excludes no sort or condition of men There is neither Iew nor Greeke there is neither Bond nor Free there is neither Male nor Female for yee are all one in Christ Iesus saith the Apostle Gal. 3. 3. Thirdly in respect of time because it shall neuer cease nor faile but continue in one place or other vntill the last day according to that promise of our Sauiour that hee would be with vs alwayes euen vnto the end of the world Matth. 28. Thus you see modum essendi the manner of the Church Catholikes being but modus cognoscendi the manner of knowing it is more questionable for on it depends that great question of our dayes wherein the Iesuites so triumph concerning the perpetuitie and visibilitie of our Church in all Ages For our better progresse wherein wee are to note that a thing may bee knowne two manner of wayes Viz. 1. The one a priori that is by arguments drawne from causes or principles which force an assent to a thing though as yet one sees not the truth of the same by experience Thus from that principle in Philosophie that heauie things tend downewards to the center I know that a plummet of lead would fall to the center of the earth if no thicke or grosse body interposed it selfe although I neuer saw any conclusion or practice of the fame Thus from that principle in Diuinitie that there is a resurrection of the body I beleeue that who euer lye buried in their Sepulchres shall rise againe although mine eyes were neuer witnesses of any such resurrection 2. The other a posteriori that is by arguments drawn from the effects to the cause or by grounding ones knowledge and certaintie vpon the sense of an experiment as when one beleeues that the fire is hot because hee feeles it burne or that the Sea is salt because he tastes it brinish Both these haue their vses being rightly and with due circumspection applyed but they are not alwayes and in all subiects alike demonstratiue and therefore the question will bee which of them the Creed requires for the procuring of a firme beliefe and assent to this article of the Catholike Church I must confesse that arguments a posteriori that is from testimonies of men pointing out by name the Professors and vpholders of any Religion in all Ages is a great motiue and inducement to perswade that such a Religion is Catholike that is vniuersall in respect of place persons and time and that the Church professing such a Religion is of the like amplitude and antiquitie But yet this is not that modus cognoscendi that manner of knowing the true Church to be Catholike which is proper to the Creed or by which Faith cleaues vnto it and beleeues it as an article of saluation that manner of knowing it to be so is onely a priori by diuine principles that is by Gods promises made vnto it in the Scriptures where wee reade that of Christs Kingdome there shall be no end Psal 2. that the gates of hell shall not preuaile against it Matth. 16. and that our Sauiour will continue with vs vnto the end Math. 28. these are the pedigrees of Christs Church by these it proues it selfe to be of an ancient stemme that it had noble Progenitors he which playes the Herald and points out the seuerall descents of her sonnes with their lots and portions in all Ages he may somewhat illustrate the Church Catholike he cannot strengthen or confirme it hee may bee a Thomas Didimus which will not beleeue vnlesse hee sees hee cannot bee any of those blessed of our Sauiour which see not and yet beleeue Ioh. 20. Now that the Catholicisme of the Church that is the vniuersalitie duration and perpetuitie thereof so farre as it enters the Creed is to bee knowne onely a priori by the promises made in the Scriptures vnto it and not a posteriori that is by instances shewing the visible Professors of the same in all Ages I shall not neede to trauaile farther then the Creed it selfe to make it good My first reason shall be drawne from the condition of the Church Catholike as it is an article of our Creed and as we say I beleeue the Catholike Church From whence I thus argue Whatsoeuer wee are to beleeue as an article of the Creed the same must bee endowed with these foure conditions The first that the proofe of it be perfect for otherwise if it prooue but in part it cannot suffice for an article of faith The second that the ground vpon which it depends be some diuine and infallible principle for otherwise it may create an opinion in one but it cannot beget a faith Thirdly that all those who are bound to beleeue it be capable of the manner of prouing it as Valentia requires in these cases And lastly that it bee not the obiect of sense For Faith saith the Apostle to the Hebrewes chap. 11. is the euidence of things not seene and Thom. Aquin. 2◠2◠q. 1. saith plainly vt fidei obiectum sit aliquod visum fieri non potest it cannot bee that the obiect of faith should bee any thing seene But the proofe of the vniuersalitie of the Church which is a posteriori by the seuerall visible Professors of the same first is no perfect proofe for it depends vpon the testimonie of Doctors whereof in some ages few haue written and those which haue written haue not written of all points so that their consent in diuers Articles is rather charitably presumed than certainely knowne Secondly it is no proofe depending vpon diuine and infallible principles but vpon the testimonie and credit of men who may erre and bee deceiued Thirdly it is not a proofe of which all men are capeable for it consists partly of the voluminous writings of Historians partly of the immense dictates of the Fathers partly of the perplexe and inextricable subtilties of the Schoole-men to which few haue time and meanes all not capacitie to attaine Lastly by demonstrating the vniuersality and perpetuitie of the Church from the visibilitie of it it makes the Church as Catholicke to bee the obiect of the sense and so by consequence makes it to bee no Article of Faith My second reason shal be drawen from the nature of the Church Catholick in it selfe and the incapability of it to be subiect to arguments a posteriori that is of sense visibility it being not properly or if properly yet not alwaies snfficiently visible for this purpose Forthe better vnderstāding wherof we must premise some distinctions touching the Church Catholicke The Catholicke Church may bee considered either in respect of its 1. Matter of which it is composed which are men 2. Forme In respect of its Matter so it may be taken either according to its full Latitude and extent excluding no time no places nor any condition of men or in a limited sense in respect of its parts and those considered not together but seuerally with relation to their proper
important a businesse as this is hope of saluation Yes will Bellarmine resolue you for though it be hereticall not to beleeue the Church in grosse yet is it not hereticall to mistake the acception of the Church which is in effect to beleeue a false Church for examples sake To take a Generall Councell without the Pope for the infallible Church inasmuch as wee see saith hee these tolerated by the Church which defend that opinion although it be erronious and next to heresie But alas replyes the poore man now that I am come so farre by your instructions as to know that the Pope is the Church which is a great deale farther than many of my ghostly Fathers are come yet because I perceiue a dissention amongst you and that you which hold this Tenent are not agreed when and in what matters it is that the Pope cannot erre I finde my conscience but a little eased by your resolution No matter for the Popes erring or not erring will Bellarmine answer for all Catholikes saith he doe accord in this that the Pope whether he may erre or no is yet to be heard with all obedience But what comfort will the man obiect can this be to me that liue haply in England or Spaine farre remote from Rome It is the present Pope you say vpon whose iudgement I am to depend whom I am neither able to heare neither doth your Cardinalship thinke it necessarie that hee should be a preacher to be heard Tush saith Bellarmine it is not materiall that you heare the Pope when as there bee Preachers in your owne Parish who may informe you But faith the man there is no promise made that whatsoeuer my Parochian teaches mee is forth with the true and vndoubted doctrine of the Church considering that he may erre and be deceiued Nor haue you will Bellarmine tell you more assurance of the Popes word if you and your whole Nation should trauaile to Rome to heare his resolution For asmuch as when he teacheth not the whole Church he is in as much possibilitie to erre as Innocent the eighth was when hee permitted the Norwegians to celebrate the Eucharist without wine What then is to bee done Greg. de Valentia in his third tome vpon Thom. 1. Disp makes this answer That if you finde but an Episcopall Synod or the consent of diuers Diuines onely affirming such a doctrine to be the sentence of the Church you are bound to beleeue it though it bee a lye But is it not a sinne will the man reply to beleeue a lye Gabriel Biel and Tolet the Iesuite to the end that we may see how both ancient and later Papists haue beene forced to the same streights will answere that if one heare his Bishop or Prelate preach contrarie to the Faith thinking that it is so beleeued by the Church such an one shall not onely not sinne but also in beleeuing that falshood shall commit an act meritorious It is no maruaile then if the Romanists boast so much of Visibilitie considering that their faith is built fiue stories high the Layties beliefe vpon his Pastor the Pastors vpon the common opinion of neighbour Diuines or an Episcopall Synod that Episcopall Synod vpon the Church the Church vpon the Pope and the Pope vpon Christ Wherin how skilfull Artizans soeuer the Iesuites are in other Trades I know not surely in architecture they shew but little skil hauing not prouided any thing to supply the roome of the Pope in the vacancie so that for a yeare and more sometimes the vpper stories must like Esops Towers bee seene to hang in the aire For howsoeuer those which hold the supreame authoritie to bee subiectiuely and formally in the Church and instrumentally onely in the Pope may supply the place of the dead Pope with a generall Councell yet the Iesuites and others which with open cry now adayes condemne this opinion as false and next to heresie may be challenged of more folly then hee which built his house vpon the sand SECT V. The obiections out of the Scriptures touching the Churches infallibilitie answered WHat now remaines but that we answer those arguments wheron our aduersaries seem to ground this supposed power of the Church in challenging absolute beliefe to what she affirmes The first rank of arguments containes such places of Scripture as concerne the priuiledges of the Church in generall As 1. Tim. 3. 15. That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to conuerse in the house of God which is the Church of the liuing God the piller and ground of truth I answer that the Church here mention'd is not that Church which the Papists make to be the Iudge of Controuersies that is either the Church representatiue which is a generall Councell or the Church virtuall which they imagine to be the Pope but the Church essentiall in whole or part which is the congregation of all faith full beleeuers and therefore not to the purpose For the Papists themselues doe discharge it in this sense from the office of defining because in part it is fallible and in whole it is avast bodie composed of parts farre asunder and wanting a speaker And that the Church in this place is so taken besides the confession of Bellarmine who acknowledgeth it the very circumstances of the place doe carrie it for Saint Paul tells Timothie here that hee wrote this Epistle vnto him that hee might know how to conuerse or behaue himselfe in the house of God which hee expounding to bee the Church it must on necessitie bee construed of the Church essentiall as consisting of the faithfull in grosse vnlesse one should be so absurd as to say that Saint Paul deliuered directions vnto Timothie in this Epistle how he should conuerse in a generall Councell whereof there were none in three hundred yeeres after or else which is more absurd how he should behaue himselfe discreetly and with circumspection in the Popes belly So Matth. 18. 16. And if hee will not heare them tell the Church and if hee will not heare the Church let him bee to thee as the Heathen and the Publican I answer that here be three degrees of admonitions and reproofes set downe by our Sauiour in case that one brother trespasse against another Viz. First corripiendus amore he is to bee reproued with loue verse 15. goe and rebuke him betweene thee and him alone Secondly corripiendus pudore hee is to bee reproued with shame verse 16. if hee will not heare thee ioyne with thee besides one or two Thirdly corripiendus timore he is to be reproued with feare verse 17. if hee will not heare them tell the Church So that I willingly grant this honour to haue beene here giuen by our Sauiour to his Church that the last resort and appeale vpon earth should be made vnto it but you must remember withall how farre this present case will besteed you
For he saith not absolutely whatsoeuer thy brother shall say or beleeue but if thy brother shall offend or trespasse against thee which make the most wee can is but quaestio facti non iuris that is a matter of fact not of faith it is onely touching some personall and perticular iniuries in deciding whereof the Papists themselues denie not but the Church may erre See aboue Grad 4. So Matth. 23. 2. Vpon the chaire of Moses haue sitten the Scribes and the Pharisees all things therfore whatsoeuer they shall say vnto you obserue ye and doe ye I answere that these words whatsoeuer they shall say vnto you are either to be taken conditionally that is with this prouise that they speake the truth otherwise not and then aduantageth it nothing the Papists cause or else absolutely and then our Sauiour should contradict himselfe who reproued the errors of the Scribes and Pharises Math. 5. and forewarned his Disciples to take heed of their leauen Matth. 16. 6. Besides all precepts concerne the time present or future now Bellarmine himselfe confesseth that the high-Priests Councels of the Iewes were at this present lyable to errour nay farther that it was prophesied that they should erre and denie Christ Isa 6. Dan. 9. and therefore this could bee no such absolute precept of obedience as the Papists imagine especialy to those which now liued when by their owne acknowledgement such as possest the Chaire of Moses might erre and be deceiued Other places are alleadged by our Aduersaries which because they run rather in the plurall number with vos you arguing a democracie or aristocracie in the Church then with te thee implying a Monarchie which to maintaine the Iesuites bend all their forces and for that they are to bee vnderstood primarily totally and absolutely of the Apostles secondarily partially and conditionally only of other pastors as Iohn 16. The spirit of truth shall leade you into all truth and Luke 10. Hee which heareth you heareth mee therefore the weight and load is laid vpon such particular promises as our Sauiour is thought to haue made vnto Peter in the Gospells Where to omit that of our Sauiour to Peter Luke 22. 32. I haue prayed for thee that thy faith faile not for which the Cardinall cannot produce one ancient father Popes excepted to proue that our Sauiour intended therein any speciall benefit to Peters Successors saue onely to his personall faith as also that which he spake vnto him Iohn 21. 15 Feede my Sheepe which of a precept they would willingly change into a promise contrarie to the rules of Grammer or Logicke as if Saint Peter had made Popes of the inferior pastors of the Church and their Successors when he bad them in like manner Feede the flocke of Christ forasmuch as Christs word is the same in his owne mouth and in the mouthes of his Apostles The maine foundation whereon at length they pitch is that of our Sauiours to Saint Peter Matth. 16. 18. And I say vnto thee that thou art Peter and vpon this rocke will I build my Church and the gates of hell shall not preuaile against it In which words they let not a tittle fall to the ground without admiration Our Sauiour say they speaks not as at other times Simon thou sonne of Ionas this was his vulgar stile he brought with him frō home and it was of his fathers bequeathing nor as otherwhile hee did by the sirname imposed by himselfe pronouncing it barely without an Emphasis onely Peter and no more but making as it were a preface to some new dignitie which he purposed to bestow vpon him I say vnto thee thou art Peter as who would say thou art a rocke and vpon thee that rock I will build my Church To giue more colour to this interpretation they will vs to take notice how our Sauiour spake not in the Greeke but in the Syriack language in which Cephas the name of Peter is the same in termination sound and sense that Peter is implying both of them a rocke This is a faire glosse if they were Masters of Languages and had commission to set forth new Calepines But first how chance that the Apostles which were better seene in the Syriacke Tongue it being their naturall dialect than you can be vnderstood not this elegancie but did afterwards quarrel about precedency not knowing that their Master had before past his promise thereof vnto Saint Peter How comes it that the Fathers pickt not out your sense who liued neerer the times of the Apostles as S. Austen Chrisostom Hilarie Basill Ambrose and others by this rocke vnderstood not Peter but either his confession or Christ whom hee confessed seeing this knowledge of the Church how by Scripture it is built vpon Peter was as behoofull for them as for vs. But secondly what if our Sauiour foreseeing that this Rocke would be lapis offendiculi a stone of offence and that some supposing Peter to bee it would at the sight thereof no lesse then at Gorgons head be stupified and turned into stones hath in the Greeke edition of Saint Matthewes Gospell which themselues deny not to be authenticall distinguished between the one the other by a threefold Gramatical difference then we cannot without contempt offered to Grammarians admit it or at least the sirrop of blind obedience swallow it downe Now our Sauiour saith not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou art Peter and vpon thee Peter or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou art a rock and vpon thee that rock I will build my Church but with a triple mutation and alteration in the construction first of the Person thou Peter in the second and that rocke in the third secondly of the gender 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the masculine and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the feminine thirdly of the sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which by the iudgement of the most iudicious Grecians signifies vsually but a single stone and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which implies a Rocke so that as our Sauiour in another place tels vs that God can of stones raise vp children vnto Abraham in like manner hee doth now by a nominall Metamorphosis conuert a Sonne of Abraham into a stone and a stone of his building too yet he doth not by this Charter so inlarge his shoulders as to serue for a rocke whereon to support his whole building Say farther hee did make him a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a deriuatiue or denominatiue from that rocke and so as the Fathers sometimes vsed the word by a Metonymie terme him a ministeriall rocke by which he built his Church yet did hee not by this make him the principall rock on which he built it Grant againe that hee was taught that amongst the ministeriall rocks he should be Petra primaria a prime rocke yet was he not made Petra solitaria the only rock In a word he might be admonished by this name to be Petra deuotione a rocke for deuotion and zeale in
times and places In respect of its forme so likewise it hath sundrie considerations for the forme of it is Either 1. Internall which is the misticall vnion which the members thereof haue with Christ and through Christ one with another which vnion is wrought by faith 2. Externall which is the vniformity the parts haue one to another in the profession of the truth and the right administration of the Sacraments which truth and right administration wee say must be if not in all points whatsoeuer yet at least in all points fundamentall and necessarie to saluation Now to bring this home to my argument the Church Catholick of these foure wayes that it may be considered is not visible at all three wayes and the fourth it is not alwayes so clearely visible as that the visibilitie should serue for a note whereby to come to the knowledge of the vniuersalitie and perpetuitie of the Church It is not visible at all First in respect of its matter taken in the full Latitude thereof excluding no times no places nor any condition of men In which sense by the Tridentine catechismes owne confession it is taken in the Creed For nothing is visible which is not present I may remember times past or read of men absent or coniecture things to come but I can see onely those things which are present Secondly it is not visible at all in respect of its inward forme which is the misticall vnion of the members with Christ and one another wrought by faith for this is rooted in the heart and the heart of man God onely seeth Thirdly not in respect of its outward forme which as it enters the Creed is not onely an outward profession of a Doctrine or Discipline but a profession of the same vnder the notion of truth and that the Church in this sense is inuisible Gregorie de Valentia confesseth in his 3. Tom. vpon Thomas and 1. disput and Bellarmine in his 3. booke de Eccles and 15. chap. where he saith In Ecclesia aliquid videri aliquid credi videmus eum caelum hominum qui est Ecclesia sed quod isle caetus sit ipsa vera Christi Ecclesia non videmus sed credimus That is in the Church something is beleeued and something seene wee see that companie of men which is the Church but that this company is the true Church wee doe not see it but beleeue it Againe the Church considered in her most fauourable sense for the Papists that is according to her matter which are men and that againe in a limitted acception not as shee is taken in her Latitude and extent for the whole but in respect of her parts onely with reference to their proper times and places yet in this sense I say is not so cleerely visible at all times as to haue her visibilitie to serue for a note whereby to know it to be Catholicke and vniuersal For Not a sufficiens ac propria ad dignoscendum Ecclesiam omnino necesse est vt sit omni hominum generi atque conditioni accommodatum it is Gregorie de Valentia's own rule in the place aboue cited q. 1. punct 7. § 15. that is that for a sufficient and proper note to know the Church it is necessarie that the note bee fit for all sorts and conditions of men and that all men bee qualified and capable to discerne the Church by it But the Church euen in this sense by his owne confession in the 16. § is sometimes so tost with the flouds of error schismes and persecutions that to the vnskilfull and such as cannot prudently weigh the reasons of times and circumstances it is hard to bee knowne so that by consequence the Visibilitie of it is not alwaies so apparant vnto all sorts of men as to serue for a note or proofe of the Church as Catholicke To make our argument yet more pregnant let vs but aske where the Church was in the time that the Arrian heresie ouerspread and hee will tell you out of Hierom that the ship of it was almost sunke and out of Hilarie that it was then non in tectis exteriori pompa querenda sed potius in carceribus speluncis not to be sought for in buildings or outward pompe but in Prisons and Caues Aske Turrecremata and others where the Church was in the passion of our Sauiour and they will tell you that it remayned only in the Virgin Marie which they say is signified in the Church of Rome by the putting out of all the Tapers saue one onely in the celebration of the passion Nay Bellarmine though hee oppugnes this opinion of Turrecremata's the most hee can yet he is contented to concurre with Abulensis in this that howsoeuer the Apostles might beleeue yet he thinkes that the Virgin Mary onely had fidem explicitam an explicite beliefe of Christs resurrection without which the Apostle saith that our faith is vaine we are yet in our sinnes 1. Cor. 15. Now grant that the Apostles beleeued as well as Marie yet if their beliefe was but implicit their profession could not be visible idem est non esse non apparere it is all one not to bee and not to appeare in this case Nay aske Bellarmine but how the Church shall be in the dayes of Antichrist and he will answer in his third booke de Rom. Pont. and seuenth chap. that it is certaine the persecution then shall bee so great that all publike ceremonies of Religion and Sacrifices shall cease How vniustly then doe the Papists deale with vs in this question touching modum cognoscendi the manner of knowing the Church to bee Catholike that is vniuersall and perpetuall by tying vs to proue it a posteriori instancing who were the Professors who the Pastors what their Names where they abode in all Ages as if ignorance of a thing were a Cause sufficient to make it not to be or Gods promise were not a gage strong enough for such an incredulous generation as theirs is vnlesse there were Registers to shew how and in what manner he kept his word Certainly if God in his wisedome had thought these kinde of proofes necessarie for his Church hee would haue erected an Office and Officers for the purpose now hee hath giuen vs indeed his Royall promise that it shall be so but no promise hath he giuen that there shall be Scribes in all Ages to commit to writing the names and persons of those by whom it came to be so If therefore a Papist should in this manner question me Where was your Church before Luther or what Professors of your doctrine were there or what assemblies of men professing the same faith that you doe euer since the time of our Sauiour vntill this present I would thus answere him out of the Creed That the Church of which I am a member was before Luther that there were assemblies of men professing the same faith that I doe and that
euer since the time of our Sauiour vnto this present I doe beleeue with the same faith and vpon the same grounds that I beleeue the Catholike Church because I beleeue our Church of England to be a member of the Catholike and this I beleeue a priori that is for the promise sake made in the Scriptures that it shall bee so But where our Church was before Luther or who were the Professors of it euer since the time of our blessed Sauiour vntill this present is no part of my Creed There is not a syllable in it which inuites me to proceed that way Doe I say I beleeue the vniuersalitie of Christs Church and must my foundation be such onely as can breed in me but an opinion or naked hope doe I begin in Faith and with the Galathians must I end in the flesh that is with sense Doe I build with one hand a Church Catholike which cannot bee seene and with the other must I draw it in a Map or point it out to the eye Nay set the Church as Catholike aside and consider it but in her parts which consideration of it belongs not to the Creed yet in this sense also is the Church at sometimes so obscured that by our Aduersaries owne confession none but the prudent and wise are able to discerne it The Church is I confesse compared in the Reuelation to a woman clothed with the Sunne in Isaiah to a Citie built vpon an Hill and by the Fathers to the Moone the Sunne the Moone and a Hill are things most easie to be discerned yet we know this Sunne may be obscured with a Clowd an Hill may be hid with a mist and the Moone as Saint Austen in his 119. Epist alluding to the Church obserueth hath her wanes and eclipses in the time of her peregrination SECT II. The second way whereby one may know the Church to be Catholike or Vniuersall IF any should mistake me and thinke that pressing so earnestly the preeminencie of knowing the Church to be Catholike and Vniuersall a priori that is from the promises made vnto it in the Scriptures we doe suspect our proofs a posteriori from the Professors of our Religion in all Ages to be either none or weake let them know that we want not those who haue scored out varietie of sufficient paths to proceed this way also which howsoeuer they bee not like the testimonie of our Sauiour to beget a faith yet are they like the testimonie of the Samaritan woman to induce a credulitie For not to tyre you with large discourses which were to exceed my limits onely for satisfaction herein to the reasonable and impartiall Hearer let vs take along with vs these few considerations 1. The first that we are to distinguish betweene our affirmatiues that is such things as are purely affirmed by vs and our negatiues such as in whole or in part we denie betweene which there is a great difference to be made in all sciences For affirmatiue propositions onely are the proper parts and ingredients of a discipline Negatiues are admitted say Logicians not so much by way of Precept as of Cautell and of Commentaries to vindicate the other from misconstruction 2. The second that such affirmatiues of ours as are established by our Church of England at least such as concerne the foundation of faith haue beene in all ages professed by the Church of Rome it selfe For explication whereof we are to obserue that the Popes Arithmetick which he vseth in calculating the articles of faith is not substraction but addition what wee purely affirme the Popish writers for the most part doe affirme the same the difference is that they affirme somewhat more then wee doe They denie not so much that our affirmations are truth as that they say we affirme not all the truth wherevpon they vsually stile vs in their writings Negatiuists For example sake Wee agree on both sides the Scriptures to be the Rule of Faith the Bookes of the old Testament written in Hebrew to bee Canonicall that we are iustified by Faith that God hath made two receptacles for mens soules after death Heauen and Hell that God may bee worshipped in spirit without an Image that wee are to pray vnto God by Christ that there be two Sacraments that Christ is really receaued in the Lords Supper that Christ made one oblation of himselfe vpon the Crosse for the redemption propitiation and satisfaction for the sinnes of the whole world In a word where they take the Negatiue part as in with-holding the Cup from the Laytie forbidding the administration of the Sacraments in the vulgar tongue and restrayning the marriage of Priests yet euen in these they condescend vnto vs for the lawfulnesse of the things in themselues and in respect of the Law of God and oppose them onely in regard of their necessitie and conueniencie and for that the Church of Rome hath otherwise ordayned But see our affirmations content them not To the Scriptures they adde and equalize vnwritten Traditions To the Hebrew Canon the Apocrypha To Faith in the act of Iustification Workes To Heauen and Hell Purgatorie Limbus Patrum and Limbus Puerorum To the worship of God in spirit Images To prayer to God by Christ inuocation and intercession of Saints To Baptisme and the Lords Supper fiue other Sacraments To the realitie of Christ in the Sacrament his corporall presence To the sacrifice of Christ vpon the Crosse the sacrifice in the Masse with other like and these we denie 3. The third that our affirmations by the iudgement of the Church of Rome haue beene in all ages deemed sufficient to saluation so that our Negatiues take not away any doctrine the explicit beliefe whereof is absolutely necessarie For first in regard of knowledge the Schoolemen hold that much lesse is needfull to bee explicitly beleeued then what is contayned in our affirmations For whereas wee entertayne and embrace amongst our affirmatiue articles not onely the doctrine of the three Creedes but also sundrie other assertions as may appeare by the booke of Articles and Homilies established in our Church Albertus Magnus on the contrarie with Bonauenture Richardus and Durandus thinke that so much onely of the Creed is necessarie as the Church solemnizeth in her holidayes Thomas Aquinas Scotus Gabriel Biel and Pope Adrian the sixth which goe farther thinke it needfull to beleeue but the whole Creed and Alexander ab Hales which goes farthest thinkes that one need but adde to the Apostolicall Creed the Nicen and Athanasian to make a compleat beleeuer quanquam hoc nimis durum videtur though this seemes too hard an imposition saith Gregorie de Valentia in his third Tom. vpon Thom. 1. disp although one wade no farther therein then the proper sense and haue no great distinct knowledge of the matters Nay Bellarmine is so confident in this point that he sticks not to say that the Apostles themselues neuer vsed to preach openly