spirit and not seing but of his light and who so euer kepeth not this vnitie he kepeth not the law of God he hath no faith and he can neyther haue the life nor the saluation of Iesus Christ It is S. Paul him Ephes 4. self that teacheth this Sacramēt of the vnitie of faith in the vniuersalitie of the Church as there is not saith he but one sole God lord father of all so there is but one faith one hope one trust one bodie one spirit the head of which bodie is the sonne of God Iesus Christ who being him self the spring of lyfe euerlasting doth inspire lyfe to all the bodie doth furnish it dayly with strength by his holy spirit Whosoeuer is not a member of that bodie can not take lyfe of the spirit of Iesus Christ he is a straunger he is prophaned he is an enemie he is dead drye and wythered without moysture of all diuine grace and that no part of the promises and rewards of Iesus Christ he is the braunche Iohan. 11. cut from the true stocke appointed to the fyer to be burned If any of those which were out of the Arcke of Noe vvere saued those also shal be saued which are founde out of the Arke of the Church If the riuer cut from his spring dryeth not vp if the braunche diuided from the tree can bear fruit if the member cut from the bodie can take lyfe of the same bodie then also the man that is diuided and cut from the Church shal liue of Iesus Christ He can not haue God for his father which wil not haue the Church for his mother and he can not be vnited with God which is not vnited with the Church At the same instant that man doth separat him self frō the Church he dyeth from Iesus Christe and leeseth the grace of the holy Ghost For euen as the vniuersal sensible light is tyed to the bodie of the sunne which doth spread and distribute it to all the world in the absence wherof there is nothing but darknes euen so al grace of reconciliation to God was annexed to the bodie of Iesus Christ yea to this bodie of his which dayly groweth by increase of the chosen preordinate to lyfe euerlasting which is the bodie of the Church which he doth gather together taking out from the heape of mankynd al men of good wyl which haue bene are and shal be to the end of the world out of which bodie there is but the wrath and malediction of God Search where you wil out of this Church you shall fynde nothing but death To be short he which is not in the Church hath no God he hath his owne proper iudgement his phantasie and his owne presumption for his God he maketh him selfe an Idol doth worship only his owne imagination in place of God If such a man calleth him self a Christian that is as the deuil often sayth he is Christ and if he be kylled for his heresie that is no martirdom bur the reward of his heresie which is not yet al purged by his owne death Dying he goeth to yeld and ioyne him self eternally to the darkenes which he hath worshiped and to his head which is the deuil There is no martirdom nor death pretious before God but in the catholique Church in the which only is the grace of the Gospel of Iesus Christ the which only she doth preach in sinceritie and truth and without any hazard or possibilitie to erre because she taketh her direction of the holy Ghost of the tradition of the Apostles and of the holy scriptures together which be the three grounds set downe by the holy scripture it self the which doth shew that not shee only buyldeth vp the Churche but is also holpen of the traditions of the liuely voyce of the Apostles to the which she often tymes referreth men Kepe sayeth S. Paul the traditions 2. Thess 2. Tenete traditiones quas didicistis siue per sermonē siue per epistolā nostrā Act. 15. 16 which you haue learned of me be it by woord or by our epistle and it is written in the Actes of the Apostles that in al places whear S. Paule passed by he recommended to the Churches to kepe the ordinances of the Apostles and of the elders which were things not written When the Apostles had planted the Gospel they did not say al things at one time nor in one howre nor wrote al that they sayed but according as occasion was giuen they planted their doctrine so that the holy scripture which we haue of the Apostles and of the Euangelists is not so muche a full doctrine of faith as a witnes of the faith that they preached Now if wee will goe higher the law of Moyses cōsisted no lesse in tradition than in writting and not only the sense but the letter and text thereof was to be learned by tradition For they had the scriptures in maner but by half the pointing beeing not yet put to the hebrew text But the holy Ghost alwayes hath in formed the Church of the true traditions and the true sense of the scripture in such sorte as the Church and the holy scripture are so linked together that they both be as an indissoluble cheyne of golde The Church is not aboue the scripture but the authoritie of the Church doth shew the true scripture And when the Church hath need of wholsome information she doth goe to the scriprure and if there be any darknes in the scripture the holy Ghoste is giuen to the Church for to interpret the same Euen so in the olde law in al difficulties that rose the law of Moyses ordained that they should goe to the hygh priest for the tyme being and that they Deut. 17. Malach. 2. should folow his verdit not turnyng either to the right syde or the left vpon paine of death The Prophets also sent them thether and in the Gospel it self our sauiour commaundeth that if any obey not the Church Matt. 18. he be degraded from the name of Christian and holden for an Eathnike let no man now seeke excuses in a corner God hath appointed at al tymes the priests of the Church present to iudge the present controuersies and willeth that men should repayre vnto them his holy spirit assisteth them to that end He hath not promised vs in them more then in other men example of holynes but he hath promised vs by them the Oracles of his truthe Oh that al those that do erre in faith did know the vertue of the name Catholique and the horror of the name heretike how the Catholique in his faith doeth renounce his own reason his own iudgemēt his vnderstanding his wil and all his senses for to hearken simplie and absolutely vnto that that the Church doth teache how on the cōtrarie side the heretike doth groūde builde his fayth vpon his owne iudgement They should knowe that the name Catholique is a name of
repose in God a name vtterlie denying him selfe to the end he may be ouerwhelmed in God and that to leane and staie vpon the Church is to leane and staie vpon God him selfe and that contrarie wise to staye vpon him selfe that is to say vpon his owne iudgement is to stay him selfe vpon the deuil they should knovve that the Church teacheth the people faythfully and that she is assisted of the holie Ghost that she hath the trevve traditions of the Apostles and doth take the scripture in the Euangelical sense sayeth nothing of her selfe putteth nothing of nevve dothe not make any article of fayth but only giueth vvitnes of the Euangelical sense and discerneth the good from the euil pasture euen as the holy Ghost doth reueale to her in common And contraryvvise that the heretike is not stirred but of his ovvn particular spirit hath not any tradition but of his owne proper making taketh the scripture in a sense by him self inuented handling the same as if him self were the authour making him self a prophet to hym self and iudge of God and somtymes setteth him self aboue al that which is God in som much that he doth iudge by his owne priuate sense the eternal woord of God in such sort as al heresie maketh a new paradox putteth a new sense neuer Euangelized not of the holy Ghost but inuēted of Satan by the mouth of one particular man The spirit of God is not particular but common and the same is in common to the Church to whom hath bene giuen the assurance of the holy Ghost to shew vnto her al truthe in such sorte that as it is certein that the holy Ghost is authour of the scripture so is it certein that the holy Ghost is the soule and lyfe of the Church by whose direction she can neuer erre for which cause S. Paul doth cal her the piller and ground of trueth And 1. Tim. 3. this is it that S. Augustin did confesse o lord S. August lib. 12. cōfess c. 25 sayeth he thy trueth is not myne nor this mans or that mans but it is euerie mans whom thou publikly Veritas tua est domine nōmea nec illius aut illius sed omnium nostrū quos ad cōmuniomem publice vocas terribiliter admones ne priuatam veritatē habeamus ne priuemut ea Ioan. 8. calleste to the communion therof warnyng vs terribly that we take greate heed to chalenge that in priuate lest so we be vtterlie depriued of it For he which speaketh of his owne telleth a lye And as many particular opinions as are in the world so many banners are there displayed by the deuil A true catholique doth estrange him self as much as he can from all particular opinions and from al attributing to him self his being his liuing his power and knowledge and neuer doth vse these termes I am I can I wil as for me this is my opinion and such like speches which be termes of deuelish arrogancie He dares not so much as to say of him self that he is a part of Christendom standing as it wear by him self alone but holdeth this for a principle that he can not so much as thinke any thing that good is without the continual dependence of God and instruction of the Church vnto whom in all simplicitie and in deep humlitie he leaueth him self to be edified and instructed euen as a litle childe of his mother so that it is in a maner easier to plucke a sterre out of the element than to plucke a true catholique out of the bosome of the Churche Litle Iacob when Rebecca his mother commanded him to faigne him self to his father that he was Esau to get thereby his blessing he answered like a childe that he feared lest the deceit being discoueced he should procure hym self malediction in stead of benediction but then his mother sayd to him that maledictiō Genes 27. my sonne be vpon me only obay thou my voyce in that I commaund the which he did and was blest euen so it is in our obedience to the Church If the Church should deceiue vs then vpon her be the maledictiō to vs doth apperteyn the glory of obedience with the which we be very wel assured to obteyn the euerlasting benediction But now the Church can not deceiue vs yea I say further that the iniquite of him that is in the Church is better that is to say is lesse dānable then the good works of him which is in heresie For if one of the howshold of the Church haue sinned he hath but committed that sinne wherein he is fallen the which is blotted out by pennance in the Churche and he may obtein the promisses of the kyngdome of heauen but he which is fallen out of the Church sinneth alwayes in al that he doth for al that which is not of faith is sinne as S. Paul saith Yea although he do pennāce yet cā he obtein no pardō because in the societie where he is there is no remission of sinnes there is no good worke meritorius no pennance no vertue to be rewarded withe life euerlasting where faithe is not and that persone dothe not fruitfully fulfil any comaundement of God which doth not fulfil the same in the Church The pretended good works of those which be out of the Church be like a swyft running out of the way and lyke great paynes taken for a matter of nothing where no reward is to be gotten He which runneth out of the listes shal neuer carie away the price he must be first with in the barriers of the Church seing that the course of good woorkes shal be crowned according to the merits of the rightuousnes of eache one I meane according as euery one shal shevv hymself valiant and couragious in christian spirit and according as the new regenerat man in him hathe brought foorth due fruits and effects of his regeneration There is no good without the soueraign good The soueraign good is God God Iesus Christ and the Churche are three things coherent and fast vnited together There is no accesse to God but by Iesus Christ and there is no accesse to Iesus Christ but by the Churche let no man sayeth S. Ambrose accept good woorks done before faith Faith is the soule of good woorkes without the which they be dead and be not to be rewarded with lyfe euerlasting faith is the soule of our soule the substance of man in such sorte as man without faith is without substance True it is that an heretyke renouncing his heresie is straight wayes cleane and incorporated againe to the Church and as a member partaker of the prayers of all the vniuersal Church he is made woorthy of the body of Iesus Christ after he hath purelie and entierlie renounced his heresie in which case a Ioh. Clim grad 15. fornicator repenting hath need of teares of tyme to be throughly clensed and to extinguish vtterly the concupiscence which hath occupied the
that they vvould leaue their confederates in peace touching the point of their faith vvithout adding this vvords true indoubted Catholike In Germanie 1547. Charles the fifte vvith a small number had a marueilous victoire of the Lutherans which had an armie of more then threescore thowsand men In Fraunce the Catholikes haue alwaies for the most part ouercome the heretikes as at the battell of dreuz of Ierna of Mountcounter and seldome or neuer haue the heretikes in iuste battel ouercome the catholikes neither in Fraunce nor in flaunders nor in Almaine nor els vvhere and vve shal see doubtles vvith the grace of God that those vvhich at this daie put them selues in force to defend the Church God shal croune them vvith honour and glorie and shal heape vnto them goods prosperities and temporal blessings shal cause his vvrath and all maledictions and shames to raigne vpon the persecutors and vpon the secret traitors vvhich doe fauour heresie The twelueth marke is the vnion of the members vvith their soueraine head which is the successor of S. Peter in the gouernement of the vniuersall Church Our Sauiour being desirous to giue vs suer and setteled centre in the sphere of his church from the vvhich all the lines of the doctrine of saluation should be drawen to the circumference of the vvorld did chose the chaire of S. Peter that is to say the place consecrated by the seat and martirdom of S. Peter the vvhich by prerogatiue of honour he did appoint to be head of the vnitie of his Church making him not his successor for it is IESVS CHRIST him self vvhich is alwaies the onlie true head of his Churche remaining vnmouable and immortal and vvhich neuer shal haue successor making it fruitful alwais him self onlie by his holie spirit But making him his depute liftenant and vice gerent in earth in the outward ministerie and soueraine iurisdiction of his Church and after him all his successors in the same sorte So that the soueraine Bishoppes be vicars of IESVS CHRIST and not successors and successors of S. Peter not his vicars who so euer wil take from the church that Monarchie called the vicareige of IESVS Christ he vvold haue a floke vvithout a pastor an armie vvithout a leader a bodie vvithout a head a building vvithout foundation and the starres vvithout their sonne that is to save he would haue the dispersiō of the flocke the discomforture of the Armie the death of the bodie the ouerthrow of the building the darkning of the starres he would haue a confused chaos disordered voyd of all proportion and an Anarchie or gouernemēt more horrible more confused and more disordered than the bottomlesse pit it self he deserueth not to be heard God vvhich is the author of order and not of confusion vvhich hath appointed an order among the Angels wil not that we goe mingle mangle in the societie of this world We know wel as touching the power of the order vvhich concerneth the real bodie of the person of Iesus Christ all priestes be equal to S. Peter and to the soueraine bishoppe in the priesthood But as touching the Iurisdiction vvhich doth concerne the bodie misticall of the church there it is where there are different degrees and where one soueraine head of all priestes is requisit which may hold the principalitie ouer all the Ckurch Who so euer dissembleth to Thirtie tvvo prerogatiues of S Peter see in the text of the gospel the principalitie of S. Peter and of his successors he is a rebel to light and fleeth the truth of set purpose and doth shew that he is stirred by the wickednes of a poisoned hart for these prerogatiues of S. Peter which are witnessed in the gospel are to be considered First that S. Matthew manifestlie and expresselie hath Matth. 10. giuen to S. Peter the title of chief of the Apostles And all the Euangelistes making mention of the holy college of the Apostles doe giue alwaies the first place to S. Peter That S. Peter is only he among the Apostles to whom our sauiour hath chaunged the name and hath giuen him one of his owne names most famous wherbie he is often signified noted or designed in the scriptures that is to saie the rocke for in those two that were surnamed sonnes of thunder the name was not chaunged they had onlie the gyft of vehemencie Now God did neuer put new name but when he made some great new benefite in the vvorld giuing vvith the name the efficacie of the which it doth signifie as naming Abraham he gaue him to be made a father of manie nations euen so naming Peter he gaue him the firmnes of the rocke and of stone for to ground vpon him some great new building Let it be also cōsidered that S. Peter is only he among the Apostles to whom the father euerlasting did reueale that Iesus vvas Christe the sonne of the liuing God For al the other holding their peace suffering the ignorant opinō of the cōmon people to preuaile which had so base an imagination of IESVS Christ that they did esteme him only for either Elias for the zeale of the lawe or Hieremie for the holines of lyfe or Ihon Baptist by reason of his baptizing or some prophet for to reueile the things to come S. Peter only put him self forward not hauing respect to the substance of fleashe and blood but passing on beyond those corporal and humain thinges by reuelation of the soueraigne father he did see with the eies of the minde the sonne of the liuing God and confessed the gloire of his deitie pronouncing with hart mouth theese wordes or rather that sound of the diuinitie and humanitie of IESVS Christ Thow art Christ the sonne of the liuing God as if he had said thow art not Elias which was taken vp into heauen thou art Iesus Christ which art descended from heauen for to lift vp man from the earth thou art not Hieremie or Ihon baptist sanctified in the woumbes of thir mothers But Iesus Christ sanctifying the world thou art not a prophet to whom are reuealed the things to come but Iesus Christ which hast present in thy sight all eternitie Those woordes be verie high but the sense vnderstood by S. Peter is yet much higher And it was necessarie that it should so be that he which ought to hold the chaire of Iesus Christ for to teach all the world the true religion should haue that loftines of faith that greatenes of knowleige that feruour of loue and confesse the same by the which his cōfession as Iesus Christ had made him to know God so S. Peter had made Iesus Christ to be knowen Whervpon Iesus Christ hath therfore loued him aboue all the other hath therfore declared him verie happie and hath giuen him that greate participarion of his name rocke And to the end that that name should not be void and idle he promised him rhat vpon that stone he would build his Church and
THE FIRME FOVNDATION OF CATHOLIKE RELIGION AGAINST THE BOTTOMLES PITT OF HERESIES wherin is shewed that only Catholiks shal be saued that all heretikes of what sect so euer are excluded from the kingdome of heauen Compyled by IOHN CAVMONT of Champany And translated out of French into English by IOHN PAVNCEFOTE the elder Esquyre in the tyme of his banishement Hoc habet authoritas matris Ecclesiae hoc fundatus veritatis canon contra hoc robur contra hunc inexpugnabilem murum quisquis arietat ipse confringitur S. August de verb. Apost serm 15. Imprinted at Antwerpe by Arnold Coninx M. D. LXXXXI Cum Gratia Priuileg Reg. Maiest HIS Catholike Maieste hath graunted and giuen licens to Arnold Coninx that he may print the booke named The firme foundation of the Catholike Religion against the bottomles pitt of heresie Translated out of the french into Inglish by Iohn Paunsfote Esquyer vvhere in defence is made to all printers for to print the same for the space of three yeares vvithout licence of the said Arnold Coninx Geuen the 15. of Nouembre 1591. Subsigned Io. de Buschere THE PREFACE OF THE translator AS it hath bene often a great greef vnto me to consider hovv many of you my deer frends and good countrey men not al of malice but some of blyndnes some other of a folyshe feare others also for lak of instructions and trevv informatiō of the holy Catholike Church the true spouse of Christ do daylie erre and lyue in scisme heresie diuiding yor selues by that meanes from Christ his mysticall bodie hazarding your soules to perishe eternally Euen so of late I did not a litle reioyce vvhē I hitt by chance on a litle frenche treatise vvhich doth lyuelie expresse as it vveare in a table sett furth such sufficient true infallible tokens of Christ his Church that none can be ignorant that is vvilling to learne nor no man lefte in blyndnes that vvil open his eyes to see And albeit my skylin the french tonge is but small yet the loue vvhich I beare to you my deare frendes hath supplied that vvant and giueth me corage to attempt somthing aboue my strēgth in translating the sayd treates as vvell as I could vvhich I haue put to the print that you may be partakers of it trusting that you vvil accept the same as a token of my good vvill And if it shall please God to send my labeur so good successe as that any of you all receiue benefit therby after due thankes to him that is author of all goodnes I pray you remember me in your deuout prayers vvho haue not bene vnmyndfull of you here in this my poore banishement And so hoping you vvill excuse or amend such faultes as you may find eyther in the translation or printyng I beseche God send you so much light as to find the vvay home again to the Catholike Church Fare you vvell Your louing frinde I. P. HE VVHO GATHERETH NOT WITH ME SCATTERETH ABRODE Matth. 12. THE FIRST principall most necessary groūde of all 1. Cor. 13. woorke agreable to GOD is that it be done in charitie in vnion of Christians in the Catholike church Iohan. 1. 1. Iohan. 2. and all that man doth in the spirit of the Catholike church is wel liked before God for that it is as it were dipped in the bloud of his welbeloued sonne IESVS Christ in whom he taketh his good pleasure of whose grace and vnction all those that be Catholikes be partakers flowing from him vpon them as from the head vpon the members Yea it is IESVS Christ him self which liueth which breatheth which 1. Cor. 15. Galat. 2. S. August in Psalm 85. ser 4. de sanct Steph. prayeth and which sturreth in all those that be Catholikes and members of the body of his Church He prayeth saieth S. Augustin for vs he prayeth in vs and he is prayed to of vs As Vnus ipse saluator corporis sui Dominus noster Iesus Christus filius Dei orat pro nobis orat in nobis orarur à nobis vt Sacerdos noster orat pro nobis vt caput nostrum orat in nobis vt Deus noster oratur a nobis our Priest be prayeth for vs as our head he prayeth in vs and as our God is prayed to of vs. This is the glory the ioy and assurance of a Catholike man that Iesus Christ is in him the chief agent the which for his reuerence is heard of God in him and this is the trew firmament of the Catholikes more firme then the heauen it self It is not so in heretikes all that which is of heretikes is accursed and abomination before God their faith their preaching their prayers their fastings their almes S. Ignat. ep ad Heron. S. Io. Chrys ho. 65. in Ioan. al actes of religion comyng from them are nothing els but cursed sacriledge pollution If they should raise vp the dead if they should be more vvise then Angels If they should haue their faith so great as to moue mountaines if they should distribute S. Cypr. lib. 2. de vni Eccles S. August lib. de siide ad Pe. all their goods to the cherishing of the poore if they should kepe heroically continual virginitie if they should delyuer their bodies to be burned if they should shyne with an Angelical holines all this serueth them for nothing being diuided from the body of the Church al this vvould not any thing appease the rigour of the eternal ire of God vpon them Core Dathan and Abiron did sacrifice to the same God that Nuus 16. Moyses did yea to the only trew and almighty God but for that it was done in diuision from the body of the Church the earth did open and swalow them vp aliue with their wiues their childrē their how 's holds their Tabernacles and all their substance and more ouer the fyer of God did consume 250. of the chief that were assotiated with them and 14700. of the people for that they murmured at that iustice And the fury of Gods wrathe had consumed all the people wholy but for the vehement intercession and meditation of the Priesthood of Aaron which did appease the same God doth not receaue sacrifice but of his Priestes whom he hath ordayned for that purpose and there is no seruice what so euer agreable to God but that of the children of his Church Let not the heretike flatter him self with the holy scriptures as peruerse men do abuse all the gyftes of God employing them otherwise then they be ordeyned by his prouidēce so do they abuse the holy sctiptures them selues That hath bene alwayes the cloke of impietie of heretikes they carie against Iesus Christ the signe of Iesus Christ sayth S. Augustin S. Aug. ep 16. Contra Christum portant signū Christ cōtra Euāgelium de ipso Euangelio gloriātur and take holde of the Gospel to make engines to
soule and defiled the body the reliques of the one being harder to be healed then of the other but if the one and the other die in their sinne the heretike shal carie a more rigorous iudgement than the fornicator This point then is without contradiction that in all the vniuersal vvorld there is but one only Church vvhich doth administer eternal lyfe vvhich hath the keyes of the kyngdome of heauen in vvhich good deeds be revvarded vvith lyfe euerlasting vvhich dravving out of the holy Scriptures the right line of interpretation both prophetical and Apostolical according to the sense that hath bene preached and taught geueth her children assured certentie of the good pasture knowledge of the euil whō who so obeyeth not shal neuer see God For this cause S. Paul according to the care vvhich he had more then fatherly of the saluation of men doth exhorte very earnestly to be carefull to kepe the vnitie of spirit which is to hold them selues ioint firme and locked in the bosome of the Churche knowing that euerie where out of the same dwelleth death and that euerie particular assemblie out of the same is the Synagog of Sathan All diuinitie out of the Church is vaine false basterdly cōfuse ful of deceit impietie When the heretike alleageth woordes of the Gospel that is now no more saieth S. Hierom the Gospel of God The Gospel in their mouth becometh the woord of man and the woord of the deuil the trueth is poysoned by their leauen in suche sorte that it is altogether vnlike to it selfe wherin they fare as the false and leud counseilors of a prince or state whoe in giuing counceil redounding to ther owne particular profit and not of the Prince or common welth doo betray the Prince and the comon welthe euen so the heretiks be traitors to God and to the holy scriptures And let no man be deceiued if somtimes they seeme to teach the same doctrine that the catholikes do betwene the true and the false there is but a hears difference But now suppose they preached in all throughout the self same doctrine of faith and Sacraments as the catholiques doe that they be also otherwise irreprehensible of their life in external honestie yea finallie though they spend their bloud for the name of Iesus Christ all this notvvithstāding fith S. Aug. lib. de fide ad petro they make a bodye apart and hold not the vnitie of the catholike Church they be in state of perdition The vse of the Sacraments the woorks of mercie and the gloriouse confession of the name of Iesus Christe can not profit but vnto him which is in the vnitie of the catholique Church Which vnitie who holdeth not he diuideth the body of Iesus Christ which is one and indiuisible and his Church hath not two bodyes Iesus Christ is not diuided sayth S. Paul and that point is of so great importance as the creed of the faith which is dayly songe in the Church doth expressely shew that there is but one Church to the end that all men might know that out of the same there is no saluation Such as come near the brinke of a deep pit or of any dovvneright pitche conceiuing the horrour of tēporal death all trembling they retier far of for fear to fall therin but there is not any deep pit or dovvneright pitche or peril vvhat so euer in this vvorld vvherein a man should conceiue so much feare to fall as into heresie For in all heresie dvvelleth the horrour of eternall death And to fall from the assured firmament of the Churche in to heresie is to fall from cleaning to God to the bottomles pit of him self vvhich is as the fall of Satan vvhen he vvas headlonge throvven dovvne from heauen to hell Let vs then take heed God Christian people of separating of our selues hovv litle so euer it be from the catholike Church no not in one only litle thought let vs yeeld vniuersallie to all that the Church doth teach vvithout reseruing any thing vvhat soeuer it be to our particular iudgement against the iudgement of the Church Looke hovv much any man reserueth to his ovvn resolution vpon his ovvn proper sense in matters of faith so nigh he is to the losse of his lyfe so farre is he in darknes of errour so near is he to death so much diuided from God so fast cleaueth he to the deuil Farre from all those vvhich haue care of their ovvn euerlasting saluation be that deadlie presumption vvhich would share his faith vvith the Church that is vvould make a choise and particular separation of the points vvhich it pleaseth him to beleeue or not to beleeue vvith the Church as if that syde vvhereunto by our ovvn direction vve resolue to leane vvere to vs a better euidence and cleeret testimonie than the vniuersal Churche This is in verie deed to censure the Church and to make our selues iudges of the Church and of the holy Ghost also vvhich teacheth her This is to be too too much ignorant of our own ignorance vveaknes and mesure of our ovvn state and condition The iudgement of one particular mā hovv vvise so euer he may be is but as a litle candle in the darknes of the night the which giueth light scant fovver or fiue pases in circumference but is incōtinent obscured inuironed with the exceding force of vniuersal darknes Wher the Church vvhich as S. Iohn sayeth is clothed with the sunne hauing the moon Apoc. 12. vnder her feet dothe cast her beames vpon the face of the vvhole earth taking her brightnes from aboue and drawing her light out of the sea of the Intelligence diuine Avvay say I vvith this presumption farre be it from all our friends farre from the chosen and elect of God farre from al those vvho haue an earnest desire of their ovvn saluation wolde vvillinglie forsake this worlde to see God eternallie and to attain vnto the glori of eternal felicitie Avvay vvith this rashenes of particularities in opinions seuered from the Church This is the verie cockle of wicked spirits This is the vvay to fall in to the hands of the deuil vvho being not able to wound a man to death by making him to forsake the Church absolutelie dothe yet vvound and disfigure the integritie and sincere purenes of a Christian in this point at least that novv he is not sound and sincere nor such a one as the beautie and state of a christian requireth Deformed is that member sayth S. Augustin which is not conformable to the whole Raither suffer the soule to be diuided August Turpis est omnis pars vniuerso suo non congruens from the bodie with all the torments in the worlde than to be diuided from the Church or to dissent from the Church in any one iote only or in any one sole litle point He that would agree with the Church in all except one only point is not a catholike Faith is more
indiuisible than the beames of the sunne it is not to be holden by halues it is a gift of God and a grace infused and the gifts of God are perfite For concerning faith who so euer faileth in one article is culpable in all And he is no lesse drouned which is but two fingars ouer head in water than he which is an hundred fathoms dieper A mans faith eye and honour are thre things that can not endure to be hurt or impared how litle soeuer it be Many of them which haue yet some liuelie roote in the Church and hate heresie doe giue to them selfes some times libertie to blame or contemne certein obseruances and ceremonies of the Church as in their opinions vnprofitable These lo do daungerouslie erre besides that they shew herein their beastlines and ignorance for nothing vniuersallie receiued in the Church is of small consequence or importance And vnwoorthie are they to haue any place in the Church and to be partakers of the Sacraments of euerlasting life which doe disagree with her in the least point that a man can think of Men ought with more reuerence to iudge of such things as are approued and alowed of the vniuersal Church When men debate of humain matters let then humain reason take place but in the doctrine of faith the only authoritie of the Churche ought to rule It is not for vs to take vpon vs to cōfirme and establish that whereunto we must obey We must in al submit our selues wholie to her iudgemēt without exception of any thing what soeuer it be For so soone as faith is seuered from the Sanctuarie of the Church she is out of her natural element she hath no more vital spirit The Church hath secret motiues considerations tending to the vtilitie and preseruation of her vniuersal familie incomprehensible to any one priuate person yet notwithstanding they haue theyr foundacions and grounds verie firme and sure The most excellent Philosophie that euer was in the worlde is that of Abrahā which Philo describeth Abraham Philo. He reduced all the effects of the second causes to the first cause immediatlie he dyd not attribute to the sunne the light of the day nor to cloudes the rain nor to eyes the sight nor to eares the hearing nor to other next instruments of sense the cause of their facultie not to the feet force to goe not breathing to the lunges not concoction to the stomak not to trees and seeds their yerelie fruits but he reduced all things immediatlie to him onlie which spreadeth abroad his benignitie and beneuolence largelie franklie and freelie in all places he bendeth all his forces to hym alone hoping by hym only to be ayded and staying him self vpon him only neither trusting vpon heauē nor vpon earth ayer beasts plants or rootes with intent to loue them as causes And as a man may say he trauersed through all the rankes and troupes of the host of all second and instrumental causes apperteining to the OEconomie or general disposition of the vniuersal nature for to approche vnto the soueraign head the Creator of substances the giuer of formes the first mouer first cause and cause of causes to the ende to loue him only and to giue him only thankes for all benefits receiued And this Philosophie of Abraham was as a shining beam of the innocencie of nature before sinne which innocencie consisted in cleaning wholie to God and depending vpon God in all things not resting vpō him selfe nor vpon any creature whereupon also God loued him more and was more reuealed to hym than to those that loue the second causes and search deeplie in to them not satisfied otherwise with the first In like maner in matters of faith those which doe rest altogether vpon the Church shal rather be illuminated of the holy Ghost than those which doe not giue credit to her but vpon a caution or condition of some natural reason If any would know the way how to render a reason of his faith and of all obseruances of the Church S. Peter thereunto doeth exhort him And in 1. Petr. 3. dede the studie of such a science is the most noble and most worthie that is in the world only let him be humble and holde this for a principle or maxime though he vnderstandeth not the reason of any obseruances yet notwithstanding the same is grounded vpon some iust reason aboue his capacitie And when he hath layed for his ground this humilitie and comyng afterward to searche the motiues and reasons of the Churche then the knowleige of the general disposition and gouernement of the Church shall teach him considerations more deep more excellent more ample more confortable and shall replenish his mynde with a cleerer light than the knowleige of al Naturs vvorkes and therein he shal take more pleasure than if he had in his head the collectiōs and gatherings of al the knowleige in the worlde fast sowed one to an other and coulde giue a reason of the whole disposition of natural things in al parts of the whole frame of this worlde In the primatiue Church Sinesius the great Sinesius philosopher called by Christians to the state if a Bishop vvould not accept the same but with reseruation of some opinions of the ethnical philosophie The fathers condescended to his desire assuring them selues that so excellent a wit would easilie cast of al those reseruations of his philosophical folie by cōference with wise and learned men of the Church And in dede this learned man being made Bishop did soone cast away al reseruations of his seueral opinions and conformed him selfe in al points to the Church cōdemning him selfe and deriding his own vanitie proceding rather from the root of folie and pryde of a philosopher than of malice And truelie to addict him selfe obstinatlie to some particularities of opinions against the vniuersalitie Genes 27. it is the part of one that is ignorant of the first elements and principles of Christianitie and a token of a short and feeble iudgemen that hath a verie shmal beam of brightnes and is so poore of vnderstāding as he is not hable to conceiue that the riuer which he dwelleth next vnto is much lesse than the Ocean sea and that the sterres be much greater thē they appear to his eyes esteming the greatest things that he knoweth to be the most that God can doe in that kynde and considereth but one thing onlie where he ought to consider an hundred thousand persuading him selfe euermore to haue in the compasse of his brain all that God is hable to doe or wil doe mesuring all things by his own capacitie and sufficiencie which is not onlie an extreme folie but also verie daungerous for such folk vpon the least motion of the deuil wil throw them selues from the high pinacle of the temple down to the ground I mean from the firmament of the Church to the bottomles pit of heresie Wil we then be assured neuer to erre and to
Emperours by kynges by lerned men making innumerable books out of the vvhich a man vvoulde haue sayed that they could neuer be blotted And notwithstanding by the wonderfull prouidence of God thei be so weeded out of the earth that there remaineth nothing at all nether of the followers nor of their bookes nor of theyr doctrine nor any signe at all but that which is found in the bookes of catholikes who if they had not written their names in their books vve had not knovven that such heresies had euer bene in the vvorld and there is no doute but the flouds of heresies of theis tymes vvil also slyde avvay shortly The fyueth marke of the true Church is the largenes of the raigne And this marke is verie euident in the Catholike Church the which doth fructifie throughout the vniuersal vvorld in both the hemispheres And the sunne doth not streache his beames further then she I know vvel that she hath not the temporal regiment of external Iustice throughout the whole vvorld but she hath euerie where obedient childrē So that there is no tonge nor people nor climat of countrie inhabited vvhere if perhaps the most parte be not carholikes yet at the leaste there are some I say some notable number which assamble them selues in the Church and cōmunicate Catholiklie in the Sacraments of the Church among the Turkes among the Persians among the Tartarians among the Panymes throughout the compasse of the earth for the carholike Church is not restreined vvithin the bonds of Italie Fraunce Spaine Germanie England Polland Rome Hungarie Greece Siria Armenia Ethiope Egipt and other countries vvherof the names are vvel knovvn vnto vs and where the Catholikes be in infinite number but she doth spread her self in to the new world and in all those foure partes of that nevv vvorld vvhere she hath many Churches without mingling of heresies of the East syde in the Indians of the west syde in America towardes the north in Iapon towards the south in Brasilia what heresie is that that euer had such largenes As for the sectes of Lutherans and Caluinists they haue not passed in Asia nor into Africa nor in to Grece nor into many prouinces of Europe Yea euen in the verie springs of mischief in the North where heresies haue most might there are not two townes neighbours possessed of one self sect All heresie is as a serpent A serpent neuer S. August lib. de pasto ca. 8. lib. de vtil credendi cap. 14. 17. departeth farre of from his denne And S. Augustine sayth very wel that the Church is euery where heresie also euery where But the Church is one and the self same euery vvhere where as heresies be not the same euery where but be of great diuersitie the one not knowinge the other Wherof it doth appeare sayth he that none of those is the Catholike Church And he compareth heresies to boughes cut from the vine which abide in the place vvhere they fall vvithout fructifying wher as the Church is the liuelie stocke which doth bring fruit in all hir braunches throughout whereso euer she doth extend her self The sixt marke is the conquest of the world by efficacie of doctrine which is the doctrine of the true Church being liuelie mightie more pearsing then any two edged swoord and cōuerting effectuallie the soules to God The Philosophers sayth S. Athanasius with loftines of learning and magnificence of speche could neuer perswade any one citie to take their laws of them for that sayth he their doctrine was dead and without force and their speche did not proceed of the spirit of God but of the spirit of man Neither did any man euer read that the heretikes conuerted Idolators or Iewes to the faith Their care sayth Tertullian is not to conuert straungers to Iesus Christ but to peruert hys domesticals Tert. lib. de presc har and those which he alredy gotten to him not to geue lyfe to the dead but to giue deadlie poison to the liuing not to lifte them vp which be on the grounde but to make them fall that stand vpright The efficacie of their doctrine is not to edifie it serueth but to distroy and this marke doth shew it self very openlie in thies our dayes Here is now the very large harvest of the new world in ripenes It behooueth to send workmen but from whence doth the Lord of the haruest take them The Church catholike and heresie making both profession to be of Iesus Christ their dueties are to increase the howsehold of Iesus Christ asmuch as they can by conuerting the infidels to the faith This notwithstanding because IESVS CHRIST vvil not be planted in the hartes of straungers by other handes then of his deare spouse therfore the catholikes only are they which preache the Gospel to Idolators and gaine them to Iesus Christe The heretikes haue neuer drawn the least prouince from Paganisme to Christianitie when we haue conuerted thē to Iesus Christ the heretikes come afterwardes to deceiue them But men see that God doth not permit the worke of conuerting them to any other then to his true Church as we being those Soc. l. 4. c. 27. Soz. l. 6. ◠37. Theod. l. 4. only which be the fishers of men those alone which draw the soules of men from the sea of infidelitie to the shoar of Christianitie The heretiks neuer throwe their nettes in sea but after that we haue put the fish vpon the shoar then they put all their gloire to rob and carie away some litle fishe as theues not as fishers Euen so the Gothes being alredy made Catholike demaunding Catholike Bishops for to gouern their churches Valence sent them Arrians for to subuert them The cause why the heretikes can not conuert the infidels to the faith is for that propounding the scripture they doe not propound the true sense vvhich is properlie the svvoard of the spirit The vvordes of the scriptures are but as the sheath which holdes the sworde of the spirite They then fighting not vvith the sworde but vvith the sheath onlye it is no merueil if they doe not pearse the hartes of Infideles Besydes that the heretikes and Idolaters belonge all to one self maister But in the Romain church not onlie at the beginning but euen at all tymes this efficacie hath bene found This is the Romain Church vvhich did first conuert the Englishe men to the faith in the tyme of S. Gregorie the Pope This is the Romain Church vvhich did conuert the Saxons and the vvhole coutrey of Almains in the times of Pope Conon and of Pope Zacharie This is the self same Church that conuerted the Vandales Bulgarians Sclauonians Polonians Danes Norwaies Hungarians Morauians vvith infinite kinges people And it is not past twoo hundred yeares ago syns rhat one only mounke S. Vincent of the order of S. Dominike did conuert to the faith 25000. as vvel Iewes as sararins It is in our tyme that the new vvorlde receiued the
faith of the Romaine Church And it is not many yeres ago syns that some Turkes some Ievves vvere baptized at Rome and other places in the Romain Church The Lutherans Caluinists can not boaste them selues to haue conuerted to their sect neither Panimes nor Turkes nor Iewes vvhervpon it doth appeare that they be of the spirite of the deuil sithens that all their force is no maner of waye to get the Infidels but only to distroy the Christians The seuenth marke is the conformitie of doctrine with the Primitiue Church Now that the auncient fathers did teach the same doctrine that we doe at this day and condemned for heretical that whiche we condemne their bookes beare vvitnes therof of the vvhich I wil say further that who so euer readeth them shal necessarelie frame to him self a catholike spirit and shal neuer after drinke the venim of any heresie For all thies fathers as they vvere well instructed vpon what states the holy Ghost doth rest him self so doe they breathe out nothing but humilitie abatement of presumption abnegation or denial of them selues a soueraigne reuerence to the Church a perpetual flame of charitie and a care of spiritual vnitie and as a man might saye an indiuisibilitie with the Church The eight marke is holines of doctrine that is to saye vvhen the profession of doctrine doth not contein any falsehood concerning matter of faith nor iniustice concerning maners by the vvhich marke it is conuicted that there is no true Church in the vvorld but the catholike Church For there is not a sect in the vvorld be it of the Panimes Iewes Turkes or of heretikes as vvel olde as new but it doth contein in her doctrine some manifest impietie or some iniustice directly contrary to reason as the sect of Caluin doth make God authour of sinne and as much the cause of the treason of Judas as of the conuersion of S. Peter and doth teache that the christiaÌ„ can not do any good worke Besyds that al theyr writings be impugnours of chastitie of virginitie of Religion inveihing against fasting against vovves against all orderlie deuotion in the church establishing all vice prouoking to dispaire laboring to extingwishe the seed of immortalitie in the hartes of men But the Church catholike is perfaictlie holie and immaculate in her doctrine she doth teach many things in her misteries aboue reason but nothing against reason she doth teache to auoide sinne she doth correcte transgressors she doth comfort the penitentes she doth exhorte all her childreÌ„ to walke holilie iustlie religiouslie in all their wayes and to haue their verie thoughts holie purging illuminating making them perfect for to present them holie to God Come sayth S. Augustin to our Churches there is nothing set foorth to see or to follow vvich is impossible nothing vniust nothing impure there be insinuated the comandementes of the true God or his marueilles declared or his giftes praysed or his graces demaunded And ther is no perfect ioye nor true consolation in the vvorlde but there for that there is not any remissioÌ„ of sinnes in the world but there The ninth marke is holines of lyfe aswel in priests as in the people I know that this marke although many doe cauil at it yet is it forceible more notorius in catholikes thaÌ„ in all the sectaries of the world S. Chrysostome sayth that all the kindes of Iustice that the seruants of God haue in truth the seruants of the deuil may haue the same in dissimulation The deuil sayth he hath his meeke men and his humble men he hath his chaste men his almes giuers his fasters and all kinde of goodnes that god hath created for the saluation of men The deuil hath brought in the same kind for to deceiue them to the end that between the true good and the good faigned there should be a confusion by the which the symple not being easelie hable to discerne the true good from the good faigned whiles they searching the men of God they light vpon men of the deuil and there is not any thing but onlie charitie that the vncleane spirit can not counterfeit All apparence of Iustice is found in deceiuers except onlie charitie which is not found but in the onlie seruants of God The holie Ghoste hath reserued to him self onlie this vertue of charitie in such sort that by no other action of Iustice a man may so wel discerne where the holie ghost is as by the vertue of charitie All heresies at te beginninge come masked with a superficial holines whiche for that it is not of the spirit of God can not soundlie be there setled And as the ape learned by arte to hold the candle after he hath stode some small while in stead of a candelstik at the sight of a nut caste before him leaueth all for to runne after it euen so they can not long time indure without manifesting the spirit wherof they be And as theyr father was a morderer from the beginning so they be come straight waies theeues kindlers of Ioh. 8. discention worse then Panimes and Barbarians and aboue all other vices Pride is to them peculiar whereof S. Augustin sayth Insundrie places there be sundrie heresies but one Aug. l. de past only mother pride hath ingendred them all as also our onlie mother the Catholike Church hath brought foorth all faithfull Christians dispersed throughout the world And all thes heresies doe springe by accident of some euil occasion Egesippus speaking Egesipp apud Eus lib. 4. hist cap. 22. of the first heretike sayth thus then the church was called a virgin not being yet corrupted by adulterous doctrine but one Theobutes for that Theobutes he was denied a bishoprike did beginne to trowble and corrupt all things It apeareth in the ecclesiastical Act. 8. Tert. con ValeÌ„ Epiph. he â—4 Theod. l. 3. 5 historie that SimoÌ„ Magus Valentin Marrian Arrius and all those olde monsters did spring out from theÌ„se for disdeining that others were preferred before them they made a secte for to reuenge them selues Apoc. 16. I. Coch. in actis Luth. 15 17. Luth. in ep ad Argen l. con Aug. l. de missa sing being eloquent and of great witt and of those that S. Iohn calleth false Prophetes issued out of the throat of the dragon vncleane and deuelish spirits practising the kinges of the earth Luther witnessed his owne motiue in the first disputation aginst Ecchius crying out this cause is not begunne for the loue of God Him self hath written that willinglie he would haue denied the presens of Iesus Christ in the Eucharist if the scripture had not bene so cleare for that therby sayth he he did see that he might do much hart to the Papacie He boasteth him self that kinges Princes and Popes were not worthie to vntie the latche of his shoes he sayed that he would that they should holde him for a holie man whether men would or no that he did not
esteme muche a thowsand Ciprians a thowsand Augustins And for to shew more plainlie that his father is the king ouer all the children of pride he sayth that the deuil did teache him that the masse was an euil thing and that persuaded by the Conrae Gesn in Bibl. Luth. reasons of the deuil he did abolishe the masse His owne followers them selues haue described him to be a man full of a malitious spirit and without charitie Erasmus sayth that he was a manifest deceiuer and that he Eras ad vultu did neuer see one of those which haue folowed him that did a mend them selues but manye impaired One of his owne ministers whriteth in this maner to the end that all the world may know that they be not Papistes and that they do not trust any vvhit at all in good vvorkes they doe none at all and hauing chaunged the spirite of humilitie into arrogancie redoubling their first dissolutions without fasting without almes 〈◊〉 Luth. in 〈◊〉 â—up â—uanâ— call that kinde of life an euangelical 〈◊〉 Luther him self hath acknowleged that his owne disciples gaue them selues to be more reuengeful more couetous proude vnmercifull vnrulie and muche worse then they had bene then vvhen they vvhere Papists Which thing the principal Lutherans perceiuing and that their corruption vvas cheeflie caused for that they had taken away auriculer confession they vvhere desirous to restore the same again by vvay of policie for to constraine the people there to they did present a request to the Emperour Charles the fifte who refused to heare them except they would vnite them selues againe to the Church His disciples Caluin and Beza Soto in 4. libr. sent vbi de câ—fess auric did not so much as couer them selues vvith sheepes skinnes but beinge verie noon-deuils DEMONIA MERIDIANA haue painted out them selues as Apostatas of nature publishing their sinnes like Sodome and not hiding the same hell it selfe could not cast forth more filth then the schoole of those abhominable Pentapolitaines or Gomorits They haue digged out of the earth the bookes of impietie and ethnical corruptions vvhich our forefathers had buried They haue thereof made commentaries and put them in french for to infecte therwith the vvorld An horrible thing that they haue not bene ashamed to call theÌ„ selues waldins to write that they helpe them Beza imag selues with empoisoning with witche craft withe Magick and with the deuelishe arte for to dispatch them selues of their euil willers I would neuer haue beleued that Sathan had bene so impudent if I had not seen the same in their bokes They do reuile all auncient fathers with shameful iniureis exalting the olde heretikes so farre that they call S. Herome a peruerse spirit Cal. in har euaÌ„ and wicked IOVINIAN which was an heretike they call an holie man and say that S. Hierom and S. Augustin in that that they did gainsey IOVINIAN were theÌ„ selues heretikes And it is a wonderful doltish folie in them whom they haue bewitched that they doe not recouer any space of time for to consider their illusions and whereof it cometh that in their writinges do appeare so many iniureis such false accusations and lyes and not any light of Charitie or grief of scandel of their neighbours turning al accidents of disorder in to mockery or matter of detraction in their behauiours The fabulouse goddesse Ate in Homer did neuer make so many calamities as they haue made where they haue passed by If their sectaries seing their steppes did cast ther eyes towardes theÌ„ for to consider by the motion of vvhat spirit they haue burned our Churches martired cruellie our priestes destroyed our howses committed a million of in humanities they should see that such thinges be not the markes of the true church The spirit of God is not in a tempest of wind ouerthrowing the monteignes and breaking the stones it is not in a thundering commotion it is not in in fier which doth distroy wher it passeth it is in a sound of a spirit calme and gentle woorking no harme nor ruine but creating a new reuiuing in such sort as the scripture sayth that he did manifest him self to Elias As for the Catholike people it is too true that there be manie wicked yet there are also many that fear God loue theyr neighbour and endeuor to kepe them selues vndefiled of this world which had rather lose their goodes their liues then the grace of God The catholike people is as the grauÌ„ge of a laborer full of sheaues of corne whereof their doth not appear to the eies but the chaffe Yet if one come to threshe the sheaues and put the graine bare apart there wil be founde a good heape I know men see not the good people goe to gether in troupes but that the flud of corruption which hath swaie hath ouerthrowen manie and that it semeth as sayth the Prophet that Sathan doth reape the field and gather the vines and that God doth not but gleane or leaze after him But yet I saye there be a good number which doe set them selues against the euil and continue stil standing vpright holding them selues fastened to GOD and wil be raither crushed to pieces then to seperate them selues from him VVho if they fall somtime by infirmitie yet they rise againe quickly mainteining their custome of weldoing and praying vnto God incessantlie that he will fortifie them and when they must resolue them selues will forsake all the respectes of the world for the honour of God As for our priests it can not be dissembled but that there be dreedfull scandals and all good people haue their hartes wounded to see the disorders that be in them those men that deserue high punishment haue there the highest honours and the mindes of the comen people which are moued more by by exemple than by reason doe fall by to much marking the maners of manye prelates But what so euer confusion there be yet are there some found not vnworthie dispersed here and there doing their charge with reuerence The grief is that the greater parte doth surmount the better and there are not to furnishe euerie where It is our parte to praye that when the Iudasses traitors shal be gone into thir places GOD will giue vs Mathiasses for to supplie their romthes againe In the mean tyme good or bad as we haue them we honor them as ministers and dispensers of the ministeries of God We know that we must alwaies make distinction betwene the vocation and the person In mines of golde and siluer one shal not finde the golde all pure there is but one litle vein vpon a grain of the earth Yet men let not for that to take that veine and leaue the earth Now the golde and the siluer be the Sacramentes and the vvord of God the earth is the corrupted maners The holines of the church coÌ„sisteth not in the persons but in the Sacramentes sayth Optatus The priestes
of the Church vicar of the souerain head essential Iesus Christ and successor of S. Peter in that vicareige to whom al Catholikes which are dispersed throughout the world are ioyned as members to their head Loe here 12. markes of the true church That is to say 1. The possessiō propertie of the name Catholike 2. The succession of the Apostolike priesthood 3. Antiquitie 4. The long cōtinuance without interruptiō 5. The largenes of the kingdome 6. The victorie of the whole world by efficacie of doctrine 7. The conformitie in doctrine with the primitiue Church 8. The holynes of doctrine 9. The holines of life of the possessours 10. The gloire of miracles 11. The Infelicitie of the impugners and prosperitie of the Protectours 12. And the vnion of the members with their head the successour of S. Peter These are comprised in fower woordes of the Creed that is to say in that she is one Holy Catholike and Apostolike I doe not enter here into the groundes of the doctrin of the Catholike Church The principal scope of this present treatise was onely to shew that out of the Catholike Church man can not be saued whatsoeuer thing he doth whereunto I haue added these outeward markes the which without farder disputation may be sufficient to euery Christian mā to resolue him selfe touching all difficulties whatsoeuer for all the controuersies which haue bene are and euer shal be in the faith doe rest therein and are reduced to that onely head to finde the true Church Which being ones found a man is out of all hazard and peril of errour For all agree vpon this principle that there is but one Church and that the same can not erre being as saith S. Paul The piller and seur grounde of truth And therefore whosoeuer shall doubt of any thing as of Sacramentes of the Inuocation of saincts of praying for the dead or of any other point of lerning he must onely marke that which the Church doth teach thereof and then therevpon to resolue him selfe more assuredly then if an Angel of heauen were descended expressely to informe him of the same And euery other cōgregation which shal call it selfe the church teaching the contrary must needes be conuinced of falsehood of being sent from sathan of heresie and of impietie All the markes of the Catholike Church are euidenly found in the Romain Church The respect of the name Romain is not to the town of Rome but the to chaire of S. Peter which hath that highnes of glory to haue bene cheefely and especially priuileged by the prayer and promise of our sauiour who prayed for S. Peter to that ende that his faith might not faile and founding vpon him his Church hath promised vnto him that the proud gates of hel shall neuer preuail against her as in fact we see that sathan hath ouercome the Churches of the other Apostles and ouerthrowen their chaire In Hierusalem in Alexandria in Ephesus and els where But not the chaire wherewith S. Peter hath innobled the citie of Rome This Church is onely inuincible insupplantable immouable frō her foundation It is she that hath born away the victory of the whole world She hath destroyed Paganisme ouerthrowen Idolatrie expelled al heresies tamid kingdomes Empires ouercome the Philosophers driuen away the darkenes of the world hath gained to god all men of good will She hath troden down and always shal tread down the head of sathan She hath ben euer sithēs S. Peter an obiect vnto the world very apparant as a moūtain of vnderstāding A burning light not to be quenched and an infallible Pole starre directing the way of God To her onely in the troublesome and tempestous sea of variable opinions of men we must haue regard She is the quickening plant that God hath planted in earth hauing her Roote in heauen Yt is not possible for men to root her out no more than it is to throw downe God from his heauenlie seat vpon whom she is founded All the heresies of the world haue bent them selues against that Church Titans Hypocrites and euel Christians haue assaulted her but she remaineth victorious ouer all her enemies not by the merits of men but by the efficacie of that prayer which our sauiour made to his father for the faith of S. Peter and to make his promise effectuall The promises of the truth it selfe can not be vaine Iesus Christ sayd of the temple of Hierusalem that there should not one stone remayne vpō an other and so it came to passe The Iewes edeuonred them selues with might and maine to build the same again but fier came from heauen and placed it self in the foundations for to hinder their intreprise He said of his church that it should endure as long as the world shal remain And men doe see that hither to she remaneth as long as the world hath indured heauen and earth shall passe but the woordes of our Sauiour shall not passe Let these wicked Spirites heretikes Schismatikes Hypocrites and deuelishe men lay their embushes conspire make warre and doe all they can against that Church yet shal they get nothing They fight against the prayer and promise of our Sauiour they doe fight against GOD him selfe The deuils haue not gotten the victory in heauen against the Angels neitheir shall they get it in earth against the Church Many Angels did fall many members of the Church doe fall dayly But as the kingdom of Angels was neuer wholly ouerthrowen so the whole Church shall neuer be vanquished Hel may shake the earth but not the heauens The Church is not an earthly building a building of Adam a building of no other foundation then natural It is an heauenly building whollie supernatural and diuine whereof not man but God him selfe is the foundation and founder and the holy Ghost is the Architect which hath gathered together the liuely stones This building is not made of men borne by nature as the children of Adam but of men made heauenlie regenerate by grace as the children of God Faith which is the bond of the bodie of that Church is aboue the heauen the obiect of that faith which is IESVS Christ Author of that regeneration doth appertain more to heauen by his diuine person then to earth by that humain nature Therefore a thowsand hels shal neuer be able to preuaile against that church whosoeuer thou art therfore which hast separated thy self from that Church what so euer thing thou doest thou art not apparteining to IESVS Christ thou art a member of sathan and a pray of euerlasting damnation Goe about the earth and the see trott vp and downe the world and goe where thou wilt searching the truth thou shalt not find the same out of this Church The Church Catholike Apostolike and Romain is the same of whom doth spring rise as from a center all the droctrine of Christianitie the chaire of S. Peter is the chaire of Iesus Christ and of the truth it self al other
haue our spirite quiets peacible amōg all the wherl wyndes and tempests of heresies this is the onlie mean he that walketh in the spirit of the Church is in the high way he goeth not in darknes he goeth by day and setteh sure footing The church is to him a bulwark of quietnesse a wall of brasse a stay more sure then the firmament of heauen yea I say truelie more sure than the firmament of heauen For rather the heauen shal fall in pieces and all the whole frame of the worlde shal fall into cōfusion and nature shal erre rather than the Church shal come to errour in that doctrine of the saluation which she doeth teach her children And good reason for her vnderstanding his higher than the vnderstāding of all nature for it is the vncreated vnderstanding the holie Ghost God him self which doth gouerne the same immediatlie And for the Churches sake heauē earth and all Nature haue bene made and doe consist without whose prayers the frāe of the whole worlde could not stād one moment The Angels them selues as S. Paul sayth are all Hebr. 10 to minister to them which receiue the inheritance of saluation which are the childrē of the church But I will no forther open the priuileiges of Grace the heauenlie and liuelie comforts which the children of the catholike Church haue The catholike Church is the onlie fortresse impregnable the wiseman to her wil haue his recourse and shal be saued She is the strong fort of the citie of God founded vpon the rock whiche can not be vndermined Genes 27. fortified by the inuincible force of the holie Ghost garded by heauenlie armies vvhich are camped round about cōpassed of all sides with the fauour of the almightie She is the true earthlie Paradise where the tree of lyfe is planted which all of her house may freelie vse and thereby receiue nourishment of lyfe euerlasting She is the true house of God where he doth dispose his graces and all his goodes and the souueraign felicitie And who euer can taist of the fruit of the name Catholike he shal fynde hem selfe happie and shal perceiue in that he is a Catholike he is as it were weeded out of him selfe to be transplanted in God and being lostin him selfe he shal fynde him selfe grafted and rooted in God in whom he shal stand more surelie more liuelie more happilie and be more his own man thau standing in him selfe where vpon his soule shal be filled with true sound parfite soueraign diuine and euerlasting ioye I doe not call in question whether the catholike Churche be visible nor where she is being a societie not of Angels or of soules separated from the bodie but of men She must necessarilie be visible that one may say there is the Church pointing to her with the fingar and shewing her to the eye otherwyse sayth S. August Aug. tract 1. 2. in 10. no man could be assured of the vnitie in the which men must necessarilie enter and holde them selfes to the ende they may be ioyned to the head communicate with all the other members thereof And our lord should in vain haue bidden men resort to the Church and obey it if it were inuisible to the face of the whole worlde so that she can not by any manner of wayes be hidden nor darckned in the earth no more than the sonne in heauē Yea sayth S Iohn Chrisostom S. Chrys ho. 4. in cap. 6. Efa it were more easie to put out the light of the sonne than to darcken the Church And those which say that the Church which was planted of the Apostles and dyd lighten the Gentiles is no more extant and that she is lost many a day agoe and that strayght after the Apstoles she was eclipsed of her light and became an Apostata in such sort as the worlde is entered in to darknes as before and those which doe compare her to the Sinagogue in the time of Eli those I say are verie impudent and their impudencie can not be heard with out indignation for that it is contumeliouse to the sonne of God as if the sonne of God which sayd that he is the light of the world and that he came to renew all to destroye the vvorkes of the deuil and to dispossesse him of his raign had not doen that vvhich he promised nor that vvhich he came for and as yf his light had bene as a flash of lightening vanishing avvay and not as a sonne rising to chase out effectuallie the darknes of the vvorld This is a moost vile and shamefull abasing of Christs honour and estimation this is to take from him the deserued inheritance of all Nations vvhich GOD the father promised vnto him this is as it vvere to spoyle him of his dignitie and the royal scepter and to plucke him downe frō his throne and to take from him his royal Diadem vvhich the father gaue him and to make that GOD hath not kept his promisse They vvhich vse thies vvoordes are not in the Church them selues sayth S. Augustin Aug. in psalm 101. Thou sayest that the Church is not extant because thou art not in her Look vvell to the matter thou art not in dede in her but she is and shal be extant though thou art not Al that the scripture doth teach Numer 20. 3. Reg. 8. Math. 18. Acto 15. 18. 20. feighteth against this impudent saying It hath bene foretold that the glorie of the secound house of GOD shal be greater then the glory of the first that she shal reach from one sea to an other from the Orient 1 Tim. 3. Psal 1◠Esa 2 Dan. 2. Mich. 4. Math. 7. to the Occident that she shal fill Asia Affrica Grece Italy all tounges all nations and the Iles ferre of and that the sauiour shal make as it vvere nevv heauens and nevv earth so that the Sinagogue in comparison of the Church is no more then one starre in comparison of the Sonne and had but fevv litle spartles of that light whre of the full brightnes is spred vpon the Church Origin sayth that the first signe Iud. 6. giuen to Gedeon of the flyse only devved from heauen the earth round about remaining all drye did prefigure the Sinagogue and the secound signe of all the earth bedevved the flyse contynevving drie did prefigurat the Churche In Daniel also the Church vvas prefigured by the Dan. 2. litle stone cut from the mountaine vvithout hand of man the vvhich hauing broken the Image of Gold of Syluer of brasse of Iron and of clay vvhich did represent the Empires of the vvorld became a great mountaine and did fill the vvhole earth vvhere vpon sanct Augustin doth argue against the heretikes If the Ievyes be sayd to be blinde for not hauing seene the stone being but litle what blindnes is that in them which can not see the same being a mountaine so those saith he which denie the Church dispersed