of these men and the milde affection of the Apostle of Christ who writing to the Corinthians and well knowing to how many evils and faults they were subiect yet doth not thunder out against them the dreadfull sentence of Anathema exclude them from the kingdome of Christ or make a diuision separation froÌ„ them but calleth them the Church of Christ and society of Saints What would these men haue done if they had liued amongst the Galathians who so far adulterated the Gospell of Christ that the Apostle pronounceth that they were bewitched and if they still persisted to ioyne circumcision and the workes of the law with Christ they were fallen from grace and Christ could profite them nothing whom yet the Apostle acknowledgeth to be the Church of God writing to the Church which is at Galathia Excellent to this purpose is the counsaile of Augustine in his third book against Parmenian second chapter which he giueth to all that are of a godly peaceable disposition vt misericorditer corripiant quod possunt quod non possunt patienter ferant cum dilectione gemant lugeant donec aut emendet Deus ac corrigat aut in messe eradicet zizania paleas ventilet That with mercifull affection they should dislike reproue correct asmuch as in them lyeth what they find to bee amisse what they cannot amend that they should patiently endure suffer and in louing sort bewaile lament till either God doe here in this world correct and amend it or otherwise in that great harvest in the end of the world plucke vp all tares and comming with his fanne in his hand purge the wheate from the chaffe Thus then we haue hitherto shewed who are of the Church the definition of it the meaning of such sayings of our Diuines as haue bin by our adversaries mistaken or perverted together with all such errours heresies as are or haue bin concerning the nature being of the Church THE SECOND BOOKE CONCERNING THE NOTES OF THE CHVRCH CHAP. 1. Of the nature of notes of difference and their severall kindes NOw it remaineth that wee come to the second part of our principall and generall division to find out the notes wherby the true Church may be knowen and discerned from all other companies and societies of men in the world A note marke or character is that whereby one thing may be knowen and differenced from another The Philosophers obserue that of things not the same there are two sorts some wholly diverse which haue no common condition of nature wherein they agree 〈◊〉 are the same These cannot be apprehendâ—… 〈◊〉 vs but the diuersitie of nature and condition found in them must of necessity be conceiued and knowen likewise so that no man hauing any apprehension of the nature of a voice or sound enquireth wherein it differeth from a circle or line not finding any thing wherein they are the same These need not any notes or markes of difference whereby to be knowen one from another Other things there are which haue many things in common wherein they agree and are the same and some other which are so found in one of them that not in another These are not properly said to be wholy diverse as the former hauing many things in common wherein they agree and are the same but to differ one from another in that some thing is so found in one of them that it is not in another The distinction of these things thus differing cannot be known by any other meanes but by observing what is peculiarly found in each of them neither is there any thing proper or peculiar to any ofthem which may not serue for a note or marke of distinction to discerne one of them from another That which is proper to a thing and peculiarly found in it alone is of two sortes For either it is saide to be proper and peculiar respectiuely and at some one time onely or absolutely and euer Respectiuely that is proper to a thing which though it be not found in it alone but in sundry other yet if we take view of it and onely some certaine and definite things besides is so in it that in none of them and serueth for a sufficient note of distinction to know it from any of them So if wee seeke to difference and discerne the nature of man onely from those things that are voide of life sense and motion serue for notes of difference and distinction and are proper to man for that they are not found in any thing voide of life But if wee seeke to difference the nature of man from all other things whatsoeuer we must finde out that which is in man and in 〈◊〉 thing else in which sort also a thing may bee proper and peculiar at some oâ—… time that is not perpetually and euer so as weeâ—…ng laughing and the like which though not alwayes found in a man for sometimes he neither weepeth nor laugheth yet when they are they be notes of difference distinguing man from all other things for that nothing else is at any time capable of any of these Perpetually and absolutely that is proper to a thing which is inseparable and incommunicable as neuer being not found in that to which it is proper nor euer being found in any thing else Those things which are thus and in this sort proper to a thing either are of the effence of that to which they are proper or that is of the essence of them by both these a thing may be knowen from all other whatsoeuer but more specially by them that are of the essence of that which we desire to know These things thus generally obserued touching the nature of the notes of difference whereby one thing may bee discerned and knowen from another if we apply particularly to the Church wee shall easily know which are the true certaine and infallible notes thereof about which our adversaries so tediously contend and iangle deliuering them confusedly without order and doubtfully without all certainty Wherefore seeing by that wee haue already obserued it is euident that there is nothing not proper that may nor proper that may not serue as a note of difference to distinguish one thing from another Seeing likewise of things proper and peculiar there are two sorts some respectiuely and some absolutely and of these againe some not perpetually but at some one time only and some perpetually and euer and these either essentiall to that to which they are peculâ—…ar or essentially depending of it and flowing from it Let vs first see what things are proper to the Church respectiuely considered and secondly what without such respectiue consideration absolutely generally and perpetually which onely are perfect notes of difference whereby the true Church may bee perpetually and infallibly knâ—…en from all other societies of men professions of religion and diversities oâ—…ine worship that are in the world and thirdly suchas are generally and absolutely but not
devout as to desire to communicate euery Sunday and some other dayes also So that there wanted not of the people in former times that desired to communicate aswell as to be present nor of the guides that encouraged them so to doe and therefore hitherto nothing can be proued against my assertion Wherefore let vs come to the Masse it selfe Amongst all the Sacraments of the Church that is the principall saith Durandus that is celebrated vpon the table of the most holy Altar representing that Feast banquet of the Church wherein the father vpon the returne of his lost sonne caused the fatlings to be slaine setteth out the bread of life the wine which wisedome hath mixed for her friends louers These mysteries this holy Sacrament Christ then instituted when he made his new and last testament disposing to his heires a kingdome as his father had disposed to him that vpon his Table they might eat drinke in his kingdome that which the Church hath consecrated for as they were at supper Iesus tooke bread and when he had giuen thanks blessed it brake it gaue it to his Disciples saying take eat this is my body which shal be giuen for you doe this in the remembrance of me The Apostles following this institution began to celebrate these mysteries for the same end that Christ had expressed keeping the same forme in words and vsing the same matter of bread wine that he did as the Apostle witnesseth to the Corinthians where he saith what I haue receiued of the Lord I haue deliuered vnto you who the same night that hee was betrayed tooke bread c. and added to the forme of wordes vsed by Christ the Lords prayer And S. Peter is said in this sort to haue celebrated first of all in the East parts Wherefore in the beginnings of the Church these mysteries were celebrated in another sort then since they haue bin Afterwards the reading of some parts of sacred scripture particularly of the Epist. Gospell was added Pope Celestinus instituted the introitus other things were added at other times by others Howsoeuer this is certain there were are at this day diuers formes of celebrating this mystery For the formes of the East Churches are different from those of the West it appeareth that aunciently in France Spain sundry parts of Italy they had other formes then now are vsed more like to those of the East which being in some things enlarged and perfitted by S. Ambrose were called the Ambrosian forms of divine seruice These cōtinued till the time of Charles the great For thogh Gregory as Io. Diaconus tels vs taking the forms of celebrating masse which Gelasius had cōposed adding somethings detracting others changing others brought in a new forme which the Church of Rome followed yet the other churches of the west retained the old forms which they had receiued frō their ancesters And to this purpose it is that Berno Augiensis testifieth that amongst the monuments of his Abbey there was found an olde ◅all much different from those of Rome But Charles the great sought to bring the Provinces subiect to his Empire to receiue the Romane forme by threats punishment We read saith Durandus in the life of blessed Eugenius that while the forme of divine seruice which was named the Ambrosian forme was more followed obserued by the Church then that of Gregory Adrian the Pope called a councell in which it was ordered that the Gregorian forme should euerywhere be obserued To the obseruation whereof Charles the Emperour by threats and punishments forced the Cleargie in sundry Provinces burning the olde Ambrosian bookes And further hee addeth that Saint Eugenius comming to a certaine councell called about this businesse finding that the Bishoppes were gone and the councell ended three dayes before his comming induced the Pop◅ to call the Bishoppes backe againe which hee did and the councell being againe renued it was agreed on by common consent that both the missals both that of Saint Ambrose and the other of Saint Gregorie should be layed on the altar of Saint Peter the Apostle that the doores of the Church should be fast locked and sealed with the seale of sundry Bishops and that then they should spend the whole night in prayer beseeching God that he would shew by some signe which of these hee would haue to be obserued in his Church and in the morning entering they found that of Gregory torne in peeces and scattered all ouer the Church the other opened but yet still lying entire and whole on the altar of which accident they made this construction that that of Gregorie was to be vsed euery where thorough the world the other only at Millain in S. Ambroses owne Church and so saith Durand it is vsed vnto this day For by the helpe of Charles the great that of Ambrose was disused in many Churches that other brought in place Onely the Christians of Spaine admitted not this alteration notwithstanding all these endeauours till the time of Gregorie the seauenth what time they were constrained by Alphonsus the sixt to giue way which they did most vnwillingly and not without teares Rodericus reporteth that when this alteration was vrged by the Popes legate and the king there being an assembly of all the states the Clergie Nobilitie and people resisted mainely against it whereupon in the end it was resolued that that matter should be tried by cumbate and one being chosen for the newe and another for defense of the old he that vndertooke the defense of the old preuailed which caused a great reioycing among the people But the king not regarding this triall nor thinking it to bee any sufficient clearing of the matter questioned it was agreed that both the bookes should be cast into the fire that that which should bee preserued in the fire might bee allowed as best which accordingly being done the booke of the old forme came forth vntouched and the other was consumed yet would not the king be perswaded to desist but threatning death and vtter confusion to all gainesayers made this innouation in his Church and kingdome all his subiects weeping and sorrowing and then began the prouerbe Quo volunt reges vadunt leges So that wee see howsoeuer our aduersaries would make the simple beleeue that things were euer as now they are yet there haue beene great alterations in the forme of diuine seruice and it is not to be doubted but that the auncient formes as different from the latter were more pure and sincere then they that are now vsed They that haue diligently looked into the monuments of antiquity sayth Rhenanus vpon Tertullians booke de corona militis do thinke that aunciently the masse began when the priest did say The lord be with you immediately after Lift vp your harts and Let vs giue thankes to our Lord God and againe It is very meete right and our
rightly noteth that there is no merit properly so named to bee attributed to mortall miserable men and that though the ecclesiasticall writers vse the word merit and when they speake of holy mens workes call them merits yet they thinke them not to bee properly so but doe so name the good actions of holy men that proceed from faith and the working of the holy Ghost because Almighty God though they bee his gifts and joyned in them by whom they are wrought with defect imperfection yet is so pleased to accept of them out of his goodnesse that he not onely rewardeth the doers of them with ample great rewards in their owne persons but so as to doe good to others for their sakes So God sayd to Abraham if there were but fifty righteous in the city hee would spare the whole city for their sakes Neither onely doth hee good for their sakes whose workes hee thus rewardeth while they liue but euen after they à re dead also And therefore God promiseth that hee will protect Hierusalem for his owne sake and for Dauid his seruant which he must be vnderstood to doe not onely in respect of the promise made vnto him but with respect had to his vertue according to the which we read 1 Reg. 15. 3. that God left a little light in Hierusalem to Abiam the sonne of Roboam King of Iudah for Dauids sake who did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. This Dauid saith Chrysostome did not only please God while he was in the body but he is found to haue yeelded great comfort after his death to such as he left behinde him aliue The Prophet Esay commeth to Hezekiah and saith vnto him I will defend this city for mine own sake and for Dauid my seruants sake David is dead but his vertues that pleased God do still liue O strange thing O ineffable clemencie a man long since dead patronizeth him that liueth In this sense then it is that the Church desireth God to be gratious vnto her in graunting her petitions for the merit of those his holiest Ones that she remembreth no way derogating from the merites of Christ but putting a great difference betweene them and those of the Saints for Christs merite is the onely price of our redemption by which onely we are redeemed from sinne eternall death and being reconciled to God are adopted to bee sonnes and heires of eternall life but the merites of the Saints here mentioned are nothing but those imperfect good workes which they did while they liued here which God was pleased so to accept that hee promised not onely to reward them with great and ample rewards in their owne persons but to doe good for their sakes that did them to others also Bucer speaking of the publique prayers of the Church which wee call Collects in which the intercession and merites of Saints are commemorated hath these words Seeing in these prayers whatsoeuer is attributed to the intercession and merites of Saints all that is asked not of the Saints but of our mercifull God through Iesus Christ they that so pray doe thereby professe and testifie that they acknowledge that those things which they aske of God by the intercession and for the merites of the Saints are the free gifts of God c And a little after Wee willingly acknowledge and publiquely professe that GOD doth reward the workes of his Saints not onely in their owne persons but in those also that pertaine vnto them and for whom they intercede for hee hath promised to doe good to a thousand generations to them that loue him and study to keepe his Commaundements hence it was that hee would not heale those of the house of Abimelech till Abraham interceded and intreated for them and hence it was that God graunted and gaue the deliuerance and saluation of all the people to Moses when he intreated for the same These are the wordes of Bucer which not being contradicted by any of our profession it is evident that no part of Romish Religion disliked by vs can bee prooued out of this part of the Canon of the Masse Thus hauing cleared that great objection of Mr Brerelie touching the publique Liturgie vsed in the Church in the dayes of our Fathers and made it appeare that the vsing thereof is no proofe that the Church that then was was not a Protestant Church and hauing made it cleare and evident that both the Liturgie it selfe and the profession of such as vsed it shew plainely that the Church that then was neuer allowed any Romish errour howsoeuer some did in the midst of her it remaineth that I now proceed to shew in the particulars that the outward face of Religion at and before Luthers appearing was not as M ◠Brerelie telleth vs the now professed Romane Religion and that whatsoeuer wee haue done in the reformation of the Church was long before wished for and desired by the best men amongst the guides of the Church CHAP. 1. Of the Canon of the Scriptures THat the Church did not admit the Canon of Scripture which the Romanists now doe nor euer accounted those bookes Canonicall which we thinke to be Apocryphall it will easily appeare in that all the most famous Divines from the beginning of the Christian World euen till the time of Luther did reject those bookes as Apocryphall that wee doe The Church of the Iewes to whom as S. Paul saith the oracles of God were committed admitted but onely 22 Bookes as deliuered to them from God to be the Canon of their faith as Iosephus witnesseth Neither did the Christian Church euer admit any more Melito Bishop of Sardis being desired by Onesimus to send him a catalogue of the bookes of the old and new Testament writeth thus vnto him Hauing diligently sought out the bookes of the old Testament and put them in order I haue sent them vnto you the names whereof are these the 5 bookes of Moses Genesis Exodus Leuiticus Numbers Deuteronomie then Iesus the sonne of Naue Iudges Ruth the 4 bookes of Kings two bookes of Chronicles the Psalmes of Dauid the Prouerbes which is also called the Wisdome of Salomon Ecclesiastes the Canticles Iob the Prophets Esay Hieremie one booke of the twelue Prophets Daniel Ezechiel Esdras Some soe translate the words of Melito as if hee reckoned the wisdome of Salomon as a seperate booke and so meant the booke that is commonly called the Wisdome of Salomon and is by vs accounted to be apocryphall but Ruffinus translateth as wee doe and that wee haue rightly expressed the meaning of this worthy Bishoppe and that hee onely added this as a glorious title to the booke of Salomons Prouerbs which as Eusebius saith the auncients vsually called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the reader will soone be satisfied if he peruse that which D. Raynolds hath touching this point in his prelections Eusebius she weth that Iosephus according to the auncient
proued and all confesse but that what hee gaue to others it did so passe vnto them as that in the first place it was giuen to Peter and hee thereby set in order and honour before the rest put in the same commission with him so that Peter receiued not a different or more large commission from Christ then the other Apostles but onely a kinde of honourable precedence preëminence and priority such as the Duke of Venice hath amongst the great Lords of that state to whom all Embassies and messages are directed from forreine Princes and in whose name all letters warrants and mandates are sent out as representing the whole State yet can hee doe nothing without the rest nor crosse the consenting resolution of those noble Senators And in this sense it is that Augustine saith of Peter that he was by nature one particular man by grace a christian man by more ample and abundant grace a chiefe Apostle but that when hee receiued the Keyes hee represented the whole vniuersall Church not as a legate that representeth the person of his Prince and receiueth honours dignities and titles for him and not for himselfe but as chiefe of the company of the Apostles receiuing for himselfe in the first place that which in him and together with him was intended to them all This primacie of honour and order found in blessed Peter who is therevpon named by the Fathers Prince and head of the Apostles is the originall of all that superiority that Metropolitanes haue ouer the Bishops of their prouinces and Primates and Patriarches ouer Metropolitanes and in a word of all that order that is in the Church and amongst her guides whereby vnitie is preserued CHAP. 25. Of the distinction of them to whom the Apostles dying left the managing of Church affaires and particularly of them that are to performe the meaner seruices in the Church HAuing spoken of the Apostles power and office and the largenesse of that commission it remaineth that wee come to speake of them to whom they recommended the managing of Church affaires and the ministerie of holy things when they left the world They to whom they recommended the care of these things when hauing finished their course they were called hence to receiue the Crowne laid vp for them in Heauen were of two sorts first such as they trusted with the ministerie of the Word and Sacraments and government of Gods people and secondly such other as they appointed to be assistant to them and to performe the meaner seruices though necessary also The former sort are all comprehended vnder one common name of Presbyters that is fatherly guides of Gods Church and people the latter are Deacons and such other inferiour Ministers as attend the necessities of the Saints and assist the principal Guides of the Church In the ordination of a Presbyter saith Durandus there is a certaine power conferred on him and assigning of him to an employment whereby after his ordination hee may doe something which hee could not haue done before etiam quoad genus facti no not in the kinde and nature of the thing it selfe as hee that is ordained a Presbyter may consecrate the Lords Body and absolue in the Court of Penitencie neither of which things without such ordination can be done but to them that are in the inferiour orders there is no power giuen neither haue they any assignement to doe any thing which they could not doe before and without such ordination but to doe such things as they could not lawfully doe nay in many of them there is no designement of them that are so ordained to the performance of any thing but that which according to the vse of the vniuersall Church men without such ordination may lawfully doe So that the ordination of men to the performance of such things and the execution of such offices seemeth to haue proceeded from the institution of the Church for the greater solemnitie of Diuine worship and seruice and therefore such inferiour orders are neither simply orders order being a sacred signe or character by vertue whereof a power is giuen to the ordained not onely to doe that hee could not otherwise lawfully doe but to doe that which otherwise hee could not doe at all neither are they Sacraments but Sacramentall solemnities onely seeing the Church can institute no Sacraments Hitherto Durandus These being the sorts of them to whom the Apostles recommended the managing of Church affaires and this the difference of their orders I will first speak of the diuers orders degrees of them that performe the meaner seruices in the Church and then come to speake of them that haue the gouernement of the Church The Master of Sentences saith that the order of Subdeacons and other minor orders below the degree of Deacons as Acoluthes Exorcists Lectors Ostiaries were brought in by the Church and that they were not in the Apostles times and Thomas Aquinas and other are of the same minde Notwithstanding there is no question but these minor orders and degrees were very ancient For Cyprian maketh mention of one Mettius a Subdeacon and Nicephorus an Acoluthe In another place hee writeth that he had ordained Aurelius and Celerinus Lectors and in a third place hee mentioneth Exorcists and Lectors Cornelius Bishop of Rome in his Epistle recorded by Eusebius describing the Clergie of the Romane Church in his time sheweth that there were in the same 46 Presbyters 7 Deacons 7 Subdeacōs 42 Acoluthes 52 Exorcists Lectors Ostiaries Widowes with distressed people more then 1500. Ignatius in his Epistle to the Antiochians omitting Acoluthes reckoneth the rest as Subdeacons Lectors Ostiaries and Exorcists adding to them Cantores and Laborantes or Copiatae whose imployment was to bury the dead of whom also Epiphanius speaketh Whereupon Bishop Lindan sayth that howsoeuer in these times they make or account but seauen orders yet in the Primitiue Church there were more now scarce knowen But let vs see what the office employment and manner of the admission of these men was in former times Touching Ostiaries the Councell of Carthage ordayneth thus Let the Ostiary after he hath beene instructed by the Arch-deacon how to behaue himselfe in the house of God at the suggestion of the Arch-deacon be ordained and let the Bishop take the Keyes frō the Altar and giue them to him saying So demeane thy selfe as being to giue an accoūt to God for the things that these Keyes locke vp The Lectors were to reade in the Church whatsoeuer was to be read out of the old or new Testament whereupon Cyprian hauing ordained Aurelius the confessour a Lector giueth a reason why he had so done Quia nihil magis congruit voci quae Dominum gloriosa praedicatione confessa est quam celebrandis diuinis Lectionibus personare that is Because nothing doth more fitte or better beseeme the voyce that by a glorious publique testimony hath
the particular churches or places where they were preached which were therevpon named churches of station though now in another sense they call those churches of station whither men out of devotion resorting to visite Reliques and Monuments are made partakers of ample Indulgences and pardons for dayes yeares nay hundreds and thousands of yeares In those times when the auncient Bishops of Rome were wont to goe to the churches of station because all churches had not their Quire and Ministers fit to performe the seruice of God with that solemnitie that was wished there were some specially appointed for this purpose that they might attend the Bishoppe and goe with him in the dayes of station that so nothing might be wanting to all joyfull solemnitie divine exultation Those principall titles or parish churches as now we vse to speake that enioyed the greatest liberties and priuiledges were called Cardinall Titles or churches and those Presbyters that attended the service of God in those principall or Cardinall churches were called Cardinall Presbyters and in processe of time some amongst the Deacons also Cardinall Deacons and amongst the Bishops of Italie certaine Bishops were named Cardinall Bishops Neither were these Cardinall Presbyters onely in the church of Rome but in other churches also as Duarenus sheweth whence it is that wee reade in the councell of Melden that the Bishop must canonically order the Cardinall Titles in the cities or suburbes and that wee reade in Ioannes Diaconus that Gregorie called backe the Cardinals violently ordained in the parishes abroad into their auncient title againe Onuphrius a great Antiquary giueth another reason of the name of Cardinall supposing that they were called Cardinall priests and deacons in each church which were ouer all the other priests and deacons of the same for that they were chiefe priests and deacons and of more principall esteeme then the rest But this conceipt of his Bellarmine refuteth for that there were sometimes many Cardinals in the same title as appeareth by Saint Gregorie in his Epistles So that it seemeth more probable that Cardinalls are so named from the titles and churches which are Cardinall chiefe churches enjoying greater liberties and priuiledges then others then for that they are Cardinall or chiefe amongst the Priests of those their churches and titles But whatsoeuer was the reason that they were named Cardinals which perhaps cannot now certainely bee knowen it is strange to see from how meane beginnings they haue grown so great in state dignity as therein to match equall the greatest Princes of the world That at first they were but parish priests of Rome besides that it is confessed by all it is most euident for that yet still in this their greatnesse they are stiled but Cardinall priests of such a title or parish church in Rome and that for a long time there was no more respect had to one Presbyter then another but all equally interessed in the gouernment of the church were indifferently called to the election of the Bishop and his consultations it is most cleare and euident Whereupon Cyprian writing to the cleargie of Rome writeth not to the Cardinalls onely but to all the priests and deacons of the church of Rome In the time of Gregorie the Great it may seeme that all the Presbyters were not called to the consultations of the Bishop but Cardinall Presbyters onely For onely foure and thirty were present at the Synode holden by him and mentioned in his epistles whereas no doubt in his time there were many more Presbyters of that great and large church seeing there were sixe and fortie in the dayes of Cornelius in the time of persecution when the greatest part of the citie remained yet still in infidelity and heathenish superstition But whether all the Presbyters of the church of Rome or onely some certaine were called to the consultations of the Bishop in Gregories time it is certaine that all the cleargie had interest in the choice and election of the Bishop But afterwards in processe of time the Cardinals onely had interest in the election of their Bishop they and no other were admitted to sit in councell with the Bishop all other Presbyters being excluded By which meanes the dignitie of these Cardinals was greatly encreased So that whereas before all Bishops were preferred before those Cardinals that were not Bishops and to be a Cardinall was but a step to the degree of a Bishop as Onuphrius in his booke of Cardinals sheweth and as is collected out of the first book and seuenth Chapter of the life of Gregory afterwardes this order was changed and the dignity of a Bishop was made but a step to the degree and honour of a Cardinall Neither did they onely exclude the rest of the Clergie of the Church of Rome from the election of their Bishop and from sitting in Councell with him but whereas from the yeare three hundreth to the yeare eight hundreth after Christ for the determining of all weightie matters concerning the Church the Bishoppes of Italie were convocated to Nationall Synodes as it appeareth by the Tomes of the Councels they excluded them also so that the managing of the weightie affaires of the Church was wholly referred to these Cardinals the other being no longer called according to the olde manner though yet still they take an oath yearely to visite the Apostolicall thresholds and to present themselues vnto the Romane Bishoppe their Metropolitane as they were wont to doe when being called by him to Nationall Synodes they were bound to make their repaire to Rome Of this chaunge Cardinall Cusanus speaketh shewing that in his opinion the first steppe to the due reformation of the Church were the chusing of these Cardinals out of those seuerall Churches which were heretofore interessed in the deliberations of the Romane Bishop and the making of them to be but agents and procurators for them and in their names till such time as the Bishops might be convocated againe to Nationall Synods as in former times they were wont to be From hence saith Duarenus wee may easily gather the same that the Interpreter of the decrees somewhere writeth that howsoeuer in time and by spoyling other of their right the Cardinals of the Church of Rome are growne exceeding great yet in trueth and indeed euery Bishop of what citie soeuer is of greater dignity then any Cardinall Priest or Deacon of the Romish Church which thing saith Duarenus if any man should doubt of might easily be confirmed by the authoritie of Saint Augustine in a certaine Epistle to Saint Hierome Priest of the Romane Church where hee saith expressely Quanquam secundùm vocabula quae vsus obtinuit Episcopatus sit Presbyterio maior Augustinus tamen Hieronymo minor est that is Although according to the titles which now are in vse it is a more honourable thing to be a Bishop then a Presbyter yet Augustine is lesse then Hierome His meaning is
either of them The gouernment of a prouince is principally Aristocraticall resting in the Bishops of the prouince their assistants but it hath a kinde of chiefty of one hauing a primacie of order and honour amongst the rest who being placed in the Metropolis or Mother cittie is named a Metropolitane This gouernment is so mixed that the Bishops may doe nothing concerning the state of the whole Prouince or out of the limits of their owne Churches without consulting the Bishop of the mother citty nor he without them and if they differ in judgement and opinion he is bound to follow the maior part of voices for the ending and determining of all controuersies that may or doe arise concerning matters of faith or of fact Neither is this the forme of gouernment of one prouince only but the gouernment of larger circuits is altogether like vnto it and in proportion the same For looke what the Metropolitane is in respect of the Bishops of the prouince that and no more is the primate or Patriarch in respect of the Metropolitans Bishops of diuerse prouinces so that as the Metropolitan canne doe nothing out of his owne Diocese without the concurrence of the maior part of the Bishops of the province though he be in order and honour the first and greatest amongst them who must bee consulted before they canne doe any thing so in like sort the Primate or Patriarch may doe nothing without the aduice and consent of the Metropolitanes Bishops subiect vnto him So that wee see the forme of Church gouernment is mixt in such sort that in respect of a Diocese or particular Church there is a speciall authority resting in one though not excluding nor neglecting the assistance and concurrence of more but the gouernment of many particular Churches and prouinces is principally Aristocraticall all thinges being swayed by the maior part of the voyces of the Bishops and Metropolitanes yet admitting a primacie of order and honour of one amongst the rest who must be first consulted from whom all deliberations must take beginning and who sitteth in all their meetings as a president and moderatour This Bellarmine endeavoureth to improue and therefore laboureth to shew that the supreme power of the Church is not in the company of Bishops His first reason is because Christ as he supposeth gaue no authority to his Apostles and Disciples but that which he gaue to euery one of them apart as to preach baptize binde and loose remitte and retaine sinne But this silly argument is easily answered and the absurditie of Bellarmines confident affirmation is too too apparant For to ordaine Bishops to depose Bishops or Presbyters and to determine the differences and controversies that arise amongst them is as I thinke a great part of Ecclesiasticall power and jurisdiction yet may no one Bishop doe any of these things but the company of Bishops onely To the ordination of a Bishop the presence of the Metropolitane and of three other Bishoppes at the least with the consent of the rest that are absent signified in writing is by the olde Canons required neither did the Church euer admit lesse then three Bishops to ordaine vnlesse in certaine cases of necessitie And touching the depriuing or degrading of Bishoppes Presbyters and Deacons the auncient Canon requireth the concurrence and consent of three Bishoppes for the censuring and depriuing of a Deacon of sixe for the depriuing of a Presbyter of twelue for the censuring judging and deposing of a Bishop Wherefore let vs see if the Cardinall haue any better reason behinde His second reason is that it cannot bee imagined that CHRIST committed the gouernement of the Church to the company of Bishoppes for that then the Church should oftentimes lacke Gouernours for that the Bishoppes are seldome assembled by joint consent to decree and determine things Surely this reason hath farre lesse strength then the former for in the beginning all the Bishoppes of each Province met to the ordination of euery Bishoppe newly elected and twice in the yeare besides there was a Synode holden consisting of all the Bishoppes of the Province the Metropolitane not onely hauing power but also being straightly bound to convocate his brethren and they as surely tyed and obliged to come when he called them His third reason which he bringeth to proue that the gouernement of the church was not by Christ committed to the company of Bishoppes but to some one chiefe and supreme amongst them is for that the whole multitude of right beleeuing Christians is one church and therefore must haue one chiefe Ruler For answere hereunto wee say that a church may bee named one either in respect of the same faith hope profession meanes of saluation and communion or fellowship of Saints and so the whole multitude of right beleeuers throughout the world is but one church or in respect of the same immediate communicating together in Sacraments and in the actions and exercises of Gods worship and seruice The vnitie of the church of God in this later sort implyeth and requireth a necessitie of the vnity of one chief Pastour but the vnity of the church in the former sort may stand without the vnity of one Pastour Christian men saith Ockam in Scripture are compared to sheepe and the church of God to a fold Now though it bee expedient that these sheepe so many as belong to the same particular fold that goe out to the same pastures to feed to the same riuers of water to drinke and doe remaine and abide together should be fed directed and guided by the same Pastour yet the sheepe of diuerse folds led out to diverse pastures to feede in and riuers of water to drinke may haue their diuersitie of Pastours vnder the same chiefe Sheepheard Christ Iesus neither is there any vnitie implyed in the whole Church or in the Churches of diuerse Provinces which may not be preserued as well by the multitude and diversitie of Pastours bound knit together in the bond of conspiring consent and agreement as by the vnitie of one chiefe Pastour And in this sort wee shall finde the Church of God to haue stood in perfect vnitie in the first and best ages thereof without finding any want of the helpe of one chiefe Pastour For how could there bee a more perfect vnitie in the whole Church then when the Pastour of each particular Church chosen by the Cleargie and people of the same was appointed by the Metropolitane and all the rest of the Bishops of the province for his sincerity in profession and godlinesse of conversation and ordained to the worke of the Ministery by the joint imposition of all their hands when the Metropolitanes of seuerall provinces were confirmed by the Primate or Patriarch but ordained by the Bishops of their provinces when the Patriarches elected by the Cleargie and people and ordained by their Metropolitanes sent their Synodall letters one to another testifying and expressing
Catholicarum quam plurimum scripturarum solertissimus indagator authoritatem sequatur inter quas fanè illae sunt quas Apostolica sedes habere ab eâ alij meruerunt accipere epistolas So that whereas Saint Augustine saith that in reckoning the Canonicall bookes of Scripture a man must follow the authority of the greater number of Catholique Churches and among them especially such as either had Apostolicall seates as Hierusalem and the like or receiued Epistles from some of the Apostles as did the Churches of Corinth and Galatia Gratian maketh him say that the Epistles which the Apostolicall See receiued or other receiued of it are to be reckoned among Canonicall Scriptures This ouersight of Gratian Picus Mirandula long since obserued and after him Alfonsus a Castro whereby wee may see how easie it was for men in former times to runne into most grosse errors before the reuiuing of learning in these latter times while the blinde did lead the blinde For Gratian was the man out of whom the greatest Diuines of former times tooke all their authorities of Fathers and Councles as appeareth by their marginall quotations And how ignorantly and negligently he mistooke them mis-alleaged thē this one example is proof sufficient But whatsoeuer we think of Gratian we shall find that not only our Diuines but the best learned among our aduersaries also put a greatdifference between the sacred scriptures of the holy Canon and the Decrees of Councels For first they say the Scripture is the word of God reuealed immediately and written in a sort from his owne mouth according to that of S. Peter the holy men of God spake as they were moued by the holie Ghost And that of S. Paul All Scripture is by diuine inspiration which is not so to be vnderstood as if alwaies the holy Writers had had new reuelations and had alwayes written that which before they were ignorant of for it is certaine that the Euangelists Mathew and Iohn wrote those things which they saw and Marke and Luke those things they heard from others as Luke himselfe confesseth in the beginning of his Gospel But the holy writers are therefore said to haue had immediate reuelation and to haue written the words of God himselfe because either some new things and not knowne before were reuealed to them by God or because God immediately inspired and moued the Writers to write those things which they had seene and heard and directed them that they should not any way erre in writing whereas Councels neither haue nor write immediate reuelations or words of God but only declare which is that word of God vttered formerly to the Prophets and Apostles how it is to bee vnderstood and what conclusions may bee deduced from it by discourse of reason Secondly the holy Writers performed that which they did without any further labour or trauell then that in writing and calling to minde what they had seene and heard but in Councels the Bishoppes and Fathers with great paine and trauell seeke out the trueth by discourse conference reading and deepe meditation and therefore the holy Writers are wont to attribute all to God onely and the Prophets were wont often to repeate The Lord sayth Thirdly in the Scriptures not onethe whole sentences but euery word pertaineth to Faith for no word is therein vaine or ill placed But in Councels there are many disputations going before resolution many reasons brought for confirmation of things resolued on many things added for explication and illustration many things vttered obiter and in passage that men are not bound to admitte as true and right nay many things are defined in Councels that men are not bound to stand vnto For it is the manner of Councels sometimes to define a thing as certainely and vndoubtedly true pronouncing them Heretiques that thinke otherwise and subiecting them to curse Anathema and sometimes as probable onely and not certaine as the Councell of Vienna decreed that it is more probable that both grace and vertues accompanying grace are infused into Infants when they are baptized then that they are not and yet is this no matter faith in the Church of Rome Fourthly in the scripture all things as well concerning particular persons as in generality are vndoubtedly true For it is as certaine that Peter and Paul had the spirit of God as that no man can be saued without the illumination and sanctification of the spirit but in the determinations and decrees of Bishoppes assembled in a generall councell it is not so for they may erre in iudging of the persons of men and therefore there is no absolute certainty in the canonization of Saints as both Thomas and Canus do confesse Fiftly in Scriptures there are no precepts touching manners either concerning the whole church or any part of it that are not right equall and just But councels may erre if not in prescribing things euill in stead of good yet in prescribing things not fitting nor expedient if not to the whole church yet to some particular part of it as not knowing the cōdition of things therein Yea some there are that think it not hereticall to beleeue that generall councels may prescribe some lawes to the whole church that are not right profitable and iust as to honour such a one for a Saint who indeed is no Saint to admit such orders of Religious men as are not profitable to receiue the communion onely in one kinde and the like And there are many that confidently pronounce that generall councells may decree such things as may breed inconuenience and may sauour of too great seuerity and austerity which the guides of the church in the execution of the same must bee forced to qualifie and temper So that the onely question is whether a generall councell may certainely define any thing to bee true in matter of faith that is false or command the doing of any act as good and an act of vertue that indeed and in trueth is an act of sinne Touching this point there are that say that all interpretations of holy Scriptures agreed on in generall councels and all resolutions of doubtes concerning things therein contained proceed from the same Spirit from which the holy Scriptures were inspired and that therefore generall councels cannot erre either in the interpretation of Scriptures or resoluing of things doubtfull concerning the faith But these men should know that though the interpretations and resolutions of Bishops in generall councels proceed from the same Sperit from which the Scriptures were inspired yet not in the same sort nor with like assurance of beeing free from mixture of errour For the Fathers assembled in generall councels doe not rely vppon immediate reuelation in all their particular resolutions and determinations as the Writers of the Bookes of holy Scripture did but on their owne meditation search and study the generall assistance of Diuine grace concurring with them That the Fathers
this immunity And Sixtus Senensis saith that Hierome speaketh not of that tribute which subiects pay to their Princes here in this world but of that which we all owe to CHRIST so that this is that he saith why doe not we wretched men professing our selues to be the servants of Christ yeeld vnto his Maiesty the due tribute of our seruice seeing Christ so great and excellent payde tribute for our sakes S. Austine in his first book of Questions vpon the Gospels saith that Kings sons in this world are free that therefore much more the sonnes of that Kingdome vnder which all kingdomes of the World are should bee free in each earthly Kingdome which words Thomas and Sixtus Senensis vnderstand of a freedome from the bondage of sin but Iansenius rejecteth that interpretation because Austine saith the children of Kings are free from tribute and thinketh that Austines meaning is that if God the King of Heauen Earth had many naturall sonnes as hee hath but one only begotten they should all be free in all the Kingdomes of the world and other apply these words to cleargy-men though there bee nothing in the place leading to any such interpretation But whatsoeuer we thinke of the meaning of Austine Bellarmine saith it cannot bee inferred from these his wordes that cleargy-men by Gods Law are free from the duty of paying tribute because as Chrysostome noteth Christ speaketh only of naturall children and besides prescribeth nothing but onely sheweth that vsually among men Kings sonnes are free from tribute and therefore whereas the authority of Bonifacius the Eighth who affirmeth that the goods persons of Cleargy-men are free from exactions both by the law of God and man is brought to proue the contrary Hee answereth first that haply the Pope meant not that they are absolutely freed by any speciall graunt frō God but only that there is an example of Pharaoh an Heathen Prince freeing the Priests of his Gods mentioned in Scripture which may induce Christian Kings to free the Pastours of Christs Church Secondly that it was but the priuate opinion of the Pope inclining to the iudgment of the Canonistes and that he did not define any such thing So that men may lawfully dissent from him in this point So that we see by the testimonies of Scripture and Fathers and the confession of the best learned among our aduersaries themselues that Almighty God did not by any special exemption free either the goods or persons of Cleargy-men from the command of Princes and that in the beginning they were subiect to all seruices iudgements payments burdens that any other are subiect to and required by Christ the Sonne of God and his blessed Apostles to be so But some man happily will say that though Christ did not specially free eyther the goods or persons of Cleargy-men from the subiection to Princes yet there are inducements in reason and in the very light of nature such and so great to moue Princes to set them free that they should not do well if they did not so Whereunto wee answere that there is no question to be made but that the Pastors of the Church that watch ouer the soules of men are to bee respected and tendered more then men of any other calling and so they are and euer were where any sence of religion is or was The Apostle Saint Paul testifieth of the Galathians that they receiued him as an Angell of God yea as Christ Iesus himselfe that they would haue euen plucked out their eyes to haue done him good The Emperour Constantine honoured the Christian Bishops with the name and title of Gods acknowledged himselfe subject to their iudgment though he swayed the scepter of the World and refused to see what the complaintes were that they preferred one against another or to read their bils but professed that to couer their faults he would euen cast frō him his purple Robe Whence it came that many priuiledges were anciently graunted vnto them both in respect of their persons goods For first Constantine the Great not onely gaue ample gifts to the Pastors of the Churches but exempted them also from those seruices ministeries and imployments that other men are subiect to His Epistle to Anelinus the Proconsul of Africa wherein this graunt was made to them of Affrica is found in Eusebius Neyther is it to be doubted but that he extended his fauours to the Bishops of other Churches also aswell as to them The words of the Grant are these Considering that the due obseruation of things pertaining to true religion and the worshippe of God bringeth great happinesse to the whole state of the Common-wealth and Empire of Rome For the incouragement of such as attend the holy Ministery and are named Cleargy-men my pleasure is that all such in the Church wherein Caecilianus is Bishop be at once and altogether absolutely freed and exempted from all publicke Ministeries and Seruices Neither did the Emperors only exempt them from these seruices but they freed them also frō secular iudgements vnles it were in certaine kindes of criminall causes Wherein yet a Bishop was not to be cōuēted against his wil before any secular Magistrate without the Emperors cōmand Neyther might the temporall Magistrates condemne any Cleargy-man till hee were degraded by his Bishoppe howsoeuer they might imprison and restraine such vpon complaints made And answerably hereunto the Councell of Matiscon prouideth that no Cleargy-man for any cause without the discussion of his Bishop shall bee wronged imprisoned by any Secular Magistrate that if any Iudge shal presume to doe soe to the Cleargy-men of any Bishoppe vnlesse it be in a criminall cause hee shall bee excommunicated as long as the Bishoppe shall thinke fitte This was all the immunity that Cleargy-men anciently had by any grant of Princes and as much as euer the Church desired to enjoy but that which in latter times was challenged by some and in defence of the claime whereof Thomas Becket resisted the King till his bloud was shedde was of another kinde For whereas it was not thought fitte by the King and State of the Realme at that time that Church-men found in enormous crimes by the kings Iustices should be deliuered ouer to their Bishoppes and so escape ciuill punishment but that confessing such crimes or being clearely conuinced of them before the Bishoppe the Bishoppe should in presence of the Kings Iustices degrade them and put them from all Ecclesiasticall honour and deliuer them to the Kings Court to be punished Becket was of a contrary minde and thought that such as Bishoppes degraded or putte out of their Ministery of the Church should not bee punished by the ciuill Magistrates because as hee sayd one offence was not to be punished twice The occasion of this controuersie betweene the King and the Arch-bishoppe was giuen by one Philip Brocke a Canon of Bedford Who beeing brought before
of rest till the day of the resurrection Yea it is knowne to all them that haue perused the monuments of Antiquitie that Iraeneus Iustin Martyr Tertullian and sundry others were of opinion that none of the iust are in Heauen till the end and consummation of all things but that they are below in some part of hell or in some hidden inuisible place sequestred from the presence of God till the second comming of the sonne of man Now seeing the inuocation of Saints presupposeth that they pray for vs in particular and particular prayer for vs knowledge of our wants which the presence and sight of God is supposed to afford them if they do not yet enioy the presence of God as many of the Auncient though falsely did thinke wee see not how in their iudgment there should be any safe and fruitfull inuocating of them For the absence from GOD and the not enioying of his sight and presence is the reason alleaged by our adversaries why the Fathers in the time before Christ neither prayed in particular for the Church on earth nor were prayed vnto as being in Lymbus and not in heauen Howsoever it is most certaine if we looke into the auncient practise of the Church that the Saints in their anniuersarie solemnities and holy daies were not prayed vnto but remembred only proposed for imitation rather prayed for then prayed vnto as it appeareth by that Innocentius reporteth that in the Feast of blessed Leo the auncient custome was to pray that the solemnitie of that day and the oblations then offered might bee auaileable to his soule for the encrease and consummation of his glory which since hath beene altered the prayer is now that by his mediation this Festivall solemnity may availe and be to the good of them that obserue and keepe it So that it cannot be shewed by our adversaries that before the auncient Liturgies were abandoned and those brought in by Gregory had gotten into their place there was any invocation of the Saints found in the publique prayers of the Church but when their names were remembred men prayed only to God that he would giue them grace to follow their examples make them partakers of that happinesse which those blessed ones already enjoy And at that time when this alteration began the invocation was not brought into the Liturgie and publique prayers of the Church in direct forme but men prayed still vnto God only though desiring him the rather to respect them for that not only their brethren on earth but they also that are in heauen cease not prostrate before his sacred Majestie to pray for them Neither is there any other forme of prayer found in the Missall but in the sequences and Litanies onely Wherefore to conclude this matter concerning the invocation and adoration of Saints and Angels seeing the Fathers did not in their sette courses of devotion make prayers to the Saints but when they had particular occasions to speake or thinke of them vsed doubtfull compellations desiring them if they had sense of these things to be remembrancers for them vnto God seeing for ought we know the Saints are not particularly acquainted with the state of things here below seeing no degree of spirituall worship is to bee giuen to any creature we invocate them not but pray vnto God onely assuring our selues that if they can heare vs or any way further our suites they will doe it when we pray vnto God as Augustine rightly obserueth We adore them not but rest in the judgment of the same Augustine that the Saints are to be honoured for imitation but not to be adored for Religion that they doe not seeke desire or accept any such honour but will haue vs to worship God onely being glad that we are their fellow-servants in well-doing The Romanists evasion that God is onely to bee adored with that highest kinde of religious worship which is named Latria which yeeldeth to him that is worshipped infinite greatnesse but the Saints may be adored with an inferiour kinde of religious worship named Doulia is directly contrary to Augustine who speaking of Saints Angels saith Honoramus eos charitate non servitute Wee honour them with the honour of loue but not of Doulia or service If they say they haue this distinction frō Austine it is true but he doth not vse it to this purpose to make difference of two sorts of religious or spirituall worship the highest degree whereof should be Latria the lowest Doulia neither doth he anywhere call the honour giuen to Saints Doulia but nameth it the honour of loue and fellowship but he vseh to distinguish religious worship euery degree whereof he calleth Latria from that externall and ciuill worship dutie and seruice that men yeeld to their Princes Masters and Rulers which is fitly named Doulia a seruice but it is servitus corporis non animae a seruice of the body and not of the minde For men notwithstanding this servitude haue their mindes and their thoughts free as being knowne to none nor ouerruled by none but GOD onely But the service of the spirit and minde in the lowest degree that can be imagined is due vnto GOD onely and not to bee giuen to any creature for no creature knoweth the secrets of our hearts no creatute can prescribe lawes touching the inward actions thoughts of the mind not hauing knowledge of them nor power to punish them that should offend It is therefore an impious conceipt of the Papists that the Saints both can and doe know all our inward actions and secret thoughts approuing or reprouing excusing or accusing them and that as presidents of our whole life and conuersation and that therefore they are to bee honoured and worshipped with spirituall service or seruice of the spirit and minde Thus then it is true the Centurie writers report that in the third and fourth age after Christ there were some beginnings of that superstition which afterwards grew to be intolerable in the adoration and inuocation of Saints and Angels but neither they nor wee are so ignorant as to thinke that the inuocation of Saints or the adoration of them preuailed in the Church within the compasse of the first six hundred yeares neither doe they as Bellarmine is pleased to slaunder them taxe that as idolatry in the Romane Church which they find to haue beene the practise of all the Fathers for they finde nothing of the Romish Idolatry in these glorious lights of the Christian world CHAP. 21. Of Martyrdome and the excessiue prayses there◅f found in the Fathers THe next allegation against them is touching Martyrdome which Bellarmine saith they suppose the Fathers did too immoderately and excessiuely magnifie and extoll The reason of this their censure hee thinketh is because they will not admitte it to bee a kinde of Baptisme and to wash away sinne as both the Romanists and the Fathers teach For the better
the Kings Iustices for murther vsed vile and contemptuous speeches against them which though it were proued against him before the Arch-bishoppe yet hee was only depriued of the benefit of his Prebend and driuen out of the Realme for the space of two yeares for so horrible and bloudy a crime This was one of those sixteene Articles concerning the ancient customes of the Realme whereunto Becket and the rest of the Bishoppes did sweare and whereof hee so soone repented againe namely that Cleargy-men accused of any crime should at the summons of the Kings Iustices appeare in the Kings Court to answere to such things as to that Court should be thought to appertaine and in the Ecclesiasticall what pertained thereunto and that the Kings Iustices should send to see what was there done and that if they should bee conuicted of any enormous cryme or confesse the same the Bishoppe should not protect thē then which course nothing could be deuised more reasonable Neyther is it absurd for sheepe to judge their Pastors in these cases as Bellarmine fondly affirmeth That the Councell of Chalcedon and Toledo forbid Cleargy-men to leaue the Eccesiasticall Iudges and to prosecute their quarrels one against another before Temporall Magistrates and the Councells of Carthage and Agatha condemne them that chuse rather to bee tryed in Ciuill Courts then Ecclesiasticall when they haue power to chuse or that begin suites there without the permission of their Bishoppe no way contrarieth any thing that I haue sayd for howsoeuer some things are to bee handled in the Ecclesiasticall Courts as properly pertaining to them either naturally and originally or by graunt of Princes and other thinges concerning Church-men not to bee brought into Ciuill Courts but in due sort and with respect had to their places and rankes yet neuer had they any such absolute exemption and immunity but that in criminall causes such as theft murther and the like and in tryall of the title oflands and inheritances and the right of aduocation of Churches they were to bee tryed in ciuill Courtes and no other whether the differences grewe betweene Lay-men and Cleargy-men or Cleargy-men among themselues As likewise they were to do homage and sweare fealty for such lands honours and Baronryes as they held of Princes Thus wee see how fauorable Princes haue beene in graunting priuiledges concerning the persons of such as attend the seruice of God Neyther were they lesse carefull to free such lands and possessions as they indowed the Church with from such burdens taxes and impositions as other temporall possessions are subject to So that howsoeuer in the Apostles times and long after euen till the time of Ambrose as it appeareth by his writtings the Church-lands payd tribute yet afterward by Iustinian and other Christian Emperours they were freed from those impositions Neither is it to be maruailed at that Christian Princes out of their deuout and religious dispositions were thus fauourable to the Church seing euen the Heathen Princes did as much for the Idolatrous Priestes of their false-Gods for we read in the booke of Genesis that in the time of that great famine that was in the dayes of Ioseph when the people of Egypt were constrained after all their money and cattell were spent to sell their land to Ioseph the Steward of Pharaoh in whose hands all the prouision of Corne was to buy them bread so that all the land of Egypt became Pharaohs yet the Priests were not forced to sell their lands for they had an ordinary from Pharaoh and they did eate their ordinary which Pharaoh gaue them And when as afterwardes Ioseph let the people enjoy their land again which he had bought for Pharaoh yet so that onely foure parts of the increase thereof should bee to themselues for the seed of their fieldes for their meate and for them of their householdes and their children to eate and the fifth part should be Pharaohs whose now the land was the land of the Priests was free from this rent and charge as not being Pharaohs Yet were not the priuiledges and immunities which Christian Princes gran◅ed to Ecclesiasticall persons to prejudice other men nor to lay too heauy a burden on them and therefore it was lawfull for Princes when they saw any inconveniences in that too much of their land by passing into the right and possession of Church-men was freed from seruices and charges to stop the passing of any more into such dead hands as would yeeld them no helpe and cleargy-men were bound in conscience voluntarily to contribute to all publike necessities when need required though the Temporall Magistrates might not impose any thing vpon them as we find it ordered in the third councell of Lateran and in the fourth vnder Innocentius the third yea if they should contemptuously and presumptuously refuse to beare part of the common burdens notwithstanding any pretended priviledges the supreame Prince might force them to put too their helping hand rather then the whole state of the cōmon-wealth should bee shaken and indangered or other parts and members of it too heauily burdened as Duarenus learnedly and excellently sheweth This may suffice touching the exemption of Cleargy-men either in respect of their persons or goods the right by which they inioy the same And thus haue we runne through all the different Degrees Orders of Ecclesiasticall Ministers and shewed what their power office and authority is both seuerally and assembled in councels and what power Princes haue to commaund ouer them or to intermeddle with the businesses and affaires more specially belonging to them CHAP. 54. Of the calling of Ministers the persons to whom it pertaineth to elect ordaine them NOw it remaineth that we first treate of the calling of Ministers for No man taketh this honour vpon him but he that is called as was Aaron◅ Secondly of the things required in them and thirdly of their maintenance Touching the first which is the calling of Ecclesiasticall Ministers Saint Hierome noteth that there are 4 sorts of such men as are imployed in the businesses affaires of Almighty God The first are such as are sent neither of men nor by men but by Iesus Christ as the Prophets in olde time and since the comming of Christ those Twelue designed immediatly to the Worke of the Ministery by Christs owne voyce specially called Apostles The second such as are sent of God but by man as Bishops and Ministers which succeede the Apostles and deriue their commission from them The third are such as are sent of men and not of GOD who are they that are ordained by fauour of men not judging rightly of the quality of them that are to serue in this calling who yet are not simply denyed to bee sent of God as if they had no commission from him but therefore onely because if the Ordainers had done their duties they should haue made a better choyce and sent other
without partiality and Iudge betweene vs as God shall direct thee THE FIRST PART Contayning a discouery of the vanitie of such silly exceptions as haue beene taken against the former foure Bookes by one Theophilus Higgons §. 1. THE first exception Master Higgons is pleased to take against me is that in all my foure Bookes I haue not graced any Father with the glorious title of Saint his words are these I am bold to intreat D Feildes leaue to honour Augustine with the name of Saint howsoeuer hee hath not once vouchsafed in his foure Books to grace him or any Father with this glorious title It is strange that such a novice as he is should dare to begin in so scornfull a manner with so shamelesse an vntruth as if hee had been anold practitioner in the faculty of lying but his desire it seemeth was to giue as good proofe at first as possibly hee might of the good seruice hee is like to do if his new Masters wil be pleased to make vse of him imploy him as they do others For otherwise he could not but know he might easily be convinced of a lye for I haue giuen the title of Saint to Augustine that worthy and renowned Father more then once twice or thrice I call Leo blessed Leo so giue him a title aequivalent to that of Saint more often found in the writings of the Ancient If happily it offend him that euery time I name any Father I giue him not the title of Saint let him take the paines to peruse the writings of Alexander of Hales Tho. Aquinas Scotus Durandus Waldensis Sixtus Senensis and other of that sort I doubt not but hee will soone perceiue his folly cease to be angry with me any longer vnlesse he be resolued to condemne them also This surely is a childish and a bad beginning and may make vs justly feare he will performe little in that which followeth §. 2. THat which he hath in the next place that D Humphrey and I admit try all by the Fathers is true but to no purpose for he and his consorts know right well that the Fathers make nothing for them and therefore they are soone weary of this course of tryall as often as they are brought to it as it appeared by Hardinges writing against Bishoppe Iewell For whereas the challenge was made by that worthie Bishoppe to try the matter of difference betweene the Romanists and vs not onely by discourse of reason or testimonies of Scripture wherein all the world knâ—…w our Adversaries to be too weake but by authorities of the Auncient wherein they were thought to haue more strength And whereas to that purpose hee brought out against them all the renowned Fathers and Bishoppes that lined in auncient times the decrees of Councels then holden and the report of Historians Harding could finde none to speake for him but Martialis Abdias Amphilochius such branded counterfeits nor no other proofes of his cause but the fayned Epistles of the auncient Popes and shamelesse forgeries vnder the honourable names of holy Fathers with other-like base stuffe The thing that offendeth Master Higgons in Doctor Humphrey is that he saith the Romanistes are like Thrasilaus who in a madde humour tooke all the shippes in the Atticke hauen to bee his owne though he possessed not one vessell or rather maketh the degree of their phrensie greater because they see and yet seeing dissemble that they are destitute of all defence from the Fathers Which saying of the worthy and renowned Doctor is most true and shall bee defended against a farre better man then Theophilus Higgons though childishly hee charge him with Notable and vast vntruth in this behalfe Neither shall hee nor any of his great Masters euer proue that I haue vntruely alleadged the cause why Luther Zuinglius and other at the first seemed to decline the tryall by the Fathers for the true cause was indeede as I haue alleadged the feare of the corruptions of the Fathers workes and writings and not any imagination that the Fathers generally from the beginning were in errour which is so barbarous a conceit that it cannot enter into the heart of any reasonable man Neither was it any folly in them as this wise man is pleased to censure the matter to decline the tryall by the Fathers in those times after barbarisme superstition and tyrannie had so long prevayled and almost layd waste all learning religion and liberty of the Church seeing Vincentius Lyrinensis prescribeth that after Heresies haue long preuailed growne inueterate wee shoulde flie to the Scriptures alone SECT 3. IN the third place he saith Hee was desirous to vnderstand why amongst other particulars I should esteeme it a folly and inconstancy in the Romanistes to say that Purgatory is holden by Tradition and yet proued by Scripture Which argueth that the man is either very weake in vnderstanding or else maketh himselfe more simple then indeed he is For hauing shewed that the name of Tradition sometime signifieth euery part of Christian Doctrine deliuered from one to another either by liuely voyce only or by writing sometimes such partes there of onely as were not written by them to whom they were first deliuered and that our Aduersaries so vnderstand the word in the controuersies betweene them and vs. I note it as a contradiction amongst Papistes that some of them say Purgatory is holden by Tradition in that latter sence other that it is proued by Scripture as likewise that some of them alledge for proofe of vnwritten Traditions the article of the consubstantiality of the Sonne of God with the Father and the proceeding of the holy Ghost from them both and others constantly affirme that those Articles may bee proued out of Scripture Now if to bee written and not to bee written to be holden by vnwritten Tradition or Tradition opposite to writing and to bee proued out of Scripture bee not contradictory in Master Higgons his apprehension it is no great matter of what side he be § 4. IN the Fourth place he saith I accept the rule of Saint Augustine that whatsoeuer is frequented by the vniuersall Church and was not instituted by Councels but was alwayes holden that is beleeued most rightly to be an Apostolicall tradition And that liberally I adde that whatsoeuer all or the most famous and renowned in all ages or at the least is diuers ages haue constantly deliuered as receiued from them that went before them no man doubting or contradicting it may be thought to be an Apostolical tradition Whence hee thinketh hee may conclude ineuitably by my allowance that prayer for the dead may bee thought to be an Apostolicall tradition many famous and renowned Fathers in diuers ages mentioning prayer for the dead and none disliking or reprouing it For answere whereunto I say that prayer for the resurrection publike acquittall in the day of Iudgement and perfit consummation and blisse of them that
there either paine or ease and refreshing that there the rich man is in paine and the poore in a comfortable estate for sayth hee why should wee not thinke that the soules are tormented or refreshed in this invisible place appoynted for them in expectation of the future Iudgement In quadam vsurpatione candida eius The Iudgement doubtlesse is begunne there So that neither is good altogether wanting to the innocent nor the sence and freling of euill to the nocent Heere wee see Tertullian maketh but two sorts of men departing hence and that hee thinketh that presently after their departure hence the good are in a kinde of imperfect possession or enioying of that good they looke for hereafter and the euill and wicked in a kinde of state wherein they already beginne to taste of those euerlasting miseries that shall swallowe them vppe in the daie of judgement So that according to his opinion there is no Purgatorie nor state of temporall paine and affliction after this life out of which there is hope of escape or deliuerance Gregory Nazianzen in his Oration made in the praise of Caesarius after many comforts against the sorrowes conceiued for the losse of so worthy a man addeth this as the chiefest of all other Verbis sapientum adducor vt credam generosam omnem Deoque charam animam posteaquam corporis vinculis soluta hinc excesserit protinus bonum quod eam manet persentientem contemplantem vtpote eo quod mentem caligine obducebat vel purgato vel abiecto vel quo verbo eares appellanda sit nescio mirabili quadam voluptate affici exultare atque hac vita veluti gra◅issimo quodam ergastulo relicta excussisque compedibus quibus animi penna deprimi solebat hilarem ad Dominum suum conuolare beatitudinem recondita Imaginatione quadam iam percipere That is I am induced and inoued by the sayings of the wise to beleeue that euery generous soule and such as is beloued of GOD presently after the loosing from the bonds of the body and departure hence that which darkened the minde beeing either purged out or cast from it or done away in what sort I cannot well expresse beginneth sensibly to discerne and behold that good which remaineth for it to bee filled with wonderfull delights and to leape for ioy and that leauing this life as a most grieuous prison and hauing cast off those fetters that depressed and held her downe desiring to mount vpon high with her siluer wings shee flieth ioy fully to her Lord and presently in a certaine apprehension beginneth to tast of that hidden happinesse that shall be reuealed Epiphanius speaking of the Godly departed remembred in the praiers of the Church sayth they are and liue with God Ambrose is more full to this purpose then any of the former for in his booke de bono mortis first he sayth all soules remaine in certaine habitations till the day of Iudgment whence they shall be called forth in that great day of resurrection Secondly that till the fulnesse of time appointed they all are holden in an expectation of the reward due vnto them are not in full possession of it Thirdly that in the meane time neither the soules of the wicked are without some present sence of euill nor the other without some enioying of good The ioy of the good and righteous he sheweth to bee in respect of the victory which they haue obtained ouer the flesh the deuine testimony which they haue in their consciences of their former walking in the waies of God making them not to feare the future iudgment their escape out of the prison of the body of death the liberty they are come to and the possessing of the promised inheritance c. Heare we see plainely that Ambrose maketh but two sorts of men two sorts of soules separated from the body and two estates assuring vs that all good faithfull-ones ordained to eternall life are presently after their seperation in a state of happinesse boldly hastening to the view and and sight of that God whom they haue so carefully serued to which purpose he alleageth that of the Prophet to the Angell shall there be giuen a time to soules after they are seperated that they may see the thing thou hast spoken of and the Angells answer Seauen daies shall their liberty endure that in those seauen daies they may see the things that haue beene spoken and after they shall bee gathered into their dwelling places out of which as I noted before he thinketh they shall not bee called till the resurrection so that according to the opinion of Saint Ambrose there is no place of temporall paine and punishment after this life appointed for the soules of men dying in state of Grace Neither was this the opinion of Dionysius Irenaeus Iustin Martyr Tertullian Nazianzen Epiphanius and Ambrose only but all the auncient were of the same judgment touching the state of the faithfull departed and therefore neuer any of them made any praiers for the deliuering of them out of temporall paine and punishment but as it hath beene before obserued they made prayers for them respectiuely to their passage out of this world and the entrance into the other as also for their resurrection publike acquitall in the day of judgment and perfit consummation This the Masse-booke and all the prayers that are found in any auncient bookes of Ecclesiasticall prayers doe clearely shew George Cassander hath published a booke of Ecclesiasticall prayers gathered out of the old Liturgies and Bookes of diuine seruice that hee could meete with amongst which there are many pro commendatione animae some few of them I will produce for example The first We beseech thy clemency O God mercifully to receiue the soule of thy seruant returning vnto thee Let Michaell the Angell of thy couenant be present with it and vouchsafe to place it amongst thy Saints and holy ones in the bosome of Abraham Isaacke and Iacob that beeing freed and deliuered from the Princes of darkenesse and the places of punishment he may be confounded with no errors of his first birth of ignorance or of his owne iniquity frailty but that rather he may bee acknowledged of thine and enioy the rest of holy blessednesse and that when the day of the great Iudgment shall come being raised vp amongst thy Saints and chosen ones hee may be satisfied with the glory of the cleere beholding of thee The 2d Vouchsafe O Lord to giue to thy seruant a lightsome place a place of refreshing and quiet Let him passe by the gates of hel the punishments of darkenesse let him remaine in the mansions of the Saints and in holy light which of old thou promisedst to Abrahā to his seede let his spirit sustaine no hurt but when the great day of resurrectiō reward shal come vouchsafe to raise him together with thy Saints chosen ones blot out doe away his sins euen to the
what is yet wanting to the faithfull departed or to such as are aliue at the suite supplication of the holy Patriarches Prophets Apostles c. For seeing it is confessed by vs that the Saints in heauen doe pray for vs in a generality we may desire of God the graunting of such things as we or others need not only vpon our own suite but much more for that there are so many supplyants to him for vs not in earth alone but in heauen also though without sence or knowledge of our particular wantes So that there is nothing found in Chrysostome either touching prayer for the dead or invocation of Saints that maketh any thing for the confirmation of popish errours For neither doth Chrysostome in that Liturgie pray for the ease of men in Purgatorie neither doth he inuocate any Saint but calleth vpon God onely though not without hope of being heard the rather for that not onely the faithfull on earth but the Saints in heauen also make petition for him But Master Higgons asketh why I concealed these things To whom I answere that I did not conceale any of them For howsoeuer citing some other parts of Chrysostomes Liturgie to another purpose I had no reason to bring in these passages being altogether impertinent to my purpose and the matter in hand yet in other places I haue shewed at large the ancient practise in all these things and therefore this seduced runnagate whom Sathan the tempter hath beguiled had no reason to compare me to the Tempter leauing out certaine wordes in the text he alleadged vnto Christ. §. 5. IN the next place he obiecteth to vs the heresie of Aerius condemned by Augustine amongst many other impious heresies and Augustines conclusion that whosoeuer maintaineth any of the hereticall opinions condemned by him is no Catholicke Christian and telleth vs that this censure toucheth vs very neere but that I demeane my selfe plausibly and artificially to avoid the pressure of that difficultie which is too heauy for me to beare Whereunto I briefly answer that I demeane not my self artificially to avoid the force of any trueth which I esteeme value aboue all treasures in the world but in all sincerity vnfold those thinges which Papists seeke to wrap vp in perplexed and intricate disputes to the entangling of the Readers For I shew that the naming of the names of the departed the offering of the sacrifice of praise for them the praying for their resurrection publike acquitall perfect consummation and blisse in the day of Christ yea the praying for their deliuerance from the hand of hel the mouth of the Lyon the vtter deletion remissioÌ„ of their sins respectiuely to their passage hence first entrance into the other world are not disliked by vs and that thus far the general intention of the Church extended but that to pray for the deliuerance of meÌ„ out of hel or for the mitigation or suspension of the punishments that are in hel was but the priuat deuotioÌ„ of some particular men doubtfully eroneously extending the publicke prayers of the Church farther then they were meant and intended by her and that in this particular they fell from the trueth which if M. Theophilus Higgons shall deny justifie such kind of prayers for the dead we will be bold to call him by his new name Theomisus But he is desirous to know of me or any other without lies obscurities and circuitions whether Cyrill of Hierusalem concurring absolutely with the Papists in this point of prayer for the dead and Augustine agreeing with him fell away from the truth or not That he professeth himselfe an enemy to lies obscurities and circuitions the best sanctuaries of their euill cause I greatly maruell feare that if he giue ouer the aduantage which he and his companions are wont to make thereof this his first booke will be his last But in that he saith Cyrill of Hierusalem concurreth absolutely with the Papists in the matter of prayer for the dead and Augustine with him hee doth as beseemeth him for he vttereth lies and vntruthes which before vnaduisedly he condemned For first it is most certaine that Cyrill maketh but two sortes of men departing out of this life sinners righteous and that he thinketh as Chrysostome also doth and after them Damascene many other that wicked and sinfull men in hell may find some ease be relieued by the prayers of the liuing but of Purgatory he speaketh not Touching Augustine he dissenteth altogether from this opinion of Chrysostome Cyrill and Damascene thinketh that the prayers of the Church for such as excelled in goodnes are thanksgiuings to God for such as died impenitently in grieuous sins comforts of the liuing but no helpes of the dead for those that were neithâ—… exceeding good nor exceeding euill propitiations and meanes to obtaine fauour and remission But whether they of this middle sort be in any penall estate after death or whether by the mercy of God and working of his grace the prayers of the liuing accompanying them they bee freed from sinne and the punishment of it in the first entrance into the other world he resolueth nothing and therfore there was no cause why this good man reflecting as he saith vpon my assertion should bee amazed to behold such a repugnancie betweene these things to wit Augustine ran doubtingly into the opinion of Purgatorie and yet he affirmeth there is no doubt but that some sinnes are remitted in the other world and tâ—…at some soules may be relieued by prayer For in the iudgement of wiser men then Mastâ—…r Higgons these thinges imply no contradiction and therefore the Grecians admit the latter of them and yet deny Purgatory Yea in their Apologie touching Purgatory they say if there be remission of sinnes after this life there is no enduring of the punishments due to sin it being one thing to haue remission of a sin or fault and another to suffer the extremity of punishment it deserueth That there is therefore remission of sinnes of a middle sort of men after this life in the entrance into the other world Augustine made no doubt and to that purpose he alleadged the saying of Christ concerning the sinne that is neither remitted in this world nor the other from thence to inferre that some sinnes are remitted after this life But whether there be any Purgatory-punishments after this life or not hee was euer doubtfull as appeareth by sundry places in his workes where he saith Perhaps there is some such thing it is not incredible that there is some such thing and whether there be or not it may be found out or it may be hid neither will it follow that because he maketh three estates of men dying whereof some are so good that wee haue rather cause to giue God thankes for them then to pray others so ill that they cannot be relieued and a third sort that need our
haue all been heretickes and schismatickes and that they haue liued and died in state of damnation that haue liued died in those churches euer since their separation that therfore a generall Councel of the Christians of the West adhering to the Pope is absolutely general and Oecumenicall representing the whole vniuersall Church wee detest so vnchristian and diuellish a censure and therefore wee willingly confesse that the Protestants being but a part of the Christian church cannot haue any Councell absolutely generall but in a sort onely in respect of those of their owne profession Such a generall Councell of Protestants to settle and compose their differences the Protestant Relator of religion wisheth for neither doth he euer deny the possibility thereof as this Pamphleter mis-reporteth him but saith only that as things now stand there being no better correspondence among Christian Princes nor greater desire of making vp the breaches of the Christian Church there is little hope of any such generall meeting of those of the reformed religion Out of the two next allegations nothing can be concluded for the errours of the present Romane Church are fundamentall neither doth it preach the pure word of God duely administer the Sacraments according to Christs institutioÌ„ in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same But he saith he hopeth no man wil deny the Church of Rome to be the same now it was when Luther began long before and that I confesse the Latin Church continued the true Church of God euen till our times Because some man perhaps will thinke that we yeeld more vnto our Aduersaries now then formerly we did in that we acknowledge the Latine or Western Churches subiect to Romish tyranny before God raised vp Luther to haue bin the true Churches of God in which a sauing profession of the truth in Christ was found wherein Luther himself receiued his christianity ordination power of ministery I will first shew that all our best most renowned Diuines did euer acknowledge as much as I haue written 2ly That the Romane church is not the same now it was when Luther began And 3l l that we haue not departed from the church wherein our Fathers liued died but only from the faction that was in it Touching the first M. Luther confesseth that much good nay that all good and the very marrow kernell of faith piety and christian beliefe was by the happy prouidence of God preserued euen in the middest of all the confusions of the Papacy M. Caluine in like sort sheweth that the true Church remained vnder the Papacie Cum Dominus foedus suum saith he in Gallia Italiâ Germaniâ Hispania Angliâ deposuerit vbi illae prouinciae Antichristi tyrannide oppressae sunt quò tamen foedus suum inuiolabile maneret Baptismum primò illic conseruauit qui eius ore consecratus inuita humana impietate vim suaÌ„retinet deinde suâ prouidentiâ effecit vt aliae quoque reliquiae extarent ne Ecclesia prorsus interiret ac quemadmodâ—… ita saepe diruuntur aedificia vt fundameÌ„ta ruinae maneant ita non passus est EcclesiaÌ„ suam ab Antichristo vel á fundameÌ„to subuerti vel solo aequari vtcunque ad puniendaÌ„ hominuÌ„ ingratitudinem horribileÌ„ quassationem ac disjectioneÌ„ fieri permiserit sed ab ipsa quoque vastatione semirutum aedificiuÌ„ superesse voluit That is the Lord hauing made his couenaÌ„t with the people of France Italy Germany Spaine EnglaÌ„d wheÌ„ these prouinces were oppressed by the tyraÌ„ny of Antichrist that yet still his couenant might remaine muiolable first he preserued the Sacrament of Baptisme amongst theÌ„ which being consecrated by his own mouth retaineth his force in despight of mans impiety besides carefully prouided that there should be found some other remainders also that the Church might not altogether perish And euen as oftentimes buildings are so thrown down that the foundations some ruines do remaine so God suffered not his church to be subuerted ouerthrown by Antichrist froÌ„ the very foundation or be laid euen with the ground but howsoeuer to punish the ingratitude of men he suffered it to be horribly shaken torne and rent yet his pleasure was that the building should remaine after all this waste and decay though halfe throwne downe Of the same opinion is Bucer Melancthon and Beza who saith The Church was vnder the Papacy but the Papacy was not the Church We say saith Philip Mornay that among that poore people that was so long time deceiued vnder the darknesse of Antichrist there was a part of the body of the visible Church but that the Pope and his maintayners were the bane of it who stifled and choaked this poore people as much as lay in them Wee say that this was the Church of Christ but that Antichrist held it by the throat to the end that the saluation and life that floweth from Christ might not passe vnto it To be short saith he we say that the people were of the Christian commoÌ„-wealth but the Pope with his faction was a proud seditious Catiline seeking to destroy it set all on fire so euer he most aptly putteth a difference between theÌ„ that were vnder the Papacie and the vpholders of the Papacie the Christian Church and the faction that was in it M. Deering in his Lectures speaking of the orders of the Popish Church hath these words If any man will heere obiect that notwithstanding all the abuses yet the Priest had that which was principall libertie to preach and minister Sacraments and that therefore their ministery ought not to be neglected I answer In this was the great goodnesse of God that in time to come his children might assuredly know he reserued to himselfe a Church euen in the midst of all desolation and that he called them by his word and confirmed them by his Sacraments euen as at this day For seeing there can be no sin so great but faith in Iesus Christ scattereth it all away it was impossible that the man of sinne should so much adulterate either the Word of God but that it should be to the faithfull a Gospell of saluation or the Sacraments of God but that they should bee pledges of eternall life to those that did beleeue and he addeth that notwithstanding all the prophanations in those times in respect whereof we haue iustly separated our selues from the pertinacious maintainers of such confusions yet God of his infinite goodnesse who calleth things that are not as though they were euen in that ministery gaue grace vnto his Saints Thus doe these Worthies write touching the state of the Christian Church in former times tyrannically oppressed by Antichrist neither is there any of our Diuines of worth and learning for ought I know that dissenteth from them Wherefore I will now proceede to shew that the Romane Church is not the same now that it was when Luther