your leisure could allow you to walke along with me a while thorow these sweet and flowrie Meades of Vnity and happy conspiration of thoughts And yet I shall not so much bend the residue of my speech to the praise of vnity to what purpose were that waste as to the necessary vindication of it from the vniust challenges of the enemies of peace It is an heauy crime and of all other the most hainous wherewith we are charged by the Romanists That we are fallen off from the Catholick Church that we haue rent the seamlesse coat of Christ yea broken his bones and torne his very body in peeces whereof if we were indeed guilty how vnworthy were we to breathe in this aire how most worthy of the lowest Hell But we call heauen and earth to record how vniustly this calumny is cast vpon vs yea we protest before God and men that the enuie of this so foule a crimination lights most iustly vpon the heads of the accusers May it please you to heare a short Apologue A certaine man inuited to a feast one or two of his friends entertained them bountifully They sate together louingly they are together and were merry one with another In the second course as the custome is the Master offereth them wine sets before them an apple now a worme had somewhat eaten the apple and a spider by chance had falne into the cup The guest sees and balks it The Master vrgeth him Why doe you not eat quoth he why drinke you not I dare not saith the other t' is not safe to doe either seest thou not this vermine in the cup and that in the apple Tush saith the Master what so great matter is this It was I that set this before thee It was I that began to thee in the other Drinke it eat it at least for my sake But suffer me first replies the guest to take out this spider to cut out this worme the wine the apple likes me well enough the spider the worme I cannot away with Away with such ouer-nine and curious companions quoth he againe Fy vpon thee thou vngratefull fellow that dost so little regard my friendship so contemne my cheere and with that in a rage throwes the platters and pots in the very face of his guest and thrust him out of doores all wounded Tell me now I beseech you worthy Auditors whether of these violates the lawes of hospitality I dare say you haue easily applied it before me There was a time when we sate together in a familiar manner with these Romanists and fared well The spider in the cup The worme in the apple what else be they but superstition in their worship rotten and vnwholsome traditions in their faith without these the Religion pleaseth vs well But they will needs importunately thrust these vpon vs and we refusing are therefore scorned spit vpon beaten and cast out Had they but giuen vs leaue to take out this spider this worme we had still eaten and dranke together most gladly They obstinately resisted and prefer'd their owne headstrong will to our good and safety nay they repell vs with reproaches strike vs with their thundering Anathemaes condemne vs to the stakes what should we doe in this case Heare oh heauens and hearken oh earth and thou Almighty God the Maker and Gouernor of them both suffer thy selfe and thy glorious spirits to be called to the testimony of our innocencie We are compelled we are driuen away from the Communion of the Church of Rome They forced vs to goe from them who departed first from themselues We haue willingly departed from the communion of their errors from the Communion of the Church we haue not departed Let them renounce their erroneous doctrine we embrace their Church Let them but cast away their soule-slaying Traditions we will communicate with them in the right of one and the same Church and remaine so for euer But alas I must be forced to complaine and that not without extreme griefe of heart how that it cannot be determined whether those that boast themselues for Catholikes be greater enemies to Truth or to Charity To Truth in that they haue of late forged new errors and forced them vpon the Church To Charity in that they haue not stuck to condemne the aduerse part and to brand them with the black marke of Heresie I will speake if you please more plainly Three manner of waies doe these Romanists offend against Charity First that they will not remit any thing either of their most conuicted opinion or vitious practice no not for peace sake Secondly that for Articles of Christian faith they put vpon the Church certaine opinions of their owne false doubtfull and vncertaine peculiar onely to the schooles which doe no whit touch the foundation of Religion And lastly that if they meet with any faithfull and sound monitors which doe neuer so little gainsay these new Articles they cruelly cast them out of the bosome of the Church and throw them headlong into Hel Away with these Schismaticks Hereticks Acheists Iwis the Protestants haue no Church no faith no saluation Good Lord what fury what frenzy distempers Christians that they should be so impotently malicious against those who professe themselues to be redeemed by the ransome of the same most precious bloud At length At length O yee Christians be wise and acknowledge those whom the God and Father of mercies holds worthy of his armes yea of his bowels Let frantick error bawle what it list we are Christians we are Catholicks the vndiuided members of one holy Catholick and Apostolick Church Let vs meet at this barre if you please Leâ— who will maintaine the plea What is it which maketh a Church What is it which maketh that Church One holy Catholick Apostolick Is it not one holy Catholick Apostolick saith But which is that Is it not the same which was deliuered by Christ and the Apostles to the whole world and was alwaies and euery where approued through all Ages euen vnto our times Wherefore are the Scriptures wherefore the Creeds wherefore were the primitiue Councells but that there might bee certaine markes whereby Catholicks might be vndoubtedly discerned from Hereticks You know the Epilogue of the Athanasian Creed This is the Catholick Faith If we may beleeue Leo the heads of all heresies are quite cut off with this one sword of the Creed How much more then with that two-edged sword of the Scriptures and of the Fathers their Interpreters What then Those that then were Catholicks can they in any age be condemned for Hereticks No Faith is alwaies constant to it selfe and so is the Church that is built vpon that Faith Did we euer deny or make doubt of any Article or clause of that Ancient Diuinity Either then Christ himselfe the Apostles Councells Fathers erred from the Catholick truth or wee yet remaine Catholicks What euer other opinions we meet withall concerning Religion neither make nor marre it Say they be false
say they be vitious they are but hay and stubble which nothing appertaine to the foundation of this euerlasting frame The Church may bee either more sound or more corrupt for them It cannot be more or lesse a Church The beauty or deformity of a Church may consist in them the strength the welfare of it doth not Surely whosoeuer willingly subscribes to the Word of God signed in the euerlasting monuments of Scripture to the ancient Creeds to the foure Generall Councells to the common consent of the Fathers for six hundred yeeres after Christ which we of the reformed Church religiously professe to doe if he may erre in small points yet he cannot be an Heretick Some particular Church may easily offend by imputing heresie to an vndeserued opinion whether perhaps true or lightly erroneous but neither soule nor Church can greatly erre while it treads in the steps of the most ancient and vniuersall Must hee therefore of necessity die a Romanist that would die a Catholick This is an idle fancy and worthy of no lesse than Bedlam Giue me leaue ye Reuerend Fathers The blessed Ghost of the most holy and latest Bishop of this See interrupts my speech and charges me not to suffer his ashes so shamefully to be wronged I can neither be silent for indignation nor speake for anger It was not onely rumor'd but bookes were cast abroad ouer the world concerning the reuolt of this worthy and excellent Prelate reporting that at his death hee reconciled himselfe to the Church of Rome and with many sighes renounced the Heresies of the Church of England and at last being absolued by a Popish Priest sweetly slept in the faith of the Church of Rome Neither did his departed soule want somewhere as is reported suffrages and oblations of Massmongers in this behalfe Oh immortall God! what blasphemy is here Can impudencie it selfe so cast off all shame as to raise so slanderous a lie thus boldly against the credit of so many witnesses against the solemne detestation of their owne Priest against the religious othes of his neerest friends and domestique seruants against the Sermon and publique writings of his Learned Sonne a sonne well worthy of such a Father Other lies haue some colour to plead for their credit This besides boldnesse hath none at all How many of vs sate by that faithfull Pastor of ours then breathing toward his last and receiued from his dying lips words of most constant piety And some of you reuerend Fathers deuoutly receiued with him that sacred Vinticum the last bread that euer hee tasted euen the bread of the Lord and were witnesses of the last motions of his soule then ready to depart and breathing toward his heauen Ours he liued Ours hee died and now as ours is crowned in heauen Goe on now yea mis-zealous spirits goe on to lie stoutly somewhat will alwaies stick fast to the accusers But in the meane time It cannot be truth that needs the props of lies Onely this by the way Let the boldest Sophister of the Romish Schoole come forth now and if hee can for shame let him vndertake to proue that those most noted additions of the Tridentine Faith which onely we reiect were receiued of all the Church in all Ages for necessary heads of Religion or let him confesse as he needs must that we haue still constantly persisted in the Communion of One Holy Catholick Church and faith Hee shall easily bewray his owne nouelty but neuer shall euince any Heresie of ours It is a golden saying of Cardinall Contarenus Harken I beseech you if any ingenuous spirit of you all be a friend to Rome Non opus est concilio non syllogismis ad sedandas hasce Lutheraâ—â—â—um turbas c. There needs no Councell saith he no Syllogismes to allay these broyles of the Lutherans but onely charity humility and a sincere minde that being void of all selfe-loue we may be perswaded to correct and reforme those things wherein we haue manifestly transgressed Thus he Thou art wise indeed O Contarenus would to God thy fellowes were so also But we forsooth are the disobedient and rebellious children of our mother the Church whose commands while wee disdaine to receiue and obey and reuerence her decrees we are enwrapped in a shamefull schisme and stricken with the curses of an angry Mother Surely this were an odious contumely But for vs wee haue not acknowledg'd her a Mother a Sister wee haue But grant wee were Sons yet wee are no slaues To forge a new faith and imperiously thrust it vpon her owne is not the part of an indulgent parent but of a Tyrant This lawlesse liberty we confesse we could neuer endure and therefore are wee openly thunder-stricken with more than one Anathema Neither haue they otherwise dealt with vs than that foolish fellow in Gerson who being very busie to driue away a fly from his neighbours forehead braind the man But lament ye with me my brethren the wofull case of that Church that hath learned to fit her faith to the Times and is more impatient of a remedy than of the disease Whilst they so eagerly persecute vs let vs heartily pitty them And let vs still wish to them that which they enuie and denie to vs Saluation Father forgiue them for they know not what they doe Our prayers our teares our admonitions must not bee wanting Returne to your selues now at last oh ye Christian soules Returne from whence you haue sensibly declined Recouer your first loue your first workes Suffer not your selues any longer to be mocked with the glorious title of a Church Frame your selues to that holy Vnity which hitherto you haue so stifly resisted which oh if once we might liue to see effected you should well finde as it runs in the law of the twelue Tables that the recouered should with vs haue the same priuileges with the healthfull Behold wee are ready as our gracious and peaceable King Iames piously vndertooke to meet you halfe way But if they shall still obstinately cast off all hope of Vnity and being set on fire with the hatred of peace shall goe on to delight themselues onely in the alarum of their sacred Trumpet as they call it why should not wee religiously and entirely keepe peace among our selues I speake to all the Sonnes of the purer Church wheresoeuer dispersed we professe this Church of ours by Gods grace reformed Reformed I say not new made as some emulous spirits spightfully slander vs. For me I am ready to forke to the very ground when I heare that hedge-row reproach Where was your Religion before Luther Where was your Church Heare oh ye ignorant Heare oh ye enuious Cauillers we desired the reformation of an old Religion not the formation of a new The Church accordingly was reform'd not new wrought It remaines therefore the same Church it was before but onely purged from some superfluous and pernitions additaments of error Is it a new face that was lately washed a new
let one of these necessities like two nailes driue out another So they haue done Nulla necessitâ—â— maior est charitate Hieron Apol. ad Ruff. Fr. Iun. de Eccl. Sed accidunt per saepe tempora quibus aut noua Ecclesia generatur aut altera pars interrumpitur scilicet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tamen Ecclesia esse non definit forma nimirum essentiali adhuc permanente Act. 7. beg Cypr. l. 3. Ep. 9. Mem. nisse Diacom debent quoniam Apostolos id est Episcopos praepositos Dominus elega Diaconos autem post ascensum Domini in coelos Apostoli sibi constituerunt Episcopatus sui et Ecclesiae ministros Rom. 1.8 1 Cor. 1.5 1 Thes 1.7 Gal. 4.15 and your owne necessitie as the stronger hath preuailed for that other necessity might bee eluded by flight you haue sought and found else-where what the necessity of our lawes denied and the necessitie of your conscience required Beware lest vniustly Sinne is as strong bond to a good heart as impossibility Christians cannot doe what they ought not contrary to the lawes of your Prince and Country you haue fled not only from vs but from our Communion Either is disobedience no sin or might you doe this euill that good may come of it But what necessity is this simple and absolute or conditionall Is there no remedie but you must needs haue such Elders Pastors Doctors Releeuers such offices such executions Can there bee no Church no Christians without them What shall wee say of the families of the Patriarks of the Iewish congregations vnder the Law yea of Christ and his Apostles Either deny them to haue beene visible Churches or shew vs your distinct offices amongst them But as yet you say they were not Therefore God hath had a true Church thousands of yeeres without them Therefore they are not of the essence of the Church You call me to the times since Christ I demand then was there not a worthy Church of God in Ierusalem from the time of Christs Ascension till the election of the seuen Deacons Those hundred and twenty Disciples Act. 1.15 and three thousand Conuerts Act. 2.41 Those continuall Troupes that flocked to the Apostles were they no true Church Let the Apostles and Euangelists be Pastors and Doctors where were their Elders Deacons Releeuers Afterwards when Deacons were ordained yet what newes is there of Elders till Act. 11 yet that of Ierusalem was more forward than the rest We will not as you are wont argue from Scriptures negatiuely no proofe yet much probabilitie is in S. Pauls silence He writes to Rome Corinth and other Churches those his Diuine letters in a sweet Christian-ciuility salute euen ordinary Christians And would hee haue vtterly passed by all mention of these Church-officers amongst his so precise acknowledgement of lesser titles in others if they had beene ere this ordained yet all these more than true Churches famous some of them rich forward and exemplary Onely the Philippian Church is stiled with Bishops and Deacons Phil. 1.2 but no Elders besides them The Churches of Christ since these if at least you will grant that Christ had any Church till now haue continued in a recorded succession through many hundreds of yeeres Search the Monuments of her Histories shew vs where euer in particular Congregations all these your necessary Offices as you describe them were either found or required It was therefore a new-no-necessitie that bound you to this course or if you had rather a necessitie of Fallibilitie If with these God may be well serued he may be well serued without them This is not that vâ—â—m necessariâ—â— that Christ commends in Marie you might haue sate still with lesse trouble and more thankes SEP But also in our most sinfull subiection to many Antichristian enormities which we are bound to eschue as hell SECTION XXI BVT besides that we ought to haue had somewhat which we want The enormities of the Church in common wee haue somewhat which we should haue wanted Some yea many Antichristian enormities To say we are absolute and neither want nor abound were the voyce of Laodicea or Tyrus in the Prophet Our Church as shee is true so humble and is as far from arrogating perfection as acknowledging falshood If she haue enormities yet not so many Fr. Iohns against M. Iacob Bar. Gyff refuted i. Transgress p. 28. or if many not Antichristian Your Cham hath espied ninetie one nakednesses in this his mother and glories to shew them All his malice cannot shew one fundamentall error and when the foule mouth of your false Martyr hath said all they are but some spots and blemishes not the old running issues and incurable botches of Aegypt the particulars shall plead for themselues These you eschew as hell While you goe on thus vncharitably both alike Doe you hate these more than Master Smith and his faction hates yours His Character shall be iudge So do we value your detestation as you his It were well for you if you eschewed these enormities lesse and hell more Your sinfull subiection to these vnchristian humors will proue more fearefull than to our Antichristian enormities SEP Shee is our mother so may shee be and yet not the Lords Wife euery mother of children is not a wife Ammi and Ruhamah were bidden to plead with their mother Apostat Israel and pleads that shee was not the Lords wife nor He her husband Ho. 2.1 2. And though you forbid vs a thousand times yet must we plead not to excuse our fault but to iustifie our innocencie and that not onely not so much in respect of our selues as of the truth which without sacrilege wee may not suffer to bee condemned vnheard And if you yet heare her not rather blame your selues as deafe than vs as dumbe Hierom. ad Eustoch Epitaph Paulae ex Psal 67. SECTION XXII The Church of England is the Spouse of Christ Cypr. de simplic Praelator Adulterari non potest spâ—â—sa Christi incorrupta est pudica 1 King 12.29 Hos 2.16.2.13 SHE may be your Mother you say and not the Lords Wife It is a good Mother that hath Children and no Husband Why did you not call her plaine Where Your old Embleme is As is the mother so is the Daughter These are the modest circumlocutions of a good Sonne who cares not to proue himselfe a Bastard that his Mother may be markt for an Harlot be you a true Lo-ammi but England shall neuer I hope proue an Apostate Israel We haue no Calues in our Dan and Bethel none of Ieroboams Idolatrie We haue still called God ISHI and neuer burnt incense to Baaliâ— It is your Synagogue that hath fallen away from vs as Israel from Iuda But these Children were bidden to plead Gods command shields them from the note of vngracious Abraham must sacrifice his Sonne and this Sonne must condemne his Mother shew vs either our equall desert or your equall warrant Where hath
vel nasciturus Nec ipsi etiam virgines essent quia nati non essent Ex foecunditate enim illorum orta est istorum virginitas Magnum igitur bonum est foecunditas de qua sancta praecessit virginitas Quia autem virgines esse debeant qui nuptiarum fructus facientes docet cos verbum quod Deus seminat in cordibus illorum In aliorum enim cordibus seminat verbum bonae foecunditatis nuptiarum fructum facientis in aliorum vero cordibus seminat verbum virginitatis * * Deest opinor pars clausula Illi ergo in quibus seminat verbum virginitatis c. ipsi virginitatem seruare desiderant In quibus vero verbum nuptiarum seminat ipsi facere nuptiarum fructum appetunt WHICH FOR MY COVNTRYMENS SAKE I haue thus Englished I Would faine know who it was that first ordained that Christian Priests might not marry God or Man For if it were God surely his determination is to bee held and obserued with all veneration and reuerence But if it were Man and not God and this Tradition came out of the heart of Man not out of the Mouth of God then neither is saluation got by it if it be obserued nor lost if it be not obserued For it doth not belong to Man either to saue or destroy any man for his merits but it is proper only vnto God That God hath ordained this it it neither found written in the Old Testament nor in the Gospell nor in the Epistles of the Apostles in all which is set down whatsoeuer God hath inioyned vnto men It is therefore a Tradition of Man and not an institution of God nor of his Apostles As the Apostle instituted rather that a Bishop should be the Husband of one Wife which he would neuer haue appointed if it had beene adulterie for a Bishop to haue at once a Wife and a Church as it were two Wiues like as some affirme Now that which hath not authority from the holy Scriptures is with the same facility contemned that it is spoken For the holy Church is not the Wife not the Spouse of the Priest but of Christ as S. Iohn saith He that hath the Bride he is the Bridegroome Of this Bridegroome I say is the Church the Spouse and yet it is lawfull euen for this Spouse in part to marry by Apostolique Tradition For the Apostle speakes thus to the Corinthians because of fornications let euery man haue his owne Wife And I would that all men were as I am but euery man hath his proper gift of God one thus another otherwise For all men haue not one gift namely of Virginity and Continency but some are virgins and containe others containe not to whom he granteth mariage lest Sathan tempt them through their incontinency and they should miscary in the ruine of their vncleannesse So also of Priests some are continent others are incontinent and those which are continent haue receiued the gift of their continence from God without whose Gift and Grace they cannot be continent But those which are incontinent haue not receiued this gift of grace but whether by the intemperance of their humour or the weaknesse of their mind run out into fleshly desires which they would in no wise doe if they had receiued from God the Grace and Vertue of Continence For they also which are deliuered by the Grace of God from the body of this death feele another Law in their members rebelling against the Law of their minde and captiuating them to the Law of sin and compelling them to doe that which they would not This Law therefore holding them captiue and this Concupiscence of the flesh prouoking them they are compelled either to fornicate or mary whereof whether is the better we are taught by the authority of the Apostle who tels vs it is better to marry then to burne Surely that which is the better is to be chosen and held now it is better to marry because it is worse to burne and because it is better to marry then to burne it is conuenient for those which containe not to marry not to burne For mariage is good as August speaks in his booke super Genesin ad Literam in it is commended the good of nature whereby the prauity of incontinence is ruled and the fruitfulnesse of Nature graced For the weaknesse of either Sexe declining towards the ruine of filthinesse is well relieued by honesty of mariage so as the same thing which may be the office of the found is also the remedie vnto the sicke Neither yet because incontinence is euill is therefore Mariage euen that wherewith the Incontinent are ioyned to be reputed not good yea rather not for that euill is the good faulty but for this good is that euill pardonable since that good which mariage hath yea which mariage is can neuer be sin Now this good is three fold the Fidelity the Fruit the Sacrament of that estate In the Fidelity is regarded That besides this bond of Mariage there be not carnall society with any other In the Fruit of it That it be louingly raised and religiously bred In the Sacrament of it That the mariage be not separated and that the dismissed party of either Sexe be not ioyned to any other no not for issues sake This is as it were the Rule of Mariage whereby the fruitfulnesse of Nature is graced or the prauity of Incontinence ruled And this Rule of Mariage and this three-fold good the eternall Truth hath appointed in the order of his Decree and that eternall Law of his against which whatsoeuer is done spoken or willed is sinne which Augustine in his booke against Faustus the Manichee witnesseth saying Sin is either Deed Word or desire against the Law Eternall This Eternall Law is the diuine Will or Decree forbidding the disturbance and commanding the preseruation of due naturall order whatsoeuer therefore commands naturall Order to be disturbed forbids it to be conserued prohibits men to vse Mariage and to attaine to the threefold good thereof Fidelitie Issue Sacrament and commands them to breake that Rule of Eternall Truth whereby the fruitfulnesse of Nature is graced or the prauity of Incontinency is ruled commands men to abhorre those things whereby naturall Order is held and maintained This Commandement I say forbids naturall Order to bee obserued commands it to bee disturbed and therefore is against the Law of God and by consequence is sinne For they sinne that ordaine such a command by which naturall Order is destroyed These men doe not it seemes beleeue that of the children of Priests God takes for the building of his City aboue and for the restoring of the number of Angels For if they did beleeue it they would neuer ordaine such a Mandare because they should wittingly and ouer rashly goe about to effect that the supernall City should neuer be perfited and the number of Angels neuer repayred For if the supernall City be to be
be read in the Catholike Church and as they are had in the old vulgar Latine Edition for holy and Canonicall let him be accursed Thus she Iudge you now of our age and say whether the opinion of the ancient Church that is ours be not a direct enemie to Popery and flatly accursed by the Romish Passe on yet a little further Our question is whether the Hebrew and Greeke Originals be corrupted and whether those first Copies of Sciptures be not to be followed aboue all Translations Heare first the ancient Church with vs But saith Saint AVGVSTINE how soeuer it be taken whether it be beleeued to bee so done or not beleeued or lastly whether it were so or not so I hold it a right course that when any thing is found different in either bookes the Hebrew and Septuagint since for the certaintie of things done there can be but one truth that tongue should rather be beleeued from whence the Translation was made into another language Vpon which words LVDOVICVS VIVES yet a Papist saith thus The same saith he doth HIEROM proclaime euery where and reason it selfe teacheth it and there is none of found iudgement that will gainsay it but in vain doth the consent of all good wits teach this for the stubborne blockishnesse of men opposeth against it Let HIEROM himselfe then a greater Linguist be heard speake And if there bee any man saith he that will say the Hebrew bookes were afterwards corrupted by the Iewes let him heare ORIGEN what he answeres in the eight volume of his explanations of ESAY to this question that the Lord and his Apostles which reproue other faults in the Scribes and Pharises would neuer haue beene silent in this which were the greatest crime that could be But if they say that the Hebrewes falsified them after the comming of Christ and Preaching of the Apostles I cannot hold from laughter that our Sauiour and the Euangelists and Apostles should so cite testimonies of Scripture as the Iewes would afterwards depraue them Thus IEROME And the Canon law it selfe hath this determination that the truth and credit of the bookes of the old Testament should bee examined by the Hebrew Volumes of the new by the Greeke And Pope INNOCENTIVS as he is cited by GRATIAN could say Haue recourse to the diuine Scriptures in their Original Greeke The same lastly by BELLARMINES owne confession Bellar. l. de verb. Dei 2. cap. 11. §. 3. the Fathers teach euery where As IEROME in his booke against HELVIDIVS and in his Epistle to MARCELLA that the Latine Edition of the Gospell is to be called backe to the Greeke fountaines and the Latine Edition of the old Testament is to be amended by the Hebrew in his Comment vpon ZACHARY 8. The very same hath AVSTEN in his second booke of Christian doctrine Chap. 11.12.15 and Epist 19. and elsewhere This was the old Religion and ours now heare the new The present Church of Rome hath thus The holy Synod decreeth that the old vulgar Latine Edition in all Lectures Dispuations Sermons Expositions be held for Authenticall saith the Councell of Trent And her Champion BELLARMINE hath these words That the fountaine of the Originals in many places runne muddy and impure wee haue formerly shewed and indeede it can scarce be doubted Accedit quod patres passim docent ad fontes Hebraeos Graeces esse recurrendum Hieron in lib. contr Heluid in Epist ad Marcellam c. Concil Trid. sess 4. Sacrosancta Synodus statuit vt haec ipsa vetus c. pro authentica habeatur Bell de verb. l. 2. c. 11. Nunc autem fontes multis in locis turbidos fluere c. Omnino contendunt Iudaeos in odium Christianae relig studiose deprauasse ita docet Iacobus Christop litanus Canus c. Bell. 2. de verb. Dei p. 100. So Raynolds in his refutation pag. 303. against Isaac Valla Andradius Monta c. Haeretici huius temporis odio vulgatae editionis nimium tribuunt editiâ—i Hebraicae c. omnia exaâ—â—nari vâ—lunt ad Hebraeum textum quem non semel purissimum fontem appellant Bell. l. 2. de verb. c. 2. Epiphan contr Anomaeos Haeres 76. Omnia sunt clara lucida c. Basil in Ascet oâ— Regul breuiores quae ambiguè obscurê videntur dici in quibusdam locis sacrae script reg 267. Aug. Ep. 3. Non tenta in scriptâ—â—is difficultate perueniter ad ea quae necessaria sunt saluti c. Aug. de doctr Christ l. 2. c. 9. In ijs quae â—pertè in scriptura positá siâ—â—t invenâ—tur illa 〈◊〉 quae continent fidem moresque vinendi Magnificè salubriter spirit sanctui ita script c. De doctr Christ lib. 2. cap. 4. Aug. Epist 3. Modus ipse dicendi quo sancta Scriptura c. Sed invitat omnes humili sermone but that as the Latine Church hath beene more constant in keeping the faith than the Greeke so it hath beene more vigilant in defending her bookes from corruption Yea some of the Popish Doctors maintaine that the Iewes in hatred of the Christian faith did on purpose corrupt many places of Scripture so holds GREGORY de VALENTIA IACOBVS CHRISTOPOLITANVS in his Preface to the Psalmes CANVS in the second booke of his common places But in stead of all BELLARMINE shall shut vp all with these words The Heretikes of this time in hatred of the vulgar Edition giue too much to the Hebrew Edition as CALVIN CHEMNITIVS GEORGIVS MAIOR All which would haue euery thing examined and amended by the Hebrew text which they commonly call a most pure fountaine See now whether that which BELLARMINE confesses to haue bin the Iudgement of HIEROME AVSTEN and all the ancient Fathers be not here condemned by him as the opinion of the Heretikes Ours was theirs and theirs is condemned vnder our names Iudge whether in this also Popery be not an vpstart Yet one step more Our question is whether the Scripture be easie or most obscure and whether in all essentiall poynts it doe not interpret it selfe so as what is hard in one place is openly laid forth in another Heare the Iudgment of the old Church and ours All things are cleare and plaine and nothing contrary in the Scriptures saith EPIPHANIVS Those things which seeme doubtfully and obscurely spoken in some places of Scripture are expounded by them which in other places are open and plaine saith BASIL What could CALVIN and LVTHER say more There is no so great hardnesse in the Scriptures to come to those things which are necessary to saluation saith AVSTEN In those things which are openly laid downe in Scripture are found all those things which containe our faith and rules of our life saith the same Father who yet againe also saith thus The Spirit of God hath Royally and wholsomely tempered the holy Scriptures so as both by the plaine places he might preuent our hunger and by the
fauourable report allay the bitter contentions of those ancient Christians of Antioch writes thus Theod. hist l. 3. c. 4. Both parts saith he made one and the same confession of their faith for both maintained the Creed of the Nicen Councell And yet this position is spightfully handled by Cardinall Bellarmine Bell. de laâ—cis lib. 3. c. 19. and can scarce draw breath since his last stripes What care we saith he for the same Creed Faith is not in words but in the sense And indeed I remember what Ruffinus reports done by Arrius That worthy Constantine had charged him to write what faith he held he deliuered him a Creed in words ours in sense his owne and how right his wicked brood tooke after their father in the insuing times of the Church let Histories witnesse sure I am whosoeuer shall read the Creeds of their seuerall Sects shall hardly feâ—ch out any thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which an Orthodox Censurer would thinke worthy of reproofe How oft doe they yeeld Christ to be God yea God of God and yet perfidiously reserue to themselues in the meane time that absurd conceit That he was created ex non â—â—tibus As therefore Seuerianus the Syrian in Theodoret. spake Greeke as a Grecian but pronounced it like a Syrian so there may be many which may speake truths but pronounce them heretically Iren. l. 1. c. 9. Petr. Chrys Ser. 109. Trinitatem vocabulis mentiuntur Decr. 22. q. 5. humanae For all Heresies saith Irenaeus talke of one God but marre him with their misconceits yea for the most part all Heresies saith Chrysologus set a face of the Trinitie To little purpose It was not ill sayd of Gratian that no man is to care for words since that not the meaning should serue the words but the words rather the meaning Let vs grant all this and more Let it be said of the Creed as Ierome said of the Booke of Iob that euery word abounds with senses Hier. in praef Tert. de prasc There is no Diuine Word as Tertullian speaketh wisely so disolute and deâ—â—sed that onely the words may be defended and not the true meaning of the words set downe To put the Cardinall out of this needlesse feare The proper and natiue sense of the Creed may be fetcht out and I adde yet more except but that one Article of Christs Descension into Hell which Ruffinus confesses he could not find either in the Roman or Easterne Creedes is openly confessed on both parts And yet for all this we are neuer the neerer to peace For from these common Principles of Faith the subtle deuice of Hereticall prauity hath fetcht strange and erroneous consequences which by their sophisticall and obstinate handling are now improued into Heresies and dare now threaten not onely opposition but death vnto those very principles from which they are raysed Of this kind are the most of those Romish opinions which we vndertake to censure in this Discourse But if by the vniuersall consent of all it should appeare that both word and sense are intire that both the principles and necessarie conclusions thence deduced are vndeniably sound Nulla tamen pax cum Lutheranis De Laicis l. 3. 19. Sect. 4. yet saith Bellarmine there can bee no peace with Lutherans Let all the World know this and wonder Our King be it spoken to the enuie of those which cannot emulate him an incomparable Diuine for a Prince yea a Prince of Diuines a King of men and a wonder of Kings mighty both with his scepter and his pen going about in that learned and ponderous Discourse to cleere himselfe from the aspersion of Heresie which that foule hand had vnworthily cast vpon him professes solemnly and holily that whatsoeuer is contained eyther in the Sacred Scriptures or the three famous Creeds or the foure first generall Councels that he embraces with both armes that He proclaimes for His Faith In praefat ad Imper. Princip that He will defend with his Tongue with his Pen with His Sword in that he will both liue and die Yea but this is not enough saith that Great Antagonist of Princes For there are other points of faith wherewith religion is now of late times inlarged Bell. resp ad Regem Non satis est ad haereticum nomen fugiendum illa recipere quae Rex Anglorum recipere atque admittere se dicit pag. 80. Etiamsi nouitia nâ—pâ—ra illa sint si quis tamen ca neget immuâ—â—m ab heresi noÌ„ foâ—e Bell. resp and Regem pag. 98. Bell. l. de laicis 2. c. 19. Dist 22. Omnes Margaritae Decret vel Tabula Mortiniâ— Iâ— verb. Iâ—obediâ—ntia as Transubstantiation Purgatory the Popes Primacie a whole doozen of these goodly Articles hath the Tridentine Councell created in this decayed age of the World lest the Fathers of Italy should seeme to come short of the Apostles and the Pope of Christ any parcell whereof whosoeuer shall presume to call into question is an Heretike presently and smels of the Faggot and how ordinarily is that layd in euery dish that he cannot bee a member of the Church which withdrawes his obedience from their Pope the Head of the Church Neyther is that any whit milder which Gratian cites from Pope Nicholas the Second VVhosoeuer goes about to infringe the priuiledge of the Roman Church or derogates from her Authoritie is an Heretike But that is yet well worse which the allowed Table of the Decree hath peremptorily broched Whosoeuer obeies not the Popes Commandement incurres the sin of Idolatry or as Gregory the Seuenth from whom Gratian would seeme to borrow this which yet is not to be found in his Epistles of Paganisme Whatsoeuer therefore Christ Iesus whatsoeuer the Apostles whatsoeuer the counsels Fathers of the Primitiue Church haue commended to vs to be beleeued shall auaile vs little neither can euer make vs friends vnlesse we will bee content to beslaue our Faith vnto their Popeling And can they thinke wee will looke at peace vpon such a condition That hope were bold and foolish that could expect this Neither doe they more scornfully cast vs out of the bosome of their Church for spetting at these Articles of Straw which their vanitie hath deuised than wee can confidently condemne and execrate their presumption which haue so imperiously obtruded such trash as this vpon the Church of God SECTION V. The impuration or corruption of the Roman Church and their impossibilitie of Reconciliation arising from that wilfull Fable of the Popes infallibilitie BVt to leaue this first head of our Aduersaries indisposition to peace Say that the Papists could be content to hearken to an agreement which I can neuer hope to see whiles Rome is it selfe say they should seeke it yet as things now stand whiles they wil not and we may not stirre one inch from our station of iudgement God forbids the Truth debarres our Reconciliation wee dare not whatsoeuer
Deuils It is true they miscall Mariage a Sacrament So as wee may well wonder at these two extreames in one doctrine and study in vaine how the same thing should be Sacred in a Ceremonious inchoation and in the reall consummation morally impure how a Sacrament should bee incompatible with a sacred Person These Sphyngian Riddles are for better Heads With what Brow then can my Detector adde * * Refut p. 19. That with Saint Chrysostome and Saint Austin they do but compare mariage they doe not condemne it Onely teaching Mariage to be good Virginity better with Fulgentius not so comparing Virginity to Corne that they count Mariage Cockle In this where should they find an aduersary But if Luxury Filthinesse Vncleannesse Contagion Beastlinesse Vice Obscenity be the stiles of good we can well allow them to the honour of C. Es. Virginity and are content our Mariages should passe for euill SECT V. MY second vntruth he saith is That I make the single Life of Priests the brand of Antichristianisme Shamelesse mouth Where did I euer say so My words are Were it not for this opinion the Church of Rome would want one euident brand of her Antichristianisme Refut p. 19.20 The life is one thing the opinion another Single life is good the opinion of the necessity of single life and the vnlawfulnesse of the Maried is Antichristian What can be more plaine yet this wilfull slanderer tels the World that I make the profession of Continence Antichristian Whereas we doe willingly professe that true profession of true Continency is truely laudable that the forceable imposition of it as necessary to some state of men sauours strongly of that Man of sin Now let my Reader iudge whose vntruths my Aduersary hath hitherto detected Neither can I â—ate that word of mine vnlesse I would renounce the Apostle who seemes purposely to decipher our Romanists by these lines For hauing immediately before described the condition of Bishops and Deacons with their Wiues and Children allowing them indifferently with others a maried estate hee presently as foreseeing that Point which would bee most subiect to contradiction foretels that the seducing spirits of Antichristianisme would forbid mariage and this hee fore-prophesies shall bee done in the latter or as their Vulgar and Rhemists turne it in the last Times and that by them which shall speake lyes in hypocrisie Neither of which can so exactly agree to those first Heretikes who as they were early in time And if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may agree to all the Ages of the Church after Christ yet most to the last and that other addition seemes to strengthen this sense so also grosse in their Doctrine wherein there was more open impiety then secret dissimulation SECT VI. IN vaine therefore doth my Refuter bring in S. Paul as an a better of his forced Continence whiles he saith of yonger Widowes Refut p. 21. that When they haue begun to wax wanton against Christ they will marry hauing damnation because they haue forsaken their first faith In which place boulted before to the Bran by many Controuersers mine Aduersary hath learned of his Bellarmine to triumph aboue measure This first faith saith he all the Fathers without exception vnderstand to be a Vow or Promise made to God of Continence in the state of Widowhood It is a wide word All the Fathers I had thought I had read in holy x x L. C. de Trinitate de Beat. tâ—t Dei 〈◊〉 Tiâ—â—ophâ—lum Et instrumenta libertatu semel concessa per iterationem infirmatâ—â— Athanasius Vae vobis qui primam fidem baptismi coelitus institutam irritam facitis Woe to you that make void the first faith of Baptisme ordained from heauen I had thought y y Non sunt digni fide qui primam fidem Baptismi irritam secerunt Marcionem loquor Basilidem Hier. Prooem in Epist ad Tit. Hierome had somewhere said They are not worthy of beliefe which haue voided their first beliefe Marcion I meane and Bâ—silides whom yet I neuer found condemned for the breach of any Vow of Continence I had thought the Author of the Interlinear Glosse would not haue crossed all the Fathers in expounding it Fidem baptismi The faith of Baptisme which is indeed the first Faith and the Apostle saith the first not the former as for that other which hee imagines a Vow of continued Viduity it was neither Faith nor First let him instance if he can where our Apostle takes Faith for a Vow Rather as if he meant to expound his owne word in this very Scripture and this occasion he cleeres this doubt whiles he speakes of the wilfully improuident Man that he hath denyed the Faith and is worse then an Infidel and now in the same Context he speakes of these peruerted Widowes that they haue forsaken the Faith Much lesse is it the First whether in Time or Dignity For they could not haue beene Church-Widowes if not Christians and they could not be Christians if they should haue valued the Vow of their Widowhood aboue the vow of their Christendome yea so farre was this from the first Vow if it had beene one as that it was the last of all for according to them their first Faith must be to their Husband their second to Christ in their initiation to Religion their last in the Vow of Widowhood So as here is a fayned vow made Faith and last made first and all to vphold a crazy conceit of our Romanists which hath no other ground but this one ambiguity Chrysostome indeed calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad Pactum a couenant but what couenant Refut p. 20. or with whom he expresses nor whether of Christianity or of Widowhood or of Ministration Some of the others that followed him spake according to the Glosse which the corrupt conceit of the Times had set vpon him But what need my Refuter stand vpon particular Authors he sayes when he may bring 214 Bishops all sitting in Councell at Carthage all agreeing in this exposition Refut p. 21. poynting vs to the fourth Councell of Carthage Canone vlt. His Gratian had wont to tell vs for the more Grace that it was in the third Councell of Carthage Can. 4. Now he is taught to change this note So doth C. E. with his Binius tell vs it was the 4. Councell and the last Canon We haue reason to suspect it was in neither The very stile and manner of discourse so different from the rest of those briefe Canons and the fashion of those Times cary in it open likelihood of Bastardie It was an easie fraud to patch it to the end of thoâ—e Canons neither which learned Iunius taught mee first to obserue is it found among the Greeke then which there cannot be a worse signe But that I may at once answer this vaunt of Antiquity and stop the mouth of this Cauiller Let me aske him whether those Fathers whom hee cites
altogether of humane constitution must like to remedies in diseases be attempered to the present estate of matters and times Those things which were once religiously instituted afterwards according to occasion and the changed quality of manners and times may be with more Religion and Piety abrogated which yet is not to bee done by the temerity of the people but by the authority of Gouernors that tumult may be auoyded and that the publicke custome may be so altred that concord may not be broken the very same is perhaps to be thought concerning the Mariage of Priests of old as there was great paucity of Priests so great Pietie also They that they might more freely attend those holy Seruices made themselues chaste of their owne accord And so much were those Ancients affected to Chastitie that they would hardly permit Mariage vnto that Christian whom his Baptisme found single but a second Mariage yet more hardly And now that which seemed plausible in Bishops and Priests was translated to Deacons and at last to sub-Deacons which voluntarily receiued custome was confirmed by the authority of Popes In the meane time the member of Priests increased and their Pietie decreased Inter hos quanta raritas eorum qui castè viuunt How many swarmes of Priests are maintained in Monasteries and Colledges and amongst them how few are there that liue chastly I speake of them which doe publikely keepe Concubines in their houses in stead of their Wiues Nec enim attingo nunc secretiorum libidinum mystâ—ria c. I doe not now meddle with the mysteries of their more secret lusts I onely speake of those things which are most notoriously knowne to the World And yet when we know these things how easie are we to admit men into holy Orders and how difficult in releasing this constitution of single life when as contrarily S. Paul teaches that hands must not be rashly laid vpon any and more then once hath prescribed what manner of men Priests and Deacons ought to be but of their single life neither Christ nor his Apostles hath euer giuen any Law in the holy Scriptures Long since hath the Church abrogated the nightly Vigils at the Tombes of Martyrs which yet had been receiued by the publike custome of Christians and that for diuers Ages Those Fasts which were wont to continue till the euening it hath transferred to noon and many other things hath it changed according to the occasions arising Cur hic humanaÌ„ constitutionem vrgemus tam obstinatè praesertim cùm tot causa suadeant mutationem Primùm enim magna pars Sacerdotum viuit cum malâ famâ parumque requieta conscientia tractat illa sacrosancta mysteria c. And why then doe we so obstinately vrge this humane constitution especially when so many causes perswade vs to an alteration For first a great part of our Priests liues with an ill name and with an vnquiet conscience handleth those holy Mysteries And then the fruit of their labours for the most part is vtterly lost because their doctrine is contemned of their people by reason of their shamefull life Whereas if Mariage might be yeelded to those which doe not containe both they would liue more quietly and should preach Gods Word to the people with authority and might honestly bring vp their children neither should the one of them bee a mutuall shame to other c. FINIS A BRIEFE SVMME OF THE Principles of Religion fit to be knowne of such as would addresse themselues to Gods TABLE Q HOw many things are required of a Christian A. Two Knowledge and Practice Q What are we bound to know A. God and our selues Q. What must we know of God A. What one he is and what he hath done Q. What is God A. He is one Almightie and infinite Spirit Father Sonne and Holy Ghost Q. What hath he done A. He hath made all things he gouerneth and preserueth all things and hath eternally decreed how all things shall bee done and hath reuealed his will to vs in his Word Q. What more must we know concerning God and his actions A. That God the Son Christ Iesus tooke our nature vpon him dyed for our redemption rose again and now liueth gloriously in Heauen making intercession for vs. Q. Thus much concerning God What must we know of our selues A. What we were what we are and what we shall be Q. What were we A. We were made at first perfect and happy according to Gods Image in knowledge in holinesse in righteousnesse Q. What are we now A. Euer since the fall of our first Parents we are all naturally the sonnes of wrath subiect to misery and death But those whom God chooseth out to himselfe are in part renewed through grace and haue the Image of God in part repaired in them Q. What shall we be A. At the general resurrection of all flesh those which were in part renewed here shall be fully perfited and glorified in body and soule those which haue liued and dyed in their sinnes shall be iudged to perpetuall torments Q. Thus much for our knowledge Now for our practice what is required of vs A. Due obedience and seruice to God both in our ordinary course of life and also in the speciall exercises of his worship Q. What is that obedience which is required of vs in the ordinary course of our life A. It is partly prescribed vs by the Law and partly by the Gospell Q. What doth the Law require A. The Law contained in Ten Commandements enioyneth vs all piety to God and all iustice and charity to our neighbour Q. What doth the Gospell require A. Faith in Lord Iesus with the fruit of it Repentance as our onely remedie for the breach of the Law Q. What is faith A. The affiance of the soule vpon Christ Iesus depending vpon him alone for forgiuenesse and saluation Q What is Repentance A. An effectuall breaking off our old sinnes with sorrow and detestation and an earnest purpose and endeuour of contrary obedience Q. Thus much of our obedience in the whole course of life What are the seruices required more specially in the immediate exercises of Gods worship A. They are chiefly three first Due hearing and reading the Word secondly Receiuing the Sacraments thirdly Prayer Q. Which call you the Word of God A. The holy Scriptures contained in the Old and New Testament Q. How many Sacraments are there A. Two Baptisme and the Lords Supper Q. What is the vse of Baptisme A. By water washing the body to assure vs that the blood of Christ applied to the soule of euery beleeuer clenseth him from his sinnes Q. What is the vse of the Lords Supper A. To be a signe a seale a pledge vnto vs of Christ Iesus giuen for vs giuen to vs. Q. What signifies the Bread and wine A. The body and blood of Christ broken and powred out for our redemption Q. What is required of euery Receiuer A. Vpon paine