published by Pope Pius the fourth were never anciently received pag 25. The 39 Articles of the Church of England justified pag. 30. Papists teach that the Pope hath power to create new Articles of Faith pag. 33. Many Doctrines of Poperie are new by the confession of Papists themselves pag. 38. Protestants have a certaine rule of Faith Papists have not pag. 45 The Roman translation of the Bible is most corrupt pag. 51. Three sorts of corruptions and abuses of ancient Fathers 1. By foysting bastard Treatises entitling them to the Fathers 2. By falsifying their undoubted Treatises by additions detractions or mutations 3. By alleaging passages and places out of them which are not extant in their Workes and of all these three kinds Romanists are proved guiltie pag 64. Corruptions and falsifications of ancient Writers by Papists In the first Age. pag. 65. In the 2. Age. pag. 67. In the 3. pag. 68. In the 4. pag. 73. In the 5. pag. 77. In the 6. pag. 89. In the 7. pag. 90. In the 8. pag. 92. In the 9. pag. 105. In the 10. pag. 109. In the 11. pag. 110. In the 12. pag. 111. In the 13. pag. 112. In the 14. pag. 114. In the 15. pag. 115. In the 16. pag. 122. Of implicit Faith and blind Obedience maintained by Papists pag. 143. CHAP. II. Papists their bitternesse against reformed Churches is causlesse pag. 148. The definition of Heretikes agreeth to Papists but no way to Protestants pag. 151. Rome confessed to be Babylon by learned Romanists pag. 157. CHAP. III. Cassander and Caesenus are justified pag 164. Corruption in Faith as well as manners are confessed to have been in the Roman Church by the learned of that partie pag. 165. The Councell of Trent intended a reformation of Faith as well as manners pag. 173. CHAP. IV. The Catholike Faith is not so indivisible but that a man may renounce it in part though not in all as many learned Romanists have renounced the Trent Faith in part pag. 178. Priests marriage is lawfull pag. 181. CHAP. V. Romanists prefer their own interpretations of Scriptures before the ancient Fathers pag. 188. CHAP. VI. Many errours have crept into the Church whose first Authors cannot be named pag. 191. The difference between Heresie and Apostacie pag 196. CHAP. VII The petty degree of the Romish Faith is drawne from the ancient Heretikes namely the Osseni Helcheseite the Capernaites the Manichees the Aâ—gelici the Collyridians the Tacians and the Cathorists pag. 219. CHAP. VIII The Antiquitie and Vniversalitie of the Protestant Faith in generall is proved by the testimonies of our learned Adversaries pag. 253. There are but 22 Canonicall books of the old Testament as is proved by the testimonies of the ancient Fathers both of the Greeke and Latine Church pag 276. Errata in the first Part. PAge 42. line 8. reade his lin 17. r. authority in marg l. 2 r. ad Dard. p. 57. lin 11. r. their foreseene p. 66. l. 4. r. the deepe p. 75. l. 20. r. Angles p 92 in mar l. 8. r. alius in text l. 29. r. rejected p. 93. l. 16. r. serve p. 109. l. 23. r. making him speake p. 131. in mar l. 12. r. veniali p. 138. l. 25. r. very corruptly p. 139. l. 25. in marg 1. repurgata p. 153. l. 22. r. homoousians p. 164 in marg l. 25. r. vicesimi terrii p. 173. l. 23. r. operierunt p. 189. in mar l. 17 sequuntur p. 218. l. 2. r. Vitalian p. 219. l. 18. in marg r. regnum p 224. in marg l. 10. r. minus p. 248. in marg l. 12. r. curvat l. 14. r. pronus l. 18. r. iudico p. 251. l. 6. r. argument p. 255. l. 3. r. ingenuously p 257. l. 12. r. true body l. 21. r. is l. 22. dele and. p. 270. l. 4. r. looke p. 271. l. 29. r. of the. p. 273. l. 3. dele to the p. 279. l. 22. r. when To J. R. AUTHOR OF THE BOOKE CALLED A paire of Spectacles I Received a Treatise from you Mr. J. R. not long since published against me by the title of A paire of Spectacles or An Answer to a booke called Via tuta The safe way wherein you say the booke is shewed to be a Labyrinth of Errours and the Author a blinde Guide To what end your Spectacles were made for a blinde man I cannot tell for sure I am if I were blinde a paire of your Spectacles could not make me see howsoever if the indifferent Reader will look but upon the Frontispice of your own book he shall easily discerne that your glasses are deceitfull and do justly occasion a Writ of Error to be brought against your selfe for making that to seem in S. Austin your first Author which is not Your words are these Qui autem praetergreditur regulam fidei non accedit in viâ sed recedit de viâ Aug. in Joh. Tract 98. Tom. 9. p. 487. He that goeth besides the rule of faith which is the Catholique Church doth not come in the way but goeth out of the way wherein you have added these words of your owne viz. which is the Catholique Church in the same character with S. Austin and in lieu of Scripture you pretend the Church to be the rule of Faith whereas that ancient Father assures us Civitas Dei credit Scripturis Undè fides ipsa concepta est ex quâ justus vivit Aug. de Civit. Dei l. 19. c. 18. Tom. 5. Sancta Scriptura nostrae doctrinae regulam figit Idem de bono Viduitatis Tom. 4. c. 1. that from the holy and canonicall Scriptures that faith is formed and bred by which the just doe live Nay more hee expressely professeth with us that the holy Scripture doth fix or settle the rule of our doctrine And thus in your first citation you falsifie S. Austin and go besides the rule of faith and good manners also and by stumbling at the threshold you shew your selfe to bee the blinde guide you speake of in the first page and the first place I proceed to your Dedicatorie Epistle first you begin to descant upon my name in paralelling the words Lyend and Lye howsoever say you The title of Sir will be left for you These bee the first flowers of your eloquence and they savour sweetly Now if I should repay you in your owne language and shew you what men are branded with the letter R which stands for your name if I should shoot backe I say your arrowes even bitter words into your owne bosome would it not shew rather want of matter than proofe of doctrine If you delight to sit in the seat of the scornefull it shall be my comfort to tread in the steps of my Saviour who when hee was reviled reviled not againe To let passe your bitter reproaches of my learning and breeding I will come to the matter You have not stated the question say you fully and truly for you were
to shew the visibilitie of the Church by persons in all ages Then you demand of me where the Church was which S. Paul called the house of God and pillar of truth and thus you prescribe mee my weapons and teach mee how to fight Touching the visibilitie of the Church it is not to be confined within the narrow compasse of an Epistle and therefore I will answer you and your Jesuites challenge at large in place convenient and as touching your demand where the Church was which is called the pillar of truth I answer in briefe not in Rome but in Ephesus for otherwise it might seeme incongruous that the Apostle should exhort Timothy to walke circumspectly in the Church of God because the Church of Rome was the pillar and firmament of truth And therefore the Turke may better alledge this place to prove Mah mets religion being now subject to his power than you to justifie the Romish religion because Ephesus was the pillar of truth You proceed and by way of prevention you tell me the controversie is not so much of the doctrine as of the persons and then you conclude simply in the very same page The question is not of the doctrine but of the persons Oportet esse memorem I will but let you see your contradiction I quarrell it not onely I pray you tell mee in the words of sobernesse and truth did ever any wise man except your selfe undertake to prove the true Church by the visibilitie of the persons May not Jewes and Heretiques by the same reason claime a true Church because they had visible persons in all ages But say you this hath beene the way which the holy Fathers have taken either in proving the Catholique faith or disproving of heresies and for your Assertion you cite Tertullian Irenaeus Cyprian Optatus and Augustine give me leave to examine your Authors for as yet you have produced but one ancient Father and him you have falsified in the Frontispice of your booke Touching your first Author Tertull. prescript c. 32. lib. 3. Car. advers Marcion Tertullian in the first place cited by you hee demonstrates two wayes how to discerne the Church first by shewing some Apostle or Apostolicall person to have founded it next by the conformity of the doctrine to the Apostles and in his third book against Marcion which is your second citation hee hath nothing at all for your purpose Touching your second Author Iren. l. 3. c. 1 2 3. l. 4. c. 43 45 46. Irenaeus hee is expressely against you for in the first chapter and third booke cited by you he saith By the will of God they have delivered the Gospel to bee the pillar and foundation of truth In the second hee saith that when Heretiques are convinced by the Scriptures they fall to accuse them as if they were not right or of authoritie and that they are ambiguous and doubtfull In the third hee proveth the truth of the Church by the conformitie of doctrine to the Apostles not by the visibilitie as you pretend In his fourth booke cited by you he shewes that bare succession is no note of the Church and in his 45. chapter which you quote there is nothing that maketh for your question And lastly in the 46. chapter he proveth that the New Testament is as severe against fornication as the Old or rather more and this may touch the free-hold of that Church which dispenseth with Stewes but of the point in question he speakes nothing at all Touching your third Author S. Cyprian Cypr. Ep. 52. 76. in the 52. Epistle cited by you he perswades Antonianus rather to adhere to Cornelius than Novatianus and in his 76. Epistle alledged by you hee shewes that Novatianus succeeding none in that See was ordained by himselfe and therefore could bee no true Bishop but as touching the controversie in question Ne gry quidem Touching your fourth Author Optatus Optat. advers Parmen lib. 2. he handleth not the question neither maketh any thing at all for you Lastly August Psal 2. part Don. Ep. 165. de Utilit credendi c. 7. touching S. Austin you cite the second Psalme and there is nothing handled of the question you cite likewise his 165. Epistle wherein hee declares a succession of Bishops from the Apostles time to Anastasius Si ordo Episcoporum succedentium considerandus est Ep. 165. p. 751. Preculdubio ab Ecclesiâ Catholicâ sumendum exordium De Utilit credendi c. 7. Idem contr Cresc l. 1. c. 33. If saith he an orderly succession of Bishops is to be considered Yea but S. Austin say you particularly proves the question where he tels his friend Honoratus he must begin his enquirie from the Catholique Church Hee that told the Manichees wee must take our Exordium from the Church told the Donatists likewise wee must resort to that Church for the resolution of our faith which the sacred Scriptures undoubtedly demonstrate to be the true Church for in them saith he we have knowne Christ Idem Ep. 166. in them wee have knowne the Church If you can derive your succession in person and doctrine from Christ and his Apostles we will answer you as sometimes S. Austin answered Petilian the Donatist Idem contr l. Petil. l. 2. c. 85. Whether of us be Schismatiques we or you aske you not mee I will not aske you let Christ bee asked that hee may shew us his owne Church After these severall passages you returne againe to your first Author Tertullian Tertull. prescript c. 19. and with him you conclude where it shall appeare that there is the truth of Christian discipline and faith there shall bee the truth of Scriptures and Expositions And from hence you inferre that we are first to seeke the persons that professe the faith that is the Church Whereas in truth his testimony doth rather prove the persons by the doctrine than the doctrine by the persons and this is most agreeable to his owne Assertion in the third chapter Idem c. 3. Ex personis probamus fidem an ex fide personas As if hee should say wee plainly prove the persons by the doctrine not the doctrine by the persons Now put on your Spectacles and take a review of your Authors The first maketh nothing for you the second is expressely against you the third speakes not to the point in question the fourth and fifth handle the question but not at all to your advantage or our prejudice and thus you have produced foureteene severall places out of the ancient Fathers in one page and all either impertinently or falsly or directly against your selfe by which the Reader may conjecture what is like to bee the issue of your whole worke who have so grossely falsified so many authorities in your Epistle and before the entrance into the body of your booke From your lame proofes of the Churches authoritie you proceed to the justification of your maimed commandements
true though the things there spoken be not understood in a proper sense but in a metaphoricall sense onely Nay more your Jesuite Suare Suarez Tom. 3. disp 46. confesseth that this Cardinall in his Commentary upon this Article doth affirme that those words of Christ This is my body doe not of themselves sufficiently prove Transubstantiation without the authoritie of the Church and therefore by the command of Pope Pius the fifth that part of his Commentary is sponged out of the Romish Edition Thus one while you correct your Authors another while you purge them for delivering the truth in our behalfe Look upon your Cardinall Bellarmine although he will not allow that sense which the Lutherans give Bell. de Euch. l. 2. c. 19. yet hee granteth that those words This is my body may imply either such a reall change of the bread as the Catholiques hold or such a figurative change as the Calvinists hold And although hee would seeme to prove that the words of Scripture are so plaine that they may compell a refractorie man to beleeve them yet having well weighed the reasons and allegations of other Schoole-men Bell. de Euch. l. 3. c. 23. at last concludes It may justly be doubted whether the text be cleere enough to inforce it seeing men sharp and learned such as Scotus was have thought the contrary How therefore your Church should ground a point of faith upon a doubtfull opinion or on such words as by the testimonies of your best learned Divines may receive a double construction I leave it to be judged But farther in proofe of Pope Pius Creed I could urge Sr. Humfrey say you with the 39. Articles appointed by the authoritie of the Church of England to be uniformely taught by all Ministers which they are to sweare unto which Articles though they be indeed new coyned as the foundation of a new Church yet Sr. Humfrey being his mothers Champion will not I suppose yeeld her or her doctrine to bee new Thus you It is true as you say there are 39. Articles appointed by our Church to bee uniformely taught by all Ministers and it is as true that they are published and received with unitie and consent which your men acknowledge for a proper marke of the true Church And withall let me adde this one thing for your observation and indeed it is a thing remarkable whereas all your Trent Articles have beene questioned and confuted by Chemnitius Chamierus Gentilletus and other Protestant writers yet there was never any Papist could goe farther than to tell us as you doe I could urge you with the novelty of the 39. Articles I say never as yet did any Romanist attempt much lesse was able to confute and overthrow our Articles which stand like a house built upon a rocke immoveable and cannot be shaken Let me tell you further your comparisons betwixt our Articles and yours doe not hold for all your Articles are fundamentall points to your Trent beleevers and the deniall of any of them makes them heretiques and damned persons as your Popes Bull expressely declareth Bulla Pii quarti On the other side some of our Articles concerne the discipline of the Church and are not essentiall to salvation others concerne the ancient and latter heresies wherein we teach the negative and those are not properly Articles of faith which we beleeve but points of doctrine which wee condemne and beleeve not And that you may know our Articles are not new nor newly coyned by our men if you will put on your spectacles you shall finde that most of our prime Articles are taught and received by your owne Church as well as ours and therefore I hope you will confesse they are not coyned and built upon the foundation of a new Church Briefly touching our 39. Articles The first sort are in the Affirmative both ours and yours and all those are uniformely received by both Churches The second sort are ours onely which we affirme and you deny and those are very few in number and are evidently deduced from the Scripture The third sort are yours which we deny and you affirme and for that cause you terme our religion negative and those remaine for you to make good Joyne therefore those negative Articles which are wholly yours to those positive Articles which you hold with us and you shall easily discerne if the denomination followeth the greater part those Articles may most properly bee termed Articles of your faith for I dare confidently avow that of the 39. Articles there are above 35. yours that is either such which you hold with us which are at least twentie or such wherein the affirmative is yours and not ours which are at least fifteene take therefore your owne libertie either confute ours or make good your owne herbam porrigemus and I will give you the bucklers You proceed and upon a false supposall that our Church hath created new Articles you proclaime in the name of your owne Church these words We teach that for Articles of faith the Church can make none as she cannot write a Canonicall booke of Scripture Thus you When Diogenes saw a supposed Bastard casting stones in a presse of much people he gave the boy this caveat Take heed lest thou hit thy father This is like to bee your case for by this Tenet you will wound the Church your Mother and amongst others you will surely hit your holy Father the Pope It appeares first that you endevoured to shew that your Church hath created no new Articles of faith but for want of solid proofes you begin to faint and thinke it the safest way to turne Protestant in this point and say the Church can create none but I wonder how you dare pronounce in the name of the Church we teach whereas in truth your Church teacheth it not This is therefore but a cunning device of yours to dazle the eyes of the ignorant with your false glasses and to make them beleeve it is the generall Tenet of your Church and then you thinke they will conclude according to your Assertion Ergo The Church hath created none when as your saying makes more strongly against you if either your Articles prove new or the Pope and his Agents professe the contrarie Mr. Heigham who first answered my Book Mr. Heigham in his answer called Via verè tuta pag. 199. 200. was a member of your Church and he cries aluod that the Church hath power to decree and promulgate new articles of faith But your third Replyer Tom Tell-troth in his Whetstone of Reproofe thought it the wisest way to decline the question for hee knew well when you were both at odds and taught flat contrarie doctrine each to other the Whetstone of necessitie would belong to one of his fellow writers But to let passe such differences amongst your selves bee it spoken to your comfort Friar Walden about two hundred yeares agoe affirmed the same that you doe Waldens
to be grandement suspicious of new coynage and if for no other cause yet for this alone they give a just occasion and jealousie when such poore shifts and evasions are devised by your Pope and his adherent to make them good for it is a true saying of a renowned Bishop and it is the faith of all reformed Catholiques B. Morton Grand Impost cap. 2. sect 2. He can onely make an article of faith who can create a soule and after make a Gospel to save that soule and then give unto that soule the gift of faith to beleeve that Gospel I proceed to your doctrine That is onely to bee called a new faith say you which is cleane of another kind that is differing or disagreeing from that was taught before Thus you I will not take advantage of your first Assertion that your faith is grounded upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles which you can never prove but wil joyne issue with you upon your last Assumpsit That is only to be called a new faith which is cleane of another kind and is different disagreeing from what was taught before but such are many of the Articles of Pope Pius the fourth extracted from the Councell of Trent as shall appeare by proofes at large in their proper places In the meane time let me tell you your Church teacheth not onely Novê but Nova not onely Praeter but Contra even besides and contrarie to that which she first received from the ancient Church so that howsoever you seeke to darken truth by faire and specious pretences yet in truth your Trent Additions are forraine to the faith as neither principles nor conclusions of it And that you may know and acknowledge with us that your Trent faith is differing and disagreeing from what was taught before I pray call to mind your owne confessions touching these particular Articles of your Roman Church Your doctrine touching Lay-peoples communicating under one kind namely in bread onely is an Article of the Roman faith and now generally taught and practised in the Roman Church but this practice by your owne confession is different and disagreeing from what was taught before for you say pag. 253. touching the Authors which you bring for proofe That it was the common practice of the Church for the Laytie to communicate in both kinds I allow of their authoritie Your Prayer and Service in an unknown tongue as it is now used in the Roman Church by your owne confession is different and disagreeing from what was taught before for say you pag. 270. It is true that Prayer and Service in the vulgar tongue was used in the first and best ages according to the precept of the Apostles and practice of the Fathers In the beginning it was so Your doctrine of Transubstantiation which at this day is generally received de substantia fidei for an Article of Faith yet by your owne confession is different and disagreeing from what was taught before for say you pag. 167. Transubstantiation might well be said not to have beene de substantia fidei in the Primitive Church as Yribarne speaketh because it had not beene so plainly delivered nor determined in any Councell till Gregorie the seventh his time and this was above a thousand yeares after Christ Your private or solitarie Masse wherein the Priests doe daily communicate without the people is by your own confession different and disagreeing from what was taught before and practised for say you pag. 191. They say speaking of divers Authors it was the practice of the Primitive Church to communicate everie day with the Priest I grant it These points of controversie which are so eagerly pursued by your men against the members of our Church the strength and force of truth hath extorted from you and therefore I may truly conclude Exore tuo from your owne confession that your Trent faith is new because it is different and disagreeing from what was taught before You that have taken an oath to maintaine the Papacie and are so ready to teach others you I say have either violated your oath or at leastwise have forgot your old lesson Oportet esse memorem c. for verily it behoves him that speakes lyes and contradictions to have a good memorie But it seemes you did conceive the Reader might easily passe by many such contradictions being in severall passages and farre distant pages For otherwise it would seeme strange that you which so bitterly inveigh against our reformed religion should confesse the antiquitie of our Articles and the noveltie of your owne with flat contradictions to your owne Assertions I will say to you therefore as sometimes St. Hierome spake in his Epistle to Pamachius and Oceanus Hieronym ad Pamach Oceanum Tom. 2. Thou who art a maintainer of new doctrine whatsoever thou he I pray thee spare the Romane eares spare the faith that is commanded by the Apostles mouth why goest thou about now after foure hundred yeares I may say foureteen hundred yeares to teach us that faith which we before never knew why bringest thou forth that thing that Peter and Paul never uttered Evermore untill this day the Christiam world hath beene without this doctrine To pursue the rest of your Allegations The Church of England say you admitteth of divers Books of the New Testament for Canonicall whereof there was doubt of three or foure hundred yeares to gether in the Church of God as the Epistle to the Hebrewes the second Epistle of St. Peter the Epistle of St. Jude the Apocalyps of St. John and some others which were after admitted for Canonicall 〈◊〉 I would know of him whether upon the admittance of them there were any change of faith in the Church or whether ever those books have received any change in themselves Thus you It seemes you begin to feare that your Trent faith would be discovered to be different and disagreeing from what was taught before and thereupon you would seemingly illustrate the antiquitie of your new Articles by the authoritie of the ancient Books of Canonicall Scripture But I pray where doe you find that the Books of the New Testament as namely the Epistle to the Hebrewes the Epistle of St. Peter and St. Jude and the Apocalyps were not received for three or foure hundred yeares for Canonicall It is true there was some doubt who were the right Authors of those Books but their divine authoritie was ever generally approved by all Christian Churches and allowed for Canonicall The Epistle to the Hebrewes was therefore doubted of by some because the difference diversity of the stile made them think it not to be St. Pauls and by others because the Author of it seemed to them to favour the error of the Novatian heretikes in denying the reconciliation of such as fall after Baptisme The second Epistle of St. Peter which you speake of some doubted of because of the diversitie of the style The Epistle of St. Jude was doubted
and tell me if I may not truly retort your Assertion into your owne bosome Scripture you have indeed but so mang led corrupted perverted by Translation that as you have it it is as good as nothing But you have misinterpreted the Scriptures say you according to your owne fancies Your bolt is soone shot and if all your words were Oracles and that Ipse dixit were sufficient your bare word for other proofes you have none would easily conclude us but I will shew you so plainly that without Spectacles you may see that these Aspersions likewise reflect upon your selves It was a question amongst your fellow Jesuits whether Jacob Clemens the Dominican might by Authority of the Scripture kill Henry the third B. Barloes defence of the Articles in his Preface p. 7. King of France and one of your Jesuits reasoned thus with himselfe Ehud killed Eglon and therefore I may kill Henry for Eglon was a King and so is Henry Eglon signifies a Calfe and Henry is a Calvinist and therefore assuredly I may murther him by Scripture I hope you will confesse that this Jesuite although he were of your Society did interpret the Scripture according to his owne fancie In like manner your Patriarke of Venice concludes seven Sacraments from the words of Scripture and I conceive it is according to his owne fancie That saith he which Andrew spake Inn. Gentil exam Concil Trid. l. 4. n. 26. Sess There is a Boy which hath five loaves and two fishes must be understood of the ranke of St. Peters successors and that which is added Make the people sit downe signifieth that salvation must be offered them by teaching them the seven Sacraments And whereas the Prophet David saith Thou hast put all things under his feet Antoninus your Archbishop of Florence Anton. in Sum. part 3. tit 22. c. 5. about two hundred years since expounded those words in this manner Thou hast made all things subject to the Pope the Cattle of the field that is to say men living in the Earth the fishes of the sea that is to say the soules in Purgatory the fowles of the Ayre that is to say the soules of the Blessed in heaven whether this Exposition be according to the sense which the Catholike Church holdeth or according to his owne fancy let the Reader judge To come nearer to you Whitak Camp Rat. 9. Moses saith God made man after his Image Pope Adrian inferreth Therefore Images must be set up in Churches St. Peter saith Behold here are two swords Pope Boniface concludes Extra de Major Obed. Therefore the Pope hath power over the spirituall and the temporall St. Mathew saith Give not that which is holy unto dogges Mr. Harding expounds it Juels Def. p. 52. Therefore it is not lawfull for the vulgar people to reade the Scriptures It was sayd to St. Peter in a vision Arise kill and eate your Cardinall Baronius hence infers In voto Baronii contra venetos The Pope is Peter and the Venetians are the meat which must be killed and devoured To let passe those farre fetched and extravagant senses of Scriptures which your learned men wyer-draw for your Romish Doctrine It is the word of God Goe to my servant Job and he will pray for thee therefore there is an Invocation of Saints in Scripture Give us this day our daily bread Bellar. de Sāct Beat. l. 1. c. 10. therefore the bread must bee given to the Common people and not the Cup. Roffens adver Luther Art 16. Our Saviour opened the Booke of the Prophet Esay and afterwards closed it Ledis de divinis Script Quâvis linguâ non legendâ cap. 22. therefore Prayer and Service in an unknowne tongue is commanded by the Scripture These and such like false glasses you temper for your Spectacles to deceive your poore ignorant Proselites with the name of Scripture and for feare they should make any doubt of the right interpretation of them Si quis habet interpretationē Ecclesiae Romanae de loco aliquo Scripturae etiamsi tamen habet ipsissimū verbum Dei Hosius de expresso verbo Dei your Cardinall Hosius protesteth to all Romanists If a man have the Interpretation of the Church of Rome of any place of Scripture he hath the very words of God though he neither know nor understand whether nor how it agreeth with the words of Scripture This puts me in minde of that excellent passage of St. Hilary who speaking of the errours and Heresies crept into the Church in the dayes of Constantius makes this generall complaint which in these dayes is truly verified in the Roman Church Hilard 3. ad Constant l. 1. ad Const defunctum Faith is now come to depend rather on time than on the Gospel your state is dangerous and miserable you have as many faiths as wills and as many doctrines as manners whilst faiths are either so written as you list or so vnderstood as you will I come now to your forbidden Bookes wherein the mysterie of iniquitie will manifestly appeare and first touching the sacred Bible which is forbidden in the first place The Bible say you is not so forbidden but that it is in the Bishops power to grant leave if upon Conference with the Parish Priest or Confessor of the partie that desireth leave he finde him to be such a one as may not incurre danger of faith c. which with any reasonable man may be counted sufficient liberty It is true that by the fourth Rule of Pope Pius the fourth the Bible may be licensed by the Bishop but the party must have the license in writing and withall it is decreed Regula 4. in indice libr. prohibit p. 16. If any presume without such license either to reade or have it unlesse he come in first and give up his Bible to his Ordinary let him not have the pardon of his sinnes It is not lawfull then to reade the Bible without a dispensation but with a license any man may reade it and this say you is sufficient liberty for any reasonable man If I should grant you that which you say yet you are never able to make good that license for Pope Clement the eight about thirty yeares after upon this dispensation so granted gives us to understand That upon the Rule of Pius the fourth Observatio circa 4. Regulam Ibid. p. 22. in fine Concil Trident no new power was granted to the Bishops or Inquisitors or Superiors to license the buying reading or keeping the Bible in the vulgar tongue seeing hitherto by the command and practise of the holy Inquisition the power of granting such licenses to reade or keepe Bibles in the vulgar Language or any part of Scripture as well of the New as the Old Testament or any sums or Hystoricall Abridgement of the same in any vulgar Language hath beene taken from them Quod quidem inviolatè servandum est and
figura which is a figure of the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ Your Ambrose printed at Colein doth mince those words and sayth quod sit in figuram as if it might stand for a figure but were no figure and more particularly in the Canon of your Masse you cite all those former words of Ambrose to prove the Antiquity of your Masse but you leave out the latter which is a figure of the Body and say c Ut nobis corp sanguis fiat dilectissimi fiâ—ii tui Domini nostri Jesu Christi Missale Parv. An. 1626 p. Mihi 82. Grant that it may be to us the body and bloud of our Lord Jesus Christ. And lastly that Ambrose might seemingly appeare to be yours in the point of Transubstantiation whereas he sheweth the power and wonders of God in creating all things of nothing by his word only and from thence concludeth d Siâ—ergo tanta vis est in sermone Domini Jesu ut inciperent esse quae non erant quant ò magis operatorius est ut sint quae erant in aliud commutentur Idem de sacr l. 4. c. 4. Basil ut suprà p. 392. If therfore there be so great force in the speech of our Lord Jesus that the things which were not begun to be namely at the first creation of all things how much more is the same powerful to make that those things may still be the same they were and yet be changed into another thing Here St. Ambrose sheweth plainly that the Elements of Bread and Wine are the same in substance as they were before although they are changed into another nature Your Inquisitours knowing well that such Doctrine is flat contrary to their Tenet which teach that the Elements are not the things in substance they were before Consecration have wisely left out in their late Edition two poore words Sint and et and accordingly the sense runneth after this manner How much more is the speech of our Lord powerfull to make that those things which were Ut quae erant in aliud commutentur Paris An. 1603 Colon. Agripp An. 1616. Tom. 4. p. 173. should bee changed into another thing And by this meanes St. Ambrose a Protestant is become a Masse Priest and with a clipped tongue lispeth Transubstantiation Fryer Walden in writing against Wickliffe cites this place by the halves ut sint et in aliud commutentur he would have the Elements one thing Wald. de sacr Euch. Tom. 2. c. 82 p. Mihi 138. b. and changed into another but excludes the principall words quae erant shewing that they should be the same which they were before and Lanfranck long before him stormed at Berengarius for citing this place out of St. Ambrose in behalfe of our Doctrine and cryes out against him O mentem amentem c. O mad mind O impudent lyar now truly there is no such words to be found in all St. Ambrose his workes Ed. Parisiis 1632. Ex editione Romanâ In quâ quae vel vitio vel incuriâ erant adjecta sunt rejecta quae sublata restituta quae transposita reposita quae depravata emendata c. In the fift age An. 400. to 500. c. But there is an Ambrose lately printed at Paris which makes a great promise of integrity and purity and yet the words are corruptly printed according to your other of Paris and Colein print In the fift age St. Chrysostome Archbishop of Constantinople is razed and purged touching the doctrine of the Sacrament his words bee these If therefore it be so dangerous a matter to transferre unto private uses those holy Vessels in which the true Body of Christ is not but the mysterie of his body is conteyned These latter words comprehended in the Parenthesis Chrys Antwerpiae apud fohannem Steelsium An. 1537. Paris apud Johannem Roigny An. 1543. Paris apud Audoenum Parvii Anno 1557. in the Editions of Antwerpe and Paris are wholly left out there is not a syllable of them to bee seene for indeed the Author of that worke saith negatively that the irue body of Christ is not there which overthrowes the very ground of your Popish presence and although your men make great brags of Antiquity to prove your reall Sacrifice of the Altar out of St. Chrysostome yet in the 19. Homily upon St. Matthew where hee termes it the Sacrifice of bread and wine Sacrificium panis vini they being also privie to this evidence as against their owne doctrine Sacrificium corporis saÌ„ guinis Christi Paris apud Audoenum Pâ—rvuÌ„ An. 1557. in c. 7. Matt. HoÌ„ 19. in their Edition at Paris have taught him to speake the Trent language in these words It is the Sacrifice of the body and bloud of Christ. Touching the Testimony of divine Scriptures St. Chrysostome is purged he tells us in his 49. Homily That from the time that Heresies invaded the Church Nunc autem nullo modo cognoscitur volentibus cognoscere quae sit Ecclesia Christi nisi tantummodò per scripturas Idem Homil. 49 Tom. 2 p. mihi 858. there can be no triall of Christianity nor refuge for Christians who are willing to know the true faith but to the divine Scriptures for at that time there is no way to know which is the true Church but by the Scriptures onely This authority is wholly agreeable to our doctrine and thereupon these times of Controversies and Heresies that have overspread the face of the Church wee say with St. Chrysostome those that be in Judaea let them flye to the Mountaines of the Scriptures But what answer can be made thinke you to the razing of so faire an Evidence Behold a Totus hic locus tanquam ab Arrianis insertus è quibusdam Codicibus nuper emendatis sublatus est Bell de verbo Dei l. 4. c. 11. Bellarmine tells us that this whole passage as if it had beene inserted into St. Chrysostome by the Arrians is blotted out of the late corrected Editions and as our learned Doctor Crakenthorpe in his answer to Spalatto observed there is above 70. lines in the Antwerpe Edition Crakenth in Spalat p. mihi 59. published 1537. purged in this Homily It seemes then it is hereticall doctrine to have recourse to the Scriptures onely for finding of the truth But sure I am it is the part of Heretikes to raze ancient Records and to avoyd the triall of their cause by the sacred Scriptures The fourth Councell of Carthage where St. Austin was present is in part forged in part razed In the 100. Canon it was thus decreed Mulier baptizare non praesumat Concil Carthag c. 100. Let no woman presume to baptize What answer therefore may we expect to this Canon Binius the publisher of the Councels expounds the meaning of it thus The Councell saith he doth decree that a woman should not presume to baptize that is when the Priest is
hands who doe not onely raze and falsifie Evidences touching the greatest mysteries of Salvation who I say not onely doe the same but have pleasure in them that doe them Thus much touching the razing and corrupting of the Fathers for the first 800. yeares Now I proceed to your Index Expurgatorius your purging and blotting out the moderne Authours for the last 800. yeares Forasmuch say you as concerneth the late Catholike Authors of this last age for this our Index of which is al the difficultie beginneth but from the yeere 1515. whatsoever needeth correction is to bee amended or blotted out yet for others going before that time it is expresly said that nothing may be changed unlesse some manifest errors through the fraud of Heretikes or carelesnesse of the Printer bee crept in Thus you From your corrupting the ancient Councels and Fathers which I have showne wee are at last come to the correcting of moderne Authors and as I have led you through an Hospitall of maimed Souldiers so now I will send you to the house of correction where I will leave you without Baile or Maine-prize till you have cleared your selfe and your associates for wounding and cutting out the tongues of your owne Authors in speaking truth against the corruptions of the Church But your correcting Index say you began but from the yeare 1515. P. 24. 144. and nothing is changed of Catholike Authors before that time I assure you I have not heard as yet one sentence nay scarce one word of truth fall from your pen wherein you dissent from us and this your assertion will prove as true as the rest Yea but fay you it is expresly declared by the Church that nothing may be changed and if this be true as true it is indeed the lesse credit is to be given you or your Church-men who make decrees and breake them at their pleasure for it shall appeare that your Index doth extend it selfe to the time of the Apostles and howsoever you pretend to purge the Fathers onely in the Index and Table of their Bookes yet I say some you have purged in the Text it selfe others you have corrected in the Index in the expresse words delivered in the bodie of those Bookes And as touching your Assertion that you purge the latter writers onely from the yeare 1515. and not beyond that time this is most false and you had said more truly if you had confessed that for 1515. yeares together your Church spared no Authours ancient or moderne if they speake not Placentia agreeable to your Popes faith and doctrine For the better manifestation of this truth looke first upon your Correctorium for so Lucas Brugensis termes it your worke of correction upon the Bible and tell me if you have not altered by your Popes command above three thousand severall places in the Scripture even in your vulgar Translation which you call St. Hieromes and although you dare not lay a Deleatur upon the sacred word of God yet upon the Commandements upon the Lords Prayer upon severall places of Scripture as I have shewed there is a Deletur a leaving out and a detracting from it Looke upon your Index Expurgatorius printed at Madrid by Cardinall Quiroga and tell me if you have not purged certain places in the Index of the Bible which are ipsissima verba the very words to a letter in the Textit selfe as for instance a Justificamur fide in Christum Galat. 2.16 We are justified by faith in Christ b Justitia nostra Christus 1. Cor. 1.30 Christ is our Righteousnesse c Fide purificantur corda Act. 15.9 By faith our hearts are purified d Justus coram Deo nemo Psal 143.2 No man is righteous before God e Uxorē habeat unusquisque 1 Cor. 7.2 Let every man have his wife c. All these passages I say are the very word of God in the Body of the Scriptures and yet they are commanded f Ind. Hisp Madr. f. mihi 15. B. tanquā propositiones suspectae for so are the words of your Index as if they were things questionable to bee blotted out Againe when your glosses or marginall notes agree not to your doctrine you cause your Index Expurgatorius to lay hold on them as for instance in the 26. of Leviticus we reade in your owne Translation You shall not make to your selves an Idoll or thing graven Deleatur illud Sculptilia prohibet fieri Idem fol. 7. when the glosse in the Margent saith God forbiddeth graven Images Let that passage say you be strucken out And whereas Samuel saith Prepare your hearts unto the Lord and serve him onely Ibid. fol. 8. b. the glosse upon the Text which is the same in substance viz. wee must serve God onely you command to be blotted out These and the like places relating to the Scriptures being contrary to your Trent doctrine you have excluded from your late printed Bibles in the places aforesaid as being too obvious to the eye of every Reader Ind. Hisp Madrid p. 6. 7. f. 138. Mihi 62. Crakenthorp adv Spal p. 66. Bell. de verbo Dei l. 4. c. 11. c. Ind. Madrid fol. 62. a. Deleantur ex Textu illa verba Sed ubi non habuerit Dei timorem in seipsis nec Jesum per fidem incolam c. Ibid. Eam verò solūmodò naturam quae increata est colere venerari didicimus Ant. Meliss serm 1. Bell. descript Eccl. p. mihi 184. Looke upon the Fathers and tell mee if your Index Expurgatorius doth not correct both St. Chrysostome and Austin and Hilarie and Hierome in their Index touching the prime points of controversie betwixt us Nay more St. Austin saith Vives is purged ten or twelve lines in the body of his workes St. Chrysostome in his 49. Homily is purged 70. lines by Bellarmines confession other places are razed out of him and other Fathers as I have shewed before Looke upon St. Cyrill Bishop of Alexandria who was living above 1200. yeares agoe and tell me if your Inquisitors have not commanded a Deleatur upon his words in the very Text it selfe Looke before his time upon Gregory Nyssen and tell me if through the sides of Antonius Abbas who was living by Bellarmines accompt neare 900. yeares agoe you doe not wound that ancient Father in the body of his workes in commanding this golden sentence to bee blotted out Ind. Belg. p. 270. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Nissen in Orat. 4. Tom. 2. Edit Graeco-lat p. 146. We have learned to worship and adore that nature onely which is uncreated * Parsōs warn-word to Sir Fran. Hastings wast-word Enc. 2. c. 9 p. 69. your F. Parsons takes great paines to little purpose to excuse it one while he tells us that the sentence is not to bee found in Gregory Nissen which is most false another while he confesseth that they cannot stand to give a particular reason
Aeneas when he retracted as Pope that which he had written or when he condemned that which hee had retracted No surely he was Pius in nothing in the opinion of your Church but in his Bull of Retractations and he was Aeneas in nothing more than in condemning that which he retracted And accordingly he himselfe beggs of your Church Bulla Retractat Pii 2. Illud Gentile nomen parentes indidere nascenti hoc Christianum in Apostolatu suscepimus Ibid. Pium recipite Aeneam rejicite Receive you Pius but reject Aeneas and he gives his reason for it Aeneas is a heathenish Name which our Parents gave us at our Birth but Pius is a Christian name which we assumed in our Apostolike calling You may adde to this Aeneas was a private man and subject unto errour but Pius was a Pope and therefore in his determinations infallible or rather you may truly say with him Nihil mentiti sumus nihil ad gratiam nihil ad odium retulimus Bulla Retractat that Aeneas before he was Pope delivered the truth neither for feare nor hatred and yet he was forced to retract it but Pius * Cum doctrinā non sanam suspectam quae offensionem parere potest contineant c. Class 2. in Ind. lib. prohibit when he was Pope delivered false and suspected doctrine and such as was offensive to your Church and for that cause is commanded to bee purged Quid Pius Aeneas in te committere tantùm What ill hap had good Aeneas or rather what ill fortune had Pope Pius that he could neither satisfie your Church either as he was Aeneas or as he was Pius neither as a private Doctor nor as an infallible Pope Rivet Criticū Sacr. Specimen c. 7. p. 49. or rather I may say with your owne Canus What doth it availe men who desire to know the truth to raze Records out of their Bookes when they cannot blot it out of their mindes Petrus Crinitus was a Romish Priest Anno 1450. and is commanded to be purged and if we shall examine the reason we shall finde it for no other cause but that he speakes the truth against your Pope and Popish Doctrine To instance in particulars Let both the Title and the Chapter be razed say your Inquisitors touching Pope Boniface the 8. Petr. Crinit l. 7. c. 13. de dom Disciplinâ and the reason is pregnant that Chapter shewes the insosolencie and pride of the Pope in particular in matter of fact and it further declares that under pretence of Religion the Popes in generall thinke they may doe what they list Againe when he speakes of ancient Lawes Idem l. 14. c. 5. made in generall for Marriage and propagation of Children they command that page to be strucken out and there can be no other reason but because on the contrary it is a positive law of your Church to forbid Marriage Lastly whereas he shewes that Leo the Emperour made an Edict Idem l. 9. c. 9. that all Images in Churches and houses of the Christians should be razed and hee declares in his opinion that it doth not appertaine to Religion to adore any mans Image and that Valens and Theodosius made Proclamation to all Christians that they would suffer no man to fashion to grave or paint the Image of our Saviour either in colours or in stone or in any other kinde of metall or matter and that wheresoever any such Image should bee found they commanded it to be taken downe Index Belgic p. 421. Index Madrid p. 150. Ind. lib. prohibit p. 79. 718. Bulla Pii 4. Art 9. Art 22. These and the like passages your Inquisitors in three severall Indices command to be razed out and what cause can you pretend but that it makes against a speciall Article of your faith viz. that Images should be set up in Churches and worshipped and by this meanes you strike likewise at the Articles of our Church and when you have made such Doctrines and Evidences invisible by razing the records then you bid us shew where the Church was visible before Luther Now what credit shall the Reader give unto you and to your Trent Councell that would assure us that your Church intended the purging of no Authors but from the yeare 1515. when as it appeares plainely that you have spared neither the writings of the Apostles nor the Fathers in razing and falsifying their owne very words and sentences And as touching other Authors in the latter ages you have gone beyond your Commission hundreds of years in falsifying corrupting forbidding and purging them and this was long before your prefixed yeare of 1515. In the sixteenth age Luther began his Heresie saith Bellarmine Anno 1517. Anno 1517. Bell. Chronol p. 3. pag. 117. and your Church to make some shew that your Index Expurgatorius had a relation onely to Luther and his followers tooke her rise from the yeare 1515. which was but two yeares before his comming as if all the members of your Church before his comming had lived in the unity of one faith and doctrine This deceivablenesse of your unrighteousnesse I have in part discovered Now I come to your Authors of this last age for I will cite none but your owne Authors and therein lieth another mysterie not inferiour to the first and that is this your Index Expurgatorius was first proclaimed generally against all Heretickes meaning the Protestants but when it comes to examination it points especially at the particular members of your owne Church and that which is most remarkable after that your Trent Councel had distinguished with Anathema's her Roman faith from the faith of Protestants after she had forbidden and condemned by her Index divers of your owne Authors as savouring of suspected and false and scandalous doctrine nay more after she had declared all to be Heretickes and their Doctrine Hereticall who would dare to teach or publish any contrary beliefe to that which was once established by a Generall Councell yet I say the members of your owne Church and those not of the meanest ranke both Bishops and Cardinals have delivered in print many points of Doctrine agreeable to the Articles of our Church and yet you say they never left the Church they are not personally to be noted nor ranked amongst Heretickes when for the very same Tenets we are accused accursed forbidden and utterly condemned as Heretickes and Reprobates and thus the head of your Church being divided from the members in points of saving faith may say unto the tongue I have no need of thee and consequently may cut it out Howsoever this use we may safely make of your Index that if in after ages by new Impressions the true doctrine of Protestants shall be razed and utterly abolished in your Roman Authors yet your very Index will appeare as a strong Evidence to shew that such doctrines were taught in former Ages and howsoever the faction in the
Merchant God saith he will have nothing to lay to this mans charge at the dreadfull day of Judgement His meaning it may be is God can charge him with nothing because this man knew nothing This doctrine of Obedience doth well agree with Cardinall Bellarmines exposition upon that place of Job Bell. de Justif l. 1. c. 7. The Oxen did plow and labour and the Asses fed by them By the Oxen saith hee are meant the learned Doctors of the Church by the Asses are meant the ignorant people which out of simple beliefe rest satisfied with the understanding of their Superiors And accordingly your Cardinall Casanus perswades his Proselytes to relye upon the Church without further inquirie of the truth Cusan exercit l. 2. l. 6. For saith he Obedience without reason is a full and perfect obedience that is when thou obeyest without enquiring of reason as a horse is obedient to his Master He that shall make a question in your Church whether the Pope can erre must resigne up his understanding with this beliefe Bellar. de Pont. l. 4. c. 5. If the Pope should so farre forth erre as to command vices and forbid vertues the Church were bound to beleeve that vices are good and vertues are evill unlesse she will sinne against her owne conscience This is Bellarmines lesson and that must bee your Faith Nay more Cardinall Tollet will assure you that if one beleeve his Bishop Toll de Instruct sacerd l. 4. c. 3. although it be contrary to the faith yet in beleeving that falshood hee shall performe an act meritorious I understand you are a Jesuite and therefore I doe not much wonder that you so much insist upon the justification of an implicite faith for you had it from your founder and are injoyned to make it good by your owne Order There is a little Pamphlet entituled Regulae Societatis Jesu which your selves have caused to be printed at Lyons in which Ignatius Loyala the Spanish Souldier and Patron of your Sect Anticotton or a refutation of Cottons letter to the Queene Regent p. 24. printed at Lyons by Jaques Roussin Anno. 1607. hath laid downe these rules to your Societie Entertaine the command of your Superiour in the same sort as if it were the voice of Christ Againe Hold this undoubtedly that all which a Superiour commands is no other than the commandement of God himselfe and as in beleeving those things which the Catholike faith proposeth you are presently carried with all the strength of your consent so for the performance of all those things which your Superiour commands you must be carried with a certaine blinde impetuosity of will desirous to obey without further inquiring why or wherefore And lest that such command might seeme sometimes unjust and absurd he commands your Jesuits so to captivate their understanding that they sift not the commands of their Superiours but that they may follow the example of Abraham who prepared even to sacrifice his sonne at the commandement of God and of Abbot John who watered a drie log of wood a whole yeare together to none other purpose but to exercise his obedience and another time put himselfe to thrusting downe of a great Rocke which many men together were not able to move not that hee held them things either usuall or possible but onely that hee would not disobey the command of his Superiour This is that blind obedience and implicite faith which wee laugh at and this is the ridiculous Doctrine which your Rhemists teach He saith enough Rbem Annot. in Luc. 12.11 and defendeth himselfe sufficiently who answereth he is a Catholike man and that his Church can give a reason of all the things which they demand of him But we have not so learned Christ wee are ready alwayes according to the Apostles instruction 1 Pet. 3.15 to give an answer to every man that asketh us a reason of the hope that is in us And for the better fulfilling of the Law and the Prophets wee testifie with Moses Secret things belong to the Lord our God Deut. 29.29 but the things revealed belong to us and our children that we may doe all the words of the Law We say therefore particular knowledge is to be joyned with the assent of faith for no man can assent to that which hee never heard and therefore I thinke no man of understanding with a blind obedience and implicite faith will resigne up his eie-sight and looke through such spectacles as you have tempered for them For without doubt it was the constant and uniforme Doctrine of the ancient Church that howsoever faith apprehends mysteries not to bee inquired into yet the proposition and doctrine of all the Articles of Faith were distinctly taught and conceived by all and thereupon Theodoret who was then living gives us to understand that in his dayes You might see every where the points of our Faith to bee held and knowne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Theod. Graec. Serm. 5. not onely to them who are Masters in the Church and Teachers of the people but even of Coblers Smiths and Weavers and all kinde of Artificers of all sorts of women and all these you may finde saith he discoursing of the Trinitie and the creation of all things CHAP. II. The summe of his Answer to my first Section THe Church of Rome not without cause bitter against the Reformed Churches because they are Heretikes Theodoret is impertinently alledged Bellarmine is falsified The Catholike Church cannot be depraved because of her promises And this setting aside your reproches and impertinencies is the substance of your second Chapter in answer to my first Section The Reply First you say in your Title The Church of Rome not bitter against Heretikes It is true the Church of Rome is not bitter against Heretikes as you understand them for Protestants for they are no Heretikes but if the termes of Luthers whelpes Hell-hounds of Zwinglius damned persons and worse than Infidels if such termes I say be Catholike complements which your fellow Jesuits have given us I shall freely confesse your Charitie is mistaken But say you the word Heretike which is the worst of all hath ever gone with such as have held new particular doctrines 1 John 2. and such St. John calleth Antichrists Surely you have my assent and wishes with you that is that the name of Heretike may alwayes goe as it hath gone with such as teach new and Antichristian doctrine But let me tell you this description of yours is a perfect Character of the Roman Church and I verily beleeve that if all the pictures and patternes of a Papist were lost in the world they might all againe be recovered and a Papist painted to the life in the description of such an Heretike as you here define Looke upon the particular doctrines of private Masse your halfe Communion your Prayer in an unknowne Tongue and tell me if these be not new why
else doe you and your associates confesse that the contrary Tenets were taught and revived by the Ancients And as touching the name of Antichrist if that be appropriate to Heretikes it cannot touch the members of our Church for we make Christ and his Apostles the sole rule of our Faith On the other side if you consider the Pope either as he sits in the place of Christ as his Vicar Generall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is agâ—â—â—â— Christ in the place of Christ as his Vicar or as he and his adherents teach and uphold a doctrine against Christ for the word Antichrist imports both without doubt they beare the markes of Antichrist and consequently the word Heretike reflects upon your selves Cassander tells us there be some who make the Pope of Rome Almost a God Cassand de officio Pii viri preferring his authoritie not onely above the whole Church but above the sacred Scriptures holding his judgement equall to the divine Oracles and for an infallible rule of Faith I see no reason saith he but that these men should be called Pseudo-Catholikes or Papists Indeed I must confesse I much wonder that any Protestant should give you that honourable title of Catholike especially when you terme them by the name of Heretikes Those that have the marke of the Beast imprinted in their foreheads have borrowed both the Name and Nature from him and therefore your Cardinall tells us Bell. de Not. Eccles c. 4. The word Papist is derived from the Pope such as was Peter And more particularly your Gregory Martin and the Rhemists give you to understand Rhem. Annot. in Acts. 11.26 that to be a Papist is to bee a Christian man a childe of the Church and subject to Christs Vicar You that are so inquisitive after other mens pedigrees see if with all your Heraldrie you can make good your nominal descent from Christ and as you stile him Pope Peter Your Father Bristow Bristow Demand 8. as a knowne Antiquarie in this point gives your Father Bellarmine the lye for he avowes it for certaine that your name Papist was never heard of till the dayes of Pope Leo the Tenth and this was 1500. yeares after Christ and this opinion I am sure is most probable and more sutable to the Noveltie of your Religion But say you we Catholikes stile the Knight and the Reformers by the common name of Hereticks You told me formerly the title of Sir would be left for me now you have added to the title the name of Hereticke and you professe it is the worst word of all It seemes the worst word you have is good enough for me But I pardon you and I must let you know that the name of Catholike is as comely with the Professors of your new doctrine as a golden ring in a swines snout And as touching the name of Hereticke wherewith you charge me you rightly resemble Athalia 4 Kings 11. who when shee understood that Joas the right inheritour of the Crowne of Judah was proclaimed King ranne in her furie to the Temple and cryed out Treason Treason when the treason was not in King Joas but in herselfe that wrought it Your Alphonsus à Castro hath written a Booke against the Heretickes in all ages and in his Index haereticorum I have searched diligently and I finde the names of certaine Popes among them but mine owne name I doe not finde For I professe with St. Austin Errare possum haereticus esse nolo I may erre but I will not bee an Hereticke Shall I make my confession unto you I beleeve all things which are contained in the Scriptures and nothing contrary or besides them as matter of faith necessary to salvation Cum hoc credimus priuscredâ—mus nihil amplius credendum esse Tertul. Ibid. I beleeve the holy Catholicke Church This is an Article of my Faith and this I first received from the Apostles Creed Next I undoubtedly beleeve the Nicene Creed and this was called Catholicke by those holy Fathers to distinguish the Heretikes from the Orthodoxe Christians in the Primitive Church or according to your owne words Chap. 1. p. 2. appointed to be publikely professed by all such as meant to bee counted Catholikes Concil Trid. Sess 3. and for the same cause your Councell of Trent decreed it to be received as a Shield against Heresies and therefore by your owne confession the Councels decree and your Creed it selfe I am free from the name of Heretike Lastly I professe and beleeve Athanasius Creed and that Holy and ancient Father witnesseth of that confession Haec est fides Catholica This is the Catholike Faith If therefore I beleeve the Scriptures and Catholike Church which teacheth the true Faith If I beleeve the Articles of the Nicene Creed which distinguisheth the right Beleevers from the Heretikes If I receive Athanasius Creed which containes the summe and substance of all Catholike Faith and doctrine what remaines then why I should not be exempted from the name of Heretike unlesse I shall acknowledge with you the fourth Creed published by Pope Pius the fourth and consequently subscribe to new particular doctrines which as you confesse doth ever accompanie the nature of Heresie But the Reformers are Heretikes He that shall heare but the word Reformers in all probability will conceive that they were men which opposed some errors or heresies crept into the Church and for that cause desired a Reformation In the Churches of Corinth Galatia Pergamus and Thyatira there were some of the Sadduces opinion who denied the Resurrection others that joyned Circumcision and the workes of the Law with Christ and the worke of salvation The Apostles you know did reprove those errors in their dayes and no doubt many accordingly did reforme themselves Now will you condemne those reformed persons for Heretikes because they differed from the rest with an utter dislike of those errors which the seduced partie retained Surely this is the true state and condition of our Church and accordingly your Trent Fathers made a decree for Reformation in the Councell and pretended that it was summoned to redresse Heresies which were crept into the Church and will you say if they had redressed them the Reformers had beene Heretikes The Rogatian Heretikes would have made the world beleeve that they were the onely Catholikes and the Arrian Heretikes called the true Christians sometimes Ambrosians sometimes Athanasians sometimes Homoâ—sians And in this manner St. Paul himselfe was called before the Judges to make answer to matter of Heresie and according to this way which you call Heresie Acts 24. so worship we the God of our Fathers beleeving all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets They that so rashly pronounce and call every thing Heresie are often stricken with their owne dart Alph. de Heres l. 1. c. 7. saith your owne Alphonsus and fall into the same pit which themselves have digged for others Hee shewes therefore
beyond exception who spake as it were prophetically of the Church of Rome in her most flourishing state St. Hierome writing to Marcella a noble Lady exhorteth her to depart from Rome which he compares to Babylon Hier. ad Marcel Ep. 17. Tō 1. p. mihi 156. Reade saith he the Revelation of St. John and consider that which is there said of the woman clothed in purple of the blasphemy written in her forehead of the seven Mountaines of the great waters of the fall of Babylon Goe out from thence my people Babylon is falne and is become the habitation of Divels and the hold and cage of every foule spirit Now that wee might understand this was not spoken by him of heathen Rome he adjoyneth these words following Est quidem ibi sancta Ecclesia There is a true or holy Church there are the Trophies of the Saints and Martyrs there is the true confession of Christ published by the Apostle Ludovicus Vives your very friend in commenting upon this place tells us that St. Hierome thinketh there is no other Babylon described by St. John in the Revelation than the City of Rome But now saith he it hath put off the name of Babylon Lud. Vives in August de Civ Dei l. 18. c. 22. there is no confusion now you cannot buy any thing now in matter of Religion without a faire pretence of holy Law for selling it yet may you buy or sell almost any kinde of cause holy or hellish for money In D. August Annot. Ludov. Vives prohibentur nisi corrigantur Ind. l. prohibit Class 2. For this and the like passages your Vives is forbidden till hee be purged I must confesse I doe not thinke that the Rhemists would have interpreted Babylon for Rome if it had not beene to prove Peters being at Rome It is happy therefore for you that Peter wrote his Epistle from Babylon for otherwise your succession from Peter had beene questioned and it is as well for us that you are contented to allow Babylon for Rome for by this meanes your Antichristian Doctrine is discovered and your succession of Peters faith is quite abolished But say you if you meane as you expresse your selfe that a true Church may bee depraved I know not what to say but to stop my eares against that mouth of blasphemie And is it blasphemie to say a true Church may be depraved Sure I am it is not blasphemie against the holy Ghost for the mouth of St. Paul hath spoken it in parricular to the Roman Church even at that time when she was a most incorrupt Church Towards thee goodnes Rom. 11.22 if thou continue in his goodnesse otherwise thou also shalt be cut off And may not a Church thinke you be depraved that is in possibility of being cut off What thinke you of the Church of Hierusalem Psalm 48.19 Did not the Prophet David terme it the City of God and was it not afterwards termed a Harlot by the Prophet Esay What say you to the Temple of Solomon was it not termed by him 1 Kings 8.20 the house of Prayer and in Christs time was not that house of Prayer become a denne of Theeves Mat. 21.14 He that sayes Antichrist shall sit in the Temple of God doth plainely intimate that the true Church may be depraved and that before his comming there was a true Church In his answer to Card. Peron p. 9. Eng. What Babylon is saith learned Casaubon thus much the matter it selfe doth plainly shew that whether some private Church be understood in that place by the name of Babylon or the greater part of the whole it was before this a true Church with which the religious might religiously communicate but after it was more depraved the religious are commanded to goe out and to breake off communion with her And as touching the authority you cite that he would be with them to the worlds end that the Church is built upon a Rocke that the gates of Hell should not prevaile against it these promises I say concerne no more the particular Roman Church than the seven Churches of Asia that are falne away The blasphemie then you lay to my charge if any such be is but against your Roman Church and of such blasphemie many of your best learned are guilty in acknowledging a depravation of their faith notwithstanding all the promises of Christ to the Catholicke and universall Church Your Bishop of Bitonto by way of prevention cryes aloud in your Councell of Trent Cornel. in Concil Trident. Would to God they were not wholly with generall consent gone from religion to superstition from faith to infidelitie from Christ to Antichrist I could bring you a world of complaints against the falling away and depravation of your Roman Faith but that your eares will not endure such blasphemie Howsoever since your best learned have acknowledged Babylon to bee meant by Rome and that Rome is falne from her first faith Jerem. 51.6.9 I say with the Prophet Jeremie Fly out of the midst of Babylon and deliver every man his soule we would have healed Babylon but she is not healed forsake her and let us goe everie one into his owne Country for her judgement reacheth unto Heaven and is lifted up even unto the skies CHAP. III. The summe of his Answer to my second and third Sections IN the second Section he saith I labour to prove the contention betwixt the Churches to proceed originally from them The third Section is to prove the corruption both in faith and manners Both which are easily answered First by asking what is this to the purpose for the visible Church Secondly with the contradiction of a former lye he telleth a new one for the Reformation was sought for manners onely and not for doctrine This is the substance of your third Chapter in answer to my second and third Sections The Reply You have answered two Sections almost in two words the first in denying it to be to the purpose the latter in giving me the lye And thus like another Caesar you have briefly expressed the expedition of your victory in few words Veni vidi vici I came I saw I overcame First you demand what is this to the purpose of a visible Church But I rather wonder to what purpose you make such a demand For my Booke is entitled The Safe Way not the visibility of the Church Yet let me tell you the Authors which I cite are for the most part members of your Church and their authorities tend much to the proofe of a visible Church if your Index Expurgatorius did not spunge them and cause their testimonies to be often invisible For instance in our behalfe I cite Cassander To Cassander you answer he is like your selfe an Hereticke or next doore to them and yet elsewhere you say with much adoe he may passe for a Catholike Pag. 21. Oportet esse memorem I cite Cecenas Generall of the
order of Franciscans as witnessing the visibilitie of our Church above 300. yeares agoe you answer he was condemned for disobedience and rebellion for he said Pope John the 22. was an Apostata and an Hereticke and therefore not true Pope And in this manner you can easily resolve all doubts and reject all Authors that speake not Placentia according to your pallate onely say you St. Bede is a Catholicke Now if you please take a review of these Authors Cassander you know was a learned man he was highly favoured for his wisedome by two Emperours Maximilian and Ferdinand he was moderate in all his writings he sought to extenuate the palpable errors and heresies of your Church he indevoured to accord and if it had beene possible to reconcile the differences on both sides and lastly he lived and died in the communion of the Roman Church Cecenas was a Frier and Generall of the Order of Franciscans he was condemned de facto by the Pope but it doth not appeare quo jure by what right for if the accusation were true the Pope deserved the punishment and not the innocent Frier listen therefore to the rebellion and disobedience for which he was accused Cecenas shewes in particular that Pope John was a schismaticke and an heretike in his peremptorie opposition against the Word of God and the Catholicke Church Mich. de Cecena tractat contra errores Papae p. mihi 1314. 1336 in Tom. 2. Gul. Occham de Jurisdictione Imperiali Naucler Gener 45. Anno 1324. he charged him with twelve severall errors which you may reade at large in the place cited and for those and the like accusations he was excommunicated and deposed by the Pope I confesse the accusation was capitall but it was no other than was justly laid to his charge For Nauclerus saith Many great and famous Divines of great learning and good life proclaimed Pope John by the name of Pope to be an Hereticke for certaine errors Tepidè which errors notwithstanding it is said that he coldly revoked at the time of his death and hee addes withall that Pope Benedict his immediate successor openly condemned the same errors You see then it was not the Franciscan Frier onely but many Divines both good and learned did condemne him of Heresie and not they alone but the Pope himselfe who succeeded him publikely condemned him for an Hereticke And thus much touching Pope John the 21. called by some the 22. There was another Pope John by the name of 22. otherwise called 23. who was living one hundred yeares after he was chosen Pope at a Plat. in Joh. 24. Bononia by the consent of all the Cardinals Against this John it was specially objected at the Councel of Constance b Quinimo dixit pertinacitèr credidit animam hominis cum corpore humano mori extingui ad instar animalium brutorum Concil Constant That he obstinately held that the soule of man dieth together with the body and is consumed to nothing as the soule of brute beasts Neither did he hold this Tenet as a private man which is your generall Answer for Antoninus saith plainely Pope John held this error in the time of his Popedome c Johannes sermonē faciens in publico consistorio dixit quaedam haeresin sapientia Anton. part 3. tit 21. c. 6. and pronounced words savouring of heresie openly in the Consistorie Neither was this accusation of these men accounted rebellion and disobedience in them as it was in Ceaenas for saith Gerson d Falsitas doctrinae Papae Jobānis vicessimi quae dānata fuit cum sono buccinarum vel tubarum coram Rege Philippo per Theologos Parisienses Gers serm in Festo Paschae Tom. 4. pag. mihi 491. his false doctrine was condemned by the Divines of Paris and proclaimed with sound of trumpets in the presence of King Philip and withall the Councell it selfe deprived him of his Popedome which shewes plainly the authority of a Councell is above the Pope And to his deposition subscribed 4. Patriarkes 29. Cardinals 47. Archbishops 270. Bishops 564. Abbots and Doctors in all above 900. deposed both Benedict the 12. and John the 23. and yet these men are reputed by you for an infallible Rule of the Roman Faith And thus not onely Ceaenas was deposed for his disobedience towards an Hereticke and is now thrust into your first Classis of damned Authors but the whole Councell of Constance touching that Session where they decred the Councell to be above the Pope is rejected and disavowed by your Church It is no difficult thing then to prove your infallible Pope may bee an Hereticke but if any man of your owne Church shall say so and manifestly prove it yea although it be a generall Councell it must therefore be censured and condemned by your Church And this may briefly serve in answer to what you say against my second Section The third Section say you is of corruption both in Faith and manners Pag. 50. which the Knight proveth out of the Councell of Pisa and out of the Councell of Trent To which I answere For matter of manners wee willingly acknowledge a reformation to be needfull but for doctrine with the contradiction of his owne former lye hee telleth a new one It is a true saying of Chrysostome A lyar thinkes no man speakes the truth Qui mendax est neminen◠verum putat dicere Chrys in Matth. Hom. 19 But that the truth of my assertion may appeare looke upon the Letters of summons they declare that the Councell was called to reforme errors that concerned Faith they shew there was a due and wholesome reformation to be made aswell of the Church doctrine as of the manners of men for quieting the consciences of the faithfull And accordingly Pope Alexander did assemble the most learned of all Nations Idem dixit quod ipse volebat vacare circa Reformationem Ecclesiae c. Acta Concil Pis Sess 20. Bin. Tom. 3. Pars 2. p mihi 837. the Cardinals did binde themselves with an Assumpsit that they would not proceed to the election of a new Pope when his predecessors Gregorie the 12. and Benedict the 13. were deposed unlesse the Pope would agree to a reformation in the Head and Members and will you say the Pope did assemble the most learned of all Nations to teach good manners onely Cardinall de Aliaco was living in his dayes De squallor Rom. Eccles p. 34. in Biblioth Westmonasteriensi Gers declaratio defect virorū he complaines that Pagan abuses and diabolicall superstitions were so many in the Church that they could not be imagined Gerson Chancellor of Paris complained of particular errors that Images in Churches occasioned Idolatrie Apocryphall Scriptures were brought into the Church to the great damage of Christian Faith Occham compēdium contr errores Papae p. 957. Incipit Prologus Looke into the age before him Occham a Frier Minorite cries out Alas
Crakenthorpe and accordingly there was an oath proposed severally to be taken in this manner I vow and sweare true obedience to the Bishop of Rome Bulla Pii 4. c. And all other things likewise doe I undoubtedly receive and confesse which are delivered defined and declared by the sacred Canons and generall Councels and especially the holy Councell of Trent and withall I condemne reject and accurse all things that are contrary hereunto and all Heresies whatsoever condemned rejected and accursed by the Church and that I will be carefull this true Catholike faith out of the which no man can be saved which at this time I willingly professe and truly hold be constantly with Gods helpe retained and confessed whole and inviolate to the last gaspe and by those that are under me or such as I shall have charge over in my calling holden taught and preached to the uttermost of my power I the said N. promise vow and sweare So God me helpe and his holy Gospels Now what good saith Dudithius could be done in that Councell Andr. Dudithius in Ep. ad Maximil 2. which onely numbred but never weighed suffrages Though our cause was never so good we could not come off with victory for to every one of us the Pope was able to oppose an hundred of his owne This Author was sent as Ambassador to the Councell from the state and Clergy of Hungarie and he consirmes what I have testified of their proceedings But observe the mysterie of iniquitie displayed in your Councell after it had continued eighteen years Sess 25. c. 1. Decreâ— de Refor p. 312. and during the lives of eight Popes in conclusion they declared in their last Session contrarie to their former decree of Reformation that the Synod was chiefly called for restoring of Ecclesiasticall discipline and hereby is plainly discovered their deceivablenesse of unrighteousnesse insomuch as I may truly say with that learned Gentleman and Translator of the Trent Historie The Bishops of Rome Sir Nathaniel Brent in Ep. to the Historie of Trent in stead of being Christs holy Vicars as they pretend have beene the greatest and most pernicious quacksalving Juglers that ever the earth did beare Those Bishops therefore that boast of the Law of God and make as it were a covenant with him to renew the ancient Faith and restore it to her first integritie as your Trent Bishops professed let them consider with themselves how neare that Prophesie of David doth concerne them who deny a Reformation For unto the ungodly said God why dost thou preach my Lawes Psal 50.16 17. and takest my Covenant in thy mouth whereas thou hatest to bee reformed and hast cast my words behinde thee CHAP. IV. The summe of his Answer to my Fourth Section TO this Section the title whereof is That many learned Romanists have falne from the Catholike Faith to be Protestants he saith the Catholike Faith is indivisible and they that renounce it in part renounce it in all Hee affirmeth that in Priests who cannot conteine to marry it is a greater sinne than to keepe a concubine This is the substance of his fourth Chapter in answer to my fourth Section The Reply I shewed in my fourth Section that many learned Romanists convicted by evidence of truth either in part or in whole renounced Poperie before their death Pag. 58. That some have renounced the same inpart say you is foolishly said for no man can renounce the Catholike Faith in part it being indivisible If I shall prove your assertion to bee a strange Paradoxe the foolishnesse will returne into your owne bosome For the better illustration therefore of your Tenet Oratio in laudem Athanasii heare what division Gregory Nazianzen makes upon that ground When one taketh up water in his hand saith he not onely that which he taketh not up but that also which runneth forth and findeth passage betweene his fingers is divided and separated from that which he holdeth and incloseth in his hand so not onely the open and professed enemies of the Catholike Faith but they also that seeme to be her best and greatest friends are sometimes divided one from another What thinke you of this ancient Father Is your Faith indivisible by his Doctrine or will you say it is foolishly spoken of him But say you he that ceaseth to beleeve one point ceaseth to beleeve any one as he should And is this wisely spoken thinke you Is not this your latter error greater than the first For proofe therefore of your assertion shew mee that man who before the Councell of Trent held all the points of your Faith as they are now taught and received in your Church I say give me but one since the Apostles time who within the compasse of fifteene hundred yeares beleeved all your doctrines of Faith entirely in all points and for that one mans sake I will confesse your Faith is indivisible and submit my obedience to your Church Your Index Expurgatorius discovers the weaknesse of your opinion I speake not of Authors which were condemned in your first and third Classis for Heretikes Propter suspectam doctrinam Ind. lib prohibit but of those Romanists who in the second Classis are purged for their suspected doctrine as you terme it and yet never forsooke your Church I dare confidently avow that there are above foure hundred of those Classicall Authors all members of the Roman Church never excommunicated never condemned for heresie in your Church and yet are commanded by your Inquisitors to be blotted out in some particular points of doctrine which make against your Trent Faith If these men therefore have renounced your Faith in part how is your Faith indivisible Or if they cease to beleeve one point why doth your Church cite their testimonies and allow their opinions in other doctrines consonant to your Church when as by your Tenet he that ceaseth to beleeve one point ceaseth to beleeve any one as he should If you should forsake all Authors that forsake your doctrine in part or in some particular points you will generally suffer a Recoverie against your owne Church I will give you but one instance It is the common Tenet of the Roman Church at this day that the blessed Virgin was conceived without originall sinne yet the contrarie Tenet is likewise maintained by the members of your owne Church Ludovicus Vives tells us that two orders of Friers Ludov Vives in lib. 20. de Civit Dei cap. 26. p. 828. both fierce and both led with undaunted Generals set this question a foote the Dominicans by Thomas Aquinas and the Franciscans by Duns Scotus the Councell of Basill decreed that shee was wholly pure without all touch of sinne but the Dominicans objected that it was no lawfull Councell and the Minorites of the other side avowed that it was true and holy and called the Dominicans Heretikes for slandering the power of the Church so that the matter had come to
sense of the Calvinists and withall confesseth that St. Austins opinion is more probable If this I say may bee deemed raving then will I confesse your railing is a good answer But he despaires say you of his cause who seeth Maldonats saying practised by the Church of Rome against his Church and doctrine I confesse with the blessed Apostle Acts 5.38 39. If our counsell or worke be of men it will come to nought and then I might despaire of it but if it be of God yee cannot overthrow it lest happely yee be found even to fight against God We have no cause blessed be God to despaire of our Religion which in one Age hath spread over the better part of Christendome But I conceive there is little hope of you or your cause who have sold your selves either with Ahab to worke wickednesse and maintaine Idolatrous worship for your owne advantage or like Maldonat See Maldonat Col. 1536. Unum è duobus intelligatur necesse est aut tunc non scandaliz abimini cùm videritis filium hominis ascendentē ubi erat prius aut contra tunc magis scandaliz abimini prioremsensum plerique sequātur Chrysost Augustin c. Yet Maldonat followeth the latter openly to professe greater hatred to Protestants than love to the truth it selfe For it is apparent ex professo he preferreth his owne opinion without any authoritie before St. Austin nay contrarie to St. Austin and hee gives this reason for it Because this sense of mine doth more crosse the sense of the Calvinists But I may say to you as sometimes a Ludov. Viv. de Civ Dei l. 13. c. 24. Ludovicus Vives spake upon the like occasion St. Austin is now safe because of his age but if he were alive againe he should be shaken off as a bad Rhetoritian or a poore Grammarian And yet this good Saint was so farre from defending any opinion against the knowne truth that on the contrarie he preferreth the interpretation of b August contr Cresc Grammat l. 1. c. 32. l. 2. c. 32. p. mihi 218. 241. Cresconius a Grammarian before St. Cyprian the Martyr because it seemed to him more probable and agreeable to the truth CHAP. VI. The summe of his Answer to my Sixth Section THe Knight saith he seemes to acknowledge that he cannot assigne the time and persons when and by whom the errors of the Roman Church came in Good Physitians use to enquire of the causes effects and other circumstances and upon the circumstance dependeth the knowledge of the disease We pleade prescription for our doctrine from the beginning The difference betwixt Heresie and Apostasie The Church cannot fall away without some speciall note and observation The Reply I◠is to be wondered what art and policie your Church doth use to put off the triall of her cause when it should come to hearing If we speake of a depravation of your Faith you crie out it is blasphemie If we shew your owne mens complaints for a reformation of your doctrine you say they meant a reformation onely of Discipline If we plainly prove the noveltie of your Trent Articles by comparing them with the Tenets of ancient Religion you threaten to bring an action of the Case against us for slandering and defaming of your Church except we can assigne the precise time and person when those errors came in Let us use the words of your fellow Campian Can I imagine any to be stuffed in the nose Camp Rat. 2. that being forewarned cannot quickly smell out this subtle juggling Why doe you not rather complaine of the Noveltie of our doctrine and bid us shew the time when and the Authors who first broached our two Sacraments our Communion in both kindes our Praier in a knowne tongue our spirituall presence and the like if I faile in these then say The Knight seemeth to acknowledge he cannot doe it The errors in your Church which wee complaine of are negative Articles amongst us and the proofe lies on your side If you cannot shew Apostolicall Authors for your owne doctrine must we be therefore condemned because we doe not prove the Negative Or otherwise it must needes follow by your Logick that it is the same doctrine which was once delivered to the Saints because we cannot shew the first Author of it You cannot denie that there are many particular errors in the Church whose first Authors cannot be named by you nor us and therefore will you conclude they are no errors The custome of communicating little children in the Sacrament of the Lords bodie and bloud was an error and continued long in the ancient Church yet the first Author of it was not knowne There were many did hold there was a mitigation and suspension of the punishment of the damned in hell by the suffrages of the living this error was anciently received yet the first Anthor was not knowne The opinion that all Catholike Christians how wicked soever shall in the end be saved as by fire was an ancient error but the Author is not knowne Againe Alph. contr haeres verbo Indulgentia p. mihi 354. there are many things saith your Alphonsus knowne to later writers which the Ancients were altogether ignorant of There is seldome any mention of Transubstantiation amongst the Ancients almost none of Purgatorie what marvell if it so fall out with Indulg ences that there should bee no mention of them by the Ancients If therefore such errors crept into the Church in the first and best Ages which are now condemned by your selves and us without enquiring after the time and Authors that first broached them Nay more if your points of Faith as namely Transubstantiation Purgatorie and Indulgences were altogether unknowne to the Ancients as your men confesse why should you require us to shew the first Authors of your doctrines which were utterlie unknowne to the ancient Fathers Or rather why do you not condemn them with us as you do the errors which were received for true doctrines amongst the Ancients If St. Peter were at Rome no doubt the Church received beleeved his Prophesies There shal be false Teachers among you 2 Pet. 2.1 who privily shall bring in damnable heresie If the Apostle both forewarned you and us that errors and heresies must steale in privily sensim sine sensu secretly and by degrees into the true Church and yet would not reveale the Authors of the heresies what madnesse were it in you or us to passe by those damnable Heresies or rather to pleade for them because wee cannot learne the name of the false Teachers Vincentius Lyrinensis Vincent Lyr. de haeres c. 15. who was living 400. yeeres after the Apostles time complaines that certaine in his dayes did bring in errors secretly which a man saith he cannot soone finde out nor easily condemne The Serpent hides himselfe as much as hee can saith Tertullian and sheweth his chiefe skill in wreathing himselfe into folds Tertull.
advers Valent. c. 3. and in thrusting himselfe into dark and blinde holes Such is the nature of false teachers they seeke nothing more saith the same Author than to hide that which they preach Idem c. 1. if yet they may be said to preach that they hide But good Physicians say you use to enquire of the causes effects and circumstances Pag. 73. for upon these circumstances dependeth the knowledge whether it be a disease or no. It is most true that Physicians will enquire of the causes of the disease but will they deny the Patient to be sicke or refuse to minister Physicke to him unlesse he tell them precisely how or when he first tooke his disease or infection For this is our case and the point in question touching a reformation Neither doth the knowledge of the disease of the body depend upon the circumstances of time place and person I thinke you never read such Aphorismes either in Gallen or Hyppocrates neither doth your knowledge of errors and heresie in your Church depend on the circumstances of time place and persons For some Authors at the same time and in the same place might have broached truth when another set his heresie abroach as namely Saint Austin precisely in the time and place delivered the Orthodox Doctrine of grace when and where Pelagius spread his heresie From your Rules of Physicke you returne to the Rules of Divinity and tell us from Saint Austin that * Quod universa tenet Ecclesia nec Conciliis institutum sed semper retentum est non nisi authoritate Apostolicâ traditū rectissimè creditur De Baptis contr Donat. l. 5. c 24. in initio Tom. 7. p. mihi 433. whatsoever the Catholike Church doth generally beleeve or practise so as there can be no time assigned when it began it is to be taken for an Apostolicall tradition This place of Austin you neither quoted in your Answer neither have you recited his words faithfully for hee speakes not of assigning the time when the Doctrine begins but whatsoever the universall Church doth hold not being ordained by Councels but hath beene ever held that is most rightly beleeved for an Apostolicall tradition This is his Tenet and this is ours but you have put in the word Catholike in your sense for universall you have added generall beleefe and practise you have thrust in these words so as no time can be assigned when it began and you have omitted the principall verb that hath been ever held which makes me suspect you omitted the citing of this place lest your fraud should be descried But I pardon you let us heare the rest P. 73. But such say you are all those things which you are pleased to call errors If this were as easily proved as spoken you should not neede to put us to the search of times and Authors for the first Founder of your Faith For if your Popish Doctrines were alwayes held by the universall Church and not ordained by Councels we should not need to looke into your Councell of Lateran for your Doctrine of Transubstantiation nor into your Councell of Constance for Communion in both kindes nor into your Councell of Florence for your seven Sacraments nor into your second Councell of Nice for your worship of Images for these and many such traditions were first ordained by Councels and were not the generall beliefe and practice of the Church Againe if the universall Church had alwayes held your Doctrines from the Apostles times why doe you your selfe confesse that your prayer in an unknowne tongue Pag. praecedenti your private Masse your halfe Communion were taught otherwise in the primitive Churches Nay if they be Apostolicall how comes it that they are flat contrary to the Doctrine of the Apostles And thus much of your two rules of Physicke and Divinity let us he are the rest of your authorities Tertullian say you hath this Rule for discerning heresie from truth Tertul. praescrip 31. p. mihi 78. That which goeth before is truth and that which commeth after is errour This Rule is most true but these words you cite by the halves for hee saith expresly Id autem extraneum falsum quod sit posterius immissum Id Dominicum verum quod sit prius traditum That was first delivered which was true and came from the God of truth and this was the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles for that which commeth after saith he is sarre different where hee shewes likewise in these words following that after Christs time and in the dayes of the Apostles there might be heresies Ut aliquem ex Apostolicis viris qui tamen cum illis persever averint habent authorem Ibid. for the mystery of iniquitie began then to worke and therefore hee will not have it enough to derive a Doctrine from a man which lived with the Apostles unlesse it can be proved that he continued with them and the reason as I conceive was given by Nicephorus After the sacred company of the Apostles was come to an end Niceph. l. 3. c. 16. and that their generation was wholly spent which had heard with their eares the heavenly wisdome of the Sonne of God then that conspiracie of detestable errour through the deceipt of such as delivered strange Doctrine tooke rooting and because that none of the Apostles survived they published boldly with all might possible the doctrine of falshood and impugned the manifest and knowne truth But wee plead say you prescription from the beginning It is not sufficient to plead it you must prove it The Mahometists at this day assume the name of Saracens as your men doe the name of Catholikes as if they came from Sara the free woman Abrahams true and lawfull wife when in truth they tooke their first beginning from Agar the bond-woman neither can there be any prescription against the ancient Records and Evidences of the Word written by Christ and his Apostles Indeed you have found a right and easie way to claime a prescription from the time of the Apostles for you have razed many prime Evidences of the Fathers for the first 800. yeeres which make for our Doctrine and you have proscribed many learned Authors and their Records as I have shewed before for the last 800. yeeres which testified against your errors And now I come to your Churches apostacie or falling from the truth which occasioned these errors Apostacie say you is a defection or forsaking of the Name of Christ and profession of Christianity as all men understand it I shewed in this Section that in the primitive Church when any heresie did arise that indangered the foundation such as was the heresie of the Arrians of the Pelagians and the like the Authors were observed the times were knowne the place was pointed at and forthwith letters of Premonition were sent to all the sound members of the Catholike Church by which publike advertisement the steale-truth
was discovered and herein the Author the time and place was observed and knowne to all but in the Church of Rome it was otherwise there was first an Apostacie a falling away from the truth which was first caused by an error secretly stolne into the Church and therefore it is sometimes called a mystery of iniquity because mystically covertly secretly hee shall winde his abominations into the Church of God and accordingly the Apostle gives Timothy to understand that in the last times some shall depart from the faith 1 Tim. 4.1 giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of Devils and such as speake falshood in Hypocrisie which place plainely shewes saith a learned Divine that Antichrist himselfe shall not professedly renounce Christ Mr. Bedel against Wadsworth p. 40. and his Baptisme that his kingdome is a revolt not from the outward profession but inward sinceritie and power of the Gospel And therefore all doe not understand Apostacie a forsaking of Christ and Christianity Not all no not the same Apostle where hee useth the same word Apostacie to the Thessalonians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 2 Thess 2.3 Let no man deceive you by any meanes for that day shall not come except there come an Apostacie a falling away first Hee speakes of the departing from the orthodox Faith not from Christianitie Not all no not your Rhemists in their Annotations upon this place Rhem. Annot. in 2 Thess 2.3 For it is very like say they be it spoken under correction that Gods Church and all learned Catholikes that this great defection and revolt shall not be onely from the Roman Emperour but especially from the Roman Church and withall from most points of Christian Religion or as they interpret in their Margin from most Articles of the Christian faith Not all no not Campian your fellow Jesuite who termes Luther an Apostata for falling from your Church not from Christianity Not all no not your Decretals who terme a Monke for leaving his Order or a Clarke forsaking his habit an Apostata Not all no not Gregory the Great Greg. l. 6. Ep. 24. who called John Bishop of Constantinople an Apostata for assuming the title of universall Bishop Lastly Not all no not your Councell of Basil where 900. condemned and deposed your Pope Eugenius for a Symonist Concil Basil sess 34. a forsworn man a man incorrigible a Schismaticke an Apostata a man fallen from the faith and a wilfull Hereticke I say therefore not all nor any of these did understand an Apostacie to be a forsaking of the name of Christ and Christianity and therefore I hope you will confesse that your assertion is neither Catholike nor universall When therfore we lay Apostacie to your Church we doe not charge you with a totall falling from Christian Religion like that of Julian the Apostata with an obstinate pertinacie in denying the principles of the faith necessarie to salvation or a renouncing your Baptisme and consequently the name of Christianitie Wee charge you not with Apostacie in such a fearefull and horrible sense unlesse you will assume it to your selves Lyra in 2. Thess 2. but wee thinke with Lyra that as there was an Apostacie or revolt of many Kingdomes from the Roman Empire and of many Churches from the Communion of the Roman Church so there hath beene an Apostacie from the Catholike saith in the midst of the Church not for that all at any time did forsake the true Faith but for that many fell from the sinceritie of the Faith After your definition of Apostacie you proceed in this manner How then can we be Apostatas in no wise certainely but if wee erre wee erre as heretikes and if wee be heretikes you confesse you must assigne the persons time and place I have cleared you from the hainous title of Apostata in your owne sense but not in ours D. Potter p. 19. 60. yet let me tell you with griefe and pitty be it spoken your profane and wicked application of the Apostles Creed as you pretend in jests is a fearefull signe of falling from Christ and Christianitie it selfe and therfore although I may free your Church in generall of that name and in that sense yet it behoves you to acquit your selfe in that particular But this by way of friendly admonition If we erre say you wee erre as heretikes I shall easily condescend unto you in that For the errors in the Roman Church caused an Apostacie at first and was mysticall and secret now after long practise and usage in the Church is become an heresie and so wee may truely assent unto you that you erre as heretikes And although I am not bound upon this acknowledgment forthwith to assign you the Authors of your heresies because they came in by degrees and at severall times privily and insensibly yet because you are so inquisitive after you predecessors Ecclefia sua definitione non facit talem assertionem esse haeresin cum etiamsi ipsa non desnivisset esset haeresis sed id efficit Ecclesia ut nobis persuam censuram pateat illud esse heresin Alph. à Castr l. 1. c. 8. D. Potter sect 4. p. 101. 97. if you will have but patience I will draw your pedigree in the next Section In the meane time let me tell you it is another errour in you to say They come to have the name of heresie onely by the condemnation of the Church For the Church condemnes them because they are heresies contrariwise they are not heresies because the Church condemnes them The Doctrines of Arrius Macedonius Nestorius Eutyches Eunomius and Dioscurus were themselves hereticall even before they were solemnly condemned in the foure generall Councels but woe to us and all the reformed Churches if this Tenet were true and Catholike for then are wee condemned already But I pray what if your Pope whom you Jesuites now make the onely Church admit I say your Pope were an Heretike such as was your Pope Eugenius or your John the 23. or Pope Vigilius or Pope Honorius were they able to judge of heresies in others that were tainted with them themselves or must their definitive sentence in Cathedra stand for a Law Si autem Papa erraret praecipien â—o vitia vel prohibendo virtutes c. Bell. de Pont. l. 4. c. 5. Sand. de visibili Monarch l. 7. An. 1541. p. mihi 595. and make that heresie which is no heresie Indeed your Cardinall sayes The Pope hath power to make that no sinne which is sinne and accordingly he hath placed that Tenet amongst the Heretikes and by the same Law he makes that to be heresie which is no heresie Your learned Sanders tells us it is heresie to translate the Scriptures into the vulgar Tongue and accordingly he hath placed that Tenet amongst the Heretikes Your Chancellor of Paris and Director of the Councell of Constance tells us it is heresie to communicate in both kindes and accordingly
Feasts Images are otherwise now used than they were in the beginning I produced likewise Polydore Virgil Erasmus Scotus Agrippa Cassander Gregorie de Valentia in severall points against your new doctrine now let us heare your severall answers to them Touching Ferus he is a Frier say you in your Bookes but not in ours save onely in the Roman Index of forbidden Bookes Touching Polydore he saith as the Knight telleth us and as much as any Heretike can say but it booteth not for his Booke is forbidden Touching Erasmus he is no Authour for us to answer he is branded in the Roman Index Touching Scotus you neither condemne him nor answer him he tells you plainly that Transubstantiation was not received for a point of Faith till the Councell of Lateran above 1200. yeares after Christ but of this passage Ne gry quidem And yet you might have answered with Bellarmine this opinion of his is no way to be allowed or with Gregorie de Valentia for this saying he ought to be corrected As touching Agrippa and Cassander you will not vouchsafe them an answere but reject them inter damnatos authores as men to be cast out of your Synagogue Lastly touching Gregorie de Valentia you sav his authoritie doth make against the Knight why else should he corrupt and mangle it But whether I or you have corrupted it let the Reader judge my words were these The Communion in one kind when it got first footing in the Church minimè constat it doth not appeare saith Greg de Valentia Youto prove my corruption cite the words in this manner When that custome began in some Churches it appeareth not but that there hath been some use of one kind ever from the beginning I shewed before so Valentia and thus you But in truth this is none of Valentia's own period but one of your owne making who cunningly joyne the latter words which follow in Valentia 4. or 5. lines after to the former with a But which is none of Valentia's the former part of the period is notably mangled by you For thus it stands When that custome began in some Churches Augustana Confessio it appeares not as is acknowledged by the Augustane Confession Now in that Confession the words are these The custome of both kindes remained long in the Church neither doth it appeare when or by what Author it was changed so that he plainly speaketh of the Church in general sheweth the corruption here pretended by M. Floyd to be but a cavill viz. That Valentia saith this not of the Church in generall but of some particular Churches Thus either you blot prohibit all Authors that make forus although they be members of your own Church or else you vouch safethem no answer or else you quarrell without any just occasion offred and this wil prove an easie way for the weakest scholar in your Church to answer all that can be produced against your faith and doctrine Now as the Reader hath heard your answer in the generall so let him see your exceptions to the particulars For whereas I said with St. Paul Forbidding of marriage is a doctrine of Devils you answer as if you were angrie with St. Paul that he hath been answered more often than the Knight hath fingers and toes and it seems for that reason you will vouch safe him no answer at all This puts me in minde of the saying of Ludovicus Vives amember of your owne Church who assures us Lud. Vives de Civ Dei l. 13. c. 24. If St. Paul were living in these dayes he would be held either a mad man or an heretike And since you will not resolve me of St. Pauls meaning in that place I will appeale to St. Bernard an Abbot who was restrained from marriage by the law of your Church who speaking of that restraint gives us the true sense and exposition of St. Paul in these words All heresies have an heretike for their founder the Maniches had Manes Bernard in Cant. Serm. 66. the Sabellians had Sabellicus the Arrians had Arrius c. so that we know the Authors of those plagues but by what name will you terme the Author of those that forbid marriage Surely it is not of man or by man and far be it from the spirit-of God but it is foretold by the Apostle St. Paul to be the fraud doctrine of devils But marriage fay you is not a thing evil in it selfe but because it lesse agreeth with the holinesse which is required for the exercise of Priestly function I pray then what thinke you of a concubine Doth companie with her better agree for exercise of your sunction than with a wife Sure I am this is the doctrine of your Church nay more your Pope Siricius would inferre by authoritie of Scripture that martiage is unholy in it selfe for he cites the Text for it They that live in the flesh cannot please God Qui in carne sunt Deoplacere non possunt Now I pray you what difference is there betwixt the ancient heretikes and the members of your Church The Montanists the Tatiani the Eucratitae did not prohibite marriage to all no more than you doe but onely to their perfecti as being a disparagement to their perfect estate or as you interpret not agreeing to the holines of Priesthood Again whereas I proved out of Polydore that the marriage of Priests was not altogether forbidden till the time of Gregorie the 7. that is to say above a thousand yeares after Christ you answer that which Polydore cites is most evidently false as appeareth particularly by a Canon of the first Councell of Nice and the second Councell of Carthage Now if Polydore were mistaken it concernes not me for I cited him truly and he is a member of your Church but the truth is you are much mistaken touching those two Councels Sozom. l. 1. c. 22. For the Councell of Nice saith Sozomen commended Paphnutius judgement and touching this matter of mariage made to decree an all but left it to each mans owne will without any force of necessity And the Councell of Carthage forbiddeth not marriage in Priests but commandeth abstinence from marriage rites for a certaine time as St. Paul doth that they may more freely give themselves to prayer and the offices of their sacred function Which plainly shewes that both Priests were married in those dayes and consequently that those two Councels make flatly against you But Marius say you cannot find the beginning of this prohibition Polydore findeth it and yet both make for the Knights purpose And without doubt they doe for they contradict not one the other Polydore speaketh of publike absolute and reall prohibition Marius of the first condemning it in any Priest and these confessions may well stand together CHAP. VII The summe of his Answer to Sect. 7. 1. That the imputations of ancient Haeresies are false 2. That Succession besides Antiquity importeth continuance and perpetuity
so false and so apparently false as that it is not to be doubted but hee that shall averre it will make no soruple of any lie how lewd soever Thus you Good words and found proofes would better become men of your profession If you affirme that you have a Lineall Succession the proofe lyes on your side and when I shall see it as plainly proved as spoken I shall readily confesse my error till then let me tell you it is not your Catalogue of Popes which you say are sold and printed at London that can make a firme agreement of succession in Faith For by that reason our Queene Elizabeth of blessed memorie succeeded Queene Mary in Faith and consequently our Faith must be good by your owne confession By that reason Ahaz and Manasses that shut up the doore of the Temple succeeded David in the Faith By that reason Pope Liberius the Arrian succeeded Iulius a Catholike Bishop in the Faith By that reason your Cardinall Poole succeeded Bishop Cranmer our Protestant Martyr in the Faith This most firme Argument therefore as you call it is but weake and infirme and accordingly it was resolved by Saint Ambrose and the ancient Fathers Ambr. de Poenit. cap. They have not the succession of Peter that want the faith of Peter In fine if for no other cause yet for this alone your succession in Faith is interrupted because you your selfe confesse that some Articles which are received as points of Faith in your Church are different from those which were received in the Primitive Churches and therefore want succession in the true doctrine And that you may yet farther know there was an interruption of the true Faith in succeeding Ages Genebr Chrone lib. 4. your owne Genebrard confesseth that there were fifty Popes succeeding one another rather Apostaticall than Apostolicall Cardinall Bellarmine in his Chronologie tels us of six and twentie Schismes in the Papacie wherein it was questionable betwixt the Popes and Antipopes who were the true successors of Peter Your Cardinall Baronius tels us that base Harlots beare all the sway at Rome Baron An. 912. and gave Bishopricks at their pleasures and intruded their Paramours into Peters chaire false Popes whose names are written in the Catalogue of Popes onely to note and designe the times It is not then your Catalogue of Popes which you so much brag of that can free you from Heresie or make good your succession in the Faith and therefore I will conclude as I first began The pedigree of the Romish Faith is drawne downe from the ancient Heretikes and the Protestant Faith from Christ and his Apostles CHAP. VIII The summe of his Answer to Sect. 8. 1. That I allege but three Authors Adrian Coster and Harding and them falsly or impertinently for three severall points of the Protestant Faith none for the universality of it in generall as the title promiseth 2. That it is not sufficient to name some in the Roman Church who held some of our opinions but that I must shew a distinct companie from the Roman making a Church 3. That it is not to purpose to shew the Antiquitie and Vniversality of those points wherin we agree with you but in those other points wherein wee disagree 4. That if it were granted the Protestant Church in former ages lay hid in the bosome of the Roman Church that proveth it to have been invisible rather than visible The Reply IN the eighth Section I assumed to prove the Antiquitie and Vniversalitie of our Religion by and with the consenting testimonies of the Romane Church you tell mee It is a bold and unlikely adventure and it is shamelesse and impudent These words be like a house full of smoake without fire but what is the occasion of all this heinous complaint Forsooth the Knight bringeth not one Author I say not one for the Vniversalitie and Antiquitie of his Church And is this so grievous an accusation Surely I thought there was none so ignorant or impudent as to denie both the Vniversalitie and Antiquitie of three Creeds two Sacraments instituted by Christ the two and twentie books of Canonicall Scriptures of the first foure Generall Councels of the Apostolike Traditions of the Ancient Liturgies of the Ordination of Priests and Deacons These are our Tenets and these were the particular Instances which I made and to bring Authors for the proofe of these as if we made a doubt of that which all true Christians did generally receive and beleeve I say with St. Austin Insolentissimae dementiae Aug. It were a signe of most insolent madnesse But admit I should produce some Authors for proofe of this generall beleefe would their Authoritie free me from your termes of Shamelesse and impudent adventure Certainly no for say you If hee should have one two or three or ten men it would not be sufficient for him unlesse hee have the Authoritie of the Catholike Church or Church of Rome To cite many Authors or to bring none then is all alike to you for in your doome nothing will free mee from the name and punishment due to Heresie but the authoritie of the Church and yet in this you have granted mee more than I could expect for you have given mee liberty to take my authoritie from the Church so it be from the Catholike or the Roman And hereby you have made your Roman Church distinct from the Catholike which is most true which both you your selfe and most of your fellow Jesuits have made all one and confirmed by the title of Roman Catholike in all your writings This being granted I proceed to the rest of your exceptions In this Section say you he bringeth onely three Catholike Authors Adrian Costerus and Harding but no word for Antiquitie or universalitie Thus you Hee that shall reade my Section in Via tuta with this your Answer must needs confesse that you deale not fairly nor ingeniously with mee for sometimes you leape from the beginning of a Chapter to the end then you returne againe to the beginning being willing to conceale or confound the truth of my Assertions You so mingle my words with your own in the same Character that a prudent Reader can hardly discerne mine from yours but most usuall it is with you to cry down my words with bitter passages and decline the question in all As for Instance in this Section whereas I said the Church of Rome doth confesse the Antiquitie and Vniversalitie of our Religion long before Luther I instanced in our three Creeds and the rest before named One while you cry out of my impudencie that I cite no Authors another while that if I did cite them they would not serve my turne but you never mention either the Creeds or Scriptures or Councels or any of the points which you well knew had Antiquitie and Vniversalitie in the name and opinion of all Christians After that you flie to the later end of my Section and there you tell mee
is a poore Pedanticall observation for to spend many lines about such toyes and trifling words and to passe by the maine sinew strength of the Citation this is to confesse in plaine termes that you cannot justifie your doctrine and the rather it appeares in this particular point wherein Master Harding doth not onely condemne the people for their neglect but excuseth hereby your Churches ordinance in generall as being not guilty of the coldnesse of the people Nay more hee plainly intimates the Antiquitie and Vniversalitie of our Doctrine in these words Iuel Divis 7. p. mihi 11. In case the people might be stirred to such devotion as to dispose themselves worthily to receive their Howsel every day with the Priest as they did in the Primitive Church what would these men have to say And as touching Safety and Certainty of our Doctrine hee freely expresseth his thoughts and liking of our Communion of Priest and People saying It were to be wished Iuel in Art 1. Divis 9 p. 17. as oftentimes as the Priest doth celebrate the high Sacrifice that there were some who worthily disposed might receive their Rites with him and be partakers Sacramentally of the Body and Blood of Christ with him and hee gives a reason for it Idem Divis 25. p. mihi 45. Because it would be more commendable and more godly on the Churches part And thus much touching your three Authors whom say you I have so egregiously belyed Touching your worshipping of Images I referre it to his proper Section And whereas wee charge you with flat Idolatrie in the adoration of the Sacrament of Reliques of Images and the like howsoever I say you excuse your selves with the manner of your adoration yet to our endlesse comfort be it spoken you cannot charge us in the Positive Doctrine of our Church no not with the least suspition of Idolatrie This I told you before and blessed be God you have not wherewith to charge us in your Reply But you say It is far greater evill for you to be truly charged with Heresie than for us to be charged with Idolatrie yet neither you nor all your fellow-Jesuits could ever prove us guilty of either But what may wee thinke of your Church which is justly charged and highly guilty of both Your Popes which the Jesuits resolve to be the Church are condemned for Heretikes by your Councels acknowledged Heretikes by the Popes themselves and condemned of Heresie by your best learned Divines Your worship of Images and Saints concludes in flat Idolatrie and in particular by the Doctrine of your owne Church the adoration of the Sacramentall Bread and Cup for want of a right intention becomes an Idoll in the Temple These things I have in part proved which in place convenient shall be more fully handled hereafter But it is observable after I had ended my Section with this point of Idolatrie I say after this conclusion you flye backe to the middle of the chapter and now question me where our Church was before Luther but when I answered that from your addition and Articles of Faith The question doth truly result upon your selves Where was your Church that is where was your Trent Doctrine and Articles of the Roman Creed received de fide before Luther You are so farre from shewing it that you cunningly suppressed these words and not so much as mentioned them and thus one while suppressing the point in question other whiles by declining the true state of the question you shew your wit is better than your cause and declare your Sophistrie to be better than your Divinitie But to follow you backe againe you say Wee must shew you a companie of men in former times distinct from yours It were no difficult matter to shew you many that did seperate both from you and the errours of your Church in former Ages The Waldenses were a distinct companie of Beleevers and separate from your Church above 500. yeares since Reinerius the Inquisitor confesseth upon their examination that hee found they had in one Diocese one and forty Schooles in another ten B. pp. Tom. 13. Reiner contrà Wald. cap. 3. p. mihi 299. and withall reckons up forty Churches by name in Lombardy in Province in France and other Kingdomes he protesteth that amongst all Sects There was none more pernitious to the Church of Rome than it and that for three causes First Ibid. because it is of longer continuance for some say it hath continued from the time of Sylvester which is three hundred yeares after Christ others say from the time of the Apostles Secondly because it is more Vniversall for there is scarse any Country wherein this Sect hath not crept Thirdly whereas all other sorts blaspheme God this Sect hath a great shew of godlinesse for they live justly before men they beleeve all rightly concerning God and the Articles of the Creed onely they speake evill of the Church of Rome and hate it and by this meanes draw multitudes to their beliefe after them Thus if you require Antiquity for their Doctrine they derive it either from Christ or from Sylvester 300. yeares after Christ if Vniversality all Countries were filled with their Doctrine if good life they lived well before men and beleeved all rightly concerning God and the Articles of their Faith and this the force of truth hath extorted from your grand Inquisitor Augustus Thuanus Presicent of the Parliament of Paris Thuan. hist Tom 1. 1550. p. 457. 465. tells us that these who are commonly called Waldenses Picards Albigenses Cathari Lollards though by their difference of place they had divers names yet they held the same faith which Wicliffe held in England and Husse in Bohemia and gathered strength at the comming of Luther especially in the Caparienses who professed a Religion agreeing almost in all things with Martin Luther But withall he ingeniously professeth that Cardinall Sadolet did examine them and found many things malitiously fained against them Poplinerius saith that about the yeare 1100. these men did publish their doctrine differing but a little from the Protestants Poplin Hist Franc. l. 1. Bb. Vsher de statu Eccl. c. 8. p. 209. not onely through France but also through all the coasts of Europe For both French Spaniards English Scots Italians Germans Bohemians Saxons Polonians Lituanians and other nations doe peremptorily defend it to this very day And by reason they separated from the doctrines of the Roman Church Pope Innocent the third about the yeare 1198. authorised certaine Monkes who had the full power of the Inquisition in their hands to deliver the people by thousands into the Magistrats hands and the Magistrats to the Executioners Histor of the Wald. c. 3. St. Dominick who instituted the order of the begging Monkes called Dominicans was a great persecutor of them and their doctrine The Mother of this Monke saith your Martyrologe Martyrologe in the life of St. Dominick P. mihi 556.
before he was yet borne dreamed that shee was delivered of a whelpe with a firebrand in his mouth with which he set the whole world on fire and your learned Doctors have interpreted this dreame that Dominick should be that dogge that should vomit out the fire which should consume the Haeretikes your infallible Pope likewise tells us that he saw in his sleepe the Church of St. John Lateran to totter and ready to fall Ibid. p. 562. and that St. Dominick supported it and held it up with his shoulders signifying thereby that he and those of his order should doe great good to the Catholike faith And howsoever these reports may passe for dreames yet this dog behaved himselfe so worthily in the persecution of those Christians that from that time forward the Monkes of his Order have bin alwayes imployed in the Inquisition Histor Wald. c. 2. But herein we may admire the great mercy and goodnesse of God unto this separate Church that notwithstanding this grievous persecution it was recorded by George Morell at that time a Pastor amongst the Waldenses that there were then remaining according to common report above eight hundred thousand persons that made profession of the same faith And thus breefely I have given you one company of men in former times distinct from yours If we looke beyond those times the Greeke Church was likewise separate from yours above eight hundred yeares agoe and differed in the points of Transubstantiation of Purgatory of private Masse of Prayer in an unknowne tongue of Marriage of Priests of the Communion in both kindes and the Popes Supremacy I say in all these they separated from your Church and this Church if you require Antiquity is before Rome in time if Vniversality she hath larger bounds and multitudes of people most of the Patriarchs seven universall Councels the Greeke tongue wherein the New Testament was written inso much as your Bishop of Bitonto was not ashamed publikely to professe It is our Mother Graecia Concil Trid. Episc Bitont unto whom the Latin Church is beholding for all that ever she hath And as touching the procession of the Holy Ghost which your men say they deny and therefore charge their Church with a knowne haeresie it may seeme rather that this is an aspersion laid upon them then any just exception Concil Florent Sess 35. For at the Councell of Florence about 200. yeares sithence your Pope Eugenius answered the Graeoians that he was well satisfied by them touching the procession of the Holy Ghost and that you may know they agreed with us in the principall points of our doctrine the Greeke Patriarch congratulates with the reformed Churches in this manner We give thanks to God the Author of all grace Patr. resp 2. in init resp 1. pag 148. and we rejoyce with many others but especially in this that in many things your doctrine is agreeable to our Church For a conclusion the Muscovites Armenians Aegyptians Aethiopians and divers other countries and Nations all members of the Greeke Church taught our doctrine from the Apostles time to ours This is so true an evidence in our behalfe that Bellarmine Bellarm. de ver Dei l. 2.6 ult in fine as it were in disdain of the Churches makes this answer We are no more moved with the examples of Muscovites Armenians Egyptians and Aethiopians then with the examples of Lutherans or Anabaptists and Calvinists for they are either Haeretikes or Schismatikes So that all Churches be they never so Catholike and Ancient if they subscribe not to the now Roman faith are either Schismaticall or Haereticall Thus I have briefely shewed you two sorts of Christians who were distinct from you and yet lived in the Communion of the Catholike Church I shewed you others also which lived and died in the bosome of the Roman Church but as farre different in opinion from your now professed Faith as those that went out from you The first sort separated themselves from your Church and Doctrine the latter continued in communion with you but separated themselves from the errors of prevayling faction in your Church the one sort you persecuted unto death for the other you cut out their tongues for speaking truth But you are not of it say you since the time you have begun to be against it And this you would inferre from Tertullian That us out of the mild fat and profitable Olive Tertull. de praescrip c. 36. the sower bastard Olive groweth so have errors fructified out of the true Church but became wild by untruth and lying degenerating from the graine of truth and so not yours and this doth fully answer the matter say you Surely if you compare the true and fruitfull Olive to your selves and us unto the bastard and wild Olive the matter as you say will be easily answered but this is to beg the point in question neither indeede can it be granted to you without a sinne against the Holy Ghost For the Spirit of God hath spoken it in particular to the Roman Church that Thou wert cut out of the Olive tree which is wild by nature Rom. 11.24 and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good Olive tree Now if the haeresies and errors which are compared to the wild Olive have sprung out of that good Olive tree into which you were first grafted or if the wild Olive is now returned to its owne nature I will say to you as sometimes Diogenes said to the Philosopher A me incipias erit verus sillogismus let the wild Olive be applied to your Church as it ought to be and the comparison will redound upon your selves and returne into your owne bosome From the Communion with your Church you question the Antiquity and Vniversality of those points wherein you differ from us and you would have me shew the deniall of them to have beene antiently and universally taught Pag. 121. Your demand to the first is unreasonable For it is sufficient for us that we professe that Faith which was once given to the Saints besides those new Articles which you thrust upon the Church are wholly yours and the proofe lies on your part to make good as being properly your owne on the other side to shew the deniall of them to have bin anciently taught is unsensible for the explicite deniall of them could not be taught till such Articles were offered and obtruded to us but the implicite deniall we prove by the positive doctrines of the Ancient Fathers which is incompatible with your new additions and corruptions From the Doctrine in generall you descend into the particulars and you say one of our Sacraments is an empty piece of Bread and a sup of wine Pag. 123. Hannibal of Carthage Cicero de Oratore lib. 2. when he heard Phormio the Orator talke pleasantly a long while together being afterwards demanded what he thought of his Eloquence made answer in this homely sort Multos se vidisse
that which was lacking to their Faith to supply I say that which was lacking to their Faith not to the Gospell which Saint Paul preached hee saith not let him be accursed who further informeth you in the Doctrine of the Scriptures or delivereth you more out of them than yee have yet received within that Rule but hee that delivereth you any thing besides that Rule And that this is his meaning appeareth by the words immediately following which the Iesuit cunningly suppresseth to wit these Qui praetergreditur regulam fidei non accedit in viâ sed recedit de viâ Hee that goeth besides the Rule of Faith doth not goe on in the way but departeth out of the way Yea but the word in the Greeke translation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here used is the same with that Rom. 16.17 which wee in our Bibles translate against not Praeter besides Yea but the Jesuits in their owne Latine vulgar translation to which they are all sworne as wee are not to ours render this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Praeter besides and not Contra against and that this translation is most agreeable to the Apostles meaning appeareth by comparing this text Rom. 16.17 with a parralell'd text 2 Thes 3.6 Withdraw your selves from every brother that walketh disorderly and not after the Tradition which you have received of us There is no necessity therefore of expounding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that text to the Romans by Contra against wee may as well or better expound it by Praeter that is besides yet if in one place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 might signifie Contra it doth not follow that it must be so taken Galathians 1.8 for it is well knowne that the naturall and most usuall signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke is Praeter besides not Contra against and words are to be taken in their most proper and usuall signification unlesse some necessarie reason drawne from the circumstances of the text or analogie of faith inforceth us to leave it which here it doth not As for Saint Austines judgement in the point it selfe to wit that Scripture is the perfect rule of Faith hee plainely delivereth it both in his 49 tractate upon Iohn and in the ninth chapter of the second booke De doctrinâ christianâ and in the last chapter of his second booke De peccatorum meritis remissione and in his booke De bono viduitatis cap. 11. What words can be more expresse and direct for the sufficiencie of Scripture than those in his 49 tractate upon Iohn The Lord Iesus did Quae saluti credentium sufficere videbuntur In iis quae aperte posita sunt in Scriptura inveniuntur illa omnia quae continent fidem moresque vivendi G. ult Credo etiam hâ—ic divinoruÌ„ eloquioruÌ„ clarissima authoritas esset si homo illud sine dispendio salutis ignorare non posset Sancta Scriptura nostrae doctrinae regulam sixit ne auderemus sapere ultra quam oportet and spake many things which are not written as the Evangelist testifieth but those things were chosen to be written which seemed to suffice for the salvation of Beleevers unlesse those in his second booke De doctrina christiana Among those things which are openly or plainly set downe in Scriptures all things are found which concerne or containe Faith or manners or those in his second booke of the remission of sinnes I beleeve that the authoritie of divine Scriptures would have beene most cleere and evident in this point if a man could not have beene ignorant of it without perill of his salvation or lastly those in his booke in the commendation of Widowhood What should I teach thee more than that which thou readest in the Apostle for the holy Scripture setleth the rule of our Doctrine lest wee should presume to be wise above that wee ought Concerning the infallible certainty of the Protestant faith and the uncertainty of the Romish Spectacles Chapter the 10. a page 346. usque ad 380. THE Knights failing in his proofes of our novelty is a sufficient proofe of our antiquity and his owne novelty The Jesuits may not be ashamed of the oath they take to defend the Papacy nay they may glory in it as an heroicall act whereby they binde themselves to the defence of that authority whereon the weight and frame of the whole Catholike Church and salvation of all soules from Christ his owne time to the very end of the world hath doth and still shall depend Catholike Doctors whom the Knight chargeth with division among themselves may indeede differ in opinion so long as a thing is undefined for so long it is not faith but when it is once defined then they must be silent and concurre all in one because then it is matter of faith The Knight can have no certainty of his Christianity because that dependeth upon his Baptisme or the faith of his parents which he cannot know He can have no certainty of his Marriage or the legitimation of his children because the validity of the contract dependeth upon the intention of the parties which marry and no man can have any certaine knowledge of anothers intention and so the Knight is in no better case then his adversaries in this respect It is cleane a different thing to dispute of the certainty of the Catholique faith which we maintaine and of every mans private and particular beliefe of his owne justification or salvation which we deny to be so certaine the one being grounded upon the authority of Gods divine truth and revelation the other upon humane knowledge or rather conjecture Howscever though we be not certaine by certainty of divine faith that this or that man in particular is truely baptized or ordained a Priest yet we are certaine by the certainty of divine faith that not onely there be such Sacraments but that they are also truly administred in the Catholike Church It might be good and profitable as Bellarmine noteth to invoke the Saints though they themselves should not heare us as the Knight would prove out of Peter Lumbard and Gabriel Biel who though they doubt of the manner yet they doubt not of the thing it selfe Gabriel saith the Saints are invocated not as givers of the good things for which we pray but as intercessours to God the giver of all good And Peter Lumbard saith that our prayers become knowne to the Angells in the word of God which they behold so also doe Saints that stand before God Though it be true which Caietan saith that it cannot be knowne infallibly that the miracles whereon the Church groundeth the Canonization of Saints be true yet it followeth not that we are uncertaine whether the Canonized Saints be in Heaven or no because the certainty of Canonization dependeth upon more certaine ground to wit the authority of the See Apostolique and continuall assistance and direction of the Holy-ghost the spirit of truth to whom it belongeth not to suffer Christs
Vicar using humane diligence and proceeding prudently in a matter of that moment Ep. 68. vivebant ut latrones honoraebantur ut martyres to erre and whereas St. Austine saith that many were tormented with the Devill in Hell who were worshipped by men on earth it may be well understood of the Martyrs of the Donatists who were Canonized by those Haeretikes to be Martyrs whose soules were tormented in Hell and whereas Sulpitius and Cassander speake of wicked Robbers and damned persons honoured by the name of Holy Martyrs it followeth not that because some people in St. Martins time did erre in worshiping a dead theefe for a Saint without any approbation of the Church ergo Catholikes may erre in worshiping of Saints Canonized and Authorized by the Church Though Gregorie and other Catholike Divines differ about the place manner punishment and durance of Purgatorie yet none rejecteth the beliefe of Purgatorie it selfe And as for Saint Austine alleaged by the Knight to the contrary his words are to be meant of the finall and eternall place of soules For otherwise Saint Austine is so expresse for Purgatory in the very booke and place quoted by the Knight to wit in his Enchiridian ad Laurentium that Mr. Antonie Alcock a zealous Disciple of Luther as it seemeth translating it into English is faine to write certaine annimadversions upon this Chapter wherein hee confesseth C. 110. Neque negandum est defunctorum animus c. Saint Austines opinion is here for Purgatorie The Saints owne words are Neither is it to be denied that the soules of the dead are relieved by the pietie of their friends living when the sacrifice of our Mediatour is offred for them or almes given in the Church The same Father elswhere saith The whole time betweene the death of a man and the generall resurrection containeth the soules in hidden receptacles as each is worthy either of ease or paine The Doctrine of Catholikes concerning worshipping of Images is not uncertaine it being this onely that Images are to be worshipped but not as Gods For the second Councell of Nice it requireth not onely kissing of Images and a civill kind of imbracing but a prostration on the ground and praying on the knees before them Gregorie de Valentia taketh the word Simulacrum in a good sense and concludeth out of Saint Peter that some Image-worship is lan full not any Idoll worship as the Knight imposeth on him The Hammer IN this Chapter the Iesuit in the fourth fift sixt seventh twelfth fifteene and sixteene Paragraphs doth nothing but seeth againe his old Coleworts which were tasted before and after cast into the dunghill From whence I purpose not to gather them againe or set them before the Reader lest his stomacke should rise at them but I addresse my selfe to examine onely such Sophismes Cavils and Evasions whereby hee indeavoureth to elude or retort the Knights arguments brought against him in this Section in order as I have set them downe To the first The consequence of the Iesuit drawne from the Knights supposed failing in his proofes failes many wayes as may be proved by manifold instances For albeit many later Mathematitians faile in refuting Copernicus his giddy opinion of the earths circular motion and the heavens standing still yet this their failing is no sufficient proofe of Copernicus his new fancie neither will it follow that the religion of Pagans Infidels hath sufficient ground because Lactantius failes in his proofes of Christianitie in Saint Ieromes judgement and Cyprian also in the judgement of Lactantius The defects of the Patron or Advocate ought not to be imputed to the cause It is a weake and silly Religion whose whole strength consisteth in the weakenesse of some of the opposers of it The truth is the Knight hath not failed in his proofes of the noveltie of the Trent Creed as the judicious Reader will find yet if there were any defect in them it may be abundantly supplied out of Iuels challenge at Saint Pauls-Crosse Abbots answer to Bishop intituled The true ancient Roman Catholike and Doctor Faner in his Booke of Antiquitie triumphing over noveltie and divers others To the second That the salvation of all soules dependeth upon the Popes supremacie which the Iesuits are bound by a fourth and supernumerary vow to defend is a bold and blasphemous assertion derogatorie to Christ himselfe who is the Saviour of his body Ephes 5.23 1 Cor. 3.11 and only foundation which beareth up the waight and frame of the whole Catholike Church When Christ said to Peter Thou art Peter and upon this Rocke will I build my Church hee meant not as Saint Austine rightly observeth To build himselfe upon Peter but Peter and the whole Church upon himselfe non super te edificabome sed super me edificabo te The Church was founded and established before there was any Pope or Bishop at Rome and shall so continue when Rome shall perchance be burnt with fire Tract de auferibilit Papae and the Papacie which now tottereth shall be utterly destroyed Doth not their owne Gerson teach that the Pope may be quite removed and yet the Catholike Church still remaine how then can the Jesuit say that the waight and frame of the whole Catholike Church dependeth upon the authoritie of the Pope To the third The Knight used a dilemma or two-forked Argument Either the Popes sworn-Servants and our sworne enemies whose depositions before wee heard against divers articles of the Trent Faith concurred with other Papists in judgement or not if they concurred then by the joynt confession of all for those points at least they are destitute of universality which yet they make a prime note of their Church if others concurred not with them in judgement then their Doctors are divided amongst themselves and consequently they want another speciall marke of their Church which they make unitie in point of Faith To avoid the push of this Ramme the Iesuit starts * Quintil. Institut orat lib. 6. Diverticula et anfractus suffugia sunt infirmitatis ut qui cursu parum valent flexu eludunt aside into a Scholasticall speculation whether any thing is to be held for an article of Faith before it be defined and resolveth the matter thus When a a thing is once defined to wit by the Church then it becomes a matter of Faith Hee should rather determine because this or that is a matter of Faith therefore the Church defineth it to be so and not because the Church defineth it to be so therefore it is a matter of Faith For Faith if it be divine is founded upon Gods Word not the Churches definition if nothing be matter of Faith before it be defined by your Church then Transubstantiation was no article of Faith before the Councell of Laterane and Innocentius the third his dayes nor the Doctrine of Concommitancie and lawfull communicating in one kind before the Councell of Constance under Martin the fift nor the
published by Pope Pius the fourth were anciently received though newly defined by the Councell of Trent for proofe he instanceth in the first Councell of Nice and compareth that Councell and their Creed with this of Trent hee proceeds by way of recrimination to question the 39. Articles of our Church he accuseth us for corrupting and misinterpreting the Scriptures for declining Traditions Fathers and Councels hee excuseth their Index Expurgatorius and accuseth us for falsifying the Fathers and lastly he concludeth with the doctrine of implicite faith and this is the substance and contents of his answer to my first Chapter All which and whatsoever else is materially contained therein and the rest of his sections following I will take into severall parts distinctly and returne him a moderate answer The Reply to Mr. Lloyd FIrst touching your Trent Creed you complaine that according to the common fashion of our Ministers by way of derision I divide it into twelve points as it were into twelve Articles which say you he and they might with as much reason divide it into foure and twentie Here you begin to quarrell at your first entrance but I hope you will gladly forgive us this wrong for if wee accuse your Trent Fathers for coyning twelve Articles in stead of foure and twentie they and you are more beholding to us for laying the lesser number to your charge and yet if you please to review them you shall finde they fall most naturally within the number of twelve But you would know what difference there is betwixt the Councell of Nice and the Councell of Trent and their two Creeds Let mee tell you if ever the proverb held true Comparisons are odious it holds betwixt the two Councels and their two Creeds the Councell of Trent is not worthy to be named the day wherein the Councell of Nice is mentioned That famous Councell of Nice was the first and best generall Assembly after the Apostles time that was summoned in the Christian world it had in it 318. Bishops Totius orbis terrarum lumina saith Victorinus amongst whom were the foure Patriarchs of the Easterne and Westerne Churches It was called by the first and best Christian Emperour Quasi servator medicus animarum Euseb in vita Conslant orat 3. c. 10. Constantine the Great who was Vocalissimus Dei praeco and as it were the Preserver and Physitian of our soules saith Eusebius This Emperour exhorted the Fathers and Bishops of that Councell Omni igitur seditios â contentione depulsâ literarum divinitùs inspiratarum testimoniis res in quaestionem adduct as dissolvamus Theod. Hist Eccl. l. 1. c. 7. p. 208. to lay aside seditious contention and resolve all doubts and questions by the testimonies of divine Scriptures and accordingly they framed their Creed out of the doctrine of the Apostles and all who were not of the Arrian faction did assent and agree to it saith Theodoret. Now take a view of your Trent Councell and compare them together Your Councell of Trent like Demetrius Assembly was summoned by Pope Paul the third without a lawfull calling the three Patriarchs of Constantinople of Antioch of Alexandria refused to be present the Legates of the Kingdome of Denmark of Suetia and the Dukedome of Prusia were all absent and returned their answer that the a Gravamina opposita Concil Trid. Causa 1. pag. 21. Pope had no right to call a Councell Our Queene b Epit. rerum in orbe gest sub Ferd. 1. ann 1561. apud Scard tom 3. p. 2171. E Belgio in Insulam trajicere prohibuit ibid. Elizabeth of blessed memory disavowed the Councell in so much that when the Pope sent Hieronymus Martinengus as Legate into England to summon our Bishops shee would not suffer him to land or set his foot on her Dominions The French King signifieth by his Legate James Amiot that hee for his part neither held it for a generall not yet for a lawfull Councell but for a private Conventicle and accordingly hee wrote Conventui Tridentino The Emperour Innoc Gentil sess 12. and Hist of Trent l. 4. p. 319. Illyric in Protest contr Concil Trid. Charles the fifth declared by his Embassadour Hurtado Mendoza in the name of the whole Empire that the Bishops wholly hanging at the Popes becke had no authoritie to make lawes in causes of reformation of religion and manners Andreas Dudithius Dudith in Ep. ad Maximil 2. de Calice Sacerdotum conjugio the Bishop of five Churches told the Emperours Maximilian and Ferdinand that the Trent Fathers were like a paire of countrey Bag-pipes which unlesse they were still blowne into could make no musick The Holy Ghost had nothing to doe with that Councell and therefore they could create no new Articles of faith Your historie of Trent tels us The historie of Trent the Spirit was sent in a Carriers cloak-bag from Rome to Trent but when there fell store of raine the Holy Ghost could not come before the flouds were abated and so it fell out that the Spirit was not carried upon the waters as wee read in Genesis but besides them Looke upon your Bishops they were but fortie and two at the first meeting and two of them titular the rest for the most part saith Dudithius were but hirelings Andr. Dudith ut suprà young men and beardlesse hired and procured by the Pope to speake as hee would have them To say nothing of those Emperours who called the first and best Councels and were present in person when as the Popes send but their Legates Euseb in vitâ Constant orat 3. c. 16. Ego intereram Concilio saith Constantine I was present at the Councell amongst you as one of you Touching his Imperiall seat in the Councell Ibid. c. 10. his throne was very great and passed all the rest saith Eusebius whereas there is no greater distance in the time Advertendum quod locus ubi sedet Imperator 〈…〉 tenet 〈◊〉 Pontifex Liber Ceremon l. 2. c. 2. than there is now difference in the places for the Emperour is allowed but to sit at the Popes foot-stoole and it is specially to bee noted saith your booke of ceremonies that the place whereupon the Emperour sitteth may bee no higher than the place where the Pope setteth his feet Your Councell of Trent hath made many decrees for reformation of manners but did they ever reforme this abuse and restore the ancient custome You then that are so confident in equalling those two Councels doe you thinke there is no difference betwixt a conventicle and a generall Councell betwixt a Councell lawfully called and one summoned by usurpation betwixt a late Councell held in a corner of the world in the worst age and an ancient Councell in a most famous citie held in the most flourishing age betwixt a Councell that layes her sole foundation in the Scriptures and one that builds her first Article of faith upon Traditions Bulla Pii
4. Art 1. betwixt a Councell approved by the whole Christian world and one that is disclaimed by most Christian Kings and Bishops and the major part of Christendome But you would further know a difference betwixt their two Creeds Let me tell you in briefe When a Romanist like your selfe would needs know of a Protestant the difference betwixt his religion and ours Subesse Romano Pontifici omni humanae creaturae declaramus dicimus definimus pronunciamus omninò esse de necessitate salutis Bonifac. 8. in Extr. de Major Obed cap. Unam sanctam because both beleeved the Catholike Church in the Creed the Protestant made answer that wee beleeve the Catholike faith contained in the Creed but doe not beleeve the thirteenth Article which the Pope put to it when the Romanist was desirous to see that Article the Extravagant of Pope Boniface was brought wherein it was declared to be altogether of necessitie of salvation for everie humane creature to be subject to the Bishop of Rome This thirteenth Article in your Trent Creed besides the newnesse of the rest makes a great difference Mr. Lloyd betwixt the two Creeds and the rather because it is flat contrarie to the decree of the Nicene Councell besides many other differences as shall appeare hereafter But say you they agree in this that as the Arrians of those times cryed out against that Creed as being new and having words not found in Scripture for example Consubstantiation so our Protestants cry out against the Trent profession of faith for the same reasons of noveltie and words not found in Scripture as for example Transubstantiation It is true the Arrians at the time of the Councell cryed out against the Nicene Creed for defining the word Consubstantiall or Coessentiall as being new but it is as true they complained without a cause for long before that time the word was used by Origen Doctos quosdam ex veteribus illustres Episcopos Homousii dictione usos esse cognovimus Socrat. l. 1. c. 8. and other ancient Fathers as appeares by Socrates Wee know saith he that of the old writers certaine learned men and famous Bishops have used the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and accordingly it was resolved by S. Austin that the name was not invented but confirmed and established in the Councell of Nice The word therefore Consubstantiall was not new August contr Maxim l. 3. c. 14. which they complained of but the word Transubstantiation is so new that it was altogether unknowne till the Councell of Lateran Concil Lateranense Anno 1215. Bellarm. 1200. yeeres after Christ therefore your comparison holds not in the first place But ad nit the Councell had first devised the word Quomodo dicis in Scripturis divinis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non inveniri quasi aliud sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quà m quod dicit Ego de Deo patre exivi Ego Pater unum sumus Ambros de fide contra Arrian Tom. 2. c. 5. p. 223. in initio August Ep. 174. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athanas Ep. quod decret Synod Nic. Congruis verbis sunt exposita Nihil refert hanc vocem non esse in Scripturâ si vox id significat quod Scriptura docet Vasq in 1. Thom. Tom. 2. Disp 110. c. 1. sect 4. yet it is agreed on all hands that the meaning of the word is contained in Scripture S. Ambrose writing against the Arrians puts to them this very question How doe you say the word Consubstantiall is not in divine Scriptures as if Consubstantiall were any thing else but I went out from the Father and the Father and I are one the word therefore was a pregnant word agreeable to the sacred word of God And albeit saith S. Austin the word perhaps be not found there yet the thing it selfe is found and what more frivolous quarrell is it than to contend about the word when there is certaintie of the thing it selfe In like manner Athanasius answered the Arrians in those dayes as I must answer you Touching the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 albeit it be not found in Scriptures yet it hath the same meaning that the Scriptures intend and imports the same with them whose eares are entirely affected towards religion We cry not out against you simply because your word Transubstantiation is not found in the Scriptures but because the true sense and meaning of the word is not contained in them for the words Unbegotten Increate the word Sacrament the word Trinitie and the like are not found in Scripture yet wee teach them wee beleeve them because their true sense and meaning may bee deduced from the Scripture and we professe with your Jesuite Vasques Nihil refert c. It mattereth not whether the word be in Scripture or no so as that which it signifieth be in the Scripture To come neerer to you doe you but prove that the words This is my body imply Transubstantiation and let me be branded for an Arrian if I refuse to subscribe to it but that the world may know we condemne you justly both for the newnesse of the word and your doctrine also hearken to the learned Doctors of your owne Church Your Schoole-man Scotus tels us that before the Councell of Lateran Bellarm. l. 3. de Eucbar c. 23. Transubstantiation was not beleeved as a point of faith It is true your fellow Jesuites are ashamed of this confession and thereupon Bellarmine answers Ibid. This opinion of his is no way to bee allowed Suarez in 3. Tom. in Euch. disp 70. sect 2. and Suarez not content with such a sober reckoning proclaimes that for his lowd speaking hee ought to be corrected and as touching the words of consecration from whence you would inferre both the name nature of Transubstantiation Mont. in Luk. 22. your Arias Montanus saith This is my body that is my body is sacramentally contained in the Sacrament of bread and hee addes withall the secret and most mysticall manner hereof God will once vouchsafe more clerely to unfold to his Christian Church The doctrine therefore of your carnall and corporall presence is not so cleerely derived from the Scriptures nay on the contrarie hee protesteth that the body of our Saviour is but sacramentally contained in the Sacrament as the Protestants hold and therefore not bodyily It is more than evident that the word Consubstantiation used by the Fathers was derived from the Scriptures but you have not that infallible assurance for your word Transubstantiation witnes your Cardinall Cajetan Cajet in Thom. part 3. q. 75. art 1. he assures us that there appeareth nothing out of the Gospel that may inforce us to understand Christs words properly yea nothing in the text hindereth but that these words This is my body may as well be taken in a metaphoricall sense as those words of the Apostle The Rocke was Christ that the words of either proposition may well bee
doct Fidei Tom. 1. l. 2. Art 2. c. 22. p. 203. viz. that the Church could not create a new article of faith How can any such article saith he framed after many yeares be catholique and universall when as it was unknowne to our fore-fathers for foureteen hundred yeares before It was not beleeved because not heard of when the Apostle tels us faith commeth by hearing Such an article therefore although it be of faith yet it cannot be catholique and this hee proves directly from Fathers and Councels And whereas you affirme that your Church can no more make an article of faith than shee can make a Canonicall Booke of Scripture Canus loc Theol. l. 2. c. 7. p. 38. Canus your Bishop of Canaries will joyne with you That the Church of the faithfull now living cannot write a Canonicall Booke of Scripture and hee gives the reason for it There are not now any new revelations to be expected ither from the Pope or from a Councell or from the universall Church and from hence it will follow of consequence by your owne Logick Therefore the Church can create no new article of faith Thus farre I have waded in your behalfe that you may the better justifie your owne Assertion for you wil find your Church is like a house divided against it selfe and therefore cannot stand long I say that Quere which was made in Waldens dayes was resolved above two hundred yeares before by your profound Schoole-man Thomas Aquinas in your Churches behalfe that the Pope had power Condere articulos fidei to create new articles of faith to remove therefore these fig-leaves with which you would cover the naked truth This learned Doctour well understood that there were many new articles of religion crept into the Church in his dayes he knew well that albeit he were the prime Schoole man of his time yet with all his sophistrie hee could not make them comply with the ancient Catholique faith and thereupon he thought it the surest way to give the Pope an absolute and independant power over faith and religion and accordingly resolved Ad solam authoritatem summi Pontificis pertinet nova Editio Symboli sicut alia omnia quae pertinent ad totam Ecclesiam Thom. 2.2 q. 1. Art 10. It belongs onely to the authoritie of the Soveraigne Pope to make a new Edition of the Creed and all things else that concerne the universall Church Then he concludes the question and gives this reason for it The publishing of a new Creed belongs to his power who hath authoritie finally to determine matters of faith and this saith he belongs unto the Pope Upon which passages Andradius a chiefe pillar of your Trent Councell confesseth that the Bishops of Rome Romanos Pontifices multa definiendo quae anteà latitabant Symbolum Fidei augere consuevisse Andrad Def. Concil Trid. lib. 2. in defining many things which had beene formerly hidden have been accustomed to increase their Creed Now what thinke you of your Aquinas position and your Andradius confession I hope you perceive that your learned Schoole-men are of another opinion And that you may know that your Church doth not approve your pretended Tenet for Catholique doctrine hearken and consider what your holy Father the Pope declareth touching this question and then consider in what case you stand Pope Leo the tenth sent out his Bull against Luther and amongst other articles Certum est in manu Ecclesiae aut Papae prorsus non esse statuere articulos fidei Tom. 4. Conc. Par. 2. in Bulla Leon. 10. in fine Lateran Conc. novissimi p. 135. he chargeth him in particular with this that Luther should say It is certaine that it is no way in the power of the Church or Pope to ordaine articles of faith This you see is Luthers Tenet and this is yours Now what exception think you might the Pope take at this your Assertion Behold for this and the like Tenets he thundereth Anathema against him hee declareth this with the rest of his Articles to be a pestiferous pernicious scandalous and seducing errour to well-minded men he protesteth it was contrarie to all charitie contrarie to the reverence of the holy Church and mysteries of faith and in conclusion condemnes all his Articles as hereticall Inhibentes in virtute sanctae obedientiae ac sub majoris excommunicationis latae sententiae Ibid. p. 136. forbids them to be received by vertue of holy obedience and under paine of the graund Excommunication You have heard the sentence of your Lord Paramount and by it you may know your owne doome If you hold with Luther you are in danger of Excommunication and stand as a condemned heretique by his Holinesse with the Lutherans If you forsake your hold you have lost your faith And thus you have a wolfe by the eares you stand in danger whether you hold him or let him goe I wonder that you having taken so long a time to answer so poore a Work and having many Assistants for the composing of it they and you could be all ignorant of the Popes infallible Bull. Your Cardinall Bellarmine Quasi Ecclesia posterioris temporis aut deserit esse Ecclesia aut facultatem non habeat explicandi declarandi constituendi etiam jubendi quae ad fidem mores Christianos pertinent Bell. in Barcl who in these latter times hath laboured more than any other to uphold your new Articles of faith yet in obedience to the Pope and saving all advantages to his cause when in the question of deposing Kings he failed of antiquitie and proofe out of Scriptures and Fathers at last returnes this peremptorie answer As if the Church of these latter times had ceased to be a Church or had not power to explaine and declare yea to ordaine and command those things which appertaine to faith and Christian manners and that you may know that you and your Co-adjutors stand single in opinion against the Pope and his Cardinals your Jesuite Salmeron will shew you Doctrina fidei admittit additionem in essentialibus Salm. Tom. 13. Disp 6. Par. 3. §. Est ergo Idem Disp 8. that it stands with great reason to make additions in essentiall points of faith and hee gives this answer for it Because nature is not capable of all truths at one time and from this and the like reasons he concludes therefore there may be new traditions concerning faith and manners though they were never created or declared by the Apostles Thus you see the unitie amongst your selves and howsoever these positions may seeme strange to you and others of your opinions yet your Schoolmen and Lawyers have played the Popes Midwives yea Pope Leo the tenth hath put to his helping hand to deliver your Pope Pius the fourth of that issue I meane those new borne Articles of which your Church hath so long time before travailed Briefly let mee tell you your Articles are detected by your owne men
because the Author of it hath borrowed both the matter and manner of writing from St. Peter and therfore he was thought some scholar of theirs but no Apostle Others said he brought in a profane Author concerning the strife of the Arch-angell and the Devill about the body of Moses which cannot be found in Canonicall Scripture Lastly the Revelation of St. John was likewise doubted of first because of the noveltie of the title of John the Divine secondly because of the difficultie and obscuritie of his Prophecies These and the like reasons were motives to some in the Church to question the Authors of those Books but it was never generally impeached For further proofe of this Assertion let antiquitie be heard and it will appeare that all those Bookes were cited for doctrine of faith by the writers of the first ages and consequently were approved from and after the dayes of the Apostles Hieronym ad Dardan◠de terra repromissionis Ep. 129. p. 1105. Looke upon St. Hierome he proclaimes it to the Church Illud nostris dicendum est Be it known to our men that the Epistle to the Hebrewes is not only received by all the Churches of the East that now presently are but by all Ecclesiasticall writers of the Greek Churches that have beene heretofore as the Epistle of Paul though many thinke it rather to be written by Barnabas or Clemens and that it skilleth not who wrote it seeing it was writby an Author approved in the Church of God and is daily read in the same This ancient Father shewes plainly that howsoever some doubt was made of the Author of that Epistle yet it was received both by the Easterne Westerne Churches And howsoever some of the Ancients did attribute it to St. Luke others as namely Tertullian did attribute it to Barnabas yet all agreed in this that it had an Apostolike spirit and accordingly Cardinall Bellarmine tels you in your eare Ineptè dici vetustatem de hac Epistola dubitâsse Bell. de verbo Dei lib. 1. cap. 17. It is foolishly spoken in saying Antiquitie did doubt of this Epistle when there is but one Caius a Grecian and two or three Romanists in respect of all the rest that speake against it and if we respect not the multitude but the antiquitie of the cause the Roman Clemens is more ancient than Caius and Clemens Alexandrinus than Tertullian and Dionysius Areopagita than both who cites this Epistle of Paul by name Touching the second Epistle of St. Peter it was cited by Higinus Bishop of Rome within an hundred and fiftie yeares after Christ and that by the name of Peter The Epistle of St. Jude was cited by Dionysius Areopagita by the name of Jude the Apostle within seventie yeares after Christ Dionys de divinis nominibus cap. 4. Tertuil de habitu muliebri Orig. l. 5. in c. 5. ad Romanos Cypr. in lib. ad Novatianum by Tertullian within two hundred yeares after Christ by Origen and Cyprian within two hundred and fiftie yeares after Christ Lastly touching the Revelation of St. John it was received for Canonicall in the first and best ages Dionysius Areopagita cals the Revelation The secret and mysticall vision of Christs beloved Disciple Arcanam mysticam visionem dile cti discipuli Dionys Eccles Hier. cap. 3. In Dial. cum Tryphone Iren. lib. 1. cap. ult and this was seventie yeares after Christ Justin Martyr doth attribute this Booke to St. John and doth account it for a divine Revelation and this was an hundred and sixtie yeares after Christ Irenaeus saith this Revelation was manifested unto St. John and seene of him but a little before his time and this was an hundred and eightie yeares after Christ Tertull. de praescript l. 4. Tertullian amongst other things accuseth Cerdon and Marcion of heresies for rejecting the Revelation and this was two hundred yeares after Christ Origen in his Preface before the Gospel of St. John sayth that John the sonne of Zebedee saw in the Revelation an Angel flying thorow the middest of Heaven having the eternall Gospel and hee flourished two hundred and thirtie yeares after Christ Thus you see the Catholique Christians and most ancient Fathers in the first ages received both the Epistle to the Hebrewes the second Epistle of St. Peter the Epistle of St. Jude and the Revelation of St. John with one consent accounting them no better than Hereticks which either doubted of them or denyed them and yet you to outface the truth would make the world beleeve that it was three or foure hundred yeares before they were received into the Church and made canonicall and upon this vaine supposall you would know of me Whether there were any change of faith in the Church when they were admitted or whether those Books received any change in themselves To answer you in a word your proposition is foolish and your question is frivolous for those Books were alwayes received even from the first times and no more could that word of God bee changed than God himselfe who is immutable and yet we see your faith is daily altered for want of that foundation and thereupon it behoves you to get more and better proofes for the confirmation of your new Creed From your justification of your Trent faith you begin to looke asquint thorow your Spectacles at the reformed Churches and after your wonted manner you crie out They have no certaine rule of faith wherewith wee may urge them authoritie of Church they have none Scripture they have indeed but so mangled corrupted perverted by translation and mis-interpreted according to their owne fancies that as they have it it is as good as nothing Thus you Have we no certaine rule of faith What thinke you of the Scriptures Doe not we make them the sole rule of our faith and is not that rule by your own Cardinals confession Bell. de verbo Deo l. 1. c. 2. Regula credendi certissima tutissimaque the most certaine and safest rule of faith And as touching the authority of the Church it is an Article of our Religion Art 20. That the Church hath power to decree rites or ceremonies authoritie in controversies of faith and yet it is not lawfull for the Church to ordaine any thing that is contrarie to Gods word written neither may it so expound one place of Scripture that it be repugnant to another This Article shewes our obedience to the Scriptures it declares the authoritie of our Church and it vindicates our Ministers from perverting and misinterpreting of the Scriptures wherewith you charge us in the next place It is true say you Scripture you have indeed but mangled corrupted perverted by translation Here your charge is generall and your accusation capitall therefore you must give me leave for the better discoverie of the truth to send out a Melius inquirendum that your Translation and ours being compared in particulars the truth may better appeare First then
this is inviolably to be observed You see then that howsoever your Pius Pope gave a dispensation for the reading of the Scriptures yet Pope Clement his Successor declared that license to be void and of none effect and that which concludes your Assertion for an untruth it was by him decreed to bee kept without any dispensation or violation Inviolatè servandum Thus touching the sacred Bible you have severall Translations upon severall paines to be received and both different each from other in many hundred places you have ranked the sacred Bible amongst the Bookes prohibited and lastly you seemingly grant a license for the Ignorant to reade the Scripture and by another decree you abridge that license so granted I proceed from the forbidding of Scriptures to your purging and falsifying of the ancient Fathers As for Fathers say you it is most grossely false which the Knight after the ordinary Ministeriall tune stands canting that we blot out and raze them at our pleasures What is it then that these men would have What is it they can carpe at Nothing but that they themselves are stung in that hereby they are kept either from publishing their owne wicked workes or corrupting the Fathers at their pleasure and to wipe away this blemish from themselves would lay it upon us Thus you It seemes you have beene well acquainted with Rogues and sturdy Beggers who have taught you the Terme of Canting a word proper for such kinde of people but whereas you say it is grossely false that you blot and raze the Fathers and that therein we seeke to wipe away the blemish from our selves and lay it upon you for the better manifestation of the truth first looke I pray upon the place where the corrupted Fathers were printed see by whom they were licensed then heare your owne men witnessing their owne confession of purging them and lastly peruse the places which I shall produce razed and corrupted and then tell me if the Mysterie of Iniquity doth not closely worke in your Roman Church and that the ancient Fathers are grossely falsified and notoriously corrupted by your owne men even in the principall points of Doctrine controverted betwixt us First then wee must observe that corruptions and abuse of ancient Fathers may be of three sorts either by foisting into the Editions bastard Treatises and intitling them to the Fathers or by falsifying their undoubted Treatises by additions detractions or mutations or lastly by alledging passages and places out of them which are not extant in their workes and of all these three kindes your men are guilty Expurgari emaculari curâsti omnium CatholicoruÌ„ scriptoruÌ„ praecipuè veterum Patrum scripta Sixt. Senens in Ep. Pio 5. as it shall appeare by instances in their severall Ages for the first 800. yeares First concerning the purging of Fathers your Sixtus Senensis in his Epistle dedicated to Pope Pius the fifth amongst his many and famous deeds recounts this for one of the greatest That he caused the writings of all Catholike Authours but especially those of the ancient Fathers to bee purged And Greâ—zerus your Jesuit proclaimes it by way of justification Gretz l. 2. c. 10 If it be lawfull to suppresse or inhibite whole Bookes as namely Tertullian and Origen then it is lawfull likewise to suppresse a greater or lesser part of one by cutting out razing blotting out or by omitting the same simply for the benefit of the Reader And Possevine your Jesuit tells us Adistos enim quoque purgatio pertinet Possev l. 1. Bib. lioth select c. 12. that Manuscript Books are also to be purged as well as printed which shewes your good intention to the ancient Writers I may adde to these that you doe not onely purge and corrupt the Fathers as shall appeare in matter of fact in severall Ages but you forge Bastard Epistles in the names of ancient Bishops and you thrust counterfeits into the Chayre of the true and Catholike Doctors Peter Warbeck is taken for Richard Duke of Yorke and obscure Authors as namely Dorotheus Hormisda Hermes Hypolitus Martialis and other counterfeits for famous Writers and all to supply your defects of doctrine in the Orthodox Fathers Severinus Binius hath published certaine decretall Epistles in the names of Clemens Anacletus Evaristus Sixtus and many others to the number of thirty one all Bishops of Rome Insomuch as their Epistles are cited by Bellarmine by Peresius by Coccius by Baronius by your Rhemists for severall proofes of your Trent Doctrine Gratian saith Grat. Dist 20. Decretales they are of equall Authority with Councels nay more he labours to prove out of St. Austin Distinct 19. in Canonicis that those decretall Epistles were reckoned by him amongst the Canonicall Scriptures and yet by the severall Confessions of your learned Writers are adjudged to be all counterfeit and without doubt their leaden-stile their deepe silence of Antiquity concerning them the Scriptures alledged by them after St. Hieroms Translation being long before his time doe easily convince them of falshood Antoninus Contius the Kings Professor of Law in the Universitie of Bruges tells us that he brought many reasons in his Preface An. 1570. and notes upon your Canon Law which was printed at Antwerp by which hee proved and shewed manifestly that the Epistles of the Popes Silvester An. 314. who were before Silvester were all false and counterfeit The Preface with the reasons alledged against it is now razed and purged and Plantin the Printer gives this answer for it Raynold Hart. Cap. 8. Divis 3. p. 451. The Censor who was to oversee the printed Bookes would not suffer it to passe and what became of it he remembred not nor knew how to procure it Thus your men are not onely ashamed to publish their Bastard Epistles and equall them to the Word of God in behalfe of your new doctrine but you censure also and purge your owne men for condemning such lying inventions Whether to forge a false deed or to raze a true one be the greater fault it is not greatly materiall for your owne men are guilty of both And lastly when neither purging nor falsifying will serve the turne which you have practised in Bookes set out the first 800. yeares you bring a Prohibition against all Authors Priests and Professors in the bosome of your owne Church which testifie the truth of our doctrine and injoyne them silence by your Index Expurgatorius by cutting out their tongues and refining them with a new impression and this hath beene your ordinarie practice for the last 800. yeares I will give you instances in both and so I come to the second Age. In the second Age Ignatius Bishop of Antioch witnesseth the antiquity of our Doctrine he shews that our Communion in both kindes was practised in his dayes There is one Bread saith he broken for all and one Cup distributed to all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat Ep.
of the ancient Eusebius neither could he say truly that the Colein was translated by a Catholike for indeed it is the property of an Here-ticke to falsifie and corrupt the Text. And thus you have done in your Colein Edition where you have altered the sense in that manner Eusebius Emissenus Bishop of Emesa in Syria is forged by Gratian for the doctrine of Transubstantiation Grat. Dist 2. de Consecrat Quia corpus fol. Mihi 432. his words are these Christ the invisible Priest turned the visible creature into the substance of his body and bloud with his word and secret power saying Take eate this is my Body whereas there are no such words to be found in all his Works The Councell of Laodicea is falsified in favour of your Iâ—vocation of Angels The words of the Originall are these a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Conc. Laod. Can. 35. Bin. Tom. 1. p. 245. Christians ought not to forsake the Church of God and depart aside and invocate Angels and make meetings which are things forbidden If any man therefore be found to give himselfe to this privie Idolatrie let him be accursed Now in the same Councell published by James Merlyn and Fryer Crab by transmutation of a letter you are taught a lesson contrary to sense and reason saying b Quod non oporteat EcclesiaÌ„ Dei relinquere abire at que angelos nominare congregationes facere Merlin Tom. 1. Concil edit Col. An. 1530. f. 68. Crab. edit An. 1538. Colon. fol. 226. Verit as non quaerit Angulos It is not lawfull for Christians to forsake the Church of God and goe and nominate or invocate Angels or corners and make meetings and thus Angeli are become Anguli Angels are become Angles or Corners as if truth did seeke Corners when so faire an Evidence is brought against Invocation of Angels St. Basil the great Archbishop of Caesarea was forged by Pope Adrian the first at the second Councell of Nice for the worship of Images his words are these c Pro quo siguras ImaginuÌ„ eorum honoro adoro veneror specialitèr hoc enim traditum est à Sanctis Apostolis necest prohibendum acideò in omâ—ibus Ecclesiis nostris eorum designamus Historias Citat ab Adriano in Synod Nic. 2. Act. 2. p. Mihi 504. For which cause I honor and openly adore the figures of the Images speaking of the Apostles Prophets and Martyrs and this being delivered us by the Apostles is not prohibited but in all Churches we set forth their Histories This Authority was cited by Pope Adrian in the name of Basil the Great in his Epistles when as in all his Epistles of which are extant 180. there are no such words to be found St. Hierome is likewise forged for the same doctrine and by the same Pope the words in the Epistle are these Sicut permisit Deus ador are omnem gentem manufacta c. Citatur ibid. Ep. Adr. p. Mihi 506. As God gave leave to the Gentiles to worship things made with hands and to the Jewes to worship the carved workes and two golden Cherubins which Moses made so hath he given to us Christians the crosse and permitted us to paint and reverence the Images of Gods workes and so to procure him to like of our labour These words you fee are cited by your owne Pope at a generall Councell as you pretend for a point of your Romish faith and yet there are no such words nor the meaning of of them to be found in either of those Fathers and without doubt there was great scarcity of true ancient Fathers to bee found at that time to prove your adoration of Images when your Pope was driven to shifts and forgeries especially when your owne Polydore tells you Polyd. de ReruÌ„ Invent. that the worship of Images not onely Basil but almost all the ancient holy Fathers condemned for feare of Idolatrie as S. Hierome himselfe witnesseth This puts me in mind of Erasmus complaint that the same measure was afforded to Basil Eras in Praefat. lib. de Spirit Sanct. Bas which hee had otherwise observed in Athanasius Chrysostome Hierome that in the middle of Treatises many things were stuffed and forced in by others in the name of the Fathers St. Ambrose Bishop of Millaine is falsified and corrupted Franciscus Junius as an eye witnesse Junius Praefat. in Ind. Expurg Belg. tells us that at Leyden in the yeare 1559. being familiarly acquainted with Ludovicus Saurius Corrector of the Printing house and going to visit him hee found him revising of St. Ambrose workes which then Frelonius was printing after some conference had betwixt them Ludovicus shewed him some printed leaves partly cancelled and partly razed saying this is the first Impression which wee printed most faithfully according to the best Copies but two Franciscan Fryers by command have blotted out those passages and caused this alteration to my great losse and astonishment It may be the discoverie of it by Junius might stay their further printing of it or else might be an occasion to call it in after the printing for otherwise if that Impression may be had it were worthy the examination Bolseus dicit se in manibus Secretarii hâ—c testimonium vidisse inspexisse In disp de Antichristo in Apend Nu. 49. 53. Laurent Rever Rom. Eccl. p. 190. Non habent Petri haereditatem qui Petri sedem non habent Grat de Paenit Dist 1. c. Potest fieri But for a proofe of this falsified Ambrose Lessius the Jesuit tells us that Bolseck doth confesse he saw the Copie in the hands of a Secretary howsoever their later Editions are sufficient proofe of your manifold falsifications But I will speak of Impressions onely that have been within my view First to prove your succession in doctrine in your owne Church Gratian tells us from St. Ambrose They have not the succession of Peter who have not the Chayre of Peter and thus he hath changed Fidem into Sedem Faith into Chaire This forgery in time may creepe into the Body of Ambrose but as yet the words of Ambrose are agreeable to our doctrine that is a Non habent Petri haereditatem qui Petri fidem non habent Ambr. de Paenit c. 6. Tom. 1. p. 156. Basil apud Joh. Frob. An. 1527. Ambr. de Sacr. l. 4. c. 5. Tom. 4. p. 393. Basilâ—ut supra they have not the succession of Peter which want the faith of Peter These be the words of true and ancient Ambrose hereby declaring unto us and them that they may have the See of Peter and yet want the faith of Peter Againe in his Booke of the Sacrament St. Ambrose saith b Fac nobis haÌ„c oblationem ascriptam c. quod fit in figuram corports sanguinis Jesu Christi Amb. Colon. Agripp An. 1616 Tom. 4. p. 173. Make this Oblation to be a reasonable acceptable one quod est
present Binius ibid. in his Annot. on the other side Peter Lombard and Gratian Pet. Lomb. l. 4. Sent. Dist 6. Grat. Can. Mulier de Consecr Dist 4. they have put in their exception nisi necessitate cogente except it be in case of necessitie so that in the absence of the Priest and in case of necessitie women may baptize by the authority of your Church notwithstanding the Councels decree And this is according to Bellarmines confession Although saith he those words of exception nisi necessitate cogente be not found in the Tomes of Councels Bell. de Baptis l. 1. c. 7. yet Peter Lombard and Gratian cite the Canon in that manner And thus by your owne Cardinals profession your Priests have added that exception to the Canon to dispense with women for Administration of the Sacrament which is not found in the Councell Againe the same Councell is razed both by the compiler of the decrees and publisher of the Councels for the Councell saith in the 44. Canon a Clericus nec comam nutriat nec barbam radat Concil Carth. Can 44. Let no Clerke weare long hayre nor shave his Beard The decretals and your late Councels published by Binius have left out the word Radat and have quite altered the sense of the decree and so your Church hath gone directly against the meaning of the Councell in shaving of Priests S. Austin Bishop of Hippo is both purged and falsified in favor of your doctrine First for the purging of him your own men make this declaration b Augustinus nuper Venetiis excusus in quo praeter multorum locorum restitutionem secundum collationem veterum exemplarium curavimus removeri illa omnia quae fideliū mentes haeretic â pravitate possent inficere aut a Catholica orthodoxa fide deviare Praefat Ind. lib. prohibit ad Lectorē Genevae impress an 1629. St. Austin was lately printed at Venice in which Edition as we have restored many places accerding to the ancient Copies so likewise we have taken care to remove all those things which might either infect the mindes of the faithfull with Heresies or cause them to wander from the Catholike faith This publike profession your men have made and accordingly the c In hunc modū est repurgatus ut in libri inscripsione testātur qui editioni praefuerunt Ibid. p. 6. Booke was purged as those who were present at that Edition doe witnesse in the Inscription of the Booke but let us returne to the corrupted Editions in our view St. d De Civitate Dci lib. 22. c. 24. Austin in his 22. booke of the Citie of God and 24. Chapter is cyted by e Bell. de Purg. l. 1. c. 4. Bellarmine for the proofe of Purgatory yet in that Chapter saith f Lud. Vives in lib de Civit. Dei c. 8. Vives in the ancient Manuscript Copies which are at Bruges and Colein those ten or twelve printed lines are not to be found And in the 22. booke and 8. Chapter he tells us there are many additions in that Chapter without question foysted in by such as make practise of depraving Authors of great Authority Touching forgeries and falsifications in particular The humane nature of Christ is destroyed if there be not given it after the manner of other bodies a certaine space wherein it may be contained In your Edition of Paris printed by Sebastian Nivelle An. 1571. this passage is wholly left out This is observed by Dr. Moulin but the Authour so printed I have not seene But when neither adding nor detracting could make good your Transubstantiation Fryer Walden thought it the surest way to forge a whole passage in the name of St. Austin which indeed strongly proves the very name and nature of it The words are these Wald. Tom. 2. de Sacram. c. 83. p. mihi 141. No man ought to doubt when Bread and Wine are consecrated into the substance of Christ so as the sabstance of bread and wine doe not remaine whereas we see many things in the workes of God no lesse marvellous A woman God changeth substantially into a stone as Lots wife and in the small workemanship of man hay and ferne into glasse Neither must we beleeve that the substance of bread and wine remaineth but the bread is turned into the Body of Christ and the wine into his bloud the qualities or accidents of bread and wine onely remaining This fo gery was judicially allowed by Pope Martin the fist and his Cardinals in their Consistorie and yet it savours rather of a Glasse-maker than an ancient Father but what answer maketh Walden to this invention * Egoenimreperi trāscripsi de vetustissimo exemplari scripto antiquā valdè manu formatâ Idem Ibid. I found it faith he and transcribed it out of a very ancient Copie written with a set hand Thus one while you adde another while you detract another while you falsifie the ancient Fathers if either they make for us or against you and yet you tell us that we are guiltie of corrupting the Fathers But above all Gratian hath most shamefully and lewdly falsified St. Austin whom he hath made to say Inter Canonicas Scriptur as decretales Epistolae connumerantur Dist 29. In Canonicis fol. 19. A. The decretall Epistles of the Popes are accounted in the number of Canonicall Scriptures The truth is St. Austin in his booke of Christian doctrine informes a Christian what Scripture hee should hold for Canonicall and thereupon bids him follow the greater part of the Catholike Church Amongst which those Churches are which had the happinesse to injoy the seates of the Apostles and to receive Epistles from them Gratian in the Canon Law altereth the words thus Amongst which Canonicall Scriptures those Epistles are which the Apostolicke See of Rome hath and which others have deserved to receive from her and accordingly the title of the Canon is Imer Canonicas Scripturas c. The decretall Epistles of Popes are counted by St. Austin for Canonicall Scriptures Now judge you what greater forgerie nay what greater blasphemie can be devised or uttered against Christ and his Spirit than that the Popes Epistles should bee termed canonicall Scriptures and held of equall authority with the Word of God especially since by your owne men they are censured as Apocryphall and counterfeit Epistles Your owne Bellarmine as a man ashamed of such grosse forgeries would seeme to excuse it Bell. de Concil Author l. 2. c. 12. Primo That Gratian was deceived by a corrupt copie of St. Austin which he had besides him and that the true and corrected copies have not the words as himselfe reporteth Thus Walden excuseth his forgerie by an ancient Manuscript the Cardinall by a corrupt copie and yet by your Cardinals leave this and many other such like forgeries stand printed in the Canon Law no Index Expurgatorius layes hold on them Idem de script Eccles An.
which is more your Non conficient Priests doe generally commit that Sacriledge by receiving the consecrated Bread without the Cup flat contrary to the decrees of the ancient Bishop of Rome In the sixth age the second Councell of Orange is falsified in the behalfe of your merits the words of the Councell are these Hoc etiam salubriter profitemur credimus quod in omni opere bono non nos incipimus posted per Dei misericordiam adjuvamur sed ipse nobis c. Concil Arausicanum Can. 25. Bin. Tom. 2. p. 639. We solemnely professe and beleeve that in every good worke wee our selves doe not first begin and are helped afterwards by the mercie of God but he Nullis praecedentibus bonis meritis no good merits of ours going before doth first of all inspire us with faith and love towards him This Councell condemned the Pelagians for their doctrine of Merits and Freewill and accordingly declared that we have neither free will of our selves to doe good neither any fore-going workes to merit any thing of our selves and this is a safe and humble confession both of our weaknesse and Gods good grace and mercy towards us But observe your Church-men for the defence of their merits they have falsified the Canon and quite perverted the sense and meaning of the Councell and in the place of nullis meritis no merits have inserted the word multis many merits so that the Fathers of the Councell are taught to reade a new lesson flat contrary to the ancient Doctrine of the Church viz. We solemnely professe that wee first beginne many of our owne merits going before c. than which assertion what can be more arrogant in assuming power to our selves and derogating from the goodnesse of our God In the seventh age Gregory the great Bishop of Rome is falsified his words be these The King of Pride is neare Greg. Ep. lib. 4. Indict 13. Ep. 38. p. mihi 146. b. Edit Antwerp 1515. Paris An. 1521. fol. 384. in Aedibus Francisci Regnault and which is a haynous thing to name Exercitus Sacerdotum a whole armie of Priests is provided to attend his comming In your Edition of Antwerpe and Paris for the word exercitus you thrust in exitus Sacerdotum so that whereas Antichrist comming it is observed that an host of Priests shall belong unto him now on the contrary it is read that at Antichrists comming there shall be an end of Priesthood Now as you have detracted from Pope Gregories doctrine in one place so likewise you have added to him in another for honour of his See and the Canons of your Church the words are these Let not the reverence due to the Apostolike See bee trouhled by any mans presumption Greg. l. 11. Indict 6. Ep. 42. Citatur à Bel. in Ep. ad Blackwell contra jus regium Vide Jacob. Regis ope a. p. 262. 279. for then the state of the members doth remaine sound when the head of the faith is not bruised by any injury and the authority of the Canons alwayes remaine safe and sound This was urged to Blackwell the Priest by your Cardinall Bellarmine as a principall testimonie Contra jus regium and yet as it is observed by a learned Divine M. Stephanus these and many such particular passages are inserted into the printed Gregory which are not to bee found in the ancient Manuscripts Againe in the former Epistle St. Gregorie is likewise falsified by Stapleton in behalfe of the Popes Supremacie the words of St. Gregorie are these Greg. Regist l. 4. Indict 13. Ep. 38. Certainly Peter is the first member of the universall Church Paul Andrew and John what are they but heads of particular people and notwithstanding they are all members of the Church under one head And lest any should apply the name of head to Peter in his 36. Epistle being the second Epistle before this he saith Omnia soli uni capiti cohaerent viz. Christo Ep. 36. Stapl. de princip doctrin l. 6. c. 7. All the members are joyned to one head Christ Now observe the addition and falsification of your learned Stapleton Andrew James and John saith he were heads of severall Congregations and all members of the Church under one head Peter And thus your Popes creature hath left out Peter in the first place where hee was made a member and added the name of Peter in the last place to make him a head Againe Gratian who was ever ready to supply all defects for the Popes title hath given us an inexcusable forgerie in the name of Gregorie for the Papall power the truth of it was this When Anatolius Deacon of Constantinople had written to Pope St. Gregory that the Emperour commanded another Bishop to be chosen in the place of the Bishop of Justiniana by reason of his head-ache St. Greory made this answer Greg l. 9. Ep. 41. Indict 4. p. 370. You wrote unto me that our most religious Lord the Emperour commanded another to be chosen in the place of our reverend Brother John Bishop of Justiniana because of the paine of his head by which tenour St. Gregory shewes that the Popes obeyed the Princes lawes so they were not against their Canons Now observe Gratian hee leaves out first the words Grat. causa 7. quest 1. fol. Mihi 186. our most religions Lord and in stead of the Emperours name he assumes the Popes person saying Your lovingnesse wrote to me that I should command another to be chosen whereas in those dayes by the confession of Pope Gregory the Emperors made Election of the Bishops and not the Popes The sixt Councell of Constantinople is falsified corrupted by Gratian in the 36. Canon of the said Councell it was thus decreed We determine that the See of Constantinople shall have equall priviledges and honour with the seat of elder Rome and in Ecclesiasticall matters be advanced as far forth as it being next unto it Gratian cites the former non tamē in Ecclesiasticis saith he but not in matters Ecclesiasticall which is flat cōtrary to the meaning of the Councel In the eight age venerable Bede was living The eight age An. 700. to 800. and taught our doctrine touching the Sacrament but was afterwards forged by Fryer Walden to prove the doctrine of Transubstantiation against Wickliffe Ibi forma panis videtur ubi substantia panis non est nec est ibi inquit panis alius quam panis qui de coelo descendit Wald. Tom. 2. de sacr c. 82. fol. mihi 138. b. his words are these There the forme of Bread is seene where the substance of Bread is not neither is any other Bread there but that which descends from heaven This is alledged out of the Booke de mysteriis Missae in the name of Bede when as in all his 8. Tomes hee never wrote or mentioned any such worke The Councell of Franckford is likewise corrupted and falsified for the
of every censure or expurgation that is made which is most foolish But tell mee in good sooth if those places of Scriptures and Fathers did make for your Religion would you purge them Or must we beleeve that your Inquisitors would take such infinite care and paines to review all Authours for 1600. yeares and spunge them onely in the Index Without doubt that man who doth willingly deface the Kings picture stamped in his coyne would if he durst attempt it upon his person the Tables of Authors and Glosses were especially intended for the benefit of the Reader both for his better understanding and his more speedie searching of the truth They resemble the Phylacteries of the Jewes which had a Ribband of Blue upon the borders of their garments that by them they might the better remember the Commandements of God he that would have cut the fringes of those garments in those dayes to prevent the remembrance of Gods law would no doubt have offered violence to the Tables on which God himselfe had written if hee durst attempt it The truth is the words imprinted in the skirts and tables of your Bibles and Fathers are thornes in your eyes and goades in your sides and from hence we may easily discerne why you leave out the second Commandement and alter the fourth in your Psalters and Breviaries which you dare not alter in your Bibles And that your Assertion may more particularly appeare to bee most untrue viz. that you purge no Authours before the yeare 1515. I will begin from the ninth age where I last left and shew your owne Authours purged and forbidden in all the succeeding ages for this last 800. yeares First therefore the Reader shall understand that your Roman Inquisitors have published an Index of prohibited Bookes and in that Index they have divided the Authors into three severall Classes or orders Classis 1. In the first they ranke all those Bookes which are adjudged by your men for Heretikes as namely Berengarius Wickliffe Luther Cassander Erasmus Raynolds and divers others whose Bookes not onely now written but whatsoever shall be published in their names hereafter are prohibited as Hereticall Classis 2. In the second Classis they have ranked all those whose doctrine is not very sound but suspected and offensive although the Authors themselves never forsooke the Church and therefore not personally to bee noted and of this sort are Charles the great Agobardus Bertram Huldericus Cajetan and divers others whose Bookes are now purged and some of them lived 800. years since Classis 3. The third is of namelesse Authors which say they deliver pernitious doctrine and are condemned by the Roman Church and those onely which have beene published without a name since the yeare 1584. These three rankes of Classicall Authors according to our Adversaries doome may be destinated to these three severall places The first sort to Hell which containes the Heretikes and damned persons never to be redeemed The second sort to Purgatory which are suspended and restrained upon suspicion of false doctrine or veniall sinne and must not be freed till they be purged and have payd the utmost farthing to the Pope The third to Limbus Infantum and those are Anonymoi such as were unbaptized and have beene published without a name from the yeare 1584. Of these three sorts I will produce onely the Authors of the second Classis which lived and died members of your Church such as were never condemned for heresie but touse you own words have Suspectam Doctrinam that is to say in plaine English Protestant Doctrine whereof some you have purged in your new Editions others you have forbidden to be read till they be purged The ninth age An. 800. to 900 See Crakenthorp p. 56. Carolo magno falsò adscriptū de Imaginibus cujus Titulus est Opus illustrissimi c. Ind. l. prohib p. Mihi 18. and this as shall appeare was many ages before the time prefixed 1515. I proceed In the ninth age Charles the Great wrote foure Bookes concerning Images he professeth that hee began the worke in his owne Kingdome and your owne Ecchius and Luzenburgus both witnesse that this Emperour wrote all those Bookes yet your Index Expurgatorius layes hold on him and forbids the worke pretending that it is falsely ascribed to him when as the true reason is because he condemned Image-worship and forbids the 7th Councell to be called either agenerall or lawfull Councell for otherwise your owne Hincmarus Archbishop of Rhemes Hinckm Rhē contr Hinchm Jandun Episc c. 20. who was living when these things were fresh in memorie professeth that a generall Synod was kept in Germany by the convocation of the Emperour Charles and there by the Rules of Scripture and doctrine of the Fathers the false Councell of the Grecians was confuted and utterly rejected of whose confutation there was a good bigge Booke sent to Rome by certaine Bishops from Charles the Great which in my younger yeares I read in the Palace Now admit that Charles were not the Authour of those Bookes although your owne men witnesse he was yet the Authour you see was ancient and living in that age hee condemned your Image-worship hee confuted the reasons of the Nicene Councell and by this it appeares that your Church hath transgressed her limits above 700. yeares and therefore your Trent decree was made sutable to your Spectacles which makes that seeme to be which is not Agobardus Bishop of Lyons An. 840. is purged propter non sanam suspectam doctrinam because he delivers our Protestants doctrine which you account non sanam in these words If the workes of Gods hands be not to be adored and worshipped Sioperd manuum Dei c. Bibl. Pp. Tom. 9. p. mihi 590. no not in honour of God how much more the workes of mens hands are not to be adored and worshipped in honour of those whom they represent Titulo de Imaginibus expurgantur omnia quae sub hoc titulo continentur usque ad titulum 2. Classis Ind. lib. prohib pag. mihi 711. This passage is yet extant in your late Bibliotheque of Fathers under the title of Images but your Spanish Inquisitors have commanded all the things which are contained under that Title to bee blotted out usque ad Titulum to the very title Papirius Massonus the publisher of Agobardus workes delivered the argument touching Images and Pictures in this manner Detecting most manifestly the errours of the Grecians that is the Fathers of the second Nicene Councel touching Images and Pictures he denyeth that they ought to be worshipped which opinion all wee Catholikes doe allow and follow the testimony of Gregory the Great concerning them This passage together with more ample authorities are already purged according to command by the Divines of Cullen in their late corrupt Edition of the great Bibliotheque of the ancient Fathers Bibl. P P. Tom. 9. par 1. edit Colon. Anno 1618. p.
548. p. 551. but Gretzer your fellow Jesuite extremely wondreth that this judgement of the Booke of Agobardus should proceed from a Catholike for Agobardus in that whole Book doth nothing else but indevour to demonstrate although with vaine labour that Images are not to be worshipped Usher p. 463. and yet I say it is more to be wondred that your men should purge such Authors of Antiquitie contrary to your Trent Decree and when by purging them they have made our Faith and Doctrine invisible in them to the Reader you call upon us to shew where our Church and Religion was visible before Luther Johannes Bertram a Priest of the Monastery of Corbey in France wrote a Booke of the Body and Bloud of Christ This Booke is forbidden to bee read by command of your inquisitors and condemned by the Councell of Trent But the Divines of Doway perceiving that the forbidding of this Book gave an occasion to many to seeke more earnestly after it thought it better policie to allow it and accordingly they publish it with this Declaration Ind. Expurg Belg. p. 5. edit Antwer Anno 1571. Although we care not greatly whether this Booke of Bertrams be extant or no yet seeing we beare with many errors in others of the old Catholike Writers and extenuate them and by inventing some devise oftentimes deny them and faine some commodious sense for them when they are objected in disputations or conflicts with our Adversaries we doe not see why Bertram may not deserve the same equity and diligent revisall lest the Heretikes cry out that we burne and forbid such antiquity as maketh for them This is a free and faire confession of your men in our behalf that the Fathers are but pretended for your Doctrine when as oftentimes they make against you and indeed accordingly you have framed a commodious sense for the better understanding of this Author as for Instance where he saith the substance of the Bread was to be seene visibly wee must read it say they invisibly and where he saith the substance of the creature which was before consecration remaineth after consecration by substance say they you must understand accidents These devises howsoever at first they seemingly made some shew of answer to the vulgar people yet they proved harsh untunable to the eares of your learned Proselytes and thereupon your Romanists wisely by way of prevention at length gave up this verdict It were not amisse nor unadvisedly done Ind. Belg. p. 421 Quiroga p. mihi 140. B. that all these things should be left out But it seemes these small pills did not sufficiently purge the Authour and thereupon after more mature deliberation it was at last concluded Totus liber penitùs auferatur Ind. Belg. p. 17. let the whole Booke be suppressed Now what answer doe you thinke can be made in justification of this proceeding Your Jesuite Gretzerus briefly resolves it Dum prohibetur Bertramus Gretz de jure prohib libr. l. 2. c. 10. while Bertram is forbidden I deny that a Father is forbidden for the Father is no naturall Father but a Stepfather who nourisheth not the Church with wholesome food but with darnell and pernitious graine together with the Wheate wherefore as the Popes have dealt with some writings in Origen and Tertullian by the same right may they now according to their wisdome abolish any writing of others either in whole or in part by cutting or blotting them out Thus first they dispensed with this ancient Author and our Doctrine then they correct him in some passages by speaking flat contrary to his owne meaning and when all would not serve the turne they absolutely forbid him to be read or rather command him to be utterly blotted out and totally suppressed In the tenth Age 975. Aelfricus Abbot of Malmesbury wrote an Homily touching the Sacrament of the Eucharist The tenth Age Ann. 900. to 1000. Aelfrichs Sermon on Easter day which was thenread throughout all our Churches on Easter day and consonant to the Doctrine of our Articles This Booke is extant in the Saxon tongue in many Libraries but what is the reason he is not numbred amongst your Bookes prohibited Why surely you have foisted in a Parenthesis which by a miracle inferres your corporall presence which makes some shew for your Religion and yet because it is contrary to the whole scope of his Booke you confesse that Harpsfield in his History shewes That the Berengarian Heresie began somewhat to bee taught and maintained out of certaine writings falsely attributed to Aelfricke and thus for one reason you will not prohibit him or lay a deleatur upon his works but for the other reason there is a deletur upon him and he is a man cleane out of your Bookes In the eleventh Age The eleventh Age An. 1000. to 1100. Ind. lib. prohib pag. 47 p. 93. Huldericus Bishop of Auspurg wrote an Epistle touching the single life of the Clergie wherein he taxeth Pope Nicholas for restraining Priests from marriage and therefore is rejected by your Inquisitours his words be these Assuredly you are not a little out of the way Hulder Episc ep de caelibatu Cleri when you doe compell Clerks by force to keepe themselves from marriage which you should admonish to forbeare for it is violence when any man is constrained to keepe a particular decree against the institution of the Gospell and the Doctrine of the Holy Ghost wherefore wee counsell you by the fidelity of our subjection that with all diligence you will remove such a scandall and by your discipline root out that Pharisaicall Doctrine from the flocke of Christ And whereas it was objected that Gregory the Great long before that time had made a Decree for the restraint of Priests marriage in his first Epistle to Pope Nicholas Ibid. p. mihi 482. Orthodoxagraphia Patrum Tom. 1. p. mihi 481. Piusquam sex millia infantum capita viderit p. mihi 1482. hee tells him There be some which take Gregory for a maintainer of their Sect whose ignorance I lament for they doe not know this perillous Decree was afterwards purged by him when as upon a day out of his ponds were drawne above 6000. childrens heads which after he beheld he utterly condemned his Decree and praised the counsell of Saint Paul It is better to marry than to burne adding this also of his owne It is better marry than be an occasion of death Here you see our Doctrine was taught touching the marriage of Priests and because it is a plaine evidence for our Church your Inquisitours have ranked this Epistle amongst the Bookes prohibited Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury taught our Doctrine in the most substantiall point touching faith and good workes The forme of preparing men for their death was delivered to the sicke man in this manner a Credis nō propriis meritis sed passionis Domini nostri Jesu Christi virtute merito ad
gloriam pervenire c. Ind. lib. prohib p. 696. Dost thou beleeve to come to glory not by thine owne merits but by the vertue and merit of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ Dost thou beleeve that our Lord Jesus Christ did dye for our salvation and that none can be saved by his owne merits or by any other meanes but by the merits of his Passion then for a conclusion it followes fol. 35. b NoÌ„ erit desperandum vel dubitandum de salute illius c. Ordo baptizandicuÌ„ modo visitandi Imp. Venet. Ind. Belg. p. 419. 1575. Ind. Madrid p. 149. Ind. lib prohib p. ut supra We ought not to doubt or despaire of the salvation of that man who beleeveth with his heart and confesseth with his mouth the forenamed propositions These severall passages are commanded by three severall Indices to be blotted out Nay more the Booke which containes this Doctrine you thrust it into the third Classis amongst those namelesse Authors which deliver Doctrine say you in some sort pernitious to the Catholike faith as if the foundation of all comfort in Christ were pernitious to the Christian faith But let me tell you your Inquisitors have much forgot themselves for they forbid that Booke which say they was printed at Venice 1575. when as by their owne rules they professe openly that they never meant to condemne any namelesse Authors but such onely as have beene published since the yeere 1584. nor any Author whatsoever by their Trent Decree but from the yeere 1515. Howsoever this namelesse Author was both printed at a See Bishop Ushers answer to the Jesuites Challenge cap. Of Merits p. 513. Venice at Antwerp at Coleine at Paris juxta ritum S. Romanae Ecclesiae for so be the words according to the rites of the Romane Church b Cassan in Append ad opusc Jo. Roff. de fiducia misericordia Dâ—i Cassander tells us the Book was to be had in all Libraries and particularly was found inserted among the Epistles of Anselme who was commonly accounted to be the Author of it and the like is confessed by Cardinall c Hosius in confessione Petri cap. 73. Hosius himselfe But this was the time wherein the Dâ—vill was let loose and wherein your Pope Hildebrand did not onely d Non solum fabulas comminiscitur annales corrumpit res gestas invertit sed etiam coelestia oracula adulterat Aven Annal. l. 4. pag. 455. invent Fables corrupt Chronicles and inverted things that were done but did also adulterate the Scriptures themselves and therefore Cardinall Beno who wrote of the life of Hildebrand and was living in that age is e Ind. lib. prohib p. 11. vide Illyric de vita Hildebrand p. 1322. forbidden also to be read because he toucheth to the quicke your Caput fidei the head of your Church In the twelfth age a Sigeberti liber contra Papam Gregorium contra Epist Paschalis Papae Ind. lib. prohib p. 85. Sigebertus Monachus Gemblacensis wrote a Booke against Pope Gregory The twelfth Age An. 1100. to 1200. and against the Epistle of Pope Paschalis hee lived and dyed a member of the Roman Church yet his Booke is prohibited because it complaineth of the state of your declining Church b Sigebertus Ab. ep p. 188. in lib. Goldasli Replio Hactenus interpretatur ideo docuisse PetruÌ„ per Babylonem siguare Romam quia tunc temporis Roma confusa erat Idololatriâ omni spurtitie At nunc dolor meus mihi interpretatur quòd Petrus prophetico spiritu dicens Ecclesiam in Babylone collectam praevidit confusionem dissentionis quâ hodie scinditur Ecclesia Ibid. For what greater confusion saith he was there in times past in Babylon than there is now in the Church In Babylon there was a confusion of languages among the Gentiles in the Church of Rome the tongues are divided and the minds of the faithfull Saint Peter saith the Church which is Babylon salutes you hitherto hee did interpret that Peter by Babylon did signifie Rome because Rome at that time was confounded with Idolatry and all uncleannesse But my griefe doth now interpret unto mee that Peter by a propheticke spirit by the Church at Babylon foresaw the confusion of dissention which doth now rent the Church of Rome If this testimonie had made for our Church as it doth against yours certainly you would never forbid the Record to be read nor to be blotted out but this shewes that there was a revolt a defection from the faith after the loosing of Sathan which were proper for your men to permit to bee read and seene in after ages that the truth might appeare in all and every age of the alteration of the Church c Arnol de villa Novaopera nisi repurgâ—ntur Ind. lib prohib p. 5 36. 37 Arnoldus Carnotensis Abbas bonae vallis his workes are forbidden till they be purged and for no other reason as I can conceive but because he discovers the errours of your Church He tells us that Cloyster Monkes are damned because they falsifie the doctrine of Christ and leade soules to Hell He tells us that your Clergie-men did most perfidiously mingle Philosophicall dreames with the sacred Scriptures He tells us that Masses did neither profit the living nor the dead and for these and the like Protestations against the abuses of his time he is now condemned by your expurgatory Indices In the thirteenth Age Anno 1215. Urspergensis in Anno 793. Urspergensis Abbas is both corrupted and purged by the Inquisitours The Synod saith he which not long before was assembled under Irene and Constantine his sonne at Constantinople called by them the seventh generall Councell was there in the Councell of Franckford rejected by them all as voyd and not to be named the seventh nor any Councell at all This Councell was assembled at Nice and not at Constantinople but the word Constantinople is forged in stead of Nice that the honour of that Councell for Images might not seeme to be impeached or condemned when as the Synod at Constantinople banished Images Now what answer I pray is made in defence of this forgerie August Stench de Donat. Constant l. 2. numero 60. Behold your Augustine Stenchius Keeper of the Popes Librarie tells us that wee have forged those Bookes and conveyed them into the Popes Library where they lye written in ancient hands How probable this answer may seeme that wee should forge Authours in defence of your cause and convey them into the Vatican at Rome I leave it to be judged sure I am it stands corrupted in your Copie printed by command of your Inquisitours and Superiours Againe there be certaine additions to the Historie of Urspergensis which treate of divers memorable things from the time of Fredericke the second Ind. lib. prohib p. 94. unto the time of the Emperour Charles the fifth that is from the yeare 1230. to the yeare 1537.
all which are forbidden to be read wherein are contained the proceedings of the Councell of Constance against Hierome of Prague and John Husse where the decree is mentioned for the 19. Session of the Councell of Constance viz. a Sess 19. decernitur Haereticis non esse servandam fidem quam vocant Salvum conductum Paralip p. 378. That faith is not to bee kept with Heretikes which is wholly omitted and purged in your printed Councels Honorius Bishop of Anthum in France Anno 1220. Honorio Angustodunensi falso ut creditur adscriptus liber de praedestinatione libero arbitrio Ind. lib. prohib p. 47. wrote a Booke of Predestination and Free-will but so different from your doctrine that your Inquisitors forbid him to be read untill hee be purged What good soever the Elect doe it is God that workes it in them as it is written God doth worke in us both the will and the deed according to his good pleasure if therefore God doe worke in us what reward is imputed to man God doth worke and the Elect do worke God doth worke his Elect by his preventing Grace to be willing and by his subsequent Grace to bee able and both co-operate by Free-will by consenting with a good will this good will is rewarded in them as it is written We have received Grace for Grace wee have received Grace when God prevented us to be willing and followed us to make us able Looke into his forbidden Dialogues Turne thee saith he to the Citizens of Babylon consider the principall persons there and thou shalt finde the See of the Beast for they neglect the service of God pollute his Priesthood seduce his people and reject all Scriptures which belong unto salvation Vide Illyr p. 1426 in Dialog d. Praedestin lib. arbitrio For these and the like discoveries of the corruptions in your Church he is forbidden and under this pretence also that the Booke of Dialogues is falsely ascribed to him In the fourteenth age flourished William Ocham a Fryer Minorite and a learned man saith Bellarmine An. 1320. Bell. de script Eccl. p. 269. de Gulielmo Ocham but being too earnest a favourer of Ludovike the Emperour by that meanes hee fell into some errours and therefore deserved to have his name registred amongst the Bookes prohibited Now observe those errors Ocham Compend Error Joh. 22. He complained that many in his dayes perverted the holy Scriptures denyed the sayings of the holy Fathers and rejected the Canons of the Church and civill Constitutions of the Emperours He professed according to St. Hieromes and the doctrine of Gregory the Great that the Bookes of Judith Idem Dial. par 3. Tract 1. l. 3. c. 16. Tobit the Machabees Ecclesiasticus and the Booke of Wisdome were not to bee received for confirmation of any matter of faith He professed that the Pope and Cardinals were no rule of faith Idem Tract 2. part 2. c. 10. Dial. part 1. l. 5. c. 25. p. Mihi 494. He professed that a Generall Councell although it be a part of the militant universall Church yet is not the universall Church and consequently saith he It is rashnesse to say that a Generall Councell cannot erre against the faith Idem Dial. l. 3. prim Tract 3. part c. 8. He professeth that it cannot be proved manifestly by Scripture that Peter was Bishop of Rome or that he removed his seat from Antioch to Rome or that the Rishop of Rome succeeded St. Peter Idem Dial. part 1. l. 2. c. 3. p. 413. or that the Church of Rome hath the Primacie or that hee governed the Church of Rome or any thing touching the Papacie thereof He professeth with us Idem Dial. l. 2. c. 1. part 3. p. 788. that though it be expedient there should be one Bishop over some part of the Church and People of God yet there is not the same reason there should be one over the whole Christian world And lastly touching Pope John the 22. he reports from the mouthes of them that heard it that in the yeare 1333. on Munday being the third of January Idem 2. part proem p. 740. Guliel Ocham opus 90. dierum Item Dialogi script omnia contra Johannem 22. Ind. l. prohib p. 4. Pope John held a publike Consistorie wherein by word of mouth with great earnestnesse he indeavoured to prove that the soules of Saints being purged see not God face to face till after the day of judgement These are the supposed errors which caused his Dialogues and other of his workes to be prohibited In the fifteenth age Anno 1420. Nicholai Clemangis opera quamdiu expurgata non prodierint Ind. lib. proh p. 71. Clemangis de corrupto statu Ecclesiae Nicholas Clemangis Doctor of Paris Archdeacon of Bayeux so long as his works remaine unpurged saith your Index are forbidden Now observe the reasons why hee is put to silence The truth is he wrote a Booke Of the Corrupt estate of the Church he declared that the Pope was the cause of all the calamities and disorders of the Church he shewes that he was not contented with the fruits and profits of the Bishopricke of Rome and St. Peters Patrimonie Idem c. 4. though very great and Royall he layd his greedie hands on other mens flocks replenished with milke and wooll Cap. 5. 7. and usurped the right of bestowing Bishoprickes and livings Ecclesiasticall throughout all Christendome Cap. 5. and disannulled the lawfull elections of Pastors by his reservations provisions and advowsons Cap. 6. Cap. 7. Cap. 8. and oppressed Churches with first fruits of one yeere of two yeeres of three yeeres yea sometimes of foure yeeres with tithes with exactions with procurations with spoiles of Prelates and infinite other burthens Cap. 9. and ordained Collectors to seize upon these taxes and tributes throughout all Provinces with horrible abusing of suspensions interdictments and excommunications if any man refused to pay them Cap. 10. Cap. 11. Cap. 12. and used such merchandise with suites in his Court and rules of his Chancery that the house of God was a denne of Theeves Cap. 13. and raised his Cardinalls as complices of his pompe from Clergie men of low estate Cap. 14. to be the Peeres of Princes and enriched them with his dispensations to have and to hold Offices and Benefices not two or three or ten or twenty but a hundred or two hundred yea sometimes foure hundred or five hundred or more and those not small or leane ones but even the best and fattest To bee short in that he filled the Sanctuary of the Lord with dumbe dogges Cap. 19. 20. Cap. 7. 14. Cap. 29. Cap. 42. Cap. 18. Cap. 3.4.5.9 and evill beasts even from the highest Prelates to the basest hedge-Priests through usurpations exemptions compositions symony prostitution and fornication committed with Princes of the earth and all to maintaine the pride and
lust and riot of his wordly state which he hath lifted up above Kings and Emperours Lastly he complaines that the Study of Divinity is made a mocking stocke and that which was most monstrous for the Popes themselves they preferred their owne traditions before the Commandements of God These bee the pretended errors Mr. Floyd which causeth your Index expurgatorius to spare no Author for his age and yet you tell us such corner-correcting you leave for such corner-companions as shunne the light p. 144. Aeneas Sylvius who was afterwards Pope Pius the second is forbidden by your Index and the reason is given for it Aeneas wrote in behalfe of the Councell of Basil when he was a young man saith a Bell. de script Eccles de Aenea Sylvio p. 289. An. 1450. Bellarmine but when he was an old man and Pope he retracted it and so his Bookes are deservedly forbidden But what say you then to his Retractations are you pleased with them No b Cautè legenda opera Aeneae Sylvii ipse enim in Bulla Retractationis nonnulla quae scripserat daÌ„navit c. Ind. lib. prohib Class 2. a. p. 3. you must yet warily read the Workes of Aeneas Sylvius for in his Bull of Retractations hee hath condemned something himselfe which he had written and therefore when a new Edition shall come out let that Bull also be purged in the beginning of his Workes It seemes then neither that which hee wrote as a private man in his younger dayes nor that which he retracted as Pope in his latter dayes are well pleasing to your Church Let us therefore compare the difference of his Doctrine with the difference of his degrees and then you shall observe whether according to the ancient saying Honours have changed manners Aeneas Sylvius as a private man protested that c Antè NicenaÌ„ Synodum unusquisque sibi vixit parvus respectus ad EcclesiaÌ„ Romanam habebatur Aene. Sylv. in Epist 288. before the Councell of Nice each Bishop lived severally to himselfe and little regard was there then had to the Church of Rome Pope Pius the second being the same man but onely that hee was now become a Pope doth exhort and d Suadete omnibus ut id solium prae caeteris venerentur in quo salvator Dominus suos vicarios collocavit c. Bulla Retract Pii 2. Tom. Concil 4. post Concil Floren. p. 739. perswade all that they would reverence the See of Rome or that Throne of Majesty above all Aeneas Sylvius saith They thinke themselves well armed with authority that say no Councell may be kept without the consent of the Pope Ex hisce authoritatibus mirum in modum se putant armatos qui CoÌ„cilia nâ—gant fieri posse sine consensu Papae QuoruÌ„ sententia si ut ipst volunt inviolata persistat ruinaÌ„ secum Ecclesiae trahet Quid enim remedli erit si criminosus Papa perturbet Ecclesiam si animas perdat si pervertat malo exemplo populos si denique contraria fidei praedicet haereticisque dogmatibus inbuat subditos sinemusque cum ipso cuncta ruere At ego dum veteres lego historias dumastus perspicio Apostolorum hunc equidem morem non invenio ut soli Papae Concilia convocaverint nec post tempore Constantini magni alioruÌ„ AugustoruÌ„ adcongreganda Concilia quaesitus est magnopere Romani consensus Papae Idem de Concil Basil l. 1. Whose judgement if it should stand as they would have it would draw with it the decay and ruine of the Church For what remedy were there then if the Pope himselfe were vitious destroyed soules overthrew the people with evill example taught Doctrine contrary to the faith and filled his subjects full of Heresies should wee suffer all to goe to the Devill Verily when I read the old Stories and consider the acts of the Apostles I finde no such order in those dayes that onely the Pope should summon Councels And afterward the time of Constantine the Great and of other Emperours when Councels should be called there was no great accompt made of the Popes consent On the contrary Pope a Bulla Pii 2. Retractat p. mihi 739. Pius saith Order requireth that inferiours should be governed by their superiours and all should appertaine to one as the Prince and Governour of all things which are below him As Geese follow one for a leader and amongst the Bees there is but one King even so in the Church militant as also in the Church triumphant there is one Governour and Judge of all which is the Vicar of Christ Jesus from whence as from a head all power and authoritie is derived into the subordinate members Thus when he was young and had read the old Stories and considered the acts of the Apostles hee found no such Authority and respect given to the Pope but when he was Pope and old it seemes he forgat the Apostles and ancient Writers then hee attributes all power and reverence to the Pope of Rome Briefly Aeneas Sylvius saith a De Româ—nis Pontificibus liceret exempla admodum multa adferre si tempus sineret quoniam aut haeretici aut aliis imbuti vitiis sunt reperti Idem de Concil Basil lib. 1. Of the Popes of Rome wee might shew forth very many examples if time would permit that they have beene found either Hereticks or else defiled with other vices But Pope Pius saith speaking of these and the like assertions b Pudet erroris poenitet malè fecisse male dictoruÌ„ scriptorumque vehementer poenitet c. Bull. Retract ut supra I am ashamed of my error I earnestly repent both of my words and deeds and I say Lord remember not the faults and ignorance of my youth And thus being Pope saving all advantages to his See he hath condemned him selfe and his Writings as published by him when he was a private man and yet notwithstanding the Inquisitors professe hee hath retracted that as Pope which afterwards hee condemned and therefore by their doome hee must have a new purgation and from thenceforth Tum Pius Aeneas But tell mee I pray was hee Pius Aeneas when he complained that at Rome the c Nam ipsae manus impositiones Spiritus sancti dona venduntur Aene. Sylv. Ep. 66. imposition of hands and the gifts of the Holy Ghost were sold for money Was hee Pius Aeneas when he complained that the Court of d Quid est Romana curia his qui summam tenent nisi turpissimum pelagus ventis undique durissimis reÌ„pestatibus agitatuÌ„ Idem Ep. 188. Rome in the chief amongst them was but a most filthy Sea tossed on every side with winds and strong tempests Was hee Pius Aeneas when he protested with griefe that e Jacet spreta religio justitiae nullus honos fides penè incognita Ep. 398. religion was despised righteousnesse dishonoured faith in a manner unknowne Or was hee Pius
Papacie formerly prevailed yet it is more than evident by the Testimonies and Records of your owne men that we had not two Churches before Luther but that we had alwayes Testes Veritatis witnesses of Gods truth and our owne Religion in all Ages in the bosome of the Roman Church I proceed to particulars in this last age Anno 1500. Cardinall Cajetan is purged in severall and maine points of doctrine being different from your owne Church Touching the ground of Transubstantiation he denies that the words of Scripture This is my body are availeable to prove it of themselves and thereupon your Jesuit Suarez complaineth Ex Catholicis c. a Ex Catholicis solus Cajetanus in Commentario hujus Articuli qui jussu Pii 5. in Romana editione expunctus est docuit seclusâ Ecclesiae authoritateverba illa Hoc est corpus meum ad veritatem hanc confirmādam nonsufficere Suarez Tom 3. Disp 46. Sect. 3. quaest 75. Art 1. p. 515. Impress Mog An. 1509. Amongst the Catholikes Cajetan onely teacheth that the words This is my Body bee not sufficient without the authoritie of the Church to confirme the truth of it And therefore by the command of Pope Pius the 5. this passage is blotted out in the Roman Edition Touching justification by faith onely whereas hee saith b Absque exceptione aliqua cōditionis sexus qualiatis c. dicitur omni credenti sola fides exigitur ad salutem Cajet Ep. Paulï c. Parisus 1571. fol. 4. Ind. lib. prohibit p. 876. without any exception of person of any Sexe or quality or condition It is said of every Beleever faith alone is required to salvation your Index commands those latter words to bee blotted out Lastly in speaking of the Crosse and the like he saith These are altogether unlawfull and not to be embraced because they are part of an ill worship you cause these words to be strucken out and in lieu of them you subjoyne these words following which are flat contrary c Idem p. 805. These are altogether lawfull and are to be embraced because they are part of the divine worship and the better to colour these miserable shifts and falsifications you give this Caveat to the Reader Idem ibid. p. 805. Be warie if you finde any such Doctrine for it is to bee feared the Heretikes have suggested it Alphonsus à Castro wrote a large Booke against Heresies Anno 1500. and in particular he charged Luther with many Yet in his first Booke and fourth Chapter hee attributeth the same title of Heretike to the Pope and shewes the Pope as Pope is subject to Heresie but behold the record stands published against Luther but is wholly razed touching the Pope Quod autem alii dicunt eum quierraverit in fide obstinatè jam non esse Papam ac per hoc affirmant Papam non posse esse haereticum in reseria verbis velle jocari Ad hunc enim modum quis posset citra impudentiam asserere nullum fidelem posse in fide errare nam cum haereticus fuerit jam desinit esse fidelis Non enim dubitamus an haereticum esse Papam esse coire in unum possint sed id quaerimus an hominem qui aliàs in fide errare potuisset dignitas Pontificalis efficiat à fide indeviabilem Non enim credo aliquem esse adeo impudentem Papae assentatorem ut ei tribuere hoc velit ut nec errare aut in interpretatione sacrarum literarum hallucinari possit Nam cùm constet plures eorum adeo illiteratos esse ut Grammaticam penitus ignorent quî fit ut sacras literas interpretari possent Alph. à Cast advers haer l. 1. c. 4. p. mihi 6. b. Coloniae excudebat Melchior Nouesianus Anno 1543. The words in my Edition are these Whereas some say that he which erreth wilfully in the faith is now no longer Pope and thereupon concludes the Pope cannot be an Heretike they seeme in a sad matter to dally with words For saith he wee make no doubt whether the Pope and an Heretike may agree in one person but this is our question whether a man that otherwise might have erred in the Faith by vertue of the Papall dignity be made such as he cannot erre For I doe not beleeve that there is any so impudent a flatterer of the Pope that will give him this preheminence to say that he can neither be deceived nor misse in the expounding of the Scriptures for seeing it is well knowne that many Popes be so utterly void of learning that they know not the Principles of their Grammer how may it be that they should be able to expound the Scriptures These words I have cited at large out of my Edition 1543. for if you looke into Alphonsus printed within these last threescore yeares I beleeve you will finde them razed in this particular without an Index Expurgatorius which plainly shewes that as the Pope was and may be an Heretike so likewise falsifying of Records is a proper marke of Heretikes Johannes Ferus a Frier Minorite An. 1500. Usher p. 162. and prime Preacher at Mentz in Germany is purged and falsified in many points of controversie which he held with us Touching the power of Priesthood in remitting of sinnes it was the doctrine of Ferus a Non quòd homo propriè remittat peccatum sed quòd ostendat ac certificet à Deo remissum Neque enim aliud est absolutio quam ab homine accipit quà m si dicat En fili certifico te tibiremissa esse peccata annuncio tibi te habere propitium Deum quaecunque Christus in Baptismo Evangelio nobis promisir tibi nunc per me annunciat promittir Fer. Comment in Matth. l. 2. c. 9. Mogunt An 1559. Lugdun apud Johannem à S. Paulo An. 1609. Contr. Man did not properly remit sinne but did declare and certifie that it was remitted by God so that the absolution received from man is nothing else than if hee should say Behold my sonne I certifie thee that thy sinnes are forgiven thee I pronounce unto thee that thou hast God favourable unto thee and whatsoever Christ in Baptisme and in his Gospell hath promised unto us hee doth now declare and promise unto thee by me Of this thou shalt have me to be a witnesse goe in peace and in quiet of conscience This declarative power of remitting sinnes was Ferus doctrine this is ours But behold the case is altered for in Ferus printed at Lyons 1609. all those words are razed out and on the contrary saith that b Sacerdos enim Dei minister verè remittit peccata ac certificat à Deo remissa fol. mihi 160. b. In Matth. l. 2. c. 9. the Priest doth truely remit sinnes and as the Minister of God doth also certifie that they are remitted of God Touching our justification by faith onely the true Ferus
Roman Ferus hath left out the word ridiculum est and saith That some will have Cephas taken for the head which is most ridiculous Claudius Espencaeus Bishop of Paris lived and dyed a member of the Roman Church yet is purged because hee speakes not Placentia sutable to your Trent Doctrine In his Commentary on the Epistle to Titus in his first digression hee is commanded to be purged per quinque paginas five leaves together in which hee complaines of the abuses and corruptions growne into the Roman Church and See he shewes that their greedinesse of gaine and love of money caused them to dispence with all kindes of wickednesse as namely with unlawfull and forbidden marriages with Priests keeping of Concubines with incests murders rapes witchcraft killing of Fathers of Mothers of Brothers and things not to be named and under the name and title of the Taxes of the Apostolicke Chamber for so they terme them in which Booke saith hee being publikely and daily printed Taxae Camerae Apostolicae you may learne more wickednesse than in all the summes and catalogues of vices Then hee shewes that the Councell of Trent was a third time assembled by the command of Pius the fourth Adeo tamen Romanam curiaÌ„ repurgare non permisit yet by no meanes would hee permit that the Court of Rome should be reformed And thus in severall pages Ind. Madrid f. 60. Belg. p. 74. Delean tur illa verba in Ep. ad Tit. c. 1. p. 74 p. 76 77 78. 82 83 84. where hee complaines of the like abuses in the See and Court of Rome the Inquisitors command to be blotted out Lastly hee proves out of Gregory the Great and Saint Bernard a Ibid. p. 526. In Tit. c. 3. That every soule is subject to the higher power that is the Priesthood to the secular power the Bishops and Archbishops to Emperours and Kings and in conclusion when it is questioned saith hee touching the reformation of the Clergie and orders of Monkes for sending the Shepheards to their owne folds and compelling them to feed their owne flocks they say it is a thing that belongs to a Synod Res est synodica pontificia Ibid. p. mihi 526. and the Bishop of Rome But was there any Reformation at the Councell of Trent Did the Pope and Councell cause them to bee more diligent in their calling c. This and much more to the like purpose they command to be blotted out Polydore Virgil a member of your Church is purged in many points of Doctrine which make against you Possev Appar p. mihi 294. Tom. 2. Possevine tells us that his Booke De inventionibus rerum is permitted to be read if it be such as Pope Gregory the thirteenth commanded to be purged at Rome 1576. Now if any man list to compare that and Polydore printed at Paris 1528. Parisiis ex Officinâ Roberti Stephani Anno 1528. hee shall finde that the true Doctrine of Polydore is not allowed which protesteth against many points of Popery Polyd. de Invent Rerum l. 2. c. 23. in initio p. mihi 41. but by the Inquisitors command hee is inforced contrary to himselfe to speake the Trent language As for instance whereas the true Polydore saith When God is every where present certainly there is nothing more foolish than to counterfeit his image in your later Editions you have added these words In the beginning after the first creation there was nothing more foolish as if it were wisdome to represent God the Father in these dayes which in the beginning of the world was foolishnesse In his fifth Booke and fourth Chapter Ibid. l. 5. c. 4. p. 84. usque adp 87. your Inquisitors command seven whole pages to bee stricken out and the reason is pregnant The marriage of Priests which is prohibited by a positive Law of your Church is proved to be lawfull yea and in some case commanded by the Apostles Doctrine and justified by the examples of Saint Paul of Peter of Philip and other Apostles that had wives and he addeth that according to Saint Pauls Doctrine the Bishops and Deacons and consequently all orders of Priesthood had them and this custome saith hee continued long in the Church Porro dum sacerdotes generabant legitimos filios Ecclesia faelici prole virüm vigebat tum sanctissimi erant PoÌ„tifices Episcopi innocentissimi Presbyteri DiaconÃque inregerrimi castissimÃque Ib. p. 86 87. Ibid. c. 9. and withall concludes Furthermore whilst the Priests did beget lawfull sonnes the Church flourished with a happy off-spring of men then your Popes were most holy your Bishops most innocent your Priests and Deacons most honest and chaste Then he proves from Pope Pius the second that as Marriage upon good cause was taken from the Priests so it ought to be restored upon better This and much more concerning the marriage of Priests is commanded to be stricken out In his ninth Chapter hee saith Worship thou one true and eternall God but worship thou no Image of any living creature Ind. Belg. p. 175 deleatur say your Inquisitors let it be strucken out In his sixth Booke Idem l. 6. c. 13. and beginning of his thirteenth Chapter he testifies from St. Hierome That almost all the holy ancient Fathers did condemne the worship of Images for feare of Idolatrie He proves from the Law of Moses that nothing made with hands should be worshipped and from the Prophet David Confounded bee all they that worship graven Images Hee shewes further that Gregorie the Great albeit hee reprehended Serenus Bishop of Marsilia for breaking downe of Images yet hee commends him for forbidding the worshipping of them These and the like passages are commanded to be strucken out per octodecem lineas Ind. Belg p. 177. Ind. lib. expurg p. mihi 725. for eighteen lines together Ludovicus Vives a Priest of your second Classis is purged and namely by the Divines of Lovan Plantins print at Antwerpe 1576. in their Edition of St. Austins workes at Antwerp Anno 1576. In his Epistle to King Henry the 8th where he saith that Princes are supreme Governours on earth next under God this is commanded to be blotted out And where he saith The Saints are worshipped and esteemed by many as were the Gods among the Gentiles this passage without a command in the aforesaid Edition is razed out Againe in his Comment on the 8th Booke of the Citie of God he tells us how your Romish Priests upon good Friday doe celebrate Christs passion upon the stage There Judas saith he playeth the most ridiculous Mimick Lud. Viv. in August de Civit. Dei l. 8. c. 27. even then when he betrayes Christ there the Apostles runne away and the Souldiers follow and all resounds with laughter then comes Peter and cuts off Malchus eare and then all rings with applause as if the betraying of Christ were now revenged and by and by
this great Fisher Peter for feare of a Girle denies his Master all the people laughing at her question and hissing at his deniall and in all these revels and ridiculous stirs Christ onely is serious and severe but seeking to move passion and sorrow in the audience he is so farre from that that he is cold even in the divinest matters to the great guilt shame and sinne both of the Priests that present it and the people that behold it These words and blasphemous actions Ind. l. expurgat p mihi 41. as being ashamed of them you doe well to command them to bee blotted out but yet they are reprinted and your men are not a shamed to continue the practice of it in your owne Religion And lastly where he sayes That those who preferre the Latin Translation before the Greeke and Hebrew fountaines Idem in Aug. l. 15. c. 13. p. 83. are men of evill mindes and corrupt judgements that passage is left out in the Antwerpe print And whereas he saith that the story of Susanna Idem l. 18. c. 31 of Bell and the Dragon are Apocryphall Scriptures and not received of the Jewes nor translated by the Septuagint Ind. l. expurg p. mihi 41. all those words are commanded to be stricken out Jacobus Faber Stapulensis a member of the Roman Church taught the Protestant doctrine in many points and therefore he is purged by your severall Indices Whereas the Rhemists translate the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Penance he defined it Repentance Jac. Fab. in Evang. Matth. c. 3. fol. mihi 13. b. Ibid. c. 5. fol. 24. in initio and makes a distinction betwixt Repentance and Penance such as the Protestants doe and therefore it is commanded to be stricken out Againe speaking of the Scribes and Pharisees who did attribute righteousnesse to themselves and their owne workes Ibid. c. 6. f. 30. a. Ind. Madr. fol. 112. The faithfull saith he which are of the Law of grace doe worke most diligently but doe attribute nothing to themselves or their owne workes but all of them doe impute their righteousnesse to the grace of God All consisteth with the one in the merit of workes with the other in grace the one respect themselves and their workes and are delighted therein the other regard not themselves but the grace of God they admire his goodnesse and therein is their chiefe delight Againe if any man shall doe good in this world hee must not doe it because it is his will but because God commandeth it For he which is perfect hath not a will peculiar to himselfe but his will must be the will of God and this is the third Petition of the Lords Prayer In the sixteenth Chapter of St. Matthew upon the words Thou art Peter c. he shewes that according to St. Pauls doctrine Ibid. fol. c. 16. mihi 74. b. the Rocke was Christ Hee shewes that Peter was so farre from being a firme rocke that Christ himselfe did intimate the contrarie when he said Get thee behinde me Sathan for thou savourest not the things of God but of men He shewes us further that our Lord Christ promised to Peter the Keyes of binding and loosing but withall testifies that those Keyes were not Peters but Christs whereby Peter doth not binde or loose by his power but by the will of Christ He addeth moreover that not onely Peter received those Keyes but also all the rest of the Apostles But saith he there be some which understand by the Keyes of binding and loosing the Popes power as Christ spake of that faith witnessing that he was the Sonne of the living God which is one of the Keyes of the heavenly Doctrine upon which the Church is founded and Peters faith as upon the true Rocke Christ was builded a Deleatur ab illis verbis Ne quis putet Petrum c. usque ad Aeterni Patris infusio Ind. Madr. fol. mihi 113. Ind. Belg. p. 51. This and much more to the same purpose for thirty lines together is commanded to be strucken out In his 20. Chapter he saith b Verum qui operibus suis aliquo modo fidunt minus Deo fidunt minusque amant Deum qui autem nullo modo sed pacto sed promissioni imo omnia Deo tribuunt plus Deo fidunt cujus ineffabili bonitate qui novissimi suerunt operando factisunt primi gratiam recipiendo qui primi operando novissimi gratiam recipiēdo Quare bonum c. deleatur usque ad Dei autem omnia Ind. ut supra Those which any wayes trust in their workes have the least affiance in God and love him the lesse but those which give all to his promise and to God himselfe they trust most in God by whose ineffable bounty those which are last in working are made first by receiving grace and those that are first in working are become last in receiving Whatsoever therefore a man doth it is good for him to trust wholly to God his goodnesse for it is the will of God and of his speciall grace that wee are saved and not of our will or workes These words and much more to the same purpose in the same chapter are commanded to be blotted out Touching his Commentaries upon Saint John your Inquisitors have pronounced this definitive sentence c Ind. Madr. fol. mihi 115. Because they cannot be handsomely purged let them all be spunged and blotted out Touching his Commentaries upon Timothy In Tim. c. 3. fol. mihi 205. hee shewes that it was lawfull for Priests to marry a Virgin till the time of Gregory the seventh which was nine hundred yeeres after Christ hee shewes likewise that the Grecians kept the Apostolicall Tradition in marrying of Wives and could not change them and that other Churches which vowed single life by their incontinencie fell into the snares of the Devill And lastly in his Commentary upon the Galathians at large he proves a Per solam fidem Christi infunditur justificatio In Gal. c. 2. fol. 154. That by the Faith of Christ alone we are justified and that he which b Idem c. 3. fol. 156. Qui autem confidit in operibus in seipso confidit baculo innititur arundineo qui frangitur in seipso supernum lumen non videt unde descendit Justificatio trusteth in his works trusteth in himselfe and leanes upon a staffe of Reed which is broken in it selfe whereby he doth not discern the heavenly light from whence our justification doth descend These and many other like passages in severall places of his Workes which are consonant to our Protestant Doctrine are commanded by the c Ind. Madr. f. mihi 118 119. Inquisitors to be strucken out d Friderici Furii Cenolani Valentini Bononia sive De libris sacris in vernaculam linguam convertendis Fridericus Furius writes a whole Book of translating the Bible into the vulgar tongue
for the benefit of the Lay people hee dedicates his Booke to Cardinall Bovadillius and he tells him that wee esteeme it an excellent thing to reade the workes of Greeke and Latine Philosophers and therefore much more ought wee to search and know the will of God out of his sacred Scriptures for the one is a matter of pleasure and the other is a matter of necessity the not knowing of the one may hurt little or nothing at all but to bee ignorant of the other brings a grievous mischiefe besides eternall destruction of the soule Againe what is it saith hee to forbid the Scriptures to bee read in the vulgar tongue than to forbid God his owne purpose and as it were to command God which doth declare himselfe to all by his Word that hee should not be manifested unto us This is the whole scope of the Author and for this cause lest the reading of the Scripture in a knowne tongue should discover Antichristian Doctrine by frequent reading a Ind. lib. proh p. mihi 36. the Book it selfe is forbidden till it bee purged in this and the like places witnessing against your Romane Doctrine Johannes Langus is numbred amongst your Heretiques in the first Classis pag. 51. Yet his Annotations upon b Permittuntur verò ejusdem in D Justinum annotatioÌ„es iteÌ„ in Nicephorum scholia si expurgentur Ind. l. proh p. mihi 51. Justin Martyr and his Commentaries upon Nicephorus are allowed if they bee purged Now let the Reader observe for what cause you would have him purged First touching his Annotations upon Justin Martyr c Multa continet parum Catholicae Religioni consona inter ea autem illud est praecipuum quòd transubstantiationem non agnoscit sed opertè contendat cum corpore sanguine Christi remanere veram panis vini substaÌ„tiaÌ„ They containe many things disagreeing to the Catholike Religion but among those that is chiefe that hee doth not acknowledge Transubstantiation but doth openly maintaine that the true substance of bread and wine doth remaine with the body and bloud of Christ. Againe d Perversè admodum interpretatur illud Malachiae In omni loco offertur sacrificium nomini meo de doxologia benedictione laudibus hymnis Sic Ind. ut upra He doth very maliciously interpret that place of Malachy In every place a sacrifice shall be offered to my name that is saith he in giving of glory blessing laud and praise to the Name of God e Gerardi Lorichii Adamarii collectio triuÌ„ libroruÌ„ c. de missa publicaproroganda Ind. l. proh p. 11. Gerardus Lorichius is prohibited till he be purged for the reproving and condemning your private Masse and Communion in one kinde his words be these There be false Catholikes that are not ashamed by all meanes to hinder the Reformation of the Church they to the intent that the other kinde of the a Dâ— Missa pub Racemationum lib. 2. Canonis pars 7. p. mihi 177. Sacrament may not be restored to the Lay people spare no kinde of blasphemy b Excusum an 1536. For they say Christ said onely to his Apostles Drinke yee all of this but the words of the Canon of the Masse are Take and eate you all of this Here I beseech them let them tell mee whether they will have this word All to pertaine onely to the Apostles Then must the Lay people abstaine from the other kinde of the bread also which thing to say is an Heresie and a pestilent and detestable blasphemie Ambrosius Catharinus Archbishop of Compsa wrote against Cajetan and saith * Bellar. de Ec. Scrip. p mihi 312. Bellarmine hee wrote likewise against Luther e Opuscula verò similiter prohibentur nisi corrigantur Ind. l. prohib p. 4. Yet something hee wrote is disallowed of the Church as namely touching the words of consecration other things are commonly refuted by the Doctours of the Church viz. the certainety of Grace of Predestination c. therefore his Workes are warily to be read Thus you have Cajetan against Luther and Catherinus against Cajetan and Luther both against the Tenets of their own Church insomuch as the Inquisitors have commanded a deleatur upon Cajetan and Catharinus in the second Classis and against f Commentaria in Lucam nisifuerint ex repurgaâ—â— impressâ—â— ab an 1581. vel nisi anteà edita expurgentur Ind. l. prohib p 26. p. 318. Ind-Belg p. 317. Ind. Hisp p. 63. Luthers whole Workes in the first Classis Didacus Stella is prohibited to bee printed before hee be purged The places which are purged are such wherein hee teacheth Protestant Doctrine as may be seen in g See Appendix to the Romish Fisher caught in his owne net Mr. Crashaw and Dr. James and D. F. Observations Andreas Masius in his Commentarie upon Josuah is purged for this Protestant doctrine Ad solam vitae benè actae imitationem non etiam ad religiosum cultum quem adorationem vocant Theologi DivoruÌ„ monumen ta conservare fas est In Comment Jos hist c. ult Ind. l. expurg p. 31. Wee ought to preserve the Monuments of Saints onely for the imitation of their godly life not for Religious worship which Divines call Adoration Againe hee saith a Idem in Jos c. 22. The Church sets before our eyes the figure of Christs Crosse not that wee should worship it which latter words are commanded to bee razed out Lastly Cardinall Bellarmine who was the first and best that ever handled all controversies indifference betwixt us b Ind. Belg. p. 269. was in danger of a prohibition or rather of an absolute suppression of all his workes Your owne Barclay witnesseth of him Barclay of the authoritie of the Pope c. 13. p. 66. Engl. That there is not one of the Popes partie who hath either gathered more diligently or propounded more sharply or concluded more briefly or subtilly than the worthy Divine Bellarmine who although he gave as much to the Popes authority in temporalties as honestly hee might and more than he ought yet could he not satisfie the ambition of the most imperious man Sixtus the 5th who affirmed that he had supreme power over Kings and Prince of the whole Earth and all People Countries and Nations committed unto him not by humane but by divine Ordinance and therefore he was very neare by his Pontificiall censure to the great hurt of the Church to have abolished all the writings of that Doctour which doe oppugne Heresies with great successe at this day as the Fathers of that order whereof Bellarmine was then did seriously report unto me How probable this may seeme his worke of Recognitions doth witnesse to the world wherein he was inforced to recant that doctrine which he had both sincerely taught and published according to the truth As for instance whereas he professed that the Pope was subject to the Emperour in temporall affaires on the
by way of conclusion what hee would have called Heresie Ibid. This would I rather call Heresie saith he to accompt mens writings among the Scriptures of God and so doe they that thinke it a wicked matter to dissent from the writings of man no lesse than it were the judgements of God Now that your men are guilty of such Heresies in the highest degree appeares by his owne confession Ibid. l. 1. c. 2. p. 14. for he complaines of Gratian who did insert the Popes decretall Epistles amongst the holy Scriptures as if they were of equall authoritie with them and he speakes as an eare witnesse of others who in their publicke Sermons have declared that whosoever shall dissent from the opinion of St. Thomas is to be censured for an Hereticke O fortes verbi Dei Praecones O powerfull Preachers of the word of God saith he or rather I may truly say of St. Thomas doctrine l. 1. c. 7. for by this meanes it will come to passe that blessed Bonaventure must be censured of heresie Ibid. p. mihi 31. for he crosseth St. Thomas and blessed Anselme must be suspected of Heresie because contrary to Thomas opinion he thinketh him not a lover of our blessed Virgin who refuseth to celebrate the Feast of her Conception As this Author wrote a tract against Hereticks so likewise he professeth that the head of the Roman Church as well as the members are subject to that capitall accusation whereof you accuse the Reformers and particularly he doth instance from Platina in Pope Liberius for an Arrian Hereticke and Pope Anastasius for a favourer of the Nestorian Heretickes and withall hee resolves the question which without all question is so to bee resolved that the Pope which you make one of the infallible Rules of your Faith may become an Hereticke You shall doe well therefore to forbeare your name Catholicke till you can free your Pope and his adherents from the markes of Heretickes In the meane time I might more justly retort your owne words cum faenore into your owne bosome and say We Reformed Catholickes not onely stile but prove J. R. and the Romanists to be rightly stiled by the common name of Heretickes I proceed to the rest of your accusations Theodoret say you is wholly impertinent Bellarmine his meaning is abused and his words corrupted First touching Theodoret his proofe notwithstanding your exception stands good for if the agreement of both parties in the Nicene Councell in his judgement ought to have allayed the heate of contention in the Church of Antioch I might well conclude much more that the three Creeds and the first foure Generall Councels wherein both sides agree ought to have abated the edge of your sharpe and bitter Invectives against our Church And as for abusing of Bellarmine I assure you it was farre from my thoughts and you cannot be ignorant that the inference according to true meaning standeth thus If Protestants beleeve and hold all things necessarie for all Christians then are they not to be accompted damned persons and worse than Infidels But they beleeve the Apostles Creed they teach the ten Commandements and administer some few Sacraments which in your Cardinals opinion are those things which are simply necessarie for all to know and beleeve and to this argument you answere nothing but you quarrell about words When I translate nonnulla a few Sacraments you say I falsifie Bellarmine for the word few is not there and yet you know well that by nonnulla hee doth not meane omnia Nonnulla is a diminutive terme signifying not none that is some be they never so fevv and therefore those which he meaneth are but few The word utilia is in the same place of Bellarmine and as for other words added or left out they alter not the sense nor are wee bound precisely to the words but to the sense in translating a passage out of any Author But say you what man ever tooke Babylon for a true Church If by Babylon you understand literally the ancient Citie of Chaldea or that famous City in Aegypt once called by the name of Memphis and now of Cair you know well that it is not my meaning so to take it for you confesse that I otherwise expresse my selfe but that a particular Church as namely your Church of Rome which was sometimes a sound that is a right-beleeving Church may afterwards fall into Heresie and become spirituall and mysticall Babylon this is not onely my assertion but your Romanists and fellow Jesuites in the Church of Rome Ribera your fellow Jesuite of Salamanca in Spaine tells us by way of prevention If Rome shall commit the same things hereafter which she committed in the time of John she shall be called Babylon againe as it was in the case of Hierusalem which of a faithfull City once became afterwards a Harlot And according to the Prophesie of St. John he protesteth in this manner We know this truth so perspicuously by the words of the Revelation Ut ne stultissimus quidem negare possit that the veriest foole cannot deny the same Then he concludes Riberae Comment in Apoc. 14. v. 8. in c. 14. num 31. n. 32. Since Babylon shall be the shop of all Idolatrie and of all impieties therefore it cannot be doubted but that this shall be the condition of Rome hereafter I will come nearer to you Your Monke Sigebert about 500. yeares agoe interpreting the words of St. Peter The Church at Babylon salutes you delivereth this doctrine Sigeb Ep. p. mihi 188. in l. Goldasti Replic Hitherto Peter by Babylon did signifie Rome because Rome at that time was confounded with Idolatrie and all uncleannesse but my griefe doth now interpret unto mee that Peter by a Propheticke spirit by the Church of Babylon foresaw the confusion of dissention with which the Church of Rome at this day is rent in pieces Honorius Bishop of Anthun in France speaking of the fall of the Church of Rome not long after the same time cryes out to the members of his Church Honor. Angust in Dial. de Praedest l. arbit Turne to the Citizens of Babylon and see what they are behold the buildings of that damned Citie consider the principall persons there and thou shalt finde the See of the Beast Thus you see the first Babylonian tels what he feared would come to passe in the Church of Rome hereafter but these two later proclaimed openly that Rome was become Babylon many hundred yeares since and for their loud cries their tongues are now cut out by the command of your Inquisitors How undeservedly were these men punished and forbidden to speake the truth let the Reader judge but that which is observable you raze the Records which testifie for us you forbid them to speake if it make against your Church and then you demand of us What man ever tooke Babylon for Rome I will give you one witnesse more who is ancient and
the time of which the blessed Apostle prophesied when men will not suffer wholesome doctrine is altogether fulfilled in our eares For behold there are many that pervert the holy Scriptures deny the sayings of the holy Fathers reject the Canons of the Church and civill Constitutions of the Emperors Looke into the age before him Matth. Paris p. 843. Grosthead Bishop of Lincolne complaines that there was a defection a revolt an Apostasie from the true Faith Looke into Bernards time and there you shall finde by his owne confession Bernard in Cant. Serm. 33. p. mihi 673. The wound of the Church was inward and past recoverie These former complaints and grievances in the Church did sound aloud in the eares of the later ages and she made great mourning and lamentation for her children because they were not such as she first bred them and accordingly no doubt they wished for a reformation of errors in doctrine as well as Discipline in the Church Looke after Pope Alexanders time and before the Councell of Trent and your Bishop of Bitonto will shew you the state and miserable condition of your Church as it were in a Glasse In Ep. ad Roman c. 6. Alas saith he how were the Scriptures neglected in the later Ages to the detriment of all peple Rivet Sum. Controv. p. mihi 98. There was then in request a tedious and crabbed Divinitie about Relations about quiddities and formalities and all those things were handled and wrested with Syllogismes and humane Sophistrie which without doubt by the same authority as they were received might be refelled The whole Age was spent about the decrees of men which were contradictory amongst themselves and irreconcilable and nourished perpetuall contention He was accounted the best Divine that knew best how to devise the greatest wonders for his Traditions It was a part of their honour and vaine glory to speake bigge words with great lookes among women not to be understood when they disputed of the Scriptures The Preachers of the word were all sworne to the word of their Masters and from hence sprung sixe hundred Sects as namely Thomists Scotists Occhamists Alexandrians c. O heinous wickednesse The Gosspels and Epistles of the Apostles were laid aside true Divinitie lay hid and was handled of very few but coldly I will not say unfaithfully In what state the Church remained in those dayes when Papall Traditions and cunning Sophistry prevailed against the sacred Scriptures let the Reader judge Onus Ecclesiae c. 16. p. mihi 79 Your owne St. Francis foretold that the times were at hand wherein many differences should arise in the Church when charitie should waxe cold iniquity should abound and the Divell should be let loose and that the purity of his Roman Religion should be depraved and accordingly saith my Author the Image of the Crosse in the Church of St. Damian spake unto him Vade repara domum meam quae ut cernis tota labitur Goe and repaire my house which you see is altogether decayed Thus Bishops and Friers and Images stocks and stones cried out of the falling away of your Church if we may credit your owne Authors and yet by no meanes you will assent to a reformation of doctrine or manners At Luthers first rising which was almost 30. yeares before the Councell of Trent your Guicciardine tells us Guicciard Hist lib. 13. that there were that yeare many meetings at Rome to consult what was best to be done The more wise and moderate sort wished the Pope to reforme things apparently amisse and not to persecute Luther Hieronymus Savanarola told the French King Charles the 8. he should have great prosperitie in his voyage into Italie to the end hee should reforme the state of the Church which if he did not reforme he should returne with dishonour and so saith he it fell out I come to the Councell of Trent it selfe where you may reade many decrees for reformation and yet neither doctrine nor manners reformed But let us heare your owne confession It is true the Councell indeed complaineth with great reason of the avarice of such whom the Knight calleth the Popes Collectors though the Councell speaketh not of the Pope but false it is which he saith that the Councell complaineth of Indulgences an Article of faith as his words are The Councell likewise complaineth of many things crept into the celebration of the Masse and the words of the Councell are right cited by him in Latin in the Margent but in the English he foully corrupteth them For in stead of many things hee translated many errors which is a grosse errour and corruption in the Knight These be your grand exceptions to the grosse corruptions laid unto my charge but all this while you doe not discharge the accusations laid justly to your Church And in this I must needs say you play the Hypocrite who can discerne a mote in your Brothers eye and cannot see a beame in your owne First therfore cast the beame out of your own eye and then you shall easily disccrne without Spectacles that the Collectors of Indulgences are the Popes Collectors although the Pope is not mentioned in that place and Indulgences are an Article of Faith created by that Councell although the Councell proclaime it not an Article of Faith so that multa many things might well stand for many errors and corruptions since they were errors in practise Neither would I have set the Latin in the Margent if I had meant to corrupt them in English and withall if you had taken the last edition as you ought to have done you should have found them in another Character and then all your waste words of foule corruptions had beene needlesse But in this you resemble Palladius a lewd fellow who in like manner charged St. Hierome with falsifications and false translations He preacheth and publisheth abroad saith Hierome that I am a falsarie Hieron ad Pāmach de optimo genere interpret Tom. 2. that I have not precisely translated word for word that I in stead of the word Honourable have written these words Deerely beloved These things and such trifles saith he are laid unto my charge Now heare what Answer St. Hierome makes Whereas the Epistle it selfe declareth that there is no alteration made in the sense and that there is neither matter of substance added nor any doctrine devised by me verily by their great cunning they prove themselves fooles and seeking to reprove other mens unskilfulnesse they betray their owne Let us heare therefore the rest of your Things for so you will have me terme them which are crept into your Church and need a Reformation The Councell say you seemeth to acknowledge the avarice of Priests in saying Masse for mony was not farre from Symonie It speaketh of the use of Musicke wherewith some wantonnesse was mixed as also of certaine Masses or Candles used in certaine number proceeding rather from superstition than true
Religion This you confesse is true in your Councell but to these you answer nothing Concil Trid. Sess 22. Can. 9. You might have added to these abuses both Superstition and Idolatry in the Masse for your Councell confesseth them both and I thinke it toucheth your errors in Doctrine But have you reformed all or any of these things Is your superstitious number of Masses and lights in the Church abated Are your lascivious and wanton songs set to the Organs and mingled with other Church musicke redressed Is your covetousnesse in Priests with their Superstition and Idolatry in the Masse abolished Mirae mirae entis Res. Juvenal These corruptions are things and things as you call them and such as I wonder your Councell was not ashamed to confesse much more to tolerate or rather to practice in the daily sacrifice of your Masse I hasten to the Reformation in doctrine but you tell me it is a Lye the Councell never intended it I instance in private Masse Latin Service c. You answer it is most false for the doctrine is the same still and ever was I perceive your passion makes you much forget your selfe for your doctrine I confesse which is commonly received is the same now that was decreed in the Councell of Trent but that it was ever the same as now it is all the Colledge of Cardinals and Jesuits cannot prove Looke upon your owne confession in those two particular instances Your private Masse where the Priest communicates alone is not the same now as it was heretofore For say you it was the practise of the Primitive Church for the people to communicate every day with the Priest Spectacl pag. 191. Your Prayer in an unknowne tongue is not the same now as it was heretofore for say you Prayer and Service in the vulgar Tongue was used in the first and best Ages Pag. 271. and now the vulgar is become the Latin unknown tongue Take heed therefore of these confessions for by such palpable contradictions you may lose your Proselytes and bring the Lye upon your selfe Againe you confesse that the Councell wisheth that the standers by did communicate not onely spiritually Pag. 53. but also sacramentally and doth not your Church in this wish a reformation in doctrine Doth it not in this preferre the practice of the reformed Churches before their owne and in a manner confesse an error in the allowed practice of the Roman Church Your Councell commands Pastors that have care of soules to expound that to the people which is delivered in the Masse in an unknowne tongue and doe not those that require the Priests to expound it to the people shew likewise that without such exposition the people are little better for the Masse and that the Church intended the people should understand it What is this else but to joyne hands with the Protestants and to acknowledge a reformation needfull in your Church for requiring Service to bee celebrated in a knowne tongue that the people may understand it But that I may make good my assertion and that the Reader may know I have said nothing but the truth in affirming the Councell of Trent did make decrees for Reformation for doctrine as well as manners looke upon the second Session and tell me if they did not professe a reall intention in both Concil Trid. Sess 2. the words of the Session are these Whereas it is the speciall care and intention of the Councell that the darkenesle of Heresie being expelled which so many yeares hath covered the earth the light and parity of the Catholicke truth may shine through the helpe of Christ which is the true light and that those things which need reformation may be reformed the Synod exhorteth all Catholikes assembled or to be assembled and especially those who are skilful in the sacred Scriptures that with continuall meditation they may diligently consider with themselves how these things may bee effected that they may condemne those things which are to be condemned and approve those things which are to be approved that the whole world with one mouth and confession of one and the same faith may glorifie God the Faiher and our Lord Jesus Christ Take a review of the words of your Councell First Praecipua cura intentio ut propulsatis errorum tenebris quae per tot annos operiarunt terram the chiefe care to dispell the darkenesse of errour which covered the earth which words cannot be meant of the Protestant doctrine For our light is pretended by you to be lately come in and but in a part or corner of the world Secondly peritiam habeant sacrarum literarum ut sedulâ meditatione secum ipsi cogitent c. ut probare probanda damnare damnanda queant There needed not this diligence and skill in Scriptures for Luthers Religion for they were condemned before by the Pope Thirdly Nullus debeat c. obstinatis disceptationibus contendere which should not be about Lutheran points but about doctrines of their owne Fourthly in the third Section de extirpandis haeresibus c. which say they is adversus spirituales nequitias in caelestibus which heavenly places are meant by their owne Church not by Luthers as is most evident For they would never acknowledge our Churches heavenly places Now I pray what thinke you of your Councels Decrees Will not they extend to a Reformation in doctrine or will you say that Heresies in manners crept into the Church and the most learned in the Scriptures were chiefly to be imployed for reforming them that thereby there might be one Faith of Papists and Protestants through the Christian world De extirpandis haeresibus moribus reformandis quorum causa praecipue est congregata Sess 3. Looke upon the third Session and there likewise you shall finde a Decree for rooting out of Heresies in doctrine aswell as rectifying of manners and the discipline of the Church and for both those causes saith your Decree the Councell was principally called It is a most evident truth then howsoever you redouble the lie upon me that the Councell did intend a Reformation in doctrine for otherwise to what end should the Pope summon all Christian Bishops out of all Nations even at that time when the Protestants were in number infinite and had discovered and proclaimed the errors of the Roman Church Besides to what purpose were those disputes and oppositions in the Councell against particular points of Doctrine if they had not beene adjudged erroneous and needed a reformation But herein the Reader shall easily discerne the policie of your Church At the first calling of the Councell when these first Sessions were made the number of Bishops were but few about 40. but after the faction of the Popes creatures in multitude prevailed all hope of reformation was abandoned And thereupon the Bishops of Apulia publikely declared that the Trent Fathers were nothing else but the Popes creatures and his bondslaves See
marriage were restored to Priests yea whilst he was a Cardinall he had his concubine to whom at last he gave threescore Florens for her Dowrie and it seemes when he was well in yeares in or about the time of his Popedome he confessed I cannot boast of any merit in my chastity Magis me Venus Jugitat quam ego illā horreo Ep. 92. for to tell the truth venerie doth rather flie from me than I from it Neither was it his particular case alone for the Booke called Taxae Camerae Apostolicae which your Bishop Espencaeus complained of doth sufficiently witnesse the damnable effects of such divellish doctrine The gravest Cardinals in Rome who were appointed by speciall Commission and presented their information to Pope Paul the third doe sufficiently witnesse the forbidden fruits of such an evill tree The words are these In this City of Rome the Curtezans passe through the streets Wolph Lect. Memor Anno 1535 p. 403. or ride on their mules like honest Matrons and in the midst of the day Noblemen and Cardinals deare friends attend upon them We never saw such corruption but onely in this Citie which is the example and patterne of all other moreover they dwell in faire and goodly houses On the other side you would make us beleeve that your Curtezans goe altogether on foote that they have a speciall badge of dishonestie whereby they may be knowne that they are despised and reviled of the people but especially by Cardinals and the Nobles that they dwelt in out-houses and back lanes but to ride on horsebacke to be attyred as honest Matrons and Noble Ladies to be attended by Priests and Cardinals friends and to dwell in faire and beautifull houses this shewes that your dispensation for stewes is occasioned chiefly by the forbidding of marriage and by this meanes marriage which is honourable in all Heb. 13.4 and the bed undesiled by the Apostles doctrine is now become a sinne and your Apostolike See the Mother of Fornications This occasioned your owne Agrippa to complaine of your casting up of the Bawds rents with the revenew of your Church Agrip. de vanit scient c. 64. de Lenonia I have heard saith he the accompts cast up in this sort he hath two Benefices one cure of twenty Ducats a Priorie of forty Ducats and three whores in a brothell house I list not any longer to stirre this filthie puddle Camerinam movere Eras Adag which stinkes in the nosthrils of God and good men the counsell of your Canonist is safe and good in this particular Panor dè Cler. Conjug Cap. Cū Olim. The Church saith he should discharge the part of a good Physitian who when by experience he findes one medicine rather hurt than helpe he removeth it and applieth another and there hee gives the reason Because we finde by experience that the Law of single life hath brought forth contrarie effects and the rather because it is resolved by your learned Cardinall Cajet in quodlibet contra Lutherum It cannot bee proved either by reason nor yet by authority to speake absolutely that a Priest doth sinne in marrying a wife for neither the Order of Priesthood in that it is Order nor the same Order in that it is holy is any hindrance to matrimonie for Priesthood doth not dissolve matrimonie whether it be contracted before Priesthood or afterwards if we setting apart all other Ecclesiasticall Lawes stand onely to those things which we have received of Christ and his Apostles Againe Panorm l. extr de Elect. C. Licet de Vit. Ab. your owne Panormitan tells us that the Priests of Grecia being within Orders doe marrie wives and we see they doe it saith he sine peccato without sinne or breach of Law either of God or man And thus by your owne Tenet you stand with the positive law of man against the law of God you stand in opposition against the Greeke Church which ever used it and lastly you are at difference among your selves Espencaeus de Continentia l. 1. c. 11. p. 116. when many prime members of your owne Church utterly condemne it The doctrine of St. Paul is evident and plaine It is better marrie than burne This Law is cleane perverted by your Jesuits doctrine Utrumque est malum nubere uri imo pejus est nubere quicquid exclamant adver arii praesertim ei qui habet votum solenne Bell. de Monach l. 2. c. 30. Hist of Trent l. 5. fol. 400. 680. for saith Bellarmine Let our adversaries say what they will it is worse to marrie than burne especially for him that hath made a solemne vow So that the Law of God must give way to the Law of man and chiefly for reason of state and policie For saith Cardinall Rodolpho if the marriage of Priests were tolerated this inconvenience would follow the Priests having house wife and children would not depend upon the Pope but on the Prince and their love to their children would make them yeeld to any prejudice of the Church they will seeke also to make their Benefice hereditarie and in a short space the authoritie of the Apostolike See will be confined within the walles of Rome And to these reasons you may truly adde this as appendant to the rest the dispensation of Stewes would be neglected and consequently the great Revenue of the Roman See would be utterly lost and therefore the Index Expurgatorius will not lay hold of any such doctrine For a conclusion of this point If you say marriage of Priests be malum in se evill in it selfe you comply with the Devillish doctrine of Tatianus If it be evill quia prohibetur because it is forbidden onely then fornication which is evill of it selfe and in it selfe must needs bee the greater sinne CHAP. V. The summe of his Answer to my Fifth Section OF this Section saith he there is not much to be said for there is nothing in it but a litle of the Knights own raving Maldonat approveth and commendeth St. Austins explicacation but addeth another of his owne After this the Knight hath a great deale of foolish stuffe which needs no answer The Reply Your answer is short but your words be somewhat sharpe and you can finde nothing in that Section but raving and foolishnesse If it be raving to cite Texts of Scripture against your maimed Commandements your Invocation of Saints your Prayer in an unknowne tongue your worship of Images and the like If it be raving to say Purgatorie is created a point of Faith that Faith is confirmed by Councels meerely for the benefit of the Pope and Clergie that you doe not exercise the power of your Priesthood in binding as well as loosing by reason no man will give monie to be bound but to be loosed in Purgatorie If it be raving to say your Jesuite Maldonat preferres his owne explication of Scripture before St. Austins onely because it more crosseth the
without intermission 3. That Protestants have no shaddow of succession in person or doctrine 4. That Papists have a most cleare personall succession being able to shew 200. and odde Popes succeeding the other in place and office 5. That personall succession is a firme argument of succession in faith IT is my promise in my seventh Section to shew a descent of both Religions as namely that the Romish faith was derived from antient Haeretiks and the Protestant faith was drawne downe from Christ and his Apostles But say you It is one thing to prove a thing to have beene anciently taught another to have beene successively taught It is true Antiquity and Succession differ neither did I undertake to prove that those Haeretikes or your Church had a perpetuall succession in person and doctrine but for the truths sake I have acknowledged the antiquity of your Trent faith although descended from ancient Haeretikes and I made the first instance in Latin Service and prayer in a strange tongue brought in by Pope Vitolian as is witnessed by Wolphius but you cry out It is a most strange absurdity to averre fuch a knowne falsehood upon no other authority pag. 87. then a professed Haeretike And is he an Haeretike that speaketh the truth of your Religion What say you to your prime Champion Mr. Harding He saith expresly About nine hundred yeares past it is certaine the people in some Countries had their service in an unknowne tongue Iuel in his 3. Article Divis 1. as it shall be proved of our owne Country of England Now observe the difference Wolphius said the Latin Service came in after Christ about the yeare 666. Mr. Harding who wrote these 67. yeares since as appeares by Bishop Iuels Epistle tells us it came in 900. yeares past compute Wolphius 666. with Mr. Hardings time of 967. and you shall finde that they agree about one and the same time and therefore it was neither absurd nor false which Wolphius uttered Neither doe you disprove the reason of Wolphius but you make a quâ—ere upon his assertion During his 600. and odd yeares what other Lyturgies were there in the Latin Church but Latin And I may aswell say what were there in the Greeke Church but Greeke But this demand maketh against your Service in an unknowne tongue not against Wolphius who affirmeth not that the Latin Service was not in the Latin Church before the yeare 666. but that the Pope obtruded it upon all Churches even there where the Latin was not understood as in England saith Mr. Harding and elsewhere For Origen tells us before that time Orig contrd Celsum lib. 8. the Greekes call upon God in the Greeke tongue and the Latins in the Latin tongue and all severall Nations pray unto God and praise him in their owne natur all and mother tongues for he that is the Lord of all tongues heareth men praying in all tongues none otherwise then if it were one voice pronounced by divers tongues for God that ruleth the whole world is not as some one man that hath gotten the Greeke or Latin and knoweth none-other The ancient Primitive Churches therefore taught the Doctrine in a knowne tongue agreeable to the profession at this day But the truth is A. 30.666 A. 1.666 T. 300.666 E. 5.666 I. 10.666 N. 50.666 O. 70.666 M. 200.666 Sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nomen sexcentinum sexagiata sex numeruÌ„ habens valde verisimile est quonlam verissimum nomen hobet vocabulum Latini enim sunt qui nunc regnaÌ„t sed non in hoc nos gloriabimur Irenae l 5. cap 25. p mihi 355. the Latin Service and the name of the Latin Church is one of the most essentiall markes of the Roman Hierarchie And I know not whether it were by conjecture or by inspiration that Irenaeus above foureteene hundred yeares agoe in the word Lateinos found out the name of Antichrist and the number of 666. The name Lateinos saith he conteining the number of six hundred sixty six is very likely because the truest kingdome hath that name for they are the Latines that now raigne but saith he we will not glory in this You proceede to the Haeretikes Ossem and you say first I am notably mistaken in placing them towards the Apostles time and withall you have read the Chapter there twice over and the second time more attentively then the first and yet you find not any such word so cited by mee First Trajan Anno 100. Bel. de script Eccles pag. mihi this Sect continued till Trajans time not an hundred yeares after the Apostles and therefore it was no errour in me to place them towards the Apostles time and if you please to peruse the place a third time with your Spectacles you shall find these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiph heres 19 Nemo quaerat interpretationem sed solum in oratione haec dicat and there hee repeats a Prayer which if you peruse the Greeke text is more expresse Let no man inquire after the meaning only in his Prayer Let him say such words viz. such Hebrew words which Epiphanius there setteth downe Are not these Heretikes thinke you neere kinne to them who say Heare Latine Masse and say after the Priest it mattereth not whether you understand what hee saith or not From Epiphanius you flie to Saint Ambrose and there you make a great complaint that I put in words of my owne in the same Character with Saint Ambrose which are none of his as namely There were certaine Iewes amongst the Graecians Ambr. in 1 Cor. 14. as namely the Corinthians who did celebrate the Divine Service and Sacraments which the common people understood not I confesse ingenuously it is an errour in the print and I shall willingly alter the letter but not the words at the next impression But I confidently professe it is agreeable to the true sense and meaning of the Author and the strength of the argument is not in the words but in the sense and therfore I may truly answer you with S. Austine What folly is it to contend about words Aug. Ep. 174. when there is the certainty of the thing it selfe It cannot be denied that Ambrose taxeth the Hebrewes who amongst the Corinthians in Tractatibus oblationibus used sometimes the Syriack and sometimes the Hebrew tongue which without doubt the Greeks understood not And therefore in his Commentarie on this place hee gives the Hebrew to understand If you meet together to edifie the Church Ambr. in 1 Cor. 14. those things must be delivered which the hearers understand for to what purpose or profit is it that any one speake a tongue which hee himselfe onely understands and whereof hee that heareth can reape no fruit And a little after The Apostle saith I had rather speake five words in the Church according to the Law that I may edifie others than any long and large discourse in obscuritie Againe by
Oblationibus which you interpret Offrings Saint Ambrose cannot meane the peoples gifts or offrings for there was no need of any speech much lesse a long speech at these offrings It must therefore follow that either he meanes the celebration of the Sacrament or some spirituall sacrifices of Praise and Thanksgiving You proceed from one heresie to another viz from your unknown Service to your Transubstantiation This Doctrine I shewed had his descent from the Heretikes Helcesaitae from Marcus from the Capernaites Touching the Helcesaitae you say It is an hereticall fable for those Heretikes make two Christs pag. 92. wee acknowledge but one and the same both in heaven and in the consecrated Host It is true this particular Instance is cited amongst the Tables of Theodoret but yet you have affinitie with their Tenets as neere as cosen Germans once removed For as you acknowledge but one Christ in the heavens and in the Host no more did those Heretikes in words for they rehearsed the Apostles Creed Et in Iesum Christum and not in Christos and as they made a two-fold Christ one in heaven another in earth so likewise you teach that Christ in the Sacrament here on earth is invisible and indivisible but in heaven at the same time visible and with dimensions of quantitie and distinctions of Organs And what is this but consequently to make two Christs or at least to make contradictories true at the same time of one and the same Christ in respect of his humane nature to be visible and invisible Touching Marcus the Heretike you say Hee changed the colour but you teach that the colour and accidents remaine and the substance is changed It is true and your opinion in this is more absurd than that of Marcus for hee changed the Colour to make the people beleeve it was true blood and you make them beleeve it is blood when there is neither tast nor colour of blood Lastly touching the Capernaites you deny there is any likenesse of Doctrine For say you the Capernaites thought they should eate Christs body piece-meale but wee receive Christ whole and entire not in the forme and shape of flesh but of bread c. But I pray which of the Evangelists ever charged them with any such conceit The truth is they understood the words of Christ as you doe in a grosse and carnall manner and therfore Christ in reproving them saith not Flesh eaten piece-meale profiteth nothing but absolutely The flesh profiteth nothing As touching your eating of Christ whole and intire it is all one with their eating of him by piece-meale for there may be many differences in eating but all eating the flesh of Christ with teeth and jawes is Caperniticall But you neither see nor taste the flesh of Christ which they dream'd they should for you receive it Not say you in the forme of flesh but of bread I will returne you an Answer from a learned Divine on our side B. Bilson in the difference between Christ subject and unchristian Rebellion pag. 748. You chaw the flesh of Christ actually with your teeth and swallow the same downe your throats and these be proper actions and right instruments of externall and Caperniticall eating your eyes and your taste be not else blind men and such as by reason of Sicknesse can taste nothing by your Divinitie can eate nothing Since then you concurre with the Capernaites in eating and swallowing notwithstanding you vary from them in sight and taste yet your opinion establisheth a corporall eating of Christs flesh and a perverting of the meaning of Christs words no lesse than theirs did Let mee paralell them together with the most favorable construction I can yet your Church must have her Antiquitie and descent from those Capernaites For suppose the Capernaites did beleeve that Christ would kill himselfe and give his body to be eaten yet the Church of Rome teacheth that Christ did eate his owne flesh a thing no lesse barbarous being meant litterally than to kill himselfe Admit the Capernaites did beleeve that Christ would give his flesh to be mangled by pieces or by halves yet your Churches opinion is no lesse cruell to beleeve that in the Sacrament Christs flesh is swallowed up whole at one morsell Lastly let it be granted that the Capernaites did believe that Christs flesh should be eaten when hee was dead yet the opinion of the Romanists is more brutish to imagine his flesh to be eaten when he was alive being a higher degree of crueltie to devoure men alive Apertissimi loqâ—imur corpus Christi veri à nobis attrectari manducan circumgestari dentibus atteri sensibiliter sacrificari non minâ—â—â— quà m ante consecrationem panis Alanus lib. 3. de Euchar. cap. 37. than when they are dead Sure I am they both agree in this that according to the letter they should eate the flesh of Christ Orally Corporally and Substantially they both agree in the sensible handling of his body in devouring him with the mouth and in grinding him with the teeth Alanus the Romanist professeth openly in the name of the Church Apertissimi loquimur Wee affirme plainly the body of Christ is truly handled of us carried about ground with the teeth and sensibly sacrificed Long before him Pope Nicholas confirmed this doctrine in a Councell at Rome and taught it for a lesson to Berengarius Verum Corpus Domini nostii Iesu Christi sensuclitèr non solum in Sacramento sed in veritate manibus Sacerdotum tractari frangi ac fideliùm dentibus atteri Grat. de con secr d. 2. c. 4.2 Ego Berengarius to let him know the great difference betwixt Papist and Protestant in the same Church I beleeve that the body of our Lord Iosus is sensibly and in very deede touched with the hands of the Priest and broken and rent and ground with the teeth of the faithfull This confession stands a Record in the Roman Decrees and unlesse you mince the words strangely you must needs acknowledge that you eate the flesh of Christ peice-meale and then you sympathize in all things with your first Parents the Capernaites From Transubstantiation you proceede to the Popes Supiemacy wherein you say pag. 93. I am mistaken in saying that Phocas gave that authority to the Bishop of Constantinople It is true this is a mistake of the Printer but no corruption Rogatu Bonifacij phocas constituit sedem Romanae Apostolicae Ecclesie caput esse omnium Ecclesiarum nam anteà Constantinopolitana Ecclesia se scribebat primam omnium Vsperg in Phoc. fol. mihi and in the last Impression which you should have taken you shall finde Rome for Constantinople and this you might well understand to be an error in the print because my purpose was to shew a descent of the Bishop of Romes Supremacy not of the Bishop of Constantinople And this authority stands good against you notwithstanding all your exceptions viz. that the Pope of Rome and that
the Lords blood a Sacrilegious sleight Against these Heretikes also wrote another Bishop of Rome in the same age Grat. de Consecrat Dist 2. Comperimus namely Pope Gelasius We have intelligence saith hee that certaine men receiving only a portion of the sanctified Body abstain from the Cup of the sacred blood who for that it appeareth they be intangled with I know not what superstition let them either receive the whole Sacraments or be driven from the whole because the dividing and parting of one and the same mystery cannot be without grievous Sacrilege What thinke you of your halfe Communion you that brag so much of the antiquitie of your Church The Manichees without doubt were the first Authors of your Doctrine and by the suffrages of two infallible Popes your Sacrament is sacrilegious But say you as at that time the Church forbad the use of one kind so now it forbiddeth the use of both and may againe give way when it shall seeme convenient for the use of both kinds Thus you It seemes you make no scruple to thwart the Institution of Christ nor the Custom of the Ancient Church but because in this point your Church is branded with Sacrilege I thinke indeed you could be content to joyne with the Protestants and restore the Cup to the Lay-people but I would gladly know how it can be done Is not your Communion in one kind published and decreed by your Pope and Councell for an Article of Faith And is it in your Churches power to alter and dispense with Articles of Faith at her pleasure Bulla Pij 4 Act. 6. Concil Trid Sess 13 Surely this Confession proves that your Church can create new Articles of Beleefe which elsewhere you deny or else this is no Article of Faith being contrary to the practise of the first and best ages and by consequent your infallible Pope and Councell are guilty of Error and Sacrilege in a high degree For a conclusiō of this point you say the words Drinke yee all of this from whence we draw our succession in Doctrine were spoken to the Apostles and in them to Priests not to the Laitie By this reason who seeth not but you may aswell take the Bread from the Lay people as the Cup for that also was given onely to the Apostles but if the Cup were proper for the Priests onely why doe you deny it to your Non-conficient Priests doe they stand in the place of Lay people Nay more were not all Non-conficients at the time of Christs Institution what strange shifts and evasions hath your Church to uphold the Novelty of your faith I will give you but one testimony of Antiquity There is saith St. Chrysostome where the Priests differ nothing from the people Chrys 18. in 2. Corinth as when we must receive the dreadfull mysteries for it is not here as it was in the old Law where the Priest eates one part and the people another neither was it lawfull for the people to be partaker of those things of which the Priest was but now it is not so but rather one Body is proposed to all and one Cup to all To passe by innumerable authorities of the Ancients which you know are full in our behalfe I will shut up this haereticall point of doctrine for such is the foundation of it with a testimony of your owne side Gerard. Lorichius de Missa publica proroganda p. mihi There are some false Catholikes that feare not to stop the Reformation of the Church what they can these spare no blasphemy lest that other part of the Sacrament should be restored to the Lay people for say they Christ spake drinke yee all of this onely to the Apostles but the words of the Masse be these Take and eate yee all of this Here I would know of them whether this were spoken onely to the Apostles then must lay men abstaine likewise from the Element of bread which to say is an haeresie yea a pestilent and detestable blasphemy It is therefore consequent that both these words Eate yee Drinke yee were spoken to the whole Church Thus your Ancient Bishop of Rome termed your halfe Communion a Sacriledge and this latter Author of your owne termes it an haeresie and a pestilent Blasphemy and this may serve to prove your descent from the Haeretikes the Manichees in this point From your halfe Communion you proceede to your Invocation of Angels which I derived from the Haeretikes Angelici and for answer to them you say they were Haeretikes swarving from the rule of the Catholike faith by excesse that is honouring Angels more then their due And this is your very case for you doe not onely honour them but religiously worship them and call upon them I will compare your worship with theirs and let the Reader judge if you be not the children of those haereticall Authors called Angelici St. Austin saith Angelici in Angelorum cultu inclinati Aug. de haeres c. 35. Angelici vocati quia Angelos colunt Isid Orig in l. 8. c. 5. Rhem. Annot. in Apoc. 19. Sect. 4. that those haeretikes were inclined to the worship of Angels or as Isidore noteth they were called Angelici because they did worship Angels The one saith they were but inclined to worship the other saith they did worship On the other side you teach that there is a religious reverence honour and adoration which is not to be denied to Angels nay more you make it a point of Faith and have decreed that the Saints and Angels reigning with Christ are to be worshipped and prayed unto Art 8. in Bulla Pij 4. Thus whereas the ancient Haeretikes were but inclined to adoration your men have made it a doctrinall determination flatly to adore them and whereas they did worship them with a religious honour as a custome learned from the Heathen Philosophers you receive it as a Dogmaticall resolution of your Faith delivered by your Trent Fathers and surely in this if there be any excesse in the worship it is in your selves Againe those Haeretikes learned their lesson from the Gentiles For Celsus the Philosopher had said of the Angels Orig. lib. 8. contrà Celsum that they belong to God and in that respect we are to put our trust in them and make Oblations to them according to the Lawes and pray unto them that they may be favourable untous And is not this your very doctrine and yet these men say you swerve from the rule of the Catholike faith Observe then what was the Chatholike doctrine of those times Origen returnes his answer in the name of all true beleevers Idem Ibid. Away with Celsus councell saying that we must pray to Angels and let us not so much as afford any little audience to it Againe St. Chrysostome was living in the fourth age when Apostrophes began to be used to Saints and Angels yet hee telleth us it was the Devills doing to draw men unto the
calling upon Angels These saith hee be the inchantments of the Devils though he be an Angell Chrys in 1. Cor. Homil. 1. though an Archangell though they be Cherubins endure it not For neither will those powers themselves admit it but reject it when they see their Lord dishonored I have favoured thee saith he and have said call upon me and dost thou dishonour him with calling upon others This agrees with the doctrine of Theodoret shewing Theod. in Coloss 3. that the Synod of Laodicea following that rule made a Law that they should not pray unto Angels nor forsake our Lord Iesus Christ and accordingly they decreed it with a curse Christians ought not to forsake the Church of God and depart aside Concil Lao. dic Can. 35. Anno 364. and invocate Angels and make meetings which are things forbidden If any man therefore be found to give himselfe to this priuie Idolatry let him be accursed Merlin Edit 1530. fol. 68. Crab Edit 1538. fol. 216. This Canon makes so plainely against your Church doctrine that both Merlin and Crabbe as I have shewed have turned the word Angelos into Angulos and so by transposition of a letter say we must not leave the Church of God and have recourse to Angles or corners Heiron Epist ad Riparium And St. Heirom at the same time opposed Vigilantius and professeth of himselfe and the Catholike Christians of his time Wee doe not adore or worship the Reliques of Martyrs no nor the Sunne nor Moone nor Angels nor Archangels nor Cherubins nor Se raphins nor any name that is named in this world or in the world to come lest we should serve the creature rather then the Creator who is blessed for ever You see then by these few observations that you are righth descended from the Haeretikes in this point and accordingly you have swerved with them from the Catholike faith by excesse Wherefore I will conclude this Invocation with that memorable passage of St. Austin August lib. Confess 10. c. 42. Whom should I finde that might reconcile me unto thee should I have gone unto the Angels with what prayer with what Sacraments Many endeavouring to returne unto thee and not being able to doe it by themselves as I heare have tried these things and have fallen into the desire of curious visions and were accounted worthy of illusions From your Angell-like or Angelicall predecessors you proceede to the Cathari or Puritans These were Novations say you who out of pride and selfe conceits as if they were more cleane and holy did condemne Catholikes And doe not your Cloister Monkes so conceive of themselves who beleeve they doe more then God commanded and that they can supererrogate and doe they not condemne the Reformed Catholikes as the Novatians did To come neerer to you is not the proud generation of Merit-mongers derived from the Catharists Epiph. haeres 59. But saith Epiphanius whilst these men call themselves Puritans by this very ground they prove themselves to be impure for whosoever pronounceth himselfe to be pure doth therein absolutely condemne himselfe to be impure Againe touching your Predecessors who for bad Marriage I cited out of Epiphanius and St. Austin the Haeretikes Tatiani and the Manichees But say you That they did disallow it especially in Priests I doe not finde it in Epiphanius It is true neither did I cite him for it but I cited Saint Austin in the Margent which you wittingly omitted Aug. ep 74. Yet both Authors declare the Haeretikes to bee founders of your doctrine Continentiam viro hic praedicat nuptias autem scortationem corruptionem putat Epiph. haeres 46. 47. p. mihi 93.95 Auditores eorum ex carnibus vescuntur si voluerint uxores habent quorum nihil faciunt qui vocantur electi Aug. ep 74. Qui cum uxore exercent carnale commercium in carne sunt Deo placere non pessunt sancti esse non possunt Dist 82. cap. Proposuisti Epiphanius shewes that the Tatiani had two proper markes of your Church for their first Leader Tatianus accounted of Marriage as whoredome and corruption and forbad the eating of meates St. Austin likewise tells us that the Manichees did permit their hearers to eate flesh to use husbandry and to marry wives but those which were called Elect did use none of those things Now if those Elect were not the hearers they must needs be their Teachers and consequently their Priests And thus you have two forts of Haeretikes to defend your Monasticke life the one viz. the Tatiani who agree with Pope Innocent saying They which live in the flesh cannot please God neither can they be holy The other viz. the Manichees who permit Marriage to all but to their Priests Lastly touching the Collyridian Haeretikes so called from the Collyrides or cakes which certaine women used to offer to the blessed Virgin I say againe they were your first Leaders and particularly for this reason which you alledge to excuse your selves Because they did exceede the measure of honor due to our blessed Lady Pag. 99. And as touching the Antidico-Marianitae with which haeresie you charge us they were such who out of malice to the blessed Virgin being puffed up with pride or envy saith Epiphanius would possesse men Epiph. haeres 78 p. mihi 244. that after the birth of our Saviour Ioseph knew Marie which never Protestant to my knowledge ever taught or thought Therefore by way of prevention you put this as a scandall upon our Church to excuse your owne But the truth is we ascribe honour of preheminence unto that glorious person before all other vessells of blessednesse we proclaime it with the Angel Gabriel that she was highly favoured and blessed among women Luke 1.28 but withall we testifie with Epiphanius Christ said unto her woman what have I to doe with thee my hower is not yet come lest any man should thinke our Lady was of greater excellency Epiph. l. 3. haeres 79. contr Collyridianos he called her woman as it were prophecying of the kinds and sects of haeresies that were to come into the world lest any man having too great an opinion of that Holy Saint should fall into this haeresie and into the dotage of the same And as touching her perpetuall virginity that golden saying of St. Hierome against Helvidius we unfainedly professe and testifie with heart and voice Hleron contrà Helvidium That God was borne of a Virgin we beleeve because we reade it That Mary had Matrimoniall company with her husband after her delivery we doe not beleeve because we reade it not And to make good my assertion that you tread in the steps of those haeretikes which did exceede the measure of honor due unto our Lady first looke upon Epiphanius who opposeth this haeresie he tells us Although Mary be beautifull Epiph. l. 3. haeres 79. and holy and honourable yet is shee not to be
adored For these women worshipping St. Mary renew againe the Sacrifice of Wine mingled in the honour of the Goddesse Fortune and prepare a Table for the Devill and not for God as it is written in the Scriptures Their women boult flower and their children gather sticks to make fine Cakes in the honour of the Queene of Heaven Therefore let such women be rebuked by the Prophet Ieremie and let them no more trouble the world and let them not say we worship the Queene of Heaven Here we see the words which were spoken of the Heathenish Idolls were applied by Epiphanius unto the Mother of Christ not to deface the blessed Virgin but to declare the fond errors of the Haeretikes Now let us compare this doctrine with yours Bernardinus de Busto Adornamentum regni terreni est quod habeat Regem Reginam c. Bernard de Busto part 9. Serm 2. Bb. Vshers answer to a shalling p. mihi 437. who was living almost 200. yeares since tells us That it is for an ornament of an earthly Kingdome that it should have both a King and a Queene and therefore when any King hath not a wife his subjects often request him to take one Hereupon the eternall King and Omnipotent Emperour minding to adorne the Kingdome of Heaven above did frame the Blessed Virgin to the end that he might make her the Lady and Empresse of his Kingdome and Empire that the Prophecy of David may be verified saying unto her in the Psalme upon thy right hand did sit the Queene in clothing of Gold He tells us further that your Pope Sixtus the fourth granted an Indulgence of twelve thousand yeares for every time that a man in the state of grace should repeate this short Salutation of the Virgin Haile most holy Mary the Mother of God the Queene of Heaven the Gate of Paradise the Lady of the world thou art a singular and pâ—re Virgin thou didst receive Christ without sinne thou didst beare the Creator and Saviour of the world Deliver mee from all evill and pray for my sinnes Amen Looke upon Gregory the Great printed at Antwerpe Apud Iohannem Keerbergium 1615. Tom. 1. p. mihi 490. Anno 1615. and there you shall find the Miter of Pope Sylvester the first who was living Anno 314. with the picture of the blessed Virgin and Christ in her armes figured with this Motto Ave Regina Coeli Haile Queene of Heaven And this was in the same age wherein Epiphanius complaines of the womens custome in his dayes Wee worship the Queene of Heaven Lastly Bellar. in Praef. de Eccles Militante Bellarmine himselfe doth terme her Regina Coeli the Queene of Heaven which attribute is rebuked and forbidden by Hieremie saith that ancient Father and in his dayes condemned for a Heresie Constituta quippe est super omnem creaturam et quicueque Iesu curuat genu matriquoque primus supplicat filij gloriam cum matre non tam communem iâ—diâ—o quam eandem Arnold Carnotens tract de laudibus Virginis And as touching the excessive honour which you complaine of that the Heretikes gave unto our Lady I verily beleeve if your Churches Magnificats be compared with theirs they will be found to exceed them farre For first the same Author testifies That shee is constituted over every Creature and whosoever boweth his knee unto JESVS doth fall downe also and supplicate unto his Mother so that the glory of the Son may be judged not so much to be common with the Mother as to be the very same Neither are your men contented to make her the Queene of Heaven and to make her equall to him whom she her selfe termed her Saviour and Redeemer but your Schooleman Bonaventure goes in a high straine and in one of his Orizons prescribed to her hee saith O Empresse Iure Matris impera tuo dilectissâ—mo filio nostro Iesu Christo Bonav Corona B. Mariae Virginis Operum Tom. 6. edit Rom. An. 1588 and our most kind Lady by the authority of a Mother command thy most beloved Son our Lord Iesus Christ or as wee may reade in the 15th Psalme of your Ladies Psalter Incline the countenance of thy Son upon us compell him by thy prayers to have mercie upon us sinners But that which is most remarkable the Psalmes of David which were wholly framed and dedicated to the honour of our Lord E tranverso are all applied to the name and honour of our Lady as for Instance Psalter Bonav edit Partsiis An. 1596. Psal 15.31.56.71.94 Preserve mee ô Lady for in thee have I put my trust Blessed are they whose hearts doe love thee ô Virgin Mary their sinnes by thee shall mercifully be washed away Have mercie upon mee ô Lady have mercie upon mee because my heart is prepared to search out thy will and in the shadow of thy wings will I rest Give the King thy Iudgements ô Lord and thy mercie to the Queene his Mother O come let us sing unto our Lady let us make a joyfull noise to Mary our Queene that brings salvation And for a conclusion Let every spirit Psal 150. or every thing that hath breath praise our Lady After all these and many such like passages of excessive honour attributed to our Lady your Bernardinus at last concludes Truly if it be lawfull to speake it thou in some respect didst greater things to God then God himselfe did to thee and to all mankind Volo ergo ego dicere quod tu ex humilitate reticuisti Tu enim folus cecinisti Quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est ego verò cano dico Quia tu fecisti majora ci qui potens est Bernardin de Bust Martial part 6. Serm. 2. memb 3. I will therefore speake that which out of thy humility thou hast past in silence For thou onely didst sing Hee that is mighty hath done to mee great things but I doe sing and say That thou hast done greater things to him that is mighty Now I appeale to your selfe and to all your fellow-Jesuites whether your Hyperdulia to the blessed Virgin be not transcendent or to use your owne words doth not exceed the measure of honour due unto our Lady And consequently whether in this particular upon your owne confession you are not descended from the Collyridian Heretikes your first parents This is so apparently true that you know no way to free your selves from the guilt of Heresie but by waving the question telling us The line should be drawne along by a continued succession from the beginning to the end whereas I told you at first I did not undertake to prove that those Heretikes or your Church had a perpetuall succession in person and doctrine but to shew How neere affinity you have with their adulterate issue For those were my very words and thereupon I concluded that you had no succession in person and doctrine but let us heare your answer This is
I cite but three Authors and yet none prove the Antiquitie or Vniversalitie of our Faith Then you goe backe againe and you tell the Reader I say nothing here of the mans notable cunning and falshood in making him beleeve as if we did excuse our selves in those things whereof they accuse us If such extravagant excursions and reproches you call a Reply or a Catholike Answer I will lay my finger on my mouth and say with your Cardinall Qui decipi vult decipiatur Briefely the substance of my Assertion was this The three Creeds the Canonicall Scriptures the Apostolike Traditions the foure first generall Councels and the rest were so generally received in the bosome of the Roman Church that for that reason it might seeme a senselesse question to demand where our Church was before Luther Next I shewed that the positive Doctrines of our Church mentioned in our 39. Articles were contained in a very few points and those also had Antiquity and Vniversality then I shewed that those doctrines which they obtruded upon us were but Additions and Negative Tenets in our Articles and that many of those additions were condemned or at least excused by their owne men And I instanced in three Authors before mentioned for three severall points of their Doctrine and this is the substance and true meaning of that Section and thus much by way of advertisement to the moderate Reader Now to answer you distinctly to that you have produced confusedly Your first exception is touching Pope Adrian the sixth you say It is not as Sr. Humphry putteth it to wit if the consecrated Bread be Christ but if it be rightly consecrated And doe not you still by Adrians confession excuse your adoration by implying a condition and is it not all one according to your doctrine For if it be rightly consecrated it is Christ if not it is a Crust and no man amongst your Communicants knoweth what it is because he knoweth not the Priests intention Take it therefore which way you will yet my assertion stands true we condemne you for adoring the Elements for ought you know of bread and wine because it doth depend upon the intention of the Priest whether Christ be there or no but yet you cannot condemne us for adoring Christs rent body in the Heavens and however the Priests doe consecrate yet saith Gerson when the host is adored that condition is ever at lest to be supposed if it be rightly consecrated that is Gers compend Theol. Tit. de tribus virtut p. 111. if it be truely the body of Christ And this is that Pope Adrian hath delivered by your owne confession and therefore they are not to be cleered from Idolatry because they intended to worship one God as indeede there was but one God but because they adored him there where he was not and in that manner as they supposed him to be The case saith Catharinus is like in the host not consecrated Cathar Annot. in Caiet p. mihi 134. For God and Christ is not adored simply but as he is existing under the formes of bread and wine If therefore he be not there but it be found that Divine worship is given to a creature insteede of Christ there is Idolatry also For even in this regard they were Idolaters who adored Heaven or any other thing supposing with themselves that they adored in it the Divinity whom they called the soule of the world Compare then the certainty of your faith with ours which is the point in question and tell me if in this we are not more certaine and safe then you can be First your owne Bellarmine tels us Bell. de Iustific l. 3. c. 8. that none can be certaine by the certainity of faith that he doth receive a true Sacrament No man saith Andreas Vega can beleeve assuredly that he receiveth the least part of the Sacrament Vega l. 9. de Iustific c. 17. and this is so surely to be credited as it is apparant that we live And both give one and the same reason for it For there is no way except it be by Revelation that we can know the intention of the Minister either by outward appearance or by certainty of faith From this dangerous consequence we condemne your adoration and resolve to let you know from your owne men Th. Salistar de arte Praedicandi c. 25. that No man be he never so simple or never so wise ought precisely to believe that this is the body of our Lord that the Priest hath consecrated but onely under this condition if all things concerning the consecration be done as appertaineth for otherwise he shall avouch a creature to be the Creator which were Idolatry Now as this way in the generall is uncertaine and dangerous so likewise there are many other wayes which may easily occasion this Idolatry and therefore you cannot deny us to be in the more certaine and safe way As for instance Iohannes de Burgo who was Chancellor of Cambridge about 200. yeares since gives us to understand that a Priest may faile in his intention many wayes As for example Pupilla Oculi c. 3. 5. c. If the Bread be made of any other then wheaten flower which may possibly happen or if there be too much water in quantity that it overcomes and alters the nature of wine if the wine be changed into vinegar and therefore cannot serve for consecration If there be thirteene cakes upon the Table and the Priest for his consecration determine onely upon twelve in that case not one of them all is Consecrated Lastly if the Priest dissemble or leave out the words of Consecration or if he forget it or minde it not in all and every of these wayes there is nothing Consecrated and consequently the people giving divine honour to the Sacrament all Bread or Cup commit flat Idolatry When I heare the Apostle proclaime to all Christians that he which doubteth is condemned already I cannot chuse but pitty the state and condition of that miserable man who hath a doubtfull perplexed and uncertaine faith who taketh all upon trust and upon the report sometimes of an Hypocrite sometimes of a malitious Priest who hath no intention at all to administer the true Sacrament History of Trent For saith your Trent history if a Priest having charge of foure or five hundred soules were an Infidell but a formall Hyppocrite and in absolving the Penitent baptizing of children and Consecrating the Eucharist had an intention not to doe that which the Church doth it must be said that the children are damned the penitent not absolved and that all remaine without the fruite of the Communion Now let the Reader judge which doctrine is most certaine and safe either that of your Church which may occasion flat Idolatry in the worshiper or our sursum corda with hearts and eyes lifted up to Heaven where we adore our Saviour Christ in his bodily presence according to the
deliros senes sed qui magis quà m Phormio deliraret vidisse neminem I will leave the application to your selfe and the interpretation to the Reader because you say I cannot translate Latin Some truth or modesty I should gladly heare from you but this is such an impudent Calumny as Bellarmine himselfe would have beene ashamed to have heard it fall from the Pen of any learned Papalin heare therefore what your owne men confesse of Calvin and others and what we professe in the name of our Church Your F. Kellison saith of Calvin Kellis Surney lib. 4. cap. 5. p. mihi 229. That if hee did meane as hee speaketh hee would not dispute with him but would shake hands with him as with a Catholike And then hee repeats Calvins words I say that in the Mysterie of the Supper by the signe of Bread and Wine is Christ truly delivered yea and his Body and his Blood And a little before those words hee giveth the reason Because saith he Christs words This is my Body are so plaine that unlesse a man will call God a deceiver hee can never be so bold as to say that hee setteth before us an emptie Signe This is likewise Bellarmines confession of him Bell de Euch. lib. 1. cap. 1. Non ergo vacuum inane signum It is no vaine and empty signe Thus you see your fellowes and you agree like Harpe and Harrow you say it is an empty peece of Bread they answer in Calvins behalfe and ours that it is not an empty signe Idem ibid. c. 8. Nay saith Bellarmine both Calvin and Oecolampadius and Peter Martyr doe teach the Bread is called Christs Body figuratively as being a signe or figure of his body but they adde withall it is no bare and empty figure but such as doth truely convey unto them the things signified thereby Bilson in the difference betwixt Subjection and Christistian Rebellion Part. 4. p. mihi 779. for which truthes sake Christ said not this Bread is a figure of my body but it is my body To give you an instance in some of our Church God forbid saith our learned Bilson wee should deny that the flesh and blood of Christ are truly present and truly received of the Faithfull at the Lords Table It is the Doctrine that wee teach others and wherewith wee comfort our selves Wee never doubted but the Truth was present with the Signe and the Spirit with the Sacrament as Cyprian saith Wee knew there could not follow an operation if there were not a presence before Neither doe I thinke you are ignorant of this but that you have inured your selfe to falsities and reproaches For it is apparently true that the question in these dayes is not of the truth of the presence but of the manner that is whether it be to the Teeth and the Belly or Soule and Faith of the Receiver And therupon our learned and Reverend B. Andrews returned his Answer to Bellarmine Wee beleeve the presence Wee beleeve B. Andrew ad Bell. Apol. Resp c. 1. p. mihi 11. I say the presence as well as you concerning the manner of the presence we doe not unadvisedly define nay more wee doe not scrupulously inquire no more than wee doe in Baptisme how the blood of Christ cleanseth us From the Sacraments you procceed to our two and twentie Bookes of Canonicall Scripture and indeed wee allow but two and twentie But will any Catholike say you allow this to have been Catholike Doctrine Yes without doubt Scil. Orig. in Exposit Psal 1. many good Catholikes did follow the Hebrew Canon of the Iewes which saith Origen compriseth but two and twentie bookes of the old Testament according to the number of the letters among them Melito Bellar. de verbo Dei l. 1. c. 20. Bishop of Sardis was a Catholike and saith Bellarmine hee did follow the Hebrew Canon of the Iewes Hilary Hilar. in Prolog in Psal explanat Bishop of Poictiers was a Catholike and he told us The old Testament was contained in two and twentie bookes according to the number of the Hebrew letters St. Cyril Cyril Catechis 4. Bishop of Hierusalem was a Catholike and hee gave us the like Lesson Peruse the two and twentie books of the old Testament but meddle not with the Apochrypha Athanasius Anthanas in Synops Bishop of Alexandria was a Catholike and affirmes that the Christians had a definite number of books comprehended in the Canon which were two and twentie equall to the number of the Hebrew letters Ruffinus was a Catholike Bellar. de verbo Dei l. 1. c. 20. and Bellarmine confesseth hee did follow the Hebrew Canon which conteined our two and twentie books Gregory Nazianzen was a Catholike Naz. Carm. Iamb ad Seleucum Iamb 3. and hee shewed to Seleucus a Catalogue of the Canonicall bookes and hee cites the bookes in order from Genesis to Malachie the last of the Prophets and leaveth out all the Apochrypha The Fathers of the Councell of Laodicea were Catholikes Concil Laod. cap. 59. and in the 59th Canon they allow onely those two and twenty bookes for Canonicall which wee receive There are others whom you terme Catholikes as namely Damascene Hugo de Sancto Victore Lyranus Hugo Cardinalis Tostatus Waldensis Driedo and Cajetan all which differ from your Tenet of the Apochryphall bookes which are canonized by your Trent Councell such agreement is there amongst your best learned touching the greatest point of your Beleefe and yet forsooth your Church cannot be depraved But here is one thing say you which giveth mee much cause of wonder which is that you talke of Traditions as distinct from Scripture I ever tooke you to be so fallen out with them that you made the deniall of them a fundament all point of your Religion that you would not indure the word Tradition but alwaies translated or rather falsified it into Ordinances Thus you It is a true saying of the Heathen Orator Cicero Hee who once goeth beyond the bounds of Modestie had need to be lustily impudent I protest I onely termed your Additions Traditions and you question our Church for false translating of the word And cannot wee indure the word Traditions Doe not we allow of all the Apostolicall Traditions which agree unto the Scriptures Nay more doe wee not translate the word Traditions in the Scripture when the Text will beare it according to the Greeke originall Looke upon the fifteenth of Matthew Matth. 15. v. 2 3 6. and in three severall verses 2 3 6. wee use the word Tradition Looke upon the seventh of Marke Marke 7. v. 3 8 9 13. and in foure severall places of that chapter you shall find likewise wee translate Traditions Looke upon Saint Paul to the Colossians Galatians and upon Saint Peter Colos 2.8 Galat. 1.14 1. pet 1.18 and in all these in the Translation joyned with your Rhemish Testament you shall find the word Traditions How
against the Communion in one kind leaveth out the principall verbe and one halfe of the sentence answering the former which of it selfe was imperfect which was the Authours absolute judgement and determination for the whole sentence of Tapper art 16. is this it were more convenient if wee regard the Sacrament and the perfection thereof to have the Communion under both kindes then under one for this were more agreeable to the Institution thereof and to the integritie of a corporall refection and the example of Christ but in another consideration to wit of the reverence which is due to the Sacrament and to the end wee may avoide all irreverence it is lesse convenient and no way expedient for the Church that the Christian people should communicate in both kindes In the lawes of King Edward the sixt revived and confirmed by Queene Elizabeth it is ordained that the Communion bee delivered to the people under both kindes with this exception unlesse necessitie otherwise require That it is not requisite that every article of faith have sufficient and expresse proofe of Scripture Dial. 2. cont Lucifer etiamsi sacrae scripturae authoritas non subesset totius orbis in hanc partem consensus instar praecepei obtinerct for as S. Ierome teacheth although the authoritie of holy Scripture were wanting the consent of the whole world on this side should have the force of a Precept The Hammer IN this Section the Iesuit beginneth merrily with a fiddle but endeth sadly and every where answereth sorily For to omit his omission of some things that pincht him shrewdly as namely first that the Councell of Constance by reason the first Sessions judged the Councell above the Pope is condemned and rejected by the Councell of Florence and last Councell of Lateran but for the last Sessions wherein the halfe Communion is established contrarie to Christs precept and holy institution it is allowed by Pope Martine the fift and rectived of all Catholiques whereby it appeares that Papists are more tender of the Popes supremacie then Christs honour Secondly De Euchars l. 4. c. 7. that Bellarmine saith that it is not to be doubted but that is best and sittest to bee practised that Christ hath done Now it is evident out of Scriptures and confessed by the Fathers in the Councell of Constance and Trent that Christ instituted and administred the Sacrament in both kindes Lastly that the Papists in this point apparantly contradict themselves for they require antiquity universality and consent as the proper markes of Catholique doctrine and yet confesse that in this the practise of their Church is contrarie to the practise of the Primitive Church nor was it ever received in the true Church till above a thousand yeares after Christ Dichotomived To let passe these his preteritions all that hee saith in replie to other passages of the Knights may be dicotomized into idle cavils and sophisticall evasions as shall appeare by the examination of each particular To the first The Iesuit as it should seeme tooke Ennius the Poet for his patterne who as Horace observeth Nunquam nisi potus ad arma prosiluit c. never undertooke the description of a warre or set himselfe to write strong lines before hee had comforted his heart with a cup of strong liquour For if the French wine had not assaulted his Capitoll as the Frenchmen did sometimes the Roman if a strong fume had not made his head so dizzie that he thought all things before him went round hee would never in so serious a subject as is the Sacrament of Christs blood use such light and comicall saracasmes as he doth against this saith he hee bringeth two places of Scripture P. 243. and the practise of the Primitive Church and so concludeth the antiquitie and universalitie of his Church this goeth round with a fiddle Sir Humfrey if hee had a purpose to make sport to his reader in the merrie pin hee was set on hee should rather have said you Creed Sir Humfrey goeth round with a crowd But crowde or fiddle whether hee please to tearme the learned discourse of the Knight I hope it will prove like Davids Harpe and conjure the evill spirit out of the Iesuit To fall upon the particulars in order whereas in the first place hee chargeth the Knight with false and absurd translation of the Decree of the Councell rendering totus Christus all Christ not whole Christ and would make us beleeve that all can in no sense bee attributed to Christ hee forgot that text of the Apostle that Christ is all in all Surely it should seeme this Iesuit is descended from Pope Adrian who was choaked with a fly for what a silly fly choaketh him here The Knight to avoid a tautologie in translating totus integer Christus whole and whole Christ rendereth the word all and whole Christ and what falsitie or absurditie is there in this doth not every punie know that omnis in Latine and all in English is often taken collectivè as when wee say Lazarus was covered all over with sores doe not the Papists themselves sometimes so render the word totus as namely in those places I have stretched my armes all the day long to a rebellious people and all the day long have I beene punished and all Scripture is given by divine inspiration and is profitable for doctrine for reproofe for correction for instruction in righteonsnesse that the man of God may bee perfect throughly furnished to all good workes In which passages it is most evident that all is taken for whole and so the best interpreters render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tota scriptura that is the whole Scripture To the second The Knight in bringing the Decree of the Councell of Constance hath not brought in a staffe to beate himselfe withall but to beate all such Romish curres as barke at the light of the Sunne I meane the cleare words of Christs institution Sess 13. Drinke you all of this Yet saith that Councell to the Laitie none of you drinke of this If Christ had said in like manner receive you the Communion after supper we would never receive it fasting It is true that he instituted it the night he was betrayed after supper which circumstance yet bindeth us not now to receive it at that time but the argument no wayes followes from the change of a circumstance to the change of a substantiall act the Church may dispence with the one not with the other Wee argue not barely from the practise of Christ and his Apostles but from their doctrine and practise What Christ did and taught as S. Cyprian soundly collects must bee perpetually observed in the Church but he taught and practised the Communion in both kindes fecit docuit hee both did so and taught us so to doe but for the circumstances of time number of Communicants gesture sitting or leaning though at that time he used such circumstances yet he cōmanded not us to
Cor. 14. chapter through the whole out of which wee thus argue if it be better in the Church to speake five words with understanding that by our voyce wee may teach others then a thousand words in an unknowne tongue then certainly the publike Service of the Church ought to be in a knowne tongue but it is better in the Church to speake five words with understanding to instruct others thereby then a thousand words in an unknowne tongue v. 19. Therefore the publike Service of the Church ought to bee in a knowne tongue If all things ought to be done in the Church to edification then ought the publike Service to bee in a knowne tongue for hee that speaketh in an unknowne tongue edifieth not v. 5. but in the Church all things ought to bee done to edification v. 26. Ergo the publike Service ought to bee in a knowne tongue If in the prayers of the Church the people are to joyne with the Priest and testifie their consent with him by saying Amen to his prayers and giving of thankes then ought the publike Service to be in a knowne tongue But in the prayers of the Church the people ought to joyne with the Priest and testifie their consent by saying Amen to his prayers and giving of thankes Ergo the publike Service ought to bee in a knowne tongue If in the Church prayers wee ought to pray and sing with understanding then ought Church service to bee in a knowne tongue for if wee pray in an unknowne tongue our spirit prayeth but our understanding is unfruitfull v. 14. But in the prayers of the Church wee ought to pray and sing with understanding v. 15. Ergo the publike Service ought to bee in a knowne tongue Neither can the Iesuit shift off these passages with a wish saying that S. Paul indeed adviseth and wisheth that when any prayer is made in an unknowne tongue there should bee some to interpret but that hee requireth no such thing to bee observed as a divine precept for v. 37. hee addeth if any man thinke himselfe a prophet or spirituall let him know that the things which I write unto you are the commandements of God To conclude when S. Iames commandeth that whosoever prayeth Iames 1.6 aske in faith nothing doubting but that hee shall receive what he asketh hee necessarily implieth that wee ought to pray to God in a knowne tongue For how can hee beleeve that hee shall receive what he prayeth for if he knoweth not what himselfe saith in his prayers or what an other prayeth for him to whose prayers hee saith Amen To the Iesuits second quaere where prayer in an unknowne knowne tongue is forbidden I answer Esay 29.13 and Marke the 7.10 Well Esay prophesied of you hypocrites this people honoureth mee with their lips but their heart is farre from mee and 1 Cor. 14. where the Apostle professedly disputeth against speaking in the Church in an unknowne tongue But the Iesuit excepteth that S. Paul in that chapter condemneth not simply prayers in an unknowne tongue though hee preferreth prophecie By which his ignorant exception it should seeme that hee read that chapter in an unknowne tongue for hee speaketh so wide from the matter as if hee understood never a word in it It is true that the Apostle in that chapter comparing the gift of tongues and prophecie together condemneth neither of them but preferreth the gift of prophecie and in prosecution of the comparison falleth upon those who used the gift of tongues in publike prayers in the Church and hee expresly condemneth that practise of them because they that prayed in such sort uttering words that were not understood spake not to men because no man understood them v. 2. spake into the ayre v. 5. edified not by those prayers v. 12.17 because others could not joyne with them in their prayers nor say Amen to their thankes v. 15. Now if the Apostle reproved the use of the miraculous gift of tongues which redounded so much to the honour of God in the Church without an interpreter v. 28. saying if there bee no interpreter let them keepe silence in the Church How much more may wee conceive would he have sorbidden the use of an unknowne tongue acquired by humane industrie To his third quaere what authoritie we can bring for our selves or example I answer that the Knight hath brought the authoritie and example of the catholique Christian Church for 700. yeares at the least and because he calleth upō us to name any Father who teacheth as we do that the service of the Church ought to bee in a knowne tongue Exposit in psal 18. vult ut quod conamus intelligamus ac humana ratione non quasi avium voce canamus nam psittaci corvi picae hujusmodi volucres saepè abhominibus docentur sonate quod nesciunt sciunter autem cantare naturae hominis divina bonitate concessum est I name S. Chrysostome who in his Commentarie upon the 14. chapter of the first to the Corinthians saith that the Apostle teacheth that we ought to speak with our tongues and withall to minde what is spoken that wee may understand it and S. Austine willeth that wee understand what wee sing like men indued with reason and not chatter like birds for ousels parrats crowes pies and such other birds are often taught by men to sound out that which they know not but to know what they sing or sing with knowledge and understanding is by Gods will peculiarly given unto man I name also Iustine Martyre and S. Basil and many other ancient Doctours whose testimonies are plentifully alledged by Bishop Iewell Article the third and Bilson of Supremacie part the fourth and not yet answered by any Papist to my knowledge To the thirteenth The observation of Cardinall Bellarmine concerning the different custome of the ancient Church and the present Roman maketh rather against the Iesuits then for them For who will not attribute more to the uniforme practise of the primitive Church then to the heteroclyte practise of later Churches assuredly the practise of the primitive Church wherein the people answered the Priests and not the Clarke only is most agreeable to the doctrine of S. Paul and consonant to reason For publike prayers were instituted especially for three ends first for the most solemne worship of God when thousands of hands are at once lifted up to him and as many tongues confesse his name secondly for the stirring up of greater devotion when many hundreds praying and blessing and singing together like so many coales on the same hearth kindle one the other and increase the flame Thirdly for more prevalencie with God when we offer violence as it were to heaven and send up our united devotions like a vollie of shotte to batter the walls of it They who pray in a tongue which the people understand not and therefore cannot joyne with them in their prayer faile of all these ends Yet to sodder
etiam patres Ambrosius Hilarius c. minime loquuntur de indulgentiis Prierias cont Luth. de Indul. Indulgentiae authoritate scripturae non intuere nobis sed authoritate ecclesiae Romanorum Pontificum Major in 4. sent dist 2. q. 2. Difficile est modum indulgentiarum fundare authenticè in scripturâ sacrâ Roffensis artic 18. cont Luther Quamdiù nulla fuerat de purgatoria cura nemo quesivit indulgentias nam ex illo pendet omnis indulgentiarum estimatio ceperunt igitur indulgentiae postquam ad purgatorii cruciatus aliquandiù trepidatum erat The Scriptures speak not expressely of Indulgences neither the Fathers Austine Hilarie Ambrose Jerome c. Sylvester Prierias affirmeth that Pardons have not beene knowne to us by the authority of Scriptures but by the authority of the Church of Rome and the Popes Fisher Bishop of Rochester confesseth that of Purgatorie there is little or no mention amongst the ancient Fathers and that as long as Purgatory was not cared for there was no man sought for Pardons sith Purgatorie therefore hath beene so lately knowne and received of the whole Church who can now wonder concerning Indulgences And here Master Flood is at a stand his Flumen is turned into Stagnum for having made offer to answer Durand and finding that his answer would not hold his heart failed him and hee durst not venture to shape any answer at all to the Authours last mentioned namely Alfonsus a Castro Alfon. de verbo Indulg Harum usus in ecclesiâ videtur serò receptus de Transubst antiatime rara in antiquis mentio de purgatorio fere nulla quid ergo mirum si ad hunc modum contigeret de indalgentiis ut apud priscos nulla sir mentio Antonin part 1. tit 10. de indulgentiis nihil expressè habemus in sacrâ scripturà aut etiam patrum scriptis Cajet opus 15. 1. Nulla scriptura sacra nulla priscorum doctorum grecorum aut latinorum authoritas indulgentiarum ortum ad nostram deduxit notitiam Bellor de indul l. 1. c. 17. Neque mirum videri debet si authores antiquiores non habemus qui harum mentiorum faciunt whose words are There is nothing in Scripture lesse opened or wherof the ancient Fathers have lesse written than of Indulgences and it seemeth the use of them came but lately into the Church there is seldome any mention of Transubstantiation among the Ancients almost none of Purgatorie What marvell then if it so fall out with Indulgences that there should be no mention of them by the Ancients Antoninus There is not any expresse testimonie for proofe of Indulgences either in Scriptures or in the writings of the ancient Fathers Cajetan There is no authoritie of Scriptures or ancient Fathers Greeke or Latin that bringeth the originall of Indulgences to our knowledge Bellarmine It is not to be wondered if wee have not many ancient Authours which make mention of Indulgences for many things are reâ—â—â—ned in the Church onely by use and custome without writing See how the Romanists second one the other Bellarmine saith That not many ancient Authours make mention of Indulgences Cajetan and Antoninus say Not any Durand saith that The Scriptures speake not expresly of them Prierias saith That they speake not at all of them To the tenth The Indulgences those Fathers and Councells speake of have no more affinitie with the Pardon 's the Pope selleth now adaies than the Rivers of Paradise have with Styx or Avernos or Simon Peter with Simon Magus or Phillip the Apostle with Phillip King of Macedon as I shewed before To the eleventh The Iesuit hath neither proved the practise of the Catholike Church nor of the Romane time out of mind for Indulgences but onely practises of later times since manifold abuses crept into the Roman Church As for his negative Argument to wit that It is a strong evidence of consent for Indulgences because none is found to have spoken against them unlesse hee otherwise qualifie it it will no more prove Purgatorie or the lawfull use of Indulgences than it will prove there is a Common-wealth in Eutopia or Cities or Countries in the Moone or many worlds because peradventure none is found to have spoken or written against them And for the Waldenses that they were the first impugners of Indulgences is said by the Iesuit but not proved much lesse that these Waldenses were known Heretikes For they were farre from heresie by the confession of their greatest adversarie the Inquisitor Rainerius Cont. Wald. cap. 4. They live saith hee justly before men and believe all things well concerning God and all the Articles contained in the Creed Solummodo Romanam Ecclesiam blasphemant Clerum onely they speake evill of the Romane Church and Clergie To the twelfth It was happy for Durand that hee lived before the Inquisition and Index Expurgatorius Durand in 4. sent dist 2. q. 3. Quod dictuÌ„ est Petro. Mat. 16. tibi dabo claves c. intelligitur de potestate ei data in foro poenitentiae de collatione autem indulgentiarum non est quomodò debeat intelligi sancti enim Ambrosius Hilarius Augustinus Hieronimus minime loquntur de indulgentiis For he argueth so strongly against Indulgences saying that Little can be spoken of any certainty concerning them because the Scripture speaketh not expressely of them for what is spoken Matthew the 16. to Peter I will give thee the Keyes and whatsoever thou bindest on earth shall be bound in heaven is understood of the power given him in the penitentiall Court and cannot be understood of the bestowing of Indulgences for the holy Fathers Ambrose Hilarie Augustine Jerome speake not at all of Indulgences that his writings if not his person would have beene purged by fire if hee had lived in these times yet true it is that having argued strongly against Indulgences and the Church Treasurie so farre as it consisteth of the merit of Saints hee bethought himselfe and pro formâ alleageth to the contrarie the Custome and Doctrine of the Church meaning the Romane Church whose lash hee feared if hee should not have given backe that by Whole-sale which hee had taken away from her by Re-tale It s true also that hee mentions Indulgences at the stations of Rome in the dayes of Saint Gregory but let it be noted that Gregory is without the compasse of the Primitive times and that hee was interested in the cause for Purgatorie fiers began to singe men in his time and thereupon Indulgences to be in request which afterwards proved a Staple commoditie to the See of Rome Lastly Mart. Epig. de Lab. Non es crede mihi bonus quid ergo ut verum loquar optimus malorum Pisones Senecasque Memmiosque et Crispos mihi redde sed priores fies protinus ultimus bonorum as Martial writeth of Labulla it may be truly said of this Gregory that hee was the worst of the good and best of
the purpose that that Councell seemed to be an assembly not of Bishops but of Hobgoblins not of men but of Images moved like the statues of Daedalus by the sinewes of others What the Iesuit addeth of night owles not daring to appeare in the splendour of that Councell hath no colour of truth For it is no newes for owles to appeare at popish Councells At a Councell held at Rome by Pope Heldebrand Fascic rerum expetend sugiend Ortwhinus Gratius writeth there appeared an huge great Owle which could not be frayed away but scared all the Bishops As for Protestants whom this Blacke-bird of Antichrist termeth night Owles if they had flocked to that Councell they had shewed themselves not Owles by appearing in that twi-light at Trent but very Wood-cocks to trust any security offerd them by those who after publike faith given to Iohn Huz and Ierome of Prage notwithstanding the safe conduct of Sigismond the Emperour for their going to and comming from the Councell at Constance most cruelly burned them at a stake to ashes To the seventeenth Divine faith must be grounded upon divine authority and that cannot be the Catholike faith which wanteth consent of Fathers As for those Fathers whose authority Bellarmine draweth ob torto collo to testifie for unwritten traditions de verbo Dei lib. 4. cap. 7. the Iesuit may see them fully answered in Iunius Whitaker Daniel Chamierus and Dr. Davenant Bishop of Sarum and a farre greater number of Fathers alleaged to the contrary by Robert Abbot in his answer to William Bishop cap. 7. Phillip Morney in his preface to his booke de sacrâ Eucharistiâ and Iacobus Laurentius in his singular tractate de Disputationibus and others To the eighteenth The assistance of the Holy ghost was more speciall in the times of the Apostles then in latter ages they could not erre in their writings others might yet we charge not the Catholike Church of Christ in any age with any fundamentall errour though we may the Roman Tertullian his rule may have still place and as well in one age as another if it be rightly taken and not misconstrued and misapplied for if it be taken generally that whatsoever is the same amongst many is no errour but tradition it is it selfe a great errour For the same opinion concerning the inequality of the Father and the Sonne is found amongst many to wit the Arrian Churches the same doctrine concerning the procession of the Sonne from the Father onely is found amongst many namely all the Greeke Churches at this day the same practise of administring the Eucharist to children was found amongst many namely all the Churches of Affrica in St. Austines time yea and in all Churches subject to the Bishop of Rome for many ages as Maldonat the Iesuit confesseth yet the above named Positions and this latter practise are confessed on all sides to be erroneous But Tertullian by many understandeth not the practise of some particular Churches Tertul. de prescrip Age nunc omnes ecclesiae erraverint verisimile est ut tot et tante in unam fidem erraverint much lesse of factious persons of one Sect but the generall and uniforme doctrine and practise of the whole Church as his words in the same Chapter quoted by the Iesuit declare Goe too now admit that all Churches have erred is it likely so many so great Churches should erringly conspire in one faith To the nineteenth We derogate nothing from any generall custome of the Catholike Church let the Iesuit produce out of good Authors any such custome for Indulgences to redeeme soules out of Purgatory flames by Papall Indulgences and this controversie will soone be at an end howsoever let me tell the Iesuit the way that this text of St. Paul is impertinently alleaged to prove this or any other article of the Trent faith For St. Paul in this place speaketh not of any Article of faith nor matter of manners necessary to salvation but of habits gestures fashions and indifferent rites in matter of which nature there is no question at all but that the custome of the Churches of God ought to sway as is abundantly proved by Dr. Andrewes late Bishop of Winchester in his printed Sermon upon that text To the twentieth Disputabamus de alliis respondet Iesuita de cepis we dispute of Indulgences the Iesuit answereth of Traditions in matter of Faith These are very distinct questions and so handled by all that deale Work-man-like in points of difference betweene the Reformed and the Romane Churches but the Jesuits common place of Indulgences was drawne drie and therefore hee setteth his cocke of Traditions on running which yeeldeth nothing but muddy water What though Faith be ancienter than Scriptures the Argument is inconsequent Ergo Scripture is not now the perfect rule of Faith Faith neither is nor can be more ancient than the Word of God upon which it is built this Word of God is now written and since the consigning and confirming the whole Canon of the written Word by Saint Iohn in the Apocalypse is become the perfect and as the Schooles speaketh the adequate rule of Faith It is true Christ and his Apostles first taught the Church by word of mouth Lib. 3. advers heres cap. 1. Non enim per alios dispositionem salutis nostrae cognovimus quam per eos per quos Evangelium pervenit ad nos quod quidem tunc praeconiaverunt postea per dei voluntatem in scripturis nobis tradiderunt fundamentum columnam fidei nostrae futuram but afterwards that which they preached was by the commandment of God committed to writing to be the foundation and pillar of Faith as Irenaus testifieth in expresse words To the twentie one If the Iesuit could prove as undoubtedly any words of the Apostles that are not set downe in Scriptures to be their owne words as wee can prove the writings we have to be theirs wee would yeeld no lesse credit to them then to these but that neither can hee nor so much as undertaketh to doe And whereas he further faith that the credit of the Scripture depends upon Tradition unlesse hee qualifie the speech some way it is not onely erroneous but also blasphemous for it is all one as if hee should say that man gives credit and authority to God as Tertullian jeareth the Heathen In Apolloget not receiving Christ for God because the Romane Senate would not give their consent and approbation to make him one Iam homo deo propitius esse debet or that the credit and authority of Gods Word dependeth upon mans receiving it Whereas in truth Gods Word is not therefore of divine and infallible authoritie because the Church delivereth it to be so but on the contrary the Church delivereth it to be so because in it selfe it is so and the Church should erre damnably if shee should otherwise conceive of these inspired Writings then as of the undoubted Oracles of God
to which we owe absolute consent and beliefe Vid. August supr cit without any question or contradiction To the two and twentieth Saint Austine defends no point of Faith against Heretikes either onely or chiefly by the Tradition and practise of the Catholike Church but either onely or chiefly by the Scriptures For example in his booke of Baptisme against the Donatists after hee had debated the point by Scriptures hee mentioneth the custome of the Church and relateth Stephanus his proceeding against such as went about to overthrow the ancient custome of the Catholike Church in that point But hee no where grounds his Doctrine upon that custome though hee doth well approve of it as wee doe Againe in his booke against Maximinus and his 174 Epist to Pascentius hee confirmeth the faith of the Trinity by the written Word against those Heretikes his words Ep. 175 Haec siplacet audire quemadmodum è Scripturis sacris asserantur to the same Pascentius are Here thou maist heare if thou wilt how these points of our Faith are maintained by Scripture So farre is hee from founding those or any other points of faith only or chiefly upon unwritten Traditions What the Iesuit alleageth out of his tenth booke De Genes ad literam cap. 23. Consuetudo matris Ecclesiae in baptizandis parvulis nequaquam spernendus est neque ullo modo superflua deputanda no whit advantageth his cause for there Saint Austine saith no more but The custome of the Church in baptizing Infants is no way to be despised or to be accounted superfluous Wee all say the same and condemne the Pelagians of old and Anabaptists of late who deny Baptisme to be administred to children or any way derogate from the necessitie of that Sacrament The Iesuit saith hee will say nothing of Prayer for the dead yet hee quoteth Saint Austine de curâ pro mortuis as if in that booke hee taught Prayer for the dead and grounded it upon unwritten Tradition Whereas in that booke hee neither maintaineth Prayer for the dead nor maketh mention of any unwritten Tradition for it but on the contrarie solidly out of Scriptures proveth Esaias Propheta dicit Abraham nos nescivit et Israel non cognovit nos si tanti patriarchae quid erga populum ex his procreatur ageretur ignoraverunt quomodo mortui vivorum rebus atque actibus cog noscendis adjuvandisque miscentur et paulo post ibi ergo sunt spiritus defunctorum ubi non vident quecunque aguntur aut eveniunt in istâ vitâ hominibus Ep. 118. Si quid hocum sic faciendum divinae Scripturae praescribat authoritas non est dubitandum quin ita facere debeamus similiter si quid per orbem tota frequentat Ecclesia that the Saints departed have no knowledge of our affaires upon earth the Prophet Esay saith Abraham knoweth us not and Israel is ignorant of us If so great Patriarchs knew not what befell their posteritie after their death how can it be defended that the dead intermeddle with the actions or affaires of the living to helpe them onward or so much as to take notice of them A little after he concludes flat upon the Negative The Spirits therefore of the dead there remaine where they knowe not what befalleth to men in this life To what end therefore should wee call upon them in our troubles and distresse here Neither hath this Father any thing in his 118 Epistle for the Iesuit or against us for there hee speaketh of Ecclesiasticall Rites and Customes as appeares in the very title of that Epistle not of Doctrines of Faith and yet even in these hee giveth a preheminence to the Scriptures If saith hee the authoritie of divine Scripture prescribe any Rite or Custome to be kept there is no question to be made of such a Rite or Custome and in like manner if the whole Church throughout the world constantly useth such a Rite or Custome The Iesuites next allegation out of this Fathers booke De unitate Eccles cap. 22. falleth short of his marke hee saith there that Christ beareth witnesse to his Church that it should be Catholike that is spread over the face of the Earth and not to be confined to any certaine place as the Province of Affrica Wee say the same and adde that the bounds of it are no more the territories of the Bishop of Rome than the Provinces of Affrica Wee grant that Whosoever refuseth to follow the practise of the Church to wit the Catholike or universall Church resisteth or goeth against our Saviour who promised by his spirit to leade her into all truth and to be with her to the end of the World Which promise may yet stand good and firme though any particular Church erre in Faith or manners as did the Churches of Asia planted by the Apostles themselves and the Church of Rome doth at this day Cont. lit Petil. l. 3. c. 6. Now because that testimonie of Saint Austine wherewith the Knight concludes almost every Section If wee or an Angell from heaven preach unto you any thing whether it be of Christ or of his Church or any thing which concerneth Faith or manners besides that which you have received in the Legall and Evangelicall Scriptures let him be accursed is as a beame in all Papists eyes therefore they use all possible meanes to take it out but all in vaine for the words of the Apostle on which Saint Paul commenteth are not as the Iesuit would have them If any man preach unto you Contra against but if any preach unto you Praeter besides Ep. ad Galat. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neque enim inquit si contraria solum predicaverint intulit anathema esto sed si evangelizaverint preter id quod ipsi evangelisavimus hoc est si plusculum quidpiam adjecerent as Saint Chrysostome and Theophylact accutely observe The Apostle saith not if Chrysostome rightly understand him if they should preach any thing contrary but if they shall in their preaching adde any thing be it never so little besides that which wee have preached unto you let him be accursed And Theophylact is altogether as plaine as Chrysostome in his Glosse upon the words The Apostle inferreth not if any man preach contrarie to that yee have received but if any preach besides that which wee have preached unto you that is if they shall presume to adde any thing though never so little let them be accursed Neither doth Saint Austine in his tractate upon Saint Iohn upon which Bellarmine and after him Flood so much beare themselves any whit contradict the former interpretations of Saint Chrysostome and Theophylact. For his words in that place carry this sense The Apostle saith not if any man preach more unto you than you have already received that is perfectly conceived and apprehended for then hee should goe against himselfe who saith that hee desired to come to the Thessalonians to supply
contradict Romish doctrines not out of disobedience to man but out of obedience to him who commandeth us to contend for the true faith and to reprove and convince all gainesayers What Papists intentions are we take not upon us to judge their doctrines we put to the test of Gods word and finde them false and adulterine and all be it some points of their beliefe considered in themselves might seeme indifferent yet as they hold them they are not because they are not of faith Rom. 14.23 and what soever is not of faith is sinne Now no point of the Romish Creed as they hold it is of that faith the Apostle speaketh of that is divine faith because they ground and finally resolve all their articles not upon Gods word but upon the authority of the Pope Resp ad Archiepis Spalaten c. 47. Firmitas fundamenti â—â— firma licet implicita in aureo hoc fundamento veritatis adhaesio valebit ut in Cypriano sic in nobis ad salutem faenum stipula imbecilitas caries in tecto contignatione explicitae erroris opinio non valebit nec in Cypriano nec in nobis ad perâ—â—tiem or Church of Rome which is but the authority of man whereas on the contrary as Doctor Crakent horpe demonstrateth If any Protestant build hay or stubble upon the true foundation he may he saved because be holdeth the true foundation which is that every doctrine of faith ought to be built upon Scripture If the Iesuit wonder at this conclusion let him weigh the Authors reasons and he will be forced to confesse that the errors if there be any in Protestants in regard they sticke close to the true foundation and implicitly deny them cannot in them be damnable whereas the very true doctrines of faith in Papists because they hold them upon a wrong ground and foundation very much derogatory to God and his truth are not so safe To the third With what face can the Iesuit avow this considering that Prieras before alleaged and other writers approved by the Church of Rome mainetaine this blasphemous assertion that the authority of the Church is greater then the anthority of Scripture and all Papists of note at this day hold that the Scripture is but an imperfect and partiall rule of faith all Protestants on the contrary teach that it is an entire and perfect rule of faith Papists believe the Scripture for the Churches sake Protestants the Church for the Scripture sake Papists resolve all points of faith generally into the Popes infalibility or Churches authority Protestants into the written word of God which as Bellarmine himselfe confesseth De verbo Dei non script l. 4. c. 11. containeth all things necessary for all men to beleeve and is a most certaine and safe rule of beleeveing Yea but saith the Iesuit out of Vincentius Lerinensis De verbo Dei l. 1. c. 2. he that will avoid the deceits and snares of Haeretikes and remaine soundin the faith must strengthen his faith two wayes to wit by the authority of the divine law and the tradition of the Catholike Church This advise of Vincentius is sound and good if it be rightly understood and not in the Iesuits sense Vincentius there by tradition of the Catholike Church understandeth not unwritten verities but the Catholike expositions of holy Scriptures extant in the writings of the Doctors of the Church in all ages and we grant that this Catholike exposition of the Doctors where it can be had is of great force to confirme faith and confound Heretikes Vt Scripturae ecclesiastice intelligentiae jungatur authoritas For the stopping of whose mouth that Father saith and we deny it not that there is great neede to add to the Scripture the Churches sense or interpretation albeit as he there addeth which cutteth the throat of the Iesuits cause The Canon of Scripture is perfect and sufficient of it selfe for all things nay rather as hee correcteth himselfe Over and above sufficient cum sit perfectus scripturae canon sibique adomnia satis superque sufficiat To the fourth Here the Iesuit would make his Reader study a little and his Adversarie to muse Vero nihil verius certo nihil certius but it is indeed whether hee be in his right wits or no. For first as Seneca well resolveth one thing cannot be said truer than another one truth in Divinitie may be more evident to us than another but in it selfe it cannot be truer or surer Secondly admitting there could be degrees of certainty at least quoad nos there can be yet no comparison in regard of such certaintie betweene an Article of the Creed assented unto by all Christians and a controverted conclusion maintained onely by a late faction in the Westerne Church But the sitting of Christ at the right hand of his Father is an Article of the Creed set downe in expresse words in holy Scripture Mark 16.19 Luke 24. consented unto by all Christians in the world whereas the carnall presence of Christ in the Sacrament by Tranfubstantiation is no Article extant in any Creed save onely that of Pope Pius his coyning in the yeare of our Lord 1564. It is neither in words set downe in Scripture as the other Articles are neither can it be necssarily inforced or deduced by consequence as foure great Cardinals of the Roman Church confesse Cameracensis Cajetan Roffensis and Bellarmine Neither was this Doctrine of the Romane Church ever assented unto by the Greeke Church nor by the Latine anciently or generally as I shewed before Thirdly the Iesuit contradicteth himselfe within eight lines for having said in the eighteenth line Pag. 384. that Christ his corporall presence in the Sacrament was more sure than his presence in heaven at the right hand of his Father about seven lines after forgetting himselfe hee saith that Wee shall find as much to doe marke as much not more in expounding that Article of the Creed as they doe in expounding the words This is my Body Wherein it is well hee confesseth that Papists make much to doe in expounding the words This is my Body which is most true for by the demonstrative Hoc they understand they know not what Neither this Body nor this Bread but an Individum vagum something contained under the accidents of Bread which when the Priests saith Hoc it is Bread but when hee hath muttered out an Vm it is Christs Body Likewise by the Copula est is they understand they know not what either shall be as soone as the words are spoken or is converted unto or is by Transubstantiation Lastly by Body they understand such a body as indeed is no body without the extension of place without distinction of Organs without facultie of sense or motion and will hee make this figment so incredible so impossible as sure nay more sure than the Article of Christs ascension into heaven and his sitting at the right hand of his
subject unto in it selfe Lastly the Iesuit taketh himselfe by the nose in saying Heretikes in all Controversies run to the letter of the Scriptures leaving the true sense and spirituall meaning for so doe the Romanists apparantly namely in the Controversie of Supremacie Ecce duo gladii Loe here two swords therefore the Pope hath the temporall and spirituall Sword at command Peter rise up kill and eate therefore the Pope hath power to put Princes to death In the question about the number of Sacraments they alleage the letter of that text in the vulgar translation Hoc est magnum Sacramentum to prove marriage a Sacrament whereas the Apostle in the same place saith that hee speaketh not of corporall marriage of a man and his wife but of the spirituall marriage of Christ and his Church Likewise in the Controversie about the reall presence they run to the letter Except yee eate the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his blood though Christ in the same place expounding himselfe saith The words which I have spoken unto you are spirit and life the like may be observed in other Controversies For answer to all which texts wee tell him out of Saint Ierome whom himselfe quoteth in the next Paragraph That the Gospell consisteth not in the words of Scripture but in the sense not in the supersicies or barke but in the pith not in the leaves of speech but in the root of reason To the tenth How neere neighbours the Romanists are to Marcion who denied or by consequence overthrew the truth of Christs humaine nature as the Papists doe in the Sacrament vailing him under the outside or accidents of a round water and what affinitie the Iesuit hath with the rest of the ancient Heretikes the Knight shewed him before in his seventh Section and if hee desire to know more of his pedegree from them I referre him to an Appendix to Whitakers answer to Sanders his Demonstration page 801. As for the aspersion of old Heresies which hee casts upon us they are washed away by Bishop Morton and Doctor Field in their Treatises of the Church Ad notam sextam But why hee denies that wee have the Spirit arrogating it onely to himselfe I see no reason but the pride of his owne spirit together with the malice of the evill spirit who suggested unto him this uncharitable censure of us To the eleventh The Scripture is a Light Psal 119. and the nature of a light is first to discover it selfe and then all things else therefore Calvin to his fond question how know you Scripture to be Scripture answereth acutely by retortion how know you the Sun to be the Sun If hee say by his bright lustre and beames wee say the same of holy Scripture that it is discerned by its owne light Which if the Papists see hot the fault ought not to be laid upon the Sun-beames but upon their Owles eyes To the twelfth That rule which needeth any thing to be added to it is imperfect but all Papists teach that to the written Word unwritten Traditions must bee added to make a compleat and perfect rule of Faith all Papists therefore teach the Scripture alone to be an imperfect Rule We on the contrary stand for the perfection of Scripture and constantly and unanimously defend that not onely the whole Scripture is perfect but that every part also hath its owne perfection but not the perfection of the whole Because the eyes have not the perfection of the whole head or the head the perfection of the whole body a man cannot conclude that the eye or the head is imperfect no more can the Iesuit conclude that the Gospell of Saint Matthew Saint Marke or Saint Iohn are therefore imperfect because they containe not in them all doctrines in particular necessary to salvation It is sufficient that they together with the rest perfectly instruct us in all points of faith by themselves they perfectly informe us so farre as the Holy Ghost intendeth that we should be informed by each of them in particular and this is their perfection that they have no defect in matter or forme and that they concurre with the rest of the bookes of Scripture to the maine end of the Holy Ghost in committing the word of God in writing for the infallible and perfect instruction of the Church and every faithfull soule in all Doctrines needfull to salvation To the thirteenth Although many Protestants have written de Scripturâ judice and they have warrant our of Scripture so to stile it the words which I have spoken they shall judge you yet in propriety of speech which especially ought to be used in stating questions the Scripture is rather to be termed a rule and law or sentence of the judge then the judge himselfe the supreame and infallible judge of all controversies we teach to be the Holy Ghost speaking to us out of Scriptures and the subordinate or inferior Judge the consencient authority of the Catholique Church To the fourteenth The Iesuit shewed no such thing nor can shew out of Tertullian De praescrip advers haeret c. 17. who convinced the greater part of Haeretikes in his time by Scripture as appeareth in his writings In the place which the Iesuit quoteth he hath no such words as he alleageth out of him viz. that there is no good to be done with Haeretikes by Scriptures He saith indeede in that place that it was but in vaine to conferre with a certaine kinde of Haeretikes by Scriptures alone quia ista haeresis non recipit quasdam Scripturas et si recipit non recipit integras et si aliquatenus integras praestat c. That is This haeresie admits not of certaine Scriptures or not intire or if in some sort in ire it perverts them by divising divers interpretations In which words he no way disparageth the holy Scriptures or derogateth from their perfection but discovereth the wicked practise of Haeretikes and their evasions and tergiversations when they are most evidently convinced by Scriptures Will you say that if a Bedlam or willfull malefactor either by puffing out the Candle or shutting his eyes or looking another way will not reade or see the evidence that is brought against him that therfore the evidence is not able to convince him To the fifteenth Though it were granted the Iesuit that the Papists have written more upon the Scriptures then Protestants it will not from thence follow that they more reverence or honour the Scripture sithence in their very Commentaries upon Scripture they derrogate from the authority sufficiency and perfection of them by refusing to referre all points of faith in controversie to their decision by resolving their faith last of all not into them but into the Church by teaching that they are obscure even in points necessary to salvation and that unwritten Traditions are equally to be reverenced with them Secondly compare men with men and oportunities with oportunities it may easily be proved that
soever to exception saith nothing for him Pelagius was not so absurd as to hold this position that Peters Chaire and Faith goe alwaies together but only spake in a glozing manner thus to Pope Sozimus Thou holdest Peters Chaire and Faith and will the Iesuit inferre an universall from a particular Pope Sozimus held Peters Chaire and Faith therfore all that hold Peters Chaire hold his Faith What holdeth these two together Luke 22.32 Quest vet N. Test q. 75. Quid ambigitur pro Petro rogabat pro Iacobo et Iohāne non rogabat ut caeteros taceam manifestum est in Petro omnes contineri a most strong and effectuall Bond saith the Iesuit namely Christs promise to Peter I have prayed for thee that thy Faith faile not The time will faile me to declare particularly how many waies this Argument of the Iesuit failes first Christ prayed not here for Peter onely as Saint Austine affirmeth What doth any man make question hereof did Christ pray for Peter and not for James and John To say nothing of the rest it is manifest that in Peter all the rest are contained This prayer then no more privilegeth the See of Rome from error than of Ierusalem or of Ephesus or any other See of the Apostles Secondly Christ prayed not that Peter might not erre who afterwards erred Gal. 2.14 and was reproved by Saint Paul Galathians the second but that his Faith might not faile that is be overcome in that fearfull temptation in such sort that hee might not rise againe after his fall Thirdly Christs prayer is for Peter himselfe in his person and the Apostles whom Satan winnowed not for his See Fourthly if this promise any way belonged to his Successors certainly no more to those of Rome than Antiochia so infirme is this the Iesuits proofe which yet hee saith Must stand firme till Sir Humphrey can tell what Pope began to varie from his Predecessours Agreed Sir Humphrey shall presently tell him by name Liberius the Arrian Vigilius the Eutychian Honorius the Monothelite condemned in three generall Councels sixth seventh and eighth Iohn the three and twenty deposed in the Councell at Constance as for other enormous crimes so for this his damnable heresie that Hee denied the immortalitie of the soule and the life to come To which after the Iesuit hath replied instance shall be given in many other Popes which have beene branded with the note of heresie in like manner To the third A strange and loose inference three and thirty Popes adored Images because their Predecessor had the pictures of Saint Peter and Saint Paul Pope Gregorie allowed of the standing of pictures in the Church Vid. supr yet would have them by no meanes adored Helena the mother of Constantine had the wood of Christs crosse yet adored it not saith Saint Ambrose If to have the picture of Saint Peter or Saint Paul nay or of Christ himselfe maketh a man an Idolater or a Papist then not onely all the Lutherans generally but very many of the most orthodoxe Divines in our and other reformed Churches will be proved as good Papists as Pope Sylvester To the fourth Not only Protestants whom the Iesuit nick-nameth Heretikes but also Contius and other Romanists have disparaged these Epistles and if the Iesuits nose be not very flat and stuffed also hee may smell the forgerie of these Decretals by the barbarisme of the stile disagreeing to those times and many absurdities and contradictions noted in them by Coqueus and others To the fift If it be no matter of Faith that this particular Priest Transubstantiateth the Bread because no man knowes his intention nor that particular Priest Et sic de caeteris It followeth that it is no matter of Faith to beleeve that any Priest in the Roman Church by the words of Consecration turneth the Bread into Christs Body As for that hee addeth that it is no matter whether any ever died for this point in particular I answer it is a matter of great moment for if Garnet would not take it upon his salvation that this Bread hee consecrated immediately before the death was turned into Christs Body nor any ever would or did pawne his life for Transubstantiation it is evident that Papists themselves doubt of the certainty of that Article On the contrarie wee can produce hundreds nay thousands who for denying Transubstantiation have beene put to death and have signed the truth of the Doctrine of the Reformed Churches concerning the Sacrament with their blood and therefore the Doctrine of the Protestants in this point is of more credit than the contrarie because it is strengthened and fortified by a Noble armie of Martyrs Concerning the Protestants charitable opinion of the salvation of Papists Spectacles Chap. 17. à page 491. usque ad 508. THE Knights discourse in this Chapter is wholly from his purpose which he pretendeth in the title of his Chapter which is to answer our objections The Knights eight instances in the Doctrine of Merits Communion in both kinds publike use of Scripture Priests marriage Service in a knowne tongue Worship of Images Adoration of the Sacrament and Traditions are all answered before and proved some false for the things wherewith he chargeth us are all absurd if we consider the proofes of Scripture which he bringeth All testimonies from an enemy proceede not from charity but from truth and such are those which Catholikes bring out of learned Protestants to prove that a man dying in the Romish Religion may be saved Free-will Prayer for the Dead Honouring of Relikes Reall Presence Transubstantiation Communion in one kinde Worshiping of Images the Popes Primacy Auricular Confession and the like are all acknowledged some by one Protestant some by another not to be materiall points so as a man may without perill beleeve either way the severall authors are Perkins Cartwright Whitgift Fulke Penrie Somes Sparks Reynolds Bunnie and Whitaker John Frith a Foxean Martyr acknowledgeth that the matter touching the substance of the Sacrament bindeth no man of necessity to salvation or damnation whether he beleeve it or not John Huz held the Masse Transubstantiation Vowes Freewill Merit of workes and of the haeresies now in controversie held onely one to wit communion in both kindes Dr. Barrow acknowlegeth the Church of Rome to be the Church of God Hooker a part of the house of God and limbe of the visible Church of Christ Dr. Somes that all learned and reformed Churches confesse that in Popery there is a Church a Ministry and true Christ Field and Morton that we are to be accounted the Church of God whose words may be seene in the Protestants Apologie Tract 1. Sect. 6. Whereas the Knight saith that men otherwayes morally good relying wholly on the merits of Christ that is living Papists and dying Protestants in the principall foundation of our faith may finde mercy because they did it ignorantly where hath the Knight learned this Theologie that a man
and teach the Doctrine of Devils Answer It had beene fitter for the Iesuit to be bound Prentise than set to schoole hee is so dull and stupid that hee maketh it all one to forbid a Boy under age to marry during the time of his Apprentiship and that under a legall penalty without any vow or oath and to forbid the whole Clergie to marry at all by tying them to single life by a vow and solemne oath whether they have the gift of continencie or not Flood Saint Paul saith the gift of Tongues is a signe for Infidels but Prophecie that is Exhortation or Interpretation is for the Faithfull or those that believe already wherein I would know what any man can find against Prayer in the Latine tongue Answer I will easily helpe the Iesuits ignorance herein Prayer in the Latine tongue when it is not understood is Prayer in a Strange tongue which the Apostle here implyeth No way tendeth to edification Nay farther he proveth it to be a curse out of the Prophet Esay 28.11 to a people to heare a Language which they understand not and if that people were accursed in that they heard a Language which they understood not our people in this regard must needs be blessed who heare in the Church the Word of God read and Divine Service said in a Language which they understand Flood The Catholike Church doth draw in severall Nations to unity of Language making all to speake one and the same Tongue whereas Heretikes in the severall places by use of other Languages understand not one the other and therein most perfectly resemble the Babel-builders as well in their diversitie of tongues as in the diversities of Doctrines Answer The Iesuit here ignorantly babbleth about Babel and the builders thereof upon whom God sent as a curse not simply the diversitie of Languages which Acts 2. was given to the Apostles by miracle for a blessing but confusion of Languages whereby it came to passe that though they all spake one to another yet none understood one the other This curse cannot be denied to be fallen upon the Lay-people in Poperie in the time of their benediction and hereby the Romane Church as by many things else may be discerned to be Spiritually Babylon Now whereas the Iesuit saith that they make all Nations to speake one and the same tongue his tongue runneth before his wit for though the Pope by injoyning Latine Service make all Nations under the Romane jurisdiction heare one and the same tongue in their Service yet hee maketh them not to speake it nor so much as understand it Whereas all the Reformed Churches as they agree in the unity of their Doctrine against Romish errours and superstitions so they also concurre in this that they have all their Liturgies in their Mother tongue that all the children of our Churches may heare their heavenly Father speake unto them in his Word and they to him in their Prayers in a language understood Flood But for that which hee saith that hee acknowledgeth universalitie of Nations and people not to be a marke of his Church I cannot but wonder at it for what is this but even in plaine termes to confesse his Church not to be the Church of Christ Esay saying All nations shall flow unto it and the Prophet David describing the kingdome of Christ saith that Hee shall beare sway from Sea to Sea and Daniel describeth the kingdome of Christ Like a mountaine growing from a little stone and filling the whole Earth Saint Iohn seeth a Multitude which no man could reckon of all Nations and Tribes and People Answer Wee doe not say that the Church of England is the Church of Christ that is the whole or only Church of Christ but a Church of Christ or to speake more properly a member of the Catholike Church scattered over the face of the the whole earth The texts alleaged by the Iesuit are meant of the Catholike or universall Church not of a particular for it implieth a kind of contradiction that a part should be the whole and all Nations comprised in one Secondly the Knight speaketh not Page 312. simply of multitudes nations and tongues when hee denieth that wee have any such in our Church but of multitudes and nations and tongues that are at the Woman her command in the Apocalypse The Citie which raigneth over the Kings of the Earth Apoc. 17.4 5 6 c. which sitteth on seven mountaines and is drunke with the blood of Saints and Martyrs of whom it was foretold that shee should ascend out of the bottomlesse pit and goe into perdition These can be no markes of our Church as all the world seeth and if they be as indeed they are most visible and apparant markes of the Romane Church let them lay claime to her and keepe her to themselves wee no way grudge or repine at it But if the question be where it is safer being with the Woman that fled into the wildernesse or this Queene-regent of the world wee give warning to all that have Care of their salvation to come out of Babylon that they be not partaker of her plagues To the third It is not true that all testimonies proceeding from an enemie are from evidence of Truth for a testimonie may proceed from an enemie sometimes from weaknesse of judgement as Tertullian long agoe hath observed concluding that it is no certaine and undoubted Argument of strength and valour to conquer an Enemie for many times the victorie is gotten not because the conquerour was a man of might and well handled his weapons Sed quia qui vincebatur infirmis erat viribus but because hee had the good hap to enter into the lists with a weake Adversarie Yet let the Iesuits Observation be generall the Knight will gaine by it for the greatest part of his booke consisteth of Testimonies taken from the mouth of learned Romanists and therefore by this Rule laid downe by the Iesuit all must be presumed to proceed from evidence of Truth For the testimonies which hee here alleageth out of Protestants against us though they have beene long agoe answered in the Prostants Apologie written against Brerely his falsly so called Catholike Apologie yet in the due place I shall shew that they make nothing for but rather against the Romish Church To the fourth The Iesuit cannot be ignorant that the misnamed Catholike Apologie set forth by Brerely was refuted seven and twenty yeares agoe by a Catholike Appeale for Protestants there all these shafts which Brerely taketh out of the Protestant Quivers are either broken or their heads so taken off that they can doe no hurt to any that hath his Buckler of Faith on or his eyes in his head To which Appeale I referre the discreete Reader when the Iesuit shall quote any of these Authors for any particular point he shall have a punctuall answer To the fift Frith was a worthy and glorious Martyr whose faith may be knowne by his
Heaven and Hell 19. That there are three holy Orders in the Church Bishops Priests and Deacons 20. That Confession to a Priest in case the Conscience be troubled with any grievous Sin is profitable and behoovefull To all these points and many more like unto these the Papists assent but in all their additions they stand single as namely 1. That a fourth Creed made by Pius the fourth is likewise to be received under paine of damnation 2. That religious worship is due to Saints 3. That Saints and Angels are to be called upon 4. That the Pope is the visible head of the Church 5. That Saints are our Mediatours and Advocates 6. That the Virgin Mary also was conceived without sinne 7. That wee are justified and saved in part by our owne Merits and superabundant satisfactions of Saints 8. That Tradition is a rule of Faith as well as Scripture 9. That besides those two and twenty there are other Books of the old Testament to wit Tobit Judith Baruch The Wisdome of Salomon Ecclesiasticus and the Maccabees to be admitted into the number of Canonicall Scriptures 10. That the vulgar Latin translation of the Scripture is most pure and authenticall 11. That besides Baptisme and the Lords Supper there are five other Sacraments Confirmation Order Penance Matrimonie and Extreme Vnction 12. That Gallies and Bels may and ought to be christened 13. That besides Water Creame Salt and Spittle are to be used in Baptisme 14. That Christ is present in the Sacrament by Transubstantiation and that his body and blood is not onely received spiritually by Faith but also carnally by the mouth 15. That the Sacrament of the Lords Supper may lawfully be administred to the Laity in one kind onely 16. That besides an historicall there is a religious use of Images and that they are to bee worshipped 17. That Peter had not onely a Primacie of Order but a power also and jurisdiction over the Apostles 18. That besides Heaven and Hell there is a third place of abode for soules to wit Purgatorie and a fourth also termed Limbus infantum 19. That besides those three holy Orders of Bishops Prists and Deacons there are others as namely Exorcists Acolyts c. 20. That confession of every knowne Sin to a Priest is necessarie Now because Negatives are not properly Articles of Faith but Positives or Affirmatives it appeareth evidently that the Faith of the reformed Churches is assented to by Papists themselves and all Christians in the world and therfore is most certain safe by the confession on all sides wheras the Popish additions wherein we stand onely upon the Negative and they are to make good the Affirmative are assented to by none but themselves and therefore by the Iesuits rule are weak doubtful and lesse safe This is Vulcaneum telum et argumentum palmarium the main and principall argument whereby the Knight demonstrateth the title of his Booke and hee is so confident of it that if that be to be accounted the safer way wherein different parties agree both in one as the Iesuit laid it downe in the former chapter hee will joyne issue with all Papists in the world in this very point and if in this hee make not good the title of his Booke that wee are therefore in the safer way because they agree in the principall and Positive points of Religion with our Doctrine hee will reconcile himselfe to the Roman Church and creepe upon all foure to his Holinesse for a Pardon At this the Iesuit is so mad that he fometh at the mouth and raveth saying Pag. 512. That to creepe upon all foure is a very fit gate for men so devoid of reason as to make such Discourses and to use such malicious insinuations as if men used to creepe upon all foure to the Pope Parce sepulto Parce pias scelerare manus be not so inhumane and barbarous in tearing the fame of the dead there is no cause at all given of such rage and furie The Knight doth herein no way blaspheme or falsly traduce Dominum deum Papam for those that ordinarily kisse the Popes toe unlesse his Holinesse be the more courteous to hold up his foot the higher must needs be neere creeping on all foure To say nothing of Dandalus King of Creete and Cyprus who was upon all foure and that under the Table before the Popes Holinesse as Iewell in his Apologie and the defence thereof undeniably proveth out of good Authors against Mr. Harding yet the Knight in this place chargeth not the Pope with any such imperious demand of Luciferian pride but onely professeth what penance hee would willingly enjoyne himselfe if hee should abuse the Reader and not make good the Title of his booke by the argument above propounded against which what the Iesuit here particularly Articleth and objecteth I will now consider To the first The words which the Iesuit would make seem so ridiculous are related by the Knight as their owne words not ours as any may perceive by the Preface to them therefore say they and by this that they are written in a lesser Character and is it not senslesse in the Iesuit and most ridiculous to laugh at himselfe and put his owne nonsense upon the Knight who taking the Iesuits words as he found them scorning to nible at syllables interpreted the Iesuits words at the best and taking his meaning joynes issue with him upon the point in this manner In a Church professing Christianity where the Scriptures of the old and new Testament are received and the two Sacraments instituted by Christ administred suppose we there to be two sorts of Professors either publikely allowed as in France or at least tollerated as in other Kingdomes both these entituling themselves to be members of the pure Orthodox Church and neither of them having beene particularly condemned in any generall Councell received through the Christian world the probleme then is whether of these two that party is not in the safer way who holdeth no positive Article of faith to which both parties besides all other Christians give not their assent unto then the other who maintaineth twelve Articles of faith at least wherein they themselves stand single and are forsaken by all Christians not onely of the reformed Churches in England France Germany Denmarke Swethland Norway Poland Transylvania but also in the Eastern and Greek Churches dispersed through the large Dominions of the Turke in Europe Asia and Africa But thus it standeth betweene us and Papists all the positive Articles which we hold necessary to salvation they themselves and all other Christian Churches in the world assent unto whereunto the Church of Rome hath added many other positive Articles in joyning all under paine of damnation to beleeve them in all which additions she standeth alone by her selfe therefore it is safer to adhere to the doctrine and faith of the reformed churches then the Pope his new Trent Creed The Iesuits exceptions against this argument
Popes superioritie to Councels before the Councell at Laterane under Leo the tenth nor most of Pope Pius the fourth his Articles before the late Councell of Trent wherein those points were first defined Then which what Argument can be more forcible to convince the novelty of the Romish Faith But whether an article of Faith is to be accounted such because it is defined to be such by the Church or whether it be defined to be such by the Church because it is such in its owne nature it will little serve the Iesuits turne to make up the breaches of the Roman Church For certaine it is that their Doctors differ amongst themselves even in points defined by the Church For after the bookes of the Old Testament with all the parts knowne by the name of Apocrypha by the Councell of Trent were defined to be of Canonicall authoritie Sixtus Senensis makes scruple of some of them Sixtus Senens bib Sanct. l. 1. After the immaculate conception of our Lady was defined by Sixtus the fourth and the feast in testimonie thereof authorised by him yet the Dominicans generally hold that shee was conceived in sinne After Justification by inherent righteousnesse De Caus instit l. 7. c. 21. was defined in the Councell of Trent Albertus Pighius and others cited by Vegas held the contrary And though the Councell of Trent stigmatize the doctrine touching assurance of salvation yet Ambrosius Catharinus a learned Papist set forth a learned treatise de certitudine salutis Lastly though Pope Leo the tenth in the Councell of Lateran defineth the Pope to be above a generall Councell yet the Sorbonists at this day maintaine that a generall Councell is above the Pope Therefore as St Thomas Moore said pleasantly of a poore Physitian that he was more then medicus to wit by one letter Mor. in Epigr. meaning that he was mendicus Vna tibi plus est litera quam medico so it may truely be said of the unity Papists brag so much of that it is more then Vnity by a letter to wit Vanity To the fourth If the Knight or any Protestant suspended the efficacy of their Baptisme upon the faith of their Parents or as all Papists doe upon the intention of the Priest the Iesuit might with some colour object to us the uncertainty of our Christendome but let him know if he doth not that we maintaine generally that the effect of Baptisme dependeth not upon the faith of the Parents and God-fathers nor yet upon the intention of the Priest knowne to God onely and himselfe but upon his outward action and his words knowne to all the Congregation We say that the observation of Christs institution in baptizing the partie in the name of the Father of the Sonne and of the Holy-ghost and not the Priests hidden intention makes Baptisme effectuall to all that belong to the covenant To the fift The Iesuit most absurdly inferreth absurdities upon his owne Tenet supposing it to be ours whereas we disclaime it affirming that although the Church useth in marriage all meanes possible by questions and answers by joyning hands by plighting their troth in most significant tearmes and confirming their mutuall promises by giving and receiving a ring and denouncing Gods judgments against them in most fearfull manner if they know any thing one by the other why they should not be ioyned in marriage yet because the heart is knowne to God alone the validity of marriage with us dependeth upon the outward profession and sacred action done before sufficient and undoubted witnesse and not the secret intentions of the partie What the Iesuit addeth by way of jeare that a small deale of orders serves our turnes for he seeth not any thing done by vertue of our ordination which any man or woman may not doe without it I hold it not worthy any other answer then that sith he professeth his eye sight to be so dimme he would make use of the Spectacles he made for the Knight by helpe of them if he be not starke blinde he may see that by vertue of our ordination men in holy orders preach the Gospell administer the Sacraments remit and retaine sinnes which if he thinke any man or woman may doe without ordination like the foole in the Poet Dum vitant stulti vitia in contrario currunt he is gone from one extreame to the other and of a Papist become an Anabaptist With us none may execute the Priests office but he that is called thereunto as was Aaron If the Iesuit meane that any man or woman may doe the outward acts of Priesthood de facto though not de Iure may they not doe the like also sometimes among them doth not their Legend tell us that some Boyes getting by heart and pronouncing the words of Consecration hoc est Corpus meum turned all the Bakers bread in the street into flesh Do not Lady Abbesses and Nuns chaunt Mattins together in Romish Chappels Do not Midwives christen children in their Church With what face then can he charge us with those disorders whereof all the world seeth we are free but he and his Church most guilty To the sixt If we can have but a conjecturall and wavering knowledge of our salvation what comfort can a true Christian have in life or death If his hope be onely in this life the Apostle affirmeth expressely 1 Cor. 15.19 that he is of all men most miserable and certainely he is but little better if all his hope in the life to come be no better then a guesse or slender conjecture Iustly therefore did Martin Luther tearme the Romish doctrine concerning uncertainty of salvation non doctrinam fidei sed diffidentiae no doctrine of faith but of diffidence and distrust which if this Iesuit stiffely maintaines I would faine know of him how he interpreteth that Article of the Creed I beleeve the remission of sinnes Is the meaning onely this that there is a remission of some sins in the Church if so then the Devill beleeves as much concerning this Article as he but if as he beleeveth in the Article of the Resurrection the Resurrection of his owne flesh so in the Article of remission of sinnes the remission of his owne sinnes then his owne justification and particular beliefe of his owne saltion is a part of his Catholike faith and if that be but conjecturall then there is no certainty in the Catholike Faith It is true that it is a different thing to dispute of the certainety of the Catholike faith in generall and of every mans private and particular beliefe of his owne justification and salvation yet there is such a dependance betweene them that if the former be uncertaine the latter cannot be certaine Yea but saith the Iesuit we are certaine by the certainty of divine faith not onely that there be seven Sacraments but that they are also truely administred in the Church so as there can be no danger of the failing