to make good against them in the particuler carriage and passage of this present busines of Councells let vs but leaue the barky rind and outward corke and enter into the inward marrow and substance that is let vs giue no credit to their words but looke into their deedes and we shall easily discerne yea the matter will disclose it selfe For to set their wordes aside whome we haue euer found contrary in their deedes if the Church of England do sincerely imbrace and receaue for Catholicke and Orthodoxe these foure first generall Councells which did resemble comprehend and present the whole Primitiue Church for more then foure hundred and fifty yeares togeather after Christ then must it follow if they meane as they say and that their wordes shall not proue wind that the English Church and our lay Parlaments must acknowledge and admit also that doctrine for Catholick and Orthodoxe which without impeachment controllement or contradiction of any can be substantially proued to haue bene taught and held in this visible vniuersall Church whereof these foure Councelles collectiuely represented the whole body for all that tyme. Which foresaid doctrine that both it and euery point therof passed for so many ages vncontrolled this one reason may suffice to proue insteed of all for that the said doctrines should otherwise haue bene noted espied out reprehended and censured by some of these Councells els had they not done their duties neither had they bene so vigilant for the good of the whole body as they ought to haue bene if hauing condemned some heresies as they did they had winked at others Which once to imagine of an Ambrose an Augustine a Hierome for the latin Church a Basill a Chrysostome and an Athanasius for the Greeke nay to suppose it and that confidently though most impudently of all the great Saints and learned Doctors in the world togeather this cannot be no lesse then senselesse absurdity grosse stupidity yea heathenish impiety when as the least of these which I haue named was for learning able to haue resisted the whole Christian world and for their zeale would haue spared none in a point of errour or heresie as I may instance and proue by Tertullian Origen and S. Cyprian were any of these though neuer so great by the rest spared VVere any former merits though neuer so many respected if once they presumed to innouate the least errour whatsoeuer And therefore to strike at the poynt I ayme at in the period of the Conclusion doth the English Church and Parlament admit all the doctrines that were taught in the Church and that continued without the impeachment of any notwithstanding all the zealous vigilant Pastours in the Church I thinke it will make great difficulty and let it reiect them or any of them there needes no more to proue that Church to be hereticall let it admit them it proues it selfe by departure from them and their doctrines to be Apostaticall for that it houldeth not the same points of faith with these foure first Councells which it maketh shew to receiue and imbrace In a word let it admit them or reiect them they shall neuer be able to wipe away the blot and blemish imputation and innouation of damnable errour from their Church For better vnderstanding whereof as also of some other particulers thereto belonging and hereupon necessarily depending I haue thought good to decipher out these ensuing Considerations The first Consideration MY first Consideration which I promise as the very ground-worke and foundation of all the rest must of necessity be this that the Parlament and Church of England admitting these foure first generall Councells of Nyce Constantinople Ephesus and Chalcedon for Orthodoxe and truly Catholicke as representing in their Bishops the complete and entyre body of the Catholicke Church in their seuerall ages must needes acknowledge in like manner that for these first foure hundred and fifty yeares or rather fiue hundred for that it is not probable nay possible that within the compasse of fifty yeares the same should now faile which had allready by vertue of Christ his promise continued foure hundred and fifty yeares the true Catholick Church of Christ consisted not only of the elect and consequently was invisible but of good and bad and therupon was visible vnder visible heades And this was figured by the Parables of the net that caught both good and bad fish and by the field that brought forth good corne and weedes And further that this visible externall Church in those dayes was the very same wherof Christs wordes were to be vnderstood when he gaue this in charge to one vpon occasion and supposal of a complaint made against his brother which if he succeeded not then Dic Ecclesiae tell the Church as also that other of S. Paul that the Church is Columna firmamentum veritatis the Pillar and foundation of truth so as if a man in those dayes would haue had any controuersy in Religion debated and resolued if he would haue knowne what Scriptures the Apostles and Euangelists had committed vnto the custody of the Church for Canonicall Authenticall and further if he desired to know which they were how they might be knowne from counterfait how they might be truly sensed and rightly vnderstood what and how many Sacramēts were left by Christ vnto his Church which they were what were their effects operations how they were to be administred and such other like And if he were a Iew or Gentill that thus demaunded questioning these doubts and would vpon the resolution therof become a Christian but being vnlearned would be instructed in all these cases and the like he was to haue made his repayre and recourse vnto this externall visible Church and to haue stood in all points whatsoeuer vnto her finall determination decision direction instruction and perpetuall gouerment in all these first fiue ages without malepart repugnancy or obstinate reply if he euer intēded to be saued And if vpon any animosity or peruicacity any mā were cast out of that Church in all that time eyther for interpreting Scriptures in his owne sense according to a priuate spirit or for peruerting or innouating de nouo de suo of his owne head or braine in any the least poynt of faith and mystery of Christian religion as the Protestants do both his damnation was by all held and concluded for certaine except he repented and listened yea and obeyed the voice of the Church his mother that sought to reclaine him for that the authority of this Church was euer held for God his highest tribunall vpon earth and therfore irrefragable since the tribunall of heauen standeth expecting what is here done by the Church vpon earth being euer ready to loose or bynd to deliuer ouer vnto Sathan or to release from the bandes of sinne errour and heresy according vnto the former passed doome and sentence of the Church as among other Fathers S. Iohn Chrysostome in his
great S. Beda for the latin But for that I will not be prolixe and because I hasten to my second Consideration which is the very maine Conclusiō of all my whole discourse hitherunto I will knit vp all with that goulden admonition of Vincentius Lyrinensis an Author which who so readeth and belieueth it is impossible if he will professe any religion that he should be ought els but a Roman Catholicke well his wordes are these Let vs hould that saith he which hath bene belieued generally of all for that this is truly and properly Catholicke as the very nature signification of the name doth import And then for further explication he giueth a threefold prescription for a more sure and infallible direction and this is vniuersality Antiquity and Consent all which he must as time and occasion serueth adhere vnto that will be accompted truly Catholicke And yet in the beginning of his fourth Chapter he illustrates the first Prescription of Vniuersality most pertinent for our purpose at this time by way of supposition and question moued and answered His wordes are these VVhat then shall a Catholick Christian doe if any parcell of the Church shall cut it selfe of from communion of the vniuersall faith This is the questiō moued the answere followeth VVhat els forsooth should he doe but that he preferre the health of the whole body before any one pestilent and corrupted member thereof 20. And hereupon I began to enter into a serious Cōsideration and a seuere examination of my owne Conscience in a secret recollected and most retired conference betwixt God and my owne soule touching matters of religion as they shall eyther doome me or saue me at the last day First I considered yea and seriously within my owne hart debated demaunding of my selfe whether the Protestants Church and doctrine wherof I then was a reall and formall member and Professor had not cut it selfe of yea departed and separated it selfe from the vnion and communion of the vniuersall faith and from the sauing and conuerting Ghospell of Christ his Kingdome which was first to be preached to all Nations as Christ promised that it should come to passe before the worldes great destruction and generall consummation This was my first demaund and the answere returned vnto me by the Catholicke Church of ancient Fathers vpon view of their doctrine and comparing it c. nay by the spirit of God since it was promised to be the guider and directour of his Church I say the answere returned was that the Protestants Church doctrine had abandoned both Catholick name Catholick faith and therefore as beames cut of from the sunne as boughes violently broken of frō the tree and streames and channels parted and separated from their originall fountaine as S. Cyprian speaketh they were to perish vanish and come to naught And now what course remained for me to take if I regarded at all the welfare of my soule but to follow the sage weighty counsaile of my foresaid authour Vincentius Lyrinensis my Authour indeed being the only meanes next vnder God of my Conuersion from heresy to Catholicke Religion and that is to prefer the health and welfare of the whole body before any one pestered and infested member therof His meaning in plainer termes is that in time of Schisme and Heresy or in particuler Countries Apostacy from the Catholicke Christian faith and religion euery Catholicke Christian that is already in the Church must hoouer vnder the winges of the Church by retyring into her lap and bosome in time of any danger And he that is an Hereticke and of an hereticall Congregation and consequently forth of the Church must endeauour by all means possible to become a Catholicke by returning againe vnto the Communion of Catholick Religion out of which it is impossible there should be any saluation 21. This first Consideration I enlarged yet further extending it by a second supposition to witt if the Protestants Church and doctrine be Catholicke indeed as they would beare the world in hand it is then it hath bene generally reaceaued of Christians ouer all Christendome in that sense as it is now in opposition against the Roman Church then the Protestants can produce visible Churches of theirs that haue bene extant from the Apostles time downwards hitherto that haue held the selfe same points of doctrine the selfe same number of Sacraments other such differences as now Protestant Churches haue in them from the Roman thē according to that most sure prescription of Tertullian they can Edere origines Ecclesiarum suarum euoluere ordinem Episcoporum suorum Declare the beginnings of their Church they can turne ouer and bring forth an orderly succession of Bishops running on as he saith from the very beginning and continuing without any interruption to the Apostles tyme then can they proue that the first Bishop that held these differences was instituted and ordayned by some Apostle or Apostolicall man for so saith Tertullian could the Church of the Smyrneans proue their succession of Bishops from S. Policarpus ordayned by S. Iohn and the Church of Rome proue from S. Clement placed by S. Peters in one word then according to another prescription of Tertullian can they proue that the doctrine of their Church as now it standeth in contradiction with ours conspireth with the doctrine of the originall Apostolicall and mother Churches and that they hold that very doctrine which the Church receiued from the Apostles the Apostles from Christ and Christ from God and that the same hath cōtinued by neuer interrupted succession from that time to this of theirs These things if they shall euer be able soūdly and substantially to proue on their part then shall I acknowledg that they and their Religion are Catholicke indeed and that out of their Church there is no saluation 22. But if these things haue bene by them attempted and could neuer yet be proued by them nay if their affirmatiue haue bene disproued by a negatiue in all the forenamed notes markes prescriptions of the Church and against Hereticks as is already too apparently knowne to the whole Christian world then let them at the last vpon so manifest a conuiction ingenuously confesse that the denomination of Hereticke rather then the appellation of Catholuke doth properly apertaine vnto them 23. And albeit I cannot but vnderstand that the Hereticks of ancient times and all moderne Sectaries in these our vnhappy dayes both in Germany France Holland Scotland and England doe ambitiously affect this renowned name of Catholick to haue it giuen vnto their hereticall Cōgregations nay which is more howsoeuer they do fraudulently sometimes cloath themselues in sheepe skinnes when surreptitiously they inuest thēselues with this high title supreame dignity of a Catholick though in points of doctrine amongst themselues they be neuer so much opposite the one to the other ech condemning other for Hereticks nay damning themselues amongst themselues and
of necessity make the visible Catholicke Church if euer Christ left behind him any Church at all to continew when he writeth that he would eyther belieue them or at least wise would be humbly silent and not condemne them as before hath bene shewed So in this very second point of particuler Fathers I find it thus written by his Maiesty 26. But for euery priuate Fathers opinion saith he it bindeth not my conscience more then Bellarmines euery one of the Fathers vsually cōtradicting of others The first part of which sentēce to wit that euery priuate opinion of euery Father bindeth not a mans conscience in matter of religion is so cleare that it needeth no proofe at all for it cannot be denyed For if the opinion be indeed priuate then is it not truly Catholicke and consequently being not the opinion of the true Church it bindeth no man 27. But for the later period of the sentence being wholy derogatory from the credit of Antiquity that is to say that euery one of the Fathers do vsually contradict others in matters concerning religion this must needes presubpose to haue some fauorable interpretation affoarded it to free it from open iniuring and wronging of the Fathers and so my hope is that this is the meaning of his Excellent Matie to wit that these contradictions supposed to be a mongst the Fathers are only diuersities of iudgment in matters that are not determinately de fide or that do not concerne any articles of beliefe but eyther such matters as S. Augustine saith that may without breach of vnion or charity be diuersly disputed of amongst Catholicke men or els when diuers Fathers do giue diuers senses of Scripture some the literall others the allegoricall and all true all intended by the holy Ghost as we haue formerly noted Now the rule that we must heere obserue concerning these poyntes wherein consent of Fathers is and must necessarily be had is that which Vincentius Lyrinensis an Authour that I can neuer sufficiently commend hath excellently laid downe in his 37. Chapter contra haereses his wordes are these Antiqua Patrum consentio Sanctorum non in omnibus diuinae legis quaestionibus sed solùm in fidei regula magno nobis studio inuestiganda sequenda est The ancient consent of holy Fathers is with great care and study to be both searched out and followed of vs not in all their questionings of holy Writ but only in the rule of fayth 28. And vnto this S. Augustine alludeth where he writeth thus Alia sunt in quibus interse aliquando etiam doctissimi atque optimi regulae Catholicae defensores salua fidei compage non consonant alius alio de vna re melius aliquid dicit veriùs There are some thinges wherein sometimes the most learned and the best defenders of the Catholick rule do not agree amongst themselues but one speaketh better and more truly then another of the selfe same thing but yet without breach of the linke of faith 29. But forasmuch as particuler Fathers do often times set downe and deliuer the publike beliefe of the Church and not any priuate opinions though they seeme to speak priuately and not in name of the whole Church when they mention this or that point concerning religion some certaine rule or note for our better direction and distinction must be set downe and the surest rule to discerne how farre forth priuate Fathers opinions ought to be esteemed or may bind a man in conscience is for a man to consider vprightly in the impartiall iudgment betwixt God and his owne conscience whether that opinion of his if he be but one or theirs if they be many haue bene withstood or gainesaid contradicted or impugned by any other Father or Fathers Synod or Councell Prouinciall Generall or Nationall of the same or other precedent or subsequent ages For if this cannot be made good against any one particuler Fathers opinion then may it more then probably be inferred that forsomuch as this particuler Father was generally reputed for a Catholicke Doctor in his time neuer reprehended taxed noted condemned for this opinion as false doubtfull or erroneous it must needes be I say necessarily inferred and concluded that that very opinion of his was the opinion iudgment and doctrine also of the Catholicke Church in the age and time wherein he liued and of which he himselfe was then a Father and Doctor For if this were not so it cannot be so much as with any probability imagined that this Father could haue taught this opinion in his dayes or diuulged it in his writings vnto posterity without some note or memory of controlment or taxation of the same eyther whilst he liued or after his death 30. And hereby it followeth that albeit this Doctrine should haue but one or two ancient Fathers that do expresly mention it in their dayes other Fathers of the same tyme either not hauing occasion to speake therof or els busied and incumbred about other as weighty poynts yet were this alone sufficient to make vs vnderstand that in their dayes that mention the same the forsaid opiniō of that Father or Fathers was held for Catholick Doctrine throughout the vniuersall Church for that otherwise without all doubt it would thē or afterwardes haue bene descried censured by the carefull vigilant watchmen of Gods Church Neyther can any instance as I imagine be giuen to the cōtrary for that frō the very first infancy of Christianity vnto our dayes it cannot be shewed that any Father or Doctor though otherwise neuer so renowned for wit and learning piety or sanctity did euer beginne any new doctrine or erroneous opinion different from the Catholicke beliefe but that presently the same was excepted against by others And this is more then euident in the particuler cases and slippes of Tertullian Origen Cyprian Lactamius and other ancient Fathers of the Church and yet when any of these transgressed the anciēt boundes innouating any thing frō the receyued faith they were all of them excepted and cryed out against noted taxed for such their priuate erroneous opiniōs as dissenting from publick vnion and Catholick Communion 31. Neyther doth any man in my iudgment explaine this point better then S. Augustine himselfe and therefore as I serued my selfe principally of him in the precedēt Consideration soe do I meane also in this For as on the one side when many Fathers do agree in their opinion against one or few as in the case of S. Cyprian about the rebaptizing of hereticks yt fell out the greater part is there to be preferred before the lesse as the said Father doth often affirme so notwithstanding when no such opposition and contradiction is of the maior part S. Augustine himselfe maketh high and singular accompt of euery priuate Fathers opinion as namely when he extolleth the authority O. S. Hilarius against lulian saving Ecclesiae Catholicae aduersus haereticos acerrimum
do conclude thus Alibi verò passim Cyprianus dicit super Petrum Ecclesiam fundatam esse Cyprian doth ordinarily in other places affirme the Church to be sounded vpon Peter as lib. 1. epist. 3. lib. 4. epist. 9. tract 2. de habitu virginum serm 3. de bono patientiae epist ad Quirinum 65. And the same hath Origen say they tract 5. in Matth. in these wordes Petrus per promissionem meruit fieri Ecclesiae fundamentum Et homil 17. super Lucam Petrum vocat Apostolorū Principem Peter by the promise of Christ deserued to be made the foundation of the Church And againe in his 17. homily vpon Luke Origen calleth S. Peter the Prince of the Apostles Thus the Magdeburgians are forced to shew the Fathers of this age to be against themselues 66. And now by this the prudent reader may iudge what a volume I might make vp if I should here recyte all the authorities which in this kynd the Magdeburgians doe alleadge for confirmation of the generall heades touched in the foregoing age and the other here adioyned For thus they beginne the articles of martyrdome and merit thereof Martyrium immodicè extulerunt omnes huius aetatis Doctores All the Doctors and it is worth the marking that they say all of this age do extoll martyrdome immoderately And in like manner they beginne their Article of chastity thus Sicut in superioris saeculi historia it a hic inuenies nimiùm praedicari extolli continentiam As in the history of the former age so here shall you find continency to be ouer much commended and extolled And thus much for these so many and so seuerall pointes as before hath bene touched 67. Now let vs add one article or head more of Roman Catholick Doctrine discouered by the same Magdeburgians in the Fathers of this third age not hitherto handled to wit the article of Purgatory For thus they write Semina Purgatoris in aliquot locis apud Originem subinde sparsa videas You may see here and there the seedes of Purgatory sowed in certaine places of Origin his workes as homily the 2. in Psalm 36. homil 3. in cumdem homil 8. in Leuiticum homil 12. in Ezechielem in libro primo contra Celsum lib. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 6. And albeit the Magdeburgians do call this but a strong imagination of Origen yet I do consider this that amongst so many opinions reprehended and cōdemned in Origen by the Fathers of the subsequent ages yet none did euer reprehend this his opinion of Purgatory as an errour of his but rather followed Origen them selues houlding the same as a Catholicke truth so as now the other heades of Roman Catholicke Doctrine held by the chiefe Fathers and Doctors of two precedent ages to wit about free-will perfection of life possibility of the commaundements tradition and rites Supremacy of the Pope of Rome merit of Martyrdome state of Virginity and the like here in this age the same heades are not only confirmed and ratified but as many more disclosed as Prayers vnto Angells Iustification by workes Pennance and satisfaction intercession of Martyrs for sinners in this life sāctifying the water of baptisme by the Priest necessity and efficacy of holy chrisme sanctification of the holy Eucharist vpon Aultars the forme of inuocation of Angells and Saints Purgatory and diuers other such like points which are at this day controuersed I heere for breuity sake do passe ouer hastening vnto the fourth age The fourth Age. 68. The fourth age of Christ beginning from the yeare 400. had for chiefe Fathers of the Greeke Church S. Cyril of Hierusalem S. Ephraim S. Basil S. Epiphanius S. Gregory Nazianzen Gregory Nissen and many others as also the chiefe Doctors of the Latin Church were S. Ambrose S. Hierome Prudentius Philastrius Ruffinus and others In which age two principall points are to be cōsidered here for our purpose First whether all the former Catholicke opinions that were discouered in the second and third precedent ages to be then held by the Church and Fathers thereof were now confirmed also in this fourth age and secondly whether any other poyntes be further insinuated and inculcated touching the same doctrine 69. And as for the first it is euident that the lower we descend from the Apostles time the greater confirmation and illustration vpon occasion of hereticall opposition shall we find of the same articles As for example the Magdeburgians haue a Chapter De coena Domini of the Lordes supper wherein they do proue out of Gregory Nazianzen Eusebius Ambrosius Hieronymus Hilarius Arnobius Basilius Epiphanius and diuers other Fathers and Doctors of this age the Reall Presence of Christ in the said supper which they hould to haue beene truly and Catholickely defended by them Then passing ouer vnto the other heades which lye in controuersy betweene vs they doe shew to be held also but as they say erroneously by the chiefe Fathers of this fourth age no lesse then by those of the former ages And then beginning with the article of Free will they say Patres omnes huius ferè aetatis de libero arbitrio confusè loquuntur All the Fathers of this age doe speake in a sort confusedly of Free will but howsoeuer the Fathers speake confusedly certaine it is that the Magdeburgians speake and censure falsely and heretically according to their old wont 70. And yet presently after they make mention of Lactantius Athanasius Basilius Nazianzen Epiphanius S. Hierome and S. Gregory men who speake as plainely and distinctly thereof as men may do and as it may possibly be imagined and not confusedly Let vs heare S. Hierome speaking in steed of all Omni aetati saith he omnique personae libertas arbitrij relicta est Non cogo non impero sed propono palmam ostendo praemia tuum est eligere si volueris in agone certamine coronari Liberty of free-will is left vnto euery age and vnto all persons God saith I do not force I do not commaund but I do propose vnto thee the crowne and do shew thee the rewards it is thy part to choose if thou wilt winne the crowne in the fight and conflict So he 71. And the very same point of doctrine is often times by him reassumed reiterated and vrged in inciting men to imbrace the doctrine of Euangelicall Counsells where he vseth the selfe same wordes in many places of of his workes The said Magdeburgians do alleage most plaine and cleare places and sentences forth of Lactantius Nilus Chromatius Ephraim and S. Hierome who teach plainly that man is not iustified by only faith Non sufficit murum habere fidei nisi ipsa fides bonis operibus confirmetur It is not saith S. Hierome sufficient to haue the wall of faith except that faith be confirmed with good workes 72. And as for the merit of good workes the Magdeburgians do openly confesse that both the
DVTIFVLL AND RESPECTIVE CONSIDERATIONS VPON FOVRE SEVERALL HEADS OF PROOFE AND TRIALL IN MATTERS OF RELIGION PROPOSED By the High and Mighty Prince IAMES King of Great Britayne France and Ireland c. in his late Booke of Premonition to all Christian Princes for clearing his Royall Person from the imputation of Heresy By a late Minister and Preacher in England August lib. contrae Iudaeos Pagan Arian cap. 20. You must know deare brethren that true faith sincere peace perpetuall saluation is only by the Catholicke faith for it is not in a corner but euery where all If any man depart from it and deliuer himselfe vp to the errors of Heretickes he shall be iudged and condemned as a fugitiue bond-man Permissu Superiorum M. DC IX THE FOVRE HEADS OF IVST TRIALL mentioned by his Maiesty of England as touching his owne Person 1. THE reuerencing and belieuing of the Canonicall Scriptures as they ought to be and so also the not Canonicall 2. THE admitting of the first three Creeds of the Apostles of the Nicen Councell of S. Athanasius 3. THE acknowledging accepting the first foure generall Councels of Christendome to wit of Nice of Constantinople of Ephesus of Chalcedon 4. THE crediting of the Fathers of the first fiue hundred yeares after Christ eyther iointly or seuerally in points of moderne controuersies Euery head is handled by diuers Considerations as by the sequent Catalogue of Chapters will appeare THE GENERALL CONTENTS OF THIS BOOKE THE Epistle to his Maiesty declaring the motiues which the Author had to write this Treatise THE FIRST CHAPTER Conteining an entrance into this Treatise or Triall how much it importeth to be a Catholicke and no Hereticke And with how great reason his Maiesty endeuoureth to cleare him selfe and his Royall Person from the imputation of heresie FIVE CONSIDERATIONS 1 About the wordes Catholicke and Hereticke and that they can neuer agree in one 2 Of the dreadfull misery of being an Hereticke 3 How a man may certainely and without errour discerne what is Catholicke and what is Hereticall 4 How out of the premisses euery man may iudge in what state he standeth for being Hereticke or Catholicke 5 The Conclusion of all this whole Chapter to his Maiesty THE SECOND CHAPTER THat treateth the first head touched by his Maiesty for tryall of a Christian Catholicke which is the belieuing of holy Scriptures FOVRE CONSIDERATIONS 1 The belieuing of Scripture not sufficient to make a mā a Catholick 2 That Scriptures were not writtē for many yeares after the Church began 3 How to know what is truly Scripture 4 How the true sense of Scripture may be tryed THE THIRD CHAPTER COncerning the secōd point or generall head professed by his Maiesty cōcerning his belieuing of the three Creeds receiued by the Church THREE CONSIDERATIONS 1 How the first three Creeds and why they were ordayned and how greatly they are to be reuerenced 2 That the Ministers of England belieue not wholy entirely the faith of the three Creeds 3 In what particuler articles of the Creeds English Protestants do not agree with vs. THE FOVRTH CHAPTER COncerning the approbation allowance of the first soure generall Councels which is the third generall head of triall offered proposed by his Excellent Maiesty of England THREE CONSIDERATIONS 1 VVhy and how these foure first Councels were gathered and how thereby it is conuinced that the Church cannot erre 2 VVhy the Protestants do not nor can remedy their diuisions by any Generall or Nationall Councell 3 Particuler points of differences between these first foure Generall Councels and the Protestants of our time for doctrine manners THE FIFTH CHAPTER COncerning the admittance acceptance of the anciēt Fathers of the first fiue hundred years after Christ which is the fourth last head of triall offered alledged by his Maiesty of England THREE CONSIDERATIONS 1 The different esteeme that Catholicks Protestāts do make of ancient Fathers when they agree in one 2 How Catholicks Protestants do esteeme of the testimonies of particuler Fathers 3 That the Fathers of euery age for the first fiue hundred yeares did make for Catholicks against Protestants in matters now in controuersy THE SIXT CHAPTER COnteyning a briefe contemplation of what hitherto hath byn said with a Conclusion of the whole to his most Excellent Maiesty TO THE HIGH AND PVISSANT PRINCE MY DREAD LORD AND SOVERAIGNE IAMES BY THE GRACE OF GOD of Great Britayne France Ireland KING c. AFTER I had bent my selfe vnto a serious Suruey and diligent perusall of your Maiesties new Booke bearing the inscription of a Preface or Premonition to all Christian Princes diuers were the apprehensions and impressions it made in the different faculties of my soule Reuoluing therefore and reflecting vpon the premises by a second reuiew I resolued and in fine concluded being now as it were wonderfully affected partly with sollace partly with sollicitude 2. My solace was to consider yea sensibly as it were before the eyes of my soule in the impartiall glasse of my recollectedst vnderstanding and most retyred iudgment to behould so many rare Princely talents of nature literature and other highly esteemed partes in your Maiesty which as they are seldome found in such potent Princes so residing habitually in your Royall breast as in their proper and peculiar subiect they cannot but minister iust matter of meruailous ioy content and comfort vnto all your leige people your loyall and louing subiects especially since they are accompanied and attended yea adorned nay beautifyed with the irradiant lustre of that burning fire of zeale I meane an extraordinary feruour in matters of your Religion Now if these so rare parts of nature literature and zeale wherwith your Noble Person is habitually inuested shall be directed by the singer of God his holy spirit the high hand of heauen vnto the sole-sacred and soule-sauing knowledge of Catholicke Religion which I verily hope in time to see and shall incessantly pray for they will exceedingly aduance his glory and gaine vnto your Maiesty an immarcessible neuer-fading Crowne of eternity 3. My spirit also reioyced within me my hart exulted for ioy my perplexed thoughts retyred reposed themselues in hope whē I tooke but a iust view of that commendable carefull diligence that pious and religious industrie vsed by your Maiesty in vindieating your noble Person from the least imputation of herefy and in remouing the very suspition of such a contagious and soule quessing leprosy since that this loud-crying synne loud-crying in the eares of heauen is the greatest crime that can be committed against God or his Church separating betwixt God and man grace and the soule dissoluing the mysteriall vnion and sacramentall communion betwixt the head the members Christ his spouse reiecting God for Father denying the Church for mother taking away the very name of a Christian as ancient Tertullian speaketh depriuing our expectation of all hope and
so much as we heare on the one side the terrible horrour of the said Name and on the other side we see the common and to much vsed familiaryty therof in these our vnhappy tymes later and worser dayes which are so replenished with all kind of Sects and Sectaries as that each one commonly calleth the other Hereticke and that with as great facility and with as litle regard as if the accustomable practice of calling Hereticke had taken away the true sense and reall feeling of an Hereticke or as though he called him good fellow or witty inuentor of new opinions which amongst the Sectaries of our age is rather reputed for a pleasant iest and ingenious cōmendation then for that which in sober sadnes setting all Atheisticall scoffing and iesting in matters of such momēt a part it is to wit a terrible accusation and dreadfull charge of a most high and Capitall crime committed against God his Church his Sauiour and all to the destruction of his owne soule 28. But alas who doth not now adaies delight and esteeme himselfe the more for his sharpnes of wit subtile ingeny for inuenting finding out deuising framing new positions new translations new interpretations and that coyned stamped in the shop of his own braine therby of set purpose to impugne and of desperate malice to withstand some Catholick points of ancient Churches doctrine And if you tell him that he must keep him to the traditiō of the Church deliuer that to the sonnes of the Church which he hath vniformly receiued frō the Fathers of the Church that he must not remoue ancient bands in matters of beliefe for feare of a curse that he must reddere depositum as S. Paul chargeth Timothy and that with a vehement asseueration and what is that reddere depositū that is as Vincentius Lyrinensis excellently expounds it Quod tibi creditum est non quod à te inuentum quod accepisti non quod excogitasti rem non ingenij sed doctrinae non vsurpationis priuatae sed publicae traditionis rem ad te perductam non a te prolatam in qua non author esse debes sed custos non institutor sed sectator non ducens sed sequens that which is committed vnto thee not any thing inuented of thee that which thou hast receaued not deuised a matter of doctrine not of wit not of priuat vsurpation but of publicke tradition a matter brought vnto thee not brought forth of thee wherin thou must be no author but a keeper no maister but a scholler no guider but a follower Lastly tell him that he must content himselfe with being a relator only not presuming to be an author otherwise his position will proue innouation priuate inuention erroneous election and consequently heresy I say tell him all this and what more you can deuise and he will laugh at you for your simplicity in going about to terrify him with such buggs and in tying his spirit to any rule of Church-authority since the wind bloweth where it listeth c. which he fanatically applieth vnto his spirit presuming it to be inspired from aboue And with that spirit if you will belieue him vpon his bare word is he so inspired that he needeth no other direction no further instruction And this is all the accompt that he maketh of being a Catholicke or a choosing Hereticke But reflecting vpon the other syde of the Roman Religion which may truely and only be called Catholicke I experimentally found another kind of reckoning made of both these wordes Catholicke and Hereticke most highly esteeming the one as hath bene formerly spoken and fearfully declining the other as the origen and ofspring of all calamity 26. And first I found in the common doctrine of their Schooles they assigning Heresy for one of the three species or members of infidelity opposite to Christian Religion they hould it to be the worst most heinous of all three in respect of the extreame and desperate malice therof to wit that it is in a degree of euill and sinne worse and more damnable then either Paganisme or Iudaisme not for that all heresie denyeth more parts of Christian doctrine then do the Pagans or Iewes for in this the Pagan sinneth more then a Iew and a Iew commonly more then an Hereticke but because they do corrupt and impugne the Catholicke Christian faith which once they receiued and from which they are now wilfully departed which implieth more malice then can be ascribed to eyther Iew or Gentile that neuer receyued the same In which respect their sinne and damnatiō is more grieuous say Catholicke Doctors then is eyther of the other two Wherupon is inferred by S. Thomas and it is the common opinion that an Hereticke is in worse state then a Iew or Gentile for the life to come 30. Againe for further aggrauation and exaggeration of the horror of this Name and loud-crying sinne therby signified the Catholicke Deuines in a more particuler explication do constantly and with vniforme consent auerre that an Hereticke discrediting or not belieuing as he should any one article of the Catholicke faith doth loose his whole faith and habit thereof in all the rest And the reason herof is assigned by the Schoole Doctors for that the chiefe motiue or formall reason why a man doth belieue any thing in Christian Religion is because it is reuealed by God and propounded by the Church without which Churches propounding and approuing nothing can be securely belieued And therefore when an Hereticke in any one article discrediteth and detracteth from the authority of this Church which is necessary and primary condition in beliefe denying it thereby to be an infallible rule of beliefe in this one article he denieth the same in all the rest As for example if a man should aske a Protestant why he belieueth the Scriptures and S. Matthews Gospell to be S. Matthews Gospell he can answere no otherwise but that God hath reuealed the same vnto vs by the Church which propoundeth these books for Scripture Here then the proposition of the Church appertaineth to the formall reason or cause of beliefe as Deuynes doe tearme it which if once it be denyed or discredited in any one article as the Protestants do when we alledge it against them for Purgatory Prayer for the dead Sacrifice inuocation of Saints and the like then can it not hold in the former about Scriptures or any other article and consequently Hereticks haue no diuyne faith at all about Scripture or any other article but are meere Infidels in all and consequently shal be damned say they not only as chusing Heretickes beleeuing one thing and reiecting the other but as vnbelieuing Infidells deuoid of all faith Which seemed to me to be a very terrible commination and fearfull distriction and yet did I see it substantially grounded and so orderly deduced as that I must ingenuously confesse it so conuinced my vnderstanding and
so ordered by the will of God that they minister store of matter vnto Heretickes when I read in Scripture oportet haereses esse there must be heresies which cannot be without Scriptures And this is my former Author his iudgment of the Scriptures wrested and peruerted by seuerall Heretickes in his dayes for maintenance of their seuerall heresies Which being so here is neither certainty nor generality nor facility nor perspicuity nor infallibility in this way of the Scripture barely and nakedly proposed of it selfe alone neither can it euer be inferred by any seeming probable conclusion that the Scripture alone is this infallible way which we do further illustrate by this familiar example obuious vnto euery mans capacity 56. If some rude and vnlearned countreymen repayring vp to the Metropolitan Citty of the kingdome to prosecute some suites in law touching a Farme or house or matter of lesse moment yt these men I say after conference had with their learned counsaile should receaue no other answere nor comfort nor direction of them for further managing of their suites but be remitted by them vnto the body of the law it selfe without any Iudge or Counsailour they being of themselues not able either to read or vnderstand the law much lesse to apply it to their proper cases and peculiar suites would not euery reasonable and conscionable man condemne these lawyers And had not the poore Coūtreymen themselues being vndone by this meanes in their worldly estates iust cause to complayne and cry out against the falsehood and treachery of their Coūsailours And yet behold here in a suit of of suits and matter of greatest moment and importance in the world not in a title or triall of a Farme or house but concerning our interest and right of inheritance vnto the heauenly mansion we are this way worse then thus since the matter is of far greater importance abused deluded betrayed we are promiscuously sent learned vnlearned men women yong old to the body of the Scripture mysticall volume of God his sacred and seauen-fold-sealed book as S. Iohn speakes of the Reuelation Apocal. 5. 1. we must seeke search confer cōpare expound interprete euery man must there be a chooser euery woman an expositor and euery creature must be his owne caruer all must presume of the spirit that they cannot erre all presume to be taught immediatly from God without the ministery of the Church Sola Scripturarum arsest saith S. Hierome against Heretiks of his time quam omnes sibi vēdicant hanc garrula anus hanc delirus senex hāc sophista verbosus hanc vniuersi praesumunt lacerant docent antequam discunt c. Only the art of Scripture is it which euery one challengeth to himselfe this the prating ould wife this the doting old man this the babling Sophist this all of them togeather presume to know and teach and teare in peeces before they learne it So he And this is all the way and ground prescription direction rule and line that our hereticall Sectaries can affoard vs for the guiding of our soules and the grounding of our faith Will any man therefore hereafter that hath but the least care or that can intertaine but one thought either of the present of future wellfarre of his soule rely vpon such false guides blind teachers since this ground of Scripture alone sensed by a priuate spirit was is euer shal be the cōmon ground nay rather desperate shift and refuge of all condemned heresies and hereticks and that purposely that they may auoyd the censure and tribunall of the Church 57. There followeth then the way indeed appointed by God reuealed by the holy-Ghost designed by Christ and proposed by the Catholicks and Catholicke Church and this is the sure easy euident generall and infallible waie indeed which is the vniuersall knowne Catholicke Church in euery age which is perspicuous and notorious easy to be found for that it cannot be hidden it is compared by holy Scripture to a Citty placed vpon a hill as S. Augustine in diuers prolixe Treatises of his doth euidently demonstrate it is a light vpon a candlestick it lighteneth all through the Egiptian darkenes of this worlds schisme and heresy and leades their soules into the way of truth it is that pillar of fire that leadeth all Gods chosen people through the vast and roaring wildernes yea and all the nightes darkenes of this world vnto the promised land of Canaan I meane the heauēly Hierusalem it is generally also figured by the dew that fell vpon the floore as well as vpō the fleece when Gedeon required the miracle to be doubled which was a mysticall representation of the Iewish Synagogue and Christian Congregation implying also that the dew of Gods truth and sauing grace should at last passe from the fleece of the Iewes to the floore of the Gentils and all to teach vs that this Catholick Christian Church should extend to all serue for all learned vnlearned yong ould high low great small for that all sortes sexes ages and conditiōs of people may repaire vnto her receiue her doctrine admit her instructions and directions by the continuall successions of her Bishops Pastors and teachers of euery age And finally this way is a most sure certaine and infallible rule for that Christ hath expresly assured and promised vs that he will be continually with this Church vnto the worlds end that he would send the holy Ghost to instruct direct and induce this Church in omnem veritatem into all truth suggerit vobis omnia quae dixere vobis and it shall suggest vnto you all that I will from heauen speake or notify vnto you It was Christ his promise vnto his Apostles in their persons vnto his Church for euer And lastly the gates of hell which are the gates of errour and heresies shall neuer preuaile against this Church 58. This then to exclude all by-pathes and blind waies of Heretickes is the way indeed this is that rule of faith as Tertullian speaketh instituted by Christ and it is such a rule and so certaine that Nullas habet apud nos quaestiones nisi quaes haereses inserunt quae haereticos saciunt no questions are so much as moued with vs concerning this rule but such as heresies cause and which very questions moued concerning the Church do cause and breed hereticks 59. This Church being once published by our Sauiour and the promises he had made vnto her being once diuulged what followed but that all men presently that had any care of the saluation of their soules flocked vnto her began to lay handfast and houldfast on this way and to haue recourse in all doubts and controuersies vnto the common knowne Catholicke Church of their age for explication and finall decision therof So shall you read Act. 15 6. that the Apostles immediatly after the Ascention of our Sauiour assembled the Church togeather for the detiding of that
and vniuersall direction Can any rule be more probable and infallible then the rule of the Church And to this do agree both my foresaid Authour in many other places of his workes as also all that succeeded him tooke the like enterprize in hand of writing and prescribing against Hereticks as Tertullian S. Cyprian S. Augustine S. Athanasius Epiphanius Theodoret S. Hierome S. Leo Vincentius Lyrinensis in his goulden booke against the prophane innouations of the Hereticks of his time and diuers others which to auoyd prolixity I omit all these do principally and really prouoke and challenge all the Heretickes of their tyme vnto this only and sure waie of the Catholicke Church in their dayes for the triall of the truth and for discerning what is truly Catholicke and what is Hereticall their seuerall sentences are to prolixe to be conteyned within the strict precinctes and narrow boundes of my briefe intended Confiderations 63. And now to put a period to this my third Consideration least it exceed a due proportion the vpshot is this For asmuch then as this visible Christian Church begun and founded by our Sauiour vnder the Apostles was a visible Church made and consisting of visible men gouerned by visible Pastors hath visibly descended from age to age through the centuries of the Church by all lawfull and ordinary succession of Bishops which Tertullian required of the Hereticks of his time as they would auoid the blot of heresy that haue lineally come downe to our dayes Secondly for asmuch as the authority of his Church was esteemed in euery age to be the same for infallible direction that it was in the former first ages through the assurance of Christ his promise to that effect And lastly for as much as the whole vniuersall Church of the fifteēth age hath in a generall Coūcell examined decyded condēned the doctrine of the Protestants for heresy in more then an hundred maine points by name hath accursed and anathematized both them and all their participants to the pit of hell that according to the very selfe same groūds wherby the ancient Fathers did vse to curse anathematize all ould heresies and Hereticks in former tymes these things when I considered with more attention made a generall reflection thereon a suddaine feare and care astonished yea as it were ouerwhelmed me for that my euerlasting saluation depending vpon this point I had beene so negligent in examining the premises And now I plainely saw as in a perfect glasse of most impartiall iudgment that vnlesse I could imagin with my selfe as diuers others fanatically do that Christes promise had fayled that the first visible Christian and Catholicke Church founded by him and spread ouer the whole world had fayled vanished and perished as being ouercome by hel-gates and ouer growne with the weedes of errour heresy I could neuer haue any hope of saluation as long as I continued in the Protestant Religion And this was the issue of that Consideration The fourth Consideration THERE remaineth now a fourth consideration the subiect wherof which notwithstanding perhaps is of greatest importance of all the rest is this to wit how out of the premisses a man may probably collect nay necessarily conclude whose opinions be Catholicke and whose Hereticall and therevpon may reflect vpon himself in what state or condition he standeth betwixt both as eyther affected to the one or interessed in the other And albeit this hath beene partly discouered by that which hath beene spoken in the first Consideratiō touching the name Catholicke that signifieth Vniuersall and whole and not a part or singularity in opinions by choice of a mans owne will and iudgement for so Hereticke doth signifie as hath beene laid forth in the second Consideration yet shall it be made more manifest by the particular practice of the things themselues when the name shall passe into nature and appellation be turned into application And first to speake to the point in a word the Catholike admitteth all wholy and intierly without addition or detraction which the knowne Catholicke Church proposeth to be belieued of her sonnes as she hath it reuealed vnto her from God her Father But as for the Hereticke and the chooser tamquā Dominus propryiuris as he that will take his owne swing though it be in Schisme and heresy he making himselfe iudge ouer all I meane God the Scripturs and the Church admitteth some and reiecteth the rest as it pleaseth his priuate fancy or displeaseth his peeuish iudgmēt he neither respects the authority of the Church nor regardes his owne obedience due therunto his ground is either Scriptures falsely by him interpreted or a priuat lying spirit such as Micheas the Lords true Prophet prophesied to be in the false Prophets of Baal wherein he is deluded or other arguments of reason nature against faith and the God of nature And thus he is bewitched peruerted contrary to all true and onely sauing Catholicke grounds contrary to that sure certaine and infallible way of triall which erst while we treated of in the third Consideration and purpose now by Gods holy assistance to make vse of all in this 65. Some men I find to intertaine this concepit that English Protestants and Roman Catholickes may liue in their seuerall professions of Religion and be saued togeather and much more they are of opinion that all Protestants of different professions and Sectes as Lutherans and Sacramentaries and much more the different sortes of one and the selfe same sect as Caluinists in England distinguished by the names of Molles and Rigidi moderate Protestantes and feruent Puritans And the reasons for this their opinion are first of doctrine for that euery one of their differences do not make heresies or if they do yet not so grieuous heresies as the Fathers of the Primatiue Church condemned and anathematized they meane such heresies as impugned the persons of the B. Trinity the Natures of Christ God and Man the Incarnation and Passion and the like cōsequently though those ancient heresies were damnable yet are not those of our daies plead the Protestants but that both partes liuing well may be saued as his Matie in this his Premonition to Princes doth testifie that his noble Mother sent him word not long before her Martyrdome by the Maister of her Household a Scotish Gentleman yet liuing that his Matie might persist in his Protestant Religion and yet do well inough if he liued vertuously and gouerned accordingly 66. But surely how farre the credit of that maister of Household being a Protestant as I heare he then was and now is may extend it selfe to be belieued against the mistresse and highest Lady of that Household in a matter of that quality and consequence I know not yet certaine I am of this that the opinion that a man may be so saued is most false and absurd in it selfe and very vnlikely also to proceed from her
Maties wise and religious hart who with that opinion might haue made herselfe a Protestant therby haue escaped the greatest part of her troubles and perhaps also haue auoided the violent stroake of the Axe which is well knowne to haue bene vrged vpon her especially in respect of her Religion and of the feare that was conceyued least in time she might come to the Crowne and defend the same I meane her Religion with publicke authority 67. And now whosoeuer it was wherein I remit my selfe to his Matie as most interessed therin both in Honour body and soule as her only Child and heyre chiefest Iewell in the world euident it is the opinion cannot stand as now hath bene said eyther in reason or religion and may be presumed to proceed from such as haue little care of any religiō at all onely they would liue quietly enioy their sensuality passe the time without any trouble or scruple or repugnant conscience for any thing touching religion or that whole subiect And this if I take not my ayme amisse commeth very neere to the point of secret Atheisme 68. S. Augustine recordeth the like opinion of many in his daies who thought it did not materially import them whether they were Donatists or Catholicks so as they professed the Christian faith Multi sayth he nihil interesse credentes in qua quisque parte Christianus sit ideo permanebant in parte Donati quia ibi nati erant c. Many beleeuing that it concerned them not in what side or part ech man were a Christian so he were a Christian therefore they remayned on the party or faction of Donatus the Hereticke for that they were borne therein But S. Augustine vehemently confuteth this false pestilent and indulgent perswasion aswell in the place heere cyted as in many other places of his workes confidently teaching and auerring that a man is made an Hereticke by houlding any one errour obstinately against the Church and consequently damned also In Ecclesia Christi saith he qui morbidum aliquid prauumque sapiunt si correcti vt sanum rectumque sapiant resistunt contumaciter Haeretici fiunt foras exeuntes habentur inimici Those who in the Church of Christ are infected with corrupt and naughty opinions if being admonished to belieue wholsome and true doctrine they kicke against it with contumacy then do they become Heretickes and going forth of the Church are held for enemies So he And with the same seuerity holdeth he in his booke of heresies intituled Ad Quod-vult-Deum that the belieuing of any one heresy condemned already by the Church or to be condemned if rising afterwards is sufficient to make the belieuer obstinate defender no Christian Catholicke consequently an Hereticke so impossible to be saued 69. To this opinion subscribeth S. Cyprian who shewing that euery least heresy or schisme is able to damne a man that adhereth vnto it writeth expressely thus Beatus Ioannes Apostolus nec ipse vllam haeresim aut schisma discreuit sed vniuersos qui ex Ecclesia exijssent Antichristos appellauit S. Iohn the Apostle himselfe did not put any difference or exception of any heresy or schisme at all but called them Antichrists whosoeuer were gone forth of the Church for any heresy or schisme whatsoeuer 70. And yet this point is pressed further by many other holy fathers yea strained to euery heresie were it but in one word or sillable And this was the opinion of S. Hierome His wordes are these Propter vnum verbum aut duo quae contraria essent fidei multas haereses eiectas esse ab Ecclesia we shall read that many heresies haue beene cast out of the Church for one or two words that were contrary to the receyued faith 71. To this purpose conduceth that of S. Basill registred by Theodoret to wit that a good man ought to loose his life if neede require for the defence of one only sillable pro desensione vnius syllabae diuinorum dogmatum The reason whereof is touched as well by S. Athanasius in his Creed where he saith That he shall most certainely be damned that houldeth not entirely and inuiolably the whole Catholicke faith as also by Nazianzen when he saith That heresy consisteth sometimes in one word His wordes are these Nothing can be more perilcus then Heretickes who running wholy ouer all do notuill standing in some one word as by a drop of poyson infect the sincere simple faith of our Sauiour comming downe by Apostolicall tradition This was the iudgment of Antiquity so seuere Censurers were all those holy Fathers of the least dram of Heresy 72. Thus then you apparently see that for making of an errour or heresie damnable it is not required of absolute necessity that it deny some thing of the blessed Trinity directly or some maine article of the Creed c. as many of the first ould heresies did when the doctrine therof was not so well explaned as now it is though this be a desperate shift of the Protestant and most miserable euasion and yet it will not serue his turne he being guilty of heresy in all those high pointes yea of misbeliefe almost in euery article of the Creed for that as before hath beene touched in the third Consideration the greatnes of the sinne of heresy dependeth more of malice and malignity of the sinner then of the materiall obiect about which the Hereticke erreth for that he sinneth of obstinacy and contumacy by his owne choice and therefore is said by S. Paul to be damned by his owne iudgement quia eligit sibi in quo damnatur saith Tertullian he chooseth to himselfe wherin to be damned or els as S. Leo doth more largely giue the glosse Propria pertinacia perit sua à Christo discedit in sania qui eam impietatem per quam multos ante se scit perusse sectatur religiosum atque Catholicum putat id quod sanctorū Patrum iudicio damnatum esse constat That is he perisheth by his owne pertinacity and through his owne peculiar madnes departeth from Christ who imbraceth that impiety which he knoweth hath beene the destruction of many houlding that for religious and Catholick which manifestly appeareth to be condemned by vniforme iudgment of ancient Fathers So blessed Leo expoūds the place the reason followeth for that such a one preferring himselfe by pride and vanity before the whole visible and Catholicke Church he chooseth to hould that which his owne iudgment and fancy doth lead him vnto VVhence it may come to passe that one man erring with lesse pride and obstinacy about some pointes of the blessed Trinity may sinne lesse damnably then another that erreth in points of lesser moment but with more malice as about the doctrine of the Sacraments or other pointes of the like nature And the reason therof is for that this second erreth with more obstinacy and malice which corroborateth the
very essence of heresy then the first though both of these men being out of the Church must be damned but yet with different measure of punishment 73. This fearefull Conclusion then of damnation standing a foote and remaining in full force to be inflicted vpon all kind of Hereticks we are now and next to cōsider whether the Protestants opinions at this day wherin they differ from the Catholicks be truely heresy being cōpared with the Romā faith and Religion and secondly we are to discusse whether the different sortes sects and professions of the said Protestant religion among themselues especially the principall as Lutherans Sacramentaries in Germany be heresies to the other and the like of Puritans and Protestants in England all originally rising from Martin Luther I say we are to consider whether all these seuerall heades be Hereticks indeed the one to the other or may be saued togeather ech man dying in his owne Religion 74. To proceed then in order vnto the examination of the particulers And first that Protestant Religiō in many great points throughout the mayne corps of controuersies now in hand is truly heresy to those of the Roman fayth and Catholick Religion this point being so cleare needeth no further dispute for asmuch as the Protestants do openly auouch aboue an hundred positions against the same Roman Catholick Church defending the same with obstinate resolution And the late generall Councell of Trent where the flower piety and learning of the whole Catholicke Christian world vnder one spreame Pastour and infallible conduct of God his holy Spirit were assembled hath discussed examined according to ancient grounds of holy Fathers discouered for Hereticall and thereupon hath anathematized 125. points by name and that in so many different Canons enacted concerning the Sacraments only and the controuersy of Iustification Besides all the rest I say the case being thus cleare against them and their conuiction so manifest there needes no further dispute For if by S. Augustine his iudgment euen now alleadged and other Fathers of greatest learning and credit in the Church one only erroneous proposition or assertion held with obstinacy against the doctrine of the knowne Christian Church be conuinced for a point of heresy and held for a matter of most certaine damnation to the houlder for that it casteth a man out of the said Church out of which is no saluation what is to be inferred where so many condēned assertions are held against the knowne Church authority therof 75. To the second also to wit whether Lutherans and Sacramentaries who made the first diuision of Protestants whilst Luther himselfe was yet aliue be truly and properly Hereticks the one to the other and consequently that the saluation of one is the damnation of the other were it possible that any Sectary could be saued This is with as great facility proued as the former and that first by the testimony of Martin Luther himselfe the originall Authour of all these later Sectes and then by the mutuall and concurring consent of all the Lutheran Doctors Pastours and Prelates that succeeded him 76. First I say it is well knowne that Luther himselfe euer reputed the Sacramentaries that comprehend both Zuinglians and Caluinists for dāmnable and intollerable Hereticks Let his owne testification often reiterated and seriously aggrauated in diuers of his bookes be a sufficient cōfirmation of this His first serious Censure denounced against them all is this Haereticos seriò censemus alienos ab Ecclesia Dei Zuinglianos Sacramentarios omnes qui negant Christi Corpus Sanguinem ore carnali sumi in Venerabili Eucharistia We do seriously censure for Hereticks and Aliens from the Church of God the Zuinglians and all other Sacramentaries who do deny that Christes sacred body and bloud is receaued by our carnall mouth in the Venerable Eucharist Can any thing be spoken more clearely or determined more effectually then this Or can any Caluinist with any face hereafter exempt himselfe from out of the number of them that are accursed and condemned by their owne grand Progenitour 77. The same in effect he hath in his Epistle ad Iacobum Presbyterum Ecclesiae Bremensis his wordes are these All Sacramentaries that deny the Reall Presence are Hereticks and for such to be auoided And yet in a third place least any man should thinke he had altered his iudgement de Coena Domini of the supper of the Lord he condemned by name for damned Hereticks the very first Authors of Sacramentary doctrine to wit Carolostadius Oecolampadius and Zuinglius and questionles Caluin had neuer escaped his singers as sly an Hereticke as he was had he bene then either of name or note well his finall and irreuokable doome for it was denounced against thē in his decrepit age was this Ego tamquam alterum pedem iam habens in sepulchro c. I being now ould and hauing as it were one foote in my graue do yet carry this testimony glory with me to the tribunall of Iesus Christ that with all my hart I haue condemned as enemies of the Sacrament Carolostadius Zuinglius and Oecolampadius and all their disciples and followers and haue auoided their company haue no familiarity with them eyther by letters writings wordes or deedes as the Lord hath commanded not to haue with Heretickes Thus much of Luther himselfe 78. And now if we should prosecute the seuerall iudgmentes and Censures of all others the most learned Lutherans against Sacramentaries in this matter of heresy and namely against Caluinistes who were of no reckoning in Luthers daies for that their new heresy was but then a hatching there would be no end and I should rather fill a large volume then cōteine my selfe with in the precincts of my briefe intended Considerations Let one or two of the principall serue for all Matthias Illyricus a great Lutheran Superintendent of Saxony and one of those foure that compiled the lying Centuries doth in a certaine booke intituled Desensio Consessionis Martinistarum or Luther anorum censure Caluinistarum Lyturgiam the Lyturgy or seruice of the Caluinists not only for hereticall but to be Sacrilegious also Et proh dolor saith he innumeras animas aeterno exitio inuoluere And to inuolue alas innumerable soules with euerlasting perdition 79. Franciscus Stancarus also no meane Authour one of the Lutheran side writing to the King of Polonia in his days pronounceth confidently of all those new professors vnder Caluin in Geneua that they were Publici manifesti haeretici notorious and manifest Hereticks And yet as though this were little the same Author in his booke de Trinitate prescribeth this Caueat to the Christian Reader concerning Caluin and would to God it were as well remembred and practised in the Vniuersities of England where yong Deuines are for the most part poysoned with the drugges and dregges of Caluins doctrine my hart bleedeth to thinke of it before they can tast of the pure liquor of
antiquity well the admonition is this Caue Christiane Lector c. Beware Christian Reader of the bookes of Iohn Caluin especially in the articles of Trinity of the Incarnation of the Mediator of Baptisme of Predestination c. for that they doe containe most impious and blasphemous doctrine So he VVhereby is vnderstood not only the censure of the Lutheran Church concerning the Caluinists doctrine but also in what articles the difference betwixt them doth principally consist and these are neither few in number nor meane in nature as you see confirmed by the particular exceptions VVhich articles are reiterated by other Lutheran writers as namely by Albertus Grauerus in his booke intituled The warre of Iohn Caluin with Iesus Christ which booke was set forth in the yeare of our Redemption 1598. wherin he sheweth that the Articles wherby the Lutherans do cheifly differ from the Caluinists hereticall doctrine are of the person of Christ of the Supper of our Lord of Baptisme and of Predestination And Iacobus Halbruneir another Lutheran Doctor published an other booke the same yeare before to proue Caluinisme to be heresy and to the former articles of Albertus he addeth other two wherin Lutherans and Caluinists do deepely dissent which are de Maiestate Christi Ministerio Verbi wherby he maketh it euident that Caluinists are truly and properly Hereticks to Lutherans And this for the second point 80. Yt resteth now that I come vnto the third ranke of English Protestants and Puritans which are two different sects of Caluins doctrine which are found togeather in no state or Kingdome perhaps of Christendome but only in England And although some Protestant writers for dissembling their owne diuisions when they deale with Catholickes will needes forsooth acknowledge them for brethren as not differing from them in any substantiall point of Doctrine yet in all their other writings eyther against them or of them they disclose playnly what they thinke of ech other holding them both for Schismaticks and Hereticks in respect of their Protestant Church Which being presumed by them as they must needes presume to be the only true Catholike Church it must needes follow that Puritans who from their innermost soules detest the same and the communion thereof as Antichristian must needes be Sectaries nay Heretickes to that Church And this is consonant to the doctrine of these Scriptures and most conformable to the opinion of ancient Fathers as is before copiously in the precedent Considerations asseuered 82. For confirmation of which dissention capitall and reall hostility betweene our Puritans and Protestants in sundry mayne points of their Religion I might heere alledge and produce infinite authorityes and innumerable arguments if I should not surcharge my Treatise The two bookes yet extant printed by publicke authority in one and the selfe same yeare I meane the Suruey of the holy pretended Discipline compiled as it is thought by him that is now arriued to the highest pitch of Ecclesiasticall dignity in that Kingdome and the other bearing the inscription of daungerous Positions ascribed to Doctour Sutcliffe both of them receyuing presse at London by Iohn VVolfe Anno Dom. 1593. do sufficiently notifie vnto the world how reconciliable the Puritan position is with the Protestant Religion and that in sundry Articles of great weight and moment And amongst many others which to auoid prelixity I purposly omit the titles of the 22. and 23. Chapters of the Suruey are these That they to wit the Puritans do take from Christian Princes ascribe vnto their pretended regiment the supreme and immediate authority vnder Christ in causes Ecclesiasticall and in the oppugning theros do ioyne with the Papists Whereupon I inferre that if this spirituall Supremacy be any substantiall point of doctrine amongst the Protestants then the obstinate repugnance therof by the Puritans must needes be Schisme and Heresy 82. I pretermit diuers other bookes whereof I haue beene an eye witnesse how purposely and directly they treat of these matters as namely the Answere of the Vicechancelor Doctors of Oxford vnto the petition of a 1000. Puritans Anno Dom. 1603. wherein it is plainely conuinced that the Puritans hould their platforme of Ecclesiasticall gouerment of the gouerment of Christ vpon earth for a thing of no lesse importance then is the Ghospell of Jesus Christ. They hold it further for an essentiall part of their said Ghospell for a matter of faith to be receyued vpon paine of damnation for an essentiall marke of the true Church without the which the Protestants Church is no Church their faith no faith their Ghospell noe Ghospell c. And to conforme to that which M. Rogers writeth in his Preface to the Bishops Articles where he testifieth that the Puritans do hold their platforme differing from the Protestants to be a speciall part of the Ghospell yea the very Ghospell it selfe to be of such importāce as if euery haire of their heades were a life they ought to affoard them all in defence therof So they And in sober sadnes supposing their principles to be true haue they not great reason for that their differences be in so maine very substantiall points if we refere them to their heades wherof there is extant a very substantiall declaration and conuiction as to me it seemeth in the Preface of the Catholicke Deuine in his answere to Syr Edward Cookes fifth part of Reportes whither I referre the ingenous iudicious Reader for further perusall of this point for there it is shewed and irrefragably against all impugners therof proued how essentiall and substantiall difference of doctrine there is about the origen of Ecclesiasticall power and authority betweene the Protestantes Puritans and Catholickes of England the one that is the Protestāt ascribing it to their temporall Prince the other challenging it as most properly pertayning to their priuate Conuenticles Assemblies the last third to the Succession of Bishops from the Apostles the consequence wherof is this that whosoeuer of the three parties haue the right in this point there only is the true Church there alone is the true Ecclesiastiall Authority of preaching teaching or dayning Ministers administring Sacraments exercising Censures and Iurisdiction binding or loosing remitting or retaining sinnes and the like c. And for the other two Churches they do remayne as secular and prophane Congregations without any vitall spirit of Ecclesiasticall power at all Let them then contend neuer so much about the keys of Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction yet the plaine truth is they shall neuer be able to open or shut the gates of heauen vnto their owne friendes or against their enemies 83. And for as much as the Puritans also in their plea do perswade themselues to haue the right on their side they must needes inferre the other consequence against the Protestant Church houlding it to be no Church as the foresaid answere of Oxford Doctors pag. 15. doth confesse that the Brownists do ancrre
against thē saying The Brownists do confidently reproach vs that our Church is no Church our Sacraments no Sacraments our Prince and people Infidells as not being baptized at all our Christiā Congregations prophane multitudes c. Thus write they animated as say these Answerers by the Millenary Puritan Petitioners wherby it may be probably presumed that they also to wit the said thousand Petitioners in most poynts at least are of the same opinion 84. These thinges being so as no man of modesty can deny my demaund is how can these men differing in so mayne a poynt be of the same Church Or how can any man of the meanest vnderstanding so he haue any capacity at all imagine how these and the Protestants can be saued togeather Nay truly the booke intituled The picture of a Puritan licenced to come forth by authority Anno 1605. contayning a comparison of the opinions of the Anabaptists in Germany with those of the Puritans in England in Dialogue wise betweene an English man and a German this booke I say doth pregnantly proue that the Protestants do hold the Puritans not only for Schismatickes and Sectaries but for Heretickes also as the Anabaptists are yea the Author holdeth them farre worse then the Anabaptists Your Ana baptists saith he come not neere to our Puritans in pride and contempt c. And then he proceedeth in comparing and paralleling them as well in their opinions and vse of Sacraments as in many other points of Religion with the said Anabaptists most damned heretickes as all English Protestants themselues generally acknowledge them to be yea this Author called O. O. Emanuel aggrauates the point so much against them that he compareth them with Iewes and other such like Infidells And euery where throughout his whole discourse detecteth and censureth them for obstinate and wicked Sectaries And finally to wast no more labour in a matter so cleare I find them ipso sacto excommunicated by many Constitutions Canons Ecclesiasticall of the Bishops and Protestant Church of England as namely for impugning their Church as also the Rites and Cerimonies established in the said Church for denying the authority of their Archbishops Bishops their consecrating and ordering of the inferiour Clergy for denying of Deanes Collegiate Churches for being Authours of Schisme and separating themselues as Schismatickes for maynteyning of Constitutions made in Conuenticles and the like 75. And to conclude euery where almost throughout the same Constitutions they are sharpely censured for Sectaries and Schismaticks which censure proceeding from the Protestant Church with so full a stroke of authority must of necessity in their owne iudgement depriue the others of all meanes of saluation in that Church they standing out with pertinacy against the same as they doe consequently this doome must needes fall vpon one of their heades that the Protestants and they can in no case be saued togeather The fifth Consideration With the Conclusion of this whole Chapter to his Maiesty NOW therefore to returne with all humble obedience loyalty vnto your Matie conteyning my selfe within all due and iust boundes of duty fidelity obseruance obedience subiection and submission which eyther the law of God of Nature of Nations Reason Religion or of my owne natiue Countrie can require of a subiect towards his Dread Soueraigne I do euen from my innermost and hartiest affections implore this one thing of your sayd Excellency and must euer persist to beg it at your Highnes handes to wit that after these foresaid premised Considerations to the Reader your owne Princely Person would deigne to condescend to enter into some serious Consideration and mature deliberation and that with some earnest attention within the secret closet of your owne most wise iudicious and vnderstanding hart what is and may be the great consequence of all this that hath beene hither so generally discoursed of in the mayne body of the whole as also to weigh ponder the weight and importance of ech particuler treated and inferred in their seuerall passages 87. And first may it please your Highnes to lay togeather and compare the seuerall partes and distinct pertyes of different Professions in Religion all dissenting frō the English Protestant Church and doctrine therein established as before hath beene sufficiently proued The instances we bring for a plenary and particuler confirmation are these As first the ROMAN Catholickes which possesse the greatest part of Europe Secondly the Lutherans professing throughout Saxony Denmarke Suecia and some other States in Germany Thirdly the Sacramentaries Zuinglians and rigid Caluinists tearmed by vs for their moteferuēt supposed zeale Puritans and these be dispersed throughout Suitzerland Sauoy Germany Hungary France Holland Scotland and some parts of England All these I say conioined togeather and compared only with the English Parliament Protestants do make often partes of Christendome nyne at the least which proportion or rather disproportion as indeed it is especially in Religion when I seriously consider and weigh it in the euen and impartiall ballance of an indifferent iudgement I can in all duty do no lesse but most humblie propose vnto the Christiā Prudency and Religious Piety of your Matie to consider of what importance this is in regard of life euerlasting that nine partes of ten should hould the English Protestant religion for damnable heresy by which your Matie expecteth to receaue an eternall neuersading crowne of glory awarded by Almighty God the most righteous iudge of all the world 88. Yf in a sumptuous and Royall banquet prepared of purpose to intertaine the person of a King or potent Monarch there were neuer so many pleasing and alluring dishes neuer such great store of delicate viandes fetched from the sea or prouided by land neuer so great appetite in the Princely party inuited if often learned Phisitions that were then present attending vpon the person of this Prince to consult and prouide for his bodily health and welfare nyne of them should confidently auouch vpon their learning and iudgement nay life it selfe that all those daynties and pleasing dishes were infected with the drugges of some mortall and deadly-killing poyson some one dish only excepted which they could not also well discouer I thinke it would make the party inuited to looke about him to stay himselfe and examine well the matter before he would desperately aduenture to please his palate Or if in a great suite of law concerning the interest to a Princely inheritance pretēded by the plaintife it should be eyther by Parliament or vnder the great Seale or by some other Statute enacted yea and without faile executed that if the plaintife fayled in his suite being either dryuen to non-suite or ouercome in his suite that then he should vndergoe extreme misery be exposed to infinite calamities most certaynely incurre euerlasting bondage and slauery though some one lawyer of ten that were of his counsaile should animate and giue him all the encouragement that possibly he
children and after the said law was written also euery man and woman was not remitted promiscuously hand ouer head to the reading of those bookes but he was sent to take his instruction and institution from the ordinary Superiours Doctors Gouernors of that Church and these were to expound the law vnto him For which direction and tradition we find this warrant and commaunding yea prescribing authority Aske thy Fathers and they will tell thee thy elders and they will declare vnto thee Againe The lipes of the Priest preserue knowledge And yet in a third place I know that Abraham will demaund and teach his sonnes and househould that they walke in my wayes c. 17. And now to come from the law to the Ghospell from Moyses vnto Christ and so to proceed orderly with the history of the Church as God is no changling but euer like himselfe euen so the beginning proceeding establishing of the new Christian faith and Church was not much vnlike if not altogeather resembling the former For first this Church was planted by our Sauiour at Hierusalem and speedily by the industrious ministery of the holy Apostles assisted by the instinct of the holy Ghost spread ouer the face of the earth and yet neyther the Church nor the Apostles the principall pillars of the Church had as at this time any written instruction or methodicall institution deliuered vnto them concerning their teaching preaching or beleeuing except only the articles of the Creed deliuered by tradition in the Church as will appeare in the subsequent Considerations Secondly the institution that they had they receyued it by instruction from our Sauiour his mouth and from the immediate instinct suggestion and inspiration of the holy Ghost who was promised by Christ himselfe who could not lie nor deceaue to assist the Church continually vnto the worldes end and by this institution and inspiration alone they taught and conuerted both Iewes and Gentils instituted Churches establishing lawes and orders of life by word of mouth and tradition only from hand to hand before any thing of the new testament was committed to writing And this was the condition of the Church for some yeares and that in the infancy and purity of Christian Religion as the Protestant must perforce confesse Thirdly when the Wisdome of heauen thought it expedient that somthing should be written the first thing cōmitted vnto writing in the new Testamēt was the Ghospell of S. Matthew and this was collected and digested in that very order as it is now presented to the Church and that some eight yeares after the ascension of our Sauiour then the Ghospell of S. Marke some fiue yeares after that then that of S. Luke written twelue yeares after the former wherin diuers thinges omitted in the other Ghospell of are recorded And last of all was written the Ghospell of S. Iohn conteyning in it many great and important matters which are not found in any of the rest and this was not written of 66. yeares after the first visible Christian Church was planted and established by the comming of the holy Ghost 18. And now as all the rest were written vpon particuler occasions so especially was this famous Ghospell of S. Iohn which is the very key opening the dore vnto the vnderstanding of all the rest and particulerly vpon the occasion of Ebion and Cerinthus their heresy which impugned the Diuinity of the Sonne of God Whereupon I do inferre that for that which concerneth the new Testament the Church was for diuers yeares without any Scriptures at all and for 66. yeares which is the age of a man the points related by S. Iohn more then were vttered in the other Ghospells which are many and most important were receiued and belieued in the Church by tradition onely And now for Conclusion of all I would demaund but one thing of the Protestants that make such shew of appealing vnto Scriptures and the Primitiue Apostolicall Church this was demāded aboue 1400. yeares agoe by S. Irenaus before cyted who liued in the very next age after the Apostles vpon the very like occasion Sineque Apostoli Scripturas reliquissent nobis c. If the Apostles had left vnto vs no Scriptures at all yet ought not we to follow that order of tradition which they left to those to whom they committed their Churches So that holy Bishop and Martyr especially ought we not to follow that order of tradition since the true worship of God and the sauing doctrine of the Ghospell of Christ cōtinued for 2000. yeares in the time of the law and for many other yeares in the dayes of the Ghospell and that in the brest of the Church to be deliuered by tradition only without the help of any word written 19. Wherby we cannot but discerne and must acknowledge that Scriptures or the written word of God were not so absolute necessary for the reuealing of God his will vnto man kind and the continuing of man in that sauing knowledge of him but that his Diuine Maiesty might haue propagated and preserued his doctrine and man in the truth by tradition only of word of mouth without any Scriptures at all if it had so pleased him as he did for many ages and generations togeather both before the first great diluge by water in the dayes of our first Patriarkes vntill Abrabā his time whome he chose for the head of his people as also afterwardes when he directed the same people by like tradition as well in Egipt where they remayned in most cruell bondage for 400. yeares as else where before Moyses wrote his forenamed bookes And the like he might haue done with Christiās to the worlds great generall consummation last inundation by a flood of fire according to S. Irenaeus his sentence if he had listed as hauing instituted a more orderly exact and authorized Church yea and hauing indued it with greater priuiledges according to the perfection of the new law aboue the old then he had done vnto the former of the Iewes Whereupon it must needes follow by force of necessary consequence that the tradition of this Church and pure authority therof both in propounding Scriptures vnto vs and discerning the same which are truly Scriptures and which are not as also for deliuering vnto vs the true sense and meaning therof in their interpretation and exposition is much more to be respected by vs then was that of the Iewes Forasmuch as Christ our Sauiour promised the continuall assistance of his spirit vnto this Church and that in such measure as that it should alone be able to withstand all the infernall power of Sathan and the gates of hell idest the very entrance of all kynd of errour or herely into it whatsoeuer 20. These then that neuer so solemnely and neuer so confidently professe that they for their partes do belieue and follow the Scriptures without due reference or respect to the Church forsomuch as all Sectaries and Heretikcs that
Augustine Sancti Apostoli certam regulam fidei tradiderunt quam secundum numerum Apostolorum c. The holy Apostles did deliuer a certaine rule of faith which rule being comprehended in twelue sentences according to the number of the 12. Apostles was called by them by a Greeke word and borrowed metaphor Symbolum a Symbole or collation of many thinges togeather And their intention as is before intimated was that by this Symbole signe and summe of Christian faith and doctrine Catholicae fidei veritas ab haereticae prauitatis falsitate discernatur as Vincentius Lyrinensis speaketh of his goulden rule of faith deliuered vnto him from all his ancestors that the truth of Catholicke faith and verity might be discerned from the falshood of hereticall prauity This haue our ancestors left vs by tradition And for the first in stitution of it it was in this sort as the history of Antiquity the very life of memory hath by writing registred and commended it vnto vs. 5. After the glorious visible Ascension of our Sauiour from the lowest pitch and vale of the earths misery into the highest toppe of heauen and bosome of his Fathers eternity this being terminus ad queÌ„ aswell as it was terminus à quo in that great motion of heauen Christs Incarnation and mans Redemption the place whither he ascended as it was the place whence he descended according to that Exiui à Patre veni in mundum relinquo mundum vado ad Patrem I say after this Ascension descension of the holy Ghost in the visible shapes of fiery tongues vpon the Apostles in abling them and qualifying them with the tongues of nations for the conuerting of nations then the Apostles being ready to separate themselues and to depart into all parts of the earth to preach the Ghospell for the conuersion of the whole world they did compose and lay down a perfect platforme of their future preaching and others belieuing by deuising a certaine squared rule and Canon of fayth and that not so much for their owne direction being so assisted with the inward inspiration of the spirit that they could not possibly erre in their doctrine though their teaching was euer to be conforme vnto these heades as for the Christian Churches instruction and premunitioÌ„ that by hauing recourse vnto these general heads of fayth commeÌ„ded vnto them by the true Apostles they might more easily discerne and auoyd the hereticall doctrine of all false disciples VVherefore the Apostles being assembled togeather and met as it were the second time in Councell being ech of them seuerally replenished with the holy Ghost and all of them ioyntly directed by the selfe same neuer-erring spirit who was both now and euer in such assemblies as these to sit as President in the Church I say being thus prepared euery one proposed as he belieued and all being put togeather in the vpshot did make the shot or symbole of a breife yet entire methodicall summe of Christian doctrine including all points of faith either to be preached afterwardes by the Apostles or to be belieued by their disciples And this summe did the Apostles theÌ„selues appoint to be deliuered by tradition or from hand to hand vnto euery one that belieued ad directionem ad distinctionem both for a direction vnto that which they were to preach and others were to belieue as also to discerne and put a difference betwixt all faithfull Christians and misbelieuing Infidels 6. Thus S. Augustine whose sense I haue kept though I haue somewhat dilated vpon his wordes relateth the matter which before him had beene recorded by Ruffinus in the Exposition of this Creed so that S. Augustine borroweth not only sense but the selfe same words also for the most part are taken from Ruffinus And further the said Ruffinus doth adde another signification of the word Symbole besides a collation or contribution of many things vnto one saying that it signifieth also a signe or badge wherby one sort of souldiers are distinguished from others And in this acception also of the word it consorteth well to our present purpose that by this briefe summe of Doctrine as by a badge or cognisance true Catholicke Christian men may be distinguished heere from Infidels and Hereticks since after death there is such an externall distinction and separation to be made And for this purpose at the beginning this Creed serued but afterwards charity the loue of God and Christian piety decaying and the malice of men exceedingly multiplying vpon the earth this breife and playne summe would not serue the turne against infernall and hereticall subtility for that as S. Augustine before hath well obserued sundry sortes of Hereticks presumed to shrewd their heresies vnder the articles of this Creed peruerting also the meaning and misunderstanding aswell the wordes thereof as the sense so as in fine the bare and outward profession of belieuing this Creed became at last to be no certaine argument of prouing a man to be a true Christian Catholicke except other due conuincing circumstances concurred as we haue before shewed of the Canonicall Scriptures themselues 7. Furthermore the Fathers and Doctors of the Church do ioyntly affirme and expresly S. Augustine in the place before cyted that albeit the wordes be few and briefe of this Creed yet are they so substantiall punctuall and materiall as that they containe the full and entyre summe of whatsoeuer is to be belieued by vs his wordes be these Quicquid praefiguratum est in Patriarchis quicquid denunciatum in Scripturis quicquid praedictum in Prophetis de Deo ingeniâ—o vel ex Deo in Deum nato c. Whatsoeuer was prefigured in the Patriarkes whatsoeuer was denounced in the Scriptures whatsoeuer was foretold in the Prophets eyther of God the Father vnbegotten or of God the Sonne begotten or God the holy Ghost or of receyuing any Sacrament or of the death of our Lord or of the mystery of his Resurrection all this is briefly contayned in this Creed so that the obseruation hence deduced must needs be this that albeit in the bare wordes of the Creed many thinges belonging to fayth are not literall and syllabically expressed yet were they implyed comprehended and intended by the Apostles and namely and particularly about the admitting of Sacraments of their nature number necessity efficacy manner of administration and the like as S. Augustine doth here expound which yet in the wordes are not expressed but were locked vp with in the sacred breast and closet of the Church as in the safest treasury there to be expounded dilated amplified more largely and particulerly vnto the faithfull as eyther the Churches necessity requiring or hereticall pertinacy and importunity oppugning should at any time or occasion require which exposition of the Church as the soundest Commentary vpon the Creed he that in all humility of iudgment and opinion submitteth not him selfe to belieue obay cannot be truly said to belieue this Creed notwithstanding
he should protest confesse openly ten thousand times that he admitteth all the words and euery syllable therof 8. It is also to be considered that it is most worthy of a Christian man his obseruation especially if he hath eyther care or make any conscience to preserue himselfe sound in the faith and therby to saue his soule that albeit the ancient Fathers do with vniforme verdict affirme that these articles of the Apostolicall Creed were set downe by the holy Apostles replenished and directed with no small measure of the holy Ghost as now hath bene obserued I will not stand to discusse at this present whether euery seuerall article of the twelue which it conteyneth were set dowue by seuerall Apostles though diuers graue and ancient Fathers do affirme it yet were these articles neuer held for Canonicall Scripture no nor yet are they at this day eyther by Catholicke or Protestant And if any man reply that they are consonant vnto Scriptures and may be thence deduced I deny not that only I say this is nothing to argue that authority that they haue obteyned in the Church since that all other writings of orthodox men are both consonant vnto Scriptures and to be deduced from them and yet they are not held in that esteeme as the Creed but my consequence that hereupon I inferre is this that something must be graunted of necessity besides Canonicall Scriptures to haue bene necessarily belieued in the Christian Catholicke Church and that by tradition only without any other foundaation and that from the very beginning of Christian Religion 9. This appeareth by the former words of S. Augustine that this Creed came down along through the Cēturies of the Church by tradition and Ruffinus saith in his exposition of this Creed Idcirco haec nonscripta funt chartulis atque membranis c. therfore did the Apostles deliuer these thinges not written in paper and parchment but to be retayned in mens hartes to the end it might be certaine that no man should by reading haue the same for that writinges are accustomed to come also into the handes of Infidels aswell as Christians but that it should be sufficient to haue learned the same from the tradition of the Apostles And this is the reason that Ruffinus giueth of the tradition of the Creed 10. The very same hath S. Hierome his wordes are cleare In Symbolo fidei spei nostrae saith he non scribitur in chartis atramento sed in tabulis cordis carnalibus c. In the Creed that conteineth our fayth and hope which being deliuered by tradition from the Apostles is not written in paper and inke but in the fleshly tables of our harts c. And all this doth euidently conuince vnto the iudgement of any vnderstanding man that these articles of the Apostolick Creed were deliuered by word of mouth vnto Christians and the Church was put in trust with them to teach them vnto her children before that any Scripture of the new Testament was committed to writing and that many thinges of great moment about the mysteries of Christian Religion were left to be vnderstood and expounded therin and that according to the wisedome learning and iudgment of the whole Catholick Church especially concerning Sacraments which are not expressed And this is the cause why S. Augustine and other Fathers before him do often reiterate and frequently vse that impsoving kynd of speach Norum fideles the faithful do know what belongeth vnto these matters which purposely they did not reueale vnto the eares of new Christians least infidels might take any aduantage thereby to the disaduantage of the Church So as my conclusion of this must of necessity hould correspondence with that former conclusion touching the argument of Scriptures to wit whosoeuer he be that neuer so opēly plainly professeth that he doth accept admit and belieue this Creed of the Apostles but refuseth the vnderstanding thereof expounded by the Church and deliuered in her sense he belieueth it not at all to saluation neither shall it auaile him any more to admit the words and not receiue the sense then if at once and altogeather he reiected both wordes and sense 11. And here may some demaund But where now shall we be sure to find this exposition of the Church esspecially in these distracted times of schisme whē so many seuerall Sects plead for the Church crying out according to Christ his Propheticall prediction Here is Christ and there is Christ heere is the Church there is the pure Chospell here is the word truly preached there are the Sacraments sincerely administred c To this I answere we shal easily come by this orthodox exposition of the Creed if we haue recourse vnto the publike doctrine of the Church deliuered from age to age euen vntill our time throughout euery Century of the Church and this Church is euer visible vnlesse it be vnto such as are blind as S. Augustine hath already obserued 12. S. Ambrose in his tyme remitted vs vnto the Church of Rome the supreme Pastor whereof was then Siricius for our direction herein Credatur Symbolum Apostolorum saith he quod Ecclesia Rom ana intemeratum semper custodit seruat Let faith be giuen to the Apostles Creed which the Roman Church hath euer kept and preserued inuiolated yet was this vpon the very point of 400. yeares after Christ his Ascension So as in that tyme and in this great Saint and Doctors iudgement the Roman Church was then the best and surest direction to know the true contents and meaning of this Apostolicke Creed and consequently if our English ministry who at their Ordination do subscribe vnto this Creed would follow also the same direction for the true vnderstanding and sense thereof all matters would quickly be reconciled controuersies accorded but in default of this and for that pride and selfe will hath so be witched the minds of many that they cannot in humility stoop downe their priuate censures vnto the publike iudgement of the Church it commeth to passe that this great discord and difference that now is raygneth betwixt Catholicks Protestants and amongst Protestants themselues concerning the exposition thereof And this shall appeare in part in the next ensuing Consideration of this Chapter But yet before we enter into the other Consideration we shall speake a word or two of the other Creedes mentioned here by his Maiesty 13. The other Creedes then are the Nieene concluded as S. Ambrose noteth with the suffrages of 318. renowned Fathers alluding to the iust number of Abrahams souldiers when he rescued Lot and of S. Athanasius And these were written vpon occasion of heresies afterwards arising and impugning some fundamentall poynt consequently were but explications of the former as his Maiesty doth learnedly and excellently obserue and therefore these do principally depend theron This is euident if we reflect a litle vpon the principall subiect of the 2.
point thereof not only of those articles which he there setteth downe principally against the Arians and other heresies as did also the Councell of Nice for that otherwaies some man might obiect and say that the ninth article of the Apostles Creed I belieue in the holy Catholick Church the Cōmumō of Saints which S. Athanasius mētioneth not were no article of beliefe and that a man may be saued without the faith therof especially for so much as the said article with the other three next ensuing to wit I belieue the remission of sinns the Resurrection of the flesh and Life euerlasting togeather with the fifth article he descended into hell all which are permitted by the Nicen Creed do not belong to the integrity of the whole Catholick fayth which were an Heathenish absurdity to imagine 18. S. Athanasius then as also that ancient Orthodox Councell of Nice albeit they set downe and expounded those articles in their Creedes which the Churches necessity instantly required to be explayned in those tymes against the heresies which then most infested and troubled the Church yet were they ioyntly euer of this opinion and beliefe that whosoeuer did not belieue all and euery point of the whole Catholicke fayth and that firmiter fideliterque that is both firmely and faithfully as S. Athanasius his wordes are shall most certainely be damned euerlastingly And conforme vnto this I haue shewed before in the first Chapter of this booke the vniforme consenting seuerity of all antiquity that any the least heresy or errour defended obstinately and with pertinacity against the Church be it but one sentence word fillable nay letter is sufficient to cast a man out of the bosome of the Churches vnity into hereticall prauity and Diabolicall nouelty and consequently to bring a man vnto euerlasting perdition and destruction both of body and soule And this we haue already proued by the vnanime verdict of S. Athanasius S. Basill S. Nazianzen S. Hierome S. Augustine and others which S. Augustine in the very closing period of his booke of heresies directed to Quod-vult Deus pronounceth bouldly and denounceth confidently against all heretickes and heresy that whosoeuer doth hould any one of these heresies registred in that booke of his or any other that should spring vp afterwardes he cannot be a Catholicke Christian and consequently cannot be saued for that he houldeth not the whole Catholicke fayth entirely and inuiolably 19. And now to descend from the generall to the speciall and to make iust proofe of all the former accusations and imputations laid vpon the Clergy of England first the Ministers of that Church do stiffly hould sundry of those heresies which S. Augustine hath recorded for heresies and as condemned of the Church in his tyme in that booke of his before cited 20. And for example it cannot be gainesaid but they deny all externall Sacrifice and Prayer for the dead with the Hereticke Aerius this is one heresy and a capitall one too if we do belieue S. Augustine Secondly the Protestants fall into another heresy of Aerius for they deny Statua solenniter celebranda esse ieiunia sed cùm quisque voluerit ieiunandum ne videatur esse sub lege that solemne fasts appoynted by the Church were not to be obserued but that euery man should fast when he would least he may seeme to be vnder the law These are the words of S. Augustine out of Epiphanius and is not this the very speach of our Ministers Preachers of England at this day Nay I haue heard some of them my selfe proceed so earnestly in their rayling humour against this sacred and Angelicall abstinence that they haue not sticked to condemne the holy time of Lent as Popish and superstitious tending quite to the ouerthrow of mans health and bodily constitution and therfore that the authors therof said they wanted wisdome and discretion for instituting it in such a time of the yeare as the spring is when man his body requireth the best and purest nutriments 20. Thirdly there is also recorded by S. Augustine haeres 69. the heresy of the Donatists that affirmed that the Vniuersall Church was wholy corrupted and perished except only amongst their followers And do not the Protestants to auoid the iudgement of the Church vtter the same contumelious slaunder at this day condemning all others to iustify themselues 21. Againe do not the Protestants fall into the heresy of the Iouinianists as it is registred by the same S. Augustine haeres 88. that held the equality of sinnes and did equall marriage with Virginity And therupon was the cause saith S. Augustine that diuers sacred Virgins consecrated to God by the holy and lawfull vow of sacred single life left their profession and married And is not this also practized and defended by protestants at this day do they not deny all Euangelicall Counsailes of perfection deluding Scriptures and reiecting Fathers though neuer so many neuer so pregnant for prouing and conuincing of this Witnesse a Treatise lately published by a former Minister of your Church in defence of the doctrine of Euangelicall Counsailes not long since preached by him in the Vniuersity of Oxford 22. I pretermit the heresie of the Manichees that denied Free-will and of the Nouatians who would not grant that Priestes had authority in the Church to remit sinnes All which ancient heresies with many more which I purposely omit being held in like manner in some degree or other yea defended with great resolution by our English Ministers they cannot be accompted to belieue entirely and inuiolably the Catholick faith and Creeds which condemne all these for heresies 23. And furthermore if besides this we will but consider the variety and multiplicity of other new sects of these our dayes with which our English Ministers do participate and make open profession to communicate as with their brethren we shall diserne clearely that they cannot so much as pretend to hould the sincere integrity of one only faith And the reason is for that they haue euer hitherto admitted for brethren and men of one faith the Lutherans for example who expressely condemne them for hereticks and professe in the open eares of the world themselues to dissent really from them in diuers weighty and capitall pointes as touching the Reall Presence the person of Christ Iustification freewill the law the Ghospell and many other more of like nature as by their owne bookes and writings doth appeare And how then may they be sayd to agree with the sense and meaning of S. Athanasius his Creed which pronounceth damnation against all such as do not faithfully and firmely hould the whole entyre Catholicke faith without any violation in any one article at all And so let vs passe vnto the two other Creedes to wit vnto that of the Councell of Nyce and the Apostlicall 24. In the Nicene Creed for the better and further explication of Christ his Godhead and equality with his Father against the Arian heresie there
And the place is very pregnant for prouing the point The bench being set the Ministers ech in time and order spake but God knoweth how few wise and true words were spoken amongst them The first starts vp and expounds it of Christ his suffering vpon the Crosse a second vnderstands it of the Graue a third extended it to Christ his sufferings of hell torments in soule and the fourth yet added and interpreted it of Christs being in the state of the dead The Moderator for such a one they haue in all their Exercises he as wise as the rest insteed of mending all he marreth all for he commendeth all approueth all and receiueth all and then falleth out into a wonderfull admiration of the diuersity of the gifts of the spirit that euery one of his fellow labourers in the Ghospell should haue his seuerall exposition and yet all to agree and all to be intended by the holy Church But this is iust according to Tertullian his prescription Nihil interest haereticis licèt diuersa tractantibus dum ad vnius veritatis expugnationem conspirent it importeth not amongst hereticks though so many men be of so many mindes whilst they can conspire to impugne one truth And do not so many seuerall and erroneous expositions banded against one true meaning of the article forcibly make good this prescription and note of Tertullian 37. And for my part as then so now I am of absolute opinion that if all my brethren and their Moderator with them had bene as farre out of the towne as they were euery one of them from the truth of the text and meaning of the holy Ghost in that place they would neuer more haue returned either to wiues or Cures or made such an other fanaticall exposition tending only to the ouerthrow of the Article 38. But yet my second obseruation goeth farre beyond all this and for the nouelty and absurdity of the exposition it deserueth to be registred in the record of eternall memory that all the world may take notice of the palpable blindnesse of heresy and it is of diuers stipendary Preachers who as they seuerally succeeded one the other in a very eminent place of that Kingdome so they diuersly expounded the article one of them expounded it of hell torments in Caluins sense a second succeding of the graue in Beza his meaning the third and last because he would be sure to proue himselfe an hereticke addidit de suo he found out such an exposition as was neuer heard of before vnlesse it were by one Iacob a turbulent and Schismaticall spirit that opposed himselfe against the Bishop of VVinchester impar congressus I say no more touching this article His exposition in plaine words was this Christ descended into hell that is sayth he he ascended into heauen and this he thought he proued substantially out of the Greeke wordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which said he signifieth no more thē that Christ went 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is said he to an inuisible place and this must be proportioned according to the dignity of the person and consequently must be heauen For what place can be fit for the Sonne of God being thus in the state of the dead but heauen And so as before his conclusion for a full and perfect exposition of this article was he descended into hell that is he ascended into heauen And is not this as Luther merily gibeth at the Canonicall exposition of Hoc est corpus meum as if a man taking vpon him to interpret this text God created heauen and earth should interpret it thus acroked staffe was made a kite or the cuccow did eat vp the kitling bones and all For certaine I am there is as much truth and correspondency betwixt the one as the other Oh miserable Preachers o thrice miserable people that thus suffer their eyes to be put out and their soules to be deluded beguiled and betrayed by such hereticall impostors 39. And now to proceed forward and to see what the Church of England doth hould in this point M. Thomas Rogers Minister of Horninger and Chaplaine to the Lord of Canterbury hauing taken vpon him to set forth in print of late The faith doctrine and religion prosessed and protected in England for so are his wordes in 36. articles agreed vpon as he saith by the Bishops and Clergy of England when he commeth vnto this article he seemeth not to know what to say for hauing laid forth this article of Christs descent into hell he hath these wordes That Christ went downe into hell saith he all sound Christians both in former times and now liuing do acknowledge howbeit in the interpretation of the article there is not that consent that were to be wished And so after he hath set downe diuers opinions of others forgetting to put downe his owne he passeth and posteth the matter ouer in such sort as that no man can tell what they of England do hold or what it is that is agreed vpon by the Bishops or whether they hold any thing at all though in the title of his booke he doth promise to set downe 39. Articles vniformely agreed vpon by the said Bishops and Clergy belike he found no concord or agreement in this behalfe only he recounteth the aduerse opiniōs which he holdeth for opposite erours and aduersaries to the truth and then going on futher he sayth But vntill we know the natiue and vndoubted sense of this article and mystery of Christian Religion we persist aduersaries vnto them that say that Christ descended not into hell at all or that Christ descended into the place of euerlasting tormentes or indured in soule the paynes of damned spirits c. which opinions you haue heard now to haue bene partly of Caluin partly of other Protestants so as with them the Church of England holdeth not nor yet with the Papists sayth he for that presently he addeth for an opposite errour vnto them That Christ in soule went downe into Limbo lake to fetch from thence the soules of our forefathers which soules saith he before Christs death as Papists dreme were shut vp in the close prison of hell Now then to reflect vpon the premises and out of them to inferre the conclusion the illation must needes be this Though all partes do in wordes admit this article of Christ his descent into hell yet do they greatly differ in the sense and the ministers of England as it seemeth haue no certaine faith therin at all neither do they ascribe so much assistance of the holy Ghost to their Church which the true Church could neuer want as to be able to explaine the natiue and vndoubted sense of this article and Mystery of Christian Religion to vse M. Rogers wordes so as their beliefe herein is only negatiue as their whole Religion is which is to belieue that all others are deceiued besides themselues and yet do they affirme nothing in particular And let
this suffice for this article 40. Let vs now a litle cast about and take a view of the ninth article in order as the Creed naturally brancheth it and it is this Credo Sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam c. I belieue the holy Catholicke Church the wordes of this article are agreed vpon on all partes but the senses framed thereupon and belieued of different Christians are most different and repugnant For first those of the Roman truly Catholicke Religion do according to the exposition of ancient Fathers which is a most certaine and infallible rule of their fayth vnderstand by this Catholicke Church that visible Congregation of the first belieuing Christians gathered togeather in Hierusalem at the time of our blessed Sauiour his Ascension at which assembly the holy Apostles themselues who made this article were present togeather with the Blessed Virgin Mother of God and other holy men and women vpon whome the holy Ghost descended inlightened them and inflaming them to preach the name of Christ and further establishing and confirming them in the truth encouraging them to go forwardes manfully without feare of any opposite humane power and promising them that the power of Christ assistance of the same holy Ghost should be with them and the directors of them vnto the worlds end to preserue this Church and holy Congregation in all necessities and extremities so that the gates of hell and damnable errour should neuer preuaile against it 41. Moreouer the said Catholicke Christians did euer vnderstand this Church to be called holy in respect both of the great sanctity of her doctrine and the holines of many of her children who besides the precepts of the law as S. Gregory speaketh nay ouer and aboue the precepts of the law as S. Basill and S. Chyrsostome ioyntly speake should endeauour etiam praecepta legis perfectiori virtute transcendere to transcend the precepts of the law by deuouting themselues vnto the obseruation of Christ his high Counsayles of Euangelicall perfection 42. Also this Church is called holy for the immediate and perpetuated assistance of the holy Ghost inspiring her inwardly directing her outwardly and especially for the meanes of sanctificatiō conuaied vnto her through the conducts of her Sacraments as chiefest and most holy instruments to that effect conferring grace for our assistance in the performing of all good works wherof none can be partakers to saluation out of this Church 43. This Church is also called Catholicke for the reasons before set downe in the first Chapter and first Consideration to wit that it is vniuersally spread ouer the world by the ministery of the Apostles in the very beginning and so hath hitherto continued still and euer shall to the worldes end and further it hath these signes and markes to be knowne by and to be distinguished from all hereticall Congregations whatsoeuer to wit Antiquity Vniuersality Vnion and Succession by descent of Bishops And finally for full complement it hath that communion of Saints both by vnion in fayth and communion of Sacraments which no other Schismaticall Cōuenticle or hereticall congregation hath and out of this communion there can be no possibility of life or saluation All this and much more which here I am constrayned to omit do those of the Roman Religion vnderstand by this article I belieue in the holy Catholicke Church the communion of Saints and it would require a whole volume to set downe the seuerall sentences discourses and authorities of ancient Fathers that iointly concurre in this exposition and explanation 44. But now on the other side if we cast our eyes vpon the state of the English Clergy we shall find that howsoeuer they do admit the same in wordes yea and subscribe therunto in their Ordination for that they teach their Rligion to follow their State as their State brought in their Religion yet exceeding great is the difference and large are their consciences in vnderstanding the same as may appeare in part out of the 19. article published by M. Rogers as agreed vpon by our English Bishops concerning the Church about which he hath seauen seuerall propositions first agreeing in some of them somwhat with the Catholicks and they haue learned it from the Catholicke Religion and as their vsuall practice is and then making their owne choyce to dissent and disagree at their pleasure as the inured custome of all Hereticks hath euer bene 45. His first proposition then is this There is a Church of Christ not only inuisible but also visible wherto supposing him to vnderstand of the true Catholicke Church for otherwise he saith nothing we do also agree as their Bishops in like manner may be supposed to do and yet can I speake this vpon my owne knowledg that it is against the common knowne tenent practice of their Academicall Schooles for there the question is amongst the most forward Protestants An Ecclesia sit inuisibilis whether the true Church be inuisible and yet is held affirmitiuely to wit that it is inuisible and not visible to manseies for the visibility of the Church tendeth to flat Popery which they cannot indure 46. His second proposition is That there is but one Church which we affirme also and they from vs haue learned so to speake and yet I do not see how the Protestant Puritan and other Sectaries Lutherans and Sacramentaries can make one Church they differing so fundamētally amongst themselues and in such weighty points of faith and religion as they do 47. His third assertion is The visible Church is a Catholick Church M. Rogers would haue said or at least wise should haue said that the Catholicke is a visible Church and the reason is for that all visible Churches are not Catholicke but all Catholick Churches are visible And what was the reason of this his incongruity of speach I do not see vnlesse he meant thereby to steale the name of Catholicke vnto euery visible Congregation of Sectaries which is clearly ouerthrowne by the definition and large explication of the word Catholicke set downe in the first Chapter 48. His fourth proposition is The word of God was and for tyme is before the Church which being vnderstood of the Scripture or written Word for otherwise it is nothing to our purpose it contayneth in it a senseles grosse absurdity for therupon it would follow that before Moyses tyme the first writer of the Bible which was more then two thousand yeares after the creation of man God had no Church because there was extant no written Word or Scripture which were very ridiculous to affirme But the only refuge that I can possibly perceaue that M. Rogers hath left him to make good his fourth assertion in proouing the word of God more ancient then the Church is to fly to the vnwritten word but this will not serue his turne neither since we haue only in this place to do with the litterall or written word of God begūne
by Moyses the first pen man of the holy Ghost and so successiuely vpon sundry occasions continued 49. M. Rogers his first proposition is That the markes and tokens of their visible Church are the due and true administration of the VVord and Sacraments but these markes are not admitted by the Catholickes but worthily reiected for that they are as hard and obscure to find out and as much controuerted as the thing it selfe whereof they should be markes for that all partes yea all sectes and heresies doe pretend to haue due and true administration of the word and Sacraments and it is as hard a matter to determine this controuersy as the other viz. to find out which is the true Church But the Markes of Antiquity Vniuersality Vnity and Succession before mentioned and giuen by Catholickes for such were Tertullians 1400. yeares ago when he wrote that excellent booke of Prescriptions and Vincentius Lyrinensis 1200. years since to take away your late imputation and denomination of Papist vnto Catholickes are so cleare and euident in themselues that presently they will distinguish betwixt one Church and another betwixt Roman Catholickes and all hereticall Sectaries And albeit some Sectaries being pressed therewith will pretend to haue these markes in their Church and will set a good face vpon the matter and challenge them also yet are these wordes out before they be aware for the matter being so euident against them they presently giue ouer their clayme they are content to hold hāds of running to other obscure markes the common Plea of all condemned Heretickes of the due and true administration of the Word and Sacraments when God wotteth they haue neyther Word nor Sacrament according to the Catholicke integrity and sincerity 50. M. Rogers sixt proposition about the Church is That the visible Church to wit the true Catholick Church may and hath from time to time erred both in doctrine and conuersation which assertion the Catholick in his sense doth hold for so blasphemous and absurd yea ridiculous also as nothing can be more For if this be true that the true visible Catholicke Church spread ouer the whole Christian world can erre and induce into errour then is there no surety or certainty in the world no not in the promises of Christ and his Apostles who assured vs the contrary 51. But let vs take a view of M. Rogers proofes out of Scripture for confirming this his sixth assertion which surely are so fantasticall and impertinent for any consequence to be drawne from them so absurd in reason and ridiculous in religion that no man of iudgement or conscience can read them without indignation and laughter as by the view will appeare For thus he setteth them downe in his owne wordes only I will add the inference vpon euery probation out of Scriptures His first place is Take heed Matth. 24. 4. therefore the Church may erre Belieue it not Matth. 23. 26. therefore the Church may erre Beware of the leauen of the Pharisyes and of the leauen of Herod Mar. 8. 15. therefore the Church may erre Many shall be deceiued yea the very elect were it possible Matth. 24. 11. therefore the Church may erre Shall he find faith vpon the earth Luc. 18. 8. therefore the Church may erre VVe know in part 1 Cor. 13. 12. therefore the Church may erre Beware of Dogges therefore the Church may erre Beware of euill workes beware of concision Philip. 3. v. 2. therefore the Church may erre God shall send them strong illusions that they should belieue lyes 2. Thess. 9. 10. therefore the Church may erre And is not this a sound proofe out of the Scriptures 52. These are those cleare texts that M. Rogers bringeth forth to proue that the vniuersall Christian visible Catholicke Church for that only we now treat of may be deceiued and hath erred determining matters of doctrine and yet as you see here is not one word that is spoken or may be applyed to the said vniuersall Catholicke Church but only caueats giuen to the Church to beware of particuler deceauers Heretickes Pharisies Herod the like And consequently these places are so idly vrged and so absurdly applied by the Authour that I should wast time in spending any more labour about perusing them any further Only one of his places I will but touch in one word Many saith Christ shall be deceiued yea the very elect if it were possible out of which place for the ouerthrowing of M. Rogers proposition and inferring the cleane contrary assertion I reason thus and let Tribunal Syllogismi vmpire betwixt vs both which is the better and fitter consequence deduced out of this place if it be impossible that the elect shall be deceiued though many be deceiued then the Church comprehending the elect as a part of her cannot be beceiued sed verum primum for truth it selfe hath spoken it and this is the true meaning of those wordes if it were possible c. ergo secundum The like consequence I would inferre out of all the rest but the places are so absurdly and against all common sense and reason vrged that they are not longer to be stood vpon 53. The like miserable course or rather more pitifull if possibly it may be doth he take to proue the second part of his proposition which is that the said Catholicke visible Church may erre in determining matters of life and manners for that is the question and not his ydle word of erring in conuersation And first he doth alleag the words of Christ Iniquity shal be increased and the loue of many shall wax could Matth. 24. 12. therefore the Church may erre in determining matters of life and manners Secondly he citeth that of S. Paul Restore c least thou also be tempted Gal. 6. 1. therefore the Church may erre in determining matters of life and manners Thirdly I do not the good thing which I would but the euill which I would not that doe I if I doe that which I would not it is no more I that do it but the sinne that dwelleth in me Rom. 7. 19. 20. therefore the Church may erre in determining matters of life and manners Fourthly There is a fight euen in the best men and mēbers of Christ Rom. 7. 23 therfore the Church may erre in determining matters belōging to lyfe and manners for this must be his conclusion out of euery one of these places as his former of doctrine was out of the other And are not these goodly argumentes to proue his assertion His assertion as you haue often heard was that the visible Catholicke Church might erre in determining matters belonging to manners to wit in defining and finally determining this is good that is bad this is lawfull that vnlawfull and the like and he commeth in with his misapplied texts to proue that particuler men may haue infirmities in them and fight of their passions or concupiscence Doth he not hit the naile on the head
bookes of Preisthood doth very well declare 4. And now to come vnto these Councels and to speake particulerly of euery one of them as they lye in order The Councell of Nice was gathered togeather somewhat more then three hundred yeares after Christ and the occasion of this first great Ecclesiasticall Assembly of all the world met togeather by their Bishops in this generall Councell was for the censuring and suppressing of two capitall and damnable heresies that then inuaded and infested the Church of Christ. The first was the heresy of the Arians and this impugned nay flatly denyed the second Person his identity of essence to wit the Sonne his equality of substance and hodhead with the Father granting him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like vnto the Father but denying him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same substance with the Father which was the fayth and beliefe of the Catholicke Church in those dayes 5. The second heresy was the heresy of the Quartadecimans concerning the celebrating of Easter-day of which heresy to speake any thing in particuler at this tyme I intend not since it is not to my present purpose only I refer the reader vnto the author of the Three Conuersions of England where this point is both substantially and punctually discussed The mayne point wherof I am to treat in this place is to intimate vnto the Reader how both these heresies of the Arians and the hereticall Quartadecimans were determined censured and anathematized by the authority of this soueraigne and supreme Ecclesiasticall Tribunall I meane the first Generall Councell of Nice which consisted as S. Ambrose obserueth alluding to the iust number of Abraham his souldiers of three hundred eighteene Bishops gathered from all partes of Christendome And this was the first Generall Councell that could be Assembled vntill that time in respect of the most bloudy and cruell persecutions that had continued for the greatest part of the prcedentages 6. And here we are to obserue that albeit that three other Prouinciall nationall Councells are recorded to haue bene celebrated before this of Nice and after that of the Apostles Act. 15. to wit one at Rome of 60. Bishops against Nouatus vnder Decius the cruell Emperour and Cornelius the martyred Pope another at Ancyra in Galatia vnder Dioclesian the third at Neocaesarea vnder Constantines Father and Pope Melchiades according to Prateolus his accōpt yet this Councell of Nyce was the first great glorious Ecclesiasticall tribunall which was publikely erected in the Christian Church for al Nations to repayre vnto after the first planting of the faith of Christ. 7. The second generall Councell was that of Constantinople somwhat more then fifty yeares after in the yeare of our Lord 383. and it consisted of an hundred and fifty Bishops gathered togeather against Macedonius Patriarch of Constantinople who openly denyed and blasphemed against the diuinity of the holy Ghost for which damnable heresy of his both he and all that partaked with his hereticall faction were condemned censured and cast out of the Church and deliuered ouer to Sathan for that they blasphemed against the third sacred Person of the blessed Trinity And this second great and generall Councel was held vnder Gratian and Theodosius Emperours and vnder Damasus then Bishop of Rome 8. The third Generall Councell was that which was assembled at Ephesus almost other fifty yeares after that againe in the yeare of our Lords incarnation 434. This Councell consisted of two hundred Bishops gathered a-against another Archbishop of Constantinople named Nestorius but an Arch-hereticke and it was held vnder the Emperour Theodosius and Pope Celestinus This Nestorius as Vincentius Lyrinensis in his goulden tract against heresies and 17. chapter describeth his heresy whilst he made shew of distinguishing two natures in Christ he suddainly brought in two persons and by an execrable impiety thereby made two Christs the one God the other man the one begottē of God the Father the other borne of the Virgin his mother and therfore he did further auerre that holy Mary was not to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mother of God but the mother of Christ because forsooth that Christ which was God was not borne of her but the Christ which was man Hitherto my Authour And for this damnable heresie was Nestorius condemned by this third Councell worthily cast out of the Catholicke Church howbeit I must confesse that I cannot see how Caluin Beza vpon the point of Christs incarnation and hypostaticall vnion with diuers others Protestants following thē can possibly auoid this ould condemned heresy but that Nestorianisme must follow as a necessary consequence of the doctrine which they deliuer vpon the point of Christs incarnation and vnion 9. The fourth generall Councell was that of Chalcedon and this was some twenty yeares and vpwardes after the foresaid counsaile of Ephesus in which Councell there were assembled six hundred and thirty Bishops Archbishops and Patriarches This great assembly was gathered against on Eutiches an Archimandrite or Abbot of Constantinople in like manner who so confounded the natures in Christ that he absolutely denied that there were two distinct natures in him For which monstrous opinion of his differing frō the Canon of Catholick faith he was cōdemned togeather with his fautor partener of his hereticall faction I meane Dioscorus Archbishop of Alexandria as was Nestorius another Archbishop before him for houlding two persons in Christ. And this famous and through the whole Christian world renowned Councell was assebled and held vnder Martian that then swayed the Empire and S. Leo the first then Bishop of the Apostlicall Sea of Rome 10. And now to make vse in generall of that which hath bene spoken concerning the foure Councels by some particuler application and illation the inference must needes be this that if the Church of England do indeed admit and reuerence these foure first Generall Councelles as it should seeme his Maiesty is of opinion it doth and their Acts of Parlament confirme the same then doth it follow by necessary and ineuitable consequence though the conclusion ouerthrow a mayne ground of Protestanticall Religion that they must needes will they nil they graunt the Catholicke Church not only to haue bene visible at this time but also to haue bene in great splendor and magnificence otherwise how could it possibly be that fix hundred and thirty Bishops could assemble and meet so readily togeather and all these for the most part out of the Easterne parts of Christēdome only to speake nothing of the west 11. Furthermore for as much as our English Church in admitting these Councels and that in the greatest Consistory of the Kingdome the high Court of Parliament doth therby acknowledge and condescend vnto that this externall visible Church consisting of good and bad is Christs true Church indued with all the priuiledges aboue mentioned of
Ecclesiasticall power piety purity sanctity the rest I would aske first how this so visible a Church so conspicuous for maiesty so illustrious for sanctity so adorned and beautified with all sorts of heauenly grace and eclestiall verity should or could afterwards grow to be inuisible be spoiled of her dignity bereaued of her authority be robbed of her sanctity and loose all her graces and verity Or how of the spouse of Christ is it possible that she should become the enemy of Christ of the Church of God the Sinagogue of Sathan Protestants principles may imagine this but this ouer throweth the very principles of all Christian Religion For how can the later be preserued inuiolably if the former be so vnstable Or from whome can we sucke the pure milke of Christian Religion or receaue the stronger food of the high mysteries of Diuinity if it be not from the breasts of the Church If it be not from the hand of our mothers learning wisdome and tradition And now to follow this heathenish and irreligious principle of the Protestāts a little further if the Church I meane the former mentioned visible Catholicke Church of these generall Councells if this I say haue thus fallen by false doctrine as the Protestants imagine then this Apostacy and defection must eyther beginne first from all or from one or from a few only To the parts then if from all how is it possible that so great a body nay Christes owne body mysticall for so S. Augustine calleth it founded by the bloud of Christ propagated by the mynistery of the Apostles watred continually with the bloud of many millions of Martyrs dispersed ouer the visible face of the whole world I say and demaund how is it possible that this Church should be corrupted all at once and that by willing corruption of affection and iudgment 12. But if this defection vainely and ydlely supposed by the Protestants did beginne eyther from one or arise from a few priuate men contrary to the mayne current of the Churches doctrine and tradition which had continued and lineally succeeded in the Centuries of the Church from Christs time to the Councell of Chalcedon then would no doubt the Prelates of the Church which now were in possession of the Ecclesiasticall keyes and practice of the power and authority of the same by censuring and condemning Archbishops Abbots Patriarches as hath bene seene haue resisted seuerally punished these supposed noueltyes and new fangles in religion And truly albeit we should set aside the promise and prouidence of our blessed Sauiour for cōseruing this his Church which he had bought with so great a pricc as his owne pretious bloud and brought vnto such eminent greatnes at this very time of the Councell of Chalcedon which was more then foure hundred yeares after his Ascension yet in all humane reason setting the light of religion apart it cannot be so much as imagined how such a body Christ his body with such a vigilant Senate and head ouer it should by secret stealth or little and little be infected corrupted poysoned and consumed as their phrase is with Popery heresy superstition or innouation and all without sense or feeling resisting and complayning or any record left therof in Authour of Antiquity And yet if we will giue credit vnto the Protestants and suffer their religion to set the least footing in the Church we must against all sense reason faith and religion imagin and belieue all this and much more to wit that such and so potent a body so fortified with defences by our Sauiour was so stolen away frō it selfe and from God also as that it was lost peruerted corrupted conquered by the gates of hell made Babylon the seat of Antichrist and Citty of Sathan before any man was aware of it and are not these positions of Protestants monstrous Paradoxes strange Idea's Chymera's which no man of perfect sense can belieue 13. I read in the ancient Fathers that were inlightned with so great a measure of Gods holy spirit very earnest reprehensions and seuere inuectiues against the absurdity of these imaginations Let S. Augustine one that was wont to be full of reuerence in some of the Protestantes mouthes speake for all Illa Ecclesia saith he quae fuit omnium gentium iam non est periji Hoc dicunt qui in illa non sunt ô impudentem vocem illa non est quia tu in illa non es Vide ne tu ideo non sis nam illa erit etiamsi tu non sis That Church which was propagated and spread ouer the world consisting of all nations as now at the time of Chalcedon is it now no more Is she perished or vanished away So say those that are not in her O impudent voyce Is not she because thou art not in her See lest therefore thou be not for she will be though thou be not 14. Thus S. Augustine in his dayes argued against the Donatists who said then iust as our Protestants do now when they were pressed with the authority of the Catholicke visible Church that indeed that had bene for a time the true Church but that afterwardes it perished it fayled and fell into Apostasy Apostatauit perijt it did apostatate and perish except onely in the people who onely in their owne iudgment made the true Church indeed 15. And can any thing in the world be more like then this to our case Doe not the Protestants and the Donatists so conspire togeather that a man cannot distinguish them by their voice The Protestants acknowledgeth the whole body of the Christian Catholicke Church vnder these foure Councells for the space almost of fiue hundred yeares togeather neyther can he chose but confesse since the poynt hath ben so often extorted from him the outward lustre Hierarchy Gouerment and Authority thereof But if you aske him fiue hundred yeares after then he will answer with the Donatist suit non est it was the true Church but it is not now or at least wise not in that perfection of authority as then it was And if you demaund of him fiue hundred yeares after that againe about the time that Luther sprang vp he will not stick flatly to blaspheme with the same Donatist Apostatauit perijt it hath fallen into Apostacy it hath perished which speach you haue heard S. Augustine before call impudentem vocem an impudent voice but presently after in the very same place he termeth it by farre worse Epithetons as blasphemous to the holy Ghost which though I haue touched before yet will I repeate it heere againe for the better impression of it in our memory and the greater detestatiō of the like sinne 16. Hanc vocem saith he abominabilem detestabilem praesumptionis falsitatis plenam nulla veritate suffultam nulla sapientia illuminatam nullo sale conditam vanam temerariam praecipitem perniciosamp raeuidit Spiritus Dei The spirit of God in the 101.
with a chast shamefastnes and loue So S. Cyprian in that excellent Tract of his devnitate Ecclesiae which Tract alone though it be but a very short one yet is it sufficieÌ„t to be the bane of all heresies and to keepe any man desirous of truth within the bosome of Catholicke vnity 23. With S. Cyprian agreeth S. Hilary writing to the same effect in expresse wordes affirming Hoc Ecclesiae proprium est vt tum vincat cùm laeditur tum intelligatur cùm arguitur tum obtmeat cùm deseritur This is peculiar vnto the Church that when she is hurt by persecutions then she winneth and ouercommeth when she is reprehended by heretickes then is she perceiued that is to say when she is misconceiued she maketh her selfe in her doctrine to be better vnderstood by declaration of matters called into question when she is forsaken eyther by rebellious children that go out from her or by Gods permission exercising her by tribulation then doth she obteine the victory and gloriously triumph So as here you see that they spake not only of the Church of their time but of all other ensuing ages that it cannot perish or be corrupted And with these agree S. Ambrose saying Haec ergo nauis Ecclesia est quae si quotidiè saeculum istud tamquam aliquod pelagus sortitur insestum numquam eliditur ad saxum numquam mergitur adprofundum So speaketh S. Ambrose in his booke intituled de Salomone the 4. chapter that is to say This ship therefore of the Apostles that was tossed vpon the seas of this world as the true Church of Christ which albeit it do dayly find and feele the world to be troblesome vnto it as a certaine tempestuous and stormy sea yet doth it neuer dash and split in peces by striking against any rock nor yet is it euer dryuen and drowned to the bottome All which priuiledges could not be verified of the said Church if it were possible that the spouse of Christ could become a harlot or fall away from Christ by intertayning any damnable errour or heresy 24. And as S. Ambrose so speaketh S. Hierome in his commentary vpon the fourth chapter of Isay his wordes be these Super petram sundatur Ecclesia nulla tempestate concutitur nullo turbine ventisque subuertitur The Church being founded vpon a rock is shâ—uered with no tempest is ouerwhelmed and ouerthrowne by no fury violence of windes whatsoeuer And the same holy Father in another place putting a reall distinction betwixt the Synogogue of the Iewes the Christian Church but especially betwixt the promises of God made vnto both assumeth the speach of Christ and speaketh to the Iewes in the person of our Sauiour Linquetur domus vestra deserta your house your Church your Synagogue shal be left desolate and empty vnto you But as for the Christian Church saith he aeternam habebit possessionem for that Christ promised vnto his disciples behould I will be with you or as other Readings haue it I am with you to the consummation of the world And the same speaches are reassumed and reiterated by him in his Commentaries vpon the ninth of the Prophet Amos and vpon the 28. of the Ghospell of S. Matthew 25. And here I might tyre out both the reader and my selfe also with alleadging the vnamine consent of all the ancient Fathers to proue that the visible Catholicke Church of their dayes could neuer perish Apostatate or fall away from Christ to the end of the world in regard of Christ his promise made vnto it and yet the contrary hereticall tenent is a common receiued doctrine in the Protestants schooles in this last worst age of the world For do not the Protestants pro aris focis as though it were a matter of the life or death of their Religion as in very deed it is no lesse stifly peremptorily defend that the visible Church that held these foure generall Councells which are admitted by his Matie and the Church and Parlament of England and fourteene other no lesse Generall from that of Chalcedon to the last of Trent this Church say I descending by succession of Christian people and by lawfull and Ecclesiasticall ordination of Prelats Pastours and Bishops for gouernement of the same hath after the aforesaid Councell of Chalcedon by little little say the Protestants Apostated from Christ and his true doctrine and hath left their roome and place for Protestants to enter and supply their defects And this is iust like the allegations and pretences of the Donatists in S. Augustines time And no maruaile that Protestants and Donatists thus conspire against the true Church for surely the right of the Donatists is as good to lay clayme thereunto as the interest of the Protestants for ought that I can see to the contrary And let this suffice for my first Consideration The second Consideration MY second Consideration concerning this present subiect of the foure first Generall Councells receaued by the Protestants lay Parlament as is already premised shal be this that for as much as this Ecclesiastical deuise and inuention of calling generall Councels and this spirituall authority in erecting this great consistory and supreame tribunall of the Church for the deciding and determining of all doubts and controuersies that may possibly arise therein eyther by the friendes or rather enemyes of the Church must be presumed to haue come peculiarly and proceeded originally from the holy Ghost partly for that the first forme origen and practice therof was prescribed by the Apostles themselues as you shal read Act. 15. according to that which we haue formerly noted and partly and especially in regard of the infallible assistance of the said holy Ghost that euer-blessed and neuer erring spirit of truth testified by the words of high and soueraigne commaunding authority vsed by the Apostles in that first Councels decree visum est Spiritu Sancto nobis it seemeth good to the holy Ghost and vs why I say this being so haue the Protestants in our dayes hauing now almost had a full age since their defection from Catholicke Roman Religion neuer as yet called a generall Councell amongst themselues to repaire their owne breaches reconcile their owne emnities determine and decide their owne controuersies which as before I haue shewed are both many and waighty implacable and irreconciliable Truly it seemeth vnto me that if they had beene of the same spirit with the ancient Apostolicke Church that gathered these foure first generall Councels to hould all in one vnion and communion nay if they had not bene led or rather misled with a contrary spirit of schisme heresy and diuision they would haue troden in the steeps of these ancient Fathers and haue imitated them in applying the soueraigne remedies of generall Councells for curing the woundes of their owne home-bred diuisions and damnable dissentions at least wyse they would without faile in a whole age haue called some one forasmuch as
ter simul in faciem eorum aures insufflando breathing three times one after an other on their face and eares and so we catechize consecrate and cure them ordayning that they liue a great while in our Churches and heare the Scriptures and then we do baptize them So enacteth that ancient Canon concluded by an hundred and fifty Bishops And now whether this antiquity be more obserued or better resembled by the Protestant or Roman Church I leaue the point to euery man to consider of for intending breuity I meane not to prosecute matters at large but only to point at these two things by the way that may shew conformity or deformity betweene that ancient Church and the Protestant or Catholicke Roman Church at this day 44. Out of the third Councell held at Ephesus in the yeare of our Lord God 42 8. sundry waighty pointes occurred and represented themselues worthy of obseruation albeit all of them be ouer long here to be recited And first I remembred the manner of proceeding and condemning of Nestorius the Arch-hereticke as it is most faithfully recorded by Vincentius Lyrinensis in the very bginning of the second part of his Commonitorium the 42. chapter and it is laid downe by him who liued in the very time of the Councell and for ought we know might be present ther at in this manner This councell of Ephesus discussing and reasoning touching the establishing of some rule of faith least any prophane nouelty like to the Armenian treachery might creep into this Councell all the Catholicke Bishops and Priestes thither assembled which were almost 200. concluded and agreed vpon this as best and most Catholick to wit that the opinions and iudgmeÌ„ts of the holy Fathers should be brought forth before the Councel such Fathers as had bene either martyrs or Consessors or at least constant Catholicke Priests and according vnto their ioynt consent and vnamine decree the point then controuerted betwixt Nestorius and S. Cyrill should be decided and finally determined This was the rule and Canon of faith first enacted and according vnto this Nestorius as contrary to Catholicke verity was condemned for an Hereticke and blessed S. Cyrill was iudged consonant vnto antiquity So Vincentius And now will the Church of England that maketh shew of receauing this Councell stand to this rule and canon of faith about the examining of doctrine by the Fathers enacted and put in practice by this Councell against Nestorius And will they submit all their iudgments vnto the assembly of Fathers as this councell did 45. My second obseruation out of this Councell was this that when great stirres and troubles were expected by the pious and religious Emperours Theodosius and Valentinianus by the reason of the great concurse of people of all sorts vnto that place especially many fauourites of Nestorius the Archbishop of ConstaÌ„tinople against whom this Councell was gathred it seemed necessary vnto the said Emperours to send thither an Earle of their Court named Candidianus who should represent their persons for seeing peace and good order kept but yet with expresse protestation that it belonged not vnto them nor any other secular man to haue any dealing in Ecclesiasticall causes in that Councell And this was the thing which I obserued which now followeth Candidianum say they praeclarissimum religiosorum domesticorum Comitem ad sacram pestram Synodum abire iussimus sed ea lege conditione vt tum quaestionibus controuersiis quae circa fidei dogmata incidunt nihil quicquam commune habeat Nefas est enim qui sanctissimorum Episcoporum numero catalogo adseriptus non est illum Ecclesiastitis negotijs consultationibê° sese immiscere We haue commanded the most honorable Count Candidian one of our religious family to go vnto your holy Synod but with this charge and condition that he haue nothing at all to doe with any questions of controuersies that fall out about matters of faith for that it is not lawfull for him that is not a Bishop to meddle with Ecclesiasticall affaires or consultations So those two Emperours which conuinceth sufficiently that they hold not themselues for heades of the Church nor iudges in Ecclesiasticall matters but inferiour vnto Bishops in that behalfe And will the Church of England admitting this Councell admit this also 46. But now as on the one side the religious Emperours disclaymed from this Ecclesiasticall authority ouer the Councell so I find that Celestinus then Bishop of Rome did acknowledge the same to appertaine vnto him and it was by the whole Councell without eyther opposition or contradiction granted vnto him For first he being not able to be present himselfe he designed and deputed S. Cyrill Archbishop of Alexandria to be his substitute as appeareth by his owne letter read and approued in the Councell his wordes are these Quamobrem nostrae Sedis auctoritate ascita nostraque vice loco cum potesâ—tae vsus eiusmodi non absque exquisita seueritate sententiam exequeris c. Wherfore you taking the authority of our Sea vpon you and vsing our roome and place with the power therto belonging shall execute with punctuall seuerity the sentence giuen against Nestorius to wit of excommunication and deposition And that if he do not reuoke his heresy within ten dayes after this our admonition giuen vnto him that you presently prouide the Church of Constantinople of another Bishop and let him know that he is by all manner of wayes cut of from our body So he 47. Thus wrote Pope Celestinus from Rome where he had held a particuler Councell and condemned the heresy of Nestorius in the West before the Councell of Ephesus was gathered in the East in which Coucell of Ephesus he not being able to be present as is aforesaid designed his authority to S. Cyril as well for presiding in the same Councell as also for executing the sentence of condemnation which proceedings of Celestinus are recounted afterward againe by the sayd Councell and approued in a generall letter which the whole Councell wrote vnto the two Emperors which beginneth Vestram Christianissimi Reges c. 48. But this is confirmed yet further for that the said holy Father Celestinus sent from Rome three other Legates to ioyne with S. Cyrill in that legation for the presidence of the Councell whereof two were Bishops Proiectus and Arcadius the third a Priest only called Philip who alwaies being admitted for Legats in the Councell did firme subscribe their names after S. Cyrill before the other Patriarches of Hierusalem and the rest yea when the two Bishop-Legates were absent from the Councell vpon any ocasion this Philip though but a Priest did subscribe next after S. Cyrill as may appeare in the Councell it selfe Tomo 2. cap. 13. And moreouer at his first comming and appearance in the Councell he vsed this speach Gratias agamus Sanctae venerandaeque huic Synodo quòd literis Celestini Sanctissimi Beatissimique
of Triall offered and alledged by his Maiesty of England HAVING discoursed at large of the three generall heades to wit Scriptures Creedes Councells in the three precedent Chapters we are now according to order and method both offered vnto vs and accepted of vs to treat of the last generall head in this subsequent Chapter And the subiect we haue how in hand is touching the high esteeme credit and authority to be giuen to the ancient Fathers vnto which his Matie doth appeale in this last place saying thus I do reuerence the ancient Fathers as much and more then the Iesuites do and asmuch as themselues euer craued For what euer the Fathers of the first foure hundred yeares did with an vnanime consent agree vpon to be belieued as a necessary poynt of saluation I eyther will belieue it also or at least wil be humbly silent not taking vpon me to condemne the same But for euery priuate Father his opinion it byndes not my conscience more then Bellarmines euery one of the Fathers vsually contradicting others I will therefore in that case follow S. Augustine his rule in iudging their opinions as I shall find them agree with the Scriptures what I find agreeable thereunto I will imbrace what is otherwise I will with their reuerence reiect So the King And that his Maiesty for his part hath also a good meaning in this as farre as his education and instruction can possibly permitt and further that he is perswaded that he speaketh and meaneth like a good Catholicke and orthodox Christian I do with all diligence and due respect of loyall duty vnto his Royall grace endeauour to perswade myselfe 2. And yet neuerthelesse it is more then euident and apparant yea obuious vnto the eye of any discreet indifferent iudicious and vnderstanding man that his Excellent Grace hath bene notoriously abused and very sinisterly an erroneously informed in sundry passages of this poynt and mayne head concerning the reuerence respect and authority due to the Fathers of Gods Church and that by such Statizing and temporizing Ministers that being no longer able to sustaine their weake false cause quaeipsissimo suo ruit pondere would deriue the shame blame and burden of their now present tottering Religion vpon the person of his Princely Maiesty ingaging him thus in their hereticall quarrell and therefore they suggest from time to time such particulers out of euery generall as serue rather for their owne sinister respects then eyther for the preuention of errour or decision of truth or preseruation of the honour and soueraigne reputation of his Princely Person whence it commeth to passe that they impressionate his Princely hart with their owne particuler humorous passions exagitate his grace with their odious and malitious calumniations bent against the vpright and the innocent in a word they rather auert his affection from ancient Catholicke verity and peruert his iudgement by their erroneous fancy and late vpstart nouelty then lay forth the playne and simple truth vnto his Maiesty though they professe themselues to be Ministers of simple truth eyther in sound substance or sincere circumstance And this God willing we shall discouer by many particuler passages in this present busines and poynt of ancient Fathers that we haue now in hand 3. And first to proceed in order and to beginne with the accusation and imputation laid vpon the lesuits for that they are here charged according to that which hath bene suggested vnto his Maiesty for I will neuer lay this imputation and false accusatioÌ„ vpon his Princely Person that they do not reuerence the authority of the ancient Fathers indeed not so much as his Maiesty doth who saith here as you haue heard That when the Fathers of the first soure huÌ„dred years do with an vnanime consent agree vpon any thing to be belieued as a necessary poynt of saluation his Highnes will belieue it also or at least wil be humbly silent and not condemne the same But he that will peruse and read ouer the learned and manifould laborious volumes of the Iesuites shall find theÌ„ to go much further in this point teaching and constantly asseuering with Vincentius Lyrineusis and with the ioynt agreement of antiquity that the vnanime consent of Fathers vpon any point maketh it an infallible truth Quod Patres Doctores saith Gregorius de Valentia vnanimi consensu circa religionem tradunt infallibiliter verum est VVhatsoeuer the Fathers and Doctours deliuer with one consent about religion that is infallibly true And the same do hold all other Iesuites which also Vincentius Lyrinensis more then a thousand yeares before them doth confirme in these wordes Hos ergo in Ecclesia Dei diuinitus per tempora loca dispensatos quisquis in sensu Catholici dogmatis vnum aliquid in Christo sentientes contempserit non hominem contemnit sed Deum These therefore he meaneth the ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Church giuen and granted by God throughout all ages and places whosoeuer shall contemne them agreeing vpon any one point in Christ in the sense of Catholick Doctrine he contemneth not man but God 4. And this is grounded and proued as the said Valentia noteth vpon that discourse of S. Paul Ephes. 4. where he sheweth how Christ ascending into heauen left his Church furnished and fenced with all kynd of necessary furniture for her present instruction future direction and perpetuall prescruation as with Apostles Prophets Euangelists Pastors Doctors and this vnto the worldes end And the reason of this is that which the foresaid Authour obserueth out of the Apostle himselfe Vt non circumferamur omni vento Doctrinae that we should not be carried hither and thither and tossed vp and downe with euery blast of Doctrine 5. And finally he confirmeth the same by shewing that this great absurdity would otherwayes follow that if the whole consent of Fathers may erre then may they induce the whole Church to erre yea inforce her therunto for that the Church is bound to follow and belieue the vnamine consent of her Pastours Doctors Gouernours and teachers and that throughout all ages of the Church 6. This is the doctrine which I find amongst the Iesuites concerning the accompt and reckoning that is to be made of the vniforme and vnamine consent of Fathers For with Gregory de Valentia as now I haue said doe agree all the most eminent and principall writers of that Society as for example Doctor Petru Canisâ—us in his later Catechisme Cap. 11. Cardinall Bellarmine in his fourth booke de verbo Dei cap. 9. Vasquez tom 1. in primam part Disp. 12. Cap. 1. Maldonatus in 6. Ioan. Tolet vpon the 6. Chapter of S. Iohn and many others which as I take it is a great deale more then here is granted by ProtestaÌ„ts vnto the Fathers since there is no more yet promised and professed then eyther to belieue them or to be humbly silent and not condemne them 7.
that it was plaine madnes in the hereticke to make so small accompt of them Nay he further resolued and with mature deliberation concluded that the dogma ticall faith and belief of all these Fathers conspiring and agreeing togeather in one was to be defended against him and against all other such like hereticks as he was no other waies then Christs Ghospell was to be defended against Infidels His words are these 20. Aduersus hanc autem miserabilem quam deus auertat insaniam sic respondendum video libris tuis vt fides queque aduersus te desendatur istorum sicut contra impios Christiprofessos inimicos etiam ipsum defendetur Euangelium Against this miserable desperate madnes of thine which God turne from thee I do see that I must so answere to thy bookes that the faith of these Fathers be defended against thee as the very Ghospell it selfe of Christ is to be defended against impious men and as against the very professed enemies of Christ. So he And yet in another place pressing againe the authority of the said Fathers he doth intreat his aduersary Iulian to belieue these holy Fathers and by them to be made friendes with him yea to be reconciled vnto him and to the Catholicke Church from which he stood as yet separate And is not this the very same offer we make to the Protestants at this day And then S. Augustine going on forwardes in ratifiing their authority saddeth presently for further corroboration of the Doctrine and tradition of antiquity Quod credunt credo quod tenent teneo quod docent doceo quod praedicant praedico istis crede mihi credes acquiesce istis quiesces à me c. What these fathers do belieue I do belieue what they hould I hould what they teach I teach what they preach I preach yeald vnto these and you will yeald vnto me haue peace with these and you will haue peace with me And last of all saith he If you will not by them be made friendes with me at least wise be not you by me made enemy vnto them a goulden sentence and then he goeth forward saying shall Pelagius and Celestinus the Authours of your heresy be of such authority with you that you for their society will leaue the fellowship and company of so many and so great Doctors of the Catholicke faith and Church dispersed from East to West frō North to South and those both ancient and neare vnto our age partly dead and yet partly liuing So he 21. Which speach of S. Augustine doth seeme vnto me so fitly and properly to touch and concerne the Protestants of our dayes who for the loue of Luther Caluin Authors of their nouelties do forgo all the Doctors of the Catholicke Church not only ancient but moderne also as that nothing in my iudgment can be produced of nearer affinity to hould greater correspondency or be more like or more semblable 22. Neither yet doth S. Augustine determine only that the Doctors of the Church are absolutely the best witnesses and iudges in matters of Controuersy that arise and spring vp after their dayes but togeather with his authority which had bene alone sufficient he yealedeth a very substantiall and conuincing reason for the same and it is this that the Fathers could not be partiall iudges of such causes as came into Controuersy after their deaths for that they gaue forth their verdict and iudgment before any controuersy was stirred or moued about the same And thus much do his wordes import as they follow 23. Tunc de ista causa iudicauerunt saith S. Augustine quando cosnemo dicere potest perperà m quicquam vel aduersari velsauere potuisse Nondum enim extiteratis c. The Fathers did iudge of this cause at that time when no man can say that they did wrongfully fauour or disfauour any party For that you Pelagians were not then in the world with whome we might haue contention about this question c. They did not attend vnto any friendship eyther with vs or with you they did not exercise amity or emnity with eyther of vs they were angry neyther with you nor with vs neyther yet had they commiseration towards any of our partes that which they found in the Church they held that which they learned they taught that which they recyued and learned from their Fathers by tradition they taught and left vnto their children We did not as yet plead with you before these Iudges yet by them was our case decided and determined nor you nor we were knowne vnto them and yet do we out of their workes produce their sentences against you VVe had as yet no strife with you nor pleaded any cause and yet haue we conquered you by their verdicts Hitherto are the wordes of S. Augustine 24. VVhich when I had considered pondered well with my selfe as also reflected vpon all S. Augustine his former sentences compared them all togeather and conferred them with the state of our present time and manners of men therein I seemed to behold as in a cleare glasse before the eyes of my vnderstanding the very person and selfe same cause of S Augustine to be in the Catholicke writers of our dayes as contrariwise also that of the Pelagians and of other old heretickes to be in the Protestants the one and the other making like accompt of the ancient Fathers I meane the Catholickes esteeming them highly and standing to their iudgment the others reiecting them where they make against them which as it hath bene sufficiently proued before so might I here adioyne also many other proofes therof if I would spend more time in alleaging their sentences Let M. VVhitakers assertion speake for all who of this matter writeth thus If you argue from the witnes of men be they neuer so learned and ancient we yeeld no more to their wordes in cause of sayth and religion then we perceaue to be agreeable to Scripture Neyther thinke you your selfe to haue proued any thing although you bring against vs the whole consent swarme of Fathers except that which they say be iustified not by the voyce of men but of God himselfe The second Consideration AS my first consideration was wholy conuersant about the iust deserued credit of ancient Fathers agreing to geather in generall eyther in the full voice of all or in the greatest part and consent of them so was my second imployed about the same credit authority of particuler Fathers eyther one or two or more auerring any thing which was not reprehended by others in matters of religion About which poynt I saw lesse ascribed in his Maties Booke vnto their promerited estimation then Catholickes do hold in their Orthodox assertions and much lesse then I my selfe had purposely read and obserued in the former mentioned holy Father S. Augustine concerning that poynt For as his Maiesty yealded lesse to the common consent of Doctors which must
Apostoli hortabantur homines iustitiam agere bonum quoque operari quia in nobis sit hoc The Prophets and Apostles did exhort men to do iustice and to worke good works for that this is in our power And is not this a great offence in S. Irenaeus to speake so like a Papist 44. They accuse also other Fathers of the same age for like fault as Iustinus Martyr if it be his booke in his answere vnto the hundred and third question ad Orthodoxos and Clemens Alexandrinus lib. 2. stromatum saying of this latter Clemens liberum arbitrium vbique asserit Clement doth euery where defend free-will And finally they giue this censure of all that age Nullus ferè doctrinae locus est qui tam citò obscurari coeperit atque hic de libero arbitrio There is no peece of Doctrine that began to be darkened so soone as this of free will which darkning is nothing els with them but the Catholick sense of that doctrine which now also we hould to wit that albeit man his free-will was greatly wounded by Adams fall yet was it not so extinguished but that nature being relieued by the holy assistance of Christs grace and not otherwise the free-will of man may cooperate in doing of good workes which was also these holy Fathers meanings 45. The like the said Magdeburgians do complayne of the article of good workes and perfection of life to wit that this doctine also beganne to be darkened in this age so as according vnto them the candle lightned by our Sauiour and his Apostles and set vpon the goulden candlesticke of the Church dured but a little while 46. Furthermore they cyte also that saying of S. Clemēt lib. 5. stromatum which angreth them very much Gratia seruamur sed non absque bonis operibus We are saued by Grace but not without good works Et lib. 6. stromatum Quando audierimus fides tua te saluum fecit non accepimus eum dicere absolutè cos saluos suturos qui quomodocunque crediderint nisi facta quoque fuerint consecuta Whensoeuer we shall heare those wordes of our Sauiour vnto the Cananaean thy fayth hath saued thee we do not vnderstand that he said absolutely that they shall be saued whosoeuer belieue in any sort except good deedes do also follow And is this ought els but Catholicke doctrine to wit that fayth must go before and good workes follow And is not this the selfe same doctrine which S. Paul teacheth saying that the sauing faith is fides quae per charitatem operatur the faith which worketh by charity in vs. 47. Moreouer concerning the law that it doth not command impossible things but that with the assistance of Christs grace Christian men may obserue the Commandements this the Magdeburgians do censure for erroneous doctrine also in the Fathers of this second age namely in Iustinus Martyr resp ad Orthodoxos 103. who proueth it out of the example of S. Paul himselfe of Zachary and Elizabeth that were both of them iust and S. Irenaeus teacheth the said doctrine lib. 4. c. 30. and Clemens lib. 2. stromatum being all Fathers of this second age which doctrine is confirmed afterward by all the Fathers of subsequent ages And yet do the good-fellow Magdeburgians condemne the same with great resolution out of a Maxime of Aristotle most foolishly and wickedly applied saying Dato vno inconuenienti sequi solent infinita One inconuenience being graunted by these Fathers to wit the doctrine of free-will infinite other inconueniences are wont to follow Which speach of the Fathers though it be incōmodious vnto the Magdeburgians for such set downe by them yet are the wordes playne for the Catholick Doctrine now held by the Roman Church in that behalfe 48. But yet further concerning the externall vsuall sacrifice of Christiās then accustomed to be offered on the Aultar the same Magdeburgians are much troubled about certaine speaches of S. Ignatius and S. Irenaeus The first hath these wordes in his Epistle ad Smyrnenses Non lice sine Episcopo neque offerre neque sacrificium immolare It is not lawfull without the Bishop to make oblation or offer Sacrifice And the like wordes they cyte out of S. Irenaeus 4. cap. 32. saying of him Satis videtur loqui incommodè cùm ait noui Testamenti nouam docuit oblationem quam Ecclesia ab Apostolis accijiens in vniuerso mundo offert Deo Irenaeus say they seemeth to speake incōmodiously inough when he saith that Christ did teach a new oblatiō of a new Testament which the Church receiuing from the Apostles doth offer vnto God throughout the whole world So they of the externall Christian sacrifice of those daies checked condemned the Fathers of that first age after the Apostles 49. About traditions in like manner rites and Cerimonyes they complaine in this age as they did of other points before to wit that Doctrina de libertate christiana non-nihil coepit obseurari that the Doctrine of Christian liberty beganne not a little to be darkened with rites and Cerimonies in this age also succreuit say they paulatim error de traditionibus necessariò obseruandis and the errour of necessary obseruation of traditions did by little and little grow vp whereof they giue an example out of S. Ignatius his epistle ad Philadelphios where he saith Dies festos nolite inhonor are Quadragesimam verò nolite pro nihilo habere imitationem enim cominet Dei conuersationis hebdomadam etiam Passionis nolite despicere Quarta verò sexta feria ieiunate reliquias pauperibus porrigentes Do not dishonour holy dayes do not neglect Lent for it cōteyneth in it the imitation of Christ his conuersatiō who is our God Do not despise the Passion weeke do you fast vpon wensdayes and fry daies that which is left of your meat giue it vnto the poore And this is the darkenes which the Magdeburgians do obserue or rather this is the light which those Angels of darkenes and instrumentes of Sathan would darken in the Apostolicall writinges of S. Ignatius and other Ancients of this very next age after the Apostles contrary vnto their carnall and Euangelicall liberty which their first luxurious Apostata and Cloysterbreaker Luther set abroach 50. The same Magdeburgians do cite a plaine sentence out of S. Irenaeus lib. 3. Cap. 3. whereby he proueth the Primacy of the Church of Rome to wit for her more powerable principality it is of necessity that all Churches should come vnto her that is to say all faithfull people from all parts of the world for that in her hath bene conserued euer the tradition of the Apostles Which plaine sentence the Magdeburgians do endeauour to delude by diuers shiftes As first that it seemeth to sauour of nouelty then that this sentence is found say they in the copies that now are extant of Irenaeus as though there were other not extant that had it not Thirdly
said Lactantius S. Gregory Nyssen Hilarius Nazianzen S. Ambrose Theophilus Alexandrinus Ephraim and others all Fathers of this age do openly defend the same Whereupon they I mean the Magdeburgians conclude in these wordes I am cogitet pius Lector quà m procul haec aetas in hoc articulo à doctrina Apostolorum desciuerit Now let the godly Reader consider how farre this age departed from the doctrine of the Apostles in this article of good workes But I would thinke it more reason to exhort yea and to beseech the Reader euen as he hath care of the euerlasting welfare and saluation of his soule to consider seriously indifferently setting all kynd of preiudice apart whether it be not more likely that so many learned and holy Fathers that liued with so great admiration of their vertue learning piety in this age should know what agreed with the Apostles Doctrine and what agreed not aswell or as a man would imagine somewhat better then these foure quarrelling Companions the Magdeburgians I meane Illyricus VVigandus Iudex and Faber for these foure do onely subscribe their dedicatory Epistle to Queene Elizabeth vpon the yeare 1560. 73. S. Bernards rule prescription of Antiquity was this Quantò viciniores aduentui Saluatoris tantò mysterium salutis pleniùt perceperunt The nearer the holy Fathers were vnto Christ his incarnation the more fully receaued and perceaued they the mystery of our redemption And yet these foure good fellowes do thus presume to censure the most reuerend and learned ancient Fathers as you see 74. And on this fashion these men go forwardes in setting downe all the 18. or 19. heades of doctrine before mentioned as held by the Fathers of this fourth age to wit Pennance satisfaction inuocation of Saints citing aboue a dozen Fathers of this age for the same of traditions about Virginity monasticall life the like wherein they do so check condēne contemne the said holy Fathers as passeth all modesty must needs be a token of manifest heresy 75. S. Ambrose say they in his second booke ad Marcellinam nimis insolenter pronunciat de virginum meritis Ambrose doth pronounce to insolently of the merit of virginity The like and worse they speake of S. Ephraim and S. Athanasius for that they write of Monkes and namely S. Ephraim that they are perfecti pugnatores paradisi amoenitatem ante oculos habentes perfect fighters that haue before their eyes the sweetnes of paradise These men cry out against this Quid potest monstrosiùs dici contra meritum Christi What can be spoken more monstrously against the merit of Christ 76. And for that S. Ambrose serm 6. de Margarita hath these wordes VVhosoeuer therefore doth honour Martyrs doth honour Christ and he that contemneth Saints contemneth the Lord of Saints which is conforme to the Ghospell the Magdeburgians complaine crying out I am cogitet pius lector quà nt tetra suntista Let the godly Reader consider how horrible these thinges are The godly Reader hath cōsidered and he findes nothing deliuered by these Fathers but the holy Catholicke doctrine And as for your exclamations they are but the barkinges of Vigilantius or rather as S. Hierome more fitly calleth him Dormitantius and other ancient condemned heretickes against the holy reliques of Saintes and Martyrs reuiued and renewed by you againe raked out of the ashes of hell and hellish heresy 77. And finally not to be tedious in going forwards with a copious enumeration of the foresaid articles I do onely admonish the Reader for the last article mentioned of Purgatory how they do produce three Fathers more of this age that held the same to wit Lactantius Prudentius and S. Hierome as they might haue done many more and they add vnto the said former number diuers other articles which the Fathers of this age do teach as of the particuler rules of religious people now in vse De memorijs Martyrum of celebrating the memories of Martyrs in Churches and Altars erected and set vp in their honour De signo Crucis of the externall vse of the signe of the Crosse and miracles that thereby haue happened whereof Prudentius hymno ante somnum writeth thus in commendation of the Crosse and the benefit that redoundeth by vsing this laudable Christian cerimony Crux pellit omne crimen c. the signe of the Crosse keepeth of all sinne from vs. And S. Ephraim lib. de poenit cap. 3. aduifeth vs thus Pingamus in ianuis ac in frontibus nostris c. Let vs paynt the signe of the Crosse in our gates in our foreheades in our mouth in our Breastes c. and many other such sayings of holy Fathers of this age 78. Wherfore to conclude we see that this fourth age agreeth with the former three in all points of doctrine held for Catholicke throughout the whole Christian world at this day And as the Fathers of this age doe consent with their predecessors so shall we see them not dissent from their successours as shall appeare by the next ensuing ages And if this be not a sufficient demonstration of the true Roman Catholick Church and of her doctrine confirmed by all records of antiquity euen by the confession of our aduerfaries the Magdeburgians then let the English Protestants answere vnto this euidence and giue a better if they can But we shall passe further yet to make an insight into two other ages that ensue The fifth and sixt Ages 79. There follow the fifth and sixt age whereof the former is receyued heere by his Maiesty in the second edition of his English Premonition though in the first the first 400. yeares were onely allowed as hath byn sayd and the later was comprehended in M. Iewell his challenge at S. Paules Crosse who promised there openly to allow any of the Fathers or Councells that could be brought within the first six hundred yeares But this publike declamation was but a vaine ostentation of the challenger and this large offer was also restrained and reuoked afterwardes by others both at Paules Crosse and in either of the Vniuersities in so much that Doctor Humphrey in Oxford in a funerall speach made of the said M. Iewell by the former D. Humphrey did not for beare to taxe him openly of inconsideration for his so large and liberall offer of Fathers for six hundred yeares to decide all controuersies 10. But heere in this our affaire and busines we haue now in hand we haue thought good to ioyne both these ages togeather for that in them both the like descent of doctrine one after the other is still to be found the latter repeating and confirming the former And for proofe of this point I shall need to goe no further then to the confession and concession of our aduersaries themselues the Magdeburgians for there they shew for example in the first Century first of Free-will to wit that albeit the Doctors of this age interdum benè sanè videantur loqui tandem
tamen liberum arbitrium in rebus spiritualib us etiam statuunt Albeit the Fathers sometymes speake well and soundly yet at length they affirme that man hath free-will euen in spirituall things And then they beginne with S. Chrysostome alleadging many plaine places out of his workes at large saying Chrysostomus passim liberi arbitrij patronum agit S. Chrysostome doth euery where play the aduocate for free-will From S. Chrysostome they passe vnto S. Augustine and from S. Augustine to S. Cyril and from them to Theodoret Hesichius Thalassius Faustus Marcus Eremita and Ioannes Cassianus all Fathers and Doctors of this fifth age and the same they do in the sixt age alleadging many places out of S. Gregory the first as also out of Euodius Olympiodorus and others 81. Then passe they vnto the article of Iustification shewing that the Fathers of these ages did not ascribe Iustification vnto onely fayth but required also workes for which they alleage large sentences out of S. Chrysostome S. Cyril S. Augustine though more contractedly and out of S. Leo the Great who offendeth them much by saying recta fide bonis operibus peruenitur ad regnum Dei by right fayth and good workes we come to the Kingdome of God And from him they passe to S. Prosper Hesichius Sedulius Primasius Theodulus all of the forenamed Fathers houlding the same erroneous opinion as it pleaseth their Maisterships to call it for that workes are by them euer ioyned with faith and that in the last iudgement Christ shall question with them not so much what they haue belieued as what they haue practized 82. And the same doe they in the next hundred yeares after alleadging for it the writings of Cassiodorus Olympiodorus Andraeas Hierosolymitanus and aboue all and more largely they alleadge aboue a dozen places out of S. Gregory the Great who sayth Vita aeterna ex piae vitae actionibus comparatur Life euerlasting in the next world is prepared and gotten by pyous actions in this life 83. From this article they skip vnto another of the excellency and merit of good workes which article they beginne thus Nimiùm haec aetas bonis operibus adscripsit This fifth age did ascribe to much vnto the good workes of men which they declare largely first out of Chrysostome his writinges saying that he was immodicus Encomiastes bonorum operum an immoderate commender of good workes And from him they passe vnto S. Augustine shaking him also by the sleeue and taking him vp for halting and saying Augustinus etiam nimiùm interdum operibus tribuit Augustine also attributeth some tims too much to good workes Then they passe vnto Pope Leo and shew the same excesse out of him And from these they come vnto S. Prosper to Saluianus to Maximus to Salonius to Thalassius to Theodulus to Eucherius to Paulinus and some others all Doctors and Fathers of this fifth age 84. And then in the sixt age following the same methood vnder their article de bonis operibus they reprehend for ascribing to much therunto S. Gregory the great Euodius Cassiodorus Olympiodorus Fortunatus and Iustus Fathers of the Church and doctors of those dayes 85. There followeth the article of Pennance wherewith they beginne thus Consessioni ieiuniijs alijs ritibus nimiùm vendicat Chrysostomus Chrysostome doth ascribe to much vnto Confession fasting and other rytes of pennance And of the same errours do they condemne Hesichius for that lib. 2. in cap. 6. Leuit. he saith that true pennance doth consist in fasting watching haire-clothes teares prayers and almes-deedes The same errour they ascribe to Maximus Ioannes Cassianus Eucherius Doctors of this fifth age And in the sixt Century they lay the same imputation vpon Cassiodorus and S. Gregory especially chiding him for that he saith Poenitentiam agere est perpetrata mala plangere plangerda non perpetrare This is to do pennance to moane and bewaile our sinnes we haue committed and not to commit againe thinges worthy of bewayling What can be spoken more diuinely by this heauenly Doctor And would a man iudge these men to be Christians daring thus to open their mouthes and publikely to blaspheme 86. I might passe further to alleage much more out of these Magdeburgian Centuriators which they produce out of euery age most manifestly against themselues and their owne cause with this onely fond confidence that all authority and credit of the venerable testimonyes of the ancient Fathers are shifted of by saying only that they are incommodious opinions blots stubble and errours of the Fathers as though the very gleanings of the Fathers were not better then their whole vintage and these blots and stubble and falsely supposed errours were not to be preferred before their best truth But who tould these good fellowes that these were errours VVhat Church euer held them so What Generall Councell euer concluded them so Nay what one Father or one ancient writer the grand heretickes their ancient predecessours excepted did once open his mouth to speake against eyther all or any one of these doctrines If they can disproue any one of these doctrines according to any one of the forenamed challenges Church Councells one Father or many we do faithfully promise to renounce them all as stubble and errours as they speake But if none of these thinges can be made good against any one the least and weakest supposed doctrine then must these doctrines as hitherto they haue stood in the Church for Orthodoxe so must they hereafter continue Catholicke and they themselues for confessing the Fathers to hould them and we withall vrging antiquity that do deny consent of Fathers in any point of doctrine generally receiued by the Church in their dayes can be no lesse then great and rash presumption 87. And yet for full conclusion I must aduertise the Reader to note this one point which in my iudgement is very remarkeable for these Magdeburgians doe scarcely alleadge one place of ten of these that are to be found in the Fathers workes themselues for proofe of the Roman Catholicke Religion as euery man may easely discerne if he please to read the Catholicke writers that make profession purposely to alleadge the places of ancient Fathers as namely Canisius in his large Catechisme Cardinall Bellarmine throughout all his workes Cardinall Baronius Coccius in his Thesaurus Catholicus and others but yet these that the Magdeburgians please to cite are sufficient to daunt the English Protestant his confidence in the ancient Fathers since that they alone of themselues confute and confound both him and his religion With what face then can the English Protestants vaunt that the ancient Fathers are for him And further these few places of many that might be heaped togeather may as I hope suffice to giue his Excellent Maiesty our Soueraigne satisfaction or at leastwise sufficient light by these to passe further and to seeke more sound information of the true faith and beliefe of the ancient Fathers
of the first fiue hundred yeares which his sayd Maiesty most Royally offereth to follow For opening the window vnto which light I haue thought it my bounden duty both before God and man to take this small labour and to lay these few heades of Considerations before the eyes of his Highnes most wise Iudgment and vnderstanding THE SIXT CHAPTER CONTEYNING A BRIEFE CONTEMPLATION of what hath beene hitherto sayd with the Conclusion of the whole to his most Excellent Maiesty AND now hauing handled these points at some more length then at the beginning I had purposed I hope the benignity and Clemency of his Maiestie will take in good part that leauing the Reader I do returne vnto him againe as vnto my most dearly beloued reuerenced and dread Soueraigne to lay before the eyes of his Prudent Consideration the summe of that which hitherto hath beene considered of 2. First then the point of being a true Catholicke according vnto the name and nature of the word is of such importance necessity and consequence as hath beene shewed in the first Chapter that no riches in this world no wealth no treasure no state no power no policy no human felicity may be compared with it as rightly S. Augustine doth intimate And for that your Maiesties eternall weale after the briefe and transitory passage of this life dependeth therof I cannot but most humbly most hartily and most dutifully falling prostrate at your feet beseech you to giue some serious attendance and attention to this high and mayne point of euerlasting saluation to seeke out what is truely Catholicke both in the Church for whose Epitheton the Name was first by the Apostles inuented as also in particuler men who is a true Catholicke and who followeth the rule which the Name describeth to wit he that in Christian Religion followeth vniuersality and not singularity the whole and not a part ancienty and nouelty that which hath bene deliuered and conserued from time to time and not inuented framed and set sorth in later times 3. And for that on the other side heresy is the opposite and contradictory vnto Catholicke Religion for that it maketh choyce of a part to it selfe and therby is held to be the highest sin in the sight of Almighty god that is or can be committed vpon earth for that it ouerthroweth the very foundation of fayth vnder pretence to establish and reforme fayth My desire is so ardent in this point that your Matie should enter into due consideration therof as almighty God beareth wirnesse vnto my soule and spirit that nothing in this life stādeth more neere my hart considering the eternity of the next world the immutable weale or woe therof the vae or euge that ech man is to receaue as well Princes as others and that these earthly Princedomes will seeme but shadowes at that day and not worthy one houre of that glory or misery that is to be gotten or lost by Catholick Religion or heresy in this life And this is my first contemplation and I shall pray Almighty God that it may be also your Maiesties 4. The second is about those foure wayes proposed by your Maiesty for auerring Catholicisme and clearing frō heresy which are the admitting and belieuing of all Canonicall Scriptures the receauing of the three Creedes the approuing the foure first Councells and the acceptance of the Ancient Fathers of the first foure or fiue hundred yeares In all which if with the admitting in words there be also a true Catholicke sense no doubt but they do make a man to be a Catholicke and do condemne heresy But the importance of all standeth in the exposition for to belieue the Scriptures in the sense that I thinke best my selfe or to acknowledge them for Canonicall or not Canonicall as I or some few with me of later times shall please to prescribe or to admit the three Creedes with that exposition of the articles as I and mine shall best allow or the first foure Councells in some thinges and not in other or the first foure hundred yeares of Fathers so farre forth as they in my censure do agree with Scriptures is to reduce all to my owne iudgment a thing most opposite to Catholicisme and proper to heresy as we haue at large declared 5. Wherefore vpon my knees I do most humbly supplicate your Maiesty to consider well of this and especially of the last poynt concerning the ancient Fathers which doth in effect cōtaine all the rest for that these men deliuered vnto vs the Scriptures togeather with the true vnderstāding therof according to the sense of the Church in their dayes these men deliuered vnto vs the three Creedes the first as from the Apostles the other as from the Church the third as from a priuate man but yet approued by the Church these men deliuered vnto vs the first foure generall Councells wherein diuers of themselues sate as Iudges and Bishops and had voyees and suffrages in the same these men were they that examined the controuersies determined the Catholicke doctrine condemned heresies an athematized hereticks and cleared the coastes of all these wicked and turbulent incumbrances which seditious and headstrong spirits had raysed in the Christian world by their contentions 6. And finally these were they whom our Sauiour Christ did vse as sannes to winnow his corne to purge the flore of his Church separating the chaffe from the wheat and eroneous doctrine from the truth wherin they were so zealous and diligent labourers as not the least weed could spring vp in this field of the Church but that these carefull good watchmen and faithfull gardeners did presently note and pursue the same vntill it was eyther rooted out or condemned by the Church and therby as branches cut of from the body of the vine suffered to wither away and to consume of themselues For proofe wherof we may alleadge as many examples as there haue bene different heresies and hereticks in the Christian Church for the space of fifteene hundred yeares which albeit they ruffled much mightily for the time and had often great Princes Kinges Emperors and Potentates to fauour and patronize them as the Protestants haue now your Matie yet are they so consumed in tyme and by vertue of the holy Ghost as the very names of many of them are now scarce remembred and much lesse their arguments reasons proofes and Scriptures which they brought for the same and were it not that in these Fathers bookes who were their enemies some mention is made therof we should scarce know that there had bin such men in the world 7. But on the contrary side the Church that condemned these men and the Fathers and Doctors liuing therin remayned euer both then and after victorious and shal do to the worlds end and still by succession and continuatiō the same Church hath come downe frō age to age one age giuing testimony to another of the purity of the said Church