with heresies and being by schisme deuided and separated from the truth are out of the Catholike vniuersall and true Church of Christ and these blind soules with their blynd guides rush and fall headlong into the pit of hell which I in my errour most wickedly and without grieuous iniury affirmed of the Roman Catholikes for from the Roman Church at all times to all other Churchs the most shining light of the pure and incorrupted fayth hath flowed and at this present flowes I remember also that in the preface of my bookes of the Ecclesiasticall commonwealth I vsed certayne wordes by which I insinuated all such to be in the Catholike Church who had receaued baptisme in the name of the Trinity but albeit the words haue an ill sound make all hereticall Churches true sound mēbers of the true Catholike Church which is most false and hereticall yet my meaning was that the Arian Nestorian Eutichian all hereticall and condemned Churches in tymes past should be excluded and only the true belieuers to be retayned which true belieuers I thought then to be many more then indeed they are and many Churches tainted with these latter Heresyes and by Schisme deuided I erroneously iudged to pertaine to the Catholike but though the Catholike Church be so denominated for her Vniuersality yet this Vniuersality includes no other then the true orthodoxe or right belieuing Churches spread ouer the whole world which remayne in vnity with the Roman And truly the vniuersality of the Roman Church doth consist not only in the cōtinual durance neuer yet interrupted or euer after to be and constance of sound beliefe but also is vniuersall because the selfe same fayth of Rome and supreme gouernement are extended after the cōming of Christ to all places and all Nations for which respect euen in these latter ages it is no lesse to be tearmed Catholike then it was in the tyme of the ancient Fathers because the fayth of the Roman Church euen at this tyme is propagated in the most remote vast regions of the East and West Indyes euen vnto the furthest corners of the earth in so much as the children of this Church euen in these dayes passing by continuall trauel from the rising of the Sunne vnto the setting and carrying with them the Fayth of Christ offering cleane sacrifices that now may be sayd especially to be fulfilled which God pronounced by the mouth of Malachy Malach. 1. v. 11. Ab ortu solis vsque ad occasum magnum est nomen meum in gentibus in omni loco sacrificatur offertur nominimeo oblatio munda From the rising of the sunne vnto the setting my name is great amongst the Gentills in euery place there is sacrificed and offered vnto my name a pure oblation Neither was it a lesse iniury and slaunder when I said that I had noted very many noueltyes and errors of the Court of Rome which nouelties which errors I neyther now or euer yet noted and I acknowledge it to be most false confesse it for such that euer there were or are in Rome such errors out of which the ruine and slaughter of soules doth proceed the peace of the Church is troubled or publick scandalls haue or doe arise truly next after God all peace of the Catholike Church her totall tranquillity and the euerlasting saluation of soules is to be ascribed to the care and sollicitude of the Roman Church I sayd that the more potent Bishops vnder the Bishop of Rome were but equiuocall or counterfeit Bishops and this saying cōteins no lesse falshood then iniury in it and therefore as raylatiue I condemne it for they are true and lawfull Bishops made by lawfull ordination I affirmed others who were not Potentates and Princes to haue lost the proper dignity and power of Bishops and truly this is also a slaunder for hierarchical subordinatiō in the Church hath been alwaies necessary much more doe I cōdemne as an heresy that which I said the Church no longer to remayn vnder the Bishop of Rome for as before I specifyed and earnestly auouched only the Church of Rome with the rest adhering therunto is the true Church of Christ that others are no Churchs at all And to conclude much in few I perceyue that in the first booke of my departure I specially endeauoured to infringe the primacy of the B. of Rome in which poynt I deny not but that I spake against the fayth of the whole Catholike Church and therefore greatly to haue erred for both by the Euangelicall ordinance traditions of the Apostles definitions of the holy Synods Generall Councells by very many decrees of Popes and common testimony of Fathers and ecclesiasticall histories it is manifest and cleere the B. of Rome alwayes to haue been taken for head of the whole Church to haue beene so appointed by Christ our Lord and alwayes to haue been taken for a singular oracle to whome no lesse the East then the West in all doubts of fayth should sue for instruction of beliefe definition secure doctrine as a maister appointed vs by God who should by his office teach and direct his Church any scholler may obserue very many examples in which the Bishops of Rome direct the Patriarkes and Bishops of the East they warne them rebuke them teach them condemne them absolue them depose them restore them controle them and that euen out of their office and power ouer them and the others checked by the Popes humbly gaue them eare obeyed resisted not or reclaymed and briefely it is cleare by the confession of all the Catholike Church the whole spirit of Christ for determining of these things which belong vnto fayth to reside in the sole and one visible supreme head of the same Church which is only the Pope the chiefe Bishop and S. Peters succcessor 5. I freely confesse that the booke which I called the Rockes of Christiā shipwrack did exceedingly displease me presently after that it was set forth for without all choyce had of the matter without all discussion or search of truth I hudled it vp that I might some way or other please the Englishmē after my arriuall amongst them in writing of which I considered and layd open not what was true but what pleased best the enemies of the Church especially the vulgar and vnlearned multitude and this booke whiles I was in England preparing for my departure being obiected vnto me by the King and other men I did in plain wordes detest it and my selfe withstood the greater part of heresyes which it conteynes and as far as I was able impugned them al which here agayne I reiect abhorre and detest The heresies were these The B. of Rome not to be Christs vicar on earth and visible head of his Church that he had no power ouer temporall things implicite fayth to auayle nothing but much to hurt the faithfull the excommunications of the law to be vain buggs the cōmandements of the
Church not to bind vnder mortall sinne the vnity of the Church not to be taken from one visible head the Pope to be the capitall eenemy of the whole Church the Masse to be no true sacrifice the ceremonies of the Masse to be light Comical gestures no transsubstantiation to be made auricular confession with absolution to be no true Sacrament that there is no purgatory satisfaction for release of the punishment after that the fault is forgiuen not to be necessary no Indulgences to be but of such penaltyes only as are imposed the Saintes not to be inuocated the worship of Relikes and Images not to be lawfull that there is no merit of good workes to euerlasting life These and the the like errours and manifest heresies not so much myne and new as of the auncient and modern heretickes and their bablings and doating dreames condemned alwayes by the Catholike Church in many holy generall Councells are miserable rockes vnto which such as approach make lamentable shipwracke of their faith and euerlastinge saluation and therefore I fly from them as far as I am able and least that I should haue beene cast away vppon them in England I was of necessity to depart from thence and rerurne to the true Church the port and harbour of Catholickes and forsake detest anathematize or accurse all the foresayd errors and whatsoeuer others if there be any other in those bookes which agree not with the faith expressed in the sacred Councells especially in the late Councell of Trent on the other side I imbrace and auer the contrary truthes to wit the chiefe Bishop of Rome by Christs iustitution to be his Vicar on earth to be the visible head of the militant Church which alwayes hath beene visible with full power receaued from God to gouerne and order the same the same Bishopp of Rome to haue power ouer temporall thinges in ordine ad spiritualia the implicite fayth to be profitable and sometymes necescessary as when one without his fault hath no expresse faith or beliefe of some articles the excommunications of the law or deliuered ipso facto to be of force and to be feared as induced by exceeding great reason and lawfull power the Popes to be able to excommunicate all faithfull people of what place or countrey soeuer in case they deserue to be so censured the commaundements of the Church bynd all vnder mortall sinne to obserue them the vnity of the Church chiefly to depend vpon the one visible head thereof the B. of Rome to be the true lawfull towards the sheepe of Christ as it behoueth the profitable Pastor of the whole Church the only eternall saluation of which I desire he may alwayes thirst and seeke with all care in in the Masse to be offered vp vnto God a true proper and propitiatory sacrifice the ceremonies of the Masse ordained by the Fathers and Pastors of the Church by the inspiration of the holy Ghost to be holy mystical profitable and by all meanes to be retayned transubstantiation to be made in the Sacrament of the Aultar that is the conuersion of turning of the whole substance of bread into the body of the whole substance of wine into the bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ by Sacramentall absolution wherby the priest absolues the penitent to be exercised a true and proper power of binding and losing sins which our Lord gaue to the ministers of his Sacraments in the Church to be purgatory in that manner as the holy Roman Apostolicke Church teacheth it to be graunted satisfaction to be much avayleable for the releasement of the punishment after that the sinne is forgiuen the vse of pardons in the Catholike Church to whome Christ hath giuē power to bestow them to be most ancient most soueraygne and approued by the authority of holy Councels the Saints not only without all errour of the faithfull to be inuocated but further that it is good profitable to haue recourse to their prayers and help the worship of Reliques and images to be good lawfull and profitable which cannot be abrogated without the spot of heresy the merit of eternall life to depend of our good workes The later General Councels which are of supreame authority in the Church my stomak being ouer charged with ill humours I did often despise especially the Councells of Florence Trent many times also that of Constance and through my procuring a certayn history came forth in print of the Councell of Trent of the truth of which history I had no certainty yea it is worthily suspected of imposture in these thinges also I confesse that I erred very much for I affirme all the most wholsome decrees of these Councells with full fayth to be imbraced by all the Catholikes 6. In a certayn sermon of mine had in Italian at London the first sonday in Aduent and printed I set down these errours which being after repeated agayne in the booke of the Rocks now I haue worthily detested In that sermon I framed a certayn night of papall errours in the Roman Church wheras indeed in the Roman Church alone and others conioyned therewith there is true light the true and only most shining day out of which in England especially is continuall most darke night In the Church of Rome the light of truth the true and sincere vnderstanding of the holy scriptures driues far away from it al the darkenes of errours with which darknes miserable Englād being ouercast groapeth like a blind man at noone day I sayd in the same sermon and reiterated agayne in the booke of the Rocks that S. Peter was neuer at Rome but this as a soule and ignorant lye I freely confesse is to be condemned I made all the Apostles in planting and gouerning the Church to be equall whereas notwithstanding the supremacy of S. Peter ouer them is cleare by the very gospells and Apostolicall traditions I affirmed the Bishops to succeed the Apostles with equall power and to be Bishops in solidum of the Vniuersall Church whereas yet Bishops are but Pastors of particuler Churchs haue but a particuler charge the generall primacy being reserued to him who in the same succeedeth S. Peter who is the B. of Rome and chiefe Pastor I sayd that holy water graynes crosses hallowed images Papal and Episcopall blessings the stations diuersity of habits cords leather girdles visiting Churches and Altars beades processions and the like to be toyes when as it sufficiently appeareth almost all of these thinges to be auncient and allowed in the Catholicke Church which vse is to be cōtinued yea euen in those things which are more fresh inducements to piety deuotion I affirmed that there were only two Sacraments Baptisme and the Supper whereas yet the Catholike Church lightned by the holy ghost doth plainly teach define that there be seauen true Sacraments all which and what other heresyes soeuer condemned by the Catholike Roman Church I doe also condemne and with firme faith belieue
all these books Hence it came that I rashly relying on the slaunders of heretikes and not on the Catholike fayth entituled one of my books Of the cause of my departure and another in Italian The rockes of Christian shipwracke and another A certayne sermon which I filled ful of errours and heresies for the most part in hatred of the holy Roman Church and Sea Apostolike and of those Popes by whom I thought my selfe to haue byn iniured and affirmed those and many other things vvhich before I knew to be false and hereticall and after at least in part my selfe misliked and did whils I wrote in England from my hart detest them because they conteyne open heresyes agaynst the Catholike truth and are contrary to sound doctrine I meane to that which the Catholicke Roman Church hath alwayes held and holds at this day agaynst which whatsoeuer or whersoeuer is written or sayd by me that in al and euery part I do condemne and detest and I will better more at large by Gods help condemne and detest the same in the confutation of my bookes of the Ecclesiasticall Commonwealth other bookes that I haue written agaynst the truth for I submit my selfe and all my bookes to the most holy iudgement and censure of the holy Roman and Apostolicall Sea the mistresse and guide of all other Churches 3. In the meane tyme here in this exchange for a new and sounder resolution I most detest the former of my departure the Infamous Rockes of the shipwrackes of my selfe especially and heretikes but not of Catholikes moreouer the Sermon mentioned neither shall I shame by casting of the garments which I had made for myselfe to shew my nakednes because I was not ashamed agaynst all law and conscience to breake forth into vayne fictions open slaunders and filthy heresies Dioscorides l. 6. c. 44. The sting and poyson of the scorpion by bruzing of the same scorpion that stong hath a present remedy If the voluntary breaking and bruzing of my selfe bring remedy to this poysoned wound in case any so wounded haue repented him himselfe I shall esteeme this my bruzing deiection and mortification for happy let the glory of the Catholike Church and Sea Apostolike stand immoueable yea euen with the greatest losse of temporal goods that can befall me and since that so wickedly I haue gone about to weaken and infring it this course cannot at least before God but be glorious vnto me 4. First therfore I confesse in conscience truly sincerly testify that I wrote that booke of the Cause of my departure and the other two to wit the Rocks and Sermon not out of sincerity of hart not good cōscience not out of vnfeygned faith but that I might cast some colourable excuse on my shamefull departur that I might be the more gratfull and welcome vnto the heretickes to whom like a wretch I went or with whome I did conuerse The ten yeares labour which I bragged of in the book of my departure was not imployed in maturity of deliberation grauity of iudgement discussion of truth but all that vvhile I studyed hovv to finish that vaine fruitles and pernicious worke of the Ecclesiasticall commonwealth coyne bold and hereticall fictions and withall satisfy the impotent force of myne owne rage in so much as that vocation was not deuine but diabolicall not inspired by the holy Ghost but suggested by a bad spirit vexing me worse then it did Saul with the spirit of giddines 2. Reg. 18 v. 10. but for my returne I doubt not but that it is to be ascribed vnto Gods true vocation his diuine spirit calling me backe to my Mother the holy Catholique Church 5. I sayd that the behauiour of the court of Rome was the cause why I should for euer abhorre it I am not ignorant that herein I spake ill for there were not wanting then nor yet are at Rome very many cōspicuous examples of piety all Christian vertues which are able to delight and allure religious or well disposed mynds I sayd that out of the forbidding of hereticall books to be read do spring euill suspitiōs which get credit to the books of heretiks and induce men to belieue somewhat to be in them vvhich Catholikes could not confute and this I acknowledge to haue been spoken by me not without great iniury to the Catholike saith who haue found in their bookes I meane of heretikes false hereticall scandalous and pestiferous doctrine from reading of which least the Faythfull be infected they are worthily to be restrayned for not vnto priuate men who read those bookes but vnto the Pastours the iudgement of fayth hath euer and doth still appertayne that they may know which are poisoned pasturs and remoue their flockes far from them Moreouer the arguments of heretiks are deceytfull sophisticall and haue most easy solutions I affirmed the doctrine of those who oppose themselues to the Church of Rome nothing at all or very little to degenerate from the pure doctrine of the primitiue Church and this also is false for the opinions in which they differ from Catholiks are all of them most cōtrary to those which that Church held nothing can conuince them more certainly of errour thē the authority of the ancient Church frō which they by these noueltyes haue very far departed in so much as for this cause they are condemned as heretikes by the Church of Rome it is therefore to be detested I doe detest that which I sayd Therefore the religion of Protestants to be condemned of the Church because it is contrary to the sense and corrupted manners of the Court of Rome I said that in Rome by extreme violence were coyned new articles of beliefe and this truly I did say both agaynst my knowledge and conscience for I neuer saw any such matter nor any man else as most certainly I know for none can say that there are new articles coyned when there are only added the true declaratiōs explicatiōs of the true articles those gathered out of the holy scripturs traditiōs of the Fathers very rules of religion Againe I endeuored to depriue the Roman Church of the titles of Catholike and Vniuersall wherin I exceedingly erred for by the Roman Church is not vnderstood that speciall and particuler Church alone which is at Rome but the collection of all other Churches adhering to the Roman in vnity of the same fayth and subiection to the same chiefe Bishop wheresoeuer they be albeit in the vttermost coastes and corners of the earth And doubtles this is most true of me both by word of mouth as England it selfe can testify and in my written treatises of the Eccleclesiasticall commonwealth and in that part which last of all I heare is printed in Germany I haue euinced that there is no other Catholike Church but the Roman vnderstanding thereby that particular with the other adhering thereunto wheras all other companies of Christians are defiled
hold and professe the contrary to these heresies defined by the same for it is most certayn that in the decrees of the holy Roman Church reason is not seuered from authority the schoole doctrin especially in articles religion to be altogether conformable to the sense or doctrine of the holy Fathers This further I confesse that I haue without cause complained in my books of the Court of Rome as if it had vsurped authority belonging to others for vnles that Church out of her lawfull authority ouer Archbishops Bishops keep them both in order the violating of all lawes will easely follow by their dissension It is truly the greatest happines of the Church when her inferiour Pastors vnder one most vigilāt Pastour receaue and execute from him who hath supreme authority ouer all reformation of life and the charge of sound and sincere doctrine And truly should not the mild and Fatherly care of the holy Inquisition watch attentiuely ouer our Lords flocke the scabbed sheep would find no cure and that most wicked infectiō would soone farre neere spread it selfe The ordinary armour of that tribunall are sound doctrine and instruction full of charity and not these others which I out of my exulcerated mind haue with so many falsityes and slaunders exaggerated but in case the festered soares doe not yield to lenitiue medicines then is it both fit and necessary that the Phisitian apply more sharp and corrosiue plaisters 7. But now euen the inward fyre of the diseases of my mynd did rage almost by miracle after the entrance of Gregory the fifteenth to the gouernment of the Church whose eminēt piety singular wisdome and continuall sanctity of a most innocent life I indeed belieued to haue aduaunced him to that high honour I began to thinke of some more healthfull course the holy ghost enlightning me with the beames of his grace in so much that now the dangers of my soule in the state I liued in beganne to shew themselues euery day more cleerly vnto me and I now wōdered that I had gone so farre in folly and errour that I would conioyne my selfe with them who were heretikes playne and absolute scismaticks Such in tymes past was the guilefull deceite of a few Arrians in the Councell of Arimini that by secret collusion they had as it were drawne almost all the Catholikes into Arianisme tunc sayth S. Hierome Hieron cōtra Luciferianos totus mundus ingemuit miratus est se esse Arrianum then all the world groaned and merueyled to see it selfe become Arrian so alas much worse it befell me that I saw wondered and lamented my selfe an heretike amongst heretiks scismatick amōg scismaticks And that the Englishmen cōplayne not of me that I doe them wrong but that they may know my departure from thē return to my mother the holy Catholike Church to haue been lawful for iust cause I am constrained to lay open their heresy and schisme with which it was no way cōuenient that I should be further entangled or taynted 8. In England if we speake of Religion are many sects there are Puritās or rigid Caluinists there are more moderate who call themselues only Protestants Reformed there are Anabaptists those deuided into diuers sects neither want there Arrians Photinians such like raffe of lewd mē who albeit they be not allowed openly to professe their errours yet are they not banished the land nor punished at home but are tolerated whiles in the mean time they spread their poyson infect others that the Anabaptists hold many heresies none that is not an Anabaptist will deny but they in Englād freely haue their conuenticles and his Maiesty himselfe one day told me that lately in London at the assēbly of the Anabaptists a woman had made a sermon ministred their Sacramēts The heresies of the Puritans are notorious to wit that there is no free will God to be Author of sinne God merly because so it pleaseth him to damn many Christ not to haue dyed for al to haue vndergon the punishment of hel that infants baptized be dāned c. the more moderate Protestants although they goe about touching points of doctrine to free themselues in some sort from heresy because they doe not admit entirely the heresies eyther of Caluin or Luther if they follow the pure doctrine of the English Church which they call Reformed yet can they not so escape or rid their hands from Puritans and Anabaptists with whome they fully communicate and if any Anabaptist or Puritan come to their Ecclesiastical Conuenticles they neither auoid him nor exclude him yea almost all the Puritan Ministers handle and minister the very Sacraments of the false English Church vnto all commers at least vnto all Caluinists And if Acacius of Constantinople for that he had communicated with Peter Mogge an heretick of Alexandria if all the East Church for persisting in communion with Arrius was separated by a long anathema or curse from the Roman and West Church how much more are the Protestants of England to be esteemed for heretikes because they continually communicate which heretikes neyther do they cōdemne them or deny them their company but rather admit them al that will communicate in their ceremonies rites and Sacraments with the English Church Doth not the deformed Church of England publickly and plainly professe cōmunion Ecclesiastical league or fryendship with Geneua the mother of Puritans and all other forrayn Caluinists Are there not euen in London the Kinges Citty and that by publicke graunt of the King Churches of the French Flemish and Italian Caluinists which hate and abhorre the doctrine profession rites of England yet are most deerely beloued sisters of the English Synagogue And by them Puritanisme is especially maintayned and set forward in Englād Moreouer with the Lutherās polluted with very many heresies the English Sinagogue is most ready to communicate and labours all that it can to the end that these mōsters of many heads may like Hercules hydra agree in one body and a vnion as they terme it be made of all the reformed Churches but of purging the faith and doctrine of these different sects rooting out their heresies no care is had yet the Lutherans hate the Sacramentaries cane peius angue Other heresies of Englishmen concerning faith good workes and iustification as also the B. Sacrament priuate Masses Merits of good workes praying vnto Saints worshipping of holy Images holy rites and ceremonyes the soules of the departed and the like which they out of an hereticall spirit doe condemne and abolish and which I with the same spirit in part haue once condemned and abolished I meane not now further to discusse somewhat I meane as much as this place requires I shall after touch and more els where in a larger worke I come to their schisme 9. Sure I am that the English Sect which the deformed English men call the Reformed
Church to be more deuided separated from the Church truly Catholike then they are themselues deuided from the whole world diuisos toto orbe Britannos That they are perfectly deuided froÌ„ the Roman Church other Churches subiect thervnto commumunicating with the same in Religion and fayth they will theÌ„selues willingly confesse and the thing is most euident most notorious Now wheras the RomaÌ„ Church with the others aforsaid is truly properly according to the Cath. Faith the Cath. Church of Christ doth it not necessarily follow the English Church as they call it to be cleane cut of froÌ„ the Catholike Church and consequently that it is not the body of Christ nor his house nor absolutly speaking to be called a Church Which when at length I plainly perceyued I was no longer to â—emain therin They will obiect say â—s this now plain vnto thee who yet in â—hy book of Ecclesiastical coÌ„mon wealth didst stile Rome Babylon who diddest deny the Church of Rome who didst teach vs that it was properly schismatical but that which thou affirmest of our Church doth not so plainly appeare vnto vs. So they Wherfor I shal goe about to mak this point euident vnto the English who know ful well that I am not Pithagoras whose only authority amoÌ„g his schollers for any thing that he sayd was held for best proofe let theÌ„ not therfore be moued with those things I haue sayd without other argument yea further let my wordes want their weight credit eueÌ„ where I bring my reasons and proofes if they be found to be weak and feeble Truly my reason on which I relied when I made Christian Rome to be Babylon was because the prophesy oâ— S. Iohn could no be explicated of Româ— as it was heathen before it imbraced the fayth of Christ Apocalip 8. But this reason is of no force for albeyt that this were granted yet it followeth not that the Christian Rome is Babylon for it is the opinion oâ— many Catholik interpreters that in the persecution of Antichrist the heathen Idolaters enemies of Christ are perhaps to subdue Rome and that of them this prophesy not yet accoÌ„plished may conueniently be vnderstood yet so as the fayth of the Catholike Church stilâ— continue safe and sound by this interpretation my affection of Rome as Christian is ouerthrown and conteyns in iâ— a meer slauÌ„der for I know the ChristiaÌ„ Rome not to be Babylon nor that it can without exceeding iniury be so called But God forbid that in this prophesy oâ— the Apocalyps we should conceaue thâ— Roman Church it selfe the mother of all Churches head of ReligioÌ„ hertofore â—o haue been or herafter that it shal be Baâ—ylon for those things which are spoken of the Citty are not to be transferred or explicated of the Church I denyed the Church to be at Rome but proued it not and therefore that deny all is to be â—laced amongst my curses and raylings â—ea also amongst my heresyes especialâ—y my self refuting the same by reason in my other workes in which strongly I â—aue affirmed the Roman Church with â—he others adherent to be the true onâ—y Catholike Church of Christ now â—oe as much as I can professe auer the â—ame I sayd that it had made a schisme â—ut then I sayd it when as yet I had no â—xact knowledge of schisme or nature â—herof I erred grossly herin because it â—s a manifest falsity the argumeÌ„t brought â—or the contrary is of no moment coÌ„â—ludeth nothing for he who being law â—ully made head of any body doth so â—…ile and proclayme himselfe doth not â—eperate himselfe from the body neither â—oth he cast away the body from him â—ut ioyneth himselfe vnto it which is a farr different thing from schisme but this I will further prosecute in the reuiew correction of that worke now only I declare how it is euident to me that the Englishmen and much more aâ— Sectaryes of our age are truly and properly Schismaticks for that without all lawfull cause they haue cut themselues from the true Church of Christ which is the Catholike Roman Church all those that communicate therewith 10. Two causes only there may be of lawfull separation that one or more Churches of Christ may wholy repell one or more Churches from their communicating with them without the incurring of schisme the one is heresy the other schisme it selfe The hereticalâ— Churches that are incorrigible are to bâ— eschewed of Catholikes who are to hauâ— no Ecclesiasticall coÌ„munion with theÌ„ This is a point well knowne amongâ—… Christians I often demaunded of thâ— Englishmen why they separated themselues from the Roman Church takinâ— the same as it comprizeth all other besides that adhere therunto was it for anâ— heresy But truly none of them al coulâ— eyther in writing or by word of mouth shew eyther the Roman Catholikes of of our tymes or our Predecessors in their publick profession to be or haue been tainted with any true heresy The most soueraigne King of great Britaine playnly and publickely graunted this vnto me this the wiser of their chiefe and inferiour Ministers graunted and many other learned men affirmed the Church of Rome not to erre in the fundamentall fayth wherfore by the grauÌ„t of English Protestants this Church is not hereticall They will obiect perhaps the Church of Rome not to erre in the fundamentall fayth which I in the booke of the causes of my departure in the sermon made at London seemed to defend but to erre and to haue fallen into heresy in other not fundamentall articles but first of all I know not what article there is of true fayth which is not fundamentall neyther could I euer conceaue or were they able to explicate how that distinction should be admitted amongst the articles of faith that some were fundamentall some not for truly I alwayes iudged all and euery of those articles which are truly to be fuÌ„dameÌ„tal but I erred in this that from the number of fundamentall and consequently from the true articles I excluded many which are indeed articles of faith and consequently were all fundamentall and cannot without heresy be denyed howsoeuer they be not of these principall of the Trinity Incarnation Necessity of grace Baptizing in the name of the Trinity c. as are the Sacraments Iustification the necessity of workes merits indulgences and the like which before I set downe as now defined by the Church because these no lesse rely on Gods reuelation then the former and therefore as much belong vnto faith as they for he who makes God deceitfull in any one article whatsoeuer he must necessarily acknowledg him to be deceiptfull in all the rest agayne I demaunded of such as meaÌ„t sincerely that they would produce but one article in which the Roman Church doth hold and teach amisse they are wont to vrge that of Transubstantiation of bread and wyne into the body and bloud of Christ out of
at the gate of the tabernacle Exod. 33. but they adored not the cloud lykewise in the fyre 2. Paralip 7.3 neyther did they cōmit idolatry whiles they adored God in these corporal signs such therfore as condēne this adoration as of it self purly properly idolatrical haue not in them so much as one drāme of a pure soūd Deuine In vain therfor doe the Protestants cōplaine of this Idolatry that they may defēd their schisme in this very thing first of al they defile themselues with heresy further they remaine true Schismatikes because there was no lawful cause of their separation 22. They obiect vnto vs a most cleere Idolatry or bread-worship in the adoration of the B. Sacrament of the Altar and by this also they seeke to excuse themselues from sinne but they are fowly mistaken for to vs the real corporall presence of the body bloud of our Lord Iesus-Christ in the sacred mysteries of the Eucharist is most certayn and vndoubted we adore the same body of Christ capable of it selfe by reason of the hypostaticall vnion with the Word of supreme honour lying hidden vnder these formes of bread and wine but hereof I cannot much dispute in this place This reall and corporall presence we suppose and this supposall by our fayth is certayn because we take it from the gospell Christ saying when he had bread in his hands Hoc est corpus meum this is my body according to the promise he had made saying Ioan. 6. Panis quem ego dabo caro mea est the bread which I will giue is my body and therefore our aduersaryes cannot suspect that in this adoration we are lyable vnto the errour of idolatry and so neither from this can they pretend any excuse for their schisme but they are truly and properly not only schismatiks but also heretiks and therefore I was to depart from amongst them and no longer to adhere vnto their errours 23. Besides the former they obiect vnto vs a certayn hidden or secret idolatry when after the Exorcismes and blessings we place a spirituall confidence in salt in water in oyle and the like all which they heape together out of a desyre to slaunder vs and that they may seeme by any meanes to excuse their schisme but they know full well that we place no certayn confidence in these things as if we taught these creatures to receaue any certayn and infallible force from our exorcismes and prayers these things we say are Sacramentalls but not Sacraments and hallowed to the end we may stirre vp our deuotion by them all our confidence is placed in God alone who moued by the prayers of the Church euen by these creatures by vertue of the same prayers blessings bestowes his guifts vppon vs the greatest part of those and the like rites the Church hath receaued from Apostolicall tradition and from hād to hād of the most ancient Church which who so followes cannot erre he who contemnes and casts away is himselfe to be cast forth as a rash man and enemy of the Church Tertullian sets down the vse of holy Oyle Tertul. li. de Baptismo and amongst the matters of the Sacraments S. Augustine reckons Oyle Aug. Ep. 119. The hallowing of the water of Baptisme hath been obserued from tyme out of mind for S. Cyprian makes mention of the hallowing of water and oyle and of Vnction also Cyprian li. 1. Epist. vltima The holy Churches I meane the materiall in case by any chaunce they should be defiled were wont to be cleansed by exorcisme and washing of the walls this we haue deliuered by Optatus Mileuitanus Optatus Mileu lib. 2. con Parmenian S. Basill also from tradition deduceth the common ryte of annoyntinge with oyle the party that was baptized Basil lib. de Spiritu sācto cap. 27 all antiquity doth further teach vs the signe of the Crosse to haue beene vsed in euery blessing and consecration Iustinus quaestione 118. Nazianzen Orat. 1. in Iulian. Orat. in funere Patris Chrysostom Hom. 55. in Matthaeum Augustin tract 118. in Ioan. sermo de tempore 181. cap. 3. Areopagita alij There are perhapps some rytes now vsed in the Church not so auncient in which we vse thinges blessed and consecrated but as the primitiue Church taught by the Apostles neuer feared any dāger of secret Idolatry if it vsed cōsecrated oyle and the lyke why should we now feare who attribute no more to these new cōsecrated things thē antiquity attributed vnto the other For these things to fly to Schisme is supreme impiety these rytes are good most of them were instituted by the Apostles others haue had their beginning from the deuotiō of Catholike Churches no way cōtrary to Faith yea most conforme agreeing therunto the variety of rites and ceremonyes was in auncient tyme in Churches and yet none vnder that pretence did depart frō mutuall communion amongest themselues The Auncients sayth Sozomen Sozomen lib. 7. c. 19◠did worthily iudge yt a friuolous or foolish matter that they for custome sake should be separated from one another who in the chiefe points of Religion did agree therefore this separation of the Englishmen is friuolous yea rash and wicked by which they haue deuided themselues from the true Catholike Church and haue broken forth without cause into open schisme with whom to communicate in diuine things is to consent to their most vniust and pernicious schisme 24. Touching the new articles of which they make their complaynt and excuse their schisme I wil not now dispute I should be too prolixe if I should now turne aside to these pointes in due place to be handled only here I demād of thē whether they thinke these new articles as they call them to be contrary vnto fayth or not If they were contrary to fayth they should be heresies and they would make the maintayners hereticks and worthily to be detested and separated from the communion of all Catholike Churches But I haue now proued that there is no heresy in the Church of Rome the most soueraygne King of great Britanny very many learned men in that kingdome confessing that the Church of Rome stands entier in the fundamentall faith but I haue shewed before that there is no true Article that it not fundamental and with assured fayth to be beleeued therefore it hath no articles which are contrary to the Catholike fayth and in case they be not cōtrary to the true faith but contayn the same they can yield no occasion of schisme But say they because we reiect and refuse these articles the Church of Rome hath separated cut vs of from that body Truly I lamēt and bewayle these men to haue made a beastly and perfect schisme before any thing was done or defined concerning those which they call new Articles in much as they cānot without exceeding vanity couer their schisme by these new articles for the
effect cannot goe before the cause I endeauour to shew that they made a schisme without cause hence I knew them to be true schismatiks and for that I departed from them And further these very Articles which they call new can euidently be demonstrated out of the Scriptures tradition and Fathers and the contrary decreed by themselues to be conuinced of open heresy if we will follow the iudgement of Antiquity howsoeuer some latter Protestants taking a more mild moderate course are wont to bring for some poynt such fauourable explications of which my selfe haue heard many as they seemed not to differ much from the Catholicke opiniō these seeme to admit some pious agreemēt who then without pernicious errour yea true heresy wil place his saluation on only Faith and exclude the necessity of Good works Who will absolutely deny our Merits and that iust men cannot loose their grace and that they are impeccable and cannot sinne And such as stiffly hould these and the like to be Articles of fayth and the contrary to be heresies they vndoubtedly doe erre in matters of fayth and shew themselues to be heretiks and consequently to be well and worthily by the Catholike definitions placed amongst such no heresy therefore of the Church of Rome no Idolatry open or hidden could giue occasion to the schisme of Protestants Neither can they obiect Schisme to the same Catholike Church for it hath made no schisme but suffered it From her hath Luther from her Caluin from her haue their first followers separated themselues whiles stubbornly they refused to stand to her iudgement these haue made a schisme these haue deuided the garmēt of Christ these haue erected altar against Altar finally these haue left and forsaken the Catholike Church 25. Besides the former alleadged and discussed causes they pretend another of Reformation forsooth needful to be made but I amongest them scant euer saw any reformation or to speake more truly saw none at all but as for Deformations I saw many amongst thē For the most part all care of conscience is cast away they are not there excepting a very few of them troubled with any scruples for adulteries robberyes or deceauing theyr neighbours and in like manner for coosenage deceypts and vsuries for they haue wickedly abolished auricular Confession fasting pennance and the like holy meanes for our amendment and if these men had found amongst vs somewhat amisse in conuersation in actions in gouernement in direction and the like that had not argued any defect of the Church but the errours of particuler men which of Catholikes are not allowed but mysliked neyther for these lesser a matters as manners of life and that not in all but some were they to to make this most vgly schisme There remaines in the Roman Church a soūd an immoueable and constant foundation and suppose it were true 1. Cor. 3. that we buylt thereon wood stubble hay yet were we not therby debarred from saluation but the Protestāts haue departed from the foundatiō it self they haue forsaken it and except they build vppon the foundatiō which is Christ gold siluer pretious stones which foolishly they boast to be theirs all are proiecta viliora alga wast weedes all fruiteles labours and nothing auay leable to saluation There is one foūdation not two one Church not two one Christ not two if Christ be our foūdation which they cannot deny he is not certaynly theirs they haue made themselues a new Church deuided and separated from ours and that also cannot be a Church because the Church is one not two he who wil be of their Church he must needes be out of the true Church of Christ 26. I confesse that I was deceaued by the English Protestants before I had considered diligently the nature of schisme for when I obiected this fault vnto them some of them replyed that it was not their fault that they communicated not with the Church of Rome who were ready to make vnion and accorde but that the Pope would not receaue them into communion whom he had cut of from him and his by excommunicatiō This excuse for a while seemed vnto me lawfull and reasonable yet when afterwards vppon this ground I beganne in priuate disputes and publick sermons to vrge an vnion which I tooke not to be farre off from making and whiles I striued to put my finger deeper into this festered vlcer I perceaued in England not the English Cōfession which they commended vnto me as modest but the Confession of Caluin and many doting dreames of Luther to be the common rule of their fayth this I perceaued more clearely by the counterfeyt Synod of Protestants at Dort in the which the opinions of the rigid Caluinists by consent and concurrence of the English sect by their ministers sent thither were confirmed which opinions of the rigid Puritans if the confession of the English Church deuided into certain Articles doe not as they pretend include then why vnder the name of the English Profession did the aforesayd Ministers yield their consent and set their hands to these Caluinian excesses How can it be that those who professe themselues most eager enemies of the Church of Rome should be thought to desire vniō with the same Church and the defect thereof not to proceed from their fault How can they cast the fault of their schisme vppon the Tridentine excommunications who before these Anathema's had deuided themselues by schisme from the Catholicke Church and truly by a schime in some sort farre more worse and foule then was the schisme made by Luther and after confirmed by the instigation of Caluin Because England in the begining refrayned from the opinions of Luther and Caluin and charged not the Roman Church with heresy or Idolatry as Lutherans and Caluinists did to couer their schisme withall and yet notwithstanding long after not with so much as any apparent cause it yielded to the common schisme of heretiks The Englishmen now for the most part doe prayse and defend the diuision and separatiō that is made for that they striue for that they fly vnion for that they cast away Charity they labour all they can that agreement doe not succeede and fraternall vnity be fast knit in the bands of peace and many of them say that they would more willingly and more easily haue vnion society with the Turkes then with Papists Is this to be ready to make concord Is this the truth of their wordes when they sayd that it was not their fault they communicated not with the Church of Rome Truly it cannot possibly be that any vnion which I thought might easily haue beene atchieued be made vnlesse they detest all heresies and heretiks and beleeue aright with the Catholike Roman fayth and be vnited vnto the same by perfect Charity 27. Henry the 8. had in manner only contention with the Pope and out of an hereticall spirit denyed his Supremacy and tossed with many discomposed passions