corrupt stomache in him who like the prodigall child when he was at worst loathing the bread of his Fathers house tooke such delight in Swynes meate that it seemeth he can receiue no other nourishment And to say nothing that the queasy stomake of this holy man can now so well disgest the manners and examples of our Court Citty and Country which by your leaue speaking of the die◠of the soule is a signe that he hath not beene vsed a long time to any cleane and wholesome feeding it cannot be denyed but that for a Prelate to abhorre the Court of Rome and to god well in Venice for edification is no lesse ridiculous sauing the honour of many Noble Gentle and Worthy Cittizens therein then if he should haue gone from some Colledge of the Iesuites wherein he liued vnto some handsome stewes for his recollection For besides that hath been sayd before in Rome the law is most seuere against Wantonnes and Licentiousnes in the Clergy which is punished not only with degradation and perpetual infamy but also with the strappado at least And in my tyme a Priest of good exteriour quality being taken in a vineyard-house with a naughty woman his coach horses were confiscate she was whipt and he himselfe was sent to the Gallies But in Venice the more is the pitty there is no punishment at all for those crymes but that Prelates and Religious men if they should be so affected without publique rebuke or any great note of infamy might frequent dishonest houses at their pleasure which perchance made the Bishop like the better of the seruice or rather of the freedome of that Citty And now as touching his merits with the Venetians whereof he speaketh in the next place I feare they are no better then may well be compared to the merits of Iudas with the Sinagogue For as i◠appeareth by his owne discourse a little after he ioyned with thē in the time of the Interdict against the Pope his Lord and Maister And albeit among other his good offices he wrote those Bookes in their defence wherof now he vaunteth yet he went so farre and discouered so much Heresy in them as the Venetians themselues could not chuse but be ashamed of them And therefore he could not expect at their hands any recompence for such a labour What riches he had I know not nor whether or no they were sufficient for that moderate mind which God had giuen him But considering that he left the Iesuites where he wanted nothing and thereupon sought am bitiously one preferment after another Pag 7.10.11 considering also how he was in strife suite of law with his owne Suffragans wherein he was ouerthrownas it should seeme by his owne relation Pag. 14. it had beene better perchance that he had knocke his breast with the Publican crauing pardon for his vnbridled passion then with the Pharisy to haue pray sed God for the moderate mind he gaue him As concerning that which in this case he sayth he hath left for Gods sake You must vnderstand that although he were a Primate yet the rents of his Bishopricke might be somewhat lesse then the fruits of a good benefice are there with you And I haue heard it very credibly reported that they scarsly amount to the value of two hundred pounds per annum And though they were more yet I dare say that hauing leaue to come for England he neuer thought that he should loose much by the bargaine especially imagining himselfe a much greater and worthyer man then Isaac Casaubon was whome the Clergy of England was inforced to pay sweetly and to reward so bountifully as the world knoweth for his comming thither But the truth is and so you will find it that at his comming away he was neither Primate nor had any Bishopricke at all for long before he had resigned the same to his Nephew reseruing a pension to himselfe of three hundred crownes a yeare or there about which not sufficing to maintayne his fat paunch it is most probable that he came into England for the same cause amongst other that the prodigall child went to feed Swyne that is to say for meer want as not hauing sufficient to fill his belly Lastly therefore before I make an end with his second reason because he sayth that he hath read Logicke amongst his Fathers of the Society do but marke a little I pray you the conclusion of his argument wherein you must needs see that the summe of his accompt is a great deale more then the particulers of his reckoning For hauing sayd that neither Ambition nor Auarice did draw him from his countrey he concludeth that no vnbridled affection no temporall necessity no strange euent nor grieuous mischance did compell him to depart which you see is a great deale more then these two particulers alone of the absence of Ambition and Auarice can excuse him from But it is no meruaile the old man should haue forgot the Art of reason whome Pride and discontentment haue made to forget in great part euen reason it selfe The halfe wherof which concerneth his Pride I haue shewed already and the other halfe concerning his discontentment if I be not deceiued you shall heare him confesse himselfe anone for he saith he will tell vs sincerely without fraud or guile what it was that moued him to this departure SECTION IIII. Of the Bishop his Affirmatiue proofes and in particuler of those things that disposed his mind to make mutation of Religion AND with this he beginneth pag. 7. those his proofes of spirit which I call affirmatiue and which reducing them into three heads I wil briely set downe vnto you that you may see the substance of his booke and afterward I shall examine them as I shall haue occasion In the first ranke he setteth downe certaine dispositions as I take it which might prepare his mind to this change In the second he layeth down the reasons that moned him to alter his Religion In the third he produceth those considerations that inforced him to leaue his Countrey and so shewing how much he confided in the prouidence of God that conducted him he laboureth to defend himselfe from Schisme accusing the Pope as the authour thereof and concludeth his whole booke inuiting the Pope to accept of the conditions he offereth and to come to agreement with him Beginning therefore with those thinges that somewhat a far off might dispose his mind to change Religion he saith first pag. 7. That from a boye he was much troubled with a vehement suspition that the Roman doctrine was not true which suspition he euer resisted Secondly he sayth pag. 8. and 9. That this suspition was much increased in him because he saw that neither students were permitted to read such writers as were contrary to the doctrine of Rome being inforced to beleeue that the opinions of those writers were truly deliuered vnto them by their Maisters nor such as had heard their deuinity
answering a secret obiection that the Pope might erre because a wicked man might be Pope For sayth he though some traytor or Iudas should haue entred into that rancke or order yet this could nothing preiudice the Church nor the innocent Christians or beleeuers for whom our Lord had prouided by saying of euill gouernours do what they say but do not what they do for they say and do not to the end that the assured hope of the faythfull relying it selfe not vpon mā but vpon God or vpon the word of our Sauiour they might neuer be deuyded by tempest of sacrilegious Schism Where he proueth that no euill Pope can erre because if that could be the innocent Christians following our Sauiours commaundment should be thereby deceiued Cont. ep Fundamēti cap. 4. and deuyded in Schisme And therfore he also professeth that the succession of Priests from the seat of Peter vnto the Bishop liuing in his time held him in the Catholike Church making that an argument of the true doctrine therof And comparing the communion of the Apostolike head with the members to the vnion of the mystical vine with the branches In psal cont part Donat. he exhorteth the Donatists thereunto in these words Come brethren if you please that you may be grafted in the vyne It is a grief vnto vs when we see you to lye thus cut off Number the Priests euen from the very seat of Peter and in that order of Fathers see who and to whome each one succeeded That seat is the Rocke which the proude gates of Hell do not ouercome vnder standing thereby that they who were cut off from the communion of that seat and succession were also cut off from the Church of Christ and that according to the promise of our Sauiour neither they nor their errours should be able to prouayle against it Lib. 2. cōt duas epist Pelag. Lib. 1. cont lūli cap. 4. And affirming against the Pelagians that the antiquity of the Catholike fayth was cleerly knowne by the letters of venerable Innocentius the Pope he inferreth that to departe from his sentence was to straggle from the Roman Church making it by this inferrence a certaine signe of departure from the Church of Christ And rebuking a certaine Pelagian Me thinkes sayth he that part of the world should suffice thee meaning for his beliefe in matters of fayth wherein our Lord would that the chiefe of his Apostles should be crowned with a most glorious Martyrdome vnto the President of which Church being the blessed Innocentius if thou wouldest haue giuen care long since in the dangerous tyme of thy youth thou hadst freed thy selfe from the snares of Pelagians For what could that holy man answeare to the Affrican Countells but that which the Apostolike seat and the Roman Church doth anciently hold with other Wherein he teacheth that the definition of the Pope ought to suffice vs and that he cannot determine otherwise then according to the ancient Fayth Optatus likewise recounteth the lyneall succession of the Popes and beginneth the same in this manner Therefore the Chayre is vnited which is the first of her gists therein Peter sate the first to whome succeeded Linus c. numbring the rest vnto Siricius who liued in his tyme. And a little before he sayth it ought to be seene who sate first in the Chayre where he sate And afterwards tho◠canst not deny but thou knowest that the Episcopall Chayre was giuen first to S. Peter in the Citty of Rome wherin Peter the head of all the Apostles sate in which one Chayre vnity ought to be kept of all men Signifying therby that Peter the head of all the Apostles sate first therin to shew that all those that are members of the Church are bound to vnite themselues vnto it Tertullian is also one of those that describeth the Catalogue of the Roman Bishops which he composeth in verse beginning with S. Peter and ending with Higinius Pius Anicetus And in his booke of Prescriptions he sayth thou hast Rome whose authority vnto vs also is ready at hand so giuing his reader to vnderstand that the authority of Rome was an argument euer ready to confute an heretike And thē followeth A Church happy in her state to whō the Apostles powred forth or gaue abundantly their whole doctrine togeather with their bloud meaning no doubt that they powred forth their whole doctrine into it to be preserued therin for euer in respect wherof he tearmeth it happy per excellentiam which Irenaeus doth more fully expresse when he sayth that we must not go to others to seeke the truth which we may easily haue from the Church Irenaeus l. 3. cap 3. wherein the Apostles as it were in a most rich treasure haue layd togeather all those things which are of truth that from thence euery one who will may receiue the same And thus much of those Fathers that do not only set downe the Popes succession to S. Peter Tom. 1. Cōcil ante Concil Calced but also plainly teach that his fayth cannot fayle because he holdeth the place of Peter wherein none of the other Fathers disagree or dissent from thē Petrus Chrysologus in his epistle to Euthiches the Heretike condemned afterward in the Calcedon Councel exhorteth him in this māner We exhort thēe venerable brother to attend attentiuely vnto those things which are written from the most blessed Pope of the Citty of Rome For blessed Peter liuing and gouerning in that his proper seat gaue the truth of fayth to all those that secke it which may serue for a cleere exposition of the words of Tertullian and Irenaeus afore sayd Prosper S. Augustines Scholler inferreth as most absurd Prosp cōt Collit cap. 20. that according to the cēsure of his aduersary Pope Innocentius should haue erred a man sayth he most worthy of the Seat of Peter And likewise that the holy Seat of Blessed Peter should haue erred which spake vnto the whole world by the mouth of Pope Sozimus Cap. 41. And againe that Pope Innocentius strock the heads of wicked errour with the Apostolicall dagger And that Pope Sozimus with his sentence gaue force to the Affrican Councells and armed the hands of all the Fathers with the sword of Peter to the cutting off of the wicked And that Rome by the principality of Apostolicall Preisthood De vocat gentium lib. 2. was made greater by the Arke of Religion then by the Throne of secular power S. Ambrose sayth Ambros cap. 3 1. ad Tim. that though all the world be of God yet his house is sayd to be the Church wherof at this day Damasus is the Rector And els where He demaunded the Bishop sayth he whether he agreed with the Catholike Bishops that is whether he agreed with the Roman Church Orat. in Satyrum In which words he maketh it all one to agree with the Church of Rome and with the Catholike Church And againe he saith
did put the Church in danger of pernicious dissention But it is no maruell though his intention were not bad that an ill cause should be no better defended wherein the greatest commendation of S. Cyprian in my opinion is this that as it is most credible he repented himselfe both of the matter and of the manner SECTION XXXIII VVherein the Bishop is manifestly conuinced of schisme out of the Authority and example of S. Cyprian alleadged by himselfe and the same authority for as much as it seemeth to concerne the Pope is sufficiently answered VVHERFORE this one authority alone produced by the Bishop being almost all the matter of substance and almost the only proofe which he bringeth for any thing he sayth in his whole booke taking vp all things vpon trust as hath been obserued you see notwithstanding how that out of this one place of S. Cyprian alleadged by him we haue proued the Popes Supremacy and the necessity not only of tradition but also of the iudgment of the Church for the defyning of matters in Controuersy and for the condemning of heresy Besides we haue shewed how notoriously he falsifieth the Ecclesiastical history how he cōdemneth not only S Stephen most impiously but also S. Cyprian most absurdly whome he sought most to commend And now that you may perceiue how much this authority of S. Cyprian maketh not only against his cause in generall and his owne credit in particuler but also against himselfe in the very poynt for the proofe and declaration whereof it is inserted by him Thus I argue He that without authority condemneth any other Bishop and refuseth to hold communion with him according to S. Cyprian may be iudged a Schismatike or to giue occasion of schisme but Marcus Antonius condemneth without authority not only his Colleague but also his Superiour the Bishop of Rome not of one errour but of inumerable heresies not of any ordinary fault but of suppressing the Councells of deprauing the Scriptures and ancient Fathers of vsurpation and tyrany ouer the Church of God oppressing pilling and spoyling the same and sucking the bloud of the members thereof And by consequence he condemneth likewise all other Bishops that communicate with him and are subiect to him calleth the vniuersall Church which is vnder the obedience of the Pope by the name of Babylon that is to say the Citty or congregation of the Diuell Therefore Marcus Antonius is a Schismatike according to his owne discourse and according to the words of S. Cyprian which he fondly alleadgeth to proue the contrary Secondly according to the processe of his owne discourse I argue thus He that goeth against the example of S. Cyprian proposed to the vniuersall Church for the auoyding of schisme falleth into the cryme of schisme But Marcus Antonius goeth directly against the example of S. Cyprian propounded by himselfe as a rule for the auoyding of schisme Therfore Marcus Antonius according to his owne rule is falne into the cryme of schisme That Marcus Antonius hath proceeded against his owne rule and the example of S Cyprian which he propoundeth is a thing most manifest For whereas S. Cyprian notwithstanding that he reputed the Pope almost all the vniuersall Church to be in manifest errour would neuer depart from the communion of the Pope but respected him so much that he communicated with those whome he held impure only because the Pope receiued them into his communion Marcus Antonius in the same case hath not only forsaken the Pope but also all those that are vnited with him whome otherwise he thinketh not impur e only because they do not separate themselues from the Pope but still remayne in his communion Wherfore these two arguments produced by himselfe are so conuincing that there needeth nothing els to confound him So that this proofe of his out of S. Cyprian being the substance of his booke and being withall so contrary to his cause to his credit and to himselfe in the poynt of Schisme whereof he intended to cleare himselfe therby may be sufficient to giue you to vnderstand of what substance the matter of his other booke is like to be when it shal be printed For my part I am verily perswaded if it be well vnderstood it wil be found to be more against the Protestants then the Catholikes and more contrary to himselfe then to either of the other And now to draw towards an end of this matter in the allegation of this authority out of S. Cyprian he is so much the more to be blamed in that being of such force against himselfe for as much thereof as concerneth the Popes authority it may full easily be answered For those words of S. Cyprian That none of them made himselfe the Bishop of Bishops c. may very well be vnderstood of those that were present at that Councell and not to conclude in that sentence the Bishop of Rome who truly may be sayd to be the Bishop of Bishops the Father of Fathers the Bishop and Father of the vniuersall Church and the like as hath been shewed That which he sayth A Bishop cannot be iudged but by God alone as he receiueth his authority from God alone ought to be vnderstood that he cannot be iudged in those things which are doubtfull obscure and hidden Aug. l. 3. de baptis cap. 3. For so S. Augustine himselfe doth expound him For hauing recited these words of S. Cyprian As I take it sayth he he meaneth in those questions which are not yet discussed with most cleere perspection And that S. Cyprian belieued that Bishops in cases of heresy or schisme Cyp. lib 5. epist 13. might be iudged and deposed by the Pope is euident in one of his Epistles to Pope Stephen where he exhorteth him that he would commaund the Bishop of Arles in France to be deposed and to appoint another in his place So that you see the childish arrow of this Bishop as it is shot vpward against the Pope doth not aryue vnto him but returneth with greater force to fall vpon his owne head and woundeth him in many places as hath been declared But now to do him a pleasure let vs suppose that Cyprian in these words did glance at S. Stephen and that he meant to taxe him for proceding as he thought too rigorously against him with what conscience or with what honesty I pray you can this strange Bishop alleadge these words of S. Cyprian spoken in the defence of a wrong cause as he knoweth and in his cōmotion anger against the Pope of the which it is most probable and according to S. Augustine we ought to thinke that he repented himselfe against so many playne places expresse doctrine of S. Cyprian as I haue cyted before and which for the full satisfactions of your selfe and the Reader in this poynt I shal be content to repeat in part at this present SECTION XXXIIII Many testimonyes and playne places are produced out of S. Cyprian wherby