learne from her what the true lawes of the Christian Religion are and what ought to be theire true sence and vnderstandinge Of the Examples vvhich vve haue from the practise of the Apostles CHAP. VII The continuance of the Kings answere And that the Sacraments are duely and lawfullie administred that is to saie as the Apostles haue shewed the example and those who haue next succeeded them THE REPLIE It is true the due and lawfúll administration of the Sacraments is that they be administred as the Apostles haue shewed the example and those which haue next succeeded them but that the examples that the Apostles haue tracked to vs for patternes and myrrors to imitate are not all contained in theire Writinges Saint AVGVSTINE teacheth vs when he saith There are manie thinges which are belieued by good right to haue bene recieued by tradition from the Apostles though we finde them not written And Saint CHRISOSTOME when he proclaymed The Apostles haue not giuen vs all thinges by writinge but manie things also vnwritten And Saint Basile when he protests Wee haue somethinges in written doctrine and other some we haue receiued in misterie that is to saie rituall and vnwritten obseruations efrom the tradition of the Apostles And Saint Epiphanius when he faith All thinges cannot be taken from the Scriptures and therefore the holy Apostles of God haue giuen vs somethings by writinge and other some by tradition And his maiesty himselfe when he answeres that he is farr from the opinion of those that would shutt vp all the historie of the primitiue Church into the sacred indeed but yet one onely booke of the Acts of the Apostles And as for the Authors which haue followed next after the first persecution of the pagan Emperors vnder whom they lived which gaue them much lesse leasure to write then those had that flourished after the tēpest and in the tyme of the first peace of the Church and then the very state of the most part of the controuersies of theire ages employed either against the pagans or against the Iewes or against heresies much differing from those which are since risen vp and thirdly the shipwracke of theire workes which the flood of the same persecution hath soe swallowed vp as the least part of them is come to our handes And finallie the care that the authors which succeeded them haue had to reduce into writing the thinges which they haue receiued from them by vnwritten tradition And by succession of custome tyme out of mynde witnes enough how much wee must want of being able to perceaue by the relicks of theire writinges that followed next after the age of the Apostles 〈◊〉 the tracts and lineaments of the face of the auncient Church And therfore equitie wills and the most excellent King who is equitie it-selfe consents to it that not only the monuments which remaine to vs from the first or second age after the Apostles shall be receiued as testimonies of the state of the primitiue Church but also the writinges of the Fathers of the third and fourth age after that of the Apostles and principally when they speake of the customes of the Church of theire tymes not as of things of a new institutiō but as of things come to them from the vniuersall and immemoriall practise of fore-goeinge ages For behold his Maiestiés answere vpon this article this demaunde will seeme to 〈◊〉 little equitie to those that would that all the historie of the primitiue Church should be contained within the diuine indeed but yet onely one booke and that a litle one of the Acts of the Apostles From theire opinion the most iust aud wise king is very farr who in his monitory epistle hath ingenuously declared how much hee esteemeth the Fathers of the fowrth nay euen of the fifth age Of the definition of the Church and in what vnion it consists The continuance of the Kings answere THe Churches that are instituted in this manner it is necessary that they should be vnited amongst them selues 〈◊〉 diuers kindes of communion THE REPLIE THose that obserue the proprieties ofliuing creatures affirme that the nest of the Halciō is wouē and built in such a symmetrie that is to saie the entrie of it is so fitted and equald to the measure of the birdes bodie that it can serue for no other bird either greater or lesse A definition must be iustlie soe it must cōprehend exactly the thing thereby defined without stretching it selfe to anie thing more or restrayning it selfe to anie thing lesse it must be fitt it must agree only with the subiect thereof And therefore ARISTOTLE writes that to frame a definition is verie difficult and to destroy one is contrariwise verie easie for to establish a good definition all the conditions that limitt and inclose the nature of the subiect must meete together and to confute it it is sufficient that anie one be wanting And for this cause Plato saith that if he could haue found a man that knew how to define and deuide well he wold haue cast himselfe at his feete to adore him For definition is an Epitomie and abridgement of the intire knowledge of euery thing which is reduced and epitomized from the more ample consideracon of the 〈◊〉 and accidents which accompanie it to that which is precisely of the essence there of iust in such sort as in the constitution of the numbers which the philosophers propound for types and patternes of essentiall formes euerie addition or substraction be it neuer soe little varies the being and the caracter and destroyes the precise species or kind of the number so in the iust turne of wordes and in the lawfull reuolution of language whereby the essence of euery thing should be bounded as in an horizon or bourning line all additiō or omissiō of wordes ruineth and destroyeth the definition For when the definition aboundes saith DAMASCENF in the excesse of wordes it wants in the conception of things and when it wants in sufficiencie of wordes it is superfluous in the extent and cōprehension of things Wherein as he addes nature hath inuented a merueilous arte to witt a plentifull pouertie and an indigent and defectiue plentie Now as Aristotle notes those are the worst seruantes that steale the corne not out of the garner but from thence where it is kept for seede because this theft is measured not by the quantity of the thing stolne but by the vsury and multiplicatiō of the returne or income depending theron so the errors which are cōmitted in principles which are as the seede corne of cōclusios are more pernicious and hurtfull then those that are cōmitted in anie other part of doctrine For in other parts the faults may be particular but the vices in principles amongst which the definitiō holdes the Scepter and Empire are necessarily cōmunicated to all the bodie of the disputatiō And therefore Clemēs Alex. cries out that the ignorance of
expresse wee must haue recourse thereto But wee said that he neuer thought neither in generall that all things belonging to Religion were treated off in scripture nor in particular that the contention betweene the Catholickes and the Donatists concerning Baptisme was of that quality And wee maintaine that for soe manie yeares wherein hee combated with them about this article when there was quēstion of Searching the cause to the bottome hee neuer produced one proofe out of Canonicall scripture Indeede he hath often alleadged places of Scripture to make some approaches to it and to beate downe certaine defences to solue by scripture the arguments that the Donatists brought out of Scripture to maintaine that the custome of the Church in the point contested was according to Scripture in as much as According signifies not against the Scripture to establie generall theses and preparatiues to proue the propositions that had some simpathy and affinitie with that which hee disputed As for example he doth indeede proue by scripture that what is sound and intire amongst heretickes must not be repeated againe when they returne to the Church but that Baptisme is sound and intire amongst them he doth noe were proue by Scripture He proues indeede by Scripture that there may be ecclesiasticall thinges out of the Church but that Baptisme is of that number he nether doth nor can proue by Scripture He proues indeede by scripture that it is against the commaun dement of God if heretickes haue receaued the Baptisme of Christ in their owne partie to rebaptise them for wee also reade that our Lord answered Sainct PETER Hee that is wholie washt neede washe but his feete But that heretickes receiue the Baptisme of Christ in their Sects and not 〈◊〉 polluted and prophane washing which is all the knott of the question he noe were proues by scripture For as hee notes elsewhere Peter of whom this is written had not bene baptised by heretickes he prooues indeede by scripture that they who are out of the interior and Spirituall vnitie of the Church as Judas and wicked Catholickes doe not for that leaue to conferr true Baptisme but that they who are neither inwardlie nor outwardlie in the Church who are out of the vnitie of the profession of Faith and of the communion of the Sacraments of the ecclesiasticall bodie can conferr it he proues noe where by scripture And in Summe the thinges which belong to the Solutions of arguments to probable and coniecturall preparatiues to shewes of possibilitie and non repugnancie to soften and dispose the spiritt of the Readers he doth indeede prooue by scripture but the impression of the last forme the assumption and hypothesis of the sillogisme the proofe of this precise and speciall point that Baptisme whereof Sainct IOHN cryes None may receaue anie thinge except it be giuen him from heauen That Sainct PETER saith to be administred into remission of Sinnes That Sainct PAVL calls the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the holie Ghost and whereof hee writes One faith and one Baptisme And againe All they that are baptized haue put on Christ That this Sacrament I saie may be conferred out of the Church which is the fullnes of Christ which is the sealed Fountaine which is the only dwelling of the holie Ghost which is shee alone that hath receiued the keyes and the authoritie to remitt sinnes that this can subsist amongst hereticks who haue neither faith nor guift from heauen nor the holie Ghost you can neuer finde that in soe maine yeares as saint AVGVSTINE the principall opposite and ouerthrowe of this heresie hath contested her he hath neuer manifested nor could hee nor he hath not pretended to proue by anie passage of Scripture but by the only vnwritten traditions of the Apostles and the generall practise and vniuersall attestation of the Church Wee must saith hee obserue in these thinges what the Church of God obserues The question now betweene you and vs is which of yours or ours is the Church of God And againe Wherefore although in truth there be noe example to be produced of this out of the 〈◊〉 Scripture yet we leaue not to maintaine euen in this case the truth of the Scriptures when we obserue what hath bene approued by all that Church that the authoritie of the canonicall Scripture recommendeth And in an other place This is neither openlie nor euidentlie read neither by you nor by me c. But if anie one indued with wisdome and recommended by the testimonie of our Lord Iesus Christ were to be found in the world and that hee had bene consulted by vs vpon this question wee ought noe waie to doubt to doe what he should tell vs for feare of being iudged repugnant not so much to him as to our Lord Jesus Christ by whose testimonie hee had bene recommended Now he giues testimonie to his Church And in the worke of Baptisme against the same Donatists The Apostles saith hee haue prescribed nothing in this matter but this custome ought to be beleeued to haue taken the originall there of from their tradition as there are manie thinges which the vniuersall Church obserues and which are therefore not without cause beleeued to haue bene commaunded by the Apostles although they be not written From whence the contrarie appeares to what his maiestie pretends to inferr from this passage to witt that the scripture only destitute of the vnwritten Apostolicke tradition cannot decidè all pointes of Faith nor refute all heresies For the point in agitation betweene the Catholicks and the Donatists concerning the truth realitie of the baptisme giuen by hereticks was a point of faith and wherein obstinate error would make an heresie The proofe of this is first that the doctrine of Baptisme importes so much to the faith as where there is noe true baptisme there is noe true Church S PAVL teaching vs that God clenseth his Church through the washing of water in the word Now there where the Church is destroyed there is destroyed this article of the Faith of the Creede I beleeue the bolie Catholick Church And secondlie that the vnitie of Baptisme belonges so to faith as S. PAVL saith there is one faith and one Baptisme And that the creede of Cōstātinople setts amōgst the Articles of the Confession of the Faith We 〈◊〉 one baptisme in the remission of sinns in such sort as if the Donatists erred in disanulling the baptisme of heretickes and rebaptizing them they destroyed the faith of the vnitie of baptisme and anathematised the character of Christ which had alreadie bene imprinted in the baptized by baptisme And if the Catholicks erre in approuing the baptisme of heretickes and in not rebaptisinge them when they came to them they sinned against the Faith of the necessitie of Baptisme for the constitution of the Church and consequently had noe Church And neuerthelesse neither could this point of Faith be proued nor
essential forme doth shewe it to the vnderstandinge the marke designes the thing in the existence the essentiall forme designes it in the offence The marke teacheth where the thinge is and the essentiall forme teacheth what it is the marke is sooner knowne then the thing and contrarywise the thing is sooner knowne then the essentiall forme of the thing for the thing defined as Aristotle saith preceedes in knowledge the definition that is to saie the whole is knowne before the resolution of the thing into his essentiall partes And therefore to saie that the eminencie of the Communion is not the essentiall forme of the Church hinders it not from being a marke of the Church and a marke likewise not only greatlie necessary but absolutely necessary She hath saith Saint AVGVSTINE this most certaine marke that shee cannot be hidden shee is then knowne to all nations the Sect of Donatus is vnknowne to many nations therefore that is not shee Againe on the other side to saie that the doctrine is the essentiall forme or belongeth to the essentiall forme of the Church makes not that 〈◊〉 it should be a marke of the Church for a marke must haue three conditions The first is to be more knowne then the thing since it is it that makes the thing knowne the second that the thing neuer bee found without it And the third as we haue said elswhere that it be neuer found either alone if it be a totall marke or with its fellowes if it be a marke in part without the thing Now the truth of doctrine in all instances thereof is much harder to be knowne then the societie of the Church I said in all instances thereof because to know the right of the cause of the Church in one particular question with one or other Sect sufficeth not to knowe the Church by the doctrin but it is necessary to know the truth of the doctrine of the Church in all her particularities contested by heresies as well past as present before we can 〈◊〉 by vertue of the examination of the doctrine where the true Church is For there needes no more but that shee goe wrong in anie one controuersie to make her fall from the title of the true Church Now who is he that can vaunt to know the integritie of the doctrine of the Church in all her instances and to haue made the examination against euery one of the other societies by infallible and insoluble proofes to all theire answeres and by inuincible and irrefutable answeres to all theire obiections And if anie could doe this who knowes not that the simple people and ignorant and rusticall persons of whose Saluation neuerthelesse God hath the same care that he hath of the learned and to whom the markes of the Church should be equally common since they are equallie obliged to obay her are not capable of this examination For the rest of the people saith Saint AVGVSTINE it is not the quicknes of vnderstandinge but the simplicity of beliefe that secures them And by consequent who seeth not that they must haue other markes to know the Church by then that of her doctrine to wit markes proportionable to theire capacitie that is to saie externall and sensible markes as 〈◊〉 antiquitie perpetuitie and such like euen as children and ignorant persons must haue externall and sensible markes and other then the essentiall forme of a man to know and discerne a man from other liuing creatures By what manifest marke cries out Saint AVGVSTINE speaking in the person of a Catechumenist by what demonstration shall I that am yet little and weake and cannot discerne the pure truth from the manie errors know the Church of Christ to which I am constrained to belieue by the euent of soe manie things heeretofore presaged for these causes saith he the Prophet goes forward and as it were collecting methodically the motions of that spiritt saith that she is foretolde to be that Church which is eminent and apparent to all And a little after and also because of the motions of these little ones who may be seduced and diuerted by men from the brightnes of of the Church our Lord goes before them saying The Citie built vpon the Mountaine cannot be hidd And indeede how is it that Esaie should prophecy that In the last daies the Mountaine of the Lord should be on the topp of all the Mountaines and that all the hills should flow to her and that the Nations should come and saie let vs goe vp into the Mountaine of our Lord and into the howse of the God of Iacob and he will 〈◊〉 vs his waies if the only marke to know assuredly the howse of the Lord that is to saie the Church were the especiall knowledge of his waies And how should Sainct PAVL say God hath placed in the Church Apostles Prophetes Euangelists Pastors and Doctors c. to the end we should be noe more little children blowne about with euery winde of doctrine if he had not giuen vs other markes to know the Church then the puritie of doctrine Besides suppose the doctrine to be the marke of the Church it must be either the doctrine contested betweene the parties that pretend the title of the Church or the doctrine not contested now it cannot be the doctrine not contested because both sides haue it And lesse yet the doctrine contested for while the truth of the doctrine is contested it remaines vndecided of which side it is and the certaine and assured decision cannot be made but by the Church by which meanes it is necessary that duringe the cōtestation of the doctrine there must be other markes to know the Church by which being acknowledged the question of the doctrine may be decided And you cannot saie that the contested doctrine can be decided by Scripture only for besides that there are matters of Religion which are not anie waie touched by the Scripture ās that whereof Saint AVGVST speaketh The Apostles in truth haue prescribed nothing of that but this custome which was opposite to Cyprian ought to be belieued to haue taken its originall from theire tradition Saint IEROME protests that the Scriptures consist not in the reading but in the vnderstanding and that by a wrong interpretation the Ghospell of God may be made the Ghospell of a man nay which is worse the Ghospell of the diuell Wherefore to iudge surely of the doctrine by the Scripture it is necessarie to be first assured of the interpretation of the Scripture and that by an infallible meanes For all the conclusions of Faith which are not found in termes expresse and incapable of ambiguitie in the Scripture but are drawne by interpretations to make them conclusions of Faith and decisions infallible and equall to the authoritie of theire principles must be drawne from it by an infallible meane Now there are but three waies whereby we may pretend to be assured that a conclusion drawne from
to conferr it Marriage for a true and proper Sacrament Pennance for a true and proper Sacrament and vocall Confession to the Pastors of the Church for one of the Conditiōs necessary to this Sacrament Order for a true and proper Sacrament and Extreame Onction for a true and proper Sacramēt which are the seuen Sacramentes that the Roman Church acknowledges and the Greeke Communion alsoe makes profession to embrace with vs. A Church which in the Ceremonies of baptisme vsed oyle salte waxe lights exorcismes the signe of the Crose the word Epheta and other thinges that accompanie it to testifie by oyle that in baptisme wee are made Christians that is partakers of the vnction of Christ by salte that God contracted with vs in baptisme an alliance for euer followinge the stile of the Scripture which calls eternall alliances alliances of salte by the light that Christ is the light that enlightens all men commeinge into the world by exorcismes that baptisme puts vs out of the Diuells possession by the signe of the Crosse that it is the Death of Christ that giues strength to all Sacramentes by the word Epheta that God accomplisheth spiritually in vs by baptisme what he wrought corporally in the deafe and dumbe man A Church that esteemed baptisme for persons of full age necessary with a conditionall necessitie and for children necessary with an absolute necessitie and for this cause permitted lay men to baptise in danger of death A Church that vsed holy water consecrated by certaine wordes and ceremonies and made vse of it both for baptisme and against inchantments and to make exorcismes and coniurations against euill spirits Frō whence it is that S. Gregory the great who though he were after the first fower Councells yet not to be excepted against by English men who tooke the originall of their mission from him ordained when Englad returned backe from paganisme to Christiā Religiō that the temples should not be demolished but expiated by the sprinkling of holy water A Church that in the oeconomy of Ecclesiasticall ministrie held diuers degrees the Bishop the Priest the Deacō the Acolite the Exorcist the Reader and the Porter and consecrated and blessed them with diuers formes and ceremonies And in the order Episcopall acknowledged diuers seates of iurisdictīo of positiue right to witt Archbishops Primates Patriarckes and one supereminent by diuine law which was the Pope without whom nothing could be decided appertayning to the vniuersall Church the want of whose presēce either by himself or by his legates or his confirmation made all Councells pretended to be vniuersall vnlawfull A Church wich held a succession of Bishops not interrupted since the first mission of the Apostles for an essentiall condition of her reputed those who had it not or that communicated with those that had it not for Schismatiks and cul pable of the same Curse with Core Dathan and 〈◊〉 A Church that held the distinction of Bishop and Priest and namely in the acte of ordinatiō for a thing of diuine law and Apostolicall tradition and condemned as hereticks those that held it not A Church that held free will for a doctrine of faith reuealed in the holy scripture that held that faith onely without Euāgelicall works is not sufficient for saluation that wicked men perseuering to the end were reprobates but not predestinate to euill that the certainty that particular men presumed to haue of their predestination was a rashe bouldnes A Church wherein their seruice was said throughout the East in Greeke and through the west aswell in Africa as in Europe in Latine although that in none of the prouinces neither of Europe nor Africa except in Italie in the citties where the Roman colonyes resided the latine were vnderstood by the simple people but onely by the learned In briefe a Church that vsed either in gender or in species either informe or in analogie the very same ceremonies vvhich are the vvords vvell knovven the all men vvhich the Catholique vseth vniuersally at this 〈◊〉 obserued the distinctīo of the Feasts and ordinary daies the distinction of Ecclesiasticall and lay habits the reuerence of sacred vessells the custome of shauing and vnction for the collation of orders the ceremonie of vvashing their hands at the Altar before the consecration of the mysteries the kisse of peace before the 〈◊〉 pronounced a part of the seruice at the Altar vvith a lovv voice and vvheard made processions vvith the relickes of the martyrs accompained the dead to their 〈◊〉 vvith vvax tapers in signe of ioy and future certainty of their resurrectiō had the pictures of Christ and his Saînts both out of Churches and in Churches and vpon the very altars of martyrs not to adore them as adoration signifies di nine vvorship but to reuerence by them the souldiers and champions of Christ vsed the signe of the crosse in all their conuersations imprinted it on the forehead of their catechumenists painted it on the portall of all the hovvses of the faithfull gaue the blessing to the people vvith their hand by the signe of the Crosse imployed it to driue away evill spirits proposed in Ierusalē the very Crosse to be adored on good friday vsed incense in their Synaxes not particularly incēse of Arabia but indifferently odoriferous gummes for they held not incense for sacrifice as in the tyme of the lawe but for a simple ceremony designed to represent the effect of prayers described by these wordes of Dauid Let my prayer arise euen as incense into thy presence And by these of the Reuelation The smoke of the incense of the prayers of the Saints ascended from the hand of the Angell before God And finally a Church which held that the Catholicke Church had the infallible promise that she should be perpetually visible and eminent in her communion perpetually pure and vncorrupted in her doctrine and in her Sacramentes and perpetually bound and cōtinued in the succession of her ministrie and that to her onely belonges the keeping of the Apostolicall traditions the authority of the interpretation of scripture and the decision of controuersies of Faith and that out of the succession of her Communion of her doctrine and of her ministrie there was neither Church nor saluation Beholde what the excellent King when it shall please him to consider it at sufficient leasure shall finde the Catholicke Church to haue bene in the tyme of saint AVG. and of the 4 first Councelles Let his Maiestie see whether by these features he can knowe the face of Caluines Church or of ours Of the conformitie or inconformitie of the sense wherein the word Catholicke hath bene cōmon to the ancient Catholicke Church and to the moderne
Christians wherein they were contained from whence it appeares that from the lesser of these computations nothing can be inferred against the larger To proue it so when Origen in his cōmentary vpon the psalmes speakes of the Scriptures of the old Testament he followes the canon of Esdras and the nūber of the twentie two Hebrew letters wherin neither Tobias nor Iudith nor that of Wisedome had anie place Yon must not be ignorāt said hee that the bookes of the Testament according to the tradition of the Hebrewes are 22. according to the number of their letters And whē he speakes in his cōmentary vpō the book of Nūbers of the volumes of the Scripture he followes the accessory cōputatiō of the christians the appēdix of the posthumall bookes sets downe the 〈◊〉 of Iudith Tobie that of Wisedome amongst the canonicall Bookes When there is presented saith hee to those that are newly Schollers in diuine Studies anie reading of the diuine volumes in which there is nothing that seemes obscure as the booke of Hester or of Iudith or of Tobie or the precepts of wisedome they receiue it willinglie but if the booke of Leuiticus be read to them their spirit is presentlie dulled And in the same place of the cōmentary vpon the psalmes where he reckons the Canonicall Bookes of the old Testament according to the cōputation of the Hebrewes and the number of the Hebrew letters hee adds out of this ranke are the bookes of the Machabees which the Hebrewes call Sarbit Sarbaneell that is to saie the Scepter of the Prince of the childrē of God By which wordes he intēdes not to saie that they are not of the ranke of the canonicall Bookes of the old Testament for then wherefore hauing purposed to speake of the Canonicall Bookes should he mentiō the Machabees but that they were not in the ranke of the canonicall bookes inserted in the canon of Esdras Likewise when S. EPIPHANIVS in the Booke of the Hebrew weights measure in the confutatiō of the Sect of Epicurus speaks of the canonicalll Bookes of the old Testamēt he followes the catalogue of Esdras the cabbale or tradition of the twentie two Hebrew letters and saith that the Bookes of Wisedome Ecclesiasticus were not of this nūber The Wisdome of Salomon and that of Iesusthe sonne of Syrach are vsefull and profitable but are not sett downe amongst the bookes enrolled that is to saie enrolled by Esdras And for that cause they are not placed in the Aron that is to saie in the Arke of the testimonie for so it must be read not neither in the Aron nor in the Arke as it is read at this daie by the ignorance of the booke writers interpreters who of the word Aron which in hebrew signifies Arke haue made Aaron brother of Moyses And when he disputeth against Aetius head of the heresie of the Anomeans he follloweth the accessory cōputation of the Church setts both those amongst the diuine and Canonicall Scriptures You must saith hee turne ouer the twentie seauen bookes of the olde Testament that the hebrewes reckon twentie two and the four Ghospells and the fourteen epistles of the Apostles S. PAVL and the Acts of 〈◊〉 Apostles made before and during the same time and the Catholick Epistles of Iames Peter Iohn and Iude and the 〈◊〉 of John and the two Wisdomes that is to saie that of Salomon and that of the Sonne of Syrach and in summe all the diuine Scriptures And finallie the fourth and last aduertisment shall bee that there is not one of all the Greeke canons wherein the Machabees are past ouer in silēce except those that follow the double computation whereof wee now speake which is not according to the verie iudgment of Geneua imperfect omitts those Bookès the Caluinists théselues confesse to be canonicall And to proue it so in the canon of Melito the booke of Hester is omitted in the canon of S. CYRILL of Hierusalem in the canō of the coūcell of Laodicea the Apocalips is forgoten in the Synopsis falsely imputed to S. ATHANAS the booke of Hester is cutt of in the canon laid to S. GREGORIE of Naziazenes charge I say laid to his charge because this canon leaues out Wisedome which S. GREG. of Nazianzene in his true writings cites as canonicall the Booke of Hester and that of the Apocalips are excluded In the catalogue attributed to Amphilochius the booke of Hester and the Apocalips are called in question In the catalogue of Iosephus an author that was an Hebrew by nation but whose Bookes are written in Greeke the booke of Job is omitted principallie according to their computation that will haue Job to haue been before Moyses as Origen amōgst the old Christians Mercerus the Caluinist amōgst the moderne Raby Moyses Kimhi amongst the Iewes And in all the Iudaicall antiquities of the same Josephus there is no mētion made of Iobs history By meanes whereof nothing can be concluded from the silence of those imperfect rolls against the volumes by thē omitted And indeede notwithstanding this catalogue Josephus leaues not of if wee giue creditt to the Greeke text of the worke against Appion to alleadge the booke of Ecclesiasticus for one of the pieces of the Jewish lawe when he writes The lawe saith that the woeman is in all things worse then man and that a mans iniquitie is better thē the good worke of a woeman Nor to insert a great parte of the history of the Machabes into his treatie of the dominion of reason ouer the senses yea with the title of a sacred Booke if wee beleeue the finall clause of the worke which is defectiue in the Greeke text but is in the anciēt latine translation acknowledged publisht by Erasmus For whereas the same Iosephus distinguisheth betweene the bookes written before Artaxerxes when the Prophets flourished in the Jewish Church the Bookes writté since so farr of is he frō excluding heereby the bookes of the Machabes frō the nūber of the bookes writtē by the Prophets that cōtrary wise in noting that the bookes written since Artaxerxes are not reputed so worthie of credit as the former because the successiō of the Prophets hath not bene exact he shewes that they were beleeued to haue bene writtē by the Prophets but with a beleefe lesse assured mingled with some vncertaintie Since Artaxerxes saith he euē to our tyme other things hane bene writtē but they are not esteemed worthie of the same credit as the former becanse the Succession of the Prophets hath not bene exact Now this vncertaintie S. IOHN S. PAVL seeme to take awaie S. IOHN whē he reportes that our Lord assisted at the feast of the dedication of winter whose institutiō is described in the only collection of the Machabees for the historie of the dedication of winter was a thing necessary to Saluatiō
in our owne wordes or in the wordes of her head our Lord Iesus Christ I thinke wee ought rather to seeke her in his word from him that is truth and well knowes his owne Bodie And a while after I would not haue the Church demonstrated by humane instructions but by diuine or acles And againe Let vs then seeke her in the canonicall scriptures He did not intend that to seeke the Church in the scriptures betweene the Catholicks and the Donatists was to seeke the doctrine of the Church in the scriptures that is to saie to examin by the scriptures the point of doctrine which was contested betweene the Church and the Donatists but to seeke the markes and externall and visible characters of the Church in the scriptures to the end that the Church being discerned by those markes the truth of the doctrine contested might be after knowne by the disposition of the Church For the vnderstanding whereof it must be noted that there were two questions betweene the Catholickes and the Donatistes the one of the Bodie of the Church to know on what party either of the Catholickes or of them the true societie of the Church resided The other of the doctrine of the Church to witt the which they or the Catholickes held the true doctrine concerning the Baptisme of heretickes The first question then which is of the Bodie of the Church saint AVGVSTINE wills it should be iudged by the scripture alone for as much as in the precise controuersie wherein the question was which of the two societies was the Church the voice of the true Church cannot be discerned But the second question which is that of the doctrine contested betweene the Catholicks and the Donatists he would haue it decided by the onlie deposition of the Church as a faith full guardian and depositarie of the Apostolicke tradition To seeke then according to saint AVGVSTINE betweene the Catholickes and the Donatists the Church in the Scriptures was not to search the doctrine of the Church in the contentious points of Faith in the Scripture but to seeke the visible markes and notes by which the Church ought to be exteriorly discerned in the Scripture For the Donatists to proue that their Church was the true Church and not the Catholicke Church alleadged human actes and human proofes to witt that the Catholicke Church had receaued into her communion without anie expiation and purgation of preceding pennance those that had deliured the holie Bookes to be burnt and had sacrificed to the false Gods in the time of persecution and therfore that she was polluted with their contagion and was perished And then that the onely faction of Donatus which had remained pure from this contagion was the true Church And saint AVGVSTINE contrariwise saith that against all these words which were human proofes and words for if he that ordained Cecilianus had deliuered vp the holy Bookes in persecution time it was a thing to be proued by human testimonies that is to saie by actes of notaries and clerkes euen prophane the Catholickes had the wordes of Christ wherein the workes of the Church were described to witt that she ought to be visible eminent vniuersall perpetuall and that to examin the Church according to these markes it was to seeke her in the words of Christ and to examine her according to the production of the Donatists it was to seeke her in humane wordes What are saith hee our words wherein wee must not seeke her c. All that wee obiect one against an other of the deliuerie of the holie Bookes of the sacrificing to Jdolls and of the persecutions those are our wordes And a while after I would not that the Church should be demonstrated by human instructions but by diuine oracles for if the holse Scriptures haue designed the Church to be in Africa alone and in a smalle number of Roman inhabitants making their conuenticles in Rockes and mount 〈◊〉 and in the howse and territorie of a certaine Spanish Ladie then whatsoeuer records can be produced there are none but the Donatists that haue the Church If the Scripture assigne it to a little number of Mauritanians in the 〈◊〉 prouince you must goe to the Rogatists If in a smalle troupe of Bizacenians and Tripolitans prouincialls the Maximinianists haue mett with her If those of the East alone wee must seeke her amongst the Arrians Macedonians Eunomians and others if there be others for who can number the heresies as proper and particular of euerie particular Prouince But if by the diuine and most certaine testimonies of the Canonicall scriptures she be designed in all nations whatsoeuer they produce and whensoeuer it be produced by those that saie there is Christ if wee be 〈◊〉 let vs 〈◊〉 heare the voice of our Shepheard saying beleeue them not For euerie one of those is not to be found but this which is ouer all is to bee found in the selfe same places where the others are And therefore lett vs seeke her in the holie Canonicall scriptures The places the of the scripture where S. AVGVSTINE would haue the Donatists to seeke the Church are these In thy seede all the nations vpon the earth shal be blessed The children of the forsaken shal be in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 number then those of her that hath a husband This Ghospell must be declared ouer the whole world and then the end shall bee I am with you to the consummation of ages And other such like And the arguments that he bringes to manifest the Church by the Scriptures are these The cittie of God saith he hath this for a certaine marke that she cannot be hidden she is thē knowne to all nations the sect of Donatus is vnknowne to manie nations then that is not shee Item You haue the Church which ought to be spread ouer all and to growe till the haruest You haue the Cittie whereof hee that built it hath said the Cittie built vpon the mountaine cannot be hidd It is she then that is most euident not in anie one part of the world but ouer all And other the like But as for the point of doctrine I saie againe and I saie it boldlie that saint AVGVSTINE neuer intended either that the question of the Church betweene the Catholiques and the Donatists should be tryed by the doctrine nor that the article of the doctrine contested betweene thē should be decided by scripture but that the point of the Church should be examined by the externall and visible markes that of the externall and visible markes by the Scripture and the difference of doctrine by the reporte of the Church that is to saie by the tradition of the Apostles is to denie that in disputatiōs against other heresies whē pointes are handled which are heere esteemed to be expresselie treated of by the canonicall Scriptures but that hee often called vpon their iudgment For who doubtes but that where the Scripture is cleere
that where of God saith by the mouth of Esay Thou shalt iudge euerie tongue that shall resist thee in iudgement And by his owne The gates of Hell thall not preuaile against her And againe Let him that heares not the Church be vnto thee as a heathen or a publica And by that of S. PAVL God hath placed in the Church Apostles Prophets Pastors and Doctors c. that we may noe longer 〈◊〉 little Children waueringe with euerie winde of doctrine And againe The Church is the Pillar and foundation of trutb doth not RVFFINVS write that Saint Basile and Saint GREGORY Nazianzene tooke the interpretacion of the Scriptures not from theire owne sense but from the tradition of the Fathers And doth not Saint AVGVSTINE crie out within the wombe of the Church is the dwellinge of truth And againe All the fulnesse of authoritie and all the light of reason for reparation of human kinde consistes in the only healthfull name of Christ and in his only Church And doth not VINCENTIVS Lirinensis say because all vnderstand not the holie Scripture by reason of the depth thereof in one sense But one interprets it in one fashion an other in an other so that it seemes there may be as many seuer all opinions drawne out of it as there are seuer all men for Nouatiā expounds it one waie Photinus another waie Sabellius an other Donatus an other Arrius Eunomius Macedonius an other Apollinaris Priscillianus an other Iouinian Pelagius Caelestius and finally Nestorius an other for these causes it is verie necessarie to auoid the perill as so manie great Labyrinths of so diuers errors that the line of the propheticall and apostolicall interpretation should be drawne according to the rule of the Ecclesiasticall and Catholique sense And háue not the ministers of Geneua themselues noted this in the margent of theire last Bibles The doctrine of Faith requires a domesticall and particular instruction namely in those that are ordained to deliuer it into the Church least they should take it in theire owne particular sense vnder colour of the Scripture And this is it that was anciently called TRADITION in the Church Now if the certainty of the interpretation of the Church ought to be také according to the exposition of the very Geneua Bibles not from the sense of euery particular man but from the traditiō of the Church how can it be that the truth of the vnder standinge of the Scripture should be the only certaine and infallible marke to discerne and know the Church But against these proofes the aduersaries of the Church propound obiections which we had best cōfute before we proceede to an other article The first obiection is that Saint AVSTINE in his writinge against the Manichees after he hath made a longe list of the markes of the Church addes this Among you where no such thing is found as holdes and tyes me there soundes only a promisse of the truth which if it be soe manifestly demonstrated as none can call it in question ought to be preferred before all those things whereby I am retained in the Catholicke Church And from hence they conclude that S. AVGVSTINE held not the other markes for necessary and infallible but onelie for probable and coniecturall since he offered to depart from them if they could demonstrate to him vndoubtedly that the truth was of the other side To this I make two answeres one that the truth whereof Saint AVGVSTINE speakes makes nothing for theire purpose that alleage it For Saint AVGVSTINE speaketh not there of the truth demonstrated by scripture which is that whereof the Protestants vaunt but of the truth demonstrated by the light of naturalle reason which was that that the Manichees promised as it appeares by what he said three lines belowe I would not beleeue the Ghospell if the authoritie of the Catholicke Church did not moue me to it And a little after And therefore if thou must yeeld me a reason set aside the Ghospell if thou wilt tye thy-self to the Ghospell I will tye myself to those by whom I haue beleued in the Ghospell And againe The authoritie of the Catholiks being destroyed I could not beleeue the Ghospell because it is by them that I haue beleeued it And in an other place That which remaines for you is to saie that you will produce areason soe certaine and inuincible as the truth thereof being manifested by it selfe it shall haue noe neede of the authoritie of anie witnes nor of the veritie vertue you must reade of anie miracle The other answer is that Saint AVGVSTINE did not propound this in the forme of a possible condition for contrarywise he disputes of deliberate purpose against the Manichees that the naturall light of reason could not be the waie to come to the knowlege of the truth of saluation but in the forme of an impossible condition and which consequentlie diminisheth nothing from the efficacie of the markes of the Church as it appeares by what he addes immediatelie after But if it be only promised and not exhibited none shall separate me from this Faith which by so manie and so great bondes so calls he the externall and sensible markes of the Church bindes my Spirit to the Christian Religion The second obiection that the aduersaries of the Church oppose is that the externall and sensible marks that the Fathers assigne to the Church as antiquitie perpetuitie eminencie and succession belong not to the Church only for as much as manie other things may claime antiquitie as the Sunne the Sea the mountaines and manie other succession as the Springs the brookes the riuers and manie other vniuersalitie as the aire the earth and the other Elements and euen amougst Religions that of the pagans hath heeretofore had eminencie and vniuersalitie and that of the Iewes hath still antiquitie and perpetuitie Certainlie a childish and ridiculous obiection for first the marks that God hath giuen to his Church haue not bene imposed vpon her to distinguish her frō all kindes of things but to distinguish her only from those things that are contained though equiuocally vnder the same next kinde and may be supposed and taken for Churches that is to saie from other Christian societies to witt from hereticall and Schismaticall Sects which challenge and pretend by false markes the title of the Church no more then the markes that Golodmithes giuen to golde that it will not euaporate in the fire and that it will resist the coupelle and the water of separatiō are not giue it to discerne it from all kinde of bodies for there are other bodies to which these conditions arc common as glasse and diamondes but to discerne it from false gold that is from metalls made and sophisticated that may be supposed and made to passe for golde And this alsoe Saint AVGVSTINE esteemes the Church would insinuate in the Canticle where after she hath demaunded of her
spouse markes of the place where he dwells she saith Least I be as hidden amougst the flockes of thy competitors that is to saie saith saint AVGVSTINE of those that being in the beginninge with thee would assemble without not thy flocke but theire stocks For what is this but to saie that the Church demaundes marks of her spouse not to be discerned from all kinde of things but to be discerned only from the societie of heretickes which beare by false markes the name of Christ and the title of Churches And secondly it is not necessary that the markes in parte that is to saie those that taken separatlie haue not the entire office of markes may not be found euery one a parte without the thing marked but that the thing may not be found without euery one of them nor they taken iointly and altogether without the thing whose marke they are And therefor the argument of the markes in parte separated is good to argue negatiuely and to saie with sainct Austine against the Donatistes The Church hath this most certaine marke that she cannot be hidden she is then knowne to all nations the sect of Donatus is vnknowne to manie nations then that is not she Or with saint IEROM against the Luciferians Hilarius being dead a deacon he could ordaine no Priest after him now that is noe Church that hath noe Priestes or with the same saint AVGVSTINE against all heresies in generall euerie heresie that sitts in corners is a concubine and no matron But the argument of the markes in part taken iointlie is good to argue both negatiuely and affirmatiuely and to conclude with saint AVGVSTINE Suppose then that I omitt this wisedome that you denie to be in the Catholicke Church there are many other thinges that retaine me most iustlie in her lappe The consent of people and nations retaines me The authoritie begun by miracles nourished by hope increased by charitie confirmed by antiquitie retaines me The Succession of Prelates since the sea of Peter to whom or Lord consigned the feeding of his sheepe after his resurrection to the present Bishops Sea retaines me and finallie the very name of Catholicke retaines me which not without cause this Church alone amongst soe manie and soe great heresies hath so maintained as when a stranger askes where they assemble to comunicate in the Catholicke Church there is no hereticke tha dare shew him his owne temple or his owne howse From what places of the voice of the sheepeheard the markes of the Church ought to be taken CHAPTER VI. The continuance of the Kinges answere The king hath learnt from the reading of the holie Scripture and all the Fathers heretofore none excepted held noe otherwise that the true and essentiall forme of the Church is that the sheepe of Christ doe heare the voice of theire pastor THE REPLIE To heare the voice of the Pastor is the office of the sheepe but not the essentiall forme either of the Church or of the sheepe For the essentiall forme of the Church I meane essentiall forme analogically as that of the supposts constituted by aggregation is vnitie in the meanes of vocation to saluation and the essentiall forme of the flocke is the communion and participation to this vnitie The name of Church saith saint CHRISOSTOM is a name of agreement and vnion And saint AVGVSTINE God is one the Church is vnitie nothing agreeth with this one ' but vnitie But if the essentiall forme of the flocke were to heare the voice of the Pastor doth not he heare the voice of the Pastor that heares her voice of whom the Pastor said by the mouth of Esay Thou shalt iudge euerie tongue that resisteth thee in Iudgement And by his owne mouth The gates of Hell shall not preuaile against her And whosoeuer heares her not shall be held as a heathen and a Publican And by the mouth of saint PAVL He hath placed in the Church Apostles Prophets Euangelists Pastors and Doctors c. that we may no more be little children fleeting and wauering with euerie wind of Doctrine And doth not saint AVGVSTINE cry out The truth of Scripture is held by vs when we doe that which pleaseth the vniuersall Church whom the authoritie of the same scriptures recommends And againe There are manie thinges that the vniuersall Church obserueth and which therefore are lawfullie belieued to haue bene deliuered by tradition of the Apostles although we finde them not written And then againe to heare the voice of the Pastor is it not to heare it according to true vnderstanding for doth not TERTVLLIAN pronounce An adulterate glosse doth as much outrage to the truth as a false penne And doth not Saint Hilarie saie The heresie is in the vnderstanding and not in the Scripture the sense and not the word becomes the crime And doth not saint Ierome write The Ghospell is not in the words but in the sense And doth not saint AVGVSTINE cty out All the heretickes which receiue the scriptures thincke to follow them when they follow theire owne errors And in an other place Heretickes were no heretickes but that misvnderstanding the Scripture they defend obstinately theire owne false opinions against the truth thereof And againe Manie things are spoken by Christ in the Scriptures in such a manner as the impions Spirits of heretickes who will needs teach before they are taught are thereby lead into error And vpon saint Iohn The heresies and peruerse doctrines which intangle Soules and cast them headlong into hell haue theire birth no where but from good Scriptures euilly vnderstood And so is not the question still to whom it belongs to iudge infalliblie of the true sense of the Scripture Moreouer the first voice of the shepheard that the Fathers summond the sheepe to heare is it not that whereby he designes the markes of his Sheepefolde that is of his Church I haue said saint AVGVSTINE the most manifest voice of my pastor who recommends and expresses to me his Church without anie ambigiutie I must blame myself if for the wordes of men I straie from his floke which is the Church since principallie he admonishes me saying My sheepe heare my voyce Now which is this voice of the pastor wherein Saint AVGVSTINE will haue vs seeke for the markes of the Church but that wich expresses not the doctrine contested betweene him and his aduersaries which was that of the truth of the baptisme giuen by hereticks but the prerogatiues of eminencie perpetuitie vniuersalitie and other externall and sensible markes and conditions promised to the Church If the holie Scriptures saith saint AVGVSTINE haue designed the 〈◊〉 only in Africa and in a little medly of men dwelling in the rockes and Mountaines neere Rome and in the howse and territorie of a spanish Ladie though whatsoeuer other pamphlets may be produced there are none but the Donatists that haue the Church if the
from Ierusalem at his deliuery which was the second yeare of the Raigne of Claudius went into an other place that is to saie into an other place proper to goe out of Iudea from the iurisdiction of Herod such as was Ioppa where those vsed to imbarke that would saile to Rome into the west doth not that excellently agree with S. IEROMS computatiō who reports that S. PETER came to Rome the second yeare of the Empire of Claudius For that S. LVKE saith onely that he went into an other place expresses not whither but leaues him seauen yeare after without mention it is not to abandon the historie of S. PAVL his master The same S. LVKE testifies that S. PETER was againe at the Councell at Ierusalem holden for legall causes Fitts not that iust with that that Suetonius saith that Claudius draue the Iewes from Rome which raisd tumults for Christs cause to that that Orosius notes that this banishment was in the ninth yeare of Claudius that is the eighteenth yeare after the death of Christ which was the verie yeare of the Councell S. IOHN expounds this prophecie of our Lord to S. PETER Thou shalt stretch forth thy hands and aen other shall girde thee by the kinde of S. PETERS death and adds that our Lord foretelling enigmaticallie the martirdome of S. PETER said to him follow mee doth not this agree with that Tertullian saith speaking of the Roman Church Happie Church in which the Apostles haue shedd all their doctrine with their bloud in which Peter is equalled to the passion of our Lord And with what S. AMBROSE writes that S. Peter being come forth of Rome to flie persecution our Lord appeared to him and said I goe to Rome to be crucified againe S. PETER insinuates in his first epistle that he writt it from Babylon many greeke copies contrarily date it from Rome Is not this solued by that that Eusebius and S. IEROM saie that S. PETER calls Rome allegorically Babylon for as much as Rome was then in regard of the Iewes the same as the Asian Babylon had bene in the tyme of the Prophets He adds the salutation of MARKE The Church said hee which is in Babylon and Marke my sonne salute you doth not that agree both with the vse of the word Marcus which was a Roman name and not a Babylonian and with these wordes of Papias auditor of S. IOHN reported by Clemens Alexandrinus Marke being requested at Rome by the bretheren writ a short Ghospell which Peter hauing read approued For whereas Erasmus saith that S. IEROM attributes the name of ` Babylon to Roms in choller for as much as hee had bene euill intreated there and will haue that Babylon whereof S. PETER speakes to be the Asirian-Babylon These are two childish ignorances the one not to know that S. IEROM had alreadie interpreted that Babylon whereof S. PETER speakes to be Rome both in his commentarie vpon Esay and in his catalogue of the Ecclesiasticall Authors written long before the euill intreaty that he receiued at Rome which happened vnder Syricius And the other not to know that when S. PETER writ this epistle Iosephus witnesseth there were then no Iewes in Babylon But this is enough of the instances of scripture lett vs proceede to those of the Fathers which consist in fower principall obiections The first that Clemens Comanus writes to IAMES brother of our Lord Bishop of Ierusalem the death of S. PETER at Rome a thing repugnant saie the obiectors to scripture which witnesseth that IAMES was martired longe before the death of PETER The second that S. IEROM writes that S. PETER was crucified in Iudea The third that S. AVST affirmes that the history of the battle of S. PETER and Simon Magus at Rome proceeded from an opinion or as they saie from a fabulous narration And the fowrth that in the order of PETERS successors some place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before Clement some after to which they farther add for the banquet and confectes after the Feast that Eusebius and the Legend vpon which they charge vs that we found the Papacy contradict one another for as much as Eusebius saith that S. PETER was crucified and the Legend saith he was beheaded To the first of these obiectiōs which is that Clement writing to IAMES brother to our Lord declares to him the martirdome of S. PETER Wee answere three things first that that epistle is apocripha and supposed for though it was translated frō Greeke into latine by Ruffinus that it is cited by the first Councell of Vaison which was holden vnder the Emperor 〈◊〉 the third contayning manie good doctrines neuerthelesse it is certaine thar the Greeke originall of the recognitions of Clement to which it was annexed relatiue was apocripha had bene either supposed or corrupted by the Hebionites The second that the Bishop of Ierusalem to whom this epistle is addressed was not IAMES the Apostle brother to our Lord but Simon brother successor in the Bishoprick to IAMES the Apostle intitled the brother of our Lord whom this epistle calls IAMES brother of our Lord according to the custome the Hebrewes had to beare manie names sometimes to inherit names one from an other as it appeares both by the repugnancie of the tyme of the death of the Apostle IAMES brother of our Lord which Ruffinus interpretor aduocate for his epistle who had translated the Ecclesiasticall history of Eusebius could not be ignorāt of by the inscription in the which the author of the epistle intitles him to whom he addresses it IAMES brother of our Lord and Bishop of Ierusalem intitles him not Apostle which he could not haue forgottē to doe in that place if it had bene the Apostle IAMES brother to our Lord. And the third that those that obiect this strayning forth a gnat swallow a Camell that is in thinking to taxe the ignorance of others in the matter of the Chronologie of the Fathers discouer their owne in the historie of the Scripture for the Apostle S. IAMES whose martirdome they saie the Scripture reportes was the Apostle IAMES brother of IOHN martir'd by Herod in the twelfth of the Actes not the Apostle IAMES brother of our Lord who was ten yeares after still in Jerusalem and of whose death the Scripture neuer speakes in anie part of it the Church hauing learnt what she knowes of it not from the Scripture but from Josephus and from Hegesippus and from Clement Alexādrinus from Eusebius from S. IEROM who testifie that IAMES the Apostle brother of our Lord dyed vnder the Pontificate of Ananus the young and in the seauenth yeare of the Empire of Nero. To the second obiection which is that S. IEROM writes that S PETER was crucified in Iudea we answere that S. IEROM doth no where write that S. PETER was crucified in
causes of Bishops could not be determined till first the decision had bene made at Rome And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the Sacerdot all lawe required that those things which were constituted without the Bishop of Romes sentence should be annulled Neuerthelesse for as much as Caluin obiectes that if this cause had belonged to the Popes Ordinary iurisdictiō he ought not to haue iudged it by the Emperors commission it is necessarie to cleere it To this obiection then before wee 〈◊〉 the matter to the bottom wee will answere in forme of a prologue fiue thinges first that it was not a commission except in regard of the three Assessors of the Gaules that the Emperor named to content the importunitie of the Donatists to the end that they might serue for 〈◊〉 warrants of the sinceritie of the proceedings of the Councell of Rome but a remittmēt as it appeares both by the Emperors confessiō who avowed that it belōged not to him to examin this cause by the electiō that the Pope made of fifteene other Bishops that he tooke for his assistāts besides those that the Emperor had nominated And therefore although S. AVG. in regard of the Donatists intētiō sometimes calls this remittmēta delegation neuerthelesse hee sheweth sufficientlie that it was rather a relegation then a delegation when he notes that the reason wherefore the Emperor did it was for as much as he durst not iudge the cause of a Bishop Your Superiors said he to the Donatists first brought the cause of Cecilianus to the Emperor Constantine And a little after But because 〈◊〉 durst not iudge the cause of a Bishop hee delegated the examination and 〈◊〉 thereof to Bishops I add that hee vsed this language by Synecdoche and referringe the word delegation to the Iudges of the Gaules onelie that were deputed to assist at the Councell of Rome and not to all the Councell of Rome as hee witnesseth elsewhere by these wordes The Emperor gaue to the Donatists the Iudges that themselues had demaunded that is to 〈◊〉 the Iudges of the Gaules And againe Donatus was heard at Rome by the Iudges that himself had demaunded For of the ninteene Bishops of the Councell of Rome there were but three of the qualitie of those that Donatus had demaunded Donatus had demaunded but three but saint AUSTIN extendes this clause by Synecdoche to all the Coūcell for as much as the three Iudges demaunded by Donatus had iudged in Common with all the Councell and were found soe conformable to the rest as the iudgement of the Councell which passed all with one voice and without anie diuersitie of opinions and theirs was one selfe same thing The second answere is that Constantine did not interpose his authoritie in this affaire as Maister by himself of the cause but as an Arbiter sought by the Donatists and assuringe himself as a Catholicke that he should be avowed by the Catholicks This Matter saith saint AVGVSTIN belonged greatly to the Emperors care whereof he ought to giue an accompt to God for the Donatists had made him arbiter and iudge of the cause of the tradition and of the Schisme From whence it appeares that the Emperors interposition in this cause was a matter of fact and not of right and whose example cannot be alleadged for a paterne of the ancient discipline of the Church The third that it was not a controuersie questioned amongst the Catholicks and according to the ordinarie lawes of the Church but a Sute commenced by the heretickes against the Catholicks and by waies extraordinarie to all the lawes and formes of the Church For the Donatists had alreadie broken the bond of vnitie and shaken off the yoake of the Churches authoritie They were saith saint AVGVSTIN alreadie culpable of the Schisme and alreadie stained with the horrible crime of the 〈◊〉 of Altar against Altar By meanes whereof there being noe iudge common betweene them and the Catholicks in the Church there remained nothing for them to doe but to haue recourse to the Arbitrements of the secular powers whose examples could noe more be drawne into consequence against the ordininarie authoritie of the Christian Church then the iudgment that Ptolomeus Philometor king of Egipt gaue betweene the Iewes and the Samaritans could forme a president against the ordinarie authoritie of the high priest and of the Sacerdotall colledge of the Iewish Church The fowrth that the cause questioned in this processe was not a cause of right and that should be proued by ecclesiasticall meanes such as the testimonies of Scripture or the traditions of the Apostles or the Custome of the Church or the sentences of the Fathers but a question of fact and whereof the hypothesis was mingled with accessories that belonged not to the causes of the Church and could not be examined by ecclesiasticall meanes onelie but must be iustified by human and secular meanes as the confronting of witnesses the acts of Notaries yea Pagan and heathen ones the Recordes of Clerkes and euen the applications of questions and corporall tortures For the accusation of the Donatists was principallie grounded vpon the framing of a false letter that they had forged against Felix Bishop of Aptunge for the examination whereof there must be a secular and proconsulary iudgement interposed betweene the ecclesiasticall iudgements that is to saie betweene the Councell of Rome and that of Arles to conuince the forgers of the falshood by the application of rackes and tortures Wee haue vndertaken saith saint AVSTIN the defence of the cause of Cecilianus although it belong not to the cause of the Churche that we may make their calumnies appeare euen in that And againe speaking of the torture which was offered to the scriuener Ingentius or Uigentius to make him confesse whether he had falsified the letter of the Aedile Alfius Cecilianus to Felix Bishop of Aptunge The Proconsull said hee amongst the fearefull cries of the vshers and the bloudy hands of the hangmen would not haue condemned a Colleague of his being absent And the fifth that all the actes that the Donatists extorted from the Emperor in this 〈◊〉 hee protested them to be soe manie irregularities and nullities and so manie vnlawfull enterprises vniust and extraordinarie wherein he suffered himself to be constrained against his will to giue waie to the passion and malice of the Donatists and in yeilding to them to assaie to reduce them to the peace and vnitie of the Church and he was soe 〈◊〉 from desiring to haue the example thereof serue for a lawe to the Bishops as contrarywise he promised to aske the Bishops pardon the historie is this The Donatists hauing accused Cecilianus Archbishop of Carthage of treason or communication with traytors that is to saie with those that had deliuered the holie Bookes and the sacred Vessells to be put into the fier in the persecution tyme yea euen to haue bene ordained by a traytor soe did they intitle Felix
person he foretold him he should noe more 〈◊〉 calld Symon but 〈◊〉 signifiing most aptlie by that word that vpon him as vpon a 〈◊〉 and a stedfast stone he should build his Church And this may be said of the first point of this Article which is of building of the Church vpon the faith or vpon the person of PETER Let vs passe forward to the secōd which is of that of the other Apostles The Church saith his maiestie is founded vpon the Confessiō of PETER the other Apostles Here it is needefull to distinguish the diuers vses that this word foundation of the Church receaues in the Scripture for it is one thing to be the foundation of the faith of the Church and an other thing to be the foundatiō of the Ministrie of the Church And againe the foundation of the faith of the Church is of two sortes for there is an obiectiue foundation of the faith of the Church and a suggestiue foundation of the faith of the Church I call that an obiectiue foundation of the faith of the Church which is the first obiect that the Church is obliged to knowe and embrace for doctrine of faith and that is Christ of whom S. PAVLE saith None can 〈◊〉 anie other foundation besides that which is alreadie laid that is Chrict For the first thing that enters into the obiect of the Christian faith as it is Christian is Christ God and Man crucified for our Sinns And all the other doctrins of Faith haue noe other place then as superedifications and accessories to that I call that a suggestiue foundation of faith of the Church vpō which the Church grounds and assures the beleefe of those things which she holdes for doctrines of faith and this againe is double the one principall and originall to wit the holy Ghost of whom our Lord saith Hee shall suggest to you all thinges that I haue told you and the other instrumentall and organicall to wit the voice and pen of those that he hath chosen to declare vnto vs the misteries of faith with certaine and infallible authoritie And in this sence not only all the Apostles and Euangelists but also all the prophets are foundations of the faith of the Church according to this Apostolicall sentence Wee are edified vpon the foundation of the Prophets and of the Apostles And in this same sence sainct PAVL said in the second to the Corinthians That he had bene nothing inferior to the most excellently great of the Apostles And in the Epistle to the Galatians That he had not receiued his Ghospell from men but from God And that those that seemed to be something that is to saie those that for the more particular familiaritie that they had with our Lord it seemed they should bee more eminent in the doctrine of Faith and should bee the Pillars of Faith had taught him nothing For to be something according to the stile of those 〈◊〉 the east is a word not of contempt but of great and extraordinarie estimation I call him foundatiō of the ministrie of the Church that hath the supereminēce and superintendencie of the gouernment and ministrie of the Church which I haue distinguisht frō the foūdatiō of the Faith not but that the primitiue and originall Ministrie of the Church comprehends the Office of reuealing the Faith and that the perpetuall and ordinarie ministrie of the Church comprehends the office of preseruiug and propagating the Faith from whence it is that sainct PAVL calleth the Church The pillar and foundation of faith But because the foundation of the Ministrie extends further and manie as sainct LVKE amongst others haue bene foundations of the Faith of the Church who neuerthelesse haue not bene foundations of the Ministrie of the Church Now it is of this kinde of Foundation to witt of the Foundation of the ministrie of the Church that is treated off in these words of our Lord Thou art Peter and vpon this Rock I will build my Church as it appeares by what followes of the keyes and of the power to binde and loose This qualitie then of foundation of the gouernment and ministrie of the Church to dispute whether since it haue bene extended and communicated to the whole Bodie of the Apostles it is an other point For what S. PAVL saith If they be ministers of Christ I am so more then they is to be vnderstood of the excesse in the labour of the Ministrie and not in the authoritie But at the least when our Lord pronounced these wordes Thou art Peter and vpon this Rock I will build my Church It is certaine that in that instant and in those wordes it was conferred to none but to sainct PETER for the wordes are all pronounced in singular termes and excluding pluralitie Blessed art thou Symon Sonn of 〈◊〉 and I saie vnto thee that thou art Peter and vpon this Rock I will build my Church and I will giue thee the keyes of the kingdome of heauen Which sainct AMBROSE declares who after he had said This man to wit PETER when he had heard but 〈◊〉 what saie yee that I am presently not forgetfull of his place he made the primacie adds to it It is then this Peter that answered before the rest but for the rest and therefore he is called Foundation Which sainct CYPRIAN likewise acknowledges in these wordes Vpon him beinge one he built the Church And it is not to be said that the Condition of Foundation of the Church hauing bene giuen to sainct PETER in fauour and for recompence of his Coafession all the other Apostles that had part in his Confession ought also to haue their part therein For the qualitie of foundation of the Church was not giuen to sainct PETER in fauour of his Confession simplie for then it should be common to all the faithfull but in fauour of the primacie of his Confession wherein the other Apostles had noe actual part but only by consent and non repugnancie for as much as sainct PETER only answered as illuminated immediately from God the others being silent and not knowing what to saie and learning it but my the means of sainct PETERS Answere Hee was saith sainct 〈◊〉 made worthie of first knowing what there was of God in Christ. And 〈◊〉 CYRILL of Hierusalem All the other Apostles being silent for this doctrine was aboue their reach Peter the Prince of the Apostles and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Church not of his owne inuention neither perswaded by human reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his soule by God the Father said to him thou art Christ the Sonn of the liuing God And sainct ATHANASIVS manie yeares before them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Father reuealed to Peter those thinges whereof our Lord demaunded him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not doubt but the same Lord who inquired as if he had first reuealed to 〈◊〉 those things that he had knowne from the Father he askes him humanly to 〈◊〉 in inquiring
acknowledge that our Lord in calling Peter Cephas did intend to call him Rock and to constitute him for the foundation of the Church as appeares by these words of Rabbi Helias in his Tisbi vpon the exposition of the word Cephas Iesus the Nazarean saith hee called Simon sonn of Bariona Cephas which signifies fortitude for the interpretation of the Hebrew word sela is Cepha which signifies in manie places fortitude meaning that he was the head and fortitude of his religion and therefore he called him Cephas And to this there doe agree all the famous editions of scriptures in what tongue soeuer as well printed as manuscripts For not only the Hebrew editiō of the Ghospell of saint MATTHEW published by Munster saith Thou art Cepha and vpon this Cepha Thou art a Rock and vpon this Rock And the Syriack publisht by Moses of Merdin in Mesopotamia and republisht by Tremellius Thou art Kipho and vpon this Kipho thou art a Rock and vpon this Rock But also the Arabicke hath it Thou art Ascara and vpon this Ascara thou art the stone and vpon this stone And the Persian Thou art zeng and vpon this zeng thou art the Rock and vpon this Rock And the Armenian thou art Vimi and vpon this Vimi thou art the stone and vpon this stone And the Ruthenian Egiptian and Ethiopian euen the same Neuerthelesse though the want of the Hebrew and Syriack tongues suffered S AVGVSTINE to fall into this mistake to thinke that the primitiue word Rocke was not there attributed to sainct PETER but only the deriuatiue and that Petrus signifieth not Rock but Rockey or Stonie he hath alwaies acknowledged be it by vertue of the other places of the scripture or be it by vertue of the perpetuall traditiō of the Church the same thing that wee conclude out of this passage to witt the Primacie of saint PETER For interpretating a while after these wordes And I will giue thee the keyes of the Kingdome of heauen of the donation of the keyes made to the Church in the person of PETER he saith the Church did then receaue in the person of PETER the keyes because PETER figured the Church And yeelding elsewhere a reason why the person of PETER figured the Church he declares that it is because of his Primacie Hee beares saith hee by a figur atiue generalitie the person of the Church because of the primacie he had amongst the rest of the disciples By which word Primacie he intends according to the stile of the scripture the superintendencie and principalitie as it appeares by these words of Wisedome I haue had Primacie in all nations And by these wordes of the same saint AVGVSTINE Peter denominated from the Rock happie bearing the figure of the Church holding the principallitie of the Apostleshipp And againe who knowes not that this Principallitie of the Apostleship ought to be preferred before whatsoeuer other Bishoprick And elsewhere in the Roman Church hath alwaies flourisht the Principalitie of the Sea Apostolicke Of the indiuisibilitie of the Church CHAP. IV. The continuance of the Kinges answere BVT it hath begun to diminish in luster as being deuided into manie partes as for externall Communion wholie seperate one from an other THE REPLIE Two Opuntine Bretheren deuided the inheritance of their Father with such rigor as they deuided euen to a cupp and to a Coate It is in a sorte thus with the heretickes they doe indeede deuide the Chalice that our Father hath left vs by Testament and where of Dauid singeth The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my Chalice that is to saie they doe indeede diuide the Sacraments of Christ but the coate of Christ which is his Church they cannot diuide for it is alone and indiuisible When the raigne of Israell saith S. CYPRIAN should be diuided the Prophet Achias diuided his Rayment But because the poeple of Christ cannot bee diuided his coate woven of a peece and keeping it selfe whole was not diuided by those that possessed it The coate of Christ indiuisibly vnited preseruing itself whole shewed the indissoluble Concord of our poeple of vs who haue put on Christ. By the Sacrament signe of his coate he hath declared the vnitie if his Church Who then is he so impious so faithlesse and so disturbed with the fury of discord that beleeues that the vnitie of God the Coate of our Lord the Church of Christ can be deuided or dare to deuide it Not but that the multitude of the persons whereof the Church is compounded and which analogicallie is in steede of matter to it may be deuided but this diuision is but a materiall diuision of the Church and not a formall diuision no more then the diuision that the false mother would haue made of the Child had bene a formall diuision for as much as the being and the forme of the whole had not remained in either of the partes but a materiall diuision For the Church as well as naturall organicall bodies may be materiallie diuided but formallie it cannot be diuided that is to saie the members and parts may indeede be seperated from their whole but after the seperation they are noe more members and parts of the Church but 〈◊〉 and by abuse of language euen as the members and partes of a Bodie indued with a life animall and sensitiue when they come to be seperated from their whole are noe more members and partes but equiuocally forth as much as they participate noe more of the forme of the bodie wich cannot be possessed but in vnitie nor reside but in one only masse vnited and continued By meanes whereof the Church after the diuision of the externall communion resides only in one of the partes to witt in that from which the others haue diuided themselues and not in the others for the Church is either one or none My Doue saith the Spouse is an onelie one And Dauid Hierusalem that is builded as a Cittie whose participation is in vnitie And saint PAVL One bodie and one Spirit as you are called in one hope of your vocation Optatus Mileuitanus There is one Church which can not be at once amongst you and amongst vs. It resteth then that it be in one place And saint CHRISOSTOME The name of the Church is not a name of diuision but a name of vnion and agreement And saint AVGVSTINE He is one the Church is vnitie nothing answeres to one but vnitie And elsewhere Let euerie other inheritance be deūided amongst coheires the inheritance of peace cannot be diuided And therefore when the Fathers saie that hereticks and Schismaticks deuide the Church they intend either that they deuide it as much as lyes in them that is to saie that they indeuor to diuide it or that they deuide it materiallie and not formallie that is to saie that they make thereof manie Societies but not manie Churches Of the effect that diuision brings
Church the priuiledge to conquer Hell and to deliuer mankinde from the tyrannie and oppression of the deuill that name is become consecrate and affected to her alone and it hath bene forbidden to communicate it anie more to anie other Societie either Paga hereticall or Schismaticall Let not the Conuenticles of hereticks saith the fowrth Councell of Carthage be called Churches but Mock-Councells And the verie lawe of the Emperors That the Donations made to hereticall Conuenticles which they presume rashlie to call Churches be applied to the reuerend Catholick Church THE second that S. PAVLE writing to the Galatians and to the Corinthians calls their Societies Churches and neuerthelesse the Galatians erred in faith imbracing the circumcision with the Ghospell and the Corinthians in not beleeuing the Resurrectiō but the snare here is manifest For there is great difference betweene the doctrine of a Church and the doctrine of anie particular person which is deuided from the doctrine of the same Church The doctrine of a church is that which is held by the bodie of that Church vnder the codition whereof either expresse or tacite she receiues men into her comunion not the doctrine which euery particular mā straying fro the commo doctrine of the same church holdes against the opinions of the Bodie Now it cannot be found that the Societie of the church of the Corinthians did euer hold that the dead did not rise againe nor that she had exacted that beleefe from those that entred into her communion but onelie that amongst the Corinthians there were some that did not beleeue the resurrection of the dead If Christ saith S. PAVLE be preached to haue risen againe from the dead how is it that there are some amongst you that saie there is no resurrection of the dead And that S. PAVLE made his remonstrance in common it was to hinder them from being seduced by them which spake this language Suffer not your selues said hee to bee seduced euill words corrupt good manners But not that he supposed they beleeued it contrarywise hee exhorts them to remaine firme in that which they beleeued And therefore my Bretheren said hee be stedfast and vnmoueable And for the Galatians soe farr off was it that that error which sainct PAVL cryed out against was the doctrine of the Church of the Galatians as it was the doctrine of those which rebelled against the faith of the Church of the Galatians which doctrine sainct PAVL disputes as if all the Galatians had imbraced it not that they did doe soe but to hinder them from doeing soe as he testifies to them in these wordes I haue this confidence of you in our Lord that you will haue noe other beleefe but that he that troubles you shall beare his iudgement whosoeuer hee be And againe If a man be found in anie crime doe you which are spirituall instruct him in the spiritt of mildness And that this is the true intent of sainct PAVL sainct AVGVSTINE teacheth vs when hee writes to Vincentius Rogatist Thou might'st saie euen as well that manie of the Churches of Galatia were not when the Apostle cryed out O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you And a while after The Canonicall scriptures haue bene wont to make their reprehcnsion in such sort as it may seeme the word is addressed to all and neuerthelesse it concernes but some fewe THE third is that sainct AVGVSTINE disputing against the Donatistes writes That the Church begetts all Christians by Baptisme from whence they would inferr that all those then that are baptized as well Catholiks as hereticks are in the Church but he bringes with it expressely this distinction either in her selfe or without her selfe to shewe that the Church begetts none but Catholicks onely in her selfe as Sara begate but Isaack onely in herselfe and that the rest the Church begets without her selfe For although Ismael were not begotten in the Bodie of Sara but in the bodie of Agar yet he was in a sort begotten by Sara for as much as he was begotten by her that belonged to Sara and was Saras nuptiall right to witt by the seede of Abraham Soe then the hereticks be begotten by Baptisme out of the Church neuerthelesse it is the Church that begetts them euen out of the Church for as much as the baptisme whereby they are begotten and which those that baptise them haue carryed out of the Church belonges to the Church and is of the coniugall rightes of the church and not heresie By which meanes when they returne to the church there is noe neede that the church should baptise them againe The Church saith hee begetts all Christians by baptisme be it in her-selfe that is to saie in her bowells or without her selfe that is to is to saie of her husbands seede be it in her selfe or in the bond-woeman Whereby soe farr is hee from teaching that heretickes are in the church as contrarywise he plainelie affirmes heereby that they are out of the church For the thing wherein catholicks and the Donatists were at agreement was that hereticks were out of the church and the thing where about they disagreed was that the Donatists held that Baptisme could not be out of the church and consequently that heretickes could not haue it And catholicks contrariwise maintained that Baptisme might to be out of the church and consequently that hereticks though they were out of the church left not to haue it The Church saith sainct AVGVSTINE compared to Paradise teacheth vs that Baptisme may be had without her but the Saluation of the beatitude none can receaue or haue out of her for the floods of the fountaine of Paradise rann abouudantlie forth of it And in the Booke following What is saith hee this doctrine that an heretick is pretended to haue noe baptisme because he hath noe Church And againe It is a wonder that there are some that saie that baptisme and the Church cannot be separated and deuided the one from the other And elsewhere But of the Church and against the Church they haue holden the sacraments of Christ and as in a ciuill warr they haue fought bearing our owne Banners against vs. From whence we may discouer the impertinencie of those that conclude that because hereticall Sects haue baptisme therefore they are Churches THE fowrth 〈◊〉 is that sainct HIEROME speaking in the person of the Church saith to Hilarie a Luciferian Deacon I am a harlott but yet I am thy mother I committ adultrie with Arius and I did soe before with Praxeas 〈◊〉 Cerinthus But it shal be heereafter manifested that this is a ridiculous equiuocation by which they attribute that to S. HIEROME as spoken in his owne sence which he spake according to the sence of his aduersary that is to saie according to the sence of the hereticke against whom he disputeth For to this that some add that a lying man leaues to be trulie a man although he be not a true
that the Church was then perished for since the excellent King will haue it that the only assured marke to discerne which either of the Church which hee calls English or of ours is the true Church be it that which is the essentiall forme of the Church and that he pretends to be doctrine it is necessary that he suppose that the difference which are betweene the Church that hee calls English and ours be questions which take awaie the essentiall forme of the Church and destroy the being of a Church And by consequence that that of the one or other Societie which errs in these pointes shall bee depriued of the essentiall 〈◊〉 of a Church and destitute from the being of a Church And then if when Luther came into the world there were noe Societie neither visible nor inuisible which held that that the English Church holdes at this daie in the pointes disputed betweene her and vs it followes there was then noe Church Of the authoritie of the worke intituled imperfect CHAP. XVII The Continuance of the Kings Answere AND therefore the excellent King thinkes that he ought with soe much the more Care in so great a floud of different opinions withdrawe himselfe into the mountaines of the holie Scripture THE REPLIE WHEN Nauplius King of the Island of Euboea now called Negrepont would at the returne frō the Seige of Troy cause the fleete of the Greekes to be shipwrackt to reuenge the death of his Sonn Palamides hee sett by night torches in forme of a beacon vpon one of the mountaines of his Island at the foote whereof the Sea was full of bankes cliffes and rockes so to drawe their shipps by the hope of a safe hauen to runn hazard and perish in those shores Soe whenantient heretickes whom saint AVGVSTINE calls mountaines for Shipwracke would cause the Catholickes to make shipwracke in Faith the more their doctrines haue bene pernicious and mortall the more they haue adorned and illustrated them with texts and lampes of the scripture This appeares in the heresie of the Arrians who painted and coloured their error with more then fortie passages of the Bible and by this art attempted to call men backe from the externall and sensible markes of the Church which could not bee pretended by false ensignes by those who had them not to reduce them to the only marke of the scripture the interpretation whereof by their subtletie they made subiect to as manie deceipts as there were wordes But aboue all this is verified in the writer from whom his Maiestie borrowes this language who was one of the most passionate Champions of the Arrians For though he cites these wordes without naming the Father neuerthelesse both the termes wherein they are couched and the tracke of those who haue alleadged them before him to witt Caluin in some of the prefaces to his institution the author of the Booke of the Eucharist in the preface to his worke cannot suffer vs to doubt but that they were taken from the author of the worke intituled Imperfect falselie attributed to Sainct CHRYSOSTOME Now that this Author was not onelie an open Arrian but one of the most eager and violent Champions of the Arrians it appeares by this that he calls the Trinitie triangular impietie and the doctrine of the homousians that is to saie of those that held the Consubstantialitie of the Father and the sonne Heresie Not but that I knew well that he is sometimes alleadged euen by Catholickes with the title of saint CHRISOSTOME vnder whose name he had bene first printed at Basle But because it is one thinge to alleadge him in places where hee disputes not against the Church wherein he is excellent and aboue all in the discourse of manners and an other to alleadge him in the places where hee combates with deliberate purpose against the doctrine of the Catholicke Church of his age as he doth in that from whence the words are taken which his maiestie produceth For behold the expresse termes of the passage When you shall see the impious heresie which is the armie of Antichrist sett in the holie places of the Church then let them which are in Iudea flie into the Mountaines that is to saie let them that are in the christian Societie haue recourse to the scriptures And a little after The Lord then knowinge that so great a confusion of things should arriue in the last daies for this cause commaunds that the Christians who are in the Christian Societie being willing to receaue the stedfastnes of the true faith should haue recourse to noe other thing but to the Scriptures otherwise if they cast their eyes elsewhere they shall be scandalized and perish not discerning which is the true Church Now that by this impious heresie and by this Armie of Antichrist he intends the Catholicke Church and the communion of them which beleeue the equalitie of the Father and the sonne he plainelie shewes when he saith in the same Homilie that the great spirituall euills which haue come vpon the Church haue happened in the time of Constantine and Theodosius and that the armie of Antichrist is the heresie and the abhomination of desolation which hath since them possest the holie places of the Church that is to saie the Basilickes that Theodosius cōmaunded to be deliuered vp to the Catholickes And whē he saith in the former Homilie that the heresie of the Homousians that is to saie of those that hold Christ to be consubstantiall which his Father Fights not only against the Church of Christ but euen against the other heresies which hold not the like And in the nineteneth Homilie when hee calls the worshippers the Trinitie Those that honor the triangular impietie Whereby it appeares that this passage if so farre from giuing fauour to his Maiesties intention as contrariwise it manifestes how dangerous a thing it is to seeke to reduce the markes of the Church to the onelie doctrine drawne from the scripture by the interpretation of euerie particular person since the Arrians in the point which of all others should be most expresse in the scriptures for the catholickes to witt in the point of the diuinitie of Christ for if there be anie thing cleree in a Testament it should be the qualitie of the testator refused all the other markes of the Church and all the other waies of disputation and burnt with desire to fight by the onely texts of the Scripture disarmed from the traditions of the Church Of the vnderstanding of these words of S. Augustine to seeke the Church in the words of Christ. CHAP. XVIII The continuance of the Kings answere AND to seeke according to the Councell that S AVGVSTINE heretofore gaue to the Deuatists the Church in the Words of Christ. THE REPLIE WHEN S. AVGVSTINE said in the booke of the vnitie of the Church there is a question betweene the Donatists and vs where the Church is what shall wee thē doe shall wee seeke her
the contrarie heresie confuted by Scripture only destitute of the helpe of tradition And although Optatus Mileuitus in the beginning had attempted it neuerthelesse the successe hath made saint AVGVSTINE who hath gone further in this question see and confesse that to compose it there was a necessitie of hauing recourse to the vnwritten Apostolicke tradition And what saint AVGVSTINE alleadgeth in generáll against Petilianus must not be obiected against this If anie one of Christ or of the Church or of ought belonging to the faith or to life declare 〈◊〉 then this that you haue receaued in the legall and Euange licall scriptures let him be anathema For himselfe declares elsewhere as it shall appeare hereafter that this word of S. PAVL further signifies against or to the preiudice of The Apostle faith hee hath not said more then but further for if he had said more then hee had condemned himselfe He that desired to come to the Thessalonians to supplie what was wanting in their Faith Now hee that supplies adds that which was not in the thing but takes not awaie what was therein before Of the vnderstanding of the words of S. Chrysostome in the thirtie third homilie vpon the Acts. CHAP. XIX The continuance of the Kinges answere EVEN soe S. CHRISOSTOME as well elsewhere as of deliberate purpose in the thirtie third homilie vpon the Acts handling this question how the true Church may be discerned amongst manie Societies which attribute this name to themselues doth teach that there are two instruments to iudge and decide this question First the word of God and afterward the antiquitie of the doctrine not inuented by anie late bodie but alwaies knowne since the beginning of the Church when she was but breeding THE REPLIE THERE are fowre 〈◊〉 to be made vpon this Article the first that sainct CRYSOSTOME giues not this Rule to discerne the true Church from all societies that differ from her in what point soeuer but onlie to discerne her from those that differ from her in the point of Christs diuinitie wherein it is noe wonder if the scripture be more cleere and expresse then in anie other The second that this marke to discerne the Church he giues not to those that are alreadie preoccupated with the opinion of anie of the Christian sects but to the Pagans which were not anticipated with passion for anie of the parties that combated about the pointes of Christs diuinitie and for this reason might seeme to iudge the more impartiallie The third that sainct CHRYSOSTOMES ayme is not to treate seriouslie there of the markes of the Church with the Pagans but to stopp their mouthes and to shew that whereas they said that they would turne Christians but that they knew not on which part to range themselues these were but pretences and not true language The fowrth that hee stopps not there but acknowledging that this meanes because of the subtletie and shiftes of hereticks is not sufficient requires and exactes an other that is to saie that hee reduceth in the last instance all the summe of the question to this point that that is the true Church which hath remained stedfast and immutable in her communion and from whence all the others are gone forth and that came forth from none A Pagan saith hee comes and saith I would turne Christian but I know not to whom I ought to adhere for there are amongst you manie strifes seditions and tumultes I know not which opinion I should choose nor which I ought to preferr euerie one saith I followe the truth whom shall I that am vtterlie ignorant in the Scriptures beleeue seeing both sides as well the Catholickes as the Sects of the Arrians as it shall appeare heereafter protest the same thinge That certainly answereth hee makes much for vs for if wee saie wee must beleeue reasons thou shalt not without cause be troubled but if wee saie wee must beleeue the Scriptures and they be simple and true it is easie for thee to iudge thereof if anie one conforme himselfe to them he is a Christian if anie striue against them he is farr from this rule But what will become of it saith the Gentile if the other coming also saie the scripture affirmes this thinge and thou saist it affirmes an other thinge and that you wrest the scripture into diuers parts each drawing the vnderstanding of the words thereof to his owne side c. Then saith S. CHRISOSTOME we will inquire of the Pagan if what he saith be pretences and excuses and aske him ifhe condemne the Gentiles Hee must saie some thinge for he will not desire to come to vs till first he condemne them wee will aske him then for what cause 〈◊〉 condemnes them for he will not condemne them without cause It is manifest that he will saie because their Gods are Creatures and are not the vncreated God This 〈◊〉 well answere wee for if this 〈◊〉 found in other heresies a clause which euidently shewes that he spoke onely of those heresies which opposed the 〈◊〉 of Christ which were those where with the East was afflicted and wee affirme the contrarie what neede more words Wee all confesse that Christ is God but see who combats against it and who combates not against it wee call him God and pronounce of him thinges worthie of God that he hath power that he is not seruile that he is sree that he doth all thinges of himself and they the contrary And then finallie seeing that this attempt succeeded not sufficiently It is not possible saith hee but he that heares without preoccupation should be perswaded For as if there were a Rule according to which all thinges should be squared there were noe neede of great consideration but it would be easie to discerne him that should make wrye lines Euen soe is it nowe But wheresore then would he saie doe they not see it Preiudication and human causes doe manie thinges that replies 〈◊〉 they saie also of vs. And how can they saie it for wee haue not seperated ourselues nor haue made noe schisme nor diuision in the Church Wee haue noe heresiarchs wee name not ourselues after the name of anie man wee haue noe leaders as to one Marcion to another Manicheus to an other Arius to an other an other heresi-founder But if wee take the appellatiō of anie particular it is not from those that began anie heresie but of those that preside ouer vs and gouerne the Church Wee haue noe doctors vpon earth God forbid wee haue one alone in heauen This also will hee saie the others likewise affirme it but the name that they beare answereth hee to witt of Marcionites or of Manichees or of Arrians conuinceth them and stopps their mouthes By which words it appeares that the last analysis and resolution of the question is all determined in this point that that is the true Church which hath remained vnmouable and stedfast in her communion from whom all the
others haue gone forth and is gone forth from none which is also the marke that S. AVGVSTINE 〈◊〉 it when he saith The Catholicke Church combating against all heresies may be opposed but she cannot be ouerthrowne all 〈◊〉 are come forth from her as vnprofitable branches cutt off from their Vine but she remaines in her vine in her roote in her Charitie And S. PACIAN Bishop of Barcelona before him when he writes Now to knowe whether she hath bene principallie built vpon the foundation of the prophetts and of the Apostles in Iesus Christ the corner stone Consider whether she began before thee whither she hath growne before thee if she be not withdrawne from her first foundation whether in separating herselfe from the rest of the Bodie she haue not constituted to herselfe her Masters and her particular instructions if she haue argued anie thing vnaccustomedlie if she haue formed anie point of new right if she haue declared to her Bodie the diuorce of peace then lett her be esteemed to be departed from Christ and to be constituted forth of the prophetts and Apostles And therefore although the point of the assentiall deitie of Christ deserue to be more cleerelie exprest in Scripture then anie other as the qualitie of the Testator ought to bee more cleerelie exprest in the Testament then anie other neuerthelesse for as much as the heretickes by their malice and subtletie shift off the places of Scripture alleadged to this purpose the Fathers after they had tried all their strength to bring them backe to reason by Scripture were constrained seeing they could not make them yeeld vp their weapons by that waie to chāgetheir battery haue recourse to the authoritie of the Church Behold saith saint ATHANASVS wee haue shewed the succession of our doctrine from father to sonn you new Cayphas what Progenitors of your phrases and your termes will you bringe vs And saint HILARIE Lett vs consider soe manie holie fathers what will become of vs if wee anathematize them for we bringe thinges to this point that if they haue not 〈◊〉 Bishops we are none since we haue bene ordained by them And the same saint ATHANASIVS It is sufficient that these things are not of the Catholicke Church and that the Fathers were not of that beleefe From whence it appeareth that if the point of Christs diuinitie had neuer bene exprest in Scripture they held the light of the perpetuall testimonie of the Church for a sufficient proofe of this article For whereas saint CHRISOSTOME compares the Scripture to a Rule according whereto all things should be squared besides this that according signifies there not against he intéds that Scriptures rule all thinges either mediately or immediately that is to saie either by it selfe or by the meanes whereto it remitts vs as hee testifies himselfe in these wordes From whence it appeares that the Apostles deliuered not all thinges in vriting but also manie thinges vnwritten Now either of these are worthie of equall credit Of the Rules to iudge admitted by sainct Chrysostome and S. Augustine CHAP. XX. The continuance of the Kings answere THese two Rules to iudge the King with the English Church embracing them with an earnest desire pronounceth that hee acknowledgeth that doctrine finall ie both to be true and also necessarie to saluation that running from the Springe of the holie Scripture by the consent of the ancient Church as by a channell hath bene deriued downe to this time THE REPLIE NEither doe saint CHRISOSTOME and saint AVGVSTINE restraine the meanes to iudge of all the doctrine of the Church to these two onelie meanes by exclusion of the third to witt of Apostolicke Tradition since saint AVGVSTINE saith this is plainelie read neither by thee nor by me And againe The Apostles haue prescribed nothing in this yet the custome opposit to Cyprian ought to bee beleeued to haue taken originall out of their tradition as it is in manie thinges that the vniuersall Church doth obserue And for this cause indeede well beleeued to haue bene commaunded by the Apostles though they haue not bene written And that saint CHRYSOSTOME saith that from thence it appeares that the 〈◊〉 haue not giuen all thinges in writinge but some also without writinge whereof both sortes are in like manner worthie of creditt And elsewhere It is not in vaine that the Apostles haue giuen it by tradition to offer sacrifice for the dead they know how much aduantage and profitt encreaseth to them thereby Neither is the question in the disputation which is now handled betweene his maiestie and vs of the examination of the right but of the examination of the fact that is to saie wee are not to inquire by conferring the conclusions of Faith with their principles which of the English doctrine or ours is the truth which is a question of right whose triall besides that it must be long goes out of the listes frō the state of the questiō that we treate of But to inquire by the continuāce cōformitie with the aunciēt Catholicke Church whether our Church be the same Church as was in the time of S. AVGVSTINE and of the fowre first Councells which is a question of fact in which must be handled not what ought to be beleeued but what hath bene beleeued For his maiestie being of agreement that there was an obligation of communicatiō with the antient Catholicke Church which flourisht in the time of the foure first Councells and that whosoeuer was separate from the communion of that Church was an hereticke or a Schismaticke And the question is whether I might except from the praises of his maiestie the title of Catholicke which is the first cause of this comparison consisting in the knowing not whether the Church of those ages had beleeued well or euill which is a question of right but whether the Church of the last ages from which his maiestie or those that haue bene before him haue separated themselues be the same Church by an vninterrupted succession both of persons and of doctrine as that was in the time of S. AVGVSTINE which is a question of fact and capable of being proued by historie alone soe as the subtletie of spiritts can finde noe shift for it now to leapefrom the question of fact to the question of right And in steede of examining whether the Catholicke Church of this time had the same beleefe in the pointes controuerted betweene vs and our aduersaries as the Church in the time of the foure first Councells had to dispute whether the Church of those ages hath beleeued well and with what reseruations and mollifications her beleefe must 〈◊〉 receiued it is to goe forth from the state of the question and to change the order and meanes of the disputation Of the application of the Thesis of this obseruation to his Hipothesis CHAP. XXI The continuance of the Kinges answere THen to make an end of this discourse the
beginning of these last diuisions either perswaded in some pointes by the innouators or ioyned to the partie of the innouators themselues haue attempted to seeke out some accommodation in matter of doctrine and of the vniuersall Religion of the Church to come to a reunion perswading themselues that as the Poet saith all men doe Sinn Without the walls of Troy and 〈◊〉 within It will bee alwaies easie for vs to shew that the desire of reconciliation rather then the knowledge of antiquitie and truth hath caused them to speake this language Of the agreement or disagreement of the English reformers with the Donatists CHAP. XXXI The continuance of the Kinges answere AND therefore the English Church feareth not that she can seeme in the iudgment of sincere arbitrators to haue done anie thinge like to the 〈◊〉 in this separation They out of a iollitie of harte and without anie cause abandoned the Catholicke 〈◊〉 approued by the consent of all nations whereof they could neither blame the faith nor the discipline THE REPLIE NEITHER was the Catholicke Church then actuallie approued by all nations for these prophecies In thy seede shall all nations be 〈◊〉 and This Ghospell must be preached ouer all the world shall not be fullie accōplisht as S. AVGVSTINE notes till the end of the world But it might well be said by 〈◊〉 in regard of other Christian sectes to be spread ouer all nations because the extent thereof was more eminont as it is nowe then that of anie other Christian Societie Neither was she approued by 〈◊〉 men of all the Christian nations For who knowes not how great the multitude of other heresies was when the sect of the Donatists sprange vp and how much greater then when the passages of the Fathers cited in the beginning of this obseruation were pronounced against them Of one side the Arrians possessed almost all the East of the other side the number of the Donatists was such in Africa as they held all at a time Councells of three hūdred Bishops yea euē in the time of S. AVGVSTINE there where whole natiōs that professed christianitie which did not acknowledg 〈◊〉 Catholick Church as that of the Gothes Vandalls And in breefe elghtie or an hundred other sects of Christiās which were then in the world diuided like Sāpsons Foxes by the heads but tyed together by the tayles did all agree to reproue the Catholicke Church And whereas the excellent king addeth that the Donatists could blame neither the faith nor discipline of the Catholicke Church if by blaming his maiestie intend to blame with reason that is not particular to the Donatistes for neuer anie Sect either Schismaticall or hereticall could blame with reason the faith or discipline of the Church But if by blaming he intend accusing and slandring her and beleeuing that they had iust occasion to doe soe who euer blamed the faith and discipline of the Catholicke Church more then the donatists who called themselues the Bishops of thē Catholicke truth and obiected to the Catholickes that they erred in faith in beleeuing that the holy Ghost resided out of the Church and in holding that Baptisme which cannot be administred but by the operation of the holy Ghost might be conferred out of the Church and in the Societie of hereticks who reprocht it to them thāt they violated these oracles One faith one Baptisme It is lawfull to be baptised if thou dost beleeue be yee euery one of you baptised in the remission of Sinnes Christ purgeth his Church by the washing of water in the word Who heares not the Church lett him be as a publican and as a heathen Baptisme is the washing of the regeneration of the Ghost The Church is the close Garden and the sealed Fountaine Who gathers not with Christ scatters And other such like alleadged by them in so great number as Vincentius Lyrinensis cryes out But perchance this new inuention that is to saie the heresie of the Donatists will want defences nay she was assisted with soe great strength of spirit with so many flouds of Eloquence with so great a number of protectors with so much likelyhood with so manie oracles of diuine lawe but expounded in a new and naughtie manner that it seemes to me that such a conspir aice could neuer haue benē destroyed if this same imbraced this same defended this same extolled profession of noueltie had not in the end left the cause of soe great a motion alone and abandoned And as for the discipline of the Church did not they blame it who taxed the discipline of the Church to haue receiued without expiation of preceding pennance those that in the persecution time had denied Christ and communicated in the sacrifices of the Pagans and consequently to haue bene polluted with the contagion of the Pagans who accused her for hauing receaued conuerted heretickes into her communion without giuing them true Baptisme which could not be giuen according to them but in the Church and consequently to haue polluted her communion with the contagion of vnbaptised or vncircumcised spirituallie and so to haue lost the being of the true Church which could not subsist without the true vse of the sacramēts Who made profession in manners of a conuersation of life much better ruled more reformed then that of the Catholickes from whence it is that S. AVGVSTINE forbidds the catholicks to reproche the Donatists with anie other thing but that they were not Catholickes Who called themselues the little flocke of the lord the two tribes of the Kingdome of Iuda who said we hauing nothing and possessing all things wee account our soule to he our riches and by our paines and our blood we purchase the treasure of heauen And in breese who supposed themselues to haue such reason for their separation as they reputed the Catholickes not to be worthie of so much as the name of Christians as hauing lost the true vse of Baptisme whereby men are made Christiās when they spake to them they said Caius Seius Caia Seia O man 〈◊〉 thou be a Christian O woeman wilt thou be a Christian And cryed to them Come o yee ignorant and wretched people who are commonlie called Catholickes And called the Chaire of Rome the Chaire of pestilence and called the Catholicke Church an Harlott and an Adulteresse and chose rather to suffer all kindes of persecutions and false Martirdomes then to communicate with her If I persecute saith Saint AVGVSTINE iustlie him that detracts from his neighbour why should I not persecute him that detracts from the Church of Christ and saith this is not shee but this is an hatlott And againe If the punishment and not the cause made Martirdome heauen should be full of your martirs And against whom contrariwise the Catholickes in matter of doctrine had not one passage of scripture for them but only the Apostolicall vnwritten tradition as S. AVGVSTINE