side there are manie obseruations `to be made vpon this Thesis before wee passe to the hypothesis which since I Cannot represent to his maiestie I shall be gladd to informe you of them for your particular satisfaction The first is that the name of Catholicke is not a name of beleefe simplie but of Communion also else antiquitie would not haue refused that title to those Which were not separated from the beleefe but from the Communion of the Church nor would they haue protested that out of the Catholicke Church the Faith and Sacramentes may be had but not Saluation Out of the Catholicke Church saith S. Augustin in his treatie of Conference with Emeritus a man may haue orders hee maie haue Sacraments he may sing Alleluya he may answere A men he may keepe the Gospell he may haue and preach the faith in the name of the Father of the Sonn and of the holie Ghost but he can no where finde Saluation but in the Catholicke Church And in the Booke De vtilit credendi There is a Church as all men graunt if you cast your eyes ouer the extent of the whole world more full in multitude then all the rest and as those that know themselues to be of it affirme more sincere in the doctrine of truth But of the truth that is an other question that will suffice for this search that there is one Catholicke Church vpon which seuer all heresies impose seuerall names whereas they are all call called euery one by his particular name which they dare not disauow from whence it may appeare to the iudgment of anie arbiter that is not prepossessed by fauour to whom the name of Catholicke where of all are ambitions ought to bee attributed And in the Booke against the fundamentall Epistle Then to omitt this wisdome which you denie to bee in the Catholicke Church there are manie other things which doe most iustlie retaine me in her bosome the consent of people and nations retaine me therein the authoritie begūn by miracles nourished by hope increased by charitie confirmed by antiquitie retaines me therein the succession of Prelates euen from the verie seate of Peter to whom our Lord deliuered his sheepe to be fedd after his Resurrection euen to the present Bishops seate retaines me therein and finallie the verie name of Catholick retaines me therein which not without cause this Church alone amongst so manie heresies hath in such sorte obtained as though all heretickes would be called Catholiques neuerthelesse when a stranger askes where the Catholicke Church doth assemble there is not one 〈◊〉 that dares shew his 〈◊〉 or his howse And in his treatise of Faith and of the Creede Wee beleeue the holie Church and that Catholick for heretickes and schismatickes call their Congregations Churches but hereticks beleeuing of God false thinges violate faith and Schismatickes separate themselues from brotherly charitie by vniust diuisions allthough they beleeue the same things that we beleeue and therefore neither can the hereticke belonge to the Catholicke Church because she loues God nor the schismaticke because she loues her neightour And in the Booke Of the vnitie of the Church All those that beleeue as hath bene said that ouer Lord IESVS is come in the flesh and is risen againe in the same flesh wherein he was borne and hath suffered and that he is the sōne of god god with god ād one with the Father and the onlie immoueable word of the Father by which all things haue bene made but yet dissent so from his bodie which is the Church that theire communion is not with the whole or is spread in deed but yet is in some part found to be separate it is manifest they are not in the Catholick Church And Prosper his scholler Hee saith hee that Communicates with this vniuersall Church is a Christian and a Catholicke but he that communicates not therewith is an hereticke and Antichrist And for this cause wee see that the Fathers denied the title
baptized can come to the remission of originall sinne And of this kinde of necessitie the examples are in small number I call that conditionall necessitie which obligeth not but in case of possibilitie and receiues exception of place time and persons and that againe hath diuers branches For first in regard of Faith there are manie points that are necessarie to be beleeued if a man be in place where he may be instructed in them or who hath time to be informed of them which are not necessary for a man that liues in a wildernesse or so pressed with the instant of death as he hath noe leasure to receiue instruction as that Christ was borne of a virgin that he was Crucified vnder Pontius Pilate that hee rose againe the third daie And manie thinges are necessary to be beleeued and holden for pointes of Faith either by the bodie of the Church in generall or by the order of the ministers and pastors which are the eyes of the Church which are not necessary for euery particular person to knowe and hold to be points of Faith as that the persons of the Trinitie are the same in essence and distinct in subsistence that the Father hath begotten the sonn necessarily and not freely that they are the diuine persōs which produce and are produced and not the essence which doth neither produce nor is produced that the workes of the trinitie without are vndiuided that the only persō of the sonn hath been incarnate and not anie of the others that in Christ there are two substances and one subsistence that the diuinitie was not to him in the steede of a soule but that besides his Bodie and his diuinitie he had a Soule sensible and reasonable that what he once tooke in hypostaticall vnion hee hath not abandoned that the diuell was created good and made hinself euill by the freedome of his will and other such like And in regard of action there are manie things necessarie in case of possibilitie and according to the oportunity of places times and persons which are not absolutely necessarie when the commoditie to accomplish them is wanting as the assistance at Church Seruice the actuall participation of the Eucharist And manie are necessarie to some as mission and imposition of handes to the Pastors of the Church and marriage to those that will haue issue which are not necessary to others And in breefe some thinges are necessary to obtaine Saluation others some to obtaine it more easilie for ones-selfe and others to procure and mediate it for other men some for the constitution of the Church and others for the edification and more ample propagation of the Church some for the simple being of Christian Religion others for the better being that is to saie for the comlynesse dignitie and splendour of Christian Religion I call necessitie of meanes that that is in behalfe of the thinges them selues as that of Sacraments to which god hath graunted power to Conferr some grace and reall operation to saluation that of the Commandementes of the morall lawe whose necessitie is imposed vpon vs by the law of nature that of repenting sins which is a meanes necessarie to obtaine their remission I call necessitie of precept that which is only obligatorie in regard of the Commaundement as the celebration of the first daie of the weeke in memorie of that wherein our lord did rise againe which wee for that cause call our Lords daie and other such like obseruations the omission whereof could be noe hindrance to Saluation but in respect of disobedience and breach of the Commaundement I call necessitie of speciall beleefe that of thoses pointes which all Faithfull if they be not preuented by death are obliged to beleeue with faith expresse distinct and determinate which the Schoolemen call explicit faith as the twelue articles of the Creede I call necessitie of generall beleefe that of those thinges which euery particular man is not obliged to beleeue with a distinct ad explicite faith as the doctrine of originall sin the article or the two wills in Christ the article that the holy Ghost proceedes frō the Father and from the Sonne the beleefe that Baptisme giuē forth of the Church prouided it be in the forme of the Church is true Baptisme and that heretickes which haue receiued Baptisme must not be rebaptised when they returne to the Church and other such like when the simple sort of faithfull people are not obliged to beleeue with a distinct and explicit faith but it sufficeth that they beleeue them generallie in the Faith of the Church that is to saie that they adhere to the Church that beleeues them by whose faith they liue whiles they remaine in her Communion as Children liue by their mothers nourishmēt whilst they are in her bowells I call necessitie of act that of those thinges which euerie particular person is obliged to execute actuallie as to Confesse the name of Christ to forgiue offences done to them to restore the Goods of an other man I call necessitie of approbation that of those thinges which euerie particular man is not bound to execute actuallie but onlie not to contradict them and not to condemne those that doe them nor the church that approoues thē ad not to separate thēselues frō her vpō this occasiō vpō paine of separating themselues frō their owne saluation as the choice to liue in virginitie and single life and other the like Of all which kindes of necessitie the Fathers haue hold 〈◊〉 manie thinges euerie one according to it is degree diuerslie necessarie to saluation as wee shall make manifest in those occasions that will offer themselues wherein to examine them it is not to be conformable to the ancient beleefe and practise of the catholicke church to hold the pointes of doctrine or actiō that the Fathers haue holden to be necessary to saluation according to some of these kindes of necessitie and to reiect the others but to conforme our selues to the ancient beleefe and catholick practise we must hold for necessary to saluation all those things that the Fathers haue holden to be necessarie to saluation in that degree and according to those kindes of necessitie as they haue holden them The fowrth obseruation is vpon the word FATHERS which some when it comes to the effect of their promise to submit themselues to the iudgment of antiquitie would restraine to the first or second age after the Apostles not that they hope to finde in that space of time anie thing in their behalfe but because the Church being then oppressed with persecutions there remaines to vs so fewe writinges of that date and those against persons and about points for the most part so differing from the disputations of this present age as the face of the ancient doctrine and practise of the Church cannot euidentlie appeare to be therein represented Now equitie would that being to compare the state of the Societies of this age wich pretend to the title of
with that modesty and submission which is due to the person and worth of so high and mighty a Monarch and with that learning and solidyty that might be expected from so great a maister of truth as that most eminent Cardinall was in behalf of so glorious a cause as is the doctrine of the catholique Church THE L. CARDIN PERRONS REPLIE TO HIS MAIESTIES ANSWER TO THE LETTER WRITTEN TO MONS CASAVBON THE FIRST OBSERVATION Reduced into an abridgement by the Kinge THE name of Catholicke doth not simplie designe Faith but also Communion with the Catholicke Church for this Cause the Fathers would not suffer that those should bee Called Catholickes which had separated themselues from the communion of the Church though they retained the Faith thereof For there is one only Catholicke Church out of the which Faith and Sacramentes may be had but not Saluation To this end there are manie places alleaged out of S. AVGTSTIN OF THE VSE OF THE WORD CATHOLIQVE THE ANSVVERE OF THE KINGE CHAPITRE I. TO beleeue the Catholicko Church and to beleeue the Communion of Saintes are put distinctly as diuers thinges in the Creede and it seemes the first was ptincipallie inserted to discerne the Iewish Synagogue from the Christian Church which ought not to be as that was inclosed within the lymittes of one only nation but to be spread in length and breadth through all the regions of the world And therefore the reason is not manifest enough why in the beginning of this obseruation it is said that the title of Catholicke designeth Communion These two thinges are very neere one an other but different notwithstandinge as wee haue shewed THE REPLIE WHEN the Philosopher FAVORINVS disputed against the Emperor ADRIAN and that his hearers were amazed and reproached it to him that he suffered the Emperor to confute him and yielded to him he answered them should not I yield to a man tha commaundes twentie legions Soe if there were noe question in this worke but of humane philosophie secular learninge it should be easie for me to stop my selfe at FAVORINVS boundes and to abstaine to contest with his maiestie or to resist him But since heere wee treate of his interest who hath not legions of men but of Angells and which hath for his title THE KINGE OF KINGES AND LORD OF LORDES and from whom this excellent Kinge himselfe makes profession to holde in Fee his life and Crownes that is to saie the cause of IESVS CHRIST and of his Kingdome which is the Church I will promise myselfe from his Maiesties bountie that he will not mislike where it shall be needefull that I resist and contradict him with all the respectiue libertie that the lawes of disputation yield me Then for the argument of the Creede I will saie after I haue kist my weapones three thinges for my defence FIRST that it is vncertaine whither the cause of the Communion of Saintes be an article aparte or an explication of the precedinge cause and a declaration that the Catholicke Church consistes not in the simple number of the faithfull euery one considered a parte but in the ioinct Communion of all the bodie of the faithfull in such sorte as both clauses make but one article as it seemeth sainct IEROM RVFFINVS and Sainct AVGVSTINE who haue omitted the latter haue esteemed it The SECOND that it is vncertaine whether it signifie the Communion that the faithfull liuinge haue one with an other or the Commerce that the Saintes of the triumphant Church doe exercise with the Saintes of the militant Church by the prayers that the Saints of the triumphant offer for the Saints of the militant and the commemoration that the saints of the militant make of the saints of the triumphant which is that that wee in our Liturgie call to communicate with the memory of the Saintes And the THIRD that whatsoeuer it signifie it is most certaine that the word CATHOLICKE was not added to that of the Church to distinguish the Christian Church from the Iewish Synagogue which had neuer borne the name of Church in qualitie of a title of a Religion when the creed was Composed and by consequence did not oblige the Christian Church to take the Epithete of Catholicke to bee discerned from that from which in all cases she had bene suffieientlie distinguished by the title of Christian but it was added to discerne the true Church from hereticall and schismaticall Societies which vsurpe equiuocally and by false markes the name of Church for that our Lord was the first that affected and consecrated the word ECCLESIA which we vsually translate in Englishe Church to signifie a societie of Religion whereas before neither it nor the Hebrewe word that answeres to it had anie other vse but that which prophane authors giue it which is to signifie Assemblies conuocations Generall Estates as when DEMOSTHENES said to ESCHINES thou wert dumbe to the assemblies where the greeke word is Ecclesijs the conuocations or general meetings And as when Aristotle called the conuocations of Creete ecclesias And as when the Scholiast of HOMER said Iupiter gathered together Ecclesias the Assemblies of the Gods It appeares first by the testimonie of MOSES who forbids bastardes to enter into the Church of Israell And of DAVID who singes I hate the Church of the malignant And of S. STEPHEN who said MOSES was in the Church in the solitarie place that is to saie with the multitude of the people in the desert It appeares secondlie by the testimonie of S. IEROM and of S. CYRILLVS who interpretinge this verse of ESAY Thou shalt bee called by a new name that the mouth of our Lord shall pronounce Doe affirme that this new name must be the name of Church It shall noe more saith S. IEROM be called Ierusalem and Sion but it shall receiue a new name that the Lord shall impose vpon it sayinge to the Apostle PETER thou art PETER and vpon this PETRA or rock I will build my Church And S. CYRILL It shall be noe more called Synagogue but the Church of the liuinge God And finallie it appeares by the verie testimonie of our aduersaries that not only in all the textes of the old Testament where the Greeke translation of the Seuentie vse the word Ecclesia but also in all those of the new where that word hath relation to anie other multitude beside the Christian Church they expresse it by Congregation or Assemblies And if since the cōminge of IESVS CHRIST and the edition of the creede the Fathers haue sometymes called the Synagogue by the name of Ecclesia or Church it hath bene by anticipation to shew the successiue vnitie of the one and other societie but not that the Iewish Church while it lasted hath euer vndertaken to attribute to herselfe the title of a Church in the qualitie of a title of Religion Neither consequently when the creede was composed was there neede of an
Epithete to distinguish the Christian Church from her for as the starr that the authors call Lucifer although it be the same with that that is called Vesper yet when it goes before the Sonne it beares one name and when it followes him it hath an other soe although the Iewish congregation hath bene in some sorte one same societie with the Christiā Congregatiō neuerthelesse whē this societie hath gone Before her SVNNE which is CHRIST she hath borne one name to witt the Synagogue and when she followes him she beares an other to witt the Church And therefore when our Lord said to S. Peter Dic ecclesiae tell it to the Church and if he heare not he Church let him be to thee as an heathen or a publican And when S. LVKE relates that HEROD sett himselfe to Persecute quosdam de ecclesia some of those of the Church and when saint Paul writes I teach it so in all the Churches And againe bee without scandall to the Iewes and to the Gentiles and to the Church of God And when S. Iames proclaimes If anie one be sicke lett him call the priestes of the Church And when S. Ireneus saith there haue bene sacrifices among the people there are sacrifices in the Church they thought they had sufficiently distinguished without anie other additiō the Christian Church frō the Iewish Synagogue And contrariwise when the Church of SMYRNA in an age neighbouringe vpon that of the Apostles intitles her Epistle to the Church of PHILOMILION and to all the a Diocesses of the Catholique Church that are throughout the world And when CLEMENT ALEXANDRINVS writes There needes not manie wordes to shewe that the mocke-Councells of heretickes are after the Catholicke Church And when TERTVLLIAN saieth Marcion gaue his money to the Catholique Church which reiected both it and him when he strayed from our truth to heresie And when sainct CYPRIAN aduertised the Bishops of Africke that passed in to Italie to acknowledge and hold fast the roote and matrice of the Catholicke Church And when Saint EPIPHANIVS reporteth that vnder the persecution of DIOCLESIAN those that held the ancient Churches called themselues the Catholicke Church and the Militians the Church of the martyres And when the Emperor CONSTANTINE ordained that all the Oratories of the Heretickes should be taken from them and presently after deliuered to the Catholicke Church they pretended not by the word Catholicke to distinguish the Christian Church from the Iewish but to distinguish the great and the originall bodie of the Church from the particular and later sectes Yet wee acknowledge that the word Catholicke in distinguishing by hervniuersalitie the true Church from the hereticall and schismaticall sectes distinguisheth her alsoe by accident from the Iewish Synagogue as a speciall difference in distinguishing her species from other species of the same genders doth also distinguish it from that of other genders though that be not her proper office for the word reasonable discerninge men from birds fishes serpentes and other beastes leaves him not vndiscerned accessarily from plantes metalls and stones But we maintaine the expresse and direct end for which the Surname of Catholik hath bene added to the Church I saie to the Church and not to the figures of the Church hath bene to distinguish it from hereticall and Schismaticall sectes If I should this daie by chance enter into a populous towne saith S. PACIANVS an author celebrated by sainct Ierom and finde there Marcionistes and Apolinarians it must be reade Apellecians Cataphrigians Nouatians and other such like which call themselues Christians by what surname should I knowe the Congregation of my people if it were not intitled Catholicke and againe Christian is my name Catholicke is my Surname that names me this markes me out by that I am manifested prodor non probor by this I am distinguished And sainct CYRILL of Ierusalem an author the same age expoundinge the creede For this cause saith he thy faith hath giuen thee this article to holde vndoubtedlie and in the holie Catholicke Church to the end thou 〈◊〉 flie the polluted 〈◊〉 of heretickes And a little after And when thou comst into a towne inquire not simplie where the temple of our Lord is for the other heresies of impious persons doe likewise call theire dens the temples of the Lord neither aske simplie where the Church is but where is the Catholique Church for that name is the proper name of this holie Church And sainct AVGVSTINE in his booke of the Faith and the creede Wee beleeue saith he the holie Church and that Catholicke for the heretickes and Schismatickes name also theire Congregations Churches but heretickes beleeuing in God in a false manner violate the faith and Schismatickes by theire vniust Diuisions seperate themselues from brotherlie Charitie although they beleeue the same thinges that we beleeue therefore the hereticke appartaineth not to the Catholicke Church because she loues God nor the Schismaticke because she loues her neighbour So that it amazeth me that I haue had soe little industrie to explaine myselfe as to haue giuen his Maiestie occasion to answere that the reason for which I had said in the beginninge of my first obseruation that the word Catholicke was not a title of simple beliefe but of communion was not enough manifest For hauinge alleaged these fower places of sainct AVGVSTINE Schismatickes appertaine not to the Catholicke Church although they beleeue the same thinges with vs. Those that disagree soe from the bodie of Christ which is the Church as theire communion is not with all or that it spread it selfe but is found separate in some part it is manifest they are not in the Catholicke Church There is a Church if you cast your eyes ouer the extent of the whole world more aboundant in multitude and also as those that know themselues to be of it affirme more sincere in truth then all the others but of the truth is an other disputation Diuision and dissention makes you heretickes and peace and vnitie makes vs Catholickes And hauinge accompanied them with these wordes of sainct VINCENTIVS 〈◊〉 O admirable conuersion or change the authors of one selfe opinion are called Catholiques and the followers of it beretickes And with those of sainct PROSPER 〈◊〉 that communicates with the vniuersall church is a christian and a 〈◊〉 catholicke and he that communicates not therewith is an hereticke and Antichrist It seemed to me that I had sufficiently shewed that the title of Catholicke is not a simple title of beliefe but of communion also It is true I expected not that a question that had bene anciently moued and adiuged euen with the interuention of the authoritie of Emperors should againe haue bene contested against and put into dispute For in the controuersie of Catholickes and Donatistes vpon the word Catholicke before the decision whereof as sainct Austin saith the Church was neuer
perfectly treated of no more then before the questions of the Arrians the Trinitie had neuer bene perfectlie treated of the thesis or tenet of the Catholickes was that the word Catholicke was a word of Communion and not a word of Simple beliefe The Christian Africans are called saith Saint AVGVSTIN and not with out good right Catholickes protesting by theire proper Communion the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And againe wee shew by the testimonie of our Cōmunion that wee haue the Catholicke Church the thesis of the Donatistes contrariwise was that the word Catholicke was not a word of Cōmunion but of beliefe and obseruation of precepts The Donatistes saith Saint AVSTIN answered that the word Catholike was not deriued from the vniuersalitie of nations but from the fulnes of the Sacramentes that is to saie from the integritie of the doctrine And in the Epistle to VINCENTIVS Rogat Thou thinkest said he then to saìe some subtile thing when thon interpretest the name of Catholicke not from the Communion of the whole world but from the obseruation of all the preceptes and diuine Sacramentes And againe you are those that hold the Catholicke faith not from the Communion of the whole world hut from the obseruation of all the preceptes aud diuine Sacramentes And the iudgement that was made vpon this difference was that the word Catholicke was a title not of simple beliefe but of Communion also After a contention of 40. daies saith OPTATVS Mileuit speaking of the first disputation of the Donatistes the finall sentēce of the Bishops Eunomius and Olimpius whcih were the Bishops deputed to iudge the possessiō of the word Catholicke betweene the Catholickes of Africa and the Donatistes was that that was Catholicke that was spread throughout the world And Saint AVSTINE speaking of the Conference of Carthage The Commissarie said he answered that he could not by 〈◊〉 attribute the name Catholicke to anie other then to those to whom the Emperor from whom he had his Commision had attributed it And in an other place citing the law of the Emperors made vpon this Conference The Emperors said he haue forbidden that those that vsurpe the name of Christians out of the Communion of the Catholicke Church and will not in peace adore the author of 〈◊〉 should dare to possesse anie thing vnder the title of the Church And againe The Emperors of our Communion haue ordained lawes against all heretikes now they call heretickes those that are not of theire Communion amongst which you are And after disputing with the same Donatists Thou askest said he of a stranger whether he be a pagan or a Christian he answeres thee a Christian thou askest him whether he be a catechumenus or one of the faithfull least he should intrude himselfe vnlawfullie to the Sacraments he answers thee one of the faithfull thou askest him of what Communion he is he answers thee a Christian Catholicke CHAP. II. Of the Conditions of the Catholicke Church The pursuite of the kings answere NOw the King belieues simplie without colour or fraude that the Church ōf God is one only by name and effect Catholicke and vniuersall spread ouer all the world out of which he affirmes himselfe there can be noe hope of Saluation he condemnes and detestes those which either heeretofore or since haue departed from the faith of the Catholicke Church are become heretickes as the Man ichees or from her Communion and are become schismatickes as the Donatists Against which two kindes of men principally sainct AVGVSTINE hath written the things alleaged in this obseruation THE REPLIE TELESIVS a Stripling of Greece hauing won the prize and victorie of the Combate in the Pythian games when there was question of leadinge him in triumph there arose such a dispute betweene the diuers natiōs there present euery one being earnest to haue him for theire owne as the one drawing him one waie the other an other waie insteed of receiuing the honor which was prepared for him he was torne and dismembred euen by those that stroue who should honor him most Soe happenes it to the Church All those that beare the name of Christians auow that to her only appertaines the victory ouer hell and that whosoeuer will haue parte in the prize and glory of this Triumph must serue vnder her ensigne But when they come to debate of the true bodie of this societie then euery sect desirous to draw her to themselues they rent and teare her in peeces and in steed of embracing the Church which consistes in vnitie they embrace schisme and diuision which is the death and ruyne of the Church The cause or rather the pretext of this euill comes from two faultes that the aduersaries of the Church commit in the distinction of the word Ecclesia or Church which makes the possession vncertaine and disputable The one is the fraudulent restriction of the terme of the Church to the only inuisible number of the predestinate by which when they feele themselues pressed to represent the succession of theire Church they saue themselues like Homers Aeneas or Virgils Cacus in obscuritie and darknes The other is the equiuocall and captious extension of the same word Church to all Sectes which professe the name of Christ by which when they see themselues excluded from the refuge of theire inuissble Church they haue recourse from darknes to confusion and confesse that there hath bene alwaies a visible Church but sometymes pure in faith and sometymes impure that is to saie now a Church and now noe Church And therefore I attribute it to a singular care of the prouidence of God that his Maiesty saying he beleeues the catholicke Church hath added as to preuent all theses shiftes without colour or fraude For to beleeue the catholicke church without colour or fraude is to beleeue her in the sence that the Fathers haue beleeued and vnderstood her the Fathers I say which haue lest vs these sentences pronunced sometymes as in the hypothesis against the Manichees and Donatists but as in the thesis against all kindes of heretickes or schismatickes in generall that out of the Catholicke Church there is noe saluation that whosoeuer is separate from the Catholicke Church cannot haue life and other such like which his Maiestie protested to approue Now first by the word Catholicke Church these Fathers haue beleeued and intended such a Church as these wordes of Esay 〈◊〉 In the last daies the Mountaine of the Lord shall be on the topp of all the Mountaines and all the hills shall flowe to her The people shall walke in thy light and the kings in the brightnes of thy Orient Theire seede shall be knowne amongst the people and theire kinge in the middest of the nations And these of our Lord The Citie built vpon the mountaine cannot be hid Tell it to the Church and if he heare not the Church let him be to thee as
a heathen or publican that is to saie a Church visible manifest and eminent and not a Church either perpetually inuisible or as if she had Giges ring now visible and now inuisible The Church saith Sainct CYPRIAN clothed with the light of our Lord sheds her beames through the whole world And S. CRISOSTOME g It is more easie to extinguish the Sunne then to obscure the Church And againe h The Sunne 〈◊〉 not soe manifest nor the ligh thereof as the actions of the Church And Sainct AVGVSTINE a The Church is not hidden for she is not put vnder a bushell but in a Candlesticke that she may giue light to all those which are in the house And of her our Lord hath said The Cittie built vpon the Mountaine cannot be hidd And in an other place b It is a condition common to all heretickes not to see the thinge that is in the world the most manifest and built in the light of all the Nations out of the vnitie whereof all that they doe though they seeme to doe it very exactly can noe more warrant them against the wrath of God then the Spiders webb against the rigor of the cold And againe he hath this most certaine marke that she cannot be hidden she is then knowne to all nations The sect of Donatus is vnknowne to manie Nations then that cannot be she And in deede how could it be that the Fathers had not had neede to be purged with Hellebore who imployed these sentences against the here tickes and Schismatickes of theire ages to presse them to returne to the Church That he shall neuer come to the rewardes of Iesus Christ that hath abandoned the Church of Christ d that he shall not haue God sor his Father that hath not the Church for his Mother e That he cannot liue that withdrawes himselfe from the Church and buildes to himselfe other seates and other dwellinges f That Christ is not with those who assemble themselues out of the Church g That he who shall not be in the Arcke shall perishe at the comminge of the floud h that he which eates the lambe out of his howse is prophane i That out of the Catholicke Church none can be saued k whosoeuer is separate from the Catholicke Church cannot haue life l That the Catholicke Church alone is the body of Christ m That out of this bodie the holy Ghost quickens none n That whosoeuer then will haue the holy Ghost should take heede of beinge separated from her and likewise take heede of entring into her fainedly if they had beleeued that the Catholicke Church had bene an inuisible flocke of predestinate persons knowne only to God and into whose Rolle as appointed from all eternitie none could enter or be added thereu nto SECONDLY by the word Catholicke Church the Fathers did not intend the Chaos and generall Masse of all Christian Sectes Societies as well pure as impure as well heretickes as Schismatickes as our aduersaries doe when they feele themselues excluded from theire refuge of an inuisible Church but by the word Cacholicke Church the Fathers intended a Societie such both for doctrine and Communion as these propheticall Oracles painted her forth o Thou art wholie faire and there is noe spott in thee p Thou shalt be called the citie of Iustice the faithfull citie q Through thee shall noe more passe anie that is vncircumcised or vncleane r I will espouse thee in faith and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. And these Euangelicall decrees s The gates of Hell shall not preuaile against her t The Church is the pillar and soundation of truth u There is noe communion of Christ with Belial nor of light with darknesse x If anie one bring not this doctrine saie not to him so much as well be it with thee for whosoeuer shall saie to him well be it with thee communicates in his wicked workes that is to saie they vnderstood by that terme socitie of Christians extracted and contracted by the iust and sufficient meanes of externall vocation to saluation and distinct and purified from the impurity and contagion of all the hereticall schismatical sectes y If thou hearest in any parte saith saint IEROM of men denominated from anie but from Christ as Marcionites 〈◊〉 Montayners or Campites know that it is not the Church of Christ but the Synagogue of Antichrist OPTATVS Mileuitanus z besides the only Church which is truly Catholicke the others amongst the heretickes are esteemed to be but are not soe indeed And againe The Church is one which cannot be amongst vs and amongst you it remaines then that it be in one only place And Sainct AVGVSTINE to Honoratus Although there be manie heresies of Christians and that all would be called Catholickes yet there is alwaies one Church if you cast your eies vpon the extent of the whole worlde more abundant in multitude and also as those that know themselues to be of it more sincere in truth then all the rest but of the truth that is an other Dispute That which sufficeth for the question is that there is one Church to which different heresies impose different names whereas they are all called by there particular names that they dare not disauow from whence it appeares in the indgment of anie not preoccupate with fauour to whom the name of Catholicke whereof they are all ambitions ought to bee attributed And in the booke of the true Religion Wee must holde the Christian Religion and the Communion of that Church that is called Catholicke both by her owne and by strangers for whether heretickes and Schismatickes will or will not when they speake not with theires but with stranges they call the Catholickes noe otherwise then Catholickes And in the Comentary vpon the 149. Psalme The Church of the Saints is the Catholicke Church The Church of the Saintes is not the Church of heretickes she hath bene marked out hefore she was seene and she hath bene exhibited to the end she should be seene And in the booke of Faith and of the Creede Wee beleeue one Church and that the Catholicke for the heretickes and Schismatickes call also theire congregations Churches but the hereticke beleeuinge of God false things violate the Faith And Schismatickes by vniust dissentions separate themselues from brotherly Charitie although they belieue the same thinges that we belieue and therefore neither the heretickes doe appertaine to the Catholique Church because she loues God nor the Schismatickes because she loues her neighbour And certainly how could the Fathers without making themselues ridiculous te theire auditors beate downe the heretickes and Schismatickes with these sentences That out of the Catholicke Church there is noe Saluation that whosoeuer is not in the Catholique Church canot haue life that he shall not haue God for
And when he saith Tell it to the Church and if he heare not the Church let him be to thee as a heathen or a publican And againe the Cittie set vpon a mountaine cannot be hid And in an other place I will pray not onlie for these heere present but for all those that by theire word shall beleeue in me that they may be all one because the world may know that thou hast sent me Euen a blinde man may see that he speakes of an externall and visible Church And when he expresseth the Church by the parable of the barne where the corne is mingled with the strawe and by the parable of the fielde where the corne and the tares should growe together till haruest And by the parable of the nett cast into the Sea where the euill fishes were inclosed with the good And by the parable of the wedding where the hall was full of guests aswell good as badd and by the parable of the wise and foolish virgins which staied for the Spouse in one howse there needes noe Oedipus to vnderstand that he speakes of a visible Church constituted by externall and temporall vocation And when S. Paul saith to Timothee I write these things to thee that thou maist know how thou oughtest to conuerse in the howse of God which is the Church of the liuing God the pillar and foundation of truth And againe In a great howse there are not onely vessells of gold and siluer but also of wood and earth This word to conuerse which cannot haue relation to an inuisible Societie and this word foundation which is not relatiue to truth which hath no neede of foundation but to men to whom the Church serues for a foundation of truth And these wordes of wood and earth doe visibly shew that he speaketh of an externall and visible Church And when he saith in the 6. Chapter of the first to she Corinthians What haue I to doe to iudge those that are without And in the 11. We haue not this custome neither the Church of God And in the 12. God had placed in the Church first Apostles secondly Prophets thirdly Doctors And in the Epistle to the Ephesians The truth of the wisedome of God is manifested to the principalities and powers in the heauenly places by the Church And againe Christ clenseth his Church by the waching of water in the word And in the exhortation of the Priests of Ephesus Take heede to your selues and to all the flocke ouer which the holy Ghost hath made you Bishops to rule the Church of God And when Saint Iames saith is his Catholicke epistle If anie one of you be sicke lett him call the Priests of the Church and let them anointe him with oyle It is more cleere then the sunne that they spake of an externall and visible 〈◊〉 And in truth how could it be that these prophesies alreadie soe often repeated In the last daies the mountaine of the Lord shall be aboue all the mountaines The Nations shall come to her and saie lett vs goe vp to the Mountaine of the Lord and into the howse of the God of Iacob and he will teach vs his waies The people shall walke in her light and kings in the brightnes of her Oriēt Thine eyes shall see Ierusalem a plentifull habitation and a tabernacle that cannot be remoued Theire seede shall be knowne among the people and thire posteritie amongst the generations All those that shall see them shall know that they are the seed blessed by the Lord the nations shall know that I am the holie one of Israel when my sanctification shall be in the middle of them for euer had not bene iliusions and oracles of the Spirit of lyes if the Church should haue consisted only in the hidden and inuisible number of the predestinate into whose knowledge neither men nor angells can penetrate And our Lord himselfe who is the eternall wisedome of the Father had not he bene the most imprudent of all lawemakers to haue left his law exposed to soe manie suppositions deprauations and false expositions whereto the malice of the heretickes of all ages hath subiected it without leauing a depositary to keepe it and a iudge to interpret it or to haue left it an inuisible depositary and an inuisible interpreter But against this inuincible truth there doe arise fiue principall obiectiōs The first is that our Lord said The gates of hell shall not preuaile against my Church frō whence it seemes to followe that the reprobate are noe partes of the Church because the gates of hell doe preuaile against them The Second that sainct PAVL writheth you are arriued to the heauenly Ierusalem to the Church of the primitiues or first borne which are inrolled in heauen from whence it seemes to follow that the Church is only of the predestinate The third that we protest in the Creede I beleeue the Church from whence it is inferred that the Church is inuisible because faith is of inuisible things The fourth that Saint AVGVSTINE saith in some place that onely predestinat Catholicks are true partes of the Church and the true members of the bodie of Christ and puts a distinction betweene those which are in the howse and those that are of the howse and betweene the people knowne in the eyes of God and the people knowne in the eyes of men And the fift That Saint IEROME writes He that is a Sinner and soiled with anie spott cannot be said to be of the Church of Christ. To the first then of these obiections which is that the gates of hell shall not be victorious ouer the Church we saie That the victories which the gates of hell obtaine against particular persons by the vices of theire manners preuaile but against those particular persons that are spotted there with and not against the bodie of the Church for as much as the vices of manners are but iu the persons that commit or approue them and not in the Communion of the Church Those saith saint AVGVST whom the wicked please in theire vnitie communicate with the wicked but those that are therewith displeased communicate not with the wicked in theire actions but with the altar of Christ. For the Church exacts from none of her membres the condition of being vitious to receiue him into her Communion as she exacts from them the profession of the Faith and of the vniuersall ceremonies that she prescribeth to them the participation of her Sacraments and the adherence to her pastors By meanes whereof there is nothing but heresie and profession of error or infidelitie that can be pretended to make the gates of hell victorious ouer the body of the Church because those only cortupt the conditions vnder which the congregation is contracted or gathered and infect the body and masse of the societie for none can enter into anie hereticall societie
without obliging him-selfe to the doctrine whereof it makes profession And therefore saint EPIPHAN interpretes iudicially these gates of hell that shall not preuaile against the Church to be heresies the gates of hell said he are heresies and heresieMasters To the second which is that saint PAVL writes you are arriued to heauenly Ierusalem to the Church of the first-borne which are inrolled in heauen Wee answere he speaketh of the Church triumphant to which he writes that we are arriued in the same sorte as he writes our conuerfation is in heauen that is to saie in hope as when a shipp hath cast his ankor on land which is saith saint AVGVSTINE the symbole of hope it is said to be arriued to land though it be yet in the sea and let vs add that the word first-borne signifies there euen by Caluins owne confession the holy Fathers and 〈◊〉 of the old testament Or if saint PAVL speake there of the Church militant and that by the first-borne he intends the predestinate we 〈◊〉 he calls it the Church of the first-borne not because it containes only the elect but because the elect are no where els I meane the elect inuested in the temporall grace of theire election as we call the parliament of Paris the Court of the Peeres not because it containes none but Peeres but because there is noe place els wherein the Peeres are inuested in theire qualitie of Peeres To the third which is taken from this article of the Creede I beleeue in the Catholicke Church we saie it sufficeth that faith be either of inuisible things or of things apprehended vnder inuisible conditions as those are vnder which wee consider the Church when we beleeue her to be the spouse of Christ the temple of God the mansion of the holy Ghost the gate of heauen the treasuresse of spirituall graces Otherwise to beleeue in Christ had not bene an article of faith while our lord was in this world And neuerthelesse he saith Who beleeues not in the sonne is alreadie iudged And when the Councell of Constantinople puts this confession of Faith amongst the articles of the Creede of the Church I beleeue one baptisme in remission of sinnes they must conclude baptisme to be inuisible against the vniuersall condition of Sacraments which is to be visible signes of inuisible graces To the fourth obiection to witt that saint AVGVSTINF writeth that only predestinate Catholiques are true partes of the Church and true members of the bodie of Christ and distinguisheth betweene them which are in the howse and them which are of the howse and betweene the people knowne in the eyes of God and knowne in the eyes of man we haue three solutions The first solution is that saint AVGVSTINE intended not that only Catholiques predestinate were true partes of the Church according to the formall beinge of the Church which is common to all that are called but according to the finall being of the Church that is to the end and in the fruits for which the Church is instituted I meane saint AVGVSTINE did not intend in those places to define the Church formally and by what she is in this world but finally and by what she shall be in the other Euen as he that saith only good Citizens are true partes of a common wealth doth not define a common wealth formally and by what it is in it selfe but finally and by what it is in the intention of the law-maker And he that saith a true haruest is only the corne that is gathered from the strawe and not the strawe wherewth it is mingled defines not a haruest formally and by what it is in the feild or in the barne but finally and by what it will be in the garner We confesse saith saint AVGVST that whicked men are together with the good in the Catholick Church but as Corne and strawe And againe Wicked men may be with vs in the barne but they cannot be with vs in the garner For that sainct AVGVST doth not esteeme that the formall and precise condition that constitutes men in the Church is that of predestination internall to God and eternall but that of externall and temporall vocation he shewes it when he saith vpon saint IOHN None can enter by the gates that is by Christ to life eternall which is in vision if by the same gate that is to saie by the same Christ he be not first entred into his Church which is his sheepefolde to the temporall life which is in faith And in the place already alleadged vpon the psalmes Our predestination is made not in vs but in God the other three things are wrought in vs vocation iustification and glorification And in his writings against Faustus Men can be inserted into noe name of Religion whether true or false but they must be tied by the common participation of some signes or visible Sacraments Contrarywise the verie same saint AVGVST which distinguisheth betweene those in the howse and those of the howse teacheth vs that all Catholickes both predestinate and reprobate are in the howse that is to saie in the Church Those saith he we cannot denie but that they are likewise in the howse and then that the formall condition which 〈◊〉 the Church is vocation and not predestination but that there are none but the predestinate Catholickes which are of the howse that is to 〈◊〉 that are finall peeces inalienable and inseparable from the howse or to speake in termes of lawe that are goodes that the father of the familie vouchsafes to put into the Inuentory of his howse the other being there but for a tyme and as by waie of loane and not to dwell there 〈◊〉 euer For when the Church shall passe from earth to heauen and from the state of mortalitie to immortalitie only predestinate Catholickes shall remaine there and not the others The Church saith he is the 〈◊〉 the seruant is the Sinner now many sinners enter into the Church and therefore our Lord did not saie the Seruant enters not into the howse but he dwelles not for euer in the howse And againe None can blott from heauen the constitution of God nor can anie blott from the earth the Church of God c. She containes good and euill but she looseth none on earth but the euill and admitts none into heauen but the good The second solution is that this distinction of partes of the Church true and not true and of vessells which are in the howse and not of the howse and of people knowne in the eyes of God and knowne in the eyes of men is not a distinction of Religion but a simple distinction of manners which puts difference betweene the one and the other in regarde of the formall being of the Church and of the externall meanes of vocation which are the profession of the true faith the sincere administration of the Sacramentes and the adherence to lawfull
Pastors but only in regard of internall and finall correspondencie to these externall conditions that is to saie in regarde of the conformitie of manners with the vocation and of the perseuerance in his conformitie of manners They are saith Saint Au so in the howse by the Communion of the Sacraments as they are out of it by the diuersitie of manners And Fulgent after him The good ought not to be seperated from the wicked in the Catholicke Church but by the dissimilitude of manners From whence it followes that when there is question of representing the perpetuitie of the Church for matter of Religion that is for matter of doctrine and Sacramente and of the Communion of Pastors it is an vnprofitable refuge to haue recourse to this distinction of 〈◊〉 and of people knowne in the eyes of God and in the eyes of men and of 〈◊〉 which are in the howse and are not of the howse since this distinction puts noe barre betweene the one and the other people for what concernes Religion but only for what concernes manners For although the list of the chosen is vnknowne to vs in respect of the secret 〈◊〉 and the certainty of election neuerthelesse for what concernes protestation of faith participation of Sacraments and adherence to lawfull Pastors it is alwaies visible if not distinctly yet at least ioyntly with the rest of the called with which in these three cases it constitutes alwaies one and the same Church it not being possible for the elect to be installed in the temporall effect of thiere election and in the estate of saluation vnlesse they make profession to communicate and to be 〈◊〉 vnited in all these things with the visible bodie of the Chnrch. For our Lord cryes out He that shall confesse me before men I will confesse him before God my father And Saint Paul Were beleeue in our hartes to iustice but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with our mouthes to Saluation And Saint August We cannot be saued vnlesse labouring also for the Saluation of others we protest with our mouthes the same faith we beare in oure harts by which meanes so farr is it of that the Church should be lesse visible in regard of Religion in the persons of the predestinate then in the persons of others as contrary wise 〈◊〉 it could be either by error or by infirmitie and feare of persecutiō that the externall and visible profession of the true faith the Syncere administration of the Sacramentes and the adherence to lawfull pastors should faile in the person of all others it would be conserued in those of the predestinat following Saint Pauls maxime There must be heresies that the approued may be made manifest And this testimonie of Saint AVGTSTIN The Church is sometimes obscured and as it were dimmed by the multitude of scandall that is to saie of persecutions but yet euen then she is eminent in her stedfast Champions Onely there is this difference that as the vocation which is the condition that settes men in the Church may be possessed in two sortes the one worthily when it is answered by conformitie of manners and inward deuotion from whence it is that Saint Paul praies for the Thessalonians that God would make them worthie of his holy wocation that is to saie make them answere and perseuer to answere by theire inward disposition the externall vocation wherewith he hath honored them The other vnworthily which is when it is not answered by conformitie of manners and life so there are two waies of being in the Church the one worthie and meritorious when theire manners answere theire vocation and the other vnworthie and without merit when they correspond not Which hath giuen ground to the schoole distintion of being in the Church in mumber and not in merit and therefore in the place where Saint AVGVSTIN introduceth more expressely the distinction of those that are in the howse but are not of the howse nor are the howse which is in the 7. booke of Baptisme against the Donatistes euen there to take awaie all occasion of suspicion that this house could be inuisible he addes the keyes and the power of binding and loosing are giuen to her that is the proprietie and practise of the ministrie and that all are commaunded to heare her and consequently to holde her visible vpon paine of beinge reputed heathens and publicans This howse said he hath receiued the keyes and the power to binde and loose and from thence when she censures or correctes if anie one despise her it is said that he should be to thee as a heathen or a publican And in the booke of the vnitie of the Church where he repeates in euery period the same distinction The Church saith he is not hidden because she is not vnder the bushell but vpon the candlesticke that she may giue light to all that are in the howse and of her it was said the Cittie sett on the Montaine cannot be hidd And in the booke of the waie to Cathecise We must said he instrust and incourage the infirmitie of man against temptations and scandall whether without or within the Church itselfe without against Gentiles or Iewes or heretickes and within against the chaffe of the barne of the Lord. And againe Let not the enemie seduce thee not onely by those that are out of the Church be they pagans Iewes or heretickes but also by those that thou shalt see in the Church euill liuers And in the Comentarie vpon the Epistle of Saint Iohn How can I call those other then blinde that see not so great a Mountaine and shutt theire eyes against the lampe sett vpon the Candlestick And not only in those places but in all his other workes he declares that the Church is perpetually visible yea he pronounces that it is an hereticall position or rather the common foundation of all heretickes to suppose that she is inuisible The Church of the Saints saith he is the Catholicke Church the Church of the Saintes is not the Church of heretickes the Church of the Saintes is that which God hath predesigned before she was seene and exhibited that she might be seene And in an other place It is a common condition of all heretickes not to see the thing in the world that is most cleere contituted in the light of all nations out of the vnitie whereof all that they doe can noe more warrant them from the wrath of God then the Spiders webb from the extremitie of colde And againe She hath this most certaine mark that she cannot be hid she is then knowne to all nations the sect of Donatus is vnknowne to manie nations then that cannot be she The third solution is that besides euen the vse of the finall definition of the Church is a forced vse and where with Saint AVG. was constrayned in the beginning to serue his turne to withstād the fraude of the Donatists but afterward he so
loue and there is noe spott in thee And in the exposition of Ieremy Thou seest how manie places the Church hath and that this sentence of the Apostle that shee maiebe without spott or wrinkle is reserued for the time to come and for the celestiall places And in the same Commentary vpon the Epistle to the Ephesians Our Lord Iesus accountethe for his members all that are assembled in the Church both Saintes and Sinners but the Saints are his 〈◊〉 voluntarily and the Sinners by necessitie And therefore to the consequence that the Protctestates gather from this place of Saint IEROM when they inferr from hence that the Church consistes only in the mumber of the good we oppose these expresse wordes of the fame Saint IEROM As in the Arke of Noe there were liuing creatures of all kindes so in the Church there are men of all nations of all manners as there where together the Leopard and the Goates the wolfe and the lambes so heere are together the iust and Sinner to witt the vessells of gold and the vessells of wood and earth And againe if the Church be alreadie purified what doe we reserue for our Lord And to the consequence that they gather thence that the Church is inuisible we oppose these followinge That is no Church which hath noe priests And againe I could dry vp all the riuers of thy arguments with the only Sun-shine of the Church And a little after We must remaine in that Church which hauing bene founded by the Apostles indureth till this present And in an other place I am ioyned in communion with thy blessednesse that is to saie with the Chaire of Peeter I know the Cburch it built vpon that rocke whosoeuer eates the lambe out of that howse is prophane Of the vnitie of internall faith CHAPT X. The continuance of the Kings Answere THey are vnited in vnitie of Faith at least in those pointes which are necessarie for saluation THE REPLIE THere are seuen batailles to be giuen vpon this article but against a King that will glorie in suffering himselfe to be ouercome by truth and in saying with Darius his Chamberlaines that kings are verie strong but truth is yet more strong And therefore I feare not to incurr Homers sentence When a great king is angrie with his seruant The first bataile is that an vnitie in things necessarie for the Saluation of euery particular man is not sufficient for the constitution of the Church For there are pointes of faith which are necessarie euen with an ineuitable necessitie for the bodie of the Church which are not necessary with the like necessitie in regard of euery particular man as we haue shewed in our sirst Epistle and those which are sufficient for a man 〈◊〉 by death and in case of impossibilitie of better instruction are not sufficient for him that can haue commoditie to be more throughly 〈◊〉 and those that may suffice for a simple handy craftes man or a labourer cannot suftize for the bodie of the Pastors and the vniuersall Societie of the Church The second bataile is that besides the thinges which particular men are bound to belieue with a distinct and explicite faith there are manie other which they are obliged to belieue with a faith of adherencie and non 〈◊〉 which Schoolemen call implicit faith As all the articles that Councells ordaine to be belieued or forbidd to be belieued vpon paine of anathema A vine dresser a laborer an artificer is not bound to belieue them by retaile and with a distinct and explicit faith but it suffizeth that they beleeue thē in the faith of the Church to witt that they adhere and consent with the Church which beleeueth them For making profession to beleeue all that the Church where-into they are in corporared beleeues faith embraceth in generall by the meritt of theire obedience all that the same Church beleeues distinctlie though theire knowlege 〈◊〉 it not And therefore euen as while children are in theire mothers wombe or sucking at her brestes they liue by the foode and nourishment of theire mother but when they are parted from her they can no longer liue with that communicated nourishment or that infused foode so while simple persons remaine within the bosome and Communion of the Church they liue in those things which are aboue theire capacitie by the faith of the Church which is imputed ahd applied to them by the adherence that they haue with her Such saith Saint AVGVSTINE if before they arriue to the spirituall age of the Soule where they shall noe more be nourisht with milke but with solid meate the last daie of theire life surprise them he that dwells in them shall supplie what they want in theire 〈◊〉 because they haue not separated themselues from the vnitie of the bodie of Christ which bad bene made the waie to vs and haue not withdrawne themselues from the societie of the Temple of God And therefore it is necessary that the Church to whom they ought to adhere to obtaine this supplie should be first knowne and visible to them and more ouer that she not only liue with the doctrine which is answerable to milke as is the profession of the articles which simple persons are bound to belieue with a distinct and explicite faith which Saint AVGVSTINE calles the rule of Faith common to little and great but with that which is answerable to solid meate The third battaile is that it is not sufficient to saie in forme of an 〈◊〉 proposition they are vnited in points necessary for saluation but it must be said in forme of an vniuersall proposition They are vnited in all points necessary for saluation For as it will not serue a man to liue that he hath all his other partes sounde if he be deadlie wounded in anie member necessarie to life so it will nothing auaile to these societies we talk of to be vnited in other things necessary to saluation if they be wanting in anie one If a man be brought saith saint AVGVSTINE to a Physician grieuonsly wounded in some necessary parte of his bodie and the Physician saie if he be not dressed he will dye I thinke they which present him will not be soe senselesse as to answere the Physician after they haue considered and reckoned his other sound partes what shall not so manie sound partes haue power to 〈◊〉 him aliue and shall one wounded parte haue powre to bringe him to his death Now amongst things necessarie to saluation the principall and most necessary is the knowledge and acknowledgement of the Catholicke Church What profitts it a man saith saint AVGVSTINE either sound faith or it may be the onely Sacrament of sound faith when the soundnes of Charitie is wounded with the wound of schisme the only distruction whereof drawhes all the other partes to death And in an other place We had both one baptisme in that they were with me we both read
in the East will frame such a iudgement where at we shall all reioyce in the 〈◊〉 of God And why doth the Mileuitan Councell to which S. AVSTIN was secretary write these wordes to Pope INNOCENT For as much as God by the guift of his principall grace hath placed you in the Apostolicke Sea and hath graunted you to be such in our daies as wee ought rather to feare that it should be imputed to vs for a crime of negligence if we should conceale from your Reuerence those things which for the Church ought to be represented to you then to imagine that you can receiue them disdainefully or negligentlie we beseeche you to applie your pastorall diligence to the great perills of the weake members of Christ And towardes the end But we belieue with the helpe of the mercie of our God JESVS CHRIST who vouchsafe to direct you consulting with him and to heart you praying to him that those that holde these opinions soe peruerse and pernicious will more casilie yeilde to the authoritie of your Holynesse drawne from the authoritie of the holie Scriptures And why then when the same Pope INNOCENT answered both the Councells did he testifie to them that they had behaued themselues toward him in the same manner as all the other prouinces had done to his predecessors It was not by human sentence but diuine said that great Pope in the answere to the Mileuitans Councell inserted amongst saint Austins Epistles and cited by saint Austine himselfe in his writinges against the Pelagians that the Fathers haue ordained that all things that are treated in prouinces distant and farr of should not be determined till first they were come to the knowledge of the Apostolicke Sea to the end that the sentence that should be found to be iust might the confirmed by the intire authority of the same Sea and that from thence the other Churches as Springes all proceeding from their mother source and running with the purity of their originall through the diuers Regions of the whole world might take what they ought to ordaine And in the answere to the Mileuitan Councell which is alsoe inserted amongst saint AVSTINS Epistles You prouide said he diligently and worthilie for the Apostolick honor for the honor I saie of him that besides assaultes from without sustaines the care of all the Churches following in the consultation of difficult things the forme of the ancient rule which you know hath alwaies bene practised by all the world with me And a while after princippally as often as there is question in pointes of faith I conceaue all our bretheren and Colleagues in the Bishops Sea ought not to referr what may profitt in common to all the Churches to anie but to Peter that is to saie to the author of their name and dignitie And why then to take away all occasion from replying that he spake in his owne cause doth saint AVSTIN soe highlie praise both these answeres Vpon this affaire saith saint AVSTINE were sent the relations of the two Councells of Carthage and Mileuis to the Apostobick Sea c. to all these things Pope INNOCENT answered vs as was conuenient and as the Prelate of the Apostolick Sea should answere vs. And in the epistle to Optatus Of this new heresie Pelagius and Celestius hauing bene authors or most violent and famous promoters they alsoe by the meanes of the vigilancie of two Episcopall Councells with the helpe of God who vndertakes the protection of his Church haue also bene condemned in the extent of the whole Christian world by the Reuerend Prelates of the Catholicke Sea yea euen by the number of two of them Pope INNOCENT and Pope ZOZIMVS if they correct not themselues and besides doe not penance And why then when the Africans had held their last Councell against Celestius did Prosper write vnder the twelfth cōsulship of Honorius Theodosius The decrees of the Councell of Carthage of 214-Bishops were carried to Pope ZOZIMVS which hauing bene approued the Pelagian heresie was condemned throughout the world And againe Pope ZOZIMVS of happie memory added the power of his sentence to the decrees of the African Councells and to cut of the wicked armed the right handes of all the Bishops with Peters sword And in an other place speaking of the Roman Church in generall The principallitie of the Apostolicall priesthood hath made Rome greater by the tribunall of Religion then by that of the Empire And why then when the Bishops of Africa were assembled at Cesarea in Mauritania doth saint AVSTIN saie The necessities of the Church enioyned to vs by the Reuerend Pope ZOZIMVS Bishop of the Apostolicke Sea had drawne vs to 〈◊〉 And why then when BRIXIVS Bishop of Tours had bene cast out of his Seat and IVSTINIAN created Bishop in his steede and Armenius after him had BRIXIVS recourse to Rome to the same Pope Zozimus that gaue him letters of re-establishment vpon which he was receiued and restored BRIXIVS saith saint GCEGORIE of Tours transporting himselfe to Rome related to the Pope all his sufferinges And a little after Returning then from Rome the seauenth 〈◊〉 with the authority of the Pope of the cittis he disposed his way to Tours And why then when Socrates a Greeke author of the same age with Zozimus produced examples of the translations of Bishops did he alleage in the head of all the other examples the translation of Perigenes Bishop of Patras one of the citties of Peloponesus that the Pope cōmaunded to be made Archbishop of Corinth And who alsoe in his qualitie assisted at the Councell of Ephesus Perigenes saith Socrates had bene ordained Bishop of Patras but because the cittizens of Patras had not receiued him the Bishop of Rome commaunded that he should be Bishop of the Metropolitā Church of Corinth the Bishop of that place being dead in which Church also he gouerned all the daies of his life And why then when Pope Boniface successor to Zozimus was raised to the Popedome did S. AVSTIN write to him Thou disdainest not to be a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the humble though thou rulest more highlie And againe The pastorall watch is common to vs all that exercise the office of Bishops although thou art 〈◊〉 in a more high degree And why then when Pope CELESTINE had succeeded in the Pontificall dignitie to Pope BONIFACE did Prosper reporte that he sent GERMAN the Bishop of Auxerra into Great Brittanie and made him his legate there and instituted Palladius first Bishop of Scotland Pope Celestine said Prosper at the instance of Palladius sent German Bishop of Auxerra in his 〈◊〉 that casting out the heretickes he might addresse the Brittaines to the 〈◊〉 saith And againe Palladius was ordered and sent first Bishop by Pope Celestine to the Scotts belieuing in Christ. And why then when Nestorius Archbishop of Constantinople begā to trouble the Faith of the Easterne Church did the same Pope
that the Arrians spread the rumor that Liberius had condemned Consubstantialitie The Arrians said he spread the rumor that Liberius had condemned the word consubstantiall Neuerthelesse for as much as saint IEROM speakeing of Liberius his exile writeth Liberius Bishop of the Roman Church hauing bene sent into exile for the Faith all the Clerkes swore they would receiue noe other but Felix hauing bene substituted in the priest hood by the Arrians manie periured themselues and at the end of the yeare were cast forth because Liberius ouercome with the wearynesse of his banishement and signing the hereticall impictie entred into Rome in the forme of a Conqueror And in an other place Fortunatianus Bishop of Aquilea is in this reputed detestable that he first solicited Liberius who was gone into banishment for the faith and inclined him and induced him to signe the heresie We followe the opinion of those that hold that during the tyme interposed betweene the returne of Liberius and the death of Felix Liberius remained fallen from the Popedome and that Felix was then true Pope For there is noe doubte but that the Clerkes which were cast forth with Felix because saith saint IEROM Liberius hauing signed the hereticall impietie was 〈◊〉 into Rome like a Conqueror were the orthodoxall and Catholicke Clerkes of the Roman Church who did materially periure themselues because they abandoned Liberius but not formally because Liberius first abandoned himselfe And in the third tyme which began after the death of Felix which if we beleeue Sozomene followed soone after the returne of Liberius Liberius not onely abiured that which the Arrians had constrained him to doe but made himselfe so constant a protector of the Catholicke Faith and cause and so despised all the persecutions of the Emperor as the Roman Church after the death of Felix and all the other Churches of the Catholicke communion with her did receiue and acknowledge him with an acknowledgement equiualent to rehabilitation for Pope In which appeared two actes of the prouidence of God with had appeared in saint Peters fall One that as saint Peter in the rising from his fall confirmed his Bretheren so Liberius in rising from his confirmed all the Bishops of the Catholicke Church shewing them the way rather to suffer a thousand persecutions then to signe the Councell of Arimini And the other that as the Fathers noted that God permitted saint Peter to fall that he might learne by his owne example to vse mercie to those that should fall and not to vse that rigor to them that the Nouatians would afterward haue introduced so God permitted that Liberius should fall into the communion of heretickes to the end that being restored he might learne by his owne example and serue himselfe for an example to others not to shutt the gates of Episcopall cōmunion from those Bishops that should fall into the same faulte when they should come to repentance and not to vse that rigor toward them that afterward the Luciferians would haue introduced Now it was in this meane while to witt when the Roman Church abiured Liberius because he had receiued the Arrians into his communion and ceased to acknowledge him for Pope and had reduced themselues into the obedience of Felix that saint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as is abouesaid these parenthesis be his adhering to the Roman Church abiured him also and anathematized him not with a iudiciary but with an applicatory and abiuratory anathema and by consequence the obiection which is drawne from it is not onely vnprofitable but impertinent For what meruaile is it if in this meane while to witt when the Roman Church herselfe abiured Liberius and withdrew herselfe from his obedience and ceased to acknowledge him for Pope and tooke Felix his part saint HILARY adhering to the Roman Church did abiure him and anathematize him also not with a iudiciary anathema but with an executory and abnegatory 〈◊〉 and tooke likewise the parte of Felix to whom the orthodoxall Clerkes and inhabitantes of the cittie of Rome had ranged themselues The great and admirable DAMASVS who was after successor to Liberius in the Popedome and whom the Greekes called the diamond of Faith had not he bene one of those that had withdrawen themselues from the communion of Liberius and had transferred themselues to that of Felix and so what wonder is it if Liberius owne successor and all the true Roman Church with him hauing ceased to acknowledge Liberius for Pope and hauing abandoned and anathematized him that is to saie with an executory and abiuratory anathema and hauing acknowledged Felix his Competitor for true and law full Pope S. HILARY also in their imitation ceased to account Liberius for Pope and anathematized him not with a iudiciary but with an executory and abiuratory anathema in withdrawing himselfe from his communion and passing to that of Felix And finally the fowrth and last answere is that as in tyme offchisme and duplicity of Popes S. HILARY following the orthodoxall and Catholicke part of the Clergie of Rome adhered to Felix and anathematized Liberius so in the tyme of the vnitie of Popes the same S. HILARY testifies that all Catholickes acknowledged the Pope for head of the Church For he reportes the epistle of the Councell of Sardica wherein the Bishops of the Councell writt these wordes to Pope Iulius Liberius predecessor It shall be esteemed verie good and conuenient if from all prouinces the Bishops should referr the affaires to their head that is to saie to the Sea Apostolicke of Peter And thus much of the second obiection there remaines third To the third obiection then which is that Dioscorus in the false Councell of Ephesus did not content himselfe to excommunicate 〈◊〉 the Archbishop of Constantinople but went so farr as to excommunicate Pope Leo who vpeld him Wee answere three things first that it was not vnder his owne name that Dioscorus Patriark of Alexandria decreed this excommunication but vnder the name of all the false Councell of Ephesus which had bene called in the qualitie of an Oecumenicall Councell and which intitled it selfe an Oecumenicall Councell By meanes whereof this instance toucheth not the question whether another Bishop Archbishop or Patriark may excommunicate the Pope but whether a Councell Oecumenicall pretēding that the Pope is fallen into heresy may excōmunicate him The second that Dioscorus was deposed for this presumption in the Councell of Chalcedon and depriued for all eternity not onely of the title of Patriark but also of the title of Christian and Catbolicke in such sort as this example is so farr from making against the Pope as it falls vpon their heades that alleadge it And the third that there was so great difference betweene the enterprise of excōmunicating the other Bishops Archbishops Patriarkes and presumption of excommunicating the Pope as although Dioscorus Patriark of Alexandria was an Arch-hereticke and that he had approued in a full Councell the heresy of Eutiches and
and roote of this vnitie and by relation and adherence whereto all the colledge of the Apostles and all the Bodie of the Church might be manitained in vnitie For the thinges which are plurall by themselues and are not one with locall vnitie cannot without loosing their vndiuided pluralitie be reduced to a visible vnitie vnlesse by relation to some thing which by it self may be visiblie one And secondlie to maintaine this vnitie it is necessarie further beside the internall authoritie essentiall to the Apostleship there should be an other externall authoritie and accessory to the Apostleship which might haue the superintendencie ouer the care of the preseruation of vnitie to cause the Apostles to exercise their Apostleship in vnitie And as the office of the cause is to rule his effect he that should be the beginning and originall of this vnitie should likewise haue the superintendencie ouer the rest for what concernes the preseruation of vnitie and by consequence that to him should belonge the supereminent iurisdiction ouer things necessarie to the maintenance of vnitie that is to saie ouer things necessarie to preuent schisme and hinder the disorder and confusion of the exercise of the ministrie as are the distinction and distribution either mediat or immediate ofiurisdiction the suspension limitation of the exercise of the ministrie and other such like Not that the Apostles for their maintenance in vnitie had neede that the effect of this Authoritie should be practised so euidently ouer them as ouer their sucessors because of the assistance that they had euery one in particular of the Spirit of God but to the end to propound to the Church a forme and a modell of the order that she should keepe after their decease 〈◊〉 as although there were noe neede of a Councell in the time of the Apostles to decide questions of Religion whereof euerie particular Apostle might be informed with all fullnes and certaintie neuerthelesse the holie Ghost would that they should vse this forme in the matter of legall things to leaue it for a patterne to the Church of the succeeding ages in like occurrences It was then the internall authoritie and essentiall to the Apostleship which consisted in the power of reuealing matters of faith with assurance of infallibilitie to make canonicall writings to institute the first mission of pastors remitt sinns to giue the holy Ghost and other the like that saint CYPRIAN spake of when he said that all the Apostles were indued with equall authoritie and not of the externall authoritie and accidentall to the Apostleship which was instituted to cause it to bee exercised in vnitie THIS appeares first because he touches before and after the originall of vnitie The Lord saith he buildes the Church vpon him being one and commaunds him to feede his sheepe And although he conferr like power after his Resurrection vnto all his Apostles and said to them As my Father sent me so send I you c yet to manifest vnitie he constitutes the Chaire one and disposeth by his authoritie that the originall thereof shall take beginning from one That certainly that Peter was the other Apostles were also indued with a like share of authoritie and power but the originall takes his beginning from one that the Church the Chaire may appeare to be one And a little after according to the antient manuscripts and the citations of Iuon and Gratian He that abandons the Chaire of Peter vpon which the Church is built can he bee confident of being in the Church And elsewhere Peter vpon whom one God hath built the Church and from whom he hath instituted the originall of vnitie This appeares secondly because he calls the Roman Church the Chaire of Peter and the principall Church from whēce Sacerdotall vnitie proceedes This appeares thirdly because saint HIEROME after he had repeated the same sentence of S. CYPRIAN in these words Thou wilt tell me that the Church is built vpon Peter though the like be done in an other place vpon others and that the fortitude of the Church doe leane equallie vpon all Adds but amongst twelue one is chosen to the end that a head being appointed the occasion of Schisme might bee taken awaie To teach vs that in all other things the Apostles were equall to saint PETER except in those that had regard to the preuention of Schisme and the preseruation of vnitie for the consideration whereof he had bene constituted head of the Apostles And finallie because Optatus Mileuitanus countryman to the one to witt saint CYPRIAN and timefellowe to the other to witt saint HIEROME cries out Thou canst not denie but that at Rome the Episcopall Chaire hath bene placed by the Apostle Peter c. in which the vnitie was obserued by all to the end that all the Apostles should not attribute to themselues to each one his Chaire but that he should be a sinner and Schismaticke who against the onelie Chaire should erect an other And a little after from whence is it then that you would vsurpe to yourselues the keyes of the Kingdome you that by your presumptions and audacious sacriledges combat against the Chaire of Peter To the eleuenth obiection which is that Eusebius ill translated by Russinus reportes from Clemens Alexandrinus that Peter James and Iohn established Iames brother to our Lord Bishop of the Apostles Wee answere that it is from a faultie Grammar a faultie-diuinitie For the greeke text saith of Hierusalem and not of the Apostles Peter saith he James and John contested not for glorie or opinion for greeke word signifies either but vnanimouslie constituted Iames brother of our Lord Bishop of Hierusalem that is to saie James and John did noe more stand vpon it to dispute for honor with S. PETER as they had formely done but vnited themselues with him to consecrate Iames Bishop of Ierusalem whereto the words of CHRISOSTOME agree about the iealousie that James and John formerly had of the Primacie of S. PETER Harken said hee how this same Iohn that latelie demaunded these thinges afterward wholie yeelds the primacie to Peter TO the twelfth obiection which is that S. CHRYSOSTOME vpō the proposition made by S. PETER in the first of the Acts to substitute an other Apostle in steede of Iudas writes See the modestie of James he had bene made the greeke saith he hath bene made Bishop of Hierusalem yet he saith not a word vpon this occasion Consider also the singular modestie of the other disciples how they yeelded the Throne to him and debated not more among themselues Wee answere that this obiection is Andabates fence For this concession of a Throne hath reference not to S. IAMES but to S. PETER who whilst he spake S. JAMES was soe modest as although he were so excellent that he was after made Bishop of Hierusalem he opened not his mouth and the other Apostles as James and Iohn Sōns of Zebedeus which had formerly bene iealous of S.
that in Christ there is but one Nature that is to saie confound and steepe the Essence of the humanitie in that of the diuinitie Doth not sainct AVGVSTINE crie out Those that beleeue not that Christ is come in the fleshe c. and that he is risen againe in the same Bodie wherein he hath bene crucified and buried although they should be in all the countries ouer the which the church is spread are not in the Church How can then the true Church haue cōmunion with this Sect and how can this Sect bee a member and a true part of the Church And how can it bee that of the Roman Church which holdes the contrarie doctrine and of this Sect there should be framed one common Bodie of the 〈◊〉 Church and to goe about to ioyne them together in one selfe-same Societie of a catholicke Church and more to add vnto them all other hereticall and schismaticall sects How is it anie other thing then to goe about to ioyne like Mezentius dead bodies with liuing bodies and to make of the spouse of Christ of the doue of Christ which is the only catholicke Church a monster and a Prodigie compounded of all the impious horrible and contradictorie heresies that haue rent the Coate and mysticall Bodie of Christ and to putt communion betweene Christ and Beliall and betweene light and darknes The Catholicke Church then is not a Masse and common Societie which containes in it the confusion of all Sects and of all the multitude of those that are called Christians but it is a particular Societie amongst all those Societies which beares the name of Catholicke or totall Church not because it containes in deed all the rest You will saith Optatus Mileuitanus to the Donatists bee alone all the whole 〈◊〉 are not so much as in the whole And saint AVGVSTINE Whosoeuer defends a part separate from the whole cannot vsurpe the title of a Catholick but because she containes them in right and holds habituallie the place of the whole in regard of them For the Church holds the place of the whole habituallie in regard of hereticall and schismaticall Sects and by her eminencie for as much as none of the other considered euerie one a part equalls her in number and in multitude Howbeit saith Saint AVGVSTINE that there are manie heresies of Christians which would be all called Catholickes There is neuerthelesse one Church if you cast your Eies vpon the extent of the whole world more aboundant in multitude and because vnto her alone belonges the prerogatiue of being successiuely spread ouer the whole earth in beginning from Hierusalem whereas none of the others hath the priuiledge but that the most part of them like that kinde of Ape which the Greekes call Callithrix cannot liue but in that climate and vnder the same influence wherein they were bredd And beyond this because all the rest hauing gone forth from her and she hauing as saint AVGVSTINE saith still remained in her stock and roote holdes the places and right of the whole in regard of all the rest noe more nor lesse then that part of the tree in which the life stood and roote rests holdes the place of the whole habituallie in regarde of those that haue bene separated from it They vnder st and not saith hee that amongst the Sects of the Christians there is one true and wholesome and in sort Germinall and radicall Christian societie from whence they haue separated themselues And finallie because all the rest are obliged if they will obtaine saluation to reinsert and reincorporate themselues into the bodie of the Catholick Church Holde most stedfastlie saith FVLGENTIVS that noe heretick or schismatik if he bee not reconciled to the Catholick Church before the end of his life can bee saued Otherwise if all the hereticall and schismaticall Societies which professe the name of Christ might iustlie enioy the title of the Church and were actuallie parts of the Church wherefore had the Fathers imployed these sentences against hereticks and schismaticks That 〈◊〉 of the Church there is noe saluation that out of the Church there may be had the faith and Sacraments and all thinges else Saluation excepted that who hath not the Church for his Mother cannot haue God for his Father that hee that communicates with the vniuersall Church is a Catholicke and he that communicates not therewith is an hereticke and Antichrist And howe could the excellent King himselfe haue protested That he beleeues without colour or fraude that the is one only Church in deede and in name Catholicke and vniuersall spread ouer the whole world out of which there can be 〈◊〉 Saluation hoped for and condemneth and detests those that heretofore or since haue seperated themselues either from the Faith of the Catholicke Church and are become heretickes as the Manichees or from her communion and are become Schismatickes as the Donatists if the Catholicke Church did comprehend all the Hereticks and all Schismaticks among which there was neuer anie more pernicious then those that destroy the human nature of Christ the only organ of our Saluation as the Egiptians and Ethiopians doe For whereas his maiestie auowes that the frame contexture of the Church is alreadie longe agoe dissolued dissassēbled betweene thē vs but adds in regard of externall forme S. IOHN in saying to vs If anie one bring thee not this doctrine saie not so much to him as well bee it with thee for whosoeuer shall say to him well be it with thee shall communicate in his wiched works forbidds vs all communion as well internall as externall with thē And elsewhere we haue alreadie shewed that when externall and Sacramentall communion is interdicted on both sides that is to saie where there is a reciprocall excommunication and an erection of Altar against Altar there cannot be vnitie either internall or externall If wee be in vnitie said S. AVGVSTINE what makes two Altars in the Cittie And Sainct CYPRIAN The Church which being Catholick is one maintaines herself whole and is ioyned together with the cement of Prelates adhering to one another But against these decisions of the scripture and Fathers there doe arise fowre obiections The first that the word Church doth grammaticallie signifie assemblie and consequently that all assemblies are Churches and so all Christian assemblies are Christian Churches Now this obiection is good in gramar and to interpret prophane authors but not in diuinitie nor to interpret christian Authors amongst whō the word Church hath noe more this vast and large Grammaticall signification as it had before For as when Hormodius and Aristogiton had freed the common wealth of Athens from the slauerie of the thirtie tyrants the Athenian Senate to consecrate their names and to make them reuerenced to Posteritie ordained that from thence forward they should neuer be imposed vpon or communicated to anie other Soe after our Lord had giuen to his
Church the priuiledge to conquer Hell and to deliuer mankinde from the tyrannie and oppression of the deuill that name is become consecrate and affected to her alone and it hath bene forbidden to communicate it anie more to anie other Societie either Paga hereticall or Schismaticall Let not the Conuenticles of hereticks saith the fowrth Councell of Carthage be called Churches but Mock-Councells And the verie lawe of the Emperors That the Donations made to hereticall Conuenticles which they presume rashlie to call Churches be applied to the reuerend Catholick Church THE second that S. PAVLE writing to the Galatians and to the Corinthians calls their Societies Churches and neuerthelesse the Galatians erred in faith imbracing the circumcision with the Ghospell and the Corinthians in not beleeuing the Resurrectiō but the snare here is manifest For there is great difference betweene the doctrine of a Church and the doctrine of anie particular person which is deuided from the doctrine of the same Church The doctrine of a church is that which is held by the bodie of that Church vnder the codition whereof either expresse or tacite she receiues men into her comunion not the doctrine which euery particular mā straying fro the commo doctrine of the same church holdes against the opinions of the Bodie Now it cannot be found that the Societie of the church of the Corinthians did euer hold that the dead did not rise againe nor that she had exacted that beleefe from those that entred into her communion but onelie that amongst the Corinthians there were some that did not beleeue the resurrection of the dead If Christ saith S. PAVLE be preached to haue risen againe from the dead how is it that there are some amongst you that saie there is no resurrection of the dead And that S. PAVLE made his remonstrance in common it was to hinder them from being seduced by them which spake this language Suffer not your selues said hee to bee seduced euill words corrupt good manners But not that he supposed they beleeued it contrarywise hee exhorts them to remaine firme in that which they beleeued And therefore my Bretheren said hee be stedfast and vnmoueable And for the Galatians soe farr off was it that that error which sainct PAVL cryed out against was the doctrine of the Church of the Galatians as it was the doctrine of those which rebelled against the faith of the Church of the Galatians which doctrine sainct PAVL disputes as if all the Galatians had imbraced it not that they did doe soe but to hinder them from doeing soe as he testifies to them in these wordes I haue this confidence of you in our Lord that you will haue noe other beleefe but that he that troubles you shall beare his iudgement whosoeuer hee be And againe If a man be found in anie crime doe you which are spirituall instruct him in the spiritt of mildness And that this is the true intent of sainct PAVL sainct AVGVSTINE teacheth vs when hee writes to Vincentius Rogatist Thou might'st saie euen as well that manie of the Churches of Galatia were not when the Apostle cryed out O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you And a while after The Canonicall scriptures haue bene wont to make their reprehcnsion in such sort as it may seeme the word is addressed to all and neuerthelesse it concernes but some fewe THE third is that sainct AVGVSTINE disputing against the Donatistes writes That the Church begetts all Christians by Baptisme from whence they would inferr that all those then that are baptized as well Catholiks as hereticks are in the Church but he bringes with it expressely this distinction either in her selfe or without her selfe to shewe that the Church begetts none but Catholicks onely in her selfe as Sara begate but Isaack onely in herselfe and that the rest the Church begets without her selfe For although Ismael were not begotten in the Bodie of Sara but in the bodie of Agar yet he was in a sort begotten by Sara for as much as he was begotten by her that belonged to Sara and was Saras nuptiall right to witt by the seede of Abraham Soe then the hereticks be begotten by Baptisme out of the Church neuerthelesse it is the Church that begetts them euen out of the Church for as much as the baptisme whereby they are begotten and which those that baptise them haue carryed out of the Church belonges to the Church and is of the coniugall rightes of the church and not heresie By which meanes when they returne to the church there is noe neede that the church should baptise them againe The Church saith hee begetts all Christians by baptisme be it in her-selfe that is to saie in her bowells or without her selfe that is to is to saie of her husbands seede be it in her selfe or in the bond-woeman Whereby soe farr is hee from teaching that heretickes are in the church as contrarywise he plainelie affirmes heereby that they are out of the church For the thing wherein catholicks and the Donatists were at agreement was that hereticks were out of the church and the thing where about they disagreed was that the Donatists held that Baptisme could not be out of the church and consequently that heretickes could not haue it And catholicks contrariwise maintained that Baptisme might to be out of the church and consequently that hereticks though they were out of the church left not to haue it The Church saith sainct AVGVSTINE compared to Paradise teacheth vs that Baptisme may be had without her but the Saluation of the beatitude none can receaue or haue out of her for the floods of the fountaine of Paradise rann abouudantlie forth of it And in the Booke following What is saith hee this doctrine that an heretick is pretended to haue noe baptisme because he hath noe Church And againe It is a wonder that there are some that saie that baptisme and the Church cannot be separated and deuided the one from the other And elsewhere But of the Church and against the Church they haue holden the sacraments of Christ and as in a ciuill warr they haue fought bearing our owne Banners against vs. From whence we may discouer the impertinencie of those that conclude that because hereticall Sects haue baptisme therefore they are Churches THE fowrth 〈◊〉 is that sainct HIEROME speaking in the person of the Church saith to Hilarie a Luciferian Deacon I am a harlott but yet I am thy mother I committ adultrie with Arius and I did soe before with Praxeas 〈◊〉 Cerinthus But it shal be heereafter manifested that this is a ridiculous equiuocation by which they attribute that to S. HIEROME as spoken in his owne sence which he spake according to the sence of his aduersary that is to saie according to the sence of the hereticke against whom he disputeth For to this that some add that a lying man leaues to be trulie a man although he be not a true
desire of communicating with her in case she would change the conditions of her communion cannot be called communion in vowe but discommunion otherwise there would be no heretickes that would not communicate with the Catholick Church for there is noe hereticke but would offer to communicate with her prouided she would change the clauses and conditions of her communion and would reforme her self to the conditions of his Sect. To communicate then in vowe with the Catholicke Church is not to be hindred from communicating reallie therewith by any obstacle proceeding from him that communicates therewith in vowe nor by anie condition that he reproues in the Catholicke Church nor by being vnited in communion with anie other Sect whose cōmunion is repugnāt to the doctrine of the Catholicke Church For whosoeuer cōmunicates with another sect wherewith the catholike Church communicates not can not be said to cōmunicate in vowe with the Catholicke Church And therefore S. AVGVSTINE speaking of some good people who sometimes are vniustlie excōmunicated cast sorth of the Church affirmes that they cease not to enioy the friute of the communion of the Church that is to saie that they are reputed to communicate with the Church in vow when there is on their parte noe obstacle from communicating actuallie therewith and that they make noe congregation of 〈◊〉 out of the Church Often times also saith hee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 permitts that honest people should be cast out of the Christian congregation by some ouer turbulent sedition of carnall men which 〈◊〉 to them done when they 〈◊〉 it patientlie for the peace of the Church and attempt no innouation of Schismes nor of 〈◊〉 they teache men with how true affection and with how great sinceritie and charitie God must be serued Of such men then the purpose is either to returne the tempest being ceased or if they be not permitted whether because the same tempest continues or whether least by their returne there may arise the like or one more cruell they yet preserue the will to serue euen those to whose motions and perturbations they haue giuen 〈◊〉 defending without anie congregation of Conuenticles to the death and helping by their testimonie the faith which they know to bee preached in the Catholicke Church Those the Father which sees them in secrett will crowne in secret From whence it appeares that those which cōmunicate with anie other Societie separate from the Church and hold anie other doctrine but that which is held in the Catholicke Church who are hindred from communicating with the Catholicke Church by obstacles proceeding on this part and by repugnancie to the conditions vnder the obligation whereof people are receiued into the Catholicke Church cannot bee said to communicate in vow with the Catholick Church Of the equiuocation of termes diminutiue imployed for negatiues CHAP. XVI The continuance of the Kings answere BOTH lesse exposed to the viewe of men and most subiect to 〈◊〉 THE REPLIE THE Poets faine that the Cyanian or Simplegade Islandes which are two Isles in the Mediteranean Sea doe sometimes meete together and ioyne themselues in such sorte as they seeme to bee but one therefore Homer calls them wandring and Pindar animated because they are described so moueable and vagabond The same may be said of the visible and inuisible Church of the Protestants to witt that sometimes they propoūd them as two Churches distinct separate sometimes they drawe them together and make them communicate together and compound of them one selfe-Bodie and Societie For when the oracles of the Prophetts Apostles are produced to thē touching the perpetuall puritie and integritie of the Church and that they are demaunded where all these promises haue bene fulfilled since soe manie and soe manie ages their 〈◊〉 refuge is to frame two Churches the one visible and the other inuisible and to saie that the puritie of Religion hath alwaies bene preserued in the inuisible which hath remained exempt from the contagion and from the abhominations of the visible but that it hath bene extinguished and abolished for a longe time in the visible And then as this ecclipse according to them is ceased and that they come to cast their eyes vpon anie companie which begins to hold visible that which they beleeue their inuisible Church inuisiblie to haue held then they constitute noe more but one Church and one communion of the visible Church and of the inuisible Church Now what other Protestants doe vnder the terme of inuisible Church his maiestie is brought to doe it vnder these wordes lesse exposed to mans viewe and more subiect to contestation by which noe other thing can be seriouslie vnderstood but that when Luther came into the world the true Church was wholie inuisible and not only that she was wholie inuisible but that she was wholie perished For if when Luther came into the world amongst manie Societies that contested for the title of the Church there had bene one lesse illustrious and eminent then she had antiently bene but yet visible which ought to be discerned from the rest by this essentiall marke that in the pointes wherein she differed from them she hath for her the worde of God Where did that Church reside Lett them giue it to vs that wee may giue ourselues to it But if she were inuisible and that before the coming of Luther there were a flocke vnknowne in the eyes of men but knowne to God which held the same doctrine that Luther brought besides that I will aske how the members of that Church could be saued not making anie profession of their Faith since our Lord saith who shall denie me before men I will denie him before God my Father And sainct PAVL Wee beleeue with our hartes to iustice but wee confesse with our mouthes to Saluation This Church then when Luther rose vp had no neede to receaue anie change in the pointes which are at this daie in controuersie nor to take anie instruction from Luther or his disciples but onelie to declare her self and with her Gyges Ring to make herselfe from inuisible visible And to cry out this is my beleefe this was the doctrine that I held before Luther spake Now this is soe farr from benig soe as Luther protests that none before him euer discouered the truth 〈◊〉 the doctrine that he hath declared And all those that came thither perswaded by the preaching of him and of his disciples and without euer bragging of the precedent possession of the same doctrine neither had this sufficed for the same Church must haue said Luther hath not yet passed forward enough hee is not yet arriued to the whole summe of my doctrine For wee know how much 〈◊〉 and Zuinglius haue added to the doctrine of Luther And so there not being when Luther came into the world a Societie neither visible nor inuisible which held Luthers doctrine and much lesse Caluins in the 〈◊〉 controuerted betweene them and vs it must necessarily followe
expresse wee must haue recourse thereto But wee said that he neuer thought neither in generall that all things belonging to Religion were treated off in scripture nor in particular that the contention betweene the Catholickes and the Donatists concerning Baptisme was of that quality And wee maintaine that for soe manie yeares wherein hee combated with them about this article when there was quēstion of Searching the cause to the bottome hee neuer produced one proofe out of Canonicall scripture Indeede he hath often alleadged places of Scripture to make some approaches to it and to beate downe certaine defences to solue by scripture the arguments that the Donatists brought out of Scripture to maintaine that the custome of the Church in the point contested was according to Scripture in as much as According signifies not against the Scripture to establie generall theses and preparatiues to proue the propositions that had some simpathy and affinitie with that which hee disputed As for example he doth indeede proue by scripture that what is sound and intire amongst heretickes must not be repeated againe when they returne to the Church but that Baptisme is sound and intire amongst them he doth noe were proue by Scripture He proues indeede by Scripture that there may be ecclesiasticall thinges out of the Church but that Baptisme is of that number he nether doth nor can proue by Scripture He proues indeede by scripture that it is against the commaun dement of God if heretickes haue receaued the Baptisme of Christ in their owne partie to rebaptise them for wee also reade that our Lord answered Sainct PETER Hee that is wholie washt neede washe but his feete But that heretickes receiue the Baptisme of Christ in their Sects and not 〈◊〉 polluted and prophane washing which is all the knott of the question he noe were proues by scripture For as hee notes elsewhere Peter of whom this is written had not bene baptised by heretickes he prooues indeede by scripture that they who are out of the interior and Spirituall vnitie of the Church as Judas and wicked Catholickes doe not for that leaue to conferr true Baptisme but that they who are neither inwardlie nor outwardlie in the Church who are out of the vnitie of the profession of Faith and of the communion of the Sacraments of the ecclesiasticall bodie can conferr it he proues noe where by scripture And in Summe the thinges which belong to the Solutions of arguments to probable and coniecturall preparatiues to shewes of possibilitie and non repugnancie to soften and dispose the spiritt of the Readers he doth indeede prooue by scripture but the impression of the last forme the assumption and hypothesis of the sillogisme the proofe of this precise and speciall point that Baptisme whereof Sainct IOHN cryes None may receaue anie thinge except it be giuen him from heauen That Sainct PETER saith to be administred into remission of Sinnes That Sainct PAVL calls the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the holie Ghost and whereof hee writes One faith and one Baptisme And againe All they that are baptized haue put on Christ That this Sacrament I saie may be conferred out of the Church which is the fullnes of Christ which is the sealed Fountaine which is the only dwelling of the holie Ghost which is shee alone that hath receiued the keyes and the authoritie to remitt sinnes that this can subsist amongst hereticks who haue neither faith nor guift from heauen nor the holie Ghost you can neuer finde that in soe maine yeares as saint AVGVSTINE the principall opposite and ouerthrowe of this heresie hath contested her he hath neuer manifested nor could hee nor he hath not pretended to proue by anie passage of Scripture but by the only vnwritten traditions of the Apostles and the generall practise and vniuersall attestation of the Church Wee must saith hee obserue in these thinges what the Church of God obserues The question now betweene you and vs is which of yours or ours is the Church of God And againe Wherefore although in truth there be noe example to be produced of this out of the 〈◊〉 Scripture yet we leaue not to maintaine euen in this case the truth of the Scriptures when we obserue what hath bene approued by all that Church that the authoritie of the canonicall Scripture recommendeth And in an other place This is neither openlie nor euidentlie read neither by you nor by me c. But if anie one indued with wisdome and recommended by the testimonie of our Lord Iesus Christ were to be found in the world and that hee had bene consulted by vs vpon this question wee ought noe waie to doubt to doe what he should tell vs for feare of being iudged repugnant not so much to him as to our Lord Jesus Christ by whose testimonie hee had bene recommended Now he giues testimonie to his Church And in the worke of Baptisme against the same Donatists The Apostles saith hee haue prescribed nothing in this matter but this custome ought to be beleeued to haue taken the originall there of from their tradition as there are manie thinges which the vniuersall Church obserues and which are therefore not without cause beleeued to haue bene commaunded by the Apostles although they be not written From whence the contrarie appeares to what his maiestie pretends to inferr from this passage to witt that the scripture only destitute of the vnwritten Apostolicke tradition cannot decidè all pointes of Faith nor refute all heresies For the point in agitation betweene the Catholicks and the Donatists concerning the truth realitie of the baptisme giuen by hereticks was a point of faith and wherein obstinate error would make an heresie The proofe of this is first that the doctrine of Baptisme importes so much to the faith as where there is noe true baptisme there is noe true Church S PAVL teaching vs that God clenseth his Church through the washing of water in the word Now there where the Church is destroyed there is destroyed this article of the Faith of the Creede I beleeue the bolie Catholick Church And secondlie that the vnitie of Baptisme belonges so to faith as S. PAVL saith there is one faith and one Baptisme And that the creede of Cōstātinople setts amōgst the Articles of the Confession of the Faith We 〈◊〉 one baptisme in the remission of sinns in such sort as if the Donatists erred in disanulling the baptisme of heretickes and rebaptizing them they destroyed the faith of the vnitie of baptisme and anathematised the character of Christ which had alreadie bene imprinted in the baptized by baptisme And if the Catholicks erre in approuing the baptisme of heretickes and in not rebaptisinge them when they came to them they sinned against the Faith of the necessitie of Baptisme for the constitution of the Church and consequently had noe Church And neuerthelesse neither could this point of Faith be proued nor
besides that antiquitie affirmes that the Apostles haue giuen manie thinges by tradition vnwritten to their disciples his maiestie himselfe testifies that he is farr frō their opinion that beleeue the vniuersall historie of the primitiue Church to be all contained in the sacred but onlie little Booke of the Actes of the Apostles Of the indefectibilitie of the Church CHAP. XXVII The continuance of the Kings answere THE King Confesseth that his Church hath separated her selfe in manie points from the faith and discipline that the Roman Bishop doth at this daie hold and defēd with might and mayne But the King and the English Church 〈◊〉 not interpret that to be a defection from the antient Catholicke saith but rather a returne to the antient Catholicke faith which in the Roman Church had bene admirablie deformed in manie kindes and a conuersion to Christ the only master of the Church THE REPLIE AND euen this confirmes our intention to know that there is at this daie noe Catholicke Church a thing directly against Gods promises or that this that wee haue is shee For there could be noe other Catholicke Church but her that was in the time of the first 〈◊〉 Councells Now shee if shee haue bene interrupted and she hath bene soe if ours which hath succeeded her haue bene wanting in faith and in vnion with Christ without which a Societie cannot be a Church the English Church which succeedes her not by an vninterrupted continuance cannot be the same Church For what Aristotle saith of Common-wealths may also be said of the Church to witt that when a common-wealth hath interrupted the successiue continuance of her being it is noe more one common wealth in number but an other common-wealth Soe if the antient Catholicke Church hath interrupted the successiue continuance of her beeing she is noe more one and not being one shee is noe more a Church for the Church is one or none And therefore the Fathers cry out that if the Church be once perished she can noe more be borne againe If in S. CYPRIANS time saith saint AVGVSTINE the Church perished from what Heauen it Donatus fallen from what Sea came hee forth what earth hath sprunge him vp For to saie that the English Church accounts not her separation from the faith and from the discipline of the Pope a defection from the antient Catholicke faith but a returne to the antient Catholicke faith and a conuersion to Christ is not the question viz. whether the English Church be conuerted to the antient Catholicke Faith For as it hath bene aboue shewed the name of catholicke is not a name of simple beleefe but of cōmunion By meanes whereof the English Church might haue all Faith euen to the remouing of mountaines yet if she communicated not with the Catholicke Church she could neither obtaine the title of Catholicke nor the reward of life eternall but should be schismaticall and excluded from saluation And therefore the state of the question in this which is presented is not whether the English Church be return'd to the true faith but whether the Church which possesseth at this daie the name of the Catholicke Church hath lost the being of the Catholicke Church which she cannot haue done if in things important to saluation and constructiue or destructiue to the being of a Church she haue not varied from that of the time of the fowre first Councells which wee on both sides confesse to haue bene the true Church that is to saie if she haue not taken awaie from the practise of the Church of those ages some thing necessarie to saluation and without which saluation cannot be obtained or if she haue not added to the practise of that Church something repugnant to saluation and with which life eternall cannot be obtained From whence it appeares that the office of the English Church in this question is to shew not that she hath returned to the ancient Faith which would alwaies exact the necessitie of a preceding dispute to witt that the Church from whence she went out hath diuerted her selfe from it for the proofe of the auersion should precede the proofe of reuersion but that the Church which wee at this daie intitle Catholicke hath soe diuerted her selfe from the faith of the Church of the time of the fowre first Councells which both they and wee hold to haue bene the true Church as she hath lost being and the iust title of a Church and that saluation can noe more be obtained in her And our office is contrariwise to maintaine that the Church which is at this daie differs not in anie thinge that can destroy saluation and make her loose the beeing and the title of a true Church from the ancient Catholicke Church and that all the points that our Aduersaries obiect against vs as such and for which they take occasion to separate themselues from vs vnder pretence that in our communion Saluation cannot be obtained haue bene holden by the ancient Church Of the sense wherein the Fathers haue intended that their doctrine had bene holden from the beginning CHAP. XXVIII The continuance of the Kinges answere AND therefore if anie one in consequence of this obseruation Will inferr from thence that the English Church because she reiects some of the decrees of the Roman Church is departed from the antient Catholicke Church the King Will not graunt him that till hee haue first proued by solid reasons that all things that the Roman teach haue bene approued from the beginning and ordained by the antient Catholicke Church And that noe man can doe this now nor in the time to come at the least that till nowe noe bodie hath done it is a thing é as certaine to the king and to the Prelats of the English Church as that the Sunn shines à t noone daies THE REPLIE NEITHER is it the question as I haue alreadie manie times said whether the English Church haue departed from the doctrine of the antient Catholicke Church but whether our Church be soe farr strayed from the doctrine of the antient Church as she can noe more be reputed one felfe same Church with the antient Church and that we can noe more communicate with her without losse of Saluation For if she be still the same Church and that amongst the conditions vnder the obligation whereof her communion is participated there be noe doctrine nor custome which is opposite to Saluation it is certaine that out of her Societie though one should haue Faith sufficient to remoue mountaines yet they can neither possessé the Saluation nor title of the Catholicke Church Neither is it the question to knowe whether all thinges that the Roman Church holdes and principallie those which she holdes to be necessary for Saluation haue bene holden by antiquitie and in this qualitie which would be a longe and thornie disputation because of the diuersitie of the acceptions of the word necessarie vnder the ambiguitie whereof there would alwaies remaine a thousand cauills and
beginning of these last diuisions either perswaded in some pointes by the innouators or ioyned to the partie of the innouators themselues haue attempted to seeke out some accommodation in matter of doctrine and of the vniuersall Religion of the Church to come to a reunion perswading themselues that as the Poet saith all men doe Sinn Without the walls of Troy and 〈◊〉 within It will bee alwaies easie for vs to shew that the desire of reconciliation rather then the knowledge of antiquitie and truth hath caused them to speake this language Of the agreement or disagreement of the English reformers with the Donatists CHAP. XXXI The continuance of the Kinges answere AND therefore the English Church feareth not that she can seeme in the iudgment of sincere arbitrators to haue done anie thinge like to the 〈◊〉 in this separation They out of a iollitie of harte and without anie cause abandoned the Catholicke 〈◊〉 approued by the consent of all nations whereof they could neither blame the faith nor the discipline THE REPLIE NEITHER was the Catholicke Church then actuallie approued by all nations for these prophecies In thy seede shall all nations be 〈◊〉 and This Ghospell must be preached ouer all the world shall not be fullie accōplisht as S. AVGVSTINE notes till the end of the world But it might well be said by 〈◊〉 in regard of other Christian sectes to be spread ouer all nations because the extent thereof was more eminont as it is nowe then that of anie other Christian Societie Neither was she approued by 〈◊〉 men of all the Christian nations For who knowes not how great the multitude of other heresies was when the sect of the Donatists sprange vp and how much greater then when the passages of the Fathers cited in the beginning of this obseruation were pronounced against them Of one side the Arrians possessed almost all the East of the other side the number of the Donatists was such in Africa as they held all at a time Councells of three hūdred Bishops yea euē in the time of S. AVGVSTINE there where whole natiōs that professed christianitie which did not acknowledg 〈◊〉 Catholick Church as that of the Gothes Vandalls And in breefe elghtie or an hundred other sects of Christiās which were then in the world diuided like Sāpsons Foxes by the heads but tyed together by the tayles did all agree to reproue the Catholicke Church And whereas the excellent king addeth that the Donatists could blame neither the faith nor discipline of the Catholicke Church if by blaming his maiestie intend to blame with reason that is not particular to the Donatistes for neuer anie Sect either Schismaticall or hereticall could blame with reason the faith or discipline of the Church But if by blaming he intend accusing and slandring her and beleeuing that they had iust occasion to doe soe who euer blamed the faith and discipline of the Catholicke Church more then the donatists who called themselues the Bishops of thē Catholicke truth and obiected to the Catholickes that they erred in faith in beleeuing that the holy Ghost resided out of the Church and in holding that Baptisme which cannot be administred but by the operation of the holy Ghost might be conferred out of the Church and in the Societie of hereticks who reprocht it to them thāt they violated these oracles One faith one Baptisme It is lawfull to be baptised if thou dost beleeue be yee euery one of you baptised in the remission of Sinnes Christ purgeth his Church by the washing of water in the word Who heares not the Church lett him be as a publican and as a heathen Baptisme is the washing of the regeneration of the Ghost The Church is the close Garden and the sealed Fountaine Who gathers not with Christ scatters And other such like alleadged by them in so great number as Vincentius Lyrinensis cryes out But perchance this new inuention that is to saie the heresie of the Donatists will want defences nay she was assisted with soe great strength of spirit with so many flouds of Eloquence with so great a number of protectors with so much likelyhood with so manie oracles of diuine lawe but expounded in a new and naughtie manner that it seemes to me that such a conspir aice could neuer haue benē destroyed if this same imbraced this same defended this same extolled profession of noueltie had not in the end left the cause of soe great a motion alone and abandoned And as for the discipline of the Church did not they blame it who taxed the discipline of the Church to haue receiued without expiation of preceding pennance those that in the persecution time had denied Christ and communicated in the sacrifices of the Pagans and consequently to haue bene polluted with the contagion of the Pagans who accused her for hauing receaued conuerted heretickes into her communion without giuing them true Baptisme which could not be giuen according to them but in the Church and consequently to haue polluted her communion with the contagion of vnbaptised or vncircumcised spirituallie and so to haue lost the being of the true Church which could not subsist without the true vse of the sacramēts Who made profession in manners of a conuersation of life much better ruled more reformed then that of the Catholickes from whence it is that S. AVGVSTINE forbidds the catholicks to reproche the Donatists with anie other thing but that they were not Catholickes Who called themselues the little flocke of the lord the two tribes of the Kingdome of Iuda who said we hauing nothing and possessing all things wee account our soule to he our riches and by our paines and our blood we purchase the treasure of heauen And in breese who supposed themselues to haue such reason for their separation as they reputed the Catholickes not to be worthie of so much as the name of Christians as hauing lost the true vse of Baptisme whereby men are made Christiās when they spake to them they said Caius Seius Caia Seia O man 〈◊〉 thou be a Christian O woeman wilt thou be a Christian And cryed to them Come o yee ignorant and wretched people who are commonlie called Catholickes And called the Chaire of Rome the Chaire of pestilence and called the Catholicke Church an Harlott and an Adulteresse and chose rather to suffer all kindes of persecutions and false Martirdomes then to communicate with her If I persecute saith Saint AVGVSTINE iustlie him that detracts from his neighbour why should I not persecute him that detracts from the Church of Christ and saith this is not shee but this is an hatlott And againe If the punishment and not the cause made Martirdome heauen should be full of your martirs And against whom contrariwise the Catholickes in matter of doctrine had not one passage of scripture for them but only the Apostolicall vnwritten tradition as S. AVGVSTINE
himselfe confest in these wordes The Apostles saith hee in truth haue prescribed nothing of this but this Custome ought to be beleeued to haue taken originall from their tradition as there are manie things that the vniuersall Church obserueth which art with good reason beleeued to haue bene giuen by the Apostles although they be not in writing Was this to pretend to seperate themselues from the Church out of iollitie of hart and without anie cause and neither to blame the faith nor discipline of the Church Of the authoritie of the rest of the Christian people which denied to the Church the title of Catholick Chapt. XXXII The continuance of the Kings Answere THE English haue separated themselues by a cruell necessitie from that Church that infinite Christian people that I may speake as modestly as I possiblie can doe not 〈◊〉 to be the true vniuersall Church THE REPLIE THat the English Church hath bene iustly forced by a cruell necessitie to depart from the Catholicke Church wherein alone the stocke of vnitie doth reside as our very aduersaries dare not saie that the bodie of Catholicke vnitie was to be found in anie other Societie when the English nation deuided themselues from her saint AGVSTINE will not avow who saith that there is no iust necessitie to deuide vnitie And lesse S. DIONISIVS of Alexandria who was much antienter then saint AVGVSTINE who writes Thou oughtest rather to suffer all kinds of death then to deuide the Church of Christ. For whereas his maiestie adds that an infinite number of Christian people doe not grant her to bee the true vniuersall Catholicke Church if these people can shew that there was an other to whom this title belonged when Luther came into the world wee will confesse her not to be soe but if it be not in their power not only to shewe but to faine an other then this must be shee For the Catholicke Church is perpetuall and their contradiction that are departed from her can not raise anie doubt of her title more then the contradiction of the antient Arrians and other hereticks could cause the antient Catholicke Church to loose this title For in that only that they haue departed from her and cannot shew that she hath departed from anie of all the other Societies which are in being they testifie that she only is the true Catholicke Church that is to saie the true stocke and originall roote of the Church from whom all others by their Schismes and diuisions are departed and gone forth Of the testimonies of our writers CHAP. XXXIII The continuance of the King answere AND that maniē of your writers themselues haue a longe while agoe ingeniousliē confessed to haue much varied from the antient in the dogm'as and in the forme of discipline and to haue patched and tacked together manie new thinges to the old manie euill thinges to the good THE REPLIE THOSE writers haue bene such as I haue aboue described as Erasmus Cassander and others who partly in presumption and partlie in ignorance of antiquitie and partlie to gratifie those Princes in whose fauour they haue taken penn in hand haue written thinges which would confound their faces if they were to maintaine them before anie that were versed of purpose in the studie of Antiquitie Of the begging of the principle contained in this hypothesis CHAPT XXXIV The continuance of the Kings answere WHICH is alreadie so knowne to all the world as it is noe longer in thé power of anie to denie it or to be ignorant of it THE REPLIE THIS is to take for a principle of disputation that which is the subiect of the controuersie for not only all Catholickes but also all the Christian Societies in the world more antient then the authors of this diuision and who haue noe interest neither for the one part nor for the other and if they had anie would haue it rather against the Church from which they are separated then for her doe maintaine that all the principall pointes that the pretended reformers calumniate in the Roman Church are of the true faith and of the true discipline of the antient Catholicke Church Of the temporall causes of the separation of England CHAP. XXXV The Continuance of the Kings Answere ADD to this that the Church of England had found the yoake of the Roman Bondage so hard vpō her for some ages past being incrediblie tormented frō daie to day with new vexations oppressions and vnheard of exactions as 〈◊〉 only cause before iust iudges may seeme to be able to free her from suspition of Schisme and as S. AVGVSTINE saith speaking of the Donatists wicked dismembring For sur ely the English haue not separarated themselues for iollitie of heart from brotherly charitie as the 〈◊〉 did THE REPLIE IF it may please your maiestie to call againe to memorie the historie of the Schisme of England you will finde that all those thinges which were alleadged for pretence of the Churches diuision haue noe waie bene the cause thereof contrariwlse that the English Church was more flourishing when this separation happened and the King of England and his clergie more affectionate to maintaine the Faith and communion of the Roman Church then euer they had bene before as appeares by the Booke that he made in defence of the Church against Luther the originall whereof he sent to Rome with these verses such as they are addressed to Pape Leo written with his owne hand Harrie the English King at once doth recommend This worke Leo to thee which publick proofe shall lend To shew which way his faith and friendship both doe bend But that it was the amorous passion of that King who to satisfie the appetite which transported him would cause a iust mariage to be broken and marrie her that he loued his first lawfull wife and by whom he had issue being yet liuing to which the Pope conceaued that he could not with a safe conscience giue consent This was the true and onely cause of all this Iliad of euills From hence gusht all these teares Of the comparison of the English Church with the Iudaicall CHAP. XXXVI The continuance of the Kings answere NOT for feare of the 〈◊〉 which was eminent but did not yet presse them like the tenn tribes of the people of the Iewes but after hauing suffered manie ages after the 〈◊〉 of vnspeakable greeuances they haue finallie shaken from their shoulders that insupportable burthen which neither their strength was longer able to beare nor would their conscience permitt them to doe it THE REPLIE HERE I might content myself with saying that what was ordained and approued by God in the separation of the ten tribes of Israell from the Kingdome of Iuda was the only di uision of State and not that of Religion For God as saint AVGFSTINE saith commaunds neither Schisme nor heresie And by consequence what pretence soeuer is added of present and not future euill there can be noe consequence
of Catholique to the Donatists because of the separation of Communion and yet graunted it to those from whom the Donatists had taken their doctrine because of the vnitie of Communion Cyprians people saith S. Pacian hath neuer bene called otherwise then Catholicke And Sainct Vincentius Lerinensis O admirable change the authors of one selfe same opinion are adiudged Catholickes and the Sectaries heretickes And S. Augustin Dissention and diuision saith hee makes you heretickes and peace and vnitìe makes Catholiques And that in the fowrth Coūcell of Carthage this article was inserted into the triall of the promotion of Bishops whither they beleeue that out of the Catholicke Church none cā be saued And that in the Epistle of the Councell of Cyrtha it was repeated by S. Augustin who was Secretarie thereto in theses wordes Whosoeuer is separated from this Catholicke Church how praise-worthie soeuer he conceaue his life to bee by this onlie crime that he is separated from the vnitie of Christ he shall not haue life but the wrath of God shall remaine vpon him And after by Fulgentius in these wordes Beleeue firmelie and doubt it not at all that no hereticke or Schismaticke baptized in the name of the Father of the sonne and of the only Ghost if he be not reconciled to the Catholicke Church what almes soeuer he may giue yea though he should shedde his blood for the name of Christ can in any sort be saued That I say was against or principallie against the Donatists And neuerthelesse the Donatists agreed in all the doctrine of the Creede and of the Scripture with the Catholicks Your are with vs saith S. Augustine in Baptisme in the Creede and in all the other Sacraments of our Lord but in the spirit of vnitie and in the bond of peace and finallie in the Catholicke Church you are not with vs And yet they differed only in one pointe of vnwritten tradition which as S. Augustin himself who principallie triumphes ouer this heresie confessed could not be demonstrated by Scripture This saith hee in the Booke of the vnitie of the Church neither thou nor I doe euidentlie reade And in the first Booke against Cresconius though for this there be noe example in the scriptures yet euen in this wee follow the truth of the Scriptures when wee doe that which hath pleased the vniuersall Church which the authoritie of the same scriptures doth recommend And in the secōd Booke of Baptisme against the Donatists And ourselues saith hee durst affirme no such thing but that we are upheld by the vnanimous authoritie of the Church And in the fift The Apostles haue in this prescribed vs nothing but this custome which was opposite to Cyprian ought to be beleeued to haue taken it's originall from their tradition as manie other things which the vniuersall Church obserues and for this cause are with good right beleeued to haue bene commaunded by the Apostles although they haue not bene vvritten From whence it appeares that to obtaine the name of Catholicke it sufficeth not to hold or rather to suppose to hold the same beleefe that the Fathers held vnlesse they communicate with the same Catholicke Church wherewith the Fathers did communicate and which by succession of persons and as wee pretend of doctrine is deriued downe to vs and if she haue lost anie thing of her extent in our hemisphere she recouers as much and more daily in the other hemisphere that these prophecies may be fulfilled In thy seede shall all the nations of the earth be blessed In the last daies the mountaine of the howse of our Lord shall bee vpon the topp of mountaines and shall be exalted aboue all the highe hills and all nations shall come vp to her This Ghospell of the Kingdome must be preached ouer all the world and then the end shall come and such like in right whereof the Church as saith S. Augustin hath obtained the title and the marke of Catholicke The SECOND obseruation is vpon the restriction in Cases necessarie to saluation For besides pointes necessarie to saluation there are two other degrees of thinges the one sort profitable to saluation as it is according to the opinion of your owne ministers to sell all our goods and giue it to the poore to fast in affliction to appease the wrath of God to pray our Bretheren in the faith to praie to God for vs and the other sort lawfull and not repugnant to saluation as to fly from persecution to liue by the Altar since we serue at the Altar to putt awaie our wiues for adulterie and other the like for I alleadge these for examples and not for instances Now it is needefull to be cōformable to the integritie of the beleefe of the Fathers to beleeue all thinges that they haue beleeued according to that degree wherein they haue beleeued them to witt to beleeue for thinges necessarie to saluation those thinges that they haue esteemed to be necessarie for saluation and for thinges profitable to saluation those things that they haue esteemed to be profitable to saluation and for things lawfull and not repugnant to saluation those thinges that they haue holden to be lawfull and not repugnant to saluation and not vnder colour that the two last kindes are not things necessarie to saluation but only profitable or lawfull to condemne them and to separate ourselues for their occasion from the Church which then had thē in practise and still practiseth thē to this day The third obseruation is vpon the ambiguitie of the word necessarie to saluation which because of the diuers kindes of necessitie which haue place in matters of religion is capable of diuers sences for there is an absolute necessitie and a conditionall necessitie a necessitie of meanes and a necessitie of precept a necessitie of speciall beleefe and a necessitie of generall beleefe a necessitie of act and a necessitie of approbatio I call an absolute necessitie not simplie but by vertue of Gods institution that which receiues no excuse of impossibilitie nor anie exception of place time or persons as in regard of those that are of age capable of knowledge the beleefe in Christ mediator betweene God and man for neither the circumstance of being in a place where wee cannot be instructed in that article nor the preuention of time in dying before wee are informed thereof nor the condition of being an ignorant person vnlearned dull not apt to comprehend a sheepe and not a shepheard can warrant those from damnation that beleeue it not actually for as much as who beleeues not in the onlie Sonn of Gods is alreadie iudged And in regard of little Children baptisme only according to our doctrine may supplie the defect of Faith in Christ in their behalfe agreeing with that sentence of S. Augustin Doe not beleeue doe not saie doe not teache if thou wilt be a Catholick that little children which are 〈◊〉 by death from being
the Catholick Church with the state of the ancient Church wee should looke to take such a time wherein not only our competitors might agree with vs that the Church of the Fathers was still the true Church the true Spouse of Christ she in whom resided the lawfull authoritie to iudge questions in Religion but also those monuments doe sufficiently remaine to vs to manifest throughly all her doctrines and all her obseruations Which can neuer be better chosen for both partes then in the time wherein the fower first Councells were holden that is to saie from the Emperour Constantine who was the first Emperour that was publicklie a Christian to the Emperour Marcian And it seemes to me that his Maiestie hath yielded to this and also more liberallie in some of his writinges hauing extended this space to the first fiue ages For besides that the deliuerie from the yoake and subiection of the Pagans then gaue the Church meanes to speake lowder and to haue more communication with all her partes situated in so manie different regions of the earth and to flourish in a greater multitude of learned and excellent writers which is the cause that there remaine to vs without comparison more monuments of those ages wherein to view the entire forme of the ancient Christian Religion then of the former ages Besides this I saie our aduersaries cannot denie but that church which nursed vp the first Christian Emperours which rooted out the Temples and seruices of the false Gods which exercised the Soue raigne Tribunall of Spirituall authoritie vpon earth by the condemnation which she denounced vpon the fowre most famous heresies in the fowre first generall Councells which were the fowre first Parliaments and Estates generall of Christs Kingdome must bee she of whom it hath bene foretold that Kinges should be her nursing Fathers that the nations should walke in her light and Kings in the brightnes of her rising that euery engine sett vp against her should be destroyed that she should iudge euery tongue that should resist her in iudgment that God had sett watchmen vpon her walles which neuer should be silent by daie or night that the gates of hell should not preuaile against her that whosoeuer should not obey her should be holden for a heathen and a publican and in breefe that she was the Pillar and foundation of truth Shall we loubt Sayth S. Augustin who liued in the betweene-times of these first fowre Councells to sett our-selnes in the lapp of that Church which by succession of Bishops from the seate of the Apostles euen to the confession of all mankinde the hereticks in vaine barking about her and being condemned partlie by the iudgment of the people themselues part lie by the grauitie of Councells and partlie by the maiestie of Miracles hath obtained full authoritie to whom not to giue the preheminence must be an act of extreame impietie or of a headie arrogancie And againe The Catholick Church fighting against all heresies may be opposed but she cannot be ouerthrowne all heresies are come forth from her as vnprofitable branches cutt From their vine but she remains in her roote in her vine in her charitie Let that then bee holden for trulie anciēt and marked with the character of the primitiue Church which shall be found to haue bene beleeued and practised vniuersallie by the Fathers which liued in the time of the first fowre Councells and principallie when it shall appeare to vs that the things testified to vs by the authors of those ages were not holden by them for doctrines or obseruations sprung vp in their time but for doctrines or obseruations which had bene perpetuallie practised in the Church from the age of the Apostles although perchance there can not be found for euerie of them in particular so expresse testimonies in the former ages as in those of the first fowre Councells because of the fewe writinges which the persecution of those times haue suffered to come to our handes For it sufficeth to assure vs of the perpetuall vse of such thinges that the Fathers of the first fower Councells who had more knowledge of the ages before them then wee can haue doe testifie to vs to haue beleeued and practised them not as thinges instituted in their age but as thinges that haue alwaies had place in the Church and had come to them by a succession of obseruation from the Apostles downe to their time and that there is not to be found in former authors anie testimony against them but contrariwise in all places where there is occasion to mention them agreable and fauorable testimonies that is to saie in breefe that is to be holden ancient by vs which those whom we account ancient haue themselues holden to be ancient The fifth obseruation is vpon the consent of the beleefe of the Fathers which some contentious spirits would haue to be when one selfesame thing is actuallie found in the writings of all the Fathers which is an vniust and impertinent pretence For to haue a doctrine or obseruation to bee trulie holden by the Fathers for vniuersall and Catholicke it is not necessarie it should be in the writinges of all the Fathers who haue not all written of the same matters and of whose writinges all haue not come to our handes but there are two other lawfull waies to secure our selues of them The one is when the most eminent Fathers of euery country agree in the affirmation of the same doctrine or practise and that none of the others that haue bene without note of dissention from the Church haue opposed it As when S. Augustin hath cited against the Pelagians the testimonie of eleuen eminent Fathers all consenting in one and the same doctrine he supposeth hee hath sufficientlie produced against them the Common beleefe of the Catholicke Church and when the Councell of Ephesus had produced tenn Fathers of former ages they conceiued they had sufficiently expressed the consent of the former Church against Nestorius his doctrine Because none saith Vincentius Lerinensis doubtetb but that those tenn did trulie hold the same with al their other bretheren The other is when the Fathers speake not as Doctors but as witnesses of the Customes and practise of the Curch of their times and doe not saie I beleeue this should be soe holden or so vnderstood or so obserued but that the Church from one end of the earth to the other beleeues it so or obserues it soe For then we noe longer hold what they saie for a thing said by them but as a thing said by the whole Church and principallie when it is in pointes whereof they could not be ignorant either because of the Condition of the thinges as in matters of fact or because of the sufficiencie of the persons and in this case wee argue noe more vpon their wordes probablie as wee doe when they speake in the qualitie of particular Doctors but we argue therevpon demonstratiuelie That then
shall remaine trulie vniuersall and Catholicke that the most eminent Fathers of the times of the fowre first Councells haue taught in seuerall regions of the earth and against which none except some persons noted for dissention from the Church hath resisted or that the Fathers of those ages doe testifie to haue bin beleeued and practised by the whole Church in their times And that shall remaine trulie antient and Apostolicke that the Fathers of those ages doe testisie to haue bin obserued by the whole Church not as a thing sprung vp in their time but as a thing deriued downe to them either from the immemorial succession of former ages or from the expresse tradition of the Apostles For these thinges hauing bin holden vniuersallie by the Catholicke Church in the time of the first fowre Councells they could haue noe other originall but from an vniuersall authoritie for as much as in the Catholicke Church which did then so strictlie obserue the rule mentioned by Saint Vincentius Lirinensis of opposing vniuersalitie to particularitie a doctrine or obseruation from a particular beginning could not be slipt in ād spread into an vniforme and vniuersall beleefe ād Custome through all partes of the Earth and principallie soe as the Fathers that were next after these vniuersall innouations could not perceiue it but it must needes be that all that was then vniuersallie obserued in the Church must haue come from an vniuersall beginning Now there were in those ages according to the beleefe of your ministers but two beginnings of vniuersall authoritie in the Church to wit either the Apostles or the generall Councells for they Will not yeild that the Sea Apostolicke had then anie vniversall authoritie And therefore whatsoeuer was vniuersallie and vniformly obserued in the Church by all the Prouinces of the Earth in the time of the first fowre generall Councells and had not begun in that time but had bin before practised that is to saie before there had bin anie generall Councell in the Church must necessarilie haue bin from the tradition of the Apostles following these rules of S. Augustin Those thinges said hee which we obserue not by writeing but by tradition which are kept ouer all the extent of the earth must be vnderstood to haue bin retained from the appointemēt and institution either of the Apostles themselues or from the generall Councells whose authoritie is most wholsome in the Church And elsewhere what custome soeuer men looking vpward can not discerne to haue bene instituted by those of later times is rightlie beleeued to haue bin instituted by the Apostles and there are manie such which would bee too longe to repeate And againe If anie one herein seeke for diuine authoritie that which the vniuersall Church obserues and which hath not bin instituted by the Councells but hath alwaies bin held is iustly beleeued not to haue bin giuen by tradition but by Apostolicall authoritie c. Which Rules of S. Augustin if they haue place in those things which the Fathers of the time of the first fowre Councells testifie to haue bin obserued iu the Church before the fowre first Councells how much more ought they to haue it in those things that the same Fathers affirme not in termes equiualent but expresslie to haue bin instituted and ordained by the Apostles These fiue obseruations then made vpon the theses I will saie to passe vnto the hypothesis that your ministers to whose societie his Maiestie outwardlie adheres are so farr from holding all the same thinges that the Fathers haue beleeued and practised as necessarie to Saluation that in the only Synaxis or Church Lirurgie which is the Seale of Ecclesiasticall Communion the fowre principall thinges for which they haue seperated themselues from vs which are the reall presence of the Bodie of Christ in the Sacrament the Oblation of the Sacrifice of the Eucharist prayer and oblation for the dead and the prayers of the Saints the Fathers haue all vniuersallie and vniformely beleeued holden and practised as things necessarie but in different kindes of necessitie vnto saluation By which meanes if your ministers had bene in the time of the Fathers as 〈◊〉 haue for these thinges renounced our Seruice and our Communion so must they for the same causes haue renounced the Seruice and Communion of the Fathers and Consequently the title and Societie of the Catholicke Church I haue said the reall presence of the Bodie of Christ in the Sacrament not but that I could haue gone farther and said the Substantiall transition of the Sacrament into the Bodie of Christ which wee call transubstantiation but I haue been content to saie the reall presence because it is not precisely and particularlie vpon the transubstantiation but vpon the reall presence of the Bodie of Christ in the Sacrament that we ground the importance and necessitie of this Sacrament to Saluation to witt the Communion and Substantiall vnion to the Bodie of Christ which S. Cyrill calls the knott of our vnion with god Nor is it particularly and precisely vpon transubstantiation but vpon the reall presence that the two inconueniences depend for which your ministers in this article seperate themselues from our Lyturgies which are one the adoration of the Bodie of Christ in the Sacramēt which they will haue to be only sought and adored in heauen and the other the pretended distraction of the vnitie of the Bodie of Christ by existence in manie places in the Sacrament Neither haue I spocken of the prerogatiue of the Roman Church which all the Fathers haue holden for the center and roote of Episcopall vnitie and of Ecclesiasticall Communion because I will beleeue you are sufficientlie read in antiquitie to knowe that the first Fathers Councells and Christian Emperors haue perpetuallie granted therevnto the primacie and supereminent ouersight ouer all religions and ecclesiasticall things which is all that the church exacts as a point of Faith from their confession that enter into her communion to the end to discerne her societie from that of the Greekes and other complices of their Sect wich haue deuided themselues for some ages from the visible and ministeriall head of the Church These fowre points then which are the principall Springes of our dissention and which being agreed vpon it would be easie for vs to agree vpon the rest I saye that the Fathers of the time of the fowre first Councels haue all holden and practised as necessary to Saluation though with diuers kindes of necessitie The reall Presence of the Bodie of Christ and the oblation of the sacrifice they haue holden as necessary with necessitie of meanes for the Bodie of the Church absolutely and for euery particuler person conditionnallie Prayer and oblation for the dead they haue holden as necessarie by necessitie of meanes for those for whom it is done that soe their deliuerace from temporall paines which remaine after this life for sinne cōmitted after baptisme ād for which thy haue not done such penances
as it hath pleased God whollie to accept may be hastned by the prayers and sacrifices of the Church and necessarie with necessitie of precept and to exercise christian charitie and pietie both to the Church that offers them and to the ministers and Pastors by whom she offers them The prayer of the Saintes they haue holden as necessarie to the bodie of the Church and to the ministers by whō they are made with necessitie of precept to exercise the commerce betweene the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant and to particular persons out of the offices of the Church and in their priuate deuotions not neeessary with necessitie of act but only profitable that they may the more easilie obtaine pardon for their sinnes by the concourse of their prayers who are alreadie in the per fect and assured possession of the grace of God but necessary to them and all others with nessitie of approbation that is to saie they are obliged not to contradict them and not to condemne the custome and doctrine of the Church in that article and not to separate themselues from her vpon this occasion vnder paine of falling into Anathema and to be holden for heretickes All which things I will not now stand to proue least I make a Booke of a letter but I doe oblige myselfe to iustifie them when soeuer you shall desire it and to make it appeare both by the vnanimous consent of the Fathers that haue flourished in the time of the first fowre councel's and by the formes which remaine to vs in their writings of the ancient Church Seruice that all the Catholicke Church of their times hath vninersallie and vniformely beleeued holden and practised them throughout all the regions and prouinces of the earth I oblige myself I saie to make it appeare to you that she hath holden these fower thinges in the same sence and in the same forme and for the same end as our Lyturgies are and not as obseruations that then sprung vp but as things that the same Fathers testified to haue bene beleeued and practised from all antiquitie and to be deriued to them by an vninterrupted continuance from the tradition or approbation of the Apostles Soe as they cannot renounce the Communion of our Church vnder pretence of anie of these fowre points without renoūcing the Communion of the ancient catholick Church and consequently the inheritance of saluation and that by authors and testimonies all able to abide the touch as you know I am curious to make vse of noe other and with cleare and ingenuous answeres to all obiections collected out of the Fathers of the same ages or of ages before them A thing that will be the more easie for me because the proofes that wee will avouch out of the Fathers are proofes which containe in expresse termes the affirmatiue of what wee saie whereas our aduersaries cannot finde one only passage which containes in expresse terme the negatiue but only in termes from whence they pretend to inferr it by consequence and which at a iust tribunall would not merit so much as to be heard For who knowes not that it is too great an iniustice to alleadge consequences from passages and euen those euill interpreted and misvnderstood and in whose illation there is alwaies some paralogisme hidd against the expresse wordes and the liuely and actuall practise of the same fathers from whom they are collected and that may be good to take the Fathers for Aduersaries and to accuse them for want of Sence or memorie but not to take them for Iudges and to submitt themselues to the obseruation of what they haue beleeued and practised To this I will also adde whensoeuer you shall desire it the present Conformitie of all the other Patriarchall Churches in these fowre cases with the Roman and of all those which haue remained euen to this daie vnder their iurisdiction to witt those that are vnder the Patriarchall iurisdiction of the Patriarck of Constantinople as the Grecians Russians Muscouites and Asians of Asia-minor separate from vs neere eight hundred yeares Of those that are vnde the Greeke Patriarch of Antioch as the Syrians Mesopotamians and others yet more Easterne nations for those that obey the Syrian Patriarch as the Maronites perseuer in the Communion of the Roman Church of those that relye vpon the Egiptian Patriarch of Alexandria as the Egiptians whom they call Cophtites and the Ethiopians which haue bene diuided both from vs and from the greekes more then eleuen hundred yeares euen from the time of one of the fowre first Councells to witt of the Councell of Chalcedon For all these hold these fower pointes yea with more iealousie if it be possible then the latine Churches and particularlie the article of the Sacrament where of they doe not only beleeue transubstantiation which the greekes at this daie call in the very self same sence and phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but also exercise the adoration with externall gesture more full of humilitie then ours A manifest proof that these fowre pointes were vniformely holden and obserued by the ancient Cahtholicke Church since all the partes whereinto the ancient Catholicke Church is dismēbred doe retaine them vniformly to this daie notwithstanding soe manie distances separations and diuisions through all the regions of the Earth These are in generall the causes that haue moued me to vse that exception in my letter that you obiect to me in yours whereof if the Excellent King of great Brittaine had as well leasure to heare the particularities as he hath capacitie to comprehend them I assure myselfe he would not thinke it strange that I should desire in him the title of Catholique but he would desire it himsefe and put himsefe in state to obtaine it and to cause it to be obtained by those that are depriued of it that is to saie he would add yet to is other Crownes that of making himsefe a mediator of the peace of the Church which would be to him a more triumphant glorie then that of all the Alexanders and of all the Caesars and which would gaine to his Isle noe lesse an honor in hauing bredd him thē to haue bredd great Constantine the first deliuerer and pacifier of the christian Church I praie god that he will one daie Crowne all the other graces wherewith he hath indowed him with that and heare to this effect the prayers of his late Queene Mother whose teares like those of S. Augustins Mother doe not onlie intercede for him in heauen but her blood also And likewise keepe you Sr. in his safe and holie protection From Paris 15. Iulij 1611. AN ADMONITION TO THE READER This letter to Mons. Casaubon occasiond the whole discourse ensuing For the letter being shewed to his most excellent maiesty our Souuerain Lord king Iames of glorious memory it pleased him not only to read it but to take paines to answer it as he thought most conuenient To which answer of his maiesty the Cardinall replieth
his father who wil not haue the Church for his mother That Christ is not with those that assemble out of the Church That although they should be slaine for the confession of Christ this spot is not washt awaie euen with bloud That he cannot be à martyr that is not in the Church That out of the Catholicke Church one may haue Faith Sacraments Orders and in summe euery thing except saluation That he that communicates not with the Catholicke Church is an hereticke and Antichrist That noe hereticke nor Schismaticke that is not restored to the Catholicke church before the end of this life can be saued if they had belieued that all the Sectes that professe the name of Christ both heretickes and Schismatickes had bene in the Catholicke Church THIRDLY by the word Catholicke Church they did not intend a Church interrupted and intermitting as that of the protestantes which is borne and dyes by fittes like the Tyndarides but such a Church as these wordes of the prophet describe As in in the daies of Noe I swore that I would no more bring the waters of the floud vpon the earth soe haue I sworne I will no more be angrie against thee Thou shalt noe more be called the forsaken I will place my sanctification in the midst of them for euer I will noe more doe to the rest of this people as in tymes past And these of our Lord The gates of hell shall not preuaile against her I am with you vntill the consummation of all ages The Spirit of truth shall dwell with you eternally Let the one growe with the other vntill the haruest that is to saie a Church permanent eternall and not capeable of ruine Wee acknowledge said that great ALEXANDER Bishop of Alexandria one only Catholicke and Apostolicke Church which as she can neuer bee rooted out though all the world should vndertake to oppose her soe she outhrowes disperseth all the wicked assaulth of heretickes And Sainct ATHANASIVS The Church is inuincible though hell it selfe should arise with all the power thereof against her And THEOPHILVS God in all tymes grants one selfe grace to his Church to witt that that Bodie should be kept intire and that the venome of the Doctrine of heretickes shall haue noe power ouer her And Sainct AVGVSTINE in the comentary vpon the 47. psalme God saith he hath founded her eternallie let not heretickes deuided into factions boaste let them not lift themselues vp that saie heere is Christ and there is Christ. And againe But perchance this Cittie that hath possessed the whole world shall be one daie ruined neuer may it happen God hath founded her eternallie If then God hath founded her eternally wherefore fearest thou that her foundation should fall And in the Comentary vpon the 101. psalme But his Church which hath bene of all nations is noe more she is perished soe saie they that are not in her O impudent voice And a little after this voice soe abominable soe detestable soe full of presumption and falshood which is sustained with noe truth illuminated with noe wisedome seasoned with noe salt vaine rash headie pernicious the holy Ghost hath foreseene it And in the treatie of the Christian combate They saie the whole Church is perished and the relickes remaine only on Donatus his side O prowde and impious tongue And in the worke of Baptisme against the Donatists If the Church vere perished in Cyprians tyme from whence did Donatus appeare from what earth is he sprung vp from what Sea is he come forth from what heauen is he fallen And in the third booke against Parmenian How can they vaunt to haue anie Church if she haue ceased from those tymes And in the explication of the Creede to the Cathecumenistes The Catholicke Church is she that sighting with all heresies may be opposed but cannot be ouerthrowne All heresies are come out from her as vnprofitable branches cut from the vine but she staies in her vine in her roote in her Charitie And the gates of hell shall neuer ouerthrow her Behold without colour or fraud what the Father 's vnderstood by the word Catholicke Church to witt a Church visible and eminent aboue all other Christian societies A Church pure from all contagion of schisme and heresie A Church perpetuall and which had neuer suffered nor neuer could suffer anie interruption neither in her faith in her Communion nor in her visibilitie This Church if the most excellent King haue let hin giue her to vs if not lett him receiue her from vs Aut det as saint AVSTINE said to the Donatists aut accipiat Of the proceeding of the Father for the preseruation of the vnitie of the Church CHAP. III. The pursute of the Kinges Answere THe Kinge commendes also the prudence of the religious Bishops who in the 4 Councell of Carthage as it is heere truly obserued added to the forme of the examination of Bishops a particular interrogatory vpon this point And his Maiestie is not ignorant that the Fathers of the ancient Church haue oftentymes done manie thinges by forme of accommodation for the good of peace and to the end to preuent the breach of vnitie and mutuall Communion whose example he protesteth he is 〈◊〉 to imitate and to followe the steps of those that procure peace euen to the Altars that is to saie as much as in the present estate of the Church the integritie of his Conscience will permitt him For he will giue place to none either in extreame griefe he suffers for the separation of the members of the Churdh which the good Fathers haue soe much detested or in his dosire to communicate if it were possible for him with all the members of the mysticall bodie of our Lord Iesus-Christ THE REPLIE IT was not by way of prudence as prudence signifies a human vertue that the Fathers pronounced this decree that out of the Catholicke Church saluation could not bee obtained but by way of decision and as an article of faith For this cause saith sainct AVGVSTINE vpon the Creede The Conclusion of this Sacrament is determined by the holie Church for as much as if anie one be found on t of it he shall be excluded from the number of the Children And he shall not haue God for his Father that will not haue the Church for his Mother and it shall serue him for nothing to haue belieued or done soe manie and soe manie good workes without the true end or butte of the souer aigne good And sainct FVLGENTIVS in his booke of the Faith Holde this firmely and doubt it not that euery hereticke and Schismaticke haptized in the name of the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost if before the end of this life he be not revnited to the Church Catholicke whatsoeuer almes he distribute yea though he should shed his bloud for the name
the Donatists doe heale from the wound of infidelity and Idolatrie they hurt them more greevously with the wound of Schisme And for a proofe of his saying he alleadgeth the example of Core Dathan and Abiron and other Schismatickes of the old Testament who were all sent quicke into hell and punished more greevouslie then the Idolators Who doubtes saith he but that was committed most criminally that was punist most seuerelie And therefore as the ancient heretickes haue alwaies against the vnitie of the Church pressed and Cryed out the Faith the Faith soe the ancient Fathers against the diuisions of heretickes and Schismatickes haue alwaies pressed and cried out the Church the Church He shall iudge saith S. IRENEVS those that make Schismes in the Church ambitions men not hauinge the honor of God before theire eyes but rather embracing theire owne interests then the vnitie of the Church and for little and light causes deuidinge the great and glorious bodie of Christ. And a little after For in the end they cannot make anie soe important a reformation as the euill of the Schisme is pernicious And sainct DENIS of Alexandria writinge to Nouatian Certainly all thinges should rather be indured then to consent to the diuision of the Church of God those martyrs beinge noe lesse glorious that expose themselues to hinder the dismembringe of the Church then those that suffer rather then they will offer Sacrifice to Idolls And sainct CYPRIAN Doe those that assemble themselues without the Church of Christ suppose Christ to bee with them in theire assemblie Allthough they should be dragged to death for the confession of the name of Christ yet this spott is not washt awaie from them with bloude the inexpiable and inexcusable crime of discord is not purged vith death t selfe he cannot be a martyr that is not in the Church And sainct PACIAN Although saith he Nouatian hath bene put to death yet hath he not bene crowned Wherefore not because it was out of the peace of the Church out of concord out of this mother whereof whosever will be a martyr must be a portion And Saint CHRYSOSTOME nothinge stirrs saith he so sharpely the wrath of god as the diuision of the Church so as when wee haue done all other kindes of good workes wee shall deserue no lesse cruell punishment deuidinge the vnitie and fulnes of the Church then those that pierced and deuided his owne blessed bodie And S. AVGVSTINE Out of the Catholike Church all thinges may bee had except Saluation etc. They may haue and preach the faith in the name of the Father the sonnne and the holy ghost but they can noe where haue Saluation but in the Catholicke Church And a little after I saie more if a man out of the Church suffer the enemie of Christ I saie not his Catholike brother that desires his Saluation but the enemie of Christ if he suffer him without and that he being out of the Church the enemie of Christ saie to him offer incense to Idolles adore my Gods and for not adoring them he be put to death by the enemie of Christ he may well shedd his bloud but he cannot obtaine the Crowne And in an other place Being constituted out of the Church and separated from the heape of vnitie and the bond of Charitie thou shouldest be punisht with eternall death though thou shouldest haue bene burnt aliue for the name of Christ. Aud againe I goe not to worship the diuells I serue not stockes and stones but I am of Donatus his partie What will it serue thy turne that the Father is not offended since he will reuenge the Mothers 〈◊〉 And in his worke against the Aduersarie of the law and the Prophets If he heare not the Church let him be to thee as a heathen or publican which is more grieuons then if he were stricken by the sword consumed with flames exposed to wilde beastes And in the booke of Pastors The diuell doth not saie let them be Donatistes and not Arrians be they heere be they there they appartaine to him that gathers without any distinction Let him saith the diuell adore Idolls he his mine let him remaine in Iewish superstition he is myne let him abandon vnitie and enter into such or such an heresie he is myne And in the profession to be made by the Donatistes returninge to the Church Wee thought it had not imported in which part we had held the Faith of Christ but thanckes be to our Lord that hath taken vs in from the diuision and taught vs that it belonhgs to God who is one to be serued in vnitie And FVLGENTIVS the second Sainct AVGVSTINE and the Phenix borne a new out of his ashes Out of this Church neither doth the title of Christian warrant anie bodie nether doth baptisme conferr Saluation nor can they offer a Sacrifice acceptable to God nor receiue remission of Sinnes nor obtaine life eternall For there is one only Church one only doue one only well beloued one only sponse And againe Beleeue this stedfastly without doubting that euery hereticke or schismaticke baptized in the name of the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost if before the end of his life he be not reconciled to the Catholikke Church what almes soe euer he geueth yea though he should shed his bloud for the name of Christ he cannot obtaine saluation Faire but fearefull lessons for those who thinke that in what communion soeuer they be so they beleeue in Christ they may be saued Of the marks of the Church CHAPTER V. The continuance of the Kinges answere AMongst the proper markes of the Church the King confesseth that that is greatly necessary but his Majesty is not of opinion that it is the true forme of the Church and as the philosopher termes it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that wherein it consisteth THE REPLIE Neither is it necessarie that a condition for to be the marke of anie thing should be the essentiall forme of the thing for then we should haue noe marke of anie substantiall thing For we know not the essentiall forme of anie one of them except only of man and for more then three thousand yeares the true essentiall forme of man was vnknowen witnes the ieast of Diogenes vpon the definition of a man giuen by Plato And therefore Saint BASILE reprocheth it to Eunomius who had boasted that he knew the essence of the Father that he knew not soe much as the essence of the ground whereupon he walked euery daie and that what comes to the knowledge of men are but accidents Neither on the other side is it necessary that the essentiall forme of a thing should be the marke of the same thing Nay contrarywise to be the essentiall forme of anie thing and to be the marke of the same thing are commonly repugnant and incompatible conditions For the marke doth demonstrate the thing to the sense and the
essential forme doth shewe it to the vnderstandinge the marke designes the thing in the existence the essentiall forme designes it in the offence The marke teacheth where the thinge is and the essentiall forme teacheth what it is the marke is sooner knowne then the thing and contrarywise the thing is sooner knowne then the essentiall forme of the thing for the thing defined as Aristotle saith preceedes in knowledge the definition that is to saie the whole is knowne before the resolution of the thing into his essentiall partes And therefore to saie that the eminencie of the Communion is not the essentiall forme of the Church hinders it not from being a marke of the Church and a marke likewise not only greatlie necessary but absolutely necessary She hath saith Saint AVGVSTINE this most certaine marke that shee cannot be hidden shee is then knowne to all nations the Sect of Donatus is vnknowne to many nations therefore that is not shee Againe on the other side to saie that the doctrine is the essentiall forme or belongeth to the essentiall forme of the Church makes not that 〈◊〉 it should be a marke of the Church for a marke must haue three conditions The first is to be more knowne then the thing since it is it that makes the thing knowne the second that the thing neuer bee found without it And the third as we haue said elswhere that it be neuer found either alone if it be a totall marke or with its fellowes if it be a marke in part without the thing Now the truth of doctrine in all instances thereof is much harder to be knowne then the societie of the Church I said in all instances thereof because to know the right of the cause of the Church in one particular question with one or other Sect sufficeth not to knowe the Church by the doctrin but it is necessary to know the truth of the doctrine of the Church in all her particularities contested by heresies as well past as present before we can 〈◊〉 by vertue of the examination of the doctrine where the true Church is For there needes no more but that shee goe wrong in anie one controuersie to make her fall from the title of the true Church Now who is he that can vaunt to know the integritie of the doctrine of the Church in all her instances and to haue made the examination against euery one of the other societies by infallible and insoluble proofes to all theire answeres and by inuincible and irrefutable answeres to all theire obiections And if anie could doe this who knowes not that the simple people and ignorant and rusticall persons of whose Saluation neuerthelesse God hath the same care that he hath of the learned and to whom the markes of the Church should be equally common since they are equallie obliged to obay her are not capable of this examination For the rest of the people saith Saint AVGVSTINE it is not the quicknes of vnderstandinge but the simplicity of beliefe that secures them And by consequent who seeth not that they must haue other markes to know the Church by then that of her doctrine to wit markes proportionable to theire capacitie that is to saie externall and sensible markes as 〈◊〉 antiquitie perpetuitie and such like euen as children and ignorant persons must haue externall and sensible markes and other then the essentiall forme of a man to know and discerne a man from other liuing creatures By what manifest marke cries out Saint AVGVSTINE speaking in the person of a Catechumenist by what demonstration shall I that am yet little and weake and cannot discerne the pure truth from the manie errors know the Church of Christ to which I am constrained to belieue by the euent of soe manie things heeretofore presaged for these causes saith he the Prophet goes forward and as it were collecting methodically the motions of that spiritt saith that she is foretolde to be that Church which is eminent and apparent to all And a little after and also because of the motions of these little ones who may be seduced and diuerted by men from the brightnes of of the Church our Lord goes before them saying The Citie built vpon the Mountaine cannot be hidd And indeede how is it that Esaie should prophecy that In the last daies the Mountaine of the Lord should be on the topp of all the Mountaines and that all the hills should flow to her and that the Nations should come and saie let vs goe vp into the Mountaine of our Lord and into the howse of the God of Iacob and he will 〈◊〉 vs his waies if the only marke to know assuredly the howse of the Lord that is to saie the Church were the especiall knowledge of his waies And how should Sainct PAVL say God hath placed in the Church Apostles Prophetes Euangelists Pastors and Doctors c. to the end we should be noe more little children blowne about with euery winde of doctrine if he had not giuen vs other markes to know the Church then the puritie of doctrine Besides suppose the doctrine to be the marke of the Church it must be either the doctrine contested betweene the parties that pretend the title of the Church or the doctrine not contested now it cannot be the doctrine not contested because both sides haue it And lesse yet the doctrine contested for while the truth of the doctrine is contested it remaines vndecided of which side it is and the certaine and assured decision cannot be made but by the Church by which meanes it is necessary that duringe the cōtestation of the doctrine there must be other markes to know the Church by which being acknowledged the question of the doctrine may be decided And you cannot saie that the contested doctrine can be decided by Scripture only for besides that there are matters of Religion which are not anie waie touched by the Scripture ās that whereof Saint AVGVST speaketh The Apostles in truth haue prescribed nothing of that but this custome which was opposite to Cyprian ought to be belieued to haue taken its originall from theire tradition Saint IEROME protests that the Scriptures consist not in the reading but in the vnderstanding and that by a wrong interpretation the Ghospell of God may be made the Ghospell of a man nay which is worse the Ghospell of the diuell Wherefore to iudge surely of the doctrine by the Scripture it is necessarie to be first assured of the interpretation of the Scripture and that by an infallible meanes For all the conclusions of Faith which are not found in termes expresse and incapable of ambiguitie in the Scripture but are drawne by interpretations to make them conclusions of Faith and decisions infallible and equall to the authoritie of theire principles must be drawne from it by an infallible meane Now there are but three waies whereby we may pretend to be assured that a conclusion drawne from
that where of God saith by the mouth of Esay Thou shalt iudge euerie tongue that shall resist thee in iudgement And by his owne The gates of Hell thall not preuaile against her And againe Let him that heares not the Church be vnto thee as a heathen or a publica And by that of S. PAVL God hath placed in the Church Apostles Prophets Pastors and Doctors c. that we may noe longer 〈◊〉 little Children waueringe with euerie winde of doctrine And againe The Church is the Pillar and foundation of trutb doth not RVFFINVS write that Saint Basile and Saint GREGORY Nazianzene tooke the interpretacion of the Scriptures not from theire owne sense but from the tradition of the Fathers And doth not Saint AVGVSTINE crie out within the wombe of the Church is the dwellinge of truth And againe All the fulnesse of authoritie and all the light of reason for reparation of human kinde consistes in the only healthfull name of Christ and in his only Church And doth not VINCENTIVS Lirinensis say because all vnderstand not the holie Scripture by reason of the depth thereof in one sense But one interprets it in one fashion an other in an other so that it seemes there may be as many seuer all opinions drawne out of it as there are seuer all men for Nouatiā expounds it one waie Photinus another waie Sabellius an other Donatus an other Arrius Eunomius Macedonius an other Apollinaris Priscillianus an other Iouinian Pelagius Caelestius and finally Nestorius an other for these causes it is verie necessarie to auoid the perill as so manie great Labyrinths of so diuers errors that the line of the propheticall and apostolicall interpretation should be drawne according to the rule of the Ecclesiasticall and Catholique sense And háue not the ministers of Geneua themselues noted this in the margent of theire last Bibles The doctrine of Faith requires a domesticall and particular instruction namely in those that are ordained to deliuer it into the Church least they should take it in theire owne particular sense vnder colour of the Scripture And this is it that was anciently called TRADITION in the Church Now if the certainty of the interpretation of the Church ought to be také according to the exposition of the very Geneua Bibles not from the sense of euery particular man but from the traditiō of the Church how can it be that the truth of the vnder standinge of the Scripture should be the only certaine and infallible marke to discerne and know the Church But against these proofes the aduersaries of the Church propound obiections which we had best cōfute before we proceede to an other article The first obiection is that Saint AVSTINE in his writinge against the Manichees after he hath made a longe list of the markes of the Church addes this Among you where no such thing is found as holdes and tyes me there soundes only a promisse of the truth which if it be soe manifestly demonstrated as none can call it in question ought to be preferred before all those things whereby I am retained in the Catholicke Church And from hence they conclude that S. AVGVSTINE held not the other markes for necessary and infallible but onelie for probable and coniecturall since he offered to depart from them if they could demonstrate to him vndoubtedly that the truth was of the other side To this I make two answeres one that the truth whereof Saint AVGVSTINE speakes makes nothing for theire purpose that alleage it For Saint AVGVSTINE speaketh not there of the truth demonstrated by scripture which is that whereof the Protestants vaunt but of the truth demonstrated by the light of naturalle reason which was that that the Manichees promised as it appeares by what he said three lines belowe I would not beleeue the Ghospell if the authoritie of the Catholicke Church did not moue me to it And a little after And therefore if thou must yeeld me a reason set aside the Ghospell if thou wilt tye thy-self to the Ghospell I will tye myself to those by whom I haue beleued in the Ghospell And againe The authoritie of the Catholiks being destroyed I could not beleeue the Ghospell because it is by them that I haue beleeued it And in an other place That which remaines for you is to saie that you will produce areason soe certaine and inuincible as the truth thereof being manifested by it selfe it shall haue noe neede of the authoritie of anie witnes nor of the veritie vertue you must reade of anie miracle The other answer is that Saint AVGVSTINE did not propound this in the forme of a possible condition for contrarywise he disputes of deliberate purpose against the Manichees that the naturall light of reason could not be the waie to come to the knowlege of the truth of saluation but in the forme of an impossible condition and which consequentlie diminisheth nothing from the efficacie of the markes of the Church as it appeares by what he addes immediatelie after But if it be only promised and not exhibited none shall separate me from this Faith which by so manie and so great bondes so calls he the externall and sensible markes of the Church bindes my Spirit to the Christian Religion The second obiection that the aduersaries of the Church oppose is that the externall and sensible marks that the Fathers assigne to the Church as antiquitie perpetuitie eminencie and succession belong not to the Church only for as much as manie other things may claime antiquitie as the Sunne the Sea the mountaines and manie other succession as the Springs the brookes the riuers and manie other vniuersalitie as the aire the earth and the other Elements and euen amougst Religions that of the pagans hath heeretofore had eminencie and vniuersalitie and that of the Iewes hath still antiquitie and perpetuitie Certainlie a childish and ridiculous obiection for first the marks that God hath giuen to his Church haue not bene imposed vpon her to distinguish her frō all kindes of things but to distinguish her only from those things that are contained though equiuocally vnder the same next kinde and may be supposed and taken for Churches that is to saie from other Christian societies to witt from hereticall and Schismaticall Sects which challenge and pretend by false markes the title of the Church no more then the markes that Golodmithes giuen to golde that it will not euaporate in the fire and that it will resist the coupelle and the water of separatiō are not giue it to discerne it from all kinde of bodies for there are other bodies to which these conditions arc common as glasse and diamondes but to discerne it from false gold that is from metalls made and sophisticated that may be supposed and made to passe for golde And this alsoe Saint AVGVSTINE esteemes the Church would insinuate in the Canticle where after she hath demaunded of her
Scripture haue bounded her to a little number of Moores of the Cesarian prouince then we must goe to the Rogatists if to a little compaine of Tripolitans Byzacenians and prouincialls the Maximianists haue gotten her If onlie to those of the East we must seeke her amongst the Arrians Macedonians Eunomians and others if there be others to be found for who can number the particular heresies of euerie nation But if by the diuine and most certaine testimonie of the holie Scriptures she is designed to be in all Nations whatsoeuer is alleadged to vs or from whence soeuer it is alleadged by those that saie heere is Christ there is Christ if we be sheepe lett vs rather heare the voice of our shepheard who saith beleeue them not for these are not tobe found in manie places where she is and she who is euerie where is also wheresoeuer they are And againe My sheepe heare my voice and follow me You haue heard his most manifest voice recommendinge his future Church not only in the psalmes and in the prophets but by his owne mouth alsoe And a little after This is no obscure question and wherein they may deceiue you of whom our Lord hath foretolde that they should come and saie lo heere is Christ behold he is tbere lo he is in the desert that is to saie out of the frequeneie of the multitud beholde him heere in the secret places that is in hidden traditions and darke Doctrines You heare that the Church must be spread ouer all and grow to the haruest you haue the citie of which himselfe that built it said the Cittie built vpon a hill cannot be hidden it is then she that is not in anie single parte of the earth but is well knowne euery where Beholde the markes of the Church that saint AVGVSTINE affirmes to be designed by the voice of the pastor and soe cleerely designed as they neede noe interpreter to the end that the Church beinge knowne by them we may after by the Church be informed of the sense of the other voices of the pastor which neede interpretarion Produce to vs said he something for your cause which cannot be interpreted more truly against you nay which at all needes no interpreter as these wordes In thy seede all nations shall be blest neede no interpreter As these wordes It behoued that Christ should suffer and rise againe the third daie and that in his name there should be preached penāce and remissiō of Sinnes through all nations beginning from Ierusalem haue no neede of an interpreter c. As these wordes And this Ghospell of the kingdome shall be preached through the whole world in testimonie to all people and then the end shall come haue noe neede of an interpreter As these wordes Let both grow together till haruest haue noe neede of an interpretor For when they had neede of an interpretor our Lord himselfe ineerpreted them for euen as when a testator ordaines some one to interpret the difficulties of his testament and that the name o this interpreter being common and equiuocall to manie the testator assignes marks in his 〈◊〉 to make him knowne the clause whereby he designes the markes to know him must be so cleere as they shall need no interpreter since it is by them that he should be knowne to whom it is necessary they should addresse themselues to make them vnderstand those thing that shall neede interpretation So God hauing promised in his testament to giue the interpretatiō of his testamēt to the Church the wordes whereby the markes of the Church are there designed must be so cleere that they shall neede noe interpreter so that by them the Church beinge knowne we may after by the Church learne the vnderstanding of those things that neede an interpreter And therefore the order and course of S. AVGVSTINE was to verifie by places of Scripture which had not need of an interpretor the externall and sensible markes ' of the Church by the externall and sensible markes of the Church the Church itselfe and by the Church the vnderstanding of those places of Scripture which had need of interpretation n This point said he we reade it not plainely and euidētly neither I nor thou but if there were beere some mā indued with wisdome to whom our Lord himselfe had giuen testimonie and that he were consulted with by vs about this question I beleeve we would nothinge doubte to doe as he would 〈◊〉 vs for feare of beinge iudged repugnant not soe much to him as to our Lord Iesus Christ by whom he was recommended Now he giues testimony to his Church And elswhere Whosoeuer then feareth to be deceaued through the obscuritie of this questiō lett him cōsult with that Church which the holy Scripture bath designed without 〈◊〉 ambiguitie But this was when hee disputed with the Donatists who agreed with the Catholicks concerninge the truth of the Scripture for when he disputed with the Manichees or with the Infidells which denied or questioned it then he changed his method and did not proue to them the Church by the Scripture but the Scripture by the Church and to that end he vsed two kindes of proceedinge The one was to put it for a ground that if god haue care of the Saluation of man as without this principle all discourse of Religion is in vaine there can be noe doubt but he hath appointed a meanes howe they might attaine it and that this meanes not cōsisting in thinges knowne by naturall reason for as much as thē naturallie all men would agree in it it is thē of necessity that it should consist in authority and then this ground benig laid to verifie that amonge all the Societies of Religion that bee in the world the onely Catholicke Church hath the true markes of authority The other proceedinge was to propose to them the accomplishment of profecies touching the extirpation of Idolles and the ruyne of the false Gods of the paganes and touchinge the abolishment of the Iewish Ceremonies and the dispersinge of the people of the Iewes and touchinge the comeinge of a newe lawe maker and of a newe Religion and to represent to them that these prophecies were written before the birth of our Lord and kept by the enemies of the Church and were couched in termes soe cleere that it was a wonder that the Iewes which kept them were not persuaded by them but that within the same bookes it was foretolde that theyshould be stricken with blindnes and that in seeinge they should not see And by this meanes to proue to them that these were sacred and inspired from God and then this obtained to shewe them in the same prophecies the markes whereby amongst soe manie Societies which should vsurpe the title of Christian Societies shee was to be discerned to whow appertained the right of beinge the true Common wealth of Christ. And she beinge finally acknowledged to addresse them to
corrected or explained it both in the conference that he had with them in Carthage and in his retractations as there remaines noe more colour to abuse it For Saint AVGVSTINE in his first disputatiōs against the Donatistes finding himself pressed with the arguments that they brought to proue that baptisme could not be giuen by heretickes because heretickes were out of the Church aduised himselfe and particularlie in the worke of the seuen bookes of baptisme from whence this distinction of people knowne in the eyes of God and in the eyes of men is principally taken to helpe himselfe against them not with the formall definition of the Church by which onely infidells and hereticall and Schismaticall Christians are excluded but by the finall definition of the Church that is to saie by the definition of the Church considered according to the finall and future number of those of whom she should be constituted in the other world from which wicked Catholickes are also excluded to the end to inferr from thence against the Donatistes that as euill Catholickes though they were out of the Church defined according to her future permanent and principall being did truly baptise soe heretickes and Schismatickes though they were out of the Church defined according to her present and passant being yet might administer true baptisme And for a foundation of his definition he made vse of Epithetes of Salomon and S. Paul hauing noe spott nor wrinkle and 〈◊〉 her such like elogies of the Church which appertained either to the state of the other world or to the puritie of doctrine But after that the Donatistes abused both this definition and the testimonies from whence it was taken to inferre from thence that the Catholicke Communion which was mingled with wicked men was not the Church he changed his proceding in the conference that he had with them at Carthage and declared that this definition belonged not to the Church considered according to the present and formall being which she hath in this world but accordinge to the future and finall being which she shall haue in the next The Catholicks saith he made it appeare by many testimonies and examples of holy Scriptures that wicked mē are now so mingled in the Church that although Ecclesiasticall discipline ought to be watchfull to correct them both in words and by excommunications and degradations neuerthelesse not onely being hidden they are vnknowne but euen being knowne they are often tollerated for the vnitie of peace and shewed that the testimonies of scriptures did in that manner well agree together to witt that the places whereby the Church is represented with the medly of the wicked signisie the present tyme of the Church as she is in this world and the places whereby she is designed to haue no wicked persons mixt with her signifie the future state of the Church such as she shall eternally haue in the world to come And a little after so the Catholickes refuted the calumny of the two Churches declaring expressely and instantly what they intended to saie to witt that they had not pretended that that Church which is now mingled with wicked men should be an other Church then the kingdome of God that shall haue no wicked pesons in it but that the same one and holy Church is now in one sorte and shall be then in an other now she is compounded of good and wicked men and thē she shall not be soe And in the worke of the Cittie of God made by him after the Conference of Carthage there where the one and other kinde are found that is good euill there the Church is as 〈◊〉 is at this present but where the one only shal be there is the Church such as she is to 〈◊〉 when there shal be no wicked men in her And in the answere to the second Epistle of Gaudentias written also after the said Conference You see that the Church according to Cyprian is called Catholicke by the name of all and it is not without manifestly-wicked men And in the second booke of his retractations I wrote said he 7. bookes of Baptisme against the Donatistes attempting to defend themselues by the authority of the most happie Bishop and Martyr 〈◊〉 in all those bookes where I haue described the Church without wrinckle or spott it must not be takē of the Church as shee in her present being but as being 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉 such whē she shall appeare in glorie And againe In my writings to an vnknowē Donatist speaking of the multitude of cockle I said by which are vnderstood all heretickes there wantes a Coniunction which is necessary for I should haue said by which are also vnderstood all beretickes c. whereas I spake as if there were onely cockle out of the Church and none in the Church And neuerthelesse the Church is the Kingdome of Christ from whence the Angells in the haruest tyme will plucke vp all Scandalls which caused the Martyr Cyprian to saie Although we see tares in the Church yet ought neither our faith nor our charitie to be so diuerted as because we see tares in the Church we should therefore seperate our-selues from the Church Which sense we haue also followed els where and principallie against the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 present in the act of the Conference From whence it appeares how much it is to abuse Saint AVGVSTINES wordes against the sense whereto himselfe intendes they should be either corrected or explained to transferr as the protestantes doe that that he spake of the Church considered according to her future and finall being in the other world and applie it to the Church considered accordinge to her actuall being heere and to inferr from thence that she may consist in this world formally in the onely mumber of the predestinate and remaine hidden and visible To the fift obiection which is that Saint Ierom writes vpon the Epistle to the Ephesians The Church is glorions wthout spott or wrinkle or anie such like thing he then which is a sinner and soyled with anie spott cannot be called of the Church of Christ neither subiect to Christ We answere that he meanes not to saie that wicked men are not of the Church which is the body of Christ which fightes heere below but that they are not of the number of the Church which is the bodie of Christ which shall raigne in heauen For soe farr of is it from Saint IEROM to belieue that the promise to be without wrinkle or spott of manners appertaines to the Church considered as she is in this world that he cryes out quite contrarilie against the Pelagians That what the Apostle writes that our Lord will make his Church holy and without spott or wrinkle shall be accomplished at the end of the world and in the consummation of vertues And againe True perfection and without soyle is reserued for heauen when the bridegrome shall say to the bride Thou art wholie saire my
the Scriptures in that they were with me we both celebrated the martyrs feastes in that they were with me we both frequented the solemnity of Easter in that they were with me but they were not with me in all things in schisme they were deuided from me in heresie they were deuided from me in manie things with me and in few deuided from me but because of these few thinges wherein they were deuided from me the manie things wherein they were with me profited them nothing And so it is vnprofitable to those societies whereof his Maiestie speaketh to obtaine the name of Churches that they be vnited in most pointes necessary for saluation if they be not vnited in all and particularly in the knowledge and acknowledgement of the true Catholicke Church and consequently not supposing her to be visible The fowrth battaile is that the vniuersall distinction of things necessarie or not necessarie to saluation cannot be assuredly made by the iudgement of euery particular person but it dependes of the iudgement of the Church For there is noe Sect but belieues that those thinges which they hold are only necessary to saluation and that all which others hold ouer and aboue are either pernicious or superfluous Pelagius and Celestius saith Saint AVG. desiring fraudulentlie to auoid the hatefull name of heresies affirme that the question of originall sinne may be disputed without danger of saith And Saint AVGVSTINE contrarywise cryes out that it belongs to the foundation of faith We may said he indure a disputant which 〈◊〉 in other questions not yet diligentlie examined not yet established by the whole authoritie of the Church theire errors may be borne with but it must not passe soe farr as to attempt to shake the foundation of the Church And Luther speakinge of the controuersies of the Reall presence vnder both kindes and of the orall manducation of the bodie of Christ in the Eucharist Zuinglius and Oecolampadius said he alleadge that the question betweene them and vs is a light matter and a little difference not worthie that by occasion thereof Christian charitie should be broken But LVTHER contrarywise cryes out Eternallie cursed be this concord and this charitie because it doth not only miserablie rend the Church but after the diuells fashion mockes her And againe I take to witnesse God and man that I agree not with the Sacramentaries that is with the Zuinglians and Caluinists nor euer did agree with them nor by the helpe of God 〈◊〉 will agree with them and that I desire my handes may be cleane from the bloud of all those whose soules by this poyson they haue turned from Christ and slaine And a little after We will auoid them we will resist and condemne them to the last breath as Idolators corrupters of Gods word blasphemers and seducers So that before we can be assured of entire vnitie in things necessarie to saluation we must heare the iudgement of the Church and consequently suppose her to be visible The fifth battaile is that it is not euough for the constitution of a Church that the persons where of it consistes should be vnited among themselues in matters necessarie to saluation if they be not also deuided from the externall communion of all other societies which holde things repugnant to saluation For it sufficeth that we be vnited with anie Congregation which belieueth anie one point repugnant to Saluation although we be well perswaded in all the rest nay and euen in that alsoe to be excluded from the participation of the Church for whosoeuer communicates in matter of Religion with anie Societie is answerable for all the pointes vnder the obligation whereof he receiueth men to his communion From whence it ariseth that a multitude of men of diuers externall communions such as his Maiestie hereafter propounds as a number of men of the Roman Communion a number of men of the Greeke communion and a number of men of the Ethiopian Communion cannot constitute a common Church for as much as though they are vnited in the beliefe of most things necessarie to saluation neuerthelesse there are things repugnant to saluation wherein some of them are vnited by the bond of theire externall Communions with the body of theire Sects which externall vnion though the internall went not with it is sufficient to depriue them from the participation of the Church The sixth battaile is that the vnitie of faith which enters into the essentiall definition of the Church is not simply the vnitie of internall faith but the vnitie of externall faith For the vnitie of faith which concurrs to the formall constitution of the Church is that which serues for a foundation to the commerce of Ecclesiasticall Charitie that is to saie by meanes whereof the members of the mysticall bodie of Christ may acknowledge and embrace one an other as brothers and members of one and the same bodie Now this is the vnitie of exteruall and professed faith and not that of hidden and internall which serues for nothing neither for 〈◊〉 nor for saluation if it be not made manifest and externall For our Lord cryes out Hee that will confesse me before men I will confesse him before God my Father And saint PAVL We make confession with our mouthes to saluation And saint AGVST We cannot be saued vnlesse labouring also for the saluation of others we professe with our mouthes the same faith which we be are in our hartēs And againe Peraduenture said he some one may saie there are other sheepe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I am not acquainted with but God hath care of them But he is too absurd in human sense that can imagine such thinges And finally the seuenth battaile is that the vnitie of faith euen externall and professed 〈◊〉 not for the constitution of the Church if the vnitie of the visible and Sacramentall Communion with the originall body of the Church and the vniuersall societie of the true pastors be not added to it You are with vs 〈◊〉 Saint AVGVSTINE to the Donatists in baptisme in 〈◊〉 Creede in the other Sacraments of our Lord but in the spirit of vnitie in the bond of peace and finally in the Catholicke Church you are not with vs. And Saint IEROM There is this difference betweene schisme and heresie that heresie holdes a false doctrine and schisme for Episcopall dissention equallie separates men from the Church Of other inuisible vnions CHAP. XI The continuance of the Kinges answere THey are vnited by the coniunction of spirits and by the offices of true Charitie and aboue all by that of mutuall prayers They are finally ioyned by the communion of one selfesame hope and by the expectation of one promised inheritance THE REPLIE NEITHER can there be a true Communion of Spirits where the visible and sacramentall Communiō of bodies is excluded that is to 〈◊〉 where the parties doe noe admitt one an other to the Communion and participation os the
same Sacraments If we be in vnitie saith S. AVGVSTINE what haue two altars to doe in this Citty Neither can the office of mutuall prayers that is to saie prayers made one for an other constitute an Ecclesiasticall vnitie and Communion For Catholickes namely vpon good friday pray for heretickes and heretickes for Catholickes although indeede the exercise of prayers either made ioyntly or exacted one from the other be an office of communion though an vnperfect one And therefore the Councell of Laodicea forbiddes Catholickes to pray with heretickes And the first Councell of Nicea ordaines that those penitentes that had in perill of death receiued the Eucharist theire health beinge recouered should remaine with those that communicate by prayer onely And the Councell of Ancyra admittes a Communion without Obligation And the religious of Egipt driuen away by Theophilius being come to Constantinople were not depriued by Saint CHRISOSTOM of the Communion of prayer He thurst them not saith Socrates out of the participation of prayer but he iudged it not conuenient to admitt them to the Communion of the Sacraments before the knowledge of the cause Neither is true Charitie to be found out of the Church but only an humane affection which can noe otherwise be called charitie but equiuocally None saith saint AVGVST can transport charitie forth of the Catholicke Church And againe Thou hast proued to me that thou hast faith proue to me like wise that thou hast charitie Keepe vnitie Neither can the simple coniunction of hope constitute anie Ecclesiasticall communiō for all heretickes and Schismatickes agree in this pointe that they hope eternall life and the promised inheritance Wee saith Petilian the Donatist hauing nothinge yet possessinge all thinges beleeue that our soules are our reuenewe and with out labour and bloud we purohasse the eternall riches of heauen Neither finally can the coniunction in one iust hope haue anie place but amongst those that are called and inserted into the bodie of the Catholicke Church followinge this sentence of saint Paule One bodie and one spirit as you are called in one hope of your vocation Of the knowledge that the predestinate haue of their predestination CHAP. XII The continuance of the Kings answere KNowing I speake of the elect that they are predestinate from before the foundation of the vvorld to be coheires vnited in bodie and copartners of the promises of God in the Ghospell a the diuine Apostle saith THE REPLIE HEere the most excellent Kinge behaues himself like Hippomanes who runninge with Atalanta for masterie cast out golden apples in her way to delaie her with takinge them vp soe his Maiestie putts rubbes in this discourse to staie the course of my pen and to stoppe me to examine them But I hope to remoue them so quickly that I shall be time enough at the end of my carrere To this then I will succinctly saie fower thinges The first that philosophers teach vs that the morall passion which wee call hope from whence theologicall hope hath by analogy borowed her name is alwaies mingled and tempred with feare By meanes whereof those thinges that fall vnder the obiect of hope as are the goods of future life in respect of euery particular man cannot be apprehended with a certaintie of Theologicall faith that is to saie infaillible not to be doubted of otherwise hope should noe more be a vertue distinct frō faith against this oracle of sainct PAVL now remaines faith hope and Charitie and these things are three but ought to be embraced with an expectatiō mingled tempered with feare as Dauid exhortes vs in these wordes ferue the Lordin feare and reioyce in him with tremblinge And S. PAVL in these Thou subsistest by faith be not pussed vp but feare He that thinkes he stands let him take heede least he 〈◊〉 And againe worke your saluation with feare and tremblinge And speaking of himselfe I chastize my bodie and bring it vnder least when I haue preached to others myselfe become a reprobate The second that faith cannot bee but of things reuealed by the word of God for faith saith saint PAVL is by hearing and hearing by the word of God Now it is not reuealed to anie one in the word which God hath consigned to his Church either by writinge or tradition that he is absolutelie of the number of the predestinate and therefore if hee haue not expresse and particular reuelation from God as Saint Paule had who vpon this occasion speakes somtimes of himselfe according to his common condition as simply one of the faithfull and sometymes according to his extraordinary reuelatiō of a predestinate person he can not haue anie certaintie of Faith in this respect For to saie that it is reuealed to vs in scripture that whosoeuer trustes in our Lord shall not be cōfounded And that our Lord himselfe saith who beleeues in me hath life eternall all these pro mises not to speake of other modifications which the scripture puts to them ought to be vnderstood with the condition wherewith our Lord will haue them vnderstood when hee saith who perseuers to the end shall be saued And Saint Paule when he writes See the goodnesse of God in thee if thou perseuere in goodnes otherwise thou shalt be also cutt of Now where is it that this finall perseuerance is particularly promised to anie one in the word of God for if you answere that our Lord saith all that you aske for when you pray beleeue you shall receiue it and it shall be done to you And consequentlie if we demaunde perseuerance we shall obtaine it I answere that he meanes all that you demaunde as you should demaunde it Now the principall condition required to demaunde perseuerance as you should demaunde it is to perseuere in demaundinge it and not to content our selues with demaundinge it once but to demaunde it petpetually followinge this preeept os Saint Paule Pray without ceasinge And againe watch and pray with all perseuerance Far Salomon demaunded wisedome and begged it in faith without staggeringe which is the condition wherewith saint IAMES saith we should begge it but because he did not perseuere to aske it he lost it Now this perseuerance to aske perseuerance where is it promised to anie one in the scripture The third that this beliefe is pernicious both to religion as an enemie to humilitie and good workes and to States and common-wealthes as an enemie to good manners For imprinting in the spirit of euery particular man yea which is worse as well of those that are wicked and reprobate as of others because what is proposed in a Religion for a doctrine necessarie to saluation all doe thinke themselues obliged to holde it that he is assuredly predestinate and that whatsoeuer sinnes he commit he shall infallibly haue leasure and grace to repent him before his death this I say doth puffe vp men with arrogance and
Catholicke Church Saint AVGVST and the other Bishops of Africa answered them that the separation intended by that passage was the morall separation of faith and breach of Communion It was saith S. AVGVST represented what ought to be the separation of the good from the bad in this world that they might not communicate in theire sinnes to witt separation of hart by dissimilitude of life and manners and that otherwise ought not to be vnderstood that which is written goe out from the middle of them and withdrawe from them and touch not theire vncle annesse that is to saie be distinguished in liuing in an other sorte and consent not to theire vncleannesse But the excellent kinge saith that there are other places of scripture whereby is proued that which he pretendes to gather from the allegoricall wordes of the reuelation to witt that the visible Church should become soe corrupt as the faithfull should be obliged to leaue her communion Now the obiections that his Maiestie reserues for vs in this regard are either taken from this interrogatory of our Lord In your opinion the sonne of man when he comes shall he finde faith vpon the earth or from these wordes the moone shall not giue vs her light Which S. AVGVST interpretes of the Church or from this prophecie of Saint Paule the Sonne of perdition shall be seated in the temple of God Or out of these words of the same booke of the reuelation two winges of a great Eagle were giuen to the woeman that she might flye into the wildernesse Or from the examples of the pretended ecclipses and sincopes of the Iewish Church And therefore settinge aside the obiection of the symptomes of the Iewish Church which we remitt to treate of heereafter it is fitt that we solue all the rest presently To the first obiection then which is to the interrogatory that our Lord made to his disciples when he asketh them In your opinion when the Sonne of man comes shall he finde faith on the earth Wee saie saint IEROM and S. AVG. haue answered it longe agoe the one against the Luciferians and the other against the Donatists And haue shewed that this passage is intended not of confessed and doctrinall faith but of iustifiynge faith workinge by charitie and yet not of the extinction but of the diminution of this iustifiynge faith The Donatists saith saint AVG. alleadge that this that our Lord asketh in your opinion the Sonne of man vhen he comes shall he finde faith vpon the earth is to be expounded of the reuolte of all the earth which we vnderstand to be said either in regarde of the perfection of faith which is soe oifficult to men that in the very Saintes who where to be admired as in Moses there was found some thinge wherein they haue staggered or might stagger or for the aboundance of the wicked and the smalle number of the good And saint IEROM speakinge of the Luciferians If they flatter themselues said hee with this sentence written in the Ghospell in your opinion when the Sonne of man comes shall he finde faith vpon the earth let them know that the faith there mentioned is that whereof the same Lord said Thy faith hath saued thee And agaiue of the Centurion I haue not found so great faith in Israell And a little after it is this faith that our Lord hath foretoulde shall be rarelie found it is this faith that euen in those that belieue well is hardlie found perfect Let it be done to thee said hee accordinge to thy faith I would not haue that word pronounced to me for if it be done to me accordinge to my faith I shall perish and yet I belieue in God the father I belieue in God the Sonne and I belieue in God the holy Ghost To the second obiection which is that sainct AVGVSTINE interpretes allegorically these other wordes of the Ghospell then the moone shall 〈◊〉 more giue her light to be meant of the Church which in tyme of persecutions whereof he speakes shall not appeare we answere sainct AVGVSTIN meanes that she should not appeare in her carnall and weake members but not that she shall not appeare in her strong and spirituall Champions that she shall not appeare or lesse appeare in her 〈◊〉 parte in her strawe in her drosse because that parte will yeild to persecutions but not that she shall not appeare in her more excellent parte in her corne in her golde which contrarywise will then shine more then before This appeares by what he writes in his Epistle to 〈◊〉 It is shee said hee that is sometimes obscured and as it were shadowed with 〈◊〉 by the multitude of scandalls that is to saie persecutions when the Sinners 〈◊〉 theire bowe to wound it the obscuritie of the moone the lawes of theire heart but euen then she is eminent in her moste firme champions And a little after It is not in vaine that it was said of the seede of Abraham that is should be as the starrs of heauen and as the sand vpon the Sea-shore that by the starrs of heauen might be meant the faithfull lesse in number more steddie and more cleere and by the sand which is on the Sea-shore the multitude of weake and carnall men who some-times in calme weather appeare free and quiet and sometimes are couered and troubled with the waues of tribulations and temptations And therefore after he hath said she shall not appeare he adds for as much as manie which seemed to shine in grace shall yeilde to persecutions and fall awaie and some faithfull persons verie firme shall be troubled And againe persecution shall so precede as that defection of some shall followe that he might shew that he meanes not to saie that the Church shall not appeare in her whole bodie otherwise how coulde he crye out in an other place she hath this most certaine marke that she cannot be hidden but that she shall not appeare in some of those that had bene her partes Which neuerthelesse in matter of application of allegories where it is permitted to bow the sense of the wordes to accommodate it to the grace of the application and where interpretors content themselues if the thinge signified answere in anie parte to that signifiyinge it sufficeth to make him say to the end to appropriate the 〈◊〉 of the moone to the Church that the Church then shall not appeare that is shall not appeare in some of her partes The third obiection followes which is that saint Paul writes that the daie of the Lord shall not come till the reuolte be first made and till the man of sinne be reuealed and the sonne of perdition who shall oppose and exalte himselfe aboue all that is called God or esteemed an obiect worthie of whorship euen to sitt in the temple of God shewinge himselfe as if he where God Now I will not heere stand to dispute what saint Paul meanes by this reuolte or
apostasy to wit whether hee meane the reuolte of the people from the Roman Empire or the reuolte of 〈◊〉 Christians from the Religion of Christ to that of Mahomet or the reuolte of the Iewes from vnder all the temporall principalities within whose estates they are dispersed to revnite themselues in a newe monarchie vnder theire pretended Messias that is to saie vnder Antichrist As little will I stand to examine whether this temple of God wherein the sonne of perdition shall sitt be to be vnderstood by the materiall temple of Ierusalem when Antichrist shall haue caused it to be reedified as Sainct IRENEVS cont haeres lib. 5. cap. 30. protestes in these wordes When Antichrist shall haue laied desolate all things heere in this world and shal haue raigned three yeares and a halfe and shall be sett in the temple at Ierusalem then the Lord shall come from Heauen And as it seemes to be gathered from the relation of the speech of Sainct PAVLE to those wordes of DANIEL spoken of the Iewish temple and cited by our Lord vpon the speeche of the locall temple of Ierusalem the abhomination of desolation shall be in the temple from whence it is that auntient writers note that Iulian the Apostata one of the figures of Antichrist would haue attempted to reedifie it Or whether it be to bee vnderstood by the Iewish nation whom God had first chosen for his liuinge temple in which Antichrist shall place his throne followinge this prophecy of our Lord to the Iewes I am come in the name of my father and you haue not receiued me if an other come in his owne name you will receiue him Or whether it be to be vnderstood of nations heeretofore Christian in who temples now turned into mosqueas now there Mahomet the fore-runner of Antichrist sitts and that one daie shall ioyne with the Iewes to receiue Antichrist It is sufficīet that all the fathers are agreed vpon two thinges the one that Antichrist shall be the pretended Christ and Messias of the Iewes Antichrist saith Saint HILLARIE shall be receiued by the Iewes And Saint CYRILL of Ierusalem saith he shall deceiue the Iewes as beinge the Christ expected by them And Saint IEROM Wee know that Antichrist shall be the Christ of the Iewes And S. CHRYSOSTOME Christ argues the imposture of the Iewes by the expectation of Antichrist in that they not receiued him that qualified himselfe as sent from God and him that shall not acknowledge God but glorifie himselfe to be the soueraigne God they will adore And Saint AVGVSTINE Christ by these words if an other come in his owne name you will receiue him signifies that the Iewes shall receiue Antichrist And againe The Iewes shall fall into his nett of whom our Lord hath said I am come in my fathers name and you haue not receiued me an other shall come in his owne name and you shall receiue him And of whom the Apostle writes that the man of sinne and the Sonne of perdition shall be reuealed who shall oppose and exalte himselfe aboue all that shall be called God And S. CYRILL of Alexandria speakinge to the Iewes in the person of our Lord you shall receiue for as God I know all things him that shall come vnder a selfe title And THEODORET The Iewes which haue crucified our Lord because he called himself the Sonne of God shall giue creditt to Antichrist that shall call himselfe h the great God From whence it appeares that neither Antichrist shall take the title of a Christian nor his faction the title of a Church although they possesse many peoples and nations which haue before possessed the name of a Church since all the Fathers agree that he shall be receined by the Iewes The other thinge wherein the Fathers agree is that this apostacie shall bringe noe interruption to the course and visible succession of the Catholicke Church that is to saie it shall not hinder but that there shall be alwaies a Christian Societie illustrious and eminent aboue all false and pretended Churches from whose communion it shall be forbidden to departe as Saint AVGVSTINE declares in these wordes If the Church should not be heere till the end of the world why did Christ saie I ame with you to the end of the world And in an other place speakeinge of the very comeinge of Antichrist whose raigne hee deemed should be but three yeares and a halfe Let none imagine saith he that that little while that the Diuell shall be vnbounde there shall be noe Church vpon the earth And shortly after disputinge whether while that short space of tyme lasted the diuell should be so vnbound as that he should hinder anie from entringe into the Church either Children by baptisme or men by Conuersion but said he We should rather belieue that euen then there will not want people both to goe out of the Church and to come into the Church for certainly both fathers will be soe couragious as to giue baptisme to theire children and those that then beginn first to beleeue will be soe constāt as they will cōquer this stronge one euen although he be vnboūd Whereby he shewes plainely that he speakes not of a Church hidden and vnknowne but of a Church visible and exposed to the eyes and knowledge of men The sowrth obiectiō is that the woeman that had brought forth him that ought to rule the nations fledd into the wildernesse And againe that two winges of a great Eagle were giuen to the woeman to flye into the wildernesse For these two retreates into the wildernesse are but one retreate repeated by two seuerall descriptions betweene the which is inserted the fall of the diuell to shewe the the cause of the reuenge that he would haue exercised vpon the woeman From this retreate then they conclude that the Church shall then be inuisible But besides that the same answeres alreadie propounded against the argumentes which are drawne from the allegoricall expositions of the reuelation are alsoe of force against this allegation what shall hinder vs from interpretinge this passage with Saint AVGV of the blessed virgin who brought forth him that ought to rule the nations and who is described crowned with starrs because she was descended from the race of the twelue Patriarches who in Iosephs dreame were sigured by ste starrs and who is represented enuironed by the Sunne because according to the translation of the seuentie which is that the Apostles haue followed the Psalmist singeth He hath pitched his tabernacle in the Sunn And who shall hinder vs from sayinge the wildernesse wither she flew was heauen into which she was assumed after her death which the Grecians call wildernesse because it is exempt from all generation wherefore Pindarus calleth the heauen a desert or wildernesse in these verses If thou of combates honor mean'st to singe Seeke not when daie on the horizon stayes A
Schismatickes but alsoe heretickes Thou art said he to Gaudentius both a Schismaticke by sacriligious dissention and an hereticke by sacriligious doctrine But the principall difference that wee obserue is that all call those that haue begunne with dissention in faith and to whom Schisme hath but the place of an accessory heretickes and those that haue begunne with schisme and to whom heresie is come accessorily after the schisme as the feuer after the wound Schismatickes Of the agreement of the ancient Catholicke Church with the moderne CHAP. XVIII The continuance of the Kinges answere ANd heere most Illustrious Cardinall his Maiestie requires from you that you will represent to your selfe how great Difference there is betweene Saint AVGVSTINS tyme and this of ours how the sace and all the exterior forme of the Church to saie nothinge of the interior is changed THE REPLIE THis is the request that I would myselfe most humblie make to his Maiestie to witt to sett before his eyes the estate of the Catholicke Church in the tyme of Saint AVGVSTINE and of the fower first Councells A Church that belieued a the true and reall presence and the orall manducation of the Bodie of Christ in the Sacrament vnder the kindes and within the Sacramentall kindes as Zuinglius the principall Patriarch of the Sacramentaries acknowledgeth himselfe in these wordes From the tyme of Saint AVGVSTINE that is 1200. yeares agoe the opinion of corporall flesh had alreadie gotten the masterie A church that in this qualitie adored the Eucharist not onely with thought and inward deuotions but with outward gestures and adorations actually reallie and substantiallie the true and proper bodie of Christ. For I will not speake now of Transubstantiation for which I reserue a treatise apart A Church that belieued the bodie of Christ to be in the Sacramēt euen besides the vse and for this cause kept it after Consecration for domesticall communions to giue to sicke persons to carry vpon the Sea to send into farr prouinces A Church that belieued that the communion vnder both kindes was not necessary for the integritie of participation but that all the Body and all the blood was taken in either kinde and for this cause in domesticall communions in communions for Children in communions for sicke persons in communions by Sea in communions of penitentes at the hower of Death in communions sent into farr prouinces they distributed it vnder one kinde A Church that belieued that the Eucharist was a true full and intire Sacrifice it alone succeedinge all the Sacrifice of the lawe the newe Oblation of the newe Testament the externall worshipp of latria of the Christians and not onely an Eucharistiall Sacrifice but alsoe a Sacrifice propitiatory by application of that of the Crosse and in this qualitie offered it as well for the absent as for the present aswell for the communicantes as for the non-communicantes as well for the liuinge as for the dead A Church that for the oblation of this sacrifice vsed Altars both of wood and stone erected and Dedicated to God in memory of the martyrs and consecrated them by certaine formes of wordes and ceremonies and amōgst others by the in shriuinge theire relickes A church wherein the faithfull made voyages and pilgrimages to the bodies of the said Martirs to be associated to theire merites and helped by theire intercessions prayed the holy martyrs to pray to God for them celebrated theire Feastes reuerenced theire relickes made vse of them to exorcise euill spirites kissed them caused them to be touched with flowers carried them in clothes of silke and in vessells of gold prostrated themselues before theire shrines offered sacrifices to God vpon theire tombes touched the grates of the places where theire relickes were kept tooke and esteemed the dust from vnder theire relickaryes and went to pray to the martires not onely for spirituall health but for the health and temporall prosperity of theire families carried theire Children yea theire sicke cattell to be healed And when they had receiued some helpe from God by the intercession of the said martyrs hunge vp in the temples and vpon the Altars erected to theire memory for tribute and memoriall of the obtayninge of theire vowe images of golde and siluer of those partes of theire bodie that had bene healed And when the godly and learned Bishops of the ancient tyme reporte these thinges they celebrate and exalt them as soe many beames flashes and triumphes of the glory of Christ. A Church which held the apostolicall traditions not written but cōsigned viua voce and by the visible and ocular practise of the Apostles to theire successors to be equall to the Apostolicall writinges and held for apostolicall tradions all the selfe same thinges that we acknowledge and embrace in the qualitie of apostolicall traditions A Church that offered prayers both priuate and publicke for the Dead to the end to game ease and rest for them and to obtaine that God would vse them more mercifullie then theire sinnes deserued and held this custome for a thinge necessary for the refreshinge of theire soules and for a doctrine of apostolicall tradition and placed those that obserued it not in the Cataloge of heretickes A Church that held the fast of the 40. daies of Lent for a Custome not free and voluntary but necessary and of Apostolicall tradition and reckoned amongst heretickes those that obserued it not and duringe the tyme of Lent as in a generall mourninge of Christians forbadd the Celebration of weddinges and the solemnisations of marriages A Church that out of Pentecost held the fast of all the Fridaies in the yeares in memory of the Death of Christ except Christmasse day fell vpon one which she excepted namely as an apostolicall tradition For I speake not of wednesdaies supplyed in the west by satturdaies A Church that held the interdiction made to Bishops Priestes and Deacons to marry after theire promotion for a thinge necessary and of apostolicall tradition A Church that held marriage after the vowe of virginitie a sinne and that by apostolicall tradition and reputed religious men and religious weemen that married after the solēne vowe of single life not onely for adulterers but for incestuous persons A Church that held the l minglinge of water with wine in the Sacrifice of the Eucharist for a thinge necessary and of diuine and Apostolicall tradition A Church that held the exorcismes exsufflations and renunciations which are made in baptisme for sacred Ceremonies and of Apostolicall tradition A Church that besides baptisme and the Eucharist which were the two initiatinge-Sacramentes of Christian Religion held Confirmation made with the Chrisme and the signe of the Crosse and allowed onely to Bishops the power
CHAP. XIX The continuance of the Kinges answere IN how differing sense the Church is now called Catholicke from what it was then THE REPLIE I haue drawne out this clause from betweene the two that precede it because I would frame an answere by itselfe for as much as I beleiued the intention of the excellent King was as it is of other protestantes to saie that the Church beares the name of Catholicke now in an other sense then she bare it in S. AVST tyme because then she possessed all nations and now she possesses them not To this then I answere that S. AVG. neuer pretended that the Catholicke Church in his tyme did absolutely possesse all nations but onely by 〈◊〉 that is to say by applicatiō of the name of all to the greater part and in comparison of other Christian sectes and societies in regarde of which the Catholicke Church was soe large as it was called for eminencie the Church of all the nations Contrarywise where the Donatistes sett this errour on soote that the Church hadceased and was perished the principall reason that S. AVGVST opposed to them was that she was not yet spread ouer all the natiōs and that she must last without interruptiō from the first preaching in Ierusalem till the Ghospell had bene preached throughout the earth and then should be the end of the world Soe as it were to giue the lye to all the promises and prophesies of God to suppose she were perished since there were yet manie nations to which she had not yet extended herselfe And therefore the Church bore the title of Catholicke then in noe other sense then she doth nowe For soe farr was she from being called Catholicke from the atiuall possession of all Nations that not onely heresies whose numbers were very great were excluded but there were likewise an infinite Company of pagan Nations to which she was not yet arriued There are saith Saint AVGVSTINE amongst vs that is in Africa innumerable barbarous nations to whom the Ghospell hath not yet been preached Which was soe confessed amongst the Catholickes and Donatistes as the Donatistes made vse of it against the Catholicke Church to question her Catholicke title If you pretend saith Petilian the Donatist that you holde the Catholick Church beholde you are not inpossession of all for you are past into a parte And Saint AVGVSTINE confuting the wordes of Cresconius Thou arguest vainely saith he against the euident truth that all the worlde communicates not with vs because there are yet manie barbarous nations which haue not 〈◊〉 iued in Christ. And againe how is the world saist thou full of your communion where there are soe manie heresies whereof there is noe one that communicates with you And againe reporting these wordes of Vincentius Thou saist that as for the partes of the earth that wherein the Christian faith is named is but a little portion in comparison of the world And the Catholickes on the other side made vse of it against the Donatistes to proue that the Church had neuer receiued interruption But that Church said the donatistes is noe more she is perished soe saie they said Saint AVG that are not in her ô impudent voice c. This abominable and detestable voice full of presūption and falshood which is vnder propt with noe truth illuminated with noe wisedome seasoned with noe salte vaine rash headie pernicious the spiritt of God hath foreseene it And a litle after this Ghospell shall be preached where In all the world to whom in testimome to all nations and what after and then the end shall come Seest thou not that there are still nations to whom the Ghospell hath not been preached c. and soe how is it that thou saist that the Church is alreadie perisht from all nations since it is therefore that the Ghospell is preached to witt that it might be in all nations The Church thē in S. AVS tyme was not called Catholicke for her actuall extent into all natiōs but she was called Catholicke for two other causes the one that as more aboundant and the other that as radicall originall Church she held the place of all in regarde of other Christian Societies For in all the diuisiōs which were made from the first beginning of the Christian name not onely she remayned soe full in regarde of euery sect that came out from her that she held the place of the whole and the seperated sect the place of a part but alsoe in the act of seperation she still remayned immoueable I meane to say that the change for which the seperation happened was made not in her but in the hereticall sect Soe as it was the hereticall sect that was seperated frō her and not she from the hereticall sect And by cōsequēce to her as perseuering in the same profession in the same Estate wherein the whole Church was before the seperatiō apertained the right to holde the place of the whole and to inherite the being and aduantages of the whole And to the other to be reduced into the cōdition of a parte and to be cutt of and 〈◊〉 from the appellation and 〈◊〉 of the whole noe more nor lesse then in the deuisiō of a tree that parte wherein the trunke the stocke and the roote remaine keepes the name of the whole and the parte which is cutt of the name of a branche and of a part seperated from the whole They vnderstād not saith S. AVST speakeing generally of heretickes that there is one certaine true holsome and as I may saie germinall radicall societie from whence they are seperated in an other place Whosoeuer is separated from the whole and defēds a part cut off from the masse or bodie it selfe lett him not vsurpe the name of Catholicke And againe The Catholicke Church fighting with all heresies may be opposed but she cannot be ouerthrowne All heresies are come forth from her as vnprofitable branches cutt off from theire vine but she remaines in her vine in her roote in her charitie and the gates of hell shall not conquer her And as OPTATVS Mileuit before him Wee must consider who staies in the roote with the whole worlde and who is gone forth For these causes thē and also that the Catholicke Church was soe eminent both for perpetuitie and extent aboue all others as it was easie to iudge that it was to her onely and to noe other that the promise had bene made that in her seede all nations should be blessed and that in her should be denounced the remission of sinnes through all nations beginninge from Ierusalem for these causes I say S. AVG. affirmed that to her onely belonged the title of Catholique Thou 〈◊〉 saith he against Crescomius the Donatist the rest of the nations that the Church hath not yet possessed and takest noe heede how manie she hath 〈◊〉 from whence she dailie spreades to finish the possession of the
manie called it in question yet as for him 〈◊〉 reiected it not The Councell of Constantinople surnamed 〈◊〉 held longe after condemned it And Photius the Patriarke of Constantinople yet later saith It can hardly be iustified from Arrianisme which makes it to be 〈◊〉 that it is not the same writinge which bore that name in Saint Epiphanius 〈◊〉 or that it hath since bene salsified by the Arrians Neither doth that booke 〈◊〉 either expressely or equiualently that all Bishops are in a sort oecumenicall He saith no more but this speakeinge collectiuely to all Bishops and not distributiuely to euery Bishop Wee write these thinges for confirmation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of you to whom the episcopat is committed ouer all But if the had said it what could followe of that doth not Saint AVGVSTINE say that the 〈◊〉 all charge is common to all Bishops and for all that doth hee forbeare to protest in the same place that the Pope is supereminent in a more high 〈◊〉 As 〈◊〉 saith hee cease not to rore about the pastures of our Lords 〈◊〉 and to seeke euerie side for in-letts to snatch awaie the sheepe bought at soe high a 〈◊〉 and that to vs all which exercise the office of Bishops the pastor all charge is common although thou art 〈◊〉 in a higher degree And in an other place that in the Roman Church there hath alwaies flourisht the 〈◊〉 of the Apostolicall chaire Of the comparison of the Pope with other Bishops CHAPT XXV The continuance of the kings answere BVt then the ordinary 〈◊〉 shewed that it was very true and a thousand examples of history may yet easily demonstrate it THE REPLIE ANd wherefore then that we may begin this information in the age of Saint 〈◊〉 which was the first age after that of the Apostle and end it in that of Saint 〈◊〉 the great whom Caluin will haue to be the 〈◊〉 true and lawfull Bishop of Rome when Saint IRENEVS disputes against the Valentinians doth he cry with the Roman Church because of a more powerfull principalitie that is because of the principalitie of the apostolicall Sea it is necessary that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should agree for that by this more powerfull principalitie Saint IRENEVS meant not the 〈◊〉 principality of the Cittie of Rome but an other more powerfull principality to 〈◊〉 the Spirituall principality of the Apostolicall Sea wee haue 〈◊〉 both from the same Saint IRENEVS who in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 period called the Roman Church the greatest and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rome 〈◊〉 the two most glorious Apostles 〈◊〉 and Paule And from Saint AVGVSTINE who saith In the Roman 〈◊〉 hath alwaies flourisht the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Apostolical seate And from Saint PROSPER Saint 〈◊〉 second soule who writt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the apostolicall 〈◊〉 hath added more greatenesse to Rome by the Tribunall of Religion then by that of the Empire And why then when VICTOR had excommunicated the Churches of Asia the lesser vpon the question of Easter day which they obserued not according to the vniuersall tradition of the Apostles but according to a locall and particular tradition which had bene instituted for a tyme in their Prouinces did not the same Saint IRENEVS reproche to him that he could not doe it and that he had noe more power to cast them out of the Church then the other Bishops onely admonishe him as it shall appeare hereafter that he should not for soe small a matter cut of soe manie and soe great Churches He exhorted him said EVSEBIVS not to cut of all the Churches of God which held the tradition of this ancient custome And RVFFINVS translatinge EVSEBIVS He reprehended him said hee to haue done 〈◊〉 to cutt from the vnitie of the bodie soe manie and soe great Churches For as for the slaunders wherewith EVSEBIVS and RVFFINVS hereticall Authors the one an Arrian and the other an Origenist both enemies to the Roman Church doe poyson this history they shall be answered hereafter and it shall be shewed that the censure of VICTOR was soe iust that it was after followed by the Oecumenicall councells of Nicea and Ephesus And why then when TERTVLLIAN priest of Carthage in Africa was fallen into the heresie or rather frensie of Montanus doth he write that Praxeas had inforced the Bishop of Rome who did before acknowledge the prophesies of Montanus Prisca and Maximilla and by this acknowledgement brought peace to the Churches of Asia and Phrigia to reuoke his letters of peace already published and cease to 〈◊〉 the spirituall guiftes persuadinge him to belieue false thinges of these prophets and of their Churches and opposing to him the authority of his predecessors For the Montanists of Asia and Phrigia haueing been excommunicated by the Catholicke Bishops and Metropolitans of their Prouinces what right could the Pope haue to receiue them into his communion and to grante them peace if he were not head and superintendent of the whole Church and principally according to the ancient Ecclesiasticall discipline which held that noe Bishop except he were superior could receiue to his communion those that had been execmmunicated by their owne Catholicke Bishops And why then when the same TERTVLLIAN declaimes against the decree of Pope Zepherinus which ordayned that Adulterers hauing done penance 〈◊〉 be receiued into the communion of the Church doth he call him though whith a 〈◊〉 and hereticall scorne the great high priest and the Bishop of Bishops and the good 〈◊〉 and the blessed Pope I heare saith he that an Edict hath been propounded and certainely peremptorilie to witt that the great high priest and the Bishop of Bishops saith I pardon the crimes of adulterie and 〈◊〉 to those that haue performed their penance And againe thou dost sweeten thy sermons with all the allurements of mercie that thou canst good shepheard and blessed Pope and in the parable of the sheepe thou seekest thy Goates And why then when the blessed Martyr CORNELIVS had been created Pope did Saint CYPRIAN say that the Emperor Decius bare with more patience to see a competitor arise in the 〈◊〉 then to see an high priest of God constituted at Rome or according to the oldest and best Copies thē to see an high Priest constituted his riuall in Rome alluding to the two titles that the pagan Emperors assumed the one of Emperor and the other of high Priest and comparing the concurrence that the Emperor receiued in the quality of Emperor hy the creation of a riuall in his Empire with the concurrence that he receiued in the qualitie of high priest by the creation of a Bishop of Rome And wherefore doth he call the 〈◊〉 Church the Chaire of Peter and the principall Church and the originall of the 〈◊〉 all vnitie They durst saith he saile to Rome and carrie letters from prophane and Schismaticall persons to the chaire of Peter and to the principall Church from whence the sacerdot all vnitie
of the strings of Eunomius lire was broken the greeke fables saie that a grashopper came and set herselfe vpon the lire and supplied with her songe the defect of the string that wanted so when LIBERIVS banisht and cast out of his seate by the Arrians began to be wanting to the consorte and 〈◊〉 of the Church Felix one of the Deacons of Rome that the Arrians had caused to be substituted in his place supplied against their expectation the defect of LIBERIVS and soe lifted vp his voice sor the innocencie of ATHANASIVS and the faith of the Councell of 〈◊〉 that he was for this cause driuen out of Rome by the Arrians and if we will beleiue the ancient inscriptions martyred The second that when the Emperor had drawne by force frō LIBERIVS what he would he sent him backe to Rome to exercise ioinctly with FELIX the gouuerment of the Church LIBERIVS in steede of persistinge in the conditions that the Arrians had wrested from him tooke vp againe such a zeale for the protection of the cause of saint ATHANASIVS and for the defence of the faith that he despised from thence forwarde all the threatninges and persecutions of the Emperor and did noe lesse imitate saint Peter in repairing the offence of his fall then he did before in committinge it And the third that when LIBERIVS was arriued at Rome 〈◊〉 if we will belieue Sozomene dyed which was saith the same Sozomene a notable care of the diuine prouidence in the behalfe of S. Peeters Sea A while after saith Sozomene FELIX deceased and Liberius alone ruled the Church which was disposed by the prouidence of God least the seate of Peeter should be dishonored being gouerned by two Rulers But lett vs returne to our interrogatories And why then when the Arriars had caused LIBERIVS to be remoued from Rome doth saint AIHANASIVS crye they haue not had a reuerent memorie that Rome was the Apostolicke Sea and Metropolitan of Romania that is to saie of the Roman Empire For first that saint ATHANASIVS by the word Romania meant all the Roman Empire we learne from saint EPIPHANIVS who saith Manes passed out of Persia into Romania And in an other place The fire of Arius tooke possession of almost all Romania And againe Constantine sent letters against Arius throughout all Romania And from POSSIDIVS who calleth the Vandalls that sacked Africa the destroyers of Romania And secondly that by the word Metropolitā he meanes a spirituall and Ecclesiasticall Metropolitan and not simplie a secular and temporall Metropolitan a Metropolitan of Religion and not simplie a Metropolitan of state and policie we learne it from the allusion to the Epistle to the Arrians that he cues in the same place in which the Arrians though scornefully and ironically had called the Catholicke Church the Schoole of the Apostles and Metropolitan of Religion And from the Epistle of saint IEROM against Iohn Bi hop of Jerusalem in which he said that the Councell of Nicea ordayned that 〈◊〉 should be the Metropolitan of all the East that is to say the spirituall and Ecclesiasticall Metropolitan of all the East And why then when the Macedonians in the Councell of Lampsacus in 〈◊〉 resolued to revnite themselues to the Catholicke Church did they send EVSTATHIVS Bishop of Sebaste in Armenia THEOPHIL and 〈◊〉 and other Asian Bishops to Rome who after their confession of faith subscribed with their handes added these wordes to Pope 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 anie one after this confession of faith expounded by vs will attempt anie accusation against vs or against these that sent vs lett him come with letters from thy Holynesse before such orthodoxall Bishops as thy Holinesse shall please to appoint and contest with vs in iudgement and if there doe a crime appeare lett the authors thereof be punished And why then when the same Eustathius who had bin deposed from the Bishopricke of Sebaste in Armenia by the Councell of Militine in Armenia and shewed to the Councell of Tyana in Cappadocia the letters of restitution that he obtained from Pope Liberius was restablished in his Bishopricke Eustathius writes S. Basile to those of the West 〈◊〉 bene cast out of his Bishopricke because he had bene deposed in the synod of Militiue aduised himselfe to finde meanes to be restored to trauaile to you Now of the things that where propounded to him by the most blessed Bishop LIBERIVS and to what he submitted himselfe we are ignorant onely he brought a letter which restored him which being shewed to the Councell of Tyana he was reestablished in his Bishops seate And why then when the abrogation of the Councell of Arimini was in question did saint BASILE write to S. ATHANASIVS It seemed to vs to be to good purpose to write to the Bishop of Rome to be watchfull ouer these partes and giue his iudgement to the end that since there is difficultie in sending from thence persons in behalfe of a common and synodicall decree he may vse his authoritie in the businesse and choose men capable of the labour of the waie c. and hauinge with them the actes of Arimini that they may disannull those things that haue bene done by force For whereas in an other place the same saint BASILE stunge with the intermission that the Bishops of the west had made in communicatinge by Ecclesiasticall letters with him vpon an aduertisment that had bene giuen at Rome that he communicated with heretickes cryes against the pride of those of the west and saith that they knew not the truth that is to say the truth of the Easterne affaires neither had prtience to learne it And againe that they should not by affliction add paine to those that were oppressed and humbled nor esteeme that dignity consisted in disdaine It was not to taxe those of the west that they stretched their iurisdiction to farr that hee spake this langage but contrariwise to taxe them that they tooke not sufficient notice of the Asian affaires as it appeares by the letter he writt to them in the name of himselfe and all the Bishops of Cappadocia whose Metropolitan he was which contained these wordes Wee are readie to be iudged by you prouided that those which slaunder vs may appeare face to face with vs in the presence of your Reuerence And againe Comfort vs with your peaceable letters and with your charitable communications easinge as by a sweete somentation the wound which your former negligence hath made in our heartes And that which he adds to the first complaint that those of the west preuented with false suspicions did the same thinges in his behalfe as they had done in the cause of Marcellus to wit that they tooke them for aduersaries that reported the truth to them and established heresie in trustinge too much in their owne opinions not that he pretended the Pope had euer approued the heresie of Marcellus Only he meant
reuerence to the Apostolicke sea it shall turne you to great honor And a while after But what neede was there to exact from me the deposition of Timothy since hee was longe since deposed here with his Master Apollinarius by the iudgement of the Apostolicke sea and in the presence of Peter Bishop of Alexandria For whereas the demaund of this confirmation is not to be found in the Epistle of the councell of Constantinople reported by THEODORET it is because that Epistle is not the letter of the coūcell of the one hundred and fiftie Fathers but of an other councell celebrated the yeare following at Constantinople by some of the same Fathers either called backe againe as THEODORET pretends or remayning of the former councell as it appeares by the tenor of that letter And why then when the same councell had confirmed the election that the Syrians had made of Flauianus insteede of Miletius competitor of Paulinus to the Patriarkshipp of Antioch and had reunited in Flauianus person both their Rightes did the Pope call the cause to Rome before a councel that hee assembled there and by his letters accompained with those of the Emperor GRATIAN sent for the councell of Constantinople which had confirmed this election to cause them to come and put it againe to triall at Rome and gaue assignation to both parties to appeare there whereof one to witt Paulinus appeared but Flauianus distrusting the equitie of his cause had recourse to excuses and delaies The Ecclestasticall necessitie saith saint IEROM drew me to Rome with the holie Bishops PAVLINVS and EPIPHANIVS whereof the one gouerned the Church of Antioch in Syria and the other the Church of Salamina in Cypres And againe When the Emperiall letters had drawne to Rome the Bishops of the East and west Paul sawe there the admirable men and Bishops of Christ Paulinus Bishop of Antioch and Epiphanius Bishop of Salamina in Cypres And Sozomene the Bishop of Rome said he and all the westerne Praelates bare the ordination of Flauianus verie impatiently And a little after And therefore because it should be 〈◊〉 they together with the Emperor 〈◊〉 writt and called the Bishops of the East into the west And the same Fathers of the councell of Constantinople excusing themselues to the Pope and the councell of Rome that they could not come to Rome moued said they with brotherly charitie you haue called vs as your members by the letters of the most religious Emperor c. But besides that our Churches but a while before beginning to be restored if we should haue done this had bene 〈◊〉 abandoned it was a thing which many of vs could noe way put in execution for asmuch as we trauelled to Constantinople vpon the letters of your Reuerence sent the last yeare after the councell of Aquilea to the most religious Emperor Theodosius hauing prepared vs for none but that onely yourney of Constantinople and hauing gotten the consent of the Bishops remayning in the Prouinces for none but that And towardes the end of the Epistle speaking of PAVLINVS whom they belieued Pope DAMASVS fauored as hauing bene created Patriarcke of Antioch by Lucifer Legate to the Pope LIBERIVS his predecessor we 〈◊〉 you not to preferr the fauour or friendship to one particular man before the edification of the Churches that by this meanes the Doctrine of saith and Christian Charitie being confirmed amongst vs that is to saie of those of the East amongst themselues we may ceasse to haue in our mouthes these wordes condemned by the Apostle I am of Paule and I of Apollo and I of 〈◊〉 that is to saie we should cease from saying I am a Miletian I am a Paulinist I am an Appolinarist For that it is which those signifie I am of Paul I am of Apollo I am of Cephas which doe not designe as our aduersaries pretend the Pope and the Bishops of the Empire of the hast but the three factions whereinto the Churches of the Easterne Asia had bene deuided and rent vnder Paulinus Miletius and Appollinarius And indeede how could those of the East meane by those wordes amongst 〈◊〉 the Pope and themselues they that were soe tied in communion to the Pope as they had not bene restored to their seates as Theodoret said but euen nowe but vnder condition to communicate with the pope but that is so cleere as it needes noe proofe let vs goe on And why then when the euasions of Flauianus who withdrew himselfe because he knew he had bene ordered against the oath made betweene Miletius his predecessor and Paulinus that the longest liuer of them two should remaine the sole Patriarck had bene discouered and that the complaintes thereof were arriued to the Emperor THEODOSIVS then only Emperor who resided at Constantinople did the Emperor make him come from Antioch to Constantinople and pressed him to goe to Rome euen after the departure of the councell of Rome The Emperor said THEODORET often called vpon made Flauianus come to Constantinople and commaunded him to trauaile to Rome but Flauianus answering it was winter and promisinge to performe his commaund in the returne of the Spring returned into his countrie And a while after the Emperor hauing againe made him come to him againe commaunded him to transport himselfe to Rome For that THEODORET Suffragan of the Patriarkship of Antioch and creature to one of Flauianus successors adds that the Emperor touched with the second answere of Flauianus sent him backe to his prouince and tooke vpon him protection of his cause is a testimonie that hath more relation to fauour then to truth as it appeares by these wordes of saint AMBROSE written after the councell of Capua which was holden vnder Pope SIRICIVS Successor to DAMASVS Flauianus hath cause to feare and therefore he flies a triall And againe one onely Flauianus not subiect to lawes as it seemes to him appeares not when we are all assembled And a while after Flauianus only is exempted as he pretendes from the conditions of the Sacerdotall Colledge who will neither exhibite his presence to the Sacerdotall assemblie nor to the imperiall decrees And why then when Paulinus was dead and that Euagrius was substituted in his steed did the same councell of Capua which the third Councell of Carthage calls an vniuersall councell and that S. AMBROSE describes as assembled from an infinite mumber of Prouinces continue the first proceeding of the Pope and seeing that Euagrius had appeared and that Flauianus perseuered in his contempt delegated THEOPHILVS Bishop of Alexandria whose Patriarkship bordered vpon that of Antioch to examin it The sacred Synod saith saint AMBROSE in his Epistle to Theophilus hauing committed the right of examining this affaire to your vnanimitie and to our other colleagues of Egipt it is necessarie that you cite againe our brother Flauianus And why then when the councell of Capua had giuen this commission to THEOPHILVS Patriarke
the East that is to saie of the Asian East after conuerted into the gouermnent of Siria and other Easterne prouinces and that of Rome which was the head of the westerne Empire from whence the ancient Iewes called Rome the Empire of Edom that is the Empire of the West by allusion to Idumea which was situate toward the West from the Southerne Judea And they called Titus who sackt Ierusalem Titus the Idumean a thing which gaue occasion to the latter Rabbies to deriue the race of Titus from Idumea and that the 〈◊〉 Paraphrast turnes these wordes of Jeremias He will visit thee daughter of Edom into these I will visit thee impious Rome For the diuision of Alexanders Empire hauing been finallie reduced to two principall Empires the one the Empire of Egipt holden by the posteritie of Ptolomeus sonne of Lagus whereof Alexandria was the head the other the Empire of Asia possessed by the Successors of Seleucus who after he had conquered Demetrius king of Asia made saie Eusebius and saint IEROM of the two Kingdomes of Syria and Asia one Empire whose capitall cittie was Antioch Then when those two Empires came to be vnited with that of the common wealth of Rome which before held the Empire of the West there where three principall Citties Metropolitā and capitall in the Empire two subalterne to witt Alexandria which was head of the Empire of the South that is the Empire of Egipt and Antioch which was the head of the Empire of the East that is the Empire of Asia And one 〈◊〉 to witt Rome which was particularly head of the Empire of the West and besides had the superintendencie ouer the heades of the other two Empires For I doe not reckon Carthage for so much as she was long before made a member of the Westerne Empire For these causes then as the Church cast her first roote in Asia saint PETER also first planted his Episcopall Sea at Antioch the capitall cittie of the East where he was resident comprehending his voyages into the neighbour prouinces seauen yeare and there foūded a successor or rather a succession which was after the death of the Apostles head of all the Ecclesiasticall iurisdiction of the Easterne Asia from whence it is that in the Councell of Chalcedon the Patriark of Antioch intitleth his Sea the Sea of S. PETER of the great cittie of the Antiochians that S. CHRYSOST citizen of Antioch cryes God shewed by the effect that he had great care of the cittie of Antioch for hee ordained that Peter the superintendent of the whole world hee to whom he had consigned the keyes of the Kingdome of heauen hee to whom he had committed the dispositiō of all things should be a long tyme resident there that S. INNOCENT the first of the same tyme with S. CHRYSOSTOME writes to Alexander Patriark of Antioch The Sea of Antioch had not giuen place to the Sea of Rome but what that obtained onlie by the waie this obtained absolutelie and finallie From whence the same saint PETER seeing that the Church began to growe further and to spread her rootes through all the world he trāsported himselfe to Rome which was both in particular head of the West in generall head of the world held there the Episcopall Chaire cōprehending manie voyages 25. yeares Simon Peter saith saint IEROM sonne of Jona of the prouince of Galilee of the borough of Bethsaida brother to Andrew the Apostle and prince of the Apostles after the Episcopate of the Church of Antioch and the preaching of the dispersion of those of the Circumcisiō who had belieued in Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bithinia came to Rome the second yeare of the Empire of Claudius to ouerthrow Simon the Magician and there held 25. yeares the Episcopall Chaire And S. LEO the first addressing his speech in the forme of Apostrophe to the same S. PETER Thou hadst said hee alreadie founded the Church of Antioch in which the word Christian first receiued birth thou hadst alreadie replenished Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bithinia with the lawes of the Euangelicall preaching Then finallie hauing established the superintendēcie of the Easterne Church at Antioch and of that of the West at Rome and considering he had still one of the three capitall citties of the Empire to prouide for to witt that of Alexandria which was the head of the Empire of Egipt he appointed placed there his second selfe that is to saie his Ghostlie childe and welbeloued disciple S. Marke the Euangelist From whence it is that Julius the first reported by S. ATHANASIVS writes of Alexandria it was not a common Church but of the number of those that the Apostles themselues had instituted And S. IEROM The Church of Alexandria doth glorie that she pertakes in the faith of the Roman And againe that the Chaire of the Apostle Peter confirmeth by his preaching the preaching of the Chaire of Marke the Euangelist And saint LEO the first writing to Dioscorus Patriarke of Alexandria Since that the most blessed Apostle Peter hath receiued from our Lord the principalitie of the Apostleship and that the Roman Church remaines in his institution it is vnlawfull to beleiue that his holie disciple Marke who first gouerned the Church of Alexandria hath formed his decrees vpon anie other rules of tradition And frō thence tooke beginning these three Patriarchall Seas correspondent to the three Imperiall Seates vnder which the generall vnion of the Empire was made but not so yet equall but that amongst these three first Churches that is to saie first in regard of the Churches of their diuisions there was one first of the first exalted superintendent ouer both the others to witt the Roman From whence it is that the Councell os Sardica the Councell of Chalcedon and the Emperor Iustinian S GREGORIE the Great call her the head of all the Churches that the Emperor Valentinian intitles the Pope The Rector of the vniuer salitie of Churches And that the Councell of Chalcedon qualifies him him to whom the guarde of the vine is committed by our Sauiour And that the Emperor Constantine Pogonat and the sixth Councell of Constantinople call him the Protothrone of the vniuersall Church the Presidēt of the Apostolicall height the Soucraigne Pope the Capitaine of the sacred warfare and the vniuersall Patriark and Arch-pastor and call the other Patriarkes Sinthrones of the Pope aster the Pope For I will not add that which some Catholickes vse to alleadge of Cassiodorus to witt that he attributed to the Pope the title of Bishop of the Patriarkes as well because Cassiodorus there speakes not of Patriarkes properlie taken but extends the word to Primates and Metropolitans as because I doubt it must be read disiunctiuelie Papam vel Patriarchalem Episcopum and not explicatiuely Papam vel Patriarcharum Episcopum It sufficeth me to saie that as
translations of the treatises of some Greeke diuines and not of his historicall workes or translations Otherwise how could Pope Gelasius in the same decree haue condemned the ten bookes of the recognitions of Clement which had bene translated by Russinus and how could he haue written in the same place the holy Roman Catholicke and Apostolicke Church hath not bene preferred before other Churches by anie Synodicall Constitutions but hath obtained the primacie by the Euangelicall voice of our Lord and Sauiour saying Thou art Peter and vpon this rock I will build my Church And how could he haue writtē elsewhere speaking of the ancient canons of the Church These are the Canons which ordaine that from all partes of the world the appeales shall be brought to the Sea Apostolicke And how could he haue said that the care of the Regions of Egipt and of Antioch had bene by Pope Felix committed to Acacius Patriark of Constantinople And whereas they add that saint CYRILL sending the Canons of the Councell of Nicea to the Bishops of Africa writt to them that they might finde them in the Ecclesiasticall historie which they pretend must be vnderstood of the history of 〈◊〉 for as much as those of Socrates Theodoret and Sozomene were written since and besides containe nothing of the canons of the Councell of Nicea this is yet a more feeble and deceiptfull caution For besides that many others had made collections of the Ecclesiasticall historie as amongst the Catholickes saint ATHANASIVS Bishop of Alexandria who had composed a volume intituled Synodica Theodorus Bishop of Mopsvestia not yet then noted for heresie who had framed a particular historie of the Councell of Nicea Philip of Sida who had compiled an vniuersall Ecclesiasticall history And amongst the heretickes Philostorgius the Arrian and Sabinus the Macedonian where is the article of the Bishop of Antioch and the precept to adore standing on the sundaies and during the fiftie daies of Pentecoste which were contained in saint Cyrills Copie to bee found in Ruffinus edition and contrariwise where are the permission to deacons to distribute the Eucharist in the absence of priests and Bishops and the restitution of the communion to penitents before the accomplishement of their pennance and the extension of the canon of the Paulianict deaconesses to all deaconesses in generall and the equiuocation and mistaking of the confession of priests after promotion which are all in the edition of Ruffinus to be read in the copie of saint CYRILL contrarywise if saint CYRILLS intention had bene to approue the edition of Russinus by this remittment why did not the Africans which turned or caused to be turned from Greeke into Latine saint CYRILLS Greeke Copie followe Ruffinus in their translation and put in the Clause of Churches Suburbicarie And saint CYRILL himselfe if he had beleiued that the clause of Churches suburbicary should haue bene added to the Canō of the Councell of Nicea how could he haue taken a Vicarship and commission from Pope Celestine to execute the sentence of the Sea Apostolique against Nestorius Archbishop of Constantinople And how could hee and the other Bishops of the Councell of Ephesus haue approued of the oration of the Popes Legates by which they called the Pope the head of the Church and the Vicar and ordinary Successor of saint PETER and why had they reserued the iudgement of the cause of Iohn Patriarke of Antioch to the Pope And then what proofe is there that Ruffinus by the word suburbicary did intend the Churches within a hundred thousand paces of the Cittie of Rome and not the Churches of all the Citties subiect to the Empire of the Cittie of Rome Is there anie likelyhood that the Bishop of Alexandria should haue had Egipt Libia and Pentapolis vnder which were yet intended many other great prouinces either annexed or subalterne as Ammoniaca Maroeotides Thebaidis and besides the immense Region of Ethiopia from whence the Greeke Emperor Leo surnamed the Philosopher saith in the life of saint CHRYSOSTOME that the Emperor Arcadius caused Theophilus Patriarke of Alexandria to cometo Cōstantinople accompanied with Indian and Egiptian Bishops And that the Bishop of Rome by whom they squared him had no more but those onelie Churches that where neere the 〈◊〉 of Rome Theocritus writeth that Ptolomeus Philadelphus king of Egipt of whose Empire the Prouinces since attributed to the Patriarkship of Alexandria made the principall parte commaunded 33339. citties Of townes thirtie three thousand three hundred thirty nine Vnder the yoake of his decrees their seruile heads incline And Strabo and Diodorus Siculus and the interpreter of the notice of the Empire after them saie that the ancient diuision of Egipt was diuided into thirtie six prouinces whereof Delta in Egipt contained ten and the 〈◊〉 Theodosius the second writing to Dioscorus Patriarke of Alexandria to cause him to come to the false Coūcell of Ephesus sent to him to bring his ten metropolitan Bishops or ten of his metropolitā Bishops that is to saie heades of Prouinces with him And the Bishop of Antioch who was but the third Patriarke had vnder him the two Syria's the three 〈◊〉 the two Cilicia's the three Arabia's the Region of Euphrates Mesopotamia Jsauria and Osrhoene and more as he pretended the Isle of Cyprus without reckoning manie other prouinces which though he 〈◊〉 not their metropolitans yet neuerthelesse acknowledge him For there were manie prouinces which acknowledged their Patriarks and were obliged to appeare at their patriarchall Synods although they tooke not from them the ordination of their metropolitans from whēce it is that Balsamon writes that the Councell of Antioch holden vnder the patriark Peter Jberia Asiatica otherwise called the prouince of the Georgians was made Autocephalus that is to saie exempt from takeing the ordination of their Metropolitan anie other where then from the Synod of the prouince and neuerthelesse still remained subiect to the patriarke of Antioch And when the Councell of Chalcedon would erect Constantinople into a patriarkship they assigned him for his patriarchall Diuision the prouinces of Trace pontus Asia minor with the Barbarous prouinces that is to saie Russia and Muscouia which together contained more ground then all Europe principally if we giue Credit to Herodotus who saith that the Thracians were the greatest nation of the world next the Indians And the Pope who was the first patriarke and the patterne and modell of all the patriarkes to haue bene restrained to the onely Churches neere the Cittie of Rome what a Birth-right had that bene For to saie that the Pope had in his portion the Cittie of Rome which recompenced in splendor and dignitie the extént of the other patriarkships and besides that the prouinces neere the Cittie of Rome were much more peopled then the prouinces neere the other patriarchall Citties who knowes not first that the Cittie of Rome being vnder the Popes
ordaine saith hee according to the definition of Councells that the holy Pope of olde Rome shall be the first of all Prelates and that the blessed Archbishop of Constantinople new Rome should haue the second place after the Sea Apostolick of olde Rome Lesse yet is it to be obiected that some latter Greekes saie that the Councells of Constantinople Chalcedon adiudged the primacie to the Church of Constantinople for they will not saie that the intention of those Councells was then to iudge the primacie to the Church of Constantinople but by propheticall spirit to iudge the primacy to the Church of Constantinople after the Roman Church should haue lost it And to this end they pretend that the word after which the Councell of Constantinople made vse of when it saith the Bishop of Constantinople should haue the priuiledges of bonor after him of Rome was not a note of order but a note of tyme that is to say that the Fathers of the Councell foreseeing by diuine inspiration that the Sea of Rome should one daie fall into the heresie of the double procession of the holy Ghost so call they the doctrine of the procession of the holy Ghost by deriuation from the Father and from the Sonne and by that occasion fall from her ranke they ordained that after the Bishop of Rome should haue lost his primacie the Bishop of Constantinople should possesse it Which Zonarus although a Greeke and a Schismaticke reportes and confutes in these words Some said he belieue that the preposition after is a marke of time and not a submission of honor to the Church of Rome and they make vse for the proofe of their opinion of the twentie eigth Canon of the Councell of Chalcedon c. But the 130. Nou. of Iustinian inserted in the third title of the fift booke of the Basilickes giue the Canons otherwise to be vnderstood And a little belowe From hence it appeares manifestly that the preposition after signifies submission and inferioritie And elsewhere the Councell of Chalcedon ordaines that newe Rome should be honored with the same Ecclessiasticall prerogatiues as old Rome and should be preferred in honor before all the other Churches being the second after her for it is impossible that she should be equallie honored in all thinges vnlesse they will saie that those diuine Fathers foreseeing by the light of the holy spirit that the Church of Rome should be cutt off from the bodie of the orthodox and bee banisht from the Societie of the faithfull because of the diuersitie of the doctrine they destined that of Constantinople to be one day the first and so esteemed it then worthie to enioy in all things equall priuiledges to witt when she should haue receiued the primacie as the Roman Chuch had in former time had it And againe But to this sence the thirtie sixth canon of the councell Trullian doth oppose it self which hauing placed the Sea of Constantinople second after that of old Rome adds And after it that of Alexandria and after that of Alexandria that of Antioch and after that of Antioch that of Ierusalem And therefore not onely Nilus Archbishop of Thessalonica writing against the latines confesseth ingeniously that the Greekes neuer disputed for primacie with the Roman Church Wee are not said hee separated from peace for attributing to ourselues the primacie nor for refusing to holde the second place after the principalitie of Rome for wee neuer contested for primacie with the Roman Church But euen amongst the Authors of the last age Duaren although a greate enemie to the Pope acknowledgeth that the sentence of Phocas interuened vpon the word Vniuersall and not vpon the word First Behold his words Boniface the third said hee obtained with great contention from Phocas to be made oecumenicall and vniuersall Bishop Onely he shewes his galle in saying that Boniface obtained from Phocas to be made vniuersall Bishop where hee should haue said that he obtained of Phocas that the title of vniuersall Bishop should be preserued to him alone and that the Bishop of Constantinople who desired to participate in it might be excluded frō it For neither did the Bishop of Constantinople dispute the title of Vniuersall Bishop with the Pope but pretended he ought to be therein associated with him neither did the title of Vniuersall Bishop begin to be attributed to the Pope by Phocas but from the tyme of the Emperor Marcian aboue an hūdred fiftie yeare before Phocas it had bene exhibited to him in the councell of Chalcedon and after that vnder the Emperor Iustinian aboue fiftie yeares before Phocas it had bene giuen him in Constantinople it selfe as it appeares both by the Acts of the Councell of Chalcedon wherein the petitions of the Clerkes of Alexandria presented to the Councell bore To the most holie and vniuersall patriarke Leo and to the holie generall Councell And by the testimonie of saint GREGORIE who wrote to Eulogius Patriarke of Alexandria Your Holynesse knowes that the title of vniuersall Bishop hath bene offerred in the councell of Chalcedon and by the following Fathers to my predecessors And by the Acts of the Councell of Constantinople holden vnder Menas confirmed by Iustinian where the petitions of the Regulars of Constantinople and of Syria and of the Bishops of the Patriarkships of Antioch and of Ierusalem to Pope Agapet were inserted with this inscription To our holy aud blessed Lord the Archbishop of old Rome and vniuersall Patriark Agapetus In such sort as be it that Phocas sentence were vpon the word vniuersall it cannot be said that Phocas was the author of the attribution of this title to the Pope since from the time of the Councell of Chalcedon and since vnder the Empire of Iustinian it hath bene attributed to him or be it that it interuened vpon the word First the originall thereof could not be imputed to Phocas since the Emperor Iustinian more then fiftie yeare before Phocas had written Wee ordaine following the definitions of the Councells that the holy Pope of olde Rome be the first of all the Prelates and that the blessed Archbishop of Constantinople new Rome haue the second place after the Sea Apostolicke of old Rome and be preferd before all the other Seas But it may be replied that S. GREGORIE did not onely condemne the vse of the word vniuersall in the person of the Btshop of Constantinople but refused it himself in his owne For hauing admonisht the Bishop of Alexandria that he should giue this title neither to him nor to the Bishop of Constantinople and the Bishop of Alexandria hauing written to him that hee had abstained according to this admonition from attributing it to the Bishop of Constantinople he replies I said you should giue such a title neither to me nor to anie other and behold in the front of your Epistle which you haue addressed to myselfe which haue made you this prohibition you haue
them by sight would not so much as admitt into his presence Anthymus transgressor of the canons but iustly deposed him from the Episcopall Sea of this cittie And a little after After the Bishops of Palestina assembled in this cittie and the other Easterne Bishops that is to saie of the Patriarkships of Antioch and Ierusalem and the deputies of the others Bishops and we did againe present petitions touching Anthymus and the other hereticks and demaunded that Anthymus should certifie his belieue by libell to the Sea Apostolicke and should purge himself from all hereticall errors and in this case should returne to the Church of Trebisonde or if he would not doe it that he should be finallie condemned and deposed from all sacerdot all dignitie and action And a little beneath These our iust requests the same most holy personage to witt Agapet preuenting them and seeing Anthymus had failed to appeare he condemned him with the foresaid hereticks and despoyled him of all office and dignitie sacerdot all and of all title orthodoxall euen till the pennance of his errors And the Fathers of the Councell itself in the sentence of the Synod The blessed Pope Agapet of most holie aud happie memorie settinge with God his hand to the sacred canons deposed Anthymus from the Sea which appartained not to him pardonning those which had participated or communicated in this act that is to saie Peter Patriarke of Jerusalem and other of the East And a little after But because that euen in doctrine Anthymus was burdened with infinite accusations and that manie petitions and supplications were presented against him and by diuers reuerend personages to a most religious Emperor and to the most blessed Pope the same most blessed Pope after much paine taken with a fatherly care to call backe his soule c. pronounced a sentence by writinge against him full of clemencie and seemely holynesse grauntinge him time of repentance and ordaining that till he had changed his opinion and satisfied the doctrines canonically defined by the Fathers hee should neither haue the title of a Catholicke nor a Prelate From whence it appeares that the Pope had made two diuers depositions of Anthymus and in two differinge tymes one from the Patriarkship of Constantinople and that grounded vpon discipline because against the canons Anthymus was exalted from the Bishops Sea of Trebisond to the Patriarkship of Constantinople And the other from the Bishops Sea of Trebisond which had bene reserued to him by the deposition from the Patriarkship of Constantinople and that grounded vpon doctrine because Anthymus was accused and defamed for heresie But the difference that was betweene these two depositions was that the first I meane that from the Patriarkship of Constantinople was absolute and definitiue and made and perfected by the Pope without the helping hand of anie Councell For whereas within the petition of the Bishops of the Patriarkships of Antioch and Jerusalem to the Pope the latine interpreter hath vnaptly translated Exossauimus Anthymum you must saie you haue cast forth Anthymus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it appeares by this that follows And our Emperor hath participated in your good worke And the second to wit that from the Bishopricke of Trebisond was by prouision and conditionall and tempered with this clause vntill pennance which left the sentence depending and subiect to reuocation in case that Anthymus should appeare and purge himselfe of heresie Now the Pope died before he had leasure to attend whether Anthimus would come to repentance and purge himself both of the contempt and of the heresie which was imputed to him For this cause then the Councell of Constantinople holden vnder Menas takinge it vp where the Pope left it and making an end to fulfill all the formalities required to cleere the doubt of the condition cited Anthymus againe and seeing he appeared not executed the second sentence of the Pope against him and deposed him from the Bishopricke of Trebizond and from all Sacerdotall and Catholicke title but without touching in anie sorte the deposition alreadie made and perfected from the Patriarkship of Constantinople Weé saie the Fathers of the Councell followinge those thinges well examined by the blessed Pope ordaine that he shall be cast out of the bodie of the holy Church of God and despoyled of the Bishopricke of Trebizond and depriued of all Sacerdotall dignitie and action and according to the sentence of the most holy Pope of the appellation of Catholicke For whereas the narration of the sentence of the Councell the lawe of Iustinian reporting the historie of the same sentence places amongst the causes of Anthymus deposition the transgression that he had made of the Canons in vsurping the Sea of Constantinople that makes nothinge toward inferringe that the deposition that the Councell decreed against him should be the deposition of the Patriarkship of Constantinople forasmuch as the Councell reported the memory of this vsurpation not to depose him then from the Patriarkship of Constantinople from which the same Councell testifies that he had already bene entirely excluded but to aggrauate the crime for which it would depose him from the Archbishoprike of Trebizond to witt heresie by a commemoration of his fore goeing crimes as it appeares both from the disposition of the sentence of the same Councell and from that of the sentence of Menas who presided there and from the repetition which was made of it in the Councell of Ierusalem holden vnder Peter Patriarke of Ierusalem In all which places there is nothing spoken of but the deposition of Anthymus from the Archbishopricke of Trebizond and not from that of the Patriarkship of Constantinople And indeede how could the Councell of Constantinople where Menas presided touch the deposition of Anthymus from the Patriarkship of Constantinople and Menas vote there in qualitie of Patriarke of Constantinople since Menas had bene promoted to the Patriarkship of Constantinople by the deposition of Anthymus For of this all the ancient monuments are of agreement Agapet saie the Syrians to the Emperor hath iustly deposed Anthymus from the Episcopall Sea of the cittie of Constantinople and with the helpe of your Imperiall authoritie cooperatinge and lendinge a hand to the diuine canons haue proposed the holy Menas to the same Church And Marcellinus Comes of the same time with Menas Agapet beinge come from Rome to Constantinople draue awaie soone after his arriuall Anthymus from the Church sayinge that accordinge to the Ecclesiasticall rule he was an adulterer because he had left his Church and had packt for another and ordained the Priest Menas Bishop in his place And Liberatus of the same time with Marcellinus The Empresse promisinge in secrett great presents to the Pope if he would suffer Anthymus in his Sea and on the other side tempting him with threates the Pope persisted in not harkninge to her request and Anthymus seeinge hee was
done well in cutting of from the bodie of vnitie soe manie and soe great Churches of God And in truth how could S. IRENEVS haue reprehended the Pope for wante of power he that cries To the Roman Church because of a more powerfull principalitie that is to saie as aboue appeareth because of a principalitie more powerfull then the temporall or as we haue expounded otherwhere because of a more powerfull Originall it is necessarie that euerie Church should agree And therefore alsoe S. IRENEVS alleadgeth not to Pope Victor the example of him and of the other Bishops of the Gaules assembled in a councell holden expresselie for this effect who had not excommunicated the Asians nor the example of Narcissus Bishop of Ierusalem and of the Bishops of Palestina assembled in an other Councell holden expressely for the same effect who had not excommunicated them nor the example of Palmas and of the other Bishops of Pontus assembled in the same manner and for the same cause in the Region of Pontus who had not excommunicoted them but onely alleadges to him the example of the Popes his predecessors The Prelates saith hee who haue presided before Soter in the Church where thou presidest Anisius Pius Hyginus Telesphorus and Sixtus haue not obserued this custome c. and neuerthelesse none of those that obserued it haue bene excommunicated And yet ô admirable prouidence of God the successe of the after ages shewed that euen in the vse of his power the Popes proceeding was iust For after the death of Victor the Councells of Nicea of Constantinople and of Ephesus excommunicated againe those that held the same custome with the prouinces that the Pope had excommunicated and placed them in the Catalogue of heretickes vnder the titles of heretickes Quarto decumans But to this instance Caluins Sect doe annexe two new obseruations the first that the Pope hauing threatned the Bishops of Asia to excōmunicate them Polycrates the Bishop of Ephesus and Metropolitan of Asia despised the Popes threates as it appeares by the answere of the same Polycrates to Pope Uictor which is inserted in the writings of Eusehius and of S. IEROM which S IEROM seemeth to approue when he saith hee reportes it to shewe the spirit and authoritie of the man And the second that when the Pope pronounced anciently his excommunications he did noe other thing but separate himselfe from the communion of those that he excommunicated and did not thereby separate them from the vniuersall communion of the Church To the first then we saie that soe farr is this epistle of Polycrates from abating and diminishing the Popes authority that contrary wise it greatly magnifies and exaltes it For although Polycrates blinded with the loue of the custome of his nation which he beleeued to be grounded vpon the word of God who had assigned the of the Month of March for the obseruation of the Pasche and vpon the example of saint IOHNS tradition maintaines it obstinately Neuertheles this that he answeres speaking in his owne name and in the name of the Councell of the Bishops of Asia to whom he presided I feare not those that threaten vs for my elders haue said it is better to obaie God then man Doth it not shew that had it not bene that he belieued the Popes threate was against the expresse word of God there had bene cause to feare it and he had bene obliged to obaie him for who knowes not that this answere it is better to obaie God then men is not to be made but to those whom we were obliged to obaie if their commaundements were not contrarie to the commaundments of God And that he adds that hee had called the Bishops of Asia to a Nationall Councell being summoned to it by the Pope doth it not insinuate that the other Councells where of Eusebius speakes that were holden about this matter through all the prouinces of the Earth and particularly that of Palestina which if you beleiue the act that Beda said came to his handes Theophilus Archbishop of Cesarea had called by the auctoritie of Victor were holden at the instance of the Pope and consequently that the Pope was the first mouer of the vniuersall Church And that the Councells of Nicea of Constantinople of Ephesus embraced the censure of Victor and excommunicated those that obserued the custome of Polycrates doth it not proue that it was not the Pope but Polycrates that was deceiued in beleiuing that the Popes commaundement was against Gods commaundement And that saint IEROM himselfe celebrates the Paschall homelyes of Theophilus Patriarke of Alexandria which followed the order of Nicea concerning the Pasche Doth it not iustifie that when saint IEROM saith that he reportes the Epistle of Policrates to shew the spirit and authoritie of the man he intends by authoritie not authoritie of right but of fact that is to saie the credit that Polycrates had amongst the Asians and other Quartodecumans To the second obseruation which is that when the Pope excommucated other Bishops Archbishops or Patriarkes he seperated himselfe from their communion but did not thereby seperate them from the communion of the Church Wee will doe noe other thing then examine examples that they alleadged for proofe of their hypothesis And yet we will not examine them all for we haue alreadie confuted the most part of them in the Chapters preceding as that of saint HILARY against Liberius and others the like We will onely treat of those that they propound to vs a newe which consist in three principall heades The first is that the fifth Coūcell of Carthage ordained that euery Bishop that should fall into the cases mentioned by the tenth and thirteenth canons of the same Councell should content himselfe with the communion of his one Church alone from whence they conclude that euerie excommunication did not import priuation of Sacraments The second that Nicephorus writes that Pope Vigilius hauing excommunicated Menas Patriarke of Constantinople for fower moneths Menas yeilded him the same measure And the third that Sigesbert speaking of the proceeding of Pope Innocent in the cause of saint CHRISOSTOME saith that Pope Innocent and the Bishops of the West suspended themselues from the communion of those of the East To the first then of these examples which is That the fifth Councell of Carthage odaines thà t euerie Bishop that should fall into the case of Canons aboue mentioned should content himself with the communion of his owne Church onelie Wee answere two things The one that the censure whereof the Canons of this Councell speake was not an excommunication but a restitution of communion by which those that did fall into the cases whereof there is question might administer the 〈◊〉 in their owne Diocesses and to their owne People but not out of their diocesses And the other that the Pope himselfe often vsed 〈◊〉 restriction as it appeares by the Epistle of
Lord alleadgeth for his testimonie c. But it hath bene receiued by the Church not vnprofitable if it be read or heard soberlie In which passage that saint AVGVSTINE saith that the Iewes hold not the Scripture of the Machabees in the same ranke as the Lawe the Psalmes and the Prophets is not to weaken the authoritie of the Scripture of the Machabees for the Jewes doe no more hold the booke of Wisdome in the same degree of the Lawe the Psalmes and the Prophets and our Lord hath noe more alleadged it amongst the Testimonies then that of the Machabees And neuerthelesse S. AVGVSTINE saith The booke of WISDOME hath merited after so long a continuance of yeares to be read in the Church of Christ by the Readers of the Church of Christ and to be heard by all Christians euen from the Bishops to the lowest laymen faithfull penitents and catechumens with the reuerence of diuine authoritie And againe All the Doctors neere the tyme of the Apostles making vse of the testimonie of the Bookes of WISDOME haue beleeued that they made vse of none but a diuine Testimonie but the reason why saint AVGVSTINE said that the Jewes held not the Scripure of the Machaebees in the ranke of the lawe the Prophetts and the Psalmes was to shew the Donatists who were seperated from the Church and yet made vse of her owne weapons to oppose her that this Scripture hauing bene receiued into the Canon not by the Jewes but by the Church they could not imploy it against the sence and Doctrine of the Church And that he adds that it was receiued by the Church not vnprofitablie prouided it be read soberly it is not to the end to diminishe the credit which ought to be giuen to it but to represse the furious consequences that the Donatists inferred vpon it and signifies no other thing but prouided it be read with setled sences and not with madnesse and frensie as the Donatists read it who tooke occasion from the example of Sampson in the history of the Judges and from the example of Razias in the historie of the Machabees whose zeale and not his act is commended to kill and precipitate themselues which he confirmes a while after in these words Wee ought not then to approue by our consent all things which wee reade in the Scriptures to haue bene done by men euen adorned with prayses by Gods owne testimonie but to mingle our consideration with discretion bringing with vs iudgment not of our authoritie but of the authoritie of the holie and diuine Scriptures which permitt not vs to praise or imitate all the actions euen of those of whom the Scripture giues good and glorious testimonie if they haue done anie thing that hath not bene well done or that agreeth not with the custome of the present time It appeares sifthly by the Catalogue of the Canonicall bookes that Pope Innocēt the first tyme fellowe with S. AVSTINE sēt to Exuperius Bishop of Tholosa where the two Bookes of the Machabees are expressely contained For whereas Pope Gelasius in renewing the decree of the Canonicall bookes makes vse of the history of the Machabees but for one only booke it is because he speakes according to the Stile of S AMBROSE who reckons the first and second of the Machabees for one and the same Booke And whereas saint GREGORIE the great in his commentary vpon Iob compounded neere two hundred yeares after the Canon of the African Fathers cyting the Bookes of the Machabees adds although not canonicall yet written for the edification of the Church that is because the first draught of this comentary was made in the East For saint 〈◊〉 was not yet Pope when he first composed the comentarie vp on Job but a simple deacon exercising the 〈◊〉 of Nuntio at Constantinople amongst the Greekes For this occasion then speaking in the East of the Bookes of the Machabees he added in the forme of a case put and not granted If not canonicall yet written for the edification of the Church that is to 〈◊〉 the which if they were not canonicall neuertheles had bene writtē for the edification of the Church It appeares finally by the very continuance of the African canon inserted into the Greeke Rapsody which is Wee haue learnt from our Fathers that those are the bookes that ought to bee read 〈◊〉 the Church For not only all the ancient African Church but also all the ancient Westerne Church had holden from age to age the Bookes of the Machabees to be canonicall as it appeares in regard of the ancient 〈◊〉 church by the testimonie of saint Cyprian who calls the Machabees 〈◊〉 scriptures and in regard of the other partes of the westerne church by the testimonie of saint AMBROSE who cryes out Moyses saith as it is written in the bookes of the Machabees And by that of the great defender of the Catholick Faith Lucifer Bishop of 〈◊〉 who writt to the emperor 〈◊〉 The holie scripture speakes in the first booke of the 〈◊〉 And by an infinite number of others whose names I will not 〈◊〉 particularly to report Only I will saie in generall that there was 〈◊〉 anie latine Author which tooke liberty to remoue the authoritie of the Booke of the Machabees before saint HIEROME and Ruffinus 〈◊〉 him while he was his disciple Whereupon there are three 〈◊〉 to be made The first obseruation is that as saint HIEROME before the perfect maturitie of is studies for afterward he changed his opinion ecclipsed from the canon of the old testament the historie of the Machabees so did he also shake in the canon of the new testament the epistle to the 〈◊〉 The latine custome saith hee receiues not the Epistle 〈◊〉 Hebrewes amongst the canonicall scriptures And againe If anie one will 〈◊〉 the Epistle which vnder Paules name hath bene written to the Hebrewes And 〈◊〉 where Paule in his Epistle which is written to the Hebrewes though 〈◊〉 of the latines doubt of it By which meanes if the authoritie of saint HIEROME not yet fullie instructed in the sence of the Church be 〈◊〉 for the exclusion of one of these pieces it is also auaileable for the 〈◊〉 of the other The second obseruation is that saint HIEROME 〈◊〉 induced to remoue this stone by the commerce that he had with 〈◊〉 Iewes of Palestina amongst whom hee inhabited and from whom he 〈◊〉 the Hebrew letters For Istdore Bishop of Seuilla who writt a 〈◊〉 yeares agoe reportes that the Iewes in hate of our Lord reiected 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Booke of Wisedome The Hebrewes said Isidore as some of 〈◊〉 sages haue noted it receiued the Booke of Wisdome amongst the canonicall 〈◊〉 but after they had taken Christ and putt him to deach remembring that 〈◊〉 were in the same Booke so manie euident testimonies of Christ c. they made 〈◊〉 together and least ours should conuince them of so manifest a 〈◊〉 they
Christians wherein they were contained from whence it appeares that from the lesser of these computations nothing can be inferred against the larger To proue it so when Origen in his cōmentary vpon the psalmes speakes of the Scriptures of the old Testament he followes the canon of Esdras and the nūber of the twentie two Hebrew letters wherin neither Tobias nor Iudith nor that of Wisedome had anie place Yon must not be ignorāt said hee that the bookes of the Testament according to the tradition of the Hebrewes are 22. according to the number of their letters And whē he speakes in his cōmentary vpō the book of Nūbers of the volumes of the Scripture he followes the accessory cōputatiō of the christians the appēdix of the posthumall bookes sets downe the 〈◊〉 of Iudith Tobie that of Wisedome amongst the canonicall Bookes When there is presented saith hee to those that are newly Schollers in diuine Studies anie reading of the diuine volumes in which there is nothing that seemes obscure as the booke of Hester or of Iudith or of Tobie or the precepts of wisedome they receiue it willinglie but if the booke of Leuiticus be read to them their spirit is presentlie dulled And in the same place of the cōmentary vpon the psalmes where he reckons the Canonicall Bookes of the old Testament according to the cōputation of the Hebrewes and the number of the Hebrew letters hee adds out of this ranke are the bookes of the Machabees which the Hebrewes call Sarbit Sarbaneell that is to saie the Scepter of the Prince of the childrē of God By which wordes he intēdes not to saie that they are not of the ranke of the canonicall Bookes of the old Testament for then wherefore hauing purposed to speake of the Canonicall Bookes should he mentiō the Machabees but that they were not in the ranke of the canonicall bookes inserted in the canon of Esdras Likewise when S. EPIPHANIVS in the Booke of the Hebrew weights measure in the confutatiō of the Sect of Epicurus speaks of the canonicalll Bookes of the old Testamēt he followes the catalogue of Esdras the cabbale or tradition of the twentie two Hebrew letters and saith that the Bookes of Wisedome Ecclesiasticus were not of this nūber The Wisdome of Salomon and that of Iesusthe sonne of Syrach are vsefull and profitable but are not sett downe amongst the bookes enrolled that is to saie enrolled by Esdras And for that cause they are not placed in the Aron that is to saie in the Arke of the testimonie for so it must be read not neither in the Aron nor in the Arke as it is read at this daie by the ignorance of the booke writers interpreters who of the word Aron which in hebrew signifies Arke haue made Aaron brother of Moyses And when he disputeth against Aetius head of the heresie of the Anomeans he follloweth the accessory cōputation of the Church setts both those amongst the diuine and Canonicall Scriptures You must saith hee turne ouer the twentie seauen bookes of the olde Testament that the hebrewes reckon twentie two and the four Ghospells and the fourteen epistles of the Apostles S. PAVL and the Acts of 〈◊〉 Apostles made before and during the same time and the Catholick Epistles of Iames Peter Iohn and Iude and the 〈◊〉 of John and the two Wisdomes that is to saie that of Salomon and that of the Sonne of Syrach and in summe all the diuine Scriptures And finallie the fourth and last aduertisment shall bee that there is not one of all the Greeke canons wherein the Machabees are past ouer in silēce except those that follow the double computation whereof wee now speake which is not according to the verie iudgment of Geneua imperfect omitts those Bookès the Caluinists théselues confesse to be canonicall And to proue it so in the canon of Melito the booke of Hester is omitted in the canon of S. CYRILL of Hierusalem in the canō of the coūcell of Laodicea the Apocalips is forgoten in the Synopsis falsely imputed to S. ATHANAS the booke of Hester is cutt of in the canon laid to S. GREGORIE of Naziazenes charge I say laid to his charge because this canon leaues out Wisedome which S. GREG. of Nazianzene in his true writings cites as canonicall the Booke of Hester and that of the Apocalips are excluded In the catalogue attributed to Amphilochius the booke of Hester and the Apocalips are called in question In the catalogue of Iosephus an author that was an Hebrew by nation but whose Bookes are written in Greeke the booke of Job is omitted principallie according to their computation that will haue Job to haue been before Moyses as Origen amōgst the old Christians Mercerus the Caluinist amōgst the moderne Raby Moyses Kimhi amongst the Iewes And in all the Iudaicall antiquities of the same Josephus there is no mētion made of Iobs history By meanes whereof nothing can be concluded from the silence of those imperfect rolls against the volumes by thē omitted And indeede notwithstanding this catalogue Josephus leaues not of if wee giue creditt to the Greeke text of the worke against Appion to alleadge the booke of Ecclesiasticus for one of the pieces of the Jewish lawe when he writes The lawe saith that the woeman is in all things worse then man and that a mans iniquitie is better thē the good worke of a woeman Nor to insert a great parte of the history of the Machabes into his treatie of the dominion of reason ouer the senses yea with the title of a sacred Booke if wee beleeue the finall clause of the worke which is defectiue in the Greeke text but is in the anciēt latine translation acknowledged publisht by Erasmus For whereas the same Iosephus distinguisheth betweene the bookes written before Artaxerxes when the Prophets flourished in the Jewish Church the Bookes writté since so farr of is he frō excluding heereby the bookes of the Machabes frō the nūber of the bookes writtē by the Prophets that cōtrary wise in noting that the bookes written since Artaxerxes are not reputed so worthie of credit as the former because the successiō of the Prophets hath not bene exact he shewes that they were beleeued to haue bene writtē by the Prophets but with a beleefe lesse assured mingled with some vncertaintie Since Artaxerxes saith he euē to our tyme other things hane bene writtē but they are not esteemed worthie of the same credit as the former becanse the Succession of the Prophets hath not bene exact Now this vncertaintie S. IOHN S. PAVL seeme to take awaie S. IOHN whē he reportes that our Lord assisted at the feast of the dedication of winter whose institutiō is described in the only collection of the Machabees for the historie of the dedication of winter was a thing necessary to Saluatiō
and fountaines that spring from them and in this sence the Apostle saith They dranke of the spirituall Rock which followed them and that Rock was Christ. By meanes whereof to inferr from this that in these words the Rock was Christ when it is spoken of the Rock referr'd to the water 〈◊〉 sprang from it Christ was intended by the word Rock that heere where it is spoken of the word Rock referrd to the metaphor of the ministeriall building of the Church it should be necessarie to vnderstand it of the person Christ and not of of that of saint PETER were an inconsequent consequence And it is not to be said that in the parable of the man that built his howse vpon the rocke by the word Rock Christ is vnderstood for the litterall sence of the word Rock in this place is noe other then to signifie a good and firme foundation and that this is expounded of Christ it is by allegorie Now there is great difference betweene the litterall sence of places mingled with metaphoricall termes and the allegoricall sence For from the litterall sence of places mingled with metaphoricall termes arguments may be made and consequences may be drawne from one passage to an other and from the allegoricall sence not And then if sainct PAVL had said euen according to the relation to the ministeriall building of the Church the Rock was Christ hath not our Lord vsually communicated his names to his ministers And did not Iacob annoint the stone in Bethell in the figure of Christ as prefiguring that Christ ought to be the stone whereof God prophecied by the mouth of Esay Behold I will set vp in Sion a Rock well founded And neuerthelesse doth not the same Iacob saie that Joseph was the Pastor and the Rocke of Israel making vse of the word Euen in both of them That is to saie doth he not communicate by word the same word Rock of Israell to Ioseph that he had communicated by figure to Christ And if they stagger about the difference which is betweene the word Euen the word Tsur or Petra which signifies Rock although Beza doe not distinguish it when he translates Thou shalt be called Cephas which is interpreted lapis Doth not Tertullian write according to the vse euen of the word Tsur or Petra He hath giuen to the dearest of his disciples to Peter the name of one of his figures And doth not S. HIEROME write vpon the same place of S. MATTHEW As our Lord who is the light hath giuen to his Apostles that they should be the light so to Peter beleeuing in the Rock-Christ he hath giuen to be the Rocke And therefore according to the metaphor of Rock it is said to him with good right I will build my Church vpon thee And elsewhere Not only Christ was the Rock but hee hath giuen to Peter that hee should also be the Rock And sainct BASILL Although Peter be also the Rock neuerthelesse hee is not the Rock as Christ but hee is the Rock as Peter for as much as Christ is essentiallie the vnmoueable Rock and Peter is so by the Rock for our Lord giues his dignities without dispoyling himselfe of them c. He is the Rock he makes the Rock And sainct EPIPHANIVS He hath made the first of his Apostles the firme Rock wherevpon the Church is built And againe It is hee that hath heard from him Peter feede my lambes and to whom the keeping of the Flock hath bene committed And PROSPER This most strong Rock hath receaued from the principall Rock commmunication both of vertue and name For whereas sainct AVGVSTINE after hee had interpreted in manie places the Rock of the person of PETER as in these words of the comentarie vpon the sixtie ninth Psalme Peter who is in this confession had bene called the Rock vpon which the Church should be built And in these words of the Psalmes against Donatus his partie Reckon the Prelates from the Sea of Peter And in this order of the Fathers see who haue succeeded one an other this is the Rock that the prowde gates of Hell cannot ouerthrow And in these words of the comentarie vpon sainct IOHN Peter this Rock answered in the name of all and in those words of the Epistle eightie six Peter the head of the Apostles the Porter of heauen the foundation of the Church remitts it finallie in his retractations to the readers choyse whether of these two interpretations hee thinkes to be most probable to witt either to interpret it of the person of PETER or to interpret it of the person of CHRIST moued with this that the Latine text hath Tues Petrus and not Tues Petra This is a grammaticall error partlie proceeding from the defect of knowledge in the Hebrew and the Syriack tongues in which there is noe difference betweene Petrus and Petra But the text hath it throughout Thou art Cephas and vpon this Cephas that is to saie in Latine Tues Petra supra hanc Petram and in French Tu es rocher sur ce rocher Thou art a rock and vpon this rock partlie for want of experience in the practise of the greeke tongue in which the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie one selfe-same thing from whence it is that manie Greekes haue called the Sunne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to saie stone by allusion to the doctrine of Anaxagoras who held that the Sunn was a stone By meanes whereof the Greeke interpreter of S. MATTHEW hath pretended to put noe difference in sence but only in kinde betweene these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and meant to saie no other thing but what wee vnderstand in French by these words Tuesroc sur ce rocher ie bastiray mon Eglise And therefore alsoe saint BASILL produces the first part of the clause in these words Thou art the Rock 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hauing regard to the wordes of our Sauiour in which the cōdition of the Hebrew and Syriake tongues permitt not to make the distinction of gender as S. HIEROME notes in these words Not saith hee that Petrus and Petra signifie differing things but because that which in latine we call Petra the hebrewes and Syrians because of the affinitie of their tongues call it Cephas And this Beza though an enemie to the true sence of this passage is constrained to confesse in these words The Lord speaking in Syriack hath not vsed diuersitie of name but in both places hath said Cephas as in our vulgar French the word Pierre is said as well of the proper as of the appellatiue And for this same cause he translates the place of the first Chapter of saint Iohn into these termes Thou shalt bee called Cephas which is interpreted Petra that is to saie Rock or stone And not soe much as the doctors of the lewes but doe
acknowledge that our Lord in calling Peter Cephas did intend to call him Rock and to constitute him for the foundation of the Church as appeares by these words of Rabbi Helias in his Tisbi vpon the exposition of the word Cephas Iesus the Nazarean saith hee called Simon sonn of Bariona Cephas which signifies fortitude for the interpretation of the Hebrew word sela is Cepha which signifies in manie places fortitude meaning that he was the head and fortitude of his religion and therefore he called him Cephas And to this there doe agree all the famous editions of scriptures in what tongue soeuer as well printed as manuscripts For not only the Hebrew editiō of the Ghospell of saint MATTHEW published by Munster saith Thou art Cepha and vpon this Cepha Thou art a Rock and vpon this Rock And the Syriack publisht by Moses of Merdin in Mesopotamia and republisht by Tremellius Thou art Kipho and vpon this Kipho thou art a Rock and vpon this Rock But also the Arabicke hath it Thou art Ascara and vpon this Ascara thou art the stone and vpon this stone And the Persian Thou art zeng and vpon this zeng thou art the Rock and vpon this Rock And the Armenian thou art Vimi and vpon this Vimi thou art the stone and vpon this stone And the Ruthenian Egiptian and Ethiopian euen the same Neuerthelesse though the want of the Hebrew and Syriack tongues suffered S AVGVSTINE to fall into this mistake to thinke that the primitiue word Rocke was not there attributed to sainct PETER but only the deriuatiue and that Petrus signifieth not Rock but Rockey or Stonie he hath alwaies acknowledged be it by vertue of the other places of the scripture or be it by vertue of the perpetuall traditiō of the Church the same thing that wee conclude out of this passage to witt the Primacie of saint PETER For interpretating a while after these wordes And I will giue thee the keyes of the Kingdome of heauen of the donation of the keyes made to the Church in the person of PETER he saith the Church did then receaue in the person of PETER the keyes because PETER figured the Church And yeelding elsewhere a reason why the person of PETER figured the Church he declares that it is because of his Primacie Hee beares saith hee by a figur atiue generalitie the person of the Church because of the primacie he had amongst the rest of the disciples By which word Primacie he intends according to the stile of the scripture the superintendencie and principalitie as it appeares by these words of Wisedome I haue had Primacie in all nations And by these wordes of the same saint AVGVSTINE Peter denominated from the Rock happie bearing the figure of the Church holding the principallitie of the Apostleshipp And againe who knowes not that this Principallitie of the Apostleship ought to be preferred before whatsoeuer other Bishoprick And elsewhere in the Roman Church hath alwaies flourisht the Principalitie of the Sea Apostolicke Of the indiuisibilitie of the Church CHAP. IV. The continuance of the Kinges answere BVT it hath begun to diminish in luster as being deuided into manie partes as for externall Communion wholie seperate one from an other THE REPLIE Two Opuntine Bretheren deuided the inheritance of their Father with such rigor as they deuided euen to a cupp and to a Coate It is in a sorte thus with the heretickes they doe indeede deuide the Chalice that our Father hath left vs by Testament and where of Dauid singeth The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my Chalice that is to saie they doe indeede diuide the Sacraments of Christ but the coate of Christ which is his Church they cannot diuide for it is alone and indiuisible When the raigne of Israell saith S. CYPRIAN should be diuided the Prophet Achias diuided his Rayment But because the poeple of Christ cannot bee diuided his coate woven of a peece and keeping it selfe whole was not diuided by those that possessed it The coate of Christ indiuisibly vnited preseruing itself whole shewed the indissoluble Concord of our poeple of vs who haue put on Christ. By the Sacrament signe of his coate he hath declared the vnitie if his Church Who then is he so impious so faithlesse and so disturbed with the fury of discord that beleeues that the vnitie of God the Coate of our Lord the Church of Christ can be deuided or dare to deuide it Not but that the multitude of the persons whereof the Church is compounded and which analogicallie is in steede of matter to it may be deuided but this diuision is but a materiall diuision of the Church and not a formall diuision no more then the diuision that the false mother would haue made of the Child had bene a formall diuision for as much as the being and the forme of the whole had not remained in either of the partes but a materiall diuision For the Church as well as naturall organicall bodies may be materiallie diuided but formallie it cannot be diuided that is to saie the members and parts may indeede be seperated from their whole but after the seperation they are noe more members and parts of the Church but 〈◊〉 and by abuse of language euen as the members and partes of a Bodie indued with a life animall and sensitiue when they come to be seperated from their whole are noe more members and partes but equiuocally forth as much as they participate noe more of the forme of the bodie wich cannot be possessed but in vnitie nor reside but in one only masse vnited and continued By meanes whereof the Church after the diuision of the externall communion resides only in one of the partes to witt in that from which the others haue diuided themselues and not in the others for the Church is either one or none My Doue saith the Spouse is an onelie one And Dauid Hierusalem that is builded as a Cittie whose participation is in vnitie And saint PAVL One bodie and one Spirit as you are called in one hope of your vocation Optatus Mileuitanus There is one Church which can not be at once amongst you and amongst vs. It resteth then that it be in one place And saint CHRISOSTOME The name of the Church is not a name of diuision but a name of vnion and agreement And saint AVGVSTINE He is one the Church is vnitie nothing answeres to one but vnitie And elsewhere Let euerie other inheritance be deūided amongst coheires the inheritance of peace cannot be diuided And therefore when the Fathers saie that hereticks and Schismaticks deuide the Church they intend either that they deuide it as much as lyes in them that is to saie that they indeuor to diuide it or that they deuide it materiallie and not formallie that is to saie that they make thereof manie Societies but not manie Churches Of the effect that diuision brings
and not our mother as the first Eue was who engendred her children dead to Saluation but as the second Eue who engendred her children liuing From whence it is that saint AMBROSE and saint HIEROME call the Church the true Eue mother of the liuing And how then is it that hereticall sects who amongst the conditions vnder which they receiue men into their communion oblige them to hold killing doctrines should attribute to thēselues the title of a Church Hee teacheth vs that the Fathers of the Earth will not giue their children a Scorpion for an egge or a Serpent for a Fishe And how then is it that the Church should giue hers poyson insteede of wholesome food or that hereticall sects whose wine saith saint HIEROM is the furie of Dragons and the incurable furie of Aspes should bee Churches Hee teacheth vs that the Church is the Waie the Gate and Entrie into the Kingdome of Heauen yea for this cause himself often calls it the Kingdome of Heauen it is then of the Essence of the Church that Saluation might be therein obtained and the waie howe to come to the Kingdome of Heauen and consequently that amongst the conditions vnder whose obligation she receiues men into her communion there be none repugnant to Saluation Now contrarywise it is of the Essence and of the definition of hereticall and Schismaticall Societies that amongst the conditions vnder which they receiue men into their communion there are conditions repugnant to Saluation otherwise they could not be hereticall Schismaticall And so it is of the Essence and of the definition of the Church not to be hereticall and it is of the Essence and of the definition of hereticall Societies contrarywise not to be Churches nor partes of the Church and they cannot be called Churches nor members of the Church but falselie and equiuocallie as a dead member that is cutt off from the Bodie is noe member but equiuocallie and by abuse of speeche of as a dead man or a man either formed in picture or raised in a Sculpture is noe man but equiuocally by abuse of speech By meanes whereof it is to erre against the Essence and definition of the Church to hold them for Churches or to reckon them in the totalitie of the catholick Church and to this all the Fathers agree Heresies saith Clemens Alexandrinus are equiuocallie called Churches And saint CYPRIAN Nouatianus doth as Apes doe who would seeme to be men though they be not soe so will he seeme to haue a Church though he haue none And againe When the Nouatians demaunded beleeuest thou the remission of sinns by the holie Church they lye in their Interrogatorie for they haue noe Church And the Elibertine Councell If anie one passe from the Catholick Church vnto heresie and returne againe to the Church c. And the Councell of Sardica Wee cast out of the limtts of the Catholicke Church those that affirme Christ to be God and not verie God And saint HIEROME Heretick make in their Church by false appellation that which they made when they were yet heathen And againe Noe hereticall congregation can be called the Church os Christ. And elsewhere In what Church hath he beleeued in that of the Arrians but they haue none And in the same worke If thou hearest in anie place of men denominated from anie other then from Christ as Marcionites Ualentinians Montagniers or Campites knowe that there is not the Church of Christ. And Optatus Mileuitanus Out of the onelie Church which is the true Catholick Church others amongst hereticks are esteemed to be and are not And againe There is one onely Church which cannot be amongst you and amongst vs it remaines then that she must be in one place And S. AVGVSTINE you are with vs in the creede and in the other Sacraments of our Lord c but you are not with vs in the Catholique Church And againe There is one Catholique Church vpon which other 〈◊〉 impose other names although themselues be all called by particular names which they dare not disauowe From whence it appeares in the iudgement of Iudges not preoccupate with fauour to whom the name of Catholicke whereof they are all ambitious ought to be attributed And elsewhere The Church of the saints is the Catholique Church the Church of the Saints is not the church of Hereticks She hath bene predesigned before she was seene and hath bene exhibited that she might bee seene And in the Booke of Faith and of the creede Neither do the Hereticks belonge to the Catholick church because she loues God nor the Schismatickes because She loues her neighbour And in the Booke against the Fundamentall Epistle In this Church finallie the name of Catholique detaines me which this Church alone amongst so manie and so great heresies hath so preserued as when a stranger askes where they assemble to the Catholick Church there is noe hereticke dare she we his Temple or his howse And in his Treatise vpon saint IOHN All hereticks and Schismaticks are gone out from vs that is to saie are gone out from the Church Faustinus was not President to a Church but to a faction The holie Ghost hath not glorified Christ with a true glorie but in the Catholick Church for elsewhere addeth hee be it amongst hereticks be it amongst Pagans his true glorie vpon earth cannot bee And vpon sainct MATTHEW Jewes and all other hereticks which doe indeede confesse that there is a holy Ghost but denie that he is in the bodie of Christ which is his onely Church no other certainelie but onely the Catholicke are without doubt like the Pharises who though they did confesse that there was an holie Ghost yet denied him to be in Christ. And in the Booke of the method to cathecise the not instructed Wee must saith hee garnish and animate the infirmitie of man against temptations and scandalls be it without or be it within the Church 〈◊〉 against Gentiles or 〈◊〉 or hereticks and within against the Strawe in the Barne of our Lord. And againe Let not the Enemie seduce thee not only by those that are without the Church whether Pagans or Iewes or Hereticks but euen by those that thou seest in the Church euill liuers And in the fowrth Councell of Carthage where he assisted in person Let not the Conuenticles of Hereticks be called Churches but mock-Councells And the verie lawe of the Emperors Hereticks rashlie presume to call their Conuenticles Churches Now if this haue place in other heresies to witt that the beeing and title of a Church is denied to them how much more in that of the Eutychians that is to saie of the Egyptians and Ethiopians which destroy not the walles the roofe and the couering onely but the foundation of the Edifice of Faith vpon the which all the other partes of the doctrine are built to witt Christ the corner stone and maintaine
intended in deede and not in Right for we doe not denie but that the heretickes belong by right to the Church that is to saie that the Church hath to exercise her authority ouer them and to iudge censure and excommunicate them but wee saie that they belonge not in deede to the Catholick church that is to saie that they are not actually comprehended and contained in the catholicke Church and are not members and partes thereof And it is not wee that saie this but saint AVGVSTINE who writes it in these words And therefore neither the heretick belongs to the Catholick Church because she loues God nor the Schismatick because she loues her neighbour Of the proceeding of the other sects CHAP. XII The continuance of the Kings answere AND it is not you alone that attribute to yourselues this right others also doe the same for at this daie a word the king cannot speake without groaning there are manie particular Churches which beleeue themselues onelie to be the particular people that they call the Church if you giue them strength like the Romans they would alreadie haue done as that hath done and would iudge the rest no lesse seuerelie THE REPLIE WHAT those are wee are not to Answere let the dead bury their dead only wee maie saie their conclusion would be good if their hypothesis were true for if they were true churches euery Societie which should be excluded out of their communion should be excluded from the title of the Church and from the right of being able to call thēselues a part of the Catholick Church for as much as the Church as hath bene aboue said is either one or none Of the perswasion that the other sects pretend to haue of the truth of their Church by scriptures CHAP. XIII The Continuance of the Kings Answere WHAT shall I saie more that there are at this daie many sects which are celebrated the sectaries whereof are most stedfastlie persuaded that they alone see some thing into holie writt and as saieth the Poet that they alone are vnderstanding and that the rest hunt after a shaddowe THE REPLIE HARPASTE 〈◊〉 domestical foole hauing lost her sight would not beleeue it was she that was become blinde but perswaded herselfe that it was growne darke It is iust soe with all heretickes they thinke it is the Church that is become darke and full of obscuritie and not themselues which are become blinde To finde anie thing answered the Pelagians to saint AVGVSTINE when he alleadged the multitude of Authors for the Catholicke Church A multitude of blind persons serue to no vse And by that only his maiestie may iudge how necessarie it is not to abandon nor prostitute the exposition of the scripture to the iudgement of euery particular person since there is not that man that when he will make himselfe iudge of it doth not beleeue himselfe only cleere sighted and that the rest as Homer saith embrace nothing but darknes For the Scripture consisting according to saint HIEROME not in the reading but in the vnderstanding and men not being able to assure themselues of the vnderstanding of the Scripture by their particular Spirit for as much as saith saint PETER as the exposition of the Scripture is not made by priuate interpretation it is necessarie to determine the differences that are bredd by the interpretation of the Scripture to haue besides the Scripture a Iudge externall and interposed betweene that and vs who may secure vs of the true sence thereof and that this iudge should haue other markes and be notable by other externall meanes then by that of the doctrine contested since it is from that iudgement that wee ought to learne the decision of the true sence of Scripture in pointes disputable otherwise questions in Religion could neuer be determined no more then differences in ciuill controuersies if wee should leaue the deciding of the sence of the wordes of the lawe to the preoccupated vnderstanding of the Aduocates and parties that there were noe iudge ordained aboue them and sett betweene the lawe and them to interpret it Of the sence wherein hereticks haue disputed the word Catholicke CHAP. XIV The continuance of the Kinges answere IT is verie true that there hath bene noe age wherein there hath not bene conuenticles to raise Sectes parasynaxes which haue bragged of the name of the Catholicke Church and haue drawne ignorant persons to them by this allurement THE REPLIE THAT the ancient Sectes and Parasynaxes of heretickes haue effected the title of Catholicke it was not to pretend in good earnest that it belonged to them nor to drawe ignorant persons to them by that allurement but to dispute it with the catholicke Church and to hinder least by the possession of this name she should preserue her menbers from being defrauded and seduced by hereticks And euen so not to dispute it with her in that sence wherein she attributes it to herselfe to witt as an Epethete of communion but to dispute it in the qualitie of an Epithete of doctrine For heretickes haue alwaies sufficiently knowne that this taken in the true sence could neither be giuen nor maintained to their Sects And therefore they spake not of this word but either in seeming to mocke and scorne at it as when Sympronion saith to saint PACIAN that none vnder the Apostles were called Catholickes And when Fulgentius the Donatist said that the word Catholicke was an human fiction And that the Donatists according to the report of Vincentius Lirinensis cryed out to the Catholicks Come come o you miserable madd people commonlie called Catholicks or in disguising the sence of the word and applying it to signifie the qualitie of doctrine and not the communion of the Church as the Donatists which called themselues Bishops of the Catholicke truth and to whom S. AVGVSTINE said you are those that hold the Catholicke faith not from the communion of the whole world but from the integritie of the diuine Sacraments For when they suffered it to bee admitted in a true sēce they were as speedilie as shamefullie driuen from it I asked him saith S. AVGVSTINE speaking of Fortunatus the Donatist if hee could giue letters cōmunicatory which wee called formed whither I would c. But because the thinge was manifestly false they shifted from it by confusion of language And elsewhere Wee must saith hee hold the Christian Religion and the communion of that Church which is called Catholick not onlie by themselues but by their Enemies For whether the hereticks themselues and the foster children of schismes will or nil not when they speake not with those of their Sects but with others they call the Catholick Church noe otherwise then Catholick Neither could they be vnderstood if they did not discerne it by that name by which the whole world calls it And againe This Church alone amongst soe manie and soe great heresies hath so maintayned this name as when a
stranger askes an hereticke where they assemble to communicate in the Catholicke Church none of them dares to shew his Temple or his howse And the reason the title of catholick was not an allurement wherewith heretickes drewe ignorant persons to them but the firme bond by which the true Church drewe to her and retained in her communion all the true faithfull called to the hope of life eternall and amongst other this Eágle of doctors S. AVGVSTINE who saith That I omitt this sincere wisedome which you beleeue not to be in the catholicke church There be manie other reasons which doe most iustlie retaine me in her lappe the consent of people and nations retaines me the authoritie begunn by miracles 〈◊〉 by hope increased by charitie confirmed by antiquitie retaines me the succession of Prelates euen from the Sea of Peter to whom our lord committed his sheepe to be fedd after his resurrection vntill the present Bishop detaines me And finallie the verie name of Catholicke retaines me And a little after these so manie and so great most deare bondes of the Christian name doe iustlie detaine faithfull men in the Catholick Church although for the slownes of our vnderstanding of the defect of meritts in our liues truth doth not yet shew her else with manifest euidence Of the cases wherein the Communion in vow with the Catholick Church may be imputed as actuall CHAP. XV. The continuance of the Kinges answere BVT this notable calamitie is particular to the last times whereto wee are arriued that the Catholick Church which must bee communicated with either reallie and by effect or at the least voluntarily and in vowe is 〈◊〉 illustrious at this daie then antiently she was and lesse exposed to the view of men and more subiect to bee contested THE REPLIE ARISTOTLE that great Philosopher which steeped his pen say the Greekes in sece in steede of inke teacheth vs that the cittie is before the cittizen to witt not in prioritie of time for a cōmon-weale can not be without a cittizen but in prioritie of nature that is to saie that the being of the cittizen dependes from that of the cittie and not the being of the cittie from that of the cittizen from whence it appeares that the forme that giues being in the first place to the cittie and then by participation to the cittizen must reside in the cittie in the most perfect manner that it can reside and not in the most imperfect And soe although it suffice to preserue to a cittizen the being of a cittizē that in default of being able to participate actuallie in the communion of the common wealth as when he is hindred by anie locall obstacle either of beeing in a strange prison or remayning in a strange countrie he commnicate there habituallie and in desire which is an imperfect manner of communicating it sufficeth not that the communion where by the common wealth is framed and preserued in being should be a simple habituall communion and in vowe but it is necessarie that it should be a true and actuall communion For when a Cittizen is hindred by anie locall impossibilitie from communicating actuallie with his Common wealth he leaues not to preserue the being of a cittizen prouided that hee communicate therewith habituallie that is to saie in vowe and in desire and communicate not in a politicke communion with anie contrarie societie But when the communion of the bodie of a common-wealth comes to be dispersed and that there is noe more anie comerce or actuall communion in the estate then the common wealth is extinct and hath noe more being and the communion that is habituall and in desire of the cittizens dispersed and noe more communicating one with an other cannot preserue it Now euen that ought to be said of the Church whereof the Psalmist singes propheticallie Hierusalem which is built as a cittie whose participatiō is in vnitie to witt that although the cōmunion habituall and in vow sussice for a particular person in case of impossibilitie for the actuall to make him imputatiuelie a member of the Church that is to saie to cause this imperfect communion to serue him to saluation in default of the other Neuerthelesse the Church cannot be framed nor preserued in the beeing of a Church by a communion only habituall and in vowe but by a reall and actuall communion The which as soone as it comes wholie to cease and to perishe in the Church the Church perisheth and ceaseth to be And therefore this distinction of actuall communion and communion in vowe serues well to shewe that anie one may be imputatiuelie in the Church without participating actuallie in the visible communion of the Church prouided that this defect come from an imposibilitie of participating therein actualie but not to shew that the bodie of the Church can subsist and preserue the being and true title of a Church without visible and actuall communion For contrariwise that this imperfect manner of being in the Church serues to his saluation that is hindred by anie locall obstacle from being able to be there actually it is because the true and actuall communion which as in the Church is imputed to him by the desire that he hath to participate thereof which could not be imputed to him if it were not reallie some where and besides this desire of participation must be stript from all other impediments sauing that which proceedes from loand corporall imposibilities in such sort as all those which are not withheld by distance of place or other like obstacle ineuitable to them from participating in the actuall communion of the Church cannot be said to communicate there in vow nor to be there imputatiuely For nothing dispenceth with men for communicating with the Catholicke Church onely in vow and in will and not reallie and by effect if it be not the exclusion of time and place and besides in the article of death noe more then anie thing can excuse a man from being baptised onelie in vow and in will and not reallie and by effect but the condition of being excluded by the impossibilitie of time and of place and also in the Article of death from the meanes how to be baptised And because when the obstacle proceedes from externall impediments onely that if there were local or temporall commoditie he that communicates with the Church in vowe would communicate therewith actuallie this desire of communion may be imputed for true communion and called a communion in vow But when the obstacle proceedes from internall impediments from him that pretendes to communicate there in vow as of repugnancie to the beleefe and to the discipline and the lawes vnder the conditions whereof the Catholick Church receiues into her communion those that she receaues thereinto in such sort as all corporall obstacles being taken awaie and hee being in place where hee may assist at the Catholicke Church communicate with her hee will not doe it this conditionall
that the Church was then perished for since the excellent King will haue it that the only assured marke to discerne which either of the Church which hee calls English or of ours is the true Church be it that which is the essentiall forme of the Church and that he pretends to be doctrine it is necessary that he suppose that the difference which are betweene the Church that hee calls English and ours be questions which take awaie the essentiall forme of the Church and destroy the being of a Church And by consequence that that of the one or other Societie which errs in these pointes shall bee depriued of the essentiall 〈◊〉 of a Church and destitute from the being of a Church And then if when Luther came into the world there were noe Societie neither visible nor inuisible which held that that the English Church holdes at this daie in the pointes disputed betweene her and vs it followes there was then noe Church Of the authoritie of the worke intituled imperfect CHAP. XVII The Continuance of the Kings Answere AND therefore the excellent King thinkes that he ought with soe much the more Care in so great a floud of different opinions withdrawe himselfe into the mountaines of the holie Scripture THE REPLIE WHEN Nauplius King of the Island of Euboea now called Negrepont would at the returne frō the Seige of Troy cause the fleete of the Greekes to be shipwrackt to reuenge the death of his Sonn Palamides hee sett by night torches in forme of a beacon vpon one of the mountaines of his Island at the foote whereof the Sea was full of bankes cliffes and rockes so to drawe their shipps by the hope of a safe hauen to runn hazard and perish in those shores Soe whenantient heretickes whom saint AVGVSTINE calls mountaines for Shipwracke would cause the Catholickes to make shipwracke in Faith the more their doctrines haue bene pernicious and mortall the more they haue adorned and illustrated them with texts and lampes of the scripture This appeares in the heresie of the Arrians who painted and coloured their error with more then fortie passages of the Bible and by this art attempted to call men backe from the externall and sensible markes of the Church which could not bee pretended by false ensignes by those who had them not to reduce them to the only marke of the scripture the interpretation whereof by their subtletie they made subiect to as manie deceipts as there were wordes But aboue all this is verified in the writer from whom his Maiestie borrowes this language who was one of the most passionate Champions of the Arrians For though he cites these wordes without naming the Father neuerthelesse both the termes wherein they are couched and the tracke of those who haue alleadged them before him to witt Caluin in some of the prefaces to his institution the author of the Booke of the Eucharist in the preface to his worke cannot suffer vs to doubt but that they were taken from the author of the worke intituled Imperfect falselie attributed to Sainct CHRYSOSTOME Now that this Author was not onelie an open Arrian but one of the most eager and violent Champions of the Arrians it appeares by this that he calls the Trinitie triangular impietie and the doctrine of the homousians that is to saie of those that held the Consubstantialitie of the Father and the sonne Heresie Not but that I knew well that he is sometimes alleadged euen by Catholickes with the title of saint CHRISOSTOME vnder whose name he had bene first printed at Basle But because it is one thinge to alleadge him in places where hee disputes not against the Church wherein he is excellent and aboue all in the discourse of manners and an other to alleadge him in the places where hee combates with deliberate purpose against the doctrine of the Catholicke Church of his age as he doth in that from whence the words are taken which his maiestie produceth For behold the expresse termes of the passage When you shall see the impious heresie which is the armie of Antichrist sett in the holie places of the Church then let them which are in Iudea flie into the Mountaines that is to saie let them that are in the christian Societie haue recourse to the scriptures And a little after The Lord then knowinge that so great a confusion of things should arriue in the last daies for this cause commaunds that the Christians who are in the Christian Societie being willing to receaue the stedfastnes of the true faith should haue recourse to noe other thing but to the Scriptures otherwise if they cast their eyes elsewhere they shall be scandalized and perish not discerning which is the true Church Now that by this impious heresie and by this Armie of Antichrist he intends the Catholicke Church and the communion of them which beleeue the equalitie of the Father and the sonne he plainelie shewes when he saith in the same Homilie that the great spirituall euills which haue come vpon the Church haue happened in the time of Constantine and Theodosius and that the armie of Antichrist is the heresie and the abhomination of desolation which hath since them possest the holie places of the Church that is to saie the Basilickes that Theodosius cōmaunded to be deliuered vp to the Catholickes And whē he saith in the former Homilie that the heresie of the Homousians that is to saie of those that hold Christ to be consubstantiall which his Father Fights not only against the Church of Christ but euen against the other heresies which hold not the like And in the nineteneth Homilie when hee calls the worshippers the Trinitie Those that honor the triangular impietie Whereby it appeares that this passage if so farre from giuing fauour to his Maiesties intention as contrariwise it manifestes how dangerous a thing it is to seeke to reduce the markes of the Church to the onelie doctrine drawne from the scripture by the interpretation of euerie particular person since the Arrians in the point which of all others should be most expresse in the scriptures for the catholickes to witt in the point of the diuinitie of Christ for if there be anie thing cleree in a Testament it should be the qualitie of the testator refused all the other markes of the Church and all the other waies of disputation and burnt with desire to fight by the onely texts of the Scripture disarmed from the traditions of the Church Of the vnderstanding of these words of S. Augustine to seeke the Church in the words of Christ. CHAP. XVIII The continuance of the Kings answere AND to seeke according to the Councell that S AVGVSTINE heretofore gaue to the Deuatists the Church in the Words of Christ. THE REPLIE WHEN S. AVGVSTINE said in the booke of the vnitie of the Church there is a question betweene the Donatists and vs where the Church is what shall wee thē doe shall wee seeke her
others haue gone forth and is gone forth from none which is also the marke that S. AVGVSTINE 〈◊〉 it when he saith The Catholicke Church combating against all heresies may be opposed but she cannot be ouerthrowne all 〈◊〉 are come forth from her as vnprofitable branches cutt off from their Vine but she remaines in her vine in her roote in her Charitie And S. PACIAN Bishop of Barcelona before him when he writes Now to knowe whether she hath bene principallie built vpon the foundation of the prophetts and of the Apostles in Iesus Christ the corner stone Consider whether she began before thee whither she hath growne before thee if she be not withdrawne from her first foundation whether in separating herselfe from the rest of the Bodie she haue not constituted to herselfe her Masters and her particular instructions if she haue argued anie thing vnaccustomedlie if she haue formed anie point of new right if she haue declared to her Bodie the diuorce of peace then lett her be esteemed to be departed from Christ and to be constituted forth of the prophetts and Apostles And therefore although the point of the assentiall deitie of Christ deserue to be more cleerelie exprest in Scripture then anie other as the qualitie of the Testator ought to bee more cleerelie exprest in the Testament then anie other neuerthelesse for as much as the heretickes by their malice and subtletie shift off the places of Scripture alleadged to this purpose the Fathers after they had tried all their strength to bring them backe to reason by Scripture were constrained seeing they could not make them yeeld vp their weapons by that waie to chāgetheir battery haue recourse to the authoritie of the Church Behold saith saint ATHANASVS wee haue shewed the succession of our doctrine from father to sonn you new Cayphas what Progenitors of your phrases and your termes will you bringe vs And saint HILARIE Lett vs consider soe manie holie fathers what will become of vs if wee anathematize them for we bringe thinges to this point that if they haue not 〈◊〉 Bishops we are none since we haue bene ordained by them And the same saint ATHANASIVS It is sufficient that these things are not of the Catholicke Church and that the Fathers were not of that beleefe From whence it appeareth that if the point of Christs diuinitie had neuer bene exprest in Scripture they held the light of the perpetuall testimonie of the Church for a sufficient proofe of this article For whereas saint CHRISOSTOME compares the Scripture to a Rule according whereto all things should be squared besides this that according signifies there not against he intéds that Scriptures rule all thinges either mediately or immediately that is to saie either by it selfe or by the meanes whereto it remitts vs as hee testifies himselfe in these wordes From whence it appeares that the Apostles deliuered not all thinges in vriting but also manie thinges vnwritten Now either of these are worthie of equall credit Of the Rules to iudge admitted by sainct Chrysostome and S. Augustine CHAP. XX. The continuance of the Kings answere THese two Rules to iudge the King with the English Church embracing them with an earnest desire pronounceth that hee acknowledgeth that doctrine finall ie both to be true and also necessarie to saluation that running from the Springe of the holie Scripture by the consent of the ancient Church as by a channell hath bene deriued downe to this time THE REPLIE NEither doe saint CHRISOSTOME and saint AVGVSTINE restraine the meanes to iudge of all the doctrine of the Church to these two onelie meanes by exclusion of the third to witt of Apostolicke Tradition since saint AVGVSTINE saith this is plainelie read neither by thee nor by me And againe The Apostles haue prescribed nothing in this yet the custome opposit to Cyprian ought to bee beleeued to haue taken originall out of their tradition as it is in manie thinges that the vniuersall Church doth obserue And for this cause indeede well beleeued to haue bene commaunded by the Apostles though they haue not bene written And that saint CHRYSOSTOME saith that from thence it appeares that the 〈◊〉 haue not giuen all thinges in writinge but some also without writinge whereof both sortes are in like manner worthie of creditt And elsewhere It is not in vaine that the Apostles haue giuen it by tradition to offer sacrifice for the dead they know how much aduantage and profitt encreaseth to them thereby Neither is the question in the disputation which is now handled betweene his maiestie and vs of the examination of the right but of the examination of the fact that is to saie wee are not to inquire by conferring the conclusions of Faith with their principles which of the English doctrine or ours is the truth which is a question of right whose triall besides that it must be long goes out of the listes frō the state of the questiō that we treate of But to inquire by the continuāce cōformitie with the aunciēt Catholicke Church whether our Church be the same Church as was in the time of S. AVGVSTINE and of the fowre first Councells which is a question of fact in which must be handled not what ought to be beleeued but what hath bene beleeued For his maiestie being of agreement that there was an obligation of communicatiō with the antient Catholicke Church which flourisht in the time of the foure first Councells and that whosoeuer was separate from the communion of that Church was an hereticke or a Schismaticke And the question is whether I might except from the praises of his maiestie the title of Catholicke which is the first cause of this comparison consisting in the knowing not whether the Church of those ages had beleeued well or euill which is a question of right but whether the Church of the last ages from which his maiestie or those that haue bene before him haue separated themselues be the same Church by an vninterrupted succession both of persons and of doctrine as that was in the time of S. AVGVSTINE which is a question of fact and capable of being proued by historie alone soe as the subtletie of spiritts can finde noe shift for it now to leapefrom the question of fact to the question of right And in steede of examining whether the Catholicke Church of this time had the same beleefe in the pointes controuerted betweene vs and our aduersaries as the Church in the time of the foure first Councells had to dispute whether the Church of those ages hath beleeued well and with what reseruations and mollifications her beleefe must 〈◊〉 receiued it is to goe forth from the state of the question and to change the order and meanes of the disputation Of the application of the Thesis of this obseruation to his Hipothesis CHAP. XXI The continuance of the Kinges answere THen to make an end of this discourse the
shiftes But whether all thinges that they obiect to vs as repugnant to saluation and as occasions sufficient to cause separation from our communion haue bene holden by the Catholicke Church from the time of the first fowre Councells For in case they haue bene so it is cleere that it is sacriledge in them to separate themselues for their occasion from our communion Not but that if this point were once cleered it would be easier for vs then his maiestie conceaues to proue that all thinges that the moderne Catholicke Church holdes as necessary to saluation haue bene holden for such and in the same ranke of necessitie by the antient Catholicke Church in the time of the first fowre Councells but because the lawes of disputation doe not permitt vs to ingage our selues to the triall of this point before the cleering of the other for feare of goeing out of the listes of the question and of confounding the order 〈◊〉 the conference For whereas his Maiestie adds that they haue bene approued ordained frō the beginning it hath bene manifested in the third obseruation of our Epistle that to conuince that a thing haue had place from first ages it is sufficient because of the fowre writinges of of that date that persecutions haue suffered to come downe to vs to proue that it hath bene holden by the Church of the first fowre Councells and that the Fathers that then liued testifie to haue receiued it not as a thinge of a newe institution but as a thing deriued to them by an vninterrupted succession from the age of the Apostles to the Church of their time and that none of the preceding authors saie the contrary His Maiesties owne selfe being agreed with vs in this as hath often alreadie bene repeated that the only little Booke of the Acts of the Apostles is verie farr from contayning all the historie of the primitiue Church Of the exceptions that the Kinge produceth to shewe that he hath not separated himselfe from the Church CHAP. XXIX The continuance of the Kings answere FInallie the King adds that it is a great crime to separate ones selfe from the Church but that he hath anie thing common with that crime either hee or his Churchh ee 〈◊〉 denes for saith his maiestie wee fly not but we are driuen away THE REPLIE AND why then doe Ministers soe earnestly exhort their hearers rather to indure all kindes of death then to communicate in our Synaxes And why then when they would dehort those of their partie from marrying with Catholickes doe they alleadge those words of sainct PAVL What communion is there of the faithfull with an Infidell And ioyne also in their prayers the Turkes Papists and other Infidells And why then doth his maiestie alleadge for a reason not to communicate with vs these words of the reuelation Goe forth of Babilon my people for feare of communicating with her sinns For to offer to communicate with vs when wee shall haue corrected those thinges that our Aduersaries pretend to haue bene deformed in our Church who sees not that that is not to offer to returne to vs but to desire that wee should returne to them And what sect hath there bene in the world that hath not offered to communicate with the Catholicke Church prouided that the Catholicke Church would renounce those pointes for which they were at difference that is to saie soe she would loose the condition of being the Catholicke Church Of the demaunds made for Reformations since the fiue last ages Chapt. XXX The continuance of the Kings Answere AND your illustrious dignitie knowes as he that is well informed thereof how manie and how great personages in pietie and doctrine haue desired at least for this last fiue hundred yeares the reformation of the Church in the head and in the members How manie greuous complaints of good kinges and princes haue there bene heard deploring the estate of the Church in their ages But what hath it auailed For wee see not that hitherto there hath bene anie one of those thinges corrected which were esteemed before all others to bee fitt for correction THE REPLIE THOSE demaundes of reformation in the head and in the members propounded before the last deuisiōs of the Church haue bene demaundes of reformation not in the doctrine of Faith and of the sacraments or vniuersall ceremonies of the Church but in manners and in the practise of ecclesiasticall discipline which euen these words of reformation both in the head and members principallie vsed in the time of the Councells of Constance and of Basile testifie Now as there is great difference betweene complayning of the personall practise of Iustice and of the exercise of the Officers of a Kingdome and desiring the reformation thereof and betweene complayning of the lawes ordinances and constitutions of the state soe there is great difference betweene complayning of the conuersation and manners of Ecclesiasticall persons betweene complayning of the doctrine and institutions of the Church For when the corruption to speake by hypothesis is in the doctrine or in the sacraments or vniuersall ceremonies of the Church none can remaine in the communion of the Church without participating in that contagion but when it is in the manners and in the practise of discipline those onely that committ the faultes are culpable therein and not the rest who tolerate them as sainct AVGVSTINE saith for the good of vnitie that which they detest for the good of equitie And to whom the more frequent and fowle such scandalls are by soe much the more is the meritt of their perseuerance in the communion of the Church and the martir-dome of their patience as sainct AVGVSTINE calls it For this only Sacrifice of choosing rather to support the remayning in communion with such persons then to rent the coate of Christ and to separate themselues from his Church to auoid their Societie is the most pleasing Sacrifice that can be offered vp to God Now the Church hath alwaies not only since the last ages but from all antiquitie bene filled with such like complaints For while she shall remaine in this world she shall alwaies singe this verse of the Canticle I am black but I am louelie That is to saie black in manners 〈◊〉 louelie in doctrine our Lord hauing deferred till his second Coming the making her glorious and without sport And not only so but euerie one in his time hath alwaies beleeued himselfe to bee in the worst age of the Church for manners and for the practise of discipline because they sawe the euills of their owne time and did but heare the historie of other times whereof the relation doth not soe liuely touch the eares as the sight touches the eyes But neuerthelesse neither the euill hath alwaies gone on increasing nor the good alwaies diminishing but according to the diuersitie of the ages the Church hath bene either more or lesse pure in manners For as for those that in the