vvas so commanded to doe by the formall lawes of those foure his temporall Soueraignes and so might without any offence to God haue beene nowe of the old religion then of the newe and againe of neither old nor newe but of a hotch-potch and mingle-mangle of some of the one and some of the other vvhich is most absurd euen so is that of which it followeth And to confirme this with some testimony of antiquity S. Ambrose a most firme pillar of the West Church spake resolutely vnto the Emperour Valentinian saying Epist 35. Trouble not your selfe ô Emperour with thinking that you haue any imperial jurisdiction ouer those thinges that be Diuine and Holy for the right of Ciuill causes was committed vnto you but not the chardge of Holy thinges And another his auncient S. Athanasius Epist ad solita vitaÌ„ ageÌ„tes the first of the foure Doctors of the Greeke Church doth reprehend the Emperour Constantius for intermedling vvith Ecclesiasticall causes and recordeth an notable saying of that venerable Bishop Hosius vvho vvas present at the first generall Councell of Nyce vnto the same Constantius to vvit Command vs not ô Emperour in this kinde of affaires rather learne these thinges of vs for God hath committed the Empire to your chardge but hath bequeathed vnto vs and put vs in trust with the affaires that appertayne vnto his Church And therefore vvould not that most renowmed Emperour Constantine the great judge of Bishops causes although the Bishops themselues referred theiâ— matter to him and requested him to compose them but said That it did not belong vnto him to judge them but to be judged by them vvhose blessed steps the most learned and juditious Emperours that followed him chose rather to followe then the euill example of his Arrian Sonne Constantius For Iustinianus the elder that famous lawe-maker faith vnto Iohn the second Pope of that name In Codice tit primo We doe not suffer any thing to passe that belongeth vnto the state of the Church but that we make it knowne vnto your Holynesse who are the head of all the holy Church And Valentinian the Emperour in an Epistle vnto Theodosius vvriteth We must in our times mainetaine the dignity of â—uâ— reuerence vnto the most blessed Apostle S. Peter Extat inter praeambulas ad Concil Chalced. so farre-forth as the most happy Bishop of Rome vnto whome antiquity hath yeelded the principality of Priestly office aboue all others may haue place and power to judge of matters of faith and of Priests And thus much by the way against the Supremacy of Princes in causes Ecclesiasticall It remayneth nowe that I briefly proue S. Peter to haue had this Supremacy in his time and that therein the Bishops of Rome doe succeede him And for a foundation of this Question I take that for an assured truth vvhich the best Philosophers doe grant and the practise of the best and greatest Kingdome hath confirmed to wit That in one Kingdome it is best to haue one King and supreme gouernour assisted with the counsell of his wisest subjects which is so well knowne and confessed generally that he must needes betaken for a vvrangler that will denie it nowe then to our purpose Christes Church is but one state or spirituall Kingdome vvhich hath but one faith one baptisme and forme of Sacraments one true religion and solemne manner of diuine seruice Nowe seing vve are not to doubt but that he who purchased himselfe this one Church with the shedding of his owne most pretious bloud would haue it gouerned in the best sort therefore we must confesse that he hath ordayned one supreme Gouernour of it They say that this supreme Pastor is Christ himselfe and that he is alwayes present with it in spirit and by his word vvherefore there needeth no deputy or other in his roome This I haue once before confuted graunting that Christ is present to his Church in spirit and that he doth inwardly quicken and gouerne it but that is not sufficient for vnlesse we haue one certayne person visibly present to assure vs vvhich is the vvord of God and what is the true sence of all doubtfull places of it we shall neuer haue vnity of faith for if they who mistake the true sence must be left to their owne judgement and the direction of their owne spirit which they beleeue to be guided with the holy Ghost then shall vve haue so many heresies currant in the Church as there be Archeretikes to coyne and stampe them The like may be said for Sacraments and sacred rites of religion the which without one Supreme Moderatour cannot be kept vniforme so that it resteth most cleare that our Sauiour Christ being to leaue this world and to returne vnto his heauenly Father he was to commit the high charge of his only Spouse and Doue vnto the custody and fidelity of one supreme Pastor This is confirmed by the example of the old Testament vvhich vvas a figure of the newe Deut. 17. ab 8. ad 13. vvhere the soueraigne and supreme authority of deciding all doubtfull questions that should arise about the lawe was by Gods expresse order giuen vnto the high Priests and euery Israelite bound vnder payne of death to obey him and stand to his sentence And that this Supremacy continued all along the state of the old Testament euen vntill Christes dayes both the Magdeburgenses and Caluin doe testifie Centur. 1. lib. 1. c. 7. Lib. 4. Instit ca. 6. But the Protestants object that some Iudges and Kinges of Iuda did take vpon them to deale in matters appertayning to religion I graunt that good Kinges as principall members of the temporalty ought to haue a speciall regard to the preseruation of the seruice of God and to see that matters of religion be duly ordered because the peaceable gouernement of their temporall affaires dependeth much vpon the concord piety and vertue of Ecclesiasticall persons and therefore they are to admonish and call vpon the Bishops and Gouernours of the Clergy to redresse all disorders among them but not to meddle by themselues as their superiours in spiritual causes so did those good Kinges of Israell as it is recorded of one of the best of their King Iosaphat who sought for reformation of Church matters 2. Paralip 19. But reserued the Presidency of those thinges which appertayne vnto God vnto Amarias the high Priest And nowe a-dayes we giue many priuiledges to Princes as the denomination of most Bishops and higher Magistrates of the Church that the two states spirituall and temporal may the better agree and liue more peaceably together S. Augustine also doth declare it to be the duty of Kings to defend the Church and her decrees and to punish with seuere lawes all Heretikes and other condemned by the Church But directly to the former objection let the places of the old Testament be perused where the authority and right of Kinges be specified and you shall not finde
soueraigne authority for the very light of nature and common custome of all nations doth teach vs that he vvho succeedeth vnto another in any established estate and calling doth at his lawfull enstalement therein enter into ful possession of al the rights dignities and priuiledges therevnto belonging For example vvhen one is crowned King of any nation he presently there vpon is endowed with al the power and prerogatiues which his Predecessors in that Kingdome enjoyed before him And to speake of spirituall Prelates vvho doubteth but that assoone as any Ecclesiastical person is chosen confirmed for example Archbishop of Canterbury but that forth-with he is not only made gouernor of that Diocesse but also Metrapolitane and supreame Pastor of the Church of England his very succession in that Sea making him as it were inheritour vnto all the priuiledges and prerogatiues of his Predecessours in that seate Euen so the Bishops of Rome succeeding vnto S. Peter in that Apostolicall Sea doe inherite and succeede him in that supreme authority which Christ gaue vnto S. Peter for to be continued in his Church vntill the worldes end Now to auouch as some desperately doe that S. Peter did not die at Rome nor neuer was at Rome is so grosse and palpable an vntruth auerred by meere ghesse and phantasie contrary to the euident testimony of all auncient fathers and repugnant vnto the expresse and sensible monuments of the place of his execution of his reliques and Churches builded by Constantine the great to the perpetuall remembrance of them in the City of Rome yet to this day most famously knowne through the world this their assertion is I say so blockish and impudent that it were but lost time to stand about the proofe of it for he that is so sencelesse as to beleeue such a paradoxe deserueth small paynes for his recouery But for an vpshot of this question let vs heare the opinions of the principal Doctors of the East Church who of all men are most likely not to attribute any such supremacy vnto a Bishop of the West Church if they had thought it due vnto any Patriarke of theirs or if they had not judged it to be a cleare case in true Diuinity that such soueraigne authority was due vnto that one chiefe Pastor in Gods Church The first shall be one the auncientest of them that most worthy champion of Christ Athanasius who was also one of the chiefest Patriarkes of the East Church as being Bishop of Alexandria He in a speciall treatise of Dionysius one of his predecessours in that Sea sheweth howe he went to Rome to another Dionysius then Pope there to haue his cause heard and determined which he would not haue done if he had not acknowledged the Bishop of Rome for his superiour and one to whose finall sentence all of the East Church as vvell as of the West were bound to obey And in his Epistle vnto Pope Foelix he hath these wordes God hath therefore placed you and your predecessours Apostolicall Prelates in the tower of superiority and hath commanded you to take charge of all Churches that you may succour and helpe vs. This Epistle indeede of Athanasius M. PER. doth mislike but because he sheweth not vvherefore his authority vvill not serue to discred it it But he saith as much in another of his and of all the Bishops of Aegipt joyned with him to Pope Marke to wit That they al with al committed to their charge were and euer would be obedient vnto the Bishop of Rome Lib. 3. hist cap. 7. It is also recorded by the Ecclesiasticall Hystoriographer Zozemene howe that both Athanasius Patriarke of Alexandria and Paule Patriarke of Constantinople with diuers others of the Greeke Church being by the Arrians banished out of their owne Bishoprickes did flie vnto the Bishop of Rome for refuge Who as that authour witnesseth because the care of all did belong vnto him through the dignity of his place and seate did restore their Churches to euery of them Athanasius also in his second Apology hath recorded these words of the same most holy Pope Iulius to the Bishops of the East Are yee ignorant this to be the custome that first of all you must write vnto vs that from hence it may be defined what is just Wherefore if there had beene any such suspition against the Bishop you ought to haue related it to our Church of Rome thus much of S. Athanasius the first of the foure Greeke Doctors Nowe to the second S. Gregory Nazianzene who had beene also Patriarke of Constantinople In câ—râ—a de vita sua Epist 52. ad Athan. he saith That the Church of Rome had alwaies mainetayned the true faith and opinion of God as it became the City that was superiour to all the world His diuine companion S. Basil aduertiseth Athanasius That he thought it good to write vnto the Bishop of Rome to heare their matters and by the decree of his judgement to determine them and because it was hard to send from thence that the Pope would giue to certayne chosen men authority to compose their controuersies and to reuerse and make voide the actes of the Councell of Arimini See what soueraignety this learned auncient Father of the East Church doth attribute vnto the Church of Rome The very same doth that golden mouth and most learned and holy Doctor S. Chrysostome acknowledge vvriting vnto Innocentius the first Pope of Rome Epist 1. ad Innocentium Beseeching him that he would repeale and make voide the wicked fact of the Patriarke of Alexandria with a whole Councell of the East and lay the Ecclesiasticall censures and punishments vpon them vvhich euery man knoweth that he could not haue done if he had not power and jurisdiction ouer all the East Church Vnto these foure most firme pillars of the Greeke Church let vs joyne one neighbour of theirs little inferiour vnto them for either standing learning or authority I meane Theodorete a Bishop in Asia that had 800. Churches vnder him He notwithstanding his distance from Rome writeth thus vnto Leo the first Epist ad Leonem I doe expect the sentence of your Apostolicall Sea and in humble wise doe beseech your Holynesse that your just and right judgement may helpe me appealing vnto you and that you will command me to runne vnto you to verifie that my doctrine is consonant to the Apostles And in another Epistle to Renatus a Priest of Rome he writeth That the Heretikes had spoyled him of his Bishopricke and cast him out of the Cyties without any reuerence or respect of his gray-hayres wherefore saith he I request you that you will perswade the most holy Archbishop Leo that he will vse his Apostolicall authority and command vs to come to your Councell for that holy seate of Rome boldeth the stearne of gouerning all the Churches in the world Well then to conclude this long and intricate question seing the Bishops of Rome from all antiquity as is
for the amendment of their liues or else they should be the most foolish judges that euer vvere appointed vpon earth Wherefore seing that the Apostles had authority to forgiue sinnes and vvere in discretion to admmister the same vnto penitent sinners it must needes followe necessarily that the penitent should confesse all his sinnes in particular vnto them and that authority was to continue in the Church for euer it being giuen to the Apostles for the due gouerning of the Church and to the comfort of al sinners which should neuer fayle to be vntill Christes last comming to judgement They to defeate all this discourse answere That Christ gaue not his Apostles authority to pardon any mans sinnes but only to declare that their sinnes were pardoned if with true repentance and faith they receiued the preaching of the Gospell This interpretation first is repugnant to the text vvhich in expresse tearmes hath Whose sinnes yee shall remit or pardon not vvhose sinnes yee shall declare to be remitted Secondly it hath that Whose sinnes yee shall forgiue they are forgiuen to wit euen then when they remit them and not that they were remitted before as he should haue said if he had giuen them authority only to declare them to be remitted Thirdly the metaphor of keyes giuen vnto them doth demonstrate that power was giuen them to absolue and not to declare only they were absolued because keyes are giuen to open or shut dores and not to signifie that eyther the dores are already open or shall be vpon condition Lastly the Ministers pronouncing of men absolued should be very rash and friuolous if they doe not truly absolue them For if he pronounce them absolutely to be absolued without good assurance of their faith repentance he should but lie and if he doe pronounce them absolued conditionally if they beleeue aright and be truly penitent then vvere his absolution in vaine for it depending vpon their faith and repentance and not vpon the Ministers pronouncing it bringeth no further assurance then they had before yea they themselues being of the faithfull could not be ignorant of so much before to wit that he was free from sinne and needed not his absolution Nowe that the Apostles then and Bishops and Priests their successours euer sithence did truly absolue men from their sinnes and were not like to cryers only proclaymers thereof see first S. Chrysostome who saith That such power was giuen here to men Lib. 3. de Sacerdot which God would neuer giue to Angels who yet had power to pronounce saluation to penitent sinners Secondly That Priestes haue such power of binding and loosing ouer the soules as Kinges haue ouer their subjects bodyes vvhich is truly to binde or to loose them and not only to declare them bound or loosed Thirdly he saith expresly That the Priestes among the Iewes had power to purge the leprosie or rather to try whether they were purged from it or no but it is graunted vnto our Priestes not only to discerne whether the body be purged from leprosie or no but playnely to purge our soules from the filth of sinne S. Ambrose in diuers places proueth directly against the Nouatians that Christ gaue power to Priestes to remit sinnes Lib. 1. de Poenitent c. 2. 7. The Nouatians denyed not but that one might preach the Gospell vnto such sinners that vvere relapsed and promise them pardon too if they repented but would not haue the Priests to reconcile them vnto the Church by the Sacrament of Penance denying that Priestes had any such power ouer such sinners but that they must leaue them to God alone vvhich the holy Doctor confuteth by these places of Scripture Math. 16. vers 19. cap. 18. vers 18. Ioh. 20. vers 23. Whatsoeuer yee forgiue in earth shall be forgiuen in heauen Epist ad Heliodor S. Hierome saith God forbidde that I should speake any euill of them who succeeding in the Apostolike degree doe with their sacred mouth make the body of Christ and by whome we are made Christians who hauing the keyes of the Kingdome of heauen doe in a certayne manner judge before the day of judgement Lib. 20. de ciuit c. 9. S. Augustine doth define in these wordes Whatsoeuer yee shall binde vpon earth shal be bound in heauen that authority is giuen vnto the rulers of the Church to judge in spirituall causes and not only to declare Hom. 62. in Euang. S. Gregory vpon these vvordes Whose sinnes you forgiue c. Behold saith he the Apostles are not only made secure of themselues but haue power giuen them to release other mens handes and doe obtayne a prerogatiue of the heauenly judgement that in Gods steede they may forgiue to some their sinnes and binde some others and truly the Bishops nowe doe hold the same place in the Church they receiue authority to binde and to loose c. By this you may see in part vvith what fore-head M. PERKINS affirmed that for a thousand yeares after Christ there was no mention of the Sacrament of Penance and more you shall see shortly if that first I shall note out of the Scripture it selfe both the acknowledgement of receite of that power to reconcile and absolue and the practise and commandement of confession S. Paul acknowledgeth and declareth 2. Cor. 5. vers 18. 20. that God had giuen vnto them the ministery of reconciliation and addeth that they be Gods Legates and therefore exhorteth them to be reconciled but they that be sent Ambassadours vvith full commission to reconcile men vnto their Prince must knowe both howe grieuously they haue offended and what recompence they are willing to make vvhich must needes be by their owne confession Nowe for the practise of confession by the first Christians Act. 19. vers 18. 19. it is recorded That many of the faithfull came confessing and declaring their deedes and many that had followed curious actes brought their bookes and burned them in the presence of al the rest Note here both particular confession made vnto S. Paul of the seuerall deedes and factes and not in generall that they vvere sinners as the very vvordes doe witnesse Confessing their deedes that is vvhat they had done in particular And againe howe should he haue knowne their study of curious bookes if they had not told their sinnes in particular some Protestants conuinced by the text say That they confessed some of their sinnes in particular but not all But I meruaile how they came by the knowledge of that for vvhy should they confesse some more then others and the vse of Scriptures is by the naming of sinnes indefinitely to signifie all as when we pray Forgiue vs our sinnes we meane all our sinnes and when it is said of Christ He shall saue his people from their sinnes it is meant that he shall saue them not from some of their sinnes but from al. Lastly touching the commandement S. Iames doth charge vs a Iac.
doe not wholy and inuiolably hold all the points of faith that she professeth but renounceth them and declareth them to be accursed wherefore no Protestant can be in the Church of Rome But they say That their Church lay hidde in the Roman as corne in chaffe Did it in deede lie in such obscurity that none of them were to be seene or heard off therefore it was no Church at all for the most proper markes of the Church according to their owne principles are The true preaching of Gods word and the sincere administration of the Sacraments Nowe preachers of the vvord must be both seene and heard also and they walked not inuisible I hope vvho ministred and receiued their Sacraments wherefore they must either graunt that their Church in that generall Apostacy was visible or that it was no Church at all as not hauing the inseparable markes of their Church which are The true preaching of the word and due administration of the Sacraments Againe if they had beene liuely members of the true Church how could they liue vnknowne in that great Apostacy were they not bound in conscience to haue made profession of their faith publikely Rom. 10. vers 10. Math. 10. vers 33. S. Paul saith yea With the hart we beleeue vnto justice but with the mouth confession is made to saluation And our Sauiour saith He that shall deny me before men I also will deny him before my father which is in heauen If they were such crauens as made more account of their owne ease and safety then of the truth of their religion and glory of God they were rather cockle ouer-sowed by the enemy among the good-seede Math. 13. vers 25. then like vnto corne hidden in chaffe In vaine for them also vvas that voyce sent from heauen and recorded by S. Iohn which M. PER. taketh for his text Goe out of her my people for these dastardly faint-harted fellowes would giue no eare to it but loued better to hide their heades in some musty corner then vvith danger of their liues to separate themselues from those abhominations If then there vvere any such false harted dumbe and deafe reprobates hidden among others let the Protestants take them if they please for their worthy ancestors But no reason in the world to cal them the true Church of God that had neither true loue of Gods honour nor of their neighbours good and conuersion otherwise they would not haue holden their peace seing Gods holy name so miserably prophaned as they thought Thus much of M. PER. position nowe to his proofe If any man aske them where their Church was before Luthers dayes he answereth out of this text Goe out of her my people that it was euer since the Apostles dayes Let vs drawe this to some forme of argument that it may appeare how it hangeth togither A voice from heauen cryed in S. Iohns dayes to the Church of Rome Goe out of Babilon that is depart from the congregation of the wicked Heathens and Pagans therefore the Protestants religion hath beene euer since the Apostles dayes Apply Iohn Barber and thou shalt haue a newe paire of sizors for thy labour Should not a man leese his labour to confute particularly such a sencelesse discourse But yet a word to his next annotation vpon the text Demanding whether the Church of Rome he a Church or no he answereth That if it be so taken as in truth it is it is no Church at all His proofes are That it is Babilon that it peruerteth the true sence of the Scripture and ouerturneth the inward baptisme all which I haue heretofore confuted Here I will but demand whether this assertion of his doth not vndermine and blowe vp his former for if their hidden Church were no where but in the Roman for nine hundred yeares together and that Roman were no Church at all then surely their Church was not at all which had no being and existence but in the other which vvas not at all I may not here omit to note by the vvay vnto the gentle reader out of S. Augustine In illa verba ps 85. TV SOLVS DeVS MAGNVS Pag. 338. Howe they robbe Christ of his glory and inheritance bought with his pretious bloud who hold that his Church failed and was fled into corners Yea S. Hierome further affirmeth That they make God subject to the Deuill and a poore miserable Christ who hold that his body the Church may perish or be so bidden that it cannot be heard off Wherefore omitting such impertinent stuffe let vs come vnto those horrible crimes that he chargeth the Church of Rome withall The first is no lesse then Atheisme to vvhich I haue fully answered in the preface of this booke wherefore I doe omit it here doe come to the second crime of Idolatry Which saith he is as grosse among vs as euer it was among the Heathens See the foule mouth of a preacher howe proueth he this Marry it is to be seene in two things first they worship the Saints with religious worship which is proper to God O most impudent doe we make Saints creators of heauen and earth omnipotent infinitely wise and good or giue them any kinde of honour due vnto God only see that question and detest the sonnes of the Deuill that blush not to auouch such monstrous lies But we make the blessed Virgin Mary a Mediator of redemption Fie vpon such an impudent face but we call her a Lady a Queene be it so For so did Athanasius in Euang. de sanctiss Deipar apply those wordes of the 44. Psalme The Queene standeth on thy right hand in a golden vestement c. So did Gregory Nazianzene in his Verses of her For thou saith he ô Queene by the diuine fauour camest to me So did holy Effrem in his Oration to her all which liued within foure hundreth yeares off Christ To omit S. Chrysostomes Lyturgy because they like it not But what of this shee is a redeemer O sencelesse that shee is called a Goddesse as they did call the Queene Elizabeth then liuing I reade not in any of the bookes quoted by him Missal Breuiar A mediatresse of intercession our hope our life and the like shee may be called in a good sence because we hope through the helpe of her most gratious prayers to obtayne the life of our soules and so may it be said to her Prepare thou glory for vs defend vs from our enemies and such like to wit by the meanes of her prayers Againe saith he their Idolatry is manifest in that they worship God in at or before Images Then are the Protestants also Idolaters because they vvorship God in or at the Churches at or before their communion table Whether we haue commandement or not for Images maketh nothing to Idolatry but whether we giue to Images the honour only due to God which we doe not Nowe to compare Images to adulterers is to dote and deserueth no
haue no relation vnto any place neither is it of the essence of any quantity to be actually circumscribed by a place but it is a property flowing out of the essence of one only kinde of quantity to be apt and fit to be circumscribed and compassed about with a place And naturally all bodies except the highest heauen haue one place out of which they passe as S. Augustine said when they come into another but by the omnipotent power of God any body may be separated from his place or be in as many places at once as it shal please God to seate it because to be circumscribed with a place actually is a meere accident vnto a substantiall body and without the nature of quantity and God may not without blasphemie be disabled to seperate a substance from an accident By this is confuted also his second instance Christ is ascended into heauen and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father therefore his body is not really and locally in the Sacrament This followeth not because it is in both places at once as S. Chrisostome in expresse tearmes teacheth Chris lib. 3. de Sacerd O miracle O goodnesse of God! he that sitteth aboue with his Father at the very same instant is touched with the handes of all men and giueth himselfe to them that will receiue and embrace him See more of this in the question of the blessed Sacrament where M. PERKINS citeth the very same authorities which he here repeteth see my answere to them there Thirdly he reasoneth thus In that we beleeue the Catholike Church it followeth that it is inuisible because thinges seene are not beleeued We answere that the persons in the Catholike Church are and euer were visible euen to Iewes and Heathens who persecuted them but the inward indowmentes of those persons that is their faith hope and charitie their assistance by Gods spirit and such like Christian qualities are inuisible and to be beleeued And euen as a man is truly said to be visible though he consist aswell of an inuisible soule as of a visible body so the Church is visible for the visible persons visible teaching and administring of Sacraments in it albeit the inward qualities of it be not visible His last objection against vs out of the Creede is That the articles of remission of sinnes resurrection of the body and life euerlasting containe a confession of speciall faith For the meaning of them is thus much I beleeue the remission of mine owne sinnes and the resurrection of mine owne body to life euerlasting Answere That is not the meaning vnlesse you adde some conditions to wit I beleeue the remission of my sinnes if I haue duly vsed the meanes ordained by our Sauiour for the remission of them which is after Baptisme the Sacrament of Penance Item I beleeue I shal haue life euerlasting if I keepe as Christ willed the yong-man to keepe Gods commandements or at the least if I doe die with true repentance Nowe whether I haue done or shall doe these thinges required of me I am not so well assured as that I can beleeue it for I may be deceiued therein but I haue or may haue a very good hope by the grace of God to performe them Neither is there any more to be gathered out of S. Augustine as some of the wordes by himselfe here alleaged doe conuince For he requireth besides faith that we turne from our sinnes conforme our will to Gods will and abide in the lappe of the Catholike Church and so at length we shall be healed See the question of certainety of saluation Note also by the way the vncertainetie of M. PER. doctrine Pag. 270. 275. concerning this point for he holdeth that it is not necessary to haue a certaine perswasion of our owne saluation but that it is sufficient to haue a desire to haue it and that doctrine he putteth there as he saith himselfe to expound the Catechismes that propound faith at so high a reach as fewe can attaine vnto yet here and else where the good man forgetting himselfe chargeth vs to crosse the Creede because we doe not wrest faith vp to so high a straine and so in heate of quarelling often expoundeth this contrary to his owne rule Nowe for proofe of S. Augustines opinion herein whome he only citeth take these two sentences for the two points he speaketh of For the first that we be certaine by ordinary faith of our saluation let this serue Of life euerlasting De bono perseuer cap. 22. De correct grat cap. 13. which God that cannot lie hath promised to his children no man can be secure and out of danger before his life be ended which is a tentation vpon earth Secondly that a man once truly justified may afterward fall We must beleeue saith this holie Father that certaine of the children of perdition doe liue in faith that worketh by charity and so doe for a time liue faithfully and justly they were then truly justified and yet afterward doe fall and that finally because he calleth then the children of perdition Thus much in answere vnto that which Master PERKINS objecteth against our religion out of the Creede which as you haue seene consisteth wholy vpon his owne forced exposition and vaine illations Hence he proceedeth to the tenne Commandements But before I followe him thither I may not omitte here to declare howe the Protestant Doctors doe fouly mangle and in manner ouer-turne the greatest part of the Creede Obserue first that according to their common doctrine it is not necessary to beleeue this Creede at all because it is no part of the written word secondly that Caluin doubteth whether it were made by the Apostles or no Cal. lib. 2. Instit cap. 16. sess 18 being then no part of the written word not made by the Apostles it must by their doctrine be wholy rejected Nowe to the particulers 1. Concerning the first article I beleeue in God the Father almighty maker of heauen and earth they doe erre many waies First they doe destroy the most simple vnitie of the God-head Confess fidei gener by teaching the diuine essence to be really distinguished into three persons If the diuine nature be really distinguished into three there must needes be three diuine essences or natures ergo three Gods Caluin also saith In actis Serueti pag. 872. that the Sonne of God hath a distinct substance from his Father Melancthon that there be aswell three diuine natures as three persons in locis de Christo Secondly they ouerthrowe the Father in the God-head by denying the Sonne of God to haue receiued the diuine nature from his Father as Caluin Beza and Whitakers doe See the Preface Thirdly howe is God almightie if he cannot doe all thinges that haue no manifest repugnance in them But he cannot after the opinion of diuers of them make a body to be without locall circumscription or to be in two places at once which notwithstanding some others of
Secondly they make him much inferiour vnto the other persons for they teach in their French Catechismes that the Father alone is to be adored in the name of the Sonne In cap. 6. 17. Isa in 16. Marc. And Caluin against Gentil saith that the title of creatour belongeth only to the Father and else where that the Father is the first degree cause of life and the Sonne the second And that the In 26. Math. v. 64. Father holdeth the first ranke of honour and gouernement and the Sonne the second where the holy Ghost is either quite excluded from part with the Father and the Sonne or at most must be content with the third degree of honour 9. I beleeue the holy Catholike Church the communion of Saints First where as there is but one Catholike Church one as the Councell of Nice expresly defineth following sundry textes of the word of God they commonly teach that there be two Churches one inuisible of the elect another visible of both good and bad Secondly they imagine it to be holy holy by the imputation of Christes holinesse to the elected Bretheren and not by the infusion of the holy Ghost into the hartes of all the faithfull Thirdly they cannot abide the name Catholike in the true sence of it Catholike that is they wil not beleeue the true Church to haue beene alwaies visibly extant since the Apostles time and to haue bin generally spread into all Countries otherwise they must needes forsake their owne Church which began with Friar Luther and is not receiued generally in the greatest part of the Christian world Finally they beleeue no Church no not their owne in all points of faith but hold that the true Church may erre in some principall points of faith Howe then can any man safely relie his saluation vpon the credite of such an vncertaine ground erring guide may they not then as well say that they doe not beleeue the one Catholike Church because they doe as well not beleeue it as beleeue it And as for the communion of Saints their learned masters doe commonly cassier it out of the Creede and that not without cause For by the Saints vnderstanding as the Apostles did al good Christians whither aliue or departed this world they that deny praier to Saints and for the soules in Purgatory haue reason to reject the common society entercourse that is betweene the Saints and the mutuall honour and help which such good Christian soules doe yeeld and afford one to another 10. The forgiuenesse of sinnes It is not easily to find what is their setled opinion touching the forgiuenes of originall sinne in Infants Some attribute it to Baptisme but that cannot stand with their common doctrine that Sacraments haue no vertue in them to remit sinnes or to giue grace Others say that God without any meanes doth then when they be baptised of himselfe immediately justifie them but that cannot stand in their owne doctrine because Infants want the instrumēt of faith to lay hold on that justice then offered by God and therefore cannot being so yonge take it vnto them Others will haue Infants sanctified in their mothers wombe by vertue of a couenant which they suppose God to haue made with old father Abraham and all his faithfull seruants that forsooth their seede shall be holy But this is most phantastical and contrary to the Scriptures and daily experience for Isaac was the sonne of promise and yet Esau his sonne was a reprobate Dauides father was a Godly Israelite and yet Dauid affirmeth Psal 50. that he himselfe was conceiued in iniquities and we may see whole Countries nowe turned Turkes whose ancestors were good Christians therefore not all the soules of the faithfull are sanctified in their mothers wombes Secondly how euil soeuer they agree about the remission of sinne yet there is a perfect consent among them that such relikes of originall sinne remaine in euery man baptised and sanctified that it infecteth all and euery worke he doth with deadly sinne yea that which remaineth is properly sinne in it selfe though it be not imputed to the party so that sinne is alwaies in them though their sinnes be neuer so well forgiuen And as for the Sacrament of Penance by which we hold al sinnes committed after Baptisme to be forgiuen they doe renounce the benefit of it and are at vtter defiance with it 11. The resurrection of the bodies Whether Farel the first Apostle of the Geneuian Gospel doubted thereof or no let his successor Caluin tell you who answereth Farels letter thus Episto ad Farellum That the resurrection of this our flesh doth seeme to thee incredible no meruaile c. Againe many of them teach that Christ tooke not his bloud againe which he shed vpon the crosse yea some of them are so gracelesse as to say that his pretious bloud wherewith we were redeemed Vide Conradum li. 1. art 20. rotted away on the earth 1600. yeares agoe If then it be not necessary to a true resurrection to rise againe with the same bloud why is it necessary to rise againe with the same bones and flesh the one being as perfect a part of a mans body as the other 12. Life euerlasting First Captaine Caluin holdeth it for very certaine that no soule doth enter into the joyes of heauen wherein consisteth life euerlasting vntill the day of doome 3. Institu 25. sess 6. These be his wordes the soules of the Godly hauing ended the labour of this war-fare doe goe into a blessed rest where they expect the enjoying of the promised glory And that all thinges are holden in suspence vntill Christ the redeemer appeare whose opinion is yet better then was his predecessor Luthers For he teacheth in many places that the soules of the Godly departing from their bodies Enarra in Gen. c. 26. In Ecclesi c. 9. v. 10. haue no sence at all but doe lie fast a sleepe vntill the latter day Take this one for a tast Another place to proue that the dead feele or vnderstand nothing wherefore Salomon thought the dead to be wholy a sleepe and to perceiue nothing at all And againe the sleepe of the soule in the life to come is more profound then in this life And Luther with this one position of his as that famous historiographer Iohn Sleidan recordeth ouerthrewe two points of Popery Li. 9. hist to wit praying to Saintes for they are so fast a sleepe that they cannot heare vs and praying for the dead For they in Purgatory slept also so soundly that they felt no paines A meete foundation surely to build such false doctrine vpon In 20. Luc hom 35. But Brentius is most plaine in this matter who ingeniously confesseth that albeit there were not many among them that did professe publikely the soules to die with the body yet the most vncleane life which the greatest part of their followers did lead doth clearely shewe that in their hartes they thinke no life to be
let vs proceede on with the Protestantes opinion did Christes sufferinges of the tormentes of hell deserue of God in justice the redemption of man not so if we may beleeue one of Foxes Martirs who held as he recordeth that Christ with all his workes could not meritte heauen for vs. But for that litle credit is to be giuen to such a Martir Actes monuments pag. 487 and such a Martir-monger let vs heare what some of the learnest amongst them say I truly confesse saith Caluin that if a man will set Christ singly and by himselfe against the judgements of God there wil be no roome for merit And after L. 2. Insti c. 17. ss 1. In abster calumni Heshu Christ could not deserue any thing but by the good pleasure of God Finally the deseruinges of Christ depend vpon the only grace of God which is defended by his disciple Beza against Heshusius so that briefly all Christes sufferinges in hell and out of hell in true Protestant reckoning amount to no higher a value then that by the good pleasure and acceptance of God they deserued our redemption therefore in rigour of justice they were not of sufficient worth to redeeme vs but were only of grace by God accepted for such Is not here a faire reckoning so might any other man endued with grace haue redeemed al mankinde as well as Christ if it had pleased God to haue so accepted it seing no equall recompence was to be expected But to helpe him here by the way that could not vnderstand howe we were saued by the mercy of God if Christes merittes did in justice deserue our saluation it is to be noted that both be true if they be duely considered For we are saued by Christes merits in rigour of justice he satisfying of God as far-forth fully as we offended him and yet we be saued freely by the mercy of God too both because he hath of his meere mercy without any desert of ours giuen vs Christ his Sonne to be our Sauiour and also for that he hath out of the same his mercy freely applyed vnto euery one in particuler that is saued the merits of Christ through which he is saued To returne to our purpose and to discouer yet more of the Protestantes disgraces offered to our Sauiours mediation Did Christ suffer his passion for the redemption of all mankinde Cō Hesh pag. 39. Sup. Ioh. pag. 39. In locis fol. 361. 1. Ioh. 2. vers 2. or did he die only for some fewe of the elect let Caluin answere you Christes flesh was not crucified for the vngodly neither was the bloud of Christ shed to clense their sinnes With him agreeth brother Bucer Christ by his death did only redeeme the sinnes of the elect Musculus wil beare a part in that consort Christes death is a satisfaction only for the sinnes of the elect all as contrary to the plaine text of Scripture as can be Christ is a propitiation for our sinnes where he spake in the person of the elect and not for ours only but also for the whole worldes Let vs goe on yet one step further What effect doth the bloud of Christ worke in the small number of these elected bretheren Doth it cleanse their soules from al filth of sinne and powre into them the manifold giftes of the holy Ghost whereby they may afterward resist sinne Pag. 31. and serue God in holynesse of life nothing lesse For in the regenerate as M. PERKINS with all the rest of them doth teach there remaineth originall sinne which infecteth euery worke of man and maketh it a mortall sinne So that inwardly in their soules these elected Protestantes be voide of justice and full of all manner of iniquity marry they haue created in them the rare instrument of a newe deuised faith by which they lay hold on Christes justice and so by reall imputation to vse M. PERKINS wordes of Christes justice to them they on the soddaine become exceeding just therefore Frier Luther had some reason to say that whosoeuer was borne againe of this Euangelicall faith was equall in grace vnto both Peter and Paul Supra 1. Pet. 1. In actis disput Tigur Fox Act. fol. 1335. 1138. and vnto the Virgin MARY Mother of God Nay it seemes that Luther came to short and Zwinglius strooke home when he said that God the Father did no lesse fauour all the faithfull then he did Christ his owne Sonne And out of the confidence of the same liuely-feeling faith proceeded these speaches of our newe Gospellers in England And we haue as much right to heauen as Christ hath we cannot be damned vnlesse Christ be damned neither can Christ be saued vnlesse we be saued Christ belike could not liue in blisse without their holy company What audacious compagnions and saucy Gospellers were these yet their reason seemeth sound in the way of their owne religion for if they were most assured of the benefit of Christs owne justice to be imputed vnto them they could not be lesse assured of their owne saluation then they were of Christes owne To conclude this point consider good reader howe the Protestantes who would be thought to magnifie Christes sufferings exceedingly doe in very deede extreamely debase them For as you haue heard they esteeme very litle of all the rest of his life besides his passion secondly they make his passion without suffering of hell tormentes not sufficient to redeeme vs thirdly that all those sufferings put togither doe not in justice merit the remission of our sinnes but only that of grace and curtesie God doth accept them for such fourthly that when all is done they deserue fauour only for a few of the elect and that not to purge those fewe neither from all their sinnes but only to purchase them an imputation of justice to be apprehended by a strong imagination or rather presumption falsly by them tearmed faith Is not here a huge great mill-post fairely thwited into a poore pudding pricke as they say by them who after so high exaltations of the all-sufficiency of Christes suffering doe in fine conclude that in a very fewe persons it worketh only an imputation or shadowe of justice but it agreeth very well and hangeth handsomely together that by the merits of Christes sufferings in hell which are meere phantasticall these men should haue created in them a phantasticall faith neuer heard of before their dayes to lay-hold vpon a vaine shadowe of an imputatiue and phantasticall justice But to returne vnto Christes mediatorship and merits Is it not moreouer a great disparagement vnto them to maintayne as the Protestantes doe that his best-beloued spouse the Church should continue but a small time at least in any sight and should be penned vp in corners yea and during that time too it should not be free from many foule grosse errours in the very foundation of faith Furthermore that he left his holy word the only rule and square as they hold
of Christian religion to be vnderstood of euery man as his owne knowledge and spirit should direct him and if any doubtfull question did arise there about as he fore-sawe thousandes should doe yet he tooke no other order for the deciding and ending of them but that euery one should repaire vnto the same his word and doing his diligence to vnderstand it might afterward be his owne judge As this later opinion would argue our blessed Sauiour who was the wisedome of God to be the weakest and most improuident lawe-maker that euer was so the former doth mightily blemish the inestimable price of his most pretious bloud making it not of sufficient value to purchase vnto him an euerlasting inheritance free from all errours in matter of faith and abounding in all good workes To fold vp this part let me entreate thee curteous reader to be an vpright judge betweene the Protestantes doctrine and ours in this most weighty matter of Christes dignity vertues and mediation and if thou see most euidently that ours doth more aduance them why shouldest thou not giue sentence on our side They make Christ ignorant many yeares of his life we hold him from the first instant of his conception to haue beene replenished with most perfect knowledge They that he spake and taught nowe and then as other men did and was subject to disordinate passions We that he was most free from all such and that he taught alwaies most diuinely They make his very death not sufficient to redeeme vs we hold that the least thing that euer he suffered in his life deserued the redemption of many worldes They that he died only for the elect we that he died for all though many through their owne fault doe not receiue any benefit by his death They that thereby we are not purged from our sinnes but by imputation we that all are by the vertue thereof inwardly cleansed They that Christ purchased a Church consisting of fewe not to continue long and subject to many errours we that he established a Church that should be spredde ouer all the world and that should continue to the end of the world visibly and alwaies free from any errour in any matter of faith Finally they hold that Christ left his holy word to the disputation of men not taking any certaine order for the ending of controuersies that should arise about it we teach that he hath established a most assured meanes to decide all doubtes in religion and to hold all obedient Christians in perfect vniformity of both faith and manners And because I am entred into these comparisons giue me leaue to persist yet a litle longer in them Consider also I pray you who goe neerer to Atheisme either we that thinke and speake of the most sacred Trinity as the blessed Fathers in the first Councell of Nice taught or they who directly crosse them and by the nouelty of their phrases doe breed newe or rather reuiue old heresies against it Againe who carry a more holy conceit of God either they who vpon light occasion doe rashly denie God to be able to doe that which they doe not conceiue possible or we that teach him to be able to doe tenne thousand thinges that passe our vnderstanding Whither they that affirme God of his owne free choise to cast away the greater part of men or we that defend him to desire the saluation of all men and not to be willing that any one perish vnlesse it be through his owne default Either they that hold him to be the authour of all euill done in the world and the Diuell to be but his Minister therein or we that maintayne him to be so purely good that he cannot possibly either concurre to any euill or so much as once to thinke to doe any euill Finally whose opinion of him is better either ours that hold him to haue beene so reasonable in framing of his lawes that he doth by his grace make them easie to a willing minde or theirs that auouch him to haue giuen lawes impossible for the best men to keepe If some Protestantes doe say we doe not maintayne diuers of these positions I answere that it is because they doe yet in part hold with vs and are not so farre gone as they doe wholy followe their newe masters For if they did then should they embrace all the afore-said damnable positions being so plainely taught by their principall preachers and teachers These therefore are to warne my deere Country-men to looke to it in time and then no doubt but that all such as haue a sufficient care of their saluation considering maturely whither the current and streame of the newe Gospell carrieth them will speedily disbarke themselues thence least at length they be driuen by it into the bottomelesse gulfe of flat Atheisme And is it any great meruaile that the common sort of the Protestantes fall into so many foule absurdities touching religion when as the very fountaines out of which they pretend to take their religion be so pittifully corrupted I meane the sacred word of God Master Gregory Martin a Catholike man very skilfull in the learned languages hath discouered about two hundreth of their corruptions of the very text of Gods word and after him one Master Broughton a man of their owne esteemed to be singulerly seene in the Hebrewe and Greeke tongue hath aduertised them of more then eight hundreth faultes there in And the matter is so euident that the Kinges Majestie in that publike conference holden at Hampton-Court in the first of his raigne confesseth himselfe not to haue seene one true translation of the Bible in English and that of Geneua which they were wont to esteeme most to be the worst of all others and therefore commanded them to goe in hand with a newe translation about which fifty of the most learned amongst them in both Vniuersities as it is credibly reported haue this three yeares trauailed and cannot yet hitte vpon or else not agree vpon a newe sincere and true translation Here is a large field offered me to exclaime against such corrupters and deprauers of Gods sacred word but I will leaue that to some other time because I haue beene to long already But what a lamentable case is this they hold for the most assured piller of their faith that all matters of saluation must be fished out of the Scriptures and crie vpon all men to search the Scriptures and yet are the same Scriptures by themselues so peruersly mangled that their owne pew-fellowes crie out shame vpon them therefore wherevnto if it please you joyne that the Protestantes haue no assured meanes to be resolued of such doubtes and difficulties as they shall find in the same word of God For they must neither trust ancient Father nor relie vpon the determination either of nationall or generall Councell but euery faithfull man by himselfe examining the circumstances of the text and conferring other like places vnto it together shall finde out the
bring with them temporall commodities but those are incident and accidentary vnto them not the speciall causes of them and in Countries farre distant from the Sea vvhere are no such fisher-men the Lent is obserued as dulie as in our Iland inuironed with the Sea Nowe to the third kinde of fasting maintayned by M. PER. but seldome practised by his followers which he calleth religious because the duties of religion as the exercise of prayer and humiliation be practised during the time of this fast But he doth amisse to put this for one of the points of our agreement for vve esteeme fasting it selfe vvhen it is done to appease Gods vvrath and to honour him in our humiliation to be an essentiall part of Gods worshippe which the Protestants denie and say that fasting is only tearmed religious because during the time of it by prayers and preaching and such like they worshippe God but so the very time and place it selfe may be tearmed also religious and many other such odde thinges because they doe also concurre with actes of religion Let vs come to his second conclusion to wit We joyne with them in allowance of the principall and right endes of a religious fast and they are three The first that thereby the minde may become attentiue in meditation of the duties of Godlines to be by vs performed The second that the rebellion of the flesh may be subdued for the flesh pampered becommeth an instrument of licentiousnesse The third and if he mistake not the chiefest end of a religious fast is to professe our guiltinesse and to testifie our humiliation before God for our sinnes and for this end in the fastes of the Niniuites the very beastes were made to abstayne Hitherto Master PERKINS We besides the three afore-said endes adde diuers others as to punish chastise our flesh for former offences which is an act of justice to obey the Churches commandement which is a religious obedience and at this time it may be an act of professing the Catholike faith when we obserue set fastings to make profession of our faith and to fast thereby to imitate and please our head Christ Iesus is an act of perfect charity But let vs returne vnto M. PERKINS third conclusion which is We yeeld vnto them that fasting is a helpe and furtherance vnto the worshippe of God yea and a good worke also if it be vsed in good manner allowed of God and to be highly esteemed of all the seruants of God All this is good but whereas he saith that fasting in it selfe is a thing indifferent he abuseth the name of fasting taking it to signifie all manner of abstinence from meate and drinke and so in deede it is in it selfe indifferent may be either good or badde as if one should abstaine from foode to pine himselfe away But fasting being properly taken signifieth an abstinence from meate according vnto some set rule of the Catholike Church the better to please and serue God and so it is of it selfe an act of the true worshippe of God THE DIFEERENCE MAster PERKINS Our dissent from the Church of Rome in the dostrine of fasting standeth in three points First about the set time of fasting Secondly about the manner of abstinence and what meate is to be eaten on fasting dayes Thirdly about the vertue and value of fasting Concerning the first The Catholikes appoint and prâ—scribe set times of fasting as necessary to be kept We hold that no set ordinary time is to be appointed but that the Gouernours of the Church may sometimes vpon certaine occasions enjoyne a religious fast Our reasons be these First when the disciples of Iohn asked Christ why they and the Pharasees fasted often but his Disciples fasted not he answered Math. 9. vers 15. Can the children of the marriage-chamber mourne as long as the Bridegrome is with them but the dayes will come when the Bridegrome shall be taken from them and then shall they fast where he giueth them to vnderstand that they must fast as occasions of mourning are offered Whence also I gather that a set time of fasting is no more to be enjoyned then a set time of mourning And this is all the reasons which M. PER. maketh for their opinion except the record of antiquity of which afterward This reason of his as also the other testimonies following are so formall for him and fit for his purpose that they doe much more proue the cleane contrary For first admitting M. PER. collection that there must then be a set time of fasting when there is a set time of mourning I inferre thereupon and that expresly out of that text That when the Bridegrome is taken from vs then is the time of mourning but that hath beene euer since Christes Ascension to heauen for then was Christ our Bridegrome taken from vs therefore euer since Christes Ascension there was alwayes or ought to haue beene a set time of fasting in the Church And this reason De jejunio did the ancient Christians vvith Tertullian yeeld of their yearely fasting of Lent With vvhome S. Augustine agreeth saying Nowe therefore Serm. 157 de Temp. because the Bridegrome is taken away from vs we the children of that beautifull Bridegrome must mourne and that for good cause if we ardently desire to be in his company so that the same place vvhich M. PERKINS alleageth against a set time of fasting doth taken euen in the very sence that he taketh it demonstrate the flat contrary He further citeth out of antiquity two testimonies vvhich make as euidently against himselfe The first out of S. Augustine vvho hath these vvordes I diligently considering thereof Epist 86. in the Euangelicall and Apostolicall letters and in all that instrument which is called the newe Testament doe see that fasting is commanded but on what dayes we ought not to fast and on what we ought I doe not finde it determined by the commandement of our Lord or of the Apostles Hence inferreth Master PERKINS That Augustine was of opinion that there was no set times of fasting But the man here as else-vvhere sheweth himselfe to haue no conscience for in the very same Epistle S. Augustine teacheth that all the Church fasted at that time euery Wednesday and Friday through the yeare and admitteth S. Peter and the rest of the Apostles to haue beene the founders of that set and ordinary fast And in his Epistle he giueth the reason 119. c. 15. L. 30. coÌ„t Faust c. 3. vvhy vve fast fourty dayes before Easter and againe he saith That the fast of Lent was by the consent of all men obserued ouer all the world euery yeare most diligently What therefore could be further from this most circumspect and judicious Doctors minde then to thinke or teach that there vvas no certayne time of fasting to be obserued true it is that he found not expresly in holy Scripture this certaine time defined And note that repeating the same wordes
promise of Christ made although in and by him to the great benefit of the whole Church In cap. 16. Math. But Theophilact hath that they who receiue the gift of a Bishop haue the power of committing and binding as Peter had Answere We grant that all lawfull Bishops can binde and loose both in the court of conscience and publikely but thereof it followeth not that that promise of Christ for building his Church on S. Peter c. was common vnto the rest of the Apostles In psal 38 But Ambrose saith that which is said to Peter is said to the Apostles Then belike that was also said vnto the rest as well as to him This night before the Cocke crowe twise thou shalt denie me thrife which no man can say To vnderstand then such generall propositions take this distinction vvith you that thinges spoken vnto S. Peter are of three sundry sortes Some are spoken vnto him as an ordinary Christian and such sentences doe agree vnto all Christians other thinges are spoken vnto him as an Apostle and those are common vnto the rest of the Apostles there be lastly certayne thinges spoken vnto him particularly as head of the Church which may not be extended vnto any other of the Apostles but only vnto his successors Nowe S. Ambrose speaketh of the second kinde of thinges but against this M. PER. excepteth thus That although Peter be admitted to haue beene in commission aboue the rest for the time yet hence may not be gathered any supremacy for the Bishops of Rome because the authority of the Apostles were personall and consequently ceased with them without being conueyed vnto any others and he addeth the reason of this to be because that when the Church of the newe Testament was once founded it was needefull only that there should be Pastors and Teachers for the building of it vp vnto the worldes end Reply What meaneth this man by Pastors doth he comprehend Bishops vvithin that word then he ouerthroweth himselfe for if such Pastors be yet necessary then is it needfull that the Bishops of Rome doe succeede S. Peter in that ample power which he had If by Pastors he vnderstand Parish Priestes or Ministers that haue charge of flockes and by Teachers other Preachers then doth he here as much for the Bishops as in his last discourse he did for temporall Princes that is as he vvent about there to proue that Christ as our redeemer could haue no creature for his deputy in gouernement and consequently that Kings cannot be Christs Lieutenants in Ecclesiasticall causes so here he doth insinuate that Bishops be not necessary to the building vp of Christes Church but the Minister of euery Parish with the Elders thereof will suffice for ordinary matters and that affaires of greater moment must be referred belike to the Consistoriall assembly of many Ministers and Elders togither Doth not this sauour rankely of Puritanisme but because he only saith this without any proofe let it suffice for answere to say that as Ministers are necessary to teach the word of God and to administer the Sacraments so are Bishops both to institute and ordayne the Ministers and to see that they doe diligently discharge their duty And as Bishops are necessary to ouer-see Priests and Ministers so are Archbishops and Metropolitanes to looke vnto Bishops and to prouide that there be no schismes or diuisions among them and to determine their controuersies if any arise betweene them And in like manner one Supreme Pastor is necessary in the Vniuersall Church of Christ to hold all Archbishops Primates and Patriarkes in vnity of faith and in conformity of Christian ceremonies and manners M. PERKINS third reason When the Sonnes of Zebedee sued vnto Christ for the greatest roomes of honour in his Kingdome Christes answere was Ye knowe that the Lordes of the Gentils haue dominion and they that are great exercise authority ouer them but it shall not be so vvith you Bernard applyeth this to Pope Eugenius on this manner Lib. 2. do consid it is playne that here dominion is forbidden the Apostles goe to then dare you if you will to take vpon you ruling an Apostleship or in your Apostleship rule and dominion if you will haue both alike you shall leefe both otherwise you must not thinke your selfe excempted from the number of them of whome the Lord complayned ye haue raygned but not of me Answere Insolent and tyrannicall dominion such as was in those daies practised by the Gentils Pagans and Idolaters is there by our Sauiour forbidden the Apostles but not modest and vigilant Prelature in Ecclesiasticall gouernement as the very text it selfe doth plainely shewe for in that he doth foretel that there should not be such a haughty disdaineful kinde of superiority among his disciples he doth giue vs to vnderstand that there should be some other better and saith further Luc. 22. vers 26. That he who is greater among you let him become as the lesser and he that is your leader or as it is in the Greeke égouménos your Captaine or Prince let him be your wayter See he vvill haue among them one greater then the rest to be their Captayne and leader which he confirmeth with his owne example saying As I my selfe came not to be wayted on or ministred vnto but came to minister or to wayte vpon others so that this discourse of our Sauiours only disproueth in Christians such Lord-like domination as vvas then in vse among the Gentils who were giuen for the most part to take their owne pleasures to ouer-rule lawes as they listed to oppresse their subjects with taxes and to vse them like slaues Nowe in Ecclesiasticall gouernementall must be otherwise the Prelate must not seeke his owne ease wealth or pleasure but most vigilantly study day and night to feede and profit his flocke vvith whome he must conuerse most modestly not scorning or contemning to speake familiarly vvith the meanest amongst them And this is that vvhich S. Bernard counsaileth Eugenius to doe To rule as an Apostle and not to ouer-rule or to dominier like vnto some temporal Princes which in the same booke he doth plainely teach saying That when Eugenius was created Pope he then was exalted ouer Nations and Kingdomes yet not to domineer ouer them but to serue them And further he doth in the same booke deliuer the Popes Supremacy in these most euident wordes speaking thus to the same Pope Eugenius Who art thou a great Priest the highest Bishop thou art the Prince of the Bishops the heyre of the Apostles c. Thou art he to whome the keyes of heauen were deliuered to whome the sheepe were committed There are also indeede other Porters of heauen and Pastors of sheepe but thou art so much the more glorious as thou hast inherited a more excellent name aboue them They haue their flockes to each man me but to thee all were committed as one flocke to one Pastor Thou art not only Pastor
other shall come in his owne name him you receiue that is Antichrist but the Iewes haue not yet receiued the Bishop of Rome for their Messias Nay they take the Pope for the greatest enemy of their religion in the world and like much better of all them vvho vvith-drawe themselues from society in religion with him Vers 9. Finally it is there said that Christ with the spirit of his owne mouth shall kill that man with the manifestation of his aduene or comming whence the learned interpreters gather first that Antichrist shall be punished with a very extraordinary and exemplare death which hath not hapned to any of these Popes Secondly that Antichrist is to tyranize only some fewe yeares before the latter comming of Christ to judgement which cannot stand with the Protestants computation of Antichrists raigne which they drawe nine hundreth yeares in length already and yet are vncertayne howe much remayneth behind By this I hope you see howe well you may trust M. PER. on his word another time who blushed not to affirme all the circumstances of the man of sinne related in that Chapter to agree most fitly vnto the Pope of Rome when as not one sentence there penned by the Apostle doth touch him any whit at all but are only by the wresting of his enemies violently torne and cast vpon him Nowe to M. PERKINS last reason which is taken from the testimony of the auncient Church Cyprian saith De simpl Praelator Doubtlesse the same were the rest of the Apostles that Peter was indued with equall fellowship both of honour and power but a beginning is made of vnity that the Church may appeare to be one Answere Doubtlesse here is a prety peece of cosinage for the words are strooken out vvhich vvould haue made all playne against the Protestants for S. Cyprian there saith that the beginning proceedeth from one and the primacy is giuen to Peter that the Church may appeare to be one So that he allowing all the Apostles to be equall in honour being all of the same calling and power to preach the Gospell to all nations yet affirmeth the Supremacy to haue beene giuen vnto S. Peter that by that vnity of one head the Church might be kept perpetually in vnity of one faith and vniformity of religion Note howe his owne vvitnesse doth giue playne euidence against him Gregory saith If one be called vniuersall Bishop In regist lib. 6. epist 118. the vniuersall Church goeth to decay And cap. 144. I say boldly that whosoeuer calleth or desireth to call himselfe vniuersall Priest in his pride he is a fore-runner of Antichrist And lib. 7. cap. 30. Behold in the preface of your Epistle a proude title calling me vniuersall Pope Answere I could vvish that the cause might be determined by that blessed Bishop S. Gregories sentence it were then already gayned on our side for in those bookes of his Epistles he doth almost nothing else but declare the Popes Supremacy in ordering of all Ecclesiasticall matters and that ouer all Countries but whence the Bee sucketh hony thence also the Spider draweth some poyson They regard not what or how much he vvriteth there in fauour of the Supremacy but they thinke to haue some aduantage for their cause out of that vvhich he writeth against the name of vniuersall Bishop or Priest but they are miserably deceiued for one may very well be supreme head of the Church and yet not vniuersall Bishop as S. Gregory there taketh that word For he is only an vniuersall Bishop after S. Gregory who is Bishop in euery Diocesse of the vniuersall Church other Bishops being but his Suffraganes or Deputies such an vniuersall Bishop is not the Pope for excepting the speciall points of his prerogatiues he is not to intermedle with the particular businesse of my other Bishop within his Diocesse no more then the Archbishop of Canterbury is to deale with the gouernement of any other Bishop vnder him sauing in cases of his prerogatiue But euen as it appertayneth vnto the Metropolitane to compose the controuersies that may arise betweene the Bishops of his Prouince and to determine all such causes as by appeale or otherwise belong vnto his court to call a Prouinciall Councell and to confirme the decrees of it and to make Ecclesiasticall Canons and constitutions for his Prouince in like manner doth it appertayne vnto the supreme Pastor of the Church to appease and end all debates that shal happen betweene the Metropolitanes or Priuates to judge of some such matters of great moment that may by appeale be very worthylie referred to his court to call generall Councels and to be President in them to make Ecclesiasticall lawes for the vvhole Church in vvhich and such like matters the point of his Supremacy principally consisteth And these vvere all most carefully vndertaken and practised by S. Gregory though he misliked the name of vniuersal Bishop because that did seeme vnto him to exclude all other Bishops from their proper dignities and callings Lib. 7. epist 69. as he expoundeth himselfe saying If there be one vniuersall Bishop it remayneth that you be no Bishops And if you make one vniuersall Patriarke you depriue all the other Patriarkes of their title and dignity l. 4. ep 36. In this sence tooke S. Gregory the name of vniuersal and therefore did justly refuse it himselfe and very sharply reprehended the Patriarke of Constantinople for vsurping of it for although in a good sence it might haue beene attributed vnto the Sea of Rome who is supreme Pastor of the vniuersall Church yet it could not without apparant pride and arrogancy be vsed of the Patriarke of Constantinople who had nothing to doe vvithout the compasse and limits of his owne Patriarkeship The testimony of S. Bernard is easie to be answered for he saith only that Eugenius is not Lord of Bishops but one of them and that he is not to drawe all power to himselfe but to leaue to euery Bishop and Archbishop his bretheren in gouernement their proper causes all vvhich vve say with him But he returneth to Pope Gregory who saith That he was subject to the Emperours commandement and had euery way dischardged that which was due in that be had performed his allegeance vnto the Emperour and yet did not conceale what he thought in Gods behalfe Answere VVhy did he not cite the place where S. Gregory hath these wordes there lurketh some padde vnder that strawe but he might very well vse such wordes excepting the word allegeance which sauoureth of a false translation Per Ioh. Diaconū l. 4. c. 58. For S. Gregory as it is to be seene in his life was of so profound humility that he called all Priestes his Brothers al Clarkes his Sonnes and all lay-men his Lordes or Masters and so might well vvrite vnto the Emperour that he was subject to his commandements for it is an vsuall phrase both in Italy and France to call all their friendes requests
in any one of them that they vvere to haue the supreme gouernement in cases Ecclesiasticall but where the first institution of Kinges is mentioned There they are willed to receiue the examplar and copy of the lawe Deut. 17. vers 18. from the Priests of the tribe of Leuy And in the same Chapter a little before All men are bound to take the true exposition of the same lawe not from the King but from the high Priest of the same tribe of Leuy Nowe if the Iewes being but one nation could not be kept in vnity of truth without one supreme Gouernour what diuision in faith and religion would there be among all the nations of Christendome which be so many and so diuers if there were not one supreme Pastor to vvhose finall sentence they should all be obedient and bound to stand first then it is euident that there must be one supreme Gouernour in the Church Nowe to goe one steppe forward this supreme authority was by our Sauiour Christ IESVS giuen vnto S. Peter which I will proue both by the promise and performance of it Math. 16. vers 15. The promise of this supremacy is recorded in these wordes Whome doe you say that I am Simon Peter answered and said thou art Christ the Sonne of the liuing God and IESVS answering said vnto him blessed art thou Simon Bar-Iona because flesh and bloud hath not reuealed it to thee but my Father which is in heauen And I say to thee that thou art Peter and vpon this Rocke will I build my Church c. Whence I reason thus That is the foundation in a building which is the head in a body and supreme Gouernour in a common-weale for the foundation is first laide and doth vphold all the rest of the building but our Sauiour promiseth to build the spirituall common-wealth of his Church vpon Peter as vpon a firme Rocke and foundation therefore he meant to make him the head and chiefe Pastor vnder himselfe of it Some answere that Christ said not that he would build his Church vpon Peter but vpon that Rocke which was himselfe because that Christ is called a Rocke 1. Cor. 10. Reply This cannot be for albeit Christ be the most firme foundation and chiefe corner stone of all that building yet hath it pleased him to appoint a Deputy and Vicar to gouerne in his absence vnder him and so to communicate his Titles in a certayne measure and degree vnto his seruants Math. 5. vers 15. He is the light of the world and yet saith he to his Apostles You are the light of the world He is the Pastor of our soules and he maketh them our Pastors so he is the Rocke that sustayneth all partes of the Church by his owne power and vertue but hath imparted to Peter that name to signifie that he should be made able to beare the person of his Vicar on earth and to rule vnder him and by vertue receiued from him the whole Church for his time Nowe the very course of the text doth conuince that the Rocke there specified cannot be Christ for it hath joyned vvith it the word this and vpon this Rocke which doth demonstrate and point out that vvhich was spoken of immediately before vvhich vvas Peter Thou art Peter and vpon this Rocke c. Againe what congruity should there be in this sentence to beginne with Peter and to make shewe of bestowing some high reward on him for his noble confession and in the end of it to say that he would build his Church vpon himselfe Thirdly in the next sentence there is no question made but that Christ did promise to Peter the keyes of the Kingdome of heauen and not to reserue them to himselfe therefore most certayne it is that in the former sentence he promised to build his Church vpon Peter Finally in the Syriake tongue in vvhich our Sauiour then spake it is so playne that it cannot be doubted of for it is thou art Cephas and vpon this Cephas I wil build my Church nowe the vvord Cephas signifieth a rocke or stone Let vs to make the matter more manifest heare the judgement of some of the auncient and most learned Fathers of both the Greeke and Latin Church touching this exposition S. Epiphanius In Ancorate Our Lord made Peter the chiefe of the Apostles a firme Rocke vpon which the Church of God is builded S. Gregory Nazianzeno * Orat. de mod seruand in disput Peter is called a Rocke and hath the foundations of the Church committed vnto his fidelity S. Chrysostome a Hom. 55 in Math. Our Lord said thou art Peter and vpon thee will I build my Church S. Cyril b Lib. 2. in Iob. ca. 2. Christ fore-told that he should not be called Simon but Peter by the name it selfe fitly signifying that he would build his Church vpon him as on a Rocke and most sure stone S. Cyprian c Epist ad QuirinuÌ„ Our Lord did choose Peter the first or chiefest and vpon him did he build his Church S. Ambrose saith d Serm. 42 That Peter is called the Rocke both because he first of all laid the foundation in the actions of faith and also for that as an vnmoueable stone he doth sustayne and bold together the frame and burden of all the Christian worke S. Hierome vpon that place e Math. 16 According vnto the metaphor of a Rocke it is rightly said to Peter vpon thee will I build my Church S. Augustine sometimes indeede giueth an other interpretation but yet alloweth of this and leaueth it to the readers choise adding f Lib. 1. retract 21. That in his time that Hymne of S. Ambrose beganne to be chaunted publikely in the Church that the Cocke crowing the Rocke of the Church with teares washed away his fault so common was that exposition euen then that the Rocke of the Church was taken for a sufficient description of S. Peters person By these plaine sentences of the most approued Doctors of the church may be expounded some others more obscure vvhich say that vpon Peters faith or confession Christ built his Church in this manner for the excellency of Peters faith and confession he vvas chosen to be the rocke or foundation of the Church which is S. Basils owne interpretation who saith that Peter for the excellencie of his faith Lib. 2. in EunomiuÌ„ receaued the building of the Church vpon him And in true reason the Church being a congregation of men cannot be builded 〈…〉 qualities but must haue a man of the same nature to be her 〈…〉 indeede with such spiritâ— all and heauenly qualities or else it should not haue beene a proportionable and wel shaped body but some monster Neither can that other shift of the Protestants which M. PERKINS insiâ—â—â—teth serue their turne that forsooth what is sâ—â—a â—ere to S. Peter is vnderstood to haue beene spoken vnto all the rest of the Apostles For
our hart and soule that it maketh it whiter then snowe the temple of the holy Ghost Psal 50. 1. Cor. 6. 2. Tim. 2. vers 21. sanctified and apt to all good workes as the word of God witnesseth The third conclusion is about Christes imputatiue justice vve hold that no man is formally justified by that justice which is in Christ which is infinite and vvould make vs as just as Christ himselfe is but that God through Christes merits doth bestowe vpon euery righteous man a certayne measure of justice vvherewith his soule being purged from sinne and adorned with all honesty fit for his degree and calling is made righteous in Gods sight and worthy of the Kingdome of heauen M. PERKINS holdeth that Euery just man hath faith created in his hart whereby he layeth hand on Christes justice and drawing that to himselfe maketh it his owne He proueth it by these wordes of the Apostle 1. Cor. 1. vers 30. Christ is made vnto vs of God Wisdome Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption I answere that Christ is in that place so made our righteousnesse as he is made our wisdome nowe no man holdeth that he is made our wisdome by imputation therefore is he not our righteousnesse by imputation The Apostles meaning is that Christ is the procurer and meritorious cause of both our wisdome and justice and of whatsoeuer other spirituall gifts we enjoy And this righteousnesse which God bestoweth on vs in this life is sufficient to enable vs to keepe Gods lawe as I haue proued in seuerall questions before and to make vs worthy of life euerlasting The fourth conclusion Catholikes hold it the surest course to put their trust in the mercy of God and merits of Christ for their saluation yet in sobriâ—tâ— they may haue confidence both in their owne merittes and in other good mens prayers That is because God saueth none of yeares who doe not merit life euerlasting by vsing his grace well therefore a vertuous honest man may haue some confidence in the good course of his life Marry because we are not throughly assured of our owne good workes past neither can we tell howe long we shall perseuer in that Godly course of life therefore vve rather stand in feare when we consider our owne vvorkes and our whole confidence is in the mercies of God vvho for Christes sake calleth most vnworthy creatures to his grace and doth neuer for sake any endeauouring to continue in his seruice Neyther doth that visitation of the sicke in the Dutch tongue found in a dusty corner any whit helpe them for we teach all especially notorious sinners that vvallowe in sinne vntill their dying day such as it seemeth that visite was made for to trust not in their owne naughtinesse or little goodnes vvho haue a hundreth times more euill then good in them but in the infinite mercy of God and inestimable merits of our Sauiours death and passion vvhich letteth not but that a good man may haue some confidence in his owne merits and in the prayer of Saints And M PER. considereth little what he saith vvhen he affirmeth That we make that our God in which we put our trust for albeit vve must trust only in God as in the author of all good thinges yet may vve trust in diuers other thinges as in the meanes of our saluation Doe not the Protestants trust in Christes passion and yet I hope they made not his passion their God Haue they not a confidence and trust in their liuely faith yes I vvarrant you or else they would not be farre from desperation so notwithstanding his vaine babling Catholikes vvell grounded in vertue may haue some confidence in their owne good deedes and in the prayer of Saints as orderly meanes to attayne vnto saluation albeit vve trust in God only as in the authour of it The fift and last conclusion That we must not only beleeue in generall the promises of life euerlasting but apply them to vs in particular by hope M. PER. somewhat faintly excepteth against this and saith That by faith we must assure our selues of our saluation present and by hope continue the certainety of it Marry he addeth further That they teach not that euery man liuing within the precincts of their Church is certayne of his saluation by faith but that he ought so tâ— be and must endeauour to attayne thereto Why then that man hath not the faith of Protestants vvhich cannot but apply vnto themselues in particular the promises of life euerlasting and that as the nature of faith requireth without all staggering doubt but to sowe pillowes and to lay them vnder poore deceiued mens elbowes he sometimes saith that he requireth not such certainety of saluation yet in the conclusion of this very Chapter he forgetting himselfe so quickly saith That we abolish the substance of faith namely in denying the particular certayne application of Christ crucified and his benefits vnto our selues A vvorthy authour that can no better agree with himselfe OF REPENTANCE OVR CONSENT M. PERKINS Page 316. THe first conclusion Repentance is the conuersion of a sinner which is twofold passiue and actiue passiue is an action of God whereby he conuerteth a sinner Actiue is an action whereby the sinner once turned by God turneth himselfe and doth good workes as the fruit there of of this later the question is The second conclusion That repentance standeth specially for practise in contrition of hart confession of mouth and satisfaction in worke or deede There be two sortes of contrition one when a man is sorrowfull for feare only of hell and other punishments in this life this he calleth legall though in the state of the lawe there was most perfect contrition in some The other Euangelicall when one is greeued for his sinnes not so much for feare of hell as because he hath offended so good and mercyfull a God which is alwayes necessary Secondly We hold confession necessary to be made first to God then publikely to the congregation if any man be excommunicate for any crime Thirdly To our neighbour when we haue offended and wronged him Lastly In all true repentance there must be satisfaction made First to God by intreating him to accept of Christes satisfaction for our sinnes Secondly to the Church for publike offences in humiliation to testifie the truth of our repentance Thirdly satisfaction is to be made to our neighbour because if he be wronged he must haue recompence and restitution made The third conclusion That in repentance we are to bring forth outward fruites worthy amendment of life whereof the principall is to endeauour day and night by Gods grace to leaue and renounce al and euery sinne and in all thinges to doe the will of God THE DIFFERENCE WE dissent not from the Church of Rome in the doctrine of repentance it selfe but in the abuses thereof first in generall because they beginne repentance part of the holy Ghost and part of themselues by the
it said vvhatsoeuer yee loose in earth shall be loosed in heauen Therefore to no purpose were the keyes of heauen giuen to the Church we make frustrate the Gospell of God we make voyde the wordes of Christ finally we promise to our selues that which he denyeth vs c. See howe playnely and formally he so many hundreth yeares before hath confuted the Protestants shot-anker and only refuge of confessing their sinnes to God alone and assureth vs that it is a most vayne excuse and vvill not serue any mans turne vvhen as God himselfe hath set downe and decreed that he will pardon no man of his sinnes vvho doth not seeke absolution thereof from them to whome he hath committed the charge of that matter that is from Priestes And in right reason can there be any better bridle vnto our corrupt nature then the very shame and bashfulnesse of confessing our secret faultes vnto a learned good and graue man such as a Confessour is or should be Againe where true confession of sinnes is there men vse the best meanes that can be to driue them from the custome of sinning for besides the particular sorrow which they haue of their sinnes they must firmely purpose neuer to returne to any kinde of sinne afterward yea they must abstayne from all occasions alluring to sinne so that no man vsing wel this Sacrament of Confession can dwell in malice vsury leachery or any state of sinne Moreouer if they haue taken away the goodes or good name of their neighbour they are enjoyned in confession presently to doe their best to restore it backe againe These and many other great commodities being the inseperable companions of priuate Confession vve Catholikes doe attribute vnto the good vse thereof the greatest Godlines and deuotion that is amongst vs. And no maruaile though our common enemy doe so busily endeauour to withdrawe sinners from it amplifying vnto them the indignity and shame of it but if they would consider maturely that dying in their sinnes for lacke of due confession they shal be to their vtter shame and confusion made to confesse them all and euery one at the latter day before God all his Angels and Saints the Deuill and all damned soules being also present they would vndoubtedly make choise rather to confesse their sinnes to some one vertuous Priest vvho will neuer reueale them but in Christes name absolue and pardon them then to leaue them to that dreadfull day of Gods just judgements when besides the shame and confusion of them no pardon is to be hoped for And thus much touching Confession Lastly saith M. PERKINS The abuse of satisfaction is that they haue burned Canonicall satisfaction which was made to the congregation by open offendors into a satisfaction of the justice of God for the temporall punishment of their sinnes Behold here a most horrible prophanation of the whole Gospell Answere Behold here a most vngodly and sencelesse out-crye what doth the whole sanctity of the Gospell consist only in the point of our satisfaction it is too too absurd so to say And howe knoweth he that Canonicall satisfaction vvas only or principally to satisfie the congregation They that ordayned of old those Canons of satisfaction had a greater care to satisfie and appease the wrath of God justly incensed against such wicked offendors then to satisfie men but this prophane man very fondly dreameth that they rather sought to please men then God But of this matter there is a vvhole question in the former part there he that vvill may see howe all satisfactions are principally instituted to appease Gods wrath and that they doe apply vnto vs the satisfactions of Christ and make vs partakers of them and are besides most conuenient meanes to bridle out corrupt nature from all sorts of sinnes M. PERKINS to shewe that he vvas the same man in the end of his booke as in the beginning concludeth this part with a most palpable lie to wit That Priests are not put to death in England for their religion but for their treasons which they intend and enterprise Let their owne recordes be seene whether very many of them haue not beene condemned only because they are Priestes made after the auncient Roman manner without laying vnto their charge any enterprise eyther against the person of the Prince or peace of the State But what wil not a Minister auouch to disgrace poore Priestes vvho doe neuerthelesse not only pray but vvill be ready also to spend their bloud for the conuersion of men of his sort and for all others their deare country-men by them most pitteously seduced Hitherto M. PERKINS hath handled pointes of religion something like a schoole-man now like a pulpit-minister he goeth on with his text and maketh such an vnsauory glosse vpon it that it loathes me almost to looke on it yet because he raketh and heapeth togither all the most odious matter that he can deuise against vs I will giue it the whippe and hastily runne ouer it thus he beginneth Secondly out of the same text Goe out of her my people I gather Pag. 331. that the true Church of God is and hath beene in the present Roman Church as the corne in the heape of chaffe For though Popery ouer-spread the face of the earth for many hundreth yeares yet in the middest thereof God reserued a people to himselfe that truly worshipped him c. And this will serue the turne to stoppe the mouthes of Papists who demand of vs where our Church was one hundreth yeares agoe before the dayes of Luther We answere out of this text that our Church hath beene euer since the dayes of the Apostles and that in the very middest of the Papacy but it first beganne to shewe it selfe in Luthers time an vniuersall Apostacy hauing hidden it before for many hundreth yeares Answere Here is a proper peece of doctrine and proued as profoundly It is very ridiculous and absurd to say that their Church vvas in the Church of Rome for one that wil be both of their Church of the Roman must beleeue and professe not one or two but more then twenty articles flat contradictory the one to the other which is impossible Can a man at once beleeue the Pope to be head of the vniuersal Church and with-all sweare that he hath no authority in many Prouinces of it but that all Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction there belongeth to the Prince or that Christs naturall body is really present in the Sacrament and not really present and that Saints are to be prayed vnto and not to be prayed vnto nothing is more euident then that this cannot be no more could the Protestants Church be in the Church of Rome And if the Protestants vvould allowe them for theirs vvho beleeue most of the articles of the Roman faith contrary to their owne doctrine so that in some fewe points they doe agree and accord with them yet the Church of Rome wil neuer take them for any of her children who
before I come to the full period of this worke Curteous Reader BEARE WITH THE FAVLTS IN PRINTING WHICH CAN HARDLY BE FEW CONSIDERING THE MANIFOLD DIFFICVLTIES OF THE time And yet besides the ouer-sights in pointing are not very many which be thus corrected IN THE MARGENT THESE Generally a ss is set in the quotation of Caluins Institution for the Section or Number For. Page Reade Beza in Neoph. 9. in Creophag simil ibid. Simler sess 17. 2. 11. number 1. 2. Homil. in praeâ—rat 48. In priorem ad Corint Conc. 56. Canon IN THE TEXT THESE For. Page Line Reade declared 7 15 declare Atheisme 20 9 Atheismes was this 40 35 was it pithagorically 63. 22 pithagoricall I say to solemnely 86 22 to be solemnely Euchirines 135 24 Eucherius established 145 17 establish Cesanis 155 39 Caesarius Pomachius 156 1 Pamachius demised 180 18 deuised proofe 181 16 disproofe The quotation of S. Augustine which is in psalm 33. conc 2. is omitted in the 68. page Hier. cont Lucif cap. 6. wanteth page 209. And in the Aduertisment page the 25. for apud Dionysium 1. Cor. reade apud Ludolphum de vita Christi part 1. cap. 5. pag. 17. AN ANSVVERE VNTO M. PERKINS ADVERTISEMENT M. PERKINS Aduertisement to all fauourers of the Roman religion shewing as he weeneth that the said Religion is against the Catholike principles of the Catechisme that hath beene agreed vpon euer since the dayes of the Apostles by al Churches which principles be fowre The Apostles Creede the tenne Commandements the Lordes prayer the institution of two Sacraments Baptisme and the Lordes supper 1. COR. 11. vers 23. I HAD once determined to haue wholy omitted this goodly post-script because it containeth in manner nothing else but an irkesome repetition of that which hath beene I will not say twise before but more then twenty times handled ouer and ouer in this former small treatise notwithstanding considering both howe ready many are when they see any thing omitted to say that it could not be answered and also for that these pointes here reiterated are the most odious that he could cull out of all the rest to vrge against vs I finally resolued to giue them a short answere And further also by prouing their newe religion to be very opposite vnto those old groundes of the true religion to requite him with the like that I die not in his debt Thus he beginneth The Roman religion established by the Councell of Trent is in the principall pointes thereof against the very groundes of the Catechisme the Creede the tenne Commandements the Lordes prayer the two Sacraments THE Catholike religion embraced and defended by the Church of Rome was planted and established there by the Apostles S. Peter and S. Paul fifteene hundreth yeares before the Councell of Trent and hath beene euer sithence by the Bishops of Rome their lawfull successors constantly reteined and most sincerely obserued and maintayned some articles thereof called into question by the Heretikes of this latter age were in that most learned generall Councell of Trent declared and defined And great meruaile it were if the principall pointes thereof should be against the groundes of the Catechisme which is in euery point most substantially expounded by the decree and order of the very same Councell Or is it credible that the Church of Rome with which all other ancient Churches and holy Fathers did desire to agree and which hath beene euer most diligent to obserue all Apostolicall traditions should in the principall points of faith crosse and destroy the very principles of that religion that hath beene agreed vpon by all Churches euer since the Apostles daies as he saith Is it not much more likely and probable that the Protestantes who slaunder all Churches euer since the time of the Apostles with some kind of corruption or other and who hold no kind of Apostolicall tradition to be necessary is it not I say more credible that they should shake those groundes of faith which come by tradition from the Apostles and haue beene euer since by all Churches agreed vpon I suppose that fewe men of any indifferent judgement can thinke the contrarie But let vs descend to the particulers wherein the truth will appeare more plainely Thus beginneth Master PERKINS with the Creede First of all it must be considered that some of the principall doctrines beleeued in the Church of Rome are that the Bishoppe of Rome is the Vicar of Christ and head of the Catholike Church that there is a fire of Purgatory that Images of God and Saintes are to be placed in the Church and worshipped that prayer is to be made to Saintes departed that there is a propitiatory sacrifice daylie offered in the Masse for the sinnes of the quicke and the dead These pointes are of that moment that without them the Roman religion cannot stand c. And yet marke the Apostles Creede which hath beene thought to contayne all necessary pointes of religion to be beleeued and hath therefore beene called the key and rule of faith This Creede I say hath not any of these pointes nor the expositions made thereof by the ancient Fathers nor any other Creede or confession of faith made by any Councell or Church for the space of many hundreth yeares This is a plaine proofe to any indifferent man that these be newe articles of faith neuer knowne in the Apostolike Church and that the Fathers and Councels could not finde any such articles of faith in the bookes of the old and newe Testament Answere is made that all these points of doctrine are beleeued vnder the article I beleeue the Catholike Church the meaning whereof they will haue to be this I beleeue all thinges which the Catholike Church holdeth and teacheth to be beleeued If this be as they say we must beleeue in the Church that is put our confidence in the Church for the manifestation and the certainety of all doctrine necessary to saluation And thus the eternall truth of God the creatour shall depend vpon the determination of the creature And the written word of God in this respect is made insufficient as though it had not plainely reuealed all points of doctrine pertaining to saluation And the ancient Churches haue beene farre ouer-seene that did not propound the former pointes to be beleeued as articles of faith but left them to these later times Thus farre Master PERKINS Wherein are hudled vp many thinges confusedly I will answere briefly and distinctlie to euery point The first is that in the Apostles Creede are contained all pointes of religion necessary to be beleeued which is most apparantly false as the Protestantes themselues must needes confesse or else graunt that it is not necessary to beleeue the King to be Supreame-head of the Church or that the Church is to be gouerned by Bishops or that vve are justified by Christes justice imputed to vs or that there be but two Sacramentes or that the Church seruice must be said in the