with heresies and being by schisme deuided and separated from the truth are out of the Catholike vniuersall and true Church of Christ and these blind soules with their blynd guides rush and fall headlong into the pit of hell which I in my errour most wickedly and without grieuous iniury affirmed of the Roman Catholikes for from the Roman Church at all times to all other Churchs the most shining light of the pure and incorrupted fayth hath flowed and at this present flowes I remember also that in the preface of my bookes of the Ecclesiasticall commonwealth I vsed certayne wordes by which I insinuated all such to be in the Catholike Church who had receaued baptisme in the name of the Trinity but albeit the words haue an ill sound make all hereticall Churches true sound mēbers of the true Catholike Church which is most false and hereticall yet my meaning was that the Arian Nestorian Eutichian all hereticall and condemned Churches in tymes past should be excluded and only the true belieuers to be retayned which true belieuers I thought then to be many more then indeed they are and many Churches tainted with these latter Heresyes and by Schisme deuided I erroneously iudged to pertaine to the Catholike but though the Catholike Church be so denominated for her Vniuersality yet this Vniuersality includes no other then the true orthodoxe or right belieuing Churches spread ouer the whole world which remayne in vnity with the Roman And truly the vniuersality of the Roman Church doth consist not only in the cōtinual durance neuer yet interrupted or euer after to be and constance of sound beliefe but also is vniuersall because the selfe same fayth of Rome and supreme gouernement are extended after the cōming of Christ to all places and all Nations for which respect euen in these latter ages it is no lesse to be tearmed Catholike then it was in the tyme of the ancient Fathers because the fayth of the Roman Church euen at this tyme is propagated in the most remote vast regions of the East and West Indyes euen vnto the furthest corners of the earth in so much as the children of this Church euen in these dayes passing by continuall trauel from the rising of the Sunne vnto the setting and carrying with them the Fayth of Christ offering cleane sacrifices that now may be sayd especially to be fulfilled which God pronounced by the mouth of Malachy Malach. 1. v. 11. Ab ortu solis vsque ad occasum magnum est nomen meum in gentibus in omni loco sacrificatur offertur nominimeo oblatio munda From the rising of the sunne vnto the setting my name is great amongst the Gentills in euery place there is sacrificed and offered vnto my name a pure oblation Neither was it a lesse iniury and slaunder when I said that I had noted very many noueltyes and errors of the Court of Rome which nouelties which errors I neyther now or euer yet noted and I acknowledge it to be most false confesse it for such that euer there were or are in Rome such errors out of which the ruine and slaughter of soules doth proceed the peace of the Church is troubled or publick scandalls haue or doe arise truly next after God all peace of the Catholike Church her totall tranquillity and the euerlasting saluation of soules is to be ascribed to the care and sollicitude of the Roman Church I sayd that the more potent Bishops vnder the Bishop of Rome were but equiuocall or counterfeit Bishops and this saying cōteins no lesse falshood then iniury in it and therefore as raylatiue I condemne it for they are true and lawfull Bishops made by lawfull ordination I affirmed others who were not Potentates and Princes to haue lost the proper dignity and power of Bishops and truly this is also a slaunder for hierarchical subordinatiō in the Church hath been alwaies necessary much more doe I cōdemne as an heresy that which I said the Church no longer to remayn vnder the Bishop of Rome for as before I specifyed and earnestly auouched only the Church of Rome with the rest adhering therunto is the true Church of Christ that others are no Churchs at all And to conclude much in few I perceyue that in the first booke of my departure I specially endeauoured to infringe the primacy of the B. of Rome in which poynt I deny not but that I spake against the fayth of the whole Catholike Church and therefore greatly to haue erred for both by the Euangelicall ordinance traditions of the Apostles definitions of the holy Synods Generall Councells by very many decrees of Popes and common testimony of Fathers and ecclesiasticall histories it is manifest and cleere the B. of Rome alwayes to haue been taken for head of the whole Church to haue beene so appointed by Christ our Lord and alwayes to haue been taken for a singular oracle to whome no lesse the East then the West in all doubts of fayth should sue for instruction of beliefe definition secure doctrine as a maister appointed vs by God who should by his office teach and direct his Church any scholler may obserue very many examples in which the Bishops of Rome direct the Patriarkes and Bishops of the East they warne them rebuke them teach them condemne them absolue them depose them restore them controle them and that euen out of their office and power ouer them and the others checked by the Popes humbly gaue them eare obeyed resisted not or reclaymed and briefely it is cleare by the confession of all the Catholike Church the whole spirit of Christ for determining of these things which belong vnto fayth to reside in the sole and one visible supreme head of the same Church which is only the Pope the chiefe Bishop and S. Peters succcessor 5. I freely confesse that the booke which I called the Rockes of Christiā shipwrack did exceedingly displease me presently after that it was set forth for without all choyce had of the matter without all discussion or search of truth I hudled it vp that I might some way or other please the Englishmē after my arriuall amongst them in writing of which I considered and layd open not what was true but what pleased best the enemies of the Church especially the vulgar and vnlearned multitude and this booke whiles I was in England preparing for my departure being obiected vnto me by the King and other men I did in plain wordes detest it and my selfe withstood the greater part of heresyes which it conteynes and as far as I was able impugned them al which here agayne I reiect abhorre and detest The heresies were these The B. of Rome not to be Christs vicar on earth and visible head of his Church that he had no power ouer temporall things implicite fayth to auayle nothing but much to hurt the faithfull the excommunications of the law to be vain buggs the cōmandements of the
Church not to bind vnder mortall sinne the vnity of the Church not to be taken from one visible head the Pope to be the capitall eenemy of the whole Church the Masse to be no true sacrifice the ceremonies of the Masse to be light Comical gestures no transsubstantiation to be made auricular confession with absolution to be no true Sacrament that there is no purgatory satisfaction for release of the punishment after that the fault is forgiuen not to be necessary no Indulgences to be but of such penaltyes only as are imposed the Saintes not to be inuocated the worship of Relikes and Images not to be lawfull that there is no merit of good workes to euerlasting life These and the the like errours and manifest heresies not so much myne and new as of the auncient and modern heretickes and their bablings and doating dreames condemned alwayes by the Catholike Church in many holy generall Councells are miserable rockes vnto which such as approach make lamentable shipwracke of their faith and euerlastinge saluation and therefore I fly from them as far as I am able and least that I should haue beene cast away vppon them in England I was of necessity to depart from thence and rerurne to the true Church the port and harbour of Catholickes and forsake detest anathematize or accurse all the foresayd errors and whatsoeuer others if there be any other in those bookes which agree not with the faith expressed in the sacred Councells especially in the late Councell of Trent on the other side I imbrace and auer the contrary truthes to wit the chiefe Bishop of Rome by Christs iustitution to be his Vicar on earth to be the visible head of the militant Church which alwayes hath beene visible with full power receaued from God to gouerne and order the same the same Bishopp of Rome to haue power ouer temporall thinges in ordine ad spiritualia the implicite fayth to be profitable and sometymes necescessary as when one without his fault hath no expresse faith or beliefe of some articles the excommunications of the law or deliuered ipso facto to be of force and to be feared as induced by exceeding great reason and lawfull power the Popes to be able to excommunicate all faithfull people of what place or countrey soeuer in case they deserue to be so censured the commaundements of the Church bynd all vnder mortall sinne to obserue them the vnity of the Church chiefly to depend vpon the one visible head thereof the B. of Rome to be the true lawfull towards the sheepe of Christ as it behoueth the profitable Pastor of the whole Church the only eternall saluation of which I desire he may alwayes thirst and seeke with all care in in the Masse to be offered vp vnto God a true proper and propitiatory sacrifice the ceremonies of the Masse ordained by the Fathers and Pastors of the Church by the inspiration of the holy Ghost to be holy mystical profitable and by all meanes to be retayned transubstantiation to be made in the Sacrament of the Aultar that is the conuersion of turning of the whole substance of bread into the body of the whole substance of wine into the bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ by Sacramentall absolution wherby the priest absolues the penitent to be exercised a true and proper power of binding and losing sins which our Lord gaue to the ministers of his Sacraments in the Church to be purgatory in that manner as the holy Roman Apostolicke Church teacheth it to be graunted satisfaction to be much avayleable for the releasement of the punishment after that the sinne is forgiuen the vse of pardons in the Catholike Church to whome Christ hath giuē power to bestow them to be most ancient most soueraygne and approued by the authority of holy Councels the Saints not only without all errour of the faithfull to be inuocated but further that it is good profitable to haue recourse to their prayers and help the worship of Reliques and images to be good lawfull and profitable which cannot be abrogated without the spot of heresy the merit of eternall life to depend of our good workes The later General Councels which are of supreame authority in the Church my stomak being ouer charged with ill humours I did often despise especially the Councells of Florence Trent many times also that of Constance and through my procuring a certayn history came forth in print of the Councell of Trent of the truth of which history I had no certainty yea it is worthily suspected of imposture in these thinges also I confesse that I erred very much for I affirme all the most wholsome decrees of these Councells with full fayth to be imbraced by all the Catholikes 6. In a certayn sermon of mine had in Italian at London the first sonday in Aduent and printed I set down these errours which being after repeated agayne in the booke of the Rocks now I haue worthily detested In that sermon I framed a certayn night of papall errours in the Roman Church wheras indeed in the Roman Church alone and others conioyned therewith there is true light the true and only most shining day out of which in England especially is continuall most darke night In the Church of Rome the light of truth the true and sincere vnderstanding of the holy scriptures driues far away from it al the darkenes of errours with which darknes miserable Englād being ouercast groapeth like a blind man at noone day I sayd in the same sermon and reiterated agayne in the booke of the Rocks that S. Peter was neuer at Rome but this as a soule and ignorant lye I freely confesse is to be condemned I made all the Apostles in planting and gouerning the Church to be equall whereas notwithstanding the supremacy of S. Peter ouer them is cleare by the very gospells and Apostolicall traditions I affirmed the Bishops to succeed the Apostles with equall power and to be Bishops in solidum of the Vniuersall Church whereas yet Bishops are but Pastors of particuler Churchs haue but a particuler charge the generall primacy being reserued to him who in the same succeedeth S. Peter who is the B. of Rome and chiefe Pastor I sayd that holy water graynes crosses hallowed images Papal and Episcopall blessings the stations diuersity of habits cords leather girdles visiting Churches and Altars beades processions and the like to be toyes when as it sufficiently appeareth almost all of these thinges to be auncient and allowed in the Catholicke Church which vse is to be cōtinued yea euen in those things which are more fresh inducements to piety deuotion I affirmed that there were only two Sacraments Baptisme and the Supper whereas yet the Catholike Church lightned by the holy ghost doth plainly teach define that there be seauen true Sacraments all which and what other heresyes soeuer condemned by the Catholike Roman Church I doe also condemne and with firme faith belieue
Church to be more deuided separated from the Church truly Catholike then they are themselues deuided from the whole world diuisos toto orbe Britannos That they are perfectly deuided froÌ„ the Roman Church other Churches subiect thervnto commumunicating with the same in Religion and fayth they will theÌ„selues willingly confesse and the thing is most euident most notorious Now wheras the RomaÌ„ Church with the others aforsaid is truly properly according to the Cath. Faith the Cath. Church of Christ doth it not necessarily follow the English Church as they call it to be cleane cut of froÌ„ the Catholike Church and consequently that it is not the body of Christ nor his house nor absolutly speaking to be called a Church Which when at length I plainly perceyued I was no longer to â—emain therin They will obiect say â—s this now plain vnto thee who yet in â—hy book of Ecclesiastical coÌ„mon wealth didst stile Rome Babylon who diddest deny the Church of Rome who didst teach vs that it was properly schismatical but that which thou affirmest of our Church doth not so plainly appeare vnto vs. So they Wherfor I shal goe about to mak this point euident vnto the English who know ful well that I am not Pithagoras whose only authority amoÌ„g his schollers for any thing that he sayd was held for best proofe let theÌ„ not therfore be moued with those things I haue sayd without other argument yea further let my wordes want their weight credit eueÌ„ where I bring my reasons and proofes if they be found to be weak and feeble Truly my reason on which I relied when I made Christian Rome to be Babylon was because the prophesy oâ— S. Iohn could no be explicated of Româ— as it was heathen before it imbraced the fayth of Christ Apocalip 8. But this reason is of no force for albeyt that this were granted yet it followeth not that the Christian Rome is Babylon for it is the opinion oâ— many Catholik interpreters that in the persecution of Antichrist the heathen Idolaters enemies of Christ are perhaps to subdue Rome and that of them this prophesy not yet accoÌ„plished may conueniently be vnderstood yet so as the fayth of the Catholike Church stilâ— continue safe and sound by this interpretation my affection of Rome as Christian is ouerthrown and conteyns in iâ— a meer slauÌ„der for I know the ChristiaÌ„ Rome not to be Babylon nor that it can without exceeding iniury be so called But God forbid that in this prophesy oâ— the Apocalyps we should conceaue thâ— Roman Church it selfe the mother of all Churches head of ReligioÌ„ hertofore â—o haue been or herafter that it shal be Baâ—ylon for those things which are spoken of the Citty are not to be transferred or explicated of the Church I denyed the Church to be at Rome but proued it not and therefore that deny all is to be â—laced amongst my curses and raylings â—ea also amongst my heresyes especialâ—y my self refuting the same by reason in my other workes in which strongly I â—aue affirmed the Roman Church with â—he others adherent to be the true onâ—y Catholike Church of Christ now â—oe as much as I can professe auer the â—ame I sayd that it had made a schisme â—ut then I sayd it when as yet I had no â—xact knowledge of schisme or nature â—herof I erred grossly herin because it â—s a manifest falsity the argumeÌ„t brought â—or the contrary is of no moment coÌ„â—ludeth nothing for he who being law â—ully made head of any body doth so â—…ile and proclayme himselfe doth not â—eperate himselfe from the body neither â—oth he cast away the body from him â—ut ioyneth himselfe vnto it which is a farr different thing from schisme but this I will further prosecute in the reuiew correction of that worke now only I declare how it is euident to me that the Englishmen and much more aâ— Sectaryes of our age are truly and properly Schismaticks for that without all lawfull cause they haue cut themselues from the true Church of Christ which is the Catholike Roman Church all those that communicate therewith 10. Two causes only there may be of lawfull separation that one or more Churches of Christ may wholy repell one or more Churches from their communicating with them without the incurring of schisme the one is heresy the other schisme it selfe The hereticalâ— Churches that are incorrigible are to bâ— eschewed of Catholikes who are to hauâ— no Ecclesiasticall coÌ„munion with theÌ„ This is a point well knowne amongâ—… Christians I often demaunded of thâ— Englishmen why they separated themselues from the Roman Church takinâ— the same as it comprizeth all other besides that adhere therunto was it for anâ— heresy But truly none of them al coulâ— eyther in writing or by word of mouth shew eyther the Roman Catholikes of of our tymes or our Predecessors in their publick profession to be or haue been tainted with any true heresy The most soueraigne King of great Britaine playnly and publickely graunted this vnto me this the wiser of their chiefe and inferiour Ministers graunted and many other learned men affirmed the Church of Rome not to erre in the fundamentall fayth wherfore by the grauÌ„t of English Protestants this Church is not hereticall They will obiect perhaps the Church of Rome not to erre in the fundamentall fayth which I in the booke of the causes of my departure in the sermon made at London seemed to defend but to erre and to haue fallen into heresy in other not fundamentall articles but first of all I know not what article there is of true fayth which is not fundamentall neyther could I euer conceaue or were they able to explicate how that distinction should be admitted amongst the articles of faith that some were fundamentall some not for truly I alwayes iudged all and euery of those articles which are truly to be fuÌ„dameÌ„tal but I erred in this that from the number of fundamentall and consequently from the true articles I excluded many which are indeed articles of faith and consequently were all fundamentall and cannot without heresy be denyed howsoeuer they be not of these principall of the Trinity Incarnation Necessity of grace Baptizing in the name of the Trinity c. as are the Sacraments Iustification the necessity of workes merits indulgences and the like which before I set downe as now defined by the Church because these no lesse rely on Gods reuelation then the former and therefore as much belong vnto faith as they for he who makes God deceitfull in any one article whatsoeuer he must necessarily acknowledg him to be deceiptfull in all the rest agayne I demaunded of such as meaÌ„t sincerely that they would produce but one article in which the Roman Church doth hold and teach amisse they are wont to vrge that of Transubstantiation of bread and wyne into the body and bloud of Christ out of
which they gather certayne heresies to wit Christ not to haue a true body but a fātasticall one because we put the whole body in so litle a compasse or quantity of bread in so much say they as the body is no more a body again that Christ is not in heauen if he be on the altar on earth against the article of his Ascensiō finally Christ not to haue beene borne of the Virgin Mary because that we doe make him of bread In these men truly that is veryfyed which S. Hierom writes In Epist ad Titum c. 3. nullum esse Schisma quod non sibi aliquam haeresim confingat vt meritò ab Ecclesia recessisse videatur There is no schisme which frames not to it selfe some heresy that it may seeme with some reason to haue departed from the Church And as for Trāsubstantiation which the Catholiks teach that is most far frō these heresies for in this all the properties of a body are out of danger from being destroyed although we graunt the same body to be conteyned vnder neuer so little formes and accidents of bread albeit these propertyes in ordine ad locum as they are referred to place which is a thing extrinsecall to the body may by Gods power be separated which thing is fully explicated by the schoole Doctors but what heresy can they imagine in vs if we doe al constantly affirme that we belieue as an article of fayth Christ to haue had still to haue a true body with all natural propertyes in it selfe which propertyes we belieue cōfesse by the same omnipotēt power may be preserued although the body be reduced to neuer so litle an external place neither can any by Thelogical proofe infring the same humane Philosophy neither can nor must measure Gods power let that iudge what can be done by nature but those things that are aboue nature let it reuerence but not iudge neyther doth it follow hence Christs body not to be in heauen but on the altar we all by diuine fayth belieue Christ haue ascended into heauen and there for euer to sit at the right hand of his father notwithstanding we affirme that by diuine power one and the selfe same body may be in many places at once at least sacramentally and this cannot be impugned but only out of humane Philosophy and seeming arguments and lastly we say not the body to be made of bread as if it had not beene before but we hould the bread to be transubstantiated into the body of Christ which body did preexist or was before the consecration and before transubstantiation the body of Christ borne of the Virgin Mary is extant and existent into which the bread is transubstantiated truly these men do ignorantly forge these heresies for he is an heretick who directly vtters heresy but if they aske of vs what we belieue of the truth of Christes body of the Ascension of the Incarnation they shall heare vs deliuer the true and Catholike beliefe notwithstāding that we affirme other things out of which they imagine to follow these erroneous opinions which we vtterly and truly deny to follow of them and they cannot Theologically conuince vs to the contrary In so much then as pertaineth vnto heresy they can pretend no cause wherefore they haue iustly for good cause separated thēselues frō our Church therfor they made an vnlawful schisme 11. The more moderate English Protestāts that are not Puritās vrge not much the heresy of the Roman Church nor from that ground free themselues from the foule spot of schisme but they vrge fiercely idolatry and obtruding of new articles of fayth by which meanes they will haue the Roman that is the Catholike Church to haue fallen from the true faith and hereby chiefely they defend the equity of their separation this idolatry they will haue to consist in the worship inuocation of Saints and reuerence of Relikes and Images and most of all in the Adoration of the B. Sacrament a more secret Idolatry they will haue to lye lurking in the cōfidence we repose on salt water oyle and other thinges exorcised blessed they also cōplain of new articles thrust vpon them by Catholikes in the definitions of the Councell of Trent about Iustification Workes Merits Purgatory Indulgences and the like but all in vayn Certainly if we Catholikes were indeed Idolaters we should not only be heretickes but much worse then most heretickes therefore ought to be auoyded and altogether separated far from all the faithfull And I wōder how any man that is in his right wits can charge them with idolatry who dayly professe themselues to belieue in one God and for this ground or foundation of fayth are ready to shed their bloud who dayly preach and teach that no diuine worship can be giuen to any pure Creature This then is a base slaunder Are we for our inuocating of Saints worshipping of images adoration of the B. Sacramēt held guilty or suspected with these men of idolatry Let them seeke let them vnderstand let them penetrate what we hold of the vnity of the true God what of diuine honour not to be imparted vnto creatures and then they shall presently perceaue all such to be very Sots who iudge and affirme vs to be idolaters that is worshippers of creatures with diuine honour neither let them breake out into open schisme vntill they haue found in our doctrine and practise true Idolatry 12. No Catholike euer auouched dead men or Angells to be worshipped with diuine honour we are not such fooles Vigilantius in tymes past obiected this vnto the Catholikes but falsely as S. Hier. writing against him doth shew and in this as in other thinges of this nature we haue the ancient Fathers our good maisters from them we doe not dissent we doe not depart we doe not disagree we willingly imbrace most exactly practise their most holesome doctrine and euery way Catholike touching the worshiping of Saints Originis lib. 8. contra Celsum Epiphanij haeres 79. August Epist. 44. libro de quantitate animae cap. 34. lib. de vera relig cap. 55. contra Faustum lib. 23. cap. 21. Cyrilli Alexand. lib. 6. contra Iulianum Theodoreti in historia Sāctorum Patrum cap. 21. I cite not the wordes of these and other Fathers because the shortnes of this smal treatise doth not comport it From whence then haue these late blind maisters borrowed their new eyes when as the Catholike Church long ere they were born was most excellētly furnished with most resplendent most secure shining lāps of learning sanctity 13. Festiual daies belong vnto the honour of Saints which we celebrate in their remembrance praysing God and thanking him that he hath aduaunced mortal men and sinners to so high a degree of holines neither is this a late nouelty in the Church by annuall deuotiō to keep festiuall daies in the honour of Saintes it is an ancient vse and so ancient
at the gate of the tabernacle Exod. 33. but they adored not the cloud lykewise in the fyre 2. Paralip 7.3 neyther did they cōmit idolatry whiles they adored God in these corporal signs such therfore as condēne this adoration as of it self purly properly idolatrical haue not in them so much as one drāme of a pure soūd Deuine In vain therfor doe the Protestants cōplaine of this Idolatry that they may defēd their schisme in this very thing first of al they defile themselues with heresy further they remaine true Schismatikes because there was no lawful cause of their separation 22. They obiect vnto vs a most cleere Idolatry or bread-worship in the adoration of the B. Sacrament of the Altar and by this also they seeke to excuse themselues from sinne but they are fowly mistaken for to vs the real corporall presence of the body bloud of our Lord Iesus-Christ in the sacred mysteries of the Eucharist is most certayn and vndoubted we adore the same body of Christ capable of it selfe by reason of the hypostaticall vnion with the Word of supreme honour lying hidden vnder these formes of bread and wine but hereof I cannot much dispute in this place This reall and corporall presence we suppose and this supposall by our fayth is certayn because we take it from the gospell Christ saying when he had bread in his hands Hoc est corpus meum this is my body according to the promise he had made saying Ioan. 6. Panis quem ego dabo caro mea est the bread which I will giue is my body and therefore our aduersaryes cannot suspect that in this adoration we are lyable vnto the errour of idolatry and so neither from this can they pretend any excuse for their schisme but they are truly and properly not only schismatiks but also heretiks and therefore I was to depart from amongst them and no longer to adhere vnto their errours 23. Besides the former they obiect vnto vs a certayn hidden or secret idolatry when after the Exorcismes and blessings we place a spirituall confidence in salt in water in oyle and the like all which they heape together out of a desyre to slaunder vs and that they may seeme by any meanes to excuse their schisme but they know full well that we place no certayn confidence in these things as if we taught these creatures to receaue any certayn and infallible force from our exorcismes and prayers these things we say are Sacramentalls but not Sacraments and hallowed to the end we may stirre vp our deuotion by them all our confidence is placed in God alone who moued by the prayers of the Church euen by these creatures by vertue of the same prayers blessings bestowes his guifts vppon vs the greatest part of those and the like rites the Church hath receaued from Apostolicall tradition and from hād to hād of the most ancient Church which who so followes cannot erre he who contemnes and casts away is himselfe to be cast forth as a rash man and enemy of the Church Tertullian sets down the vse of holy Oyle Tertul. li. de Baptismo and amongst the matters of the Sacraments S. Augustine reckons Oyle Aug. Ep. 119. The hallowing of the water of Baptisme hath been obserued from tyme out of mind for S. Cyprian makes mention of the hallowing of water and oyle and of Vnction also Cyprian li. 1. Epist. vltima The holy Churches I meane the materiall in case by any chaunce they should be defiled were wont to be cleansed by exorcisme and washing of the walls this we haue deliuered by Optatus Mileuitanus Optatus Mileu lib. 2. con Parmenian S. Basill also from tradition deduceth the common ryte of annoyntinge with oyle the party that was baptized Basil lib. de Spiritu sācto cap. 27 all antiquity doth further teach vs the signe of the Crosse to haue beene vsed in euery blessing and consecration Iustinus quaestione 118. Nazianzen Orat. 1. in Iulian. Orat. in funere Patris Chrysostom Hom. 55. in Matthaeum Augustin tract 118. in Ioan. sermo de tempore 181. cap. 3. Areopagita alij There are perhapps some rytes now vsed in the Church not so auncient in which we vse thinges blessed and consecrated but as the primitiue Church taught by the Apostles neuer feared any dāger of secret Idolatry if it vsed cōsecrated oyle and the lyke why should we now feare who attribute no more to these new cōsecrated things thē antiquity attributed vnto the other For these things to fly to Schisme is supreme impiety these rytes are good most of them were instituted by the Apostles others haue had their beginning from the deuotiō of Catholike Churches no way cōtrary to Faith yea most conforme agreeing therunto the variety of rites and ceremonyes was in auncient tyme in Churches and yet none vnder that pretence did depart frō mutuall communion amongest themselues The Auncients sayth Sozomen Sozomen lib. 7. c. 19◠did worthily iudge yt a friuolous or foolish matter that they for custome sake should be separated from one another who in the chiefe points of Religion did agree therefore this separation of the Englishmen is friuolous yea rash and wicked by which they haue deuided themselues from the true Catholike Church and haue broken forth without cause into open schisme with whom to communicate in diuine things is to consent to their most vniust and pernicious schisme 24. Touching the new articles of which they make their complaynt and excuse their schisme I wil not now dispute I should be too prolixe if I should now turne aside to these pointes in due place to be handled only here I demād of thē whether they thinke these new articles as they call them to be contrary vnto fayth or not If they were contrary to fayth they should be heresies and they would make the maintayners hereticks and worthily to be detested and separated from the communion of all Catholike Churches But I haue now proued that there is no heresy in the Church of Rome the most soueraygne King of great Britanny very many learned men in that kingdome confessing that the Church of Rome stands entier in the fundamentall faith but I haue shewed before that there is no true Article that it not fundamental and with assured fayth to be beleeued therefore it hath no articles which are contrary to the Catholike fayth and in case they be not cōtrary to the true faith but contayn the same they can yield no occasion of schisme But say they because we reiect and refuse these articles the Church of Rome hath separated cut vs of from that body Truly I lamēt and bewayle these men to haue made a beastly and perfect schisme before any thing was done or defined concerning those which they call new Articles in much as they cānot without exceeding vanity couer their schisme by these new articles for the
blaspheming of Christ and saying that he was not the soÌ„ne of God or sent by him seeing the society or Church founded by him doth not subsist but is euer now and then to be dissolued or deuided into partes the Church of Christ is one house and one family he who drawes himselfe from this family that goeth forth out of this house he belongs not to the family of Christ he is depriued of saluation as who were not in the Arke Gen. 3. were lost and perished in the floud The Protestants haue cut themselues from the body of Christ which is the only Catholike Roman Church and those who are inseparably vnited with the same therfore they are not members of Christ and therefore Christ is not their head neyther doth he infuse his holy Spirit and gifts into them they are therefore rotten members and already cut of because they haue cut themselues off wickedly of their own accord from the body Sunt palmites sayth S. Augustine August Epist 50. à vite praecisi nulli vsui nisi igni apti neque potest esse particeps diuinae Caritatis qui est hostis vnitatis they are branches cut off from the vyne fit for no other vse then the fire Ezech. 15.3 neyther can he be partaker of Gods charity who is an enemy of vnity So he 30. Of all spirituall help if they think themselues to haue any they haue made shipwrack by their schisme Si linguis hominum loquar Angelorum sayth S. Paul 1. Cor. 13.1 Caritatem autem non habeam nihil sum nihil mihi prodest If I shall speake with the tongues of men and Angels and haue not Charity I am nothinge it auayles me nothing Out of which wordes of the Apostle S. Augustine prudently admonisheth August de Baptismo Lib. 1. c. 9. no good worke any way to auayle a Schismatike The same and more then once hath S. Cypryan deliuered CypriaÌ„ lib. 4. Epist 2. Etsi occisus propter nomen Christi postmodum fuerit extra Ecclesiam constitutus ab vnitate atque caritate diuisus coronari in morte non poterit although one after that he is out of the Church and is deuided from the vnity and charity of the same be killed for the name of Christ he cannot be crowned in his death The same he vrgeth in other places as Lib. 1. Epist 1. ad Iulianum tract de simp Praelatorum seu de vnitate Ecclesiae de Oratione Dominica whome S. Chrysostome followes in Epist ad Ephesios Hom. 11. 31. Let the Protestants I beseech them consider what an enormous sinne they haue committed by this cursed separation because that schisme destroyes the Church for it is the saying of Christ Luc. 11.17 Omne Regnum in se diuisum desolabitur euery kingdome deuided in it selfe shal be brought to desolation and of S. Paul Galat. 5.15 Videte ne dum inuicem mordetis inuicem consummamini Take head least whiles you bite one another yee be not consumed one of another and this cryme of destroying the Church may be sayd to be that sinne agaynst the holy Ghost that Christ auouched not to be forgiuen in this world nor in the next Math. 12.31 as S. Ambrose sheweth Ambros 2. de Paenit cap. 4. So that most wicked harlot in the booke of Kings had rather that there should be no child theÌ„ that it should be brought vp in the bosome of the true mother and exclaymed against her saying 3. Reg. 3.26 nec mihi nec tibi sed diuidatur let the child neither be giuen to me nor thee but let it be deuided the Schismaticks labour al they can that the true and entier Fayth be not kept in the bosome of the true mother the Church they goe about to dead it that it may neither be kept aliue with them nor vs but they preuayle nothing and let those know that to be spoken of them Ecclesiast 10.8 qui dissipat sepem mordebit eum coluber the serpent shall byte him that breateth down the hedge 32. And it is no meruayle that the Englishmen haue fallen into many Heresies that Puritanisme doth sway so much albeyt when first they made their schisme they were neither infected with the Lutherane or CalumiaÌ„ heresies For as Irenaeus doth notably teach vs Iren. lib. 3. cap. 40. lib. 4. cap. 43. those who are cut of from the Church do not drinke out of the fountayne of the spirit of God but do digg for themselues bylakes and do fall into most grosse errours agaynst the truth of Fayth In like manner S. Cyprian makes the Catholike Church the roote the fountayne the sunne CypriaÌ„ lib. de simplic Praelat that as a branch hath his life froÌ„ the roote the riuer his water from the fountayne the sunne-beame his light spendour from the sunne so the sincerity of true beleefe to be had by our vnion with the Catholike Church they therfore who haue cut themselues from it cannot haue the truth of fayth but must necessarily fall into errours for they are trees without a roote ryuers without a fountayne sunne-beames without a sunne hereof it comes that the Fathers out of these and the like reasons doe coÌ„uince that schisme in the end breaks forth into heresy for he who refuseth to haue vnity with the Catholike Church will also refuse to learne of her the truth of Fayth of which she alone is the treasurer preseruer S. Augustine very well defines this matter when he sayth Augu. lib. 2. contra Crescon c. 7. Inueteratum Schisma esse ipsammet haeresim inueterate schisme to be heresy it selfe And S. Cyprian worthily findeth in euery schisme that heresy at least wherby is taken away one or two articles of our Creed Credo Sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam Remissionem peccatorum I belieue the holy Catholike Church the Remission or forgiuenes of sinnes for they who beleeue the holy Catholike Church to be the true Church of Christ they cannot if they thus beleeue depart from her and in case they depart then truly they do not belieue the Catholike Church to be the true Church of Christ So Saint Augustine sayth of the Donatists Aug. haeres 69. ad Quod vult Deum that they had turned their schisme into heresy And S. Ambrose in the funeral Oration had of his brother approuing his fact for that he had fled from the Luciferian Church as I now from the Churches of EnglaÌ„d sayth Non putauit Fidem esse in schismate nam etsi Fidem in Deum tenerent tamen erga Dei Ecclesiam non tenerent cuius patiebantur velut quosdam artus diuidi meÌ„bra lacerari Etenim cùm propter Ecclesiam Christus passâ—… sit Christi corpus Ecclesia sit non videtur ab ijs exhiberi Christo fides à quibus euacuatur eius passio corpusque distrahitur He thought not that there was any fayth in schisme for although they kept their fayht towards God yet they kept it not towards the Church of God of which they permitted certayne ioyntes to be deuided and members to be torne truly whereas Christ suffered his passion for the Church and the Church is the body of Christ they seeme not to beleeue in Christ by whome his Passion is made voyd his body dismembred 33. Was I then with so great domage of my soule to remayne amongst Heretikes and Schimatickes God forbid I am troubled with bitter griefe of mynd that I remayned so long amongst them that I tooke wicked armes and fought agaynst my Mother agaynst the Catholike truth and that I wrote bookes of the Ecclesiastical CoÌ„mon Wealth stuffed with heresyes which I vtterly abhorre and detest that I haue warred in the infamous tents of heretiks not without the perpetuall blot or infamy of my Name I now loath and am ashamed of my so great offence and craue humbly and with al submission pardon for this wickednes of God most good most great of my Sauiour Christ and of his supreme Vicar or Substitute on Earth the Bishop of Rome and submit all my faultes to the singular Clemency of the same chiefe Pastour because that he being to be iudged of none sits as supreme Iudge of al most fully susteining the person of Christ in the militant Church and I confidently hope that as our Lord doth willingly open to his Penitent the bosome of his mercy so I shal be imbraced in the armes of Clemency by his Holynes The exaÌ„ple of S. Cyprian against Pope Stephen the first very much reprehended and condemned also by the Catholike Church confirmed me a while in my naughtynes of resisting the Pope but now my filthy fall hath with myne owne danger taught me how easily Bishops fall from the right path of Fayth who leauing the Cynosura or Pole-starre that is the most certayne and secure direction of the Bishop of Rome follow to their destruction their own foolish fancyes I would to God that as S. Cyprian with the shedding of his own bloud did blot out all the spot of his former animosity so also that there may be graunted vnto me who for the multitude greatnes of my faultes haue incomparably exceeded his fall opportunity grace to blot out also with my bloud those soule spots and by that meanes to testify the Catholike truth which when my inke should fayle me I am most ready by the help of God to his prayse and honour for the aduauncement of the holy Catholike Church and glory of the Sea Apostolike to seale with my bloud Adsit Deus God second and assist me Rome the 24. of Nouember 1622. stylo nouo FINIS
all these books Hence it came that I rashly relying on the slaunders of heretikes and not on the Catholike fayth entituled one of my books Of the cause of my departure and another in Italian The rockes of Christian shipwracke and another A certayne sermon which I filled ful of errours and heresies for the most part in hatred of the holy Roman Church and Sea Apostolike and of those Popes by whom I thought my selfe to haue byn iniured and affirmed those and many other things vvhich before I knew to be false and hereticall and after at least in part my selfe misliked and did whils I wrote in England from my hart detest them because they conteyne open heresyes agaynst the Catholike truth and are contrary to sound doctrine I meane to that which the Catholicke Roman Church hath alwayes held and holds at this day agaynst which whatsoeuer or whersoeuer is written or sayd by me that in al and euery part I do condemne and detest and I will better more at large by Gods help condemne and detest the same in the confutation of my bookes of the Ecclesiasticall Commonwealth other bookes that I haue written agaynst the truth for I submit my selfe and all my bookes to the most holy iudgement and censure of the holy Roman and Apostolicall Sea the mistresse and guide of all other Churches 3. In the meane tyme here in this exchange for a new and sounder resolution I most detest the former of my departure the Infamous Rockes of the shipwrackes of my selfe especially and heretikes but not of Catholikes moreouer the Sermon mentioned neither shall I shame by casting of the garments which I had made for myselfe to shew my nakednes because I was not ashamed agaynst all law and conscience to breake forth into vayne fictions open slaunders and filthy heresies Dioscorides l. 6. c. 44. The sting and poyson of the scorpion by bruzing of the same scorpion that stong hath a present remedy If the voluntary breaking and bruzing of my selfe bring remedy to this poysoned wound in case any so wounded haue repented him himselfe I shall esteeme this my bruzing deiection and mortification for happy let the glory of the Catholike Church and Sea Apostolike stand immoueable yea euen with the greatest losse of temporal goods that can befall me and since that so wickedly I haue gone about to weaken and infring it this course cannot at least before God but be glorious vnto me 4. First therfore I confesse in conscience truly sincerly testify that I wrote that booke of the Cause of my departure and the other two to wit the Rocks and Sermon not out of sincerity of hart not good cōscience not out of vnfeygned faith but that I might cast some colourable excuse on my shamefull departur that I might be the more gratfull and welcome vnto the heretickes to whom like a wretch I went or with whome I did conuerse The ten yeares labour which I bragged of in the book of my departure was not imployed in maturity of deliberation grauity of iudgement discussion of truth but all that vvhile I studyed hovv to finish that vaine fruitles and pernicious worke of the Ecclesiasticall commonwealth coyne bold and hereticall fictions and withall satisfy the impotent force of myne owne rage in so much as that vocation was not deuine but diabolicall not inspired by the holy Ghost but suggested by a bad spirit vexing me worse then it did Saul with the spirit of giddines 2. Reg. 18 v. 10. but for my returne I doubt not but that it is to be ascribed vnto Gods true vocation his diuine spirit calling me backe to my Mother the holy Catholique Church 5. I sayd that the behauiour of the court of Rome was the cause why I should for euer abhorre it I am not ignorant that herein I spake ill for there were not wanting then nor yet are at Rome very many cōspicuous examples of piety all Christian vertues which are able to delight and allure religious or well disposed mynds I sayd that out of the forbidding of hereticall books to be read do spring euill suspitiōs which get credit to the books of heretiks and induce men to belieue somewhat to be in them vvhich Catholikes could not confute and this I acknowledge to haue been spoken by me not without great iniury to the Catholike saith who haue found in their bookes I meane of heretikes false hereticall scandalous and pestiferous doctrine from reading of which least the Faythfull be infected they are worthily to be restrayned for not vnto priuate men who read those bookes but vnto the Pastours the iudgement of fayth hath euer and doth still appertayne that they may know which are poisoned pasturs and remoue their flockes far from them Moreouer the arguments of heretiks are deceytfull sophisticall and haue most easy solutions I affirmed the doctrine of those who oppose themselues to the Church of Rome nothing at all or very little to degenerate from the pure doctrine of the primitiue Church and this also is false for the opinions in which they differ from Catholiks are all of them most cōtrary to those which that Church held nothing can conuince them more certainly of errour thē the authority of the ancient Church frō which they by these noueltyes haue very far departed in so much as for this cause they are condemned as heretikes by the Church of Rome it is therefore to be detested I doe detest that which I sayd Therefore the religion of Protestants to be condemned of the Church because it is contrary to the sense and corrupted manners of the Court of Rome I said that in Rome by extreme violence were coyned new articles of beliefe and this truly I did say both agaynst my knowledge and conscience for I neuer saw any such matter nor any man else as most certainly I know for none can say that there are new articles coyned when there are only added the true declaratiōs explicatiōs of the true articles those gathered out of the holy scripturs traditiōs of the Fathers very rules of religion Againe I endeuored to depriue the Roman Church of the titles of Catholike and Vniuersall wherin I exceedingly erred for by the Roman Church is not vnderstood that speciall and particuler Church alone which is at Rome but the collection of all other Churches adhering to the Roman in vnity of the same fayth and subiection to the same chiefe Bishop wheresoeuer they be albeit in the vttermost coastes and corners of the earth And doubtles this is most true of me both by word of mouth as England it selfe can testify and in my written treatises of the Eccleclesiasticall commonwealth and in that part which last of all I heare is printed in Germany I haue euinced that there is no other Catholike Church but the Roman vnderstanding thereby that particular with the other adhering thereunto wheras all other companies of Christians are defiled
hold and professe the contrary to these heresies defined by the same for it is most certayn that in the decrees of the holy Roman Church reason is not seuered from authority the schoole doctrin especially in articles religion to be altogether conformable to the sense or doctrine of the holy Fathers This further I confesse that I haue without cause complained in my books of the Court of Rome as if it had vsurped authority belonging to others for vnles that Church out of her lawfull authority ouer Archbishops Bishops keep them both in order the violating of all lawes will easely follow by their dissension It is truly the greatest happines of the Church when her inferiour Pastors vnder one most vigilāt Pastour receaue and execute from him who hath supreme authority ouer all reformation of life and the charge of sound and sincere doctrine And truly should not the mild and Fatherly care of the holy Inquisition watch attentiuely ouer our Lords flocke the scabbed sheep would find no cure and that most wicked infectiō would soone farre neere spread it selfe The ordinary armour of that tribunall are sound doctrine and instruction full of charity and not these others which I out of my exulcerated mind haue with so many falsityes and slaunders exaggerated but in case the festered soares doe not yield to lenitiue medicines then is it both fit and necessary that the Phisitian apply more sharp and corrosiue plaisters 7. But now euen the inward fyre of the diseases of my mynd did rage almost by miracle after the entrance of Gregory the fifteenth to the gouernment of the Church whose eminēt piety singular wisdome and continuall sanctity of a most innocent life I indeed belieued to haue aduaunced him to that high honour I began to thinke of some more healthfull course the holy ghost enlightning me with the beames of his grace in so much that now the dangers of my soule in the state I liued in beganne to shew themselues euery day more cleerly vnto me and I now wōdered that I had gone so farre in folly and errour that I would conioyne my selfe with them who were heretikes playne and absolute scismaticks Such in tymes past was the guilefull deceite of a few Arrians in the Councell of Arimini that by secret collusion they had as it were drawne almost all the Catholikes into Arianisme tunc sayth S. Hierome Hieron cōtra Luciferianos totus mundus ingemuit miratus est se esse Arrianum then all the world groaned and merueyled to see it selfe become Arrian so alas much worse it befell me that I saw wondered and lamented my selfe an heretike amongst heretiks scismatick amōg scismaticks And that the Englishmen cōplayne not of me that I doe them wrong but that they may know my departure from thē return to my mother the holy Catholike Church to haue been lawful for iust cause I am constrained to lay open their heresy and schisme with which it was no way cōuenient that I should be further entangled or taynted 8. In England if we speake of Religion are many sects there are Puritās or rigid Caluinists there are more moderate who call themselues only Protestants Reformed there are Anabaptists those deuided into diuers sects neither want there Arrians Photinians such like raffe of lewd mē who albeit they be not allowed openly to professe their errours yet are they not banished the land nor punished at home but are tolerated whiles in the mean time they spread their poyson infect others that the Anabaptists hold many heresies none that is not an Anabaptist will deny but they in Englād freely haue their conuenticles and his Maiesty himselfe one day told me that lately in London at the assēbly of the Anabaptists a woman had made a sermon ministred their Sacramēts The heresies of the Puritans are notorious to wit that there is no free will God to be Author of sinne God merly because so it pleaseth him to damn many Christ not to haue dyed for al to haue vndergon the punishment of hel that infants baptized be dāned c. the more moderate Protestants although they goe about touching points of doctrine to free themselues in some sort from heresy because they doe not admit entirely the heresies eyther of Caluin or Luther if they follow the pure doctrine of the English Church which they call Reformed yet can they not so escape or rid their hands from Puritans and Anabaptists with whome they fully communicate and if any Anabaptist or Puritan come to their Ecclesiastical Conuenticles they neither auoid him nor exclude him yea almost all the Puritan Ministers handle and minister the very Sacraments of the false English Church vnto all commers at least vnto all Caluinists And if Acacius of Constantinople for that he had communicated with Peter Mogge an heretick of Alexandria if all the East Church for persisting in communion with Arrius was separated by a long anathema or curse from the Roman and West Church how much more are the Protestants of England to be esteemed for heretikes because they continually communicate which heretikes neyther do they cōdemne them or deny them their company but rather admit them al that will communicate in their ceremonies rites and Sacraments with the English Church Doth not the deformed Church of England publickly and plainly professe cōmunion Ecclesiastical league or fryendship with Geneua the mother of Puritans and all other forrayn Caluinists Are there not euen in London the Kinges Citty and that by publicke graunt of the King Churches of the French Flemish and Italian Caluinists which hate and abhorre the doctrine profession rites of England yet are most deerely beloued sisters of the English Synagogue And by them Puritanisme is especially maintayned and set forward in Englād Moreouer with the Lutherās polluted with very many heresies the English Sinagogue is most ready to communicate and labours all that it can to the end that these mōsters of many heads may like Hercules hydra agree in one body and a vnion as they terme it be made of all the reformed Churches but of purging the faith and doctrine of these different sects rooting out their heresies no care is had yet the Lutherans hate the Sacramentaries cane peius angue Other heresies of Englishmen concerning faith good workes and iustification as also the B. Sacrament priuate Masses Merits of good workes praying vnto Saints worshipping of holy Images holy rites and ceremonyes the soules of the departed and the like which they out of an hereticall spirit doe condemne and abolish and which I with the same spirit in part haue once condemned and abolished I meane not now further to discusse somewhat I meane as much as this place requires I shall after touch and more els where in a larger worke I come to their schisme 9. Sure I am that the English Sect which the deformed English men call the Reformed
effect cannot goe before the cause I endeauour to shew that they made a schisme without cause hence I knew them to be true schismatiks and for that I departed from them And further these very Articles which they call new can euidently be demonstrated out of the Scriptures tradition and Fathers and the contrary decreed by themselues to be conuinced of open heresy if we will follow the iudgement of Antiquity howsoeuer some latter Protestants taking a more mild moderate course are wont to bring for some poynt such fauourable explications of which my selfe haue heard many as they seemed not to differ much from the Catholicke opiniō these seeme to admit some pious agreemēt who then without pernicious errour yea true heresy wil place his saluation on only Faith and exclude the necessity of Good works Who will absolutely deny our Merits and that iust men cannot loose their grace and that they are impeccable and cannot sinne And such as stiffly hould these and the like to be Articles of fayth and the contrary to be heresies they vndoubtedly doe erre in matters of fayth and shew themselues to be heretiks and consequently to be well and worthily by the Catholike definitions placed amongst such no heresy therefore of the Church of Rome no Idolatry open or hidden could giue occasion to the schisme of Protestants Neither can they obiect Schisme to the same Catholike Church for it hath made no schisme but suffered it From her hath Luther from her Caluin from her haue their first followers separated themselues whiles stubbornly they refused to stand to her iudgement these haue made a schisme these haue deuided the garmēt of Christ these haue erected altar against Altar finally these haue left and forsaken the Catholike Church 25. Besides the former alleadged and discussed causes they pretend another of Reformation forsooth needful to be made but I amongest them scant euer saw any reformation or to speake more truly saw none at all but as for Deformations I saw many amongst thē For the most part all care of conscience is cast away they are not there excepting a very few of them troubled with any scruples for adulteries robberyes or deceauing theyr neighbours and in like manner for coosenage deceypts and vsuries for they haue wickedly abolished auricular Confession fasting pennance and the like holy meanes for our amendment and if these men had found amongst vs somewhat amisse in conuersation in actions in gouernement in direction and the like that had not argued any defect of the Church but the errours of particuler men which of Catholikes are not allowed but mysliked neyther for these lesser a matters as manners of life and that not in all but some were they to to make this most vgly schisme There remaines in the Roman Church a soūd an immoueable and constant foundation and suppose it were true 1. Cor. 3. that we buylt thereon wood stubble hay yet were we not therby debarred from saluation but the Protestāts haue departed from the foundatiō it self they haue forsaken it and except they build vppon the foundatiō which is Christ gold siluer pretious stones which foolishly they boast to be theirs all are proiecta viliora alga wast weedes all fruiteles labours and nothing auay leable to saluation There is one foūdation not two one Church not two one Christ not two if Christ be our foūdation which they cannot deny he is not certaynly theirs they haue made themselues a new Church deuided and separated from ours and that also cannot be a Church because the Church is one not two he who wil be of their Church he must needes be out of the true Church of Christ 26. I confesse that I was deceaued by the English Protestants before I had considered diligently the nature of schisme for when I obiected this fault vnto them some of them replyed that it was not their fault that they communicated not with the Church of Rome who were ready to make vnion and accorde but that the Pope would not receaue them into communion whom he had cut of from him and his by excommunicatiō This excuse for a while seemed vnto me lawfull and reasonable yet when afterwards vppon this ground I beganne in priuate disputes and publick sermons to vrge an vnion which I tooke not to be farre off from making and whiles I striued to put my finger deeper into this festered vlcer I perceaued in England not the English Cōfession which they commended vnto me as modest but the Confession of Caluin and many doting dreames of Luther to be the common rule of their fayth this I perceaued more clearely by the counterfeyt Synod of Protestants at Dort in the which the opinions of the rigid Caluinists by consent and concurrence of the English sect by their ministers sent thither were confirmed which opinions of the rigid Puritans if the confession of the English Church deuided into certain Articles doe not as they pretend include then why vnder the name of the English Profession did the aforesayd Ministers yield their consent and set their hands to these Caluinian excesses How can it be that those who professe themselues most eager enemies of the Church of Rome should be thought to desire vniō with the same Church and the defect thereof not to proceed from their fault How can they cast the fault of their schisme vppon the Tridentine excommunications who before these Anathema's had deuided themselues by schisme from the Catholicke Church and truly by a schime in some sort farre more worse and foule then was the schisme made by Luther and after confirmed by the instigation of Caluin Because England in the begining refrayned from the opinions of Luther and Caluin and charged not the Roman Church with heresy or Idolatry as Lutherans and Caluinists did to couer their schisme withall and yet notwithstanding long after not with so much as any apparent cause it yielded to the common schisme of heretiks The Englishmen now for the most part doe prayse and defend the diuision and separatiō that is made for that they striue for that they fly vnion for that they cast away Charity they labour all they can that agreement doe not succeede and fraternall vnity be fast knit in the bands of peace and many of them say that they would more willingly and more easily haue vnion society with the Turkes then with Papists Is this to be ready to make concord Is this the truth of their wordes when they sayd that it was not their fault they communicated not with the Church of Rome Truly it cannot possibly be that any vnion which I thought might easily haue beene atchieued be made vnlesse they detest all heresies and heretiks and beleeue aright with the Catholike Roman fayth and be vnited vnto the same by perfect Charity 27. Henry the 8. had in manner only contention with the Pope and out of an hereticall spirit denyed his Supremacy and tossed with many discomposed passions
tooke the same vnto himselfe in other thinges concerning fayth forme of Religion and Ecclesiasticall rites he carryed himselfe more moderatly Vnder his Sonne Edward a child and much more vnder Elizabeth not only a separation was made from the chiefe Bishop Christ his vicar and supreme Pastor of the Christian flocke but also the vse of Religion by mayne force iniury was taken from Catholikes and by publicke lawes but made by Lay men vtterly suppressed Was there any lawfull Councell before for this matter Were the obiections made against Catholikes discussed Were the reasons for their defence heard Were they conuinced of any errour or impiety in Religion Was this iudgment made by any competēt Iudge Nothing lesse Doth not the same violence the same iniury the same impiety still remayne How much doe they striue in England they especially who seeme to haue care of their Religiō such as it is least the diuine anciēt pious prescript worship of God be restored to Catholikes Is this their meaning whē they say it is not Their fault that the schisme is not taken away They vrge reformation but reformation be it neuer so iust necessary yet if it be made with schisme is a most fowle deformatiō That in deed is reformed that remaines the same in substance Therefore Catholike Religion ought to haue remayned in England and the substantiall practise of the same if any thing had beene to be reformed that seruatis seruandis might haue beene exposed to reformation but no other differēt Religion the former being suppressed or violētly kept vnder was to be made in so much as now there should be two religions disagreeing among themselues and one contrary to the other for if the latter be another Religion from the former the former is not reformed but as much as lay in their power is ouerthrowne and a new set vp but there cannot be two Religions of Christ for there is but one only and that with vs I as haue shewed as there is but one Church one foundation one Christ 28. When as therefore amongst other miseryes I saw my selfe inuolued in inueterate schisme and all hope of vnion to be taken away seeing Altar erected against Altar deuided frō the Charity of the Church I neyther could nor ought with safe conscience to be present wherfore remorse of conscience compelled me to returne and it was necessary that my Agar retourned to the most holy Romā Church her mistresse hearing the voyce of the Angell checking her and saying Gen. 16.9 Reuertere ad Dominam tuam humiliare sub manu illius returne to thy mistresse humble thy selfe vnder her hand or authority that flight cold bring me nothing but shame and ruine God commaunds me to be humbled vnder the hād of my mistresse and in this I ought specially to follow God I would to God that they to whome folishly I fled would acknowledg their most miserable spirituall estat not only for heresies but also for their schisme to be most desperate frō which schisme now I haue shewed that they cannot be excused because they haue vnlawfully separated themselues from the true Church of Christ which is our Catholike Roman Church And this point affrighted me because schismatiks are excluded from being the Children of God for Deum non habent patrem saith S. Cyprian Lib. de simplicitate Praelatorū qui Ecclesiam veram non habent matrem they haue not God for their Father who haue not the true Church for their mother Christ therfore died Ioan. 11.51 vt filios Dei qui dispersi erant congregaret in vnū that he might gather in one the children of God who were dispersed the death therfore of Christ did worke and still worketh not only the redemption of men but also the vnion of his Church Before the death of Christ the children of God were dispersed and deuided some vnder the Law of Moyses others vnder the only Law of nature being far asunder one from the other making together no one certayne and vniuersall Congregatiō but now the diuine wisdome would so haue it that al his faithfull followers true children by faith should make ouer the whole world one society or fellowship that they shold all make one warfare vnder their Captayn and Emperour Christ and vnder his banner to wit the holy and life-giuing Crosse vsing all the same military signes and tokens of the Sacraments and this society and congregation is a singular effect of the death of Christ which procured that disagreeing Sects and innumerable courses of life amongst themselues so different and contrary should meete and be combined in one Christiā vnity Ephes 2.19 which truly is his worke qui fecit vtraque vnum who made both one and that by the Crosse Hereunto doth Anastasius Synaita apply the wordes of God in the creation Congregentur aquae in locum vnum Anastas 3. Hexam let the waters be gathered together in one place This sayth he belongeth to the Church gathered together vnder the vnity of one fayth out of different people countries and sects And for this cause Christ sayd of his own Crosse Ioan. 12. si exaltatus fuero à terra omnia traham ad meipsum If I shal be exalted from the earth I wil draw all vnto my selfe S. Athanasius sayth Athanas de Incarnat verbi Dei Exaltatus enim in cruce Dominus vtroque extenso brachio vtrūque populum ad se inuitauit vt vtrumque amplexando in sinum suum colligeret Our Lord being exalted or lifted vpon the Crosse with both his armes stretched abroad inuited to himselfe both people Iew and Gentile that by imbracing them both he might gather them together into his bosome There is therefore one bosome betweene the armes of our Sauiour 29. And in the same place S. Athanasius thinkes it not to want mystery that Christ chose the death of the Crosse not Beheading by which S. Iohn his precursor died nor cutting or deuiding of his body as Isaias Vt in morte sayth he sine mutilatione integrum corpus seruaret causa subduceretur ijs qui Ecclesiam in partes cupiunt discindere that in the death of Christ his entire body without maiming might be preserued and all pretext taken away from them who desire to cut the Church asunder into partes And so hartily Christ esteemed this vnity as in that most feruent praier which he made in the last night of his life Ioan. 17.11 20.21 he craued of his Father that he would not suffer his disciples and other belieuers in him to depart from this vnity vt credat mundus quia tu me misisti that the world may beleeue that thou hast sent me But our Aduersaryes little consideringe these thinges will as much as is in them haue the death and Crosse of Christ to be destitute of this most noble effect of vnity and by their diuisions schismes giue occasion to Iewes and Infidells of rayling and