intermeddle with the disposition of earthly kingdomes or restraine or depose Princes how much soeuer they abuse their authoritie The first of these three opinions had anciently and hath presently great patrons and followers Yet Bellarmine very confidently and learnedly refuteth the same First shewing that the Pope is not soueraigne Lord of the whole world Secondly that he is not Lord of the Christian world And thirdly that hee is Lord of no part of the world That he is not Lord of the whole world he proueth because not of those Provinces that are possessed by Infidels which hee demonstrateth First because Christ committed none but onely his sheepe to Peter and therefore gaue him no authoritie ouer Infidels which are not his sheepe whereunto Saint Paul agreeth professing that hee hath nothing to doe to iudge them that are without Secondly because dominion and the right of Princes is not founded in grace or faith but in free will and reason and hath not sprung from the written Law of Moses or Christ but from the law of Nations and Nature VVhich is most cleare in that God both in the Olde and New Testament approueth the Kingdomes of the Gentiles and Infidels as appeareth by that of Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar O King thou art King of Kings For the God of Heauen hath giuen thee a kingdome power and strength and glory and in all places where the children of men dwell the beasts of the field and the fowles of the heauen hath hee giuen into thine hand and hath made thee a ruler ouer them all And that of Christ Giue vnto Caesar the things that are Caesars With whom the Apostle agreeth requiring the Christians of his time not only to pay tribute to Heathen kings but also to obey them for conscience sake which men were not bound to if they had no authority and right to commaund Neither can it be said that heathen princes are the Popes Lieuetenants and theresore to be obeyed for his sake though not for their owne seeing the Pope would haue no such Lieutenants if it lay in him to place them or displace them Lastly hee proueth that the Pope hath no such soueraigne right of commaunding ouer all as is pretended seeing it had beene vaine for Christ to giue him a right to that whereof hee should neuer get the possession And hauing thus proued that Infidels were truely and rightly Lords of the countries subiect to them before the comming of Christ that he found no nullitie in their titles nor euer seized their kingdomes and dominions into his owne hands as some fondly imagine that he did hee proceedeth to proue that Princes when they become Christians lose not the right that they formerly had to their kingdomes but get a new right to the kingdome of heauen For that otherwise Christs grace should destroy nature and his benefits be preiudiciall to such as are made partakers of them Whereas Christ came not to destroy and ouerthrow things well setled before but to perfect them nor to hurt any but to doe good to all For confirmation whereof hee alleageth part of the Hymne of Sedulius which the whole Church doth sing Hostis Herodes impie Christum venire quid times Non eripit mortalia Qui regna dat coelestia that is O impious enemie Herod why doest thou feare Christs comming He will not depriue thee of thy transitorie kingdome vpon earth that giues an eternall kingdome in heauen Whence it followeth that Christ imposed no such hard condition on those kings that were to become Christians as to leaue their crownes dignities And so he commeth to his second proposition that the Pope is not temporall Lord of the Christian world which he confirmeth First because if the Pope were soueraigne Lord of all the Christian world Bishops should be temporall Lords of their cities the places adioyning subiect to them Which neither they will graunt that contend for the soueraigntie of the Pope nor can stand with that of Saint Ambrose who saith If the Emperour aske tribute we deny it him not The Church lands doe pay tribute And againe Tribute is Caesars it is not denied him but the Church is Gods and may not be yeelded to Caesar. And that of Hosius Bishop of Corduba who as we reade in Athanasius telleth the Emperour that God hath giuē him the Empire but that he hath committed to Bishops those things that pertaine to the Church Secondly out of the confession of Popes Pope Leo confessing that Martianus the Emperour was appointed to the Empire by God and that God was the authour of his Empire And Gelasius writing to Anastasius the Emperour and acknowledging that there are two thinges by which principally the world is guided to wit the sacred authority of Bishoppes and the regall power of Princes with whom Gregorie agreeth when hee saith Power ouer all is giuen from heauen to the piety of my Lord. And from hence hee inferreth his third proposition that the Pope is temporall Lord of no part of the world in the right of Peters successour and Christs Vicar For if there were no nullitie in the titles of infidell kings and princes nor no necessity implied in their conuersion of relinquishing their right when they became Christians but that both infidels christians notwithstanding any act of Christ continued in the full possession of princely power right it could not be that Christ should inuest Peter or his successours with any kingly authority seeing hee could giue them none but such as he should take from others Nay hee proceedeth farther and sheweth that Christ himselfe while hee was on the earth was no temporall Lord or King and therefore much lesse gaue any temporall dominion or kingdome to his Apostles That he was no temporall king he proueth because the right to bee a King or Lord in such sort as men are Kings or Lords is either by inheritance election conquest or speciall donation and gift of Almighty God Now that Christ according to the flesh was a King by right of inheritance hee saith it cannot be proued because though hee came of the kingly familie yet it is vncertaine whether he were the next in bloud to Dauid or not And besides the kingdome was taken away from Dauids house before Christ was borne God had foretold that of the house of Ieconiah of which Christ came as we may reade in the first of Saint Matthew there should neuer be any temporall King such as David and the rest that succeeded him were saying Write this man barren a man that shall not prosper in his dayes for there shall bee no man of his seede to sitte vpon the throne of Dauid to haue power any more in Iudah And whereas it might be obiected that the Angell prophecied that the Lord God should giue vnto Christ the seat of Dauid his father the Cardinall answereth out of Hierome vpon the place of Hieremie and
to the whole Church of God to aske forgiuenesse for him because he saw the end of his life was neare at hand And besides all this in great haste put on him an Angelicall vesture or robe and released brake in sunder the bands of all those bitter curses whereunto hee had subiected the Emperour These were the turbulent proceedings of this cursed Hildebrand indeede a brand taken out of the very fire of hell to set on fire the course of nature and to put the whole world into a combustion whereof if this report mentioned by Sigebertus be true it repented him not a little before his death But howsoeuer it is most certaine that his best friends in the end beganne wholy to dislike him when they saw whither his violent and furious passions carried him and what wofull effects followed the same Gerochus saith Auentinus then whom no man was found more earnestly to defend Hildebrand by bookes written to iustifie his proceedings and who published to the world diuers crimes obiected to the Emperour mentioned by no other writer at the last constrained by the force of trueth taxed the pertinacy if not the tyranny of the Pope his adherents in this sort Romani inquit sibi diuinum vsurpant honorem rationem actorum reddere nolunt nec sibi dici aequo animo ferunt cur ita agis Illud Satyricum inculcant Sic volo sic iubeo sit pro ratione voluntas that is The Romanes take vnto themselues the honour that is proper vnto God they will giue no account for any thing they doe they will be subiect to no controll neither canne they endure with any patience that any man should say to any of them sir why doe you so That Satyricall saying they haue often in their mouthes so I will haue it so I command it to bee Let my will stand for a reason for so it shall Thus we see how ill a beginning the Popes made of deposing Emperours and how bad successe they had Which is not to bee maruailed at seeing in these attempts and practises they were contrary to Christ and his Apostles For these as Auentinus noteth acknowledged the Emperours as also all the holy Fathers did to be in the second place and ranke after God and before all mortall men giuen appointed and chosen by the immortall God and honoured them as hauing the crowne set vpon their heads by God himselfe they prayed daily for their prosperity they paid tribute vnto them and proclaimed them rebels against God that refused to bee subiect to them After this bad beginning some two or three other Popes succeeding attempted in like sort as Hildebrand had done to depose such Emperours as they were offended with Concerning whose attempts and practises let the Reader consider the censure of Cardinall Cusanus His words are these Let it suffice the Pope that he excelleth the Emperor as much as the Sun doth the Moone and the soule the body and let him not challenge that which pertaineth not to him neither let him affirme that the Empire is not but by him and in dependance on him and if haply the deposing of some kings Emperours the translation of the Empire moue him so presumptuously for to thinke let him know that if the respect of religion and due consideration of humility hindered not it were easie to answere all those thinges truly most clearely and so that haply these things should no way argue so great a power in the Pope as Pope without the consent or willing acceptation of the parties contending as is imagined For there wanted not in ancient times men to defend Henry the fourth crowned at Basil by the Legates of Rome from the excommunication of Gregory or Hildebrand Yea such there were that were Cardinals at that time and a certaine Councell holden at Rome nay which more is the Generall Councell at Basil holden at that time did the same things concerning the chusing of Honorius Pope for which Henry the Emperour was pronounced excommunicate And in like sort there are found things excellently and strongly written in defence of Fredericke the second a most valiant man and a most constant defender of the Faith as also in defence of other Emperours How much the Popes proceedings against Fredericke the second hindered the course of the sacred warre vndertaken at that time against the Infidels how many things the Pope charged him with which hee vtterly disclaimed how much all Christian Princes in the end beganne to dislike the pride of the Romane Court the Histories of those times do sufficiently make knowne vnto vs. Wherefore to conclude this point touching the Popes pretended power of deposing Princes seeing the first that euer attempted to exercise the same was that brand of hell Gregory the 7. seeing he had so ill successe in this his proud attempt and caused such confusions in the Christian world as the like had seldome or neuer bin before seeing the best learned about those times since condēned the opinion of thē that thinke the Pope may depose Princes as new strange if not hereticall we may safely resolue that the Pope taking vpon him to giue and take away kingdomes which is proper to God is that Antichrist that sitteth in the temple of God as if he were God CHAP. 47. Of the Ciuill dominion which the Popes haue by the gift of Princes HAuing proued that the Popes neither directly nor indirectly haue power ouer Princes the Kingdomes of the world or any thing to do in the managing and disposing of ciuill affaires by vertue of any grant from Christ let vs proceed to see what temporall dominion and ciuill power they haue by the grant of Princes It is the resolued opinion almost of all men saith Cusanus that Constantine the Emperour gaue the whole Empire of the West to Sylvester Bishop of Rome and to his successours for euer so that there can bee no Emperour of the West but such a one as must wholly depend of the Pope and acknowledge that hee holdeth the Imperiall Crowne of him Neither were there many found in auncient times that durst make question of this donation of Constantine yet doth this great Cardinall worthy Diuine professe that hauing sought diligently to find out the original of this supposed grant the certainty of it presupposing that Constantine might make such a grant which yet will neuer be proued he greatly wōdereth if euer there were any such thing For that there is no such thing to be foūd in authenticall bookes approued Histories I haue read ouer saith he againe and againe all the Acts of Popes and Emperours that by any meanes I could meete with the Histories of Saint Hierome who was most diligent in collecting all things the workes of Augustine Ambrose and other learned Fathers and the Acts of Generall Councels which haue beene since the Councell of Nice and can finde no such thing as this supposed donation nor
scholler in the schoole of impudency a farre longer time then yet he hath beene But happily he may find vanity in these passages of mine though no vntruth Let vs see therefore what hee saith what aduantage saith hee can Doctour Field gaine from Gersons improbation of the afore-said lewd assertions preiudiciall to the states of Kinges and Princes why doth hee presse the authority of Gerson whose medicine hee knoweth to bee very sharpe against the disease of all such Princes as by the infection of Heretickes are seduced from the integrity of the Catholicke faith to wit persecution by fire and sword Surely heere Theomisus Higgons bewrayeth more then vanity for as if he meant presently to become a traytor against his Soueraigne whom he his consortes suppose to be seduced from the Catholicke verity he beginneth at the very first to talke of sharpe medicines against such Princes and those prescribed by Gerson as he telleth vs but hee will be found a lying and cogging mate for Gerson in the place cited by him hath nothing for the Popes deposing Princes for heresie or any thing else which yet is that medicine he meaneth nay wee are assured hee neuer held any such trayterous position but writing against the flatterers of Princes hee wisheth Princes to take heed they listen not to such men as will instill into them many false opinions touching their power and absolutenesse contrary to the faith and trueth of God whereby in the end they may make themselues so odious as to bee pursued by fire and sword by their subiects So that whereas Gerson speaketh of errours in faith concerning the state of Princes bringing them to doe things so odious as to bee persecuted with fire sword this good fellow turneth his words to another sence as if he had meant that for error in faith the Pope were to depose Princes and whereas to meete with certaine false and foolish suggestions made to some Princes contrarie to the doctrine of faith hee setteth downe certaine propositions whereof the first is that Princes must not iustifie themselues and thinke they offend not whatsoeuer they doe and that the Lawes Ecclesiasticall and Ciuill will auaile for the furtherance of this consideration hee turneth the words into this sence that these Lawes are auailable for the deposing of Kinges so treacherous and trayterous is this Fugitiue become already From this first obseruation he proceedeth to a second saying that if the reformation wished for by Gerson consisted onely or principally or at all in the redresse of lewd assertions preiudiciall to the states of Kings the Protestants haue not effected that which he desired their positions being dangerous likewise and therevpon breaketh out into a long and large discourse concerning the positions of Protestants touching the state and power of Princes But surely he is like a Spaniell not acquainted with his game that runneth after euery bird that riseth before him and is to bee taught better before there will be any great vse of him For I bring not the report of Gerson touching hese assertions so much to shew what he would haue reformed as to make it appeare how strangely things were carried in former times how little hope he other good men had of any reformation by a Councell seeing these positions so dangerous apparantly false could not be condemned in the Councell of Constance by reason of a mighty faction prevayling in the same so all that he saith vpon this false ground is nothing to the purpose notwithstanding if the man were worth the medling with or the matter required it it were easie to shew that Protestants are farre from holding any such trayterous opinions as Papists defend But I haue resolued to confine my selfe to the defence of my selfe against his childish exceptions and no way to follow him into any other of his idle discourses Touching Gersons condemning certaine-positions attributed to Wickliff and Hus and Husses suffering in the cause of CHRIST against Antichrist and the idlenesse of Higgons in charging Mee with contradiction in that I graunt the one and affirme the other I haue spoken already But so plentifull hee is in objections that nine thinges more remaine in this chapter not obiected before which hee obiecteth to mee The first is the extenuation of the turbulent and impious positions of Wickliff in that I say they seemed to derogate from the Cleargy Secondly that I conceale the impiety of Wickliff in other thinges Thirdly that I cite in one place things found in diuers places Fourthly that I exaggerate the seuerity of the Councell of Constance against Wickliff c. and make as if Gerson had disliked it whereas he did not Fiftly that I say Gerson desired a reformation and thought that it was to be assayed seuerally in the particular Kingdomes of the world there being little or no hope of doing any good by a Generall Councell Sixtly that the proceeding in this worke of reformation seuerally in diuerse parts of the world without a common deliberation was the cause of those differences that now appeare in the reformed Churches according as Gerson feared it would fall out 7ly That I say Gerson Grosthead others were of the true Church who yet were mēbers of the Church of Rome Eigthly that I misalleage a saying of Gerson And the nineth that whereas Gerson sayth the Popes sought to be adored as God I say they sought to bee adored and worshipped as God To euery one of these I will answere in a word To the first that I extenuate not the impious positions falsely and maliciously gathered out of Wickliffes workes as that God must obey the Diuell and if there be any other like but accurse them to the pitte of hell but speaking of those which in Gersons iudgement were not so hurtfull neither to the conuersation of men nor the state of common-weales as those against Princes which the Councell of Constance could not bee induced to condemne I say of them they seemed to derogate from the Cleargy because I know not certainely vppon what ground or in what sence many of them were vttered by him To the second I answere that I concealed not the impiety of any articles where-with Wickliffe was charged but hauing no occasion to speake of any other but such onely as were not so bad in Gersons iudgement as some they in the coūcell could not be induced to condemn I had no reason to censure thē any otherwise then I did for had they beene so bad as Maister Higgons would make them to be the Pope and Councell were not very good that could by no meanes bee induced to condemne such as were farre worse as Gerson telleth vs. To the third I say that it is lawfull for a man to cite in one place out of one author thinges found in him in diuerse places or else Maister Higgons is too blame who doth so To the fourth I say that I exaggerate not the seuerity of the
what should the horseman doe hee driueth on the lame horse with the other that are sound they goe well this ill It cannot bee otherwise vnlesse the horse bee freed from his lamenesse Heere wee see by this comparison how that when God worketh in and by them that are euill such things are done as are euill but that God cannot doe euill though hee produce in and by them that are euill such things as are euill because hee being good cannot doe euill Yet doth hee vse ill instruments which cannot but bee moued with the motion of his power nor cannot but doe euill if they bee moued So that the fault is in the instruments which God moueth and will not suffer to be idle that euill things are done when he moueth them no otherwise than if a Carpenter vsing an ill axe should cut or rather teare the timber ill favouredly And hence it commeth that the wicked cannot but alwayes doe amisse and sinne Because being carried on by the motion of diuine power they are not suffered to doe nothing but are forced to will desire and doe that which it fitting to the state wherein they are till they be altered by Gods holy grace and spirit And herevnto agree all the best learned in the Roman Schooles If the name of sinne saith Gregorius Ariminensis be taken improperly for an euill act as for such an acte as whosoeuer doth sinneth for example for the acte of willing something that should not be willed or for some other inward or outward acte which the sinner doth there is some doubt whether God be an immediate efficient cause of such a sinfull acte or not and there are solemne opinions one contrary to another touching that point But without peremptory defence of the one or the other which might argue rashnesse for the present I hold the affirmatiue as more probable and as it seemeth to me more consonant to the sayings of the Saints And hee addeth whereas some speake of the difformity of such a sinfull acte denying God to bee any efficient cause thereof Si per difformitatem intelligatur aliqua entitas quaecunque vbicunque sit illam coagit Deus nec scio oppositum dici à Sanctis Doctores aliqui moderni dicunt quod licet actus difformis sit à Deo difformitas tamen ipsa non est à Deo Quod dictum potest habere bonum intellectum non quidem concipiendo quòd difformitas sit aliqua entitas ab actu distincta quae non causetur à Deo sed intelligendo quod licet actus difformis sit à Deo non tamen est difformis in quantum est à Deo Nam non est difformis nisi in quantum contra rectam rationem fit ab homine non autem à Deo qui nihil agit contra id quod ab eo agendum esse recta ratio indicat Deus non est eiusdem rei secundum idem actor vltor sed est eius actor in quantum entitas quaedam eius verò vltor in quantum est malum Est autem malum in quantum malè fit ideo punit eum à quo male fit pro eâ If by the difformity they vnderstand any being or any thing that is positiue whatsoever and wheresoever it is God is a cause thereof neither doe I know sayth hee that the contrary is deliuered by the Saints Indeede there are certaine moderne Doctours that say that though the acte wherein difformity is bee from God yet the difformity is not which their saying may haue a good sense not conceiving that the difformity is any positiue thing distinct from the acte whereof God should not be an actor but so vnderstanding it that though the act which is done otherwise then it should be done be of God yet it is not done otherwise then it should bee done as it is done by God for God doth nothing in producing such an acte that hee should not doe but the creature onely So that as the Divines doe tell vs God is not an actor and a punisher of the same thing in respect of the same but hee is an actor of the thing in that it is a thing done but a punisher in that it is ill done And therefore he punisheth him that hath done ill in doing ill himselfe hauing done the same thing well Quid mirum saith Anselm si dicamus Deum facere singulas actiones quâ—… fiunt mala voluntate cùm fateamur eum facere singulas substantias quae fiunt iniustâ voluntate inhonestâ actione that is What strange thing is it if wee say that God produceth all those actions which sinfull men doe wickedly seeing we confesse he produceth all those substances which are brought forth by a sinfull desire of the will and an vnhonest action God produceth formeth the same child in the womb which a man begetteth in adulterie yet man only sinneth not God Si verò dicitur saith Hugo de S. Victore Deus vult malum grave est auditu non facilè recipit hoc pia mens de bono quod malumvult Videtur enim hoc solum dici cum dicitur Deus vult malum quia bonus malum diligit approbat quod pravum est amicam sibi reputat iniquitatem gaudet quasi de consimili bonum put at quod malum est ideo refutat hoc menspia non quia quod dicitur non benè dicitur sed quia quod bené dicitur non benè intelligitur Non enim hoc solùm dicitur sed ex eo quod dicitur aliquid intelligitur quod non dicitur Quoniam malum esse vult malum non vult that is If it be said that God willeth the thing that is euill men hardly endure to heare it and a pious and good minde doth not easily admit that he that is good willeth the thing that is euill for wee conceiue nothing else when we say God willeth that which is euill but that hee that is good loueth that which is euill and approueth that which is wicked And therefore a good minde reiecteth such a speech not because it is not right and good but because that which is rightly said is not rightly vnderstood For this speech is not so to be taken as if God loued or approued that which is euill but something is to bee vnderstood which is not expressed And the meaning of this speech is that God willeth the being of euill or that euill shal be and yet willeth not euill that is approueth it not Now when it is said that God willeth the being of euill or that euill shal be the meaning of this saying of Hugo is concerning the sinne of omission that he willeth it no otherwise but onely in that he denieth that grace which onely he knoweth would worke the doing of the contrary good and concerning the sinne of commission that he produceth in and together with them that by falling into the sinne of
tunc solum theologicè aliquid probari cum ex dictis probatur sacrae scripturae out of the common conceipt and apprehension of all men for all men doe thinke that then onely a thing is proued theologically when it is proued out of the sayings of holy Scripture and if wee distinguish theologicall conclusions from principles theologicall I affirme that all those verities that are not formally and in precise words contained in holy scripture but are necessarily deduced from things soe contained in it are conclusions theologicall whether they bee determined by the Church or not for the Church determineth that a proposition is to bee beleeued precisely because it seeth it is necessarily deduced from the words of holy Scripture but no other that is not so deduced is to be accounted a theologicall conclusion which is proued out of the sayings of Saint Augustine in his fourteenth booke de Trinitate cap. 1. where hee sayth hee doth not conceiue that all that that may bee knowne by man in humane things pertaineth to this science but those things onely whereby the most wholesome faith that leadeth to true happinesse is begotten nourished defended and strengthened but it is euident that euery such thing is either expressely and in precise tearmes contained in holie scripture or is deduced from things soe contained in it for otherwise the Scripture should not bee sufficient to our saluation and the defense of our faith which is contrary to Saint August 2 de doctrinâ Christianâ where hee sayth Quicquid homo extra didicerit si noxium est ibi damnatur si vtile ibi inuenitur that is whatsoeuer a man shall learne without and beside the scripture if it bee hurtfull it is there condemned if profitable it is there found Here wee haue a pregnant testimonie of a man of eminent place and great worth peremptorily resoluing for the sufficiencie of the Scripture and assuring vs that this was not his priuate conceipt but the generall opinion of all men in his time and be fore Scotus agreeth with Ariminensis his words are these Whatsoeuer pertaineth to the heauenly and supernaturall knowledge and is necessary to bee knowne of man in this life is sufficiently deliuered in the sacred Scriptures and in another place Sicut theologia beatorum habet terminum ita nostra ex voluntate Dei revelantis terminus autem praefixus â voluntate divinâ quantum ad revelationem generalem est eorum quae sunt in sacrâ scripturâ quia sicut habetur Apocalyp ultimo Qui apposuerit ad haec apponet ei Deus plagas quae apponuntur in libro isto igitur theologia nostra de facto non est nisi de his quae continentur in scripturâ de his quae possunt elici ex ipsis that is As the Theologie of those blessed ones that are in heauen hath a certaine bound without and beyond which it extendeth not it selfe so also that theologicall knowledge that wee haue hath bounds set vnto it by the will of God that revealeth divine and heauenly trueth vnto vs and the bound prefixed by the will of God who generally will reveale no more is within the compasse of such things as are found in the holy Scripture because as it is in the last of the Revelation whosoeuer shall adde vnto these things GOD shall adde vnto him the plagues that are added in this booke Ockam in his Dialogues saith There is one opinion that onely those verities are to bee esteemed Catholique and such as are necessarily to bee beleeued for the attaining of saluation which either expressely are deliuered in Scripture or by necessary consequence may bee inferred from things so expressed and that they that follow this opinion alleadge sundry authorities for proofe of the same as that of Augustine Ego solis scripturarum libris didici hunc timorem honoremque deferre ut earum nullum authorem in aliquo errasse firmissimè credam c. alios autem ita lego ut quantalibet sanctitate quantave doctrinâ polleant non ideo verum putem quia ita ipsi senserint sed quia per alios authores canonicos vel probabiles rationes quod à vero non aberrent mihi persuadere potuerunt I haue learned to giue this honour and reverence onely to the bookes of Scripture as that I should beleeue that none of the authors of them in ought haue erred c But others I so reade that how great soeuer their sanctitie and learning bee I doe not therefore thinke that to bee true which they haue written because it was their opinion but because they are able to perswade mee either by some other canonicall Authours or by probable reasons that they haue not erred from the trueth And in another place Quis nesciat sanctam scripturam canonicam tam veteris quà m noui testamenti certis terminis suis contineri eamque posterioribus omnibus Episcoporum libris praeponi ut de illâ omninò dubitari disceptari non possit vtrum verum vel utrum rectum sit quicquid in eâ scriptum esse constiterit Episcoporum autem literas quae post confirmatum canonem vel scriptae sunt vel scribuntur per sermonem fortè sapientiorem cuiuslibet in eà re peritioris per aliorum Episcoporum graviorem auctoritatem doctioremque prudentiam per concilia reprehendi licere si quid in iis forté à veritate est deviatum Who knowes not that the holy Canonicall Scripture as well of the Olde as the New Testament is contained within it's certaine bounds and that it is preferred before all the Bookes of Bishoppes that haue beene written since so that there may bee no doubt made nor dispute raised concerning it whether whatsoeuer is certainely knowne to bee registred in it bee true or right But that the letters of Bishoppes which either haue beene or are written since the confirmation of the Canon may bee reprehended if in any thing they haue strayed from the trueth both by the speech perchaunce wiser of some one better skilled in that matter and by the more graue authority more learned wisedome of other Bishops and by generall councells And Hierom Quod de Scripturis authoritatem non habet eâdem facilitate contemnitur quâ probatur That which hath not authority and confirmation from the Scriptures is with like facility rejected as it is vrged Others hee sheweth to bee of a contrary opinion but being pressed to giue instance of things necessarily beleeued and yet not contayned in the Scripture they giue no other but certaine matters of fact as that the Apostles composed the Symbol called the Apostles creed that Peter was at Rome things of that nature Ockam in this place deliuereth not his owne opinion but only reciteth the contrary opinions of other men but in another place inveighing against the Canonists going about to proue that it principally pertayneth to diuines to define determine what is catholicke
testimony from their Curates or Confessours that they are humble discreet and devout persons and like to take much good no harme thereby This was the decree of Pius 4 but Clement the 8th in a later edition of the same Index with new additions saith that this power of permitting Lay-men to haue the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue was taken away by the mandate and practise of the Roman Church and of the generall inquisition so that they may not permit any to haue the whole Bible in the vulgar tongue or any parts of the Olde or New Testament or any summaries or epitomies though historicall of the same Bibles and this hee prescribeth to be inviolably kept Thus doth he condemne the practise of all the Churches of God which had the Scriptures translated into vulgar Languages for to what end should they be translated if no man might vse them and together with them his Predecessour Pius the 4th and all the learned Prelates that concurred with him and falleth into the folly or indiscretion which Stapleton condemneth as wee heard before Thus variable and vncertaine are these Romane Bishoppes who yet would bee taken not onely to bee built vpon the Rocke but to be that Rocke vpon which the Church is builded against which the gates of hell cannot prevaile But as Stapleton telleth vs in the place aboue cited There were certaine Catholique and great men and in the margent hee nameth Sir Thomas More who thought it fit as tending to the honour of God and saluation of the people to deliuer vnto them the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue without any restraint leauing it free to all to read them that will for that so many good and godly Christians who would receiue great comfort and be much edified thereby are not to be depriued of that most excellent benefite which they may haue by reading them in respect of few or many vnlearned or vnstable men who depraue the scripture to the perdition of themselues and others as S. Peter saith in his 2 Epistle cap. 32. No more then it had beene fit that Christ the Lord should haue forborne to come and saue others in respect of such wicked ones to whom his comming is a rock of offence a stone to stūble at or that he that is the true light that lighteneth euery man that cōmeth into the world should therefore haue kept him selfe away or not appeared to the world because men loued darkenes more then light And surely if the vulgar free and ordinary reading of the scripture were to be denied and restrained in respect of the wicked who abuse it the scripture must neuer haue bin in the Hebrew Greeke or Latine tongues for all these tongues were vulgar to the Iewes Grecians and Romans This opinion Stapleton confesseth to be probable and godly and yet he disliketh it And yet it is confirmed by the authority of the Fathers who earnestly exhort the people to the reading of the scripture as a thing necessary to saluation Soe doth Chrysostome in sundry places 2 Homily vpon Mathew 3. Homily vppon Lazarus 3. Homily vpon the second to the Thessalonians 28. Homilie vpon Genesis 9. Homilie vpon the Epistle to the Colossians where he sayth the Apostle commandeth secular men that are married to reade the scripture and whereas St Paul to the Colossians 3. hath these words Let the word of Christ dwell plentifully in you in all wisdome teaching and admonishing your selues in Psalmes hymmes and spirituall songs Chrysostome in his ninth Homily and Hierome in his commentaries vpon the same place collect and inferre that the Scriptures are to be reade of Lay men and that by the precept of the Apostle It is therefore vntrue that Stapleion hath that Chrysostome doth not exhort the people to the reading of the scripture as a thing necessary but as fitte and profitable for them that liued idlely in a rich citty thus to occupy them selues as if it had beene onely to keepe them from doing nothing that they were to reade the booke of God Neither is it any better that he hath in answere hereunto that Chrysostome spake not exactly but as a preacher or oratour as if in the pulpit a Preacher might exhort the people with all earnestnesse to that which is not fitte to be done or as if there were not many now adayes that liue idlely in rich cities From the translating of the Scriptures into vulgar tongues and the peoples priuate reading of the same let vs come to speake of the publike liturgy of the Church and the common praiers in the vulgar tongue Here I will first shew what the practice of the Church hath beene and secondly what the opinion of Iudicious men is and hath beene touching this point That in the Primitiue Church they had the seruice in the vulgar tongue it is euident by the testimonies of the auncient For first Origen writing against Celsus and answering that calumniation of them that said Christians vsed certaine barbarous words and names of God in their prayers supposing vertue to be in them more then in Greeke or Latine words or names telleth them there is no such thing but that they that are true and right Christians in their prayers vse not the names of God found in the Scripture written in Hebrew but the Grecians vse greeke words the Latines latine and all pray and praise God in their own tongue he that is the Lord of all tongues heareth thē in what tongue soeuer they pray and vnderstandeth them speaking in so different languages no lesse then if they all vsed one language Bellarmine saith in the time of the Apostles the whole people was wont to answere Amen in the celebration of diuine seruice and not as now by one appointed in their steed For Iustin Martyr testifieth expressely in his 2 apology that the whole people was wont to answere amen when the Priest ended his prayer or thankesgiuing and it is euident that the same vse was continued a long time after both in the East and West as it appeareth by the liturgy of Chrysostome where the things that were to be sayd by the priest deacon and people are distinctly set downe And by Cyprian in his sermon vpon the Lords prayer where he saith the people doe answere we lift them vp vnto the Lord when the priest willeth them to lift vp their harts and by Hierome praefat lib. 2. in epist. ad Galatas who writeth that in the Churches of the city of Rome the people are heard with so loud a voyce sounding out amen as if it were a thundring from heauen Thus farre Bellarmine in his 2 booke de verbo Dei chap. 16 which argueth that they had their seruice in a knowne tongue for otherwise how could they thus haue answered to the seuerall parts of the diuine seruice as they were appointed to do surely the long answeres of the people to the priest in their praiers
the virgin in the councell of Lateran But Cardinall Caietan writeth a learned discourse touching the same matter and offereth it to Leo praying him to be well aduised and in this tract for proofe of her conception in sin he produceth the testimonies of 15 canonized Saints For first S. Augustine writing vppon the 34 Psalme sayth that Adam died for sin that Mary who came out of the loynes of Adam died for sinne but that the flesh of the Lord which hee tooke of the virgin Mary died for to take away sin And in his 2d booke de baptismo parvulorum Hee only who ceasing not to be God became man neuer had sinne neither did he take the flesh of sin or sinfull flesh though hee tooke of the flesh of his mother that was sinfull And in his tenth booke de Genesi ad litteram he sayth Though the body of Christ were taken of the flesh of a woman that was conceiued out of the propagation of sinnefull flesh yet because hee was not soe conceiued of her as shee was conceiued therefore it was not sinnefull flesh but the similitude of sinnefull flesh And Saint Ambrose vppon those words Blessed are the vndefiled hath these words The Lord Iesus came and that flesh that was subiect to sinne in his mother performed the warrefare of vertue And Crhysostome vpon Mathew sayth Though Christ was no sinner yet hee tooke the nature of man of a woman that was a sinner And Eusebius Emissenus in his second sermon vpon the natiuity which beginneth Yee know beloued c. hath these words There is none free from the tie and bond of originall sinne no not the mother of the redeemer Saint Remigius vppon those words of the Psalme O God my God looke vpon mee sayth The blessed virgin Mary was made cleane from all staine of sinne that the man Christ Iesus might bee conceiued of her without sinne Saint Maximus in his sermon of the assumption of the blessed virgin sayth The blessed and glorious virgin was sanctified in her mothers wombe from all contagion of originall sinne before shee came to the birth and was made pure and vndefiled by the holy Ghost Saint Beda in his sermon vppon missus est and the same is in the ordinary glosse sayth that The holy spirit comming vpon the virgin freed her minde from all defiling of sinnefull vice and made it chast and purified her from the heate of carnall concupiscence tempering and cleansing her hart Saint Bernard in his epistle to them of Lyons sayth It is beleeued that the blessed virgin after her conception receiued sanctification while shee was yet in the wombe which excluding sinne made her birth holy but not her conception Saint Erardus a Bishoppe and a martyr in his sermon vpon the natiuity of the virgin crieth out O happie damsell which being conceiued in sinne is purged from all sinne and conceiueth a sonne without sinne Saint Anthony of Padua in his sermon of the natiuity of the blessed virgin sayth The blessed virgin was sanctified from sinne by grace in her mothers wombe and borne without sinne Saint Thomas Aquinas for he also was a canonized Saint in the third part of his summe quaest 27. art 2. sayth that the blessed virgin because shee was conceaued out of the commixtion of her parents contracted originall sinne Saint Bonauenture vppon the third of the sentences distinct 3. p. 1. artic 1. quaest 1. sayth Wee must say the blessed virgin was conceiued in originall sinne and that her sanctification followed her contracting of originall sinne this opinion is the more common the more reasonable and more secure More common for almost all hold it The more reasonable because the being of nature precedeth the being of grace The more secure because it better agreeth with the piety of faith and the authority of the Saints then the other Saint Bernardine in sermonum suorum opere tertio in his tract of the blessed virgin sermon the fourth sayth There was a third sanctification which was that of the mother of God and this taketh away originall sinne conferreth grace and remoueth the pronenesse to sinne mortally or venially Saint Vincentius the Confessor in sermone de conceptione virginis sayth The blessed virgin was conceaued in originall sinne but that the same day and houre she was purged by sanctification from sinne contracted so soone as euer shee had receiued the spirit of life And besides all these holden to bee Saints in the Church of Rome hee sayth there were a great multitude of auncient doctors who speaking particularly and distinctly of the virgin say shee was conceiued in originall sinne whose sayings who pleaseth may find in the originalls or may find them in the bookes of Iohannes de Turrecremata and Vincentius de Castro Nouo writing vpon the conception of the virgin whence they are taken Thus farre Caietan Bonauentura professeth that the opinion of the blessed virgins spotlesse conception was so new in his time that he had neuer read it in any author neither did he finde it to be holden by any one that he had euer seene or heard speak And Adam Angelicus sayth If the sayings of the Saints be to be beleeued wee must hold that the blessed virgin was conceiued in originall sin and none of the Saints is found to haue sayd the contrary Yet in time some beganne to bring in this opinion and to make it publike as Scotus and Franciscus de Maironis but very doubtfully and fearefully for Scotus hauing spoken of both opinions touching the conception of the virgin sayth in the conclusion that God onely knoweth which of them is the truer but if it be not contrary to the authority of the Church or of holy Scripture it seemeth probable to attribute that to the virgin that is more excellent And that indeede hee had reason to feare least hee should contrary the Fathers and holy men that went before it will easily appeare by that of the master of Sentences It may truely bee said and wee must beleeue according to the consenting testimonies of the Saints that the flesh which CHRIST tooke was formerly subiect to sinne as the rest of the flesh of the virgin but that it was soe sanctified and made pure and undefiled by the operation of the holy Ghost that free from all contagion of sinne it was vnited to the word But see how strangely things were carried this opinion which was vnknowne to the Church for more then a thousand yeares and at the first broaching of it had fewe patrons yet in time grewe to be so generally approued that almost all they of the Latine Church thought they did God good seruice in following this opinionâ—… many visions reuelations and miracles were pretended in fauour of it and the Councell of Basil decreed for it Bridget canonized for a Saint professed it had beene particularly revealed to her but Catharina Senensis a Prophetesse also and more authentically canonized then the former professed that the contrary
ipsum tibi peccata donantur Hoc est testimoniuÌ„ quod perhibet in corde nostro spiritus sanctus dicens Dimissa sunt tibi peccata tua Sic enim arbitratur Apostolus gratis iustificari hominem per fideÌ„ Gulielmus Altisiodorensis in sent lib. 3. tract 6. Quidam dicunt quod quidam sciunt se non habere charitatem scilicet qui sunt in actu vel proposito peccandi Alij dubitant se habere charitatem cum habent aequè fortes rationes ad vtramque partem contradictionis Alij putant se habere charitatem Alij sciunt se habere charitatem scilicet qui gustauerunt dulcedinem Dei in quibus ferè extinctus est fomes vt Maria Magdalena et Aegyptiaca post multos fletus And a litle after distinguishing 2 kinds of knowledge properly so named he saith by the one we know we are in grace and not by the other The booke called regimen animarum agreeth with Altisiodorensis making 5 sorts some that knowe they haue not some that doubt some that thinke they haue quidam qui experiuntur se habere charitatem vt illi qui gustant diuinam dulcedinem in quibus fomes ferè extinctus est qui semper vel bona faciunt vel affectant quidam certi sunt se habere charitatem vt sunt illi quibus Deus reuelauit secreta coelestia sic fuit Paulus Pantheologia likewise saith Quidam dicunt quod aliqui sciunt se esse in gratia experimentaliter sicut illi qui sentiunt dulcedinem divinae bonitatis in oratione gustant quam suav is est Dominus Alios scire se esse in gratia Dei supernaturaliter sicut sunt illi qui ita dotati sunt à Deo perfecti quod jam non habent rebellionem fomitis sed habent plenam pacem spiritus sentiunt se elevatos in contemplatione divina sicut fuerunt Paulus Maria Magdalena Alexander of Ales 3. part 9. 61. memb 7. art 3. First reckoneth the opinion of 5 sorts of men formerly mentioned to wit of men knowing they are not in grace of men doubting of men thinking they are of men experimentally knowing it as doe they qui sentiunt dulcedinem divinae bonitatis in oratione gustant quam suavis est Dominus And lastly of men who haue knowledge that they are in grace qui ita sunt dicati Deo perfecti quod iam non habent rebellionem fomitis sed habent plenam pacem spiritus sentiunt concupiscentias carnis in se consopitas sentiunt se omninò elevatos in divinam contemplationem sicut fuit Beata Magdalena Paulus qui ait ad Rom 8. Quis separabit c. And then he distinguisheth contemplatiue and affectiue knowledge that some make a knowledge by science and a knowledge by experiment the one an infallible the other a fallible medium and thinketh that wee may knowe by certaine experiments that wee are in grace which experiments are charitas apud vim rationalem pax apud irascibilem laetitia apud concupiscibilem That a man may haue certaine knowledge that hee is in grace he proveth out of Revel 〈◊〉 To him that overcommeth I will giue the hidden Manna c. which no man knoeth but hee that reeciueth it therefore hee that receiueth it doth know it but that hidden Manna c is not vnderstood onely of the injoying of diuiine sweetnes in glory in heauen but by grace in this world but he that receiueth it knoweth it therefore he that receiueth the diuine sweetnes by grace knoweth it therefore hee knoweth hee hath grace by it as by a certaine experiment Besides the taste that is well affected cannot but discerne the sweetnes that is put vnto it therefore if the soule bee rightly affected it cannot but discerne the diuine sweetnes put to it but the discerning of diuine sweetnes is by grace therefore a soule rightly affected cannot but know that it hath grace therefore grace is experimentally knowen as by the sense of diuine sweetnes 2. Cor. vlt. Doe yee not know your selues that Christ Iesus is in you except you bee reprobates This the Apostle speaketh to the Corinthians therefore there is some man who if he bee not a reprobate knoweth that Christ is in him and if hee know this he kuoweth hee hath grace because Christ is not in vs but by grace whence it followeth that hee knoweth experimentally that hee hath grace Iohn Bachon lib. 3. dist 30. q. 1. saith expressely that men may be certaine they are in grace by a certainety following faith or flowing out of faith In our age Cardinall Caietan Commentar in Ioan. 14. Dat Deus etiam hoc vt sciamus quae à Deo nobis donata sunt c. Cuilibet diligenti ipsum promittit non quod se manifestabit sed quod se insinuabit dictio enim graeca significat velut tacitè clam indicare quoniam Iesus cuilibet diligenti se indicat sei psum intus internâ illustratione inspiratione diversimodè prout electi experiuntur accipientes manna absconditum quod nemo novit nisi qui accepit And writing vpon those wordes 1. Io 2 In hoc scimus quontam cognoviâ—…us eum he sayth Intendit Iohannes ad litteram monstrare signum infallibile internae lucis divinae in nobis esse si mandata eius servauerimus Roffensis saith Sacramenta ideo potissimum sunt instituta vt per vsum illorum citra vllam dubitationem confidamus gratiam nos esse consecutos de sacr eucharist lib. 1. cap. 6. The Authours of the booke offered by Charles the fift to the Diuines appoynted for the conference at Ratisbon in the fift article plainely affirme Oportere vt verè paenitentes fide certissimâ statuant se propter mediatorem Christum Deo placere The same was agreed vnto by the Divines of both sides Cardinall Contarenus president of the meeting and conference approved it and as the same Vega sayth many Catholiques in the Councell at Trent before the publishing of the decree followed the same opinion as most probable and sought to confirme it by many arguments And hee reporteth that amongst others there was one learned man that professed hee held the denying of the certainety of grace to bee a worse errour then that imputed to Luther for whereas the Lutherans attribute too much to faith this opinion derogateth from fayth the sacraments the merits workes of vertue Yet in the end there was a decree passed for the vncertainety of grace but in such sort that who would held their former opinions still and made such constructions of the decree as they pleased as it appeareth by Ambrosius Catharinus in his apology against Dominicus à Soto wherein he defendeth an absolute certainety of grace and a certainety of fayth and yet will not be thought to be touched by the censure of the councell Martinus Eisingreinius a man of no small account hath a whole
doubt not of all indifferent Readers And therefore there remaineth but onely one allegation of Bellarmine touching appeales to be examined Gregory the first saith he put Iohn the Bishop of Iustiniana the first from the communion for that he presumed to iudge the Bishop of Thebes hauing appealed to Rome The case was this The Bishop of Thebes wronged by his fellow-Bishops made his appeale to Rome Hereupon Iohn Bishop of Iustiniana the first who was the Bishop of Romes Vicegerent for certaine Prouinces neare adioyning was appointed by the Emperour to heare the cause which he did accordingly But without all indifferencie and in sort contrarie to the Canons and though vpon the discerning of his vniust and partiall proceeding an appeale were tendered to him yet gaue he sentence against the poore distressed Bishop Gregory hearing hereof putteth him from the communion for thirty dayes space inioyning him to bewaile his fault with sorrowfull repentance and teares Truely this allegation maketh a very faire shew at the first sight But if wee remember that the Bishop of Iustiniana the first and the distressed Bishop of Thebes wronged by him were within the Patriarchship of Rome as Cusanus sheweth they were you shall finde it was no more that the B of Rome did then any other Patriarch in like case might haue done within his owne precincts and limits Neither can the Cardinall euer proue that the Bishop of Rome had any such Vicegerent as the Bishop of Iustiniana the first was but onely within the compasse of his owne Patriarchship But saith hee it was a Greeke Bishop that Gregory thus proceeded against It is true it was so But what will hee inferre from thence Is it not knowne that many Greeke Bishops were subiect to the Bishop of Rome as Patriarch of the West was not the Bishoppe of Thessalonica a Greeke Bishop and yet I thinke no man doubteth but that hee was within the compasse of the Patriarchship of Rome as many other also were howsoeuer in time they fell from it adhered to the Church of Constantinople after the diuision of the Greeke and Latine Churches CHAP. 40. Of the Popes supposed exemption from all humane Iudgement as being reserued to the Iudgement of Christ onely OVR Adversaries finding their proofes of the Popes illimited power taken from such appeales as were wont in auncient times to bee made to Rome to bee too weake flie to another wherein they put more confidence which is his exemption from all humane Iudgement Christ whose Vicar he is having reserued him to his owne iudgement onely If this exemption could bee as strongly proued as it is confidently affirmed it would be an vnanswerable proofe of the thing in question But the proofe hereof will be more hard then of the principall thing in controuersie betweene vs. Touching this point I finde great contrarietie of opinions among Papists as men at their wits ends not knowing what to affirme nor what to denie For first there are some among them that thinke that the Pope though hee violate all lawes diuine and humane though hee become publickly scandalous and therein shew himselfe incorrigible yea though hee be a professed and damnable hereticke yet neither is deposed ipso facto by the sentence of the canon nor may be deposed by all the men in the world Which opinion if we admit to bee true the condition of the church the beloued spouse of Christ and mother of vs all is most woefull and miserable in that hereby shee is forced to acknowledge a denouring wolfe making hauocke of the sheepe of Christ redeemed with his precious bloud to be her Pastor and guide Secondly some are of opinion that the Pope if hee become an open and professed hereticke is deposed ipso facto by the sentence of the canon and that the church may declare that he is so deposed Thirdly there are that thinke that an hereticall Pope is not deposed ipso facto but that he may be deposed by the church Fourthly many worthy Diuines in the Romane church heretofore haue beene of opinion that the Church or generall Councell may depose the Pope not onely for heresie but also for other enormous crimes Of this opinion was Cardinall Cusanus Cardinall Cameracensis Gerson Chauncellour of Paris Almaine and all the Parisians with all the worthy Bishops Diuines in the Councels of Constance and Basill Yet the Papists at this day for the most part dislike and condemne this opinion and acknowledge no deposition of any Pope how ill soeuer vnlesse it be for heresie And Bellarmine to make all sure telleth vs farther that the church doth not by any authoritie depose an hereticall Pope but whereas he is deposed ipso facto in that hee falleth into heresie onely declareth the same and thereupon largely refuteth the opinion of Cardinall Caietane who thinketh that the Pope when he falleth into heresie is not deposed ipso facto but that deseruing to bee deposed the Church doth truely and out of her authority depose him First because as he saith if the Church or Councell may depose the Pope from his Papall dignity against his will for what cause soeuer it will follow that the Church is aboue the Pope which yet Caietane denieth For as it will follow that the Pope is aboue other Bishops and of more authority then they if he may depose them so if the councell of Bishops may depose the Pope they are greater then hee Secondly he saith to be put from the Papacie vnwillingly is a punishment so that if the Church may depose the Pope though vnwilling to leaue his place it may punish him and consequently is aboue him For hee that hath power to punish hath the place of a Superiour and Iudge Thirdly he that may restraine and limit a man in the vse and exercise of his ministerie and office is in authority aboue him therefore much more he that may put him from it By these reasons it is clearely demonstrated and proued that if the Church or generall Councell haue authority in case of heresie to depose the Pope at least in some sort it is of greater authority then the Pope And therefore to avoide this consequence as Gerson rightly noteth they that too much magnifie the greatnesse and amplitude of Papall power say that an hereticall Pope in that he is an Hereticke ceaseth to be Pope and is deposed by Almighty God So that the Church doth not by vertue of her authority and jurisdiction depose him but onely denounce and declare that he is so deposed by God to be taken for such a one by men and not to be obeyed This they endeauour to proue because all Heretickes are condemned by their owne iudgment as the Apostle saith and stay not as other euill doers till the Church cast them out but voluntarily depart of themselues from the fellowship of Gods people and cut themselues off from the vnity of the Body of the Church
thereby ceasing to be members of it and consequently losing all authority commaund they formerly had For the clearing of this point wee are to obserue that there are some who runne into errours so directly contrary to all Christianity the sense and judgment of all Christians that by the very proposing thereof they abandon and driue from them all such as dissent and are abandoned of all Secondly there are some that runne not into errours so directly contrary to the sense and judgement of all Christians as the former but with such fury madnes pertinacy that they vtterly reject forsake and depart from all such as doe dissent or are otherwise minded Thirdly there are some who though they be not carried with such violent fury into errour as to condemne reject and depart from all that dissent yet they runne into olde heresies formerly condemned and so by force of the former condemnation are rejected put out of the lap and bosome of the Church Fourthly there are some who fall into hereticall and dangerous errours but neither directly contrary to the common sense of all right beleeuing Christians nor formerly condemned by the consenting voice of the whole Church of God nor with such pertinacy as either to refuse to communicate with them that think otherwise or to seeke to depriue depose degrade or otherwise violently vexe and molest them that are vnder them for not consenting to them in their errour The three former sorts of men falling into errour and heresie voluntarily cut themselues off from the vnity of the Body of the Church depart from the fellowship of Gods people and ipso facto cease to bee members of the Church and lose all authority and commaund they formerly had So that they neede not the Churches censure or sentence to cast them out departing of themselues but it sufficeth that their breaches and divisions from the maine body of the Christian Church be published and made knowne that so they may be avoided So Caelestinus in his Epistle to Iohn of Antioch saith that if any one haue beene excommunicated or depriued by Nestorius or any of his adherents since the time they first began to publish their impieties he still continueth in the cōmunion of his Churches neither doth he judge him to be remoued from his place and the like hee hath in his Epistle to the Clergy of Constantinople But the fourth sort of men erring doe not cease to be members of the Church nor lose their places by so erring till both the point of doctrine wherein they are deceiued be tryed and examined and by lawfull highest authority be found faultie and their pertinacie such as rather to suffer themselues to be rejected and put from the communion of all that are otherwise minded then to alter their judgements Cyprian fell into an hereticall opinion that the Baptisme of Heretiques is voyde and that all that haue beene baptized by Heretiques are to be rebaptized Yet because this point was not examined and condemned in a generall Councell nor his pertinacie therein vpon such examination and condemnation found such as rather to suffer himselfe to bee reiected from the communion of all them that thought otherwise then to giue way and alter his iudgment hee was no hereticke neither did he lose his place of ministery in the Church of God The question therefore is whether if the Pope fell into such an errour as that of Cyprian by which he doth not actually and ipso facto divide and cut off himselfe the Church may examine it and judge him to be rejected and put from the communion if he alter not his iudgement If they say it may then hath the Church power to iudge a Pope that is not an Heretique For he is not an Hereticke till after such determination he chooseth rather to be reiected from the cōmunion of the faithfull then to alter his iudgement If it may not iudge the Pope so erring then might the Popes in former times haue taught rebaptization with Cyprian the errour of the Chiliastes with sundry of the Fathers that all right beleeuers how wickedly soeuer they liue shall in the end be saued with some of the Ancient that the just shall not see God till the resurrection and the like and yet the Church haue had noe power to force them to forsake and condemne such errours or to cease from perswading and inducing men both by doctrine example to erre in like sort And then we may runne into their errour who thinke that though the Pope be an hereticke yet hee is neither deposed ipso facto nor may be deposed but that the Church must acknowledge a deuouring wolfe making hauock of the flocke of Christ to be her Pastor which Bellarmine himselfe thinketh to be very absurd Thus then we see that all who fall into heresies do not cut off themselues from the vnity of the body of the Church nor lose the iurisdiction and authority they formerly had ipso facto as the Papists to auoid the deposing of Popes by the authority of the Church seeme to imagine but that many doe soe fall into heresies that they goe not out of themselues till they be rejected and cast out But howsoeuer our Aduersaries must not defend that Popes falling into heresies are deposed ipso facto for if they do they ouerthrow the whole building and fabricke of Popery The constant opinion of almost all later Papists is that howsoeuer the Pope may personally erre and fall into heresie or become an Hereticke yet the prouidence of God ouer him is such because he is Christs Vicar Peters Successour heire of the Apostles and head of the vniuersall Church that hee cannot define or decree any heresie or prescribe vnto all Christians to belieue amisse Which conceipt cannot stand but falleth to the ground is clearely ouerthrowne if the Pope by becōming an hereticke be deposed ipso facto For doubtlesse if the Pope becomming an hereticke ipso facto cease to bee Pope and to be soe much as a member of the Church then doth not the prayer of Christ for the not failing of Peters faith extend to him any longer neither is hee any longer any way priuiledged by vertue of his succeeding blessed Peter but that hee may runne into all extremities in most damnable sort seeke to subuert the faith to force all to belieue as he doth and define and determine that all shall professe the same doctrine of Diuels that himselfe doth seeing when God forsaketh him and putteth him out of his protection the Diuell entreth into him as he did into Iudas the traytor And how violent and strange the mouings of the euill spirit are wee are not ignorant for sometimes he casteth them that are possessed by him into the fire and sometimes into the water sometimes into one extremity and sometimes into another Wherefore either the Papists must confesse that the Pope may define for heresie then all their religion is ouerthrown
some vnderstanding that the bread is therefore said to be made the body of Christ because where the Bread is the Body of Christ becommeth present others vnderstanding nothing but the order of succession whereby the body succeedeth is vnder the vailes of those accidents vnder which the Bread which they suppose to bee annihilated was before which opinion in substance Scotus followeth though in the manner of his speech hee seeme to decline it some admitting both the word and thing not wholly but in part as Durandus who thinketh the matter of the bread wine remaineth the forme onely changed some thinking the forme to remaine and the matter to cease Ockam saith there are 3 opinions touching Transubstantiation of which the first supposeth a conversion of the Sacramentall Elements the second an annihilation the third maketh the Bread to be so turned into the Body of Christ that it is no way chaunged in substance or substantially converted into Christs body but that onely the body of Christ becommeth present in euery part of the bread Cameracensis Gersons master professeth that for ought he can see the substantiall conversion of the Sacramentall elemēts into the body blood of Christ cannot be proued either out of Scripture or any determination of the Vniuersall Church and maketh it but a matter of opinion inclining rather to the other opinion of Con-substantiation And therefore in his iudgement it was not witnessed by a thousand a thousand persons of most holy life and profound knowledge testifying the truth thereof vnto death by a thousand a thousand miracles So that the thing which Gerson saith hath bin proued by miracles is the true presence of Christs body blood in the Sacrament the exhibition of thē to be the food of oursoules such a change of the elements in vertue grace power of containing in thē cōmunicating to vs Christs body blood as the nature of so excellent a Sacrament requireth This is the key which M. Higgons found to vnlock his vnderstanding that it might runne riot into all idle childish discourses But see the infelicitie of the man He was no sooner at libertie but presently againe he was incompassed brought into such a strait that either he must disclaime my book or his Protestanticall beleefe Yet did he not suffer himselfe long to bee so inclosed but full wisely chose rather to forsake the Religion hee was bredde in and which as a publique Preacher hee had taught others then to disclaime my booke Because as hee saith that Religion cannot bee good that is so falsely and absurdly defended by mee and all the cheefe Authors that euer applied their paines vnto that seruice Surely the poore fugitiue is greatly to be pittied as weake in vnderstanding and medling with things not fitte for him if hee doe that hee doth in simplicity or exceedingly to bee detested as a gracelesse person if he doe it as it is to be feared out of malice For what is it in my Booke that is so false and absurd as that the consideration thereof should make a man forsake his religion is not Transubstantiation one of the greatest mysteries of Popish religion as I haue said is that falsely deliuered by mee No but I say no miracle was euer done to confirme any thing defended by the Romanistes against vs and yet Gerson highly commended by mee saith many Miracles haue beene wrought for proofe and confirmation of that Transubstantiation which the Papists at this day beleeue and this is the falsitie and absurditie hee speaketh of That no miracle was euer wrought to proue the monstrous conceit of Popish Transubstantiation or any other Popish error shall stand good when heauen and earth shall be no more And if tenne thousand Gersons nay if so many Angells from heauen should affirme the contrarie I would not beleeue them much lesse Gerson a single witnesse in such a case This is then the absurdity that made him become a Papist that I commend Gerson and yet beleeue not euerything hee saith Truely this absurdity would neuer moue any but an absurd smatterer to alter his Religion For doth not Higgons himselfe admire Pighius Catharinus Contarenus and sundry other from whom he dissenteth in the matter of justification originall sinne and the certainty of grace Doth he not highly commend many that thought the Pope may erre that he is subiect to Generall Councells and may be deposed by them not for Heresie alone but for other enormous crimes also and yet I thinke hee will not be of their opinion So that though Gerson should thinke that the Transubstantiation which we deny was proued by miracles it were no such intollerable absurdity to commend him for much piety deuotion learning and vertue and yet to dissent from him in this point In the matter controuersed in former times in the Roman Church touching the conception of the blessed virgin were there not whorthy men on both sides did not the Patrons of her spotlesse conception pretend and alledge sundry miracles and visions for confirmation thereof yet was it no absurdity for Cardinall Caietan following the current of Antiquity to dissent from them how many worthy soeuer they were to call all their pretended miracles in question But indeed here is no such matter for Gerson is not so ill aduised as to dissent from his worthy Master confidently to affirme that a thousand and a thousand renowned for piety and learning by a thousand a thousand miracles gaue testimony to the opinion of the substantiall conuersion of the Sacramentall elements into the body blood of Christ which the Master of the Sentences the Author of the Ordinary glosse professe to be doubtfull and Caietan saith so many admitted not euen in his time But the onely thing hee affirmeth to haue beene confirmed by Miracles is that Christs body blood are truely present in the Sacrament that they are giuen to be the foode of our soules and that the outward elements are changed to become the body and blood of Christ which wee deny not though we dissent from the Papists touching the manner of the conuersion which they imagine to be substantiall to which opinion haply Gerson might consent as Cameracensis also did though he professed he could not see the deduction of it from Scripture or any determination of the Church and inclined rather to thinke that the substance of bread and wine remaine and that the body and blood of Christ become present together with them according to that of Cusanus who saith certaine ancient Diuines are found to haue been of opinion that the Bread is not substantially chaunged but that it is clothed vpon with a more noble substance as we hope to be clothed vpon with the light of glory our substance remaining the same it was and seemeth not much to dislike their opinion Thus wee see poore runnagate Higgons hath made a great out-cry when there
any Papist at this day If Gerson or any other whom I honour held this heresie they held it not heretically as the Romanists now doe euen as Cyprian helde the heresie of rebaptization and sundry of the Auncient the heresie of the Millenaries but not heretically so that Vincentius Lyrinensis saith The Fathers were saued and the children condemned the authors of errours acquited the followers of them in the same cast into the pit of hell But Mr Higgons saith Bernard whose sayings touching the not punishing of such as are freed from the impurity of sin I alleadge thereby to ouerthrow the erroneous conceipt of Papists touching Purgatory admitteth Purgatory therefore I traduce the Testaments of the dead to establish such doctrines as they impugne For answer whereunto I say that whether Bernard admit Purgatory or not yet may hee haue a sentence which supposing all sinfulnes to be purged out in the moment of dissolution proueth that there is no Purgatory to which purpose I alledge him therfore traduce not the testaments of the dead to establish any Doctrines they impugned as M ◠Higgons vntruely vnjustly chargeth me For my distilling our Church out of the writings of learned men liuing vnder the Papacie I shall haue a sitter place to answere him when I come to his Appendix where I will make it appeare that the Israel of God hath not binforced as he vntruely saith it hath to seeke to the Philistines as the distressed Israelites did for the sharpening of their tooles when there was no Smith in Israel but that the Israel in Canaan deriueth it self from that Israel that sometimes was in Egypt in misarable bondage enjoyeth the jewels and treasures fighteth against the enemies of God with the weapons brought from thence And thus much touching Gregory §. 2. IN the next place hee commeth to Augustine whom he saith I haue likewise abused The words wherein the supposed abuse is offered vnto him are these The Romish manner of praying for the dead hath no certaine testimony of antiquity for no man euer thought of Purgatory till Augustine to avoide a worse error did doubtingly runne 〈◊〉 after whom many in the Latine Church embraced the same opinion but the Greeke Church neuer receiued it to this day 〈◊〉 inwhich words he saith I note the temerity irresolution and folly of Augustine the Reader I doubt not will note his temerity and folly in censuring me thus without a cause for I note not Saint Augustine for temerity nor make him the Author of a new fancy as hee falsely chargeth mee but shew that whereas there were very dangerous opinions in the Church in his time touching the state of the departed many of great esteeme thinking that men dying in mortall sinne and adjudged to hell shall in the end come out thence and be saued hee sought to qualifie the matter in the best sort hee could with least offence vnto them and to bring them from that error and therefore sayth If they would acknowledge the punishments of such to be eternall and thinke onely that they may bee mitigated or suspended for a time or that men dying in the state of grace yet in some lesser sinnes are afflicted for a time in the other world though he know not whether these things be so or not yet he would not striue with them This is not to be the author of a new fancy but in hope to reclaime men from a great extremity to leaue something lesse dangerous in the same kind doubtfull and this is all that I say of Saint Augustine neither is this my priuate fancy but the Graecians in that learned Apology before mentioned haue the same obseruation to wit that hee wrote not those things which hee hath touching Purgatory out of a certaine perswasion and as vndoubtedly holding them to be true but as it were in a sort inforced and for the avoiding of a greater euill which was this that there is a purging of all sinnes after death as some then thought So that as it seemeth thinking it something a violent course directly to go against the opinion of many and fearing his words would not seeme probable if whereas others thought all sins may be purged out after death he on the contrary side should say none may be purged hee chose rather to goe in a middle way not contradicting that which is lesse absurd and inconuenient that so he might more easily bring them he had to deale with from that which was farre more inconuenient then too much to exasperate thē This was the apprehension the Grecians had of Augustines writings touching this point which whosoeuer shall without any sinister affection peruse will find to bee righte and true Touching irresolution it was farre from Augustine in matters pertaining to the rule of faith but in other things wherein men may bee ignorant and doubtfull and dissent one from another without danger of eternall damnation no man was more slow to resolue no man more inclined to leaue things doubtfull But howsoeuer that hee was doubtfull and vnresolued in the points concerning the state of the dead it is euident in that he sayth If they whose mercifull error he refuteth would onely thinke the paynes of them that are in hell to bee mittigated or suspended hee would not greatly striue about it though I am well assured hee would not willingly haue resolued that these things are so The like may be sayd touching the temporall affliction of good men dying in the state of grace but yet with some lesser sinnes for hee was euer doubtfull concerning the same and neuer resolued that they are vndoubtedly in a state of temporall afflictions as Maister Higgons vntruly reporteth and thence inferreth many things childishly against mee but that they are in a state wherein prayers may auaile thē which two things are very different For the Graecians in their Apology before cited admit remission of sinnes after this life and yet deny that there is any estate of temporall affliction And I haue shewed before how sinnes may be sayd to bee remitted after this life in the enterance into the other world without admitting Purgatory-punishmēts But it cannot be excused that I say Augustine fearefully opposed himselfe against the error of thē who thought all right-beleeuing Christians how wickedly soeuer they liued shall in the end bee saued Surely the Graecians said as much before and are in good hope to be excused and therefore I am in some hope that I may be also for I do not say that he so feared any thing as to conceale any truth he was thorowly resolued of and which hee held necessary to be knowne of all but that he feared to offend them hee dealt with farther than of necessity hee must and therefore resolued to yeeld to them as farre as possibly hee might without impugning knowne and resolued truthes they being many and of great esteeme that were otherwise minded then he was Thus
seeing there are alwaies some right-beleeuers but a right iudgment of men by their power of iurisdiction maintaining truth suppressing error may be wanting Nay that somtimes there was no such iudgmēt in the Church it is most euident For Vincentius Lyrinensis sayth the Arian heresie infected not some part onely but almost the whole Christian world soe that almost all the Bishoppes of the Latine Church were misled by force or fraud Yea Athanasius and Hierome report that Liberius Bishoppe of ROME was carryed away in that tempestuous whirlewinde and subscribed to heresie soe that there was noe sette Tribunall on earth in those dayes to the determinations whereof it was safe to stand §. 2. IN the next place the Treatiler chargeth Mee that whereas Luther defendeth that infants in Baptisme actually beleeue I endeauour to wrest his words to habituall faith which sence he sayth Luthers discourses will not admit and for proofe hereof referreth the reader to certaine places in Luther and to the positions of his followers but as Festus sayd vnto Paul thou hast appealed to Caesar to Caesar shalt thou goe so seeing this Treatiser referreth the Reader to Luthers discourses and the doctrine of his Disciples to these I will send him which will turne greatly to the Treatisers disaduantage For the reader cannot but finde by Luthers discourses and the doctrine of his Schollers that I haue rightly deliuered his opinion to bee that infants are filled with habituall fayth when they are regenerate and not that they haue any such acts of faith or knowledge of God as men of yeares haue Let vs therefore heare what Luther himselfe will say some men saith hee will obiect against that which I haue said touching the necessity of faith in such as are to receiue the Sacramērs with profit that infants haue no faith nor apprehension of Gods mercies that therefore either faith is not so necessarily required to the due receiuing of the sacramēt or that infants are Baptised in vaine Here I say that which all say that other mens faith euen the faith of such as present thē to Baptisme steedeth litle children For as the word of God is mightie when the sound therof is heard euen to the changing of the heart of a wicked man which is no lesse vnapt to heare the voyce of God to listen vnto it thē any litle babe so by the prayer of the Church which out of faith to which all thinges are possible presenteth it to baptisme the child is changed cleansed and renued by the infusion of faith or by faith which is infused and powred into it Thus doth Luther expresse his owne meaning touching this poynt Now let vs heare what his followers will say It was agreed vpon saith Chemnitius amongst the followers of Luther that when we say infants beleeue or haue faith wee must not imagine that they do vnderstand or feele the motions of faith But their errour is rejected who suppose that infants baptized please God and are saued without any operation or working of the holy spirit in them whereas Christ pronounceth that vnlesse a man bee borne a new of water and of the spirit hee cannot enter into the kingdome of heauen So that this is all that Luther and the rest meant that children cannot be made partakers of those benefits that God offereth to men in Baptisme nor inherit eternall life by vertue of the faith of the Church without some change wrought in them by the spirit fitting them to be joyned to God which change or alteration in them they call faith not meaning to attribute vnto them an actuall apprehension of Gods mercies for they constantly deny that they feele any such motions of faith but a kinde of habituall faith onely there being nothing in faith but such an act of beleeuing as they deny or the seede roote and habit whence actual motions in due time do flow With whom Calvine agreeth for whereas the Anabaptists obiect against him defending that infants are capable of regeneration that the Scripture mentioneth no regeneration but by the incorruptible seed of the word of God which infants cannot heare he answereth that God by his diuine power may renue and change them by some other meanes Secondly hee addeth that it is not absurde to thinke that God doth shine into the hearts of those infants which in infancie hee calleth out of this world to himselfe and that hee doth make himselfe knowne vnto them in some sorte seeing they are presently after to be receiued and admitted to the cleare and open view and sight of his glorious face and countenance and yet saith he will not rashly affirme that they are indued with the same faith which wee finde in our selues or that they haue knowledge like vnto that of faith And in the next section speaking more generally and not restraining himselfe to such as die in infancy hee saith that they are Baptized into future repentance and faith which vertues though they bee not presently formed in them yet a seede of either of them lieth hid in them The Papists are distracted into contrary opinions touching this point For some thinke that grace the roote of faith and other vertues is infused into children in Baptisme but not faith other that not onely grace but the habit of faith hope and charity is powred into them likewise which opinion as more probable was admitted in the Councell of Vienna and is embraced by vs as true Wherefore let the Reader judge whether I haue wrested the words of Luther or the Treatiser wronged Mee SECT 3. IN the third place hee laboureth to demonstrate and proue that there is a contradiction betweene the reuerend Bishop of Lincolne and Doctour Morton my selfe touching the power of ordination which that learned Bishoppe appropriateth vnto Bishops and we communicate in some cases to Presbyters But this silly obiection is easily answered for his meaning is that none but Bishoppes regularly may ordaine which we confesse to be true as likewise none but they onely may confirme the baptized by imposition of hands and yet thinke that in case of necessity Presbyters may performe both these things though of ordinary right belonging to Bishops only Part. 1. Sect. 1. LEt vs passe therefore from the preface to the booke it selfe the first thing that he objecteth in the booke it selfe is that I giue Apostolicke power to the present Church whence he thinketh it may be inferred that the Church cannot erre in matters of faith or ceremonies That I giue Apostolique power to the present church he endeavoureth to proue because I say She hath authority to dispense with some constitutions of the Apostles touching order and comelinesse which he thinketh She might not doe if she had not the same Authority by force whereof they were made but he could not but know that this proofe is too weake if he were not very weake in vnderstanding For the Apostles made these constitutions
Pope sought to ouerthrow the order of the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchie to encroach vpon all Bishoppes and guides of the Church and to vsurpe such an illimited vniversall and absolute authority as no way pertained to him feared not to call him Antichrist to compare him and his Courtiers to that Behemoth that putteth his mouth to the Riuer of Iordan thinking he can drinke it vp to pronounce that it is most true that before his time was said of him and his execrable Court Eius avaritiae totus non sufficit orbis Eius luxuria meretrix non sufficit omnis That the Church was holden in Babylonicall captivity by this Antichrist and that her deliuerance would neuer be wrought but by the edge of the sword that must be bathed in blood This is the true report concerning Grosthead in all which there are neither fictions nor exaggerations as Higgons pretendeth by which it is evident that there was as little Communion between the Pope challenging as he did then and doth now infallibility of judgement vniversality of illimited and vncontrouleable power right to dispose the Kingdomes of the World as there is betweene light and darknesse the Temple of God and Idols CHRIST and Antichrist So that he was no Papist seeing he ouer-threw the Papacie and if in any thing he erred as liuing in corrupttimes it is not to be marvayled at neither did his errour in some particular thing so much prejudice his piety and sanctity as that he may not bee called a worthy and renowned Bishop seeing hee held the foundation and stroue for the truth as farre as hee knew it euen to death And therefore the exceptions of the Author of the booke of the Three Conversions against Master Foxe touching this Bishoppe and some other mentioned by him and recorded in the number of Martyrs and Confessors are little to be regarded for that men might be members of that true Church whereof we are holding the foundation and carefully seeking out and maintaining the truth as farre as they knew it though they were otherwise perswaded in some things then either Master Foxe or we are which need not to seeme strange to Master Higgons nor any other of that side seeing they thinke many to haue beene members of their Church and Catholiques that dissented from them in all the questions concerning the Pope to which all other as Master Higgons telleth vs are subordinate and besides in the questions of originall sin free-will justification merite satisfaction the number of the Sacraments and sundry other like things Thus wee see how zealously Grosthead the worthy renowned Bishop of Lincolne opposed himselfe against the tyrannicall vsurpations and incroachments of the Pope and feared not to call him Antichrist for the same Neither was he alone in this opposition but we shall finde that the whole state of England after many complaints against the Popes incroachments vsurpations and tyrannicall intermedling in things no way pertaining to him to the ouerthrow of the Hierarchy of the Church told him in the end that if these courses were continued they should bee forced to doe that which would make his heart to ake Thus faith Mathew Paris at last the poore Church of England that had bin long vsed as an Asse to carry the Popes burdens in the end grew weary opened her mouth as Balaams Asse did to reproue the folly of the Prophet that not without just cause in the judgement of all the world for howsoeuer the church of Rome challenged to be the Mother of all churches and the Popeto be the Father of all Christians yet the one proued a cruell stepmother the other an vnkind vnnaturall Father so that they both lost the hearts of all men But what did the Pope vpon the complaints of so great a church nation as this of England did he ease her burthens or any way listen to her most reasonable suits no verily but was so vnmercifull as the same Paris testifieth that hauing so sore beaten vs he beate vs againe in more cruel sort then euer before onely because we cryed therefore let him not be angry with vs because we haue kept our word with him that neuer kept any with vs haue indeed done that which maketh his heart to ake as our fore-fathers threatned him long before these groanes of our wrōged Mother her often renewed bitter complaints before any was found to worke her deliuerance doe iustifie that which we haue done to be no more then in duty we stood bound to do neither is there any better proofe of the goodnes of our cause then that that which we haue done in the reformation of the church was long before wished for expected fore-tolde by the best men that liued in former times in the corrupt state of the church But because Mr Higgons is pleased to tell vs that if there be no better proofe the cause is bad the patrons worse because these best men we speak of will not speake for vs I will take a litle paines to shevv the goodnes of this proof vvhich I doubt not but the Reader vvill find to be better then that Mr Higgons or any other of his Romanists shall euer be able to vveaken it All that vvhich vve haue done in the reformation of the church cōsisteth in 3 things the first is the condemning of certain erronious opiniōs in matters of doctrine the 2d the shaking off of the yoake of Papall tyranny the 3 the remouing of abuses superstitious observatiōs Novv then if it be proued that the best best learned in former times thought as vvee doe in matters doctrinall that they complained of the heauie yoake vvhich the Pope laide on them and desired the remoouing of such abuses as vvee haue remooued I thinke this proofe vvill bee found very strong and good I vvill therefore first beg◅ vvith matters of doctrine and so proceede to the other points not intending to run through all the controversed points of doctrine but some onely for example and because the question is onely of the judgment of men liuing in latter times in the corrupt state of the Church vnder the Papacie I will passe by the Fathers and speake of such as liued since their time Touching the Canon of Scripture which is the rule of our faith wee deny the bookes of Tobit Iudith Ecelesiasticus Wisdome Machabees the song of the three Children and the story of Bell and the Dragon to bee Canonicall Scriptures So did Hugo de Sancto Victore Richardus de Sancto Victore Petrus Cluniacensis Lyranus Dionysius Carthusianus Hugo Cardinalis Thomas Aquinas Waldensis Richardus Armachanus Picus Mirandula Ockam Caietan and Driedo to say nothing of Melito Bishop of Sardis Origen Athanasius Hilarius Nazianzen Cyrill of Ierusalem Epiphanius Ruffinus Hierome Gregory and Damascen Here wee see a cloud of witnesses deposing for vs. And what better proofe of the goodnesse of our cause canne there be then that so
many worthies of the world in so diuerse places and at so diuerse times giue testimony to our opinion Touching the creation fall and state of originall sinne there were some and they excellently learned who thought as we doe that man must either be lifted aboue himselfe by grace or fall below himselfe by sinne that there is no middle estate of pure nature that originall righteousnesse was required to the integrity of nature and consequently that being lost nature is corrupted and depriued of all naturall and morall rectitude so that a man after the fall of Adam till grace restore him can do nothing morally good or that is not sin These men defined originall sin to be a priuation of originall righteousnesse that is of that grace without which a man can neither feare loue nor serue God aright And consequently do teach that after Adams fall without grace renewing vs wee cannot keepe the commaundements of God do the workes of morall vertue or any way dispose our selues to a true conuersion and turning vnto God This opinion is lâ—…rnedly defended by Thomas Bradwardin in his discourses against the Pelagians of his time and confirmed by him out of the Scriptures and Fathers and likewise by Gregorius Ariminensis as it was before them by Augustine and Prosper Many there were who thought otherwise whom Cardinall Contaren blameth as inclining too much to the Pelagian heresie but the best men concurred in judgment with these For proofe whereof Cassander citeth an excellent saying of Bonauentura Hoc inquit piarum mentium est vt nil sibi tribuant sed totum gratiae Dei vnde quantumcunque aliquis det gratiae dei a pietate non recedit etiamsi multa tribuendo gratiae Dei aliquid subtrahit potestati naturae vel liberi arbitrij cum vero aliquid gratiae dei subtrahitur naturae tribuitur quod gratiae est ibi potest periculum interuenire That is it is the property of pious and good mindes to attribute nothing to themselues but to ascribe all vnto the grace of God for how much soeuer a man giueth to the grace of God hee offendeth against no rule of piety noe though by giuing much to the grace of God he subtract something from the power of nature or free-will but when any thing that pertaineth to grace is denied vnto it and giuen to nature there may be some danger Concerning iustification there is a very maine difference betweene the Papists and vs for though we deny not but that there is a donation and giuing of the spirit to all them that are iustified changing and altering them in such sort as that they beginne to do the workes of righteousnesse yet we teach that iustification consisteth in such sort in the remission of sinnes and the imputation of Christs righteousnesse that the faithfull soule must trust to no other righteousnesse but that which is imputed the other beeing imperfect and not enduring the triall of GODS seuere judgement Now that this was the faith of the best and worthiest men in the Church in former times it will easily appeare vnto vs. The righteousnesse of another sayth Bernard is assigned to man because he had none of his owne and vppon the Canticles he sayth I also will sing the mercies of the Lord for euer Shall I sing of mine owne righteousnesse noe Lord I will remember thy righteousnesse onely for that is mine seeing thou art made vnto mee of God righteousnesse Is there any cause for mee to feare least it should not suffice vs both it is no short cloake which according to the Prophet cannot couer two With Bernard all other good men agreed who in respect of the imperfection of our inherent righteousnesse pronounced it to be as the polluted ragges of a menstruous woman Who is there saith Gerson that shall dare to boast that hee hath a cleane heart and who shall say I am innocent and I am cleane who is hee that will not quake for feare when he shall stand before God to bee iudged who is fearefull in his counsels Hence Iob in his affliction saith vnto God I feared all my workes knowing that thou sparest not the sinner and again if he will contend with me I cannot answere him one of a thousand Whereunto the prayer of the Prophet agreeth enter not into iudgement with thy seruant O Lord for no liuing man shall bee iustified in thy sight And againe if thou shalt obserue iniquities O Lord Lord who shall endure it Furthermore we reade that Esay wrapping vp himselfe with other and waxing vile in his owne eyes in all humility professed that all our righteousnesse is as the polluted ragges of a menstruous woman Who therefore in boasting sort shall dare to shew his righteousnesse to God more then a woman dareth shew the ragges of her confusion and shame to her husband There are two kindes of iustice to which faith leadeth vs saith Cardinall Contarenus the one inherent the other imputed it remaineth that wee enquire vpon which of them we are to stay our selues and by which wee are to thinke that wee are iustified before God that is accounted iust and holy as hauing that iustice that pleaseth God and answereth to that his law requireth I truely saith hee thinke that a man very piously Christianly may say that wee ought to stay to stay I say as vpon a firme and stable thing able vndoubtedly to sustaine vs vpon the iustice of Christ giuen and imputed to vs and not vpon the holinesse and grace that is inherent in vs. For this our righteousnesse is but imperfit and such as cannot defend vs seeing in many things we offend all c. But the iustice of Christ which is giuen vnto vs is true and perfect iustice which altogether pleaseth the eyes of God and in which there is nothing that offendeth God Vpon this therefore as most certaine and stable wee must stay our selues and beleeue that wee are iustified by it as the cause of our acceptation with God this is that precious treasure of Christians which whosoeuer findeth selleth all that he hath to buy it With Contarenus agree the Authors of the Enchiridion of Christian religion published in the prouinciall Synod of Collen in the yeare of our Lord 1536. Which as Cassander saith the more learned diuines in Italy and France approued the authours of the booke called Antididagma Coloniense Albertus Pighius and sundry other who if they were now a liue and should thus teach our Iesuited Papists would soone condemne them as Heretickes Touching merits I haue shewed else-where that Scotus Cameracensis Ariminensis and Waldensis doe thinke there is no merit properly so named With whom agreeth Adrian the Pope vpon the fourth of the sentences writing thus like a Protestant as I thinke Our merits are as a staffe of reed vpon which if a man stay himselfe it will breake and pierce the hand of him that