vniuersall both in time and place §. 4. See Aug. in Psal 92. continued throughout all Ages and dispersed in all places in which sense onely the Church is Catholicke and one then it is a point of faâ—th and not of sight For it is visible totally at any one time or place to any mortall eyes Some part thereof being in Europe some in Asia some in Africa for place some part in heauen triumphant some on earth militant some not yet in the world for time We beleeue therefore that there is one Catholicke Church we see but a small part of it that is one vniuersall company of Christians spread ouer the whole earth and continuing from the Apostles times till the day of Iudgement part whereof is now in heauen part on earth and part yet to come called to be professors of Gods worship and partakers of his glory through Iesus Christ his sonne And though this whole company be neuer visible to men at once yet some parts thereof liuing vpon earth are alwayes visible to men by their persons and profession some at one time some at another some in one Countrey some in another as the Church of Jerusalem and of Antioch of Rome Corinth Galatia c. In the Apostles times the seuen Churches of Asia in S. Iohns time the Churches of England France and other Nations in our time §. 5. Secondly if you take the Church for the company of Christians liuing in any one particular Age and thereunto apply the propheticall promises you must admit a threefold distinction one of the parts of the Church another of the promises appliable to the seuerall parts and a third of the times wherein they are to be fulfilled For a D. VVhite Reply to Fisher pag. 52. most of the promises though in generall termes made to the Church in common to shew what the whole is in respect of Gods outward vocation or what the office and duty of the whole Church is yet doe appertaine formally and indeed onely to the better part of the common subiect As your owne Doctors teach b Cornel. de â—apide com Esa cap. 2. v. 4 Cum Deus aliquid Synagoga vel Ecclesiae permittit quamvis amplâ— vniuersal bus vâ—rbis â—â— tamen de bonis proba tantum qui saeâ—â—s amicitiam cum deo promittente paâ—iscente seruant intelligendum The Scriptures giue vs a distinction of the Called and Chosen saying Many be called but few chosen Mat. 20.16 The Called are the Professors and the Profâ—ssors saith your c Bellar. de Ecclesâ— militant lib. 3. cap. 2. §. nostra autem sententia Bellarmine are the members of the true Church though they be reprobi scelesti impij reprobates wicked and impious For saith he to be a member of the Church there is not necessarily required any inward vertues but onely outward profession But I hope you will not say that to this company in grosse these promises doe belong of purity vnspottednesse eternall life but onely to the better part thereof that is the Chosen that truely beleeue and holily liue according to Christs doctrine which company because who they are is onely knowne to God the discerner of the hearts and not to men who see onely their persons and profession but not their hearts may well be called in respect of men The invisible Church as visible to God onely The Holy Ghost describing the true members of the Church calls them such as should be saued Acts 2.47 The Lord added to the Church such as should be saued And this is the ordinary doctrine of d Aug. de Bapt. contra Donatisâ—as lib. 6. cap. 3. Auari raptores faencratores inuidi malevoli ad sanctam ecclesiam dei non pertinent quamvis esse videantur illa autem columba vnica pudica casta sponsa sine macula ruga hortus conclusus sons signatus paradisus cum fructu pomorum c. non intelligitur nisi de bonis sanctis iustis intimâ—m supereminentem spiritus sancti gratiam habentibus S. Augustine that true godly men such as shall be saued are the only heires of the promises the couetous rauenous vsurers enuious malevolous do not belong to the holy Church of God though they seeme to be in it That onely Doue that chaste and pure Spouse without spot or wrinkle that garden inclosed fountaine sealed paradise of Pomegranats c. is not vnderstood but of the good holy and iust such as haue the inward and supereminent grace of the holy spirit Thus Saint Augustine Againe e Aug. ib. lib. 7. cap. 51. he saith All things considered I thinke I shall not rashly say that some are so in the house of God that they are also the very house of God which is said to be built vpon a Rocke which is called his onely Doue his faire Spouse without spot or wrinckle c. for this is in the good faithfull The like De vnitate eccle cap. vlt. Epist 48. De Bapt. cort Donat. lib. 5. c. 27. in praesatione in Psal 47. De doctr Christiana lib. 3. cap. 22. In the rules of Tychonius De corpore Domini bipartito and holy seruants of God euery where dispersed and yet conioyned in spirituall vnity and in the same communion of the Sacraments whether they know one another by face or not And it is certaine that others are said so to be in the house that they belong not ad compagem domus to the frame of the house nor to the society of fruitfull peacefull righteousnesse but as the chaffe among the Corne c of whom it is said They departed from vs but they were not of vs. In many other places Saint Austen hath the like Insomuch as Bellarmine being ouerpressed with the Scriptures and Fathers and especially Saint Augustine §. 6. cannot but yeeld and saith in plaine tearmes f Bellar. de eccle milit lib 3 cap. 2. §. notaâ—dum autem that wicked men without any internall vertue are no otherwise members of the Church then our excrements and diseases are parts or members of our bodies as our hayres our nayles and euill humours in our bodies and elsewhere g Ib. cap. 9. §. Ad vltimum aâ—o malos non esse membra viva corporis Christi hoc significari illis scripturis obiectis He saith that euill men are no other then dead members of Christs body and hee citeth many learned Papists that say Malos non esse membra vera nec simpliciter corporis ecclesiae sed tantum secundum quid aequivocè That euill men are not true members nor simply of the body of the Church but onely after a sort and equiuocally His Authors alleadged there are Iohannes de Turrecremata Alexander de Ales Hugo B. Thomas Petrus à Soto Melchior Canus alij I will conclude this point with Saint Augustine who saith h Aug lib. 2. contra Creâ—conium
1 Kings 19.10 God had 7000 true seruants in secret though their names be not recorded ibid. vers 18. So doubtlesse it was in other most depraued times §. 3. Antiquus Though this were so See Field Church lib. 3. cap. 10. lib. 4. cap. 4. yet the Churches of the New Testament had Prophesies of greater purity Psal 45.13 and by our Sauiours power and care may bee kept without spot or wrinckle Ephes 5.26 27. Antiquissimus Such things are spoken of the best parts of the Church vpon earth washed by Christs blood and made beautifull by his righteousnesse and by their owne practise of holinesse but those are meerly discernable by Gods eye But those places of Scripture specially respect that part of the Church which is triumphant in Heauen and there presented by our Sauiour Ephes 5.27 But the generall face of visible Churches vpon earth haue bin ordinarily stayned with spots and blemishes the Church of Corinth with sects and schismes and other deprauations yea with doubting or denying that great Article of faith the life of Christianity the Resurrection of the dead Galatia erred in the great point of Iustification against which errour Saint Paul opposed his Epistle written to them In the Church of Pergamus some held the doctrine of Balaam and of the Nicolaitans teaching to eate things sacrificed to Idols and to commit fornication Reu. 2.14 The like was in the Church of Thyatira Reuel 2.20 c. And if there were no possibility or likelihood of errours and heresies in the Churches of the New Testament What needed those warnings and admonitions Keepe your selues from Idols 1 Iohn 5.21 Beware of false prophets in sheepes cloathing Mat. 7.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Charge men that they teach no other doctrine 1 Tim. 1.3 Stop the mouthes of the gain-sayers that subuert whole houses Tit. 1.11 And to what end were Visitations Counsels and all Offices and Gouernment in the Church but for maintaining of true doctrine preuenting and rooting out of errours and abuses §. 4. Matth. 18.7 1 Cor. 11.19 Remember that our Sauiour said There must be offences in the world and Saint Paul There must be heresies Yea it is necessary that there be both for the good of the faithfull the good of the faith and the punishment of the faithlesse To which ends God suffers these two causes to concurre and worke to wit the Deuils malice and Mans corruption because God can worke good out of their euill The Diuels malice and policy neuer ceaseth still to pursue the seed of the Woman and to bite the heele seeking both by persecutions and heresies to supplant Gods Church to plant and increase his owne Kingdome He attempted our head Matth. 4.3 and so will doe his members Luke 22.31 2 Cor. 12.7 Ephes 6.11 12. 1 Pet. 5.8 2 Cor. 11.14 Mans corruption and blindnesse is also easie to bee drawne by others and easily drawne by his own affections out of the right way as Micah Iudges 17. to worship God by a siluer Image thinking blindly that euery worke with a good intention would please God and draw blessings from him Salomon by loue to his wiues was drawen to Idolatry Our Eues are weake to be seduced 1 Kings 11.4 strong to seduce vs. Ieroboam by ambitious policy 1 Kings 12.26 Acts 19.24.28 set vp Idolatry to keep his people at home Demetrius and the Ephesians for couetousnesse magnified the Idol of Diana and cryed downe the Gospel Acts 19. Simon Magus through pride bewitched the people Acts 8.9.10 that he might seeme some great man Simon Magus among them These and such other affections and actions God permits to oppose corrupt or blind the truth First for the good oâ— the faithfull that their diligence in searching their wisdome in discerning their constancy in holding the truth their loue to winne the aduersaries their patience to endure opposition disgrace persecution yea Death and Martyrdome for the truth and their many other vertues may shine to Gods glory others example and their owne crowne Reu. 3.11 Secondly for the good of the faith Vt fides habendo tentationem haberet etiam probationem saith Tertullian that our faith being sifted winnowed tried examined may be more approued and appeare more solid sound pure like the gold that is purified in the fire Thirdly for the punishment of the faâ—thles Rom. 1.21.22.23 c. 2 Thes 2.11 for it is iust with God that such as hold the truth in vnrighteousnesse should be punished with losse of the truth and left to their owne errours and damnable corruptions euen to the efficacy of delusion to beleeue lies §. 5. Antiquus Be it so that all other Churches may erre yet the Roman Church which the chiefe Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul planted and where Saint Peter the Vniuersall Pastor of the whole Church liued and dyed leauing his successors to gouerne the whole Church to the end of the world hath this double priuiledge aboue all other Churches both to continue to the end and to be free from errour Antiquissimus A prety imagination but voyde of faith For if the Church of Rome be not as subiect to errours and deprauations yea and to Apostacy as other Churches what needed that Admonition of Saint Paul to the Romans Rom. 11.20 Bee not high-minded but feare For if God spared not the naturall branches the Hebrewes Take heed lest he also spare not thee This was a Caueat for Gentiles and consequently to the Romans which were Gentiles among them The Romans are not excepted or priuiledged Nay they are principally intended for to them that Epistle was written cap. 1. vers 7. To all that be at Rome Beloued of God called to bee Saints To them Saint Paul saith Be not high-minded affecting superiority ouer all Gods Church as if Rome were the root and all other the branches but feare yea feare both errour and apostacy For you may fall from goodnesse and be cut off for verse 10. thou bearest not the root but the root thee be content to be a branch of the Oliue tree as other Churches are they depend not on thee no more then thou on them but all of you alike vpon the root Thou art not the Mother be content to be a Daughter a Sister to the rest Suppose one of the eldest sisters liuing yet the elder may be sicke and neare to death when the yonger are more sound and perfect Marke the 22 verse Behold the goodnesse and seuerity of God on them which fell seuerity but towards thee goodnesse iâ— thou continue in his goodnesse otherwise thou also shalt be also cut off Note if there were no possibility of the Roman Churches falling from the goodnesse which then it had this admonition directed to them were idle but vpon supposition of such falling as other Churches haue done he denounceth absolutely a cutting off Antiquus Such suppositions doe enforce good Caueats and warnings to make that Church watchfull as by Gods grace it
is the man that deliuers it If a Priest therefore teach it be it true be it false take it as Gods Oracle 2 Thess 2.4 What can Antichrist doe more wheÌ„ he sits in the Temple of God as God exalts himselfe aboue God but disgrace Gods Word set vp his owne make Gods Word speake what he list both it and the sense of it shall receiue authority from him His Lawes his Iudgement his Agents shall be receiued without examination And the holy Word of God which should be the rule of all true faith and good actions shall lose his place of leading and follow the Popes fancy By these grounds meanes and shifts all the seeking for reformation at the Popes and Romish Prelates hands was vtterly auoyded And the Roman Church as now it stands is the multitude of such onely as magnifie admire and adore the plenitude of Papall power and infallibility of iudgement and are so farre from Reformation of errours and corruptions formerly cryed against and by many of themselues confessed that they decree them now to be good impose them now as De fide points of faith and doctrines of the Church yea and persecute with curses fire and sword the discouerers reprouers and reformers thereof So that there was no possibility left to good and godly Princes and States and to true-hearted godly learned men but either against their knowledge and conscience to liue slaues to the vnsupportable tyranny and corruptions of the Pope or else to reforme these abuses euery one in their owne Countries and if the whole field of the Church could not be purged and dressed yet euery one to weed out of their owne Lanâ—s and Furlongs the Tares and filth that choked the good Corne. Thus I haue shewed you that errours and corruptions had crept into the once pure and famous Church of Rome and that they were noted and cryed out vpon by many Historians Learned men Bishops Doctors Princes and People and Reformation sought for many Ages before it could he performed And that neither Luther nor any other learned men nor Princes euer intended to erect a new Church but by reforming of the Abuses crept in to reduce the Church to her ancient purity Whereupon the Protestant Churches are truly called The Reformed Churches Antiquus Well sir shew me now the true difference betwixt your new reformed Churches and the Church of Rome as now it is How farre they agree and wherein they differ in some principall points Antiquissimus I will and the rather because some rayling Rabsaches of your side impudently say and print that The Protestants haue no Faith no Hope A namelesse Author be like ashamed to set to his name beginning his booke with these words The Protestants haue no Faith c. no Charitie no Repentance no Iustification no Church no Altar no Sacrifice no Priest no Religion no Christ I hope to make it apparant that we hold all the points of Faith necessary and sufficient to good life on earth and saluation in heauen and that you confesse wee hold them truely because you hold the same and we onely refuse your later needlesse and vnsound additions there unto CHAP. 5. The principall points of Doctrine wherin the Romish and the Reformed Churches agree and wherein they differ Protestants refuse the popes earthly Kingdome and maintaine Christs heauenly 1 A note of the chief-points of Christian Doctrine wherin the Protestants and Romanists fully agree shewing also the Romish additions therevnto 2 The Protestants doctrine in generall iustified by Cardinall Contarene Cardinall Campeggio and our Liturgy by Pope Pius 4. 3 But the Popes reach further at an earthly Church-kingdome and fourthly challenge a supremacy ouer all Christians and Churches in the world 5 More specially ouer the Cleargy exempting them from being subiects to Princes 6 Yea ouer all Christian princes and their states to depose dispose and transpose them and to absolue subiects from their alleageance to rebell c. 7 To dissolue Oathes Bonds and Leagues 8 To giue dispensations to contract or dissolue Matrimony 9 And other dispensations and exemptions from Lawes §. 1. Antiquissimus 1 WEe beleeue a Articles of the yeare 1562 art 1. one true God inuisible incorporeall immortall infinite in wisedome power goodnesse maker preseruer and gouernour of all things and that in the vnity of this God-head there be 3 persons of one substance coequall in wisedome goodnesse power eternity the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost You beleeue the same But your exalting and adoring the Blessed Virgin whom we honour and reuerence so farre as we may any the most excellent creature in such sort as you entitle her a Goddesse b Lâ—…siâ—…s oftâ—…n â—…alâ—…er D am a 〈◊〉 siâ— in his 〈…〉 and 〈◊〉 where the 〈…〉 and â—…tice Queene of Heauen c So Hortul aâ—i ae 117. b such wa tâ—e hâ—resie oâ— the Câ—llâ— dâ—â—â—s Vpip â—an â—er 79. and of the world d â—o Hort anime 154 b and make the like prayers to her as you doe to God e You call her soâ—ne Loâ—d her Lady him Sauiour her saluatrix him Mediator her Mediatresse him King hâ—r Quâ—enâ— him God her Goddesse As appeares in many of your prayers as saâ—â—â— Râ—gâ—â—â— â—â—ter misericordiae vita dulcedo salue And consolatio desolatorâ—m via eâ—â—antium sâ—â—as oâ—â—â—m in te sperantium In Offiâ—io B. Mariae Reformato iussu Fij 5. edito And in the Ladies Psalter wherin the words of honour and prayers are turned from God to hâ—r in places innumerable Psal 50. misâ—rere mei domina mundaâ—e ab â—â—â—ibus iniquitatibus meâ—s essâ—nde gratiam tuam super me Psal 89. Domina resugium faâ—ta es noâ—â—s in cuncâ—â— nâ—cessitatibus nostris Psal 2. protegat nos dextra tua mater dei euen with authority and command ouer her Sonne f As their owne Cassander confesseth consult art 21. they make Christ raigning in heauen yet subiect to his Motâ—er Monstra te esse Matrem In Bâ—eviâ—r Rom. officio B. Mariae reformat And Matris iâ—â—e impeâ—a Redemptori Missal Parisiens Dâ—reus to Whitaker fol. 352. saith This is not against Religion and as a partaker of the gouernment of his Kingdome g They assigne Iustice to Christ and Mercy to the Virgin As Gabriâ—â—l Bâ—eâ— in exposit Canoâ— Missae lect 80. saith Confuâ—imus primò ad b atissimam Virginâ—m caelorum reginam cui Rex Regum Pater caelestis dimidium â—egni sui dedit post Pater caelâ—stis cum hâ—beat institiam misericordiam tanqâ—am potioâ—a regni sui bona iustitiâ— sibâ— retenta misericordiam Matri Virgini concessit The like is written by many other of their learned men viri celebrâ—s saith Cassander consult art 21. The great learnâ—d â—esuite Gregorius de Valentia often sets Christ after his mother thus Gloriâ— deo B Virgâ—nâ— Mariâ— Doâ—inae nostiae Item Iesu Christo At the end of his Treatises De satisfact De Jdo olat De
beleeued by as many as shall be saued y In â—ulla juramenti de prosess fidei These 12 new Articles you may see also in the Epistle Dedicatory to B. Iewels workes in euery Church In Onuphrius added to Platina in vita Pij 4. 7 We beleeue that the true God is to be worshipped in Spirit and Truth and according as himselfe hath prescribed and you yeeld that therein we doe well but you adde that he may be analogically relatiuely worshipped by Images and by other Doctrines deuised by Men which are not commanded but sharply reproued by the Scriptures Exod. 20.4 5. Deut. 4.15 16. Mat. 15.9 Mar. 7 3 4.7 Col. 2.18 22 23. God grant we may serue him as himselfe hath prescribed and then we shall be sure to be happy enough See D. Hall Roma irreconciliabilis sect 21. 8 We beleeue we ought to pray with feruency and sincerity of heart with a purpose to forsake all sinne and to serue God truely and with faith and hope to be heard you beleeue so also but you adde wee may pray in an vnknowne tongue without vnderstanding sense or feeling what we say with many repetitions and by number vpon Beads without weight and that such prayers are satâ—sfactory for sin and meritorious of grace You doe not say I hope we ough to pray in a tongue vnknowne but we may doe it So you condemne not our custome lest you condemne Saint Paul also 1 Cor 14.15 c. but onely excuse your owne 9 We beleeue we ought to pray vnto God the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost you yeeld it to be good but you adde not that we are commanded but that we may also pray vnto Angels and Saints deceased But surely the worship and inuocation of Angels is forbidden by the Councell of Laodicaea much more of Saints For they that vrged the worship of Angels alledged that for our better accesse vnto God we we must vse the intercession of Angels as Gods Courtiers and Attendants and this is your reason for your prayers vnto Saints The Councell therefore that forbiddeth the one implieth the prohibition of the other See more of this in Bishop Mortons Protestants Appeal lib. 2. cap. 12. section 1 2 3 4 5 6 c and compendiously sâ—ct 13. 10 We beleeue that our Lord â—esus Christ is our Mediator both of Redemption and intâ—rcession You grant this to be true but you adde vnto him Angels and Saints vpon whose intercession and merits you also in part relye See B. Morton ib. lib. 2. cap. 12. specially sect 10 11 12 13. Perk. â—esor Cath. points 15. 11 We beleeue that the glorified Saints beare most louing â—ffection to the Saints liuing on earth and pray in generall for the Church Militant You beleeue so to but you adde that they heare mens prayers made vnto them pray for particular men and know their wants which hearing and knowledge we say is proper to God alone But your greatest Clerkes cannot determine how the Saints know our hearts and prayers whether by hearing or seeing or presence euery where or by Gods relating or reueâ—ling mens prayers and needs vnto them All which wayes some of your Doctors hold as probable or possible and others deny and and confute them as vntrue Of this see Bishop Morton Appeal lib. 2. cap. 12. sect 5. and lib. 5. cap. 2 sect 2. Perkins reformed Catholicke point 14. 12 We honour Gods Saints deceased as the Prophets Apostles Martyrs and other holy sâ—ruants of God both by reuerend memorials of them praises to God for them and for his benâ—fits to the Church by them and by imitation of their vertues Their true Reliques vertues bookes good workâ—s and eâ—amples we respect with reuerence And their bodily Reliques we despise not but reuerently keepe them if we may without offence This you like well but whereas you further worship the Saints theâ—r Images or Reliques with kneeling Inuocation dedication of Churches and Festiuall dayes and Pilgrimages to their Shrines or Reliques you step too farre into superstition and Idolatry See B. Mortons Appeal lib. 5 cap. 2. sect 3 4 5. and cap. 3. sect Doctor Hall Roma irreconciliabilis section 20. and 21. 13 We beleeue tâ—at man is iustified by the merits and passion of our Sauiour Iesus Christ Antic 11. 1562. you beleeue so too but you aâ—de that he must be further iustified by his owne merits or satisfactions Of Iustification and of Merits see a large discourse afterwards 14 We beleeue also that as Christs most perfect righteousnesse is most necâ—ssary to be imputed vnto vs for our Iustâ—fication so our owne inherent righteousnesse wrought in vs by Gods Spirit for sanctification of life is necessary to saluation and that he is no good Christian that shewes not his true conuersion by the fruits of a good life You cannot mislike this And yet you charge vs that we open a gate to all licentiousnesse of life because we teach that we are not iustified by our owne good works which are farre short of perfection but by Christs righteousnesse imputed vnto vs which alone is most perfect and able to satisfie Gods Iustice and his Law We vrge good workes as much as you as absolute necessary effects of Iustifying grace but not causes thereof saying with S. Bernard They are Via regni non causa regnandi The way whereby we must walke to felicity or else we shall neuer come to it but not the meritorious cause of felicity 15 Yea we vrge good workes more then you doe We teach that in true conuersion a man must be wounded in his conscience by the sense of hâ—s sinnes his contrition must be compungent and vâ—hement brusing breaking renting the heart and feeling the throwes as a woman labouring of Child bâ—fore the new creature be brought forth or Christ truely formed in him It is not done without bitternesse of the soule without study care indignatioâ— râ—uâ—nge 2 Cor. 7 11. But as some Infants are bâ—â—ne with lâ—sse paine to the Mother and some with more so may the new man be regenerated in some with more in some with lesse anxiety of trauell But surely grace is not infused into the heart of any sinner except there be at least so great affliction of spirit for sinne foregoing that he cannot but feele it otherwise he might make a confâ—ssion without contrition Thus we vrge sinners to a true feeling and sorrow for their sinne And for scandalous faults we vrge open sinners to open acknowledgement satisfaction of the Church and to â—ndure the censures thereof and all men to practise the actions of holy deuotion the better to humble and dispose themselues to be more capable of reconciliation with God and to promise and vow amendment of life and set down with themselues the best fitting courses for it See D. Francis White Orthodoxe Faith p. 16. We teach though they must be iustified by Christs merits onely applied and made theirs by faith yet that
cap. 21. Ac per hoc etiam nesciente ecclesia propter malam pollutamque conscientiam daâ—nati a Christo â—am in corpore Christi non sunt quod est ecclesiâ— â—uoniam non potest Christus habere membra damnata Though the Church know them not yet they that are condemned by Christ for their euill and defiled conscience are not now in the body of Christ which is the Church because Christ cannot haue any damned members To which place and many other like cited out of Saint Augustine Bellarmine i Bellar. ib. §. Argumâ—ntum octauum answereth That wicked men are not of the true inward part of the Church but of the outward onely as he had said before not true members nor simply of the Church but equiuocally By all this I hope you see our Doctrine and distinctions agree with the truth taught by the Scriptures and Fathers and your best learned men to which euen Bellarmine himselfe after much disputing and shifting is compelled to yeeld And though you are loth to allow vs the termes of visible and invisible the one noting the outward mixt number of professors the other the purer part of the Church to whom the promises belong and who are onely knowne of God yet you are compelled to yeeld vs the matter meant by them Antiquus If you meane no other thing by those termes we yeeld you both the matter and the termes But Subsection 2. § 1. Some promises of God concerne the outward spreâ—ding of the Church some the inward graces § 2. The outward spreading and glorious visibâ—lity is not at all times alike § 3. So S. Ambrose and S. Austen teach by comparing the Church to the Moone § 4. Many Fathers and Romish Doctors say that in the time of Antichrist the Church will be obscure and hardly visible § 5. Which say Valentinianus and many Fathers was fulfilled in the Arrians time § 6. The Jesuite Valentinianus grants as much invisibility of the Church as Protestants desire § 7. Obseruations out of his grant If you meane that the whole true Church may bee latent and invisible many yeares §. 1 without being seene of the world by her Gouernment Doctrine and Sacraments we deny all possibility of such invisibility Antiquissimus We neuer held or taught any such thing See B. Whâ—â—e against Fisheâ— pag. 62. Now then since you yeeld vs those distinctions of the Church and grant that the most or best of the promises belong onely to the better part thereof which is onely knowen vnto God and not to all the professors that are visible to men I goe forwards to distinguish of the promises whereof some are of the outward amplitude largenesse spreading of the Church to all Nations whereas formerly it had beene shut vp in the land of Canaan onely and of outward subiection of Kings and peoples to the profession of the truth Some are of the inward purity grace and holinesse of the Church and of our Sauiours peculiar loue vnto it vniting it as his immaculate Spouse vnto himselfe and making it partaker of his glory The former are pliable to the visible Church in the generality thereof But it you apply the latter also to that whole visible company you runne into inextricable errours For they are appliable onely to the better and sounder part thereof which is onely discerned and knowen vnto God and in that respect invisible to men This distinction you grant also in granting the former I come therefore thirdly to The distinction of times for the outward promises are not all at all times appliable to the outward visible Church §. 2. or not at all times alike For in some Ages the Church is more conspicuous then in other yea the false Church more conspicuous then the true If you thinke the Church must be alwayes gloriously visible to the end of the world without interruption you are deceiued Consider one part of the Scripture with another Esay 2.2 Mat. 7.14 You looke vpon Esayes mountaine to which all must flow but you see not Christs strait gate and narrow way which few doe find Esay 49.23 You note how at sometimes Kings and Queenes shall be nursing Fathers to the Church but you note not that at another time Reuel 17.2 The Kings of the earth shall commit fornication with the Whore of Babylon and the Inhabitants of the earth be made drunke with the wine of her fornication Psal 45.9 You thinke of a Queene all glorious in a vesture of gold wrought about with diuers colours to whom all Nations bring gifts the Church spreading her glory to the Gentiles Reuel 12.1 6. but you forget the woman flying into the Wildernesse to hide her selfe from the rage of the Dragon which woman signifies the persecuted Church by your Rhemish confession Marke 16.15 You remember well that the faith of Christ must be spread ouer the face of the earth but you forget that towards Christs comming there shall scarce be found any faith vpon the earth Luke 18.8 You remember that the Church shall extend from sea to sea and from the Riuer to the worlds end Psal 72.8 and the Kings of Tharsis Arabia and Saba shall bring gifts and all Nations shall serue the Messias 2 Thess 2.3 4 7. But you forget there must be an Apostacy a reuolt a falling away which your Rhemists say shall be from many points of true Religion and that the man of sinne shall sit in the Temple of God carrying himselfe as if he were God not in plaine termes but in a mystery Saint a Ambr. Epist lib. 5. ep 31. Ambrose and S. b Aug. in Psal 101. De Temp. ser 134. epist 48. â—â— Augustine compare the Church to the Moone §. 3. which receiâ—eth her light from the Sunne and sometime shineth in her full light some times with halfe light sometimes obscurely and sometime is ecclipsed You would haue this Moone alwayes in the full And if she shew but little light to vs or be ecclipsed you will not yeeld she is the Moone And yet except in the eclipse Astronomers demonstrate that the Moone hath at all times as much light as in the full but oftentimes a great part of the bright side is turned to heauen and a lesser part to the earth And so the Church is euer conspicuous to Gods eye though it appeare not alwayes so to vs. As when Elias thought there had beene no more true seruants of God but himselfe yet God knew of 7000 more though their names be not recorded I pray you consider well these and other places of Scripture that describe the Church persecuted scattered and obscured as well as those that describe the largenesse conspicuousnesse and glory of it And remember the one must be true as well as the other and each must haue their times to be fulfilled in So shall you runne straight forward and not on a byas as you haue done
Peter reiects the popes authority infallibility giues sentences against Purgatory acknowledgeth two Sacraments onely hath much against Transubstantiation and denyall of the Cup. See the allegations out of him in Catalogo testium lib. 3. Sixtly was Jrenaeus a Protestant no for he defended free-will so farre that Protestants count it Pelagianisme So did many other Fathers Hilary and Epiphanius yea Chrysostome Cyril Ambrose Theodoret. What then were all these papists No for though in heat of exhortation they gaue sometimes too much to free will and in hatred to the Maniches and Stoicall Christians that held such a fatall necessity of mens actions as tooke away mans guiltinesse of sinne yet in their more moderate and settled writings they taught as the Protestants doe August contra Iulianum l'clag lib. 1. cap. 2. Pelagianis nondum litigantibus Patres securiùs loquâ—bantur saith Saint Augustine Vntill the Pelagians began to wrangle the Fathers tooke lesse heed to their speeches But such their speeches The Papists themselues condemne Maldonate in John 6.44 pag. 701. Pererius in Rom. 9. nu 33 pag. 1001. Sixtus Senensis Tolet c. See D. Mortons Appeal lib 2. cap. 10. sect 1 2. § 4. sect 3. § 7. lit n. See also my Chapter of Free-will §. 6. I might runne thorow the rest of this W. G. his allegations and shew his vanity and folly in shooting such arrowes against the Protestants as being retorted and shot backe againe doe mortally and vnrecouerably wound his owne cause But I will leaue off following his order and adde a few more and by occasion of this last I aske of Saint Cyprian Augustine Fulgentius Gregory Nyssen Gregory the Great Anselm Bernard were they Papists oâ— of the now Roman-Catholicke Religion No for they taught concerning Free-will iust as the Protestants teach Morton ib. sect 3. Was Athanasius a Papist no for hee reckons the number of Canonicall bookes otherwise then Papists doe and magnifies them for their perspicuity certainty and sufficiency as Protestants doe he teacheth Iustification by faith onely writeth against adoration and prayer to Saints and Idolatrous worship of Images shewes the custome of the Church in his time to minister the Communion in both kindes and not on Altars but tables of wood writes to the Bishops of Rome as his brethren and equals giues reasons why the dead cannot appeare againe to men for feare of teaching lies and errours and because the good are in Paradise the euill in Inferno He counts marriage of Bishops a thing indifferent and vsed indifferently in his time and it appeares by his bookes that in his time the sacrifice of the Masse and the fiue new Sacraments were not knowne Was Saint Ierom a Papist no for hee earnestly maintaineth the sufficiency and excellency of the Scriptures exhorteth married Women Virgins Widdowes diligently to study them he teacheth Iustification by Gods mercy and beateth downe mans merits hee writes sharpely against free-will without Gods grace against purgatory against transubstantiation and orall manducation hee taxeth the popes supremacy and the Clergies liues and for his sharpe writing he was faine to flye from Rome See Catalogus testium lib. 4. Was Gelasius your owne Bishop of Rome a Catholicke of your now Roman Religion no for he condemdemned as sacrilegious your now-halfe Communion without wine and seuerely commanded either to minister both the kindes or neither to the people The necessity whereof now you call heresie De consecrat dist 2. comperimus Was S Gregory your owne Bishop likewise long after Gelasius of your Church and now-present Religion no for he taught the sufficiency and perfection of the Scripture reiected the Apochryphall bookes from the Canon held the reading of Scripture profitable for all men Iustification by faith and not by inherent righteousnesse wrote against mans merit and for the glory of Gods grace and mercy hee forbad the worshipping of Images and wrote sharply against the title of vniuersall Bishop as a badge of Antichrist or his forerunner c. And for conclusion of this point were the other two greatest Doctors of the Church Saint Chrysostome and S. Augustine of your present Religion No for Saint Chrysostome a Homil. De Lazaro passim alibi extolled the authority dignity sufficiency perspicuity necessity and commodity of the Canonicall Scriptures and exhorted Lay-men and Tradesmen to get them Bibles and reade the Scriptures at home and that man and wife parents and children should reason and conferre of the doctrine thereof b In 4. cap. Ephes hom 10. He taught that the Church of God was nothing but a house built of our soules and the stones thereof were some more illustrious and faire polished other more obscure and of lesse glory c In Matth. hom 55. 83. Serm. de Pentecost tom 3. that the Church was built not super Petrum but super Petram not vpon Peter but Peters confession that Christ was the Sonne of God the Sauiour of the world d In Matth. hom 35. ad cap. 20. That whosoeuer desired primacy vpon earth should find confusion in heauen and not be reckoned amongst the seruants of Christ e In 2 Thess homil 3 4. That Antichrist would command himselfe to be honoured as God and fit in the Church that he would invade the Roman Empire and striue to draw to himselfe the Empire or Rule of God and men And though he extolled the power of free-will in the Regenerate and exhorted all men to vse the power they had yet hee f In Gen. hom 29. perswaded the godly to acknowledge it to proceed from Gods grace and taught all men that sinne entring lost their liberty corrupted their power and brought in seruitude and g Hom. de Adam that without Gods grace man could neither will nor doe any thing that was good that h Hom. 1. in Acta as they that die Purple first prepare it with other colours so God prepares the cares of the mind and then infuseth grace that i Hom. 1. dom Advent before sinne we had free-will to do good but not after that it was not in our power to get out of the Deuils hand but like a ship that had lost his sterne which guided it wee were driuen whither the tempest would euen whither the Diuell would driue vs and except God by the strong hand of his mercy did loose vs we should continue tiâ—l death in the bonds of our sinnes k In Râ—m â—om 5. 17. That the Law would iustifie man but cannot for no man is iustified by the Law but he that wholly fulfils it and that is not possible to any maÌ„ l In 2 cor hom 11. He that must be iustified by the law must haue no spot found in him and such an one cannot be found but onely Iesus Christ m In Rom. hom 5 17. therefore he onely hath attained the end and perfection of the Law n Hom. 7. in 3. cap.
authenticke 4 Of the word written being the sure ground of faith 5 Of Traditions 6 The three Creedes Page 74 76 Paragraph § 7 Of Gods worship in Spirit and Truth Page 77 Paragraph § 8 Of prayer in a knowen tongue 9 And to God alone 77 10 Of Christ our Mediator 11 Of Saints praying for vs. 12 Of honour due to Saints departed Page 78 Paragraph 13 Of Iustification by Christs merits Page 79 Paragraph 14 Of mans inherent righteousnes sanctification Page 79 Paragraph 15 Of contrition confession satisfaction and vivification c. Page 79 Paragraph 16 Of such good workes as God hath prescribed Page 81 Paragraph 17 Of freewill Page 81 Paragraph 18 That workes done by grace please God and are rewarded of him Page 82 Paragraph 19 Of two Sacraments seales and conduits of iustifying grace Page 82 Paragraph 20 That to the well prepared Receiuers God giues as well the iustifying and sanctifying grace as the outward elements Page 82 Paragraph 21 That the worthy Communicant really partaketh Christs Body and Blood Page 82 Paragraph 22 Of heauen for the blessed hell for the damned Page 83 Paragraph 23 Of Christs satisfaction for our sinnes Page 83 Paragraph 24 That we ought to pray for al the members of Christs militant Church vpon earth Page 83 Paragraph § 2 The Protestants doctrine in generall iustified by two Cardinals Contarene and Campeggio and our Liturgy by Pope Pius 4. Page 83 Paragraph § 3 But the Popes reach further at an earthy Church kingdome prooued Page 85 Paragraph § 4 And they challenge a supremacy ouer all Christians and Churches in the world Page 89 Paragraph § 5 More specially ouer the Clergy exempting them from being subiects to Princes either for bodily punishments or goods Page 90 Paragraph § 6 Yea a supremacy ouer all Christian Princes and their states to depose dispose and transpose them and to absolue subiects from their Allegeance to rebell c. hence comes treasons c. Page 92 Paragraph § 7 To dissolue bonds oathes and leagues Page 95 Paragraph § 8 To giue dispensations to contract matrimony in degrees by Gods lawes forbidden to dissolue lawful matrim Page 96 Paragraph § 9 And other dispensations and exemptions from lawes Page 99 CHAP. 6. Paragraph Of policies to maintaine the Popes Princedome and wealth Page 102 Paragraph § 1 Depriuing men of the light of the Scriptures Page 102 Paragraph § 2 And of ordinary orderly preachings in stead whereof the Pope set vp ambulatory preachers Monkes and Friers to preach what was good for his state without controule of Church-Ministers Officers or Bishops Page 103 Paragraph § 3 Schoolemens too-much subtilty and philosophy filled mens heads darkned and corrupted wholesome Theology Page 109 Paragraph § 4 Jesuites and their originall after Luthers time noted their Seminaries emissions faculties insinuations and most politicke imployments Page 110 Paragraph § 5 Cardinals a most powerfull and politicke inuention Page 114 Paragraph § 6 Prouision for men and women of all sorts high and low by Monasteries to susteine and satisfie all humours Page 118 Paragraph § 7 Auricular confession discouering many secrets and finding humours fit for all imployments c. Page 120 Paragraph § 8 Her policies to get wealth Page 121 Paragraph § 9 Purgatory a rich thing Page 122 Paragraph § 10 So are indulgences or pardons Page 122 Paragraph § 11 And Iubiles Page 123 Paragraph § 12 Corruptions of Doctrine touching merits and Iustification c. Page 125 Paragraph § 13 Things hallowed by the pope Page 126 Paragraph § 14 Extraordinary exactions most grieuous to Nations most rich to the pope Page 126 The second Booke Chap. 1. THe first Chapter is a discourse of the visibility of the Church and fully answereth that common question of the Romists where was the Protestants Church before Luthers time This Chapter is large and for better satisfaction and perspicuity is diuided into foure sections The first section sheweth how visible the true Church ought to be Page 136 The second sheweth that the Protestants Church hath euermore been so visible as the true Church ought to be For it was the same in all necessary doctrine first with the Primitiue Church and afterwards also with the Greeke and Easterne Churches 149 The third section sheweth the Waldenses were of the same Religion which the Protestants maintaine and deliuereth a sufficient historicall discourse of the Waldenses 155 The fourth section sheweth that our Church and the Church of Rome was all one in substance till Luthers time For euen till then the Church of Rome continued to bee the true Church of God excepting the Popacy and the maintainers thereof which was rather a sore or a faction in the Church then any true or sound part thereof 195 Chap. 1. These principall Sections are also subdiuided into Subsections and those into smaller Paragraphes noted thus § Sect. 1. subsect 1. So the first Section which sheweth How visible the true Church ought to be hath two Subsections The first Subsection Paragraph § 1 Sheweth an obiected description of the excellency of the Church and a necessity of the perpetuall succession and visibility thereof Page 136 Paragraph § 2 That for a thousand yeares and more our Church was all one with the Roman notwithstanding some growing corruâ—tions Page 138 Paragraph § 3 After that coruptions grew intollerable in the Roman Church yet many mâ—sliked them and held the truth Page 138 Paragraph § 4 The whole Catholicke Church can neuer be visible to men at once but parts of it may and must Page 139 Paragraph § 5 The promises of purity and eternall life doe not belong to all the Called but to the Few chosen whose true faith to men is invisible though their persons and profession be visible Page 140 Paragraph § 6 And so much Bellarmine and many other Romanists yeeld Page 141 Subsect 2 The second subsection 143 Paragraph § 1 Some promises of God concerne the outward spreading of the Church and some the inward Graces Page 143 Paragraph § 2 The outward spreading and glorious visibility is not at all times alike Page 144 Paragraph § 3 So Saint Ambrose and Saint Austen teach by comparing the Church to the Moone Page 145 Paragraph § 4 Many Fathers and Romish Doctors say that in the time of Antichrist the Church will be obscure and hardly visible Page 145 Paragraph § 5 Which say Valentinianus and many Fathers was fulfilled in the Arrians time Page 146 Paragraph § 6 The Iesuite Valentinianus grants as much invisâ—bility of the Church as the Protestants desire Page 147 Paragraph § 7 Obseruations out of his grant Page 148 Chap. 1. Sect. 2. subsect 1 The second section shewing that the Protestant Church hath euermore been so visible as the Church of Christ ought to be hath two subsections Paragraph The first subsection concerning the first times Page 149 Paragraph § 1 Sheweth that the Protestants labour sincerely to teach the same doctrine which the Scriptures and
and patience such as is fit to winne others with all long suffring and doctrine 2 Tim. 2.24.25 and 4.2 1 Tim. 5.1.2 and 3.3 Prot. Sir wee pray with vnderstanding in our English Letany from all blindnesse of heart from pride vainglory and hipocrisie from enuy hatred and malice and all vncharitablenes good Lord deliuer vs. Rom. It is a good prayer I would it were well liked and practised of you all Prot. You shall finde me not onely patient but exceeding pitifull and full of commiseration to you and to all other well-minded men that are seduced that be Errones onely and not Turbones as Lipsius distinguisheth them not wilfull but ready to yeeld to sound reason Iustus Lipsius Politic. and to the truth when it manifestly appeares such as be vere Candidi as I hope you bee But against those wicked seducers that wilfully persist to blindfould themselues and you by Pious fraudes as they call them and keepe you on their side for by-respects contrary to the truth laied open to their eies you must giue me leaue to vse iust indignation As we see the Prophets our Sauiour and his Apostles did Rom. Whomsoeuer you shall proue to be such I will ioyne with you in your lust indignation and abhorre them I account no fraud pious nor lawfull to doe euill that good may come of But by forgery and deceit to mis-lead simple soules from the truth in Religion I account most detestable Prot. If it please you then to alleadge your best and most solid reasons whereby you are moued to forsake our Church and embrace the now Roman Religion I will be willing to answer you Rom. I will doe it not of mine owne head but out of the best and learnedest Authors of our side Prot. And I will endeuour to answere out of the learnedest and most iudicious Authors of the Protestants and most especially out of our latest pithiest and substantiallest English writers referring you to the bookes themselues with notes of their Chapters Sections and Pages for your more thorow satisfaction and setling of your Iudgement with like allegations also of your owne best Authors when they doe as they doe often yeeld vs the truth A IVSTIFICATION OF THE CHVRCH OF ENGLAND Demonstrating it to be a true Church of GOD affording all sufficient meanes to SALVATION CHAP. 1. The alleadged 1 antiquity of the Romish Church and newnesse of the Protestants Church 2 is shewed to be vaine for that the Protestants retain the ancient sauing faith and 3 onely weede out the super-seminated Tares 4 as Hezekias and other good Princes did in their times So that 5 these two Churches differ onely as fields well weeded and ouergrowne with weeds And 6 Protestants are not separated from the good things found in the Roman Church but from the Papacy which is a domineering faction in the Church 7 For the Doctrines whereof the ancient Martyrs suffered not but for the Doctrines which Protestants hold §. 1. Roman Catholicke IT is a sufficient notice to mislike and forsake the Protestants Church because it is new neuer seene nor heard of in the world in any Age or Countrey before Luthers time for wee know the true Church of Christ is ancient Bellar. de notis Ecclâ—s l. b. 4. c. 5. Gâ—eg de Valentâ—a Analysis fidei l. 6. c. 12. Costerus Enchirid cap. 2. §. convertat Campian ratâ—o 4 5 6 7. Doct Hil. reas 1. And all Roman Writers triumph in this Argument See B. White ag Fisher p. 115. Cal. inst l. 4. c. 2. §. 2. continued from our Sauiours owne time and such is the Church of Rome founded vpon the chiefe Apostles S. Peter and S. Paul manifestly traced throughout all Ages with an honourable and certaine succession of Bishops the successors of S. Peter All Tyrants Traitors Pagans Hereticks in vaine wrastling raging barking against it confirmed by all worthy Counsels the generall graue Senates of Gods highest Officers and Ministers vpon earth enriched with the Sermons and writings of all the sage learned and holy Doctors and Fathers made famous by all those millions of Saints with their holinesse Martyrs with their suffrings Confessors with their constancy the building of Churches Monasteries Colledges Vniuersities and by all excellent meanes made conspicuous and honourable to the whole world Is it likely is it possible that this Church so ancâ—ent so honourable so holy and glorious should all this while be false hereticall and now to bee forsaken and reiected and a new particular Church lately moulded and erected by Luther Melancton Caluin Beza and a few other obscure vpstarts should bee the only true Church to be imbraced or that the most gracious God would hide his sauing truth from the world fifteene hundred yeeres to the distruction and damnation of so many millions of soules and now at last reueale it to a few in a corner No Sir giue mee leaue herein to take the name of Antiquus to liue and dye in the old Religion and to refuse your new §. 2. Protestant This is indeed the generall enchantment whereby those that compasse Sea and Land to make Romish Proselytes doe bewitch the vnwary and were it true it were able to draw all the world to become Roman-Catholicks But I pray you marke my counter-charme shewing the vntruth and weaknesse of your assertion We of the Church of England doe professe and protest that we are of that a All our learned Bishops Docâ—ors and Preachers beat vpon this point B. Iewel Arch. Abbot B. Abbot B. Bilson B. Andrewes B. Carlton B. Barlow B. Morton B. Vsher B. Downan B. White B. Hall D. â—ulk D. Whitacres D. Field D. White B. Bot. D. utclis D. Favour Mr. Perkins and inâ—umerable others true ancient Church of Christ which you describe b â—ee Fâ—eld Church lib. 3. cap. 6. c. that we hold entirely and soundly all that sauing Doctrine which the blessed Sonne of God brought into the world and his Apostles taught wrote in the holy Scriptures and which the ancient holy Fathers of the Primitiue Church held with great vnity and vniuersality for many ages §. 3. c This is shewâ—d chap. 5. sect â— Booke 2. chap. 2. §. 6. chap. 4. sect 2. And we reiect nothing but the corruptions errours and abuses that haue crept into the Church in later times and from small beginnings haue growne at last to be great and vntollerable those onely we haue refused and haue reformed our particular Churches in diuers Kingdomes and Nations as neare as we could to the fashion of the first true pure and vncorrupt Churches retaining all the Doctrines of the Church of Rome which we found to be Catholicke or agreeable to the faith of the whole Church in all times and places d See D. White against Fisher pag. 68. But Doctrines not Catholicke being neither Primitiue belonging to the ancient Church nor generally receiued by the whole Church either at this day nor in any other age
priests onely Cassander writes and Micrologus Cassander praefat ord Romani Microl. de officio Missae cap. 19. Clicthâ—veus on the Canon of the Masse cited by Cassander ibidem and Clicthoveus among many others Circumgestation saith Cassander is contrary to the manner of the Ancients Cassander consult art 22. Feild quo supra for they admitted none to the fight of the Sacrament but the partakers and therefore the rest were bidden depart Crautzius praiseth Cusanus who being the popes Legat in Germany tooke away his Circumgestation vnlesse it were within the Octaues of Corpus Christi day The Sacrament being instituted for vse and not for ostentation Touching the honour of Saints Gerson and Contarenus Gerson de Directione cordis consider 16. sequent Contarenus in confut artic Lutheri and many others reprehend sundry superstitious obseruations and wish they were wisely abolished Whether the Saints in heauen doe particularly know our estate and heare our cryes and grones not onely Saint Augustine August de cura pro mortuis Glossa in Esay 63 Hugo Erudit Theolog. de sacram fidei lib. 2. part 16. cap. 11. and the Author of the Interlineall glosse But Hugo de Sancto victore tels vs it is altogether vncertaine and cannot be knowne So that though in generality they pray for vs or rather for all the Church on earth yet we may not safely and with faith pray to them That in the primitiue Church publike prayers were celebrated in the vulgar tongue Lyra confesseth Lyra in 1. Cor. 14 Caietan in respons ad Articulos Parisienseâ— and Caietan professeth that he thinketh it would bee more for edification if they were so now And he confirmeth his opinion out of Saint Paul Saint Bernard wrote diuers things concerning the now Romish Doctrine touching speciall faith imperfection and impurity of inherent righteousnesse merits power of freewill the conception of the blessed Virgin and the keeping of the feast of her conception a See D. Field Appendix to the fift booke of the Church part 1. pag. 89. Bernard serm 5. de verb. Esaiae All our righteousnesse saith he is as the polluted rags of a menstruous woman b Serm. 1. de Annunciat We must beleeue particularly that all our sinnes are remitted vs. c Tract de gratia lib. arb in fine Our workes are via regni not causa regnandi they are the way that leadeth to the kingdome but no cause why we raigne d Epist 175. ad Canonicos Lugd. The blessed Virgin was conceiued in sin and the feast of her conception ought not to be kept So that what errours and abuses we haue amended in our reformed Churches those the learned men of former Ages haue espied and haue written against them and we haue made no other Reformation then they heartily desired For conclusion of this point see what a number of famous men writing and preaching against the corruptions of Rome One Vniuersity afforded and thereby gesse what the world did §. 15. Gabriel Powel de Antichristo Edit Lond. 1605. reckons these Oxford men amongst many others in his Preface 1 King Alfred Founder of Oxford Vniuersity would not haue his people ignorant of Scriptures or bard the reading thereof Anno 880 Capgrav cataloge Sanct Angliae Polydor. Virg hist Ang. lib. 5. Baleus 2 Joannes Patricius Erigena a Brittan first Reader in Oxford ordained by the King wrote a booke of the Eucharist agreeable to Bertrams and condemned after by the Pope in Vercellensi Synodo And he Martyred for it anno 884. Philip. in Chron. lib. 4. sub Henr. 4 Baleus cent 2. cap 24. 3 Some Diuines at Oxford were burnt in the face and banished for saying the Church of Rome was the Whore of Babylon Monkery a stinking carrion their vowes toyes and nurses of Sodome Purgatories Masses dedications of Temples worship of Saints c. inuentions of the Deuill anno 960. Matth. Paris lib. 4. Guido Perpin de haeresib Baleus cent 2. 4 Arnulph or Arnold an English preacher a Monke of Oxford for preaching bitterly against Prelats and Priests wicked liues and corruptions cruelly butchered anno 1126. but saith Platina greatly commended by the Roman Nobility for a true seruant of Christ Bale cent 2. cap. 70. 5 Joannes Sarisburiensis anglus Oxoniensis theologus Episcopus Carnotensis beloued of the Popes Engenius 3. and Hadrian 4. wrote against the abuses of Clergy and Bishops in Objurgatorie Cleri in Polycratico he saith The Scribes and Pharises sit in the Roman Church laying importable burdens on mens shoulders The Pope is grieuous to all and almost intollerable Ita debacchantur ejus legati ac si ad ecclesiam flagellandam egressus sit Satan a facâ—e domini and he that dissents from their doctrine is iudged an Hereticke or a Schismaticke c. 1140. Sarisburien Polycr lib. 5. cap. 16. lib. 6. cap. 24. 6 Gualo Professor of Mathematicks in Oxford much praised of Sarish in Polycrat wrote inuectiues against Priests of the Monkish profession their luxuries pompes and impostures anno 1170. Bale cent 3. cap. 15. 7 Gilbert Foliot Doctor of Diuinity in Oxford Bishop first of Hereford and after of London perswaded King Henry 2 after the example of Jehoshaphat and other Kings to keepe the Clergy in subiection and oft resisted and blamed Tho. Becket to his face 1170. Bale ib. cap. 7. 8 Syluester Gyrald Archdeacon Meneuensis beloued of Hen. 2 and Iohn King of England wrote a booke of the Monks Cistertians naughtinesse c. 1200. â—eland catalogo virorum illustrium Bale cent 3 cap. 59. 9 Alexander a Diuine of Oxford sent by King John to defend his authority against the Pope which he did by reasons and Scriptures and wrote against the Popes power and temporall Dominion He was banished by Langton Bishop of Canterbury and dyed in exile he liued anno 1207. when King Iohn banished 64. Monkes of Canterbury for contumary breaking his commandement Bale cent 3 cap. 57. 10 Gualter Maxes Archdeacon of Oxford a famous man hauing been at Rome and seene the ambition of the Pope he set it out while he liued with most vehement satyricall criminations He wrote a booke called The Reuelation of the Romish Goliah and diuers others of the enormity of the Clergy lamentation ouer Bishops and against the Pope the Roman Court the euils of Monkes c. he flourished anno 1210. Siluester Gyrald in spec eccles lib. 3. c. 1. 14 Bale cent 3 cap. 61. 11 Robertus Capito Robert Grosthead Doctor of Diuinity in Oxford Bishop of Lincolne wrote against Prelats idlenesse and thundered against the Romish Court he modestly but yet publikely reproued the couetousnesse pride and manifold tyranny of Pope Innocent 4. He was excommunicated to the pit of hell and cited to come to their bloudy Court but he appealed from the Popes tyranny to the eternall tribunall of Iesus Christ and shortly after dyed anno 1253. The Priests that taught mens commandements and not
and redeemed vs. You beleeue so also but you adde Christ hath satisfied onely for the eternall punishment and for sinnes before Baptisme but that we must satisfie for our following sins August serm 13. De verbis dom Christus suscipiendo poenam non suscipiendo culpam culpam deleuit poenam See B Mortons Appeal lib. 1. cap 2 sect 23. § 47. lib. 2. cap. 15. sect 8 9 10. and also for the temporall punishment due to all our sins either vpon earth or in Purgatory This we account an errour against the foundation making Christ but halfe a Sauiour and against reason for he that forgiues the fault forgiues the punishment also in S. Augustines opinion 24 We beleeue that we ought to pray for all the members of Christs militant Church vpon earth you beleeue so too but you adde wee ought also to pray for the soules suffering in Purgatory which was a thing long time vnknowne to the Church of God §. 2. These are the principall points of Religion and the foundation of our church by your approbatioÌ„ of theÌ„ you grant them all to be true good ancient and Catholicke which may appeare also by that which followeth Se hâ—story of the Councell of Trent lib. 1. pag. 95. At a Diet in Râ—tisbon anno 1541. where was present Iasper Cardinall Contareni the Popes Nuncio Granuel deliuered a booke of 22 Articles to be considered of by the Diuines of both sides whereof the chiefe were chosen by the Emperour to dispute namely Eckius Flugius and Gropperus Romists Melancthon Bucer and Pâ—storia Protestants and vpon their debating some things were approued and some amended by common consent They dissented onely in fiue things and in seuenteene they all finally agreed Ibib. pag. 54.55 Also when the Augustane confession of the Protestant Princes and Diuines was read at Augspurge anno 1530 the Popes Legate Cardinall Campeggio said plainly to the Emperour that the difference of that doctrine from the Roman for the most part seemed verball and that it imported not much whether one spake after one manner or after another and that for the present there was no cause to make any strict examination of the doctrine onely meanes should be vsed that the Protestant should goe no further on See Annals Elizah â—ngl pag 63. and Relation of Religionin the West parts pag. x. 2. 159. And Pope Pius the fourth anno 1560. offered to Queene Elizabeth to allow our whole Booke of Common Prayer if she would receiue it as from him and by his authority And so he might well doe for the booke was with great iudgement purposely so framed out of the grounds of Religion wherein both sides agree that their very Catholickes might resort vnto it without scruple or scandall if Faction more then reason did not sway The truth is were it not for other causes the Controuersies of points of Religion might well be compounded betwixt vs. For the learned of them know that our doctrine is sufficient to make vs true Christi ans both for faith and good life to make vs liue holily righteously and soberly by Gods grace to become good subiects to our Princes good neighbors amongst men good diligent and dutifull members of the Common-wealth painfull peaceable and blessed people and blessings to the Countrey where we liue and to conduct vs thorow all necessary gratious wayes and means ordained by God to eternall blessednesse There is no defect in our doctrine to these ends to promote Christs Kingdome both of grace and glory §. 3. Onely they know and we confesse our Doctrine is insufficient to set vp an earthly Church-kingdome instead of Christs heauenly Kingdome such as the Pope desireth ouer-topping all other Christian Princes and Potentates and maintained with all worldly wealth pompe and glory Were it the purity of Religion which he desired described and receiued in the best Primitiue times of the Church our Religion would abundantly satisfie him but this high transcendent supremacy of the Pope farre beyond those Primitiue times and the wealth of the world to maintaine him and his in their greatnesse Acts 19.28 25. is the great Diana of the Romans which they striue for And these doctrinall controuersies are but subordinate meanes subtilly kept on foot to make the aduersaries of his supremacy more odious For by that craft their wealth is maintained D. Francis White Orthodox faith Epist dedic Ramolds Hart confer cap. 7. dinis 6 7. pag. 367 seq Our Doctor Reinolds obserueth well and proueth largely that this in these latter Ages hath been the Pope maine aime and practise And men of skill and iudgement who knew the popes thorowly and faithfully set forth their liues haue opened this secret and mystery of State as it hath been managed since it grew to maiesty that they minde the propping vp of their owne Kingdome while they pretend the worship of Christ and that in the popes language the Church doth signifie not the company of the faithfull seruants of God but the Papacy that is the dominion and princehood of the pope in things both temporall and spirituall K. Iames his Remonstrance to Peron pag. 246. And our late learned and iudicious King Iames saith The name of the Church serueth in this our corrupt Age as a cloke to couer a thousand new inuentions and no longer signifies the Assembly of the faithfull or such as beleeue in Iesus Christ according to his Word but a certaine glorious ostentation and temporall Monarchy whereof the pope forsooth is the supreame head Ibid. pag. 259. And S. Peters net is now changed into a casting net or a flew to fish for all the wealth of most flourishing kingdomes 1 To this end consider whether there be more care and policy to maintaine the popes greatnesse and reuenues then to make good Christians For where good Christians are already such as the Primitiue Christians were thither the popes Emissaries come to make them the popes subiects and sticke not at Treasons Rebellions inuasions if they haue hope so to effect it Relation of Religion in the West pag. 156 159. 2 Consider whether all other thogh neuer so profane or wicked Iewes Stewes Turkes Infidels Heretickes or Atheists open enemies of Christian Religion be not suffered more quietly to liue in Italy Rome and vnder the popes nose then Protestants whose onely great crime is They are against the popes vsurpations and corruptions Molius defence pag. 464. 3 Consider if all sinnes against God and his Word be not more slightly punished then offences against the Popes greatnesse In cases of Murder Treason Incest Blasphemy c. ordinary Bishops may bind and loose but the cases of hindring men from going to Rome for pardons of intrusion into any benefice or office Ecclesiasticail of purloyning any Church goods or offending the Sea-Apostolicke c. those are reserued to the pope onely And the penitentiary taxe for falsifying the letters Apostolicall is
8. pag. 815. And with other Lawes Constitutions Councels and Ordinances he playeth fast and loose as he list Take for example that which is written in the end of the history of the Councell of Trent When much debating had beene betweene the Pope and the Cardinals whether his Holinesse should confirme the Councell or no because through the importunity of Princes and some learned Diuines many Decrees had passed for reformat on of diuers things whereby the dignity and profits of the Papacy and Court of Rome would bee much impaired at last Cardinall Amulius told the pope Since he could not possibly auoyd the calling and celebrating of the Councell so much desired by the clamour of the world he must now either quickly confirme it to satisfie the world or else Princes and States would vse other meanes by nationall Councells or by another generall Councell to satisfie themselues But now by confirming all and giuing as much quicke execution as was possible the pope might stay and quiet the humour of the world for the present and afterwards by vnsensible and vnresistable degrees by his dispensations he might bring all to the same estate wherein it was before without seeming to violate the decrees of the Councell and this policy tooke effect and so both frustrate the good reformation entended by the Decrees and also gulled the world and all the Princes and Prelates paines and turned all to the profit of the Pope his Court and Cardinalls Whereby it plainly appeares The popes faction aymeth not at the good of the Church or Christian Common-wealthes but onely at their owne wealth and greatnesse and hereby appeares also the great power and iniquity of the Popes dispensations Antiquus Whatsoeuer they aime at I am resolued that many of these things cannot be of God they are certainly the faults of men and abuses practised vnder colour of Religion I cannot I will not defend them But I doe much wonder how not being of God they should be so generally receiued beleeued to be of God and so long continued and not rather long since driuen out of the world by Princes and People Antiquissimus Sir if ye knew and considered the policies and power which haue been vsed to bring them in and maintaine them your wonder would cease Antiquus I pray you make me acquainted with them Antiquissimus Some of the principall and most obuious I will but my wit cannot sound the bottomlesse depth of the Mystery of Iniquity Antiquus A taste thereof shall content me CHAP. 6. Of policies to maintaine the Popes Princedome and Wealth 1 Depriuing men of the light of the Scriptures And 2 of their ordinary preachings and setting vp ambulatery Monkes and Pryars to preach without controule of Church Ministers and Officers 3 Schoolemens too much subtilty and Philosophy darkning and corrupting Diuinity 4 Iesuites their originall noted their Seminaries their Emissions faculties insinuations and imploiments 5 Cardinals 6 Prouision for men and women of all sorts by Monasteries c. 7 Auricular confession 8 Other policies to gather wealth 9 Purgatory a rich thing 10 So are Indulgences or Pardons 11 Jubilies 12 Corruptions of doctrine touching merits and Justification c. 13 Things hallowed by the Pope 14 Extraordinary exactions §. 1. THe Popes principall meanes to make the people his owne were 1 to keepe the Diuine Scriptures from them by which else they might discerne his vniustifiable policies Psal 119.105 and 19.7 8. For Gods Word is the light and lanthorne of Christians which S. Paul would haue to dwell plentifully among them Col. 3.16 and S. Peter would haue Babes in Christ to desire the sincere milke of the Word that they may grow thereby 1 Pet. 2.2 which is able to make them wise in the points of faith 2 Tim. 3.15 and perfectly furnished vnto all good workes verse 17. Chrysost serm 2. de Lazaro S. Chrysostome as doe many other Fathers also exhorts all people Lay-men especially Tradesmen Carpenters c. to get them Bibles more carefully then any other tooles of their occupation and the more they dealt in the world and met with temptations il examples and occasions of sinne so much more carefully to reade the Scriptures for direction and armour against them Christ himselfe commandeth Search the Scriptures Joh. 5.39 and saith Matth. 22.29 Doe ye not erre not knowing the Scriptures So that herein They are Anti-Pauls and Peters Anti-chrysostomes and Anti-Christs that teach and practise the contrary Matth. 5 15. hiding the light of Gods Word vnder their Latin bushels from the vnlatined people in Gods house yea and from the Latined too vnder great penalties except they be licenced Surely as this is a meanes to obscure the truth and lead men as Captiues blind-fold whether they list * 2 Tim. 2.26 so it is a signe they loue not the truth but are euill men and hate the light lest their deeds should be reproued Ioh. 3.20 §. 2. But it was not sufficient to take from men the true light except there be added also a false light to misguide them for mens mindes being naturally desirous of knowledge and giuen to deuotion must haue that hunger satisfied and quieted either by truth or appearance Their second policy was therefore 2 To put downe the ordinary Pastors and Preachers or to take a course that they are discouraged disabled grow vnlearned and vnfit to preach and set vp others For Saint Paul appointed Bishops to ordaine Presbyters * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 1.5 in euery City and Towne to wit such as dwell among the people might best know the wants sinnes capacities of their owne people See Tit. 5 6 7 c. 1 Tim 3.2 c. and 5.22 Acts 20.17 18. and apply their teaching the best way to informe reforme and winne them and such as being fixed in their places might best be called to account by the Bishop either for life or doctrine This was Gods excellent meanes to preserue sound doctrine and sincere holy liues of Ministers But when the Popes ambition and couetousnesse grew so great that they were not content with Christs heauenly Kingdome but would super-adde vnto it an earthly kingdome and make of Christs militant Church and Church triumphant vpon earth a visible Church Monarchy as Doctor Sanders entitles it ouer-topping all other Kingdomes of ciuill Princes Kings and Emperours and draw out of all Countries the Wealth and Treasure of the world to maintaine it Then the Ministers and Preachers of Christs ordaining would not serue their turne but would rather oppose And therefore it was the popes best policy to disgrace and disable them and to finde out and set vp others fitter for their purpose to preach in all places of the world by the authority and priuiledge of the Popes onely and wholly exempted from the Bishops iurisdictions and from all controule of other Ministers or Officers whatsoeuer So that these new Preachers meerely depending vpon the pope and maintained by
them and safe comming to them and freedome of voyces were all taken away If things be thus carried what needes any Senate of the whole Church when a Senate of present Cardinals either can doe all or must doe all Therefore this inuention state and choyce of Cardinals is a powerfull politicke deuice to maintaine the Papacy and keepe off the strongest opposition §. 6. See relation of Religion in these Western parts §. 13. c. Monasteries also as now they are vsed are great vpholders of the Papacy in binding many thousands fast vnto it for their owne maintenance For there is entertainement for all sorts of people Men Women Nobler baser in the higher or lower places They are Hauens or finall Refuges to receiue men of discontented humours or despairing passions or vnfortunate or vnfit for other Trades or disgraced or crossed in the world or distasted with the world or tyred out with enemies or wanting maintenance there they may be discharged of toyles and cares and prouided for without charge to their parents or friends to the great ease of parents and better portions of their other brethren who are all bound to the Abbeyes and Papacy for this benefit And there are such diuersities of orders and degrees of Monasteries in strictnesse or slacknesse of their rules that in one or other euery humour may receiue contentment the more deuout and melancholicke in the more seuere and austere orders the looser in orders of greater liberty All of them for present maintenance without care and protection without feare and for hope of rising to higher and higher places among such multitudes and diuersities must needs loue and defend to the vttermost of their powers the authors of their welfare And though they haue frequent fastings and prayers c. yet with a little vse they can endure it well as matters nothing comparable to the benefits they receiue these are but physicke to keepe them aliue against the diseases which else their ease and fulnesse at other times would breed And their delights are many to content them and the rest of the world inward hope that all their outward courses highly please God and they liue in a state of perfection farre aboue the best of ordinary Christians meriting heauen many blessings both for themselues and others their benefactors they haue their legends and familiar relations of visions miracles apparitions and reuelations much pleasing the credulous superstitious and phantasticall they haue their sweet Musicke glorious showes beautifull Images rich vestments variable ceremonies for the admiration of the simple Their Cities and great places abound in all varietie both of things and times and orders to content and delight the seuerall humours of all their baits to allure their hookes to retaine all kinde of people One day all Maskes Playes and lollity another day all Processions Fasting and whipping themselues vpon one doore an Excommunication casting downe to Hell all trangressors vpon another a Iubile or Pardon from all transgressions on one side of the street a house of vailed Nunnes on the other side an house of open Curtezans and the Stewes allowed for a pension payed to the pope as well as the Nunnes Neuer was any state in the world so strangely compacted of infinite varieties to please variety of humors and so strongly combined to maintaine the Master-piece Neuer was any prince so able to preferre his seruants and followers and that at other mens cost as the pope nor so able quickly and easily to take deepe reuenge of his enemies His authority is so great so setled in base peoples hearts his power so strong and adherents so many his agents so quicke to execute his will that any sinne against him is vnpardonable and on the other side any sinne either against God or Nature or prince or State by intercession to him and respectiue attendance on his Officers may be dispensed with or pardoned or passed by without disturbance §. 7. See Relation of Religion in the West §. 17. See B. White against Fisher pag. 186. c. Auricular confession pretended for repentance reformation direction and comfort of sinners and might with some cautions be profitably vsed to those purposes yet by the abuse doth yeeld to the Romish great benefit for the managing of affaires since thereby they pry into the hearts dispositions consciences and humours of all men Nobles and inferiours in euery Country whereby the more wise and politicke sort which are confessors to great men may come to know many secret carriages of businesses and also who are the fittest instruments to be imployed either in furthering or crossing their designes and by enioyning penance may make great vse of the dispositions which by such confessions are discouered Beside the gifts which they may wring from them vpon their death-beds or other sicknesses Of all which I wish there were no examples or practises §. 8. As we find the former policies make principally for the popes greatnesse strength and honour setting him vp aboue all the world Clergy and Laity so wee find many others notably contriued to furnish him and his agents with treasure answerable to so great a State Beside his temporals giuen by great Princes or won from them and others by power or policy his commings in are great from Abeyes Bishopricks and Benefices their Institutions Inductions Inuestitures palles first fruits tenthes subsidies and other impositions vpon occasions or at his pleasure And by sutes to the Court of Rome of Controuersies from all Countries and by appeales reseruations exemptions Relation of Religion in the West §. 38. pag. 98 99. dispensations and other rich inuentions Abbeyes many of them haue extrordinary faculties granted them whereby they gather much money but the pope vseth them as spunges to drinke what Iuice they can from the people that afterwards he may wring them out one by one into his owne Cesterne When Religious houses and Bishopricks waxe rich his Holinesse lets them blood in their ouer-full veines The masses of money were infinite that from all Countries of Christendome came in this way so that their temporals which should haue been their principall was then but an accessory addition to their greatnesse The people likwise payed their Peterpence Vsher de succes eccle cap. 7. §. 8 9 10. which in England was confirmed by W. Conqueror and made an yearely tribute although the same King denied to take the oath of fidelity to the pope §. 9. Purgatory is a most politicke deuice as it is now held to bring in great store of treasure to the popes cofers The pope hath the keyes of that terrible burning prison wherein soules must frye which haue not on earth satisfied for their sinnes vntill they haue payed the vttermost farthing except the pope by Masses Pardons Pilgrimages Offerings and such like let them out Which helpes are not to be affoorded without payment of money testifying their repentance But vpon good payments to his Holinesse and the Churches
sheweth § 1. An obiected description of the excelâ—ency of the Church and a necessity of the perpetuall succession and visibility thereof § 2. That for a thousand yeares and more our Church was all one with the Roman § 3. After that corruptions grew intollerable in the Roman Church many yet misliked them and held the truth § 4. The whole Catholicke Church can neuer be visible to men at once but parts of it may and must § 5. The promises of purity and eternall life do not belong to all the called but to the few chosen which to men are invisible though their persons and profession be visible § 6. And this Bellarmine and many other Romanists yeeld §. 1. Antiquus YOu shew no wisedome in disgracing thus the Church of Rome for you must deriue your Church from it or else you haue no succession from the Apostles and consequently no Church at all and therefore no possibility of saluation You that so much glory in the Scriptures doe you not marke how the Scriptures describe the Church calling it a Ephe. 2.19 the City of our Lord b Ib. Hebr. 3.2 6. the house of God c Cantic 4.12 a Garden enclosed a spring shut vp a fountaine sealed d Psal 80.8 our Lords vineyard of his owne planting e 1 Tim. 3.15 the pillar of truth f Psal 27.13 the land of the liuing g Cantic 4.15 the fountaine of liuing waters h Eph. 6.25 c. the Spouse of Christ who gaue himselfe for it who sanctifieth and clenseth it and maketh it a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle that it may be holy and without blemish and to omit other titles i 1 Pet. 3.20 compares it to the Arke of Noe out of which there is no saluation from the deluge of sinne And to the end that by it all men may come to the knowledge of the truth and be saued it must be visible conspicuous and mounted aloft as a City vpon a hill k Mat. 5.14 seene of all the world shining to all the world so continuing to the end of the world with continuall succession of holy gouernment teaching administring the Sacraments without interruption For if it be hidden or inuisible any time how can it teach the people conuert Pagans dispence Sacraments glorifie God lead men to saluation Therefore the holy â—criptures describe this Church to be most ample conspicuous and not onely gracious but glorious l Psal 45.9 This Queene is all glorious in a vesture of gold wrought about with diuers colours to whom the daughter of Tyre and all Nations bring gifts signifying the magnificence of the Church gathered of all the Gentiles m Esay 2.2 3 4 18 20. cap. 49.5 6 7 23. 60.3 4 c. It is the holy mountaine of the Lord to which all Nations shall come and Kings and Queenes should come and doe homage vnto it n â—sal 72.8 c. Micah 4.1 Dauid magnifies this Church as extending from Sea to Sea and from the Riuer to the worlds end adding that the Aethiopians should fall downe before the great Messias the Kings of Tharshish and of the Iles should bring presents the Kings of Arabia of Saba should offer gifts yea all kings should fall downe before him and all Nations should serue him The Messias himselfe saith o Ioh. 12.31 32. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out and I if I be lifted vp from the earth will draw all men vnto me Meaning by his passion to draw all Nations of the world from heathenish Idolatry to become members of his holy Church Now instead of this conspicuous glorious Church you Protestants obtrude vnto vs an obscure latent invisible Church vnseen in the world for more then a thousand yeares or rather neuer seene before Luthers time But if these prophesies of the Scriptures concerning the glory and amplitude of the Church be true as they are most true then is the conspicuous Church of Rome the true Church and your so long latent visible Church the false §. 2. Antiquissimus The wisâ—dome which we vse is not grounâ—ed vpon vnsound policies but vpon standing to the sound truth which is great and will preuaile the disgraces of the Romish Hierarchy we either reade in your own Authors who write them necessario potiùs quam libenter as wrested from them by the truth rather then of any itching humour to disgrace it or wee obserue them with our owne eyes so manifest that they cannot be hid so bad that they cannot be excused The propheticall promises to the Church which you alledge wâ—th all reuerence we doe acknowledge and we confesse that within the first thousand yeares after Christ before â—atan was loosed Reuel 20.2 and 7 8. the most of them werâ— fulfilled and principally in the first ageâ— of thâ—t period when the Church was by the Apostles and their successors propagated to the Gentilâ—â— and plantâ—d in all Nations and while the Church of Rom tauâ—ht the same pure doctrine which we now doe and while your Church and ours and all other particular Churches in the world were one Catholike Church And although some errours and abuses began to creepe into the Church of Rome within that time and weâ—e by many espyed and reprooued yet were they not imputed to the whole Church of Rome but to a faction breeding in it Neither were they so great â—t so largely spred or so strongly defended or of such regard as to make any such breach or manifest sepâ—r tâ—on as in the following ages ensued So that in tâ—e firâ—â— thousand of yeares the holy prophesies by you alleaâ—geâ— make nothing more for your Church then ours â—otâ—ing more against our Church then against yoâ—rs yours and ours being then both one Church §. 3. Sâ—conâ—ly wee affirme that when the Church of Rome grew vntollerably corrupt by mens traditions and new inuâ—â—â—ions especially in the Hierarchy thereof there wanted not multitudes of good Christians both separated from the community thereof that followed their better teachers and professed still the pure ancient Doctrine and other multitudes also liuing in community with the vnsound Romish gouernours groning vnder their corruptions and longing for reformation which made a full sufficient visible Church to whom the propheticall promises belonged and in whom they were fulfilled so much as was intended by them Which that you may the better vnderstand Handled in this section consider first more thorowly the nature of the promises and state of the Church as it must be in these later ages and secondly the state of our Church fully agreeing thereunto and the state of yours disagreeing You that cannot endure to heare of any kind of invisibility of the Church Handled in the second section must of necessâ—ty admit of some kinde thereof or else you involue all in confused obscurity First if you take the Church for the whole Catholicke Church that is
ouerthrowes it by the consequence of many opinions and practises now generally retained in it As the Galatians held the foundation to wit saluation by Iesus Christ and yet withall held a necessity of ioyning circumcision with Christ which doctrine by consequence destroyed the very foundation for so Saint Paul wrote vnto them Gal. 5 2 4. If they were circumcised Christ profited them nothing he became of none effect vnto them they were fallen from grace In like manner saith he The Church of Rome professâ—ng to hold the foundation of faith yet by ioyning other things with Christ and by teaching many things pernicious in Christian faith doth by consequence plainely ouerthrow the foundation of faith Plainely saith his Margen in all mens sight whose eyes God hath enlightned to behold his truth for they which are in errour are in darkenesse and see not that which in light is plaine One of their pernicious errors he toucheth there in the Margensaying Ibid. §. 11. They hold the same with Nestorius fully the same with Eutiches about the proprieties of Christs Nature More he mentioneth else where in the text calling them such Impieties as by their law they haue established and wherevnto all that are among them either doe indeed assent or else are by powerfull meanes forced in shew and appearance to subiect themselues See also ibid. § 2â— For example In the Church of Rome is maintained that the same credit and reuerence that we giue to the Scriptures of God ought also to be giuen to vnwritten verities that the Pope is supreme head ministeriall ouer the vniuersall Church militant That the bread in the Eucharist is Transubstantiated into Christ That it is to be adored and to be offered vnto God as a sacrifice propitiatory for quicke and dead That Images are to be worshipped Saints to be called vpon as Intercessors and such like §. 3. Antiquus How agrees this with that you said before that the Church of Rome excepting the Papacy therein continued to be the Church of God till Luthers time for euen those whom you call the Church of God liued and dyed in the profession of these errours which now you say destroy the foundation of the Church of God Antiquissimus Vnderstand vs right They that hold these and such like errours for worldly respects knowing them to be heresies and make semblance of allowing that which in heart and iudgement they condemne as also they that heretically maintaine them by holding them obstinately after wholsome admonition Mr. Hooker makes no doubt Cyprian cited beâ—ore cap. 1. Sect. 4 § 3. T it 3 1â— 11. so alâ—o â—il 3.2 gal 3. â—0 12. 1 7 8 9. but their condemnation without an actuall repentance is inevitable And this is confirmed by Saint Cyprians famous sentence by me cited before and by Saint Paul saying A man that is an hereticke after the first and second admonition reiect knowing that he that is such is subuerted and sinneth being condemned of himselfe But many liued in these errors in the Church of Rome not knowing them to be errors or heresies Hooker ibid. § 12. nor euer vnderstanding that the consequent thereof destroyed the Foundation of Faith They following the conduct of their guides and obseruing exactly what was prescribed them Ibid. § 13. thought they did God good seruice when indeed they did dishonour him They did but erroniously practise what their guides hereticallly taught And though the pit bee ordinarily the end both of the guide and of the guided in blindnesse yet Gods mercy might saue them that sinned onely of erroneous piety and were merely deceiued by thinking too well and trusting too much their hereticall teachers not being in the rank of them who receiued not the loue of the truth to beleeue it and had pleasure in vnrighteousnesse and so were worthy to be giuen ouer to strong delusions and damnation 2 thes 2.10 11 12. This is confirmed likewise by the former sentence of Saint Cyprian Cyprian cited before cap. 1. sect 4. sect 3. Augustine cited before cap. 1. sect 4. in the V. Reason 1 Cor. 1.2 15.14 gal 1.2 5 2 4 10. Hook ib. § 26. and by the iudgement of Saint Augustine formerly alleadged and by Saint Pauls imbracing the Corinthians and Galatians as Churches of Christ notwithstanding the errours which they held being of mere ignorance and seduced by false Teachers For the false teachers of circumcision or the froward stiffe-necked and obstinate defenders thereof after wholsome admonition Saint Paul calleth dogges Phil. 3.2 and wisheth them cut off Gal. 5 12. and pronounceth them accursed Gal 1.8 But them that held the same errour of ignorance not knowing the dangerous consequence of it and retained a mind docible and desirous to be instructed in the truth and to follow it Them Saint Paul pittieth to them he writeth as to the Church of Christ Gal. 1.2 them with fatherly tendernesse he admonisheth instructeth and imbraceth as his children §. 4. And although many of our Fathers in the Church of Rome dyed in their errors not knowing them to be errors and therefore may be thought neuer to haue repented of them yet the same may be said of the Corinthians and Galatians that many of them dyed before S. Paul either heard of their seducing or had time to reduce them but of their the liuing also in the very beginning of his Epistles before he deliuered his instructions he spake comfortably and saluted theÌ„ as the Churches and Saints of God Hooker ibid. § 18. 20. And Mr. Hooker giues a reason why they that hold the foundation of Christian Religion cannot be said to dye without some kind of Repentance euen for vnknowen sinnes The least sinne in deed word or thought is to be accounted deadly without repentance and Gods mercy Yet many sins escape vs without knowledge of them many which we obserue not to be sinnes and without actuall and particular knowledge or obseruation of them there can be no actuall or particular repentance of them yet for as much as all that hold the foundation of religion inviolable in their harts haue a general hatred of all sin thogh for actuall knowne sinnes an actuall and particular repentance is required See Archb. Abbot ag Hil. reason 5. § 28. yet for secret and vnknowne sins as common ouersights errours and such as we either know not or know them not to be sins a generall hatred and a generall repentance of all obtaines the mercy of God through the mediation of Iesus Christ Psal 51. title Psal 19.12 Dauid repented actually particularly and punctually for his knowne particular sinnes but of others he saith in generall who can vnderstand his errours or know how oft he offendeth Lord clense thou me from my secret faults See heere chap. 3. § 1.13 Many ancient Fathers erroneously held free-will and yet were not accounted heretickes because it was of meere ignorance whereof they were neuer conuicted
Purgatory Indulgence the doctrine of transubstantiation Communion of the Laity in one species priuate Masses and such like yet all this cannot proue yours to bee the true Church nor the Roman to bee false because yet you are defectiue in this That the Church being one onely true entire body of Iesus Christ you are seperate from it and will not be vnder the gouernment of that visible-hood which Christ hath appointed ouer it to wit the Bishop of Rome the successor of Saint Peter to whom is giuen the highest iurisdiction and gouernment of the whole Church vpon earth and the infallibility of iudgement to guide it right and keepe it from error so that they that are not vnder his gouernment and guidance are out of the Church in which saluation is to be found and no where else Neither can the things now vsed which were not vsed in the Primitiue Church any way nullifie or disgrace the Church since in the wisedome of him that is infallibly assisted by the holy Ghost for the guidance of the Church they are iudged profitable in these times which were not so necessary in former ages All inferiour and priuate spirits must submit to the iudgement of that Head whom Christ hath constituted ouer his Church and doth assist with his spirit that hee shall not erre That Saint Peter was made Prince and Head of the Apostles by our Sauiour Christ the Proofes are plaine in the Scriptures and Fathers Mat. 16.16 In the 16. of Saint Matthew when Saint Peter had confessed Thou art Christ the sonne of the liuing God Christ answered Thou art Peter and vpon this Rocke will I build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not preuaile against it To thee will I giue the keyes of the kingdome of heauen to open and shut to bind and loose In the 21 of S. Iohn Christ saith to Peter Ioh. 21.15 Since thou louest mee more then these the rest of the Apostles Feed my Sheepe Be thou the generall Pastor ouer my whole flocke euen ouer the rest of the Apostles In the 22. of Saint Luke Christ saith I will pray for thee Peter that thy faith shall not faile Luk. 22.32 and when thou art conuerted strengthen thy Brethren Conformable to these Scriptures the Fathers doe ordinarily giue vnto Saint Peter the Primacy of the Apostles call him the Mouth the Chiefe the Top the Highest the Prince the President of the Apostles the head and foundation of the Church all which laid together and well considered doe proue such a prerogariue in Saint Peter that the Church taught and guided by him and his Successors shall neuer erre in matters of Faith and good life but bee infallibly lead into all truth that bringeth to holinesse and happinesse And this is not promised to Saint Peters person or for his life onely but to all his Successors when Christ promiseth to bee with them to the end of the world Mat. 28. in the last words Whereupon these things will follow 1 That the Church of Rome See the Relation of the Religion in the West parts pag. 15. now gouerned by S. Peters Successors is vndoubtedly the true Church of God deliuering and practising the true meanes of saluation and hath the prerogatiue to keepe men from erring in matters of Faith and from falling from God hath the keyes of heauen in custody to admit in by indulgence such as shall be saued and shut out by excommunication such as shall bee condemned so that in it there is a happy facility and without it an vtter impossibility of saluation 2 And consequently It is of the necessity to saluation that all particular Churches and all men be subiect to the Bishop thereof Christs Vicar and the visible head of the Catholike Church vpon earth and whosoeuer or what Nation or people soeuer are not subiect to him in spirituall things are no part of the Catholike Church of Christ §. 3. Antiquis Were all this true and substantiall it were able to charme all the world to be of your Church and to make the Pope absolute Lord of all And you do politikely to keep this point for your last refuge and final ground of all controuersies betwixt vs for if you can euict this you need no more If your Popes bee Saint Peters successors in all those things which you ascribe vnto Saint Peter and thereby haue full iurisdiction ouer the whole Christian world and cannot erre all is yours Stapleton principio doctr lib 6. cap. 2. Sanders Rocke of the Church Bristow Motiue 47. c. See Bellarm. letter to Blackwell there is an end of all controuersie and disputation And therefore your Chieftaines haue great reason to fortifie this piece with all the art and artillery their wit learning and power can afford them thereby to cut off all particular controuersies wherein they finde we are too strong for them This Gorgons head alone is able to affright the simple that they shall not beleeue their owne eyes or see your palpable corruptions or beleeue that any thing can be amisse with you be it neuer so foule and and manifest But alas deare friend I shall shew you plainely that all this is but an Imaginary Castle built in the Ayre without ground or foundation and that all your men stretch the Scriptures and the sayings of the Fathers farre beyond their meaning B. Iewel B. Bilson B. Morton B White D. Rainolds D. Field c. To answere their bookes and arguments punctually would aske too great time and be a needlesse labour because our Learned men haue done it sufficiently and often already But for your satisfaction I will shew you first what dignity the ancient Church hath yeelded to the Bishop of Rome Secondly that the Supremacy now claymed cannot be proued to bee giuen to Saint Peter either by the Scriptures or thirdly by the Fathers but coÌ„trary that both the Scriptures and Fathers are against it Fourthly that the true primacy and Prerogatiues of Saint Peter aboue the rest of the Apostles were personall and did not descend to his successors §. 3. 1. For the first Aeneas Syluius who was afterterwards made Pope Aeneas Syluius epist 288. Ante conciliuÌ„ Nicenâ—â— qu sque sibi viuebat paruus respectus habebatur ad ecclesiam Romanam and called Pius Secundus saith plainly that before the Councell of Nice 327. yeeres after Christ little respect was had to the Church of Rome yet was Rome the chiefe City of the world by reason of the Antiquity Magnificence Dominion and the residence of the Emperours there at that time The Apostles vsed to plant Churches in the chiefest Cities from whence the Gospell might best be propagated into the Countries adioyning Cities therefore were first Christians the people dwelling in Country Pagis Villis in Pages and Villages being not conuerted See D. Field Church book 5. epist to the Reader cap. 27. 30 31. were called Pagans or Infidels But for their
Christ by saying g Ioh. 20. Sicut misit me Pater ego mitto vos gaue them his owne office and authority and made them his Vicars as the Fathers Chrysostome and Theophylact speake and Bellarmine alloweth h Ib. initio capitis And whereas Saint Iames the younger was ordayned Bishop of Ierusalem by the other Apostles as the Ancients shew that ordination was not a new power giuen him but a speciall application of his old power to that particular diocesse i Wherein Bellar. troubles himsâ—lfe idly de pont l. 1. c. 23 §. praetereaquod as also the translation of a Bishop to another Sea is not the making of a new Bishop but a meere application of the old to a new place k D Field ib. pag 116 117. §. 14. Thus you see sufficiently I hope that though the Church l Section 3 4 5. attributed much to Saint Peter yet m Sect. 10 11 12 not such supreme iurisdiction ouer the whole Church as now is claymed n Sect. 13. neither could the prerogatiues due to him descend to his successors no such thing can be proued either by the o Sect. 6 7 8 9. Scriptures or the p Sect. 11. Fathers but plainly the q Sect 10 12. contrary r Cyprian epist 67. D. Field Church book 5. c. 42. p. 288. Saint Cyprian saith wisely that Almighty God wisely foreseeing what euils might follow such vniuersality of power and iurisdiction in one man ordayned that there should be a great number of Bishops ioyned in equall commission that so if some fell the rest might stand and keepe the people from a generall downefall as it was in the time of the Arians wherein many Bishops were corrupted and amongst them the Å¿ See the next chapter sect 4. Liberius and before c. 1. sect 1. subsect 2. §. 5. Bishop of Rome others remayning sound and preuayling to saue the Church from generall corruption To conclude this great point we account this claymed iurisdiction to be one of the great corruptions of the Church of Rome a politike deuice to set vp an earthly Kingdome We know there was a Church of God vpon earth perfect and pure before there was a Church at Rome and that the Churches in other Nations of Corinth Galatia Ephesus Philippy c. had no dependance vpon the Church of Rome they were her sisters not her daughters equally branches of the Oliue tree Rom. 11. Rome was not the Root and they the Sprigs And the Church of Rome was more perfect and pure before this great iurisdiction was euer claymed and practised then euer it was after and saluation therein more easily attained We know that in the smallest Churches euen those in Philemons and in Aquila and Priscillaes houses Philem. 2. 1 Cor. 16.19 saluation was to bee had without subiection to Rome For wheresoeuer two or three are gathered together in Christs name Mat. 18.20 hee is amongst them They that heare his voyce and follow him Iohn 10 27. are his Sheepe and Church whethee they be vnder the Pope or no. And they that are built vpon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Ephes 2.19 20. Christ himselfe being the chiefe corner stone are not strangers and aliens but of the houshold of God and fellow Citizens with the Saints The condition of being vnder the Pope is no where required in Scripture but saluation promised wheresoeuer it is promised without it If nothing be necessary to be beleeued to saluation but what is deliuered in plaine words in Scripture or else thence deducted by euident consequence of reason as Bellarmine teacheth then this point is not necessary to be beleeued then saluation may be had without it The ancient Christians indeed reuerenced the Church of Rome and thought fit to keep in the Community of so famous a Church but they neuer acknowledged the Prerogatiue of the Bishop thereof to bee such that it was damnable to be from vnder him or separate from community with him or feared his excommunication as damnable For the Greeke Church which was a long time a principall part of the Christian world was neuer subiect to the Roman Bishop See B. Morton Causa Regia cap 1. §. 4 pag. 4. but as Bellarmine confesseth a Bellarmine in Praefat. ad libros de Rom. Pont. pag. 15. diuided from the Roman 800. yeeres And b Bellar. li. 3. de verbo Dei c. 6. § secundo All the Churches of Asia were excommunicated by Pope Victor vniustly and contrary to the course of all his predecessors as both Irenaeus with his Westerne Bishops and all the Easterne Bishops manifested it vnto him and therefore they little regarded it though as Bellarmine saith c Bellar de Rom. pont li. 2. c. 19. §. At objicit we neuer read it was recalled or they absolued d Binius Annot. in Concil 1. Carthag Pope Steuen threatned the African Bishops with excommunication which they ioyning with Saint Cyprian the famous Bishop of Carthage made none account of e See before .12 Saint Cyprian was notwithstanding alwaies accounted in the number of Catholikes f Bellar. lib. 2. deconcil c. 5. §. 1 and afterward crowned with Martyrdome In Saint Augustines time the African Fathers g Card. Cusan concord cath lib. 1. cap. 20. continued to withstand Pope Celestine and his successors and stood willingly excommunicated an hundred yeeres as appeares by the Epistle of Boniface h See before §. 12. whereof I spake before i Bellar de Rom. pont lib. 2. c. 25. Bellarmine and k Salmeron rom 12. tractat 58. p. 498 col 1. Baronius that deny the story thereof and would discredit that Epistle know very well that many learned men of their side allow applaude and alleadge it as Lindan Sanders Harding Coster c. and so either are blindely deceiued or wilfully deceiue the world they know also that the African Bishops and among them Saint Augustine the Chiefe did very sharpely withstand the Roman Bishops clayme for Appeales to Rome and k Salmeron rom 12. tractat 58. p. 498 col 1. they know also that from the time of Saint Cyprian the Church of Africa began to be separated from the Church of Rome l Baronius tomâ— 5. anno 4â—9 â—u 93. In which time there were innumerable troopes of Martyrs that dyed for the Catholike Faith as Baronius confesseth m Baron tomâ— 8. anno 604. nu 55 58. Baronius describeth also out of Beda how the Churches of great Brittain England and Scotland were diuided a long time from the Roman Church and subiection to her rites which were commanded vnder paine of excommunication and stood out in Gregory the Greats time aboue 600. yeeres after Christ and would not yeeld the desired subiection for all that Augustine could doe and yet they were accounted Catholike Christians and on one day twelue hundred of them were crowned with Martyrdome dying
Canonicall Scriptures Decret c. in Canonicis dist 19. § V. Thus Erasmus argueth Annot. in 1 Cor. 7. B. Mort Appeal l. 2. c. 20. sect 5. l 3. c. 15. §. 4. Consider lastly what need had there beene of any Councels to what end was so much labour and cost bestowed to what purpose to trouble so many Vniuersities to call together so many learned Diuines to turne ouer so many bookes to beate their heads in the finding out of the truth in discussing of hard questions and satisfying of doubts if all this might be so quickly easily and sweetly done by the onely iudgement and determination of the Pope CHAP. 8. Of the good which the Popes Supremacy might doe to the Church § 1. That is vrged but 2. answered that policies agreeable to Gods word and the Primitiue Church onely are sufficient and blessed by God § 3. But this policy might be set vp by any sect § 4. It is vnprofitable and vntollerable 5. shewed by examples of Hildebrand 6. The voiages against the Turke proued profitable to the Pope not to Christian Princes 7. as appeared by the Story of Gregory 9. and Frederik 2. Emperour and 8. many other most wicked Popes § 9. The Emperour Phocas erred much in gouernment in making the Pope so great so farre from him For Popes shortly after proued Masters of mis-rule eiecting the Emperors out of Italy § 10. Their turbulent proceeding to dethrone Princes § 11. Their troubles wrought in England in King Henry 1. his time by Anselme In King Henry 2. time by Becket In King Iohns reygne by Pope Innocent § 12. In these latter times of Queene Elizabeth by the Bull of Pius Quintus and the erecting of Seminaries at Rome and Rhemes Schooles of Traytors The reasons briefly touched 1. Of the Rebellion in the North 2. Of Ormonds brethren 3. and 4. Of other petty conspiracies 5. Stukely 6. Sanders 7. Someruile 8. Motiues to the Ladies of Honour 9. Of Throgmorton 10. Mendoza 11. Creighton the Iesuite 12. Parry 13. Percy 14. Sauage 15. Balard with his complices 16. Aubespineus 17. Stanley and Yorke 18. The Spanish Armado 19. Lopez 20. Squire 21. Tyrone And in the time of King Iames 22. Watson Clarke and others 23. The Powder treason Some obseruations out of these § 13. A good Christian abhorreth these treasons and reiecteth the doctrine that teacheth them § 14. And thereby is by reason forced to renounce to be an absolute Papist and to thinke the doctrines grounded onely vpon the Popes authority without Scripture to be vnnecessary and consequently to acknowledge that it is not necessary to be a Roman-Catholike The conclusion with a briefe recapitulation of the whole precedent conference §. 1. Antiquus ALthough the supreme gouernment of the Church by the Pope and the infallibility of his iudgement could not bee proued by diuine proofes yet is the good thereof so great for the preseruation of peace and vnity and much other happinesse both in the Church and Common-wealth that euen in good reason and policy the very shadowes of proofes should be admitted as sufficient to establish it And if such power and infallible iudgement may be giuen to any it is most fit it be giuen to him that hath from all Antiquity beene accounted the principall Patriarch and the high Bishop of the principall City of the world Antiquissimus Indeed Antiquus now I thinke you hit the nayle on the head for the Popes Supremacy and infallibility hath no other ground but meere humane policy shadowed by the Scripture cunningly wrested deuised by their learned Politicians for their owne wealth and greatnesse and taught by their Agents as most necessary for peace vnity and much other good a Bellar de Rom. Pont. l. 4. c. 6. § quarta proposit o. Probabile est pâ—eque credi potest pontificem vt pontificem errare non posse c. Bellarmine seemes to confesse thus much when he saith It is probable may piously be thought that the Pope as Pope cannot erre nor as a particular person be an heretike Had hee had better arguments is it probable hee would haue come in with Probabile est piéque credi potest But your b Costerus Enchir pag. 123. Si nullum caput visibile in ecclesia a Christo constitutum foret vehementer optari ab omnibus oporteret Costerus the Iesuite is a little more plaine If there were no visible head saith he appointed by Christ in the Church yet such an one ought to be wished for of all men and your D. c Alablaster Motiue 6. Alablaster yet more plainely Where saith he there is not an infallible authority which doth iudge and decide controuersies by remouing all occasions of doubt and reply and vnto which absolute obedience is tied there must needs be variety of iudgements and opinions which cannot be tyed in one knot And therefore the Protestants haue done very vnwisely to disgrace and reiect this profitable policy of the Church the fountaine of vnity Mr Alablaster cals it policy §. 2. But alas Deare friend In Gods businesse I looke onely for Truth and Sincerity which God may blesse and prosper not for shadowes and policy without them which God doth ordinarily infatuate and confound Happy had it beene for the Angels if they had continued in the excellency of their first estate but when they stroue to be higher their policy failed them they fell lower and of Angels became diuels Gods ordinance for d Ephes 4. vers 12 13 15. gathering of his Saints e vers 14. preseruing true and vncorrupt doctrine and f vers 16. effectuall perfecting of the Church in euery part was saith Saint Paul g vers 11. He gaue some Apostles some Prophets some Euangelists some Pastors and Teachers If one visible Head had beene necessary to these purposes heere was the place he should be spoken of wherein since hee is not mentioned doubtlesse Saint Paul knew no such ordinance of God See the like Catalogue of Church-Officers in 1 Cor. 12.28 29. c. this one visible head is neuer mentioned nor heere nor in any other place of Scripture but left out as supernumerarius and superfluous And we finde whilst Gods ordinance was obserued the Church did wonderfully prosper when it was shouldered out out by humane policies all things grew worse and went to wracke It was an euident worke of Gods Spirit h B. Vsher Sermon at Wansted pag. 20. that the first planters of Religion and their successors spreading themselues through the whole world layd the foundations of the â—ame Faith euery where in great vnity and vniformity and yet were kept only by the Vnity of the Spirit in that bond of peace without setting vp any one man on earth ouer them all to keepe peace and vnity The true bond which contained the Doctors and Fathers of the Primitiue Church in the vnity of Faith and wrought the conuersion of Nations continueth in our Church also
he had power to ruine the Lombards his sworne enemies and to bring them to extreame confusion yet for the feare of God settled in his heart he neuer had any such intent And he writeth to Mauritius the Emperour that although a certaine Law which the Emperour commaded to be proclaimed was in his iudgement vniust Greg. lib 2. Indict 11. ep 61. cited also by King Iames. Apol. pag. 24. yet he as a dutifull subiect and vnworthy seruant of his godlinesse had caused it to be sent into diuers parts of his dominions paying to both parties what he ought to wit obedience to the Emperour and speaking what hee thought for God Espencaeus in Tit. digress 10. aedit Paris 1568. Whereupon B. Espenceus saith Gregorius primus idem magnus lib. 2. epist 64. Gregory the first called also the Great ingenuously acknowledged that God had granted the Emperours a dom nion ouer Priests This Gregory I and his predecessors were plaine contrary to Gregory VII and his successors Bozius makes it one of the signes of the Church of God that it yeelded so many Martyrs Bozius de signis Eccles tomâ— 1. lib. 7. cap. 5. §. 5. suffering patiently vnder cruell Emperors and Princes seuen and twenty Roman Bishops for their onely cleauing to the doctrine and honour of Christ Greg Tolossan 1. V. Doctor lib. 26. de Repub. cap. vlt. 〈◊〉 10. And Gregorius Tolossanus Doctor of the Lawes saith That for 300 yeares after Christs Passion though Christians suffered most cruell torments and death yet wee neuer read they rebelled against their Princes nor moued against the Commonwealth though they had number and power sufficient But by that argument they shewed that they and their Religion were to be preferred before all other because their pâ—â—us doctrine taught theâ— to obey Magistrates Whiles therefore the Church continued such a schoole of good life among Christians and of faithfull loyalty true subiectâ—on to Princes Rom. 13.5 whom they obeyed not onely for feare of punishment but especially because they were bounâ— in conscience and so taught by their holy Relig on B. King Sermon at Yorke on the Queens day 1595. Religion was â—he ioy glory and happinesse of the world It was the glorâ— of Princes and Emperors to maintaine it and it was the glory of the Chuâ—ch to maintaine them Constantius the father of Constantine the Great made more reckoning he said of those that professed Christianity then oâ— gâ—eat treasures Jouianus after Julian refused to be Emperour albeit elected and sought to the Emp re except he might gouerne Christâ—ans Great Constantine and Charles the Great had their surnames of greatnesse not so much for authority Aug. de ciuit Dei lib. 5. 6. 24. as for godlinesse Saint Auâ—ustine saith Emperours were not therefore happy because they raigned long or left sonnes to raigne after them or tamed enemies or quieted rebelling subiects c. but because they ruled iustly remembred they were men when men almost made them Goâ—s vsed their power to promote Gods honour loued feared worshipped God loued that kingdome best wherein they feared not to haue partakers slâ—wly reuenged easily pardoned punâ—shed for necessity to preserue the Commonwealth not to serue their priuate hatred pardoned not to impunity of euill but for hope of amendment and if compelled to deale more sharply recompenced it with mercy lenity and larges of benefits â—f their luâ—ury was so much the more restrained as it might bee more free if they had rather rule their euill lusts then any Nations and all these not for desire of vaine glory but for the loue of heauenly felicity Such a happy Emperour was Great Constantine Ibid. cap. 25 26. Constantine was celebrated in the old Marbles with these titles Vrbis liberator quietis fundator reipubilicae instautator publicae libertatis auctor restitutor vrbis Romae atque orbis Magnus maximus invictus And in the lawes Qui veneranda Christianorum fide Romanum munivit imperium Divus Diuae memoriae Divinae memoriae c. Camden Britannia in Yorkshire describing Yorke City II. Of the euils of false or corrupted Religion Esay 1.21 Rome Reuel 17.9 18. becante Babylon v 5 2 4. 6. Nauel generat 39 H Mulius Chron. German lib 18. Vsher De eccl succes c. 7. §. 17. whom the Lord blessed also with all other happinesse and such an one was Theodosius who desired rather to be a member of the Church then a King ouer Peoples Then was the world happy when the Church bred and trayned vp the best people and subiects in the world and Emperours Kings and Princes were the nuâ—sing Fathers of the Church and so the one vpheld the other and the one was happy in the other But alas for griefe that euer so excellent a blessing should be corrupted and turned to a curse and scourge to mankinde that Ierusalem the whilome faithfull City should become an Harlot And Rome the Imperiall City whose faith was spoken of through the whole world Rom. 1.8 should be turned into Babylon the seat of Antichrist and inebriate the Kings and Inhabiters of the earth with the wine of her fornications her selfe becomming drunken with the blood of the Saints and Martyrs of Iesus that Emperours and Princes should shut the Cardinals out of their Churches and Cities and write to the Pope their reason because they found them nor Predicatores sed Predatores Non pacis corroboratores sed Pecuniae raptores non orbis Reparatores sed auri Insatiabiles corrasores denique superbiae detestabilem bestiam vsque ad sedem Petri reptasse So wrote the Emperour Fredericke Barbarossa to the Pope to wit your Cardinals come not to preach vnto vs but to pray vpon vs not to strengthen our peace but to ransacke our purses not to repaire the decayed world but vnsatiably to rauine after gold Finally we see the detestable beast of Pride hath crept euen into Saint Peters seat The Hierarchy of Rome is here charged with vnsatiable couetousnesse the roote of all euill 1 Tim. 6.10 and Ambâ—tion or Pride the cause of the fall of Angels in heauen and men in Paradise froÌ„ which two euils proceeded many mischiefes corruptioÌ„s into the Church Sabellicus obserueth that the feare and reuerence of Potent Princes Sabellicus Ennead 9. lib. 1. Genebrard Chronol lib 4. in 10. saculi initio Baron tomo 10. anno 900. §. 1. Matth. 8.24 25 kept the Popes of Rome a long time in some good moderation but when they were out of feare of such Princes they rushed into all impudency and wickednesse And Genebrard speaking of the tenth Age saith Then was the world exhausted both of learned men and potent Princes and good popes and confesseth that in 150 yeares there were about 50 popes vtterly swaruing from the vertue of their predecessors and were rather Apotactici Apostaticive quam Apostolici debosht Apostataes rather then Apostolâ—cke Bellarmine and Baronius complaine of the ninth and tenth Ages wherein powerfull and sordid Whores ruled at Rome