repose in God a name vtterlie denying him selfe to the end he may be ouerwhelmed in God and that to leane and staie vpon the Church is to leane and staie vpon God him selfe and that contrarie wise to staye vpon him selfe that is to say vpon his owne iudgement is to stay him selfe vpon the deuil they should knovve that the Church teacheth the people faythfully and that she is assisted of the holie Ghost that she hath the trevve traditions of the Apostles and doth take the scripture in the Euangelical sense sayeth nothing of her selfe putteth nothing of nevve dothe not make any article of fayth but only giueth vvitnes of the Euangelical sense and discerneth the good from the euil pasture euen as the holy Ghost doth reueale to her in common And contraryvvise that the heretike is not stirred but of his ovvn particular spirit hath not any tradition but of his owne proper making taketh the scripture in a sense by him self inuented handling the same as if him self were the authour making him self a prophet to hym self and iudge of God and somtymes setteth him self aboue al that which is God in som much that he doth iudge by his owne priuate sense the eternal woord of God in such sort as al heresie maketh a new paradox putteth a new sense neuer Euangelized not of the holy Ghost but inuēted of Satan by the mouth of one particular man The spirit of God is not particular but common and the same is in common to the Church to whom hath bene giuen the assurance of the holy Ghost to shew vnto her al truthe in such sorte that as it is certein that the holy Ghost is authour of the scripture so is it certein that the holy Ghost is the soule and lyfe of the Church by whose direction she can neuer erre for which cause S. Paul doth cal her the piller and ground of trueth And 1. Tim. 3. this is it that S. Augustin did confesse o lord S. August lib. 12. cōfess c. 25 sayeth he thy trueth is not myne nor this mans or that mans but it is euerie mans whom thou publikly Veritas tua est domine nōmea nec illius aut illius sed omnium nostrū quos ad cōmuniomem publice vocas terribiliter admones ne priuatam veritatē habeamus ne priuemut ea Ioan. 8. calleste to the communion therof warnyng vs terribly that we take greate heed to chalenge that in priuate lest so we be vtterlie depriued of it For he which speaketh of his owne telleth a lye And as many particular opinions as are in the world so many banners are there displayed by the deuil A true catholique doth estrange him self as much as he can from all particular opinions and from al attributing to him self his being his liuing his power and knowledge and neuer doth vse these termes I am I can I wil as for me this is my opinion and such like speches which be termes of deuelish arrogancie He dares not so much as to say of him self that he is a part of Christendom standing as it wear by him self alone but holdeth this for a principle that he can not so much as thinke any thing that good is without the continual dependence of God and instruction of the Church vnto whom in all simplicitie and in deep humlitie he leaueth him self to be edified and instructed euen as a litle childe of his mother so that it is in a maner easier to plucke a sterre out of the element than to plucke a true catholique out of the bosome of the Churche Litle Iacob when Rebecca his mother commanded him to faigne him self to his father that he was Esau to get thereby his blessing he answered like a childe that he feared lest the deceit being discoueced he should procure hym self malediction in stead of benediction but then his mother sayd to him that maledictiō Genes 27. my sonne be vpon me only obay thou my voyce in that I commaund the which he did and was blest euen so it is in our obedience to the Church If the Church should deceiue vs then vpon her be the maledictiō to vs doth apperteyn the glory of obedience with the which we be very wel assured to obteyn the euerlasting benediction But now the Church can not deceiue vs yea I say further that the iniquite of him that is in the Church is better that is to say is lesse dānable then the good works of him which is in heresie For if one of the howshold of the Church haue sinned he hath but committed that sinne wherein he is fallen the which is blotted out by pennance in the Churche and he may obtein the promisses of the kyngdome of heauen but he which is fallen out of the Church sinneth alwayes in al that he doth for al that which is not of faith is sinne as S. Paul saith Yea although he do pennāce yet cā he obtein no pardō because in the societie where he is there is no remission of sinnes there is no good worke meritorius no pennance no vertue to be rewarded withe life euerlasting where faithe is not and that persone dothe not fruitfully fulfil any comaundement of God which doth not fulfil the same in the Church The pretended good works of those which be out of the Church be like a swyft running out of the way and lyke great paynes taken for a matter of nothing where no reward is to be gotten He which runneth out of the listes shal neuer carie away the price he must be first with in the barriers of the Church seing that the course of good woorkes shal be crowned according to the merits of the rightuousnes of eache one I meane according as euery one shal shevv hymself valiant and couragious in christian spirit and according as the new regenerat man in him hathe brought foorth due fruits and effects of his regeneration There is no good without the soueraign good The soueraign good is God God Iesus Christ and the Churche are three things coherent and fast vnited together There is no accesse to God but by Iesus Christ and there is no accesse to Iesus Christ but by the Churche let no man sayeth S. Ambrose accept good woorks done before faith Faith is the soule of good woorkes without the which they be dead and be not to be rewarded with lyfe euerlasting faith is the soule of our soule the substance of man in such sorte as man without faith is without substance True it is that an heretyke renouncing his heresie is straight wayes cleane and incorporated againe to the Church and as a member partaker of the prayers of all the vniuersal Church he is made woorthy of the body of Iesus Christ after he hath purelie and entierlie renounced his heresie in which case a Ioh. Clim grad 15. fornicator repenting hath need of teares of tyme to be throughly clensed and to extinguish vtterly the concupiscence which hath occupied the
of the Church vicar of the souerain head essential Iesus Christ and successor of S. Peter in that vicareige to whom al Catholikes which are dispersed throughout the world are ioyned as members to their head Loe here 12. markes of the true church That is to say 1. The possessiō propertie of the name Catholike 2. The succession of the Apostolike priesthood 3. Antiquitie 4. The long cōtinuance without interruptiō 5. The largenes of the kingdome 6. The victorie of the whole world by efficacie of doctrine 7. The conformitie in doctrine with the primitiue Church 8. The holynes of doctrine 9. The holines of life of the possessours 10. The gloire of miracles 11. The Infelicitie of the impugners and prosperitie of the Protectours 12. And the vnion of the members with their head the successour of S. Peter These are comprised in fower woordes of the Creed that is to say in that she is one Holy Catholike and Apostolike I doe not enter here into the groundes of the doctrin of the Catholike Church The principal scope of this present treatise was onely to shew that out of the Catholike Church man can not be saued whatsoeuer thing he doth whereunto I haue added these outeward markes the which without farder disputation may be sufficient to euery Christian mā to resolue him selfe touching all difficulties whatsoeuer for all the controuersies which haue bene are and euer shal be in the faith doe rest therein and are reduced to that onely head to finde the true Church Which being ones found a man is out of all hazard and peril of errour For all agree vpon this principle that there is but one Church and that the same can not erre being as saith S. Paul The piller and seur grounde of truth And therefore whosoeuer shall doubt of any thing as of Sacramentes of the Inuocation of saincts of praying for the dead or of any other point of lerning he must onely marke that which the Church doth teach thereof and then therevpon to resolue him selfe more assuredly then if an Angel of heauen were descended expressely to informe him of the same And euery other cōgregation which shal call it selfe the church teaching the contrary must needes be conuinced of falsehood of being sent from sathan of heresie and of impietie All the markes of the Catholike Church are euidenly found in the Romain Church The respect of the name Romain is not to the town of Rome but the to chaire of S. Peter which hath that highnes of glory to haue bene cheefely and especially priuileged by the prayer and promise of our sauiour who prayed for S. Peter to that ende that his faith might not faile and founding vpon him his Church hath promised vnto him that the proud gates of hel shall neuer preuail against her as in fact we see that sathan hath ouercome the Churches of the other Apostles and ouerthrowen their chaire In Hierusalem in Alexandria in Ephesus and els where But not the chaire wherewith S. Peter hath innobled the citie of Rome This Church is onely inuincible insupplantable immouable frō her foundation It is she that hath born away the victory of the whole world She hath destroyed Paganisme ouerthrowen Idolatrie expelled al heresies tamid kingdomes Empires ouercome the Philosophers driuen away the darkenes of the world hath gained to god all men of good will She hath troden down and always shal tread down the head of sathan She hath ben euer sithēs S. Peter an obiect vnto the world very apparant as a moūtain of vnderstāding A burning light not to be quenched and an infallible Pole starre directing the way of God To her onely in the troublesome and tempestous sea of variable opinions of men we must haue regard She is the quickening plant that God hath planted in earth hauing her Roote in heauen Yt is not possible for men to root her out no more than it is to throw downe God from his heauenlie seat vpon whom she is founded All the heresies of the world haue bent them selues against that Church Titans Hypocrites and euel Christians haue assaulted her but she remaineth victorious ouer all her enemies not by the merits of men but by the efficacie of that prayer which our sauiour made to his father for the faith of S. Peter and to make his promise effectuall The promises of the truth it selfe can not be vaine Iesus Christ sayd of the temple of Hierusalem that there should not one stone remayne vpō an other and so it came to passe The Iewes edeuonred them selues with might and maine to build the same again but fier came from heauen and placed it self in the foundations for to hinder their intreprise He said of his church that it should endure as long as the world shal remain And men doe see that hither to she remaneth as long as the world hath indured heauen and earth shall passe but the woordes of our Sauiour shall not passe Let these wicked Spirites heretikes Schismatikes Hypocrites and deuelishe men lay their embushes conspire make warre and doe all they can against that Church yet shal they get nothing They fight against the prayer and promise of our Sauiour they doe fight against GOD him selfe The deuils haue not gotten the victory in heauen against the Angels neitheir shall they get it in earth against the Church Many Angels did fall many members of the Church doe fall dayly But as the kingdom of Angels was neuer wholly ouerthrowen so the whole Church shall neuer be vanquished Hel may shake the earth but not the heauens The Church is not an earthly building a building of Adam a building of no other foundation then natural It is an heauenly building whollie supernatural and diuine whereof not man but God him selfe is the foundation and founder and the holy Ghost is the Architect which hath gathered together the liuely stones This building is not made of men borne by nature as the children of Adam but of men made heauenlie regenerate by grace as the children of God Faith which is the bond of the bodie of that Church is aboue the heauen the obiect of that faith which is IESVS Christ Author of that regeneration doth appertain more to heauen by his diuine person then to earth by that humain nature Therefore a thowsand hels shal neuer be able to preuaile against that church whosoeuer thou art therfore which hast separated thy self from that Church what so euer thing thou doest thou art not apparteining to IESVS Christ thou art a member of sathan and a pray of euerlasting damnation Goe about the earth and the see trott vp and downe the world and goe where thou wilt searching the truth thou shalt not find the same out of this Church The Church Catholike Apostolike and Romain is the same of whom doth spring rise as from a center all the droctrine of Christianitie the chaire of S. Peter is the chaire of Iesus Christ and of the truth it self al other
THE FIRME FOVNDATION OF CATHOLIKE RELIGION AGAINST THE BOTTOMLES PITT OF HERESIES wherin is shewed that only Catholiks shal be saued that all heretikes of what sect so euer are excluded from the kingdome of heauen Compyled by IOHN CAVMONT of Champany And translated out of French into English by IOHN PAVNCEFOTE the elder Esquyre in the tyme of his banishement Hoc habet authoritas matris Ecclesiae hoc fundatus veritatis canon contra hoc robur contra hunc inexpugnabilem murum quisquis arietat ipse confringitur S. August de verb. Apost serm 15. Imprinted at Antwerpe by Arnold Coninx M. D. LXXXXI Cum Gratia Priuileg Reg. Maiest HIS Catholike Maieste hath graunted and giuen licens to Arnold Coninx that he may print the booke named The firme foundation of the Catholike Religion against the bottomles pitt of heresie Translated out of the french into Inglish by Iohn Paunsfote Esquyer vvhere in defence is made to all printers for to print the same for the space of three yeares vvithout licence of the said Arnold Coninx Geuen the 15. of Nouembre 1591. Subsigned Io. de Buschere THE PREFACE OF THE translator AS it hath bene often a great greef vnto me to consider hovv many of you my deer frends and good countrey men not al of malice but some of blyndnes some other of a folyshe feare others also for lak of instructions and trevv informatiō of the holy Catholike Church the true spouse of Christ do daylie erre and lyue in scisme heresie diuiding yor selues by that meanes from Christ his mysticall bodie hazarding your soules to perishe eternally Euen so of late I did not a litle reioyce vvhē I hitt by chance on a litle frenche treatise vvhich doth lyuelie expresse as it vveare in a table sett furth such sufficient true infallible tokens of Christ his Church that none can be ignorant that is vvilling to learne nor no man lefte in blyndnes that vvil open his eyes to see And albeit my skylin the french tonge is but small yet the loue vvhich I beare to you my deare frendes hath supplied that vvant and giueth me corage to attempt somthing aboue my strēgth in translating the sayd treates as vvell as I could vvhich I haue put to the print that you may be partakers of it trusting that you vvil accept the same as a token of my good vvill And if it shall please God to send my labeur so good successe as that any of you all receiue benefit therby after due thankes to him that is author of all goodnes I pray you remember me in your deuout prayers vvho haue not bene vnmyndfull of you here in this my poore banishement And so hoping you vvill excuse or amend such faultes as you may find eyther in the translation or printyng I beseche God send you so much light as to find the vvay home again to the Catholike Church Fare you vvell Your louing frinde I. P. HE VVHO GATHERETH NOT WITH ME SCATTERETH ABRODE Matth. 12. THE FIRST principall most necessary groūde of all 1. Cor. 13. woorke agreable to GOD is that it be done in charitie in vnion of Christians in the Catholike church Iohan. 1. 1. Iohan. 2. and all that man doth in the spirit of the Catholike church is wel liked before God for that it is as it were dipped in the bloud of his welbeloued sonne IESVS Christ in whom he taketh his good pleasure of whose grace and vnction all those that be Catholikes be partakers flowing from him vpon them as from the head vpon the members Yea it is IESVS Christ him self which liueth which breatheth which 1. Cor. 15. Galat. 2. S. August in Psalm 85. ser 4. de sanct Steph. prayeth and which sturreth in all those that be Catholikes and members of the body of his Church He prayeth saieth S. Augustin for vs he prayeth in vs and he is prayed to of vs As Vnus ipse saluator corporis sui Dominus noster Iesus Christus filius Dei orat pro nobis orat in nobis orarur à nobis vt Sacerdos noster orat pro nobis vt caput nostrum orat in nobis vt Deus noster oratur a nobis our Priest be prayeth for vs as our head he prayeth in vs and as our God is prayed to of vs. This is the glory the ioy and assurance of a Catholike man that Iesus Christ is in him the chief agent the which for his reuerence is heard of God in him and this is the trew firmament of the Catholikes more firme then the heauen it self It is not so in heretikes all that which is of heretikes is accursed and abomination before God their faith their preaching their prayers their fastings their almes S. Ignat. ep ad Heron. S. Io. Chrys ho. 65. in Ioan. al actes of religion comyng from them are nothing els but cursed sacriledge pollution If they should raise vp the dead if they should be more vvise then Angels If they should haue their faith so great as to moue mountaines if they should distribute S. Cypr. lib. 2. de vni Eccles S. August lib. de siide ad Pe. all their goods to the cherishing of the poore if they should kepe heroically continual virginitie if they should delyuer their bodies to be burned if they should shyne with an Angelical holines all this serueth them for nothing being diuided from the body of the Church al this vvould not any thing appease the rigour of the eternal ire of God vpon them Core Dathan and Abiron did sacrifice to the same God that Nuus 16. Moyses did yea to the only trew and almighty God but for that it was done in diuision from the body of the Church the earth did open and swalow them vp aliue with their wiues their childrē their how 's holds their Tabernacles and all their substance and more ouer the fyer of God did consume 250. of the chief that were assotiated with them and 14700. of the people for that they murmured at that iustice And the fury of Gods wrathe had consumed all the people wholy but for the vehement intercession and meditation of the Priesthood of Aaron which did appease the same God doth not receaue sacrifice but of his Priestes whom he hath ordayned for that purpose and there is no seruice what so euer agreable to God but that of the children of his Church Let not the heretike flatter him self with the holy scriptures as peruerse men do abuse all the gyftes of God employing them otherwise then they be ordeyned by his prouidēce so do they abuse the holy sctiptures them selues That hath bene alwayes the cloke of impietie of heretikes they carie against Iesus Christ the signe of Iesus Christ sayth S. Augustin S. Aug. ep 16. Contra Christum portant signū Christ cōtra Euāgelium de ipso Euangelio gloriātur and take holde of the Gospel to make engines to
spirit and not seing but of his light and who so euer kepeth not this vnitie he kepeth not the law of God he hath no faith and he can neyther haue the life nor the saluation of Iesus Christ It is S. Paul him Ephes 4. self that teacheth this Sacramēt of the vnitie of faith in the vniuersalitie of the Church as there is not saith he but one sole God lord father of all so there is but one faith one hope one trust one bodie one spirit the head of which bodie is the sonne of God Iesus Christ who being him self the spring of lyfe euerlasting doth inspire lyfe to all the bodie doth furnish it dayly with strength by his holy spirit Whosoeuer is not a member of that bodie can not take lyfe of the spirit of Iesus Christ he is a straunger he is prophaned he is an enemie he is dead drye and wythered without moysture of all diuine grace and that no part of the promises and rewards of Iesus Christ he is the braunche Iohan. 11. cut from the true stocke appointed to the fyer to be burned If any of those which were out of the Arcke of Noe vvere saued those also shal be saued which are founde out of the Arke of the Church If the riuer cut from his spring dryeth not vp if the braunche diuided from the tree can bear fruit if the member cut from the bodie can take lyfe of the same bodie then also the man that is diuided and cut from the Church shal liue of Iesus Christ He can not haue God for his father which wil not haue the Church for his mother and he can not be vnited with God which is not vnited with the Church At the same instant that man doth separat him self frō the Church he dyeth from Iesus Christe and leeseth the grace of the holy Ghost For euen as the vniuersal sensible light is tyed to the bodie of the sunne which doth spread and distribute it to all the world in the absence wherof there is nothing but darknes euen so al grace of reconciliation to God was annexed to the bodie of Iesus Christ yea to this bodie of his which dayly groweth by increase of the chosen preordinate to lyfe euerlasting which is the bodie of the Church which he doth gather together taking out from the heape of mankynd al men of good wyl which haue bene are and shal be to the end of the world out of which bodie there is but the wrath and malediction of God Search where you wil out of this Church you shall fynde nothing but death To be short he which is not in the Church hath no God he hath his owne proper iudgement his phantasie and his owne presumption for his God he maketh him selfe an Idol doth worship only his owne imagination in place of God If such a man calleth him self a Christian that is as the deuil often sayth he is Christ and if he be kylled for his heresie that is no martirdom bur the reward of his heresie which is not yet al purged by his owne death Dying he goeth to yeld and ioyne him self eternally to the darkenes which he hath worshiped and to his head which is the deuil There is no martirdom nor death pretious before God but in the catholique Church in the which only is the grace of the Gospel of Iesus Christ the which only she doth preach in sinceritie and truth and without any hazard or possibilitie to erre because she taketh her direction of the holy Ghost of the tradition of the Apostles and of the holy scriptures together which be the three grounds set downe by the holy scripture it self the which doth shew that not shee only buyldeth vp the Churche but is also holpen of the traditions of the liuely voyce of the Apostles to the which she often tymes referreth men Kepe sayeth S. Paul the traditions 2. Thess 2. Tenete traditiones quas didicistis siue per sermonē siue per epistolā nostrā Act. 15. 16 which you haue learned of me be it by woord or by our epistle and it is written in the Actes of the Apostles that in al places whear S. Paule passed by he recommended to the Churches to kepe the ordinances of the Apostles and of the elders which were things not written When the Apostles had planted the Gospel they did not say al things at one time nor in one howre nor wrote al that they sayed but according as occasion was giuen they planted their doctrine so that the holy scripture which we haue of the Apostles and of the Euangelists is not so muche a full doctrine of faith as a witnes of the faith that they preached Now if wee will goe higher the law of Moyses cōsisted no lesse in tradition than in writting and not only the sense but the letter and text thereof was to be learned by tradition For they had the scriptures in maner but by half the pointing beeing not yet put to the hebrew text But the holy Ghost alwayes hath in formed the Church of the true traditions and the true sense of the scripture in such sorte as the Church and the holy scripture are so linked together that they both be as an indissoluble cheyne of golde The Church is not aboue the scripture but the authoritie of the Church doth shew the true scripture And when the Church hath need of wholsome information she doth goe to the scriprure and if there be any darknes in the scripture the holy Ghoste is giuen to the Church for to interpret the same Euen so in the olde law in al difficulties that rose the law of Moyses ordained that they should goe to the hygh priest for the tyme being and that they Deut. 17. Malach. 2. should folow his verdit not turnyng either to the right syde or the left vpon paine of death The Prophets also sent them thether and in the Gospel it self our sauiour commaundeth that if any obey not the Church Matt. 18. he be degraded from the name of Christian and holden for an Eathnike let no man now seeke excuses in a corner God hath appointed at al tymes the priests of the Church present to iudge the present controuersies and willeth that men should repayre vnto them his holy spirit assisteth them to that end He hath not promised vs in them more then in other men example of holynes but he hath promised vs by them the Oracles of his truthe Oh that al those that do erre in faith did know the vertue of the name Catholique and the horror of the name heretike how the Catholique in his faith doeth renounce his own reason his own iudgemēt his vnderstanding his wil and all his senses for to hearken simplie and absolutely vnto that that the Church doth teache how on the cōtrarie side the heretike doth groūde builde his fayth vpon his owne iudgement They should knowe that the name Catholique is a name of
indiuisible than the beames of the sunne it is not to be holden by halues it is a gift of God and a grace infused and the gifts of God are perfite For concerning faith who so euer faileth in one article is culpable in all And he is no lesse drouned which is but two fingars ouer head in water than he which is an hundred fathoms dieper A mans faith eye and honour are thre things that can not endure to be hurt or impared how litle soeuer it be Many of them which haue yet some liuelie roote in the Church and hate heresie doe giue to them selfes some times libertie to blame or contemne certein obseruances and ceremonies of the Church as in their opinions vnprofitable These lo do daungerouslie erre besides that they shew herein their beastlines and ignorance for nothing vniuersallie receiued in the Church is of small consequence or importance And vnwoorthie are they to haue any place in the Church and to be partakers of the Sacraments of euerlasting life which doe disagree with her in the least point that a man can think of Men ought with more reuerence to iudge of such things as are approued and alowed of the vniuersal Church When men debate of humain matters let then humain reason take place but in the doctrine of faith the only authoritie of the Churche ought to rule It is not for vs to take vpon vs to cōfirme and establish that whereunto we must obey We must in al submit our selues wholie to her iudgemēt without exception of any thing what soeuer it be For so soone as faith is seuered from the Sanctuarie of the Church she is out of her natural element she hath no more vital spirit The Church hath secret motiues considerations tending to the vtilitie and preseruation of her vniuersal familie incomprehensible to any one priuate person yet notwithstanding they haue theyr foundacions and grounds verie firme and sure The most excellent Philosophie that euer was in the worlde is that of Abrahā which Philo describeth Abraham Philo. He reduced all the effects of the second causes to the first cause immediatlie he dyd not attribute to the sunne the light of the day nor to cloudes the rain nor to eyes the sight nor to eares the hearing nor to other next instruments of sense the cause of their facultie not to the feet force to goe not breathing to the lunges not concoction to the stomak not to trees and seeds their yerelie fruits but he reduced all things immediatlie to him onlie which spreadeth abroad his benignitie and beneuolence largelie franklie and freelie in all places he bendeth all his forces to hym alone hoping by hym only to be ayded and staying him self vpon him only neither trusting vpon heauē nor vpon earth ayer beasts plants or rootes with intent to loue them as causes And as a man may say he trauersed through all the rankes and troupes of the host of all second and instrumental causes apperteining to the OEconomie or general disposition of the vniuersal nature for to approche vnto the soueraign head the Creator of substances the giuer of formes the first mouer first cause and cause of causes to the ende to loue him only and to giue him only thankes for all benefits receiued And this Philosophie of Abraham was as a shining beam of the innocencie of nature before sinne which innocencie consisted in cleaning wholie to God and depending vpon God in all things not resting vpō him selfe nor vpon any creature whereupon also God loued him more and was more reuealed to hym than to those that loue the second causes and search deeplie in to them not satisfied otherwise with the first In like maner in matters of faith those which doe rest altogether vpon the Church shal rather be illuminated of the holy Ghost than those which doe not giue credit to her but vpon a caution or condition of some natural reason If any would know the way how to render a reason of his faith and of all obseruances of the Church S. Peter thereunto doeth exhort him And in 1. Petr. 3. dede the studie of such a science is the most noble and most worthie that is in the world only let him be humble and holde this for a principle or maxime though he vnderstandeth not the reason of any obseruances yet notwithstanding the same is grounded vpon some iust reason aboue his capacitie And when he hath layed for his ground this humilitie and comyng afterward to searche the motiues and reasons of the Churche then the knowleige of the general disposition and gouernement of the Church shall teach him considerations more deep more excellent more ample more confortable and shall replenish his mynde with a cleerer light than the knowleige of al Naturs vvorkes and therein he shal take more pleasure than if he had in his head the collectiōs and gatherings of al the knowleige in the worlde fast sowed one to an other and coulde giue a reason of the whole disposition of natural things in al parts of the whole frame of this worlde In the primatiue Church Sinesius the great Sinesius philosopher called by Christians to the state if a Bishop vvould not accept the same but with reseruation of some opinions of the ethnical philosophie The fathers condescended to his desire assuring them selues that so excellent a wit would easilie cast of al those reseruations of his philosophical folie by cōference with wise and learned men of the Church And in dede this learned man being made Bishop did soone cast away al reseruations of his seueral opinions and conformed him selfe in al points to the Church cōdemning him selfe and deriding his own vanitie proceding rather from the root of folie and pryde of a philosopher than of malice And truelie to addict him selfe obstinatlie to some particularities of opinions against the vniuersalitie Genes 27. it is the part of one that is ignorant of the first elements and principles of Christianitie and a token of a short and feeble iudgemen that hath a verie shmal beam of brightnes and is so poore of vnderstāding as he is not hable to conceiue that the riuer which he dwelleth next vnto is much lesse than the Ocean sea and that the sterres be much greater thē they appear to his eyes esteming the greatest things that he knoweth to be the most that God can doe in that kynde and considereth but one thing onlie where he ought to consider an hundred thousand persuading him selfe euermore to haue in the compasse of his brain all that God is hable to doe or wil doe mesuring all things by his own capacitie and sufficiencie which is not onlie an extreme folie but also verie daungerous for such folk vpon the least motion of the deuil wil throw them selues from the high pinacle of the temple down to the ground I mean from the firmament of the Church to the bottomles pit of heresie Wil we then be assured neuer to erre and to
chaires are the chaires of pestilence Take away frō before thy eyes those clouds of euil opinions heaped together and thickened by false reportes against ecclesiasticall persons and doe hinder the to see the truth if there be any spottes in those persons which be sett in the chaire of S. Peter it must needes be that all the true children of God find them selues therby inwardlie woūded and praye to God to make them cleane But in the meane time what so euer they be in their maners those are particular matters personal and separated from the chaire which is a dignitie authoritie and matter vniuersal I know that in manie ther is not a cromme of the holines of S. Peter that they be scandelouslie gone a straie from the life Apostolike but they teach the faith of S. Peter the Apostolike doctrine Looke not then vpon the faultes of the persons haue regard to the promise and to the prayer of our sauiour If the defectes of the ministers be of more force with the or beare more swaie with the for to alienate the from the church than the reuerence of the prayer and promesse of our sauiour to kepe the there thow art vnwoorthie of any other prayer and promesse of our sauiour The chaire of S. Peter is the maistresse of the faith I wold that she were also the example of holie life But what so euer scandal there hath bene in some thou shalt find others in the priesthood and people that better know the faults wherin they are then thei self more learned also and lesse reprocheable in their maners and in all pointes lesse imperfect then they self and are in ioye and in peace of their conscience in this Church There they receiue the sacraments of life euerlasting they exercise the workes of charitie and there attend the iudgement of God Doe not say apart to thy selfe that thou doest worshippe Iesus Christ that thou doest beleeue the Gospel and that thou doest resolue thy self according to the expresse word of God euen so sayd Arrius Manicheus Pelagius and all the auncient heretikes Thou doest not worship Iesus It is thy imagination and thy particular fansie wherof thou doest make an Idol which thou doest worshipe Thou doest bowe thy self downe before the woord of the deceiuer that hath seduced the not before the woord of God That which the Church doth teach is the expresse woord of God That which the heretike doth teach is the expresse woord of the deuil which doth vsurp the iudgement of the expresse woord of God and doth vse the same for a baite to make the swallow vp the hooke of error This now is the verie greatest of al synnes for wheras al that a mā may say of the formalitie of sinne it is no other thing but the turning away and goyng farre of from God There is no crime which seperateth more from God than heresie and there is not a sinner that Iesus Christ doth hate so much as the heretike The sinnes of workes Adulterie Meslanghter couetousnes and other doe depriue men of the grace of God but thei doe not driue a man from the Church neither doe they cut away the roote of life which is the faith by the which a man may find the way to enter againe into grace but heresie doth not onlie take away grace but doth also cut away the root of life doth depriue men of the participatiō of all good things that be in the church The scripture sayth that faith is the substāce of thinges to hoped for that without faith it is impossible to please God that the iuste of God do liue by faith that is to say breflie that faith is the foundation of all Christian building Now heresie doth take awaie from vs faith then onlie heresie is a sufficient cause why the heretike can neuer wel ground his hope can neuer doe worke agreable to God nor can neuer haue the life of the iust of God The other sinnes be as a tyle taken from the couerture or as a stone drawen from the wall which doth much hurt to the building But heresie is as it were the vndermyning of the foundation which doth destroye the whole building To be short this kinde of argument is plaine and verie true that no man can saue him selfe without the Sacraments of the Church The Sacraments be not administred but by the priest the priestes be not made but by the Bishoppes Bishoppes be not made but in the Romain Church then what so euer thing that man doth it is impossible by all impossibilitie to saue him self out of the Catholike Apostolike and Romain Church Doe not resist thees argumēts the more thou doest enforce they self to auoide them by euasions so many more halters doest thou put about thine owne neck smitest the axe in to thine owne foot And what so euer thy tounge doth speake to the contrarie thy soule doth fight against the and thy conscience shal neuer be in rest as longe as thou shalt be in heresie And S. Hierom vpon those words of S. Paul Hier. in epi. ad Tit. c. 3. that an heretike is subuerted and condemned by his owne proper iugement sayth verie wel thus the fornicator the adulterer the manslaer and other euil doers be driuen out of the Church against their willes by the priestes But the heretikes of them selues without constraint do depriue them selues of the Sacraments of saluation and of all the good things which be in the Church damning them selues wittinglie and throwing them selues downe hedlonge from their proper fredome in to the bottomlesse pitt of euerlasting perdition For conclusion I will exhort the as the Angels of God did exhort the handmaide Agar that was departed with her sonne from the house of Abraham whom to bring home again finding her in the wildernes taking the waie towardes Aegipt he saied to her poore il aduised Agar seruant of Sara from whence comest thou and whether goest thou tourne again to thy maistres and humble thy self vnder her hand as if he wold say thinke on thy estate that thou comest from a noble house riche ful of the blessings of God that thou goest to cast thy self as a strayed sheepe into the throte of the woolf in the land of malediction And all these things well thought on turne again to thy maistres and humbling thy self vnder her hand thou shalt be happie in that house Euen so will I say to euerie heretike thinke that thou comest from the house of the lyuing God which is the Catholike Apostolike Romaine Church in the which onlie is the grace of Iesus Christ and the remission of sinnes and all blessings of God and thou goest in to the sect of a deceiuer which is one particuler man by whose mouth sathan hauing diuided the from the bodie of the only Church it must neds folow that thou fall in to the bottomlesse pitt of heresie which is the bottomlesse pitt of death and euerlasting damnation Take then the exhortation of the Angel comforter of Agar if not thou shalt soone mete an other Angel which shal be thy destroyer 1. Cor. 10. Heb. 9. If thou hast erred vntil this tyme cut the threde of thy errours renounce heresie and all newnes of opinion be the disciple not of any particular man what so euer he maye be were he more holy and more eloquent then an Angel but only of the Catholike Church the which can neuer erre for so much as she is gouerned by the holie Ghost and that IESVS Christ is her head which is the seur ground of the Catholikes vnto the which I pray God giue vs the grace to cleaue and continue firme and sure that we be found lyuelie members of his body when we shal-be iudged SO BE IT Libellum hunc Gallice intitulatum Du firmament des Catholiques contre l'Abisme des heretiques fideliter è Gallico in Anglicanum idioma per nobilem virum Joannem Pauncefote translatum ac per eximium Dominum Dom. Thomam Stapletonium Anglum S. Theologiae professorem examinatum ac manu eius propria approbatum Ac postremo ex primaria copia manu dicti D. Stapletoni subsignata fideliter teste venerabili Domino D. wilhelmo Clederow Prefbytero Anglo transscriptum tuto posse imprimi ac prelo committi praesentium tenore attestor ego infrascriptus Antwerpiae 9. Octob. Anno 1590. Michael Hetsroey Bruegelius S. Theologiae Licentiatus Canonicus Cathedralis Ecclesiae B. Mariae Antwerpiensis librorum Censor