and I know not where they haue placed hir They can not assigne vnto me any persons time or place wherein their Synagogue had a resplendent face and a laudable dilatation §. 2. The SECOND Consideration touching a visible Church free from any damnable errour The Protestants loosenesse and confusion in their description of the Church 1. I Considered Secondly that this VISIBLE Church can neuer be taynted vniuersally with any errour and specially if it be such as either expressly or implicitely indangereth the principles of saluation for in matters of the necessity of saith she is freed from the possibility of errour 2. Hence it is that i Part. 4. de Vnit. Grac. Considerat 6. Iohn Gerson a man highly * See afterward c. 3. § 3. num 4. c. aduanced by D. Field prescribeth this ensuing obseruation as an infallible rule VVhatsoeuer is determined by the Pope of Rome together with his generall Councell of the Church in matters appertayning vnto faith that is vndoubtedly true and to be receiued of all the world For this consideration is founded in the articles of our faith VVe belieue that there is an HOLY CATHOLIQVE CHVRCH which is exempted from errour in hir faith c. 3. As this position was credible with me for the Authours sake and he vpon D. Fields singular commendation so I was induced farther and more strongly perswaded to intertayn it by the certayn warrant of him who is TRVTH it self and promised his Spirit vnto the holy Apostles with assurance Io. 16.13 that he should lead them into all Truth 4. In quality it is Truth without errour In quantity it is All truth necessary and expedient for them or vs in this peregrinant estate For as this promise belonged then particularly vnto each Apostle so it belongeth now generally vnto the whole Church which being taken either in hir latitude as she is diffused ouer the world or in hir representation as she is collected into a lawfull Synod is priuiledged from errour in hir doctrinall determinations 5. And this was clearely imported vnto me in a sentence of S. 1. Timoth. 3.15 Paull vnto his beloued Timothy whom he instructed how he should behaue himself in the house of God which is the ground and PILLAR OF TRVTH 6. For howsoeuer it pleaseth D. k Pag. 199. The church of Ephesus hath erred damnably in faith Field to elude the grauity and power of this Scripture by restrayning the Apostles sense therein particularly vnto the Church of Ephesus which was committed vnto the Episcopall care of Timothy yet as many reasons did preuayle with me to reiect his exposition so I preferred the authority of S. l Commentâ—r ibid Ambrose saying that VVhereas the whole world is Gods the Church is sayd to be his howse of which vniuersall Church Damasus the Pope is Rectour at this day This Vniuersall Church is the Pillar of truth sustayning the edifice of faith 7. Herevpon l Prascripe cap. 28. Tertullian deriding the hereticks of his time esteemeth it a base and grosse conceipt in any man to suppose that the holy Ghost who was asked of the Father and sent by the Sonne to be the Teacher of TRVTH should neglect that office vnto which he was designed and that he should permitt the Church to vnderstand the Scriptures otherwise then he spake by the mouth of the Apostles And farther Is it probable saieth he that so many and so great Churches if they did erre should erre thus conformably into the same faith VARIASSE debuerat ERROR doctrinae Ecclesiarum Caeterùm quod apud multos VNVM inuenitur non est erratum sed TRADITVM Errour bringeth variety but where vnity is there is the truth Thus the Churches are many in number but one in faith diuided in place but ioyned in opinion 8. Mine earnest meditation in this point taught me to lament the confusion of our Protestants admitting innumerable sectaries into our vast and incongruous Church Fox in Act. Mon. See the 3. Conuers of EnglaÌ„d which is a very Chimaera thrust together and fashioned in specificall disproportions But this was our necessity hard necessity and not our choyce to make such a pitifull delineation of our Church For whereas we had not any certayn succession to deriue hir descent and petigree from the Ancients we were compelled in this respect to deale liberally like good fellowes and take sondry hereticks with incompatible factions into our society least by the same reason for which we exclude others we should exclude our selues also from the communion of the Church pag. 137. 9. Hence it is that D. Field laying the fundation of his Babell feareth not to say that the Churches of Russia Armenia Syria AEthiopia Greece c. are and continue parts of the TRVE CATHOLICK CHVRCH A position manifestly repugnant vnto Reason and Authority Vnto reason for if truth of doctrine be a Note of the Church as we defend how is that a true Catholick Church which impugneth the truth and how is that one Church which is distracted into many faiths Vnto authority for S. * de haeres in perorat See the 3. conuers of England Part. 2. chap. 10. num 10.15.16.17 c. Augustine doth constantly affirme that whosoeuer maintayneth any heresy registred or omitted by him in his Treatise he is not a CATHOLIQVE Christian and consequently no member of that Church wherein alone we haue the promise of saluation For as our * Fides in Christum faith in Christ must be TRVSTFVLL liuely and actiue by a speciall application of his merits vnto our selues so our * Fides de Christo faith of Christ must be TRVE syncere and absolute by a iust conformity vnto the will of God reuealed by him and propounded by his Church And therefore D. Fields * Part. 4. de vnit Graecorum considerat 4. Gerson intreating of peace and VNITY in the Church laboureth to draw all men into a communion of faith and iudgeth it a great folly in any man to conceiue that we may be saued in our particular sects and errours 10. When I had discouered by an earnest prosecution of this point how naturally and powerfully our ProtestaÌ„ticall * The Church may erre Diuers Churches though erring grosly in faith make vp one Catholick Church c. doctrines conuaigh men into Laodiceanisme and a carelesse neglect of vndefiled Religion whence Atheisme must necessarily ensue I resolued with hearty affection to vnite my self vnto that Church which is pure and single in Religion wheresoeuer I should deprehend the same For though I saw that the Protestants religion was false in some things yet I had great hesitation and doubt whether the Papists were true in all as S. * Confess lib. 6. cap. 1. Augustine spake sometime vnto his louing Mother I am now no Manichee nor yet a Catholick Christian And so mine estate as well as his might be resembled vnto the case of that patient * S.
Caluin himself and this opened the way vnto the conuersion of * Apol. p. 5. Iustus Caluinus as he hath testified vnto the world how beit as * Suet. â—o Ner. c. 56. Nero had little respect vnto his Gods saue onely vnto his Goddesse Syria and yet he defiled hir idoll with his vrine so Ioh. Caluin doth frequently make his repayr vnto S. Augustine with neglect of other Fathers and yet * Instit l. 3. c. 5. § 10. c. 11 §. 15. l. 2. c. 3. §. 7. c. he asperseth his name also with no small disgrace But resting my self vpon that commendation which it pleaseth Iohn Caluin in his liberallity to affoord vnto S. Augustine I referred the matter vnto his exact decision knowing well that his ability to conceiue and fidelity to relate the truth were sufficient to put an end vnto my laborious disquisition thereof and specially because that wise counsaile which he gaue vnto his seduced friend seemed to appertayn also vnto me viz. De vtilit credendi cap. 8. Yf thou art now sufficiently tossed in thine owne opinion wouldest finish this trauayle follow the way of the Catholick doctrine which euen from Christ by his Apostles is descended vnto vs from vs shall descend vnto our posterity for euer Which sentence did prepare my heart vnto a serious deliberation in this particular forasmuch as I saw that Prayer for the dead hath descended lineally vnto the Papists howsoeuer it is abandonned by our EuaÌ„gelicall Churches whence it followeth clearely either that the Catholick doctrine did not descend vnto S. Augustines Church or els certainly our Church is not Catholick which hath renounced that poynt of ancient faith many more 9. Amongest an OceaÌ„ of testimonies which preseÌ„ted themselues vnto me in S. Augustines workes I selected two which I will here teÌ„der vnto your wise considerations The FIRST was in his p Cap. 110. manuel directed vnto Laurentius and it is repeated in his resolutions which he maketh vnto the q Quaest. 2. questions of Dulcitius where he randgeth the dead into three orders Some liue so well as that they need not theis helpes Sacrifice Prayers Almes Some liue not so well as that they need them not neither yet so ill as that they can receiue no benefit thereby Some liue so ill as that they are made incapable of any such relief 10. Now since there is this triple estate of men deceased I was driuen perforce to conclude that the First are in Heauen the Second in Hell the Third in some temporall payn For though S. Augustine doth professe r Hypognost l. 5. this place is cited by D. Abbot against D. Bishopp p. 1. pag. 89. To the same effect is a sentence in S. Aug. de peccat merit remiss lib. 1. c. 28. cited there also by D. Abbot elswere that there is no third place besides heauen and hell yet I conceiued that there are 5. differences in this case First because the Pelagian hereticks against whom S. Augustine doth purposely dispute assigned a third place vnto children dying without baptisme but as S. Å¿ De Ciuit Dei lib. 21. c. 16. Augustine teacheth that baptized Infants suffer not the paynes of Purgatory at all so he affirmeth likewise that t De Genes ad lit l. 10. c. 15. Infants vnbaptized are excluded out of the heauenly kingdome c. and so they suffer the payn of losse for euer Secondly because the Pelagians place is perpetuall but Purgatory is teÌ„porall for though the same space shall alwayes remayn in nature yet not in the same vse Thirdly because the Pelagians supposed place is full of delights but Purgatory is ful of payn outwardly howsoeuer there may be great coÌ„fort inwardly in the security of saluation Fourthly because the Pelagians place is on earth but Purgatory is subterranean according to the most common and receiued opinion Yet I rather followed the iudgement of u Dialog de particulari iudicio animae cap. 30. See Gerion Parte 4. serm 2. de defunct Dionysius the Carthusian saying that by ordinary designation there is one generall place of Purgatory but by speciall dispensation of the Iudge there are many places And this may be testified by sondry examples in the dialogues of S. Gregory and other venerable authours Fiftly because the Pelagians imagined place is to be after the generall Iudgement and not before but Purgatory is before and not after as S. x De Ciuit. Dei l. 21. c. 13. Augustine witnesseth saying Some men suffer temporall punishments onely in this life Some after death Some both now and then but yet before the last and most seuere Iudgement 11. I proceed vnto the rest of S. Augustines former discourse which hath bene interrupted as you see by a pertinent and necessary digression As the Offices for the dead are three in number Sacrifice Prayer and Almes so in reference vnto the estate of men deceased S. Augustine distinguisheth them into three kindes Propitiations Consolations Thanskgiuings 12. The application is this First he saieth for men very good theis things are THANKSGIVINGS vnto God to witt for their felicity and ioy And here I remembred the testimony of y Haeres 75. Epiphanius whom S. z Epist. ad Quod. vult D. praefix Tract de haeref Augustine reuerenceth as an holy man and famous in the Catholick faith howsoeuer it seemeth good vnto D. a Against D. Bishopp part 1. pag. 86. D. Abbot pag 8â— peruerteth the sense of Epiphan as though the Church had prayer for the Saints c. Abbott to iustify Aërius a damnable heretick against him reporting that when wee make a memoriall of Patriarchs Prophets Apostles c. VVe separate Christ from the order of men by the honour and adoration which we performe vnto him that is to say we do not offer thankes for him as we do for some other men but vnto him as being God of equall maiesty with his Father And thus it is a great honour for the Martyrs saieth S. b Homil. 21. in Act. Chrysostome to be named in the presence of their Lord. For now in the holy Sacrifice Angels stand before him and tremble in his sight Yea they adore him there like true Popish I dolaters as S. c De Sacerdot l. 6. c. 4â— Chrysostome doth elswhere very excellently declare A poynt which conuinced me to the full for I was compelled to renounce all my former Protestanticall expositions * As namely his hyperbolizing c. of S. Chrysostome when I was strongly pressed with this testimony in England by a learned virtuous Priest 13. Secondly he saieth that for men very euill theis things are not helpes but yet they may be some CONSOLATION vnto their suruiuing friends This particular I found exactly treatised by him in sondry places namely in his incomparable work d Lib. 21. cap. 24. de Ciuitate Dei where he maketh this demand If any men haue an
pitifull coÌ„ceipts Wherefore I directed my thoughts vto theis 4. considerations which here ensue FIRST that it is a vanity in vs Protestants sometimes to * So doth D. Field here and Zanch. de Natura Dei l. 4. c. 4. and others accept this Liturgy as composed by S. Chrysostome and sometimes to * So doth M. Iewell M. Powell de Antichr p. 235. reiect it for our owne aduantadge because we can not iustly insist vpon the testimony of any Authour by way of proof which we our selues deny to be deliuered by him For though it hath force against him that admitteth it yet it is of no efficacy for him that refuseth it SECONDLY that S. * Iuuetur mortuus noÌ„ lachrymis sed prâ—cibus c. Hom. 41. in epist 1. ad Cor. Chrysostome did pray and exhorted others to pray for the soules of the dead and therefore in all probability his Liturgy and his doctrine do conspire substantially in this issue THIRDLY I found that when the Church offered the Sacrifice of our Lords body for the Apostles Martyrs c. it was by way of * See Gabriel Biel lect 85. in Can. Missae thanskgiuing not of petition and this was confirmed vnto me by the testimony of S. Augustine viz. The faithfull do know by the instruction of the Church that we pray not for Martyrs as we pray for other men that is to say the Martyrs are recognized by vs as Citizens of the heauenly kingdome but we pray for others as being yet in temporall payn or at least conceiued to be so by vs and thus to witt respectiuely vnto this end we make our supplications vnto God in their behalf Farther as it is not absurdly deliuered saieth l Parte 1. lect 2. super Marcum See Biel. in the aforesaid place Gerson by the learned Diuines that there is an addition or increase of accidentall felicity in the Saints so it is not inconuenient if in this respect also we recommend them vnto God in our deuotions 3. FOVRTHLY though D. Field in his greater wisedome then integrity doth conceale it and so the Tempter made his assault vpon our Sauiour cast thy self downe headlong for it is written Matth. 4. He shall geue his Angells chardge ouer thee that thou dash not thy foote against a stone but he omitted a principall poynt viz. that they may keepe thee in all thy wayes yet S. Chrysostome in the same Liturgy doth playnely refute his pretensed exposition of prayer for the dead For thus he saieth By the supplication of theis Patriarchs Apostles c. haue respect vnto vs o Lord If D. Field will stand vnto this Liturgy to gather the sense of Antiquity by it he must admitt also such an exaltation of the blessed Virgin as will hardly staÌ„d with his liking and he addeth immediately Remember all the faithfull departed who sleepe in the hope of resurrection and make them to be at rest where the light of thy countenance is seene 4. Thus S. Augustine and S. Chrysostome if their sayings be fully related and truly waighed do hold a iust correspondency herein and each of them in the essentiall point doth follow the instruction of the same Church Wherefore though * Contra Henric. 8. Luther did basely esteeme of a thousand Augustines and Cyprians if they were repugnant vnto his iudgement in the Scripture yet I saw necessary reasons why I should preferr one Augustine before ten thousand Luthers Fields and all such as are exorbitantly caried against the streame and course of the ancient Catholick Church §. 6. Reasons which mooued me rather to belieue and to follow S. Augustine herein and the Catholick Church in his time then D. Field and his reformed Churches A conclusion of the first Part with an admonition to all Caluinian Readers 1. VVHen I had brought my discourse vnto this effect as you haue already seene I considered seriously in my priuate meditations that whereas we Protestants make a glorious shew of Antiquity D. Field pag. 47. assumeth that he will prooue the Papists NOTES of Antiquity c. to be really the same with ours Vniuersality Succession c. to iustify our Religion thereby it would prooue a most ridiculous suggestion if in this particular it self we hold not conformity with the ancient Catholick Church Here also by the way I remembred that S. * heres 53. Augustine registring the heresies of Aërius in the number whereof is his derision of Prayer and Oblation for the dead concludeth in the peroration of his treatise that whosoeuer maintayneth any of the precedent opinions he is not a Catholick Christian 2. How nerely this censure appertayneth vnto vs Protestants the * See booke 2. Part. 1 chap. 2. sequele will declare Meane while it may please you to obserue with me how plausibly and artificially D. Field demeaneth himself to escape the pressure of that difficulty which is to heauy for him to beare It is most certayn saieth m pag. 98. he that many particular men extended the meaning of theis prayers for the dead * viz. then he hath deliuered before See §. 5. num 1. farther and out of their priuate errours and fancies vsed such prayers for the dead as the Romanists themselues I think dare not iustify And so it is true that many of the Fathers were led into errour in this matter of Prayer for the dead and not all as if the whole Church had FALLEN FROM THE TRVTH as Bellarmine * See book 2. Part. 1. chap. 3. falfely imputeth vnto Caluin who saieth no such thing 3. Now forasmuch as M. Doctour doth clearely insinuate that such Fathers as extended this religious duty prayer for the dead beyond the narrow compasse which is assigned by n Insi l. 3. c. 5. Caluin and o pag. 98. 139. himself did follow a priuate errour and fancy herein and that they did fall away from the truth I was desirous to know without Lies Obscuritie and Circuitions the best Sanctuaries of our euill cause either from D. Field or from any discreete Protestant in Christendome howbeit I may contract my speach and say in Europe for our new faith hath scarce peeped out of hir confines whether S. Cyrill of Hierusalem concurring absolutely with the Papists in this point See before §. 4. and whether S. Augustine conspiring with him and whether S. p lib. 1. de diuin offic c. 18. Isidore consenting with them both Vnlesse the Catholick Church did belieue that sinnes are remitted vnto the faithfull after this life she would not offer the Sacrifice vnto God for their soules finally whether all others ioyning with them herein fell away from the truth or not And if they did I was desirous to see what one man there was besides Aërian hereticks in whom the truth was visibly preserued 4. Here I gaue my self vnto a long and earnest meditation remembring a renowned sentence of S. epist. 118. Augustine
he pretendeth that the Fathers in their prayers for the dead did seeke to expresse a kind affection vnto them but inteÌ„ded not to procure ease vnto their soules Which vntruth because it is notorious and suggested out of malice Bellarmine calleth it a lye and saith that it is refuted by the testimony of x Euchir ad Laur. c. 110. Augustine himself 7. I pretermitt the two other poynts it was a copious satisfaction for me to vnderstand that Bellarmine doth distinguish here betwixt the action and the intention and consequently that D. Field doth calumniate a worthy person to defend the inexcusable folly of our Geneuian Apostle who depraueth all things in the excessiue liberty of his Spirit CHAP. III. D. Field doth nothing but trifle in his accusation of BELLARMINE and defence of CALVIN His vntrue construction of the heresy of Aërius the great contradiction of Protestants in this poynt being all guilty of this heresy and consequently no Catholicks §. 1. D. Field refuted by S. Epiphanius and S. Augustine 1. AS the confession of Caluin and practise of our Congregations did informe me that the Protestants renounce the custome of prayer for the dead and wholly disclayme the ACTION it self so many forcible reasons did resolue me that the Papists retayning the action do likewise herein preserue the INTENTION of the ancient Church notwithstanding the glosse of D. Field who to confirme and establish the injury which he hath already done vnto the Cardinall annexeth this passadge immediately vnto the * After those words to deliuer men from thence See before Chap. 2. num 1. former viz. But Bellarmine will reply that the custome of praying for the dead was most ancient We answere The custome of remembring the departed naming their names at the holy Table in the time of the holy mysteries and offering the Eucharist that is the sacrifice of prayse for them was a most ancient and godly custome neither is it any wayes disliked by vs. And surely it appeareth this was the cause that AERIVS was condemned of hereticall rashnesse in that he durst condemne this laudable and ancient custome of the commemoration of the dead 2. How doth it appeare that SVRELY this was the cause c Behold the proof Epiphan haeresi 75. But surely this is a miserable proof For when I consulted with Epiphanius I found that our forefather Aërius did pick a quarrell against this religious duty in the same manner and to the same effect as we do at this day saying if the prayers of the liuing may be profitable vnto the dead then let a man liue as he liâ—t onely let him procure some to pray for him when he is dead ne quid patiatur that he may suffer no paynes 3. Here I considered that if the Catholick Church against which Aërius coÌ„tended in the vanity of his heart did not belieue and teach that the Sacrifice of our Lords body was offered and prayers were powred forth to relieue the soules of the dead not all but some afflicted with temporall payn the exception of Aërius were senselesse and the defence of Epiphanius were absurd for as the first doth object that opinion vnto the Church so the second denieth it not nay he declareth that the prayers of the liuing are beneficiall vnto the dead 4. But this poynt was more excellently cleared vnto me by S. Augustine the best and most faithfull witnesse of the ancient Church For this worthy Father contexing a catalogue of heresies registreth this heresy amongst the rest viz. Haeres 53 VVe must not pray nor offer sacrifice for the dead A fancy begotten by Aërius and by him first hatched into the world See the Peroration of S. Augustines treatise 5. Now whereas Quod-vult-Deus vnto whom S. Augustine directeth the aforesayd catalogue desired to receiue instruction how he should deport himself against all heresies and what opinion he should intertayn thereof the reuerend Father maketh this short and waighty answere It is a superfluous demand to aske what the Catholick Church thinketh of * As namely of this particular all theis heresies For it sufficeth thee to know that the Catholick Church doth hold and maintayn the CONTRARY assertion vnto each 6. Wherefore it now remayned that I should acquaynt my self with the purpose of the Catholick Church in hir prayers and oblations for the dead since she defended the contrary opinion vnto Aërius in theis laudable and Christian offices as S. Augustine prescribeth vnto his well respected friend 7. What was the successe of my study and meditation in this poynt you may see * Booke 1. part 1. chap. 2. §. 4. before where this matter is more particulary discussed There you shall find that the intention of the vniuersall Church in theis things was precisely to relieue some soules and hence it followeth that Aërius teaching the CONTRARY hereunto vomited out this heresy viz. VVe must not pray nor offer sacrifice for the soules afflicted with a temporall payn and this is licked vp by S. Luther our GREAT Reformer 8. Thus the Papists concurr with the ancient Church in prayer for the dead and Protestants joyne hands with Aërius to deride and subuert the same And now I perceiued that a Ratione 3. Edm. Campian did not object this infelicity vnto vs without a graue consideration and necessary cause viz. The Protestants are inforced to venditate such a Church as lay in obscure and dark corners vnlesse perhapps they will reioyce in some hereticall Progenitours AERIVS Iouinian Vigilantius Berengarius c. from whom they haue begged the fragmeÌ„ts of certayn pestileÌ„t opinions §. 2. How some Protestants seeme to defy Aërius and how others yeald him their protection Their contradictions vanities and falsehood 1. I Found that our Authours are here distracted into variable and vncertain conceipts some in their subtility dissembling the truth of the matter and some in their vanity neglecting the judgement of the Church 2. In the FIRST rank this learned Doctour may challendge a due place and he shall be assisted with his compeeres M. Iewell and Ph. Melancthon men of great accompt The one commeth forth with this plausible suggestion b Iuell in Apolog. VVe hold * Therefore not this of Aërius But here you speake vntruly none of those 80. heresies which are mentioned by Epiphanius nor any of those which are recorded by Augustine The other flourishing at randon saith expressly c MelaÌ„cth in apolog Augustana confess art 22. VVe do not forbyd prayer for the dead and much lesse do we defend Aërius c. 3. In the SECOND rank the Magdeburgians gentlemen of the freest spirits that euer liued to censure the sacred writt the holy Councells the reuerend Fathers and all antiquity in ignominious sort may vendicate the highest roome The things d Centur. 4. c. â— col 401. say theis good fellowes which Augustine and Epiphanius noted as errours in AERIVS seeme not so but rather the contrary And so in
S. Cypriaen doth record it that there is one God one Christ one holy Ghost and that there ought to be ONE Bishopp in the Catholick Church not one without others but one aboue others as S. (u) Epist 84. Leo the Pope writeth vnto a Grecian bishopp We haue called thee in partem solicitudinis non in plenitudinem potestatis into a part of our care not into the fulnesse of our power and this sentence (w) De CoÌ„siderat l. 3. S. Bernard bringeth vnto the consideration of Eugenius the Pope sometimes his (x) Ibid. l. 1. praefat sonne by institution but now his father in administration of the Church To conclude the inequality of all other Bishopps is by humane law the Popes superiority is by diuine right Other bishopps are equall vnto him in respect of their ORDER he is superiour vnto all in respect of his IVRISDICTION I proceed 8. Compare this seuere iudgement of D. Fields WORTHY GVIDE with the violent opinion of M. Powells GREAT REFORMER and behold as great difference therein as betwixt the light of the Sunne and Aegyptian darknesse And that you may conceiue it fully see I pray you the censorious temerity of Luther as it is represented by M. Powell in the end of his inhumane (y) De Antichr pag. 68. compellation vnto the Iesuites in this manner S. LVTHERVS Non potest is salutem consequi qui non ex toto corde Antichristum * Tâ—CEâ—Tò SCIO Papam esse magnuÌ„ diuÌ„ Antichristum quà m Dâ—uÌ„ ipsâ—m esseâ—m coelis c. M. Powells protestation in the first leafe in his booke Papam Papatum oderit I Will not aske M. Powell by what authority he hath canonized Martin Luther for I know that he hath a warrant from z Luther himself saying Iam by the grace of God one of the TRVE SAINTS Wherefore as the Athenians made a decree Quoniam Alexander vult esse Deus esâ—o so since Luther will be a Saint let him be so by my consent 9. But now for the correspondency betwixt Gerson and Luther the second effectuating that which the first desired if you will belieue D. Field in their Reformations consider I beseech you the resemblaÌ„ce and similitude of theis things He that rejecteth the Pope shall not be saued saith the one He that doth not hate him and the Popedome with his whole heart shall not be saued saith the other Thus they damne themselues mutually in a capitall poynt and exclude each other from the possibility of saluation And if M. Powells judgement be of any value I may vndoubtedly pronounce that Gerson is damned vnto the nethermost hell For the truest formality and essence of a PAPIST is his vnion and conjunction with the Pope Whence it followeth by (a) de Antich pag. 453. M. Powells rule No man dying a Papist that is to say truly and formally a member of the Papacy or Popish Church did euer obtayn the kingdome of heauen or escape hell that Gerson liuing and dying a true formall Papist could not be made partaker of Luthers beatitude in the number of the SAINTS What And yet hath Luther accomplished that Reformation which Gerson did expect risum teneatis amici 10. I will knitt vp this matter with the counsayle of (b) part 1. de Eupt â—hriâ—â— Ecclesiae Gerson which he prescribeth vnto the spouse of Christ saying The Church must intreate the Pope the vicegerent of Christ in * the holy Ghost is Vicarius Christi by spirituall influence c. externall administration with all honour and call him FATHER for he is hir Lord and Head We may not expose him vnto detractions c. And hence it is that he maketh his protestation Nolo de Sanctissimo Domino nostre Christo Domini velut os in coelum ponendo loqui I will not speake of our most holy Lord and the Lords anoynted as it were by setting my face against heauen But did the Cham of Saxony thus demeane himself toward his spirituall Father No but setting his face against heauen he vttered the words of blasphemy and intolerable reproach against all dignity withstanding his violence Papall Imperiall and Regall And thus he discouered himself to be guided by the Spirit of AERIVS concerning whom it is (c) EpiphaÌ„ haeres 75. reported that ipsi sermo furiosus magis quà m erat humana conditionis Doth not (d) pag. 64. D. Field also approximate vnto them both VVe haue not receiued saith he the marke of this Antichrist the Pope and child of perdition in our foreheads nor sworne to take the foame of his impure mouth and froth of his words of blasphemy Truly you neuer learned this tempestuous language from your worthy guide but from your great Reformer 11. I haue insisted long in the particular euidences Wherefore I will deale more briefly in the GENERALL out of which I haue selected theis two ensuing 12. The FIRST concerneth the infallibility of the Romane Church A QVA CERTITVDO FIDEI PETENDA EST sayth (e) Part. 1. Serm. coram Alexandro Papa 5. Gerson from whence we must receiue the certainty of our faith From thence we Englishmen receiued our faith by the vigilancy of S. GREGORY the glorious Pope of blessed memory for euer From thence the Britannes receiued their faith in their second conuersion by the fatherly prouision of Eleutherius a renowned Martyr From thence the Indians and sondry people who sate in darkenesse and shaddow of death haue lately receiued the abundant light of the ghospell Meane while the Protestants disseminate * See Tertull praescript cap. 42. Old hereticks followed the same course as Protestants now do heresy at home and reuile them who plant the Catholick religion abroad 12. Now for this particular assertion deliuered here by the worthy guide of Gods Church I will remitt me vnto the consideration of the discreete and ingenious Reader to take a resolution from his owne heart whether Gerson or any man who maintayneth the same principle with him can tolerate the Protestanticall Reformation which is reared vp against the faith of the Romane Church and founded in the ruines thereof 14. The SEGOND generall euidence is yet more potent and effectuall then the rest for it shall now sensibly appeare vnto you that Gerson damned your articles and detested the truest Progenitours of your ghospell Obserue therefore a memorable protestation of this worthy guide (f) Part. 3. dialog Apoget de Concil ConstaÌ„t The Councell of Constance was celebrated especially for the extirpation of * Protestants Religion heresies and errours which was attempted first by imprisoning the offendours and by committing some of them Husse and Ierome of Prage vnto the fire The Bohemians exhibited 45. errours of VVICKLIFFE vnto the Councell the English men brought in more then 200. For the condemnation whereof I was as zealous as any other and preached publiquely in Constance to this effect 15. Here you may perceiue that Gerson had an eminent
vexe themselues and not I. Verily I will attempt by all meanes possible to cure theis euills but if I can not do it yet I will not be consumed with grief If one Munzer one Carolostadius one ZWINGLIVS be not sufficient for the Diuell excitet plures Zwinglius was raised by the Diuell to afflict the Church let him raise vp more 34. This is the perpetuall stile of Luther against the Sacramentaries whom he damneth vnto the lake of fire and brimstome as obstinate and malitious hereticks fallen away from his Church by apostaticall defection And here you may see how the nature of heresy is alwayes variable and vncertayn as Tertullian obserued long ago Praescript c. 4â— saying Hereticks differ amongst themselues while the scholler doth modulate at his pleasure that which he receiued as the Maister did compose at his pleasure that which he deliuered The progresse of the thing doth acknowledge the condition of it and the manner of its beginning The Valentinians and Martâ—onites may chandge their faith at their owne arbitrement as well as Valentine and Marcion themselues Denique penitùs inspectae haereses omnes in multis cum authoribus suis dissentientes deprehenduntur c. 35. Thus I haue truly discouered vnto you the deportment of your pretensed Reformers the crime and cause of whose implacable dissentions D. Field would vnconscionably deriue vpon the Papists by abusing the authority of Gerson whereas it is most euident that theis men sought not the end at which Gerson aymed nor followed the meanes which he prescribed but as Luther did boysterously impugne the Catholick Church so Zwinglius and all the troupe of Sacramentaries fell away seditiously and factiously from his society and communion And so much concerning the SECOND passadge 36. In the THIRD passadge there are some memorable poynts as namely the Doctour doth confesse freely and plainely that Gerson Grosthead c. 3. Reg. 2 2â— were of the TRVE CHVRCH But here I may say of D. Field as Salomon pronounced of Adoniah his brother contra animam suam locutus est Adonias verbum hoc against his life and the life of his Church hath D. Field spoken this word For was not Gerson and likewise Grosthead a member really and essentially of the Romane or POPISH Church The precedents may testify for the first and the * §. 4. sequele shall witnesse for the second wherefore I must inferr necessarily that the Popish Church was the TRVE CHVRCH in their time and that it is so at this day because it still continueth the same Finally as Wickliffe Husse c. were not of the true Church because they were not of the same Church with GERSON so the Protestants are not members of the true Church because they are excluded from the society of the Church of Rome which is the * See S. Cyprian l. 4. ep 8. roote and mother of the Catholick Church For in that See seÌ„per Apostolicae cathedrae viguit principatus as †epist 162. S. Augustine himself doth witnesse 37. A second poynt iâ— this Gerson Grosthead c. gaue testimony vnto the work which WE haue done What we LVTHER and ZWINGLIVS You know that the SACRAMENTARIES are exiled out of the fellowshippe of Luthers Church contra artic Louan thesi 27. Censemus serio c. We think seriously sayth Luther that all Zwinglians and Sacramentaries are hereticks and aliens from the Church of God Which seuere and true sentence of the great Apostle himself a Synod of Lutherans hath established by a solemne decree Epitome Colloq Maulbrunae Anno 1564. pag. 82. viz. Zwinglianis nullum locuÌ„ in Ecelesiâ concedimus c. we grant the Zwinglians no place in the Church To what purpose then serueth this particle of extension VVE haue done c But I will admitt that you and the Lutherans are of one Church howbeit I must absolutely and confidently deny that you or they or both haue the testimony of GERSON for the approbation of your worke and this is so copiously declared already that I need not alleadge new proofes noâ— reinforce the old 38. Thirdly it pleaseth M. Doctour to aduance Gerson Grosthead c. with the resplendent title of BEST men that liued in the corrupt state of the Church Truly they were so good that Luther your great Reformer was dirt and dongue to speake of him in * See before pag. 146 his owne phrases in comparison of their excellent demeanure and they shined as gold in respect of his ignoble conuersation And yet was he sweete Saint peculiarly inspired aboue them all 39. I am weary and I feare troublesome vnto you also in the prosecution of theis lamentable deuices but I am now come vnto the last and FOVRTH passadge wherewith I will briefly conclude this whole matter and then proceed vnto some farther issue 40. In this passadge there are 2 poynts which do specially require your very deliberate ponderation FIRST you shall there find that Cameracensis Picus Sauanarola GERSON he is the principall man and innumerable others for so the learned Doctour amplifieth his vanities were the WORTHY GVIDES OF * therefore the Protestants Church is not Gods Church GODS CHVRCH But what Church I pray you did they guide administer and direct That Church whereof the Protestants are members No for they detested your opinions That whereof the Papists are members Yea for they were firmely vnited vnto the Church of Rome and vnto the Pastour of that See and therefore hereticks and proud Romanists and Antichristian Vassals sworne to take the foames of the child of perdition and Vassals of the man of sinne c. all which hobgoblin-termes the Doctour hath congested vpon such men as now retayn the very same faith which Gerson constantly professed and are knitt vnto that Church which he humbly obayed And yet is a Gerson also a WORTHY GVIDE OF GODS CHVRCH You may remember that D. Field and hiâ— Church doth willingly admitt a triall of your cause by the testimony of the Fathers See before booke 1. Part. 1 chap 2. § 1. num 4. c. Do you admire that venditation and wonder at that assertion when Gerson himself shall be made a worthy guide of the Church c I leaue it vnto your ingenuity and wisedome since it doth import your eternity to consider what truth what solidity what assurance you or I or any other may expect at theis mens hands for the information of our vnderstandings the satisfaction of our doubts the direction of our soules in the way of secure and certayn peace 41. The SECOND particular is this It appeareth by that which we haue already deliuered touching that matter how nothing is done in our Reformation which theis men Gerson Grosthead c. long before thought not necessary to be done But where is that deliuered and how doth that appeare I know that the Doctour hath pitifully mangled some sentences and notably depraued the intention of GERSON
THE FIRST MOTIVE OF T. H. MAISTER OF ARTS AND LATELY MINISTER TO SVSPECT THE INTEGRITY OF HIS Religion Which was DETECTION OF FALSEHOOD in D. Humfrey D. Field other learned Protestants touching the question of Purgatory and Prayer for the dead VVith his PARTICVLAR CONSIDERATIONS perswading him to embrace the Catholick doctrine in theis and other points * ⎠* An Appendix intituled TRY BEFORE YOV TRVST Wherein Some notable vntruths of D. Field and D. Morton are discouered Printed 1609. S. AVGVSTIN de vtilit credendi contra Manichaeos cap. 14. NVllis me video credidisse nisi populorum atque gentium confirmatae opinioni ac famae admodum celeberrimae hos autem populos Ecclesiae CATHOLICAE mysteria vsquequaque occupásse Cur non igitur apud cos potissimum diligentissimè requiram quid Christus praeceperit quorum authoritate commotus Christum aliquid vtile praecepisse iam credidi Túne mihi melius expositurus es quid ille dixerit Quem suisse aut esse non putarem si abs te mihi hoc commendaretur esse credendum Hoc ergo credidi vt dixi famae celebritate consensione vetustate roboratae Vos autem tam pauci tam turbulenti tam noui nemini dubium est quám nihil dignum authoritate praeferatis Quae igitur ista tantae dementia est Illis crede Christo esse credendum à no bis disce quid dixerit Cur obsecrote Nam si illi Catholici deficerent nec me quicquam docere possent multò faciliùs mihi persuaderem Christo non esse credendum quà m de illo cuiquam nisi ab jis per quos ei credidissem discendum TO THE PROTESTANT READER IT was my purpose to be silent vntill I was inforced to speake for the publick proceedinge against me hath drawen me vnto this publick defence and specially because it was by those persons whom I haue reuerenced from my heart and in that place which must alwayes challendge an interest in my poore vnworthy self Wherefore being inuited and compelled vnto this coursey I present vnto thee louing contreyman one MOTIVE of my chandge the first in order and with me very effectuall in waight Expect not any curious or ample discourse for I do here intend to deliuer onely such peculiar things as preuayled with me in the beginning rowsing me out of my lethargy in schisme and heresy prouoked me vnto a diligent inuestigation of the truth My other * Tâ—â— motiues shall remayn prisoners in my custody vnlesse the importunity of friends or malignity of aduersaries may perhapps extort their enlardgement from me against the proper inclination of my will Meane while accept this little schedule is it not a little one and thy soule shall liue Gen. 19 20 with kind affection And though I may require it as justice yet I will desire it as a fauour let not prejudice forestall thy judgement nor passion supplant thy reason Peruse diligently compare exactly and giue thy verdict vprightly in presence of the all-seing eye Then I doubt not but seeking thou shalt find and finding wilt confesse God was here Gen. 28.16 and I knew it not Thy deuoted contreyman Theophilus Hyggons THE GENERALL CONTENTS OF THIS TREATISE DIVIDED INTO 2. BOOKES 1. In the First booke are expressed tvvo Reasons the one DOCTRINALL the other MORALL vvhich svvayed my vnderstanding povverfully to yeald firme assent vnto the Catholick faith touching Purgatory and Prayer for the dead 2. In the Second booke are layed forth certayn egregious falsehoods of D. Field D. Humfrey M. Rogers and others in their exceptions against the same THE PARTICVLAR CONTENTS IN EACH BOOKE IN THE FIRST BOOKE AND FIRST PART CONTAYNING THE DOCTRINALL REASON CHAP. 1. § 1. Purgatory prooued by the cleare authority of Scripture Matth. 12.32 § 2. The Fathers iudgements touching the sayd parcell of holy Scripture § 3. Three reasons which mooued me to follow the doctrinall expositions of the Fathers rather then of Caluin Luth. c. CHAP. 2. § 1. Of a triall by the Fathers Protestants in England condescend thereunto § 2. Prayer for the dead is an Apostolicall TraditioÌ„ by the testimony of the Fathers The same appeareth by the rules assigned by Protestants to know what is an Apostolicall Tradition § 3. Prayer for the dead Purgatory do mutually prooue each other § 4. The ancient Catholick Church vnto which the Protestants in England appeale did intend in hir Prayers and Oblations to relieue some soules departed and afflicted with temporall payn § 5. The collusion of D. Field in deliuering the purpose of the ancient Catholick Church in hir Prayers and Oblations for the dead § 6. Reasons perswading me rather to follow S. August the ancient Church then D. Field and his reformed Congregations IN THE SECOND PART OF THE FIRST BOOKE CONTAYNING THE MORALL REASON CHAP. 1. § 1. The PROVIDENCE of God preseruing a visible Church in all ages § 2. This visible Church is free from damnable errour The Protestants loosenesse and confusion in their delineation of the Church § 3. Protestants condemne Purgatory and Prayer for the dead as hereticall and blasphemous § 4. This doctrine was embraced by the vniuersall Church consequently is approoued by the singular PROVIDENCE of almighty God CHAP. 2. § 1. The base and impious condition of Aërius and Henricus who first impugned this doctrine § 2. The VVISEDOME of God appoynting fitt messengers to be Reformers of his Church doth excellently confirme this doctrine CHAP. 3. § 1. The nature and vse of Miracles by which God doth beare witnesse vnto some TRVTH A triple consideration of Miracles according to the triple distinction of the Church § 2. A miracle wrought by S. Bernard to the confusion of Henricus and his doctrines § 3. There is no exception against the sayd Miracle § 4. The sayd Miracle doth euidently conuince the Protestants in this and other poynts § 5 An exception of D. Field pretending that no particular defended by the Papists against Protestants vvas euer confirmed by Miracle is refelled by our Conuersion from Paganisme to Popery as it is termed and by the authority of Gerson whom D. Field hath magnified as one that desired the same Reformation long since which Protestants haue lately effected CHAP. 4. § 1. The grounds which I followed in the precedents are invincible § 2. The particulars therein are very cleare A direction for the Reader to iudge orderly substantially concerning the same A conclusion of the first Part with a Protestation vnto the Reader IN THE SECOND BOOKE AND FIRST PART CONTAYNING THE VNTRVTHS OF D. FIELD CHAP. 1. § 1. S. Gregory the 4. glorious Doctours of the Latine Church abused by D. Field in this doctrine of Purgatory Prayer for the dead § 2. S. Augustin the 4. glorious Doctours of the Latine Church abused by D. Field in this doctrine of Purgatory Prayer for the dead § 3. S. Hierome the 4. glorious Doctours of the Latine
Augustine I am bold to intreate his leaue to honour Augustine with the name of SAINT howsoeuer he hath not once vouchsafed in his fower bookes to grace him or any Father with this glorious title is the greatest of all the Fathers and worthiest Deuine that the Church of God euer had since the Apostles times Wherefore I was imboldned to rest securely in his excellent resolution which here ensueth h De Ciuit Dei l. 21. c. 24. The prayer of the Church or of godly persons is heard for some men deceased out of this world but yet for such onely as being regenerated in Christ did neither liue so ill that 〈◊〉 they be made vnworthy of mercy nor yet so well 〈◊〉 that they haue no need thereof At the resurrection of the dead there shall be some found to whom mercy shall be granted that whereas their soules haue suffered * Purgatory paynes after death they shall not be cast into euerlasting fire Neque enim VERACITER diceretur c. For it could not be said TRVLY of some men that their sinnes should not be forgiuen in this world nor in the world to come vnlesse there should be some men who though they are not pardoned in this world yet they should be pardoned in the world to come So he in whose profound and iudicious apprehension there is a penall estate of soules temporally afflicted after their dissolution from the body if there be any truth in the holy Scripture it self which some Protestants haue bene more ready to abiure then to relinquish their owne preiudicate opinions 2. My second Authour was that worthy Pope S. Gregory sirnamed the Great who as he was deare vnto me for many respects so principally because he was the Apostle of our nation for i S. Bernard de cōsiderat lib. 3. he destinated Augustine to deliuer the faith of Christ vnto the English and hence our Venerable contrey man k Eccles hist. l. 2. c. 1. S. Beba feareth not to say though he be not an Apostle vnto others yet doubtlesse he is so vnto vs for we are the seale of his Apostleshipp in our Lord. His sentence is this l Dialog l. 4. c. 39. We must belieue that there is a Purgatory fire before the day of Iudgement because the Truth doth say If any man shall vtter blasphemy against the holy Ghost it shall not be forgiuen him neither in this world nor in the world to come In which saying we are giuen to vnderstand that some sinnes may be released in this world and some in the next Quod enim de vno negatur consequens intellectus patet quia de quibusdam conceditur For that which is denied of one is consequently yealded of the other So he whose reason seemed very powerable vnto me in this behalf 3. My third Authour was S. Isidore Bishopp of Siuill a reuerend person wise virtuous learned and alwayes accepted as an eminent Doctour of the Catholick Church His iudgement is this m De diuinis officijs l. 1. c. 18. Whereas our Lord saieth that VVhosoeuer sinneth against the holy Ghost his sinne shall not be forgiuen in this world nor in the world to come he doth demonstrate that sinnes shall be remitted vnto some men in an other world and cleansed with the fire of * S. August in Psal 37. calleth it the fire of emendatiō Purgation 4. My fourth Authour was S. Beda one of the principall ornaments of our nation and renowned in the Christian world for his many and learned volumes which are extant at this day His iudgement is this n Commēt in Matth. 12. Whereas our Lord denieth pardon vnto him that despayreth both in this life and in the life to come without all question he doth declare that there is remission of some sinnes after this life Agayn o Commēt in Marc. 3. Whereas it is said in the Ghospell that he who blasphemeth the holy Ghost shall haue no remission in this world nor in the world to come we are informed that some sinnes are remitted in this world and some in the next For that which is denied vnto one is consequently granted vnto an other 5. My fift Authour was S. Bernard whom I did alwayes affect by a secret and peculiar instinct And though the common prouerbe goeth thus Bernardus non vidit omnia Bernard saw not all things yet that was not otherwise intended of him then S. Augustine writeth touching an honourable Martyr Cyprian saw not all things that so some more excellent thing might be seene through him And thus they are not abased but aduanced rather who though they were men of admirable value yet they were not exempted from the errours of infirmity attending vpon the condition of mankind 6. The sentence of S. Bernard is this p Serm. 66. in Cantic Theis men viz the * Progenitours of the Waldēsian sect Henricians c. do not belieue that there remayneth a Purgatory after death but that the soule being separated from the body doth passe immediatly either vnto rest or vnto damnation Let them aske therefore of him that saied there is a sinne which shall not be remitted neither in this world nor in the world to come why he spake thus if there remayn no forgiuenesse nor purgation of sinne in the world to come §. 3. My reasons to follow the doctrinall expositions of the Fathers and chiefly where they consent rather then of ZANCH LVTH ZVINGL CALV c. 1. VVHen I had premised theis considerations I could not approoue the censorious and rash humour of Hierome Zanchy an Authour vnto whom I had dedicated no small part of my affection who q De Naturâ Dei l 4 c. 4. discoursing lardgely of prayer for the dead concludeth thus If the Fathers did intend that some sinnes are remitted in the next world which were not remitted in this we may reiect them all in this arcicle with a good conscience 2. For I did conceiue first that Zanchius in the multiplicity of his reading could not be ignorant of the Fathers resolution herein and therefore his supposition if the Fathers c. was very friuolous Secondly I considered that in this dispute or in the like I could with greater reason and better conscience admitt the interpretation of the Fathers then of any late Professour in the reformed Churches as they are stiled and I was induced herevnto for three necessary respects 3. FIRST because Iohn Caluin whom certayn * Pinczouiens Ministers in Polonia do gloriously intitle the Doctour of Doctours the Diuine of Diuines who alone is of more value then an hundred Augustines and hence it is that in the lardge * Imprinted at the Black Friers Table of Gods faithfull witnesses he is extolled thus No man could expound the Scriptures more q His cunning herein is declared by D. Hunnius a Lutheran saying that Caluin was an acute Instrument of the Diuell cunningly then he renouncing the iudgement of
all the Fathers yea of the first sacred Councell of Nice it self and concurring with the damned Arrians in his exposition saieth expresly r CommeÌ„t in Ioh. 10.30 Ego Pater vnuÌ„ sumus Scio veteros abusos suisse hoc loco c. I know that the ancients abused this place to proue homousia that is to say the consubstantiality of the Father and the Sonne Wherefore being so guided by his Spiritt he geueth the Arrianicall glosse vpon that Text and saieth that the Vnity whereof our Sauiour speaketh is to be vnderstood of Consent and not of Essence This rare impiety in so great a Person discouered vnto me first of all by D. Å¿ Caluin Iudaiz Hunnius the Professour in Luthers owne chayre did treate with me more then two yeares ago as some of my kindest friends in England can beare me witnesse to renounce my Allobrogian Apostle and to be suspicious of new interpretations but specially which concerne matters of doctrine and faith as this particular doth For it may please you to consider with me that though the Fathers err sometimes in their expositions secundum analogiam loci in respect of the analogy of the place yet they are syncere and respectiue to preserue the analogy of faith And where their interpretatioÌ„s agree we may resolue infallibly This is the doctrine of the Catholick Church 4. SECONDLY because I saw the strandge mutability of Luther himself whose Ghospell was cast in the mould of a * See the Orthodox Confession of the Tigarines who complayn of his inconstant humours variable fancy in his iudgemeÌ„t of the Scripture This is the maÌ„ nay the Angell rather who is the first moouer of all late Euangelicall spheres But when he is diuided into his three parts it will appeare that he was not the flying Angell meÌ„tioned in the t 14.16 Apocalyps as M. u de Antichristo pag. 324. Gabriel Powell fancieth but a lying Diuell as captayn x Tom. 2. contra Lâ—theri CoÌ„fess Zuinglius doth no lesse truly then seuerely chastise him for his false doctrines inteÌ„perate deportment 5. First Martin Initiant made an earnest protestatioÌ„ in his publik disputes at Lipsia sayd y See Eckius in Homil Tom. 3. homil 4. in die Animaerum circa med I who belieue stroÌ„gly that there is Purgatory yea I am bold to affirme I know that there is Purgatory am easily perswaded that there is meÌ„tioÌ„ of it in Scripture 6. Secondly Martin Progredient was some what chandged from his former self and now the Angells feathers beganne to appeare by little and little z Roffens contra Luth. artic 37. I do belieue saith he that there is Purgatory and I do giue meÌ„ counsell to belieue it but yet o tender hearted man I would haue no man compelled to belieue it for I find no mention thereof in the Scriptures 7. Thirdly Martin ConsuÌ„mated gaue this incouradgemeÌ„t vnto a rebellious faction a in epist ad VValdeÌ„s VVhereas you deny Purgatory and condemne Masses Vigills Monasteries Cloysters and whatsoeuer was erected by this imposture I approoue you altogether therein Thus did M. Luther behaue himself in this particular and thus violently he reiected what soeuer was distastful vnto his vncertayn and misguided humour Wherefore I perceiued now that though the censure of Zuinglius was very sharpe yet it was grounded vpon equity whereas he saith that b Tom. 2. coÌ„tra Luth. confess Luther is a false Prophet an incorrigible Heretick an Impostour Antichrist a Diuell a foole a brabler and not a Diuine one whose bookes contayn nothing els in them but a manifest oppression of the pure truth and euangelicall light c. To which purpose he violated the holy Canon of sacred Scripture dispundged the c This point is fairely aymed at by D. Field pag. 252. epistle of S. Iames with great contempt 8. My last and THIRD reason was taken from a consideration of Zuinglius the first Patriarch of our late English Gospell For he d De subsid Sacrum acknowledgeth that he was informed by a certayn admonitour in his sleepe how in this proposition Hoc est Corpus meum the verb est is put for significat and saith whether he were VVhite or Black I remember not But e In proâ—…m Caluinist Theolog. Many hereticks haue had coÌ„trary Diuells as Nestorius Enryches c. Conradus a great superintendent in Luthers gospell sheweth that it was a black one and no doubt but he was of the same colour as those companions were by whom Luther was attended no vulgar Diuells in his opinion and they propounded vnto me saith f See Iustus Caluinus annotat in praescript Tertull. cap. 43. Luther the arguments of the Sacramentaries to wittt of Zuinglius Oecolampad c. but I ouercame them all by the word of the Lord. 9. Now let any Christian heart vprightly syncerely and feelingly waigh whether finding this pride in some this Diuelry in others they being the first principal maisters in our gospel and mutuall oppugnation of their owne senses in holy Scripture I had not reasonable yea necessary and ponderous motiues to fly vnto the religious learned and reuerend Fathers of the Catholick Church to vnderstand the true sense and purport of the aforesaid Scripture They fauoured no Arrian heresy they hated society with Diuells they were guided by the sanctifying Spirit and therefore as I concluded then so I conclude now Let my soule rest with them in peace theis are the men whose sense I will intertayn rather then the new glosses of theis late Professours Thus by the validity of this Text I was led powerfully into the approbation of this doctrine CHAP. II. The Reason taken from FATHERS and APOSTOLICALL TRADITION to prooue PVRGATORY §. 1. Triall by the Fathers 1. MAny learned Protestants conceiue that the coÌ„trouersies of theis vnhappy times will be extended without any measure vnlesse Antiquity be made the vmpire in this quarrell For the holy Fathers are witnessing Iudges and iudging VVitnesses in this behalf To this end and purpose D. Lilly a man of excellent literature did alleadge In a sermon at Oxford within theis few yeeres and applaud the wise and necessary processe of Theodosius a most Christian Emperour against certayn insolent and supercilious hereticks whose pride in * Neque enim consimiliter singuli de veterum scriptis sentiebaÌ„t c. See Sozom. l. 7. c. 12. compare this with the Protestants case Citant ipsi Patres Deus bone quâ fide ete Gregor de Valent. in analys Fidei pag. 18. Talis est phrenesis nostrorum Romanistarum eò maior c. reiecting the Fathers did seeme a desperate disease and to be cured rather by sharpe lawes then by farther dispute 2. For mine owne part I protest freely from my heart that I was secured to make a triall of this present cause by the worthy Fathers being warranted thereunto not onely by my priuate sense but much
more by the testimony of sondry Protestants and specially of two whose names were sometimes full of reuerence in my thoughts 3. The first was D. HVMFREY whose highly respected answere to Edm. Campian draweth to a conclusion with this sentence Thrasilaus in his mad humour tooke all the shippes which he beheld in the Attick hauen to be his owne though he possessed not any vessell Such is the phrensy of our Romanists yea greater also because they see and yet seing they dissemble that they are destitute of all defence from the Fathers Thus to cleare himself from that folly which g Rat. 5. Edm. Campian obiecteth vnto him and vnto M. Iewell his deare Achates he stretched his stile vntill it brake into a vast and notable vntruth 4. The second was D. FIELD whose praise is in the ghospell of England a man vpon whom the eyes of our * Oxford Vniuersity are cast as a sans pareill of this age for subtile dispute and profound science VVe reuerence saieth h pag. 148. he and honour the Fathers much more then the Romanists do c. Agayn i pag. 204. in marg Though Luther and the rest in the beginning did seeme to decline the triall by the Fathers because the corruption of their writings were so many as could not be discouered at the first yet now hauing found out by the helpe of so many learned men both of our aduersaries and amongest our selues who haue trauailled in that kind which are their vndoubted workes and which are doubtfull or vndoubtfully forged Not◠VVe willingly admitt triall by the Fathers 5. Though D. Field doth vntruly alleadge the cause why Luther Zuinglius c. declined triall by the Fathers and mitigateth their folly with a fayr pretense that forsooth they seemed to do so yet it was not my purpose then nor now to employ my thoughts in dismaking the vanity of theis suggestions It was and is sufficient for me to consider that as his assertion concerning a triall by the Fathers is playn so it is countenanced by the authority of him who is the great Metropolitan of our English Church It pleased your Grace fauourably to approoue theis my poore paynes c. See the epist dedicat to the Archbish of Cānt And therefore such as professe themselues members of hir society cannot renounce that position which in the name of all and in the authority of the chiefest is so freely recommended vnto the world 6. Finally I concluded with that famous prescription of S. k Contra Iulian. Pelag Augustine saying let vs referr our selues vnto the Ancients who were offended neither with vs nor you but what they found in the Church they retayned and what they learned they taught and what they receiued of their Fathers they deliuered vnto their children Thus the question is translated à Iure ad Factum from the right vnto the fact for all wise and ingenious men will easily discerne that in this case and many like vnto it the later which is more cleare will lead vs vnto the former which seemeth more obscure §. 2. Prayer for the dead is deriued from the blessed Apostles 1. I Considered that one thing may haue a double proof to witt by Scripture and by Tradition also And hence it is that the most holy and most blessed Irenaeus as he is truly l Epiphan heres 34. called confuteth the Valentinians first by the euidence of Scripture and secondly by the tradition of the Apostles but specially in the Romane Church vnto which as he m Lib. 3. cap. 3. saieth all Christians must necessarily repayr because she is of more powerfull principallity then the rest A poynt very remarqueable by the way for vpon my knowledge it driueth the Protestants vnto many dishonest and impertinent euasions 2. I might giue instance in sondry doctrines which admitt this double proof and therefore I was desirous to vnderstand why D. n Pag. 240. 241. Field amongst other particulars should esteeme it a folly and an inconstancy in his Romanists to say that Purgatory is holden by Tradition and yet it is prooued by Scriptures also 3. But forasmuch as I saw that his desire to contradict doth transport him beyond his reason to conceiue I passed ouer this matter and I came vnto an other sentence fitt for my purpose which he affordeth with greater equity and moderation viz. o Pag. 232. It is not the writing which giueth things their authority but the worth and creditt of him that deliuereth them though but by word and liuely voyce alone And the Papists haue good reason to equall their traditions vnto the written word if they can prooue any such vnwritten verities Wherefore it was my desire vpon the security of such grounds to find out the fountayn and origin at least in the time of the Ghospell of prayer for the dead And here diuers testimonies presented themselues vnto me and specially two which rested my searching thoughts in good tranquillity and peace 4. The First was taken from S. Chrysostome the principall Father of the Greeks who in a p Homil. 75. ad Pop. Antioch sermō vnto the people deliuered this proposition It was not vnaduisedly decreed by the Apostles that in the fearefull mysteries Sacrifice of the Masse there should be a commemoration of the dead For they knew that the dead receiue great benefit and vtility thereby 5. The Second was taken from S. Augustine In Instit who being the chieftayn of Diuines as Caluin doth agnize and the hammer of hereticks as he is confessed by the publick voyce of the Catholick Church gaue me this solid cleare and ponderous information q Serm. 32. de verb. Apost There is no doubt but that by the prayers of holy Church and by the healthfull Sacrifice and by almes the soules of the dead are relieued that God may deale more mercifully with them then their sinnes haue deserued For this being deliuered by our Fathers is obserued by the Vniuersall Church 6. Here I considered with my self that whereas Traditions haue a quadruple distinction first from their Authours into Diuine Apostolicall and Ecclesiasticall secondly from their Matter into Doctrinall Morall and Ceremoniall thirdly from their Place into Generall and Particular fourthly from their Time into Perpetuall and Temporall that S. Augustine doth intreate here of an APOSTOLICALL Traditiō doctrinall general perpetuall And the reasons which perswaded me to conceiue so were many but principally theis three which here ensue FIRST because he doth not say inuentum but * Tradere tradita by a perpetual succession is an infallible note of the Catholick faith traditum not inuented but deliuered by our Fathers according to the sweet and sure prescription of r cap. 27. Vincentius Lirinensis in his little golden booke against the innouation of profane heresies * 1. Tim. 6. Custodi depositum c. Keepe that which is committed vnto thee And what is this depositum That which
thou hast receiued and not deuised that which is brought downe vnto thee and not brought forth by thee that wherein thou art a scholler and not a maister a follower and not a guide c. 7. SECONDLY because the rule of S. Å¿ Contra Donatist de Baptismâ— l. 4 c. 24. Augustine which D. t pag. 242. Field himself doth accept was so cleare and waighty that I could not resist the power thereof viz. VVhatsoeuer is frequented by the Vniuersall Church and was not instituted by Councells but was alwayes held that is belieued most rightly to be an Apostolicall Tradition Such is the custome of Prayer for the dead For first It was practised in all ages and in all places as the most venerable Authours do constantly and vniformely teach Supplications for the soules of the dead were powred foorth by the Vniuersall Church in u de curâ prâ— mort cap. 1. S. Augustines time and the like testimonies were affoorded vnto me by the Fathers of the Primitiue Church namely S. x Epist 1. It is mentioned by Concil Vasens 1. c. 6. Clemens the Martyr in the yeare of our Lord 110 y de Coron Milit. Tertullian in yeare of our Lord 210 who z de Monogam prescribeth according to the doctrine of the Catholick Church vnto the wife that she should pray for the soule of hir husband to procure his rest and ease Secondly I could not possibly designe any Councell Oecumenicall Nationall or Prouinciall any Bishop Supreame or Subordinate by whom this custome was brought into the Church And here I considered that heresy doth alwayes spring from some certayn Person Time and Place VinceÌ„t Lir. and so it is discouerable by theis circumstances But if the Authour cannot be specially named which is a rare accident yet this was sufficient vnto me to conceiue that as Catholick Religion implieth three things viz. Antiquity Vniuersality and Consent so Heresy being opposite thereunto implieth necessarily the three contraries viz. Nouelty Particularity and Distraction 8. My THIRD reason to belieue that this is an Apostolicall Tradition was deriued from the liberallity of D. a pag. 242. Field himself VVhatsoeuer all or the most famous and renowned in all ages or at the least in diuers ages haue constantly deliuered as receiued from them that went before them no man doubting or contradicting it may be thought to be an Apostolicall Tradition This rule was very appliable vnto my purpose For first I had many pregnant demonstrations and conformable testimonies of the most famous and renowned in all ages constantly deliuering this thing as receiued from them that went before See the 2. Part chap. 2. And secondly I found that no man did contradict or doubt herein but such onely as were damned hereticks and are so recognized by the publick voyce of the Church Wherefore I concluded ineuitably by D. Fields allowance that Prayer for the dead may be thought to be an Apostolicall Tradition and b Decad. 4. serm 10. Bullinger himself feareth not to say that this is the iudgement of the Fathers WheÌ„ce I was compelled to inferre that D. c against D. Bishopp part 1. pag. 80. Abbott doth willingly deceiue himself saying that Prayer for the dead is a Tradition and an ordinance of the Church to which purpose he misinforceth the testimony of d Hares 75. Epiphanius whereby he would exempt Aërius from the crime of heresy iustly layed vnto his chardge by S. e Hares 53. Augustine and many others Lastly I was compelled to disallow the groundlesse opinion of f de Naturâ Dei lib. 4. c. 4. Zanchius and some others who referr the origin of prayer for the dead vnto humane affection and imitation of the Gentiles § 3. The mutuall dependency of Purgatory and Prayer for the dead 1. VVHen I had thus ascended vnto the fountayn of Prayer for the dead I reflected vpon my self and demanded of mine own heart saying but what is this vnto PVRGATORY For that was the issue vnto which my thoughts did finally incline 2. Wherefore for better illustration of this matter information of the Reader I will here lay downe a necessary point deriued out of the testimonies which ensue in the next section of this chapter and so you shall clearely perceiue the connexion and dependency of theis things 3. Though Purgatory and Prayer for the dead are things seuerally distinguished in their nature yet they are so inseparably tied in their bond that each doth mutually prooue the other Prayer for the dead prooueth Purgatory per modum signi by the way of a signe or declaration for it doth presuppose a penall estate wherein some soules are afflicted temporally after this life Purgatory prooueth the necessity of prayer for the dead per modum causae by the way of a cause for we are obliged by the law of Charity to make supplication vnto God in behalf of our brethren of the Church Patient in Purgatory Qui securi estis de vobis soliciti estâ—te de nobis S. August meditat cap. 24. as they being translated into the Church Triumphant in Heauen are led by the abundance of their charity to make intercession for vs of the Church Militant in Earth Which triple distinction of the Church I did embrace willingly forasmuch as it was confessed solemnely by Sir Iohn Oldcastle himself howbeit M. Fox seing that this was no small disreputation vnto the faith of our trayterous Martyr mingleth a * if any such place as Purgatory be found in the Scripture few wordes to abate the force of his confession This poore subtility of Fox is dismasked in the g Part. 2. chap. 9. num 18. three Conuersions of England 4. Thus I considered that not the Name but Thing and that things not accidentall but essentiall were to be inquired by me in this dispute I obserued farther that men are not the Authours to make but Expositours to declare their faith And as we do penetrate more excelleÌ„tly into the knowledge of any thing so we are inabled accordingly to expresse the same in proper and significant words For as the imposition of words ariseth from the freenesse of our will so the aptnesse of their imposition floweth from the clearnesse of our vnderstanding 5. Finally I called vnto remembrance that the Church of God hath drawen many lardge doctrines into compendious names as Trinity Sacrament and the like Thus the doctrine of Homousia or the coÌ„substantiality of the Father the Sonne Io. 10.30 is really contayned in the holy Scripture I and my Father are one See before Chap. 1. §. 3. num 3. a playn Text howsoeuer it be Arrianically violated by Caluin but the word it self was established by the first sacred Councell of Nice Thus also I saw that in the opinion of the Papists the doctrine of Metousia or TransubstantiatioÌ„ in the SacrameÌ„t is implied in the Scripture This is my body which little sentence is distracted by vs
Protestants into * 9. are noted by Bellarm de Euchar. l. 1. c. 8. You shall find 84. noted by Claud. de Sainct in lib. de Euchar. Repetit 1. cap. 10. many interpretations but the word it self was confirmed by a * 3. LateraÌ„ generall Councell not inuenting a new faith for the whole Church past and present consented therein by an audacious decree but expressing the old by a significant name For it is iudiciously obserued by h Part. 1. Serm. pro viago Regis Rom. secuÌ„da parte principali direct 3. Gerson against the innouatioÌ„s of VVickliffe and Husse that in the Church we must keepe a certayn forme of speach and that it is an euill liberty to speake erroneously and amisse Wherefore as the holy Councell of Nice did wisely restrayn all men to acknowledge the word Homousia so the Catholiks in the Ariminian Councell saw too late the great inconuenience in leauing men vnto a liberty of speach in this behalf For the world did sigh as S. i contra Lucifer Hierome saith and wondered to see it self become an Arrian not by any hereticall decree as M. k Cathol doctrine of the Church of England pag. 114. Roger's doth vntruly insinuate but by permitting such a freedome as we Protestants affect viz. to define as we see cause in matters of faith according vnto the Scriptures whence they we gayn aduantadge to erect our owne fancies §. 4. The Ancient Catholick Church in hir Prayers for the dead in hir Oblations c. did intend precisely to relieue soules afflicted temporally in a penall estate 1. VVHen I had thus deriued prayer for the dead by a perpetual line froÌ„ the holy Apostles I proceeded farther to examine the purpose inteÌ„dmeÌ„t of the Catholick Church in this religious act for I could not coÌ„tent my self with this simple glosse of l Tom. 1. Epicher de Canouâ— Missa Zuinglius viz If it be so as Augustine and Chrysostome affirme that prayer for the dead is referred vnto the Apostles I think that the Apostles did onely permitt it vnto the infirmity of some Christians c. 2. This seemed vnto me an heathenish euasion and iniurious vnto the syncerity of the Apostles Besides was Aërius the onely man filled with the spirit to impugne this thing which suffered no contradiction vnto his time Wherefore hauing many reasons to amandate Zuinglius with his black admonitour I repayred vnto them who were of more candid and honourable disposition And here I singled foorth two Fathers the one of the Greek Church the other of the Latin esteeming this a sure and conuenable meanes to leade me into a solid apprehension of the truth 3. The FIRST was S. m Cateches mystagog 5. Cyrill Arch-bishopp of Hierusalem who in his instructions of the people whom he was carefull to informe herein according to the simplicity of the Catholick faith hath this ponderous and effectuall senteÌ„ce When we offer vp the Sacrifice commonly knowen by the name of Masse a thing which should not be ingrate vnto vs Englishmen See Beda in his Eccles histor lib. 1. c. 26. forasmuch as it was a part of that Christian faith which we receiued in our first conuersion we make mention of all them who are fallen asleepe before vs. First of the Patriarchs Apostles and Martyrs that God by their intercession may receiue our prayers Then we pray for our deceased Fathers and Bishoppes and finally for all men departed amongst vs viz. in the * See S. August de cura pro mort c. 4. Catholick communioÌ„ For we belieue that this is a very great helpe for the soules of them in whose behalf we offer that holy and fearefull Sacrifice which is layed vpon the Altar 4. A powerable testimony But he goeth yet farther and saieth VVe offer vp Christ once slayn for our sinnes that so we may make him who is most kind to be * A propitiatory Sacrifice propitious and mercifull vnto the quick and dead This is one of those deadly heresies as M. n de Antichristo pag. 254. Powell is pleased to affirme which was deuised by the Pope himself and a parcell of his Anti-christian doctrine 5. But as Vincentius Lirinensis testifieth of himself Contra haeres in praefâ—t that he came forth noÌ„ tam Authoris praesumptione quà m Relatoris fide rather by the fidelity of a relatour then by the presumption of an authour so this Catholick Archbishopp a professed and zealous enimy of all hereticks as his owne * Catech. 6. circa med c. sayings may witnesse vnto vs propounded this doctrine vnto his owne flock whose saluation was deare vnto him not by his peculiar authority as being a father of his children but by the warrant of hir whose sonne he was and which is pia mater communis as S. o de curaÌ„ pro mort cap. 4. Augustine speaketh the pious common Mother of vs all and prayeth for all the departed by a generall commemoration 6. For this cause he saieth WE offer WE pray c. intending hereby to expresse the custome of the Vniuersall Church whose doctrine was famous renowned in this behalf And though we Protestants do often venditate the priuate conceipts of some vayle them vnder the preteÌ„se of a general coÌ„sent viz. WE say thus WE think thus So D. Morâ—on in Cathol Apol. Part. 1. lib. 1. in quaest ac descensu Christi ad inferos pretendeth thus WE coÌ„fesse that Christ weÌ„t truly into hell viz. in soule as Bellarmine himself doth teach c. Many such false protestatioÌ„s are vsed by him by D. Field and others As for the vanity of D. Morton herein it is abundantly refuted by that which M. Rogers himself deliuereth in his Cathol doct pa. 16. WE do thus c. which is a meere toy for the very nature and fundation of our Religion is such that as euery one conceiueth by his spirit so he is in trauayle to bring forth his owne Church yet S. Cyrill and the religious Fathers were more respectiue in their words waighing them in the ballance of a good conscience and a sober heart 7. Wherefore addressing my thoughts vnto a serious meditation of theis things I beganne more sensibly to discouer how vainely and foolishly I had bene terrified by the spectrical names of Popery Papists and the like the late inuentioÌ„s of an apostatical Friar inasmuch as the best the wisest the most learned Fathers did speake and write and practise directly herein as the Papists Catholicks for popery being translated out of S. * Sainted by M. Powell de Antich pa. 68. Luthers language signifieth the Catholick religion do speake and write and practise at this day 8. The SECOND Father was S. Augustine I was desirous to seeke after no more because I was assured that I could find no better vnto whom I did appeale as vnto the best and most faithfull witnesse of antiquity For so he is approoued by Iohn
impenitent heart euen vnto death and be not conuerted from enimies into sonnes doth the Church now pray for such men that is to say for the Soules of men thus deceased He resolueth Some priuate men were ledd into an errour herein but saith S. Aug. the Church was not no that is not the intention of the Catholick Church For S. Augustine doth there well obserue that in this life we pray for all men and yet we haue a reference precisely vnto such as pertayn vnto the secret election of God Likewise in prayer for the dead the Church maketh a e S. August de cura pro mort cap. 4. generall commemoration of all that so they who want friends or kinsmen to performe this duty on their behalf may be partakers of this benefit by the meanes of hir who is the pious and common mother of vs all and yet hir purpose in this generall commemoration is restrayned particularly vnto such as are conceyued to stand in exigence of hir relief For of some mens good estate she hath a certayn euidence of some a probable reason of others a comfortable hope But if she haue singular and playn inducements to perswade hir otherwise she affordeth not this kind of piety vnto incapable persons And here I remembred a domesticall example which I had lately read in our venerable contreyman S. f Eccles histor l. 5. c. 15. Beda of a certayn Brother who liued an ignoble life in a noble monastery and deceased without repentance for which cause no man durst presume to celebrate Masse nor to sing psalmes nor to pray for him after his decease Wherefore I considered that though S. g Enchirid. ad Laur. cap. 110. Augustine pronounceth thus Whom theis things do profitt it is vnto this effect either that there may be a full remission or a more tolerable damnation yet he doth not intend that the soules of Reprobates haue vtility by theis things for then he should oppose the Catholick Church whose iudgement he doth often relate to be otherwise yea he should here also absurdly contradict himself within the compasse of three lines for he saied immediatly before that theis things are not helpes for mē very euill but such onely as suffer temporall DAMNATION for to want the ioyes of heauen and to endure the sharpenesse of Purgatory it is poena Damni poena Sēsus though each be for a little time And thus it is true that theis things do auayle vnto a full remission or vnto a more tolerable damnation because the temporall payn of some soules in Purgatory is thereby either shortened in time or lessened in degree 14. Thirdly he saieth that for mē not very good nor very euill theis things are PROPITIATIONS that is to say certayn meanes which we adhibit to intreat mercy at the hāds of the souereigne Iudge They are propitiations not by the payment of the price of sinne for that is * 1. Ioh. 2 2. proper onely vnto that bloud which was of inestimable value but through application thereof Mater mea desiderauit memoriam sui ad altare tuum fieri vnde sciret dispensari victimam sanctam c. S. Augustin Confess lib. 9. cap. 13. ministerially by the Priest and effectually by our Lord for the first vseth his petition and the second bringeth his performance This I knew to be the doctrine of the Papists for thus I found it expressed long since by D. h Answ to M. Iewells challendge Artic. 19. Harding our contreyman of great esteeme 15. Thus farr I proceeded in the First testimony of S. Augustine And though it were cleare and ponderous in mine opinion yet it was inferiour vnto that which now ensueth for I must freely confesse that it sealed vp my heart and left no place vnto any farther doubt 16. The SECOND testimony is this i Serm. 17. de Verb. Apost See also Tract 84. in Ioh. The faithfull because I desired to be in the number of the Faithfull therefore I was mooued powerfully with this consideration do know according to the instruction of the Church therefore it was not a new nor a priuate opinion and this I considered diligently with my self that when Martyrs are recited at the altar of God this is not done with intention to pray for them it being an iniury to pray for a Martyr vnto whose prayers we ought to be recommēded but we pray for * Theis other were not knowen to be in the same acctual blisse with Martyrs otherwise the Church would haue prayed for thē no more then she prayed for the Martyrs other deceased men whose commemoration is there made Oh how vnlike a Protestant doth S. Augustine speake and how much Popery as the vulgar hath it is contayned in this little passadge Where could I find any euasion against so manifest a testimony as this is Should I renounce the instruction of the Church It were intollerable pride Should I say vnto S. Augustine thou art a foolish Papist and thou knowest not the instruction of the Church in this behalf It were a miserable conceipt 17. This was the secrete dispute of mine owne heart which now beloued Contreyman I present vnto thy Christian view that so either I may learne by thee what answere is to be framed vnto this difficulty or els thou mayest learne with me to follow the way of that Catholick doctrine which descended vnto S. Augustine See before num 8. and vnto the Church in that blessed time §. 5. D. Fields collusion in deliuering the sense and purpose of the ancient Church touching Prayer for the dead 1. BEing now mightily conuinced in mine vnderstanding I beganne to compare S. Augustine with D. k Pag. 98. D. Field maketh the Ancients speake like Protestāts Field who had informed me much otherwise in this particular deriuing it in this manner The ancients did name the names of the departed at the holy Table in the time of the holy mysteries and offering of * The Sacrifice is Eucharisticall in respect of our thankfulnesse performed therein vnto God but it is Propitiatory also in respect of his helpe intreated thereby for vs. Eucharist that is the sacrifice of praise for them c. The ancients kept in this manner a commemoration of the Patriarchs Apostles Prophets yea of the blessed Virgin at the Lords table to whom they did not wish deliuerance from Purgatory sith no man euer thought them to be there but if they wished any thing it was their deliuerance from death which as yet tyrannizeth ouer one part of them to witt the body c. Here he quoteth the Liturgy of S. Chrysostome in theis wordes VVe offer this reasonable seruice that is the Eucharist of praise and thanskgiuing to thee o Lord for all that are at rest in the faith euen for the Patriarchs Prophets c. 2. But hauing now attayned vnto some experience of M. Doctours vnfaithfull dealing I could not suffer my self to be deluded by such
who saieth that to call any thing in question which is frequented by the vniuersall Church insolentissimae est insaniae it is the part of most insolent madnesse Which sentence applying it self clearely vnto my purpose inforced me to conclude that either S. Augustine was a prodigious asse in his cariadge of this matter or els that we Protestants are insolently mad who partly in the violēt streame of passion renounce the instruction of the vniuersall Church herein and partly by sinister interpretatiōs deriue it against hir knowen intention expressed so abundantly by hir chiefest Doctours Consuetudo est optima legis interpres and perpetuated so eminently by a continuall succession 5. Wherefore retiring my thoughts a little and drawing them from their former meditations I beganne to speake thus feelingly vnto my soule Canst thou desire testimonies more graue then theis in respect of the Authours more perspicuous in words or more effectuall in waight Where doth S. Augustine contradict this relation or who did euer contradict him therein Is Doctour Field a better witnesse and more to be respected in this decision then S. AVGVSTINE who being greatly experienced in the customes of the Vniuersall Church hath in his maturity of iudgement left vnto thee a fayre and euident prescriptiō in this behalf neuer reuersed by himself nor impugned by others hauing also the voyce of all ages both in doctrine and practise for its corroboration and strength Truly if it were so that in his ignorance or malice or some other obliquity and defect he had exceeded the purpose of the Catholick Church herein it is very probable that this errour could not escape him vnespied in all his diligent Retractations And if he were so vnhappy that he had no friēd to informe him for his amendment yet he could not be so happy as that no enimy should note it for his disgrace 6. Now therefore dearely beloued contreyman tell me I pray thee tell me in the vprightnesse of thy conscience and in the presence of him who searcheth the heart and reynes to whose direction guydance and instruction could I in this case committ a poore afflicted soule which I should endeauour to saue with care since Christ died for it in loue and whom could I follow herein with more alacrity and confidence S. AVGVSTINE or D. FIELD with all the troupe of Lutherans Caluinists Protestants Puritans or others howsoeuer they are distinguished in name or diuided in opinion 7. I saw antiquity in the first nouelty in the second I saw fidelity in the first * See the second Booke Part. 1. vnfaithfulnesse in the second I saw profound learning in the first very commendable also but yet much inferiour in the second And though I perceyued that his owne booke doth iustly afford that censure against him which is deliuered against Nestorius by a worthy q Vincent Lirinens cap. 16. Authour viz. Plussēper admirationis in illo quà m vtilitatis plus famae quam experientia fuit yet I will rather say that the * Bellarmine is no wayes matchable with Caluin and others in piety or learning though he weare a Cardinalls hart cōparisō which r pag. 149. he is pleased to make betwixt C. Bellarm. M. Caluin hath a more due proportion betwixt S. August and himself 8. Finally I considered that none of the Fathers resisted the first herein but who doth assist the secōd The doctrin of the first is now cōfirmed by the practise of that Church which we phrase a Popish Antichristian Synagogue c. but the reformed Congregation of D. Field hath no resemblance of theis things For though ſ Contra Campian pag. 262. D. Humfrey in his rhetoricall flourishes doth pretend that in our Colledges we retayn the ancient cōmendation of the dead yet I noted that the differences are many and chiefly theis three First in respect of the PLACE for the ancient commendation of the dead was at the * In precibus Sacerdotis quae Domino Deo ad eius ALTARE funduntur locū suum habet commendatio mortuorum S. Aug. de cura pro mort cap. 1. Altar but we haue none Secōdly in respect of the ACTION for it was in the holy Sacrifice but we contemne it Thirdly in respect of the INTENTION for it was to relieue the soules of the dead but we disclayme this doctrine Besides since our Zuinglian Communion is such a naked and contemptible feast as t See his Confess Luther himself abhorred and his disciple Conradus did tremble to behold for they had a more religious estimation of our Lords Supper then the Sacramentaries who deride the LVTHERANS because they absurdly and superstitiously attribute a sanctifying virtue vnto the * Hoc est Corpus meum words of Christ as it pleaseth u Decad. 5. Serm. 6. H. Bullinger to speake I was desirous to vnderstand how a piece of bread and a draught of wine may haue any power validity for theis purposes vnto which the holy * See S. Au. de Ciuit. Dei l. 22. c. 8. how one of his Priests offering the sacrifice of our Lords Body in the house of a lay person deliuered his family from the vexation of vncleane Spirits Fathers did often referr the sacred Oblation in the diuine Sacrifice of the MASSE or how our Zuinglian Communion can be a reuerend and dreadfull mystery such as wherein the holy Angels humble themselues vnto our common Lord by the offering whereof the mercy of God is intreated for the Soules of some men deceased in Charity and in the Catholick faith For I must professe that a serious consideration of theis things wrought a deepe impression in my heart 9. This was the summe of my DOCTRINALL REASON branched as you haue seene into two Parts that is to say deriued partly from Scripture and partly from Tradition in both which I followed the impeachable resolution of Antiquity and with it I must either stand or fall It is my comfort though it were sometimes my grief to see that as Dagon fell on his face before the Arke 1. Reg. 5. so Protestancy suffereth vtter confusion when it is presented before the Tribunall of the ancient Church I deliuer this assertion faithfully and iustly I speake the truth in Christ I ly not my conscience bearing me witnesse in the holy Ghost I haue tasted the wines of Caluin and Augustine I haue digested both I haue iudged of both and out of some experience which I haue had of both I am bold to assure you louing contreymen who spend your pretious time and exercise your noble witts in many froathy volumes that if you will repayr discreetely and conscionably vnto the blessed Fathers you shall draw better wine at the latter end then at the beginning Then you will clearely discerne See before § 1. num 3. whether Doctour Humfrey had any reason to impute Phrensy vnto his Romanists or not then you will ingenuously confesse with the penitent Donatists
* See S. August epist. 48. and say Nesciebamus hîc esse veritatem nec eam discere volebamus c. We knew not that the truth was here neither would we learne it But thankes be vnto God who hath taken away our feare and taught vs by experience how vayn and empty those suggestions are which lying fame hath cast out against his Church c. The end of the first Part. THE SECOND PART OF THE FIRST BOOKE CONTAYNING A MORALL REASON which perswaded me to intertayn the Catholick doctrine of Purgatory and Prayer for the dead CHAP. I. The PROVIDENCE of God in preseruing a visible Church free from any damnable errour doth confirme the doctrine of Purgatory and Prayer for the dead §. 1. The FIRST Consideration touching a visible Church I Considered First that God hath promised vnto vs a perpetuity of his Church both by his Sonne and Seruants For thus saieth his onely begotten Matth. 2◠20 I am with you alwayes vnto the end of the world 2. A comfortable saying ô Sauiour Iesus I not in body but in Spirit AM yea I will be also but * Before Abraham I am Ioh. 8.58 thus I expresse my self because I am eternall and immutable WITH YOV not in your persons onely but in your succession for euer and not inuisibly by grace alone but visibly also in a syncere profession of the truth ALWAYES VNTO THE END OF THE WORLD my Church shall endure throughout all generations Thus the promise of God made vnto Dauid historically concerning his seed Psal 88. c. is referred mystically vnto Christ in whose seed to witt his Church it is must be absolutely performed 3. I had yet a farther assurance from God by his Seruants Ephes 4.11 For thus saieth S. Paule He Christ hath giuen vs Apostles Prophets Euangelists men of extraordinary vocation in the beginning Pastours and Doctours men of ordinary vocation to the end for the consummation of the Saints for the worke of the ministery for the edifying of the body of Christ VNTILL we all meete in the vnity of faith and knowledge of the Sonne of God into a perfect man into the measure of the age of the fulnesse of Christ 4. This Text of holy Scripture I knew to be diuersly and preposterously sensed as well by the * M. Cartwright against D. Whitgift Presbyterians against the Formalists as by the * D. Soteliffe against D. Kellisō Protestants against Cath. The first exclude Archbish. the second by the same reasō exclude the Pope But I secured my self in the true and genuine interpretation thereof which did infallibly and clearely demonstrate vnto me theis two poynts First that the Church of Christ must perpetually subsist without decay Secondly that it must be visibly extant without obscurity and concealement For how can Pastours preach the ghospell and administer the holy Sacraments where people are not assembled to that purpose and gathered into a society of faith 5. As for the example of Eliah I alwayes esteemed it a lamentable suggestion in this case For his complaint * 3. Reg. 19. I am left alone extendeth onely vnto the kingdome of ISRAELL wherein he then conuersed and wherein he with many others was persecuted by Iezabell vnder Ahab hir infortunate husband But at the same time the law was read the Sacrifice was offered pure Religion was professed and protected in the kingdome of IVDAH vnder Iosaphat a blessed Prince * 3. Reg. 22.43 walking in the good wayes of Asa his father This Iosaphat suruiued vnto the * 4. Reg. 3.2 coronation of Ioram the yonger sonne of Ahab and so the example of Eliah can not be of any force to defend the opinion of many Protestants concerning the inuisibility of the Church 6. Wherefore seing how D. Apolog. Cathol part 1. lib. 1. c. 14. Morton doth still reinforce this poynt though cleared sufficiently by sondry Catholicks euen in the confession of a learned Protestant in England from whose mouth I receiued this instruction many yeares ago as though the aforesaid complaint of Eliah pertayned likewise vnto the kingdome of Iudah I did often and greatly wonder that such a man against his owne conscience should deale so fraudulently in this behalf For first he saieth that Lombard doth giue this exposition viz. When the daughter of Ahab was married vnto * The sonne of Iosaphat The yōger sonne of Ahab was called lord likewise Ioram the king of Iudah then all the Iewes seemed to be Idolaters so that Eliah thought himself to be left alone and vpon this authority of Lombard the Doctour buildeth his exception against the former answere Now is this I beseech you an ingenious and honest deportment in the Doctour thus to presse the authority of Lombard whom he knew to be singularly mistaken herein and to err most playnely against the historical euidence of sacred Scripture Secondly the Doctour is pleased to colour and cloake the said exposition of Lombard with the name of S. Ambrose and for this purpose he frameth his quotation in the margent thus Lombard in Rom. cap. 11. EX AMBROSIO But I found that as S. Ambrose hath not one syllable to iustify this exposition in the least degree so Peter Lombard himself doth not assume it frō him nor once vse his name therein howbeit both before and after he gleaneth vp some sentences from that excellent Father Is this a faithfull course in a Minister of simple truth 7. Renouncing the opinion of our Inuisibilists as an impious and contemptible fancy I embraced a position of h pag. 19. c. D. Field which though it be mingled with some corruptions and vntruths in his discourse yet in it self it is very effectuall syncere The Church can not be inuisible in respect of Profession and this Profession is knowen euen vnto the profane and wicked of the world Agayn It can not be but that they Apply this rule to the Protestanticall Churches who are of the TRVE Church must by profession of the TRVTH make themselues knowen in such sort that by their profession and practise they may be discerned from other men 8. For this cause S. Augustine saieth in a playn and familiar kind of speach See the 3. Conuersiōs of Englād Part. 2. chap. 1. throughout digito ostendimus Ecclesiam we shew forth the Church with our fingers in this place and in that here she is conspicuous and thus she hath descended vnto vs by a fayr and spectable succession 9. Non sic Protestantes non sic as for the Protestants it is not so with them their Church was hatched in corners and inclosed long in Cymmerian darcknesse Wherefore as the good sinfull woman complayned mournfully saying Ioh. 20.13 They haue taken away my Lord and I know not where they haue layed him so I was inforced to take vp a iust complaynt against all nouelizing hereticks and say They haue taken away the Church of my Lord
Mark 8.24 who saw men walking like trees vntill he had a perfect restitution of his sight 11. Wherefore resting my self a while vpon a profitable and sound instruction of m Lib. imperfect in Gen. cap. 1. S. Augustine viz. God hath constituted a mother Church and she is called CATHOLIQVE because she is vniuersally perfect and halteth in * Therefore not in this particular of prayer for the dead nothing I referred the successe vnto a future triall hauing a constant and vnchandgeable purpose neuer to decline nor vary from this ground which I haue here presented vnto your Christian examination §. 3. The THIRD Consideration touching the Protestants zeale in condemning this doctrine of Purgatory and prayer for the dead as hereticall blasphemous c. 1. I Considered Thirdly that this doctrine of Purgatory and Prayer for the dead as it is generally renounced by our Euangelicall congregations so it is seuerely censured by many of our writers 2. Hence it is that n Pag. 79. D. Field himself chardgeth Purgatory with the disgracefull imputation of HERESY and yet he graceth it so farr as to affirme that Augustine gaue occasion vnto this heresy in the beginning 3. Hence it is that M. Rogers in the o Pag. 121.122 Catholick Faith of our English Church spending his tempestuous phrases against the doctrine of Purgatory saieth that hereby the Papists nourish most cursed and damnable errours and that * Pag. 123. it teacheth vs to be our owne Sauiours 4. Hence it is that M. Powell in his inconsiderate violence assigning many goodly reasons why p De Antichr pag. 453 NVLLVS NVLLVS inquā PAPICOLA SALVARI POTEST no Papist can be saued includeth * Pag. 123. the figment of Purgatory in that number Likewise in the same kind of precipitation setting downe 23. q De Antichr l. 2. c. 19. blasphemous opinions deliuered by the Church of Rome against the doctrine contayned in our LORDS PRAYER he inserteth this particular viz. * Pag. 457. She teacheth that VVE MVST PRAY FOR THE DEAD 5. But forasmuch as the glorious Emperour CONSTANTINE Great in birth Greater in victory and Greatest in Christian Religion which till his time was planted in the continuall effusion of bloud buylding a magnificent * At Constantinople See Euseb in vita Constant l. ◠c. 60. Church in honour of the 12. Apostles did foresee in his religious prouidence that the people mooued with the celebrity of that place would flow thither and there pray for him after his decease whereby he should be partaker of their deuotions for the benefit of his soule I was desirous to vnderstand here briefly by the way whether this imcomparable Prince following the instruction of the Catholick Church herein and whether the Priests together with the people supplicating vnto God pro anima Imperatoris for the * D. Field talketh of naming names c. see before pag. 31 But it is euidēt that the Catholick Church in hir best age prayed for the SOVLES of the dead And this exāple it self is an inuincible demonstration thereof SOVLE of the Emperour after his death as * Ibid. cap. 71. Eusebius relateth who was a reuerend Bishopp and in speciall grace with Constantine were guilty of a blasphemous opinion against our LORDS PRAYER or not 6. And my desire to receiue full satisfaction vnto this point was the rather enkindled within me because our Soueraigne Lord the King to whom all good Catholicks wish the happinesse of Constantine in faith imitating his blessed Mother a true Helena in hir virtues though not in hir fortunes made this just demand according to the sublimity of his excellēt apprehension r See the booke of the Conferēce at Hamptō Court pag. 69. What is it now come to passe that we shall appeach * Omnes nôrunt Cōstantinum fuisse admirandum in Christianismo c. Epiphan hares 69. CONSTANTINE of Popery superstition If the Crosse in baptisme were then vsed I see no reason but that we may still continue it Which royall sentence I applied duly vnto this particular of prayer for the dead and how effectuall it was with me the ingenious Reader may well perceiue if he will vouchsafe to make a little experience therof in his owne respectiue meditations 7. I returned speedily vnto my purpose for I was not willing to eclipse the light of my discourse with the interposition of M. Powells darke conceipts Finally therefore remembring that M. CALVIN is the Ipse dixit in the purest Ghospell in which respect it pleased * In a sermon at S. Maries Church in Oxon. 4. yeares since D. Airay to exhort his Auditours perswading them very earnestly and intreating them that they would by all meanes defend the estimation of M. Caluin and the rather because he is the man against whom the * And what think you of the Lutheransi doth not D. Hunnius himself beseech God to preserue his Church mercifully from th◠infection of Caluin See Caluin Iudaiz in fine Papists do principally bend their forces I contented my self with his s Eldershippes censure viz. PVRGATORY is a pernitious fiction of Satan disgracefull vnto the great mercy of God euacuating the Crosse of Christ dissipating and subuerting our faith pure and horrible blasphemy against the bloud of Iesus Christ c. 8. Hence it is that we Protestants haue sentenced Purgatory to be an Antichristian Doctrine For * And what think you of the Lutheransi doth not D. Hunnius himself beseech God to preserue his Church mercifully from th◠infection of Caluin See Caluin Iudaiz in fine he is Antichrist that denieth Christ to be come in the flesh And we pretend that howsoeuer this doctrine doth not positiuely deny that Christ is come in the flesh in regard of his Incarnation and Nature as he is a MAN ſ Institut lib. 3. cap. 5. §. 6. yet it denieth the same consequently in regard of his Satisfaction and Office as he is a REDEEMER 9. In which our specious venditation of reseruing inuiolated honour vnto Christ * Epist Ioh. 2. vers 7. I saw that we insist directly in the steppes of Nouatians Nestorians and the like The first pretended that they forsooth did exhibit * See S. Ambros de Poenitent cap. 2. in initio reuerence vnto God by their doctrine inasmuch as they teach that he onely and no man can forgiue sinnes The second could not endure that a woman should be stiled the Mother of their God Thus also the infatuated Presbyterians glory in their excellent cause saying * See M. Rogers in the Preface of his Cathol doctr num 16. Our controuersy is whether Iesus Christ shall be King or no. The end of all our trauayle is to sett vp the throne of Iesus Christ our heauenly King c. Which colourable piety and popular zeale in ancient or later Hereticks aduancing their opinions as Mountibancks extoll their wares did mooue me vnto a just
suspition of their integrity because S. Cyrill Archbishopp of Hierusalem gaue me this infallible prescription t Cateches 4. Hereticks hide the venime of their opinions grato nomine Christi vnder the acceptable name of Christ And as the dignity the glory the exaltation of Christ is the marke whereat they all preteÌ„d to shoote so they will take their ayme from holy Scripture alone Cap. 37. and as Lirinensis doth well obserue they spice and sprinkle their heresies with innumerable sentences of the word §. 4. The FOVRTH consideration touching the lardge diffusion of this doctrine receiued by the vniuersall Church VVhence it followeth that either Gods PROVIDENCE hath fayled and that he hath not performed his promise or that this doctrine of Purgatory is not erroneous 1. I Considered Fourthly that this doctrine of Purgatory and Prayer for the dead things of mutuall dependency hath bene spread ouer the face of the * See before pag. 16. 17. vniuersall Church both Greek and Latin 2. For though I was informed by our u D Field pag. 99. D. Abbot against D. Bishopp Part. 1. M. Rogers Cath. doctr pag. 120. c. principall Authours that the Greekes neuer intertayned this doctrine yet I found that their suggestion was vntrue inasmuch as the writings of the * See afterward Booke 2. Chap. 1. §. â—2 num 6. Ancient Greeks and the practise of the whole Church including them in that generallity did testify the contrary vnto me in most abundant manner And if any prejudice could accrew vnto this doctrine because it is denied by some men in the Greek Church a greater inconuenience by the Force of the same reason must ensue vnto the doctrine of the Procession of the holy Ghost from the FATHER and the SONNE because this is more generally and earnestly impugned their heresy also herein being such if we belieue the Creed of Athanasius which is accepted by our * English Church Artic. Relig 8. though sometimes ill expounded as excludeth men from the possibility of saluation 3. But whereas my learned Authours do extend the deniall of Purgatory generally vnto the Greeks they erre not knowing See the CeÌ„sure of the Orientall Church or els dissembling the truth For Ieremiah the Patriarch of Constantinople in his rescript vnto the Lutherans deliuereth clearely that the Greek Church prayeth for the dead with intention to relieue some soules afflicted with temporall payn and for a more copious explication of his mind he remitteth them vnto an w De fidel desunct oration of S. Iohn DamasceÌ„ wherein this matter is lardgely handled For he testifieth that in the vnbloudy Sacrifice the Catholick and Apostolick Church maketh a memoriall of the dead Why to relieue their soules Agayn God grant me so to fashion my life that I may not stand in exigence of theis helpes after death But if my lyfe be intercepted and cutt of before I can fulfill my duty God grant that my friends may intreat his mercy on my behalf And thus S. Chrysostome the diuine Preacher speaketh in theis golden words If in thy life-time thou hast not so exactly composed thy soule as thou oughtest giue commandement vnto thy friends to transmitt their helpe vnto thee by almes and oblations 4. Wherefore I conceiued that howsoeuer some Greekes did not or do not admitt the doctrine of Purgatory precisely vnder this * Quis nid haereticus negare audehit TransubstaÌ„t Pracess Sp. SaÌ„cti a P. F. Purgator quia apud priscos sub talibus NOMINIBVS non commemorantur Alfons à castro contra beres l. 8. titde Indulgent name with some other circumstances yet the Church of Greece generally doth retayn the thing it self And this was farther illustrated vnto me by the confession of the Greekes themselues in the Florentine Councell for it appeareth by their publick protestation that they agreed fully with the Romane Church in the essentiall doctrine hereof howbeit they dissented from hir in some points which are not absolutely pertayning vnto the necessity of faith 5. Now concerning such as haue denied this doctrine as well in nature as in name in substance as in circumstance I noted a great difference in the manner and course and reason of their deniall For some denied it Secondarily and by way of inference that is to say by reason of a precedent errour Thus the Armenians certayn Greekes haue bene devolued into a foolish imagination to conceiue that the soule hath no sense of ioy nor payn vntill hir reunion with the body and hence it followeth necessarily that there is no Purgatory after death Some haue denied it Primarily and simply that is to say not in regard of any precedent errour inferring this deniall but directly and precisely in regard of the thing it self Thus onely our Aërians Henricians VValdensians and finally we Protestants issuing from such Progenitours haue reiected this doctrine by a violent separation of our selues from the visible society of the Church 6. But forasmuch as theis Henricians and VValdensians in whom we glory and Catholicks do not enuy vs this honour were sometimes members as truly and really connexed vnto the Papists as any other men and fell away afterward from their communion as VVickliff also did I intertayned my self a while in this consideration viz. Since there was a time yea many hundred yeares when no VVickleuian no VValdensian or Henrician did appeare who did then deny Purgatory who did then oppose himself against this heresy this damnable and blasphemous doctrine as we call it for many generations Wherefore as Tertullian doth excellently say There was a time when such Praescript cap 30. and such heresies were not knowen Vbi tunc Marcion vbi tunc Valentinianus c. where was Marcion and where was Valentinian then It is manifest that they themselues were sometime no hereticks but that they obserued the Catholick Religion c. So I spake in my secrete thoughts and sayd there was a time when our opinions were not knowen where was Henricus or VValdo then It is manifest that they themselues were sometime no impugners of this doctrine but that they did meekely and dutifully obserue it as a part of the true and Catholick Religion 7. I proceeded yet a little farther and considered that we Protestants could not possibly assigne so much as the shaddow of any one man our Henricians and VValdensians excepted denying or doubting of Purgatory who was not hereticall in some other doctrine euen such as we our selues confesse to bring very great and eminent danger vnto saluation And what aduantadge or defence could I take from any heretick to secure my self in such a case For if any man did please me in denying Purgatory yet he did displease me also by some odious and hatefull opinion wherewith he was infected and then I could not find out any true and Catholick Church vnlesse I would distill it mystically out of sondry persons and compound their simples into one body of
Religion Which though it be such an ignoble and an vngodly deriuation of the Church as tendeth vnto the great contempt and ignominy of Religion yea the pure subuersion and annihilation thereof yet necessity hath inforced vs Protestants vnto theis paradoxicall fancies for thus no otherwise can we sustayn the essence and existency of our Church 8. The conclusion which yealded it self vnto me out of the former consideration was this Whereas there hath bene no visible Church nor member thereof for many hundred yeares which was not HERETICALL in an high degree as our doctrines do clearely import it followeth either that the PROVIDENCE of God hath fayled or that the true Church was inuisible or els that the true visible Church may err damnably in faith None but Atheists will affirme the first the learnedst Protestants deny the second Scriptures and Fathers conuince the third Wherefore reflecting vpon our accusation of this doctrine I saw that it was vniust and thus I resolued by a powerfull demonstration issuing from the premisses that Purgatory is no heresy nor Antichristianisme as we pretend with greater violence then reason but a parcell of the true ancient Catholick and Apostolick faith as the Papists do confidently belieue CHAP. II. The WISEDOME of God in designing fitt Instruments to be the Messengers of his will and Reformers of his Church doth confirme the aforesayd doctrine of Purgatory and Prayer for the dead §. 1. VVho were the first enimies of this doctrine what was their condition 1. IT is a graue waighty testimony which S. Iohn Damascen deliuereth in his Oration concerning them who are departed in the faith Our mercifull Lord doth appoynt saith he and gratefully accept our duty in that mutual relief which we exhibit one to an other both in our life and after our decease For otherwise he would neuer haue ministred this occasion vnto vs to remember the departed in the time of the holy Sacrifice vnlesse this seruice were approoueable in his sight Neither is there any doubt if this were a ridiculous and fruictlesse act but that whereas there haue bene many holy men Fathers Patriarchs and Doctours inspired with the holy Ghost he would haue putt it into some of their minds to represse such an errour But there is none of them all no not one that euer intertayned a conceipt to subuert or impugne the same 2. As this laudable custome of prayer for the dead was thus perpetuated without any interruption opposition or dislike of the best men in the best age euen of Constantine himself so the first enimy thereof AERIVS was an insolent and gracelesse wretch Anno Dō 354. a disciple of the Arrian heresy and such perfidious doctrines as x Contra Campian pag. 261. D. Humfrey himself doth liberally confesse though otherwise there are some things in Aërius which were not distastfull vnto his palate 3. But this rare illuminate did not contayn himself within theis limits Wherefore pretending a farther accesse of heauenly light as the nature of heresy did incline him for it is full of vanity * Idē licuit Martionitis quod Martioni Lutheranis quod Luthero de suo ingenio fidē innouare c. Tertul. praescrip cap 42. innouatiō making poore seduced people to hunt counter in their owne fancies and prescribing no certayn rule vnto the instability of their hearts he vented three peculiar heresies deuised and fabricated in the shopp of his owne brayn The FIRST that there is no disparity betwixt a Bishopp and a Priest The SECOND that it is a folly to pray or offer sacrifice for the dead The THIRD that it is against Christian liberty to haue any generall and appoynted dayes of fasting for then we should seeme to be vnder the Law c. 4. Theis heresies are no small part of the Geneuian Ghospell and therefore I haue obserued it diligently in our Authours as a very remarqueable poynt that howsoeuer they corrade and heape vp sondry heresies fiercely obiecting the same vnto the Papists yet they are silent in three Vigilantianisme Iouinianisme and * The true Caluinists admitt the 3. heresies of Aërius as we foe in France Scotland c. this Aërianisme whereof I now intreat For theis are goodly starres in our firmament and shine most brightly in our Sphere Notwithstanding my learned Authours do exceede Aërius also forasmuch as he did not wholly impugne the dreadfull Sacrifice but esteemed it vnprofitable for the the dead whereas they reiect the thing it self and this vse of it with like contempt 5. This Aërian heresy was extinct and buried some few scattering fellowes excepted vntill the yeare of our Lord 1156 when it was raised See afterward chap. 3. §. 4. and enliuened agayn by Henricus a Frenchman in whom our Protestanticall Religion did more spectably reare vp it self then before furbishing vp some old ragges of S. * Sainted by D. Fullees authority in his answ to the Rhem. Testam in 1. Timoth. 3. Annotat. 7. Vigilantius and others for the resplendency and completenesse of his ghospell 6. Nunc audi quis ille sit saieih y Ep. 240. S. Bernard vnto Hildefonse the Earle of S. Giles now it may please you to vnderstand what was the quality and condition of this Apostle First a Monk and then an Apostata from his order So was our S. Luther Secondly a pretendent of Apostolicall life Such sheepebiters were our freese-gowne Preachers whose doctrines enkindled the furious people See the statutes of King Rich. 2. c. and seasoned them with the principles of rebellion Thirdly a violatour of Chastity So was S. Luther euen * M. Powell de Antichr pag. 324. Magnus ille Reformator he our Great Reformer An example vnknowen to reuerend Antiquity and reserued vnto our ghospell that a vowed Monk should conioyne himself in mariadge with a professed Nunne which though it be not adultery yet peius est adulterio it is tarr worse in S. * De bono Viduit c 11. Augustines censure howsoeuer D. Field minceth it and saieth Pag. 153. Augustine MISLIKETH them that vow and performe not 7. Finally I saw a cōnfluence of impieties in our French Apostle whether I respected his Religion or Conuersation And therefore I could not withstand this iust sentence pronounced by S Bernard Ibid. saying Non est hic homo à Deo qui sic contraria Deo facit loquitur this man is not sent from God who acteth and speaketh things so repugnant vnto his will §. 2. God vseth no such instruments to reforme his Church 1 HEre inlardging my meditations I considered more exactly that the supreame Maiesty of heauen earth is respectiue of his honour the incolumity of his Church and as it is against his gratious Prouidence that the Spouse of his Sonne and the Mother of the faithfull should suffer a generall and diuturnall eclipse in hir profession so now it is farther against his high WISEDOME that when she wanteth
a due reformation he should not designe honourable and condigne Instruments for such an excellent purpose 2. Where is the difficulty and impediment in this case Is it in his Prescience that he cannot foresee what is to come or is it in his Power that he cannot effectuate what he desireth Not in the First for I haue his owne testimony by the mouth of Samuell his prophet saying 1. Reg. 13.14 QVAESIVIT c. God hath sought a man according vnto his heart to witt Dauid his seruant What he sought he found and yet he found no good thing in Dauid which was not his owne gift Not in the SecoÌ„d for I am ascertayned by the Forerunner of my Lord Luc. 3.2 POTENS c. God is able euen of theis stones to raise vp children vnto Abraham 3. And if Caesar could say in the pride of his mortall heart Inueniam aut faciam viam either I shall find a way or I will make one did it not concerne the VVisedome of God to speake no more of his Prouidence which we Protestants haue already destroyed by inforcing a damnable errour vpon his vniuersall Church either to finde out some man already indued with conuenient gifts or els to prepare some in case none were yet adorned by him to vndertake such a royall and incomparable work of REFORMATION 4. For how can I suppose or once imagin without iniury vnto my Lord expectation of his reuendge that any base and detestable Caitifs falling away from the sweete communion of the Church into accursed heresies and being therevpon the Prophetts of hell should then also and neuer before be stirred vp and excited by God to redresse his Church the Pillar Firmament of truth Is it probable nay is it possible that they who remayned not in the duty of hir Sonnes should be aduanced vnto the dignity of hir Fathers Are men actually inspired by God and by the Diuell to impugne and to defend hir to destroy and to maintayn hir to infect and to preserue hir Were hir sworne enimies more tender of hir good then hir best friends and were vile Rebells more respectiue of Gods honour then his dearest Seruants 5. You that haue the common instinct of morall reason and the ordinary light of humane vnderstanding iudge I pray you iudge vnpartially in this case Luther thou art the scourdge of God c. See Sir Th. More coÌ„tra Luth. de Sacram. whether such disastrous Reformers as Henricus Aërius and the like were not rather ministers to execute the Iustice of God then counsellours to promulgate his will and whether he doth not rather correct then direct punish then prescribe by such men It was a tyranny in Mezentius to bind liuing men vnto dead carcasses But the VVisedome of God doth assure me that he will not tythe liuing body of his Church vnto the dead and putrified members thereof 6. The consideration of which poynt was of great power and efficacy in my heart to make me disclayme and abandon the proceedings of our GREAT Reformer M. Luther in whom there was no true resemblance of a pious and diuine Spirit Witnesse his furious declamations against Zuinglius and all Sacramentaries the Patriarch and Brethren of our ghospell his rude and vnsaintlike inuectiues against King Henry the eight his hereticall and grieuous assertions his contemptuous * This is peremptorily denied by D. Abbot against D. Hill pag. 307 with a marginall reference vnto VVhitak answ to Camp But VVhitak in his answ 10 Raindas c 7. being better aduised in this matter maketh some confession thereof howbeit he interlaceth dishonest euasions and grosse vntruths reiection of some Canonicall Scriptures his beastly and vnchristian positions his light and vayn imaginations his familiar conuersation with Diuells All which and many more odious things are extant in his owne workes things incredible vnto such as do not yet know them and fearfull vnto such as haue experience therein * Iuueâ—al Felicia tempora quae te Moribus opponant habeat iam Roma pudorem O happy times that brought thee forth to thunder out complaynt Now Rome may blush to see hir self opposd by such a Saint 7. But I will omitt the work of our late Reformation transacted by this boysterous Friar and returne vnto my other reforming gentlemen with whom I made this brief conclusion 9. The admirable WISEDOME of God doth confirme and ought to establish me in the doctrine of Purgatory and Prayer for the dead inasmuch as the first aduersaries thereof were desperately affected against his Truth and exercised open hostility against his Church There is an Aërius and an Henricus here is an Augustine and a Bernard the first deny it follow their peculiar imaginations the second affirme it rely vpon the conformable iudgement of the Catholick Church choose now whom thou wilt follow in this case and with which of theis thou wilt aduenture the eternity of thy soule 9. Shall I answere and say I respect not what the first or second haue deliuered but what the Scripture it self hath taught herein A poore euasion for the Scripture is clearely against me in this poynt and I can not gainsay it vnlesse I will come forth with a non obstante of mine owne sense and yet I am bound in all humility to subordinate my vnderstanding vnto the instruction of my Superiours But if in pride and insolency as S. * Furiosus mente clatus opinione c. See EpiphaÌ„ haer 75. The same censure belongeth vnto the rest Aërius Henricus Luther and others haue done I should preferr mine owne iudgement before the learned Fathers and renounce that due and conuenient subiection which I should haue toward the ancient Catholick Church she that must and shall iudge me and all my Protestanticall Doctours oh what monsters of opinion might I conceiue and what certainty of truth can I bring forth Truly as Aaron formed many pretious iewells into the similitude of a calf Exod. 32.4 so I might haply fashion vnto my self many foolish conceipts by casting the pretious word of God into the mould of my priuate and misguided fancy CHAP. III. The TRVTH of God hath confirmed this doctrine by a renowned Miracle An exception of Protestants refelled §. 1. The nature and Vse of Miracles 1. I Considered first that as a Miracle is a Diuine work in its nature because it can not be wrought without the speciall concurrency of Gods power so in its vse it is a Diuine testimonie because it hath a reference vnto some truth and principally when it is exhibited vnto that purpose for it procureth an inward conuiction of the vnderstanding A mystery is secret hidden and so it differeth from a miracle in respect of the VSE though it agree with it in the NATVRE thereof by an outward demonstration vnto the sense In which respect I may truly say that a Miracle is the broad Seale of Heauen affixed vnto some writing or euidence of
Gods owne hand bearing his image and superscription 2. I considered secondly that though Hereticks and Pagans do often counterfait this broad Seale yet their falsehood is discouerable by men of iudgement waighing the Circumstances with due examination Nay farther though it please God that a true miracle shall be performed by them as sometimes it hath come to passe yet there is alwayes a certayn limitation therein precisely vnto this of that * As the maintenaÌ„ce of Iustice or some other such moral and ciuill respect 1. Cor. 10.13 peculiar end so that it serueth by no meanes to giue assistance and validity vnto their hereticall or paganicall conceipts For the end and vse of Gods workes is alwayes good besides he is faithfull who will not suffer vs to be tempted aboue our power 3. I considered thirdly that Miracles may haue a triple respect according to the triple distinction of the Church For the Church hath three estates viz. of PLANTATION of PROPAGATION of REFORMATION De Ciuit. Dei lib. 22. cap. 8. 4. In the first estate there was a necessity of Miracles as S. Augustine doth well insinuate to this end that men might belieue For whereas our Lord did intend that his Ghospell should be the ordinary meanes of saluation for euer he thought fitt to gayn sufficient authority vnto it by an extraordinary meanes in the beginning 5. In the second estate there was no such necessity of Miracles and therefore S. Augustine saieth very excellently Ibid. * The Protestants do frequently earnestly alleadge this senteÌ„ce but they cunningly sâ—ppresse that which followeth I heartily request you to reade the whole chapter in S. Aug. whosoeuer requireth miracles now to this end that he may belieue he is a miracle himself forasmuch as he will not belieue when the whole world belieueth Notwithstanding in this estate also there is an vtility of Miracles for the glory and splendour and exaltation of the Church Wherefore S. Augustine proceedeth farther and speaketh to this effect My former answere may be sufficient for the conuiction of infidells but I stay not here Nunc quoque fiunt miracula for now also euen in this lardge propagation of the Church miracles are done in sondry places Fiunt nunc multa miracula Many miracles are done in theis dayes Some he reporteth vpon his owne experience others vpon certayn information and they are generally such as wound our Protestanticall Religion to the death And S. Augustine as it were foreseing the iudgement of Infidells and Protestants and what exceptions they would take against his report is very earnest in the deliuery of theis things adding in conclusion of one miracle Some men will not belieue that this was so but who are they euen they that belieue not how our Lord Iesus was borne of a Virgin and yet hir womb remayned entire or that he came into the roome where his Apostles were assembled and yet the doores were shutt 6. In the third estate Miracles are more * If Luthers reformatioÌ„ were good why was it not graced with so me euident miracles specially since so great a mutation hath followed ic as was neuer seene in the Church of God Nay why are many miracles now done in that church which he renounced Beda hist. Eccles l. 1. c. 21. Beda l. 2. c. 2. necessary then in the second though not so necessary as in the first For whereas it hath seemed good vnto the singular wisedome of God to adorne his Church with some miracles alwayes in the second estate euen when no heresy assaulted hir it was very conuenable that he should much rather affoord this power in the third for the extirpation of heresies and for redresse of great disorders Examples whereof were frequent in the dayes of our fore-fathers Britanny it self hath copious testimonies in this kind For thus the holy Bishopp S. German confounded the Pelagians and thus S. Augustine our Apostle reprooued the schismaticall Bishopps of Britanny in the publick conspect of the people §. 2. A miracle wrought by S. Bernard to the confusion of Henricus and his doctrine 1. THeis considerations being premised I tooke a serious reuiew of an history which though I had read long before yet it did not preuayle with me so farr as the dignity thereof did iustly require For partly the vayle was so closely drawen ouer mine eyes that I could not see the truth and partly I passed ouer it with a negligent leuity and carelesnesse as many Protestants do not willing to intertayn the knowledge of any doctrine which sorteth not with the publick State or their priuate fortunes Genes 11.7 Howbeit I know that as the tongues of the Babylonians were diuided and one conceyued not what an other spake so the tongues of many principall Schollers in England are diuided from their hearts they speake not what themselues conceiue 2. I come vnto my history S. Bernard hearing of the spoyles which * Huius rei gratiâ licet in multa corporis infirmitate iter arripui in has partes c. Bernar. ep 240. S. Bernard ibid. Henricus made in the vineyard of our Lord repayred into the parts of Tholouse which were greatly infected with his contagion for now the Churches were left without people people without Pastours and Pastours without honour and there in a frequent assembly he countermanded the fancies of this Apostata with learning and grauity and in the playn euidence of the Spirit 3. At the end of his sermon many of the auditors presented vnto him certayn quantities of bread and requested his fatherly benediction The deuout Abbot performed their desire with gladnesse assuring them that they should discerne the truth of his doctrine and the falsehood of Henricus if their sick and languishing friends should immediatly recouer their strength vpon the tast thereof 4. A venerable Bishopp being there present and fearing the successe added this clause by way of caution si bona fide sumpserint if they receiue it with a good faith But S. Bernard being secure in the power of almighty God answered publiquely non ego hoc dixerim no I sayd not so onely this I sayd and this I proclayme vnto you Let your sick people eate of this hallowed bread and they shall be made whole for hereby you shall know vs to be * Viz. in the doctrines which he defended against Henricus in the name of the Catholick Church TRVE Seruants of God His word was fulfilled the fame of this miracle was so dispersed in all the contrey that the blessed man declining the intolerable concourse of the people returned home an other way §. 3. There is no euasion against the clearenesse of this Miracle 1. THe exceptions which my heart could apprehend in this case were three but when I had waighed them all in the ballance of my reason I dismissed each of them successiuely with a part of Balthazar 's iudgement * Thekel Dan. 5.27 thou art waighed in
exception of D. Field against Miracles refelled by the authority of GERSON whom he magnifieth as a man that wished our Protestanticall Reformation 1. I Loued sometimes esteemed the Church-booke of D. Field as the best oracle of our dayes and as the worke commended the Authour so the Authour did reciprocally commend his work in my simple thoughts 2. Amongst sondry positions which he there frameth as bulwarkes of our Religion and impregnable forts thereof I applauded this which here ensueth viz. a Pag. 185. We say that howsoeuer it may be some miracles were done by such good men as liued in the corrupt state of the Church yet that is no proof of those errours Purgatory Transubstant c. which the Romanists maintayn against vs. For VVE PEREMPTORILY DENY that euer any Miracle was done by any man in times past or in our times to confirme any of the things controuersed betweene the Papists and vs. 3. In this resolution I was vndaunted because I tooke it to be substantiall I embraced it as a necessary principle because if it should fayle then it followeth most euidently either that God is not true or that our Religion is false 4. But now after my long and serious discourse concerning the aforesaid miracle I was compelled to sound retreate and to deny my peremptory deniall for my reason did informe me that S. Bernard hath long since by miracle confirmed the doctrine of Purgatory it being one of those things which are controuersed betweene vs and the Papists at this day 5. Besides since any man who is meanely instructed in the writings of the Ancient doth know that S. Gregory was a Papist for which cause b Cathol Apolog. in Secunda Classi D. Morton hath stalled him in the catalogue of Popish Doctours and that S. Augustine his messenger vnto vs deliuered the same Popish faith in England as c Centur. 1. fol. 35. Iohn Bale confesseth saying Augustine the Romane was sent as an Apostle from Gregory the first to season the English-Saxons with a popish faith whence the same Bale is pleased to affirme that King Ethelbert died 21. yeares post susceptum papismum after he had receiued Popery finally that this holy blessed man who came from farr to sing the Lords song in a strandge land did worke many rare miracles by cooperation of the Diuine Power for this is euidēt by the testimony of d Lib. 7. ep 30. S. Gregory the Great of e Eccles hi. l. 1. c. 26. 31. l. 2. c. 2. c. V. Beda and of sondry others yea f Act. Mon. pag. 105. Iohn Fox himself can find no exception against this poynt howsoeuer he participateth with the malignity of g Contra Camp Rat. 5. D. Humfrey h In his Reply pag. 185. M. Iewell i Centur. 1. Iohn Bale c. and throweth out his contumelies against so worthy a Saint to disgrace the work of our happy Conuersion from Paganisme vnto Christianity I desired to vnderstand whether we could truly deny since we do PEREMPTORILY DENY that none of those things were euer confirmed by Miracle wherein the controuersy standeth betwixt us and the Papists at this day For I argued thus in my priuate cogitations and said Did God concurr with our Augustine and his assistents by any FALSHOOD to strengthen the supposed heresies which they did then and Papists do now maintayn No for this were against his Truth I know that he neither deceiueth nor is deceiued Or did he concurr with them by CONFVSION to strengthen some part but not all that faith which they preached in the name and authority of the Romane Church No for this were against the sweet disposition of his gifts and workes and I am assured that he is the God of order and not of confusion as I see in the Catholick Church 6. But there is yet an other euidence which as it is more particular so it was more potent and perswasiue vnto me then the former And because as it was a key to vnlock my vnderstanding so since it doth most highly import your selues deare Contreymen to take good notice thereof I will here deliuer it vnto you briefly and playnely branching it into three considerations 7. FIRST therefore it may please you to be informed by k Pag. 171. D. Field that TRANSVBSTANTIATION is one of the greatest mysteries of Popish religion which all Papists at this day do most firmely hold and belieue Whence it followeth if so speciall a * Miraculū in Mysterio Mystery of Popish faith as this is were iustified by any Miracle then all the Religion of the Papists is thereby confirmed and established eminenter that is to say in a principall or eminent manner 8. SECONDLY it may please you to be farther indoctrined by the mature resolution of l Pag. 186. D. Field and the graue iudgement of the Metropolitan himself for this CHVRCH-booke was composed at his * See D. Fields ep dedicat to the Archb. of Cant. direction approued by his censure and publicated by his authority that there is NO BETTER proof of the goodnesse of our the Protestants cause then that that which we Luther Zwinglius c. haue done in the REFORMATION of the Church was before wished for expected and foretold by the BEST men that liued in former times in the corrupt state of the Church In the number of which best men he recompteth GROSTHEAD and GERSON whom with some others he doth * Pag. 85. elswhere intitle VVorthy Guides of Gods Church But how good a proof this is and how laudable our Reformation is which standeth and supporteth it self chiefly vpon the same you may perceiue by the little Appendix which ensueth in the conclusion of this Treatise Which when you haue carefully perused and discreetly waighed then reflect vpon this matter and then speake in the vprightnesse of your consciences betwixt God and your selues whether the Cause be not very bad and the Patrones thereof much worse Let that be an example vnto you for euer to see what immoderate affectation of vntruth possesseth your most eminent Authors and how miserable your Religion is of whose goodnesse there is no better proof 9. THIRDLY and lastly it may please you to vnderstand that this worthy Guide of Gods Church and one of our pretended Fathers m Part. 4. Serm. in festo Corporis Christi Iohn Gerson the most Christian Doctour as he is commonly stiled by the Church discoursing vpon the aforesaid great mystery of Popish Religion and reproouing INFIDELITY to witt of Berengarius and in him of Caluin for it is a memorable poynt to consider that though Berengarius did abiure his errour against the Reall presence and died * See Gerson ibid. penitently for the same yea though the n Centur. 11. c. 10. pag. 527. Lutherans of Magdeburge themselues do expressly say that Pope Leo the 9. did meritt great praise by condemning the heresy of
and to discerne the truth so if any one man perhapps would make a full and satisfactory answere vnto me in case I should obiect the said particulars vnto some * Caeteri eorum in quos fortè incurtislem illum Faustum mihi promittebant c. S. August Confess◠l. 5. c. 6. So theis men turned me ouer to D. Field c. of whose collusions I. had too great experience before learned Ministers as truly I did pretending that the schedule which I offered vnto them was directed vnto me from a Seminary-Priest he must follow the same method and whatsoeuer he will oppugne therein as false he must prooue that the Contrary vnto it is true Otherwise he shall throw dust into the ayre with more contention then profitt And truly nothing is more common and triuiall in our Authours then to bumbast their leaues with impertinent stuff contayning an vncertayn sense of matter in an empty sound of words 10. Now for the better instruction of the good Reader I will expresse my meaning familiarly by some few particulars in this discourse As for example Whereas I had deduced the custome of Prayer for the dead from the holy Apostles during the time of the ghospell for the Iewes who are most strict in the obseruation of their law practise it by an euerlasting Tradition of their Fathers I sayd no it came not from the Apostles But how could I iustify and maintayn this assertion and why should I creditt my priuate opinion or the iudgement of Luther and his compeeres against the testimony of the Fathers and prescription of all ages Or why should I think that any damnable errour springing from naturall affection and imitation of the Gentiles could thus inuade the vniuersall Church without any resistance 11. Whereas I had inferred Purgatory from the perpetuall custome of Prayer for the dead I sayd no the Catholick Church had no purpose in the commendation of the dead to free their soules from any temporall payn But how could I defend my conceipt herein against the cleare and irrefragable authority of * See before pag. 35. S. AVGVSTINE ISIDORE CYRILL others whose * It goeth hard if for a matter of history the Fathers can find no better credit saith D. Bancroft in his Suruay pag. 338. with the Presbyteriās The Fathers should know as well as Cartwright what was then in fact c. The like did I conceiue also in this case report was strengthened by the conformable practise of all and impeached by the contrary assertion of none 12. Whereas I had declared that none but Hereticks did reiect this doctrine I sayd no they were not hereticks at all or els they were not hereticks precisely in this poynt But I saw that the same Catholick Church which reputed them Aërius c. hereticks in other things condemned them likewise in this and there was no possibility for me to defend Aërius from the crime of heresy but by imputing it vnto S. Augustine Epiphanius c. which were a desperate attempt 13. In a word Whereas I had noted the virtues and manifold graces which shined in those Fathers by whom this doctrine was propugned I could not prooue the contrary Whereas I had described the vile and contemptible estate of Aërius Henricus by whom it was impugned I could not prooue the contrary Whereas I had informed my self how Henricus was confounded by a singular miracle of S. Bernard I could not prooue the contrary neither could I learn that he or Aërius or Luther or Zwinglius or Caluin or any other Mint-maister of our late ghospell did giue the least resemblance of any rare and diuine work whereby I might perceiue that God did concurr with him for the approbation of his new-coyned faith and warrant of such inordinate proceedings The Conclusion with the Authours protestation vnto the Readers THvs being not able to disprooue my former Treatise I was inforced to approoue it and therefore I must necessarily persist in this opinion vntill it be refuted in such manner as that the CONTRARY also vnto it and euery particular therein pertayning directly or indirectly vnto this issue be clearely and substantially confirmed If my reasons preuayle not with you yet despise me not I am your contreyman your flesh and bloud tyed vnto you by the strong obligations of nature Charity compelleth me vnto this act of loue that I should wish you that happinesse vnto which we all aspire but how shall we meete in one end who insist in such diuersity of way Let morall reason assure you that I am not transported by any light or sodayn motion to submitt my self vnto a Religion which is neither delightfull vnto carnall affection nor profitable in theis dayes of mourning I had my portion of hopes as well as many others Fortune beheld me with a benigne and comfortable aspect and if I could preferr such intanglements before that TRVTH which crieth mightily in my reynes I know no reason why I should want that commodity which I haue bene inuited to enioy But as I giue most humble thanks vnto them whose will to do me earthly pleasures hath shewed it self no lesse ready in promise then their place doth inable them vnto the performance so I must be bold to say with their permission that my estate since I am conscious vnto mine owne thoughts and am resolued that neither feare nor hope shall foyle my Religion by his gratious assistance vpon whose mercy I depend would be vncertainly good or certainly euill when other mens will to command should be my reason to obay Finally therefore let your reciprocall Charity teach you to conceiue that I would not striue vnwisely against the benefitts of Fortune or vnkindly against the duty of Nature vnlesse some superiour and more excellent consideration then theis did obtayn a powerable authority in my soule And as you haue already seene one parcell of that Motiue which made an entrance vnto my Royall Exchandge so when you haue examined the second I hope that you will intertayn a gentle censure of your poore friend and that you will not torment his name vpon the rack of vnchristian and excessiue speach The end of the first Booke THE SECOND BOOKE WHEREIN THE FALSEHOODS AND CORRVPTIONS OF SOME LEARNED PROTESTANTS are detected * ⎠* Behold you trust vnto your selues in the words of lying which shall not profit you Ierem. 7.8 * ⎠* The Preface IT hath pleased many men partly out of that opinion which they conceiue of their owne cause and partly out of that affection which they beare vnto me to praise and dispraise me with this Apostolick sentence He did runne vvell Gal. 5.7 vvho did let him that he obayed not the TRVTH Vnto theis men I returne a louing a faithfull and iust answere founded in the demand of an eminent Professour of their ghospell D. Abbot against D. Bishopp Part. 2. in fine VVill you be any longer led by them vvho thus grossly abuse you My
See afterward Part. 2. chap. 1. §. 2. For all Papists are of this opinion viz. that no sinnes but veniall onely shall be expiated in Purgatory fire Secondly the imputation of POPERY fastened vpon him from whom we English-men receiued our first instruction in the faith This was a good motiue vnto me to embrace Popery as passionate Sir Martin Luther phraseth the Catholick Religion whom I might more justly call a foule mouthed dogg then b Against D. Bishopp Part. 1. D. Abbott bestoweth this homely courtesy vpon a very learned * T. W. Priest since we were translated immediately from Paganisme vnto this belief by the wonderfull and gracious operation of almighty God Thirdly his confession of S. Gregories judgement concerning the remission of some sinnes after this life which D. Field would infrindge as you see by misinforcing his testimony against his euident purpose in that * Lib. 4. dial 39. place and his resolution elswhere 8. For in his exposition of the penitentiall Psalmes he deliuereth in * Psal 1. 3. in the beginning of each two seuerall places and strengtheneth himself in the first with the authority of S. AVGVSTINE whom he there expressly nameth that some men passe into heauen by the fire of purgation and are expiated thereby in the future life Could I desire a more copious satisfaction in the truth of this matter Or could I wish a more abundant redargution of D. Fields falsehood in traducing the Testaments of the dead for so their works are to establish that doctrine which they did wholly disclayme 9. Now a word or two concerning S. Bernard whom he coupleth very plausibly with S. Gregory as you may see to inferr a conclusion against that faith which they both professed I turned vnto the place in S. Bernard which truly can by no meanes admitt such an interpretation as M. Doctor doth colourably pretend For it is not the meaning of S. Bernard to deny that God doth at any time inflict a temporall payn after the remission of the guilt of sinne because this position were extreamely repugnant vnto Scriptures and Fathers and Reason as I shall briefly declare * Part. 2. chap. 1. §. 2. afterward and vnto the very condition of the Sacrament of Pennance it self wherein S. Bernard knew right well that sinne is remitted and yet all future punishment is not thereby taken away This was the conforme doctrine of the Catholicks in his time and who is so meanely skilled in S. Bernards faith as to conceiue that he would oppugne a matter of such sublimity and so correspondently intertayned by the Church 10. But the truth is this S. Bernard perswadeth men to flye from the contagion of sinne the effect whereof is such that as by naturall death it seuereth the soule from the body so by spirituall death it sundreth God from the soule And as sinne brought forth punishment so the cessation from sinne preuenteth punishment because no punishment doth follow where no sinne is gone before What then doth no effect of sinne remayn where the guylt of sinne is remitted S. Bernard * He esteemeth death it self to be a punishment of sinne as you may see by the sequele denieth it and therefore shewing in what sense he there intendeth that VVhen ALL sinne shall be * Prorsus D. Field himself coÌ„fesseth pag. 98. that Death tyrannizeth ouer the body c. Serm. in â—bitu Huberti VVHOLLY taken out of the way then shall no effect of it remayn he subnecteth this sentence in his sweet and diuine manner viz. Happy is our expectation and blessed is our hope whose Resurrection shall be much more glorious then our first estate of creation before our fall forasmuch as neither sinne nor punishment neither euill nor scourdge shall raigne or dwell or haue possibility to raigne or dwell either in our bodies or soules 11. To conclude it may please you to read and to ponderate this one little saying of S. Bernard by which you may take an estimate of his iudgement in theis matters My brethren while you think to auoyd a very small punishment in this world you incurr a greater in the next For you must vnderstand that you shall pay an hundred fold in * In purgabilibus locis Purgatory for those things which you neglect in this life 12. I know most kind Readers that you meruayle no lesse now then I did by what art D. Field can distill his Church out of the writings of theis worthy and learned men or how their authorities may be honestly alleadged to prooue that Papists are nothing els but a faction in the Church forasmuch as those Authors generally whom he produceth in his glorious Appendix are really interessed in that faction and enimies of our Protestanticall Church Wherefore I did now sufficiently vnderstand that we Protestants assuming the name of Israell vnto our selues and imputing the name of Philistims vnto the Papists could not iustify our affectation therein by any better resemblance then this viz. As the poore 1. Sam. 13.19.20 distressed Israelites were constrayned to repayr vnto the Philistims for the sharpening of their dulled tooles so we miserable Protestants hauing no better meanes are inforced to go vnto the Papists to procure some weapons for our defence from them which we turne vngratefully and vniustly against their owne bowells §. 2. S. AVGVSTINE abused by D. Field 1. YOu haue * Pag. 13. seene the goodly pretense of D. Field assuring you that the Protestants honour and reuerence the Fathers much more then the Papists do Which venditation if it did proceede from a syncere heart then D. Field should not stand in need of his inflexions and corruptions to sustayn his cause with their disgrace and much lesse with infaming the greatest of them all in this manner which I will here represent vnto your Christian view 2. The Romish manner of praying for the dead saith c Pag. 99. he hath no certayn testimony of Antiquity for NO MAN euer thought of Purgatory TILL Augustine to auoyd a worse errour did DOVBTINGLY runne into it d And none before that is false after whom e And not all that is false many in the Latin Church embraced the same opinion but the * See befor pag. 54. Greek Church neuer receiued it to this day 3. He is yet more seuere vnto S. Augustine vnto the Papists and vnto this doctrine saying that f Pag. 79. Augustine doubtfully broached that opinion which gaue occasion to the Papists of their HERESY touching Purgatory This imputation of heresy doth cleaue as strongly vnto the Fathers whom he pretendeth to honour and reuerence as vnto any Papist at this day for what should I speake of g Part. 4. Serm. de defunct in Querelâ defunct GERSONS heresy in this point whom he honoureth and reuerenceth so farr as to intitle him a * Pag. 85. worthy guide of Gods Church c. 4. Now though I obserued many
Negandum non est c. It is not to be denied that the soules of some men deceased haue relief by the piety of their liuing friends c. 24. Now what an absurdity were it in S. Augustine to affirme with great confidence that some soules are relieued by the piety of their friends and yet to be in doubt whether there be any distinct estate of soules afflicted with a temporall payn But whether it be more probable that S. Augustine was thus caried into a braynelesse conceipt or that the Protestants deriue his words against his cleare purpose I remitt me vnto your ingenious and wise determination 25. Meane while I shall intreat D. Field to take notice of one question which I desired long since to propose vnto him and to craue his playn resolution therein without ambiguous or perplexed speach Forasmuch as S. AVGVSTINE doth often and constantly deliuer vnto vs not onely by the knowen instruction of the Catholick Church but by the certayn euidence of holy scripture that there is a temporall payn inflicted vpon some soules in a future estate why doth D. FIELD conceale this poynt from his Readers and why doth he * Pag 7â— muster vp such sentenes onely as beare a shew of doubt and then make a pretense that Augustine did DOVBTINGLY runne into Purgatory and that he DOVBTFVLLY broached an opinion which gaue occasion to the Papists heresy in this matter Besides if the Papists were as greatly proud as * Pag. 71. 170. 1â—9 in epist dediâ— c. D. Field doth earnestly object this crime vnto them yet were they so foolish and obtuse also that they would rather assume this doctrine from S. Augustines DOVBTFVLL sentences then from his perspicuous and irrefragable authorities in this behalf 26. To conclude this second branch of D. Fields accusation it may please you to consider with me that as piety doth oblige vs to reconcile all places of sacred Scripture which seeme to imply any contradiction in such manner that the truth of each may be inuiolably preserued according to the intendment of the holy Ghost See Zanch. de Redemp in quaest de Inuocat Sanct. what rules he prescribeth in this case so wisedome doth prescribe vnto vs that no doubtfull sentence in the Fathers should be expounded or admitted against their certayn doctrine in other places and specially when it is strengthened by the publick approbation of the Church For as it is a singular impiety in Luther and in his truest disciples to reiect the Epistle of S. Iames vpon a supposed or seeming * We are iustified by faith without the works of the law Rom. 3.28 We are iustified by works and not by faith onely Iames 2.24 contradiction therein against S. Paull whence * See Duraeus in respons ad Whitaâ—â—ruÌ„ pag. 9. Pomeranus in his Lutheranicall violence sayth that the Author of S. Iames his epistle bringing an impious argument and making a ridiculous collection alleadgeth Scripture contrary vnto Scripture and thus he renounceth a part of holy writt with extreame defiance so it is a remarqueable folly in any man to inforce conclusions out of some obscure or dubious places in the Fathers sensed against their euident and perpetuall doctrine elswhere a course which the chief Protestants despise and contemne in the Puritans at this day 27. In the THIRD branch of this accusation D. Field is very iniurious vnto the dignity of this blessed and renowned Father For he knoweth that S. Augustine doth not fearfully impugne this errour viz. all rightly belieuing Christians shall find mercy in the end whatsoeuer their wickednesse were c. inasmuch as many testimonies are extant in his * Enchiâ—id ad Lauâ— c. 67. De fide opeâ— c. 15. De Ciuit Dei l. 21. c. 26. workes whereby it doth appeare that he disclaymed it absolutely and disprooued it fully howbeit he is modest and temperate in his disputes and not of that rusticity as our brethren in Luthers and Caluins ghospell who like Cadmaean vpstarts conuulnerate themselues with mutuall reproach whereby they are exposed vnto a publick and iust contempt 28. But now ô * This honour may be as duly giuen by me vnto S. Augustine as it is giueÌ„ by M. Rogers in his Cathol doctr epist dedicat nuÌ„ 4 vnto M. Latimer sacred and reuerend Augustine I will turne my speach vnto thy religious learned and excellent self Diddest thou so feare to oppugne an errour that thou diddest not feare to violate the truth Couldest thou not reprooue a falsehood in some men without giuing occasion of heresy vnto others Wouldest thou so peremptorily affirme and yet immediately doubt in the same thing and specially the matter being such as in extension did belong vnto the whole Church for so thou hast informed me and in consequence doth euacuate Christs meritts for so we pretend and impart his office vnto our proper satisfactions 29. If this be so then a Contra Henâ—ic 8. S. Luther had a good reason for his contemptuous demand Quis est Augustinus quis nos coget illi credere Who is Augustine and who shall compell vs to belieue him If this be not so why then do we traduce thy glorious name to destroy the ancient faith and why do we depresse thy incomparable worth to sustayn our ruinous cause § 3. S. HIEROME abused by D. Field 1. I Come vnto the third Doctour of the Latin Church S. Hierome whom our Great Reformer doth not onely b Luth. in Gen. 22. trample vnder his feete but also c Luth. in colloq conuiual in cap. de Scholast Theol. expelleth out of the number of Doctours and pronounceth him to be an Heretick for thus he honoureth and reuerenceth the Fathers much more then the Romanists do 2. Though D. Field hath moderated his stile toward S. Hierome and vsing the testimonies of this Saint at his pleasure dismisseth him whith a more gentle imputation saying that d Pag. 166. Hierome was a man of a violent spirit yet as the abuse which he offereth vnto him in the question of Purgatory is subtile in the manner and hatefull in the matter thereof so he doth plainely discouer his affection toward the Truth and the Fathers to be such that he neither respecteth how vainely he doth elude the first nor how vnconscionably he doth intreate the second Marke therefore e Pag. 79. This opinioÌ„ he putteth vpon S. Hierome as you shall see presently his artificiall passadge which here ensueth 3. It was an errour of sondry of the Ancient that all Catholick Christians how wickedly so euer they liue yet holding the fundation of true Christian profession shall in the end after great tormens endured in world to come be saued as it were by fire They durst not say as Origen that the ANGELLS who fell Note theis 4. opinioÌ„s shall be restored in the end nor as some others that all MEN whether Christians or Infidells nor as a third fort that all
CHRISTIANS how damnably so euer erring in the faith should in the end be saued but thought it most reasonable that all RIGHT belieuing Christians should find mercy what so euer their wickednesse were This fourth opinion was so generall in Augustines time that very fearfully he opposed himself against it and not daring wholly to impugne that which he found to haue so GREAT AND REVEREND AVTHOVRS he qualified it what he could and so doubtfully broached that opinion which gaue occasion to the Papists of their heresy touching Purgatory c. 4. Here the Doctour sorting his termes wisely for his owne aduantadge * ad LiteraÌ„ K. quoteth S. Hierome as though the reuerence which S. Augustine yealded vnto his person made him fearefull to impugne his errour But what ouerture is there of S. Hieromes errour in this point Behold two places alleadged by the Doctour out of his workes FIRST f Hierom. in Esaiam cap. 66. As we belieue that the torments of the Diuells and of all deniers of God and of all the wicked who haue sayed in their heart there is no God shall be eternall so we think that in respect of the sinners and vngodly * Et tamen Christiancrum sayth S. Hierome whose workes shall be tried in the fâ—re the sentence of the iudge is moderate and mixed with mercy SECOND g S. Hierome contra Pelag. l. 1. He writeth that Christians being preuented in sinne SALVANDOS POST POENAS are to be saued after paynes 5. Now consider I pray you with what art D. Field seeketh to obtayn his purpose For intending to dazle the vnderstanding of his Readers he adioyneth this sentence immediately vnto the former as Iacob followed Esau in the birth Genes 25.26 and held his brother by the heele which signified that he would in time supplant him viz. Augustine saieth in his Manuell to Laurentius chap. 67. that such as think that vngodly men and sinners POST POENAS SALVANDOS seeme in his opinion to be deceiued by humane beneuolence Hence a credulous and ignorant Reader must necessarily conceiue euen for the similitude of theis words post poenas saluandos that the opinion of S. Hierome is here particularly aymed at and reprooued by S. Augustine and for this end D. Field hath craftily conuaighed those words into S. Augustine howbeit they are not found at all in the designed * Euchirid ad Laur. c. 67. place as you may perceiue by that exact and faithfull translation of S. Augustines sentence which you shall find in the * §. 2. num 18. precedents vnto which I must remitt the courteous Reader because I haue confined myself vnto a certayn quantity which I may not exceed in this discourse For as Procustes extended their leggs which were shorter then his iron bed and contracted them which were longer so many men are tyrants vnto their owne conceipts enlardging or abbreuiating them according to the capacity of their paper I affect not a vanity with the first but I suffer a necessity with the second 6. I proceed As D. Field would inferr out of the two former sentences in S. Hierome that he was intangled with the * See before num 3. fourth errour viz. all right belieuing Christians shall find mercy whatsoeuer their wickednesse were so I might inferr by the same reason NOTA. that he was intangled with the third errour viz. all Christians how damnably so euer erring in the faith shall in the end be saued and if any man will stand so ill affected vnto S. Hierome as D. Field doth he may inforce the one as well as the other out of the aforesaid places 7. But I satisfied my self for two considerations that good S. Hierome a great and reuerend Authour indeed as D. Field confesseth truly howbeit with a purpose to deceiue was guilty neither of the third nor fourth opinion as you see them randged * num 3. before nor to be accused reasonably by any man in this behalf FIRST because some particulars in the aforesaid sentences exempt from this suspition as namely * In the first sentence QVORVM opera whose workes shall be tried in the fire c. which word quorum is not taken explicatiuely to signify all Christians but distinctiuely to note forth vnto vs one certayn * What degree this is you may conceiue by his doctrine which here followeth num 3. degree of Christians who shall suffer a temporall punishment in fire Agayn S. Hierome h Lib. 1. contra Pelag disputing learnedly against the Pelagians speaketh thus in the name of the Catholick Church VVE say that Christians preuented in sinne shall be saued after the infliction of some paynes What we I and a faction onely consenting with me No but that Church which you impugne and which I defend And if S. Hierome had exceeded hir knowen intention he were guilty of notorious treason against the integrity of hir faith 8. SECONDLY because many graue sentences in S. Hieromes works do cleare him wholly from that vniust imputation and * If occasion required it so I had greater reason to vse D. Fields direction in this case then i Pag. 166. he had to vse it in some other viz. Hierome wrote many things that must haue a fauourable construction to make them accord with that which elsewhere he hath deliuered Consider therefore with me the waight and efficacy of theis testimonies k S. Hierom in S. Matth. cap. 26. It is not sufficient vnto saluation to haue faith vnlesse faith be confirmed with good workes Agayn l S. Hierom. in Hos c. 4. VVhen hereticks see men offend against God they say that God seeketh nothing of them but the * Hereticks faith is false but as they think it to be true so S. Hieromes purpose is to shew that true faith without good works auayleth not vnto saluation VERITY OF FAITH For this cause the people are not humbled but they rejoyce in their sinnes and go forward with a stiff neck VVherefore the People and Priest Maister and Schollers are bound vp in the SAME IVDGEMENT 9. I considered farther that S. Augustine refuting this errour which D. Field deriueth vpon S. Hierome as though he were * He nameth none other See before nuÌ„ 3. one of those great and reuerend Authours for whose sake S. Augustine fearfully opposed it and durst not wholly impugne it c. produceth a very forcible and powerfull reason to expugne it viz. m S. August in Enchirid. ad Laur. c. 67. if men of Catholick and entire faith should be saued in the end notwithstanding their wicked liues and perseuerance therein vnto their last howre then it would follow that faith may saue a man without workes But that is impossible saith he euen by the testimony of S. Iames and of this matter I haue treatised elswhere in a * De fide operibus c. 15. c. booke written by me to this effect Now were it not
a sottishnes in me to conceiue that Saint Hierome let not D. Field nor Luther be offended with this reuerence and honour which I yeald vnto the Fathers by their just title of SAINTS is guilty of that errour which S. Augustine disprooueth since he also controlleth it by the validity of the same reason precisely which S. Augustine hath alleadged and vrged to this purpose Were there any congruity or coherence in such a fancy 10. Wherefore as I was directed by theis considerations to intertayn a more reuerent opinion of S. Hierome then euer I admitted vnto this time so that high conceipt which I had of D. Fields extraordinary value languished in me daily and the * The Protestants CHVRCH cause it self which he vndertaketh to defend seemed worse and worse in my thoughts forasmuch as the chiefest Patrones thereof are continually driuen vnto such dishonourable and vnworthy shifts § 4. S. AMBROSE abused by D. Field 1. SAint Ambrose maketh vp the messe and beareth his part of disgrace amongst his friends 2. But as the cariadge of this matter is very smooth so it seemeth to be very syncere and graue For when the learned Doctour hath layd forth the sense See before pag. 31. and intendment of Antiquity in hir prayers for the dead he goeth forward with a specious pretense Pag. 98. to vnfold the truth more amply and to detect such errours as were embraced by some men contrary vnto the designement and purpose of the Catholick Church 3. It was an opinion sayth he of many of the Fathers that there is no judgement to passe vpon men till the last day and that all men are holden either in some place vnder the earth or els in some other place appointed for that purpose so that they come not into heauen nor receiue the reward of their labours till the generall IudgemeÌ„t c. Of this opinion was Iustin Martyr * He taught the doctrine of Purgatory and so did Lactantius also by the confession of sondry ProtestaÌ„ts 1 De natué Dei l. 4. c 4. Tertullian Clemens Romanus Lactantius Victorinus Martyr AMBROSE Ioh. Pontifex Rom. and sundry other 4. Here I did suspect the integrity of D. Field in his manifold turnings and inflexions because I was informed long before by n Hierome Zanchy that prayer for the dead had not a reference particularly vnto the soule but rather vnto the body a poynt not omitted by o Pag. 98. D. Field himself and his collection is framed in this manner Ambrose in his funerall oration vpon the death of Valentinian the Emperour confesseth that * Aeterna vi â— fruitur viluptate aâ—e S. Ambrose his words his soule is in heauen and yet he addeth farther that he will be mindfull of him in his prayers and oblations Wherefore either Ambrose doth contradict himself which in so little a passadge is vnlikely or els he referred his prayers vnto the resurrection of the Emperour and vnto his corporall estate 5. But Zanchius is egregiously mistaken in this collection and his partition is vnsufficient for S. Ambrose doth not contradict himself neither yet did he referr the execution of theis religious duties vnto the body alone and resurrection of the Emperour as it appeareth by his expresse testimony in this oration viz. Let us prosecute the godly SOVLE with our oblations likewise in his oration for Theodosius he desireth God to take the Emperours SOVLE into his rest thus also in his oration for Satyrus he maketh a speciall commendation of his SOVLE vnto almighty God and this was the practise of the Church but as many probable reasons did induce him to conceiue that Valentinians soule was now in actuall possession of eternall joy so for want of infallible assurance in this behalf he would not intermit his duty nor neglect his office toward the dead which charity prescribed and the Church appointed in this case In like manner p In obitis Humberti S. Bernard out of his singular hope which was founded vpon very probable reason saith that Humbertus lately deceased iam obtinet gaudium c. doth now obtayn those ioyes which shall endure for euer Notwithstanding it were a folly to imagin that S. Bernard would neglect the accustomed piety and deuotion of the Church which haply might be expedient for his soule To conclude Hence it is that S. q Confess l. 9. c. 13. Augustine supplicating vnto God for his deceased Mother saith I belieue o Lord that thou hast already performed the thing which I desire for she was a woman of singular virtue and the premisses of hir good life inferred the conclusion of hir happy death but yet accept the voluntary petition of my lippes The first proceeded out of a pious belief the second out of a wise feare and there was charity in both Which point I wish that r Cathol Apolog Part. 1. l. 1. c. 87. q 2. D. Morton had duly waighed within his heart before he branded S. Augustine with this improper censure Magis affectionis quam rationis oratio the oraison of Augustine for his mother came rather from affection then reason I returne now vnto D. Field 6. Being tormented with a necessary suspition rather of D. Fields vnfaithfulnesse in his report then of S. Ambrose his folly in this matter I made hast vnto the Author whom he alleadgeth to iustify his assertion viz. SIXTVS SENENSIS bibliothec sanct lib. 6. annotat 345. I turned vnto the place where I found Senensis discoursing to this effect The opinion of Bernard viz. that the blessed soules content themselues with the aspect of our Sauiours humanity c. though it be condemned as Castrensis doth obserue yet I think that the Author is to be excused with a gratefull and benigne affection because many excellent Fathers in the Church SEEMED by their testimonyes to giue authority vnto his opinion as namely Irenaeus Iustin Martyr Lactantius AMBROSE Chrysostome Augustine c. 7. When I had diligently perused the place I noted a subtile collusion in the Doctour forasmuch as he singleth forth S. Ambrose omitteth S. Augustine knowing that the first might be jaded more coulorably then the second and that euery nose would not haue this crafty dealing so quickly in his sent because the sauour is not so strong I considered also if D. Field had neuer bene acquaynted with S. Ambrose his works or if he had not distinctly remembred his opinion in this poynt yet the learned Authour whose testimony he abuseth to the injury of an other did prohibit him to condemne S. Ambrose with such hast for he sayth that many of the Fathers * Visi sunt SEEMED to giue warrant vnto this opinion and therefore if Senensis had not added any interpretation to cleare S. Ambrose from that folly yet this limitatioÌ„ it self might haue mitigated his ceÌ„sure and it could be sayd at the vtmost that Ambrose did seeme to be of this opinion thus one half of the wrong had
bene abated whereas now it is doubled yea tripled by this vnfaithfull dealing and so the last errour will be worse then the first 8. For though Senensis doth presently answere in behalf of S. Ambrose and some * August Chrysost others that he and they speake of the perfect and consummate felicity which the soules expect to enioy after the resurrection of their bodyes thus sayth he we haue interpreted the sentences of AMBROSE Aug. Chrysost annotat 64. 169. lib. 1. annot 264. in this booke and elswhere yet D. Field suppresseth that resolution and so exposeth this good Father vnto the mercy of all enimyes that will calumniate his name This is the faithfullnesse and such is the exactnesse of D. Field to conduct his Readers into the true apprehension of the ancient Churches purpose in the religious duty of prayer and oblation for the dead 9. With theis other deuices parallelable thereunto he hath replenished that whole * 17. in the third book chapter wherein he treatiseth of this matter concludeth it with this reproachfull derision of BELLARMINE Truly I am weary in following of him in theis SENSE LESSE FOOLERIES But the Reuerend Cardinall hath now gayned a just defence for him self from D. Fields vnjust accusation of other men and may take comfort in this plea am I better then my FATHERS I am well content to beare my part in their fortune and to participate in their disgrace Yea considering the dignity of their persons the excellency of our common cause and the disposition of him who standeth out in defiance of me and it and them I regard not the folly of his malice but I compassionate the misery of his case CHAP. II. D. Field accuseth BELLARMINE vnjustly of trifling and senselesse foolery in the question of prayer for the dead CALVIN doth truly confesse that the Protestants repugne Antiquity in this matter 1. LEt the Reader obserue saith ſ Pag. 97. D. Field what it is that t De Notis Eccles c. 9. Bellarmine is to prooue and he shall find that he doth nothing but trifle For he is to prooue that u Instit l. 3. c. 5. §. 10. Caluin confesseth that more then 1300. yeares since the Popish doctrine and custome of PAYER FOR THE DEAD did preuayle and was generally receiued in the whole Church of God throughout the world This if he will prooue he must argue thus The custome of praying to deliuer the soules of men out of the paynes of PVRGATORY is the custome and practise which the Romane Church defendeth and Caluin impugneth But this custome Caluin confesseth to haue bene in vse more then 1300. yeares since Therefore Caluin acknowledgeth the doctrine and practise of the Romane Church to be most ancient and to haue bene receiued 1300. yeares ago The Minor proposition of this reason is false and Caluin in the place cited by Bellarmine protesteth against it most constantly affirming that the Fathers knew nothing of PVRGATORY and therefore much lesse of prayer to deliuer men from thence So he 2. I turned vnto the disputations of Bellarmine where he prooueth by the confession of Caluin and some others that many doctrines now impugned by the Protestants and defended by the Catholiques are the doctrines of the ancient Church Amongst other particularities in his discourse the Cardinall alleadgeth this sentence of Iohn Caluin viz. It was receiued into vse aboue 1300. yeares ago to make prayers for the dead But those ancients I confesse were * Abrepti in errorem c. caried away into an errour Whence it followeth in my poore capacity that Caluin doth confesse that he and his reformed Churches are opposite vnto Antiquity in this doctrine For doth he not impute it vnto the Fathers as an errour and doth he not censure them most indignely in this behalf saying that they yealded herein vnto their naturall affection and vnto * thus the Puritans peruert the testimonies of Epiph. c. say they wrote according to the custome manner of their age c. See D. Bancroft in his Suruay pag. 337. custome but were destitute of precept and example in the Scripture 3. Nay he goeth yet farther and in the sublimity of his pride he sayth Whereas Augustine reporteth that Monica desired to haue a commemoration made of hir at the w Confess l. 9. c. 13. Altar after hir decease this was an old wiues request which the sonne neuer examined by the rule of the Scripture but according to his naturall affection would haue it allowed of others But did not the gentle Mōsieur vnderstand or did he not regard that neither the old wife as his Eldershipp speaketh in his Lucianicall vayne nor hir sonne did performe any thing herein but what the Catholick Church did warrant and prescribe vnto them Did he not conceiue that it was Aërian heresy to impugne this duty And could the Mother or the Sonne neglect the same without a singular offence and iust suspition of that crime 4. Wherefore though Caluin hauing confessed his dislike of Antiquity in this doctrine doth afterward frame his cunning exception against the Papists and deriueth it in such sort that they forsooth can not glory in the ancient Church as partaking with their errour forasmuch as she affirmed nothing of Purgatory whereof they dreame c. yet I saw that this was a piece of his cogging art and dicing skill as x Caluinus Iud viz. pag 59. D. Hunnius writeth whereby he eludeth the grauest and most perspicuous Scriptures to the great aduantadge of Iews Arrians and such like pestiferous enimies of our Lord Iesus Christ Agayn as sondry testimonies in the Ancients did assure me that the generall custome of Prayer for the dead was referred vnto the benefitt and comfort of their soules so for the conuiction of Protestants and for demonstration of their repugnancy vnto the Catholick Church in hir most venerable times it was sufficient for me to know that Caluin doth abundantly declare his improbation thereof that therefore Bellarmine doth not trifle in this issue 5. For we must distinguish here betwixt this ACTION which was performed by the Church and hir INTENTION therein Caluin confesseth the first and litigateth about the second Now it was euident vnto me that the Cardinall in the aforesaid place doth alleadge him precisely in the first respect but as for the second it is a matter of farther dispute 6. That this was the purpose of the Cardinall I was induced to conceiue not onely in regard of his excellent vnderstanding but also by a playn and substantiall ouerture in his owne workes For y De Purgators l. 1. c 6. discussing the question of Prayer for the dead he reprooueth Caluin in 4. poynts FIRST because he condemneth himself by his owne mouth inasmuch as he freely agnizeth the great antiquity and lardge propagation thereof and yet feareth not to say that the Fathers were caried away into an errour in this matter SECONDLY because
their verdict the Church of God seemed to deserue more blame then this heretick who is branded with just infamy and perpetuall disgrace 3. Though Bullinger was fiery and boysterous against our brethren of the house of Saxony the ancienter family of the yong ghospell yet he doubteth not to hold some good correspondency with them in this particular and therefore whereas he had made a lardge confession to his euerlasting shame saying e Decad. 4. Serm. 10. I know that the Ancients prayed for the dead I know what Augustine the noble Doctour and what Chrysostome the eloquent Preacher haue written of this matter I know that the Fathers say it is a Tradition of the Apostles and how Augustine affirmeth that it is a custome of the vniuersall Church to pray for the dead I know also that Aërius was condemned because he did oppose himself against it c. he taketh vpon him in his liberty to reprooue the Fathers and to debilitate the soueraigne authority of the Church But as the leuity of this man doth justly deserue that the seuere * Quanta vanitas qâ—aÌ„ ta impudeÌ„tia Bulliâ—geri c. See BreÌ„â—ius contra Bâ—â—ling pag. 105. c. reprehension of Brentius should be duely applied vnto him in this case so the pretense of * Against D. Kellison booke 2. chap. 4. D. Sutcliffe saying that Aërius was reputed an heretik for Arrianisme and not for finding fault with * Such superstition as the whole Church embraced See before pag. 60. superstitious oblations for the dead is such a folly as wise men would contemne or such an ignorance as a meane Scholler would commiserate and pity in a Doctour of so great celebrity and renowne For though it be true that Aërius was infected with Arrianisme yet forasmuch as he deuised new opinions repugnant vnto the Catholick faith he hath a peculiar and distinct place in the * Made by S. Aug and Epiphan catalogue of hereticks which were a superfluity and an absurdity also if Arrianisme had bene the proper cause for which he was condemned by the Church 5. I will leaue theis forayn Authours and repayr vnto our domesticks to witt D. Humfrey D. Abbot M. Cartwright and D. Morton who being of greater value then many others may stand forth and speake in the name of all the rest 6. The foreman is f Contra Campian pag. 261. D. HVMFREY whose resolution seemeth to be the publick confession of our Church NOS non improbaemus c. VVE disallow not any thing wherein Aërius did think * Quod rectè sensit Aërius truly c. Truly The Papists themselues will joyne issue with vs in this assertion But the question is whether Aërius did think truly in this particular or not Here the learned Doctour sheweth the perplexity of his heart See afterward Part. 2. c. 2. § 1. and yet adorning a fowle matter with fayr words he slideth forward and discouereth in plentifull sort that our Church doth propend wholly vnto the doctrine of Aërius in this point 7. The second is D. ABBOT whose authority must componderate with D. Fields and will discountenance his exposition of this matter g Against D. Bishopp Part. 1 pag. â—6 In the time of Epiphanius saith he there was an alteration made of the custome of Prayer for the dead Other deuotions were added vnto it with opinion to mitigate if need so required the very paynes of hell This AERIVS spake against and indeed spake against it with greater reason then Epiphanius hath defended it c. Here Maister D. Abbot dealeth iniuriously with Epiphanius in whose behalf S. Augustine shall witnesse that * See before pag. 27. he was a man very renowned in the Catholick faith But in the meane time do not theis men agree like harp and harrow One sayth h See before §. 1. num 1.2 SVRELY it appeareth c. The other sayth THIS Aërius spake against c. Thus they differ in their expositions as you see betwixt themselues and yet neither agreeth with the truth And no meruaile for i Lactant. haec est mendaciorum natura vt probè cohaerere non possint May I not say of theis men as k Offic. 1. Cicero sayeth of pedling merchants nihil proficiunt nisi admodùm mentiantur 8. The third is M. CARTWRIGHT who being an l See the opinions of Aërius before pag. 60. Aërian heretick in a farther degree then they are who principally obtayn the name of Protestants in our contrey howbeit that is the proper inheritance of Luthers more naturall children in his faith and reintegrating the heresy of Aërius * Pag. 403. touching the equallity of a Bishopp and a Priest is iustly noted by * So where D. W. obiecteth the CouÌ„cell of Nice vnto him he turneth it off affirming that it is spotted with infamy by decreing that single men admitted to holy orders shall not marry afterward Which point is fitt to be considered by M. Rogers saying p. 115. that if Paphnutius had not byn at Nice that Councell had erred D. VVhitgift iustly in respect of the thing vniustly in respect of their profession vpon the conformity which he embraced with Aërius in this matter And truly the pure or rigid Caluinists are guilty thereof without all possibility of defence But how doth the Presbyterian remooue this disgrace from himself and from the consorts of his folly I am not to regard sayth he what Epiphanius deliuereth in this matter for he was a man obnoxious vnto errour and if his authority could inconuenience me herein it might likewise confirme the popish errour of prayer and oblation for the dead which things are in no wise retayned by our Church 9. This is the summe and substance of his answere whereby I was excited to consider that as the * Aristot de histor animal irchin in hir naturall prouidence maketh a double prospect in hir nest that she may by this meanes defend hir self from the injury of all weather so the Protestants furnish themselues with a double principle viz. Scripture and Fathers In their conflict with Papists they limitt and confine all things vnto the Scripture sensed by themselues conueniently for their owne security and aduantage If they incounter the Puritans they reduce them vnto the judgement of Antiquity and suffer them not to randge vp and downe in their vast and vnsetled imaginations In theis principles they are very inconstant and runne into a circular absurdity without any certayn and indubious resolution of their faith 10. The fourth and last is o Cathol Apolog. Part. 1. l. 1. c. 33. D. MORTON who seing our reformed Churches deepely touched with Aërianisme seeketh by all meanes to decline the point and seemeth fearfull in handling his owne wounds or as Luther obserued in Zuinglius he paseth it so gingerly as if he trode vpon eggs and like a sheepe in the briers the more he struggleth the more he is intangled Behold therefore
howres he lay in the graue c. we may conjecture we cannot determine we haue semblable reasons but no inuincible proofes 6. Wherefore D. Field hath not propounded vnto vs the difference betwixt the Protestants and Catholicks but that difference alone which is meerely betwixt the Catholicks themselues who teach most consonantly vniformely and perpetually that there is a Purgatory and that there is a temporall payn inflicted in the future life Thus they grant the thing it self and presuppose it as * Poster Analytic Aristotle sayth that Subiectum must be praecognitum the subiect must be foreknowen and admitted before we will demonstrate any thing vpon the same and then afterward they dispute concerning other accidentall points such as are here remembred by D. Field And what is this but the liberty of Schooles which may well consist with the purity of Religion It is an exercise of witt without destruction of faith The Sunne delighteth to runne his course as a Giant Psal 18.6 and yet he neuer exceedeth his annuall or diurnall confines for he knoweth his rising Psal 103.19 and his going downe Likewise the Catholicks may liberally expatiate in theis poynts prouided alwayes that they contayne themselues within the obedience of the Church and the compasse of approoued truth Otherwise 2. Reg. 2.37 as it was death for Shemei to transgresse the precinct assigned vnto him by Salomon so it is at their perill if they go beyond the limitts which the spouse of the wisest Salomon hath prescribed in this case 7. But we Protestants for whom D. Field hath aduocated in this businesse deale herein after an other manner for we first deny that there is any Purgatory or temporall payn in a future estate we damne it as blasphemous hereticall and Antichristian doctrine then consequently and necessarily we deny the place the time the instrument c. Which are certain accidentall secondary and subsequent respects For in our disputes with the Catholicks we propose not the question thus VVhether some soules suffer in corporall fire tormented there by Diuells an hundred yeares c. for this is the difference amongst themselues onely but VVhether there be any Purgatory or temporall payn of soules or not As for example if any man should demand VVhether in the contrey of VTOPIA the soyle be fertile the situation pleasant and the ayre healthfull I would preuent him and say Sir there is no such contrey and therefore your demands of the fertility pleasure and healthfulnesse are superfiuous and to no purpose 8. Thus I was now sufficiently instructed to perceiue that though D. Field doth glory in theis positions viz. The things wherevpon the difference groweth betwixt vs and the Romish faction were neuer receiued generally by the Church and * See his ep dedicat the things which Papists now publish as articles of faith PVRGATORY is in that number were not the Doctrines of that Church wherein they and WE viz. VValdensians Albigensians Lutherans c. who were sometime actuall and true members of the Romane Church liued together in one * That is to say whē our Fathers Wickliff Luther c. were Papists not separated from the visible cōmunion of the Romane Church communion yet he doth miserably collude herein against his owne conscience which in so principall an Authour throwing downe his gauntlet of defiance in such manner is a very lamentable case 9. For where is that man in the time of the aforesaid communion who denied Purgatory or shewed any doubtfulnesse therein against the essentiall doctrine in which the true difference betwxit the Papists and Protestants doth stand most eminently at this day I did employ much time I searched into the volumes of antiquity I neglected no meanes to gayn all possible satisfaction in this thing and yet I could not find so much as the shaddow of any one man See before pag. 54. c. how Purgatory hath bene denied and by whom by whom this particular was impugned vnlesse he were in the number of such as departed from the visible society of the Church 10 Thus necessity compelled me to inferr that D. Field hath disabled his owne booke and ouerthrowen his Church Papists may triumph in the victory which their chiefest enimies haue wrought in their behalf yea they may joyfully applaud the excellency of their cause which inforceth hir greatest aduersaries to prostitute themselues vnto such base and dishonest courses Confess l. 5. c. 7. 11. Finally therefore as S. Augustine was in despayre to receiue contentment from any Manichee when Faustus the most renowned in that sect yealded no sufficient answere vnto his doubts so now I could not expect a fayr Magis desperab am de cateris corū doctoribus quando in multis quae me mouebant it a ille nomitus apparuit and just resolution from any professour of our ghospell when D. FIELD himself inferiour to no Diuine in England for which cause he was selected by the Archbishopp to treatise of that * Of the CHVRCH subject which is the very center and circumference in all religious disputes appeared so vntrue and so meane in this particular of Purgatory and prayer for the dead which we deride and contemne as a foolish detestable impious opinion and voyd of any reasonable defence To conclude here I tooke an argument first à Personis and sayd if D. FIELD deale thus what conceipt shall I intertayn of all other Professours Secondly à Rebus and considered if D. Field deale thus in THIS MATTER what shall I conceiue of his deportment in all other things Truly I haue necessary reasons to perswade me that the cause being very bad will discredit all hir Patrones but the Patrones being neuer so good can not by any meanes support their cause The end of the first Part. THE SECOND PART CONCERNING SOME FALSEHOODS AND CORRVPTIONS OF M. ROGERS AND D. HVMFREY in the question of Purgatory and Prayer for the dead CHAP. I. of M. ROGERS I Had iust reasons to esteeme highly of this mans work FIRST the Subiect of it to witt the Articles of Religion approoued by the Bishopps 1162. Clergy of our kingdome in which respect the booke is adorned with this resplendent title The faith doctrine and religion professed and protected in the realme of England and in the dominions of the same SECONDLY the quality of the Authour who is a Chaplayn vnto the Archbishop and conuersant in our Ecclesiasticall affayres For so he testifieth of himself in his * num 37. epistle dedicatory vnto his Lord and Maister saying Yeares haue made mine haires gray much reading and experience in theologicall conflicts and combats haue bettered my judgement c THIRDLY the speciall approbation of this booke viz. Perused and by lawfull authority of the Church of England allowed to be publick §. 1. Dionysius Carthusianus abused by M. Rogers Pag. 121. 1. PApists agree not amongst themselues sayth M. Rogers about the time which
Scriptures yet there is no small authority of the VNIVERSALL CHVRCH which shineth in this custome for in the prayers of the Priest which he powreth forth to God at his Altar the COMMENDATION of the dead hath its place 4. Heere three things occurred vnto my ponderation FIRST that S. Augustine doth iustify prayer for the dead by the Canonicall Scripture for so the bookes of the Machabees are recognized by a †3. Carthag ca. 47. Councell wherein S. Augustine himself was present and * ca. 50. subscribed thereunto VVherefore in his ceÌ„sure the Sacrifice for the dead was firmely established by the testimony of sacred writ and this being so how can it be true that Augustine could not plead this authority in defence therof And if he did plead it why doth D. Humfrey pretend the contrary in this place 5. SECONDLY S. Augustine maketh mention here of the OLD Scripture wherby he intimateth that in the NEVV Testament some reliefe for the dead is either plainly expressed or sufficiently †see before pag. â— c. deduced from thence THIRDLY S. Augustine adioyneth the Church vnto the Scripture because there is impeachable soueraignty in the VNIVERSALL Church therfore he saith that if other proofes were wanting in this matter yet this alone may satisfie giue contentment vnto her obsequious Children Which plea seemed vnto me so full of equity that without insolency and madnesse both which must ineuitably fall vpon D. Humfrey and his Church I saw no possibility to decline the same §. 2. An other of his vnfaithfull practises against S. Augustine SAint Augustine maketh mention in the former sentence of a COMMENDATION of the dead from which word the Doctour taketh an aduantage to shew Pag. 262. See before pag 38. that in your Colledges you now retayn this pious custome of the ancient Church But he deludeth you with ambguity of speach For the commendation whereof S. Augustine speaketh is referred vnto the SOVLES of the dead which in the sacred Mysteries were specially recommended vnto our Lord but the commendation of your Founders in your Colledges is a memory of their names which you celebrate with commemoration of their liberality whereby your studies are maintayned And this is not to conforme your selues vnto antiquity nor to execute the testaments of your honourable Founders 2. This noble figment in the Doctour is presently attended with a more eminent deprauation For though Paulinus firmely belieuing according to the instruction of the Catholick Church that great vtility ensueth vnto the dead by the prayers of the liuing desireth an explication of that scripture which sayeth 2. Cor. 5.10 VVe shall all stand before the Tribunall of Christ and euery man shall receiue according to that which he hath done in this life whether it be good or euill and though S. Augustine yealdeth this resolution viz. Ibid. according to the quality of this life men receiue helpe after their decease c. yet D. Humfrey supressing both theis poynts flourisheth in his vnprofitable rhetorick and handleth the matter artificially to make a credulous Reader belieue that S. Augustine himself doth conuell the vse of Prayer for the dead by the testimony of this Scripture 3. The detection of theis vnfaithfull courses which till this time mine ey saw not neither did my heart once suspect did conduct me occasionally vnto the truth Ita ille qui multis laqueus mortis extitit meum quo captus eram relaxare jam ceperat nec volens S. Aug. CoÌ„f. l. 5. c. 7. de FAVSTO nec sciens sayeth S. Augustine of a man happy in name but vnhappy in deed and the like I may justly pronounce in my successe thus he that was the snare of death vnto many beganne to lose the snare wherewith I was intangled and this he did though neither by his will nor knowledge FINIS The correction of the principall faults passed onely in some copies P signifieth the page L the line M the margent P. 5. l. 15. reade Beda p. 8. l. 19. leaue out scio and reade Veteres abusi sunt c. p. 10. l. 32. reade witt p. 17. 19. 21. 23. 25-27 in the title Chap. 2. p. 21. m. 116. in stead of 114. p. 26. l. 4. elswhere p. 32. l. 7. vnto p. 34. l. vlt. extended p. 45. m. § 5. num 8. in stead of § 3. n. 4. p. 51. l. 17 incomparable p. 52. m. from the infection c. p. 61. l. 20. sayeth p. â—5 m. Rainolds p. 72. l. 12. conuent p. 75. l. 27. after censure add theis words as a thing not to be exercised against any professour of the ghospell p. 76. l. 2. from l. 28. vnmatchable l. 32. Church p. 78. l. 9 taught that p. 82. l. 3. retreat p. 87. l. 26. are the Churches p. 90. l. 5. without l. 12. ghospell p. 91. 14. Wherefore p. 112. l. vlt. Church p. 120. l. 15. with p. 121. m. ad literam p. 122. l. 4. place the parenthesis after him p. 123. l. 16. exempt him from p. 125. l. 16. dishonourable p. 130. l. vlt. PRAYER p. 134. l. 21. construction p. 149. l. 21 Diuines p. 151. l. 10. testimonies l. 28. intercourse A BRIEF PLAYN AND effectuall instruction concerning Purgatory and Prayer for the dead COurteous Reader the intended breuity of my discourse did not permitt me so to inforce Booke 1. Part. 1. Cha. 2. §. 4. nuÌ„ 16. and to illustrate the testimony of S. AVGVSTINE in this matter as I had conceiued nor as the dignity thereof doth justly require and especially for their sake who either in regard of their weaknesse cannot or in regard of their negligence care not or in regard of their peruersenesse will not see the cleare and irrefragable truth VVherefore hauing a little remnant of vacant paper I haue thought good to employ it vnto this profitable end assuring my self that euery Reader may informe his vnderstanding and settle his conscience herein by the waight and euidence of theis THREE ensuing propositions The FIRST proposition 1 THere was alwayes and now is and euer shall be a CATHOLICK Church which is free from any The Protestants accompt this doctrine of Purgatory c. to be damnable damnable errour This assertion is very often deliuered by S. Augustine and the very same though not precisely in theis words is yealded by Pag. 203. D. Field in the name of his Church The SECOND proposition 2. THe instruction of this Church is the last and finall judgement wherein all men may and must rely as in the PROPOVNDER of truth This assertion is strengthened by sondry testimonies of the Fathers and In his ep dedic D. Field approoueth it saying that men desirous of satisfaction must diligently search out the true Church and Therefore it must be knowen therefore it must be visible rest in hir judgement c. In which respect he sayeth that Pag. 193. if the reprehension of Aërius touching PRAYER FOR THE DEAD be vnderstood to
extend vnto the generall practise iudgement of the Church it is not nor may not be iustified Whereas he sayeth it is not iustified by Protestants that is not true whereas he sayeth it may not be iustified that is very certayn Wherefore I desire you to stand constantly vnto this position and not to flye your ground The THIRD proposition 3. THe iudgement and purpose of the ancient CATHOLICK Church is discouerable vnto us by two meaenes viz. the perpetuall succession of PRACTISE and the conforme testimony of the FATHERS For where we find no substantiall mutation of PRACTISE All men know that the practise of praying for the dead is the same now sustaÌ„tially as in S. August time and I hope it was not begunne then but continued See before pag. 25. but see it perpetuated in all descents and deriued vnto vs by the long hand of time we may infallibly conclude that the later ages of the Church conspiring with the former are free from just reproof Agayn the testimony of the FATHERS conuaigheth vs vnto the knowledge of the Churches judgement so that we require fidelity in them authority in it they are the witnesses she the judge they relate hir voyce she pronounceth the sentence Theis propositions as they are very perspicuous ponderous so they will excellently and forcibly apply themselues in decision of this controuersy touching PVRGATORY and PRAYER FOR THE DEAD The testimony of S. AVGVSTINE The faithfull do know according to the instruction of the Church that when MARTYRS are recited at the Altar of God this is not done with intention to pray for them it being an injury to pray for a Martyr vnto whose prayers we ought to be recommended but we pray for other deceased men whose commemoration is there made Now for your full satisfaction in this poynt you must here obserue three things viz. the quality of the WITNESSE the competency of the IVDGE the resolution of the MATTER 1. Concerning the FIRST it importeth the witnesse onely to expresse what was the intentioÌ„ of the Church in this practise And as S. Augustine is a most faithfull witnesse of Antiquity in M. Inst l. 3. c. 3. §. 10. c. Caluins opinion so it goeth hard if for a MATTER OF HISTORY the Fathers can not find creditt at your hands they should know as well as you what was then in FACT Which sentence being very justly deliuered against the Presbyterians by the Suruay pag. 338. L. of Cant in the question of BISHOPPS c. ought to be considered exactly in this issue 2. Concerning the SECOND you see that the Churches instruction touching this matter was knowen familiarly vnto all the faithfull so that you must either vnnaturally and impiously as Aërian hereticks reiect your Mothers instruction or els as dutifull and obsequious children you must submitt your selues vnto hir doctrine Which least you should intemperately renounce I pray you to remember that famous sentence of S. Augustine viz. Ep. â—18 to call any thing in question which is frequented by the VNIVERSALL CHVRCH it is the part of most INSOLENT MADNESSE 3. Concerning the THIRD you can not but perceiue the clearnesse thereof expressed in this distinction VVe do not pray for Martyrs and VVe do pray for other men By which manifest difference S. Augustine doth sufficiently declare that the memory of Martyrs was celebrated at the Altar by way of THANSKGIVING and gladnesse but the names of other men were remembred by way of PETITION and desire The reason whereof ariseth out of their estate VVe pray not for a Martyr and it were an iniury to pray for him Why Because we know that he is in heauen and to haue any diffidence of his beatitude it were injurious vnto his cause and derogatory from his passion therefore we pray not FOR him as though he wanted our relief but VNTO him rather that he may assist vs with his charitable intercession But we pray for others that is to say for all them of whose actuall felicity the Church hath not yet attayned a secure and infallible perswasion otherwise if she knew that they were in present possession of ioy it were as great as injury to pray for them also as for the Martyrs themselues since the reason why she prayeth not for Martyrs is because she is confidently resolued that they being in heauen stand not in any exigence of hir deuotion Wherefore since the CATHOLICK Church prayed for other meÌ„ as not being in heauen or not certainly knowen to be there she did conceiue that they were or might be for ought she knew to the contrary in some third place and consequently in some temporall payn and so necessarily she did belieue that there is a PVRGATORY after this life To contend about WORDS and NAMES it is a vanity for it is sufficient to haue a sure apprehension of the THING it self To litigate about things ACCIDENTALL it is a folly for it is inough to be certayn of the SVBSTANTIALL point the rest haue their probability in their seuerall degrees and are permitted vnto free dispute Finally later ages may amplify not alter the doctrine of the former fayth hath an augmentation to perfitt hir progresse not innouation to chandge hir purenesse IESVS proficiebat sapientiâ Luca. 2.53 aetate c. Now since he that is WISEDOME it self did profitt in sapience and he that is ETERNITY did increase in age it may well become the Church to shew a conformity vnto hir head and Lord. The petition of S. AVGVSTINE Confess l. â— c. 13. Inspire o Lord my God inspire thy servants my brethren that at thy Altar they may remeÌ„ber Monica thy handmayd with Patricius sometimes hir husband FINIS TRY BEFORE YOV TRVST OR AN ADMONITION Vnto the credulous and seduced Protestants to examine the fidelity of their VVriters and particularly of tvvo principall Doctours viz. D. FIELD D. MORTON A Detection of their falsehood in some matters of great importaÌ„ce and a discovery of sondry vanities in the new Gospell according to LVTHER ZVINGL and others BY T. H. Maister of Arts and lately Minister Added by way of APPENDIX vnto his FIRST MOTIVE 1609. TO THE WORTHY GENTLEMAN Maister S. E. SIR though the propriety of this little Treatise be yours it being first addressed for your priuate information yet the vse thereof may be deriued vnto others vnder your honourable name buried here and intombed in a parcell of it self For as my hearty affection did single you forth to be the principall obiect of my thoughts so my compassion enlardgeth it self toward all my louing contreymen wholy insnared with you in the same danger and are held captiue therein by the same credulity and facility of belief Popidum qui sibi credat habet S. Bernard de Henrico haeretico ep 240. which hath preuayled with your noble heart to admitt the assertions of your guides without a triall of their exactnesse In which course though I may commend the goodnesse of your
nature which being free from intertaynmeÌ„t of base and dishonest cogitations doth not suspect any collusion where it seeth a great venditation of †Singuli dicurit ego veruÌ„ dico S. Chrys de haereticis Homâ—l 33. in Act. Veritas veritas was the saying of the Manichees See S. August coÌ„f l. 3. c. 6. truth and neuer had experience of falsehood yet it doth import you in IVSTICE and in WISEDOME to try a little before you trust too much For as equity doth require all men to auoyd partiality in decision of ordinary causes which can not be performed without the indifferent audience of each party for si satis est accusâsse quis erit innocens Yea sayth SENECA Qui statuit aliquid parte inauditâ alterâ Aequum licet statuerit haud aequus fuit so discretion prescribeth vnto them that they should be very deliberate and circumspect in the matters of Religion which in their nature are sublime and in their waight concerne our interminable euerlasting estate either in the ioyes of heauen or in the paynes of hell But since GOD hath giuen you eyes to be your immediate witnesses and indued you with an excellent portion of vnderstanding to be a sufficient iudge in this behalf I desire you that you would not be vngratefull vnto him for his benefits but that with a temperate and composed mynd you would exercise theis meanes which are afforded vnto you for a glorious end And forasmuch as I know that D. FIELD and D. MORTON do shine as Castor and Pollux in your Church howbeit as the howse of theis brethren was reputed Castors alone Sueton. in Iulio Caesare by a certayn prerogatiue and superiority which rested in him so D. Field hath obtayned the chiefest if not the onely name whose writings are esteemed the diuinest oracles of this age I haue deemed it most conuenable for me to make choyce of them onely at this time and to giue you so much instruction concerning their workes as may demonstrate their obliquity and vnfaithfulnesse which your ingenuous disposition did neuer yet suspect But what truth can you expect from the children whose Fathers were remarkeable liars and are so recognized by M. LVTHER himself the great Reformer of the Church and grand progenitour of your ghospell Theis SACRAMENTARIES sayth * See Brent contra Bullinger in Recognit prophetic apostolic doctr pag. 276. impress Francosurti 1585. he are non solùm mendaces sed ipsum mendacium fucus et simulatio not onely lyars but a very ly it self deceipt and simulation which ZWINGLIVS doth shew in word and deed I mervayle not if they lye †They pretended that Luther was vanquished by them at Marpurg so impudeÌ„tly for I perceiue that they can do nothing else and I do reioyce in this euent seeing that they the DIVELL raigning do now manifest them selues not onely by craft but by open lyes As your Professours are lineally descended froÌ„ theis Creetes so they degenerate not froÌ„ their primitiue manners and conditions You may not think that doues haue followed those ravens as Noah first sent a raven out of the Arke Gen. 8.7.8 and then a doue but you must remember the ancieÌ„t and true prouerb mali corui malum ouum of an euill stock commeth an euill breed Behold the continuall decourse and propagation of your pretensed ghospell such roote such branches such tree such fruict such maisters such schollers such founders such followers †Tit. 1.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alvvayes lyars Thus their Religion was newly implanted and thus it is perpetuated vnto this day * Pag. 183. For though it pleaseth †D. FIELD * In his ep to the King prefixed before his booke intituled A full satisfactioÌ„ c. D. MORTON to make a very speciall ostentation of Truth the one pretending that the Spirit of TRVTH doth teach vs the other professing himself to be a Minister of simple truth in his disputes yet the sequele will discouer such voluntary falsehood in both that as they can not but †MiruÌ„ est si noÌ„ riferit Acuspex quaÌ„â—o AruspiceÌ„ viderit smile each at others labour which * In his ep dedicat pag. 3 l. 32. Doctour FIELD had iust reason to suspect also from his compeeres at whom he giueth a secrete gyrd so your self cannot hencefoorth belieue coloured paynted fictions in your Writers nor giue an hasty assent vnto their protestations without a condigne triall of their performance Neuer the lesse I am not so vnequall in my desire that you should subtract your credulity from them and translate it vnto me or vnto any other but measure me and them with my owne prescription TRY BEFORE YOV TRVST See both compare both examine both * 1. Thess 5.21 Nemo nostruÌ„mdicat iaâ—n inueni veritatem sed sic cam quaeramus quasi ab vtrisque nesciatur Ita enim diligeÌ„ter conformiter quaeri â—oteriâ— si nullâ tâ—merariâ presumptione inuenta cognisa esse credatur S. Aug. coÌ„tra epist Manich. c. 3. Try all thinges and keepe that vvhich is good Try the cause and try the persons try the faith and try the Professours try the solidity of the first try the fidelity of the second follow that which is most credible belieue them that best deserue your creditt My request is little as you see but the reason thereof is very great For what is more easy then to suspend your credulity for a weeke nay for one day or if that seeme too long for a few howres And what can be more necessary then to adhibitt circumspection where the danger is in quality extreame in euidence probable in time imminent as you may behold in your owne case You know that as heresy doth exterminate hir vnhappy disciples out of the Catholick Church so it doth precipitate them into an endlesse perdition You shall know likewyse that your credulity hath actually ingaged your soule into this miserable estate Finally you know that as life is short and death vncertayn so you shall stand immediately before a Iudge whose anger will be inflexible in that howre his sentence irreuocable for euer Wherefore that religious and graue counsayle which †De vtil cred cap. 1â— S. AVGVSTINE gaue vnto his well respected friend I will affectionately giue vnto you Which I am the rather invited to do because I being mercifully deliuered out of the bandes of death haue learned with * Contra epist. Manich cap. 3. S. August to be coÌ„passionate vnto seduced soules and because your self doth symbolize with his friend for he was misguided by them that preteÌ„ded sanctity in their demeanure did iliaqueate much people with their plausibility of speach such also hath bene your case He was * Honoratus honoured in name you are honourable in deed Consider the aduise now apply it seriously vnto your heart Si quid te vel ratio vel oratio nostra commouit et
si veram vt credo tui curaÌ„ geris velim vt me audias et bonis praeceptoribus Catholicae Christianitatis te piâ fide alacri spe simplici charitate coÌ„mittas Deumque ipsum cuius vnius et bonitate facti sumus iustitia poenas luimus clemeÌ„tia liberamur orare non cesses c. Hos autem verbosos miseros quid enim aliud dixerim penitus desere I cease to trouble you any farther with my rude lines In respect of your wisedome a little is inough in respect of my loue nothing can be too much God open your eyes to see his truth incline your will to embrace it Amen Yours in all duty T. H. THE FIRST PART CONCERNING D. FIELD CHAPTER 1. D. FIELD doth notoriously abuse the name and authority of GERSON GROSTHEAD c. to defend the late pretensed REFORMATION §. 1. D. Fields positions concerning the Church Gerson alleadged by him 1. FOVR remarkeable positions are deliuered by D. Field which comprehend the substance of his * Of the Church discourse FIRST (a) Pag. 19. There was alwayes a true visible Church SECOND (b) Pag. 76. This true visible Church was not planted onely in Wickliffe Husse and others either before or after who departed from the visible society of the Romane Church THIRD (c) Pag. 72. 73. 74. The Papists were not the true Church but merely a faction in the same FOVRTH The Church wanted a necessary Reformation which was desired by hir worthy guides Gerson Cameracensis c. long before and is now effectuated by Luther Zwinglius and the like 2. For this end and purpose it pleased D. Field to intertayn his Reader before hand with a singular venditation viz. (d) Pag. 59. That the Church needed Reformation when LVTHER beganne and that it was not necessary nor behoouefull to expect the consent of the whole Christian world I will make it euident when I come vnto the due place 3. The principall passadges concerning this matter are theis foure which here ensue FIRST (e) Pag. 77. Gerson * Dialog apologetic â—udicium de Concil Goust reporteth that there were sondry lewd assertions preiudiciall to the states of Kings and Princes which the Councell of Constance could not be induced to condemne by reason of a mighty faction that preuayled in it though many great ones much vrdged it and though they made no stay to condemne the positions of Wickliffe and Husse seeming to derogate from the state of the Clergy though many of them might carry a good and Catholick sense if they might haue found a fauourable construction Wherevpon he breaketh out into a bitter complaynt of the partialities and vnequall courses holden in the Church and protesteth that he hath no hope of a Reformation by a Councell things standing as they did 4. The SECOND passadge is a very admirable deuise For whereas * De notis Eccles c. 10. Bellarmine doth object the intestine diuisions and conflicts of the pretensed Ghospellers the doctour turneth him off with this answere (f) Pag. 169. We say that thâ—s diuersity is to be imputed VVHOLLY vnto our aduersaries For when there was a Reformation to be made of abuses and disorders in matters of practise and manifold corruptions in very many points of Christian doctrine and in a Councell by generall consent it could not be hoped for as * Ibid. GERSON long before out of his experience saw and protested by reason of the preuayling faction of Popes flaterers but this was necessarily to be assayed seuerally in the particular kingdomes of the world it was not possible but that some diuersity should grow while one knew not nor expected to know what an other did 5. Then he subnecteth an other defence and sayth Yet it fell out by the happy prouidence of God that there was no materiall difference amongst them c. But of this matter I will intreate more particularly in the second chapter Meane while obserue the THIRD passadge which is more excellent then the former (g) Pag. 18 6. Many men that liued in the dayes of our Fathers and were of the TRVE CHVRCH did most certainly foresee foretell the ruine of the Popes estate the alteration and Reformation of the Church in our time and gaue most cleare testimony vnto that which we haue done Neither is there ANY BETTER PROOF of the goodnesse of our cause then that that which we haue done in the reformation of the Church was before wished for expected and foretold by the best men that liued in former time in the corrupt state of the Church 6. If D. Field can justify this glorious assertion he deserueth to be receiued in triumph and to be advanced with immortall commendation as Dauid himself 1. Sam. 18. when he obtayned a great victory ouer the proud vncircumcised Philistim Otherwise as Sampson ouerthrew the house Iudic. 16. wherein the Philistims were assembled by demolition of the pillars * Quibus omnis domus imminebat c. vers 26. vpon which it was sustayned so forasmuch as the Protestants cause hath no better proof c. it is euident that whosoeuer can disable this proof bringeth a necessary ruine vnto their cause For just experience whereof I remitt me vnto the sequele in this Chapter 7. But who are theis best men in whom D. Field doth plant the strength and validity of his cause Behold his marginall annotation and that directeth you vnto the persons viz. GROSTHEAD GERSON SAVANAROLA and many other mentioned before That is to say in the third booke and 12. chapter where I noted his FOVRTH and last passadge which is deliuered by him precisely in theis words (h) Pag. 85. What is now done in this Reformation made by Luth. Zwingl c. which Cameracensis Picus Sauanarola Gerson and innumerable other VVORTHY GVIDES OF GODS CHVRCH long before thought not necessary to be done as appeareth by that which we haue already deliuered touching that matter 8. Theis are the seuerall passadges of greatest importance which I noted in his discourse In all which there is such falsehood and collusion as redoundeth not onely vnto the shame of the Authour himself but vnto the subuersion of the Protestanticall Church And forasmuch as Gerson is the most eminent person whom he hath cited frequently for his purpose I will acquaynt you first with his cleare resolutioÌ„s in theis matters and afterward I will reflect vpon certayn particulars going before which are of especiall consideration §. 2. Positions of Gerson by which it doth appeare that he vtterly detested the Reformation which hath bene transacted by Luther Zvvinglius and the like 1. VVHen I addressed my self vnto a serious and continuall lection of Gersons works vpon those extraordinary prayses which D. Field doth attribute vnto him I found many euidences some PARTICVLAR some GENERALL which countermand the suggestions of D. Field A small parcell whereof I will now present vnto your view 2.
The particular euidences are his seuerall opinions in the matters of faith which are controuersed betwixt the Catholicks and Protestants at this day As for example GERSON belieued the doctrine of (i) See before pag. â—5 Transubstantiation which D. Field abhorreth * pag. 171. saying that it doth imply sondry consequences of horrible impieties GERSON was a patrone of the (k) Part. 4. serm 2. de defunct c Masse which Luther hated as impious and wicked and was so * See Serarius de Lutheri Magistro instructed by the arguments of the Diuell with both whom D. Field (l) pag. 192. doth absolutely conspire in this issue GERSON was resolute in the doctrine of (m) See before pag. 108. Purgatory which D. Field hath pronounced to be an * pag. 79. heresy of the Papists 3. If I would proceed vnto other particularities as namely Inuocation of Saints Indulgences Communion vnder one kind c I might fill many pages in laying forth the irreconciliable differences betwixt D. Field and this worthy guide of Gods Church But I will pretermitt the rest and come to the supreame difference vnto which all other points are subordinate and inferiour as I conceiue that is to say the soueraigne primacy of the Romane Bishopp in whom 4. principalities concurre For he is a Diocesan in one precinct an Archbishopp in one Prouince a Patriarch in one part of the world finally the chief Pastour of all in which administration he succeedeth vnto S. Peter as holy (n) de considerat l. 2. Bernard doth excellently speake Thou Eugenius art he to whom the keyes are deliuered and to whom the sheepe are commended There are other Ianitours of heauen and other Pastours of the flock but thou much more gloriously then they by how much thou doest obtayn each name more eminently then the rest They haue their flocks assigned vnto them euery bishopp his peculiar chardge but all are credited vnto thee and all are one flock vnto thee who art one pastour of all for thou art the pastour not onely of the sheepe but of the pastours themselues Doest thou aske me how I prooue it By the word of our Lord. For to whom I say not of 〈◊〉 the Bishoppes but of the Apostles are all the sheepe so absolutely and so indifferently committed If thou loue me PETER feede my sheepe What sheepe The people of this or that city of this region or of that kingdome No but my sheepe sayth he and who doth not * Cunctis Euangelium scientibus liquet quòd voce Dominicâ sancto onmium Apostolorum principi Petro totius Ecclesiae cura commissa est sayth S. Gregor Registr epist. l. 4. c. 76. plainely see that our Lord did not here designe some but assigne all vnto his care There is no exception where there is no distinction c. So he 4. Behold now also two very effectuall testimonies of Gerson to the same purpose FIRST (o) Part. 1. de Auferibâ— Papae coÌ„siderat 8. The formes of ciuill gouernment are subiect vnto mutability and alteration but it is otherwise in the Church For hir gouernment is MONARCHICALL and is so appoynted by the institution of our Lord. If any man will violate this sacred ordinance and persist obstinately in his contempt he is to be iudged an heretick as Martinus of Padua and some others consorting with his fancy Likewise prescribing many directions to compose the differences betwixt the Greek and Latin Church he premiseth this consideration as a fundamentall poynt viz. (p) Part. 4. de Vnit. GraecoruÌ„ Considerat 3. There must be one head in earth vnto which all men must be vnited For though God himself who in the second Person assumed our nature be the principall and essentiall head yet he hath constituted a vicarian head to be his deputy amongst vs for the administration of his Church for the preseruation of vnity for the communication of the faith vnto all the members thereof c. Which head we call the POPE and OVR HOLY FATHER c. If any man either in malice or folly disturbe this vnion he is a schismatick As we must employ our diligence to procure vnity so we must endeauour to bring all men vnto the obedience of one head 5. Here Gerson declareth himself truly to be a worthy Guide of Gods Church and a singular enimy of the Protestanticall Reformation which hath conuelled and dissipated this ground and principle of vnity by impugning the supremacy of the Pope Wherefore as the (p) In his Suruay pag. 140 Lord Archb. of Cant. had good reason in his experience to say those Churches that haue followed the humour of BIZA in the abolishing of their Bishoppes and Archbishopps may they not iustly wish that he had neuer bene borne So there is greater reason vpon more lamentable experience to say those Churches that haue followed the intemperate humour of LVTHER in abolishing the soueraigne Bishopp may they not iustly wish that he had neuer bene borne For the sects factions and diuisions which haue ensued vpon this breach are in number many in quality odious and there is no certayn end vnto which they finally incline Which euills are well expressed by the Authour of them all (q) Luth. in Galat. c. 5. 15. The concord of the Church being once violated there is neither measure nor end of dissensions VVhen Aphrick was subuerted by the Manichees then succeeded the Donatists who contending also amongst themselues were parted into three sects Likewise in our time first the SACRAMENTARIES fell away from vs then the ANABAPTISTS and neither of theis agree together Thus one sect breedeth more and each condemneth the other 6. But if we would reflect vpon the true cause hereof thou ô Luther thou art the cause of theis perturbations for thou hast taken away the meanes of vnity by displacing the head of the Church in whom it should be eminently preserued as Gerson that worthy guide doth grauely and wisely teach Wherefore let any man of conscience and discretion examine the truth and substance of D. Fields assertion saying (r) Pag. 179. it is the pride of Antichrist the Pope that hath made all the breaches in the Christian world and would haue layd all waste if God had not preserued a remnant Of whom Lutherans Sacramentaries and the like 7. I come vnto a SECOND proposition deliuered by the sayd worthy guide of Gods Church (Å¿) Gers Part. 4. Contra bullam mendicant If you demand whether a man may be saued though he reiect the true * Martin 5. Pope I answere he may if ignorance excuse him and if he haue a good will or a mind prepared to yeald obedience when the truth shall be explaned vnto him for then he departeth not from Christ the essentiall head and from his ordinance viz. THERE MVST BE ONE POPE IN THE VNIVERSALL CHVRCH To which effect as I conceiue certayn penitent Nouatians did confesse and (t) Lib. 3. ep 11.
then enacted by the Church to regulate such exorbitancies as were incurred by the second What Councells what constitutions what sanctions did he or could he propose vnto himself Wherefore since Gersons lawes are such as â—end vnto the castigation and suppression of VVickliffians Hussites and all other sectaries proseminated from such fathers it followeth clearely that Luther hath performed the contrary vnto his designement and consequently that D. Field hath deliuered a vast vntruth not onely vnto his owne iust disreputation but vnto the certayn euident ineuitable ruine and subuersion of his Church 27. Here also the wise and ingenious Reader may obserue the great disparicy betwixt the Catholicks and Protestants in their courses The first prooceed in legitimate manner against the second by virtue of Canonicall and Ecclesiasticall processe The second proceed against the first by lawes temporall and by Parliamentary decrees The first proceed against the second directly and without circuitions as guilty of schisme and heresy and to this effect they bring forth the ancient and the moderne constitutions of sacred Councells Oecumenicall Nationall Prouinciall c. The second proceed against the first really and meerely for their Religion it self but vnder the name of treason and disobedience and such like pretenses Which preposterous order of vniust iustice doth irrefutably conuince the Protestants of heresy and impiety against the Catholick faith For doth not euery man indued with any measure of vnderstanding conceiue that the Church of God the pillar of truth as it hath and must preserue the faith of our Lord Iesus Christ pure and immaculate from the contagion of heresy or els there was no Catholick Church and then there is no Christ no God no hell no heauen no immortality no retribution so it is and was furnished and strengthened with proper lawes for the due correction of hereticks and for the extirpation of their errours I say that to suppose the contrary it is a senselesse imagination and to affirme the contrary it were an Atheisticall position Reflect now I pray you vpon your owne Congregation she that hath inuested hir self with the glorious title of the CATHOLICK Church Where are hir ancient Ecclesiasticall lawes hir Canons hir constitutions wherewith she is armed and assisted to proceed against the Papists whose heresies you exclayme against with violence supporting your mighty accusations with slender proofes But I returne vnto the farther prosecution of D. Fields vntruths for theis things are manifest vnto all men and need not any copious explication 28. Whereas it pleaseth the learned Doctour to say that it was not possible but some diuersiâ—y should grow betwixt Luther Zwinglius c while one knew not what an other did this excuse also is too short to couer the turpitude of their dissensions For you see that the lawes which were of force in Gersons time had bene an infallible rule to preserue conformity in their procedings if their intention had bene sutable vnto his prescription in this behalf But theis immoderate Reformers intertayning no such rule for their direction VVord and Spirit was the burthen of their song were necessarily distracted in their actions while they followed the variable illuminations of their vncertayn fancies 29. Let me proceed yet a little farther to consider the inordinate and distempered passion of theis men They rejected lawes as you see because they attempted a lawlesse action and this is sufficiently prooued vnto you by the graue authority of Gerson a WORTHY GVIDE of Gods Church Now also you may behold their pride temerity and singular precipitation for this shall be prooued vnto you by D. Field himself who hath accused them by his owne defence saying one knew not nor expected to know what an other did Why did they not know were they disterminated by sea and had they not meanes of accesse each vnto the other Was there a great * Luk. 16.26 chaos betwixt them so that they could not haue passadge and transmeation from Zuâ—ick vnto Wittemberg and from VVittemberg vnto Zurick No man be he of meane capacity will suffer himself to be abused with this pretense 30. But did they not expect to know what an other did It is an argument of their folly and insolency who in a matter of such consequence as from the first plantation of Christianity can admitt no example to parallele it by innumerable degrees would not consult nor retayn familiar intercourse in so important affayres 31. I must now addresse my self vnto the playn narration of this matter wherein the learned Doctour hath trifled with you all this while and concealed the truth from your knowledge by his false paradoxicall and impertinent sugestions For you must vnderstand that all Sacramentaries in which number you are fell away from Luther and departed from the communion of his Church Do you require my proof The demonstrations are many and irrefragable but I will content my self with the protestations of them whose authority is free from all exceptions Let Bullâ—nger know sayth * Recognit propheticae Apostolica doctrinae c. pag. 10. Brentius a venerable old man in M. Iewells verdict that from the beginning since the Zwinglians departed from vs that is to say from the true doctrine I was not a clandestine but an open aduersary of their impious opinion concerning the supper of the Lord c. 32. What need I drink of the riuers when the fountayn it self is so neere at hand Behold therefore the constant asseueration of M. LVTHER the third Eliah the Germayn Prophet a true Euangelist a singular Apostle the great Reformer the man of God the flying Angell c. for this and much more is spoken of him by your ghospellers who * Tom. 3. in Genes cap. 41. sayth that now the refined doctrine of the ghospell hath gayned many who where oppressed by the tyrany of Antichrist but yet withall the Anabaptists the †See before pag. 6. SACRAMENTARIES and other fanaticall men are gone out from vs c. They were not of vs though for a time they were with vs they sought their owne glory and estimation 33. Agayn There is no wickednesse sayth * Tom. 2.345 he not cruelty which Zwinglius layeth not vnto my chardge so that the Papists mine enimies do not teare me as those my friends who without vs and before vs were nothing and durst not stirr one iote but now being puffed vp with our victory they turne their force against vs. Theis perturbations in the ghospell which he beganne and preached alone without any copartner as * See Iustus Caluinus in apolog pag. 78 himself doth often witnesse did work great affliction and vexation within his bones yea they did excruciate and torment his soule as †See locos com Luth. part 5. pag. 36. he complayneth euen vnto the extreame danger of his faith Howbeit resumpsi animum dixi c. I tooke couradge agayn and sayd theis things are done without my fault therefore let the authours
throughout 2 whole * 10. â—â— chapters going immediately before as you shall perceiue by this example which hath more shew of probability on his side and is of more importance then all the rest His words are thei †pag. 83. Touching the second cause of the Churches ruine which is the ambition pride and covetousnesse of the Bishopps and Court of Rome * Part. 1. in 4 coÌ„siderat post Tract de Vnitate Ecclesiastical Gerson boldly affirmeth that whereas the Bishopps of Rome challendging the greatest place in the Church shou'd haue sought the good of Gods people they contrarily sought onely to aduance themselues in imitation of Lucifer they will be adored and worshipped as Gods Neither do they think themselues subiect to any but are as the sonnes of Beliall that haue cast off the yoke not enduring whatsoeuer they do that any should aske them why they do so They neither feare God not reuerence men 42. What credulous and ignorant Reader may not be intangled by such sugred speaches so full of deadly poyson For first to deale with some of his words and then to come vnto his matter why doth the Doctour produce Gerson boldly affirming that the Bishopps of Rome CHALLENGED the greatest place in the Church Doth not Gerson say boldly that the Bishopp of Rome is a Monarch in the Church by diuine right * Pag. 5.6 See before and deale vnpartially in this matter Agayn whereas it may seeme an odious imputation and specially out of Gersons mouth that the Bishopps of Rome would be adored and worshipped which word M. Doctour supplieth out of his owne store for exaggeration sake as Gods you may consider that without all question Gerson doth not reprooue the exhibition of condigne honour vnto the vicegerent of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ For * Part. 1. de Potestate Ecclesiasticâ considerat 11. Gerson doth freely agnize that in respect of the admirable power which is committed by Christ vnto the Pope as Pastour of the vniuersall Church though he be most wicked in person yet in respect of his place he may be called most holy which assertion is extreamely repugnant vnto the temerarious malice of Iohn Husse saying that †See CoÌ„cil Constant. Sess 12. in Artic. Huss 23. the Pope may not be called most holy in respect of his office for then the Diuell himself may be called holy also and that he may be adored cultu duliae euen vnto the kisses of his feete and so in other honours Which humble deiection will hardly agree as I conceiue with the proud Spirit of Luther Zuinglius or their compeeres 43. I pretermitt my iust exception against some words whence the Doctour sucketh no small aduantadge and come vnto the purport of the matter it self wherein you may behold his generall obliquity and deceipt Farâ— was it from Gersons heart to impayr the dignity of our Lords anoynted as * See before pag. 8. himself speaketh and to scandalize the Apostolicall See much lesse did he intend to yeald the least defence vnto any man of VVickliffs race But you may be pleased to vnderstand that the Catholick Church had suffered much diuexation in his time by the pernicious schisme of Antipopes the †See GersoÌ„ a little before in his treatise Quot schif mata c. two and twentieth schisme of that kind by whom a great distraction ensued among Christians as he doth bitterly complayn To extirpate this euill a Councell was indicted at Pisa and thither the prelates of the Church flowed in great abundance Wherefore this worthy guide of Gods Church and seuere enimy of all VVickliffian hereticks layed downe certayn waighty considerations for the direction of so important a businesse See the place cited by D. Field num 41. in the number whereof is this particular ensuing The vnity of the Church now to be procured in the Councell of Pisa vnto one certayn VICAR of Christ ought to rest more solidly vpon the sentences and deliberations of the Councell and of the wise men that will repayr thither yea though they offer no euident reasons then vpon the allegations and assertions or excusations or iustifications either of them who now contend about the Papacy or of any their abettours This consideration is easily deduced from hence viz. that the meane of virtue is to be accepted as a wise man shall iudge thereof and as a spirituall man who discerneth all things shall say but not as a carnall man who fauoureth not the thinge that are of God shall fayne vnto himself For who will doubt when more causes concurre in their behalf who shall assemble together in the Councell but that such as employ their diligence to make vnion in the Church should be credited rather then * The Antipopes they wo striue to possesse that presidency which they already obtayn â—orthe too much and carnall loue of a man vnto himself and vnto his necessaries is it not wont to deceiue and to carry into impious errours euen vnto the imitation of Lucifer that they would be adored as Gods and repute not themselues subiect vnto any man as sonnes of Beliall without an yoake and that no man may say vnto them VVhy doest thou so They feare not God nor reuerence man whereas they ought to be more humble and more prompt to serue in the office of their prelacy by how much they see themselues more obliged to render their accompt 44. Thus I haue presented the matter completely vnto your view with the true substance and due circumstance thereof I know that your excellent apprehension will not suffer you to be transported by vayn pretenses against the cleare light of vnresistable truth Wherefore your prudency shall ease me of farther payn in the explication of this thing 45. Finally to giue a plenary satisfaction vnto you and others concerning GERSONS opinions generally your REFORMATION the ruine of the Church being masked in that glorious name you must vnderstand that whereas he reprooueth the ambition of some Popes you haue renounced the institution of Christ He accuseth the exorbitancy of some disordered persons you disclayme the verity of the Catholick faith He disprayseth the vnlawfull abuse of things you contemne their necessary vse He wished a remedy of some euills your remedy is worse then the euills themselues He desired to euacuate the bad humours you haue leâ—t forth the life-bloud of the Church In stead of conuersion we see subuersion in stead of reformation we behold deformation Church against Church faith against faith intestine conflicts with endlesse strife And whence is this Because vnity is necessarily dissolued where all the members are not conioyned vnto one head a mischief which had neuer bene knowen if Luther had applied Gersons * See before num 25. remedy in the curing of hir sicknesse To conclude therefore there is a resemblance betwixt Ioabs cruelty against the sonne of his Maister and Luthers insolency against the Father of the
base silly and childish reasons into this testilent and sacrilegious * of Zwing c. heresy For what argument I beseech you is this Christ is at the right hand of his Father therefore he is not in the Sacrament The flesh profiteth nothing therefore the body of Christ is not there And theis are their principall †the same they bring against the Catholicks also arguments But it is a madnesse to be mooued by theis toyes from the simple and playn words of Christ THIS IS MY BODY Which cleare sentence the Sacramentaries depraue by their interpretation viz. this is a signe of my body An exposition no lesse absurd * Tom. 7. contra fanaticos Sacramentariorum Spiritus sayeth Luther then if a man should make this glosse vpon the Scripture In the beginning God made heauen and earth that is to say the cuckow did eate vp the titling bones and all or The VVord was made flesh that is to say a crooked staff was made a kyte 13. But I will leaue Sir Martin in his facetious vayne and come vnto a farther poynt which toucheth your religion to the quick For in his commentaries vpon the epistle to the Galathians a work which I know to be singularly magnified by your Ghospellers and it is translated into our mother-tongue for the publick vtility of your Church he maketh sondry digressions against the Sacramentaries but I suspect your translation to be vnfaithfull in this behalf and namely in his exposition of this sentence * Chap. 5. vers 9. a little leauen corrupteth the whole lump he sayeth VVe must highly esteeme of this cautele in our age The SACRAMENTARIES who deny the corporall presence of Christ in the Lords supper obiect vnto vs that we are intractable and contentious c. Theis are the collusions of the Diuell whereby he laboureth to subuert not that article alone but all Christian doctrine A true saying of M. Luther To deny God in one article is do deny him in all for he is not diuided into many but he is all in eueryone and one in all Charity in this case is not to be exercised neither is errour to be approoued For here viz. in the Sacramentaries heresy the word faith Christ eternall life are all lost Wherefore we continually returne vnto them this prouerb of the Apostle a little leauē corrupteth the whole lūp 14. This is such a waighty and seuere reprehension of your Sacramentarisme as would mooue any heart amongst you tenderly affected in matters of so great consequence and sublimity to be fearfull and suspicious of his soules estate But I will proceed vnto an other consideration of greater importance and farr more effectuall then the rest For what can be more horrible and dreadfull vnto you then that the Diuell himself should vrdge Luther your great Reformer and presse him with the argumēts of Zwinglius his cōfederates See the places cited by Iustus Caluinus in his annotat vpon Tertull praescript cap. 43. to draw him vnto your Sacramentary opinion And though the Diuell disputed earnestly with Luther to this effect as he confesseth yet he solued the Diuells obiections and vanquished him and therefore all your English professours in him by the power and maiesty of the word 15. By this euidence you may well coniecture what admonitour he was that instructed your Patriarch Zwinglius in his fanaticall interpretation of theis wordes hoc * est pro significāt see before booke 1. part 1. chap. 1. §. 3. num 8. est corpus meum and by it also you may know that the spirit of truth doth not teach you though †pag. 183. D. Field hath confidently affirmed it where he speaketh of the inward testification and of the great happy and heauenly alteration which you find in your hearts vpon the receyuing of your doctrine Which internall perswasion the Brownists the Anabaptists and other sectaries do boast of as well as any Sacramentary euer did or can But what verdict M Luther hath passed concerning the Spirit and truth of Sacramentaries you can not but tremble to vnderstand * Brent in Recognit pag. 277. Vos habetis alium Spiritum quà m nos sayd Luther vnto Zwinglius you and we haue not the same SPIRIT And as for your TRVTH he giueth this terrible censure vpon the perfidiousnes for so he speaketh of Bucer in this Sacramentary doctrine †Fabric in loc com Luth. part 5. pag. 50. 2. He that taketh pleasure in his owne damnation let him belieue that the TRVTH is taught by theis SPIRITS since they beganne and defend their opiniō by lyes 16. I leaue the due ponderation of theis things vnto your best thoughts and so I proceed vnto my SECOND reason which is deriued from the Magdeburgian Centuriatours who in their * Cētur 4. epistle vnto Q. Elizabeth complayn that some men viz. the Caluinists euacuate the testament of our Lord by their philosophicall reasons when against the most cleare most euident most true and most powerfull words of Christ This is my body they remooue the presence of his body and bloud out of the Sacrament and deceiue men with their wonderfull perplexity of speach c. Likewise †Cētur 11. cap. 10. col 527. they do expressely commend Pope Leo 9. because he damned the Berengarian heresy which now is a piece of your Caluinian ghospell with the authour as soone as it peeped forth In the same * ibid. cap. 11. col 656. history they place Berengarius in the catalogue of Hereticks saying that he transmitted his poyson by wicked schollers and impious writings into sondry regions Howbeit †in resp ad Campian rat 3. M. Doctour Humfrey feareth not to affirme that Vigilantius Berengarius Caluinus homines profectò singularibus diuinae gratiae muneribus prastabiles c. And no doubt but D. Field hath taken order to draw all theis men with Gerson himself into the communion of his true visible Catholick Church Which is a deuice to turne religion into a fable 17. My THIRD and last reason is deriued from an authority which with you is free from all exception For your Church deliuereth this assertion See M. Rogers in his Cathol doctr pag. 178. 179. as hir CATHOLICK DOCTRINE in this matter The wicked and such as be voyd of liuely saith do not eate the body nor drink the bloud of Iesus Christ in the vse of the Lords supper Which assertion being explicated by M. Rogers he proceedeth according vnto the accustomed manner of his discourse to note the errours and aduersaries vnto this truth and sayeth The aduersaries of this doctrine are the VBIQVITARIES both Lutheran and Popish For the Lutherans teach that the very body of Christ at the Lords supper is eaten aswell of the wicked as of the godly and that the true and reall body of Christ In VVith Vnder the bread and wine may be eaten chewed and digested euen of Turks which were
neuer of the true Church 18. Here it importeth you very much to intreate your Doctours resolution vnto their three particular demands FIRST since it is infallibly euident by the testimony of your owne Church for by hir approbation the booke of M. Rogers hath a singular warrant as you may see * pag. 160. before that your Catholick doctrine in this poynt is impugned substantially by the Lutherans why doth he preteÌ„d that the differeÌ„ce betweene the reformed Churches is meerely verball in this issue SECONDLY since your doctrine herein is graced with the name of Catholick is not theirs hereticall and consequently are not they hereticks and excluded thereupon from the society of your Church THIRDLY since M. Rogers by the lawfull authority of your Church brandeth the truest disciples of your great Reformer with the name of LVTHERANS pag. 179. why doth D. Field disclayme it with contempt of Card. Bellarmine and why doth he say that it pleaseth the Antichristian sectaries odiously to name them so It is not possible for any man to conceiue or to expresse your Euangelicks without theis distinctiue * LutheraÌ„s Caluinists appellations or some others equiualent thereunto §. 2. Three false and empty pretenses of D. Field to mitigate the scandall of the dissensions which rend and teare his Euangelicall Churches 1. AS your learned Doctour hath a speciall talent in the reconciliation of your differences so he hath an excellent art to extenuate the scandall thereof saying that whereas the Tigurines Gesnerus others disliked the distempered passions of LVTHER it is not to be meruayled at pag. 192. or that some differences were amongst them seeing the like were in former times betweene Epiphanius and Chrysostome Hierome Ruffinus Augustine and others 2. Nothing but fraud and falsehood For though your Doctour telleth you that the Tigurines and Gesnerus did forsooth DISLIKE the distempered passions of Luther yet you must know that they did execrate this great Reformer and detest him with a deadly and immortall hatred Peruse the orthodox confession of the Tigurines and you shall find that Luther was possessed with a legion of Diuells See the writings of Gesnerus and you may perceiue that Luther was a man of an impudent mouth and theis are moderate censures in comparison of the rest which are affoorded in their virulent and fiery discourses Wherefore though D. Field sayeth farther that it is not to be meruayled at c. yet how iust occasion there is for you to tremble at theis things I remitt me vnto the secret testimony of your inward iudge 3. I proceed vnto the brief discussion of his other false-hoods which are transparent vnto euery eye For what can be more vntruely suggested ibid. then that the LIKE differences were sometimes betwixt the ancient Fathers as passed betwixt Luther Zwinglius and others of the reformed Church S. Augustine dissented from S. Hierome See S. Aug. epist 8. 9. c. but whether you respect the * matter or manner their difference was farr vnlike vnto your capitall * concerning S. Paulls reprehension of S. Peter and immortall belligerations S. Augustine speaketh †See S. Aug. contra Iulian. Pelag l. 1. 2. honourably of S. Hierome and calleth him that holy Priest that holy man c. Yea in his epistles he saluteth him by the name of fellow-Priest and much desired BROTHER c. Which kind and familiar nuncupation †See Brentius contra Bullinger in Recognit pag. 276. Luther would not vouchsafe your deare Patriarch Zwinglius though he sought it with many teares Likewise S. Hierome speaketh respectiuely of S. Augustine and calleth him true Father and Lord c. But how obsequiously * See Fabric in loc com Luth. parte 5. pag. 49.50 Zwinglius demeaned himself toward Luther and what acerbity of stile he exercised against him Luther shall deliuer vnto you Zwinglius sent a most vayn booke vnto me and an epistle written with his owne hand well befitting that most proud spiritt of his he rageth and fumeth and threateneth and raueth so modestly that he seemeth vnto me past all recouery being conâ—inced by the manifest truth Now whether the difference betwixt Augustine and Hierome were LIKE vnto the furious and implacable assault of theis men I leaue it vnto your wise and religious determination 4. The mutuall contention of Ruffinus and S. Hierome was sharpe but farr vnlike vnto the garboyles of Luther and Zwinglius which surpasse the conflicts of S. Chrysost and Epiphanius themselues Wherefore it may please you to consider the dissimilitude of theis things which I will briefly tender vnto your carefull examination 5. FIRST if you respect the quality of the persons you shall find that S. Hierome Chrysost Epiphan and Ruffinus though they were men indued with excellent gifts yet they had an ordinary function onely and continued in the faith of the vniuersall Church See Zanch. de RedeÌ„pt in explicat 4. praecepti quaest de vocat ad minister c. But you pretend that Luther and Zwinglius were extraordinarily stirred vp by God to reforme his Church and to replant the decayed faith of Christ Yea Zanchius feareth not to say that they principally are the * Apocal. 11. two VVitnesses that should contend against Antichrist the Man of sinne for which cause as we are bound to require a speciall signe of their vocation vnto that excellent office so aboue all things we must expect Vnity and consent both in their words and deeds 6. SECONDLY if you obserue the cause of their dissensions you may note that the quarrell as well betwixt Epiph. and Chrysost as betwixt Hierome and Ruffinus concerned the writings of Origen and the inprobation thereof But the terrible fulminations of Luther and Zuinglius each against the other were founded originally in matters of faith pertayning vnto the necessity of saluation Hence it is that Luther saieth Luth. tom 2. de Caenâ Dom. I reckon not Zwinglius any more to be in the number of Christians He saieth farther I haue damned Zwinglius Oecolompaduis and all Sacramentaries to the vttermost of my power and this glory I shall carry with me vnto the tribunall of Crist 7. THIRDLY if you consider the extent and duration of their hostility you shall see that it was soone extinguished and not deriued as an hereditary warr vnto posterity and vnto entire Churches But it is otherwise in the case of Luther and Zwieglius for their personall strife is generall vnto whole Churches propagated in succession increased with continuall addition so that we may sooner expecta ruine of their ghospell then a reconciliation of their differences the measure whereof is vnmeasurable and consequently the end is endlesse And this euent agreeth with the prophecy of Luther the man of God as * in loc coÌ„ Luth. part 5. pag. 43. See also pag. 41. lin 2. 3. c. Fabricius sayeth who foresaw this misery and dissipation of the Church by SACRAMENTARIES
and other hereticks 8. And here you may perceiue the singular falsehood of M. †in apolog Iewell pretending that they whom Papists do contumeliously call Lutherans and Zwinglians are truly FRIENDS and BRETHREN For as S. Luther himself would by no meanes permitt the name of BRETHREN vnto the Zwinglian but repelled them for hereticks as he testifieth in a certain * cited by Brentius in Recognit c. pag. 276. epistle so †ibid. pag. 282. Brentius and Melancthon resolued that they could not acknowledge them to be their brethren in regard of their impious and vayn opinions And though the judgement of Melancthon chandged as the moone whence his name is * See the examen of Fox his calendar chap. 16. num 72. 7â— c. odious vnto the truest disciples of Luther yet the Lutheran part of the Synod holden at Maulbrune 1564. make this declaration Whereas the Zwinglians haue deliuered abroad that we agnize them to be our BRETHREN this is fayned by them so impudently that we cannot sufficiently admire their impudency herein For as we grant them no place in the Church so we do not take them to be our brethren whom we haue found to be caried with the spiritt of lies and to be contumelious against the Sonne of man 9. Theis things are very playn and therefore I referr the decision of this whole matter vnto your self let your owne heart be the oracle whence you may assume a faithfull resolution And if your conscience shall assure you that the LIKE differences were not betwixt the ancients as are and were betwixt the primitiue fathers and brethren of your ghospell then iudge of your Doctours fidelity wherein you haue formerly had such a firme repose 10. I come vnto a SECOND pretense of your learned Doctour saying that the Papists themselues haue diuisions and differences pag. 168. c. and that therefore nothing can be concluded against the Protestants or for the Papists from the note of Vnity or from diuision which is opposite thereunto 11. But this poore recrimination can yeald you no defence For if the ey may be a iudge in this case we see a comfortable harmony in the Catholick Church the same doctrine preached the same Sacraments administred the same gouernment established But as your Ecclesiasticall gouerment in England in Scotland in Heluetia in Saxony is distinct so the doctrines betwixt your sayd Churches conspire not in some essentiall poynts In a word The Catholicks in Asia Africk Europe America haue a iust correspondency in faith but the Protestants in Europe for in it and some part of it alone are they confined haue great diuersity in faith and one faction doth prosecute the other with Vatinian hatred 12. Wherefore a THIRD pretense which your learned Doctour doth affect against the certainty of our experience will easily refute itself VVe want not a most certayn rule sayth * D. Field pag. 169. he whereby to iudge of all matters of controuersy and difference to witt the Scripture or written word of God expounded according to the rule of faith practise of the Saints and the due †Ad alium scripturae locum recurrendum est non expectanda hominis sententia ad liteÌ„ dirimendam sayth Zwingl tom 2. in responsâ—ad epist Eckij comparing of one part of it with an other in the publick confessions of faith published by the Churches of our confession In all which there is a full consent whatsoeuer our malicious aduersaries clamorously pretend to the contrary c. 13. If this rule be most certayn how commeth it to passe that the difference betwixt Lutherans and Caluinists standeth vncoÌ„posed at this day Why did * See loc coÌ„ Luth. part 5. pag. 52. Luther pronounce so seuerely that the Anabaptists and Sacramentaries contemne the WORD howsoeuer they make a shew of religion Why did Zwinglius so peremptorily affirme that Luther oppressed the Euangelicall truth Why did M. Cartwright so constantly protest that the Church of England is destitute of one moity of the word Finally why do all your sects as well the supreame of Lutherans and Caluinists as the subordinate factious in each cry out continually the word the word and yet no rule hath drawen them vnto a conformity of sense therein 14. Giue me leaue therefore to except against the pretended rule of D. Field for three respects FIRST because the Principle of your religion excludeth the meanes of reconciliation viz. the grauity of Councells the dignity of Fathers the authority of the Church For though D. Field in his epistle vnto the Archb. of Cant. doth iudiciously aduise all men to rest in the iudgement of the Church and sayth elswhere that you admitt a triall by the Fathers yet your ghospellers haue not accepted nor practised this direction It is not accepted by you for Clebitius to name one amongst many setting downe the lawes of a Synod betwixt the Lutherans and Zwinglians sayth precisely Solum Dei verbum sit iudex let the word of God be the onely iudge Likewise Zwinglius deliuereth this assertion against the Catholicks we will endure no other iudge but the word alone Now where is the meanes to define the questions of religion See F. Camâ— piaÌ„s fourth reason and compare it with the assertion of D. Field pag. 168. viz. the authority of a Councell is not the if the Church of God represented in a lawfull Councell hath not authority to iudge of the sense of Scripture and to oblige men to rest in hir decision But this prescription is not practised by you for you receiue the ancient Oecumenicall Councells with this restriction as farr as they agree with the scripture and so euery man is left vnto his owne choyce to determine whether this or that particular in the Councell be agreable vnto the scripture or not Notwithstanding this liberty is not permitted by your Bishopps vnto their owne inferiours for they know what inconuenience would follow by leauing the * Ministers vnto that vncertayn limitation and so they presume to require more duty of their children then they dare yeald vnto their Fathers but with what equity and indifferency your wisedome may easily conceiue as also how the vnity such as it is in your Church proceedeth onely from the vigour of law and not from the principles of Religion 15. My SECOND exception against D. Fields pretended rule is taken from a consideration of your persons which haue not that subordination which is requisite in this behalf For lib. 1. ep 3. whereas S. Cyprian doth excellently obserue that heresies arise from no other cause then that the Priest of God is not obayed and that men think not of one Priest and Iuge in stead of Christ it is most euident that heresies will increase daily in your Churches and no conclusion of peace can possibly ensue because there is not submission of judgement nor subjection of spirit nor vnion of members vnto their head Lutherans seeke
to predominate Caluinists will not obay where is the vmpire of their contention 16. It is a memorable history which Sturmius recordeth in his booke * fol. 33. de ratione concordiae ineundae complayning pathetically against the Lutherans who are so deepely exasperated against the Zwinglians that they will not endure any conference with them but reject them as damned hereticks anno 1560. vnworthy of any farther dispute Thus the Ienensian Lutherans made their supplication vnto the Princes that a lawfull Synod consisting onely of such as embrace the coÌ„fession of * SacrameÌ„taries deny to subscribe therevnto whatsoeuer D. Field pretendeth See Iosias Simlerus in vita Bulling Augusta might be assembled to condemne the Zwinglians and all other enimies of their religion Likewise the Flacians a particular sect of Luthers ghospell desired to haue a publick Synod but with this caueat that all Sacramentaries Swhenchfeldians Osiandrines should be excluded from the same Which vnequall courses stirred vp Bullinger to write that since the Lord hath freed vs from the seruitude of the Pope we will not suffer our selues to be oppressed by the new tyrany of such as vnder the pretense of the ghospell aspire vnto a primacy and dictature in the Church We wâ—ll not be shutt out from the company of Saints at their choyce and pleasure c. 17. But their mutuall fury is so augmented that Sturmius seing no submission on either side professeth vnlesse the Euangelicall kings and princes interpose their authority to take away theis contentions without doubt the Churches will be infected with many heresies and hence a great vastation of Christianity will ensue as it came to passe in Asia Greece and Africk for the like causes The fundations of our Religion are conuelled the chief articles are called in question a playne way is prepared for Turcisme and Atheisme to enter in vpon vs If I would proceed farther in this argument I might informe you how fatall and vnhappy the conuents of your Ghospellers haue bene at Marpurge at Swabach at Smalcald at Maulbrune where they treated about their owne Religion and at Ratisbone where they should haue entred into a conflict with the Catholicks but the precedents are sufficient to let you vnderstand that you haue not a due subordination of persons and consequently no rule of peace pag. 169. howsoeuer D. Field is pleased to affirme that with your Churches an end is made of all controuersies c. See the place and iudge of his exactnesse 18. My THIRD exception against D. Fields pretended rule is in respect of the matters wherein your dissension doth consist For they are many in number reall in euidence substantiall in waight as I could prooue abundantly out of the writings of Luther Hunnius Conradus c. of the one part Zwinglius Sturmius Clebitius c. of the other to the iust reproof of D. Field who sayth that your differences admitt an easy reconciliation and that this shall be iustified against the proudest Papist of them all 19. My counsayle vnto you is alwayes the same TRY BEFORE YOV TRVST you haue already seene an example of his reconciling art in one poynt and by that you may take an estimate as well of his syncerity as of his solidity in the rest If your excellent and heroicall Spirit will be so grossly abused and deluded by him or any other to the certayn perill of your soule you can neuer plead inuincible ignorance for a iust excuse 20. Now to conclude this chapter good Sir if I did not experimentally know the variety and vanity of opinions in your Church 2. Timoth. 4. and that as some men heape vp a multitude of teachers vnto them selues so others confine all things vnto their owne sense and spirit I could easily belieue that you would admitt a triall by the Fathers and that you would rest in the iudgement of the Church But forasmuch as I know that neither all nor the greatest part of ghospellers in England will submitt themselues dutifully and humbly vnto this rule though I may and do challendge it at their hands therefore I will lay downe three considerations whereby you may see the equity yea the necessity of the sayd rule and how you are bound in Christian simplicity to accept it with true and hearty obedience 21. FIRST it is impossible without extraordinary reuelation to distinguish Canonicall Scripture from Apocryphall otherwise then by the testimony of the Church SECONDLY when by the testimony of the Church you can thus distinguish the Scripture yet you must giue credit vnto some translatours since you vnderstand not the originall text and if they render the Scripture vnfaithfully how can you buyld your faith vpon it with infallible euidence THIRDLY when by the authority and warrant of the Catholick Church you haue the Scripture faithfully translated the principall poynt is yet behind Tantum obstrepit veritati adulter sensus quantuÌ„ corruptor stylus Tertull. in praescript c. 17. to witt the sense which is the very soule thereof If pure necessity compell you to fly vnto the Church for your assurance in the first and second poynts will you rely vpon your owne discretion and wisedome in the third If you obiect your Spirit I also obiect mine If inward testification I haue the same You compare Scriptures so do I. You pray I do the like You are sure my certainty is as great You haue reason mine is as strong You haue faith mine is not inferiour Thus our contention is earnest and our successe is none 22. What remayneth but that we both should try our Spirits and examine our priuate thoughts according to the perpetuall and generall doctrine of that Catholique Church from which we receiued the Scriptures and which by singular notes of Antiquity Vniuersality Consent Succession c. is most eminently approoued vnto vs For which cause †cap. 15. Tertullian doth excellently prescribe and if I be not much deceyued * in his epist to the Archb. of Cant. D. Field doth condescend vnto him that Whereas Hereticks pretend the holy Scriptures and as they mooue some men with their boldnesse before hand so in the congresse of disputation they tire the strong and insnare the weake and dismisse the middle sort with scruples we must preuent them in their course and not admitt them vnto any disputes concerning the Scripture and if this be their strength we must consider first of all to whom the possession of Scriptures doth agree least he be admitted vnto them who hath no right therein c. The residue I commend vnto your owne perusall and so I referr the euent of all vnto the blessed disposition of our onely Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ CHAP. 3. The falsehood and inciuility of D. Field traducing Card. Bellarmine §. 1. Three criminations deuised against the worthy Cardinall by D. Field 1. Your learned Doctour hath sprinkled many vntruths in his discourse to the personall disgrace of Bellarmine and then
triumpheth in his owne fictions But since the number and quality thereof require a copious explanation I will present vnto you three criminations onely at this time connexed and couched immediately together in his * pag. 167. discourse 2. The FIRT crimination against Bellarmine is framed in theis words †de notis Eccles c. 10 Bellarmine sayth that all Churches in the world that euer diuided themselues from the fellowshippe of the Romane Church like boughs broken from a tree and depriued of the nourishment which they formerly receiued from the roote did presently wither away and decay But the falsehood of this saying of Bellarmine is too apparant For the Churches of Greece Armenia Aethiopia and Syria continued a long time after they had forsaken the communion of the Romane Church Yea many of them continue to this day holding a more sound and syncere profession of Christian verity then the Romanists do 3. Here your learned Doctour hath made a bad translation of Bellarmines words and a worse construction of his mind For Bellarmines assertion beareth directly thus Videmus conâ—inuò aruisse c. We see that all Churches diuided from this head viz. the Bishopp of Rome haue incontinently withered He sayth not that they withered away and decayed as though they had not retayned some principles of Christian Religion for then your Doctour might iustly impute apparant falsehood vnto him but that their glory splendour and dignity was forthwith impayred and that their ancient lustre was exceedingly abated by the contagion of hereticks and by the incursion of enimies as history the witnesse of time and mistresse of truth doth sufficiently relate 4. Wherefore though Bellarmine doth not affirme that theis Churches did wither away or that they do not continue at this day nay he calleth them expressly by the name of CHVRCHES and sayth that the Churches of Asia and Africk do remayn at this day howbeit in very great ignoranrance yet as I conceiue he may iustly apply that sentence of S. Augustine vnto them non quia videntur Ecclesiae habere nomen idcircò pertinent ad eius consecrationem they do not therefore pertayn vnto the consecration of the Church because they seeme to be inuested with hir name The crime of heresy and schisme doth amputate them for the most part from the blessed communion of the CATHOLICK Church howsoeuer it pleaseth D. Field to say that some of them hold a more sound and syncere profession of Christian verity then the Romanists do 5. If this be so it shall be your honour and safety to associate your selues vnto those Churches more syncere then the Church of Rome is But which I pray you seemeth most syncere in your iudgement Doubtlesse the Church of GREECE and yet †See Iustus Caluin in apolog pag. 11. Graeci nobiscum sunt et nosunt iuncti fide pace diuisi c. S. Bern. de Considerat lib. 3. Ieremiah the Patriarch of Constantinople in his rescript vnto the Lutherans who desired familiarity with his Church doth vtterly renounce your society and alleadgeth that counsayle of S. Paul reiect an heretick after the first or second admonition 6. The SECOND crimination is contriued in this manner Bellarmine sayth that NONE of the Churches diuided from Rome had euer any learned men after their separation But here he sheweth plainely that his impudency is greater then his learning For what will he say of Oecumenius Theophylactus Damascenus Zonaras Cedrenus Elias Cretensis Nilus Carbasilas and innumerable more liuing in the Greek Churches after their separation from the Church of Rome Surely theis men were more then matchable with the greatest Rabbines of the Romish Synagogue 7. Truly as Bellarmine will leaue impudency for your Doctours vse so he will not respect the note of ignorance because he desireth to know nothing but Christ Iesus 1. Cor. 2. and him crucified howbeit other men wil say in his defence that so much modesty with so great learning did seldome meete together in one man and as farr lesse of each is in D. Field so far lesse was also in his Bucer Melancthon and Caluin with whom as he sayth Bellarmine is NO VVAYES MATCHABLE either in piety or learning Nos despiciunt tanquam idiotas nihil scientes scipsos autem extollunt sayth Irenaeus of the Gnosticks 8. But I come vnto the matter it self and whether it may deserue that vngentle imputation which your Doctour fasteneth vpon the Cardinall I remitt me vnto your owne wisedome You must vnderstand therefore that when the Cardinall had deliuered this generall proposition We see that ALL Churches diuided from this head did incontinently wither he addeth this limitation in the wordes immediately following certè Ecclesiae Asiaticae Africanae quae quondam ita florebant c. truly the Churches of Asia and Africk which sometimes did so flourish that they celebrated very many Councells and alwayes had sondry men famous either in sanctity or in science or in both haue celebrated no Councells since they made their schisme from the Romane Church and haue not had any men knowen vnto the whole world for the renowne of their learning or holinesse and at this day they abide in exceeding ignorance 9. The FIRST vntruth therefore in your Doctour is an intolerable abuse for whereas he chardgeth Bellarmine with this assertion NONE of the Churches diuided from Rome had any learned men after their separation and then confuteth it by his instances of such as liued in the GREEK Churches you see that Bellarmine doth euen in this respect purposely decline the mention of the Greek Church by restrayning his former generall proposition particularly vnto the Churches of Asia and of Africk which limitation otherwise had bene ridiculous and absurd 10. The SECOND vntruth is that Damascen liued after the separation of the Greeks from the Church of Rome which is not so For Damascen liued about the yeare of our Lord 740. as †de Eucharist l. 2. c. 33. Bellarmine doth truly affirme and opposed him self religiously against Leo Isauricus the Protestanticall Iconoclast who deceased about the yeare our Lord 741. as * in Annal. ad annum D. 741. Baronius doth witnesse But the violent separation of the Greekes from the Latins was occasioned principally about the yeare of our Lord †See Baron tom 9. pag. 277. 766 by reason of their different opinion concerning the procession of the holy Ghost and this is not obscurely signified by * pag. 62. D. Field himself 11. The THIRD vntruth is that surely theis men in the Greek Churches were more then matchable with the greatest Rabbines of the Romish Synagogue that is to say then any Doctours who in their times were meÌ„bers of the Rom. Church But here you may plainely see that your learned Doctour doth in the violence of his passion exceed the limits of his reason For though S. Iohn Damascen hath no peere amongst all those Greeks yet out owne contrey shall yeald his match to
witt V. Beda a Rabbine of the Romish Synagogue who liued in the same age and may be parallele with Damascen for his singular piety and admirable science 12. As for the rest either expressed or concealed we will find their matches also yea their superiours by many degrees as namely S. Anselme Lanfranck S. Bernard Hugo de S. Victore P. Lombard Alexander of Hales S. Thomas of Aquine S. Bonauenture Scotus Lyranus GERSON a worthy guide of the Church and a Rabbine of the Romish Synagogue for both theis termes are afforded by your Doctour Tostatus and to vse his owne wordes innumerable others with whom theis Greeks generally are no wayes matchable but much inferiour in all respects 13. The THIRD crimination is fashioned on this wise Bellarmine sayth that they viz. NONE of the Churches separated from Rome could euer hold any councell since their separation If Bellarmine meane Generall Councells it is not to be maruayled at seing they are but a part of the Christian Church If Nationall or Prouinciall it is most childish and by sondry instances to be refuted 14. The Cardinall speaketh of Nationall and as I take it of Prouinciall Councells howbeit your Doctours Eldershipp doth wrongfully impute Childishnesse vnto a reuerend person whose yeares and dignity and other ornaments deserued more vrbanity at his hands For the Cardinall attributeth this infelicity vnto the Churches of Asia and Africk but not of Greece and if your Doctour can reprooue him by any instance in the former there is some equity in his accusation which otherwise will prooue as indeed it is to be meerely calumnious and vniust If Bellarmine had enlardged his stile sayd that the ORIENTALL Church hath bene thus vnfortunate since the time of hir separation from the Church of Rome the Doctours exception might seeme very reasonable and the Cardinalls fault inexcusable in this behalf because Greece is a part thereof no lesse then Asia it self 15. But as the Cardinall doth plainely disioyne the Church of Greece which is placed in the table of Europe from the Churches of Asia and of Africk so D. Field doth often pag. 167. 173. c. and truly distinguish the Church of Greece from the Churches of Syria Armenia Aethiopia Russia and the like being seuerall parts of the Orientall Church And though custome founded vpon iust reasons doth warrant vs to comprehend Churches of Asia vnder the name of GREEK Churches yet there is no reason why the Church of Greece being parcell of Europe should be comprehended vnder the names of the ASIAN or AFRICAN Churches in which the Cardinall doth particularly instance saying that THEY celebrated no Councells and that THEY brought forth no men knowen vnto the whole world that is to say men of publick renowne either for learning or sanctity since the time of their segregation from the Church of Rome 16. Thus you may clearely discerne the conscience and integrity of your principall Doctours in their deportment toward the Catholick religion and the greatest lights that shine most gloriously in the Church whose names will be transmitted with honour vnto posterity when their aduersaries shall be forgotten and ly buried in silence or be remembred to their infamy and disgrace §. 2. The inciuility of D. Field toward the Cardinall 1 IT will not be impertinent and specially because I write vnto a Gentleman whose generous and noble disposition can not approoue calumnious and opprobrious insultations to add a word or two concerning your Doctours discourteous and vnciuill intreaty of the Cardinall whom he traduceth not onely by imputation of false crimes but by aggeration of base odious and vnworthy names 2. As for example he phraseth him * pag. 154. Cardinall heretick †148. hereticall Romanist * 152. impious Idolater †128. shamelesse Iesuite * 135. shamelesse companion with †180. his idle brayne * 100. his senselesse fooleries c. Which vsadge of a most learned and honourable person whether it be tolerable or not I remitt me vnto your owne discretion who being learned aboue many of your rank and honourably descended are able to iudge more competently in this case then others ether meaner in knowledge or inferiour in birth 3. And though I need not informe you either of the profound learning of the CARDINALL which expresseth it self in his owne workes for they do testify of him or of his virtues a greater commendation then the former ô hominem bonum is preferred by Seneca before ô hominem literatum yet I will make a brief recapitulation of both that you may perceiue how much it doth concerne your Professours to deale ingenuously with a man of his quality and desert secondly whether D. Field hath any iust reasō to postpose him so farr vnto Caluin and others in LEARNING and PIETY that he is NO WAYES MATCHABLE forsooth with him or them in theis respects 4. FIRST therefore for his intellectuall parts his excellency therein is so celebrious and renowned that the prayse which common fame did attribute vnto S. Hierome viz. Nemo omnium sciuit quod Hieronymus ignorauit may truly belong vnto the Cardinall in whom Nature being the guide and Industry hir companion haue wrought an admirable perfectiō For NATVRE hath prodigally bestowed hir greatest riches vpon him as namely sharpenesse of witt solidity of iudgement tenaciousnesse of memory facility of deliuerance grace of elocution 5. And here by the may whereas it pleaseth †pag. 176. D. Field to lay a crime vnto Bellarmines chardge and then to * let vs pardon him c. pardon it also in his courteous malice forasmuch as Bellarmine shewing himself to be in their number who are lyers of the worst MEMORIES sayth in †de notis Eccles c. 2. one place that Sanctity of doctrine is no note of the Church and in an * ibid. cap. 11. This vntruth of D. Field is accompanied with more which I referr vnto your perusall other that Sanctity of doctrine is a note of the Church I must assure you that Bellarmine is neither iniudicious nor obliuious but D. Field traduceth his authour and abuseth his reader For Bellarmine in the former place maketh no mention of the Sanctity of doctrine and in the later place his whole discourse is to prooue that the assertions of pagans and hereticks contayn absurdity in reason and impiety in manners from both which the doctrine of the Catholick Church doth vtterly abhorte See the particulars and iudge wisely what cause D. Field hath to impute a fault vnto Bellarmine or what need Bellarmine hath to desire the pardon of D. Field I proceed 6. His INDVSTRY is famous in those Churches Louayn Rome and Schooles which haue acknowledged him a Chrysostome in sermons and an Augustine in disputes Whatsoeuer is most commēdable in Humanity for tongues or arts whatsoeuer is most respected in Theology for scholasticall or positiue he hath attayned the flower therein by his long study and much
was †See Serarius de Lutheri Maegistro conuinced by the arguments of the Diuell yet why should it not seeme as credible and reasonable in your judgement that the Diuell did disswade Luther from the MASSE which * lib. 5. epist 33. considerit◠for surely that Masse was not a Zuinglian communion S. Ambrose celebrated according to the publick custome and the same descending vnto †see Bellarm de Misiâ l. 1. c. 23. S. Gregory without any substantial mutation is now continued in the Catholick Church as he laboured to perswade him vnto the SACRAMENTARY opinion 3. I will not handle this controuersy now wherefore I come vnto D. Morton who expediting the same in 6. questions proposeth this in the third place viz. Ought the MASSE to seme HOLY because the Diuell did reprehend it He answereth no and yealdeth this reason of his deniall Apud * Delrius Iesuit lib. 4. de Magia cap. 1. q. 3. § 5. Surium liquet DIABOLVM in specie Angelica apparuisse statim Abbatem vt MISSAM CELEBRARET HORTABATVR Do you see how the infernall serpent doth implicate and wynd himself He objecteth the MASSE vnto Luther as a thing execrable and odious vnto God the same Diuell endeauoureth to allure the Abbott vnto it as it were to kisse Gods dearest daughter Therefore the MASSE is no more to be accompted HOLY because Satan seemed to reprehend it then it is to be accompted EXECRABLE because he seemed to allow it And thus the one may cōpōderate with the other the Diuel is alwayes a knaue 4. But do you see how this glorious Doctour doth implicate and wynde himself Before I go any farther I must putt you in mind of his protestation viz. I may call God to be witnesse and revendger against my soule si sciens fallo Agayn you may perceiue here that he cannot possibly deriue the cause of his errour vpon the weakenesse of his memory for he is very exact in his quotation of booke chapter question section therefore you will see that I had just cause to chardge him with malicious vntruth whē you haue examined the Authours discourse which he hath mangled by a rare deprauation For thus writeth his Authour Item DIABOLI reuelatio censenda est si suadeat aliqua contra Canones vel constitutiones vel regulas vel alia praecepta maiorum Hoc indicio B. Simeon Monachus Treuerensis cum deprehendit Narratur historia ab * apud Surium 1. Iunij Euerwino Abbate In verticem montis Sinai iussu superiorum cùm missus fuisset ibi habitaturus nocturnis horis illi specie Angelicâ Daemon apparuit vt Missam celebret hortatur Ipse nec planè dormiens nec perfectè vigilans contradicit NOTA. non debere SINE PRESBYTERII ORDINE hoc ministerium implere Contrà inimicus instat se Dei legatum esse Christum hoc velle nec decere sanctum locum ministerio tali diutiùs priuari Renitentem ergo contradicentem adiuncto sibi consortio alterius Daemonis de lectulo educunt ante altare iam vigilantem statuunt albâ induunt de stolā vtrimque altercātur hostis more presbyteri Simeō more diaconi cotēdebat sibi imponi debere Tandem Dei famulus ad se reuersus virtute orationis signe Crucis inimicum repellit seque delusum ingemiscit 5. This is the narration of Delrius concerning this matter And now all circumstances duly waighed I dare be bold to say that if D. Morton himself or any other in his behalf can cleare this corruption from the iust imputation of voluntary knowen resolued determinate malice then the infernall Serpent as he speaketh did neuer tell a lye for which he or they may not likewise extort some colourable defence 6. Finally doth D. Morton belieue that this history is true or doth he repute it to be false If false why doth he vrdge it If true then he must remember that there is some efficacy in the signe of the Crosse to terrify his infernall Serpent If he say with Brentius that the Diuell doth fly it in subtility to draw men into superstition I answere that Pagans and Protestants do symbolize as well in this deuise as in many others Theodoret. hist l. 3. c. 3. For when Iulian admired to see that the Diuells fled away at the signe of the Crosse the Magitian answered oh Sir it was not for any feare of that signe but for detestation of your fact §. 2. How D. Morton defendeth Caluin from the note of Iouinianisme A contradiction of D. Field 1. AMongst sondry errours of Iouinia a Father of Protestants whence * Loc. com Luth. part 4. pag. 44. Luther sayth that Hierome wrote pestilent bookes against Iouinian but he at that time had more learning and iudgement in his little finger then Hierome in all his body this was one A man cannot sinne after baptisme if he were truly baptized that is to say if he truly receiued faith and grace This errour is imputed by †de notis Ecclesic 9. Bellarmine vnto Caluin and the reason is because Caluin teacheth that true faith which in his opinion is inseparable from grace can neuer be lost For though Caluin doth not by way of positiō defend that a faithfull man cannot sinne yet the question is now whether it follow out of the aforesayd principle by way of necessary deduction Bellarmine affirmeth it * Part. 1. lib. 1. cap. 34. D. Morton denieth it and pretendeth that this Iouinianisme may be imputed as well vnto Augustine or Campian as vnto Caluin 2. The sentence which he produceth out of †de corrept grat cap. 7. S. Augustine is this Horum fides quae per dilectionem operatur aut omninò non deficit aut reparatur priusquà m haec vita simatur I grant that S. Augustine sayth so but what is this vnto Caluin For first S. Augustine doth not teach that faith can not be seuered from grace Secondly he doth not affirme that a man can neuer fall from faith or grace Thirdly he doth not teach that onely the elect can haue theis gifts but he sheweth the contrary in that place and who knoweth not that many haue lost both faith and grace Lastly S. Augustine doth there distinguish betwixt the elect and reprobate and teacheth that the faith of * Horum fides c. that is spoken of the elect elect which worketh by Charity either doth not fayle at all or if it do as sometimes it doth yet it is repayred agayn before their departure but in the reprobate the case is very different for they may haue faith and grace but faith grace endure not in them with perseuerance a gift proper onely vnto the elect 3. Wherefore there is no correspondency betwixt S. Augustine and Caluin in this poynt For Caluin annexing grace inseparably vnto faith and auerring that faith can neuer be lost must ineuitably thence inferr that a faithfull man
doth neuer loose grace also and consequently he doth neuer sinne mortally because a mortall sinne excludeth * grace inherent grace from the soule And this I will prooue vnto you by D. Field who †pag. 176. accusing the Papists to be liers of the worst memories whence it is saith he that euery secōd page in their writings if not euery second line pag. 147. is a refutation of the first doth perplexe himself about this matter very strāgely within the compasse of a few lines and inuolueth himself in manifest contradictions 4. For first he saith that the Elect notwithstanding any degree of sinne they runne into retayn that GRACE which can and will procure pardon for all their offences In which respect also he sayeth that the reprobate haue no GRACE in them which may cry vnto God for remission and hence it commeth to passe that all sinne is veniall vnto the one and all is mortall vnto the other But see how within 3. or 4. lines he contradicteth this assertion saying All sinnes that against the holy Ghost excepted are veniall ex euentu that is to say such as may be and oftentimes are forgiuen through the mercifull goodnesse of God though there be NOTHING in the parties offending while they are in such state of sinne that either can or doth cry for pardon Who are they vnto whom God vouch safeth this goodnesse Surely the elect for D. Field sayth that in other men who are strangers from the life of God as he speaketh all sinnes are mortall and not remitted for want of Grace which may cry vnto God for pardon Well then in the elect oftentimes there is * therefore no Grace NOTHING that can or doth cry vnto God for pardon and yet the elect also do still retayn that GRACE which can and will procure pardon for all their offences Is not this a reall contradiction Again he * lin 37. sayeth We confesse that all sinnes not done with full consent may stand with grace wherefore it followeth by the cōtrary that all sinnes done with full consent exclude grace Now since it is manifest that many elect after grace receiued do sinne with full Consent for such was Dauids case it is cleare likewise 2. Sam. 11. that they fall from grace which is restored vnto them afterward as †de corrept grat c. 7. S. Augustine doth excellently discourse and Catholicks concurr with his opinion 4. I conclude this passadge with the publick testimony of your Church * Artic. Relig 16. After we haue receiued the holy ghost we may depart from * if they loose their faith also then Caluin sayth falsely that true faith can NEVER be lost If they do not loose i◠thē Caluin saith falsely that true faith can not be separated from GRACE grace giuen and by the grace of God we may rise agayn Whereby it is playn against D. Field that the elect do not retayn grace in them notwithstanding any degree of sinne but they fall not from that grace of God by which they are infallibly destinated vnto saluation and therefore vnto a newnesse of life also which is necessary vnto this end 5. Thus much for S. Augustine The sentence of †Rat. 10. Campian is cited in theis words Nisi Diui è coelo deturbentur cadere ego nunquam potero and here your Doctour pretendeth that Campian euen as Caluin himself did belieue constantly that he could neuer fall from faith but was certayn of his saluation Which if it were so then iudge of the soundnesse of your Deuinity according to the principles whereof Campian a resolute Papist and opposite vnto your Religion might be infallibly secure of his saluation and the like all sectaries may as many do apply vnto themselues with a supposed certainty of perseuerance But as F. Campian doth * Rat. 8. Age somuiet hocised vnde c. post medisi· elswhere particularly reprooue this conceipt and taxeth your Caluin precisely for the same so in †in the cōclusion of his tenth Reason this place he is farr from that imagination howsoeuer it pleaseth D. Morton to propose his wordes by the halfe to peruert his meaning in the whole For that blessed Martyr hauing yealded a reason of his confidence which he deriueth from all kinds of witnesses in heauen earth and hell it self non diffiteor sayth he animatus sum incensus ad conflictum IN QVO nisi Diui de coelo deturbentur superbus Lucifer coelum recuperet cadere nunquam potero 6. Now I remitt me vnto your ingenuity and conscience whether D. Morton did not with voluntary and determinate malice as I sayd before abridge the sentence and violate the intention of Campian to deceiue the Reader with sciens fallit and against his knowledge For what doth F. Campian affirme but onely this since I haue theis testimonies of my religion it is not possible that relying thereupon I should euer causâ cadere be vanquished in that combatt which I do seriously desire 7. This may be a sufficient instruction for you and by it alone you may perceiue whether his heart be single and syncere in his impugnation of the Catholick faith which he laboureth to extinguish by theis miserable inuentions But it will flourish much more euen for his sake God of his infinite mercy will either mollify his affection or cohibit his purpose And now kind Maister S. I might ease my self and you from any more payn in this kind if one more vast vntruth then all the rest did not compell me to proceed yet a little farther the master being of great importance and for many respects not to be passed ouer in silence CHAP. 2. D. Mortons vntruth concerning the article of Christ his descent into Hell §. 1. The necessity and waight of this article 1. AMongst sondry difficulties which did sometimes afflict my conscience when I was a brother of your society this was not the least viz. What is that which doth properly and entirely make a man to be a member of your Church so that precisely for defect thereof he ceaseth absolutely from being of that communion In which argument though * booke 1. chap. 7. 8. c. D. Field hath bestowed his diligence and payne yet he is so full of perplexity and vncertainty that I could neuer settle my conscience firmely and vnmooueably in his dubious and enigmaticall resolutions †in his Reply Booke 2. chap. 6. num 11. D. Kellison hath lately proposed this question vnto D. Sutcliffe and though he hath handled it briefly yet he hath performed his designement with such facility and such grauity so appositely and so punctually that any man would be mooued thereby to pity and commiserate your chaos and Babylonian confusion 2. But this position with me is an impregnable bulwark of my Religion viz. Whosoeuer doth pertinaciously reiect any poynt of faith accepted by publick consent of the CATH Church he is
an HERETICK and no member of hir communion For which consideration I am as tenderly affected in this article as in any other of my Creed esteeming my self obliged thereunto for two respects FIRST because the essentiall truth thereof is clearely reuealed vnto me by God both in his word written and by Apostolicall Tradition In his word written for what can be more perspicuous then this saying * Act. 2.27 Thou wilt not leaue my soule in hell c. By Apostolicall Tradition for what can be more playn then this article He descended into hell That the common Creed is an Apostolicall Tradition your chiefest writer H. †de PedeÌ„pt Zanch us doth confesse and as I conceiue * pag. 238. D. Field dissenteth not from his iudgement therein What †de Antichr pag. 48. M. Powell or his proud Peacock or some precipitate Spiritts imagine to the contrary I am not to regard But if this Creed be an Apostolicall Tradition then it is * See D. Fields rule which I haue cited before Booke 1. part 1. c. 2. §. 2. num 3. equall vnto the written word of God euen for that cause For it proceedeth from diuine inspiration and so it hath sufficient authority of it self Wherefore it was not respectiuely decreed by your †Artic. Relig 8. Bishopps that this Creed ought throughly to be receiued BECAVSE it may be prooued by most certayn warrants of holy Scripture 3. SECONDLY I am mooued by the authority of the Church For who sayth * epist 99. S. Augustine denieth that Christ descended into hell vnlesse he be an INFIDELL And for the sense of this article †Tract 78. in Ioh. he hath this cleare resolution Who is he that was not left in hell Christ Iesus but in his SOVLE onely Who is he that lay in the graue Christ Iesus but in his FLESH onely For the NATVRALL vnion of his body and soule was dissolued but not the HYPOSTATICALL vnion of either with his Person 4. This truth being so potent and perspicuous I aske you now what reason haue you for any part of your faith if you haue not assurance in this And if you fall from this See Luthers saying before pag. 40. what certainty haue you in any other poynt Therefore it importeth your Church to shew a due conformity in this article of the Creed Finally you may remember that S. Athanasius in his Creed which your †Artic. Relig 8. Church pretendeth to admitt throughly c. hauing premised this denunciatioÌ„ Whosoeuer keepeth not the Catholick faith entire and inuiolate without doubt he shall perish euerlastingly doth afterward subnect this article of Christ his descent into hell as parcell of that CATHOLICK faith §. 2. D. Mortons pretense of his Churches vnity in this poynt is clearely refuted 1. NOw see your Doctours syncerity who may call God to reuendge it vpon his soule if he deceyue any man with his knowledge First he citeth the opinion of * l. 4. de Christo cap. 15. Bellarmine in theis wordes Opinio Catholica haec est CHRISTVM VERE SECVNDVM ESSENTIAM FVISSE IN INFERNO As much as to say Christ in his soule substaÌ„tially did descend into hell Then he addeth Hanc vestram sententiam NOS quoque iuxià cum Augustana confessione libentissimè profitemur non tamen quatenus vestram sed quatenus veram WE also together with the Augustane confession do most willingly professe this opinion c. 2. It is well that he left out the Scottish French Belgian and Heluetian confessions for he knoweth that the true Caluinists are hereticks in this behalf And this is an incuitable conclusion because they do obstinately and wilfully reiect the true and Catholick opinion and so defending an opinion CONTRARY vnto CATHOLICK verity they can not be exempted from the crime of heresy which casteth them into a damnable estate But I beseech you do YOV that is to say your Church of England most willingly professe this Catholick opinion Alas that your Apologist hath so iustly called God to reuendge this falsehood vpon his soule let him intreate our Lord to pardon that prouocation of his iudgement and in the meane time I will demonstrate his falsehood by foure euidences FIRST if YOV be of this opinion as he pretendeth why are your Bibles infected with this absurd Translation Act. 2.27 some say life or person some body or carrasse Thou wilt not leaue my soule in graue Is this to submitt your sense vnto the Scripture or is it not rather to draw it vnto your preiudicate opinion This is to measure the yard by the cloth and thus while you should be faithfull Translatours you become corrupt Interpreters of the Scripture SECONDLY why was your Church so distracted in this matter vpon the Sermon and Treatise of D. Bilson How came it to passe that D. Rainolds his Caluinian resolution in this matter was confuted by M Perks and why did M. VVillet the Synopticall Theologue as he is phrased by †in his epist prefixed before the booke of ConfereÌ„ce at Hampton Court D. Barlow oppose himself against M. Perks his answere Why do your Ministers publiquely in Sermons and in print impugne this true and Catholick opinion THIRDLY Why is no Minister punished for his repugnancy vnto this truth which is of greater consequence then crosse cap surplice or any ceremonious thing or whatsoeuer institution of your Church for which many haue suffered depriuation of their liuings FOVRTHLY the testimony of M. Rogers whose booke hath a speciall approbation as you may see * pag. 160. before will conuince D. Morton of notorious falsehood For though his purpose was to deliuer the †that is the title of all his pages Catholick doctrine of YOVR Church yet when * pag. 16. he commeth vnto this article he sayth that in the interpretation of it there is not that consent which were to be wished some holding one opinion thereof and some an other Wherefore yealding no certayn doctrine but leauing men vnto their choyce he addeth TILL we know the natiue and vndoubted * Faith coÌ„sisteth not in the words but in the sense sense of this article c. 3. If this be not a sensible conuiction of M. Doctours singular vntruth I must confesse that I haue done him iniury and will be ready to make any satisfaction that he can reasonably demand Meane while he must giue me leaue to detect an other of his excellent sleights and then I will referr him vnto his best thoughts As it was a notable vanity in him to affirme that YOV do willingly embrace the Catholick opinion in this article so that is a delicate collusion which ensueth within the compasse of three lines viz. à VOBIS c. WE in England differ from YOV Papists concerning the place vnto which Christ descended For WE say that he descended vnto the hell of the damned but YOV say that he descended onely ad limbum Patrum the region of the Fathers 4. The authour cited by him is * Theomach l. 7. c. 1. Feuardentius whose opinion he imputeth here as generally vnto the Papists as he applied the other vnto your English Church But forasmuch as M. Doctour doth continually deale with BELLARMINE and in the words immediately precedent alleadged him particularly also in this matter as you †num 1. see why did he now pretermitt him and select an other I will shew you the reason for Bellarmine himself in the very next chapter is of a contrary opinion vnto that which M. Doctour deriueth generally vpon the Papists What piety then or humanity was in this preposterous deuise 5. Know you therefore FIRST that the opinion which he here imputeth vnto VS without exception is as falsely attributed vnto all Catholicks as the other vnto YOVR English Church SECONDLY that your difference is in the substantiall sense and meaning of this article but our difference is a scholasticall disceptation in a matter of greater or lesser probability which being a doubt not resolued by the Church may be indifferently accepted by hir children without breach of charity or violation of faith 6. Thus I haue giuen you a little signification of those many vntruths which I haue obserued in this Doctour If it consist not with his credit or profitt to yeald yet it concerneth you to beware of his Sirenicall incantations Your benefitt shall be my reward if not so yet this schedule may be a token of my loue and be you well assured that either by following my counsayle TRY BEFORE YOV TRVST you shall preuent an heauy doome or by neglecting it you shall increase your iudgement FINIS A TABLE OF THE GENERALL CONTENTS IN THE FIRST PART CHAP. 1. § 1. GERSONS testimony alleadged by D. Field to iustify the pretensed REFORMATION § 2. It is impossible that GERSON could wish or tolerate this REFORMATION § 3. A detection of D. Fields vntruths in citing the testimonyes of GERSON § 4. The name and authority of GROSTHEAD abused by D. Field to the same effect CHAP. 2. § 1. D. Fields vntrue suggestion concerning the vnity of Lutherans and Caluinists is refuted Their difference touching Vbiquity the Sacrament § 2. D. Fields excuse of their litigation is refelled They neither haue nor can haue any conclusion of peace CHAP. 3. § 1. D. Field deuiseth criminations against Bellarmine § 2. His inciuility toward the CARDINALL whose excellent parts are briefly noted IN THE SECOND PART CHAP. 1. § 1. D. Mortons vntruth in defence of Luther § 2. His vntruth in protection of Caluin CHAP. 2. § 1. Of the article concerning Christ his descent into hell § 2. D. Morton doth vntruly pretend the vnity of his English Church in the sense thereof The PARTICVLAR contents are many which I referr vnto the diligence of the courteous Reader THE CORRECTION OF FAVLTES PASSED IN SOME COPIES P. signifieth page I line M. mâ—â—gent p. 10. l. 40. reade the same p. 12. â—â— num 15. p. 22. l â— proceed p. 26. l. 6. brimtione p. 60. l. 27 â—â—dery p. 44 l. 15. 〈◊〉 p. â—5 l 4. improbation 12. l. â—â—ist 17. 〈◊〉 p. 48. l. 1â— Iudes p. 5â—â—â— with any p. â—â— l. 8. his stile and sayd pag. 58. l. 15 what 〈◊〉 p. 59. l. 22. your p. 64. l. 26. â—â—clâ—sastiâ—