reason as ever auy Sect for if these plaintiffes that accuse the Roman Church of Error superstition Noveltye and Idolatrie be vrged to produce any playne place of holy writt to proue their accusation for example sake wher in holy writt it is syad That Gods Commaundements are impossible to be kept or where in holy writt ther is any prohibition to craue the assistance of the heavenly Saints to ioyne their prayers with ours to our Lorde Iesus Christ that wee may be made worthie of this promises c. the whole pack of them are not able to produce not soe much as one expresse text to that purpose but givinge slipp to the demaund in question they fly to bye difficultyes fabulous or impertinent narrations relatinge many tales of Cockes and Bulles of this Pope and that Pope of this Bissopp or that Fryer Soe destitute are they of the ayde of holy writt which vaynely and frequently they pretend soe that the sayeinge of the holy Prophet is well verifyed in them The vngodly haue tould me their fables but not as thy Lawe Ps. 118. But wheter haue these frivolous impertinences of Protestants wrested my discourse To retorne then to the Byble on which solye they pretend to build all their fayth although it be not controuerted betuene Catholiques and Protestants or any other nomynated Christians whether God hath any worde written which is infallable vsually called the holy Scripture As it is one thinge to question whether ther be à Kinge of Spayne and another thing wether Phillip or Ferdinando be the Kinge therof For that though the first to witt that ther is à Kinge of Spayne be most Certayne yet the latter may be debated which is the Lawfull true Kinge vzt Ferdinando or Phillip Soe though it be most Certayne that there is à written worde of God infallable yet iustly may it be questioned whether that booke which Protestants haue and call the Byble be the holy Scripture or noe For as the Learned doe obserue in the Scriptures three thinges are to be consydered First the Cannon or Catologue of divyne bookes Secondly the translation And thirdly the sence which is the soule of the Letter Now then I demaund of Protestants what Infallible assurance they haue that the bookes which be in their Cannon be onely divyne And those which they reiect as Apocripha be really such Will yow saye with Luther and with other Protestants as Whitakre and Doue that yow received them from the Roman Catholique Church Then it followeth if her authoritye who yow Credit therin be infallible yow are allsoe bound to stande to her worde in other poynts of Religion For if she be infallible as she must if yow haue any infallible assurance that the Scriptures yow received from her be really divyne in à matter soe fundamentell much more is she to be Credited in other poynts as namely concerninge the true interpretation therof c. Secondly out of this answer it followeth that the Roman Church cannot be Antichristian as some Protestants vaynly pretend For it cannot stand that they should preserue the Scriptures for soe many ages wherin yow pretend your Church was vnknowne and latent For then may Israell be fownd in Babilon and participation bebetwene Christ and Belial And she who is falsehood it selfe be by your owne inference the pillar and foundation of truth To be shorte then must the whore of the Apochalips Thus is Antichrist become Christ Servante and best supporter Keep safe those Recordes wherby those many hundred Thowsonds of Christ virgins make their Clayme to the inestimable reward alloted for their vowe of Chastitye As easily wee may beleiue that the Arke and the Idoll Dagon may be placed together But indeed though yow haue the Roman Churches warrant that those bookes that yow admitt as Canonicall to be divyne yet never did the Roman Church warrant or assure yow that onely those bookes placed in your Cannon be divyne and the rest which yow reiect to be Apochripha It resteth then that the greatest assurance yow haue is the authority of your owne Church which Confessedly is lyable to Error what infallible assurance haue Protestants of the purity and incorruption of their translation especially seeinge many of their brethren hardly Censure it How shall I approue sayth M. Burges vnder my hand à translation which hath many omissions many additions which sometymes obscureth sometymes perverteth the sence beinge sometymes senceles sometymes Contrarye M. Bronghton the great Hebritian thus sayth The publique translation of the Scripture in English is such as it perverteth the Text of the old Testament in eight hundred forty and eight places and it causeth Millions of Millions to reiect the new Testament and to runne into eternall flames And to omitt how Bishopp Tunstall noated two thowsand Corruptions of the Bible in Tindalls translation And allsoe how the Remists noated two hundred and tenn corruptions of the new Testament out of Greeke which Protestants pretended to translate not Chardginge them with an infynite number of their Corruptiōs repugnant to the auncyent authenticke Lattin To omitt I saye these and many other Catholique observations for which they Iustly except against the English Bybles I add this Cōfessiō of the famous Protestant D. Whitakre who though favouringe the Englishe trāslation of the Bible as much as possible he might yet thus he confesseth I haue not sayd otherwise but that somethings in the Englishe translation might be amended Now what infallible assurance I saye haue they to warrant their translation as incorrupt seeinge the greatest warrant they haue for it is the authority of their Church which by their confession may erre And with what Conscience can they Commend vnto the people their English Byble thus Corrupted for the pure word of God Note Againe what infallible assurance haue they of the sence which is the life of the Letter to witt that their expositions be the true meaninge of the holy Ghost but the authority of their Church which by their owne Confession is subiect to Erre On the contrarye what infallible assurance haue they that the Catholiques Cannon translation and exposition of the Byble are not Orthodoxe but the authority of their errable Church Note Now thē if fayth be an infallible Knowledge for by falliable and errable doctrine it is impossible to be saued can anye one with à safe Conscience build all his fayth vpon such à Byble whose Cannon translation and interpretation hath noe infallible assurance And in this I was infinitely confirmed when afterward I read in M. r Shillinghworths booke approued by three Oxford Doctors as conformable to the Doctrine of the Church of England vzt that ther was noe infallible Certaynety to be assured That the Scriptures were really Gods worde Which in effect is to suye That Protestants who pretend to beleiue nothinge but that which is contayned in Scriptures haue noe infallible assurance whether their Congregation be truely faythfull Christiains or no Moreover I demaund what certayne warrant
out of the Apostle S. Paul A text for its Clearnes able to Comment its Comment to witt that Christ hath placed in his Church Pastors and Doctors to the Consummation of Saints till wee all meet in the vnitie of the fayth That is as Doctor Fulke à ProtestaÌ„t divine expounds for ever Calvin himselfe expowndinge it thus Concluds in these words The Church cannot at any tyme want Postors and Doctors Now that these Pastors and Doctors must not at any tyme in their office and dutyes be sylent It is not onely witnessed by the Holy Ghost I saye 62. but allsoe besydes the nature of their function requiringe it acknowledged by Protestants And therfore Doctor Fulke sayth well Truth cannot be continued in the world but by the Ministry of the Pastors and Doctors In lyke sort touchinge the administration of the Sacraments the same is more particulerly evicted from the cleare words of our Saviour and S. Paul seinge by the help of them wee shall Shew the Lords death till he come 1. Cor. 11. A point soe evydent that it lyeth out of the way of all contradiction And therfore Willett à Protestante in playne words mayntaineh that the absence of the Sacraments makes à nullity of the Church And againe in Doctor Whittakres phrase That The administration of the word and Sacraments being present Constitute à Church beinge absent doe subuert it And againe as the some Doctor styleth them they are Ecclesiae essentiales proprietates Thus doth Protestants ioyntly with Catholiques teach that not at same tymes onely the Church of Christ beinge his insepable and immaculate Spouse with whom he isto the Consummation of the world is to enioy Pastors and Doctors for the vse of the word and Sacraments at other tymes to be wholly destitute of them ague lyke havinge their accesses and remissions but that at all tymes and in all ages in all seasons the Church without any interruption is to Continew in his full Orbe by ever inioyinge the aforesayd meanes of salvation Hence it is that the Fathers to confound hereticall congregations presse heretickes to shew their contynuall succession of Pastors and professors of their doctrine because if they go to scriptures interpretating it according to their owne iudgement there can be noe determination or end Thus S. Ireneus confounded Valentinus Cedron and Marcion By this ordynation of succession sayth he the tradition which is from the Apostles received into the Church and the publishinge of fayth hath come even vnto vs wee beinge able to shew wee put all those to confusion that through vayne glory ond ignorance broach new doctrines in the Church l. 3. c. 3. 4. 5. For none of these Heretickes can deryue their succession from the Apostles nor shew how their doctrine was received by tradition from thence Thus Turtullian de praes. c. 11. confoundeth Valétinus Apelleus and other heretickes Lett them publishe the Origens of their Church sayth hee let them vnfould the order of their Bishopps soe proceedinge by successions from the begininge so that the first Bishopps haue predecessors some Apostle or Apostolicall man perseveringe with the Apostles in that manner they produce the sence of the Apostolicall Church In this sort doth S. Cyprian confound Novatian because he cannot proue his suâ—cession accordinge to Apostolicall tradition Novatian sayth he l. 1. Ep. 7. is neyther Bishopp nor member of the Church who Contemninge Evangelicall and Apostolicall tradition succeeding noe man is ordayned of himselfe Thus doth S. Augustin l. 2. cont. Retil c. 51. confound the Donatists and Sectaryes of his tyme Number sayth he Your Preists even from the seate of Peter and observe that order of fathers who succeeded one another and the Successions of Bishopps was one thinge amongst others that kept the same S. Augustin gloryous Doctor of the Church from departinge out of the bosome of the Catholique Church for thus he sayth in his Epistle to the Manicheans Many things most iustly retayneinge me in the bosome of the Church the succession of Preists from Peters seate to this present Bishopp keepes me in the Church the name Catholique keepes me c. Fynally hence it is that S. Ierome thus Counselleth In that Church wee ought to abyde which founded by the Apostles to this very day lasteth yea such an evydent veritie it is that Christ true Church shall never want at any tyme Professors and members therof as that it extorts this testimony from her aduersarie D. Whitakre Not without great ioy of mynde wee doe beleive that Christ Church hitherto hath endured neyther shall it perish soe longe as the world stands and the Contrary opinion wee esteeme as à prophane heresie From this established foundation is erected this discourse for my purpose Note The true Church of Christ which is but one shall in all ages ever inioye à succession of Pastors and Doctors for the administration of the worde and Sacraments Therfore the true Church of Christ hath ever remayned without interruption of such Pastors and Teachers from the Apostles tyme even vntill this daye But noe Church extant in the world can be assigned to haue remayned without interruption of Pastors for the administration of the worde and Sacraments saue only the Roman Church Therfore irrefragablie it followeth that the Roman Church only and those which haue CoÌ„munyon of fayth with her to be the only true Church of Christ or else which is most absurde and Blasphemous that Christ hath noe Church vpon earth but that the gates of hell to her destruction hath prevayled against her contrary to Christ promyse That there is noe Christian Church extant but the Roman Church that hath withont interruption in all ages enioyed both Pastors and Doctors is esilie demonstrated for neyther the Protestant Church nor the Iewes nor the Arians Donatists Manicheans Pelagians Wicklefians Graecians Mahometans or any other Church can be assigned but the Roman Therfore c. First concerninge the Protestant Church it is but new and began from Luther from whence it is called Lutheran and reformed which is manifest by the restimonies of the learned Protestants and Luther himselfe which I will here inserte Let then first their ChamppoÌ„ of the Englishe Church Iuell speake in the first place he in his Apologie of the Church of EnglaÌ„d in the fowerth parte and fowerth Chapter And in his defence of the Apologie Anno 1571 pag. 426. Truth sayth he was vnknowne all that tyme and vnheard of when Martin Luther and Vldericke Zwinglius first came into the knowledge and preachinge of the Gospell M. Perkins sayth in the exposition of the Creed and in his Reformed Catholicke Wee affirme sayth he that before Luthers dayes for many hundred yeares our Church was not visible to the world an vniversall Apostasie over spredinge the whole face of the earth In soe much as Bucer in his epistle to the Bishopp of Hereford calls Luther The first Apostle of the reformed Gospell whose vocation sayth Conradus Sohlussburg by reason of the
for thee that thy fayth may not faile Allsoe Iesus sayd to Simon ' Peter Simon of Iona lovest thou me more then these he sayd vnto him yea Lorde thou knowest that I loue the c. Hee sayd vnto him feed my sheep 10. 11. 15. To thee will I give the keyes of the Kingdome of heaven Mat. 18. Prostest haue noewhere that vpon S. Peter by grace made à rock the Church was not built nor that he was instituted Pastor to feed the Christian flock and that to him were not given the Keyes of principallitie and that he had not the priviledge after that he was Pastor of not erring in matters of sayth But can ther be à more evidēt argument that the holy Scriptures cōfirme not Protestāt Religion how impudētly soever they pretēd Scriptures then their impious detraction from the authoritie of Moses the Evangelists the Apostles and their writings Wheras Mose was the first that writt any parte of Scriptures and he who writt the Lawe of God or tenne Commaundements Luther thus reiecteth him and his tenn Commaundements Tom. 3. Serm. fo. 40. 41. and in Colloq. Mensal Ser. fol. 152. 153. Wee will neyther he are nor soe Moses for he is given only to the Iewes neyther doth he belonge to vs In Colloq. Menfal C. de lege Evangel I will not receive Moses whith his Lawe for he is the enemy of Christ And ibid. fol. 118. Moyses is the master of all hangmen and in Serm. de Moyse The tenne Cōmaundements belonge not to Christians and in Convin Coloq cyted by Ourifal Cap. de lege let the Commaundements be altogether reiected and all heresies will presently cease for the tenne Commaundements are as it were from whence all heresies springe Islebius Luthers Scholler taught that the decalogue was not to be taught in the Church And from him came the Secte of Antinomans who publikly taught that the Law of God is not worthie to be called the worde of God If thou beest à whoremonger if an adulterer or otherwise à sinner beleive and thou walkest in the way of salvation when thou art drowned in sinne even to the bottome if thou belivest thou art in the middest of happines All that busie themselues about Moses that is the tenne Commaundements belonge to the Divell to the gallowes with Moses Luther doth not belive all things related in the booke of Iob. And with him it is as it were the argument of à fable He sayth of Ecclesiasticus this booke is not prefect manie things are taken away it wanteth bootes and spurres that is it hath noe prefect sentence And in his preface vpon S. Iames Epistle he styles it contentious tumide strawie and vnworthie of an Apostoticall spiritt and againe Luther preposterously comparinge the fower Evangelists among themselues preferreth the Epistles of S. Paul farre before the three former to witt before S. Mat. S. Marke and S. Luke and iudgeth that the onely Gospell of S. Iohn is excelent and true Castalio commaunded the Canticles of Solomon to be thurst out of the Cannon As an impure and obsceane songe Calvin feared not to affirme that S. Iames approved superstitious vowes and brought Paul to consent with him in the same faults in Ca. 21. Act. and vpon the 2. of S. Math. wrights that Mathew did improperly and often cyte the sentences of the ould Prophetts against their true and proper sence See him alsoe vpon the 4. Chap. 13. ve and in 8. C. v. 17. and n. 27. C. v. 9. And in his institutions li. 2. C. 16. 8. 10. doubt whether the Apostles Creed were made by the Apostles and in the 15. C. Act. affirmes that S. Marke Was à forsaker of his vocation and an Apostata c. and that he had filthilie through his owne fault fallen from his Chardge Elebitius opposeth the Evangelists one against another for in his victorie of truth and ruine of Poperie he hath these worde Marke and Mathew deliver the Contrarie therfore to Mathew and Marke beinge twoe Witnesses more credit is to be given then to one Luke Swinglius Tom. 2. cont. Anabapt. chardgeth the Anabaptists with ignorance for that they thinke the Commentaries of Evangelists the Epistles of the Apostles to haue been then in authoritie when Paul did wright these things as though Paul did attribute soe much to his Epistles that what soever was contained in them wus sacred c. which thinge sayth Swinglius were to attribute immoderate arrogancie to the Apostle Others as Witakres cont. Bell. Controu. 2. 9. 4. p. Fulk 32. Fulke against the Rem Test in Gal. 2. fo. 322. Condemne S. Peter to haue erred in matters of fayth even after the holie Ghosts descendinge vpon the Apostles Note But these things once admitted how then were the Evangelists and Apostles Scribes of the Holie Ghost and Erred not in their preachings M. Rogers vpon the 6. Article confesseth and nameth sundry of his brethren Protestants reiecting for Apocriphall S. Paules Epistle to the Hobrewes the epist. of S. Iames the 1. 2. and S. Io. of Iude and the revelation of S. Iohn wher by the way yow may observe the Concorde or Communion which Protestants haue even touchinge the Scripture and pretended principales of their fayth finallie doe not our Englishe Protestants discarde as Apocriphall and rase out of the auncient Cannon of the Church Tobie Iudith Esther Baruch the booke of Wisdome the 1. 2. of the Machabees c. here I saye nothinge of the manifould corruptions and erronious interpretations made by Protestants even in these Scriptures which themselues admitt to be Canonicall and how their Apostle Martin Luther whom they soe much magnifie sayth in his 1. Tom. witt fo. 155. In regarde that Christ is the treasure I care not for all the sayings of the scripture Planè nihil curo omnia Scripturae dicta And to omitt allsoe how in his Colloq ad Mensall fo. 286. he calles the Apostles great Knaues these be his wordes Apostoli etiam fuerunt peccatores crassi magni nebulones C. 2. p. 18 Note Here I appeale to the indifferent Iudgment of an impartiall reader whether any men livinge wold ever like vnto the Protestants and reformers soe reiect deride and Censure eyther the Prophetts Apostles Evangelists and the sacred Scriptures if they did favour their cause as they vaynly pretend Now to come to the tryall of the auncient Fathers who interpreted the Scriptures with great fame and prayse in the Church of God and lived within the first sixe hundred yeares which tymes they acknowledg to be pure and therfore appeale vnto them as best able to wittnes the profession of fayth of the primitiue Church as beinge the Pastors and Doctors therof For brevity sake I will forbeare to alledge the Fathers testimonies in prooffe of Catholiques doctrine which I haue reade But I will make evident by the playne Confessions of the best Champions of the reformed Church and greatest aduersaries of Catholiques that the auncient Fathers in
Protestant Ministers and teachers haue of any Lawfull ordination or vocation for their pretensiue reformation and departure from the Roman Church with whom sometyme their Sect-masters were vnyted in Communyon of fayth but their owne errable authoritye And consequently seinge their Church can erre how can Protestants be assured that their Church doth not erre in Condemninge the Roman Church of superstition Or how can the vulgar be sure they are taught the truth when their teachers themselues confesse that their Church and all their Pastors may lye In à word noe Protestant can produce any prooffe on t of Scriptures in his owne defence or impugnation of Catholique Religion but it is glossed or expounded litterallie or misticallie eyther by his Church or his owne private Spiritt If by his Church what Certaynty or security when confessedlie she may erre If by his private Spiritt much lesse is he free from error And indeed by how much the more I heare and see Protestants amayne striue to maintayne that the Church may erre in matters of Fayth it renders me more averse from them and Iustly to suspect their Religion for that they seeme to be heires of vnworthie progenitors to witt of the Arians who taught all Counsells to be subject to error The hereticall Donatists who condemned the whole Church of Error As lykewise of the Wiklefians and Waldenses And would yow know the fundamentall reason of this their assertion Truely ther is noe other then that by disgraceinge the Churches authoritie whith errability their doctrine might be exempted from the note of heresie and themselues avoyd the tytle of hereticks for if the Church could erre in the determynation of controuersies of Religion why might not the decrees of the Church in Condemninge of hereticks be called in question and soe in fine ther would remayne noe meanes to know who are hereticks for if yow goe to the scripture which they whith great forwardnes will alledge and seclude the Churches exposition of the true sence they can never be Convinced but will allsoe easilye elude whatsoever Text can be brought against them as long as themselues be iudges of the controversie and sense And whem I Consider the many doctrines renewed by Protestants which formerly haue been Condemned by the Church as hereticall Noveltyes cōtrary to the fayth generally and aunciently professed how can I againe imagine otherwise then that they maintayne this dangerous and absurd position of the Churches errabilitie for noe other end then that their doctrine might be the betther freed from the Censure of heresies for what is not the denyinge of mans frewill the heresie of Simon Magus Is not the affirmeinge that distinction and order ought not to be observed in the Church of God the heresie of the Prepusians Is not the denyinge that all synnes are forgiuen by the Sacrament of pennance the heresie of the Nouatians Is not denyinge of the water of Baptisme to availe any thinge to our salvation one of the heresies of the Mamkeans Is not the denyinge to offer sacrifice for the Dead ād that ther is noe difference betwene à Bissopp and à simple Preist and that the fasting dayes of the Church ought not to be kept the heresies of Aeriaus Is not the affirmation that by fayth onely men maye obtayne life everlastinge the heresie of the Eunomians Is not the theachinge that Infants may be saued without Baptisme one of the heresyes of the Pelagians Is not the theachinge Marryage to be as acceptable to God as virginitie and that it is lawful for Nonnes and Monkes to Marry the heresies of Iouinian Is not the denyinge the intercession of Saints And the honoringe of the Martyrs reliques the heresies of Vigilantius Is not the breaking downe the Images of our Lorde Iesus and of his Saints the Iconomachians heresie Is not the denyinge of the body of our Lorde Iesus to be really present in the Sacrament of the Alter the heresie of Beringarius In à worde to omitte many other renewed heresies of the Albigenses Waldenses Wicklifts Hussitts and other detestable hereticks many yeares agoe condemned by the Church of God Is not the denyall of the possibility of Gods Comaundements condemned as the famous and auncient Doctors S. Ierome S. Augustin witnes Condemned I saye in certayne ould hereticks yea verilie What marvill then is it that when they see their Doctrine Condemned of hereticall novelty if they contemne the Churches authority in Generall Counsells and reiect the auncient Fathers As patrons of Papistrie Note What marvill I saye seeinge in these they finde their condemnation in most Articles now in contestation if they affirme the Churches errabilitie in matters of Fayth True it is as S. Paul sayes that an heretick is condemned by his owne Iudgment seeinge he disclaymes from the authority of Gods Churchs Which is the pillar and foundation of truth and betrampleth the Pastors and Doctors lights of the Church in which he manifestly preferreth himselfe before the holy Ghost the ruler and director of the Church Accordinge to Christ infallible promise Note And what is this else but to extoll himselfe aboue God Super omne quod dicitur Deus Which is one of the speciall markes of Antichrist and yet this Antichristian arrogancie in treadinge vnderfoot the diffinitions of the Church and the authority of the auncyent Fathers and Doctors therof is the verie mayne grownd of Reformers And therfore Peter Martyr one of the pryme wpholders of the Reformed Church endoctrinates his fellowes with this principle sayinge That soe longe as wee stand to the Counsells and Fathers soe longe wee shall remayne in the Papists errors Lib. de votis Oh when I seriously considered and discussed the former discourse with many daingerous Consequences which thence yssued and seeinge my selfe to sayle in the barke of such à Congregation which had noe assured safegard against eternall Shippwrack it was high time to leaue her and spedily to imploy all my endeavours for findinge out of that Church which is the Arke of safetye the mother of the faythfull the pillar of truth Soe beutifull à spouse of Christ which hath neyter spott nor wrincle soe infallible à Iudge of all Controversies of Religion as whosoever shall refuse to receive her sentence is to be reputed as à Heathen and Publican It is this vnspotted Church not lyable to error in fayth espoused to Christ for ever who is with her to the consummation of the world and directs her by the holy Spiritt which shall abyde whith her for ever and teach her all truth It is this vnspotted spouse of Christ I saye my cares were incumbant spedily to procure for my mother to the end I might haue God for my Father The Caracteristicall and insepable marke of Christ Church which is but one is that in her shall allwayes be found Pastors and Teachers for the Contineuall preachinge of the word and administration of the Sacraments the ordynarie meanes necessarie to Salvation To this effect are alledged these words