great doubt that then arose in the Church to wit whether the obseruation of the ould law of Moyses should be ioyned necessary with the new law of Christ and because they would leaue a patterne for all succeeding ages to follow they determined the matter and thēselues I meane the Apostles and Prelates of that first age decided the doubt by those high wordes of authority taken from the foresaid commission of our Sauiour Visum est spiritui Sāto Nobis it seemeth good vnto the holy Ghost and vs for the Church and the true spirit of the holy Ghost go inseparably togeather in regard of Christ his promise made vnto the Church so that the holy Ghost euer keepeth his residence in her guideth her gouerneth her directeth her and sitteth as President in all her consultations and assēblyes and therefore this vmpiring and determining forme of speach hath euer since beene vsed in the lawfull succession of the said visible Church vntill our daies will be frequented still especially in generall Councels euen vnto the worlds end to put a firme period and full conclusion vnto all controuersies that come in question And the reason is for that the same authority and assistance of the holy Ghost which that first Church had for directing of mens soules vnto their saluation the very self same and none other hath the visible Catholicke Church of our age and hath had in all ages and shall haue in all to come Verum enim non variat It is an ancient prescription and no more ancient then true Gods giftes and graces conferred vpon his Church are without repētance the holy Ghost is euer one and the selfe same spirit of truth in Patriarkes Prophets Apostles Martyrs and other succeding Pastours and Doctors and Christ his promise was not for one age only he shed not his pretious bloud for those of his age alone but for all all were alike neere vnto him all were alike deare vnto him he tooke our nature in generall to saue mankind in generall and therfore the care he had for one age of the Church the same he had for all succeeding ages of the same as well for the last as for the first and this care of his continueth so long as the sunne and the moone endureth 60. This remittance then and reference vnto the Authority of the Church originally proceeded from the Apostles themselues was continually perpetuated by all succeeding ages of the Catholicke Church and therfore as S. Paul in a controuersy of lesser importance writing to the Corinthians about women being veyled in the Church saith to shut vp the dore to all further cōtention that If any man will seeme to be contentious we haue no such custome nor yet the Church of God repressing the contentious man as you see with the Authority and Custome of the Church so did all subsequent Fathers of the orthodox Church whether it were in the priuat writings or in the worlds grand Parlament in Generall Councells in all their conflicts with Hereticks they euer vsed to repell and represse them by one and the selfe same meanes and that was with the authority of the knowne Catholicke Church And looke what sentence they pronounced against thē for their contumacy see what censure they inflicted vpon them for their heresy it remayned good against them and irreuocable it was ratyfied as the law of the Medes and Persians which could not be altered their authority was grounded immediatly vpon those wordes of Verity VVhat soeuer you bynd on earth shall be bound in heauen and the Tribunall of heauen confirmed the authority of the Church vpon earth nay standeth expecting what is done by it vpon earth such is the mysticall dependency betwixt the one and the other such is the mutuall correspondency betwixt the head and his members Christ and his Church Dare then any man hereafter oppose his priuate spirit against the authority of this Church Or will he impudently presume to preferre his owne conceipt and opinion before her publicke tradition 61. Ancient S. Irenaeus who was in manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apostolorum for he liued in the very next age after them writing against the heresies of his dayes and hauing first declared how the primitiue Church was visibly planted by Christ and his Apostles and how it was continued to his time doth then pourtraict out vnto vs discourse at large of the authority sufficiency treasury tradition and absolute perfection of this Church for the repelling of all heresy and deliuering of all truth his wordes are these Tantae igitur ostensiones cùm haec sint c. Wheras these thinges which I haue said are so great demonstrations of the truth we must not yet seeke the truth from others which is easely taken from the Church wheras the Apostles did most fully lay vp in her all thinges belonging to the truth as in a certaine rich treasure-house so as euery man that will may take from thence the liquor or sustenance of life for that is the intrance vnto life euerlasting to belieue the Church all others that flie this way are theeues and murtherers and therfore we must auoid them that are such but with great diligence we must affect those things that are of the Church and from her take the tradition of truth And truly if our contention were but about some small question in Religion yet ought not we to haue recourse vnto the most ancient Churches wherin the Apostles had once bene conuersant and so take from them that which is certaine and cleere for deciding of the question And what if the Apostles had left vnto vs no Scriptures at all had it not bene needfull notwithstanding to follow the order of tradition which they haue left vnto vs to whome they to wit the Apostles had committed those Churches 62. Thus farre S. Irenaeus which I haue of purpose chosen to cite more at large for that it is sufficient alone to disclose his iudgement and the Iudgment of that first age next after the Apostles how farre the authority of the visible vniuersall Church then stretched and was esteemed for especially for clearing soluing and deciding of all doubtes that possibly could arise in religion And the reason there rendred by the same Father is this She is the store-house wherein Christs merits and the Churches treasure is laid vp She is the way of life whereby we may come to eternall life and escape euerlasting death that all are theeues yea murtherers of soules that doe impugne her or seeke other wayes of tryall then her and her tradition from hand to hand That this tradition is sufficient though there were no Scripture That from her and her alone the truth is to be taken and not els where That by her and her authority alone all doubts and questions are to be so ued and decided Can any thing be spoken more effectuall then this Or is there any more playne easy euident
are certaine wordes purposely deuised and set downe by the said Councell and they be these that follow Deum de Deo Lumen de lumine Deum verum de Deo vero c. That is God of God Light of Light true God of true God begotten not made being of one substance with the Father c. By all which words the meaning of the sacred Coūcell is not only to proue the Equality of Godhead betwixt the Father and the Sonne most blasphemously impugned and denyed by the Arians but further to illustrate the very identity of essence immediatly soly wholy communicated from the Father vnto the Sonne in his eternall generation and therfore do those thrice blessed Fathers call Christ Lumen de Lumine to intimate thus much vnto our vnderstanding for the better comprehending of that mystery that as a light importeth his whole full and perfect light vnto another and yet retayneth the whole in it selfe euen so in that mysticall and inscrutable generation of God the Sonne begotten of God the Father the Father as a light imparteth vnto the Sonne as a another Light in regard of his distinctiue Personall substance his whole light that is his whole entyre nature essence substance and Godhead without section diuision motion mutation or alteration in the Father according to that of S. Nazianzen prescribing against a certaine curious Hereticke too busy in this point 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cast away thy fluxions thy diuisions and sections let the generation of God be reuerenced with silence and yet the Father retaineth the whole in himselfe This forme and manner of speach so materially and methodically set downe by this great Councell and that doubtlesse by the immediate instinct and apparent assistance of the holy Ghost against so great enemies of the sacred Person and Diuinity of our Sauiour as the Arians were M. Ihon Caluin falling into the old vayne of his Arianizing humor as Doctor Hunnius proueth doth vtterly mislike and condemne and presuming to censure it thus Impropriè ac durè dictum esse in Symbolo Filium dei esse Deum de Deo Lumen de Lumen c. that it is improperly and hardly spoken in the Creed that the Sonne of God is God of God Light of Light very God of very God begotten not made consubstantiall to the Father c. affirming moreouer Christum esse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is that Christ is God of himselfe not God of God the Father But may not I say and haue therein the whole Christian world to beare me out Catholicè dictum à Patribus haereticè mutatum à Caluino that it was Catholickly spoken by the Fathers and heretically changed by Iohn Caluin 25. And though here his disciples will go about to free their maister by vrging Cardinall Bellarmine his defence for him in a certaine place of his works wherin he excuseth the said Caluin in some part of his meaning and sense yet poore and miserable is the defence for that the Cardinall expressly condemneth the manner of Caluin his speach as hereticall and intolerably proud and it is hereticall saith he quia pugnat cum Scripturis because it contradicteth the Scriptures it is intolerably proud quia pugnat cum Concilijs cum Patribus it impugneth generall Councels and resisteth the vniforme consent of all pious and religious Antiquity Thus the Cardinall to whome I remit the iudicious Reader for more ample and learned proofe of the same The third Consideration OVR third last Consideratiō of this present Chapter shall insist vpon sundry articles of the Apostles Creed in particuler wherein the Ministers of England that make a profession and that by subscription to admit the whole Creed as it lieth do notwithstanding differ from the sense interpretation and exposition of ancient Church and to exemplify some particuler article the fifth Article is Descendit ad inferos Christ descended into hell which the ancient Fathers did vnderstand litterally as it lieth for so all the articles of the Creed are literally to be expounded to wit that our Sauiour Christ after the consummation of our Redemption by the pretious bloud of his passion leauing his body in the Sepulcher he descēded victoriously like a triumphant conquerour of death Sathan and all the power of hell with his soule into the lower partes of the earth shewing and exhibiting himselfe thereby a conquerour of death and deliuering from thence diuers prisoners and namely the soules of the ancient Fathers Patriarkes and Prophets who ardently expected his comming to open vnto them the gates of heauen according to that in the Hymne of Te Deum which is in wordes acknowledged by the Church of England VVhen thou hadst ouercome the sharpnes of death thou didest open the Kingdome of Heauen to all beleeuers 27. Thus the ancient Church vnderstood this article as may be easily proued by vnamine consent of all Antiquity that expounded it so For first the fourth Councell of Toledo cap. 1. and the Lateran gathered vnder Innocentius the third expound the Article so as appeareth by their wordes plaine to that purpose Descendit ad inferos vt animas quae illic tenebantur erueret Christ descended into hell that he might deliuer the soules which were detayned there 28. Secondly Thaddeus one of Christs 70. Disciples who as he liued in the very time of the Apostles so was it most like nay it could not be otherwaies but he knew the Apostolicall sense of this article and yet he as Eusebius recordeth deliuereth the sense thus Descendit ad inferos disrupit maceriem quam in saeculo nemo disruperat qui descendit quidem solus ascendit autem cum grandi multitudine Christ descended into hell brake down the partitiō-wall which no man had broken from the foundation of the world who indeed descended alone but ascended with a great multitude which being supposed then haue you the testimony of one of Christs holy disciples and no doubt inspired with the spirit of God for warrant of this doctrine 29. With Thaddaus agreeth Ignatius another great Saint and Martyr that liued immediatly after the Apostles and had conuersation with some of them Descendit solus sayth the same Father ascendit cum grandi multitudine Christ descended into hell alone but he ascended with a great multitude With these two so ancient so Apostolicall men accordeth Iustinus Martyr an ancient and renowned Author in the selfe same age next after the Apostles who in his conference or dispute cum Triphone Iudaeo for so is his Dialogue intituled complayneth of the impiety of the Iewes for razing forth the testimony of Hieremy where our Lord is said to descend to hell vt liberaret mortuos suos that he might deliuer his dead thence 30. And now with these three doth all antiquity consent to wit S. Irenaeus in his fifth booke towardes the end Clemens lib. 6. stromatum Origen in his 15. homily vpon Genesis his
to make good against them in the particuler carriage and passage of this present busines of Councells let vs but leaue the barky rind and outward corke and enter into the inward marrow and substance that is let vs giue no credit to their words but looke into their deedes and we shall easily discerne yea the matter will disclose it selfe For to set their wordes aside whome we haue euer found contrary in their deedes if the Church of England do sincerely imbrace and receaue for Catholicke and Orthodoxe these foure first generall Councells which did resemble comprehend and present the whole Primitiue Church for more then foure hundred and fifty yeares togeather after Christ then must it follow if they meane as they say and that their wordes shall not proue wind that the English Church and our lay Parlaments must acknowledge and admit also that doctrine for Catholick and Orthodoxe which without impeachment controllement or contradiction of any can be substantially proued to haue bene taught and held in this visible vniuersall Church whereof these foure Councelles collectiuely represented the whole body for all that tyme. Which foresaid doctrine that both it and euery point therof passed for so many ages vncontrolled this one reason may suffice to proue insteed of all for that the said doctrines should otherwise haue bene noted espied out reprehended and censured by some of these Councells els had they not done their duties neither had they bene so vigilant for the good of the whole body as they ought to haue bene if hauing condemned some heresies as they did they had winked at others Which once to imagine of an Ambrose an Augustine a Hierome for the latin Church a Basill a Chrysostome and an Athanasius for the Greeke nay to suppose it and that confidently though most impudently of all the great Saints and learned Doctors in the world togeather this cannot be no lesse then senselesse absurdity grosse stupidity yea heathenish impiety when as the least of these which I haue named was for learning able to haue resisted the whole Christian world and for their zeale would haue spared none in a point of errour or heresie as I may instance and proue by Tertullian Origen and S. Cyprian were any of these though neuer so great by the rest spared VVere any former merits though neuer so many respected if once they presumed to innouate the least errour whatsoeuer And therefore to strike at the poynt I ayme at in the period of the Conclusion doth the English Church and Parlament admit all the doctrines that were taught in the Church and that continued without the impeachment of any notwithstanding all the zealous vigilant Pastours in the Church I thinke it will make great difficulty and let it reiect them or any of them there needes no more to proue that Church to be hereticall let it admit them it proues it selfe by departure from them and their doctrines to be Apostaticall for that it houldeth not the same points of faith with these foure first Councells which it maketh shew to receiue and imbrace In a word let it admit them or reiect them they shall neuer be able to wipe away the blot and blemish imputation and innouation of damnable errour from their Church For better vnderstanding whereof as also of some other particulers thereto belonging and hereupon necessarily depending I haue thought good to decipher out these ensuing Considerations The first Consideration MY first Consideration which I promise as the very ground-worke and foundation of all the rest must of necessity be this that the Parlament and Church of England admitting these foure first generall Councells of Nyce Constantinople Ephesus and Chalcedon for Orthodoxe and truly Catholicke as representing in their Bishops the complete and entyre body of the Catholicke Church in their seuerall ages must needes acknowledge in like manner that for these first foure hundred and fifty yeares or rather fiue hundred for that it is not probable nay possible that within the compasse of fifty yeares the same should now faile which had allready by vertue of Christ his promise continued foure hundred and fifty yeares the true Catholick Church of Christ consisted not only of the elect and consequently was invisible but of good and bad and therupon was visible vnder visible heades And this was figured by the Parables of the net that caught both good and bad fish and by the field that brought forth good corne and weedes And further that this visible externall Church in those dayes was the very same wherof Christs wordes were to be vnderstood when he gaue this in charge to one vpon occasion and supposal of a complaint made against his brother which if he succeeded not then Dic Ecclesiae tell the Church as also that other of S. Paul that the Church is Columna firmamentum veritatis the Pillar and foundation of truth so as if a man in those dayes would haue had any controuersy in Religion debated and resolued if he would haue knowne what Scriptures the Apostles and Euangelists had committed vnto the custody of the Church for Canonicall Authenticall and further if he desired to know which they were how they might be knowne from counterfait how they might be truly sensed and rightly vnderstood what and how many Sacramēts were left by Christ vnto his Church which they were what were their effects operations how they were to be administred and such other like And if he were a Iew or Gentill that thus demaunded questioning these doubts and would vpon the resolution therof become a Christian but being vnlearned would be instructed in all these cases and the like he was to haue made his repayre and recourse vnto this externall visible Church and to haue stood in all points whatsoeuer vnto her finall determination decision direction instruction and perpetuall gouerment in all these first fiue ages without malepart repugnancy or obstinate reply if he euer intēded to be saued And if vpon any animosity or peruicacity any mā were cast out of that Church in all that time eyther for interpreting Scriptures in his owne sense according to a priuate spirit or for peruerting or innouating de nouo de suo of his owne head or braine in any the least poynt of faith and mystery of Christian religion as the Protestants do both his damnation was by all held and concluded for certaine except he repented and listened yea and obeyed the voice of the Church his mother that sought to reclaine him for that the authority of this Church was euer held for God his highest tribunall vpon earth and therfore irrefragable since the tribunall of heauen standeth expecting what is here done by the Church vpon earth being euer ready to loose or bynd to deliuer ouer vnto Sathan or to release from the bandes of sinne errour and heresy according vnto the former passed doome and sentence of the Church as among other Fathers S. Iohn Chrysostome in his
his Soueraigne I most humbly prostrate my selfe at your Maiesties Princely feete beseeching you euen out of that Royall disposition Princely benignity of good nature wherwith Almighty God hath byn pleased plentifully to enrich you First that you will vouchsafe to heare these pointes or heades seuerally and soundly debated and discussed by the equall match tryall of learned men on both sides either your Maiestyes naturall subiects or strangers as shall best likeyou and by no mans perswasion or disswasion to go backe from so Honorable an offer already made vnto the whole Christian world and secondly not to condemne me of any audacious or head-long presumption in this my interprize tending only to Gods glory and your owne soule-sauing Honour Nor yet lastly in the meane space to take in euill part or sinister sense this my charitable and well-meaning attempt of laying some moderate and modest Considerations before your iudicious graue Wisdome And the rather I presume to begge this at your Maiesties hands since I haue resolued to limit my discourse within the lists and boundes of those foure principall heads mentioned by your Maiesty and worthy of eternall memory 9. And if vniust causes now and then vpon due conuincing circumstances admit a iust defence then pardon me dread Soueraigne and giue me leaue to bring my most iust defēce vnto so iust a cause I want not reasons of the greatest weight to induce me For first my owne interest of soule goeth therein highly impawned and engaged in this very point as hauing amongst other my motiues made my owne resolution for matter of Religion vpon the consideration and foundation of these most Catholick groundes to wit of Scriptures Creeds Councels and ancient Fathers and therefore it importeth me not a litle touching me so neerely to looke them ouer againe since the euer-liuing weale or neuer-dying wo of my soule dependeth necessarily therupon And secondarily my loyall duety vnto your Maiesty and charity to my natiue Countreymen pleadeth for my defence and this is such that it inforceth me to encounter all kind of difficultyes in the vndergoing of this busines For since vpon my second reuiew of the former foure groundes I found that no other foundation could be layd no other rule of faith deuised by any no Angell from heauen teaching the contrary to be belieued For quod vnum est verum est verum quod nonvariat according to that most sure and ancient prescription I thought my selfe in all conscience and duety both before God and man obliged to impart the same with your Maiesty being my naturall borne Prince King Father Lord and Soueraigne and I your dutifull deuoted Subiect 10. Finally if that renowned Moralist Plutarch compiled a speciall Treatise to instruct a man how he should reape benefit vnto himselfe euen by the admonitions endeauours of his professed enemies If that perfect patterne of patience Iob for so the Scripture decyphereth him vnto vs pleading his innocency out of the integrity of his conscience and appealing vnto the Tribunall of heauen for an impartiall doome insinuateth vnto vs by way of demaund that he listened vnto the counsaile of his seruant or handmaid contending with him his words as they lye in the English are expostulatory If I haue refused the counsaile of my seruant or hand-maid contending with me And the answere implied is negatiue that he had not as euidently appeareth by his summoning himselfe to the barre of diuine iustice How much rather should we accept the same from our friends and how much more so great a Monarch as your Maiesty is may be pleased to take in good part the dutifull counsayle of such of your loyall Subiects who from their innermost soules wish all possible good euen externall internall eternall prosperity vnto your Maiesty notwithstanding any malicious clamours suggestions detractions and calumniations of Aduersaries to the contrary or any difference of iudgment on parts in matters of religion Wishing and praying with pure handes and innocent hartes lifted vp vnto Almighty God that this may be one and the selfe same also in tyme that as there is but one God one faith one baptisme and one Lord IESVS CHRIST which is aboue all and in all and ouer all so there may be but one vnion and communion in Catholicke Christian Religion that is one Catholicke Mother Church for euery sinfull wandring and distressed soule to fly vnto for her spirituall repose that after our sea-faring peregrination we may all arriue safely in the hauen of Heauen 11. To conclude of this number of subiects do I ioyfully professe my selfe to be most sincerely promysing and protesting vnto your Maiesty by the faith of a Catholicke Christian the only interest whereby I hope to lay clayme to heauen that I am in verity and indeed without all fraud or collusion euen such a one as sincerely I haue set downe my selfe heere to be that is neyther Priest nor Iesuite nor yet of any other Religious Order but only of the Order and Society of the English Ministry whereof I was made by a Bishop of your Maiesties Realme and licenced to preach by publicke authority for diuers yeares togeather wherein as I trauailed painfully so I should haue continued constantly had I not euidently discouered euen in Caluin the first authour of that schisme and in all his followers nouelty herefy blasphemie insteed of antiquity verity piety And albeit my iudgment in Religion now must needes be changed from theirs vnlesse to the eternall perdition of my soule I should with a guilty conscience fight against heauen in fighting against the knowne Catholicke truth as I feare me too many of the learneder sort of Protestants in England do yet remayne I still and euer shall by God his sauing grace with all dutifull obseruance towards your Maiesty out of which duty of a subiect towards his soueraigne I shall incessantly powre forth my prayers and teares before the throne of heauen implore the God of Truth to lead your Maiesty into all truth that you may heere according to that high place wherin God hath set you help to reare vp the ruines of the Church militant that you may become a glorious member of the triumphant 12. And now hauing bene longer and more prolixe in this my Epistle dedicatory then at the beginning I had purposed I shall most humbly supplicate your said Excellent Maiesty to licence me for a time to depart from your Royall Presence and to turne my speach to the Christian Reader in treating of the heades that are to be handled For so much as it seemeth not conuenient for me to continue my speach for so long time vnto your Maiesties own Person but rather with due reuerence declining the same to lay forth before the discreet Reader these things which seeme to me to be of most consideration and ponderation in the points proposed by your Maiesty whereby many may be informed though one be named And with this I beseech the
Highest euer with his eternall Protection to preserue your Maiesty to his greatest glory and the true comfort of your loyall Subiects So be it Amen THE FIRST CHAPTER CONTEYNING AN ENTRANCE INTO THIS TREATISE OR TRIAL How much it importeth to be a Catholicke and no Hereticke AND With how great reason his Maiestie endeauoureth to cleare himselfe and his Royall Person from the imputation of Heresy IF this short cut of our transitory pilgrimage heere in this vale of misery be but a moment whereupon eternity of saluation or damnation doth necessarily depend according to that of S. Leo the first Ex qualitate temporalium actionum differentiae retributionum pendeant aeternarum from the quality of temporall actions the diuersity of eternall retributions do depend If Gods secret iudgement towardes his Non in compede aut in pileo vertitur sed in aeternitate aut poenae aut salutis as ancient Tertullian auoucheth that is if it be not a matter of bondage or liberty manu-mission or captiuity that commeth in question to be discussed before the heauenly tribunall but endlesse paine or interminable glory If this neuer-dying life or euer-liuing death be eyther awarded or inflicted achieued or incurred according to mans free choice of faith or infidelity Catholicke Religion or Heresy made heere in the Church or out of the Church as euery man is a member of the Church militant or malignāt then singular is the importance and absolute necessary the decison and knowledge of this one mayne question purposely moued to discerne who is the Catholicke who is the Hereticke since the premised eternity of weale or woe blisse or bale is promised to the one and threatned to the other 2. The very consideration of these two weighty precedent circumstances of eternall glory or endlesse paine wrought such an impression in the hart of his royall Maiesty of England yea such care and such feare and such zeale of clearing himselfe to speake in the phrase of the Apostle that in my iudgement he thought that the weighty counsaile of Tertullian worthy of eternall memory of euery one that hath a soule to saue ought to be imbraced and followed of him to wit Cui seueritati declinandae vel liberalitati inuitandae tanta obsequij diligentia opus est quanta sunt ipsa quae aut seueritas comminatur aut liberalitas pollicetur It is in his place before cyted inferred vpon those premises which went before that is for auoyding of which seuerity and inuiting of which liberality our obedience must vse such diligence as the things thēselues are of moment which either the seuerity doth treaten or the liberality doth promise 3. Hence proceedeth that worthy industry vsed by his Maiesty in clearing himselfe from that foule crime of heresy And hence came that voluntary confession concerning his Maiesties religion inforcing him to break forth into that earnest and serious protestation viz. I will neuer be ashamed to render an accompt of my profession and of that hope that is in me as the Apostle prescribeth I am such a Catholicke Christian as beleeueth the three Creeds c. And then do ensue the foure heads before layd downe a sentence contayning in it a cōfession worthy to be stamped in characters of gould and to be written with a pen of iron and with the point of a Diamond that it may be euerlastingly remembred and neuer buried in ashes of obliuion and if wordes can be witnesses of the mind the hart must nedes be well meaning and sincere whence such wordes proceed For I wil neuer imagine that of his Maiestie which is to common now adayes vnum in ore promptum aliud in pectore clausum where wordes passe as coyned to serue the present time and as they shall make for the most aduantage of the speaker Oh what great pitty were it that his Maiesty should be misled in matters of that importance as immediatly concerne his eternall saluation and the soules welfare of all his subiects especially since he is in regard of religion which vnder his authority is there mantayned to render an accompt to God not only for himsefe in particuler but for al his subiects in generall Such is the burthen of all them who by their place and dignity haue highest authority ouer others 4. Now albeit his Matie doth vpon some occasion or other defer the handling of the Scriptures and the credit due vnto them vnto the fourth and last place yet to me it seemeth most conuenient to treat therof in the first of this my discourse according to the dignity and preheminency of the subiect it selfe But yet before I enter into the lists of this argument I haue esteemed it expedient for sundry causes to premise this other Chapter cōcerning the name and attributes nature and circumstances properties and differences prerogatiues and domages of being a Catholick or Hereticke as also to lay downe some way how to try the same to which purpose I haue thought good to addresse certaine seuerall Considerations which do ensue in euery Chapter The first Consideration CONCERNING the wordes Catholicke and Hereticke these being great wordes they do admit a twofold signification the first is generall and naturall the second more speciall and Ecclesiasticall 6. Touching the generall naturall acception of the wordes they import as much as vniuersall or whole or choice or chooser and howsoeuer vpon the first view and superficiall insight they appeare not to be so greatly opposite and contrary the one to the other but that in diuers respects they may agree and stand togeather for that both the thing which is whole or vniuersall may be chosen and that which is chosen by election may in some sense be whole or vniuersall yet in the speciall and Ecclesiasticall appropriation of these words inuented by the holy Ghost and retayned and brought into Ecclesiasticall vse and Canon by the Christian Church there is such an extreme opposition and irreconciliable hostility in respect of their contrary natures and effects as that nothing amongst Christian men can be more opposite and contradictory no not light darknes heauen and hell vertue and vice saluation and damnation God and Beliall For as Isaac and Ismael the sonne of the bond-woman and the heire of promise could not dwell togeather in one house as Iacob and Esau could not agree togeather in one wombe but contended togeather wherupon Rebecca complayned and expostulated with God If the matter be euen so why am I conceaued In one word to shut vp all in a word as the flesh and the spirit continually iarre and are at difference in one and the same man Euen so the Catholicke and the Heretick as another Isaac and Ismael as another Esau and Iacob as the flesh and the spirit they can neuer dwell togeather in Gods house they can neuer agree togeather in one wombe the wombe of the Church one of them must be cast out of the
that to the pit of hell Yet notwithstanding let the Catholick but pursue them and arrest them of sacrilegious Church-theft for stealing this title they dare not stand to try the issue before the Tribunall of the Church but presently as guilty they fly away renouncing their stolne tytle and so it returneth to the right owner And is it any meruaile that maugre their heades they are inforced to this restitution when they are at such opposition amongst themselues as is formerly noted which very opposition it selfe setting all other arguments of the Catholick a part doth euidently shew and demonstratiuely conuince vnto their faces that they cannot be Catholicks indeed because Catholicum vbique vnum as the foresaid Father Pacianus noteth that is Catholicke in Christian Religion which is euery where one and the selfe same For as Christs seamelesse coat was whole intyre and vndeuided it is S. Cyprian his comparison and it is well worthy our obseruation euen so must the spouse and Church of Christ figured by this coate be whole intyre vndeuided and one in it selfe and thereupon saith S. Syprian Possidere non potest indumentum Christi qui scindit et diuidit Ecclesiam Christi He can neuer possesse the coate of Christ who renteth and teareth the Church of Christ. 24. But alas Catholicke Communion and Catholicke Vnion cannot be found much lesse verified in and of Protestant religion not only in those old imagined times ages of their supposed Primitiue Church which they ridiculously and impudently contra scientiam contrae conscientiam do challenge vnto themselues but neither in these very ages wherin they haue peeped out of Chymerian nay out of Infernall darknes and bene knowne to the world by the names of Protestants Lutherans Caluinists and the like I say not in these times can they shew Vbique vnum amongst themselues in mayne and many articles of Christian beliefe And this I can partly speake vpon my owne experience had amongst them for many yeares during which time I could neuer yet God I take to witnes as righteous Iudg find any two of thē agreeing togeather in all points of faith and partly I can proue yt by infinite bookes written by themselues wherin they fall togeather by the eares discouer their owne shame vpon their owne skirts Ephraim against Manasses Manasses against Ephraim both against Iudah that is Lutherans against Caluinists Caluinists against Lutherans yet both like Simeon Leui Fratres in malo in the euill of Schisme and Heresy they can ioyne handes and conspire against Catholicks and Catholick verity And this conuinced my vnderstanding that Protestants could not be Catholicks and therfore I passed to the other syde where I found indeed vbtque vnum euery where one in all points of their beliefe throughout the world togeather with that vniuersality antiquity consent and succession which the foresaid Vincentius Lyrinensis that good old Monke Professour of Euangelical Coūsailes of perfection that liued in S. Augustine his time setteth downe in the name of the whole Catholicke Church in his time as the certaine signes markes and tokens of the true Catholick Church indeed And this much shall suffice for this first Consideration about the wordes Catholicke and Hereticke Let vs passe vnto the second The second Consideration YF the changing of Abraham his name from Abram into Abraham was full of mysticall consolation because it confirmed him in the promyse of the Messias and for that he should be the father of many nations Genes 17 5. if Iacob his name being turned into Israel was fraught with comfort and that for these two especiall reasons first because he had preuailed with God secondly because he should preuaile against men Genes 32. 28. O then how comfortable and how amiable how full of solace heauenly delight ought this glorious through the whol Christiā world renowned name of Catholicke to be vnto vs since it confirmeth vs nay assureth and sealeth vnto vs all Gods promises made vnto the Church it is the Father of many nations comprehending all true beleeuing Christians within the lap and bosome of the Church it preuaileth with God procuring his heauēly benediction and neuer departing without a blessing and it preuaileth against men distinguishing betwixt wolues and sheepe separating all false worshippers from the true belieuers 26. And now as this Name of Catholick began to be vnto me most amiable and comfortable conteyning in it so many priuiledges and prerogatiues and being so highly reputed esteemed and commended by all sacred Antiquity euen from the Apostles dayes downwards vnto our times though Sempronianus the Nouatian Heretick obiected to the forenamed Father Pacianus as the Hereticks do to vs in these dayes that sub Apostois nemo Catholicus vocabatur no man was called Catholicke vnder the Apostles so on the other side comparing contraries together quae iuxta seinuicem posita magis illucescunt which being opposit are the clearer reuealed I considered with all possible attention that the Name of Hereticke was most dreadfull aboue all other names vpō the earth as before I haue noted at large And therfore if euer there were a Cham accursed of his Father as you shall read there was Genes 9. 25. then the Hereticke is this Cham accursed of God the Father and anathematized of the Church his mother This is Benoni that sonne of the mothers sorrow as Rachael pronounced of Beniamin the byrth of this sonne would be the death of his mother he came from her wombe but he will not abide in her bosome agreeing with that of the Apostle Prodierunt ex nobis sed non erant ex nobis nam si fuissent ex nobis permansissent nobiscum Sed vt manifesti sint quod non sunt omnes ex nobis They wēt forth from vs but they were not of vs for if they had beene of vs they would haue remayned with vs. But here by they are manifested not to be all of vs. And therfore to expresse if it be possible in a word the horror of this Name as the childrē of the prophets cried vnto Elizcus the prophet after they had tasted the potage Mors in olla vir Dei mors in olla death is in the pot o man of God death is in the pot Euē so may I more iustly take vp this cōplaint cry out vnto euery man of God that is a true mēber of the Catholick Church that against all Heresy the very name Heretick Mors in nomine Mors in nomine there is nothing but death destruction desolation dānation in this very Name 27. And heere we shall be inforced as it were to ponder vpon this point somewhat more at large and to extend the bondes of this ensuing Consideration especially for so much as concerning vs so neare as it doth this matter cannot be but worthy of our weightiest ponderation and the rather will we the more deliberately consider of this point for
Religion To this I answere in generall that the Diuell and all Heretickes had their Scriptures as well as they as many and more then they but the truth is sheeps clothing belongeth not to wolues nor Scriptures to them their possession of thē is meer intrusiō into thē therfore according to that excellent prescription of Tertullian first they should prooue their right of possession of them before they so bouldly aduentured vpon the interpretation of them which since they could neuer yet do it is apparant and out of questiō that they haue no more right vnto the Scriptures then the Diuell himselfe and all former Heretickes haue had vnto them 37. Yf besides the Scripture they plead the spirit for this is their other ground and these two be all the groūds that euer I could perceyue they had for their Protestāticall Religion I answere this spirit is a spirit of priuate interpretation their owne proper inuention and election it is not the spirit of the Church it is not the spirit of the holy Ghost that breathed these Scriptures and therefore it is the spirit of the Diuell the spirit of all their Grādprogenitors ancient Hereticks And now to cut of with one blow the heades of all pryuate spirits let S. Bernard himselfe speake for me and strike for me Nonnulli adesse putant spiritū cùmnon adest suumque sensum prosensu spiritus sequūtur deuiantes Many thinke they haue the spirit when they haue it not and fall into error following their own sense for the sense of the holy Ghost Dare any man hereafter vaunt of his priuate spirit All this and much more is implied in the heauenly admonition of our Sauiour Beware of false prophets and which was my first place of Scripture against Hereticks I come to the second which followeth thus 38. The Apostle S. Paul that trumpet of the Apostles Preacher of the world and discloser of heauenly mysteries thundereth out a terrible commination against an Hereticke whereby he insinuateth to leaue a premonition to all succeeding posterity to be ware of heresy And albeit I haue touched the place somwhat in the former Consideration in disclosing the nature of heresy yet here I must returne to the same againe for better laying forth the miserable effectes therof and the care the said Apostle had to haue it eschued Auoid saith he an hereticall man after the first or second reprehension knowing that he that is such a one is peruerted and sinneth as damned by his owne iudgment Vpon which place S. Hierome writeth thus Haeretici sententiam in seipsos ferunt suo arbitrio ab Ecclesia recedenies quae recessio propriae conscientiae videtur esse damnatio Heretickes giue sentence vpon themselues and are damned vpon their owne iudgment for that they depart from the Church euen out of their owne selfe will and this departure seemeth to be the damnation of their owne conscience expressely mentioned by S. Paul So S. Hierome And can there be any thing more terrible or dreadfull then this Againe Auoid an Hereticke propter periculum propter consortium propter poenam so S. Thomas vpon this place First auoid them in regard of the perill of infection serma enim illorum serpit vt cancer Secondly auoid them in regard of their fellowship and communion that you be not wrapped and intangled in their sinne whilest you seeme by your familiarity with them to consent vnto the same Lastly auoid them propter poenam euen for feare of the punishment of condemnation which hangeth ouer their heads and yet moneatur let him be admonished to see whether he will amend If he amend not after once or twice admonition auoyd him si curari poterit non est vitandus si non dimittend us est If he can be healed of his heresie he is not to be auoided If he cannot be cured he is to be shunned Hitherto S. Thomas 39. My third place is out of S. Iude conteining a very dreadfull description of Hereticks yea so terrible that the very consideration therof were able to make a man to treamble lest he should be any way intangled and infected with this fearefull sinne of heresie either in being an Hereticke himselfe obstinate and malicious or in beleeuing them as being seduced by them For after the Apostle had premised the salutation togeather with the motiue of his Epistle which was to beseech them Supercertare semel iraditae Sanctis fidei to stand fast and fight for the faith once deliuered vnto the Saintes which were the first Christians presently he giueth a most serious warning to all sorts of Christians of the approach and intrusion of Heretickes Subintroierunt enim quidam homines c. There haue crept in certaine men saith he prescribed or prepared from the beginning vnto this terrible iudgment wicked men who haue turned the grace of God into wantonnes c. And then he thundreth out a terrible commination against them sāying VVoe be vnto them that haue gone in the way of Cain and haue for reward powred out themselues with the errour of Balaam and haue perished in the contradiction of Chore. So he And that this contradiction of Chore against Moyses Aaron for which he his conspirators were by Gods iust wrath swallowed quicke vp into hell the earth opening her mouth deuouring thē represented the contradictiō of all Hereticks against the Catholicke Church and Gouernours thereof no man that hath any insight into Deuinity can deny and therfore our Apostle S. Iude who alludeth and compareth betwixt them denounceth Gods vengeance yet further against them Quibus procella tenebrarum seruata est in aternum for whom a tempest of darknes or of torments in darknes is reserued for all eternity And this being so will any one call another hereticke in iest Or is there any cry me so dreadfull as this 40. But if we passe from the Apostles and Scriptures them selues vnto the succeeding Primitiue Church and withall hould their iudgment sense and feeling concerning Heresy we shall find that all of thē without exception of any one had this very spirit of detesting anathematizing flying and auoiding Heretickes aboue all other sinners and malefactors vpon earth yea wheras towardes others neuer so great greieuous and heyncus offendours wee are exhorted willed and ioyned to be benigne sweet meeke compassionate and the like the cleane contrary is counsailed vnto vs against Heretickes to witt not to salute them not to eat or drinke with them not to receiue them into our houses not to conuerse with them but to fly them abhorre them detest and auoid them as pests and plagues and poysoned serpents infecting vs with the inuenomed poyson of hell as damned soules already vpon earth damned by the guilt of their owne conscience and by the irreuokable sentence of diuine Iustice as before we haue signifyed And that which is most worthy our obseruation such seruantes of God as were otherwise
antiquity well the admonition is this Caue Christiane Lector c. Beware Christian Reader of the bookes of Iohn Caluin especially in the articles of Trinity of the Incarnation of the Mediator of Baptisme of Predestination c. for that they doe containe most impious and blasphemous doctrine So he VVhereby is vnderstood not only the censure of the Lutheran Church concerning the Caluinists doctrine but also in what articles the difference betwixt them doth principally consist and these are neither few in number nor meane in nature as you see confirmed by the particular exceptions VVhich articles are reiterated by other Lutheran writers as namely by Albertus Grauerus in his booke intituled The warre of Iohn Caluin with Iesus Christ which booke was set forth in the yeare of our Redemption 1598. wherin he sheweth that the Articles wherby the Lutherans do cheifly differ from the Caluinists hereticall doctrine are of the person of Christ of the Supper of our Lord of Baptisme and of Predestination And Iacobus Halbruneir another Lutheran Doctor published an other booke the same yeare before to proue Caluinisme to be heresy and to the former articles of Albertus he addeth other two wherin Lutherans and Caluinists do deepely dissent which are de Maiestate Christi Ministerio Verbi wherby he maketh it euident that Caluinists are truly and properly Hereticks to Lutherans And this for the second point 80. Yt resteth now that I come vnto the third ranke of English Protestants and Puritans which are two different sects of Caluins doctrine which are found togeather in no state or Kingdome perhaps of Christendome but only in England And although some Protestant writers for dissembling their owne diuisions when they deale with Catholickes will needes forsooth acknowledge them for brethren as not differing from them in any substantiall point of Doctrine yet in all their other writings eyther against them or of them they disclose playnly what they thinke of ech other holding them both for Schismaticks and Hereticks in respect of their Protestant Church Which being presumed by them as they must needes presume to be the only true Catholike Church it must needes follow that Puritans who from their innermost soules detest the same and the communion thereof as Antichristian must needes be Sectaries nay Heretickes to that Church And this is consonant to the doctrine of these Scriptures and most conformable to the opinion of ancient Fathers as is before copiously in the precedent Considerations asseuered 82. For confirmation of which dissention capitall and reall hostility betweene our Puritans and Protestants in sundry mayne points of their Religion I might heere alledge and produce infinite authorityes and innumerable arguments if I should not surcharge my Treatise The two bookes yet extant printed by publicke authority in one and the selfe same yeare I meane the Suruey of the holy pretended Discipline compiled as it is thought by him that is now arriued to the highest pitch of Ecclesiasticall dignity in that Kingdome and the other bearing the inscription of daungerous Positions ascribed to Doctour Sutcliffe both of them receyuing presse at London by Iohn VVolfe Anno Dom. 1593. do sufficiently notifie vnto the world how reconciliable the Puritan position is with the Protestant Religion and that in sundry Articles of great weight and moment And amongst many others which to auoid prelixity I purposly omit the titles of the 22. and 23. Chapters of the Suruey are these That they to wit the Puritans do take from Christian Princes ascribe vnto their pretended regiment the supreme and immediate authority vnder Christ in causes Ecclesiasticall and in the oppugning theros do ioyne with the Papists Whereupon I inferre that if this spirituall Supremacy be any substantiall point of doctrine amongst the Protestants then the obstinate repugnance therof by the Puritans must needes be Schisme and Heresy 82. I pretermit diuers other bookes whereof I haue beene an eye witnesse how purposely and directly they treat of these matters as namely the Answere of the Vicechancelor Doctors of Oxford vnto the petition of a 1000. Puritans Anno Dom. 1603. wherein it is plainely conuinced that the Puritans hould their platforme of Ecclesiasticall gouerment of the gouerment of Christ vpon earth for a thing of no lesse importance then is the Ghospell of Jesus Christ. They hold it further for an essentiall part of their said Ghospell for a matter of faith to be receyued vpon paine of damnation for an essentiall marke of the true Church without the which the Protestants Church is no Church their faith no faith their Ghospell noe Ghospell c. And to conforme to that which M. Rogers writeth in his Preface to the Bishops Articles where he testifieth that the Puritans do hold their platforme differing from the Protestants to be a speciall part of the Ghospell yea the very Ghospell it selfe to be of such importāce as if euery haire of their heades were a life they ought to affoard them all in defence therof So they And in sober sadnes supposing their principles to be true haue they not great reason for that their differences be in so maine very substantiall points if we refere them to their heades wherof there is extant a very substantiall declaration and conuiction as to me it seemeth in the Preface of the Catholicke Deuine in his answere to Syr Edward Cookes fifth part of Reportes whither I referre the ingenous iudicious Reader for further perusall of this point for there it is shewed and irrefragably against all impugners therof proued how essentiall and substantiall difference of doctrine there is about the origen of Ecclesiasticall power and authority betweene the Protestantes Puritans and Catholickes of England the one that is the Protestāt ascribing it to their temporall Prince the other challenging it as most properly pertayning to their priuate Conuenticles Assemblies the last third to the Succession of Bishops from the Apostles the consequence wherof is this that whosoeuer of the three parties haue the right in this point there only is the true Church there alone is the true Ecclesiastiall Authority of preaching teaching or dayning Ministers administring Sacraments exercising Censures and Iurisdiction binding or loosing remitting or retaining sinnes and the like c. And for the other two Churches they do remayne as secular and prophane Congregations without any vitall spirit of Ecclesiasticall power at all Let them then contend neuer so much about the keys of Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction yet the plaine truth is they shall neuer be able to open or shut the gates of heauen vnto their owne friendes or against their enemies 83. And for as much as the Puritans also in their plea do perswade themselues to haue the right on their side they must needes inferre the other consequence against the Protestant Church houlding it to be no Church as the foresaid answere of Oxford Doctors pag. 15. doth confesse that the Brownists do ancrre
the Anabaptist can euer be conuinced of his heresies by any groundes of Protestant Religion VVill the Protestant appeale him to the Scripture The Anabaptist can produce more texts and alleage more plentifull places of Scripture then he can Will he referre the interpretation of the places cyted on both sides to the spirit The Anabaptist presently presumeth and braggeth of a greater measure of the spirit then he Will the Protestant accuse his spirit as erroneous and authour of a wrong interpretation as Micheas truly charged the false Prophets of Iezabel when he could them that Sathan had offered vnto Almighry God that he would go forth and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all Achabs false prophets Then will he reply againe as Zidkiah did And when departed the spirit of the Lord from me to speake in thee VVill he conuent him before the Consistory and sribunall of the Protestant Church Bishops therof as diuers haue bene and were burned by them The Anabaptist presently complayneth and in this very iustly that it is no indifferēt kynd of tryall to be iudge in their owne cause Finally will the Protestant remit it to the vmpiring of any other present Church or be content that all Controuersies betwixt them shall fall to the decision of the Fathers The Anabaptist kicketh against that cutteth of all meanes of triall with this text of Scripture Spiritualis homo omnia dijudicat ipse à nemine iudicatur The spirituall man iudgeth all thinges and needeth not to be iudged of any Thus we see euen amongst Sectaries thēselues Controuersies grow endlesse by Scriptures though all pretend to belieue Scriptures and plentifully to cyte the same 12. Moreouer where the Puritans actiō in England swaicth most as very vsually in good towns great citties it doth there shall you find all their Preachers of this humour they haue nothing in their mouthes but the Ghospell of Christ the Ghospell of Christ the pure Word of the Lord as though their false corrupted Geneuiā Translatiō were eyther part of the Ghospell or Word of God And they seeme so farre forth to confide to their English translatiō as that they affect to alleage Scriptures only putting one vpō the necke of an other disdayning as it were to quote any Father or ancient writer for interpretation of Scriptures or confirmation of their doctrine esteeming their own expositions though neuer so vaine and impertinent to be firme groundes for building any thing thereon as out of the Scriptures 13. And here I remember that not many moneths past perusing priuately with my selfe the foresaid booke of O. O. Emanuel written by a Protestant against the Puritans he among other things discouereth vnto the German with whome he maketh his Dialogue some 15. seuerall places of Scripture so falsely and impertinently alleadged by Puritan writers that the German is inforced to conclude Thus I see already how ridiculous they are And verily he that shall read the places alleadged weigh them with any iudgement will confesse that they are ridiculously applyed indeed and yet with their followers all must be Scriptures which they speake and the pure word of God vttered by the instinct of the spirit be it neuer so fantastically or fanatically applyed 14. VVell then to come to the Conclusion when I saw and considered all this and had weighed the same with that indifferency of iudgement that I possibly could as in a matter so much impotting my soule it stood me vpon I began first to suspect this spirit of Luther that auerred so confidently his assurance of the Scriptures and true vnderstanding thereof against a thousand Cyprians a thousand Augustines hauing no other ground thereof then his owne particuler perswasion to that effect which perswasion notwithstanding was and is in many points held proued to be erroneous by such as followed his breach and namely by the Church of England in which I saw many that reiected him to be as confident in their owne perswasion and to auerre for Scriptures and the true Word of God whatsoeuer themselues did found out of the Bible in their owne sense and consequently I did inferre as a most certayne sequele that this profession of admitting beleeuing or following Scriptures ech man out of his owne sense and iudgement without any certayne rule band or limit of exposition cannot be sufficient to proue a man a Christian Catholicke and no Hereticke for that it may open the way to be an Hereticke if his choice of interpretation be erreneous And thus much of this first Consideration There followeth the second The second Consideration VVHEN Almighty God of his infinite goodnes mercy after that immeasurable space of eternity wherein the Blessed Trinity had raigned gloryously triumphed without any creatures condescended to make a world and to create man and consequētly vouchsafed therby to institute a visible society company or Church vpon earth to acknowledge serue and honour him leauing vnto them sufficient directions whereby they might accomplish their seruice to him and thereby to arriue to the hauen of happines the same most wise God gouerned the said Church for more then two thousand yeares without any writtē word that is now extant And after this large space when it pleased the Diuine Maiestie that the history of the worlds creation mans propagation c. should be committed to writing for the benefit of succeeding posterity he stirred vp that great gouernour of his people and Prophet Moyses inabled him with a great measure of his principall and propheticall spirit inspired him and then appointed him to compyle those famous bookes commonly called in Greeke Pentateuch the first fiue bookes of the Byble to wit Genesis the booke of creation Exodus the booke of their departure out of Egipt Leuiticus the booke of Priests and Sacrifices Numeri the booke of numbring the people and Deuteronomy the booke of the lawes repetition 16. In like manner the same God whose pleasure was euer to be with the sonnes of men houlding the high hand of his diuine prouidence ouer his Church inspired likwise and appointed others also after the example of Moyses holy men to compose and write other bookes afterwards vpon diuers and sundry occasions offered as in the ould Tement may be seene But yet we shall not find that any of those bookes of Moyses or any of the rest that were written by the other Authors were digested and collected in manner and method of orderly institutions as in all other arts and sciences is wont to be done but rather by peece-meale and by parts as occasion fell out the Authors therof principally intending an historicall narration rather then any exact doctrinall instruction and the reason is this for that the ordinary institution and instruction of euery man how he ought to beleeue liue feare and serue God was for all this tyme before the law written to be taken only from the Church by traditions of Fathers to their
children and after the said law was written also euery man and woman was not remitted promiscuously hand ouer head to the reading of those bookes but he was sent to take his instruction and institution from the ordinary Superiours Doctors Gouernors of that Church and these were to expound the law vnto him For which direction and tradition we find this warrant and commaunding yea prescribing authority Aske thy Fathers and they will tell thee thy elders and they will declare vnto thee Againe The lipes of the Priest preserue knowledge And yet in a third place I know that Abraham will demaund and teach his sonnes and househould that they walke in my wayes c. 17. And now to come from the law to the Ghospell from Moyses vnto Christ and so to proceed orderly with the history of the Church as God is no changling but euer like himselfe euen so the beginning proceeding establishing of the new Christian faith and Church was not much vnlike if not altogeather resembling the former For first this Church was planted by our Sauiour at Hierusalem and speedily by the industrious ministery of the holy Apostles assisted by the instinct of the holy Ghost spread ouer the face of the earth and yet neyther the Church nor the Apostles the principall pillars of the Church had as at this time any written instruction or methodicall institution deliuered vnto them concerning their teaching preaching or beleeuing except only the articles of the Creed deliuered by tradition in the Church as will appeare in the subsequent Considerations Secondly the institution that they had they receyued it by instruction from our Sauiour his mouth and from the immediate instinct suggestion and inspiration of the holy Ghost who was promised by Christ himselfe who could not lie nor deceaue to assist the Church continually vnto the worldes end and by this institution and inspiration alone they taught and conuerted both Iewes and Gentils instituted Churches establishing lawes and orders of life by word of mouth and tradition only from hand to hand before any thing of the new testament was committed to writing And this was the condition of the Church for some yeares and that in the infancy and purity of Christian Religion as the Protestant must perforce confesse Thirdly when the Wisdome of heauen thought it expedient that somthing should be written the first thing cōmitted vnto writing in the new Testamēt was the Ghospell of S. Matthew and this was collected and digested in that very order as it is now presented to the Church and that some eight yeares after the ascension of our Sauiour then the Ghospell of S. Marke some fiue yeares after that then that of S. Luke written twelue yeares after the former wherin diuers thinges omitted in the other Ghospell of are recorded And last of all was written the Ghospell of S. Iohn conteyning in it many great and important matters which are not found in any of the rest and this was not written of 66. yeares after the first visible Christian Church was planted and established by the comming of the holy Ghost 18. And now as all the rest were written vpon particuler occasions so especially was this famous Ghospell of S. Iohn which is the very key opening the dore vnto the vnderstanding of all the rest and particulerly vpon the occasion of Ebion and Cerinthus their heresy which impugned the Diuinity of the Sonne of God Whereupon I do inferre that for that which concerneth the new Testament the Church was for diuers yeares without any Scriptures at all and for 66. yeares which is the age of a man the points related by S. Iohn more then were vttered in the other Ghospells which are many and most important were receiued and belieued in the Church by tradition onely And now for Conclusion of all I would demaund but one thing of the Protestants that make such shew of appealing vnto Scriptures and the Primitiue Apostolicall Church this was demāded aboue 1400. yeares agoe by S. Irenaus before cyted who liued in the very next age after the Apostles vpon the very like occasion Sineque Apostoli Scripturas reliquissent nobis c. If the Apostles had left vnto vs no Scriptures at all yet ought not we to follow that order of tradition which they left to those to whom they committed their Churches So that holy Bishop and Martyr especially ought we not to follow that order of tradition since the true worship of God and the sauing doctrine of the Ghospell of Christ cōtinued for 2000. yeares in the time of the law and for many other yeares in the dayes of the Ghospell and that in the brest of the Church to be deliuered by tradition only without the help of any word written 19. Wherby we cannot but discerne and must acknowledge that Scriptures or the written word of God were not so absolute necessary for the reuealing of God his will vnto man kind and the continuing of man in that sauing knowledge of him but that his Diuine Maiesty might haue propagated and preserued his doctrine and man in the truth by tradition only of word of mouth without any Scriptures at all if it had so pleased him as he did for many ages and generations togeather both before the first great diluge by water in the dayes of our first Patriarkes vntill Abrabā his time whome he chose for the head of his people as also afterwardes when he directed the same people by like tradition as well in Egipt where they remayned in most cruell bondage for 400. yeares as else where before Moyses wrote his forenamed bookes And the like he might haue done with Christiās to the worlds great generall consummation last inundation by a flood of fire according to S. Irenaeus his sentence if he had listed as hauing instituted a more orderly exact and authorized Church yea and hauing indued it with greater priuiledges according to the perfection of the new law aboue the old then he had done vnto the former of the Iewes Whereupon it must needes follow by force of necessary consequence that the tradition of this Church and pure authority therof both in propounding Scriptures vnto vs and discerning the same which are truly Scriptures and which are not as also for deliuering vnto vs the true sense and meaning therof in their interpretation and exposition is much more to be respected by vs then was that of the Iewes Forasmuch as Christ our Sauiour promised the continuall assistance of his spirit vnto this Church and that in such measure as that it should alone be able to withstand all the infernall power of Sathan and the gates of hell idest the very entrance of all kynd of errour or herely into it whatsoeuer 20. These then that neuer so solemnely and neuer so confidently professe that they for their partes do belieue and follow the Scriptures without due reference or respect to the Church forsomuch as all Sectaries and Heretikcs that
Creedes for do not they both expound and vnfould that high and obstruse mystery of the Godhead of Christ his identity and equality of substance power and glory with God his Father witnesse those wordes added and vsed in the Councell of Nice about 310. yeares after Christ Deum de Deo Lumen de Lumine Deum verum de Deo vero genitum non factum consubstantialem Patri God of God Light of Light very God of very God begotten not made being consubstantiall to the Father c. Witnesse S. Athanasius his Creed that was made by him in Rome for Confession of his fayth some 15. yeares after that againe wherein there is found that exact manner of speach distinguishing the persons of the Blessed Trinity Qualis Pater talis Filius talis Spiritus Sanctus Such as the Father is such is the Sonne and such is the holy Ghost and then he setteth downe more particulerly the distinctiue appellations and peculiar proprieties belonging vnto euery person as the Father vnbegotten the Sonne begotten of the Father the holy Ghost proceeding asmuch as if in plaine tearmes he had said the Father distinguished with this personall propriety of begetting a Sonne is a Father and no Sonne the Sonne distinguished with his personall propriety of being begotten is a Sonne and not a Father the holy Ghost distinguished by his personall propriety of proceeding is an holy Ghost neyther Father nor Sonne 14. By all which we see the exceeding great authority of the Church in determining these different manners of speach in disclosing this ineffable and inutterable mystery of the Trinity which are not found at all totidem verbis in the Scriptures and therefore were denied by the Scripturian Heretickes for as learned Hosius noteth and it is the obseruation of S. Ambrose against one only article of our Sauiours consubstantiality with his Father they alleaged 50. places of Scripture I meane the Arians who did beare great sway and insinuated themselues into the fauour of the Emperors for the better supporting of their damnable heresies as the Protestants do creepe into the fauour of our King at this day for the vphoulding of their errors and therefore great pitty it was that the Protestants and Arians had not liued in one age togeather that they might haue ioyned hands ech one with another who do so neare resemble ech one the other in their behauiour and manner of proceeding 15. VVell then we see that the former mysteries of the Diety and Trinity could be determined by no other power and authority vpon earth then by that supreme power of the Church for that expresse warrant of Scripture there was none in their pretence for many of these wordes that are now vsed and frequented by the Church in the explication of these Creedes were not then in vse but inuented and applied afterwads by the Church according to the present necessity And yet notwithstanding haue they beene so acknowledged and receaued euer since by all Christendome that the authority of the Church in that behalfe determining and expounding hath stood inuiolable and such as haue not admitted the same haue euer beene reputed and accompted for wicked and damned Heretickes And this is to be noted with attention as before I haue partly touched in generall that albeit the Councell of Nice representing the whole Christiā Church of that age did not nor could not make any new article of beliefe that was not true before but only did more fully and plainely explane and declare such things as the impudency and importunity of Heretickes called into doubt and question so did not the said Councell explayne all that belonged to the diuine persons for they left at Credo in Spiritum sanctum I belieue in the holy Ghost and there brake of not vnfoulding any thing particulerly touching the procession of the holy Ghost from the Father and the Sonne about which there was afterwards so great strife and contention and is to this day with the later obstinate Greekes affirming the same Person to proceed only from the Father not from the Sonne but left that by Gods prouidence to be expounded afterwardes by other Councells when that poynt should be called into question and so it was So that it is more then euident vnto euery one that will not wilfully shut his eyes against the cleare sunne shine of truth that there is left continuall power in the Church to explayne and determine with authority and that irrefragable and vnresistable any doubt neuer so weighty about the Persons of the Trinity or any other article of beliefe or any other high point of diuine mystery that shall arise among Christians and that vnto the worlds last ending euery one vnder paine of dānable obedience against Christs spouse and the holy spirit the director thereof is bound to submit and captiuate his iudgment and vnderstanding thereto and not to stand in contention against the same And thus much of these three Creedes in generall how they are to be reuerenced now let vs descend vnto the seuerall articles and positions therof in particuler The second Consideration NOvv succeedeth our second Consideration about the examining of certaine particulers of these three Creedes how they are receiued and belieued You haue heard before how the Ministers of the Church of England do subscribe vnto the same at their Ordination Now let vs examine whether this English Cleargy notwithstanding all their subscription thereunto do indeed truly belieue them and expound them in the selfe same sense interpretation and meaning as the Generall Councells and ancient Fathers that collected them meant them as they do perswade his Matie they do A man would think that so solemne an Oath taken before an Ecclesiasticall Iudge at the Tribunall of the Church and that for preseruation of Religion and conseruaaion of the integrity of ancient faith laid downe in ancient Creedes and generall Councells should religiously bynd before God and men people of their quality and condition but behold heresy that neither feareth God nor reuetenceth man obserueth no band at all but draweth euery thing to euery mans particuler iudgment and censure and therefore it doth little auaile the ministers of the Church of England to reuerence and receaue the wordes of the Creed whilst they reiect the Churches sense and true meaning of the same to sweare vnto them in wordes by subscription at their Ordinatiō but to forsweare them in deedes by a peruerse and sinister interpretation and exposition And this God willing shal be made good against them in the subsequent Considerations directed and addressed for this especiall purpose 17. First then it is set downe and denounced in the Creed of S. Athanasius read euery sunday in the English Church by order of the communion booke that VVhosouer doth not belieue wholy and inuiolably the Catholicke fayth shall without doubt perish euerlastingly By which Catholicke fayth he vnderstandeth the whole Catholicke fayth and euery article or
by Moyses the first pen man of the holy Ghost and so successiuely vpon sundry occasions continued 49. M. Rogers his first proposition is That the markes and tokens of their visible Church are the due and true administration of the VVord and Sacraments but these markes are not admitted by the Catholickes but worthily reiected for that they are as hard and obscure to find out and as much controuerted as the thing it selfe whereof they should be markes for that all partes yea all sectes and heresies doe pretend to haue due and true administration of the word and Sacraments and it is as hard a matter to determine this controuersy as the other viz. to find out which is the true Church But the Markes of Antiquity Vniuersality Vnity and Succession before mentioned and giuen by Catholickes for such were Tertullians 1400. yeares ago when he wrote that excellent booke of Prescriptions and Vincentius Lyrinensis 1200. years since to take away your late imputation and denomination of Papist vnto Catholickes are so cleare and euident in themselues that presently they will distinguish betwixt one Church and another betwixt Roman Catholickes and all hereticall Sectaries And albeit some Sectaries being pressed therewith will pretend to haue these markes in their Church and will set a good face vpon the matter and challenge them also yet are these wordes out before they be aware for the matter being so euident against them they presently giue ouer their clayme they are content to hold hāds of running to other obscure markes the common Plea of all condemned Heretickes of the due and true administration of the Word and Sacraments when God wotteth they haue neyther Word nor Sacrament according to the Catholicke integrity and sincerity 50. M. Rogers sixt proposition about the Church is That the visible Church to wit the true Catholick Church may and hath from time to time erred both in doctrine and conuersation which assertion the Catholick in his sense doth hold for so blasphemous and absurd yea ridiculous also as nothing can be more For if this be true that the true visible Catholicke Church spread ouer the whole Christian world can erre and induce into errour then is there no surety or certainty in the world no not in the promises of Christ and his Apostles who assured vs the contrary 51. But let vs take a view of M. Rogers proofes out of Scripture for confirming this his sixth assertion which surely are so fantasticall and impertinent for any consequence to be drawne from them so absurd in reason and ridiculous in religion that no man of iudgement or conscience can read them without indignation and laughter as by the view will appeare For thus he setteth them downe in his owne wordes only I will add the inference vpon euery probation out of Scriptures His first place is Take heed Matth. 24. 4. therefore the Church may erre Belieue it not Matth. 23. 26. therefore the Church may erre Beware of the leauen of the Pharisyes and of the leauen of Herod Mar. 8. 15. therefore the Church may erre Many shall be deceiued yea the very elect were it possible Matth. 24. 11. therefore the Church may erre Shall he find faith vpon the earth Luc. 18. 8. therefore the Church may erre VVe know in part 1 Cor. 13. 12. therefore the Church may erre Beware of Dogges therefore the Church may erre Beware of euill workes beware of concision Philip. 3. v. 2. therefore the Church may erre God shall send them strong illusions that they should belieue lyes 2. Thess. 9. 10. therefore the Church may erre And is not this a sound proofe out of the Scriptures 52. These are those cleare texts that M. Rogers bringeth forth to proue that the vniuersall Christian visible Catholicke Church for that only we now treat of may be deceiued and hath erred determining matters of doctrine and yet as you see here is not one word that is spoken or may be applyed to the said vniuersall Catholicke Church but only caueats giuen to the Church to beware of particuler deceauers Heretickes Pharisies Herod the like And consequently these places are so idly vrged and so absurdly applied by the Authour that I should wast time in spending any more labour about perusing them any further Only one of his places I will but touch in one word Many saith Christ shall be deceiued yea the very elect if it were possible out of which place for the ouerthrowing of M. Rogers proposition and inferring the cleane contrary assertion I reason thus and let Tribunal Syllogismi vmpire betwixt vs both which is the better and fitter consequence deduced out of this place if it be impossible that the elect shall be deceiued though many be deceiued then the Church comprehending the elect as a part of her cannot be beceiued sed verum primum for truth it selfe hath spoken it and this is the true meaning of those wordes if it were possible c. ergo secundum The like consequence I would inferre out of all the rest but the places are so absurdly and against all common sense and reason vrged that they are not longer to be stood vpon 53. The like miserable course or rather more pitifull if possibly it may be doth he take to proue the second part of his proposition which is that the said Catholicke visible Church may erre in determining matters of life and manners for that is the question and not his ydle word of erring in conuersation And first he doth alleag the words of Christ Iniquity shal be increased and the loue of many shall wax could Matth. 24. 12. therefore the Church may erre in determining matters of life and manners Secondly he citeth that of S. Paul Restore c least thou also be tempted Gal. 6. 1. therefore the Church may erre in determining matters of life and manners Thirdly I do not the good thing which I would but the euill which I would not that doe I if I doe that which I would not it is no more I that do it but the sinne that dwelleth in me Rom. 7. 19. 20. therefore the Church may erre in determining matters of life and manners Fourthly There is a fight euen in the best men and mēbers of Christ Rom. 7. 23 therfore the Church may erre in determining matters belōging to lyfe and manners for this must be his conclusion out of euery one of these places as his former of doctrine was out of the other And are not these goodly argumentes to proue his assertion His assertion as you haue often heard was that the visible Catholicke Church might erre in determining matters belonging to manners to wit in defining and finally determining this is good that is bad this is lawfull that vnlawfull and the like and he commeth in with his misapplied texts to proue that particuler men may haue infirmities in them and fight of their passions or concupiscence Doth he not hit the naile on the head
set downe touching the authority of particuler Fathers 57. Touching the article of Iustification which is an other head besids those 9. or 10. before mentioned the Magdeburgians write thus of the Fathers of this age Iustitiam coram Deo operibus tribuerūt They did attribute to good works their iustice before God which if you read in the places of the Fathers by them mentioned and alledged you shall easily discerne it to be the very same doctrine that Catholickes do hould at this day though misreported slandered and abused by hereticall calumniation For that the said Fathers do hould nothing els but that this iustice by them mentioned doth proceed from the grace of Christ as frō the principall originall concurrent concomitant cause therof though yet not excluding the cooperation of mans will stirred vp and strengthned by that grace 58. Next to this they handle De bonis operibus of good workes and the merit therof which Chapter they beginne thus Magis quà m superiori saeculo Doctores huius aetatis c. The Doctors of this third age did decline more from the true doctrine of Christ and his Apostles about the merit of good workes thē did the Doctors of the precedent age And here I would intreat the ingenuous and iudicious Reader to consider what kind of accusation this is and the rather for that they are not abashed for the making good of this accusation to cite diuers places out of Tertullian Origen Cyprian and others that do plainely auerre the merit of good workes reprehended by them And as for S. Cyprian they alledge this place out of him in his sermon de Eleemosyna Peccata post baptismum commissa eleemosyna bonis operibus extingui That sinnes committed after baptisme are extinguished by almes and good workes for which they say that he alleageth three places of Scripture First that of Toby the 4. Sinnes are purged by almes and fayth The second is out of Ecclesiasticus the 3. As water doth extinguish fire so doth almes sinne The third is the speach of Christ Behould thou art made whole take heed that thou sinne no more lest some worse thing do happen vnto thee Notwithstanding all which Scriptures and the venerable authority of that blessed Martyr S. Cyprian in expounding them the Magdeburgians do condemne the sentence with all the Scriptures as erroneous so as it auayleth not Fathers to alleage Scriptures when they do not interpret them as the Protestant would haue them 59. As for the Article of Pennance they beginne with it thus Plaerique huius saeculi Scriptores doctrinā de poenitentia mirè depranāt The most part of the writers of this age do you note the most part do wonderfully depraue and peruert the doctrine of Penance And the reason is for that they make mention of satisfaction in doing of pennance For proofe whereof they cyte diuers places out of Tertullian Origen and S. Cyprian As for example How much tyme saith Origen homil 3. in lib. Iudicum thou hast spent in offending of God so much spend in humbling thee vnto God satisfacito Deo and do satisfaction to God And S. Cyprian lib. 1. epist. 3. Peccata ablue redime satisfactionibus wash of and redeeme thy sinnes by satisfaction And in the third booke of his Epistles and 14. epistle he saith Lapsos auxilio martyrum apud Dominum adiuuari posse S. Cyprian is of opinion that such as fall into sinne may be holpen with God by the intercession of Martyrs Heere then besides satisfaction is intercession of Martyrs 60. In the article of baptisme they take vp and reprehend S. Cyprian sharply for writing thus in his first booke of Epistles the 12 Epistle Oportet mundari sanctificari priùs aqua à sacerdote c. The water of baptisme must be purified and sanctified by the Priest that he which is baptized may haue his sinnes washed away Where S. Cyprian say the Magdeburgians dareth to auouch that he which baptizeth conferreth the holy Ghost and doth inwardly sanctify him that is baptized A very great absurdity forsooth if you marke it especially yf you conferre it with their Protestanticall opinion that hould the Sacrament of Baptisme to wash only the externall man and not the internall 61. The same Magdeburgians also accuse the same Saint Cyprian for that lib. 1. Epist. 12. he speaketh dangerously as they call it of Chrisme holy vnction in baptisme Vngi quoque necesse est eum qui baptizatus sit vt accepto chrismate id est vnctione esse vnctus Dei habere in se Christi gratiam possit It is necessary for him to be annointed that is baptized to the end that hauing receaued the holy chrisme or vnction he may be annoynted of God haue the grace of Chryst in him 62. Furthermore they do reprehend the said S. Cyprian for that he writeth primo libro Epist. epist. 3. Eucharist in altari sāctificatur The Eucharist is sanctified vpon the Aultar And lib. 1. epist. 3. they reprehend him for saying Sacerdotes sanctificare calicem that Priests do sanctify the cup. And againe for wryting thus Sacerdotum vice Christi sungi Deo Patri sacrificium offerre That the Priest performeth the office of Christ and offereth sacrifice to God the Father And diuers other such speaches aswell out of Tertullian and S. Martial in epistola ad Burdegalenses do displease them 63. In the controuersy of Prayer vnto Saints their first wordes are these Videas in Doctorum huius saeculi scriptis non obscura vestigia inuocationis Sanctorū You may see in the writings of the Doctors of this age manifest signes of prayer vnto Saints for you haue say they the forme set downe in Origen a litle before the end of his second booke vpon Iob Obeate Iob or a pro nobis miseris O Blessed Iob pray for vs afflicted Non obscurè etiam sentit Cyprianus say they Martyres Sanctos defunctos pro viuentibus orare Cyprian lib. 1. epist. 1. in fine That is S. Cyprian is plainely of opinion that Martyrs and Saints after their death and dissolution do pray for those that remayne behind them on earth aliue 64. I pretermit many other points but especially those eight or nyne heads which I touched in the precedent age wherof much more might be spoken here as namely of Primacy of the Church of Rome for auerring of which they greatly stomake and reprehend Tertullian and S. Cyprian saying Tertullianus non sine errore sentire videtur libro de pudicitia claues soli Petro commissas Ecclesiam super ipsum extructam esse Tertullian erroneously seemeth to thinke that the keies were only giuen by Christ vnto S. Peter and that vpon him the Church was builded And then they do cyte fiue seuerall places out of S. Cyprian they might haue cyted many more and all antiquity with him as concurring with Tertullian in this his opinion And further they