the fourth Age a sicke Woman cured and a dead Bodie restored to life by the wood of the Holy Crosse wheÌ„ it was first found out by Queene Helen Ruffin Hist. lib. 10. Cap. 7. 8. Seuer Sulpit. Hist sacra lib. 2. Paul Epist 11. Niceph. lib. 8. The same myraculously multiplyed to satisfy the deuotioÌ„ of all ChristiaÌ„s throughout the world Paul Ep. 11. Cyr. catech 10. Many other Myracles wrought by Reliques Chrys orat cont Gentes By holy-Water Epiph. haer 30. By adoration of the Blessed Sacrament Naz. orat 11. By prayers to our Lady Nazian in S. Cyp. By the merites of Martyrs Ambros serm 91. In the fifth Age many Myracles wrought by Reliques of S. Stephen Aug. lib. 22. de Ciuit. cap. 8. By the signe of the Crosse Constantinus lib. 1. cap 22. apud Surium Tomo 4. by S. German Also Myracles wrought by S. Hierome lying on his death bed and after his decease the blinde deafe dumbe and sicke were cured some by touching some by kissing his Corpes Eusebius Cremon Ep. de morte eius In the sixt Age Myracles wrought to confirme the Sacrifice of the Masse S. Greg. l. 4. Dial. cap. 57. and Reall Presence Euag. lib. 4. Hist cap. 35. Ioan. Diac. lib. 2. de vita S. Greg. cap. 41. To confirme the honour and inuocation of Saynts Procop orat de Edificat Iustin. Euag. loco â—it Greg. de Myrac S. Martini l. 2. cap. 5. 6. 7. The vse of Images in Processions and how by one of our Blessed Ladyes painted by S. Luke a contagious Pestilence was dispelled in Rome Ciac in Greg. 1. From another Image stabbed by a Iew issued bloud Greg. Turon de glor Mart. cap. 22. Sigeb ann 560. Holy Oyle flowed from a Crosse and from an Image of our Blessed Lady curing many diseases Baron ann 564. Thus the Author of the Catalogue you receaued And the like Myracles he sheweth in the rest of the succeeding Ages As many more he might haue added aswell in the first fiue hundred yeares as after but that he thought it not necessary and therefore spared the labour to recollect them Which myraculous attestations we must eyther belieue and by consequence must also confesse those poynts of Religion confirmed by them or els we shall not only condemne all Christian Antiquity of lying and belieuing of lyes but must lykewise reiect all euidence of credibility founded vpon human testimony which is no lesse then to destroy the very foundatioÌ„s both of Church and Common-wealth and all Society Wherefore to binde this Burden also on your backe that it may sit the closser I will winde it vp in this manner That Church whose Doctrine hath beene confirmed by Myracles in all Ages is the true Church of Christ and his Apostles But such is the Doctrine of the Catholike and not of the Protestant Church Ergo the Catholike and not the Protestant Church is the true Church of Christ and his Apostles Section IIII. In reference to a fourth poynt of the Appendix shewing the Doctrine of the Protestants to haue beene censured and condemned by the Fathers in all Ages HAd you likewise confirmed your Doctrine by such diuine Authority you should haue shewed some one point of their Religion censured by any of the Fathers or condemned by any lawfull Counsell as that Booke quoteth aboue twenty of yours notoriously opposed and condemned by them As for Example Iustification by Fayth only and Deniall of Iustice by Workes condemned in Symon Magus Iren. lib. 1. cap. 20. Extrinsecall Iustice by imputatioÌ„ only in the Gnostickes Iren. lib. 1. cap. 5. That no sinne can hurt them that are indewed with Fayth in Eunomius Epiph. haer 76. Aug. haer 64. That sinne abideth in the regenerate condemned in Proclus Epiph. haer 64. That Baptisme doth not washe away sinne condemned in the Messalians Theod lib. 4. haer fab Neglect of the ceremonies of Baptisme condemned in Nouatus Euseb lib. 6. Of holy Chrisme and the seale of our Lord which is the signe of the Crosse so called condemned in Nouatus and his Disciples Theod. lib. 3. haer fab Derisions of Exorcismes and Exufflations in Baptisme condemned in the Pelagians August de Nat. concupis lib. 2. cap. 29. The Absolution of Priests not auaileable and the abolishment of Confession condemned in Nouatus and his Disciples Socrat. lib. 4. cap. 23. Cornel. apud Euseb lib. 6. cap. 43. Theod. lib. 3. haer fab Pacian lib. aduers eos Denyall of inioyned Pennance in the Audians Theod. l. 4. haer fab Denyall of the Reall Presence condemned in Iudas Iscariot Claud. Xanct. Rep. 2. de Eucha cap. 14. Chrys hom 46. in Ioan. 6. In the Simonians and Saturnians Theod. Dial. 3. condemned likewyse by Iren. l. 4. cap. 34. post medium Impugning the reseruation of the B. Sacrament condemned in the Anthropomorphites Cyr. ad Calosyr Denyall of Oblations and Prayers for the Dead condemned in Aerius Aug. haer 53 Epiph. haer 65. Denyall of Freewill condemned in Symon Magus Clem. Roman Recog lib. 3. In the Manichees Aug. lib. cont Fortunat. Manic Ordination and Predestination to sinne and by consequence that God is the Author of sinne condemned in the Predestinate Sigeb 415. Geneb in Zosimo condemned likewise in Symon Magus Vin. Lirin adu prop. haeret nouitat cap. 34. And in Florinus Euseb lib. 5. cap. 20. That Saynts are not to be inuocated condemned in Vigilantius Hier. cont Vigil cap. 2. 3. The Images of Christ and his Saynts not to be worshipped condemned in Xenaias Niceph. lib. 16. cap. 27. Worship of Saints Reliques to be Idolatry condemned in Eustachius Socrat. l. 2 cap. 33. and condemned likewise in Vigilantius Hier. 161. Impugnation of single life and vowed Chastity and that Marriage is equall to Virginity condemned in Heluidius and Iouinian Hier. cont Heluid Iouin Disallowance of prescript Fasts condemned in Aerius Epip haer 75. August haer 53. and in Eustachius Socrat. lib. 2. cap. 33. Noe difference of Merits in Heauen condemned in Iouinian Hier. lib. 2. aduers Iouin Good vse of Riches preferred before Euangelicall Pouerty condemned in Vigilantius S. Thom. opusc 17. Denyall of one Chiefe Pastor in Earth condemned in Nouatus Euseb lib. 6. cap. 43. Denyall of vnwritten Traditions condemned in the Valentinians Tertul. lib. de Praesc hist Eccles lib. 5. cap. 16. lib. 3. cap. 36. That the visible Catholike Church might remaine in one parte and perish in the rest of the world condemned in the Donatists Aug. cont lit Petil. l. 2. cap. 108. lib. de Vnitat Eccles cap. 2. per totum librum Thus the Author of the Catalogue whereunto if I should adde out of the ProtestaÌ„t Apology page 74. and page 127. and pag. 207. how insolently and impiously the most and best learned Protestant-writers doe likewise censure and condemne the Fathers of the first fiue hundred yeares I know you would be ashamed to reade them But this may suffice to giue the Reader iust
A Defence of the Appendix OR A REPLY TO CERTAINE AVTHORITIES alleaged in Answere to a Catalogue of Catholike Professors called An Appendix to the Antidote VVHEREIN Also the Booke fondly intituled The Fisher catched in his owne Net is censured And the sleights of D. Featly and D. VVhite in shifting off the Catalogue of their owne Professors which they vndertooke to shew are plainly discouered By L. D. To the R t. VVorshipfull Syr Humphry Lynde Eccles 7. v. 30. Solummodo hoc inueni quod fecerit Deus hominem rectum Et ipse se infinitis miscuerit quaestionibus Permissu Superiorum M.DC.XXIIII TO THE RIGHT VVORSHIPFVLL Syr Humphry Lynde SYR It may be you will take it vnkindly to see vnawares your selfe and your papers thus in print But I was moued to doe it by due cōsideration of that which followeth I receaued them not as secret neyther do I thinke you gaue them to be concealed You wrote against a printed Catalogue of Catholike Professors wherof a deare friend of mine is the Author giuen you vpon a former Conference which your self procured betweene some other of my Friends and your Doctors concerning a Protestant Catalogue which Conference though priuatly intēded was afterwards victoriously printed Wherefore writing them as you did against such a Booke and vpon such an occasion you might easily thinke they would be answered and it is not strāge they should come to be printed As the great opinion which others had of your deepe learning and your owne profession of your great skill and reading in the Fathers made me diligently to peruse those authorityes alleadged by you so hauing well examined them I thought my selfe diuers wayes obliged to giue a large full Reply vnto them And being as you are most extremely and most vehemētly distant in opinion from me no maruell if to be better vnderstood I speak so lowd that all the Land may heare me And for the same cause you must pardon me if I rather choose to expose both you my selfe to the iudgment of others then hauing takē some little paynes in this matter to make you the only iudge of my labours The old Maister Buggs being carried away with Ecce in Penetralibus thinketh to haue found the Messias in your study and was wholy transported with those chosen places and selected authorities contayned in your papers which tending to no lesse then the losse of his soule merited great compassion the like may happen to others which deserueth preuention Your owne Doctors haue already adorned the Pageant of their victory with the publication of your Names Vnto you is giuen the driuing on of the Chariot and the old Maister Buggs is led in Triumph Some perchance haue been taken in the net of the Title and may be freed againe by the net of Christ which therefore should not hange in the Riuers of priuate papers when the other flyeth in the ayre but should be cast into the Sea of the wide World to gather and draw togeather all kind of fishes In this net the Fishers themselues are happily taken and all they that are not taken are lost for euer The other of the Heretikes is but a net to catch flyes which though cūningly wrought must in tyme be swept away togeather with the Spiders They haue printed against vs and renewed an old Decree against our printing if no Reply should be made some of them would thinke that now they might lye by Proclamation What greater signe of falshood thē hauing told your owne tale to seeke to stop the mouthes of your Aduersaries with old Statutes But the State neuer intended to make a Law against God his Word will not be tyed All Princes should serue it and all printing Presses must be subiect vnto it Therfore no maruell if the taking of one Presse do set two more on worke and that your Doctors by seeking to suppresse the Truth do presse it forward You know then what moued me to diuulge your papers giuing the Fathers their due I haue told you your owne but sparingly and if you knew my hart you would see and confesse that I had done it friendly Belieue and you shall vnderstande Belieue the Fathers and you shall vnderstand the Fathers He that heareth not the visible vniuersall Church is no better then a Heathen and belieueth neyther Church nor Fathers but the vnlearned not knowing the doctrine of the Church and the vnstable forsaking that which they haue knowne as they peruerte the Scriptures so also they preuert the Fathers to their owne damnation from the which I beseech God deliuer you praying you likewise to thinke no otherwise of me then as of Your vnfaygned Friend and seruant in Christ L. D. THE AVTHORITIES ALLEADGED BY Syr Humphry Lynde agaynst the Appendix Of Myracles EPIPHANIVS conuinceth not Ebion of false beliefe because neyther he nor any of his faction had the gift of working Miracles but because Ebion lykened himselfe to Christ for his Circumcision and for his Birth and he answers him he could not be lyke to God for that he was but a mortall Man and was not able to rayse Lazarus out of the graue nor heale the sicke c. If he would be lykened to Christ he bid him to doe those things the which things if he had required at Epiphanius hands I thinke noe man but would haue doubted of the performance of them Read the place at large and you shall find it hath no such meaning as is heere alleadged Myracles were necessary before the world belieued to induce it to belieue and he that seeketh to be confirmed by wōders now is to be wondred at most of all himself in refusing to belieue what all the world belieueth besides himselfe De Ciuit. Dei lib. 22. cap. 8. in principio Shewed to be falsified Now we for our parts say not that we must be belieued that we are in the Church of Christ because Optatus or Ambrose hath commended this wherein we are or els because that in all places of the world where our Communiō is frequēted there are so many Myracles wrought of healing diseases c. For all these things that are done in the Catholike Church are approued in asmuch as they are done in the Catholike And not that it is therfore Catholike because such things are done there August de vnitat Eccles cap. 16. Tertullian They will say sayth he to excuse themselues for hauing followed Heresy that their Doctours haue confirmed the Fayth of their Doctrine that they haue raysed vp the dead restored the sicke foretould things to come so as they were worthily taken for Apostles As if sayth he this were not written that many should come working great Myracles to fortify the deceitfullnes of their corrupt preaching De Praescrip cap. 44. S. Hierome The Galathians had the gift of Healing and of Prophesy and yet they were insnared by the false Prophets and it is to be obserued that powers and signes are seene to be wrought in those that
occasion to admire the little conscience of your late English Doctors in challenging the Fathers of the first fiue hundred yeares wherein if their Aduersaries might come to an indifferent and equall tryall with them the very Titles of the Fathers Books against them were sufficient to ouerthrow them Only in this place I will giue the Reader this short Notandum for the which if he desire sincerely to know and belieue the Doctrine of the Fathers he shall haue cause to thanke me When any of the holy Fathers do censure any poynt of Doctrine taxing it of Heresy or noteth it as the particuler opinion of some Heretike or reproueth it very much or wondreth at it especially if it be such a thing as euery learned Man may easily know or was necessary to be taught and that no other Father did therein oppose himself against him It is an euident Testimony that his Doctrine therein was the generall Doctrine of the Church at that tyme and ought to be so receaued of the Ages that follow Wherefore the Author of that Booke hauing shewed so many poynts of your Doctrine to haue beene so notoriously cēsured and condemned by the Auncient Fathers of the first fiue hundred yeares in the Hetetikes of those tymes besides many other poynts and some of those also condemned by Fathers and Councells in after Ages whereunto you haue not answered a word it is for ought I can see or perceaue a cleare demonstration that the Fathers of those tymes were theirs and that eyther your Professors were none at all or no other then those that were condemned by them Thus all things with them are infallibly certaine easie to be knowne and most conspicuous They follow the streame and current of that Doctrine which by many knowne Successions of holy and learned Men Martyres and Bishops as it were by so many Channells they deriue from Christ and his Apostles They follow the fame and greatnes of that Church which by conuerting Countries and Nations in all Ages is become eminent and apparent aboue all other sortes of Christians like a Citty vpon a Hill aboue the Moale-hills or like the Little Stone in Daniel which growing to be a Mountaine filleth the world with it's greatnes They follow the security of those Letters-Patents which the hand of God hath signed with his owne Seale and cōmended to the world by Attestation of many Myracles in confirmation of their Doctrine And lastly they follow the infallible and powerfull Authority of that Body which by Cēsures of Doctors Decrees of Coūcells from tyme to tyme hath euer confounded all those that opposed themselues against it While you in the meane tyme without any lineall Descente from those whome you pretend to haue beene your Auncestors without the Progenie of any Gentills conuerted by you without any warrant of Gods hand or sentence of his Iudges for you do still remayne in the darcknes of your inuisible Church tossed in the Sea of Error with euery winde of new Doctrine not knowing certainly whome to follow nor what to belieue vntill at the last euen the wisest of you being wearie of seeking and desperate of finding that which they seeke come to hold all opinions probable which is in effect to belieue nothing Good Syr had you produced such a Successiō such cōuersions of Nations such Myracles and Censures in the defence of your Church as that Booke hath shewed in confirmation of theirs all zealous Protestants had been bound to haue fallen at your feete and to haue honoured you for euer But now on the other side against such weighty and massie matters such cleare and conuincing proofes as these not being able to giue in euidence so much as one Professor in euery Age nor in any Age the conuersion of any Nation or the testimony of any Myracle or the Censure of any one Father in fauour of your Religion who seeth not that insteed of reason there is nothing but passion on your part and certainly for the honour of your cause it were better to hold your peace then reply so weakely in a matter of such importance For besides all that hath beene sayd against many other most expresse Sentences of the Auncient Fathers in those very poynts which you haue chosen to touch you haue only produced a few dribling Authorities as it were on the Bye some falsely translated and some falsely cited and some in respect of other expresse words agaynst you plainely falsified that not to accuse you of a bad Conscience though you make profession to be much versed in the Fathers yet the Reader must needes think you neuer saw or read so much as those few places which your selfe haue cited but only tooke them by retaile frō others And howsoeuer though they were admitted and taken as you giue them vp yet in my poore opinion they eyther touch not your Aduersaries at all or being a little considered make rather with them then against them Which sheweth great want of iudgment in you and I verily thinke if you will be pleased to examine them with me I shall make you see it Wherefore as in the former Section soe that you may know in this also how far you are chargable I giue you the summe of your accompt in this manner The Doctrine of that Church which was condemned by the Fathers of the first fiue hundred yeares was condemned by Christ and his Apostles But the Doctrine of the Protestant Church was condemned by the Fathers of the first 500. yeares as the most and best learned Protestants themselues haue also confessed Ergo the Doctrine of the Protestant Church was likewise condemned by Christ and his Apostles Section V. Myracles defended to be a sufficient Testimony of Truth and the Doctrine of the Fathers therein declared WHerefore to begin as you doe with Myracles most certaine it is that no true Myracle can be wrought but only by him Qui facit mirabilia magna solus and therefore whēsoeuer any true Myracle is shewed or sufficiently testified vnto vs in confirmation of any point of Doctrine it is an euident proofe of the truth thereof For a Myracle in that case is the Testimony of God who speaketh by workes as men by wordes sayth S. Aug. Epist 49. quaest 6. and is the subscription as it were of his hand and seale vnto it And certainly if Myracles were no sufficiēt proofes of true Doctrine they would neuer haue beene called Signes and Testimonyes in holy Scripture God would not haue giuen Moyses power of working Myracles Exod. 4. That the People of Israel might belieue he had appeared vnto him Our Sauiour would not haue sayd the Iewes had not sinned in not receauing him if he had not done those workes which no man els had done before him Ioan. 15. And in vayne should he haue promised that Signes should follow those that belieued and haue cooperated and confirmed the Doctrine of the Apostles by them Neyther could he in Iustice haue commaunded the world
vpon paine of damnation to belieue a thing so incredible as that Christ being Crucified was risen againe in his owne flesh and ascended into Heauen if many other Myracles which the Apostles wrought in confirmation therof had not made it euidently credible as S. Austen disputeth in his booke de Ciuit. Dei lib. 22. cap. 7. and in the former Epist. 49. quaest 6. albeit he well obserued that this kind of proofe was euer lowdly and extremely laught at by the wicked Pagans yet most true it is which there he also affirmeth that we should not belieue Christ to be risen againe frō the Dead if the Fayth of Christians did feare in this point of Myracles the laughter of Pagans Wherefore to answere those places of the Fathers which you obiect not only agaynst so many of their owne Testimonies alleaged by your Aduersary but also against Scripture and against Christian beliefe it selfe grounded vpon Myracles as hath beene noted you must further vnderstand that the world hauing beene once perswaded by myraculous operations and workes of wōder to belieue the Doctrine of the Apostles with this firme promise that it should alwayes remaine with them and their Successors the visible Pastors of the Catholike Church vniuersally spread ouer all the world it ought not to belieue any other Doctrine or any other Myracles pretended to be done in opposition to that Doctrine which by continuall Tradition hath beene receaued frō them For as there can be no after-word of God contrary to that which was first preached soe there can be no latter Myracles contrary to the testimony of those by which the world first belieued but rather as S. Paul saith If an Angell from Heauen should preach otherwise then we haue receaued we should hold him accursed This made Tertullian in the Booke you cite de Praesc cap. 44. to protest against all Myracles supposed to be done against the Tradition of the Church whereof S. Augustine in his Booke de vnit Eccles obiected by you giueth the reason yet more plainly shewing that the Catholike amplitude or vniuersality of the Church by conuersions of Nations in all Ages doth more euidently proue it to be the true Church of Christ then any other worke which is done therein for it is more manifest to sense and human reason that the cleare Prophesies of the true Church in holy Scripture are fullfilled and accomplished only in the Catholike Church which accordingly in all Ages doth visibly spread it selfe ouer all the world then it can possibly appeare that any worke of admiration is truly a Myracle surpassing the force of Nature or power of the Diuell whereof it followeth that the true Church is more manifestly knowne by the accomplishment of those promises then by the wondrous effects of any Myracles and that Myracles doe not soe well and cleerly proue any Church to be Catholike as the Church being visibly Catholike doth manifest those Myracles to be true which are approued by it Whereof it followeth againe that all Myracles which are done against it or agaynst the vnity thereof are as firmely and constantly to be reiected Which is it that he also teacheth lib. 13. cont Faust. cap. 5. and Tract 13. in Ioan. and lib. 22. de Ciuitat Dei cap. 8. obiected by you And heere by the way I beseech you to note how much Saint Ansten esteemeth the former Argument of the conuersions of Nations in all Ages according to the promises therof in holy Scripture which he maketh such an euident marke and such an infallible proofe of the true Church that he preferreth it before Myracles And for the same cause lib. 22. de Ciuit. Dei cap. 8. he spareth not to say That he who seeketh to be confirmed by Wonders now is himselfe to be wondred at in refusing to belieue that which all the world or the visible Church through the world belieueth Which your selfe also hauing obserued you may wōder at your self both in refusing to belieue what you know the visible Catholike Church for a thousand yeares through the world belieued and wherin I also wonder my selfe at your not obseruing that S. Augustine doth wonder at you in that very place wherein you suppose he agreed with you as by and by I shall make it appeare Adde in the meane tyme to that which hath beene sayd that the Myracles whereunto the holy Fathers alleadged by you forbid vs to giue credit as vnto Arguments not sufficient to proue the Truth of Religiō were eyther Myracles in apparence only and such wherewith Heretikes might easily be deceaued or so deceaue as S. Augustine speaketh in the former place vpon Ioan not such as might reasonably induce any prudēt man to belieue thē As Dreames and Visions and exauditions of Prayers like vnto those of the Donatists against whome wrote Saint Augustine lib. de Vnit. Eccl. cap. 16. Or such as were Testimonies of the Iustice and mercy of God in generall and not of Doctrine in particuler as were those whereof S. Hierome speaketh Or finally such as being wrought by wicked men exceeded not the power of the Diuell as S. Augustine obserueth lib. 20. de Ciuit. Dei cap. 19. Tract 13. in Ioan. Or were not sufficiently testified but rather sayd then proued which Tertullian lib. de Praeser derideth and sayth that the power of Heretiks was nothing like but rather contrary to the power of the Apostles for their vertue was not to rayse the Dead but rather to kill the liuing literally fullfilled in Caluin Bolsec in vita Caluini who pretending by his prayer to rayse a counterfaite dead man being then truly aliue was thought to be the cause that he was instantly slaine eyther by God or the Diuell In the same sense also Epiph. lib. 1. de haer cap. 30. vrgeth Ebion to rayse some dead man c. assuring himselfe that he could not doe any true Myracle by meanes of his false Faith yea though he called vpon the name of Christ. Not so the Myracles alleaged by your Aduersary which hauing beene wrought and belieued and most authentically testified by soe many most holy most prudent and learned Witnesses in confirmation of that Doctrine which is professed against you need no more to feare the laughter of Protestants thē the Myracles of former tymes as S. Austen saith had cause to feare the laughter of Pagans And such as belieue them not may iustly feare to be condemned as Pagans for belieuing nothing To deny therefore this Doctrine of Myracles seemeth noe lesse impious then to deny Christianity it selfe and to affirme that myracles haue ceased sithence the tyme of the Apostles were noe lesse vnreasonable then to reiect all humane Testimonies and in particuler the Authority of S. Augustine himsefe in those very places obiected by you For in that very place of S. Aug. de Ciuit. Dei lib. 22. cap. 8. which you alleage against Myracles That they were necessary before the world belieued to induce it to belieue And That he that
seeketh to be confirmed by wonders now is himselfe to be wondred at in refusing to belieue that which all the world or the visible Catholike Church through the world belieueth which being well considered maketh little for you In that very place I say you could not choose but read these other words directly against you That now also Myracles are wrought in his Name eyther by his Sacraments or by the prayers and memories of his Saints togeather with the relation of many Myracles done in his owne tyme and of those in particuler wrought by the Reliques of S. Stephen which though not necessary after the World had once belieued as S. Austen there disputeth yet God in his mercy hath euer shewed them in all Ages as well to confound the obstinate that would not belieue the visible vniuersall Church as also to confirme those in their Fayth that already belieued In this place therefore you haue plainely falsified the sense of the Author eyther very fraudulently or very ignorantly choose you whether Section VI. Merits of VVorkes defended according to the Doctrine of the Fathers and Syr Humphry answered IN the next place against the Merit of Workes you obiect many places of the Fathers but none to the purpose You know full well that the Catholikes distinguish betweene works that goe before Faith workes that follow Workes going before Faith and proceeding only from the light of Nature or from the knowledge of the law of Moyses called therefore by S. Paul Rom. 3. The workes of the Law your Aduersaries doe all hold neyther to saue nor to be needfull to saluatio according whereunto S. Paule also saith That a Man is iustified by Faith without the workes of the Law But that workes following a liuely Faith formed with Charity and proceeding from it doe iustifie and are needfull to saluation your Aduersary proueth not only by expresse Scripture Iames cap. 2. Yee see then how that of workes a man is iustified and not of Faith only But also by the lyke Testimonies of all the holy Fathers noting and condemning the contrary opinion of the Protestants as hereticall in Symon Magus in the Gnostickes and in Eunomius as hath beene shewed And further he alleadgeth S. Aug. de fide oper cap. 14. testifiyng of the Apostles themselues that because this opinion of Faith only sprung vp in those dayes by peruerting the words of S. Paules Epistle before related the Epistles of S. Peter S. Iohn S. Iames and S. Iude were principally written vt vehementer astruant vehemently to vrge and contest that Fayth without workes doth profit nothing Agaynst all which manifest proofes you bring only some Authorityes of the Fathers shewing that our owne workes and righteousnes as Basil hom de Humil. or workes of the Law going before Fayth as S. Chrysos with S. Paul Hom. 7. in 3. ad Rom. and before Sinne pardoned as S. Ambrose and forgiuen as Theodoret comment 2. S. Bernard in Cant. Ser. 22. doe not iustifie but only Fayth without them which is nothing to the purpose because therein your Aduersary agreeth with you But you bring not a word to proue that workes following Faith doe not iustify nor are needfull to Saluation which opinion of yours your Aduersary hath shewed to haue beene often tymes condemned by the Apostles themselues by the Auncient Fathers in other Heretikes that haue gone before you Section VII Free-will defended and Syr Humphry answered IN the Controuersy of Free-will you seeme first to suppose your Aduersaries belieue that Man hath Free-will to performe supernaturall actes and workes of Pietie without Grace and then you proceed to dispute against them How can you imagine they are so absurd as to thinke by the power of Nature alone to doe that which they thēseues confesse to be aboue the power of Nature wherin there appeareth not only a great deale of passion in you which hanges lyke to a Cloud betweene the Eye of your minde and the light of truth but also as it seemeth great want of conscience For you know they hold that without grace it is impossible eyther to belieue or to do any other acte which may auayle or so much as dispose to Saluation This also you know to be the Doctrine of Bellarmine euery where in that whole Booke out of which you seeme to cite his words in a contrary sense and the words that immediatly follow in the very place you cite do plainely shew that against your Cōscience you falsify his meaning His words are these A Man before all grace hath Free-will not only to naturall and morall workes but also to workes of piety and supernaturall as you faythfully cite them but then it followeth Thus S. Augustine teacheth l. de Spiritu litera cap. 33. where he sayth That Free-will is a naturall and middle power which may be inclined to fayth and infidelity Thus Bellarmine whereby it is manifest his meaning to be that by Grace Free-will is not made or giuen vnto vs but that we haue the power thereof by Nature which afterward by Grace is inclyned and strengthned to doe those things which by the force of Nature without Grace we are not able so much as to will or to thinke much lesse to performe or perfect according whereunto in the same place he citeth also S. August de Praedest Sanctorum cap. 5. teaching that the Posse or power to haue Fayth and Charity is in man by Nature And in the same Booke cap. 11. he alleageth S. Augustine againe Epist 49. quaest 2. to the same purpose saying Free-will is not taken away because it is holpen by Grace but because it is holpen therefore it is not taken away If it be giuen by Nature and not taken away by Grace most certaine it is that still we haue it In this sense therefore your Aduersaries not only affirming that we haue Freewill by Nature but also teaching that it is so excited and strengthned by Grace as we cannot so much as thinke much lesse accomplish or performe any supernaturall acte without it they would easily graunt with S. Basil con de Hum. that we owe all euen that we liue to the Grace and gift of God but that you falsely translate it They graunt with S. Bernard de Gratia lib. Arbit That to will Good is a gift of Grace And with S. Augustine That it is God who maketh that we worke by adding to our will most efficacious strength That vnlesse he make vs willing and then worke with vs we shall neuer bring to passe any good worke And againe with S. Augustine de correp grat cap. 1. That though we haue Free-will to doe good yet none can be free in will and acte to do it that is to say perfectly or in actu secundo as the Scholmen speake vnlesse he be freed by the grace of God And againe That all is to be giuen to God not the first part vnto our selues the rest vnto God as the Pelagians
breath being restored againe vnto him which you had thought to steale and smother that he plainely confesseth the Bread and Wine to be Flesh and Blood and that the Nature of the one being changed into the Nature of the other they are both reduced into one Essence which is the same Doctrine that your Aduersary professeth and maintayneth against you Your Aduersaries affirme the Bread to be made a Sacrament and the Body of Christ by the words of Consecration for the which cause they not only adore it before they receaue it but also they haue euer held that it might be lawfully giuen to Infants and that which remaines thereof they are wonte to reserue to be giuen afterward to the sicke or to others that come to receaue as occasiō requireth You Protestāts affirme on the other side that it becōmeth a Sacrament and a Seale of the Body of Christ vnto you without any change in the thing by the liuely Faith of the Receauers and consequently you giue it not to Infants because they cannot receaue it with that Faith which makes it a Sacrament and that also which remaineth thereof after the whole Action you take to be no better then common Bread and soe you vse it As custome is the best interpreter of the law so the practise of the Church is the best interpreter of her owne Doctrine Wherefore to know what S. Cypriā with the Church of God in the secōd Age after Christ belieued at that tyme concerning this point of the B. Sacrament there can be no surer way then to examine what is practized in communicating the same to Infants and in reseruing of it to be taken as need required Which S. Cyprian in his sermon De Lapsis his owne vndoubted worke hath not obscurely recorded for he relateth Teste meipso sacrificantibus nobis my selfe being witnes and we our selues offering sacrifice that an Infant hauing beene fedde with a sopp of wine before an Idoll and being afterward brought to Church was much tormented during the tyme of the Sacrifice and when it 's turne came to receaue it resisted so vehemently that the Deacon was faine perforce to open it's mouth and to power in somewhat of the Sacrament that was in the Chalice but sayth S. Cypriā The drinke sanctified into the Bloud of Christ brake out of her polluted bowels c. In which Sermon he likewise testifieth That a certaine Woman when she would with vnworthy hands haue opened her coffer wherein was reserued the Holy Thing of our Lord there sprung vp fire from thence wherewith she was so terrified that she durst not touch it And That another defiled Person presuming to receaue with others could not eate nor touch the Holy Thing of God for in his opened hands insteed thereof he found Ashes By Document whereof sayth S. Cyprian it is shewed that the Lord doth depart when he is denyed By which Documents of reseruing the Eucharist and giuing it to Infants they who will not be obstinate may also learne out of S. Cyprian that the Eucharist after the words of Consecration was belieued to be really the Body of Christ and not figuratiuely by Fayth only to him that doth worthily so receaue it Wherefore to conclude this Dispute concerning the Testimony of S. Cyprian for Transubstantiation and Reall Presence as it was false that your Doctors claymed him in the former Conferēce so being plaine agaynst them in this point besides many other of no lesse importance it was fondly done of you to say they claymed him Section IX S. Augustine falsly alleadged by Syr Humphry against the Reall Presence FYnally against the Reall Presence you obiect other places of the Fathers affirming the Sacrament to be a figure of Christs body which your Aduersaries deny not For they define all Sacramēts to be signes and figures according whereunto they also holde that as the Sacrament of the Eucharist is a figure in respect of the Shape or externall accidents therof so it is the Body of Christ in respect of the thing contained in them But now that the Eucharist is only a figure or that it is not the Body of Christ which you should haue proued against them or els you proue nothing none of the places alleaged by you do shew neyther is it possible in all the Fathers to find so much as one place that doth sufficiently proue it While they in the meane tyme besides many most expresse Scriptures Matt. 26. Marc. 14. Luc. 22. Ioan. 6. 1. Cor. 11. confuting also your principall obeiction that the Body of Christ cannot be in two places Act. 9.5.22.8.23.11 1. Cor. 15.8 They I say on the other side produce so many superabūdant Authorities from the Fathers Councells in all Ages conuincing the holy Eucharist to be the Body of Christ that I must needs say they haue discouered more bouldnes if not impudency thē learning or conscience who eyther in bookes or in Pulpits haue pretended to shew that the Fathers in this point are plainely against them To make this appeare it may suffice at this tyme briefely to set down the beliefe only of those Fathers in particuler which your selfe in your papers haue produced for you Tertullian S. Austen S. Ambrose S. Hierome and Gelasius shewing how euidently they teach the cōtrary Doctrine aswell in their writing elswhere as in those very places which your selfe haue cited First therefore let vs begin with Saint Augustine who in his Workes making often mention of the Sacrament giueth vs these particulers of his Doctrine therein That before the words of Consecration that which was offered is called Bread but after the words of Christ haue beene pronounced now it is not called Bread but it is called the Body Serm. 28. de verb. Domini That if Children had neuer seene the likenes of those thinges but only when it is offered and giuen in the Celebration of the Sacrament and that it should be tould vnto them with most graue Authority whose Body and Bloud it is they would belieue nothing els but that our Lord had neuer appeared to the eyes of Men saue only in that likenes lib. ◠de Trin. cap. 10. That Childrē were wont to receaue it apud Bedā in 1. Cor. 10. Who haue not the mouth of Faith to receaue it That it pleased the Holy Ghost was vniuersally obserued that our Lords body enter into the mouth of a Christiā before other meates in the honor of so great a Sacrament Epist 118. cap. 6. which must needes be meant of the mouth of the Body That we receaue with our hart and mouth the Mediator of God and Man Iesus Christ Man giuing vs his Flesh to be eaten and his Bloud to be drunke although it seeme more horrible to eate Mans flesh then to kill it and to drinke Mans bloud then to spill it lib. 2. cont Aduersaer legi◠Prophet That we doe not eate dead flesh dilaniated and cut in peeces as the Capharnaites vnderstood it for this
and Bloud of our Sauiour Section XII Tertullian and Gelasius falsly alleaged by Syr Humphry agaynst the Reall Presence And S. Ignatius absurdly claymed by the Protestant Doctours THere remayneth behinde of the Authors you alleage Tertullian and Gelasius Tertullian is cleare for them who in his Booke De resurrectione caruis to proue that our flesh shall ryse agayne and be saued vseth these words that follow The flesh is washed that the Soule may be clensed The flesh is annointed that the Souls may be consecrated The flesh is fed with the Body and Bloud of Christ that the Soule may be fatned Though the Soule may feed on Christ by the metaphoricall mouth of Fayth yet the flesh hath no such mouth to feede vpon him and if it had being only fed metaphorically therewith nothing would follow thereof but that it might rise and be saued only metaphorically and so Tertullian should haue proued that which he there impugned In fine as the flesh is heere sayd to be truly washed and annointed so also it must be vnderstood to be truly fed and not to be fed by fayth only or in figure Which Argument to proue the Resurrection Tertullian seemeth to haue learned of Irenaeus lib. 4. cont Haer. cap. 34. whome also he calleth Omnium Doctrinarum cariosisimâ—m Exploratorem lib. cont Valent. prope initium And therfore because the Doctrine of Irenaeus in that place doth serue very well to confirme both the doctrine of Tertullian and the Reall Presence heere in question I will giue you his whole discourse Quomodo constabit ijs c. sayth he of the Heretiks against whome he wrote How can they assure themselues the Bread wherein thankes are giuen to be the body of their Lord and the Cup to be the Cup of his bloud if they do not confesse him to be the Sonne of him that made the world And how againe doe they say that that flesh must go into corruption and not receaue life which is nourished by the body and bloud of our Lord Therefore eyther let them change their opinion or let them cease to offer the things aforesayd But our Dictrine agreeth with the Eucharist and the Eucharist againe confirmeth our Doctrine for we offer therin vnto him those things that are his because being the Sonne of God he maketh theÌ„ by his omnipotency his owne Body his owne Bloud and consequently we teach the communication and vnity of his Flesh and of his Spirit with vs our flesh being fed with his Body and Bloud and receauing thereby his Spirit to liue for euer For as the bread which commeth from the Earth receauing the vocation or word of God is now no more common bread but the Eucharist consisting of two things the one earthly comming from the earth and the other Heauenly the Body and Bloud of the Sonne of God so also our bodies receauing the Eucharist by the communication and vnitie of his flesh with ours are no more corruptible hauing now the hope of Resurrection So that according to these auncient Fathers as we belieue our Sauiour to be the Sonne of God so must we belieue the Eucharist to be his Body and Bloud And as we belieue the Resurrection of the Flesh so must we belieue that our flesh is fed with the flesh of Christ And eyther you must change your opinion or els as now you haue ceased to offer these things and to feed your flesh with the body and bloud of Christ so you are also in danger to change your beliefe as well of the Diuinity of Christ as also of the Resurrection of your owne bodyes But it may be the place which your selfe haue cited lib. 4. cont Marcionem out of the same Author is no lesse with you theÌ„ was the former agaynst you his words are these Professing therefore that with a desire he desired to eate the Pasche as his own for it was not seemly that God should desire to eate the Pasche of another hauing taken the Bread c. he made it his owne body saying This is my body that is the figure of my body But the figure had not beene vnlesse there were a true body Whereof citing imperfectly but halfe the Sentence This is my body This is the figure of my body and changing that into this to make it sound more fully for you you guilefully omit the other halfe The bread which he tooke he made his body saying This is my body which are euidently against you The words also which you cite wherein the Author seemeth to say This is my body that is to say this is the figure of my body and no more your Aduersaries do clearly shew to haue another meaning First because otherwise he should not only teach that which is directly contrary to his former Doctrine in the place before alleaged but also should contradict himselfe in this very sentence for according to our expositioÌ„ he should not haue sayd that Christ tooke bread made it his body which is false if it be only a figure of his body but that he tooke bread and made it the figure of his body saying This is my body that is to say the figure of my body and consequently in the words that follow he should haue sayd But it were not a figure vnlesse there were a true body and not as he doth but there had not beene a figure if there were not a true body For if the figure and the body were both at the same tyme why should he say of the one that it had beene and of the other that it was Secondly your Aduersaries therefore do say the meaning of those words This is my body that is the figure of my body to be This is my body that is the figure of my body in the law now by me fullfilled Or This is my body that is to say this is the bread which was a figure in the Law signifying my body and is now fullfilled by me hauing relatioÌ„ to the words of the Prophet Ieremy which a little after he citeth and expoundeth and sheweth to haue beene then fullfilled by our Sauiour As in the like sense S. Iohn Baptist for example when he saw our Sauiour might haue sayd This is the Messias that is to say The Lambe of God which was the figure of the Messias in the Law to signify that the Prophecy of the Lambe of God in Isa 16. was then fullfilled in our Sauiour Therfore that Tertullian meant to say This is my Body that is to say the figure of my Body now fullfilled c. your Aduersaries doe plainely proue First because it is euident that Tertullian in this place intended to shew how our Sauiour in his Pasche fullfilled the law against Marcion who being an Enemy of the Old Testament contended that our Sauiour came to dissolue it and Tertullian argueth against him in this maÌ„ner The Bread of Christ in the law did signifie the Body of Christ which he proueth out of Ieremie 11. saying