important a businesse as this is hope of saluation Yes will Bellarmine resolue you for though it be hereticall not to beleeue the Church in grosse yet is it not hereticall to mistake the acception of the Church which is in effect to beleeue a false Church for examples sake To take a Generall Councell without the Pope for the infallible Church inasmuch as wee see saith hee these tolerated by the Church which defend that opinion although it be erronious and next to heresie But alas replyes the poore man now that I am come so farre by your instructions as to know that the Pope is the Church which is a great deale farther than many of my ghostly Fathers are come yet because I perceiue a dissention amongst you and that you which hold this Tenent are not agreed when and in what matters it is that the Pope cannot erre I finde my conscience but a little eased by your resolution No matter for the Popes erring or not erring will Bellarmine answer for all Catholikes saith he doe accord in this that the Pope whether he may erre or no is yet to be heard with all obedience But what comfort will the man obiect can this be to me that liue haply in England or Spaine farre remote from Rome It is the present Pope you say vpon whose iudgement I am to depend whom I am neither able to heare neither doth your Cardinalship thinke it necessarie that hee should be a preacher to be heard Tush saith Bellarmine it is not materiall that you heare the Pope when as there bee Preachers in your owne Parish who may informe you But faith the man there is no promise made that whatsoeuer my Parochian teaches mee is forth with the true and vndoubted doctrine of the Church considering that he may erre and be deceiued Nor haue you will Bellarmine tell you more assurance of the Popes word if you and your whole Nation should trauaile to Rome to heare his resolution For asmuch as when he teacheth not the whole Church he is in as much possibilitie to erre as Innocent the eighth was when hee permitted the Norwegians to celebrate the Eucharist without wine What then is to bee done Greg. de Valentia in his third tome vpon Thom. 1. Disp makes this answer That if you finde but an Episcopall Synod or the consent of diuers Diuines onely affirming such a doctrine to be the sentence of the Church you are bound to beleeue it though it bee a lye But is it not a sinne will the man reply to beleeue a lye Gabriel Biel and Tolet the Iesuite to the end that we may see how both ancient and later Papists haue beene forced to the same streights will answere that if one heare his Bishop or Prelate preach contrarie to the Faith thinking that it is so beleeued by the Church such an one shall not onely not sinne but also in beleeuing that falshood shall commit an act meritorious It is no maruaile then if the Romanists boast so much of Visibilitie considering that their faith is built fiue stories high the Layties beliefe vpon his Pastor the Pastors vpon the common opinion of neighbour Diuines or an Episcopall Synod that Episcopall Synod vpon the Church the Church vpon the Pope and the Pope vpon Christ Wherin how skilfull Artizans soeuer the Iesuites are in other Trades I know not surely in architecture they shew but little skil hauing not prouided any thing to supply the roome of the Pope in the vacancie so that for a yeare and more sometimes the vpper stories must like Esops Towers bee seene to hang in the aire For howsoeuer those which hold the supreame authoritie to bee subiectiuely and formally in the Church and instrumentally onely in the Pope may supply the place of the dead Pope with a generall Councell yet the Iesuites and others which with open cry now adayes condemne this opinion as false and next to heresie may be challenged of more folly then hee which built his house vpon the sand SECT V. The obiections out of the Scriptures touching the Churches infallibilitie answered WHat now remaines but that we answer those arguments wheron our aduersaries seem to ground this supposed power of the Church in challenging absolute beliefe to what she affirmes The first rank of arguments containes such places of Scripture as concerne the priuiledges of the Church in generall As 1. Tim. 3. 15. That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to conuerse in the house of God which is the Church of the liuing God the piller and ground of truth I answer that the Church here mention'd is not that Church which the Papists make to be the Iudge of Controuersies that is either the Church representatiue which is a generall Councell or the Church virtuall which they imagine to be the Pope but the Church essentiall in whole or part which is the congregation of all faith full beleeuers and therefore not to the purpose For the Papists themselues doe discharge it in this sense from the office of defining because in part it is fallible and in whole it is avast bodie composed of parts farre asunder and wanting a speaker And that the Church in this place is so taken besides the confession of Bellarmine who acknowledgeth it the very circumstances of the place doe carrie it for Saint Paul tells Timothie here that hee wrote this Epistle vnto him that hee might know how to conuerse or behaue himselfe in the house of God which hee expounding to bee the Church it must on necessitie bee construed of the Church essentiall as consisting of the faithfull in grosse vnlesse one should be so absurd as to say that Saint Paul deliuered directions vnto Timothie in this Epistle how he should conuerse in a generall Councell whereof there were none in three hundred yeeres after or else which is more absurd how he should behaue himselfe discreetly and with circumspection in the Popes belly So Matth. 18. 16. And if hee will not heare them tell the Church and if hee will not heare the Church let him bee to thee as the Heathen and the Publican I answer that here be three degrees of admonitions and reproofes set downe by our Sauiour in case that one brother trespasse against another Viz. First corripiendus amore he is to bee reproued with loue verse 15. goe and rebuke him betweene thee and him alone Secondly corripiendus pudore hee is to bee reproued with shame verse 16. if hee will not heare thee ioyne with thee besides one or two Thirdly corripiendus timore he is to be reproued with feare verse 17. if hee will not heare them tell the Church So that I willingly grant this honour to haue beene here giuen by our Sauiour to his Church that the last resort and appeale vpon earth should be made vnto it but you must remember withall how farre this present case will besteed you
euer since the time of our Sauiour vnto this present I doe beleeue with the same faith and vpon the same grounds that I beleeue the Catholike Church because I beleeue our Church of England to be a member of the Catholike and this I beleeue a priori that is for the promise sake made in the Scriptures that it shall bee so But where our Church was before Luther or who were the Professors of it euer since the time of our blessed Sauiour vntill this present is no part of my Creed There is not a syllable in it which inuites me to proceed that way Doe I say I beleeue the vniuersalitie of Christs Church and must my foundation be such onely as can breed in me but an opinion or naked hope doe I begin in Faith and with the Galathians must I end in the flesh that is with sense Doe I build with one hand a Church Catholike which cannot bee seene and with the other must I draw it in a Map or point it out to the eye Nay set the Church as Catholike aside and consider it but in her parts which consideration of it belongs not to the Creed yet in this sense also is the Church at sometimes so obscured that by our Aduersaries owne confession none but the prudent and wise are able to discerne it The Church is I confesse compared in the Reuelation to a woman clothed with the Sunne in Isaiah to a Citie built vpon an Hill and by the Fathers to the Moone the Sunne the Moone and a Hill are things most easie to be discerned yet we know this Sunne may be obscured with a Clowd an Hill may be hid with a mist and the Moone as Saint Austen in his 119. Epist alluding to the Church obserueth hath her wanes and eclipses in the time of her peregrination SECT II. The second way whereby one may know the Church to be Catholike or Vniuersall IF any should mistake me and thinke that pressing so earnestly the preeminencie of knowing the Church to be Catholike and Vniuersall a priori that is from the promises made vnto it in the Scriptures we doe suspect our proofs a posteriori from the Professors of our Religion in all Ages to be either none or weake let them know that we want not those who haue scored out varietie of sufficient paths to proceed this way also which howsoeuer they bee not like the testimonie of our Sauiour to beget a faith yet are they like the testimonie of the Samaritan woman to induce a credulitie For not to tyre you with large discourses which were to exceed my limits onely for satisfaction herein to the reasonable and impartiall Hearer let vs take along with vs these few considerations 1. The first that we are to distinguish betweene our affirmatiues that is such things as are purely affirmed by vs and our negatiues such as in whole or in part we denie betweene which there is a great difference to be made in all sciences For affirmatiue propositions onely are the proper parts and ingredients of a discipline Negatiues are admitted say Logicians not so much by way of Precept as of Cautell and of Commentaries to vindicate the other from misconstruction 2. The second that such affirmatiues of ours as are established by our Church of England at least such as concerne the foundation of faith haue beene in all ages professed by the Church of Rome it selfe For explication whereof we are to obserue that the Popes Arithmetick which he vseth in calculating the articles of faith is not substraction but addition what wee purely affirme the Popish writers for the most part doe affirme the same the difference is that they affirme somewhat more then wee doe They denie not so much that our affirmations are truth as that they say we affirme not all the truth wherevpon they vsually stile vs in their writings Negatiuists For example sake Wee agree on both sides the Scriptures to be the Rule of Faith the Bookes of the old Testament written in Hebrew to bee Canonicall that we are iustified by Faith that God hath made two receptacles for mens soules after death Heauen and Hell that God may bee worshipped in spirit without an Image that wee are to pray vnto God by Christ that there be two Sacraments that Christ is really receaued in the Lords Supper that Christ made one oblation of himselfe vpon the Crosse for the redemption propitiation and satisfaction for the sinnes of the whole world In a word where they take the Negatiue part as in with-holding the Cup from the Laytie forbidding the administration of the Sacraments in the vulgar tongue and restrayning the marriage of Priests yet euen in these they condescend vnto vs for the lawfulnesse of the things in themselues and in respect of the Law of God and oppose them onely in regard of their necessitie and conueniencie and for that the Church of Rome hath otherwise ordayned But see our affirmations content them not To the Scriptures they adde and equalize vnwritten Traditions To the Hebrew Canon the Apocrypha To Faith in the act of Iustification Workes To Heauen and Hell Purgatorie Limbus Patrum and Limbus Puerorum To the worship of God in spirit Images To prayer to God by Christ inuocation and intercession of Saints To Baptisme and the Lords Supper fiue other Sacraments To the realitie of Christ in the Sacrament his corporall presence To the sacrifice of Christ vpon the Crosse the sacrifice in the Masse with other like and these we denie 3. The third that our affirmations by the iudgement of the Church of Rome haue beene in all ages deemed sufficient to saluation so that our Negatiues take not away any doctrine the explicit beliefe whereof is absolutely necessarie For first in regard of knowledge the Schoolemen hold that much lesse is needfull to bee explicitly beleeued then what is contayned in our affirmations For whereas wee entertayne and embrace amongst our affirmatiue articles not onely the doctrine of the three Creedes but also sundrie other assertions as may appeare by the booke of Articles and Homilies established in our Church Albertus Magnus on the contrarie with Bonauenture Richardus and Durandus thinke that so much onely of the Creed is necessarie as the Church solemnizeth in her holidayes Thomas Aquinas Scotus Gabriel Biel and Pope Adrian the sixth which goe farther thinke it needfull to beleeue but the whole Creed and Alexander ab Hales which goes farthest thinkes that one need but adde to the Apostolicall Creed the Nicen and Athanasian to make a compleat beleeuer quanquam hoc nimis durum videtur though this seemes too hard an imposition saith Gregorie de Valentia in his third Tom. vpon Thom. 1. disp although one wade no farther therein then the proper sense and haue no great distinct knowledge of the matters Nay Bellarmine is so confident in this point that he sticks not to say that the Apostles themselues neuer vsed to preach openly
Credo Ecclesiam Sanctam Catholicam I beleeue the holy Catholike Church THE Authoritie Vniuersalitie and Visibilitie of the CHVRCH handled and discussed By EDWARD CHALONER Dr. in Diuinitie and Principall of ALBAN Hall in OXFORD LONDON Printed by William Stansby and are to bee sold in Pauls Church-yard at the signe of the Gray-Hound 1625. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE WILLIAM Earle of PEMBROKE Lord HERBERT of Cardiffe Lord Par and Rosse of Kendall Lord Marmion and Saint Qâ—intin c. Lord Chamberlaine of his MAIESTIES Houshold Lord Warden of the Stanneries Knight of the most Noble Order of the Garter Chancellor of the Vniuersitie of Oxford And one of his Maiesties most Honorable Priuie Councell MY LORD THe first assault which was euer made vpon mankind appeared in the shape of a question for in that manner did the Serpent sett vpon Eue and the victorie then purchased hath euer since animated the Viperous brood of that arch-enemie to encounter the Church of God with the same engin Aristotles positiue formes of disputing sute not so well with their distempered materials as those of Socrates which conclude in Questions As it was at the building of Babel so is it now in Babylon their confounded language serues onely to aske and demand not to reply For what are the cryes of Rome which more frequently walke the streets and fill them with lowder clamours then those of London other then these Whereupon doe you lastly ground your beliefe How doe you know the Scriptures to be the Word of God Where was your Church in all ages If the Church of Rome professe not the same faith which anciently it did when did it alter or varie from her first integritie Argumentations of other natures are forbidden the Laytie vnder paine of curse this kinde onely of disputing by Questions is dispensed vnto the rudest by the prouerb which saith An Ideot may propound more in an houre then the learnedst in a Kingdome can resolue in a yeere Hauing therefore discoursed vpon these subiects partly in some Lectures had in a famous Metropolitan Church of this Kingdome where for a time abiding I aduentured to thrust in my Sickle into the Haruest of more worthy Labourers partly in my seuerall attendances vpon our late Soueraigne of happy Memorie and his Gracious Maiestie now being I presume in humble acknowledgment of your noble fauours conferred vpon me to present these my poore endeauours to your honourable protection beseeching your Lordship to passe a fauourable construction vpon my boldnesse and to accept of them as from him who is and alwayes will remayne Your Lordships humbly deuoted ED. CHALONER The Contents of the first Part of this Booke SECT I. THe Preface and partition of the ensuing subiect pag. 1. SECT II. What act of Faith is implyed in this Article of the Church and the errours of Romish Interpreters touching the same pag. 3. SECT III. The Romanists distractions touching the Church set downe in eight Gradations SECT IIII. The palpable abuse offered the Laytie by obtruding the Church vnto them as their soueraigne Iudge displayed by the present practice of the Iesuites pag. 26. SECT V. The obiections out of the Scriptures touching the Churches infallibilitie answered pag. 30. SECT VI. The obiection drawne from the question how wee may know the authoritie sense puritie and perfection of the Scriptures handled and resolued pag. 36. SECT VII The new sleights and deuices which the Iesuites vse in enforcing these arguments touching the Church and the Scriptures pag. 51. The Contents of the second Part. SECT I. THe first way whereby one may know the Church to bee Catholike or Vniuersall pag. 71. SECT II. The second way whereby one may know the Church to be Catholike or Vniuersall Together with an Application of the same to the present question of these times touching the existency of our Church in all Ages pag. 83. Errata Page 58. The â— which is in lin 7. ought to be in lin 14. ibid. lin 12. for obligation r. Religion ibid. lin 14. for but search r. but by search pag. 91. lin 19. for The fift r. The sixt Credo Ecclesiam Sanctam Catholicam I beleeue the holy Catholike Church SECT I. The Preface and partition of the ensuing subject THis parcell of the Creed how compendious soeuer it seems in wordes yet is it in signification so ample that if the Iesuites Comment exceedes not the Text this alone is an abridgement of Diuinitie this a Catechisme sufficient to engrosse the Layties whole studie and beliefe It is not a matter of small consequence to them which oppose names to things and triumph in the naked sounds of Church and Catholike whether you apparell the sense in any other furniture of Language then this they cannot reply as Demosthenes did to Aeschines wheÌ„ being vpbrayded with the improper vse of a word hee answered that the fortunes of Greece consisted not therein No in hoc sit a sum fortunae Romae in these Sillables the fortunes of Rome are entrench'd not the seuen Hils whereon shee is seated not her extended Wals whose auncient Tracts are almost enâ—omb'd with Age not her Castle of Saint Angelo are halfe so relied vpon by her as this single Article For why Shee hopes the Church will serue her for a Cittadle or Towre of defence Holynesse will colour her title and Catholicke will from all quarters furnish her with a voluminous Armie of ancient and experienced souldiers Howsoeuer therefore I am not able to vndertake this subiect either with that power or skill as those which haue preceded me in the same yet because as Rome was not built in a day so neither can shee bee surueied in an houre or as shee is the Beast with seuen heads and ten hornes resembling Hydra which as soone as Hercules had smitten off one head maintained the fight with another so there may remaine after those greater labours of others something for vs of succeeding times and ages to meete withall Be it as it will I shall not thinke my paines mispent if whilest others haue pared off an head my weaker strookes force her but so far as to shrinke in a horne But to leaue Prefaces and come to the handling of the point The words now read vnto you containing in them a matter of Faith and Beliefe doe present two thinges to our consideration Viz. 1. First the act of Faith in these words tacitely implied I beleeue 2. Secondly the obiect of this Faith the Church pourtraited and described by two properties Viz. 1. Sanctitie in that it is called Holy 2. Vnjuersalitie in that it is stiled Catholicke SECT II. What act of Faith is implied in this Article of the Church and the errours of Romish interpreters touching the same COncerning the acte of this faith I beleeue though it be not prefixed to the beginning of this Article as neither to the rest which follow it yet is it to be vnderstood the former I beleeue which precedes the Article of
pronounce him to bee an Heriticke who after so great a pudder as hath beene kept about Saint Francis shall yet deny him to bee in heauen Secondly Turrecremata in his second booke de Ecclesia and Syluester in his summes do grant that the Pope may so farre as in him lyes endeà uour to establish his owne heresie and obtrude it vpon the Church nor doe Valentia and Bellarmine dissalow their position vnder these two prouiso's the one that if he doe it effectually then the contrary hath beene formerly determined by the Church so that the Church can then receiue no danger thereby of erring the other that if the contrary was neuer before determined then the Pope may indeed attempt it as did Ioh. 22. in a question touching the state of the soule after death but God in his prouidence will take such course as that he neuer shall accomplish it The fifth Gradation BVt fiftly grant for the matters that the Pope be this Church in determining any matter of Faith whatsoeuer yet is it not resolued clearely by them for the person in generall whether the Pope vpon which wee are so to relie bee the present Pope or whether the Popes deceased 1. For the voice of the Iesuites speakes this that it is the present Pope nay Gregorie de Valentia is so confident therein that neque Scriptura sacra saith hee neque etiam sola traditio si ab ea separes praesentem in ecclesia authoritatem est illa authoritas infallibilis magistra fidei c. that is neither the Scriptures nor yet traditions if you separat from the present authoritie in the Church is that infallible mistresse of Faith Iudge of controuersies So Bellarmine omnium conciliorum veterum omnium dogmatum firmitas pendet ab authoritate praesentis Ecclesiae the strength of all ancient Councells and all assertions doth depend vpon the authoritie of the present Church and their reasons alleadgedare for that without the authoritie of the present Church wee neither can be assured of the certainty of Traditions and Councells nor of the sense meaning of them 2. But contrariwise the case being put as you haue heard by Turrecremata and Siluester that the Pope may doe what lyes in him to propose an heresie both Valentia and Bellarmine grant the position not to be impossible vpon condition that the heresie haue beene condemned formerly by the Church for then according to their doctrine the Church is to examin the errors of the present Pope by truthes resolued by precedent Popes So that if in all points necessarie to saluation the truth haue beene already determined by former Popes as in 1600. yeeres space they haue had leasure enough to doe it the present Pope ceaseth to bee a competent Iudge in such matters hee may erre touching them hee may doe his best indeuour to obtrude vpon the Church heresies concerning them nay hee stands himselfe to bee arrained at the barre and Tribunall of his Clergie whether he be Orthodoxe or no and that by the prescripts of his predecessors The sixt Gradation SIxtly graunt for the Person in generall that it bee the present Pope which is the Church in that no danger can accrue from the Popes propounding an heresie if that heresie haue beene formerly condemned because as they say the Church may then know him not to bee their Shepherd but a Wolfe yet is it not agreed or determined sufficiently amongst them for the meanes how the Church may bee able to iudge or truly discerne him to be such an one 1. For they which hold a Generall Councell to be aboue the Pope and that it cannot erre as Gerson Cameracensis and others aboue mentioned doe hold likewise that the Pope so erring may bee iudged both for his person and doctrine by the church in a Generall Councell 2. But they which hold a Generall Councell not to be aboue the Pope but that wanting his companie it may erre euen in matters of faith as Bellarmine Valentia Cajetan Turrecremata and others these disable any for being competent Iudges of the Popes doctrine For howsoeuer they may pretend that the Councell proceeding according to former Popes declarations cannot erre yet because they teach that the certaintie sense of former Decrees depends vpon the iudgement of the present Pope I cannot see what meanes may according to their opinion be affoorded for the triall of the Popes doctrine if he should chance to erre The seuenth Gradation SEauenthly graunt for the meanes that the Church neuer neede to passe verdict vpon the Popes doctrine yet is it not agreed vpon by them for the See whether the Popedome bee necessarily vnited to the See of Rome so that the word Roman for ought they know assuredly is not conuertible with Catholike but that he which brags he is a Roman Catholike to day may if the Pope should chance to die prooue a Geneua Catholike tomorrow 1. For Dominicus a Soto vpon the fourth of the Senten saith that the Apostolicall seate and power of vniuersall Bishop is annext to the Bishoprick of Rome onely jure Ecclesiastico that is not by the Law of God but by the Churches constitution so that by the authoritie of the Church a Bishop of another See may be chosen Pope And Bellarmine graunts that it is no matter of faith that the Apostolicall seate may not bee separated from the Church of Rome forasmuch as neither Scripture nor Tradition doe auouch it 2. But Canus Driedo Turrecremata and Gregorie de Valentia doe hold the contrarie that the Bishop of Rome is Peters successor not onely by the constitution of the Church but also by the institution of Christ though Valentia confesseth varias hac de re doctorum sententias that the opinions of the Doctors be diuers in this point The eighth Gradation EIghtly for I shall not yet leaue them graunt for the See that the Bishop of Rome bee the ordayned Successour of Peter by the institution of Christ not onely in the Popedome but also in the particular See of Rome yet is it not certayne for the particular person of this or any present Pope whether hee bee the true and lawfull Bishop of Rome or no 1. For although Gregorie de Valentia doth thinke that Gods prouidence will alwayes secure the Church of a lawfull Pope 2. Yet hee confesseth that graue Doctors doe admit the case as possible and this according to them may fall out diuers wayes First if the Pope be promoted by Simonie and that this is not impossible Aquinas affirmes it 2a. 2a. q. 100. where hee saith Papa potest incurrere vitium Simoniae sicut quilibet alius the Pope may incurre the sinne of Simonie as well as any other The which opinion Cajetan and others vpon Thomas doe follow and it is moreouer a clause in the Bull of Pope Iulius the second That if any Pope happen to be chosen simoniacally the same
For he saith not absolutely whatsoeuer thy brother shall say or beleeue but if thy brother shall offend or trespasse against thee which make the most wee can is but quaestio facti non iuris that is a matter of fact not of faith it is onely touching some personall and perticular iniuries in deciding whereof the Papists themselues denie not but the Church may erre See aboue Grad 4. So Matth. 23. 2. Vpon the chaire of Moses haue sitten the Scribes and the Pharisees all things therfore whatsoeuer they shall say vnto you obserue ye and doe ye I answere that these words whatsoeuer they shall say vnto you are either to be taken conditionally that is with this prouise that they speake the truth otherwise not and then aduantageth it nothing the Papists cause or else absolutely and then our Sauiour should contradict himselfe who reproued the errors of the Scribes and Pharises Math. 5. and forewarned his Disciples to take heed of their leauen Matth. 16. 6. Besides all precepts concerne the time present or future now Bellarmine himselfe confesseth that the high-Priests Councels of the Iewes were at this present lyable to errour nay farther that it was prophesied that they should erre and denie Christ Isa 6. Dan. 9. and therefore this could bee no such absolute precept of obedience as the Papists imagine especialy to those which now liued when by their owne acknowledgement such as possest the Chaire of Moses might erre and be deceiued Other places are alleadged by our Aduersaries which because they run rather in the plurall number with vos you arguing a democracie or aristocracie in the Church then with te thee implying a Monarchie which to maintaine the Iesuites bend all their forces and for that they are to bee vnderstood primarily totally and absolutely of the Apostles secondarily partially and conditionally only of other pastors as Iohn 16. The spirit of truth shall leade you into all truth and Luke 10. Hee which heareth you heareth mee therefore the weight and load is laid vpon such particular promises as our Sauiour is thought to haue made vnto Peter in the Gospells Where to omit that of our Sauiour to Peter Luke 22. 32. I haue prayed for thee that thy faith faile not for which the Cardinall cannot produce one ancient father Popes excepted to proue that our Sauiour intended therein any speciall benefit to Peters Successors saue onely to his personall faith as also that which he spake vnto him Iohn 21. 15 Feede my Sheepe which of a precept they would willingly change into a promise contrarie to the rules of Grammer or Logicke as if Saint Peter had made Popes of the inferior pastors of the Church and their Successors when he bad them in like manner Feede the flocke of Christ forasmuch as Christs word is the same in his owne mouth and in the mouthes of his Apostles The maine foundation whereon at length they pitch is that of our Sauiours to Saint Peter Matth. 16. 18. And I say vnto thee that thou art Peter and vpon this rocke will I build my Church and the gates of hell shall not preuaile against it In which words they let not a tittle fall to the ground without admiration Our Sauiour say they speaks not as at other times Simon thou sonne of Ionas this was his vulgar stile he brought with him frō home and it was of his fathers bequeathing nor as otherwhile hee did by the sirname imposed by himselfe pronouncing it barely without an Emphasis onely Peter and no more but making as it were a preface to some new dignitie which he purposed to bestow vpon him I say vnto thee thou art Peter as who would say thou art a rocke and vpon thee that rock I will build my Church To giue more colour to this interpretation they will vs to take notice how our Sauiour spake not in the Greeke but in the Syriack language in which Cephas the name of Peter is the same in termination sound and sense that Peter is implying both of them a rocke This is a faire glosse if they were Masters of Languages and had commission to set forth new Calepines But first how chance that the Apostles which were better seene in the Syriacke Tongue it being their naturall dialect than you can be vnderstood not this elegancie but did afterwards quarrel about precedency not knowing that their Master had before past his promise thereof vnto Saint Peter How comes it that the Fathers pickt not out your sense who liued neerer the times of the Apostles as S. Austen Chrisostom Hilarie Basill Ambrose and others by this rocke vnderstood not Peter but either his confession or Christ whom hee confessed seeing this knowledge of the Church how by Scripture it is built vpon Peter was as behoofull for them as for vs. But secondly what if our Sauiour foreseeing that this Rocke would be lapis offendiculi a stone of offence and that some supposing Peter to bee it would at the sight thereof no lesse then at Gorgons head be stupified and turned into stones hath in the Greeke edition of Saint Matthewes Gospell which themselues deny not to be authenticall distinguished between the one the other by a threefold Gramatical difference then we cannot without contempt offered to Grammarians admit it or at least the sirrop of blind obedience swallow it downe Now our Sauiour saith not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou art Peter and vpon thee Peter or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou art a rock and vpon thee that rock I will build my Church but with a triple mutation and alteration in the construction first of the Person thou Peter in the second and that rocke in the third secondly of the gender 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the masculine and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the feminine thirdly of the sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which by the iudgement of the most iudicious Grecians signifies vsually but a single stone and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which implies a Rocke so that as our Sauiour in another place tels vs that God can of stones raise vp children vnto Abraham in like manner hee doth now by a nominall Metamorphosis conuert a Sonne of Abraham into a stone and a stone of his building too yet he doth not by this Charter so inlarge his shoulders as to serue for a rocke whereon to support his whole building Say farther hee did make him a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a deriuatiue or denominatiue from that rocke and so as the Fathers sometimes vsed the word by a Metonymie terme him a ministeriall rocke by which he built his Church yet did hee not by this make him the principall rock on which he built it Grant againe that hee was taught that amongst the ministeriall rocks he should be Petra primaria a prime rocke yet was he not made Petra solitaria the only rock In a word he might be admonished by this name to be Petra deuotione a rocke for deuotion and zeale in
adhering and yet not promised to bee petra virtute a rocke for vertue in sustayning So that to conclude there may be as you see in many things a likenesse betweene petrus petra this rocke and that stone yet not so much as that a reasonable lapidarie may not distinguish them SECT VI. The obiection drawne from the question how wee may know the authoritie sense puritie and perfection of the Scriptures handled and resolued THe last forme of argumentation which they vse is drawne from the dependancy which they say the Scriptures haue vpon the Church though not absolutely in themselues yet in respect of vs our discerning of them Whence they thus argue if the testimonie of the Church be not infallible how shall we be resolued in these three interrogatiues The first is touching the Scriptures authoritie whether they be the vndoubted Word of God or no The second touching their interpretation what their sense and meaning is The third concerning their puritie and perfection whether they be perfect and entire or maymed and corrupted To prepare the way for the resoluing of these questions we are to note that as to the right apprehension of an obiect by the sense so to the due comprehension of the Scriptures by the soule three things are ordinarily required Viz. 1. First that the Scriptures bee an obiect capable to be apprehended and discerned 2. Secondly that there bee organs and faculties as those of the bodie so these of the soule fitly disposed and qualified to receiue and discerne that obiect 3. Thirdly that there bee a medium that is a middle instrument or meanes to conuey present and vnite the obiect to the organ 1. For the first wee agree that to the end the Scriptures should bee an obiect capable to bee seene and discerned it is requisite that they should be endowed with such remarkable properties and notes as may distinguish them from other writings For we take not to taske to teach vnreasonable creatures as did Saint Francis neither doe we dreame of fanaticall inspirations imagining that God reueales things vnto vs ouer and besides the Word but wee inuite you to looke vpon the markes and characters of the Word and we say as Philip did to Nathaniel Ioh. 1. Come and see Now these properties notes and Characters by which the Word of God becomes an obiect distinct and capable to be knowne by vs are Either 1. Outwardly accompanying it as antiquitie miracles fulfilling of prophesies testimonies of Martyrs and the like which doe onely procure attention and prepare men to beleeue probably and with lesse difficultie 2. Inwardly imprinted in it as first the diuine and spirituall matters therein contayned surpassing all humane wisedom being things which neither eye hath seene nor eare hath heard neither haue entred into the heart of man Secondly The forme of the stile void of affectation yet transcending in quicknesse maiestie and fulnesse the Master-peeces of the most polite and elaborat Orators Thirdly The sweet harmonie and consent of parts with parts Lastly The efficacy and vertue which it hath to produce the loue of God and our Enemies to procure the peace of our Consciences to alienate a man from the delights of the Flesh and the World to make him reioyce in afflictions to triumph ouer Death all which doe necessarily conclude the diuine authoritie of the Scriptures seeing nature it selfe is thereby vanquisht and a strong man cannot be bound but by a stronger than himselfe 2. For the second wee agree that seeing wee are not able to discerne the Scriptures by any naturall habit or inbred qualitie of our owne For the naturall man as the Apostle speakes receiueth not the things of the Spirit of God because they are foolishnesse vnto him neither can he know them for that they are spiritually discerned 1. Cor. 2. that therefore wee are enabled thereunto by faith and by the inward enlightning and perswasion of Gods Spirit But I neede not insist vpon a point which Bellarmine himselfe labours so to proue in his 6. lib. de Grat. lib. Arbit cap. 1. 2. and is confirmed by the Tridentine Councell in the 6. Sess 3. Can. 3. For the third which is the medium wee are not of Democritus opinion who thought that if the aire which conueyes the beames of the Starres vnto vs were away one should bee able to spie a pismire in heauen but rather with Aristotle we thinke wee should then see nothing according to that axiome in philosophie In vacuo per vacuum nulla fit visio wee conseut therefore that God hath appointed an ordinarie meanes to conuey and present such celestiall obiects as the Word of God to our view and this ordinarie meanes wee say is the Church to which wee willingly attribute these two ordinarie vses in that imployment Viz. 1. First of a witnesse testifying the authoritie and sense of the Scriptures vnto vs wherein for the effect the papist and wee differ but this that wee say it produceth a faith no more than humane they lesse than diuine 2. Secondly of Gods instrument by whose ministerie in preaching expounding the Scriptures the holy Ghost begets a diuine Faith and other spirituall graces within vs. So that the question betweene vs is not whether we are to exclude the ordinarie ministerie of the Church testifying and propounding the Scriptures vnto vs for this wee doe not Nor on the other side Whether the authoritie of the Church be a sufficient argument of it selfe to produce a diuine assent vnto the same for this the learneder sort of them as anon you shal heare will not affirme But this Whether to the end that we may by the assistance of Gods Spirit and those inward notes and properties found in the Scriptures discerne the Word propounded by the Church vnto vs to be the Word of God infallibilitie be a requisite condition in the Propounder As if in playner termes one should say whether to the end that I may by the visage gesture and garments discerne my friend approaching towards me to bee such an one it bee needfull that the aire which conueyes those formes to my eye bee neuer and at no time capable by reason of mists or other accidents to represent false and deceitfull formes Or this whether to the end that a Gold-smith may by his touch-stone discerne a piece of gold deliuered him to bee good and currant it bee required that the parties credit which sells it him should bee vnquestionable This is that which in effect they affirme and this we denie To resolue therefore the difficultie We graunt that where the Propounder is the principall finall and onely cause for whose sake we beleeue a thing there if the Propounder bee liable to error and deceit a firme and vndoubted beliefe of such a thing cannot be had As for example if one onely Trauailer haue beene in the Indies and brings relation by word of mouth touching the commodities of the Countrie and
of the priuiledge of trafficke which the King thereof tenders to our countrimen in this case if the Relators credit bee suspitious it were dangerous to build vpon his report because here he is the principall and only cause vpon whose sole affirmation we can finally rest In like manner if two persons onely bee present at the death of a friend and depose that in this or that manner he bestowed legacies in this case if they be of doubtfull repute it will be hard to determine positiuely what is the truth because that here they are the principall and onely witnesses and there are no other authentike proofes whereby their depositions may be examined But where the Propounder is onely the instrument by whose meanes wee are brought to see proofes of an higher nature and by whose ministerie arguments of greater importance doe display themselues as if the Trauailer shall bring letters of Credence vnder the Hand Seale of the Prince confirming his Relation or if the persons present at the death of their friend shall besides their owne testimonie produce a formall will subscribed by the hands of lawfull witnesses and strengthened by an authentike seale here the possibilitie of erring in the Propounder takes not away the certaintie of the things propounded by him because in this case the same may be supplyed by other more sufficient demonstrations vpon which as the principall causes of our beliefe wee may finally rest Now to apply this to the Church I say that if the Church were the principall or onely Cause for whose authoritie our faith doth finally assent to the mysteries propounded by her then and vpon this supposition it were to be acknowledged that if the Church might erre and that her testimonie were not infallible the assured truth of things so assented vnto could not bee attayned by vs. But wee say that in working an vndoubted assent vnto the mysteries propounded and deliuered vnto vs the Church though it bee one cause to wit an inductiue or preparatiue yet is it not the onely no nor the principall or finall vpon which wee lastly depend The principall and finall causes for whose sake we firmely beleeue those truths which the Church propounds vnto vs touching the Scriptures are two The one the Word of God it selfe with the properties notes and characters aboue mentioned imprinted in the letter thereof which serue as the hand-writing and Deed of the great Maker produced by the Church in confirmation of what shee vtters The other the inward testimonie of Gods Spirit enlightning the eyes of our vnderstanding to discerne the Scriptures by those notes and perswading vs what we discerne stedfastly to beleeue seruing as a seale which confirmes to the consciences of the Elect the Deed to bee lawfull and authentike The former which is the Word it selfe and the notes thereof cannot bee denyed by an ingenious Papist to bee there found for howsoeuer some of them by a iust iudgement of God for being iniurious to the Scriptures in branding them with obscuritie imperfection c. haue beene so blinded by the Prince of darknesse that setting aside the iudgement of the Church no reason to them hath appeared wherefore Aesops Fables should not as well as the Scriptures themselues bee thought Canonicall yet others as Bellarmine Greg. de Valentia Gretser c. doe acknowledge these distinguishing notes to be in their kinde argumentatiue and to shine in them as the excellency of the Doctrine concord efficacie and the like whereby may be verified of the whole Booke of God what the Officers sent by the Pharisies and Priests said of our Sauiour Ioh. 7. Neuer man spake like this man Nor is the later which is the inward testimonie of the Spirit denyed by the learneder sort of Papists to possesse another chief place in the discouerie of the Scriptures For although in popular aire they seeme to vent the contrarie yet when they are called to giue a more sober account in writing they vtter the same in effect which we doe The Church saith Stapleton by reason of her ministerie and mastership receiued of God doth make vs to beleeue but yet the formall reason wherefore we beleeue is not the Church but God speaking within vs. Againe The minde of a faithfull beleeuer saith hee doth rest in the iudgement but not by the iudgement of the Church but by the inward grace of the holy Spirit So Gregorie de Valentia The infallible proposition of the Church saith he is as obscure to vs as any other article of faith whatsoeuer alleadging out of Canus That if a man should aske wherefore he beleeues the Trinitie he should answer incommodiously in saying because the Church doth infallibly propose it And Canus giues the reason Because the last resolution of faith saith he is not into the testimonie of the Church but into a more inward efficient cause that is into God inwardly mouing vs to beleeue If therefore addes Becanus you be asked wherefore you beleeue that God reuealed such a thing and you answere that you beleeue it for the authoritie of the Church it is not the assent of a theologicall faith but of some other faith of an inferiour ranke Many more testimonies might bee added it being a firme position amongst the Schoolemen that principles of faith such as the Scriptures are cannot bee beleeued as they ought to bee but by infused faith But I will conclude where I began with our Countriman Stapleton because he layes downe the very fundamentall reason vpon which this Doctrine is grounded There is the same faith saith hee in the rest of the whole Church which is in the Prophets Apostles and all those who are immediately taught of God They haue one and the same formall reason of their act of beleeuing But the faith of the Apostles and Prophets which was by immediate reuelation was lastly resolued into God alone the Reuealer and did end and rest vpon him onely as the supreme and last cause of beleeuing therefore the faith of the rest of the whole Church hath the same formall obiect These foundations being laid it shall not be hard to shape distinct answeres to the seuerall questions aboue propounded To the first if the testimonie of the Church bee not infallible how shall wee vndoubtedly knowe the Scriptures to bee the Word of God I answere that wee may know them to bee so partly by the light of the Word that is the diuine notes and characters therein imprinted and partly by the enlightning and perswading grace of Gods Spirit enabling vs to see and mouing vs to beleeue what wee see Now on the contrarie I demand of them If one cannot bee assured of the certaintie of the Scriptures propounded by the Church vnlesse the proposition of the Church bee infallible how the lay Papists in this Land doe know any article of faith to be infallibly true considering that few or none of them euer heard the voyce of that Church which they
suppose to bee infallible that Church being according to their supposition either the Pope in his chaire or a Generall Councell but are engaged altogether to the reports of particular Priests and Iesuites whom none will exempt from being subiect to error and deceit 2. To the second question if the exposition of the Church be not infallible how doe we know the sense and meaning of the Scriptures I answere that although all places of the Scripture are not alike perspicuous as all are not alike necessarie to saluation yet for the opening of the sense thereof so farre as is behoofefull for his Church God is the best Interpreter of his owne meaning expounding outwardly one place of the Word by another inwardly both opening ones eyes to discerne and enclining ones heart to assent vnto the truth As for those which cannot see but with the Popes spectacles and pretend the Scriptures to bee euery where throughout so ouershadowed with a mist that nothing presents it selfe cleerly to their view I wonder the lesse at them because their blindnesse is such that they cannot see to serue God without burning Tapers and lighted Candles at noone day Now on the other side I demand of them if one cannot know the certaine meaning and sense of the Scriptures vnlesse the exposition of the Church be infallible 1. Wherefore hath not the Church of Rome all this while publisht a set interpretation vpon any one book of the Bible considering that they say it is so necessarie and that the Popes Commentaries vpon it haue for so many Marts beene expected 2. How a man which cannot discerne the sense of the Scriptures in plaine places shall be able to shun the processe in infinitum and not runne his wits out of breath considering that according to the Papists themselues the voyce of the Church vttered in former Decrees requires the exposition of the present Church meaning the Pope and that the Churches Canons are inuol'd with no lesse if not more perplexeties than the Scriptures I could instance in ancient Councells as the Nicen and aske whether the sixth Canon wherein these wordes be Quoniam talis est Episcopo Romano consuetudo are to bee vnderstood according to the opinion of Ruffinus or Balsamon or Caranza or Bellarmine which foure are recounted by Bellarmine lib 2. de Rom. Pont. c. 13. But because I desire to confine my selfe to that which is pure Roman let 's cast the water of the Tridentine Synagogue and see whether that runnes so cleere as they pretend I aske therefore first touching the Canonicall bookes the number and names whereof the Fathers therein assembled were so carefull to set downe Sess 4. whether that which we call the Apocrypha Esther be there canonized as Bellarmine affirmeth lib. 1. de verbo Dei c. 7. or whether that booke and those which are called additaments bee there excluded from the Canon as Sixtus Senensis in lib. 1. 8. biblioth sanct doth auouch Secondly for the intention required by the Councell in him which administers the Sacrament Sess 7. I aske whether the wordes of the Councell be to be vnderstood according to Catharinus opinion in opusc or Bellarmines lib. 1. de Sacram in Gen. c. 27. Thirdly I aske how it comes to passe that Priscian and our old Grammarians will not serue to construe the text of the Councel if the Roman Church can endite with so perspicuous a stile but that Sess 7. Can. 8. Opus operatum must contrarie to the Grammar rules as Bellarmine confesseth lib. 2. de Sacram. c. 1. be vnderstood passiuely And that in the sixth Sess cap. 5. de iustif it is said Neque homo ipse nihil omninò agat wherein contrarie to Grammar are two negatiues expressed which cannot bee resolued into an affirmatiue Fourthly if the interpretations of the Church are so facile and easie whether was the Councell of Trents meaning concerning Originall sinne and Iustification the same that Dominicus a Soto affirms it to be or that which Ambrosius Catharinus attributes vnto it seeing both were present at the drawing of the Canons both presented books for proofe of their opinions to the Councell which are now extant and the Councell it selfe being appealed vnto could not decide the Controuersie nor agree what was her owne meaning therein To the third question if the tradition of the Church be not infallible how shall we know whether the Scriptures be perfect and entire or maimed and corrupted I answer that there is a double perfection of the Scriptures the one of integrall parts which appertaines to the perfection of each booke Chapter and verse in particular the other of essentiall parts which pertaine to the perfection of sauing knowledge If the question be of the integrall puritie and perfection how I know that there be copies of the Scriptures in the world by iudicious comparing whereof light may bee giuen to correct all manifest errors and defects crept into the Text whether by negligence or ignorance of the transcribers or otherwise I answer that I am assured thereof by the promises of God in generall to establish a perpetuitie of sauing knowledge and true beliefe in his Church and consequently by that firme foundation of his prouidence which appointing the end to witte eternall life will neuer suffer the meanes conducting thereunto either to perish or being disparaged by corruptions to become fruitlesse Neither doth Greg de Valentia run for farther proofes to secure the Popes legitimacie and salue the danger to which the Latine vulgar edition of the Bible is lyable by often impressions then this prouidence of God But if the question be of the essentiall puritie and perfection of the Scriptures how one may be assured that so much as contaynes points necesarie to saluation is preserued perfect and entire in them I answer that to resolue ones selfe herein he hath besides the generall promises of God and his neuer fayling prouidence an experimentall knowledge also springing from that amplitude of comfort and consolation which Gods Spirit effects by the Scriptures in the hearts and consciences of true beleeuers For such is the vnion and coherence of points necessarie to saluation on with the other that one workes not his proper effect where the other is not at least in some reasonable and conuenient measure knowne and beleeued Now on the contrarie I demaund of them if we cannot bee assured of the puritie and perfection of the Scriptures vnlesse the Tradition of the Church concerning it bee infallible how a man can euer bee resolued thereof from the Church of Rome Which first could neither heretofore preserue her Latine vulgar editions of the Bible which shee preferres before the originall from manifest Corruptions as may appeare by the corrections of Origen and Hierom nor at this day hath been able to Canonize any edition without permitting faults solecismes Barbarismes Misinterpretations Ambiguities Additions Substractions Transpositions Immutations Deprauations and the like which are confest by
Pagnine Caietan Forerius Oleaster Sixtus Senensis Bellarmine and others to bee found in their newest and most approued Bibles Secondly which disparageth the Churches fidelitie and care teaching that it hath lost many bookes of the Old Testament of which Becanus reckons vp particularly no fewer then 18. theol scholast part 2. Thirdly which actually hath lost many articles of faith heretofore defined declared by it as Valentia grants Tom. 3. in Thom. disp 1. All arguing her to bee an incompetent Mistris of other mens purses which hath beene so negligent a guardian of her owne So then let vs cast vp the reckoning and see what small aduantage the Papists haue of vs in these questions of the Scripture Wee runne on thus farre together that to a distinct resolution of them there is required the testimonie of the word speaking outwardly to our eares the testimonie of the spirit speaking inwardly to our hearts and the testimonie of the Church preparing the way by her message for the other two The combate stands chiefely in this that they beleeue the message because they thinke the Messenger cannot lye wee beleeue the message not because wee thinke the Messenger cannot lye but because he which sent him speakes the same by his deede and seale nay farther comes in person along with him and by a double affirmation the one of his word the other of his spirit confirmes the Messengers saying in this particular to bee true so that in fine their lustie brags obtayne but this issue that we beleeue the man for the masters sake they beleeue the master for the mans sake SECT VII The new sleights and deuices which the Iesuites vse in enforcing these arguments touching the Church and the Scriptures BVt see what the Lyons pawes can effect they think to compasse by the Foxes wiles and therefore they haue instilled a method of disputing into the common people which howsoeuer it will not hold water in the schooles yet because it haply passeth the throng in the streets it shall not be amisse to discouer some trickes and deuices of theirs in this kinde that you may see how they detaine the truth in vniustice as the Apostle speakes and that the penurie to which they are driuen is such that now their chiefest warre is but defensiue The first tricke of theirs is to teach the people to require vs to proue and shew by euident demonstration the Scriptures to be the Word of God and that to those which beleeue them not As if one should say Imagine that I gaue no credit to the Scriptures how will you which depend not finally vpon the authoritie of the Church make it appeare by euident conuincing proofes and reasons vnto me that they are the Word of God I could retort and how will you conuince me by the authority of the Church that they are the Word of God if first I beleeue them not to bee so considering that your owne Diuines Bellarmine by name lib. 4. de Eccles cap. 3. confesse that one cannot euidently demonstrate the true Church by any notes to bee the true one but to such an one as first beleeues and receiues the Scriptures because the notes of the Church are from thence to bee taken and deduced But by this question you may perceaue that Poperie is a disease working vpon corrupt humours and cannot domineere but there where the flesh and humane reason weare the breeches First they require one to proue that by such euidence as it is not capable of For principles of faith such as the Scriptures are are apprehended by faith and this faith howsoeuer it bringeth with it certaintie yet it doth not clearnesse Whether you reflect vpon the matter which are things not seene Heb. 11. or the manner it being through a glasse darkely 1. Cor. 13. Againe that certaintie being inward it serues but for the satisfying of ones selfe not for the conuiction of others Secondly they bid vs proue it to one who by Aristotles rule in a like case should bee excluded from being partaker of so high mysteries in that hee is not idoneus auditor that is one that by reason of vnbeliefe is not capable of the right proper proofes which is as much as if one should dispute of colors with a blind man Against which fopperies Thomas Aquinas layes downe two remarkeable propositions 1. part q. â— art 8. The one that Diuinitie is not argumentatiue to proue her principles but onely to proue her conclusions The other that against one which absolutely denies her principles and namely the Scriptures one cannot proceed probando but soluendo that is not by prouing the truth thereof but by dissoluing the reasons brought to the contrarie Their second deuice is to question vs not onely how wee proue the Scriptures in generall to bee the Word of God but also in speciall how wee know the Gospell of Saint Matthew to bee the Gospell of Saint Matthew how we are assured of the sense and interpretation of such a particular verse how wee rest satisfied that this or that syllable is correctly imprinted or that haply not vnderstanding Hebrew and Greeke one may bee confident that our translation accords throughout with the originall This forme of questioning might indeed carry some credit with it if wee either dreamed of a perfection of knowledge in this life or conceiued a paritie of gifts in all men for the discerning of this Word or an equalitie of necessitie in the things therein contayned But forasmuch as we acknowledge neither perfection nor paritie of gifts to be found here nor lastly an equalitie of necessitie in the things to require a distinct answer to all such questions from all men is most vniust and altogether besides the purpose For as touching perfection we confesse with the Apostle that we know but in part and prophesie but in part 1. Cor. 13. 9. And as for equalitie as we ascribe not that degree of iudgement to any one member which we doe to the whole Church so we make the skill of discerning to differ in the members and that in a three-fold respect 1. First in respect of the grace of God enlightning vs which is giuen vnto euery one not equally but according to the measure of the gift of Christ Ephes 4. 7. 2. Secondly in respect of the meanes wherewith the holy Ghost cooperates which are hearing of the Word of God preached meditation studie skill of tongues and the like which are diuers in all For we relye not as I said before vpon speciall and immediate reuelations as the Prophets and Apostles did but on the grace of God concurring with our meditations and the vse of the publike meanes 3. Thirdly in respect of the matters contayned in the Scriptures whereof all display not themselues alike being not all equally and alike necessarie to saluation some imposing an absolute necessitie of beliefe others onely a conditionall that is a preparation of minde to giue fuller credence when it
shall please God farther to enlighten one as in the question of the authoritie of the Scriptures the knowing of the Instrument or Pen-man whether it bee Saint Matthew or Saint Paul is not simply so requisite as to know the principall Authour which is God nor to determine punctually of the wordes so oblieging as to beleeue the sense nor againe of the sense of some places and texts as of other all are to striue vnto perfection but as the difference is in the gifts of arte grace and nature so shall the difference be in the measure of the knowledge of all or some The third trick and sleight of theirs which they put vpon the people in this kinde is that bidding them to vrge vs to proue the Scriptures to bee the Word of God or that they are cleare and easie in points necessarie to saluation and knowing that the chiefe proofes vpon which we rest are embowelled in the very body of the Text itselfe first they forbid the lay people to reade the Scriptures vnlesse they obtayne speciall licence from the Bishop or Inquisitor to doe it as appeares by the fourth rule of prohibited bookes which is at the end of the Tridentine Councell And the granting of these licences is now againe taken away by Clement the eighth as may bee seene in his Index of prohibited bookes printed at Paris by Laurentius Sonius and cited also by Iustinianus a Priest of the Congregation of the Oratorie lib. 1. de Scriptura cap. 9. Secondly because they know that some people will bee itching notwithstanding this prohibition to looke into the Scriptures and to see whether matters bee so as wee affirme them to bee therefore they crie downe our Bibles and present a Bible of their owne translation which to argue the obscuritie of the Scriptures they patch vp with such gallimaufrie and inke-horne termes that an ordinarie man may bee confounded with the strangenesse of the wordes As in the old Testament publisht by the Colledge of Doway in stead of Fore-skin they put Prepuce Gen. 17. for Passeouer Phase for vnleauened bread Azims Exod. 12. for high places Excelses 2. King 15. for the holy of holyest Sancta Sanctorum 1. Chr. 6. Nor are they lesse ridiculous in the new Testament set forth by the Colledge of Rhemes where you haue these English wordes piping hot out of the Popes mint Depositum Exinanited Parasceue Didragmes Neophyte Gratis with the spirituals of wickednesse in the Celestials and many more labouring by what meanes they can as our learned Fulke shewes in his Preface to that Testament to suppresse the light of Truth vnder one pretence or another Their fourth stratagem is that after their lay disciples haue giuen so loud a defiance to our Cause as may make simple standers by conceiue so great a crie must needes carrie some wooll with it then if by chance any of the companie vndertake to answere them to fetch them off againe with aduantage by making it knowne afore-hand vnto their Pupils that howsoeuer they may bragge it is forbidden yet vnto a lay man vnder paine of excommunication to dispute of matters of faith which constitution is in the Popes owne Decretals and Emanuel Sa hath it in his Aphorismes voce fides By which meanes they both barre vs after iust prouocation to informe and satisfie their adherents and with all cherish presumption in their followers as not being silenced by the weaknesse of their cause but by the command of their Superiors Their fifth deuice is that if notwithstanding the prohibition to dispute aboue mentioned some of their lay Auditors should be so hardie as to venture a skirmish then to diuert them from reasoning out of the Scriptures least the light thereof should some manner of way or other display it selfe they busie their heads with questions aboue their capacitie as where was our Church before Luther what the exposition of the Doctors in all Ages what the Doctrine of the Fathers Councells and Schoolemen which is the common Theame of this Age hoping that either a few old wiues fables or fragments of antiquitie shall serue to puffe vp their men with conceit of victorie where they finde not equall opponents or where they doe yet they shall not abate thereby any whit of their courage as being for want of artes and languages vnable to see the point of the weapon which is darted at them I meane the truth of those things which are alleaged Their sixt deuice is that if any of their laytie notwithstanding those prohibitions and this diuersion will presume so farre vpon the indulgencie of their ghostly Fathers as to hazard a dispute out of the Bible yet to doe it with aduantage enough on their side they counsell him to make no thrusts but to lie onely vpon the ward and therein to enioyne vs to shew the articles of Faith established in our Church in iust so many wordes and syllables in the Scriptures and as if grace destroyed nature to forbid vs the benefit of Reason or Consequences 1. If we infer any thing by way of consequence they tell vs that wee violate that which wee haue promised to the World which is to proue all our Assertions out of the pure Word of God Whereas according to the grand principle of Logicke De omni de nullo a truth deduced out of another truth is acknowledged to bee contayned therein for otherwise it could not bee drawne from thence So that to bee in the Word of God is to bee the Word of God As Gregorie de Valentia saith of the more distinct conceptions of any obiect that they are contayned implicitly in the more generall as particulars are in vniuersalls And therefore Bellarmine speaking of matters of faith makes those things as well to bee knowne by certaintie of faith which are deduced by necessarie consequences from the Scriptures as those which are immediatly contayned therein 2. If we deduce an article from premises whereof any one proposition is not in the Bible though otherwise it be a principle of nature as for example that a body cannot be in two places at the same time they aske how such a Conclusion can bee of faith or how wee can auerre that our articles of faith are proued out of the pure Word of God considering that a Conclusion takes his efficacie not from one but from both the premises Which argument concludes our Aduersaries as much if not more then it doth vs. For the maynest principle of their to wit That those which professe the faith vnder the Bishop of Rome are the Church of Christ cannot be deduced by Bellarmines logick but search made in the Court Rolls of Nature and by borrowing an Euidence from thence to supply the place of one of the premisses But to speake more punctually we say that those principles of Nature which we imploy in this kinde are also vertually included in the Scriptures though not expresly As hee that faith Socrates is a
him to speake but by writing nor that writing to bee ordinarily read and declared without an Herald The principall Iudge wee say is God himselfe from whom proceedes the knowledge of all supernaturall truths whatsoeuer The instruments whereby hee communicates them vnto vs are threefold first his Spirit whereby he speakes inwardly vnto vs both enlightning vs to behold and perswading vs to beleeue the sense and meaning of his mysteries Yet is not this a priuate spirit because it reueales not ought vnto vs besides the publicke writing nor ordinarily without the ministerie of the Church For to speake more clearely a spirit may be termed priuate Either 1. Ratione Principij in regard of the author and efficient from whence it comes 2. Ratione Subiecti in regard of the subiect or person in which it dwells 3. Ratione Medij in regard of the meanes which it vseth Now the spirit wherby we iudge of diuine truths howsoeuer it may bee termed priuate in regard of the Subiect or Person wherin it inhabites hee being haply as most men are of a priuat condition yet we allow it not to bee priuate either in regard of the meanes which it vseth which are the reading of the Scriptures publike ministerie of the Church Councells Fathers c. or in respect of the Author efficient thereof which is the Holy Ghost the common father of light and grace at which kind of spirit Saint Peter specially aymes when hee saith no Scripture is of priuate interpretation 2. Pet. 1. The second instrument whereby God declares his sentence is the Scripture which is the only outward infallible rule whereby Controuersies may be resolued and decided and is not to be accounted imperfect or vnsufficient for this purpose because all men are not able to pry forth with into the meaning thereof throughout or for that it wants vocall organs to expresse which amidst varietie of senses attributed vnto it is his owne For it promiseth not to doe this but to those who are enlightned with the spirit and which make right vse of the publike meanes as the ministerie of the Church reading of Authors comparing of places and the like Logicians telling vs that an instrument is then sayd to be sufficient not when it serues for all vses and in all manners whatsoeuer but when it serues to such an end and in such sort applyed as the principall efficient hath ordainedit as a writing is then sufficiently legeable if those which haue eyes and a will therunto can read it though to the blind and negligent it seeme otherwise The third instrument whereby God publisheth his decrees is the Church and in it the Bishops and Pastors thereof whether assembled in Councels or otherwise considered in their ordinarie ministerie This holds the place of an Herald and howsoeuer it stands not in equipage with the two former yet God hath commanded vs to heare it and promised that it shall neuer erre in fundamentall points either totally or finally So that in summe the totall and plenary indicature of matters of Faith belongs to the Holy Ghost whereby the Iudge of these things properly taken is he alone the gift of his spirit the Scriptures and the Church are but partiall instruments of promulgation seruing onely as seuerall trunkes and pipes whereby his decree arriues at the eares of our vnderstanding yet if any shall compare the outward instruments together the Church and the Scriptures and demand by which of the two it is that the Holy Ghost speakes properly as hee is iudge of Controuersies and on which wee are finally to rest for his infallible sentence I answer not the Church but the Scriptures First in respect of their dignity because the Scriptures are the immediate worke of God dictated by his Spirit Whereas the expositions of the Church proceed not immediately from God but mediating the voice of the Scriptures Secondly in respect of their certainty for the church is subiect to error the Scriptures are not Againe the truth in regard of the Scriptures is fixt and therefore easie to be there found shee being alwayes lodged in the same bookes but in regard of the Church it is Ambulatorie and therefore needes more search to discouer it there as not being entayled either to chaire place or person Thirdly in respect of the order and manner of knowing them for howsoeuer by a confused knowledge the Church may bee notior Scripturis knowen better then the Scriptures and-before them yet according to a distinct knowledge are the Scriptures notiores Ecclesia knowne better and sooner then the Church for the true Scriptures are knowne by their owne light but the true Church is not knowne but by the light of the Scriptures The conceit that the Church must be accompanied with infallibilitie if to no other end yet to make a finall end of Controuersies vpon earth is ridiculous for if they suppose a finall end of Controuersies amongst all men whatsoeuer first they suppose that which shall neuer be whilest the Church is militant vpon earth for the Apostle tells vs that there must be heresies 1. Cor. 11. Secondly they present a meanes vncompetent to compasse that which they designe by naming the Church of Rome to that office both in that she is a partie and hath not as yet cleared her title to that dignitie and in that infallibilitie in the Iudge is not sufficient to compose differences in supernaturall matters without grace in the hearer which is no coyne that comes out of the Popes treasurie nor hear be that growes in his Garden but raines from heauen where and what measure God pleaseth On the other side if more particularlie they require an end of Controuersies amongst those whom God hath elected and that so farre as is necessarie for the saluation of their soules it is needlesse to attribute infallibilitie to the Church for the seruing of this Cure because to them God supplyes the infallible assurance of his truth by meanes more excellent and agreeable to the nature of his spirituall Kingdome to wit by his Wisedome in furnishing them with a rule both able to bee knowne by its notes and characters and also sufficient to decide all necessarie questions that may at any time be incident by his Grace enabling them to see the truth and demonstrating the certaintie thereof to their consciences and by his Prouidence raising vp faithfull Pastors in one place or other to prepare open and display those verities and decisions to the flocke Many like cratchets to these and answered by the same grounds doe issue daily out of the Iesuits warehouse as for example if wee produce one place of Scripture to proue the meaning of another they bid them call vpon vs to alleadge a third place which shall say that this place ought to bee expounded by that as if wee needed a Text to proue God no lyar or that he doth not contradict himselfe If in disputing vpon any subiect we goe about to destroy their Assertion they will them
excludes no sort or condition of men There is neither Iew nor Greeke there is neither Bond nor Free there is neither Male nor Female for yee are all one in Christ Iesus saith the Apostle Gal. 3. 3. Thirdly in respect of time because it shall neuer cease nor faile but continue in one place or other vntill the last day according to that promise of our Sauiour that hee would be with vs alwayes euen vnto the end of the world Matth. 28. Thus you see modum essendi the manner of the Church Catholikes being but modus cognoscendi the manner of knowing it is more questionable for on it depends that great question of our dayes wherein the Iesuites so triumph concerning the perpetuitie and visibilitie of our Church in all Ages For our better progresse wherein wee are to note that a thing may bee knowne two manner of wayes Viz. 1. The one a priori that is by arguments drawne from causes or principles which force an assent to a thing though as yet one sees not the truth of the same by experience Thus from that principle in Philosophie that heauie things tend downewards to the center I know that a plummet of lead would fall to the center of the earth if no thicke or grosse body interposed it selfe although I neuer saw any conclusion or practice of the fame Thus from that principle in Diuinitie that there is a resurrection of the body I beleeue that who euer lye buried in their Sepulchres shall rise againe although mine eyes were neuer witnesses of any such resurrection 2. The other a posteriori that is by arguments drawn from the effects to the cause or by grounding ones knowledge and certaintie vpon the sense of an experiment as when one beleeues that the fire is hot because hee feeles it burne or that the Sea is salt because he tastes it brinish Both these haue their vses being rightly and with due circumspection applyed but they are not alwayes and in all subiects alike demonstratiue and therefore the question will bee which of them the Creed requires for the procuring of a firme beliefe and assent to this article of the Catholike Church I must confesse that arguments a posteriori that is from testimonies of men pointing out by name the Professors and vpholders of any Religion in all Ages is a great motiue and inducement to perswade that such a Religion is Catholike that is vniuersall in respect of place persons and time and that the Church professing such a Religion is of the like amplitude and antiquitie But yet this is not that modus cognoscendi that manner of knowing the true Church to be Catholike which is proper to the Creed or by which Faith cleaues vnto it and beleeues it as an article of saluation that manner of knowing it to be so is onely a priori by diuine principles that is by Gods promises made vnto it in the Scriptures where wee reade that of Christs Kingdome there shall be no end Psal 2. that the gates of hell shall not preuaile against it Matth. 16. and that our Sauiour will continue with vs vnto the end Math. 28. these are the pedigrees of Christs Church by these it proues it selfe to be of an ancient stemme that it had noble Progenitors he which playes the Herald and points out the seuerall descents of her sonnes with their lots and portions in all Ages he may somewhat illustrate the Church Catholike he cannot strengthen or confirme it hee may bee a Thomas Didimus which will not beleeue vnlesse hee sees hee cannot bee any of those blessed of our Sauiour which see not and yet beleeue Ioh. 20. Now that the Catholicisme of the Church that is the vniuersalitie duration and perpetuitie thereof so farre as it enters the Creed is to bee knowne onely a priori by the promises made in the Scriptures vnto it and not a posteriori that is by instances shewing the visible Professors of the same in all Ages I shall not neede to trauaile farther then the Creed it selfe to make it good My first reason shall be drawne from the condition of the Church Catholike as it is an article of our Creed and as we say I beleeue the Catholike Church From whence I thus argue Whatsoeuer wee are to beleeue as an article of the Creed the same must bee endowed with these foure conditions The first that the proofe of it be perfect for otherwise if it prooue but in part it cannot suffice for an article of faith The second that the ground vpon which it depends be some diuine and infallible principle for otherwise it may create an opinion in one but it cannot beget a faith Thirdly that all those who are bound to beleeue it be capable of the manner of prouing it as Valentia requires in these cases And lastly that it bee not the obiect of sense For Faith saith the Apostle to the Hebrewes chap. 11. is the euidence of things not seene and Thom. Aquin. 2◠2◠q. 1. saith plainly vt fidei obiectum sit aliquod visum fieri non potest it cannot bee that the obiect of faith should bee any thing seene But the proofe of the vniuersalitie of the Church which is a posteriori by the seuerall visible Professors of the same first is no perfect proofe for it depends vpon the testimonie of Doctors whereof in some ages few haue written and those which haue written haue not written of all points so that their consent in diuers Articles is rather charitably presumed than certainely knowne Secondly it is no proofe depending vpon diuine and infallible principles but vpon the testimonie and credit of men who may erre and bee deceiued Thirdly it is not a proofe of which all men are capeable for it consists partly of the voluminous writings of Historians partly of the immense dictates of the Fathers partly of the perplexe and inextricable subtilties of the Schoole-men to which few haue time and meanes all not capacitie to attaine Lastly by demonstrating the vniuersality and perpetuitie of the Church from the visibilitie of it it makes the Church as Catholicke to bee the obiect of the sense and so by consequence makes it to bee no Article of Faith My second reason shal be drawen from the nature of the Church Catholick in it selfe and the incapability of it to be subiect to arguments a posteriori that is of sense visibility it being not properly or if properly yet not alwaies snfficiently visible for this purpose Forthe better vnderstāding wherof we must premise some distinctions touching the Church Catholicke The Catholicke Church may bee considered either in respect of its 1. Matter of which it is composed which are men 2. Forme In respect of its Matter so it may be taken either according to its full Latitude and extent excluding no time no places nor any condition of men or in a limited sense in respect of its parts and those considered not together but seuerally with relation to their proper
that it is a matter of faith which they propound This if they do it will soone appeare that the Church of Rome for a 1000 yeres after our Sauior professed no other Faith nor published any other beliefe in points fundamentall either Negatiue or Affirmatiue then wee doe The fift that after a thousand and some few yeares more were expired Transubstantiation and Adoration of the Host with other dregs of Antichrist being established though we cannot say that the Church of Rome was from thenceforth absolutely our Church yet we may boldly say that our Church was from that time vntill Luther both within the Romane Church and without it For the clearer demonstration whereof wee are to note that our Church had in those dayes a twofold subsistencie the one separate from the Church of Rome the other mixt and conioyned with it Separate so it was in the Albigences and Waldenses a people who so soone as the Church of Rome had interpreted her selfe touching sundrie of those maine points of difference betweene vs and that a man could no longer communicate with her in the publicke worship of God by reason of some Idolatrous rites and customes which she had established arose in France Sauoy and the places neere adioyning and professed the same substantiall Negatiues and Affirmatiues which wee doe in a state separate from the Church of Rome hauing Pastors and Congregations apart to themselues euen vnto this day From these descended the Wicklefists in England and the Hussites in Germanie and others in other Countries who mauger the furie of fire and sword maintayned the same doctrine that they did And if any be desirous to be more particularly informed touching what they held and taught because they are out of malice as some Popish writers more ingenious do testifie branded with new and vnheard of opinions which their confessions Catechismes and other writings to be seen at this present do disclayme as were also the Christians in the Primitiue Church by the Pagans and wee in like manner by the Romanists let the testimonies of their Aduersaries themselues which are strong as one spake once of Porphyryes and admit no contradiction cleare them For points of doctrine therefore Reynerius an inquisitor against them and one that liued three hundred yeeres agone will tell you that they beleeued all things well of God and all the articles of which are contained in the Creed onely the Church of Rome they hated and blasphemed Claudius Seysellus Arch-bishop of Turin in Piedmont who died more then an hundred yeres since and being their neighbour laboured most carefully both to informe himselfe concerning their positions and also to confute them layes no more to their charge then what Alphonsus a Castro Prateolus Cardinall Bellarmine Gregorie de Valentia Gaulterus and other of the Roman Pale doe in their writings acknowledge viz. that they denied 1. The inuocation of Saints Bell. de cultu sanct lib. 3. cap. 7. 2. The placing of Images in Churches or worshipping of them Bell. de reliq sanct lib. 2. cap. 6. 3. Confirmation to bee a Sacrament Castro v. confirmatio 4. Auricular confession Castro v. confessio 5. Popish Indulgences Valent. in Thom. tom 3. disp 7. q. 20. p. 2. 6. Purgatorie Valent. in Thom. tom 4. disp 11. q. 1. § 6. Bell. lib. 1. de purg cap. 2. 7. Masses for the dead Prat. v. Waldenses 8. Merits Castro v. ieiunium Gaulterus in Cronolog ad an 1200. 9. Orders of begging Friers Castro v. Monachatus 10. Extreame vnction to bee a Sacrament Castro v. extrema vnctio 11. Exorcismes in Baptisme Castro v. exorcismus Gault cron loc citat 12. The consecrating of Oyle Salt Franckincence Boughes c. Castro v. benedictio 13. Transubstantiation Bellarm. lib. 1. de Eucharist cap. 2. Valent. tom 4. in Thom. disp 6. quaest 3. punct 1. 6. 14. The Popes supremacie Bellar. in Praefat. ad lib. de Rom. Pont. 15. Vnwritten Traditions to be the rule of faith Seissel p. 4. with many others of like nature For Discipline I cannot tell what the necessitie of the times might force them to practise this wee are taught by Sanders haeres 150. and by Gaulterius in his Chronologie ad an 1200. both Romanists that they held three Orders to bee in the Church viz. of Deacons Priests and Bishops nay the Hussites which descended from them did so highly esteeme of these Orders that as Bellarmine and Gregorie de Valentia doe acknowledge they receiued none into the Office of Pastors but such as were ordayned by Bishops The state of the Church mixt and conioyn'd with the Church of Rome it selfe consisted of those who making no visible separation from the Roman profession as not perceiuing the mysterie of iniquitie which wrought in it did yet mislike the grosser errors which at this day shee maintayneth and desired a reformation For there may bee a Church which in respect of her chiefe Prelates and a predominant faction therein may bee false and Antichristian yet may contayne some members of the true Church within her Pale who though they refuse not to communicate with her nay more are infected with some smaller errors of the time yet swallow not downe all vntruths without difference but keepe still the foundation of faith intire and vnshaken Thus it was with the Church of the Iewes at the comming of our Sauiour They which fate in Moses chaire were the Scribes and the Pharisies who peruerted the doctrine of the Law and were the profest enemies of our Sauiour yet many there were who though they communicated with them in the outward Sacraments and discipline of the Church yet were the flock of another fold and like a few Oliues at the end of a twig after the shaking of the tree claue to the right stocke and wayted for the redemption of Israel by Christ And thus doubtlesse it was with some which being outwardly of the Church of Rome wee may iustly notwithstanding challenge to our selues 1. For first there was baptisme which admitted them to the rights and priuiledges of our Church for they were baptised vnto Christs Truth and not the Popes errors Secondly There was true lawfull ordination wherein their Pastors receiued commission and did promise to teach the people not the Popes legends but out of the holy Scriptures and to intend wholly to the sense thereof So that both Pastor and flock were ours by admission promise and ingagement theirs by abuse and practise for howsoeuer the Priest at the baptising or the Bishop at the ordination had another meaning yet the wordes wherewith they baptised and ordayned being the wordes of Christ are to be taken in Christs meaning inasmuch as hee which receiueth a thing from another is to receiue it according to the intention of the principall Giuer and not the instrumentall giuer Hee which conferres Baptisme and Orders as the principall Donor is Christ the Bishop or Pastor conferres them onely as his instruments Thirdly There were
sufficient meanes of Calling besides to supply the Pastors negligence and default as first profitable parcells of Gods Word read in the Church and the whole bodie of the Scriptures at hand which though it were in Latine yet many might vnderstand it and this our Sauiour pointed at when hee brings in Abraham in the Parable thus speaking to the rich man touching his brethren habent Mosen Prophetas they haue Moses and the Prophets Secondly The Writings and Commentaries of the Fathers to whose interpretations their Councells binde them to adhere and out of whom diuers of the Papists both ancient and moderne doe confesse as you haue heard that many of the chiefe articles of Poperie were not for a long time brought into the Church nor beleeued Thirdly Schoolemen and others of their owne side which taught publikely in their Vniuersities our very doctrine not I confesse so entirely as they should but some in one point others in another whereby there was both pregnant meanes to know the truth and strong reasons to thinke at least the doctrines so controuerted and diuersly resolued to be in the Popish sense at most no article of faith Lastly there were no Councells generally receaued by all and not excepted at by some which so expresly deliuered the grounds and Tenets of Poperie as now they are vntill the Councell of Trent So then who can denie that they were ours by Calling ours by Ordination by institution and admission ours and why should any doubt but that some were by practice and obedience ours surely God which called Iob amongst the Heathen and the Queene of the South by the bare report of Solomon would not suffer this Calling to be stil in vaine the Ordination to be wholly vnprofitable or that Admission in baptisme to be alwayes frustrate that is to be the sauour of death vnto death and in none the sauour of life vnto life For if sheepe in a pasture where venemous herbes are mixt with wholsome can by the instinct of nature make choise of that which is proper for them and abstaine from the contrarie what maruaile is it if the flocke of Christ who know the voyce of the true Shepheard from the voyce of strangers should by the guidance of Gods assisting Spirit doe the same Who can denie that God hath his Temple where Antichrist hath his Throne seeing Antichrist as the Apostle tells vs is to sit in it or that some of Gods people may bee in Babylon seeing such are warned by the Spirit to come out of her and it were in vaine to command a man to depart a place if he were not there Now if any shall thinke these motiues and considerations of ours especially touching the last sixe hundred yeeres not to be altogether so exact as the Papists require who challenge vs to produce the names of such visible Protestants in all ages as professed the same entire doctrine in all respects that we doe I answere first that it is not our hold that the Church neuer erreth or discordeth from it selfe in minoribus in matters of lesse moment and therefore it is sufficient for vs to shew who professed our faith entirely in majoribus that is such points as of themselues are fundamentall Secondly we say that whereas wee finde a twofold state of the Church in the Apocalypse the one before the loosing of Satan whilest the old Dragon was shut vp in the bottomlesse pit for a thousand yeeres the other after his loosing when the Deuill was to be let free to goe and deceiue the Nations not in one pettie Hamlet but in the foure quarters of the earth that is as Saint Austen expounds it vnder the reigne and tyrannie of Antichrist We are not bound to giue so strict a reckoning and account of our Professors vnder the second state of the Church as vnder the first The reason is because the Church in her first estate was glorious to behold appearing like a Woman clothed with the Sunne But in the latter shee was to be vnder the thraldome of Antichrist and our Aduersaries themselues tell vs that then wee are not to enquire for visible Professors of the true faith or for the publike exercise of Religion so Suarez Bellarmine and others In a word then was the time that the Church was to flee into the wildernesse as was foretold Reuel 12. Now to expect multitudes of people frequent cities pompous splendor affluence of foode and prouision in a wildernesse were extreame madnesse this were to suppose a wildernesse to be no wildernesse In Deserts there may be assemblies of men but they are rare there may be foode but we know it is but little and such happily as is but absolutely necessarie for the life of man and there may be buildings edifices but through the thickets of trees and shades of leaues hardly to bee discerned And so did it fare with the Church vnder the tyrannie of Antichrist There were some alwayes of it but few there were assemblies but not so euident to the eye of the world and there was the foode of the Word and Sacraments but not so plentifull nor euery where so pure as before times But who would thinke that the Iesuites were all this while but in iest and that they are conscious to themselues that the taske which they require to bee performed on our part is not fesable on their owne For let mee but question them from their owne grounds whether the entire articles of faith which the Church of Rome now holds are found mentioned by Writers in all ages The Cardinall and others of the Iesuites ingeniously confesse they were not and namely Indulgences the Churches treasurie the Popes canonizing of Saints c. onely they answer that it followes not that they were not beleeued because they are not mentioned Bee it so but if their articles of faith be not mentioned how will they make it appeare by the testimonies of writers in all ages as they vndertake to doe that such Tenets were from the time of the blessed Apostles held without interruption Bellarmine therefore answeres that the concurrent testimonies of some Writers of greatest note affirming such a Doctrine to haue beene professed beleeued by the Church in all ages none gaine-saying it will serue the turne But here besides that they stand not to their first bargaine which was to produce the testimonies of Writers in all ages I demand of what ages they meane that their writers shall bee to whose concurrent iudgement they will adhere if of the primatiue Church we accept the offer but this will little aduantage them for neither are many points of difference betweene vs and them mentioned by those writers as aboue was specified much lesse affirmed to bee Apostolicall Traditions neither are those which are mentioned allowed of in that sense which they deliuer If the writers of the after Church and namely the Schoolemen let them heare Gregorie de Valentia's owne
censure concerning them Whatsoeuer all the Fathers saith hee doe vniformely deliuer that is to bee held for the opinion of the Doctors of all times because the Schoolemen doe follow the holy Fathers as their guides But not on the contrarie whatsoeuer the Schoolemen doe deliuer vniformely is to bee thought to haue beene beleeued by the Doctors in all ages because the Schoolemen haue added many things more explicatly to the doctrine of the Fathers Seeing therefore neither ancient writers will serue their turne no latter may be admitted I demand by what other authoritie they hope now to make good their bragge By what doe the Iesuites answere but by the testimonie of the Church and chiefly the present affirming such a doctrine to haue beene vniuersally beleeued in all ages And this indeed is their last refuge whereby it may plainely appeare that after they haue so lowdly dared vs to shew the perpetuitie of our Church in all ages a posteriori by producing the names of our seuerall Professors they can bee contented quietly to relinquish that title themselues and to flie to the testimonie of the Church which being with them the foundation and principle of their faith is not properly to argue a posteriori but a priori the difference betweene our arguing in that kinde and theirs being but this that we proceed descending downwards from the Scriptures they ascending vpwards from the present Church But I aske now will the Churches testimonie in this case serue their turnes to proue that whatsoeuer is held at this present as an article of faith in the Roman Consistorie was alwayes so beleeued in the Church No doe Bellarmine Valentia and other Iesuites informe vs for some points say they were not heretofore defined by the Church in which to erre was then no heresie which now are and Thomas tells vs that the Pope may make a new Creed But wee aske then how their articles of faith were held in all ages They reply that these new additions of theirs though they were not as then made articles of faith nor beleeued by the Fathers explicitly yet were they implicitly beleeued But this plungeth them then into another gulfe for if implicitly onely then the profession thereof was not visible for an implicit beliefe is like seed buried in the ground and cannot serue for any of those proofes whereby the visibilitie of the Church which is in question may be tried But haply will some say those points which in former times were not mentioned or not expresly beleeued or not defined are but matters of lesse moment and such as the present Church of Rome makes not to be fundamentall No doe the Iesuites answer for they are euen such as are by the Tridentine and other Generall Councells commanded vnder paine of an Aâ—athema to bee beleeued and to denie the which is by their Constitutions made damnable heresie Thus whatsoeuer they pretend they finde no harbour but in their present Church and that like the Sirtes too troublesome and tempestious For our parts God hath affoorded vs a quiet Hauen where in to anchor the holy Scriptures which teach vs that if we cannot discerne the Church Catholike fide oculorum with the faith of our eyes and say videmus wee see it wee should yet apprehend it oculis fidei with the eyes of our faith and say credimus we beleeue it Credo Ecclesiam Catholicam I beleeue the Catholike Church Vnde Zizania THE ORIGINALL AND PROGRESSE of Heresie Handled and applyed before his late MAIESTIE at THEOBALDS An. Dom. 1624. By EDWARD CHALONER Dr. in Diuinitie and Principall of ALBAN Hall in OXFORD LONDON Printed by William Stansby Vnde Zizania The Originall and Progresse of HERESIE MATTH 13. 27. So the Seruants of the Housholder came and said vnto him Sir Didst not thou sowe good Seed in thy field From whence then hath it Tares THe Progeny of Heresies begotten by the Prince of darkenesse and conceiued in the conclaue of Hell cannot be seene by mortall eyes but in aenigmate in a riddle or Parable and therefore most fitly in a Parable is heere set forth the originall and progesse of them First You haue their Antecedent to wit the sowing of good Seed before them For howsoeuer Heresies may be antiqua ancient yet they are not prima the first and most ancient and therefore is Christ the Husbandman first presented in the Narration as seminans sowing good Seed in his field before the Enemie is produced reseminans resowing the same Acres with vnprofitable graine Secondly their Efficient or Authour the Deuill who is pointed out by two remarkable properties his malice in that he is tearmed inimicus the Enemy and his subtiltie which appeared by those aduantages which he took in sowing The first was the opportunitie of the time for he wrought not his mischiefe in the face of the Sunne whilest the Seruants of the Husbandman might beare him witnesse but in the dead of night not whilest the Husbandman himselfe slept for he which keepeth Israel neither slumbreth nor sleepeth but Cum dormirent homines saith the Text whilest men slept that is whilest the Pastors and ouerseers of the flock those to whom the Master had let out his Vineyard were supine and negligent in their charge The second was the nature of the graine which hee sowed sympathising and according with the good Seed in the manner and likenesse of growth that is Heresies bearing the Image and Superscription of Truth Hee tooke not therefore Acornes or Mast or Kernels or Fruit-stones but Tares nor set them with their stalke or bulke but buried them in the Seed that they might appeare with a Copie of old-age being not espied till they had taken roote and then displaying themselues gradatim by little and little The third was the conueniencie of the place for such a purpose beeing free from suspition among the Wheate and the last his hypocriticall couering of his action abijt hee went away id est latuit saith an Interpreter he lay hid vnder the faire penthouse of zeale and seeming deuotion For had either his venome spawn'd in any other soyle then where the Husbandman had bestowed his Wheate or had he beene spied trauersing the field in his proper shape and complexion the seruants of the Housholder could not haue bin so surprized with admiration so soone as the first bud had saluted the light they would haue said behold Tares behold the Enemy now that the field had beene manured and cultiuated with Gods Husbandrie the earth made to trauell with the fruits of his Garner and the Enemies footings vndiscerned these second seedes must spring vp those sproutes become to blade that blade bring forth fruit ere the seruants will beleeue the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or quod as Logicians speake that they are Tares and yet for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or propter quod that is the Authour and Sower of them they are still ignorant they come to the Housholder and say vnto him
not that the like hapneth in the Church how many things did the Saints ordaine with a good intent which wee see at this day changed partly by abuse and partly by superstition The feasts Ceremonies Images Monasteries and the like none of them were instituted in that sort at the first as now they are vsed and yet wee Gedeons hold our peace they take not away the abuse they take not away the superstition For if wee take a reuiew of what was anciently practised in the Primitiue Church we shall find that the Discipline thereof had the same scope touching the soule which Physicke hath for the bodie and may accordingly bee diuided into that which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is tending to the preseruation of health and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which aymes at the restoring of health the one conducing to the preuenting the other to the remoouing of Diseases Now as there bee in a Christian man three principall vertues from whence as from so many vitall parts all graces in man doe flow to wit Faith Hope and Charitie so this parcell of Church Discipline which concerned the preseruation of health was imployed in prescribing such Cordials and Antidotes as were behoofefull to preserue fortifie or increase some one of these For the benefit of Faith in respect of knowledge and to season it with a true sense and apprehension of diuine matters the Church did apply diuers instruments First Bookes and those principally the holy Scriptures comprising such writings onely as wee stile by the name of Canonicall To them the Iewes of the dispersion called Hellenists added in their Greeke translations the Apocrypha bookes as profitable partly for their matters sake partly for the supply of the historie of the Bible Now the Greeke and Latine Church receiuing their translations of the old Testament not of the Iewes inhabiting Iudea who neuer mixt the Apocrypha with the other but of those of the dispersion and being loath to distaste them to whom they were beholding for their paines were in the beginning contented onely not to seuer them from the Canonicall Bookes in binding howsoeuer they did in authoritie afterwards they began to cite them in their Sermons Works though not as diuine yet as venerable and familiar writings then permitted them to be read as Athanasius affirmes to the Catechumenists in length of time to the Congregation and in the end custome giuing them credit they were doubtfully in the Florentine but more palpably in the Tridentine Councell canonized with the stile of Canonicall and made equall in authoritie to the other Secondly Translations for bookes in an vnknowne language are like Trumpets giuing an vncertaine sound And therefore no sooner was the Gospell preacht but the Scriptures had their translations The vniuersall Church by custome establisht none because none could be of vniuersall vse Yet amidst such varietie as was then extant that which passeth vnder the name of the Septuagint found best entertainment in the Greeke Church and a translation made out of the same into Latine by an vncertaine Authour found somewhat the like in the Latine The chiefe cause whereof seemes to be this that for a long time there wanted in the West those who being skilled in the Hebrew could supply their wants from thence with a better This Latine translation was afterwards partly mended partly patched with fragments and phrases pickt out of Hierome winning authoritie in the Westerne Church by two meanes Custome and Ignorance of the Originalls and at length in the Councell of Trent made authenticall and by two Popes Sixtus Quintus and Clement the eighth confirmed by two contrarie Editions with the solecismes of the Translators and errors of the Transcribers Ceremonies were the third instrument whereby as by certaine outward signes and characters the Church would imprint in the mindes of ignorant people the vse and effects of the Sacraments These at the first were performed by expressions rather verball then reall as Exhortations Prayers Interrogations and such like as we vse in baptisme But after awhile to these verball and audible ceremonies reall and visible were added and that without any bad meaning or intention of their first founders but see how Tares in the end displayed themselues amongst the Wheat For what were at the first but few by Saint Austens time were so multiplyed that in his 119. Epist hee complayneth of their burden and now are so encreased that they are more then can bee borne what were then but things accessorie and helps to the worship of God are now become parts of the worship of God and meritorious what were then but signes and had onely vsum significandi a vse to signifie are now become causes and haue vsum efficiendi a vse to produce supernaturall effects From these Ceremonies in processe of time abused and mis-vnderstood many grosse errors had their originall For to begin with Baptisme it borrowing a ceremonie from Exorcising which in those dayes was a gift in the Church of casting out Deuils by adjuration it signified thereby not that men before Baptisme are possessed with the Deuill but first what they are by Nature that is children of wrath and seruants of the Deuill and secondly what wee are by Grace whereof Baptisme is a Sacrament that is freed from the bondage of Sathan and made Co-heires of the Kingdome of heauen But howsoeuer Baptisme was not held for a long time so absolutely necessarie to saluation that setting contempt or wilfull negligence aside in the partie which dies vnbaptized a man might not bee saued without it witnesse the custom of the church which was to haue but one or two times in the yeer at the most to wit Easter Whitsontide assigned for the same yet this exorcising at length began to worke so farre with some especially after that diuers of the Fathers spake hyperbolically of baptisme in eagernesse against Pelagius the Heretike who taking away originall sinne tooke also away with it by consequence the necessitie of baptisme that what was at the first held necessarie necessitate precepti by the necessitie of a precept was made to be necessarie necessitate medij by the necessitie of a meanes and in conclusion the Schoolemen hauing taken a more distinct suruey of Hell then was done afore-time assigned lodgings in the third storie for children which die without baptisme wherin they award them poenam damni paine of losse though not poenam sensus paine of sense affirming farther this paine to be eternall As it fared with Baptisme so did it with the Eucharist For what was Transubstantiation therein at the first but non ens a thing neither proueable by the Scriptures as many of the learnedst Romanists doe confesse nor as some of them doe also grant receiued for diuers hundred yeeres into the articles of Christian faith The Fathers indeed acknowledged a change of the Bread and Wine but it was a change not of their