of their Church Wherevpon if you demand of a French Catholike of what Church he is his answere wil be that he is of the Catholike Roman Church where he addeth Roman to distinguish himselfe from al Sectaries vvho doe cal themselues somtimes Catholikes though most absurdly and to specifie that he is such a Catholike as doth wholy joine with the Roman Church in faith and religion Euen as the vvord Catholike was linked at first vvith Christian to distinguish a true Christian beleeuer from an Heretike according to that of Pacianus an ancient Authour Epistola ad Simphorian Christian is my name Catholike is my surname so now a daies the Epitheton Roman is added vnto Catholike to separate those Catholikes that joine with the Church of Rome in faith from other sectaries who doe sometimes cal themselues also Catholikes though very ridiculously because they be diuided in faith from the greatest part of the vniuersal world Out of the premises may be gathered that the Roman Church may wel signifie any Church that holdeth and maintaineth the same faith which the Roman doth whence it followeth that M. Abbot either dealt doubly vvhen he said the Roman Church to be a particular Church or else he must confesse himselfe to be one of those Doctors vvhom the Apostle noteth 1. Tim. 1. vers 7. For not vnderstanding what they speake nor of what they affirme Now to this his second sophistication The Roman Church by our rule is the head and al other Churches are members to it but the Catholike comprehendeth al ergo to say the Roman Church is the Catholike is to say the head is the whole body Here is first a mishapen argument by vvhich one may proue or disproue any thing for example I wil proue by the like that the Church of England is not Catholike thus The Church of England by their crooked rule is a member of the Catholike Church but the Catholike Church comprehendeth al where fore to say the English Church is the Catholike Church is to say a member is the whole body Besides the counterfait fashion of the argument there is a great fallacy in it for to omit Fallacia accidentis that vve say not the Church of Rome but the Bishop of Rome to be the head of the Church it is a foule fault in arguing as al Logitians doe vnderstand when one thing is said to be another by a metaphore to attribute al the properties of the metaphore to the other thing For example Christ our Sauiour is metaphorically said to be a Lion Apocal. 5. vers 5. Vicit Leo de tribu Iuda now if there hence any man would inferre that a Lion hath foure legges and is no reasonable creature ergo Christ hath as many or is not indued with reason he might himselfe therefore be wel taken for an vnreasonable and blasphemous creature Euen so must M. Abbot be vvho shifteth from that propriety of the metaphore bead which was to purpose vnto others that are cleane besides the purpose For as Christ vvas called a Lion for his inuincible fortitude so the Bishop of Rome is called the head of the Church for his authority to direct and gouerne the same but to take any other propriety of either Lion or Head when they be vsed metaphorically and to argue out of that is plainly to play the sophister Wherefore to conclude this passage M. Abbot hath greatly discouered his insufficiency in arguing by propounding argumēts that offend and be very vitious both in matter and forme and that so palpably that if young Logitians should stand vpon such in the paruies they would be hissed out of the schooles it must needes be then an exceeding great shame for a Diuine to vse them to deceiue good Christian people in matter of saluation And if after so great vaunts of giuing ful satisfaction to the reader and of stopping his aduersaries mouth that he should not haue a word to reply he be not ashamed to put such bables as these into print he cannot choose but make himselfe a mocking-stocke to the world surely his writinges are more meete to stoppe mustard-pots if I mistake not much then like to stoppe any meane schollers mouth ROBERT ABBOT IT is therefore a meere vsurpation whereby the Papists cal the Roman Church the Catholike and the very same that the Donatists of old did vse Aug. Ep. 48. They held the Catholike Church to beat Cartenna in Africa and the Papists hold it to be at Rome in Italy they would haue the Church to be called Catholike Ibid. breu collat 2. cap. dici 3. not by reason of the communion and society thereof through the whole world but by reason of the perfection of doctrine and sacraments which they falsly challenged to themselues the same perfection the Church of Rome now arrogateth to it selfe and wil therefore be called the Catholike Church Cōt Crescon grammat lib. 2. cap. 37. Epist 48. From Cartenna the Donatists ordained Bishops to other countries euen to Rome it selfe And from Rome by the Papists order must Bishops be authorised to al other churches They vvould be taken to be Catholikes for keeping communion with the Church of Cartenna and so the Papists vvil be counted Catholikes for keeping communion with the Church of Rome They held Ibidem that howsoeuer a man beleeued he could not be saued vnlesse he did communicate with the Church of Cartenna And the Papists hold that there is no saluation likewise but in communicating vvith the Church of Rome The Donatists vvere not so absurd in the one but the Papists are as absurd and ridiculous in the other WILLIAM BISHOP IN the former passage M. Abbot bestowed an argument or two raked out of the rotten rubbish of those walles to vse some of his owne wordes vvhich vvere before broken downe by men of our side Now he commeth to his owne fresh inuention as I take it for it is a fardle of such beggarly base stuffe and so ful of falshood and childish follies that any other man I vveene vvould not for very shame haue let it passe to the print It consisteth in a comparison and great resemblance that is betweene the old doating Donatists and the new presumptuous Papists if M. Abbot dreame not The Donatists saith he held the Catholike Church to be at Cartenna and the Papists doe hold it to be at Rome in Italy False on both sides because we doe not hold it to be so at Rome as they did at Cartenna for we hold it to be so at Rome as it is besides also dispersed al the world ouer they that it vvas wholy included vvithin the straight boundes of Cartenna in Mauritania and her confines so that whosoeuer was conuerted in any other country must goe thither to be purged from their sinnes as S. Augustine testifieth in expresse tearmes Epistola 48. in the very place by M. Abbot alleaged False also in the principal point that the
we are justified not by faith alone but also by good workes That in extremity of sicknesse we must cal for the Priest to anoile vs with holy Oile That we must confesse our sinnes not to God alone but also vnto men these and diuers such like heades of our Catholike faith formally set downe in holy Scripture the Protestants wil not beleeue though they be written in Gods vvord neuer so expresly but doe ransacke al the corners of their wits to deuise some odde shift or other how to flie from the euidence of them Whereupon I conclude that they doe not receiue al the written word though they professe neuer so much to allow of al the bookes of Canonical Scripture Lib. 2. de Trinitate ad Const For the written word of God consisteth not in the reading but in the vnderstaÌ„ding as S. Hierome testifieth that is it doth not consist in the bare letter of it but in the letter and true sence and meaning joined togither the letter being as the body of Scripture and the right vnderstanding of it the soule spirit and life thereof he therefore that taketh not the written word in the true sence but swarneth from the sincere interpretation of it cannot be truly said to receiue the written word as a good Christian ought to doe Seing then that the Protestants and al other sectaries doe not receiue the holy Scriptures according vnto the most ancient and best learned Doctors exposition they may most justly be denied to receiue the sacred vvritten word of God at al though they seeme neuer so much to approue al the Bookes Verses and Letters of it vvhich is plainly proued by S. Hierome vpon the first Chapter to the Galathians Now to draw towardes the end of this clause not only neuer a one of M. Abbots assertions whereby he went about to proue them selues and their Church to be Catholike is true as hath beene shewed before but ouer and besides his very conclusion conuinceth himselfe euen by the verdict of himselfe to fal into the foule fault and errour of the Donatists Our faith saith he because it is that which the Apostles committed to writing is the Apostolike faith and our Church by consanguinity and agreement of doctrine is proue to be an Apostolical Church c. and is the only true Catholike Church c. see you not how he is come at length to proue their Church to be Catholike Page 16. Line 5. Ex perfectione doctrinae By perfectnesse of their doctrine vvhich was as he himselfe in this very assertion noted a plaine Donatistical tricke reproued by S. Augustine whom in that point he then approued What doating folly is this in the same short discourse so to forget himselfe as to take that for a sound proofe which he himselfe had before confuted as heretical we like wel of Tertullians obseruation That our faith ought to haue consanguinity and perfect agreement with the Apostles doctrine but that is not the question at this time but vvhether our doctrine or the Protestant be truly called Catholike that is whether of them hath beene receiued and beleeued in al nations ouer the world that is to be proued in this place M. Abbot if he had meant to deale plainly and soundly should not haue gone so about the bush and haue fetched such vvide and vvilde windlesses from old father Abrahams daies but should haue demonstrated by good testimony of the Ecclesiastical Histories or of ancient Fathers vvho were in the pure times of the Church the most Godly and approued Pastours thereof that the ProtestaÌ„ts religion had flourished since the Apostles daies ouer al Europe Afrike and Asia or at least had beene visibly extant in some one country or other naming some certaine Churches in particular which had held in al points their faith and religion vvhich he seing impossible for any man to doe fel into that extrauagant and rouing discourse which you haue heard concluding without any premises sauing his owne bare word that in the written word There is no mention made of the Pope or his Supremacy nor of his Pardons c. Belike there is no mention made of S. Peter nor aught said of his singular prerogatiues It hath not peraduenture That whatsoeuer be should loose on earth should be loosed in heauen The other points were touched before and shal be shortly againe But I would in the meane season be glad to heare where the written word teacheth vs that Kinges and temporal Magistrates are ordained by Christ to be vnder him supreme Gouernours of Ecclesiastical affaires because M. Abbot made choice of this head-article of theirs for an instance that the written word was plaine on their â—ide he should therefore at least haue pointed at some one text or other in the new Testament where it is registred that Princes are supreme gouernours of the Church Nay are temporal Magistrates any Ecclesiastical persons at al or can one that is no member of the Ecclesiastical body be head of al the rest of the Ecclesiastical members or is the state Secular higher and more worthy then the Ecclesiastical and therefore meete to rule ouer it though they be not of it to say so is to preferre the body before the soule nature before grace earth before heauen or is it meete and decent that the lesse worthy-member should haue the supreme command ouer the more honourable vvhere the Christian vvorld is turned topsy-turuy that may be thought meete and expedient but in other places that wil not be admitted for currant vvhich in it selfe is so disorderly and inconuenient without it had better warrant in the word of God then that new position of theirs hath ROBERT ABBOT NOw vvhereas he alleageth that al his Majesties most roial Progenitours haue liued and died in that vvhich he calleth the Catholike and Apostolike faith Ambros lib. 5. epist. he plaieth the part of Symmachus the Pagan sophister who by like argument vvould haue perswaded Valentinian the Emperour to restore their Heathenish Idolatry and abhominations We are to follow our Fathers saith he who with happinesse and felicity followed their Fathers Aug. psal 54. Thus men haue hardned themselues in their heresies saying What my parents were before me the same wil I be But his Majesty wel knoweth that in matter of religion the example of parents is no band to the children L. 2. epist 3. but the trial thereof is to returne to the roote and original of the Lordes tradition as Ciprian speaketh not regarding what any before vs hath thought fit to be done but what Christ hath done who is before al. It is not vnknowne to his Majesty that there should be a time when Apocal. 17. vers 13. the Kinges of the earth shal giue their power and kingdome to the beast vntil the word of God be fulfilled and with the whoore sitting vpon many waters Vers 14. should bende themselues to fight against the Lambe Wherein if any of his Progenitours
Israelites d Genes 48. vers 16. God c. and the Angel that hath deliuered me from al euil blesse these children The example of so religious a person is our sufficient vvarrant to pray to Angels and Saints for e Luc. 22. Saints in heauen are equal to Angels as our Sauiour himselfe assureth vs and Iob was counsailed to pray and cal for aide vnto some of the Saints f Iob. 5. vers 1. Ad aliquem Sanctorum conuerte Thirdly they of the old Testament knew good vvorkes to merit life euerlasting and had by Gods grace free-wil to doe them which I adde because by the same sentences I wil proue both togither God said vnto Cain Genes 4. vers 7. If thou doe wel shalt thou not receiue if euil thy sinne wil be at the dore but the appetite or pange of it shal be vnder thee and thou shalt haue dominion ouer it see both power giuen to the wicked to doe wel if they wil and recompence promised therefore Againe in the law Moises hauing propounded to the Israelites Gods commandements exhorting them thereunto saith Deuter. 30. vers 15. Consider that I set before you life and good and contrariwise death and euil if you loue God and wil walke in his commandements life or else death c. Vers 19. choose therefore life c. Must they not be very dul that hence cannot gather the keeping of Gods commandements to deserue and merit life euerlasting and that man hath by the aide of Gods grace free-wil to performe them Fourthly they that were skilful in the law of Moises could not be ignorant of vvorkes of supererogation that is that there vvere many good workes which men were not bound to doe yet if they did them they might thereby aduance themselues in Gods fauour because there is Numer 6. special order taken for the sanctification of any man or woman that would be a Nazarite that is any one that of deuotion would withdraw himselfe from secular affaires and for some certaine time serue God more religiously yet no man was bound therevnto Further they were allowed and encouraged to make vowes which is also a worke of supererogation against M. Abbot fift instance For not only Dauid saith Psalm 75. vers 12. Vow and render it to our Lord but in the law it is written * Deuter. 23. vers 21. When thou doest vow a vow vnto the Lord thy God slacke not to performe it because the Lord thy God doth require it c. but if thou wilt not promise thou shalt be without sinne And to leaue the word Monkery as fitter for a Monkey then for an Abbot Iosephus a graue authour among the Iewes vvitnesseth That there liued in the time of the law many thousandes called Esseni Antiquitat Iudaic. lib. 18. cap. 2. who were contemners of riches liued in common hauing neither wiues nor seruants What other thing doe Monkes professe then such pouerty and chastity sauing obedience vvhich must needes also in some degree be among the others who liued no doubt in orderly society Sixtly neither they nor vve either buy or sel pardons yet had great mercy and pardon shewed them for their fore-fathers sake as God test fieth in the first commandement And that they were on the other side to endure temporal punishment for sinne after the guilt of the sinne the eternal paine was forgiuen them is most clearely recorded both of al the people of Israel Numer 14. Whose murmuration against God was at the earnest intercession of Moises pardoned and yet were they therefore depriued of entring into the land of promise Yea Numer 20. vers 24. Moises and Aaron themselues were in like manner both pardoned for their diffidence that they did not glorifie God at the waters of contradiction and yet neuerthelesse Deuter. 32. vers 51. debarred from entring into the land of promise for the same offence so that after the mortal guilt of sinne is remitted there remaineth either some temporal satisfaction to be made on our parties or else to be forgiuen and pardoned vs by God and his Ministers Seauenthly that they made praiers and offered sacrifice for the soules in Purgatory is manifest by the fact of 2. Mach. 12. Iudas Machabeus who was a most noble vertuous and faithful Israelite as al Christians doe confesse Neither is there any neede for this purpose to auerre and proue the bookes of the Machabees to be Canonical Scripture when it serueth this turne that they be taken for a graue History and that the Protestants allow them to be of sufficient authority for instruction of manners Further al the Iewes euen to this day doe pray for the soules in Purgatory Titulo 1. Sect. 4. see the Catholike Apology out of Protestant Authours Eightly the Iewes of the male-kinde by their law vvere bound to goe as it were in pilgrimage at three solemne feasts in the yeare vnto one special place that God should choose for his seruice And King Salomon encouraged al strangers to goe on pilgrimage to the Temple builded by him vvhen he praied Deuter. 16. vers 16 that what stranger soeuer should come thither to pray he might obtaine his sute And the ¶ * 3. Reg. 8. vers 21. bones of the Prophet Elizeus giuing life by their touch vnto a dead man doth sufficiently instruct al true beleeuers that it is very profitable to goe on pilgrimage vnto the sacred bones and holy Relikes of Gods faithful seruants departed Lastly they were not wholy vnacquainted with a kinde of shrift and absolution for 4. Reg. 13. vers 21. Numer 5. Leuit. 5. they were charged to confesse the sinnes they had committed and to bring with them vnto the Priest a prescribed sacrifice to be offered by them for their pardon and absolution And as the lepers by that law were bound to present themselues to the Priests and were by them declared such or purged from that imputation so in the law of grace men infected with the soules leprosie that is mortal sinne are either to be bound and declared obstinate by the Priests if they vvil not repent or repenting and confessing the same are to be cleansed there-from by the Priests absolution Chrisost li. 3. de Sacerdot Hieron in ca. 16. Math. as both S. Chrisostome and S. Hierome doe argue This in briefe wil suffice I hope for answere vnto M. Abbots particulars I might easily adde how the sacrifice of the body and bloud of Christ vnder the formes of bread and wine were both prefigured by Melchisedechs Host in bread and vvine and foretold by the Genes 14. Malach. 10. Prophet Malachy and vvhat a liuely type Manna that Angelical and delicate foode was of Christs body in the Sacrament And how the supreme authority of one head ouer al the whole Church and that to belong to a Bishop not to the lay Magistrate was not obscurely shadowed but liuely represented by the
of al Churches Item In decreto de libris sacris Ecclesiasticis tom 2. Concil Distinct 15. Sancta Romana c. That the See Apostolike takes great heede that it be not stained with any touch of peruersity or any kinde of contagion Finally Gelasius assisted with seauenty other B shops doth declare the bookes of Wisdome Ecclesiasticus Tobias and of the Machabees to be Canonical Scripture and the Epistles Decretals of the ancient Bishops of Rome to be of sacred and sound authority and to be receiued vvith reuerence al vvhich the Protestants deny ROBERT ABBOT LEO Bishop of Rome speaking of the Martirs saith Epistola 81. That although the death of many Saints hath beene pretious in the Lordes sight yet the death of no innocent person hath beene the propitiation of the world that the righteous receiued crownes but gaue none and that the fortitude of the faithful haue growne examples of patience not gifts of righteousnesse that their deaths as they were seueral persons were seueral to euery of themselues and that none of them by his death paide the debt of any other man because it is only our Lord Iesus Christ in whom al were crucified al dead al buried al raised againe from the dead But now the Church of Rome hath changed that language and telleth vs that there are superabounding passions and satisfactions of the Saints Bellar. de Indulg l. 1. c. 2. Rhem. Annot. in col 1. v. 24 wherein they haue suffered more then is due for their owne sinnes vvhich doe serue to supply the necessity and want of others and that they doe thereby pay the debt of other men that hereof is growne a treasure in the Church of Rome which is to be dispensed and disposed by the Pope and that hence his Indulgences and pardons haue their ground WILLIAM BISHOP HERE are many vvordes of a right reuerend Father cited to smal purpose for the Church of Rome hath not yet changed one sillable of the same her old language Shee doth maintaine with S. Leo That no man how holy soeuer he were hath by his death or otherwise paid the ransome of any other mans sinnes or satisfied God for any one mortal sinne either of his owne or of any other mans but that it is Christ alone who with the price of his pretious bloud hath fully satisfied his Fathers justice for al and euery such deadly offence and for the eternal punishment which was due to the same and this is al that S. Leo teacheth Neuerthelesse we hold and that vvith S. Leo that after the guilt of such sinnes is through Christ released vs yet are we on our owne partes to endure some temporal punishment for the same offences by Christes order and appointment both to apply vnto vs the vertue of his owne sufferinges as also to make vs that are members of his body like vnto him our head Whereupon the Apostle saith Rom. 8. v. 17. That we be the sonnes of God and coheires with Christ Si tamen compatimur vt conglorificemur If yet we suffer with him that we may be glorified with him of this matter see more in the question of satisfaction This to be our doctrine M. Abbot could not be ignorant Page 118. because it is word by word deliuered euen by M. Perkins himselfe in that place Now that S. Leo vvas wel acquainted with such satisfactions as we on our partes are bound to make his learned workes doe yeeld plentiful testimony I wil cite but a place or two thus he answereth vnto Nicetus vvho did write vnto him to know how he should deale with some Christians vvho being taken prisoners of the Infidels had there among them polluted them selues with eating of meates offered vp to Idols Epist 77. c. 5. Let them saith Leo be purged with satisfaction of penance which is not so much to be weighed by length of time as by compunction of the hart And againe speaking of certaine Priests that were doing of penance he saith Wherefore such men as these who haue fallen Epist 99. ad Rusti cap. 2. must relieue themselues in priuate Ad promerendam misericordiam Dei To deserue the mercy of God Vt illis satisfactio si fuerit digna sit etiam fructuosa That the satisfaction may be fruitful to them if it be worthy that is if it be correspondent to their faults alluding to that of S. Iohn Baptist Math. 3. Doe fruites worthy of penance so that by the judgement of S Leo and the ancient practise of his time men that truly repented them of their sinnes vvhereby the guilt and eternal punishment was abolished were afterwardes put to penance and to doe worthy satisfaction and that not only to satisfie the cōgregation or other men as the Protestants fable vvho haue a greater care to please men then God but to be purged of their fault and to deserue mercy at Gods hand as S. Leo doth plainly teach Now that this temporal punishment which is due to euery Christian after the eternal is through Christ forgiuen him may be released and pardoned by the gouernours of the Chuch and principally by the Pope as chiefe Pastor thereof vnder Christ and that through the superaboundant sufferings of some others is a matter so wel knowne to Antiquity that he must needs confesse himselfe a very puny therein that thinketh it to be a new deuise of the late Church of Rome For that S. Gregory the great who liued aboue a thousand yeares past D. Tho. alij in 4. sent dist 20. instituted Stations to diuers Churches in Rome and granted great Indulgences and Pardons vnto al that with due preparation visited the same is so wel knowne that few learned Protestants doe doubt of it or dare deny it S. Leo himselfe vvho vvas S. Gregories Ancestor more then an hundred yeares in the said Epistle to Nicetus doth plainely signifie as much for he leaueth that enjoined penance of the conuerted party Epistola 77. numer 6. to the discreet moderation of the Bishop to be shortned and released as he shal see cause which is properly a Pardon or Indulgence Moreouer Pope Siluester vvho vvas S. Leo his Predecessour by more then an hundred yeares Antiodor l. 4. summae cap. de relaps at the request of S. Helen Constantine the great his mother consecrated a Chappel in Rome called Sancta Croce in Hierusalem the vvhich he did both beautifie and enrich with diuers Relikes of Saints and granted large Indulgences to al that should with deuotion visit the same as the ancient Records of the same place doe testifie And that the Pastours of other Countries yet more ancient then the former were very wel acquainted with this language of this superaboundant passions and satisfactions of some Saints let that most learned Archbishop of Carthage in Afrike glorious Martir S. Cyprian beare witnesse He instructing the Christian prisoners and most noble Confessours for vvhose triumphant sufferinges the vse
their saying doe alleage this Canon which maketh nothing at al for them because it speaketh only of a Priest that had a wife in times past Qui vxorem habuit that had a wife not that hath a wife Such men that vvere once married after their vviues death we doe admit to be Priests and to offer sacrifice condemning the Eustachians or vvhosoeuer else vnder pretence of their former mariages doth seeke to debarre them from that sacred function Marry such sensual or weake men that cannot or wil not refraine from marriage or company of their wiues vve doe wholy exclude from the celebration of the holy misteries And verily ignorantly and sawcily doth Mathew of Paris or any other late writer reprehend Gregory the seauenth for forbidding al men to be present at their Masses For it argueth great and grosse ignorance in al learned antiquity to account it a strange thing that Priests keeping company with their wiues should be repelled from the Altar vvhen not only Gregory the great Leo the great and Epiphanius vvhose sentences I haue before recited but also euen by M. Abbots owne confession Pope Stritius with the Clergy of Rome and S. Hierome did teach the very same little lesse then a thousand yeares before Mathew of Paris daies to omit sundry other ancient Fathers and decrees of approued Councels so that it was no strange example or vnaduised act to forbidde such fleshly fellowes to celebrate Masse neither could any but loose libertines be offended at it ROBERT ABBOT THE Valentinian Heretikes and Heracleonites Irenae lib. 2. cap. 18. Epiph. Haeres 36. August de Haeres 16. were condemned by the old Church of Rome for vsing expiations and redemptions by anointing men vvhen they were about to die yet thereof hath the Church of Rome now framed to themselues their Sacrament of Extreme vnction WILLIAM BISHOP HERE are but a few lines and yet not free from some lies The Church of Rome hath her Sacrament of Extreme vnction registred in the holy Scriptures as M. Abbot knoweth wel enough in these wordes Iacob 5. vers 14. Is any man sicke among you let him bring in the Priests of the Church and let them pray ouer them anoiling them with oile in the name of our Lord and the praier of faith shal saue the sicke and our Lord lift him vp and if he be in sinnes they shal be remitted him Where we see a set holy ceremony which was instituted by Christ and published by his Apostle S. Iames to be vsed ordinarily by the Priests for remission of sinnes which doth conuince it to be a true and proper Sacrament A fond fiction then was it to say that it was after the Apostles time inuented by Heretikes and that the Church of Rome hath borrowed it of them vvith which foolish deuise of theirs it hath also very smal affinity for their dreame was that by the pronouncing of certaine vnknowne Hebrew vvordes ouer the head of the sicke their soule was made inuisible and incomprehensible Epiph. Haeres 36. euen vnto the infernal spirits as M. Abbots owne authour witnesseth Briefly they differed in forme of wordes in substance of matter and in the state and intention of the Minister They vsed certaine Hebrew vvordes Messia Vphared and such like vvhich are set downe by Epiphanius We these God of his most pittiful mercy and by this holy anointing forgiue thee thy sinnes They vsed oile or some other ointment mixed with vvater We oile alone blessed by a Bishop Any lay person of their brother-hood might minister their drugs Our Sacrament is to be administred by a Priest only Their intention was to make the soule inuisible to the infernal spirits But ours is according to the doctrine of the Apostle to purge the sicke from the relikes of sinne and to giue him comfort and strength to resist the assaults of the ghostly enemy There being so great difference in al the essential points of these two anoilinges judge what a wonderful inginer M. Abbot did take himselfe to be when he conceited that he could by his fine pen shal I say or brazen fore-head make them seeme al one to the simple ROBERT ABBOT IT vvas heresie in the Pelagians with the old Church of Rome to affirme in this life a possibility perfectly to fulfil the law of God and S. Hierome as touching this point L. 1 2. 3. aduers Pelag. expresly disputeth against them but now it is heresie with the Church of Rome to affirme and teach the same that Hierome did as M. Bishop afterwardes giueth vs to vnderstand The same Pelagians were accounted Heretikes for saying that a man in this life might be anamarticos without sinne and that by baptisme he becommeth so but now the Church of Rome teacheth the same And M. Bishop in plaine tearmes telleth vs Page 32. That there is no more sinne left in the new baptized man then was in Adam in the state of innocency to vvhich state of baptisme they also equal a man vvhen he is shriuen to the Priest and of him hath receiued absolution from his sinnes I reserue the Pelagian doctrine of Free-wil and Satisfaction to their due place vvhere God-vvilling it shal appeare that therein also the now Church of Rome approueth those points as Catholike and true for which the ancient Church of Rome condemned them Yea so farre is the Pelagian heresie in request vvith the Papists as that Faustus a Bishop of France at that time a maintainer thereof Bignae Bibliot sacrae Tom. 2. Osor de Inst lib. 9. is by some of them recorded for a Saint and his booke vvhich he hath vvritten in behalfe thereof is called Opus insigne A notable worke And by some other the doctrine of S. Augustine against the Pelagians concerning Predestination is repugned which of old vvas acknowledged by the Church of Rome to be the Catholike doctrine of the Church WILLIAM BISHOP M. ABBOT comes now to make an end of his slanders and false imputations against the present Catholike Roman Church after the same sort as he hath heretofore vsed to wit with wrested and vntrue reportes of the old Heretikes opinions and the ancient Fathers refutations of them The Pelagians did teach indeed that it was possible to keepe Gods Cōmandements but therefore they were not accounted Heretikes for the same doth both S. Augustine and S. Hierome that writ against them approue and confirme in many places I wil touch some of each of them S. Augustine hauing alleaged certaine texts of holy Scripture to proue the same doth conclude thus By these and innumerable other testimonies De Peccatis Meritis Remissione lib. 2. cap. 6. I cannot doubt either that God hath commanded man any thing that is impossible for him to doe or that it is impossible for God to helpe man to fulfil whatsoeuer he hath commanded him and therefore a man holpen by God may if he wil be without sinne De Grat. l. Arbit ca. 16. And
must be a pure body most cleane from al contagion of sinne wherefore not this body of ours which cannot be without sinne must needes be vtterly consumed and a new spiritual body framed This was one principal foundation of Proclus enormious opinion in which the Protestants jump with him that whiles this body of ours liueth sinne is neuer rooted out of it It may be say they as also Proclus there said before them checked or cropped in vs or not imputed to vs but it cannot whiles we liue be cleane purged and rooted out Finally this very argument of Proclus which M. Abbot would father vpon Methodius is in the ensuing discourse of Methodius towardes the end crossed and confuted vvhere he teacheth out of the same Apostle That by the law of the spirit of God and through the vertue of Christes grace that sinne which was in our bodies is condemned to death that is ouercome vanquished and killed These arguments taken out of the most material circumstances of this discourse as of that which goeth before it and doth immediately follow after with the principal assertion in it self set downe both in the beginning and ending of it must needes perswade any indifferent reader that M. Abbot vvas wonderfully carelesse of his credit to thrust out such an impudent assertion so contrary to al likenesse of truth that any man that wil but haue the patience to reade ouer so long chapters may most easily discouer the falshood of it One poore colour M. Abbot found out to deceiue himselfe and others that it was no continuation of Proclus speech Because forsooth Proclus seemeth to confute Origens exposition of the coates of skinne which God made for Adam Origen tooke them to signifie this body of ours Proclus not so but only to notifie the same bodies to be then first made mortal but this shadow of a reason is so simple that it vvil not fray a babe For it often falleth out that the scholler of an erronious teacher vvil not vvholy agree with his master but though he follow him in the maine point of his doctrine yet he vvil haue some one tricke or other of his owne aboue him so Proclus albeit he stood stoutly to Origen in the denial of the Resurrection of the same body in substance vvhich was the head controuersie yet did he dissent from him in the exposition of the coates of skinnes vvhich was but an appendix to the other But this proues not Proclus discourse to be that of Methodius nay it plainly disproues it for Methodius giueth a third interpretation of those skinnes differing from both the other vvhich is also farre more litteral then the other two to wit That the skinnes were made by God for our first parents to couer their nakednesse and to keepe them from the cold To conclude this Section seing there be so manifold great and plaine reasons against M. Abbot and he hauing no better shelter for his surmise then that silly shift vvhich you haue heard of the diuers interpretation of the skinnes seemeth he not to be past al shame and vvorthy to be thrust into an Asses skinne that hereupon takes an occasion to insult against me as though he had gotten a mighty victory Page 52. these be his wordes Now where were M. Bishops wits that could thinke that these were the wordes of Proclus Surely be read the place very early in the morning before he had his ful sleepe or late after supper when he should haue beene in bedde or else he borrowed them from some of his Masters the Iesuites who make as little conscience what they say as he doth We must be content with such stuffe as he can yeeld vs The broker can afford no other wares then he himselfe had receiued of the marchant See how pleasant and plentiful the man is vpon very smal aduantage nay vpon no aduantage at al but only vpon the displaying of his owne grosse ignorance or too too great ouersight I am so farre off from taking this vpon the bare report of others that besides the diligent reading of the Latin translation of Epiphanius I haue looked also into his owne Greeke text vvhere I finde the same distinctions First Proclus wordes with this title Proclou tou Autou the wordes of Proclus himselfe and after them an entire continuation of the same vvithout any signe of interruption for more then foure ful leaues And then in another distinct seperation Loipon tou Methodiou the rest or that which followeth is of Methodius Betweene which two partitions al the discourse is of Proclus owne deuise out of which M. Abbot draweth for their defence some sentences and being ashamed as good cause he had of such a shameful Patrone he vvould gladly haue fathered that badde discourse vpon Methodius a reuerend Catholike Bishop see and wonder at the blinde folly of Protestants that blush not to maintaine Heretikes opinions very stoutly and yet are ashamed of the name and company of the Heretikes themselues Either let them hardly auouch those authours vvorthy to be respected imbraced and followed or else hartily and happily giue ouer forsake and detest those their damnable opinions which made them vnto al holy and learned Antiquity exceeding odious Othervvise they maintaining the very selfe same errours must needes in the end proue vnto al vpright and wel vnderstanding men in like manner infamous and be no lesse hated and auoided of al good Christians then their founders and masters vvere before them Thus farre of Proclus the Originist vvhom M. Abbot would by a strange metamorphosis haue transformed into Methodius an auncient Catholike Bishop Now I come vnto his 34. Section vvhere to trounch me and vpon occasion of my speeches to traduce al English-Catholikes he powreth out a foule turbulent flood of vaine and currish eloquence These are my vvordes vpon which he runneth a very rude and jarring descant WILLIAM BISHOP AND when they shal see no hope of remedy the state being settled Page 225. and a continual posterity like to ensue of the same nature and condition God knowes what that forcible weapon of necessity may constraine and driue men to at the length ROBERT ABBOT IN this period M. Bishop thought to shew himselfe a politike wise-man and contrary to his owne expectation (a) Who told him so al his fellowes condemne him for a foole they had but one special secret amongst them and he hath plaid the part of Tom-tel-trouth to reueale it What M. Bishop are you such a blabbe that you cannot keepe your owne and your fellowes counsel but must needes out with it And had you no other body to whom to discouer it if you must needes so doâ— but thus bluntly to blunder it out to the King But be of good cheare man let not this discomfort you too much satisfie your friendes and assure them (b) Which they esteeme as much as of a straw vpon our word that vve knew your mindes before we knew you were no changlinges