the truth of Christian discipline and faith is there we shal finde also the truth of Scriptures expositions al Christian traditions Vnto these authorities I adde that the obscuritie of the holy Scriptures the danger of misinterpreting them being presupposed it vvas necessarie that God almightie should prescribe some certaine rule which euery man might follow without danger of error in vnderstanding them otherwise dissension might haue risen concerning their true sense and consequently concerning diuers articles of Christian religion and euery man might would haue expounded them according to his owne fancie although neuer so false and erroneous And what judge can we imagine him to haue appointed but the Catholike Church whom as I haue proued aboue he hath warranted from errour whose authority he hath made the rule of our beliefe who hath the custody of holy Scriptures and from whom we receiue them and infallibly know them to containe the true word of God This finally the practise it selfe of the Church hath confirmed for whensoeuer any controuersy hath risen touching the true sense of holy Scriptures she according to the rule of faith in her preserued and the sense of Scripture vnto her deliuered together with the letter hath defined the truth and decided the same as it appeareth by the condemnation al Heretikes together with their false translations and erroneous expositions of the said Scriptures And whosoeuer forsaketh this rule falleth presently into a laborinth vast Sea of difficulties and is alwaies perplexed and inconstant in his beliefe Contrariwise whosoeuer embraceth this rule buildeth vpon a firme rocke wherefore I say with the Apostle Whosoeuer shall followe this rule Galat. 6. vers 16. peace vpon them and mercy Now let vs in the last place confirme the truth of our principal assertions concerning the letter and interpretation of holy Scripture yea concerning the whole sūme of christian doctrine by vnwriten traditiō preserued in the Church by the confession of our Lutheran aduersaries of Wittenberg For they doe not only confesse Harm of cōfes sect 10. pag. 332. 333. Confession Wittenb artic 32. The Church to haue authority to beare witnesse of the holy Scripture and to interprete the same but also affirme that she hath receiued from her husband Christ a certaine rule to wit the Prophetical and Apostolical preaching confirmed by miracles from heauen according vnto the which she is bound to interprete those places of Scripture which seeme to be obscure and to judge of doctrines This may be seene in the Harmony of confessions Field book 4. ca. 19. 20. §. The secōd Field also acknowledgeth in the Church A rule of faith descending by tradition from the Apostles according vnto which he wil haue the Scriptures expounded I conclude therefore that thus the holy Scripture is a most sure and infallible ground of faith for by this meanes I meane by the diuine censure and approbation of the Church vve are assured that both the letter and sense are of diuine authoritie vvhereas the particuler or priuate approbation of the letter or interpretation or it made by any priuate man being subject to errour cannot possiblie yeeld vs any such assurance SECTION THE SIXT An objection against the premises is answered and the question concerning the last resolution of our faith is discussed BVT here occurreth a difficulty of no smal moment to be resolued For in this chapter I haue affirmed the Canonical Scriptures and their true interpretation to he knowne by the infallible authoritie of the Church whereas before I proued the authority of the Church to be infallible by the testimonie of holie Scripture vvherefore Field book 4. cap. 7. it may seeme that I haue made a circle or as M. Field calleth it a circulation The ful solution of this objection dependeth of the resolution of a question vvhich to some appeareth very intricate and hard to wit vnto what vve lastlie resolue our faith vvhether to the authority of the Church or of the Scripture or to some humane motiues and therefore this must first be discussed before the other can be answered And in verie deede although al Catholike Diuines be of one consent and hold that the cause of our beliefe is the authority of God which hath reuealed such misteries as we beleeue yet concerning the last resolution of our faith which is a schoole question and not a matter of faith I finde among them two opinions The followers of the first declare the matter thus Fiist say they euery man is induced to beleeue Christian religion and to accept of it as true by certaine humane and prudent motiues or reasons which perswade him that such doctrine as is taught in the Church according to the rules of wisedome is credible and worthie of beliefe Such motiues among others are these which followe First that almost al Nations and in them an infinite number of men of greatest authority principal wit excellent vertue and profound learning haue so beleeeued Secondly that innumerable multitudes of people of al sortes sexes and ages vvho vvere most desirous to please God and knowe true religion and vvere exemplars or patterns of probity and sanctitie haue so earnestlie embraced it that they doubted not to preferre the profession of it before goodes liberty fame and life it selfe yea that they chose rather to loose al these and endure vvithal most cruel torments then to depart from it Thirdly that it doth as it vvere miraculouslie and by some diuine meanes change men although habituated in vice vpon the sodaine to be vertuous Fourthly that the propagation of it hath beene by diuine power which appeareth by this that a fewe vnlearned and vveake fisher-men teaching such thinges as are contrarie to flesh and bloud and aboue al reason haue ouercome not by force of armes but by preaching and suffering the vvisest most eloquent most noble and most potent men of the vvorld Finally that this religion hath beene confirmed by an infinite multitude of diuine miracles recorded by famous authors of al ages of vvhich if one only be confessed true Christian religion cannot be false By these and other such like reasons and argumentes which I haue rehearsed before according to the Psalme The testimonies of our Lord are first made vnto wel disposed people ouer or exceeding credible But although these of themselues may vvel make vs accept and beleeue the truth of Christian religion by a natural and humane kinde of beliefe such as the Deuil himselfe hath and is also in Heretikes concerning such articles which they truly beleeue yet can they not alone cause in vs an act of supernatural faith For this as I haue proued before being supernatural can not proceed from a natural cause without some supernatural helpe And vvhat then is done after this perswasion Verily God almighty yeeld eth vs his supernatural helpe and imparteth vnto our soule a diuine light of faith by which our vnderstanding is made more capable of things so high
Scripture for a man as Field saith must be spiritual before he can vnderstand the Scripture and howe spiritual vvithout faith and vvhereupon shal this faith be built vpon the Scripture this cannot be because without it he cannot vnderstand the Scripture and howe can he build his faith vpon Scripture before he vnderstandeth it of which it followeth as I haue said that the Scripture is not the first and only rule of our faith as they affirme Neither can it be auerred that the first faith is not properly faith for as they confesse it maketh a man spiritual and is the ground of the vnderstanding the true sense of Scripture and consequently must be a true faith and properly so called Secondly Field requireth a minde free from the thought of other thinges depending on God as the fountaine of illumination desiâ—â—â—s of the truth with resolution to imbrace it though contrary to the conceit of natural men But first this also seemeth to presuppose faith and grace yea some extraordinary perfection more then is ordinarily found in the greater part of Christians Secondly I dislike those his vvordes desirous of the truth with resolution to imbrace it if they be vnderstood of matters of faith for they seeme to pretend a certaine kinde of doubt and staggering vvhich must not be allowed in such points especially in spiritual men as before Thirdly he thinketh the knowledge of the rule of faith formerly set downe necessary as also of the practise of the Saints according to the same Of this his rule of faith formerly by him set downe booke 3. chap. 4. I haue said something before Part. 2. chap. 4. As touching this his present doctrine it is certaine that most men wil not allow of his said rule but either vvil condemne it as insufficient in not conteining al thinges necessary or as ouer-large in containing thinges superfluous vvherefore this his third rule in this part is very vncertaine But in very deede that the Scriptures ought to be interpreted according to the rule of faith that is the whole summe of Christian religion preserued as a Depositum in the Church Part. 1. chap. 7. sect 5. I haue proued in the first part of this Treatise Moreouer as before I argued against the first rules so I argue against this that of it may be inferred that our faith is not built vpon the holy Scripture because the rule of faith must be a rule by vvhich the scriptures are to be expounded of which it followeth that it selfe is not knowne and belieued through the authority of the scripture Against the second part of this rule I oppose only Part. 2. chap. 4. that according to his groundes of which I haue discoursed before the practise of the Saints can very hardly be gathered out of the monuments of antiquity especially concerning such matters as Field denieth to be of the substance of our faith vvherefore this also maketh euery exposition of scripture obscure and of an vncertaine truth Fourthly is required saith he a due consideration what wil followe vpon our interpretation agreing with or contrary to the thinges generally receiued and beleeued among Christians in which consideration the conference of other places of Scripture and the thinges there deliuered is necessary To this I say first that if Luther had wel obserued this rule he had neuer broached newe doctrine in the Church Secondly the insufficiency of it is euident See before Part. 2. chap. 4. if Fields doctrine before set downe concerning the errour of almost al Christians be true Fiftly he requireth the consideration of the circumstances of the places interpreted the occasion of the wordes the thinges going before and following after Sixtly he also requireth the knowledge of al those Histories arts and sciences which may helpe vs. Both these I let passe as necessary yet not as sufficient to giue vs infallible assurance Seauenthly he thinketh the knowledge of the original tongues necessary and of the phrases and Idiotismes of them To which I say that although I thinke this a great helpe yea absolutely necessary according to the Protestant doctrine because they make the scripture the only ground of their faith and neuerthelesse haue no diuine meane or prudent reason to assure themselues that any one hath translated them truly yet it cannot be sufficient Neither is it according to our Catholike proceedings so needful both because vve are sure that we haue the text truly translated and also because we make not the scripture the propounder of our beliefe but expound it according to the rule of faith deliuered and receiued These are M. Fields helps and rules which he setteth downe as a meane where by we may be assured that vve haue found out the true meaning of scripture And although euery man may perceiue by that vvhich I haue said against some of them in particular howe vveake and doubtful they are Yet I vvil adde a vvord or two of them in general And first I aske M. Field howe he knoweth these his helps and rules to be sufficient can he proue their sufficiency by any diuine testimony or infallible argument nothing lesse and therefore I imagine that in the beginning he doth not so confidently affirme it but vseth these vvordes I thinke we may thus resolue and yet that diuine proofe or at the least some forcible reason is necessary it can not be denied because the true interpretation of Scripture is their principal ground of faith no interpretation in a matter doubtful can be infallibly knowne otherwise then by the aforesaid meanes Are also al these his helps and rules necessary See Willet in his Synopsis controuers 1. quaest 7. See also part 2. chap. 5. sect 1. before neither this vvil be admitted by his bretheren vvho reject the greater part of them and he must needes in a matter of such importance as this is according to their principles condemne them of great ignorance and errour if he absolutely affirme them al necessary Secondly I gather out of these rules that no man can diuinely or infallibly assure himselfe of the truth of any other mans exposition This is manifest because no man can by diuine testimony or prudential ground know that any other man hath sufficiently proceeded according to al these rules nay what ignorant person can so knowe the sufficiency of any learned man that he is sufficiently instructed in the tongues c. that he may embrace his opinion as diuine Finally no man can after this sort assuredly knowe that an other hath an illumination of the vnderstanding and that his mind is disposed according to the second rule which thinges neuerthelesse Field vvil haue required for the attaining of the right vnderstanding of holy Scripture Thirdly that appeareth to be very false vvhich is auerred by Field to vvit that a man following such directions as he prescribeth may not only assure himselfe of the truth of holy Scriptures but also conuince the aduersaries and gainesaiers for
A TREATISE OF THE GROVNDES OF THE OLD AND NEWE RELIGION DEVIDED INTO TWO PARTS ¶ Whereunto is added an Appendix containing a briefe confutation of WILLIAM CRASHAW his first Tome of Romish forgeries and falsifications MATH 7. VERS 24. ¶ A wise man buildeth his house vpon a rocke a foolish man vpon the sand ANNO DOMINI M. D.C.VIII THE PRINTER TO THE READER I Desire thy fauourable censure and pardon CVRTEOVâ— READER in regard that diuers faults haue escaped in printing this Treatise of which I may justly excuse and free my selfe from those of greatest moment for that the Authour through most earnest occasions contrary to his expectation could not be neare at hand whereby to haue had such due perusal thereof as was most meete and requisite before it passed through my handes Moreouer concerning the Preface in particular I am to aduertise thee that it is with his direction made more briefe then it was first penned and that thereby through the messengers fault in forgetfulnesse the said Preface performeth not that which is mentioned in the third point of the argument before it which should haue beene left out As thy experience wil I doubt not moue thee to consider with what difficulties our writers as also our selues put any thing to the presse so I hope hereafter their endeauours and mine also shal be in such thinges amended In the meane space referring thee to the Errata I humbly request thee againe not to blame vs altogither but pray for vs. Your poore Catholike Countriman THOM. R. THE PREFACE TO THE READER In which the occasions of the penning and publishing this Treatise as also the argument of the same are briefly deliuered Moreouer to free the Protestant readers minde before hand from obstinacy three points are proued euen out of writers of the newe religion first that more of the said religion condemne euery particular persons beliefe of that profession then approue it secondly that manifest truthes are denied and falshoods mainetained by the chiefe sectaries lastly that according to the confession of the same Authours our religion and faith is true their 's false IF justly he be judged by our Lord and Sauiour vvorthy of reproach CHRISTIAN READER vvho minding to build a towre Luke â—eâ— 28. c. doth not first sit downe and reckon the charges that are necessary whether he haue to finish it but after that he hath laid the foundation for want of ability is constrained to leaue his worke imperfect I knowe not howe diuers of this our vnhappy time can be excused from blame vvho spend al the daies of their liues in laying the foundation of a towre and neuer come so far as to place one stone there-vpon Our principal endeauour in this vvorld ought to be to erect in our soules a towre or spiritual edifice of vertue the ground of vvhich edifice is faith and such is the misery of these our daies 1. Corinth 3. vers 12. that diuers persons are so farre from building vpon this foundation gold siluer or pretious stones that they doe nothing else but alwaies busie themselues about the said foundation my meaning is that they so occupy or rather vexe themselues continually in discussing matters concerning their beliefe that they either remaine alwaies wauering without any sure ground of faith or at the least if not altogether verily for the most part wholy neglect their spiritual progresse in vertues of higher perfection In which their manner of proceeding I say they cannot be censured lesse faulty then he who consumeth the whole course of his life in laying the foundation of a house or sumptuous pallace and neuer goeth or seeketh to goe so farre as to build the walles or any other part of the same Nay the first must needs be deemed much more faulty then this fond builder because their edifice is of greater importance then the setting vp of any such material house or pallace I intend not hereto shew by the authority of the holy Scripture and the testimonies of the auncient Fathers both which yeeld me most plentiful proofes in this matter that faith is only the foundation and not the whole cause of our justification neither is there any great neede in this place of entering into any such discourse For besides that no man according to the rules of reason can esteeme him a perfect Christian vvho doth only beleeue rightly without proceeding any further because certaine it is that faith of it selfe doth only perfect the vnderstanding and not the vvil and that a right vnderstanding profiteth litle except the wil be conformable it is euen as apparant moreouer this assertion as far forth as it conduceth to my purpose seemeth to be granted euen by our aduersaries the followers of the newe religion For they distinguish especially two sorts of faith See part 2. of this Treatise chap. 2. the one they cal a faith historical the other a faith justifying the first they confound vvith that which we hold being joyned with hope and charity to justifie vs and this they deny not to be the ground not the vvhole cause of our justification for this effect and prerogatiue they attribute to the second of vvhich hereafter vvherefore euen according to their doctrine the truth of that vvhich I haue auerred must be admitted Notwithstanding it may be objected against it that the misteries and articles of our faith are diuers aboue the reach of our natural reason and therefore that a great time is requisite to this that the truth of euery one of them be throughly searched a certaine resolution concerning euery point setled I answere that this in very deede if al be true which is taught by the said followers of the new religion cannot be denied for they making the bare letter of holy Scripture the only rule and guide of their faith must consequently in like sort affirme that no man can euer come to a certaine knowledge what is to be beleeued touching the articles of religion except by diligent discussion he plainely and infallibly drawe the truth from the said letter of holy Scripture which if he could by any meanes compasse yet he cannot doe vnlesse among other thinges he reade ouer the whole Bible conferre one place vvith another c. and so in this study consume almost al the daies of his life But according to the truth God who is goodnesse it selfe hath farre otherwise and better prouided for those that are desirous to serue him and more richly to adorne their soules with vertue For he hath ordained a visible guide indued vvith life and reason and therefore apt to instruct and judge vvhose doctrine and judgement he hath warranted from errour and falsehood of whome euery person vvith diuine assurance of truth in a very short time may perfectly be taught what he is to beleeue For the better effecting of this he hath also left in her sacred bosome other more particuler but diuine and infallible grounds besides his holy
vvhich is the right and straite rule by vvhich al our thoughts and actions are to be squared and tried Of my reader therefore if he be a Protestant I desire no more but that he bring his hart and wil to this disposition if it be not so disposed already that he be desirous to serue God in his true Church and casting off al obstinacy he be indifferent either to this or that so that he might be throughly informed of the truth Lastly that he humbly craue of God that if his beliefe be not right he wil mercifully vouchsafe to giue him grace and meanes vvhereby he may finde out the truth And because I esteeme this disposition in that Protestant vvhich intendeth to reade this Treatise to be a matter of great moment towardes his conuersion I thinke it conuenient briefly here to touch among diuers others which occurre some two motiues which in my judgement are very sufficient to drawe any man from obstinacy in the newe religion yea be he of what sect soeuer to make him doubtful of the sincerity of that faith and religion which he professeth Of these the first shal be that as many I may say more and as vertuous and as learned euen of the Protestant side condemne his said faith and religion as erroneous as there doe approue it as true For if he be a Zwinglian a Caluinist or an English Protestant although his temporal Magistrates and his learned Masters tel him that he is of a sound beliefe and a true member of Christs Church yet Luther and al the Lutherans affirme in plaine tearmes and that vvith great vehemency neuerthelesse deliberately and aduisedly that he is an Heretike and consequently is guilty of that crime which the * Apologie of the Church of EnglaÌ„d part 1. pa. 28. 29. Apologie of the Church of England auoucheth to be a forsaking of saluation a renouncing of Gods grace a departing from the body and spirit of Christ This not only the workes of Luther and the Lutherans but also of diuers Sacramentaries so the Zwinglians Caluinists and English Protestants are commonly called testifie to the whole world Luther in one place writeth thus a Luther thes 21. cont Louaniens to 7. in defiÌ„s ver borum coenae We seriously judge the Zwinglians and al Sacramentaries to be Heretikes and aliens from the Church of God In an other booke of the same sectaries he hath these wordes b Idem tom 7 in defens verborum coenae fol. 383. Touching the soule and matters spiritual we wil auoide them as long as we haue a day to liue we wil reproue and condemne them for Idolaters corrupters of Gods wordes blaspheamers and deceiuers and of them as of enemies of the Gospel we wil sustaine persecution and spoile of our goodes whatsoeuer they shal doe vnto vs so long as God wil permit Thus Luther Hence also the Zwinglians of Zuricke complaine that Luther c CoÌ„fessio Orthodoxa Eccles Tigurinae in praefat fol. 3. 4. inueigheth against them as against obstinate Heretikes and such as are guilty to themselues of al impiety as against prophaners of the Sacraments and the most vile and pestilent men that goe on the ground By his c Ibid. tract 3. fol. 108. last confession by them likewise recorded it appeareth that he continued in this minde euen to his dying day And who among al the Professors of the newe religion is generally preferred by the followers of al sects before Luther The Sacramentaries themselues vvhome he damned to the pit of hel most highly commend him The Apologie of the Church of England a booke written by M. Iewel and approued by the best English Protestants yea much d Martir ep ad IuelluÌ„ prae fixa Apolog. Eccles Angl. praised by Peter Martir and other forraine followers of Zwinglius and Caluin tearmeth him e Apologie of the Church of EnglaÌ„d part 4. pag. 124. printed anno 1600. a most excellent man euen sent of God to giue light to the world Whitakers affirmeth f Whitakers in his answer to Campians 3. reason pag. 85. his name is written in the booke of life and that his memory shal euer be sacred among al good men And he addeth g Idem in his answer to the 8. reason pag. 259. that they reuerence him as Father Field a Doctor of the English Church nowe liuing auerreth h Ficl booke 3 of the Church ch 42. p. 170. See also Whetenhal a PuritaÌ„ in his discourse of the abuses c. printed anno 1606. pag. 64. 65. he was a most worthy diuine as the world had any in those times wherein he liued or in many ages before whose happy memory saith he for the clearing of sundry points of greatest moment in our Christian religion al succeeding ages shal be bound to honour Seing then that this most excellent man sent by God to giue light to the world whose name is written in the booke of life and whose memory shal euer be sacred among al good men sendeth forth these glistering beames of light vnto vs that the Sacramentaries are damned Heretikes Idolaters blaspheamers corrupters of the word of God deceiuers and enemies of the Gospel Seing this most worthy diuine reuerenced by our English Protestants as a father pronounced this so hard a censure against his children vvhat Sacramentary being thus censured if he wil proceede according to the rules of reason can doe otherwise then mistrust the truth of his beliefe vvhich of the Sacramentaries hath deserued or obtained such commendations of the Lutherans as Luther hath here of the Sacramentaries Verily Caluin himselfe whose doctrine of the Sacrament our English Church and most Sacramentaries doe nowe embrace is most bitterly reuiled and condemned by them al. Nay one of them writeth that i Conradus Schlussel in Theolog. Caluinist lib. 2. fol. 72. God also in this world shewed his judgement against Caluin whome he visited saith he in the â—odde of his anger and horribly punished before the dreadful houre of his vnhappy death For God with his potent hand I vse his vvordes so strooke this Heretike that hauing despaired of his saluation hauing called vpon Diuels swearing cursing and blaspheaming most miserably be yeelded vp his wicked ghost but Caluin died of the lousie disease wormes so increasing in an impostume or most stinking vlcer about his priuy members that none of the standers by could any longer indure the stinke Thus Conradus Schlusselburge a Lutheran reporteth Caluins death as he auoucheth out of publike writings of which he sawe no sound refutation What Sacramentary then can justly coÌ„pare any one of his learned masters with Luther or thinke that Luther erred some one of them attained to the light of truth seing that Luther had and read the same Scriptures out of vvhich his masters affirme they haue drawne their doctrine and vsed in euery respect as good meanes to come to the true sense and interpretation of them as his said masters could
euident that hel gates doe preuaile against the Church if either she decay or teach false doctrine who then can say that either the hath perished or erred except he wil accuse Christ of falshood in not performing his promise and make him a liar Verily * Chrisost hom 4. de verbis Isaiae vidi Dominum Epiph. in Ancorato S. Iohn Chrisostome affirmeth that heauen and earth shal faile before those wordes of Christ thou art Peter and vpon this rocke I wil build my Church S. Epiphanius also alluding to this promise telleth vs that our Lord appointed Peter the first or cheefest Apostle a firme rocke vpon which the Church of God was built and the gates of hel saith he shal not preuaile against it for the gates of hel are Heretikes and Arch-heretikes c. the like sentences I could alleage out of the rest of the ancient Fathers And vnto this testimonie of our Sauiour I could likewise adde that he hath warranted the faith of S. Peter and in him the faith of his successor the Bishop of Rome who is ministerial head of Christes Church on earth Luc. 22. vers 31. that it shal not faile and consequently that the body ruled by the head shal enjoy the same prerogatiue but of this hereafter Moreouer our Sauiour made his Church the supreame judge on earth of al controuersies touching matters of religion for it is manifest that from her judgement he graunteth no appeale and that he vvil haue her definitiue sentence so firme and inuiolable among Christians that he vvil not haue him accounted one of that number who shal preuaricate or despise the same This is signified vnto vs in these his wordes Math. 18. vers 17. If he wil not heare the Church let him be to thee as the Heathen and the Publican In which sentence he biddeth vs esteeme no more of our brother or neighbour that contemneth or disobeieth the censure of the Church then of a Heathen and Publican of which I gather that the Church in her censure cannot erre For if this might be then vve being bound to condemne whome she condemneth or to condemne him that vvil not listen and obey her counsaile and precepts might together with the Church condemne a man without just cause and that according to Christes commandement It appeareth likewise out of the said vvordes of our Sauiour that he vvil haue the sentence of the Church obeied wherefore he ought in reason to prouide that the said sentence be not erroneous But for the truth of these wordes of our Lord and also for the constant verity of the censure of the Church it maketh first that diuers falshoodes which before her said censure might in times past haue bin beleeued and defended yea were defended beleeued by the members of the true Church without incurring the crime of heresie afterwardes could not be so beleeued and defended as I could exemplifie in the Milinary heresie the opinion of such as held the baptisme of Heretikes to be of no force of others that denied the authority of some Canonical bookes and such like Secondly it maketh also for these her prerogatiues that al such as haue obstinately maintained any opinions condemned by the Church for heresies and consequently haue disobeied her authority decrees and beene by her adjudged Heretikes haue euer by al antiquity beene so accounted August in Enchirid. ad Laurēt cap. 5. Tertul. de pudicitia item li. de praescript Math. 5. v. 13.15 Luc. 10. vers 16. and therefore haue not beene numbred by the ancient Fathers among Christians whose opinions notvvithstanding if vve reject her infallible judgement by vvhich they were condemned and make it subject to errour may be reuiued and called againe in question either as wrongfully and injustly censured or at the least as condemned by a judge whose judgement is subject to errour and falshood The priuileges and prerogatiues graunted by our Sauiour to his Apostles and Disciples confirme the same for they are by him called the salt of the earth and the light of the world and being sent to preach they receaued from him this commission and approbation of their doctrine He that heareth you heareth me and he that dispiseth you dispiseth me Which wordes argue an infallible truth although not in the doctrine of euery particuler Bishop and Prelate of the Church yet in them altogether when they represent the whole Church in a Councel or in the whole number of them although diuided seperated in place For in these like as in Christes Apostles and Disciples as I haue aboue declared the wordes alleaged must be verified which cannot be done if they al in euery sense may erre For how can they then truly be tearmed the salt of the earth and the light of the world and how can it be true that he that heareth them heareth Christ But if we had no other testimony of holy Scripture for this matter fiue or six wordes of the Apostle vsed by him to Timothie in his first epistle 1. Tim. 3. v. 15. c. vvere sufficient to conuince our vnderstanding and make vs yeeld to this truth For in his said Epistle he tearmeth the Church the piller and ground of truth These thinges I write to thee saith he hoping that I shal come to thee quickly but if I tarie long that thou maist knowe howe thou oughtest to conuerse in the house of God which is the Church of the liuing God the piller and ground of truth What could he haue said more euident for the infallible authority of the Church the Church saith he is the piller and ground of truth that is to say the very foundation and establishment of al verity vpon vvhich as vpon a sure foundation and an inuiolable piller a man may securely build the edifice of his faith and religion vvho then vvil say that the Church is subject to errour These considerations moued S. Augustine Aug. lib. 1. cont Cresconium disputing against Cresconius concerning the baptisme of Heretikes to vse this discourse these are his vvordes Although of this that the baptisme of Heretikes is true baptisme there be no certaine example brought forth out of the canonical Scriptures yet also in this we keepe the truth of the said Scriptures when as we doe that which now hath pleased the whole Church which the authority of the Scriptures themselues doth commend That because the Scripture cannot deceaue whosoeuer doth feare least that he be deceaued through the obscurity of this question may aske counsaile touching it of the Church whome without any doubt the Scripture it selfe doth shewe Hitherto S. Augustine Out of which discourse of his we may gather this notable rule that in al thinges doubtful and in al obscure questions concerning faith and religion we ought to enquire and search forth the doctrine and beleefe of the Catholike Church and imbrace the same seeking no further warrant of security because the Scriptures demonstrate her and manifestly declare that
his holy spirit it must needes followe that vvhosoeuer is infected with any one such heresie is void of al spiritual life and in state of damnation and can haue no more life then a mans arme cut off from his body or a bough cut from a tree But of this matter I shal entreate more at large Chap. 1. Sect. 4. in my treatise of the definition and notes of the true Church vvhere I shal proue that the members of Christes Church are lincked together by the profession of the same vvhole summe of Christian doctrine and therefore for this present this shal suffice And lesse I thinke would haue satisfied any reasonable man for seing that there is but one true rule of beleefe Ephes 4. vers 4. and one faith according as vve are taught by the Apostle among Christians and this faith is so necessary to saluation as I haue proued before no wise-man wil prescribe himselfe a rule of faith according to his owne erroneous fancy and neglect the judgement of the Church whome truth it selfe hath warranted that she shal not erre from truth Chapter 7. Of the holy Scripture which is the first particuler ground of faith in the Catholike Church SECTION THE FIRST Howe the Scripture is knowne to be Canonical THE supreame authority and infallible judgement of the Church being thus established and proued it may wel in this place be demanded vvhat particuler groundes decrees or principles the Church doth deliuer vnto vs or we finde in the Church whereupon we may securely build our faith For the resolution of this question I haue affirmed in the title of this Chapter that the first such particuler ground is the holy Scripture And although there be no controuersie betweene vs and our aduersaries concerning the authority of diuers bookes of the said holy Scripture for most of them by vs al are confessed to be Canonical yet much difference there is betweene vs concerning the meanes by vvhich vve knowe the holie Scripture and euery parcel thereof to be the true vvord of God and vvho is to be judge of the true sence of these diuine volumes vvherefore these points are briefly to be handled and discussed Howe then doe vve knowe that the old and newe Testament are Canonical howe can vve certainely assure our selues that the Apostles and Disciples vvrote the newe vvhat proofe likevvise haue vve to perswade vs that no part of the holie Scripture hath beene in times past corrupted or depraued I answere in fewe vvordes that al this is infallibly knowne vnto vs by the authority and judgement of the Catholike Church vvho hath adjudged al such bookes to be Canonical and as Canonical receiued them and deliuered them to her children I denie not but the Scriptures before the definition and censure of the Church vvere true and contained the certaine and sincere vvord of God but this only I say that this truth and authority was first infallibly knowne vnto vs by the Church vvho adjudged and censured them to be as they are and as such commanded al Christians to esteeme and reuerence them Neither is this any waies prejudicial to the dignity and authority of the holie Scripture for this notwithstanding vve confesse that the said Scripture is of farre greater authority then the Church or her definitions be vvhich is manifest because although the holie Ghost assist and direct both the vvriters of holie Scripture and the Church yet certaine it is that hee hath assisted and directed the first after a farre more excellent manner then he doth the second because his assistance and direction in penning those sacred bookes vvas such that euery sentence in them contained is of most certaine verity but his assistance vnto the Church vvhether it be in a general Councel or otherwise in the decrees of the Bishop of Rome maketh only that vvhich the said Councel or Bishop intend to define of such an infallible truth Wherefore then doe vve proue the Scripture to be Canonical by the authority of the Church Surely for no other reason then because the Church is better knowne vnto vs then the Scripture For the Church hath alwaies beene as I vvil proue hereafter most visible and apparant to the vvhole vvorld euery man also before that the newe Testament vvas written before that it vvas generally receiued by the Church might haue knowne the Church for she vvas before any part of it was penned and consequently by her infallible judgement euery one might with farre more ease and certainety haue come to the knowledge of such bookes then by any other meanes or industry Wherefore to conclude although the Church maketh not Scripture yet of her we learne most certainely which is Scripture And this is no more disgrace vnto Scripture then it was vnto Christ that the Apostles gaue testimony of him because they were better knowne then he I adde also that euery one of them who aboue al others reprehend this our assertion taketh vpon himselfe as great authority ouer Scriptures as vve giue to the whole Church See part second chap. 5. Sect. 1. For euery newe sectarie out of his owne fancy judgeth this to be Scripture that to be none c. vvhich must needes be in euery mans judgement farre more absurd This assertion being thus explicated let vs nowe briefly proue the same And first because vve can assigne no other meanes by vvhich vve may say that vve certainely knowe the Scripture to be Canonical but the authority of the Church And as concerning the old Testament although vve graunt that the authority thereof vvas first partly approued by miracles partly by the testimony of Prophets and partly by the authority of the Church in those daies yet howe doe vve nowe infallibly knowe that it vvas so approued and that it is the selfe same nowe that vvas then approued but by the relation tradition and censure of the Church But let vs come to the newe Testament and demand vvho hath receiued it into the Canon of holie Scripture vvhat miracles haue beene vvrought to proue it Canonical who doth assure vs that it vvas penned by the Apostles and Disciples of Christ and that since their daies it hath not beene corrupted Verily the Church only resolueth vs of al these questions and telleth vs vvith assurance of truth that the said newe Testament vvas vvritten by the said sacred authours inspired and directed by the holy Ghost and that euer since their daies it hath beene preserued in her sacred bosome vvithout corruption And no other answere hauing any probability of truth and sufficient to satisfie a reasonable mans vnderstanding can be made This may also be confirmed by the continual practise of the Church For no man can deny but it vvas her doing that the foure Gospels of S. Mathewe Marke Luke and Iohn See part 2 chap. 5. Sect. 2. were receiued and the Gospel called of Nicodemus with others rejected She hath likwise now receiued as Canonical diuers bookes in times past of
Diosinius the Patriark of Alexandria men of great estimation in their daies with diuers other Bishops in sundry prouincial Councels decreed the baptisme of Heretiks to be of no force therefore to be reiterated They confirmed this their definition or sentence with many testimonies of holy scripture seeming at the first sight of no smal force and moment for their purpose but al these their decrees were ouerthrowne And how surely by the contrary Tradition of the Church for b see Vinc. Lir. ca. 9. Cipr. ab epist 70. ad 77. Aug de bapt cont Donat. et cōt Cresc Hierō cōtra Lucif S. Steuen Pope of Rome pleading Tradition against them condemned their doctrine as heretical and pronounced this renowmed sentence Let no newe thing be brought into the Church let nothing be done but that which was deliuered vnto vs thinking it altogether vnlawful to transgresse the rule of faith by succession and Tradition receiued from the Apostles This is recorded by diuers authors of great fame and antiquity By Tradition the Pelagian heresie vvas confuted as is affirmed by S. c Caelesti epist 8. Caelestinus Pope and S. Augustine By Tradition only the same d Aug. de bapt li. 2. cap 7. S. Augustine and others condemned Heluidius the heretike for denying the perpetual virginity of our blessed Ladie Yea e Basil de spir sācto ca. 27. See Aug. epist 118. ad Iā Leo ser 2. de jeiunio S. Basil telleth vs that if we reject Tradition we shal endomage the whole principal parts of our faith and without it bring the preaching of the Gospel to a naked name I could bring forth diuers other such like examples and testimonies were it not that I should be ouer long But how shal we come to the knowledge of these Traditions S. Augustine giueth vs this most certaine rule f Aug. to 7. de bapt cōt Dona. l. 4. c. 24. see ibi c. 6 That saith he which the whole Church holdeth and hath not beene instituted by any Councel but alwaies hath beene obserued is most truly beleeued to haue beene deliuered by no other but Apostolike authority Such a Tradition saith the same g Aug de Genes ad lit c. 23. et con Dona. l. 4. c. 24. Orig. in c. 6. ad Rom. S. Augustine and Origenes is the baptisme of infants Such Traditions according to h Ba. de spi sāct c. 27. S. Basil are the signe of the Crosse praying towards the East the words spoken at the eleuation of the Eucharist with diuers ceremonies vsed before and after consecration the hallowing of the font before baptisme the blessing of the oile or chrisme the annointing of the baptized with the said oile the three immersions into the font the words of abrenuntiation and exorcismes of the partie which is to be baptized c. What scripture saith he taught these and such like thinges none truly al comming of secrete and hidden Tradition wherewith our fore-fathers thought it meete to couer such misteries Hitherto S. Basil It is an Apostolical Tradition as we are taught by a Dionis de Eccles hierarc cap. 7. S. Dionisius of Areopagus b Tertul. in exhort ad castita tem c. 11. et de corona militis cap. 3. Tertullian c Chrisos homi 69. ad populum S. Iohn Chrisostome and S. Augustine to pray and make a memory of the soules departed in the Masse It is an Apostolical Tradition saith d Hieron epist 54. ad Marc. S. Hierome and e Epiphā haeres 75. Aerij S. Epiphanius to keepe certaine appointed fasting-daies especially the Lent the same is affirmed by f Aug. epi. 118. ad Ia nu cap. 1. S. Augustine concerning the obseruation of certaine holy-daies and by g Damas li. 4. de ortho fide c. 17. et l. de Imagini See Ter. de coron mil. S. Iohn Damascene concerning the adoration of Images These and diuers other such like Apostolike Traditions are sette downe by the auncient Fathers and are to be found in the Church of Christ And vpon these if they bee of matters of faith seeing that they haue diuine authority both from Christ and the Apostles vvho deliuered them to the Church and from the Church it selfe which being the piller of truth hath accepted and approued them euerie Christian may securelie build his faith and beliefe If they be concerning preceptes of moral actions vve are bound to obey them and may doe it with like security wherefore h Origen tract 29. in Math. Origen giueth vs this learned counsaile As often saith he as Heretiks alleage Canonical scriptures in which al Christians consent and beleeue they seeme to say * Mat 24. verse 26. Behold in houses is the word of truth but we ought not to beleeue them nor to goe forth from the first Ecclesiastical Tradition nor beleeue otherwise but as the Church of God by succession hath deliuered vnto vs. Thus farre Origen wishing euery one in the interpretation and sense of holy scripture to follow the Tradition of the Church as also in the beliefe of al such matters as are called in question by Heretikes Vnto these proofes I adde that i Barlow B. of Rochester in his sermon preached at Hampton Court Sept. 21. 1606. Barlowe and Field two famous English Protestants admit of certaine Apostolike Traditions k Field booke 4. cap. 20. § Much contention Field telleth vs that they reject not al vnwritten Traditions yea he alloweth of the rule of * Chap. 21. S. Augustine before mentioned for decerning Apostolical Traditions from others as also doth l Whitgift in his defence pag. 351. 352. Whitgift But Field addeth moreouer this other that whatsoeuer al or the most famous and renowmed in al ages or at the least in diuers ages haue constantly deliuered as receiued from them that went before them no man contradicting or doubting of it may be thought to be an Apostolical Tradition thus Field I confesse that this notwithstanding he affirmeth Ibid. cap. 20. § Out of this No matter of faith to be deliuered by bare and onlie Tradition But why not such as wel as those which concerne the manners conuersation of men and are by him allowed as for example Why may we not as assuredly receiue by Tradition our beliefe concerning some article of faith as to vse his owne words concerning the obseruation of the Lordes day Ibid. That the Apostles Field book 4. ca. 20. § Much confession Ibidem § The secōd kinde Doth not the allowance of these also according to their common doctrine prejudice the sufficiencie of holy scripture But he graunteth further that They receiue the number names of the Authours and integrity of the parts of bookes diuine and Canonical as deliuered by Tradition He admitteth as a second Tradition That summary comprehension of the chiefe heads of Christian doctrine contained in the Creed of the Apostles which was deliuered to the Church
Testament as it is euident by holy Scriptures and granted by our * Melācht in corpo doctri Germa et in examine ordi nand cap. de definit c. Oecolampad in Isa 23 21. Aug. lib. 1. ad Simplicianū quest 2. Lib. de spirit et litt c. 34. Freder Staphil l. de cōcord disci Luther Petrus Paladius l. de heres Caluin in Inst contr Liberti c. 9. aduersaries the Prophets that were extraodinarily sent confirmed their mission by miracles and why so if not to yeeld men sufficient prudent motiues to beleeue them Hence are these vvords of S. Augustine It is commaunded that we beleeue to this that hauing receiued the gift of the holy Ghost we may be able to worke wel by loue but who can beleeue except he be touched by some vocation that is by some testification or testimony of thinges Againe A reasonable soule cannot beleeue by her freewil if there be no vocation or perswation vnto which it may beleeue hitherto Saint Augustine Finally the truth of this appeareth by the ordinarie manner of proceeding of God with mortal men vvhich is not altogether by internal illuminations as the Swencfeldians Libertines and some Anabaptists dreame but by some common and external rule and seing that according to the Apostle he requireth of vs only * Rom. 12 1. Field booke 4. chapt 7. § Thus then a reasonable obsequy seruice or obedience it can not be said that he commaundeth vs to beleeue any thing which is not propounded vnto vs and made credible by prudential motiues In this sense I take Field who telleth vs as I haue partly set downe before that three thinges concurre to make vs beleeue that whereof we are doubtful the light of diuine vnderstanding as that whereby we apprehend the things of God the spirit as the authour of this illumination and the reasons and motiues by force whereof the spirit induceth moueth and perswadeth vs. And in particular he affirmeth that it is not sufficient for Stapleton to say that he beleeueth the Church to be guided by the spirit because the spirit moueth him so to beleeue but saith it is moreouer necessary that he declare those reasons or motiues by force whereof the spirit setleth his minde in the perswasion of the truth of those thinges he formerly doubted of Some man perhaps wil object that no miracles or at the least very fewe are nowe wrought in the vvorld vvherevpon it may seeme to followe according to this discourse that Christian Catholike religion is not nowe sufficiently propounded as credible I answere that although God doth alwaies cause his true religion to be sufficiently propounded in such sort that any vvise man may prudently embrace it and beleeue it true yet as is aboue insinuated he doth not in euerie respect make it so credible as is in his power to doe and that for our greater merit humiliation And from this it proceedeth that among Christians miracles are not nowe so frequent as they were in the primatiue Church because they haue nowe not only other sufficient motiues which may perswade al men of the truth of their religion but also sufficient prudential reasons and marks by which they may discerne the true Church from al false sinagogues as I haue partly declared before and wil declare at large in my treatise of the definition and notes of the Church This then being thus proued let vs behold what prudential arguments our aduersaries bring to proue the Scriptures to be canonical by force of vvhich the spirit induceth moueth and perswadeth them to beleeue them Field as I euen nowe related assigneth two motiues of our beliefe vvhich are causes of it in two distinct sorts of things the one the euidence of the things appearing vnto vs the other the authoritie of God himselfe vvhome we doe most certainly discerne to speake in the vvord of faith vvhich is preached vnto vs. Caluin seemeth to assigne the majesty of God which presenteth it selfe vnto vs in the diuine Scriptures Rogers saith The Scriptures cary a diuine and sacred authority with them and agree in al points with other bookes of the old Testament But that none of these motiues are sufficiēt to perswade a prudent man that these books are according to the rules of wisedome most certainely to be accounted diuine and canonical it is easily proued For first if they were so it vvould followe that euerie prudent man reading these books by this only according to prudence should be moued to giue euery one of them this prerogatiue but this experience among our aduersaries themselues vvho are at variance touching some books whether they be canonical or no proueth false therefore these motiues are not sufficient Field booke 4. chapt 7. § There is Moreouer No man as Field telleth vs proueth a thing doubtful by that which is as much doubted of as it selfe For this saith he is as if one taking vpon him to be a law-giuer whose authority is doubted of should first make a law and publish his proclamation and by vertue thereof giue himselfe power to make lawes his authority of making the first lawe being as much doubted of as the second Wel then this being supposed true let vs see whether the truth of al such motiues as are assigned by our aduersaries mouing them as they say to beleeue the holy scripture be not as obscure as the diuine truth of the Scripture it selfe And first this appeareth in those which are brought by Rogers for it is euen as obscure a matter and as hardly to be proued that generally al the bookes of Scripture and euery sentence of them cary an extraordinary or diuine authority with them aboue al others as it is that they are Canonical so is likewise their agreement with the books of the old testament wherefore letting them passe let vs behold whether this be not also true in such formal reasons of our faith as according to Caluin and Field moue vs to beleeue And first vvhence proceedeth that euidence vvhich Field vvil haue in some thinges beleeued to appeare vnto vs Are the articles of our faith euident in them selues this he denieth of some for Field book 4. Chapter 8. § The opinion We confesse saith he that faith may rightly be said to be a firme assent without euidence of many of the things beleeued in themselues but the medium by force whereof we are to beleeue must be euident vnto vs as Durandus doth rightly demonstrate thus Field But can he make it good that any such articles are in themselues euident vnto vs as they are the object of our faith It is plaine that most of them yea almost al considered howsoeuer haue not so much of themselues in respect of our vnderstanding as euidence and certainety of credibility that is they appeare not so certaine and credible vnto vs as a prudent man would beleeue them setting aside the medium or meane supernatural by vvhich they are propounded But if vve consider them
of themselues and yeeld sufficient satisfaction to al men of their diuine truth wherefore he seemeth contrary to that which he had said before to require no other reason by force whereof the spirit moueth him to beleeue the Scripture but the Scripture Neither should he only bring a diuine proofe for these matters but also to shewe the certaintie of his supernatural illumination of vvhich al these depend And howe wil he doe this vvil he proue it by Scripture This cannot be done least that he fal into a circle and according as he maketh the Psalme say of the vvicked Runne round til he be giddie and be at the end where he was when he beganne for by this illumination he is come to the knowledg of Scripture and consequently it must not be proued out of Scripture and vvhat other diuine proofe he wil assigne for my part I cannot imagine Neither can he say that this illumination is beleeued for it selfe for then he both graunteth that something must be beleeued without diuine proofe and also that al thinges are not beleeued because they are contained in the Scripture and consequently that the Scripture is not the onlie ground of our faith Many places of Scripture are alleaged out of the vvritten vvord of God by our aduersaries to proue the certainty of priuate illuminations and seing that I can not stand to giue the true sense of them I desire my reader only to consider in general that such sentences as they alleage if they proue any thing for them and are to be vnderstood as they pretend proue the judgement of euerie Christian man or at the least of euery spiritual man to be infallible vvhich being false as appeareth both in the auncient Fathers and also in themselues vve may vvel inferre that they haue some other sense Field affirmeth that Saint Augustine in a certaine place doth fully agree vnto his opinion shewing that the authority of the Church is but an introduction to the spiritual discerning of thinges diuine I answere that Saint Augustine in the chapter by him cited only affirmeth that because al men are not capable at the first to vnderstand the sincere wisedome and truth taught in the Church God hath ordained in it two motiues vvhich may first moue them to seeke it to wit miracles and multitude of beleeuers Aug. de vtilitate credendi cap. 16. Authoritas saith he praesto est quam partim miraculis partim multitudine valere nemo ambigit The authority of the Church is at hand which no man doubteth partly through miracles partly through multitude to be of force viz. to moue men Field to make this sentence seeme the better for his purpose Booke 4. c. 8. translateth the vvord valere standeth vpon and maketh Saint Augustine say that the authority of the Church standeth vpon two thinges c. but howe truly euerie grammer scholler may discerne That vvhich he alleageth out of Hugo de sancto Victore is as litle to the purpose but as I thinke farre more falsly translated for if in the English immediately following the Latin in the same different letter he doth intend a translation of the Latin going before as euerie man vvil judge he doth he dealeth in it most corruptly and vntruely and so I leaue him for this present SECTION THE SECOND In which the same argument is prosecuted and two thinges principallie are proued First that the newe Testament receiueth smal authority if we beleeue our aduersaries by this that it was written by the Apostles and Disciples because they accuse them of errour Secondlie because they confesse the text of Scripture to be corrupted HAVING euidentlie confuted in the section next before the chiefest and most common reasons by which the Sectaries of our daies endeuour to proue the diuine authority of holie Scripture let vs now behold such other reasons as may be brought according to their principles and together insinuate some other their assertioÌ„s which diminish the credit of these holy books And to passe ouer as a thing manifest that the authority of 〈◊〉 newe Testament cannot sufficientlie and infalliblie be proued â—uine by the testimony of the old some perhaps wil say that the authority of the old is confirmed and ratified by the newe But how is the newe it selfe proued to be Canonical which prerogatiue if we deny it the old wil receiue but litle credit from it Peraduenture they wil answere that they knowe the newe to be Canonical because it vvas vvritten by the Apostles and Disciples of Christ inspired by the holy Ghost I reply and demaund first how they can proue this to be true by canonical Scripture What canonical Scripture for example if we deny the said Gospel to be Canonical telleth vs that S. Mathew the Apostle wrote that Gospel which vve terme S. Mathewes Gospel Secondly although we suppose it to be true that the Apostles and Disciples were the authours of the newe Testament yet howe can they proue that in penning it they haue not erred What canonical Scripture haue they for this Certainely our aduersaries make al their successours subject to errour wherefore it seemeth that they wil not be very scrupulous to graunt it of the Apostles and Disciples themselues Luther tom 5. in c. 1. ad Galath fol. 290. Act. 7. v. 14. Luther in cap 46. Genes But doe they not moreouer in expresse tearms condemne them of errour Who can deny this Luther himselfe after that he had affirmed that he would not submitte his doctrine to the censure of the Fathers no not to the censure of S. Peter nor S. Paul nor of any Angel from heauen addeth in defence of this his action that S. Peter did liue and teach besides the word of God In another place in plaine tearmes he accuseth S. Steuen of errour in following the 70. Interpreters vvho as he saith erred concerning the number of those that went downe into Egipt Nay moreouer discoursing of extreame vnction Luth. de captiuita Babil c. de extrema vnctione Luther iÌ„ Isai 64. Martir in 1. Corinth 2. fol. 46. Centur. 1 lib. 2 c. 10. Col. 1600. 180. he telleth vs that Although the epistle said to be of S. Iames were in deed and truly his yet he vvould say that it was not lawful for an Apostle of his owne authority to institute a Sacrament By which he seemeth plainly to confesse that the Apostles in their Apostolike writings were subject to such faults finally he telleth vs that S. Paul 1. Corinth 2. vers 9. doth finely wreth or wrest a certaine sentence of the Prophet Isay but Peter Martir auoucheth that he mistooke the Hebrewe word Hence the Centuriatores his schollers note certaine Naeui or lapsus so they tearme them that is freckles or moles and falles of S. Peter S. Paul and S. Iames Apostles as that of S. Peter at Antioch for vvhich he vvas reprehended by S. Paul of which also a Calu. in ca. 2. ad Galat. et in Mat. 26.
of his knowledge faithfully rendred the text and in al hard places most sincerely expounded the same But to make this the more euident I adde further that they make the selfe same vvord sometimes to signifie one thing and at other times another thing as it best serueth their purpose For example our English Protestants whensoeuer the Scripture speaketh of euil traditions as Math. 15. vers 6. and in other places Bible 1595. translate the Greeke vvord vvhich signifieth properly a tradition truly as they ought But when mention is of Apostolike traditions they make the selfe same Greeke vvord signifie ordinances instructions Bible 1595. preachings or institutions as 2. Thess vers 15. c. And this they doe to bring traditions into contempt But of such examples see more in the sixt Chapter before Besides this although they vndertake to translate the Hebrewe text of the old testament and the Greeke of the newe yet vvhen the Hebrewe or Greeke maketh against them or not so much for them as the Latin they forsake the Hebrewe and Greeke and followe the Latin I vvil bring an example of both Hieremy 7. vers 18. and chap. 44. ver 19. the said Prophet inueigheth against those that offer sacrifice to strange Gods especially to the Moone And whereas according to the Hebrew they should read in the first place The women kneade the dowe to make cakes to offer to the heauens or planets they followe the Latin and say thus Bible 1595. The women kneade the dowe to make cakes for the Queene of heauen In like sort they proceede in the second place And by this meanes as they imagine they make a strong argument against vs vvho honour our blessed Lady and cal her Queene of heauen although we offer vp no sacrifice vnto her or any other creature In the newe testament whereas the Apostle according to the Greeke text saith only Rom. 8. v. 38 I am probably perswaded that neither death nor life c. shal be able to seperate vs from the charity of God they reade I am sure that neither death Bible 1595. c. And like as after this sort they serue their owne turnes in their translations so doe they also in their expositions of diuers wordes One example I haue touched aboue concerning the vvord Babilon which in S. Peters epistle to hinder the proofe of the said Apostles being at Rome 1. Pet. 5 13. Euseb lib. 2. histor c. 14. Hieron in li. descript Eccles verbo Marcus contrary to Eusebius and S. Hierome they vvil haue signifie the great City called Babilon in Assiria or Caldea contrariwise to make against the honour and dignity of Rome in the * Apocal. 17. vers 19. Bible 1592. Apocalipse they affirme the City of Rome by it to be vnderstood Let vs also consider that it must needes be granted that some of the learned sectaries haue erred in their translations and interpretations of holy Scripture for this is euident because there is but one true vvord of God which according to truth admitteth not opposite interpretations But our aduersaries translations and interpretations be diuers and much different yea repugnant one to another wherefore as I haue shewed they reject one anothers translation and interpretation and also alleage Scripture for their different doctrine They cannot therefore al be consonant to the true word of God vvhich if it be confessed it must needes follow that some of them in these matters haue erred and if some of them haue erred then some of them without al doubt haue not built vpon diuine authority which cannot be the ground of errour but vpon their owne judgement And seing that the warrant which they claime from God of al of them is the same and their ground alike we may wel inferre that none of them build vpon any other more sure foundation Adde vnto this that the selfe same sectaries oftentimes vpon further reading study and knowledge change their translations and interpretations of holy Scripture vvhich is apparent by the diuers editions of the Bibles and other their workes in which Scripture is alleaged and interpreted and of our English sectaries it is granted by the translatour of the Bible printed in the yeare 1585. 1592. and 1600. in the preface of which he confesseth that the former translations required greatly to be perused and reformed I haue also shewed in the sixt chapter that diuers places haue beene corrected and that as yet by the judgement of the best it is faulty of this followeth not seldome a change of belief and a difference from themselues in religion vvhich in the next chapter I vvil proue to haue fallen out in their first Captaines themselues And this is an inuincible argument seing that the Scriptures remaine alwaies the selfe same to proue that they varying build only vpon their owne fancies and are neuer certaine that they haue attained to the truth But this vvil be most apparent to him that shal set before his eies the manner of proceeding of our said learned sectaries in their discourses or disputations vvith their aduersaries For doe they in such conferences admit the text of holy Scripture as a supreame judge of al controuersies concerning matters of religion Surely no for although they seeme to recurre to the holy Scripture and vehemently pleade the word of God and by the authority thereof shewe themselues desirous to haue al difficulties decided yet in very truth it is not so as euery man may vvel judge because the letter of Scripture oftentimes doth not sufficiently interpret it selfe and they wil admit and allowe of no other translation or interpretation but their owne let vs declare this a litle more at large It is not vnknowne that the Catholikes receiue as Canonical the Hebrewe and Greeke text as wel as they and consequently those very places either in Hebrewe Greeke or both vvhich they alleage to establish their doctrine opposite to the beliefe of the Catholike Church Yea the Catholikes attribute more authority to the places alleaged as they are penned in the said tongues and to al bookes vvhich the newe sectaries receiue then they doe and further receiue fiue whole bookes at the least and diuers other parcels of holy Scripture into the Canon which they al commonly reject Wherefore the controuersie is not concerning the authority of the text either in Hebrewe or Greeke whither it be to be beleeued or no but vvhither the Catholikes building in this vpon the authority of the Church Traditions Councels and Fathers haue the true translation and exposition of the text or the Professours of the newe religion vvho alleage no other testimony for themselues then their owne priuate spirit and fancy To make this more euident by an example let vs suppose that a Catholike and a newe Sectary fal into disputation concerning Christs discent into hel The Catholike vsually for proofe of the affirmatiue part bringeth forth that sentence of holie Scripture Thou wilt not leaue
firmiter stent in confess de coena Domini yea not long after most absurdly he taught and defended the humane nature of Christ to be in euery place togither with his diuine And this he did to prejudice the Roman Church and Catholike religion For seing that the vvordes are so plaine that he could not in substance denie the real presence by these meanes malice droue him to contrary our doctrine concerning transubstantiation and the manner of the being present of Christes body in this dreadful Sacrament These are the principal expositions of those wordes to which I could adde diuers others for a Luther in l. quod verba Christi HOC EST CORPVS MEVM firmiter stent Luther hath recorded that in his daies there vvere among the Sacramentaries about tenne diuers interpretations of them and in the yeare 1577. a booke vvas published in vvhich two hundred expositions or deprauations of the said vvordes are numbred and assigned al inuented or reuiued by the Professours of this newe religion Nowe I thinke that no man indued with any sense or reason wil be so fond as to affirme that al these expositions haue a certaine ground in the word of God for certaine it is as we haue hard Luther himselfe confesse that there is but one true sense of these vvordes vvherefore it must needes followe that al the rest be false and forged And seing that the inuentor or vpholder of one hath no more reason or diuine assurance for his inuention or opinion then hath the inuentor or vpholder of an other vve may vvith like probability affirme them al to be humane inuentions And certaine it is that vvhosoeuer imbraceth any one of them buildeth only vpon the erroneous and fallible judgement of man yea I may truly say that the ground of his beliefe is his owne fancy vvhich moueth him to censure one opinion as true and to condemne al the rest as false And like as I haue discoursed of this one sentence of our blessed Sauiour so could I in like manner discourse of sundry other places of holy Scripture but I should be ouer long It may be some for the solutions of al these matters vvil flie to priuate illumination or inspiration of the spirit and pleade that to proue the certaine truth of their interpretations of holy Scriptures but first such persons if vve beleeue Field Field booke 4 of the Church chap. 16. See also Whitaker de Ecclesia cōtrouers 2. q. 4. cap. 3. pag. 278. are accursed by the common consent of Protestants if as the Enthusiasts they neglect the common rules of direction Secondly I haue at large * Part. 2. chap. 5. sect 1. before proued al such illuminations to be vncertaine and that no priuate man is by any such meanes ordinarily directed by God into the truth something also concerning this point shal be said in the next section SECTION THE FOVRTH That certaine rules prescribed by Field for the true vnderstanding of Scripture of themselues alone without the censure of the Church are insufficient to assure vs that our exposition made is of diuine truth BECAVSE the doctrine of Field is commonly singular in so much that I thinke I may very wel in some sort liken the platforme or order and faith of a Church set downe in his bookes of this argument to Sir Thomas Moores Eutopia for that there neither is nor euer vvil be any such Church in the world as he describeth I am and shal be forced especially in my treatise of the definition and notes of the Church to dispute against him in particular and seuer him from al his bretheren Part. 2. chap. 5. sect 4. We haue heard him before acknowledging the Scriptures to be hard and obscure of which it seemeth to followe that except he assigne vs some diuine rule vvhereby we may come to an infallible knowledge of the true sense of them we can neuer infallibly assure our selues of their true interpretation He telleth vs therefore first that men not neglecting that light of direction which the Church yeeldeth Field booke 4 chap. 15. nor other helps and meanes may be assured out of the nature of the thinges themselues the conference of places the knowledge of tongues and the sutable correspondence that one part of diuine truth hath with another that they haue found out the true meaning of it and so be able to conuince the aduersaries and gaine saiers Thus Field But howe friuolous this his assertion is it vvil appeare by the confutation of his rules vvhich he vvil haue vs obserue and helps vvhich he saith vve must trust vnto in interpreting the Scriptures What rules and helps are then assigned by him let vs recite and for auoiding of repetition togither confute them Ibid. chap. 19 these are his vvordes Touching the rules we are to followe the helps we are to trust vnto and the thinges required in the interpretation of Scripture I thinke we may thus resolue First there is required an illumination of the vnderstanding for the natural man perceiueth not the thinges of God for they are spiritually discerned but the spiritual man judgeth al thinges and himselfe is judged of none This is the first helpe concerning which I first demand howe a man shal infallibly knowe that he hath such an illumination or that he is a spiritual man if he answere that it is knowne by this that a man feeleth himselfe thus and thus affected I vrge further and aske by vvhat diuine testimony or firme reason he knoweth that a man feeling himselfe so affected hath an illumination of the vnderstanding from God and is a spiritual man verily seing that Luther and Caluin both boasted of such an illumination and yet one of them was deceiued 2. Cor. 11 14 seing also that the Diuel doth often transfigure himselfe into an Angel of light as S. Paul vvarneth vs and as our aduersaries vvil grant it hapneth to the Anabaptists and others seing moreouer 1. Iohn 4. v. 1. Caluin alleaged in the 8. section of this chapter that the Apostle S. Iohn biddeth vs not beleeue euery spirit but proue the spirits if they be of God vvhich Caluin also thinketh necessary he must alleage or knowe some such testimony or reason or else he cannot ordinarily haue supernatural knowledge of it which neuerthelesse at the least is necessarily required to this that the exposition of the place of Scripture expounded be an inducement or ground of supernatural faith And vvhat diuine testimony can he alleage no other I thinke but Scripture or diuine inspiration if Scripture then another question may be asked howe he knoweth himselfe rightly to vnderstand that place of Scripture if inspiration I demand in like sort howe he knoweth it to be diuine and not diabolical and so of both these answeres wil follow a processe without end Secondly of this rule it may be inferred not only against Field but al our aduersaries that our faith is not built vpon only
no part of this assertion is true The first is shewed false in my discourse of some particular rules especially by this that no man can assure himselfe that the hath an illumination of the vnderstanding vnto vvhich I here adde that he cannot likewise assure himselfe that he hath exactly obserued such rules and that he is euery way sufficiently disposed in minde and furnished with learning according as they require neither can he lastly proue the sufficiency of them as I haue also shewed The second part of his assertion is much lesse true for no man can proue the truth of that to an other of which he cannot be assured himselfe Fourthly I may inferre that no man who obserueth not these rules hath true faith and the reason is manifest because the Scripture thus interpreted as Field saith is the ground of their faith Field booke 3 chap. 42. §. if this kinde wherefore whosoeuer expoundeth it otherwise is not faithful By which I exclude from the number of the faithful according to this rule not only such men as are carnal not spiritual and such as are not disposed in minde according to the second rule but also al persons vnlearned vvho haue not the knowledge of such histories arts and sciences as may helpe nor of the original tongues according to the two last rules Neither can it be said that such are to learne of others for as I haue proued in my second illation or collection no man can infallibly assure himselfe that another doth interpret truly And this maketh the matter the more doubtful that commonly what exposition soeuer he followe he hath more euen of the newe religion it selfe against him then vvith him yea he may finde the best of them erroneous in some points and consequently hath cause to distrust their judgement in others Fiftly out of this discourse it is euident that although we should grant this to M. Field that the bare letter of holy Scripture is sufficiently knowne by such meanes as I haue before related out of him confuted yet the true interpretation being so obscure and not certainely to be knowne by these his rules it is euident I say that whosoeuer grounding vpon these only embraceth any interpretation as diuine buildeth vpon his owne judgement and fancy not vpon diuine authority And of this and that vvhich hath already beene said in this chapter and before I finally inferre that the vvhole faith of the newe sectaries is vncertaine and lastly resolued to their owne judgement and fancy It is vncertaine because they assigne no certaine and infallible rule by vvhich they can assuredly knowe the letter or true sense of holie Scripture which they make the only ground of their faith of which accorning to the judgement of M. Whitaker in the like case Whitaker de Eccles contra Bellar. cōtrouers 2. quaest 4. cap. 3. pag. 278. as also according to al reason must needes followe an vncertainety of truth in their whole beliefe that their faith is likewise lastly resolued to their owne judgement and fancy it is apparant For although Field tel vs that * Field booke 4. chap. 13. the judgement of God the Father as supreame the judgement of the Sonne as the eternal word of God of the spirit as the fountaine of al illumination making them discerne what is true is that in which they finally rest And that the judgement or determination of the word of God is that wherein they rest as the rule of their faith and the light of diuine vnderstanding as that whereby they judge of al thinges And both he and the rest seeme to resolue al to the bare letter of holy Scripture yet it is euident that their last resolution is not the letter both because al Christians as wel as they commonly receiue the letter and consequently if the last difficulty vvere touching the letter al vvould easily be brought to an agreement And also because as Field very vvel noteth out of S. Hierome Cha. 18. ibid. Hieron in epist ad Galat cap. 1. The Gospel consisteth not in the wordes of Scripture but in the sense and meaning not in the outward rinde and skinne but in the inward path and marrowe not in the leaues of the wordes but in the roote and ground of reason of which it appeareth that the last resolution is to the sense Seing therefore that al our aduersaries in translating and expounding the Scripture build vpon their owne judgement it is euident that in their owne judgement not in the holy Scripture they set vp their last resolution in matters of faith Neither would they obtaine any other more sound foundation and stronger stay if we should grant that they remit al thinges finally to the letter of holy Scripture for this also they receiue and reject according to their owne fancies as I haue proued And in very truth I cannot sufficiently meruaile that M. Field or any other man of judgement and learning doth run these courses I meane impugne our doctrine concerning these points as absurd and in some sort impossible vvhich in deede is most prudent and diuine and fal into most grosse absurdities and inconueniences themselues For vvhereas according to the first opinion aboue related vve lastly resolue our faith into diuine reuelation vvhereunto we are aided and inclined to giue assent by the supernatural light of faith vvhich vvith vs concurreth to euery supernatural act of beliefe vnto vvhich we are prepared and disposed by most prudential motiues and arguments of credibility And vvhereas in the first act of faith we include the beliefe of a general rule by vvhich we are to be directed and which we are bound humbly to followe in al particular points of beliefe and consequently for the preseruation of vnity and deciding of controuersies acknowledge one supreame diuine and definitiue authority on earth They impugne our assertions and obtrude vnto vs for an only ground of our faith and a directour of our beliefe the holy Scripture and giue vs no prudential rules which may giue a prudent man any assured meanes how to knowe vvhich is the true letter or which is the true sense of the same Yea assigne such meanes and rules which are proued insufficient by their owne dissention concerning these very points And besides this that vvhich we vpon such prudential motiues giue to a general authority Field booke 4 cap. 13. they rejecting with Field al such general authority must needes giue without al reason to euery particular man which is the roote of al pride and a fountaine of discord and diuision contrary to experience and not warranted by Scripture or else grant themselues to haue no faith And this is true whether they vvil haue themselues secured of the truth of their judgement by particular and extraordinary inspirations of the spirit or by the light of diuine vnderstanding or grace as Field calleth it ordinarily found in euery spiritual person See Aberus contra Carolostadian c. 7. And in
goe on in the first place alleaged And therefore for as much as in these controuersies the Papists and the Prelates goe hand in hand the said Ministers doe in like manner make the like offer to the Priestes and Iesuites promising their reconcilement vnto that See of Rome if they can either by arguments pul them from the aforesaid propositions or can answere such arguments as they shal propound in the defence of them in manner and forme before specified in the offer And therefore it both stands the Ministers vpon to make the aforesaid offer and the Prelates except they wil haue al the world to judge them to be friendes in hart to Popery to accept of the same Thus the Puritan Ministers and no such offer that I finde through the whole booke is made to the Protestants This then is affirmed by these men that if the Protestant doctrine mainetained against them be true and their assertions be false the separation of the newe Sectaries Churches from ours cannot be justified yea they auouch that if this be so that their said Churches are schismatical Vnto which if we adde that in very deede the propositions which the Puritans offer to mainetaine against the Prelates are false and erroneous the truth of which assertion is confessed with great vehemency defended by al the English Protestants and further concerning some of the said propositions very vvel proued by Hooker Whitgift Bilson Couel and others of their company we shal haue our desired conclusion that according to the doctrine of the English Sectaries the Puritans and the Protestants our aduersaries Churches are Schismatical and that ours is the true Spouse of Christ But I must not here omitte by the way to aduertise my reader that in the judgement of any wise and judicious person this argument yeelded vs by our aduersaries cannot but also be a very strong proofe of the truth of our Catholike cause For vvhosoeuer maturely considereth the matter shal finde that the Protestants in rejecting the Puritan propositions followe the prescript and rule of holy Scriptures the decrees of Councels and the tradition of the Church and Fathers He shal also perceiue that the Puritans in auouching that which I haue related build vpon very good reasons flowing out of the very nature of the Protestant religion and taken from the proceedings of the vpholders of the same in defending it because out of the doctrine and practise defended by the Protestants against the Puritans as also out of the proofes and reasons alleaged for themselues very strong arguments may be drawne to confirme the truth of our whole Catholike religion as wil sometimes appeare in my treatise following And to giue here one instance the Protestants for the authority of Arch-bishops bring diuers reasons and among others this one that peace and vnity can otherwise hardly be maintained in the Church But vvhat faith Cartwright Suruay of the pretended holy discipline chap. 8. pag. 125. Truly he affirmeth as is reported by the author of the Suruay of the pretended holy discipline that the Popes authority is more necessary ouer al Churches then the authority of an Arch-bishop ouer a prouince And this his assertion is grounded vpon very good reason as I shal more at large declare hereafter Nowe to prosecute mine intended discourse vvhich is to proue some errours in the English sectaries here occurreth another argument like vnto the former not vnfit for my purpose For like as I haue already demonstrated that if they al say true our Church is the true Church of Christ so it is also euident that if it be so that they al say true it is also needful there be one supreame head of the vvhole Church militant Suruay c. chap. 29. pag. 372. for thus I argue Cartwright a principal Puritan esteemed by those of his owne sect as the aforesaid author noteth one of the only worthies of the world telleth vs that the Popes authority is more necessary ouer al Churches then the authority of an Arch-bishop ouer a prouince but the authority of an Arch-bishop as al our Protestants defend is necessary ouer a prouince therefore the Popes authority is necessary ouer al Churches It may be objected that these arguments are taken from persons of sundry sectes of which the one confesseth the other to erre I grant it but this notwithstanding they proue that either some English sectaries erre or otherwise that our religion by them rejected is true which sufficeth my purpose Neuerthelesse the Protestants themselues doe afford vs no such reasons Truly if I were not here restrained to the vvriting only of a preface I could assigne diuers one I wil set downe for an example Field booke 3 chap. 39. pag. 158. 156. 157. 159. M. Field in his third booke of the Church plainly confesseth that in sundry Churches of the world being of the newe religion diuers worthy Ministers of God were ordained by Presbiters or Priestes sometime of our Church and had no ordination from any Bishop Nay he seemeth apparantly to graunt that none but Presbiters did impose handes in ordaining Ministers or Superintendents in many of the pretended reformed Churches as namely in those of France and others Morton in Apolog. Cathol part 1. lib. 1. cap. 21. which is also insinuated by D. Morton And therefore both these Doctors teach that in time of necessity a Priest or Minister may impose handes and consecrate a Priest and consequently also a Bishop or a Superintēdent Out of this their doctrine I frame this argument seing that diuers Superintendents and Ministers of the newe religion I may say al at the least of some Countries for Field himselfe excepteth only those of England Denmarke and of some other places which places he nameth not haue had their ordination or orders only from Priests it followeth that if Priests haue no power of ordination that is of giuing orders that such Ministers and Superintendents are no true Ministers and Superintendents But Priests according to the assertion of a principal English Protestant haue no power of ordination and can giue no orders therefore such Superintendents and Ministers are no true Superintendents and Ministers Of which I also inferre that such Churches are no true Churches for they want a true ministery and clergy without which as * Field ibid. pag. 154. and booke 2. chap. 6. pag. 51. Field confesseth there can be no Church And this English Protestant is a William L. Bishop of Rochester in his sermon cōcerning the antiquity superiority of Bishops preached before the King at Hampton-Court Sep. 21. 1606 William L. B. of Rochester who in his sermon not long since preached before the Kinges Majesty and afterward printed by his Majesties expresse commandement as the same Bishop b In the epist to the King prīted before the sermon auoucheth affirmeth and proueth out of holy Scripture first that the Apostles kept to themselues ordination or authority to giue holy orders til
Tridentinus flourished an 480. Vincentius Lyrinensis flourished an 434. Z ZEno Veronensis Martir flourished about the yeare 258. Zeno alius flourished about the yeare 390. THE FIRST PART OF THE GROVNDES OF THE OLD RELIGION Chap. the first Of the first ground of Catholike religion to wit that there is a God and that God by his prouidence gouerneth al thinges BEFORE I come to intreate of the particuler groundes of Catholike religion which are rejected by our aduersaries I thinke it not amisse briefly to discourse of certaine general groundes of the same which although I confesse to be admitted by diuers newe sectaries yet in very deede by some are denied and after some sort as I wil proue hereafter impugned and ouerthrowne by the common doctrine of them al. The Apostle S. Paul praerequireth the beleefe of two thinges principally in him that is to come to the seruice of almighty God first that he beleeue that there is a God secondly that he likewise beleeue that the said God wil rewarde those that serue him Hebr. 11. vers 6. He that commeth to God saith he must beleeue that he is and is a rewarder to them that seeke him Wherefore grounding vpon this sentence of the Apostle I place the beleefe of one God and of his diuine prouidence for the first ground of our religion For a second I wil assigne that we ought to beleeue God to be a rewarder of our actions in the world to come of which reward the Apostle here principally speaketh For the declaration of which I purpose to proue the soule of man to be immortal and that most certainly according to the deserts thereof it shal either be rewarded euerlastingly in heauen or punished euerlastingly in hel SECTION THE FIRST That there is a God THE auncient Philosophers ledde only by the force of natural reason to conuince this truth reasoned after this sorte we perceiue said they diuers motions of natural bodies in the world but especially of the heauens which motions of necessity proceede from some cause mouer which mouer either in essence or vertue motiue dependeth of some other mouer or no. If he dependeth not then he is God If he depend of some other it is likewise demanded of that other whether he be independent or dependent If the first then we must needes acknowledge him to be God who only in his essence and vertue motiue is independent of al others if the second then of him the same question may be moued and so of al others vntil we come to some one that is independent and of whome al the rest doe depend which we must of necessity affirme to be God The same also is proued by the diuers sortes degrees of creatures as are first the foure elements fire aire water and earth secondly thinges mixt imperfect as snowe raine haile c. Thirdly thinges mixt perfect as stones and diuers sortes of mettals Fourthly thinges which haue life vegetatiue only as trees hearbes c. Fiftly thinges which haue life vegetatiue and sensitiue as all sortes of beastes foules and fishes Sixtly a thing hauing besides life vegetatiue and sensitiue also reason as man aboue whome we place the Angels Wherefore either in this ascent of the perfections of thinges we shal neuer make an end which is most absurd or else we shal proceede and come to some one thing most perfect which of necessity we must confesse to be God Moreouer the natural inclination of man to the acknowledging and worshipping of God proueth the same for no nation vnder the Sunne hath euer beene found although neuer so barbarous which hath not acknowledged and worshipped either the true God or else some other thing by it so esteemed yea euery man naturally in his distresses and miseries flieth vnto God and craueth helpe and succour of his diuine Majestie But seing that I write this treatise for the vnlearned sort of people omitting to discourse at large of these reasons although most forcible yea inuincible I wil vse especially this argument following which euery man although very simple may for the most part apprehend and conceiue taken from the admirable constitution order harmony beauty and greatnesse of the world And first let euery man lift vp his eies to the heauens and behold those incorruptible bodies Let him consider not only the wonderful beauty light and variety of those celestial orbes but also their strange order and motions and aboue al their constancy in their said motions that in so many thousandes of yeares as haue passed since their first being they haue not missed or erred so much as one minute of an houre of their assigned accustomed time From which it proceedeth that Astronomers can so longe before most certainely and infallibly foretel Ecclipses conjunctions and such other accidents of the Planets Among al the ornaments of the heauens the Sunne is the most principal The body or orbe of this Planet by Astronomers is proued to be an hundred sixty and six times greater then the globe of the earth and water wherefore if the compasse of the earth and sea be demonstrated to be about twenty and one thousand six hundred miles what shal we imagine of the greatnesse of the Sunne If we likewise consider what a smal time the Sunne is in rising and setting we shal also perceiue the motion of this Planet to be most swift for the whole body of it although so huge and great commeth wholy to our sight and goeth from the same in a very short time so that it must needes moue diuers miles euery minute of an houre although the motion of it by vs be hardly perceiued The Sunne is the fountaine of light and imparteth it to the Moone and Starres By the variety of his motions we distinguish times as daies nights monethes and yeares The approching and going away of it from vs maketh the spring sommer autumne and winter The Sunne with his presence in the spring as it were reuiueth beastes and plants which seemed before almost dead through his absence and yealdeth them a fit season for generation multiplication and bringing forth their seedes Finally the Sunne principally draweth vp vapors from the sea and land which cause raine by which the earth is strangely watered to make it fruitful Next vnto the Sunne the Moone vnto our sight seemeth beautiful which giueth light vnto the nights when the Sunne is absent And although she be variable yet she is most constant in her inconstancy and alterations She hath a most strange dominion ouer the sea which she draweth and altereth as it were with herselfe for when the moone ascendeth the sea increaseth contrariwise when she descendeth it decreaseth in so much that she causeth as it is probable the flux and reflux or ebbing and flowing of the sea by which the water is preserued from putrefaction and other necessary effects are wrought But who can explicate the variety number beauty and strange effects of the starres Surely their number is
treatise which I intend I wil adde only a word or two of the manner of the nourishing of our bodies To make the foode which we receiue fit for our stomacke we haue in our mouthes two sortes of teeth some sharpe to deuide it others something flatte or plaine to grinde it with the tongue we remoue it from place to place when it is sufficiently chawed through the throate it is conueied into the stomacke where as in a pot or caldron by the heate of the hart and liuer it is boiled and brought al to one kinde of substance from thence the purest and best part thereof by subtil and smal passages is conueied to the liuer the grossest part which is not fit for nutriment is cast out at the fundament The liuer hauing receiued the said substance boileth it againe and turneth it into bloud that which is superfluous it sendeth it to other places as to the spleene and gal the rest it disperseth by the vaines throughout the whole body which is partly turned into flesh and bones a part of it is sent to the hart which being there purified is turned into vital spirits some is sent to the braine and turned into other spirits which we cal animales These considerations are sufficient to perswade euery man that there is one supreame God of infinite power and wisedome who hath created and most wisely and sweetely disposed al thinges Hence the Prophet Dauid cried out unto God in the Psalme Psal 103. ver 24. Howe high or wonderful O Lord are thy workes thou hast made al thinges in wisdome the earth is filled with thy possession or riches Surely if we looke into the nature and condition of any one creature whatsoeuer we shal not only see Eccles 3. ver 14. Galen lib. 3. de vsu partium lib. 5. Psal 99. vers 3. that as the wiseman saith we cannot adde to or take anythinge from the creatures of God and that God as Gallen the prince of al phisitions although a Pagan confesseth hath adorned and beautified the creatures of this world better then by any arte possible it could haue beene imagined but also if we demande of each creature who made it it wil seeme to make answere God made me and I made not my selfe according as the Psalme saith of vs men He made vs and we made not our selues Some Atheist perhaps wil say that al creatures are thus framed and ordered not by any supreame gouernor hauing vnderstanding and power to effect such matters but by chance I reply that like as it is impossible that a number of letters or charecters cast togither without any order of sillables wordes or sentences should make a perfect booke containing most wise learned and methodical discourses so it is impossible that the world should be so exquisitely ordered and thinges so ordained one to another by chance without the wisdome and disposition of almighty God And this confutation of this fond assertion was vsed longe since by Cicero an Ethnicke Wherefore Cicero lib. 3. de natura Deorum like as euery man would worthely account him a foole that should say that a booke containing wise and orderly discourses was made by chance by the casting togither of diuers charecters or letters or that a house most curiously and artificially built was made without the handy worke of any artificer by the accidentary concourse of stones morter timber and other such like stuffe so we may wel esteeme him a foole and voide of al reason and vnderstanding who denyeth that the world was created and ordered by almighty God Hence the Psalme saith The foole said in his hart Ps 13. v. 1 there is no God And note it is not said he said with his mouth but in his hart to signifie that this assertion is so absurde ridiculous and blasphemous that a foole although he thinke it true in his hart yet may be ashamed to vtter it with his mouth To the arguments already brought for the proofe of this matter I adde that this truth is manifestly deliuered vnto vs in the holy Scriptures in which is contained the history of the creation of the world by God and diuers other euident proofes are found of the being of his diuine Majesty This no Atheist wil or can denie But al of them answere that the Scriptures containe but fables and are of no authority I reply that it may easily be shewed that the authority of these diuine bookes ought to be great in any wisemans judgement in the world It is proued by diuers learned authors first by their antiquity for no volumes in the world are so auncient as the bookes of Moyses and consequently we may inferre that Moyses himselfe the first writer receiued the true history of those thinges which were done before his owne dayes by succession and tradition from his predecessors for which it maketh that Abraham the father of the Iewes might wel haue seene Sem the sonne of Noe Of other thinges he was an eie witnesse himselfe Secondly it is proued by the verity of diuers prophesies contained in the holy Scriptures which were fulfilled longe after that the bookes themselues were written which is a manifest demonstration that such thinges were foretold by God who only knoweth and can certainely fortel thinges contingent and depending of mans free wil of which it followeth that such prophesies and the bookes in which they are found were written by diuine inspiration Thirdly it is declared by the wonderful consent of al these bookes for although they were penned by diuers men in diuers places vpon diuers occasions and at sundry times yet no one of them containeth any one thinge contrary to the other Gre. praefat in Iob. Of which S. Gregory wel inferreth that the writers handes were the pennes of the holy Ghost The same is likewise demonstrated by the test mony of diuers miracles which haue beene wrought alwayes in the world for the confirmation of the doctrine which is taught vs in these bookes by the miraculous preseruation of them throughout al ages by the admirable consent of the seauenty two Interpreters which were appointed by Ptólomie King of Aegipt to translate them and sundrie other reasons which I cannot stand to relate Neither doe the miracles and prophesies aboue said and al other such like effects and actions only confirme the authority of the holy Scriptures but also euidently proue that there is a God who only is omnipotent and can worke effects surpassing the power and vertue of natural and created agents Such miracles and prophesies cannot be denied to haue beene found in the world in al ages of which we haue any large recordes except we wil obstinately reject the authority and testimony of al men I may joyne to this that although God be but one in essence yet he is three in persons for although the diuine essence be but one most pure and simple substance not deuided yet the selfe same is in three distinct
may be taken from miracles For why should God either foretel such thinges or worke such extraordinary effects if he had no care of worldly creatures Finally al nations be they neuer so barbarous haue euer acknowledged the prouidence of God which is a manifest proofe that the acknowledging of this proceedeth from the instinct of nature it selfe Eccles 5. vers 5. Wherefore I conclude with this sentence of the wiseman Doe not giue thy mouth that thou make thy flesh to sinne That is to say Be not thou blasphemous in thy wordes against the prouidence of almighty God to the end that thou maiest sinne more freely and say not before an Angel who is the minister and executor of Gods prouidence there is no prouidence least that God perhaps being angry against thy speaches ouerthrowe al the workes of thy handes Hitherto Salomon in the booke of Ecclesiastes And this shal suffice for the proofe of the first ground of true religion to wit that there is a God and that this God by his diuine prouidence gouerneth the world out of which ariseth the first band that man hath to serue obey feare loue and praise God aboue al thinges For reason requireth that we yeeld him these duties who is the chiefest good thing and the fountaine of al goodnesse who is the Lord maker and gouernor both of vs and al other creatures Chapter 2. Of the second ground of our religion to wit that the soule of man is immortal and that it shal either be rewarded euerlastingly in heauen or punished euerlastingly in hel THE immortality of the soule of man which I assigned for the second general ground of religion may briefly be proued by these forcible reasons First thus I argue A thing spiritual and independent of al corporal substance which hath no original cause of decay in it selfe cannot be corrupted or destroied by any corporal agent or any intrinsecal quality contained in it selfe But the soule of man is spiritual and independent of al corporal substance and hath no original cause of decay in it selfe Therefore it cannot be corrupted or destroied by any corporal agent or any intrinsecal quality conteined in it selfe The truth of the first proposition appeareth by this that al corruption must of necessity proceede either of some intrinsecal or extrinsecal cause And that a thing spiritual and in his being independent of al corporal substance especially of that which by the Philosophers is called materia prima which is the fountaine and cause of corruption in the foure elements and al other thinges of them compounded and hauing in it selfe no intrinsecal quality that can bring it to destruction cannot possibly perish through any intrinsecal cause it is most manifest And what extrinsecal cause can destroy a thing spiritual besides the omnipotent power of God The second likewise may easily be proued For first besides that the nature of the soule it selfe hath no contrary oppugning it it is euident that the principal powers of the same I meane the vnderstanding wil and memory depend not in their operations of any certaine corporal organ or part of the body as our corporal senses doe of which it followeth that they may be seperated from the said body retaine notwithstanding after such seperation their operations and consequently that they be spiritual which prerogatiue if it be granted to the powers of the soule it cannot be denied to the soule it selfe Moreouer although the vnderstanding in diuers first operations craueth aide of the senses and the sensual imagination yet it is manifest that his principal operations are independent of them For the vnderstanding discourseth of it selfe reflecteth vpon his owne operations and knoweth it selfe to knowe apprehendeth thinges vniuersal inferreth one thing of an other by thinges sensible and corporal it cometh to the knowledge of thinges spiritual yea of God himselfe contemplateth vertue and judgeth that for the loue of it corporal miseries are patiently to be suffered correcteth the errors of the senses knoweth vice c. Al which operations are spiritual independent of the body and aboue the object of our corporal senses And seing that the soule hath such operations it necessarily requireth a manner of being answerable vnto them that it may not only remaine perfect and incorruptible after the corruption of the body and the seperation of it selfe from the same but also then exercise such operations The soule likewise coueteth eternity loueth vertue and hateth vice and is adorned with freewil which be manifest proofes of a spiritual and immortal substance Further God hath ordained euery creature to some end Neither is any one to be tearmed perfectlie happy and contented vntil it attaine to the said end and in it as fully satiated resteth And seing that the end and perfect felicity of man cannot be obtained in this life For no worldlie thing which man in this life can comprehend or possesse is able to satisfie his vnderstanding and wil wherefore seing also that euery thing is so created that at some time or other it may enjoy his end and felicity the final and chiefest happinesse of man must needes consist in some thing which he may attaine vnto after his death and in the world to come and consequently his soule is immortal Some Epicure perhaps wil contend that the final end and supreame happinesse of man doth consist in the enjoying of worldly pleasures but this cannot be both because these neuer satiate man For the soule is neuer fully contented with the worldly pleasures with which she is delighted yea not seldome in a smal time loatheth that which before she most desired and also because if this were true and the soule were mortal we must needes condemne God of injustice who not seldome suffereth the wicked to liue in such pleasures and bereaueth the just of the same and moreouer suffereth them to fal into a thousand miseries and calamities which he could not in justice doe if the true felicity of man did consist in the enjoying of worldlie pleasures The same may be confirmed by the consent of most of the auncient Philosophers and generally of al nations which doth manifestly declare that natural reason it selfe is sufficient to perswade any man this truth I adde further that if any credit be to be giuen to holie Scriptures or authentical histories diuers soules of men dead haue appeared vnto men liuing Finally this appertained to the manifestation both of the omnipotencie of the power of God and also to the beauty of the world and variety of creatures that like as God created some creatures altogither spiritual as are the Angels and others altogither corporal as are al earthly creatures besides man so he should create one creature partlie spiritual and partlie corporal in which degree we place only man And hence it proceedeth that in the booke of Genesis in the history of the creation of the world we read that al other liuing corporal creatures being produced and framed of corporal substance
obtaining their final end True it is that man by original sinne committed by his first parents in Paradise straied from this final end and deserued euerlasting damnation but the goodnesse and mercy of his maker through the merits of our Sauiour IESVS Christ and by faith in him restored him againe although not altogither to his former felicity yet to possibility of saluation and consequently through his grace gaue him power to serue God in this world and to enjoy him through al eternity in the next Of which it followeth that being so that God hath alwaies required honour and seruice from man and left him sufficient meanes to attaine to eternal blisse that he hath alwaies in like manner in some place or other beene dulie serued and in some place or other hath preserued true religion This therefore being presupposed I thinke that no man wil or can denie but true religion from the daies of Abraham vntil the comming of Christ was to be found among the Iewes yea during some ages immediately before his birth only among them such as followed their lawe and institutions This is manifest because God as I haue shewed hath euer beene religiously worshipped by some people or other but no other people can be named that can make any just challenge to religion during some ages before Christ besides the Iewes it followeth therefore that the Iewes had true religion which may likewise be confirmed by the testimony of holy Scripture of whose authority before by diuers miracles in them recorded and sundry prophesies in them contained nowe verified and other arguments And hence I bring my first reason for the proofe of the truth of Christian religion which I affirme to be the true worship of God For if it be granted that true religion was in those daies among the Iewes it must needes also be confessed that it is now among the Christians The sequel is euident because al the Scriptures ceremonies figures and prophesies of the Iewes manifestly proue that Christ was the true Messias promised to their holy Patriarkes and Prophetes and consequently that in his Church only God is truly honoured and religiously worshipped and to omitte the mistical signification of their ceremonies figures the prophesies only contained in the Scriptures among them euen in those daies authentical wil sufficiently declare this truth I wil runne ouer some of them briefly because I neede not be long in this matter seing it is so excellently wel handled by the authour of the Christian directory or resolution and others of our nation First therefore Christ was promised by God vnto Adam presently after his fal Genes 31. vers 15. when he said to the Serpent or Diuel The seede of the woman shal crush thy head and thou shalt lie in waite to hurt his seede Which prophesie was fulfilled when Christ by his bitter passion conquered the Diuel Secondly God promised vnto Abraham Isaac at sundry times that al nations on the earth should be blessed in their seede Genes 12. v. 18.22 that is that al natitions should come to be blessed through Christ who according to his humanity came from those holy Patriarks The time likewise in which our Sauiour was borne was that which was foretold for the birth of the true Messias for then the gouernement was taken from the tribe of Iudas Genes 49. vers 10. and giuen vnto Herod a stranger Wherefore in those daies according to the prophesie of Iacob who foretold that the scepter should not be taken from the house of Iuda vntil the comming of the Messias euen the Iewes themselues as I could easily proue expected their Messias In like sort Christ came before the destruction of the second temple of Hierusalem as was foretold by the Prophet Aggeus Agg. 2. He suffered after sixty two a Dan. 9 26. Hebdomadas or weekes of yeares expired from the building of the said temple as was foretold by the Prophet Daniel He was borne of b Isa 7. v. 14. a Virgin according to the prophesie of Isay And that in c Mich. 5. v. 1 Bethelem according as it was foretold by the Prophet Micheas d Ier. 31. v. 15 Infants were murthered there about as it was prophesied by Ieremie It was moreouer foretold in the booke of Numbers that a e Num. 20 17 starre should appeare at the birth of the Messias In the Psalmes and by the Prophet Isaie that f Psal 71 10. Isa 60. v. 6. Kinges should offer vp vnto him gold other giftes By the Prophet Malachie that he should be g Malac. 3 1. presented in the temple By the Prophet Osee that he should flie h Osee 11. v. 2. into Aegipt and be recalled againe by the Prophet Isaie and Malachie that a voice of one preaching in the desert an i Isa 40. v. 3. Malac. 3. v. 1 Angel or fore-runner should prepare his way By the same Isaie that the Messias should k Isa 29 8. c. 35 5. c. 61 1. ca. 53. ver 4. worke strange miraclâ—s that he should l Dan. 9. v. 24. 26. die for the sinnes of the world which was foretold by the Prophet Daniel by Dauid in the Psalmes that he should be m Ps 40 10. Psal 54 14. Psal 108 8. betraied by his owne disciple By Zachary that he should n Zach. 9 9. ride into Hierusalem vpon an Asse and that he should be sold for thirty o ca. 11. v. 12. peeces of siluer By Isaie that he should be p Isa 50 v. 6. beaten buffeted and spit on By Dauid and the same Isaie that his body should be q Ps 37. v. 18. torne with whips Moreouer by Isaie that he should be r Isa 53 vers 2. 12. put to death among theeues and malefactors By Dauid that Å¿ Ps 68. v. 22. vinegre should be giuen him to drinke his apparel t 21. 19. deuided lots cast for his vpper garment Al which prophesies and diuers others concerning almost euery particuler act and circumstaÌ„ce of any importance which was to passe in the life of the true Messias were fulfilled in Christ as the Euangelists recorde But concerning his passion I cannot omit the prophecie of the Patriarke Iacob who foretold that the Messias should wash his u Gen. 49 11. stole in wine and his cloke in the bloud of grapes which our redeemer did when he washed his humane nature with which his diuinity was cloaked in his owne bloud which he therefore called the bloud of grapes because it was to be veiled vnder the forme of wine in the dreadful SacrameÌ„t sacrifice of the Altar which x Deu. 32.14 is called in the Scripture the bloud of grapes In like sort the y Ps 106. 15. vers 10. Zac. 9. v. 11. descent of Christ into hel was foretold by the Prophet Dauid in the Psalmes the Prophet Zachary others His resurrection a
care and diligence without any alteration or deprauation was and is to deliuer to his successors vntil the end of the world Vinc. Lir. lib. contra prophanas hoeresum nouitates cap. 7. This is most learnedly explicated by Vincentius Lirinensis who florished in the Church very neere twelue hundred yeares since For this learned Father hauing demanded what the depositum was which the Apostle left with Timothie answered thus This pawne or pledge saith he is a thing committed to thy charge not inuented by thee that which thou hast receiued not that which thou hast deuised A matter not of wit but of doctrine not of priuate vsurpation but of publike tradition a thing brought downe vnto thee not brought forth first by thee of which thou must not be authour but keeper only not the founder but the follower not a leader but one which is led Hitherto Vincentius Lirinensis Of this Depositum likewise are these wordes of the Apostle in the same Chapter 1. Timoth. vlt. ver 13 I command thee before God who quickneth al thinges and Christ Iesus who gaue testimonie vnder Pontius Pilate a good confession that thou keepe the commandement without spot blamelesse vntil the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ And so these places are expounded by Tertullian and the rest of the Fathers for they are according to their exposition Tertul. de praescriptionibus Iren. lib. 3. cap. 4. most earnest exhortations to Timothie to keepe vnspotted the doctrine receaued and to admit no newe thing inuented by mans fancie This moued S. Ireneus to affirme that the Apostles haue laid vp in the Church as in a rich treasure house al truth Moreouer this summe of Christian doctrine for the same reason is likewise called the doctrine of the Apostles Act. 2.24 They were saith S. Luke speaking of the first Christians perseuering in the doctrine of the Apostles that is to say in the doctrine which by Christ was deliuered to the Apostles and by them preached and published to the vvorld Finally because according vnto it euery man is to direct his beleefe it is called by S. Paul the rule of faith and the forme of doctrine Gal. 6 16. Whosoeuer shal followe this rule saith he peace vpon them and mercy Againe let vs continue in the same rule And in the Epistle to the Romans Phil. 3 16 Rom. 6 17 2. Cor. 10. vers 15. you haue obeyed from the hart vnto the forme of doctrine into the which you haue beene deliuered The like sentences he hath in other places Hence Tertullian auoucheth that the * Tertul. de praescr ca. 13. 22. 27. c. Apostles receaued from Christ the fulnesse of the preaching of the Gospel and that they deliuered vnto al Christians al the order of the rule of beleefe He telleth vs also that a Cap. 14. faith is placed in rule he biddeth Heretikes be b Tertul. de praescr cap. 22. silent and not prate against this rule and wisheth Catholikes if they wil doubt or aske questions concerning matters of religion to inquire of those which are of their owne company and concerning such matters as may be called in question without the breach of the rule of faith Lastly he addeth that c Cap. 14. this rule instituted by Christ hath no doubtes or questions among vs but such as Heretikes doe bring in or doe make Heretikes Thus farre Tertullian The same rule S. Ignatius the Disciple of S. Iohn the Apostle affirmeth himselfe to haue obserued Doe you saith he in his Epistle to the Phillippians say and teach the selfe same and be of one judgement for by this I haue obserued the rules of faith Wherefore I conclude that Christ deliuered a rule of faith or forme of doctrine to his Apostles which they confirmed by miracles and deliuered to their successors and that the said rule containeth the vvhole summe or corps of Christian doctrine SECTION THE THIRD The Church cannot stray from the rule of faith receaued nor erre in matters of faith or general precepts of manners which is proued first because the holy Ghost directeth her in al truth THIS being proued I must nowe declare that the Church hath neuer erred nor can erre from this rule of faith receiued and that her judgement concerning matters of religion is of diuine and infallible authority The most principal reason vsually brought for the proofe of this is that God himselfe to wit the holy Ghost the third person of the most blessed Trinity who is subject to no errour or falsehood is the guide and director of the Church in al such affaires And this we are taught by Christ who likewise being God the second person of the most blessed Trinity cannot deceaue vs. For this promise he made to his Apostles immediately after his last supper these vvere his wordes Ioh. 14. vers 16. Ioh. 16. vers 13. I wil aske the father and he wil giue you another Paraclete that is to say an other comforter or aduocat that he may abide with you for euer the spirit of truth Againe yet many thinges I haue to say vnto you but you cannot beare them nowe but when he the spirit of truth commeth he shal teach you al truth This was the promise of our Sauiour and who wil say that he hath not beene so good as his word Surely if this promise vvas not brought to effect the breach of it either proceeded of vvant of power or of vvant of vvil in Christ but vvhat Christian can imagine that either of these was wanting in the Sonne of God Hence I gather that although our Sauiour during the time of his being on earth both before and after his passion gaue to his Apostles diuers instructions touching Christian religion yet that he left the ful and perfect instruction of them to the holie Ghost vvho vvas to reduce al thinges to memorie and to establish them perfectly in faith and whome his Father was to send by his mediation to be the cheefest instructor and guide of his Church in al truth to the vvorldes end And this vvas done on the day of Pentecost vvhen the holie Ghost in the likenesse of firie tongues Act. 2. v. 4 descended vpon the Apostles and Disciples since vvhich time according to the promise of Christ he hath neuer departed from the Church but remained in her and taught her al truth which euery man must needes confesse that vvil not accuse Christ of breach of his promise Wherefore like as Christ is tearmed the head and husband of the Church as I vvil euen nowe declare so the holie Ghost is aptly tearmed by S. Augustine her soule Aug. tom 10. serm 186. de tempore For like as the soule of man directeth and gouerneth his body so doth the holie Ghost the Church Some man perhaps vvil answere that Christ made this promise of the assistance of the holie Ghost to the Apostles only and not to their successors but this assertion is
most absurd and contrary to the vvordes themselues of holie Scripture For Christ as I haue noted before erected not a Church for the daies of the Apostles only but to continue vntil the end of the vvorld as vvas foretold by the Prophets that men in al ages to come might haue a meane to attaine to saluation vvherefore those thinges vvhich he spoke to his Apostles and Disciples he spoke also to al their successors Ephes 4. vers 11. For as vve are taught by the Apostle he hath giuen some Apostles some Prophets and other some Euangelists and others some Pastors and Doctors vntil the day of judgement In this sense he promised his Apostles as we read in S. Mathewes Gospel that he would be with them al daies euen to the consummation of the world that is to say Math. 28. vers vlt. vvith them and those vvhich should succeede in their place Wherefore Saint Hierome expounding that sentence vseth these vvordes Hier. lib. 4. in Mat. He who promiseth that hee wil bee with his Disciples vntil the consummation of the world both sheweth that they shal alwaies liue and also that he wil neuer depart from the faithful Saint Augustine likevvise affirmeth Aug. in ps 101. cōc 2. that he spoke to the Apostles and signified vs. To the same effect a Cipr. lib. 4. epist Saint Ciprian and b Basi consti monast cap. 23. Saint Basil tel vs that these vvordes of Christ c Luc. 10. vers 16. He that heareth you heareth me vvere spoken not only to the Apostles but also to their successors Finally the vvordes themselues of Christ aboue cited are plaine for howe can the holie Ghost remaine here on earth vvith those Apostles vnto vvhome Christ spake for euer seing that they liued in the vvorld but for a short time Wherefore he remaineth vvith their successors the Bishoppes and Prelates of the Church vvho haue succeeded the first Apostles as children their parents and with these he shal remaine as long as the world shal endure For the confirmation of this truth I adde that this assistance of the holy Ghost in the Church was long since foretold by the Prophet Isaie These wordes he vseth speaking in the person of God of the state of the Church in the lawe of grace Isa 59. My spirit which is in thee and my wordes which I haue put in thy mouth shal not depart from thy mouth and from the mouth of thy seede and of thy seedes seede saith our Lord from hence forward and for euer Hitherto the Prophet Isaie and what could be said more plaine then this Surely the promise is so euident that Caluin him selfe in his Commentarie vpon them graunteth as much as we haue affirmed Thus he discourseth expounding the said wordes He promiseth saith he that the Church shal neuer be depriued of this inestimable good Caluinus in Isai cap. 59. but that it shal alwaies be gouerned by the holy Ghost and supported with heauenly doctrine And soone after The promise is such that the Lord wil so assist the Church and haue such care of her that he wil neuer suffer her to be depriued of true doctrine Thus farre Caluin Finally Beza his Scholler confesseth Beza de haereticis a ciuili Magistratu puniendis pa. 69. Ire li. 1. c. 3. li. 3. c. 4. that the promise of our Sauiour of the assistance of the holy Ghost was not made only to the Apostles but rather to the whole Church Let this therefore be the conclusion of this argument that the Church of Christ is directed by the holy Ghost in matters concerning faith and religion in such sort that she neither hath fallen nor can fal into any errours And this was long since affirmed by S. Ireneus who telleth vs that the Church keepeth with most sincere diligence the Apostles faith that which they preached and moreouer that those Churches in which succession from the Apostles is found conserue and keepe our faith Cipr. epist 55. ad Cor nelium See him likewise epist 69. ad Floreatium The same we are taught by S. Ciprian who auoucheth that the Church alwaies holdeth that which she first knewe SECTION THE FOVRTH The same is proued by other arguments AN other argument prouing the judgement of the Church to be of infallible truth vve may take from the loue and affection vvhich Christ beareth to the said Church For in the Scripture vve find that Christ is the * Cant. 4. Ephes 1. v. 22. c. husband and head of the Church the Church his Spouse and body August in psal 126. For if we beleeue S. Augustine he formed her out of his owne side vpon the Crosse as Eue our first father Adams spouse was made of his ribbe and this long since he promised to doe by the Prophet Osee in these wordes I wil espouse thee vnto mee for euer Osee 2. vers 19. and I wil espouse thee vnto mee in justice and judgement and mercy and miserations He also redeemed purchased and vvashed her vvith his owne most pretious bloud and made her his spiritual body wherefore he is present with her according to his promise al daies Math. 28. vers vlt. euen to the consummation of the world and no man wil denie but he loueth cherisheth and gouerneth her as his Spouse and body Out of which fauours and prerogatiues I may very wel inferre that he being truth it selfe and hating al falshood preserueth her from errour this also being a dowry and priuiledge so necessary to her dignity These considerations moued S. Ciprian to discourse after this sort of this matter Cipr. li. de vnitat Ecclesiae the Spouse of Christ saith he cannot be defiled with adultery she is incorrupt pure and chaste she knoweth one only house she keepeth with a chaste shamefastnesse the sanctity of one chamber Thus S. Ciprian To the same allude these wordes of S. Augustine spoken of the Church This is the true mother Aug. tom 6. conc ad cath c. 22. a mother pious and chaste adorned inwardly with the dignity of her husband not outwardly shamefully and dishonestly painted deceitfully with a deceauing lie The promiseS of Christ vnto his Church of not erring and the prerogatiues which he hath bestowed vpon the same yeeld vs a third argument For listen a litle what a notable and worthy promise he hath made to vs that his Church built vpon S. Peter or as I may say his whole Church vnited to the supreame Vicar and cheefe head of the same vnder himselfe shal not faile or erre These are the wordes which he vttered to the said Apostle Math. 16. vers 18. Thou art Peter or a rocke and vpon this rocke wil I build my Church and the gates of hel shal not preuaile against it What could he haue said more for the certainety of the continuance of the Church and for her infallible judgement For is it not
forced to acknowledge that the Church hath authority to prescribe orders for her gouernement vvhich euery one is bound to obey Yea Field Hutton and Gabriel Powel seeme to make the constitutions of the Church equal vvith those of the Apostles For the first of them auoucheth that both thinges which c Field booke 4. chap. 20. § that the Apostles the Apostles themselues deliuered by tradition and also such thinges as were deliuered by their next after-commers are dispensable by the authority of the Church And howe so if the Church hath not Apostolike authority surely his reason assigned is because the Apostles and Apostolike men did not deliuer them as reporting the immediate preceptes of Christ himselfe but by vertue of their Pastoral power and office of vvhich it seemeth plainely to followe that he yeelding the Church authority to dispense in them giueth her equal Apostolike power Hutton in his answ to a treatise of the Crosse in baptisme pag. 3. and 59. see also pag. 9. Hutton affirmeth Ecclesiastical constitutions made by the Church of Christ not to be meerely humane but in part diuine And the reason is saith he because the Church is ruled by the spirit of Christ who is the truth Againe if you make your comparison betweene that which God hath commanded and that which the Church of God hath ordained the difference is not so great as you would haue it Let Gods commandement haue worthily the first place and preheminence in al thinges as is meete but let the ordinances of the Church be immediately subordinate vnto Gods commandement and ranged in a second place not only because the Church of God heareth his voice but also because she is ruled by his spirit and by the great and pretious promises of God is made partaker of the diuine nature which no doubt doth assist them euen in the lawes also and constitutions which are made for order and decency in the Church Hitherto are Huttons vvordes Powels wordes are these Those Adiophora or thinges indifferent Gabriel Powellus in the sibus de Adiaphoris ca. 2. §. 7. 8 which are wel and lawfully instituted and approued by the Church are after such sort humane as they are also diuine and therefore they haue authority more then only humane yea they haue authority altogether diuine The reason is because the Church is gouerned by the spirit of Christ who is truth Againe * Ibid. cap. 3. §. 6. 7 God left it in the power and wil of the Chruch to dispose and ordaine for her owne conseruation profit comlinesse order and discipline al thinges indifferent ceremonies and external rites which manifestly appeareth out of the holy Scriptures themselues to haue beene true of the primatiue Church in the Apostles daies neither can any man denie it to be true of the present Church For seing that it is the same spirit gouerning the Church of al times why may it not likewise be lawful for the Church to institute lawes concerning external rites in times ensuing Thus Powel And out of these assertions of our aduersaries I thinke a prudent man wil wel inferre that our doctrine concerning the infallible judgement of the Church in matters of faith euen according to their proceedinges is very reasonable and consonant to holy Scripture For seing that vnitie and consent in faith is farre more necessary then vnity and consent in ceremonies and positiue ordinances for gouernement vve may truly affirme that Christ vvas more careful for the preseruation of the first then of the second Seing further that the reasons and authorities of holy Scripture by them brought and generally al the promises of our Lord concerning the direction of the Church make as much nay commonly more for the first then for the second for they are principally concerning direction in truth we doe followe reason and the holy Scripture in maintaining the first if they are not to be blamed for their maintenance of the second Seing moreouer that Field and Powel giue the present Church in al ages as great authority as it had the Apostles yet liuing and they vvere then not only ordainers of positiue lawes and orders but also infallible propounders of true doctrine and directors in matters of beleefe we haue no reason according to their ground to denie this prerogatiue to the same Church in al future times Seing finally that the Puritans denie the collection or deduction of either of these prerogatiues out of the Scripture and the Protestants auerre the plaine deduction of one and for this the Puritans condemne the Protestants we may wel imagine that the Puritans may erre in denying both and that the Protestants are to graunt the one as wel as the other and consequently that the Catholike truth should be imbraced by al. SECTION THE FIFT That the testimonies of holy Scripture and other proofes brought for the infallible and diuine authority of the Church cannot be applied to the Church considered as it comprehendeth al faithful Christians that are and haue beene since Christes ascension or since the Apostles daies but vnto the present Church of al ages BEFORE I end this chapter I thinke it not amisse to confute two or three opinions of our aduersaries of which al seeme in some sort to derogate from the truth of those thinges which I haue here auerred and to weaken their principal proofes Booke 4. chap. 1. 2. 3. 5. 13. The one is of M. Field who telleth vs that we may speake of the Church three manner of waies First as it comprehendeth al the faithful that are and haue beene since Christ appeared in flesh including also the Apostles Secondly as it comprehendeth al that are and haue beene since the Apostles time Lastly as it comprehendeth those only that are liuing at one present time in the world In the first signification he freeth it from ignorance and errour concerning matters of faith in the second from errour only and in the third not from errour in al articles of beleefe but in such only as euery man is bound expresly to knowe and beleeue wherefore Chap. 5. he applieth that promise of Christ aboue mentioned that the holy Ghost should teach the Church al truth to the Church in the first and second signification Another assertion is that the present Church may be said at al times to be the piller of truth and not to erre because it retaineth alwaies as Field speaketh a sauing profession of heauenly truth that is Chap. 4. §. the Church Field booke 3. chap. 4. and 3. true doctrine concerning al such principal pointes as are the substance of faith and needful to be knowne beleeued expresly by euery man Hence they assigne some such principal points and articles which they binde euery person to knowe and beleeue vnder peril of eternal damnation and deny asmuch as the virtual beleefe of others to be necessary which I place as a third absurd opinion To confute these assertions and to cleere the truth
prerogatiues vpon his spiritual Body and Spouse but perhaps these prerogatiues redound greatly to the good and benefite of the members and children of the Church Neither this can be auerred true for vvhat are poore Christians the nearer for it howe can such a Church be the director of their faith howe shal they knowe vvhat faith vvas preached by the Apostles and vvhat part taught true doctrine and vvhen and vvhich erred in subsequent ages howe shal vve vnderstand her judicial sentence vvhen controuersies arise and are to be decided surely they that are past and are departed out of this world can performe these thinges by no other meanes but by their writinges left behind them wherefore we can take no other direction and receiue no other judicial sentence from the Church in the first and second acception but by such monuments and bookes as we haue receiued from the Apostles Euangelistes the ancient Fathers and Doctors and other our predecessours And vvhat is this but to reduce al to the letter of holy Scripture and to the workes of antiquity which as I wil prooue hereafter setting aside the authority of the present Church yeelde vs no certaine and diuine argument and to giue nothing at al to the Church it selfe contrary to al the argumentes before made for her infallible authority Finally some of the places of Scripture before aleadged are expresly spoken of the present Church as that tel the Church If he shal not heare the Church let him he to thee as the Heathen or Publican c. SECTION THE SIXT That the same testimonies and proofes conuince an infallible judgement of the Church concerning euery article of faith not only concerning certaine of the principal SECONDLY that the testimonies of holy Scriptures and Fathers with the reasons brought in this Chapter proue the judgement authority of the Church to be of diuine and infallible truth in al points of faith it is euen as easily shewed For are not the vvordes general Is it not said that the holy Ghost shal teach the Church al truth and that she being the house of God is the piller and ground of truth c. And howe can these promises be verified if in some thinges she be subject to errour Field booke 4. chap. 4. Some say these last vvordes of the Apostle are vnderstood of the particuler Church of the Ephesians but first it is not like that God bestowed such an extraordinary priuiledge vpon that Church as to make it the piller and ground of truth Secondly the Apostle calleth that Church vnto which he here giueth these prerogatiues the house of God by which wordes a Cipr. l. 1. epist 6. S. Ciprian b Aug. l. 7. de baptis cōt Donat. ca. 49. 50. 51. Item in psalm 25. enarrat 2. S. Augustine and al the Fathers commonly vnderstand the whole militant Church yea S. Augustine alluding to this sentence and vsing the very vvordes of the Apostle calleth the whole Church * 2. Tim. 2. vers 20. columnam firmamentum veritatis the piller and ground of truth and in the Scripture it selfe the vvhole militant Church is called a great house as a Field booke 1. chap. 11. Field himselfe cōfesseth And because euery particuler Diocesse is a part of this Church the Apostle might very wel vse this kinde of speach vnto Timothie I write to thee that thou maist knowe howe thou oughtest to conuerse in the house of God although the said Timothie was Bishop only of Ephesus Moreouer are vve not absolutely vnder peril of being accounted Heathens and Publicans bound to obey the Church and what reason had our Lord so to binde vs if in some thinges her judgement may be erroneous for howe shal we discerne which those articles be in which she cannot erre and in which she may erre Further vvhat profit if this vvere so shal vve receaue from her for the preseruation of vnitie and ending of al controuersies verily this assertion is euen as prejuditial to the good of vnitie as that which affirmeth the Church to haue no warrant of truth at al. For what dissention and diuision would arise of this might not euery man contradict the rule of faith in any matter whatsoeuer and affirme his contradiction to be in a matter of smal moment who shal judge which matters be of great and which of smal importance For example diuers sectaries tel vs See Couel in defence of Hooker artic 11. Fox pag. 942. c. that the question concerning the real presence of Christ in the blessed Sacrament whether he be there really and substantially by transubstantiation as the Catholikes affirme or together with bread as the Lutherans say or only figuratiuely as is affirmed by the Sacramentaries is a question of smal importance not any essential point belonging to the substance of Christian religion But howe wil these men refute Castalio who addeth if Beza say true that the controuersies touching the blessed Trinity the estate and office of Christ and howe he is one with his father are concerning no essential points of Christian religion certainely they cannot wel ouerthrowe his opinion And this is that which was in old time and is at this present affirmed by some See Theodoretus lib 2. hist cap. 18. 19. 21. Trip. hist lib. 5. cap. 21. 33. that so that Christ be beleeued to be God it skilleth not whether he be beleeued to be equal or not equal consubstantial or not consubstantial to his father Wherefore this assertion of our aduersaries that the rule of faith may in some points be denied first openeth the gappe to al dissention then to al impiety and ouerthrowe of Christianity which thinges be sufficient to perswade euery Christian to abhorre and detest it SECTION THE SEAVENTH That to saluation it is necessary to beleeue the whole Catholike faith and euery article thereof CONCERNING the third point vvhich I intended to proue I affirme that it is necessary to saluation to beleeue and hold either expresly or virtually euery article of faith which is propounded by the Church to her children to be beleeued I adde those wordes expresly or virtually because I say not that euery man is bound expresly to knowe al the articles of Christian religion For it is held by vs sufficient if the ruder sort knowe expresly certaine of the principal as are they that concerne the Trinity and the incarnation passion resurrection and ascension of Christ c. if they virtually beleeue al the rest that is if they beleeue concerning al such points as they are not bound expresly to know whatsoeuer according to the doctrine of the church ought to be beleeued and be of contrary beleefe in no one point propounded vnto them and knowne to be propounded as an article of faith We differ therefore from our aduersaries in this that some of them hold a man is not bound to belieue any such articles not necessarily to be knowne by al others say a man may erre
in them so long as he seeth not apparantly his errour condemned by Scripture or plainely proued false by euident deduction out of those articles which are expresly to be knowne and beleeued But the truth of this mine assertion is gathered out of that which hath beene already proued For if the Church be the ground and piller of truth and cannot erre in faith it is manifest that al her beleefe may safely without danger of errour be receiued And moreouer because God hath reuealed such articles to the Church for no other end then that her children by the beleefe of them may attaine to euerlasting blisse it is also euident that euery one is bound to beleeue whatsoeuer she teacheth I adde also that whosoeuer beleeueth not al hath no faith and that he who thinketh it to be sufficient to saluation to beleeue certaine principal articles of Christian religion although the rest be denied must needes accuse the Church of errour and so according to his owne opinion cleane ouerthrowe her The first is easily proued because he that beleeueth not God and his Church in one point certainely beleeueth them in none For howe is it possible that he can reject them in any if he beleeue their authority to be infallible Wherefore by rejecting their judgement and sentence concerning one article he plainely declareth that he beleeueth not the rest because they are propounded vnto him by the Church and reuealed by God but because they please his owne fancy and in his owne judgement he thinketh them true and credible of which it followeth that he hath no faith which as I haue aboue declared maketh vs beleeue the misteries of our beleefe because they are reuealed by God And this we may gather out of those wordes of S. Iames the Apostle He that offendeth in one is made guilty of al. Iames 2. vers 10. For if by committing one mortal sinne we be said to be made guilty of al either because by breaking one commandement we shewe our selues not to regard the rest or else because one mortal sinne is as sufficiēt to bereaue vs of the grace of God as a thousand we may likewise wel inferre of this that a man refusing to beleeue one article of faith sheweth himselfe not to esteeme of the rest and by this only is bereaued of true faith that in very deede he beleeueth none and is guilty of infidelity touching al and consequently is no member of the Church of Christ whose members by faith principally are vnited and lincked together Further that whosoeuer thinketh it sufficient to saluation to beleeue certaine principal articles of Christian religion although the rest be denied accuseth the Church of errour thus I declare Galat. 5. vers 21. Tit. 3. vers 10. The Apostle teacheth vs that they that followe and embrace sectes or heresies shal not possesse the Kingdome of heauen Wherefore either the Church erreth both in defining such articles as some thinke not necessary to be beleeued to belong to the object of faith and also in condemning for heresies such opinions as they thinke may safely be defended or else such as despise her censure and embrace the said opinions are in state of damnation the first as I haue already proued ouerthroweth the Church the second is that which I intend to proue But let vs declare the truth of my first assertion out of the holy Scripture And first it cannot be denied but our Sauiour absolutely and that vnder paine of being censured as Etnickes and Publicans and consequently vnder paine of damnation commandeth vs to heare and obey the Church Math. 18. vers 17. if he wil not heare the Church saith he let him bee to thee as the Heathen and Publican And note that he biddeth vs not beleeue her onelie in principall matters but in all making no limitation or distinction In like sort in general tearmes he telleth vs that he that heareth his Apostles disciples which must be likewise verified in their successors heareth him and he that despiseth them despiseth him Finally he commanded his disciples to preach his Gospel and added that he that beleeueth it not shal be condemned which wordes cannot be vnderstood only of the principal articles of Catholike religion for his Gospel included the whole summe of Christian faith as I haue proued aboue Hence diuers in the first ages of the Church haue beene condemned and accursed as Heretikes for few errours in faith yea some time for one only and that in no principal point of beleef as I could exemplifie in the quarto decimani Epiphan haeres 50. who were so censured for keeping Easter day on the fourteenth day of the moone and others yea I may wel say that almost al Heretikes that euer haue risen haue beleeued certaine principal articles of Christian religion wherefore whosoeuer thinketh it sufficient to beleeue such articles openeth heauen almost to al Heretikes Moreouer howe shal we know which are these principal articles certainely euery man wil affirme if this liberty be giuen that the articles by him denied pertaine not to that number Lastly this errour is condemned by al the ancient Fathers S. Athanasius in his Creed receiued by the whole Church affirmeth that whosoeuer keepeth not entirely wholy without any corruption the Catholike faith without al doubt shal perish euerlastingly Theodor. li. 4. c. 17. Hooker booke 5. of ecclesiastical policy §. 42. pag. 88. Greg. Nazian tract de fide Aug. lib. de haeres in fine S. Basil being requested by the Prefect of Valens an Arrian Emperour to yeeld a litle to the time answered that they which are instructed in diuine doctrine doe not suffer one sillable of the diuine decrees to be corrupted or depraued but for the defence of it if it be needful and required embrace likewise of death Hooker also a Protestant telleth vs that the same S. Basil for changing some one or two sillables in the verse Glory be to the Father and to the Sonne and to the holy Ghost was forced to write apologies and whole volumes in his owne defence S. Gregory Nazianzene hath this notable sentence Nothing can be more dangerous then these Heretikes who when they run soundly through al yet with one word as with a droppe of poison corrupt or staine that true and sincere faith of our Lord and of Apostolike tradition S. Augustine likewise hauing reckoned vp eightie distinct Heresies addeth that there may chance to lurke many other petty heresies vnknowne to him of which heresies saith he whosoeuer shal hold any one shal not be a Catholike Christian. Finally * Hier. li. 3. Apolog. contr Ruf. S. Hierome witnesseth that for one word or two contrary to the Catholike faith many heresies haue beene cast out of the Church This is the opinion of the ancient Fathers Wherefore seing that one only heresie be it neuer so smal bereaueth vs of faith and seperateth vs from the body of Christ his Church which is quickned with
the Church we first come to a certaine and supernatural knowledge of such bookes as are Canonical and then beleeue the verities in them contained because they are reuealed by God like as the Samaritans first beleeued through the relation of the woman with whom our Sauiour talked Iob. ca. 4. ver 39. c. as the propounder of such things as she had heard of our Lord afterward through the diuine speeches which he vsed to them himself That which Field saith before that S. Augustine according to the opinion of some Diuines speaketh here of the church taken for the whole number of beleeuers that are and haue beene since Christ appeared in the flesh so including the Apostles is friuolous both because S. Augustine neuer vsed the wordes Catholike Church after this sort in that sense and also because the argument had beene of no force See S. August in li. 23. cōtra Faustum cap. 9. vnto which I adde further that S. Augustine speaketh of that Church which commaunded him then not to beleeue Manichaeus which was the presēt Church as appeareth Neither can he as I think alleage any Diuine that euer so interpreted it For that which he citeth in the margent out of Occam is very impertinent and thus much of this testimony of S. Augustine Hieron in simbolo ad Damasum S. Hierome likewise auoucheth himselfe to receiue the old and new Testament in that number of books which the authority of the holie Catholike Church doth deliuer And this reason so infallibly proueth that these diuine bookes containe the true word of God that euery one may most assuredly beleeue it For her censure and declaration cannot be false who by God himselfe is warranted from errour Finally vnto this principal and inuincible argument I might also adde the tradition of the Church and one consent of holy Fathers who haue deliuered to their successors and confirmed by their testimony that these holy bookes were penned by the instinct of the holy Ghost which argument of tradition for the proofe of Canonical bookes was vsed by Serapion Clemens Alexandrinus and Origenes as Eusebius recordeth Eusebius li. 6. hist cap. 10. 11. 18. But this argument is almost the same with the former for the certainty of the tradition of the Church and of the testimony of the ancient fathers dependeth of this that the Church cannot erre For if we make her judgement subject to errour her tradition and the whole consent of fathers may likewise be erroneous but supposing the Church cannot erre this argument is of as great force but almost the same with the first And hence I inferre against our aduersaries that no bookes of the old and newe Testament receiued by the Church as canonical are to be rejected for seing that the same authority hath approued them al they are al with like reason to be admitted neither hath any man more reason to reject one then another And thus much of the letter of holy Scripture SECTION THE SECOND Concerning the sense or exposition of holy Scriptures and first that the Scriptures are hard and receiue diuers interpretations BVT a farre greater controuersie there is betweene vs and the new Sectaries concerning the true sence and interpretation of holie Scripture vvho is the judge thereof and of vvhome vve are to receiue it For the decision of vvhich difficultie before I deliuer the Catholike opinion I must briefly proue two or three conclusions auerred also by vs Catholikes And first that the Scriptures are hard and admit diuers interpretations This is insinuated vnto vs in sundry places of the sacred bookes but for breuities sake 2. Pet. 3. vers 16. Aug tom 2. epistola 119. ad Ia nu ca. vlt. I wil content my selfe with one testimony of S. Peter who telleth vs that in S. Paules epistles There are certaine thinges hard to be vnderstood which the vnlearned saith he and vnstable depraue as also the rest of the Scriptures to their owne perdition The holy Fathers plainly affirme the same Among the rest S. Augustine although a man of rare wit and great learning affirmed that there were far more things in the Scriptures of which he was ignorant then there were that he knewe Idem tom 3. li. 2. de doctrina Christiana cap. 6. Idē epist 3. see him also epist 1. ad Volusium He telleth vs also that they that read the Scriptures rashly are deceiued through many and diuers obscurities and doubtes That through the prouidence of God the Scripture is hard to tame with labour our pride and to recal our vnderstanding from irksomnes vnto which those thinges which are easily found our seeme base and of no moment He affirmeth moreouer in an other place that the depth and profundity of wisedome contained not only in the words of holy Scripture but also in the matter and sense is so wonderful that liue a man neuer so long be he neuer of so great wit neuer so studious and neuer so feruent and desirous to attaine to the knowledge thereof yet that when he endeth he shal confesse that he doth but beginne This moued him in the books of his confessions to crie out vnto God after this sort Aug. lib. 12. confes cap. 14. O wonderful profoundnesse of thy wordes wonderful profoundnesse my God wonderful profoundnes it maketh a man quake to looke on it to quake for reuerence and tremble for the loue thereof Hitherto S. Augustine S. Hierome likewise a man most expert in those tongues the knowledge of which maketh most for the vnderstanding of these sacred bookes and experienced in the translation and interpretation of them aboue others Hieron in cap. 5. ad Galatas witnesseth that the fruite of the spirit is found in the holy Scripture by much labour and industrie and in another place he saith that the Apocalipse of S. Iohn containeth as many misteries as wordes The like sentences are found in the rest of the Fathers And this obscurity of holy Scripture is a thing so euident that diuers euen of our aduersaries themselues although others wil haue them easie are forced in expresse and plaine termes to confesse it Among the rest the translator or corrector of the English bible published in the yeare one thousand six hundred in his preface auoucheth that it is a very hard thing to vnderstand the holy Scriptures and that diuers errours sects and heresies growe daily for lacke of the true knowledge thereof Diuers others haue the like sentences some of which I shal recite in the second part of this Treatise See part 2. cap. 5. sect 4. yea almost al the newe sectaries by their proceedinges seeme to acknowledge this truth for otherwise what meane they to write such great and huge volumes or commentaries vpon the holy Scripture But whence ariseth this difficulty and obscurity surelie of diuers causes First because sundrie wordes of Scriptures admit many senses and the very phrase it selfe is obscure and doubtful Secondly many
sentences in it are prophetical many parabolical many metaphorical which commonlie are ful of obscuritie Thirdly it is proper to Scripture to haue many senses vnder one letter as the literal sense which is that which the holy writer first intended and this sense sometimes is signified by proper words sometimes by wordes metaphorical and improper yea sometimes the literal sense of the same wordes is diuers It hath also a spiritual sense which is that which is signified by the thinges vnder the letter And this sense is either moral which is called also tropological when it tendeth to manners or allegorical when it tendeth to faith or the Church or anagogical when it tendeth to heauen or life euerlasting For example this vvord Hierusalem literally signifieth the Cittie so called morally the soule of man allegorically the Church militant and anagogically the Church triumphant Al these senses the wordes of Scripture beare and diuers of them not seldome were intended by the holy Ghost in the same sentence And what a difficult matter is it to discerne them I adde finally that sundrie misteries deliuered vnto vs in holy writ are high and aboue the reach of our natural reason Wherefore it is no meruaile if the sentences in which they are disclosed be hard and obscure Hence the prophet Dauid desired of God vnderstanding Psal 118. Iohn 5. verse 39. Luke 24. vers 45. that he might search his lawe Our Sauiour also willed the Iewes to search the Scriptures opened his Apostles and disciples vnderstanding that they might vnderstand the Scriptures c which places plainly conuince the Scriptures to be hard SECTION THE THIRD The Scriptures may be falsly vnderstood and that euery priuate man may erre in the vnderstanding of them IN the second place I must proue that the Scriptures may be falsely vnderstood and that euery priuate man may erre in the translation or interpretation of the same This followeth of that which hath beene already said touching their obscuritie for if the Scripture be so obscure as I haue shewed these things must needs ensue And verily that the wordes of Scripture may receiue false interpretations 2. Pet. 3. verse 16. S. Peter aboue cited plainly auoucheth affirming that the vnlearned and vnstable euen in his daies depraued the epistles of S. Paul and other Scriptures to their owne perdition And it is a thing so manifest that it needeth no proofe for it is euident that al Heretikes heretofore haue alleaged Scriptures falsly expounded to confirme their heresies and this I wil declare more at large hereafter See part 2. cap. 8. sect 8. It is apparant also that in these our daies some in the world either Catholikes Lutherans Zuinglians Anabaptists or Libertines doe not giue the true sense of holy Scripture because it is impossible that more then one of these can haue the truth their expositions in diuers points be so diuers and contrary August tract 18. in Iohan. Aug. tom 3. de Gen. ad litterā li. 7. ca. 9. Vincent Lirin lib. cōtr propha haeres nouitates cap. 2. Barlow in his relatiō of the said conferēce pag. 61. Se part 2. c. 5. sect 1. yea S. Augustine affirmeth that heresies haue no other ofspring or roote then that good Scriptures are badly vnderstood In another place to the same effect he telleth vs that al Heretikes read Catholike Scriptures neither saith he are they for any other cause Heretikes then for that not vnderstanding them truly they defend obstinately their false opinions against the truth of them The same is declared by Vincentius Lirinensis in these wordes Al saith he take not the Scripture in one and the same sense because of the deepnes thereof but the speeches of it some interprete one way and some another way so that there may almost as many senses be picked out of it as there be men For Nouatus doth expounde it one way and Sabellius another way otherwise Donatus otherwise Arrius Eunomius Macedonius otherwise Iouinian Pelagius Celestius lastly otherwise Nestorius Hitherto Vincentius Lirinensis Hence our King in the conference held at Hampton Court betweene the Protestants and Puritans most discreetly affirmed that he would not wish al Canonical bookes to be read in the Church vnlesse there were one to interprete them Moreouer that the judgement of euery priuate man as before is subject vnto errour and falshood in his translation or interpretation of holy Scripture it is graunted by some of our aduersaries and likewise easily proued First because he Scripture it selfe warranteth no priuate mans judgement from errour Nay S. Peter in expresse termes telleth vs 2. Pet. 1. verse 20. Se sect 5. following 1. Ioh. 4. verse 1. That no prophecie of Scripture is made by priuate interpretation that is to say that no Scripture ought to be expounded according to any priuate mans opinion for the vvord Prophecie signifieth the interpretation or exposition of holie Scripture as shal hereafter be proued The Apostle Saint Iohn teacheth vs the same lesson vvilling vs not to beleeue euery spirit but to proue the spirittes if they be of God And howe are vve to proue the spirittes vvithout al doubt not by our ovvne judgement vvhich is subject to errour but by considering vvhether they be consonant or no to the doctrine of the Catholike Church or the rule of faith receiued by tradition from the Apostles This appeareth by the discourse of the said Apostle following In vvhich to confute Cerinthus Ebion Basilides and other Heretikes vvho denied the diuinitie humanitie or vnion of two natures in Christ and to proue their spirits not to be from God he setteth downe the doctrine of the Church concerning those pointes and addeth these vvordes He that knoweth God heareth vs that is to say he that hath the knowledge of God by true supernaturall faith heareth and obeieth the Church But vvhat doe I vse many wordes in a matter so euident gathered out of our aduersaries owne proceedinges For the holy Ghost teacheth men but one truth seing therefore that there are among the newe Sectaries now in the vvorld so great dissentions and differences in opinions concerning the exposition of the selfe same wordes of Scripture it necessarily followeth that some of them expound the Scriptures falslie and seing that one of them hath no better warrant for his direction in truth then another vve may vvel affirme them al to be subject to errour and falsehood I adde also that euerie Sectarie must needes confesse euerie one of his Captaines I meane Luther Zuinglius Caluin and the rest to haue erred in some point or other touching the true sense of Scripture for almost no one Sectarie followeth any one of these in al pointes and approueth al his interpretations but if vve graunt them al to haue erred in some pointes vve may vvel inferre that they are subject to errour in al because their vvarrant is equal for al. Finally if we admit euery priuate mans spirit as a judge in such
matters vve take away al order in the Church and open the gappe to al Heretikes Some say that euerie man by conference of one place of Scripture vvith another See part 2. cap. 5. sect 4. may attaine to the knowledge of the true sense I replie that euery mans discourse in such pointes may be false and erroneous And it is wel knowne that diuers of our aduersaries haue conferred the same places and haue gathered out of them different senses vvhich cannot al be true Yea the same man not seldome at distinst times out of the same places conferred inferreth distinct conclusions and altereth his beliefe touching some article or other vvhich is a manifest proofe that this conference is no infallible rule I adde also that experience teacheth vs that such a conference sometimes encreaseth the difficulty See part 2. cap. 1. sect 4. maketh some shewe of contradiction which before appeared not as I wil declare hereafter Others say that by praier euery man may obtaine of God the direction of the holy Ghost for the finding out of the true sense But where hath God promised this Moreouer our praier is of no force except we pray as we ought And what is more vncertaine then this How then can we certainly knowe when God inspireth vs and much lesse how can we possibly assure others that we haue such a diuine inspiration Further diuers haue vsed likewise this meane and yet haue falne into errour yea after their praiers they haue had different inspirations and one hath affirmed himselfe to haue beene inspired by God thus and another thus c. Finally al Heretikes may challenge to themselues these shiftes for the proofe of their owne priuate and false expositions wherefore we must needes finde out some other rule more certaine SECTION THE FOVRTH That the letter of holy Scripture falsly interpreted is not the word of God THIRDLY I am to proue that a false or wrong exposition erroneously gathered out of the letter of holy Scripture or made vpon the same is not the word of God but the word of man yea sometimes the word of the deuil and consequently that the said letter of Scripture so vnderstood is subject to the same censure This is apparant because the Scripture is the true word of God in that sense only which was intended at the penning of it by the holy Ghost For example like as no Catholike Christian wil deny but those wordes of Christ Ioh. 14. verse 28. The father is greater then I if we vnderstand them in this sense that God the father is greater then Christ according to his humanity containe the true word of God so euery Catholike Christian if they be vnderstood as Arius expounded them that Christ according to his diuinity is inferior to his father wil affirme them to be the word of the deuil Hence proceed diuers notable sentences of the auncient Fathers Tertul. de praescript ca. 17. see him also cap. 9. Hillar li. 2. de Triuitat ad Constantium Ambros lib. 2. ad Gratianū cap. 1. Vincē Lirin li. aduers propha haeres nouitates cap. 37. Math. 4. verse 6 Hieron in dial cōtra Lucifer See Math 10. Luke 10. Hieron in cap. 1. ad Galat. among the rest Tertullian telleth vs that the sense of holy Scripture adultered doth impugne the truth at much as the stile corrupted S. Hillarie affirmeth that heresie ariseth of the vnderstanding not of the Scripture that the fault is in the sense not in the word that there is not one of the Heretikes that doth not lie and say that he preacheth those thinges in which he blasphemeth according to the Scriptures For hence saith he Marcellus when he readeth the word of God knoweth it not hence Photinus c. they all speake Scriptures with out sense they al pretend faith without faith for the Scriptures are not in the reading but in the vnderstanding c. These and other like discourses hath S. Hillary S. Ambrose is of the same opinion for he saith that although the text or letter haue no error yet the Arrian interpretation hath errour Vincentius Lirinensis comparing the Heretikes alleaging Scripture against Catholikes with the deuils alleaging the same to Christ discourseth after this sort And if any man aske any Heretike perswading him such thinges that is to forsake the doctrine and tradition of the Church how prouest thou how declarest thou that I ought to forsake the vniuersal and ancient faith presently he for it is written and forthwith he alleageth out of the lawe the psalmes the Apostles the Prophets a thousand testimonies a thousand examples a thousand authorities by which being interpreted after a new and naughty manner the vnhappy soule may be cast downe head-long from the Catholike tower Thus farre Vincentius Lirinensis But let vs heare the opinion of S. Hierome in this matter who aboue al the rest was conuersant in the holy Scripture these are his wordes The Scriptures consist not in the reading but in the vnderstanding otherwise if we follow the letter we also may frame vnto our selues a new opinion and affirme that they who weare shoes or haue two coates are not to be receiued into the Church He addeth in another place Marcion and Basillides and the other heretical plagues haue not the Gospel of God because they haue not the holy Ghost without which the Gospel which is taught is made humane or of men He telleth vs also that whosoeuer interpreteth the Gospel with another spirit and minde then it was written troubleth the faithful and turneth the Gospel of Christ vpside-downe that we must not thinke that the Gospel is in the wordes of the Scripture It is not saith he in the wordes but in the sense not in the superficies or out-side but in the marrow not in the leaues of the speaches or wordes but in the roote of reason Hence he concludeth with these wordes It is a very dangerous matter to speake or teach in the Church least that by peruerse interpretation the Gospel of Christ be made the Gospel of man or that which is worse the Gospel of the deuil Thus farre S. Hierome And this is that which the Apostle himselfe instructeth vs of when he affirmeth that the letter killeth but the spirit quickneth for the vertue and substance of Scriptures consisteth in their meaning and interpretation and so it is that the bare vvordes thereof are no more Scripture vvithout the spirit that is to say vvithout that sense which vvas intended by the holy Ghost when they were vvritten then the body of man is a man vvithout the soule yea if they be vvrested to a contrary or vvrong sense they kil and become poison vvhereas rightly vnderstood they containe diuine and heauenly doctrine And so this sentence of the Apostle is expounded by S. Augustine in diuers places of his vvorkes but in one place among the rest thus he discourseth a Aug. de spiritu litera c. 4. 5. li.
circle because these two thinges are not motiues or reasons of the beliefe of one another after the selfe same manner but in two sundrie respects being so that we yeeld the reason why the Church cannot erre by the Scriptures as by a diuine reuelation approuing it For although we formally beleeue this because it is reuealed by God yet this reuelation vve proue by other reuelations contained in holy Scripture but that the Scripture is canonical although we formallie beleeue because God hath so reuealed yet this reuelation we proue not by any other reuelation but by the authority of the Church as a condition only requisite propounding it infallibly vnto vs. To make this assertion a little more plaine we must presuppose the truth of two propositions commonly held certaine in Philosophy the one is that two causes may for diuers respects be causes of one another so say the Philosophers the efficient cause is the cause of the being or existence the final cause and the final cause of the causality of the efficient For example when a Phisition doth administer phisicke to one that is sicke the final cause or end why he administreth phisicke is the health of the patient and the administring of the phisicke is the efficient cause of the sicke-mans health In like sort when the winde openeth a window it openeth it by entring in and entereth in by opening it so that the efficient cause of the opening the window is the motion of the entrance of the winde and the material cause and meane by which the winde entreth is the opening of the window because vnlesse the window be opened the winde cannot enter in Secondly it is also certaine that a meere condition necessarily requisite is no cause for example wood cannot be burned except it be put neare or in the fire and yet this approximation as I may cal it is not the cause to speake properly why the wood is burnt but a condition necessarie In like sort a lawe doth not binde except it be promulgated and yet the promulgation is not the cause why the law doth binde but a condition c. Now to come to the matter If two causes in some sort may be causes of one another wherefore may not we proue two propositions for diuers respects by one another That these respects be diuers in the proofe of the infallible authority of the Church by Scripture and of Scripture by the infallible authority of the Church it is manifest because the infallible authority of the Church is proued by Scripture as by a diuine reuelation the Scripture by the infallible authority of the church as by a condition requisite and that a cause and a condition be different I haue shewed We say therefore that Christ departing out of this vvorld left the whole summe of Christian doctrine with his holy spouse the Church and made her the infallible propounder of the same And being so that among other articles left this was one that she should not erre in executing her office this also she was to propound and her children by the diuine precept of God were bound to beleeue it Wherefore if in those daies before any Scripture of the new Testament was written a man had asked a Christian why he beleeued the misteries of Christian religion he might truly haue answered because they were reuealed by God If he had beene further demaunded how he knew such and such articles to be reuealed he might haue answered because the Church propounded them to be beleeued so that the cause why he beleeued such misteries was the reuelation of God the meane whereby he knew them infallibly to be reuealed was the propounding of the Church If he had bin vrged further why he beleeued that the Church in propounding such matters could not erre Surely he might haue said that this was before included in the beliefe of the misteries of Christian religion in general and consequently was beleeue because God so reuealed but let vs come to the succeeding ages The Apostles disciples of Christ whiles they liued wrote the holy Scriptures of the new Testament and left them to the Church in which among other misteries they confirmed vnto vs the authority of the Church and the Church propounded the said Scriptures vnto her children as Canonical Now then wherefore beleeue we or how doe we proue the Church cannot erre I answere by the reuelation of God contained in holy Scripture If it be demaunded further howe vve knowe such a reuelation to be diuine I answere not by any other diuine reuelation because this is the last and beleeued for it selfe but by the proposition or propounding of the Church which is only a condition requisite for the beliefe of it and yet a diuine proofe So that the reason or cause why we beleeue the Church cannot erre is the reuelation of God contained in holy Scripture the cause vvhy vve beleeue such a reuelation is no other reuelation but it selfe the meane whereby vve come to knowe that this reuelation is from God is the proposition of the Church wherefore the respects are diuers and also the objects of these assertions The respects because when we assigne the diuine reuelations contained in holy Scripture as the reason of our beliefe concerning the infallible authority of the Church we assigne a reason as it were by the cause of our said beliefe which is diuine reuelation But when assigne the propounding of the Church as that which moueth vs to beleeue the Scripture we assigne not a reason by the cause of this our beliefe which is diuine reuelation but by a conditon infallibly guiding vs as is aforesaide The objects also of these two reasons yeelded of our beliefe are diuers For the object of the diuine reuelations contained in holy Scripture assigned as the reason of our beliefe of the Church are the verities or thinges themselues reuealed and beleeued but the object of the propounding or proposition of the Church requisite for our beliefe of Scripture are the reuelations themselues contained in the saide Scripture For by it we are taught that the Scripture containeth diuine reuelations and is the true word of God And thus much of the second opinion concerning the solution of the question propounded which in truth giueth vs a very good method how to answere the cauils our aduersaries and rather addeth something to the former then is otherwise different from it For the authors following this opinion to this that we beleeue or accept of Christian faith as true require also the aforesaide inducements or arguments of credibility but moreouer they assigne a diuine proofe or reason built vpon diuine authority which moueth vs to the saide act of beliefe For as I haue declared they affirme that the infallible authority of the Church which is the general propounder of al particuler articles of faith is knowne and proued by holy Scripture as by a diuine reuelation they adde also that the truth of holy Scripture is as certainly
knowne proued by the authority of the Church as by a diuine propounder Neither doe I imagine that the followers or maintainers of this opinion doe intend to affirme that in euery processe of beliefe touching any article it is necessarie that we resolue it lastly to the holy Scripture for I thinke that notwithstanding that which hath beene said if we be asked why we beleeue the whole summe of Christian doctrine or any point thereof we may wel answere because it is reuealed by God And if further we be demaunded how infallibly and diuinely we knowe it to be so reuealed we may answere because it is propounded by the Church Neuerthelesse the first opinion of it selfe is sufficient although this may seeme more exact especially in Schooles Neither doe I or any Catholike affirme the knowledge of these pointes to be neccessary to euery faithful Christian for it is sufficient that they beleeue al such things as are propounded by the Church because they are reueled by God which is done by the helpe of supernatural faith Nay I doe not think it is needful that they expresly knowe this infallible authority of the Church as propounder of such verities or al such prudential motiues as are before mentioned But I deeme it sufficient that they beleeue such reuealed verities as they are bound to knowe expresly and others virtually moued thereunto by the authority of their predecessors or the asseueration of other faithful people for this is sufficieint in them either for the obtaining or preseruing the gift of supernatural faith Let vs now see in few words what solutions may be giuen to the objection made in the beginning of this Section First therfore according to the doctrine of the first opinion touching the last resolution of our faith I answere that in very deed the canonical Scriptures and their true sense are knowne by the infallible authority of the Church as by the propounder of such particuler matters belonging to our faith and religion as we are bound to beleeue Neuerthelesse it is lawful to proue the authority of the Church out of holy Scripture against such aduersaries of the truth as admit the said authority of holy Scripture but deny the authority of the Church So did S. Augustine against the Manichees Aug. cont epist Mā quā vocāt Fundam ca. 4. et 5. Id. de vnitate Eccle. cap. 19. et tract 13. in Ioānem Field book 4. cap. 7. § There is no questiō who approued the authority of miracles and denied the authority of Scriptures proue by miracles the Church and by the Church the Scriptures Contrariwise against the Donatists who allowed the Scriptures and boasting of their visions rejected miracles by Scriptures he proued the Church and by the Church the truth of miracles but that this manner of proceeding is lawful it is granted by Field therfore I need say no more Secondly I answere according to the other opinion that the canonical Scriptures and their true interpretation are infallibly proued knowne by the authority of the Church as by a condition necessarie propōuding them vnto vs but the authority of the Church is proued knowne to be infallible by the testimony of holy Scriptures as by diuine reuelations approuing the said authority And to affirme this as I haue shewed is no more absurd then to say that two causes may be causes of one another Neither doe I think this manner of proofe more to be blamed then the proofe of a cause by the effect and of the effect by the cause as of fire by smoke and of smoke by fire of the bignesse proportion of a mans foote by his steppe in dust or sand and of this againe by that Thus also the Philosophers proue a man reasonable because he is risible or hath power to laugh and againe demonstrate that he hath power to laugh because he is reasonable which kind of argumentation is not called circulation but a demonstratiue regresse Chapter 8. Concerning the second particuler ground of Catholike religion to wit Apostolike Traditions SECTION THE FIRST Of Apostolike Tradition in general THAT I may the better declare the authority and dignity of Apostolike vnwritten Traditions of which I am principallie to intreate in this chapter I thinke it not amisse to say a worde or two of Apostolike Tradition in general and although though I shal repeate some things which haue been already said yet I hope my reader wil pardon me seing that a just occasion of so doing is offered me I haue aboue affirmed Cap. 6. sect 2. that the whole summe or corps of Christian religion was deliuered by Christ to his Apostles not in writing but by word of mouth and that the principal meane for the entire preseruation of it in the Church without corruption or deprauation ordained by God almighty is the continual assistance and direction of the holy Ghost who alwaies remaineth in the Church and directeth her in al truth Of which I now gather that although neuer any scripture of the newe Testament had been written yet that the doctrine of Christ by Tradition had stil remained the selfe same entire and whole in the Church to the end of the world This is so manifest out of that vvhich hath been already said that it needeth no proofe in this place yet I wil repeate a word or two of that and adde a litle more to make it the more apparant I proue it therefore because our blessed Sauiour neuer penned the summe of his doctrine himselfe neither is it recorded that euer he comaunded any one of his Apostles or Disciples in expresse tearmes to write but only to preach and teach according to his owne and the holy Ghost instructions And hence it is that none of the said Apostles or Disciples wrote any parcel of the newe Testament presently after the ascension of Christ and consequently that the whole summe of Christian doctrine was published some time before any such scripture was penned and that the Church of Christ was some yeares without it S. Mathew the first Euangelist Euseb in Chronic. anno 41. published his Gospel as Eusebius recordeth some six yeres after our Sauiours ascension Hence also it proceeded that neuer any one of the Apostles or Disciples vndertooke the setting downe in writing of the whole sūme of Christian doctrine this is manifest because the three first Euangelists deliuered vnto vs very litle touching the diuinity of Christ one of the chiefe and highest misteries of Christian religion Neither had the fourth which was S. Iohn the Apostle any intention to set downe al that the other three had omitted for he wrote his Gospel directly against certaine Heretikes who denied the diuinity of Christ and that not by the commandement of Christ but by the intreaty of the bishops of Asia as a Atha in sinopsi S. Athanasius S. Hipolitus bishop and martir b Epipha haeres 51. S. Epiphanius and c Hieron praefat in Mat. et
him vpon his holy spouse our mother the Church Nowe what Court in the world representeth the whole Church if not a general Councel in which her visible head either in person or by his Legates with a great part of her chiefe Pastors and Prelates who represent not only al the particuler Churches of which they haue charge but also the whole body are assembled What assembly is aboue this What decree is so firme and of such eminent authority as is the definition of such a Councel Verily seeing that the authority of the Church is infallible and shee doth in no superiour Court pronounce her sentence it is manifest that this is the Court in which al controuersies touching matters of faith with warrant of infallible and diuine truth are finally decided and ended Furthermore if Christs Vicar on earth cannot erre in matters of faith or general precepts of manners when he teacheth the whole Church as shal be proued in the next chapter when if not in a general Councel doth he enjoy this priueledge If hel-gates cannot preuaile against the Church vvhen if not in a general Councel shal vve thinke her so inuincible If the Prelates of the Church are to be obeyed as Christ When if not in a general Councel shal vve hearken vnto them Math. 18. verse 20. See before chap. 6. section 2. and yeelde them such obedience If vvhen two or three are gathered together in the name of Christ he is in the midst of them according to his owne promise how shal we thinke him absent from a general Councel If the holie Ghost doth teach the Church al truth vvhen if not in a general Councel doth he so instruct and direct her Finally if the Bishops Prelates of the Church in a general Councel may erre themselues how can they as vve are taught by the Apostle they should according to the ordination of Christ Ephes 4. vers 11. c. keepe al the whole Church from wauering and errour in faith Hence the decision of a general Councel hath euer had three principal prerogatiues giuen it by al allowed monuments of antiquity which may also manifestly be deduced out of holy scripture it selfe First that it is as is aforesaid the supreame and last judicial sentence of the Church from which there can be no appeale and vvhich by no meanes can be made void or recalled This we gather out of a Athā epist ad Epictetum S. Athanasius the greatest scholler and the most principal champion of his age against the Arians who in an epistle recited also by b Epiphā haeres 77. See also Hierō epist 57. ad Damasunt S. Epiphanius wondred how certaine durst moue any question concerning things defined in the Nicene Councel Much more would he haue wondred if in his daies any man had writen as Field now hath done that c Field booke 4. c. 12. and 5. after the decrees of a Councel hath passed a man may stil doubt and refuse to beleeue without Heretical pertinacy yea he auoucheth that Councels may erre in matters of greatest consequence But the same holy Father addeth this reason vvhy he thus meruailed to wit because the decrees of such Councels cannot be altered without error S. Augustine saith d Aug. epist 162. A general Councel is the last judgement of the Church e Leo episto 50. ad Martianū S. Leo requesteth of Martianus the Emperour that those thinges which are defined in general Councels may not be reuersed or recalled which also the said f L. Nemo cap. de sū Trinit et fide catho Martianus ratefied by his Imperial constitution The same is decreed in the general Councels of g Conciliū Ephesinū circa finē Ephesus and h Conciliū Chalcedō act 5. can vlt. Chalcedon Secondly those are censured by the Fathers and Councels to be Heretiks who disobey the decrees of such Councels And first al generall Councels denounce Anathema to them and accurse those that shal contradict their definitions which they could not doe without errour vpon a meere perswation without infallible assurance of diuine truth in their said definitions That the Fathers of the Councel of Nice did so it is recorded by i Athanas epistol ad Episcopos Affricae S. Athanasius and the actes of other such Councels euidentlie proue the same proceedings in them The judgment of k Leo epi. 78. ad Leonem Imp. see bī also ī epist 77. ad Anatho S. Leo was that they could not be numbred among Catholikes that resisted the Councels of Nice and Chalcedon l Basil epist 87. S. Basil willed Catholikes to propound the decrees of the Councel of Nice to those that vvere suspected of heresie because by this it vvould haue appeared whether they vvere Heretikes or Catholikes m August de baptismo cap. 18. S. Augustine excuseth S. Ciprian from heresie only for this reason that his opinion touching the baptisme of Heretikes vvas not condemned by any general Councel n Greg. lib. 1. epist 24. S. Gregorie denounceth Anathema to those that receiue not the fiue general Councles which only vvere celebrated before his daies Vnto this I adde that al Christian Catholike Emperors by their constitutions adjudged such as Heretikes and made them subject to the punishment of such miscreants that opposed themselues against the definitions of general Councels He is wicked and sacralegeous say a Martiā et Valē in edicto ad Paladium praefectū praetorio edicto quod extat act 3. sinodi Chalced. Martianus and Valentinianus who after the sentence of so many bishops doth say any thing according to his owne opinion yea at al times such as were condemned by such Councels as Heretikes haue beene so esteemed by al sorts although not so censured before and not only in that age in which they were so condemned but in al ages following And both these assertions may be proued by that sentence of our Lord b Math. 10 7. He that shal not heare the Church let him be to thee as the Heathen and the publican For he that disobeyeth the Church assembled in this supreame Court is no longer to be thought a Christian or to be admitted to any other trial but to be esteemed an Heretike and an Infidel Thirdly by the same Councels and Fathers the decrees of general Councels are said to be diuine and from the holy Ghost of which it followeth that they are of infallible truth and not subject to errour The Fathers assembled in the most auncient Councels auouch the said Councels to be gathered together by the holy Ghost c Epist ad Ecclesiam apud Eusebium li. 3. de vita Constātini Constantine the great calleth the decrees of the Councel of Nice heauenly precepts d Athā epistola ad episcopos Affricae S. Athanasius writeth that the word of our Lord by the general Councel of Nice remaineth for euer e Naziā orat in Athanas S. Gregory Nazianzene telleth
grounds hence proceeding IN the three precedent Chapters I haue treated of three principal groundes on which with al security we may build our faith and religion I wil now adde vnto them certaine others commonly by al Catholikes esteemed also to be of infallible authority And in the first place I assigne the decrees and definitions of the supreame visible Pastour of the Church millitant but for a ful explication and plaine proofe of this ground I wil deuide this chapter into certaine sections SECTION THE FIRST Containing a briefe explication or rehearsal of the Catholike doctrine concerning the Popes supremacie BECAVSE our beliefe concerning the primacie of the Bishop of Rome is diuersly slaundered by our aduersaries I thinke it not amisse before I come to the proofe of it briefly to explicate what our doctrine is For true it is that our assertion being explicated to them that are misinformed is halfe proued We hold therefore that the supreame power which our Sauiour Christ euen according to his humane nature receiued of his Father before his ascention ouer al his Church of which are these his wordes Mat. 28. verse 18. Ephes 1 22. 1 Pet. 5 4. Heb. 5.6 Al power is giuen to me in heauen and in earth vvas neuer resigned or giuen by him to any mortal creature Wherefore as yet he remaineth supreame head of his Church prince of Pastours and Priest according to the order of Melchisedech Neuerthelesse because he vvas to withdrawe his visible corporal presence from the Church millitant and therefore could not himselfe decree and giues sentence or aduise in matters doubtful like as Kinges or Princes not being resident in their dominions for the good and peaceable gouernment of their subjects appoint Viceroies or Vicegerents Luke 19. vers 12. so he departing from his Church as the scripture saith into a farre Countrie like as he appointed diuers vicars for the administration of the sacraments so he ordained one for the gouernment of the whole Church to wit S. Peter who immediately receiued such jurisdiction and authority from him and therefore during his mortal life was his Vicegerent on earth ministerial head of his Church and chiefe gouernour Pastour and Prelate of the same And hence proceedeth the first difference betweene Christ and S. Peter touching the supremacie ouer the Church For although they be both termed supreame heads of the same yet the last of them is subordinate dependeth of the first and the first only is the supreame independent the last was the supreame visible ministerial dependent head Of which it appeareth that the authority and jurisdiction of the second was nothing prejudicial to that of the first for they may stand very wel together seing that the one was subordinate to the other Neither doe Christ and his vicar properly make two heads of the Church but one like as a King and his viceroy make not properly two Kings but one For like as the King notwithstanding his viceroy is the one chiefe prince gouernour and head of his country so is Christ the chiefe Prelate and head of his Church S. Peter vvas his vicar and vicegerent and so is at this present his successour the Bishop of Rome For the proofe of the truth of this doctrine it maketh that like as Christ in the holy scripture is called Head of the Church so he is likewise called a Apoc. 17 14. ca. 19 16. King Lord b 1. Pet. 2 25. Bishop Pastour c Heb. 3 1. cap. 5. vers 6. Apostle and Priect Wherefore like as this notwithstanding others may be Kinges Lords Bishops Pastors Apostles and Priests so another may be although not absolute yet subordinate and ministerial head of the Church After this sort also our Sauiour and S. Peter are both rocks for although Christ be the chiefe rock and stone on which the Church was built yet S. Peter was the ministerial or secondary rock made by Christ a rocke and the principal stone next vnto himselfe in the edifice of his Church In vvhich sense by S. Paul and S. Iohn Eph. 2 20 Apoc. 21. verse 14. Basil hom de poenitē quae est vltima inter varias homilias Math. 5. verse 14. Leo serm 3. āniuersario Assumptionis suae although Christ be the principal foundation of his Church yet the Apostles are likewise termed the foundation of the same This which I haue said is most learnedly and euidently declared by the holy father S. Basil in these his wordes Although S. Peter saith he be a rocke yet he is not a rocke as Christ is for Christ is the true immoueable rocke of himselfe Peter is immoueable through Christ the rocke For Iesus doth impart and communicate his dignities not voiding himselfe of them but holding them to himselfe he bestoweth them also vpon others He is the light and yet you saith he are the light He is the Priest and yet he maketh Priests He is a Rocke and yet be maketh a Rocke thus farre S. Basil The like discourse vve finde in S. Leo for expounding those vvordes of our Sauiour Thou art Peter thus he speaketh in the person of Christ to the said Apostle Whereas I am an inuiolable Rocke I the corner stone who make both one I the foundation besides which no man can lay another yet thou also art a rocke because by my power thou art made firme and strong to the end that those thinges which are proper to me by power be made common to thee by participation hitherto S. Leo. And thus much of the first difference betweene Christ and S. Peter touching their superiority ouer the Church An other difference betweene them is that the authority of Christ vvas euer absolute of S. Peter limited for our Sauiour deriued not vnto him al his authoritie but a part onlie of the same Hence it proceedeth that although Christ instituted sacraments forgaue sins vvithout the vse of anie sacraments c. yet neither S. Peter nor any of his successours euer had anie such power or authority The reason is because euery man but Christ hath alwaies beene bound to vse the meanes by him instituted and left vnto his Church Of vvhich it appeareth howe false their slaunder is vvho affirme the Pope to pardon sinnes by his Indulgences or Pardons for certaine it is that by such indulgences no sinnes are forgiuen but men are onlie released of such temporal paine as is due vnto them It is also confessed by al Catholikes that no man as long as he is guilty of mortal sinne and out of the state of grace can receiue anie benefite from any such pardon A third difference is that our Sauiour being the way the truth and life yea the sonne of God himselfe could neither erre in judgement nor in manners that is he could neither haue any false or erroneous opinion in his vnderstanding nor sinne or erre from reason and right in his wil and actions Contrariewise his vicar although as I vvil proue
10. pag. 570. Andraeas Fricius a learned Protestant of Polonia And that he held himselfe to be supreame Pastour of the Church al his b See l. 12. epi. 32. de priuiligio cōcessomo nasterio S. Medardi In psal 5. epist 38. indict 13. bookes and actions aboundantly testifie and of the Church of Constantinople in particuler thus he vvriteth c Lib. 7. epist 63. ad Ioan. Sira cusanum Of the seat of Constantinople who can doubt but it is subject to the Apostolike See which both my Lord the most holy Emperour and my brother Eusebius Bishop of the same citty of Constantinople professe And this is the common Catholike doctrine touching the supreamacie of S. Peter and the Bishop of Rome SECTION THE SECOND The aforesaid doctrine is proued IF I should endeauour to bring forth al the arguments which occurre and are commonly vsed by Catholike authors conuincing the truth of that which hath beene here said this treatise would rise to a great volume vvhich is contrarie to mine intent wherefore I wil only touch the principal and those very briefly In the holy scripture we first find that our Sauiour at the first sight of S. Peter chaunged his name from Simon to Cephas or Peter For this holy Apostle being brought by S. Andrew his brother vnto Christ He looking vpon him saith S. Iohn the Euangelist said Ioh. 1 42. Hier. in c. 2. epist ad Galatas thou art Simon the sonne of Iona thou shalt be called Cephas which word in the Siriack tongue as we are taught by S. Hierom as also Peter in the Greek signifieth a rocke wherefore then did Christ change this Apostles name more then the names of al the rest for although he called S. Iames and S. Iohn Boanerges Mark 3. yet he altered not their former names but gaue them a kind of sir-name and therefore by the holie Euangelists the whole Church they are alwaies called by their first names Iames Iohn But S. Peter is commonly called both by the Euangelists S. Paul Galat. 2. Chrisost in 1. cap. Ioan. and the whole Church Peter Cephas or a rock which as S. Iohn Chrisostome very wel noteth argueth that some great priuiledge was graunted to S. Peter aboue others for so God for some extraordinarie and great cause changed the name of Abram into Abraham and of Iacob into Israel But what was this priuiledge Verily the name it selfe imposed vpon S. Peter giueth vs notice what it was for seing that Christ communicated vnto him one of his owne names to wit the name of a rock or stone which is often times attributed vnto himselfe in holie write Isa 8. et 28. Daniel 2. psal 117. Mat. 21. Rom. 9. 1. Cor. 10. Ephe. 2.1 Peter 2. c. he also gaue vs to vnderstand that he was to communicate vnto him the highest office vnder himselfe and that like as he himselfe was the principal rock and foundation of the Church so this holy Apostle was to be by participation a secondarie stone placed next vnto himselfe in the building of the same and through his praier and warrant to be made a piller of truth not to be shaken with anie falshood nor ouerthrowne by al the powers of hel This is the doctrine of S. Basil and S. Leo as we haue seene aboue But that the force of this place of scripture against the newe sectaries may the better be perceiued let vs joine another vnto it more strongelie confirming the same truth and plainely opening the sense of the former For after that this blessed Apostle had confessed our Sauiour to be Christ the sonne of the liuing God our Redeemer replying vnto him Mat. 16. v. 18.19 vsed these wordes And I say to thee that thou art Peter or a rocke and vpon this rocke wil I build my Church and the gates of hel shal not preuaile against it And I wil giue to thee the keies of the kingedome of heauen and whatsoeuer thou shalt bind vpon earth it shal be also bound in the heauens and whatsoeuer thou shalt loose in the earth it shal be loosed also in the heauens Loe a plaine promise made vnto S. Peter both that on him the Church should be built and consequently that he should be made the principal foundation of the same next vnto Christ and also that as the vicar of Christ and chiefe pastour of his flocke he should receiue the keies of the kingdome of heauen And hence proceed those vvordes of S. Hierome concerning the first prerogatiue Hieron lib. 1. contra Pelag. Cipriā epistol ad Quirinū Peter was the prince of the Apostles vpon whome the Church of our Lord was strongly and firmely founded which is neither shaken by the furie of any flood nor by any tempest Saint Ciprian that holy Martir more auncient then Saint Hierome telleth vs that our Lord did choose Peter the chiefest and vpon him built his Church Which words of his are alleadged and approued by Saint Augustine in his second booke de Baptismo cap. 1. To these I adde S. Basil and S. Epiphanius of vvhome the first auoucheth a Basil li. 2. in Eunom et homilia 19. quae est vlti de poenitentia that Saint Peter for the excellencie of his faith receiued vpon him the edifice of the Church vvherefore in another place he calleth him the rocke and foundation of the Church The other vvriteth b Epiphā in Ancor that our Lord appointed Peter the first or chiefe of his Apostles a firme rocke on which the Church was built The like sentences are found in c Leo ser 2. in Aniuers assūptio suae S. Leo d Naziā◠de moder seruād in disputat S. Gregory Nazianzene e Chrisost homil 55. in Math. S. Chrisostome f Ambros serm 47. S. Ambrose and others yea that the Fathers gathered this out of the said words of our Lord it is granted by g Calu. li. 4. instit ca. 6. § 6. Caluin and h Dan. in respōs ad Bellar. disput part 1. p. 277. Danaeus That he also had a second prerogatiue promised him in the same wordes of receiuing the keies of the kingdome of heauen as ministerial head of the Church aboue the rest of the Apostles who receiued them with a certaine kind of subjection to Peter the Fathers in like sort euen as confidently testifie And first this is affirmed by S. Ciprian in these words i Ciprian epist 73. To Peter first of al vpon whom our Sauiour built his Church and from whom he instituted and shewed the beginning of vnity did he giue this power that that should be loosed in the heauens which he had loosed on earth k Hill in Math. 16. S. Hillarie in like sort crieth out O blessed porter of heauen vnto whose wil and arbitriment the keies of the eternal entry are deliuered Lastly l Chrisostome homil 55. in Mathaeum S. Iohn Chrisostome and m Gregor
because vve confesse that the Pope may sinne and erre in person vnderstanding and priuate doctrine and we defend only that his judicial sentence pronounced as he is Pope concerning matters of faith and precepts of manners cannot be false or erronious And this is euident first by the testimony of Christ himselfe who vnto S. Peter the Apostle vsed these words Simon Simon Luke 22. v. 31.32 behold Satan required to haue you to sift as wheate but I haue praied for thee that thy faith faile not and thou once conuerted confirme thy brethren Marke vvel those words Satan hath required to haue you but I haue praied for thee which argue a singuler priuiledge in S. Peter of not erring in faith aboue the rest of the Apostles For sathan required to sift them al and our Lord praied for Peter only that his faith might not be ouerthrowne by anie subtil deceits open assaults or other practises of the diuel The like is insinuated by those words following And thou once conuerted confirme thy bretheren which both proue that the first part of the sentence was proper to S. Peter only I meane that his faith should not faile and also declare that the rest of the Apostles were by him to be confirmed and strengthened in their beliefe Hence proceedeth this sentence of S. Leo The danger was common to al the Apostles Leo serm 3. de assūp sua but our Lord took special care of Peter that the state of al the rest might be more sure if the head were inuincible God so disposing the aide of his grace that the assurance and strength which Christ gaue to Peter might redound by Peter to the rest of the Apostles Hitherto S. Leo. To signifie this priuiledg of S. Peter to vs our Sauiour chaunged as I haue before declared his name from Simon to Cephas or Peter both vvhich wordes signifie a rock Thou art Simon said he the sonne of Iona thou shalt be called Cephas which is interpreted Peter or a rock For howe wel doe these two sentences answere one another Thy faith shal not faile and Thou art a rock And vpon this rock afterwards he built his Church vvarranting it from euer being ouercome by the deuil or his ministers Mat. 16. verse 18. Iohn 21. v. 17.18 Ambrose in himnis August li. 1. retrac cap. 21. which he promised to doe as I haue aboue noted in these his wordes to this B. Apostle Thou art Peter or a rock and vpon this rock I wil build my Church and the gates of hel shal not preuaile against it and performed in those Feed my lambes feed my sheepe Hence by S. Ambrose as S. Augustine recordeth S. Peter is called the Rock of the Church that is the very strength and foundation of it next vnto Christ Neither did our Sauiour without just cause grant this extraordinary priuiledg vnto him for he as I haue also before shewed for the preseruation of vnity and better direction of his spouse vvas appointed by him Pastour of the whole Church sheepheard of his whole flock his chiefe vicar and ministerial head of his body Vnto his charge he committed both his sheep and lambs exempting no Christians from his jurisdiction wherefore it was necessary that he should be so directed concerning matters of faith and religion seing that the members are to obey the head and sheepe to followe and to be guided by their Shepheard that he should not drawe them into errors or propound vnto them any bad pasture of false doctrine Like as therefore God alwaies in the old lawe preserued the truth in the Chaire of Moises wherefore as I haue shewed before al men vvere bound vnder paine of death to obey the high Priest and our Sauiour said Math. 23. vers 2. vpon the Chaire of Moises haue sitten the scribes pharisies al things therefore whatsoeuer they shal say vnto you obserue ye and doe ye so acording to the assertion of S. Augustine God preserueth the truth of Christian religion in the See of Rome which is in the new Testament answerable to the Chaire of Moises although the Bishops of that citty vvere neuer so wicked men I adde also that this vvas necessary for the condemnation of heresies because although the sentence of a general Councel pronounced against any heresie cannot be erronious yet euery man wil graunt that such a Councel sometimes by reason of persecution or other accidents can not be assembled yea euery man must needes confesse that at no time such a Councel can be so soone gathered as it is necessary that an heresie springing vp should be condemned 2. Timoth. 2. ver 17. Hieron in cap. 5. ad Galatas For the Apostle very wel compareth heresie to a canker and S. Hierome both to a canker and also to a spark of fire a peece of leauen and a scabbed sheep and concludeth that like as a canker if we wil not haue it eate ouer al the bodie is presently to be killed and a spark of fire in a daungerous place forth-with to be put out and a pecce of leauen if we wil not haue the vvhole past leauened is to be taken away out of hand from the same and a scabbed sheep is forthwith to be remoued out of the flock lest that it infect the rest so an Heretike is presently so soone as he appeareth to be cut off from the body of the Church and to be cast out of Christs fold lest that by infection he corrupt others which as I haue said cannot be so soone effected by a general Councel as is expedient although the times be neuer so calme yea sometimes there is no meanes to assemble such a Councel And therefore not without cause God almighty hath warranted in such cases the Popes sentence from error that al his whole flock vnderstanding any newe doctrine to be condemned by his censure may presentlie both auoide it and the authours and followers of the same Finallie in a general Councel it selfe it is not onlie needeful that there be one supreame judge but also that the sentence of this judge at the least joined with the censure and approbation of a part of the Councel be of an infallible truth and of diuine authority The first part of this assertion is proued before and is euident because otherwise we must needs confesse that no certaine meane is ordained in the Church to end controuersies For the Prelates assembled in a Councel being diuided either part might refuse to stand to the others judgment The second also is euen as apparant because otherwise we haue no certaine rule whereby in such a diuision to know which part hath the truth We finde it true by experience that the greater part which neuerthelesse according to ordinary courses should be of greater authority then the lesser may erre for so it fel out in the false Sinod held at Ephesus about the yere of our Lord foure hundred forty and nine Wherefore if we should yeeld this preheminence
to the greater part that it must be obeied heresies and false doctrine might be established in a Councel without any meanes left vs to knowe when it doth erre and when it defineth a truth to which I likewise adde that it may fal out that both parts be equal And lastlie that we haue no warrant in holie scripture that the one part shal haue infallible directions by Gods spirit more then the other And seing that we haue the most manifest authority of the said scripture warranting vs that the successuor of S. Peter cannot erre neither reason nor scripture wil suffer vs to denie him this prerogatiue But like as I haue declared before the truth of the first part of this reason by the doctrine examples of forraine sectaries so I think it not amis in this place to shew the truth of the last by the positions and proceedinges of some neerer home There came to my handes of late a litle pamphlet bearing this title A Christian and modest offer of a most indifferent conference or disputation about the many and principal controuersies betwixt the Prelates Printed an 1660. and the late silenced and depriued ministers in England tendred by some of the said ministers to the Archbishoppes and Bishoppes and al their adherents At the end of this pamphlet among other objections which these Puritan ministers as making against this conference endeauour to solue this is one That they the said Puritans when they haue beene heard to oppose and answere what they can page 40. name no judge and wil not stand to any mans definitiue sentence but wil continue obstinate stil Vnto vvhich objection they plainly answere that they doe not think it lawful in any matter of religion to setle their consciences vpon the definitiue sentence of any person absolutely yea say they If both sides rest vnsatisfied page 41. and continue perswaded stil that the truth is on their side it were impious for either side in such a case to commit the absolute determination therof vnto the wil and pleasure of any man or men whatsoeuer They adde that it were vnjust for either side to require judges either incompetent or not indifferent And their reason is because as the prelates except they would wilfully betray their owne cause might justly refuse such to be judges as haue in any degree inclined more to the ministers then to them so may the ministers in like manner as justly refuse to stand to the judgement and determination of such as incline more to the Prelates then to them thus they How then wil they haue controuersies ended Surely they tel vs p. 40. 41. that in desiring as they doe before that the whole carriage of this intended conference may be published they make al the world to be judges therof that it should content any Christianly affected man that the ministers are content to offer their defence of these pointes to the view of al to scanne and to weigh them and so farre forth to judge thereof as if their reasons doe not satisfie them to giue them leaue to cendemne them of errour which wil be say they a judgment heauy enough to them if notwithstanding they shal stil persist in their former opinions pa. 41. 42. and that it is needles to name judges because his Majestie the ciuil Majestrates vnder him and the high court of Parliament though the ministers should appeale from them would in this case judge them and their cause whose judgment if it goe against the ministers and it appeare to be righteous the more they shal neglect the same and refuse to submit themselues vnto it the more grosse and refractarie they shal shew themselues to be c. This is the substance of their answere to the aforesaid objection And vvhat prudent man reading these thinges wil not first judge that this course is no sufficient meane to decide matters in question then that one supreame judge whose sentence is of infallible truth is necessary for the final ending of such contentions Who wil not likewise inferre that Christ who is not wanting to his Church in thinges necessarie hath ordained some such supreame judge And like as the Puritanes proceed after this sort so might either side of the Bishops if it should happen they should be diuided among them selues touching any point of religion But although these thinges be so yet we hold not the Bishop of Rome can rashly define what he please for he is bound to proceed maturely and to vse such inquisition arguments aduise of learned men and other meanes as are necessary for the finding out of the truth of the matter which he is to define Neither can he institute any sacrament or make any new article of faith vnknowne altogither to the Apostles or not deliuered by them to the Church as I haue said before of a general Councel Chap. 9. Only touching these points he hath power more plainly and expreslie to explicate to the faithful those verities which the said Apostles either knew or deliuered and to bring them as it were from darkenesse to light Some men perhaps wil admit that S. Peter had a prerogatiue of not erring in faith but wil deny that it was euer deriued to his successors This euasion is fullie aboue confuted yet here I adde further Chap. 6. sect 2. that this vvarrant from errour in faith was more necessarie after S. Peters departure out of the world in his successours then before in himselfe both because the chiefest planters and rulers of the Church the holie Apostles and Disciples were then likewise or soone after deceased and also because persecution daily increased and new heresies in greater abundance began to impugne the rule of faith receiued Moreouer our Sauiour building his Church vpon S. Peter built it especiallie vpon his faith not vpon his flesh as some of the auncient Fathers say neither so vpon his faith that he built it vpon faith separated from S. Peter or being in any other person but vpon faith as being in S. Peter the ministerial head of the Church Wherefore although the flesh of S. Peter be consumed yet seing that his office and dignity is in his successours his faith also through the warrant of Christ stil remaineth in them vvhich is the foundation of the Church and the firme rocke against which Hel-gates shal not preuaile And this may be confirmed because Christ vvhen he praied for the faith of S. Peter obtained and imparted this prerogatiue vnto him as his supreame vicar or by reason of his office Wherefore seing that the office continueth alwaies in the Church the priuiledg likewise must alwaies remaine in the same And this is the doctrine of the auncient Fathers and their exposition of the places of scripture alleaged Hence in the third general a Concil Ephes to 2. cap. 16. Councel the Bishop of Rome is called the ordinary successour and vicar of S. Peter prince of the Apostles And the like
wicked are included but be signifieth their miserable condition and extreame tortures and torments for the Papists so he tearmeth the schoole Diuines are foolish and ridiculous who subtillie dispute of the nature and quality of that fire and in explicating it diuersly vex themselues These grosse imaginations are to be hissed out seing that we vnderstand the Prophet to speake figuratiuelie hitherto are Caluins words And thus we see that Luther denieth any soules to be in hel or heauen before the day of judgment and that Caluin denieth both the place and fire of hel but of this point enough SECNION THE THIRD Of our aduersaries impious assertions concerning Christ and Christian religion I Come nowe to the third principal ground to wit the truth of Christian religion And first I affirme that generally al the sectaries of our time weaken this ground by that their common principle by which they auouch the holy scripture to be the only rule of faith among Christians for hence principally proceede Anabaptisme Zauchius in his epistle before his cōfes Beza volumi ne 3. 190. et 255. Hipor Method p. 5. Bez. l. de beret a ciuili magistr puniēd see hī also in ep theolo 81. p. 334. Libertinisme Arianisme Samosatenisme Marcionisme Eutichionisme Nestorianisme which as Zauchius a Protestant reporteth haue beene fetched out of hel by the ministers of Sathan in some of the reformed Churches Yea Beza himselfe confesseth that most foule and impudent errors of auncient Archeretiks being renued and polished are in these our daies by fanatical men recalled from Hel. Vpon this ground they build who reject the wordes Trinity Consubstantial and the like vvithout which as Beza confesseth the truth of the highest misteries of Christian religion cannot be explicated nor the aforesaid heresies soundly confuted And to discourse of these matters a litle more in particuler haue not diuers newe Sectaries in plaine tearmes oppugned the truth of Christianity It cannot be denied And to omit that which is credibly reported of Bucer Posseuinus in biblio selecta part 1. l. 8. c 8. that dying he professed the Messias vvas not yet borne I wil onlie report thinges knowne to the whole world And first what shal we say of Franciscus Dauid a Ederus ibid. c. 16. Frācis Daui ī Thess 69. Posseui ib. c. 14. et 16. who of a Catholik became first a Lutheran afterwardes a Caluinist lastly a publike denier of the blessed Trinitie made Christ a pure man willed al to burie the Gospel and to returne to Moises the lawe and circumcision affirmed that the truth of the wordes of Christ and the Apostles was to be tried by the lawe of Moises and by other books of the Prophets of that lawe which only said he b In dispu Albana Act. 3. di ei In defensi negotij de non inuocād Christo fol. 21. ought to be vnto vs the rule of manners life and diuine worshippe The same man being wished by some of his friends at the least to confes Christ to be our Sauiour answered What shal I confesse him a Sauiour who could not doe so much as saue himselfe Neither did this blasphemie die vvith the author for his c Cōfutat indicij Polonicarū Eccles disciples succeeding him mette as Iewes on the saturdaies and rejecting the Gospels read the prophecies of the old Testament The diuinity of Christ was likewise denied before by d Seruet lib. 1. de trinitat fol. 7. et 47. Michael Seruetus first also a Lutheran then as some say a Caluinist and at the same time and afterwards by e Georg. Blādrata in disp Albana act diei 6. Ochimus in dial 2. de trinit◠Sōmer aduersus Petrū Carolū l. 1. c. 4. de filio c. Aelianus li. Germ. Math. Ia. Georgius Blandrata Lelius Sozinus Bernardinus Ochinus Ioannes Sommerius Nathaniel Elianus Christianus Francus and other such like blaspheamous companions who were professors of the newe religion vnto whome I also adde the f Articles of the family of loue art 24. brethren of the familie of loue But a farre greater number of the new gospellers denied Christ to be equal and consubstantial to his Father the captaine of whom was g Valēt Gentil in protessibus Calu. aduers Gentil Beza in prefat ad dictūli Caluini Valentinus Gentilis a disciple of Caluin whom followed Matheus Gribaldus Franciscus Lismanius and an infinite number of others especiallie in Polonia yea some and that not without cause joine vnto these Melancton and Caluin himselfe of whom h Melāct in locis an 1535. Wittēb et Basil an 1541. the first affirmeth something of the diuinè nature or some diuine nature to be in Christ and auerred him according to his deity to haue been made inferior to his Father The i See Calu. ad c. 14. Gen. in Harmo Euang. ad c. 22. Mat. v. 44. et ad c. 26. Mat. v. 64. Lib. aduers Valēt Gētil refut 10. ep 2. ad Polonos c. second affirmed also this last and besides made Christ a Priest according to his diuinity placed him in the second or next degree to his Father as his vicar auouched the the name of God by excellency only to pertaine to the Father him only and properly to be the creator of heauen and earth made the Sonne subject to his Father and inferiour to him according to his diuinity Stancarus contra Caluī K. 4. see him also li. de trinitat c. And al this is justified by Stancarus himselfe a Protestant who vnto Caluin writeth thus What diuel O Caluin hath seduced thee to speake with Arius against the Sonne of God that thou mightest shewe him to be depriued of his glorie and nowe to aske to haue it giuen him as though he had not alwaies had it That Antechrist of the North whom thou doest impudently adore Melanchton the Gramarian hath done this And he concludeth Be ware O Christian reader and especially al you ministers beware of the bookes of Caluin and principally in the articles of the Trinity Incarnation Mediator the Sacrament of baptisme and predestination for they containe wicked doctrine and Arian blasphemies insomuch as the spirit or soule of Seruetus burnt according to the Platonist may seeme to haue entred into Caluin Againe Al the Churches Stancarus de trinitat K. 8. See Simlerus in praefat lib. de aeterno dei verbo which those men cal reformed by the Gospel and the Sonne of God and hold the faith of Geneua and Zurick concerning Christ are Arian neither can this be denied which I haue aboue demonstrated thus Stancarus Ioannes Modestus another Protestant wrote a book in the German tongue vvith this title A demonstration out of the holy scriptures that the Sacramentaries are no Christians but baptized Iewes and Turks Tubingae anno 1587. in quarto About the same time another booke was published by Phillipus Nicholaus a minister with this title A detection of the ground of the
Luke Libr. 1. Machab cap. 6. li. 2. c. 1. et 9. item l. 1. c. 4. lib. 2. ca◠impugne the authoritie of the books of the Machabees because as they say they finde in them contractiōs concerning the death of Autiochus Illustris the purgation of the temple made by Iudas Machabeus c. The like arguments they bring against the books of Tobie Iudith and others which if we admit wherefore may not some person of an Atheistical humour by the same manner of arguing deny and reject most of the Canonical books contained in the Bible As for example the booke of Genesis because in the first chapter of it vve reade Gen. 1. v. 14. that the sunne and moone by which daies nights and yeares are also there said to be distinguished were made on the fourth day vvhich seemeth to implie contradiction because if it be so that daies and nightes are diuided by these planets as it is there affirmed and we see by daily experience 2. Reg. 23 11. 1. Par. 11 13. according to the new sect Samuel 2. Chronic. 1.3 Reg. or 1. of Kings 7 15. 2. Par. 3 15. howe could there be three daies and nightes before these planets were made also the second booke of the Kinges or the first of Paralippomenon because that feeld which in the one is said to haue beene ful of lentiles in the other is said to haue beene ful of barley Moreouer the third booke of the Kinges or the second of Paralippomenon because in the first we made that the two great brazen pillers made by Salomon were of thirty eight cubits in length but in the second of Paralippomenon the length of them is said to haue beene thirty fiue cubits yea betweene the newe Tetament and the old and betweene the Euangelistes themselues in the new such contradictions in outward shew may be espied For S. Mathew telleth vs Math. 1 8.4 Reg. 8 24. cap. 11 1. et 2. ca. 12 21. cap. 14 21. that Ioram begat Ozias whereas in the fourth booke of the kings which our aduersaries cal the second it is written that Ioram was father to Ochozias Ochozias to Ioas Ioas to Amasias and Amasias not Ioram to Ozias otherwise called Azarias Luc. 3. v. 36. it is said that Arphaxad was father to Cainan and Cainan to Sale but Genesis 10. vers 34. Arphaxad is said to haue begotten Sale Mathew 1. verse 16. the father of Ioseph our blessed Ladies husband is called Iacob Luke 3.23 Mat. 10 10. Mark 6 8. Mat. 26 34. Luke 22 34. Mat. 26 74. Luke 22 60. Iohn 18 27. Marke 14 30.68 et 71. Mark 15 25. Iohn 19 14. whereas S. Luke nameth him Heli. The same Saint Mathew reporteth that our Sauiour sending his Apostles to preach forbad them to beare a rod or staffe in their hands whereas S. Mark writeth that he bad them take only a rod or staffe Our Sauiour if we beleeue S. Mathew and S. Luke told S. Peter that before the cocke did crowe he should deny him thrice and so it vvas done according to the same Euangelists and S. Iohn But S. Mark reporteth the words of our Sauiour to haue been Before the cock shal crow twice thou shalt thrice deny me and writteh that the cocke did first crowe presently after his first denial and againe after his third The same S. Mark affirmeth that Christ vvas crucified at the third howre but S. Iohn telleth vs that it was about the sixt howre before he was condemned by Pilate Mathew 27. verse 19. Ieremias the prophet is named for Zacharias Adde also that our Sauiour himselfe foretold as S. Mathew writeth that he vvas to be in the hart of the earth three daies and three nights Mat. 12 40. yet euerie man knoweth that he yeelded vp his sacred soule into the hands of his Father about three howres after noone on the friday and rose againe on the sonday morning verie earlie wherefore although we graunt that his soule was in the hart of the earth and his bodie in the graue during part of three daies yet we shal very hardlie finde out three nights Acts 9 7. Neither is S. Luke in the acts of the Apostles altogether free from this shewe of contradiction for albeit in the historie of the conuersion of S. Paul he say that the men that went in company with him to Damascus Act. 20 10. heard the voice of Christ speaking vnto him yet in another place he relateth the wordes of the same Apostle affirming that they heard it not Finally the Apostle S. Paul himselfe whose epistles our aduersaries so highly esteeme seemeth to contradict some parts of the old testament For example he affirmeth Galat. 3. vers 17. that betweene the time of a certaine promise made by God to Abraham Genes 12.13 or 22. and the lawe giuen to Moises there passed foure hundred and thirty yeares whereas it is plainely gathered out of the historie of Genesis that between the time of the said promise and the going of Iacob vvithal his family into Egipt there passed at the least one hundred and threescore of which Iacob not then borne liued about one hundred and thirty Genes 47. vers 9. vnto which if we adde foure hundred and thirty during which the children of Israel remained in Egipt as the expresse word of Exodus chap. 12. vers 40. tel vs and is insinuated Genes 15. vers 23. betweene the aforesaid promise the lawe giuen we shal finde at the least fiue hundred ninetie yeares not only foure hundred and thirty Hebr. 9 4. as S. Paul reckoneth In like sort the same Apostle in his epistle to the Hebrewes seemeth to contradict the third booke of the Kinges vvhich our aduersaries cal the first and the second of Paralippomenon for he affirmeth that in the arke of the old testament was a golden pot hauing Manna the rod of Aaron that had blossomed 3. Reg. 8 9. the tables of the testament But in the books of the old testament alleaged we read that no other thing was in the arke but the tables of the Testament 2. Paral. 5. verse 10. Diuers other such like sentences in words seeming to containe contradictions may be found in these and other bookes of holie scripture which as I haue said may moue Atheists vvith as great reason to impugne the authority of the said bookes as our aduersaries doe by the like arguments the books of Tobie Iudith the Machabees and other by vs receiued and by them rejected Perhaps they wil answere that the seeming cōtradictions which I haue assigned are in very deed no contradictions and that the places in appearance contrarie may verie vvel be reconciled I replie and confesse that in verie truth so it is for al those places by our interpreters are verie wel saued from contrariety and contradiction And it is manifest that the same holy Ghost vvho inspired al the writers of holy scripture cannot contradict himselfe and these
vvith so manie thousand lies and vntruthes set downe by Catholike authors to the view of the whole world as for example doctor * Harding in his Rejoinder to M. Iewels reply touchīg priuate masse printed anno 1566. Harding anoucheth that the number of his lies in fiue of the six and twenty articles of his replie to the said doctor Hardings answere to his Apologie In his epistle to the reader discouered by himselfe and others amounteth to a thousand and odde and also because the falshood of his said challenge being shewed by diuers learned of our side he neuer was so good as his word Humfred in vita Iuelli Hence is this complaint of doctour Humfreis Iewel hath graunted you he speaketh to the Catholikes ouer much and was to sore an enemy to himselfe that rejecting the meane by which he might more firmly easily haue vpholden his cause he spoiled himselfe the Church for what haue we to doe with the Fathers with flesh and bloud Or what doth it appertaine vnto vs what the false sinode of Bishops so he tearmeth the ancient Councels doe ordaine or decree thus much D. Humfrey Secondly it may also be alleaged that Field a late Protestant writer alloweth of diuers other rules or directions of our faith besides the holie scripture Field book 3. chap. 33. § 1. and of the Fathers in particuler he affirmeth that they reuerence and honour them much more then vve doe I answere that in very deede Field maketh a great shew of allowance of the testimonie of antiquity and may perhaps seeme to one that looketh not wel into his wordes to approue the authority of of the auncient Fathers as farre forth as any Catholike whereas in very truth there is no such thing And to make this matter manifest let vs briefly behold his rules assigned whereby as he saith we are to judge of particuler things contained within the compasse of Christian faith Field book 4. chapt 14. which are as followeth First the summary comprehension of such principal articles as are the principles whence al other things are concluded and inferred these are contained in the Creed of the Apostles Secondly al such thinges as euery Christian is bound expresly to beleeue which are rightly said to be the rule of faith Thirdly the Anologie due proportion and correspondence that one thing in this diuine knowledge hath with another Fourthly whatsoeuer books were deliuered vnto vs a written by them to whome the first and immediate reuelation of diuine truth was made Fiftly whatsoeuer haue beene deliuered by al the Saints with one consent which haue left their judgment and opinion in writing book 4. cap. 5. because saith he in another place it is not possible that they should al haue written of any thing but such as touche the very life of Christian faith generally receiued in al their times Sixtly whatsoeuer the most famous haue constantly and vniformly deliuered as a matter of faith no man contradicting though many other Ecclesiastical writers be silent and say nothing of it Seueanthly that which the most and most famous in euery age constantly deliuered as matter of faith and as receiued from them that went before them in such sort that the contradictors and gaine-saiers were in their beginnings noted for singularity noueltie and diuision Ibid. cap. 7. and afterwards in processe of time if they persisted in such contradiction charged with heresie He addeth else where that this consent of the most famous must be touching the substance of Christian faith And vnto these his three last rules I adde that vvhich he hath in the second chapter before in these vvordes Booke 4. c. 2. Though al whose writings remaine haue not written of a thing yet if al that mention it doe constantly consent in it and their consent be strengthned by vniuersal practise we dare not charge them with errour yea though their consent be not strengthned by such practise if it be concerning thinges expressed in the word of truth or by necessary and euident deduction to be demonstrated from thence we thinke that no errour can be found ill al them that speake of thinges of that nature that is of matters of substance as in the fift chapter if in euery age of the Church some be found to haue written of them But in thinges that cannot be clearly deduced from the rule of faith and word of diuine and heauenly truth we thinke it posible that al that haue written might erre and be deceiued hitherto Field And these are the rules which he prescribeth to be followed in our judgment concerning truth falshood in matters of our beleife but that none of these besides the holy scripture of which hereafter according to his owne doctrine are sufficient in al matters of faith to make an infallible or prudential ground of beleife it is easily proued And to begin with his three first how wil he proue that they be infallible how can he shewe them to be of diuine authority if the present church in al ages as he saith may erre and it be true which he affirmeth Field book 4. chapter 20. § Thus hauing Ibidem § The second kinde Caluin booke 2. Instit cap. 16 § 18. Hūn ī theseb de coloq cum pōtis ineūdo thes 54. that it is not safe in things concerning faith to rely vpon traditions are not the two first rules at the least receiued by tradition surely he confesseth it himself Further doe not some of his brethren cal the creed of the Apostles in question and make it a doubtful matter whether it were deliuered to the Church by the said Apostles or no he that knoweth not this let him reade Caluin and Hunnius Is it in like sort agreed vpon among our aduersaties what articles euery Christian is bound expresly to beleeue and which are contained in the rule of faith It is not without doubt and I verily thinke that scarse any one learned Protestant wil admit that euery point vvhich is assigned by M. Field in the fourth chapter of his third booke Moreouer how obscure is the Analogie or proportion which one thing in matters of faith hath with another and generally what man wil admit these three rules or any one of them as sufficient to make an end of al controuersies in the Church In very deede although they were al admitted by al sorts as true yet very fewe articles can be gathered out of them by such euident deduction as is able to conuince the vnderstanding of al men and consequently they are no general and sufficient directions for al points of our faith Neither are the three last rules of themselues at the least as they are deliuered by Field of any greater force or sufficiency First because Field doth not only make the present Church in al ages subject to errour for he freeth it only from damnable and pertinacious errour Field book 4. chap. 13. and book 1. c. 10.
but also affirmeth that a right judgment of men by their power of jurisdiction maintaining truth and suppressing errour may be wanting in the Church and that sometimes almost al may conspire against the truth or consent to betray the sincerity of the Christian profession yea that most part of those that hold great places of office and dignity in the Church falling into errour or heresie may depart from the soundnesse of the Christian faiths so that truth be maintained by some few and they molested persecuted and traduced as turbulent and seditious men enemies to the common peace of the Christian world thus Field Which doctrine if we admit as true what authority shal we leaue to the Fathers workes wil not a possibility of errour followe in them al it cannot be denied but I need not dispute any longer of this matter for Field himselfe of these his three rules of beliefe vvriteth thus Field book 4. cap. 14. These three latter rules of our faith saith he we admit not because they are equal with the former and originally in themselues containe the direction of faith but because nothing can be deliuered with such and so ful consent of the people of God as in them is expressed but it must needes he from those authours and founders of our Christian profession Hitherto Field in which words he expresly graunteth that these rules originally in themselues are no directions of faith And truly although we could not ouerthrowe them by his owne sayings this only vvould suffice according to the Protestant groundes to proue them to haue no diuine or infallible authority that he bringeth no one sentence of scripture or other proofe for their truth but only this bare reason that nothing can be delivered with such ful consent but it must needs be from the founders of Christianity For if that be thought or affirmed possible vvhich he deemeth impossible vvhat force or strength wil be left to his rules but euerie man may also perceiue that if we admit his assertions euen nowe related concerning the error of the Church and her Prelats we must needes also graunt that it may be al the Fathers haue conspired in errour For if al the Fathers of the present Church at any time yea although assembled in a general Councel may and that in matters of greatest consequence as he saith erre Field book 4. chap. 5. and 12. who seeth not that it is a thing possible that in al ages they haue al erred This notwithstanding let vs nowe looke a litle into the vvordes themselues of these three last rules and behold concerning what articles of beliefe they are as also what conditions are required in them as necessary to this that out of the Fathers workes according to Fields opinion vve may gather any article of faith The first of them which is the fift in order as the words themselues tel vs requireth that the matter belong to the substāce of our faith by which words he doth abridge and limit the authority of the Fathers to be of force according to this rule onlie concerning certaine principal articles by him set downe vvhich euery man as he saith is bound expresly to knowe and beleeue He prescribeth also in this rule that the consent be general that is not only of al that haue written of that matter but of al that haue left any monuments of learning to their posterity that al make expresse mention of it and without contradiction of any other and that this is his minde he plainly declareth in the second and fift chapter before But what errour or heresie is there which contentious persons either wil not deny to pertaine to the substance of our faith or that al the monuments of antiquity doe positiuely contradict or which Heretikes cannot confirme by some or at the least by one sentence of some auncient writer Verilie if they drawe and pul the holie scriptures in such sort to their priuate fantasies that no sect wil be perswaded but that they fauor the false opinions in it maintained much more may they deale so with the writings of their predecessors which be farre more in number and not also penned as the scriptures are by diuine inspiration The second rule of the three last if M. Field wil not haue it to contradict that which I haue added at the end of them out of the second chapter before must he vnderstood according to it and then how vncertaine it is I wil euen nowe declare but if vve take it as the wordes sound it cannot be vniuersal for the decisions of al points at the least in the judgment of al men for al matters are not deliuered as matters of faith constantly vniformly by the most famous Christian writers and that without contradiction yea a man of a peruerse humour although in very deede it were so yet by wresting and false vnderstanding of ssuch authors would make appearance of the contrary The last may be confuted as insufficient of it selfe for the same reasons for it requireth that the point be of the substance of faith c. The addition out of the second chapter requireth vniuersal practise and necessarie and euident deduction out of the scripture or the rule of faith and as it seemeth that it be a matter of substance that in euerie age some be found to haue written of it c. which be things intricate not easily to be proued in euery matter cōtrouersed But to make al these rules more obscure he addeth in the fift chapter that the writings of the ancient may be much corrupted so that the consent of antiquity cannot alwaies easily be knowne Field book 4. cap. 5. Vincent Liriuens cap. 39. yet saith he there wil be euer some meanes to finde out and descry the errours and frauds of the corrupters And so he affirmeth himselfe to vnderstand that of Vincentius Lirinensis that the judgment of antiquity is to be sought out at the very first rising of heresies not afterwards when they are growne inueterate for that then they wil corrupt the monuments of antiquity Finallie these three rules are not sufficient to direct any man whatsoeuer whether learned or vnlearned to an infallible truth in al articles of faith for seing that euerie priuate man yea the whole visible present Church is subject to errour and al her greatest Prelates to heresie according to the doctrine of M. Field one man cannot build his faith vpon anothers judgement no not vpon the judgement of the whole present visible Church wherefore if we proceed according to M. Fields rules it is not sufficient to cause true faith in vs that others tel vs that the Fathers and writers of former ages say this and that but we must our selues read ouer the workes of al such Fathers and authors And how can the vnlearned doe this Yea if a man be neuer so learned he cannot doe it although he doe nothing else but read al the daies of his
precisely as they are the object of our faith they al haue no other euidence then diuine reuelation as is proued before which is alwaies obscure What then is this medium or meane according to Field Is it any humane conjecture motiue or probability This cannot be according to his owne doctrine as appeareth in the same place and the chapter before Nay in another place he telleth vs Book 4. chap. 20. § Much contention that the books of Scripture winne credite of themselues and yeeld sufficient satisfaction to al men of their diuine truth and therefore he seemeth to exclude al external proofe Is it then any thing contained in the things themselues Neither can this be said for euery thing contained in the thinges themselues belonging to their essence is as obscure as the things themselues be and consequently no such thing contained in the things themselues can be such a meane to manifest themselues vnto vs. And vvhat accident he vvil assigne in the articles of our faith making them manifest vnto vs I cannot imagine Secondly I cannot see how this assertion of Field doth agree with that his common principle Field book 4. chap. 13.8 book 3. chap. 42. auouching that the Scripture is the Canon and ground of their beliefe and that they rest in the determination of the word of God as in the rule of their faith For how can this be if the euidence of the things appearing vnto vs be sometimes the formal reason of our faith as is in like sort by him auerred But to make this discourse a litle more manifest let vs demaund a question or two in particuler of M. Field and see howe he vvil resolue them according to his doctrine deliuered I aske therefore of him why he beleeueth there be three persons and one God two natures in Christ and one person and the resurrection of our bodies Wil he answere that the euidence of the thinges appearing vnto him is the formal cause of his faith or inducing him to beleeue these misteries If he doe not he contradicteth his own doctrine If he doe he contradicteth both al sense and reason and also himselfe making the Scripture the ground of faith except he affirme these misteries to be euident not in themselues but in the medium or meane by force whereof they are beleeued For which medium if he wil be constant to himselfe he must assigne the holie Scripture vvhich Scripture he must say is beleeued through the authority of God himselfe whome vve doe most certainly discerne to speake in the word of faith which is another cause of beliefe assigned by him for such thinges as we beleeue and doe not knowe so that this authority of God is the last motiue not the holy Scripture and what other processe he wil make I cannot perceiue But what doth he and Caluin vnderstand by that other reason which he tearmeth The authority of God himselfe whome we doe certainly discerne to speake in the word of faith which is preached vnto vs and Caluin The majesty of God which doth present it selfe vnto vs What is this authority and majesty of God and how doe we so certainly discerne it Verily for my part I am so farre from knowing how to discerne it as I cannot vvel imagine vvhat they meane by it yet if I be not deceiued they affirme that the authority of God or his majestie is seene in the letter of holie Scripture vvhich moueth vs by a supernatural and most infallible assent to acknowledge it to be his holy word But first this is said gratis and vvithout any ground or reason for what authority or majesty can a man discerne in such bookes as our aduersaries receiue as Canonical more then in those which they reject For example what appeareth to vs more diuine in the bookes of Ecclesiastes then in the bookes of Ecclesiasticus surely nothing much lesse so much as may be an infallible and knowne meane to moue vs to beleeue the one as diuine and to reject the other as Apocriphal Moreouer howe doe vve knowe that this representation of diuine majestie or this diuine authoritie vvhich as vve conceaue doth represent it selfe vnto vs is not either some illusion of the Deuil or some strong imagination of our owne proceeding onlie from some affection which vpon some other motiues we beare to such and such bookes of Scripture Trulie we haue great cause to feare that it may proceed from some such affection seeing that Luther and most of al his Lutherans confesse al the Sacramentaries generallie to be deceaued in such their apprehensions concerning the epistle to the Hebrewes the epistle of Saint Iames the Apocalipse of S. Iohn and other parcels of Scripture And why not concerning others as vvel as these Vnto vvhich I adde that they commonly make their doctrine a rule whereby to try which is Scripture and vvhich is not as I vvil demonstrate hereafter and appeareth by the causes assigned by Luther vvhich moued him to reject the epistle of Saint Iames. It may also be objected against this their doctrine that of it it seemeth to followe that no man can be assured of the diuine authority of any other bookes of Scripture then of those which he hath read himselfe or heard others read For first no man can possibly proue to another that in reading such and such books he did discerne in then the authority of God himselfe speaking or that the diuine majesty did in them present it selfe vnto him vvherefore vnto this that a man may judg of holy Scripture he must himselfe read or heare the words and sentences read and this he must doe before he can haue any faith For seeing that they make the Scripture the rule and ground of their beliefe the Scripture must first be knowne before they can beleeue and seeing that no one booke containeth al things necessary to be beleeued but such things are dispersed through al it is necessarie that he know the whole Canon of Scripture and consequentlie that he reade or heare it al rehearsed sentence by sentence And what a Laborinth is this how can the vnlearned that cannot reade doe it Nay how many Protestants in the world haue euer performed it Wherefore I conclude that this rule or meane how to know holy Scripture is neither easie plaine certaine nOr vniuersal Perhaps it may be thought by some that Field assigneth the euidence of the thinges appearing vnto vs in holy Scriptures as the formal cause of our beleefe concerning their authority but this cannot be both because our beleefe concerning their Canonical authority seemeth to be concerning a matter of fact to wit vvhether they vvere penned by the instinct of the holie Ghost or no as also because a great part of them rehearseth matters of fact which Field denieth to be knowne by the authority of God himselfe whome we doe certainly discerne to speake in the word of faith Field book 4. chapt 15. Adde likewise that by his confession
they are obscure which obscurity partlie as he saith ariseth through the high and excellent nature of the thinges in them contained which if we admit the thinges contained in the Scripture be no good meane for vs to come to the knowledge of Scripture And moreouer certaine it is that the euidence of thinges contained in the Scripture is no more manifest vnto vs then the Scriptures themselues and therefore for this reason also it cannot be any good Medium to proue these Canonical Field and al his fellowes to al these reasons objected against them seeme to answere that in very deede these motiues of themselues are not sufficient to perswade euerie man of the diuine truth of these bookes yet that they are fullie sufficient to perswade him that is endued with the habite of faith or hath a diuine illumination or inspiration of the spirit and commeth to reade the Scriptures vvith pure eies and perfect senses yea Caluin in his whole discourse touching the knowledge of canonical Scripture seemeth altogether to flie to diuine inspiration whence proceed these his sentences Caluin Insâ—it book 1. chap. 7. § 4. and 5. The manner of perswasion touching the diuine truth of Scriptures must be fetched euen from the secret testimonie of the holy Ghost They doe disorderly that by disputation trauaile to establish the perfect credite of the Scripture The word of God shal neuer finde credit in the hearts of men vntil it be sealed vp with the inward witnesse of the holy Ghost They whom the holy Ghost hath inwardly taught doe wholie rest vpon the Scripture Though by the only majesty of it self it procureth reuerence to be giuen to it if then only it throughly pearceth our affections when it is sealed in our hearts by the holy Ghost hitherto are Caluins wordes I reply first that this taketh not away the necessity of reading or hearing read euery sentence of these diuine bookes before we can knowe them to be Canonical or discerne what we are bound to beleeue Secondly of this it followeth that before a man can discerne whether any booke be Canonical or no he must not only haue faith or a supernatural light of the holy Ghost but must also most assuredly and infallibly knowe himselfe to haue such a faith or such an illumination And how wil they make vs beleeue this and also perswade vs that the Scripture is the ground and rule of our beliefe which likewise they euen as earnestly teach can pure eies perfect senses and the light of faith be had without knoweledge of that which is the verie ground and rule of faith Must not the ground be knowne and had before vve can attaine vnto that which is built vpon the said ground If it must and the whole Canon of Scripture be the ground of our faith as they say then must the whole Canon of Scripture be infalliblie knowne before vve can haue such faith and consequently the light of faith cannot be a meane whereby we are to come to the knowledge of the said Canon of Scripture or any parcel thereof But because al Sectaries vsually both in this and other pointes seeme most to relie vpon the inspiration and illumination of the spirit by which as they say al matters are made euident vnto them and they are assured of the diuine truth of them although to others not enlightened the same matters seeme doubtful from vvhence it proceedeth that Field affirmeth themselues to rest in the light of diuine vnderstanding Field booke 4. chapt 13. § This judgement as in that whereby they judge of al things Let vs confute the certainety of this illumination or inspiration concerning such particuler pointes especially touching the knowledge of diuine Scripture a litle more at large And first thus I argue If there be such a certaine illumination or inspiration either God by this illumination or inspiration doth so teach and direct euerie man concerning euery article of faith that they cannot erre or some men only and those only touching some articles That he doth not so direct al concerning al articles it is euident and confessed by our aduersaries who acknowledg some to be Heretiks as the Anabaptists and Swencfeldians others to erre as diuers of sundry sects c. That he doth not likewise direct some concerning al points it is euident for there is no one Sectary can be named but hath erred in some point or other especially if we admit the judgment of other of his brethren to be true yea Caluin himselfe confesseth that euery man is subject to errour Calu. iÌ„ 1. Cor. 2. v. 15. See and no man is exempted from it But euery one saith he as he is regenerated according to the measure of grace giuen him doth judg truly and certainely but no further thus Caluin of the same opinion are others Lubbertus de priÌ„cipijs christian dog p. 563. HieroÌ„ Zauchius de script pag. 411. 412. If some only be so infallibly directed those only concerning some articles first it followeth that god hath not sufficientlie prouided for the direction of men in matters of beliefe for he hath prescribed and giuen no certaine guide in al points or certaine meane to know when their direction is infallible concerning any and when it is not Of vvhich it may secondly be inferred that no man can assure himselfe that he is at any time concerning any point infallibly inspired which vncertainty is also increased not only by this that the deuil doth oftentimes as the Apostle saith transfigure himselfe into an Angel of light 2. Corinth 11. vers 14. but also by the experience of the fal and error of diuers of their owne company and that by their owne confession concerning some when they thought theÌ„selues to be inspired by the spirit as it falleth out in the Anabaptists and diuers others Nay in al the Lutherans if we beleeue the Sacramentaries and in al the Sacramentaries if we may giue credit to the Lutherans but certainly in one side or other of these because their opinions or illuminations be opposite but we may vvel say on both because one bringeth no stronger proofe for his illumination then the other What wise man then wil or can build his faith vpon such an illumination or direction Besides this Part. 1. chap. 7. Sect. 3. I haue shewed in the first part of this treatise that no priuate person or Prelate of the Church is ordinarilie so directed by the holy Ghost that he cannot erre of vvhich it followeth that no man ordinarily hath such a diuine inspiration I adde also that God doth ordinarily proceed in the gouernment and direction of men by common rules directions not by priuate and particuler and not without cause for the first causeth charity vnity order and humility of the other springeth enmity diuision confusion and pride which reason is touched by Hooker a wise and learned Protestant Hooker book 5. of Ecclesiastical policy § 10. who rejecteth such
priuate inspirations of the spirit And hence it is that the Prophet Ezechiel saith * Ezechielis 13. verse 3. August tract 45. in Ioan. Woe to the foolish Prophets who followe their owne spirit and see nothing Finally the auncient Heretikes as S. Augustine doth testifie boasted of such illuminations There are innumerable saith he who doe not only boast that they are videntes or Prophets but wil seeme to be illuminated or enlightened by Christ but are Heretikes And thus much against the infallible truth of illuminations in general Let vs nowe apply some of these general reasons to the knowledg of Scripture by illumination in particuler and also vrge them a litle further First therefore I demaund whether this illumination concerning the authority of Scriptures be common to al or particuler to some If common to al it consequentlie followeth that al men reading the Scriptures are thus infalliblie and super-naturally inspired of their truth but that al men are not thus generally and infallibly led to the knowledge of such diuine bookes it is apparant by our aduersaries dissention not only from the auncient fathers but also among themselues touching this very point For did none of the Fathers judge such bookes Canonical as al Protestants commonly reject it cannot be denied but they did for it is euident Field book 4. chap. 23. concil Carthag 3. canon sess 47. See also S. Aug. de praedest cap. 14. Cap. 8. sect 1. and plainely gathered out of Field himselfe that the third councel of Carthage in which as he truly saith S. Augustine was present numbred the bookes of Tobias Iudith Wisedome Ecclesiasticus and of the Machabees in the Canon Doe they also among themselues al admitte and reject the same bookes nothing lesse Luther and his Lutherans reject some which Caluin our English Protestants and others auouch to be Canonical and this shal at large be proued hereafter But they vvil say this inspiration is particular only to some that are enlightened by the spirit or as Caluin insinuateth only to the elect Caluī Instit book 1. chap. 7. § 5. and this seemeth to be their common opinion Against which I oppose first that of this would followe that there is no certaine rule in the Church whereby al men may come to a certaine knowledge of Gods word which assertion is verie absurd especially if the written vvord of God be the only rule of faith as they contend Secondly the Scripture yeeldeth vs no warrant for a diuine assurance of any such inspiration that there is any such in the Church They wil say that diuers sentences of the vvord of God plainely approue it but the contrary is already shewed and besides this is to fal into a circle by prouing the truth of Scriptures by diuine inspirations or illuminations and the truth of this againe by Scripture Thirdly it cannot be proued by Scripture that this inspiration if there be any such is particular to some and not common to al. Fourthly although we should grant this to some yet no man can by any warrant of Scripture or prudential ground assuredlie knowe that he hath such an inspiration especially considering first that diuers sectaries haue beene deceiued falsly pretended such inspirations as appeareth by their contrariety Nay I may further adde that either al Protestants are now deceiued in their judgement concerning certaine bookes or els that S. Augustine with the whole Councel of Carthage erred touching them in times past as appeareth by that which is said a litle before and no man wil deny but an error in either of these giueth a man just cause to mistrust his owne illumination For certaine it is that S. Augustine was guided by the spirit as farre forth as any Sectarie Secondly his judgement may also growe doubtful out of this that the same man may haue as they say a diuine inspiration touching one booke and be deceiued touching another Stocke and Whitakers in the answer to Duraeus the first reason pag. 48. for so saith Stocke out of Whitakers who telleth vs that Al thinges are not reuealed to al alike and that al haue not the same measure of the spiritte Out of vvhich he draweth an excuse of the Lutherans if they beleeued vvel of some and rejected not vvel other bookes of Scripture and this likewise seemeth to be gathered out of Caluin aboue cited Fiftlie others haue no meanes to knowe vvho receiueth such an inspiration and consequently it only profiteth the man himselfe who hath it and no other person this cannot be denied for Luther boasted of the spiritte as farre forth as Caluin yet they disagreed concerning the Canonical books and were of different faiths And what reason haue we either to graunt or deny this inspiration more to the one then to the other or vvhat arguments can be brought by the one which cannot be vsed by the other yea of this I infer further that neither of them had any such diuine inspiration for seeing that both were not inspired with the holy Ghost and one of them had no stronger proofes for his inspiration then the other we ought to giue no more credit to the one then to the other and seing that we cannot beleeue them both vve cannot according to reason credit either of them And in very deed neither of them is able to bring any certaine reason or authority able to perswade any other that he hath a supernatural inspiration shewing that this and that is holy scripture Finally of this whole opinion follow two other great inconueniences or absurdities first it giueth euery man licence to reject and admit books of holy Scripture out or into the Canon at his pleasure according to his fancy for there is no Sectary but may alleage the maiesty of the letter the euidence of thinges contained in it pure eies and perfect senses the light of grace or internal inspiration for the proof of his owne particuler opinion concerning canonical Scripture that with as great probability as any other Sectary be he Lutheran Sacramentary or of what other sect soeuer Neither can this refel him vnlesse they refute themselues In like sort if he deny these proofes to any book whatsoeuer no man can conuince him of error and of this may follow without any certainty almost as many opinions of this matter as there be heads Secondly by this allowance of an inspiration for the proofe of the letter of canonical Scripture the way is opened to the allowance of priuate inspiration also for the knowledg of the true sense and exposition of the same vvhich is denied by Field Field booke 4. chap. 16. and is in very deed a very fountaine of discord and confusion But what proofs can they bring for the one which cannot be applied to yea not aswel proue the other And these reasons as I imagine moued the authors before named to flie from this priuate inspiration to Tradition and the authority of the Church Vnto whome in my
not only the Epistle of S. Geneuain obseruat vpon harmony of cōfess sect 1. Paul to the Hebrewes the Epistles of S. Iames and S. Iude the second of S. Peter and the second and third of S. Iohn togither with the Apocalipse whose authority as is confessed by the Doctors of Geneua by Brentius and al the Lutherans yea as it is recorded by diuers Fathers as I haue shewed before nay further as it is graunted by Thomas Rogers an English Protestant Thomas Rogers vpon the 6. Artic. Propos 4. pa. 31. See also Whitaker before cited and the disputat had in the Tower with F. Campian in the 4. daies cōferen in his discourse vpon the Articles of Religion of the yeare 1562. and before him by Whitakers and others hath beene sometimes doubtful but also certaine other parcels of Scripture by them likewise receiued as I could declare out of diuers approued Authors The Doctors of Geneua to proue the bookes named to be Canonical flie to the authority of the Church for they wil haue them admitted as such because they were receiued and acknowledged as Canonical by the consent of the whole Catholike Church although some doubt were made of them sometimes by the auncient Doctors but this according to their owne ground is to giue them no diuine authority as I haue already noted And before I end this section I cannot but adde that I vvould wish M. Rogers whome I euen now named to looke a little better into his bookes if hereafter he chaunce to publish any with such approbations as he doth pretend in the beginning of this For I cannot see but writing in defence of the sixt Article he ouerthroweth the same by graunting that which I haue alleaged him confessing To make this a little seene vnto him thus I argue In the name of the holy Scripture we doe vnderstand those Canonical bookes of the old and new Testament of whose authority was neuer doubt in the Church These are the wordes of the Article Page 26. but of some bookes of the new Testament there hath beene doubt in the Church as appeareth by those M. Rogers wordes Some of the auncient Fathers and Doctors accepted not al the bookes Pag. 31. propos 4. contained within the volume of the new Testament for Canonical therefore al the bookes contained in the volume of the new Testament are not vnderstood in the name of holy Scripture This conclusion necessarily followeth of the premisses graunted as euery man seeth and yet is directly contrary to the last wordes of the same Article Page 26. Pag. 31. propos 4. in which they professe themselues to receiue and account as Canonical al the bookes of the new Testament as Rogers himselfe affirmeth SECTION THE THIRD The same is proued because euery Christian is bound to admit and beleeue certaine propositions neither expresly contained nor according to some mens judgements so euidently gathered out of the holy Scripture SECONDLY it is apparant that the bare letter of holy Scripture and conclusions out of it manifestly deduced by euery priuate man setting a side the authority of the Church as aboue are not a sufficient ground or rule of Christian beliefe and religion because euery true Christian is bound to admit and beleeue certaine propositions concerning the misteries and articles of our faith which are not expresly contained in the letter nor as some of them thinke so euidently deduced out of the same especially if we allow of our aduersaries Commentaries The first is easily proued for where doe we finde in the vvhole Bible the wordes Trinity person and consubstantial and yet most of the Professors of the new religion vvil not denie but that euery Christian vnder paine of damnation is bound to beleeue and admit in expresse tearmes these propositions following There is a Trinity there be three persons in the blessed Trinity the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost are consubstantial the one to the other and such like yea Beza himselfe confesseth that without the vse of these wordes Beza lib. de hereticis a ciuili magistratu puniendis pag. 51. also in Ep. Theol. 81. pag. 334. 335. See part 1. chap. 9. the truth of those misteries cannot be explicated nor the deniers of them confuted And it is manifest that whosoeuer rejecteth these wordes doth open the gappe to Iudaisme Arianisme and Turcisme But some of them flie to deduction out of Scriptures and answere that although the wordes are not expresly found in the Bible yet that the misteries themselues are expresly in it contained and deliuered and conseqnently that the wordes aptly signifying the said misteries and deduced out of the word of God it selfe may very wel and conueniently be vsed I reply that this is not sufficient for euery priuate mans deduction is subject to errour except it be by an infallible argument and euery proposition be most euidently true in that sense in which it is alleaged wherefore such deductions as our aduersaries commonly vse make no articles of faith Secondly the collections themselues of these high misteries by reason of the obscurity and diuersity of senses of the holy Scripture are not seldome obscure and therefore those collections vvhich to some seeme euident by others are judged false Hence the collection of those very misteries which I haue named by diuers of our aduersaries is denied as by Valentinus Gentilis and his followers a Valent. Gentilis in cōfess apud Caluin pag. 930. in Prothes Pastor Bremēsis in hist. Valēt Gentil who affirme the three persons to haue three distinct natures or essences and the Father to haue beene before the Sonne and the Sonne before the holy Ghost Who make also the one inferiour to the other c. The same collection is likewise denied by Seruetus and his disciples b Seruetus li. de erroribus Trinitatis who acknowledged no distinction of persons in God made Christ a pure man and denied him to haue beene before his incarnation Finally by Georgius Blandrata Paulus Alciatus and other Schollers of these men who c Greg. Paul apud Hosium in judicio cēsura de adoranda Trinitate See Hooker booke 5. of eccles policy §. 42. affirmed that Luther beganne to pul downe the roofe they raised the foundations of Popery who condemned al the auncient Councels and Fathers reuerenced by al Christians of d Beza epist Theolog. 81. tritheisme or making of three Gods tearmed S. Athanasius Sathanasius auouched the blessed Trinity vvhich most blasphemously they called Cerberus and the tripartited God to be an inuention of his and called the Fathers of the first Nicene Councel blinde Sophists Ministers of the Beast slaues of Antechrist bewitched with his illusions c. yea some of these newe sectaries vvent so farre in this matter that they forsooke Christ altogither and became Turkes among vvhome were e Simlerus in praefat lib. de aeterno Dei filio Gregor Paulus lib. de Trinitat Volanus in
the neare for attaining to the true sense yea not seldome by such conference the difficulty is increased as appeareth by those places before alleaged Part. 2. chap. 1. sect 4. which seeme to contrary one another Hence our newe sectaries themselues being diuided into diuers sects and hauing conferred a longe time such places together as are controuersed among them cannot as yet agree about the true sense of the said places but remaine stil at mortal jarres And al this which I haue here said may be confirmed by the authority of Field Field booke 3 chap. 42. who affirmeth the ground of their faith to be the vvritten vvord of God interpreted according to the rule of faith the practize of the Saints from the beginning the conference of places and al light of direction that either the knowledge of tongues or any parts of good learning may yeeld Thus Field In an other place he prescribeth seauen rules Booke 4. chap. 19. vvhich he thinketh vve are to followe in the interpretation of Scripture that we may attaine to the certainty of the true sense of it of which diuers are extrinsecal and concerne not the letter it selfe of Scripture Lastly against the sufficiency of conference of places alone he addeth these vvordes Ibidem We confesse that neither conference of places nor consideration of the antecedentia and consequentia nor looking into the originals are of any force vnlesse we finde the thinges which we conceiue to be vnderstood and meant in the places interpreted to be consonant to the rule of faith but of Fields rules for the expounding of Scripture more hereafter Harmony of Confess sect 10. pag. 33. Confess Wittenb art 32. The Lutherans of Wittenberge as I haue before noted acknowledge in the Church a rule of faith according to which she is bound as they say to interpret the obscure places of Scripture by which their assertion they acknowledge also for the exposition of Scripture an other necessary guide besides the letter Let vs therefore conclude that the true sense of the Scripture is not sufficiently gathered out of the bare vvordes and consequently let vs not admit the bare vvordes to be a sufficient ground of Christian religion And hence I gather that our aduersaries haue no certainty of faith and religion which is apparent because they make the naked letter of holy Scripture the only ground of their beliefe the true sense of vvhich vnto them is alwaies very vncertaine for either the assurance vvhich euery one of them hath proceedeth from his owne reading and judgement or from the credit of some other Minister or Ministers vvho interpret the Scriptures in that sense vvhich he embraceth both vvhich meanes be most vncertaine For they depend vpon the judgement of priuate men vvho haue no assurance from the holy Ghost of not erring vvherefore they are subject to errour and consequently none of them haue any further assurance of the truth of their religion then humane judgement Vnto the reasons already brought for the proofe of the title of this Chapter I adde these that followe partly gathered out of that vvhich hath beene already said in this Treatise first that the rule of Christian faith ought to be general and sufficient for al sorts of people vvhich cannot appertaine to the bare letter of holy Scripture because diuers persons cannot reade and consequently to knowe the contents of the Bible they must vse the helpe of some of the learned and vpon their report vvhich may be false and erroneous build their beliefe It is also manifest that Christians had some other rule of faith before the Scriptures of the newe Testament vvere vvritten Finally I haue already proued that together vvith the letter we ought to receiue that sense and interpretation vvhich hath by tradition and succession descended from the Apostles And thus much concerning this matter Chapter 6. The newe Sectaries Bibles containe not the true word of God SECTION THE FIRST In which this is first proued concerning al their Bibles in general IN the Chapter next before I haue demonstrated the bare letter of holy Scripture on vvhich our aduersaries build not to be a sufficient ground of Christian faith and religion in this present Chapter to make their weake foundation the more manifest I intend to proue that although we should yeeld the bare letter to be sufficient yet that in very truth their Bibles containe not truly the said bare letter And first I proue this concerning al their new translated Bibles in general and that by their owne confession Lauatherus in histor Sacramēt fo 32 for Luther the Lutherans condemne the translation of Zwinglius and the Zwinglians Zwing tom 2. in respons ad Luther li. de Sacramēt and of al others besides those which are proper to their owne sect Zwinglius and the Zwinglians pronounce the same censure against the translation of Luther and the Lutherans And in like sort proceede * Beza in annot noui test passim Castalio in defens suae translat Beza and Castalio against one another and al other sectaries for euery particular sect hath his particular Bible which it embraceth rejecting al others vvherefore if we may beleeue al these Professours of the newe religion they haue not among them one true translation of the Bible Moreouer there is but one truth and one true word of God penned by the instinct of the holy Ghost who teacheth not contrary doctrine But our aduersaries translated Bibles be diuers and different one from another and insinuate contrary doctrine wherefore euery Bible is not admitted by euery sectary but that only which fauoureth his owne sect as I haue euen nowe declared It is therefore impossible that they should al containe the true word of God and be penned by the instinct of the holy Ghost And being so that the translator of the one was euen as much subject to errour as the translator of the other and had no surer ground for his translation with like probability and reason they may be al rejected because they haue al receiued the same censure from the Church Whitak controu 1. quest 2. cap. 7. arg 3. cap. 9. arg 4. See also his reprehension of the Rhemes Testament pa. 15. Finally Whitaker seemeth to acknowledge the Scriptures only in those tongues in vvhich they vvere first spoken by God or penned by the holy Ghost to be the true word of God vvherefore he seemeth to exclude from this truth al the translations of Scripture in the world SECTION THE SECOND That Luther Zwinglius Caluin and Beza in particular haue corruptly translated the Scriptures BVT let vs descend to the particular Bibles of some principal sects and for the better declaration of this matter note some corruptions of the principal sectaries and speake a word or two of the corruptions of those translations of the word of God which be most approued and receiued in their congregations And let vs not now stand
trust I haue shewed sufficiently by these tenne Chapters of S. Mathewe in which notwithstanding I haue omitted very many thinges which justly I might haue reprehended what a long register of his errors I could gather out of his whole worke For this is true that oftentimes he erreth not only in wordes which is not so dangerous and might be tollerated but also in thinges and the same most waighty and often times be enforceth by wresting not the sentences only but also the wordes of the holy writers to serue his error So Iohn the 1. vers 12. he corrupteth a most notable place and of greatest moment touching free wil c. Thus Castalio Before this he affirmeth that to note al Bezaes errors in translating the newe Testament Ibid. pa. 170. would require a volume ouer great Contrariwise Beza to requite Castalio condemneth his translation of holy Scripture which is very highly praised by D. Humfrey and Gesnerus euen nowe alleaged not only as false Beza in Testament anno 1556. in Praefat. in Marc. cap. 3. 1. Cor. 1. Math. 4. Luc. 1. Act. 8. 10. corrupt and peruerse but also as pestilent sacrilegious Ethnical and Turkish he auoucheth it to be such a translation as containeth the very seede and laieth open the high way to manifest Apostasie from Christ The like censure he pronounceth against the newe Testament set forth by Oecolampadius as is supposed and the other Diuines of Basil for he auoucheth it to be in many places * Beza in respons ad defens respōs Castalionis vvicked and altogither disagreeing from the minde of the holy Ghost But of these forraigne sectaries enough SECTION THE THIRD Our English Sectaries also haue falsly and corruptly translated the Scriptures BVT doe our English sectaries although they followe not as I haue shewed some corruptions of Beza yet commit no wilful errors and falsifie nothing themselues Truly they are farre from this sincerity Carlile in his booke that Christ went not downe into hel printed anno 1582. fol. 116. 144 c. Carlile an English Sectarie hauing discouered many faults in the English Bible of them inferreth that our English Protestants in many places detort the Scriptures from the right sense and shewe themselues to loue darknesse more then light and falshood more then truth he saith they haue corrupted and depraued the sense obscured the truth deceiued the ignorant supplanted the simple c. M. Broughton one of the greatest Linguists of our English precisians wrote not many yeares since an Epistle to the Honourable Lordes of the Councel which is yet extant desiring them to procure speedily a newe translation of the Scripture because said he that vvhich is nowe in vse in England is ful of errors The same request was made of late by Doctor Reynolds in the conference held at Hampton-Court betweene the Protestants and the Puritans yea Barlow in his relatiō of cōferēce held at Hampton-Court pag. 45. 46. Lindanus in Dubitantio Fox pa. 981. the King himselfe as it is recorded by M. Barlowe auouched that he could neuer yet see a Bible wel translated in English but the worst of al he affirmed to be that of Geneua vvherefore by his Majesties order another translation as is said is nowe in hand And this may very vvel be beleeued For Bishop Tonstal as it is recorded by Lindanus noted no lesse then two thousand corruptions in Tindals translation only of the newe Testament vvhich assertion of his may be confirmed by the authoritie of a statute made by the first head of our English Church King Henry the eight For notwithstanding that Fox tearmeth Tindal not only the true seruant and martir of God but the Apostle also of England in our later age Idem pa. 732 and painteth the said King with the Gospel in his lappe and his sword in his right hand lifted vp for defence of the same yet certaine it is that King Henry in the 34. or 35. yeare of his raigne not long before his death togither vvith the vvhole Court of Parliament An. 34. 35 Henri 8. c. 1. by statute condemned the translation of Tindal as a craftie false and an vntrue translation and also commanded it to be vtterly abolished and extinguished and forbadde it to be kept or vsed within any of his Dominions These thinges are to be seene in the statute it selfe yet extant Finally that the English Bible it selfe set forth vnder King Henry the eight was corrupt it is confessed by D. Humfrey And no doubt Humfred de ratione interpret lib. 3. pag. 523. but although many of the said corruptions be amended in the latter editions yet the multitude of them through the whole Bible is al most infinite For besides those vvhich are reprehended by M. Broughton and D. Reynolds which as I suppose were none wilfully committed in prejudice of our religion and in defence of their owne against vs because they being of our preciser sort of enemies vvould not as I imagine acknowledge any such errors M. Gregory Martin a learned man of our side hath also made a whole booke concerning such corruptions as haue beene made in their English Bibles of set purpose to drawe the text from the true sense to impugne vs and fauour their newe opinions I cannot stand to repeate them al vvherefore referring my reader to the said booke of M. Gregory Martin entituled a discouery of the false translations c. I vvil only note a fewe yet in such order that euery man may see that this hath beene done of malice concerning euery article betweene vs in controuersie Neither doe I speake of their forsaking and corrupting of the true sense of the Latin vulgare edition but of the Hebrewe and Greeke text it selfe which they professe to followe But before I come to this matter I must forewarne my reader that although our English sectaries haue set forth diuers Bibles in their vulgar tongue yet I intend especially to speake of three of the principal of which the first vvas authorised by Cranmer called Arch-bishop of Canterbury and read during al King Edwards raigne in their Churches and as it seemeth by the newe printing of it in the yeare 1562. during a great part also of the raigne of Queene Elizabeth The second vvas printed in the yeare 1577. and againe as I thinke in the yeare 1595. and is authorised likewise to be read in their Churches at this present The third is that which was lately printed in the yeare 1600. vvhich as I imagine is the selfe same vvith that vvhich vvas printed not long before in the yeare 1589. and 1592. let vs nowe come to see a fewe of their corruptions SECTION THE FOVRTH Containing false translations against the authority of the Church Traditions honour of Images Purgatory and the honour of Saints FIRST to improue the supreme authority of the Church they banished the vvord Church cleane out of their Bible printed in the yeare 1562. and in place of
may likewise belieue as we doe and be barred from neither and consequently it cannot be said that our faith is opposite to the vvord of God I may vrge this a little further for seing that the Sacramentaries beliefe is so hardly censured both by vs and the Lutherans and the Lutheran opinion both by vs and the Sacramentaries seing moreouer ours by the Lutherans is esteemed better then that of the Sacramentaries as al the vvorld knoweth and it appeareth true by this that the Lutherans condemne it not as heretical yea * Luth. de captiuit Babylon Itē serm de Eucharist serm de venerabili Sacramēto c. tom 7. Germ. fol. 20. in Visitat Saxonica Luther alloweth of it as tollerable and by the Sacramentaries preferred before that of the Lutherans a man according to the rules of wisdome is rather to thinke ours comformable to truth and the written word of God then that either of the Lutherans or Sacramentaries But it may be vrged against vs that diuers a See Whitakers reprehension against Martin p. 11. learned Sacramentaries censure our doctrine to be of thinges incredible and impossible I answere although some of this sect be so blaspheamous against the omnipotent power of God as so to affirme it yet others protest that they neuer doubted of Gods power herein that he is able to effect it but they say he neuer did it as may be seene in b Iewel in his reply against Harding art 10. §. 9. M. Iewel and others Wherefore according to these men our faith is of thinges by vs in this life incomprehensible and aboue the ordinary course of reason not of thinges impossible Neither is this peculiar and proper only to this mistery but also common to other articles of our faith as to our beliefe touching the most blessed Trinity the Incarnation of Christ the resurrection of our bodies c. Nay if Caluin and some of his disciples say true this is verified euen in their doctrine concerning the Eucharist For Caluin himselfe discourseth thus Although it seeme incredible Caluin Institut booke 4. cha 17 §. 10. that in so great distance of places the flesh of Christ reacheth to vs that it may be meate to vs for they hold the body and bloud of our Lord to be alwaies as farre from vs as is the highest heauen yet let vs remember howe much the secret power of the Spirit surmounteth aboue al our senses and howe foolish a thing it is to goe about to measure his vnmeasurablenesse by our measure That therfore which our mind comprehendeth not let our faith conceiue c. Againe Ibid. §. 24. The doctrine it selfe which I haue declared doth clearely enough shewe that I doe not measure this mistery by the proportion of mans reason nor doe make it subject to the lawes of nature He addeth that he is more then senselesse that perceaueth not many miracles to be contained in this mistery as he deliuereth it and that nothing is more beside nature or more incredible Finally Ibid. §. 32. nowe if any man saith he aske me of the manner howe Christ is joyned to vs in the supper I wil not be ashamed to confesse that it is a higher secret then that it can either be comprehended with my wit or vttered with my wordes and to speake it more plainly I rather feele it then I can vnderstand it Therefore I doe herein without controuersie embrace the truth of God in which I may safely rest Hitherto are Caluins wordes The like hath the French Confession French cōfession art 36. in Harmony of confess sect 14. pag. 426. in which his disciples affirme that this mistery of our vnion with Christ in the supper is so high a thing that it surmounteth al our senses yea and the whole order of nature that it being diuine and heauenly cannot be perceaued nor apprehended but by faith Nowe if these thinges be so vvho can make any great difference betweene Caluins doctrine and ours in this that his is of thinges credible and possible ours of thinges incredible and impossible Are not both according to his sayings of thinges incomprehensible Verily whosoeuer considereth wel his vvordes and obserueth his rules vvil not be very much moued vvith any of the Sacramentaries arguments conuincing as they imagine the real presence by vs taught to be impossible Thus then we see that by the confession of our aduersaries the vvordes of our Lord This is my body according to their literal and plaine sense are an euident proofe of the real presence against which their sense no humane or Philosophical reasons as they likewise auouch are to be admitted Let vs nowe see howe our said aduersaries relate al our Predecessours especially the Christians of the first ages after Christ to haue expounded the said wordes And in this point I neede not be long or spend much labour because the Lutherans haue not beene altogither negligent in gathering such testimonies of antiquity against their enemies the Sacramentaries as make for the real presence and ouerthrowe the Sacramentary doctrine This appeareth in diuers of their * Se the Magdeburgians in their cēturies and others bookes published to the view of the vvhole vvorld in which they declare euen to the eie that al the auncient Fathers held and taught the true real and corporal presence of Christes body and bloud in the Eucharist Nay some of them grant certaine of the Fathers to haue belieued transubstantiation so the Century writers affirme a Centur. 5. c. 4. col 517. that S. Chrysostome seemeth to confirme it and that b Centur. 4. c. 4. col 294. see also ca. 6. col 480. S. Athanasius S. Ambrose and S. Gregory make for it Luther himselfe telleth vs that c Luth. tom 7. in defens verborum coenae fol. 391. this is worthy of admiration that none of the Fathers of whome there is an infinite number did euer speake of the Sacrament so as doe the Sacramentaries but cleane contrary And vvhat say the Sacramentaries d Martir in defens ad object Gardiner part 4. p. 724. See also his epist annexed to his cōmon places pag. 106. to Beza and p. 98 to Caluin Peter Martir plainely refuseth to subscribe to S. Cyrils doctrine touching this matter Beza auerreth that e Beza epist. Theolog. 8. pag. 73. 74. most of the most auncient Fathers thought it meete to hide or keepe secret the holy misteries of the Christians he meaneth the celebration of the Eucharist no otherwise then the misteries of Ceres in so much as they admitted not the Catechumenes that is such as belieued yet vvere not baptized to behold them And vvhy so if Christ be not really and corporally present in the Eucharist Field also confesseth that f Field booke 3. chap. 34. pag. 149. in the primatiue Church the manner of many was to receaue the Sacrament and not to be partakers of it presently but to carry it home with
contained in the diuine bookes These are his words They object vnto vs the place of Iames Wolfangus Musculus in locis communibus cap. de Iustificat num 5. pag. 271. but he whatsoeuer he was though he speake otherwise then S. Paul yet may he not prejudice the truth And after the disagreement betweene these two Apostles according to his imagination shewed at large he thus breaketh forth into open reproch of S. Iames Wherefore he Iames alleageth the example of Abraham nothing to the purpose where he saith wilt thou knowe O vaine man that faith without workes is dead Abraham our father was he not justified by workes when he offered his sonne Isaac He confoundeth the word faith Howe much better had it beene for him diligently and plainely to haue distinguished the true and properly Christian faith which the Apostle euer preached from that which is common to Iewes and Christians Turkes and Diuels then to confound them both and set downe his sentence so different from the Apostolical doctrine whereby as concluding he saith You see that a man is justified by workes and not by faith alone whereas the Apostle out of the same place disputeth thus c. And hauing made S. Paul to speake as hee thinketh best afterwardes he inferreth Thus saith the Apostle of whose doctrine we doubt not Compare me nowe with this argument of the Apostle the conclusion of this Iames A man therefore is justified by workes and not by faith only and see howe much it differeth whereas he should more rightly haue concluded thus c. This and other more such stuffe hath this Sacramentary Doctor against S. Iames and his Epistle in which he dissenteth from most of his owne company Doth not also Beza reject or at the least doubt of the truth of the whole history of the adoulterous woman recorded by S. Iohn in the eight Chapter of his Gospel vvhich notwithstanding other Sacramentaries admit as Canonical Scripture This cannot be denied and I haue before related his wordes Part. 2. ch 1. sect 4. Bible 1592. c. Doth not our English Church Mathewe 6. receiue as Canonical Scripture those wordes For thine is the kingdome the power and the glory which they adde at the end of our Lords praier and yet of them Bullinger a Zwinglian writeth thus There is no reason why Laurentius Valla should take the matter so hotely as though a great part of the Lords praier were cut away Rather their rashnesse was to be reproued who durst presume to peece on their owne to the Lords praier Thus Bullinger Nay further some times the same Sacramentary receiueth vvordes into the Canon vvhich before he had rejected For example Beza in one edition of his new Testament in the end of the eight chapter of S. Iohns Gospel putteth in these wordes See the newe Testaments translated by Beza of the yeares 1556. and 1565. And his Testament translated into English by L. T. printed anno 1580. Iesus passing through the midst of them c. vvhich in another edition with great vehemency he rejecteth wherefore although Beza in his edition of the yeare 1556. leaue the said vvordes out yet in Bezaes englished Testament of the yeare 1580. they are admitted And these thinges in like sort manifestly conuince that the Sacramentaries in admitting and rejecting bookes of Scripture are led by their owne judgement and fancy not by any diuine or infallible rule Moreouer diuers parcels of holy Scripture as I haue declared aboue haue bin in times past of doubtful authority of which most of our aduersaries haue receiued some into the Canon and rejected others For example our English Protestants haue receiued the Epistle to the Hebrewes and the Apocalipse and rejected the books of the Machabees of Iudith Tobias c. because the authority of these in the primatiue Church was called in question But what reason haue they for this fact haue they had any diuine testimony or reuelation commanding them to admit the first Surely none seing that they contemne the authority of the Church And wherefore receiued they not the last aswel as the first They vvil say perhaps that the first vvere admitted by diuers euen in the primatiue Church and doubted off only by some I reply that Brentius hauing named and numbred al of both sorts of them in general writeth thus Brentius in Apolog. confess Wittenb There are some of the auncient Fathers who receiue these Apocriphal bookes into the number of Canonical Scriptures and in like sort some Councels command them to be acknowledge as Canonical I am non ignorant what was done but I demand whether it were rightly and Canonically done Thus Brentius who reiecteth them al alike And that vvhich he saith may be proued true by the testimony of the third Councel of Carthage and S. Augustine as Field confesseth Concil Cartag 3. ca. 47. Augustin de doctrina Christiana lib. 2. cap. 8. Field booke 4. chap. 23. §. hence and of diuers others who receiued the bookes of Tobias Iudith and the Machabees wherefore it seemeth that not only in the judgement of Brentius but also in very deede the doubt of al was almost alike It is euident therefor◠in my judgement that the reason vvhy they rejected and reject those of the old Testament is because in some points they contrary their newe doctrine which they made and make a rule whereby to discerne which bookes are Canonical Hence they receiued those which they could make in outward shewe seeme to fauour their opinion and rejected others and this is the cause why Luther rejecteth more bookes then the later Sectaries For he being the first that beganne to preach this newe Gospel could not presently forge and inuent newe glosses and interpretations vpon al the bookes of Scripture that opposed themselues against the same vvherefore he rejected sundry such bookes vvhich afterwardes his followers hauing inuented such glosses and interpretations receiued This also moued the same Luther to affirme those to be the best Euangelists Luther tom 5. praefat in epist. Petri. fol. 439. Centuriat 2. ca. 4. p. 260. who most especially and most earnestly teach that only faith without workes doth justifie and saue vs of which he inferreth that S. Paules epistles may more properly be called the Gospel then either the Gospel of S. Mathewe S. Marke or S. Luke His disciples the Centuriatores likewise yeeld this reason vvherefore the epistle of S. Iames is to be rejected that in the second chapter he affirmeth that Abraham vvas not justified by faith only Zwinglius in explanat art 57. tom 2. fol. 100. but by workes Zwinglius also affirmeth that although the second booke of the Machabees were in the Canon yet that the authour of it maketh himselfe suspected by this that writing an history he doth set downe a point of doctrine concerning praier for the dead By which it is manifest that they measure Canonical Scripture by their faith not their faith by
wordes to wicked incantations Hitherto Caluin If a BreÌ„t in recog prophet c. in fine Brentius say true al the Zwinglians vvorkes are ful of deprauations or corruptions cunning deceits and slaunders If b CaÌ„panus in colloquijs Latinis Luther tom 2. cap. de aduersarijs fol. 354. Iohannes Campanus as certaine as it is that God is God so certaine it is that Luther was a diuelish liar If c Westphalus in Apologiae contra Caluin pag. 430. cap. 19. pag. 194. Westphalus deserue credit Caluins vvorkes are stuffed with taunts curses and lies and he as he saith is able to shewe certaine pages in Caluins workes of which euery one containeth aboue thirty notable lies and taunts He addeth moreouer that the Sacramentaries corrupt very many places of Scripture If d Conradus in Theolog. Caluinist lib. 2. fol. 120. 123. 124. l. 1. fol. 80. 132. Conradus al the Caluinists are compounded of lies impiety and impudency If e OecolaÌ„pad in Dialog coÌ„tra Melancthonem Oecolampadius the Lutherans bring forth only a colour or shadowe as Heretikes commonly are accustomed to doe of the word of God they bring not the word of God and yet al saith he wil seeme to build vpon the word of God Of the Zwinglians of Zurick thus writeth f StaÌ„carius de Trinitate lib. 1. d. 5. Stancarius These Arians of Zurick malitiously maime and mangle the sentences of the Fathers and are worthily to be accused and condemned as falsifiers of the truth and for that grieuously to be punished for they sinne against that Commandement of God thou shalt not beare false witnesse These men are altogither Atheists and alleage falsly the Scriptures and the testimonies of holy Fathers to cast downe the Sonne of God yea the most holy Trinity from the throne of his Majesty Hitherto Stancarius Our Puritans vvorkes according to the judgement of one of our g Suruey of the pretended H. discipline cap. 3. p. 56. chap. 5. p. 80. c. 24. p. 307. Protestants are ful of boldnesse sophistications falsifications and many such corruptions The same man accuseth them that they haue peruerted the true meaning of certaine places both in the Scriptures and Fathers to serue their owne turnes And affirmeth that the word of God is much troubled with such kind of choppers and changers of it Euery giddy head saith he wresteth and wringeth it to serue his owne deuise Further he professeth as in the presence of God that of al the places of Scripture which they alleage against the Protestants Ch. 31. p. 414. See also chap. 35. pag. 463. he cannot finde any one on which they haue not cast such a colour as was neuer knowne in the Church of Christ among al the auncient Godly Fathers from the Apostles times til these our troublesome and presumptuous daies Yea he affirmeth that al the catterbrawles pittiful distractions and confusions vvhich are among Puritans proceede of such intollerable presumption as is vsed by peruerting and false interpretation of holy Scripture Listen also vvhat we reade in an other booke of theirs concerning this matter CoÌ„spiracy for pretended reformatioÌ„ printed an 1592. in the end Lastly saith the Authour of the history of the Puritan conspiracy doe not the Puritans make great shewes and many pretences for their vnsound and absurd opinions that they are taken from the holy and sacred written word of God which by these meanes they make to be of priuate interpretation and doe not reduce their senses vnto it when they reade but doe wickedly captiuate the Scriptures vnto their owne senses and meaninges Hooker hath the like accusation Hooker in his third booke of Ecclesiastical policy §. 5. pag. 135. Caluin in like sort noted this fault in the Libertines for thus he discourseth against them * Caluin in praefat ad lectores de psychopanychia in tract theolog pag 539. And whereas they are ashamed to be ignorant of any thing in al thinges euen as oracles they answere most confidently Hence are so many schismes so many errours so many slanders of our faith by which occasion the name and word of God is blaspheamed among the wicked At length which is the head of al mischiefe when as they obstinately defend that which they rashly and foolishly vttered then they aske councel of the oracles of God out of which they seeke protections and sauegardes for their errours O good God what doe they not turne vpsidowne what doe not they corrupt that they may I say not bowe it but by force crooke it to their owne sense Doubtlesse truly said the Poët Fury findeth vveapons Is this the way to learne to turne and tosse the Scriptures to serue our owne pleasures and sensuality that they be made subject to our sense then which nothing is more foolish O nâ—isome plague and most certaine cockle of the enemy man by which he indeauoureth to obscure and couer the true seede and yet we wonder whence arise so many sects among those that first imbraced the Gospel and the word againe springing vp Thus farre Caluin And he concludeth of them in another place with these wordes Falsly therefore doe they abuse this pretence and seeke to perswade the more simple that they are gouerned by the prescript or rule of holy Scriptures when as these being altogither rejected they followe the imagination of their owne braine Hitherto are Caluins vvordes And these their accusations of one another conuince not only that in translating and expounding the Scriptures they frame al thinges according to their owne fancies and imaginations from vvhence proceedeth that their assertion that the Scriptures are easie because among them it is euen as easie to expound Scriptures as to imagine but also that they haue no other ground vvhereon they build their faith and religion And al these reasons proceede principally against the learned sectaries SECTION THE SIXT The vnlearned and ignorant sectaries in receiuing and expounding the holy Scriptures likewise build vpon their owne fancies and judgements and haue no other ground of their faith and religion THAT the vnlearned Sectaries be likewise in the the same case it is farre more easie to proue For besides that they haue no other meanes to know which bookes are to be receiued as Canonical Scripture which are to be rejected but the opinion of their learned Masters vvho differ among themselues concerning this matter of vvhich it followeth that in following of one and condemning others they followe their owne judgements Besides this I say it is euident that they build not their faith and religion vpon the pure word of God as it vvas first penned by the inspiration of the holy Ghost for they as I suppose vnderstand not the tongues in vvhich it vvas so penned but vpon the vvord of God translated by their learned Captaines Nowe if their translatours haue erred or may erre in their translations vvhere is their faith Surely that they are al subject to errour it is
proued before Howe then can the vnlearned knowe that either through ignorance or malice they haue not erred what diuine authority or reuelation haue they to perswade them this or to propound vnto them their translated Bibles as the true vvord of God If the sincerity of the translatour be doubtful and they haue no such authority or reuelation howe can they knowe certainely and infallibly by diuine vvarrant that their Bibles containe the pure and sincere vvord of God And if they knowe not this after this sort howe can they build vpon their Bibles true faith vvhich is a most certaine knowledge through diuine reuelation vvithout al doubt seing that they admit no other infallible rule they must needes confesse that they are alwaies vncertaine vvhether their beliefe be true or no for their beliefe can haue no further assurance of truth then they haue of the truth of the ground thereof vvhich they affirme to be the only word of God contained in their owne books Wherefore seing that the truth of these is vncertaine their faith also must needes be vncertaine And this argument is sufficient to proue that the vnlearned sectaries haue no faith But I adde further that I haue before set downe diuers places of holy Scripture vvhich we affirme in very deede to be corrupted by their translations vvhich our affirmation they may the better beleeue because they may also there see that diuers places in the first editions corrupted are amended in the latter Howe then can the vnlearned being ignorant in the tongues discerne by the Scripture only whether we say true or no or vvhether we or the authours of their translations erre Surely in judging of this controuersie they followe their owne fancies neither haue they any sound reason much lesse diuine authority that can moue them rather to condemne our translation then their owne Hence also I infer that our vnlearned Sectaries are not yet certaine that the English Bibles are the true word of God This I proue because they cannot deny but their said bibles were once falsly translated otherwise vvherefore haue they beene in so many places as I haue noted corrected Doth not euery correction suppose a fault But that they were once false it is granted in the preface to the Bible of the yeare 1589. 1592. and 1600. If they vvere once false howe knowe they that they are nowe true Had the learned Sectary or Sectaries that last amended the Bible any further vvarrant from God that they should not erre then they that erred before vvhat vvarrant had they that erred no other certainely but their owne knowledge And vvhat had they that last of al corrected it but the same and so the translatour of the aforesaid Bible in the preface to the reader protesteth that according to the measure of his knowledge he hath faithfully rendred the text and sincerely expounded al hard places but who knoweth not that al these mens judgements and knowledges be alike subject to errour If therefore the last translators or correctors had no further warrant as they had not then the former howe can it certainely be knowne that they haue not also erred Conference at Hampton-Court c. but this likewise is confessed by the Kings Majestie and D. Reinolds as I haue noted before vvherefore as yet the vnlearned English sectaries neuer had nor haue at this present a true and certaine ground of their faith and consequently they are yet vncertaine vvhither their beliefe be sound or no because their Bible on vvhich only they build containeth not the true vvord of God Neither wil this be remedied by a new edition of the Bible which as it is said is nowe in hand because the newe Translatours vvhich nowe indeauour to correct the old are also subject to errour and therefore the vnlearned sectaries can neuer certainely knowe whither they haue erred or no. Of vvhich I finally inferre that they can neuer haue true faith which is a most certaine and sure knowledge of thinges reuealed by God I vvil adde one other argument most euidently conuincing that none of the vnlearned professours of the newe religion can possibly be certaine that their translated Bibles are the true vvord of God which is this Euery man must needes confesse that there is but one true vvord of God But our aduersaries Bibles be diuers and differ much one from another wherefore as I haue shewed euery man rejecteth al other Bibles but that which is translated and approued by those of his owne sect therefore al of them but one must needes be false vvhich being presupposed I demand of any one vnlearned sectary what reason he hath to preferre one Bible as true before al the rest for example vvherefore doth he reject the Lutheran or Puritan Bible and admit that vvhich is authorized to be read in the Churches of England He cannot say that it is because the one agreeth vvith the Hebrewe and Greeke and the other doe not for this he knoweth not because he is ignorant of those languages Perhaps he wil say that some learned men told him so But this is no sufficient ground both because if he aske a Lutheran or Caluinist although euen as learned as the English Protestant they wil tel him the contrary and also because the judgement of a learned man yea of al the learned sectaries in the world togither is not sufficient to make any thing so certaine that vve may vvithout al doubt admit it as a sufficient ground of an article of faith For be they neuer so learned yet their sentence may be erroneous they themselues being subject to errour vvherefore the vnlearned sectary although he make himselfe judge of al the learned yet he can not possibly most assuredly knowe vvhich of them haue erred in translating the Bible And therefore in accepting and approuing one and rejecting and condemning the rest he buildeth only vpon his owne fancy vvhich moueth him to accept and approue one edition of holy Scripture before another either because it fauoureth his owne opinions or because he hath conceaued a good opinion of the Translatour or because the translation is allowed in the Country vvhere he dwelleth or for some other priuate respect Moreouer although vve should grant to the vnlearned and ignorant sectaries that they most assuredly knowe that their translated Bibles are the true vvord of God yet the interpretations also on which they build yeeld vs euen as forcible an argument as the former For seing that the Scriptures are hard and admit diuers interpretations as I haue already proued yea are so diuersly expounded by their learned Captaines that al their expositions cannot be true who seeth not first that the vnlearned and ignorant haue litle reason to accept more of one interpretation then of an other Secondly that in accepting one and rejecting others they build not vpon any diuine authority but vpon their owne judgement by vvhich they are moued to thinke the doctrine receiued true either through the
stil doubtful in this principal article of Christian religion or else going back to his Bible againe out of his owne judgement he must resolue to followe one of the aforesaid interpretations and to condemne the other as contrary to the vvord of God And vvhat a slender ground of faith is this yea seing that he hath no diuine authority vvhereon he buildeth I may boldly say that he hath no faith at al but only a kinde of opinion And like as I haue exemplified in this particular controuersie so could I doe concerning the real presence and the true sense of those vvordes This is my body or any other matter or place of Scripture in question betweene vs as my reader wil easily graunt for there is the like reason of them al and thus much concerning the vnlearned sectarie that can reade But what shal we say of him that is altogether ignorant and cannot reade The learned sectaries cannot send him to their Bible to search out the truth He cannot likewise conferre one place of scripture vvith another his praiers be of no greater force then his be that can reade wherefore he hath no other meane left but the aduise of the learned and his owne judgement and what wil the aduise of the learned helpe and auaile him if he finde among them possibility of errour and dissention These thinges he cannot but finde yea concerning that very text first alleaged The father is greater then I they are at variance for vvhereas some restraine it only to the humane nature of Christ Caluin saith He doubteth not to extend it to the whole complexum Caluin epist 2. ad Polonos seu in admonitione ad Polonos or person of God and man And certaine it is that if this ignorant person imbrace any one opinion as certaine concerning a matter of which he was before doubtful that he must either build vpon his owne judgement or otherwise he must take the vvorde of some learned man that the opinion which he followeth is true and vpon it ground his faith religion and saluation But vvhat reason hath he to accept rather of the word of one minister then of another For example what reason hath he in the exposition of those wordes This is my body rather to followe the Sacramentaries then the Lutherans are they not al alike subject to errors he cannot say that the scripture moueth him so to doe because he knoweth the Scripture only by the report of others Neither hath he any infallible rule whereby to discerne the true sense wherefore it is his owne fancy which perswadeth him to accept of the one exposition and to reject the other And doth not also this sectary although altogether vnlearned take vpon him to judge the learned Can he possibly beleeue the Sacramentary except he judge his doctrine to be true condemne al the learned Lutherans Can he follow the Protestants and not condemne the Puritans c. verily he cannot And vvhat a simple judge is he being a man ignorant voide of learning and commonly of a slender vvit and judgement And like as euery vnlearned sectary condemneth al the rest that dissent from him in opinion so al the rest condemne him For if he follow the Protestants al the Puritans tel him that he is deceiued if the Puritans the Protestants tel him the like tale If he beleeue Zwinglius Luther condemneth him to the pit of hel if Luther Zwinglius pronounceth the same judgement against him c. And of vvhat opinion soeuer he be certaine it is that more of his owne brethren condemne then approue his beliefe He is therefore in a most miserable and lamentable case both because he hath no ground of his faith but the vvord of a fewe ministers and his owne weake judgement and also because he is condemned of errour euen by those of his owne profession euen as learned and as vvise as they whome he followeth and farre exceeding himselfe in al such qualities And this is the ordinary manner of proceeding of the learned sectaries with the vnlearned and ignorant these grounds of faith and no others they receiue from them If any man doubt of the truth of this discourse let him exactly and strictly examine either the learned what grounds of faith they can afforde the vnlearned and ignorant or these vvhat groundes they receiue and vvhy they beleeue thus and thus touching any article of religion and their owne confession wil teach him that al which hath beene said is true and that the last and chiefest cause of this or that beliefe in the vnlearned and ignorant is their owne judgement or the opinion of the learned liking their owne fancy SECTION THE EIGHT That the newe sectaries alleage Scriptures to confirme their newe doctrine it is no certaine argument that they build their faith and religion vpon the said Scriptures TO proue that the professors of the newe religion ground their faith and religion vpon the holy Scripture some wil say that they alleage sentences of the said Scripture in great abundance in confirmation of their doctrine vnto whome I answere that true it is that so they doe But I adde that this is no sufficient argument to proue that which is intended And first let euery man deluded by such their proceedings consider that al the ancient Heretikes haue done the like Did not Arius Macedonius Nestorius Eutiches and other Arch-heretikes together with their followers for proofe of their heresies bring forth diuers places of holy Scripture Of this Vincentius Lirinensis who flourished almost twelue hundred yeares since Vincent Lirinens aduers prophanas haeresum nouitates c. 35. is a sufficient witnesse for of the ancient Heretikes alleaging of the word of God he writeth thus Here perhaps some man may demand whether Heretikes also doe vse the testimony of holy Scripture To which I say that they doe and that very earnestly for a man may behold them ranging and coursing in euery part of the Bible in Moises in the bookes of the Kinges in the Psalmes in the Apostles in the Gospels in the Prophets For whether they be among their owne brethren or with strangers whether in priuate or in publike whether in talking or in writing whether in the house a feasting or abroade in walking they almost neuer alleage any thing of their owne which they doe not pretend to shadowe with the sacred word of Scripture Reade the pamphlets of Paul as Sumosatenus of Priscillian Eunomius Iouinian and the rest of such like pestilent Heretikes and you shal finde through al their workes an huge heape of examples almost no page omitted which is not coloured and painted with the sayings of the old and new Testament thus farre Vincentius Lirinensis Origen tom 1 homil 7. in Ezechiëlem Of this point also Origenes discourseth after this sort When to defend false opinions we say it is written in the Prophet Moises testifieth this the Apostle speaketh it What other thing doe we but taking the
bread of truth propound or offer it vp to the Idols which we haue faigned or made to our selues Marcion maketh an Idol and offered vp to it the bread of Scriptures Valentinus Basilides and al Heretikes haue done the like hitherto Origenes The same is affirmed but in fewer wordes by S. Augustine who telleth vs Aug. lib. 1. de Trinit cap. 3. see him also epist 222. that Al Heretikes endeauour to defend their false and deceitful opinions out of the same Scriptures And in another place he recorcordeth a Idem in breuiculo collat 3. cap. 8. that the Donatists alleaged many testimonies of holy Scripture S. Hillary biddeth vs b Hillar orat 2. contra Constātium remember that there is no Heretike which doth not faigne that the blaspheamies which he preacheth are according to the Scriptures And long before al these Tertullian noted that c Tertul. de praescript cap. 15. the Heretikes euen in his daies pretended to bring Scriptures for themselues and that with such their impudency forth-with they did shake some But of whome learned Heretikes after this sort to alleage Scripture Surely of the Deuil himselfe their grand-master for did not he likewise tempting Christ confirme his vvicked temptations with the testimony of holy Scripture it cannot be denied d Math. 4. vers 6. c. If thou be the Sonne of God said he cast they selfe downe and why he addeth a reason for it is written that he hath giuen his Angels charge of thee and in their handes shal they hold thee vp lest perhaps thou knocke thy foote against the stone Loe the Deuil hath scripture at hand to confirme his temptations as vvel as his schollars to confirme his doctrine their heresies and the schollars followe the example of their master Hence proceede these vvordes of S. Hierome in his Dialogue against the Luciferians Let not Heretikes flatter themselues Hieron contra Lucifer in fine if they seeme in their owne conceit to affirme that which they say out of the chapters of Scripture whereas the Deuil also spake some thinges out of the Scriptures and the Scriptures consist not in the reading but in the vnderstanding Hitherto S. Hierome And certaine it is that any Heretike vvhatsoeuer if licence be giuen him to translate and expound the Scriptures as he pleaseth may vvrest some places to his owne foolish fancies yea this may be done by any man although he would set a broach some strange and absurd doctrine that was neuer heard of in the world before But let vs adde to these testimonies of the ancient Fathers the confession of Caluin who against the Anabaptists discourseth thus e Caluin in tract Theolog pag. 571. Because silly Christians who haue some zeale towardes God can be seduced by no shewe or appearance more faire then when the word of God is pretended and alleaged The Anabaptists against whome we nowe write haue it alwaies in their mouthes and they alwaies solemnely recite it And soone after hauing deliuered that the highest place is to be giuen to the vvord of God and that they presse it against vs. He addeth this exception or moderation against the Anabaptists But as it is our part to giue eare to those thinges which are said vntil we knowe of what force or quality euerything is so it is necessary that we prudently discerne truth and falshood And we must juditiously consider whether the word of God be truly or falsly alleaged vnto vs for we are commanded to try the spirits and to consider whether they are of God which howe necessary it is the thing it selfe teacheth vs. For the Deuil himselfe armed himselfe with the word of God and girded himselfe with that sword to inuade and assault Christ and we finde true by experience that he doth daily vse these guiles or arts by his organs or instruments to depraue the truth and so to leade miserable soules to destruction Hitherto are Caluins vvordes in which as we see he is forced to pleade that against the Anabaptists vvhich vve euen with as good reason and as forcibly doe pleade against him and al other sectaries alleaging falsly the Scriptures Neither doe the Anabaptists only cite the scriptures plentifully but also the Arians Trinitarians Familists and other such like whome our aduersaries commonly censure to be Heretikes The like report we haue heard him aboue make of Westphalus a Lutheran yea there he telleth vs Sect. 5. of this chapter that the false prophets in old times by howe much the more further they were from God by so much the more gloriously did pretend his holy name But did the Deuil or any ancient Heretike or doe the newe sectaries in these our daies bring forth scriptures in their true sense and meaning God forbid for the scripture confirmeth nothing but truth They falsly therefore vvrested and wrest the scripture to a wrong sense to the end to make it seeme to fauour their blaspheamies and vvicked doctrine Neither can our aduersaries at this time in excuse of themselues truly say that the ancient Heretikes alleaged Scripture vvithout any colour or probability of truth vvhich as they themselues thinke is not their custome for this is most false as it vvil appeare to any schollar that shal consider the proofes of holy Scripture vvhich ancient Heretikes brought for their pestiferous opinions and conferre them with the testimonies vvhich are ordinarily vsed by the professors of the newe rellgion Let vs declare this by one or two examples the Arians as euery one of any reading knoweth made the Sonne of God inferiour to his Father and vvhat could be brought more plausible for this in outward shewe then that sentence of Christ Iohn 14 29. The father is greater then I especially if we admit of that exposition of Caluin vpon those vvordes of Christ I and the father are one Iohn 10. v. 3. vvho as I haue shewed before wil haue them spoken of vnity in consent The Nouatians taught that none falling into mortal sinne after baptisme could be receiued againe to mercy or penance in the Church and what apparent testimonies at the first sight out of the word of God did they also bring to confirme this falshood Doth not the Apostle euen as plainely yea more plainely teach this then he doth that faith only doth justifie Hebr. 6. v. 4. It is impossible saith he for them that were once illuminated haue tasted also of the heauenly gift and were made pertakers of the holy Ghost haue moreouer tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come and are fallen to be renewed againe to penance crucifying againe to themselues the Sonne of God and making him a mockery Againe Hebr. 10 26. If we sinne willingly after knowledge of the truth receiued nowe there is not left an host for sinnes Thus farre the Apostle And what such places haue our newe aduersaries for their justifying faith Surely they haue no such But did
these Heretikes alleage these places in their true sense nothing so as S. Cyril Bishop of Alexandria deliuereth vnto vs discoursing of the aforesaid vvordes of the Apostle after this sort Ciril lib. 5. in Ioan. cap. 17. Penance saith he is not excluded by these wordes of S. Paul but the renewing by the lauer of regeneration He doth not here take away the second or third remission of sinnes for he is not such an enemy to our saluation but the host which is Christ he denieth that it is to be offered againe vpon the Crosse Hitherto S. Cyril with whome agree S. Chrysostome Chrisost homil 9. in cap. 6. ad Hebr. Ambros de poenitent lib. 2. cap. 2. S. Ambrose and the rest of the holy Fathers And like as these Heretikes falsly interpreted these places of scripture so doe the sectaries of our daies diuers others This our English Protestants with Caluin wil easily graunt of the Anabaptists whome they censure to be Heretikes and yet these sectaries haue as euident places out of the word of God to confirme their owne doctrine as our Protestants can alleage for their particular opinions For example the Anabaptists defend that children ought not to be baptized before they come to yeares of discretion and can actually beleeue And what Scriptures doe they bring for proofe of this their doctrine Mark 16 16 It is written say they He that shal beleeue and be baptized shal be saued but he that shal not beleeue shal be condemned Loe say they it is necessary to beleeue before baptisme and the one is euen as necessary as the other to saluation and vpon this ground principally although they alleage thirty other places because infants cannot actually beleeue Caluin admo vlt. ad Westphalum pag. 1116. 1129. they build their aforesaid doctrine And they so presse the Protestants vvho denie habitual faith with this sentence of Christ that they forced the Lutherans to affirme * Luther lib. cont Cochlaeū Lutherani in Synodo Wittenberge anno 1536. that infants actually beleeue vvhen they are baptized which opinion is now earnestly defended by a Lucas Osiāder in Enchirid cōt Anabaptist cap. 2 printed Wittenberge anno 1607. Lucas Osiander a Lutheran superintendent In like sort they affirme al oathes to be vnlawful and this they gather out of those vvordes of our Sauiour Math. 5. vers 33. Againe you haue heard that it was said to them of old thou shalt not commit perjury but thou shalt performe thy oathes to our Lord. But I say to you not to sweare at al neither by heauen c. And soone after Let your talke be yea yea no no and that which is ouer and aboue these is of euil These and other such like testimonies are alleaged by the Anabaptists which if vve reject the censure and interpretation of the Church make euen as apparently for these Heretikes as any other vsed by the newe sectaries for proofe of their newe doctrine Hence Caluin himselfe vvriting against the Lutherans telleth vs that if it be so we are bound with this lawe that it is necessary we receiue whatsoeuer the wordes of Scripture sound there wil be no kinde of absurdity by which prophane men may not reproue and defame the doctrine of the Gospel that is to say there wil be nothing so absurd vvhich prophane men to the infamy of the Gospel wil not gather out of it Againe if the Scripture be so violently pressed as these men wil haue it it wil be as ful of absurdities as it hath verses Suruey of the pretended holy discipline chap. 31 pag. 414. 415. Thus Caluin In like sort the Authour of the Suruey of the Puritan discipline against the Puritans affirmeth that it is not enough for men to alleage Scriptures except they bring the true meaning of the Scriptures And al this discourse conuinceth that the allegation of Scripture is no certaine proofe that the Scripture is the ground of his beliefe by whome it is alleaged But for a farther proofe of al this in our newe sectaries let vs also consider that they doe not only bring forth Scriptures against the Catholikes but also against one another For although their opinions be neuer so diuers yet they cite places of Scriptures out of the selfe same bookes aswel for the confirmation of their owne as the confutation of their aduersaries doctrine And further al are as they say contented to haue the Scripture decide and end the controuersie Fox p. 1097. 987. anno 1536. pag. 1591. col 2. pag. 1094. col 2. Hence on the selfe same day three sectaries were burnt in Smithfield Barret Garret and Hierome of which the first was a Lutheran the other two Zwinglians and yet they al as Fox reporteth protested at their death that they taught nothing but that which was contained in the Scripture In like sort the Puritans of this realme of England now * See a christian and modest offer of a most indifferent cōference tendered by the late silenced and depriued Ministers to the Arch-bishops printed anno 1606. offer to proue al their Puritanical assertions out of the word of God vvhich neuerthelesse our Protestants taught as they say by the same vvord of God reject Of vvhich I inferre that whosoeuer weigheth a litle and looketh into the matter may see first that they cannot al truly alleage Scripture build vpon the same for the Scripture approueth not contrary doctrine and therefore he may imagine that they may euen as wel erre in bringing forth Scripture against vs as against their owne brethren and consequently be perswaded that their alleaging of Scripture is no certaine argument of truth Secondly he shal likewise finde that in their alleaging the vvord of God both against vs and those of their owne company they remit not the controuersie to the bare vvordes of Scripture but vnto the words of scripture translated expounded by themselues wherefore they differ in the translation and interpretation of holy Scripture for euery one of them rejecteth al other translations interpretations but his owne vpon vvhich being his owne fancy not vpon the Scripture he buildeth his opinion But wherefore doe Heretikes couet so plentifully to alleage the word of God the reason of this is notably wel declared by Vincentius Lirinensis in this his discourse They knowe fulwel saith he that their stinking and vnsauory drugs be not likely almost to please any Vincent Lirinens ca. 35. if simply and nakedly they be set forth and therefore they doe temper them as it were with the sweete powder of Gods word that he which quickly would haue contemned mans erroneous inuention dare not so readily reject Gods diuine Scripture wherein they are like to those which minding to minister bitter potions to young children first anoint the brims of the cup with hony that thereby vnwary youth feeling sweetnesse may nothing feare the bitter confection This deuise also practise they who vpon naughty hearbes and hurtful
juices write the names of good holesome medicines whereby almost no man reading the good superscription any thing suspecteth the lurking poison of the self same thing Math. 7. Likewise our Sauiour crieth out to al Christians take ye heed of false prophets which come to you in sheepes cloathing but inwardly are rauening wolues What is meant else by sheepes cloathing but the sayings of the Prophets and Apostles which they with sheepe-like sincerity did weare c. And soone after But to the end they may more craftily set vpon the sheepe of Christ mistrusting nothing remaining stil cruel beasts they put of their woluish weed and shroud themselues with the wordes of Scripture as it were with certaine fleeces whereby it happeneth that when the silly sheepe feele the soft wool they litle feare their sharpe teeth Ambros in cap. vlt. ad Tit. hitherto Vincentius Lirinensis S. Ambrose likewise telleth vs that impiety seing authority to be esteemed couereth her selfe with the vaile of Scriptures that whereas by her selfe shee is not acceptable by Scriptures shee may seeme most commendable And of this matter I neede say no more Chapter 9. In which is proued by the newe Sectaries forsaking their owne supposed ground and flying to others also by their dissension and inconstancy that they build their faith and religion only vpon their owne fancies SECTION THE FIRST Concerning their flying to other groundes by themselues rejected and their dissension I HAVE nowe sufficientlie proued that our aduersaries build not their faith and religion vpon any one of those particular groundes which are found in the Church of Christ yea that in al matters the rule of their beliefe is principally their owne judgement and fancy For the confirmation of al vvhich my discourse I purpose in this chapter to set downe three manifest tokens and signes of this their vveake foundation to vvit their forsaking of their owne ground and flying to others when they confute their aduersaries their dissention or diuision and their inconstancy Concerning the first it is a thing most euident in al their proceedinges that although disputing against vs they pleade and demand only Scriptures and commonly reject al authority of the Church Councels and Fathers yea when they come to confute other Sectaries like vnto themselues they refuse such trial by scriptures and sometimes fly to other such groundes Thus Caluin although he referre al matters sometimes to Scripture affirming that we ought to hearken to the voice of Christ alone and that it is meete the mouthes of al men be shut after that our Lord hath once spoken Caluin lib. 4. instit cap. 8. § 7. 8. which by his ordinary courses he seemeth to approue as a sufficient argument to shew that the wordes themselues of Scripture as they are expounded by himself are without contradiction to be applauded and reuerenced yet at other times he desireth al sorts diligently to ponder and examine whether the word of God be truly or falsly alleaged and to try the spirits whether they be of God or no because the Deuil assaulted Christ by Scripture and his instruments daily practise the same art to depraue the truth and seduce silly soules This course he taketh against the Anabaptists as I haue shewed a litle before See before chap. 8. sect 5. Nay discoursing against the Lutherans he vseth these wordes Nowe againe I turne my speech to you godly readers whome I earnestly beseech that you suffer not your senses to be astonied with that tinckling wherein the Magdeburgians boast This voice alwaies soundeth in their mouthes Caluin admonit vltima ad Westphalum pag. 1147. that we must not dispute where Christ the only master and doctour hath clearely taught what is to be beleeued that we must not contend where the same supreame judge hath pronounced a plaine sentence thus Caluin to the Lutherans pleading hardly the scriptures against him in proofe of the real presence After this sort also Beza against the Arians Trinitarians Nestorians and Eutichians pleaded the authority of general Councels as I haue else where shewed Part. 1. chap. 9. Westphalus likewise wrote to a Caluini ibid. pag. 1098. Caluin that the consent of many Churches condemning him should satisfie him Finally our English Protestants although they pronounce so hard a censure against general Councels themselues and are so earnest for the sufficiency of only Scripture as we haue seene before yet against the Puritans plead hardly the authority of the Church Councels and Fathers as euery man may behold in their vvorkes of this argument Whitgift in his defence Belson in his treatise of the perpetual gouernement of the Church and such other examples are not wanting Touching their dissention and diuision a Tertul lib. de praescript Tertullian affirmeth that we may lawfuly judge that there is adulteration both of Scripture and expositions where there is found diuersity of doctrine And the reason of this is manifest because the truth vnto vvhich the Scriptures and their true interpretation is consonant and giue testimony is one wherefore they cannot approue diuers and opposite doctrines Nowe that diuision is found among our aduersaries no man of any sense and reading can deny b Stanislaus Rescius lib. de Acheismis Phalerismis haereticorum nostri tēporis Stanislaus Rescius numbreth of them an hundred seauenty distinct sects of which c Caspar Vlenbergius li. 22. Causarū causae 9. Caspar Vlenbergius reciteth diuers principal * See Hedio a Zwinglian epist ad Melancthonem others reckon farre more And this euery man may the better beleeue if he consider that it is a very hard matter to finde any two of the learned sort of them of one opinion touching al matters of religion Hence ariseth dissention in their Churches in which they proceede so farre that they feare not to censure and condemne one another of heresie If we beleeue d Luther thes 27. cont Louaniens tom 7. in defens verborum coenae c. Luther and the Lutherans Zwinglius Caluin and al the Sacramentaries are damned Heretikes If we credit e Zwinglius tom 2. in respōs ad Luth. l. de Sacram. fol. 411. 401. Caluin admonit 3. ad Westphalum Zwinglius Caluin and other Sacramentaries Luther and the Lutherans are guilty of the same crime And the like dissentions are betweene the inuentours and followers of other sectes But of this matter I shal haue a more fit opportunity to discourse in my treatise of the definition and notes of the Church vvherefore in this place passing ouer altogether with silence the domestical discord which is betweene our Protestants and Puritans touching the Lutherans and Caluinists abroad I vvil recite this only testimony of an f Relation of the state of religion in the West parts of the world §. 45. written as said by Sir Edwine Sans printed in the yeare 1605. English Protestant who hauing trauailed in those parts of their dissention writeth
that pronouncing nowe this nowe that of the same thing he was neuer constant to himselfe but thought that such leuity and inconstancy might be vsed in the word of God as shamelesse jesters commonly vse playing at dice. Againe Luther saith he doth not only bring his former doctrine in suspition but also giueth the Papists a most fit occasion to condemne him by sending in this present controuersie his reader only to those bookes which he wrote within foure or fiue yeares before For who hauing heard or read these things wil not say that if so be that we expect other fiue yeares without al doubt they being past he wil cal into doubt those bookes which he wrote in these last fiue yeares Thus farre Zwinglius of Luthers inconstancy Erasmus also Whitaker in his answer to Campians reason 8. p. 208. a man denied by Whitakers to be a writer of our side and by the martir-maker Fox canonized for a Saint of the newe religion of Luther his disciples writeth after this sort * Erasmus lib 3. de libero arbitrio What should I recount here the dissention that is among these Gospellers their bloudy hatred their bitter contentions nay their singular inconstancy Luther himselfe hauing changed his opinion so often and yet newe paradoxes springing vp from him daily Hitherto Erasmus Finally Field although he extol Luther for a worthy diuine as euer the world had any in those times wherein he liued Field booke 3 c. 24. p. 170. or in many ages before yet confesseth that by degrees he sawe and discried those Popish errours I vse his wordes which at first he discerned not But to excuse the matter he first auoucheth that in sundry points of greatest moment as of the power of nature of free-wil grace justification the difference of the law and the Gospel faith and workes Christian liberty and the like he was euer constant Which assertion of his howe false it is that which I haue before said touching free-wil doth demonstrate An other of his excuses is that it is not so strange a thing as his aduersaries would make it seeme to be that herein Luther proceeded by degrees and in his later writings disliked that which in his former he did approue And his reason is because S. Augustine wrote a whole booke of retractations S. Ambrose complained that he was forced to teach before he had learned and so to deliuer many thinges that should neede a second reuiewe And S. Thomas of Aquine in his summe corrected and altered many things which he had written before Against this I first reply that it excuseth not Luthers building of his new beliefe vpon his owne judgement nay it proueth manifestly that he came not to it by the infallible direction of any external guide but by the discourse and search of his owne wit and moreouer Caluin Instit booke 4. ch 3. The Apology of the church of England part 4. p. 123 124. c. that he vvas not extraordinarily by internal inspirations instructed and sent by the spirit of God as diuers of these men seeme plainely to affirme for the workes of God are perfect and they whome he immediately sendeth directeth in faith erre not in any point of that argument but that his inconstant reason was the principal ground on which he built his said faith and religion Secondly I adde that the examples brought by Field in excuse of Luther make nothing for his purpose For what if S. Augustine vvriting vvhen he was yet a nouice in Christian religion and not fully instructed erred in some points which errours hauing receiued better instructions he reclaimed What if the like happened to S. Ambrose being miraculously chosen to be a Bishop and a teacher before he was a Christian What if S. Augustine before some articles of Christian religion were so throughly discussed and defined in the Church as afterward vpon the rising of new heresies spoke not so aptly and properly as was needful in succeeding times and therefore retracted what he had vttered What if he and S. Thomas of Aquin in diuers matters disputable and not determined by the Church altered and corrected their former opinions So hath Cardinal Baronius nowe done who hath runne ouer the first ten tomes of his Ecclesiastical history and made as it were a booke of retractations recalling such thinges as he judged amisse What I say if also these thinges be so as without doubt they were no otherwise shal it therefore be lawful for Luther or any other person to leape vp and downe hither and thither and to chop and change his faith according as his fancy leadeth him in any articles of Christian religion verily I thinke to no man of judgement such a fault vvil seeme excusable But was Zwinglius who as we haue seene so peremptorily reprehendeth Luther for his inconstancy him selfe free from this crime Truly he vvas not and because breuity suffereth me not to runne through his works and to shewe the change and alteration of his opinion concerning al particuler points in vvhich he shewed himselfe inconstant I wil only conuince him of inconstancy touching one or two and that by his owne confession It cannot be denied but before his fal from vs he held the Catholike doctrine concerning the baptisme of infants otherwise vvithout al doubt his nouelty vvould haue beene noted and censured His first alteration therefore concerning this matter was from vs to Anabaptisme his second from Anabaptisme in some sort to our beliefe againe That he was once an Anabaptist thus he confesseth Wherefore I my selfe also confesse frankely saith he that a fewe yeares since I being deceiued with this error thought it better to deferre the baptisme of young children vntil they come to perfest age thus Zwinglius That he partly recanted afterwards this heresie he declareth in the same place I say partly because he alwaies denied the necessity of baptisme to saluation That he was likewise inconstant in his beliefe of the Eucharist these his owne wordes testifie Zwingl tom 2. commēt de vera salsa religione cap de Eucharist fol. 202. We haue written two yeares since of the Eucharist where we haue written many thinges rather according to the time then the truth of the matter And soone after If reader thou finde certaine thinges here otherwise then in the former bookes doe not thou wonder we would not giue foode out of season nor set pearls before swine Finally We retract therefore saith he and reuoke those thinges which we haue said there in such sort that those which we set forth in the two and fortith yeare of our age counterpoise those which we set forth in the fortith when as we said we serued more the time then the truth of the matter that we might by that meanes the more edifie thus Zwinglius of himselfe Who then can deny but he also was inconstant and at the least in outward shewe altered his beliefe yea doth he not confesse to
that any translation is true but of these matters before For the authority also of our translation in general it maketh that it hath beene read and allowed of in the Church aboue eleauen hundred yeares and approued by thousands of Saintes and learned men and by them accepted as the true vvord of God The translation of the old testament in particular if we beleeue S. Augustine Aug. l. 18. de ciuitat c. 43. was acknowledged as true by the very Iewes themselues then liuing who fauoured no more vs then the Protestants That of the newe as the same holy Father writeth was also in those daies approued by al Christians Idem epist 10 ad Hieron For it likewise we haue the testimony of Beza himselfe who among our aduersaries is accounted a great linguist who in commendation of the old translator writeth thus The old interpreter seemeth to haue interpreted or translated the holy bookes Beza in c. 1. Luc. vers 1. IbideÌ„ in praefat nou test anno 1556. Idem ibid. with marueilous sincerity and religion Againe The vulgar edition I embrace for the most part and preferre it before al other whatsoeuer By it in diuers places he correcteth the Greeke text as may be seene Luc. 20. vers 28. Luc. 7. vers 31. c. He also blameth Erasmus for reprehending of it as dissenting from the Greeke saying that he doth it vnjustly I wil recite his wordes which are as followeth Howe vnjustly and without cause doth Erasmus blame the old interpreter as dissenting from the Greeke He dissented I grant from those Greeke copies which Erasmus had gotten but we haue found out in one place that the same interpretation which he blameth is grounded vpon the authority of other Greeke copies and those most ancient Yea in some number of places we haue obserued that the reading of the Latin text of the old interpreter though it agree not some times with our Greeke copies yet it is much more conuenient for that it seemeth he followed some truer and better copy Thus Beza Vnto whome I joine Molinaeus an other sectary as some thinke to him not inferiour Molinaeus in Luc. 17. who in like sort preferreth this edition before those of Erasmus Bucer Bullinger Brentius Pagnines that of Zuricke yea also before Iohn Caluins and al others He affirmeth Ibidem that Erasmus in a certaine place did wel to followe the old edition and saith it had beene better for Beza to haue done so too He auoucheth further that Beza did not wel in changing the old translation Idem in Ioan. 3. v. 19. 43 see also in Ioan 7. ver 35. He addeth also * IdeÌ„ part 30 that he can very hardly depart from the vulgar and accustomed reading which also I am wont saith he very earnestly to defend Castalio in like sort a man much commended by a Humfredus de rat Interp. lib. 1. pa. 62. 63. 189. D. Humfrey and b Gesnerus in Bibliotheca Gesnerus blameth Beza for finding fault with the old interpreter c Castalio in defens p. 179 174. 181. 183. 188. 198. 202. 204. 213. auerring that he doth it vnjustly and that the said old interpreter had translated it better before Yea d Humfred de rat interpret lib. 1. pag. 74. D. Humfrey himselfe yeeldeth the old translator this praise The old interpreter seemeth sufficiently bent to followe the propriety of wordes and he doth in deede ouer carefully which notwithstanding I suppose him to haue done not of ignorance but of religion And in truth that this is no fault I gather out of his owne doctrine for he e Ibid. p. 179. telleth vs that in prophane writers a man may range abroade more freely and depart from the wordes but in Canonical scripture saith he no such licence is tollerable for man may not alter the tongue of God And thus much for the vulgar Latin edition of the newe Testament out of our aduersaries Further for the truth of our expositions of the holy Scripture we haue the continual tradition of the Church and the testimony and suffrage of al the holy Fathers and of thousands of Saints and learned men who euer expounded it as we doe and out of it gathered the selfe same doctrine and beliefe For vnto them vve are al contented to remit the trial of the truth of our cause and of the hoâ—y Church and them we professe our selues to learne the true sense of the word of God And thus much the Catholikes can alleage for the authority of their translation and interpretation of holy Scripture although they set aside the authority of the Church Nowe what can our aduersaries say for themselues what sound testimony or proof can they bring for the truth of their translations and expositions Surely euery sect at the lest hath a distinct bible wherefore for the proofe of these thinges they can only alleage the testimony of their sect-master or translator of their Bible and his followers And what a goodly matter is this doe not farre more of the new sectaries themselues condemne reject euery one of their Bibles and their particular expositions then there doe approue them Certainly euery Bible is condemned by diuers but approued only by the followers of one sect and so in like sort are diuers particular interpretations Vnto which I adde that the diuersity of their Bibles maketh the truth of them al suspected for seing that we haue no greater reason to allowe of one then of an other and al but one without al doubt are false as they themselues must needes confesse because there is but one true word of God we may with like reason reject them al. Moreouer is any one of their sect-masters or learned translators or expositors to be compared with S. Hierome Is the opinion of a fewe sectaries touching the translation and interpretation of holy Scriptures to be preferred before the testimony of al the Saints learned men that flourished in the Church in S. Hieromes daies and euer since yea I may demand whether their opinion be to be preferred before the testimony of al good Christians that haue liued euer since the beginning of Christianity For S. Hierome followed the steps of his predecessors and consented with the vniuersal Church of his age and the Church euer since hath approued his labours Stancarus de Trinit Mediat M. 4. Surely Stancarus himselfe a Protestant auoucheth that Peter Lombard called the master of sentences is more to be esteemed then one hundred Luthers two hundred Melancthons three hundred Bullingers foure hundred Peter Martirs fiue hundred Caluins He addeth that if al these sectaries named were beaten or pounded together in a morter there could not be strained or pressed out of them one ounce of true diuinity especially out of their doctrine concerning the blessed Trinity the Incarnation the Mediator and the Sacraments which neuerthelesse be the principal misteries of Christian religion Wherefore he concludeth
report certaine articles vnto which he gaue this title In the yeare of our Lord 1536. of King Henry 28. Stow p. 965. edit an 1600 Articles deuised by the Kinges highnesse Insinuating thereby that both the said articles and al other dissonant from the doctrine of the Church were and are deuises of men This moued a certaine Courtier in those daies discoursing with a Lutheran Lady that found great fault both with this title and the articles to answere her that he had rather follow the deuises of a King then of a knaue meaning Luther if needes newe deuises in religion were to be admitted but this illation or conclusion is sufficiently proued before And this vveake foundation of our aduersaries was also noted by the auncient Fathers in the auncient Heretikes Irinaeus lib. 3 cap. 2. S. Irenaeus recordeth that euery one of the Heretikes of his age and before auerred his owne fiction which he had deuised to be wisdome and that euery one of them boasted that vndoubtedly and sincerely he knewe the hidden mistery Tertullian affirmeth that a Tertull. de praescript ca. 37. see also cap. 6. Heretikes arise of diuersity of doctrine which euery man either inuenteth or receiueth at his pleasure b Aug. tom 6. cont Faustum l. 32. cap. 29. Al Heretikes saith S. Augustine that receiue the Scriptures as authentical seeme to themselues to followe the said Scriptures whereas they rather followe their owne errors and are Heretikes for this not for that they contemne them but because they doe not vnderstand them Hitherto S. Augustine He affirmeth likewise as I haue noted before d Tom. 7. de nuptijs cōcupiscentijs lib. 2. cap. 31. that Heretikes make not their faith subject to the Scriptures but the Scriptures subject to their faith and that it is the custome of Heretikes to wrest the Scriptures to what sense they please the like sentence hath e Hieron ad Paulam epist 2. siue in prologo Bibliorū S. Hierome Hence like as the Apostle tearmeth couetousnesse Idolatry and consequently a couetous man an Idolater so the f See Tertull. de praescr ca. 40. S. Cipriā de vnitat Eccles Num. 12 S. Hieron in Osee 11. Amos 8. Abacuc 2. August in psal 8 v. 10. l. 18. de ciuitat c. 51. l. de vtilitat jejunij c. auncient Fathers tearme heresie Idolatry and an Heretike an Idolater for like as the couetous man his worldly wealth so the Heretike maketh his owne fancies as it were his God Last of al I conclude that the professors of the new religion are Heretikes and haue no faith They are Heretikes because they obstinately defend doctrine condemned by the Church of Christ as heretical which doctrine they build principally vpon their owne fancies For according to their owne priuate judgementes they choose their belief of which choise as we are taught by g Tertul. lib. de praescript cap. 6. Tertullian and h Hieron in epist ad Galat. habetur 24. q. 3. cap. haeresis S. Hierome such Sectaries are called Heretikes that is to say choosers i Tertul. de praescrip c. 6. see also c. 37. Heresie saith Tertullian is so called from the Greeke word signifieth an election or choise which a man vseth either in inuenting or receiuing it With him accordeth S. Hierome whose wordes be these k Hier. in ep ad Galatas Heresie is a Greeke word and is deriued from election or choise because euery man chooseth that doctrine which he thinketh best And hence it is that the faith of Christians he meaneth of Catholikes can neuer truly be called an heresy for this dependeth not of the fancy of any man nor was inuented by mans wit but was manifested vnto men by the inspiration and reuelation of God thus farre S. Hierome They haue likewise no faith both because they vvant a condition necessarily requisite to this vertue and also because faith as I haue proued ought to be built vpon diuine authority and therefore cannot be grounded vpon any mans opinion and judgement in the world except it be warranted from error by God himselfe which warrant is wanting to al the professors of the newe religion as I haue declared vvherefore the fallible and erroneous fancy of men is their only ground Of which I inferre according to my discourse in the beginning of this l Part. 1 ch 4. pag. 27. treatise that they haue in like sort no religion because the roote and foundation of Christian relgion is faith m Hebr. 11 6. without which as the Apostle saith it is impossible to please God Hence the auncient Fathers denied Heretikes to be Christians If they be Heretikes saith Tertullian they cannot be Christians Tertu de praescript c. 37. Augustin in Enchirid. ad Laurentium cap. 5. His reason is because in following their owne election and not receiuing their doctrine of Christ they admit the name of Heretikes The name of Christ only saith S. Augustine is found among Heretikes who wil haue themselues called Christians but Christ in very deede is not among them S. Ciprian teacheth vs the self same lesson and affirmeth that * Cipr. epist 52. ad Antonianum whosoeuer and whatsoeuer he be that is not in the Church he is no Christian The very selfe same sentence is also pronounced by a Aug. serm 81. de tempore cap. 12. S. Augustine in one of his sermons and other fathers haue the like Finally b Beza de haereticis a ciuili magistratu puniendis p. 184. 185. see him also pag. 106. 236. Beza himselfe censureth such as breake due order doe not subject themselues to the word of God but according to the property of Heretikes endeuour to subject the word of God to themselues to be Idolators and in this worse then Infidels that they shadowe their lies with a colour of piety and truth thus much Beza And thus I thinke the argument of this treatise throughly proued wherefore it remaineth only that I exhort euery man that hath care of his soule and saluation and dreadeth the anger of God and euerlasting damnation if he be a member of the Church of Christ and a childe of his Spouse there firmely to remaine if he be not with al speed to incorporate himselfe to this sacred body and to flie the fancies of his owne judgement and the erroneous conceits of mortal men Math. 7 24. So shal he like vnto a wise man build his howse vpon a rocke which no stormes of windes raine or flouds can ouerthrowe not as a foolish man vpon the sand of mans imagination and consequently haue it subject to alteration This Church is a firme and immoueable rocke the sure piller and firmament of truth on vvhich vve may securely build our saluation and the whole edifice of our faith She is an inuincible Castle and fortresse against falshood a learned Mistris and guide in al matters doubtful and a most certaine security in
Cipriā epist 40. 70. 55. 69. 71. 73. see him also in exhortat ad Martirium cap. 11. the Century writers who are esteemed very diligent searchers of antiquity taxe S. Ciprian for his doctrine touching the Popes supreamacy Secondly the doctrine of S. Ciprian taught in this booke agreeth exceeding wel with that which is found throughout al his epistles in vvhich vve finde the same sentences almost in the very same wordes which Iames denieth to be in his manuscript copies of the booke of the vnity of the church as that there is one God one Church and one Chaire founded vpon Peter that the Church was built vpon S. Peter that our Lord chose him the first or chiefest that he instituted the origen of vnity from him c. Peraduenture some man wil say these epistles are also corrupted but first I thinke they are not found otherwise in the Manuscript copies mentioned by Master Iames then they are in the printed bookes For vvere they it is like he vvould not haue passed it vvith silence as he doth Secondly neither Perkins nor any other affirmeth these epistles to be corrupted Thirdlie one of these Epistles in vvhich it is said that our Lord did choose S. Peter the first or chiefest and that vpon him he built his Church is cited by S. Augustine August to 7. de bapt cont Donat. cap. 1. Cipr. ep 72. ad Quintum vvho also alleageth those very vvordes as S. Ciprians which are in the printed copies to vvit Nam nec Petrus quem primum Dominus elegit super quem edificauit Ecclesiam suam c. For neither S. Peter whome our Lord chose the first or chiefest and vpon whome he built his Church c. And moreouer after S. Ciprians vvordes he addeth himselfe Behold where Ciprian rehearseth which also we haue learned in holy Scriptures that the Apostle Peter in whome the Primacy of the Apostles through so excellent grace is higher then others c. Thus S. Augustine of which it is most euident that this Epistle among al the rest is not corrupted and yet here is almost said as much in substance of this matter as is in his booke de vnitate Ecclesiae Finally the vvordes vvhich Iames vvil haue excluded from S. Ciprians booke de vnitate Ecclesiae are so agreeable to this holy Fathers stile and phrase and so fitting his discourse that no man can almost suspect them to be added But it may be demanded howe it falleth out that they are wanting in the Manu-script copies mentioned by M. Iames In very truth if there be such auncient copies and there be nothing razed out of them I cannot but thinke that they were written out before the art of printing was inuented by some Wicliffian Heretike or if they came out of some forraine country by some Schismatike or other that held with some German Emperor against the Pope That the Wicliffians vvere very potent and preuailed much in our Country we may gather out of that vvhich is said by Stowe in his Chronicle and in the yeares 1414. and 1377. And Walsingham vvriteth Walsingham anno vlt. Edward 3. that the Vniuersity of Oxford in particular vvas cold in resisting him Walsingham in vita Richardi 2. anno 1378. Nay their coldnesse vvas such that Gregory XI Pope in the yeare 1378. vvrote his Breue to it and reprehended them of the said Vniuersity for their coldnesse and slacknesse AN INDEX OR TABLE OF AL THE CHAPTERS AND SECTIONS OF THIS TREATISE The first part of the groundes of the old religion CHAPTER 1. Of the first ground of Catholike religion to wit that there is a God and that God by his prouidence gouerneth al thinges page 1. Section 1. That there is a God page 2. Sect. 2. Almighty God hath care of worldly affaires and ruleth al things by his diuine prouidence page 10. Chap. 2. Of the second ground of our religion to wit that the soule of man is immortal and that it shal either be rewarded euerlastingly in heauen or punished euerlastingly in hel page 12. Chap. 3. Of a third principal ground of our faith to wit that Christian religion only is the true worship of God page 16. Chap. 4. That among Christians they only that professe and embrace the Catholike faith and religion are in state of saluation and doe truly worship God page 24. Chap. 5. Sect. 1. Of the definition and conditions of true faith p. 28. Sect. 2. That faith is a most firme assent of the vnderstanding page 29. Sect. 3. Faith is of thinges incomprehensible by natural reason and consequently obscure page 30. Sect. 4. By true Christian faith we beleeue such misteries as God hath reuealed to his Church page 32. Sect. 5. That true faith is built vpon diuine authority page 34. Sect. 6. Besides the reuelation of God some infallible propounder of the articles of our faith is necessary and that they are propounded vnto vs by the Catholike Church page 36. Chap. 6. Sect. 1. Of the supreame and infallible authority of the Catholike Church page 38. Sect. 2. The whole summe of Christian doctrine by word of mouth not by writing was committed by Christ to his Apostles page 39. Sect. 3. The Church cannot stray from the rule of faith receaued nor erre in matter of faith or general precepts of manners which is proued first because the holy Ghost directeth her in al truth page 42. Sect. 4. The same is proued by other arguments page 44. Sect. 5. That the testimonies of holy Scripture and other proofes brought for the infallible and diuine authority of the Church cannot be applied to the Church considered as it comprehendeth al faithful Christians that are and haue beene since Christes ascention or since the Apostles daies but vnto the present Church of al ages page 52. Sect. 6. That the same testimonies and proofes conuince an infallible judgement of the Church concerning euery article of faith not only concerning certaine of the principal page 56. Sect. 7. That to saluation it is necessary to beleeue the whole Catholike faith and euery article thereof page 58. Chap. 7. Of the holy Scripture which is the first particular ground of faith in the Catholike Church page 61. Sect. 1. Howe the Scripture is knowne to be Canonical page 61. Sect. 2. Concerning the sense or exposition of holy Scriptures and first that the Scriptures are hard and receiue diuers interpretations p. 67. Sect. 3. The Scriptures may be falsly vnderstood and that euery priuate man may erre in the vnderstanding of them page 69. Sect. 4. That the letter of holy Scripture falsly interpreted is not the word of God page 72. Sect. 5. The true sense of the holy Scripture is to be learned of the Catholike Church who is the true judge thereof page 75. Sect. 6. An objection against the premises is answered and the question concerning the last resolution of our faith is discussed page 78. Chap. 8. Concerning the second particular ground of Catholike
religion to wit Apostolike Traditions page 86. Sect. 1. Of Apostolike Tradition in general page 86. Sect. 2. Of vnwritten Traditions in particular page 91. Chap. 9. Of general Councels which make the third particular ground of Catholike religion page 97. Chap. 10. Of the decrees of the supreame visible Pastour of the Church which make a fourth particular ground of our faith and of other grounds hence proceeding page 108. Sect. 1. Containing a briefe explication or rehearsal of the Catholike doctrine concerning the Popes supreamacy page 108. Sect. 2. The aforesaid doctrine is proued page 113. Sect. 3. That the decrees of the Bishop of Rome when he teacheth the Church as supreame Pastour are of diuine and infallible authority and of some other groundes of faith flowing out of these page 127. Sect. 4. The opinion of some sectaries that the Pope is Antechist is briefly confuted and two objections against the premises are answered p. 133. Chap. 11. Of the consent of the auncient Fathers and the general doctrine of the Catholike Church in al ages page 140. Chap. 12. Containing the conclusion of the first part page 144. THE SECOND PART In which is proued that the newe sectaries build their faith vpon no diuine authority but that the ground of al their beliefe and religion is their owne judgement and consequently that they haue neither true faith nor religion CHAPTER 1. That by their doctrine they deny or at the least weaken the three principal and general groundes of Christian religion set downe in the three first chapters of the first part page 1. Section 1. The number of Atheists among them is great and of the causes by them giuen of this impiety page 1. Sect. 2. Of our aduersaries doctrine concerning the immortality of the soule heauen and hel page 8. Sect. 3. Of our aduersaries impious assertions concerning Christ and Christian religion page 12. Sect. 4. That in like sort they weaken the principal proofes of the said three groundes page 19. Chap. 2. The newe Sectaries debase the true Christian faith and in place of it extol a presumptuous faith by themselues inuented page 26. Chap. 3. That our aduersaries deny the infallible authority of the Church and affirme it to haue erred and perished page 30. Chap. 4. They reject al particular groundes of faith aboue assigned and proued to bee found in the Church of Christ besides the holy Scriptures page 32. Chap. 5. They build not vpon the holy Scripture and first that the bare letter of holy Scripture only is not a sufficient ground of Christian faith and religion page 47. Sect. 1. In which this is proued because by Scripture the Scripture it selfe cannot be proued Canonical It is also argued that according to the sectaries groundes there is no Canonical Scripture and some principal reasons especially inspiration of the spirit which they alleage for the proofe of such Scripture are refelled page 47. Sect. 2. In which the same argument is prosecuted and two things principally are proued First that the newe Testament receiueth smal authority if we beleeue our aduersaries by this that it was written by the Apostles and Disciples because they accuse them of errour Secondly because they confesse the text of Scripture to be corrupted p. 67. Sect. 3. The same is proued because euery Christian is bound to admit and beleeue certaine propositions neither expresly contained nor according to some mens judgements so euidently gathered out of the holy Scripture page 75. Sect. 4. The insufficiency of the bare letter of holy Scripture is proued by other arguments especially by this that the true interpretation cannot be infallibly gathered out of the letter page 78. Chap. 6. The newe Sectaries Bibles containe not the true word of God page 83. Sect. 1. In which this is first proued concerning al their Bibles in general page 83. Sect. 2. That Luther Zwinglius Caluin and Beza in particular haue corruptly translated the Scriptures page 84. Sect. 3. Our English sectaries also haue falsly and corruptly translated the Scriptures page 90. Sect. 4. Containing false translations against the authority of the Church Traditions honour of Images Purgatory and the honour of Saints page 92. Sect. 5. Of their corruptions against inherent Iustice Iustification by good workes Merit of good workes and keeping the Commandements and in defence of their special â—aith vaine Security c. and against Freewil and Merits page 94. Sect. 6. Of their false translations against the Real presence Priest-hood election of Bishops single life of Priests Penance and satisfaction for Sinne the Sacrament of Matrimony and some other points p. 96. Sect. 7. That the Professors of the newe religion in corrupting the Scriptures followe the steps of the auncient Heretikes and what followeth of this discourse page 101. Chap. 7. That they build not vpon the letter of holy Scripture contained as they say in their owne Bibles page 103. Sect. 1. In which this is proued first because the propositions which they tearme of their faith are not in expresse tearmes contained in the Scripture page 103. Sect. 2. The same argument is confirmed by the testimonie of some Protestants concerning the true sense of some wordes of Scripture alleaged for our Catholike doctrine touching justification in the Section before page 106. Sect. 3. The like discourse is made concerning a place of Scripture alleaged for the real presence page 114. Sect. 4. The followers of the newe religion in diuers matters obserue not the letter of their owne Bibles page 130. Chap. 8. In receiuing translating and expounding the holy Scriptures they only build vpon their owne fancies and judgement and that they haue no other ground page 134. Sect. 1. In which this is proued by their doctrine and dissention concerning the bookes of Canonical Scripture and their altering of the text of the same page 134. Sect. 2. The same is confirmed by their translations and expositions of holy Scripture page 141. Sect. 3. Concerning the newe exposition of those wordes This is my body in particular page 146. Sect. 4. That certaine rules prescribed by Field for the true vnderstanding of Scripture of themselues alone without the censure of the Church are insufficient to assure vs that our exposition made is of diuine truth page 149. Sect. 5. Concerning their deductions out of holy Scripture that they likewise are framed by them according to their owne fancies and of their accusations of one another touching these matters page 157. Sect. 6. The vnlearned and ignorant sectaries in receiuing and expounding the holy Scriptures likewise build vpon their owne fancies and judgements and haue no other ground of their faith and religion p. 161. Sect. 7. Of the miserable estate of the vnlearned and ignorant Sectaries page 166. Sect. 8. That the newe sectaries alleage Scriptures to confirme their new doctrine it is no certaine argument that they build their faith and religion vpon the said Scriptures page 172. Chap. 9. In which is proued by the newe Sectaries