affirmeth That the Protestant Religion is no safe way to salvation I answer I confide to use Mr. Knots words that every indifferent Reader will find this to be clearly false For first he speaketh no more of Protestants than Papists but equally of both Secondly he saith not categorically they do erre but it is to be feared they both Protestants and Papists do Thirdly he saith not absolutely neither but on supposition IF any Protestant or Papist be held in any errour by any sinne of their will then such errour is as the cause of it sinfull and damnable And this none that I know unlesse himself will or can deny It being a truth sufficiently manifest and asserted by his great Masters P. Lombard and T. Aquinas and the greatest stream of Schole-men and Casuists And to tell Mr. Knot my mind freely I am clearly of Mr. Chill's opinion viz. That Protestant Religion is a safe way to salvation and yet that many Protestants go to hell That there are millions of Protestants who think not to be a Papist is enough not to be damned and millions of Papists who think not to be a Protestant is enough to oblige Almighty God and merit heaven And I take both parties to be extreme blame-worthy for deeming so and Mr. Knot must give me leave to wonder if any rationall man shall blame me for saying so without giving his reasons Now we come to M r Knots very large Introduction where § 2. p. 38. he layeth down this proposition to be proved Christian Religion is absolutely and infallibly true And so he spends you above fifteen sheets in pretending to prove it and the Necessity of Grace and the first of these by the last And if M r Chill neither denied the necessity of Grace nor the infallibility of Christian Religion I desire the Reader to consider whether he have not fifteen sheets together of impertinencies And that M r Chill denyed neither of these will clearly enough appear to any that are not willing to be deceived if they can spare leisure to read over M r Chillingworth's pamphlet as M r Knots friend calls it or but consult those very passages from which M r K. taketh the occasion of these long discourses and which he citeth out of Master Chillingworths sixth Chapter where his 3 d § begins thus I do HEARTILY acknowledge and believe the Articles of our Faith to be in themselves Truths as certain and INFALLIBLE as the very common principles of GEOMETRY and MATHEMATICKS But as if M r K. notwithstanding the Metaphysicks he boasteth so much of knew not the difference between certitudo objecti subjecti he seeketh advantage from what followeth immediately viz. But That there is required of us a knowledge of them and an adherence to them of SENSE or SCIENCE That such a certainty is required of us UNDER PAIN OF DAMNATION So that NO man CAN HOPE to be in a state of salvation but he that finds in himself such a degree of faith such a strength of adherence This I have already demonstrated to be a great errour and of dangerous and pernicious consequence And because I am more and more confirmed in my perswasion I will here confirm it with reasons c. p. 311. From which passage whether any just advantage can be taken especially for a digression of so many sheets let every unpassionate Reader judge Chap. 1. § 2. p. 38. He layes down this proposition to be proved Christian faith is absolutely and infallibly true by Christian faith he explains two lines after his proposition himself to mean the true Religion Now 1. This is the same vein of Sophistry which I noted even now and runnes through the whole book when he speaks of infallibility The question being not at all de certitudine objecti but subjecti not whether divine truths be absolutely infallible this none doubteth who admits a God in the true notion but whether we are infallibly certain That these or those positions are Divine truths 2. Master Chill tells us in the ninth § of his Conclusion that the end of his book was to confirm the truth of the divine infallible Religion of Jesus Christ 3. M r K. takes notice of it and citeth that very passage and such others c. 1. § 39. p. 66. So that to make a great noise against M r Chill and to endeavour to prove against him what he believeth and granteth nay what he knoweth and confesseth he grants as M r K. doth here and oft elsewhere is such a piece of Jesuitical industry and civility as Protestants never learnt 4. He tells us that in the proof of this proposition he maintaineth the cause of All Christians and of all men and mankind 'T is a comfort to meet with such a charitable person But if he have all Christians nay all men all mankind of his perswasion and saith so himself who are his adversaries If all men all mankind be for the infallibility of all faith then sure M r Chill is so too for though I never saw or knew him otherwise then by his printed book I ever took him for a man and I believe M r K. who hath reason to know him better then I hath found him so And if all be not of Master Knots mind then nothing can be concluded hence but that he was in a passion when he wrote this book so may be the better excused for declaming against reason But 5. Had M r K. read Sextus Empericus and been acquainted with the Pyrrhonians he might have found many and they no fools but famous Philosophers who were not for his absolute infallibility And I wish Mr. Knot may never be one of them I hope be is and will continue a Christian Onely give me leave to tell him That if nothing else could be said for the truth of our Christian Religion but what is in his Infidelitie unmasked and Vanninus his Amphitheatrum heu actum esset de Palladio Since not to trouble you with transcribing his positions which I cited pag. 14. having told us That it is necessary that supernaturall knowledge should be most certain and infallible and That a man is as happy without any belief of Christian Religion as without one that is infallible he saith p. 52. That 't is impossible Christian Religion can retain the highest degree of probability if it have no greater perfection then it receiveth from the sole probable arguments of credibility And then throughout the whole book he hath not one argument which pretends to reach higher than to a probability I wish any of them would reach so high for the infallibility of the Church or living Judge upon which he endeavours to build all the rest unlesse you will grant which indeed he contendeth hard for Conclusionem non semper sequi deteriorem partem That the conclusion may sometimes be stronger than the premises And indeed it concerns him to desire it should be granted for the premises which he bringeth
cannot possibly be any just foundation of his confident conclusions But let us come to his proofs p. 2. § 2. he goes about to prove Christian faith is infallible and exempt from all possibility of errour or falshood His end is as I said before that he may prove the Romane Faith and Church infallible His medium is this FAITH is the gift of God and the prime veritie cannot inspire a falshood This I confesse is an argument to prove the infallibility of the Church which I never met or heard of before And I doubt it will prove more then he would have it viz. That Protestants since they have faith as Mr. Knot in Cha. Ma. par 1. c. 1. § 3 4. granteth they have unlesse he 'l say a man may be saved without it contrary to Hebr. xi 6. and Dr. Smith Bishop of Calcedon saith expresly in print Protestantibus credentibus c. they neither want FAITH nor a CHVRCH nor SALVATION are infallible as well as Romane-Catholicks And then Romane Catholicks cannot be infallible unlesse infallible men may contradictions another By the word saith in this argument Mr. Knot meaneth either the object of faith or the act of saith If he mean the object of faith the word of God revealed in the Gospel he abuseth himself and us for no Christian ever denied it If he mean the act of faith as he must if he say any thing against his Adversary or to the purpose then by this discourse not onely the Pope but every Bishop every Priest nay Thou and I and every Christian man and woman in the world who hath infused saith and that gift of God are as infallible as the Church of Rome And yet on this sandy argument Mr. Knot at the first entrance layes the foundation of all his Book and chooseth rather to build the infallibility of Christian Religion hereon than with his companions upon the infallibilitie of the Church In reading Mr. Knot 's book I stood amazed to heare him say so oft that he had already proved the infallibilitie of his Church and searching from Chapter to Chapter I found no other argument beside what I mentioned p. 10. concerning the infallibilitie of faith to which I conceive I have said enough but the notes of credibility p. 428. viz. Miracles sanctitie sufferings victory over enemies conversion of Nations wealthy he might have said Concerning which I come now to speak somewhat briefly 1. For Miracles Christ and the Apostles bid us to take heed of them and so we have the evidence of their true miracles then to keep us from all false ones now and we are bid to examine the miracles by the doctrine not the doctrine by the miracles And the Fathers confesse as much That miracles are not now necessary nor profitable nor marks of the true Religion That the Ancient hereticks pretended to miracles as much or more then the Orthodox And we know that the Heathens talked much of theirs and that many Romane Doctors acknowledge all this But it is strange is the Church of Rome have any miracles and be as she pretends desirous of our salvation and not afraid to convert us that she should never shew them among Protestants where they may abide the touch unlesse our presence be a charm and disable her Priests from doing wonders Very strange that most of her miracles should be done in secret when otherwise they are oft so notorious cheats that the Magistrate takes notice of them and punisheth them whereas Christ and the Apostles did theirs in the face of the Sunne and before all Israel before enemies as well as friends before hereticks and infidels as well as Orthodox that they might do good And that where she doth shew them as in France Italy and Spain they should not if they be true convince the Atheists who more abound in those than in any other Countreys Marsennus told us long since comm in Gen. that there were in his dayes fifty thousand Atheists in that one city of Paris Colerus l. de immort anim tells what store there be in Italy And for the Spaniards I need but mind the Reader of their converting the Indies by depopulating them and barbarously slaying millions auferre trucidare Imperium Religionem vocant as Galgac in Tacit. vitâ Agric. c. 20. insomuch that the poor Natives thought Christians the most cruel and wicked people in the world and called them Guacci that is beasts that live upon prey and Viracochie that is the scum of the sea and pointing at a piece of gold were wont to say Behold the Christians God Such were the sanctified lives of those that boasted of converting Nations Concerning which see a book entituled Spanish cruelties written by Barthol de las Cafas a Bishop and Dominican Frier and translated into French Italian c. printed in Latine at Frankfurt with pictures Also Benzo's historia novi orbis and other Relations of the Indies Which mindeth me of the 2 d Note 2. Sanctitie of life This argument varieth with the climate and in most places proveth rather against Romanists than for them 'T is not long since Clemangis Espencaeus Alvarez Petrarch Pelagius Dante 's Baronius and the Cardinals delegated by P. Paul III. and many of the Romane Doctors complained That all the miseries and civil warres in Christendome came from the ill lives of their Monastical and Clergy-men since Bellarmine sent great numbers of Popes to hell together and are they now come to be the onely Saints on earth 'T is confessed That discipline wherein even those Hereticks whom Mr. Knot calls Infidels by the confession of their most dreadfull Adversaries go beyond Romanists dangers and such externals make great alterations on some mens lives And in England there cannot be many monstrous wicked men of that Religion yet some there are because not many men in comparison with Protestants But what kind of people the plurality of them be in other Nations all the world knows And Salmeron in epist Pauli de falsis signis Eccl. disp 3. Costerus Enchirid. controvers c. 2. p. 101. à Costa de tempor noviss l. 2. c. 20. are so ingenuous as to confesse expresly That a life apparently good and honest is not proper to any one Sect but common to JEWS TURKS and HERETICKS And Card. Perron confesseth it tacitely while in his letter to his Vnkle he mentioneth not the good lives of any Catholicks And S. Chrysost in Matth. iii. hom 4. is as plain and large to my purpose as any of them It is too plain that arguing from the pretended holinesse of mens lives to the goodnesse of their cause or opinion is a Paralogisme which hath advanced Arianisme Pelagianisme and other heresies of old Mahumetanisme Familisme and Anabaptisme of late And unlesse God of His infinite Mercy prevent may ruine Christendome now His other Notes are so far from arguments that I am a little ashamed to say any thing to them The 3 d is SUFFERINGS And
any more queries then are necessary what necessity of an infallible Judge at all The Christian world had no such Judge sor CCCXXIV years for the Nicene Councel was the first General and if They vnderstood Scripture and were saved then when they had no such thing why may not We now And if they were not saved the Church of Rome must blot out many hundreds and thousands of Saints Martyrs out of her Martyrology Till these twenty questions be insallibly resolved it seems to me impossible that any man should have any infallible knowledge of the Church of Romes Infallibility And I am the more confirmed in the necessity of a plain resolution to this last querie because though M. Knot be sometimes hot and positive in grounding all Christian Religion upon the infallibility of the Church I find beside what I said p. 22. Christ and the Apostles intimating the contrary Joh. v. 39. Act. iv 19. xviii 11. 2. Thess v. 21. 1. Joh. iv 1. Rev. ii 2. But to passe by such places of Scripture because I know that they who make profession of devising shifts will find euasions for them and to omit the positions of many Romane Doctours of lesse note who are as high for the non-necessity of an infallible guide as any Protestant can wish I shall onely hint at Lactantius his large Chapter to this purpose lib. 2. de orig error c. 7. beginning thus Quare oportet in ea re in qua vitae ratio versatur sibi quemque confidere suóque judicio ac propriis sensibus niti ad investigandam perpendendam veritatem quà m credentem alienis erroribus decipi tanquam ipsum rationis expertem Dedit omnibus Deus pro virili portione sapientiam c. and rather insist upon a couple of most eminent Cardinals Baronius and Lugo Both these give their opinions very plainly on our side and which I value more their reasons and examples The former hath spent to our purpose a whole Appendix which he prefixed before the second tome of his Annals printed at Rome MDLXXXVIII where appealing to every particular Protestant's judgement concerning the truth of his cause and not once mentioning the infallibility of the Church he goes on thus Ingens sanè vis humanae insidet rationi c. Great is the power of humane reason if it be left unsettered and free in all things And therefore our Ancestors placing great confidence in the force of truth where they contended with obstinate hereticks when they declined and despised all judgement of the Church were so indulgent as not to refuse to try the judgement even of Infidels and expect their determination Such men being Judges the Jews Joseph Antiq. l. 13. c. 6. had the victory over the Samaritans And an heathen Philosopher being by consent chosen for an Arbitrator to whose judgement they were to stand Origen dialog overcame five most wicked hereticks And Archelaus Epiphan haeres 66. a Bishop in Mesopotamia did consute Manes a most desperate Arch-heretick before certain Heathens who were by consent chosen Judges c. The latter though a Jesuite a Spaniard plainly asserteth this non-necessity tom de virtut fidei dis 1. § 12. n. 247. c. And making it good by foure instances 1. THE BELIEF OF THE INFALLIBILITY IT SELF which must be received from some other motive than it self or its own testimony and consequently saith he all other doctrines of Christianity may be believed upon the same inducements not meerly upon the infallibility of the Church 2. CHILDREN or OLD PEOPLE who are newly converted to the faith do not believe the Infallibilitie before they embrace other Articles for they believe Articles in order as they are propounded this is commonly one of the last 3. RUSTICKS AND COMMON PEOPLE at this day in Spain Italy and other Catholick Countreys who commonly resolve their faith no further than their Parish-Priest or some other learned or holy man at the most 4. He asserteth num 252. That IN THE LAVV OF NATURE most believed onely upon the Authority of their Parents without any Church-propounding And also after the law was written most believed Moses the Prophets before their prophecies were received and propounded by the Church for the sanctity of their lives c. And this discourse wa◠written by speciall order from the late Pope Urban and dedicated to the present Pope Innocent X. And now my patient Reader to draw to a conclusion as my spare-leaves do for I have unawares detained thee very much longer then I intended when I first set pen to paper for this Preface which was after the following English Apologie was fully printed and that is one reason of its immethodicalness If I have writ any thing impertinent I hope that my brother THE UNIVERSITY-MAN Mr. Knots friend will help to excuse me if any thing that savoureth of passion which I shall be very sorry for as soon as it shall be discovered to me that Mr. Knot will be my Advocate each of them being commonly conceived sufficiently guilty of one or both of these faults and hereafter I may do as much for them And further to encourage M r K. to do somewhat for me I do here assure him That if he shall vouchsase punctually to answer these xx questions which seem to me very necessary to be plainly determined before he can assure any man of the Infallibility of the Romane Church on which foundation he layeth so huge a structure and withall to refute that one argument which I mentioned pag. 18. out of Dr. Jer. Taylors nervous discourse then prove that the Church of Rome is infallible by any one infallible argument for he hath told us that nothing lesse can do it I will be his Proselyte Vntill which time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unlesse which I think far the more probable and therefore shall daily pray for it Mr. Knot will be so ingenuous as S. Augustine was to retract his errours in his later dayes and come over to the good Old Catholick Apostolick Faith leaving Romane superstructures For I begin to despair with that Milevitan Bishop of ever seeing while I am upon earth any infallible living Judge in matters of saith and to believe I must as the Jews speak expect the coming of Elias for that purpose having long observed by Mr. Knot 's seven books in this Controversie that Cause patrocinio non bona pejor erit To the Preface p. 8. l. 29. adde That there were Christians in Britain before Augustine the Monk came over is plain out of Eusebius Theodoret Arnobius Tertullian Gildas Bromton and I suppose no man that is not a meer stranger to Antiquity will deny That those Christians had no dependance upon Rome will appear to any who readeth the ancient Histories of Rome or England Platina saith that Antherus the 20 th Pope sate eleven years and made onely one Bishop In a word from the death of S t Peter till the entrance of
AN APOLOGIE FOR THE REFORMED CHURCHES Wherein is shew'd The necessitie of their separation from the Church of Rome Against those who accuse them of making a Schisme in Christendome BY JOHN DAILLE Pastor of the Reformed Church at PARIS Translated out of French And a Preface added containing THE JUDGEMENT OF AN UNIVERSITY-MAN concerning M r. Knot 's last book against M r. Chillingworth Printed by Th. Buck Printer to the Vniversitie of Cambridge MDCLIII To the Right Worshipfull the Master Wardens and Assistants of the Honourable Company of Mercers LONDON Right Worshipfull THough I am very much obliged to the Authour of this Book and other friends for whose sake I translated it yet I am to none more than unto You whose bounty enabled me of which I have been a partaker untill the yeare last passed ever since the fifth of my age through my education at S. Pauls Schole And that it is not still continued to me is not any cause in You but my superannuation Thus though my catalogue be short I have reckoned up almost all the friends I have living which as my books I ever desired might be few and good if they be not it shall never be my fault And with You whom I number among the chief of them I here deal as Sinaeta in the Persian story did with Artaxerxes who knowing it was the custome of the Countrey to offer the King somewhat each time he rid abroad meeting him accidentally and having nothing in readinesse ran to the river-side where snatching up his hands full of water he presented it to his Soveraigne crying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who considering the gratefull mind wherewith it came graciously accepted it If You shall in like manner vouchsafe to look upon this small book which is presented with the same affection and with my hearty prayers to God for the continuance of His Blessings on You and your Munificence to poor Students as a tender of my many humble thanks which I shall ever acknowledge due to You I shall think it next to the glory of God and conversion of souls the greatest reward to this devoir that can be hoped for by Your obliged servant THO. SMITH Christs-Coll Cambr. Aug. 2. 1653. A Table of the Chapters I. THE occasion and importance of this Treatise Page 1 II. The necessity of an union among believers pag. 2 III. That it is sometimes lawfull to separate from a company of men professing Christianitie p. 3 IV. That our separation from the Church of Rome was not made rashly wilfully or unnecessarily p. 6 V. Reasons of our separation from Rome founded upon the diversity of our beliefs p. 8 VI. That our separation ariseth not from particular matters of fact or private opinion but from such things as are believed generally by all the Romane Church And so that it is not like to the schisme of the Donatists p. 13 VII That there are two sorts of Errours the one overthrows the foundation of faith and obliging man to separate and the other not That the opinions of the Church of Rome which we reject are of the first sort and those of the Lutherans are of the second p. 18 VIII That the adoration of the Eucharist as it is practised by the Church of Rome doth overthrow the foundation of piety and religion p. 26 IX That the opinion of the Lutherans which we bear withall doth not bring with it the adoration of the Eucharist either de jure or de facto p. 32 X. That the dignity and excellencie of the Eucharist doth not hinder it from being a mortal sinne to adore it if it be bread in substance as we believe it to be p. 37 XI That the opinion which those of the Romane Church have of the Eucharist excuseth not such as adore it p. 45 XII The errour of those who think they may give to the Host of the Church of Rome that reverence which she commandeth without adoring it p. 55 XIII That he who believeth the Eucharist to be bread in substance cannot give it the reverence which is practised in the Church of Rome without evident falshood hypocrisie and perfidiousnesse p. 61 XIV That every man who exerciseth the ceremonies and services which the Church of Rome renders to the Host declareth thereby that he adoreth it and taketh it for his true and eternall God p. 65 XV. An answer to the example of Naaman the Syrian objected by some p. 72 XVI That to think it is lawfull for a man to exercise the ceremonies of a Religion which he believeth not doth by consequence diminish the glory of and cast a slur upon the Martyrs p. 78 XVII That this dissembling is condemned by our Lord in the Scriptures p. 81 XVIII That this dissembling grievously offendeth God and scandalizeth men p. 85 XIX That there are many other beliefs in the Church of Rome which overthrow the foundations of our faith and salvation as the Veneration of images the Supremacie of the Pope c. p. 91 XX. A conclusion of this Treatise That They who are of our perswasion are obliged to forsake the communion of Rome and They who are not are to prove and trie their own faith before they condemne our separation from them The Preface THe particulars which I intend to premise are chiefly these two 1. What was the occasion of writing this Apology 2. What is the occasion of printing it The first will lead me to say somewhat of schisme which is the subject of the book And the second to take notice of a large book lately published by the English Jesuites entituled Infidelity unmasked c. I shall speak of both with as much brevity as may be remembring I am to write a Preface not a Treatise I. Of the first Some seditious people in France did in the yeare MDCXXXIII endeavour to raise a bloudy persecution against the Protestants in that nation inciting the Magistrates to constrain them to adorn their houses on that Festival which is ordinarily called in that nation la Feste de Dieu and do other acts of reverence to the Host or to put them to death or banish the refusers Whereupon Monsieur Daillé conceiving in what eminent danger he and all of his Religion were wrote this Apologie which being publickly approved was presented by Monsieur Drelincourt Mestrezat himself and many others deputed by the Protestants of France for that purpose unto the King of France and Lords of His Counsel as containing the Doctrine and resolution of all the Protestants in that Kingdome And through Gods blessing it prevailed with Them so farre that the said destructive counsels were rejected And let not any man imagine That because Adoration of the Host is the chief sinne mentioned in this Tract as being indeed one of the chief causes of our Separation therefore Protestants have nothing else to alledge for themselves though one unanswerable reason is enough and I am perswaded that any unprejudiced Reader will think this such For he that
will but recollect in what condition the Church of Rome was when Princes and People Clergie and Laity did first desire of the Pope a Reformation in faith and manners shall find 1. That they gave and still do to the B. Virgin and other Saints departed the titles of Mediatour Redeemer and Saviour in their publick Liturgies and hymnes 2. That they began their sermons and other solemn duties with Ave-Maries and rendred not to the B. Virgin onely but to reliques pictures Agnus Dei's and severall other creatures animate and inanimate the worship which is due onely to the Creatour Briefly to omit many Doctrines destructive to piety and even civil society which are warranted by other Councels as in the Councel of Constance Sess 19. 3. That it is lawfull to break promise with hereticks and to instance onely in some few positions of the last Councel held at Trent Sess 25. 4. The decree for veneration of images is against Exod. xx 5. Lev. xxvi 1. Esa ii 8 9. xliv 13 c. 1 Cor. x. 7. vi 9 10. Rev. xxi 8. ◠5. How contrary is their invocation of Saints and Angels ibid. Sess 27. unto Rom. x. 14. Luc. xi 1 2. Matth. iv 10. Col. ii 18. Act. x. 25 26. xiv 14 15. Rev. xix 10. xxii 89. 6. Their Communion in one kind decreed in the very words of the Canon Sess 13. and 21. Can. 1. 2. with a non obstante Christi instituto notwithstanding Christs expresse decree how opposite to Matth. xxvi 27. Mark xiv 23. 1 Cor. x. 3 4 16 17 7. Their Transubstantiation Sess 13. chap. 9. Can. 2. how contradictory not onely to the Apostles Creed but also to 1 Cor. x. 16 17 20. xi 23 24 25 26 27 28 Matth. xx vi 29. 8. In a word for such citations may be numerous who ever can reconcile their decree for Service in an unknown tongue ibid. Sess 22. chap. 8. Can. 9. with any part of all the 1 Cor. xiv I will not wonder if he think that fornication is not contrary to any law of God and that forbidding marriage to all the Clergie doth no way oppose Heb. xiii 4. and 1 Tim. iv 3. Some of which positions are touched in the 19 th chap. of this book and the rest excellently confuted in Mons r Daillé's books de poenis de imaginibus but contra Meliterium and other Protestant Authours Who ever I say recollecteth how these and the like Doctrines which overthrow the fundamentals of Christian Religion were then and still are not onely the private opinions of her Doctours but the publick decrees of her Councels And then lastly who ever considereth with what rigour and tyranny she threw them who disbelieved them First out of the Church and then if she could out of the world meerly for being of the young mans mind whom S r Tho. More commendeth and tells a pretty story of pag. 1438. of his works in English whose name was Company because they would not sinne with their neighbours and be damned for good Fellowship So destroying whole Cities and Provinces and with them in Tacitus Solitudinem facientes pacem appellavere Insomuch as none could communicate with her without approving both her tyranny and doctrines which was the indespensable condition of her Communion Who ever I say considereth these things will I conceive never wonder why the Protestants departed from Rome any more than why the Philosophers did of old when they were banished or why he is out of the house who is thrust out of doors But if none of all this could have been truly pleaded yet the Church of England might have been excused from schism by him that duly considereth That the Anglican Church had of old and still may justly challenge many priviledges as well as the Gallican set down by Marc. de Vulson Counsellour to the King of France in his book de la puissance du Pape and by Pythoeus and many others but most largely described in two vast tomes written by the appointment of Cardinal Richilieu when he advised the King of France to set up a Patriarch in opposition to the See of Rome entituled Preuues des libertez de l' Eglise Gallicane Seconde Edition A Paris MDCLI If our secession was schisme what would that have been Both these Churches being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by force of the Ephesme Canon among others in the case of the Arch-Bishop of Cyprus whereby it was Ordered that the Churches should continue as they were and not be subordinated to any forraign Patriarch And again he who considereth That perpetually under the Old Testament and for many ages under the New Kings and Emperours were acknowledged to have a power of reforming the Church under their Dominions That even our Q. Elisabeth who is most railed at by Romanists claimed no other title but what Q. Mary other Romane Catholick Kings and Princes claimed before Her as may be seen in authentick Records and That by our Ancient Laws the Kings of England as the Christian Emperours of old had Supreme jurisdiction in matters Ecclesiasticall as well as Civil and That by these laws it was death for any man to publish the Popes Bull without the Kings license and if any Ecclesiasticall Court did exceed its just limits jurisdictions the Kings prohibition was to be obeyed All which appeareth in Caudries case reported by S r Edward Coke in his fifth book fol. 8. c. Concerning our ancient Ecclesiastical laws see S r. H. Spelmans Councels B p Carltons consensus Ecclesiae Cathol adversus Tridentinos p. 271. 272. D r. Hammonds answer to the six quaeries p. 414. and D. Blondel's Primauté en l' Eglise p. 796. And that the Reformation in England was in this particular as regular as possibl◠the Clergie desiring it in Q. Elisabeths dayes there were not a hundred Incumbents turned out of their livings throughout all England the King Lords and Commons unanimously concurring to it See a book entituled An answer to that groundlesse calumny A Parliamentary Religion by E. Y. printed at Oxford MDCXLV And lastly I request those who are so prone to term us Schismaticks to examine what obligation there lieth upon us to conform any more to Rome then Geneva and why not to the poore Greek Church as well as to either if it have as much truth or indeed why not to the Primitive rather than any Certain I am that they will never be able to prove out of Antiquity that if the Bishop of Rome or any other Bishop require subscription to any errour especially to any that is damnable or dangerous as the condition of their Communion any man was any longer bound to communicate with them because then he were bound to communicate in sinne or by consequence to be obedient to them Whence it will follow That if the Pope make a new Creed and put in some things that contradict the Apostolicall as he did at Trent If he will force us to
professe and practise the contrary to Christ's precepts as in mutilating the Communion and severall kinds of superstition idolatry and tyranny We are not in a Schisme for not subscribing and obeying but He for imposing And also it will follow that Mons r. Daillé hath taken a very right method And that the question of schisme ought to follow and not go before that of heresie or errour For if the Bishop of Rome be in schisme we are not then in fault for not remaining under his government although we had been under it ever since the first plantation of Christianitie in England hoc dato non concesso since he now exacteth our assent subscription to a damnable errour as a part of our Communion And therefore I cannot but wonder That the contrary methode being so preposterous and against both reason and the practise and opinions of the Fathers should be so much used among the Romanists For thereby they do not examine but praesuppose the conclusion First they would have us grant That the Church of Rome is the onely true Church on earth and then examine whether she speak truth and whether we did well in separating from her But I wonder at Cardinal Perron more then at any man That he considering his vast understanding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and large preamble of two leaves concerning the benefit and necessity of a good definition should Repl. lib. 1. c. 8. define the Church to be a societie of those whom God hath called to salvation by the profession of the TRUE FAITH sincere administration of the Sacraments and adherence to lawfull Pastours and yet that he should both use the Romanists method and find fault with them that do not ibid. c. 4. For if the Church be such a Society Either every member of that Church is obliged to know and therefore to examine the true Faith and sincere administration of the Sacraments or he is obliged to make profession of that which he doth not know and hath not examined Which is far beneath a rationall man much more a Christian And in truth this I take to be the first particular that should be considered For unlesse men before they dispute will be perswaded to agree upon the state of the questions and in what order they should be handled they must needs end their discourse where they should have begun it as to instance in the point in hand D r Potter p. 81. proveth that it is lawfull to abstain from communicating with a Church that imposeth the profession of her corruptions as a condition of her communion Because 't is lawfull to separate from any other corrupted Societie in the like case as if a Monastery should reform it self and reduce into practise ancient good discipline when others would not c. or if a societie of men be universally infected with some disease c. M. Knot in answer alters the case very ingenuously to the quite contrary c. 5. § 31. M. Chillingworth moderates it to do him a courtesie c. 5. § 85. In requitall whereof M r. K. first blames him for it and then begs the question saying That in the question between the Church of Rome and us there is a divine command not to depart whatever she impose So that till the questions be stated right in due method that is till it be examined whether the Church of Rome have corruptions and impose them 't will never appeare whether she or we be in the schisme And certes methinks it is not fair to beg the question so oft as he doth tell us that we are no Christians unlesse we are infallibly certain that the Church is infallible and yet never pretend to prove it so by any other motives than those of credibility which at best are but probable and to me they seem not such I protest I have oft wisht heartily they did having found so many discouragements for a scholar in late years that I long since concluded him a wiseman who said He that encreaseth notions encreaseth sorrow Much study is a wearinesse to the flesh Eccles i. 18. xii 12. concluding that the love of learning and truth which is the most that I pretend to would not onely be tedious but sinfull if felicitie could be attained full as well without it which it might if it were infallibly certain that the Romane Church is infallible And so while M r. Knot goes about to prove that reason overthroweth Christian Religion and tells us that it must be built onely upon the Authority of the Church and then builds that Authoritie onely upon reasons and those very weak ones and no way able to support his superstructure he will let all fall unlesse the same faculty be a pillar under his arm and a bulrush under ours And though he make great use of interjections in exclaiming against Chillingworth and other Protestants in England for pulling down he will never deserve any thanks in my opinion of the Christian world for this building Which mindeth me of the second particular I intend to speak of viz. II. The occasion of printing this book I confesse though it were translated several years since at the urgency of some learned friends whose judgement concerning the acutenes of it I had more reason to trust then mine own yet I was very unwilling to publish it till now that I am convinced of the seasonablenesse of it being certified from English Seminaries beyond the seas indè Quòd nuper-veteres cōmigravere coloni and convinced by relations from Newcastle Brecknock and other places on this side the water That they are very busie at such harvest-work here as Parsons the English Jesuite in his Memorial written at Sevil 1596 and Contzen the Moguntine Jes in the second book of his Politicks and 18. chap. and Campanella in his Monarchia Hispan appointed them being told by the London Book-sellers who are the most competent judges quisque in arte sua Beacon fired p. 6. that at least thirty thousand Popish books have been printed there within these three last years and in a book entituled The Petition of the six Counties of South-Wales and the County of Monmouth to the late Parliament of whole Parishes faln off to Popery since the Ministers have been cast out and yet many men ask WHAT NEED OF A CLERGY Alas I cannot but tremble to see how passionately they are in love with ruine and pursue nakednesse vengeance and desolation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prov. xxix 18. In a word knowing turpius ejicitur c. that men are with more ease kept within the Church of England then reduced to it and seeing many daily who formerly have been the most forward to cry Venient Romani posting out of it and furious for Romane superstition falling as 't is the custome of the giddy vulgar from one extreme to another Especially considering that the zeal of the greatest member of our Pastours most whereof might far better be spent in pressing
do not Protestants suffer more in most other parts of Christendome by the State or the Inquisition where some as our worthy Confessour M r Moll have been and are kept in a close prison or dungeon for above twenty years meerly for Religion or by both So that those arguments which their Christian Moderatour brings supposing them rationall in themselves cannot be such coming from a Romanist unless Quod tibi fieri non vis alteri nèfeceris be an unreasonable Law not Nature's Nay do not the Socinians Anabaptists Arians Atheists suffer too and burn rather then turn witnesse Servetus John of Leiden Hacket Vanninus Fontanier Ket Leggat Theophile Gentilis and many others 4. Victory over all sorts of enemies This makes more for Turcism then Popery for the Alcaron then the Conc. of Trent 5. CONVERSION OF INFIDELS I would fain know what he means by Infidels for he cannot but know that thousands have been converted by Protestants whether all of every nation or how many converts are required to make up this note and whether so many in every age 'T is certain that multitudes of Infidels have been converted to Mahumetanisme and more Christians of late years to Judaisme and Turcisme then Turks or Jews to Christianity or Popery And to see what manner of Christians the Romanists make in both the Indies you need read no other books then their own letters their own Bishop de las Casas book or Benzo's cited p. 30. To turn a rich fruitfull land into a desolate wildernesse is in the new Romane language conversion In a word who ever shall please to examine these notes which are M r Knot 's last argument and other mens first chief and ordinary for the infallibility of the Church or any other that he or his Society can bring shall find that they offend against those properties which Bellarmine Salmeron and other Romane Controvertists require in all Notes as That they should be verae manifestae propriae non communes inseparabiles c. It being the most undoubted note of a distinguishing Note Alteri non quadrare Indeed his marks seem to me so weak arguments that I cannot find how any man can be convinced by them unlesse through the Authority of the propounder so that if a man yields upon them it must be out of civility or fear of gainsaying But when men are resolved upon a Conclusion impertinencies are easily fancied to be as strong demonstrations as any in Euclide The Pythagorians being bred up in positions concerning numbers fancied them the principles even of Naturall bodies Every rack in the clouds is a Regiment in a young souldiers eye and the least scratch in the wall a babie in the childs all chymnes sound their Whittington I wish the best of M r Knots arguments were as concluding as the worst of Mons r Drelincourts 100 against Transubstantiation I heartily wish as I said before for an infallible Judge and shall come with as much prejudice against my own perswasion for as yet I see no hope of any in this world to hear M r Knots argument as he can desire in any Reader But I would be loth to run in a circle and mistake a wish that some person were infallible for a proof that he is And therefore if M r K. shall think this paper deserves any answer besides an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I ever expected in this Controversie I shall beseech him that before he tell us again that he hath proved the Church of Rome infallible He would be pleased to resolve these following questions which I think must necessarily precede the examination of that which he in most leaves taketh for granted I. Whether there be any infallible Judge on earth II. Whether any Church be that Judge and not rather some one of those ten things which Mr. Chill nameth and bringeth Scripture for chap. 3. § 8 III. Whether the Romane Church be that Church IV. If it be in what capacity whether the Infallibility be 1. in the head the Pope as the Jesuites generally and many Canonists affirm or 2. in the body of the Church as Panormitanus Occam Waldensis Antoninus Clemangis Cusanus and others hold and give their reasons And then whether in the whole body diffusive or in the collective in a Councel And if a Councel be infallible then whether it be so onely with the Popes confirmation or without it And which way soever they say I enquire further V. How we shall certainly know who must be members of it 1. Clergy and Laicks or 2. onely Clergy And if so whether 1. onely Bishops as commonly they say or 2. Presbyters too and Deacons or Chorepiscopi at least for we find all these usually subscribing VI. Or let the Councel be as they would have it how shall I be sure they are infallible For 1. Are they so absolutely infallible as that they cannot determine falsly in rebus fidei do what they will Or 2. Are they infallible onely if they use all those good means which God hath given them to find truth that is if they read studie dispute search records pray and lay aside all passions private ends and interests VII How shall I know when they determine aright what is required to a Synodicall Constitution Must all concurre in the Vote or will the major part serve the turn VIII What makes a Councel Generall Must all the Bishops in the Christian world be called IX And when they are called must they all come else is it no General Councel X. Who must call the Generall Councel the Pope or Christian Kings and Emperours and how shall I be assured which of them must XI How farre are their determinations infallible whether in matters of fact as well as faith And XII If in matters of faith onely then whether in fundamentals onely as many Catholicks said of old and D r Holden the Sorbonist at present or in superstructures too as others believe And then XIII How shall I infallibly know which points are fundamental which not XIV But admit all this were determined and our infallible Judge were a General Councel with the Pope yet in a time of schisme when there be two or three Popes at once as there were Clement III Greg. VII Gelasius II and Greg. VIII Celestin II and Honorius II. Anacletus II and Innocent II. Victor IV and Alex. III. Clement VII and Urbane VI. Eugenius IV and Felix V. Gautier the Jesuite will help you to a larger catalogue and these warring one against another as when there were two triple-crowns one at Rome the other at Avignon the Italians for the first the French for the latter the Court and the Cardinals bulls and indulgences at both places And thus were there saith John le Maire many Popes at once one against another for 40 years together so that the learnedst Clergy-men alive knew not which was S t Peters true successour and thus saith reason may there be again Then I
ask how I shall know which is the infallible judge And if M r. K. give us in answer that generall rule which he sets down p. 369. When de facto any Pope defines some truth to be a matter of faith we are sure even by his doing so that he is true Pope Then I 'le reply to omit the circle he runs in that there may be not onely two but twenty true Popes together for twenty men may define twenty severall positions at the same time and all true and yet all these men may be foulely mistaken another time and if so I desire to know whether all these will be true Popes Or by what rule a Romanist may tell when a truth is defined and when not since Sixtus V. defined one Bible to be true Anno 1590. and Clemens VIII another two years after and each of them prohibited and condemned all but his own and these two Bibles contain many contradictions each to other See D r James of the contrariety of the vulgar Latine Bibles and certainly contradictory propositions cannot both be Gospel And if not then either one of these two was not such really whence inconveniences enough will follow or they were both true Popes and so both their definitions true and so no true Papist hath any true Bible XV. But suppose there be no schisme and all agreed on the Pope and a General Councel met How shall I be sure that he who is reputed Pope is so indeed seeing by their own principles Simonie makes him none See the Bull of P. Julius II. super Simoniaca Papae electione Si contigerit c. and Specul in tit de dispens § juxta vers 2. and Majolus de irregularitate l. 5. c. 47. p. 433. and that he was not Simoniacal it is impossible for me to know The election of Sixrus V. was notoriously Simoniacal For Cardinal d' Esté whom he bribed and promised to obey and defend against an opposite faction c. Sent all these obligations subscribed by Sixt. V. his own hand to Philip then King of Spain Who in the year MDLXXXIX sent to Rome to bid the Cardinals who had been elected before Sixt. V. came to the See to come to a Councel at Sevil in Spain where the original writing was produced and the crime was evidently proved And if so all the Cardinals which were made by this Sixtus were in reality no Cardinals and then all the Popes which have been made by those Cardinals since as Montaltus Sixtus his Nephew Urban VII Gregory XIV Innocent IX Clement VIII and Innocent X. that now is have been really no Popes See a book entituled Supplicatio ad Imperatorem Reges c. written at Rome by one that calls himself NOVUS HOMO and dedicated to K. James Anno MDCXII But testimony enough of such doings may be seen in the letters of Card. d' Ossat and the transactions of Card. de Joyeuse set down by Card. Pervon Heul sedes Apostolica orbis olim gloria nunc proh dolor efficeris officina Simonis Damian epist ad Firminum Baronius T. 11. 1033. XVI But admit the Pope were certainly known to be such and that neither he nor any of his predecessours came in by Simony yet how shall I know whether those Bishops who with him make up a Councel are Bishops indeed For if they be no Bishops then it is no Councel And that they are true Bishops it is for ever impossible for any Papist certainly to know For if he that did ordain them did not intend it when he gave Orders and whether he did or no God onely knows then by their own principles they are no Bishops and by consequence no Councel XVII But further how shall I know that the Pope and Bishops so met at Trent for example are Christians For if not then sure they are no legitimate Councel or Church representative And that they are Christians 't is impossible for any Catholick to know with any infallible certainty For if they be not baptized then I am sure with them they are no Christians and if the Priest that baptized them did not intend to do it then by the Canon of the Trent Councel they are not baptized Now what the Priest intended when he administred that Sacrament 't is impossible that any save God who knows the heart should certainly know without immediate revelation which they pretend not to and consequently 't is impossible that any of them should certainly know That ever there was a Pope or a Bishop or a Priest since our Saviours dayes nay impossible that They should know whether there he now one Christian in their Church and therefore much lesse that there is or hath been a lawfull Councel XVIII But admit all these doubts were clearly solved and a Councel in their own sense lawfull sitting and determining matters in Controversie yet how shall we know certainly with that absolute certainty M r Knot speaks of that these are their determinations specially since the Greek Church above two hundred years since accused the Romane for foisting a Canon into the Nicene Councels in behalf of the Popes being Head of the Universal Church which could never be found in the authentick copies though the African Bishops sent to Constantinople Alexandria Antioch to search for them Codex Can. Eccles Afr. Justel p. 39 40. We were not in the Councel nor ever saw any of the men that made the Canons we must rely on the honesty of the Amanuensis or of those other persons that conveigh them to us and those are certainly not infallible and we know there are such things as Indices expurgatorii foysting in and blotting out of Manuscripts XIX But admit all this cleared yet when I have indeed the genuine Canons and am sure of it how shall I be assured of the true meaning of them for M r K. tells us that we cannot without His Churches determination know what faith or repentance or any word else in the Scripture meaneth though I suppose the Apostles intended as well as he or I to be understood and though he tell us That the Scriptures are as perfect a rule as a writing can be I am fallible and may mistake and in his opinion so may any man but the Pope or a Councel This is no vain supposition for we know that Vega and Soto two famous and learned men in the Councel of Trent write and defend contradictory opinions yet each thinketh the Canon of the Councel to determine on his side Now of necessity one of them must mistake the doctrine of the Councel unlesse you 'l say the Councel determined contradictions and then the Councel is not infallible it self and if either of them mistook the Councel then it was not an infallible guide to him Now if learned men who were members of the Councel such as disputed much in it could not infallibly know the meaning of it how can I who am neither XX. Lastly not to trouble M. Knot with
Angels and to avoid them as cursed and excommunicated persons if they should take the boldnesse to preach ought else but that Gospel which is already delivered Gal. i. 8 9. To depart straight out of Babylon and not to be kept in there lest we partake at once of her sinnes and plagues Revel xviii 4. In a schole where those of Ephesus are commended for having hated the Nicolaitans and those of Pergamus blamed for having tolerated their doctrine Rev. ii 6 15. In a schole where even at the beginning the children of the Church had continually so much care to separate from the communion of hereticks as Samosatenians Arians and others Who seeth not that according to this discipline it is sometimes not lawfull onely but even necessary to separate from some Societies that make profession of Christianitie and that in this case we must blame not generally and simply all that make a separation but those onely who make it either lightly and without reason or unjustly and without necessity The matter seems sufficiently cleare For since the conservation of such things as are united is the end of union 'T is evident that we are not to entertain any union but onely with them who may help forward that designe and so farre onely as they may help it forward If therefore there be any who under colour of the blessed name of Christ subvert His doctrine annihilate His authority and our salvation 't is so far from being our duty to unite our selves to them that on the contrary we are obliged to part from them because to unite with them were in effect to disunite from Christ and from His body and in stead of coming to salvation to fall into eternal ruine If in a State a City or Province should oblige those that live within it to perform actions that are contrary to the Majestie and service of the Soveraigne the loyal inhabitants may thereupon separate themselves and even oppose and resist the rebels with all their power if occasion be offered For 't is a law generally engraven by nature in all parts of the Universe even in insensible creatures That every thing seeks after the company of that which is like it and with equal violence avoids to be near or have any thing to do with that which is contrary to it So then both the discipline of Jesus Christ and the lawes of Civil societies and even those of nature her self permit us to avoid the communion of such as under any pretence name or colour whatsoever go about to destroy and ruine Christianity What did I say that they permit us nay they command it so expresly that we cannot refrain from such separations without offending God scandalizing our neighbours and destroying our selves And though this be a truth received among all Christians yet there is no Society or company of them wherein it is more strictly and more severely practised then among those against whom we now dispute For who knows not with what rigour Rome hath continually rejected the Communion of those who dissent from her In the infancy of Christianitie she anathematized the Churches of Asia for a matter of nothing viz. because they celebrated Easter otherwise then she and in these later dayes how hath she persecuted with fire and sword all those that would venture never so little to oppose her power and greatnesse How many ages have passed over her head since she broke with the Eastern Northern and Southern Churches with which notwithstanding she boasteth much of her having so great conformity of belief and service So nice is she and delicate in this point that we have seen not long ago the chiefest of her Monks the most exquisite of her Religious Orders fly off and separate from the State of Venice and renounce there her Churches and Altars where all the Articles of her faith were dayly publisht where all her devotions and services were continually celebrated onely upon pretence That this wise Commonwealth would not endure that Pope Paul the fift should bereave her of the power she had to make and execute lawes for the government of her subjects So that if separation simply be a crime who seeth not that our Adversaries are faulty too and consequently are not to be admitted to bring in the accusation against us CHAP. IV. That our Separation from Rome was not made rashly willingly or unnecessarily Object BUt they 'l say that They had reason to do so and that We have none Ans So then now we come to the businesse viz. To examine the causes of our separation before sentence be given against it Let us I beseech you leave the odious words of division and schisme and apply them to none but such to whom we shall find they appertain For if we have not had any important cause of our separation from the Church of Rome if she have not required any thing of us which destroys our faith offends our consciences and overthrows the service which we believe due to God If the differences between us have been small and such as we might safely have yeilded unto Then I 'le grant That men may call our Ancestours Schismaticks may condemn their separation to be rash and unjust and may impute to them all the sad disasters and scandals that have attended that action Bâ—t if they were urged to believe and pressed to do a thousand things contrary to their faith and to their conscience if onely for not doing them they were declared Hereticks enemies to J. Christ and his Church if they were deemed unworthy even of the honours or possessions yea even of that life it self which is enjoyed in this world who doth not see That they deserve the pity of men in stead of their hate and That their withdrawing themselves from people who have Treated them in this manner was just lawfull and necessary according to all the laws of heaven and earth Now it is very apparent that they were forced to make this separation for reasons which they in their consciences judged to be very great and important For excepting the motives of conscience all other considerations evidently obliged them to the contrary In separating from the Church of Rome they pluckt upon themselves all the disfavours of the world they incurred the indignation of their Magistrates the hatred of their Countreymen they exposed themselves to the losse of their goods their honours their friends their very countrey nay all that is sweet neare or deare unto them in this life and to the suffering of poverty ignominy banishment tortures and all imaginable punishments Who can believe that men who had the use of sense and reason as well as their neighbours should ever choose with chearfulnesse where there is no necessity to embrace such a side And though they had been so blind as not to have foreseen that such would be the event of their designe which yet is not a jot probable how should We come to have so little experience as
us she would have us receive with the same faith and respect all the traditions which she approves of Besides the repose and rest in the Kingdome of heaven which she with us promiseth to the faithfull she will have us to believe another in Limbo a prison for children that die without baptisme And besides the torments of hell which she with us threatens to the wicked she denounceth to the faithfull another like it in purgatoric These and severall others like to these are the positions which she addeth to the true and fundamentall Articles of the good Old Christianity and which are the points that divorce us from her Communion For every one knows how carefully she hath established them in her Councels how daily she recommendeth them in her Schools and pulpits how rigourously she exacteth them in confession having long since pronounced and oft since daily still proclaiming and repeating That she esteems them Hereticks Enemies of Christ and worse then Infidels that reject these opinions or any of these And which is more offensive yet not content to teach them by the voice of her Doctours she imprints them in the hearts of her people through continuall observation and use so that among them of her communion the practise of these additionall Articles makes more then a full half of what they esteem Christianity For the greatest part of their service consists in invocation of Angels and Saints in adoring the Sacrament in worshipping images in offering up the Sacrifice of the Altar or in partaking of it in making Confessions and exercising other ceremonies But as for us all the world knows that we have quite another opinion of these matters We content our selves with the intercession sacrifice and monarchy of J. Christ and can joyn to Him neither Saints nor Priests nor the Pope in any of those three qualities which the Scripture of the New Testament attributes to none but Him alone We deem His bloud sufficient for the purgation of our souls having never learnt that either S. Paul or any other Saint was crucified for us nor That after this life the Saints shall enter into any other place but onely one of repose and rest After Baptisme and the Lords Supper we desire no other Sacraments not having heard in His Word that he hath obliged us necessarily to go to the eare of any Priest to receive his absolution or to the hand of any Bishop to have his chrisme We dare not adore the bread which we break nor the cup which we blesse because all confesse That it is not permitted us to adore any but God onely We can neither invocate creatures since we have in the Scripture neither commandment nor example for it nor prostrate our selves before images since we have expresse commands therein against it We scruple at making any thing an Article of our Faith which we have not heard in the Word of God be he an Apostle or an Angel that evangelizeth So that since we find nothing in the Scripture of abstinence from meats distinction of times and other Romane ceremonies nor of the Limbus of infants or purgatory we cannot yet be perswaded that it is necessarie for us to believe them CHAP. VI. That our Separation ariseth not from particular matters of fact or private opinion but from such things as are believed generally by all the Romane Church and so that it is not like to the schisme of the Donatists I Might yet alledge many other differences but this little may suffice to let you see what are the main reasons which oblige us to separate from Rome Whence it appears how unjust a comparison it is that I say not impertinent and silly which some make of our Separation to that of the Donatists For they pretended not to find any thing in the doctrine of the Catholick Church from whence they separated which was contrary to their belief Both the one and the other taught the same faith read the same books exercised the same services The Donatist entring with the Catholicks found nothing either in their belief or discipline which he had not seen and learn'd in his own But as for us 't is impossible that we should enter into the Communion of the Church of Rome without swearing to many doctrines which we formerly never learn'd in the schole of the Scriptures without receiving Sacraments which are utterly unknown to us without bowing our knees before images which is absolutely forbidden without adoring a thing for God whose Deitie we know not without acknowledging him to be the Head and Husband of the Church whom we know to be but a mortall man without subjecting those consciences to an humane which are taught and wont to submit unto none but a divine Authority And as for that which the Donatists alledge That Felix the Ordainer of Cecilian Bishop of Carthage did in former times deliver up the Holy Scriptures to the Pagans during the persecution though it had been true as indeed it was not the Catholicks having clearly justified their innocence in this point by many irrefragable testimonies supposing I say it had been true that he had committed this fault who seeth not that this is not a cause in nature like to those for which we make our separation For this was a matter of fact and not a doctrine a fact of one man that is of Felix alone and not of the whole body of the African Church So that it should have given the Donatists no occasion or cause of separating from Cecilian much lesse any just cause of breaking communion with all Africk For suppose that Felix the Ordainer of Cecilian had committed this fault yet 't is cleare That he did not teach or think that it was lawfull for him to deliver the H. Scriptures up to Infidels but on the contrary by denying that he committed it and standing upon his defence as he did he confessed plainly by consequence that it was a fault The Donatists then might have continued in that communion without any way staining either their Creed or their manners without being forced either to do or believe any thing against their consciences But for all that supposing which yet is manifestly false that Cecilian had defended and preach'd publickly in his pulpit That it was permitted Christians in times of persecution to deliver up the books of HOLY WRIT to the enemies of the Church and supposing again which 't is not fit now to examine that this errour were pernicious and inconsistent with a true faith I cannot discern how the Donatists had any just cause of avoiding the communion of the successours of Cecilian or other Bishops of Africk who unanimously held taught and preached that to commit such a fault was a weaknesse unbefitting the soul of a Christian and made all such submit to the rigours of Ecclesiasticall discipline whom they found guilty of it This crime or what ever you will imagine it was onely Felix's or perhaps Cecilians but not any mans else The
whole Church had no share in it so that it was an intolerable piece of injustice a strange pride and mad fantasticalnes to abhorre a whole Church for the errours of offences of one particular man I would to God the case between the Romane Church and us had been the like That we had seen nothing deplorable but onely the faults of her Pastours and the disorders of her manners or That such of her doctrines which we cannot receive had been the thoughts of some particular men onely Had there been nothing else we should have lived still together Our Fathers would never have separated from Her Communion or if some strange passion which we dream not of had precipitated them into a rupture and schisme like that of the Donatists We do in our Consciences protest that we would have been afraid to follow their errour and that we would have lost no time of uniting our selves with them from whom we had been so imprudently separated For we cannot but confesse That 't is a piece of very high injustice to impute the faults of men to their profession and to accuse their Religion of those extravagancies which they commit especially if against it In such a case we should questionlesse practise the doctrine of our Saviour speaking of them who sit in Moses chair Matt. xxiii 3. All those things which they bid you observe those observe and do but do not after their works The Church wherein they live is not guilty of their errour especially when it highly and oft out of the mouthes of those very men condemneth the faults and disorders of their lives The Church may say to such fugitives The faults of my children are no fit reason to induce you to abhorre Me. Live in my communion you may and not be obliged to communicate with their wicked deeds Those very men who are thus wicked should drive you from the vice in stead of bringing you to it for if you mark it They carry preservatives in their mouthes against the poisons of their manners But alas 'T was not this that drove us from the Church of Rome 'T was not the fall of one Felix nor the weaknesse of some Cecilians 't was not the covetousnesse of her Prelates the licenciousnesse of her Monks the filthinesse of her Court the excesse and abuse of her Sovereigne Pontifes For though she suffered these disorders with too much indulgence yet she neither doth command them nor openly approve of them Though she very gently tolerate such as were debauched or vicious yet she did not force any to be so No man was for entring into her communion constrained to be a slave to any of those vices which bore sway in the midst of her No a man might have lived within it and yet addicted himself to honesty and goodnesse And as yet corruption had not gained so farre as that ill manners were authorized by publick laws But on the contrary during the worst of times though her voice was weak and languishing yet she made some noise against the impietie of the age And oftentimes those very men that gave ill example in their lives preached against it and decryed it horribly in the pulpit That which hath pulled us from her communion is her doctrine and not her actions that which she commands and not that which she suffers that which she requires of us all and not that which she tolerates in some others the articles of her faith and not the faults of her life For the adoration of the Eucharist invocation of Saints veneration of images and those other articles which we rehearsed before are not such things as she onely tolerates as bad or excuseth as doubtfull but beliefs which she commendeth as true and observations which she commandeth as usefull and necessary to salvation Nor doth she onely practise them in the house and privately but likewise preach them in the Temple as perpetuall parts of her Faith So that if we continue in her communion we must needs make profession of believing them that is make our selves guilty of an horrible hypocrisie confessing with our mouth what we do not believe with our heart Now if these were onely the opinions of some one of her Doctours if it were onely some one Divine that were to be blamed and the rest of their Church disavowed these things we should not for such a matter make any scruple of communicating with Her acknowledging ingenuously That 't is an unreasonable thing to impute the opinions and so the faults of a few particular men to a whole entire body Since we see it often happens that they who live in the Communion of a Church are neither in whole nor in part of the same belief with that Church Thus formerly among the Jewes The sect of the Sadducees had their doctrines apart and the Pharisees had likewise theirs And for a mans being a Jew he was not at all obliged to embrace or hold precisely the opinions either of the one or of the other sect And at this very day in the Church of Rome whence we departed the order of the Dominicans hath some opinions proper to themselves and the Franciscans have others and so likewise the Jesuits others peculiar to their respective Orders If therefore there were in the midst of Her onely some one societie of men that held affirmatively those things which we cannot believe and others lived at liberty either to receive or reject them In this case I confesse that it were very difficult to excuse our Separation since the Communion with that body whence we have departed doth not oblige us precisely to any points contrary to our consciences But who knows not that those Articles which we cannot receive are publick not private Doctrines common to the whole Church of Rome and not peculiar to the Pope and his party established authentickly in her Generall Councels by the suffrages of the Deputies of all the Churches in the world that live in her Communion Articles to the belief and observation whereof she obligeth all sorts of persons whatsoever Clergy and Laity Monks and Seculars Men and Women little and great anathematizing all as Hereticks who teach or believe otherwise and besides the thunderbolts of the Church excommunications making use of fire and sword and what else they can against them where ever she hath power Thus it appears that our cause is no whit like that of the Donatists our Separation arising from publick and universall Doctrines of the Church of Rome whereas Theirs had no foundation or reason but onely a pretended act of one particular man neither confessed nor proved The African Church whose communion they fled from presented them nothing in her Creeds and Service which was contrary to their faith whereas Rome whence we are departed will constrain us to think and do severall things that directly overthrow the doctrines which we in our souls and consciences believe CHAP. VII That there are two sorts of Errours the one overthrowing the
foundation of faith and obliging men to separate and the other not That the opinions of the Church of Rome which we reject are of the first sort and those of the Lutherans of the second Object BUt you 'l say Is it lawfull then to separate from a Church because it preacheth publickly and generally some Doctrine which is contrary to our belief Is it possible that our Soveraign Lord who would have us to beare with the ill manners and actions of men for the good that peace unity brings to a Community should permit us to separate from them for false opinions Suppose that Rome have added somewhat to those things which Christ and his Apostles laid down Yet what need had your Fathers to depart from her so farre This Spirit of concord you speak of which obliged them as you grant to suffer the faults in their neighbours lives how chance it did not make them beare with some in their faith Ans Because there is in this respect an extreme difference between faults in doctrine and in life the first drawing after them a consequence farre differing from that of the latter because that the Church propounds unto us not Her life but Her doctrine to be the rule of our faith and manners Yet which we Protestants confesse all errours in doctrine do not give a man a just and sufficient cause to make a division from those that hold them For the Apostle commands us to receive him that is weak in the faith Rom. xiv 1. and not to trouble him with disputes and to afford him our selves for an example in bearing gently with those who are not of our mind in every thing Let us all who are perfect saith he be of the same mind and if any of you think otherwise God shall reveal even this unto him Phil. iii. 15. 'T is evident that this weaknesse in faith and this diversitie in opinon whereof S. Paul speaketh are errours but such as he would have us beare with Yet since he elsewhere pronounceth anathema against those that preach any other Gospel then that which he preached we must of necessitie conclude that there are two sorts of errours in religion the one such as a man may beare with without dividing from them who hold them and the other such for which he is bound to avoid their communion and this difference dependeth upon the nature of errours themselves For as the truths which we are to believe are not all of equall importance some being esteemed fundamentall and so absolutely requisite that a man cannot come to the kingdome of heaven if he be ignorant of them others being profitable yet not so necessary but that a man may without the knowledge of them serve God and enjoy salvation so it is with errours Some are pernicious and no way consistent with a true piety others are lesse hurtfull and do not necessarily draw in men to perdition S. Paul doth clearly enough discover to us this distinction 1 Cor. iii. 13 15. where after he had said That none could lay any other foundation but that which he had laid to wit Jesus Christ he addeth That they who builded upon this foundation wood hay stubble should have losse in their work when it comes to be tried neverthelesse they should be saved yet so as by fire that is to say with difficulty their person onely or that wherein their chief good consisted escaping a burning An evident signe that there be errours which do not deprive the Authours thereof of salvation much lesse exclude such from happinesse as believe them after Them and take them up when they are dead or gone meerly upon their trust and credit And to conclude who doth not see plainly That there be errours which utterly overthrow the foundations of Christianity ingaging us unavoidably in such things as are inconsistent with salvation and that there be others which do not so As for example if one should think that he were bound to worship the Sunne For seeing the Sunne is a creature and those who worship creatures have no portion in the kingdome of heaven 'T is evident that he who hath such an opinion cannot attain eternal happinesse And 't is so with all other errours which overthrow any of the first necessary and fundamentall articles of Christian religion But the errour of those who believed of old That the Church shall continue a thousand yeares or some long time with J. Christ upon earth after the resurrection is no way repugnant to piety towards God or charity towards our Neighbour nor doth it directly overthrow any of the foundations of the Gospel Though it be in my opinion contrary to divers passages of S. Paul and scarce consonant to the nature of Christs Kingdome A man would scarce believe how necessary it is to mark this difference among the errours of men in matters of religion for preventing that vain scrupulositie and importunate pensivenesse which many melancholy spirits are troubled with who condemne all errours alike and thunder out one and the same anathema against what ever differs though never so little from their apprehensions yet for keeping them from falling on the other side into the indifferencie of profane persons who conform to any thing and swallow a camel as well as a gnat Indeed the true pious person will endeavour to keep himself from all errour and will purge his neighbour too as well as himself so farre as he is able For any deviation from truth though it may be a light and small errour yet 't is an errour that is to say an ignorance and contradiction to the truth and by consequence an evil But a man must be very diligent and circumspect in observing this distinction among errours and acknowledge that one is much more dangerous then another and he should more or lesse abhorre them all according as he shall judge them to be more or lesse dangerous If they be of the first rank viz. those which overthrow the foundations of Christianitie he will bestirre himself with all possible prudence and dexteritie according to his vocation and gifts to free his neighbour from them and if he cannot gain upon him he will yet be sure to save and deliver his own soul from the communion of such as hold them This was the practise of the Faithfull in reference to Paulus Samosatensis Bishop of Antioch and Arius a Priest of Alexandria who held that Jesus Christ was a meer creature throwing down Christianitie from top to bottome by this abominable doctrine But if the errour be of a second sort not pernicious nor inconsistent with the principles of our faith we should do well if we could handsomely to free our brethren from it for it were to be wisht that we might be entirely exempt from errour but if we cannot get out we must not therefore straight sever from them but gently and quietly beare with what we cannot alter yet so that we prejudice not any mans salvation much lesse
had we been animated with a spirit of presumption untractablenesse and despight as some fondly imagine how could we thus gently bear with those which are at difference with us and in whose communion there are some who either blinded with passion or deceived with calumny have a very ill opinion of us and do outragiously defame us This example one would think might show any man clearly That it is not want of charity but some other very urgent cause which moved us to separate from the Church of Rome For had the differences between us and them been like those between us and the Lutherans what likelyhood is there but that we should have been as ready to joyn hands with them as with these why should we be willing to offend our Countreymen and bear with strangers separate from those that have in their hands our honours our goods our lives and inviolably keep in with such as we have nothing to do with but onely as they are Christians what likelyhood is there that we should not in this point have that complacence for our Princes and naturall Magistrates which we have for such as in reference to civil Societie concern us not Certainly men must needs say we are either very furious and senselesse creatures which censure I think many wise people will not cast upon us or that 't is some great and weighty reason that made us separate from the Church of Rome And this is indeed the chief point of the question For if the doctrines whereupon we separated were of the same nature with those that we differ with the Lutherans about if they were tolerable and such as we could bear with without violating our consciences I confesse that our separation was if not rash as being not grounded upon a sufficient cause yet unjust at the least no separation in any matter being just if it be not necessary But we may truly affirm and confidently call heaven and earth to witnesse that 't is not possible to accommodate our selves to those things which the Romanists require of us without forcing our thoughts violating the peace of our consciences and overthrowing the foundations of Christianity which we firmly believe For we are at contestation not concerning matters that are small and of little importance but concerning the head of the Church concerning the foundation of faith concerning the causes of salvation the service of God the object to which that service should be given the state both of our consciences in this world and of our souls in the world to come CHAP. VIII That the adoration of the Eucharist as it is practised by the Church of Rome doth as we believe overthrow the foundation of pietie and salvation MY intention is not to examine all the particulars of the differences between us one by one to know the weight and importance of each in particular That would cause me to be more large then I intend to be on this subject and would be more tedious to the Reader then necessary for the end I proposed We may with lesse adoe justifie our selves For if among all those points wherein we differ there be but one which overthrows the foundations of Christianitie That is enough to prove the necessity of our separation whether the rest be light or weighty No man being bound to gratifie those who are in any communion so farre as to joyn with them to the prejudice of his own salvation Leaving therefore at present all other Articles to the belief whereof Rome would oblige us I shall onely consider this one viz. the adoration of the Host as they call it which is in my opinion a very important one and I hope I shall shew briefly and clearly that it is not possible to receive it without overthrowing the foundation of our piety here and eternall happinesse hereafter 'T is a Doctrine held by all Believers from the beginning of the world to this present that the Soveraigne and highest kind of honour and service which is ordinarily called adoration is due to none but God alone who created the heaven and the earth and redeemed us through J. Christ This is the foundation of all the doctrine and discipline of Gods people of old the first and principall Article of the divine Law which God pronounced from heaven with the voice of thunder and which he wrote for them with his own finger upon the tables of stone given to Moses Thou shalt not have saith he any other God before my face I can not well here if I would set down all the places wherein His holy Prophets repeat this commandment and comment on it 'T is likewise the great and chief foundation of the Gospel This is life eternall saith our Lord to know thee the onely true God and him whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ Joh. xvii 3. For this knowledge of God and of Christ comprehends likewise the service which is due to them The same God who taught us this truth declareth in an infinite company of places That He can hold them for no other then Enemies and Rebels that break this His commandment then for such who have broke His covenant and renounced His communion protesting That He will punish them very severely both in this world and in the next that He is jealous of His glory and will not by any means suffer it to be given to anothor And to make us the better to conceive the horriblenesse of this crime He represents it to us under the image of the most base and abominable transgressions that are committed in the life of man comparing it to whoredome adultery and all the most foul and infamous symptomes and denominations of weaknesse so that He useth sometimes upon this subject terms and expressions that a man can scarce reade or pronounce without blushing desiring certainly thereby to shew how hatefull this fault is and unbefitting any Believer The truth is Since our Great God hath done us the favour to call us by His infinite goodnesse to His Communion and to enter with us into so close a Covenant that to expresse it to us he tells us that He is our Husband and that we are His Spouse it is sufficiently evident that they who render to any other the honour and service which is due to God commit the same fault which a woman that is married doth when she abandons that to another which is due to none but her own husband So that as adultery is the greatest fault that can be committed against the bond of wedlock so may we be assured that no man can more grievously infringe his covenant with God then by devolving that service which belongs to him upon any creature whatsoever And as adultery doth dissolve marriage so the crime of those who serve creatures dissolves the Covenant with God Which may the better be understood by another comparison God is our King and Soveraigne and we are His subjects Just therefore as a subject cannot more hainously offend his
enough to shew that we were not transported out of an humour or frowardnesse or other small cause but forced by an extreme and irresistible necessitie to separate our selves from them Whence it followeth that in this case our separation was just That which is necessary being not to be blamed as unjust CHAP. XIX That there are many other beliefs in the Church of Rome which overthrow the foundations of our faith and salvation as the Veneration of images the Supremacie of the Pope c. BUt besides this Article there are great store of others to the profession and practise whereof they will oblige us against our wills which are of so great importance in religion that we cannot confesse them nor observe them any more then that of Transubstantiation without violating our consciences and exposing our souls to an evident danger of offending God and losing that portion in his grace and glory which we desire and hope for For example Believing as we do That there is nothing divine in images and That we are very severely forbidden by our Lord to prostrate our selves before them under pain of moving Him to jealousie and stirring up His indignation against us and our posteritie How and with what conscience can we bow our bodies before those in the Church of Rome offer to them wax-candles dresse them and carry them in procession and go in pilgrimage to places where they are consecrated and perform such other acts as she demandeth of us in her Communion to testifie that adoration which she thinketh due to them in Religion In times past when a report was spred among the Donatists That one Paul and one Macarius both Catholicks would come into those parts and set an image upon the altar where the Eucharist was to be celebrated the Christians were much astonished saying one to another That to eat there was to eat of a thing sacrificed to an idol And Optatus who recordeth it saith lib. 3 pag. 356. E. that if this rumour was true they had good reason to say so If the holy Fathers permitted the Donatists to abhorre the Churches of the Catholicks to avoid communicating with them in the Eucharist as an unclean and profane meat in case they could find any image upon the altar where they consecrated it How can they be excused who communicate at the Altars of Rome partake of her Devotions frequent her Churches where we know not by an uncertain rumour but by the report of our eyes and other senses that every one is full of images where we see them daily consecrated anew and the people crowding to prostrate themselves before them Believing as we do that Christ is the sole Head of the Catholick Church with what conscience can we give that title and this dignitie to the Pope of Rome and kisse his feet and render him all other honours which Rome is wont to give him in relation thereto Believing as we do that the truth of the heavenly doctrine is the onely foundation of our faith with what conscience can we depend upon the Authority of Pope or Councels submitting to them even the books of H. Scripture which are divinely inspired Believing as we do that the sacrifice offered by Christ upon the Crosse hath perfectly expiated our sinnes with what conscience can we swear That there is a necessity and efficacy in the sacrifice of the Romane Altar Believing as we do that invocation by prayers makes part of the service of God and not having learnt in the schole of the Scriptures to pray to any but Him how and with what conscience can we addresse to so many severall creatures those prayers and invocations which Rome commandeth us to addresse to them And particularly how can we invocate Dominicus a Monk Ignatius Loyola Charles Borromeus late Bishop of Millain and others like them who we know hated and persecuted that holy Faith whereof we by the grace of God make open profession By the considerations already represented about the point of the Eucharist it is easie to see that these articles and divers others which for brevity sake I omit overthrow the foundations of Faith and Piety so that it is not lawfull for us to comply with those which hold them CHAP. XX. A conclusion of this Treatise That They who are of our perswasion are obliged to forsake the communion of Rome and They who are not are to prove and trie their own faith before they condemne our separation from them THus I think I have sufficiently justified our Separation from the Church of Rome Whence it appears how lamentable the condition of them is who having the same opinion which we have concerning her doctrine and services do not depart from her Communion but accuse us for so doing For who doth not see that it is a necessary prudence and not a vain superstition to avoid that which men judge to be pestilentiall and mortall and that on the other side it is an unexecusable carelesnesse to doe and exercise continually what men acknowledge to be contrary to the glory of God the edification of their neighbours and the salvation of their selves If I may be permitted to addresse my self in this particular to those who are in so dangerous an errour I shall conjure them by their pietie to God by their charity to men by the care which they should have continually of their own and others souls to think seriously of joyning themselves hereafter to those whose belief they hold and quitting the communion of those whose Faith they disapprove And let them not slatter themselves to think that the Church of Rome retaineth the Apostles Creed and the summe of Christian doctrine since it is evident That one at least of those errours which they adde thereto are mortall For as those good and wholesome meats which a man eateth at his refreshment hinder him not from dying if by and by he swallow some poyson semblably true and wholesome doctrine doth not preserve those which believe it if together with it they entertain some pernicious and damnable errour in other particulars Evil hath this advantage above good that it spreads much farther and is farre more active For neither truth nor vertue can save a man unlesse they be pure and sincere without the intermixture of any ill and dangerous habite whereas errour and vice damne a man be they mingled with never so many truths and vertues For as a man though he be chaste and modest shall not inherit the Kingdome of heaven if he be covetous or a slanderer of his neighbour so shall he not be exempted from hell torments for believing some principall truths of the Gospel if it be found that after all he hath adored creatures or made profession of adoring them But as for you Sirs who continue sincerely in the Church of Rome verily believing all that she teacheth you I shall beseech you That if you do reject our belief you would be pleased at least not to condemne our separation imputing
that to us for a crime which inevitable necessitie hath forced us to doe God knows with what a deal of constraint we are come thus farre how troublesome a thing it hath seemed to us to renounce the duties and services which we owe to them to whom we bear so much respect and love our Princes our Fathers our Friends our Countreymen But what shall we doe when we find our selves surprized with necessity Ye see that our consciences torment us that they represent to us heaven and the eternity thereof hel and its punishments and which is more yet the will of God our Soveraigne Father This is not a toy nor can we please our selves in it You have seen that our belief doth necessarily bring along with it all these considerations Shall we preferre yours before them Shall we violate the motions of our conscience Shall we disturb the peace thereof and overthrow that which we beleieve to be the law of our Soveraigne God to please you Shall we venture willingly and knowingly to provoke His anger to avoid yours Shall we fear lesse to offend Him then to displease you You your selves I know very well will condemne such a loosnesse and in stead of approving it will extremely abhorre it For ye know and teach as well as we both by word and example that we owe all to God who looks upon the religion of our consciences Be pleased then to bear with us if we preferre what we believe to be the interest of His glory before your desires and our own And in other things where your contentment will not overthrow His service we shall freely acknowledge that we owe you our whole utmost are ready to testifie it by actions therein to do your absolute pleasures though it be with the losse of what we count most precious on earth our bloud our life it self Onely suffer us to reserve our consciences to our selves or rather to Him whole and entire over which no man can reign without affronting our God And if you think that the judgement we make concerning these matters is an errour be pleased to take the pains candidly to shew us it We shall willingly examine your proofs we shall bring pliant minds and as full of prejudice in your behalf as you can wish as persons that have all the interests in the world to perswade us to desire to live in your communion if it may be with the peace of our consciences We honour as well as you the H. Scriptures given and preserved to the Church by the Providence of God to be the laws and fountains of his Faith Let us we pray see you prove from thence the Articles which you presse so strongly or at least the principles whence they may be clearly and lawfully deduced If you shew them us and after such a manifestation we continue scrupulous we then neither can nor will denie but that you will have just and good cause to esteem us Schismaticks But if you cannot or do not me thinks you should have no reason to refuse what we request viz. To bear with our separation and not hereafter to give it the odious name of schisme which agreeth onely to such separations as are made by a pure and voluntary opinionativenesse grounded onely upon the peevishnesse ambition envy hatred animositie or the like passion of such as depart from the Communion of a Church without a true and necessary reason THE END * Ecclesia non in parietibus consistit sed in dogmatum veritate Ecclesia ibi est ubi sides vera est Caeterùm ante annos 15 aut 20 parietes omnes hîc Ecclesiatum haeretici possidebant Ecclesia autem illîc erat ubi fides vera erat Hieron in Psal 133. Nemo mihi dicat O quid dixit Donatus aut quid dixit Parm. aut Pontius aut quilibet eorum quia nec Catholicis Episcopis consentiendum est sicubi fortè fallantur ut contra Canonicas Scripturas aliquid sentiant August de unit Eccles c. 10. in Edit Lugdun Honorati Anno 1562. Ecclesiam suam demonstrent si possunt non in sermonibus rumoribus Afrorum non in Conciliis Episcoporum suorum non in literis quorumlibet disputatorum non in signis prodigiis fallacibus quia etiam contra ista Verbo Domini cauti redditi sumus sed iâ— praescripto Legis in Prophetarum praedictis in cantibus Psalmorum in ipsius Pastoris vocibus in Evangelistarum praedicationibus laboribus hoc est in omnibus Canonicis Sanctorum librorum autoritatibus Eodem lib. c. 16. ejusdem edit Vtrum ipsi Ecclesiam teneant non nisi divinarum Scripturarum Canonicis libris ostendant quia nec nos propterea dicimus credi oportere quod in Ecclesia Christi sumus aut quia ipsam commendavit Optatus Ambrosius vel alii innumerabiles nostrae communionis Episcopi aut quia nostrorum Collegarum Conciliis praedicata est aut quia per totu orbent tanta mirabilia sanitatum fiunt c. Quaecunque talia in Catholica fiunt ideò approbantur quia in Catholica fiunt non ideò manifestatur Catholica quia haec in ea fiunt Ipse Dominus Iesus cùm resurrexisset à mortuis discipulorum oculis corpus suum offerret nè quid tamen fallaciae se pati arbitrarentur magis eos testimoniis Legis Prophetarum Psalmorum confirmandos esse â—udicavit ibid. Non audiamus Haec dico sed haec dicit Dominus Sunt certè libri Dominici quorum Autoritati utrique consentimus Ibi quaeramus Ecclesiam ibi discutiamus causam nostram Eod. l. c. 2. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys in Act. hom 33. * It is entituled A memoriall for Reformation or A Remembrance for them that shall live when Catholick Religion shall be restored into England Wherein are directions in so many severall chapters what he thought best to be done as well in the Court as Countrey with the King and Counsell as with the rest of the Nobility and Commonalty Clergy as Laity when this Nation shall be as he said he was confident it would be reduced In summe he would have its Grand-Charter burnt the manner of holding lands in fee-simple fee-tail frank almain Kings service c. wholly abolished the Municipall laws abrogated and the Inns of Court converted to some other use That for Lawyers Then for Divines The Colledges in both Vniversities should be wholly in the power of six men who should have all the Lands Mannors Lordships Parsonages c. and what ever else belonged to Church or Cloyster resigned into their hands allowing to the Bishops Parsons and Vicars competent stipends and pensions to live upon according as Bishops-Suffragans and Mont seniors have allowance in other Catholick Countreys These are Parsons own words That at the beginning no mans conscience be pressed for matters in Religion then That publick disputations between Papists and Protestants