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
holie scriptures The Samaritanes were heretiques and did fortifie them selues with the texte of the law of Moyses Our sauiour hath condemned them with his owne mouth when being asked of the Samaritane whether God should be worshipped in Hierusalem or in Samaria he answered you worshippe that you know not wee worshipp that Iohan. 4. we knowe the saluation is of the Jewes For it is as yf he had sayd yow Samaritanes which be distracted from the Iewes you shal haue nothing in the treasure of saluation and you can not but erre This only voice thundering from heauen you worshipp that you know not is a sufficient flash of lightening to ouerthrow all that these deuided felowes frō the Curch can imagine to haue eyther holie or godlie Let no mā be ouertakē by the deuil through ignorance of this doctrine S. Augustin teacheth vs clearly that although heretikes S. August in Enchrid ad Lauren. do preache the name of Iesus Christ yet that name is not their seur groūd as it is to Catholikes but remayneth proper to the Church only for if one consyder aduysedly that which belongeth to Iesus Christ he shall not fynde it amongst heretikes what so euer but in tytle and shew only the effect of the vertue shal not be there they sound out with full mouth that they holde the sonne of God for the redeemer of the worlde but notwithstandyng after they haue pronounced those woords because they spoyle hym of his vertue dignitie that which S. Paule sayth Collos 2. is truly proper vnto them that they keepe not the heade whereof the whole body which is the Church by ioyntes bandes being compacted groweth to the increase of God And according to this Optatus properly sayth that the buylding Opt. li. 3. 6. of heretykes is but only a wal which hath no corner stone nor couerture aboue in such sorte that if they make a gate he that entreth in is alwayes without subiect to wyndes rayne tempest theeues and to wylde beasts But the Catholike Church is an entier howse in the which God doth dwel and he dwelleth not in any other Al that which is inclosed therein is couerd wel assured out of daunger of the incommodytyes of the ayre of theeues and of all external harme Furthermore he compareth heresie to artificial trees which fowlers fashion in likenes of a natural tree hauing the shew of a true tree but full of snares and of glew where the brides searching their life fynde their death wheras the Church is a true tree in deed full of good fruits without snares and fraude But aboue al. S. Cyprian hath very wel sayd that heresie and idolatrie be in Lib. de vnit Eccles the same damnatiō as daughters of the same father when sayth he by the coming of Iesus Christ the light being reuealed vnto the gentiles and the sonne of saluation shyning to the face of al people the darknes of idolatry was chased out of the world Satan seing his seates and temples desolate and his Idols forsakē of al people on te earth which did runne vnto the Churches of Iesus Christ he found a new craft vnder the self same name of Christian to intangle them that were not wel aduised and to make them fal from the grace of Iesus Christ that is he hath sturred vp heresies with the which he hath subuerted the fayth corrupted the truth and broken the vnite of concorde in such sorte that those whom he can not longer hold in the auncient way of blyndnes he hath deceaued by the error of a new way so spoyleth men euen within the Church deceauing them with an other kynd of darkenes to the end that not contynewing in the vnitye of the Church they may yet cal them selues Christians and walking in darkens they may perswade them selues to haue the light making them blinde without perceauing their blyndes yea then when they thinke them selues most sure of the light For as he is a cunnyng woorkeman to transforme him self often into an Angel of light he leadeth them in to likelihoodes of truth that he may so deceiue them in the truth affirmyng the night for day death for life infidelitye for faith Antichrist vnder the name of Iesus Christ And ther is not any absurditye how monstrous and foule so euer it be that he doth not make them receyue and that very greedelye and hauing once bleared them with his iugling tricks he holdeth theyr iudgements so fast tyed and hampered that they can not see the very open and manyfest truth so that hauing now no more roote in God they be cast into a reprobate sense turnyng to their owne destruction al that is presented vnto them and sticke not now to stād and fyght agaynst God him self Now to them wich suffer them selues to be deceiued it happeneth sayeth S. Cyprian for not searching the truth of faith by the right way according to the direction of our heauēly Maister who doth send vs to the chayer of S. Peter which of his proper auctoritie by prerogatyue he hath ordeined to be head as the fountayne roote of his Church And this was a greate benefit of God that he hath giuen a certaine seat to his Church as auncyently was the chayre of Moyses to the end that in the doubtful points of faith men myght haue a place to resorte vnto as to a certeine Vniuersite to receiue their iudgement and resolutiō and so to kepe the vnitie of faith among so many dyuers nations that were to enter in to the Church This is certeinly the point whereby all heretikes in the world haue perished doe perishe now and shall alwayes perishe for that they like not not sauour not the Sacramēt of the vnitie of faith in the vniuersal brotherhood of the Church nor acknowledge that there is one certain Church the only mother of al the children of God which is only holie Catholike and Apostolike vnto whom Iesus Christ her spouse head hath giuen the character of the order of his eternall Priesthood the keyes of the realme of heauen all aucthoritie ouer his howshould vnto whom he hath promised assistance of his holie spirit vntil the end of the worlde in whom is the wil of God the forgiuenes of sinnes and the distribution of graces who only hath the woord of God in keeping the pure doctrine of the Gospell the true vse of Sacraments to whom only therefore doth appertain to iudge of the true sense of the holy scriptures and to decyde the controuersies of faith that rise among men whose iudgements in earth be ratified in heauen which Church being but one and vndiuided in faith yet extending it self in her cōmuniō as the beames of the sunne as long and as wyde as the whole world encreasinge multiplyinge dayly without end or lymit continueth inseparably vnited to her head as the beames to the body of the sunne not liuinge but of his grace not breathing but of his
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
soule and defiled the body the reliques of the one being harder to be healed then of the other but if the one and the other die in their sinne the heretike shal carie a more rigorous iudgement than the fornicator This point then is without contradiction that in all the vniuersal vvorld there is but one only Church vvhich doth administer eternal lyfe vvhich hath the keyes of the kyngdome of heauen in vvhich good deeds be revvarded vvith lyfe euerlasting vvhich dravving out of the holy Scriptures the right line of interpretation both prophetical and Apostolical according to the sense that hath bene preached and taught geueth her children assured certentie of the good pasture knowledge of the euil whō who so obeyeth not shal neuer see God For this cause S. Paul according to the care vvhich he had more then fatherly of the saluation of men doth exhorte very earnestly to be carefull to kepe the vnitie of spirit which is to hold them selues ioint firme and locked in the bosome of the Churche knowing that euerie where out of the same dwelleth death and that euerie particular assemblie out of the same is the Synagog of Sathan All diuinitie out of the Church is vaine false basterdly cōfuse ful of deceit impietie When the heretike alleageth woordes of the Gospel that is now no more saieth S. Hierom the Gospel of God The Gospel in their mouth becometh the woord of man and the woord of the deuil the trueth is poysoned by their leauen in suche sorte that it is altogether vnlike to it selfe wherin they fare as the false and leud counseilors of a prince or state whoe in giuing counceil redounding to ther owne particular profit and not of the Prince or common welth doo betray the Prince and the comon welthe euen so the heretiks be traitors to God and to the holy scriptures And let no man be deceiued if somtimes they seeme to teach the same doctrine that the catholikes do betwene the true and the false there is but a hears difference But now suppose they preached in all throughout the self same doctrine of faith and Sacraments as the catholiques doe that they be also otherwise irreprehensible of their life in external honestie yea finallie though they spend their bloud for the name of Iesus Christ all this notvvithstāding fith S. Aug. lib. de fide ad petro they make a bodye apart and hold not the vnitie of the catholike Church they be in state of perdition The vse of the Sacraments the woorks of mercie and the gloriouse confession of the name of Iesus Christe can not profit but vnto him which is in the vnitie of the catholique Church Which vnitie who holdeth not he diuideth the body of Iesus Christ which is one and indiuisible and his Church hath not two bodyes Iesus Christ is not diuided sayth S. Paul and that point is of so great importance as the creed of the faith which is dayly songe in the Church doth expressely shew that there is but one Church to the end that all men might know that out of the same there is no saluation Such as come near the brinke of a deep pit or of any dovvneright pitche conceiuing the horrour of tēporal death all trembling they retier far of for fear to fall therin but there is not any deep pit or dovvneright pitche or peril vvhat so euer in this vvorld vvherein a man should conceiue so much feare to fall as into heresie For in all heresie dvvelleth the horrour of eternall death And to fall from the assured firmament of the Churche in to heresie is to fall from cleaning to God to the bottomles pit of him self vvhich is as the fall of Satan vvhen he vvas headlonge throvven dovvne from heauen to hell Let vs then take heed God Christian people of separating of our selues hovv litle so euer it be from the catholike Church no not in one only litle thought let vs yeeld vniuersallie to all that the Church doth teach vvithout reseruing any thing vvhat soeuer it be to our particular iudgement against the iudgement of the Church Looke hovv much any man reserueth to his ovvn resolution vpon his ovvn proper sense in matters of faith so nigh he is to the losse of his lyfe so farre is he in darknes of errour so near is he to death so much diuided from God so fast cleaueth he to the deuil Farre from all those vvhich haue care of their ovvn euerlasting saluation be that deadlie presumption vvhich would share his faith vvith the Church that is vvould make a choise and particular separation of the points vvhich it pleaseth him to beleeue or not to beleeue vvith the Church as if that syde vvhereunto by our ovvn direction vve resolue to leane vvere to vs a better euidence and cleeret testimonie than the vniuersal Churche This is in verie deed to censure the Church and to make our selues iudges of the Church and of the holy Ghost also vvhich teacheth her This is to be too too much ignorant of our own ignorance vveaknes and mesure of our ovvn state and condition The iudgement of one particular mā hovv vvise so euer he may be is but as a litle candle in the darknes of the night the which giueth light scant fovver or fiue pases in circumference but is incōtinent obscured inuironed with the exceding force of vniuersal darknes Wher the Church vvhich as S. Iohn sayeth is clothed with the sunne hauing the moon Apoc. 12. vnder her feet dothe cast her beames vpon the face of the vvhole earth taking her brightnes from aboue and drawing her light out of the sea of the Intelligence diuine Avvay say I vvith this presumption farre be it from all our friends farre from the chosen and elect of God farre from al those vvho haue an earnest desire of their ovvn saluation wolde vvillinglie forsake this worlde to see God eternallie and to attain vnto the glori of eternal felicitie Avvay vvith this rashenes of particularities in opinions seuered from the Church This is the verie cockle of wicked spirits This is the vvay to fall in to the hands of the deuil vvho being not able to wound a man to death by making him to forsake the Church absolutelie dothe yet vvound and disfigure the integritie and sincere purenes of a Christian in this point at least that novv he is not sound and sincere nor such a one as the beautie and state of a christian requireth Deformed is that member sayth S. Augustin which is not conformable to the whole Raither suffer the soule to be diuided August Turpis est omnis pars vniuerso suo non congruens from the bodie with all the torments in the worlde than to be diuided from the Church or to dissent from the Church in any one iote only or in any one sole litle point He that would agree with the Church in all except one only point is not a catholike Faith is more
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
Irâ—n lib. 1. ca. 20. Chrisostome The sectes say they be called of the name of the arche heretike but to vs no man hath giuen a name faithe it self which is catholike surnameth vs so and S. Ierome If thou S. Hieron cont Luciferanos heare those which are called Christians to beare a name not of our lord Iesus Christ but of some other as Marcionites Valentinians know ye certenly that they are not the Church of Iesus Christ but a Sinagoge of Antichrist Now yow poore abused Lutherans and Caluinists be holde the horroure of your bothomlesse pitt you are no more Christians and you haue no part in the saluation by Iesus Christ All aucient Fathers do witnesse with one consent that the only Catholike is in the Church of Iesus Christ and all that bear the name of one particular man be heretikes and excluded from the kyngdome of Iesus Christ Those witnesses can not be reproued and this is one marueilous iudgement of God against heretikes and a comfort for the Catholikes by the Creed of the Apostles it is a necessarie consequens that any Church if it be a true must needes be catholike but there is not a societe in the vvorld which doth possesse the name Catholike saue only the Romain Church All others will call them selues Arrians Lutherans Caluinists the reformed Church Gospellers ProtestaÌ„ts and such other kinds of special names as they haue but Catholikes doe not so for in all parts of the vvorld vvhere the name Catholike Church doth sounde it is intended and vnderstood to be the Romain Churche yea by the heretikes them selues A maÌ„ that passeth by Geneua being asked what he is if he answere I am a Catholik is taken of no man there for a Caluinist Seek not here to blynde your selues against so manifest a trueh but forsake both the sect and also the name of these wicked deceiuers the Archeheretikes of this tyme which will draw you with them selues in to their bottomlesse pitt of euerlasting damnation if you do not enter again in to the Church and mount vp in to the firmament of Catholikes The secound marke of the true Church is the succession of Bishoppes sithens S. Peter to this day which neuer hath bene interrupted the vvhich succession the fathers haue alwayes obiected against heretikes of their tyme as an inuincible argumeÌ„t for euen as to the propagation of mankinde mariage is necessarie so to the procreation of the children of God according to the spirit the order of preisthood is instituted vvhich can not be continewed perpetuallie but by spiritual propagation from those priests whom Iesus Christ did first institute It is not so of kings as it is of preistes for if all the kings of the earth should faile at once the people might create new But if all the priests of the world should happen to fayle it is not in the power of all mankinde to make new Their institution is diuine and not humain Iesus Christ him selfe must come again in person in to this vvorld for to institute som new S. Ireneus Iran li. 3 c. 3. sayth that by this succession all heretikes be coÌ„founded for neuer heretike could shew his next predecessor in communion of doctrin And to proue that the Romain Church is the true Church he rekeneth the Bishoppes of Rome from S. Peter vnto S. Eluther the Pope of his tyme vvhich vvas the twelveth Tertullianus Eusebius Prosper S. Hieronimus S. Augustin Epiphanius Optatus and all the auncient fathers haue vsed this argument against heretikes Tertullian sayth shew the Tertul. lib. de praescr beginÌ„ing of your churches and the orderlie succession of your Bishoppes deriued by succession froÌ„ some one of the Apostles as vve doe shew the orderlie succession in the Romain Church from S. Peter Account sayeth 8. Aug. epist 165. in psal S. Augustin the priests sithens the state of S. Peter and look in to that order of fathers vvhich haue succeded one an other and you shal fynde that the Romain Church is the same stone that the proud gates of hell can not vanquish And he sayth further that the Aug. cont ep fundam succession of priests in the romain Church by one continual line holdeth him in that Church Likerwise Optatus Shew sayth he the first beginning of your chayer you which wil Optatus lib 2. chalenge the holy Church vnto your selues And Epiphanius hauing orderlie recited the names of all the Bishops from S. Peter vnto Siricius then Bishop which was the thirtie eight Epiph. har 27. he addeth Let no man meruail if we be so exact in this recital for by thies things the euident trueth of the Church doth alvvayes shevv it self If then those auncient fathers haue so greatlie estemed that continuation of twelue twentie or forty souerain bishops successors of S. Peter how much stronger is that argument at this day for vs which shew the continuacion of more than two hundred thirtie thre without exception This argument is insoluble and all the heretikes of the worlde caÌ„ not answer the same for the Church can not be without priests nor without Bishops and pastors There must needes be as S. Paul sayth some for the edefying of the body of Iesus Christ Ephe. 4. vntil he come to iudge the worlde And as S. Hierome sayth the Church which is without priests is not a Church and none S. Hierom. can be priest if he be not ordeined by a Bischop being successor of the apostolike priesthode This marke is not only most certain most euident but forcible to know Con. Laud. con 12 do 61. c. the true Church for where the succession of priesthode is there is the succession of doctrine Moyses the prophets our sauiour him selfe in the Gospel doth affirme the same Deut. 17. Math. 2. Now then we shew the succession of priesthode of the soueraign Bishop of this tyme by ascending froÌ„ predecessor to predecessor vpward vntil we arriue at S. Peter and enter as it were in to the side of Iesus Your Caluin seing him selfe by this argumeÌ„t so intangled Caluin that he could not slip away he striueth he wringeth him selfe he tourneth and tosseth he broyleth with so great rage as he speweth out a whole flud of iniures against Popes priests and Bishops Oh the madde dogge seing cleerlie that succession is a verie certein signe of the true Church to which he could not answer whereby he is proued to be a deceiuer sent of the deuil he casteth from the poysonful pit of his harte iniureis sufficient to darken the heauen O ye Lutherans and Caluinists if you be capable of reason if you may be taught by the holie Ghost if you be touched with the desire of your saluation then examin you without passioÌ„ this argument hearken to that which your own consciences shal teache you and be ye not enemies to your own saluation For sithins that you haue not the order of priesthood from any Bishop successor
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