readie at al times as our Sauiour teacheth to scatter tares amongst the good seede And considering in these times wee see with our eyes that this is come to passe and it is so grosse that wee may almost grope it with our hands it is ridiculous and most absurd to dispute whether this thing could heretofore happen or hath now happened Therefore the Church of Rome the Greek Church the Church of Antioch and of Aegypt the Abyssine the Moschouite and many others are members much excelling each other in sinceritie of doctrine and faith yet all members of the Catholike Church whose ioynture in regard of the outward forme was long since broken For which cause his Maiestie doth much wonder when hee considers how some Churches which heretofore were but members of the bodie once entire doe now ingrosse all the right of the whole and appropriate to themselues the name of Catholike excluding from their communion and affirming boldly that they belong not to the Catholike Church whosoeuer doe dissent from them in anything or refuse the yoke of their bondage Neither do you only challenge to your selues this right there are others that do the same For his Maiestie speakes it with griefe there are at this day many priuate Churches which beleeue that they onely are the people peculiar which they call the Church Giue them that strength which the Church of Rome hath and they shall doe the same with her and pronounce of all others as hardly as she doth What shall wee say are there not sundrie sects now adaies which are certainly perswaded that they only haue insight into the Scriptures and as the Poet saith that they only are wise that all others walke like shadowes It is true indeed that in euery age there were conuenticles of sectaries and dissemblies which did boast themselues of the Catholike Church and by this prouocation did allure many vnto them but it is the peculiar and famous calamitie of these latter times that the Catholike Church vnto which of necessitie a man must adhere either really and actually or at the least in will and vow is become lesse manifest then it was of old lesse exposed to the eyes of men more questionable and doubtfull For which cause his excellent Maiestie thinketh that he ought more carefully in such a deluge of variable opinions to betake himselfe to the mountaines of the sacred Scripture and as S. Augustine gaue counsell to the Donatists to seeke the Church of Christ in the words of Christ And so S. Chrysostome both elsewhere and of purpose in his 33. Homilie vpon the Acts of the Apostles handling the question How the true Church might be discerned amongst many Societies which challenge to themselues that name teacheth that there be two meanes of deciding that question first the word of God and secondly antiquitie of doctrine not inuented by any new author but alwaies knowne from the birth and beginning of the Church These two trials the King and Church of England embracing doe auouch that they acknowledge that doctrine onely for true and necessarie to saluation which flowing from the fountaine of sacred Scripture through the consent of the ancient Church as it were a conduit hath been deriued vnto these times Wherefore to make an end of this obseruation his Maiestie answeres that it is faultie many waies and cannot stand with the hypothesis propounded Because saith he the Church of England is so farre from forsaking the ancient Catholike Church which she doth reuerence and admire that she departeth not from the faith of the Church of Rome in any point wherein that Church agreeth with the ancient Catholike If you question the succession of persons behold the names of our Bishops and their continuance from the first without any interruption if the succession of doctrine come make triall let vs haue a free Councell which may not depend vpon the will of one The Church of England is readie to render an account of her faith and by demonstration to euince that the authors of the reformation here had no purpose to erect any new Church as the ignorant and malicious doe cauill but to repaire the ruines of the old according to the best forme and in their iudgement that is best which was deliuered by the Apostles to the Primitiue Church and hath continued in the ages next ensuing His Maiestie grants that his Church hath departed from many points of that doctrine and discipline which the Pope of Rome now stifly defendeth but they doe not thinke this to be a reuolting from the Catholike Church but rather a returning to the ancient Catholike faith which in the Romane Church by new deuices hath been manifoldly and strangely deformed and so a conuersion to Christ the sole Master of his Church Wherefore if any man grounding vpon the doctrine of this obseruation will inferre from it that the Church of England because it reiects some ordinances of the Romane hath therefore departed from the ancient Catholike Church his Maiestie will not grant him this vntill he prooue by sound reasons that all things taught by them of Rome especially those which they will haue to be beleeued as necessarie to saluation were allowed of from the beginning and established by the ancient Catholike Church Now that no man can euer doe this at least neuer yet hath done it his Maiestie and the reuerend Bishops of the English Church doe hold it to be as cleere as when the Sunne shineth at mid-day Lastly his Maiestie thinketh it a great offence to forsake the Church but hee vtterly denieth that hee or his Church are guiltie of this crime For saith his Maiestie we depart not voluntarily but we are driuen away And your Honour well knoweth how many and how excellently learned and godly men for these fiue hundred yeeres at the least haue wished the reformation of the Church both in the head and members What grieuous complaints haue been often heard of worthie Kings and Princes lamenting the estate of the Church in their times But what auailed it for vnto this day we see not any one thing amended of all those which were thought most needfull of reformation Wherefore the Church of England in this separation feareth not any fellowship with the Donatists if the matter be debated by ingenuous men They willingly and without cause left the Catholike Church which at that time the consent of all nations did approue whose doctrine or discipline they could not blame but England being enforced by great necessitie separated her selfe from that Church which innumerable Christian people did not grant to be the true Catholike and vniuersall Church nay more which many of your owne writers haue heretofore ingenuously confessed to haue varied much from the ancient Church in matters of faith and discipline to haue patched many new things to the old and euill to the good which indeed is now better knowne to the vniuersall world then that any man can denie or be ignorant
of it Furthermore the Church of England for some ages past had felt the yoke of the Romane seruitude so cruell being afflicted with their often new vexations and incredible exactions that if there were no other cause yet that alone might suffice before equall iudges to free them from the suspition of schisme and as S. Augustine speakes of the Donatists iniquae discissionis of an vniust rent or distraction from the Church For the English did not depart from brotherly charitie vpon a humour as the Donatists did nor as the tenne tribes of the Iewes for feare of imminent euill but after the patience of many ages after vnspeakable miseries at length they withdrew their necks and shaked off the intollerable burthen which neither were they able longer nor would their conscience suffer them to beare Besides this the ancient Church to the end that she might draw the refractarie Donatists to communion was wont with admirable charitie to prouide for the temporall commodities of the Bishops and others that were reconciled but the Church of Rome being desirous of amitie with England what doth she first thunders out her Buls then vseth violence open and secret then receiueth into her bosome and still cherisheth detestable traytors euidently condemned of plotting the desolation of their Countrie lastly numbreth amongst Martyrs those which suffered for the same crimes and daily defendeth their innocencie against all lawes both diuine and humane Cardinall Bellarmine himselfe I am loth to speake but I speake the truth is become a principall patrone of these parricides who of late also that he might draw on his Maiestie hath vsed this argument of wondrous efficacie to perswade that the kingdome of England belongeth to the Pope and that his Maiestie of England euen in temporalties is his subiect and holdeth his kingdome of him I omit other grieuances of the King and Church of England both ancient and moderne which are not to be rehearsed in this place THE SECOND OBSERVATION BEsides those that are necessarie to saluation there are two kind of things which the ancient Church beleeued whereof one is things profitable to saluation the other things lawfull and not repugnant to the same Therefore if a man will embrace the faith of the ancients he must also embrace those things and esteeme them as the ancient Church did HIS MAIESTIES ANSVVERE THose things which were held by the holy Fathers as not absolutely necessarie to saluation but only profitable or lawfull they ought to be esteemed little more then indifferent For the vse of them being as things not simplie necessarie in the beginning was free In such things therefore to deuise any necessitie at all it seemes vniust for by and by there will follow a necessitie of vsing them as wee fee it is come to passe in the Church of Rome which obserues at this day many things as simplie necessarie to the integritie of faith which the ancient Church scarce knew much lesse vsed as matters of necessitie I will alleage foure examples of many It is manifest that in the primitiue Church confession of sinnes was vsed but farre otherwaies then now For that auricular confession in that manner which you haue it was in vse in the primitiue ages I think no man will affirme His Maiestie grants that the Fathers which did first ordaine it had their reasons why they thought that such manner of confession would further the easier attaining vnto saluation but they held it not for a thing necessarie absolutely much lesse for a Sacrament or at least not all the Fathers thought so For as touching S. Chrysostome it is plaine that hee required not of his people auricular confession But the matter is now come to that passe that there is little lesse attributed to this confession then to the precious blood of Christ whereby wee are redeemed the absolute necessitie thereof is so precisely vrged Whence by little grew vp that doctrine in the Church of Rome of not disclosing the secret of confession vpon any occasion soeuer For because they beleeued that it was impossible without this confession to attaine vnto the hauen of saluation therefore they thought it necessarie to remoue all impediments that might hinder it Wherefore in time this doctrine hath proceeded so farre that now to murther Kings or suffer them to be murthered seemes to be no sinne in comparison of breaking the seale of confession which many of your Diuines especially the expounders of the Canon Law haue in their bookes published Moreouer Binetus a Iesuite did auouch as much to me at Paris in the same tearmes which I remember that I told you afterwards We know also neither perhaps is your Honor ignorant of it that there is another Iesuit in France which of late was bold to say That if our Lord Iesus Christ were liuing vpon the earth subiect to death and some man had told him in confession that he would kill him notwithstanding rather then he would reueale that confession he would suffer I tremble to speake it Christ Iesus himselfe to be murthered Which horrible blasphemie you see whence it tooke the originall In like manner abstinence from wine and daintie cheare set times of fasting xerophagiae or eating drie meates the ancient Church reckoned amongst such things as were profitable to the easier obtaining of saluation neither doth his Maiestie denie it giuing a conuenient interpretation according to the intention of the primitiue Church but by your leaue he liketh not that the obseruation of these things should be more strictly required then of such as are expressely contained in holy Writ Againe single life in the Ministers of the Church was in old time commended but now it is commanded and exacted as a matter of absolute necessitie whereof you shall heare more hereafter So whereas S. Paul saith that hee doth afflict his bodie and make it seruiceable his Maiestie honours and calles them blessed that follow this example of the diuine Apostle but he detesteth those which reckon sackcloth and Lacedemonian whippings and such vexations of bodie or as they call them satisfactions amongst the causes of saluation or at least so highly prize them that they make account of slouenrie and whatsoeuer nastines as of sanctimonial perfection But of al such his Maiestie doth especially abhorre them which after the manner of the priests of Baal rending their bodies with scourges would make vs imagine God to be desirous and thirstie for mans blood like Bollona the Pagan Goddesse Only he commends their wisedom which hiring others to be whipped for them doe purchase the merit of those punishments which they haue suffered So it commeth to passe that the rich offend and the poore are punished that penaltie pursueth not the guiloie but him that is in pouertie and want Wherefore his Maiestie as hee thinketh it vnlawfull to condemne those things which the Fathers of the first age by vnanimitie of consent did hold for things expedient or lawfull so he cannot endure to
be bound with any peremptorie necessitie of vsing the same For he holdeth Necessarie and Indifferent to be of a contrarie nature But of these more largely in the Obseruation following THE THIRD OBSERVATION SEeing in the matter of religion there is more then one kinde of necessitie we must take heed when we speake of things necessarie to saluation that we be not deceined with the ambiguitie of the tearme For there is necessitie absolute and vpon condition a necessitie of the meane and of the precept There is also a necessitie of beleeuing which bindeth all Christians without exception and another which doth not generally binde all Lastly there is a necessitie of action and a necessitie of approbation HIS MAIESTIES ANSVVERE THe doctrine in this Obseruation wherein the diuers kinds of necessitie are learnedly and very accurately declared his excellent Maiestie is so farre from disliking that on the contrarie he thinketh if these distinctions be taken away a manifold confusion would follow in matters of religion For what can be thought more dangerous then that things absolutely necessarie should be held as necessarie only vpon condition or contrariwise and that other distinction which serueth for the right and orderly disposition of all things in the house of God is no lesse profitable Likewise in your examples his Maiesty obserueth nothing greatly to be disallowed But in your explication of things absolutely necessarie hee commendeth the truth of that speech that there is no great number of those things which be absolutely necessarie to saluation Wherefore his Maiestie thinketh that there is no more compendious way to the making of peace then that things necessarie should be diligently separated from things not necessarie that all endeuours might be spent about the agreement in the necessarie and as touching the not necessarie that a Christian libertie might bee granted Simply necessarie his Maiestie calleth those things which the word of God expressely chargeth to bee beleeued or practised or which the ancient Church by necessarie consequence hath drawne out of the word of God But such things which out of the institution of men although with a religious wise intent yet besides the word of God were receiued and vsed of the Church for a time those he thinketh may be chāged or relaxed or abolished And as Pope Pius the second said of the single life of the Clergie that there was good right in times past to ordaine it but now there is better to disanull it his Maiestie thinkes that the same speech may be vsed in generall of the most Ecclesiasticall obseruations which are brought into the Church without any precept of Gods word If this distinction were vsed for the deciding of the controuersies of these times and if men would ingenuously make a difference betwixt diuine and positiue law it seemes that amongst godly and moderate men touching things absolutely necessarie there would bee no long or bitter cōtention For both as I said euen now they are not many and they are almost equally allowed of by all which challenge the name of Christian And his excellent Maiestie doth hold this distinction to be of such moment for the diminishing of controuersies which at this time doe so vexe the Church of God that he iudgeth it the dutie of all such as bee studious of peace diligently to explane it to teach it to vrge it Now will we addresse our selues to speak of some examples which are proposed in this Obseruation Amongst the things absolutely necessarie yet not simply but in respect of diuine institution you reckon the baptisme of infants which wee say you doe referre vnto this kinde of necessitie Afterwards you bring a place out of S. Augustine wherein the possibilitie of saluation of children not baptised is precisely denied Here first his Maiestie professeth that himself and the Church of England doe allow the necessitie of baptisme in respect of diuine institution as wel as you The Church of England doth not binde the grace of God to the meanes which is contrarie euen to the doctrine of the better sort of schoolemen yet because God hath appointed this for the ordinarie way to obtaine remission of sins in his Church and Christ himselfe denieth the entrance into the kingdom of heauen to those which are not borne againe of water and the Spirit therefore it is carefully prouided heere by the Ecclesiasticall lawes that parents may haue baptisme for their children at any time or place Wherefore that which Tertullian saith of the primitiue Church that Bishops Priests and Deacons did baptise and lastly that the same was lawfull for lay men also in case of extreame necessitie the same as concerning Bishops Priests and Deacons is at this day practised in the Church of England without any rigid or inuiolable obseruation of whatsoeuer time or place But for the baptisme of lay men or women as by the lawes of the Church it is forbidden to be done so being done according to the lawfull forme in a manner it is not disallowed the Church pronouncing it to be baptisme although not lawfully administred But his excellent Maiesty doth so highly esteeme of this Sacrament that when some Ministers in Scotland pretending I know not what ordinances of new discipline refused vpon the desire of the parents to baptise infants readie to die he compelled them to this dutie with feare of punishment threatning no lesse then death if they disobeyed Wherefore the words of S. Augustine which doe precisely exclude the not baptised from eternall life if they be vnderstood of the ordinary way thither and the only way that Christ hath taught vs his Maiestie hath nothing to obiect against that opinion but if it be simply denied that almightie God can saue those which die vnbaptised his Maiestie and the Church of England abhorring the crueltie of that opinion doe affirme that S. Augustine was an vnnaturall and hard father vnto infants Vndoubtedly his Maiestie thinketh that both these extreames are with the like care to be eschewed lest if wee embrace this rigid sentence we abbreuiate the power of God and offer wrong to his infinit goodnesse or whilest as some doe we reckon baptisme amongst such things the hauing or forgoing whereof is not much materiall wee should seeme to make light of so precious a Sacrament and holy ordinance of God S. Augustine was a worthie man of admirable pietie and learning yet his priuate opinions his Maiestie alloweth not as articles of faith neither doe you allowe them for example Saint Augustine beleeued as did Innocentius the first before him that the receiuing of the blessed Eucharist by infants was no lesse necessarie to their saluation then baptisme and this he auoucheth in many places of his writings yet you beleeue it not neither hath the Church of England changed this point of doctrine which she receiued from you Amongst those things which impose necessitie of action vpon some persons you number mariage Siquis sobolem tollere voluerit If any