you see howe it prooueth vvith them Quot capita tot fides tot senten tiae Secondly they haue quite taken away Priesthood and Sacrifice and haue induced a newe ministery altogither vvhich is a matter of so greate importance that it altereth the whole lawe Thirdly of seauen Sacraments they haue taken away quite six is this a small point thinke you which in effecte taketh from vs the chiefe effects of CHRISTS Passion and Redemption insomuch that a true Catholicke rather ought ro suffer death then deny the least Sacrament but Buny and such like can swallowe vppe any thing Fourthly they haue quite abolished certaine articles out of the very Apostles Creede as for example vvhereas according to the Scriptures we are taught to beleeue how CHRIST dsscended into hell if the Apostles creede bee not substantiall parts of our religion wherein wee are taught chiefly what to beleeue vvhereas this vnity of the faith Apostolicke is one chiefe foundation of christian religion then nothing at all is materiall or of substance to bee beleeued Fiftly as I sayde before touching predestination iustification free will rewarde of good workes Protestantes haue coyned such newe opinions besides olde heresies which they holdt about some of them as were neuer heard of before Sixtly they deny authority to many of the canonicall Scripturs Seauenthly as I also touched before of the nature of GOD of the blessed Trinity of three persons and vnity of one substance of the death of Christ and redemption heretiks haue deuised monstrous horrible opinions and blaspheamyes horrible for not only Christians but very Turks to thinke or speake of be these the fellowes that make not a Church a new of their owne but amend the old do they differ from vs I say but in small indifferent matters Fie vppon such palpable lyes fie vppon such impudency that euer men that would be accounted reasonable creatures can haue faces to auouch such absurdities to goe about to huddle vp such grosse inconueniences all in one bowgett and most miserable and weake senceles and vngratious be those men that can beleeue such lying Masters that vnder such pretēce of piety or rather the profession of open impiety bring in such sects of perdition to the subuersion of many seely soules Thirdly as I heere 3. before haue noted in taking away externall priesthood sacrifice they haue quite in a most essentiall point altered the whole law of Christ for according to the Apostles doctrine and Haeb. 7. 5 12. translate enim sacerdotio necesse est vt legis translatio fiat so that say Bullinger Buny or any other Protestāts in the world what they wil they must goe seeke a new Church from the Catholike Church to maske themselues in for heere possibly can be no hold for them whose priesthood they haue taken away whose sacrifice they haue aboleshed which priesthood sacrifice is one great part of the chiefe forme and substance of the whole law of Christ for heereby we be taught the law of God heereby we be gouerned and conserued in the law of God heereby we chiefely acknowledge god heereby wee bee seuered from false beleeuers and worshippers of GOD and heareby we truly worshippe honour and adore the most high and only God and with such supreme worshippe as is due to no creatuer neither in heauen nor earth so that you see what heretikes hane done in not only altering but leauing no externall priesthood nor Sacrifice at all First they by quite altering the law of Christ haue made them a new Church of their owne to dwell in more then euer GOD made they haue also abrogated all good discipline and orderly gouernment both to learne how to beleeue and how to liue and conserue themselues in the grace of GOD and openly to be knowne for his seruants yea in taking away Sacrifice the chiefe seruice of GOD they frustrate in themselues the comming of Christ the fruits of his Passō and make an open gappe to all sinne infidelity and plaine Atheisme as by lamentable experience wee see at this day whersoeuer Protestāts haue planted their fift Gospell that quite supplanteth thē out of the true Church of Christ into the malignant church of Sathan Fourthly heretiks truly acknowledging now by force the Romaine church for the true Catholik Church iustly cōdemne themselues as beeing iustly censured and condemned for blaspheamous obstinate heretiks of the same which if she be the true Church as they say desiring to bee accounted members of the same then is she not cōtrary to her selfe as being guided with the holy Ghost as Christ promised his true Church euer should be thus you see the Apostles words verefied in heretiks who be damned by their owne iudgmēt saith he therefore biddes vs. Flee them after the first and second correction to such Christ shall iustly say at the last day Ex ore tuo te iudico serue nequam who for their impiety and misbeleeuing beeing openly condemned accursed quite cut of by excōmunication by his spouse frō her who yet beeing vrged they durst not but confesse her to be the true Church yet stil they disobayed her to their owne perdition and of their deceiued followers like to those proude deuils who confessing Christ to be the Sonne of God yet giuen ouer in desperate obstinacy to a reprobate sence still by their sleights tentations draw as many as they can from God blaspheaming his holy name though to their owne paine euer and greater damnation heerevppon it is so hard to heare of a learned chiefe heretike truly conuerted if he haue long continued obstinate because he sinneth of malice and commonly in the beginning especially against his owne conscience and so damned by his owne iudgement in the end is by Gods iust iudgement quite blinde in soule vnderstanding and so being become obdurate or hardened in hart is giuen ouer in reprobum sensum Thus you see how heretiks make an argument against themselues in accounting themselues members of that Church which they rebelliously disobay which by Christs commandement they are commanded to heare follow contrary to whose precept from which they be runnegates plaine Apostates of the same Church be publikly condemned Fiftly it yrketh me to finde any so feeble or weake if they be but once well inclined to the true Catholike Church as once to thinke that the heretiks of our tyme can be in any sort members of the same to yeeld reasons for the disproofe of so manifest an vntruth seemeth to mee as needeles as to proue that the Diuell is alyar or that the Sunne shyneth at the noone day For besides as I touched before the Heretikes of our time one sect or other either quite deny or els damnably erre in the most principall and substantiall articles of Christian faith and religion yea so farre and deepely that Turkes may as well yea and Except that heretiks beare the name of Christians c better though both be
afflicted flock the Church which he shall neuer forsake Chap. LXXVI How the Diuell and Antechrist be compared to that monstrous serpentine tayled Dragon drawing numbers with them into euerlasting perdition and that one certaine man Antechrist is yet to come though hee hath many fore-runners LET any man of learning reade but only S. Gregory vpon Iob and he shall finde all this and much more then I can say vpon Antechrist comparing that great monstious serpent and dragon Behemoth which streatcheth out his tayle as the Cedar tree vnto the Diuell and Antechrist his vessell that as saith S. Iohn with his taile draweth Apoc. 12. the third part of the starres of heauen that is men in great account and authority in the sight of the world for learning and other qualities he by promises gifts and threatnings shall drawe downe with him out of Gods Church to destruction and damnation as his forerunners heretikes and Infidels doe you see a number that for feare of losse of life gaine pleasures and commodities forsake Christ the truth and their saluation so that many Antechrists no doubt as Ioh. 1. 4. saith S. Iohn be now in the world denyers of truth aduersaries of the same but yet one man of perdition properly called Antechrist is yet to come as wee by Scriptures and authorities of holy Fathers and Doctors be taught of which wicked man heretickes of these times as I haue oft said be no doubt Prophets fore-runners affirming that darknes is light and light darknes that is that the Pope which as by sufficient authority I haue already proued is the chiefe seruant and member of Christ is Antechrist so that when hee commeth faith being decayed Antechrist indeede may rule and take place without controlement or gainesaying but yet Christ will haue his Church and faithfull Apoc. 11. flocke euen in the heat of Antechrists time that shall boldly gainesay him and with their bloude testefie the trueth which shal neuer decay From which perilous times which seme now to approach our Lord deliuer vs For truly of all heretikes that euer were since Christ these heretiks aproach the nerest to Antechrist and seeme to be his very forerunners For Antichrist at his coming shall deny Christ God and all as heretiks haue by tymes since Christ denied some lesse articles of the Christian faith some more for of some heretiks we read of old that denied the coÌ„substantiality of the sonne of God with his father as the Arrians some the grace of God other free wil as in Saint Augustine time Some denyed Pelagius Iouin an vigilaÌ„tius Euâ—ches inuocation of Saints derided their sacred reliques and scoffed at pilgrimage gate or deuout visitation of their holy Sepulchers as in Saint Ieromes tyme one denyed the resurrection of the body in Saint Gregories time Others beganne to bark against the blessed Sacrament before and in Saint Bernards time and so from time false heresies haue start vp against the Church of God for her better triall and exercise of wisedome of minde as by bloody persecutions of pagans and infidelles shee before was exercised in body But these protestants with their fellow puritans and other of their brethereÌ„ heretiks of this time deny almost or corrupt all articles of our faith and religion their faith standeth all of negatiues and therefore like and most like Antichrist which shall deny all goodnes God and all As for example the heretiks of our tyme deny the true Church deny free will deny all the Sacraments saue Baptisme and that I told you how they abuse also they deny purgatory prayer to the Saints of GOD deny pardon Pope pilgrimage fasting prayer yea haue some most erronious and badde conceipts of Hell Heauen Christ God and all be not these Appollionists Apoc. cap. 9. Abbadonists those destoryers whereof Saint Iohn speaketh the very messengers of the denill and forerunners of Antichrist that thus raise vp all old heresies from hell thus by heaping a fardell of them al sinne mischief to geather make an open gappe to an vniuersall defectioÌ„ general Apostacy the very high way to erect an ydol to adore Antichrist insteed of Christ our only Sauiour true God wherfore hold them for certaine to be very forerunners percursors members of Antichrist which we iustly feare will shortly follow Chap. LXXVII In a sewe words touching the chiefe matters that haue bene spoken in this treatise and how the vnlearned especially in matters of religion ought to leaue disputes and simply to beleeue the truth founding themselues in Christ and in the Catholike Church THus good Sir according to your desire I haue declared vnto you the truth of those matters you desire to bee enformed of I haue set you downe by what certaine markes and notes you may know the true Church from the false Synagogue of Satan I haue likewise more in particular briefly declared vnto you the truth of the seauen Sacramentes how they bee grounded of Christs holy word instituted by him by the Scriptures haue discouered to you the falsehood of our aduersaries the hereticks I haue also briefly touched almost euery thing at this day in controuersy as iustification freewill prayer for the dead prayers to Saints pardons Pope fasting prayer pilgrimage with other like These points articles that euery Catholik is bound vnder paine of damnation to beleeue I haue not only proued vnto you by the Scriptures but also by the churches authority that euery Christian is bouÌ„d to beleeue for wheÌ„ you haue once fouÌ„d out the true church which by those notes I set downe you may easely do though wee haue authority sufficient for euery thing the holy Catholike Church vseth and teacheth yet it is not meete especially for vnlearned folkes to stand to reason or dispute with whies and howe 's but to stay them on that sure rock foundation and piller of truth the holy Catholik Church that so they may not bee wauering as the reede nor borne away with euery blast of new doctrine as circumuented with error and blindnes in the craftines and subtility of men alwaies learning and neuer comming to the perfection of true knowledge which indeede can neuer be had but in captiuating the vnderstanding in obsequium fidei into the obedience of the true Christian Catholick faith working by charity for wee see by too lamentable experence how vnfitte it is for the common people deceauing themselues that know not neither what they speak nor whereof they affirme to iangle and dispute of Scripture matters which as saith Saint Peter the vnlearned and vnstable do depraue to 2. Pet. â— cap. vltâ— their owne destruction wherfore it behooueth the simple people especially that being thus forewarned by the chiefe Pastor of their soules vnder Christ Saint Peter they be carefull neuer to fall or decline from their proper sure stability in Christ his deare spouse the holy Cathoâ—icke Church but say in al doubts when the hereticks
faith they despise whose good manners they so little followe and regard and whose very bodies and ashes they so racke teare and ransacke here ōn earth If we can of chalke make cheese make the Aethiopian white or firmely conjoyne brasse and earth togither then perhaps wee may joyne Catholikes and Protestants in one Church and make them beautifull and acceptable in Gods sight and not before no no these two as farre differ in Gods sight in his grace and fauour as the other things doe in nature and much more Heretikes that deuide their loue from the whole Church of God deuide their liues deuide their faith and religion can be no more acceptable of God the naturall head and spouse of his one only Church then it could be pleasing to the natural mother by Salomōs motiō to haue the child deuided who chose rather to leaue it in the euill womans keeping euen so God our true father will haue vs one as he is one in vnity of true faith and religion in his Church or else we cannot be true children with him in his house which is one and not deuided Hereupon my first ground 1. is this that neither Lutherans Protestants Puritanes nor any other secte whatsoeuer in the worlde dissenting from the common knowne Catholicke and Apostolike Romane Church can bee members of the true Church of GOD nor canpossibly bee saued because as God is one so his true Catholicke spouse the Church as one wife of one husband is one one in faith and religion and that in euery point and article tuam vnus Dominus vna fides vnum Baptisma and without true faith it is impossible to please God which is only the one Catholicke faith and Church vvithout vvhich vvhosoedyeth shall most certainly perish euerlastingly as all did bodely out of Noes Arke testemonies hereof bee abundant the Prophettes Saint Paul and all the whole course of Scriptures and Fathers so expounding them namely holy Athanasius vvhose Creede is receiued of the vniuersall Church of God which Church is rightly called vna Columba mea amica mea of Christ her spouse viz my only doue my darling one chosen out from amongst a thousand all heretickes then dissenting thus from Catholickes and amongst themselues can neuer be members of Gods Church as long as they remayne in this state deuided from that one and only Catholicke Church Secondly if wee looke inwardly into the most essentiall parts of our Catholike faith and religion you shall finde them chiefly to differ from vs therein for if they were but incertaine indifferent matters left for learned men to vse their opinions and judgment in and not articles of faith defined out of holy Scripture by the Church of God the true keeper and expositor of Scripture wherein they differ from vs they vvere tollerable but they differ from vs not only in lesse articles but in many and the chiefest substantiall intrinsicall parts and articles of faith the least vvhereof euery one vnder paine of damnation is bounde to keepe pure and vndefiled Nowe Buny in his Pacification pag. an hundred and eight following some of his fellowes Bullinger Musculus and the like vvho finding themselues miserably intangled vvith this question of the Church deuised certaine principles and foundations of faith wherein vvhosoeuer agreed they should be accounted all members of one church these Buny imitating of his bounty is so liberall towards vs poore Papists insomuch that more then once hee affirmeth that in substance of religion wee and they agree and therefore that wee bee all one members of one Catholicke and Apostolicke Church and blameth his fellowe Ministers that very rashly and inconsideratly they reject Papists from the communion of the true church For saith he vnlesse we confes the papistical Church to be the true Catholike and Apostolicke Church whereof wee are members no lesse then the Papists wee cast our selues into a great difficulty to finde any other Carholicke and Apostolicke Church which being planted first of the Apostles hath alwaies continued to our time wherein wee as members may be ingraffed which if wee cannot finde or performe then are vvee constrayned to confesse our Church to be more new and later then the Romane Church thus farre Buny whereby you may see what shifts heretikes are driuen to that woulde make the vvorlde to beleeue wee differ in small or no substantiall partes of teligion that so by seeming to creepe into one Church vvith vs though vvanting altogither the vertue and for the most part the true faith of members of the Church yet at leastwise they may couer themselues vnder the bare title of the true Church the more to couer their badde dealinges and to deceaue the simple But what frontlesse brazen faces of Protestants bee these to affirme that their sects agree with the CATHOLICKE CHVRCH not only of all former times and of all Nations in the vvorlde but also that they bee not contrary to the vniuersall Church at this day Let vs then briefly consider all the essentiall or substantiall parts of the Church of ancient time and of this age vvhich is all one and let vs see in vvhat one principall point of faith or gouernment Heretickes agree vvith vs. First they haue instituted another regiment or politique gouernment of the Church quite contrary to that of the true CATHOLICKE CHVRCH for in steede of the Bishoppe of Rome generall and only chiefe Pastor of the vvhole Church they haue made temporall Princes heads of the Church whereby as for example here in England making first a Man then a Boy and nowe a Woman heade of the Church they chaunge religion as oft as Princes vvhether the Prince bee Lutheran Adiaphorist halfe Catholicke as King Henry was Zwinglian as his daughter is said to be trinitary Arrian as another may be or Turke as perhaps the other may be if to bee supreame head of the Church bee so annexed to the Crowne as a matter of inheritaunce as our English Diuines nowe of late haue made it yea and that by Gods lawe wee bee bounde to obey them in spirituall matters then by this diuinity euery new King may coyne a newe religion quite contrary to his predecessor and all good and holy Whereas to Pster and his successors Christs Vicar by Christs ordinance made head of his Church to keepe vniformity of faith to the worldes end in the same is certainly promised to the confusion of all heretickes in the vvorlde that his faith euer one shall not faile which promise Christ hath hitherto kept with his Church and generall Pastor and shall doe to the worlds end let me see now vvhether any hereticke in the vvorlde can or dare auouch so much for his sect whereas vvee dare boldlye affirme that CHIST his prayer to his father for our true Church is heard Ego rogaui pro te Petre vt non deficiat fides tua Well this ordinance of CHRIST of such importaunce for the gouernment of the Church heretickes haue altered and
chiefe Monarch in most trayterous and rebellious sort by pride and goeth about to shake and pull downe the soundation of his common weale his Church in steed of true faith where of it standeth peruerting the vnderstanding the eye of the soule that is by false doctrine whereof the tower of Babilon the very Sinagogue of Sathan is builded So that the Church euer carefully conserueth true faith in euery point cleare as the apple of the eie the sight whereof as it caÌ„not tollerate the least moath to cleaue to it so cannot the Church of God admit the least heresie or ioyne himselfe in society with the least sect of heretikes or schismatikes in the world no more then a generous minded most royall Princes can admitte in her kingdome some newe vnworthye vpstart that seeketh to bee her equall or superiour or the jealous husband can permitte the adulterer he suspecteth with his wife to lie in bed by her side no no coangâ—státum est stratum nec pallium breue vtrumque operire potest neither is there any agreement in the least thinges betwixt light and darknesse betwixt GOD and the Diuell betwixt his true CATHOLIKE CHVRCH and that false Babilonicall strumpet heresie Hereupon it commeth that most blessed holy diuine men euer so detested heresie and the least society or affiance to the same Saint Iohn woulde not come in the bath where the heretickes had beene An other holy man though most innocent coulde tollerate himselfe to bee accounted a whore-master an vncleane person and the like but when one called him an heretike he could beare no longer So Saint Basil talking with the Emperour of matters of religion the Cooke comming in saucely and telling the holy man his opinion that it was but a smal matter to yeeld to his Master the Emperor in a word or two and needed not to stand so precisely in diuine matters which seemed indifferent or of no great moment yea sir Cooke quoth S. Basil it is your part to tend to your Pottage and not to boyle or choppe vp diuine matters then with great grauity turning to the Emperor said that those that were conuersant in diuine matters with conscience would rather suffer death then suffer one jot of holy Scripture much lesse an article of faith to be altered or corrupted What thinke you now if such a one as M. Buny or a lesse heretike perhaps as some Arrian heretike should haue come in denyed with protestants not jors nor words but whole bookes of Scripture not one article but almost al the Sacraments with many articles of the Catholike faith that such as bee the chiefe substance of the same and yet for all that vvith such vncleane fingers seeking to make a Pacification betwixt them and Saint Basil with the Catholikes and shoulde say we beleeue all one God and so are of one Church with you let vs not passe of this article or that this place of Scripture and the other but vvithout more adoe account vs as wee are Catholikes with you what may wee thinke this graue diuine Basil woulde haue answered to such a motion how woulde he haue shaken vppe such a nullifidiaâ— Minister of the Diuell how vvoulde he haue drawne out that weapon so terrible to the vvicked and more percing then the two edged sworde and tolde him flatly vvith his Master CHRIST â—owe in that case nâ—â—â—â—â—â—â—ittâ—re pacâ—m sed gladium and may not wee say to such Neâ—ters as Bunny and his fellowes be vvhich be the worst kinde of heretickes in the vvorlde vvhich beâ— neither hotte nor colde make a hodge podge of altogither Maister Buny you that thus vnskilfully behaue your selfe in diuine matters and yet not altogither vnlearned in compositions better it vvill become you to make some compoundes of Apothicarie stuffe or if that bee too difficult or painefull for you some meash of a potte of good Ale and diuers sundrie spices as you sitte in your chaire by the fire side then thus without all skill learning or reason in diuinity to make a conjunction of two thinges that bee as farre as heauen and hell asunder as heretickes of our time especially bee from the Church of God Nay the hereticall and schismaticall Greekes and other old sects in the east and by north which be far neerer in faith to Catholiks then Protestants be haue many of them many hundred yeares agoe by the just consent of Christendome bin quite cut off from the true Church of God yea schismatiks heere in England that in all articles beleeue as the Catholik Church doth yet in doing contrary to their faith Ipso facto they cut themselues off from the Church of Christ which can admitt none nor acknowledge iustly for hers but such as keepe vnity of faith both in thougt and action such as are not ashamed to coÌ„fesse the truth before men such as beleeue in hart for iustice and confesse in mouth to saluation I Petrâ—â— Aboto heard once of a learned diuine who earnestly disputing in schooles of the authority of the holy Scriptures one merrily though vnfitly in that place and matter brought in the example of Tobies dogge that wagged his tayle so to infirme the authority of the whole books as that he was not bound to beleeue that what said the deuine dost thon make a iest of it the verity whereof I am ready to defend with my bloud which was right worthely spoken for though some places of holy Scripture be more mistle all then other and conâ—aine not all profound maâ—er alike Yet some places for faith and other for mortall life another for mistery another auowching some circumstance apperreyning to the verity of some history as this for example of Tobyas dogge in their degree bee all true alike which bookes of holy Scriptures euery sentence coÌ„teyned therein being proposed to vs by the Church to be beleeued to be true a good Christian ought rather to suffer death then deny one sentence thereof to be true for so discrediting the Church and Scriptures in one point he might make the rest vncertaine and so doubt in all But heretiks that deny the whole booke of Toby Hester Iudith the Canticles the Prouerbs Ecclesiasticus the two books of Machabies Barâ—ch yea Or if they call not in question these whole bookes yett some notable sentences chapters of the same some call in question whether Marke Mathew and Luke be true Gospels and whether the Apocalipsis be a true booke of Scripture some flatly denying Saint Iames Epistle as Luther their chiefe Apostle and corrupt the rest of holy Scripturs shall these men be written in the booke of life that lay such violent hands of Gods booke shall we admitt such rebellious traitours in the host of Gods Church that thus first robbing her of her armour whereby shee may defend her selfe indeuour quite to subuert her scatter and disperse her a sunder these Protestants new Masters and teachers 6. Sixtly If they were of God who is