but after a long and due Examination of the substancâ— of them hee refuted them soe substantially as to this day noe man of the Church of England hath answer'd him I observe in this place that this Gentleman spent a great deale of tyme in deliberation about seaven years before Adjuring said XXXIX Articles which hee once believed as you doe now Sall as Articles of faith which belief and Doctrin hee suckt from his Cradle much more tyme I say hee had bestow'd and deliberation in quitting them then you have done in deserting the Catholick Religion and its holy Communion in which you were bred and your parents before you which can not be spoken but to your shame and infamy The light and grace God gave to Mr. White the Gentleman I speake of led him out of Babilon in to Ierusalem and you without great musing on the weightiest matter can ever concerne you the damnation or salvation of your soule are fled from Ierusalem to Babilon The Tytle of Mr. Whites Book Schismatis Anglicani redargutio Authore Alexandro VVhite ex eodem Schismate per Dei gratiam ad fidem Catholicam Converso Viro qui coripientem dura cervice contemnet repentinus ei superreniet interitus cam Sanitas non sequetur Proverb cap. 29. Lovani typis Jeronimi Nempaei 1661. This Book Sall if you have it not allready you will finde with som of the Priestes there Such is my opinion and of the Devines of my side of the sound substance of this Book and the Reasons and Arguments and Authoritys of Scripture Apostolicall Tradition Counsells and Fathers hee produceth that I presume without all vanity to give a Challenge on the behalfe of Verity and the Roman Catholick Church to you and to the Protestant Arch-Bishop of Cashell I say I give a Challeng to you both and all that Profess the XXXIX Articles in the three Kingdoms to make answer to this Book This is not a Thrasonical defiance such as Mr. Iewell Bell and others Protestant Divines made to all the Catholicks in the world of disputing with them about Religion but the place of disputing must have beene in England they being sure the state would not allow therof this Challenge is only for answering this Book wherin Mr. White hath distroy'd the Babell tower of your XXXIX Articles which you will neuer build up againe This mans Arck hath cast downe your Dagon hee hath impeached your new English Creed the XXXIX Articles af a treason against heaven and verity I pray you Sall if you have any memory as yet left of mee peruse seriously sedato animo this learned Book one of two effects it will have that either it will convert you or confound you Now if your Arch-Bishop and you and the rest of your Devines shall refuse this Challeng doe not vapour hereafter of the light Doctrin and Sanctity of your XXXIX Articles nor of your owne maistership in Devinity for 18. years in Spaine My Reader you have heard Sall tell why hee went out of the Catholick Church But S. Augustin gives another kinde of answer wherfore such men goe a way from us Habent says the Saint calumnias suas August Tom. 8. in Psal 118. Conseioâ— 26. 1 Haeretici habent Scismaâ—ici quos omnes superbia de membrorum Christi compage proecidit When men begin highly to prise their owne learning and to censure and contemne the Doctors of Holy Church generall Councells and even the high Priest himselfe the Pope in matters of Religion as Sall hath now done and to interpret Scriptures according to their owne braine and fancy then swelling with vanity they break out of the pales of the Church Nature is strong in such kinde of men and grace weak and soe they easily fall into sinn Quia quod Creatura peccare non possit habet ex bono gratiae non ex conditione nature Poore Sall this presumption hath pulled you out of the Temple yea periit ipse Angelus superbia tumidus propria potestatis delectatione corruptus this hath beene and is your disease Smoth the matter the best you can pride will be found one of the greatest motives of your departure from us III. CHAPTER VVHat Guid led Sall out of the Ad secundum House of God it was likly the privat Spiritt of Protestanisme a kinde of Serpent that with hissing whispers infects the brains of curious men this spirit hath much helpt to loose the man Doctor Whitaker esteemed agreat Devine in the English Church defines this private spiritt to be an inward In Contro 1. q. 5. C. 3. contrae Bellarum perswation of the truth from the Holy Ghost in the secret Closset of the believers hart Sall with this deceiving guid you made your fatall Transmigration from our side I would faigne know where in Scripture or the ancient Fathers did Whitaker finde a ground for such a definition of his privat Spirit hee found it noe where and therfore likly hee made it in a dream This Spiritt hath not been knowne to the ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Church for full fiftien ages they heard nothing of it nor doe any of us claime it it is only a priviledg of your Church a pleasant Imagination that makes your people madd Exempli Gratia A Protestant with whome I conferred about Religion som years past told mee in plaine termes hee needed noe light or assistance from Saint Augustin or Saint Paul himselfe for to understand Scripturs being certaine Iesus who redeemed his soule would have a care that hee should not err in expounding of Scripture or any thing that touched his salvation I demaunded from him could hee prove by Scripture hee had that infaliable spirit or sacred light hee answered hee could and cited that place of David Signatum Psal 4. est super nos Lumen vultis tui Domine The light of thy Countenance O Lord is signed upon us I told him that Lumen was commonly expounded to be ipsa ratio by which man is the image of God as hee might read in the Book of Genesis and that by this light man was in his nature distinguished from a brute and that a Turck and a Pagan alsoe had this light as well as hee and by a good consequence had an infalible privat spiritt of expounding Scripturs as well as hee I alsoe assured him that his owne Devines would tell him the light understood by David was noe other then reason which is the image of God whereto wee are created like which was fixed in our understanding that wee may see and know there is a God that ought to be served adored and loved and that hee will reward his servants Next said I t is absurdity to say that a Pagan which denys Scripturs should haue a spiritt to expound the Scripturs which follows from your opinion But this and all I could say could draw noe other answer from the man then that hee was sure hee had himselfe from
VVicklifs Errors about that Sacrament Accidentia non manent sine subjecto in â—odem Sacramento substantia panis naturalis vini naturalis manent in Sacramento Altaris Errores damnati in Concilio constantiâ—nsi the Doctrin of Purgatory and other Articles will you heare Sir Iohn Oldcastle a prime Wicklifian his Protestation at his death of believing the Real-Presence after confessing Articles about the Blessed Trinity and Christes Diety Sir Iohn Old-Castle cometh to treat of the Sacrament of the Aulter hee protesteth thus as Fox himselfe writeth And for as much as Sir Ioh. Old-C his Protestation at his death I am falsly accused of a misbeliefe in the Sacrament of the Aulter I signify here to all men that this is my faith concerning that I beleeve in that Sacrament to be contained very Christs Body and Bloud under the Similitudes of Wyne and Bread yea the same Body that was conceived of the holy Ghost borne of the Virgin Mary donne on the Crosse dyed and was â—uryedâ— and a rose the third day from death and now is glorify'd in heaven The said Old-Castle shew'd his beleefe about three sorts of men thus The holy Church I beleeve to be devided into three sorts or Companyes wherof the first are now in heaven c. The second sort are in Purgatory Fox pag. 314. abyding the mercy of God and a full deliverance of payne The third upon Earth c. You see that Old-Castle a Wâ—ckclifian doth clearly beleev'd the Doctrin of Purgatory which Fox did not nor doe the Protestants of England now wherfore to this speech of Purgatory Fox thought best least it might disgrace his new Martyr to add this parentesis of his owne if any such place bee in the Scriptures c. which was perfidiously done of Fox It is to be supposed that Wicklif held some things with us and some things with the Protestants and somthings different from both and yet Fox must have him and his Sect to be of his owne Communion and make him a Martyr though hee confesseth and soe doth Iohn Ball alsoe that hee was neuer as much as imprison'd for his faith but his bones were taken up forty years after his buriall and burned by the Commaundement of the Councell of Constance for his Heresies discovered after â—his death and for this Fox made him a Martyr and consequently hee became Martyr without feeling any paine or without the Consent or Concurrence of his owne will Take here some Articles of Wicklifs Doctrin to which I presume the Protestant will not agree One is That it is against Scripture for any Ecclesiasticall Minister to have any temporall possessions at all What think you will the Ministers of England agree to this Another That as long as a man is in deadly sinn hee is neither Bishop nor Prelate Another That Temporall Lords may according to their owne will and discretion take a way the temporall goods from any Church-men when soever they offend Think you that the Protestant Church-men of England agree to this Article Another Tythes are meer Almes and may be detained by the Parishoners and bestow'd where they will at theire pleasure This Article alsoe cannot rellish Protestant Church-men These and many more Articles of Wicklif have been condemned by the Catholick Church as Hereticallâ— and himselfe as an Heretick though hee held divers poynts of the Catholick Religion as holy Orders Consecration Excomunication Purgatory and other like But Fox makes him a Martyr for holding some poynts with the Protestants though differing in other Materiall poynts But this is the Beggery of his new Church that it cannot be made up but by such dunghill cloutes as Wicklefians Lollards Albigensians and the like which are cast of by the Catholicks and rejected for that they have not agreed in every point of the Catholick beleefe according to the creed of Athanasius such is the integrity severity and Majesty of our Church that wee reject as spotted and blemish'd raggs all such as beleeve not all Articles of Faith propos'd by the holy Catholick Church this is according to Saint Augustins Doctrin Ecclesia Vniversaliter perfecta est in nnllo claudicat That is The true Church is Universally perfect and doth hault in noe one poynt of beleefe Now you shall see how Wickless fellow Saints condemn'd him for an Heretick and consequently one that should not be placed in the Calendar of Saints Luther the great Elias and Prophet of Germany as Ioannes Cockleus Ioann Cochl in vita Luteri Surius in hist Anno Dom. 1517. 1518. Melan. Epist ad Fredericum Miconium and Surius doe recount held Wicklif for an Heretick such alsoe was the Iudgment of Phillip Melankton which against Iohn Fox must needs be much avaylable who placed him for a fellow Saint together with Wicklef in his Calendar What then says Melankton of Wicklef hee speaks thus Inspexi Wicklefum qui valde tumultuatur in hac Controversia c. That is I have look't over Wicklef who behau'd himselfe tumultuously in this Controversy of the Lords supper and more then this I have found many Errors in him by which a man may make Iudgment of his Spirit It is certaine hee neither understood nor held the Justice of Faith Hee said in another place Plane furebat Wicklefus Melan. in Apolâ— tit de human tradit qui negabat licere Sacerdotibus tenere proprium That is Wicklef was playnly out of his wits when hee did deny that it was lawfull for Priests to hold in locis com tit de potestat Ecclesi any thing proper Well then Wicklef a furious man that stirred up sedition and was ignorant of the very foundation of the Protestant Ghospell to wit of theire Doctrin of Salvation by only faith as both Melankton and Luther affirmed Wicklif to be with what spirit think you doth your Apostata Fryer Bale call him an Elias a morning starre an Organ of Christ an habitacle of the holy Ghost But if you will listen to Catholick writers who liu'd about the same tyme with Wicklif as Thomas Walsingam and Thomas Waldensis in theire learned writings you shall finde him to have been one of the most pernicious wicked dissembling Hypocriticall impugners of Christ and his Doctrin that ever was in the Church of God Walsingam VVals in hist Ricard Rigis 2 anno Dom. 1382 doth beginn a Narration of Wicklif thus Eodem tempore ipse verus Hypocrita Angelus Sathanae Antichristi prae ambulus non nominandus Ioannes Wicklef vel potius wicked-beleefe Hereticus sua deliramenta concinnavit reassumens damnatas opiniones c. That is At the same tyme the very true Hypocrit the Angell of Satan the forerunner of Antichrist the heretick Iohn Wicklif or rather wicked-beleefe not being worthy the naming continved his madde and new devises renewing againe old damned opinions and heresies c. You see how holy a man Wichlef was by the Testimony of Catholick writers who knew him better then Fox did
place the greatest part of theire Religion in Contemplation and Meditation and they soe strive to stirr up strong and sencible fervour and heat of Spiritt that somtymes excites in them motion and trembling of all the body from this they have the name of Quakers and they take this trembling for a great marke of perfection and interiour Devotion I have given you the Theorems of this rediculous Quaking Sect because they are new and not soe well knowne to all Oh With what illusions doth Sathan deceive these poore Soules Theire Author was one Iames Naylor to whom all of the Sect gave the greatest titles of honnour and respected him as Iesus Christ himselfe Hee was notwithstanding condemned in Cromwells tyme in the month of December anno Domini 1654. to a perpetuall prison after being whipt publickly and his tongue bored with a burning Iron Sall you see the number of your miserable Companions is allmost infinit but this great multitude of them will bring you noe joy or comfort Multiplicata est gens eorum quibus te junxisti sed non est multiplicata laetitia When the Sonne of God shall come downe and condemne them all to burne in eternall flames Sall what will you doe to prevent such a neuer ending misery lament in tyme and repent and cry to God to have mercy on you XVII CHAPTER A Discussion of some parts of Salls Recantation A Little after the beginning hee speaks thus And by frequent reading of holy Scripturs Fathers Councells and Histories of the Church my knowledg was furthered and my Iudgment ripened I began to doubt of severall Articles introduced by the use and Authority of the Roman Church repugnant to human reason and not warranted by devine writt as Transubstantiation Indulgences Porgatory Worship of Images c. Yet smothering scrupels partly fearing the severity of the Country against opposers of theire Tenets partly amused with a supposition that the Church and Pope of Rome were infallible in theire decrees touching Faith and soe mought stand with security to theire Declaration Sall the reading of Scriptures well vnderstood and of Fathers Councells and Church-Histories could not give occasion or ground to you or any man to doubt of Articles of Faith professed in the Catholick Church but true it is that Scriptures understood and explained amiss by men presuming much of their owne witt and learning likely you are one of those leadeth to Heresie and Errors S. Augustin teacheth soe Neque enim saith hee natae S. Aug. Tom. 9. expos Evang. Ioan. Tract 18. sunt Hereses nisi dum Scripturae bonae non intelliguntur bene quod in eis non â—benè intelligitur etiam temere audacter asseritur That is Nor doe Heresies spring up but when good Scriptures are not well understood and that which in them is not well understood is rashly and boldly asserted Sall I feare much this presumption carryed you out of the Church But one thing I must tell you when you began to doubt of Transubstantiation and other Articles of Faith you began to want Faith Quia dubius in fide infidelis est That you began to stagger in Faith is manifest because you began to doubt of the Verity of Articles proposed by the Church to be of Faith as are those of Transubstantiation Purgatory and the like Nam certum est qui supponit Authoritatem Ecclesiae veritatem vel dogma docentis ac profitentis non esse certam infallibilem in fidelis est Hereticus est That is It is cleare and certaine who supposeth the Authority of the Church teaching or professing Transubstantiation or any other Article not to be certaine and infallible is an Heretick and an infidell Your owne words above cited conuince you of being in such feare and doubt whereas had you supposed the Churches Authority infallible and certaine as indeed it is you would not have any way doubted of the mentioned Articles to appertain to Faith this is evident Quia certitudinem habens alicujus propositionis non potest habere ejusdem dubitationem Saint Bernard pondering the difinition Saint Paul gives of Faith Fides est Epis ad Hebr. cap. 11. sperandarum substantia rerum argumentum non aparentium Says Audis substantiam non licet tibi in fide putare vel disputare pro libito non hac illacque vagari per incerta opinionum per devia errorum substantia nomine altquid tibi certum sixumquae prefigitur certis claudens finibus certis limitibus arctans That is When you heare the word Substance it is not lawfull for you to doubt or dispute in points of Faith according to your owne head and fancy with incertainty of Errors and Opinions by the word Substance something is apointed to be beleeved that is certaine and fixed The Saint said excellently well because it is the genious of Hereticks to chuse what they will beleeve according to theire owne Iudgment and not as the Church doth appoint Saint Thomas saith in Substance the same in these Words Hereticus intendit S. Thâ— quest 11. art 1. quidem Christo assentire in quo dissert ab Ethnico Iudaeo sed deficit in â—ligendo ea quibus Christo assentiat quia non eligit ea quae vere a Christo sunt tradita sed ea quae sibi propria mens suggerit That is An Heretick intends to assent to Christ his Authority in which hee differs from an Ethnick and Iew but hee is deficient in ellecting those things by which hee should assent to Christ because hee doth not chuse those things which are delivered by Christ but those which his owne minde doth suggest Sall this is what you have done which is a great Error where had you stood to that Supposition a very true one that the Church and Pope are infallible in theire decree's touching Faith all had gon well with you relying on such a Supposition you had not doubted nor feared nor wavered nor erred because the Church is the Pillar of Verity and because you did not stick to this Pillar the Churches Authority you have doubted in matters of Faith and soe I will and must leave you after teaching Divinity soe many years in Spain Hominem dubium fluctuantem Circa Articulos fidei Sall doe not tell those that read your Recantation that Transubstantiation Purgatory Indulgences and the like Theorems are intruded upon men for Articles of Faith by the Authority and use of the Catholick Church by introduceing them for such as you speake as if they had not been Articles of Faith before they had been declared and defined to be such which is a great Error they having been such I mean Articles of Faith before such Declaration Quia propositiones fidei sunt aeternae veritatis what is this day of Faith was ever soe and in like manner whatsoever is now an Heresie was allways soe in its owne Nature soe as the Authority of the Church doth not make any Proposition a Theorem of
Faith that was not soe before nor likwise make any Proposition Hereticall that was not soe before but only defines that Proposition to be of Faith that is and was ever soe and condemns that for an Heresie that is and was soe Nor are Articles of Faith as Sall affirms repugnant to human reason but transcending human reason as Saint Thomas teacheth Fidem non esse contra sensum sed esse de eo ad quod sensus non attingit much less is Faith repugnant to reason a nobler faculty then that of sence yet for all this wee may not say that reason can comprehend an Article of Faith Will you beleeve nothing Sall but what you can comprehend and as it were demonstrat by human reason and discourse This is not Faith but Science The silliest Catholick old woeman in your Country will tell you that in beleeving you must take Faith and leave reason And Saint Augâ—stin saith the same as thus S. Aug. lib. de utilitatâ— credendâ— Quod inteligimus debemus rationi quod credimus Authoritati Had you ankored your selfe Sall upon the Authority of the Church as most eminent Schoolmen of our side doe you had not fallne into Heresie but you presumed to much on your owne witt and wanted humility and necessary vertue Saint Augnstin reprehends such kinde of men as would circumscribe matters of Faith within the sphere of reason and discourse in these words Eccè qualibus Argumentis omnipotentiae Dei humana contradicit infirmitas quam possidet vanitas That is Behold with what kinde of Arguments doth human weakness mastered by vanity contradict the omnipotent power of God The Paulin difinition of Faith the most perfect of all diffinitions doth clearly demonstrate that the force of reason cannot comprehend Articles of Faith Illa particula Argumentum non aparentium clarè significat objectum fidei esse rem non visam cui firmiter adhaeret intellectus non ex rei evidentia sed ex auctoritate divina per illam particulam non apparentium distinguitur fides a Scientia intellestu per quem aliquid fit apparens That is The Argument of things not appearing doth clearly signify the object of Faith to be a thing not seen to which the understanding doth adhere not for the Evidence of the thing but for the devine Authority revealing it and by that particle of things not appearing Faith is distinguished from Science and understanding of objects by which a thing is made apearing This is the Opinion of Nicholas de Lira and others It is alsoe the Opinion of Devines commonly Visum non esse objectum fidei S. Tho. 1. 2. qs 67. S. Tho. 2. 2. q. 1. a. 4 And Saint Thomas saith elswher Quod nihil est objectum fidei nisi sub ratione non apparentis XVIII CHAPTER The Doctrin of Transubstantiation defended against Sall a new Protestant THere is noe Protestant soe maddly obstinate as to give God the lye to his face and in plaine tearms to say though hee did know God did reveale the Doctrin of Transubstantiation as the Church of Rome doth propose and maintaine it I would not beleeve it noe all Protestants acknowledg and generally all Hereticks God to bee truth it selfe and not able to deceive or bee deceived The obstinacy therfore of Protestants against Gods verityes is not as they are uttered immediatly by himselfe but as they are proposed by his Church as in the point of Transubstantiation Sall become lately a Protestant doth not beleeve the Catholick Church proposing that Doctrin as revealed by God but says it is not warranted by devine writt the same hee says of Indulgences Purgatory worship of Images c. but introduced and made an Article of faith by the use and Authority of the Roman Church Against cleare evidence there can be noe obstinacy the object of it must be involved in some obscurity otherwise the will which is the source of obstinacy would not bee able to master the understanding There is nothing more cleare and evident to the understanding then this proposition If God said or revealed any thing it s very true The obstinacy therfore of Hereticks doth not contest with this cleare and confessed truth It only doubts or denyes that God said or revealed any such thing as the Church pretends By this it appears in what Sall and I doe differ about Transubstantiation for hee doth not beleeve the Church proposing and defyning the Doctrin therof as revealed by God The Heretick beleeves what the Church proposeth as revealed only conditionally if God reveal'd it reserving to his owne privat Iudgment or to that of his privat Patriarks Luther Zwinglius Calvin c. this determination but the Catholick Absolutly and doubts not but God revealed what the Church proposeth as revealed submitting his Iudgment in matters of Faith to what soever the Church doth define or declare This is the case of Hereticks They protest if they had thought or beleeved that the Doctrin of the Roman Church in controverted points were revealed by God they would hartily imbrace it but they doe not consider this very if or doubt is Heresie for they have noe reason to doubt but that the Roman Catholick Church hath Commission and power of defining and declaring what is revealed by God seeing it hath the evident signes of a true Church as Miracles Sanctity of Doctrin and Life continuall Succession from the Apostles to the present age both of Pastors and Doctrin These signes may be easily perceived and knowne by all people as Clownes Souldiers and other illiterate persons let them examin the Histories of theire owne Countryes and the Religion of theire Ancesters which soever amongst all the Christians Churches had and hath the aforesaid signes that Church must be heard obeyed and beleeved as having Gods Authority and Commission to deside all doubts and Controversies of Faith who soever beleeves not her diffinitions and obeys not her decrees and Canons in points of Faith is an obstinat Heretick and such is Sall having deserted and condemned this Church But Sall tells us the Doctrin of Transubstantiation is a novelty not found in Scripture but brought into the Church by the Councell of Lateran anno 1215. This is a great mistake in Sall The very condemning of Berengarius as an Heretick for impugning Transubstantiation anno 1050 which was before the Councell of Lateran 165. years proves it was noe novelty but an Article of Faith before that Councell There were present at this Counsell the Emperors Roman and Greek and of the Kings of France Spaine England Hierusalem and Cyperus their Ambassadors euen from the Apostles tymes For otherwise I pray you how were it possible that the Patriarks of Hierusalem and Constantinople 70. Metropolitans 400. Bishops and 800. Conventuall Pryours who were all present at that great Counsell should all agree in declaring Transubstantiation to have been revealed by God to the primitive Church how can this agree with what Sall affirms
Faith only is sufficient without all Satisfaction and all other works of Pennance Wee have expressly That every man shall be saved according Apoc. cap. 20. to his works You have noe where That men shall be judg'd only according to theire Faith Wee have expressly That it is a holy Cogitation to Prayer for the Dead 2 Mach. cap. 12. Sacrifice for the Dâ—ad 2 Mach. cap. 12. Voluntary Corporall affliction Daniell cap. 10. Almes Tobias cap. 12. Prayer of Saints for those on Earth 2 Mach. cap. 14. pray for the Dead You have noe where It is Superstition or unlawfull to doe the same Wee have an express example Of an holy man that offered Sacrifice for the Dead You have noe example of any good man that ever reprehended it Wee have expressly That the Affliction which Daniell us'd upon his Body was acceptable in the sight of God You have noe where That such voluntary Corporall afflictions are in vaine Wee have expressly That an Angell did present Tobias his good works and Almes-deeds before God You have noe where that Angells cannot or doe not the same Wee read expressly That Ieremias the Prophet after hee was dead pray'd for the People of Israell You have noe where the contrary to this in express Scripture I leave many places more that I might relate but these are enough to prove that express Scriptures are for us and not for you nor can you shew that wee are driven to deny any one book of the byble or to gloss upon plaine places of Scriptures as you are forced to doe I pray you Sall consider well these things for they touch narrowly your new Religion Further-more I dare give you this Challenge that whereas there have been soe many hundred Heresies for the space of one thousand sixhundred and seventy odd years in the Christian Church condemned and Anathematized by her and her Bishops if it can bee shew'd that the Roman Catholicks doe agree or participate in any one point truly and sincerly that was Iudged for an Heresy in old tyme and that the Roman Catholicks doe hold it in that sence and meaning wherin it was condemned that then wee will yield that our Religion is false and our Church noe true Church But on the other side wee Catholicks offer to shew clearly that you Protestants doe hold divers old and evident Heresyes that were condemned openly for Heresyes by the ancient Catholick Church and in the self-same sence and meaning wherin they were condemned as is evident in the Heresyes of Aerius against Fasting days commaunded by the Church and Prayer for the dead as alsoe of the Heretick Vigilantius that denyed Saints to Old heresys held by Protestants be prayd unto and theire Reliques to be honoured of the Heretick Iovinian that compared Matrimony with Virginity and other like for which wee aleage Epiph. Haeres 75. Hier. cont Vigilantium cont Iovin Aug. lib. de Haeresibus Heres 50. defence pag. 15. Doct. Fulke against Bristowes Motius pag. 54. the cleare testimonys of Saint Epiphanius Saint Hierome and Saint Augustin and the matter is soe cleare that Doctor Fulk his words are brought in against Doctor Bristo's motives saying that Epiphanius and Augustin were deceived in recording those for Heresyes which are not And that Ierome rather rayleth then reasoneth and that Vigilantius was a good man and his opinion sound Sall you see Mr. Fulk a grave Doctor in your Church drawne to that extremity in this point that hee is forced to Iudge Epiphanius and Augustin two grave and ancient Doctors and Saints alsoe to have beene deceived and Saint Ierom to have rather railed then reasoned and infine to say that Vigilantius a pestiferious condemned Heretick was a good man and his opinion sound Good Doctor Fulk you sore to high when you dare judge Doctors pillars of Gods Church to haue been deceiued can not wee say to you Fulk Quis te constituit iudicem Upon those eminent Doctors Sall this ought to trouble you in your new Religion that one of the graue Rabbins of your Church hath showd himselfs soe foolish and impious as to preferre Vigillantius a Notorious Heretick's Opinion to the Iudgment of three soe renowned Fathers in a matter concerning faith Speake my Frindâ—â—â— speak truth and shame the Devill is not this an intollerable presumption in your Fulk an obscure man not knowne out of the Iland of Brittain Sall I pray put these things together 1. That hee that houldeth any one Heresie can not be saued soe teacheth Scripture A man that is an Heretick after Ad Titum Cap. 3. the first and second Admonition auoyd knowing that hee that is such an one is subverted and sinneth being condemned by his owne Iudgment 2. It is confessed by both parts that only a true Roman Catholick can be saued as was declar'd aboue in pag. 40. 41. 42. and 43. as Doctor King Bishop of London proves out of your owne learned men and writers and cleare it is that hee that holdeth any Heresie cannot be a true Roman Catholick for that the Names and Natures of the things are repugnant and consequently if any Protestant of the English Church doth hold any one confessed Heresie hee cannot bee saued Now the cited Doctors have evidently showne and prou'd The now Church of England holdeth many Heresyes wherfore it cannot be the true Church and consequently those dying in that Church and Religion can not be sau'd Doctor Fulk saying those learned Fathers Epiphanius Augustin and Hierome were deceived and that Vigilantius the Hereticks Opinion was sound is a weak ground to rely upon in the present Doctrin and points of Faith and none but a madd man or in a fury of blinde zeal will give him creditt against those most holy and learned Fathers This is a high and dangerous point Sall you had need look well unto it The third Advertisment A dissention in Fundamentall points and Articles being between Protestants they must hold on another for Hereticks Ergò Sall if he mindes his Salvation will part from that Church IN the true Church the beleevers in all Countrys and places agree in all Articles of Faith as it is in the Roman Catholick Church and as it was in the Tyme of the Apostles as this Text signify's And the multitud of the beleevers Actor Cap. 4. Irinaeus c. 1. l. 1. had one hart and one Soule Saint Irinaeus excellently teacheth this Quam accepit Praedicationâ—m fidem Ecclesia diligenter custodit quasi unam domum inhabitans similiter credit quasi unam animam habens unum coâ— consonanter haec praedicat docet tradit quasi unum possidens cor That is The Church keeps diligently the Faith and preaching shee received as if the whole Church were dwelling in one House shee likewise beleeveth as if all the beleevers had but one Soule and one hart and shee preacheth and teacheth and delivereth all points of Faith as if all the beleevers had
Apostolicale will you heare these holy men speake in theire owne Cathechisme Albe it say they the substance of the Doctrine comprised Catebhisme VVest infine in the abridgment commonly called th' Apostles Creed be fully sett forth in each of the Cathechismes soe as there is noe necessity of incerting the Creed it selfe Yet it is here anexed not as though it were composed by the Apostles What new masters or rather Monsters are these What ungodly pestiferrous Doctrin is this to say and teach the Creed is a human Collection and not made by the Apostles this they declared as was said and after such Declaration they did not say it neither did they require it to be said any more of others as the custome was formerly at Babtising infants all this they did to put the Creed out of Estimation and use now this Innovation calling the Creed in question the beleevers therafter could be sure of nothing Thus the Presbyterians indeavered to dash th' Authority of the Cymbol the principall foundation of Religion O abomination of furious zealots that would change the Apostolicall Creed which was taught for such and soe beleeved and esteemed in all ages by the consent of all Christian Nations and said dayly by all the Servants of God young and old But against the Impiety of those men wee have the Authority and Testimony of all the ancient Fathers for the Credit and Estimation of the Creed Cardinall Barronius in the first tome of Baron Tom. 1. Annal. an 44. N. 15. seq his Annals doth shew by the Testimony of the holy and ancient Fathers that the Creed was composed by the holy Apostles a little before they were to part and goe into severall Countryes to preach the Ghospell unto the Gentils to the end there might bee a certaine short cleare rule of Faith in which they all agreed wherin they were to instruct all persons and by which as by a certaine badge all Christians might be knowne Be pleased now to heare the Fathers speak of the Symbol Saint Ambrose saith Let us beleeve the Symbol S. Amb. Serm. 18. Epist 81. of the Apostles which the Roman Church doth ever preserve and keepe inviolate Saint Hierom saith The Symbol of our Faith and hope which was delivered by th' Apostles is not written in Paper or Ink but in the fleshly Tables of the hart Saint Augustin speaks thus The comprehension Aug. Serm. 42. de trad and perfection of our Faith is the Creed It is simple saith hee short and full That its simplicity might serve the rudeness its shortness the Memory And its fullness the Instruction of the hearers Else where hee saith this is a Symboll brief in words but large in Misteryes for whatsoever is declared in the Scriptures or foretold by the Prophets c. is contained and briefly confessed in it To show the excellency of the Creed which is therfore to be often sayd Saint Augustin speaks thus Render Aug. homil fortitu your Symboll render it unto the Lord be not weary to rehearse it the repitition of it is good least forgetfullness creep one thee doe not say I sayd it yesternight I sayd it to day I say it every day I have it well Remember thy Faith Behold thy selfe let thy Creed be a mirrour unto the there see thy selfe if thou beleeve all that thou confessest thy selfe to beleeve and rejoyce dayly in thy Faith Let it be thy Riches the dayly apparell of thy Soule Doe you not cloath your selfe when you rise Soe by remembring thy Creed cloath thy Soule least per-adventure forgetfullness make it naked Saint Ambrose cales this the Seale of our Ambr. lib. 3. de Virgin Tom. 4. hart which wee ought dayly to review and the Watch-word of a Christian which should bee in a readiness in all dangers Wee have the Creed by an assured Tradition and Testimony of the Church which Saint Augustin holds of noe less certainty then the Scriptures as is signifyed by these words I would not have beleeved saith the Saint Aug. Cont. Epist fund Cap. 5. the Ghospell unless the Authority of the Catholick Church had moved mee c. And that Authority being once weakned neither can I beleeve the Ghospell Seeing these Presbiterians have abollished the Authority of the Crâ—ed saying it is not Apostolicall what in Gods-name have these Doctors given to the People in place of the Symboll The holy Covenant and as the Creed is denyed by these men to be Apostolicall soe is the Covenant cry'd up to be Divine for they call it Gods Covenant and the Confession of the Scottish Kirck This was truly a rare exchange to deny the Creed to be Apostolique and to cry up the Covenant to be devine To Rob us of a most ancient clear briefe positive sacred Confession of Faith made by the holy Apostles famous in all ages and Universally received throughout the whole world full of great Misteryes and divine Expressions and to give us in place of it a new long obscure negative Confession or rather noe Confession of Faith full of terrible oathes Execrations and Combinations devised by some few discontented heads and by cunning and force obtruded upon the Nation much suspected at the beginning to bee nothing but a meere pretence of Religion as it was notoriously known to be a humane Invention and as it 's now at length after all its disguises manifested for such unto the World It 's good fame hath not lasted long neither at home nor a broad It gott some footing in England by cunning and worldly interest but these soone failing it was quickly detected and rejected The Christian Mediator sayth to this purpose That the last Reformation Christ Mod. pag. 2. settled with soe solemne a Covenant and carryed on with soe furious a zeal is already by better lights discovered to be meerly humane and therfor deseruedly layd aside These are the words of the converted Presbyterian Sall I would now faine know what is your Iudgement of these kinde of Protestants perhaps you will say they are noe Protestants but Geneva the acknowledged school of English and Scottish Protestants will tell you that Presbiterians are the purest Protestants of all and for ought I could ever learne the Church of England held and holds them soe according to Doctor Whitakers manner of speaking Tell mee Sall have you ever seen any act of Parlament in England declaring that Presbiterians are not Protestants or any penal lawes enacted against them noe such thing though they differ as was said from the Episcopall or Royall Protestants in fundamentall points of Religion that of the order and dignity of Episcopacy which they hold to bee Anti-Christian and Tyranicall and noe way de Iure Divino The other of the kings supremacy in Spiritualibus which they flatly deny they alsoe differ from the Kings Protestants in abollishing the Lords prayer and the Hymne of Glorification to the B. Trinity and in denying the Greed to be Apostolicall
God an infalible spiritt of rightly understanding the Scripture In which hee walked Religiously according to Doctor Whitakâ—rs definition of the privat Spiritt Wee Catholicks that have nothing to doe with this privat Spiritt doe firmly believe God hath given a speciall Grace and infalible Spiritt of expounding the Scripture and defining Theorems of faith to generall Councells assembled together in the Holy Ghost Vbi duo vel tres congregati sunt in nomine meo ibi ero in medio illorum That likwise the Pope hath this infalible Spiritt quando loquitur ex Cathedra but privat men bee they ever soe great Saints or learned wee doe not allow this infalibility unto them though wee doubt not but the Doctors of the Church who submitts themselves in all to the Church are specially assisted by the Holy Ghost in interpreting the word of God The pride of this privat Spiritt makes Protestants to make noe account of the ancient Fathers and Doctors nor of generall Councells or any diffinition or determination of the Church Ex. G. the second Counsell of Nice defines the Doctrin of Tradition in this manner Si quu Traditionem Ecclesiae sive scripto sive consuetudine valentem non curaverit anathema sit The privat spiritt of Doctor Whitaker spurning at this Councell said Generall Councells may erre Behold one Doctor of the English Church doth blast with a breath all the authority and creditt of this generall Councell Tell mee Sall is not this a Spiritt of pride in Doctor Whitaker a little Pigme contesting with soe many tale Gyants of Sanctity and learning all the Biphops and great Doctors of that famous Councell If wee produce the Authority of Fathers and Saints excellently learned as Cyprian Gregory Ambross Ierom Augustin and others behold the Father of Protestanisme your prime Doctor Luther whom your Church terms a holy man and the Hely-as of Germany speaks resolutly Gods Word is aboue all the Devine Majesty makes for mee in soe much as I regard not if a thousaad Augustins and as many Cyprians stood against mee Was this man in his sences Luth. Tom. 2 contra Henricum Regem Angliae when hee vapered in this kinde but how did Luther prove the devine Majesty made for him by noe other means but by his privat infalible spiritt which hee supposed though by Scripture hee could not prove it hee himselfe had and those Saints had it not See now Sall if you are happy in hauing Luther a monster of sinne with his privat Spiritt on your side and Cyprian Augustin and the rest of holy Doctors against you whome you have forsaken to stick unto Luther By this privat Spiritt you Protestant Domineer over all sorts of men interpreting Scripture as you please and who interprets otherwise be they universitys Doctors Fathers Councells yea and the very high Bishop of old Rome himselfe all erre and why soe because they have not the privat Spiritt of Protestanisme what a rediculous thing this is even Common reason teacheth us By this privat Spiritt you Protestants admit for Canonicall Scriptures all you please and you declare Apocriphall what you please by this Spiritt you take what Traditions you please and by the same reject what you please by this Spiritt you disâ—anon the Books of the Machabees Ecclesiasticus and others those said Books have bine acknowledg S. Aug. in doct Christ l. 2 c. 8. Can. 47. for Canonicall by Saint Augustin and the third Councell of Africk You will doubtless tell mee that your chiefest Doctors Luther and Calvin had this infallible Spiritt in expounding the Scriptures and yet they give quite contrary interpretations of one and the same passage of Scripture as this Hoc est Corpus meum Luther understands Matt. cap. 26. that Text Secundum Litteram and says it is soe of faith to be understood and condemns for Hereticks the Sacramentariant Swinglians and Calvinistes who understand that place figuratively Luther hath this saying Englished I doe Luth. Ep. ad Har vagium Tom. 7. VVitt f 380. art 28. contra Lovanienses Tom. 2. VVitt. f. 503. protest before God and the world that I doe not agree with them the Sacramentarys nor ever will while the world standeth but will have my hands cleare from thee blood of those sheep which these Hereticks doe drive from Christ deceive and kill And againe in the same place Cursed be the Concord and Charity of Sacramentaryes for ever and ever to all Eternity Luther hee understands the above cited place litterally and possitively affirms that the body and blood of Christ is realy and substancially in the Sacrament of the Altar Hee likwise affirms but erroniously that bread is there with the body of Christ Calvin takes a quite Contrary way and affirms possitively the Body and blood of Christ is not realy and substantially in the Sacrament but figuratively see as hee expounds this Text Hoc est Corpus meum thus Hac est figura Corporis mei now what is more different then the Body of Christ to be realy in the Sacrament and the Body of Christ not to be realy in the Sacrament Sall reconcile the best you can these two great Doctors of your Church for plaine reason tells us if the Spiritt of one of them bee true the other must bee a lying Spiritt And those are the men these Monsters of incontinency and pride cover'd with all sort of vices are the Doctors and Masters you have now chosen Seeing then this privat lying Spiritt approves of expounding Scripture at will and pleasure allowing only such exposition of Gods Word as sorts well to the supporting of theire owne errors seeing it tramples all Authority of Councells Fathers and Doctors who expounded Gods Word differently from the Protestant Church seeing it ingenders contrariety in Doctrin even in the injoyers thereof as was now shewed in Luther and Calvin through each mans misconstruction of Scripture To conclude seeing the exorbitancy pride and petulancy of this Spiritt is such that it expects that all men should receive from it as from a second Moyses the Tables of our Evangelicall Law I pray sitt downe and saddly consider what you have done in following this pestiperous Spiritt and wandering with it have separated your selfe from your holy Mother the Church IV. CHAPTER BEfore resolving any thing upon this Ad tertum quere to wit of what Religion is Sall become having forsaken the Catholick Religion I must tell you hee hath been weakly armed against the evill temptation that overcame him hee hath not been a tale strong oak resisting the storme sathan rais'd against him but a wavering reed without strength or stay hee stood not stiffly upon the Rock of Peter but yielded without fighting Tempore tentationis recessit harken weake pusilanimus Sall to old Tertulian telling you Quod Hereses apud Tertul. prescrip cap. 2. eos multum valeant qui infide non valent That is that Heresies are strong against those who are not strong in theire
faith To vanquish a coward that makes noe resistance is but a smale Glory and Victory for a Champion the tentation that mastered you was like to such a Champion Illa tentatio vicit te non quia non potuit ipsa vinci repelli sed quia tu qui victus es nullarum virium fuisti That tentation mastered you not because the tentation was strong and could not be vanquished but because you that was vanquished was of noe force or resolution Tertulian speaks much to the same purpose in those tearms Hereses de quorundam infirmitatibus habent quod valeant non valentes si bene valentes fidem incurrant That is to say Hereses take theire force from the weakeness of some but would have noe force if they encountred men strong in faith You have beene indeed cast downe because you would not stand and fight for I dare affirme there are hundreds of simple honest lay-men Catholicks borne in Ireland would have rather suffered torments and death it selfe then abjure theire faith as you have don for that they would have made good use of the Grace God hath given them as you have not done but like a languishing man hast yielded to that black temptation over which they would have tryumphed It was exellently said of the formentioned Tertulians Nemo saepiens est nisi fidelis nemo major nisi Christianus nemo Christianus nisi qui usque ad finem perseveraverit Behold this Sage Father holds noe man wise but a man strong in his faiih noe man great or noble but a Christian noe man a Christian but hee that continues stout and faithfull to God in Combatts and temtations and more especialy when the storme of persecution rises upon this tryall you fainted and forsooke your Master and your Religion and now of what Religion I beseech you are you I am say you a Protestant a true Child of the Church of England but of what Sect or kind of Protestants are you is a new Queere for under this Notion of Protestant pass Lutherans Calvinist Moderat and Rigid Swinglians Anabaptists Phanaticts or the last Sect which calls themselves Quakers Shall I speak my mind to you having gone out of the Roman Catholick Church and quit the faith therin professed all along from the Apostles tymes till this day you are of noe Religion for all the rest is but Paganisme Judaysme and Heresy This assertion is evident out of the great Doctor of Nations in his Epistle to the Ephesians where hee says plainely Vnus Dominus una Fidos unum Baptisma Ad Ephes cap. 4. One Lord one Faith one Baptisme Ergo there are not two faithes to be sau'd in but one only and that the Roman Catholick Faith that noe man can be sau'd without this sole only faith Saint Paul teacheth clearely in his Epistle to the Hebrewes as thus Sine fide autem imposibele est placere Deo the words following give evidently the reason Credere enim eportet accedentem ad Deum Epist ad Hebr. cap. 11. quia est inquirentibus se remunerator sit But without faith it is imposible to please God for hee that cometh to God must believe that hee is and is a rewarder to them that seek him That the Roman Catholick Faith is that only true faith wherin men are to be saued is evidently confirmed for that it is taught and defended only in the Roman Catholick Church which hath the true signes and propertys of a true Church for that shee is one only and can not be many that shee is visible and visibly dispersed over the whole world and therfore Catholick and Universall that shee is infallible and can not be deceived nor deceive depending in her Doctrin upon the infallible Revelation of God being assisted with Christ's promise of the perpetuall presence of the Holy Ghost with her and consequently can neuer faile or fall into error that shee containeth not only the good or the elect in this life but alsoe divers wicked members as the barne doth both wheat and chaff that likewise shee hath continued perpetually visible from Christ to our days by manifest Successions of Popes and Bishops knowne to the world and shall soe to the end that there is noe hope of salvation out of this Church and without this Faith though aman live otherwise neuer soe well or give neuer soe much Almes or give even his blood or suffer neuer soe much for Christ his name Wee know there are some that say and hold that Catholicks and Protestants can be sau'd each in his owne Religion But that is a desperate Opinion and the refuge of a very Carless Conscience if not voyd of all faith Noe Catholick is of this mind they are only Protestants that say soe for wee Catholicks hold with the Fathers of the Church that salvation is only as before was said to be found in the Catholick Church among others Sainct Irenaeus and Tertulian neare the Apostles tyme and after them Epiphanius Theodoret and Saint Augustin doe specially treat of this matter The reason is evident in as much as Catholicks and Protestants doe disagree in substantiall Articles and Theorems of Christian faith theire disagreements being knowne to be in above a hundred points great and small partly about the God-head of Christ his Church head members and Authority therof in his descent to hell remission of sinns all which are Articles of the common Creed partly about the Sacraments both of theire nature number force and efficacy about the Real Presence the effect of Baptisme externall Sacrifices Purgatory and the Invocation of Saints praying for the dead faith and workes manner of Justification and the like All which are knowne to be very substantiall points It is therfore very absurd and plainly tending to a secret kinde of Athisme to uphold the Catholick and Protestant Religion doe not differ in substantiall points and the differrence being supposed as it must be it is an Heresy to hould the Catholicks and Protestants may be sau'd each in his owne Religion and Profession but Catholicks can be sau'd in theirs which can not be said of the Protestant and his for being out of the Arke Debet perire as Saint Jerom says regnante deluvio Consider therfor Sall having departed out of the Catholick Church what Eternity you may wait for an Eternity of Flames darkness and inconsolable lamentation Vbi ignis Sulphur spiritus procellarum pars calicis eorum this shall be your inheritance I must confess learned men unless careless are not soe easily intrapped by Hereticks for all this I see with all your Mastership of Philosophy and Divinity in Spaigne you haue bine deluded and circumvented by the Protestant Arch-Bishop of Cashel who likly is not an unlearned man hee hath not been carless in working your eternall ruine and undoeing and it is usually the principall care of Hereticks to pervert true believers as Tertulian doth excellently teach Studium est saith hee Heriticis
is as necessary as meat drink or sleep and further yet when a man hath taken a wife hee may upon causes lye with her sister or with the next of her kinde and if these will bee obstinate hee may take the mayd instead of the Mistris and with all this may be not withstanding as holy and just as ever was Peter or Paul or the Mother of Christ If all this be true as Martin Luther warranteth us who can complaine saith the defence of the Censure of the hard way to heaven who can say the Gate is streight as Christ our Saviour did If these things be soe are not they great fooles that mortify theire bodyes austerely fasting and praying Christ our Saviour said Regnum Caelorum vim patitur violenti rapiunt illud But Luther says that saying of Christ is but a fable for soe much as by only believing you are as holy as the blessed Virgin the Mother of our Saviour for according to his Articles of Justification by faith only hee holds fasting praying and good works have noe influence upon Salvation But nothing of Luthers Doctrin is more impious and abominable then his abollishing the Masse upon a conference hee had with the Deuill to whome in the ende hee yielded This made Mr. Walsingham a prudent man in his Search into matters of Religion say to Doctor Downham who much praised Luther for a holy man I alsoe esteemed Luther to have binne a man of God but now ◠finde him by what the Author of the defence of the Censure says to have beene a very bad man and to have opposed himselfe against the Church of Rome by instigation of the Deuill himselfe with whome hee had much conference as is proved out of his owne works And surely Sir saith hee to Doctor Downham I think it concerneth mee to bee of some better faith and Religion then such as should have the originall and beginning from the Divill for what concord can there be between Christ and Belial light and darkness Luther himselfe setts forth his conference with the Devill in these words Contigit me sub mediam noctem subito expergefieri Luth. Tom. 7. VVlte pridted anno 1558. ubi Satan mecum caepit ejusmodi Disputationem audi inquit Luthere Doctor perdocte c. That is It happened saith Luther upon a certaine tyme lib. de Eissa privata c. unct Sacerde fol. 228 that I was suddainly awaked about midnight then Sathan beganne this Disputation with mee saying Harken right learned Doctor Luther Nosti te quindecim annis Caelebrasse Missas privatas penè quotidie c. Thou knowest thou hast celebrated privat Mass for the space of fifteen years almost every day what if such Masses were horrible Idolatrie What if Christ his body and blood were not present there but that thou only didst a dor◠Bread and Wine Wherunto I answered saith Luther that I was an anoynted Priest received Unction and Consecration from a Bishop and did all these things as from the Commaundement and Obedience of my Elders why then should I not consecrate There passed after other arguments of Sathan against the Mass and Luthers replyes and among others Luther said that hee celebrated Mass in the intention and faith of the Church and that the Church did rightly believe and think But saith Luther Sataen è contra fortius vehementius instans age prome vbi Scriptum est c. That is Sathan urging and replying more vehemently said goe toe shew mee where it is written that an ungodly and unbelieving man may consecrat in the faith and intention of the Church where hath God taught or commaunded this To which interogations and arguments of the Deuill Luther confessing that hee could not answer did yield in all points here touched by him except in only one which was against the real presence It is remarkable that the deuines of Hospinian in bis Histir Sacram part 2. printed Tiguri 1612. fol. 20. Wittenbargh publishing theire reasons of abrogating the Mass delivered the very same reasons and arguments that the Deuill brought against the Mass in his conference with Luther and among the rest this argument Confugiebatis ad Mariam Sanctos illi erant mediatores inter vos Christum sic erepta est gloria Christo That is You rann to Mary and the Saints these were the mediators between you and Christ and soe glory and honour is taken away from Christ Here you see gentle reader that Luther yielding to the Deuills reasons and arguments abollished the Mass and that the Wittenberg Devines have made use of these arguments made by Satan and that Luther himselfe afterwards us'd the same arguments against the Catholicks And as Mr. Walsingham says in his search into matters of Religion that the same Articles are now held in England namely against the Masse against the Ordination and Consecration of Priestes against the Real Presence against Privat Receiving and Communicating about the Faith of the Church about honouring and invocation of our Lady and other Saints And what is yet more maruelous to mee here is that the Deuill alleadged such arguments against Papists Religion in favour of Protestants as though hee had loved the Protestant Religion and hated that of the Catholiks which they would say is a good signe that the Catholick Religion is the truth And realy the Catholicks in all reason ought to think soe Now let any man think with himselfe of what spiritt a man soe conversant with the Diuill was who says Diabolus frequentius propius mihi condormit Incollo Mensal Germ. Edit fol. 281 quam mea Catharina That is That the Deuill doth sleepe with mee offtener and nearer unto mee then my owne Catharin that is to say my owne wife Catharin Boren or could write any thing of true Religion and Piety and how dangerous a point it were for a man to rely much upon him that was soe beset with contrary Spiritts and Deuills For as the Spirit of Christ can not but perswade good things and true Doctrin Soe cannot the Spirit of the Devill but perswade bad things and fals Doctrine either openly or covertly for it is the Devills function and profession to deceive all men and lead them to damnation The Matters of Luthers conference with the Deuill faling out to bee odious and shamfull sundry excuses are Cherke in his reply to the Censur printed 1581. Fulke in his treaeice against the desence os the Censure printed by Thomas Thomas p. 234. Lavat in his Hist Sacra printed Tiguri 1553. sol 24. pretended in answer therunto Mr. Charke and Mr. Fulke doe answer that by Luthers foresaid discourse of his Disputation had with the Devill is meant only a spirituall fight in minde and noe bodily conference Is it possible two Doctors of Divinity in the English Church would give soe weake an excuse did not Lavather himselfe confess it to have beene an apparition Luther being awak't did not Luther himselfe
first fruits of Luthers extraordinary mission Mala arbor malos fructus facit Will you have all this evidently proved by the Testimony of prime Protestant Authors wherof Luthers is one Hee speaks thus The World Luth. in Postilla super Evang. groweth dayly worse men are now more revengefull covetous licentious then they were ever before in the Papacy when wee were seduced Dom. 1 Adventus Dominica 26. post Trinit by the Pope every man did willingly follow good works and now every man neither saith nor knoweth any thing but how to gett all to himselfe by exactions pillage theft lying usery c. The second Author is Erasmus one of Mr. Fox his Saints and Confessors in his acts and monuments hee says Circumspice populum istum Evangelicum c. Eras in Epist ad vulturiam neocomum written anno 1529. profer mihi quem istud Evangelium ex commessatore sobrium ex impudico reddiderit verecundum ego tibi multos ostendam qui facti funt scipsis deteriores That is Look upon those Evangelicall people bring mee one glutton that this Ghospell made sober an incontinent man made chast I will shew you many that have exceeded even themselves in wickedness and hee further saith Quos antea noveram puros c. That is Who I have knowne before pure cleane sincere and voyd of craft and knavery I have seen these men after professing this new Evangelicall Sect beginne to speake of mayds c. to Eras in Epist ad Fratres idferiores Germani◠leave of theire prayers to become very impatient and vaine and meer vipers in theire manners and have as it were cast of human nature I speake what I know And hee saith yet further there Nov◠monachum qui pro una duxerit tres c. I knew a Monk who insteed of one wife marryed three and I knew a Priest that after hee had marryed a wife found out that shee was marryed to another before I will not name to you a certaine Priest whipt here at Basille about the streets for his wickedness being of the same profession with these Ghospelers c. Hee testify'd publickly that after hee had once addicted himselfe to that Sect hee rann into all kinf of wickedness I will not say what hee told of the whole Sect c. hither to Erasmus Musculus a famous Lutheran saith Muscul Dom. 1 Adv. in Lib. Thus stands the case at present with us Lutherans that if any bee desirous to see a great rabble of knaues of de Prophesia Christi turbulent persons deceitfull Coseners Userers let him goe to any Citty where the Ghospell is purely preacht and hee shall find them there by multitudes for it is more manifest then the day-light that there were neuer among the Ethnicks Turks and other Infidells more unbridled and unruly persons among whome all vertue and honesty is quite extinct then are among the Professors of the Ghospell And Sall is not this a faire Testimony Musculus gives of the first fruits of your Reformations Perhaps good works and Sanctity some years after follow'd your new Doctrin and Ghospelling I cannot finde it soe but quite contrary for Mr. Stubbs in his Motives to good works printed anno 1596. In his Epistle to the Lord Major of London saith That after his trauel in compassing all England round about I found the people in most parts dissolute proud envious malicious covetous ambitious carless of good works c. And after him Mr. Richard Giffery a Protestant Devine in his Sermon at Pauls Gross 7. Octob. Printed 1604. page 31 saith I may freely speake what I have plainly seene in the course of some travells and observation of some courses that in Flanders was never more Drunckenness in Italy more wantonness in Iury more Hypocrisy in Turky more Impiety in Tartary more Iniquity then is practised generally in England particularly in London And if wee may give credit to the relation of some Catholicks and Protestants that come a broad it is noe whit better there at present The Centuristes Cent. 7. c. 7. Col. 181. Complayning of the want of good works among those of theire owne Profession and speaking of the Catholick common people in the blindness of Papistry as they term it say thus They were the Catholicks soe attentive to theire prayers as they bestow'd almost the whole day therin c. They did exhibit to the Magistrat due obedience they were most studious of amity concord and Society soe as they would easily remitt inivryes all of them were carefull to spend theire tyme in an honest vocation and labour to the poore and strangers they were most courteous and liberall and in theire Iudgments and Contracts most true Sall is not this a faire Testimony wee Catholicks have from our adversaryes of vertue piety and good works strong it must be coming from adversaryes Now I would faine know how can Luther and his new Reformation save those that received his Doctrin hee cannot doe it by good works wheras himselfe Erasmus Musculus and the Centuristes Confess they had noe merita bona but multa merita mala Noe good works noe justice noe piety hee answers let them live as they please and doe noe good works let them have faith and live neuer soe wickedly they are sau'd for this is a principall Article of Lutheran Faith and Doctrin that Who doth once truly believe though hee committed thousands of Murthers Adulteryes and most wicked sinns cannot be seperated from God nor fall from his Grace and which is more cannot loose his Faith by any sinn Let any man judge if ther can bee any principle and Article of Faith more desperate and impious then this XI CHAPTER Of Calvins Doctrin his Calumnies against Catholicks and of his Life and Conversation Iohn Calvin borne at Noyon in France an eloquent man and famous with Protestants for his writings especially his Books of Institutions which are more esteemed in England and whersoever his Sect beares sway then the Cannons of holy Church and the Doctrin and Authority of the ancient Fathers Hee is very well described by a French Author as thus Calvin comme une meschante Georg. l'Apostre contre les 150. Heresies du Ministre la Bansserie c. Arraignèe a couru par dessus toutes les Heresies passees e de chacun en succèe le venin le plus pernicieux en compaesant une venenade en a enbevionne la Christiente That is Calvin like a venomous spiderr hath runne over all Heresyes of former tymes and hath suckt out of each of them the most pernitious venim and made therof a poysened Potion and gave therof to drinck to the Christian World Hee raked up many old Heresies from hell but nothing can be more blasphemous then two Articles of his Doctrin The one that hee makes God Author of sinne affirming that hee damnes soules to Hell by an eternall inevitable and unalterable decree and Iudgment without any regard
of a Priest which to requite one curtesy for another made the King connive at his keeping a Woeman and at some of his Opinions though som what contrary to the statute of the six Articles In King Henry the eight's days Cranmer professed to be Catholick and writt a book for the Real Presence In King Edward the sixt days hee professed Protestancy and writt another book against the Real Presence Bishop Bonner produced both those books against him in Iudgment Hee conspired with the Protector Summerset to overthrow K. H. will and testament and afterwards conspired with Dudlay of Northumberland to ruine the Protector hee joyned with Dudlay and the Duke of Suffolk against Queen Mary for the Lady Iane Gray and immediatly after with Arondell Shrewsbury Pembrook Paget ane others against the same Duke finally when hee was condemned in Queen Mary's tyme for treason and Heresie and his Treason being pardoned hopeing the same favour might be extended to his Heresie hee recanted and abjur'd the same but seeing the temporall Lawes reserved noe mercy for relapsed Hereticks who are presumed not to be truly penitent or converted hee was soe exasperated therby that at his death moved more by Passion then Conscience hee renounced the Roman Catholick Religion to which hee had soe lately conformed These were the Godly men who framed the XXXIX Articles of the Religion of the English Church the Liturgie and the book of Sacraments Rites and Ceremonies of the Protestant Church and though it may seem incredible that an Athist a Iew a Contemporiser or meer Pollitian a Presbiterian a riged Lutheran a halfe Lutheran and an Anty Lutheran or Sacramentarian should all make one Religion yet when men doe but dissemble and deliver opinions to please others and profitt themselves and have noe Religion at all they may without difficulty concurr in some generall poynts of Christianity framing negative Articles such as many of the XXXIX Articles are Impugning the particular truthes of Orthodox faith This was the case of the Church of England and men disagreeing in opinions made up one religion such as it was The Fabrick of those Articles being rays'd as was said let any Christian be Iudge whether it be more safe and more rationall to rely in matter of faith upon the Tradition of the whole Catholick Church and ancient Liturgy's and Rites and upon the Testimony of all the holy Fathers and Counsells since the Apostles tymes then to take the bare Word of Cranmer a man of slippery life and Religion Let any Christian man I say bee Iudge whether this man together with Ochinus a Iew Buzer an Athist or at the best a Iew Peter Martir of the Religion the Parlament would have him to be of Hooper and Latimer and Rogers stubborn discontented Presbiterians Bale and Coverdale Lutherans two lew'd and runagate Fryers whether hee that cares for his owne soule should rather believe these wicked impious men in points of Faith and marters of Salvation then all the ancient Fathers and the holy Councells Let us now see after Dudlay and his faction of Protestant Religion and the Citty of London had crowned Iane Gray what became of them and how long they were in the roofe and prosperity Queen Marys courage and resolution and her owne good right Protestancy being not as yet soe deeply rooted at once with those loyall Catholicks that waited on hervertue and fortune quashed Dudlays Rebellion and designe those lewd Apostate Monks and Priests that coyned the XXXIX Articles then vanished away like smoke and brought Dudlay to his distruction hee was put to death for treason and Rebellion Upon the scaffold hee declared that hee had never been a Protestant in his Iudgment and only made use of its principels and Profession for temporall ends as to raise his family and make his Sonne marryed to Lady Gray King c. Hee advertised the people of the new Religions in consistency with peace and quiet that its Clergie were but ungodly men and trumpets of sedition The substance of his speech is set downe by Doctor Heylin a Protestant in Doct. Heil Eccls Restau Queen Mary pag. 19 these-words Hee admonished the Spectators to stand to the Religion of theire Ancesters rejecting that of latter date which had occationed all the misery of the foregoing 30 years and that for prevention for the future if they desired to present theire soules unspotted in the sight of God and were truly affected to theire country they should expell those tempests of sedition the preachers of the reformed Religion that for himselfe what soever had otherwise been pretended hee professed noe other Religion then that of his fathers for testimony wherof hee apealed to his good frind and Ghostly Father the Lord Bishop of Worcester and finally that being blinded with ambition hee had been contented to make wrake of his conscience by temporising for which hee professed himselfe seriously repentant and soe aeknowledged the Iustice of his death A Declaration saith Doctor Heyling very vnseasonable whether true or false as that which rendered him less pittied by the one side and more scorned by the other This is a more politick then pious obseruation of Doctor Heylin would hee not haue men confess theire faults and profess theire faith when they are dying and would hee haue them preferr the vanity of the pitty or scorne of the World when they are to bid the whole World adieu before the Satisfaction and Salvation of the Soule Sall hath there been soe much as one man of your first Doctors and Reformers and of all those that contriu'd the XXXIX Articles hath there been I say soe much as one just man before God walking in all the Commaundements and Iustifications of our Lord without blame one vertuous soule that mortify'd his body and loved Chastity one Priest or Monk amongst them all that was bonus odor Christi Noe but all of them lew'd dissolute infamous Priests and Religious men that broak theire holy vowes Rebells against God and against his annoynted on earth Kings and. Magistrats rayfing tumults and seditions in all the countrys they liu'd in such kinde of men they have been though Iohn Fox a ridiculous man canonized many of them for great Saints of which wee shall treat more at large in the ensuing Chapter They haue beene Cores that have rent the Coat and garment of Christ and made a great Scisme in Gods Church like Ballaaems they have cheated Gods People for gaining Wordly Comodityes and Pleasures like Gains they have murthered millions of innocent Abells with Hereticall Doctrine and pestiferous manners and Conversation You are not ignorant Sall of what Saint Paul writes to Timothy And 2. ad Tim. cap. 3. thus know thou that in the last days shall aproatch perilous tymes And men shall be lovers of themselves covetuous hauty proud blasphemous wicked without affection Incontinent unmercifull traitours stubern puffed up and lovers of voluptuousness more then of God Lay your hand upon your hart
that this Doctrin was first invented in the tyme of that Councell The Canon or Diffinition of that great Councell was In haec Verba Verum Christi Corpus sanguis in hoc Sacramento Altaris sub speciebus Panis Vini ver aceter continentur Transubstantiatis Pane in Corpus Vino in Sanguinem potestate divina For the better declaring of this truth Sall you know the Church doth not make new Articles of Faith when it defines any controverted Doctrin It only declares that such Doctrin was delivered to the primative Church and soe downe along to us and groundeth its difinition upon Scripture or authentick Tradition As the Protestants object against Transubstantiation that it is a nouelty Soe did the Arrians against Consubstantiality that it was a novelty brought in by the Councell of Nice wheras said Councell did only define Consubstantiality to have been from the Apostles tyme an Article of Faith and decreed the same should be declared and signify'd by the word Omousion in like manner the Councell of Lateran did define for a mistery of faith Transubstantiation which was soe before theire Difinition and then they agreed upon the word Transubstantiation but the thing by that word signifyed was before beleeved as an Article of Faith by the whole Church though expressed in other tearms as those of Mutation Transmutation Transelementation Conversion of the Bread and Wine into the Body and Bloud of Christ In the mean tyme I can not understand how Sall a new Sacramentarian should dispute with us about the Doctrin of Transubstantiation seing hee slattly denyes the Body and Bloud of Christ to be realy and substantially present in the Sacrament What is more impertinent then to dispute of the manner of a thing or being that you hould has noe being The Lutherans who beleeve the Body and Bloud of Christ to be realy and substantially in the Sacrament though erroniously they likwise hould Bread to be there have some reason to dispute with us about the manner of Christes being there by Transubstantiation or otherwise The first Hereticks that impugned Transubstantiation were the Capharnites who said Quomodo potest hic nobis carnem Ioanes Cap. 6. suam dare ad manducandum And againe Durus est hic sermo When our Saviour said I am the living Bread that came downe from heaven If any man eat of this Bread hee shall live for ever and the Bread which I will give is my flesh for the life of the World The Iewes therfore strove among themselves saying How can this man give us his Flesh to eat This saying is hard and who can heare it Sall you see by this is becom a Capharnite and in this point soe are all that imbrace the XXXIX Articles of the Church of England About the yeare 780. certaine Greek Hereticks called Iconomachi held this Sacrament to be only an Image of Christ and that his Body was not realy in the Sacrament In the yeare 800. one Ioannes Scotus of the Latin Church fell into the same Heresie and after him two ages and more in the year 1050 Berengarius denyed Transubstantiation and the Real-Presence Before these men none did impugne this high mistery of Faith but all the Church did quietly and unanimously beleeve the Real-Presence of the Body and Bloud of Christ in the Sacrament and the aforesaid Iconomachi and all other in this point were confuted by the Fathers and condemned by the Church in severall generall Councells The latter Hereticks as Zwinglians Calvinists and and the like Sacramentarians have alsoe been condemned by the Church In this high point of Doctrin wee are to beleeve and maintain what the Canons and Counsells of the holy Church have defined as that of Lateran aboue cited and others and of the Councell of Trent expressly and distinctly Concil Triden Sess 13. Cap. 1. 2. 3. 6. difining this mistery in the 13. Session in the sixth Chapter it defines more especially the Doctrin of Transubstantiation which is the Conversion of the whole substance of Bread into the substance of the Body of Christ our Lord and of the whole Substance of Wine into the Substance of his Bloud Quae Conversio soe ends the Chapter convenienter propriè a Sancta Catholica Ecclesia Transubstantiatio est appellata The first Canon is in haec verba Si Cone Triden Sess 13. Canon 1. 2. 6. quis negaverit in Sanctissimae Eucharistiae Sacramento contineri vere realiter substantialiter Corpus Sanguinem una cum anima divinitate Domini nostri Iesu Christi ac proinde totum Christum sed dixerit tantummodo esse in eo ut in signo Vel figura aut virtute Anathema sit This Canon is point-blanck against Calvinians and Sacramentarians The second Canon is against Wicklefians and Lutherans the sixth doth define the Worship of Adoration due to our Saviour in the holy Sacrament of the Eucharist Wee cannot follow better guides and masters herein then the ancient Fathers men inspired by God in theire writings who all of them concerning the Sacrament of the Aulter have beleeu'd as wee doe and asserted the true and Catholick Doctrin touching the same in theire writings if Sall hath any esteem for those holy men let him take paines to read theire writings and hee shall finde I promise him that they all held this Article to bee of Faith to witt that Christ is realy and substantialy present in this Sacrament by Transubstantiation or Conversion of the whole Substance of Bread and Wine into his Body and Bloud I will not goe lower then the fifth age because Ptotestants regard not the Authority of Fathers later then that age in which liued Chrisostom Hierom Cyryllus of Alexandria Augustin Proclus Constantinopolitanus Theolet Gelasius Leo Hillarius Eusebius Emissenus c. In the fourth Century wherin the first Councell of Nice was celebrated Athanasius Hillarius Cyrillus of Hierusalem Ambrose Basill Optatus Gregorius Nyzenus Gregorius Nazianzenus Epiphanius In the third age lived Origen Tertulian Cyprian In the second Iustinus Martyr Pius Pope Irinaeus In the first the tyme of the Apostles Ignatius Dionisius Ariopagita Pollicarpe and others Out of all these Fathers and many more can be produced an infinity of passages clearly declaring that they beleeved the Real-Presence and maintained Transubstantiation or the thing therby signifyed and beleeved and that it was delivered from age to age from the Apostles tyme and that this was the Faith of the whole Church I will content my selfe which I hope will content my Reader in aleaging the Authorityes of some of them Tertulian who lived in the third age says Caro abluitur ut anima emaculetur Tertul lib. do Resurrectione carnis caro ungitur ut anima consecretur Caro Corpore Sanguine Christi vescitur ut anima de Deo saginetur That is The Flesh of man is washed with true substantiall Water that the Soule may be cleansed the Flesh is anoynted with true Oyle that the Soule
may be consecrated The Flesh feedeth of the true and substantiall Body and Bloud of Christ that the Soule may be nurrished of God It is an evident and undeniable inference that as by Water is understood in this passage of Tertulian true Water and by Oyle true and substantiall Oyle soe alsoe by the Body and Bloud of Christ are understood the true real and substantiall Body and Bloud of Christ For there can be noe reason imagined why true Water and Oyle should be understood in this passage and not the true and substantiall Body and Bloud of Christ The Fathers treating of the Body of Christ in this Sacrament doe use these words Fieri confici creari Saint Cyprian saith Qui usque hodte hoc veracissimum sanctissimum Corpus suum creat That is Christ to this day doth creat in the Sacrament of the Alter his owne most true and holy Body Saint S. Amb. lib. 4. de Sacra Cap. 4. Ambrose saith Panis iste Panis ante verbae Sacramentorum ubi accesserit consecratio de pane fit Corpus Christi That is That Bread is Bread before the Words of Consecration when the Consecration comes of Bread is made the Body of Christ Then when the Saint had declar'd this to have happened by the force of the Words of Christ because the speech of Christ is soe effectuall that it can create things out of nothing hee added Sed post Consecrationem dico tibi quod jam ost Corpus Christi ipse dixit factum ost ipse mandavit creatum est But after the Consecration saith the Saint I tell thee that now it is the Body of Christ hee said and it was made hee commaunded and it was created That is to say the Body of Christ was created which hee says absolutly in that place to have bine made and created In like manner Bessarion saith Tota Bessar lib. de Virbis consecr Trinitas hoc Corpus Altaris Creat That is The whole Trinity doth create the Body in the Altar And many more of the Fathers have us'd the like manner of speaking which propositions can not be verifyed unless the Body of Christ is present in the Sacrament of the Alter by a true and substantiall change or Conversion of Bread into the Body of Christ by which action or reproduction the Fathers affirme Corpus Christi fieri confici creari which can not be understood de creatione stricte sumpta because that any thing may be said created strictly if must be created of nothing soe as it must absolutly beginne then to have its being and that it had noe existence or being before Sic connotat vox creari Now the Body of Christ in the Sacrament had existence and being in heaven before the Consecration and hath after it Neque fit ex nihilo in Sacramento sed ex pane There are of the Fathers many and cleare Testimonyes proving the Real-Presence of the Body and Bloud of Christ in the Sacrament which Cardinall Bellarmin Bellartoto lih 2. de hoc Sacra S. Amb. lib. 6. de Sacra Cap. 1. sets downe largly and brings to that purpose the Testimony of all ages Saint Ambrose speaketh thus Sicut verus est Dei Filius Dominus noster Iesus Christus non quemadmodum homines per Gratiam sed quasi Filius ex Substantia Patris ita vera caro est sicut ipse dixit quam accipimus verus ejus Sanguis est quem potamus That is As our Lord Iesus Christ is the true Sonns of God not as men by Grace but as a Sonne of the Substance of his Father even soe it is his true Flesh as himselfe said which wee receive and his true Bloud wee drink Saint Damasen likewise saith thus Non est Figura Panis Vinum Corporis Saint Dama lib. 4. de Fide cap. 14. Sangunis Christi absit enim hoc sed est ipsum Corpus Domini deificatum ipso Domino dicente boc est meum non figura Corporis sed Corpus non figura Sanguinis sed Sanguis That is That as the Bread and Wine is not the figure of the Body and Bloud of Christ God forbid but it is after Consecration the very Body of our Lord deifyed Our Lord himself saying this is my Body not the figure of my Body this is my Bloud not the figure of my Bloud What can bee clearlyer said against Calvins Hersie then this The Fathers prove evidently the Bread to bee substantially converted into the Body of Christ and in this they praise the infinit power of God Likewise thaâ— after the words of Consecration the bread is noe more there but the true flesh of Christ and that in this mistery wee are to beleeve the words of Christ rather then our owne senses To this purpose Saint Ambrose whose faith was the generall faith of Christendome in his days Quantis utimur exemplis ut S. Amb. de T is qui Misteriis initiantur probemus hoc non esse quod natura formavit That is By how many examples doe wee use to prove that which is in the Sacrament is not that which nature framed to wit Bread and wine but that which the blessing did consecrat The Saint heere insinuates that the force of blessing is greater then the force of nature seeing by blessing nature it selfe is changed as bread into the Body of Christ Hee saith elsewhere Sitantum valebat sermo Eliae ut ignem de caelo deponeret non valebit sermo Christi ut species mutet elementorum That is If the word of Elias brought fyre from heaven shall not the word of Christ be able to change the species of the elements And this the Saint proves by the force of reason in these words De totius mundi operibus legisti quia ipse dixit facta sunt ipse mandavit creata sunt Sermo ergo Christi qui potuit ex nihilo facere quod non erat non potest ea quae sunt mutare in id quod non erant That is You have read saith the Saint of the works of the world because hee said they were made hee commanded and they were created Then hee makes this Argument Shall not then the speech of Christ which was able of nothing to create that which was not be able to change the things that are into other things that they were not before For it is more to give new Nature to things then to change Natures The Saint concludes thus Liquet igitur quod praeter Naturae ordinem virgo generavit hoc quod facimus Corpus ex Virgine est That is to say As the Virgin did conceive beyond the Order of Nature even soe that which wee consecrat is the Body which came from the Virgin Viewing all the great Miracles that happen in this Sacrament Bread and Wine chang'd into the Body and Bloud of Christ the species and accidents of Bread and Wine remaining without inherence in a subject which