dore of the Church the one of them must of necessity serue the other so impossible it is that two so contrary the one to the other should stand togeather such is the implacable hostility and extreme opposition betwixt them 7. When Abraham the Father of the faithfull for so the Scriptures style him perceaued that a breach might happily fall out betwixt him and his nephew Lot vpon a dissention already begunne betwixt their heards-men he calleth vnto him consulteth the case treateth and intreateth with him and to perswade him to vnitie vseth this motiue of all the most perswasiue Let there be no dissention betwixt me and thee betwixt my heards-men and thy heards-men for we are brethren c. But it fareth not thus betwixt the Catholicke and the Hereticke no vnion can be made no communion had no condition of peace to be treated and offered betwixt them And if you will haue the reason of this they are no brethren nay which is more they cannot be brethren for the Catholicke in his spirituall birth hath God for his father and the Church for his mother wheras the Hereticke hath an Hethite to his father and an Amonite to his mother that is Sathan is his father and Schisme is his mother he is a stranger to the couenant and a meere alien to the houshould of faith And therefore as Ichu first answered Iehoram his messengers demaunding of peace Quid vobis est paci what haue you to do with peace get you behind me follow me c. And secondly vnto Iehoram himself when he came in person to meet him and demanded Is it peace Iehu what peace whilest the fornications of thy mother Iezabel and her witch-crafts are yet in such aboundance so what peace can the Catholicke make with the Hereticke whilest his heresy worse then the sinne of witchcraft and his spirituall fornications in worshipping of false gods that is intertaining false opinions in religion and dissonant from Catholicke faith continue a terrible caueat to all temporizers that will make a linsey-wolsey of all Religion reconciling Catholicke Religion with Protestants heresy which is as possible as to vnite things most contrary and deadly iarring To these I can giue no other counsaile then such as Elias gaue to the worshippers of Baal when his fiery zeale would admit no diuision betwixt Idolatrous superstition and Gods most pure and vndefiled Religion How long will you halt betwixt two opinions if Baal be God follow him but if God be God follow him c. The application is if hereticall innouation be God his true worship follow it but if Catholicke tradition be the only true and soule-sauing religion then vnder eternall paine hazard of your soules resolue halt no longer betwixt the two God will either haue all or none he careth not for a hart and a hart a deuided hart and the Church will receiue none within her bosome nor help to saue any with her Sacraments but such as are her true-borne children constantly professing her piety abandoning all kind of schisme heresy and securely resting only and truely within her bosome 8. And although I do not affirme that all Catholickes shall be saued for that euill life and matter of fact may condemne as well as bad beliefe and matter of faith yet am I most certaine and I dare pronounce it that all heretickes so liuing and so dying shall be damned agreeing with that so often times reiterated by S. Cyprian Numquam perueniet ad praemia Christi qui relinquit Ecclesiam Christi alienus est profanus est hostis est He shall neuer aspire to heauenly glory that forsaketh the Churches verity and falleth away from Christ by Apostasie he is a forreyner he is profane he is an enemy And as all perished without the Arke and were certainely corporally drowned so assuredly all without the Arke of the Church shall eternally be damned since the Scriptures teach vs that this Arke was a liuely type of the Church And as an Hereticke and a Catholicke can neuer be ioyned togeather in heauen so can neuer the Catholicke and Hereticke Catholicke Religion and heresie in any one point be conioyned vpon earth this is the vniforme and vnanime to vse his Maiesties word consent of all orthodoxe pious and religious Deuines 9. The reason of all the foresaid opposition betwixt a right-beleeuing Catholicke and a misbelieuing Hereticke is this the Catholicke knoweth nay belieueth it as the ground-worke of his faith that Christ our Sauiour hauing left the world in respect of his visible presence continueth inuisible by the immediate assistance of his holy spirit with his Church which is Domus Dei Porta Caeli the house of God and the Gate of Heauen as Iacob spake of the place of his vision Columna firmamentum veritatis the piller and foundation of truth Vnto this Church our Sauiour reuealeth all his secrets that concerne her saluation maketh her of his priuy Counsaile gouerneth her visibly first by his owne person secondly by his Apostles directeth her inuisibly by his immediate spirit the holy Ghost and so continueth her vnder visible gouernment and inuisible direction vnto the worlds generall consummation leading her into all truth such was his promise made vnto her and here is the performance And the reason that the Church is thus neare and deare vnto Christ is this Corpus est shee is his body according to that of S. Augustine Totum quod annunciatur de Christo caput corpus est Caput est filius Dei viui vnigenitus Corpus Ecclesia c. All that can be said and auerred of Christ is his head and his body The head is the onely begotten Sonne of God the body is his Church bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh for Christ hath two bodyes the one natum ex virgine and therefore naturall the other redemptum sanguine and therefore mysticall and the later was more deare vnto him then the former for he wholy bestowed his naturall body to redeeme his mysticall body 10. The Catholicke then knowing this correspondency betwixt Christ and his Church belieueth all wholy and without eyther choice or additiō of his owne which the said Church vniuersally spread ouer the world doth propose vnto him as matter of faith to be belieued conteyning himselfe within that most sure and infallible prescription of Tertullian Nobis verò nihil ex nostro arbitrio licet inducere sed nec eligere quod aliquis de arbitrio suo induxerit It is not lawfull for vs to innouate at our pleasure nor yet may I make choyce of that which another man vpon priuate fancy hath added But as for the Hereticke non sic ille non sic it goeth not so with him for being an Hereticke that is a chooser he according to his name and nature because he will not haue his name for nought maketh choice of what he listeth to belieue
great doubt that then arose in the Church to wit whether the obseruation of the ould law of Moyses should be ioyned necessary with the new law of Christ and because they would leaue a patterne for all succeeding ages to follow they determined the matter and thēselues I meane the Apostles and Prelates of that first age decided the doubt by those high wordes of authority taken from the foresaid commission of our Sauiour Visum est spiritui Sāto Nobis it seemeth good vnto the holy Ghost and vs for the Church and the true spirit of the holy Ghost go inseparably togeather in regard of Christ his promise made vnto the Church so that the holy Ghost euer keepeth his residence in her guideth her gouerneth her directeth her and sitteth as President in all her consultations and assēblyes and therefore this vmpiring and determining forme of speach hath euer since beene vsed in the lawfull succession of the said visible Church vntill our daies will be frequented still especially in generall Councels euen vnto the worlds end to put a firme period and full conclusion vnto all controuersies that come in question And the reason is for that the same authority and assistance of the holy Ghost which that first Church had for directing of mens soules vnto their saluation the very self same and none other hath the visible Catholicke Church of our age and hath had in all ages and shall haue in all to come Verum enim non variat It is an ancient prescription and no more ancient then true Gods giftes and graces conferred vpon his Church are without repētance the holy Ghost is euer one and the selfe same spirit of truth in Patriarkes Prophets Apostles Martyrs and other succeding Pastours and Doctors and Christ his promise was not for one age only he shed not his pretious bloud for those of his age alone but for all all were alike neere vnto him all were alike deare vnto him he tooke our nature in generall to saue mankind in generall and therfore the care he had for one age of the Church the same he had for all succeeding ages of the same as well for the last as for the first and this care of his continueth so long as the sunne and the moone endureth 60. This remittance then and reference vnto the Authority of the Church originally proceeded from the Apostles themselues was continually perpetuated by all succeeding ages of the Catholicke Church and therfore as S. Paul in a controuersy of lesser importance writing to the Corinthians about women being veyled in the Church saith to shut vp the dore to all further cōtention that If any man will seeme to be contentious we haue no such custome nor yet the Church of God repressing the contentious man as you see with the Authority and Custome of the Church so did all subsequent Fathers of the orthodox Church whether it were in the priuat writings or in the worlds grand Parlament in Generall Councells in all their conflicts with Hereticks they euer vsed to repell and represse them by one and the selfe same meanes and that was with the authority of the knowne Catholicke Church And looke what sentence they pronounced against thē for their contumacy see what censure they inflicted vpon them for their heresy it remayned good against them and irreuocable it was ratyfied as the law of the Medes and Persians which could not be altered their authority was grounded immediatly vpon those wordes of Verity VVhat soeuer you bynd on earth shall be bound in heauen and the Tribunall of heauen confirmed the authority of the Church vpon earth nay standeth expecting what is done by it vpon earth such is the mysticall dependency betwixt the one and the other such is the mutuall correspondency betwixt the head and his members Christ and his Church Dare then any man hereafter oppose his priuate spirit against the authority of this Church Or will he impudently presume to preferre his owne conceipt and opinion before her publicke tradition 61. Ancient S. Irenaeus who was in manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apostolorum for he liued in the very next age after them writing against the heresies of his dayes and hauing first declared how the primitiue Church was visibly planted by Christ and his Apostles and how it was continued to his time doth then pourtraict out vnto vs discourse at large of the authority sufficiency treasury tradition and absolute perfection of this Church for the repelling of all heresy and deliuering of all truth his wordes are these Tantae igitur ostensiones cùm haec sint c. Wheras these thinges which I haue said are so great demonstrations of the truth we must not yet seeke the truth from others which is easely taken from the Church wheras the Apostles did most fully lay vp in her all thinges belonging to the truth as in a certaine rich treasure-house so as euery man that will may take from thence the liquor or sustenance of life for that is the intrance vnto life euerlasting to belieue the Church all others that flie this way are theeues and murtherers and therfore we must auoid them that are such but with great diligence we must affect those things that are of the Church and from her take the tradition of truth And truly if our contention were but about some small question in Religion yet ought not we to haue recourse vnto the most ancient Churches wherin the Apostles had once bene conuersant and so take from them that which is certaine and cleere for deciding of the question And what if the Apostles had left vnto vs no Scriptures at all had it not bene needfull notwithstanding to follow the order of tradition which they haue left vnto vs to whome they to wit the Apostles had committed those Churches 62. Thus farre S. Irenaeus which I haue of purpose chosen to cite more at large for that it is sufficient alone to disclose his iudgement and the Iudgment of that first age next after the Apostles how farre the authority of the visible vniuersall Church then stretched and was esteemed for especially for clearing soluing and deciding of all doubtes that possibly could arise in religion And the reason there rendred by the same Father is this She is the store-house wherein Christs merits and the Churches treasure is laid vp She is the way of life whereby we may come to eternall life and escape euerlasting death that all are theeues yea murtherers of soules that doe impugne her or seeke other wayes of tryall then her and her tradition from hand to hand That this tradition is sufficient though there were no Scripture That from her and her alone the truth is to be taken and not els where That by her and her authority alone all doubts and questions are to be so ued and decided Can any thing be spoken more effectuall then this Or is there any more playne easy euident
this suffice for this article 40. Let vs now a litle cast about and take a view of the ninth article in order as the Creed naturally brancheth it and it is this Credo Sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam c. I belieue the holy Catholicke Church the wordes of this article are agreed vpon on all partes but the senses framed thereupon and belieued of different Christians are most different and repugnant For first those of the Roman truly Catholicke Religion do according to the exposition of ancient Fathers which is a most certaine and infallible rule of their fayth vnderstand by this Catholicke Church that visible Congregation of the first belieuing Christians gathered togeather in Hierusalem at the time of our blessed Sauiour his Ascension at which assembly the holy Apostles themselues who made this article were present togeather with the Blessed Virgin Mother of God and other holy men and women vpon whome the holy Ghost descended inlightened them and inflaming them to preach the name of Christ and further establishing and confirming them in the truth encouraging them to go forwardes manfully without feare of any opposite humane power and promising them that the power of Christ assistance of the same holy Ghost should be with them and the directors of them vnto the worlds end to preserue this Church and holy Congregation in all necessities and extremities so that the gates of hell and damnable errour should neuer preuaile against it 41. Moreouer the said Catholicke Christians did euer vnderstand this Church to be called holy in respect both of the great sanctity of her doctrine and the holines of many of her children who besides the precepts of the law as S. Gregory speaketh nay ouer and aboue the precepts of the law as S. Basill and S. Chyrsostome ioyntly speake should endeauour etiam praecepta legis perfectiori virtute transcendere to transcend the precepts of the law by deuouting themselues vnto the obseruation of Christ his high Counsayles of Euangelicall perfection 42. Also this Church is called holy for the immediate and perpetuated assistance of the holy Ghost inspiring her inwardly directing her outwardly and especially for the meanes of sanctificatiō conuaied vnto her through the conducts of her Sacraments as chiefest and most holy instruments to that effect conferring grace for our assistance in the performing of all good works wherof none can be partakers to saluation out of this Church 43. This Church is also called Catholicke for the reasons before set downe in the first Chapter and first Consideration to wit that it is vniuersally spread ouer the world by the ministery of the Apostles in the very beginning and so hath hitherto continued still and euer shall to the worldes end and further it hath these signes and markes to be knowne by and to be distinguished from all hereticall Congregations whatsoeuer to wit Antiquity Vniuersality Vnion and Succession by descent of Bishops And finally for full complement it hath that communion of Saints both by vnion in fayth and communion of Sacraments which no other Schismaticall Cōuenticle or hereticall congregation hath and out of this communion there can be no possibility of life or saluation All this and much more which here I am constrayned to omit do those of the Roman Religion vnderstand by this article I belieue in the holy Catholicke Church the communion of Saints and it would require a whole volume to set downe the seuerall sentences discourses and authorities of ancient Fathers that iointly concurre in this exposition and explanation 44. But now on the other side if we cast our eyes vpon the state of the English Clergy we shall find that howsoeuer they do admit the same in wordes yea and subscribe therunto in their Ordination for that they teach their Rligion to follow their State as their State brought in their Religion yet exceeding great is the difference and large are their consciences in vnderstanding the same as may appeare in part out of the 19. article published by M. Rogers as agreed vpon by our English Bishops concerning the Church about which he hath seauen seuerall propositions first agreeing in some of them somwhat with the Catholicks and they haue learned it from the Catholicke Religion and as their vsuall practice is and then making their owne choyce to dissent and disagree at their pleasure as the inured custome of all Hereticks hath euer bene 45. His first proposition then is this There is a Church of Christ not only inuisible but also visible wherto supposing him to vnderstand of the true Catholicke Church for otherwise he saith nothing we do also agree as their Bishops in like manner may be supposed to do and yet can I speake this vpon my owne knowledg that it is against the common knowne tenent practice of their Academicall Schooles for there the question is amongst the most forward Protestants An Ecclesia sit inuisibilis whether the true Church be inuisible and yet is held affirmitiuely to wit that it is inuisible and not visible to manseies for the visibility of the Church tendeth to flat Popery which they cannot indure 46. His second proposition is That there is but one Church which we affirme also and they from vs haue learned so to speake and yet I do not see how the Protestant Puritan and other Sectaries Lutherans and Sacramentaries can make one Church they differing so fundamētally amongst themselues and in such weighty points of faith and religion as they do 47. His third assertion is The visible Church is a Catholick Church M. Rogers would haue said or at least wise should haue said that the Catholicke is a visible Church and the reason is for that all visible Churches are not Catholicke but all Catholick Churches are visible And what was the reason of this his incongruity of speach I do not see vnlesse he meant thereby to steale the name of Catholicke vnto euery visible Congregation of Sectaries which is clearly ouerthrowne by the definition and large explication of the word Catholicke set downe in the first Chapter 48. His fourth proposition is The word of God was and for tyme is before the Church which being vnderstood of the Scripture or written Word for otherwise it is nothing to our purpose it contayneth in it a senseles grosse absurdity for therupon it would follow that before Moyses tyme the first writer of the Bible which was more then two thousand yeares after the creation of man God had no Church because there was extant no written Word or Scripture which were very ridiculous to affirme But the only refuge that I can possibly perceaue that M. Rogers hath left him to make good his fourth assertion in proouing the word of God more ancient then the Church is to fly to the vnwritten word but this will not serue his turne neither since we haue only in this place to do with the litterall or written word of God begūne
ought effectually to moue vs to make great esteeme of their knowledg to intertaine them as we ought and that is highly to reuerence and sincerely to affect the one since out of the confines of this there can be no saluation as also to detest and fly from the other as from a serpent yea as from Sathan that first seducing serpeÌ„t since this bringeth with it assured daÌ„nation 15. For these and the same causes the Ancient Fathers of the Primitiue Church so much commended by his Maiesty as that he referreth himselfe in matter of ReligioÌ„ to their decision as soone as euer these wordes and their mysteries were reuealed in the Church least in time they should be buried in obliuion did presently with their pennes aduance the most high commendations of the one as the only ordinary high way to euerlasting saluation as also by many detestations and execrations depresse the other as the very path to eternall perdition 16. Amongst which Worthies and famous Pillars of the Church the ancient Father Pacianus so highly commeÌ„ded by S. Hier. for his holines aboue 1200. yeares agone wrote a learned Epistle to one Sempronianus a Nouatian Hereticke of the excellency of this name Catholicke for that those heretickes as ours also of this day do made very little accompt of this Name But the holy Father describeth at large how necessary it was for the holy Ghost to leaue vnto vs this Name or rather Syr-name for distinguishing all faithfull Christians from misbelieuers his wordes are very effectuall for this purpose Ego sortè ingressus populosam Vrbem hodie saith he cùm Marcionitas c. I bechance entring this day into a populous Citty and finding there some called Marcionites some Apollinarians some Cataphrigians some Nouatians and others of like Sectes all calling themselues Christians I did not know by what Syr-name I should find cut the Congregation of my people except by the name of Catholickes So he And then proceeding further Certè non ab homine mutuatâ—m est quod per tantae saecula non cecidit Certainely this Name was neuer taken or borrowed of man that hath not fallen or decaied for so many ages And then he alleageth the authority of Catholick antiquity and vniuersall Church namely the authority of S. Cyprian in particuler for the vse of that name against all heresies whatsoeuer concluding thus Quaere ab haeretico nomine noster populus hac appellatione diuiditur cùm Catholicus nuncupatur c. Wherfore our people is distinguished by this appellation from all hereticall names when it is called Catholicke and yet further he saith Christianus mihi nomen est Catholicus verò cognemen me illud nuncupat istud ostendit hoc prober illo significor Christian is my name but Catholicke is my Syrname the first doth name me onely the second doth point me out by the name of Christian I am fignified only but by the Syrname of Catholicke I am tried and examined whether I be a Christion or no. So he 17. This was that high accompt and esteeme wherein that ancient Father of the Primitiue Church S. Pacianus held the word Catholicke after that the Christian Church had appropriated assumed this distinctiue appellation setting it as a most certaine badge or cognisance vpon the breast of the Church in generall and vpon the sleeue of euery member of this Church in particuler and the reason reassumed in the Conclusion is in effect this Appellatio Catholici congregat homogenia dissâ—pat heterogenia that is in plaine termes this name Catholicke maketh a coniunction vniting her owne and it noteth a disiunction separating all Sectaries from her society And here is the wisdome of Salamon euen the wisdome of Almighty God discerning betwixt the true mother and the false this is the true naturall mother of euery child of the Church she will admit no diuision of her child she will haue all or none for Catholicke is her name But to leaue S. Pacianus and to passe to others since that the Scripture requireth that in the mouth of two or three witnesses euery thing should be established where we may note by the way that if the testimony of two or three ordinary witnesses may stint the strife in matter of controuersy and tend to reconciliation in foro saeculi how much more then the vniforme consent of extraordinary witnesses witnessing iudges and iudging witnesses greater then all exception ought to compromise and finally decide the question now in hand in foro Caeli in foro Ecclesiae 18. These witnesses consenting with Pacianus in the premised point of Catholicke were all the ancient Fathers which liued eyther before or after him in the Centuries of Christian religion within the vnity and bosome of their mother the Catholicke Church as namely before him S. Cyprian whome he expresly mentioneth and before him againe old Tertullian one of the most ancient Fathers of the Latin Church whome S. Cyprian the martyr so highly reuerenced and when he would read him he pointed him out thus Da mihi Magistrum And after these two S. Augustine who ascribed so much and that as he thought worthily vnto this name Catholicke as that he feareth not to say that it was one speciall motiue both to draw him to it and to hold him in the visible vniuersall Church of his daies Neyther doth this great Doctor barely affirme it vpon his word and credit which had beene sufficient for vs to haue belieued the same but he yeeldeth a substantiall reason therof in the wordes following Quod non sine causa inter tam varias haereses ista Ecclesia sola obtinuit which very name of Catholicke not without cause this only Church hath obteined among so many heresies as haue sprong vp Againe the same Father positiuely and boldly affirmeth in another place that the word Catholicke was so appropriate to this Church euer since the Apostles in their Creed gaue that Name vnto it as that no Conuenticle of Heretickes whatsoeuer could once fasten vpon the Name themselues or procure the same to be giuen vnto theÌ„ by others And hereupon he concludeth that the very possession of the Name and common opinion of men was a sufficient coÌ„uincing proofe against all Aduersaries that this Church was the true Catholicke Church indeed 19. Hitherto S. Augustine Now if we descend lower to succeding ages of the Church I meane vnto those Fathers that liued after S. Augustine his time we shall find such harmony in vnity such vniforme consent in iudgement touching the true explication of this name Catholick as also the very right explication of that vnto the visible vniuersall Church of their daies that we must hence necessarily inferre that one spirit breathed in all one the same spirit directed all And here I might produce a whole cloud of witnesses to speake in the phrase of the Apostle as namely S. Damascen Oecumenius Theophilact for the greeke Pâ—lgentius S. Gregory the
so much as we heare on the one side the terrible horrour of the said Name and on the other side we see the common and to much vsed familiaryty therof in these our vnhappy tymes later and worser dayes which are so replenished with all kind of Sects and Sectaries as that each one commonly calleth the other Hereticke and that with as great facility and with as litle regard as if the accustomable practice of calling Hereticke had taken away the true sense and reall feeling of an Hereticke or as though he called him good fellow or witty inuentor of new opinions which amongst the Sectaries of our age is rather reputed for a pleasant iest and ingenious cōmendation then for that which in sober sadnes setting all Atheisticall scoffing and iesting in matters of such momēt a part it is to wit a terrible accusation and dreadfull charge of a most high and Capitall crime committed against God his Church his Sauiour and all to the destruction of his owne soule 28. But alas who doth not now adaies delight and esteeme himselfe the more for his sharpnes of wit subtile ingeny for inuenting finding out deuising framing new positions new translations new interpretations and that coyned stamped in the shop of his own braine therby of set purpose to impugne and of desperate malice to withstand some Catholick points of ancient Churches doctrine And if you tell him that he must keep him to the traditiō of the Church deliuer that to the sonnes of the Church which he hath vniformly receiued frō the Fathers of the Church that he must not remoue ancient bands in matters of beliefe for feare of a curse that he must reddere depositum as S. Paul chargeth Timothy and that with a vehement asseueration and what is that reddere depositū that is as Vincentius Lyrinensis excellently expounds it Quod tibi creditum est non quod à te inuentum quod accepisti non quod excogitasti rem non ingenij sed doctrinae non vsurpationis priuatae sed publicae traditionis rem ad te perductam non a te prolatam in qua non author esse debes sed custos non institutor sed sectator non ducens sed sequens that which is committed vnto thee not any thing inuented of thee that which thou hast receaued not deuised a matter of doctrine not of wit not of priuat vsurpation but of publicke tradition a matter brought vnto thee not brought forth of thee wherin thou must be no author but a keeper no maister but a scholler no guider but a follower Lastly tell him that he must content himselfe with being a relator only not presuming to be an author otherwise his position will proue innouation priuate inuention erroneous election and consequently heresy I say tell him all this and what more you can deuise and he will laugh at you for your simplicity in going about to terrify him with such buggs and in tying his spirit to any rule of Church-authority since the wind bloweth where it listeth c. which he fanatically applieth vnto his spirit presuming it to be inspired from aboue And with that spirit if you will belieue him vpon his bare word is he so inspired that he needeth no other direction no further instruction And this is all the accompt that he maketh of being a Catholicke or a choosing Hereticke But reflecting vpon the other syde of the Roman Religion which may truely and only be called Catholicke I experimentally found another kind of reckoning made of both these wordes Catholicke and Hereticke most highly esteeming the one as hath bene formerly spoken and fearfully declining the other as the origen and ofspring of all calamity 26. And first I found in the common doctrine of their Schooles they assigning Heresy for one of the three species or members of infidelity opposite to Christian Religion they hould it to be the worst most heinous of all three in respect of the extreame and desperate malice therof to wit that it is in a degree of euill and sinne worse and more damnable then either Paganisme or Iudaisme not for that all heresie denyeth more parts of Christian doctrine then do the Pagans or Iewes for in this the Pagan sinneth more then a Iew and a Iew commonly more then an Hereticke but because they do corrupt and impugne the Catholicke Christian faith which once they receiued and from which they are now wilfully departed which implieth more malice then can be ascribed to eyther Iew or Gentile that neuer receyued the same In which respect their sinne and damnatiō is more grieuous say Catholicke Doctors then is eyther of the other two Wherupon is inferred by S. Thomas and it is the common opinion that an Hereticke is in worse state then a Iew or Gentile for the life to come 30. Againe for further aggrauation and exaggeration of the horror of this Name and loud-crying sinne therby signified the Catholicke Deuines in a more particuler explication do constantly and with vniforme consent auerre that an Hereticke discrediting or not belieuing as he should any one article of the Catholicke faith doth loose his whole faith and habit thereof in all the rest And the reason herof is assigned by the Schoole Doctors for that the chiefe motiue or formall reason why a man doth belieue any thing in Christian Religion is because it is reuealed by God and propounded by the Church without which Churches propounding and approuing nothing can be securely belieued And therefore when an Hereticke in any one article discrediteth and detracteth from the authority of this Church which is necessary and primary condition in beliefe denying it thereby to be an infallible rule of beliefe in this one article he denieth the same in all the rest As for example if a man should aske a Protestant why he belieueth the Scriptures and S. Matthews Gospell to be S. Matthews Gospell he can answere no otherwise but that God hath reuealed the same vnto vs by the Church which propoundeth these books for Scripture Here then the proposition of the Church appertaineth to the formall reason or cause of beliefe as Deuynes doe tearme it which if once it be denyed or discredited in any one article as the Protestants do when we alledge it against them for Purgatory Prayer for the dead Sacrifice inuocation of Saints and the like then can it not hold in the former about Scriptures or any other article and consequently Hereticks haue no diuyne faith at all about Scripture or any other article but are meere Infidels in all and consequently shal be damned say they not only as chusing Heretickes beleeuing one thing and reiecting the other but as vnbelieuing Infidells deuoid of all faith Which seemed to me to be a very terrible commination and fearfull distriction and yet did I see it substantially grounded and so orderly deduced as that I must ingenuously confesse it so conuinced my vnderstanding and
and vniuersall direction Can any rule be more probable and infallible then the rule of the Church And to this do agree both my foresaid Authour in many other places of his workes as also all that succeeded him tooke the like enterprize in hand of writing and prescribing against Hereticks as Tertullian S. Cyprian S. Augustine S. Athanasius Epiphanius Theodoret S. Hierome S. Leo Vincentius Lyrinensis in his goulden booke against the prophane innouations of the Hereticks of his time and diuers others which to auoyd prolixity I omit all these do principally and really prouoke and challenge all the Heretickes of their tyme vnto this only and sure waie of the Catholicke Church in their dayes for the triall of the truth and for discerning what is truly Catholicke and what is Hereticall their seuerall sentences are to prolixe to be conteyned within the strict precinctes and narrow boundes of my briefe intended Confiderations 63. And now to put a period to this my third Consideration least it exceed a due proportion the vpshot is this For asmuch then as this visible Christian Church begun and founded by our Sauiour vnder the Apostles was a visible Church made and consisting of visible men gouerned by visible Pastors hath visibly descended from age to age through the centuries of the Church by all lawfull and ordinary succession of Bishops which Tertullian required of the Hereticks of his time as they would auoid the blot of heresy that haue lineally come downe to our dayes Secondly for asmuch as the authority of his Church was esteemed in euery age to be the same for infallible direction that it was in the former first ages through the assurance of Christ his promise to that effect And lastly for as much as the whole vniuersall Church of the fifteēth age hath in a generall Coūcell examined decyded condēned the doctrine of the Protestants for heresy in more then an hundred maine points by name hath accursed and anathematized both them and all their participants to the pit of hell that according to the very selfe same groūds wherby the ancient Fathers did vse to curse anathematize all ould heresies and Hereticks in former tymes these things when I considered with more attention made a generall reflection thereon a suddaine feare and care astonished yea as it were ouerwhelmed me for that my euerlasting saluation depending vpon this point I had beene so negligent in examining the premises And now I plainely saw as in a perfect glasse of most impartiall iudgment that vnlesse I could imagin with my selfe as diuers others fanatically do that Christes promise had fayled that the first visible Christian and Catholicke Church founded by him and spread ouer the whole world had fayled vanished and perished as being ouercome by hel-gates and ouer growne with the weedes of errour heresy I could neuer haue any hope of saluation as long as I continued in the Protestant Religion And this was the issue of that Consideration The fourth Consideration THERE remaineth now a fourth consideration the subiect wherof which notwithstanding perhaps is of greatest importance of all the rest is this to wit how out of the premisses a man may probably collect nay necessarily conclude whose opinions be Catholicke and whose Hereticall and therevpon may reflect vpon himself in what state or condition he standeth betwixt both as eyther affected to the one or interessed in the other And albeit this hath beene partly discouered by that which hath beene spoken in the first Consideratiō touching the name Catholicke that signifieth Vniuersall and whole and not a part or singularity in opinions by choice of a mans owne will and iudgement for so Hereticke doth signifie as hath beene laid forth in the second Consideration yet shall it be made more manifest by the particular practice of the things themselues when the name shall passe into nature and appellation be turned into application And first to speake to the point in a word the Catholike admitteth all wholy and intierly without addition or detraction which the knowne Catholicke Church proposeth to be belieued of her sonnes as she hath it reuealed vnto her from God her Father But as for the Hereticke and the chooser tamquā Dominus propryiuris as he that will take his owne swing though it be in Schisme and heresy he making himselfe iudge ouer all I meane God the Scripturs and the Church admitteth some and reiecteth the rest as it pleaseth his priuate fancy or displeaseth his peeuish iudgmēt he neither respects the authority of the Church nor regardes his owne obedience due therunto his ground is either Scriptures falsely by him interpreted or a priuat lying spirit such as Micheas the Lords true Prophet prophesied to be in the false Prophets of Baal wherein he is deluded or other arguments of reason nature against faith and the God of nature And thus he is bewitched peruerted contrary to all true and onely sauing Catholicke grounds contrary to that sure certaine and infallible way of triall which erst while we treated of in the third Consideration and purpose now by Gods holy assistance to make vse of all in this 65. Some men I find to intertaine this concepit that English Protestants and Roman Catholickes may liue in their seuerall professions of Religion and be saued togeather and much more they are of opinion that all Protestants of different professions and Sectes as Lutherans and Sacramentaries and much more the different sortes of one and the selfe same sect as Caluinists in England distinguished by the names of Molles and Rigidi moderate Protestantes and feruent Puritans And the reasons for this their opinion are first of doctrine for that euery one of their differences do not make heresies or if they do yet not so grieuous heresies as the Fathers of the Primatiue Church condemned and anathematized they meane such heresies as impugned the persons of the B. Trinity the Natures of Christ God and Man the Incarnation and Passion and the like cōsequently though those ancient heresies were damnable yet are not those of our daies plead the Protestants but that both partes liuing well may be saued as his Matie in this his Premonition to Princes doth testifie that his noble Mother sent him word not long before her Martyrdome by the Maister of her Household a Scotish Gentleman yet liuing that his Matie might persist in his Protestant Religion and yet do well inough if he liued vertuously and gouerned accordingly 66. But surely how farre the credit of that maister of Household being a Protestant as I heare he then was and now is may extend it selfe to be belieued against the mistresse and highest Lady of that Household in a matter of that quality and consequence I know not yet certaine I am of this that the opinion that a man may be so saued is most false and absurd in it selfe and very vnlikely also to proceed from her
Maties wise and religious hart who with that opinion might haue made herselfe a Protestant therby haue escaped the greatest part of her troubles and perhaps also haue auoided the violent stroake of the Axe which is well knowne to haue bene vrged vpon her especially in respect of her Religion and of the feare that was conceyued least in time she might come to the Crowne and defend the same I meane her Religion with publicke authority 67. And now whosoeuer it was wherein I remit my selfe to his Matie as most interessed therin both in Honour body and soule as her only Child and heyre chiefest Iewell in the world euident it is the opinion cannot stand as now hath bene said eyther in reason or religion and may be presumed to proceed from such as haue little care of any religiō at all onely they would liue quietly enioy their sensuality passe the time without any trouble or scruple or repugnant conscience for any thing touching religion or that whole subiect And this if I take not my ayme amisse commeth very neere to the point of secret Atheisme 68. S. Augustine recordeth the like opinion of many in his daies who thought it did not materially import them whether they were Donatists or Catholicks so as they professed the Christian faith Multi sayth he nihil interesse credentes in qua quisque parte Christianus sit ideo permanebant in parte Donati quia ibi nati erant c. Many beleeuing that it concerned them not in what side or part ech man were a Christian so he were a Christian therefore they remayned on the party or faction of Donatus the Hereticke for that they were borne therein But S. Augustine vehemently confuteth this false pestilent and indulgent perswasion aswell in the place heere cyted as in many other places of his workes confidently teaching and auerring that a man is made an Hereticke by houlding any one errour obstinately against the Church and consequently damned also In Ecclesia Christi saith he qui morbidum aliquid prauumque sapiunt si correcti vt sanum rectumque sapiant resistunt contumaciter Haeretici fiunt foras exeuntes habentur inimici Those who in the Church of Christ are infected with corrupt and naughty opinions if being admonished to belieue wholsome and true doctrine they kicke against it with contumacy then do they become Heretickes and going forth of the Church are held for enemies So he And with the same seuerity holdeth he in his booke of heresies intituled Ad Quod-vult-Deum that the belieuing of any one heresy condemned already by the Church or to be condemned if rising afterwards is sufficient to make the belieuer obstinate defender no Christian Catholicke consequently an Hereticke so impossible to be saued 69. To this opinion subscribeth S. Cyprian who shewing that euery least heresy or schisme is able to damne a man that adhereth vnto it writeth expressely thus Beatus Ioannes Apostolus nec ipse vllam haeresim aut schisma discreuit sed vniuersos qui ex Ecclesia exijssent Antichristos appellauit S. Iohn the Apostle himselfe did not put any difference or exception of any heresy or schisme at all but called them Antichrists whosoeuer were gone forth of the Church for any heresy or schisme whatsoeuer 70. And yet this point is pressed further by many other holy fathers yea strained to euery heresie were it but in one word or sillable And this was the opinion of S. Hierome His wordes are these Propter vnum verbum aut duo quae contraria essent fidei multas haereses eiectas esse ab Ecclesia we shall read that many heresies haue beene cast out of the Church for one or two words that were contrary to the receyued faith 71. To this purpose conduceth that of S. Basill registred by Theodoret to wit that a good man ought to loose his life if neede require for the defence of one only sillable pro desensione vnius syllabae diuinorum dogmatum The reason whereof is touched as well by S. Athanasius in his Creed where he saith That he shall most certainely be damned that houldeth not entirely and inuiolably the whole Catholicke faith as also by Nazianzen when he saith That heresy consisteth sometimes in one word His wordes are these Nothing can be more perilcus then Heretickes who running wholy ouer all do notuill standing in some one word as by a drop of poyson infect the sincere simple faith of our Sauiour comming downe by Apostolicall tradition This was the iudgment of Antiquity so seuere Censurers were all those holy Fathers of the least dram of Heresy 72. Thus then you apparently see that for making of an errour or heresie damnable it is not required of absolute necessity that it deny some thing of the blessed Trinity directly or some maine article of the Creed c. as many of the first ould heresies did when the doctrine therof was not so well explaned as now it is though this be a desperate shift of the Protestant and most miserable euasion and yet it will not serue his turne he being guilty of heresy in all those high pointes yea of misbeliefe almost in euery article of the Creed for that as before hath beene touched in the third Consideration the greatnes of the sinne of heresy dependeth more of malice and malignity of the sinner then of the materiall obiect about which the Hereticke erreth for that he sinneth of obstinacy and contumacy by his owne choice and therefore is said by S. Paul to be damned by his owne iudgement quia eligit sibi in quo damnatur saith Tertullian he chooseth to himselfe wherin to be damned or els as S. Leo doth more largely giue the glosse Propria pertinacia perit sua à Christo discedit in sania qui eam impietatem per quam multos ante se scit perusse sectatur religiosum atque Catholicum putat id quod sanctorū Patrum iudicio damnatum esse constat That is he perisheth by his owne pertinacity and through his owne peculiar madnes departeth from Christ who imbraceth that impiety which he knoweth hath beene the destruction of many houlding that for religious and Catholick which manifestly appeareth to be condemned by vniforme iudgment of ancient Fathers So blessed Leo expoūds the place the reason followeth for that such a one preferring himselfe by pride and vanity before the whole visible and Catholicke Church he chooseth to hould that which his owne iudgment and fancy doth lead him vnto VVhence it may come to passe that one man erring with lesse pride and obstinacy about some pointes of the blessed Trinity may sinne lesse damnably then another that erreth in points of lesser moment but with more malice as about the doctrine of the Sacraments or other pointes of the like nature And the reason therof is for that this second erreth with more obstinacy and malice which corroborateth the
Scripture is so heynous and temerarious a sinne as before we haue touched yea and that committed against the Blessed spirit that breathed them all and streamed these pure waters of life from one and the same liuing and life-giuing fountaine Let vs in the name of God in timore tremore euen with feare and trembling since the horror of the sinne committed requireth this at our hands examine a little in what a dangerous nay damnable state the Protestants of our dayes do stand in about their disauthorizing of Scriptures not in blotting out one booke alone but in wiping out many togeather from the number of the sincere Canon and let vs further consider in what a gaze and maze they stand being vncertaine of their ground also what they ought to belieue hould or determine after they haue lost the sure and stable-staying anchor of the Churches authority in this behalfe 34. As for example the Catholickes do belieue all those bookes before mentioned which are secundi ordinis in Bellarmine both the ould and new Testament to be Canonicall Scriptures of infallible truth and the reason is drawne from the Church for that she in her ancieÌ„t CouÌ„cells hath admitted the same for such at least wise since the 47. Canon of the third Councell of Carthage was enacted wherin S. Augustine himselfe was present and subscribed to the said Canon which Canon auerreth them to be bookes of true Canonicall Scriptures amongst which for example goeth the Epistle to the Hebrewes and of this my purpose is at this present to make some particuler Consideration for that the time within whose limyts I am straited will not easily permit me to treat of all 35. This Epistle then is belieued of the Catholicks to be a true part of Canonicall Scripture and written by S. Paul as well as the rest for that it was so receaued by the Church in old time as namely in the Councell of Laodicea the 59. Canon And after that againe in the third Councell of Carthage before mentioned and cyted in diuers other Councells and namely in the first Nicene whose authority his Matie of England offereth to stand vnto in the first Ephesine and of that of Chalcedon in all the grand Parlaments of the worlds Generall Councells it was receaued and acknowledged as the genuine Epistle of S. Paul But now in these our vnhappy times matters be raked into Controuersies againe and that after the whole Church hath in diuers Synods established the thing and euery sort of Sectaries will needes adhere to their owne brayn-sicke fancyes and will preferre their owne priuate opinion before the publicke determination and resolution of the Church Amongst all others as the Captaine and ringleader of the rest vpstarts Martin Luther but it was after he had broken vow and cloyster and married a Nunne taketh vpon him to censure the matter in his Prologue to that Epistle reuersing as erroneous the graue and infallible iudgement of so many Generall Councells directed by the spirit of God his wordes be these This Epistle saith Luther was neither written by S. Paul nor by any other Apostle and it conteineth in it some thinges contrary to the Euangelicall and Apostolicall doctrine This was Luthers heady and giddy censure of this admirable parcell of holy Writ Will any man hereafter so desperately cast away himselfe in crediting him who thus discrediteth Gods word 36. With Luther in this poynt conspire all the learned Lutherans about the disauthorizing of this holy Writ and namely Ioannes Brentius in his Confession of Wittemberg cap. de sacra Scriptura and the foure Magdeburgian good fellowes in their first loud-lying Century the 2. booke the fourth Chapter Col. 55. and that audacious and impudent Examyner and Censurer of all the learning and learned men of the whole Christian world I meane Martinus Kemniâ—ius in his examen of the 4. Session of that famous Councell of Trent And vpon this these men aduenture all their soules VVill any man suffer himselfe any longer to be deceaued by such pure reformers nay rather impure impostors But Iohn Caluin the next succeeding reformer of these Reformers being to beginne a new fect of his owne head he thought it most conuenient to oppose himselfe against the Lutherans in this point and therefore in his first Institutions printed in the yeare of our Lord 1554. cap. 8. § 216. he proueth that the Lutherans do erre in this poynt in houlding it not to be an Apostolicall Epistle yet he will not affirme that it was written by S. Paul but rather perhaps by Bannaby or Luke as may appeare in the same Institutions Chap. 10. § 83. and Chap 16. § 25. Vpon which scruple raysed by M. Caluin the Caluinian Ministers at a certaine Conuenticle of theirs held at Poysy in France in the yeare 1562. do in the third article of their Confession set downe this Epistle to the Hebrewes to be diuine Scripture but yet incerti authoris they leaue the authour of it to be doubtfull And this is a subtill trick peculiar to Caluin his inuention to wit to differ from other Protestants and yet not fully to agree with the Catholickes but to haue something singuler to himselfe as you see in this controuersy and it might be proued in many other 37. And here now I would demaund vpon what warrant in the world doth Iohn Caluin and his Sectaries contradict and oppose themselues against Luther and his followers in this point Certaine it is he agreeth not with the Catholickes at aâ—l and it seemeth then nay it is more then certaine he followeth a seuerall way and straine by himselfe and hath no ground or guide therin but his owne will iudgement choice and election 38. The like dispute I might propose about other bookes or partes of Scriptures and namely concerning the Epistle of S. Iames and the Apocalyps the former wherof is reiected both by Luther and all the forenamed Lutheran writers Brentius Kemnitius and the Magdeburgians all these auouch it to be no Scripture but yet it is asserted and asscuered by Caluin and the Caluinists for genuine and vndoubted Scripture The second which is that mysticall booke of the Reuelation composed by that high-soaring and Egale-winged Iohn S. Iohn syrnamed the Deuine this booke though it be in like manner discredited and disauthorized from Canon by Luther and most of his followers as namely by Brentius Kemnitius in the places before alleaged yet is the same booke eagerly defended against them by Caluin and his followers and good reason haue they in their iudgment for it forasmuch as thence they take vpon them to demonstrate the Pope to be Antichrist and the VVhore of Babylon in regard of the seauen hilled Citty I know not vpon what imaginations besides And this Consideration may be presumed to haue beene an especiall motiue vnto those chiefe Lutherans the Magdeburgians causing them to forsake both their Father Luther and their Lutheran brethren in this cause and to
Paul to the Hebrewes compareth it is there no danger of cutting and wounding and killing by this sword if it be vnwarily handled Scriptura sancta saith S. Ambrose attento animo legenda ne quis has cum legerit quasi puer macheram tractare per injantiam fortiora arma nesciret magique vulnus ex imprudentia quà m salutem ex lectione sentiret Infirmos enim tela sua vulnerant nec potest bene vti armis qui ea ferre non nouerit Sacred Scripture must be heedfully read least any man that readeth them be vnskilfull to handle these stronger weapons as a child by reason of his infancy skilleth not how to handle a sword and consequently rather receaueth and incurreth the wound of damnation through his imprudency abusing them then the help of saluation by the right reading of them For the weake are wounded by their owne weapons neyther can he vse weapons well who knoweth not to weild them 43. It is excellently obserued by Theophilact and it is the common obseruation of all the Fathers that when the Apostles curiouslly inquired nondum enim ex Alto Spiritu sancto repleti for as yet the holy Ghost was come vpon none of them afterthe knowledge of the day and houre of iudgment when the time precisely should be occultat Christus non ignorat diem he hideth the day he is not ignorant of the day let Caluin and his sectaries blaspheme as long as they will against the knowledge of Christes sacred humanity and the reason rendred of this Ne cognitio diei iudicij tanquam machera c. Least the knowledge of the day of iudgment reuealed by Christ vnto his Apostles should proue a sword put into a childes hand Thus then you see both by all former examples and especially by this last of the Apostles themselues what a dangerous way the path of the Scriptures is to walke in if we be not warily guided therin For as by the natiue and genuine interpretation of Gods sacred Epistle as S. Gregory stileth holy VVrit men are directed aright through the sourges of the seas of this world to ariue securely at the hauen of saluation euen so by the erroneous and false exposition of the same Scripture men are deceiptfully misguided wrongfully lead as it were blind-folded into the brakes and briers of pestiferous and pernicious heresies to the euerlasting damnation both of the beginners and followers 44. S. Paul calleth the Scripture the sauour of life vnto life and the sauour of death vnto death which as it is true in that place in respect of the sauing of some and the perishing of others so it is most true in regard of the right sensing of it by the sonnes of the Catholick Church who follow Catholicke interpretation and the wrong interpreting of it by others as are out of the Church and adhere vnto false exposition and hereticall innouation 45. Tertullian of opinion that the Scriptures themselues are so disposed by the will of God that they should minister matter vnto Hereticks his reason is because he readeth in Scripture that there must be Hereticks which without Scriptures could not be and yet his meaning is not that the Scriptures are the cause thereof Christs propheticall prediction was no cause of Iudas treason but rather mans temerarious presumption vpon Gods word and precipitate intrusion into his booke by erroneous and false conceipted opinion is the true cause of all errour and heresy 46. S. Augustine writing to Consentius doth excellently discouer the cause of heresy in these words Omnes Haeretici Scriptur as sibt videntur scrutari cùm suos potiùs scrutentur errores per hoc non quòd eas contemnant sed quód eas non intelligant Haeretici fiant All heretickes to seeme to themselues to follow Scriptures when in very deed they rather follow their owne errours and hereby it commeth to passe that they are made hereticks not for that they contemne the Scriptures but for that they vnderstand them not 47. But heere me thinks I heare the Hereticks obiect as I haue heard them often whilest I did frequent their hereticall Conuenticles and Sermons that the Scriptures are easy to be vnderstood That the Word is neare vs not farre from vs That it is a lanterne vnto our stepps and a light vnto our pathes And thus will they fly through the law and the psalmes the Prophets and Apostles as Vincentius noteth of the Heretickes of his time to proue the facility of the Scriptures To this I answer and grant it to be true in respect of sundry passages of holy Writ where the lambe may wade as well as the Elephant may swymme yet that other places of Scripture are hard intricate mysticall and very apt to be mistaken besides many proofes and those most pregnant that might be brought out of the Scriptures and Fathers the experience of our vnfortunate dayes doth most clearely euince 48. For otherwise how commeth it to passe that all Christendome is in an vprore about the exposition of Scriptures How grow so many contentions amongst the learned at this day Why haue we so desperate and obstinate heresies grounded as the heretickes thinke vpon such apparent and pregnant places of Scripture as that the Authors thereof being deceaued themselues and deceiuing others by the Scriptures will rather desperatly choose to loose their liues their soules togeather then to forgoe and abiure their opinions in matter of religion which once by the least apparent shew of Scripture they haue begunne to defend These men though neuer so learned neuer so wise neuer so morally vertuous yet are they deceiued Shall I say by Scripture nay rather they wilfully by their owne hereticall choice against the knowne interpretation of Catholicke Church Roman Church ancient Church abuse the Scriptures and so are deceaued intangled blindfolded and this they could neuer be brought vnto if the Scriptures were so easy that a priuate spirit might interprete without the publicke spirit and interpretation of the Church And to this S. Augustine alludeth saying Multis multiplicibus obscuritatibus ambiguitatibus decipiuntur qui temerè legunt Scripturas aliud pro alto sentientes They which do rashly read Scriptures are deceaued with many and sundry obscurityes and ambiguities taking one sense for another which would not be if all were easy in the holy Scriptures as all Sectaries do pretend 49. The vnderstanding then and true sense of the Scriptures is the very mayne point which importeth and importuneth vs for our saluation and in seeking out this if euer by seeking we meane to find it we must first abandon our owne iudgment and particuler election and imbrace the common publicke iudgment of Christ his Church This is the interpreter of the Scriptures this is the controller and guider of all certayne and sure exposition Expetitque hic sensus certae interpretationis gubernaculum to cite the whole sentence out of Tertullian this
sense requireth the stay of a sure interpretation and this is only that which can make a man a true Catholicke Christian. 50. S. Augustine amongst those manifould cōflicts which he had with the Manichees concerning the Catholicke Church her authority openly and ingenuously professed vnto the said Manichees that he would not haue belieued the Ghospell if the authority of the Catholicke Church did not moue him therunto Whence I do obserue that if we receiue the Ghospell vpon the credit of the Church for that the Ghospell would not be belieued to be the Ghospell vnlesse the authority of the Church did tell vs that it were the Ghospell then followeth it necessarily for the argument is drawne à maiore ad minus that much more should we depend and rely vpon the Church and take from her the true sense meaning and exposition of the Ghospell from whom we haue belieued and receaued that it is the Ghospell and therefore saith the same Father to his friend Honoratns Multò facilius mihi persuaderem Christo non esse credendum quà m de illo quidquam nisi ab his per quos credidissem esse credendum I should much more easily perswade my selfe that we ought not to beleeue in Christ at all then that any thing were to be learned cōcerning him of any man but only of those whom I was taught to belieue in Christ. Can any thing be spoken more effectually for the Authority of the Church since this is the sole cause of his belieuing the Ghospell This is the onely motiue of his imbracing the faith of Christ 51. But now whether Protestants do follow this trade and way of true Catholicisme in their sensing and vnderstanding of Scriptures that is not hard to discouer For when wee come to particuler controuersies and to ioyne issue togeather and that they and their aduersaries do alleage Scriptures and expound the same then doth it appeare as cleare as the sunne who followeth a priuate interpretation and who adhereth to the true Catholicke Churches exposition For the Roman Catholicke first desyring to find out the truth and then willing to imbrace nothing but the truth reflecteth vpon the former interpretation of ancient Church when the present controuersy was not yet in hand and consequently when the exposition cannot be so much as in any semblable reason suspected to be wrested or wrongly interpreted by men of those ages who neither feared nor fauoured any party but must needes be according to the common meaning and sense of the Church in those ancient tymes and this interpretation which the Protestants also in some of their better humours do admit for good the Catholicke followeth vpon this as vpon the rock of God his word truly sensed by the Church he stayeth himselfe buildeth his religion 52. Now the Protestāt being guilty in his conscience and knowing well that antiquity detesteth and hath already anathematized his heresy he by all meanes possible by vociferatiōs and exclamations seeketh to extenuate the authority of this Church much like to the theefe or malefactor who arested by the law to abyde the triall of the same beginneth to raile exclaime against his lawfull ludge and iurours and then in his imagination he deuiseth certaine Chymera's and Idea's of his Church in former times in the ayre of his owne braine which lineally saith he but God knoweth how for he knoweth not descended vnto Luther and Caluin c. And from these people partly and partly from himselfe frameth the Protestant his exposition of Scripture and vpon this foundation buildeeh he all his religion of his owne deuice 53. And albeit all Fathers do not allwaies agree in one and the selfe same sense and exposition of Scripture for that there may be be diuers senses of one the selfe same place of Scripture as before you haue heard at large yet doth the holy Ghost so rune and strike vpon the stringes the tonges and pens I meane of these ancient Wortnies of the Church that all the variety that euer I could find yet amongst them sounded forth a heauenly harmony and neither iarred not yet was dissonant from Scripturs verity or faiths Analogy so farre is the Churches vnity from all contrariety And verily this diuersity of antiquity in the execution of Scriptures without all repugnancy or any contrariety was no small motiue vnto me to imbrace the present Roman Catholicke Religion which all so I found in them for I could not but conclude that as one spirit breathing out these Scriptures intended all these senses so the same spirit guided all And therefore no meruaile that neither the ages wherin such Fathers liued nor any succeeding Century of the Church reprehended their expositions For the wisedome of the spirit euer continued in the Church and thereby they know that such variety breeded no contrariety whilst one Father sensed the Scripture literally another Allegorically and another mystically or Anagogically but yet all to a pious sense and with no obstinate proteruity or animosity against that which the Church did hould or determine for truest 54. And now to come vnto some particuler exposition or Scripture by the Fathers let vs instance in the age of S. Augustine for the Protestants are wont to graunt that the true Church florished in his time and his Maiesty also condescendeth to extend the triall of Controuersies to his time and somwhat further The same Father writing of this Church we haue formerly mentioned proued the same first to be visible and obuious vnto euery mans eyes against the assertion of the Protestants inuisibility of the Church and this he confirmeth out of the wordes of our Sauiour registred by the Euangelist Matth. 5. A Citty vpō a hill cannot be hidden that is to say the Church cannot be inuisible which is many times repeated by the same Father to this effect As also forth of those wordes of the Psalmist Psal. 18. In sole posuit tabernaculum suum he put his tabernacle in the sunne that is he placed his Church in the sight of the world to be seene of all men 55. In like manner the same Father applyeth and expoundeth those wordes of Christ Matth. 5 about the Candle placed on the Candlestick to signify the visibility of the Catholicke Church crying out against them Qui contra lucernam in candelabro positamoculos claudant who willfully shut their eyes against the candle placed on the candlestick Qui tammagnam montem non vident who cannot see so great a hill as the Church is And lastly for conclusion of all he giueth his censure of them in these wordes Quid amplius sum dicturus qùam caecos esse What shall I say more of them but that they are blnd Thus did S. Augustine interpret and apply these Scriptures and many more to this purpose as you shall read throughout his whole Tract de Vnitate Ecclesiae contra Petilianum andels where 56. And the same S. Augustine to
by Moyses the first pen man of the holy Ghost and so successiuely vpon sundry occasions continued 49. M. Rogers his first proposition is That the markes and tokens of their visible Church are the due and true administration of the VVord and Sacraments but these markes are not admitted by the Catholickes but worthily reiected for that they are as hard and obscure to find out and as much controuerted as the thing it selfe whereof they should be markes for that all partes yea all sectes and heresies doe pretend to haue due and true administration of the word and Sacraments and it is as hard a matter to determine this controuersy as the other viz. to find out which is the true Church But the Markes of Antiquity Vniuersality Vnity and Succession before mentioned and giuen by Catholickes for such were Tertullians 1400. yeares ago when he wrote that excellent booke of Prescriptions and Vincentius Lyrinensis 1200. years since to take away your late imputation and denomination of Papist vnto Catholickes are so cleare and euident in themselues that presently they will distinguish betwixt one Church and another betwixt Roman Catholickes and all hereticall Sectaries And albeit some Sectaries being pressed therewith will pretend to haue these markes in their Church and will set a good face vpon the matter and challenge them also yet are these wordes out before they be aware for the matter being so euident against them they presently giue ouer their clayme they are content to hold hāds of running to other obscure markes the common Plea of all condemned Heretickes of the due and true administration of the Word and Sacraments when God wotteth they haue neyther Word nor Sacrament according to the Catholicke integrity and sincerity 50. M. Rogers sixt proposition about the Church is That the visible Church to wit the true Catholick Church may and hath from time to time erred both in doctrine and conuersation which assertion the Catholick in his sense doth hold for so blasphemous and absurd yea ridiculous also as nothing can be more For if this be true that the true visible Catholicke Church spread ouer the whole Christian world can erre and induce into errour then is there no surety or certainty in the world no not in the promises of Christ and his Apostles who assured vs the contrary 51. But let vs take a view of M. Rogers proofes out of Scripture for confirming this his sixth assertion which surely are so fantasticall and impertinent for any consequence to be drawne from them so absurd in reason and ridiculous in religion that no man of iudgement or conscience can read them without indignation and laughter as by the view will appeare For thus he setteth them downe in his owne wordes only I will add the inference vpon euery probation out of Scriptures His first place is Take heed Matth. 24. 4. therefore the Church may erre Belieue it not Matth. 23. 26. therefore the Church may erre Beware of the leauen of the Pharisyes and of the leauen of Herod Mar. 8. 15. therefore the Church may erre Many shall be deceiued yea the very elect were it possible Matth. 24. 11. therefore the Church may erre Shall he find faith vpon the earth Luc. 18. 8. therefore the Church may erre VVe know in part 1 Cor. 13. 12. therefore the Church may erre Beware of Dogges therefore the Church may erre Beware of euill workes beware of concision Philip. 3. v. 2. therefore the Church may erre God shall send them strong illusions that they should belieue lyes 2. Thess. 9. 10. therefore the Church may erre And is not this a sound proofe out of the Scriptures 52. These are those cleare texts that M. Rogers bringeth forth to proue that the vniuersall Christian visible Catholicke Church for that only we now treat of may be deceiued and hath erred determining matters of doctrine and yet as you see here is not one word that is spoken or may be applyed to the said vniuersall Catholicke Church but only caueats giuen to the Church to beware of particuler deceauers Heretickes Pharisies Herod the like And consequently these places are so idly vrged and so absurdly applied by the Authour that I should wast time in spending any more labour about perusing them any further Only one of his places I will but touch in one word Many saith Christ shall be deceiued yea the very elect if it were possible out of which place for the ouerthrowing of M. Rogers proposition and inferring the cleane contrary assertion I reason thus and let Tribunal Syllogismi vmpire betwixt vs both which is the better and fitter consequence deduced out of this place if it be impossible that the elect shall be deceiued though many be deceiued then the Church comprehending the elect as a part of her cannot be beceiued sed verum primum for truth it selfe hath spoken it and this is the true meaning of those wordes if it were possible c. ergo secundum The like consequence I would inferre out of all the rest but the places are so absurdly and against all common sense and reason vrged that they are not longer to be stood vpon 53. The like miserable course or rather more pitifull if possibly it may be doth he take to proue the second part of his proposition which is that the said Catholicke visible Church may erre in determining matters of life and manners for that is the question and not his ydle word of erring in conuersation And first he doth alleag the words of Christ Iniquity shal be increased and the loue of many shall wax could Matth. 24. 12. therefore the Church may erre in determining matters of life and manners Secondly he citeth that of S. Paul Restore c least thou also be tempted Gal. 6. 1. therefore the Church may erre in determining matters of life and manners Thirdly I do not the good thing which I would but the euill which I would not that doe I if I doe that which I would not it is no more I that do it but the sinne that dwelleth in me Rom. 7. 19. 20. therefore the Church may erre in determining matters of life and manners Fourthly There is a fight euen in the best men and mēbers of Christ Rom. 7. 23 therfore the Church may erre in determining matters belōging to lyfe and manners for this must be his conclusion out of euery one of these places as his former of doctrine was out of the other And are not these goodly argumentes to proue his assertion His assertion as you haue often heard was that the visible Catholicke Church might erre in determining matters belonging to manners to wit in defining and finally determining this is good that is bad this is lawfull that vnlawfull and the like and he commeth in with his misapplied texts to proue that particuler men may haue infirmities in them and fight of their passions or concupiscence Doth he not hit the naile on the head
to make good against them in the particuler carriage and passage of this present busines of Councells let vs but leaue the barky rind and outward corke and enter into the inward marrow and substance that is let vs giue no credit to their words but looke into their deedes and we shall easily discerne yea the matter will disclose it selfe For to set their wordes aside whome we haue euer found contrary in their deedes if the Church of England do sincerely imbrace and receaue for Catholicke and Orthodoxe these foure first generall Councells which did resemble comprehend and present the whole Primitiue Church for more then foure hundred and fifty yeares togeather after Christ then must it follow if they meane as they say and that their wordes shall not proue wind that the English Church and our lay Parlaments must acknowledge and admit also that doctrine for Catholick and Orthodoxe which without impeachment controllement or contradiction of any can be substantially proued to haue bene taught and held in this visible vniuersall Church whereof these foure Councelles collectiuely represented the whole body for all that tyme. Which foresaid doctrine that both it and euery point therof passed for so many ages vncontrolled this one reason may suffice to proue insteed of all for that the said doctrines should otherwise haue bene noted espied out reprehended and censured by some of these Councells els had they not done their duties neither had they bene so vigilant for the good of the whole body as they ought to haue bene if hauing condemned some heresies as they did they had winked at others Which once to imagine of an Ambrose an Augustine a Hierome for the latin Church a Basill a Chrysostome and an Athanasius for the Greeke nay to suppose it and that confidently though most impudently of all the great Saints and learned Doctors in the world togeather this cannot be no lesse then senselesse absurdity grosse stupidity yea heathenish impiety when as the least of these which I haue named was for learning able to haue resisted the whole Christian world and for their zeale would haue spared none in a point of errour or heresie as I may instance and proue by Tertullian Origen and S. Cyprian were any of these though neuer so great by the rest spared VVere any former merits though neuer so many respected if once they presumed to innouate the least errour whatsoeuer And therefore to strike at the poynt I ayme at in the period of the Conclusion doth the English Church and Parlament admit all the doctrines that were taught in the Church and that continued without the impeachment of any notwithstanding all the zealous vigilant Pastours in the Church I thinke it will make great difficulty and let it reiect them or any of them there needes no more to proue that Church to be hereticall let it admit them it proues it selfe by departure from them and their doctrines to be Apostaticall for that it houldeth not the same points of faith with these foure first Councells which it maketh shew to receiue and imbrace In a word let it admit them or reiect them they shall neuer be able to wipe away the blot and blemish imputation and innouation of damnable errour from their Church For better vnderstanding whereof as also of some other particulers thereto belonging and hereupon necessarily depending I haue thought good to decipher out these ensuing Considerations The first Consideration MY first Consideration which I promise as the very ground-worke and foundation of all the rest must of necessity be this that the Parlament and Church of England admitting these foure first generall Councells of Nyce Constantinople Ephesus and Chalcedon for Orthodoxe and truly Catholicke as representing in their Bishops the complete and entyre body of the Catholicke Church in their seuerall ages must needes acknowledge in like manner that for these first foure hundred and fifty yeares or rather fiue hundred for that it is not probable nay possible that within the compasse of fifty yeares the same should now faile which had allready by vertue of Christ his promise continued foure hundred and fifty yeares the true Catholick Church of Christ consisted not only of the elect and consequently was invisible but of good and bad and therupon was visible vnder visible heades And this was figured by the Parables of the net that caught both good and bad fish and by the field that brought forth good corne and weedes And further that this visible externall Church in those dayes was the very same wherof Christs wordes were to be vnderstood when he gaue this in charge to one vpon occasion and supposal of a complaint made against his brother which if he succeeded not then Dic Ecclesiae tell the Church as also that other of S. Paul that the Church is Columna firmamentum veritatis the Pillar and foundation of truth so as if a man in those dayes would haue had any controuersy in Religion debated and resolued if he would haue knowne what Scriptures the Apostles and Euangelists had committed vnto the custody of the Church for Canonicall Authenticall and further if he desired to know which they were how they might be knowne from counterfait how they might be truly sensed and rightly vnderstood what and how many Sacramēts were left by Christ vnto his Church which they were what were their effects operations how they were to be administred and such other like And if he were a Iew or Gentill that thus demaunded questioning these doubts and would vpon the resolution therof become a Christian but being vnlearned would be instructed in all these cases and the like he was to haue made his repayre and recourse vnto this externall visible Church and to haue stood in all points whatsoeuer vnto her finall determination decision direction instruction and perpetuall gouerment in all these first fiue ages without malepart repugnancy or obstinate reply if he euer intēded to be saued And if vpon any animosity or peruicacity any mā were cast out of that Church in all that time eyther for interpreting Scriptures in his owne sense according to a priuate spirit or for peruerting or innouating de nouo de suo of his owne head or braine in any the least poynt of faith and mystery of Christian religion as the Protestants do both his damnation was by all held and concluded for certaine except he repented and listened yea and obeyed the voice of the Church his mother that sought to reclaine him for that the authority of this Church was euer held for God his highest tribunall vpon earth and therfore irrefragable since the tribunall of heauen standeth expecting what is here done by the Church vpon earth being euer ready to loose or bynd to deliuer ouer vnto Sathan or to release from the bandes of sinne errour and heresy according vnto the former passed doome and sentence of the Church as among other Fathers S. Iohn Chrysostome in his
Ecclesiasticall power piety purity sanctity the rest I would aske first how this so visible a Church so conspicuous for maiesty so illustrious for sanctity so adorned and beautified with all sorts of heauenly grace and eclestiall verity should or could afterwards grow to be inuisible be spoiled of her dignity bereaued of her authority be robbed of her sanctity and loose all her graces and verity Or how of the spouse of Christ is it possible that she should become the enemy of Christ of the Church of God the Sinagogue of Sathan Protestants principles may imagine this but this ouer throweth the very principles of all Christian Religion For how can the later be preserued inuiolably if the former be so vnstable Or from whome can we sucke the pure milke of Christian Religion or receaue the stronger food of the high mysteries of Diuinity if it be not from the breasts of the Church If it be not from the hand of our mothers learning wisdome and tradition And now to follow this heathenish and irreligious principle of the Protestāts a little further if the Church I meane the former mentioned visible Catholicke Church of these generall Councells if this I say haue thus fallen by false doctrine as the Protestants imagine then this Apostacy and defection must eyther beginne first from all or from one or from a few only To the parts then if from all how is it possible that so great a body nay Christes owne body mysticall for so S. Augustine calleth it founded by the bloud of Christ propagated by the mynistery of the Apostles watred continually with the bloud of many millions of Martyrs dispersed ouer the visible face of the whole world I say and demaund how is it possible that this Church should be corrupted all at once and that by willing corruption of affection and iudgment 12. But if this defection vainely and ydlely supposed by the Protestants did beginne eyther from one or arise from a few priuate men contrary to the mayne current of the Churches doctrine and tradition which had continued and lineally succeeded in the Centuries of the Church from Christs time to the Councell of Chalcedon then would no doubt the Prelates of the Church which now were in possession of the Ecclesiasticall keyes and practice of the power and authority of the same by censuring and condemning Archbishops Abbots Patriarches as hath bene seene haue resisted seuerally punished these supposed noueltyes and new fangles in religion And truly albeit we should set aside the promise and prouidence of our blessed Sauiour for cōseruing this his Church which he had bought with so great a pricc as his owne pretious bloud and brought vnto such eminent greatnes at this very time of the Councell of Chalcedon which was more then foure hundred yeares after his Ascension yet in all humane reason setting the light of religion apart it cannot be so much as imagined how such a body Christ his body with such a vigilant Senate and head ouer it should by secret stealth or little and little be infected corrupted poysoned and consumed as their phrase is with Popery heresy superstition or innouation and all without sense or feeling resisting and complayning or any record left therof in Authour of Antiquity And yet if we will giue credit vnto the Protestants and suffer their religion to set the least footing in the Church we must against all sense reason faith and religion imagin and belieue all this and much more to wit that such and so potent a body so fortified with defences by our Sauiour was so stolen away frō it selfe and from God also as that it was lost peruerted corrupted conquered by the gates of hell made Babylon the seat of Antichrist and Citty of Sathan before any man was aware of it and are not these positions of Protestants monstrous Paradoxes strange Idea's Chymera's which no man of perfect sense can belieue 13. I read in the ancient Fathers that were inlightned with so great a measure of Gods holy spirit very earnest reprehensions and seuere inuectiues against the absurdity of these imaginations Let S. Augustine one that was wont to be full of reuerence in some of the Protestantes mouthes speake for all Illa Ecclesia saith he quae fuit omnium gentium iam non est periji Hoc dicunt qui in illa non sunt ô impudentem vocem illa non est quia tu in illa non es Vide ne tu ideo non sis nam illa erit etiamsi tu non sis That Church which was propagated and spread ouer the world consisting of all nations as now at the time of Chalcedon is it now no more Is she perished or vanished away So say those that are not in her O impudent voyce Is not she because thou art not in her See lest therefore thou be not for she will be though thou be not 14. Thus S. Augustine in his dayes argued against the Donatists who said then iust as our Protestants do now when they were pressed with the authority of the Catholicke visible Church that indeed that had bene for a time the true Church but that afterwardes it perished it fayled and fell into Apostasy Apostatauit perijt it did apostatate and perish except onely in the people who onely in their owne iudgment made the true Church indeed 15. And can any thing in the world be more like then this to our case Doe not the Protestants and the Donatists so conspire togeather that a man cannot distinguish them by their voice The Protestants acknowledgeth the whole body of the Christian Catholicke Church vnder these foure Councells for the space almost of fiue hundred yeares togeather neyther can he chose but confesse since the poynt hath ben so often extorted from him the outward lustre Hierarchy Gouerment and Authority thereof But if you aske him fiue hundred yeares after then he will answer with the Donatist suit non est it was the true Church but it is not now or at least wise not in that perfection of authority as then it was And if you demaund of him fiue hundred yeares after that againe about the time that Luther sprang vp he will not stick flatly to blaspheme with the same Donatist Apostatauit perijt it hath fallen into Apostacy it hath perished which speach you haue heard S. Augustine before call impudentem vocem an impudent voice but presently after in the very same place he termeth it by farre worse Epithetons as blasphemous to the holy Ghost which though I haue touched before yet will I repeate it heere againe for the better impression of it in our memory and the greater detestatiō of the like sinne 16. Hanc vocem saith he abominabilem detestabilem praesumptionis falsitatis plenam nulla veritate suffultam nulla sapientia illuminatam nullo sale conditam vanam temerariam praecipitem perniciosamp raeuidit Spiritus Dei The spirit of God in the 101.
Councell of Trent For iustifiing of which causes eight conditions are required by them to be obserued in that Councell wherof the fourth is That the decisions be made in all Controuersies onely out of Scriptures and not out of Ecclesiasticall Canons or traditions the fifth is That decisions be againe made not according to the plurality of voyces or suffrages but according vnto the norme and rule of Gods word But what this norme or rule is they expound not but do leaue it as they found it stil to be contended about VVherunto if we adioyne two other conditions of theirs which are the last to wit that the Protestant Ministers may giue voyces equally with Bishops in deciding of all questions that if they should not be able to defend their cause yet not only their persons should be secure but their cause also not to be condēned for heresy These I say if we add as the later vnto the former we shall plainely discerne that they had not so much as the least thought to stand vnto that Councell at all but to their owne heads and by these to their owne vnreasonable conditions and vnconscionable to make their controuersies and heresies endlesse and indeterminable For if euery man or at least euery Minister hath authority to determine out of Gods word whē will there be an end 33. And here you see the small or rather no hope that is of agreement betwixt Protestants and Catholickes by way of Generall Councells and that the Protestants reseruing themselues onely to Scripture for the decision of matters and not admitting generall Councells and Fathers to be vmpiring iudges of the sense meaning therof they tread first into the steppes and rake into the sacrilegious ashes of all former ancient condemned heretickes euen for this very point condemned by the Church in many of her generall Councells and secondly by such conditions they make themselues sure and secure from being condemned in such sort as that they will yeald therunto And the selfe same fundamentall reason or rather desperate refuge and euasion of theirs in prophaning and abusing this sacred Sanctuary of Scripture by their prophane spirits and vnhallowed glosses houldeth also for their neuer agreeing amongst themselues by Meetings Conferences Colloquies Disputations Synods or Councells for that the Lutherans and Sacramentaries whether Zuinglians or Caluinists for of these two only I meane to speake at this time standing vpon this resolute principle on all handes that nothing is to be determined but by Scripture and then ech one interpreting that Scripture differently from the other acknowledging no iudge on neither party how is it possible that they should euer come to any end of determination 34. And this will euidently appeare if we cast our eyes vpon those Conuenticles Meetings Conferences Synods Councels Colloquies held betwixt these reforming brethren for the space of threescore years togeather to wit frō the yeare 1530. vnto the yeare 1590. which are set forth by Stanislaus Rescius Embassadour vnto the King of Polonia at Naples vpon the yeare 1596. which do amount to aboue threescore Synods Coūcels Meetings held at Smalcaldium Frankesord Constance Tygure VVittemberge Berna Ratisbone Spire Norimberge Lipsia VVormes Luneburge Maulnbourne Petricouia Varadine Gratz Brunswicke Dresda Alba Iulia Cracouia and diuers other places all these and many more if we looke into with an indifferent eye we shall euer find that they were so farre from concluding any peace in religion or reconciling of their Controuersies by these Synodes and Councells as that they departed farre greater enemyes and more disagreeing in their opinions then when they first met witnes their departure at one meeting of theirs aboue mentioned when they would neyther giue nor take dextras fraternitatis nor dextras humanitatis fellowship of fraternity nor fellowship of humanity which is a token that they haue not the spirit of vniō nor any meanes left them to come vnto it and consequently that the example and president of these first foure generall Councells that determined with authority and vniforme iudgement the controuersies of their times ouer all the world do preiudice all togeather and condemne the Protestants of our age and do conuince that they are not of their spirit or religion and that neyther Generall Nationall Prouinciall or particuler Councells Synods or Meetings can bring themselues to any concord or agreement togeather especially diuision and dissention being a note as it is ascribed by all ancient Fathers peculiar vnto heretickes that they were alwaies irreconciliable and deuided amongst themselues And this was the effect of my second consideration The third Consideration MY third Consideration was that by reading these Councells I did not only find a complete Hierarchy and Ecclesiasticall regiment of the Catholicke Church to be obserued in those former ancient tymes consisting of Bishops Archbishops Patriarches and Prelates gouerning the said Church conforme to that of the Catholickes of our dayes and wholy different from the Protestants Churches which they call reformed though in my iudgment they may more truely be called deformed in that they haue taken away all such Hierarchy of Bishops except only a small glimpse thereof reserued in England for a shew but in many other particuler points also I plainly perceaued their senses opinions and iudgments to be far dissonant from these of our Protestants whether we regard their practice for conuersation and reformation of our manners or respect their doctrine for instruction and information of our iudgments wherof God assisting I shall lay forth some few briefe and punctuall obseruations purposely pretermitting infinite others that may be gathered out of the foresaid foure generall Councells 36. In the first of the foure I meane Nicen and the 3. Canon therof these wordes represented themselues vnto my view Omnibus modis interdixit Sancta Synodus vt neque Episcopo neque Presbytero neque Diacono neque vlli Clericorum omnino licere habere secum mulierem extraneam nisi fortèmater aut soror aut auia aut amita vel matertera sit in his namque personis harum similibus omnis quae ex mulieribus est suspitio declinatur qui aliter praeter haec agitpericlitetur de Clero suo The holy Synod doth forbid by all meanes and determineth it to be vnlawfull for any Bishop Priest Deacon or any other of the Cleargy to haue any externe woman with them except perhaps it be their mother sister grandmother or aunt by father or mothers side for in these all suspition that may arise about dwelling with women is declyned and he that shall do contrary to this shall leese his Clergy Thus that first and famous Councell decreed ratified and enacted for the Angelicall continency of the Clergy in those dayes 37. And the true meaning of this holy Councell is according to the playne purport of the wordes as they are set downe in the Canon to wit that Clergy men could not marry after they
were of the Clergy at least nor yet vse their wiues that they had married before it seemeth more then euident by the playne words of the Coūcell for if it had bene lawfull to haue had a wyfe in the house the Councell would not haue omitted the same but would first of all other haue excepted the wyfe when it nameth mother sister aunt and grandmother 38. Besides this the Prouinciall Councell of Neocaesarea that was held not aboue some foure of fiue yeares before this Nicence Councel and of which Councell some of the same Bishops also sate in the said Coūcel of Nice decreeth the matter in the very first Canon in these wordes which are extant in three different translations Presbyter si vxorem duxerit ordine suo moueatur si autem sornicatus suerit aut adulterium commiserit penitus extruaatur ad poenitentiam deducatur If a Priest do marry a wife let him be remoued from his order of Preisthood and if he commit adultery or fornication let him be vtterly thurst out and brought to pennance And this Canon was confirmed afterwardes againe in the sixt generall Councell at Constantinople commonly called in Trullo almost toure hundred yeares after that of Nice and in the meane space betweene those two generall Councells there ensued diuers other Prouinciall or Nationall that confirmed the same as that of Eliberis Anno Dom. 3 2 5. Can. 33. Arelatense the second Cap. 2. and 3. Carthaginense the third Anno 397. wherin S. Augustine was present and subscribed Cap. 17. And Carthaginense the fift Anno 400. c. 3. Andogauense as Baronius recordeth Anno 453. Tolet an the second Cap. 3. Anno 5 3 1. and many others all cōmonly founding themselues as diuers ancient Fathers S. Basil Epiphanius and many others do vpon this Canon of the Nicen Councell which yet as I thinke our Bishops Ministers of England will not accept of For I am certaine their practice of wiuing is cōtrary to this Canon of Nice not withstanding their outward shew and pretence of admitting these foure first Councells 39. And albeit I know they haue here a certain shift taught them by M. Caluin out of the speach of Paphnutius who stood vp in the Councell of Nice against a decree that the said Councell would haue made against the vse of wyues in the Clergy that had bene married before they were Clergy men yet doth this help them very little For first Paphnutius only meant that Clergy men should not be barred from the company of their wiues which they had taken vnto them before they were of the Clergy but he doth not grant that they should take wiues after they were made Clergy mē nay that with the whole Councell he forbiddeth and condemneth but the English Church permitteth marrying also after they be Clergy men Thus you see supposing this a true story of Paphnutius it rather maketh against them then for them But Bellarmine doth proue by most euident arguments and reasons and namely by the authorities of Epiphanius S. Hierome Ruffinus and diuers others that the narration of Socrates and Zozomenus in this point of Paphnutius as in many other stories that they recount is nottrue 40. Another place I noted out of the 14. Canon of the said Councell of Nice whose wordes are these Peruenit ad sanctam Synodum quòd in nonnullis locis Ciuitatibus Diaconi dant Presbyteris Eucharistiam quod neque Canon neque consuetudo tradidit vt qui offerendi potestinem non habent ijs qui offerunt dent Corpus Christi It is come vnto the knowledg of this holy Synod that in diuers places and Cittyes Deacons do giue the Eucharist vnto Priests which neither the Canon of the Church nor custome hath deliuered that those that haue not power to offer Sacrifice should giue the body of Christ to those that do offer the same In which wordes though they be but few yet sundry weighty things are signified which make directly against the Protestants and Protestant Religion As first that the Eucharist was reserued in those dayes for the present vses of such as should haue need when there was no Priest to say masse and in such like necessities of the Church Deacons that had authority to administer the said Sacramēt to others might do it lawfully did presume also to do it vnto Priests as when they were sick and vpon such other like occasiōs and this they could not haue done except the Eucharist were kept and reserued forasmuch as here it is expresly said that they could not offer or say Masse 41. Secondly we may see here how much is ascribed vnto the Canon and Ecclesiasticall custome in so much as the whole Councell doth argue negatiuely thereof for so much as neither Canon nor custome hath deliuered this vse of the Deacon therfore it was an abuse how much more would they haue argued affirmatiuely from the authority of Ecclesiasticall Canon and custome had there bene any to the contrary 42. Thirdly the Eucharist is heere called Corpus Christi the body of Christ it is insinuated also that it is a true and reall sacrifice in that it is said that the Priest hath potestatē offerendi power of offering the same and the deacons haue not which cānot stand with the Protestants opiniō of a spirituall and metaphoricall Sacrifice of thankes-giuing only for certainely this kind of Sacrifice ' Deacōs may offer as will as Priests and consequently this Canon also seemeth nothing to agree with the doctrine of our English communion as neither do many others which to auoid prolixity I willingly ouer passe 43. Out of the second Councell to wit the first of Constantinople held vnder Pope Damasus in S. Hiercmes time I saw many things most worthy of due obseruation but those wordes of the seauenth Canon concerning the receiuing repentant heretickes into the Church I reflected vpon with some diligence as shewing the Churches manner of proceeding in those dayes Arianos quidē et Macedoni anos c. recipimus dantes libellos omnē haresim anathematizantes quae non sentit vt Sancta Dei Catholica Apostolica Ecclesia c. We do receaue saith the Canon such as haue bene Arians Macedonians Sabatians Nouatians and the like when they offer giue vp vnto vs the supplications accursing therein all heresies which doth not belieue as the holy Catholicke and Apostolicall Church of God doth and we receaue thē signed and annointed first with holy chrisme both in their foreheads their eyes their noses their mouthes and their eares when we signe them we do say signaculum doni Spiritus sancti this is the signe of the gift of the holy Ghost c. All these I say that desire to be admitted vnto the true fayth we do receiue them as Grecians c. And in the first day we make them Christians the second day Catechumenes and then thirdly we do exorcize and adiure them
of Triall offered and alledged by his Maiesty of England HAVING discoursed at large of the three generall heades to wit Scriptures Creedes Councells in the three precedent Chapters we are now according to order and method both offered vnto vs and accepted of vs to treat of the last generall head in this subsequent Chapter And the subiect we haue how in hand is touching the high esteeme credit and authority to be giuen to the ancient Fathers vnto which his Matie doth appeale in this last place saying thus I do reuerence the ancient Fathers as much and more then the Iesuites do and asmuch as themselues euer craued For what euer the Fathers of the first foure hundred yeares did with an vnanime consent agree vpon to be belieued as a necessary poynt of saluation I eyther will belieue it also or at least wil be humbly silent not taking vpon me to condemne the same But for euery priuate Father his opinion it byndes not my conscience more then Bellarmines euery one of the Fathers vsually contradicting others I will therefore in that case follow S. Augustine his rule in iudging their opinions as I shall find them agree with the Scriptures what I find agreeable thereunto I will imbrace what is otherwise I will with their reuerence reiect So the King And that his Maiesty for his part hath also a good meaning in this as farre as his education and instruction can possibly permitt and further that he is perswaded that he speaketh and meaneth like a good Catholicke and orthodox Christian I do with all diligence and due respect of loyall duty vnto his Royall grace endeauour to perswade myselfe 2. And yet neuerthelesse it is more then euident and apparant yea obuious vnto the eye of any discreet indifferent iudicious and vnderstanding man that his Excellent Grace hath bene notoriously abused and very sinisterly an erroneously informed in sundry passages of this poynt and mayne head concerning the reuerence respect and authority due to the Fathers of Gods Church and that by such Statizing and temporizing Ministers that being no longer able to sustaine their weake false cause quaeipsissimo suo ruit pondere would deriue the shame blame and burden of their now present tottering Religion vpon the person of his Princely Maiesty ingaging him thus in their hereticall quarrell and therefore they suggest from time to time such particulers out of euery generall as serue rather for their owne sinister respects then eyther for the preuention of errour or decision of truth or preseruation of the honour and soueraigne reputation of his Princely Person whence it commeth to passe that they impressionate his Princely hart with their owne particuler humorous passions exagitate his grace with their odious and malitious calumniations bent against the vpright and the innocent in a word they rather auert his affection from ancient Catholicke verity and peruert his iudgement by their erroneous fancy and late vpstart nouelty then lay forth the playne and simple truth vnto his Maiesty though they professe themselues to be Ministers of simple truth eyther in sound substance or sincere circumstance And this God willing we shall discouer by many particuler passages in this present busines and poynt of ancient Fathers that we haue now in hand 3. And first to proceed in order and to beginne with the accusation and imputation laid vpon the lesuits for that they are here charged according to that which hath bene suggested vnto his Maiesty for I will neuer lay this imputation and false accusatioÌ„ vpon his Princely Person that they do not reuerence the authority of the ancient Fathers indeed not so much as his Maiesty doth who saith here as you haue heard That when the Fathers of the first soure huÌ„dred years do with an vnanime consent agree vpon any thing to be belieued as a necessary poynt of saluation his Highnes will belieue it also or at least wil be humbly silent and not condemne the same But he that will peruse and read ouer the learned and manifould laborious volumes of the Iesuites shall find theÌ„ to go much further in this point teaching and constantly asseuering with Vincentius Lyrineusis and with the ioynt agreement of antiquity that the vnanime consent of Fathers vpon any point maketh it an infallible truth Quod Patres Doctores saith Gregorius de Valentia vnanimi consensu circa religionem tradunt infallibiliter verum est VVhatsoeuer the Fathers and Doctours deliuer with one consent about religion that is infallibly true And the same do hold all other Iesuites which also Vincentius Lyrinensis more then a thousand yeares before them doth confirme in these wordes Hos ergo in Ecclesia Dei diuinitus per tempora loca dispensatos quisquis in sensu Catholici dogmatis vnum aliquid in Christo sentientes contempserit non hominem contemnit sed Deum These therefore he meaneth the ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Church giuen and granted by God throughout all ages and places whosoeuer shall contemne them agreeing vpon any one point in Christ in the sense of Catholick Doctrine he contemneth not man but God 4. And this is grounded and proued as the said Valentia noteth vpon that discourse of S. Paul Ephes. 4. where he sheweth how Christ ascending into heauen left his Church furnished and fenced with all kynd of necessary furniture for her present instruction future direction and perpetuall prescruation as with Apostles Prophets Euangelists Pastors Doctors and this vnto the worldes end And the reason of this is that which the foresaid Authour obserueth out of the Apostle himselfe Vt non circumferamur omni vento Doctrinae that we should not be carried hither and thither and tossed vp and downe with euery blast of Doctrine 5. And finally he confirmeth the same by shewing that this great absurdity would otherwayes follow that if the whole consent of Fathers may erre then may they induce the whole Church to erre yea inforce her therunto for that the Church is bound to follow and belieue the vnamine consent of her Pastours Doctors Gouernours and teachers and that throughout all ages of the Church 6. This is the doctrine which I find amongst the Iesuites concerning the accompt and reckoning that is to be made of the vniforme and vnamine consent of Fathers For with Gregory de Valentia as now I haue said doe agree all the most eminent and principall writers of that Society as for example Doctor Petru Canisâ—us in his later Catechisme Cap. 11. Cardinall Bellarmine in his fourth booke de verbo Dei cap. 9. Vasquez tom 1. in primam part Disp. 12. Cap. 1. Maldonatus in 6. Ioan. Tolet vpon the 6. Chapter of S. Iohn and many others which as I take it is a great deale more then here is granted by ProtestaÌ„ts vnto the Fathers since there is no more yet promised and professed then eyther to belieue them or to be humbly silent and not condemne them 7.
that it was plaine madnes in the hereticke to make so small accompt of them Nay he further resolued and with mature deliberation concluded that the dogma ticall faith and belief of all these Fathers conspiring and agreeing togeather in one was to be defended against him and against all other such like hereticks as he was no other waies then Christs Ghospell was to be defended against Infidels His words are these 20. Aduersus hanc autem miserabilem quam deus auertat insaniam sic respondendum video libris tuis vt fides queque aduersus te desendatur istorum sicut contra impios Christiprofessos inimicos etiam ipsum defendetur Euangelium Against this miserable desperate madnes of thine which God turne from thee I do see that I must so answere to thy bookes that the faith of these Fathers be defended against thee as the very Ghospell it selfe of Christ is to be defended against impious men and as against the very professed enemies of Christ. So he And yet in another place pressing againe the authority of the said Fathers he doth intreat his aduersary Iulian to belieue these holy Fathers and by them to be made friendes with him yea to be reconciled vnto him and to the Catholicke Church from which he stood as yet separate And is not this the very same offer we make to the Protestants at this day And then S. Augustine going on forwardes in ratifiing their authority saddeth presently for further corroboration of the Doctrine and tradition of antiquity Quod credunt credo quod tenent teneo quod docent doceo quod praedicant praedico istis crede mihi credes acquiesce istis quiesces à me c. What these fathers do belieue I do belieue what they hould I hould what they teach I teach what they preach I preach yeald vnto these and you will yeald vnto me haue peace with these and you will haue peace with me And last of all saith he If you will not by them be made friendes with me at least wise be not you by me made enemy vnto them a goulden sentence and then he goeth forward saying shall Pelagius and Celestinus the Authours of your heresy be of such authority with you that you for their society will leaue the fellowship and company of so many and so great Doctors of the Catholicke faith and Church dispersed from East to West frō North to South and those both ancient and neare vnto our age partly dead and yet partly liuing So he 21. Which speach of S. Augustine doth seeme vnto me so fitly and properly to touch and concerne the Protestants of our dayes who for the loue of Luther Caluin Authors of their nouelties do forgo all the Doctors of the Catholicke Church not only ancient but moderne also as that nothing in my iudgment can be produced of nearer affinity to hould greater correspondency or be more like or more semblable 22. Neither yet doth S. Augustine determine only that the Doctors of the Church are absolutely the best witnesses and iudges in matters of Controuersy that arise and spring vp after their dayes but togeather with his authority which had bene alone sufficient he yealedeth a very substantiall and conuincing reason for the same and it is this that the Fathers could not be partiall iudges of such causes as came into Controuersy after their deaths for that they gaue forth their verdict and iudgment before any controuersy was stirred or moued about the same And thus much do his wordes import as they follow 23. Tunc de ista causa iudicauerunt saith S. Augustine quando cosnemo dicere potest perperà m quicquam vel aduersari velsauere potuisse Nondum enim extiteratis c. The Fathers did iudge of this cause at that time when no man can say that they did wrongfully fauour or disfauour any party For that you Pelagians were not then in the world with whome we might haue contention about this question c. They did not attend vnto any friendship eyther with vs or with you they did not exercise amity or emnity with eyther of vs they were angry neyther with you nor with vs neyther yet had they commiseration towards any of our partes that which they found in the Church they held that which they learned they taught that which they recyued and learned from their Fathers by tradition they taught and left vnto their children We did not as yet plead with you before these Iudges yet by them was our case decided and determined nor you nor we were knowne vnto them and yet do we out of their workes produce their sentences against you VVe had as yet no strife with you nor pleaded any cause and yet haue we conquered you by their verdicts Hitherto are the wordes of S. Augustine 24. VVhich when I had considered pondered well with my selfe as also reflected vpon all S. Augustine his former sentences compared them all togeather and conferred them with the state of our present time and manners of men therein I seemed to behold as in a cleare glasse before the eyes of my vnderstanding the very person and selfe same cause of S Augustine to be in the Catholicke writers of our dayes as contrariwise also that of the Pelagians and of other old heretickes to be in the Protestants the one and the other making like accompt of the ancient Fathers I meane the Catholickes esteeming them highly and standing to their iudgment the others reiecting them where they make against them which as it hath bene sufficiently proued before so might I here adioyne also many other proofes therof if I would spend more time in alleaging their sentences Let M. VVhitakers assertion speake for all who of this matter writeth thus If you argue from the witnes of men be they neuer so learned and ancient we yeeld no more to their wordes in cause of sayth and religion then we perceaue to be agreeable to Scripture Neyther thinke you your selfe to haue proued any thing although you bring against vs the whole consent swarme of Fathers except that which they say be iustified not by the voyce of men but of God himselfe The second Consideration AS my first consideration was wholy conuersant about the iust deserued credit of ancient Fathers agreing to geather in generall eyther in the full voice of all or in the greatest part and consent of them so was my second imployed about the same credit authority of particuler Fathers eyther one or two or more auerring any thing which was not reprehended by others in matters of religion About which poynt I saw lesse ascribed in his Maties Booke vnto their promerited estimation then Catholickes do hold in their Orthodox assertions and much lesse then I my selfe had purposely read and obserued in the former mentioned holy Father S. Augustine concerning that poynt For as his Maiesty yealded lesse to the common consent of Doctors which must