the Church and confesse how little constant Errour is to it selfe That Innocency from Lust which so many of your Writers affirme impossible to preserue your owne single and I hope incorrupt life hath approued possible for vnlesse you will endanger your selfe to a Censure in the high Commission you must acknowledge flesh and bloud may be kept in order by the spirit But what discouers the bodies of all Churches which oppose the Catholike most misshapen is the diuision among your selues now and euer so apparent that I dare confidently auerre were there a Councell called of all those you reckon yours his Holinesse might suspend his Censure each one of you prepar'd to pronounce the other Heretike And for your Lo. p though reputed most Orthodoxall vnlesse you quit that most reuerend Title which is your honor to make good I suspect you would by the Maior voyce be condemned without the guilt of any other crime though Truth and all Antiquity teach vs that Episcopall dignity hath euer bene most eminent and necessary in the Church and ought to be held in veneration where lawfully conferred not vsurped But I feare I keep no good time when I strike on this harsh string I will not therfore further afflict your eare Let me only intreat and if possible preuaile with your Lo. p to cast vp the accompt of those many yeares you haue numbred heere on earth And if you haue prouided a Marble hereafter to inclose your dust looke not on the flattering Epitaph which betrayes the Reader but listen to the silent sad Oratory in which it pleads to you your condition It tells you that euery path of life how crooked soeuer in mans purposes leads streight to death That all the pompe of wealth and honour for acquisition of which he doubts not often to stake a Soule is but an euening shadow soone to be lost in an euerlasting darknesse That youth doth oftentimes breake promise when it proposeth length of life but that age is frantick if it hope long to hold out against the assault of death It therfore imports your Lo. p who opprest with yeares bow downward to the graue seriously to looke inward turne your sight frō those vanities which haue hitherto bewicht you For pardon me if to pride vanity I ascribe a long continuance in error and that I want credulity to thinke an able Scholler can belieue Vntruth though for the designes of his owne Ambition he obtrude it to the world May your Lop. take courage and gaine an entire Conquest ouer Sense by subscribing to that Church in which only is safty and which your many vnlucky Labors haue slaundered not iniured So signall a Conuersion will add◠ioy and triumph to the Angells and make me who haue bene hitherto your Aduersary not Enemy hereafter Your true Admirer and humble Seruant I. S. TO THE READER GOOD READER The Author of the Grand Imposture in his first Epistle dedicated to his Maiesty sets only forth in generall the heads of that doctrine he afterwards endeauors though vnluckily to make good But Error without apparence of proofe confutes it selfe And it would anticipate the designe of my study if here I should labor thy satisfaction since the whole ensuing Treatise discouers euery of his mistakes in particuler which at the first entrance to his Booke he affirmes in grosse Yet could I wish that only truth should dare to approach the throne of Maiesty and that a conscience guilty of deceipt should not be able to pretend the confidence of the innocent for the falsest doctrine may easily winne beliefe vpon the Laity whom either much busines diuerts from the search of truth or an vnwillingnesse to be disturbed encourageth to follow that easy path they from their infancy haue beaten especially when it appeares in publike asseuered by them who haue their large stipend and high honor only on condition to be sincere in what they teach But howeuer he may flatter himselfe that hs Reader will neuer arriue to patience inough to trauaile beyond his Epistles or that his authority will be sufficient though his proofes are defectiue I hope he will find his comfort to haue betrayd him for the businesse which here we controuert being of value far beyond the whole world beside I meane the soule of man and the Church in which only that can expect safety I doubt not good Reader but thou wilt be so charitable to thy selfe as to reade distinguish and then reiect error how plausible soeuer it may appeare to sense Nor though his reputation may haue gained heretofore much vpon thee wilt thou belieue that Truth is by couenant bound to christen all the abortiues of his Opinion And wheras in his second Epistle directed to all Romish Priests whether Iesuits or others he seemes by a Rhethoricall figure to heare them censuring his charging the Church of Rome with Imposture the bold assumption or rather impudent and impious presumption of an Heretike I cannot but commend the iudgment he instructs them to pronounce for how could the wit of Iustice inuent a more proper or seuerer Or to speake more truly how could Mercy vse a gentler And though in that single word Heretike all Impiety is comprehended yet how can he deserue any other sentence who hath dared to defame thy innocency O thou Immaculate Spouse of our great Redeemer Who hath termed thy doctrine which threw downe the Statues of the Heathens and rooted vp all false worship Idolatrous Sacrilegious Thy doctrine which planted the fayth of Christ with the bloud of Martyrs and tyed vp the common enemy of man Satanicall and Antichristian Thy doctrine which is the only safety of the soule Execrable and Pernicious which teacheth the true adoration of God Blasphemous Impious which neuer varied in the least article from the truth Schismaticall and Hereticall But how farre vnable are these weake calumnies to wound thy strength which hath triumpht ouer all the opposition of heresy and hell Thou art built vpon a Rock of Diamond which yields the brightest lustre when impure slander raifeth the blackest night A Rock which neuer moued since Christ designed it as a foundation for his greatest worke on earth A rock against which her many Aduersaries haue battered with continuall tempests but still ended in froth and noise But all these fowle aspersions might be interpreted the wild expressions of an extrauagant zeale and perhaps challenge that pitty we throw away vpon the franticke Neither can any man be enraged with such infamous language who considers it is that spirit which possest the first professors of this pretended reformation who created a Religion in contempt of iurisdiction And as euery where they derogated from the spirituall so spared they not the temporall where feare of punishment restraind not their tongues to modesty But what euen amazeth my Vnderstanding is that so well practis'd a man in controuersy so iealous of honor and such a pretender to integrity should fall into that deceitfull
them by Christian Kings and Emperors And shewing that they haue no reason to complaine therof he saith (q) Tract 11. in Ioan. They the Donatists will do such things and yet will not suffer such punishments See what they do and what they suffer They kill soules and are punished in their bodies They cause euerlasting deathes and complaine that they suffer temporall deathes And againe (r) Cont. ep Parmē l. 1. c. 8. What do not these men iustly suffer seing they suffer deseruedly for their offences by lawfull power and by the iudgement of God gouerning from aboue and admonishing them by such punishments to beware of euerlasting fyre Let them first proue themselues not to be Heretikes or Schismatikes and then let them complaine that they suffer iniustly And els where he sayth (s) Conc. 2. in Psal 34. The Physician is somtymes inforced to cut and lance and desisteth not though the Patient curse and rayle They that are in a letargy are wakened and they that are in a phrensy are bound yet both of them are loued Let no man therfore say I suffer persecution let him not proclayme his punishment but let him proue his cause lest if he proue not his cause he be reckoned among the wicked And answering the arguments of the Donatists who desiring to be freed from the punishment due to their Heresy argued out of Terence that it is better to refraine men frō euill by shame and freedome then by feare of punishment he answereth (t) Ep. 50. that albeit those which are drawne with loue be better yet more come by feare which he proueth 1. out of the same Poet saying Thou knowest not how to do well vnlesse thou be enforced with punishment 2. with a Prouerbe of Salomon that A stif-necked seruant will not be amended with words for though he vnderstand he will not obey 3. by experience for saith he it is superfluous to proue this with words seing it is manifest by many examples that not these or those men but that many Cities of Heretikes are now become Catholike for feare of the Imperiall lawes from Constantine to the present lawes These are the lawes M. Doctor which you storme at for the Inquisitors nether pronounce sentence of death against any nor execute it If any man be accused they examine his cause as with iustice so with great meekenesse If he be found guilty of heresy they vse all meanes both by themselues and by other learned men to reclayme him If he acknowledge his error he is deliuered vp to religious persōs to be instructed and with charitable vsage gayned to God But if they find him to stand out obstinatly against all persuasions they deliuer him vp with his whole processe to the secular Magistrates beseeching them to deale mercifully with him And if the Magistrates iudge him worthy of death punish him according to the Imperiall lawes I know no reason you haue to blame them for as S. Augustine saith with the Apostle (u) Ep. 164. l. 1. cont ep Parmen c. 8. l 2. cont Petil. c. 83. they beare not the sword without cause for they are Gods Ministers reuengers vnto wrath to them that do euill Nor do I see what you haue in all this to quarrell at vnlesse you thinke that theeues and murderers of mens bodies ought to be punished with death and that murderers of mens soules ought to be spared And so much the more inconsiderate you are in this your cauill because your selues vse the same proceeding against heretikes for haue you not burnt Dauid George in Holland Hacket Coppinger and others in England But you complaine (x) Pag. 85. 86. that not only heretikes are punished but also Beleeuers Receauers Defenders and Fauorers of heretikes namely such as commend their learning wit Zeale constancy or simplicity which any Christian may do in a Pagan Sir I know not how to excuse you either from imposture or impiety for as Suarez (y) De trip virt Theol. disp 24. n. 2. and Azor (z) Part. 1. l. 8. c. 15. the very authors whom you obiect haue declared Beleeuers are they that giue credit to the Doctrine of heretickes and make profession therof or prayse the same as no way dissonant to the Catholike fayth May a Christian do this to a Pagan Defenders are not they that praise the learning wit or eloquence of heretikes but that commend or maintaine their doctrine or praise their pertinacy which you call zeale in defending their errors Say now were it not impiety to do this to a Pagan And so it is in you to say that any Christian may lawfully do it to an heretike Fauorers or receauers are not they that receaue heretikes into their howses or shew loue or fauor vnto them as to their freinds or kinsfolkes this any man may do to a Pagan but that receaue cōceale or assist them that they may perseuer in their heresy and teach it to others also officers that ought to concurre to the apprehension of heretikes and do it not but ayd them to escape the hands of the lawfull iudges that so they may not be punished but remaine free to peruert others This is the Doctrine of Suarez and Azor whom you obiect no Catholike Diuines speake otherwise against him that hauing abiured his heresy before a Iudge relapseth into the same for if he talke with an heretike or visit him as his neighbour or reuerence him as his Superior or reward him for any fauor receaued or commend him for his wit or other talents of nature or learning he is not therfore thought to haue relapsed into heresy But if he visit reuerence reward or commend him because he is an heretike and for his hereticall Doctrine he is then by the law of Frederike the Emperor to be deliuered to the secular Magistrate as a relaps to be executed as one that by reason of his inconstancy is held morally incorrigible that by his example and Doctrine may infect others But yet if he repent the Church like a pious mother receaues him into her bosome allowing him the Sacrament of Alsolution and Eucharist and affords him all instruction and helpe for the good of his soule that so he may dye in state of saluation Against this your choler riseth saying (a) Pag. 87. Bubalus was neuer so stupid as to iudge them morally incorrigible which do repent so as to make themselues capable of Absolution but Syr Bubalus was neuer so stupid as not to vnderstand that a relapsed heretike being condemned to death may by the helpe of Gods grace open his eyes to see and acknowledge his error and thereby make himselfe capable of the Sacraments and yet that neuerthelesse the Church may iustly feare that as he became a relaps after he had once solemnly abuired his heresy so if he be permitted to liue he may fall the third and fourth tyme againe which is to be morally incorrigible And wheras you
Catholike Bishop then they did when they were heretikes from the lawes of the Emperors This was the cause why S. Augustine and this sixth Councell of Carthage beseeched Celestine not to grant Clerkes executors to all Appellants And this conuinceth you of an vntruth in saying (b) Pag. 145. fin 151. that the African Fathers call that Papall presumption of Appeales a smoaky secular arrogancy which they will not indure for it is not the Popes clayme of appeales that they qualify with the name of typhe or smoaky secular arrogancy but partly the vexation and insolence of Apiarius and other Priests despising and shaking off the yoake of Episcopall discipline and partly the force military Violence which the executors sent from Rome did somtimes vse in executing the iudgments of the See Apostolike For speaking to Boniface Pope of the insolency of Apiarius they say (c) Conc. Afric c. 101. But we hope by the help of Gods mercy that your Holinesse gouerning in the Roman See we shall no longer suffer this typhe And because the executors did somtimes make vse of secular forces they beseech Celestine (d) Ibid. c. 105. not to grant Clerkes executors to all that demand thē lest the typhe of the world be introduced into the Church Which is agreeable to the decree of the Councell of Ephesus forbidding Iohn Patriarke of Antioch to make vse of any military power to hinder the Bishops of Cyprus from electing to themselues an Archbishop without his consent lest sayth the Councell vnder pretence of executing sacred things the typhe of secular power be introduced into the Church And in the same sense the Author (*) Cap. 26. of S. Fulgentius his life said that Fulgentius commanded nothing with the typhe of secular dominion And no lesse vntruly (e) Pag. 145. fin you make the Africans say in their Epistle to Celestine that they will not indure the Papal presumtion of appeales there being no such thing to be read in that Epistle For what they speake of not induring hath no relation to Appeales but to the crimes of Apiarius As for the wretched Apiarius say they he hauing bene already cast out of the Church of Christ for his infamous crimes by our brother Faustinus we are no more in care for as much as by the meanes of the approbation and moderation of your Holinesse Africa will no longer indure him 5. You say (f) Pag. 155. This Councell denounced excommunication to all that thinke it lawfull to appeale beyond the seas This is another vntruth for the Councell speakes not of Bishops but of Priests and inferior Clerkes only so much you contradicting your selfe had acknowledged a little before setting downe the very words of the Councell thus (g) Pag. 146. If any Priest shall thinke that he ought to appeale beyond the sea meaning to Rome let him not be receaued any longer into the communion of the Church of Africke You reply (h) Pag. 155. that this answeare is a sophistry confuted by the consequence of the Councell for if inferior Clergy were prohibited much more was the same prouision made in behalfe of Bishops This consequence we deny as false sophistry for albeit they proposed this among their requests to Pope Celestine yet they made no decree nor prouision therof nor if they had cold it haue bene of force as being directly contradictory to the Canons of the two famous Councels of Nice and Sardica (i) See aboue Chap. 26. and also to the beliefe of S. Augustine saying (k) Ep. 162. that Cecilian might haue appealed beyond the sea because he was not of the number of Priests or other inferior Clerkes but of Bishops And moreouer he represented to Celestine Pope (l) Ep. 261. that wheras Antony B. of Fussala being depriued of his Bishoprick by the Bishops of Africa and left only with the bare title of Bishop had appealed to Boniface his predecessor he would be pleased to confirme the sentence of the Bishops of Africa because sayth he there had bene many like sentences in Africa euen the See Apostolike pronouncing the iudgmēt or confirming the iudgment of others as of Priscus Victor and Lawrence Bishops of the Cesarian Prouince SECT V. Whether this Controuersy of Appeales wrought in the Africans any separation of Communion from the Roman Church TO make your argument more plausible you say (m) Pag. 148. that by reason of this controuersy between the Africans and the Bishops of Rome Aurelius B. of Carthage his fellow Bishops of Africk with whom S. Augustine did consent were for the space of an hundred yeares separated frō the Church of Rome Of all the vntruths vttered in this your discourse of the sixt Councell of Carthage this is the greatest which therfore you haue reserued to the last place Finis coronat opus For that the African Fathers euen of this sixth Councell of Charthage during the very tyme of this controuersy remained still vnited to the See of Rome is proued 1. By the clause of their Epistle written to Pope Celestine in the end of this controuersy (n) Apud Bin. to 1. pag. 646. Our Lord keepe your Holinesse many yeares praying for vs Lord and Brother which were the very worlds of peace and communion vsed in Formed letters that were neuer giuen to any but to Catholikes of the same communion (o) Aug. ep 162.163 2. Out of S. Augustine who in the current of this difference writing to Boniface Pope dedicating one of his chiefest workes vnto him sayd (p) Cont. duas ep Pelag. ad Bonifa l. 1. Thou disdainest not thou who art not high minded though thou presidest higher to be a friend of the humble 3. Out of the testimony which Pope Celestine gaue of S. Augustine after his death (q) Ep. ad Epise Galliae c. 2. Augustine a man of holy memory for his lyfe merits we haue had alwaies in our communion nor hath the rumor of any sinister suspicion euer so much as touched him which Epistle of Celestine to the French is alleaged by Pettus Diaconus (r) L. de incarn grat and by Prosper (s) Cont. Collat c. 42. to iustify S. Augustines doctrine against the Pelagians 4. And the same Prosper (t) L. de promiss predict par 3. c. 38. calles Aurelius Archbishop of Carthage vnder whom the African Councell was held after his death A Father and Bishop of worthy memory and a Citizen of the heauenly country which praise he would not haue giuen him if he had died out of the communion of the Roman Church for Prosper in that very booke (u) Part. 4. c. 5. sayth that a Christian communicating with that Church is a Catholike but if he be separated from it he is an heretike and Antichrist 5. Capreolus immediat successor to Aurelius writing to the Bishops assembled in the Councell of Ephesus (x) Act. Conc. Ephes to 2. c. 9. Wee pray you
pag. 367. and Eudaemon Ioan. Paralell Torti ac Tortoris c. 5 pag. 224. seqq This they proue out of the holy Scripture out of S. Augustine out of the practise of the Catholike Church and that with solid and forcible reasons (g) See Valent in 212 d. 5. q. 8. punct 3. But you tell vs (h) Serm. pag. 24. of a principle of ours That subiects must obey whiles they cannot resist In proofe of this you alleage (i) Serm. p. 35. Alane In his moderate defence but you neither mention any words of his nor any Chapter in particular and with good reason for Alane hath no such doctrine You produce (k) Serm. pag. 24. Creswell in his Philopater and Bellarmine The one you slander falsly The other you vnderstand not or els which I feare wittingly misconstrue his meaning For Creswell Eudaemon Ioannes (l) Apol. pro Henr. Garn. c. 3. pag. 58. hath made answeare long since to Syr Edward Cooke who cited Creswell in his Philopater as you do borrowing your obiection from him The answeare is and of certaine knowledge I know it to be true that you temerariously vent the fictions of your owne braine for truthes Philopater was not Creswell He neuer writ any such booke And who-euer Philopater was the booke is of a competent bulke and you cite out of it some nine or ten words cut off from the frame of their contexture diuided into two different sentences and this also at randome for the booke being diuided into Chapters and the Chapters into numbers you neither specify Chapter nor number which if you had done Philopater might haue spoken for himselfe and shewed the wrong you do him And no lesse is the iniury you offer to Bellarmine (m) Serm. pag. 24. His opinion is that the Church had authority to depose Nero Dioclesian or other heathenish Tyrants that persecuted Christ but did prudently abstaine from the vse therof for wanting forces the vse of her authority could no way auaile Christians but giue occasion of raising greater stormes of persecution against them Which opinion of his canot quit you from accusing slandering him wrongfully for doth he euer say or insinuate that those Emperors were not lawfull Princes or that they being so it was lawfull for Christians or any other their subiects to rebell against them This is the Doctrine you impute to him and this you should haue proued to be his but cannot therfore change the state of the Question to father on him the seditious Doctrine of your Lutheran and Caluinian brethren and to suggest to his Maiesty that the Scots haue learned the Principles of their rebellion from vs which by their owne confession (n) Serm pag. 38. they professe to haue learned from Luther Caluin and Beza Lastly as I haue admonished you of slandering Vrbane Pope and other Catholikes so must I aduertise you of the like wrong done to Garnet the Iesuit whom say you (o) Serm. Ibid. I knew at his arraignement to confesse that he heard of the powder-treason out of Confession Belike you knew it by hear-say from some one that was deafe or if he were not deafe made no scruple of lying for no man that was present and had his hearing would be so shamelesse as to say he heard him confesse that which it is certaine he neuer spake but directly the contrary and toke it vpon his death which may yet be proued by the attestation of so many and such witnesses that if it were as free for Garnets friends and kinsfolkes to sue you with an action of slander as it is free for you with controlement to write your pleasure against them that haue not freedome to answeare for themselues your accusation of Garnet wold proue aswell to your cost as to your shame you cōfesse (p) Ibid. that at his death he publikely exhorted the Romish professors to auoid all acts of treason And it is no lesse certaine that in his life time he neuer taught other Doctrine that when he heard of that damnable plot in Confession he enioyned him of whom he heard it to vse his vttermost endeauor to diswade and hinder it yea moreouer as Eudaemon Ioannes (q) Apol. pro Henr. Garn. c. 1. pag. 8. 9. reporteth from relation of them that had best meanes to know the truth the very hearing of it in Confession was so great a torment to his mind that he could not sleep nor take any rest for many dayes and that with prayers and sacrifices he did beg of the diuine goodnesse most earnestly to prouide some remedy for so execrable a designe which he could not disclose to the Magistrates without violating the seule of Sacramentall secrecy which Christ himselfe hath commanded to be kept inuiolable I conclude therfore that Garnet Cardinall Alane Bellarmine Creswell and other Catholikes whom you defame with false accusations are in the number of them of whom our Sauiour said (r) Math. 5.11.12 Blessed are yee when they shall reuile you and persecute you and speake all that naught is against you vntruly for my sake be glad and reioice for your reward is very great in heauen CHAP. XXXIV Doctor Mortons doctrine condemneth the Saintes and Martyrs of God HAVING now gone through your Sermon preached to his Maiesty out of your grand Imposture I returne to the continuance of my answere to the same Imposture You had before obiected some Fathers and hauing parted with them lōg since now after many Chapters you come to scrape acquaintance with some of them againe But their Doctrine is to ancient to haue any commerce with your Nouelties SECT I. S. Polycarpe obiected by Doctor Morton YOu beginne your twelth Chapter opposing (s) Pag. 183. that S. Polycarpe going to Rome in tyme of Anicetus Pope to consult with him about the celebration of Easter would not yeild to forsake the Asian custome contrary to that of the Roman Church and yet neuerthelesse Anicetus and Polycarpe did still communicate with ech other True but if the Asian custome had bene then condemned by the Church and the mantayners therof anathematized as heretikes as afterwards they were by Victor Pope and the holy Councell of Nice Anicetus would not haue held Polycarpe in his communion vnlesse he had forsaken the Asian custome and conformed himselfe to the Roman practised by all other Churches in the world Nor would Polycarpe haue stood out in defence of the Asian custome had he not seene that Anicetus though he misliked it yet did not condemne it but permit him still the practise therof vntill the Church defined otherwise Which Anicetus did being desirous to giue him all content for the great reuerence due vnto him as well for his yeares as also because he had bene disciple to S. Iohn Euangelist and was then actually Bishop of Smyrna a principall Church of Asia But how great reuerence Polycarpe bare to Anicetus and to the Church of Rome appeareth in this that being
with all that are committed to vs are and will euer be obedient to you And in his Epistle to Felix Pope For as much as our Predecessors and we haue alwayes receaued assistance from your holy Apostolike See and haue had experience of the care you haue of vs we following the decrees of the Canons fly for succour vnto it as vnto a Mother from whence our predecessors haue receaued their orders doctrine and reliefe And againe (h) Ibid. Which by no meanes we dare presume to do to wit to define matters of fayth without consulting you the Canons commanding that in maior causes nothing be determined without the B. of Rome c. For therfore Christ hath placed you and your predecessors in the height of Eminency and commanded you to haue care of all Churches c. And he addeth (i) Ibid. that It belongs to the Pope to iudge the causes of all Bishops If therfore to appeale to the Pope as to his Iudge if to acknowledg in him power to restore the greatest Patriarkes to their Sees if to professe that the iudgment of Bishops belongeth to him and that all maior causes are to be referred to his tribunall if to belieue the Roman Church to be the Head and Mother of all Churches and the Pope to be Bishop of the vniuersall Church and finally if to professe actuall and promise perpetuall obedience to the See Apostolike be Arguments of S. Athanasius his beliefe of the soueraigne authority of the See Apostolike of his obligation to obey her and to liue in vnion with her and in subiection to her then are you guilty of Imposture in omitting these and other pregnant testimonies of the same kind extant in his second Apology and obiecting in lieu of them a false tale of Liberius excommunicating Athanasius deuised by your selfe to seduce your readers And hereby you are conuinced of another vntruth in saying (k) Pag. 191. that Athanasius sought not any vnion with Felix who was Pope insteed of Liberius for these his testimonies shew that he was in communion with him and acknowledged himselfe subiect to him as to the Gouernor of the vniuersall Church But you say (l) Pag. 190. and that impertinently to the matter in hand which is to proue S. Athanasius his no subiection to the Roman Church that When we esteeme Felix to be the legitimat Pope and Liberius a Schismatike remoued from the society of Catholikes and from his Papall function wee fight notably against our owne principles which are 1. That there cannot be two Popes together and 2. That no Pope can be deposed vnlesse he appeare to be a manifest heretike which if he be he ceaseth to be Pope without any iudgement at all That there cannot be two Popes together we acknowledge to be a principle of ours Nor did it happen otherwise in the case of Liberius for when he returned to the Papacy it was by acceptation of the Clergy people of Rome equiualent to a new election and this not vntill after Felix his death For as Sozomen prudently obserueth (m) L. 4. c. 14. God by his speciall prouidence called Felix out of this life soone after Liberius returned to Rome lest the See of Peter should be defamed with the note of schisme two Popes gouerning at once contrary to the lawes of the Church The second principle is not ours but an ignorance of yours For a Pope ceaseth to be a Catholike consequētly falleth from his Papacy not only by publicke profession of heresy but also by making publicke profession of Schisme and outward communion with heretikes though in his hart he detest their doctrine for to be a Catholike it is not only necessary to belieue the Catholike fayth inwardly but also to make profession thereof outwardly abandoning the cōmunion of heretikes Wherfore the syllogisme which here you make (n) Pag. 190. sin 191. concludeth nothing the Minor proposition that Liberius notwithstanding his consenting to the condemnation of Athanasius and communicating with heretikes was a Catholiks Bishop is absolutely false And wheras you professe to set downe this Minor as the words of Bellarmine you falsify him for albeit he say that if a Pope become a manifest heretike he ceaseth eo ipso to be Pope yet in the same place (o) L. 2. de Pont. c. 30. §. Eadem est sententia he sufficiently expresseth that not only heretikes but also schismatikes are out of the Church and loose all spirituall iurisdiction ouer those which are in the Church SECT IV. S. Basills beliefe of the supreme authority of the B. of Rome proued and Doctor Mortons obiections answeared IT seemed to vs sayth S. Basil (p) Ep. 52. writing to Athanasius to be to good purpose that we write to the B. of Rome that he consider the affaires of these parts and giue his iudgement to the end that being there is difficulty in sending from thence persons by a common and Synodicall decree he may vse his authority and choose men capable of the labour of such a iourney c. And that hauing with them the Acts of Arimin they may disanull those things which haue bene done by force Bellarmine (q) L. 2. de Pont. c. 15. bringeth this testimony you except against him as peruerting S. Basil by false translation which you proue out of Baronius for where Bellarmine translateth vt res nostras videas that the B. of Rome see or view our affaires Baronius rendreth vt res nostras consideret that he consider our affaires But who seeth not this to be a mere cauill for what difference is there between intreating the Pope to take the affaires of the Easterne Churches into his consideration as Baronius readeth or to see and looke into them as Bellarmine translateth Whether you follow the one or the other it is manifest that S Basil thought it a fit way to redresse the calamities of those Churches that the Pope should take them into his consideration or haue a vigilant eye ouer them the requiring wherof from him liuing in a Countrey so remote and in another Patriarkship sheweth that S. Basil belieued some charge of visiting those Churches to belong to him superior to that which the Easterne Patriarkes had Nor doth your answeare satisfy saying (r) Pag. 195. He required not from the Pope any help or visitation of dominion or iurisdiction but only of confortation of louing and brotherly consideration hoping that the persuasions of stangers especially being indued with Gods grace would be more preualent with the Easterne people then the Counsell of their owne Bishops for this euasion is conuinced of falshood by the very words of S. Basil It is fit sayth he (s) Ep. 52. that we beseech the Pope to shew his authority in the busines sending men that may bring with them the Acts of Arimin and disannull the thinges done by force And immediatly after he professeth himselfe ready to be corrected by the Popes Legates if
cause of Gods wrath against them to be their obstinacy in defending their error against the holy Ghost he ordained by his prouidence that vpon the very day of Pentecost their Citty of Constantinople should be taken by the Turke their Emperor slaine and their Empire wholly extinguished A thing which S. Brigit foretold (o) Reuel l. 7. c. 19. almost 100. yeares before it happened denouncing to them that their Empire and dominions should not stand firme vnlesse with true humility they did submit themselues to the Roman Church and fayth All this you were ignorant of or if you were not dissemble it and quarrell at vs for reporting that the Greekes in the Councell of Florence renounced their errors and submitted themselues to the Church of Rome and Bishop therof Some say you (p) Pag. 338. would scrape acquaintance with the Greeke Church in the yeare 1549. (*) You should say 1439. at the Councell of Florence as though all then had bene subiects to the Pope So you but with what conscience you know and so do we for not only Catholike writers but your Protestant brethren M. Marbeck (q) Common plac pag. 258. and Osiander (r) Epit. Centu. 15. pag. 477. testify that in the Councell of Florence the Grecians Armenians and Indians were vnited to the Church of Rome And the same is apparent out of the Councell it selfe (s) In lit vnionis in which after the Grecians had abiured their two chiefe errors the one concerning the proceeding of the holy Ghost from the Father alone and the other of Purgatory they made open profession of their obedience and subiection to the B. of Rome in these words (t) In lit vnionis Mareouer we define that the holy Apostolike See and B. of Rome hath the primacy throughout the whole world and that the same B. of Rome is the successor of Blessed Peter Prince of the Apostles and the true Vicar of Christ and Head of the whole Church and that he is the Father and Doctor of all Christian and that to him was giuen by our Lord Iesus Christ full power of feeding and gouerning the vniuersall Church as it is also declared in the Acts of the Oecumenicall Councells and in the sacred Canon Benewing moreouer the order set downe in the Canons concerning the other Venerable Patriarkes that the Patriarke of Constantinople be the second after the B. of Rome And the like profession of their beliefe they had made before in a priuat Session of their owne in the Emperors Pallace none of the Latins being present (u) Conc. Flor. sess vlt. apud Bin. to 4 pag. 474. fin 475. init To this profession subscribed the Emperor of the Grecians all their Bishops assembled in that Councell he of Ephesus only excepted and not only they that were then liuing but also Ioseph their Patriarke who before the end of the Councell finding himselfe strucken with deathes dart set downe in writing this profession of his fayth which after his death was found in his closet (x) Ibid apud Bin pa. 474. I Ioseph by the mercy of God Archbishop and Oecumenicall Patriarke of Constantinople new Rome because I am come to the end of my life by the mercies of God according to my duety I publish by this writing my verdict to my beloued Children For I professe that I hold and belieue and giue full assent to all those thinges which the Catholike and Apostolike Church of our Lord Iesus Christ of old Rome shall iudge and ordaine And I refuse not to grant that the most Blessed Father of Fathers the chiefe Bishop Pope of old Rome is the Vicar of our Lord Iesus Christ and that there is a Purgatory for soules Would you thinke gentle Reader that any Christian man could put on so brazen a face as to deny that the Grecians in the Councell of Florence were vnited to the Church of Rome or that they acknowledged themselues subiect to the Pope as to one whom the sacred Councells declare to haue the primacy throughout the whole world to be the successor of S. Peter the true Vicar of Christ the Head of the whole Church the Father and Doctor of all Christians and that to him was giuen by Christ full power of feeding and gouerning the vniuersall Church Are not these their very words And yet you Doctor Morton deny all this saying (y) Pag. 331. Vpon due examination you your selues find the Grecians there to haue bene so farre from subiection to the Pope that they would not permit him to constitute a Patriarke among them professing that they could do nothing without the consent of their owne Church So you with your wonted fidelity both for that you set downe the first part of these words in a different character as the Grecians answeare to the Pope when as they are not their but your words and contrary to truth for that the Grecians vnited themselues to the Latines and acknowledged their subiection to the Pope and Church of Rome is there testified by a publike declaration (z) In lit vnio apud Bin. to 4 pa. 476.476 in the Letters of Vnion subscribed by Ioannes Palaeologus the Emperor and by all the Prelates Greekes and Latines that were present in the Councell And after this perfect accord was made the Pope calling vnto him the Grecian Bishops not by way of command as not willing to irritate them but of perswasion to that which was most decent and conuenient exhorted them before their departure to choose a new Patriarke in place of him that was deceased that they might not returne home without a Head They answeared that the custome of the Grecians was to choose and consecrate their Patriarke at Constantinople and that the Emperor who was not ignorant of their ceremonies and customes would not permit them to doe otherwise Wherupon the Pope vrged no further but with all courtesy dismissed them How can you inferre from this that the Greeke Bishops denied subiection to the Pope It mattereth not where their Patriarke was chosen since as you haue heard they acknowledged both themselues him as being members of the vniuersall Church to be subiect to the Pope as to their Head and to be gouerned by him as sheepe by their Shepheard and as children by their Father But you say (a) Pag. 331. They were farre from subiecting themselues in doctrine for when some few points were propounded they answeared the Pope that they had no licence to treat of such matters This is an other euasion as vntrue as the former For the next day after that the Greekes being conuinced had yeilded to the Latines in that mayne controuersy concerning the Procession of the holy Ghost from the Father and the Sonne for the decision wherof that Councell was chiefly called the Pope desired to haue some of their Bishops sent vnto him They sent foure to whom the Pope said (b) Tom. 4 pag. 474. We by the grace
ouer the world as well in Europe where Protestants are as in all other parts of the world where they are not either she is the Catholike Church or els that there is no Catholike Church on earth And therfore with great reason all antiquity hath held the Roman Church and the Catholike Church to be termes conuertible and that whosoeuer is diuided from her is a schismatike and incapable of saluation The testimonies of the ancient Fathers in this behalfe I haue copiously alleaged in the first Chapter of this Apology which to repeate heere were actum agere And this sheweth how falsly you slander the Roman Church with diuiding herselfe proudly and impiously from all other Churches of the world S. Augustine said to the Donatists (l) L. 2. cont lit Petil. c. 52. that with sacrilegious fury they had separated themselues from the Chaire of S. Peter and I wish the same might not be truly said of you That Church when you began was and still is and shall euer be spread ouer all the world where Christ is knowne You first liued in her and afterwards diuided your selues from her as all Heretikes haue done she sayth S. Augustine (m) De Symb. ad Catechum l. 1. c. 6. remaining still in her roote in her Vine in her charity From hence it is that the same Father hauing reckoned by name all the Popes from S. Peter to Anastasius who was then B. of Rome compareth that Church to a Vine and the Donatists to branches cut off from her as you likewise are Wherfore as he said to them (n) Psal cont part Donat. so we say to you Come brethren if you please that you may be ingrafted into the Vine It is a griefe toys to see you lye so cut off Number the Priests from the very seat of Peter c. That is the Rock which the proud gates of hell ouercome not And you must remember that the same S. Augustine is he that said (o) Tract 8â— in Ioan. A branch cut off from the Vine is fit for nothing but the fire CHAP. XLIII Of the Head of the Roman Church compared to the Body therof YOv compare the B. of Rome who is Head of the Roman Church with the Body thereof in many respects (p) Pag. 343. 344. 345. all which you attribute to vs as Articles of our fayth to be belieued necessarily vnder paine of damnation SECT I. Whether it be matter of Fayth that the Pope is aboue a Councell VVE belieue that the Pope is the Vicar of Christ on Earth and Gouernour of the Vniuersall Church to which you adde (q) Pag. 344. that according to our fayth there is a necessity of belieuing that the Pope is aboue a Councell In proofe of this you alleadge (r) Ibid. marg Bellarmine l. 1. de concil c. 7. who in that very place expresly teacheth the contrary and you afterwards contradicting your selfe acknowledge so much (s) Pag. 355. lit e. setting downe these words of his The matter is still questionable vntill this day which also you proue (t) Pag. 116. init out of Stapleton saying It is not yet defined by any publike Decree And in confirmation hereof you adde (u) Pag. 115. fin that the contrary is mantained by our Doctors of Paris When therfore it is for your purpose it is an Article of our fayth necessarily to be belieued with diuine fayth that the Pope is aboue a Councell and when the contrary is more for your purpose then it is no Article of our fayth nor yet defined by any publike decree but matter of opinion and questionable vntill this day These are your propositions Reconcile them SECT II. Whether it be matter of fayth that this indiuidual person v. g. Vrban the eight is true Pope and true Head of the Church YOu set downe here (x) Pag. 345. and afterwards againe (y) Pag. 351. 353. as a receaued Article of our fayth that it is necessary for euery man to belieue with diuine fayth that this determinate man for example Vrban the eight which now sitteth in the Chaire of S. Peter is true Bishop and true Head of the Church In proofe of this you alleage Salmeron and Suarez but very deceiptfully for although that be the peculiar opinion of Salmeron and Suarez whose proofes you mention not because it passeth your skill to answeare them yet they deliuer it not as matter of fayth defined by the Church or taught by all Catholike Diuines which you cold not be ignorant of for Suarez in that very place which you cite (z) Pag. 24. 345. professeth the contrary opinion to be taught by Turrecremata Albertinus Caietan Bannes Canus Vega Corduba Castro and other Catholike Diuines mantaining that we cannot haue diuine fayth of this indiuiduall man that he is true Head of the Church but morall certainty only And this they hold sufficient to oblige all men to yield perfect obedience vnto him and to belieue his definitions ex Cathedra And you contradicting your selfe had formerly acknowledged (a) Pag. 2â— this to be the opinion of many of our Schole-Doctors With what conscience then do you now charge all Catholikes with holding the contrary as necessary to be belieued with diuine fayth and vnder paine of damnation which so many of our learned Schole-Doctors deny and which in them was neuer censured by the Church nor euen by their aduersaries as any way opposite to fayth But what censure you deserue for doubting of the ordination or election of Gods Priests not I but S. Cyprian shall tell you who sayth (b) L. 4. Ep. 9. that it is no other thing but to belieue that Priests are not appointed in the Church from God nor for God that it is not to belieue in God but to be rebellious against Christ and his Ghospell SECT III. Whether the Church of Rome be at any time a Body headlesse It is a Thesis of yours (c) Pag. 34â— that the Church of Rome is a Body headlesse so long as there is a vacancy in the See betweene the death of one Pope and the election of another Which to affirme is as ridiculous as if you should call the Empire An headlesse Empire because there is no Emperor betweene the death of one and the election of an other And by the same argument you may proue Bohemia Polonia and other kingdoms and States whose Princes are electiue to be headlesse kingdoms and states There is not alwaies so precise necessity of a Pope in the Church but that as it was gouerned 300. yeares without Councels so if by reason of schismes or other difficulties it fal out that after the death of one Pope some tyme passe before the election of another God may not for that time gouerne his Church without a Pope especially all other Bishops and inferior Pastors remaining in full possession of their authority ouer their seuerall flocks Nor is the Church for that time left