knowledge of his diuine will and pleasure and by his assistance I began to open the eyes of my vnderstanding and to purge and seclude my selfe from those mists and errors of the Romish Church by which my minde before was too much caried away and obscured I obserued againe that from time to time there was a continuall mutabilitie and various changing of opinions among the Prelats for what was one day receiued and allowed by authoritie was the next day prohibited and vtterly disanulled as it is plainely to be seene in Indice expurgatorio For whatsoeuer seemed to taxe the errors of the Priesthood the same by commandement of the Inquisitors and of the Church of Rome was forthwith razed out and extinguished Secondly because if the Bishops at any time gaue power and authority to any for the preaching of the word of God they did not graunt him free libertie of speech but prescribed him a forme of preaching as my selfe can witnesse by their Commissions granted to me in that behalfe which is manifestly knowne to be a thing repugnant to the truth For as Paul saith The word of God is not tied or limited but they limit the same saying We giue you authoritie for the preaching of the word of God so farre forth as you do it according to the opinions of the holy Fathers and to the decrees of the most holy Councell of Trent When as notwithstanding neither the opinions of the Fathers or of the Councels agree amongst them neither are they alwayes true But if they do agree and are true they are as is aforesaid euery where altered by them and changed And if according to their iudgements the word of God should be expressed the truth would sometimes be made more manifest and apparent But in this they are contrary to them selues as that most learned man Iohn Caluine hath rightly and learnedly set downe I am an eye witnesse saith he of the tyranny of the Bishops and Inquisitors for I haue often heard very learned men preach amongst them but because those things that haue bin preached were displeasing to the tyrannous Inquisitors and Bishops the same preachers and learned men haue bene compelled euen in the same Church and that against their owne consciences by their commandements and authoritie to speake against themselues and to preach another doctrine contrary to the truth For instance whereof Father Lobo a famous preacher whose name is well knowne in Spaine and Italy at Rome in the beginning of Pope Gregory the 13 in his Sermon was heard to vtter these words It is of more weight and efficacie and of greater profit and vtility with God to heare his word then the Masse But the same preacher forthwith by the commandement of that great beast the Pope was compelled to make his publicke recantation and yet for all this he was depriued of his authoritie of preaching and enioyned to other penances Let God arise and iudge his cause who saith Viuus est sermo meus My word is a liuing word and Dauid lest he should fall did place the word of God A Lanterne vnto his feete by which also the heauens were framed and which endureth for euer To heare the same word by which all things were made and is the fountaine of wisedome the publicans and sinners assembled themselues together and the people preassed vpon Christ to heare the word of God of which all things were made for it is the fountaine of wisedome Ezekiel admonished the sonnes of Ammon the mountaines of Israel and the dry bones to heare the word of the Lord God by mediation whereof the bones came together bone to his bone and behold the synewes and the flesh grew vpon them and the skinne couered them Christ also calleth them happy and blessed that heare the word of God What the word of God makes loose and free that these tyrants do bind and tye to limits and compasse When Iohn Baptist was in prison he preached the same word which as the Lord saith we ought not any way to oppugne or resist In the yeare of our Lord 1597. Valentine Cortazer being Inquisitor the twentieth day of Iune comming to visit the city of Liria entred the same in his accustomed pompe and vanitie and did impose vpon me the charge and duty of preaching a Sermon of Faith And vpon Sonday the 22 day of the same moneth and yeare Aderat Inquisitor Ecclesiae pro Tribunali sitting in great maiestie and as the manner is Lecto mandato praeceptorum de accusatione I ascended the place of preaching and hauing saluted the Inquisitor began my Sermon After I had past ouer many things in praise and commendation of the Inquisitors and Inquisition I spake thus to the Auditorie Remember deare brethren and be mindfull of those words which I spake vnto you in Lent time in a Sermon touching brotherly correction for two Lents I was their Preacher You are bound as I then told you euery one of you to correct and admonish your brother secretly betweene you and him But if after admonishment he continue still in his wickednesse then tel and acquaint the Church therewith Yet before brotherly correction you are not tied to denounce him Marke this well This I speake vnto you in the name and behalfe of the liuing God Hauing made an end of my Sermon I was inuited by the Inquisitor with all kindnesse and courtesie to take my dinner with him which being ended he began to fall into commendation of my Sermon but vtterly to condemne that brotherly admonition saying That it is not admitted in matters of faith with which the Inquisition hath to do and takes notice of I replied with the very words of Christ in defence thereof but was compelled to hold my peace and the Sonday following constrained to preach of him that they hold and terme accursed in the presence of the Inquisitor and lay open his mind and pleasure against Gods word and to say that brotherly correction had no part or place in such matters as were contained in the Edict Do but see and behold how the word of God is tied and bound by these people of Antichrist And this whilest I was one of their number and company drew my mind into diuerse and sundry distractions Of Transubstantiation MY soule also was grieuously troubled about Transubstantiation of bread and wine into the body and bloud of Christ for this among other things alwayes seemed vnto me a matter of much difficultie And Saint Paul teacheth the contrary speaking of the Lords supper he alwayes nameth bread saying As aften as you shall eate of this bread and drinke of this drinke c. Againe Whosoeuer shall eate of this bread c. Also by this it followes that the Pope doth falsly intrude himselfe to be the head of the Church as is proued by this reason The Primitiue Church and that which flourished for many yeares knew no other head but Christ nor had any vniuersall
Bishop But the Primitiue Church euen according to the opinion of the Papists was the true Church Therefore the true Church ought to knowe or acknowledge no head but Christ nor any vniuersall Bishop It is also thus proued by authority Gregory Bishop of Rome wrote against Iohn Patriarch of Constantinople saying He that shall name himselfe the vniuersall Bishop may be called the forerunner of Antichrist And the Councell of Carthage forbiddeth the Bishop of Rome to be called the vniuersall Bishop as Gratianus witnesseth in these words But now no not the Bishop of Rome may be called vniuersall What should I speake of the Synode of Chalcedon whose arguments are so many and so euident against the Sea of Rome that the same must either needs fal from her high pride and dignity or the whole authority of her Councell be vtterly suppressed as here manifestly appeares in that the same Synode is held and celebrated onely by the Emperors command without either the presence or authoritie of the Bishop of Rome as in those times euen vnto the yeare of our Lord 900 as Cusanus witnesseth their Councels were not vsuall to be assembled but by the direction of Caesar And Pope Leo as Thomas affirmeth following the same custome submitted himselfe to the opinion and iudgement of the Emperour Christ the true Bishop as in this world he took vpon him no person of state so he appointed no dominion or Empire among his Apostles but with graue words pacified them muttering somewhat among themselues of principality so that he drew their thoughts and cogitations vnto another forme of life farre differing from the Princes of this world and openly affirmed that such as would be the first and greatest in the kingdome of heauen must humble themselues amongst men And whosoeuer will be great among you let him be your seruant Christ euer taught and exercised humility saying I haue left you an example euen as I do so also do you Christ had not where to lay his head and will not one Pallace suffice the Bishop of Rome Christ refused the condition of Regall dignity being offered and will not one Crowne content the Bishop of Rome Is it not enough that he possesseth Italy vnlesse with his triple Crowne he command the world Christ departed away into a mountaine himselfe alone that they should not make him a king declaring his kingdome not to be of this world And shall this glorious Vicar in the name of Christ with such honor and superfluity possesse his kingdome in this world Or shall he thinke men will continue so besotted and miscaried in this difference and vnlikelinesse of things as to be perswaded that he beares the place and office of Christ here vpon earth or rather not of Antichrist Boniface the third was the first that tooke vpon him the name of vniuersall Bishop about the yeare 600 which name was neither giuen him by Christ nor from heauen but by that tyrant and parricide Phocas the Emperour From that troublesome fountaine did arise the great floud of Papistrie and that proud name had first beginning And yet in those dayes the Popes did not as now they do presently ascend to the top and height of dignity but by degrees did steale into rule and dominion For Boniface the 8 after he had by cunning and sedition crept into the Papall place made Emperours and Kings to feare him going about to depose and raise vp to authoritie whom he pleased So he thought himselfe both King and Emperour in so much as when the Iubilee was first granted he shewed himselfe openly the first day to the people attired in his Pontificall vestments and the day following in his armor and coate of male and in the presence of all the people with a loude voyce he commanded himselfe to be proclaimed Caesar Which vanity Baldus Antoninus Arch-bishop of Florence Salo and many others doe maintaine by their false doctrine saying that Emperours and Kings are but the Popes substitutes and that the Bishops of Rome had both the power of spirituall and temporall gouernement They ground their false opiniō vpon the power of Christ which power they pretend to haue as his Vicars for Christ saith All power is giuen vnto me both in heauen and in earth and so by consequence both the swords for he is named King of Kings Lord of Lords and in diuers places of the Scripture is called King and Emperour Ezechiel giues him both names and the Magicians and Pilate call him King But I demand this of these Antichrists that if they imitate Christ in this why they do not follow him in humility For although Christ had the power of rule and command yet he in respect of his humility vsed them not but rather affirmed his kingdome not to be of this world But if the Pope do not imitate Christ he is not his Minister his Vicar nor successour As the lewes boasted before Christ that they were of the seed of Abraham so the Pope glories in the succession of Christ and of Peter But the same answere that Christ giues vnto the Iewes he giues also to the Pope as you may read in Iohn 8. Chap. the 37 verse to the very end of the same Chapter But the Pope saith they are called the Seruants of seruants and so named for their humility So that may suffice To this I answere that vnder a faire shew lye hid foule intēts He carries the name of humility but his deedes are cleane contrary Is he the seruant of seruants that holdeth his foote forth for Kings and Emperous to kisse and do reuerence to Is he the seruant of seruants that is carried vpon mens shoulders Is he the seruant of seruants that makes such daily boast of his kingdome and authority Is he the seruant of seruants that saith he hath authority from heauen and the fulnesse of power to make iustice of iniustice Is he the seruant of seruants that saith he is like vnto the Sun and the Emperour like the Moone No but he is rather to be called an Harpy crowned or a deuouring Hiena that vnder a faigned shew of humility worketh death and cruelty Sedition and controuersy oftentimes troubles the minds of such as aspire vnto that vaine dignity and contend for the Papall seat and authority and the place in which stands much scandall when schismes and deuisions arise in the Church in the very act of election Many times this fals out for proofe whereof reade Plato and Illescas in the History of the Bishops If then the election of this present Pope Clement the 8. be diligently examined it was in like manner very irregular the people did much murmure at it By reason whereof vnlesse I be deceiued the Diuines are very doubtfull concerning his election For at Vall-Solet a place where the king of Spaines Court is in the yeare of our Lord 1602. Theses Theologicae apparuerunt teaching Pope Clement the 8. not to be held
Persons but not his Person that he cannot communicate for if it were to be communicated the distinction of persons would be takeÌ„ away But God who is only good did participate himselfe vnto men when he coÌ„municated his word full of grace truth He took not vpon him the nature of Angels as Paul saith but humane nature In this first communication God is in himselfe but in his second after a sort without himselfe Such a one did Dionysius Areopagita regard him to be when he said This we dare speake for truth that almighty God suffered on earth by the power and force of charity viz. he was not in himselfe Of this participation S. Iohn writes and the other Euangelists And seeing God made nothing in vaine this communication also was made for some purpose For it was to take away the sinne committed by our first parents and by propagation Christ accepted past ouer and transmitted vnto mankind By reason whereof as Paul saith we are all borne the sonnes of wrath because we all sinned in Adam Wherefore the right which we had to the inheritance of eternall life before the fall of Adam we afterwards lost as the Lawyers teach But God that as a father loueth vs the sonnes of adoption decreed in his vnchangeable counsell to send forth his Sonne made of a woman and made vnder the law for what loue exceeds the loue of a father that we might receiue the adoption of the sonnes And as Iohn witnesseth God so loued the world that he gaue his onely begotten Son c. by whose coming and participation Saint Paul saith We are saued from wrath and redeemed The Sonne of God is also communicated vnto vs that he might instruct vs in his holy wisedome and vnderstanding because in him are had all the treasure of wisedome and knowledge For he was the chiefe Maister and teacher when he was appointed by God the Father that all should receiue vnderstand from him the doctrine of truth for thus God spake of him This is my wel-beloued Sonne in whom I am well pleased heare him Besides Let a man examine himselfe and so let him eate of this bread c. By which it manifestly appeares that it continues to be bread And the very Priests of Rome themselues after consecratioÌ„ of the SacrameÌ„ts which according to their opinion is eueÌ„ the body of Christ not bread vse the signes of the crosse vpon the same Sacrament calling it an holy ✚ Sacrament a pure ✚ Sacrament an vndefiled ✚ Sacrament the sanctified ✚ bread of eternall life and the cup of ✚ euerlasting saluation So that they name it bread and yet are contrary to themselues The same truth teacheth that holy father Irenaeus saying Now it is no common bread but the Eucharist consisting of two things that is earthly and heauenly In which words he expresly teacheth the bread to remaine there still Moreouer the forme of the body of Christ is the soule for Aristotle saith that Anima est actus corporis physici potentiâ vitam habentis But it cannot be said that the substantiall forme of bread is conuerted into the soule Therefore the same substance of the bread remaineth Further if the substantiall forme of bread be conuerted into the body of Christ it would then follow the body of Christ to consist of two formes which is most false Also the Accident without the substance cannot be ministred or giuen but there the Accidents are seene tasted smelt c. Therefore the substance is giuen The refuge of the Papists is to make it a miracle by which the whitenesse of the bread continues and other accidents thereunto belonging But it is a false reply for it is not found in the holy Scriptures neither was it needfull that Christ should worke such a miracle Saint Augustine saith These things may be honoured as religious but to worke wonder or astonishment they cannot as miraculous Also the accidents are alwaies destroyed by the corruption of the substance But as I will make manifest hereafter the very accidents of bread are destroyed in time therefore transubstantiation of the bread is not giuen By reason whereof the Papists at their times renew such sacrifices reserued in their Vestries or other places appointed to keepe their holy things and reliques that is euery weeke in Sommer time but in the Winter time at 15 daies And this is done to take away the scandall of their corruption Therefore Transubstantiation is not giuen In a matter so plaine and euident I neither desire to spend much time nor to be too tedious or troublesome to the readers But if any shall be desirous to reade more concerning this point let them looke vpon Christophorus Pezeline and Iohn Caluin who very manifestly and learnedly teach the truth and make it cleare and apparant to the eyes and vnderstanding of such as are blind and ignorant Of the Corporall absence of Christ in the Sacrament BEcause it is the ground and foundation of the tyrannicall monarchy of the Papists to blind the eyes of the faithfull which according to their enchaunting speeches beleeue the body and bloud of Christ to be really in the consecration of many sacrifices and as they say in euery one of them and in the cup and chalices I will speake somewhat by the way against their false opinions not to the satisfaction of them that reade for of this matter they may peruse the Institutions of Doctour Caluin c. but to expresse mine owne minde I say first The Papists do adde and detractmany times from the words of the true text to confirme and establish their owne inuentions as it is to be seene by the Inquisitors who adde to the Gospell of Christ what may serue their owne purpose For Christ doth thus admonish vs by Math. Chap. 18. before cited If thy brother trespasse against thee go and tell him his fault betweene thee and him alone c. If he heare thee not tâ—ke yet with thee one or two witnesses If he will not vouchsafe to heare them tell it vnto the Church The Church of Rome to these words of Christ addeth praeter causam fidei but for faith or religions sake so that they take away and cut off the meaning of the Gospell and contradict Christ himselfe so charitably admonishing and exhorting So do they contradict Saint Hierome Saint Ambrose and many other holy Fathers and many times adde and detract from the very words of the holy Scripture as manifestly appears in that vnchristianlike booke intituled the Index expurgatorius But now to returne to our purpose The Church of Rome to the words of Christ saying This is my body addeth for which Christ neuer pronounced nor Saint Peter whatsoeuer Thomas affirmeth And if the Priest pronounce not for among the Papists he sinnes hainously Also the Church of Rome addeth that the bread of consecration ought to be vnleauened which precept was neither deliuered
a true Bishop which doctrine amongst many other father Bazquez maintained being one of the society of the Iesuits which comming straight way to the eares of the Bishop he caused both him and them to be presently called beforehim And because amongst many other reasons that haue moued me to this separation from the Church of Rome this of the vsurped power of the Pope hath of long time bene the chiefest I thought it my part to say something of his tyranny of his name and hypocrisy But for that this little labour hath bene onely vndertaken by me to satisfie mine owne minde and to make some declaration thereof vnto others lest I should be tedious and troublesome to the Readers I will for this time pretermit the further handling of these things yet God willing in their place and time shall they be particularly expressed more at large imitating the doctrine of Saint Paul who after his owne conuersion did conuert his brethren which Christ also our heauenly Schoolmaister doth teach vs saying to Peter Now thou art at length conuerted strengthen thy brethren And I my selfe conuerted am bound in duty to do the same yet in the meane time reade Doctour Caluin li. 4. Institut Cap. 6 7. 11. Of Purgatory and the Sacraments INsomuch as I am now determined to imbrace the truth of the reformed Church I do with stedfast resolution looke into the sentences thereof being consonant and agreeable vnto the Gospell of Christ lest the words of the Lawyers may be inferred against me who hold this opinion That it is a foule dishonorable thing for any that liues in the common-wealth to be ignorant of that law in which he is conuersant And so there is no other Church allowed of more then the Church militant and triumphant But amongst the Papists Purgatory is ordained the third Church which I vtterly deny and abiure For as Saint Paul saith Christ is the purger of our sinnes and sitteth at the right hand of the Maiestie in the highest places Besides hell and heauen there is no middle place found in the holy Scriptures where our soules should rest or be detained The opinion which the Papists hold of Veniall sinnes and the ceremonies by which the same is absolued I wholly disalow as vile and excreable nor is there any other then mortall sinne which is onely washed away by true contrition of heart by the mercy of God and the shedding of the bloud of Christ as Saint Paul saith The Sacrament also of extreme vnction by mediation of which as the Papists dreame the reliques of sinnes mortall are taken away is a very idle and ridiculous matter and no Sacrament For if it were a Sacramēt the redemptiō of Christ were imperfect and in vaine which is against the truth of Gods word which saith The Lord is mercifull and righteous and our God is full of compassion The Lord preserueth the simple I was in misery and he sauedme I reiect also the Sacrament of Confirmation and the rest which the Pope hath ordained and onely reuerence and embrace the Sacraments of Baptisme and the Lords Supper instituted by our Sauiour By this I am instructed in the rules of Christ and by this I am more and more strengthened and confirmed in him Of Auricular confession AVricular confession which the Papists call the Sacrament of Penitence is very foolish For this tyrannicall confession is neither found in the law of nature nor in the Law of God but in the diuell and the Popes kitchin to increase their fare and delicacies Neither did the Apostles teach the same or Saint Iohn Baptist as Caluin directly proueth And Chrysostome also maintaineth whose words Con. 3. t. 2. Pag. 1371. are these Why dost thou blush and art ashamed to tell thy sinnes Take heed thou reueale them not to any man lest he vpbraid thee nether confesse them to thy fellow seruant lest he publish them but vnto him which is the Lord who hath care and charge ouer thee And againe Tell thy faults only vnto me priuately God here speaketh that I may heale thy disease and deliuer thee from sorrow Which words because they are repugnant and contrary to that great beast are by the commandement of the Inquisitors taken away and blotted out in the booke called Index expurgatorius Many in the same manner of confession haue reuealed their sins willingly to their Confessours and the Confessour to the Iudges and others A certaine Bishop of Girona in the time of Iames the second king of Arragon being his Confessour reuealed his confession to the Pope and the king forthwith cut out his tongue I my selfe can faithfully witnesse that being many times present at the talke communication of Confessours they haue so foolishly behaued themselues and so openly in their talke reuealed the sinnes that haue bene confest vnto them priuately by the penitents that their names and persons haue easily become knowne to me and perhaps to many others that haue heard the conference And although there be diuers lawes ordained by the Pope to punish Confessours thus offending they yet commit this crime of reuelation and which is worse without a summe of money the Penitents haue no grant of absolution as appeares in the bookes of Taxes c. By which feare many euen in the very act of confession do conceale the truth till they be compelled to confesse the same I could speake much of this matter and point it out with my very fingar but I will obserue my oath and with good aduice forbeare to relate it In this matter of auricular confession the Confessours are wont to seduce and auert the minds and affections of women from God and to turne and conuert them to their owne lusts and filthinesse To proue this true I present as witnesses those Confessours that haue bene punished by iudgement of the Inquisition for such abhorred and abhominable wickednesse and such as haue bene adiuged to punishment and by sentence of the Prelats and others for being found guilty of the like misdemeanours For by auricular confession many monstrous enormities arise and are begotten To auoid the imputation of tedioulnesse I will not continue to make any longer discourse or discouery of the errours of the Church of Rome But with all my heart with all my minde and with all my soule I reuerence and confesse all things whatsoeuer our new reformed Church doth allow and embrace And if any of the Church of Rome shall vpbraide me that I haue falsely and perfidiously fallen from the same I answere with Saint Ambrose In leauing it I forsake not Christ Him onely no man ought to forsake or change to whom it is worthily said Lord to whom shall we flie Thou hast the words of euerlasting life For the faith of the Church is commanded chiefly to be sought for in which if Christ haue habitatiō it may vndoubtedly be chosen and followed But if the people be perfidious and the maister an
heretique and deforme and dissigure the dwelling place the fellowship and communion of such heretiques is to be abandoned and such a Synagogue to be auoided We must shake off the dust from our feete lest the drought of our barren vnfaithfulnesse prepare and make the way sandy and hard to the true progresse and passage of our mindes and vnderstandings So if there be any Church as he saith afterward that renounceth the true faith and doth not keepe and obserue the foundation and ground of the Apostles preaching it is to be left and forsaken that it beget not the corruption of vntruth Seeing then I haue found Christ onely and his doctrine dwelling in the reformed Church and haue seene that erronious teachers do deforme disgrace the habitation of the Church of Rome I haue deseruedly left the one that I may cleaue to embrace the other that according to the commandement of the Apostle saying Do not company together with idolaters And againe Haue no fellowship with the vnfruitfull workes of darkenesse but euen reproue the rather And what more vnfruitfull worke is there then to embrace false doctrine and heresie In another place We command you brethren in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ that ye withdraw your selues from euery brother that walketh inordinately and not after the instruction which he receiued from vs. And to Titus Reiect him that is an heretique after once or twice admonition And the Apostle moreouer saith thus If any preach the Gospell vnto you otherwise then you haue heard and receiued it let him be accursed And a little before that Although any yea an Angell from heauen should teach you any other doctrine then that we haue preached vnto you let him be accursed But I will no longer stay vpon those places of the Prophets wherein the people is oftentimes exhorted to leaue and go out of Babylon which I know the Church of Rome both imitates and followes Let it not be obiected vnto me by any aduersary that I haue denyed my baptisme by which I am consecrated to almighty God for I onely renonunce the vaine ceremonies vsed therein by the Bishops without authority of holy Scriptures The vertue whereof I know to depend on God not in man that administers the same vnto me Seeing thē it is the part of a louing mother not onely to bring vp her children in the obedience and feare of God but to instruct them also and nurse them vp with the food of his heauenly word and so vnite them to Christ as I haue bene consecrated to God by baptisme in the Church of Rome so in the same I haue bene seduced from Christ by humane inuentions I haue therefore worthily and of right made choice of that Church in which the true baptisme is sincerely administred and the sound doctrine thereof is faithfully deliuered to such as are baptised through the whole course of their liues Besides I perswade my selfe and that truely that I am more deepely bound to God the Father God the Son and God the holy Ghost being three Persons yet onely God then the Church of Rome which hath forsaken and rebelled against that faith which the Apostles in times past so highly commended in her and against whom that imputation of reproach may worthily be had which was once laid vpon the Church of the Iewes in these words And their sonnes whom they beare vnto me they haue offered to Idols to be deuoured And againe in the same Prophet They haue played the whores and bloud is in their handes and with their idols haue they committed adultery And what is it else to commēd the inuocation of soules the adoration of images the obseruation of Purgatory and of Pardons They glorie of the workes of Supererogation the rules and examples of men that are sinners as Francis Dominicke Bruno Celestine Ignatius Loyola and others and especially to thurst yong men and women against their wils into a monastery What is this else as I say but to be consecrated to idols and to superstitious worshipping and in the end to the deuill himselfe and damnation And because as it is well knowne vnto me the Papists thinke we walke not after the right decrees and determinations of the true Church neither beleeue those things which are to be beleeued I will therefore seeing as God hath commanded I am separated and come from among them relate those things which we faithfully hold and imbrace For as Paul saith I am not ashamed of the Gospell of Christ for it is the power of God vnto saluation to euery one that beleeueth Before all things we beleeue in God the Father Almighty maker of heauen and earth and in his Word begotten of the Father and in the holy Ghost proceeding from them both to whom their due and distinct properties are to be attributed in which according to Essence we neither separate the Sonne nor the holy Ghost from the Father nor contrary to the opinion of the Manicheys diuide the Father from the Sonne or from the holy Ghost but we beleeue that they haue one vnity of Essence and Trinitie of Persons without any confusion Which vnitie and trinitie as Hilary Ambrose and many others teach cannot perfectly be comprehended by naturall reason but is apprehēded by faith as many other hiddē mysteries of God of which S. Paul speaketh Oh the deepnesse of the riches both of the wisedome and knowledge of God How vnsearchable are his iudgements and his wayes past finding out All honor be giuen to the blessed Trinity being one God and to whom is equall glory in three Persons contrary to the opinion of Arrius that blasphemously takes away the equality of Persons holding the Sonne to be inferior and the holy Ghost to be seruant to God the Father Of Christ the Sonne VVE beleeue in Iesus Christ his onely begotten Sonne the Redeemer and Mediator of mankind through whom in the holy Ghost he created all things in the beginning not that he redeemed mankind without the Father which sent his Sonne to be the Redeemer of the world or without the holy Ghost by whom man is conceiued and annointed but because the only person of the Sonne tooke vpon him humane nature and by his death and passion payd the price of our redemption and is but one person contrary to the opinion of Nestorius that maintained two We beleeue also that Christ was borne of the virgine Mary according to humane nature it selfe by the inspiration of the holy Ghost and we beleeue with the Catholicke Church that she was a virgin before the birth in the birth and after the birth against Heluidius whom S. Hierome vtterly disallowes so doth S. Ambrose S. Augustine and S. Thomas We beleeue also that Christ our Lord suffered vnder Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried and descended into hell and the third day rose againe not by anothers meanes as Lazarus and others but by his