more infallible Thirdly as formall causes by their gouenment for all the Apostles were Capita Rectores Pastores Ecclesiae Vniuersae Heads Gouernors and Pastors of the Church Vniuersall Antiq. This Bellarmine saith indeed but he addes a difference in this third point the other were onely heads as Apostles and Legats but Peter as the ordinary Pastor they had fulnesse of power yet so as Peter was their head and they depended vpon him not hee on them Antiquiss What Bellarmine yeelds and proues against his owne side wee may well take as true and wrested from him by the euidence of the truth This last which hee addes in fauour of his side hee onely saith but proues not as behoued him For how depended the Apostles more on Peter then hee on them where doe we reade that euer hee appointed enioyned limited or reâ—â—rained any of them or shewed any authority ouer them but contrarily a Acts 11. Wee reade that he was censured by them and caused to giue an account of his actions Act. 11. b Gal â— And that hee was reproued to his face and openly by St. Paul who protested also that hee was not inferiour to St. Peter neither receiued they ought from him And further euen c lib. 4 depoâ—t Rom. cap. 23. Bellarmine himselfe saith they were all equall in the Apostleship which they râ—ceiued equally of Christ immediately and none of them of Peter as he proueth against many d Cardinalis Turrecremata Dominicus Iacobatius c. great men of his owne side in a whole chapter of set purpose e ibid. For the better to make all the Clergy depend vpon Peter though many succeed the other Apostles many great Catholikes hold that the Apostles receiued not their authority and iurisdiction of Christ immediately but Saint Peter only and all the rest of Saint Peter which f ib. Bellarmine soundly confutes both by Scriptures and Fathers shewing that Christ himselfe gaue them all parem potestatem equall power that not Peter but Christ himselfe did chuse Matthias by Lot at the instant prayer of the Apostles that Paul was an Apostle not of men neither by man but by Iesus Christ and God the Father Gal. 1.1 c. All which makes for the equality of Peter with the rest and not for his superiority ouer them Antiq. Yet surely he holdeth the same Supremacy which other Catholikes hold though he think it cannot be grounded so firmely vpon these places Antiquis You may well imagine he giues not ouer without much compulsion and reluctation these castles and holds which other great Captaines with all their power and policy held and maintained §. 7. But there is one poore castle more which hee laboureth to hold though very weakely that is in Iohn 21.15 Bellar. de Rom. pontif l. 1. c. 12 â— vt autem See D. Field Church book â— chap 22. where it appeareth saith hee that Christ gaue more to Saint Peter then to the other Apostles for hee said vnto him Louest thou mee more then these and then addes Feed my sheepe To him that loued more he gaue more to wit the care of his whole Flocke euen the care ouer his brethren Apostles making him generall Pastor ouer them also for there can no cause or reason be imagined saith Bellarmine why vpon Peters answere of his singular loue aboue the rest Christ should singularly say to him Pasce oues meas if he gaue him not something aboue the rest To which we say the Fathers shew another cause or reason Peter had denied Christ more then the rest and being forgiuen was to loue more then the rest Luk. 7.43.47 and therefore Christ vrged him singularly by thrice asking Louest thou mee Cyril super Ioan. lib. 12. cap. 64. Augustin tract in Ioan. 123. See this largely handled betwixt Raynolds Hart. p. 135. seq answerable to his three denials to performe the office enioyned in generall to all the Apostles So saith Cyril Because he denyed him thrice at his Passion therefore there is a threefold confession of loue required of him and so the glosse and Saint Augustine saith A threefold confession answereth to a threefold negation that the tongue may expresse as much in loue as it did in feare And so in very truth Christs words were rather a stay of Peters weakenesse then a marke of his worthinesse or a proofe of his supremacy Thus we haue the onely place of Scripture whereupon Bellarmine insisteth of performance and bestowing supremacy particularly vpon Peter Bellarmin saith De iustifâ—t 3. c. 8. initio Non potest aliquid certum esse certitudine fidei nisi aut immediate contineatur in verho Dei aut ex verbo Dei per euidentem consequentiam deducatur c. and that not a plaine and euident place of Scripture or by deduction of euident reason such as necessary points of diuinity should haue but onely their owne infirme and vnsound interpretation a poore and weake ground of so great a building The transcendent supremacy of the Pope of Rome ouer the whole Church of Christ and the many Doctrines and practises that depend thereupon haue no other ground in Scripture but this their owne conceited and forced interpretation of this place Peter louest thou mee more then these Feed my sheepe that is Take thou authority more then these to make thy successors aboue all theirs heads of the vniuersall Church with such power as themselues shall list to take or exercise Antiq. I cannot but ingenuously confesse this inference to be weake indeed and it doth much amaze me and makes me quake and stagger to consider how confidently I haue beene perswaded that the Scripture is most plaine and euident for the Popes supremacy and now to see that nothing of any moment can thence be alleadged for it §. 8. Isa chus Casaubonus excrcitatio ad Baronium Epist dedic pag. 19. Luk. 22.25 26. Gasper Scioppius in Ecclesiastico suo ex pos cap. 47 Is not this quidlibet e quolibet or rather Contrarium é contrario Antiquis By such alleadging of Scriptures they may make quidlibet è quolibet make any substance of any shadow The learned Frenchman Casaubon wonders at them Pasce oues meaâ— that is as Baronius interprets it Supremum in ecclesia dominium tibi assere Feed my sheepe that is Take to thy selfe the highest dominion in the Church or as Bellarmine Regis more impera Rule and command after the manner of Kings as if he would of set purpose contradict Christs words The kings of Nations exercise dominion ouer them but yee shall not doe so Nay further and more strangely Gaspen Scioppius saith that Christ by those words hath taken away Kings power and dominion ouer the Nations and forbidden it to be exercised among Christians and hath established that infinite power in the Pope ouer Princes by this and such like places of Scripture The pious world wonders at the Popes challenge to be the highest Iudge
vsed was worse then the vse of the law of Nature that Bishops sinned in buying their admission of the pope of Rome that no man was bound to beleeue or to be subiect to the Church of Romes determination that the begging of Friers was idle and impious that it was not necessary to saluation to beleeue that Christs body was materially in the Sacrament And many other things against the vnsoundnesse of the Papacy Yea madnesse contra Papatus insaniam At last he was condemned of heresie by the slaues of the popish Bishops 1457. Bale cent 8. cap. 19. ex Thomae Gascoigni Dictionario Theologico 34 Iohn Capgraue Doctor of Diunity in Oxford complained much of the impious tyranny of the prelates and priests hirelings exposing their sheepe to the Wolues seeking their wooll and milke but not their soules c. 1460. Bale cent 8. cap. 1. 35 Henry Parker Fellow of All-Soules Colledge in Oxford preached at Pauls Crosse against the pride brauery and ambition of Prelates so flat contrary to Christs pouerty and humility And at the peoples entreaty he wrote and published his Doctrine to the great shame of the Prelates For which he endured long imprisonment and want 1470. Leland in Catalogo virorum illustrium Bale cent 8 cap. 29. These few for a taste I giue you excerpted out of a great number which that one famous Vniuersity of Oxford afforded Whereof you may reade more plentifully in Master Powels Preface alledged To search and alleadge the Records of that other famous Vniuersity of Cambridge and the rest of England would not be fruitlesse but I hope to you needlesse Antiquus This is full enough so many learned men Preachers Doctors Bishops and Worthies of all sorts out of one Vniuersity with the danger of their state honour liberty and life setting themselues publikely against the corruptions crept into the Church must needs argue the corruptions to be great publike and necessary to be reformed and I am fully satisfied that it was so But happily this Reformation might haue beene performed without such a breach rent schisme and scandall as you Protestants haue made by your departing from that ancient famous Church of Rome §. 16. Antiquissimus Oh sir you must know that this Reformation was sought for euen at the Popes hands with great humility and earnestnesse both by Luther himselfe at the first and also by many other learned men This appeareth by 〈◊〉 Commencaries History of â—he Councell of â—râ—â— Onuphâ—â—â— Sâ—rius Thuaâ—â—us and oth r Histories of those times States and Prâ—nces yea by the Emperour himselfe with much instance And Pope Aâ—rian the sixt was well inclined thereunto confessing ingenuously that the Church was mightily ouer-runne wâ—th corrup ions For reformation whereof diuers conferences were appointed in Germany as not onely our Sleidan but your Surius and Thunâ—nus report And Pope Clement the seuenth promised Reformation to the Emperour Châ—rles the fift and three Cardinals Caieâ—â—â— Pole and Contarene were deputed to giue aduice for this Reformation After many delayes againe Anno 1537. Historie of the Councell of â—rent Pope Paul the third appointed foure Cardinals and fiue other Prelates to consider the demaunds of the Protestants and to collect the abuses of the Church and Court of Rome and to deuise Remedies to correct them And of these abuses they gathered great numbers which are set downe at large in the twelfth booke of Sleâ—dâ—ns Commentaries But all this came to nothing For when vpon due examination the Cardinals found many things too nearely touching the quicke the Reformation thereof would vncurably wound the Sea of Rome ouerthrow and vndoe the greatnesse of their wealth and worldly estate and when they consulted deepely thereof with the Pope See D. Wâ—ite against â—â—â—er pag. 10â— 1â—7 there followed a conclusion and a plot quite contrary In regard of the principall things That nothing should bee reformed but all should be iustified since a thorow-reformation would spoyle them and a halfe-reformation would not content the Protestants and yet would giue the world occasion to thinke They might erre in many things if they reformed some Now therefore the proceeding must be changed At first many of their Diuines opposing Luther laboured to proue all their Doctrines Ceremonies and Gouernment by the Scriptures now they find it cannot be Therefore the Scriptures must be cryed downe disgraced disabled as ambiguous and insufficient to teach and guide the Church And the Church to wit their owne onely Church of Rome must be exalted aboue the Scriptures That Church must giue authority to the Scriptures yea and sense also so that no sense of the Scripture shall be receiued but that which that Church alloweth For that Church only cannot erre See B. Andâ—eweâ— aâ— Apâ—loâ—â—am respâ—â—â—â— pag. 259 and therfore they that admit the Scriptures to be the onely Iudges and Rules of Doctrine and Discipline are bad Diuines little better then Hereticks Enemies to the Church From hence came those base speeches from their Doctors Eckius Hosius contra 〈◊〉 lib. 3. pâ—g 148. 〈◊〉 sâ—â—gâ—â—â—us That the Scripture hath no authority but from the Church Hosius No more force then Aesops Fables without authority from the Church Pighius the Scripture is of it selfe but a Nose of Waxe which may be writhen euery way Costerus compares it to a sheath Costeranchir dâ— saâ—â—a script cap. 1. §. huius script pa 44. B llar de verbo Dâ—i lâ—b 4. câ—p 9. in â—alce Concil Trid. sess 4. Pighius controv 3. pag 92 Hiâ—â—arch epist nunc Mulhus disp 2. de fide pa. 21. See D. White against Vishâ—r pag 92. admitting any Dagger Wooden or Leaden The Iesuite Salmeron saith Tradition is the sure rule of Faith by which the Scriptures are to be tryed And Bellarmine saith the best way to try which be true traditions which be false is the authority of the Church of Rome So that now to speake in their Dialect or meaning The Church of Rome is the Queene and the Scripture her slaue That Church hath now two seruants of equall authority Scripture and Tradition and therefore that Churches Councell of Trent saith Scripturas Traditiones Ecclesiae pari pietatis aspectâ— ac reuerentiae suscipit veneratur We receiue the Scriptures and Traditions of the Church with equall affection and reuerence Nay no great matter what the Scripture saith for their Tradition must interpret it If the Scripture say Drinke yee all of this Matth. 26 27 their Tradition saith not all but the Clergy onely and not all the Clergy but he that ministreth it onely So what their Priests teach must be receâ—ued and obeyed whether out of Scripture or Traâ—ition Tolet. casuum conscientiae l b 4. cap. 3. p â—53 Cardinall Tolet saith The people may merit ar Gods hand in beleeuing an Heresie if their Teachers propound it for their obedience is meritorious And Stapleton They must not regard quid but quis not what is the matter but who
would to God the forme of beleeuing were fetched from the Primitiue Church Thus saith Staâ—pulensis By which rule iustified by our Aduersaries we conclude that the holy Church of God need not receiue or beleeue any of those things following to wit Purgatory Inuocation of Saints departed worshipping of Images Auricular confession the Popes pardons Transubstantiation the Masse to be truely and properly a propitiatory sacrifice to be offered both for the quicke and the dead the Sacrament without Communicants and Communion vnder one kinde without the Cup to be sufficient for Lay people reseruation of the Sacrament and eleuation thereof to be worshipped and circumgestation in Procession for pompe and adoration Matrimony and extreme Vnction to be properly Sacraments of the New Testament and to conferre grace single life necessary to be imposed vpon the Clergy All which and more your Iesuite Azorius reckons for Traditions vnwritten p Azorius Institutionum lib 8. cap. 4. §. 3. seq Also that the Church of Rome is head of all â—hurches and that all Christians must fetch their Faith their Orders and iurisdiction from it that the Bishop thereof cannot erre in matters of faith or interpreting the Scriptures See more of this point Rainold Hart confer chap. 5. diuision 1. pag. 184 c. And chap. 8. divis 1. pag. 462. c. The Scriptures teach no such thing and therefore we need not beleeue it 5 We being constant to the former rule for the sufficiency of the Scriptures in matters of faith and good life further admit of some kind of Trad tions to wit first Doctrinall traditions agreeing with the Scriptures or thence truly deducted q Many Fathers call the whole Word of God which by some holy men guided by Gods Spirit was let downe in writing and by them also others deliuered to the people by liuely voyce A tradition which the Church must preseruâ— and also the forme of wholesome words Creeds Catechismes c. thence deducted 2 Tim. 1.13 Rom. 6 17. See Rain Hart. c. 8. d. 1. p 466 467. So the baptisme of Infants if not coÌ„manded in plaine words yet plainly deducted from Scripture Gen. 17.12 13. Col. 2.11 1â— Act. 2.38 39. Luke 18.16 Mar. 10.16 Mat. 19.14 18 14. 1 Cor. 7.14 Mat. 28.19 The doctrine of the Trinity the equality of three Diuine persons in one substance and the distinction by incommunicable proprieties Gen. 1.1 26. Mat. 3.16 Iob. 1.32 Mat. 17 5 28.29 2. Cor. 13.13 1 Iâ—b 5.7 Psal 2.7 Heb. â— 3 5. 7.3 Col. 1.15 The proceeding of the holy Gâ—ost from the Father and the Son as from one beginning and one spiration from all eternity Ioh. 14.26 15.26 16.13 14. Rom. 8.9 Secondly rituall traditions for order and decency left to the disposition of the Church being not of Diuine but of positiue and humane right r 1 Cor. 14.40 11.2 Acts 15 â—0 So they be not childish or trifling nor accounted parts of Gods worship nor with opinion of merit nor burthensome for their mâ—ltitude Å¿ Of the multitude S. Augustine complained in his time Epist 119. ad â—anuar c. 19. See D. Ram. Hart c. 8. div 4. p. 599. seq The first of these no man allowes and commends more then we and the second kind wee retaine and vse with reuerence such as are profitable and comely in our times and countries without condemning other Churches differing from ours in such matters as we find Saint Ambrose and Saint Augustine did Aug. Epist 188. But a third kind of Traditions obtruded for Articles of Religion grounds of Faith and part of Gods worship neither contained expresly in Gods word nor thence deducted by any sound inference and yet receiued by the Councell of Trent Sess 4. with the same authority and reuerence that the holy Scriptures are receiued those we gainesay as things derogating to the verity sufficiency and perfection of the Scriptures And herein your Romish Writers deale fraudulenly against vs and deceiue the world for they alleadge the Fathers speaking of the first kind of Traditions as if they spake of all whereas indeed they write very strongly and sharply against this third kind which wee refuse Bishop Vsher in his booke against the Jrish Iesuite pag. 36. seq alleadgeth a whole Iury of ancient Fathers testifying the sufficiency of the Scriptures for matters of Faith Tertullian Origen Hippolitus the Martyr Athanasius Ambrose Hilary Basil Gregory Nissen Jerom Augustine Cyril Theodoret. So that the Traditions which they vrge we alow and those that we deny they write sharpely against The Fathers say your Rom sh are not of the Protestants Church because they vrge Traditions but wee say more truely The Fathers are not of the Romish Church because they teach the Scripture is sufficient and needs no Traditions to supply their defect as the Romish teach When Bellarmine and your other Doctors are pressed with the authority of the Fathers they are compelled to yeelâ— vnto vs the sufficiency of the Scriptures as I alleadged artic 4. but obserue their vnconstancy lest they should ouerthrow thereby the manifold doctrines held by their Church that haue no ground in the Scriptures they are faine to maintaine also vnwritten Traditions to bee the grounds of those Doctrines See more of this point in Mr. Perkins Reformed Catholicke the 7 point B. Morton Apol. Cathol part 2. lib. 1. cap. 32. seq And Protestants Appeal lib. 2. cap. 25. D. Field of the Church Booke B. Vsher in his answer to the Irish Iesuite Rainolds and Hart confer chap. 5. diuision 1. pag. 190. 6 We receiue and beleeue also the three Creeds The Apostles the Nicene and that of Athanasius t These are in our Bookes of publicke prayer and booke of Articles of anno 1562 art 8 and subscribed vnto by all Ministers and the foure generall Councels of the Primitiue Church as good formes of true Christian Doctrine deductions and explications of Scripture u Acknowleeged by King Iames in his Praemonitiâ—n to all Christian Monarâ—s p. 35. and by our Acts of Parliament You receiue the same also but you adde a thirteenth article decreed to be an article of Faith thirteene hundred yeares after Christ by a thirteenth Apostle Pope Boniface the eight x Boniface 8. liued an 13â—â— his Decree runs thus Subesse Romano Pontâ—fici omni humanae creaturae declaramus dicimus desinimus pronunciamus omnino esse de necessitate salutis Thus Boniface 8 in extrauag de majoritate obedientia cap. vnam santaâ— That it is necessary to saluation to be subiect to the Bishop of Rome which is neither in the Scriptures ancient Creeds nor ancient Fathers nor can be thence deducted And you haue further also dately added 12 new Articles by the authority of Pope Pius 4. anno 1564 raised out of the Councell of Trent and added to the Nicene Creed to be receiued with oath as the true Catholicke Faith to bee
Peter reiects the popes authority infallibility giues sentences against Purgatory acknowledgeth two Sacraments onely hath much against Transubstantiation and denyall of the Cup. See the allegations out of him in Catalogo testium lib. 3. Sixtly was Jrenaeus a Protestant no for he defended free-will so farre that Protestants count it Pelagianisme So did many other Fathers Hilary and Epiphanius yea Chrysostome Cyril Ambrose Theodoret. What then were all these papists No for though in heat of exhortation they gaue sometimes too much to free will and in hatred to the Maniches and Stoicall Christians that held such a fatall necessity of mens actions as tooke away mans guiltinesse of sinne yet in their more moderate and settled writings they taught as the Protestants doe August contra Iulianum l'clag lib. 1. cap. 2. Pelagianis nondum litigantibus Patres securiùs loquâ—bantur saith Saint Augustine Vntill the Pelagians began to wrangle the Fathers tooke lesse heed to their speeches But such their speeches The Papists themselues condemne Maldonate in John 6.44 pag. 701. Pererius in Rom. 9. nu 33 pag. 1001. Sixtus Senensis Tolet c. See D. Mortons Appeal lib 2. cap. 10. sect 1 2. § 4. sect 3. § 7. lit n. See also my Chapter of Free-will §. 6. I might runne thorow the rest of this W. G. his allegations and shew his vanity and folly in shooting such arrowes against the Protestants as being retorted and shot backe againe doe mortally and vnrecouerably wound his owne cause But I will leaue off following his order and adde a few more and by occasion of this last I aske of Saint Cyprian Augustine Fulgentius Gregory Nyssen Gregory the Great Anselm Bernard were they Papists oâ— of the now Roman-Catholicke Religion No for they taught concerning Free-will iust as the Protestants teach Morton ib. sect 3. Was Athanasius a Papist no for hee reckons the number of Canonicall bookes otherwise then Papists doe and magnifies them for their perspicuity certainty and sufficiency as Protestants doe he teacheth Iustification by faith onely writeth against adoration and prayer to Saints and Idolatrous worship of Images shewes the custome of the Church in his time to minister the Communion in both kindes and not on Altars but tables of wood writes to the Bishops of Rome as his brethren and equals giues reasons why the dead cannot appeare againe to men for feare of teaching lies and errours and because the good are in Paradise the euill in Inferno He counts marriage of Bishops a thing indifferent and vsed indifferently in his time and it appeares by his bookes that in his time the sacrifice of the Masse and the fiue new Sacraments were not knowne Was Saint Ierom a Papist no for hee earnestly maintaineth the sufficiency and excellency of the Scriptures exhorteth married Women Virgins Widdowes diligently to study them he teacheth Iustification by Gods mercy and beateth downe mans merits hee writes sharpely against free-will without Gods grace against purgatory against transubstantiation and orall manducation hee taxeth the popes supremacy and the Clergies liues and for his sharpe writing he was faine to flye from Rome See Catalogus testium lib. 4. Was Gelasius your owne Bishop of Rome a Catholicke of your now Roman Religion no for he condemdemned as sacrilegious your now-halfe Communion without wine and seuerely commanded either to minister both the kindes or neither to the people The necessity whereof now you call heresie De consecrat dist 2. comperimus Was S Gregory your owne Bishop likewise long after Gelasius of your Church and now-present Religion no for he taught the sufficiency and perfection of the Scripture reiected the Apochryphall bookes from the Canon held the reading of Scripture profitable for all men Iustification by faith and not by inherent righteousnesse wrote against mans merit and for the glory of Gods grace and mercy hee forbad the worshipping of Images and wrote sharply against the title of vniuersall Bishop as a badge of Antichrist or his forerunner c. And for conclusion of this point were the other two greatest Doctors of the Church Saint Chrysostome and S. Augustine of your present Religion No for Saint Chrysostome a Homil. De Lazaro passim alibi extolled the authority dignity sufficiency perspicuity necessity and commodity of the Canonicall Scriptures and exhorted Lay-men and Tradesmen to get them Bibles and reade the Scriptures at home and that man and wife parents and children should reason and conferre of the doctrine thereof b In 4. cap. Ephes hom 10. He taught that the Church of God was nothing but a house built of our soules and the stones thereof were some more illustrious and faire polished other more obscure and of lesse glory c In Matth. hom 55. 83. Serm. de Pentecost tom 3. that the Church was built not super Petrum but super Petram not vpon Peter but Peters confession that Christ was the Sonne of God the Sauiour of the world d In Matth. hom 35. ad cap. 20. That whosoeuer desired primacy vpon earth should find confusion in heauen and not be reckoned amongst the seruants of Christ e In 2 Thess homil 3 4. That Antichrist would command himselfe to be honoured as God and fit in the Church that he would invade the Roman Empire and striue to draw to himselfe the Empire or Rule of God and men And though he extolled the power of free-will in the Regenerate and exhorted all men to vse the power they had yet hee f In Gen. hom 29. perswaded the godly to acknowledge it to proceed from Gods grace and taught all men that sinne entring lost their liberty corrupted their power and brought in seruitude and g Hom. de Adam that without Gods grace man could neither will nor doe any thing that was good that h Hom. 1. in Acta as they that die Purple first prepare it with other colours so God prepares the cares of the mind and then infuseth grace that i Hom. 1. dom Advent before sinne we had free-will to do good but not after that it was not in our power to get out of the Deuils hand but like a ship that had lost his sterne which guided it wee were driuen whither the tempest would euen whither the Diuell would driue vs and except God by the strong hand of his mercy did loose vs we should continue tiâ—l death in the bonds of our sinnes k In Râ—m â—om 5. 17. That the Law would iustifie man but cannot for no man is iustified by the Law but he that wholly fulfils it and that is not possible to any maÌ„ l In 2 cor hom 11. He that must be iustified by the law must haue no spot found in him and such an one cannot be found but onely Iesus Christ m In Rom. hom 5 17. therefore he onely hath attained the end and perfection of the Law n Hom. 7. in 3. cap.
his preaching in the peoples minds If by authority Saint Ierom did meane supreme power ouer the other Apostles then Iames and Iohn should haue had it as well as Peter which is not your Catholike doctrine Also an inferiour or equall in power may be superiour in authority or estimation as Tully saith of Metellus a priuate man though chosen Consull for the yeere following That hee forbade certaine playes when an officer had allowed them and that which he could not obtaine by power Cicero oratione in Pisonem he did obtaine by authority that is with the credit which hee had with the people 2 The Primacy which the Fathers speake of was the Primacy of Order not of Power because Peter was first called to be an Apostle and first reckoned this argues no more power then the Fore-man of the Iury hath ouer the rest 3 The prerogatiue of Principality was in the excellency of grace and not of power as we say the Prince of Philosophers Aristotle the Prince of Poets Homer that is the wittiest or most excellent not Lord and master ouer the rest In this sence Saint Austine speaketh Peter the Apostle in whom that grace and Primacy are so superminent was corrected by Paul a latter Apostle by calling Saint Paul a latter Apostle hee sheweth his meaning of Saint Peters Primacy to bee of his first being an Apostle and by ioyning Grace with Primacy he sheweth that in greatnesse of grace consisted his supereminency So saith Saint Austen also b Aug. in Ioan. Tract 124. that Peter was Natura vnus homo gratia vnus Christianus abundantiori gratia vnus idemque primus Apostolus But to be chiefe in grace is one thing to be chiefe in power another thing c Turrecrem in Summa de Ecclesia l 2 c. 82. Cardinal Turrecramata saith A meane Christian yea an old woman may in perfection of grace and amplenesse of vertues be greater then the Pope but not in power of iurisdiction If excellency of grace might carry the supremacy of power you should take it from Saint Peter and giue it to the blessed Virgin By gifts of grace we vnderstand all blessings wherewith our Lord honoured him insomuch as in one thing or other he surpassed euery one of the Apostles Saint Iohn might exceed him in multitude of prophesies and reuelations and many gifts of grace as Saint Ierom declareth d Ierom. aduersus Iouinianum lib. 1. Saint Paul excelled him in the chiefest gifts and laboured more then all the rest 1 Cor. 15. so that Saint Austen giues excellent grace to Peter e De bapt con Donatistas lib. 2. c. 1. most excellent grace to Paul f in Psal 130. and cals him The Apostle by an excellency g Cont. duas epist pelagianorum lib. 3. c. 1. yet Saint Peter excelled Saint Paul in Primacy or being first chosen and Saint Iohn in age being the elder and therefore preferred before them to be the chiefe of the Apostles by Saint Ieroms opinion h Aetati delatuÌ„ est quia Petrus erat senior Hiero 1. adu Iouin lib. 1. To this Bellarmine yeeldeth i Bellar. lib. 1. de rom pontif cap. 27. § respoÌ„deo Paulum seeing Paul was called The Apostle per Antonomasiam quia plura scripsit doctior as sapientior fuit cateris also for planting more Churches then any other for the other Apostles were sent to certaine Prouinces he to all the Gentils without limitation and he laboured more abundantly then they all 1 Cor. 15. And after k § testatur ib. § fortasse Paul also may bee called princeps Apostolorum quia munus Apostolicum excellentissime ad impleuit as we call Virgil prince of Poets and Cicero prince of Orators Againe Nam etsi Petrus maior est potestate Paulus maior est sapientia Leo makes them the two eyes of the body whereof Christ is the head De quorum meritis atque virtutibus nihil diuersum nihil debemus sentire discretum quia illos electio pares labor similes finis fecit aequales The like hath Maximus ib. and Saint Gregory Paulus Apostolus Petro Apostolorum primo in principata Apostolico frater est Againe l Bellar. ib. §. denique si hac Paulus videtur plus Ecclesiae profuisse quà m Petrus plures enim ex gentibus ad Christi fidem adduxit plures prouincias summo cum labore peragrauit plura scripta eaque vtilissima nobis reliquit Antiq. Saint Ierom saith further that Saint Peter was made the head of the Apostles that all occasion of Schisme might be taken away Will you make nothing of those titles which the Scriptures and Fathers so frequently giue him of authority primacy principality supereminency the mouth of the Apostles the top the highest the president the head and such like Antiquis Nothing at all for that power which the Church of Rome now claymes by them and which hee neuer claymed nor vsed neither did the Scriptures or Fathers giue him What they gaue him we willingly yeeld A principality of Order Estimation and Grace For all Saint Peters power is comprised in the keyes promised him and in building the Church vpon him but all the Apostles receiue the keyes by Ieroms iudgement and the Church is built vpon them equally Ergo by his iudgement Peter was not ouer them in power and if you will yet say hee had some gouernment ouer them what can it else bee but a guidance not as a Monarch ouer subiects or inferiours D. Raynolds ib. pag. 226 227. D. Field l. 5. cap 24. but as in Aristocracy head of the company which in power are his equals For in all assemblies about affayres of gouernment there must needs bee one for orders sake and peace to begin to end to moderate the Actions and this is Saint Peters preheminence which Saint Ierome m Hieronym adu Iouin lib. 2. meant For hauing set downe his aduersaries obiection But thou saist The Church is built vpon Peter he answereth Although the same be done in another place vpon all the Apostles and they all receiue the keyes of the Kingdome of Heauen and the strength of the Church is grounded on them equally yet there is one chosen among the twelue that a head being appointed occasion of Schisme might be takeÌ„ away The like hath S. Cyprian n Cyprian de Vnitate Ecclesia Erant vtique caeteri Apostoli quod fuit Petrus pari consorâ—io praediti honoris potestatis sed exordium ab vnitate prosiciscitur c. The other Apostles saith he were that which Peter was endewed with the same fellowship both of honour and power but the beginning proceedeth from vnity that the Church may be shewed to be one To speake at once view all the titles of excellency giuen by the ancient Fathers to S. Peter alleadged by Bellarmine o De rom pont lib. 1. cap. 25. weigh them aduisedly without preiudice or
partiality and you shall finde they proue no more then the excellency of honourable estimation the primacy of order and the principality of grace and are farre short of prouing the Supremacy of power ouer the whole Christian world now claimed and practised by the Bishop of Rome B. Carlton iurisdiction pag. 55 56. Wee may also iustly alleadge that the honours and titles that other Bishops gaue to the Bishops of Rome for their great vertue in former times the Romists of these latter times vniustly draw to proue the iurisdiction of that Sea because they may finde the same or greater giuen to other worthy Bishops as to Saint Ambrose to whom p Basil epist 55. Saint Basil writing saith He holdeth the sterne of that great and famous shippe the Church of God and that God hath placed him in the primacy and chiefe seate of the Apostles So q Sidon lib. 6. ep 1 4. Sidonius Apollinaris Bishop of Arvern calleth Lupus a French Bishop Pope Lupus and his Sea Apostolike And writing to Fontellus another French Bishop r Lib. 7. ep 4. Quod Apostolatus vestri patrocinium copiosissimumconferre vos comperi saith he greatly reioyced that he found he did aboundantly defend his Apostleship And againe Å¿ Lib. 6. ep 7. Ego quoque ad Apostolatus tui noticiam accedo I come to the knowledge of your Apostleship t Chrysost de laudibus Paul hom 8. in Gal. 2. Erat Paulus Princeps Apostolorum honore par Petro ne quid dicam amplius Saint Chrysostom called Saint Paul Prince of the Apostles u Ruffin histor lib. 2. cap. 1. Iacobus Apostolorum princeps Ruffinus gaue Saint Iames the same title x Greg in 1 Reg. lib. 4. cap 4. Paulus ad Christum conuersus caput effectus est nationum qui obtinuit Ecclesiae totius principatum See D. Field Church booke 5. chap. 41. Saint Gregory gaue Saint Paul the title of Head of the Nations and that hee obtained the gouernment of the whole Church What titles doe the Fathers giue vnto Saint Peter beyond these If these doe not proue any generall Iurisdiction in others how doe they proue it in Saint Peter §. 12. But what need we stand vpon Titles which the ancient Fathers gaue to Saint Peter or the Pope when the whole course of their actions were against the Supremacy now challenged Remember what I haue said a See before booke 1. chap. 1 §. 2. before of the Fathers misliking and disswading the Popes assumed authority in the smallest matters as Polycarpus disswading Anicetus Polycrates and the Bishops of the East and Irenaeus with his French Bishops in the West disswading Victor from new vnusuall vniustifiable courses ibid. §. 3. Other Fathers afterwards plainely resisting and reiecting the Popes iudgement and authority as the holy Martyr Cyprian with many whole Councels of the African Bishops Saint Basil the Great and the whole Greeke Church I shewed you also how three Popes in succession Zozimus Boniface and Celestine aboue 400. yeeres after Christ claymed their superiority and priuiledges not by the Scriptures but by a Canon of the Councell of Nice which Canon the holy learned Bishops in the Councell of Carthage reiected finding no such thing in any of the Copies of the Councell of Nice which their Church kept or the Church of Alexandria or the Church of Constantinople So that finally condemning that Canon to be countefet and the claymed authority of the Church of Rome to bee new and vnlawfull they made Decrees against the Popes clayme conformable to their owne Decrees and Customes of former times b Ibid. sect 4. I shewed you further by the Contention betwixt Iohn Bishop of Constantinople and Gregory the Great Bishop of Rome that your owne Gregory condemned the titles and supremacy which Iohn then laboured for and which your Popes now take vnto them he I say condemned them for Antichristian and said none of his ancestors did euer claym them c Ibid. sect 5. I shewed you also how the Bishops of France Germany and Brittany with many Councels one at Constantinople another at Frankfurt another at Paris with whom also ioyned Charles the Great and Ludouicus Pius beside many learned men in their bookes at that time opposed the Pope and his Councels and his authority in imposing the worship of Images vpon the Church Of these and of the succeeding times I haue spoken d See ibid. sect 9. 10. c. in mine opinion sufficient to satisfie any moderate man and vpon occasion I haue much more to say But reade aduisedly at your leysure B. Iewel B. Morton D. Field and our other learned Protestants or our most iudicious King Iames his bookes or reade onely B. Bilsons booke e B. Bilson The true difference between Christian subiectioÌ„ vnchristian rebellion specially the first part p. 94. seq in 8. who writes fully enough and punctually of these matters and if you bee not prejudicate and obstinate beyond all reason you will be satisfied Onely I will adde here for the present one thing of the African Church about Saint Cyprians time and after The Contention betwixt the Bishops of Africa and the Bishop of Rome was so great that on the one side as Cassander f Cassander consultation arâ—ic 7. pag 54. obserueth Pope Steuen repelled Saint Cyprian à communione suâ from Communion with him See â—efoâ—â— châ—p 2â—â—â— admitted not to his speach the Bishops of Africa comming from Saint Cyprian as Legats yea and foâ—bade all his fraternity to receiue them into their houses denying them not only peace coÌ„munion but also tectum hospitium house-room lodging calling Cyprian Pseudo hristum dolosum operariâ—m a false Christ and deceitfull worker And on the other side Saint Cyprian and the Africans stood out thinking the Pope and the Italians in the wrong neither sued they neither cared they for the Communion of the Pope and the Church of Rome Doctor Harding saith g Hardings answer to Iewels challenge pag. 290. The whole Church of Africa withdrew it selfe from the Church of Rome by reason of this difference of Appeales and so continued in Schisme an hundred yeeres and in that time were brought into miserable captiuity by the Vandales Harding might remember that Rome it selfe about the same season in the space of 140. yeeres was brought to miserable calamities being sixe times taken by the wilde and barbarous enemies h B. Iewel ib. after which time of 100. yeeres Eulabius B. of Carthage condemning his predecessors disobedience and seeking reconciliation to the Pope did by publike instrument or writing submit and reioyne the African Church to the Roman And Boniface the Pope writes thereof to the Bishop of Alexandria exciting him to reioyce and giue thankes to God for this reconciliation saying that Aurelius Bishop of Carthage and his fellowes whereof Saint Augustine was one being set on by the Diuell had
Religion in this point Antiq. I must needs doe so and I doe not thinke them true Catholikes that hold and practise this point of Supremacy Papists they may bee as you terme them for so holding with the Pope but Catholikes they cannot be for this Doctrine is not Catholike §. 14. Antiquis Doe you not see also how greatly you shake the Popes authority by this meanes and ouerturne the foundation of his Supremacy for your Popes haue both claymed and practised this full authority as well in ciuill and temporall things as in Ecclesiasticall and vpon the same grounds And your learned Doctors thinke their grounds as firme for the one as for the other Your Great Bellarmine vpon whom you so much rely saith o Bellarm. de Pont. Rom l. 5. cap. 6. initio Although the Pope as Pope hath not any more temporall power which other Doctors say he hath yet so farre as it may make for the spirituall good he hath supreme power to dispose of the temporall things of all Christians And p Ib. cap. 7. hee labours to proue that the Pope may depose Princes and dispose of their kingdomes if he finde it good for the Church as a sheephard may deale with Wolues and vnruly Rammes and other sheepe And many of your Doctors haue the like as Eudaemon Ioannes Sidonius Suarez Becanus Mariana Grotzerus Costerus Baronius Sanders Allen and thousands more Antiq. I am very sorrowfull that so great learned men should hold such an opinion I hold them erroneous and euill Antiquis Then you must confesse that the Church of Rome may erre and that in a maine point both of doctrine and practise to the great hurt of the Catholike Church and many mens destruction both of body and soule in being traytors and rebels against their Soueraignes and murderers of people of which crimes your Popes and Doctors are guilty Antiq. I must needs grant that some haue erred in the Church but not the whole Church neither I hope hath any Pope taught this Ex Cathedra Antiquis This some is a large some the greatest part of your Church and I thinke the Pope teacheth it Ex Cathedra when hee decrees it out of his Pontificall iudgement and authority and sends out his iudiciall excommunications vnder seale against Princes to depose them as Pius 5. did against our Queene Elizabeth and Breefes to forbid his Catholikes to take the oath of ciuill Alleagiance as Paulus 5. did to our English Now consider well what you grant in effect that the greatest part of the Church yea the most conspicuous and eminent men in the Church and the Pope also may erre in some great and dangerous point and yet because some few inferiour and obscure persons hold the truth the true Church is still sufficiently visible and illustrious This you had not wont to yeeld to the Protestants See card Perons oration in the third inconuenience In K Iamâ—s his Remonstrance p. 183. 187. c. Cardinall Perone dare not grant it but saith this would proue the Church of Rome to be Antichristian and hereticall and to haue ceased to be the Spouse of Christ for a long time and to haue taught many points without authority as Transubstantiation auricular confession c. for these he ranketh with the Popes power to depose Kings and if the Scriptures yeeld no ground for the one no more doe they for the other These and diuerse other points which they hold different from vs haue no other ground but the authority of that Churâ—h which is found to erre in great and dangerous matters See this in B. Whites answer alleadged p. 87 Your owne learned Iesuite Mr Fisher vpon whose iudgement your English Roman Catholikes doe much relye saith Thâ—t if the Church could deliuer by consent of Ancestors together with truth some errors her Traditions euen about the truth were questionable and could not be beleeued vpon the warrant of her Tradition and this he proueth substantially Neither doe we receiue doctines vpon the Churches warrant only as Doctor White there largely learnedly sheweth but vpon their agreeing with the holy Scriptures Now we may assume The Church of Rome doth deliuer by consent of many Ancestors from Gregory 7. time to our times some errours as this concerning her power to depose Kings and dissolue oathes of Alleagiance c. Ergo her traditions or teaching are questionable and cannot be beleeued vpon the account of her Tradition Consequently all other her doctrines not grounded vpon Scripture are questionable and our subiection to her iudgement vnnecessary Antiq. Truly if I grant the former doctrine of her power to depose Kings c. to be erroneous as I must needs grant I know not how to auoyd this reason 1 Booke 1. cap 1. And therefore not to trouble you longer at this time Since you haue shewed me 1. that your Chuch differeth nothing from the Romish Church in the old true doctrine which it continueth but onely in some corruptions which it hath added and that 2. corruptions may in time come into any particular Church the Roman not excepted 2 cap. 2. but warned thereof by the Scriptures 3. 3 cap. 3. shewing also the time when they grew obseruable and notorious in the Roman Church 4 cap. 4. and 4 that they were opposed from time so time and reformation called for 5 cap. 5. shewing also 5. the principall points wherein the difference consists and that you hold all necessary doctrines 6 cap. 6. 6. misliking many policies by them vsed to maintaine their new corruptions And further haue shewed mee Booke 2. that this your Church for the substance of the doctrine thereof hath alwayes beene visible 7. as all one with the Primitiue Church 7 cap. 1. and the Greeke and Easterne Churches and the Waldenses that separated from the corruptions of the Papacy yea and with the Roman Church it selfe excepting the Papacy and the maintainers thereof although in some 8 8 cap. 2. ceremonies and priuate opinions both you and the Romish haue departed from fome Fathers wherin 9. 9 cap. 3 also there was difference among themselues as there is also still among the Roman Doctors And further you haue shewed mee 10. 10. cap 4. a Rule to iudge all Churches and Christians by By which Rule iudged right by the Roman Doctors you approue your selues to hold all things necessary to saluation and thereby to be the true Church of God and agreeing therein with all true Churches that are or euer were in the world yea and that 11. 11 cap 5. your Bishops and Ministers haue as good succession from the Apostles as any other in the world although 12. 12 cap. 6. 13. cap. 7. you admit not the B. of Romes Supremacy ouer al Churches and Christians in the world neither 13. his Infallibility both which you proue to be vnknowne and vnreceiued of the Ancients and 14. 14 cap. 8. both vnprofitable and
as in me lyeth firmely to be the true Church of Christ and the body of this State And I haue caried my selfe with that sincerity and singlenesse of heart that I may safely protest againe with S. Paul I speake the truth in Christ I lie not Rom. 9.1 c. my conscience bearing me witnesse in the holy Ghost I renounce the hidden things of dishonesty not walking nor writing in craftinesse 2 Cor. 4.2 2.17 1.12 nor handling the word of God or diuine things decitfully but by manifestation of the truth commending my selfe to euery mans conscience in the sight and feare of God I am no Innouator inventer or fauourer of new things in Religion I search for the old and out of all kinde of Authors deduct allegations authorities consequences and reasons against the new I cut off extrauagant needlesse and endlesse questions priuate opinions both of these and former ages and comprehend the necessary points of Religion agreed vpon by the Scriptures Fathers and moderne diuines within their owne true limits I set downe the most substantiall points agreed vpon betwixt the Romans and vs and shew withall their vnnecessary additions and corruptions I search how corruptions came into the Church as they will doe into all societies of Men in continuance of time I shew how they were discouered opposed and reformation wished and sought for in all former ages and by what power policies and cunning they preuailed after Sathan was loosed I finde and shew the out-cries of historians and other learned men Emperours Princes Clergy and people yea of their owne writers against them all before Luthers time And all this while I shew the continuance of all necessary sauing doctrine in many other famous Churches beside the Church of Rome yea and within that Church also a sufficient visible number of many hundred thousands farre and wide spread in Countries and Nations and continewing till Luthers time which refused the gouernment errors and corruptions of the Papacy and taught the same substance of doctrine which Protestants now teach Yea the better part of the Church of Rome it selfe excepting onely the Papacy and the faction that maintained it held with great liberty the same most necessary points of Faith which we doe vntill by the Councell of Trent which was not a free end generall Councell but guided wholly by the Papall faction that liberty was taken away and the errors of the Papacy were imposed generally vpon all vnder paine of Anathema or depriuation of saluation Vpon due search of these and many other things which heere I deliuer vnto thee in the Scriptures Fathers Histories and all kinde of Authors of either Religion I haue by the grace of God attained to that perfect knowledge and assurance of the Verity Antiquity and Sufficiency of the Protestants doctrine to good life in this world and eternall saluation in the world to come that any mortall man can desire to haue and am as willing if God haue so decreed iâ— expedient and the times desire it to suffer for it as the holy Martyrs were for this same Religion in the Primitiue Church not writing any thing in substance which I will not willingly seale with my blood This is it deare Christian Reader which I present vnto thy view in this worke being a Summe or Abridgement of many great volumnes written on both sides vpon these points and thus briefly deliuered for thy greater case in reading and perfecter iudging of Truth and Errour Sincerity and Corruption Antiquity and Nouelty To answer all the Romish bookes lately come abroad in great numbers punctually following their owne method had beene an endlesse labour both to Writers and Readers and therefore for my part I thought better to gather their principall motiues and reasons out of the chiefest of their bookes and separating them into seuerall Chapters to giue them their full answer in their proper places so answering many bookes in one Among the store of all other Allegations I haue most willingly and commonly referred the Reader to the late Writers of our owne Nation and that especially for these Reasons First for the excellency of our Authors surpassing others both in multiplicity of reading profundity of Iudgement and sincerity of affection in deliuering the truth As we finde in our learned Bishops Iewel Abbots Bilson Morton Vsher Downham Hall White Andrew c. And our Doctors Fulke Raynolds Whitakers Field Favour White Prideaux c. And other Diuines Master Foxe Perkins Hooker and many other whose worthy labours I doe heartily commend to the diligent reading of our English men The Romish affected very well know that those English which haue fled from vs and written on their side haue in shew of wit and learning gone beyond not onely all former but all other of this Age So that Bellarmine takes most out of them in the points whereof they haue written as Sanders Allen Stapleton c. And therefore let no man contemne their owne Countreymens wits and learning but acknowledge their worth and make high account of their learned labours Secondly to shew that I bring no new thing of my selfe but what is fully confirmed by our most approued writers and that I also thankfully remember and honour them Per quos profecerim Thirdly to shew the vnity of the Writers of our Church from the beginning of the Reformation to this time contrary to the Romish slanders which charge vs with continuall varying from our selues Fourthly to shew to our English men especially where they may read in our learned English Writers more fully of the points which I deliuer briefly for their better instruction and satisfaction Fiftly because my selfe am aged and not fit by reason of the encreasing weakenesse of my body and memory hereafter if any flourishing busie wits list to oppose to manage this cause without much disparagement to it and to my selfe I thought good to alleadge many worthy Diuines now liuing that they might take vpon them the defence of their owne writings by me alleadged or impose it vpon others more able in body then my selfe Further I confesse that it much troubled me that I could not make my booke shorter without either making it too obscure and vn-intelligible or else cutting off much matter fit to giue the fuller satisfaction For by this length of it I doubt it will become tedious to many to reade it thorow and cary away the matter in their memory But I haue helped this Inconuenience as much as I could 1 by distinguishing the whole matter into Chapters euery Chapter being as it were a seuerall Treatise by it selfe which may be read alone without reference to the rest And 2 by dividing the Chapters if they be long into Sections and sometimes also the Sections into Subsections and Paragraphes marked thus § setting downe the summes of the Chapters and Sectâ—ons in the beginning and before them for the quicker finding or refinding of the matters therein contained and the easier view and
Paragraph Of the differences of Fathers and Protestants and of their contentions Page 236 Paragraph § 1 Many Fathers are confessed by all sides to haue held some erronious opinions which none are bound to receiue and yet in the substance of Religion were good Catholick Christians and our Predecessors Page 236 Paragraph § 2 Many differences also are noted among Romish Doctors which yet hinder them not from being all accounted Catholicks Page 243 Paragraph § 3 The differences among Protestants are nothing so great or many as those afore noted of the Fathers and of the Romish the especiall one about the manner how Christ is present in the blessed Sacrament is much lesse then it seemeth Page 248 Paragraph § 4 The popes vnwillingnesse to reforme manifest abuses by the way of generall Councels was the cause of all differences in Reformed Churches when each seuerall state was compelled to reforme a part without sufficient generall consultations with other Nations Page 250 Paragraph § 5 The Protestants contentions for Gods cause as they take it are nothing so hote or troublesome is the contentions of many ancient holy Fathers haue beene about smaller matters View the examples Page 253 CHAP. 4. Paragraph Of the rule to iudge the soundnesse and purity of all Christians and Churches by Page 261 This Chapter hath foure sections Page 261 Paragraph The first section of the rule vsed in the Primitiue Church Page 261 Paragraph The second of the Rule enlarged and approued in this Age. Page 268 Paragraph The third of obiections arising from the former discourses and their answeres Page 280 Paragraph The fourth of the necessity of preaching still to them that hold this rule Page 288 The first section Paragraph § 1 The rule in generall Page 261 Paragraph § 2 Opened by distinctions of the foundation of Religion Page 262 Paragraph § 3 A necessity of a short rule drawne out of the Scriptures Page 262 Paragraph § 4 This rule is described by S. Paul Page 263 Paragraph § 5 The practise of it by the Apostles who deliuered the most necessary fundamentall points to the Iewes and then baptized them Page 265 Paragraph § 6 The like practise vsed by the following Primitiue Church to their Catechumeni before Baptisme Page 266 The second section Paragraph § 1 The rule enlarged and approued in this Age. Page 268 Paragraph § 2 By Azorius out of the Schoole-Diuines in 14 Articles Page 269 Paragraph § 3 Some obseruations and censures of those 14 Articles Page 272 Paragraph § 4 The rule set downe by Bellarmine more briefely Page 273 Paragraph § 5 By Doctor Field farre more sufficiently in 6 Articles with his iudgement of the deductions therefrom euident or obscure Page 274 Paragraph § 6 Bishop Vshers distinction of superstructions vpon the foundation Page 277 Paragraph § 7 Consequents of this doctrine Page 278 The third section Paragraph § 1 Obiection If holding the foundation will serue then wee may easily obtaine saluation in the Church of Rome Page 280 Paragraph § 2 Answer The Church of Rome holds many things which by consequent destroyes the foundation by the most moderate Master Hookers iudgement Page 281 Paragraph § 3 Obiection This crosseth what was said before That many before Luthers time might be saued in the Roman Church Answ No for they liued in those errours of ignorance not obstinacy and not knowing any dangerous consequence of them Page 282 Paragraph § 4 Such men by particular repentance of sinnes knowne and generall repentance of vnknowne might by Gods mercy be saued Page 284 Paragraph § 5 Obseruations hereof Page 285 Paragraph § 6 Other learned Protestants ioyne in opinion with Master Hooker Page 286 The fourth section Paragraph § 1 There is a necessity or great profit of preaching euen to them that are well grounded in all necessary principles Page 288 Paragraph § 2 As Israel needed all helpes after the giuing of the Law and all were too little Page 289 Paragraph § 3 The profits of preaching in generall Page 290 Paragraph § 4 Some particulars for continuall spirituall food cordiall medicine and comfort memory armour c. Page 290 Paragraph § 5 The continuall need thereof was found in all Churches planted euen by the Apostles and in their times Page 292 CHAP. 4. Paragraph Of the succession of the Protestants Bishops and Ministers from the Apostles Page 296 Paragraph Section 1. The necessity thereof vrged without which there can be no Church Page 296 Paragraph 2 This succession is clamourously denyed to Protestants Page 299 Paragraph 3 But manifestly proued and the slanders confuted Page 300 Paragraph 4 Particularly in Cranmer our first Archbishop Page 302 Paragraph 5 In other Bishops of King Henry 8 his time Page 304 Paragraph 6 And of King Edward 6. and of Queene Maries time Page 306 Paragraph 7 And of Queene Elizabeths time Page 306 Paragraph 8 The false reports whereof doe alienate many from the Reformed Religion Page 309 Paragraph 9 A proofe of the sufficient ordination of Ministers in forraigne Reformed Churches Page 310 Paragraph 10 Which is further confirmed by the doctrine and practise of the Romish Page 312 CHAP. 6. Paragraph Of the Popes supremacy challenged ouer the whole Church page 1 Paragraph § 1 The necessity thereof vrged as the maine pillar of Religion Page 1 Paragraph § 2 The matter and method of the Answer propounded Page 4 Paragraph § 3 The ancient Church yeelded to Rome as the greatest and most honourable City of the world and seat of the Empire to haue the dignity of one of the fiue Patriarcks Page 5 Paragraph § 4 And among the Patriarkes sometime the first or chiefest place Page 6 Paragraph § 5 Which dignity the ambition and couetousnesse of following popes haue much impaired Page 8 Paragraph § 6 And haue challenged that dignity which was anciently yeelded vnto their predecessors for their sanctity and for politicke reasons and much more also by authority of the Scriptures But Bellarmine gathering the pith of all learned writers can finde no strengh in them by any Scriptures to maine the Papacy as in their chiefest places Matth. 16.18 Page 11 Paragraph § 7 And Iohn 21.15 c. Page 16 Paragraph § 8 Obserue the Romish strange extractions out of the words Feed my Sheep Page 18 Paragraph § 9 And other learned-foolish allegations of other Scriptures Page 20 Paragraph § 10 The Scripture against the supremacy of Peter Page 23 Paragraph § 11 And the fathers are vrged for it vainely beyond their meaning Page 24 Paragraph § 12 The Fathers are manifestly against it Page 29 Paragraph § 13 Saint Peters prerogatiues were personall and descended not to his successors Page 32 Paragraph § 14 The conclusion collecting the parts of this Chapter briefly and Iustifying the Protestants Page 35 CHAP. 7. Of the Popes infallible Iudgement in guiding the Church by true Doctrine Paragraph § 1 Jt cannot be prooued by Scriptures or Fathers or by the Analogie to the chiefe Priests of the Old
Testament Page 40 Paragraph § 2 Neither is such infallibility now necessary in any man Page 44 Paragraph § 3 But if in any man most improbably in the Popes wherof some haue been children and many most wicked men and monsters of men Page 45 Paragraph § 4 And many Popes haue erred De facto in iudgment Page 50 Paragraph § 5 Which all the Romists distinctions and euasions cannot auoyd Page 51 Paragraph § 6 The manifold and manifest iudgement of Antiquity ouerthrowes this supposed infallibility Page 56 Paragraph For I. The ancients euer accounted the Popes fallible Page 56 Paragraph II. They neuer in their writings mentioned their infallibility Page 56 Paragraph III. But reiected often both their Jurisdiction and Iudgment Page 57 Paragraph IIII. If infallible iudgement in the pope had beene established and beleeued the Fathers studies and commentaries vpon the Scriptures had been needlesse Page 58 Paragraph V. And Councels had beene called to no purpose Page 58 CHAP. 8. Of the good which the Popes supremacy might doe to the Church and States by vniting Christian Princes among themselues and against the Turke Paragraph § 1 This is vrged Page 60 Paragraph § 2 But answered that policies agreeable to Gods word and the Primitiue Church onely are sufficient and blessed by God Page 61 Paragraph § 3 But this policy binding men to vnity vnder some one head might be set vp by any sect to maintaine any errors or wickednesse Page 62 Paragraph § 4 And experience hath proued it very vnprofitable and vntollerable to all Churches and states sauing to the Popes owne state wealth and greatnesse Page 63 Paragraph § 5 As is shewed by the miserable troubles in Christendome wrought by Hildebrand who first set vp the Popes Princedome as Onuphrius saith about eleuen hundred yeeres after Christ Page 64 Paragraph § 6 And by the voyages against the Turke which finally proued profitable to the Pope not to Christian Princes Page 68 Paragraph § 7 As appeareth by the Stories of Pope Gregory 9. and the Emperour Fredericke 2. Page 69 Paragraph § 8 And many other most wicked Popes Page 74 Paragraph § 9 The Emperour Phocas erred much in gouernment in making the Pope so great so farre from him For Popes shortly after proued Masters of mis-rule ejecting the Emperours out of Italy Page 76 Paragraph § 10 Their turbulent proceeding to dethrone Princes Page 78 Paragraph § 11 Their troubles wrought in England in King Henry the first his time by Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury In King Henrie the 2 his time by Becker In King Iohns time by Pope Innocent Page 80 Paragraph § 12 In these later times of Queene Elizabeth by the Bull of Pope Pius Quintus deposing her and by erecting at Rome and Rhemes Seminaries that is Schooles to breed Traitors and draw her subiects to disobedience treasons and rebellions Page 89 Paragraph A briefe enumeration of some treasons in Queene Elizabeths time The Rebellion in the North. Page 91 And other petty conspiracies Page 92 Sanders Page 93 Of Ormonds brethren Page 92 Of Stukely Page 93 Someruile Page 94 Motiues to the Ladies of Honour Page 94 Mendoza Page 94 Doctor Parry Page 95 Sauage Page 96 Aubespineus Page 96 The Spanish Armado Page 97 Squire Page 99 In the time of King Iames Watson Clark others Page 102 Throgmorton Page 94 Creighton the Iesuite Page 95 Percy Page 96 Ballard Page 96 Stanly and Yorke Page 97 Lopez Page 99 Tyrone Page 100 The Powder Treason Page 102 Paragraph § 13 Some obseruations out of these A good Christian abhorreth these Treasons and therefore cannot like of that doctrine that teacheth them Page 106 Paragraph § 14 Therefore euery good man is forced by reason to renounce to be an absolute Papist and therefore cannot thinke the doctrines grounded onely vpon the Popes authority without Scripture to be necessary and consequently must acknowledge that it is not necessary to bee a Roman-Catholicke Page 108 Paragraph The conclusion with a briefe Recapitulation of the whole precedent conference Page 110 Friendly Reader before thou readest these bookes amend with thy pen these grosser faults which most of them pervert the sense PAge 1. In the first line of the Text for notice read motiue p. 18. l. 29. r. vnder the persecuting Emp. p. 33. 4. then they gaue to other holy Bishops p. 45. 26. Of all the Bishops ib lin 27. first that trusting p. 76. maâ—g l. â— x. Boniface 8. liued anno 1300 p. 81. 6. and reciting ib. lin 8 pâ—lgrimages p. 85. 11. is insufficient to set vp p. 86. 14. there be not more care p 89. 17. but were built p. 98. 1. for the Pope ment p. 104. 14. and make of Christs milâ—tant Church a Church trâ—umphant vpon earth p. 109. lin vlt. maried p. 112. 25. hath worne a girdle p 1â—6 26. to the last times p. 152. 28. we propose p. 208. 17. per sacramentum memoriae celebratur p. 244. 34. for Stoiks read Scotâ—sts p. 246. 31. forâ—t is no indignity p. 264. 30. root author p. 126. 9. must be diminished p. 138. â— latent invisible Church p. 139. 25. it is not visible p. 274. 34. full of â—ighte 304 marg ad lin 22. ordinator hareticus verè In the second Alphabet CC. p. 33. lin â—4 put cut not p. 46. marg lin 26. Baronius anno 963. n. 17. p. 54. marg l 25. Anno a Christs natâ— 1033 a Christs passâ— 1000. Other faults there are scarce veniall which deserue correction Page 7. lin 27. read warres and dissentions p. 13. 13. Simon Magnus among them p. 14. 9. for saâ—th read truth p. 20. 8. from the first pure d. p. 31. 8. Church kingdome ib. lin 14. Cameracensis ib. l. vlt. large authors p. 37. 2â— Infallibitily p. 38. 13. decretal ib. l. 18. infamis ib. l. 19. choked ib. l. 25. saith this p. 40. 17. the ancient vitility p. 42. 14. Calosyria ib. l. 23. schism 1. ib. l. 30. in marg Greg. 7 libro p. 43. 12. Releherspergensis p. â—6 l. 12. and 18. Trithemius ib. l. 30. Schafnaburgensis p. 48 9. saith your Bish linea antepenult Valentianus p. 50. 18. into his mouth p. 51. l. vlt. foule and manifest p. 52. lin anteâ—en Patricius p. 51. 14. Diuinity p. 55. marg See these alleadged in my third booke p. 57. 14. this câ—â—cumgestation p. 60 8. Gualter Mapes p. 61. 24. Iohn Baâ—â—â—thorâ— p. 63. 15. Sodâ—â—â—â— dominatur p. 64 2. Lorell p 80. 26. anâ— beautifying all p 87. 16. abjuration p. 90 for Chap. 5. put § 5. p. 91. 2. robbers ib. l. â—â— acknowledged p 93 4. to the Pâ—pe To giue p. 96. put â—ut marg Annal. Elizabethae Camden Apparat. pag. 2. and place it pag. 97. against Pope Iulâ—us the 2. c. p. 99. 1. searching p. 101. 19. frustrated p. 115. 27. put out this dignity is not new saitâ— Bellarmine b. for it 500 yeeres old â—ut surely that is new that came not in till after twise 500 yeeres
anno 1074. as Sigebertus Gemblacensis and Lambertus Schasuaburgensis beside many other report at large and with much detestation See the story of this Hildibrand hereafter This Hildebrand laid the foundation of Papisme or the Popes greatnesse and was exceedingly opposed by the Bishops of Germany and France and the greatest number of Jtalians condemning his wicked doctrine and courses as did also the common people calling the Pope Antichrist that trode vnder foot all Lawes Vsher ib. §. 18 2â— c. Avent lib. 5. Annal. aedit â—ngolst anno â—â—54 pag. 573. 574. humane and diuine and vnder the title of Christ d d the businesse of Antichrist absoluing men not from sinne but from the Lawes of God filling the world with warres seditions rauishments periuries murders fire and robberies corrupting Histories to couer and maintaine his ambition yea adulterating the holy Scriptures with false interpretations to serue his lusts This inexpiable wickednesse this mischiefe neuer before heard of in the world ought to be cut off by the Emperours sword the Wolfe raging in the Sheeps skinne ought to be taken out of the world c. This and much more as Aventine reporteth Plerique tum priuatim publice clamitant At that time therefore the greatest part of the world Princes Bishops and people cryed out for reformation of intollerable corruptions crept into the Church §. 11. Antiquus You and your Authors reckon vp obscure Historians but the most approued writers of Church-Histories are wholly for vs such as our Martyr Campian reckoneth vp in his seuenth Reason Eusebius Damasus Hieronymus Ruffinus Orosius Socrates Sozomenus Theodoretus Cassiodorus Gregorius Turonensis Vsuordus Regino Marianus Sigeberius Zonaras Cedrenus Nicephorus These are wholly in the praise of our Church Antiquissimus I answer you manifoldly First I haue cited many of these speaking against the manifold corruptions of your Church in their owne times Secondly the more ancient of these which Campian reckons could not speake against the corruptions which were not brought into the Church vntill after their times Thirdly the latest of these might well be parties with you as maintained by you to like the things vsuall in their times and yet many of them could not hold but grauely reproued the nouell corruptions of their times See B. Mortons Apologia Cathol part 2. l. 2 c. 9. And lastly I say Campian wrote vntruely and vnsoundly making a glorious flourish that all these Historians were wholly for your praises when as yet your owne Writers do ordinarily reiect them as writing against you As for example Eusebius in reiecting and refelling of whose History Gelasius hath vsed great wisedome saith our Bishop Canus a Canus loc theol lib. 11. cap. 6. pag 659. And your Cardinall Bellarmine saith To Irenaeus Tertullian Eusebius and Luther I answer Omnes manifesti haeretici sunt They are all manifest Hereticks b Bâ—lâ—aâ— de Christo l. 1. cap 9. pag. 104. Hieronymus He is not the rule of the Church a bold and a bald scoffe in iudging of the Canonicall Scriptures saith your Canus c Canus loc com lib. 2. p. 7◠§. secundum quoque Ruffinus He knew not the traditions of the Fathers saith Canus d Canus ibid. §. nam ad primum Damasus Sophrnoius Simeon Metaphrastes when they crosse the now Romish tenets they little moue me saith Bellarmine e Bellar. de Rom. pontif lib. 2 cap. 5. §. neque multum me movet Marianus Scotus secum ipse cum veritate pugnat saith Bellarmine f Bellar. ibid. §. quocirca sasciculum temporum passionale merito contemnimus he plainly crosseth himselfe and the truth and therefore we iustly contemne his Fasciculus temporum and his Passionale Sigebert he was a follower or fauourer of Henry the fourth and therefore tooke things wrong saith Bellarmine g Bellar. ib. lib. 4. cap. 13. §. Respondeo Sigebertum Sigebert and Marianus Scotus we know well enough they are corrupt Authors saith Bellarmine h Bellar. ib. lib. 3. cap. 24. § quod autem Socrates He was a Nouatian Hereticke his testimony in dogmaticall points is of no moment saith Bellarmine i Bellar. de cultu Sanctorum lib. 3. cap. 10. § adde vltimò Sozomenus multa mentitur he lies in many things saith your Iesuite Valentinianus k Valent. de caelibatu cap. 6. § primo quia Sozomenus also Socrates and Sozomenus are not worthy of credit In the story of Paphnutius Valent ib. l Valent. ib. And Sozomens History is Reprobata a Gregorio quia multa mentitur saith Bellarmine m Bellar. lib. 1. de clericis cap. 20. § at quod concil Thus the Historians of greatest note which your Campian alledgeth are by Campians Fellowes and Masters reiected refelled or refuted condemned for Heretickes scoffed at not regarded counted lyers mistaken and erronious corrupted Hereticks vnworthy of credit c. Antiquus Indeed I cannot but wonder at it that they should be thus in generall applauded and in particulars reiected Antiquissimus And so the world both in generall and particular deluded For obserue here by the way First If these Histories be true which haue recorded many grieuous corruptions crept into your Church with the worlds wonder and detestation of them how haue you been deluded and perswaded of the vnity sincerity and glory of that Church neuer spoken against by any before Luthers time but that all Writers and Histories spake in high commendation thereof which you see they doe not Secondly If the Histories be false or doubtfull how can you appeale to them for a true description of the succession propagation doctrine traditions or customes of the Church to shew the sincerity and truth thereof which you more vrge and more leane vpon then vpon the Scriptures §. 12. Antiquus Well then to let these histories passe See these things more at large in B. vsher ib. cap. 7. §. 5. shew me some learned Iudicious Diuines that haue written against the errours and corruptions by you ascribed to the Church of Rome Antiquissimus Take good Saint Bernard for one who liued about the yere 1130. Bernard in Cantio serâ—â— 33. wo be vnto this generation saith he for the leauen of the Pharisees which is hypocrisie if yet that may be called hypocrisie which for the abundance cannot and for the Impudence desires not to be hid Omnes amici omnes inimici omnes necessarij omnes adversarij omnes domestici nulli pacifici omnes proximi omnes quae sua sunt quaerunt Ministri Christi sunt seruiunt Antichristo All friends and yet all are enemies all necessaries and yet all aduersaries all of an houshold yet none peaceable all neighbours yet euery one seekes his owne the Ministers of Christ but they serue Antichrist And afterwards Superest vt de medio fiat daemonium meridianum c. It remaineth that the Meridian Deuill the bold deuill that walkes at noone or at
priests onely Cassander writes and Micrologus Cassander praefat ord Romani Microl. de officio Missae cap. 19. Clicthâ—veus on the Canon of the Masse cited by Cassander ibidem and Clicthoveus among many others Circumgestation saith Cassander is contrary to the manner of the Ancients Cassander consult art 22. Feild quo supra for they admitted none to the fight of the Sacrament but the partakers and therefore the rest were bidden depart Crautzius praiseth Cusanus who being the popes Legat in Germany tooke away his Circumgestation vnlesse it were within the Octaues of Corpus Christi day The Sacrament being instituted for vse and not for ostentation Touching the honour of Saints Gerson and Contarenus Gerson de Directione cordis consider 16. sequent Contarenus in confut artic Lutheri and many others reprehend sundry superstitious obseruations and wish they were wisely abolished Whether the Saints in heauen doe particularly know our estate and heare our cryes and grones not onely Saint Augustine August de cura pro mortuis Glossa in Esay 63 Hugo Erudit Theolog. de sacram fidei lib. 2. part 16. cap. 11. and the Author of the Interlineall glosse But Hugo de Sancto victore tels vs it is altogether vncertaine and cannot be knowne So that though in generality they pray for vs or rather for all the Church on earth yet we may not safely and with faith pray to them That in the primitiue Church publike prayers were celebrated in the vulgar tongue Lyra confesseth Lyra in 1. Cor. 14 Caietan in respons ad Articulos Parisienseâ— and Caietan professeth that he thinketh it would bee more for edification if they were so now And he confirmeth his opinion out of Saint Paul Saint Bernard wrote diuers things concerning the now Romish Doctrine touching speciall faith imperfection and impurity of inherent righteousnesse merits power of freewill the conception of the blessed Virgin and the keeping of the feast of her conception a See D. Field Appendix to the fift booke of the Church part 1. pag. 89. Bernard serm 5. de verb. Esaiae All our righteousnesse saith he is as the polluted rags of a menstruous woman b Serm. 1. de Annunciat We must beleeue particularly that all our sinnes are remitted vs. c Tract de gratia lib. arb in fine Our workes are via regni not causa regnandi they are the way that leadeth to the kingdome but no cause why we raigne d Epist 175. ad Canonicos Lugd. The blessed Virgin was conceiued in sin and the feast of her conception ought not to be kept So that what errours and abuses we haue amended in our reformed Churches those the learned men of former Ages haue espied and haue written against them and we haue made no other Reformation then they heartily desired For conclusion of this point see what a number of famous men writing and preaching against the corruptions of Rome One Vniuersity afforded and thereby gesse what the world did §. 15. Gabriel Powel de Antichristo Edit Lond. 1605. reckons these Oxford men amongst many others in his Preface 1 King Alfred Founder of Oxford Vniuersity would not haue his people ignorant of Scriptures or bard the reading thereof Anno 880 Capgrav cataloge Sanct Angliae Polydor. Virg hist Ang. lib. 5. Baleus 2 Joannes Patricius Erigena a Brittan first Reader in Oxford ordained by the King wrote a booke of the Eucharist agreeable to Bertrams and condemned after by the Pope in Vercellensi Synodo And he Martyred for it anno 884. Philip. in Chron. lib. 4. sub Henr. 4 Baleus cent 2. cap 24. 3 Some Diuines at Oxford were burnt in the face and banished for saying the Church of Rome was the Whore of Babylon Monkery a stinking carrion their vowes toyes and nurses of Sodome Purgatories Masses dedications of Temples worship of Saints c. inuentions of the Deuill anno 960. Matth. Paris lib. 4. Guido Perpin de haeresib Baleus cent 2. 4 Arnulph or Arnold an English preacher a Monke of Oxford for preaching bitterly against Prelats and Priests wicked liues and corruptions cruelly butchered anno 1126. but saith Platina greatly commended by the Roman Nobility for a true seruant of Christ Bale cent 2. cap. 70. 5 Joannes Sarisburiensis anglus Oxoniensis theologus Episcopus Carnotensis beloued of the Popes Engenius 3. and Hadrian 4. wrote against the abuses of Clergy and Bishops in Objurgatorie Cleri in Polycratico he saith The Scribes and Pharises sit in the Roman Church laying importable burdens on mens shoulders The Pope is grieuous to all and almost intollerable Ita debacchantur ejus legati ac si ad ecclesiam flagellandam egressus sit Satan a facâ—e domini and he that dissents from their doctrine is iudged an Hereticke or a Schismaticke c. 1140. Sarisburien Polycr lib. 5. cap. 16. lib. 6. cap. 24. 6 Gualo Professor of Mathematicks in Oxford much praised of Sarish in Polycrat wrote inuectiues against Priests of the Monkish profession their luxuries pompes and impostures anno 1170. Bale cent 3. cap. 15. 7 Gilbert Foliot Doctor of Diuinity in Oxford Bishop first of Hereford and after of London perswaded King Henry 2 after the example of Jehoshaphat and other Kings to keepe the Clergy in subiection and oft resisted and blamed Tho. Becket to his face 1170. Bale ib. cap. 7. 8 Syluester Gyrald Archdeacon Meneuensis beloued of Hen. 2 and Iohn King of England wrote a booke of the Monks Cistertians naughtinesse c. 1200. â—eland catalogo virorum illustrium Bale cent 3 cap. 59. 9 Alexander a Diuine of Oxford sent by King John to defend his authority against the Pope which he did by reasons and Scriptures and wrote against the Popes power and temporall Dominion He was banished by Langton Bishop of Canterbury and dyed in exile he liued anno 1207. when King Iohn banished 64. Monkes of Canterbury for contumary breaking his commandement Bale cent 3 cap. 57. 10 Gualter Maxes Archdeacon of Oxford a famous man hauing been at Rome and seene the ambition of the Pope he set it out while he liued with most vehement satyricall criminations He wrote a booke called The Reuelation of the Romish Goliah and diuers others of the enormity of the Clergy lamentation ouer Bishops and against the Pope the Roman Court the euils of Monkes c. he flourished anno 1210. Siluester Gyrald in spec eccles lib. 3. c. 1. 14 Bale cent 3 cap. 61. 11 Robertus Capito Robert Grosthead Doctor of Diuinity in Oxford Bishop of Lincolne wrote against Prelats idlenesse and thundered against the Romish Court he modestly but yet publikely reproued the couetousnesse pride and manifold tyranny of Pope Innocent 4. He was excommunicated to the pit of hell and cited to come to their bloudy Court but he appealed from the Popes tyranny to the eternall tribunall of Iesus Christ and shortly after dyed anno 1253. The Priests that taught mens commandements and not
1213. and 1220. §. 4. The twelfth Chapter sheweth there were many of the Waldenses Religion in England Matth. Paris in anno 1174. some burnt in anno 1174 saith Math Paris and in King Henry the second his time many were grieuously persecuted in England saith Thomas Waldensis an English man Waldens de Re sacram lib. 6. tit 12. cap. 10. Wiclife taught their very doctrine and greatly spread it in England Also in Saxony and Pomerania and in the Diocesse of Eisten in Germany ib. cap 11. were many Waldenses they had twelue Pastors knowen besides the vnknown Yea as Trithenius reports they were in such numbers and so spread in Germany that they could trauell from Colen to Milan in Italy and euery night lodge with hostes of their owne profession §. 5. The thirteenth Chapter shewes many in Flaunders the fourteenth in Poland Sigonius de Regno Italiae lib. 17. Rainer in summa fol. 18. the fifteenth in Paris it selfe the sixteenth in Italy as writeth Sigonius Rainerius saith in anno 1250. The Waldenses had Churches in Albania Lombardy Millan Romagnia and also in Vicence Florence and Val Spoletine Anno 1280. there were many Waldenses in Sicilia saith Du Haillan Roger Haillan in the life of Philip. 3. Sigonius lib. 17. King of Sicilia made constitutions against them and Pope Gregory the ninth persecuted them in Jtaly especially in Millan as saith Sigonius So did Honorius and Boniface the 8. The seuenteenth Chapter sheweth Rainerius de forma haereticor fol. 10. an 1250. the Waldenses had Churches in Constantinople Philadelphia Slavonia Bolgaria Digonicia by the testimony of Rainerius and they were spred into Livonia and Sarmatia Vignier histor Biblio thec part 3. pag. 130. as Vignier sheweth Sectionis 3. Subsectio 4. § 1. The Waldenses continued aboue 400 yeeres vntill Lutherrs time and after § 2. Jn England by meanes of Wiclife § 3. His doctrine and many followers Oxford Diuines § 4. The story of Iohn Hus Ierom of Prage and Bohemian affaires § 8. and 9. The continuance of the Waldenses after Luthers time Luther wrote a Preface to one of their bookes Letters passed betwixt them and Oecolampadius Bucer Caluin c. Antiquus Enough Sir of their spreading but except you shew also their succession and continuance till Luthers rising you can haue no hope to satisfie Antiquissimus I haue shewed Councels consultations persecutions massacres and mighty warres against them whereby many thousands of them haue beene burnt slain rooted out banished wasted Vsher ib. cap. 10. §. 64. but yet the maruellous hand of God still appeared in preseruing multitudes of them in diuers and many places in the middest of all their grieuous and continuall persecutions their doctrine was still preserued preached beleeued spred continued and deliuered to posterity Your a Thuanus hist sui temporis in praefatione Thuanus writing but the other day saith Supplicia parum profâ—cerunt Persecutions or punishments preuailed little They were slaine banished spoyled of their goods and dignities and scattered into diuers Countries rather then conuicted of errour or brought to repentance Surely as the persecution of the Apostles at Ieruâ—alem quenched not the Gospell but b Acts. occasioned the spreading thereof in Samaria and remoter parts so did the persecutions of the Waldenses in some parts of France occasion their spreading into other parts and other Countries as Germany Bohemia Polonia Livonia c. as c Thuanus ib. Thuanus there sheweth §. 2. In Britany or England the Waldenses doctrine was quickly receiued by many Haply by means of the entercourse of the English people with the great Earle of Tolous his subiects by reason of the d Before subs 3. §. 4. affinity betwixt those Princes for in the yeere 1174 and in Henry the seconds time there was persecution and burning of them as e Subs 2. § 6. Mathy Paris and Thomas Walden haue recorded But that doctrine was more generally receiued and had fuller passage in King Edward 3 raigne when f See Archb. Abbot against D. Hill Reason 1. §. 25 Fox iâ—â—ita Wicl â—â— Iohn Wiclife a learned Doctor of Diuinity g Bailiol Colledâ—â— Master of a Colledge in Oxford and publike Reader of Diuinity in that Vniuersity taught it there with the great liking applause of the hearers and approbation of the whole Vniuersity For the Vicechancellour Proctors diuers Preachers and Batchelors of Diuinity tooke part with him And when Buls came thicke from Rome against him and his Doctrine First from Gregory 11. anno 1378. And afterwards from Gregory the 12 whereby he was to be condemned for an Hereticke The whole Vniversity gaue a testimony in fauour of him vnder their seale in their Congregation house in these words among others h Anno 1406. Octob. 5. God forbid that our Prelats should haue condemned a man of such honesty for an Hereticke c. §. 3. This mans doctrine as the said Bulles of the two Popes did say agreed with the doctrine of Marsilius Patavians and Johannes de Ganduno i Abbot ib. This Marsilius a very learned man in that Age about the yeere 1324 had written a booke entituled Defensor Pacis in defence of the Emperor Lewis of Bauier who was mightily laid at by three Popes successiuely demoÌ„strating the supreme authority of the Emperour and beating down the iniquity of the Popes vsurpations ouer Christian Princes and generall Councels shewing that things are to be decided by the Scriptures that learned men of the Laity are not to be debarred voyces in Councels that the Clergy and pope also are to be subiect to Princes That the Church is the whole company of the faithfull that Christ is the foundation and head of the Church hath not appointed any one to be his Vicar that Priests may be married as well as other Christians that S. Peter was neuer at Rome that the Popish court or Synagogue is a denne of theeues that the doctrine of the Pope is not to be followed because it leadeth to euerlasting destruction The popes being informed that this was also Wiclifes doctrine must needes condemne him or yeeld themselues guilty Many other positions were attributed vnto him also some bad enough and vndoubtedly false as had been before to the Waldenses and the Primitiue Christians but what hee truely held may be seene in his owne workes that remaine and in Mr. Foxe writing his life and in Catalogo testium veritatis lib. 18. Gabr. Powel De Antichristâ— In Prafatione n. 25. The summe whereof Mr. Gabriel Powel a diligent searcher and obseruer deliuereth thus Hee taught that there ought not to be one supreme Bishop in the Church that the pope is not only not Christs Vicar but also that he is Antichrist that his priuiledges bulles dispensations and indulgences are not onely idle and vnprofitable but also wicked and impious that to spirituall men is not to be giuen the politicke Dominion
figura est ergo Therefore it is a figuratiue speech And hee defines Sacraments to be o Contra Maximinum lib. 3. cap. 22. Sacramenta sunt signa aliud existentia aliud significantia signes being one thing and signifying another And of this Sacrament he saith p In psal 98. Non hoc corpus quod videtis manducaturi estis bibituri illum sanguinem quem fusuri sunt qui me crucisigent Sacramentum aliquod commendavi vobis You shall not eat this body which you see nor drinke this blood which they will shed which crucifie me I commend a certaine Sacrament thereof vnto you And he often beats vpon this that though wicked men doe eat the signe and Sacrament yet none but the worthy receiuers doe eat rem Sacramenti the very Body of Christ q Serm. 11. de verbis Apostoli And Manducabant illi Panem dominum Iudas panem domini contra dominum illi vitam ille paenam r Tract 59. in Iohannem See also Tract in Ioan. 11. 13. 26. De civ Dei lib. 21. cap. 25. De Doctp christiana lib. 3. cap. 9. epist 23. ad Bonifacium epist 57. De Trinitate lib. 3. cap. 10. Contra Adimantum cap. 12. Contra Faustum lib. 20. cap. 21. alibi passim He held two Sacraments of the new Testament onely Å¿ Epistola 118. Libro 3. de doctrina Christiana cap. 9. Baptisme and the Lords Supper Calvin t Calvin Instit lib. 4. cap. 17. § 28. Peter Martyr and the rest of the Protestants count Saint Augustine wholly theirs as did Berengarius before them by Bellarmines confession u Bellar. de Euchar. lib. 2. cap. 24. initio Saint Augustine condemnes Image-worship Follow not saith he x De moribus ecclesiae lib. 2. cap. 34. De civ Dei lib. 8. cap. 27. See Vines comment vpon it the company of ignorant men who in true Religion are superstitious worshippers of Sepulchres and pictures which customes the Church condemneth and daily laboureth to correct And hee saith y De fide symbolo cap. 7. Contra Adimantum cap. 13. It is great wickednesse to place the Image of God in Churches And that to worship the Prototypon sampler or thing resembled by an Image resembling it as the Heathen excused their Idolatry is an absurd servile and carnall thing z De doctr Christiana lib. 3. cap. 7 8 9. See in psal 113 epist 49. And hee writes against Pilgrimages for Religion Serm. 3. De Martyribus Of Purgatory a thing which came to be imagined in his dayes in some places a Encherid cap. 69. de octo quaest Dulciâ—ij qu. 1. De side oâ—er cap. 16. De civ Dei lâ—b 21. cap. 26. hee doubteth whether there be any such place or no but in many places hee giueth sound reasons to ouerthrow it The Catholicke Faith saith he b Contra Pelag. Hypogn lib. 5. resting vpon Diuine authority beleeues the first place the Kingdome of Heauen and the second Hell a third we are wholly ignorant of Yea wee shall find in the Scriptures that it is not c De pecc merit remiss lib. 1. cap. 27. lib. 24. De civ Dei c. 15. serm 232. de tempt There is no middle place he must needs be with the Diuell that is not with Christ d De verbis Apostoli serm 18. There are two habitations after death Vna in igne aeterno altera in regno aeterno And c Homil. 5. when we are passed out of this world no satisfaction remaineth And f Epist 80. wherein euery man 's owne last day finds him therein the worlds last day will hold him For such as in this day euery one dies such in that day hee shall be iudged Againe g Epist 54. there is no other place then in this life to correct our manners for after this life euery one shall haue that which in this life he sought to himselfe For h De verbis Dom. serm 37. Christus suscipiendo paenam non suscipiendo culpam culpaÌ„ delevet panam Christ by taking vpon him our punishment and not taking our sin hath put away both our sin punishment He that holds these things cannot hold Purgatory In briefe therefore In all these former points And furthermore against Free-will and for Gods grace against Mans merits and iustification by our inherent righteousnesse and for Iustification by Gods free mercy and Christs merits onely for the doctrine of faith and good workes for prayer to God alone and by the onely Mediator Iesus Christ against the adoration and inuocation of Angels and Saints departed and other the most necessary and profitable points of Theologie Saint Augustine was no Papist but wholly and entirely of the Protestants Religion §. .7 Antiquus How can this possibly be so when you see our Catholickes doe continually cite Saint Augustine Chrysostome and the rest of the Fathers for confirmation of their doctrine and against yours Antiquissimus They may first cite bookes vnder the names of the Fathers which the Fathers neuer wrote secondly they may corrupt the Fathers putting in or out words or phrases to alter their sense and speake contrary to their meaning thirdly they may by glosses and interpretations wrest the sentences which they finde in them to meane otherwise then they intended and fourthly they may alter the state of the questions betwixt vs and then alleadge the Fathers against their owne fancies not against our Doctrine And by these meanes they may cite and multiply the Fathers names in shew against vs but in truth nothing to the purpose And thus they doe First they alledge many bookes and writings which were not written by those holy learned Fathers whose names they beare For examples Our Bishop Jewell propounding 27 Articles which the Church of Rome holdeth at this day for confirmation of any one of which if any man liuing could shew him any sufficient sentence of any old Catholicke Doctor Father or generall Councell c. within 600 yeeres after Christ he would yeeld and subscribe See Casaubon Prolegom §. Spectare ad Master Harding vndertaking to answer alledged for ancient Doctors and Fathers The Constituions Apostolicall of Clemens Abdias Dionysius Areopagita The decretall Epistles of ancient Popes Amphilochius and such like which are all censured by their owne learned men for counterfeit writings vniustly attributed to the Reuerend Authors whose names they beare Obserue them well Clements Apostolicke Constitutions are cited also by the Rhemists a Rhemes Test annot in Luc. 4.1 to proue Lent Fast to bee as ancient as the Apostles times and by Bellarmine b Bellar. lib. 1. de clericis c. 12. for the antiquity of Ecclesiasticall Orders Also c See Bellarmines seuerall Treatises of these things for vowes of continency for prayer for the dead for holy water for reseruation of the Sacrament for mixing Wine and Water
necke shall we therefore giue sentence of death inevitable against all these Fathers in the Greeke Church which being mis-perswaded died in the errour of freewill He addeth in the Margen Error conuicted and afterwards maintained is more then errour For though the opinion be still the same yet the men are not the same after that the truth is plainly taught them This cleareth these Fathers from heresie but not from error Out of these premises you may conclude these Consequents 1 It is vniust for the Romish Doctors to binde vs to the Fathers opinions when themselues refuse them 2 It is not reasonable to make the Fathers tenets rules of our Doctrine when it is confessed on all hands that the Fathers haue in many things erred Bellar. lib. 3. de verbo Dei cap. 19. §. dices quid ergo Bellarmine saith who can deny that many of the ancient Fathers had the gift of interpreting in great excellency and that they were spiriuall and yet it is manifest that some of the chiefest of them haue slipped in some things non leuiter not lightly Rossensis in responsione ad prooemium Lutheri veritate septima in fine fol. 10. 11. Bishop Fisher answering Luthers obiection That the ancient Fathers haue sometimes erred saith This doe not I deny they haue erred sometimes and they were suffered to erre that we might know they were but men 3 It is not onely vniust and vnreasonable but vnpossible to make vs in all things agree with the Fathers who doe not in all things agree among themselues When Saint Austen confutes Cyprian for rebaptization Irenaeus and Tertulâ—ian differ in the time of Christs suffering some Fathers against freewill before grace some for it c How is it possible to agree with them all Aug. lib. 2. contra Crescomium gram cap. 30. Ego Cypriani autoritate non teneor sed ejus dictum ex Scripturae autoritate considero quodque cum ea congruit cum ejus laâ—de recipto qd non cum cius pace respuo 4 Therefore there is a necessity to trie the Fathers doubtfull tenets by some superiour and vndouted rule and that rule the Fathers selues say is the holy Scripture inspired by God and therefore infallible examine all doctrines by that rule hold what agrees to that and refuse that which disagrees Thus did Saint Augustine by Cyprians writings I am not bound with the authority of Cyprian saith hee but I weigh his sayings by the authority of the Scriptures and what agrees to them with his due praise I receiue what agrees not with his good leaue I refuse And thus would Augustine haue men doe with his writings Aug. de trinitate lib. 3 cap. 1. Sane cum in omnibus literis meis non solum pium lectorem sed etiam liberum correctorem desiderem multo maxime in his c. sicut lectorem meum nolo mihi esse deditum ita correctorem nolo sibi Jlle me non amet amplius quam catholicam fidem iste se non amet amplius quam catholicam veâ—tatem Sicut illi dico Noli meis literis quasi scripturis canonicis inservire sed in illis quod no credâ—bas cum inveneris incunctanter crede in istis autem ad certum non habebas nisi certum intellexeris noli firmiter retinere Ita illi dico Noli meas literas ex tua opinione vel contentione sed ex divina lectione vel inconcussa ratione corrigere In all my writings saith he I desire not onely a pious Reader but a free Corrector as a Reader not wholly yeelding to me so a Corrector not yeelding to his owne affections not louing me more then the Catholicke faith nor louing himselfe more then the Catholicke truth As I say to him Bee not subiect to my writings as to the Canonicall Scriptures But in those when thou findest what thou beleeuest not beleeue without delay in those what thou thoughtest not certaine except thou vnderstand to be certaine doe not firmely hold so I say to him correct not my writings by thine owne opinion or contention but by the holy Scripture and sound reason §. 2. Antiquus You haue said enough to cleare you for differing from the Fathers in some things now cleare your Protestants if you can of the great scandall of differences among themselues Antiquissimus This was your late second obiection which you may partly answer by that which wee haue said of the Fathers for if the different opinions of the Fathers in some points hindred not their vnion in substance of the saith and their being members of all the same Church why should the like or lesser differences now among the Protestants hinder their vnion in substance of the same faith and their being members all of the same Church both among themselues and with the Fathers You see differences among the Fathers that touched not the foundation life and soule of Christianity brake not their vnity still they were all of one Church and of one faith in the most necessary substance thereof In which respect also we truely say they were our Predecessors and of the same Church whereof we are notwithanding our differences and theirs in other lesser points your new-Catholikes also challenge them to be theirs notwithstanding many differences betwixt them But of this point more fully hereafter For the present I will shew you a number of great and many of them for ought I see endlesse differences among your owne Doctors and yet you account them all Catholickes and of one Religion Archb. Abbot against D. Hill reason 3. §. 11. 1 In Peter Lombard a prince of the Schoolemen called by that honourable name of Master of the Sentences for searching and iudiciously deliuering the Sentences and doctrine of the Fathers so farre as he could see in them In him I say the Diuines of Paris haue noted 26 errors in quibus Magister non tenetur wherein the schollers of Rome must not hold with him These errors are added to his foure bookes of sentences to warne the trauellers through his bookes of his rockes and sands 2 Those foure bookes of Sentences alone may shew the great and numberlesse variety of opinions which he reciteth in most points of doctrine and yet all the Authors of them Catholickes The like may be said of Thomas Aquinas his summes See D. Hall The Peace of Rome 3 The latter bookes of Controuersies written by the Iesuites Bellarmine Gregory de Valentia Azorius Suarez and other their large writers doe as ordinarily confute men of their owne side as they confute Protestants Yea oftentimes I finde in Suarez fiue columnes against their owne Doctors for one against ours Yet these confuted Doctors are still Catholicks with them Archb. Abbot ibid. 4 The whole Nation of the Dominican Fryers following the Thomists doe hold that the Virgin Mary was conceiued in originall sinne the whole Nation of the Franciscans hold the contrary Concil Basil session 36.
hee shall appoint open or secret enemies to the State against their King and to take armes against him and by warres insurrections or treasoâ—s to throw the Land on heapes and bring in a Chaos of miserable confusion Or suppose the Bull goeth so farre as Pius V. his Bull against our right gracious and famous Queene Elizabeth to pronounce the King to bee no King to discharge the subiects from their allegiance to him to command them to take armes against him and by any meanes to depose or bring him to ruine Now the Kings life and the spoyle of the Kingdome and the damnable sinne of the people must depend vpon this Breefe or Bull for it must be executed whether it come from the Pope as a man or as Pope Poore blinded people must be ledde with a Piè credendum and neither haue the meanes or any minde to know whether this Bull came from the Pope canonically entring or maturely deliberating or wisely and orderly proceeding if any such thing can be imagined in such mischieuous practises or whether it come from a Non-Pope or misinformed or vniust Bellar. de Rom. pent l. 4. c. 2 §. Deinde Catholici conueniunt Pontificem siue errare possit siue non esse omnibus fidelibus obedienter audiendum rash or ill aduised howsoeuer it is No man must iudge Christs Vicar but for conscience sake and vnder paine of damnation all must obey Alas that Christs pretended Vicar should doe the workes of Antichrist Alas that men piously minded should be so impiously bewitched to become the instruments of Antichrist thinking to doe seruice to Christ himselfe Alas that learned men should abuse Gods gifts of wit learning and other talents bending all their forces to maintaine such doctrine Antiq. Sir keepe your passion for other company Reason shall preuaile with mee more than passion Antiquis Deare friend it is not passion but compassion to poore deceiued soules brought into such damnable courses by such efficacy of delusion though I know not how in such causes a good man should not be passionate §. 6. §. I. But to returne to Reason from which your Reasonlesse distinctions drew me In our former examples of Popes errings doe you not see that although the Papists of this age excuse Honorius of all heresie and count him a Saint yet the Catholikes of former ages accounted him an heretike for the sixt generall Councell condemned him Bellar. de Rom. Pontif. l. 4. c. 11. and if that Councell were misinformed or corrupted as Bellarmine imagineth and thereby induced also the seuenth Councell and Pope Leo also to curse and condemne him yet it appeareth thereby that they thought it possible for a Pope to be an heretike and surely neither Liberius nor Honorius nor any other Pope had euer beene taxed of heresie if the world had then thought the Popes to bee infallible §. II. This also giues vs another argument against the assertion of the now-Church of Rome that none of the Ancients euer knew or acknowledged any infallible Iudge in the Church Mr Bedels letters to Wadsworth p. 53. 59 â—0 though wee may imagine such an one would haue beene a wonderfull benefit in securing all men fâ—om error with great tranquility of the Church in easing leatned men of much vnnecessary contention and of great labour and study and choaking all heresies both easily and quickly and thereby Diuinity should haue had the honour aboue all other professions to reduce all doubts to certaineties If any such thing had beene it were most strange that the Ancients writing of all other points of Christian doctrine should neuer speake word of it being a thing of such excellent and necessary vse as is imagined therefore their very silence thereof proueth there was no such thing But their contentions with the Pope shew it more fully For no man that beleeueth the Pope to be the infallible Iudge of the Church and so appointed by God §. III will refuse his opinion or gouernment But we find the ancient wise and holy Bishops made no bones ordinarily to reiect them both In the very infancy of this affected Supremacy a See this story in Euseb hist l. 5. c. 24 25 26. when Pope Victor tooke vpon him to excommunicate the East Church for not concurring with him in the Celebration of Easter day not onely Polycrates and the Easterne Bishops reiected his decision but most of the Westerne as Irenaeus with his French Clergy grauely reproued him of too much presumption b See Cyprians Epistles Afterwards when the Pope tooke vpon him to heare Appeales of men pretending to be wronged by their owne country officers which is the smallest portion of Supremacy yet Cyprian an holy Martyr resisted him c Bellar. de pontif Rom l. 4 cap 7. and the whole Nation of Africa refused his iudgement and gouernment yea Saint Cyprian with a Councell of fourescore Bishops decreed directly against the Pope d Concil â—arthag de Haeret. bâ—ptiz inter opera Cypriani And when Cornelius Bishop of Rome with a Nationall Councell of the Bishops of Italy had decreed Non debere Haereticos rebaptizari that heretikes should not be rebaptized yet Cyprian thought and taught the contrary Constat Cyprianâ—m contrariuÌ„ sensisse mordicus defendisse saith Bellarmine e Bellar. l. 2. dâ— concilijs c. 5. See Euseb hist li 7 cap. 2 3 4. See these and many more the like histories in B. â—ilson True â—iffâ—â—eÌ„ce part 1. p. 96. c The Fathers of the Councell of Africa and Saint Augustine among them resisted three Popes in succession Sosimus Bonifacius and Celestine about Appeals to Rome These things are notorious and histories haue many more the like and though some of these were in the wrong yet they alwayes thought the Pope in the wrong and would neuer haue opposed him had they thought him their infallible Iudge By their doings therefore and writings they shewed the generall opinion of men in their times that the Pope was not generall gouernour ouer them and that he was as fallible in iudgement as other Bishops Bedel letters pag 61. Consider also If the Pope were the infallible interpreter of Scripture and could not erre in his interpretations why did Pope Damasus consult with Ierom about the sence of many places of the Scripture and not rather set down the sence thereof himselfe and declare with his owne pen what the whole world should hold without danger or possibility of error Or why haue our fond Fathers macerated their bodies and beaten their braines to write Commentaries vpon the Scripture and not rather registred the Popes Expositions which had beene a worke worth all the Fathers books and indeed equall to the Canonicall Scriptures or better and more vsefull for the Church whereas now many condemne that of the Canon Law for blasphemy where it saith by a shamefull corruption of Saint Augustine that the Decretals of Popes are inrolled amongst the
Canonicall Scriptures Decret c. in Canonicis dist 19. § V. Thus Erasmus argueth Annot. in 1 Cor. 7. B. Mort Appeal l. 2. c. 20. sect 5. l 3. c. 15. §. 4. Consider lastly what need had there beene of any Councels to what end was so much labour and cost bestowed to what purpose to trouble so many Vniuersities to call together so many learned Diuines to turne ouer so many bookes to beate their heads in the finding out of the truth in discussing of hard questions and satisfying of doubts if all this might be so quickly easily and sweetly done by the onely iudgement and determination of the Pope CHAP. 8. Of the good which the Popes Supremacy might doe to the Church § 1. That is vrged but 2. answered that policies agreeable to Gods word and the Primitiue Church onely are sufficient and blessed by God § 3. But this policy might be set vp by any sect § 4. It is vnprofitable and vntollerable 5. shewed by examples of Hildebrand 6. The voiages against the Turke proued profitable to the Pope not to Christian Princes 7. as appeared by the Story of Gregory 9. and Frederik 2. Emperour and 8. many other most wicked Popes § 9. The Emperour Phocas erred much in gouernment in making the Pope so great so farre from him For Popes shortly after proued Masters of mis-rule eiecting the Emperors out of Italy § 10. Their turbulent proceeding to dethrone Princes § 11. Their troubles wrought in England in King Henry 1. his time by Anselme In King Henry 2. time by Becket In King Iohns reygne by Pope Innocent § 12. In these latter times of Queene Elizabeth by the Bull of Pius Quintus and the erecting of Seminaries at Rome and Rhemes Schooles of Traytors The reasons briefly touched 1. Of the Rebellion in the North 2. Of Ormonds brethren 3. and 4. Of other petty conspiracies 5. Stukely 6. Sanders 7. Someruile 8. Motiues to the Ladies of Honour 9. Of Throgmorton 10. Mendoza 11. Creighton the Iesuite 12. Parry 13. Percy 14. Sauage 15. Balard with his complices 16. Aubespineus 17. Stanley and Yorke 18. The Spanish Armado 19. Lopez 20. Squire 21. Tyrone And in the time of King Iames 22. Watson Clarke and others 23. The Powder treason Some obseruations out of these § 13. A good Christian abhorreth these treasons and reiecteth the doctrine that teacheth them § 14. And thereby is by reason forced to renounce to be an absolute Papist and to thinke the doctrines grounded onely vpon the Popes authority without Scripture to be vnnecessary and consequently to acknowledge that it is not necessary to be a Roman-Catholike The conclusion with a briefe recapitulation of the whole precedent conference §. 1. Antiquus ALthough the supreme gouernment of the Church by the Pope and the infallibility of his iudgement could not bee proued by diuine proofes yet is the good thereof so great for the preseruation of peace and vnity and much other happinesse both in the Church and Common-wealth that euen in good reason and policy the very shadowes of proofes should be admitted as sufficient to establish it And if such power and infallible iudgement may be giuen to any it is most fit it be giuen to him that hath from all Antiquity beene accounted the principall Patriarch and the high Bishop of the principall City of the world Antiquissimus Indeed Antiquus now I thinke you hit the nayle on the head for the Popes Supremacy and infallibility hath no other ground but meere humane policy shadowed by the Scripture cunningly wrested deuised by their learned Politicians for their owne wealth and greatnesse and taught by their Agents as most necessary for peace vnity and much other good a Bellar de Rom. Pont. l. 4. c. 6. § quarta proposit o. Probabile est pâ—eque credi potest pontificem vt pontificem errare non posse c. Bellarmine seemes to confesse thus much when he saith It is probable may piously be thought that the Pope as Pope cannot erre nor as a particular person be an heretike Had hee had better arguments is it probable hee would haue come in with Probabile est piéque credi potest But your b Costerus Enchir pag. 123. Si nullum caput visibile in ecclesia a Christo constitutum foret vehementer optari ab omnibus oporteret Costerus the Iesuite is a little more plaine If there were no visible head saith he appointed by Christ in the Church yet such an one ought to be wished for of all men and your D. c Alablaster Motiue 6. Alablaster yet more plainely Where saith he there is not an infallible authority which doth iudge and decide controuersies by remouing all occasions of doubt and reply and vnto which absolute obedience is tied there must needs be variety of iudgements and opinions which cannot be tyed in one knot And therefore the Protestants haue done very vnwisely to disgrace and reiect this profitable policy of the Church the fountaine of vnity Mr Alablaster cals it policy §. 2. But alas Deare friend In Gods businesse I looke onely for Truth and Sincerity which God may blesse and prosper not for shadowes and policy without them which God doth ordinarily infatuate and confound Happy had it beene for the Angels if they had continued in the excellency of their first estate but when they stroue to be higher their policy failed them they fell lower and of Angels became diuels Gods ordinance for d Ephes 4. vers 12 13 15. gathering of his Saints e vers 14. preseruing true and vncorrupt doctrine and f vers 16. effectuall perfecting of the Church in euery part was saith Saint Paul g vers 11. He gaue some Apostles some Prophets some Euangelists some Pastors and Teachers If one visible Head had beene necessary to these purposes heere was the place he should be spoken of wherein since hee is not mentioned doubtlesse Saint Paul knew no such ordinance of God See the like Catalogue of Church-Officers in 1 Cor. 12.28 29. c. this one visible head is neuer mentioned nor heere nor in any other place of Scripture but left out as supernumerarius and superfluous And we finde whilst Gods ordinance was obserued the Church did wonderfully prosper when it was shouldered out out by humane policies all things grew worse and went to wracke It was an euident worke of Gods Spirit h B. Vsher Sermon at Wansted pag. 20. that the first planters of Religion and their successors spreading themselues through the whole world layd the foundations of the â—ame Faith euery where in great vnity and vniformity and yet were kept only by the Vnity of the Spirit in that bond of peace without setting vp any one man on earth ouer them all to keepe peace and vnity The true bond which contained the Doctors and Fathers of the Primitiue Church in the vnity of Faith and wrought the conuersion of Nations continueth in our Church also