for if the discretion of the chiefest Guides Directors of the Church did in a point so triviall so inconsiderable so mainely faile them as not to see the truth in a subject wherein it is the greatest marvaile how they could avoide the sight of it can we without the imputation of great grossenesse and folly think so poore spirited persons competent Iudges of the questions now on foot betwixt the Churches pardon me I know not what Temptation drew that note from me ANIMADVERSION Thirdly about keeping of Easter say you anciently all the world were Schismaticks A strange assertion to lay such an heavy imputation upon all those auncient worthies Had they been thus guilty it had been the part of a dutifull sonne to have made some apology for them and to have covered his Fathers nakednesse But a farre greater crime it is thus to accuse them without a cause The best of it is I shall not haue occasion here to excuse their error but to defend their innocencie For first their difference is not about a point that concerneth Faith or Good manners but only the outward discipline and government of the Church about the keeping of a solemne feast And that not whether we should keep it or no for all agreed well enough that it ought to be kept but about the time of keeping it whether at this or that time which is a matter of farre lesse moment The occasion of this difference briefly was thus St Peter and his successors at Rome kept Easter the Sunday after the foureteenth Moon But S. Iames and many of his successors at Ierusalem being all of them Ministers of the circumcision the sooner to win their brethren the Iewes condescended to keep their Easter as the Iewes did 14o Lunae Which diversity of observation continued for the space of 200. years neither Church censuring or condemning one another for it Till at the length Victor Pope of Rome would needs take upon him to bring all those Easterne Churches to his custome and excommunicate them for not yeelding whereupon grew the Schisme So that although at the first they kept Easter diversly for a long time together yet so long as there was no breach of charity between them there was no Schisme by your own confession who tell us that Schisme offends against charity as Heresy against truth So then whiles they were charitable one to another all the world were so farre from being Schismaticks that no part of it could be justly thus branded The Schisme indeed began when the Pope would needs rashly and unadvisedly excommunicate those Easterne Churches with whom he had nothing to doe But then was not the whole world but only Victor and his partizans the Schismaticks according to you who unjustly divided themselves from the other side the East Churches continuing their old custome without any Schisme at all yet some of them not forbearing to tell Victor of his unadvised and unjustifiable action For shall we not allow to severall Churches especially when they have no dependency one upon another their severall rites and observations but they must be all Schismatick for it You may as well call both these Churches Schismaticks for this also because the one Church fasts on Saturday the other fasts not the one administers the Eucharist in unleavened the other in leavened bread These and such like points concerne not the body of the Church but her garments now although her body must be but one yet her garments are of divers colours Nay as one saith very well diversitas rituum commendat unitatem fidei The unity of faith doth more gloriously appeare amidst the diversity of ceremonies and rituall observations I wonder if one of our refined spirits now a daies who is animo defaecato had lived in those times what could he have done to avoid this Schisme how could he have chosen but be a Schismatick on one side or another I conceive how he should have escaped by you to wit to joyne with neither side by keeping no Easter at all for with you it is an error to think that an Easter must be kept which position being put in practise will prove the greatest Schime of all thus to divide ones selfe from all the Christian world For although these holy Fathers differed for a while amongst themselves about the time yet they all agreed against you about the thing it selfe and not only the Orthodoxe but the very Hereticks of those times kept an Easter Not so much as the Novatians who called themselves Cathari the Puritans of the Primitive Church but an Easter they had though they were very indifferent about the time of keeping it And the whole Christian world ever since hath duely observed the keeping of Easter But you take no notice of this only your eare is to excuse those Fathers the best you can And you can find but this one way to doe it That we charitably suppose that all parties did what they did out of conscience a thing which befell them through the ignorance of their guides for I will not say through their malice and that through the just judgement of God because through sloath and blind obedience men examined not the things which they were taught but like beasts of burthen patiently couched downe and indifferently underwent whatsoever their superiors laid upon them Doe you call this an excusation and not rather an heavy censure and accusation both of Priest and People in those purer times For what a dishonour is this to the Pastors and Prelates then that they who lived so neare the Apostles should be such ignorant guides Nay what a disparagement is it to the very Apostles themselves that they should choose such ignorant guides that could instruct the people no better For some of these you speak of certainly were the immediate successors of the Apostles themselves They have been accounted hitherto men not only of conscience but of learning knowing and understanding pious and devout men in many of them the gift of doing miracles still remained I cannot with patience speak against this imputation But you are as bold with the people by accusing them of sloath and blind obedience and to be beasts of burthen because they did not examine what they were taught Whereas this good people had well learned that they should not they could not be wiser then their teachers and they had been newly taught from St Pauls own mouth that they were to obey those that had the rule over them and submit themselves Which was not a blind but a wise discreet holy and dutifull obedience But you it seems will teach the people another lesson to wit to guide their guides And they are now apt enough to learne it For they begin to practise it apace But you inferre upon these weak premises By this you may plainly see the danger of our appeale to antiquity for resolution in coutroversed points of faith and how small reliefe we are to expect from thence For
Errare possum Hareticus esse nolo indeed Manichanisme Valentinianisme Macedonianisme Mahometisme are truly and properly Herises For wee know that the Authors of them received them not but invented them themselves and so knew what they taught to be a lye but can any man avouch that Arius and Nestorius and others that taught erroniously concerning the Trinity and the person of our SAVIOUR did maliciously invent what they taught and not rather fall upon it by error and mistake till that be done and upon good evidence we will thinke no worse of all parties than needs we must and take these Rents in the Church to be at the worst but Schismes upon matter of opinion in which case what we are to do is not a point of any great depth of understanding to discover if so be distemper and partiality do not intervene I do not see that opinionum varictas opinantium unitas are {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} or that men of different opinions in Christian Religion may not hold communion in Sacris and both go to one Church why may I not go If occasion require to an Arian Church so there be no Arianisme exprest in their Liturgy and were Liturgies and publique formes of Service so framed as that they admitted not of particular and private fancies but contained onely such things as in which all Christians do agree Schismes on opinion were utterly vanished for consider of all the Liturgies that are and ever have beene and remove from them whatsoever is scandalous to any party and leave nothing but what all agree on and the event shall be that the publique Service and Honour of God shall no wayes suffer Whereas to load our publique formes with the private fancies upon which we differ is the most soveraigne way to perpetuate Schisme unto the worlds end Prayer Confession Thanksgiving Reading of Scriptures Administration of Sacriments in the plainest and the simplest manner were matter enough to furnish out a sufficient Liturgy though nothing either of private opinion or of Church Pomp of Garments or prescribed Gestures of Imagery of musike of matter concerning the Dead of many superfluities which creep into the Church under the name of Order and Decency did interpose it selfe To charge Churches and Liturgies with things unnecessary was first the beginning of all superstition and when scruple of Conscience began to be made or pretended there Schisme began to breake in if the speciall Guides and Fathers of the Church would be a little sparing of incumbring Churches with superfluities or not over-rigid either in reviving obsolete Customes or imposing new there would be farre lesse cause of Schisme or Superstition and all the inconveniance likely to ensue would be but this they should in so doing yeeld a little to the imbecillity of their Inferiors a thing which S. Paul would never haue refused to do meane while wheresoever false or suspected opinions are made a peice of Church Liturgy he that seperates is not the Schismatique for it is alike unlawfull to make profession of known or suspected falsehood as to put in practise unlawfull or suspected actions ANIMADVERSION Fiftly having trampled upon the Auncients you come now to the Church and levell that also with the ground It hath been say you the common disease of Christians from the beginning not to content themselves with that measure of faith which God and Scriptures have expressely afforded us but out of a vaine desire to know more then is revealed they have attempted to devise things of which we have no light from reason nor revelation Neither have they rested here but upon pretence of Church authority which is none or Tradition which for the most part is but fained c. I hath the Church no authority did not our Saviour giue power to the Church to punish excommunicate a notorious offendor when he saith goe tell the Church and if he heare not the Church let him be to thee a heathen or a Publican And did not his S. Paul give great power to the Church when he calleth it the Pillar and fortresse of truth It were easy here to enlarge my selfe and prove out of the Ancient Fathers did you not reject them that they attributed great powre authority to the Church But the Church of England whose sonne suppose you are and therefore cannot so well neglect her authority will tell you that the Church hath powre to decree rites or ceremonyes and authority in controversies of faith But here you would cry up the authority of the Scriptures that thereby you might decry the authority of the Church whereas these two are not opposite but subordinate one to another I meane the Church to the Scripture If therefore you will commend unto us the authority of Scripture you must also uphold the authority of the Church which is founded in Scripture but if you nullify the authority of the Church you must also neglect the authority of the Scripture which giveth the Church such power And let no man think the Roman Church will here break in upon mee for by Church I meane the truly auncient Catholick and Apostolicke Church from which the Roman Church is farre enough And as by Church so I meane by Tradition for where Tradition is fained none are to esteem of it but when it doth appeare unto us to be truly auncient Catholick and Apostolick it is not a little to be regarded Hereupon Vincentius would have us duplici modo munire fidem to fortify our faith two manner of waies primò divinae legis authoritate deinde Ecclesiae Catholicae traditione first by the authority of divine law then by the tradition of the Catholick Church Then he putteth that objection which you here and many others are used to make seeing that the canon of Scripture is perfect enough and more then enough sufficient in it selfe to all things what need is there that wee should joyne unto it the authority of Ecclesiasticall exposition Unto which me thinks he giveth a very satisfying answere Because all doe not understand the holy Scriptures by reason of the height thereof in one and the same sense but one interprets it one way and another a severall way So that there be as many minds and meanings about it almost as there be men For Novatus expounds it one way Donatus another Arius another Pelagius another c. Therefore it is very needfull by reason of so great and diverse errors that the line of Propheticall and Apostolicall interpretation be directed according to the rule of Ecclesiasticall and Catholick meaning So that true and Catholick Tradition is like unto a strong wall about the garden of holy Scripture which keeps it from the incursion of Hereticks or if they chance to get in it is a soveraine antidote to preserve us from the poison they suck out of these sweet flowers So that take the Church and Tradition in a right sense there is much to be attributed to them
but I entend brevity Only I cannot omit how you would make us believe that this authority of the Church hath caused those seperations which Arius Nestorius and other Hereticks have raised when you say hence arose those auncient and many separations amongst Christians c. Whereas indeed it was the authority of the Church and Catholick Fathers which hath quelled confuted and silenced all those Heresies and Hereticks which it seems you have a mind to revive for you will not have them called Heresies but Schismes for indeed say you they are but names of Schisme howsoever in the common language of the Fathers they were called Heresies But you must pardon those who thinke it safer and sounder to follow the common language of the Fathers then your own private assertion But you have a reason for it For Heresie say you is an act of the will not of reason whereas indeed it is both For doth not the hereticke first fasten upon a false opinion which is an act of the understanding and corrupted reason and this is the materiall part of heresie And then doth wilfully and stubbornely being convinced of it maintaine the same which is an act of the will and formalizeth heresie And in this sense not in yours is that knowne speech of St. Austine true errare possum haereticus esse nolo that is I may erre and so fall into the materiall part of heresie by apprehending and iudging that to be a good doctrine which is false and erroneous but haereticus esse nolo I will not be an hereticke that is I will not persist in this opinion being lawfully convicted and condemned for it by the Church and governours thereof For then I should be formally and properly an hereticke For howsoever you slight and nullify the authority of the Church yet in the primitive times when the Church was at unity when there was not altare contra altare it was then esteemed to be of great power and authority which authority of that Church hath justly declared not only the Manichees Valentinians and Marcionites but also the Arians Nestorians and Pelagians to be hereticks Howsoever you are willing to distinguish them and make these latter scarce Schismaticks for you will take these rents in the Church to be at the worst but Schismes Then at the best it seemes they are not so much as Schismes Yet I cannot be perswaded so ill of the former as to thinke they knew what they taught was a lye and so went directly against their owne consciences nor yet so well of the latter to excuse them with you from heresie for I am yet to learne that heresie is nothing els but to know that a lye is taught such kinde of wickednesse I shall rather terme open blasphemy then heresie when men go against the light of their owne consciences Sixtly you chalke us out a way wherein we may safely walke not only with the Donatists But with the Arian and all other hereticks And that is to have Liturgies and publique formes of service so framed as that they admitted not of particular and private fancyes but contained onely such things as in which all Christians do agree and then Schismes on opinion were vtterly vanished and thus say you I may go to an Arian Church A pretty fancy indeede But first I thinke you could not prevaile with the Arian party to frame their Creede so as might not give offence to the orthodoxe side for in all Liturgies they use to have a confession of their faith And secondly if you could prevaile with them how could you perswade all our Churches to put that clause out of our Creede I believe in Christ the only begotten sonne of God begotten of his father before all worlds God of God light of light very God of very God begotten not made being of one substance with the father by whome all things were made which was a good illustration of our Creed joyned to it and made a part of it by the fathers of the Nicene Councell against the Arians then and will serve as a sufficient bulwarke against our Sosinians now which Creed hath had the generall applause of the Christian Churches since and hath the honour to be one of the Creeds of the Catholicke Church You must prevaile with them likewise to blot out of Athanasius Creed which though it were made but by one man yet by generall approbation is now also become the Creed of all our Churches I say you must put out of it these clauses there is one person of the Father another of the sonne another of the Holy Ghost but the Godhead of the Father of the sonne and of the Holy Ghost is all one the glory equall the majesty coeternall the Father eternall the sonne eternall and the Holy Ghost eternall the Father is God the sonne is God and the Holy Ghost is God All which do directly overthrow these heresies And do not call these clauses particular and private fancies for they are part of the universall and publique faith of the Church which all the East and West all Popish and Reformed Churches doe unanimously professe and believe It is not a time now to add much lesse to detract from our publique Confessions of faith TRACT The third thing I named for matter of Schisme was Ambition I meane Episcopall Ambition shewing it selfe especially in two heads one concerning Pluralities of Bishops in the same Sea Another concerning the superiority of Bishops in diverse Seas Aristotle tels us that necessity causeth but small faults but Avarice and Ambition were the mother of great Crimes Episcopall Ambition hath made this true for no occasion hath produced more frequent more continuous more sanguineous Schismes than this hath done the Seas of Alexandria of Constantinople of Antioch and above all of Rome doe abundantly shew thus much and all Ecclesiasticall stories witnesse no lesse of which the greatest part consists of factionating and tumultuating of great and potent Bishops Socrates Apologizing for himselfe that professing to write an Ecclesiasticall story he did oft-times interlace the actions of secular Princes and other Civill businesse tels us that he did this to refresh his reader who otherwise were in danger to be cloyd by reading so much of the Acts of unquiet and unruly Bishops {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in which as a man may say they made butter and cheese one of another for {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} that I may shew you a cast of my old office and open you a mystery in Grammer properly signifies to make butter and cheese and because these are not made without much agitation of the milk hence {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} by a borrowed and translated signification signifies to do things with much agitation and tumult But that I may a little consider of the two heads I but now specified the first I mentioned was the plurality of Bishops in one Sea For the generall practise of the