I know my self to have been ignorant in that which indeed I knew not And finally S. Paul to the Hebrews maketh this plain when giving a definition of Faith he writeth thus Est autem fides substantia sperandarum rerum argumentum non apparentium Faith is the substance or ground of things hoped for in the next life and an argument of such things as be not apparent or manifest to humane sense or reason Thus teach they And the matter is clear in it self and confoundeth the politic vain heads of our days who will believe no more than they see or feel or can comprehend by their own understanding 21. But now concerning the causes of this difficulty or obscurity in matters of belief the same Fathers do assign 2 or 3 for principal The first is the heighth and sublimity of the the articles and mysteries themselves that are to be believed which being of God's Secrets do surpass the base capacity and reason of man. As are for example the creation of the world of nothing the trinity of persons in one nature of divinity the incarnation of the Son of God and his birth without violating his mothers virginity the resurrection of our bodies the being of Christ in the Sacrament and the like which human reason cannot reach unto tho' they be not contrary to it but above it Another cause is as S. Ambrose noteth the Majesty of Almighty God who will be believed at his word without being asked for proof or reason for the same For if saith he a grave honorable personage in this life especially if he be of high authority and our superior will take it in disdain to be asked a proof for that he affirmeth how much more ought God to be credited without proof of human reason when he proposeth unto us a matter above our reach or capacity 22. The third cause is that which before I touched that Man might merit more by believing that which he seeth not evident according to the Saying of Christ to S. Thomas Quia vidisti Thoma credidisti beati qui non viderunt crediderunt Because thou hast seen Thomas thou hast believed but happy are they that have not seen and yet have believed And for all these causes if we consider the matter well we shall find that God hath proceeded strangely to man's eye from the beginning of the world in revealing the mysteries of our Faith unto us discovering his will on the one side with infinite testification of his love and desire that we should know them and yet on the other side with such reservation in those revelations as the matter might still be difficult hard or obscure in some respect and this for the greater merit as hath been said of the believer As for example before the flood he appeared to divers Patriarchs from time to time causing them to preach and open to others his will and the truth of that Faith which they were bound to believe but yet he appeared not to all in those days which he might have done if he would and thereby have made the matter more clear and out of doubt but he would have them believe others by words and tradition And the like manner of proceeding he used after the flood with Abraham Isaac and Jacob for instruction of their posterity And then again four or five hundred years after that when he determined to bring the Hebrew people out of Egypt and to give them a written Law he appeared not evidently to all the people but chose Moses to send unto them in his name and spake to him out of a fiery bush at the beginning and at other times out of a cloud on the top of a hill All which things had still their doubts and difficulties for him that would wrangle or had not good will to believe and credit them 23. And finally when the Son of God came himself in flesh to preach tho' he used many and sufficient Arguments to draw men unto him and believe the Mysteries revealed by him as in the next Point shall be shewed yet used he the same course notwithstanding that had been used before for neither appeared he to the whole world as he might have done by his Divinity and Omnipotency but to those of Jewry only nor there to all nor did he work Miracles in every place but where he thought expedient Nor when he rose again from death which is a Point principally in this matter to be considered did he appear to all men or publickly in the Streets of Jerusalem as he might have done and thereby have made his Resurrection clear and out of controversie but he appeared only to his Apostles and Disciples which he expresseth in these words Hunc Deus suscitavit tertia die dedit eum manifestum fieri non omni populo sed testibus praeordinatis à Deo nobis qui manducavimus bibimus cum ilio postquam resurrexit à mortuis Et praecepit nobis praedicare populo testificari c. God hath raised up this his Son from death the third day and gave him to be made manifest not to all the people but unto such as were pre-ordained beforehand by him to be witnesses thereof that is to say us that did eat and drink with him after his Resurrection and to us he gave commandment to preach and testifie to the people c. 24. Behold here the reason why Christ after his Resurrection did not appear to the whole people in Jewry but to his Apostles and Disciples only who were his appointed witnesses to testifie and preach the same to others to the end their Faith might be of more merit according to his former speech to S. Thomas Happy are they who have not seen and yet do believe And for the self same causes we may not doubt but that these his apparitions and manifestations which are recounted in Scriptures to have been made by him at divers times in sundry places and upon different occasions during his abode on earth for the space of forty days after his Resurrection which apparitions arrive to the number of 13 or 14 were made in such particular manner by him as the Scripture recounteth them First to those godly women then to the Apostles then to the disciples going to Emaus and after that to others All I say were so made as still remained place for our free will to merit in believing them and divers did doubt at the beginning as the Scripture saith and Christ was often forced to reprehend their coldness and backwardness in belief as when he said O stulti tardi corde ad credendum O you foolish and slow of heart to believe And at his last departure from them Exprobravit illis saith S. Mark incredulitatem eorum duritiem cordis quia iis qui viderant eum resurrexisse non crediderunt He did exprobrate unto them their incredulity and
of Religion he wrote again to have the Civil and Imperial Laws sent over to him whereby to govern his Kingdom according to Christian Religion 19. All this I say doth Fox set down afterward very particularly shewing that after King Lucius and his Realm had received the Baptism of Christ were made Christians and had turned twenty-eight Heathen Flamens and three Archflamens that were before of Gentiles into so many Christian Bishops and Archbishops All this being done and well settled the foresaid King Lucius saith he sent again to the said Eleutherius for the Roman Laws thereby likewise to be governed as in Religion now they were framed accordingly Vnto whom Eleutherius again writeth after the tenor of these words following Ye require of us the Roman Laws c. 20. Whereby it is evident that this Letter of Eleutherius if it be true and not feigned by Fox was written to King Lucius some number of years after his Conversion seeing he could not setttle his Realm as here Fox describeth but in some good space of time Holinshead Hooker and Harrison Disciples also of this Fox in this do take upon them to determine the Time tho' I know not by what Authority saying That it was three years after King Lucius his Conversion and Baptism The Faith of Christ say they being thus planted in the Island Anno 177 it came to pass the third year of the Gospel received that Lucius did send again to Eleutherius the Bishop requiring that he might have some brief Epitome of the Order of Discipline then used in the Church c. 21. Thus hold they and that upon this second Embassage followed the foresaid Letter of Eleutherius to King Lucius Which if it be true then let them give Sentence of their good Father what an egregious Hypocrit and Deceiver he was to argue out of this Letter That forasmuch as it appeareth by the same that King Lucius was a Christian when this Letter was written Ergo King Lucius was not converted by Eleutherius but by some other before him tho' perhaps he might help somewhat to his Confirmation in Religion c. 22. But now to the substance of the Letter it self or rather of the piece or parcel that it hath pleased Fox and these his Scholars to impart with us You must note first That these good Scholars seeing their Master to have left us this English Epistle of Eleutherius so imperfect and curtail'd as it seemeth to have neither end or just beginning do say that the rest was lost which yet Fox telleth us not Secondly they seeing the Title to make much against them left it out as before hath been said Thirdly touching the very Corps it self of the Epistle set down by him they put it down so different both in Words Sentences Authorities and Texts of Scripture from that which Fox hath as it sheweth either the thing to be wholly feigned by Them or their Master or that they have a great Liberty and Priviledge to alter the same at their pleasures 23. And this would be sufficient for this matter but further perchance you might demand Why this Epistle of Eleutherius is alledged and urged so earnestly by them seeing it seemeth to make so little for them Whereunto I answer That the chiefest Causes seem to be two or three The first That Fox might frame thereupon his former foolish Argument That forasmuch as by this Epistle it appeareth that King Lucius was a Christian when this Epistle was written by Eleutherius it may seem that Eleutherius converted him not nor any other sent from Rome the falshood and childishness of which Argument hath been sufficiently laid open before 24. The second Cause is to found two points of Doctrin thereon The one That Scriptures only are sufficient to govern any Kingdom without other Ecclesiastical Civil or Temporal Laws which yet themselves do not practise where they have Dominion as experience teacheth us The other point is That every King is God's Vicar that is to say absolute and supreme Head in all Causes as well Spiritual as Temporal within his Realm and to this end is brought in the Testimony of this Letter of Eleutherius not only by Fox Holinshead Hooker Harrison Hastings and other of that Crew taking one from another that Argument but even their great Champion Jewell as Holinshead relateth in the first Volume of his Stories 25. The Reverend Father John Jewell saith he sometime Bishop of Salisbury writeth in his Reply unto Harding 's Answer That the said Eleutherius for general Order to be taken in the Realm and Churches here wrote his advice to Lucius in manner and form following Ye have received in the Kingdom of Britanny by God's Mercy both the Law and Faith of Christ ye have both the New and the Old Testament out of the same through God's Grace by the advice of your Realm make a Law and by the same through God's sufferance rule your Kingdom of Britanny for in that Kingdom you are God's Vicar c. 26. These are the words alledged by Master Jewel out of this Epistle which differ not much from that which is in Fox and Holinshead But both of them do add a third Clause out of the said Epistle which is this A King hath his name of Ruling and not of having a Realm You shall be a King while you rule well but if you do otherwise the name of a King shall not remain with you but you shall utterly lose and forgo it which God forbid And then maketh Holinshead this Annotation in these words Hitherto out of the Epistle that Eleutherius sent unto Lucius wherein many pretty Observations are to be collected if time and place would serve to stand upon them 27. So he saith but what Annotations these are he declareth not tho' it be easie to guess by others which he maketh in other places For that in the very next page before he maketh us a very grave Discourse How that Lucius sent to Rome the second time for a Copy of such politic Orders as were then used in the Regiment of the Church but that Eleutherius for divers reasons thought it best not to lay any more upon the Necks of the New Converts of Britanny than Christ and his Apostles had already set down to all men in the Scriptures And is not this a wise Discourse as tho' no Temporal Laws were to be made in a Christian Commonwealth but only those that are set down in Scriptures Who seeth not the madness of these Conclusions or Illations Nay who doth not consider how greatly this matter is against themselves That King Lucius dwelling so far off from Rome as he did yea being otherwise an Enemy to the Roman Nation as these men confess that he was did notwithstanding so highly respect even in those ancient days the See and Bishop of Rome that he submitted himself thereto and demanded from thence direction not
tho' first before we enter into this examination we have thought good to treat certain general Points that make way thereunto as by the next Chapter you shall perceive CHAP. I. Of how to great Importance Ecclesiastical Succession is for trial of true Religion and how Sectaries have sought to fly the force thereof by saying That the Church is invisible How fond a shift this is and how foolishly John Fox doth behave himself therein THE Sentence of the Philosopher is known to all That contraries being laid together do give light the one to the other as white and black proposed in one Table do make each colour more clear distinct and lively in it self For which respect we having laid open before in the first Part of this Discourse the known manifest Succession of Christian Religion in our Isle of England first from the Apostles times among the Britans for the first six Ages after Christ and then again among the English-men for nine Ages more since their first Conversion from Paganism we are now to examin what manner of visible Succession John Fox doth bring us forth of his Church that is to say of the Protestants of his Religion for the said 1500 years or fifteen Ages if any such be for that by this comparison of the One with the Other the Nature and Condition of both Churches will be understood But yet first I mean to note by the way certain principal points to be considered for better understanding of all that is to be handled in this Chapter or about this whole matter of Ecclesiastical Succession 2. Whereof the first may be that which I have touched in the end of the former Chapter to wit of how great importance this point is I mean the Succession and Continuation of Teachers the one conform to the other in matter of Belief and Religion for clear demonstration of Truth in matters of Controversie and for staying any discreet man's judgment from wavering hither and thither in his belief according to that which holy St. Augustin said of himself and felt in himself For that considering the great diversity of Sects that swarm'd in his time and every one pretending Truth Antiquity Purity and Authority of Scriptures and himself also having been misled by one of these Sects for many years was brought by God at length to be a true Catholic and to feel in himself the force of this visible Succession of the Catholic Church And therefore writing against one that in time past had been his Master as Head of the former Sect wherein he had lived to wit Faustus Manichaeus after divers other reasons alledged of his confidence and assurance of Truth in the Catholic Church and of his firm resolution to live and die in the same he bringeth for his last and strongest reason the perpetual Succession of Bishops in the same Church and especially in the Church of Rome Tenet me in Ecclesia saith he ab ipsa Petri sede usque ad praesentem Episcopatum successio Sacerdotum c. I am held in this Church against all you Sectaries by the Succession of Priests and Bishops that have come down even from the first seat of St. Peter the Apostle to the present Bishop of Rome Anastasius that holdeth the seat at this day c. 3. Lo here the force and estimation of Succession with St. Augustin Whereunto are conform all other ancient Fathers if we would stand to alledge them yea they stand so firmly upon this point and do make so great account of it as they do generally note Heretics and Sectaries for the contrary defect to wit that they have no Succession or orderly continuation either of Bishops or of Faith among them but did leap hither and thither as ours do at this day challenging to themselves now this and now that without either Order Interest Continuation or Succession Ordinem saith St. Augustin ab Apostolo Petro coeptum usque ad hoc tempus per traducem succedentium Episcoporum servatum perturbant ordinem sibi sine origine vendicantes Heretics do trouble and break the order of succeeding of Bishops begun by St. Peter and brought down by Off spring one Bishop succeeding another and so challenge unto themselves a certain Order without beginning 4. To which effect also Tertullian more than 200 years before St. Augustin challenging Heretics to this Combat of Succession said Edant Haeretici origines suarum Ecclesiarum evolvant ordinem Episcoporum suorum c. Let Heretics set forth the beginning of their Churches let them recount the order of their succeeding Bishops if they can And then having set down for his part and for proof of true Catholic Succession the whole rank of the Bishops of Rome from St. Peter to Pope Eleutherius that lived in his days Mark I pray you the proof he useth tho' he were of the Church of Africa He glorieth as tho' he brought forth an invincible Argument against all Heretics challenging and provoking them to do the like if they could Consingant saith he tale aliquid Haeretici Let Heretics bring forth or devise any such things for proof of their Church if they can And consider here gentle Reader how Heretics remain confounded by Tertullian's judgment for want of Succession 5. But this is not only Tertullian's Opinion for St. Irenaeus before him again objecteth the same to Heretics against whom he wrote saying Obedire oportet eis qui successionem habent ab Apostolis qui cum Episcopatus successione charismata veritatis acceperunt You ought to obey these who have their Succession from the Apostles who together with the Succession of their Bishoprics have received from time to time the gifts or privileges of Truth And in another place Apud quas est ea quae est ab Apostolis successio hi fidem nostram custodiunt scripturas sine periculo nobis exponunt With whom the Succession of Bishops from the Apostles time downwards is found to have remained these are they who conserve our Faith and do expound the Scripture unto us without danger Behold the vertue of Succession which this blessed Bishop and Martyr St. Irenaeus esteemed so highly in his days as he ascribed thereto both the infallible Conservation of Faith and true Exposition of Scriptures 6. And it is to be noted that he speaketh not only of Succession in Belief as every one of our Sectaries will seem to pretend that they have it among themselves from the Apostles which yet is ridiculous and manifestly false as before hath been declared and after shall be more in particular but he speaketh expresly also of the external Succession and Continuation of Bishops ascribing to them and proving by them the Succession of one and the self-same Faith And to that end doth he number up all the Bishops of Rome from St. Peter to his time as Tertullian before-alledged did notwithstanding the one lived in France and the other in Africa proving
a Fox in all things and to deal sincerely in nothing I shall allege the words of the Authors that write of this matter Certain Heretics say they to the number of Eighty were burned in Argentina in Switzerland for that they denied Fornication to be any sin at all for that it is a natural act and that it was as lawful to eat flesh in Lent as at any other time c. 26. Behold what holy Martyrs these were and whether it be likely they were burned by Pope Innocentius seeing they were burned in Argentina Consider also that of Eighty he there maketh a Hundred by the art of Exaggeration and Multiplication Add likewise to these saith he Waldenses or Albigenses with a great number more to which number belonged Raymundus Earl of Tholose Marsilius Patavinus Gulielmus de Sancto Amore Simon Tornacensis c. Here if John Fox do take the Waldenses and Albigenses to be all one Sect as it seemeth he doth by his using the word or and adjoyning the Earl of Tholose as belonging to them both then is it both false and great ignorance also in him For that the Waldenses otherwise called the poor men of Lyons began about the year of Christ 1160 or 1180 as other men write before Innocentius III. came to be Pope Their beginning was by one Waldo a rich Citizen of the Town who giving all his Wealth to a certain Community or Brotherhood of Men whom he called the poor men of Lyons made a Society of them with certain Rules after the form of a Religious Confraternity as Aeneas Sylvius describeth pretending Holiness at the beginning and with that pretence went afterward to Rome and demanded an Approbation of that Society from Pope Lucius as testifieth also Vrspergensis who was then present in Rome and saw them But the Pope seeing certain Superstitions among them refused the same Wherewith they being offended began to cry out against the Pope and therewith to defend divers Errors and most absurd Heresies whereof as some are held at this day by the Protestants so divers are not nor will John Fox I presume defend them As for Example these that follow noted generally by all Authors that write of them 27. I. That all Carnal Concupiscence and Conjunction is lawful when Lust doth burn us II. That all Oaths are unlawful unto Christians for any cause whatsoever in this World because it is written Nolite jurare Do not swear Mat. 5. Jac. 5. III. That no Judgment of Life and Death is permitted to Christians in this life for that it is written Nolite judicare Mat. 7. Luc. 6. IV. That the Creed of the Apostles is to be contemned and no account at all to be made of it V. That no other Prayer is to be used by Christians but only the Pater Noster set down in Scripture VI. That the power of Consecrating the Body of Christ and of hearing Confessions was left by Christ not only to Priests but also to Lay-men if they be just VII That no Priests must have any Livings at all but must live on Alms and that no Bishops or other Dignitaries are to be admitted in the Clergy but that all must be equal VIII That Mass is to be said once only every year to wit upon Maundy-Thursday when the Sacrament was instituted and the Apostles made Priests For that Christ said do this in my remembrance to wit say they that which he did at that time IX Item That the words of Consecration must be no other but only the Pater Noster seven times said over the Bread c. X. By all which and other Articles to the number of thirty three Condemned by the Church which Prateolus and others do recount a man may see that as these Heretics agreed with Protestants in some Points so did they dissent in many more Yea held divers points of Catholic Religion against Protestants together with these Errors And consequently I see no reason why these men should be gathered up by John Fox as choâ—en Members of that Protestant Church but for that they have no other and yet will needs seem to have some And thus much for the Walâ—enses 28. The Albigenses were another Sect of Heretics rising some thirty or forty years after the Waldenses under Innocentius III. Anno Domini 1216. And their beginning was at a Town called Albigium in the Province of Tholosa Who albeit in some points they agreed with the said Waldenses yet as all Sects are wont to do they differed greatly in many other Articles and grew so fast in number as Caesarius saith that in a little time they infected a thousand Cities and great Towns round about and had an Army of 70000. fighting Men to defend their Heresie For which Cause also they called help from the Moors in Barbary but yet were overcome by the Catholic Army that was not above 8000. as Historiographers do write the Captain whereof was the most Christian Prince Simon of Momfort And after this Battel given the most part of those Heretics were Converted by St. Dominicks Preaching 29. The Points that these Men held besides the denial of the Popes Supremacy Purgatory Prayer for the Dead and some other such Articles wherein they agreed with the Protestants of our days they held also many other Articles wherein they disagreed both from the Protestants and us As for Example I. They held with the Manichees that then were two Gods one good and another evil and that as the good God created the Soul so the evil created the Body II. They denied all Resurrection of the Body And that it was in vain for Christians to use any kind of Prayer at all or to have Churches for that purpose Seeing it profiteth nothing all things being irrevocably determined by Gods Providence III. That external Baptism was an idle Ceremony and to be rejected as superfluous IV. That mens Souls did pass from one to another yea through Beasts and Serpents And that God Created no new Souls from the beginning of the World but changeth them only from Body to Body c. 30. These and many other such like Beastly absurdities of theirs are recorded by the Writers of those times and namely by those here quoted And more then this their soul wicked behaviour is related to have been so abominable as Christian modesty doth scarce permit to be repeated as for Example of doing their easement upon the Altar and making themselves clean with the â—all and Corporals thereof Their abusing the Body of a Strumpet upon a high Altar in despight of a Crucifix that stood there whose Ears Nose and Arms they cut off and then tying a Haltar about his Neck they drew him most scornfully about the Streets of Tholosa c. and other like And these are the Saints gathered up by John Fox to frame his new Church 31. And for that all the rest that do ensue in his Catalogue of particular Men of his
old and new about this Point of assigning out the true Church where and in whom it is and how to be found I shall pass no farther in this matter but only add a word or two of the third Point which is the difference between us in laying forth the proprieties and notes whereby this Church may be known and distinguished from all others which Point tho' it may sufficiently be seen and gathered by that which already we have said yet for promise sake must somewhat also be spoken here which in effect shall be nothing but this That the difference between us and the Protestants in delivering these proprieties is not far unlike to that of two Gentlemen that should send forth two Servants into the Market-place where many Men are to seek out some Learned Physician for Examples sake giving them certain notes to find him by but far different for that the one delivereth either general notes only that are common to all or most Men as that he hath a head beard two eyes two arms and the like or else certain inward invisible proprieties as that he is learned meek chast c. That he is a good Physician cureth excellently well and followeth therein exactly the Precepts of Hypocrates and Galen and finally hath all things necessary or needful for that effect Which marks being little to the purpose as you see for knowing or discerning out the said Physician from any other the Messenger might weary himself before he found that which he sought for 27. But the other that sendeth forth his Messenger considering that marks and signs must be more known than the thing it self whereof they are marks and not common to many but proper and peculiar to that which is sought for telleth his Servant what special Name the Physician is called by what age what countenance and what stature he is of what apparel he weareth what gesture and manner of going he useth what sound of voice he hath in speaking and above all where he dwelleth how his house may be found known and discerned from all others All which signs being given we must needs say that the Searcher is a very simple or negligent Fellow if he miss him 28. And this very difference is to be noted between the Protestants and us in delivering proprieties to know the Church by for that the Catholics give sound and sure notes proper and peculiar to one only Church which is the true Catholic Church and these notes not invented by themselves but founded in Scriptures and delivered by the Tradition of Christ and his Apostles and used by the ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Church to this very purpose of distinguishing her thereby from all Congregations and Conventicles of Heretics whatsoever Of which notes and proprieties you have heard some before mentioned in the Conference between S. Augustin and the Donatists as the Name Catholic and the ancient possession thereof Universality over all Christendom and multitude of Nations and Gentiles converted to one Christian Church and Faith participating and holding the Communion of one and the self-same number of Sacraments whereunto are added by other Fathers and the self-same Doctor in other places divers other proprieties also as antiquity with continuation and succession from age to age visibility with most perspicuous and illustrious progress apparent and admirable to the whole world unity and conformity in Doctrin by one Rule of Faith throughout all ages notorious sanctity in many members of this Church testified by infinite miracles and supernatural operations the conversion of infinite Pagans and Gentiles with overthrow and extirpation of their Idolatry which was a thing prophesied to be fulfilled by the true Church only 29. These notes I say and divers others are set down by holy Fathers as both proper and peculiar to the only true Catholic Church of Christ and agreeing to no Heretical Congregation whatsoever as also manifest and notorious and most easie to be judged of by all people For these two conditions ought to have true marks as before hath been mentioned the first that they be peculiar and not common the second that they be more notoriously known and more easily found out than the thing it self which they do demonstrate whereof you may read in particular in S. Cyprian against the Novatians S. Hierom against the Luciferians S. Augustin against the Donatists and Pelagians Optatus against the same Donatists and Vincentius Lyrinensis against all sorts of Heretics and this is the real and substantial dealing of Catholics 30. But the Protestants on the contrary side do give such marks and notes as are either general and common or else more obscure and harder to be found out and judged of than the matter in controversie as before we have signified by the Comparisons of seeking out the Physician as for Example Martin Luther Father of our Protestants having left the Communion of the true Church of God and made a new Conventicle to himself would needs make it the true Church of God and prove the same by certain marks and proprieties devised by himself which he setteth down to the number of Seven whereof the first was the true Preaching of the Gospel the second the right Administration of Baptism the third the lawful use of the Eucharist the fourth the due Exercise of the Ecclesiastical Keys in Absolving and retaining Sins the fifth the lawful Election of Ministers the sixth publick Prayer and Singing of Psalms in a known Tongue the seventh the Mystery of the Cross in bearing tribulations These were Luthers notes which other Protestants after him and namely the Magdeburgians and John Calvin do abridge to the number of two only to wit the true Preaching of the Gospel and the sincere use of Sacraments 31. But now what manner of notes these be which every Sect may and do challenge as proper to themselves which they cannot do with any probability with the marks and notes of the Catholic Church before set down is easie to judge for what Sect will not say and swear also if need be that they only Preach the Word of God truly and that they only Administer the Sacraments rightly and that they use the Ecclesiastical Keys duly and that the Election of Ministers is lawfully made among them and that they have publick Prayer and singing of Psalms bearing the Cross and the like and it is harder to convince them in any one of these notes than in the principal point it self to wit that they are not the Catholic Christian Church of Christ so as these marks being common and not proper and less manifest than the thing it self whereof they are put for marks it followeth that they are fond vain and ridiculous and that the inventors thereof did rather seek to obscure and hide the Church than to declare and manifest the same by such proprieties 32. And here will we make an end of all this Discourse reserving the rest unto the third part which