Paul to the Hebrewes compareth it is there no danger of cutting and wounding and killing by this sword if it be vnwarily handled Scriptura sancta saith S. Ambrose attento animo legenda ne quis has cum legerit quasi puer macheram tractare per injantiam fortiora arma nesciret magique vulnus ex imprudentia quà m salutem ex lectione sentiret Infirmos enim tela sua vulnerant nec potest bene vti armis qui ea ferre non nouerit Sacred Scripture must be heedfully read least any man that readeth them be vnskilfull to handle these stronger weapons as a child by reason of his infancy skilleth not how to handle a sword and consequently rather receaueth and incurreth the wound of damnation through his imprudency abusing them then the help of saluation by the right reading of them For the weake are wounded by their owne weapons neyther can he vse weapons well who knoweth not to weild them 43. It is excellently obserued by Theophilact and it is the common obseruation of all the Fathers that when the Apostles curiouslly inquired nondum enim ex Alto Spiritu sancto repleti for as yet the holy Ghost was come vpon none of them afterthe knowledge of the day and houre of iudgment when the time precisely should be occultat Christus non ignorat diem he hideth the day he is not ignorant of the day let Caluin and his sectaries blaspheme as long as they will against the knowledge of Christes sacred humanity and the reason rendred of this Ne cognitio diei iudicij tanquam machera c. Least the knowledge of the day of iudgment reuealed by Christ vnto his Apostles should proue a sword put into a childes hand Thus then you see both by all former examples and especially by this last of the Apostles themselues what a dangerous way the path of the Scriptures is to walke in if we be not warily guided therin For as by the natiue and genuine interpretation of Gods sacred Epistle as S. Gregory stileth holy VVrit men are directed aright through the sourges of the seas of this world to ariue securely at the hauen of saluation euen so by the erroneous and false exposition of the same Scripture men are deceiptfully misguided wrongfully lead as it were blind-folded into the brakes and briers of pestiferous and pernicious heresies to the euerlasting damnation both of the beginners and followers 44. S. Paul calleth the Scripture the sauour of life vnto life and the sauour of death vnto death which as it is true in that place in respect of the sauing of some and the perishing of others so it is most true in regard of the right sensing of it by the sonnes of the Catholick Church who follow Catholicke interpretation and the wrong interpreting of it by others as are out of the Church and adhere vnto false exposition and hereticall innouation 45. Tertullian of opinion that the Scriptures themselues are so disposed by the will of God that they should minister matter vnto Hereticks his reason is because he readeth in Scripture that there must be Hereticks which without Scriptures could not be and yet his meaning is not that the Scriptures are the cause thereof Christs propheticall prediction was no cause of Iudas treason but rather mans temerarious presumption vpon Gods word and precipitate intrusion into his booke by erroneous and false conceipted opinion is the true cause of all errour and heresy 46. S. Augustine writing to Consentius doth excellently discouer the cause of heresy in these words Omnes Haeretici Scriptur as sibt videntur scrutari cùm suos potiùs scrutentur errores per hoc non quòd eas contemnant sed quód eas non intelligant Haeretici fiant All heretickes to seeme to themselues to follow Scriptures when in very deed they rather follow their owne errours and hereby it commeth to passe that they are made hereticks not for that they contemne the Scriptures but for that they vnderstand them not 47. But heere me thinks I heare the Hereticks obiect as I haue heard them often whilest I did frequent their hereticall Conuenticles and Sermons that the Scriptures are easy to be vnderstood That the Word is neare vs not farre from vs That it is a lanterne vnto our stepps and a light vnto our pathes And thus will they fly through the law and the psalmes the Prophets and Apostles as Vincentius noteth of the Heretickes of his time to proue the facility of the Scriptures To this I answer and grant it to be true in respect of sundry passages of holy Writ where the lambe may wade as well as the Elephant may swymme yet that other places of Scripture are hard intricate mysticall and very apt to be mistaken besides many proofes and those most pregnant that might be brought out of the Scriptures and Fathers the experience of our vnfortunate dayes doth most clearely euince 48. For otherwise how commeth it to passe that all Christendome is in an vprore about the exposition of Scriptures How grow so many contentions amongst the learned at this day Why haue we so desperate and obstinate heresies grounded as the heretickes thinke vpon such apparent and pregnant places of Scripture as that the Authors thereof being deceaued themselues and deceiuing others by the Scriptures will rather desperatly choose to loose their liues their soules togeather then to forgoe and abiure their opinions in matter of religion which once by the least apparent shew of Scripture they haue begunne to defend These men though neuer so learned neuer so wise neuer so morally vertuous yet are they deceiued Shall I say by Scripture nay rather they wilfully by their owne hereticall choice against the knowne interpretation of Catholicke Church Roman Church ancient Church abuse the Scriptures and so are deceaued intangled blindfolded and this they could neuer be brought vnto if the Scriptures were so easy that a priuate spirit might interprete without the publicke spirit and interpretation of the Church And to this S. Augustine alludeth saying Multis multiplicibus obscuritatibus ambiguitatibus decipiuntur qui temerè legunt Scripturas aliud pro alto sentientes They which do rashly read Scriptures are deceaued with many and sundry obscurityes and ambiguities taking one sense for another which would not be if all were easy in the holy Scriptures as all Sectaries do pretend 49. The vnderstanding then and true sense of the Scriptures is the very mayne point which importeth and importuneth vs for our saluation and in seeking out this if euer by seeking we meane to find it we must first abandon our owne iudgment and particuler election and imbrace the common publicke iudgment of Christ his Church This is the interpreter of the Scriptures this is the controller and guider of all certayne and sure exposition Expetitque hic sensus certae interpretationis gubernaculum to cite the whole sentence out of Tertullian this
Maties wise and religious hart who with that opinion might haue made herselfe a Protestant therby haue escaped the greatest part of her troubles and perhaps also haue auoided the violent stroake of the Axe which is well knowne to haue bene vrged vpon her especially in respect of her Religion and of the feare that was conceyued least in time she might come to the Crowne and defend the same I meane her Religion with publicke authority 67. And now whosoeuer it was wherein I remit my selfe to his Matie as most interessed therin both in Honour body and soule as her only Child and heyre chiefest Iewell in the world euident it is the opinion cannot stand as now hath bene said eyther in reason or religion and may be presumed to proceed from such as haue little care of any religiō at all onely they would liue quietly enioy their sensuality passe the time without any trouble or scruple or repugnant conscience for any thing touching religion or that whole subiect And this if I take not my ayme amisse commeth very neere to the point of secret Atheisme 68. S. Augustine recordeth the like opinion of many in his daies who thought it did not materially import them whether they were Donatists or Catholicks so as they professed the Christian faith Multi sayth he nihil interesse credentes in qua quisque parte Christianus sit ideo permanebant in parte Donati quia ibi nati erant c. Many beleeuing that it concerned them not in what side or part ech man were a Christian so he were a Christian therefore they remayned on the party or faction of Donatus the Hereticke for that they were borne therein But S. Augustine vehemently confuteth this false pestilent and indulgent perswasion aswell in the place heere cyted as in many other places of his workes confidently teaching and auerring that a man is made an Hereticke by houlding any one errour obstinately against the Church and consequently damned also In Ecclesia Christi saith he qui morbidum aliquid prauumque sapiunt si correcti vt sanum rectumque sapiant resistunt contumaciter Haeretici fiunt foras exeuntes habentur inimici Those who in the Church of Christ are infected with corrupt and naughty opinions if being admonished to belieue wholsome and true doctrine they kicke against it with contumacy then do they become Heretickes and going forth of the Church are held for enemies So he And with the same seuerity holdeth he in his booke of heresies intituled Ad Quod-vult-Deum that the belieuing of any one heresy condemned already by the Church or to be condemned if rising afterwards is sufficient to make the belieuer obstinate defender no Christian Catholicke consequently an Hereticke so impossible to be saued 69. To this opinion subscribeth S. Cyprian who shewing that euery least heresy or schisme is able to damne a man that adhereth vnto it writeth expressely thus Beatus Ioannes Apostolus nec ipse vllam haeresim aut schisma discreuit sed vniuersos qui ex Ecclesia exijssent Antichristos appellauit S. Iohn the Apostle himselfe did not put any difference or exception of any heresy or schisme at all but called them Antichrists whosoeuer were gone forth of the Church for any heresy or schisme whatsoeuer 70. And yet this point is pressed further by many other holy fathers yea strained to euery heresie were it but in one word or sillable And this was the opinion of S. Hierome His wordes are these Propter vnum verbum aut duo quae contraria essent fidei multas haereses eiectas esse ab Ecclesia we shall read that many heresies haue beene cast out of the Church for one or two words that were contrary to the receyued faith 71. To this purpose conduceth that of S. Basill registred by Theodoret to wit that a good man ought to loose his life if neede require for the defence of one only sillable pro desensione vnius syllabae diuinorum dogmatum The reason whereof is touched as well by S. Athanasius in his Creed where he saith That he shall most certainely be damned that houldeth not entirely and inuiolably the whole Catholicke faith as also by Nazianzen when he saith That heresy consisteth sometimes in one word His wordes are these Nothing can be more perilcus then Heretickes who running wholy ouer all do notuill standing in some one word as by a drop of poyson infect the sincere simple faith of our Sauiour comming downe by Apostolicall tradition This was the iudgment of Antiquity so seuere Censurers were all those holy Fathers of the least dram of Heresy 72. Thus then you apparently see that for making of an errour or heresie damnable it is not required of absolute necessity that it deny some thing of the blessed Trinity directly or some maine article of the Creed c. as many of the first ould heresies did when the doctrine therof was not so well explaned as now it is though this be a desperate shift of the Protestant and most miserable euasion and yet it will not serue his turne he being guilty of heresy in all those high pointes yea of misbeliefe almost in euery article of the Creed for that as before hath beene touched in the third Consideration the greatnes of the sinne of heresy dependeth more of malice and malignity of the sinner then of the materiall obiect about which the Hereticke erreth for that he sinneth of obstinacy and contumacy by his owne choice and therefore is said by S. Paul to be damned by his owne iudgement quia eligit sibi in quo damnatur saith Tertullian he chooseth to himselfe wherin to be damned or els as S. Leo doth more largely giue the glosse Propria pertinacia perit sua à Christo discedit in sania qui eam impietatem per quam multos ante se scit perusse sectatur religiosum atque Catholicum putat id quod sanctorū Patrum iudicio damnatum esse constat That is he perisheth by his owne pertinacity and through his owne peculiar madnes departeth from Christ who imbraceth that impiety which he knoweth hath beene the destruction of many houlding that for religious and Catholick which manifestly appeareth to be condemned by vniforme iudgment of ancient Fathers So blessed Leo expoūds the place the reason followeth for that such a one preferring himselfe by pride and vanity before the whole visible and Catholicke Church he chooseth to hould that which his owne iudgment and fancy doth lead him vnto VVhence it may come to passe that one man erring with lesse pride and obstinacy about some pointes of the blessed Trinity may sinne lesse damnably then another that erreth in points of lesser moment but with more malice as about the doctrine of the Sacraments or other pointes of the like nature And the reason therof is for that this second erreth with more obstinacy and malice which corroborateth the
point thereof not only of those articles which he there setteth downe principally against the Arians and other heresies as did also the Councell of Nice for that otherwaies some man might obiect and say that the ninth article of the Apostles Creed I belieue in the holy Catholick Church the Cōmumō of Saints which S. Athanasius mētioneth not were no article of beliefe and that a man may be saued without the faith therof especially for so much as the said article with the other three next ensuing to wit I belieue the remission of sinns the Resurrection of the flesh and Life euerlasting togeather with the fifth article he descended into hell all which are permitted by the Nicen Creed do not belong to the integrity of the whole Catholick fayth which were an Heathenish absurdity to imagine 18. S. Athanasius then as also that ancient Orthodox Councell of Nice albeit they set downe and expounded those articles in their Creedes which the Churches necessity instantly required to be explayned in those tymes against the heresies which then most infested and troubled the Church yet were they ioyntly euer of this opinion and beliefe that whosoeuer did not belieue all and euery point of the whole Catholicke fayth and that firmiter fideliterque that is both firmely and faithfully as S. Athanasius his wordes are shall most certainely be damned euerlastingly And conforme vnto this I haue shewed before in the first Chapter of this booke the vniforme consenting seuerity of all antiquity that any the least heresy or errour defended obstinately and with pertinacity against the Church be it but one sentence word fillable nay letter is sufficient to cast a man out of the bosome of the Churches vnity into hereticall prauity and Diabolicall nouelty and consequently to bring a man vnto euerlasting perdition and destruction both of body and soule And this we haue already proued by the vnanime verdict of S. Athanasius S. Basill S. Nazianzen S. Hierome S. Augustine and others which S. Augustine in the very closing period of his booke of heresies directed to Quod-vult Deus pronounceth bouldly and denounceth confidently against all heretickes and heresy that whosoeuer doth hould any one of these heresies registred in that booke of his or any other that should spring vp afterwardes he cannot be a Catholicke Christian and consequently cannot be saued for that he houldeth not the whole Catholicke fayth entirely and inuiolably 19. And now to descend from the generall to the speciall and to make iust proofe of all the former accusations and imputations laid vpon the Clergy of England first the Ministers of that Church do stiffly hould sundry of those heresies which S. Augustine hath recorded for heresies and as condemned of the Church in his tyme in that booke of his before cited 20. And for example it cannot be gainesaid but they deny all externall Sacrifice and Prayer for the dead with the Hereticke Aerius this is one heresy and a capitall one too if we do belieue S. Augustine Secondly the Protestants fall into another heresy of Aerius for they deny Statua solenniter celebranda esse ieiunia sed cùm quisque voluerit ieiunandum ne videatur esse sub lege that solemne fasts appoynted by the Church were not to be obserued but that euery man should fast when he would least he may seeme to be vnder the law These are the words of S. Augustine out of Epiphanius and is not this the very speach of our Ministers Preachers of England at this day Nay I haue heard some of them my selfe proceed so earnestly in their rayling humour against this sacred and Angelicall abstinence that they haue not sticked to condemne the holy time of Lent as Popish and superstitious tending quite to the ouerthrow of mans health and bodily constitution and therfore that the authors therof said they wanted wisdome and discretion for instituting it in such a time of the yeare as the spring is when man his body requireth the best and purest nutriments 20. Thirdly there is also recorded by S. Augustine haeres 69. the heresy of the Donatists that affirmed that the Vniuersall Church was wholy corrupted and perished except only amongst their followers And do not the Protestants to auoid the iudgement of the Church vtter the same contumelious slaunder at this day condemning all others to iustify themselues 21. Againe do not the Protestants fall into the heresy of the Iouinianists as it is registred by the same S. Augustine haeres 88. that held the equality of sinnes and did equall marriage with Virginity And therupon was the cause saith S. Augustine that diuers sacred Virgins consecrated to God by the holy and lawfull vow of sacred single life left their profession and married And is not this also practized and defended by protestants at this day do they not deny all Euangelicall Counsailes of perfection deluding Scriptures and reiecting Fathers though neuer so many neuer so pregnant for prouing and conuincing of this Witnesse a Treatise lately published by a former Minister of your Church in defence of the doctrine of Euangelicall Counsailes not long since preached by him in the Vniuersity of Oxford 22. I pretermit the heresie of the Manichees that denied Free-will and of the Nouatians who would not grant that Priestes had authority in the Church to remit sinnes All which ancient heresies with many more which I purposely omit being held in like manner in some degree or other yea defended with great resolution by our English Ministers they cannot be accompted to belieue entirely and inuiolably the Catholick faith and Creeds which condemne all these for heresies 23. And furthermore if besides this we will but consider the variety and multiplicity of other new sects of these our dayes with which our English Ministers do participate and make open profession to communicate as with their brethren we shall diserne clearely that they cannot so much as pretend to hould the sincere integrity of one only faith And the reason is for that they haue euer hitherto admitted for brethren and men of one faith the Lutherans for example who expressely condemne them for hereticks and professe in the open eares of the world themselues to dissent really from them in diuers weighty and capitall pointes as touching the Reall Presence the person of Christ Iustification freewill the law the Ghospell and many other more of like nature as by their owne bookes and writings doth appeare And how then may they be sayd to agree with the sense and meaning of S. Athanasius his Creed which pronounceth damnation against all such as do not faithfully and firmely hould the whole entyre Catholicke faith without any violation in any one article at all And so let vs passe vnto the two other Creedes to wit vnto that of the Councell of Nyce and the Apostlicall 24. In the Nicene Creed for the better and further explication of Christ his Godhead and equality with his Father against the Arian heresie there
bookes of Preisthood doth very well declare 4. And now to come vnto these Councels and to speake particulerly of euery one of them as they lye in order The Councell of Nice was gathered togeather somewhat more then three hundred yeares after Christ and the occasion of this first great Ecclesiasticall Assembly of all the world met togeather by their Bishops in this generall Councell was for the censuring and suppressing of two capitall and damnable heresies that then inuaded and infested the Church of Christ. The first was the heresy of the Arians and this impugned nay flatly denyed the second Person his identity of essence to wit the Sonne his equality of substance and hodhead with the Father granting him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like vnto the Father but denying him to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the same substance with the Father which was the fayth and beliefe of the Catholicke Church in those dayes 5. The second heresy was the heresy of the Quartadecimans concerning the celebrating of Easter-day of which heresy to speake any thing in particuler at this tyme I intend not since it is not to my present purpose only I refer the reader vnto the author of the Three Conuersions of England where this point is both substantially and punctually discussed The mayne point wherof I am to treat in this place is to intimate vnto the Reader how both these heresies of the Arians and the hereticall Quartadecimans were determined censured and anathematized by the authority of this soueraigne and supreme Ecclesiasticall Tribunall I meane the first Generall Councell of Nice which consisted as S. Ambrose obserueth alluding to the iust number of Abraham his souldiers of three hundred eighteene Bishops gathered from all partes of Christendome And this was the first Generall Councell that could be Assembled vntill that time in respect of the most bloudy and cruell persecutions that had continued for the greatest part of the prcedentages 6. And here we are to obserue that albeit that three other Prouinciall nationall Councells are recorded to haue bene celebrated before this of Nice and after that of the Apostles Act. 15. to wit one at Rome of 60. Bishops against Nouatus vnder Decius the cruell Emperour and Cornelius the martyred Pope another at Ancyra in Galatia vnder Dioclesian the third at Neocaesarea vnder Constantines Father and Pope Melchiades according to Prateolus his accōpt yet this Councell of Nyce was the first great glorious Ecclesiasticall tribunall which was publikely erected in the Christian Church for al Nations to repayre vnto after the first planting of the faith of Christ. 7. The second generall Councell was that of Constantinople somwhat more then fifty yeares after in the yeare of our Lord 383. and it consisted of an hundred and fifty Bishops gathered togeather against Macedonius Patriarch of Constantinople who openly denyed and blasphemed against the diuinity of the holy Ghost for which damnable heresy of his both he and all that partaked with his hereticall faction were condemned censured and cast out of the Church and deliuered ouer to Sathan for that they blasphemed against the third sacred Person of the blessed Trinity And this second great and generall Councel was held vnder Gratian and Theodosius Emperours and vnder Damasus then Bishop of Rome 8. The third Generall Councell was that which was assembled at Ephesus almost other fifty yeares after that againe in the yeare of our Lords incarnation 434. This Councell consisted of two hundred Bishops gathered a-against another Archbishop of Constantinople named Nestorius but an Arch-hereticke and it was held vnder the Emperour Theodosius and Pope Celestinus This Nestorius as Vincentius Lyrinensis in his goulden tract against heresies and 17. chapter describeth his heresy whilst he made shew of distinguishing two natures in Christ he suddainly brought in two persons and by an execrable impiety thereby made two Christs the one God the other man the one begottē of God the Father the other borne of the Virgin his mother and therfore he did further auerre that holy Mary was not to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mother of God but the mother of Christ because forsooth that Christ which was God was not borne of her but the Christ which was man Hitherto my Authour And for this damnable heresie was Nestorius condemned by this third Councell worthily cast out of the Catholicke Church howbeit I must confesse that I cannot see how Caluin Beza vpon the point of Christs incarnation and hypostaticall vnion with diuers others Protestants following thē can possibly auoid this ould condemned heresy but that Nestorianisme must follow as a necessary consequence of the doctrine which they deliuer vpon the point of Christs incarnation and vnion 9. The fourth generall Councell was that of Chalcedon and this was some twenty yeares and vpwardes after the foresaid counsaile of Ephesus in which Councell there were assembled six hundred and thirty Bishops Archbishops and Patriarches This great assembly was gathered against on Eutiches an Archimandrite or Abbot of Constantinople in like manner who so confounded the natures in Christ that he absolutely denied that there were two distinct natures in him For which monstrous opinion of his differing frō the Canon of Catholick faith he was cōdemned togeather with his fautor partener of his hereticall faction I meane Dioscorus Archbishop of Alexandria as was Nestorius another Archbishop before him for houlding two persons in Christ. And this famous and through the whole Christian world renowned Councell was assebled and held vnder Martian that then swayed the Empire and S. Leo the first then Bishop of the Apostlicall Sea of Rome 10. And now to make vse in generall of that which hath bene spoken concerning the foure Councels by some particuler application and illation the inference must needes be this that if the Church of England do indeed admit and reuerence these foure first Generall Councelles as it should seeme his Maiesty is of opinion it doth and their Acts of Parlament confirme the same then doth it follow by necessary and ineuitable consequence though the conclusion ouerthrow a mayne ground of Protestanticall Religion that they must needes will they nil they graunt the Catholicke Church not only to haue bene visible at this time but also to haue bene in great splendor and magnificence otherwise how could it possibly be that fix hundred and thirty Bishops could assemble and meet so readily togeather and all these for the most part out of the Easterne parts of Christēdome only to speake nothing of the west 11. Furthermore for as much as our English Church in admitting these Councels and that in the greatest Consistory of the Kingdome the high Court of Parliament doth therby acknowledge and condescend vnto that this externall visible Church consisting of good and bad is Christs true Church indued with all the priuiledges aboue mentioned of
Further I find that the Iesuits were neuer so strict with the Fathers as to restraine their credit and authority to the first foure or fiue hundred yeares only and consequently to accept some reiect others and all at their proper pleasure as the Protestants do but that they thinke the same spirit of truth and the same assistance of the holy Ghost descended also to the Fathers of the succeeding ages and shall do vnto the end of the world 8. Nor do I find them any where to affirme that euery one of the Fathers do vsually contradict others Nor yet were they euer of this erroneous and dangerous opinion that it is lawfull for ech particuler man to arrogate that liberty and authority ouer the Fathers as where he findeth them to agree with the Scripturs there to belieue them where otherwise in his opinion there with their reuerence to reiect them for that this would come to the same issue before mentioned to wit that euery mans priuate iudgment should be his owne rule and then would it consequently follow that quot homines tot sententiae wee should haue as many cōtrouersies touching the exposition of the Fathers as we haue already about the interpretation of the Scriptures And who seeth not wherunto this secretly tendeth euen to leaue nothing sound stable and certaine in religion which must be needes at last the ouerthrow of all religion 9. And now if it be lawfull for euery priuate spirit and particuler man to iudge when Fathers do alleage Scriptures whether they do alleage them rightly to the purpose or no then ariseth another question interminable whether in all liklihood of reason it be probable that that priuate man should vnderstand the Scriptures better then that Father or ancient Doctor 10. And as for the rule of S. Augustine suggested vnto his Matie by our English Ministers for patronizing of this point and reducing of all both Scriptures and Fathers vnto the examine of a priuate spirit I haue diligently pervsed the place as it lieth in his second booke against Cresconius Cap. 31. and 32. and vpon an exact suruey of the place I find that S. Augustine giueth no such generall rule or warrant for particuler men to iudge of the Fathers writings and citations of Scriptures vsed by them but only in the case and cause of S. Cyprian that had held contrary vnto the whole Church viz. that men comming from heresy were to be rebaptized whose Epistles also were vrged by Cresconius the Donatist against S. Augustine tamquam firmamenta Canonicae veritatis as grounds of Canonicall truth to vse S. Augustine his words I say vpon these premises the said Father answereth thus vnto the authority of S. Cyprian obiected that in a manifest point of heresy for so was the opinion and yet S. Cyprian was no heretik since he neuer defended it with obstinacy against the Church but in all his opinions submitted himselfe to the iudgment of the Church Nos nullam Cypriano sacimus iniuriam cùm eius quaslibet literas à Canonica diuinarum Scripturarum auctoritate distinguimus We do no iniury vnto Cyprian when we do distinguish any of his Epistles from the Canonicall authority of diuine Scriptures 11. And afterwards againe hauing named the Epistles which Cresconius vrged he proceeded thus Ego huius Epistolae auctoritate non teneor c. I am not bound to admit the authority of this Epistle for that I do not hould the Epistles of Cyprian as Canonicall but do consider them by the Scriptures which are Canonicall c. Finally after a long praise of S. Cyprian of his wit eloquence charity and martyrdome S. Augustine concludeth that notwithstanding all this yet for that in this point he dissented from the residue of the doctors and Pastors of the Church he refused to follow him his wordes are these Hoc quòd aliter sapuit non acipio non accipio inquam quòd de baptizandis Schismaticis Beatus Cyprianus sensit quòd hoc Ecclesia non accepit pro quae Beatus Cyprianus sanguinem sudit This that S. Cyprian held differently from others though not obstinately I do not admit I do not admit I say that which blessed Cyprian did hold about the rebaptizing of heretickes and Schismatickes and I do not admit it for that the Church doth not admit it for which Church blessed S. Cyprian did shed his bloud 12. So then we see that this which S. Augustine here instanceth and speaketh of comparing and trying S. Cyprian his Epistles by the Scriptures is no generall case nor common rule nor warrant that euery particler man may do the same to the writers of euery particuler Doctor For first S. Augustine himselfe that made this examine of Scriptures was a great and learned Doctor yea one of the greatest that euer the Church of God had and consequently was personally inuested with some more Ecclesiasticall authority then euery ordinary protestant Minister Secondly he perceaued right well that the opinion of S. Cyprian was much like the religion of the Protestants at this day to wit new and dissonant from Scriptures and different from the vniforme consent of Doctors expounding those Scriptures not receaued by the Catholicke Church nay and that which is aboue all condemned by the Church Thirdly S. Augustine did not presume vpon his owne authority to condemne S. Cyprians opinion as dissonant from the Scriptures for that in this case the Authority of S. Cyprian might seeme to haue bene as good as the authorty of S. Augustine especially hauing sealed the Ghospell with his bloud which the other though a great Saint had not done nor was put vnto But S. Augustine found S. Cyprian his opiniō dissenting from the true Scriptures exposition as it was carried along by the most holy tradition of Catholicke Church and so is S. Augustine to be vnderstood for Scripture and Church euer go togeather in the ancient Fathers and they neuer vnderstand the one without the other All which circumstances are of exceeding waight and importance in this case about which notwithstanding I haue thought it conuenient as before so heere to lay forth some further and particuler Considerations The first Consideration FIRST then touching the different esteeme which Roman Catholicks and professing Protestants doe hould of vnanime consent of Ancient Fathers in matters of Religion which is the first poynt here touched therfore of vs in the first place to be discussed I considered yet further what I had read in S. Augustine concerning this point which holy Saint and great Doctor though as now in part we haue shewed he doth alwayes postpone what authority of ancient Fathers soeuer to the Canonicall Scriptures all particuler opiniōs of some one or few vnto the consent of the greater part but especially vnto the iudgmēt of the Church yet was the same Father so respectiue in all his writinges to conserue the reuerence and iust deserued reputation of these great Saints and seruants
dore of the Church the one of them must of necessity serue the other so impossible it is that two so contrary the one to the other should stand togeather such is the implacable hostility and extreme opposition betwixt them 7. When Abraham the Father of the faithfull for so the Scriptures style him perceaued that a breach might happily fall out betwixt him and his nephew Lot vpon a dissention already begunne betwixt their heards-men he calleth vnto him consulteth the case treateth and intreateth with him and to perswade him to vnitie vseth this motiue of all the most perswasiue Let there be no dissention betwixt me and thee betwixt my heards-men and thy heards-men for we are brethren c. But it fareth not thus betwixt the Catholicke and the Hereticke no vnion can be made no communion had no condition of peace to be treated and offered betwixt them And if you will haue the reason of this they are no brethren nay which is more they cannot be brethren for the Catholicke in his spirituall birth hath God for his father and the Church for his mother wheras the Hereticke hath an Hethite to his father and an Amonite to his mother that is Sathan is his father and Schisme is his mother he is a stranger to the couenant and a meere alien to the houshould of faith And therefore as Ichu first answered Iehoram his messengers demaunding of peace Quid vobis est paci what haue you to do with peace get you behind me follow me c. And secondly vnto Iehoram himself when he came in person to meet him and demanded Is it peace Iehu what peace whilest the fornications of thy mother Iezabel and her witch-crafts are yet in such aboundance so what peace can the Catholicke make with the Hereticke whilest his heresy worse then the sinne of witchcraft and his spirituall fornications in worshipping of false gods that is intertaining false opinions in religion and dissonant from Catholicke faith continue a terrible caueat to all temporizers that will make a linsey-wolsey of all Religion reconciling Catholicke Religion with Protestants heresy which is as possible as to vnite things most contrary and deadly iarring To these I can giue no other counsaile then such as Elias gaue to the worshippers of Baal when his fiery zeale would admit no diuision betwixt Idolatrous superstition and Gods most pure and vndefiled Religion How long will you halt betwixt two opinions if Baal be God follow him but if God be God follow him c. The application is if hereticall innouation be God his true worship follow it but if Catholicke tradition be the only true and soule-sauing religion then vnder eternall paine hazard of your soules resolue halt no longer betwixt the two God will either haue all or none he careth not for a hart and a hart a deuided hart and the Church will receiue none within her bosome nor help to saue any with her Sacraments but such as are her true-borne children constantly professing her piety abandoning all kind of schisme heresy and securely resting only and truely within her bosome 8. And although I do not affirme that all Catholickes shall be saued for that euill life and matter of fact may condemne as well as bad beliefe and matter of faith yet am I most certaine and I dare pronounce it that all heretickes so liuing and so dying shall be damned agreeing with that so often times reiterated by S. Cyprian Numquam perueniet ad praemia Christi qui relinquit Ecclesiam Christi alienus est profanus est hostis est He shall neuer aspire to heauenly glory that forsaketh the Churches verity and falleth away from Christ by Apostasie he is a forreyner he is profane he is an enemy And as all perished without the Arke and were certainely corporally drowned so assuredly all without the Arke of the Church shall eternally be damned since the Scriptures teach vs that this Arke was a liuely type of the Church And as an Hereticke and a Catholicke can neuer be ioyned togeather in heauen so can neuer the Catholicke and Hereticke Catholicke Religion and heresie in any one point be conioyned vpon earth this is the vniforme and vnanime to vse his Maiesties word consent of all orthodoxe pious and religious Deuines 9. The reason of all the foresaid opposition betwixt a right-beleeuing Catholicke and a misbelieuing Hereticke is this the Catholicke knoweth nay belieueth it as the ground-worke of his faith that Christ our Sauiour hauing left the world in respect of his visible presence continueth inuisible by the immediate assistance of his holy spirit with his Church which is Domus Dei Porta Caeli the house of God and the Gate of Heauen as Iacob spake of the place of his vision Columna firmamentum veritatis the piller and foundation of truth Vnto this Church our Sauiour reuealeth all his secrets that concerne her saluation maketh her of his priuy Counsaile gouerneth her visibly first by his owne person secondly by his Apostles directeth her inuisibly by his immediate spirit the holy Ghost and so continueth her vnder visible gouernment and inuisible direction vnto the worlds generall consummation leading her into all truth such was his promise made vnto her and here is the performance And the reason that the Church is thus neare and deare vnto Christ is this Corpus est shee is his body according to that of S. Augustine Totum quod annunciatur de Christo caput corpus est Caput est filius Dei viui vnigenitus Corpus Ecclesia c. All that can be said and auerred of Christ is his head and his body The head is the onely begotten Sonne of God the body is his Church bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh for Christ hath two bodyes the one natum ex virgine and therefore naturall the other redemptum sanguine and therefore mysticall and the later was more deare vnto him then the former for he wholy bestowed his naturall body to redeeme his mysticall body 10. The Catholicke then knowing this correspondency betwixt Christ and his Church belieueth all wholy and without eyther choice or additiō of his owne which the said Church vniuersally spread ouer the world doth propose vnto him as matter of faith to be belieued conteyning himselfe within that most sure and infallible prescription of Tertullian Nobis verò nihil ex nostro arbitrio licet inducere sed nec eligere quod aliquis de arbitrio suo induxerit It is not lawfull for vs to innouate at our pleasure nor yet may I make choyce of that which another man vpon priuate fancy hath added But as for the Hereticke non sic ille non sic it goeth not so with him for being an Hereticke that is a chooser he according to his name and nature because he will not haue his name for nought maketh choice of what he listeth to belieue
ought effectually to moue vs to make great esteeme of their knowledg to intertaine them as we ought and that is highly to reuerence and sincerely to affect the one since out of the confines of this there can be no saluation as also to detest and fly from the other as from a serpent yea as from Sathan that first seducing serpeÌ„t since this bringeth with it assured daÌ„nation 15. For these and the same causes the Ancient Fathers of the Primitiue Church so much commended by his Maiesty as that he referreth himselfe in matter of ReligioÌ„ to their decision as soone as euer these wordes and their mysteries were reuealed in the Church least in time they should be buried in obliuion did presently with their pennes aduance the most high commendations of the one as the only ordinary high way to euerlasting saluation as also by many detestations and execrations depresse the other as the very path to eternall perdition 16. Amongst which Worthies and famous Pillars of the Church the ancient Father Pacianus so highly commeÌ„ded by S. Hier. for his holines aboue 1200. yeares agone wrote a learned Epistle to one Sempronianus a Nouatian Hereticke of the excellency of this name Catholicke for that those heretickes as ours also of this day do made very little accompt of this Name But the holy Father describeth at large how necessary it was for the holy Ghost to leaue vnto vs this Name or rather Syr-name for distinguishing all faithfull Christians from misbelieuers his wordes are very effectuall for this purpose Ego sortè ingressus populosam Vrbem hodie saith he cùm Marcionitas c. I bechance entring this day into a populous Citty and finding there some called Marcionites some Apollinarians some Cataphrigians some Nouatians and others of like Sectes all calling themselues Christians I did not know by what Syr-name I should find cut the Congregation of my people except by the name of Catholickes So he And then proceeding further Certè non ab homine mutuatâ—m est quod per tantae saecula non cecidit Certainely this Name was neuer taken or borrowed of man that hath not fallen or decaied for so many ages And then he alleageth the authority of Catholick antiquity and vniuersall Church namely the authority of S. Cyprian in particuler for the vse of that name against all heresies whatsoeuer concluding thus Quaere ab haeretico nomine noster populus hac appellatione diuiditur cùm Catholicus nuncupatur c. Wherfore our people is distinguished by this appellation from all hereticall names when it is called Catholicke and yet further he saith Christianus mihi nomen est Catholicus verò cognemen me illud nuncupat istud ostendit hoc prober illo significor Christian is my name but Catholicke is my Syrname the first doth name me onely the second doth point me out by the name of Christian I am fignified only but by the Syrname of Catholicke I am tried and examined whether I be a Christion or no. So he 17. This was that high accompt and esteeme wherein that ancient Father of the Primitiue Church S. Pacianus held the word Catholicke after that the Christian Church had appropriated assumed this distinctiue appellation setting it as a most certaine badge or cognisance vpon the breast of the Church in generall and vpon the sleeue of euery member of this Church in particuler and the reason reassumed in the Conclusion is in effect this Appellatio Catholici congregat homogenia dissâ—pat heterogenia that is in plaine termes this name Catholicke maketh a coniunction vniting her owne and it noteth a disiunction separating all Sectaries from her society And here is the wisdome of Salamon euen the wisdome of Almighty God discerning betwixt the true mother and the false this is the true naturall mother of euery child of the Church she will admit no diuision of her child she will haue all or none for Catholicke is her name But to leaue S. Pacianus and to passe to others since that the Scripture requireth that in the mouth of two or three witnesses euery thing should be established where we may note by the way that if the testimony of two or three ordinary witnesses may stint the strife in matter of controuersy and tend to reconciliation in foro saeculi how much more then the vniforme consent of extraordinary witnesses witnessing iudges and iudging witnesses greater then all exception ought to compromise and finally decide the question now in hand in foro Caeli in foro Ecclesiae 18. These witnesses consenting with Pacianus in the premised point of Catholicke were all the ancient Fathers which liued eyther before or after him in the Centuries of Christian religion within the vnity and bosome of their mother the Catholicke Church as namely before him S. Cyprian whome he expresly mentioneth and before him againe old Tertullian one of the most ancient Fathers of the Latin Church whome S. Cyprian the martyr so highly reuerenced and when he would read him he pointed him out thus Da mihi Magistrum And after these two S. Augustine who ascribed so much and that as he thought worthily vnto this name Catholicke as that he feareth not to say that it was one speciall motiue both to draw him to it and to hold him in the visible vniuersall Church of his daies Neyther doth this great Doctor barely affirme it vpon his word and credit which had beene sufficient for vs to haue belieued the same but he yeeldeth a substantiall reason therof in the wordes following Quod non sine causa inter tam varias haereses ista Ecclesia sola obtinuit which very name of Catholicke not without cause this only Church hath obteined among so many heresies as haue sprong vp Againe the same Father positiuely and boldly affirmeth in another place that the word Catholicke was so appropriate to this Church euer since the Apostles in their Creed gaue that Name vnto it as that no Conuenticle of Heretickes whatsoeuer could once fasten vpon the Name themselues or procure the same to be giuen vnto theÌ„ by others And hereupon he concludeth that the very possession of the Name and common opinion of men was a sufficient coÌ„uincing proofe against all Aduersaries that this Church was the true Catholicke Church indeed 19. Hitherto S. Augustine Now if we descend lower to succeding ages of the Church I meane vnto those Fathers that liued after S. Augustine his time we shall find such harmony in vnity such vniforme consent in iudgement touching the true explication of this name Catholick as also the very right explication of that vnto the visible vniuersall Church of their daies that we must hence necessarily inferre that one spirit breathed in all one the same spirit directed all And here I might produce a whole cloud of witnesses to speake in the phrase of the Apostle as namely S. Damascen Oecumenius Theophilact for the greeke Pâ—lgentius S. Gregory the
most compassionate nay whose bowels burned with compassion within them towards the greatest and grieuous sinners as for example we read in that notable story of S. Iohn the Euangelist who ranne vp and downe the mountaines againe and againe after the first relapse to gaine a yong man that was a theefe as S. Hierome and other Church storyes witnes yet these selfe same men were so seuere against the enemies of Gods truth that they neuer could so much as indure the very sight and conuersation of an Hereticke And so we haue not only S. Iohn counsailing vs not to salute or conuerse with an Hereticke but also the said Apostle practizing the same euen in his owne person in his heroicall factes whensoeuer any iust occasion was offered For S. Irenaeus who liued in the next age after him and recounted it vpon the relation of S. Policarpe that liued with S. Iohn and happily might be present whē the thing was donne recordeth that S. Iohn being in the Citty of Ephesus at a common bath whither many did resort and vnderstanding that an Hereticke of his time named Cerinthus was within the bath he instantly departed againe would not enter into that bath with him who had departed out of the Church from him could not be perswaded to stay any while there affirming that he doubted lest the very foundation of those bathes would fall downe where such an enemy of God was presēt who had as much as in him lay ruinated the very foundation of Christian Religion denying the diuinity of the Sonne of God A notable example of this great Apostle left to all posterity giuing them a sufficient caueat euen by his owne person and example for auoiding of Heresy and hereticall company 41. And the same Irenaeus in the very same place before cited registreth this story of S. Policarpe himselfe to wit how he reiected and defied an Hereticke named Marcion that met with him and spake vnto him calling the said Marcion Primogenitum Diaboli the first begotten of the Diuell and then the Authour endeth his narration with this most graue and memorable Conclusion saying So great feare had the Apostles and Disciples not to communicate in any one word with any of those that haue adulterated and corrupted the truth euen as S. Paul saith Auoid an hereticall mā after one reprehension knowing that such a fellow is peruerted damned of himself So S. Irenaeus 42. And truly this one point ministred vnto me store of matter and exceedingly enlarged my meditation to consider on the one part how carefull and not only carefull but fearefull these ancient Fathers and Apostles were as Irenaeus testifieth to admit any conuersation or to enter into communication with Hereticks flying them as mōsters serpents and Diuels vpon earth and starting affrighted as it were with the bare name of Heresy and Hereticke and on the other side that now in our dayes the name and thing it selfe is growne to be so common and familiar as that we seeme to haue no sense or feeling therof so senselesse and benummed are we in our spirituall vnderstanding But this proceeds from a supine negligence and carelesse inconsideration for such as seriously ponder and earnestly debate the matter more deeply doe apprehend farre otherwise therof especially such as are addicted to the reading of ancient Fathers the surest refuge and pillars for a resolued soule to rely vpon for true direction in religion in these miserable dayes of Schisme Heresy and Apostasy Nulla saith the old holy martyr S. Cyprian cum talibus commercia copulentur nulla c. And let noe trafficke or conuersation be ioyned with such men noe banquets be made no speach had but let vs be as separate from them as they are separated fugitiues frō the Church 43. And after this Father againe that Atlas of his age and great Saint S. Athanasius writing the life of S. Antony the Monke doth set downe the opinion and feeling of them both in this point S. Antony saith he did so detest Hereticks as that he tould all men that they must not so much as come neere them alleaging the authority of S. Paul for the same who often and seriously talking of Hereticks doth inculcate these wordes Et hos deuita and these you must auoid And yet my author goeth further in this relation of S. Antony adding this that when the said holy man was at the point of death ready to breath out his soule into the hands of his Creator whome he had with all fidelity and seuerity so faithfully serued practising ouer and aboue the precepts of the law Christs high counsailes of perfection he exhorted the standers by especially and aboue all other things to beware of Heretickes and Schifmatikes and to auoid their poison Meumque saith he circacos edium sectamini Seitisipsi quod nullus mihi ne pacificus quidem sermo cum eis vnquam fuerit And do you imitate my hatred towardes them For your selues can beare me witnes that I had neuer so much as any peaceable speach with them This was S. Antony his resolution in this point and this was his last charge that this dying Saynt left vnto his lyuing friends 44. And of the same spirit and iudgment were all other Saints and holy Fathers ensuing that euerliued and dyed in the vnion and communion of the Catholicke Church and namely S. Leo the Great first of that name a most compassionate man other wayes as by his charitable workes of piety well appeared yet in this point of Heresie he was so inflamed with the zeale of God his true Religion so rigorous and seuere against the enemies of God his truth that he burst forth into this vehement exclamation against them Viperea Haereticorum vitate colloquia nihil nobis commune sit cum eis qui Catholicae aduersantes fidei solo nomine sunt Christiani Do you auoid the viperous and serpentine speaches and conferences of Heretickes haue you nothing at all to do with them that being aduersaries vnto Catholicke faith are only Christians in name So S. Leo. And in this point that Heretickes be not Christians but only in name and appellation he hath cōmonly all the ancient Fathers concurring with him with vniforme consent as namely S. Irenaeus S. Cyprian and Tertullian before mentioned which Fathers do euidētly proue that Heretickes are worse then Heathens Pagans or Infidels This argument is handled in like manner by S. Chrysostome and that largely in his 50. Homily ad populum Antiochenum and by S. Augustine in his 21. Booke de Ciuitate Dei cap. 25. by many other Fathers after them the reason whereof is set downe by S. Thomas in the beginning of this second Consideration 45. Vpon these groundes then reasons causes and contemplations the whole streame and ranke of Ancient Fathers do with full consent concurre in this one point do inculcate the same often in their writings to wit that it is
great doubt that then arose in the Church to wit whether the obseruation of the ould law of Moyses should be ioyned necessary with the new law of Christ and because they would leaue a patterne for all succeeding ages to follow they determined the matter and thēselues I meane the Apostles and Prelates of that first age decided the doubt by those high wordes of authority taken from the foresaid commission of our Sauiour Visum est spiritui Sāto Nobis it seemeth good vnto the holy Ghost and vs for the Church and the true spirit of the holy Ghost go inseparably togeather in regard of Christ his promise made vnto the Church so that the holy Ghost euer keepeth his residence in her guideth her gouerneth her directeth her and sitteth as President in all her consultations and assēblyes and therefore this vmpiring and determining forme of speach hath euer since beene vsed in the lawfull succession of the said visible Church vntill our daies will be frequented still especially in generall Councels euen vnto the worlds end to put a firme period and full conclusion vnto all controuersies that come in question And the reason is for that the same authority and assistance of the holy Ghost which that first Church had for directing of mens soules vnto their saluation the very self same and none other hath the visible Catholicke Church of our age and hath had in all ages and shall haue in all to come Verum enim non variat It is an ancient prescription and no more ancient then true Gods giftes and graces conferred vpon his Church are without repētance the holy Ghost is euer one and the selfe same spirit of truth in Patriarkes Prophets Apostles Martyrs and other succeding Pastours and Doctors and Christ his promise was not for one age only he shed not his pretious bloud for those of his age alone but for all all were alike neere vnto him all were alike deare vnto him he tooke our nature in generall to saue mankind in generall and therfore the care he had for one age of the Church the same he had for all succeeding ages of the same as well for the last as for the first and this care of his continueth so long as the sunne and the moone endureth 60. This remittance then and reference vnto the Authority of the Church originally proceeded from the Apostles themselues was continually perpetuated by all succeeding ages of the Catholicke Church and therfore as S. Paul in a controuersy of lesser importance writing to the Corinthians about women being veyled in the Church saith to shut vp the dore to all further cōtention that If any man will seeme to be contentious we haue no such custome nor yet the Church of God repressing the contentious man as you see with the Authority and Custome of the Church so did all subsequent Fathers of the orthodox Church whether it were in the priuat writings or in the worlds grand Parlament in Generall Councells in all their conflicts with Hereticks they euer vsed to repell and represse them by one and the selfe same meanes and that was with the authority of the knowne Catholicke Church And looke what sentence they pronounced against thē for their contumacy see what censure they inflicted vpon them for their heresy it remayned good against them and irreuocable it was ratyfied as the law of the Medes and Persians which could not be altered their authority was grounded immediatly vpon those wordes of Verity VVhat soeuer you bynd on earth shall be bound in heauen and the Tribunall of heauen confirmed the authority of the Church vpon earth nay standeth expecting what is done by it vpon earth such is the mysticall dependency betwixt the one and the other such is the mutuall correspondency betwixt the head and his members Christ and his Church Dare then any man hereafter oppose his priuate spirit against the authority of this Church Or will he impudently presume to preferre his owne conceipt and opinion before her publicke tradition 61. Ancient S. Irenaeus who was in manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apostolorum for he liued in the very next age after them writing against the heresies of his dayes and hauing first declared how the primitiue Church was visibly planted by Christ and his Apostles and how it was continued to his time doth then pourtraict out vnto vs discourse at large of the authority sufficiency treasury tradition and absolute perfection of this Church for the repelling of all heresy and deliuering of all truth his wordes are these Tantae igitur ostensiones cùm haec sint c. Wheras these thinges which I haue said are so great demonstrations of the truth we must not yet seeke the truth from others which is easely taken from the Church wheras the Apostles did most fully lay vp in her all thinges belonging to the truth as in a certaine rich treasure-house so as euery man that will may take from thence the liquor or sustenance of life for that is the intrance vnto life euerlasting to belieue the Church all others that flie this way are theeues and murtherers and therfore we must auoid them that are such but with great diligence we must affect those things that are of the Church and from her take the tradition of truth And truly if our contention were but about some small question in Religion yet ought not we to haue recourse vnto the most ancient Churches wherin the Apostles had once bene conuersant and so take from them that which is certaine and cleere for deciding of the question And what if the Apostles had left vnto vs no Scriptures at all had it not bene needfull notwithstanding to follow the order of tradition which they haue left vnto vs to whome they to wit the Apostles had committed those Churches 62. Thus farre S. Irenaeus which I haue of purpose chosen to cite more at large for that it is sufficient alone to disclose his iudgement and the Iudgment of that first age next after the Apostles how farre the authority of the visible vniuersall Church then stretched and was esteemed for especially for clearing soluing and deciding of all doubtes that possibly could arise in religion And the reason there rendred by the same Father is this She is the store-house wherein Christs merits and the Churches treasure is laid vp She is the way of life whereby we may come to eternall life and escape euerlasting death that all are theeues yea murtherers of soules that doe impugne her or seeke other wayes of tryall then her and her tradition from hand to hand That this tradition is sufficient though there were no Scripture That from her and her alone the truth is to be taken and not els where That by her and her authority alone all doubts and questions are to be so ued and decided Can any thing be spoken more effectuall then this Or is there any more playne easy euident
and vniuersall direction Can any rule be more probable and infallible then the rule of the Church And to this do agree both my foresaid Authour in many other places of his workes as also all that succeeded him tooke the like enterprize in hand of writing and prescribing against Hereticks as Tertullian S. Cyprian S. Augustine S. Athanasius Epiphanius Theodoret S. Hierome S. Leo Vincentius Lyrinensis in his goulden booke against the prophane innouations of the Hereticks of his time and diuers others which to auoyd prolixity I omit all these do principally and really prouoke and challenge all the Heretickes of their tyme vnto this only and sure waie of the Catholicke Church in their dayes for the triall of the truth and for discerning what is truly Catholicke and what is Hereticall their seuerall sentences are to prolixe to be conteyned within the strict precinctes and narrow boundes of my briefe intended Confiderations 63. And now to put a period to this my third Consideration least it exceed a due proportion the vpshot is this For asmuch then as this visible Christian Church begun and founded by our Sauiour vnder the Apostles was a visible Church made and consisting of visible men gouerned by visible Pastors hath visibly descended from age to age through the centuries of the Church by all lawfull and ordinary succession of Bishops which Tertullian required of the Hereticks of his time as they would auoid the blot of heresy that haue lineally come downe to our dayes Secondly for asmuch as the authority of his Church was esteemed in euery age to be the same for infallible direction that it was in the former first ages through the assurance of Christ his promise to that effect And lastly for as much as the whole vniuersall Church of the fifteēth age hath in a generall Coūcell examined decyded condēned the doctrine of the Protestants for heresy in more then an hundred maine points by name hath accursed and anathematized both them and all their participants to the pit of hell that according to the very selfe same groūds wherby the ancient Fathers did vse to curse anathematize all ould heresies and Hereticks in former tymes these things when I considered with more attention made a generall reflection thereon a suddaine feare and care astonished yea as it were ouerwhelmed me for that my euerlasting saluation depending vpon this point I had beene so negligent in examining the premises And now I plainely saw as in a perfect glasse of most impartiall iudgment that vnlesse I could imagin with my selfe as diuers others fanatically do that Christes promise had fayled that the first visible Christian and Catholicke Church founded by him and spread ouer the whole world had fayled vanished and perished as being ouercome by hel-gates and ouer growne with the weedes of errour heresy I could neuer haue any hope of saluation as long as I continued in the Protestant Religion And this was the issue of that Consideration The fourth Consideration THERE remaineth now a fourth consideration the subiect wherof which notwithstanding perhaps is of greatest importance of all the rest is this to wit how out of the premisses a man may probably collect nay necessarily conclude whose opinions be Catholicke and whose Hereticall and therevpon may reflect vpon himself in what state or condition he standeth betwixt both as eyther affected to the one or interessed in the other And albeit this hath beene partly discouered by that which hath beene spoken in the first Consideratiō touching the name Catholicke that signifieth Vniuersall and whole and not a part or singularity in opinions by choice of a mans owne will and iudgement for so Hereticke doth signifie as hath beene laid forth in the second Consideration yet shall it be made more manifest by the particular practice of the things themselues when the name shall passe into nature and appellation be turned into application And first to speake to the point in a word the Catholike admitteth all wholy and intierly without addition or detraction which the knowne Catholicke Church proposeth to be belieued of her sonnes as she hath it reuealed vnto her from God her Father But as for the Hereticke and the chooser tamquā Dominus propryiuris as he that will take his owne swing though it be in Schisme and heresy he making himselfe iudge ouer all I meane God the Scripturs and the Church admitteth some and reiecteth the rest as it pleaseth his priuate fancy or displeaseth his peeuish iudgmēt he neither respects the authority of the Church nor regardes his owne obedience due therunto his ground is either Scriptures falsely by him interpreted or a priuat lying spirit such as Micheas the Lords true Prophet prophesied to be in the false Prophets of Baal wherein he is deluded or other arguments of reason nature against faith and the God of nature And thus he is bewitched peruerted contrary to all true and onely sauing Catholicke grounds contrary to that sure certaine and infallible way of triall which erst while we treated of in the third Consideration and purpose now by Gods holy assistance to make vse of all in this 65. Some men I find to intertaine this concepit that English Protestants and Roman Catholickes may liue in their seuerall professions of Religion and be saued togeather and much more they are of opinion that all Protestants of different professions and Sectes as Lutherans and Sacramentaries and much more the different sortes of one and the selfe same sect as Caluinists in England distinguished by the names of Molles and Rigidi moderate Protestantes and feruent Puritans And the reasons for this their opinion are first of doctrine for that euery one of their differences do not make heresies or if they do yet not so grieuous heresies as the Fathers of the Primatiue Church condemned and anathematized they meane such heresies as impugned the persons of the B. Trinity the Natures of Christ God and Man the Incarnation and Passion and the like cōsequently though those ancient heresies were damnable yet are not those of our daies plead the Protestants but that both partes liuing well may be saued as his Matie in this his Premonition to Princes doth testifie that his noble Mother sent him word not long before her Martyrdome by the Maister of her Household a Scotish Gentleman yet liuing that his Matie might persist in his Protestant Religion and yet do well inough if he liued vertuously and gouerned accordingly 66. But surely how farre the credit of that maister of Household being a Protestant as I heare he then was and now is may extend it selfe to be belieued against the mistresse and highest Lady of that Household in a matter of that quality and consequence I know not yet certaine I am of this that the opinion that a man may be so saued is most false and absurd in it selfe and very vnlikely also to proceed from her
very essence of heresy then the first though both of these men being out of the Church must be damned but yet with different measure of punishment 73. This fearefull Conclusion then of damnation standing a foote and remaining in full force to be inflicted vpon all kind of Hereticks we are now and next to cōsider whether the Protestants opinions at this day wherin they differ from the Catholicks be truely heresy being cōpared with the Romā faith and Religion and secondly we are to discusse whether the different sortes sects and professions of the said Protestant religion among themselues especially the principall as Lutherans Sacramentaries in Germany be heresies to the other and the like of Puritans and Protestants in England all originally rising from Martin Luther I say we are to consider whether all these seuerall heades be Hereticks indeed the one to the other or may be saued togeather ech man dying in his owne Religion 74. To proceed then in order vnto the examination of the particulers And first that Protestant Religiō in many great points throughout the mayne corps of controuersies now in hand is truly heresy to those of the Roman fayth and Catholick Religion this point being so cleare needeth no further dispute for asmuch as the Protestants do openly auouch aboue an hundred positions against the same Roman Catholick Church defending the same with obstinate resolution And the late generall Councell of Trent where the flower piety and learning of the whole Catholicke Christian world vnder one spreame Pastour and infallible conduct of God his holy Spirit were assembled hath discussed examined according to ancient grounds of holy Fathers discouered for Hereticall and thereupon hath anathematized 125. points by name and that in so many different Canons enacted concerning the Sacraments only and the controuersy of Iustification Besides all the rest I say the case being thus cleare against them and their conuiction so manifest there needes no further dispute For if by S. Augustine his iudgment euen now alleadged and other Fathers of greatest learning and credit in the Church one only erroneous proposition or assertion held with obstinacy against the doctrine of the knowne Christian Church be conuinced for a point of heresy and held for a matter of most certaine damnation to the houlder for that it casteth a man out of the said Church out of which is no saluation what is to be inferred where so many condēned assertions are held against the knowne Church authority therof 75. To the second also to wit whether Lutherans and Sacramentaries who made the first diuision of Protestants whilst Luther himselfe was yet aliue be truly and properly Hereticks the one to the other and consequently that the saluation of one is the damnation of the other were it possible that any Sectary could be saued This is with as great facility proued as the former and that first by the testimony of Martin Luther himselfe the originall Authour of all these later Sectes and then by the mutuall and concurring consent of all the Lutheran Doctors Pastours and Prelates that succeeded him 76. First I say it is well knowne that Luther himselfe euer reputed the Sacramentaries that comprehend both Zuinglians and Caluinists for dāmnable and intollerable Hereticks Let his owne testification often reiterated and seriously aggrauated in diuers of his bookes be a sufficient cōfirmation of this His first serious Censure denounced against them all is this Haereticos seriò censemus alienos ab Ecclesia Dei Zuinglianos Sacramentarios omnes qui negant Christi Corpus Sanguinem ore carnali sumi in Venerabili Eucharistia We do seriously censure for Hereticks and Aliens from the Church of God the Zuinglians and all other Sacramentaries who do deny that Christes sacred body and bloud is receaued by our carnall mouth in the Venerable Eucharist Can any thing be spoken more clearely or determined more effectually then this Or can any Caluinist with any face hereafter exempt himselfe from out of the number of them that are accursed and condemned by their owne grand Progenitour 77. The same in effect he hath in his Epistle ad Iacobum Presbyterum Ecclesiae Bremensis his wordes are these All Sacramentaries that deny the Reall Presence are Hereticks and for such to be auoided And yet in a third place least any man should thinke he had altered his iudgement de Coena Domini of the supper of the Lord he condemned by name for damned Hereticks the very first Authors of Sacramentary doctrine to wit Carolostadius Oecolampadius and Zuinglius and questionles Caluin had neuer escaped his singers as sly an Hereticke as he was had he bene then either of name or note well his finall and irreuokable doome for it was denounced against thē in his decrepit age was this Ego tamquam alterum pedem iam habens in sepulchro c. I being now ould and hauing as it were one foote in my graue do yet carry this testimony glory with me to the tribunall of Iesus Christ that with all my hart I haue condemned as enemies of the Sacrament Carolostadius Zuinglius and Oecolampadius and all their disciples and followers and haue auoided their company haue no familiarity with them eyther by letters writings wordes or deedes as the Lord hath commanded not to haue with Heretickes Thus much of Luther himselfe 78. And now if we should prosecute the seuerall iudgmentes and Censures of all others the most learned Lutherans against Sacramentaries in this matter of heresy and namely against Caluinistes who were of no reckoning in Luthers daies for that their new heresy was but then a hatching there would be no end and I should rather fill a large volume then cōteine my selfe with in the precincts of my briefe intended Considerations Let one or two of the principall serue for all Matthias Illyricus a great Lutheran Superintendent of Saxony and one of those foure that compiled the lying Centuries doth in a certaine booke intituled Desensio Consessionis Martinistarum or Luther anorum censure Caluinistarum Lyturgiam the Lyturgy or seruice of the Caluinists not only for hereticall but to be Sacrilegious also Et proh dolor saith he innumeras animas aeterno exitio inuoluere And to inuolue alas innumerable soules with euerlasting perdition 79. Franciscus Stancarus also no meane Authour one of the Lutheran side writing to the King of Polonia in his days pronounceth confidently of all those new professors vnder Caluin in Geneua that they were Publici manifesti haeretici notorious and manifest Hereticks And yet as though this were little the same Author in his booke de Trinitate prescribeth this Caueat to the Christian Reader concerning Caluin and would to God it were as well remembred and practised in the Vniuersities of England where yong Deuines are for the most part poysoned with the drugges and dregges of Caluins doctrine my hart bleedeth to thinke of it before they can tast of the pure liquor of
antiquity well the admonition is this Caue Christiane Lector c. Beware Christian Reader of the bookes of Iohn Caluin especially in the articles of Trinity of the Incarnation of the Mediator of Baptisme of Predestination c. for that they doe containe most impious and blasphemous doctrine So he VVhereby is vnderstood not only the censure of the Lutheran Church concerning the Caluinists doctrine but also in what articles the difference betwixt them doth principally consist and these are neither few in number nor meane in nature as you see confirmed by the particular exceptions VVhich articles are reiterated by other Lutheran writers as namely by Albertus Grauerus in his booke intituled The warre of Iohn Caluin with Iesus Christ which booke was set forth in the yeare of our Redemption 1598. wherin he sheweth that the Articles wherby the Lutherans do cheifly differ from the Caluinists hereticall doctrine are of the person of Christ of the Supper of our Lord of Baptisme and of Predestination And Iacobus Halbruneir another Lutheran Doctor published an other booke the same yeare before to proue Caluinisme to be heresy and to the former articles of Albertus he addeth other two wherin Lutherans and Caluinists do deepely dissent which are de Maiestate Christi Ministerio Verbi wherby he maketh it euident that Caluinists are truly and properly Hereticks to Lutherans And this for the second point 80. Yt resteth now that I come vnto the third ranke of English Protestants and Puritans which are two different sects of Caluins doctrine which are found togeather in no state or Kingdome perhaps of Christendome but only in England And although some Protestant writers for dissembling their owne diuisions when they deale with Catholickes will needes forsooth acknowledge them for brethren as not differing from them in any substantiall point of Doctrine yet in all their other writings eyther against them or of them they disclose playnly what they thinke of ech other holding them both for Schismaticks and Hereticks in respect of their Protestant Church Which being presumed by them as they must needes presume to be the only true Catholike Church it must needes follow that Puritans who from their innermost soules detest the same and the communion thereof as Antichristian must needes be Sectaries nay Heretickes to that Church And this is consonant to the doctrine of these Scriptures and most conformable to the opinion of ancient Fathers as is before copiously in the precedent Considerations asseuered 82. For confirmation of which dissention capitall and reall hostility betweene our Puritans and Protestants in sundry mayne points of their Religion I might heere alledge and produce infinite authorityes and innumerable arguments if I should not surcharge my Treatise The two bookes yet extant printed by publicke authority in one and the selfe same yeare I meane the Suruey of the holy pretended Discipline compiled as it is thought by him that is now arriued to the highest pitch of Ecclesiasticall dignity in that Kingdome and the other bearing the inscription of daungerous Positions ascribed to Doctour Sutcliffe both of them receyuing presse at London by Iohn VVolfe Anno Dom. 1593. do sufficiently notifie vnto the world how reconciliable the Puritan position is with the Protestant Religion and that in sundry Articles of great weight and moment And amongst many others which to auoid prelixity I purposly omit the titles of the 22. and 23. Chapters of the Suruey are these That they to wit the Puritans do take from Christian Princes ascribe vnto their pretended regiment the supreme and immediate authority vnder Christ in causes Ecclesiasticall and in the oppugning theros do ioyne with the Papists Whereupon I inferre that if this spirituall Supremacy be any substantiall point of doctrine amongst the Protestants then the obstinate repugnance therof by the Puritans must needes be Schisme and Heresy 82. I pretermit diuers other bookes whereof I haue beene an eye witnesse how purposely and directly they treat of these matters as namely the Answere of the Vicechancelor Doctors of Oxford vnto the petition of a 1000. Puritans Anno Dom. 1603. wherein it is plainely conuinced that the Puritans hould their platforme of Ecclesiasticall gouerment of the gouerment of Christ vpon earth for a thing of no lesse importance then is the Ghospell of Jesus Christ. They hold it further for an essentiall part of their said Ghospell for a matter of faith to be receyued vpon paine of damnation for an essentiall marke of the true Church without the which the Protestants Church is no Church their faith no faith their Ghospell noe Ghospell c. And to conforme to that which M. Rogers writeth in his Preface to the Bishops Articles where he testifieth that the Puritans do hold their platforme differing from the Protestants to be a speciall part of the Ghospell yea the very Ghospell it selfe to be of such importāce as if euery haire of their heades were a life they ought to affoard them all in defence therof So they And in sober sadnes supposing their principles to be true haue they not great reason for that their differences be in so maine very substantiall points if we refere them to their heades wherof there is extant a very substantiall declaration and conuiction as to me it seemeth in the Preface of the Catholicke Deuine in his answere to Syr Edward Cookes fifth part of Reportes whither I referre the ingenous iudicious Reader for further perusall of this point for there it is shewed and irrefragably against all impugners therof proued how essentiall and substantiall difference of doctrine there is about the origen of Ecclesiasticall power and authority betweene the Protestantes Puritans and Catholickes of England the one that is the Protestāt ascribing it to their temporall Prince the other challenging it as most properly pertayning to their priuate Conuenticles Assemblies the last third to the Succession of Bishops from the Apostles the consequence wherof is this that whosoeuer of the three parties haue the right in this point there only is the true Church there alone is the true Ecclesiastiall Authority of preaching teaching or dayning Ministers administring Sacraments exercising Censures and Iurisdiction binding or loosing remitting or retaining sinnes and the like c. And for the other two Churches they do remayne as secular and prophane Congregations without any vitall spirit of Ecclesiasticall power at all Let them then contend neuer so much about the keys of Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction yet the plaine truth is they shall neuer be able to open or shut the gates of heauen vnto their owne friendes or against their enemies 83. And for as much as the Puritans also in their plea do perswade themselues to haue the right on their side they must needes inferre the other consequence against the Protestant Church houlding it to be no Church as the foresaid answere of Oxford Doctors pag. 15. doth confesse that the Brownists do ancrre
against thē saying The Brownists do confidently reproach vs that our Church is no Church our Sacraments no Sacraments our Prince and people Infidells as not being baptized at all our Christiā Congregations prophane multitudes c. Thus write they animated as say these Answerers by the Millenary Puritan Petitioners wherby it may be probably presumed that they also to wit the said thousand Petitioners in most poynts at least are of the same opinion 84. These thinges being so as no man of modesty can deny my demaund is how can these men differing in so mayne a poynt be of the same Church Or how can any man of the meanest vnderstanding so he haue any capacity at all imagine how these and the Protestants can be saued togeather Nay truly the booke intituled The picture of a Puritan licenced to come forth by authority Anno 1605. contayning a comparison of the opinions of the Anabaptists in Germany with those of the Puritans in England in Dialogue wise betweene an English man and a German this booke I say doth pregnantly proue that the Protestants do hold the Puritans not only for Schismatickes and Sectaries but for Heretickes also as the Anabaptists are yea the Author holdeth them farre worse then the Anabaptists Your Ana baptists saith he come not neere to our Puritans in pride and contempt c. And then he proceedeth in comparing and paralleling them as well in their opinions and vse of Sacraments as in many other points of Religion with the said Anabaptists most damned heretickes as all English Protestants themselues generally acknowledge them to be yea this Author called O. O. Emanuel aggrauates the point so much against them that he compareth them with Iewes and other such like Infidells And euery where throughout his whole discourse detecteth and censureth them for obstinate and wicked Sectaries And finally to wast no more labour in a matter so cleare I find them ipso sacto excommunicated by many Constitutions Canons Ecclesiasticall of the Bishops and Protestant Church of England as namely for impugning their Church as also the Rites and Cerimonies established in the said Church for denying the authority of their Archbishops Bishops their consecrating and ordering of the inferiour Clergy for denying of Deanes Collegiate Churches for being Authours of Schisme and separating themselues as Schismatickes for maynteyning of Constitutions made in Conuenticles and the like 75. And to conclude euery where almost throughout the same Constitutions they are sharpely censured for Sectaries and Schismaticks which censure proceeding from the Protestant Church with so full a stroke of authority must of necessity in their owne iudgement depriue the others of all meanes of saluation in that Church they standing out with pertinacy against the same as they doe consequently this doome must needes fall vpon one of their heades that the Protestants and they can in no case be saued togeather The fifth Consideration With the Conclusion of this whole Chapter to his Maiesty NOW therefore to returne with all humble obedience loyalty vnto your Matie conteyning my selfe within all due and iust boundes of duty fidelity obseruance obedience subiection and submission which eyther the law of God of Nature of Nations Reason Religion or of my owne natiue Countrie can require of a subiect towards his Dread Soueraigne I do euen from my innermost and hartiest affections implore this one thing of your sayd Excellency and must euer persist to beg it at your Highnes handes to wit that after these foresaid premised Considerations to the Reader your owne Princely Person would deigne to condescend to enter into some serious Consideration and mature deliberation and that with some earnest attention within the secret closet of your owne most wise iudicious and vnderstanding hart what is and may be the great consequence of all this that hath beene hither so generally discoursed of in the mayne body of the whole as also to weigh ponder the weight and importance of ech particuler treated and inferred in their seuerall passages 87. And first may it please your Highnes to lay togeather and compare the seuerall partes and distinct pertyes of different Professions in Religion all dissenting frō the English Protestant Church and doctrine therein established as before hath beene sufficiently proued The instances we bring for a plenary and particuler confirmation are these As first the ROMAN Catholickes which possesse the greatest part of Europe Secondly the Lutherans professing throughout Saxony Denmarke Suecia and some other States in Germany Thirdly the Sacramentaries Zuinglians and rigid Caluinists tearmed by vs for their moteferuēt supposed zeale Puritans and these be dispersed throughout Suitzerland Sauoy Germany Hungary France Holland Scotland and some parts of England All these I say conioined togeather and compared only with the English Parliament Protestants do make often partes of Christendome nyne at the least which proportion or rather disproportion as indeed it is especially in Religion when I seriously consider and weigh it in the euen and impartiall ballance of an indifferent iudgement I can in all duty do no lesse but most humblie propose vnto the Christiā Prudency and Religious Piety of your Matie to consider of what importance this is in regard of life euerlasting that nine partes of ten should hould the English Protestant religion for damnable heresy by which your Matie expecteth to receaue an eternall neuersading crowne of glory awarded by Almighty God the most righteous iudge of all the world 88. Yf in a sumptuous and Royall banquet prepared of purpose to intertaine the person of a King or potent Monarch there were neuer so many pleasing and alluring dishes neuer such great store of delicate viandes fetched from the sea or prouided by land neuer so great appetite in the Princely party inuited if often learned Phisitions that were then present attending vpon the person of this Prince to consult and prouide for his bodily health and welfare nyne of them should confidently auouch vpon their learning and iudgement nay life it selfe that all those daynties and pleasing dishes were infected with the drugges of some mortall and deadly-killing poyson some one dish only excepted which they could not also well discouer I thinke it would make the party inuited to looke about him to stay himselfe and examine well the matter before he would desperately aduenture to please his palate Or if in a great suite of law concerning the interest to a Princely inheritance pretēded by the plaintife it should be eyther by Parliament or vnder the great Seale or by some other Statute enacted yea and without faile executed that if the plaintife fayled in his suite being either dryuen to non-suite or ouercome in his suite that then he should vndergoe extreme misery be exposed to infinite calamities most certaynely incurre euerlasting bondage and slauery though some one lawyer of ten that were of his counsaile should animate and giue him all the encouragement that possibly he
Scripture is so heynous and temerarious a sinne as before we haue touched yea and that committed against the Blessed spirit that breathed them all and streamed these pure waters of life from one and the same liuing and life-giuing fountaine Let vs in the name of God in timore tremore euen with feare and trembling since the horror of the sinne committed requireth this at our hands examine a little in what a dangerous nay damnable state the Protestants of our dayes do stand in about their disauthorizing of Scriptures not in blotting out one booke alone but in wiping out many togeather from the number of the sincere Canon and let vs further consider in what a gaze and maze they stand being vncertaine of their ground also what they ought to belieue hould or determine after they haue lost the sure and stable-staying anchor of the Churches authority in this behalfe 34. As for example the Catholickes do belieue all those bookes before mentioned which are secundi ordinis in Bellarmine both the ould and new Testament to be Canonicall Scriptures of infallible truth and the reason is drawne from the Church for that she in her ancieÌ„t CouÌ„cells hath admitted the same for such at least wise since the 47. Canon of the third Councell of Carthage was enacted wherin S. Augustine himselfe was present and subscribed to the said Canon which Canon auerreth them to be bookes of true Canonicall Scriptures amongst which for example goeth the Epistle to the Hebrewes and of this my purpose is at this present to make some particuler Consideration for that the time within whose limyts I am straited will not easily permit me to treat of all 35. This Epistle then is belieued of the Catholicks to be a true part of Canonicall Scripture and written by S. Paul as well as the rest for that it was so receaued by the Church in old time as namely in the Councell of Laodicea the 59. Canon And after that againe in the third Councell of Carthage before mentioned and cyted in diuers other Councells and namely in the first Nicene whose authority his Matie of England offereth to stand vnto in the first Ephesine and of that of Chalcedon in all the grand Parlaments of the worlds Generall Councells it was receaued and acknowledged as the genuine Epistle of S. Paul But now in these our vnhappy times matters be raked into Controuersies againe and that after the whole Church hath in diuers Synods established the thing and euery sort of Sectaries will needes adhere to their owne brayn-sicke fancyes and will preferre their owne priuate opinion before the publicke determination and resolution of the Church Amongst all others as the Captaine and ringleader of the rest vpstarts Martin Luther but it was after he had broken vow and cloyster and married a Nunne taketh vpon him to censure the matter in his Prologue to that Epistle reuersing as erroneous the graue and infallible iudgement of so many Generall Councells directed by the spirit of God his wordes be these This Epistle saith Luther was neither written by S. Paul nor by any other Apostle and it conteineth in it some thinges contrary to the Euangelicall and Apostolicall doctrine This was Luthers heady and giddy censure of this admirable parcell of holy Writ Will any man hereafter so desperately cast away himselfe in crediting him who thus discrediteth Gods word 36. With Luther in this poynt conspire all the learned Lutherans about the disauthorizing of this holy Writ and namely Ioannes Brentius in his Confession of Wittemberg cap. de sacra Scriptura and the foure Magdeburgian good fellowes in their first loud-lying Century the 2. booke the fourth Chapter Col. 55. and that audacious and impudent Examyner and Censurer of all the learning and learned men of the whole Christian world I meane Martinus Kemniâ—ius in his examen of the 4. Session of that famous Councell of Trent And vpon this these men aduenture all their soules VVill any man suffer himselfe any longer to be deceaued by such pure reformers nay rather impure impostors But Iohn Caluin the next succeeding reformer of these Reformers being to beginne a new fect of his owne head he thought it most conuenient to oppose himselfe against the Lutherans in this point and therefore in his first Institutions printed in the yeare of our Lord 1554. cap. 8. § 216. he proueth that the Lutherans do erre in this poynt in houlding it not to be an Apostolicall Epistle yet he will not affirme that it was written by S. Paul but rather perhaps by Bannaby or Luke as may appeare in the same Institutions Chap. 10. § 83. and Chap 16. § 25. Vpon which scruple raysed by M. Caluin the Caluinian Ministers at a certaine Conuenticle of theirs held at Poysy in France in the yeare 1562. do in the third article of their Confession set downe this Epistle to the Hebrewes to be diuine Scripture but yet incerti authoris they leaue the authour of it to be doubtfull And this is a subtill trick peculiar to Caluin his inuention to wit to differ from other Protestants and yet not fully to agree with the Catholickes but to haue something singuler to himselfe as you see in this controuersy and it might be proued in many other 37. And here now I would demaund vpon what warrant in the world doth Iohn Caluin and his Sectaries contradict and oppose themselues against Luther and his followers in this point Certaine it is he agreeth not with the Catholickes at aâ—l and it seemeth then nay it is more then certaine he followeth a seuerall way and straine by himselfe and hath no ground or guide therin but his owne will iudgement choice and election 38. The like dispute I might propose about other bookes or partes of Scriptures and namely concerning the Epistle of S. Iames and the Apocalyps the former wherof is reiected both by Luther and all the forenamed Lutheran writers Brentius Kemnitius and the Magdeburgians all these auouch it to be no Scripture but yet it is asserted and asscuered by Caluin and the Caluinists for genuine and vndoubted Scripture The second which is that mysticall booke of the Reuelation composed by that high-soaring and Egale-winged Iohn S. Iohn syrnamed the Deuine this booke though it be in like manner discredited and disauthorized from Canon by Luther and most of his followers as namely by Brentius Kemnitius in the places before alleaged yet is the same booke eagerly defended against them by Caluin and his followers and good reason haue they in their iudgment for it forasmuch as thence they take vpon them to demonstrate the Pope to be Antichrist and the VVhore of Babylon in regard of the seauen hilled Citty I know not vpon what imaginations besides And this Consideration may be presumed to haue beene an especiall motiue vnto those chiefe Lutherans the Magdeburgians causing them to forsake both their Father Luther and their Lutheran brethren in this cause and to
Augustine Sancti Apostoli certam regulam fidei tradiderunt quam secundum numerum Apostolorum c. The holy Apostles did deliuer a certaine rule of faith which rule being comprehended in twelue sentences according to the number of the 12. Apostles was called by them by a Greeke word and borrowed metaphor Symbolum a Symbole or collation of many thinges togeather And their intention as is before intimated was that by this Symbole signe and summe of Christian faith and doctrine Catholicae fidei veritas ab haereticae prauitatis falsitate discernatur as Vincentius Lyrinensis speaketh of his goulden rule of faith deliuered vnto him from all his ancestors that the truth of Catholicke faith and verity might be discerned from the falshood of hereticall prauity This haue our ancestors left vs by tradition And for the first in stitution of it it was in this sort as the history of Antiquity the very life of memory hath by writing registred and commended it vnto vs. 5. After the glorious visible Ascension of our Sauiour from the lowest pitch and vale of the earths misery into the highest toppe of heauen and bosome of his Fathers eternity this being terminus ad queÌ„ aswell as it was terminus à quo in that great motion of heauen Christs Incarnation and mans Redemption the place whither he ascended as it was the place whence he descended according to that Exiui à Patre veni in mundum relinquo mundum vado ad Patrem I say after this Ascension descension of the holy Ghost in the visible shapes of fiery tongues vpon the Apostles in abling them and qualifying them with the tongues of nations for the conuerting of nations then the Apostles being ready to separate themselues and to depart into all parts of the earth to preach the Ghospell for the conuersion of the whole world they did compose and lay down a perfect platforme of their future preaching and others belieuing by deuising a certaine squared rule and Canon of fayth and that not so much for their owne direction being so assisted with the inward inspiration of the spirit that they could not possibly erre in their doctrine though their teaching was euer to be conforme vnto these heades as for the Christian Churches instruction and premunitioÌ„ that by hauing recourse vnto these general heads of fayth commeÌ„ded vnto them by the true Apostles they might more easily discerne and auoyd the hereticall doctrine of all false disciples VVherefore the Apostles being assembled togeather and met as it were the second time in Councell being ech of them seuerally replenished with the holy Ghost and all of them ioyntly directed by the selfe same neuer-erring spirit who was both now and euer in such assemblies as these to sit as President in the Church I say being thus prepared euery one proposed as he belieued and all being put togeather in the vpshot did make the shot or symbole of a breife yet entire methodicall summe of Christian doctrine including all points of faith either to be preached afterwardes by the Apostles or to be belieued by their disciples And this summe did the Apostles theÌ„selues appoint to be deliuered by tradition or from hand to hand vnto euery one that belieued ad directionem ad distinctionem both for a direction vnto that which they were to preach and others were to belieue as also to discerne and put a difference betwixt all faithfull Christians and misbelieuing Infidels 6. Thus S. Augustine whose sense I haue kept though I haue somewhat dilated vpon his wordes relateth the matter which before him had beene recorded by Ruffinus in the Exposition of this Creed so that S. Augustine borroweth not only sense but the selfe same words also for the most part are taken from Ruffinus And further the said Ruffinus doth adde another signification of the word Symbole besides a collation or contribution of many things vnto one saying that it signifieth also a signe or badge wherby one sort of souldiers are distinguished from others And in this acception also of the word it consorteth well to our present purpose that by this briefe summe of Doctrine as by a badge or cognisance true Catholicke Christian men may be distinguished heere from Infidels and Hereticks since after death there is such an externall distinction and separation to be made And for this purpose at the beginning this Creed serued but afterwards charity the loue of God and Christian piety decaying and the malice of men exceedingly multiplying vpon the earth this breife and playne summe would not serue the turne against infernall and hereticall subtility for that as S. Augustine before hath well obserued sundry sortes of Hereticks presumed to shrewd their heresies vnder the articles of this Creed peruerting also the meaning and misunderstanding aswell the wordes thereof as the sense so as in fine the bare and outward profession of belieuing this Creed became at last to be no certaine argument of prouing a man to be a true Christian Catholicke except other due conuincing circumstances concurred as we haue before shewed of the Canonicall Scriptures themselues 7. Furthermore the Fathers and Doctors of the Church do ioyntly affirme and expresly S. Augustine in the place before cyted that albeit the wordes be few and briefe of this Creed yet are they so substantiall punctuall and materiall as that they containe the full and entyre summe of whatsoeuer is to be belieued by vs his wordes be these Quicquid praefiguratum est in Patriarchis quicquid denunciatum in Scripturis quicquid praedictum in Prophetis de Deo ingeniâ—o vel ex Deo in Deum nato c. Whatsoeuer was prefigured in the Patriarkes whatsoeuer was denounced in the Scriptures whatsoeuer was foretold in the Prophets eyther of God the Father vnbegotten or of God the Sonne begotten or God the holy Ghost or of receyuing any Sacrament or of the death of our Lord or of the mystery of his Resurrection all this is briefly contayned in this Creed so that the obseruation hence deduced must needs be this that albeit in the bare wordes of the Creed many thinges belonging to fayth are not literall and syllabically expressed yet were they implyed comprehended and intended by the Apostles and namely and particularly about the admitting of Sacraments of their nature number necessity efficacy manner of administration and the like as S. Augustine doth here expound which yet in the wordes are not expressed but were locked vp with in the sacred breast and closet of the Church as in the safest treasury there to be expounded dilated amplified more largely and particulerly vnto the faithfull as eyther the Churches necessity requiring or hereticall pertinacy and importunity oppugning should at any time or occasion require which exposition of the Church as the soundest Commentary vpon the Creed he that in all humility of iudgment and opinion submitteth not him selfe to belieue obay cannot be truly said to belieue this Creed notwithstanding
And the place is very pregnant for prouing the point The bench being set the Ministers ech in time and order spake but God knoweth how few wise and true words were spoken amongst them The first starts vp and expounds it of Christ his suffering vpon the Crosse a second vnderstands it of the Graue a third extended it to Christ his sufferings of hell torments in soule and the fourth yet added and interpreted it of Christs being in the state of the dead The Moderator for such a one they haue in all their Exercises he as wise as the rest insteed of mending all he marreth all for he commendeth all approueth all and receiueth all and then falleth out into a wonderfull admiration of the diuersity of the gifts of the spirit that euery one of his fellow labourers in the Ghospell should haue his seuerall exposition and yet all to agree and all to be intended by the holy Church But this is iust according to Tertullian his prescription Nihil interest haereticis licèt diuersa tractantibus dum ad vnius veritatis expugnationem conspirent it importeth not amongst hereticks though so many men be of so many mindes whilst they can conspire to impugne one truth And do not so many seuerall and erroneous expositions banded against one true meaning of the article forcibly make good this prescription and note of Tertullian 37. And for my part as then so now I am of absolute opinion that if all my brethren and their Moderator with them had bene as farre out of the towne as they were euery one of them from the truth of the text and meaning of the holy Ghost in that place they would neuer more haue returned either to wiues or Cures or made such an other fanaticall exposition tending only to the ouerthrow of the Article 38. But yet my second obseruation goeth farre beyond all this and for the nouelty and absurdity of the exposition it deserueth to be registred in the record of eternall memory that all the world may take notice of the palpable blindnesse of heresy and it is of diuers stipendary Preachers who as they seuerally succeeded one the other in a very eminent place of that Kingdome so they diuersly expounded the article one of them expounded it of hell torments in Caluins sense a second succeding of the graue in Beza his meaning the third and last because he would be sure to proue himselfe an hereticke addidit de suo he found out such an exposition as was neuer heard of before vnlesse it were by one Iacob a turbulent and Schismaticall spirit that opposed himselfe against the Bishop of VVinchester impar congressus I say no more touching this article His exposition in plaine words was this Christ descended into hell that is sayth he he ascended into heauen and this he thought he proued substantially out of the Greeke wordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which said he signifieth no more thē that Christ went 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is said he to an inuisible place and this must be proportioned according to the dignity of the person and consequently must be heauen For what place can be fit for the Sonne of God being thus in the state of the dead but heauen And so as before his conclusion for a full and perfect exposition of this article was he descended into hell that is he ascended into heauen And is not this as Luther merily gibeth at the Canonicall exposition of Hoc est corpus meum as if a man taking vpon him to interpret this text God created heauen and earth should interpret it thus acroked staffe was made a kite or the cuccow did eat vp the kitling bones and all For certaine I am there is as much truth and correspondency betwixt the one as the other Oh miserable Preachers o thrice miserable people that thus suffer their eyes to be put out and their soules to be deluded beguiled and betrayed by such hereticall impostors 39. And now to proceed forward and to see what the Church of England doth hould in this point M. Thomas Rogers Minister of Horninger and Chaplaine to the Lord of Canterbury hauing taken vpon him to set forth in print of late The faith doctrine and religion prosessed and protected in England for so are his wordes in 36. articles agreed vpon as he saith by the Bishops and Clergy of England when he commeth vnto this article he seemeth not to know what to say for hauing laid forth this article of Christs descent into hell he hath these wordes That Christ went downe into hell saith he all sound Christians both in former times and now liuing do acknowledge howbeit in the interpretation of the article there is not that consent that were to be wished And so after he hath set downe diuers opinions of others forgetting to put downe his owne he passeth and posteth the matter ouer in such sort as that no man can tell what they of England do hold or what it is that is agreed vpon by the Bishops or whether they hold any thing at all though in the title of his booke he doth promise to set downe 39. Articles vniformely agreed vpon by the said Bishops and Clergy belike he found no concord or agreement in this behalfe only he recounteth the aduerse opiniōs which he holdeth for opposite erours and aduersaries to the truth and then going on futher he sayth But vntill we know the natiue and vndoubted sense of this article and mystery of Christian Religion we persist aduersaries vnto them that say that Christ descended not into hell at all or that Christ descended into the place of euerlasting tormentes or indured in soule the paynes of damned spirits c. which opinions you haue heard now to haue bene partly of Caluin partly of other Protestants so as with them the Church of England holdeth not nor yet with the Papists sayth he for that presently he addeth for an opposite errour vnto them That Christ in soule went downe into Limbo lake to fetch from thence the soules of our forefathers which soules saith he before Christs death as Papists dreme were shut vp in the close prison of hell Now then to reflect vpon the premises and out of them to inferre the conclusion the illation must needes be this Though all partes do in wordes admit this article of Christ his descent into hell yet do they greatly differ in the sense and the ministers of England as it seemeth haue no certaine faith therin at all neither do they ascribe so much assistance of the holy Ghost to their Church which the true Church could neuer want as to be able to explaine the natiue and vndoubted sense of this article and Mystery of Christian Religion to vse M. Rogers wordes so as their beliefe herein is only negatiue as their whole Religion is which is to belieue that all others are deceiued besides themselues and yet do they affirme nothing in particular And let
the ancient Church gathered and assembled foure within the compasse of one age and an halfe and the Protestant Princes and people do bound and border nearer togeather then did the Christians in former tymes which were in a manner dispersed here and there farre and neere ouer the whole face of the earth 27. If reply be made that then there was but one Emperour to affoard his Imperiall consent for the assembling of the Synod now since the diuision of the Empyre into many Dukedomes Princedomes Kingdomes and free States there be many particuler Princes whose wills and iudgements can more hardly be agreed whose assents are with greater difficulty to be required and obtayned I answere this euasion is but a meere collusion and therefore must not be suffered to passe without due reprehension For since the forsaid diuision of the Christian world into seuerall Kingdomes and states many generall Councell haue bene called and gathered amongst Catholickes as before hath bene shewed yea and that in the middest of tumults vproares and garboyles in the temporall estates of the Christian world and this a man of common sense and reason may comprehend imagin to haue byna greater let and impediment vnto the gathering of Generall Councells then any incumbrance and inconuenience that the Protestants surmise or pretend But the truth is heresy and schisme originally grounded vpon proper election priuate inuention stubborne selfwill and proud conceipted iudgment togeather with obstinacy against the Churches authority this I say can neuer abide that exact discussion which a generall Councell doth require For how can the Protestants thus deuided as they are and knowing the weakenes of their owne cause indure parly and treaty eyther with the Catholicks whome they accompt aduersaries or among themselues with their owne Sectaries 28. Not with Catholickes as may be seene by examples of ancient hereticks condēned in these 4. first Generall Councells to wit the Arians in the first the Macedonians in the second the Nestorians in the third and the Eutichians in the fourth who fled what they could those Councells appealing only to Scriptures whereof there is one notable example amongst many others in the last of these foure Councells I meane that of Chalcedon wherein the Archimandrite and Archereticke Eutiches being sent vnto with Notaries from this graue and learned Councell to yield an accompt to the Councell of his hereticall opinion held of one onely nature in Christ after his Incarnation he first bethought him of this euasion to say that he would agree and subscribe to the expositions of the Fathers that had sate in the Nicen Councell and that of Ephesus but this was but meere collusion for thereby he only meant most craftily and heretically to euade and fly both the other two Councells of Constantinople that had already dealt against him and condemned him as also this of Chalcedon that was now gathered against him to heare his cause and to be his iudge 29. But yet secondly for feare that he might yield also to farre in this he added presently an exposition saying Si verè aliquid contingat eos in aliquibus dictis aut falli aut errasse hoc neque se vette reprehendere neque subscribere solas autem Scripturas scrutari tamquam firmiores sanctorum Patrum expositionibus If not withstanding it had happened that the said Fathers of the Nicen and Ephesine Councells had bene deceiued and erred in many of their sayings then would he neither reprehend the same for modesties sake nor yet subscribe therunto but that he for his part would attend himselfe wholy vnto the Scriptures alone as being more firme and sure then the expositions of any Fathers whatsoeuer And is not this spoken like a Protestant 30. Thirdly when he had repeated and vrged againe his blasphemous heresy of one only nature in Christ in presence of those graue and reuerend Prelates that were sent by the whole Synod to take his confessiō and further when he had read vnto them a booke compiled Apologetically for defence of the same heresy he then tould them openly and plainely that this was his faith according vnto the Scriptures and as for the other to wit the Catholicke assertion that Christ consisted of two natures diuine and humane vnited in one person he said flatly Neque se didicisse in expositionil us sanctorum Patrum neque subscriberevelle sicontigerit ab aliquo ei tale aliquid legi quia diuina Scripturae meliores sunt Patrum doctrinis That he had neither learned any such assertion in the expositions of the holy Fathers he meaneth the blessed Fathers of the Nicene and Ephesine Councells nor yet would he for his part admit and imbrace it if any such thing should happen to be read vnto him out of their writinges and his reason was that which is so cōmonly vrged by Protestants for that the diuine Scriptures are better then the doctrines of all Fathers the which though it be true in it self yet was his meaning to deceiue therby as you see thinking by this faire glosle goodly pretence of Scripture to haue auoyded and escaped the tribunall and censure of the Catholicke Church in that time but the Councell condemned his opinion and person notwithstanding his shifting euasions to the contrary 31. And truly the very Consideration of this particuler I meane the conformity of spirits in this ould heretick and diuers of the new Protestants that cry out with sull and open mouth to haue all thinges in Generall Councells tryed by Scriptures alone left in me a very great impression and the matter it selfe seemed vnto me very considerable and worthy of all diligent attention For I patticulerly reflected vpon that sentence of Caluin wherin in my poore iudgment and opinion I rightly compared the two Arch-heretickes togeather and whether I wrong Caluin let his owne wordes witnes and his best fauorites and sectarirs defend their Maister from speaking like an hereticke I meane like Eutiches Nulla saith he nos Conciliorunt Patrum Episcoporum nomina impedire debent quo minùs omnes omnium spirituum ad diuini verbi regulam exigamus verbo Domini examinemus num ex Deo sunt VVe are not to passe for Councels Fathers Bishops it is not in naming of all or any one of them can barre vs from examining all kynd of spirits according vnto the squared rule of Gods word and we may call them vnto accompt sift them by the word of the Lord whether they are of God or no. So far he 32. And here also I remēbred that I had seene the conditions required by the Protestants of Germany when as they were inuited to come vnto the Councell of Trent at the very first gathering thereof and the said conditions were published in a seuerall booke which did beare this Inscription Causae cur Electores Principes c. The causes why the Electors Princes and other addicted to the Cōfession of Augusta do not come to the
Councell of Trent For iustifiing of which causes eight conditions are required by them to be obserued in that Councell wherof the fourth is That the decisions be made in all Controuersies onely out of Scriptures and not out of Ecclesiasticall Canons or traditions the fifth is That decisions be againe made not according to the plurality of voyces or suffrages but according vnto the norme and rule of Gods word But what this norme or rule is they expound not but do leaue it as they found it stil to be contended about VVherunto if we adioyne two other conditions of theirs which are the last to wit that the Protestant Ministers may giue voyces equally with Bishops in deciding of all questions that if they should not be able to defend their cause yet not only their persons should be secure but their cause also not to be condēned for heresy These I say if we add as the later vnto the former we shall plainely discerne that they had not so much as the least thought to stand vnto that Councell at all but to their owne heads and by these to their owne vnreasonable conditions and vnconscionable to make their controuersies and heresies endlesse and indeterminable For if euery man or at least euery Minister hath authority to determine out of Gods word whē will there be an end 33. And here you see the small or rather no hope that is of agreement betwixt Protestants and Catholickes by way of Generall Councells and that the Protestants reseruing themselues onely to Scripture for the decision of matters and not admitting generall Councells and Fathers to be vmpiring iudges of the sense meaning therof they tread first into the steppes and rake into the sacrilegious ashes of all former ancient condemned heretickes euen for this very point condemned by the Church in many of her generall Councells and secondly by such conditions they make themselues sure and secure from being condemned in such sort as that they will yeald therunto And the selfe same fundamentall reason or rather desperate refuge and euasion of theirs in prophaning and abusing this sacred Sanctuary of Scripture by their prophane spirits and vnhallowed glosses houldeth also for their neuer agreeing amongst themselues by Meetings Conferences Colloquies Disputations Synods or Councells for that the Lutherans and Sacramentaries whether Zuinglians or Caluinists for of these two only I meane to speake at this time standing vpon this resolute principle on all handes that nothing is to be determined but by Scripture and then ech one interpreting that Scripture differently from the other acknowledging no iudge on neither party how is it possible that they should euer come to any end of determination 34. And this will euidently appeare if we cast our eyes vpon those Conuenticles Meetings Conferences Synods Councels Colloquies held betwixt these reforming brethren for the space of threescore years togeather to wit frō the yeare 1530. vnto the yeare 1590. which are set forth by Stanislaus Rescius Embassadour vnto the King of Polonia at Naples vpon the yeare 1596. which do amount to aboue threescore Synods Coūcels Meetings held at Smalcaldium Frankesord Constance Tygure VVittemberge Berna Ratisbone Spire Norimberge Lipsia VVormes Luneburge Maulnbourne Petricouia Varadine Gratz Brunswicke Dresda Alba Iulia Cracouia and diuers other places all these and many more if we looke into with an indifferent eye we shall euer find that they were so farre from concluding any peace in religion or reconciling of their Controuersies by these Synodes and Councells as that they departed farre greater enemyes and more disagreeing in their opinions then when they first met witnes their departure at one meeting of theirs aboue mentioned when they would neyther giue nor take dextras fraternitatis nor dextras humanitatis fellowship of fraternity nor fellowship of humanity which is a token that they haue not the spirit of vniō nor any meanes left them to come vnto it and consequently that the example and president of these first foure generall Councells that determined with authority and vniforme iudgement the controuersies of their times ouer all the world do preiudice all togeather and condemne the Protestants of our age and do conuince that they are not of their spirit or religion and that neyther Generall Nationall Prouinciall or particuler Councells Synods or Meetings can bring themselues to any concord or agreement togeather especially diuision and dissention being a note as it is ascribed by all ancient Fathers peculiar vnto heretickes that they were alwaies irreconciliable and deuided amongst themselues And this was the effect of my second consideration The third Consideration MY third Consideration was that by reading these Councells I did not only find a complete Hierarchy and Ecclesiasticall regiment of the Catholicke Church to be obserued in those former ancient tymes consisting of Bishops Archbishops Patriarches and Prelates gouerning the said Church conforme to that of the Catholickes of our dayes and wholy different from the Protestants Churches which they call reformed though in my iudgment they may more truely be called deformed in that they haue taken away all such Hierarchy of Bishops except only a small glimpse thereof reserued in England for a shew but in many other particuler points also I plainly perceaued their senses opinions and iudgments to be far dissonant from these of our Protestants whether we regard their practice for conuersation and reformation of our manners or respect their doctrine for instruction and information of our iudgments wherof God assisting I shall lay forth some few briefe and punctuall obseruations purposely pretermitting infinite others that may be gathered out of the foresaid foure generall Councells 36. In the first of the foure I meane Nicen and the 3. Canon therof these wordes represented themselues vnto my view Omnibus modis interdixit Sancta Synodus vt neque Episcopo neque Presbytero neque Diacono neque vlli Clericorum omnino licere habere secum mulierem extraneam nisi fortèmater aut soror aut auia aut amita vel matertera sit in his namque personis harum similibus omnis quae ex mulieribus est suspitio declinatur qui aliter praeter haec agitpericlitetur de Clero suo The holy Synod doth forbid by all meanes and determineth it to be vnlawfull for any Bishop Priest Deacon or any other of the Cleargy to haue any externe woman with them except perhaps it be their mother sister grandmother or aunt by father or mothers side for in these all suspition that may arise about dwelling with women is declyned and he that shall do contrary to this shall leese his Clergy Thus that first and famous Councell decreed ratified and enacted for the Angelicall continency of the Clergy in those dayes 37. And the true meaning of this holy Councell is according to the playne purport of the wordes as they are set downe in the Canon to wit that Clergy men could not marry after they
of necessity make the visible Catholicke Church if euer Christ left behind him any Church at all to continew when he writeth that he would eyther belieue them or at least wise would be humbly silent and not condemne them as before hath bene shewed So in this very second point of particuler Fathers I find it thus written by his Maiesty 26. But for euery priuate Fathers opinion saith he it bindeth not my conscience more then Bellarmines euery one of the Fathers vsually cōtradicting of others The first part of which sentēce to wit that euery priuate opinion of euery Father bindeth not a mans conscience in matter of religion is so cleare that it needeth no proofe at all for it cannot be denyed For if the opinion be indeed priuate then is it not truly Catholicke and consequently being not the opinion of the true Church it bindeth no man 27. But for the later period of the sentence being wholy derogatory from the credit of Antiquity that is to say that euery one of the Fathers do vsually contradict others in matters concerning religion this must needes presubpose to haue some fauorable interpretation affoarded it to free it from open iniuring and wronging of the Fathers and so my hope is that this is the meaning of his Excellent Matie to wit that these contradictions supposed to be a mongst the Fathers are only diuersities of iudgment in matters that are not determinately de fide or that do not concerne any articles of beliefe but eyther such matters as S. Augustine saith that may without breach of vnion or charity be diuersly disputed of amongst Catholicke men or els when diuers Fathers do giue diuers senses of Scripture some the literall others the allegoricall and all true all intended by the holy Ghost as we haue formerly noted Now the rule that we must heere obserue concerning these poyntes wherein consent of Fathers is and must necessarily be had is that which Vincentius Lyrinensis an Authour that I can neuer sufficiently commend hath excellently laid downe in his 37. Chapter contra haereses his wordes are these Antiqua Patrum consentio Sanctorum non in omnibus diuinae legis quaestionibus sed solùm in fidei regula magno nobis studio inuestiganda sequenda est The ancient consent of holy Fathers is with great care and study to be both searched out and followed of vs not in all their questionings of holy Writ but only in the rule of fayth 28. And vnto this S. Augustine alludeth where he writeth thus Alia sunt in quibus interse aliquando etiam doctissimi atque optimi regulae Catholicae defensores salua fidei compage non consonant alius alio de vna re melius aliquid dicit veriùs There are some thinges wherein sometimes the most learned and the best defenders of the Catholick rule do not agree amongst themselues but one speaketh better and more truly then another of the selfe same thing but yet without breach of the linke of faith 29. But forasmuch as particuler Fathers do often times set downe and deliuer the publike beliefe of the Church and not any priuate opinions though they seeme to speak priuately and not in name of the whole Church when they mention this or that point concerning religion some certaine rule or note for our better direction and distinction must be set downe and the surest rule to discerne how farre forth priuate Fathers opinions ought to be esteemed or may bind a man in conscience is for a man to consider vprightly in the impartiall iudgment betwixt God and his owne conscience whether that opinion of his if he be but one or theirs if they be many haue bene withstood or gainesaid contradicted or impugned by any other Father or Fathers Synod or Councell Prouinciall Generall or Nationall of the same or other precedent or subsequent ages For if this cannot be made good against any one particuler Fathers opinion then may it more then probably be inferred that forsomuch as this particuler Father was generally reputed for a Catholicke Doctor in his time neuer reprehended taxed noted condemned for this opinion as false doubtfull or erroneous it must needes be I say necessarily inferred and concluded that that very opinion of his was the opinion iudgment and doctrine also of the Catholicke Church in the age and time wherein he liued and of which he himselfe was then a Father and Doctor For if this were not so it cannot be so much as with any probability imagined that this Father could haue taught this opinion in his dayes or diuulged it in his writings vnto posterity without some note or memory of controlment or taxation of the same eyther whilst he liued or after his death 30. And hereby it followeth that albeit this Doctrine should haue but one or two ancient Fathers that do expresly mention it in their dayes other Fathers of the same tyme either not hauing occasion to speake therof or els busied and incumbred about other as weighty poynts yet were this alone sufficient to make vs vnderstand that in their dayes that mention the same the forsaid opiniō of that Father or Fathers was held for Catholick Doctrine throughout the vniuersall Church for that otherwise without all doubt it would thē or afterwardes haue bene descried censured by the carefull vigilant watchmen of Gods Church Neyther can any instance as I imagine be giuen to the cōtrary for that frō the very first infancy of Christianity vnto our dayes it cannot be shewed that any Father or Doctor though otherwise neuer so renowned for wit and learning piety or sanctity did euer beginne any new doctrine or erroneous opinion different from the Catholicke beliefe but that presently the same was excepted against by others And this is more then euident in the particuler cases and slippes of Tertullian Origen Cyprian Lactamius and other ancient Fathers of the Church and yet when any of these transgressed the anciēt boundes innouating any thing frō the receyued faith they were all of them excepted and cryed out against noted taxed for such their priuate erroneous opiniōs as dissenting from publick vnion and Catholick Communion 31. Neyther doth any man in my iudgment explaine this point better then S. Augustine himselfe and therefore as I serued my selfe principally of him in the precedēt Consideration soe do I meane also in this For as on the one side when many Fathers do agree in their opinion against one or few as in the case of S. Cyprian about the rebaptizing of hereticks yt fell out the greater part is there to be preferred before the lesse as the said Father doth often affirme so notwithstanding when no such opposition and contradiction is of the maior part S. Augustine himselfe maketh high and singular accompt of euery priuate Fathers opinion as namely when he extolleth the authority O. S. Hilarius against lulian saving Ecclesiae Catholicae aduersus haereticos acerrimum
desensorem venerandum quis ignorat Hilarium Episcopum Gallum Who is ignorant or who doth not know that earnest defendour of the Catholicke Church against Heretickes venerable Hilary the French Bishop 32. And then againe of S. Amrbose Audi alium excellentem Dei dispensatorem quem veneror vt Patrem in Christo enim Iesu per Euangelium me genuit Beatum loquor Ambrosium Harken vnto another excellent steward of Gods house whom I do reuerence as my Father for in Christ Iesus he begot me by the Ghospell I meane blessed S. Ambrose And then of a third also to wit S. Gregory Nazianzen he giueth this commendation or rather by an interrogation would inforce his aduersary vnto an admiration of this great Saint and learned Diuine An tibi parua in vno Gregorio Episcoporum Orientalium videtur authoritas Doth it seeme vnto thee a small authority that is in one onely Gregory Nazianzen amongst the Easterne Bishops And then followeth the reason which truly is very well worth the marking 33. Est quidem saith he tanta persona vt neque ille hoc nisi ex fide Christiana omnibus notissima diceret neque illi eum tam clarum haberent atque venerandum nisi hoc ab illo dictum ex regula notissimae veritatis agnoscerent He is truly so great a person as neyther would he speake in this matter as he doth but out of the most knowne manifest Christian faith nor would men hould him for so excellent and venerable except they did know that what he said he spake out of the rule of most knowne truth Thus S. Augustine 34. And in these his wordes consisteth the whole substance of this my Consideration about priuate Fathers to wit that S. Gregory Nazianzē syrnamed Theologus the diuine for his admirable and profound knowledge in the greatest mysteries of Diuinity though he had bene but one in that matter against Iulian as he was not but accompanied with many as hath bene made cleare in the former Consideration yet so great was the authority of his person in the Church as that neyther he would haue said as he did but out of the common sense of the Church in his time nor should he euer haue bene held for a famous nor venerable a Doctor renowned throughout the Christian world but that the Church was sure that he would affirme nothing hould nothing publish nothing but out of the common rule and infallible Canon of the most knowne truth for that otherwise he should euen to his face haue bene contradicted by other Doctors and Fathers his equalls and compeeres that liued with him or ensued after him So as we see that particuler Fathers sayings and opinions when they are not gaynesaid by others or reprehended or condemned by the Church they are not so lightly to be respected or reiected as Protestants doe both ordinarily teach and practise But the maine point to be waighed and considered is this to wit to know in what times they were written vpon what occasion of what credit or authority the Father is whether other doe write the same and accord with him whether any exception haue bene taken against it and then by whome and when and how it stood in the Church eyther as iustifyed or condemned and many other such like materiall circumstances by me before touched for that sometymes it may fall out yea and often times doth as now we haue in part shewed and might do much more at large that particuler Fathers opinions and assertions not contradicted nor yet on the other side agreed vpon in expresse tearmes by the maior part of Fathers in their writings though otherwise belieued and receaued by them in the faith and beliefe of the Church may make a very strong argument that the Church did then belieue it especially if the same were so vnderstood also by the generall consent of the Fathers following in the subsequent age and Church and consequently it may bind euery man his conscience to giue more credit therunto then Protestants incredulity will allow And this shall suffice for my second Consideration The third Consideration HItherto haue we treated of the Fathers shewing first what credit we ought to affoard yeald vnto their ioynt cōsent when in any point of doctrine they agree in one and that is sine scrupulo sine vlla dubitatione as Vincentius speaketh without any further question contradiction or opposition most faithfully to belieue them and imbrace their iudgement as the liuely oracles of God and the whole speaking voyce of Catholick Church in the mouth of her Doctors and Pastors Which if you consider it well is a great deale more then the alternatiue allowed vnto them by Protestants which is eyther to belieue them or to be humbly silent without condemning them as though the Protestant were at his liberty in euery thing to make his choice which as we haue heard in the first Chapter is no lesse thē heresy and as though the renouncing and forsaking of them let it be promised with neuer so much silence reuerence were not on the Protestants part a sufficient cōdemning of them And this for that poynt 36. There remayneth yet behind the chiefe and principall poynt of all others in this present busines and matter we haue now in hand to be handled and to be especially considered of which is this to wit to know whether the ancient Fathers of the first fiue hundred yeares after Christ for so farre doth his Maiesties offer in the last edition of this his English Premonition extend it selfe do make for Protestants or for vs which poynt though to discusse at large throughout all the controuersies would both require and fill a very large volume and consequently farre surpasse the boundes of my intended breuity yet shall Iendeauour in this last Consideratiō to giue a sufficient glimpse of the truth therein in very few words for any indifferent Reader that will stand attent and iudge according vnto reason the more by the lesse 37. For first in generall it may be here seene by that which his Matie layeth forth that the Protestants do deale diffidenter distrustfully on their owne behalfe with the Fathers authority For they do first limit their yeares within the compasse of foure hundred in the first English edition and then of fiue hundred yeares in the next and last of all they call it back againe vnto foure hundred in the Latin edition which argueth that they know not well vpō what ground nor where nor when they stay themselues being still affraid least that they grant to much vnto thē as indeed whatsoeuer they grant vnto them it is to much on their behalfes since that whatsoeuer they graunt it maketh directly against thē which would not be if their friendship with them or hope in them were confident or any at all 38. Secondly they restraine their credit yet more whē they do not promise absolutely to belieue the consent of Fathers but only
they do interpret Irenaeus his meaning that he vnderstandeth onely by tradition written Doctrine But by this we may see how they are incumbred with the writinges of Fathers euen in this very first age after the Apostles when these and all other the like doctrines of Christian Catholick Religion were sealed with the fast shedding bloud of her Martyrs and Doctors 51. Another poynt also offendeth them much which is the excellency and great merit of Martyrdome which the Fathers of this age do in all their writings exalt De Martyrio say they nimis honorificè sentire coeperunt The Fathers of this age began to think too gloriously of Martyrdome belike these same good fellowes neuer meant that their finger should ake for Christ or Christian religion and then they say of holy S. Ignatius that constant Martyr Ignatius in epistolis valde periculosè loquitur de martyrij merito Ignatius in many of his epistles doth speake very dangerously of the merit of martyrdome Also they do check the same Saint and holy Martyr for that in his epistle vnto the Romans whē he was going vnto martyrdome to be deuoured of wild beastes in the Amphitheater of Rome he crieth out Sinite me vt bestiarum esca sim per quam possim Christum promereri Suffer me that I may be the food of beastes and thereby promerit to enioy God himselfe And what so great perill is there I pray you in this doctrine For that throughout the whole Fpistle it appeareth that he ascribed vnto Christ his grace all the fortitude which he expected for this combate and consequently all his merit of enioying God proceeded principally from the said grace of his Maister And so do the Catholicks at this day hould in the doctrine of merit if malice and enuy could suffer the Protestants to see it and acknowledg it 52. But they are very angry with him for frequent vsing of another phrase in three distinct Epistles to wit to those of Antioch of Ephesus and to Policarpe Pro animabus vestris ego afficiar quando Christum meruero adipisci I shall be come an intercessor for your soules when I shall deserue to obtaine the fruition of Christ. In which words as you see is not only expresse mention made of the singular merit of martyrdome but also insinuated the intercession of martyrs departed vnto the next life for their friends left behind them vpon earth as hauing not aspired vnto the heauenly blisse 53. And finally not to go any further they quarrell also with the said Ignatius about the merit and praise of Virginity as diuers hereticall Caluinists haue lately done in Oxford Ex Ignatij Epistolis apparet say they homines iam tum paulò impensiùs coepisse amare venerari Virginitatis statum it appeareth out of Ignatius his Epistles that euen then men beganne more earnestly to loue and reuerence the state of Virginity wherfore they giue sundry examples as namely in his Epistle ad Antichenos Virgines videant cui se consecrarint let Virgins consider vnto whome they haue consecrated themseleues and in his Epistle ad Tharsenses Eas quae in Virginitate sunt honorate sicut sacras Christi Honour those that liue in Virginity as the sacred of Christ. So excellent an opinion had this holy Father martyr in those first dayes of thè primitiue Church concerning the state of Virginity so little esteemed now by Protestants 54. All these points of controuersy then betwixt vs and the Protestants at this day to wit of Free-will good works possibility of the commandements externall Christian sacrifice tradition and rites the Primacy of the Church of Rome merit of Martyrdome and state of Virginity to pretermit sundry other articles as ouerlong to be handled here we see to haue bene auouched by the principall Fathers of the second age and that in our defence against the Protestants 55. And howsoeuer the Magdeburgians go about to discredit these Doctrines togeather with their Authours calling them incommodas opiniones naeuos stipulas errores patrum incommodious opinions blots stubble and errours in the Fathers yet seemeth this only reason and Consideration to be sufficient to conuince them of hereticall insolency in their condemning these Fathers for that it cannot be shewed and if it can let the Protestant speake that the said Fathers were euer taxed or condemned for these Doctrines by the Church or other Doctors of that age or of any age afterwards for the space of fourteene or fifteene hundred yeares togeather vntill Luthers prophane and vncleane spirit brake forth of the Cloyster and made way for hereticall insolency to barke against orthodoxall antiquity And this shall suffice for this second age Let vs now passe to see how conforme and agreeable the third age was vnto the second for by this lineall and personall descent of Doctors and Centuries we shall euidently and infallibly discouer how in all times ages and persons the busines and doctrine of the Church was still carried by tradition from hand to hand The third Age. 56. Concerning this third age wherein were Doctors Tertullian Origen Dionysius Alexandrinus Cyprianus Methodius and many others which for breuities sake I am inforced to pretermit the Magdeburgians do beginne with this Preface both complaining and taxing Quò longiùs ab Apostolorum aetate recessum est eòplus stipularum doctrinae puritate accessit The further of that we go from the age of the Apostles the more chaffe did grow into the purity of doctrine And yet you see we haue gone but one age from thence for the last was the first after the Apostles and this is the second and in the last you haue heard what chaffe they complayned of But now we shall see that they complaine not only of the same poynts of chaffe reiterated and confirmed againe by the Fathers of this age to wit about free will and good workes perfection of life possibility of Commaundements Sacrifice Tradition rytes Supremacy merit of martyrdome and Virginity for all these heads they do shew in their seuerall titles of doctrin to haue bene continued repeated and confirmed againe by the Fathers of this age but furthermore they do also shew and complayne of other articles explayned by the Fathers of this third age in behoofe of the moderne Catholicke religion much more aboundantly then before As for example they shew that it was an opinion of this age Angelosinuocandos esse that Angells are to be prayed vnto according vnto the doctrine of Origen who setteth downe also a certaine forme of praying and inuocating vpon Angells to wit Veni Angele suscipe sermone conuer sum ab errore pristino c. Come Angell and receaue him that is conuerted from his errour by the word preached Neither was this euer reprehended in Origen or numbred amongst his errours and consequently this may be presumed to haue bene the forme of praying in the publike Church at that day according to the rule before
set downe touching the authority of particuler Fathers 57. Touching the article of Iustification which is an other head besids those 9. or 10. before mentioned the Magdeburgians write thus of the Fathers of this age Iustitiam coram Deo operibus tribuerūt They did attribute to good works their iustice before God which if you read in the places of the Fathers by them mentioned and alledged you shall easily discerne it to be the very same doctrine that Catholickes do hould at this day though misreported slandered and abused by hereticall calumniation For that the said Fathers do hould nothing els but that this iustice by them mentioned doth proceed from the grace of Christ as frō the principall originall concurrent concomitant cause therof though yet not excluding the cooperation of mans will stirred vp and strengthned by that grace 58. Next to this they handle De bonis operibus of good workes and the merit therof which Chapter they beginne thus Magis quà m superiori saeculo Doctores huius aetatis c. The Doctors of this third age did decline more from the true doctrine of Christ and his Apostles about the merit of good workes thē did the Doctors of the precedent age And here I would intreat the ingenuous and iudicious Reader to consider what kind of accusation this is and the rather for that they are not abashed for the making good of this accusation to cite diuers places out of Tertullian Origen Cyprian and others that do plainely auerre the merit of good workes reprehended by them And as for S. Cyprian they alledge this place out of him in his sermon de Eleemosyna Peccata post baptismum commissa eleemosyna bonis operibus extingui That sinnes committed after baptisme are extinguished by almes and good workes for which they say that he alleageth three places of Scripture First that of Toby the 4. Sinnes are purged by almes and fayth The second is out of Ecclesiasticus the 3. As water doth extinguish fire so doth almes sinne The third is the speach of Christ Behould thou art made whole take heed that thou sinne no more lest some worse thing do happen vnto thee Notwithstanding all which Scriptures and the venerable authority of that blessed Martyr S. Cyprian in expounding them the Magdeburgians do condemne the sentence with all the Scriptures as erroneous so as it auayleth not Fathers to alleage Scriptures when they do not interpret them as the Protestant would haue them 59. As for the Article of Pennance they beginne with it thus Plaerique huius saeculi Scriptores doctrinā de poenitentia mirè depranāt The most part of the writers of this age do you note the most part do wonderfully depraue and peruert the doctrine of Penance And the reason is for that they make mention of satisfaction in doing of pennance For proofe whereof they cyte diuers places out of Tertullian Origen and S. Cyprian As for example How much tyme saith Origen homil 3. in lib. Iudicum thou hast spent in offending of God so much spend in humbling thee vnto God satisfacito Deo and do satisfaction to God And S. Cyprian lib. 1. epist. 3. Peccata ablue redime satisfactionibus wash of and redeeme thy sinnes by satisfaction And in the third booke of his Epistles and 14. epistle he saith Lapsos auxilio martyrum apud Dominum adiuuari posse S. Cyprian is of opinion that such as fall into sinne may be holpen with God by the intercession of Martyrs Heere then besides satisfaction is intercession of Martyrs 60. In the article of baptisme they take vp and reprehend S. Cyprian sharply for writing thus in his first booke of Epistles the 12 Epistle Oportet mundari sanctificari priùs aqua à sacerdote c. The water of baptisme must be purified and sanctified by the Priest that he which is baptized may haue his sinnes washed away Where S. Cyprian say the Magdeburgians dareth to auouch that he which baptizeth conferreth the holy Ghost and doth inwardly sanctify him that is baptized A very great absurdity forsooth if you marke it especially yf you conferre it with their Protestanticall opinion that hould the Sacrament of Baptisme to wash only the externall man and not the internall 61. The same Magdeburgians also accuse the same Saint Cyprian for that lib. 1. Epist. 12. he speaketh dangerously as they call it of Chrisme holy vnction in baptisme Vngi quoque necesse est eum qui baptizatus sit vt accepto chrismate id est vnctione esse vnctus Dei habere in se Christi gratiam possit It is necessary for him to be annointed that is baptized to the end that hauing receaued the holy chrisme or vnction he may be annoynted of God haue the grace of Chryst in him 62. Furthermore they do reprehend the said S. Cyprian for that he writeth primo libro Epist. epist. 3. Eucharist in altari sāctificatur The Eucharist is sanctified vpon the Aultar And lib. 1. epist. 3. they reprehend him for saying Sacerdotes sanctificare calicem that Priests do sanctify the cup. And againe for wryting thus Sacerdotum vice Christi sungi Deo Patri sacrificium offerre That the Priest performeth the office of Christ and offereth sacrifice to God the Father And diuers other such speaches aswell out of Tertullian and S. Martial in epistola ad Burdegalenses do displease them 63. In the controuersy of Prayer vnto Saints their first wordes are these Videas in Doctorum huius saeculi scriptis non obscura vestigia inuocationis Sanctorū You may see in the writings of the Doctors of this age manifest signes of prayer vnto Saints for you haue say they the forme set downe in Origen a litle before the end of his second booke vpon Iob Obeate Iob or a pro nobis miseris O Blessed Iob pray for vs afflicted Non obscurè etiam sentit Cyprianus say they Martyres Sanctos defunctos pro viuentibus orare Cyprian lib. 1. epist. 1. in fine That is S. Cyprian is plainely of opinion that Martyrs and Saints after their death and dissolution do pray for those that remayne behind them on earth aliue 64. I pretermit many other points but especially those eight or nyne heads which I touched in the precedent age wherof much more might be spoken here as namely of Primacy of the Church of Rome for auerring of which they greatly stomake and reprehend Tertullian and S. Cyprian saying Tertullianus non sine errore sentire videtur libro de pudicitia claues soli Petro commissas Ecclesiam super ipsum extructam esse Tertullian erroneously seemeth to thinke that the keies were only giuen by Christ vnto S. Peter and that vpon him the Church was builded And then they do cyte fiue seuerall places out of S. Cyprian they might haue cyted many more and all antiquity with him as concurring with Tertullian in this his opinion And further they
do conclude thus Alibi verò passim Cyprianus dicit super Petrum Ecclesiam fundatam esse Cyprian doth ordinarily in other places affirme the Church to be sounded vpon Peter as lib. 1. epist. 3. lib. 4. epist. 9. tract 2. de habitu virginum serm 3. de bono patientiae epist ad Quirinum 65. And the same hath Origen say they tract 5. in Matth. in these wordes Petrus per promissionem meruit fieri Ecclesiae fundamentum Et homil 17. super Lucam Petrum vocat Apostolorū Principem Peter by the promise of Christ deserued to be made the foundation of the Church And againe in his 17. homily vpon Luke Origen calleth S. Peter the Prince of the Apostles Thus the Magdeburgians are forced to shew the Fathers of this age to be against themselues 66. And now by this the prudent reader may iudge what a volume I might make vp if I should here recyte all the authorities which in this kynd the Magdeburgians doe alleadge for confirmation of the generall heades touched in the foregoing age and the other here adioyned For thus they beginne the articles of martyrdome and merit thereof Martyrium immodicè extulerunt omnes huius aetatis Doctores All the Doctors and it is worth the marking that they say all of this age do extoll martyrdome immoderately And in like manner they beginne their Article of chastity thus Sicut in superioris saeculi historia it a hic inuenies nimiùm praedicari extolli continentiam As in the history of the former age so here shall you find continency to be ouer much commended and extolled And thus much for these so many and so seuerall pointes as before hath bene touched 67. Now let vs add one article or head more of Roman Catholick Doctrine discouered by the same Magdeburgians in the Fathers of this third age not hitherto handled to wit the article of Purgatory For thus they write Semina Purgatoris in aliquot locis apud Originem subinde sparsa videas You may see here and there the seedes of Purgatory sowed in certaine places of Origin his workes as homily the 2. in Psalm 36. homil 3. in cumdem homil 8. in Leuiticum homil 12. in Ezechielem in libro primo contra Celsum lib. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 6. And albeit the Magdeburgians do call this but a strong imagination of Origen yet I do consider this that amongst so many opinions reprehended and cōdemned in Origen by the Fathers of the subsequent ages yet none did euer reprehend this his opinion of Purgatory as an errour of his but rather followed Origen them selues houlding the same as a Catholicke truth so as now the other heades of Roman Catholicke Doctrine held by the chiefe Fathers and Doctors of two precedent ages to wit about free-will perfection of life possibility of the commaundements tradition and rites Supremacy of the Pope of Rome merit of Martyrdome state of Virginity and the like here in this age the same heades are not only confirmed and ratified but as many more disclosed as Prayers vnto Angells Iustification by workes Pennance and satisfaction intercession of Martyrs for sinners in this life sāctifying the water of baptisme by the Priest necessity and efficacy of holy chrisme sanctification of the holy Eucharist vpon Aultars the forme of inuocation of Angells and Saints Purgatory and diuers other such like points which are at this day controuersed I heere for breuity sake do passe ouer hastening vnto the fourth age The fourth Age. 68. The fourth age of Christ beginning from the yeare 400. had for chiefe Fathers of the Greeke Church S. Cyril of Hierusalem S. Ephraim S. Basil S. Epiphanius S. Gregory Nazianzen Gregory Nissen and many others as also the chiefe Doctors of the Latin Church were S. Ambrose S. Hierome Prudentius Philastrius Ruffinus and others In which age two principall points are to be cōsidered here for our purpose First whether all the former Catholicke opinions that were discouered in the second and third precedent ages to be then held by the Church and Fathers thereof were now confirmed also in this fourth age and secondly whether any other poyntes be further insinuated and inculcated touching the same doctrine 69. And as for the first it is euident that the lower we descend from the Apostles time the greater confirmation and illustration vpon occasion of hereticall opposition shall we find of the same articles As for example the Magdeburgians haue a Chapter De coena Domini of the Lordes supper wherein they do proue out of Gregory Nazianzen Eusebius Ambrosius Hieronymus Hilarius Arnobius Basilius Epiphanius and diuers other Fathers and Doctors of this age the Reall Presence of Christ in the said supper which they hould to haue beene truly and Catholickely defended by them Then passing ouer vnto the other heades which lye in controuersy betweene vs they doe shew to be held also but as they say erroneously by the chiefe Fathers of this fourth age no lesse then by those of the former ages And then beginning with the article of Free will they say Patres omnes huius ferè aetatis de libero arbitrio confusè loquuntur All the Fathers of this age doe speake in a sort confusedly of Free will but howsoeuer the Fathers speake confusedly certaine it is that the Magdeburgians speake and censure falsely and heretically according to their old wont 70. And yet presently after they make mention of Lactantius Athanasius Basilius Nazianzen Epiphanius S. Hierome and S. Gregory men who speake as plainely and distinctly thereof as men may do and as it may possibly be imagined and not confusedly Let vs heare S. Hierome speaking in steed of all Omni aetati saith he omnique personae libertas arbitrij relicta est Non cogo non impero sed propono palmam ostendo praemia tuum est eligere si volueris in agone certamine coronari Liberty of free-will is left vnto euery age and vnto all persons God saith I do not force I do not commaund but I do propose vnto thee the crowne and do shew thee the rewards it is thy part to choose if thou wilt winne the crowne in the fight and conflict So he 71. And the very same point of doctrine is often times by him reassumed reiterated and vrged in inciting men to imbrace the doctrine of Euangelicall Counsells where he vseth the selfe same wordes in many places of of his workes The said Magdeburgians do alleage most plaine and cleare places and sentences forth of Lactantius Nilus Chromatius Ephraim and S. Hierome who teach plainly that man is not iustified by only faith Non sufficit murum habere fidei nisi ipsa fides bonis operibus confirmetur It is not saith S. Hierome sufficient to haue the wall of faith except that faith be confirmed with good workes 72. And as for the merit of good workes the Magdeburgians do openly confesse that both the
A notable speach of Vincentius Lyrinensis Prem p 3â— His Maiesties honorable offer Aug. l. 3. de bapt coÌ„t Donat. cap. 15. How the first three Creeds why they were ordained how greatly they are to be reuereÌ„ced The cause of ordayning the Apostles Creed Aug. ser. 181. de teÌ„p Cap. 2. coÌ„t haereses Vbi supra serm 181. de temp Signification of the word Symbol or Creed The great substance of the Apostolicall Creed The Apostolicall Creed no Scripture yet necessary to be belieued Ruff. in Symbolum The force of tradition in the Church A questioÌ„ solued where the voice of the Church may be found De fide ad Gratian. The creed of the couÌ„cel of Nice of S. Athanasius Conc. Nicen l. 4. p. 565. edit Venet. Ambros. de fide Hos. de expresso Dei verbo The great authority left in the Church for deciding Controuersies That the Ministers of EnglaÌ„d belieue notwholy entirely the faith of the 3. Creeds No saluation without belieuing the whole Catholicke sayth entirely ProtestaÌ„ts do not receaue the whole faith but mingled with many heresies Diuers ancient Heresies held now by Protestants * M HuÌ„frey Liech About the Nicene Creed Passim in Epist. ad Polonos l. cont Gentilem 2. lib. de Christ. c. 19. Caluin his Autotheisme hereticall In what particuler article of the Creed English ProtestaÌ„ts do not agree with vs. About Christs desceÌ„ding into hell Lib. 1. hist. cap. vlt. In epist. ad Trallian Bucer in cap. 27. Matth. Caluins horrible opinion about the article of Christs descensioÌ„ into hell Cal. 2. inst c. 16. 6. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Item in Catechismo paruo iteÌ„ psych. item in harmo Euangelica cap. 27. Math. 2. Inst. cap. 16. §. 10. 2. Instit. c. 16. §. 9. A story of the contention of English Ministers about the descent of Christ into hell Psal. 15. Tertul. de praescript A strange ridiculous exposition of the Article DesceÌ„dit ad inferos Tho. Rogers in his 39. articles pag. 15. 16. c. The Church of England aduersary to many of her owne for many hould that Christ desceÌ„ded not into hell at all Thaddaeus Ignatius Iustinus Martyr Irenaeus all antiquity are dreaming Papists in M. Rogers definitiue opinion Credo Ecclesiam Catholicam The visible beginning of the Catholicke Church Lib. 25. in ob c. 24. 5. Vincent Lyrinensis aduersus hareses c. 3. Tertull. de praescript cap. 32. Thè Protestantly meaning about this 9. article 1. Later propositions of the Protestáts about the Church Rogers ar 19. pag. 86. 2. 3. 4. 5. Markes of the Church 6. Ridiculous proofs that the Church may erre Rogers p. 96. Lib. de PoÌ„t à cap. 8. ad finem vsque ad cap. 15. Premonit pag. 35. How the ParlameÌ„t Church of EnglaÌ„d do admit the first foure Generall Councels Why and how these foure first Councels were gathered and how therby it is conuinced that the church caÌ„not err Vide Aug. de vnit Eccles in pluribus locis Mat. 18. 15 16. 17. 18. 1. Tim. 3. 15. Chrys. l. 3. de sacerdot Councell of Nice assembled anno 327. De fide ad Gratian. Anno. 252 Anno. 308 Adno 311. The secoÌ„d generall Councell of ConstaÌ„tinople an 383. The third generall Councell of Ephesus Ann. 434. Lib. 1. Inst. c. 13. §. 9. 23. 24. The 4. generall Councell was that of CalcedoÌ„ 20. yeares after An euideÌ„t declaratioÌ„ that the whole Church cannot erre Aug. in Psal. 101 S. Aug. excellent speach of the perpetuity of the Church Matth. 29. â—0 Application of S. Augustins speaches vnto our Sectaries Aug. in psal 47. That the Church shall neuer Apostatate De vnit Eccles. The inuincible strength of the Church Matth. 23. Why ProtestaÌ„ts do not nor can remedy their diuisions by any Generall or Nationall Councell ProtestaÌ„ts can abide parly and treaty neither with Catholiks nor amoÌ„g theÌ„selues Vide Conc. Calced act 3. p. 163. edit Venet. The terginersation of the heretick Eutiches fully represeÌ„ting the ProtestaÌ„ts Lib. 4. Iust. cap. 9. §. 1â— Vide resp Gaspar VillapaÌ„di ad bas causas ProtestaÌ„ts shifts to auoid comming to Councels Stan. Resc l. 1. de Atheism c The ProtestaÌ„ts disagreemeÌ„to in their meetings Tertul. de praescript Aug. l. 3. cont epist. Parmen c. 4. ser. 11 de verb. Domini c. Particuler points of differeÌ„ces betweene these 4. generall Councels the Protestants of our tyme for doctrine and manners Conc. Neocaes can 1. an 316. The decree of the CouÌ„cel of Nice and Neocaesaraea against the Marriage of Priests Ann. 711. Basil. epist. 1. ad Amphi c. 3. Epiphan hares 59. The answere vnto Caluins obiection about Paphnutius Another Canon of the Councel of Nice about the Reall presence A Canon of the second CouÌ„cell much making against Protestants VinceÌ„tius LyrineÌ„sis his relatioÌ„ of the CouÌ„cell of Ephesus CoÌ„c Ephes. tom 1. cap. 22. in epist. Imperat. Secular men may not meddle in Ecclesiastical consultations CoÌ„c Ephes. tom 1. c. 16 Con. Eph. tom 2. c. 17 The Supremacy of the Pope of Rome coÌ„firmed by the councell of Ephesus The CouÌ„cell of ChalcedoÌ„ CoÌ„c Calc act 1. Ibidem Act. 2. in libel Theodor Ischir SophoÌ„ c Ibid. in subscript coÌ„t DioscoruÌ„ Conc. Calc act 3. tom 2. p. 252. edit Venet. Marriage of Monks and NuÌ„ns forbidden by this Councell Prem p. 35. Aug. l. 2. cont Crescon c. 31. A complaint against the Ministers of EnglaÌ„d for misinforming his Maiesty ValeÌ„t l. 8. Ana. c. 8. Lib. con hareses The opinion of Iesuites about the authority of the Fathers A consequence of great incoÌ„uenience How S. Augustin did not admit the authority of S. CypriaÌ„ in a particuler case The different esteeme that Catholicks Protestants do make of ancieÌ„t Fathers wheÌ„ they agreâ— in one Aug. l. 2. coÌ„ Iulian. Pelag. ver sus finem S. Augustines opinion for the esteem of the Fathers Aug. l. 3. â—ypo Lib. 2. de nuptiis concupis Cap. 29. Scoffes of PelagiaÌ„ hereticks against ancient Cerimonies of Baptisme Aug. ibid. ProtestaÌ„ts become Pelagians in deriding ancient Cerimonies Aug. l. 2. coÌ„t Iulian. Pelagiau How contemptible the authority of heretickes was to S. Augustin in respect of the ancient Fathers Lib. 2. coÌ„t Iulian. circamed Aug. l. 2. coÌ„t Iulian. propefineÌ„ An excelleÌ„t reason of S. Augustine How Catholicks ProtestaÌ„ts do esteem of the testimonies of particuler Fathers Aug. l. 1. coÌ„t Iulian. Pelag. cap. 2. Lib. 1. cont Iulian Pelag cap. 2. Thesurest rule how to iudge of particuler Fathers opinions or assertions about matters of faith When any priuate Father did erre he was presently noted by others Aug. l. 3. de bapt coÌ„tra Donatist c. 4. l. 2. conâ— Cresconâ—â— cap. 32. Aug. lib. 1 contr Iulin cap. 2. One Doctors opinion the doctrine of the Church That the Fathers of euery age for the first 500. yeares did make for catholicks against ProtestaÌ„ts in matters now in coÌ„trouersy Cap. 4. 42. coÌ„t haereses Diuers things may lead vs to discerne the true Church though they be not articles of necessary beliefe Centur. prima lib. 2. cap. 4. 1. About the Reall Presence Magdebur Cent. 2. c. 4 pag. 55. 56. 57. c. 2. About Free will 3. The Doctrine of good workes 4. Whether the Commandements be impossible 5. Externall sacrifice of Christians 6. About traditioÌ„s The primacy of the church of Rome 8. Excellency merit of martyrdome 9. IntercessioÌ„ of Saints 10. About the state of Virginity The conclusion of this age 11. Inuo catioÌ„ of Angels Magd. ceÌ„t 3. c. 4. p. 75 76. deinceps Hom. 1. in EzechieleÌ„ 12. Iustification by good workes 13. The merit of good workes Scriptures Fathers reiected togeather wheÌ„ they fit not the ProtestaÌ„t fancy 14. About peÌ„nance Magd. ceÌ„t 3. c. 4. p. 81. 15. Blessing of the water of baptisme 16. Chrisme and holy vnction in baptisme 17. Prayer vnto Saints Cent. 3. c. 4 p. 85. 86. CeÌ„t. 3. c. 4. pag. 85. 18. The doctrine of Purgatory Cet 4. c. 4. pag. 242. HieroÌ„ ep ad Demetriadem Lib. 8. coÌ„ in Isaiam CeÌ„t. 4 cap. 4. p. 293. Cent. 4. p. 301. Cent. 5. c. 4 p. 501. 502. c. Gregor in 1. Reg. c. 1. Cent. 5. pag. 506. Hom. 34. in Euang. The Fathers iniuriously handled by the Magdeburgians The conclusion ImportaÌ„ce of being a Catholicke The horror of heresie The 4. heads proposed The great profit receiued by the ancieÌ„t Fathers The dangerous estate of belieuing the ProtestaÌ„ts in EnglaÌ„d A strange pittifull case happened to his Maiesty How God coÌ„curreth with the actions of euill men but not with their intentioÌ„s The mark aymed at by the first Ghospellers in Scotland concerning his Maiestie The Epilogue of all Of persecution Persecutor