in appointing some selected men for the visitation of the rest Fourthly in joyning temporall menincommission with the spirituall guides of the church to take view of and to censure the actions of men of Ecclesiasticall order because they are directed not onely by Canons but lawes Imperiall Fifthly when matters of fact are obiected for which the canons and lawes Imperiall judge men depriueable the Prince when hee seeth cause and when the state of things require it either in person if he please or by such other as hee thinketh fitte to appoint may heare and examine the proofes of the same and either ratifie that others did or voyd it as wee see in the case of Caecilianus to whom it was objected that hee was a Traditor and Faelix Antumnitanus that ordayned him was so likewise and that therefore his ordination was voyd For first the enemies of Caecilianus disliking his ordination made complaintes against him to Constantine and hee appointed Melchiades and some other Bishoppes to sitte and heare the matter From their judgement there was a new appeale made to Constantine Whereupon hee sent to the Proconsull to examine the proofes that might bee produced But from his iudgmēt the complainants appealed the third time to Constantine who appointed a Synode at Arle All this hee did to giue satisfaction if it were possible to these men and so to procure the peace of the Church And though he excused himselfe for medling in these businesses and asked pardon for the same for that regularly hee was to haue left these iudge ments to Ecclesiasticall persons yet it no way appeareth that hee did ill in interposing himselfe in such sort as hee did the state of things being such as it was nor that the Bishoppes did ill that yeelded to him in these courses and therefore in cases of like nature Princes may doe whatsoeuer hee did and Bishops may appeare before them and submit themselues to their iudgement though in another case Ambrose refused to present himselfe before Valentinian the Emperour for tryall of an Ecclesiasticall cause Neither is it strange in our state that Kinges should intermedle in causes Ecclesiasticall For Matthew Paris sheweth that the ancient lawes of England prouided that in appeales men should proceed from the Arch-deacon to the Bishoppe from the Bishop to the Arch-bishop and that if the Arch-bishop should faile in doing iustice the matter should be made knowne to the King that by vertue of his commandement it might receiue an end in the Arch-bishops Court that there might be no further proceeding in appeales without the Kings consent From the power which Princes haue in causes Ecclesiasticall let vs proceed to the power they haue ouer persons Ecclesiasticall and see whether they be supreame ouer all persons or whether men of the Church bee exempt from their iurisdiction That they are not exempted by GODS law wee haue the cleare confession of Cardinall Bellarmine and others who not onely yeeld so farre vnto the trueth forced so to doe by the cleare euidence thereof but proue the same by Scripture and Fathers The Cardinals wordes are these Exceptio Clericorum in rebus politicis tam quoad personas quam quoad bona iure humano introducta est non diuino that is The exemption of Cleargy-men in things ciuill as well in respect of their persons as their goods was introduced brought in by mans law and not by the law of God Which thing is proued first out of the precept of the Apostle to the Romanes Let euery soule be subiect to the higher powers and addeth Therefore pay yee tribute For when the Apostle saith Let euery soule be subiect hee includeth Cleargy-men as Chrysostome witnesseth and therefore when hee addeth for this cause pay yee tribute he speaketh of Cleargy-men also Whence it will follow that Cleargy-men are bound to pay tribute vnlesse they be exempted by the fauour and priviledge of Princes freeing them from so doing which thing Thomas Aquinas also affirmeth writing vpon the same place Secondly the same is proued out of the Ancient For Vrbanus saith The tribute money was therefore found in the mouth of the fish taken by Saint Peter because the Church payeth tribute out of her outward and earthly possessions And Saint Ambrose saith if tribute bee demaunded it is not denyed the Church-Land payeth tribute Now if Vrbanus Bishoppe of Rome and worthy Ambrose Bishop of Millaine then whom there was neuer any Bishoppe found more resolute in the defence of the right of the Church say that tribute is not to bee denyed but payed vnto Princes by men of the Church and in respect of Church-land I thinke it is evident there is no exemption by any Law of GOD that freeth the goods of Church-men from yeelding tribute to Princes For touching that text where our Sauiour sayth vnto Peter What thinkest thou Simon of whom doe the Kings of the Gentiles receiue tribute of their owne children or of strangers And Peter answereth of strangers Whence CHRIST inferreth that the children are free brought by some to proue the supposed immunity of Cleargy-men to bee from GODS owne graunt Bellarmine sufficiently cleareth the matter For first hee sheweth that CHRIST speaketh of himselfe onely making this argument Kings sonnes are free from tribute as beeing neither to pay to their owne fathers seeing their goods are common nor to strangers to whom they are not subiect therefore himselfe being the Sonne of the great King of Kings oweth no Tribute to any mortall man So that when hee saide the children are free hee meant not to signifie that any other are free but onely that himselfe was free Secondly he rightly obserueth that this place would proue that all Christians are free from Tribute if it proued any other then CHRIST to bee so for all Christians are the sonnes of GOD by adoption and grace And Hierome writing vpon this place hath these words Our Lord was the Kings son both according to the flesh and according to the spirit descending of the stocke of Dauid and being the Word of the Almighty Father and therefore as being the Sonne of the Kingdome owed no tribute but because hee assumed the humility of flesh it behooued him to fulfill all righteousnesse but vnhappy men that wee are we are called after the name of Christ doe nothing worthy so great an honour He for the great loue he bare towards vs sustained the crosse for vs and payde tribute but we for his honour pay no tribute and as Kings sons are free from tribute These words are brought by some to proue the imagined freedome we speake of but first they are so far from prouing any such thing that Erasmus thinketh Hierome reprehended it and disliked it as a thing sauouring of arrogancy that cleargymen should refuse to pay tribute which hee saith is contrary to the conceit of men in our time who thinke it the height of all piety to maintaine
the Patriarch of Constantinople the second which conclusion was not of such force but that the succeeding Bishops of Constantinople cōtinued the same challeng their predecessors made as any oportunity was offered sought to aduance their pretended title till at length there growing some difference between thē in the matter of the proceeding of the holy G whome the Latines affirmed to proceede from the Father and the Sonne the GREEKES from the Father only either pronounced the other to be heretickes schismatickes Wherefore let vs see what the religion of the Greeke Church is and whether these Christians be so farre forth orthodoxe that wee may account them members of the true Catholicke Church of God or so in errour that we may reject them as schismaticks hereticks though in number never so many Bernard speaking of them sayth nobiscum sunt non sunt iuncti fide pace diuisi quanquam fide ipsa claudicaverint à rectis semitis That is they are with vs and they are not with vs they are of the same profession with vs touching matters of faith but they hold not the vnity of the spirit in the band of peace although they haue halted also and in some sort declined from the straight pathes in matters pertayning to the Christian faith Touching the state of these Christians the Romanists lay downe these propositions First that there is a double separation from the Church of God the one by heresie ouerthrowing the fayth the other by schisme breaking the vnity The second that schismaticks though they fall not into heresie are out of the Church cut off from being members of the same and consequently in state of damnation Beleeue certainely and no way doubt sayth St Augustine that not onely all Pagans but all Iewes hereticks schismaticks also dying out of the communion of the Catholicke Church shall goe into everlasting fire The third that the Graecians are Schismatically divided from the Roman Church that they haue long continued so that they are excommunicate with the greater excommunication thundred out against all Schismaticks in bulla coenae Domini and consequently are in state of damnation But whether they bee not only Schismaticks but haereticks also as some feare not to pronounce they are not yet agreed Azorius thinketh they are not to bee censured as hereticks and yeeldeth a reason of his so thinking because in those articles of the faith where they are thought to erre they differ verbally onely and not really from those that are vndoubtedly right beleevers and giueth instance first in the question touching the proceeding of the holy Ghost wherein hee thinketh they differ but in forme of words from them that seeme to bee their opposites and secondly in the questions touching the Pope his power priviledges and authority concerning all which hee affirmeth they haue no other opinion then Gerson the Parisians who were neuer yet pronounced heretickes for they yeeld a primacie to the Bishop of Rome but no supremacy They acknowledge him to bee Patriarch of the West amongst all the Patriarches in order honour the first as long as hee continueth orthodoxe and seeketh not to encroach vpon the jurisdiction of others But they deny as also the Parisians doe that his judgement is infallible or his power authority supreame absolute they teach that hee must doe nothing of himselfe in things pertayning to the state of the vniversall Church but with the concurrence of others his colleagues and that hee is subject to a generall Councell All which things were defined in the Councells of Constance and Basil and the contrary positions condemned as haereticall Neither want there at this day many worthy Diuines liuing in the Communion of the Roman Church who most strongly adhere to the decrees of those Councells and peremptorily reject those of Florence and Trent wherein the contrary faction prevayled For the whole kingdome and state of France admit those and reject the other and would no lesse withdraw themselues from all communion with the Roman Bishoppe then the Grecians doe if they should once bee pressed to acknowledge that his power and authority is supreame and absolute that hee cannot erre and that hee may dispose the kingdomes and depose the kings soveraigne princes of the world as the Iesuites and other the Popes flatterers affirme and defend Whence it will follow that they are not onely free from heresie as Azorius resolueth but frō schisme also So that after so great clamours and so long contendings they must of necessity bee forced in the end to confesse they haue done them infinite wrong and sinned grievously against God in condemning to hell for no cause so many millions of Christian soules redeemed with the most precious blood of his dearest Sonne There are sayth Andreas Fricius who thinke that the Russians Armenians and other Christians of the East part pertaine not to the Christian Church but seeing they vse the same sacraments which wee doe seeing they professe to fight vnder the banner of Christ crucified and rejoyce in their sufferings for his sake farre bee it from vs ever to thinke that they should bee cast off and rejected from being fellow citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God having borne the burden endured the heate of the day so many ages in the vineyard of the Lord. Nay rather I thinke there can be no perfect cōsociation vnion of the whole Church without them For the Latine Church alone cānot be takē for the vniversall Church that which is but a part cānot be the whole But some man happily will say whatsoeuer we think of these differēces touching the power authority of the B. of Rome yet in the article of the proceeding of the holy ghost they erre damnably so are hereticks that Azorius was deceived when hee thought otherwise Wherefore for the cleering of this poynt first I will make it evident that not onely Azorius but sundry other great and worthy Divines thinke the difference about the proceeding of the holy Ghost to bee meerely verball Secondly I will shew how the seeming differences touching this poynt may bee reconciled Thirdly I will note the beginnings and proceedings in this controversie The Grecians sayth Peter Lombard affirme that the holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father onely not from the Sonne yet wee must know that the Greekes doe acknowledge the holy Ghost to bee the spirit of the Son aswell as of the Father because the Apostle sayth the spirit of the Son And trueth it selfe in the Gospell the spirit of trueth Now seeing it is no other thing to bee the spirit of the Father and the Son then to bee from the Father the Son they seeme to agree with vs in judgement touching this article of faith though they differ in words Grosthed the famous and renowned Bishop of Lincolne writing vpon a part of Damascen deliuereth his opinion touching this controuersie
in these words The Grecians are of opinion that the holy Ghost is the spirit of the Sonne but that hee proceedeth not from the Son but from the Father onely yet by the Son and this opinion seemeth to bee contrary to ours For wee say the holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father the Son But happily if two wise and vnderstanding men the one of the Greeke Church the other of the Latine both true louers of the trueth and not of their owne sayings because they are their owne might meete to consider of this seeming contrariety it would in the end appeare that this difference indeede and in trueth is not reall but verball onely For otherwise either the Grecians or wee that are of the Latine Church are truely Heretickes But who dares charge this Authour Iohn Damascen or those blessed ones Basil Gregorie the Diuine or Gregorie Nazianzen Cyril and other Greeke Fathers of like esteeme with heresie And again on the other side who dares brand blessed Hierome Augustine Ambrose Hilarie and other like Latine Fathers with the note of heresie Therefore it is likely that though there be contrariety in the words of these fathers so that they seem to bee contrary one to another yet in judgement meaning they agree Stanislaus Orichovius as Andreas Fricius reporteth a man renowned for wit eloquence profound science in divers kinds hath written of the opinions of the Russians and in an epistle to Peter Gamrat an Archbishoppe in Polonia he sheweth how the differences touching the proceeding of the holy Ghost where they seeme especially to bee contrary vnto vs may bee agreed and composed Thomas à Iesu resolueth cleerely that this question touching the proceeding of the holy Ghost is onely de modo loquendi and that the difference is not reall which hee sheweth to be true in this sort The Greekes who deny the holy Ghost to proceede from the Sonne acknowledge that hee is the spirit of the Sonne and that hee is given vnto vs by the Sonne Wee doe not say sayth Damascen that the holy Ghost proceedeth from the Sonne but wee name him the spirit of the Son If any man sayth the Apostle haue not the spirit of Christ hee is none of his And wee affirme that hee appeared by the Sonne was given vnto vs by him for hee breathed vpon his disciples sayd vnto them receiue the holy Ghost but wee neuer say that the Sonne is the son of the holy Ghost or proceedeth from him They teach therefore that the spirit is proceedeth from the Father by the Son as the brightnesse is from the Sun by the beame And that as wee may say the brightnesse is the brightnesse of the Sun-beame aswell as of the Sun but not that the beame is the beame of that brightnesse so the spirit is the spirit of the Son but the Son is not the son of the spirit So then they say the holy Ghost proceedeth or receiueth essence being from the Father onely as from the originall fountaine but by the Son as a middle person in order of subsistence betweene them receiving being immediatly from the Father so mediately deriving cōmunicating it to him Neither Greekes nor Latines therefore deny the holy Ghost to receiue being essence from the Sonne and consequently to proceede from him as from a middle person in order of subsistence betweene the Father him in such sort as the brightnesse that floweth from the sun is from the sun-beame betweene the sun and it Neither of them deny the Father to be the fountaine and the originall as the sunne is the fountaine whence floweth both the beame brightnesse of light And both agree that the Father from whom the Sonne by whom the spirit receiueth being are one cause or one beginning and that by one eternall breathing the spirit receiueth essence or subsistence from them both in such sort as the sonne and beame are one cause and doe by one action send forth that shining brightnesse that floweth from them By that which hath beene spoken sayth Thomas à Iesu it is easie to vnderstand that those Greekes which seeme to differ from the Latines differ but in words only and that the Churches may easily be brought to a reconciliation and agreement if they will but endeavour to vnderstand each the other But the Latines and those Greekes that agree with them speake more fitly expresse the thing whereof they speake better then the other Howsoever it is certaine that some of the Fathers expressed that they conceiued of this mystery in one sort and some in another Tertullian sayth the holy spirit is from the Father by the Son his words are Spiritum non aliunde puto quam a Patre per Filium Hilarie sayth he is from the Father and the Son His words are de patre filio authoribus confitendus est c. When the holy spirit is sent sayth Hierom he is sent of the Father and the Son and in Scripture hee is called sometimes the spirit of the Father sometimes of the Son And again Spiritus à Patre egreditur propter naturae societatem à filio mittitur That is the spirit proceedeth from the Father and in that he is of the same nature and essence with the Son he is sent of him Why should wee not beleeue sayth Augustine that the holy spirit proceedeth from the Sonne also seeing hee is the spirit of the Sonne The Greekes say not expressely that hee proceedeth from the Father and the Sonne for in the creede of Athanasius as it is found in the Greeke the words are the spirit is of the Father not made nor created nor begotten but proceeding without the addition of the Sonne But some of them say he is or receiued being from the Father that he appeared by the Son and is a perfect image of the Son Others that not only the Father but the Son also sendeth the holy spirit Some that hee proceedeth from the Father and receiueth of the Sonne And others that hee is from the Father by the Sonne In all which diversitie of words and formes of speaking there was one the same meaning and therefore no exception was taken by one against another But the controversie that now is touching this point began in this sort The first publishers of the Gospell of Christ deliuered a rule of faith to the Christian Churches which they founded comprehending all those articles that are found in that epitome of Christian religion which wee call the Apostles creed But in processe of time when Arrius and his complices questioned the deity of Christ and denied him so to bee the sonne of God as to bee coequall coeternall and coessentiall with the father Constantine called a Councell and assembled the Bishops of the Christian world at Nice a city in Bithinia these Bishops cleared the poynt in controversie and with vnanimous consent composed a
interpreteth the words of Almighty God in this sort Constitui te super Gentes super regna vt euellas id est euellendo denuncies transferendos inde habitatores destruas quantum ad occidendos disperdas quantum ad fugientes per diuersas vias dissipes quantum ad morientes in fuga vel captiuitate aedifices plantes id est denuncies Iudaeos reaedificandos plantandos in terrasua c. that is I haue set thee ouer nations and kingdomes that thou mightest plucke vp that is that thou mightest denounce and foreshew that the inhabitants being plucked vp out of their places shall bee carried into another place that thou mayst destroy that is denounce the destruction of such as shall be slaine That thou maist scatter that is denounce and foreshew the dispersion of such as shall flie diuers wayes That thou maist ouerthrow that is declare and foreshew the ouerthrow of them that shall die in flight or in captiuitie That thou maist build and plant that is foreshew that the Iewes shall be builded and planted againe in their owne land which was fulfilled in the time of Cyrus who gaue liberty to the people to returne into their owne countrey and to reëdifie the temple and in the time of Artaxerxes who gaue leaue to Nehemiah to reëdifie the citie of Hierusalem as we may reade in the bookes of Ezra and Nehemiah The authour of the interlineall Glosse interpreteth the words in this sence that the Prophet was appointed by almighty God ouer kingdomes and people to plucke vp vices and sinnes to destroy the kingdome of the Divell and to build the Church of God Saint Hierome likewise interpreteth the words in the same sort Considerandum est saith he quòd quatuor tristibus duo laeta succedunt Neque enim aedificari poterant bona nisi destructa essent mala nec plantari optima nisi eradicarentur pessima c. that is Wee must consider that two joyfull happy things succeed foure grievous and sorrowfull thinges For neither could good things be builded if euill things were not first destroyed nor the best things bee planted if the worst things were not first pluckt vp by the rootes For euery plant which our heauenly Father hath not planted shall be plucked vp by the rootes And euery building which hath not a foundation vpon the Rocke but is builded vpon the sand is digged downe and destroyed by the word of God and Iesus shall consume it by the spirite of his mouth and destroy it by the comming of his presence that is hee shall destroy for euer all sacrilegious and peruerse doctrine and that also which is lifted vp against the knowledge of God and the confidence that men haue in their owne wisedome he shall-scatter destroy and cast downe that in steed of these things the things that sauour of humilitie may be builded and the thinges which agree with Ecclesiasticall veritie may be builded and planted in the place of the former thinges which were destroyed and pluckt vp Here is pulling vp of all false doctrine and throwing downe whatsoeuer is lifted vp against the knowledge of God that those things that sauour of humilitie and are agreeable to Ecclesiasticall verity may be builded and planted And thus to plucke vp and to plant to cast downe and to build vp pertayneth to Hieremies office and calling but for deposing of Kings and transferring kingdomes no auncient writeâ—… could euer finde any thing in this place The third example that they produce is that of Vzziah who after much prosperitie in all that hee tooke in hand and many glorious victories obtayned not contenting himselfe with the honour of a King but presuming to come into the Temple to offer incense and intruding vpon the Priests office also was by them resisted told it would be displeasing to allmighty God that he did But he waxing angry would not desist till beeing stricken with leprosie and the verie earth trembling and quaking for horrour of so vile a fact hee was by the Priests and the remorse of his own conscience forced to goe hastily out of the Temple This leprosie departed not from him till his dying day and therefore hee was by vertue of Gods lawe constrained to departe from the society of men and to dwell apart and Iotham his sonne ruled ouer the kings house and iudged the people of the land How this place will proue that the deposing of Kings belongeth to Priests I knowe not for surely Vzziah was not deposed but being forced to liue in an house apart by himselfe and in that respect vnfitte for the gouernment his sonne supplied his place in iudging the people of the land but hee continued king still and if hee had beene cleansed from his leprosie before his death no doubt might and would haue resumed his kingly dignitie and the publique administration of iustice Wherevpon wee shall finde that Iotham is said to haue reigned no more but 16 yeares because after his fathers death in his owne right he reigned no more Though otherwise wee finde mention of things that fell out in the 20 yeare of his reigne So including the time of his ruling for his father in his right So that here was nothing done by the Priests but that which pertained to their priestly office which was to keepe the holy places attend the Altars to iudge of the plague of leprosie But for deposing the King they medled not The fourth example is of Iehoiada the high Priest deposing Athaliah and setting vp Ioash as they tell vs. The storie is this Iehosaphat dieth and Iehoram his sonne succeedeth him This Iehoram marrieth Athaliah the daughter of Ahab the sonne of Omri and hee walked not in the wayes of Iehosaphat and Asa kings of Iudah but of wicked Ahab whose daughter hee married Whereupon God stirred vp the spirite of the Philistines and Arabians and they came and tooke away all the substance that was found in his house and his wiues and sons so that none was left him but Iehoahaz or Ahaziah his youngest sonne After this Iehoram dieth and Ahaziah reigneth in his stead who followed the counsell of Athaliah and did wickedly in the sight of the Lord. This Ahaziah going to Iehoram the sonne of Ahab and being found with him when Iehu came to execute iudgement against the house of Ahab was there slaine by Iehu After his death Athaliah his mother destroyed all the Kings seede of the house of Iudah and vsurped the kingdome But Iehoshebeath the wife of Iehoiada the Priest sister to Ahaziah stale away Ioash the Kings sonne from among the Kings sonnes that hee should not be slaine and hee was hid in the house of God sixe yeares all which time Athaliah reigned But in the seauenth yeare Iohoiada waxed bold tooke the Captaines of hundreds in couenant with him and went about in Iudah and gathered the Leuites out of all the cities of Iudah and the
Oracles of GOD to them pertained the adoption and glory and the covenants and the giuing of the Law and the seruice of GOD and the promises of whom were the fathers and of whom concerning the flesh Christ came who is God ouer all blessed for euer the propitiation for sinnes the merite of reconciliation the glory of Israel and the light of the Genâ—…iles to whom God gaue a name aboue all names that at the naming thereof all knees doe bow both of things in heauen and things in earth and things vnder the earth in whom all things appeare full of mercie and full of marueile God before all eternities yet made man in time begotten before all times yet borne in time borne of a woman yet a Virgine inclosed in the wombe of Mary his Mother yet euen then knowne of Iohn his fore-runner yet in the wombe of Elizabeth his Mother likewise who sprang for joy at the presence of the Eternall Word He was borne in Bethlehem the meanest of the cities of Iudah wrapped in swadling bands and laid in a manger yet glorified by the Angels pointed to by a starre and adored by the Sages that came from farre He was no sooner borne into the World but Herod sought his life so that he was forced to flye into Egypt whilest he did yet hang on his mothers brests but he ouer-threw brake in pieces all the Idoles of Egypt The Iewes saw no beauty in his face nor glory in his countenance yet Dauid in spirit long before pronounced that hee was fairer than the sonnes of men and being transfigured in the mount his face did shine like the Sunne and gaue a taste of that glory wherein hee will returne to judge the quicke and dead he was baptized as a man but forgaue sinnes as God not washed by those waters but purifying them rather and filling them with sanctifying force and power he was tempted as a man but ouer-comming as GOD maketh vs confident because he hath ouercome the world he was hungry but fed many thousands and was the true Bread that came downe from Heauen he thirsted but cryed aloude If any man thirst let him come vnto me and promiseth to euery one that beleeueth in him that riuers of waters shall flow out of his belly He was weary but promised rest to all them that are weary and come vnto him he slept but waking stilled the tempest and commaunded the winde and the sea he payed tribute but out of the mouth of a fish taken in the sea hee prayed but heareth our prayers he wept but wipeth all teares from our eyes hee was sold for thirty pence but redeemed the World with a great and inestimable price hee was ledde as a sheepe to the slaughter but he is the great shepheard that feedeth the Israel of God hee was beaten and wounded but cureth all our weakenesse and healeth all our sicknesse hee died was buried and descended into hell but he rose againe and ascended into heauen where he sitteth on the right hand of the highest Majestie till all his enemies be made his foot stoole This was hee whom all the Fathers looked for all the Prophets prophesied of whom all the Ceremonies Sacrifices and Iewish obseruations led vnto in whom that which was foretold was fulfilled that which was imperfect supplied and all things changed into a better estate so that by his comming all things are become new a new Priesthood a new Law a new Couenant new Sacraments and a new people that worship not at Ierusalem or in the Temple alone but without respect of place worship God in spirit and trueth CHAP. 5. Of the Christian Church THE societie of this new blessed people began in the Apostles whom Christ the anointed Sauiour of the World did chose to be his followers to be witnesses of all the things he did suffered among sinfull men To these our Sauiour Christ after his resurrection gaue most ample Commission to teach the Nations and people of the world and to preach repentance and remission of sinnes in his Name opening their vnderstandings that they might vnderstand the Scripturâ—… that so it beâ—…oued him to suffer and to rise againe the third day whereof they were witnesses Yet commaunded he them to tarry in Ierusalem till they were indued with power from aboue which was performed vnto them in the feast of Pentecost when all they that looked for the redemption of Israel by this anointed Sauiour and had beene his followers after his departure from them and returning to the heauens were assembled into one place and suddainly heard as it were the noyse of a mighty and rushing winde and there appeared vnto them clouen tongues like fire and sate vpon euery of them and they were all filled with the holy Ghost and began to speake with other tongues as the spirit gaue them vtterance so that though there were dwelling at Ierusalem men that feared God of euery nation vnder heauen yet they all heard them speake in their owne tongues the wonderfull workes of God Heere was the beginning of that blessed company which for distinctions sake wee call the Christian Church as consisting of them that beleeue in Christ now alreadie come in the flesh And though the Church of the Olde and New Testament be in essence the same yet for that the state of the Church of the New Testament is in many respects farre more glorious and excellent the Fathers and Ecclesiasticall Writers forthe mostpart appropriate the name of the Church to the multitude of beleeuers sincethe comming of Christ call the faithfull people that were before by the name of the Synagogue If this difference of names be retained onely for distinction sake that men may know when we speake of that moity of the people of God that was before and when of that other that is and hath beene since the comming of Christ we dislike it not The Greeke words which we turne Church and Synagogue the one originally and properly signifieth a multitude called out or called together which is proper to men the other a multitude congregated and gathered together which is common to men with brute beasts If any man hauing an eye to the different originall significations of these words doe therevpon inferre that the people of GOD before the comming of Christ did seeke nothing but earthly outward and transitory things and so were gathered together like brute beasts and like oxen fatted to the day of slaughter we detest and accurse so wicked and damnable a construction And herein surely the Catechisme of Trent cannot well be excused which abusing the authority of Augustine vpon the Psalme 77 and 81. affirmeth that the name of Synagogue is therefore applyed to the peâ—… that were vnder the Law because like brute beasts which most properly are said to be congregated or gathered together they respected intended and sought nothing but onely outward sensible earthly and
Symbole contayning a full explication of whatsoever might bee questioned touching the deity of Christ. This forme of Christian profession was called the Nicen creed and was received as a most excellent rule of faith by all right beleeuers throughout the world In this creed there was nothing expressely put downe touching the holy Ghost more then was found in the Apostles creed that wee beleeue in the holy Ghost But when Macedonius and Eunomius denyed the deity of the holy spirit the Fathers assembled in the first Councell of Constantinople added to the Nicen creed these words I beleeue in the holy Ghost the Lord and giver of life who proceedeth from the Father who together with the Father and the Sonne is worshipped and glorified who spake by the Prophets So expressing his proceeding from the Father without any mention of the Sonne This creed or forme of Christian profession was confirmed in the councell of Ephesus and all they accursed that should adde any thing vnto it meaning as it may well be thought to condemne such addition as might make any alteration and not such as might serue for more full and definite explication But howsoeuer this Nicen creed thus enlarged in the Councell of Constantinople without any farther addition was confirmed and proposed to the Christian world for a rule of faith in all the generall councells that ever were holden and was so publickely received in sundry Christian Churches in their liturgies But in time the Bishops of Spaine began to adde the proceeding from the Sonne saying Wee beleeue in the holy Ghost the Lord and giver of life who proceedeth from the Father and the Sonne And the French not long after admitted the same addition but the Romans admitted it not Wherevpon Charles the great in his time called a Councell at Aquisgrane in which it was debated whether the Spaniards and after them the French had done well in adding to the creed the proceeding of the holy Ghost from the Sonne And whether supposing the point of doctrine to bee true it were fit to sing and recite the creed in the publicke service of the Church with this addition the Church of Rome and some other Churches refusing to admitte it Besides this some were sent to Leo the third about that matter but hee would by no meanes allow of this addition but perswaded them that had given way vnto it by litle litle to put it out and to sing the creed without it The same Leo caused the symbole to bee translated and written out in a table of siluer in such sort as it had beene deliuered in the Covncels placed the same behind the altar of S Peter and left it to posterity out of the carefull desire of preseruing the true faith as hee professed And in this Symbol in the article touching the proceeding of the holy Ghost the Father onely is named in this sort and in the holy Ghost the Lord and giver of life who proceedeth from the Father Neither was this the private fancy of Leo only for after his time Iohn the 8th shewed his dislike of this addition likewise for writing vnto Photius patriarch of Constantinople hee hath these words Reverend Sir that wee may giue you satisfaction touching that addition in the creed and from the Sonne wee let you know that not onely wee haue no such addition but also wee condemne them as transgressors of the direct word that were the first authours of this addition And afterwards he addeth wee carefully labour and endevour to bring it to passe that all our Bishops may thinke as wee doe but no man can suddenly alter a thing of such consequence and therefore it seemeth reasonable to vs that no man bee violently constrained by you to leaue out this addition But in the yeare 883 the Romans also made the same addition to the creed in the time of Pope Nicholas the first Heere by the way wee may note the inconstancy irresolution and vncertainty of the Roman Bishops one of them admitting that as right and good which another not long after condemned as a transgression of the direct law And farther that in matters of great importance other Bishops haue gone before them and drawen them to doe that in the end which at first they misliked so that all direction in former times was not sought from Rome By that which hath beene said it appeareth that the difference betweene the Churches touching this point is not such as it should cause any division or breach Yet was this addition no sooner made but so great dislikes grew vpon it many thinking nothing might be added at least without a generall Councell to the creed formerly published in so many generall Councels as a rule of faith that though the difference in trueth and in deede were but verball yet either side endevoured to shew the other erred daungerously and so this verball difference was an occasion amongst other things to cause a schisme and separation between them Thus having cleered this poynt wherein if in any thing the Grecians may be thought to haue erred let vs see what other errours are imputed to them Guido Carmelita and after him Prateolus impute vnto them sundry errours which Lucinianus of Cyprus a learned Dominican and a worthy man as hee is accounted by Possevine sheweth to be falsely ascribed vnto them As first that simple fornication is no sinne 2dly that they condemne second marriages which hee sheweth to bee vntrue likewise though the Priest blesse onely in the first and not in the second Thirdly that they thinke the contract of marriage may bee broken and the band dissolved at the pleasure of the parties Whereas contrariwise hee affirmeth they allow no diuorce so as to permitte a second marriage while both the parties liue Fourthly they are sayd to affirme that the sacrament consecrated on maundy Thursday is of more force vertue and efficacy then consecrated any other day Wherein hee sheweth that they are no lesse wronged then in the other imputations Fiftly they are charged to teach that it is no sinne to lend vpon vsury and which is worse that it is not necessary to make restitution of things vniustly taken away In both which imputations hee sayth they are much wronged For they thinke vsury to bee sinne and vrge the necessity of restitution Sixtly they are said to thinke if a Priests wife die hee ceaseth to bee a Priest any longer which is as meere a slaunder as the rest were So that it is true that Tho à Iesu hath that one of the principall things that maketh the Grecians so averse from the Latines is that they are wronged by them by vntrue reports and vnjust imputations The things wherein they differ indeed from the Church of Rome are these First they deny the Pope to be head of the vniversall Church or to haue any supreame commaunding authority in the Church and over other Bishops they say that there are fiue Patriarches or chiefe bishops of
nescientes that is there are some that are wittingly heretikes some vnwittingly For though no man do or can wittingly erre or be deceiued yet a man may wittingly be an heriticke and though no man thinke that to be true which he knoweth to be false or that to be false which he knoweth to be true which were wittingly to erre yet a man may forsake that which he knoweth to be the profession of Christians iudge it erronious false and impious choose some other kind of religion which is wittingly to be an heriticke Such are Apostates which depart from that which they know to be the Christian faith Heretickes vnwittingly are such as thinke that they do most firmely cleaue to the doctrine of Christ his blessed Apostles and holy Church and will not be induced to thinke the whole profession of Christians to be false and erronious as do Apostates yet doe erre in many particulars that pertaine to the faith and thinke that to be the onely true Christian profession which indeede is not as did the Marcionites Manichees and the rest of that sort The things that pertaine to the Christian faith and religion are of two sorts for there are some things explicitè some things implicite credenda that is there are some things that must be particularly and expressly knowne and beleeued as that the father is God the sonne is God and the holy Ghost God and that yet they are not three Gods but one God And some other which though all men at all times be not bound vpon the perill of damnation to know and beleeue expressely yet whosoever will be saued must beleeue them at least implicitè in generality as that IOSEPH MARIE IESVSâ—…edde â—…edde into Egypt Men are bound to know and beleeue things particularly and expressely either in respect of their office and standing in the Church of God in which consideration the pastors guides of the Church who are to teach others are bound to know many things which others of more private condition are not or else for that they are particularly offered to their consideration and so a Lay-man finding it written in the Scripture that Onesimus was a fugitiue seruant and recommended to Philemon his master by Paul is bound particularly to beleeue it which a great Bishop not obseruing or not remembring is not or lastly because they doe essentially and directly concerne the matter of our saluation Hee that erreth in those things which euery one is bound particularly to beleeue because they doe essentially and directly concerne the matter of our salvation is without any farther enquirie to bee pronounced an Hereticke Neither neede we to aske whether he joyne obstinacie to his errour for the very errour it selfe is damnable as if a man shall deny Christ to be the Son of GOD coessentiall coequall and coeternall with his Father or that we haue remission of sinnes by the effusion of his bloud But other things that doe not so neerely and directly touch the substance of Christian faith and which a man is not bound vpon the perill of damnation expressely to know and beleeue but it sufficeth if he beleeue them implicité and in praeparatione animi that is if he carry a minde prepared and ready to yeeld assent vnto them if once it shall appeare that they are included in and by necessarie consequence to be deduced from those things which expressely he doth and must beleeue as that Moses saw the promised land but entred not into it or that the Queene of the South came from the vttermost endes of the world to heare the wisedome of Salomon A man may bee ignorant of and bee deceiued in them and yet without all touch of heresie or perill of damnation vnlesse hee adde pertinacie vnto errour Neither doth euery pertinacie joyned with errours in this kinde make them Heresies For all they are in some degree to bee judged pertinacious that neglect the censure and judgment of them whom they should reverence and regard and stand in defence of those errours which if they had vsed that carefull diligence which they should in searching out the truth they had not fallen into but that onely when men erring in things of this kinde they are so strongly carried with the streames of misperswasion that rather than they will alter their opinion or disclaime their error they will deny some part of that which euery one that will be saued must know and beleeue So in the beginning Nestorius did not erre touching the vnitie of Christs person in the diuersitie of the natures of GOD and man but only disliked that Mary should be called the Mother of GOD which forme of speaking when some demonstrated to be very fitting and vnavoidable if Christ were GOD and Man in the vnitie of the same person he chose rather to deny the vnitie of Christs person then to acknowledge his temeritie and rashnesse in reprouing that forme of speech which the vse of the Church had anciently receiued and allowed CHAP. 4. Of those things which euery one is bound expressely to know and beleeue and wherein no man can erre without note of heresie SEeing then the things which Christian men are bound to beleeue are of so different sort and kinde let vs see which are those that doe so neerely touch the very life and being of the Christian faith and religion that euery one is bound particularly and expressely to know and beleeue them vpon perill of eternall damnation They may most aptly be reduced to these principal â—…heads First concerning God whom to know is eternall life wee must beleeue and acknowledge the vnity of an infinite incomprehensible and eternall essence full of righteousnesse goodnesse mercie and trueth The trinitie of persons subsisting in the same essence the Father Sonne and holy Ghost coessentiall coeternall and coequall the Father not created nor begotten the Sonne not created but begotten the holy Ghost not created nor begotten but proceeding Secondly wee must know and beleeue that God made all things of nothing that in them hee might manîfest his wisedome power and goodnesse that hee made men and Angels capable of supernaturall blessednesse consisting in the vision and enjoying of himselfe that hee gaue them abilities to attaine therevnto and lawes to guide them in the wayes that leade vnto it that nothing was made euill in the beginning that all euill entred into the world by the voluntary aversion of men and Angels from God their Creator that the sinne of Angels was not generall but that some fell and others continued in their first estate that the sinne of those Angels that fell is irremissible and their fall irrecouerable that these are become diuels and spirits of errour seeking the destruction of the sonnes of men that by the misperswasion of these lying spirits the first man that euer was in the world fell from God by sinfull disobedience and apostasie that the sinne of the first man is deriued to all his
posterity not by imitation only but by propagation and descent subjecting all to curse and malediction yet not without possibilitie and hope of mercifull deliuerance Thirdly wee must beleeue that for the working of this deliuerance the Sonne of God assumed the nature of man into the vnity of his diuine person so that hee subsisteth in the nature of God and man without all corruption confusion or conuersion of one of them into another that in the nature of man thus assumed hee suffered death but being God could not be holden of it but rose againe and triumphantly ascended into Heauen that hee satisfied the wrath of his father obtayned for vs remission of sinnes past the grace of repentant conuersion and a new conuersation joyned with assured hope desire and expectation of eternall happinesse Fourthly wee must constantly beleeue that God doth call and gather to himselfe out of the manifold confusions of erring ignorant and wretched men whom hee pleaseth to be partakers of these precious benefits of eternall saluation the happy number and joyfull society of whom wee name the Church of God whether they were before or since the manifestation of Christ the sonne of God in our flesh For both had the same faith hope and spirit of adoption whereby they were sealed vnto eternall life though there bee a great difference in the degree and measure of knowledge and the excellencie of the meanes which God hath vouchsafed the one more then the other Fiftly wee must know and beleeue that for the publishing of this joyfull deliverance and the communicating of the benefits of the same the Sonne of God committed to those his followers whom hee chose to bee witnesses of all the things hee did and suffered not onely the word of reconciliation but also the dispensation of sacred and sacramentall assurances of his loue set meanes of his gracious working that those first messengers whom hee sent with immediate commission were infallibly led into all trueth and left vnto posterities that summe of Christian doctrine that must for euer be the rule of our faith that these blessed messengers of so good and happy tidings departing hence left the ministerie of reconciliation to those whom they appoynted to succeede them in the worke so happily begun by them Lastly wee must know and be assuredly perswaded that seeing the renouation of our spirites and mindes is not perfect and the redemption of our bodies still remaining corruptible is not yet therefore God hath appointed a time when Christ his sonne shall returne againe raise vp the dead and giue eternall life to all that with repentant sorrow turne from their euill and wicked wayes while it is yet the accepted time and day of saluation and contrary wayes cast out into vtter darkenesse and into the fire that neuer shall bee quenched all those that neglect and despise so great saluation That all these things and these onely doe directly concerne the matter of eternall saluation is euidently proued by vnaunswerable demonstration For how should they attaine euerlasting happinesse that know not God the originall cause and end of all things the object matter and cause of all happinesse that know not of whom they were created of what sorte to what whereof capable and how enabled to it how farre they are fallen from that they originally were and the hope of that which they were made to be whence are those euills that make them miserable and whence the deliuerance from them is to be looked for by whom it is wrought what the benefits of it are the meanes whereby they are communicated to whom and what shall bee the end both of them that partake and partake not in them Wee see then that all these things and these onely essentially and directly touch the matter of eternall saluation Other things there are that attend on them as consequents deduced from them or some way appertayning to them whereof some are of that sorte that a man cannot rightly be perswaded of these but hee must needes see the necessary consequence and deduction of them from these if they bee propounded vnto him as that there are two wils in Christ that there is no saluation remission of sinnes or hope of eternall life out of the Church that the matrimoniall societie of man and wife is not impure as the Marcionites Tatianus and other supposed nor any kinde of meates to bee rejected as vncleane by nature as the Manichees and some other Heretickes fondly and impiously dreamed other things there are that are not so clearely deduced from those indubitate principles of our Christian faith as namely concerning the place of the Fathers rest before the comming of our Sauiour Christ concerning the locall descending of Christ into the hell of the damned In the first sorte of things which are the principles that make the rule of faith a man cannot be ignorant and bee saued In the second which are so clearely deduced from those principles that who so aduisedly considereth them cannot but see their consequence from them and dependance of them a man cannot erre and be saued because if he beleeue those things which euery one that will bee saued must particularly know and beleeue he cannot erre in these The third a man may be ignorant of and erre in them without danger of damnation if errour bee not joyned with pertinacie The principall grounds of Christian doctrine aboue mentioned are the whole platforme of all Christian Religion The rule of faith so often mentioned by the Auncient by the measure of which all the holy Fathers Bishops and Pastours of the Church made their Sermons Commentaries and Interpretations of Scripture This rule euery part whereof is prooued so neerely to concerne all them that looke for saluation we make the rule to trie all doctrines by and not such platformes of doctrine as euery Sect-master by himselfe canne deduce out of the Scriptures vnderstood according to his owne private fancie as the Rhemists falsely charge vs. This rule is deliuered by Tertullian Irenaeus and other of the Fathers and with addition of conclusions most easily clearely and vnavoydably deduced hence by Theodoret in his Epitome Dogmatum CHAP. 5. Of the nature of Schisme and the kindes of it and that it no way appeareth that the Churches of Greece c. are hereticall or in damnable schisme OVt of this which hath beene deliuered it is easie to discerne what is Heresie and what errours they are that exclude from possibility of saluation It remaineth to speake of Schisme and the kindes and degrees of it Schisme is a breach of the vnity of the Church The vnity of the Church consisteth in three things First the subjection of people to their lawfull Pastours Secondly the connexion and communion which many particular Churches and the Pastours of them haue among themselues Thirdly in holding the same rule of faith The vnity of each particular Church depends of the vnity of the Pastour who is one to whom an
concurreth with grace not as precedent vnto it but as following after it and as a handmaide attending on it is most false For hee approoueth the saying of Augustine but reproueth the Master of sentences for misseunderstanding and misseapplying it That which followeth that Caluine dissenteth from Augustine in the matter of iustification is of the same nature For he saith only that though nothing be to bee disliked in the matter it selfe deliuered by Augustine for that it is plaine that acknowledging the imperfection of inherent iustice and thinking it our greatest perfection to know our owne imperfections and seeke remission of our sinfull defects he cannot but acknowledg the imputation of Christs righteousnesse to be that in confidence whereof we stand in the sight of God yet his manner of deliuering this article is not so full perfect and exact as wee are forced to require in these times against the errours of the Romanists For that when hee speaketh of grace hee seemeth for the most part to vnderstand nothing else thereby but that sanctification whereby the holy spirit of God changeth vs to become newe creatures seldome mentioning the imputation of the righteousnesse of Christ. That which Bellarmine chargeth Caluin with in the next place argueth his intollerable impudencie Caluin sayth hee doth thinke that the sonne of God is subiect to the father in respect of his Deitie which because all the Fathers deny he pronounceth they all erred and that their errour cannot be excused Let the Reader peruse the place and he shall finde that Calvin saith no such thing but the cleane contrary Indeed Hugo de S. Victore in his questions on the 1 Epist. to the Corinth 15. saith that CHRIST is subject to his Father according to his divine nature and sheweth that many haue beene of that opinion But Caluin saith no such thing neither doth hee charge the Fathers with any errour touching the distinction of the Natures of God and Man in Christ or the vnity of his Person but saith onely that some of them applying those things distinctly to one of the natures of Christ which are applyable to the whole Person of the Mediatour entangle themselues in some doubts which otherwise might easily be cleared which will easily appeare by that place of Hugo before mentioned The kingdome saith Hugo which Christ shall deliuer to his Father so become subject vnto him either was giuen vnto him in that he was God and then he cannot resigne it nor become subject to his Father because in that respect he is equal vnto him whence we say equalis Patri secundùm diuinitatem minor Patre secundum humanitatem Or in that he was man and that seemeth not conceiuable For the nature of man is not capable of that infinite power that is implyed in the Kingdome which God gaue his Sonne He answereth that he may be said to be subject to his Father in that he is God because though he haue the same essence with him yet he hath receiued it from him How aptly this may be said I will not now examine but how in this sense he may be said to giue vp his kingdome to his Father is yet more hard to conceiue Ambrose saith he may be said to giue it vp not by reall resigning of that he had but by bringing vs to his Father and shewing vs that Fountaine whence he receiued it and all that fulnesse whereof we are partakers These are doubts which Calvin saith that the Fathers doe not cleare attributing the Kingdome of Christ vnto him distinctly in respect of this or that nature But he affirming that the Kingdome of Christ doth not agree vnto him distinctly or seuerally in respect of this or that nature but to the whole person considered in both natures easily expresseth himselfe For saith he God gaue to his Sonne by eternall generation the same essence he had in himselfe and with it the same power and kingdome and this he shall neuer resigne Secondly he gaue to the nature of man not by formall transfusion but in the Person of his Sonne which in the admirable worke of the Incarnation he bestowed on it to support and sustaine it all that power he had originally in himselfe and eternally gaue his Sonne so that the Sonne of God after the taking of our nature into the vnity of his person administreth not his Kingdome without the vnion knowledge assent and cooperation of the nature of man which he shall continue to doe while wee neede mediation and till he haue brought vs to his Fathers presence and to the cleare view and sight of his Majestie Then shall hee cease to rule in this sort any more his humane nature shall not neede to bee interposed any longer but he shall appeare in the glory of his Godhead then shall he be subject to his Father in the nature of man in more speciall sort then now he is because though now he be inferiour vnto God in that he is man and so subject to him yet that nature of man intermeddleth with the administration of the Kingdome in such sort as then it shall cease to doe though it shall neuer lose that power and kingdome which in the Person of the Son of God it is honoured with CHAP. 16. Of Limbus patrum concupiscence and satisfaction touching which Caluine is falsely charged to confesse that hee dissenteth from the Fathers THe next imputation is touching Limbus patrum supposed to be a place below in the earth neere hell if not a part of hell which Caluin pronounceth to bee but a fable though it haue great authours and patrons as if this were so strange a thing that a fable and meere fancie should finde approbation among some of the Fathers The opinion of the Millenaries I suppose Bellarmine thinketh but a meere fancie yet had it great and reuerend patrons If hee say that all the Fathers did hold the opinion of Limbus and that Caluin opposeth himselfe against them all hee is cleerely refuted by Augustine who doubted of it Besides that their popish Limbus supposed to haue beene a receptacle for the soules of the Patriarches but only till the death and resurrection of Christ as being then emptied by him is a meere priuate conceite of their owne wanting the testimonies of the most auncient Fathers For Tertullian Irenaeus and others did thinke the soules of all men to bee holden in hell till the last day And if it were resolued that there was such a Limbus as they fancie yet their Schoolemen are not agreed of the place neither dare they affirme that it was below in the earth though they seeme most inclineable to that opinion The next false reporte that Bellarmine maketh of Caluin is that he opposeth himselfe against all Antiquitie in the question whether concupiscence in the regenerate be sinne or not This hee endeauoureth to make good in this sorte Calvin saith he professeth that Augustine hath truely and
excellent sort Either then the Fathers condemned these without cause for worshipping creatures or they meant to restraine more than that adoration which ascribeth infinite greatnesse to him that is adored which vndoubtedly they did euen the least and lowest degree of spirituall worship or worship in spirit and truth This most clearely appeareth to bee so by that of the seuenth generall Councell which though it did not onely confirme the placing of pictures in the Church but prescribed that they should be worshipped yet the Fathers of that Councell expounded themselues that they meant nothing else thereby but a reuerent vsage of them approaching to them embracing and kissing of them in such sort as men vse to doe to the bookes of holy Scriptures and all sacred vessels and things consecrated to the vse of Gods seruice but permit not any the least part of spirituall worshippe or worshippe in spirit and trueth the Scripture speaketh of to be giuen vnto them for if it be they judge it Idolatrie But the Romanists at this day giue spirituall worshippe to creatures and thinke they sinne not if it be not in so high a degree as to ascribe vnto them infinite greatnesse Adoration implieth in it three actes First an apprehension of the excellencie of that which is adored Secondly an acte of the will desiring to doe some thing to testifie our acknowledgement of this greatnes and our subjection and inferioritie Thirdly an outward acte expressing the same Wee say therefore that Adoration proceeding out of the apprehension of the excellencie of that is worshipped and the desire to testifie our acknowledgement of it is of two sortes or kinds For either it is limited to certaine times places and things when where and wherein the excellencie of that wee worship presents it selfe vnto vs and requireth our acknowledgement of it as is the worshippe of Kings Princes Prelates and Prophets in their kingdomes Courts Churches and Schooles ruling guiding teaching and instructing or else it is spirituall which in all places at all times and in all things causeth him that worshippeth to bow himself before that hee worshippeth and thereby to testifie his acknowledgement of the excellency of it which he findeth in euery time place and thing to present it selfe vnto him This kinde of Adoration subiecteth not only the body but the spirit and minde also to him whose greatnesse it thus acknowledgeth This worship we say is proper to God For he onely at all times and in all places and things seeth beholdeth guideth and taketh care of vs and ruling disposing and commaunding vs inwardly and outwardly worketh our good But the Romanists say the Saints doe so likewise though not in so excellent sort as God doth for they suppose that they know all things that concerne vs that they watch ouer vs with a carefull and vigilant eye that they carry vs in their hands and by their mediation procure our good from God the fountaine of all good and therefore they worship them with spirituall worship The miracles that God wrought in times past by them made many to attribute more to them than was fitte as if they had a generalitie of presence knowledge and working but the wisest and best aduised neuer durst attribute any such thing vnto them Whether saith Augustine the Saints be present euery where or at least wheresoeuer their memorialls are kept or whether they remaine in one place only and praying onely in generall for the Militant Church God doe worke by himselfe or his Angels that which is fit for the confirmation of the faith they professed and the good of such as remember them I dare not pronounce And who knoweth not that hee inclineth to that opinion that they doe not particularly see know and entermeddle with humane things and confirmeth this his iudgement with sundry excellent reasons and authorities This opinion did the Authour of the glosse follow and Hugo de sancto victore and the Church of God neuer defined otherwise howsoeuer Ierome in his passion against Vigilantius seeme to say the contrary and Gregorie endeauour to confirme it saying hee that seeth God who seeth all things cannot but see all things in him But Occam and sundry other excellent Schoolemen reiect this saying of Gregorie and Gregorius Ariminensis resolueth peremptorily that neither Saints nor Angels know the secrets of our hearts but that this is reserued as peculiar to God alone If then the Saints for ought wee know do not see know and intermeddle with our particular affaires but pray only in generall there remaineth nothing else safely to bee donne by vs but to seeke vnto GOD and then all these both Saints and Angells shall loue vs in him and what in them lyeth procure our good Behold sayth Augustine I worship one God one beginning of all things that fountaine of wisdome and happinesse whence all things that are wise and happie haue their wisdome and happinesse whichsoeuer of the Angels loueth thâ—… GOD I am sure hee loueth mee whosoeuer abideth in him and can heare the prayers and take notice of the wants of mortall men I am well assured hee doth heare mee when I pray to God and endeauoureth to giue mee the best furtherance hee can Let therefore those Adoratores partium mundi worshippers of parts and portions of the world tell mee what good Saint or Angel hee doth not assure vnto himselfe which worshipeth that one God whom euery one that is good doth loue and desire to please Hence it came that though some particular men did aunciently at sometimes when they had occasion to speake of them doubtfully sollicite the Saints and desire them if they had any apprehension of these inferiour things to bee remembrancers for them vnto God yet no man prayed vnto them with bowed knees in set courses of deuotion and prayer Neither was there any forme of inuocation of Saints brought into the seruice of the Church for a long time as appeareth by that of Augustine who sayth they are named by the Minister in the time of the holy mysteries but not innocated For how could there be any inuocation of them generally receiued and allowed or constantly resolued on and vsed in the set courses of the prayers of those primitiue Christians when they knew not nor were not certainely resolued whether the Saints do know or intermeddle with the particular affaires of men in this world seeing the Romanists themselues confesse it were not fit nor safe to pray to Saints if they did not heare vs Now it is no way likely that any generall opinion was holden in those times of the vniuersall presence knowledge and habilitie of Saints to steade them that seeke unto them seeing it was a long time doubtfull in the Church whether the faithfull departing out of this world bee immediatly receiued into heauen and enioy the happie presence of God or whether they remaine or stay in Abrahams bosome or some place
cleering of this point and the answering of this obiection we must remember that whereas the ordinary and set meanes of saluation is Baptisme so that no man carelessely neglecting or wilfully contemning it can be saued The Fathers notwithstanding doe constantly teach that if men be excluded by ineuitable impossibilitie they may be saued without it and that faith and the inward conuersion of the heart flying vnto GOD in Christ through the gracious instinct and sweete motion of the sanctifying spirit may bee reckoned a kind of Baptisme because thereby they obtaine all that which should haue beene sought in the Baptisme of water And because if an ordinary degree of faith doe sometimes obtaine saluation without the Baptisme of water much more that which maketh men willing to suffer death for CHRIST therefore they affirme that Martyrdome and the constant suffering for Christ is also fitly named Baptisme So that there are three kinds of Baptisme Flaminis Fluminis Sanguinis Of water of the spirit and bloud It appeareth by Bernards Epistle to Hugo de sancto victore of this Argument that there were some in his time who though they thought that Martyrdome doth supply the defecte of Baptisme yet would not grant that faith and the inward conuersion of the heart without such suffering doth so and therefore though they confessed that Martyrs not baptised with the Baptisme of water may be saved yet they denyed that others though repenting beleeuing and conuerting vnto God can possiblie obtaine remission of their sinnes without the sacramentall washing Against these Barnarde reasoneth in this sorte If Martyrdome doe supply the defect of Baptisme it is not poena but fides not the suffering but the faith of the sufferer that makes it bee of so great force Nam absque fide quid est Martyrium nisi poena For were it not for faith what were the passions of Martyrs but bitter and vncomfortable torments onely Shall then that which maketh Martyrdome bee esteemed in steade of Baptisme be so infirme and weake that what it giues to another thing it shall be denyed to haue it selfe The sheading of our blood for Christ is an vndoubted proofe and demonstration of a very great constant and vnmoueable faith but it is not God but men that take notice of faith by these proofes For God doth often see and pronounce the faith of a man dying in peace to be as great as the faith of a Martyr for that though it be not proued by Martyrdome it is ready for Martyrdome and animates him that hath it to suffer any thing if neede should require This which Barnarde hath thus deliuered touching this point is the constant doctrine of the Fathers neither doe wee or the Authours of the Centuries dislike any thing in it but wee condemne the vaine and idle disputes of the Romish Schools touching these three kinds of Baptisme especially in that they teach concerning Martyrdome that it giueth grace ex opere operato so that if a man not iustified nor yet in the state of grace come vnto it and do not ponere obicem hee shall by vertue thereof obtaine grace haue the effects of it wrought in him in such sort as in the Baptisme of water This not onely wee condemne but many amongst themselues affirming that Martyrdome hath no force to worke or procure our good farther then the greatnesse of our faith and loue which is therein tried approued and made manifest doth worke it The Centurie writers reproue not the Fathers for any such errour as the Papists doe maintaine touching the force of Martyrdome but they dislike that the Fathers did vse so many Hyperboles and Rhetoricall amplifications in the praysing of Martyrdome though in a good sense that the Romish Sophisters haue from thence taken occasion of their errour touching the merite satisfaction and expiation of sinnes which they fancie to bee in the blood of Martyrs of which impietie the Fathers neuer thought Thus then it doth not appeare by any thing which Bellarmine hath or can alleadge that wee confesse the faith of the Romanists to bee the auncient profession of the primitiue Christians but rather the contrary is constantly defended by all our Diuines in the places produced by him CHAP. 22. Wherein is examined their proofe of the Antiquitie of their doctrine taken from a false supposall that our doctrine is nothing else but heresie long since condemned LEt vs therefore come to his third part wherein hee vndertaketh to proue that the doctrine of the reformed Churches opposite to the faith and profession of Rome is the same with the old heresies long since condemned by the vniuersall consent of the whole Christian world In this part hee is so shamelesse that I blush at the very thought of that hee so doctorally and grauely deliuereth as if it were truer than trueth it selfe whereas in his conscience he knoweth it to be an vntrueth so grosse and apparant that the diuell himselfe will bee ashamed of it Hee reckoneth twenty seuerall heresies of damned Arch-heretickes euery of which he pronounceth that wee silly men defend and imbrace as the sacred trueth of God Let vs for our better satisfaction and refutation of so vile a slaunder take a view of the particulars Hee placeth in the front the heresie of Simon Magus and his disciples which was that the Angels made the world that the Prophets were inspired from them and deliuered their pleasure not the will and pleasure of the high God and that therefore the things commaunded by them were not in themselues good or to bee respected that God was displeased with their gouernment and would exempt his own from it haue them free to doe what they list for that men are saued by his fauour and not in doing those things which though they were commaunded and imposed as good by Moyses and the Prophets mis-ledde by the Angels yet were not naturally so but by accident onely This he saith is the errour of the Protestants for they thinke God made the world and not the Angels that Moyses and the Prophets spake as they were inspired of him that the things they cōmaunded are just and holy that there is no way of saluation but by hauing that righteousnesse the Law of Moses prescribeth which all they that are saued haue First by imputation of that perfect righteousnesse and obedience to Moses Law which was found in Christ to merit our good secondly by the operation infusion of sanctifying grace from him making them to hate sinne to loue righteousnesse walke in the wayes of Gods commaundements so that sinne hath no more dominion ouer them Surely I thinke if the diuell himselfe fate as Iudge in this case hee could not but condemne the impudencie of this his shamelesse disciple But he addeth Eunomius taught that if a man would embrace his profession he should bee saued though he continued without repentance remorse in all maner of most damnable wickednesse
that vpon his bare word wee should beleeue so shamelesse a lye For Augustine which was before this Persian in his booke De moribus Ecclesiae libro primo capite tricesimo quarto hath the same heresie as it pleaseth these heretikes to call it Nolite inquit consectari turbas imperitorum qui in ipsà verâ religione superstitiosi sunt Novi multos esse sepulchrorum picturarum adoratores quos mores Ecclesia condemnat quotidiè corrigere studet And Gregory after the time of this supposed Persian doth condemne the adoration of Images And the Councell of Frankford likewise after his time as appeareth by Hincmarus and others Besides if Nicephorus follow the judgement of the Fathers of the second Nicene Councell hee meaneth nothing else by that adoration of Images which hee approoueth but the embracing kissing and reverent vsing of them like to the honour wee doe the Bookes of holy Scripture not that Religious worshippe which consisteth in spirit and trueth which the Papists yeelde to their Idoles And so there is as great difference of judgement betweene him and Bellarmine as betweene him and vs. That which Bellarmine addeth against Caluine and others touching the time that Images were first brought into the Church if this place did require the examination of it wee should finde him as notable a trifler therein as in all the rest CHAP. 37 Of the errour of the Lampetians touching vowes THe errour of the Lampetians was as Alphonsus à Castro supposeth that it is not lawfull for men to vowe and by vowing to lay a necessity vpon themselues of doing those things which freely and without any such tye might much better bee performed If they disliked simply all vowing wee doe not approue their opinion as may appeare by that which Kemnisius Zanchius and others haue written to this purpose and therefore wee are vniustly said to fauour their errour That which Bellarmine addeth for the strengthening of this his vniust imputation is a meere calumniation For Luther doth not say that a man should vow to do a thing as long as hee shall bee pleased and then to be free againe when hee shall dislike that which before hee resolued on but that all vowes should be made with limitation to bee so farre performed as humane frailty will permitte that it is better after a vow made to breake it to discend to the doing of that which is lawfull good though not carrying so great show of perfection as that which by vowe was promised than under the pretence of keeping it to liue in all dissolute wickednesse as the manner of the Popish votaries is whereupon the Fathers are cleare that marriage after a vow made of single life is lawfull and that it is better to marry than continuing single to liue lewdly and wantonly CHAP. 38. Of the heresie of certaine touching the verity of the body and blood of Christ communicated to vs in the Sacrament THe last heresie might well haue beene omitted For those heretikes condemned by Theodoret Ignatius and others denied the verity of Christs humane nature and thereupon condemned the Sacrament of his body and blood So that it was not the impugning of Popish Transubstantiation as Bellarmine idlely fancieth that was reprooued in them but the denying of the trueth of that body and blood which all true Christians doe know to bee mystically communicated to them in the Sacrament to their vnspeakeable comfort How then can we be charged with the heresie of these men seeing wee neither deny the verity of Christs humane nature nor make the Sacrament to be a naked figure or similitude only but acknowledge that it consisteth of two things the one earthly and the other heauenly and that the body of Christ is truely present in the Sacrament and communicated to vs though neither Capernaitically to be torne with the teeth nor popishly to bee swallowed and carried downe into the stomacke and belly Thus then wee see how fondly this Cardinall heretike hath indeuoured to prooue vs heretikes and to hold the old condemned heresies of those cursed Arch-heretikes whose frensies wee condemne much more than he and his fellowes doe So that he is so farre from demonstrating either our consent with condemned heretikes that were of old or their consent with the auncient Fathers and consequently the antiquity of their profession that contrarily all that are not blinded with partiality may easily see that the whole course of Popish doctrine is nothing but a confused mixture of errours and all that they write against vs nothing but meere calumniation slander CHAP. 39. Of Succession and the exceptions of the aduersaries against vs in respect of the supposed want of it THus then hauing taken a view of whatsoeuer they can or do alleage for proofe of the antiquity of their doctrine which is the first note of the Church assigned by them let vs come vnto the second which is Succession and see if they haue any better successe in it than in the former In what sense Succession may bee granted to bee a note of the true Church I haue shewed already let vs therefore see how and what our aduersaries conclude from thence against vs or for themselues By this note say they it is easie to prooue that the reformed Churches are not the true Churches of God Ecclesia non est quae non habet sacerdotem saith Hierome against the Luciferians It can be no Church that hath no Ministery And Cyprian to the same purpose pronounceth that the Church is nothing els but Plebs episcopo adunata Thus therefore from these authorities they reason Where there is no ministery there is no Church But amongst the Protestants there is no Ministerie therefore no Church The Minor proposition or assumption of this argument wee deny which they endeuour to prooue in this sorte There is no lawfull calling to the worke of the Ministery amongst the Protestants therefore no Ministery The defects they suppose to bee in the calling of our Bishops and Ministers are two fold first for that they that ordained them in the beginning of this alteration of things in the state of the Church had no power so to doe Secondly for that no man may be ordained but into a voide place either wherein there neuer was any Pastour or Bishop before as in Churches in their first foundation or wherein there hauing beene their place is now voide by the death depriuation or voluntary relinquishment of them that possest it before that so they who are newly elected and ordained may succeede into the void roomes of such as went before them and not intrude vpon their charge wherevnto they are still iustly intituled Our Bishops and Pastours were ordayned and placed in the beginning of the reformation of religion where there were Bishops already in actuall possession These being the defects which they suppose to be in the calling of our Bishops Ministers let
head and spouse and thirdly because it is led by the spirit of trueth These reasons will be found exceeding weake if we examine them Let vs therefore take a particular view of them First the Apostle say they calleth the Church the Pillar and ground of trueth therefore it cannot erre These wordes cannot proue that for confirmation whereof our aduersaries alleage them seeing hee speaketh in this place of a particular Church to wit the Church of the Ephesians in which hee left Timotheus when he departed from it Now that particular Churches may erre in matter of fayth and become hereticall our adversaries make no question That the Apostle speaketh of the Church of Ephesus and calleth it The pillar and ground of trueth it appeareth by all circumstances of the place These things haue I written sayth hee hoping to come shortly vnto thee but if I tarrie longer that thou mayest know how to behaue thy selfe in the house of God That house of God in which Paul left Timothie in which he directeth him how to behaue himselfe till hee come he calleth The Church of God and Pillar of truth that Timothie might bethinke him the better how to demeane himselfe in the government of it The Church of God is named the Pillar of trueth not as if the truth did depend on the Church or as if God could not otherwise man fest it than by her Ministery or that our fayth should be built on the authority of it or that we should thinke it absolutely free from all ignorance and errour but because it doth strongly hold and maintaine the sauing profession of the truth notwithstanding all the violence of wicked and cruell enemies as both the Ordinary glosse and that of Lyra doe interpret it and for that by instructions admonitions and comforts it strengtheneth stayeth and supporteth such as otherwise would fall as the Interlineall glosse seemeth to expresse it So then the Church is The pillar of trueth not because it is absolutely free from all errour or that our faith should be builded vpon the infallibility of it but because it alway retayneth a saving profession of heauenly trueth and by strength of reasons force of perswasions timelinesse of admonitions comforts of Sacraments and other meanes of sauing grace The powerfull force whereof the sonnes of God doe feele it strengtheneth and stayeth the weakenesse of all them that depend vpon it This is it that Calvine meaneth when hee sayth the Church is called The pillar of trueth because it firmely holdeth the profession of it and strengtheneth others by the knowledge of it Bellarmines cavill that if this were all the Church might more fitly be compared to a chest than a Pillar is not worth the answering for it doth not onely preserue the trueth as a hidden treasure but by publique profession notwithstanding all forces endeavouring to shake it publisheth it vnto the world stayeth the weakenesse of others by the knowledge of it in which respect it is fitly compared to a Pillar and not vnto an Arke or chest The second reason is much more weake than the former For thus they argue The Church is governed by Christ as by her head and spouse and by the spirit as by the soule and fountaine of her life therefore if shee erre her errour must be imputed vnto Christ and to the spirit of trueth This their consequence is blasphemous and impious For who knoweth not that particular men companies of men and Churches are governed by Christ as by their head and spouse by the spirit of trueth as being the fountaine of their spirituall life as the Churches of Corinth Galatia and the Churches mentioned in the Revelation of S. Iohn called golden Candle stickes in the midst whereof the Sonne of God did walke yet had they their dangerous and grievous errours and defaults for which they were blamed so that by the argument of our adversaries men may blame the spirit of trueth for their errours That which the Iesuite addeth that Christ the husband of the Church is bound to free it from all errour in matter of faith whence any great euill may ensue is as childish an argument as may be devised For if great and grievous euils may be found in the Church then notwithstanding this argument errours also Now that the Church is subject to great grieuous euils he that maketh any questiō seemeth to know nothing at all As therfore God giueth that grace whereby the children of the Church may avoyde great and grievous euils and neuer with-draweth the same but for punishment of former sinne and contempt of grace so he giueth the gracious meanes of illumination and neuer withdraweth the meanes of knowledge but when the contempt of the light of knowledge and the abusing of it procure the same So that the sinnes and errours of the children of the Church proceede from themselues and not from any defect or want of Christ the husband of the Church The third reason is he that heareth not the Church must bee holden for an Ethnike therefore it cannot erre But they should know that Christ speaketh in that place of the Sanedrim of the Iewes which whosoeuer refused to obey they held him as an Ethnicke Yet was not that great Councell of State among the Iewes free from danger of erring If these wordes of our Saviour be applyed to the Church as they are ordinarily by the Fathers they must be vnderstood by the censures of the Church which are not alwayes just and righteous as Augustine sheweth and not of her doctrinall determination But saith Bellarmine the Councels were wont to denounce Anathema to all that obey not their decrees therefore they thought they could not erre To this we answere that they denounce Anathema not because they thinke euery one that disobeyeth the decree of the Councell to bee accursed but because they are perswaded in particular that this is the eternall truth of God which they propose therefore they accurse them that obstinately shall resist as Paul willeth euery Christian man to Anathematize an Angell comming from Heauen if he shall teach him any other doctrine then he hath already learned yet is not euery particular Christian free from possibility of erring The other argument that because the Church is holy and her profession holy therefore shee cannot erre will proue as well that particular Churches cannot erre as the vniversall If they say the vniversall Church is holy and the profession of it holy in such adegree as freeth it from error it is petitio principii Their next argument is that if the Church be not free generally from erring but only from erring in things necessary to saluation many Catholike verities may be called in question doubted of for that there are many things that pertaine to faith which are not necessary to saluation This argument holdeth not for though the Church which comprehendeth onely the number of beleeuers that are at one time in the world may
afterwards when they are grown inveterate for that then they will corrupt the monuments of antiquity 8 That the whole present Church may be ignorant of some things and erre in them but that in matters necessary to bee knowne and beleeued expressely it cannot erre and that it cannot erre in any the least thing with pertinacie such and so great as is found in Heretickes Ninthly that Councels and Popes may erre in matters of greatest consequence This our opinion thus layde downe is defended by Waldensis Occam and others Waldensis saith the Church whose faith neuer faileth according to the promise made to Peter who bare the figure of the Church when Christ said I haue prayed for thee that thy faith faile not is not any particular Church as the Church of Africa within the bounds whereof Donatus did inclose it nor the particular Romane Church but the vniversall Church not gathered together in a generall Councell which hath sometimes erred as that at Ariminium vnder Taurus the Governour and that at Constantinople vnder Iustinian the younger but it is the Catholique Church dispersed through the whole world from the Baptisme of Christ vnto our times which doth holde and maintaine the true faith and the faithfull testimony of Iesus CHAP. 6. Of the Churches office of teaching and witnessing the truth and of their errour who thinke the authority of the Church is the rule of our faith and that shee may make new articles of our faith THus hauing spoken of the Churches assured possession of the knowledge of the truth in thenext place wee are to speake of her office of teaching witnessing the same touching the which our adversaries fall into two dangerous errours the first that the authority of the Church is Regula fidei ratio credendi the rule of our faith the reason why we belieue The second that the Church may make new articles of faith Touching the first of these erroneous conceipts the most of them doe teach that the last thing to which the perswasion of our faith resolueth it selfe the maine ground whereupon it stayeth is the authoritie of the Church guided by the spirit of truth For say they if infidels and misbeleeuers demaund of vs why we beleeue the Trinity of persons in the Vnity of the same Divine essence the Incarnation of the Sonne of God the Resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come we answere because these things are contayned in the Scriptures If they proceede farther to aske why wee beleeue the Scripture we answere because it is the word of God if why wee beleeue it to bee the word of God because the Church doth so testifie of it if why we beleeue the testimony of the Church because it is guided by the spirit of truth so that that vpon which our faith settleth her perswasion touching these things is the authority of the Catholique Church ledde and guided by the spirit of truth If it be said that it is one of the things to bee beleeued that the Church is thus guided by the spirit therefore that the authority of the Church cannot be the reason cause of beleeuing all things that pertain to the Christian faith because not of those things which concerne her owne authority Stapleton who professeth to handle this matter most exactly Sometimes seemeth to say that this article of faith that the Church is guided by the spirit and appointed by God to be a faithfull mistrisse of heauenly truth is not among the Articles of faith nor in the number of things to be beleeued Which the Rhemists vpon these words The Church is the pillar and ground of truth most constantly affirme saying We must beleeue heare and obey the Church as the Touchstone Pillar and firmament of truth for all this is comprised in the principle I beleeue the holy Catholique Church Sometimes that though perhaps in that Article it be implyed that wee beleeue whatsoeuer the Church teacheth vs yet not necessarily that wee beleeue that the Church is a faithfull and infallible witnesse mistresse of trueth And sometimes as in his triplication against Whitaker he sayth that when we professe that we beleeue the holy Catholike Church we doe not onely professe to beleeue that there is such a Church in the world but that wee are members of it and doe beleeue and embrace the doctrine of it as being guided infallibly by the spirit of trueth and that wee are taught in the Articles of our faith that the Church ought to bee listned vnto as to an infallible mistresse of heauenly trueth Surely it seemeth his braine was much crased when he thus wrote saying vnsaying saying he knew not what That which he addeth that this proposition God doth reveale vnto vs his heavenly truth teach vs the mysteries of his kingdome by the ministery of his Church is a transcendent wherevpon that article wherein wee professe to beleeue the Catholike Church doth depend as all the rest do is not an Article of the Creede doth but more more shew the distemper of his head But in that which hee addeth for confirmation hereof that we do not professe in the first Article of our faith to beleeue God as the reuealer of all hidden and heauenly truth and to rest in him as in the fountaine of all illumination is the note brand of an impious miscreant For this doubtlesse is the first thing implyed in our faith towards God that we yeeld him this honour to be the great master of all trueth vpon whose authority we will depend renouncing all our owne wisedome knowing that as no man knoweth the things of a man but the spirit of a man so no man knoweth the things of God but the spirit of Got and that flesh and blood cannot reueale these things vnto vs but our father which is in heauen That the precept of louing God aboue all is not distinctly set downe among the rest of the tenne commaundements but is implyed though principally in the first yet generally in all is to no purpose If he thinke it is not at all contayned in the Decalogue his folly is too too great CHAP. 7. Of the manifold errours of Papistes touching the last resolution of our faith and the refutation of the same THus wee see hee cannot avoid it but that the Church is one of the things to be beleeued therefore cannot be the first generall cause of beleeuing all things that are to be beleeued For when we are to be perswaded of the authority of the Church it is doubtfull vnto vs and therefore cannot free vs from doubting or settle our perswasion because that which setleth the perswasion must not be doubted of There is no question then but that the authority of the old Testament may bee brought to proue the new to him that is perswaded of the old and doubteth of the newe and the authoritie of the newe to
of Canonicall bookes a tradition must necessarily receiue it from a certaine and constant report of the ancient But hereof no more in this place because the exact handling of it pertaineth to another place to wit touching the Scriptures CHAP. 13 Of the Churches authority to iudge of the differences that arise touching matters of faith THus hauing spoken of the Churches assured possession of diuine truth and her office of teaching testifying and proposing the same the next thing that followeth is her authority to judge of the differences that may arise touching matters of the faith taught by her or any part thereof and more specially touching the interpretation of the Scriptures and word of God Iudgement is an acte of reason discerning whether a thing be or not and whether it be that it seemeth to be and is thought or said to be This judgment is of two sortes The first of definitiue and authenticall power The second of Recognition The judgement of authenticall power defining what is to bee thought of each thing and prescribing to mens consciences so to thinke is proper to God being originally found in the father who by his sonne as by the immediate and prime messenger and Angell of his secret Counsell and by the holy Ghost as the spirit of illumination maketh knowne vnto men what they must thinke and perswadeth them so to thinke So that the supreame judgement wherein the conscience of men doeth rest in the things of GOD is proper to GOD who onely by his spirit teacheth the conscience and giueth vnto it assurance of truth Neither is God the supreme Iudge onely inrespect of the godly who stay not till they resolue their perswasions into the certainty of his diuine testimony and vndoubted authority but also in respect of the wicked who in their erronious conceipts are judged by him and of whose sinister and vile courses he sitteth in judgement while he confoundeth their tongues diuideth them one from another maketh them crosse themselues and bringeth all they doe to nothing This judgement all are forced to stand vnto and this is that that maketh a finall end of all controversies according to that of Gamaliel If this thing be of God it will prosper and prevaile and wee inresisting it shall be found fighters against God if not it will come to naught Thus then the judgement of God the father as supreme the judgement of the sonne as the eternall word of God of the spirit as the fountaine of all illumination making vs discerne what is true is that in which wee finally rest The judgement or determination of the word of God is that wherein wee rest as the rule of our faith and the light of Diuine vnderstanding as that whereby we iudge of all things The judgement of Recognition is of three sorts For there is a judgement of discretion common to all Christian men a judgement of direction proper to the guides of the Church and a judgement of jurisdiction proper to them that are in cheife places of authority The first of these is nothing else but an acte of vnderstanding discerning whether things be or not and whether also they bee that which they seeme to bee The second endeuoureth to make others discerne likewise and the third by authority suppresseth all those that shall thinke and pronounce otherwise then they judge that haue the judgement of Iurisdiction Touching the judgement of Recognition wee acknowledge the judgement of the vniuersall Church comprehending the faithfull that are and haue beene to be infallible In the Church that comprehendeth onely the beleeuers that liue at one time in the world there is alwayes found a right judgement of discretion and right pronouncing of each thing necessary all neuer falling into damnable errour nor into any error pertinaciously but a right judgement of men by their power of jurisdiction mantayning the truth and suppressing errour is not alwayes found So that sometimes almost all may conspire agaâ—…nst the truth or consent to betray the sincerity of the Christian profession as they did in the Councells of Ariminium Seleucia in which case as Occam aptly obserueth out of Hierome men haue nothing left vnto them but with sorrowfull hearts to referre all vnto God If sayth Hierome iniquity prevaile in the Church which is the house of God if iustice be oppressed if the madnes of them that should teach guide others proceed so farre as to pervert all the straight wayes of God to receiue rewards to doe wrong to treade downe the poore in the gates and to refuse to heare their complaynts let good men in such times hold their peace let them not giue that which is holy vnto dogges let them not cast pearles before swine least they turne againe and trample them vnder â—…eete let them imitate Ieremie the Prophet who speaketh of himselfe in this sort I sate alone because I was full of bitternesse Euen so sayth Occam when heresies prevaile in the Christian world when truth is trampled vnder feete in the streetes and Prelates Princes being enemies to it endevour with all their power to destroy it when they shall condemne the doctrine of the Fathers molest disquiet and murder the true professours let good men in such times hold their peace keepe silence and be still let them not giue holy things to dogges nor cast pearles before swine least they turne and tread them vnder feete least they wrest and abuse the Scriptures to their owne perdition and the scandall of others but let them with the Prophet sit alone and complaine that their soules are full of bitter heavinesse CHAP. 14. Of the rule of the Churches judgment THus hauing set downe the diuerse kinds of iudgment which must determine and end all controuersies in matter of faith and religion it remaineth to shewe what is the rule of that iudgment whereby the Church discerneth betweene truth and falsehood the faith and heresie and to whom it properly pertaineth to interpret those things which touching this rule are doubtfull As the measure of each thing is that by vertue whereof wee know what it is and the quantity of it so the rule is that by application whereof wee know whether it be that which it should be and be so as it should be The rule of action is that whereby we know whether it be right and performed as it should be or not The rule of doctrine is that whereby wee know whether it be true or false The rule of our faith in generall whereby we know it to be true is the infinite excellencie of God who in eminent sort possesseth all those perfections which in the creatures are diuided and found in an inferiour sort in the full perfect vnion with whom and inioying of whom consisteth all happinesse For by this rule we know that the doctrine of faith which only professeth to bring vs backe to God to possesse and enioy him not as he is participated of vs but as he
nobis nostram naturam vt eam sibi sociaret per vnionem in personâ quae sociata non erat per vnitatem in naturâ vt per id quod de nostro vnum secum fecerat nos sibi vniret vt cum ipso vnum essemus per id quod nostrum sibi vnitum erat per ipsum vnum essemuâ—… cum patre qui cum ipsa vnum erat That is The Word which was one with God the Father by ineffable vnity became one with man assumed by admirable vnion The vnity was in nature the vnion in Person With God the Father it was one in Nature not in Person with man assumed it was one in Person not in nature It tooke of vs our nature to joyne it to it selfe by vnion in Person which had no societie with it by vnity of nature that by that which taken from us it made one with it selfe it might unite vs to it selfe that wee might bee one with it by that of ours which was vnited to it by it wee might be one with the Father who is one with it Thus hauing shewed in what sort Christ is a meane betweene the two extreames God Man it remaineth that we seeke out how according to which nature he is a Mediatour That he is a Mediatour according to the concurrence of both Natures in the vnitie of his Person it is confessed by all for if he were not both God Man hee could not mediate betweene God Men. But whether hee be a Mediatour according to both Natures concurring in the worke of Mediation there be some that make question For the clearing whereof the Diuines distinguish the workes of Mediation making them to be of two sorts Of Ministery of Authority Of Ministery as to pray to pay the price of Redemption by dying to satisfie for sin Of Authority as to passe all good vnto vs from the Father in the Holy Ghost Touching the workes of Ministery it is agreed on by all that the Person of the Son of God performed them in the nature of Man for we must distinguish Principium quod Principium quo that is the Person which doth and suffereth and that wherein it doth and suffereth such things as are necessary to procure our reconciliation with God It was the Son of God Lord of Life that died for vs on the Crosse but it was the nature of Man not of God wherein he died it was the nature of God and infinite excellencie of the same whence the price value worth of his passion grew The workes of Authority and Power as to giue life to giue the Spirit to raise the dead to make the blinde see the dumbe to speake were all performed by the Diuine Nature yet not without an instrumentall concurrence of the Nature of Man in sort as hath beene before expressed when I shewed how the Actions of Christ were diuinely-humane If it be alledged that Opera Trinitatis ad extra are indivisa that is that there is nothing that one of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity doth towards the Creatures but they all doe it and consequently that those things which Christ did in his Diuine Nature pertained not to the office of a Mediatour being common to all the Persons we answer that as the Persons of the Blessed Trinity though they be one the same God yet differ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in subsistence the manner of hauing possessing the Deitie Diuine Nature so though their action be the same the worke done by them yet they differ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the manner of doing it for the Father doth all things authoritatiuè and the Son subauthoritatiuè as the Schoolemen speake that is the Father as he from whom of whom all things are the Son as he by whom all things are not as if hee were an instrument but as Principium à Principio that is a cause beginning of things that hath receiued the Essence it hath and power of working from another though the very same that is in the other And in this sort to quicken giue life and to impart the spirit of sanctification to whom he pleaseth especially with a kind of concurring of the humane nature meriting desiring and instrumentally assisting is proper to the Son of God manifested in our flesh not common to the whole Trinity and therefore notwithstanding the objection taken from the vnity of the Workes of the Diuine Persons may be a worke of mediation Bellarmine the Iesuite bringeth many reasons to proue that Christ is not a Mediatour according to both Natures but that which aboue all other he most vrgeth is this If Christ saith he be a Mediatour according to both Natures then either according to both jointly or seuerally not seuerally because not according to his Diuine Nature seuerally considered being the party offended Not according to both jointly because though in that sort he differ from the Father the Holy Ghost neither of which is both God Man and from the sonnes of men who are meerely men yet hee differeth not from the Son of God who was to be pacified by the Mediatour as well as the Father the Holy Ghost neither in nature nor in person This surely is is a silly kind of reasoning for it is not necessary that a thing should differ from both the extreames according to all that in respect whereof it is of a middle condition but it is sufficient if it differ in some thing from one and in some thing from another The middle colour differeth from the extreames not in the whole nature of it but from white in that it hath of blacknesse and from blacke in that it hath of whitenesse but it is medium in that it hath something of either of them Soe the Sonne of God incarnate differeth not onely from the Father and the holy Ghost but from himselfe as God in that he is Man and from Men and himselfe as man in that hee is GOD and therefore may mediate not onely betweene the Father and vs men but also betweene himselfe as God and vs miserable and sinnefull men Wherefore to conclude this point wee say that some of the workes of Christ the mediatour were the workes of his Humanity in respect of the thing done and had their efficacie dignity and value from his Diuinity in that they were the workes of him that had the Diuinity dwelling bodily in him and some the workes of his Diuinitie the humane nature concurring only instrumentally as the giuing sight to the blinde raising the dead remitting of sinnes and the like Neither doe wee imagine one action of both natures nor say that Christ died offered himselfe on the Altar of the Crosse or payed for vs in his Diuinity as some slanderously report of vs and therefore all the objections that are mustered against vs proceeding from the voluntary mistaking of our sense and meaning which some
Originall importeth no such thing as he endeauoureth to proue But to take away all doubt touchâ—…ng the words of Peter there is a decree of the Tridentine Councell that the Romanists in all their disputations readings and sermons shall vse the Vulgar translation and no way dare to refuse the authority of it vnder any pretence whatsoeuer Now in the ordinarie readings of the Vulgar Translation the words of the Apostle doe lie in this sort Christ dyed for sinners the iust for the vniust that hee might offer vs to God mortified in the flesh but quickened in the Spirit in which Spirit he went and preached c. So that according to this reading the Apostle speaketh not of Christs quickening but of our quickning in the Spirit which cannot be vnderstood of the humane Soule of Christ but of the Spirit of sanctification whence it followeth that Christ going to preach in that Spirit by the force whereof we are quickned made aliue from the death of sin went in his eternall spirit of Deity not in his humane Soule But saith Bellarmine it cannot be sayd properly but Metaphorically onely that Christ did goe in his eternall Spirit of Deitie to preach to the old world Suppose it to be so Is it so strange a thing that such locall motions should be Metaphorically attributed vnto God that we should therevpon deny the going of Christ to preach to haue beene in his eternall Spirit of Deitie Doe wee not often reade in Scripture of Gods comming downe to see what thinges are done on earth But it is hard to vnderstand by Spirits in prison the soules of men shut vp in the prisons of their bodies and in the darke dungeons of ignorance and impiety as Augustine doth and therefore we must not follow his interpretation Surely it is true that it is something hard to vnderstand these words of the Apostle as S. Augustine doth and therefore we rather follow the interpretation of Andradius before mentioned who expoundeth the words of the Apostle so as Augustine doth saue that he thinketh that they to whom Christ preached in his eternall Spirit in the daies of Noe are named spirits in prison not for that they were so when hee preached to them but when Peter wrote of them Thus wee see the Cardinall hath not yet greatly weakned any of Augustines reasons One reason more S. Augustine hath so forcible and strong to confirme the interpretation hee followeth that I thinke the Iesuite will hardly be able to say much against it If the Apostle saith S. Augustine had meant to describe the descending of Christ in his humane soule to deliuer the Patriarches hee would not haue expressed his meaning by saying Hee went and preached to the spirits in prison sometimes disobedient in the daies of Noe. For to say aâ—… Bellarmine doth that Christ went and preached onely to the good spirits in Limbus but that the Apostle describing the same nameth the disobedient in the dayes of Noe lest it might bee thought that they all perished is friuolous seeing there was no reason why the Apostle in describing the descending of Christ into Limbus should bee so carefull to let all men know that they did not all perish that contemned the preaching of Noe and besides if the Apostle had meant any such thing hee would haue added that howsoeuer these men were disobedient for a time yet they did afterwards repent obeying the voyce of God speaking by the mouth of Noe. If any man shall aske as Bellarmine doth why Peter should mention Christs preaching in his eternall Spirit to them in the dayes of Noe more then to them in the dayes of Abraham or Moses the answere is easie for therefore doth hee mention them rather then any other because they that liued before the floud were men of another world are named the old world it was the greatest mutation of the world that euer was before or since that followed vpon the refusall of Christs preaching by the mouth of Noe who was the same then that he is now the same yesterday to day for euer That which the Cardinall hath in the conclusion that the Fathers generally beleeued that Christ descended into Hell wee thinke to be most true but that the soules of all the iust were in Hell till the resurrection of Christ and then deliuered thence is not the opinion of the Fathers For Augustine clearly denieth that the spirits of the just dying before Christ were in Hell till the comming of Christ touching the rest of them some thought that the Spirits of the just are shall bee in a place of sequestration separate from the presence of God till the generall resurrection so that according to their opinion Christ by descending into Hell did not deliuer them from thence of which opinion wee finde Irenaeus Tertullian some others to haue beene Some there were that thought that Christ deliuered out of the lowest Hell such as beleeued in him when hee came thither and some that hee went not to Hell to deliuer any from thence but to preserue keepe such from going thither as otherwise should haue gone thither if by vertue of his descending they had not beene preserued from falling into that hideous deuouring gulfe So that though it were euer most certainly resolued that Christ descended into Hell to triumph ouer the prince of darkenesse to fasten condemnation to the Diuell and his Angells and to preserue all beleeuers and faithfull ones from falling into the pit of destruction yet as it appeareth by Augustines Epistle to Euodius there was no certaine resolution amongst the Ancient whether Christ deliuered any or all or whom he deliuered if any when he went into Hell CHAP. 20. Of the Merite of Christ of his not meriting for himselfe and his meriting for vs. HAuing spoken sufficiently of the sufferings of Christ and his descending into Hell it remaineth that in the next place wee come to speake of his merite where we must obserue three things First whether he might or did merite Secondly whether he merited for himselfe Thirdly how and in what sort he merited for vs. The first of these questions is moued because Christ being in termino and comprehensor that is in possession of all desired blessednes and seeing God face to face euen while he liued heere may seeme to haue beene extra statum merendi that is in such a state and condition wherein there is no place for merite and so not to haue merited to merit being proper to them that are viatores that is men journeying towardes the possession of Heauen-happines not yet attained Wherefore for the clearing of this point the Diuines doe note that Christ in his humane nature in the dayes of his flesh was both Viator and Comprehensor in termino and extra terminum that is both a man journeying toward heauen-happinesse one that had already attained it being already come to the vttermost
appeare and refusing so to doe Paschasinus the Legate of Leo the Pope said vnto the Synode Wee desire to learne of your Holinesse what punishment he is worthy of To whom the Synode answering let that bee done that is agreeable to the Canons Paschasinus said Doth your righteousnesse or reuerend worthinesse command vs to vse Canonicall vengeance against him Doe you consent or doe you resolue otherwise The holy Synode said wee consent none dissenteth This is the agreeing and consenting will of the whole Synode Iulian the Bishoppe of Hypepa said to the Legates of Leo Wee desire your Holinesse in that you are more eminent then the rest hauing the place of the most holy Pope Leo to pronounce the sentence of iust vengeance against this contumacious person the Canons requiring the same For wee all and the whole Synode agree to the sentence of your Holynesse Paschasinus said Let what pleaseth your blessednes be pronounced with vnanimous consent Maximus of Antioch said what your holinesse thinketh fit to bee done we consent vnto After this the Apostolicall Legates pronounced the sentence whereby Leo the Pope had deposed and condemned Dioscorus and thenadded Let not this holy Synode be slacke to determine what is agreeable to the canons touching Dioscorus Whereupon Anatolius of Constantinople and euery Bishop in the councell gaue sentence against him saying I iudge him to be reiected from all Sacerdot 〈◊〉 and Episcopall Ministery Heere saith Cusanus the Reader may see that the Apostolicall Legates because they haue the first place in the councell pronounce the sentence yet no otherwise but if the councell coÌ„maund them so to doe that all in order pronounce sentence likewise and that the force of the sentence dependeth on the vnity and consent of will in them that are present Neither is this course obserued onely in Generall councels but that in those also that were Patriarchicall the other Bishoppes subscribed in the very same forme that the Bishoppe of Rome did it is evident For in the councell vnder Pope Martine before the sixt Generall councell Martine subscribed in this sort I Martine Bishop of the city of Rome decreeing and determining haue subscribed to this definition of confiâ—…ation of the true faith and condemnation of Sergius of Constantinople Pyrrhus and Paulus And in the very same sort subscribed Maximus of Aquileia defining and confirming the true Faith and condemning the Heretickes And so did a hundred and three Bishoppes more And in the councell vnder Symmachus we reade that the Synode saide whatsoeuer Clearke Monke or Layman either of the superiour or inferiour order shall presume to goe against these decrees let him by the sentence of the canon be reiected as a Schismaticke And the Bishops subscribed thus I Symmachus of the holy catholicke church of the city of Rome haue subscribed to this constitution made by vs by the inspiration of the Lord. I Lawrence Bishop of the church of Millaine haue subscribed to this constitution made by vs c. And so the rest in order In the Councell of Africa Gennadius said Wee must by our seuerall subscriptions giue force and strength to the things we haue spoken And all the Bishops said Fiat fiat that is Let vs so doe So the Vicars of olde Rome said in the eight Generall councell Seeing by the happy providence of God all things are come to a good end wee must by subscription giue strength to that which is done And the like we finde in the end and conclusion of all councels whereby it appeareth that the strength vigour and force of all canons made in councels is from the vniforme consent of them that haue voyces in councels and not from the Pope or head of such assemblies In the councell of Chalcedon we find that a forme of a decree touching the faith was agreed on by al besides the Romanes and certaine of the East who would haue some things added out of the Epistles of Leo. The Bishops vrged that all had liked and approued that forme the day before and that it did confirme the Epistle of Leo which they all had receiued and desired the Iudges that all might be cast out of the Synode that would not subscribe The Vicars of Rome on the contrary side told them that if they would not consent to the Epistle of Leo they would returne that a Synode might bee holden in the West and the Iudges commaunded them to come to some conference a certaine selected number of them or else to declare their Faith by their seuerall Metropolitanes that so there might remaine no further doubt or discord and told them that if they would follow none of these courses nor agree to make a certaine Decree touching the true Faith a Synode should be holden in the West So that we see that without the concurrence of the other Bishops nothing could be done by the Romanes and those of the East that there was no other remedy in case they would not haue agreed in determining the doubts then a foot but to call another Synode wherein a greater number of the Westerne Bishops might be present So that the Pope was not at that time reputed an abso lute commaunder in Generall councels CHAP. 51. Of the assurance of finding out the Truth which the Bishops assembled in Generall Councels haue HAuing shewed who haue decisiue voyces in Generall Councels what presence of Bishops is necessary to the being of them what order is to be obserued in their procedings who is President in them and what his authority is it remaineth that we proceed to see what assurance they haue of finding out the Trueth and who is to call them Touching the first of these two some haue beene of opinion that the Bishops and Fathers in Councels are so guided by the spirit of Trueth that their Decrees and determinations may be ioyned to the Canonicall Scripture and reckoned parts of it This position Melchior Canus sayth a man excellently learned and that had so profited in Diuinity that hee might be thought matchable with great and eminent Diuines feared not to hold in his hearing and addeth that Gratian seemeth to haue beene of the same opinion where hee affirmeth that the Decretall Epistles of Popes are Canonicall Scripture and alleageth Austine for proofe thereof But the fame Canus refuteth that opinion as absurd and sheweth that Gratian mistooke Saint Austine For whereas Saint Austine hath these words In Canonicis scripturis Ecclesiarum Catholicarum quamplurium authoritatem sequatur inter quas sane illae sunt quâ—… Apostolicas sedes habere epistolas accipere meruerunt That is In reckoning the bookes of Canonicall Scripture lette the diligent searcher of the Scriptures follow the authoritie of the greater number of Catholike Churches Among which they truly which were so happy as to haue Apostolique seates and to receiue Epistles from Apostles are specially and principally to be regarded Gratian citeth the place thus In Canonicis Scripturis Ecclesiarum
assembled in Generall councels rely not vpon any speciall and immediate revelations may easily be proued by sundry good and effectuall reasons For first whensoeuer we hope to come to know any thing by speciall and immediate revelation from God wee vse not to betake our selues to study and meditation but to prayer onely and other good workes or at least principally to these Whence it is that Daniel when he hoped to obtaine of GOD the interpretation of Nebuchadnezars dreame by speciall and immediate revelation did not exhort his companions and consorts by study to search out the secret he desired to know but by prayer and supplication to seeke it of GOD. And after hee had found out the secret hee sought for hee saide O God of my Fathers I confesse vnto thee and praise thee because thou hast giuen mee wisedome and strength and hast shewed vnto me those things which we desired of thee and hast opened vnto vs the word of the King Whence also it is that Christ promising-his Apostles that hee would reveale vnto them what they should speake when they should bee brought before Kings and Rulers willeth them To take no care how or what to speake for that it should bee revealed vnto them in that houre what they should speake It is not you that speake saith our Sauiour but the spirit of my Father that speaketh in you When as therefore wee hope to learne any thing of GOD by immediate revelation wee must not apply our selues to study and meditation but to prayer But when men meete in Generall councels to determine any doubt or question they principally giue themselues to meditation study and search therefore they hope not to bee taught of GOD by immediate revelation Secondly when wee desire to haue things made knowne vnto vs by immediate revelation from GOD wee goe not to them that are most learned but to them that are most devout and religious whether they bee learned or vnlearned whether of the cleargy or the Laity whether men or women because for the most part GOD revealeth his secrets not to them that are wiser more learned but to them that are better more religious and devout according to that of our Sauiour r I giue thee thankes O Father LORD of Heauen and Earth because thou hast hidde these things from the wise and men of vnderstanding and hast opened them vnto Babes And therefore the good King Iosias when hee desired by revelation to know the will of GOD touching the wordes of the volume that was found in the Temple hee sent Helkiah the High Priest to Huldah the Prophetesse and sought not concerning the wordes of the Law among the Priests whose lippes are to preserue knowledge and at whose mouth men ought to seeke the Law because though the Law bee to bee sought at the mouth of the Priest in all those things which may bee learned by study meditation search yet in those things that are to bee learned by revelation recourse must bee had to them that haue the spirit of prophecie if any such bee or else to them that are most holy and whose prayers are most acceptable vnto God Neither are men for satisfaction in these things rather to goe to the Priestes then to any Lay-man that is vtterly vnlearned But in councels men goe to them that are more learned and of better place in the church though they bee not the best and holyest men Therefore questions touching matters of faith are not determined in councels by immediate revelation If it be said that the Apostles and Elders in that first councell which is mentioned in the Actes relyed on the knowledge they had of the Scriptures and Trueth of GOD and did not wayte for a new immediate revelation and that therefore this kinde of reasoning will bring them within compasse of the same danger of erring that wee subiect their Successors vnto because they relye not vpon immediate revelation but search and study It will bee easily aunswered that though the Apostles and others assembled in that councell depended not vpon immediate revelation but the knowledge they had of the Scriptures and Trueth of GOD and thence inferred what was to be thought of the matter then in question yet were they not in danger of erring as their successours are because they relyed not on such imperfect knowledge as study meditatiō begets but such as divine revelatiō causeth to wit perfect absolute whēce they knew how to deriue the resolution of any doubt or question beeing specially assisted by the Spirit of Trueth Neither lette any man thinke that the Apostles assembled in this Councell were any way doubtfull what to resolue when they heard the matter proposed because there is mention made of great disputation in that meeting For as it may bee thought that questioning and disputing was among the Elders and Brethren and not among the Apostles the meanest of them being able to resolue a farre greater matter without any the least doubt or stay So that it is absurd that Melchior Canus from hence inferreth that the Decrees of this Councell wherein there was so great a dispute are not Canonicall Scripture any other wayes then the wordes of Pilate are because they are recorded by the Euangelists in the holy Scripture But to returne to the matter whence this obiection made vs digresse it is no way necessary to thinke that the Fathers are any otherwise directed by the Spirit of Trueth in Generall Councels then in Patriarchicall Nationall or Prouinciall Seeing Generall Councells consist of such as come with instructions from Prouinciall Nationall and Patriarchicall Synodes must follow the same in making Decrees as hath beene shewed before and consequently that they are not led to the finding out of the trueth in any speciall sort or manner beyond that generall influence that is required to the performance of euery good worke So that as God assisting Christian men in the Church onely in a generall sort to the performance of the workes of vertue there are euer some wel-doers and yet no particular man doth alwayes well and there is no degree or kinde of Morall vertue commanded in the Law but is attained by some one or other at one time or other one excelling in one thing and another in another yet no particular man or company of men hath all degrees and perfections of vertue as Hierome fitly noteth against the Pelagians so in like sort God assisting Christian men in the Church in seeking out the truth only in generall sort as in the performance of the actions of vertue not by immediate reuelation and inspiration as in the Apostles times there are euer some that hold and professe all necessary truth though no one man or company of men doe find the truth euer and in all thinges nor any assurance can be had of any particular men that they should alwayes hold all necessary truthes And therefore we may safely conclude that
pray vnto almighty God the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ his only begotten Son who continually maketh intercession for vs the holy Spirit wherewith wee haue bin annoynted to be Christians by the grace of God the Sacrament of Baptisme that he will respect his Church now tottering in great danger and that he will moue the hearts of the Prelats of the Church that at last for a little while putting away this most pernitions selfe loue they may be perswaded to correct things manifestly amisse to reforme themselues There needeth no Councell there need no sillogismes there needeth no alledging of places of Scripture for the quieting of these stirres of the Lutherans but there is need of good minds of charity towards God our neighbour and of humility c. Touching the diuisions of thē that haue abandoned the tyrannical gouernment of the Bishoppe of Rome and imbraced the sincere profession of the heauenly truth whom this Lucian calleth pretensed Gospellers they are neither such nor so many as our Aduersaries would make the world beleeue as I haue shewed at large in the place cited by Master Higgons But be they what they may bee I haue truly sayd that the Romanists are the causes of them in that their obstinate resistance against all peaceable publicke proceeding in the worke of reformation in a Generall Councell forced men to take another course and to take this worke in hand seuerally in the seuerall Kingdomes of the world That there was no hope of reformation by a Generall Councell and that seuerall Kingdomes were to take care for the redressing of things amisse within their own compasse I haue shewed out of Gerson his words are these I see that the reformation of the Church will neuer bee brought to passe by a Councell without the presidencie of a well affected guide wise and constant let the members therefore prouide for themselues thorough all Kingdomes and Prouinces when they shall be able and know how to compasse this worke Now that this kinde of proceeding must needes bee accompanied with differences though not of moment nor reall yet in shew greater then were to bee wished euery man I thinke will confesse that hath the sence of a man Against all this M. Hig. hath nothing to say but as if he had gone out of his country passed the Seas of purpose to become a jester amongst our melancholy countrey-men that are abroad to make them merry maketh a jest of it as he doth of all other things and so passeth from it The second part § 1 BVT lette vs giue him leaue to sport himselfe a little we shall haue him in earnest by and by For in the next part of this chapter hee vndertaketh to proue that Gerson whom I bring in as a worthy guide of Gods Church in the time wherein hee liued and one that vvished the reformation of things amisse vtterly detested the reformation that hath beene transacted by Luther Zuinglius the rest But his proofes will be found too weake for though it were granted that he erred in the matter of transubstantiation inuocation of Saints and some such like things yet will it neuer be proued that hee erred heretically or that hee was not willing to yeelde to the trueth in these or any other thinges wherin hee was deceiued when it should be made to appeare vnto him Cyprian erred in the matter of rebaptization Lactantius and sundry other were carried into the errour of the Millenaries many Catholickes in Augustines time thought that all Oxthodoxe and right-beleeuing Christians shall be saued in the end how wickedly soeuer they liue here yet were they of one communion with them that thought otherwise If Master Higgons thinke that I produce Gerson as a man fully professing in euery point of Doctrine as wee doe he wholly mistaketh me for I was not so simple either to thinke so or to goe about to perswade others so but this is that which I said and still constantly affirme that God preserued his true Church in the midst of all the errors and confusions of the Papacy that the errours condemned by vs neuer found generall constant allowance in the daies of our Fathers and that there were many who held the foundation according to the light of knowledge which God vouchsafed them wished the reformatiō of such things as were amisse some of them discerning more of the errors abuses that were then found in the Church other fewer of which number I reckon Gerson to be one of eminent sort ranke For this worthy Diuine beleeued as we doe that all our inherent righteousnesse is imperfit yea that it is like the polluted ragges of a menstruous woman that it cannot endure the triall of Gods seuere iudgement that wee must trust in the only mercy and goodnesse of God if we desire to be surely established against all assaults that all sinnes are by nature mortall that indulgences reach not to the dead that they are but remissions of enjoyned penance that the Pope hath no power to dispose of the Kingdomes of the world that hee is like the Duke of Venice amongst the great Senators of that State greater then each one but inferiour to the whole companie of Bishoppes that hee is subiect to errour and that in case of errour or other scandalous misdemeanour hee may bee iudicially deposed that Christian perfection consisteth neither in pouerty nor riches but in a mind resolued to regard these thinges no farther then they stand with the loue of God and serue for the aduancement of his glory and the good of men So that sometimes it is a matter of more perfection to haue and possesse riches then to cast them from vs contrary to the false conceit of the Mendicantes who made extreame pouerty to bee the height of all perfection and thought that Christ himselfe did liue by begging which hee reiecteth as an absurd errour hee teacheth that the precept of Almighty GOD requireth all the actions of vertue in the best sort they canne bee performed and that therefore they do not rightly discerne betweene the matter of precepts and counsailes who imagine that the precept requireth the inferiour degrees of vertue and the counsaile the more high and excellent whereas counsailes vrge vs not to a higher degree of vertue or morall goodnesse but onely shew vs the meanes whereby most easily if all things bee answerable in the parties wee may attaine to the height of vertue the procept prescribeth so ouer-throwing the opinion of workes of supererogation hee teacheth that there is no more merit of single life then of marriage vnlesse the parties liuing in these different estates otherwise excell one another in the workes of vertue that virginity in that which it addeth aboue coniugal chastity is no vertue nor higher degree of vertue but a splendour of vertue only that the lawes of men binde not
Sacrament which I am well assured this Fugitiue cannot improue nor any of his great Maisters who haue the schooling of him will satisfie the Reader I doubt not touching the possibility of a generall reconciliation The lyes scoffes and fooleries of Higgons in these passages touching my pretending that the Sacramentaries subscribe to the Augustan confession my art of reconciling and the like I passe by as not worth the thinking of and conclude this point with this confident asseueration that the differences betweene those whom the Papists malice and other mens passion calleth Lutherans and Sacramentaries are either not reall or not so materiall but that they may be of one Church Faith and Religion The Third Chapter §. I. IN the next chapter he chargeth Me with falshood and inciuility in traducing Bellarmine and sayth I haue deuised three criminations against him The first supposed crimination ioyned with falshood as he saith is this Bellarmine saith Videmus omnes illas Ecclesias quae ab isto Capite se diuiserunt tanquam ramos praecisos à radice continuò aruisse and I say he affirmeth that all Churches of the world that euer diuided themselues from the fellowship of the Romane Church like boughes broken from a tree and depriued of the nourishment they formerly receiued from the roote presently withered away and decayed Surely it is a grieuous crime that I haue committed yet I hope if I meete with mercifull men it will be forgiuen Mee for I thinke that boughes broken from a tree will wither away But saith M. Higgons Cardinall Bellarmine meant nothing but tha the diuided Churches lost their glory and splendor and so withered but withered not away This I think the poore fellow will not stand vnto for these Churches by the very act of their separation in his iudgment became hereticall and schismaticall and so lost not only their glory and splendor but their being also and the life they formerly had and consequently like boughs broken from a tree withered away which yet neither he nor the Cardinall can euer proue For there appeared still all signes of life in them after their separation as before and some of them hold a more sincere profession of Christian verity to this day then the Romanists do and we would rather ioine our selues to the Grecians then to them as neither erring so dangerously nor so pertinaciously as they do For that which he bringeth out of Iustus Caluinus concerning Hieremy the Patriarch of Constantinople his renouncing our society and alleadging the Counsell of S. Paul for his warrant where he sayth reiect an Hereticke after the first or second admonition is a lye as many other sayings of the same Author are likewise The second crimination he speaketh of he sayth is contriued in this manner Bellarmine sayth that none of the Churches diuided from Rome had euer any learned men after their separation but here he sheweth plainly that his impudency is greater then his learning for what will he say of Oecumenius Theophylactus Damascen Zonaras Cedrenus Elias Cretensis Nilus Cabasilas and innumerable more liuing in the Greeke Churches after their separation from the Church of Rome Surely these were more then match-able with the greatest Rabbins of the Romish Synogogue M. Higgons should put a difference betweene a crimination and a iust defence of men wronged by the vnjust criminations of Bellarmine from which I indeauour to cleare them But let it be as he will haue it what hath he to say vnto it much surely if he could proue what he sayth for hee sayth there are 3. vntruthes found in it the 1. is that whereas I charge Bellarmine to affirme that none of the Churches diuided from Rome had any learned men after their separation he sayth only that none of the Churches of Asia or Africa had any How great a vexation it is for a man to bee matched with such Triflers as this is the reader may easily iudge by this particular For if neuer any of the Churches of Asia and Africa had any learned men after their separation from Rome neyther the Aethiopian Armenian Nestorian nor Greeke Churches had any The Aethiopian and Nestorian Churches beeing wholy in those partes and the greater part of the Greeke Church also now if none of these had any I thinke none had But that these had I shew by naming sundry particular men of great worth in the Greeke Churches This M. Higgons found to touch his Cardinall too neare and therefore hee sayth hee purposely declined the naming of the Greeke Church by restraining himselfe to the Churches of Asia and Affrica whereas he should haue said he purposely inlarged himselfe to all the Churches of Asia and Africa that he might draw into the generality of his speech not the Graecians only whose greatest number of Churches are in Asia but the Armenians Nestorians and Aethiopians also Now then see what Mr Higgons hath done hee hath confessed that the Greeke Churches which all men know to be principally in Asia reckoned among the Churches of Asia though some parts of them be in Europe to haue had learned men since their separation whence it followeth that the Cardinall without shame denied that any of the Churches of Asia had any so that in reason he should not be angry with Me in that knowing his Cardinals learning to be very great yet to magnifie his impudencie in this point I preferre it before his learning The 2. vntruth that M. Higgons would fasten vpon Me is that I say Damascen liued after the separation of the Greeks from the Latins which thing I still affirme to be most true Higgons himselfe in a sort cōfesseth as much for he saith out of Bellarmine that Damascen liued about the yeare of our Lord 740. that the violent separation of the Greeks from the Latines was occasioned principally about the yeare 766. 26. yeares after Now as I thinke in that he saith the violent separation was then he insinuateth that there was a separation before which thing if hee deny I will easily proue against him For it appeareth that the separation betweene the Greeks and the Latins began not in the yeare 766 but before in that in the yeare 766. a great Councell was called at Gentiliacum to compose the differences betweene them as we reade in Rhegino Sigebertus and others and the matter came to a publike disputation betweene them before Pipin the father of Charles the Great but that Damascen liued after the separatiō between the Greeks Latins it is evident in that the separation between thē being occasioned specially by the different opinion which they held concerning the proceeding of the Holy Ghost as Higgons telleth vs Damascen was opposite to the Latines in that point in so much that he saith expresly that the spirit is by the sonne but not from the sonne The third imagined vntruth is that I say Damascen Oecumenius Theophylact and the rest were more