that it may well be referred to the traditiō of the Apostles that besides the Sōday the birth-daies of Saintes should be kept holy which thing I see approued by the anciēt custom of the Church I find S. Cyprian very careful to haue the dayes noted Lib. 3. Ep. 6. in which the Christians were martired vt talibus saith he celebrētur hic à nobis oblationes sacrificia ob cōmemorationes ipsorū that on those daies they suffred we in remembrāce of them may celebrate here the oblatiōs sacrifices S. Iohn Chrysostome S. Augustine exhort the faithful to the due obseruance of the feastes of Saints Chrysost serm in martyrem Pelagiam Augu. in Psal 88. part 2. in fine Wherfore I cannot but exceedingly merueil at the new scruples of Protestants not soberly * So the Protestāts translate non plus sapere quā oportet sapere sed sapere ad sobrietatem Rom. 12.3 but more highly thinkinge of themselues then they ought whiles they haue fully iudged and taught all feastes of the Saints yea of the B. Virgin mother of God of the Apostles and most famous martirs to be abrogated and taken away albeyt the English Protestants be not so rigorous for in this matter they haue left somwhat to remayn as before though it be very little 14. To inuocate Saints departed say these mē is nothing els thē to make many Gods and this our calling vpon them and worshipping of their images not to differ frō the customes of Pagans vnder which pretext they abhorre and auoid vs all they can but for vs it were easy if this place would beare so long dispute to beate backe and refell all these slaunders of heretikes for they are forced if they beleeue the Scriptures to admit this as certayn that the soules of the Saints with God pray for vs mortall men and that not in generall only but also in particuler and it is most euident in this life the faithfull to be holpen by the prayers of the vertuous for Moyses often by his prayers turned away the wrath of God from the people of Israel Iob 42.18 and God exhorted the friends of Iob to intreate his prayers thereby to obteyne pardon for their folly Eph. 6. Coloss 4. 1. Thes 5. 2. Thes 3. Hebr. 13. c. S. Paul ofter cōmended himselfe to the prayers of the faithful these men may learne if they list the Saints whose soules liue in the the sight of God and raign with Christ to pray for such as are yet liuing in the militant Church out of Hieremy Ezechiell and the Apocalips Hierem. 15 Ezech. 14. Apocalip 5.8 8. That for their sakes God graunteth many fauours vnto them they haue in the same holy Scriptures and that in many places as Genes 26.4.5.24 Exodus 32.13 3. Regum 18.36 1. Paralip 29.18 3. Reg. 11.12.32.34 15.4 4. Reg. 8.19 19.34 and 20.6 and Isa 37.35 See the commentaries which are sayd to be S. Chrysostomes in the second Homily vpon the 50. Psalme Christ warneth vs to make fryends of the mammon of iniquity Luke 16. Vt cum defeceritis recipiant vos in aeterna tabernacula that when you fayle they receyue you into their euerlasting tabernacles August de ciuitate Dei lib. 21. c. 7. Gen. 28.12 Heb. 1.14 out of this place S. Augustine attributeth much to the intercessiō of Saints 15. This intercession of Saints the holy Fathers acknowledg admit and confirme And truly of Angels the Ladder of Iacob and their other employments for vs are notorious See Origen contra Celsum lib. 8. Of the Angells attending vpon vs see S. Augustine Aug. Epi. 122. and of our guardian Angell the Scriptures doe often and plainly make mention Gen. 48. Exod. 23. Psalm 33. Math. 18. Actor 1◠and the Fathers also most cleerely Nyssenus in vita Moysis Basil in Psal 33. Hieron in 18. Mat. If therefore euery man haue to assist and guard him an Angell of our Lord what shall hinder but that he may craue his help I heard once in Englād with great gust one of my fellow Chanons of Windesor preaching before the King and affirming roundly in his sermon that he saw no reason to the contrary why euery faythful man might not turne and conuert himselfe towards his good Angell and say Sancte Angele custos ora pro me holy guardian Angell pray for me Of the intercession of Angells their labours for our helpe and benefit any one besides the former may also reade these Fathers S. Anton. Monachorum Parentem Epist 2. ad Arseonitas Anastasium Synaitam in Hexam lib. 5. Antiochum Abbat Hom. 61. Chrysost de incomprehensib Dei natura Hom. 3. Hom in Martyres Aegyptios Hieron in Epist 1. Cyrill Alexandrinum apud Anastasium Nycaenum quaest 61. Theodoretū ibidem Damascen Lib. 1. Parales cap. 7. c. 16. For Intercession of Saints we haue the common consent of the auncient Fathers See S. Cyprian Lib. de mortalitate Hieron aduersus Vigilantium August de Baptismo Lib. 5. cap. 7. Lib. 7. cap. 1. de verbis Apost Sermo 47. Sermon 46. de Sanctis Lib. 9. Confess cap. 3. Lib. de cura pro mortuis agenda cap. 16. contra Faustum Lib. 20. cap. 21. in Meditatio c. 20. Leo Magnus Sermon de Sancto Laurentio Gaudentius Brixian Serm. 17. Gregorius Magnus lib. 7. Indictione 2. Epist. 25. Bernard in Cantic Serm. 77. I pretermit innumerable others of later tymes the Scriptures therefore and Fathers and consent of the vniuersall Church doe securely warrant vs that the Angells and soules of Saints departed this life doe pray for the liuing and that also in particular Why then should not euery faythfull man take courage to inuocate or call vpon them whome most certainly he knowes to pray for him in heauen 17. That the Inuocation of Angels Saints to the end that they pray for vs and ioyne their prayers with ours as S. Chrysostome speaketh Serm. in Sanctum Meletium cannot be doubted of is most euident and of the B. Virgin Mother of God a part that she is to be inuocated by vs that she pray for vs to her sonne we haue most euident testimonyes Iraeneus lib. 5. cap. 19. Athanas in Euang. de Deipara Nazianzen orat in Cyprianum Basilius Seleuciae orat 1. de verbo incarnato August sermo 1. de Annunciatione Cosmas Hierosolym Sophronius item Hierosolymitanus orat 6. de Angelorum excellentia Hildefonsus Toletanus c. 18. Now for the Inuocation of other Saints besides the sacred Virgin that the most auncient practice of the Church doth so much as I sayd before it appertaineth to the tradition of the Apostles for this inuocation hath alwaies beene in vse and neuer reproued by any who was not held for an heretike It were to long a labour to recount the Fathers who inuocate Saints or teach them to be inuocated that elsewhere I haue aboundantly
performed And this perpetuall custome of the Church of Inuocating Saints that they pray for vs and help vs with their prayers was neuer so much as found fault withall but rather the contrary errour was condeÌ„ned by S. Hierome in Vigilantius which condeÌ„natioÌ„ the whole Church allowed and therefore our new Vigilantians are to be condemned by the iudgement of the whole Church whose temerity in making our Inuocation to be idolatry is very singular neyther haue these Vigilantians any thing of moment that they can oppose their obiections I haue elsewhere fully refuted and I thinke that in another worke I haue fully defended the reuerent regard of holy Reliques which God himselfe as most pleasing vnto him hath confirmed by most manifest miracles 19. But our Aduersaryes bouldly affirme that in worshipping of holy images we commit idolatry and from hence they will haue their departure froÌ„ vs to be lawfull but this also is a most vayn pretext of theirs neyther can they thereby free themselues from the infamous note of most filthy schisme for in case we honour images with a proper peculiar honour worship which is exhibited to the thing it selfe represented by the image that is not supreme honour and worship nor that true adoration which alone is due vnto God whereas therefore we doe most playnly professe diuine honour and supreme worship not to be due eyther vnto Saynts or to their Reliques much lesse to their Images why doe they obiect Idolatry vnto vs The vse of Images belongs to Ecclesiasticall rites and in these the sure certayne and infallible rule to know whether they be lawfull and to be approued is the practise and vse especially of the primitiue Church In so much as they are to be esteemed good and lawfull rytes which eyther the Apostles or some Apostolicall men haue ordayned or haue eyther silently or expresly approued and it is most certaine yea most vncontrollable the Christian Church euen most auncient whole and vniuersall with ioynt and singular consent without all opposition or contradiction to haue reuerenced or worshipped holy Images eyther paynted or kerued S. Iohn Damascen hath collected in his three Orations which he wrote for Images most aboundant testimonyes The Fathers of the seauenth Generall Councell haue done the like and after these many others of our Church What ignorant companion then dare condemne that which the most holy and most learned Fathers haue commaunded haue taught haue practized that which the Catholike Church taught by the Apostles hath alwayes obserued that which God himselfe by mamiracles hath confirmed Are they not then accordinge to the verdict of S. Augustine August Epist 118. most insolent mad men who retayne not the vse of Images nor deuoutly keepe them with that peculiar honour due vnto them so as the supreme be not giuen them but rather abuse prophane and sacrilegiously cast them away 20. Two thinges especially doe our Aduersaryes vrge agaynst this our worshippinge of holy Images by which they contend that we cannot auoyd this charge of Idolatry and by â—he same they ground themselues in â—heir schisme as if it were lawful One is Gods coÌ„mandement which forbiddeth â—ll Images to be made the other that they cannot be excused from true externall idolatry who adore the true God in any exteriour signe that is a meere creature These men with Caluin will haue the golden calfe to haue beene vsed by the children of Israel to represent the true God and in this aboue all others doth Reynolds the English Puritan settle and ground his Treatise of the Idolatry of the RomaÌ„ Church but with me there is no doubt neyther can there be with our aduersaries but the most auncient Fathers and Catholike Church to haue known the ten Commandements and the history of the Calf and yet without all difficulty and scruple they vsed holy Images with honour and reuerence but neyther doth this disputation beseeme this short discourse the tyme wil come when I shal haue opportunity to to refute this booke of Reynolds Of the Idolatry of the Church of Rome on which England doth most of all maintayn her schisme Now to deale briefely I call to their remembrance the doings of Salomon who endewed with diuine wisdome not only adorned his temple with those Images and workes of art which God had caused to be made as were the Cherubims c. but added of him selfe so many shapes and kerued pictures of trees and beastes as we read in Scripture 3. Reg. 10. 19. 20. for there were brazen Oxen Palmes Pomegranats c. and his Throne he set out with great little golden Lyons Doubtles Salomon vnderstood this commaundement of not making Images hath by his own fact explicated the same vnto vs sufficiently to wit that it was not commanded for all tymes nor that it was of the diuine natural law but so farre forth as it denyed supreme worship to be giuen vnto them but only of the diuine positiue law Temporall and Conditionall then and so long to be obserued when and how long there should be danger least the picture should be cause and occasion of Idolatry wherfore seeing in vs now so well instructed there is no danger of committing idolatry by Images that prohibition of the law which forbiddeth pictures to be made hath no place with vs and therefore the Image-breakers abolishing the vse of Images breaking them in peeces and vnworthily handling theÌ„ haue alwaies been esteemed of the Church held for most wicked hereticks nuÌ„bred amoÌ„g the enemies of Christian Religion 21. The children of Israel in adoring the Calfe to haue coÌ„mitted Idolatry is a thing most euident neither will I euer grauÌ„t that this Calfe represented to theÌ„ the true God it is most false against the true sense of the Scripture to say the Israelites in that Calf to haue adored the true God they adored the same golden Calfe which they erring most beastly thought to haue had in it the diuinity of the true God this as I hope in due place time I shal coÌ„uince out of most cleere passages of the holy Scripture shal refute the light argumeÌ„ts of Caluin Reynolds Latria shew theÌ„ that God himselfe may be adored with highest honour in corporal signes without al danger of committing Idolatry and that the English rely on a most filthy errour whiles they dreame out of Reynolds follyes to triuÌ„ph ouer the Roman Church as if it were truly Idolatricall therfore by them lawfully reiected and forsaken In our vse of holy Images wheras euery ill circumstance all scandall are ordinarily wanting because we lyue not amongst Idolaters and are or may be well instructed touching the lawfull worship of Images most farre off from the supreme worship giuen vnto God therfore we may lawfully kneele before an Image and so adore the person represented therby with supreme honour in case he be capable therof So did the children of Israel adore God in the cloud
Church not to bind vnder mortall sinne the vnity of the Church not to be taken from one visible head the Pope to be the capitall eenemy of the whole Church the Masse to be no true sacrifice the ceremonies of the Masse to be light Comical gestures no transsubstantiation to be made auricular confession with absolution to be no true Sacrament that there is no purgatory satisfaction for release of the punishment after that the fault is forgiuen not to be necessary no Indulgences to be but of such penaltyes only as are imposed the Saintes not to be inuocated the worship of Relikes and Images not to be lawfull that there is no merit of good workes to euerlasting life These and the the like errours and manifest heresies not so much myne and new as of the auncient and modern heretickes and their bablings and doating dreames condemned alwayes by the Catholike Church in many holy generall Councells are miserable rockes vnto which such as approach make lamentable shipwracke of their faith and euerlastinge saluation and therefore I fly from them as far as I am able and least that I should haue beene cast away vppon them in England I was of necessity to depart from thence and rerurne to the true Church the port and harbour of Catholickes and forsake detest anathematize or accurse all the foresayd errors and whatsoeuer others if there be any other in those bookes which agree not with the faith expressed in the sacred Councells especially in the late Councell of Trent on the other side I imbrace and auer the contrary truthes to wit the chiefe Bishop of Rome by Christs iustitution to be his Vicar on earth to be the visible head of the militant Church which alwayes hath beene visible with full power receaued from God to gouerne and order the same the same Bishopp of Rome to haue power ouer temporall thinges in ordine ad spiritualia the implicite fayth to be profitable and sometymes necescessary as when one without his fault hath no expresse faith or beliefe of some articles the excommunications of the law or deliuered ipso facto to be of force and to be feared as induced by exceeding great reason and lawfull power the Popes to be able to excommunicate all faithfull people of what place or countrey soeuer in case they deserue to be so censured the commaundements of the Church bynd all vnder mortall sinne to obserue them the vnity of the Church chiefly to depend vpon the one visible head thereof the B. of Rome to be the true lawfull towards the sheepe of Christ as it behoueth the profitable Pastor of the whole Church the only eternall saluation of which I desire he may alwayes thirst and seeke with all care in in the Masse to be offered vp vnto God a true proper and propitiatory sacrifice the ceremonies of the Masse ordained by the Fathers and Pastors of the Church by the inspiration of the holy Ghost to be holy mystical profitable and by all meanes to be retayned transubstantiation to be made in the Sacrament of the Aultar that is the conuersion of turning of the whole substance of bread into the body of the whole substance of wine into the bloud of our Lord Iesus Christ by Sacramentall absolution wherby the priest absolues the penitent to be exercised a true and proper power of binding and losing sins which our Lord gaue to the ministers of his Sacraments in the Church to be purgatory in that manner as the holy Roman Apostolicke Church teacheth it to be graunted satisfaction to be much avayleable for the releasement of the punishment after that the sinne is forgiuen the vse of pardons in the Catholike Church to whome Christ hath giuē power to bestow them to be most ancient most soueraygne and approued by the authority of holy Councels the Saints not only without all errour of the faithfull to be inuocated but further that it is good profitable to haue recourse to their prayers and help the worship of Reliques and images to be good lawfull and profitable which cannot be abrogated without the spot of heresy the merit of eternall life to depend of our good workes The later General Councels which are of supreame authority in the Church my stomak being ouer charged with ill humours I did often despise especially the Councells of Florence Trent many times also that of Constance and through my procuring a certayn history came forth in print of the Councell of Trent of the truth of which history I had no certainty yea it is worthily suspected of imposture in these thinges also I confesse that I erred very much for I affirme all the most wholsome decrees of these Councells with full fayth to be imbraced by all the Catholikes 6. In a certayn sermon of mine had in Italian at London the first sonday in Aduent and printed I set down these errours which being after repeated agayne in the booke of the Rocks now I haue worthily detested In that sermon I framed a certayn night of papall errours in the Roman Church wheras indeed in the Roman Church alone and others conioyned therewith there is true light the true and only most shining day out of which in England especially is continuall most darke night In the Church of Rome the light of truth the true and sincere vnderstanding of the holy scriptures driues far away from it al the darkenes of errours with which darknes miserable Englād being ouercast groapeth like a blind man at noone day I sayd in the same sermon and reiterated agayne in the booke of the Rocks that S. Peter was neuer at Rome but this as a soule and ignorant lye I freely confesse is to be condemned I made all the Apostles in planting and gouerning the Church to be equall whereas notwithstanding the supremacy of S. Peter ouer them is cleare by the very gospells and Apostolicall traditions I affirmed the Bishops to succeed the Apostles with equall power and to be Bishops in solidum of the Vniuersall Church whereas yet Bishops are but Pastors of particuler Churchs haue but a particuler charge the generall primacy being reserued to him who in the same succeedeth S. Peter who is the B. of Rome and chiefe Pastor I sayd that holy water graynes crosses hallowed images Papal and Episcopall blessings the stations diuersity of habits cords leather girdles visiting Churches and Altars beades processions and the like to be toyes when as it sufficiently appeareth almost all of these thinges to be auncient and allowed in the Catholicke Church which vse is to be cōtinued yea euen in those things which are more fresh inducements to piety deuotion I affirmed that there were only two Sacraments Baptisme and the Supper whereas yet the Catholike Church lightned by the holy ghost doth plainly teach define that there be seauen true Sacraments all which and what other heresyes soeuer condemned by the Catholike Roman Church I doe also condemne and with firme faith belieue
which they gather certayne heresies to wit Christ not to haue a true body but a fātasticall one because we put the whole body in so litle a compasse or quantity of bread in so much say they as the body is no more a body again that Christ is not in heauen if he be on the altar on earth against the article of his Ascensiō finally Christ not to haue beene borne of the Virgin Mary because that we doe make him of bread In these men truly that is veryfyed which S. Hierom writes In Epist ad Titum c. 3. nullum esse Schisma quod non sibi aliquam haeresim confingat vt meritò ab Ecclesia recessisse videatur There is no schisme which frames not to it selfe some heresy that it may seeme with some reason to haue departed from the Church And as for Trāsubstantiation which the Catholiks teach that is most far frō these heresies for in this all the properties of a body are out of danger from being destroyed although we graunt the same body to be conteyned vnder neuer so little formes and accidents of bread albeit these propertyes in ordine ad locum as they are referred to place which is a thing extrinsecall to the body may by Gods power be separated which thing is fully explicated by the schoole Doctors but what heresy can they imagine in vs if we doe al constantly affirme that we belieue as an article of fayth Christ to haue had still to haue a true body with all natural propertyes in it selfe which propertyes we belieue cōfesse by the same omnipotēt power may be preserued although the body be reduced to neuer so litle an external place neither can any by Thelogical proofe infring the same humane Philosophy neither can nor must measure Gods power let that iudge what can be done by nature but those things that are aboue nature let it reuerence but not iudge neyther doth it follow hence Christs body not to be in heauen but on the altar we all by diuine fayth belieue Christ haue ascended into heauen and there for euer to sit at the right hand of his father notwithstanding we affirme that by diuine power one and the selfe same body may be in many places at once at least sacramentally and this cannot be impugned but only out of humane Philosophy and seeming arguments and lastly we say not the body to be made of bread as if it had not beene before but we hould the bread to be transubstantiated into the body of Christ which body did preexist or was before the consecration and before transubstantiation the body of Christ borne of the Virgin Mary is extant and existent into which the bread is transubstantiated truly these men do ignorantly forge these heresies for he is an heretick who directly vtters heresy but if they aske of vs what we belieue of the truth of Christes body of the Ascension of the Incarnation they shall heare vs deliuer the true and Catholike beliefe notwithstāding that we affirme other things out of which they imagine to follow these erroneous opinions which we vtterly and truly deny to follow of them and they cannot Theologically conuince vs to the contrary In so much then as pertaineth vnto heresy they can pretend no cause wherefore they haue iustly for good cause separated thēselues frō our Church therfor they made an vnlawful schisme 11. The more moderate English Protestāts that are not Puritās vrge not much the heresy of the Roman Church nor from that ground free themselues from the foule spot of schisme but they vrge fiercely idolatry and obtruding of new articles of fayth by which meanes they will haue the Roman that is the Catholike Church to haue fallen from the true faith and hereby chiefely they defend the equity of their separation this idolatry they will haue to consist in the worship inuocation of Saints and reuerence of Relikes and Images and most of all in the Adoration of the B. Sacrament a more secret Idolatry they will haue to lye lurking in the cōfidence we repose on salt water oyle and other thinges exorcised blessed they also cōplain of new articles thrust vpon them by Catholikes in the definitions of the Councell of Trent about Iustification Workes Merits Purgatory Indulgences and the like but all in vayn Certainly if we Catholikes were indeed Idolaters we should not only be heretickes but much worse then most heretickes therefore ought to be auoyded and altogether separated far from all the faithfull And I wōder how any man that is in his right wits can charge them with idolatry who dayly professe themselues to belieue in one God and for this ground or foundation of fayth are ready to shed their bloud who dayly preach and teach that no diuine worship can be giuen to any pure Creature This then is a base slaunder Are we for our inuocating of Saints worshipping of images adoration of the B. Sacramēt held guilty or suspected with these men of idolatry Let them seeke let them vnderstand let them penetrate what we hold of the vnity of the true God what of diuine honour not to be imparted vnto creatures and then they shall presently perceaue all such to be very Sots who iudge and affirme vs to be idolaters that is worshippers of creatures with diuine honour neither let them breake out into open schisme vntill they haue found in our doctrine and practise true Idolatry 12. No Catholike euer auouched dead men or Angells to be worshipped with diuine honour we are not such fooles Vigilantius in tymes past obiected this vnto the Catholikes but falsely as S. Hier. writing against him doth shew and in this as in other thinges of this nature we haue the ancient Fathers our good maisters from them we doe not dissent we doe not depart we doe not disagree we willingly imbrace most exactly practise their most holesome doctrine and euery way Catholike touching the worshiping of Saints Originis lib. 8. contra Celsum Epiphanij haeres 79. August Epist. 44. libro de quantitate animae cap. 34. lib. de vera relig cap. 55. contra Faustum lib. 23. cap. 21. Cyrilli Alexand. lib. 6. contra Iulianum Theodoreti in historia Sāctorum Patrum cap. 21. I cite not the wordes of these and other Fathers because the shortnes of this smal treatise doth not comport it From whence then haue these late blind maisters borrowed their new eyes when as the Catholike Church long ere they were born was most excellētly furnished with most resplendent most secure shining lāps of learning sanctity 13. Festiual daies belong vnto the honour of Saints which we celebrate in their remembrance praysing God and thanking him that he hath aduaunced mortal men and sinners to so high a degree of holines neither is this a late nouelty in the Church by annuall deuotiō to keep festiuall daies in the honour of Saintes it is an ancient vse and so ancient
blaspheming of Christ and saying that he was not the soÌ„ne of God or sent by him seeing the society or Church founded by him doth not subsist but is euer now and then to be dissolued or deuided into partes the Church of Christ is one house and one family he who drawes himselfe from this family that goeth forth out of this house he belongs not to the family of Christ he is depriued of saluation as who were not in the Arke Gen. 3. were lost and perished in the floud The Protestants haue cut themselues from the body of Christ which is the only Catholike Roman Church and those who are inseparably vnited with the same therfore they are not members of Christ and therefore Christ is not their head neyther doth he infuse his holy Spirit and gifts into them they are therefore rotten members and already cut of because they haue cut themselues off wickedly of their own accord from the body Sunt palmites sayth S. Augustine August Epist 50. à vite praecisi nulli vsui nisi igni apti neque potest esse particeps diuinae Caritatis qui est hostis vnitatis they are branches cut off from the vyne fit for no other vse then the fire Ezech. 15.3 neyther can he be partaker of Gods charity who is an enemy of vnity So he 30. Of all spirituall help if they think themselues to haue any they haue made shipwrack by their schisme Si linguis hominum loquar Angelorum sayth S. Paul 1. Cor. 13.1 Caritatem autem non habeam nihil sum nihil mihi prodest If I shall speake with the tongues of men and Angels and haue not Charity I am nothinge it auayles me nothing Out of which wordes of the Apostle S. Augustine prudently admonisheth August de Baptismo Lib. 1. c. 9. no good worke any way to auayle a Schismatike The same and more then once hath S. Cypryan deliuered CypriaÌ„ lib. 4. Epist 2. Etsi occisus propter nomen Christi postmodum fuerit extra Ecclesiam constitutus ab vnitate atque caritate diuisus coronari in morte non poterit although one after that he is out of the Church and is deuided from the vnity and charity of the same be killed for the name of Christ he cannot be crowned in his death The same he vrgeth in other places as Lib. 1. Epist 1. ad Iulianum tract de simp Praelatorum seu de vnitate Ecclesiae de Oratione Dominica whome S. Chrysostome followes in Epist ad Ephesios Hom. 11. 31. Let the Protestants I beseech them consider what an enormous sinne they haue committed by this cursed separation because that schisme destroyes the Church for it is the saying of Christ Luc. 11.17 Omne Regnum in se diuisum desolabitur euery kingdome deuided in it selfe shal be brought to desolation and of S. Paul Galat. 5.15 Videte ne dum inuicem mordetis inuicem consummamini Take head least whiles you bite one another yee be not consumed one of another and this cryme of destroying the Church may be sayd to be that sinne agaynst the holy Ghost that Christ auouched not to be forgiuen in this world nor in the next Math. 12.31 as S. Ambrose sheweth Ambros 2. de Paenit cap. 4. So that most wicked harlot in the booke of Kings had rather that there should be no child theÌ„ that it should be brought vp in the bosome of the true mother and exclaymed against her saying 3. Reg. 3.26 nec mihi nec tibi sed diuidatur let the child neither be giuen to me nor thee but let it be deuided the Schismaticks labour al they can that the true and entier Fayth be not kept in the bosome of the true mother the Church they goe about to dead it that it may neither be kept aliue with them nor vs but they preuayle nothing and let those know that to be spoken of them Ecclesiast 10.8 qui dissipat sepem mordebit eum coluber the serpent shall byte him that breateth down the hedge 32. And it is no meruayle that the Englishmen haue fallen into many Heresies that Puritanisme doth sway so much albeyt when first they made their schisme they were neither infected with the Lutherane or CalumiaÌ„ heresies For as Irenaeus doth notably teach vs Iren. lib. 3. cap. 40. lib. 4. cap. 43. those who are cut of from the Church do not drinke out of the fountayne of the spirit of God but do digg for themselues bylakes and do fall into most grosse errours agaynst the truth of Fayth In like manner S. Cyprian makes the Catholike Church the roote the fountayne the sunne CypriaÌ„ lib. de simplic Praelat that as a branch hath his life froÌ„ the roote the riuer his water from the fountayne the sunne-beame his light spendour from the sunne so the sincerity of true beleefe to be had by our vnion with the Catholike Church they therfore who haue cut themselues from it cannot haue the truth of fayth but must necessarily fall into errours for they are trees without a roote ryuers without a fountayne sunne-beames without a sunne hereof it comes that the Fathers out of these and the like reasons doe coÌ„uince that schisme in the end breaks forth into heresy for he who refuseth to haue vnity with the Catholike Church will also refuse to learne of her the truth of Fayth of which she alone is the treasurer preseruer S. Augustine very well defines this matter when he sayth Augu. lib. 2. contra Crescon c. 7. Inueteratum Schisma esse ipsammet haeresim inueterate schisme to be heresy it selfe And S. Cyprian worthily findeth in euery schisme that heresy at least wherby is taken away one or two articles of our Creed Credo Sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam Remissionem peccatorum I belieue the holy Catholike Church the Remission or forgiuenes of sinnes for they who beleeue the holy Catholike Church to be the true Church of Christ they cannot if they thus beleeue depart from her and in case they depart then truly they do not belieue the Catholike Church to be the true Church of Christ So Saint Augustine sayth of the Donatists Aug. haeres 69. ad Quod vult Deum that they had turned their schisme into heresy And S. Ambrose in the funeral Oration had of his brother approuing his fact for that he had fled from the Luciferian Church as I now from the Churches of EnglaÌ„d sayth Non putauit Fidem esse in schismate nam etsi Fidem in Deum tenerent tamen erga Dei Ecclesiam non tenerent cuius patiebantur velut quosdam artus diuidi meÌ„bra lacerari Etenim cùm propter Ecclesiam Christus passâ—… sit Christi corpus Ecclesia sit non videtur ab ijs exhiberi Christo fides à quibus euacuatur eius passio corpusque distrahitur He thought not that there was any fayth in schisme for although they kept their fayht towards God yet they kept it not towards the Church of God of which they permitted certayne ioyntes to be deuided and members to be torne truly whereas Christ suffered his passion for the Church and the Church is the body of Christ they seeme not to beleeue in Christ by whome his Passion is made voyd his body dismembred 33. Was I then with so great domage of my soule to remayne amongst Heretikes and Schimatickes God forbid I am troubled with bitter griefe of mynd that I remayned so long amongst them that I tooke wicked armes and fought agaynst my Mother agaynst the Catholike truth and that I wrote bookes of the Ecclesiastical CoÌ„mon Wealth stuffed with heresyes which I vtterly abhorre and detest that I haue warred in the infamous tents of heretiks not without the perpetuall blot or infamy of my Name I now loath and am ashamed of my so great offence and craue humbly and with al submission pardon for this wickednes of God most good most great of my Sauiour Christ and of his supreme Vicar or Substitute on Earth the Bishop of Rome and submit all my faultes to the singular Clemency of the same chiefe Pastour because that he being to be iudged of none sits as supreme Iudge of al most fully susteining the person of Christ in the militant Church and I confidently hope that as our Lord doth willingly open to his Penitent the bosome of his mercy so I shal be imbraced in the armes of Clemency by his Holynes The exaÌ„ple of S. Cyprian against Pope Stephen the first very much reprehended and condemned also by the Catholike Church confirmed me a while in my naughtynes of resisting the Pope but now my filthy fall hath with myne owne danger taught me how easily Bishops fall from the right path of Fayth who leauing the Cynosura or Pole-starre that is the most certayne and secure direction of the Bishop of Rome follow to their destruction their own foolish fancyes I would to God that as S. Cyprian with the shedding of his own bloud did blot out all the spot of his former animosity so also that there may be graunted vnto me who for the multitude greatnes of my faultes haue incomparably exceeded his fall opportunity grace to blot out also with my bloud those soule spots and by that meanes to testify the Catholike truth which when my inke should fayle me I am most ready by the help of God to his prayse and honour for the aduauncement of the holy Catholike Church and glory of the Sea Apostolike to seale with my bloud Adsit Deus God second and assist me Rome the 24. of Nouember 1622. stylo nouo FINIS