done in the middest thereof who imparted to other what they themselues saw and liued and died in the comfort of that faith which we now maintaine against the Church of Rome But many there were who did professedly separate themselues from the assemblies of the church because of the abominations that were exercised therein being carefull according to the knowledge which God had giuen them to keepe themselues vndefiled that with pure conscience they might serue him Yea sometimes and in some places there wanted not publike profession and exercise of Gods truth and whole countries and townes and cities followed the religion of Christ with expresse renouncing of the abominations of the church of Rome Which seuering of themselues notwithstanding not being absolute and vniuersall but onely respectiue because of the intolerable enormities and corruptions preuailing in the church made not them that thus diuided themselues a new or another church but onely freed them from the default of the church whereof they were members For to vse the former comparison as when the pestilence rageth in a city they that for auoiding the infection doe forbeare the common assemblies and meetings doe not thereby depriue themselues of their interest in that corporation state but doe still continue citizens and members thereof euen so they who for manifest idolatries and abominations did forbeare the communion and fellowship of their owne or other churches did not thereby disable or impeach their right and title of being members of the church but rather maintained the same so much the more by eschuing the corruptions wherby the church was in danger to be cut off to become no church But vpon al these the eie of malice was continually cast and Antichrist pretending c Aug. de Ciuit. Dei li. 20. c. 19. In templum dei sedet tanquam ipse sit templum dei quod est ecclesia c. Ad eum pertinentem hominum multitudinem simul cum ipso intelligi volunt c. himselfe and his onely to be the church of God waited and tooke all occasions and opportunities for the destruction of them By the stories it is plaine how they were hated and persecuted in England France Italy Germany Bohemia Poland and other countries vnder the names of Waldenses Albigenses Wicleuistes Hussites Taborites Carmelites Leonistes Lollardes and such like It is memorable which d Bellar. de notis eccl cap. 18. Bellarmine reporteth out of Paulus Aemelius the French Chronicler that of them there were a hundred thousand slaine at one time in France which was done by the procurement of e Hospinian de Origine Monach l 6. c. 4. Frier Dominicke who hauing long time laboured in the countrie of the Earle of Tholouse to bring them to the obedience of the sea of Rome when bringing nothing out of Gods word to perswade them hee could not preuaile plaied the butcherly wretch and caused so great a number of poore innocent soules by an army sent in amongst them miserably to be slaine In like sort by Matthew Paris it appeareth reporting the matter according to the conceit and report of that time that in Spaine and Germany there were f Math. Paris in Henrico 3. anno 1234. peremptus est infidelium haereticorum Albigensium numerus infinitus an infinite number of them murthered some of them he saith for rebellion but indeed all for conscience sake Such tragedies they acted in diuers and sundrie places from time to time for the space of three hundred yeeres and more they proscribed they killed and burned the professours of our religion the earth was died with their bloud and strawed with their ashes their stories mention them their registers name them their writers of heresies doe testifie what their opinions were albeit in some points thereof it appeareth by some of them that the rest lie fathering vpon them as g Idem ibid. Asserebant constanter fidem Christianam et praecipuè incarnationis mysterium friuolum esse penitus abrogandum Matthew Paris doth things impious and absurd which they neuer dreamed of and yet with impudent faces they aske of vs where our church where our religion was before Luthers time as if the same had neuer beene heard of in the world before As touching the persons then our church was manifest enough to them by whom it was thus persecuted which yet were not another church but children of one mother and members of one church with them that persecuted them I meane not of the church of Rome but of the Catholicke visible church which for the most part the church of Rome had brought in subiection to it selfe Their mother had plaied the harlot and with the whoore of Babylon had prostituted herselfe to Antichrist and because they would not approoue her fornications therefore shee condemned them therefore h Esay 66.5 their brethren who said Let the Lord be glorified yet did cast them out for the names sake of the Lord and they had occasion to complaine as doth the Spouse in the Canticles i Cant. 1.5 The children of mine owne Mother are risen vp against mee But if these persecutours glory that the churches and places of assembly were in their hands they doe no more but what the Arians of old did when they had gotten into their possession the churches thorowout the whole world we answer as Hilary did to them k Hilar. cont Auxent Malè vos parietum amor cepit malè ecclesiam dei in tectis aedificijsque veneramini Annè ambiguum est in his Antichristum esse sessurum Montes mihi syluae lacus carceres voragines sunt tutiores in his enim prophetae aut manentes aut demersi dei spiritu prophetabant You doe amisse to be in loue with walles ill doe you honour and admire the Church of God in houses and buildings Is there any doubt but that Antichrist shall sit in them Mountaines and woods and lakes and prisons and caues are safer to me for in them the Prophets abiding or sticking did Prophecie by the spirit of God The case is alike Arianisme had then ouerspred the whole face of the Church and the heretikes had the Churches in their hands the true professors of the faith were driuen into corners yet Hilary thought this to be no preiudice vnto them nay he held it to be the right picture of the true Church Euen so Poperie since hath preuailed and gotten the vpper hand what preiudice is it to the professours of true religion that in the meane time they haue vndergone the same condition that the Prophets and other faithfull in former times haue done Yea S. Austin expresly testifieth that l Aust epist 80 Ecclesia non apparebit impijs tunc persecutoribus vltra modum saeuientibus the Church in the time of Antichrist shall be inuisible because wicked persecutors shall then practise their crueltie beyond measure Let it bee the question then whether Antichrist be come but
Rom. 8 11. quickened by his spirit h Rom 5.19 iustified by his obedience i 2 Cor. 1.22 Ehâ— 1.13.14 2. Tim. 2.19 sealed to the remssion of sinnes and euerlasting life That God hath such a people we beleeue it we see it not neither can our eies discerne who they are that appertaine to this number it being one of the proper emblemes of Gods honour j The Lord knoweth who are his In this sort doe we in the articles of our Creede professe to beleeue the holy Catholike church That there is a church also visible no man denieth no man doubteth nay we affirme that it is amidst that church which wee see that God gathereth vnto himselfe that church which we cannot see And to speake of this visible church also we cannot see it to be Gods church or that it is Gods word that there is preached or that they are the Sacraments of Christ which are there administred or that there is any fruit or benefite to be reaped thereby We see these things done but the estimation of them is a matter of faith and not of fight we see the persons but we do not by our eies perceiue them to be that that they take vpon them to be But being by faith instructed that these things are of God or professing so to be beleeue we discerue by hearing and seeing who they are to whom we are to adioine our selues for the exercise of our faith So then the church is both visible and inuisible visible as touching the persons visible as touching open assemblies and exercises but not visible to bee the church of God for then Iewes and heathens would see so much and would leaue to persecute which now they doe not because they haue no faith and the church is no otherwise knowen so to be but onely by faith Now what saith M. Bishop to hurt any thing that we say The persons saith he in the Catholike church are visible but their indowments are inuisible Well and men are not true members of the true church by being such and such persons but by hauing such and such inward indowments and therfore though they bee visible as touching their persons yet they are not visible as true members of the church The church therefore which wee professe to beleeue which consisteth in them that are the true members of the visible church must needs be granted to be inuisible Yea I say further that men are not at all members of the visible church by being such and such persons but by profession of the faith and name of Christ and participation of his Sacraments And therfore M. Bishop doth much amisse to compare visible persons and inward qualities with the body the soule because to be a visible person is not to be in part a member of the church as the body is part of a man for then euery Turke and Infidell might be said to be in part a member of the church because he is a man but outward acceptance of the faith and visible communion with the church maketh a man outwardly a member thereof and is as it were the body the life and soule wherof is the inward grace of the spirit whereby he is indeed to the eies of God that which outwarly he seemeth to bee to the eies of men But a further difference also there is for that the soule though in it selfe it be inuisible yet is certainly perceiued and discerned by the actions and motions of the body and therefore well may a man be said to be visible as a man though as touching the soule it selfe he be inuisible whereas there are no such actions or motions of a member of the visible church whereby the eie of man can certainely see that hee hath life within or is spiritually the same to God that outwardly he giueth semblance to men to be Because therefore the true members of the church are not to be discerned with the eie it followeth that the church properly so called consisting of those true members is visible to God onely 7. W. BISHOP His last obiection against vs out of the Creed is That the articles of remission of sinnes resurrection of the body and life euerlasting containe a confession of speciall faith For the meaning of them is thus much I beleeue the remission of mine owne sinnes and the resurrectition of mine owne body to life euerlasting Answer That is not the meaning vnlesse you adde some conditions to wit I beleeue the remission of my sinnes if I haue duly vsed the meanes ordained by our Sauiour for the remission of them which is after Baptisme the Sacrament of Penance Item I beleeue I shall haue life euerlasting if I keepe as Christ willed the yong-man to keepe Gods commandements or at the least if I doe die with true repentance Now whether I haue done or shall doe these things required of me I am not so well assured as that I can beleue it for I may be deceiued therein but I haue or may haue a very goood hope by the grace of God to performe them Neither is there any more to be gathered out of Saint Augustine as some of the words by himselfe heere alleaged doe conuince For he requireth besides faith that we turne from our sinnes conforme our will to Gods will and abide in the lap of the Catholike church and so at length we shall be healed See the question of certainty of saluation Note also by the way the vncertainty of of M. PER. doctrine concerning this point for he holdeth that it is not necessary to haue a certaine perswasion of our owne saluation Pag. 2â—0 275. but that it is sufficient to haue a desire to haue it and that doctrine he putteth there as he saith himselfe to expound the Chatechismes that propound faith at so high reach as few can attaine vnto yet heere and elsewhere the goodman forgetting himselfe chargeth vs to crosse the Creed because we doe not wrest faith vp to so high a straine and so in heate of quarelling often expoundeth this contrary to his owne rule Now for proofe of S. Augustines opinion heerein whom he onely citeth take these two sentences for the two points be speaketh of For the first that we be certaine by ordinary faith of our saluation let this serue Of life euerlasting which God that cannot lie hath promised to his children De bono perseuer cap. 22. De correct grat cap. 13. no man can be secure and out of danger before his life be ended which is a tentation vpon earth Secondly that a man once truely iustified may afterward fall We must beleeue saith this holy father that certaine of the children of perdition doe liue in faith that worketh by charity and so doe for a time liue faithfully and iustly they were then truly iustified and yet afterward doe fall and that finally because be calleth them the children of perdition Thus much in answere vnto that which M. PER. obiecteth
do not beleeue the one Catholike Church because they doe as well not beleeue it as beleeue it And as for the communion of Saints their learned Masters doe commonly cassier it out of the Creed and that not without cause For by the Saints vnderstanding as the Apostles did all good Christans whether aliue or departed this world they that deny praier to Saints and for the soules in Purgatory haue reason to reiect the common society and enter course that is betweene the Saints and the mutuall honour and help which such good Christian soules doe yeeld and afford one to another R. ABBOT The holy Catholike church which wee beleeue in the Creed being the communion of Saints is onely one The Catholike Church only one which is the body of Christ whereof all the faithfull are members being ioyned into this society by one spirit Visible and Inuisible being but circumstances cannot argue any multiplication of the church because the inuisible church importeth all them and them only who are the true members in their time of the visible church For in the visible church the name of the church properly belongeth to them onely who liue by faith and by the spirit of Christ the rest are not members but a August in 1 Ioan. epist tract 3. Sic sunt in corpore Christi quomodo humores mali as euill humours in the body which wait their time to be purged out In the meane time because all professe to seeke Christ and to serue him and our eies cannot distinguish betwixt them that truely doe so and them that doe not therefore visibly and to vs all goe together vnder the name of the church though many there be hypocrites and time seruers who with God and to his sight are no part thereof So then the church visible and inuisible in substance are the same they differ only in respect and M. Bishop knoweth that respects change not the natures of things and therefore those different respects doe nothing hinder but that the church in nature is alwaies one As touching the holinesse of the church M. Bishop in the deliuering of our opinion keepeth his woont He saith The holines of the church imputatiue and reall that we imagine it to be holy by the imputation of Christs holinesse to the elected brethren and not by the infusion of the holy Ghost into the hearts of all the faithful Whereas we doe not imagine only but by the word of God beleeue and know that the church and all the members thereof are holy not onely iudicially by the imputation of Christs holines but also really by the infusion of the holy Ghost begun in this life by b Rom. 8.23 the first fruits of the spirit and fully to be perefected when the promise of Christ shall be fullfilled c Mat. 5.6 Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousnesse for they shal be satisfied Againe he excepteth against vs that we cannot abide the name Catholike in the true sense of it Of the true sense of the name Catholike But what is that true sense That is saith hee they will not beleeue the true church to haue beene alwaies visibly extant since the time of the Apostles But what ancient father did euer set this downe for the true sense of the name Catholike If any let him be brought foorth If none why doth he contrary to his owne prescription introduce a new exposition of an article of our beleefe Cyril in his Catechisme bringeth in all the meanings of the name Catholike that he could learne that the church is so called for that d Cyril Hierosci Catechis 18. Illuminat Catholica vocatur quia per vntuersum sit orâ—em terrarum diffusa c. Et quia doret Catholicè hoc est vniuersalitèr sine vllo defectu vel differentia omnia dogmata quae deberent venire in cognitionem c Et quòd omne genus hominum ipè subiugat et quia in vniuersum curat omne genus peccatorum c. hab turque in illa omne genus virtutis c. it is vniuersally spread thorow the whole world for that it teacheth vniuersally all doctrines that are to be known for that it subiecteth to it alkinde of men for that it healeth all kinde of sinnes for that it hath in it all kind of vertues but of M. Bishops meaning that it should be alwaies visibly extant he had learned nothing Surely S. Ambrose saith e Ambros Hexaem lib. 3. cap. 2. Ecclesia habet tempora sua persecutionis pacis videtur sicut luna deficere sed non deficit obumbrari potest deficere non potest The church hath her times of persecution and peace it seemeth as the Moone to faile but it faileth not it may be ouershadowed but vtterly faile it cannot If the church may be as the Moone so ouershadowed by persecution as not to be seene then it is not necessary to be alwaies visibly extant and if that be not necessary then M. Bishop hath plaied heere the false merchant to tell vs that the church is therefore called Catholike because it is alwaies visibly extant Albeit there is somewhat also to be obserued concerning the name of the true church that we may speake to that time of the visibility of the church which M. Bishop specially intendeth For if wee call that the true Church which truely hath the outward vocation and calling of the church then we deny not but that the church in the time of Antichrist must bee and hath beene alwaies visibly extant because Antichrist was to possesse and hath possessed the visible state of the church But if by the true church we meane those members of the church which are truely correspondent to the vocation and calling of the church in faith and obedience vnto God then the true church is not alwaies visible because the greater part being the woorse doth many times oppresse the better and weaker part and proudly carrying it selfe in the opinion and confidence of it selfe persecuteth and driueth into corners all them that gainesay their traditions and wilworships which by their owne authority they establish to delude thereby and frustrate the word of God And thus we say that the true church in the time of the exaltation of Antichrist was in a sort inuisible the publike state of the church yeelding it selfe in thraldome to his tyranny and persecuting the true members of the church who disclaiming his obedience sought to keepe themselues entire and faithfull vnto God Whereas hee further addeth for the notation of the name Catholike that the church was so called as being generally spred into all countries we willingly acknowledge the same as being before acknowledged by the ancient church and defended against the Donatists who by other expositions sought to draw the name vnto themselues as the Papists now doe Onely wee adde that caution which Bellarmine himselfe hath deliuered as necessary for himselfe that f Beliarm
the greatest number were Italians they deserued for the most part rather to bee accounted a heard of swine than a Councell of learned men His reason that the principall points of Poperie cannot bee against the grounds of the Catechisme because the same is expounded by the decree and order of that Councell maketh as much for vs as it doth for them For the Catechisme is by order expounded and taught by vs wee open to the people the Creed the ten Commandements the Lords Praier the doctrine of Sacraments M. Bishop therefore doth amisse to say that our religion is opposite to those old grounds of true religion If this argument auaile not for vs then neither shall it auaile for him but wee are still at libertie to conceiue that notwithstanding their expounding of those grounds they teach points of doctrine contrary thereunto And indeed that expounding of theirs was no otherwise begun but in emulation of our doings in that kinde for vntill it pleased God to stirre vp the spirits of some of our men to endeuour the reformation of the Church and to that end to bring the people so much as in them lay out of the thraldome of blindnesse and ignorance wherein they were then holden the vse of Catechisme was quite abolished out of the Church the people knew neither the Creed nor the Lords praier but onely that they spake them like a charme in a strange and vnknowen tongue But when they saw vs recalling them to the ancient order of Catechising and thereby training them to the knowledge of God and of faith towards him they held it necessarie for the satisfaction of the world that they themselues should make some shew of doing the like and thereupon in the Councell of Trent tooke order for a Catechisme to bee published though they neuer meant to make any great vse of it but onely where necessitie should enforce them for the countermining of our labours and the staying of manie whom otherwise the desire of learning and of the knowledge of God would haue caried away from them Into that Catechisme and the rest of theirs how they haue foisted in matters of faith and doctrine which the old expositours of the Catechisme neuer knew nor haue deliuered wee shall somewhat perceiue by examining the processe and particulars of this booke In the meane time we answer M. Bishop that it is verie credible and ready enough to be beleeued of them that are carefull to vnderstand it that the church of Rome albeit while it continued sound in the faith all ancient Churches and holy Fathers did desire to agree with it yet since being gon out of her * The church of Rome hath swaiued from the tradition of the Apostles ancient way doth indeed crosse and destroy those principles of religion which formerly haue beene agreed vpon by all Churches For whereas hee saith that that church hath been euer most diligent to obserue all Apostolical traditions it is a stale iest Bellarmine himselfe perforce acknowledgeth it to bee a lie For it being manifest by the testimonie of Anacletus an ancient Bishop of Rome that c De consecrat dist 2. cap. Peracta Peracta consecratione communicent omnes qui nolin◠eccleasisticis carere liminibus sic enim Apostoli statuerunt sancta Romana tenet ecclesia the Apostles decreed and the church of Rome then obserued that they should be excommunicate whosoeuer were present after consecration and did not receiue the Communion Bellarmine in the behalfe of the now-now-church of Rome reiecteth the same as a thing d Bellarm. de Missa lib. 2. ca. 10. Cortum est decreta ista quae sine dubio non diuini sed humani iuris erant si ad populum pertinebant progressis temporis abrogata fuisse in processe of time abrogated by the church being but a matter of humane only constitutiō decree So likewise we see in the Councel of Cōstance acknowledging that e Concil Const sess 13. Licèt Christus post coenam instituerit discipulis suis administranerit sub vtraque specie panis vini hoc venerabile Sacramentum tamen hoc non obstante c. Et similitèr quòd licèt in primitiua ecclesia huiusmodi Sacramentum à fidelibus reciperetur sub vtraque specie tamen haec consuetudo ad euitandum aliqua scandala pericula est rationabilitèr introducta quòd à laicis tantummodo sub specie panis suscipiatur c. vnde pro lege habenda est c. Christ administred the holy Sacrament to his disciples vnder both kindes and that in the Primitiue Church it was so receiued of the faithfull and yet this notwithstanding they decree it for a law that lay men shall receiuc only in one kinde Now when thus with our eies we see and they themselues tell vs the contrary will M. Bishop notwithstanding tell vs that the Church of Rome hath been euer most diligent to obserue all Apostolicall traditions Surely if they had failed but in these two they had not obserued al but now how many other things are there wherein they haue apparantly swarued from the example of the Apostles How then can we beleeue M. Bishop any further who doubteth not heere to affirme so grosse and manifest vntruth And to this vntruth he addeth another when hee saith that we slander all churches since the time of the Apostles with some corruption or other It is true that we note the corruptions of some churches and of some men accordingly as the history of the Church and the monuments of antiquity doe lay the same foorth vnto vs but wee cannot say that al Churches or al the Fathers of those times were guiltie of those corruptions For many Churches were there and many Bishops and Pastours of Churches of whom no memoriall is come vnto vs many whom we finde otherwise reported of than was true by the corrupting of those writings which they left vnto the Church and suborning other counterfets in their stead many who haue deliuered some exorbitant opinions of which notwithstanding it appeareth not that they had publike approbation in the Church many who haue left so little in record as touching points of faith as that it is hard by them to esteeme what the doctrine of the Church was As for the corruptions whereof we speake there are many of them such as that I doe not thinke M. Bishop to be so impudent but that hee will acknowledge the same as well as we there are none of them but that either by the word of God or by like warrant of antiquity we prooue them to be such as we report them His other tale that we hold no kinde of Apostolicall traditions to be necessary he himselfe knoweth to be vntrue because he knoweth that we receiue the Creede as necessarie which he saith came by tradition from the Apostles It hath beene also f Of Traditions sect 4. before giuen him to vnderstand that we reiect
to the Father and the Son that we make the holy Ghost much inferiour to the other persons And how may that appeare Marry in their French Catechismes they teach saith he that the Father alone is to bee adored in the name of his sonne But what because they say the Father alone must they needes be taken to exclude the holy Ghost Hath he not so much diuinity as to know that the name of the Father is sometimes vsed for distinction of persons sometimes indefinitely of God without any such distinction When our Sauiour saith a Matt. 23.9 One is your Father who is in heauen doth not the name of Father there extend to God the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost Doth it not so also where the Apostel saith b Eph. 4 6. There is one God and Father of all who is aboue all and through all and in you all Doth M. Bishop otherwise vnderstand it when he saith Our Father which art in heauen Surely the French Catechisme may say as he rereporteth who yet seldome reporteth truth yet import nothing therby but what Origen saith ChristiaÌ„s of old did namely c Origen cont Cels â— 8 Christiani soli Deo per Iesum preces offerentes to offer praiers to God only by Iesus or in the name of Iesus The next cauil against Calum is of the same kind that the title of Creatour belongeth only to the Father Which M. Bishop might well haue vnderstood in the distinctioÌ„ of the persoÌ„s by their seueral attributes as d Calu. Opus in Explicat perfidiae Valent. Gâ—ntil Certè vnâ— consensu fatemur Christum impropriè vocari creatorem coeli terrae quoad personae distinctionem Neque enim dubium est quin seriptura patri nomen Creatoris vendicans personas distinguat Caluin setteth it down to be very true and the rather for that in the very articles of the Creed he findeth it so applied I beleeue in God the Father almighty maker of heauen and earth For although it be true which S. Austin oftentimes deliuereth that e August de praedest sanctor cap. 8. Inseparabilia dicimus â—sse opera Trinitatis the workes of the Trinity are inseparable and in the act of any of the persons is the concurrence of all yet they so concurre as that they retaine therein their seuerall proprieties so as that of seuerall actions arise seuerall denominations which in common phrase of speech are vsed as in some specialty belonging to one person rather than another As therefore we attribute it to the sonne alone to haue redeemed vs and to the holy Ghost alone to sanctifie vs albeit both the Father and the holy Ghost had their worke in our redemption and the Father and the Sonne haue their worke also in sanctifying vs euen so to the Father alone the title of Creatour is applied not but that the Sonne and the holy Ghost haue their worke in the creation but because f Origen cont Cels lib. 8. Dicimus immediatum opificeâ— esse fiâ—um dei verbum c. Verâ— autâ—m patrem curus mandato munduâ— sit per ipsum filium conditus esse primarium opincem the Father is the primary or principall worker as Origen saith at whose commandement the world was created by the Sonne and g Hilar. de Synod adu Aria Si suis vnum dicens deum Christum autem deum ante secula filium dei obsecutum patri in creatione omnium non confitetur anathema sit wherein as the Syrmian Councel saith and Hilary approoueth the Sonne did obedience to the Father As for the rest that he heere quarelleth at that the Father is called the first degree and cause of life and the Sonne the second and againe that the father holdeth the first ranke of honour and gouernment and the sonne the second not to question the truth of his allegations I would in a word aske his wisdome doth he that saith that the Father is the first person in Trinity and the Sonne the second deny thereby the holy Ghost to be the third or doth hee hereby exclude the holy Ghost from hauing part with the Father and the Sonne Doth the Apostle when in his epistles he saith h Rom. 1 7. 1. Cor. 1.3 et in reliq Grace and peace from God our Father and from our Lord Iesus Christ doth he I say exclude heereby the holy Ghost from being the authour of grace and peace or from hauing part with the Father and the Sonne Or when he saith i 2. Cor. 1.3 Ephe 1.3 Blessed be God euen the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ doth he deny the Sonne and the holy Ghost to be blessed and praised together with the Father If he doe not why then doth this idle headed Sophister thus take exception where there is nothing for him iustly to except against Forsooth at most saith he the holy Ghost must be content with the third degree of honour But what M. Bishop doe not you also place the holy Ghost in the third degree when you name him the third person Doth not your head serue you to vnderstand degree of order only without imparity or minority as all Diuines in this case are woont to do But why doe I thus contend with a blinde buzzard a wilfull and ignorant wrangler and not rather reiect him as a man worthy to be altogether contemned and derided He hath k Preface to the Reader sect 7. before cited the latter of these words to shew that Caluin made the Sonne of God inferiour to the Father but how leaudly he dealeth in the alleaging of it and to how small purpose it is there declared there is no cause here to speake thereof 12. W. BISHOP 9. one I beleeue the holy Catholike Church the communion of Saints First where as there is but on Catholike church as the Councel of Nice expresly defineth following sundry texts of the word of God they commonly teach that there be two churches one inuisible of the elect another visible of both good and bad holy Secondly they imagine it to be holy by the imputation of Christs holinesse to the elected Bretheren and not by the infusion of the holy Ghost into the hearts of all the faithfull Catholike Thirdly they cannot abide the name Catholike in the true sense of it that is they will not beleeue the true Church to haue beene alwaies visibly extant since the Apostles time and to haue beene generally spread into all countries otherwise they must needes forsake their owne church which began with Friar Luther and is not receiued generally in the greatest part of the Christian world Finally they beleeue no Church no not their owne in all points of faith but hold that the true Church may erre in some principall points of faith How then can any man safely relie his saluation vpon the credite of such an vncertaine ground and erring guide may they not then as well say that they
de notis eccles cap. 7. Si solae vna prouincia retineret veram fidem adhuc verè propriè diceretur ecclesia Catholica dummodo clarè ostenderetur eam esse vnam eandem cum illa quae fuit aliquo tempore vel diuersis in toto mundo if one only countrey should retaine the true faith yet the same should truly and properly be called the Catholike church so that it might cleerely be shewed to be one and the same with that which hath been at any time or times ouer the whole world For by this rule nothing hindreth but that our church though now it be not receiued generally in the greatest part of the Christian world yea if it were but in one onely country yet may truely and properly be called the Catholike church if it be prooued to be one and the same with the church which at any time heeretofore was spred ouer all the world But that our church is the same with that which at the first was spred thorowout the world it is very euident as Tertullian teacheth vs to prescribe g Tert. de praescript adu haeret In eadem fide conspirantes non minus Apostolicae deputantur pro consanguinitate doctrinae by consanguinity or agreement of our doctrine with the doctrine of that church For by the Gospell which the Apostles preached the church was founded thorowout the whole world h Iren. lib. 3. cap. 1. Quod quidem tunc praeconiauerunt postea per dei voluntatem in Scripturis nobis tradiderunt fundamentum columnam fidei nostrae futurum The gospell which the Apostles preached they afterwards by the will of God deliuered to vs in the Scriptures to be the foundation and pillar of our faith The same Gospel deliuered to vs in the Scriptures we receiue we adde nothing to it we take nothing from it as we finde it so we teach it Our faith therefore is the same with the faith of that church which at the first was planted thorowout the whole world There is no cause then for vs to forsake our owne church or to thinke that the same began with Friar Luther as this dreamer imagineth which by so plaine deduction is approoued to be the same with the first church and consequently to be truely and properly the Catholike Church Finally saith he they beleeue no church in all points of faith But doth his wisedome finde it in the articles of the Creed that we are to beleeue any church in all points of faith The church how farre to be beleeued in points of faith We are taught there to beleeue that there is a holy catholike Church which is the communion of Saints but nothing doe we finde there of beleeuing any Church in all points of faith We beleeue the Church in points of faith so farre as she yeeldeth herselfe like a faithfull and obedient spouse to be guided by the voice of her Lord and husband Iesus Christ But if the Church preferre her owne will before the word of Christ as the proud harlot of Rome doth it should be a wrong to Christ to beleeue the Church and a way to set vp humane errour in stead of diuine truth It is not the voice of the Church but the word of the written Gospell which God hath appointed as Irenaeus euen now hath told vs to be the foundation and pillar of our faith For the words of the Church are many times the words of errour and vntruth and therefore if we should relie our saluation vpon the credit thereof wee should indeed relie vpon an vncertaine ground and erring guide but the word of the Gospell is alwaies one and the same without any variablenesse or vncertainty and therefore safely may wee relie our saluation thereupon Now therefore it cannot be said but that wee alwaies beleeue one holy catholike Church according to the profession of faith specified in the Creed though sometimes and in some things we doe not beleeue that is credit the visible Church as touching points of faith because the Church sometimes teacheth vs to beleeue otherwise than God hath taught Which though it seeme strange to M. Bishop in that language which he hath learned to speake yet to vs it is not strange who in the Canonicall histories of the Churches both of the old and new Testament do so often see them diuerting and turning from the right way As for that hee saith that our learned masters doe commonly cashiere out of the Creed the addition of the cōmunion of saints it is but a fruit of the harnessing of his face and he is therefore bold to say it because he hath learned not to be ashamed of any thing that he list to say That by the Saints are there meant al good Christians all the faithful whether aliue or dead we will not denie Communion of Saints implieth neither Purgatorie nor praier to saints but that either praier to saints or praier for soules in purgatorie belong to this communion of Saints we neuer yet learned and are too old to learne it now For as for the Saints in heauen i Aug. de vera relig cap 55. Honoramus eos charitate non seruitute honorandi propter imitationem non propter religionem adorandi We honour them with loue as Austin saith but not with seruice to follow them by imitation not to adore them by religion and therefore not to pray vnto them Further entercourse as yet there is none betwixt them and vs because k Esay 63.16 they know vs not nor are acquainted with vs nor can we any way acquaint them what wee say vnto them Now beside the Saints triumphant in heauen wee acknowledge none but those that are militant vpon the earth because the holie Ghost diuideth the whole body of the Church into l Eph. 1.10 Col. 1.20 those that are in heauen and those that are in earth and pronounceth them all m Reu. 14.13 blessed that are dead in Christ as who rest from labours and sorrowes and thereby are discharged from all Purgatorie paines But if there be any soules in Purgatorie to which all good Christian soules should yeeld and affoord their helpe to doe them ease and this be one matter of the entercourse and communion of Gods Saints why doth the Pope violate the communion of Saints by withholding from those tormented soules that helpe and ease which he is able to affoord them Surely if he cannot doe them ease then is he an impudent liar and a notable impostour and cozener of the world If he can do it then is he a cruell wretch that without compassion suffereth poore souls to lie broiling in those fierie flames But we rather approoue the former member of this diuision and take him for a liar both for that without warrant hee thrusteth in Purgatorie into the articles of our faith and with lesse warrant challengeth the same for a iurisdiction to himselfe 13. W. BISHOP 10 The forgiuenesse of sinnes
saluationem tametsi erroneam hominem posse mereri per fidem erroneam etsi contingat vt adoret diabolū that the faith of a lay man worshipping an Host that is not consecrated though it be an erroneous faith yet sufficeth to saluation and that a man by an erroneous faith may merit although it fall out that he worship the diuell This speech is strange but yet M. Bishop now by his distinction teacheth vs how it may very wel stand because though a man materially worship the diuell yet by his intention hee doth formally worship God Now what ill happe had Ieroboam that he was not acquainted with these Romish schoole-trickes for he might well haue answered both for himself and for the people that though materially they errēd in the Calues yet their intention was pure and holy to worship the true God and therefore formally they were true worshippers Yea this distinction wil serue to cleere a great part of the idolatries of the Gentiles and Pagans because albeit the diuels did present themselues at their idols and images to receiue the sacrifices deuotions that were there performed as in Popery they haue also done yet this hindred not but that formally they were true worshippers because though they were materially mistaken as before was said in taking the diuell for God yet their formall meaning and intention was to doe seruice to the onely true and immortall God Thus shall they be excused of whom Christ saith d Ioh. 16.2 The time will come that whosoeuer killeth you will thinke that he doth God seruice Which many vndoubtedly thought in the crucifying of Christ being formally e Act. 22.3 zealous towards God but f Luk. 23.34 not knowing materially what they did So S. Austin saith of the Donatists g Aug. epist 48. Arbitrabantur se pro ecclesiae dei facere quicquid inquieta temeritate faciebant Whatsoeuer they did in their turbulent rashnesse and furie they thought they did it in behalfe of the Church of God The same we say of all schismes and heresies that the followers thereof at least many of them are formally true worshippers of Christ because they haue an vnfained intention and purpose to serue the Lord Iesus Christ howsoeuer materially they be mistaken in some things Thus doth M. Bishop make a hotch-potch and mixture of all religions and by his distinction of materialitèr and formalitèr a man may in any religion bee a true worshipper of God because hee may haue a zealous intention to serue God But if his learning and vnderstanding did not faile him he would remember that h Ioh. 4.23 the true worshippers doe worship God not onely formally in spirit but also materially in truth It was the religion of the Samaritanes i Ibid. vers 22. to worship they knew not what but the religion of the true Iewes of whom was saluation was to know what they did worship Our Sauiour would thereby instruct vs that there is no saluation where men worship they know not what God hath reueiled vnto vs the knowledge of himselfe and of his will that thereby we may be directed to serue him In this k Ioh. 17.3 knowledge is eternall life but l Os◠4.6 in the want of knowledge is perdition and destruction Intention zeale is good and in the seruice of God necessarily required but yet our intention and zeale is no other but furie and madnesse and fighting against God if it haue not knowledge to guide it materially in the way of God Now if it be idolatrie to worship that for God which is no God and yet it followeth not that God is heereby stiled an Idoll then surely it is likewise Idolatrie to worship the Sacrament vnder the name of the body of Christ when it is not the bodie of Christ and yet we doe not thereby stile our Sauiour Iesus Christ an idoll as hee fondly obiecteth against vs for blasphemie in the highest degree 19. W. BISHOP His third obiection is out of the fourth Commandement which as he saith giueth a libertie to worke six daies in the ordinarie affaires of our calling which libertie saith be cannot bee repealed by any creature the Church of Rome therefore erreth in that it prescribeth other set and ordinary festiuall daies to be obserued as straightly and with as much solemnitie as the Sabbath of the Lord. Answ Doth not the Church of England also prescribe the Natiuitie of our Sauiour and of S. Iohn Baptist the feasts of the Apostles and many others to be kept holy and command that no man worke in the affaires of their calling those daies doth their owne church also erre therein How say you then to the church of the Israelites which kept the feasts of Easter Whitsontide and of the Tabernacles as straightly and with as much solemnitie as they kept the Lords Sabbath was it also mis-led to the breach of Gods commandements or must we not rather thereby learne that six daies in the weeke were at the first left vs free to labour in but yet so that by the decree and commandement of our spirituall Gouernours any of them might vpon iust occasion be made festiuall and thereupon euery good christian bound to keepe them by their obedience vnto their Gouernours to thinke the contrarie is a high point of Puritanisme R. ABBOT M. Festiuall daies lawfully prescribed by the church Perkins intendeth nothing against the authoritie of the Church for the prescribing of some solemne and festiuall daies but condemneth the church of Rome iustly for prescribing such daies to be obserued as straitly and with as much solemntie he should haue said more straitly and with much more conscience and solemnitie than the Lords Sabbath day Yea it is a thing impious in the Bishop of Rome that hee taketh vpon him to make such daies in themselues a Bellar. de cultu sanct l. 3. ca. 10. Sunt dies festi verè alijs fanctiores sacratiores pars quaedam diuini cultus more sacred and holy than other daies and a part of the very true worship and seruice of God Whereas M. Perkins saith that it is not in the power of any creature to repeale the liberty of working six daies he saith rightly if we vnderstand it of the libertie of conscience for no creature may binde the conscience from the acknowledgement of a lawfulnesse with God to worke all and euery of the six daies in the affaires of our callings but yet in charitie and obedience we yeeld to our gouernours and to our brethren somewhat vpon occasion to refraine our libertie and to forbeare the doing of those things of which notwithstanding we know and are perswaded that in conscience and with God they are free and lawfull to be done 20. W. BISHOP Fourthly saith M. PER. the fift Commandement enioineth children to obey father and mother in all things specially in matters of moment as in their Marriages and choice of their calling
amends for all telling vs that when they take away from the people one kinde of the Sacrament they do them no hinderance thereby because they giue them both the body and bloud of Christ together vnder one kinde But who hath taught them so to doe or that so they can doe and if both may bee giuen vnder one why did Christ by his institution ordaine seuerally a Sacrament of both Let him satisfie vs in this behalfe if the whole intention of the Sacrament be atteined in one kinde why our Sauiour Christ would do a needlesse worke to institute both and if it be needfull for the Priest to drinke of the Lords cup why is it needlesse for the people or if it be sufficiently auaileable for the people that the Priest drinke thereof why is it not also sufficient that the Priest onely doe eate for all Hee telleth vs that the body and bloud of Christ bee so vnited that they cannot be separated and we grant so much of the bodie and bloud of Christ as now they are but he should remember that by this Sacrament g 1. Cor. 11.26 wee shew foorth the death of the Lord and in the death of the Lord his bodie was broken and his bloud was shed for vs accordingly as it is said h 1. Cor. 11.24 This is my body which is broken for you l Mat. 26.28 this is my bloud which is shed for you and therefore that the sacrament must represent and offer vnto vs the bloud of Christ as separated from the body Which because it cannot do being vsed in one kinde therefore it followeth that the Popish vsage thereof in that sort excludeth the intention of the sacrament and robbeth vs of the comfort of Christs bloud shed for the forgiuenesse of our sins And surely if the effect of the sacrament be wholly attained by receiuing onely in one kinde there was no cause why Gelasius Bishop of Rome hearing of some k De consecrat dist 2. Comperimus quosdam qui sumpta sacri corporis portione à calice sacrati cruoris abstineant qui quia nescio qua superstitione docentur astringi aut integra sacramenta percipiant aut ab integru arceantur quia diuisio vnius einsdemque mysterij sine grandi sacrilegio non potest prouenire who receiuing the portion of Christs sacred body did forbeare the cuppe of his sacred bloud should decree as he did that either they should receiue the whole sacrament or else be excluded from the whole adding a reason thereof which cleerely cutteth off all Popish exceptions because the diuiding of one and the same mysterie cannot come without great sacriledge Why should Gelasius vrge a matter so needlesse if it be true which now is taught in Poperie or if Gelasius then saw it to be sacriledge to diuide this mysterie of Christ how commeth it about that it is not so now In the time of Iulius the first long before Gelasius another abuse was creeping into the Church of dipping the Sacrament of Christs body into the cup as thereby to saue a labour and so vnder one to deliuer both It appeareth heereby that Christian people were not then taught as they are now in the Romane church that the one part of the Sacrament is by concomitancy as their Schoolemen haue deuised both the bodie and the bloud of Christ neither did Iulius vpon that ground condemne that dipping as superfluous and causelesse which both hee and they should in that respect haue conceiued so to bee if that fancie were true But they by Christs institution conceiued a necessitie to receiue both and therefore in this sort by dipping the Eucharist in the cup prouided so to doe in which sort notwithstanding to receiue both Iulius approoued it as a thing vnlawfull l Dist 2. cap. Cum omne Quod pro complemento câ—mmunionis ineinctam tradunt Eu haristiam populis nec hoc prolatum ex Euangelio testimoniuÌ„ receperunt vbi Apostolu corpus suum commendauit sanguinem seorsum enim panu scorsum calicis commendatio memoratur because there is no testimony heereof in the Gospell where Christ commended to his Apostles his body and bloud for there is recorded seuerally the deliuery of the bread and seuerally of the cup. Now if Christ to the end he might commend to vs both his body and bloud would seuerally commend the one and seuerally the other surely the church of Rome in debarring the people from the cup confoundeth the institution of Christ and commendeth the one onely without the other And sith Iulius did hold that for direction in this behalfe the Church is to haue recourse to the example of Christ in the Gospell to doe as Christ there is recorded to haue done wee must needs conceiue that the Church of Rome now is not of the same mind that Iulius was which so manifestly crosseth that which is described in the gospell And not Iulius only but the whole Church of Christ held it selfe tied to that example and practised accordingly neither was there any Church in the world which held it sufficient or lawfull to administer the sacrament to the people in one kind Hierome saith that m Hieron in 1. Cor. 11. Dominica coena omnibus debet esse communis quia ille omnibus distipulu suis qui aderant aequaliter tradidit sacramenta the Lords supper ought to be common to all because the Lord Iesus equally deliuered the sacraments to all his disciples that were present So Chrysostome saith n Chrysost in 2. Cor. hom 18. Est vbi nihil differt sacerdos a subdito vt quando fruendum est sacris mysterijs similiter enin omnes vt 〈◊〉 participemus digri habemus that in the receiuing of the holy mysteries there is no difference betwixt the Priest and the people for we all saith he are vouchsafed to receiue them alike o Theophylact. in 1. Cor. c. 11. praesertim cum tremendus hic calix pari cunctis conditione sit traditus This dreadfull cup saith Theophylact was in like or equall condition deliuered to all In a word when Cyprian saith that p Cyprian lib. 1. epist. 2. Quomodo ad martyrij poculum idoneos facimus si non eos ad bibendum prius in ecclesia poculum domini iure communicationis admittimus by right of communion we admit the people to drinke in the Church of the Lords cup what doth hee but plainly declare that the Church of Rome doth apparant wrong to the people of God in that it bereaueth them of this right We may therefore iustlie thinke them very impudently obstinate whom neither the authority of Christ nor the consent of fathers nor the practise of Christian Churches vniuersally through the world nor the very reason of the Sacrament it selfe can mooue to reform this maiming of the sacrament of Christ but doe make choise rather to continue still in error than to acknowledge that they haue erred But M.