old and new about this Point of assigning out the true Church where and in whom it is and how to be found I shall pass no farther in this matter but only add a word or two of the third Point which is the difference between us in laying forth the proprieties and notes whereby this Church may be known and distinguished from all others which Point tho' it may sufficiently be seen and gathered by that which already we have said yet for promise sake must somewhat also be spoken here which in effect shall be nothing but this That the difference between us and the Protestants in delivering these proprieties is not far unlike to that of two Gentlemen that should send forth two Servants into the Market-place where many Men are to seek out some Learned Physician for Examples sake giving them certain notes to find him by but far different for that the one delivereth either general notes only that are common to all or most Men as that he hath a head beard two eyes two arms and the like or else certain inward invisible proprieties as that he is learned meek chast c. That he is a good Physician cureth excellently well and followeth therein exactly the Precepts of Hypocrates and Galen and finally hath all things necessary or needful for that effect Which marks being little to the purpose as you see for knowing or discerning out the said Physician from any other the Messenger might weary himself before he found that which he sought for 27. But the other that sendeth forth his Messenger considering that marks and signs must be more known than the thing it self whereof they are marks and not common to many but proper and peculiar to that which is sought for telleth his Servant what special Name the Physician is called by what age what countenance and what stature he is of what apparel he weareth what gesture and manner of going he useth what sound of voice he hath in speaking and above all where he dwelleth how his house may be found known and discerned from all others All which signs being given we must needs say that the Searcher is a very simple or negligent Fellow if he miss him 28. And this very difference is to be noted between the Protestants and us in delivering proprieties to know the Church by for that the Catholics give sound and sure notes proper and peculiar to one only Church which is the true Catholic Church and these notes not invented by themselves but founded in Scriptures and delivered by the Tradition of Christ and his Apostles and used by the ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Church to this very purpose of distinguishing her thereby from all Congregations and Conventicles of Heretics whatsoever Of which notes and proprieties you have heard some before mentioned in the Conference between S. Augustin and the Donatists as the Name Catholic and the ancient possession thereof Universality over all Christendom and multitude of Nations and Gentiles converted to one Christian Church and Faith participating and holding the Communion of one and the self-same number of Sacraments whereunto are added by other Fathers and the self-same Doctor in other places divers other proprieties also as antiquity with continuation and succession from age to age visibility with most perspicuous and illustrious progress apparent and admirable to the whole world unity and conformity in Doctrin by one Rule of Faith throughout all ages notorious sanctity in many members of this Church testified by infinite miracles and supernatural operations the conversion of infinite Pagans and Gentiles with overthrow and extirpation of their Idolatry which was a thing prophesied to be fulfilled by the true Church only 29. These notes I say and divers others are set down by holy Fathers as both proper and peculiar to the only true Catholic Church of Christ and agreeing to no Heretical Congregation whatsoever as also manifest and notorious and most easie to be judged of by all people For these two conditions ought to have true marks as before hath been mentioned the first that they be peculiar and not common the second that they be more notoriously known and more easily found out than the thing it self which they do demonstrate whereof you may read in particular in S. Cyprian against the Novatians S. Hierom against the Luciferians S. Augustin against the Donatists and Pelagians Optatus against the same Donatists and Vincentius Lyrinensis against all sorts of Heretics and this is the real and substantial dealing of Catholics 30. But the Protestants on the contrary side do give such marks and notes as are either general and common or else more obscure and harder to be found out and judged of than the matter in controversie as before we have signified by the Comparisons of seeking out the Physician as for Example Martin Luther Father of our Protestants having left the Communion of the true Church of God and made a new Conventicle to himself would needs make it the true Church of God and prove the same by certain marks and proprieties devised by himself which he setteth down to the number of Seven whereof the first was the true Preaching of the Gospel the second the right Administration of Baptism the third the lawful use of the Eucharist the fourth the due Exercise of the Ecclesiastical Keys in Absolving and retaining Sins the fifth the lawful Election of Ministers the sixth publick Prayer and Singing of Psalms in a known Tongue the seventh the Mystery of the Cross in bearing tribulations These were Luthers notes which other Protestants after him and namely the Magdeburgians and John Calvin do abridge to the number of two only to wit the true Preaching of the Gospel and the sincere use of Sacraments 31. But now what manner of notes these be which every Sect may and do challenge as proper to themselves which they cannot do with any probability with the marks and notes of the Catholic Church before set down is easie to judge for what Sect will not say and swear also if need be that they only Preach the Word of God truly and that they only Administer the Sacraments rightly and that they use the Ecclesiastical Keys duly and that the Election of Ministers is lawfully made among them and that they have publick Prayer and singing of Psalms bearing the Cross and the like and it is harder to convince them in any one of these notes than in the principal point it self to wit that they are not the Catholic Christian Church of Christ so as these marks being common and not proper and less manifest than the thing it self whereof they are put for marks it followeth that they are fond vain and ridiculous and that the inventors thereof did rather seek to obscure and hide the Church than to declare and manifest the same by such proprieties 32. And here will we make an end of all this Discourse reserving the rest unto the third part which
this Principle That every Whole is greater than its Part or that man is a reasonable Creature or like evident things and then is our Vnderstanding forc'd to yield thereunto and consequently hath the less Merit by how much less freedom it leaveth to our will and affection to give our assent or no. But yet this knowledg gotten by human Reason doth not so take away the merit of the other that proceeded of free assent of Faith but that both may stand together in one and the self-same man about one and the self-same thing to wit Faith and Demonstration as distinct lights gotten by different and distinct means the one by Revelation from God the other by Demonstration of Reason for that otherwise this great inconvenience say the Authors that hold this Opinion would follow that learned men should be in far worse case for their merits in Faith than the ignorant for that whensoever the said learned men do come by means of their study to see clearly by Reason the truth of any Conclusion of Divinity or Article of Belief which simply before they did believe only as revealed from God which thing may very well happen and often doth to learned men that then they should lose their former Faith or at leastwise the Merit thereof if it be granted that Faith and Science may in no case stand together 36. But to leave this to be disputed in Schools and to return to our purpose There is no doubt but that some Points belonging to Christian Faith may plainly and absolutely be demonstrated and prov'd by human Reason Science as those which I have here touched of One God his Omnipotency Providence and the like Some other there be which tho' they cannot be altogether so absolutely convinc'd by Demonstrations yet may they in part by way of supposition that is to say by supposing some one or two Points belonging thereunto which the Adversary will either grant or cannot deny As for example Supposing there is a God and that he hath appointed any Religion to mankind and that the Prophets and Prophesies of the Old Testament are to be believed it is not hard to prove and demonstrate the Verity of Christian Religion against either Jew or Gentile And the like is it in this matter here treated by me in this Book against J. Fox and his Fellows about the Beginning Planting Growing and Continuance of Catholic Religion For if you suppose only that Christ is God and that he hath appointed any Religion at all and that the first Religion and Church instituted by him was true and truly meant by him and that he was able to perform his promises made to the first Christians for the Preservation and Perpetuity thereof This I say being granted what I infer in this Treatise followeth by necessary consequence of moral Demonstration as you will find in the perusal 37. These four Points then I thought good gentle Reader to touch briefly in this Preface meaning to make four several Inferences out of the same not unprofitable in mine opinion to the purpose we have in hand For out of the First Point concerning the height and sublimity of matters of our Faith above the capacity of Man's Reason I make this inference That every one ought to come to treat and talk of such things as belong to Faith and Belief with great reverence respect modesty and submission of mind not condemning that which his sense or reason reacheth not unto nor making the Depth of his own Capacity the Rule and Measure of his Belief A thing noted in the Sect of Manichees by S. Austin who writeth That for this cause principally he was nine years of their Company for that they told him still he being a young man desirous of Knowledg that Catholics did superstitiously require Faith before Reason and that They the Manichees forsooth did teach nothing but that which should clearly be discuss'd by force of good Argument and Reason before it was believed c. Vpon which occasion also the said Father wrote that excellent Book beforementioned de Utilitate Credendi of the great utility and infinite commodities which Catholic Christian People have in believing simply by Tradition of their Ancestors that Faith which is established in the Universal Church of Christ tho' their own Reason arrive not to penetrate the same for whosoever openeth once his Ears especially the Unlearned sort to hearken to Human Reasons against the Mysteries of their Faith he is in danger presently either to lose his Faith or at leastwise the Merit thereof together with the peace comfort and tranquility of his mind and thereby openeth a wide gap to the Devil and all his Instruments as well Infidels as Heretics to enter in and trouble the House of his Conscience 38. And as for Heretics it hath been an old practice to trouble or draw men from Catholic Religion or make them stagger by this means of pretending human Reason against Belief as we have shewed by example of the Manichees who took this trick from the old Heathen Philosophers whom S. Hierom for this cause principally calleth the Patriarchs of Heretics The Arians also deceiv'd many by the tricks of human Reason drawing out their Napkins as Theodoretus saith and asking the common people whether Three corners thereof could be One or no and then inferring deceitfully thereupon said No more could Three Persons be One God. The Sadducees founded their Heresie against the Resurrection of the Flesh upon the contrariety it seem'd to have with human Reason which prevail'd afterwards with divers sorts of Heretics that had infinit Followers as Simon Magus Basilides Hymenaeus Philetus Valentinus Marcion Appelles the Ophites Cerdonists Cainites Albigenses and others And now in our days with Zuinglians Calvinists Anabaptists Trinitarians Family of Love Brownists and divers other Sects who do nothing but rave and blaspheme against the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament upon the same ground that it seemeth contrary to Sense and human Reason And finally this is a way to all Misbelief Atheism and Infidelity c. 39. Out of the Second Point concerning Arguments of Credibility for our Belief I infer That seeing God hath left us such store and variety of Arguments for our comfort and consolation in that we believe every man ought to be diligent and careful to seek out and use them and not suffer himself to be overborn by deceitful quarrelling people in a suit of so great importance without looking upon his Writings and Evidences that he hath for the same For how greatly would we condemn the sloth and negligence of a Man who descending for many Ages as lawful Heir from a most Ancient and Noble House of great Riches and Possessions and seeing false Pretenders to make claim thereunto and by slight and intrusion to put both Him and his Posterity from the same How much I say should we condemn him if having whole Chests full of
Anselmus and so successively one after another none of them ever being noted to be contrary to his Predecessor in Religion until Thomas Cranmer in King Henry the Eighth's time Who applyed himself to the Religion which the State and Prince liked best to allow of in that time And after the Kings Death agreed to break his last Will and Testament in changing that Religion into Zuinglianism most detested by his Majesty And after again Conspired to put down and destroy all the Kings Children and to set up the Duke of Suffolks Daughter And finally was put to Death both for Heresie and Treason in Queen Maries time as after more particularly shall be shewed And this was the first change of Religion in any Arch-bishop of Canterbury from the beginning unto his days 28. So as from King Ethelbert the first Christned English King unto King Henry the Eighth being the Eighteenth from William the Conqueror and more than Eighty from the said Ethelbert one and the self same Faith endured in England and the self same Church florished under so many different both Kings and Nations as before hath been shewed And the like we have declared to have been for the first 600 years under the Britans to wit that they never were known to have changed their Religion Which being so the deduction and demonstration is so clear as any reasonable Man can either make or require for proof that one and the self same Religion endured from the beginning to the ending among them 29. Unto which kind of proof the Ancient Holy Father and Martyr St. Irenaeus giveth great Authority by a like Argument For that having made the like Enumeration of the Bishops of Rome as we do now of our Arch-bishops of Canterbury against the Heretics of his days and that from St. Peter downward to Pope Eleutherius that lived with him he inferreth this conclusion Est plenissima haec ostensio unam eandem vivificatricem fidem esse quae in Ecclesiis ab Apostolis conservata tradita in unitate c. This is a most full proof that one and the self same lively Faith hath been conserved in the Church from the Apostles days unto our time delivered from one to another in unity c. And if that were a most full proof and demonstration in St. Irenaeus judgment against the Heretics of his time The same is now much more to us having seen the Succession of so many Ages since and noted the manner of like proof and Argument in all other Fathers after him As namely of St. Augustin Numerate sacerdotes velab ipsa Petri Sede in ordine illo Patrum quis cui successit videte Number the Priests that have succeeded the one to the other even from the Seat of Peter himself And then further In hoc ordine Successionis nullus Donatista Episcopus invenitur No one Donatist Bishop is to be found in this rank of Succession And yet more 30. Et si in illum ordinem Episcoporum quisquam traditor per illa tempora subrepsisset nihil praejudicaret Ecclesiae And if any Traytor in those days should have crept into that order and rank of Roman Bishops for of them he speaketh it should not have prejudicated the Church of God. 31. Which saying of St. Austin may serve us not only to Answer whatsoever Heretics do or may object true or false against the Lives of any latter Roman Bishops but for defence also of the Rank and Succession of our Archbishops of Canterbury notwithstanding the Apostasie of Thomas Cranmer or any other his like that for these latter years may have crept in as St. Austin saith or been thrust in and by violence occupied that See and Seat unworthily either in respect of his life or Religion or both seeing that the former Succession as well of Men as of Doctrin from St. Austin to Cranmer is manifest and evident for the space of 900 years without interruption as also that they were united all this time in Faith and Doctrin with the Universal Church of Christendom as Members and Branches of their Head and Body and that the first breach and interruption made thereof in that See by Cranmer and continued after him by some of his followers was noted presently and contradicted yea censured and condemned also by Sentence of the whole Church and thereupon rejected and abhorred by the principal of his own people both Clergy and Laity at that time 32. And the same contradiction endureth to this day and will do ever in those that conserve their Ancient Faith and Religion and do adhere to the lawful Succession of his Predecessors against him and his partners until it please Almighty God to put the said order and lawful Succession in joynt again and restore that chief and head conduct of our Country to his former integrity whereby the Water of true Catholic Religion was wont to be derived to the people of our Land and will be again when Gods wrath for our sins shall be pacified and his mercy induce him to permit as often otherwise he hath done that all return to the accustomed Ancient course of Catholic Faith and Religion again seeing in very deed there is none but that for so much as Sects and new Religions are but inventions and entertainments of time whilst God punisheth some sins in his Servants and after all returneth where it was before 33. And this have we spoken by the way and by occasion of Cranmer that was the first Arch-bishop of Canterbury that ever brake from the Roman Faith but notwithstanding his Apostasie Catholic Religion was not extinguished in England by that but remained there still all King Henries time as also during the Reigns of his three Children King and Queens Edward Mary and Elizabeth unto these our days as in the next Chapter following more largly and particularly we are to demonstrate CHAP. XII How Catholic Religion hath continued and persevered in England during the times and Reigns of King Henry the Eighth and his three Children King Edward Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth notwithstanding all the troubles changes alterations and tribulations that have fallen out and that the same Religion is like to continue to the Worlds end if our sins hinder not THE deduction which we have hitherto made of Catholic Religion from our first Conversion under St. Gregory and King Ethelbert of Kent unto the Reign of King Henry the Eighth with whom concurred in the See of Rome Leo the Tenth and Clemens the Seventh and other Popes Successors of St. Gregory hath been for the most part in time of Peace and without any public discontinuance at all but now are we to prosecute the same matter from the alteration made by King Henry downward unto our days and therein to shew that albeit in the external Face and Form of Religion there have been divers Mutations as Tempestuous Winds and Storms for the present yet hath the Catholic
hands the whole piece of Cloth at mid-day willeth you to view and behold it in the Sun removeth all veils pentices and other stoppings of light that may give obscurity or impediment to the manifest beholding handling and discerning thereof Whereas contrariwise the other being a crafty Broker or poor Pedlar having no substantial Wares indeed to sell but such as are false made and deceitfully wrought and taken up also for the most part of the others leavings seeketh by all means possible to sell in corners and to shut out the Sun that it be not well seen or to give you a sight thereof by false lights only neither will he deliver you the whole piece into your hand to be examined throughly by your self but sheweth you one end thereof only different from the rest which he suppresseth And this manner of proceeding shall you find verified on their side throughout this whose Treatise as we have done already I doubt not if you have read it over with attention yet mean I in this place to discover the same somewhat more in particular for an upshot and conclusion of these first two parts of my Treatise 3. Three special differences then I do find between our Adversaries and us concerning the Affair of this Treatise about the finding out of true Religion by the true Church and by the beginning progress and continuance thereof The first is the estimation of the thing it self The second the assigning out or description thereof The third the marks and properties whereby to know and discover the same Of every one whereof I shall speak a word or two in order 4. For estimation of the great importance and singular moment of this matter the difference is evident between us for that we affirm the finding out and holding this Church to be of such weight as that all lieth therein for certainty and security of belief and for determining of all doubts and controversies in all times and places and in all matters of Religion whatsoever even from Christ to the Worlds end For we say with S. Augustin when any difficulty falleth out Quisquis falli metuit hujus obscuritate quaestionis Ecclesiam de illa consulat Whosoever doth fear to be deceived by the obscurity of this Question in controversie let him go to the Church for his Resolution and he shall be secure We say also with Lactantius Firmianus before St. Augustin who was Master and Tutor to Crispus Son to Constantine the Great Sol◠Catholica Ecclesia est quae verum Dei cultum retinet hic autem est fons veritatis hoc domicilium fidei hoc templum Dei quo si quis non intraverit vel à quo si quis exierit à spe vitae ac salutis aeternae altenus est The only Catholic Church is that which hath the true Worship of Almighty God in it and this is the Fountain of all Truth this is the House or Habitation of Faith this is the Temple of God into which whosoever doth not enter or out of which whosoever doth depart he is devoid of all hope of Life and everlasting Salvation 5. Thus wrote Lactantius 1300 years ago and addeth presently these words following whereby he well sheweth the conformity of spirit of those old Heretics with ours at this day Sed tamen singuli quique coetus haereticorum se potissimum Christianos suam esse Catholicam Ecclesiam putant But yet every Congregation of Heretics do think themselves chiefly and principally to be Christians and their Church to be the Catholic Church And do not ours so in like manner at this day But let us go forward to speak a word or two more of the different estimation we make of this matter 6. St. Cyprian that lived more than Sixty years before Lactantius maketh the very same account with him and us that all is lost if we lose or miss this Church Ardeant saith he licet flammis c. Albeit such Christians as are not in this Church should live never so well yea should be so forward and fervous in defence of Christian Religion as they should burn in Flames for the same or be devoured by Beasts yet this should be to them Non corona fidei sed poena perfidiae Not a Crown of Faith but a Punishment for their Perfidiousness Which Doctrin of St. Cyprian St. Augustin as a devout Scholar of his doth often repeat Foris ab Ecclesia constitutus saith he to a Donatist aeterno supplicio punieris etiamsi pro Christi nomine vivus incendereris Thou being out of the Catholic Church thou shalt be punished with eternal torment albeit thou wert burned alive for the Name of Christ 7. And finally not to go from the forenamed holy Man St. Cyprian in this behalf who died for the defence of Christ's Faith and the true Catholic Church and is a most blessed Martyr and Doctor to us all he after a long Discourse made touching a Christian Man that misseth in this Point of finding out and following the true Catholic Church and yet in other things endeavoureth to live well and sheweth great Zeal in God's Cause and desireth in his Mind even to die for the same of this Man he pronounceth this Sentence Nunquam perveniet ad Christi praemia c. Alienus est prophanus est host is est habere non potest Deum Patrem qui Ecclesiam non habet matrem This Man notwithstanding all his other good Works and Endeavors shall never come to enjoy the Rewards of Christ in Heaven he is an Alien he is Prophane he is an Enemy he cannot have God for his Father which hath not the Church for his Mother 8. Thus said St. Cyprian as also all ancient holy Fathers after him whereof I might alledge many Authorities if it were not over long and the same say we that are Catholics and do hold the same Faith and Church with them at this day We do hold I say that the first and principal Point of all other for a Christian Man that meaneth his own Salvation is to seek out the true Catholic Church and to consider whether he be of it or in it or no For if he be not then all other diligence and labor is void and in vain except it be to seek out this and if he be in it then is he in the right way of Salvation not for that all be saved who are within her as in the second Point shall be shewed but for that all those who are out of her shall be certainly damned as now you have heard out of the chiefest Fathers of the ancient Catholic Church And this is the first Point of singular moment for which we esteem this Church so highly for that no Salvation can be had without her 9. But Secondly we esteem also the importance of this matter by the great and excellent helps which in this Church above all other Congregations
A TREATISE OF Three Conversions of England FROM PAGANISM TO Christian Religion I. Under the Apostles in the First Age after CHRIST II. Under Pope Eleutherius and King Lucius in the Second Age. III. Under Pope Gregory the Great and King Ethelbert in the Sixth Age with divers other Matters thereunto appertaining The First Two PARTS Dedicated to the Catholics of England with a new Addition to the said Catholics upon the News of the late Queens Death and the Succession of His Majesty of Scotland to the Crown of ENGLAND By N. D. Author of the Ward-Word Enquire of ancient times before you remember the old days of your Forefathers consider of every Age as they have passed ask your Father and he will tell you demand of your Ancestors and they will declare unto you Deut. iv 32. LONDON Re-printed by Henry Hills Printer to the King 's Most Excellent Majesty for His Houshold and Chappel MDCLXXXVIII THE Epistle Dedicatory TO THE CATHOLICS of ENGLAND THo ' when I wrote the Preface that doth ensue I had no purpose to add any Epistle Dedicatory most dearly-beloved and worthy Catholics yet afterwards thinking of some other circumstances both of Matter and Time I deem'd it not amiss to say somewhat also in this kind of Dedication both for presenting this Work to whom principally it is due as also for Advertisement in some few Points which the present State of your Affairs doth seem to require 2. And for the first Who doth not see and consider that this Treatise of the first Planting of Christian Catholic Faith in England with the Continuance and Preservation thereof from Age to Age unto our Times doth chiefly and principally belong to You that are Catholics at this day most worthy Children of so renowned Parents most honorable Off-spring of so excellent Ancestors most glorious Posterity of so famous Antiquity whom future Ages will both esteem and extoll above many of your Predecessors for retaining That in times of War which they left unto you in possession of Peace and for defending that by so singular Constancy of Sufferings which they both received and bequeathed unto you by quiet Tradition 3. Which Tradition being set down proved and declared most clearly in this ensuing Work I do by offering the same unto you but present you with your own to wit the History of your own House the Records and Chronicles of your own Family the Pedigree and Genealogy of your own Forefathers the Antiquity and Nobility of your own Progenitors together with your just Title and Claim to their Inheritance producing jointly for the same your undoubted Charters Enrollments Evidences Writings and Witnesses which no man with reason can deny or call in doubt 4. And furthermore I do add in the end for more full Complement of this whole Cause all such former false and wrong Suits Pretences Pleas Intrusions Surreptions or other like Shifts or Wranglings which any Heretics to this day but especially these of our times have made hitherto about the same for shew of some Title or Right on their part to this Inheritance and Succession of yours And lastly I do produce also the Judgments Censures Sentences and Arrests of all Christian Parliaments of the World to wit the Determination of all the highest Ecclesiastical Tribunals in your favor By all which I doubt not but that your Right and Title remaineth most evident and clear to all Men of Judgment even to the Enemies or Adversaries themselves Wherefore most justly I do Dedicate this Treatise unto you which so many ways and for so many reasons is your own And so much for the first Point 5. The second also about the Circumstances of the present Time is already somewhat touched in that we have said How by God's holy Providence you are born in this time of War Tribulation and Contradiction instead of that large and long Peace and Tranquility which your Ancestors enjoyed in the use of that Catholic Religion for which you strive and suffer now which thing tho' for the present it seem unpleasant and distastful to Flesh and Blood yet will the hour come when it shall prove a most singular Benefit and Privilege to such as have received Grace to manifest themselves by this occasion seeing that according to the Apostle this is one principal End in God's Everlasting Wisdom for permission of Heresies ut qui probati sunt manifesti fiant that those that be of proof be made manifest by this occasion 6. Wherefore seeing as the same Apostle saith in another place it is given to you dear Catholics that live in England at this day not only to believe in him but also to suffer for him a singular privilege by his account yea and that we may say of You as he said and gloried of Himself and his Fellows Vincula vestra manifesta fiunt in Christo in omni praetorio Your Bonds for Christ are made notorious throughout all the Tribunals and Judgment-seats of our Country And yet further as he wrote to his dear Thessalonians in their highest praise and commendation You are become such Followers of Christ and his Apostles as receiving the Word of God with Joy of the Holy Ghost in great Tribulation you are made an Example or Spectacle to all other faithful people in Macedonia and Achaia for that from you is divulged the Word of God not only in Macedonia and Achaia but also in all other places by reason of your Faith which is published every-where throughout the World. 7. Seeing I say all this may be truly written of you and that our Country hath gotten more honorable Renown in Foreign Catholic Nations and the Church of God more Glory and Comfort by this your Patience and Sufferings in these few latter years than by the peaceable Calm of many former Ages of your Ancestors I know no true Servant of God that together with the commiseration of your present hard afflicted state receiveth not also particular Consolation by your Integrity and Constancy praying for your perseverance in that most honorable Course which hitherto you have held of true Obedience to Almighty God in matters of your Soul and Loyal Behavior of Duty towards your Temporal Prince in all worldly Affairs which course tho' it have not escaped the calumnious Tongues and Pens of some carping Adversaries yet is it justifiable and glorious both before God and Man where Reason ruleth and not Passion And I doubt not but that the Wisdom and Moderation both of her Majesty and her sage Council will rather in this Point ponder your own facts than your Adversaries words as also consider how rare such Examples of Patience are in these our days where so great a multitude for so many years hath passed under the Rod of so sharp Afflictions which is your singular commendation with all wise and godly men let Cavillers and Calumniators say what they will to the contrary 8. But God's holy hand hath not
stay'd here in proving you by these external conflictions only but hath passed to the internal also that he might say of you as he did of his dearest people when he meant to do them most good Convertam manum meam ad te excoquam ad purum scoriam tuam auferam omne stannum tuum I will turn my hand upon thee and will boil out by fire all thy rust even to the quick and will take from thee all thy Pewter thereby to leave thee pure Silver he would equal you in this Point with the Privilege of his Apostles that you might say with them truly Foris pugnae intus timores We have fights abroad and frights at home You know what I mean and others will easily guess that have heard of the late storms past Only I will say to your high commendation that your moderate and sage deportment hath been such also in this Point of not admitting the scandal offered as all men have been edified by your Wisdom and Piety therein seeing fulfilled on your behalf that which the Holy Ghost prophesied of holy wise and peaceable men truly fearing God Pax multa diligentibus Legem tuam non est illis scandalum Those that love thy Law O Lord do enjoy their inward Peace and are not scandalized with what external tempests soever do arise 9. In respect of which Piety of yours it is to be presumed that Christ our Savior hath wrought again by his Substitute and this upon the sudden that famous Miracle recorded by St. Matthew St Mark and St. Luke of calming the Tempest that put his Disciples in fear and jeopardy Exurgens imperavit ventis mari facta est tranquilitas magna He rising up commanded the Winds and Seas to cease and thereupon ensued a great calm and tranquility which kind of Miracle is not lightly made among Protestants for that they want the means thereof And therefore as a thing peculiar to the Subordination of Christ's orderly Church and wrought by his Divine Power and Vertue I do the more admire and reverence the same assuring my self that no good Catholic will ever hereafter so much as move his finger against it but co-operate rather to the firm establishment and continuance thereof as is most behoveful to the end that as we are all one in Faith and Belief so we be also in Life Speech and Actions especially in this time of trial Which God of his infinite Goodness grant To whose holy Protection I commend heartily both You and my self this first of March 1603. An Addition of the Author to the foresaid Catholics upon the News of the Queens Death and Succession of the King of Scotland to the Crown of England SInce the writing of the precedent Epistle Advertisement is come that Almighty God of his infinite Mercy hath delivered you at length dear Catholics from your old Persecutor and as we hope will also shortly from your Persecution His Divine Majesty be thanked everlastingly for the same Here generally the applause is no otherwise than it was in old time among the Christians upon the entrance of Constantine into the Empire after Dioclesian or of Jovinian after Julian But the former Example seemeth more like for that good Constantine was of a different Religion when he entred yet of singular hope to become such as afterward he did both in respect of his excellent Parts and of his pious Mother St. Helena The difference of the two Mothers is That the Empress Helena did assist her Son here upon Earth as St. Paulinus writeth towards the Truth and Piety of Religion but Queen Mary of Scotland and France being violently deprived of this Life will do it we trust by her Prayers in Heaven The Comparison also is not improper in this for that perhaps this our new King is the first that hath been absolutely Lord of the whole Island of Britanny with the Parts annexed thereunto since Constantine 2. We know what Commendation a Heathen Author gave to Constantine while he was yet no Christian and this in public Audience at the day of Marriage with the Daughter of Maximianus Herculeus both the Emperours being present and hearing him Neque enim saith he Forma tantum in te Patris sed etiam Continentia Fortitudo Justitia Prudentia sese votis gentium praesentant Not only the Form and Beauty of your Father Constantius doth appear in you but also his Continency his Fortitude his Justice his Wisdom do represent themselves in you according to the full desire and wish of all Nations Thus said he of that Constantine Whereupon Eusebius sheweth That the Christians of that time conceived so great Love towards him tho' he were not yet a Christian as his Adversary Maxentius hearing of his coming towards Rome was glad to feign that himself would be a Christian also to retain somewhat thereby of their affections from Constantine 3. We read of divers excellent Men in Christian Religion who were presumed and foretold that they would be such before they were Christians indeed and this only upon the foresight of their good Natures and vertuous Inclinations as St. Martyn afterwards Bishop of Tours St. Nectarius Archbishop of Constantinople St. Ambrose Bishop of Millain and St. Augustin Bishop of Hyppo albeit of St. Augustin's Conversion from the Heresie of the Manichees to Catholic Religion St. Ambrose added another Conjecture also or rather Prophecy to wit that the Prayers and Tears of his good Mother St. Monica could not suffer such a Son to perish All which you see how far it maketh for Us and for our Hope of this second Constantine who wanted not also a holy Mother to Pray and shed Tears abundantly for him whil'st she lived that he might be such as we most desire now whereof my self amongst others can be a true Witness and this from her own testimony 4. And for that I cannot persuade my self that so holy Endeavors of such a Mother in such a Cause can be frustrate with Almighty God I do not only hope well but do attribute hereunto in great part the many Blessings that have fallen upon this King ever since but principally His Majesty's Preservation and strange Delivery from infinite Dangers and most imminent Perils as all men know so as neither Cyrus nor Romulus nor Moyses himself was more strangely preserved than this King hath been since his Infancy And for that God doth never commonly work those great Effects but to great Ends you Catholics of England may with reason hope well thereof especially if any thing came by his said good Mothers Intercession who loved you all so dearly as whatsoever she asked at God's hands for the Life and Prosperity of her dear Son in this World a great part thereof was meant no doubt for You and your Good if ever you came to be under his Government as now God hath brought you 5. Another effect of this holy Queens Prayers
propagation was in like manner from the same City under Pope Gregory by St. Augustin Now remaineth it that we shew and declare how the Britans from King Lucius's time until the coming of St. Augustin which was 400 years and more downward did not alter their Faith nor yet the See of Rome Hers and consequently that the Faith remaining among the Britans when St. Augustin entred and that which was brought in by Him from Rome and taught unto the English was all one 2. And first for the Church of Rome if we count the Bishops thereof that held that Seat from Eleutherius the fourteenth Pope after St. Peter who died Anno Domini 196 until the beginning of Pope Gregory I. the sixty-sixth Pope who was chosen Anno Domini 590 In this space I say of 400 years there passed fifty Popes all of one Faith nor shall it be found that any one of them changed his Religion or was different in belief the one from the other which is a sufficient proof that the Roman Faith in Gregory's time was the same that it was in Eleutherius's time 3. And as for the Britans we read not but that from the time of King Lucius they continu'd the Faith receiv'd under him from Pope Eleutherius until the rising up of the Heretic Pelagius which was somewhat more than 200 years after and for other 200 years again after that to wit from the time of Pelagius until the coming of St. Augustin we find not in any History that the Britans being once deliver'd from the Heresie of Pelagius by the help of St. German and Lupus Bishops of the Roman Faith ever changed their Religion in any one substantial point nor that they swerv'd from the general Faith of the rest of Christendom except only some few of them infected with the foresaid Heresie whiles it lasted and the Custom of keeping Easter-day with the Jews Which before we have shewed to have been perhaps some remainder of Pelagianism or otherwise brought in after But howsoever it got in certain it is that in other substantial points of Doctrin and Religion there was no difference between the Britans and Romans at that day to wit under Pope Gregory that sent hither Augustin which I shew by the Reasons following Reason I 4. First That if St. Augustin at his coming had found any other substantial difference of Belief in the British Faith from that which he brought from Rome he would have reprehended the same as well as he did their different Custom in celebrating Easter after the Jewish manner and some few other Rites of less moment or at leastwise being afterward made Archbishop and Primate of all the Land and conferring with the British Bishops in Council as Fox saith he did he would have communed with them about the same or objected it unto them or at leastwise have made some mention thereof either in his Letters to Pope Gregory as he did of far lesser matters or to some other man. But any such thing we do not read and consequently it may be concluded certainly that there was no such difference in matter of Faith and Doctrin 5. Another Reason may be taken on the other side from the Britans towards Reason II St. Augustin who being in Controversie with him about his preaching to the Saxons whose Conversion for the present they seemed not to desire in respect of many injuries receiv'd from them as St. Bede affirmeth they did observe all Occasions Causes and Reasons which they might alledge by any probability why they would not joyn with him in that Work and if they could have alledged this Cause That the Doctrin which he preached had been different in any one point from that which they had received and observed before it had been a very sufficient excuse and reason for them But we do find no such exception alledged by them and consequently we may conclude as before that there was none 6. Our third Argument or Reason may be deduced from the consideration of Reason III the Universal State of Christian Faith in those days to wit under Gregory I. who was chosen Pope about the year of Christ 590 at what time there was Unity and Conformity of one Religion throughout all Christendom except only in some places of the World certain Reliques of Pelagians Origenists Donatists and Eutychians out of whom sprung also in those days the Arminian Errors as appeareth by the History of those times especially out of St. Gregory's own Works Neither do we read that the Britans were noted with any of these Heresies but only with Pelagianism some years before from which they had been deliver'd by the Preaching of the French Bishops St. German and St. Lupus and by the diligence of their own Metropolitans St. Dubritius and St. David afterward Seeing then St. Augustin came from Rome by Italy and France and was directed to the Bishop of Arles from whom he passed through France into Britanny it is certain he brought no other Faith than the Universal Faith of Christendom receiv'd and believ'd in those days From which seeing that Britanny was not held nor noted to be different nor yet Excommunicated as certain Bishop of Ireland appear to have been by divers Letters of St. Gregory himself written to them in their reprehension for participation with certain Schismatics it followeth that the Faith which St. Augustin brought and that which the Britans had before must needs be one and the self-same in all material and substantial points 7. To which effect also may be added That in the very next Age among Reason IV the Britans before the English entred there were British Bishops in divers General and National Councils as in the time of Constantine and Pope Sylvester we read That one Restitutus a famous Bishop of London was present at the Synod of Arles in France in the year of Christ 325 and subscribed to the same as by the Acts of the said Council appeareth wherein among other points was ordained That no man having a Wife should be made a Priest without his Wifes consent promising to forbear her Company for the time to come It appeareth also by the Apology of St. Athanasius that divers Bishops of Britanny were present at the Council of Sardica held for St. Athanasius against the Arians about the year of Christ 350 as also the Council of Ariminum wherein tho' the greater part of that Council were beguil'd by the Arians yet St. Hilary doth praise divers good Bishops for their Constancy and among other Provinciarum Britannicarum Episcopos certain Bishops of the Britan Provinces By all which is shewed that the Christian Religion of Britanny was Catholic and Universal and concurring in all points with the Roman in those days as Athanasius and St. Hilary who praised these Bishops are known to have done and consequently it cannot be presumed that either the British Religion should be different from the
what they say or avouch so they say somewhat against Rome and those that any way favoured the same wherein passion doth so greatly blind them as they cannot discern when they alledge matters plainly against themselves as you have seen in the former enumeration of British Teachers Pastors and Prelates whom they would have us think to have been of a different Religion from that of Rome whereas their own words testimonies condition and state of life do testifie the contrary And so I leave these men to their folly and impudency in this behalf CHAP. XI The Deduction of the aforesaid Catholic Roman Religion planted in England by St. Augustin from his time to our days And that from King Ethelbert who first received the same unto King Henry VIII there was never any public interruption of the said Religion in our Land. HAving shewed before how that the Roman Catholic Faith was first preached in our Island under the Apostles and then again in the next Age under Pope Eleutherius and thirdly four Ages after that again under Pope Gregory and that all this was but one and the self-same Religion continued renewed and revived in divers times under divers States and People of the Realm there may seem to remain only now two other points considerable in this affair The first Whether this Religion brought in by St. Augustin to England were held at that day for the only true Religion of Christendom and so accepted by all the World The other Whether that Religion then planted hath come down and been continued in England ever since by continual Succession until the first public alteration made thereof in our days For if this be so then is the demonstration easie to be made even from the Apostles Times to Ours 2. And for the first tho' we have handled the same somewhat before yet briefly we will add now That there can be no doubt at all in this matter with men of Reason and Judgment but that St. Augustin and his Fellows brought in with them the whole Body of Religion as well touching Articles of Belief as Ceremonies and Ecclesiastical Customs which were at that time in use at Rome whence they came and in other Catholic Countreys by which they passed namely Italy France and Flanders from which Countreys Pope Gregory himself exhorteth them by his Letters to take such good Ecclesiastical Uses as they should see most agreeable to Piety Edification and Devotion which is a sign that all those Countreys agreed fully in Faith and Belief with Rome at that day and were perfectly Catholic tho' in some external Ceremonies belonging to Devotion there might be difference And forasmuch as the French Bishops St. German St. Lupus and St. Severus 150 years as hath been said before the entrance of St. Augustin planted in Britanny the French Catholic Faith against the Pelagians and these men coming from Rome found no fault therewith most certain it is that all was one And finally if we do consider the Works Writings and Actions of Pope Gregory related by us before partly out of St. Isidore living at that time in Spain partly out of his own Epistles yet extant written to the chiefest Bishops of the Christian World and their Answers to him again together with their agreement in Faith and Religion If we do consider also the Heresies condemned in his days by Him and his Authority as the Eutychians Monothelites and others which our Protestants also do condemn for Heresies at this day By all this I say and by infinite other Arguments and Demonstrations that may be made it is most evident that either Christ had no Visible Church or Catholic Religion in those days which were most foolish and wicked to imagin or that the Religion of St. Gregory and his Church of Rome and others of others of the same Communion was in that Age the only true Catholic Church and consequently had in it the only true Catholic Faith and Religion of Christ whereby Christians might be saved which also is proved most evidently by infinit Miracles wrought in England and in divers other Countreys upon manifold occasions during this time of our Primitive Church as shall appear more in particular in the deduction of our second point which is the continuance of this same Religion from St. Augustin to Thomas Cranmer the first and last Archbishops of Canterbury following by Succession the one the other for the space of above 900 years the first dying a Saint the last ending in Apostacy as after shall be shewed 3. Wherefore to come to the second point about the deduction of Catholic Religion in our Nation from St. Augustin downward first of all St. Bede talking of the planting thereof and of our first Primitive Church whose progress and increase he describeth for the space of almost 140 years after the entrance of St. Augustin hath these words Gregorius Pontifex Divino admonitus instinctu servum Dei Augustinum alios plures cum eo Monachos timentes Dominum misit praedicare verbum Dei genti Anglorum c. Gregory the Pope being admonished by heavenly Instinct did send God's Servant Augustin and others Monks with him that feared God to preach his Word to the English Nation in the 14th year of Mauritius the Emperour which was of Christ 596 and the 4th after that St. Gregory was made Pope 4 These holy men landed in the Isle of Thanet belonging to the Kingdom of Kent for that the whole Dominion of the Saxons in those days which was all the Land except Scotland and the other part now called Wales whither the reliques of Britans were retir'd was divided into seven several States and Dominions which they called Kingdoms The first whereof to speak of them according as they received the Faith was the Kingdom of Kent whose King Ethelbert being the fourth in number from Hengistus that began the same about the year of Christ 450 afterward first of all other received the Christian Faith at the preaching of St. Augustin about the year of Christ 600 that is to say an hundred and fifty years after they had reigned as Pagans there 5. The second Kingdom was of the East-Saxons and contained the Shires now called Essex Middlesex and Hartfordshire The first founder of which Kingdom was Erchenwine about the year of our Lord 527 as Stow and some others do hold tho' Malmesbury doth write otherwise but both do agree that under King Seebert or as Bede calleth him Sabered those Provinces were converted to Christian Religion by the preaching of St. Mellitus Fellow to St. Augustin and first Bishop of their chief City of London whither he was sent by St. Augustin from Centerbury in the year of Christ 604. 6 The third Kingdom was of the East-Angles which contained the Shires of Norfolk Suffolk Cambridge and the Isle of Ely. Which Kingdom was begun about the year of Christ 492 by one Vffa but converted after to
answer That the Name Catholic did not import the universality of Nations professing our Christian Faith but the fulness rather of Sacraments which they held to be in their Church and farther they required that the Catholics should prove that all Nations did communicate with them and their Church which thing when the Catholics most willingly admitted and desired of the Judges that they might be suffered to prove it the Donatists presently ran to another Question slipping from this Cause of the Church that was in hand 21 Thus writeth S. Augustin of this matter whereby you see that the Catholics in those days as we in these did urge those Heretics with the force of this Name Catholic and with the signification and possession thereof on their side importing as they inferred the universality of all Nations professing the Faith of Christ so as they in those days assigned the great universal visible and known Church for the true which Church had been gathered by the Conversion of all Nations whereas the Donatists to flie this Argument were forced to say that the Name Catholic signified only the universality or fulness of Sacraments and consequently in what particular Congregation soever this fulness was sound as in theirs forsooth they pretended it was there was the only true Catholic Church which was a plain shift as you see And is not this the self-same manner of proceeding of all our Sectaries at this day Doth not every one of them brag that their Church only hath the fulness and right use of Sacraments and the true Preaching of God's Word Do not the Lutherans say this Do not the Zuinglians Calvinists Brownists and Puritans Preach the like And do not the Anabaptists and Trinitarians affirm the very same This then was a very shift in the Donatists and so it is in our Protestants 22. After this first running from the Cause S. Augustin sheweth that the Donatists full sore against their wills were brought unto it again by Marcellinus the Tribune appointed by the Emperor to assist in that Conference And whereas the Catholics had given up some days before a large Writing shewing by infinite Testimonies of holy Scriptures that the Church of Christ foretold by his Prophets and instituted by himself could not be any particular Church or Conventicle in Africa or out of Africa but an universal visible and illustrious Church spread over all Nations and with which all Nations converted to Christ should communicate in one The Donatists saith S. Aug. after a long Conference and Council held among themselves did answer this Writing of the Catholics by another large impertinent Writing of theirs but quite from the purpose not answering so much as one Text alleged by the Catholics for this Universality of the Church Non solum saith S. Augustin pertractare sed omnino nec attingere voluerunt The Donatists not only would not handle fully or answer these Testimonies alleged by the Catholics for the Vniversality and extern Majesty of the Church but not so much as touch any one of them 23. And then saith he farther Nec aliquod testimonium in tam prolixa epistola sua proferre ausi sunt de scripturis sanctis quo assererent Ecclesiam partis Donati esse praedictam praenunciatam sicut tam multa Catholici protulerunt pro Ecclesia cui communicant quae incipiens ab Hierusalem toto orbe diffunditur c. Neither durst the Donatists in so large an Epistle of theirs which they gave up bring forth any one Testimony of Holy Scripture whereby they might prove that the particular Church of the part or Faction of Donatus was prophesied or foretold by the said Scriptures whereas the Catholics on the other side brought forth many Scriptures for proof of that Vniversal Church with which they communicate which Church beginning from Hierusalem was spread over all the World. And thus writeth S. Augustin of their dealing in that Point 24. And presently after this he sheweth that they fell to the discussion of a third Point to wit whether the true Catholic Church of Christ to whom he promised those singular Graces and Privileges which the Scripture setteth down should consist of good men only as the Donatists held or of the mixture of good and evil in this Life as the Catholics taught wherein the Donatists thought themselves to have a great advantage First for that it might seem to the simple people there present to be a more pious Opinion to hold that only good men were God's Flock and of his true Church Secondly for that they had many places of Scripture that might seem to favor the same for so saith S. Augustin Illud ostendere tentaverunt prolatis multis testimoniis divinarum scripturarum quod Ecclesia Dei non cum malorum hominum commixtione futura praedicta sit They endeavored to shew by many Testimonies alleged out of holy Scriptures that it was not foretold or prophesied of the Church that she should consist of the mixture of good and evil men c. Behold here how old Heretics abounded also in alleging Scriptures as well as ours at this day but all from the purpose for whatsoever the Donatists alleged out of Scriptures for the sanctity and purity of God's Church it was either to be understood of the triumphant Church in the next Life or of the better part of the Church in this Life to wit such as are not only of the external Body of the Church but also of the Soul as this holy Father speaketh that is to say endued and adorned with all necessary Vertues 25. But on the contrary side when S. Augustin and his Fellow Bishops to prove that Christ's Church in this World consisted both of good and bad alleged those evident Parables of our Saviour used about this matter as that of the Net cast into the Sea that comprehended all kind of Fish both good and bad some to be cast away and some to be used That also of the Barn-floor which had in it both chaff and corn the one to be burned the other to be laid up in God's eternal Granary The other also of corn and cockle permitted to grow in one field to the day of Judgment and of the sheep and goats that live in God's Flock under the self same Shepherds in this World but yet the one to be consumed with everlasting Fire in the end thereof and the other to be taken into eternal Joy. When these Parables I say with many other Testimonies of Scripture had been alleged by the Catholics against the Donatists Heresie it was wonderful to see what shifts deceits and tergiversations they used to avoid the same denying some as invented by Catholics others they sought to avoid by false and crafty Expositions and other such shifts which you may read at large in S. Augustin 26. And for that this may be sufficient for a tast to shew the different manner of proceeding between Catholics and Heretics both