from the Head the Pope as the Successor of Peter and not the Pope from the Church Your Article of beleeuing The Catholike Church of Rome c. consisteth of many other Articles and ioynts which ought to bee obserued because euery one containeth in it according to your Faith a Necessity of Beleefe As 1. The Necessity of Beleeuing that there ought to bee An Vniuersall Iudge vpon earth as the distinct Vicar of Christ 2. The Necessity of Beleeuing that this Iudge ought to be but One Alone because Two Heads vpon One Body would make it Monstrous 3. The Necessity of Beleeuing that this One Head is Aboue a Councell and you may haue as good Reason for that if as you fondly conclude there be the same Reason of the Ecclesiasticall Body as there is of the Naturall because it is Necessary that the Head be predominant ouer the Body 4. The Necessity of Beleeuing that this predominant Head must be Romane so farre as to hold that by virtue of this Head Not onely the Romane Church taken at large but euen the Partiâ—ular Romane Church as it is in the City of Rome ouer-ruleth throughout the world 5. The Necessity of Beleeuing that this Romane Head must bee Visible because it is the Head of a Visible Church 6. The Necessity of Beleeuing this Visible Head to be so Visible in one Indiuidual person that It is as necessary for euery one to beleeue THIS man as if you should say This Clement or this Vrban to be the Head as it was necessary for the Iewes to beleeue THIS IESVS when he was reuealed vnto them because if there be not infallible beleefe of his person there can be no certainty in his Decrees And therefore it is requisite that you beleeue This man to bee the true Head with an infallible Faith 7. The Necessity of Beleeuing the Iudgement of this Visible Head to bee Infalliby true 8. The Necessity of Beleeuing that the Vnion of this Infallibly-true Head and the Body thereof as also the Vnion of the Members one with another are A true and proper note of the true and Catholike Church That so many Necessities of Beeleefe doe inforce as many Necessities oâ— Damnation partly vpon your pretended Head partly vpon your Body and Members thereof All that can bee said to this purpose may bee reduced to these Obseruations concerning the Head and Body and Members of your Church viz. as it may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Body without an Head or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as hauing a False Head or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with Multitudes of Heads or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 One Head repugnant vnto the whole Body or to the Essentiall Members thereof or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doubtfully Headed I. The Church of Rome sometimes a Body Head-lesse SECT 13. THis happeneth as often and as long as there is a Vacancy in that See by reason of the death of the former Pope which hath beene often for One or Two and sometimes for Eight yeeres space Where then is your Tibi dabo claues what becommeth of the Keyes of your Romane Catholike Church These saith your Cardinall the Pope being dead continue not formally in the Church will you see a iugler except as they are committed vnto the Inferior Ministers but are in the hands of Christ and after that a new Pope is Chosen the Keyes are deliuered vnto him not by the Church but by the hands of Christ. CHALLENGE 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O the Depth of Delusion Doe then indeed Saint Peters Keyes flie into heauen at the death of euery Pope If so we demand what you vnderstand by those Keys which were promised by Christ to Peter Mat. 16. saying To thee will I giue the Keyes of the Kingdome of heauen Keyes in this place saith hee signifie principalitie of Ecclesiasticall power ouer all the Church and not remission of sinnes because Christ addeth saying Whatsoeuer thou bindest vpon earth c. Where by Binding is ment power of Praecept and of punishment by Excommunication So hee What power then is that which remaineth formally in the Inferior Ministers of the Church at the death of the Pope if it be the Keyes of Principality then is euery Inferior Priest a Pope if it be the Keyes onely of Order and Absolution then shall it not be lawfull for any Bishop to exercise any power of Iurisdiction by Praecept or punishing by Excommunication during all the time of the Vacancie be this for the space of Two Three Foure or as it is said to haue hapned Eight yeares together You will easily guesse what it was that drew your Answerer into this most vncouth and extreme corner wherein neuer any ancient Father before him set so much as the least print of his shooe for your owne Binius will tell you a story to some good purpose In the Interregnum or Vacancy betweene the death of Pope Agapetus and his Successor was celebrated saith he the Councell of Constantinople wherein there were present Two Legates of the Church of Rome together with Menna the Bishop of Constantinople and Vicar of meaning Romane the Apostolicall See So he Heere you see the Pope is dead notwithstanding you obserue a Generall Councell gathered which is an act that you haue called Proper to the Papall Primacy and Principality and in Councells are commonly Acts both of Generall Decrees and Precepts as also of punishments by Excommunication in the name of the Catholike Church Besides you may behold heere Legates yet not of the dead Pope but of the Romane Church liuing If then your Article take place in that sense as to denie any Formall power of Keys vnto Inferior Bishops then is heereby condemned the whole Romane Church not onely ancient in the Councell of Constantinople but also at all times of Interim betweene the death of one Pope and Election of another whensoeuer they execute any Act of Iurisdiction Answer then we pray you doe you vpon this conceit of Bellarmine iudge all these condemned then may and must we most iustly renounce your Article as execrable Or doe you beleeue that in the Church there remaineth Formally the power of the Keyes for the execution of all functions belonging to the necessary preseruation of the Church and Members thereof then must it follow which your Cardinall fore-saw right well that the Pope receiueth his Authority from the Church and not immediately from Christ and that therefore the Church hath no absolute necessity of a Pope And so may you bury your Article of Necessary Obedience to the Papall Monarchy in the graue of euery dead Pope and instead of that Article you may frame another De Anferibilitate Papae ab Ecclesiâ out of Gersons Instructions which may serue you for a Catechisme Because if the Church may consist sufficiently in that which you call her Widow-hood destitute of her Monarchical Head for Six or Eight yeeres why
said Article viz. The Catholike Church As if Romane Church and Catholike Church were vniuocall and conuertible tearmes equally betokening one and the same Vniuersall Church That the Addition of the word ROMANE vnto the Article of the Catholike Church is no true Exposition and Declaration but a notorious Alteration and deprauation thereof proued by diuers Arguments The first Argument in respect of the Church Triumphant SECT 4. CHurch Catholike or Vniuersall as it is prescribed in the Apostles Creed is a comprehension of all the members of the mysticall bodie of Christ which is his Church Now in your Romane Catechisme authorized both by the Decree of your Councell of Trent and the Bull of Pius then Pope there are acknowledged Two parts of the Catholike Church the one called Triumphant in heauen the other Militant here on earth Accordingly S. Augustine The whole Church of Christ saith he is here vnderstood to be not onely that part which is in pilgrimage here vpon earth but that part also which is in heauen Which sence of this Article is grounded vpon diuine foundation where it is written Christ loued his Church that he might present it to himselfe a glorious Church without spot or wrinckle Where by the word CHVRCH to vnderstand onely the Church militant was the heresie of the Pelagians who peruerting the meaning of this text concluded that the Church of Christ here vpon earth doth consist of them that are Perfect in this state of mortalitie that is of such who in this mortall life are not tainted with sinne To whom S. Augustine as you know replied As though saith he the Church of Christ throughout the world doth not pray and crie Forgiue vs our sinnes Therefore must this Text be vnderstood of the Triumphant part of the Church whether alone as Saint Augustine you know and Saint Hierom haue expounded it or iointly with the Militant according to the interpretation of the profoundest Doctors in your Romane schooles saying that The Catholike Church is indeed without spot or wrinkle within the Militant part thereof by grace and in the part Triumphant by glorie So vndoubted a truth it is that the Article of Catholike Church as it is prescribed in the Apostles Creed doth comprize as well the Triumphant as the Militant part thereof CHALLENGE THat then which comprehendeth not as well the Triumphant as the Militant part of the Church cannot be a Declaration of the Catholike Church as it is contained in the Apostles Creed because no one part can expresse the whole But in the Romish Article viz. The Catholike Romane Church without subiection whereunto there is no saluation the word ROMANE vtterly excludeth the part Triumphant Therefore it cannot possibly be a Declaration or exposition of the word Catholike as it is vnderstood in the Apostles Creed except some of you shall be so blasphemous as to subiect Saints which are the members Triumphant and Conquerors now in blisse to the members Militant and mortall here below Saint Peter to your Pope and heauen vnto earth Wherefore euery Christian man who doth as seriously studie the Celestiall spheare of the Saints in heauen as others do the Terrestriall globe of this corruptible earth must call in this your Article The Catholike Romane Church the word ROMANE a false deprauation of the Article of our Apostolicall Creed From the Triumphant part of the Catholike Church we descend to the Militant The second Argument to prooue that the Addition of the word ROMANE cannot be any Declaration but rather a Deprauation of the Article in our Creed in respect of the Church Militant SECT 5. A Double consideration is to be had of the Catholike Church Militant one in respect of her essentiall estate as she is said to haue being the other in respect of her accidentall estate as she is said to be outwardly Visible be it in more or lesse degree of Visibilitie In the first respect when Protestants say that the Catholike Church doth essentially consist onely of persons regenerate in this life and predestinate to life euerlasting They do not as they are by Some slandered to do make two Churches but one Church in a different habitude relation and consideration For as Christ when he was on earth although he commonly appeared euidently visible vnto men yet sometimes he is said after a sort to haue vanished inuisibly out of mens sights notwithstanding in that his Inuisibilitie was he still the same Christ because vsuall Visibilitie and Inuisibilitie are but outward accidents so Christ his mysticall bodie which is his Church being considered in her Essentiall estate is Inuisible and the obiect of Faith and not of Sense According to which Consideration we affirme this Article in the Apostles Creed I beleeue the Catholike Church to be more peculiarly vnderstood And this we prooue first by the nature of Faith it selfe which as the Apostle hath defined it Is the demonstration of things not seene Next by the whole tenor of the Apostles Creed wherein the obiect of euery Article of that Symbol from beleefe in God vnto beleefe of life euerlasting is vnto vs inuisible and so farre as it is beleeued is without compasse of Sense as may be obserued in the faith of Thomas the Apostle to whom albeit Christ said Thomas because thou hast seene mee thou hast beleeued yet the sense of Thomas saw onely the Visible humanitie of Christ but his faith which was his soules sight beheld Christs God-head So that Thomas could no more properly be said to haue beleeued that which hee saw than to haue seene that which hee beleeued Lastly diuine Scripture in positiue doctrine doth manifest thus much as namely to omit many others in that speech of Christ to Saint Peter Mat. 16.19 Vpon this Rocke will I build my Church and the gates of hell shall not preuaile against it Where the word CHVRCH by the iudgement of Saint Augustine and the accordance of your owne Doctors doth signifie Onely the number of Predestinate And good reason because the godlesse and gracelesse are so farre from being the true members of the Church against which the gates of hell shall not preuaile that those Infernall gates stand continually wide open as being desirous and iustly appointed to deuoure them The same may be said of the Church as it is called the flocke of Christ Iohn 10. My sheepe heare my voice where by Sheepe are onely ment The sanctified elect of God as the testimonies of your owne Iesuites the iudgement of Saint Augustine and Saint Chrysostome doe confirme A third Scripture we finde Rom. 8.9 where the Apostle saith Hee that hath not the spirit of Christ the same is not his Which sheweth that none is truely a Christian but as hee is regenerated by â—he Spirit of Christ. And so your Diuines as well Iesuites as others both ancient and moderne haue determined that All that are not sanctified with the holy Spirit of Christ although outwardly neuer
Churches Councels and Fathers SECT 1. AFter our Proofe that the now Romane Article The Catholike Romane Church without Vnion and Subiection whereunto there is no Saluation is New Imposterous Scandalous c. taken from the tenor and sence of the Apostolicall Article The Catholike Church expressed in our Catholike Creed We proceed to confirme our former Proofe by like euidence from currant Examples taken from the Catholike Church it selfe And for our more expedite Method passage herein We shall proportion our Treatise according to three Distinctions of Tyme the Tyme before the Tyme when and the Tyme after that the Church of Rome had her first foundation and being I. Of the Time before the Church of Rome was founded First setting downe the Romane Article intituling the Church of Rome The Mother Church SECT 2. WEE need not tell you that it is an Article in your Church to beleeue that the Church of Rome is The Mother and Mistris Church of all other Churches where by Mother you vnderstand her ancient Prerogatiue of spirituall Generation and by Mistris her Iurisdiction and Supreme Authority of directing all other Churches as Members of the Church Catholike seeing that the Fathers of the Councell of Trent in their Canons and Decrees haue fiue times published the same Article in expresse words calling her The Common Mother on earth which cannot forget whom shee hath begotten As if all the Faithfull on earth were her ofspring Instantly vpon this Decree of the Councell the Father of all these Trent-Fathers Pope Pius the 4. for Confirmation of that Councell enioyned euery Ecclesiasticke to professe among other points the same Romane Article vpon Oath thus I N. sweare that I acknowledge the Church of Rome to be the Mother and Mistris of all other Churches without which faith none can be saued So then this Article is become as Catholike among you as is your Church Which opinion of her Vniuersal Motherhood hath beene the greatest fascination and witcherie that of long time hath blinded the eyes of most of her Professors and which we shall prooue to bee no better than a False and Imposterous inchantment voide of all light of truth and repugnant vnto the confessed Examples of illustrious Churches more ancient than her selfe The first Confutation of that Article of Romane Mother-hood is taken from the rottennesse of the Foundation thereof SECT 3. IF there bee any sound ground of truth in the Article viz. that The Church of Rome is Mother of all other Churches sure we are that your two Cardinals for learning and deuotion towards that Church most Eminent viz. Baronius and Bellarmine will be most able and willing to expresse it especially where they professedly determine the very point Baronius teaching that Saint Peter being constituted by Christ the ordinary Pastor of the whole Church did fixe his seate at Rome doth thereupon resolue saying Hence it is that the Romane Church is called the Mother-Church of all others And lest any might deny this Consequence as being that which it is indeed fond and absurd Bellarmine addeth the reason thereof The Church of Rome saith he could not be called the Mother-Church except that all the Apostles had had their ordination of Pastorship from Saint Peter And for proofe heereof the Cardinall referreth vs to the Epistles of Pope Anacletus witnessing that The order of Priesthood had its ' beginning from Peter So he whereas notwithstanding Sacerdotall Order doth but coniecturally inferre the Episcopall Howsoeuer these testimonies from the Epistles of Anacletus which your Cardinall Cusanus beleeueth to be Apocryphall and vnworthy of beleefe Two of your most priuileged Iesuites Azorius and Suarez denie That the other Apostles receiued their Episcopall Ordination from Saint Peter Which they maintaine vpon better grounds than the Counterfeit Epistles of a Pope can be euen vpon the Oracles of God's Word where it appeareth say they that Matthias had his Ordination to the Bishopprick which Iudas lost not by the hands of Peter but by lott immediately from God and Saint Paul his not by Saint Peter but by a voice from heauen euen immediately from Christ. They adde other Reasons in the end adioyne the Consent of S. Augustine of many other Diuines Yet were it admitted that Peter as ordinarie Pastor of the Catholike Church had ordained other Apostles Byshops and by their Ministry begotten those innumerable Churches which the same Apostles as you Confesse constituted seauen yeeres before the Church of Rome was erected yet were it a mad point of Genealogizing to conclude that Rome must be Mother to those daughters of Saint Peter which were begotten seauen yeeres before shee was borne whereas shee could be to them but a Sister at the most and that but a younger Sister too CHALLENGE GIue vs leaue to dispute from your owne Confessions thus If all the other Apostles were not ordained Byshops by Saint Peter there can be no apparent reason why the Church of Rome should be called the Mother-Church Thus Bellarmine But all the other Apostles were not ordained Byshops by Saint Peter Thus your Iesuites out of direct Scriptures accompanied with the Consent of Saint Augustine and many other Diuines Ergo there is not sufficient ground to cal the Church of Rome the Mother of al other Churches Twice miserable therefore is the state of your Priests both because they are tied periuriously to sweare That to be an Article of Faith which is a manifest false-hood as also for that they and all that Sect being entangled in this error of beleeuing the Romane Church to be the Mother of all other Churches are thereby consequently entangled in all other her errors and Idolatries The second Confutation of the same Article ariseth from the Respect of many illustrious Mother-Churches more ancient than Rome SECT 4. WE furthermore endeauour to impugne your former infatuation in beleeuing the Vniuersall Mother-hood of the Church of Rome by the faith of Fathers of Primitiue times farre more Reuerend for antiquity and more credible for impartiality than were your Fathers or rather Step-Fathers of Trent Not but that we as willingly as worthily doe acknowledge the Ancient Church of Rome to haue beene in former times an happie Mother of many renouned Christian Churches in the world and we accordingly blesse the wombe of that sincere Faith and Piety which then brought forth so innumerable an of-spring of so many holy Professors which notwithstanding shee might content her selfe to haue deserued the Title of a Mother-Church as other ancient Churches were and not of THE MOTHER-CHVRCH OF ALL OTHERS For we are verily perswaded that no reasonable man can allowe any childe so to honour his Mother as that he must necessarily thereby disparage all others his honourable Progenitresses and that we may so speake his owne Grand-mother and Great-grand-mother together with others of his kindred more ancient than Shee Such was the state of the Church of Rome in
That which we now contend for in the Popes of Rome may be cleared by an example of him that is called Emperour of Rome who because hee hath neither a foot of possession in Rome nor in the Territories thereof nor yet any professed Subiect inhabiting therein but the whole Princedome is belonging to the Pope your owne Diuines hold it a kinde of Soloecisme to name any at this day The Romane Emperour Therefore to alleadge a few of many that may be produced Lyra The Empire of Rome saith he hath for a long time beene without an Emperour Faber What obedience I pray you saith he doth Rome yeeld to her Monarch meaning the Emperour So to Now saith he is that temporall Dominion of the Citie of Rome ceased and your Iesuite Salmeron The Romane Emperour saith hee was ouerthrowne long agoe II. CHALLENGE THe Romish Babylon then by the Reuelation of Saint Iohn is that Citie of Rome whose place and people must be destroyed No people can be called Romane without they haue relation to Rome nor any people called The Church of Rome except they be Professors of the faith in Rome Therefore Saint Iohn prophecying of these things could not but beleeue that before the end of the world that Church which is now called The Church of Rome shall depart from the faith euen because this Departure must be from the sincere doctrine and worship of God vnto errour and Idolatrie Oh! that this were not at this day a iust Cause to challenge euery one to Come out of Babylon Both which we shall be ready in due time to proue by as true grounds as any haue hitherto beene deliuered That Saint Iohn's faith did not conceiue the now pretended Monarchie of the Pope aboue all other Bishops and Pastors in the Catholike Church SECT 16. WHat that Papall Monarchie is in your faith and how it is deriued we haue heard namely that because Saint Peter was the Vicar of Christ vpon earth as his ordinary Pastor ouer all the other Apostles therefore the Successors of Saint Peter in the same See are of the same authoritie and Iurisdiction ouer the whole Church of Christ and euery member thereof Hence issueth the Article of your now Romane faith that Without obedience and subiection to the Pope as the Catholike Bishop of the Catholike Church None can be saued The meditation vpon this Article begetteth a Probleme viz. whether Saint Iohn the Euangelist who liued 20. yeares after Saint Peter were indeede subordinate and subiect to the Iurisdiction of Linus or Cletus the immediate Successours of Saint Peter Either Saint Iohn was subiect to the Pope or he was not What say you It seemeth vnto mee saith your Iesuite that the Apostles who suruiued Peter were subiect to the Pope because the power of the Pope was alwayes ordinary and to continue in the Church Haue you any ground for this I cannot remember saith hee that I haue read in any Author any thing of this point So he CHALLENGE SAint Paul as hath beene proued reckoned these Three Peter Iames and Iohn equally Columnas that is The Pillars and as it were equally the three Chiefe Worthies among the Disciples who concerning the offices of their Apostleship receiued from Christ as your Cardinall Cusanus hath taught you Euery way an equall charge And without Controuersie the faith of Iohn and Paul was both the same Is it then possible for a Christian man to thinke that Iohn being that Apostle who was immediately chosen by Christ and equall to Peter should thinke himselfe subiect to Linus the Successour of Peter that he who for his sublimitie of knowledge in the mysteries of Christ was called The Diuine who was made the Pen-man of the holy Ghost in writing the Gospell and one for whose infallibility in the truth Christ offered vp praiers to his Father ought hee now to submit his iudgement vnto Linus one of the line of those Popes whereof Some haue beene by Generall Councels and by Popes themselues iudged for Heretikes And againe that Iohn who at the time of the Supper of our Lord leaned vpon the brest of our Sauiour when Peter you know was but next after Iohn should now prostrate himselfe before Linus the Successor of Peter and if this Ceremonie had beene so old to doe him the honour as to Kisse his feet And not this onely but to beleeue this Article of due Subiection to the Pope Without which none can be saued which indeede is more than to Kisse the feet or to licke the dust of the feet of Saint Peter's Successor Sure we are that the Disciples of Saint Iohn to wit the Christians of the Easterne Church were not of your beliefe who to adhere to the orders of Saint Iohn refused to obserue the Easter of the Latine Church which they would not haue done if they had beleeued Saint Iohn to haue beene subiect to those Romane Bishops or yet to Peter himselfe Before we can conclude you are to be exhorted to obserue the Iesuiticall front of Suarez who in a matter of this nature concerning Saluation durst make this Conclusion of the Apostles Subiection and subordination vnder a Pope namely as you haue heard him confesse without any Author besides himselfe Whereby you may discerne with what vntempered morter these men daube vp the Consciences of their Followers CHAP. V. That the Catholike and Apostolike Church of Christ it selfe at or about the Time of the foundation of the Church of Rome had no such Article of faith viz. The Catholike Romane Church without vnion wherewith there is no Saluation SECT 1. THe Churches vnto which Saint Paul writ for we name not the Romanes of whom wee haue intreated before were the Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Philippians Thessalonians and the dispersed Hebrewes As for the other Apostles Iames Peter Iohn Iude each one writ to Diuers those their Epistles which are intitled Catholike Epistles And the seauen Churches of Asia were they to whom the booke of the Apoealips or Reuelation was directed Among these the Apostles are instant and vrgent in inueying 1 against the Heresies of Iudaisme Saducisme of worshipping Angels 2 Against Apostasie and Antichristianitie 3 Against Diuisions and Schismes in the Church and abuse of Ecclesiasticall Orders therein And yet in all these there appeareth not any one Syllable or Iota to proue your Article of The Catholike Romane Church without vnion and subiection whereunto and to the Head thereof there is no saluation No nor yet so much as to intimate any one of the particles of this Article as first not to signifie that the Church of Rome was a Catholike much lesse THE Catholike Church as being in right which you say The Mother and Mistris of all others Not to note that in the conuincing of Heretikes Christians ought to looke as to their Cynosura to the Faith of the Romane Church nor that for the discouering
and auoiding of Antichrist Christians ought to subiect themselues to the Pope of Rome as the Vicar of Christ. Finally nor yet that for the preuenting of dissentions and Schismes in the Church Christians ought to adhere and to be vnited to the same Monarchicall Head of the same Romane Church All which those holy Apostles the faithfull Embassadours of our Lord Christ without Controuersie ought and would haue done if according to the now Romane Faith either the name CATHOLIKE had bene then Antonomastically to be appropriated to Rome or the Infallibilitie of Faith to be ascribed to the iudgement of her Bishop or that the Necessitie of Vnion and Subiection to the authoritie of the same Head had bene so necessarie as without which no Christian could be saued To begin at the word CATHOLIKE We desire to vnderstand why the Epistles of Iames and Iohn and Iude were called Catholike or Vniuersall as well as the two Epistles of Peter if the word Catholike were so proper to the Romane Chaire Seeing that the Epistle of Saint Iames and so of the rest was no more sent to or from Rome nor had any relation to Peter there than the Epistles of Peter had to Iames at Hierusalem Secondly why Paul was so sole as of himselfe to Anathemize the false Apostles saying If wee or an Angell from heauen preach any other Gospell vnto you let him be accursed or in admonishing the Irresolute saying Behold I Paul tell you and I testifie againe vnto you And that no otherwise than he did in absoluing the penitent Incestuous saying I haue pardoned him in the person of Christ that is to say As the Vicar of Christ as your Rhemists obserue in their Annotations vpon this place If so as you pretend The name of Vicar of Christ be wholly belonging to the Pope as an argument of his Succession from Saint Peter in the Monarchie ouer the whole Church But principally doth Saint Paul shew himselfe in preuenting and repressing of Schismes once among the people whom he will not haue to adhere to any one man no more to Cephas that is Peter than to Paul or Apollos Whereas your Roman Cephas would haue taught Saint Paul a contrarie lesson saying that They who adhere vnto Cephas cannot be called Schismatikes as those who hold of Apollos because Cephas was that ROCKE whereupon the Church was built and such a Visible Head is now as necessary on earth to auoide Schisme as to beleeue on Christ the inuisible Head now glorious in heauen Againe among the Ecclesiasticall Orders twice first to the Corinthians where he alleageth them thus First Apostles then Prophets after Doctors and accordingly to the Ephesians He gaue some Apostles and some Prophets and some Euangelists c. Here wee should haue had good reason to haue expected the mention of Saint Peter as the visible Head among the Apostles if we had bene of your Faith to beleeue that the Pope of Rome as Successor of Saint Peter is the Head of the visible Church and that therefore The vnion with the Bishop of Rome as the Head thereof is a true Note of the Church Whereby it may be infallibly discerned whether or no a Christian man be a member of the Catholike Church without which there is no Saluation Which what were it but to call into question the iudgement of Saint Paul the most profoundest Disputant that euer writ as though he had bene ignorant of the maine and onely Argument for the confuting of Schismatikes and auoyding of Schisme by keeping forsooth the Vnion with the Pope and Church of Rome As for the Seauen Churches in Asia vnto whom Saint Iohn writ concerning the dayes of Antichrist when the great Departure from the sincere Faith of Christ must be herein notwithstanding you could neuer yet find one particle to prooue either the Right of Monarchie in the Pope or Infallibilitie of his iudgement or Necessitie that the Faithfull be Vnited and Subiected vnto him But many Characters may you find at least of an Antichrist as well of his person in the Pope as you haue done of his particular Seate confessing ingenuously that it must be at Rome Saint Peter in his Catholike Epistle To the dispersed Christians in Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia Bithynia exhorting the Presbyters whom he after calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Superintendents or Byshops saith The Elders which are among you I exhort who am also an Elder Feede the flocke of God not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 domineiring ouer Gods heritage that when our chiefe Shepheard shall appeare c. What may be inferred from hence you may vnderstand in the third Challenge I. CHALLENGE NOne will make doubt but that the Churches to whom the Apostles haue written were of the same faith with their Teachers the holy Apostles and that therefore in the point of Heresie it was not more requisite that the Church of Thessalonîca should subscribe to the Faith of the Church of Rome than that the Romanes should be guided by the Faith of the Thessalonians or that in the point of Schisme the Church of Corinth should be compelled to keepe Vnion with the Church Romane more than the Romane with the Colossian or yet that among the Churches to whom the Catholike Epistles of Peter Iude Iohn and Iames were directed some should be thought to owe more Subiection to the Letters of Peter than to the other of Iames or Iohn Else would some Items haue bene giuen out to signifie your pretended respects due to the Romane Church especially euery one of them being required in your Faith vpon Necessitie of saluation All men would wonder for example sake that the Bishops of Italy being al within the Romane Iurisdiction should write letters farre and neare vpon all occasion of Heresie and Schisme to diuerse Churches within the same Romane Dioces and yet neuer make mention nay nor so much as giue intimation of the necessary dependance they haue and ought to acknowledge themselues to haue of the Pope and Sea of Rome II. CHALLENGE IF it had bene as manifestly reuealed by Saint Iohn that England was Prophesied off to be the Seate of Antichrist in the latter times as according to your Iesuites Expositions and Demonstrations he did of Rome in the word Babylon from whence all the faithfull are commanded to depart except they will be Partakers of her plagues sure we are that your Iesuites and Professors would neede no seueritie of Lawes to quit England and to abhorre it especially now when the Controuersie whether Antichrist be alreadie come is so daily and duly debated III. CHALLENGE SAint Peter albeit an Apostle of Iesus Christ yet in the exercise of his Iurisdiction in the ordaining the Bishops of Pontus Cappadocia and other Churches doth intitle himselfe A Fellow-Priest or Bishop a stile not to be found in your Popes Breues For we speake not now of termes of Humiliation as that of SERVVS SERVORVM but of Office and
acknowledged that Gregory by impugning the Title of vniuersall Bishop would haue no Bishop so principall as to make all other members subiect vnto him So he Than which what can bee more apposite in this Cause and opposite vnto the now Romane Profession concerning the Title of Vniuersall Romane Bishop the Foundation of the sence of your owne Article viz. The Catholike Romane Church Yet this is not all but we furthermore auerre that Gregory condemned the Title of Vniuersall Bishop then vsed by the Patriarch of Constantinople in no other sence than it was after the daies of Gregory assumed and vsed by your Romane Popes whereunto such of your owne Historians who are very many beare full witnesse For they record that Pope Boniface the next Successour to Gregorie saue one did obtaine of the Emperour Phocas that Rome should haue the same Title of Head-ship ouer all other Churches which the Bishop of Constantinople had challenged to his See The onely difference will be this that the Head of the Popes vniuersall Iurisdiction vnder that Title as it were vnder a poysoned Miter hath growne farre more loathsome by impostumes and swolne with tyrannie than it could possibly be at the first vsurpation thereof being become no lesse intollerable than was that Emperour Phocas of whom Pope Boniface with much importunity receiued that Title Which Emperour your Cardinall Baronius noteth to haue beene A bloudy Tyrant So then we see that this Title of Vniuersall Bishop was abandoned by Gregory as extremely Impious But some peraduenture would bee willing to know his reason heereof Saint Gregory will satisfie any one that shall bee desirous to vnderstand the mischiefe heereof Because the Vniuersall Church saith hee must needs goe to ruine whensoeuer hee that is the Vniuersall Bishop thereof shall chance to fall VVhich Assertion of Saint Gregory doth brand your Church with Two blacke Notes of Apostasie and Antichristianitie CHALLENGE CAtholike or Vniuersall Church and Vniuersall Bishop of the same Church are in your doctrine as truely Relatiues as Master and Seruant the one cannot be denied without the other Goe too now then blazon your Papall Inscription in the highest stile that you can inuent more than Vniuersall it cannot be and animate it with the perfectest spirit that can be infused into it more absolute none can expect than that which you ascribe vnto your Pope of Rome which is that The Popes iudgement is infallible in defining of any doctrine of faith But why Because say you if he as a publike person and Iudge of the Church should erre by concluding any thing against faith then the vniuersall Church which is bound to follow him should likewise erre So hee This is your Romane Profession which may bee vnto vs a perfect Argument of your Apostasie from the ancient Romane faith maintained in the dayes of Saint Gregorie as thus The now Romane Article is to beleeue that the Pope of Rome is the Vniuersall Bishop of the Church Catholike and therefore cannot erre in any doctrine of faith insomuch that the Church subiect to this Romane Bishop must be accounted the Onely Church on earth without which there is no saluation But the faith of Saint Gregorie contrarily standeth thus Whatsoeuer Bishop he be Romane or other that professeth himselfe the Vniuersall Bishop or Head is subiect to Error Therefore none ought to assent to any such Assumption lest that that one erring the whole Church of Christ should erre with him So then you forsooth see an Infallibility in the vsurpation of that Title as proper to the Pope wherein Saint Gregorie did foresee the baine of an Vniuersall Erring and falling from the faith To conclude Saint Gregorie held the title which betokeneth an Vniuersall Dominion ouer the whole Church to be so direfully pernicious that hee consequently condemned the Vniuersall Subiection vnto one Bishop the now Article of the Romane Church as Pernicious and Antichristian To whom also your Iesuites haue taught you to adde two other Popes Pelagius and Leo who in like manner condemned and disclaimed that Title CHAP. VII Our second Argument against the Article of necessitie of Subiection to the Romane Church and Pope is taken from Comparisons made betweene the Bishop and Church of Rome with other Bishops and Churches by the ancient Fathers SECT 1. AGainst an Article of an vsurped Dominion of one Church ouer all other there can be no better Argument than from the Comparison of other Churches with that one which pretendeth her selfe to be the Mother and Mistris of all the rest Vpon this consideration you haue beene vrged by One who for learning and iudgement in Antiquitie was hardly to be seconded by any He posed you from the testimonies of the writings of Dionysius Areopagita and Ignatius the most ancient of Fathers Where supposing That Dionysius to be as truely that great Areopagita and as worthy an Author as you would haue him to be hee spurreth you a necessary question Why Dionysius was so vtterly silent in not mentioning the Vniuersall visible Head of the Church reigning at Rome if at that time there had beene any such Monarchicall Head there especially seeing hee professedly writ of the Ecclesiasticall Hieâ—archie and gouernment or is it credible and not rather monstrous that hee writing of the mysticall rites of the Church should omit all mention of this chiefe mysterie of one supreame Head and Monarch of the Church at Rome being so pertinently inuited thereunto by that matter subiect which hee had there in hand to wit by the Hierarchie of the Church if this doctrine had beene of faith in that age This saith hee remoueth your friuolous Obiection By the same reason hee obiecteth against you the Epistles of Ignatius the most ancient Martyr and Bishop of Antioch that hee being frequent in setting forth the Order Ecclesiastical and dignitie of Bishops vpon diuers occasions should forbeare all mention of the Monarchie of Saint Peter or any Romane Pope But we returne to our owne Obseruations out of Antiquitie by equall Comparisons of other Bishops with the Bishop of Rome beginning at the same Ignatius 1 He writing to the Church of Trallis and exhorting them vnto obedience to Bishops as to the Apostles instanceth equally in Timothie Saint Paul's Scholler as in Anacletus Successor to Saint Peter 2 Irenaeus liued next to the Apostles times who referreth his Reader for direction in the right of Traditions as well to Polycarpus Bishop of Smyrna in the East as to Linus Bishop of Rome in the West 3 Tertullian to secure Christians in the Doctrine of the Apostles prescribeth vnto them that they consult with the Mother-Churches immediately founded by the Apostles naming aswell Ephesus in Asia and Corinth in Achaia as Rome in Italie And againe for the persons mentioning to the same purpose aswell Polycarpus ordained by Saint Iohn as Clemens by Peter Wee shall not neede to make any Notes or Comments vpon the
Saint Saint Athanasius was Excommunicated by Pope Liberius and notwithstanding remained a Saint The very names of Baronius and Bellarmine we know carry such Authority with you that they will preponderate whatsoeuer can be said against them who ioyntly consent in this that followeth Pope Liberius say they through the faction of Arian Heretikes is by the Authority of Constantius the Emperour sent into banishment By the same Hereticall Arian Bishops is Felix made Bishop and placed in the Romane Sea When Liberius perceiued Felix to be intruded into his Chaire he after two yeares Banishment enuying and grieuing hereat doth ioyne communion with those Heretikes and gaue consent to the condemnation of Athanasius So they Our Assumption will be this that Athanasius neither before nor after the death of Felix did regard this Excommunication of Liberius Immediatly after this you esteeme Felix to be the Legitimate Pope but pronounce Liberius a Schismatike and one remooued from the societie of Catholikes and from his Papall function Which your Conclusions do notably fight against your owne Principles First this that There cannot be two Popes together in one Sea because this were as horrible a monster as a body with two heads One Pope then must be acknowledged Your next Principle is that No Pope can be deposed except he appeare to be a manifest Heretike whereby he ceasseth ipso facto to be a Pope without any other iudgement at all Yet grant you concerning Liberius that He was a Catholike in his inward iudgement notwithstanding his outward communion with Heretikes Your last Principle is that The Pope cannot be iudged of any on earth because he is Prince and therefore superior vnto the whole Church Catholike throughout the earth All these Premises being reduced into a Logicall forme will make vp our Conclusion thus No Catholike Bishop of Rome can be iudged or deposed But Liberius notwithstanding his consenting to the Condemnation of Athanasius and Communicating with Heretikes was a Catholike Bishop Ergo He could not be iudged or deposed from his Popedome If therefore Athanasius being Excommunicated by Liberius neuer sought as you all know any Vnion either with him or yet with Felix in his stead it must follow that he all that time contemned his Excommunication After the death of Felix who was Pope one yeare and some few moneths Liberius obtaineth againe your good reputation for presenly he was accompted the Legitimate Pope Why It is euident saith your Cardinall that Felix being dead Liberius vnited the Church of Rome which was then rent and diuided into a Schisme and became one Sheapheard of one sheepefold So they Where it will be as euident that during the time of Felix Athanasius if hee would haue sought Vnion with the Church of Rome could not know where to find it because the Catholike Church being but One Body One Spouse One Sheepfold how could now the Romane Church be called the Catholike which was as is confessed rent by a Schisme from it selfe But why stand wee wrestling with you for that which of your owne accord you are ready to grant willingly vnto vs It is a matter worthy consideration saith your Cardinall and so indeed it is to know what Liberius did after the death of Felix about the time of the Councell of Arimine which happened to be some two yeares after the departure of Felix And what this is he will haue vs vnderstand from the Epistle of Liberius vnto Athanasius principally thus This is our Confession most wished Athanasius wherein if you consent with me I pray you euen before our Iudge God and Christ to subscribe thereunto that I may be made the more secure thereby and readily performe your Command So the Pope to Athanasius Which Profession of Liberius saith your Cardinall was a solliciter for the repayring of the rent of that Communion which had bene formerly betweene them So he CHALLENGE IF therefore you will not regard our Inferences yet Liberius his owne Epistle and your Cardinall his Comment must giue light to any that shall not wilfully stupifie and blindfold himselfe namely to discerne That there was a breach of Communion betweene Pope Liberius and Athanasius That this continued two yeares for so long it was betweene the death of Felix and that Councell of Arimine whilest that Liberius was throughout the Church of Rome vniuersally acknowledged the Ligitimate Pope That the Seeker for this Communion was not Athanasius who had bene Excommunicate but Liberius who was the Excommunicator euen now being the true Pope That the tenor of the same Epistle is written in all submission both of his vnderstanding to the iudgment of Athanasius if he should happily consent also in the same behalfe to his will whatsoeuer he should Command If the like Epistle had bene written by Athanasius to Liberius we know how diligently and exactly and with what boldnesse you would haue pressed euery syllable thereof scarce could you examine any one word which should not haue seemed to weigh the weight of a Pope We conclude Athanasius being diuided from the Communion of the Pope so long time and not seeking to be reconciled before he was sought vnto by the Pope himselfe doth euidently shew that he belieued not at all your Article of Vnion with the Pope of Rome as with the Head of the Catholike Church vpon Necessity of Saluation Must we therefore iudge Athanasius therein damned nay rather damned be this your Article as Imposterous Scandalous Schismaticall and Hereticall whereby such a Saint should be damned who as your Author confesseth was so excellent an Organ of Truth that If all the commendations of ancient Fathers should be gathered together yet were they not sufficient to set forth the conflicts which this one hath had for defence of the Faith because no one I speake confidently sayth your Lippelous hath after the Apostles vndergone more continuall and grieuous conflicts for the patronage of Truth than he whom Gregory Nazianzene therefore calleth the Eie of the world the chiefe Captaine and Master of Priests and the stay and pillar of Faith So he So admirable was his Faith and Constancy in impugning their Obiections and induring their infinite Calumniations and persecutions IV. Saint Basil Bishop of Caesarea belieued not the Article of necessary Subiection to Rome SECT 4. LOoke againe into your Romane Calendar and you shall reade thus Saint Basil Bishop and Confessor A Saint then he was without exception in whom you will seeme to haue some Interest as though he would beare witnesse to the Antiquity of your Article of Vniuersall Romish Iurisdiction ouer all other Churches of Christ. Your Obiection SAint Basil writ an Epistle to Saint Athanasius whence if we belieue your Cardinall you may conclude that Saint Basil attributed vnto the Bishop of Rome authority of visiting the Churches in the East by whom he pleased and of making Decrees by his Authority and disanulling Generall Councels such as
you haue heard And in the same Book entituled Against all profane Innouations he doth throughout condemne all your new Articles of the now Romane Church by one infallible and inuiolable Rule which is this that No Article as of Faith should be admitted into the Church which was not taught and professed in the dayes of the Apostles Your last Father for due Antiquity is Cassidore who because he saith no more than hath bene formerly said we forbeare to answer more than hath bene answered that from Particular Answers we may now speedily addresse our selues to the more Generall Our Generall Discouery of the Falshood and Vanity of the former Obiections out of the Ancient Fathers SECT 10. DIstingue tempora is a necessary Aphorisme and Caution especially in historicall Obseruations Right glorious things are spoken of thee O City of God saith Dauid of Ierusalem but when when the Inhabitants professed the true worship of God But assoone as they reuolted from God then Bethel became Bethauen and the Virgin Sion an Adulterous whore So say wee Right admirable commendations haue bene often Anciently attributed to the Church and Bishops of Rome for their Integritie of life Constancie in the Faith Care and Conscience for the preseruation of all Churches in the Christian profession But not to distinguish in both these the differences of Times by Was from Is were to confound Chastity with Adultery God with Belial Christ with Antichrist Apply we this to the point in Question Take vnto you this Position When the Fathers say that the Church of Rome cannot erre the word Cannot is not to be taken absolutely and simply How like you this Thesis Do you approue of it Then do all your proofes from Testimonies of Ancient Fathers concerning the power dignity and integrity of the Ancient Church of Rome vanish with their times because the Church of Rome is long since farre degenerated from her first integrity But do you not allow it why it is the Confession of Bellarmine the greatest Champion that your Church hath had in these later Ages He onely addeth to the Thesis this Caution So long as the Apostolicall Sea continueth at Rome he should haue said with vs according to the Generall Doctrine of the Fathers So long as the ancient and sincere Faith and diuine worship is preserued at Rome for it is not Sedes but Fides that defineth a Church And for your further knowledge that the Commendations giuen vnto Rome and other Churches in the dayes of Antiquity were not absolutly and simply vnderstood call but to mind how often Tertullian Irenaeus Augustine Optatus and other Fathers for the proofe of Orthodox Doctrines did instance in the Churches of Corinth Thessaly Antioch Asia and other Churches as well as in Rome To giue you one Example for all in the last of Asia because it commeth first to hand it is that which you receiued but euen now out of Optatus who speaking of the Churches of Asia Whosoeuer saith he is without these Churches namely concerning the Faith professed is an Alien and without Saluation This was then as iustly said of Asia as now it cannot be said thereof and what one Encomium of Presidence onely that of Order excepted or Iudgment or Sanctity hath bene euer exhibited to Ancient Popes by any Excellency of Titles which as you haue heard by iust Parallells haue not bene communicated vnto Athanasius Basil Augustine and some other Fathers Yet are we not contented with this Answer although otherwise most true but add for clearer Demonstration of this Truth and auerre that the glorious Phrases which were anciently ascribed to the Church of Rome and her Bishops were not giuen as absolutely and simply belonging to her no not in those very times of Antiquity when they were more proper vnto her For Cyprian that said in his Epistle to Pope Cornelius that No perfidiousnesse could haue accesse to Rome meant not that this his Commendation should continue in Succession with their Popes who himselfe in his Epistle to Pope Stephen one who a yeare after the death of Cornelius succeeded in the same Popedome did vehemently reproue yea and reproach him for admitting the very same kind of Perfidiousnesse before mentioned euen by his allowing of False and perfidious Excommunicates and Incorrigible persons Appealing to his See And Hierom who accompted euery one Prophane and execrable that did not Communicate with Pope Damasus would not haue so farre honoured Pope Liberius whom hee himselfe brandeth with a blacke marke of Subscribing to Arian Heresie Lastly Saint Augustine that magnified Rome in this style saying The Principality of the Romane Chaire did alwaies flourish extended not this to an Absolute Monarchy who himselfe was one of them that in the Councell of Africke clipped the wings thereof by decreeing that Transmarine Appeales should not be made meaning to Rome The speed we make to new matter will not suffer vs to multiply Instances from other former Examples I. CHALLENGE AS often therefore as you haue obiected vnto vs the Encomiasticall speaches of Ancient Fathers we may challenge you to obserue the difference betweene your Obiections and our Retorsions You vrge onely the Phrase and we the Reason of the speach Againe you haue obtruded the sound of Words of the Fathers we haue opposed their euident Acts and Deeds the best Interpreters of their sayings From their Acts therefore we take confidence to argue that to omit the great and weightier matters if S. Polycarpus would not yeeld to the Church and Pope of Rome no not so much as in a Feast-day Saint Augustine not so much as in a Fast Saint Basil not so much as in exception against onely the word Hypostasis Saint Ambrose not so much as in a Ceremony of Washing of feet which are you will thinke in respect but matters of Mint annise and cummin how shall not our Opposition stand iustifiable who refuse Vnion and Subiection vnto her for the great matter of the Law word of God If vilification of the Sufficiency of his written Testaments if Mutilation of a true Sacrament and which is worse the Addition of fiue false ones if babling in vnknowne prayer if forging of new Faiths and not to speake of the daily tyrannie vpon mens Consciences by her strange 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or New Constitutions if in some respects as absurd as Heathenish Idolatrie may seeme vnto you iust cause of exception against her wherein our Profession is iustified from point to point by the same Fathers So damnable is your now Romane Article of Absolute Necessity of Vnion and Subiection vnto the Church and Bishop of Rome as without which there is no Saluation by which together with your Aduersaries you damne those whom euery where you assume to haue bene your owne Ancient Fathers on earth and now acknowledge them Saints in heauen II. CHALLENGE A Second Consideration which is to be had in this point is to obserue the list
not also for Eighty yea and Eighty times Eighty if shee would so Decree II. That the Church of Rome hath sometimes a False Head SECT 14. WHich false Head may bee easily seene thorrow many holes as First to make him as you do Vniuersall Head ouer the Whole Church of Christ throughout the world is to erect a False Head as Saint Gregory once Head of the Particular Church of Rome did often teach by calling the Title and Doctrine of Vniuersall Bishop Prophane Sacrilegious Blasphemous and Antichristian 2. God neuer ordained an Head no bigger then of a wren to stand vpon the shoulders of a man and so little in respect is One Bishop of One City of Rome to bee set ouer the Church Vniâ—ersally dispersed throughout the whole world as you may guesse by the exceptions which Saint Cyprian and after him S. Augustine and the Churches wherein they liued tooke against the Bishops of Rome accompting them Incompetent Iudges in Cases of Appeale from Remote Nations by reason of the distance of places and yet their Churches in Africke might be said to be neare neighbours to Rome in respect of many farre more distant from thence therefore an Head extreamely disproportionate is a False Head 3. None call that a Necessary and liuing Head which was not created by God no more can that Ecclesiasticall Head be iudged Necessary for the Church of Christ which was not instituted by Diuine Ordinance But that the Head of the Church of Rome was not ordained by Diuinâ— Authority you haue for proofe not onely the Church Catholike in the Councell of Chalcedon but also the Romane Church it selfe in the Councell of Constance Therefore an Humane Head in pretence of a Diuine one is a False Head 4. An Head subiect to Heresie cannot be truely adequate and proper to a Body which dependeth vpon Infallibility in matters of Faith But he that will be called Vniuersall Head is obnoxious to Heresie as Pope Gregory excellently taught when he denied that either He or any Bishop in the Church ought to be called Vniuersall Bishop of the whole Church lest that the same Vniuersall Bishop falling into error the whole Church saith he might erre with him An Example of an Hereticall Pope you haue had Confessed in Honorius from the Testimonies of Romish Doctors of Ancient Fathers of Councells and of Popes themselues And certainely that cannot be but a False Head which cannot be a True Member of the Body of the Church Catholike which no Heretike as you haue confessed can be 5. You your selues admit of no Head on earth of the Visible Body of Christ that is his Church which is not also so Visible that a man may point at it vndoubtedly and Indiuidually saying of it This is the Bishop of Rome But you can haue no such Certainty of any Bishop of Rome both because his Ordination without which he cannot be truely Pope dependeth vpon the Intention of the Ordeinour than which what can be more vncertaine vnto you as also because you are often constrained to doubt of the truth of his Election For you cannot be ignorant how plentifull a matter wee haue now in hand if we intended to prosecuâ—e the manifold Examples that are extant in your owne Bookes of Popes who haue taken possession of the Romane Chaire by Intrusion One you may receiue from the Relation of your Baronius viz. of Iohn the Twelfth who was no manner of way saith he to be termed a legitimate and lawfull Pope because no law was obserued in his Election but all things carryed with terror and Violence who although by reason of his young yeeres he could not be made so much as Deacon yet did the Church honour him for her Pope accompting it a Lesse euill to tolerate one although a Monstrous Head than to be diuided into many Heads So he This is plaine dealing openly confessing what kinde of Heads your Romane Church is sometimes vnited vnto One for his life Monstrous and therefore a braine-sicke Head One for his yeeres not fit to be so much as a Deacon that is as wee may so say an Elbow of the Church is made Head Chiefe Pastor thereof therefore a braine-lesse Head One that is an Intruder and No-way a lawfull Pope and therefore nothing lesse than a true Head because an Example differing from your Rule which your Iesuite Salmeron confesseth to be this To beleeue with a Diuine or Infallible Faith THIS singular and Indiuidual man to bee our Pope who is defined by the Electors yet so that it doth not appeare that there was any defect or fault in his Election But behold heere is one with a Constat that there was nothing but Defects in his entrance because no law of iust Election was obserued therein and yet notwithstanding acknowledged and honoured as true Pope of your Romane Church 6. As the Body cannot boast of Vnion with a Head that is Headlesse no more can an Head be truely so called which is Bodilesse But we haue proued that that which you call Principally the Church of Rome as resident at Rome shall haue no being and therefore be no Bodie in Rome namely when-as the City of Rome shall be the Seate of Antichrist CHALLENGE ALas my Masters what meane you will you needs condemne your selues and your whole Romane Church by your owne Faith Your Article is to Beleeue with an Infallible Faith One singular man to be the True Pope of Rome and Vniuersall Pastor hauing Monarchicall power in the Church wherein by the word Vniuersall you condemne the Romane Church as it was in the daies of Pope Pelagius the Second and Pope Gregory the First both which held the Title of Vniuersall as execrable and Anti-christian By Monarchicall and absolute power you condemne the Romane Church in the daies of Pope Damasus who held himselfe no Competent Iudge in Cases fore-iudged by a Prouinciall Councell By True you condemne the Romane Church in the daies of Pope Iohn the Twelfth which acknowledged for her Pope Him whom shee knew to bee euery way Vnlawfully possessed of the Popedome and therefore no True Pope Yet what maruell if they doubt not to obey false Pastors who daily Worship false Saints By Romane you condemne that Christian Church which shall be in the daies of Antichrist when-as the City of Rome from whence the Denomination of Romane is deriued shall be the Seate of Antichrist And by beleeuing Hunc This Indiuiduall Pope to bee verily the Pope with that Infallible Faith wherewith you beleeue any thing necessary to Saluation you condemne here-in the Romane Church throughout the whole Succession thereof from Saint Peter to this day and therein also your owne soules in professing that to bee Infallible which by reason of many defects both in the Ordination and Election of any Pope is knowne to be full of Fallibilities and vncertainties as all your owne Historians doe proue and as will bee further euident
did as one that had bene freed take another wife by the authority of the Church and consent of her Parents by which wife after some yeares he had children But loe his former wife vnlooked for returneth againe and requireth to haue her husband againe that had done ill in marrying another The man maruailing hereat and being loath to be diuorced from his latter wife maketh long delaies yet at length brought into Law and being cast gaue way to the Truth and taketh his first wife againe by the iudgement of the Church When now the Parents friends of the latter wife made the like wonderment as these men do against me saying vnto him thou hel-hound thou wicked couenāt-breaker c. And if a man would consider this businesse shall he not see as it were in a glasse the very image of that Husband in me For indeed I seeing I beleeued that no such Truth of obedience had bene c. I compelled my selfe in a second Couenant and thereto plighted my troth Wherefore I thought that I had kept lawfull Companie but when the TRVTH came which is euery mans first wife maried to him in publike Baptisme which wil require the first Promise at al mens hands to her I applyed to her I cleaued and from my second knot as of none effect by the iudgement of my Church I departed And shall any man thinke it indifferent that I shall be called a Liar because I obey the Truth c. I am by most graue iudgement of the Truth diuorced from the Church of Rome which it was not lawfull for me to keepe still and am compelled to take my wife TRVTH to me when she cometh againe Thus farre B. Gardiner The right and accurate Sence of this Similitude may as the beames of the Sunne dispell the foggie myst of Romish error concerning the Question we now haue in hand it being taken from the consideration of our Christian Vow made in Baptisme Wherein we are to obserue the Parties betrothed together which are the Soule of a Christian and the Truth of God in Christ and secondly the Parties and if I may so say Parents by whose consent and Authoritie this mariage is made which in the inward is our Father euen GOD in the vnity of Three persons Father Sonne and holy Ghost and in the outward is our spirituall Mother mentioned in our Creed at the rime of our Vow in Baptisme The holy Catholike Church It especially therefore concerneth euery Votarie that hath vowed himselfe in Baptisme to learne to acknowledge his true Father his true Mother and his owne true Wife For Father he is baptized in the name of the Blessed Trinitie in the vnity of one God euerlasting not in the name of any man whatsoeuer as Saint Paul prooueth against the Schismatikes in the Church of Corinth that would seeme Some to hold of Cephas that is Peter Some of Paul as though the Gospell or Truth were Pauls or Peters he answereth them No his Reason is interrogatiuely Were you baptized in the name of Paul As much as to say He onely is essentially your spirituall Father in whose Name you are baptized Secondly the Mother is mentioned in our Vow at Baptisme to be The holy Catholike or Vniuersall Church not any particular Church though by the particular Church I am brought into the Catholike We say not any Particular Church because euery Particular Church as hath beene Confessed may possibly erre and Apostate from Truth But the Catholike is built vpon a Rocke immoueable as the earth yea or the highest heauens Lastly the Wife whereunto euery Soule is betroathed in Baptisme is onely that Truth which was first reuealed by Christ vnto his Apostles as the Apostle teacheth If any preach any other Gospell than that which you haue receiued that is to say already hold him Accursed Now giue vs leaue to trie what kind of Mariage is made by your Votaries in the Church of Rome First by beleeuing the Infallibility of the Pope in whatsoeuer Reuelations which he shall propound to be beleeued of all Christians it is to assume a new Father which is thus prooued If I saith Saint Paul or an Angel from heauen preach otherwise let him be Accursed but who in all the Church of Rome will say Though the Pope teach vs otherwise then was Apostolically and Primitiuely taught from the immediate Doctrine of Christ I shall account him Anathema Next the Partie baptized in your Church is Catechized to beleeue the Church of Rome to be The Catholike and Mother-Church of all other Churches which wee through-out this Treatise haue prooued to be an Imposterous Schismaticall and Blasphemous Article First Imposterous because The Catholike Church mentioned in the Apostles Creed was extant in the dayes of the Apostles diuerse yeares before Rome was that we may so say Baptized to haue the name of a Church Secondly Schismaticall because it being as hath bene shewed but a Particular Church and vsurping the Title of The Catholike Church doth thereby peremptorily diuide her selfe from All other Churches of Christ which both for Truth and Extent make a farre more Catholike Church than she is Thirdly Blasphemous in Damning by this Article of the Catholike Romane Church all the most glorious Christian Fathers Martyrs Professors and Churches as well Primitiue as Successiue which are infinite that haue denyed Subiection to the Romane Church All which Particulars haue bene prooued at large In the last place each Christian in Baptisme being espoused to his wife Truth which can be but One euen that whereof Saint Paul spoke saying That which you haue receiued before and accordingly Saint Iude Contend for the Faith which once was deliuered to the Saints therefore euery other New Article of Faith as it were a later Consort and wife that shall bee admitted is no true loyall wife but an vnlawfull Concubine and strumpet So then so many Concubines may the Church of Rome be said to betroath her Children vnto as she hath set downe New Articles in her Romane Creed and imposed vpon all her Ecclesiastikes vnder the bond of an Oath Among which is your Article of Indulgences from which as from a supposititious wife Luther necessarily made his diuorce returning vnto the Primitiue Truth whereunto in holy Baptisme he had formerly plighted his Troth THESIS VI. Your Second and most Popular Obiection against LVTHER in his Opposition to your Romane Church vrging in him to prooue his Doctrine by immediate Succession and by Naming his Teachers Before him is as fond as the other SECT 19. I. FOr the no-Necessitie of Name we reade first that our Sauiour Christ answering a question concerning Diuorce whether it were lawfull for the husband to put away his wife at his pleasure or no an Abuse which by the hardnesse of the Iewes hearts had continued among them many hundred yeares sendeth them to Gods first Institution of Marriage set downe in the beginning of Scripture saying From the beginning it
the Councell desiring of the Popes Legates to haue liberty to dispute according to the former Decree When One of them Exhibiting their ioynt Confession to the whole Councell assembled published the same whereat saith your Historian the Fathers of the Councell were greatly offended then after it was made knowne that the Protestants were ready to defend their Confession But they could haue no answer to it and therefore desired leaue to be gone which assuredly obtained they commended their Cause to the Emperours Oratour and departed from the Councell Where are now our great Disputers of Rome who can teach Protestants Logicke and all manner learning as you vse to boast if euer they ought to appeare then doubtlesse in their generall Synod when the most selected Schollers were assembled for the discussion of al Questions Iohn Husse in the Councell of Constance had safe-Conduct to come and Dispute for himselfe but that was all for that Conduct was but a trap to catch him in and so to burne him as they did In the Councell of Trent the Protestants are promised with their safe-Conduct a libertie of Disputation but are not allowed it when they offer themselues yet no sooner almost are they come but they are saluted by your Tridentines as Christ was by the Gadarenes when they wished him to depart out of their coasts What greater argument can there be of a perfidious promise then to grant a Disputation vnder a solemne Instrument in the name of the Pope and the whole Councell in pretence of Satisfaction to all Consciences and not to performe it or of Impotencie in your Cause than not to indure to haue it discussed or yet of Obstinacy in your Errours than to reiect the ordinary meanes of Detecting them allowed vnto all Aduersaries in all ancient Councels This directly confirmeth the Censure which that Phoenix of learning Master Isaac Casaubon gaue of your Church Hee is fouly deceiued saith hee whosoeuer hee be that will be a Medijst thinking that there can be any Reconciliation with the Church of Rome a thing to be vtterly despaired of To all the former Crimes your Church addeth Tyrannie your Positions are Excommunications to all that denie Subiection to the man of Rome After Excommunications come Eradications against States Lawes and Kingdomes by Conspiracies Rebellions and all hostile Machinations yea and against whatsoeuer inferiour Persons whensoeuer there is abilitie either by generall Massacres or by particular torments Nor are your hands shorter than your tongues for As wee haue heard so haue wee seene KINGS wallowing in their gore-blood shed by your desperate Assassines Rebellions Seditions and Combustions in all Christian Kingdomes haue beene raysed by the fierie spirits of the Disloyall Ignatians a Massacre in France for Crueltie as witnesseth your owne Historian not to be parallelled by any example in all the antiquitie of former times But you would not that England should be lesse noble than France in the excellencie of your mischiefe witnesse your Acheronticall POVVDER-PLOTT for the destruction of the three Estates of this whole Kingdome an Example beyond all examples of ages past and for the hainousnesse thereof hardly credible in the generations to come Adde hereunto your Inquisition now established in the most parts of the Romish Iurisdiction by Pope Paul the Fourth as The onely fortresse of Popedome and esteemed the chiefest meanes to preserue the Romish Profession what is it but that Lion's Denne to all them that are caught except they shall abiure the Doctrine of Protestants Vestigia nulla retrorsùm THESIS III. In the Continuance of this Separation Papists are rather Schismatikes than Protestants and consequently in the Heresie of the Donatists SECT 25. GLadly would your Cardinall make an alliance betweene the Schismaticall Donatists and Protestants be you so good as heare his Charge The Donatists saith hee held that the Church Catholike consisted onely of iust persons whence they concluded that the whole visible Church was perished vpon earth and that it was onely in Africa where they were Well but what is this to the Tenent of Protestants Caluinists likewise saith hee hold the whole visible Church of Christ to haue perished for diuers ages and that now it is onely in the Northerne parts among themselues So hee But how truely and conscionably Caluin himselfe will proue in reprouing your Romane Church for Magnifying her selfe as being the onely Church on earth and for not acknowledging the Churches of Africke of Aegypt of Asia and other Christian Churches And dare you say saith Caluin that the Church is wholly perished which was among the Graecians Thus plainly sheweth Caluin that his opinion was not to denie the African Aegyptian Asian and Graecian Churches to haue continued visible parts of the Catholike Church Trie wee in the next place what affinitie the Church of Rome may seeme to haue with the Schismaticall Donatists Saint Augustine as your Cardinall confesseth did iustly deride the Donatists for that they from the mysticall speech in the Canticles concerning the Church the Spouse of Christ saying Tell mee where my beloued lieth at noone day gathered that the Catholike Church remained onely in Africke And is not this your Article viz. The Catholike Romane Church without vnion and subiection whereunto there is no Saluation a manifest appropriation of a Priuiledge proper to Rome as remaining alwayes a Catholike Church The Differences are They challenged this Prerogatiue as due to Africke in the South you to the Romane Church in the West They erred by a false Interpretation of a Text of Scripture which was of mysticall Signification In meridie you from another of figuratiue Sence Tu es Petrus super hanc Petram as though it were ment necessarily of Peter or if so did Consequently authorize the Pope Both which haue beene confuted as egregiously false As for the Reason of the Donatists Separation from the other constituted Churches in Africa that which was the true marke of a Schismatike it was without iust Cause when they neither did nor could obiect either errour in Doctrine or Superstition in worshipping or tyranny constraining men to oppose the ancient truth but especially That which Cannot be a iust Cause the mixture of godly and wicked Professours in one Communion If you shall require any further iustification of this our Separation and euidence that herein your Romanists are the Schismatikes recall to minde that which hath beene said hereof in a former Section THESIS IV. In the Continuance of this Separation the Vnion of Protestants with the Catholike Church is both more True and more Vniuersall than is the Vnion of the Romanists SECT 26. TRue vnion We call only that which is only in Gods truth and for Truths sake otherwise as S. Hilarie saith It is not vnion of faith but of perfidiousnesse nor Christian communion but Antichristian conspiracie and coniuration Vniust Vnities there are many among men the first of compulsion and terror which may