Selected quad for the lemma: opinion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
opinion_n	catholic_n	church_n	doctrine_n	2,200	5	6.6923	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20602	The second manifesto of Marcus Antonius de Dominis, Archbishop of Spalatio [sic] wherein for his better satisfaction, and the satisfaction of others, he publikely repenteth, and recanteth his former errors, and setteth downe the cause of his leauing England, and all Protestant countries, to returne vnto the Catholicke Romane Church: written by himselfe in Latine, and translated into English by M. G.K.	De Dominis, Marco Antonio, 1560-1624.; G. K., fl. 1623.	1616 (1616)	STC 7001; ESTC S109786	30,635	70

haue sought to diminish it for at last that losse must needs before God be glorious to me also Wherefore I doe first confesse and truly and sincerely out of my owne conscience doe giue testimony that I did not write the intent of my departing from the Romane Church and the Rockes and the Sermon out of sincerity of heart or out of a good conscience or faith not fained but that I might couer with some excuse my shamefull departure and be more gratefull and acceptable to hereticks to whom wretch that I was I ranne in hast and with whom I familiarly conuersed The ten yeares labour which in the booke of the intent of my departing I boasted of were not spent in mature deliberations graue and aduised Counsels or other discreete discussions of the truth but contrariwise mispent in vaine vnprofitable and malicious purposes and preparations how I might boldly vent and put in practise my hereticall lyes and inuentions thereby to satisfie my malitious anger insomuch as my vocation to doe it was not a Diuine vocation but a deuillish suggestion stirred vp in me not by the holy Ghost but by a wicked spirit a spirit of giddines worse then was that of Saules And I do not doubt to attribute my returne back againe to a true Diuine vocation the holy Ghost calling me to returne vnto my Mother the Catholicke Romane Church 4 I said that the manners of the Court of Rome did cause mee alwayes to abhorre it This I acknowledge to haue bin wickedly spoken for neither then nor yet is wanting in Rome very many notable examples of piety and all Christian vertues which may both delight and incite religious mindes to further deuotion I said that by forbidding the reading of bookes written against the Doctrine of Rome there arise some euill suspitions which gaue credit to the writing of hereticks and made men beleeue that there is some thing in them secretly which Catholicks are not able to answere This I confesse to haue beene iniuriously spoken of me against the Catholicke faith who found in the bookes of hereticks false hereticall scandalous and pestiferous Doctrine from the reading whereof the faithfull are to be kept least it infect their soules Neither is it a thing befitting priuate men to read such bookes but the iudgement in matters of such alwayes did and now doth belong vnto the Shepheards who finding venomous Pastures should remoue their sheepe as farre from them as they can Moreouer the arguments of hereticks are deceitfull Sophisticall and easie to be answered I said that the Doctrine of those who opposed themselues against the Romane Church did either nothing or little differ from the Doctrine of the auncient Church and this is false for the opinions wherein they differ from Catholicks are wholly differing from the Doctrine of the auncient Church and nothing can more connince them then the authority of the auncient Church from which they by their nouelties haue so farre departed that worthily for this respect they are condemned for hereticks by the Church of Rome It is therefore detestable and I detest that which I said that their Doctrines were therefore condemned onely by the Church of Rome because these things they said were repugnant vnto the sensuality and corrupt manners of the Court of Rome I said also that at Rome they coyned new articles of faith by maine force And this I said truly against my conscience for I neuer obserued it at any time and I certainely know that it cannot be obserued by any man For the declarations and explications made by holy Church touching articles and mysteries of faith collected out of Diuine Scriptures and traditions of the Fathers and out of the very rules of faith cannot any wayes be termed new coyning of articles Moreouer I endeauoured to take away the title of Catholicke and vntuersall from the Church of Rome in which I erred very much for by the Catholicke Romane Church is vnderstood not onely that speciall and perticular Church which is at Rome but also the whole multitude and company of all the Churches adhearing vnto the Church of Rome in the vnity of faith and in obedience to the Pope in what place soeuer they be yea in the vtmost confines of the earth And it is most true and was approued by me both by word of mouth as England it selfe may witnesse and by writing in my Treatises of the Ecclesiasticall Common-wealth in that part which I heare is lately set forth in Germany that no Church is Catholicke but the Romane and such as are vnited vnto her For all other congregations of Christians being stayned with heresies and deuided and seperated by Schisme from the Romane Church are and be excluded from the Catholicke vniuersall and true Church of Christ and being as it were blinded together with their blinde Guides doe rush and runne headlong into the bottomlesse pit of perdition which I wickedly affirmed of the Romanes to their great wrong For from the Church of Rome at all times a most glorious light of pure and incorrupted faith came forth and doth at this present lighten all other Churches of Christ whatsoeuer But I remember that in the preface of the bookes of the Christian Common-wealth among other things I vsed some words in which I seeme to put and place in the Catholicke Church all them who haue receiued Baptisme in the name of the Blessed Trinity and in so saying althought the words sound euill and make the hereticall Churches true and sound members of the true Catholicke Church which is most false and hereticall yet my meaning was vtterly to exclude the Arrian Nestorian and Eutichian heresies and all hereticall Churches condemned in former times and to retaine them onely that were Orthodoxall But herein I was deceiued in that I esteemed that there were many more Orthodoxall Churches then are for I erroniously beleeued that many Churches which are infected with the heresies of these later Times and deuided by Schisme did appertaine vnto the Catholicke Church which although it be called Catholicke for that it is vniuersall yet vniuersality doth not comprehend any but those that be Orthodoxall and true beleeuing and dilated ouer all the world and continuing in the Catholicke vnity with the Romane For the vniuersality of the Romane Church consisteth not onely in the perpetuall and neuer interrupted or to be interrupted continuance and firmenesse of faith but is also vniuersall because her Identicall or selfe same faith and soueraigne gouernement hath beene dilated and spread ouer all places and into Nations after the comming of Christ for which respect euen in these later times and ages it is to be called Catholicke no lesse then it was in the times of the auncient Fathers seeing that the faith of the Romane Church is dilated in these our times into the farthest and most vast or remote Regions of the East and West and euen to the vttermost confines of the earth So that her children trauelling too and fro from

the rising of the Sunne vnto the setting thereof professing the faith of Christ and offering cleane sacrifices doe especially at this time fulfill that which our Lord spake by the mouth of Malachie saying chap. 1. ver 11. From the rising of the Sunne vnto the goinng downe thereof great is my name amongst the Gentiles and in euery place it is sanctified and a pure oblation is offered vnto my name Neither was it a lesse iniury and slaunder when I said that I clearly saw innumerable nouelties errors in the Court of Rome which nouelties errors I doe neither see nor yet did euer see and I acknowledge and confesse that it was most false that at Rome there was then or now are any errours by which any destruction of soules may follow or the peace of the Church be disturbed or publique scandalls committed For in truth all the peace all the tranquility of the Catholique Church and the eternall saluation of Soules after God is to be attributed to the care and trauell of the Church of Rome I said that the mightier Bishops vnder the Pope were Bishops onely in name and this saying containeth in it both falshood and wrong and therefore I doe condemne it as euill spoken for they be true and lawfull Bishops made by lawfull ordination I said that the others who were not great men and Princes in temporall things had lost the proper dignity and power of Bishops and this truly is a slaunder for the Hierarchicall subordination was alwayes necessarie in the Church much more I condemne as an heresie those words where I said that vnder the Pope was no more a true Church for as I said and seriously affirmed before onely the Church of Rome with her adherents is the true Church of Christ and the others are not Churches And in fewe words to comprehend much I perceiued that in my former intention I chiefly indeauoured to weaken the supremacie of the Pope and in so doing I confesse that I haue spoken against the faith of the whole Catholique Church and haue erred greeuously For it is euident both by the very institution in the Gospell and by the Apostolicke tradition and the dcfinitions of holy Synods and generall Councels and very many decrees of the Pope and also the common testimony of the Fathers and Ecclesiasticall Histories that the Bishop of Rome was instituted chiefe head of the whole Church immediatly by Christ our Lord as a singular Oracle vnto whom both the East and West Churches in all doubts of Faith should haue recourse for instructions definitions and other sound doctrine in matters of Faith as vnto a Master giuen them from heauen who by his office should teach the Church And any one that is but meanly read may easily finde out very many examples where the Popes of Rome established remooued corrected taught condemned absolued deposed restored and reprehended according to ther office euen the Patriarchs and Prymats of the East And thus reprehended they humbly heard and simply obayed the Popes without resistance or repugnance And to be short it is manifest by the confession of the whole Church that all the spirit of Christ for so much as doth belong vnto the decision of matters of faith doth rest vpon one Supreame visible head of the Church which is onely the Pope and chiefe Bishop St. Peters successour 5 I doe ingenuously confesse that the booke which I called The Rockes of Christian shipwracke did much displease me presently after it was set forth for I wrote it in hast without either study or examining what I did The intent which I had in writing of it was onely to flatter allure the English by all meanes possible to conceiue a good opinion of me at my first comming and so I had no regard whither that I writ and printed were true or no But my desire was to say that which might please the Enemies of the Catholicke Church and especially the ignorant common people And when the doctrine contained in this little booke was by the King and some of the Nobility objected against me at my preparing to depart from England I did euen then in expresse words detest it and afterwards prepared my selfe with all my force to resist the greater part of the heresies which were in it All which heresies I doe now againe reject detest and abhorre and they are these That the Pope of Rome is not the Vicar of Christ vpon earth nor visible head of the whole visible Church of Christ That hee hath no power in temporall thinges That an implicit faith profiteth nothing but much hurteth the faithfull That the Excommunications of the Law are vaine threats That the precepts of the Church binde not vpon paine of mortall sinne That the vnity of the Church is not to be sought for from one onely visible head That the Pope is a deadly Enemy of vniuersall Church That the Masse is not a true sacrifice That the Ceremonies of the Masse are Apish toyes That there is no Transubstantiation That Auricular confession with absolution is not a true Sacrament That there is no Purgatory That Satisfaction after the fault forgiuen is not necessary for the remission of the punishment That there be no Indulgences but of things enjoyned for penance That Saints are not to be prayed vnto That the worship of Images and Reliques are not lawfull That there is no merrit of eternall life by workes These and the like errours and manifest heresies not so much mine or newly inuented by me as by the olde and new hereticks whose fancies and madnesse haue beene from time to time by the Church in generall Counsels condemned for they are miserable Rockes vnto which if any approach they are assured to suffer a lamentable shipwracke of faith and eternall saluation And therefore I departed from them as farre as I might and least I should be vtterly destroyed by them in England it was necessary for me to depart from thence and to returne to the Church of Rome the true port of Catholickes with the which Church I reject detest and accurse all the afore said errours and all others opinions whatsoeuer if there be any more in those bookes which doe not agree with the faith expressed in the Church of Rome and in the sacred Counsels especially in the Counsell of Trent and I doe constantly affirme and embrace the contrary verities viz. That the Pope is by the institution of Christ his Vicar vpon earth and the visible head of the whole militant Church which hath alwayes beene visible with full power receiued from God to rule and gouerne her That he hath also indirect power in temporall matters for the better aduancement of spiritual That an implicit faith is profitable and many times necessary viz. when the explicit faith of some articles is not required vnder penalty That the excommunications according to the Law or de facto pronounced are of force and ought to be feared as brought into the Church with great

ioyne my selfe vnto them who were hereticks and absolute and manifest Schismaticks In olde time so great was the crast of a fewe Arians in the Councell of Arminium that by a cunning sleight they almost drew all the Catholicks to seeme Arians And then saith our St. Hierome against the Luciferians all the world lamented and wondred how it became infected with Aranisme But with griefe I speake it so it happened vnto me and much worse and I would wonder and mourne to see my selfe an heretick among hereticks and a Schismatick with Schismaticks But heerein let not the English complaine that I wrong them but rather let them plainely know that I haue done well and as I ought to doe in departing from them and returning vnto my mother the holy woman-Church And as for the laying open of their heresie and Schisme I am compelled to doe it for that it is not fit for mee to be poysoned any longer therewith 8 Concerning Religion there are in England sundry Sects There are Puritanes that is the rigid Caluinists There are some milder who call themselues onely Protestants and reformed There are Anabaptists who are also deuided into diuers Sects There wanteth not Arians nor Photinians and such a like mish-mash of wicked people who though they be not permitted to professe their errours publiquely yet are they not cast forth of their Church nor punished but tollerated whilest they publish their poyson Moreouer that the Anabaptists swarme with heresies none but the Annabaptist himselfe will denie it yet they haue their free meetings in England and the Kings Matestie one day tolde me that lately at London a woman did in an assembly of Anabaptists both make a publicke Sermon and also administer their supposed Sacraments The heresies of the Puritanes are well knowne which are these That there is no free will That God is the Author of sinne That God for his pleafure condemneth many without cause That Christ did not dye for all men That Christ did sustaine the paines of the damned That Infants dying after Baptisme may be damned c. The milder Protestants although they endeauour by all meanes to free themselues for as much as concerneth their opinions from heresie for that they seeme neither wholly to follow Luther nor Caluine but the pure Doctrine of the English Church which they call reformed yet can they not be free from the heresie both of the Puritanes and Anabaptists for that they communicate with them without scruple and if any Puritane or Anabaptist come to their Ecclesiasticall assemblies they neither auoyde nor exclude him And the Puritane Ministers who are almost all wholly infected with all heresies or at least with the heresies of Caluine doe administer the very Sacraments of this false English Church And if that Acatius of Constantinople because he communicated with Petrus Moggus an hereticke of Alexandria if all the East because it persisted in the communion of Acatius was seperated by a long enduring curse from the West how much more are all the English Protestants to be accounted hereticks for that they doe communicate continually with hereticks and doe neither condemne them nor seperate themselues from them but admit them euen when they communicate with them in diuine things Doth not the deformed English Church publickly and openly professe a communion and Ecclesiasticall league with Geneua the mother of the Puritanes and other outlandish Sects infected with Caluinian poyson In the Royall Citie of London by publicke leaue of the King are not the Churches of the French Dutch and Italian Caluinists open and esteemed most louing Sisters of the English Synagogue although they detest the English doctrine profession and rites and be the chiefest fauourers and promoters of Puritanisme in England And also the English Synagogue as much as in her lyeth is most ready to communicate with the Lutherans being polluted with the filthy dregges of many heresies and earnestly laboureth that these Monsters may growe vp together with her into one Hydra that there may be made an vnion of all the reformed Churches as they call them and yet haue no care nor take any paynes to purge their faith and doctrine and pull vp their heresies although the Lutherans hate the Sacramentaries worse then the dogge doth the Snake Of the other English heresies about Faith and Workes and Iustification about the blessed Sacrament and priuate Masses about Merits and inuocation of Saints the veneration of holy Images holy Ceremonies the soules of the departed and the like which these hereticks condemne in their hereticall spirit and which I also in their companies with the same spirit of heresie in former time haue in some part condemned it is not now my intent to speake much by and by I will giue them a touch according to the nature of this place at some other time I will speake more largely of them now I come to speake of their Schisme I haue no doubt at all but that the English Sect which the stayned English call the reformed Church is much more deuided and seperated from the true Catholicke Church then Brittany it selfe is deuided from the rest of the world They themselues will willingly confesse and it is a thing of it selfe most manifest that they are wholy deuided seperated from the Church of Rome and from all the Churches which are subiect vnto her and liue in community with her And seeing that the Romane Church with those which adheare vnto her is according to Catholicke faith truly and properly the Catholicke Church of Christ Doth it not then necessarily follow that the English congregation which they call a Church is altogether seperated from the true Catholicke Church and consequently neither to be the body of Christ nor the house of God nor absolutely a Church which thing as soone as I plainely vnderstood I could not stay any longer in it But they will say it appeareth now vnto thee so who yet in thy bookes of Ecclesiasticall Common-wealth hast called Rome Babylon who hast denied that there was any Church in Rome and also hast taught vs that it was properly a Schismaticall Church But that which thou fayest of our Church is not manifest vnto vs Wherefore I will endeauour that it may be also manifest vnto the English They know very well that I am not Pythagoras whose onely authority amongst his Schollers was accepted for proofe wherefore they should not haue beene moued at these things I spake seeing they were but have astertions and for this cause my words euen yet are vaine for when I bring forth the proofes and examples they are without force and ground The reason whereupon sgrounded my position of Rome to be Babtlon was because the Prophesie in the 18. of the Apocalips could not be interpreted of Rome before it receiued the Christian faith and whilst it was the habitation of the Gentiles But this reason is of no force for suppose that it were true yet it doth not follow that Rome being now Christian should