5. At least Catholik tradition wch is the only interpreter of Scriptur and judg of all controversies hath cast it VII That all shall be equall in glory was the paradox of Jovinian a Roman monk in the time of Pape Damasus and Siricius who leaving his profession ran himself into many heresies this opinion is no other for there is one clarity of the Sun another brightness of the moon another of the Stars as one star differs from another in glory so also shall be the resurrection of the dead Cor. 15. Jerom wrote two books against Jovinian and this opinion is disabled by the autority of the councell of Theles in Africa under Pape Siricius of Florence under Pape Eugenius the fourth VIC You might Sr Harry have named my husband me for many of these opiniōs wthout troubling your self wth such ūcouth names for we hold them too and so long as God gives us life and health shall do so stil according as it is written Hold that fast wch thou hast Rev. 3.11 Nay I hold others too wch you now mentiond though I never heard of them before according as it is written We beseech you brethren that ye increass more and more 1 Thess 4. LA. Pray S. Harry speak somthing concerning the Sacraments and what devises have been about them KN. Madam I am now come to it I. the hereticks called Cathari denied all Sacraments the Armenians and long after them Martin Luther Father of the Protestants admitted some according to their owne liking but denied that any had intrinsecall vertue to confer grace But the councell of Trent under Pape Paule the third sesse 7. both defined the Sacraments to be seaven in number according to the Catholik tradition and to confer grace ex opere operato II. That sacred things and spirituall gifts might be purchased wth money was the errour of Simon Magus and the action from him termed Simony condemnd in the 11 Toletan councell c. 8. decret and before by S. Peter himself Non est tibi pars Act. 8. III. Luther taught that in no Sacrament was imprinted any character contrary to the churches doctrine wch teacheth such a seal to be made in baptism confirmation and holy orders confirmd by the councell of Carthage Florence and Trent under Paul the third Sess 7. can 9. In particular concerning Baptism there have been many errours I. Seleucus and Hermias Galatians baptised not in water but fire But the councell of Florence under Eugenius the fourth defined water to be the naturall matter of Baptism II. The Marcites disciples of one Marcus a magician about the Apostles time changed the form of Baptism doing it In the name of the unknown Father of all things and in truth the Mother of all and in him who descended upon Jesus For they held that God preacht in the old law was not the Father of Christ becaus he was unknown The Cataphygians and Paulianists also did not baptise in the name of the Trinity as Catholikes do according to comand of Gospell Baptiseing them in the name of the Father Son and holy Ghost Mat. 28. III. The said Cataphygians baptised the dead They had their name from the Province of Phrygia whence they came their leader was Montanus who called himselfe the Paraclet and Prisca Maximilla his two Prophetesses The Marcionists did the same who finding any to dye unbaptised they put a living man under the hers of the dead and asked him as if he were the dead man if he desired to be baptised answering yea they baptised him for the dead wch thing they said S. Paul himself did practise 1. Cor. 15. although Marcion their leader is not read to have don any such thing but few hereticks content themselvs wth the errours of their leaders Marcion himself was in the time of Antoninus Pius his countrey Pontus a great stoick Philosopher and being converted to Christian faith he followed the dogmes of Cerdon intermingling many Philosophicall things wth his Christian religion and coming to Rome he seduced many Catholiks where meeting wth S. Polycarp and asking him if he knew him I know quoth S. Polycarp and do acknowledge the eldest son of Satan But against this errour both of the Marcionits and Cataphygias is the definition of the third conncell of Carthage where t is declared that neither the Eucharist nor baptism may be given to the dead IV. The Psallians and Euchitae attributed no vertue at all to Baptism but made all sins to be rased onely by Prayer so likewise the Messalians and Enthusiasts The Manichees also thought that baptism exhibited in water was worth nothing The Albanenses Albigenses likewise rejected baptisme the Armenians took from the Sacraments all power of conferring grace Against this heresy is the decre of the councell of Florence under Eugenius the fourth V. Petrus de Bruis a Frenchman of Narbona who was afterwards burnt in the Town of S. Giles said and taught that baptism was of no avail to Infants that have not the use of reason After him one Henricus bore his Standard from whom the followers of the heresy were called Henricians and Brusians After four hundred years the Anabaptists raised up the heresy again But S. Denis the Areopagite witnesses that children were baptised in the Apostles time c. ult Eccl. Hier. And S. Cyprian two hundred years after and S. Austin after him testify that it was done in their days And the Catholik practise is confirmd by the councell of Lateran under Pope Innocent the third by the councel of Vienna under Clement the fift and the councell of Trent under Paul the third in two Sessions 5. Sess c. 4. 7. Sess can 19. VI. The Donatists rebaptised such as came over to their side beleeving that such as came to the true church was to be baptised again But the first councell of Carthage c. 1 decret as also the councell of Vienna under Pape Clement the fifth and the councell of Florence under Eugenius the fourth defined this opinion as erroneous S. Cyprian and other Byshops of Africa held also that hereticks coming to the Catholik church were to be rebaptised But this they did not defend against the church wth pertinacy as hereticks did but disputed it as a probable opinion not then in their dayes defined and happly upon suspition that hereticks used not the right form and matter One Baltasar a Dutchman of late held morover that all people are to be baptised again when they come to years of discretion becaus he thought the baptism of infants were of no valiew But faith teaches there is but one Baptism Eph. 4. as ther is but one death of Christ wch it figureth Do ye not know that so many as are baptised unto Christ are baptised to his death Rom. 6.3 VII The Armenians taught that baptism ought to be conferred wth the Eucharist and that none can be validly baptised unless he be anointed wth chrism Claudius Taurinensis held baptism without the sign of the
may seem by human arguments yet must he himself as well as other Christians lay it aside if it be confronted by Catholik tradition the great and unresistable Rule of Christianity resign himself And it seems a principle of faith had delivered unto Christians this beleef that a soul once expiated goes to heaven Pope John tho he had reason to suspect so much so that he might hav abstained from propounding his thesis yet he did not propound it in councels where faith is determined but in Schools wher opinions are disputed and distinguisht from faith and upon that account was he justly to be excused Yet was that good Prelat so tender conscienced that he is said to have askt the world forgivenes at his death if they took any offence therat adding wthal that he did it only to give them occasion to search more narrowly whether the opinion were not consonant to tradition although it had not been yet heeded If then neither Pape nor councell can go contrary to the received waies of the Church in any thing how shall I be able to do it except I make shipwrack of my faith as S. Paul affirms Hymeneus to have don even by one fals opinion though otherwis a Christian 1 Tim. 1.19 For a lesser leak will drown a ship if it be not stopt or pumpt out so will any one errour in faith sink a self opiniating spirit For in the least we shall as truly resist God the first revealing verity as in the greatest and to gainsay him in any little thing who is equally infallible in all is no les than blasphemy and an insolence intolerable Sith it stands not wth his diety to be mistaken in the smallest matter or mislead his church therin LA. The church me thinks for the quiet and safty of a kingdom might well condescend to som opinions that be not so much materiall put case they were fals for in evills the les is to be chosen and that opinion cannot be so bad as the ruin of a whol Kingdom KN. The Church being a just depositary cannot teach otherways than she has receivd in any affair Besides Christ will hav his spous to be wthout spot or wrinkle or any such thing Eph. 5.27 and that opinion being against her tradition it cannot but make a wrinkle or spot or some such thing at least in her T is sacriledg wth us to rob or steal any thing out of a materiall temple what then would it be to purloin the Churches doctrin To rent her own seamles garment or make the least hole in it were an action unbeseeming the wisdom and modesty of the heavenly spous Shee will never do it nor no member of her body such as by Gods grace I am can do it without death and ruin to it self Try that will whosoever entertains but one particular misbeleef he shall soon find that being therby separated from the Catholik body he or his successours will soon attempt another and never lin till all be layd wast Besides the Church being but a depositaty or keeper of the doctrin committed to her charg hath not power over it to exhang distrain or make it away at her pleasur against the rules of honesty And if she should to content one sort of innovatours chang or relent in one thing others that would innovat in another may justly challeng the same favour and what should she then have had remaining to her self after so many innovations made by hereticks in so many ages I think very little or nothing at all by this time T is worth your consideration to ponder this For so you may perceiv both the integrity of this immaculat spous in conserving the doctrin wherwith she has been intrusted intire and wholly sincere and the madnes of all sectarys who would each in their wild fansys have the churches compliance wth them to her own ruin and being denied flew out into all exorbitances against her and forfeyted at once by their self opinions and obstinacy both the title of Catholik they had till then enjoyed and the security they had in the churches bosom This is a worthy and profitable speculation And therfor I shall indeavour to speak therof wth as much order method as can well be used in a matter of such disorder as the confused heap of heresys jumbled together may admit THe Churches doctrine is partly about the creation and Scriptures of the old Testament partly about our redemption and things peculiar to Christianity their persons or places precepts or counsells vices or vertues Sacraments and works either morall naturall or politicall in all wch severall hereticks have at times sought to bring in innovations wch had the church complied wthall she had had little or nothing left her by this time Nay she should have contradicted her self continually and said and denied the same things The extravagancys concerning the creation either opposed the autority of canonicall books or judgd amiss of the divine natur angels and souls the beginning of the world the condition of Adam and Eve our first parents Melchisedek and the like things wch wer antecedēt to our redēption Carpocrates and Cerdon in the time of pope Hygin rejected all the old Testament Ebion on the other side made the old Testamēt to be of equal autority wth the new and out of the new he cast forth al S Pauls Epistles as erroneous Cerdon and Marcion disallowed all the Gospells besides S. Luke Cerinthus all but S. Mathew the Alogians received all but S. Iohn Luther cast away S. Iames Epistle and the books of Maccabees tho he knew that not onely S. Austin but the whole councell of Carthage had received them as canonical Severus the Acts of the Apostles Apelles taught that the Prophets spake contradictories and lies Montanus that they understood not what they said though they are called seers for their understandig Isa 1. and are said to speak as inspired by the holy Ghost 2. Pet. 1. With which of these should the church comply and how The Gnosticks would have two Gods one from whence issue good things the other author of evill The Anthropomorphits in the time of pope Damasus would have God to be truly corporeall as man is The Armenians becaus God had said that Cain should not be slain by any man would needs have him a lier becaus Cain slew himselfe Sabellius in the time of pope Sixtus 2. would not admit any more then one person in God Arrius in pope Sylvesters time opposed the equality of the three divine persons The Alogians acknowledged not the Son of God to be the word The Ignoites maintained that Christ was ignorant of som things in particular of the day of judgment Macedonius in the time of pope Liberius made the Holy Ghost inferiour to the Father and Son not of the same essence wth them but a creatur Petrus Abaylardus said that the Holy Ghost was the soul of the world The Greeks that he proceeded not from the Father and
Son Abaylardus again that power was not appropriated but proper to the Father wisedom to the Son and bounty to the Holy Spirit The Manichees contended that the devill is evill by his owne natur and not made so by his fall Origen that the devills should at length be deliverd from hell Hermannus Risswick in the year 1512. held wth much stiffnesse that neither the good Angels nor bad were created of God The church of God resisted all these could she do otherwise Others denied the creation of the soul imediatly by God Seleucus affirming that it is made by Angels of spirit and fire Tertullian that the soul of the Son is made by the soul of his Father as his body by his body The Gnosticks on the other side said it was made of the substance of God himself wch was afterwards defended by the Manichees the wild ofspring of Manes a Persian who affirmd himself to be both Christ the Paraclet too sent out his twelv Disciples about the world to spread abroad his haeretical dogmes who were much multiplied in the time of pape Foelix Tertullian thought that the souls of wicked men were after death turned into devills wch surely is an errour if he speak of a physical and not of a morall turning The Arabians on the other side affirmed that all souls quite perish wth their body wch atheism was also defended by the above named Rissnick the Hollander The Albigenses in the time of Pope Jnnocent 3. averd according to Pythagoras his doctrin that souls pas from one body to another Origen that they were created before the body and imprisond therin for some offence committed wch opinion is assuredly against the common judgment of Catholiks The Gnostiks that all bruit beasts were maisters of understanding and reason The church if she had desired to have done it would have found somthing to do to comply wth all these men Seleucus and Hermias would have the matter wherof the world was made to be coeternall wth God and not created Foelix a Manichean affirmd the same of the Earth Others of Water The Albanenses said that the world should never end Simon Magus as also the Gnosticks Manichees said that the world was made of the ill God and not by the good one and that corporall creatures and mans body were therfore evill in themselves and in their own substance Florinus in the time of Pope Eleutherius taught that God whom he acknowledgd to be both one good did notwthstāding evill things wth a positiv purpos of il as to harden mens hearts deceiv them Coluthius an Egiptian on the other side denied God to inflict so much as the evill of punishment Tatianus in the time of Pope Julius the first affirmed that Adam and Eve were for their sin perpetually damned And yet notwthstanding wisdom is said to have brought him who was first formed and father of the world out of his sin Sap. 10. Origen that Adam lost by sin the image of God wch was an errour surely if he spake properly of his image that is founded in natur and not of similitud founded in grace and blessednes Pelagius in the time of Honorius and Theodosius the younger avouched that Adam died not through demerit of his fault but condition of natur and so had died although he had not find The Armenians inhabitants of Asia betwixt Taurus and Caucasus after their separation from the Catholik church wch happend as I remember upon the councell of Chalcedon wherein Eutiches Abbot and Dioscorus Byshop of Constantinople were condemnd whos conciliary acts the Armenians would not receiv but made themselvs a primat of their own they fell into many errours amongst wch one was that Adam and Eve if they had not sind had never ingendred children and therfore they held marriage to be unlawful Philaster mentions others who maintained that Adam and Eve before they had sinned were blind Thes be blind guids for the church of Christ to follow How many wayes should she turn to trace all these mens steps In a a word not to insist longer upon the old Testament S. Austin and S. Epiphanius in their Books of Heresys mention som who taught that Melchisedeck was not a pure man but som diuine vertu or Christ himself T is easy to say any thing of every thing VIC O the father what a number of pretty opinions be here Truly I find in my heart to hold som of them They were most witty interpreters of Scriptur Pray go on sweet Sr Harry this is the best discours you ever made yet go on it delights me exceedingly according as it is written Thy lips drop as the honey comb Cant. 4. The more you speak the more my appetit encreases MIN. Pray Sr let us break this discours wch I was not aware of and com to matter I have furnisht my self wthall for your conversion This talk corrupts my wife VIC Earth to earth and ashes to ashes Pray be content let me be corrupted thē Thou fool that wch thou sowest is not quickend except it dye Look in the 15. c. of the Corinthians and expound me that place And then tell me first if in right Logick corruption go not before generation tell me secondly who is that same Thou fool LA. I could willingly have Sr Harry to go on in this his speech for it is not altogether unprofitable to hear it and I conceiv not dangerous to us For nothing I hope can hurt such as be well confirmd in their religion VIC No forsooth for it is written of protestants Independents If they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them Mar. 16. KN. The errours and wild opinions that have rose in Christianity about the particulars of the new Testament have been so many and various in severall ages of the church that it is hard to bring them into method Our Doctours set them down in every age as they rose naming wth them the Catholik divines who wrote against them the councels that condemnd them the time they lasted and the mischiefs they did in the world I shall endeavour as wel as I may to reduce them all according to my forementiond method unto three sorts errours namely against persons places and actions of Christian faith Persons as Christ our Lord the blessed Virgin Mary S. John the Saints Pope Councells c. As concerning Christ our Lord I. Ebion about the time of Pape Cletus maintained that Christ our Lord was but pure man against whom S. John intreated by the Byshops and Priests of Asia wrote his Gospell Wth Ebion joind Cerinthus and Carpocrates and after them Theodotus of Bizantium who being under persecution denied Christ also Paulus Samosatenus in Syria under Pape Victor wth his disciple Photinus II. Others on the other side denyd him to hav any human natur at all as Cerdon in the time Pape Higin and the Proclianites people of Galatia who taught that Christ came not in flesh III. Apelles