Creedes for do not they both expound and vnfould that high and obstruse mystery of the Godhead of Christ his identity and equality of substance power and glory with God his Father witnesse those wordes added and vsed in the Councell of Nice about 310. yeares after Christ Deum de Deo Lumen de Lumine Deum verum de Deo vero genitum non factum consubstantialem Patri God of God Light of Light very God of very God begotten not made being consubstantiall to the Father c. Witnesse S. Athanasius his Creed that was made by him in Rome for Confession of his fayth some 15. yeares after that againe wherein there is found that exact manner of speach distinguishing the persons of the Blessed Trinity Qualis Pater talis Filius talis Spiritus Sanctus Such as the Father is such is the Sonne and such is the holy Ghost and then he setteth downe more particulerly the distinctiue appellations and peculiar proprieties belonging vnto euery person as the Father vnbegotten the Sonne begotten of the Father the holy Ghost proceeding asmuch as if in plaine tearmes he had said the Father distinguished with this personall propriety of begetting a Sonne is a Father and no Sonne the Sonne distinguished with his personall propriety of being begotten is a Sonne and not a Father the holy Ghost distinguished by his personall propriety of proceeding is an holy Ghost neyther Father nor Sonne 14. By all which we see the exceeding great authority of the Church in determining these different manners of speach in disclosing this ineffable and inutterable mystery of the Trinity which are not found at all totidem verbis in the Scriptures and therefore were denied by the Scripturian Heretickes for as learned Hosius noteth and it is the obseruation of S. Ambrose against one only article of our Sauiours consubstantiality with his Father they alleaged 50. places of Scripture I meane the Arians who did beare great sway and insinuated themselues into the fauour of the Emperors for the better supporting of their damnable heresies as the Protestants do creepe into the fauour of our King at this day for the vphoulding of their errors and therefore great pitty it was that the Protestants and Arians had not liued in one age togeather that they might haue ioyned hands ech one with another who do so neare resemble ech one the other in their behauiour and manner of proceeding 15. VVell then we see that the former mysteries of the Diety and Trinity could be determined by no other power and authority vpon earth then by that supreme power of the Church for that expresse warrant of Scripture there was none in their pretence for many of these wordes that are now vsed and frequented by the Church in the explication of these Creedes were not then in vse but inuented and applied afterwads by the Church according to the present necessity And yet notwithstanding haue they beene so acknowledged and receaued euer since by all Christendome that the authority of the Church in that behalfe determining and expounding hath stood inuiolable and such as haue not admitted the same haue euer beene reputed and accompted for wicked and damned Heretickes And this is to be noted with attention as before I haue partly touched in generall that albeit the Councell of Nice representing the whole Christiā Church of that age did not nor could not make any new article of beliefe that was not true before but only did more fully and plainely explane and declare such things as the impudency and importunity of Heretickes called into doubt and question so did not the said Councell explayne all that belonged to the diuine persons for they left at Credo in Spiritum sanctum I belieue in the holy Ghost and there brake of not vnfoulding any thing particulerly touching the procession of the holy Ghost from the Father and the Sonne about which there was afterwards so great strife and contention and is to this day with the later obstinate Greekes affirming the same Person to proceed only from the Father not from the Sonne but left that by Gods prouidence to be expounded afterwardes by other Councells when that poynt should be called into question and so it was So that it is more then euident vnto euery one that will not wilfully shut his eyes against the cleare sunne shine of truth that there is left continuall power in the Church to explayne and determine with authority and that irrefragable and vnresistable any doubt neuer so weighty about the Persons of the Trinity or any other article of beliefe or any other high point of diuine mystery that shall arise among Christians and that vnto the worlds last ending euery one vnder paine of dānable obedience against Christs spouse and the holy spirit the director thereof is bound to submit and captiuate his iudgment and vnderstanding thereto and not to stand in contention against the same And thus much of these three Creedes in generall how they are to be reuerenced now let vs descend vnto the seuerall articles and positions therof in particuler The second Consideration NOvv succeedeth our second Consideration about the examining of certaine particulers of these three Creedes how they are receiued and belieued You haue heard before how the Ministers of the Church of England do subscribe vnto the same at their Ordination Now let vs examine whether this English Cleargy notwithstanding all their subscription thereunto do indeed truly belieue them and expound them in the selfe same sense interpretation and meaning as the Generall Councells and ancient Fathers that collected them meant them as they do perswade his Matie they do A man would think that so solemne an Oath taken before an Ecclesiasticall Iudge at the Tribunall of the Church and that for preseruation of Religion and conseruaaion of the integrity of ancient faith laid downe in ancient Creedes and generall Councells should religiously bynd before God and men people of their quality and condition but behold heresy that neither feareth God nor reuetenceth man obserueth no band at all but draweth euery thing to euery mans particuler iudgment and censure and therefore it doth little auaile the ministers of the Church of England to reuerence and receaue the wordes of the Creed whilst they reiect the Churches sense and true meaning of the same to sweare vnto them in wordes by subscription at their Ordinatiō but to forsweare them in deedes by a peruerse and sinister interpretation and exposition And this God willing shal be made good against them in the subsequent Considerations directed and addressed for this especiall purpose 17. First then it is set downe and denounced in the Creed of S. Athanasius read euery sunday in the English Church by order of the communion booke that VVhosouer doth not belieue wholy and inuiolably the Catholicke fayth shall without doubt perish euerlastingly By which Catholicke fayth he vnderstandeth the whole Catholicke fayth and euery article or
bookes of Preisthood doth very well declare 4. And now to come vnto these Councels and to speake particulerly of euery one of them as they lye in order The Councell of Nice was gathered togeather somewhat more then three hundred yeares after Christ and the occasion of this first great Ecclesiasticall Assembly of all the world met togeather by their Bishops in this generall Councell was for the censuring and suppressing of two capitall and damnable heresies that then inuaded and infested the Church of Christ. The first was the heresy of the Arians and this impugned nay flatly denyed the second Person his identity of essence to wit the Sonne his equality of substance and hodhead with the Father granting him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like vnto the Father but denying him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same substance with the Father which was the fayth and beliefe of the Catholicke Church in those dayes 5. The second heresy was the heresy of the Quartadecimans concerning the celebrating of Easter-day of which heresy to speake any thing in particuler at this tyme I intend not since it is not to my present purpose only I refer the reader vnto the author of the Three Conuersions of England where this point is both substantially and punctually discussed The mayne point wherof I am to treat in this place is to intimate vnto the Reader how both these heresies of the Arians and the hereticall Quartadecimans were determined censured and anathematized by the authority of this soueraigne and supreme Ecclesiasticall Tribunall I meane the first Generall Councell of Nice which consisted as S. Ambrose obserueth alluding to the iust number of Abraham his souldiers of three hundred eighteene Bishops gathered from all partes of Christendome And this was the first Generall Councell that could be Assembled vntill that time in respect of the most bloudy and cruell persecutions that had continued for the greatest part of the prcedentages 6. And here we are to obserue that albeit that three other Prouinciall nationall Councells are recorded to haue bene celebrated before this of Nice and after that of the Apostles Act. 15. to wit one at Rome of 60. Bishops against Nouatus vnder Decius the cruell Emperour and Cornelius the martyred Pope another at Ancyra in Galatia vnder Dioclesian the third at Neocaesarea vnder Constantines Father and Pope Melchiades according to Prateolus his accōpt yet this Councell of Nyce was the first great glorious Ecclesiasticall tribunall which was publikely erected in the Christian Church for al Nations to repayre vnto after the first planting of the faith of Christ. 7. The second generall Councell was that of Constantinople somwhat more then fifty yeares after in the yeare of our Lord 383. and it consisted of an hundred and fifty Bishops gathered togeather against Macedonius Patriarch of Constantinople who openly denyed and blasphemed against the diuinity of the holy Ghost for which damnable heresy of his both he and all that partaked with his hereticall faction were condemned censured and cast out of the Church and deliuered ouer to Sathan for that they blasphemed against the third sacred Person of the blessed Trinity And this second great and generall Councel was held vnder Gratian and Theodosius Emperours and vnder Damasus then Bishop of Rome 8. The third Generall Councell was that which was assembled at Ephesus almost other fifty yeares after that againe in the yeare of our Lords incarnation 434. This Councell consisted of two hundred Bishops gathered a-against another Archbishop of Constantinople named Nestorius but an Arch-hereticke and it was held vnder the Emperour Theodosius and Pope Celestinus This Nestorius as Vincentius Lyrinensis in his goulden tract against heresies and 17. chapter describeth his heresy whilst he made shew of distinguishing two natures in Christ he suddainly brought in two persons and by an execrable impiety thereby made two Christs the one God the other man the one begottē of God the Father the other borne of the Virgin his mother and therfore he did further auerre that holy Mary was not to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mother of God but the mother of Christ because forsooth that Christ which was God was not borne of her but the Christ which was man Hitherto my Authour And for this damnable heresie was Nestorius condemned by this third Councell worthily cast out of the Catholicke Church howbeit I must confesse that I cannot see how Caluin Beza vpon the point of Christs incarnation and hypostaticall vnion with diuers others Protestants following thē can possibly auoid this ould condemned heresy but that Nestorianisme must follow as a necessary consequence of the doctrine which they deliuer vpon the point of Christs incarnation and vnion 9. The fourth generall Councell was that of Chalcedon and this was some twenty yeares and vpwardes after the foresaid counsaile of Ephesus in which Councell there were assembled six hundred and thirty Bishops Archbishops and Patriarches This great assembly was gathered against on Eutiches an Archimandrite or Abbot of Constantinople in like manner who so confounded the natures in Christ that he absolutely denied that there were two distinct natures in him For which monstrous opinion of his differing frō the Canon of Catholick faith he was cōdemned togeather with his fautor partener of his hereticall faction I meane Dioscorus Archbishop of Alexandria as was Nestorius another Archbishop before him for houlding two persons in Christ. And this famous and through the whole Christian world renowned Councell was assebled and held vnder Martian that then swayed the Empire and S. Leo the first then Bishop of the Apostlicall Sea of Rome 10. And now to make vse in generall of that which hath bene spoken concerning the foure Councels by some particuler application and illation the inference must needes be this that if the Church of England do indeed admit and reuerence these foure first Generall Councelles as it should seeme his Maiesty is of opinion it doth and their Acts of Parlament confirme the same then doth it follow by necessary and ineuitable consequence though the conclusion ouerthrow a mayne ground of Protestanticall Religion that they must needes will they nil they graunt the Catholicke Church not only to haue bene visible at this time but also to haue bene in great splendor and magnificence otherwise how could it possibly be that fix hundred and thirty Bishops could assemble and meet so readily togeather and all these for the most part out of the Easterne parts of Christēdome only to speake nothing of the west 11. Furthermore for as much as our English Church in admitting these Councels and that in the greatest Consistory of the Kingdome the high Court of Parliament doth therby acknowledge and condescend vnto that this externall visible Church consisting of good and bad is Christs true Church indued with all the priuiledges aboue mentioned of
Papae vobis recitatis sanctae Ecclesiae membra sanctis vestrisvocibuspijque preconijs sancto vestro Capiti vos exhibueritis Non enim ignara est vestra Beatitudo totius fidei ceterorumque omnium Apostolorum Caput beatum Petrum Apostolum extitisse c. We yeld thankes vnto this holy and venerable Synod that vpon the reading of the letters of our most holy and most blessed Pope Celestine you haue exhibited and shewed your selues by your holy applause and prayses as holy members of the Church vnder your holy head For your Beatitude is not ignorant that S. Peter was head of the whole Christian fayth and of all the rest of the Apostles c. This much more spake he to this effect which I pretermit for breuities sake in the assembly of all those great Bishops that were present and yet not one of all those zealous and learned Bishops opposed himselfe against his vsurped Supremacy as the hereticks slaunder it a point very considerable and remarkeable in my opinion and farre different from the groundes of Protestant religion 49. Out of the 4. Councell gathered at Chalcedon vnder the authority of Pope Leo the first surnamed the Great a man of singuler holines wonderfull learning famous for miracles renowned through the whol ChristiaÌ„ world about this Councell I say I might produce many thinges of great ponderation especially about the said Supremacy of the Sea of Rome professed challenged practized most euidently as may appeare in that Councell For first Lucentius Legate and one of the three sent from S. Leo in that Councell vttered freely these wordes Iudicij sui ipsum nempe Dioscorum necesse est reddere rationem quia cùm nec personam iudicandi haberet subrepsit Synodum ausus est facere sine auctoritate Sedis Apostolicae quod ritè numquam factum est nec licuit Dioscorus must needes render an accompt of hys iudgment because when he was not personally inuested with any lawfull power of iudging and vmpiring he crept and stole in durst gather a Synod without authority of the Sea Apostolicke which was neuer rightly nor could be lawfully done 50. And Paschasius another Legate in the same Councell addeth Sed de his esse regulas Ecclesiasticas Patrum instituta But of these thinges he meaneth the Supremacy of the Bishop of Rome there are Ecclesiasticall Canons and decrees of Fathers So farre he 51. Secondly I obserued that euery where almost throughout this CouÌ„cell Pope Leo is there stiled Vniuersalis Episcopus et Patriarcha Magnae Romae vniuersall Bishop Patriarch of the great citty of Rome Also he is called vniuersalis Ecclesiae Episcopê° Bishop of the vniuersal Church And againe in the same third action it is said to one of Pope Leo his Legats NuÌ„c vestra Sanctitas primatuÌ„ tenet SaÌ„ctissimi Leonis c. Now your Holines hath the Primacy of most holy Leo and yet againe Petimus Vestram Sanctitatem qui habes magis autem qui habetis locum sanctissimi Papae Leonis promulgare in eum regulis insitam contra cum proferre sententiam We do request your Holines which haue or rather who haue for they were three Legates to wit Paschasius Lucentius and Caelius Bonifacius that you will in the place of most holy Pope Leo promulgate against him and pronounce the sentence that is conteyned in the Canons And afterwardes when they came to subscribe against Dioscorus for his condemnation first of all the foresaid three Legates of S. Leo do subscribe in these wordes Paschasius Episcopus Ecclesiae Lylibetanae vice Beatissimi atque Apostolici vniuersalis Ecclesiae Papae vrbis Romae Leonis sanctae Synodo praesidens in Dioscoridamnationem consensu vniuersalis Concilij subscripsi I Paschasius Bishop of Lylibaeum in Sicilia in behalfe or steed of the most blessed and Apostolicall Pope of the vniuersall Church and Citty of Rome Pope Leo presiding ouer this holy Synod haue subscribed by consent of the vniuersall CouÌ„cell to the condemnation of Dioscorus So he And after him subscribed immediatly the other two Roman Legates and then againe the Patriarches of Constantinople Antioch and the rest and the same is repeated and obserued in many other places as particulerly in the 4. and sixt actions where the Bishops names and Bishops are recorded being aboue six hundred as hath bene said my conclusion of all is this and wil the Protestants allow this for sound doctrine when they take vpon them to receiue this Councell with the rest 52. But besides this point of the Supremacy of the Bishop of Rome in this Councell I fell vpon sundry other thinges that inforced me to reflect vpon them as namely in the Canons themselues The 16. Canon hath these words Virginem quae se Domino Deo dedicauit similiter Monachos non licere matrimonio coniungi Si autem hoc secisse inuentifuerint sint excoÌ„municati c. It is not lawfull for a virgin that hath dedicated her selfe to God as neither for Monks to marry And if by chance they should be found to haue done so let theÌ„ be excommunicated And is this currant doctrine in England Or is this receiued togeather with the CouÌ„cell 53. Another poynt that I cast my eyes and bent my mind somewhat seriously vpon was the 24. Canon of the same foresaid Councell and it lieth thus Quae semel voluntate Episcopi consecrata sunt monasteria res ad â—as pertinentes seruari ipsis Monasterijs decreuimus neque vlterius ea posse fieri saecularia habitacula qui verò permiserint haec fieri subiaceant his condemnationibus quae per Canones constitutae sunt The monasteries that are once consecrated by the will of the Bishop must perpetually remayne monasteries and all things belonging to the same we haue decreed that they be preserued to the vse of the said monasteries and that they cannot any more be made seculer habitations that they which shall permit such thinges to be done shall vndergo the condemnations that are appoynted to be inflicted according to the Canons So that Canon And this seemeth also to me very hard to stand with the Doctrine and moderne practice of England where monasteries are turned into seculer vses without the feare of the threat heere set downe by the spirit and authority of this generall Councell as euery one will confesse Wherfore heere also we must imagine that albeit the Church of England and ParliameÌ„t do admit this Councell yet will they not easily yeald to obey the commaundement of restoring the Monasticall landes and houses vnto those religions vses againe wherunto they were instituted and so it seemeth that they will remaine with the name and curse of the Councell Let vs passe ouer to the last head of his Maiesties offer THE FIFTH CHAPTER CONCERNING THE ADMITTANCE AND ACCEPTANCE OF THE ANCIENT FATHERS OF the first fiue hundred yeares after Christ which is the fourth and last head
A notable speach of Vincentius Lyrinensis Prem p 3â— His Maiesties honorable offer Aug. l. 3. de bapt coÌ„t Donat. cap. 15. How the first three Creeds why they were ordained how greatly they are to be reuereÌ„ced The cause of ordayning the Apostles Creed Aug. ser. 181. de teÌ„p Cap. 2. coÌ„t haereses Vbi supra serm 181. de temp Signification of the word Symbol or Creed The great substance of the Apostolicall Creed The Apostolicall Creed no Scripture yet necessary to be belieued Ruff. in Symbolum The force of tradition in the Church A questioÌ„ solued where the voice of the Church may be found De fide ad Gratian. The creed of the couÌ„cel of Nice of S. Athanasius Conc. Nicen l. 4. p. 565. edit Venet. Ambros. de fide Hos. de expresso Dei verbo The great authority left in the Church for deciding Controuersies That the Ministers of EnglaÌ„d belieue notwholy entirely the faith of the 3. Creeds No saluation without belieuing the whole Catholicke sayth entirely ProtestaÌ„ts do not receaue the whole faith but mingled with many heresies Diuers ancient Heresies held now by Protestants * M HuÌ„frey Liech About the Nicene Creed Passim in Epist. ad Polonos l. cont Gentilem 2. lib. de Christ. c. 19. Caluin his Autotheisme hereticall In what particuler article of the Creed English ProtestaÌ„ts do not agree with vs. About Christs desceÌ„ding into hell Lib. 1. hist. cap. vlt. In epist. ad Trallian Bucer in cap. 27. Matth. Caluins horrible opinion about the article of Christs descensioÌ„ into hell Cal. 2. inst c. 16. 6. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Item in Catechismo paruo iteÌ„ psych. item in harmo Euangelica cap. 27. Math. 2. Inst. cap. 16. §. 10. 2. Instit. c. 16. §. 9. A story of the contention of English Ministers about the descent of Christ into hell Psal. 15. Tertul. de praescript A strange ridiculous exposition of the Article DesceÌ„dit ad inferos Tho. Rogers in his 39. articles pag. 15. 16. c. The Church of England aduersary to many of her owne for many hould that Christ desceÌ„ded not into hell at all Thaddaeus Ignatius Iustinus Martyr Irenaeus all antiquity are dreaming Papists in M. Rogers definitiue opinion Credo Ecclesiam Catholicam The visible beginning of the Catholicke Church Lib. 25. in ob c. 24. 5. Vincent Lyrinensis aduersus hareses c. 3. Tertull. de praescript cap. 32. Thè Protestantly meaning about this 9. article 1. Later propositions of the Protestáts about the Church Rogers ar 19. pag. 86. 2. 3. 4. 5. Markes of the Church 6. Ridiculous proofs that the Church may erre Rogers p. 96. Lib. de PoÌ„t à cap. 8. ad finem vsque ad cap. 15. Premonit pag. 35. How the ParlameÌ„t Church of EnglaÌ„d do admit the first foure Generall Councels Why and how these foure first Councels were gathered and how therby it is conuinced that the church caÌ„not err Vide Aug. de vnit Eccles in pluribus locis Mat. 18. 15 16. 17. 18. 1. Tim. 3. 15. Chrys. l. 3. de sacerdot Councell of Nice assembled anno 327. De fide ad Gratian. Anno. 252 Anno. 308 Adno 311. The secoÌ„d generall Councell of ConstaÌ„tinople an 383. The third generall Councell of Ephesus Ann. 434. Lib. 1. Inst. c. 13. §. 9. 23. 24. The 4. generall Councell was that of CalcedoÌ„ 20. yeares after An euideÌ„t declaratioÌ„ that the whole Church cannot erre Aug. in Psal. 101 S. Aug. excellent speach of the perpetuity of the Church Matth. 29. â—0 Application of S. Augustins speaches vnto our Sectaries Aug. in psal 47. That the Church shall neuer Apostatate De vnit Eccles. The inuincible strength of the Church Matth. 23. Why ProtestaÌ„ts do not nor can remedy their diuisions by any Generall or Nationall Councell ProtestaÌ„ts can abide parly and treaty neither with Catholiks nor amoÌ„g theÌ„selues Vide Conc. Calced act 3. p. 163. edit Venet. The terginersation of the heretick Eutiches fully represeÌ„ting the ProtestaÌ„ts Lib. 4. Iust. cap. 9. §. 1â— Vide resp Gaspar VillapaÌ„di ad bas causas ProtestaÌ„ts shifts to auoid comming to Councels Stan. Resc l. 1. de Atheism c The ProtestaÌ„ts disagreemeÌ„to in their meetings Tertul. de praescript Aug. l. 3. cont epist. Parmen c. 4. ser. 11 de verb. Domini c. Particuler points of differeÌ„ces betweene these 4. generall Councels the Protestants of our tyme for doctrine and manners Conc. Neocaes can 1. an 316. The decree of the CouÌ„cel of Nice and Neocaesaraea against the Marriage of Priests Ann. 711. Basil. epist. 1. ad Amphi c. 3. Epiphan hares 59. The answere vnto Caluins obiection about Paphnutius Another Canon of the Councel of Nice about the Reall presence A Canon of the second CouÌ„cell much making against Protestants VinceÌ„tius LyrineÌ„sis his relatioÌ„ of the CouÌ„cell of Ephesus CoÌ„c Ephes. tom 1. cap. 22. in epist. Imperat. Secular men may not meddle in Ecclesiastical consultations CoÌ„c Ephes. tom 1. c. 16 Con. Eph. tom 2. c. 17 The Supremacy of the Pope of Rome coÌ„firmed by the councell of Ephesus The CouÌ„cell of ChalcedoÌ„ CoÌ„c Calc act 1. Ibidem Act. 2. in libel Theodor Ischir SophoÌ„ c Ibid. in subscript coÌ„t DioscoruÌ„ Conc. Calc act 3. tom 2. p. 252. edit Venet. Marriage of Monks and NuÌ„ns forbidden by this Councell Prem p. 35. Aug. l. 2. cont Crescon c. 31. A complaint against the Ministers of EnglaÌ„d for misinforming his Maiesty ValeÌ„t l. 8. Ana. c. 8. Lib. con hareses The opinion of Iesuites about the authority of the Fathers A consequence of great incoÌ„uenience How S. Augustin did not admit the authority of S. CypriaÌ„ in a particuler case The different esteeme that Catholicks Protestants do make of ancieÌ„t Fathers wheÌ„ they agreâ— in one Aug. l. 2. coÌ„ Iulian. Pelag. ver sus finem S. Augustines opinion for the esteem of the Fathers Aug. l. 3. â—ypo Lib. 2. de nuptiis concupis Cap. 29. Scoffes of PelagiaÌ„ hereticks against ancient Cerimonies of Baptisme Aug. ibid. ProtestaÌ„ts become Pelagians in deriding ancient Cerimonies Aug. l. 2. coÌ„t Iulian. Pelagiau How contemptible the authority of heretickes was to S. Augustin in respect of the ancient Fathers Lib. 2. coÌ„t Iulian. circamed Aug. l. 2. coÌ„t Iulian. propefineÌ„ An excelleÌ„t reason of S. Augustine How Catholicks ProtestaÌ„ts do esteem of the testimonies of particuler Fathers Aug. l. 1. coÌ„t Iulian. Pelag. cap. 2. Lib. 1. cont Iulian Pelag cap. 2. Thesurest rule how to iudge of particuler Fathers opinions or assertions about matters of faith When any priuate Father did erre he was presently noted by others Aug. l. 3. de bapt coÌ„tra Donatist c. 4. l. 2. conâ— Cresconâ—â— cap. 32. Aug. lib. 1 contr Iulin cap. 2. One Doctors opinion the doctrine of the Church That the Fathers of euery age for the first 500. yeares did make for catholicks against ProtestaÌ„ts in matters now in coÌ„trouersy Cap. 4. 42. coÌ„t haereses Diuers things may lead vs to discerne the true Church though they be not articles of necessary beliefe Centur. prima lib. 2. cap. 4. 1. About the Reall Presence Magdebur Cent. 2. c. 4 pag. 55. 56. 57. c. 2. About Free will 3. The Doctrine of good workes 4. Whether the Commandements be impossible 5. Externall sacrifice of Christians 6. About traditioÌ„s The primacy of the church of Rome 8. Excellency merit of martyrdome 9. IntercessioÌ„ of Saints 10. About the state of Virginity The conclusion of this age 11. Inuo catioÌ„ of Angels Magd. ceÌ„t 3. c. 4. p. 75 76. deinceps Hom. 1. in EzechieleÌ„ 12. Iustification by good workes 13. The merit of good workes Scriptures Fathers reiected togeather wheÌ„ they fit not the ProtestaÌ„t fancy 14. About peÌ„nance Magd. ceÌ„t 3. c. 4. p. 81. 15. Blessing of the water of baptisme 16. Chrisme and holy vnction in baptisme 17. Prayer vnto Saints Cent. 3. c. 4 p. 85. 86. CeÌ„t. 3. c. 4. pag. 85. 18. The doctrine of Purgatory Cet 4. c. 4. pag. 242. HieroÌ„ ep ad Demetriadem Lib. 8. coÌ„ in Isaiam CeÌ„t. 4 cap. 4. p. 293. Cent. 4. p. 301. Cent. 5. c. 4 p. 501. 502. c. Gregor in 1. Reg. c. 1. Cent. 5. pag. 506. Hom. 34. in Euang. The Fathers iniuriously handled by the Magdeburgians The conclusion ImportaÌ„ce of being a Catholicke The horror of heresie The 4. heads proposed The great profit receiued by the ancieÌ„t Fathers The dangerous estate of belieuing the ProtestaÌ„ts in EnglaÌ„d A strange pittifull case happened to his Maiesty How God coÌ„curreth with the actions of euill men but not with their intentioÌ„s The mark aymed at by the first Ghospellers in Scotland concerning his Maiestie The Epilogue of all Of persecution Persecutor
great S. Beda for the latin But for that I will not be prolixe and because I hasten to my second Consideration which is the very maine Conclusiō of all my whole discourse hitherunto I will knit vp all with that goulden admonition of Vincentius Lyrinensis an Author which who so readeth and belieueth it is impossible if he will professe any religion that he should be ought els but a Roman Catholicke well his wordes are these Let vs hould that saith he which hath bene belieued generally of all for that this is truly and properly Catholicke as the very nature signification of the name doth import And then for further explication he giueth a threefold prescription for a more sure and infallible direction and this is vniuersality Antiquity and Consent all which he must as time and occasion serueth adhere vnto that will be accompted truly Catholicke And yet in the beginning of his fourth Chapter he illustrates the first Prescription of Vniuersality most pertinent for our purpose at this time by way of supposition and question moued and answered His wordes are these VVhat then shall a Catholick Christian doe if any parcell of the Church shall cut it selfe of from communion of the vniuersall faith This is the questiō moued the answere followeth VVhat els forsooth should he doe but that he preferre the health of the whole body before any one pestilent and corrupted member thereof 20. And hereupon I began to enter into a serious Cōsideration and a seuere examination of my owne Conscience in a secret recollected and most retired conference betwixt God and my owne soule touching matters of religion as they shall eyther doome me or saue me at the last day First I considered yea and seriously within my owne hart debated demaunding of my selfe whether the Protestants Church and doctrine wherof I then was a reall and formall member and Professor had not cut it selfe of yea departed and separated it selfe from the vnion and communion of the vniuersall faith and from the sauing and conuerting Ghospell of Christ his Kingdome which was first to be preached to all Nations as Christ promised that it should come to passe before the worldes great destruction and generall consummation This was my first demaund and the answere returned vnto me by the Catholicke Church of ancient Fathers vpon view of their doctrine and comparing it c. nay by the spirit of God since it was promised to be the guider and directour of his Church I say the answere returned was that the Protestants Church doctrine had abandoned both Catholick name Catholick faith and therefore as beames cut of from the sunne as boughes violently broken of frō the tree and streames and channels parted and separated from their originall fountaine as S. Cyprian speaketh they were to perish vanish and come to naught And now what course remained for me to take if I regarded at all the welfare of my soule but to follow the sage weighty counsaile of my foresaid authour Vincentius Lyrinensis my Authour indeed being the only meanes next vnder God of my Conuersion from heresy to Catholicke Religion and that is to prefer the health and welfare of the whole body before any one pestered and infested member therof His meaning in plainer termes is that in time of Schisme and Heresy or in particuler Countries Apostacy from the Catholicke Christian faith and religion euery Catholicke Christian that is already in the Church must hoouer vnder the winges of the Church by retyring into her lap and bosome in time of any danger And he that is an Hereticke and of an hereticall Congregation and consequently forth of the Church must endeauour by all means possible to become a Catholicke by returning againe vnto the Communion of Catholick Religion out of which it is impossible there should be any saluation 21. This first Consideration I enlarged yet further extending it by a second supposition to witt if the Protestants Church and doctrine be Catholicke indeed as they would beare the world in hand it is then it hath bene generally reaceaued of Christians ouer all Christendome in that sense as it is now in opposition against the Roman Church then the Protestants can produce visible Churches of theirs that haue bene extant from the Apostles time downwards hitherto that haue held the selfe same points of doctrine the selfe same number of Sacraments other such differences as now Protestant Churches haue in them from the Roman thē according to that most sure prescription of Tertullian they can Edere origines Ecclesiarum suarum euoluere ordinem Episcoporum suorum Declare the beginnings of their Church they can turne ouer and bring forth an orderly succession of Bishops running on as he saith from the very beginning and continuing without any interruption to the Apostles tyme then can they proue that the first Bishop that held these differences was instituted and ordayned by some Apostle or Apostolicall man for so saith Tertullian could the Church of the Smyrneans proue their succession of Bishops from S. Policarpus ordayned by S. Iohn and the Church of Rome proue from S. Clement placed by S. Peters in one word then according to another prescription of Tertullian can they proue that the doctrine of their Church as now it standeth in contradiction with ours conspireth with the doctrine of the originall Apostolicall and mother Churches and that they hold that very doctrine which the Church receiued from the Apostles the Apostles from Christ and Christ from God and that the same hath cōtinued by neuer interrupted succession from that time to this of theirs These things if they shall euer be able soūdly and substantially to proue on their part then shall I acknowledg that they and their Religion are Catholicke indeed and that out of their Church there is no saluation 22. But if these things haue bene by them attempted and could neuer yet be proued by them nay if their affirmatiue haue bene disproued by a negatiue in all the forenamed notes markes prescriptions of the Church and against Hereticks as is already too apparently knowne to the whole Christian world then let them at the last vpon so manifest a conuiction ingenuously confesse that the denomination of Hereticke rather then the appellation of Catholuke doth properly apertaine vnto them 23. And albeit I cannot but vnderstand that the Hereticks of ancient times and all moderne Sectaries in these our vnhappy dayes both in Germany France Holland Scotland and England doe ambitiously affect this renowned name of Catholick to haue it giuen vnto their hereticall Cōgregations nay which is more howsoeuer they do fraudulently sometimes cloath themselues in sheepe skinnes when surreptitiously they inuest thēselues with this high title supreame dignity of a Catholick though in points of doctrine amongst themselues they be neuer so much opposite the one to the other ech condemning other for Hereticks nay damning themselues amongst themselues and
so ordered by the will of God that they minister store of matter vnto Heretickes when I read in Scripture oportet haereses esse there must be heresies which cannot be without Scriptures And this is my former Author his iudgment of the Scriptures wrested and peruerted by seuerall Heretickes in his dayes for maintenance of their seuerall heresies Which being so here is neither certainty nor generality nor facility nor perspicuity nor infallibility in this way of the Scripture barely and nakedly proposed of it selfe alone neither can it euer be inferred by any seeming probable conclusion that the Scripture alone is this infallible way which we do further illustrate by this familiar example obuious vnto euery mans capacity 56. If some rude and vnlearned countreymen repayring vp to the Metropolitan Citty of the kingdome to prosecute some suites in law touching a Farme or house or matter of lesse moment yt these men I say after conference had with their learned counsaile should receaue no other answere nor comfort nor direction of them for further managing of their suites but be remitted by them vnto the body of the law it selfe without any Iudge or Counsailour they being of themselues not able either to read or vnderstand the law much lesse to apply it to their proper cases and peculiar suites would not euery reasonable and conscionable man condemne these lawyers And had not the poore Coūtreymen themselues being vndone by this meanes in their worldly estates iust cause to complayne and cry out against the falsehood and treachery of their Coūsailours And yet behold here in a suit of of suits and matter of greatest moment and importance in the world not in a title or triall of a Farme or house but concerning our interest and right of inheritance vnto the heauenly mansion we are this way worse then thus since the matter is of far greater importance abused deluded betrayed we are promiscuously sent learned vnlearned men women yong old to the body of the Scripture mysticall volume of God his sacred and seauen-fold-sealed book as S. Iohn speakes of the Reuelation Apocal. 5. 1. we must seeke search confer cōpare expound interprete euery man must there be a chooser euery woman an expositor and euery creature must be his owne caruer all must presume of the spirit that they cannot erre all presume to be taught immediatly from God without the ministery of the Church Sola Scripturarum arsest saith S. Hierome against Heretiks of his time quam omnes sibi vēdicant hanc garrula anus hanc delirus senex hāc sophista verbosus hanc vniuersi praesumunt lacerant docent antequam discunt c. Only the art of Scripture is it which euery one challengeth to himselfe this the prating ould wife this the doting old man this the babling Sophist this all of them togeather presume to know and teach and teare in peeces before they learne it So he And this is all the way and ground prescription direction rule and line that our hereticall Sectaries can affoard vs for the guiding of our soules and the grounding of our faith Will any man therefore hereafter that hath but the least care or that can intertaine but one thought either of the present of future wellfarre of his soule rely vpon such false guides blind teachers since this ground of Scripture alone sensed by a priuate spirit was is euer shal be the cōmon ground nay rather desperate shift and refuge of all condemned heresies and hereticks and that purposely that they may auoyd the censure and tribunall of the Church 57. There followeth then the way indeed appointed by God reuealed by the holy-Ghost designed by Christ and proposed by the Catholicks and Catholicke Church and this is the sure easy euident generall and infallible waie indeed which is the vniuersall knowne Catholicke Church in euery age which is perspicuous and notorious easy to be found for that it cannot be hidden it is compared by holy Scripture to a Citty placed vpon a hill as S. Augustine in diuers prolixe Treatises of his doth euidently demonstrate it is a light vpon a candlestick it lighteneth all through the Egiptian darkenes of this worlds schisme and heresy and leades their soules into the way of truth it is that pillar of fire that leadeth all Gods chosen people through the vast and roaring wildernes yea and all the nightes darkenes of this world vnto the promised land of Canaan I meane the heauēly Hierusalem it is generally also figured by the dew that fell vpon the floore as well as vpō the fleece when Gedeon required the miracle to be doubled which was a mysticall representation of the Iewish Synagogue and Christian Congregation implying also that the dew of Gods truth and sauing grace should at last passe from the fleece of the Iewes to the floore of the Gentils and all to teach vs that this Catholick Christian Church should extend to all serue for all learned vnlearned yong ould high low great small for that all sortes sexes ages and conditiōs of people may repaire vnto her receiue her doctrine admit her instructions and directions by the continuall successions of her Bishops Pastors and teachers of euery age And finally this way is a most sure certaine and infallible rule for that Christ hath expresly assured and promised vs that he will be continually with this Church vnto the worlds end that he would send the holy Ghost to instruct direct and induce this Church in omnem veritatem into all truth suggerit vobis omnia quae dixere vobis and it shall suggest vnto you all that I will from heauen speake or notify vnto you It was Christ his promise vnto his Apostles in their persons vnto his Church for euer And lastly the gates of hell which are the gates of errour and heresies shall neuer preuaile against this Church 58. This then to exclude all by-pathes and blind waies of Heretickes is the way indeed this is that rule of faith as Tertullian speaketh instituted by Christ and it is such a rule and so certaine that Nullas habet apud nos quaestiones nisi quaes haereses inserunt quae haereticos saciunt no questions are so much as moued with vs concerning this rule but such as heresies cause and which very questions moued concerning the Church do cause and breed hereticks 59. This Church being once published by our Sauiour and the promises he had made vnto her being once diuulged what followed but that all men presently that had any care of the saluation of their soules flocked vnto her began to lay handfast and houldfast on this way and to haue recourse in all doubts and controuersies vnto the common knowne Catholicke Church of their age for explication and finall decision therof So shall you read Act. 15 6. that the Apostles immediatly after the Ascention of our Sauiour assembled the Church togeather for the detiding of that
and vniuersall direction Can any rule be more probable and infallible then the rule of the Church And to this do agree both my foresaid Authour in many other places of his workes as also all that succeeded him tooke the like enterprize in hand of writing and prescribing against Hereticks as Tertullian S. Cyprian S. Augustine S. Athanasius Epiphanius Theodoret S. Hierome S. Leo Vincentius Lyrinensis in his goulden booke against the prophane innouations of the Hereticks of his time and diuers others which to auoyd prolixity I omit all these do principally and really prouoke and challenge all the Heretickes of their tyme vnto this only and sure waie of the Catholicke Church in their dayes for the triall of the truth and for discerning what is truly Catholicke and what is Hereticall their seuerall sentences are to prolixe to be conteyned within the strict precinctes and narrow boundes of my briefe intended Confiderations 63. And now to put a period to this my third Consideration least it exceed a due proportion the vpshot is this For asmuch then as this visible Christian Church begun and founded by our Sauiour vnder the Apostles was a visible Church made and consisting of visible men gouerned by visible Pastors hath visibly descended from age to age through the centuries of the Church by all lawfull and ordinary succession of Bishops which Tertullian required of the Hereticks of his time as they would auoid the blot of heresy that haue lineally come downe to our dayes Secondly for asmuch as the authority of his Church was esteemed in euery age to be the same for infallible direction that it was in the former first ages through the assurance of Christ his promise to that effect And lastly for as much as the whole vniuersall Church of the fifteēth age hath in a generall Coūcell examined decyded condēned the doctrine of the Protestants for heresy in more then an hundred maine points by name hath accursed and anathematized both them and all their participants to the pit of hell that according to the very selfe same groūds wherby the ancient Fathers did vse to curse anathematize all ould heresies and Hereticks in former tymes these things when I considered with more attention made a generall reflection thereon a suddaine feare and care astonished yea as it were ouerwhelmed me for that my euerlasting saluation depending vpon this point I had beene so negligent in examining the premises And now I plainely saw as in a perfect glasse of most impartiall iudgment that vnlesse I could imagin with my selfe as diuers others fanatically do that Christes promise had fayled that the first visible Christian and Catholicke Church founded by him and spread ouer the whole world had fayled vanished and perished as being ouercome by hel-gates and ouer growne with the weedes of errour heresy I could neuer haue any hope of saluation as long as I continued in the Protestant Religion And this was the issue of that Consideration The fourth Consideration THERE remaineth now a fourth consideration the subiect wherof which notwithstanding perhaps is of greatest importance of all the rest is this to wit how out of the premisses a man may probably collect nay necessarily conclude whose opinions be Catholicke and whose Hereticall and therevpon may reflect vpon himself in what state or condition he standeth betwixt both as eyther affected to the one or interessed in the other And albeit this hath beene partly discouered by that which hath beene spoken in the first Consideratiō touching the name Catholicke that signifieth Vniuersall and whole and not a part or singularity in opinions by choice of a mans owne will and iudgement for so Hereticke doth signifie as hath beene laid forth in the second Consideration yet shall it be made more manifest by the particular practice of the things themselues when the name shall passe into nature and appellation be turned into application And first to speake to the point in a word the Catholike admitteth all wholy and intierly without addition or detraction which the knowne Catholicke Church proposeth to be belieued of her sonnes as she hath it reuealed vnto her from God her Father But as for the Hereticke and the chooser tamquā Dominus propryiuris as he that will take his owne swing though it be in Schisme and heresy he making himselfe iudge ouer all I meane God the Scripturs and the Church admitteth some and reiecteth the rest as it pleaseth his priuate fancy or displeaseth his peeuish iudgmēt he neither respects the authority of the Church nor regardes his owne obedience due therunto his ground is either Scriptures falsely by him interpreted or a priuat lying spirit such as Micheas the Lords true Prophet prophesied to be in the false Prophets of Baal wherein he is deluded or other arguments of reason nature against faith and the God of nature And thus he is bewitched peruerted contrary to all true and onely sauing Catholicke grounds contrary to that sure certaine and infallible way of triall which erst while we treated of in the third Consideration and purpose now by Gods holy assistance to make vse of all in this 65. Some men I find to intertaine this concepit that English Protestants and Roman Catholickes may liue in their seuerall professions of Religion and be saued togeather and much more they are of opinion that all Protestants of different professions and Sectes as Lutherans and Sacramentaries and much more the different sortes of one and the selfe same sect as Caluinists in England distinguished by the names of Molles and Rigidi moderate Protestantes and feruent Puritans And the reasons for this their opinion are first of doctrine for that euery one of their differences do not make heresies or if they do yet not so grieuous heresies as the Fathers of the Primatiue Church condemned and anathematized they meane such heresies as impugned the persons of the B. Trinity the Natures of Christ God and Man the Incarnation and Passion and the like cōsequently though those ancient heresies were damnable yet are not those of our daies plead the Protestants but that both partes liuing well may be saued as his Matie in this his Premonition to Princes doth testifie that his noble Mother sent him word not long before her Martyrdome by the Maister of her Household a Scotish Gentleman yet liuing that his Matie might persist in his Protestant Religion and yet do well inough if he liued vertuously and gouerned accordingly 66. But surely how farre the credit of that maister of Household being a Protestant as I heare he then was and now is may extend it selfe to be belieued against the mistresse and highest Lady of that Household in a matter of that quality and consequence I know not yet certaine I am of this that the opinion that a man may be so saued is most false and absurd in it selfe and very vnlikely also to proceed from her
antiquity well the admonition is this Caue Christiane Lector c. Beware Christian Reader of the bookes of Iohn Caluin especially in the articles of Trinity of the Incarnation of the Mediator of Baptisme of Predestination c. for that they doe containe most impious and blasphemous doctrine So he VVhereby is vnderstood not only the censure of the Lutheran Church concerning the Caluinists doctrine but also in what articles the difference betwixt them doth principally consist and these are neither few in number nor meane in nature as you see confirmed by the particular exceptions VVhich articles are reiterated by other Lutheran writers as namely by Albertus Grauerus in his booke intituled The warre of Iohn Caluin with Iesus Christ which booke was set forth in the yeare of our Redemption 1598. wherin he sheweth that the Articles wherby the Lutherans do cheifly differ from the Caluinists hereticall doctrine are of the person of Christ of the Supper of our Lord of Baptisme and of Predestination And Iacobus Halbruneir another Lutheran Doctor published an other booke the same yeare before to proue Caluinisme to be heresy and to the former articles of Albertus he addeth other two wherin Lutherans and Caluinists do deepely dissent which are de Maiestate Christi Ministerio Verbi wherby he maketh it euident that Caluinists are truly and properly Hereticks to Lutherans And this for the second point 80. Yt resteth now that I come vnto the third ranke of English Protestants and Puritans which are two different sects of Caluins doctrine which are found togeather in no state or Kingdome perhaps of Christendome but only in England And although some Protestant writers for dissembling their owne diuisions when they deale with Catholickes will needes forsooth acknowledge them for brethren as not differing from them in any substantiall point of Doctrine yet in all their other writings eyther against them or of them they disclose playnly what they thinke of ech other holding them both for Schismaticks and Hereticks in respect of their Protestant Church Which being presumed by them as they must needes presume to be the only true Catholike Church it must needes follow that Puritans who from their innermost soules detest the same and the communion thereof as Antichristian must needes be Sectaries nay Heretickes to that Church And this is consonant to the doctrine of these Scriptures and most conformable to the opinion of ancient Fathers as is before copiously in the precedent Considerations asseuered 82. For confirmation of which dissention capitall and reall hostility betweene our Puritans and Protestants in sundry mayne points of their Religion I might heere alledge and produce infinite authorityes and innumerable arguments if I should not surcharge my Treatise The two bookes yet extant printed by publicke authority in one and the selfe same yeare I meane the Suruey of the holy pretended Discipline compiled as it is thought by him that is now arriued to the highest pitch of Ecclesiasticall dignity in that Kingdome and the other bearing the inscription of daungerous Positions ascribed to Doctour Sutcliffe both of them receyuing presse at London by Iohn VVolfe Anno Dom. 1593. do sufficiently notifie vnto the world how reconciliable the Puritan position is with the Protestant Religion and that in sundry Articles of great weight and moment And amongst many others which to auoid prelixity I purposly omit the titles of the 22. and 23. Chapters of the Suruey are these That they to wit the Puritans do take from Christian Princes ascribe vnto their pretended regiment the supreme and immediate authority vnder Christ in causes Ecclesiasticall and in the oppugning theros do ioyne with the Papists Whereupon I inferre that if this spirituall Supremacy be any substantiall point of doctrine amongst the Protestants then the obstinate repugnance therof by the Puritans must needes be Schisme and Heresy 82. I pretermit diuers other bookes whereof I haue beene an eye witnesse how purposely and directly they treat of these matters as namely the Answere of the Vicechancelor Doctors of Oxford vnto the petition of a 1000. Puritans Anno Dom. 1603. wherein it is plainely conuinced that the Puritans hould their platforme of Ecclesiasticall gouerment of the gouerment of Christ vpon earth for a thing of no lesse importance then is the Ghospell of Jesus Christ. They hold it further for an essentiall part of their said Ghospell for a matter of faith to be receyued vpon paine of damnation for an essentiall marke of the true Church without the which the Protestants Church is no Church their faith no faith their Ghospell noe Ghospell c. And to conforme to that which M. Rogers writeth in his Preface to the Bishops Articles where he testifieth that the Puritans do hold their platforme differing from the Protestants to be a speciall part of the Ghospell yea the very Ghospell it selfe to be of such importāce as if euery haire of their heades were a life they ought to affoard them all in defence therof So they And in sober sadnes supposing their principles to be true haue they not great reason for that their differences be in so maine very substantiall points if we refere them to their heades wherof there is extant a very substantiall declaration and conuiction as to me it seemeth in the Preface of the Catholicke Deuine in his answere to Syr Edward Cookes fifth part of Reportes whither I referre the ingenous iudicious Reader for further perusall of this point for there it is shewed and irrefragably against all impugners therof proued how essentiall and substantiall difference of doctrine there is about the origen of Ecclesiasticall power and authority betweene the Protestantes Puritans and Catholickes of England the one that is the Protestāt ascribing it to their temporall Prince the other challenging it as most properly pertayning to their priuate Conuenticles Assemblies the last third to the Succession of Bishops from the Apostles the consequence wherof is this that whosoeuer of the three parties haue the right in this point there only is the true Church there alone is the true Ecclesiastiall Authority of preaching teaching or dayning Ministers administring Sacraments exercising Censures and Iurisdiction binding or loosing remitting or retaining sinnes and the like c. And for the other two Churches they do remayne as secular and prophane Congregations without any vitall spirit of Ecclesiasticall power at all Let them then contend neuer so much about the keys of Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction yet the plaine truth is they shall neuer be able to open or shut the gates of heauen vnto their owne friendes or against their enemies 83. And for as much as the Puritans also in their plea do perswade themselues to haue the right on their side they must needes inferre the other consequence against the Protestant Church houlding it to be no Church as the foresaid answere of Oxford Doctors pag. 15. doth confesse that the Brownists do ancrre
against thē saying The Brownists do confidently reproach vs that our Church is no Church our Sacraments no Sacraments our Prince and people Infidells as not being baptized at all our Christiā Congregations prophane multitudes c. Thus write they animated as say these Answerers by the Millenary Puritan Petitioners wherby it may be probably presumed that they also to wit the said thousand Petitioners in most poynts at least are of the same opinion 84. These thinges being so as no man of modesty can deny my demaund is how can these men differing in so mayne a poynt be of the same Church Or how can any man of the meanest vnderstanding so he haue any capacity at all imagine how these and the Protestants can be saued togeather Nay truly the booke intituled The picture of a Puritan licenced to come forth by authority Anno 1605. contayning a comparison of the opinions of the Anabaptists in Germany with those of the Puritans in England in Dialogue wise betweene an English man and a German this booke I say doth pregnantly proue that the Protestants do hold the Puritans not only for Schismatickes and Sectaries but for Heretickes also as the Anabaptists are yea the Author holdeth them farre worse then the Anabaptists Your Ana baptists saith he come not neere to our Puritans in pride and contempt c. And then he proceedeth in comparing and paralleling them as well in their opinions and vse of Sacraments as in many other points of Religion with the said Anabaptists most damned heretickes as all English Protestants themselues generally acknowledge them to be yea this Author called O. O. Emanuel aggrauates the point so much against them that he compareth them with Iewes and other such like Infidells And euery where throughout his whole discourse detecteth and censureth them for obstinate and wicked Sectaries And finally to wast no more labour in a matter so cleare I find them ipso sacto excommunicated by many Constitutions Canons Ecclesiasticall of the Bishops and Protestant Church of England as namely for impugning their Church as also the Rites and Cerimonies established in the said Church for denying the authority of their Archbishops Bishops their consecrating and ordering of the inferiour Clergy for denying of Deanes Collegiate Churches for being Authours of Schisme and separating themselues as Schismatickes for maynteyning of Constitutions made in Conuenticles and the like 75. And to conclude euery where almost throughout the same Constitutions they are sharpely censured for Sectaries and Schismaticks which censure proceeding from the Protestant Church with so full a stroke of authority must of necessity in their owne iudgement depriue the others of all meanes of saluation in that Church they standing out with pertinacy against the same as they doe consequently this doome must needes fall vpon one of their heades that the Protestants and they can in no case be saued togeather The fifth Consideration With the Conclusion of this whole Chapter to his Maiesty NOW therefore to returne with all humble obedience loyalty vnto your Matie conteyning my selfe within all due and iust boundes of duty fidelity obseruance obedience subiection and submission which eyther the law of God of Nature of Nations Reason Religion or of my owne natiue Countrie can require of a subiect towards his Dread Soueraigne I do euen from my innermost and hartiest affections implore this one thing of your sayd Excellency and must euer persist to beg it at your Highnes handes to wit that after these foresaid premised Considerations to the Reader your owne Princely Person would deigne to condescend to enter into some serious Consideration and mature deliberation and that with some earnest attention within the secret closet of your owne most wise iudicious and vnderstanding hart what is and may be the great consequence of all this that hath beene hither so generally discoursed of in the mayne body of the whole as also to weigh ponder the weight and importance of ech particuler treated and inferred in their seuerall passages 87. And first may it please your Highnes to lay togeather and compare the seuerall partes and distinct pertyes of different Professions in Religion all dissenting frō the English Protestant Church and doctrine therein established as before hath beene sufficiently proued The instances we bring for a plenary and particuler confirmation are these As first the ROMAN Catholickes which possesse the greatest part of Europe Secondly the Lutherans professing throughout Saxony Denmarke Suecia and some other States in Germany Thirdly the Sacramentaries Zuinglians and rigid Caluinists tearmed by vs for their moteferuēt supposed zeale Puritans and these be dispersed throughout Suitzerland Sauoy Germany Hungary France Holland Scotland and some parts of England All these I say conioined togeather and compared only with the English Parliament Protestants do make often partes of Christendome nyne at the least which proportion or rather disproportion as indeed it is especially in Religion when I seriously consider and weigh it in the euen and impartiall ballance of an indifferent iudgement I can in all duty do no lesse but most humblie propose vnto the Christiā Prudency and Religious Piety of your Matie to consider of what importance this is in regard of life euerlasting that nine partes of ten should hould the English Protestant religion for damnable heresy by which your Matie expecteth to receaue an eternall neuersading crowne of glory awarded by Almighty God the most righteous iudge of all the world 88. Yf in a sumptuous and Royall banquet prepared of purpose to intertaine the person of a King or potent Monarch there were neuer so many pleasing and alluring dishes neuer such great store of delicate viandes fetched from the sea or prouided by land neuer so great appetite in the Princely party inuited if often learned Phisitions that were then present attending vpon the person of this Prince to consult and prouide for his bodily health and welfare nyne of them should confidently auouch vpon their learning and iudgement nay life it selfe that all those daynties and pleasing dishes were infected with the drugges of some mortall and deadly-killing poyson some one dish only excepted which they could not also well discouer I thinke it would make the party inuited to looke about him to stay himselfe and examine well the matter before he would desperately aduenture to please his palate Or if in a great suite of law concerning the interest to a Princely inheritance pretēded by the plaintife it should be eyther by Parliament or vnder the great Seale or by some other Statute enacted yea and without faile executed that if the plaintife fayled in his suite being either dryuen to non-suite or ouercome in his suite that then he should vndergoe extreme misery be exposed to infinite calamities most certaynely incurre euerlasting bondage and slauery though some one lawyer of ten that were of his counsaile should animate and giue him all the encouragement that possibly he
could to proceed in his suite yet if the nyne other of equall worth and weight with him should be of contrary opinion disswade him frō the suite assuring him vpon their learning that he would be cast in the same yea and condemned if he proceeded therein would not this man now beginne to consider more seriously of his suite intended Of his right pretended Would he not view ouer and ouer his writings examine all his euidences againe and againe least in aspiring to be made for euer he chance for euer to be vndone Euē so the case standeth in the point we haue in hand Here is a royall banquet prouided for your Princely Maiesty here is a Princely inheritance indeed an incorruptible Diademe of glory prepared for your Excellency this banquet is not to continew for an hundred and fourescore dayes as that of Assuerus did to set forth the maiesty of an earthly Monarch but it endureth for euer and euer throughout all eternity to disclose the honour and power and glory and riches of the heauenly Diety diuine Omnipotency the food of this banquet is neither earthly nor materiall but heauenly and spirituall Agnus occisus ab origine mundi It is the lambe slaine from the beginning of the world that is to be set and serued on this table nay Deus est qui nobis futurus est omnia in ommbus It is Almighty God himselfe who will then as S. Paul teacheth become vnto vs all in all that is all in the eye for our vision and all in the tast for our refection and all in the touch for our fruition all in the eare of our consolation and all in our smell for delectation in a word all in the senses of our body and all in the faculties of our soule Deus omnia in omnibus for our plenary perfection 89. Besides this banquet there is a Princely Inheritāce and an incorruptible Crowne of glory prepared for your Matie and this Crowne so farre excelleth all earthly Crownes as immortall exceeds mortall incorruptible corruptible in a word as farre as God excelleth man and a thing infinite surmounteth a thing finite betwixt all which there can be no proportion and is there not cause now that your Matie should beware of the poison of Heresy that killeth both body and soule And will not your zealous and religious Hart hereafter peruse ouer all forged writings and neuer cease searching vntill you haue found the euidences of the Catholicke Church wherby your Matie can only lay clayme to this Crowne of immortality 90. And this is all that we your Maiestyes humble subiects and seruants do in our dayly sighes teares and prayers to Almighty God begge at his handes to wit that our gratious God would of his mercifull goodnesse vouchsafe so to inspire your Princely hart with the principall spirit that you may once at the least come to make this reflection vpon the course that you are in now concerning Religion Then should you easily discouer the fraudes and impostures of the Protestant cause Then should you disclose the poysoned and inuenomed druggs of their erroneous opinions wherby they would insect both the body and the soule of your Princely Person suspecting no guile fearing no such treachery and that to your euerlasting destruction Lastly then should you desery how false and counterfait their euidences are concerning Religion and that they can neuer hould plea for the foresaid Princely inheritance wherunto your Noble Person is interessed 91. Your Maiesty was borne amongst the Protestāts as S. Augustine compassionately complained of diuers borne amongst the Donatists therby you could not but receaue that impression that was infused and instilled into you by your first educators and therby you haue bene made as I trust rather credens Haereticis then Haereticus as the same Father said of his friend Honoratus Your Maiesty is earnest now against the Catholicke Romā faith and professors therof and so was I my selfe too once and so was S. Augustine whilst he was a Manichean and soe was that great Apostle S. Paul perswading himselfe no doubt that he ought yea that he should do God good seruice persecuting that way of Christian profession vntill God had opened his eyes inlightened his mind to see the erroneous course wherin he then was 92. And now may it please your Matie to consider of this one reasō which though it be the last yet is it not the least viz. that so many of your Maties loyall Subiectes men of considerable birth worth and quality yea and some of them such that haue spent much pretious time and haue bene content to exhaust their Patrimonies in your Noble Vniuersities and all in the pursuite of learning and truth of Christian Religion these men I say hauing now iust reason to expect some preferment with other their equalls after their long wearisome labours endeauours would not so suddenly change their minds as they do daily in this point of Religion forgo all future hopes and fortunes abandon Countrey kith and kinne expose themselues to all temporall difficulties and losses and that without constraint of any euen voluntarily and after all this to be ready to shed their blond and sacrifice their innocent liues for their Resolution made concerning Religion all which they could neuer do were it not that a higher hand than humaine euen the hand of heauen leadeth them into the bosome of the Church were it not vpon the force and efficacy of euident truth when it pleaseth almighty God so to inlighten their vnderstanding as in the middest and thickest of the darknes of heresy to shew them the only and alone sauing Catholicke Truth and Church as also to frame their wills and inflame their affections to yield all obedience therunto notwithstanding any obstacles whatsoeuer 93. Alas my dread Soueraigne what is Rome to vs English men that we should so mind it Or the Church of Rome that we should much affect it Or the Pope of Rome that we should so highly honor him were it not that Rome euer was is and shall be the Chaire of S. Peter the present faith of Rome the former faith of S. Peter were it not that this conuerted our Iland this Church first planted the Christian faith in our Iland this Bishop from time to time repayred renewed and continued the decaying faith in our Iland In a word were it not that all that separate themselues from this head and origen of vnity in the Christian Church are as beames cut of from the sunne as boughes violently broken downe from the tree as channels streams deuided from their fountaine which must needes dry vp wither and consume to nothing This is the sole cause my Liege Lord that Rome is so neare and deare vnto vs the Bishop of Rome so honored by vs the faith of Rome so receaued of vs. This is may it please your Matie the only cause of our suddaine change and constant resolution in
the Anabaptist can euer be conuinced of his heresies by any groundes of Protestant Religion VVill the Protestant appeale him to the Scripture The Anabaptist can produce more texts and alleage more plentifull places of Scripture then he can Will he referre the interpretation of the places cyted on both sides to the spirit The Anabaptist presently presumeth and braggeth of a greater measure of the spirit then he Will the Protestant accuse his spirit as erroneous and authour of a wrong interpretation as Micheas truly charged the false Prophets of Iezabel when he could them that Sathan had offered vnto Almighry God that he would go forth and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all Achabs false prophets Then will he reply againe as Zidkiah did And when departed the spirit of the Lord from me to speake in thee VVill he conuent him before the Consistory and sribunall of the Protestant Church Bishops therof as diuers haue bene and were burned by them The Anabaptist presently complayneth and in this very iustly that it is no indifferēt kynd of tryall to be iudge in their owne cause Finally will the Protestant remit it to the vmpiring of any other present Church or be content that all Controuersies betwixt them shall fall to the decision of the Fathers The Anabaptist kicketh against that cutteth of all meanes of triall with this text of Scripture Spiritualis homo omnia dijudicat ipse à nemine iudicatur The spirituall man iudgeth all thinges and needeth not to be iudged of any Thus we see euen amongst Sectaries thēselues Controuersies grow endlesse by Scriptures though all pretend to belieue Scriptures and plentifully to cyte the same 12. Moreouer where the Puritans actiō in England swaicth most as very vsually in good towns great citties it doth there shall you find all their Preachers of this humour they haue nothing in their mouthes but the Ghospell of Christ the Ghospell of Christ the pure Word of the Lord as though their false corrupted Geneuiā Translatiō were eyther part of the Ghospell or Word of God And they seeme so farre forth to confide to their English translatiō as that they affect to alleage Scriptures only putting one vpō the necke of an other disdayning as it were to quote any Father or ancient writer for interpretation of Scriptures or confirmation of their doctrine esteeming their own expositions though neuer so vaine and impertinent to be firme groundes for building any thing thereon as out of the Scriptures 13. And here I remember that not many moneths past perusing priuately with my selfe the foresaid booke of O. O. Emanuel written by a Protestant against the Puritans he among other things discouereth vnto the German with whome he maketh his Dialogue some 15. seuerall places of Scripture so falsely and impertinently alleadged by Puritan writers that the German is inforced to conclude Thus I see already how ridiculous they are And verily he that shall read the places alleadged weigh them with any iudgement will confesse that they are ridiculously applyed indeed and yet with their followers all must be Scriptures which they speake and the pure word of God vttered by the instinct of the spirit be it neuer so fantastically or fanatically applyed 14. VVell then to come to the Conclusion when I saw and considered all this and had weighed the same with that indifferency of iudgement that I possibly could as in a matter so much impotting my soule it stood me vpon I began first to suspect this spirit of Luther that auerred so confidently his assurance of the Scriptures and true vnderstanding thereof against a thousand Cyprians a thousand Augustines hauing no other ground thereof then his owne particuler perswasion to that effect which perswasion notwithstanding was and is in many points held proued to be erroneous by such as followed his breach and namely by the Church of England in which I saw many that reiected him to be as confident in their owne perswasion and to auerre for Scriptures and the true Word of God whatsoeuer themselues did found out of the Bible in their owne sense and consequently I did inferre as a most certayne sequele that this profession of admitting beleeuing or following Scriptures ech man out of his owne sense and iudgement without any certayne rule band or limit of exposition cannot be sufficient to proue a man a Christian Catholicke and no Hereticke for that it may open the way to be an Hereticke if his choice of interpretation be erreneous And thus much of this first Consideration There followeth the second The second Consideration VVHEN Almighty God of his infinite goodnes mercy after that immeasurable space of eternity wherein the Blessed Trinity had raigned gloryously triumphed without any creatures condescended to make a world and to create man and consequētly vouchsafed therby to institute a visible society company or Church vpon earth to acknowledge serue and honour him leauing vnto them sufficient directions whereby they might accomplish their seruice to him and thereby to arriue to the hauen of happines the same most wise God gouerned the said Church for more then two thousand yeares without any writtē word that is now extant And after this large space when it pleased the Diuine Maiestie that the history of the worlds creation mans propagation c. should be committed to writing for the benefit of succeeding posterity he stirred vp that great gouernour of his people and Prophet Moyses inabled him with a great measure of his principall and propheticall spirit inspired him and then appointed him to compyle those famous bookes commonly called in Greeke Pentateuch the first fiue bookes of the Byble to wit Genesis the booke of creation Exodus the booke of their departure out of Egipt Leuiticus the booke of Priests and Sacrifices Numeri the booke of numbring the people and Deuteronomy the booke of the lawes repetition 16. In like manner the same God whose pleasure was euer to be with the sonnes of men houlding the high hand of his diuine prouidence ouer his Church inspired likwise and appointed others also after the example of Moyses holy men to compose and write other bookes afterwards vpon diuers and sundry occasions offered as in the ould Tement may be seene But yet we shall not find that any of those bookes of Moyses or any of the rest that were written by the other Authors were digested and collected in manner and method of orderly institutions as in all other arts and sciences is wont to be done but rather by peece-meale and by parts as occasion fell out the Authors therof principally intending an historicall narration rather then any exact doctrinall instruction and the reason is this for that the ordinary institution and instruction of euery man how he ought to beleeue liue feare and serue God was for all this tyme before the law written to be taken only from the Church by traditions of Fathers to their
this suffice for this article 40. Let vs now a litle cast about and take a view of the ninth article in order as the Creed naturally brancheth it and it is this Credo Sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam c. I belieue the holy Catholicke Church the wordes of this article are agreed vpon on all partes but the senses framed thereupon and belieued of different Christians are most different and repugnant For first those of the Roman truly Catholicke Religion do according to the exposition of ancient Fathers which is a most certaine and infallible rule of their fayth vnderstand by this Catholicke Church that visible Congregation of the first belieuing Christians gathered togeather in Hierusalem at the time of our blessed Sauiour his Ascension at which assembly the holy Apostles themselues who made this article were present togeather with the Blessed Virgin Mother of God and other holy men and women vpon whome the holy Ghost descended inlightened them and inflaming them to preach the name of Christ and further establishing and confirming them in the truth encouraging them to go forwardes manfully without feare of any opposite humane power and promising them that the power of Christ assistance of the same holy Ghost should be with them and the directors of them vnto the worlds end to preserue this Church and holy Congregation in all necessities and extremities so that the gates of hell and damnable errour should neuer preuaile against it 41. Moreouer the said Catholicke Christians did euer vnderstand this Church to be called holy in respect both of the great sanctity of her doctrine and the holines of many of her children who besides the precepts of the law as S. Gregory speaketh nay ouer and aboue the precepts of the law as S. Basill and S. Chyrsostome ioyntly speake should endeauour etiam praecepta legis perfectiori virtute transcendere to transcend the precepts of the law by deuouting themselues vnto the obseruation of Christ his high Counsayles of Euangelicall perfection 42. Also this Church is called holy for the immediate and perpetuated assistance of the holy Ghost inspiring her inwardly directing her outwardly and especially for the meanes of sanctificatiō conuaied vnto her through the conducts of her Sacraments as chiefest and most holy instruments to that effect conferring grace for our assistance in the performing of all good works wherof none can be partakers to saluation out of this Church 43. This Church is also called Catholicke for the reasons before set downe in the first Chapter and first Consideration to wit that it is vniuersally spread ouer the world by the ministery of the Apostles in the very beginning and so hath hitherto continued still and euer shall to the worldes end and further it hath these signes and markes to be knowne by and to be distinguished from all hereticall Congregations whatsoeuer to wit Antiquity Vniuersality Vnion and Succession by descent of Bishops And finally for full complement it hath that communion of Saints both by vnion in fayth and communion of Sacraments which no other Schismaticall Cōuenticle or hereticall congregation hath and out of this communion there can be no possibility of life or saluation All this and much more which here I am constrayned to omit do those of the Roman Religion vnderstand by this article I belieue in the holy Catholicke Church the communion of Saints and it would require a whole volume to set downe the seuerall sentences discourses and authorities of ancient Fathers that iointly concurre in this exposition and explanation 44. But now on the other side if we cast our eyes vpon the state of the English Clergy we shall find that howsoeuer they do admit the same in wordes yea and subscribe therunto in their Ordination for that they teach their Rligion to follow their State as their State brought in their Religion yet exceeding great is the difference and large are their consciences in vnderstanding the same as may appeare in part out of the 19. article published by M. Rogers as agreed vpon by our English Bishops concerning the Church about which he hath seauen seuerall propositions first agreeing in some of them somwhat with the Catholicks and they haue learned it from the Catholicke Religion and as their vsuall practice is and then making their owne choyce to dissent and disagree at their pleasure as the inured custome of all Hereticks hath euer bene 45. His first proposition then is this There is a Church of Christ not only inuisible but also visible wherto supposing him to vnderstand of the true Catholicke Church for otherwise he saith nothing we do also agree as their Bishops in like manner may be supposed to do and yet can I speake this vpon my owne knowledg that it is against the common knowne tenent practice of their Academicall Schooles for there the question is amongst the most forward Protestants An Ecclesia sit inuisibilis whether the true Church be inuisible and yet is held affirmitiuely to wit that it is inuisible and not visible to manseies for the visibility of the Church tendeth to flat Popery which they cannot indure 46. His second proposition is That there is but one Church which we affirme also and they from vs haue learned so to speake and yet I do not see how the Protestant Puritan and other Sectaries Lutherans and Sacramentaries can make one Church they differing so fundamētally amongst themselues and in such weighty points of faith and religion as they do 47. His third assertion is The visible Church is a Catholick Church M. Rogers would haue said or at least wise should haue said that the Catholicke is a visible Church and the reason is for that all visible Churches are not Catholicke but all Catholick Churches are visible And what was the reason of this his incongruity of speach I do not see vnlesse he meant thereby to steale the name of Catholicke vnto euery visible Congregation of Sectaries which is clearly ouerthrowne by the definition and large explication of the word Catholicke set downe in the first Chapter 48. His fourth proposition is The word of God was and for tyme is before the Church which being vnderstood of the Scripture or written Word for otherwise it is nothing to our purpose it contayneth in it a senseles grosse absurdity for therupon it would follow that before Moyses tyme the first writer of the Bible which was more then two thousand yeares after the creation of man God had no Church because there was extant no written Word or Scripture which were very ridiculous to affirme But the only refuge that I can possibly perceaue that M. Rogers hath left him to make good his fourth assertion in proouing the word of God more ancient then the Church is to fly to the vnwritten word but this will not serue his turne neither since we haue only in this place to do with the litterall or written word of God begūne
to make good against them in the particuler carriage and passage of this present busines of Councells let vs but leaue the barky rind and outward corke and enter into the inward marrow and substance that is let vs giue no credit to their words but looke into their deedes and we shall easily discerne yea the matter will disclose it selfe For to set their wordes aside whome we haue euer found contrary in their deedes if the Church of England do sincerely imbrace and receaue for Catholicke and Orthodoxe these foure first generall Councells which did resemble comprehend and present the whole Primitiue Church for more then foure hundred and fifty yeares togeather after Christ then must it follow if they meane as they say and that their wordes shall not proue wind that the English Church and our lay Parlaments must acknowledge and admit also that doctrine for Catholick and Orthodoxe which without impeachment controllement or contradiction of any can be substantially proued to haue bene taught and held in this visible vniuersall Church whereof these foure Councelles collectiuely represented the whole body for all that tyme. Which foresaid doctrine that both it and euery point therof passed for so many ages vncontrolled this one reason may suffice to proue insteed of all for that the said doctrines should otherwise haue bene noted espied out reprehended and censured by some of these Councells els had they not done their duties neither had they bene so vigilant for the good of the whole body as they ought to haue bene if hauing condemned some heresies as they did they had winked at others Which once to imagine of an Ambrose an Augustine a Hierome for the latin Church a Basill a Chrysostome and an Athanasius for the Greeke nay to suppose it and that confidently though most impudently of all the great Saints and learned Doctors in the world togeather this cannot be no lesse then senselesse absurdity grosse stupidity yea heathenish impiety when as the least of these which I haue named was for learning able to haue resisted the whole Christian world and for their zeale would haue spared none in a point of errour or heresie as I may instance and proue by Tertullian Origen and S. Cyprian were any of these though neuer so great by the rest spared VVere any former merits though neuer so many respected if once they presumed to innouate the least errour whatsoeuer And therefore to strike at the poynt I ayme at in the period of the Conclusion doth the English Church and Parlament admit all the doctrines that were taught in the Church and that continued without the impeachment of any notwithstanding all the zealous vigilant Pastours in the Church I thinke it will make great difficulty and let it reiect them or any of them there needes no more to proue that Church to be hereticall let it admit them it proues it selfe by departure from them and their doctrines to be Apostaticall for that it houldeth not the same points of faith with these foure first Councells which it maketh shew to receiue and imbrace In a word let it admit them or reiect them they shall neuer be able to wipe away the blot and blemish imputation and innouation of damnable errour from their Church For better vnderstanding whereof as also of some other particulers thereto belonging and hereupon necessarily depending I haue thought good to decipher out these ensuing Considerations The first Consideration MY first Consideration which I promise as the very ground-worke and foundation of all the rest must of necessity be this that the Parlament and Church of England admitting these foure first generall Councells of Nyce Constantinople Ephesus and Chalcedon for Orthodoxe and truly Catholicke as representing in their Bishops the complete and entyre body of the Catholicke Church in their seuerall ages must needes acknowledge in like manner that for these first foure hundred and fifty yeares or rather fiue hundred for that it is not probable nay possible that within the compasse of fifty yeares the same should now faile which had allready by vertue of Christ his promise continued foure hundred and fifty yeares the true Catholick Church of Christ consisted not only of the elect and consequently was invisible but of good and bad and therupon was visible vnder visible heades And this was figured by the Parables of the net that caught both good and bad fish and by the field that brought forth good corne and weedes And further that this visible externall Church in those dayes was the very same wherof Christs wordes were to be vnderstood when he gaue this in charge to one vpon occasion and supposal of a complaint made against his brother which if he succeeded not then Dic Ecclesiae tell the Church as also that other of S. Paul that the Church is Columna firmamentum veritatis the Pillar and foundation of truth so as if a man in those dayes would haue had any controuersy in Religion debated and resolued if he would haue knowne what Scriptures the Apostles and Euangelists had committed vnto the custody of the Church for Canonicall Authenticall and further if he desired to know which they were how they might be knowne from counterfait how they might be truly sensed and rightly vnderstood what and how many Sacramēts were left by Christ vnto his Church which they were what were their effects operations how they were to be administred and such other like And if he were a Iew or Gentill that thus demaunded questioning these doubts and would vpon the resolution therof become a Christian but being vnlearned would be instructed in all these cases and the like he was to haue made his repayre and recourse vnto this externall visible Church and to haue stood in all points whatsoeuer vnto her finall determination decision direction instruction and perpetuall gouerment in all these first fiue ages without malepart repugnancy or obstinate reply if he euer intēded to be saued And if vpon any animosity or peruicacity any mā were cast out of that Church in all that time eyther for interpreting Scriptures in his owne sense according to a priuate spirit or for peruerting or innouating de nouo de suo of his owne head or braine in any the least poynt of faith and mystery of Christian religion as the Protestants do both his damnation was by all held and concluded for certaine except he repented and listened yea and obeyed the voice of the Church his mother that sought to reclaine him for that the authority of this Church was euer held for God his highest tribunall vpon earth and therfore irrefragable since the tribunall of heauen standeth expecting what is here done by the Church vpon earth being euer ready to loose or bynd to deliuer ouer vnto Sathan or to release from the bandes of sinne errour and heresy according vnto the former passed doome and sentence of the Church as among other Fathers S. Iohn Chrysostome in his
Councell of Trent For iustifiing of which causes eight conditions are required by them to be obserued in that Councell wherof the fourth is That the decisions be made in all Controuersies onely out of Scriptures and not out of Ecclesiasticall Canons or traditions the fifth is That decisions be againe made not according to the plurality of voyces or suffrages but according vnto the norme and rule of Gods word But what this norme or rule is they expound not but do leaue it as they found it stil to be contended about VVherunto if we adioyne two other conditions of theirs which are the last to wit that the Protestant Ministers may giue voyces equally with Bishops in deciding of all questions that if they should not be able to defend their cause yet not only their persons should be secure but their cause also not to be condēned for heresy These I say if we add as the later vnto the former we shall plainely discerne that they had not so much as the least thought to stand vnto that Councell at all but to their owne heads and by these to their owne vnreasonable conditions and vnconscionable to make their controuersies and heresies endlesse and indeterminable For if euery man or at least euery Minister hath authority to determine out of Gods word whē will there be an end 33. And here you see the small or rather no hope that is of agreement betwixt Protestants and Catholickes by way of Generall Councells and that the Protestants reseruing themselues onely to Scripture for the decision of matters and not admitting generall Councells and Fathers to be vmpiring iudges of the sense meaning therof they tread first into the steppes and rake into the sacrilegious ashes of all former ancient condemned heretickes euen for this very point condemned by the Church in many of her generall Councells and secondly by such conditions they make themselues sure and secure from being condemned in such sort as that they will yeald therunto And the selfe same fundamentall reason or rather desperate refuge and euasion of theirs in prophaning and abusing this sacred Sanctuary of Scripture by their prophane spirits and vnhallowed glosses houldeth also for their neuer agreeing amongst themselues by Meetings Conferences Colloquies Disputations Synods or Councells for that the Lutherans and Sacramentaries whether Zuinglians or Caluinists for of these two only I meane to speake at this time standing vpon this resolute principle on all handes that nothing is to be determined but by Scripture and then ech one interpreting that Scripture differently from the other acknowledging no iudge on neither party how is it possible that they should euer come to any end of determination 34. And this will euidently appeare if we cast our eyes vpon those Conuenticles Meetings Conferences Synods Councels Colloquies held betwixt these reforming brethren for the space of threescore years togeather to wit frō the yeare 1530. vnto the yeare 1590. which are set forth by Stanislaus Rescius Embassadour vnto the King of Polonia at Naples vpon the yeare 1596. which do amount to aboue threescore Synods Coūcels Meetings held at Smalcaldium Frankesord Constance Tygure VVittemberge Berna Ratisbone Spire Norimberge Lipsia VVormes Luneburge Maulnbourne Petricouia Varadine Gratz Brunswicke Dresda Alba Iulia Cracouia and diuers other places all these and many more if we looke into with an indifferent eye we shall euer find that they were so farre from concluding any peace in religion or reconciling of their Controuersies by these Synodes and Councells as that they departed farre greater enemyes and more disagreeing in their opinions then when they first met witnes their departure at one meeting of theirs aboue mentioned when they would neyther giue nor take dextras fraternitatis nor dextras humanitatis fellowship of fraternity nor fellowship of humanity which is a token that they haue not the spirit of vniō nor any meanes left them to come vnto it and consequently that the example and president of these first foure generall Councells that determined with authority and vniforme iudgement the controuersies of their times ouer all the world do preiudice all togeather and condemne the Protestants of our age and do conuince that they are not of their spirit or religion and that neyther Generall Nationall Prouinciall or particuler Councells Synods or Meetings can bring themselues to any concord or agreement togeather especially diuision and dissention being a note as it is ascribed by all ancient Fathers peculiar vnto heretickes that they were alwaies irreconciliable and deuided amongst themselues And this was the effect of my second consideration The third Consideration MY third Consideration was that by reading these Councells I did not only find a complete Hierarchy and Ecclesiasticall regiment of the Catholicke Church to be obserued in those former ancient tymes consisting of Bishops Archbishops Patriarches and Prelates gouerning the said Church conforme to that of the Catholickes of our dayes and wholy different from the Protestants Churches which they call reformed though in my iudgment they may more truely be called deformed in that they haue taken away all such Hierarchy of Bishops except only a small glimpse thereof reserued in England for a shew but in many other particuler points also I plainly perceaued their senses opinions and iudgments to be far dissonant from these of our Protestants whether we regard their practice for conuersation and reformation of our manners or respect their doctrine for instruction and information of our iudgments wherof God assisting I shall lay forth some few briefe and punctuall obseruations purposely pretermitting infinite others that may be gathered out of the foresaid foure generall Councells 36. In the first of the foure I meane Nicen and the 3. Canon therof these wordes represented themselues vnto my view Omnibus modis interdixit Sancta Synodus vt neque Episcopo neque Presbytero neque Diacono neque vlli Clericorum omnino licere habere secum mulierem extraneam nisi fortèmater aut soror aut auia aut amita vel matertera sit in his namque personis harum similibus omnis quae ex mulieribus est suspitio declinatur qui aliter praeter haec agitpericlitetur de Clero suo The holy Synod doth forbid by all meanes and determineth it to be vnlawfull for any Bishop Priest Deacon or any other of the Cleargy to haue any externe woman with them except perhaps it be their mother sister grandmother or aunt by father or mothers side for in these all suspition that may arise about dwelling with women is declyned and he that shall do contrary to this shall leese his Clergy Thus that first and famous Councell decreed ratified and enacted for the Angelicall continency of the Clergy in those dayes 37. And the true meaning of this holy Councell is according to the playne purport of the wordes as they are set downe in the Canon to wit that Clergy men could not marry after they
ter simul in faciem eorum aures insufflando breathing three times one after an other on their face and eares and so we catechize consecrate and cure them ordayning that they liue a great while in our Churches and heare the Scriptures and then we do baptize them So enacteth that ancient Canon concluded by an hundred and fifty Bishops And now whether this antiquity be more obserued or better resembled by the Protestant or Roman Church I leaue the point to euery man to consider of for intending breuity I meane not to prosecute matters at large but only to point at these two things by the way that may shew conformity or deformity betweene that ancient Church and the Protestant or Catholicke Roman Church at this day 44. Out of the third Councell held at Ephesus in the yeare of our Lord God 42 8. sundry waighty pointes occurred and represented themselues worthy of obseruation albeit all of them be ouer long here to be recited And first I remembred the manner of proceeding and condemning of Nestorius the Arch-hereticke as it is most faithfully recorded by Vincentius Lyrinensis in the very bginning of the second part of his Commonitorium the 42. chapter and it is laid downe by him who liued in the very time of the Councell and for ought we know might be present ther at in this manner This councell of Ephesus discussing and reasoning touching the establishing of some rule of faith least any prophane nouelty like to the Armenian treachery might creep into this Councell all the Catholicke Bishops and Priestes thither assembled which were almost 200. concluded and agreed vpon this as best and most Catholick to wit that the opinions and iudgmeÌ„ts of the holy Fathers should be brought forth before the Councel such Fathers as had bene either martyrs or Consessors or at least constant Catholicke Priests and according vnto their ioynt consent and vnamine decree the point then controuerted betwixt Nestorius and S. Cyrill should be decided and finally determined This was the rule and Canon of faith first enacted and according vnto this Nestorius as contrary to Catholicke verity was condemned for an Hereticke and blessed S. Cyrill was iudged consonant vnto antiquity So Vincentius And now will the Church of England that maketh shew of receauing this Councell stand to this rule and canon of faith about the examining of doctrine by the Fathers enacted and put in practice by this Councell against Nestorius And will they submit all their iudgments vnto the assembly of Fathers as this councell did 45. My second obseruation out of this Councell was this that when great stirres and troubles were expected by the pious and religious Emperours Theodosius and Valentinianus by the reason of the great concurse of people of all sorts vnto that place especially many fauourites of Nestorius the Archbishop of ConstaÌ„tinople against whom this Councell was gathred it seemed necessary vnto the said Emperours to send thither an Earle of their Court named Candidianus who should represent their persons for seeing peace and good order kept but yet with expresse protestation that it belonged not vnto them nor any other secular man to haue any dealing in Ecclesiasticall causes in that Councell And this was the thing which I obserued which now followeth Candidianum say they praeclarissimum religiosorum domesticorum Comitem ad sacram pestram Synodum abire iussimus sed ea lege conditione vt tum quaestionibus controuersiis quae circa fidei dogmata incidunt nihil quicquam commune habeat Nefas est enim qui sanctissimorum Episcoporum numero catalogo adseriptus non est illum Ecclesiastitis negotijs consultationibê° sese immiscere We haue commanded the most honorable Count Candidian one of our religious family to go vnto your holy Synod but with this charge and condition that he haue nothing at all to doe with any questions of controuersies that fall out about matters of faith for that it is not lawfull for him that is not a Bishop to meddle with Ecclesiasticall affaires or consultations So those two Emperours which conuinceth sufficiently that they hold not themselues for heades of the Church nor iudges in Ecclesiasticall matters but inferiour vnto Bishops in that behalfe And will the Church of England admitting this Councell admit this also 46. But now as on the one side the religious Emperours disclaymed from this Ecclesiasticall authority ouer the Councell so I find that Celestinus then Bishop of Rome did acknowledge the same to appertaine vnto him and it was by the whole Councell without eyther opposition or contradiction granted vnto him For first he being not able to be present himselfe he designed and deputed S. Cyrill Archbishop of Alexandria to be his substitute as appeareth by his owne letter read and approued in the Councell his wordes are these Quamobrem nostrae Sedis auctoritate ascita nostraque vice loco cum potesâ—tae vsus eiusmodi non absque exquisita seueritate sententiam exequeris c. Wherfore you taking the authority of our Sea vpon you and vsing our roome and place with the power therto belonging shall execute with punctuall seuerity the sentence giuen against Nestorius to wit of excommunication and deposition And that if he do not reuoke his heresy within ten dayes after this our admonition giuen vnto him that you presently prouide the Church of Constantinople of another Bishop and let him know that he is by all manner of wayes cut of from our body So he 47. Thus wrote Pope Celestinus from Rome where he had held a particuler Councell and condemned the heresy of Nestorius in the West before the Councell of Ephesus was gathered in the East in which Coucell of Ephesus he not being able to be present as is aforesaid designed his authority to S. Cyril as well for presiding in the same Councell as also for executing the sentence of condemnation which proceedings of Celestinus are recounted afterward againe by the sayd Councell and approued in a generall letter which the whole Councell wrote vnto the two Emperors which beginneth Vestram Christianissimi Reges c. 48. But this is confirmed yet further for that the said holy Father Celestinus sent from Rome three other Legates to ioyne with S. Cyrill in that legation for the presidence of the Councell whereof two were Bishops Proiectus and Arcadius the third a Priest only called Philip who alwaies being admitted for Legats in the Councell did firme subscribe their names after S. Cyrill before the other Patriarches of Hierusalem and the rest yea when the two Bishop-Legates were absent from the Councell vpon any ocasion this Philip though but a Priest did subscribe next after S. Cyrill as may appeare in the Councell it selfe Tomo 2. cap. 13. And moreouer at his first comming and appearance in the Councell he vsed this speach Gratias agamus Sanctae venerandaeque huic Synodo quòd literis Celestini Sanctissimi Beatissimique
desensorem venerandum quis ignorat Hilarium Episcopum Gallum Who is ignorant or who doth not know that earnest defendour of the Catholicke Church against Heretickes venerable Hilary the French Bishop 32. And then againe of S. Amrbose Audi alium excellentem Dei dispensatorem quem veneror vt Patrem in Christo enim Iesu per Euangelium me genuit Beatum loquor Ambrosium Harken vnto another excellent steward of Gods house whom I do reuerence as my Father for in Christ Iesus he begot me by the Ghospell I meane blessed S. Ambrose And then of a third also to wit S. Gregory Nazianzen he giueth this commendation or rather by an interrogation would inforce his aduersary vnto an admiration of this great Saint and learned Diuine An tibi parua in vno Gregorio Episcoporum Orientalium videtur authoritas Doth it seeme vnto thee a small authority that is in one onely Gregory Nazianzen amongst the Easterne Bishops And then followeth the reason which truly is very well worth the marking 33. Est quidem saith he tanta persona vt neque ille hoc nisi ex fide Christiana omnibus notissima diceret neque illi eum tam clarum haberent atque venerandum nisi hoc ab illo dictum ex regula notissimae veritatis agnoscerent He is truly so great a person as neyther would he speake in this matter as he doth but out of the most knowne manifest Christian faith nor would men hould him for so excellent and venerable except they did know that what he said he spake out of the rule of most knowne truth Thus S. Augustine 34. And in these his wordes consisteth the whole substance of this my Consideration about priuate Fathers to wit that S. Gregory Nazianzē syrnamed Theologus the diuine for his admirable and profound knowledge in the greatest mysteries of Diuinity though he had bene but one in that matter against Iulian as he was not but accompanied with many as hath bene made cleare in the former Consideration yet so great was the authority of his person in the Church as that neyther he would haue said as he did but out of the common sense of the Church in his time nor should he euer haue bene held for a famous nor venerable a Doctor renowned throughout the Christian world but that the Church was sure that he would affirme nothing hould nothing publish nothing but out of the common rule and infallible Canon of the most knowne truth for that otherwise he should euen to his face haue bene contradicted by other Doctors and Fathers his equalls and compeeres that liued with him or ensued after him So as we see that particuler Fathers sayings and opinions when they are not gaynesaid by others or reprehended or condemned by the Church they are not so lightly to be respected or reiected as Protestants doe both ordinarily teach and practise But the maine point to be waighed and considered is this to wit to know in what times they were written vpon what occasion of what credit or authority the Father is whether other doe write the same and accord with him whether any exception haue bene taken against it and then by whome and when and how it stood in the Church eyther as iustifyed or condemned and many other such like materiall circumstances by me before touched for that sometymes it may fall out yea and often times doth as now we haue in part shewed and might do much more at large that particuler Fathers opinions and assertions not contradicted nor yet on the other side agreed vpon in expresse tearmes by the maior part of Fathers in their writings though otherwise belieued and receaued by them in the faith and beliefe of the Church may make a very strong argument that the Church did then belieue it especially if the same were so vnderstood also by the generall consent of the Fathers following in the subsequent age and Church and consequently it may bind euery man his conscience to giue more credit therunto then Protestants incredulity will allow And this shall suffice for my second Consideration The third Consideration HItherto haue we treated of the Fathers shewing first what credit we ought to affoard yeald vnto their ioynt cōsent when in any point of doctrine they agree in one and that is sine scrupulo sine vlla dubitatione as Vincentius speaketh without any further question contradiction or opposition most faithfully to belieue them and imbrace their iudgement as the liuely oracles of God and the whole speaking voyce of Catholick Church in the mouth of her Doctors and Pastors Which if you consider it well is a great deale more then the alternatiue allowed vnto them by Protestants which is eyther to belieue them or to be humbly silent without condemning them as though the Protestant were at his liberty in euery thing to make his choice which as we haue heard in the first Chapter is no lesse thē heresy and as though the renouncing and forsaking of them let it be promised with neuer so much silence reuerence were not on the Protestants part a sufficient cōdemning of them And this for that poynt 36. There remayneth yet behind the chiefe and principall poynt of all others in this present busines and matter we haue now in hand to be handled and to be especially considered of which is this to wit to know whether the ancient Fathers of the first fiue hundred yeares after Christ for so farre doth his Maiesties offer in the last edition of this his English Premonition extend it selfe do make for Protestants or for vs which poynt though to discusse at large throughout all the controuersies would both require and fill a very large volume and consequently farre surpasse the boundes of my intended breuity yet shall Iendeauour in this last Consideratiō to giue a sufficient glimpse of the truth therein in very few words for any indifferent Reader that will stand attent and iudge according vnto reason the more by the lesse 37. For first in generall it may be here seene by that which his Matie layeth forth that the Protestants do deale diffidenter distrustfully on their owne behalfe with the Fathers authority For they do first limit their yeares within the compasse of foure hundred in the first English edition and then of fiue hundred yeares in the next and last of all they call it back againe vnto foure hundred in the Latin edition which argueth that they know not well vpō what ground nor where nor when they stay themselues being still affraid least that they grant to much vnto thē as indeed whatsoeuer they grant vnto them it is to much on their behalfes since that whatsoeuer they graunt it maketh directly against thē which would not be if their friendship with them or hope in them were confident or any at all 38. Secondly they restraine their credit yet more whē they do not promise absolutely to belieue the consent of Fathers but only