making euery toy to be Fūdamentall Where by the way he takes his pleasure vpon vs sayes that we Papists will not let Protestants be saued though they belieue the same Creede and the same faith with vs vnles withall they will belieue the same Mathematicks and gouerne thēselues by the same Kalēders which to omit other poornesses of his was soe weake and meane a iest so misbecoming of that Audience and of the place he helde as being fitter indeed for some Ordinary thē for a Chappel or Church and withall so very vntrue if he were in earnest that vnles the pride of his owne conceit had raised vp a dust to put out his eyes he could not but haue seene the senselesnes of what he said euen whilest he was speaking since we the Romane Catholickes in this kingdome do rather gouerne our selues at this day by the lesse perfect Kalender which now is vsed in this place then by the other which is both the better euen by the iudgment of learned Protestants is authorized by the Catholicke Church abroade Letting he world see thereby how willingly we can accommodate to them in all things which belong not meerely to Religion But Maister Doctour forgot himselfe worse shortly after For hauing grauely admonished mē before not to account things arbitrary to be necessary nor to call superstructions foundations nor to esteeme that euery little thing in Religion should be able to depriue a man of saluation he takes the paynes to wipe out with a wet finger the whole substance and drifte of all his owne discourse by saying to his effect That differēce in beliefe in points which are not very important is not to preiudice a mans saluation vnles by not belieuing them he commit a disobedience with all for saith he Obedience indeede is of the Essence of Religion Which vpon the whole matter is the very thing we say and the very thing whereby he crosses the whole scope of his owne sermon For if a mans disobediēce to the proposition and direction of the Church concerning an inferiour point of Doctrine do impugne the very essense of Religion it will follow that their distinctiō of points Fundamentall or not Fundamentall wherby they would inferre that a man can not loose his saluation but for misbelief in some few mayne points of Religion and not in the rest is absurd and vaine and detractiue both of Doctour Dunnes Doctrine last mentioned and of their owne obiection of vncharitablenes against vs for saying that men dying in different Religions cannot be saued And withall that this distinction will not secure them from committing the crime of separation from the Church of Christ our Lord and in swaruing from the directions thereof in which case all the Doctrines of the Church are found to be Fundamentall towards saluation And this shall serue for a dischardge both of what they obiect against our vnitie in faith and of what they alleadge in the behalfe of theirs And in the meane time I conceaue that I haue also sufficiently secured and settled those two mayne groundes vpon which this whole discourse is turned Namely first that there is but one true faith and one true Religion and Church out of which there is no saluation and secondly that both Catholickes and Protestants can not possible be accounted to be of that one Religion Church Faith And now for the finall proofe of this last point according euen to their practise as well as ours let my Reader but looke vpon the body of their lawes made against vs and especially vpon the Preambles thereof wherein they plentifully shew how hatefull an opinion they haue of our Church Let him looke vpon the seuerall Acts of State which haue issued from my Lords of the Counsell Let him looke vpō the proclamatiōs which haue beene made and published from time to time Let him looke vpon the large cōmissions which haue beene granted to Pursiuants whereby that scume of the world hath been and is enabled both to ransome ransacke vs at their pleasure Let him looke vpon those speeches which haue been vttered in both houses of Parliament not only against the professours but euen the profession it selfe of our Religion and how his most excellent Maiesty hath been importuned by their Petitions to add more weight to our miseries for thus it will easily be seene how false how rotten how superstitions how Idolatrous how detestable how damnable and euen destructiue of all truth and goodnes they professe themselues to esteeme our Religiō and in fine that we carry such a marke of the Beast in our foreheads as must needs in their opinion shut vp the gates of Heauen against vs and set open the iawes of Hell to deuoure and swallowe vs vp So that certainely we are no more of one Church with them in their opinion then they are of one with vs in ours And now there will remaine noe more but a short Recapitulation of what hath been deliuered more at large for the finishing of this discourse to which I will now betake my selfe A recapitulatiō of the whole discourse wherin it followes vpon the confession of both parties that the Catholickes and the Protestants are not both of them saueable in their seuerall Religions without repentance thereof before they dy and that Catholickes must therefore be no longer held vncharitable for saying so but those Protestants are shewed to be Libertines who say the contrary CHAPTER X. SInce the Faith Religion Church hath beene prooued both by Scriptures and Fathers as also by vnanswearable reasons which haue beene drawne both from the very groundes of true Faith and from the nature and spirit of Heresy and Schisme and finally by the Confession of both parties to be but only one and that out of that one there is noe saluation to be obtayned Since the difference concerning the Doctrine of faith betweene Catholickes Protestants are so many so important and so resolutely maintained cōcerning both the Canon of Scriptures the number nature of Sacraments the authority of traditions the supreme Iudge of Cōtrouersies the visible heade of the Church the iustification of ouer soules the valewe of our good workes the liberty of our will the possibility of keeping the Commandements the relations which runne betweene the men of this life on the one side and both the soules in Purgatory and the Saints in Heauen on the other Since besides our differences in points of Doctrine we swarue also from one an other in points of discipline and haue separated our selues haue mutually excōmunicated one another Since we hold them to liue in heresie and schisme and they vs in affected ignorance grosse superstition and Idolatry and are dayly making Sermons and bookes and edicts and lawes against one another it is certaine that either both they and we must not be saued if we dy vnrepētant of our seuerall Religions or else that the whole world hath beene in a dreame of three thousand yeares old euer
naturally prooued that this Church is enriched with those very qualities and markes which are auowed by vs her children contested by the aduersaries thereof as namely with a perpetuall visibility or els he had giuen vs a commaunde which it were not possible for vs to obey For how should we at all times find out and consulte our difficulties and manifest our cōplaints to that Church which at all times could not be seene by the eyes of men with a most certaine infallibility For otherwise a man might perish for beleeuing and professing false doctrines through his obedience to the cōmaundant of Christ our Lord in submitting to an erring Church But especially which makes most to our purpose the entire vnity of the Church is prooued here by the exact obedience which we are obliged to exhibite to the same Church For els if there might be two seuerall true Churches dissenting from one another they might holde me for a Publican and Pagan if I did not obey them both which were impossible for me to doe they cōmaunding contrary things And if one of thē dissented from the other I must be tossed betwixt two damnations For if I should obey that true Church erring I should incurre damnation by obeying her and by embracing and persisting in her errours yet if I should not obey her I should incurre damnation by the expresse sētēce of Christ our Lord himselfe who appoints me to be held a Pagan if I obey her not And this shall suffice for this Chapter wherein we may haue seen what holy Scripture saith to this question and in the next we shall find that the Fathers of the Primitiue Church who follow it as their guide will not fayle to vtter the same voice The expresse vnity of the Church is prooued by the authority of the Fathers of the most primitiue times CHAPTER IIII. THe holy Fathers in the most primitiue times who are iustly called Fathers and reuerenced as such by vs were yet withall most obedient and humble children to the holy Catholicke Church of their time and so treading in those very steps which had beene traced out for them by the holy Ghost in holy Scripture they haue shewed many wayes how they beleeued and knewe that there was but one true Church and that the perfect vnity thereof was to be so very carefully maintained as that whosoeuer broke it must euerlastingly perish I say they haue shewed many wayes what their dictamen was herein for some of thē haue writtē whole books expresly and to no other end at all but to prooue the necessity of vnity in the Church of Christ our Lord as namely S. Cyprian and S. Augustine Others haue written framed expresse Catalogues of all the heresyes which had risen in the Church of Christ our Lord from his Ascensiō to heauē til their own time expresly shewing hereby that both the vnity of the Church was directly broken by the obstinate beliefe of any one doctrine which was held in disobedience to the same Church and withall that whosoeuer did so breake it must forfet the saluatiō of his soule thereby And this was doone by S. Epiphanius Bishop of Cyprus by Philastrius Bishop of Brescia both who are cited to this purpose by the incomparable S. Augustine in his treatise de heresibus ad Quod vult Deū Where himself also maks an exact Catalogue of all the heresies which had sprung vntill his time and where by the way I must needs obserue in a word that he recoūts diuers heresies which are held by the Protestāt Church at this day and particularly that of denying prayers and sacrifices for the dead and then he concludes in the end that whosoeuer should hold any one of them were not Christian Catholick Besides this way of proofe concerning the vnity of the Church I will also cite the Fathers who are full of expresse and positiue texts whereby vpon occasion they proue the vnity of the Church and I will begin with S. Ireneus who discourses thus Lib. 1. cap. 3. Hac praedicatione c. The Church hauing receiued this word preached and this faith as was shewed before and hauing spred the same ouer the whole world doth diligently preserue it as inhabiting one house and doth likewise beleeue those thinges which are taught thereby as hauing one soule one heart in the same conformity she preaches and teaches deliuers it as indeed possessing but one mouth For though there be in the world different expressions tongues yet the vertue and power of Tradition is but one and the same And neither those Churches which are found in Germany nor those others in Spaine nor those in France nor they which are in the Easterne parts nor they which are in Egypt nor they which are in Libya nor they which ar setled in the middle parts of the world doe beleeue or make traditiō of doctrine any otherwise in one place thē in another But as that creature of God the Sunne is one and the same in the whole world so is the preaching of the truth a light which shews euery wheare and illuminates all men who will come to the knowledge of the truth And those Prelates of Churches who haue most power and grace of speache will deliuer no other things but these For noe man is aboue his maister neither will such an one as hath meaner talents in speach make this doctrine and Tradition lesse but since Faith is but one and the same neither doth he inlarge it who is able to speake much of it nor that other diminish it whoe speakes lesse De praescrip aduer Haeret Valentinus c. Tertullian shewes plainly that whosoeuer denyes any one doctrine of the Church reiecteth all for thus he sayeth vpon occasion Valentinus approueth some things of the law and the Prophets some things be disavowes that is be disallowes all whilest he approues some And the same Tertullian De praescrip c. 8. Caeterū multos c. doth also elswhere in the same booke inferre the truth of Catholicke doctrine by the exacte vnity thereof whilest he sayth after this manner Quod apud multos c. That which is found to be one amongst soe many is not to be thought to haue crept in by errour but to haue beene recommended by Tradition S. Cirill Patriarche of Ierusalem Catech. 18. assigning reasons why the Church of Christ our Lord is called Catholicke doth excellently giue this one amongst the rest Quia docet Catholicè id est vniuersaliter c Because she teacheth Catholickely that is to say vniuersally and without any defect or difference all those doctrines which ought to be knowne concerning things either visible or inuisible celestiall or terrestriall S. Cyprian in his booke de vnitate Ecclesiae sayeth thus Ecclesia Domini luce perfusa c. of the vnity of the Church The Church being stroken through by the light of our Lord doth sende her beams throughout the whole
since Moyses time which furnished vs with the first proofe that there must be vnity in Religion and obedience in the professours thereof that such as should obstinately trangresse were ordained to be put to a first death which might serue them for a Preface to their second destruction Which truth being once graunted I trust they will not take it ill at our hands if we hope well of our selues in our owne way and consequently if we conceaue that we haue no cause to hope well of them if they dy impeditent in theirs they haue no reason to be offēded with vs and the lesse since the Lutherans declare so expresly and resolutely that the Resolution of the Sacramentaries that is to say of our English Protestants is also damnable as hath been seene And this not only for the heresie which they hold in point of the Sacrament but for many others also as appeares by those authours of theirs whom I cited before So that still I see lesse and lesse colour why they should except against vs as if we wanted charity for saying that of them which when they list they not only take liberty to say of vs but euen of one another also and yet do not thinke that they offend Charitie therein As for vs we neither do nor can with any reason conceaue that they breake the lawe of charity towards vs supposing their owne Religion to be true in that they allow not saluation to vs if we dye in ours which consequently must be false And if ours be a false Religion as it must needes be if their Church be true and that we obstinately refuse to obay it we cannot be saued by the profession thereof And so therefore on the other side if ours be true as euen they must giue vs leaue to thinke it and as infallibly we belieue it to be theirs must then be no lesse false then ours is true Now supposing this on both sides it will not be want of Charity in either of vs both to hold and declare the others Religion to be incōpatible with saluation nay it will be want of Charity if we do it not For men are not so made for them selues as that they must not also procure to do their neighbours good and especially in that which most imports And besides the generall tye of one part of mankind to another whereof we are put in minde so many wayes the holy Scripture it selfe is often pointing vs out to our duty in this kind and most especially it doth in one passage of Ecclesiasticus lay a direct obligation vpon vs in these most binding words Cap. 17. Mandauit vnicuique Deus de proximo suo God hath laied a charge vpon euery man that he looke to his neighbour Which as it warrants not the busie or medling humour of any priuate man to intrude himselfe into the secret affaires of another nor obliges him so much as euen to the reprooffe of his knowne sinnes when he hath neither charge ouer that person nor hath hope of amendement by it and when it is not agreable otherwise to the circumstāces and rules of charity which ought to be conducted and carryed on by Christian prudence so yet on the otherside it layes not only a Counselle but a strict commandement not only vpon some one but vpon euery one not to omit opportunity whereby a man may prudently be in hope either to doe his neighbour any important good or else to diuert him from any thing which may doe him any considerable hurt Now if a priuate man must not only be excused if according to the rules of Christian piety and prudence he assist his neighbour in doing well and declaring the danger wherein he is if he doe otherwise but he shall not be excusable in the sight of God if he dischardge not this duty how much more highly shall the Church of Christ our Lord be both authorized and obliged to instruct Christians in the right way and to reduce such others as are in the wrong by making them vnderstand their danger of euerlasting damnation Nay we see by that which past betweene Almighty God and the Prophet Ezechiel that he was appointed to stand Centinell ouer the house of Israel and to heare Gods word out of his owne mouth and so to announce it to his people in his name and that God said thus to him Si dicente me ad impium c. Ezechiel cap. 3. If when I shall say to the wicked mā thou shalt dye the death thou declare it not to him nor aduise him to returne from his wicked way that he may liue that wicked man shall dy in his iniquity but I will require his blood at thy handes But if thou anounce it to him and that yet he will not returne from his sinne and from his wicked way that man indeed shall dye in his owne sinne but as for thee thou shalt haue freed thy soule from death Now therefore if a single Prophet being called to that office by Almighty God be obliged vnder the paine of his owne damnation to aduise men to depart from their wickednes how much more precisely will this obligation lye vpon the Church of God which hath the chardge ouer all Christian soules to teach them that Doctrine which is true and to let them see the danger wherein they are of hell fire if they continue to professe that which is false For the word of God whether it be written in holy Scripture or vnwritten and so deliuered from hand to hand by Tradition is his reuealed will and the Church is his Embasadour Leidger in this world to declare and announce that word and will of his to mankind and to bring them into league with God as S. Paule affirmed of him selfe and of the other Pastours and Doctours of the Church 2. Cor. 5 Legatione pro Christo fungimur c. We are Embassadours on the part of Christ with instructions for the reconciling of man to God And accordingly S. Paule was carefull to let men see their case and to declare the danger wherein sinners were For we haue seene how he warned men to take heede of the speech of hereticks as of a Cancer and else where to auoid them if they did not first reforme them selues after they had beene reprooued once or twice as also that such as departed from the vnity of faith were people who attended to the spirit of Errour and to the Doctrine of diuells and a great deale more of that kind which you shall find related before in the ninth chapter which clearly and fully shewes what opinion the holy Scripture hath of heretickes Besides all this if a man shall eternally be damned for committing of one theft or one act of simple fornication vnles he repent himselfe thereof before he dy Gal. 5. Cōsulta decapes relig which is cleare by S. Paules expresse text much more as Father Lessius shewes shall he incurre those eternall torments
the honour and pleasure of this world carryes noe proportion at all with that of the next any more then idle dreames doe with strong truthes or vaine shadowes with substance which is substance indeede For in this life whatsoeuer delight is felt the minde of man is still too hard for the body and ouer works it doth secretly either giue or take a kind of lye and insatisfaction euen in the topp of all the greatest pleasure which it feeles though dull people vnderstand not or obserue not this But if for any one instaÌ„t a soule could haue any one glimpse of celestiall blisse and be ingulfed with all the facultyes thereof vpon an obiect of such infinite perfection as God is and that this were done without the interposition or interpretation of any creature but that the whole soule might touch and mingle and vnite it selfe for that instant with that soueraigne obiecte O how fully would the soule be satisfied O how base how beastiall would all the delight and glory of this world both appeare and be in respect of that We may see some traces of this truth by a consideration of those supernatural visitations and spirituall illustrations eleuations whereby our Lord hath been pleased to descend into the soules of innumerable seruants and Spouses of his euen in this life that so they might be enabled to take in as it were some little sent and ayre of that eternall blisse which is prepared for them in the next Yea how many haue there beene who formerly being all immersed in the pursuite of terrene honour and delight haue by the meanes of some one celestiall visitation been instantly and for euer estranged and that with extreme contempt from the care of all the carnal ioye and greatnes which this world was able to afford them ane haue been fixed with a perpetuall eye vpon the most ardent loue and most loyall faithfull seruice of our Lord God The storyes of our Saints liues and our owne experience in conuersation with spirituall persons which through the goodnes of God are neuer wanting in his holy Catholicke Church hath made vs not only see this truth but euen as it were to touch it with our fingers ends And yet there can be no doubt but that all the spirituall visitations and consolations and extasies and rapts which euer shall be or haue bene felt and suffered in this life by all the seruants of God and yet in some one of them we know that S. Paule was taken vp into the third heauen and that he was possessed with the vnderstanding and feeling of so high mysteries as it was neither lawfull not possible for man to expresse are most poore and meane thinges in comparison of any one moment of ioy in Heauen And the reason hereof is cleare For whatsoeuer spirituall gift is imparted in this life is but by image and representation but in the next it is in substance and face to face with God himselfe where he is seene as he is indeede If then one instant of celestiall glory be not only so farre exceeding all carnall ioy and pleasure which is but dust and trash being compared with that other but that also euen the highest spirituall gust and ioy which is experimeÌ„ted in this life be not able once to subsist in sight of one moment of that glorious ioye which is felt in heaueÌ„ though it be but for one instant how infinitely must we find our selues obliged to this immortal God of ours who hath vouchsafed not to ty vs to instants of time in the fruition of that glory but to enlarge and extend it I say not to yeares or ages or worlds of time but as farre as perfect eternity it selfe In comparison whereof the time of all this world from Adam to this day and a million of millions as much time as that and as many more millions as all the hearts of all men can comprehend and count are not so much in durance as one minute is being compared with all those millioÌ„s of time And yet all this eternity of such glory as I haue described is vouchsafed to vs by the inexhausted goodnes of our Lord God for hauing produced any one single acte of Faith and Loue which yet we see may be innumerably multiplied with so much case For any one single thought which is directed to the glory of our Lord God doth increase the same grace in our soules and consequently layes vp a distinct degree of that eternall glory wherof we haue spoken So that it is a cleare and constant truth that for euery other good thought which may be conceaued in any one moment of time we shall haue an increase of eternall glory in a distinct degree beyond that which otherwise we should haue had and we shall for euer see more perfectly the immortall Essence of Almighty God and loue it more and enioy it more then we should haue done if we had not produced that one single act of minde which yet as I sayd may be done by any ignorant or silly creature in the world in any one moment of his time And yet withall we are so miserable as not to lameÌ„t that this time should be lost not only vpon toyes and consequently vpon not increasing this stocke of immortall treasure but euen vpon committing of sinnes which doe no thing but horde vp an eternity of immense torments for vs insteede thereof We Catholickes must be thankefull and beg grace withall that we may coÌ„tinue where we are and we must beg it also for such others as are not and will not be so happy yet to the end that contemning all the vaine delights and honours of this world which may intice them and all the disaduantages troubles which may threaten them they may giue themselues vp now at last to be receaued into the bosome of the holy Catholicke Apostolicke Romane Church and so to be embraced by those strong armes of that diuine protection and coÌ„fort which Christ our Lord her Spouse hath endewed her with for the sauing of those soules for which he died Our Lord God make them so happy as to receaue this blessing and let all his Saints and Angels euer glofiry his holy name for hauing imparted it to vs. FINIS A TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS CHAPTER 1. THAT Catholickes are both improbably and vniustly charged with lacke of Charity for affirming that Protestancy vnrepented destroyes saluation Chapter 2. Of the intention of Catholickes when they say that Protestancy vnrepented destroies saluation how that speech is to be vnderstood Chapter 3. That our saying that Protestancy vnrepented destroies saluation proceedes froÌ„ want of Charity in vs is no lesse vntrue because there is but one true Church then already I haue shewed it to be improbable and first this is proued by holy Scripture Chapter 4. The expresse vnity of the Church is also proued by the authority of the Fathers of the most primitiue times Chapter 5. It is proued both by holy Scriptures Fathers that out of this one true Church of Christ our Lord no saluation is to be found Chapter 6. That both Catholickes ProtestaÌ„ts cannot possibly be accompted to be of one the same Religion Faith and Church Chapter 7. Three obiections ar auoided which they make against vs to disproue our vnity in faith amongst our selues and so also is an allegation about FundameÌ„tal points of faith wherby they would shewe that they hold as much vnity both with the Fathers and with the Lutherans yea and euen with vs Catholickes at this day as they are bound to maintaine Chapter 8. That Protestants haue no reason in alledging the distinction of fundamentall and not fundamentall points of faith as intending to proue thereby that they are in vnity with the Fathers of the Primitiue Church or of their fellow brethren the Lutherans yea and some times with Catholickes at this day Chapter 9. That Protestants neither do nor dare declare what are their fundamentall points of faith wherby yet they would pretend that they liue in the communion of the only one true Church of our Lord. Chapter 10. A recapitulation of the whole discourse wherein followes vpon the confession of both parties that the Catholickes and Protestants be not both of them sauable in their seueral Religions without repentance thereof before they dye and Catholickes must therefore be no longer held vncharitable for saying so but those ProtestaÌ„ts are shewed to be Libertines who say the contrary The Conclusion FAVLTES ESCAPED in the printing Faultes Corrected Pag. 8 l. 1 as man as a man 17 l. 2 we owne we owe 21 l. 29 haduÌ„ commaded had commauÌ„ded 24 l. 26 persisting persisting 30 l. 24 did it much did it with much 32 l. 28 doctrine or doctrine of 36 l. 16 of of eternall of eternall 38 l. 1. who forsake who forsakes 41 l. 2 these Saint elwhere the Saint else where 51 l. 10 to condemned to be condemned 55 l. 28 title of booke title of a booke 68 l. 9 particular studied particularly studied 70 l. 22 or argumt or argument 93 l. 9 execrable of execrable assertioÌ„ of 101 l. 4. of ouâ—â— soules of our soules 110 l 6 and Polycarpe and S. Polycarpe l. 28 scoffe as vs scoffe at vs 117 l. 17 first cleare first cleared 119 l. 28 case chat case that 124 l. 29 And yet meanes of high euen by this And yet euen by this meanes of high
world but yet that light which is cast so far abroad is but one and the same she spreads her brannches ouer the whole earth after a plentifull manner she extendes her flowing streames with greate abundance to a great distance but yet is she one head and one roote and one mother who is fruitfull by such store of issue Lib. 1. Epist 6. The same Saint also speaking of the sin of Core Dathan and Abiron implies that the one Church must not only be entirely belieued but followed also in all her doctrines and directions For he saieth that though Core Dathan and Abiron did belieue and worship one God and liued in the same law and religion with Moyses and Aaron yet because they deuided thēselues from the rest by Schisme resisting their gouernours and Priests they were swallowed vp quick into hell S. Basile puts such a value vpon the absolute integrity of all the whole Christian Doctrine which declares what he belieued concerning the necessity of vnity in the Church as to expresse himselfe after this manner S. Basil apud Theodoret l. 4. hist c. 17. Qui in sacris litteris c. They who are well instructed in holy writ permit not one syllable of diuine doctrine to be betrayed or yeelded vp but are willing to embrace any kind of death for the defence thereof if neede require That man of God had beene solicited by some to relent for a time and to yeeld though it were but to a litle he refused in such sort as you haue seene he did it much disdaine to be attēted in that kind S. Gregory Nanzianzene speaking of Hereticks who doe all breake the vnity of the Church seemes yet to apprehend them to be worste of all who whilest indeed they breake it Greg. Nazian Tract de fide Nihil periculosius c Lib. Apo cont Ruff. Propter vnū c. doe yet seeme to doe it least because so they will hardliest be perceaued And he deliuers himselfe in these words Nothing can be more dangerous then those Heretikes who whē they runne streight through all the rest doe yet with one word as with some drop of poison infect the true and sincere faith of our Lord. S. Hierome shewes that the vnity of the Church and faith thereof must be so perfect as that for some one word or two contrary to the same many heresies haue been caste out of the Church And S. Leo saith that out of the Catholicke Church there is nothing pure according to that of the Apostle whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne and els where he saith also If it be not one it is no faith at all Cōcerning this one Church S. Augustine is also most expresse cleere For when the Donatists saith he calumniated the Catholickes In Breui collat collat dici tertiae as affirming that there were two Churches one vpon earth which contained both the good and bad and the other in heauen which contained none but good the Catholicks made them this answere That they did not make two Churches but did only distinguish the two times of the Church saying that the same One only Church was in one state now and was hereafter to be in an other that now it had a mixture of euill men but that hereafter it should haue none iust so as there are not therefore two Christs because once he could dye and now he can dye no more And thus the Catholickes refuted that slaunder which the Donatists had layed vpō thē expresly shewing what they had formerly sayed namely that there was but One and the same holy Catholicke Church And to shewe more ouer by the iudgmēt of S. Augustine In explicatione Psal 54. that the Church in her doctrine was to be truly One he spake thus of the Donatists who called vpon the same God preached the same ghospell sunge the same Psalmes had the same Baptisme obserued the same Easter and the like In those things they were with me yet not wholy with me in Schisme not with me in Heresie not with me in many things with me in a few not with me but in regard they were not with me in a few their being not with me in many could not helpe them Nay S. Ireneus whom I named before implies Lib. 2. cap. 3. not only That it is necessary for a true Christian Catholicke to differ in no one point of the doctrine or faith from other Christans but he must withall not beleeue any thing after a different manner that is to say vpon a different motiue from that for which it is beleeued by other Christians But this point I shall touch hereafter And for the present it may suffice to haue proued the necessitie of most perfect vnity in the Church and that indeede no reasō can be giuē why if there be allowed any more true Churches then One there should not be admitted as well two thousand as two So that now it remaynes for me to shewe also by the iudgment of holy Scriptures and Fathers that out of this One Church there is no saluation It is prooued both by holy scriptures and Fathers that out of One true Church of Christ our Lord no saluation is to be found CHAPTER V. SInce the Church of Christ our Lord is so truely One and but only One it followes easily inough that no saluation can be had out of this Church and that euery heresy or schisme is sufficient to depriue any soule thereof But yet neuerthelesse to the end that men may be wholy left without excuse or rather that they may be the better warned to take heede in time of those miseries which otherwise they are to feele for all eternity I will strengthen also this trueth by the authority of some few Scriptures and Fathers of the primitiue Church For so by degrees it will easily and of it felfe appeare that we Catholickes are not faulty in that wherewith we are so much charged The Prophet Esay thus foretelles the quality and condicion of the then future Church of Christ our Lord and what shall become of them who serue it not Cap. 60. Gens enim regnum quod non seruierit tibi peribit That nation and kingdome which will not serue thee shall perish And now if a whole nation and kingdome shall perish for not seruing what shall become of those priuate miserable people who blaspheme and rent it The same Prophet sayth else where to the same purpose Cap. 54. Omne vas c. Euery vessell or pot which is framed against the shall not succeede or proue well and thou shalt iudge euery tongue resisting thee in iudgment We haue seene already in the new Testament vpon another occasion to prooue the vnity of the Church that whosoeuer obeyes not this One Church is by the order of our blessed Lord himselfe to be held for no other then a Pagan or Publican that is to say for no better then a meere Idolater
haeretici c. De fide Symb cap. 10. both Heretickes Schismatickes are wont to call their congregations by the name of Churches Heretickes violate Fayth by belieuing false things of God and Schismatickes though they belieue the same things with vs doe yet fly from fraternall Charity by their wicked diuisions And therefore neither doth the Hereticke belong to the Catholicke Church because he loueth not God nor the Schismaticke because he loueth not his neighbour For how saith these Sainte elwhere shall the Schismaticke be esteemed to be in Charity with his neighbour who is out of Charity or Communion with the whole body of Christ which is his Church Epist ad Dam. Saint Hierome writing to Pope Damasus saith not only of the Catholicke Church indifinitely but denoting that to be the Romane that that Church is the Arke out of which whosoeuer liueth shal be drowned in the deluge and that that Church is the house out of which whosoeuer should eate the lambe were a prophane person Lactantius also sayth thus Lib. 4. cap. 30. Sola Ecclesia Catholica est c. It is the Catholicke Church alone which preserues the true worship of God this is the fountaine of truth this the house of faith this the Temple of God if any man either enter not into it or depart out of it Ibid. he shall be depriued of the hope of saluation and eternall life No man must flatter himselfe with an obstinate kind of contention for the questions here about saluation and life which if it be not watchfully and diligently prouided for it will be extinct and lost Saint Fulgentius hath this dreadfull saying wherewith I will conclude this point Firmissimè tene c. be most firmely persuaded and haue not doubt at all but that euery Hereticke or Schismaticke baptised in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost if withall he be not a member of the Catholicke Church can by no meanes be saued how great Almes soeuer he shall giue yea and though he should shed his bloode for the name of Christ For so long as the sinne either of Heresie or Schisme which drawes men downe to death shall remaine in any man neither Baptisme nor Almes nor death endured for the name of Christ can be of any benefit towards his saluation who houlds not fast the vnity of the Catholicke Church And now by this we see what the holy Scriptures and what the Fathers of the most primitiue time affirme concerning the vnsaueablenesse of any man who is not a member of that Church which formerly hath beene so cleerely proued to be but One Nor will I so much distrust either the attentiō or discretiō of my reader as to thinke that I neede presse this point any further Soe that now in the next place it will only remaine to be considered and resolued whether or no both the Catholickes the Protestāts cā be truly said to be parts mēbers of this One and the selfe same Church for if they can not the case in question is already iudged and there will be no colour of reason why either of vs should hereafter be charged with want of Charity for affirming that the other is not saueable without repentance of his Religion CHAPTER VI. That both Catholickes and Protestants can not possibly be accounted to be of one and the same Religion Fayth and Church HItherto I haue insisted vpō the former part of this maine discourse wherein I vndertooke to shew and doe conceaue my selfe to haue cōplyed with my word that there is but one true Religion one true Church out of which there is no saluation It will now remaine that I prooue the second part of my vndertaking which is that both the Catholickes Protestāts can by noe meanes account themselues to be professours of that one true Religion and obedient Children to that one true Church whichsoeuer be that true Church by the addresse cōduct wherof men may hope to saue their soules For cleare demonstration whereof it will be fit in the first place to shew what that is which makes a diuersity in Religion and without which men may still be of the same Religlon though there be difference of opinion betweene them The very name of a Christian Religiō whereby Almighty God is to be worshiped implyes a doctrine which must be beleiued Sacraments which must be receaued discipline which must be embraced Prelates or Gouernours which must be obeyed therefore that which make a Religiō to be entire is the beliefe of the same doctrine and the participating of the same Sacraments and obedience to the same discipline and Prelates or Gouernours so farre as men doe not obstinately reiect any part thereof or refuse to submit thereunto Whosoeuer doth this and cōformes his interiour by way of beliefe to the same doctrine and Sacramēts and his exteriour by way of obedience to the sayd Prelates and discipline may iustly be held to be one of the same Religion and whosoeuer refuseth to do this fayles of that But so also on the other side whensoeuer the Church hath not decided propounded and commaunded a doctrine to be belieued by her children and hath not enioyned such a part of discipline to be embraced a man so that he commit no scandall in the manner of it may varie both in the one and in the other from other men and may thinke and do as he sees cause without offending the vnity of Church or incurring thereby the crime either of heresie or schisme as I shall shew more at large afterwards vpon an other occasion It must therefore be considered whether Catholicks and Protestants be of one Church or not or rather it is to be seene for indeed in this case men haue not so much neede of their wits as of their eyes for the resoluing of the question But yet still to the end that euen the weakest stomackes may be made strong inough to digest that morsell which is coming toward it I will shew by seuerall arguments that we are farre from all possibility of passing for professours of the same Religion for members of the same Church so longe as we continue as we are For who perceaues not at the first sight that we resolutely differ from one another in the prime and maine points of Christian Religion We embrace not all the same Scriptures we differ about no fewer then fiue Sacraments of seauen which Catholickes belieue with all reuerence and they reiect withall contēpt Yea and euen concerning those two in the receiuing whereof we both agree namely the Sacrament Baptisme of the Cōmunion there are so many differences and debates amongst vs about the necessity of of the one and the reall presence of our Lord in the other that vpon the matter we can be thought but to agree in words We differ about the authority of all traditiōs vnwrittē which is the very foūdation of our
beliefe of the holy Scripture it selfe and consequently of all the other greatest points We differ about the Primacie of S. Peter and his successours yea and about the infallibility of generall Councells and so therefore about the supreme iudge on earth of all our controuersies in Religion We differ about the iustification of soules and the value which the death and grace of Christ our Lord hath imparted to the workes of the children of God We differ in a world of particulars about the article of holy Catholicke Church and namely whether it must alwayes be visible or noe euen to the eyes of men and whether it must alwayes be free frō errour and fallibility We differ about the Communion of Saincts whether we may either pray for thē who are in Purgatory or to thē who are in heauen And we differ not only about these and many other most importāt points as mē who ar ready to relinquish their opiniōs if they be cōmāded but we ar on both sides resolued to persist though both the Catholicke Church in her counsells and the Protestants in their seuerall Confessions haue declared that their owne opinions are true and the contrary false and though we on the one side haue cast excommunication vpon the new deniers of those doctrines of ours which we haue receaued frō Christ our Lord his Apostles and they on the other haue filled their parts of the world which scurrill blasphemous inuectiues against those sayd Doctrines of ours and haue taken vpon themselues to be the reformers of the Church though without either ordinary mission or miracles and to be true publishers of the ghospell and euen the very illuminatours of the world And now therefore let that be considered once for all which hath formerly ben shewed about the stile of holy Scripture Fathers which speake those said things of Heresies and Hereticks without specifying in particular what they are And let it also be called to minde what Catalogues the Fathers of the Primitiue Church haue made of heresies whereof many abstracting frō the pride and disobedience which thereby is committed against the Church are neither of so great importance in themselues or at least not great at all in respect of those many most important Articles which ar mutually affirmed or denied betwene the Protestants and vs. For what imported it all that some were so foolish as to hold al men bound by Scripture to put of their shoes when they prayed yet S. Augustine cited them for heretickes in his Catalogue But the pride wherewith they presumed to abuse Scripture and to impose such a fond law vpon mēs cōsciences a resolutiō not to leaue it when they were commaunded by the Church was that which made it heresy in them Or what Article of the Creede or what book of Scripture or what sacramēt of the Church did the Quartodecimani deny or what errour did they introduce but only the celebrating of Easter at another time then was ordained by the Church and yet for this doth S. Austin inroll them in the rancke of heretickes the same I might exemplifie in many other particulars Presumption and pride which is expressed by choosing obstinatly maintaining of any doctrine or discipline cōtrary to the iudgment and commaundement of the Catholicke Church and by refusing to submit therein to the same Church is that wherein the very life spirit of Schisme and Heresie doth consist And the question is not here whether the point vpon which the Schisme or heresie is grounded be in it selfe of so great importance yea or no but whether there be in the hearte of any priuate man or men such a diabolicall degree of obstinacy and pride as to preferre their owne sence and Iudgment in things belonging to the faith and worship of our Lord God before the resolution and direction of his holy Catholicke Church which is his spouse his kingdome his house his Sanctuary and his citty which was made the treasure house of grace the foundation and pillar of truth the depositary of the holy Ghost and the heire of most faithfull and firme promises that euen the gates and power of Hell it selfe should neuer be able to preuaile against it And now I say if there be found such a sinne as this in the soule of man as to preferre his owne poore dictamens before the decrees of this Church it is so very enormous so barbarous so wholy out of the way of al Religion of reason of nature and euen of common sence it sauours of such a spirituall and infernall presumption so much the more cordially to be first lamented and then detested because it is cloaked vnder the collour of the ghospell and Christian liberty and I know not what of that kind that really it can deserue no other place or degree of punishment then Hell it selfe And now that all this is true namely that heresie cōsistes not in the material beliefe of a false doctrine for the contrary thereof perhaps was not sufficiently propounded to be belieued but in the disobedience to the Church after it is propoūded that famous exāple of S. Cyprian and the Donatistes may serue for prooffe For S. Cypriā was of the first who fel vpō the doctrine of rebaptization of such as had beene baptized by Hereticks and the Donatists afterward succeeded in the same But in S. Cyprian it was but errour because the Church of his time had not absolutely condemned it but growing after to condemned in the Donatists time it was Heresie in them not to forsake it Which drew Vincentius Lirinensis to make this exclamation O admirable change of things the authours of an opinion are held Catholicks and the followers of the selfe same are iudged hereticks And S. Cyprian himselfe declares the same in substance vpō a like occasion concerning others For when one inquired of him what that erroneous doctrine was which Nouatianus the schismatick had taught his answere to his friend was directly this Thou must know that we should not be curious what that doctrine is which he teaches since he is out of the Church teachinge clearly therby that not the quality of the doctrine but the pride of the man is that which makes the hereticke And in deede if this were not the rule whereby heresies and schismes must be knowne it were impossible to conclude what were an heresie or a schisme and so also there should fall out to be no heresie in effect at all which might not be compatible with saluation Now this opinion is not only contrary to the current of holy Scriptures and Fathers and to the beliefe and practise of the Catholicke Church of all ages but euen of the Protestants themselues who condemne not only vs but one an another also as is abundantly shewed the Authour of the Protestants Apologie c. for the Roman Church and especially in the place cited in the Margine fol. 408. where he cites Luther expresly saying thus We