of the Church either actually as they that are already called or potentially and according to the purpose of Gods will as they that are elect and not yet called CHAP. 9. Of the difference of them that are in and of the Church BY that which hath beene said that none but the elect are of the Church in that principall and high degree before mentioned wee may easily vnderstand their true meaning and the truth of their meaning who say that Hypocrities wicked men and castawaies are in but not of the Church Puto saith Augustine me non temerè dicere alios sic esse in domo Dei vt ipsi etiam sint domus Dei alios sic esse in domo Dei vt non pertineant ad compagem domus nec ad societatem frugiferae pacificaeque iustitiae I thinke I may very advisedly and considerately say some are in such sort in the house of God that they also are the house of GOD and that some are so in the house of God that they pertaine not to the frame and fabricke of it nor to the societie and fellowship of fruitfull and peaceable righteousnesse Of them that are in the Church there are three sorts For there are some onely numero some numero merito some numero merito electione that is there are some that only in externall profession some that in profession and affection and some that in profession and affection with neuer altering resolution ioyâ⦠themselues to the companie of the beleeuers and haue their hearts knit vnto God for euer As the elect of God called according to his purpose these are intrinsecus in occulto intus as Augustine speaketh and whosoeuer are thus in the Church are most fully of the Church and are of the speciall number of them that communicate in the most pretious effects and most happie benefits of effectuall and sauing grace In the two former sorts many are in the Church which though they be also of the Church in that they haue fellowshippe in some outward things with the elect and chosen servants of God yet principally fully and absolutely are not of it nor of that speciall number of those that haue part in the benefits of effectuall and sauing grace CHAP. 10. Of the visible and invible Church HEnce it commeth that we say there is a visible and invisible Church not meaning to make two distinct Churches as our adversaries falsly and maliciously charge vs though the forme of words may seeme to insinuate some such thing but to distinguish the diuers considerations of the same Church which though it be visible in respect of the profession of supernaturall verities reuealed in Christ vse of holy Sacraments order of Ministerie and due obedience yeelded therevnto and they discernable that doe communicate therein yet in respect of those most pretious effects and happie benefits of sauing grace wherein onely the elect doe communicate it is inuisible and they that in so happie gratious and desireable things haue communion among themselues are not discernable from others to whom this fellowship is denied but are knowen only vnto God That Nathaniell was an Israelite all men knew that he was atrue Israelite in whom was no guile Christ only knew The persons then of them of whom the Church consisteth are visible their profession knowen euen to the profane and wicked of the world and in this sort the Church cannot be inuisible neither did any of our men teach that it is or may be For seeing the Church is the multitude of them that shall be saued and no man can be saued vnlesse he make confession vnto salvation for faith hid in the heart and concealed doth not suffice it cannot be but they that are of the true Church must by the profession of the truth make themselues knowen in such sorte that by their profession and practise they may be discerned from other men Notwithstanding because the truth and excellency of the faith and profession of Christians is not discerned by the light of nature but of faith alone the excellencie of this societie of Christians aboue other profane companies in the world and their happinesse that are of it is invisible hidden and vnknowen to naturall men and is knowen only to them that are spirituall and who they are that haue fellowshippe among themselues not only in the profession of heavenly verities and outward meanes of saluation but also in the benefits of effectuall and sauing grace is knowen neither to the naturall nor spirituall man but to God alone If any man shall further vrge that Luther and some other that were in the beginning of the reformation of the Church did thinke the Church to bee sometimes inuisible not only in those respects aboue specified but euen in the truth of profession and practise of those things that to saluation are necessarie wee denie that any such thing can bee collected out of any of their writings which they haue left vnto posterity For how should there be a Church in the world the perpetuity whereof they all most constantly defend and none found to professe the sauing truth of God which all are bound to doe that looke for saluation But this surely both they and we doe teach that though alwaies the open knowen and constant profession of saving truth bee preserved and found amongst men and the ministerie of saluation continued and knowen in the world For how should there be a Church gathered without a ministerie that yet sometimes errors and heresies so much preuaile that the most part not onely of them that apparantly are without but euen of them also that hold and possesse great places of office and dignitie in the Church of God either for feare flatterie hope of gaine or honour or else misseled through simplicitie or directly falling into errour and heresie depart from the soundnesse of Christian faith so that the sincerity of religion is vpholden and the truth of the profession of Christians defended and maintained but only by some few and they molested persecuted and traduced as turbulent and seditious men enimies to the common peace of the Christian world In this sense then the Church is said to be sometimes invisible not because there are none seene knowen or found that professe the truth of God but because euen in that company which is the true church of God many and those the greatest are carried into errour so that but some few and they such as if we should judge by outward appearance are most vnlike to vphold and maintaine the truth are left to defend the same multitude authority reputation and opinion of greatnes in others obscuring them in such sort that they which measure things by outward appearance can possibly take no notice of them This was the state of the Christian world in the time of Athanasius when in the Councell of Seleucia and Ariminium the Nicene faith was condemned and all the Bishops of the whole
elsewhere hee saith the things that giue being to the Church are the same with the Church and so cannot be more euident nor easie to be knowen then the Church it selfe Thirdly in his seaventh reason hee saith These are the notes whereby wise and spirituall men doe knowe the Church and againe in his ninth That to demonstrate the Church by these notes is demonstrare idem per idem to demonstrate the same by the same For saith hee when we aske which is that societie that holdeth the true profession and they that assigne these notes answere it is that which holdeth the true profession c. If this man beenot possessed with a spirit of giddinesse saying and vnsaying affirming denying the same things in the very same page and so indeede saying hee knoweth not what let the Reader how partiall so ever he be iudge To that which he addeth that faith is knowen from infidelity religion from superstition a beleeuer from an infidell and a Catholique from an heretique by true doctrine and right vse of sacraments that they are essentiall to them and giue them their being but that the whole collected multitude of right beleeuers must be knowen by those things which are proper and essentiall to such an vnited multitude as vniversalitie and the like We say that there is nothing besides sincerity of profession right vse of Sacraments essentiall to the Church as a collected multitude but onely order and orderly connexion or vnion of men concurring in these while some authorised there vnto doe teach direct and commaund others obey which if wee adde to the former two wee shall finde all and onely those notes which we assigne Neither are sincere profession and right vse of Sacraments so essentiall to beleeuing and catholique men that they doe sufficiently distinguish them from schismatickes vnlesse this be added that they hold the vnitie of the spirit in the bond of peace so that as they doe not sufficiently distinguish the whole body of the Church from the Conuenticles of schismatickes vnlesse an orderly connexion of men concurring in them bee added which orderly vnion or connexion is essentiall to the Church as a collected multitude so doe they not a catholique from a schismaticke but on the other side who is so foolish as to deny that the profession of truth and right vse of Sacraments are essentiall to the whole bodie of the Church seeing as Stapleton himselfe saith Recta fides est anima ecclesiae Right faith is the very life and soule of the Church which is nothing else but an orderly multitude of right beleeuers and is collected and gathered in the true faith of Christ and hope of eternall happinesse which as it cannot be knowen and discerned from the Conventicles of Schismatickes by right faith and due vse of Sacraments onely without the addition of orderly connexion so likewise on the contrarie side it cannot be knowen without these and therefore of necessity they must be notes though not sole and only notes In the seauenth there is nothing but that which refuteth that himselfe else where saith or is refuted by him For when he saith that wise men doe know discerne the Church by the notes assigned by vs hee doth acknowledge that they doe demonstrate the Church in the perfectest sort that may bee which in his ninth he denieth saying that to demonstrate the Church by them is to demonstrate the same by the same and in his eight maketh it sauour of heresie at least to thinke to finde out the true Church by them Whereas in the same place he appropriateth these notes onely to the wiser sort of men as not being within the compasse of ignorant mens conceipt Surely those which he assigneth are lesse obvious to the knowledge of the vulgar sorte than these as shall appeare in that which followeth His eight reason that the notes of the Church must be such as may not be challenged or pretended by the heretiques is answered already in the refutation of the reasons brought by Bellarmine That which he addeth concerning their notes of Antiquitie Vnitie Succession and Vniversalitie that they are so cleerely proper and peculiar to the Church of Rome that wee doe not denie them to agree to it but denie them to be notes of the true Church is wholly false For wee peremptorily denie any of these notes to agree to the Romish Church and with such explication as they forced with our arguments now make of them wee most willingly admitte them and will proue that they differ not really from them assigned by vs. His ninth that the notes assigned by vs are no notes of the Church because to demonstrate the Church by them is to demonstrate the same by the same for that when wee aske which is the true Church wee aske which is the Church that holdeth the true profession and right vse of the Sacraments is a meere sophisticall cavillation For the better manifestation whereof wee must obserue that hee that seeketh to finde out the true Church at the first is wholly ignorant of whatsoever pertayneth to the nature and being of it as Insidels that know not what the very name of the Church importeth and then surely the first thing that he who is thus wholly ignorant enquireth after is not which is that society that holdeth the profession of saving trueth as STAPLETON sayth For hee knoweth not that there is any such profession or society so professing But about the signification of the word and meaning of the name of the Church whom wee satisfie if wee say no more but that it is a society or company of men called by the working of grace to the hope of eternall happinesse But if when hee knoweth thus much and is not ignorant what the word importeth hee doe farther desire to know which among all the societies of men in the world it is that hath this happy and precious hope Wee satisfie him by shewing him what things are so peculiar and proper to it that wheresoever he findeth them hee may assure himselfe that that company and society of men hath the assured hope of eternall happinesse and is the true Church of God as namely the entire profession of reuealed truth according to the rule of faith left by Christ and the right and due vse of Sacraments vnder lawfull pastours and guides appointed to conduct the sonnes of God in the wayes of their eternall blisse and happinesse Now when hee knoweth the entire profession of sauing trueth c. to be proper and peculiar to the true Church if yet still hee know not trueth from errour and the right vse of Sacraments from the profanation of them and therefore aske of vs in the third place which is the true profession which is the multitude that hath it wee will not tell him as Stapleton vainely fancieth that it is that which holdeth and embraceth the trueth but wee will shew him how to know trueth from falshood that so wheresoeuer
it selfe the note of Antiquitie because it hath long continued and beene before others in the profession of Christianitie but besides it is required that it haue aunciently and ever holden the doctrine of trueth This is specially to be noted against old heresies whereof some began in the Apostles times And hee saith of the Churches of Greece Aethiopia and Armenia that though their Antiquitie did reach as high as the Apostles times yet notwithstanding propter doctrinae novitates postea inuentas veram antiquitatem non habent because they haue brought in newe doctrine they haue no true Antiquitie CHAP. 6 Of Succession HItherto we haue spoken of Antiquitie which they make the first note of the Church It followeth in the next place that wee speake of Succession The ministerie of pastours and teachers is absolutely and essentially necessary to the being of the Church For how should there be a Church gathered guided and gouerned without a ministerie Therefore the ministery of those whom God sanctified to himselfe to teach instruct and gouerne his people is an essentiall marke and note of the Church as wee haue already shewed Now because the Church is not to last onely for some short time so to cease but to continue to the end of the world this ministery must continue likewise which because it cannot continue in the same persons all being subiect to death it is necessary that when some faile others possesse the places they formerly held which is to Succeede Neither is this Succeeding of one into the place of another necessary onely by reason of that failing which is by death but because the places of sacred ministery must not be vnfurnished if either the wickednesse of them that are in place cast them out or their weakenesse cause a voluntary relinquishment of their office and standing others must succeede Lawfull and holy ministery therefore is an inseparable and perpetuall note of a true Church for no Church can be without it but Succession not so For the Churches in the first establishment in the Apostles time had it not and many Churches which in sundry ages since haue beene founded had none their Bishops being the first and succeeding none in those episcopall chaires wherein they sate If therefore we should cauill against them as they doe against vs wee might deny Succession to bee a note of the Church because there haue beene and may be true Churches without it as all at the first in the beginning of Christianity and all others since newly founded in their first beginnings But because wee knowe they make not Succession of pastours and Bishoppes a note of the Church absolutely considered but of that which being formerly established is still to bee continued by multitudes of men and people continually succeeding and comming into the places of others that went before them in the same profession of Christianity Let vs see whether Succession of Bishops and pastours may truely be sayd to be a note of the Church Absolutely and without limitation doubtlesse it is not For there may bee a continued Succession of Bishoppes where there is no true Church as at this day amongst the Grecians Armenians and Aethiopians which yet are not the true Churches of GOD in the opinion of them that plead for succession Bellarmine therefore sayth that Succession is inseparable so that there can bee no Church without it but that it is not proper so that wheresoeuer it is found we may assure our selues that there is the Church so forgetting himselfe who requireth in the notes that they be proper and rejecteth our note of purity of doctrine free from pertinacious errour because it may be found among schismatickes though it be inseparable and the true Church cannot be without it But Stapleton handleth this point of Succession much better For hee saith that Succession is an inseparable and proper note of the true Church but not euery Succession but that which is true and lawfull Let vs therefore see what hee requireth to make a true and lawfull Succession First there must be a place voide by resignation deprivation or death Secondly they that succeede must haue election and ordination from them to whom it appertaineth to elect and ordaine Thirdly they must not depart from the faith that was formerly holden by them that went before vnlesse any of them did first decline and goe aside from the way of the first and most auncient that held those places before and therefore in the catalogue of Bishops succeeding one another in each seuerall See wheresoeuer any first began to teach any new and strange doctrine different from that which was formerly deliuered the thread and line of succession was by him either wholly broken or some-what endaungered according to the quality of the errour and the manner of defending and maintaining the same So that this is all which Stapleton saith that wheresoeuer wee finde a Church once established vnder a lawfull ministery in the vndoubted profession of the trueth if afterwards there be a Succession of Pastours and Bishoppes in the same place and that none of them depart from the faith of the former that so it may be evident that what faith was first holden is still holden by them that presently are in place there wee may assure our selues to find the true Church Thus still wee see that truth of doctrine is a necessary note whereby the Church must be knowen and discerned and not ministery or Succession or any thing else without it But saith he the people must not judge which is true doctrine and which is false by the particular consideration of the things themselues but onely by the newnesse strangenesse contrarietie it hath with that which they haue learned of their pastours guides forefathers He alloweth then a kind of judgement to the vulgar sort who must discerne which is the true doctrine which is the false though not by particular consideration of the things themselues that are taught yet by the newnesse strangenesse of them Touching the judgement the people of God ought to haue of the doctrine of Christianity I will speake when I come to the fourth part of my first and generall diuision In the meane while it sufficeth that not bare naked Succession but true lawfull wherein no new or strange doctrine is brought into the Church but the auncient religiously preserved is a marke note or character of the true Church CHAP. 7. Of the third note assigned by them which is Vnitie THe third note of the Church assigned by them is Vnity There are many sorts degrees of Vnity found in the Church The first in respect of the same beginning and originall cause which is GOD that hath called vs to the fellowshippe of his Sonne and to the hope of eternall life 10. 6. No man commeth vnto me vnlesse my father draw him The 2d in respect of the same last end wherevnto all they that are of the Church doe
to doe all these things this power the Princes of the World haue not at all much lesse the supreame authority to doe these things but it is proper to the Ministers of the church And if Princes meddle in this kinde they are like to Vzziah that offered to burne incense for which he was stricken with Leprosie The power of Iurisdiction standeth first in prescribing making Lawes Secondly in hearing examining and judging of opinions touching matters of Faith And thirdly in judging of things pertaining to Ecclesiastical order ministery and the due performance of Gods diuine worship seruice Touching the first the making of a Law is the prescribing of a thing vnder some paine or punishment which hee that so prescribeth hath power to inflict Whence it is consequent that the Prince hauing no power to excommunicate put from the Sacraments and deliuer to Satan can of himselfe make no canons such as Councels of Bishoppes doe who commaund or forbid things vnder paine of excoÌmunication and like spiritual censures but hauing power of life and death of imprisonment banishment confiscation of goods and the like he may with the advice and direction of his Cleargy commaund things pertaining to Gods worship and seruice vnder these paines both for profession of Faith ministration of Sacraments and conversation fitting to Christians in general or men of Ecclesiastical order in particular by his Princely power establish things formerly defined and decreed against whatsoeuer errour and contrary ill-custome and obseruation And herein hee is so far forth supreame that no Prince Prelate or Potentate hath a commaunding authority ouer him yet doe we not whatsoeuer our clamorous Aduersaries vntruly report to make us odious make our Princes with their Ciuill States supreame in the power of commanding in matters concerning God and his Faith and religion without seeking the direction of their Cleargy for the Statute that restored the title of Supremacie to the late Queene Elizabeth of famous and blessed memory prouideth that none shall haue authority newly to judge any thing to be Heresie not formerly so iudged but the high Court of Parliament with the assent of the Cleargy in their Conuocation nor with them soe as to command what they thinke fitte without aduising with others partakers of like precious Faith with them when a more generall meeting for farther deliberation may bee had or the thing requireth it Though when no such generall concurrence may bee had they may by themselues prouide for those parts of the Church that are vnder them From the power and authority wee giue our Princes in making lawes and prescribing how men shall professe and practise touching matters of Faith and Religion let vs proceed to treat of the other part of power ascribed vnto them which is in judging of errors in Faith disorders or faults in things pertaining to Ecclesiasticall order and ministery according to former determinations and decrees And first touching errors in faith or aberrations in the performance of Gods worship and seruice there is no question but that Bishops and Pastors of the Church to whom it pertaineth to teach the trueth are the ordinary and fittest Iudges and that ordinarily and regularly Princes are to leaue the iudgement thereof vnto them But because they may faile either through negligence ignorance or mallice Princes hauing charge ouer Gods people and beeing to see that they serue and worship him aright are to iudge and condemne them that fall into grosse errours contrary to the common sence of Christians or into any other heresies formerly condemned And though there be no generall fayling yet if they see violent and partiall courses taken they may interpose themselues to stay them and cause a due proceeding or remoue the matter from one company and sort of Iudges to another And hereunto the best learned in former times agreed clearely confessing that when some thing is necessary to be done and the ordinary guides of the Church do faile or are not able to yeeld that helpe that is needfull wee may lawfully flye to other for reliefe and helpe when these two things do meete in the state of the Church sayth Waldensis to witte extreame necessity admitting no delay and the want of ability to yeeld reliefe in the ordinary Pastor or Guide wee must seeke an extraordinary Father and Patron rather then suffer the frame fabricke and building of the Lord Christ to bee dissolued If any man happily say that Ambrose a most worthy Bishop refused to come to the Court to be judged in a matter of faith by Valentinian the Emperour and asked when euer hee heard that Emperours iudged Bishops in matters of faith seeing if that were granted it would follow that Lay-men should dispute and debate matters and Bishoppes heare yea that Bishoppes should learne of Lay-men whereas contrarywise if wee looke ouer the Scriptures and consider the course of times past wee shall finde that Bishoppes haue iudged of Emperours in matters of faith and not Emperours of Bishoppes and that therefore it cannot bee without vsurpation of that which no way pertaineth to them that Princes should at all medle with the iudging of matters of faith This obiection what shew soeuer it may seeme to carry is easily answered for first the thing that Valentinian took on him was not to iudge according to former definitions but he would haue iudged of a thing already resolued on in a generall Councell called by Constantine the Emperor as if it had bin free and not yet indged of at all whereas we do not attribute to our Princes with their Ciuill Estates power newly to adiudge any thing to be heresie without the concurreÌce of the State of their Clergy but only to Iudge in those matters of faith that are resolued on according to former resolutioÌs And besides this Valentinian was known to be partiall he was but a nouice and the other iudges he ment to associate tohimselfe suspected therefore Ambrose had reason to do as he did Wherefore let vs proceed to the other part of the power of jurisdictioÌ that coÌsisteth in iudging of things pertaining to Ecclesiastical Order Ministery Concerning which point first it is resolued that none may ordaine any to serue in the worke of the Ministery but the spirituall Pastours and Guides of the church Secondly that none may judicially degrade or put any one lawfully admitted from his degree and order but they alone Neither doe our Kings or Queenes challenge any such thing to themselues but their power standeth first in calling together the Bishoppes and Pastours of the Church for the hearing determining of such things and in taking all due care that all thinges bee done orderly in such proceedings without partiality violence or precipitation according to the Canons and Imperiall lawes made to confirme the same Secondly when they see cause in taking things from those whom they iustly suspect or others except against and appointing others in their places Thirdly
Chap. 2. Of the sufficiencie of the Scripture 232. Chap. 3. Of the originall text of Scripture of the certainty and truth of the originals and of the authority of the vulgar translation 238. Chap. 4. Of the translating of the Scripture into vulgar languages and of the necessitie of hauing the publique liturgie and prayers of the Church in a tongue vnderstood ibid. Chap. 5. Of the three supposed different estates of meere nature grace and sinne the difference betweene a man in the state of pure and meere nature and in the state of sinne and of originall sinne 250. Chap. 6. Of the blessed virgins conception 264. Chap. 7. Of the punishment of originall sin and of Limbus puerorum 270. Chap. 8. Of the remission of originall sinne and of concupiscence remaining in the regenerate 272. Chap. 9. Of the distinction of veniall and mortall sinne 277. Chap. 10. Of free will 279. Chap. 11. Of iustification 290. Chap. 12. Of merit 324. Chap. 13. Of workes of supererogation and Counsels of perfection 331. Chap. 14. Of Election and Reprobation depending on the foresight of something in the parties elected or reiected ibid. Chap. 15. Of the seauen Sacraments 332. Chap. 16. Of the being of one body in many places at the same time ibid. Chap. 17. Of transubstantiation 333. Chap. 18. Touching orall Manducation 334. Chap. 19. Of the reall sacrificing of Christs body on the Altar as a propitiatory sacrifice for the quicke and dead 335. Chap. 20. Of remission of sinnes after this life ibid. Chap. 21. Of Purgatory 336. Chap. 22. Of the Saints hearing of our prayers 337. Chap. 23. Of the superstition and idolatrie committed formerly in the worshipping of Images 338. Chap. 24. Of Absolution ibid. Chap. 25. Of Indulgences and Pardons 339. Chap. 26. Of the infallibility of the Popes iudgment 340. Chap. 27. Of the power of the Pope in disposing the affaires of Princes and their states ibid. The fourth Booke is of the Priuiledges of the Church CHAP. 1. OF the diuerse kindes of the priuiledges of the Church and of the different acceptions of the name of the Church 343. Chap. 2. Of the different degrees of infallibility found in the Church 344. Chap. 3. Of the meaning of certaine speaches of Caluine touching the erring of the Church 345. Chap. 4. Of their reasons who thinke the present Church free from all error in matters of faith 346. Chap. 5. Of the promises made vnto the Church how it is secured from errour of the different degrees of the obedience wee owe vnto it 348. Chap. 6. Of the Churches office of teaching and witnessing the truth and of their errour who thinke the authority of the Church is the rule of our faith and that shee may make new articles of faith 350. Chap. 7. Of the manifold errors of Papists touching the last resolution of our faith and the refutation of the same 351. Chap. 8. Of the last resolution of true faith and whereupon it stayeth it selfe 355. Chap. 9. Of the meaning of those words of Augustine that he would not beleeue the Gospell if the authority of the Church did not moue him 358. Chap. 10. Of the Papists preferring the Churches authority before the Scripture ibid. Chap. 11. Of the refutation of their errour who preferre the authority of the Church before the Scripture 359. Chap. 12. Of their errour who thinke the Church may make new articles of faith 361. Chap. 13. Of the Churches authority to iudge of the differences that arise touching matters of faith 362. Chap. 14. Of the rule of the Churches iudgment 364. Chap. 15. Of the Challenge of Papists against the rule of Scripture charging it with obscurity and imperfection 365. Chap. 16. Of the interpretation of Scripture and to whom it pertaineth 366. Chap. 17. Of the interpretation of the Fathers and how farre wee are bound to admit it 368. Chap. 18. Of the diuerse senses of Scripture 369. Chap. 19. Of the rules we are to follow and the helpes wee are to trust to in interpreting the Scriptures 372. Chap. 20. Of the supposed imperfection of Scriptures and the supply of Traditions 373. Chap. 21. Of the rules whereby true Traditions may be knowne from counterfeit 378. Chap. 22. Of the difference of bookes Canonicall and Apocryphall ibid. Chap. 23. Of the Canonicall and Apocryphall bookes of Scripture 379. Chap. 24. Of the vncertainty and contrariety found amongst Papists touching books Canonicall and Apocryphall now controuersed 382. Chap. 25. Of the diuerse editions of the Scripture and in what tongue it was originally written 385. Chap. 26. Of the Translations of the old Testament out of Hebrew into Greeke 387. Chap. 27. Of the Latin translations and of the authority of the vulgar Latine 388. Chap. 28. Of the trueth of the Hebrew Text of Scripture 390. Chap. 29 Of the supposed corruptions of the Greeke text of Scripture ibid. Chap. 30. Of the power of the Church in making Lawes 393. Chap. 31. Of the bounds within which the the power of the Church in making lawes is contained and whether shee may make lawes concerning the worship of God 394. Chap. 32. Of the nature of Lawes and how they binde 397. Chap. 33. Of the nature of Conscience and how the conscience is bound ibid. Chap. 34. Of their reasons who thinke that humane Lawes do binde the Conscience 399. The fifth booke is concerning the diuers degrees orders and callings of those men to whom the gouernment of the Church is committed CHAP. 1. OF the Primitiue and first Church of God in the house of Adam the Father of all the liuing and the gouernement of same 409. Chap. 2. Of the dignity of the first borne amongst the sonnes of Adam and their Kingly and Priestly direction of the rest 410. Chap. 3. Of the diuision of the preeminences of the first borne amongst the sonnes of Iacob when they came out of Aegypt and the Church of God became Nationall 411. Chap. 4. Of the separation of Aaron and his sonnes from the rest of the sonnes of Leui to serue in the Priests office and of the head or chiefe of that company 412. Chap. 5. Of the Priests of the second ranke or order 413. Chap. 6. Of the Leuites 414. Chap. 7. Of the sects and factions in religion found amongst the Iewes in latter times ibid. Chap. 8. Of Prophets and Nazarites 416. Chap. 9. Of Assemblies vpon extraordinary occasions 417. Chap. 10. Of the set Courts amongst the Iewes their authority and continuance 418. Chap. 11. Of the manifestation of God in the flesh the causes thereof and the reason why the second Person in the Trinity rather tooke flesh then either of the other 423. Chap. 12. Of the manner of the vnion that is between the Person of the Sonne of God and our nature in Christ and the similitudes brought to expresse the same 429. Chap. 13. Of the communication of the properties of eyther nature in Christ consequent vpon the vnion of them in his Person
that pertaine to the Church THey that are partakers of the heauenly calling and sanctified by the profession of divine truth and the vse of the meanes of saluation are of very diuers sorts For there are some that professe the truth deliuered by Christ the Sonne of God but not wholly and entirely as Heretiques some that professe the whole sauing truth but not in vnity as Schismatickes some that professe the whole sauing truth in vnity but not in sincerity and singlenesse of a good and sanctified minde as Hypocrites and wicked men not outwardly divided from the people of GOD and some that professe the whole sauing truth in vnity and sincerity of a good and sanctified heart All these are partakers of the heauenly calling and sanctified by the profession of the truth and consequently are all in some degree and fort of that society of men whom GOD calleth out vnto himselfe and separateth from Infidels which is rightly named the Church These being the different rankes of men made partakers of the heauenly calling and sanctified by the profession of sauing truth there are diuers names by which they are expressed and distinguished one from another For as the name of the Church doth distinguish men that haue receiued the revelation of supernaturall truth from Infidels and the name of the Christian Church Christians from Iewes so the name of the Orthodoxe Church is applyed to distinguish right beleeuing Christians from Heretiques the name of the Catholicke Church men holding the Faith in vnity from Schismatiques the name of the invisible Church the Church of the first borne whose names are written in heauen the mysticall body of Christ and the like to distinguish the elect from all the rest so that many were of the Church which were not of the Christian Church as the Iewes before the coÌming of Christ many of the Christian Church that are not of the Orthodoxe many of the Orthodoxe that are not of the Catholique and many of the Catholique that are not of the invisible and Church of the first borne whose names are written in heauen Thus then the Church hauing her being name from the calling of grace all they must needes bee of the Church whom the grace of God in any sort calleth out from the profane and wicked of the world to the participation of eternall happinesse by the excellent knowledge of divine supernaturall and revealed verity and vse of the good happy and pretious meanes of saluation but they onely perfectly and fully in respect of outward being which professe the whole trueth in vnity and they onely principally fully and absolutely are of the Church whom divine grace leadeth infallibly and indeclinably by these meanes to the certaine and vndoubted possession of wished blessednesse because in them onely grace manifesteth her greatest and most prevailing force without which efficacie of grace winning infallibly holding inseparably and leading indeclinably no man euer attained to saluation of which whoso is partaker shall vndoubtedly be saued In the benefites of this grace none but the elect and chosen of God whom he hath loued with an euerlasting loue haue any part of fellowship though others concurre with them in the vse of the same meanes of saluation and bee partakers with them of sundry inward motions inclining them to good When we say therefore that none but the elect of God are of the Church wee meane not that others are not at all nor in any sort of the Church but that they are not principally fully and absolutely and that they are not of that especiall number of them who partake and communicate in the most perfect worke force and effect of sauing grace CHAP 8. Of their meaning who say that the Elect onely are of the Church THis was the meaning of Wickliffe Husse and others who therefore define the Church to be the multitude of the Elect not for that they thinke them onely to pertaine to the Church and no others but because they onely pertaine vnto it principally fully effectually and finally and in them only is found that which the calling of grace whence the Church hath all her being intendeth to wit such a conversion to God as is joyned with finall perseverance whereof others failing and comming short they are onely in an inferiour and more imperfect sort said to be of the Church The elect and chosen of God are of two sorts some elect onely and not yet called some both elect and called Of the latter there is no question but they are the most principall parts of the Church of God Touching the former they are not actually of the Church but onely secundùm praescientiam praedestinationem in Gods prescience and predestination who hath purposed what they shall be and knoweth what they will be It is frivolous therefore that Bellarmine Stapleton and others of that faction alledge against vs that the elect before they are called are not of the Church For it is true if they speake of actuall admission into the fellowship of Gods people but false if they speake of the intent and purpose of Almighty God whereby they were chosen to be made his in this present world before the world it selfe was made Secundùm praescientiam saith Augustine multi etiam qui apertè foris sunt haeretici appellantnr multis bonis Catholicis meliores sunt In the prescience of God many that are apparantly without and named Heretiques are better then many and those good and right beleeuing Catholique Christians And in his tract vpon Iohn Secundùm praescientiam praedestinationem quam multae ovesforis quam multi lupi intus Quidest inquit quod dixi Quam multae oves foris quam multi luxuriantur casti futuri quam multi blasphemant Christum credituri in Christum hi oves sunt veruntamen modò alienam vocem audiunt alienos sequuntur Item quà m multi intus laudant blasphematuri Casti sunt fornicaturi stant casuri non sunt oves de praedestinatis enim loquimur According vnto Gods prescience and predestination how many sheepe are there without and wolues within what is it saith Augustine that I said How many sheepe are there without how many are there that now wallow in all impurity and filthines that hereafter shall be chast and vndefiled How many now doe blaspheme Christ which hereafter shall beleeue in Christ and these are sheepe yet for the present they heare the voyce of a stranger and follow strangers On the other side how many are there now within which presently praise God that hereafter will blaspheme him which now are chast that hereafter will become impure adulterers now stand that hereafter will fall and these are not sheepe for we speake of the predestinate It is true therefore that Wickliffe Husse Calvine and others doe teach that none but the elect doe pertaine to the Church in such sort as hath beene before expressed and that all the electare
require inward qualities in a man before hee can be at all of the Church but before hee can bee fully of the mysticall bodie of Christ. We say therefore that all they are of the Church that outwardly hold the faith of Christ and that that society wherein the sincere outward professiâ⦠of the truth of God is preserued is that true Church of God whose commââ¦on we must imbrace that happy mother in whose wombe we are conceiuâ⦠with whose milke we are nourished to whose censures we must submit our selues And so it is vntrue that the same Bellarmine imputeth vnto vs charging vs that we affirme that none of the priviledges which Christ hath bestowed on his Church do pertaine to the Church generally considered but only to that more speciall nuÌber of the elect of God who coÌmunicate in the benefits of effectual sauing grace which who they are is known to none but God only For though we know they were all granted for their sakes do benefit them only yet we say not that they pertaine only vnto them For whereas there are 4 sorts of things pertaining and belonging to the Church to wit First the promises of euerlasting loue mercie secondly the knowledge of God and meanes of saluation thirdly the ministery and dispensation of the word and sacraments and fourthly the performance of such duties as God requireth The first sort of things pertaine onely to the more speciall number of the elect of God the second to the whole multitude of Christians in generall the third to such as are lawfully called thereunto the fourth if they be generall duties pertaine to all if speciall to speciall degrees and sorts of men in the Church according to their severall differences Thus then wee see the divers considerations of the Church and the different condition of them that doe pertaine to it of whom it doth consist notwithstanding all which differences for that they all concurre in the same holy profession and vse of the same happy meanes of saluation they make one holy Catholicke Church in which onely the light of heauenly trueth is to be sought where only grace mercie remission of sinnes and hope of eternall happinesse are found Sola Catholica Ecclesia est quae verum Dei cultum retinet hic autem est fons veritatis hoc est domicilium fidei hoc templum Dei quod si quis non intrauerit vel à quo si quis exierit à spe vitae ac salutis aeternae alienus est It is only the Catholicke Church that hath the true worship and seruice of God this is the welspring of trueth the dwelling place of faith the temple of God into which whoso entreth not and from which whoso departeth is without all hope of life and eternall saluation CHAP. 12. Of the diuers sorts of them that haue not yet entred into the Church THey that haue not entred into this societie are of two sorts Infidels and Catechumens that is infidels and such as though they be beleeuers are not yet baptized The former are without of whom the Apostle speaketh when hee pronounceth that hee hath nothing to doe to iudge them that are without The latter for that they make profession of the trueth of God and with longing desires thirst after the full enjoying of the blessed communion of the Saints of God wishing for nothing more then by baptisme to be admitted into the family of Christ and houshold of faith are in vestibulo pietatis as Nazianzen noteth and are like children formed and fashioned in the wombe and come to the birth though not yet brought foorth And therefore the constant resolution almost of all Diuines is and hath beene that if without contempt and neglect by any vnauoidable impediment they bee hindered from enjoying the benefite of this sacramentall assurance of their adoption they doe notwithstanding the want thereof liue and die in the state of saluation These therefore are within as the Apostle speaketh though not by that solemne outward and sacramentâ⦠admission which they doe desire yet in desire purpose and preparation fitting them vnto it which is so farre forth necessarie to saluation that no man euer was or shall be saued that either wilfully neglected or contemned the same And therefore it is not without great cause that Nazianzen in the place aboue mentioned taxeth the folly of some in his time who for that they knew the greatnesse of the benefit of grace which is receiued in baptisme which by no other meanes in so full and ample sort is bestowed on the scââ¦nes of men lest by the euils they might through humane frailtie easily runne into they should fall from it which could not in the same degree and measure be recouered againe deferred and put off their baptisme as long as they could so that some were lifted vp to Bishops chaires before by baptisme they had set one foote within the doores of the house of God not considering as he wisely obserueth that while they sought so providently to auoide the danger of loosing the benefits once receiued in Baptisme they did runne into as great or greater danger neuer to receiue the same And that if the feare of loosing the benefite of the grace of Baptisme once receiued may cause vs iustly to deferre the seeking and obtaining of it we may with as good reason deferre and put off to be Christians at all lest happily in time of persecution and triall we might fall away This was the fault of sundry in the Primitiue Church and which was yet more to be condemned many did therefore differre and put off their Baptisme that so whatsoeuer evill things they did in the meane time might in that Lauer of new birth be washed away thereby taking greater liberty to offend for that they had so present meanes of full remission and perfect reconciliation so making that which was ordained against sinne and for the weakening and ouerthrow of it to be an encouragement thereunto and to giue life and strength vnto it Seeing therefore wee are but in vestibulo pietatis while we remaine vnbaptized and our feete stand but in the outward courts of the Lord of hostes wee must not rest till we enter into his holy habitation till wee may looke into the holiest of all and behold his glorious presence in the middest of his Saints CHAP 13. Of the first sort of them that after their admission into the Church of God doe voluntarily depart and goe out from the same THey which after their entrance and admission into the house of God depart and goe out againe are of two sorts For either they depart of themselues leauing the fellowship and forsaking the faith as Schismatikes and Heretikes or else they are cast out by the censures of the guides of the Church for their wicked vngodly and scandalous conuersation as excommunicate persons and such as are enjoyned publike penance Concerning the first sort
Schismatikes are they that breake the vnitie of the Church and refuse to submit themselues and yeeld obedience to their lawfull Pastours and guides though they retaine an entire profession of the trueth of God as did the Luciferians some others in the beginning of their Schisme though for the most part the better to justifie their Schismaticall departure from the rest of Gods people Schismatikes doe fall into some errour in matters of faith This is the first sort of them that depart and goe out from the Church of God and company of his people whose departure yet is not such but that notwithstanding their Schisme they are and remaine parts of the Church of God For whereas in the Church of God is found an entire profession of the sauing trueth of God order of holy Ministery Sacraments by vertue thereof administred and a blessed vnitie and fellowship of the people of God knit together in the bond of peace vnder the commaund of lawfull Pastours and guides set over them to direct them in the wayes of eternall happinesse Schismatikes notwithstanding their separation remaine still conioyned with the rest of Gods people in respect of the profession of the whole sauing trueth of God all outward actes of Religion and Diuine worship power of order and holy Sacraments which they by vertue thereof administer and so still are and remaine parts of the Church of God but as their communion and coniunction with the rest of Gods people is in some things onely and not absolutely in all wherein they haue and ought to haue fellowship so are they not fully and absolutely of the Church nor of that more speciall number of them that communicate intirely and absolutely in all things necessary in which sense they are rightly denied to be of the Church which I take to be their meaning that say they are not of the Church CHAP. 14. Of the second sort of them that voluntarily goe out from the people of God HEretikes are they that obstinately persist in error contrary to the Churches faith so that these doe not onely forsake the fellowship but the faith also and therefore of these there may be more question whether notwithstanding their hereticall division they still continue in any sort parts of the Church of God But this doubt in my opinion is easily resolued For in respect of the profession of sundry diuine verities which still they retaine in common with right beleeuers in respect of the power of order and degree of ministery which receiuing in the Church they carry out with them and sacraments which by vertue thereof they doe administer they still pertain to the Church But for that they hold not an entire full professioÌ of all such sauing trueths as to know and beleeue is necessary vnto saluation for that their Pastours and Priests though they haue power of order yet haue no power of jurisdiction neither can performe any acte thereof for that they retaine not the vnity of the spirit in the bond of peace they are rightly denied to be of the Church not for that they are not in any sort of it but for that they are not fully and absolutely of it nor of that more speciall number of them which communicate in all things wherein Christians should This more speciall number of right beleeuing Christians is for distinction sake rightly named the Catholike Church because it consisteth of them only that without addition diminution alteration or innouation in matter of doctrine hold the common faith once deliuered to the Saints and without all particular or priuate diuision or faction retaine the vnitie of the spirit in the bond of peace To this purpose is it that Saint Augustine against the Donatists who therefore denied the baptisme of Heretikes to be true Baptisme and did vrge the necessity of rebaptizing them that were baptized by them for that they are out of the Church doth shew that all wicked ones feined Christians and false hearted hypocrites are secluded from the Church of God considered in her best and principall parts and in the highest degree of vnitie with Christ her mysticall head aswell as ââ¦retikes and Schismatikes As therefore all they that outwardly professe the trueth and hold the faith of Christ without schisme or heresie are of the Church and are within as the Scripture speaketh yet are not all ofthat more speciall number of them that are intrinsecus in occulto intus but in more generall sort So likewise Heretikes and Schismatikes though they be not of that speciall number of them that in vnity hold the entire profession of diuine trueth are of the Church generally considered and of the number of them that professe the trueth of God reuealed in Christ. And this surely Augustine most clearely deliuereth For when the Donatists did obiect that Heresie is an harlot and that if the baptisme of Heretikes bee good sonnes are borne to God of heresie and so of an harlot than which what can be more absurde impious his answere was that the conuenticles of Heretikes doe beare children vnto God not in that they are diuided but in that they still remaine conjoyned with the true and Catholike Church not in that they are Heretikes but in that they professe and practise that which Christians should and doe professe and practise It is not therefore to be so scornefully rejected by Bellarmine Stapleton and others of that faction that we affirme that both Heretikes and Schismatikes are in some sort though not fully perfectly and with hope of saluation of the Church seeing Augustine in the iust and honourable defence of the Churches cause against Heretikes did long since affirme the same not doubting to say that Heretikes remaine in such sort conioyned to the Church notwithstanding their Heresie that the true Church in the midst ofthem and in their assemblies by Baptisme ministred by them doth beare and bring forth children vnto God The not conceiuing whereof gaue occasion to Cyprian and the African Bishops of errour and afterwards to the Donatists of their heresie touching the rebaptization of them that were baptized by Heretikes For seeing there is but ââ¦e Lord one faith one Baptisme seeing God gaue the power of the keyes and the dispensation of his word and sacraments onely to his Church if Heretikes bee not of the Church they doe not baptise This their allegation they amplified and enlarged from the nature and condition of heresie and Heretickes and the high pretious and diuine qualitie force and working of the sacraments thereby endeauouring to shew that so excellent meanes pledges and assurances of our saluation cannot be giuen by the hands of men so farre estranged from God There is say they one faith one hope one Baptisme not among heretikes where there is no hope and a false faith where all things are done in lying false and deceiueable maner where he adiureth Sathan that is the vassall of Sathan and possessed of the diuell
Hee proposeth the sacramentall demaunds and wordes of holy stipulation whose mouth wordes send forth a canker He giueth the faith that is himselfe an infidell Hee giueth remission of sinnes that is himselfe most wicked and sinfull Antichrist baptizeth in the name of Christ he blesseth that is himselfe accursed of God hee promiseth life that is himselfe dead he giueth peace that is himselfe an enimy to peace he calleth on the name of God that is a blasphemer of God he administreth and executeth the holy office of Priesthood that is profane he prepareth furnisheth and attendeth the Altar of God that is a sacrilegious person All which objections howsoeuer carrying a faire shew at the first sight and view yet are most easily answered if wee consider that heretikes notwithstanding their heresies doe in some sort still pertaine to the Church and so consequently haue that degree order office ministerie and calling which is holy by vertue whereof they doe administer the holy Sacraments euen as in the true and Catholique Church many wicked ones are found that are no lesse the vassals of Sathan and possessed of the diuell dead in sinne accursed of God profane sacrilegious and enemies of peace than heretikes and ââ¦hismatikes who yet for that they haue that order office and degree of ministerie which is holy doe no lesse nor with lesse effect administer the holy Sacraments than they that are the samplers of all sanctitie pietie and vertue Whereupon the schoolemen rightly note that there are foure sorts of Ministers to wit good secretly bad openly and apparantly wicked but not put from their office and place nor cast out of the Church and lastly such as are depriued of their office and dignitie and remoued from the happie fellowship of right beleeuers The first administer the Sacraments with benefite profit and good to themselues others The second with benefit to others but not to theÌselues The third with hurt to themselues and scandall to others but yet to the euelasting good of them that receiue them if the fault be not in themselues The fourth administer those Sacraments that are holy in their owne nature the meanes pledges assurances of saluation but without any benefit to theÌselues or others because they are in diuision and schisme Whereas nothing though neuer so good excellent is aualeable to their good that are out of the vnitie the people of God should haue among themselues If I giue my body to be burned and haue not charitie it profiteth me nothing saith the Apostle CHAP. 15. Of them whom the Church casteth out by excommunication HItherto we haue treated of such as being once of the Church of themselues goe out from the companie of right beleeuers by schisme or heresie Now it remaineth to speake of them whom the Church casteth out by excommunication Excommunication is that sentence of the Church whereby shee ejecteth and casteth out wicked sinners out of her communion Which communion what it is and wherein it consisteth that we may the better vnderstand wee must obserue that communion is sometimes taken for hauing the same things in common and sometimes for mutuall doing and receiuing good to and from each other In the former sense the communion of the Church is of two sorts outward and inward The outward consisteth in those things which all they that are of the Church haue in common as the profession of the trueth reuealed in Christ and the Character of Baptisme which as a note distinctiue separateth Christians from Infidels and vnbeleeuers The inward consisteth in those things which only the best parts of the Church haue in common as faith hope loue and the like The Communion of the Church in the later sense consisteth in a mutuall and enterchangeable course of action whereby the parts thereof doe and receiue good to and from one another one supplying the want and defect of another This is of two sorts Publike and private The publike consisteth first in the prayers which the Church powreth foorth for euerie the least and most contemptible member thereof thereby obtayning of God the giuing supply and continuance of all necessary good ioyned with a most happie protection keeping them from falling into those evils they are subiect vnto Secondly in the dispensation of Sacraments by the hands of her Ministers Private in mutuall conuersation of one man with another Excommunication doth not depriue the Excommunicate of the former kinde of communion For euerie sentence of excommunication is either iust or vniust If it be vniust they may still retaine all those things which the best parts of the Church haue inward or outward as sometimes it falleth out through the prevailing of factious seditious and turbulent men that the best men are vniustly and vndeseruedly cast out of the true Church as Austine noteth who though they neuer be permitted to returne againe and reenter yet if they continue without gathering any conuenticles or broaching of heresies and still loue professe and seeke to promote what in them lyeth the trueth of God which is holden and professed in the Church of God from the assemblies whereof they are vniustly excluded and banished who dare denie them to be of the Church And therefore Bellarmine himselfe though he make shew as if he meant to proue that excommunicate persons are not of the Church as he endeuoureth to doe that Heretikes and Schismatikes are not yet hee altereth the matter cleane and saith only they are not in the Church corpore externâ communicatione as if hee would only proue that they are excluded from the meetings and assemblies of the Church and conuersing with the people of God There is therefore no doubt but that they are of the Church and that if they patiently endure these indignities iniuries and wrongs they shall be highly rewarded of Almighty GOD but saith Bellarmine they are not of the Church corporally and in outward Communion then which what could be more friuolously spoken For who maketh any doubt but that they are thrust out of the assemblies so that they may not be bodily present when the people of God doe meete together to performe the acts of diuine worship but that therefore they are not properly of the visible Church who that advisedly considereth what he saith would ever say Seeing they haue still the communion which onely is essentiall and maketh a man to be of the Church in that they haue all those things both inward outward which the best among them that remaine not eiected haue as faith hope loue and profession of the whole truth of God the character of baptisme obedient and humble submission to their lawfull superiors which things and no other are required to make a man to be of the Church For the performance of holy duties is an action of them that are already of the Church and doth not make a man to be of the Church Yea the performance of these duties is a thing of that
nature that by violence and the vniust courses holden by wicked men wee may be hindred from it without any fault of ours If the sentence of excommunication be iust yet it doth not cut the excommunicate off from the mysticall body of Christ but doth presuppose that they haue already cut off themselues or that if this sentence being duely and aduisedly pronounced make thâ⦠not relent but that still they hold out against it they will cut off themselues and depriue themselues of all inward grace and vertue From the visible Church of Christ it doth not wholly cut them off for they may and often doe retaine the entire profession of sauing trueth together with the Character of Baptisme which is the marke of Christianitie and so farre forth notwithstanding their disobedience still acknowledge them to be their lawfull pastours and guides by whose sentence they are excommunicate that they would rather endure and suffer any thing theÌ schismatically ioyne themselues to any other communion It doth therefore onely cut them off from communicating with the Church in the performance of holy duties and depriue them of those comforts which by communicating in the sacraments c. they might haue enioyed This excoÌmunicatioÌ is of two sorts the greater and the lesser The greater putteth the excoÌmunicate froÌ the sacrament of the Lords body blood depriueth them of all that coÌfort and strength of grace which from it they might receiue it denieth to theÌ the benefit of the Churches publick prayers so leaueth theÌ to theÌselues as forelorn miserable wretches without that assistaÌce presence protection which froÌ God she obtaineth for her obedient children Whence it is that they are said to be deliuered vnto Sathan because they are left naked void of all meanes to make resistance vnto his will pleasure as if this were not enough they are denied that solace which they might finde in the company and conversation of the people of God who now doe no lesse flye from them than in olde time they did from the Lepers who cryed I am vncleane I am vncleane The lesser excommunication excludeth onely from the Sacramentall pledges and assurances of Gods loue which when it is pronounced against them that stubbornely stand out and will not yeeld themselues to the Churches direction disposition is properly named excommunication but when it is pronounced against them that yeeld when they haue offended and seeke the blessed remedies of the euils they haue committed it is not so properly named excommunication but it is an act of the discipline of repentance and of that power and authority which Christ left vnto his Church whereby shee imposeth and prescribeth to her obedient children when they haue offended such courses of penitency whereby they may obtaine remission of their sinnes and recouer the former estate from which they are fallen CHAP. 16. Of the errours that are and haue beene touching the vse of the discipline of the Church in punishing offenders TOuching this discipline of repentance and power of the Church in ordering offenders and the vse thereof there are and haue beene sundry both errours and heresies The first of the Pelagians in former times the Anabaptists in our times who for euery the least imperfectioÌ cast men out of their societies denying that any are or can be in or of the Church in whom the least imperfection is found Which if it were true there should be no Church in the world all men being subject to sinne and sinfull imperfection that either are or haue beene For it is a vaine dispute of the Pelagians whether a man may be without sinne or not whereof see that which Augustine and Hierom haue written against the madnesse and folly of those men For confirmation of their errour touching absolute perfection they alleage that of the Canticles Thou art all faire my Loue and there is no spot in thee And that of the Apostle to the Ephesians that Christ gaue himselfe for his Church that he might make it to himselfe a glorious Church not hauing spot or wrinkle but that it should be holy and without blame For answere wherevnto first we must remember that which formerly was obserued to wit that sundry glorious titles are giuen to the Church which agree not to the whole totally considered but to some parts onely so it is said to be faire glorious and without spot or wrinkle not for that all or the most part of them that are of the Church are so but because the best and principall parts are so and for that the end intent and purpose of the gift of grace giuen to the Church is to make all to be so if the fault be not in themselues Secondly we must obserue that there is a double perfection purity and beauty of the Church without spot or wrinkle to wit absolute and according to the state of this life The first is not found in any among the sonnes of men while they are clothed with the body of death And therefore if we speake of that absolute purity and perfection the Church is said to be pure all faire and to haue no spot or wrinkle not for that actually and presently it is so but for that it is prepared to be so hereafter as Augustine fitly ââ¦teth The second kinde of purity which is not absolute but according to the state of this life consisteth herein that all sinnes are avoyded or repented of and in Christ forgiuen and his righteousnesse imputed In this sense the Church is now presently pure and vndefiled and yet not free from all sinfull imperfection as the Pelagians and Anabaptists vainely and fondly imagine contrary to all experience and the wordes of the Apostle If wee say wee haue no sin we deceiue our selues and there is no trueth in vs. The second errour touching the power of the Church in the ordering of sinners and the vse thereof was that of the Novatians who refused to reconcile and restore to the Churches peace such as grievously offended but left them to the iudgment of God without all that comfort which the sacraments of grace might yeeld vnto them and if any fell in time of persecution and denied the faith how great and vnfained soever their repentance seemed to bee they suffered them not to haue any place in the Church of God The third of certaine of whom Cyprian speaketh that would not reconcile nor restore to the Churches peace such as foradultery were cast out The fourth of the Donatistes who would not receiue into the lap bosome of the Church such as hauing in time of persecution to saue their owne liues deliuered the bookes and other holy things into the hands of the persecutors did afterwards repent of that they had done and with teares of repentant greefe seeke to recouer their former standing in the Church of God againe yea they proceeded so farre in this their violent and
acknowledge these notes to be vncertaine This who so taketh a view of the places cited by him shall finde to be most false Calvine indeede saith that not the bare preaching of the trueth but the receiuing imbracing and professing of it is necessary to the being of the Church but touching the vncertainety of these notes he saith nothing That which hee obiecteth that wee make the Church to bee onely the number of the elect and that therefore it cannot bee knowen by these notes is answered in the refutation of Bellarmines first reason His third allegation is this There are many that doe truely pertaine to the Church to whom these notes agree not therefore they are no notes of the Church The Antecedent wee denie Hee prooueth it out of our owne doctrine Many not yet called pertaine to the Church but these notes agree not to such therefore there are many to whom these notes agree not which yet pertaine to the Church To the maior proposition we answere thus Of them that pertaine to the Church there are two sorts For some pertaine to it actually some potentially onely and according to the purpose of Gods will To both these these notes agree but in different sort and maner To them that are actually of the Church they actually agree For they doe presently make profession of the trueth of God and ioyne with the people in the vse of holy Sacraments appointed by him To them that potentially and according to the purpose of Gods will pertaine to the Church as doe all the elect not yet outwardly called these notes agree onely potentially and according to the purpose of Gods will for that in due time they shall come to the knowledge and profession of the trueth and vse of those happy meanes of saluation which others actually enioy His fourth obiection that the entire profession of the trueth agreeth to schismatikes is answered already being likewise obiected by Bellarmine Fiftly he reasoneth thus The trueth of heauenly doctrine and right vse of Sacraments are no notes of the Church because they doe not shew vs which is the Church We answere that they doe hee prooueth they doe not because the true Church is knowne of vs before wee can know any of these This we denie For we say a man must know which is true doctrine and what is the right vse of Sacraments before he can know which is the true Church This he thinketh impossible because wee seeke to learne the trueth of the Church and therefore wee must in the beginning of our enquirie knowe which is the true Church and where assuredly trueth is found or else our whole search and enquiry is doubtfull vncertaine and often without successe For the clearing of this doubt we must obserue that seeking is a motion of the mind desiring to knowe where a thing is or what it is Hee that desireth to know where a thing is either knoweth the place within compasse whereof he is sure it is or else his search is doubtfull vncertaine and often in vaine What a thing is we desire to know either by our owne discourse or by the instructions or directions of another Hee that seeketh after a thing desiring to know it by the directions of another either knoweth not particularly and certainely of whom to enquire with assurance that from him he shall receiue satisfaction and this kinde of search and enquirie is alwayes doubtfull and often without successe Or else he knoweth particularly of whom to enquire with assurance of resolution and satisfaction Now if we apply this which hath beene said to that which Stapleton alleadgeth we shall easily answere his obiection For when Infidels and men wholly ignorant of the trueth of God beginne first to seeke it they doe not knowe certainely where they may finde it and being left to themselues would often seeke in vaine as he saith but being directed by diuine providence and the helpe of others to the true Church which they know not and beeing taught by her they are established in the perswasion of the truth taught by her in such sort as they make no doubt of it and are farther resolued that that must needes be the Church of God and company of them whom he loueth where these truthes are in such sort knowne and taught as they find them to be there It is therefore vntrue that Stapleton saith that the Church is better and sooner knowen then the doctrine of it For the doctrine is in some sort knowen before we can know the Church that teacheth vs. For euen as a man wholly ignorant and knowing none of the precepts and principles of Geometrie cannot possibly know who is learned in that kind of knowledge but eitheir casually or by direction of others meeting with one excelling therein learneth of him then by that which he hath learned of him knoweth him to be a skilfull professour thereof and euer after resorts vnto him if in any thing he be doubtfull with assurance of satisfaction whose perfections when he began to learne he knew not but either casually mette with him or by the directions of others and not of his owne choise So we know not the Church what it is which it is nor how excellent it is till we haue learned some part of the doctrine it teacheth and are directed to it without any certainty of our owne knowledge but being once established in the certainty of the trueth of the things shee teacheth we thereby know her to be the Church of God beloued of him ledde into all truth by him and appointed a faithfull witnesse and skilfull mistresse of heauenly truth and then in all our doubts and vncertainties we ever after resort vnto her with full assurance of satisfaction and resolution Thus then wee see how both the Church sheweth vs the truth of heavenly doctrine and that againe the Church but in different sort the Church doctrinally proposing to vs what we must embrace and beleeue and the doctrine of the trueth beleeued and imbraced by vs really demonstrating to vs that to be the Church in which so pretious sauing truthes are taught and professed and that the first repaire and resort of Infidels to the Church proceedeth from the direction of others or some thing which they see that maketh them enquire farther after her but not from their owne knowledge of her infallibilitie and the pretious treasures ââ¦f heauenly trueth which she possesseth as Stapleton vainely fancieth In his sixt obiection first he saith Trueth of doctrine and right vse of sacraments are things without which the Church is not entire and full contrarie to Bellarmine who therefore excludeth them from being notes because they are separable the Church may be without them Secondly in the same place hee saith that these things doe depend of the Church flow from it and are in order of nature after the being of it not giuing being to it or concurring in the constitution of it therefore cannot be notes c but
hee findeth it professed and taught hee may know that society that so professeth as he now knoweth the trueth in Christ to bee is the true Church of God Euen as if one aske of vs how hee may know such a noble mans servants in the Princes Court we satisfie him if wee tell him they are clothed with scarlet if none other but they onely bee so clothed But if he know not scarlet and so aske of vs in the second place which is scarlet and who they are that weare it wee will not tell him they that weare it but shew him how hee may know it that so when hee seeth it he may assure himselfe he hath found the men he enquired after CHAP. 5. Of their notes of the Church and first of antiquitie THus hauing answered the reasons brought by our aduersaries against the notes of the Church assigned by vs let vs proceede to take a view of such as are allowed by them and see if they bee not the very same in substance with ours The notes that they propose vnto vs are Antiquity Succession Vnity Vniversality and the very name and title of Catholicke expressing the Vniversality Antiquity is of two sortes primary and secondary Primary is proper vnto God who is eternall whose being is from everlasting who is absolutely the first before whom nothing was from whom all things receiue being when as before they were not This kind of antiquity is a most certaine proofe and demonstration of trueth and goodnes Of this they speake not who make Antiquity a note of the Church Wherefore letting this passe let vs come to the other which for distinction sake we name secondary Antiquity This is of two sortes The first wee attribute to all those things which began to bee long agoe and since whose first beginning there hath beene a long tract of time This is no note or proofe of trueth or goodnesse For the divell was both a lyer a murtherer long agoe even immediatly after the beginning And there are many errours and superstitions which began long since yea before the name of Christians was once named in the world and sundry heresies that were coaetaneall and as auncient as the Apostles times and that began before the most famous Churches in the world were planted This kinde of Antiquity it is that Cyprian speaketh of Non debemus attendere quid alius ante nos fecerit aut faciendum putauerit sed quid qui ante omnes est Christus prior fecerit Neque enim hominis consuetudinem sequi oportet sed dei veritatem Et alibi Non est de consuetudine praescribendum sed ratione vincendum Et ad Pompeium Consuetudo sine veritate vetustas erroris est Wee must not regard what any other did before vs or thought fit to be done but what Christ did who was before all Neither must wee follow the customes of men but the trueth of God And in another place Wee must not prescribe vpon custome but perswade by reason And writing to Pompeius Custome without trueth is nothing else but inueterate errour There is therefore another kind of Antiquity which is not long continuance or the being before many other but the prime first and originall being of each thing this is a sure proofe of goodnesse and perfection For all defects found in things are swaruings deelinings and departures from their originall and first estate For trueth is before falshood and good before evill and the habit before privation Veritas saith Tertullian in omnibus imaginem antecedit postremò similitudo succedit The trueth is before any counterfeite similitude on representation the trueth is first and then afterwards there are imitations That therefore that is first in any kind or sort of things is truest and best and consequently that Church that hath prime and absolute Antiquity is vndoubtedly the true Church This Antiquity a Church may be sayd to haue three wayes either onely because the first constitution of it was most auncient as taking beginning from the first publishers of heauenly knowledge the Apostles of Christ the immediate indubitate and prime witnesses of the trueth of God whatsoever her declinings haue beene since Or because as her first constitution was most auncient in that shee receiued the faith from the Apostles or such as shee knew vndoubtedly to hold communion with them so she is not since gone from it in whole or in part but still hath the same being shee first had or thirdly because the profession it holdeth is the same that was deliuered by the prime immediate and indubitate witnesses and publishers of the trueth of God though it began to be a Church but yesterday The Antiquity of the first constitution of a Church is no sufficient proofe or note of the trueth or soundnesse of it Neither doe they that plead most for Antiquity thinke it a good proofe for any company or society of Christians to demonstrate themselues to bee the true Church of God because they haue had the profession of Christianity euer since the Apostles times by whose meanes they were first converted to the faith established in the profession of the same For then the Church of Ephesus might at this day proue it selfe a true Church of God yea many Churches in Aethiopia are yet remaining which haue continued in the profession of Christianity euer since the Apostles times But this is all they say that if any Church founded by the Apostles or their coadiutors left by them in the true profession as were the Churches of Rome Antioche Ephesus the like can demonstrate that they haue not since departed from their first and originall estate they thereby doe proue themselues to bee the true Churches of God And if any other that began since as innumerable did can shew that they haue the faith first delivered to the Saints they therby proue themselues no lesse to be the true Church of God then the former which had their beginning from the Apostles themselues and haue continued in a state of Christianity ever since Doe we not see theÌ that it is truth of doctrine whereby the Church is to be found out euen in the judgement of them that seeme most to say the contrary they admitte no plea of Antiquitie on the behalfe of any Churches whatsoeuer though established by the Apostles vnlesse they can proue that they haue not left their first faith So that this is still the triall if they may be found to haue the trueth of profession c. Wherevpon Stapleton saith Ad notam Antiquitatis sibi vendicandam non satis est quòd aliqua societas sub titulo Ecclesiae diu perdurauerit aut prior extiterit sed praetereà necesse est quòd sanam doctrinam semper priùs retinuerit Hoc autem contra veteres haereses maximè ipsis Apostolis coetaneas notandum est It is not a sufficient reason for a societie of Christians to chalenge to
persecuted and oppressed and so be incensed against so pertinacious and stiffe maintainers of the Churches confusions This counsaile would not be followed whence ensued this alteration of things wee now see resisted by the Pope and Papists set forward by many Christian Countries kingdomes and States and long before wished for and foretold before it came to passe For what is now done in this reformation which Cameracensis Picus Sauanorola Gerson and innumerable other worthy guides of Gods Church long before thought not necessarie to be done as appeareth by that wee haue already deliuered touching that matter Thus then it being evident that the number of lawes canons and customes formerly in vse and by vs taken away was a burthen to the Church and an insnaring of mens consciences That in the feasts fasts holy-dayes worship of God and honour of his Saints there were abuses in that very kinde which wee haue reprehended and that a reformation was wished for and the Popes were so farre from setting it forward that when they saw the States of the world ready to accomplish it euen with division of themselues from them they would in no sort consent vnto it though the wisest about them perswaded them to it as the likeliest way to keepe all in quietnesse seeing it was necessary for the good of the Church to free it selfe from that bondage it was formerly holden in vnder the Pope taking all into his owne hands by innumerable sleights and treading downe vnder his feete the Crownes of Kings and jurisdictions of Bishops as hath beene shewed and proued out of Authors not to bee excepted against seeing in matters of doctrine wherein we dissent from them we found vncertainty contradiction and contrarietie some saying that we now say and others that which they defend and the things they defend not hauiug the consenting testimony of other Churches in the world as of Armenia Grecia Aethiopia c. nor the certaine approbation of antiquity and the places of Scripture on which they were grounded being most apparantly mistaken as now in this light of the world themselues are forced to confesse seeing it is certaine there was great ignorance of tongues and all parts of good learning neglect of the studie of Scripture mixture without all judgment of things profane with divine seeing innumerable errours superstitions barbarismes and tautologies were crept into the prayers of the Church seeing there was great corruption ignorant mistaking and shamelesse forgeries of the monuments of antiquitie writings of Ecclesiasticall Authours in favour of errours then maintained which haue beene detected in this age wherein learning is revived and with and out of learning the purity of Religion seeing it was long before resolued the Church must be reformed that this reformation was neuer likely to be obtained in a generall Councell and that therefore seuerall kingdomes were to reforme themselues seeing it was then feared the proceeding in this reformation thus seuerally without generall consent would breed too great difference in the courses that would be taken as wee see it hath now fallen out to the great griefe of all well affected who mourne for the breaches of Sion seeing notwithstanding this disadvantage in that one part of Christendome knew not what another did in this worke of reformation nor consulted with other that so they might proceede in the same in one and the same sort yet it so fell out by the happy providence of God that there is no essentiall fundamentall or materiall difference among those of the reformed Religion whose confessions of faith are published to the view of the world howsoeuer the heate ignorant mistaking inconsiderate writings of some particular men the diversity of ceremonies rites obseruations make shew of a greater division than indeed there is it is most vndoubtfully cleare and evident if wee be not wilfully blinded that this alteration of things in our times was a reformation not as our adversaries blasphemously traduce it an heretical innovation CHAP. 13. Of the first reason brought to prooue that the Church of Rome holdeth the faith first deliuered because the precise time wherein errours began in it cannot be noted NOtwithstanding to stop the mouths of our adversaries whom a spirit of contradiction hath possessed and to satisfie all such as bee any way doubtfull I will by application of the notes of the Church formerly agreed vpon examine the matter of doubt and answere all such reasons as from thence are taken and by them vrged against vs either for proofe of their profession faith and the soundnesse of their owne Church or reproofe of ours The first note assigned by them is Antiquity by which they vnderstand not simply absolutely long continuance in the profession of Christianity but the retaining and hauing that faith which was first delivered to the Saints by the Apostles the immediate and prime witnesses of the trueth which is in Christ. Let us therefore see how they indeavour to make proofe that they now hold that auncient profession This they indeauour to demonstrate three wayes First it being confessed the Church of Rome was the true Church established in the faith by the blessed Apostles and the faith thereof commended and renowned throughout the world they thinke they can prooue there hath beene no change alteration or departure from that sincerity which some times was found in it Secondly they offer to shew the consent and agreement of that forme of doctrine they now teach and that the Fathers of the Primitiue Church did teach in their times and commended to posterity in their writings Thirdly they presume they can shew that our doctrine who dissent from them is nothing else but the renewing of old heresies long since condemned in the best times of the Church by consent of the whole Christian world If they could as easily proue these things as they confidently vndertake it there were no resisting against them But seeing they faile therein so much that very children may discerne their weakenesse therefore I will propose whatsoeuer I find alleaged by any of them in this kind that carrieth any shew of probability that all men may see how weakely their perswasion is grounded in these things which are of greatest consequence First therefore let vs see how they proue there hath been no change in the doctrine discipline profession and state of the Romane Church since the Apostles times In every great and notable mutation say they may bee obserued the author the time place beginnings increasings and resistance made against it But the protestants are not able to note these circumstances in that mutation in matters of religion which they suppose hath been in the Church of Rome Therefore it is evidently convinced there hath beene no such mutation For the more full answering of this obiection wee must obserue that there are 4 kinds of mutation or change in matters of religion The first when the whole essence
saued though the assertions of some men were damnable Now it is cleane contrary touching the present state of the Romish Church For the generall maine doctrine agreed vpon in the Councel of Trent in sort as it is most commonly conceiued is damnable but there are no doubt some of a better spirit and haue in themselues particularly a better conceit of things than generally is holden Formerly the Church of Rome was the true Church but had in it an hereticall faction now the Church it selfe is hereticall some certaine onely are found in it in such degree of Orthodoxie as that we may well hope of their saluation Thus then this great obiection taken from our owne confession is easily answered CHAP. 48. Of Miracles confirming the Romane faith THe next note of the Church is Gods owne testimony which hee giueth of the trueth sanctity of the faith and profession it holdeth This doubtlesse is the most absolute excellent note of all other For that must needes bee the true Church which holdeth the true faith and profession and that the true profession which God that neither himselfe can be deceiued nor deceiue others doeth witnesse testifie to be so For who dare make any doubt whether that bee the true religion or that the true Church which the God of trueth witnesseth to be so Let vs see therefore how God doth testifie concerning the trueth of religion and the happy condition of them that professe it Surely this testification is of two sorts the one by the inward operation of his inlightening spirit satisfying our vnderstandings in those things which by natures light we could not discerne and filling our hearts with ioy and gladnesse such and so great as nothing within natures compasse can yeeld For by this so great happie and heauenly an alteration which wee finde in our selues vpon and together with this receiuing of this doctrine which the spirit of trueth doth teach vs hee doth most clearely witnesse vnto vs that it is heauenly indeede and such as we could not haue attained vnto but by diuine reuelation The other kind of testification is when being desired by them that teach and learne this doctrine to giue some outward testimonie that it is true he doth some such thing for the good of them that receiue it or hurt of such as refuse it as none but God can doe But because partly by reason of the manifold illusions wherewith Sathan can and often doth abuse men making it seem vnto them that those things are done which are not and partly because we doe not exactly know what may be done by the force of naturall causes we cannot infallibly know concerning any outward thing performed before our eyes that it is in deede immediately and miraculously wrought by Gods owne most sacred hands This kinde of testification is not matchable with the other Nay wee cannot be infallibly assured of any thing done that it is Gods owne worke and in deede a miracle vnlesse this assurance grow out of the former testification For we may justly feare some fraud till finding by the inward testimony of Gods spirit the trueth of that for proofe whereof this strange thing is done we are assured it is the immediate and peculiar worke of God This assurance the quality of the things done and the difference betweene the workes of Sathan which onely cause admiration and wonder and the miraculous workes of God that are full of gracious goodnes winning the hearts of such as see them will greatly strengthen To what purpose then will some man say serued all the miracles that were done by Christ and his blessed Apostles This doubt is easily cleared for whereas the things then taught were new strange and incredible to naturall men they would not at all haue listned vnto them made inquiry after them or search into them had not the strange workes that followed the publishers of them made them thinke the things credible that were accompanied with so strange attendants Now while they gaue heed to the things that were spoken the Word was mighty in operation and entred into them in such sort that they discerned it was Gods owne word and that the way of saluation which by it they were directed vnto Thus then we see that miracles are no sure notes of the trueth of Religion nor certaine marke to know the Church by vnlesse they bee strengthened by some other meanes not for that a miracle knowne to bee so is insufficient to testifie of the trueth of God but because it is not possible infallibly to know that the things which seeme vnto vs to be miracles be so in deede vnlesse being assured of the trueth of that for confirmation whereof they are wrought wee thereby bee perswaded they are of God All that hath beene hitherto said is confessed to be true by the best learned Divines of the Romane Church Yea Cardinall Caietan proceedeth so farre that he pronounceth it cannot bee certainely knowne that those miracles are true miracles which the Church admitteth and approueth in the canonizing of Saints seeing the trueth of them dependeth on mens report that may deceiue and be deceiued Thus hauing declared what the vse of miracles is and how farre they giue testimony of the trueth let vs see what our adversaries conclude from hence for themselues or against vs. They haue miracles for confirmation of their faith and Religion and we haue none therefore they hold the true faith and we are in errour For answere hereunto first we say that the trueth of Religion cannot infallibly and certainely be found out by miracles especially in these last times because as Gerson noteth in his booke De distinctione verarum falsarum visionum in this old age of the world in this last houre and time so neere Antichrist his revelation it is not to bee marvailed at if the world like a doating olde man bee abused by many illusions and fantasies most like to dreames Secondly wee say that howsoeuer it may bee some miracles were done by such good men as liued in the corrupt state of the Church in the dayes of our Fathers yet that is no proofe of those errours which the Romanists maintaine against vs. For wee peremptorily deny that euer any miracle was done by any in times past or in our times to confirme any of the things controuersed betweene them and vs. What credit is to be giuen to the reportes of their miracles they may easily conceiue in that in all the differences they haue had amongst themselues either in matters of opinion or of faction they haue had contrary visions reuelations and miracles to confirme the perswasion of either side as appeared in the differences touching Maries conception and in the times of the Anti-Popes Wherevpon Caietane writing to Pope Leo about the controuersie of Maries conception wisheth him not to suffer his iudgement to be swayed by shew of miracles and giueth many good reasons of the
into the knowledge of all truth without any mixture of ignorance errour or danger of being deceiued Let vs come therefore to the second acception of the name of the Church as it comprehendeth onely all those beleeuers that are and haue beene since the Apostles time The whole Church taken in this sort may bee ignorant in sundry things which though they bee contained within the compasse of revealed truth yet are not of necessitie to be expressely knowne by all that will be saued but that the whole Church in this sort conceiued should erre in any thing of this nature it is impossible seeing errour which is an aberration declining or swaruing from the truth once deliuered necessarily implyeth a kinde of particularity and novelty Neither onely is the whole Church comprehending all the beleeuers that are and haue beene since the Apostles time freed from errour in matter of faith But wee thinke it impossible also that any errour whatsoeuer should be found in all the Pastors and guides of the Church thus generally taken Secondly though there may be some question whether any errour may be found in all them whose writings now remaine yet because they haue all written of nothing but that which is absolutely necessary to bee knowne for the attayning of euerlasting saluation and that was euer generally receiued it is not possible they should all be convinced of errour Thirdly though all whose writings remaine haue not written of a thing yet if all that mention it doe constantly consent in it and their consent be strengthened by vniuersall practise wee dare not charge them with errour Yea though their consent be not strengthened by such practise if it be concerning things expressed in the Word of trueth or by necessary and evident deduction to be demonstrated from thence we thinke no errour can be found in all them that speake of things of that nature if in euery age of the Church some be found to haue written of them But in things that cannot be clearely deduced from the rule of faith and word of diuine and heauenly trueth wee thinke it possible that all that haue written of such things might erre and be deceiued This matter is excellently handled by Pererius Augustinus Eugubinus Cornelius Iansenius Hieronymus ab Oleastro who hold it probable that Paradise doth not remaine in originall beauty notwithstanding the consent of all the auncient that haue written of that matter to the contrary Soe likewise Caietaine and Andradius professe they dare goe against the torrent of all the Doctours and dissent from them in the interpretation of some parts of Scripture Bellarmine blameth Pererius Eugubinus and the rest for that they durst imbrace an opinion contrary to the iudgment of antiquity yet doth hee not fasten vpon them any note of heresie or sauouring of heresie Touching the Church as it coÌprehendeth only the belieuers that now are presently liue in the world it is most certaine agreed vpon that in things necessary to be known belieued expressely and distinctly it neuer is ignorant much lesse doth erre Yea in things that are not absolutely necessary to be knowen belieued expressely distinctly we coÌstantly belieue that this Church can neuer erre nor doubt pertinaciously but that there shall euer be some found ready to imbrace the truth if it be manifested vnto them and such as shall not wholly neglect the search and inquiry after it as times and meanes giue leaue As therefore wee hold it impossible the Church should euer by Apostasie and missebeliefe wholly depart from God in prouing whereof Bellarmine confesseth his fellowes haue taken much needlesse paines seeing no man of our profession thinketh any such thing so we hold that it neuer falleth into any heresie so that he is as much to be blamed for idle needeles busying himselfe in prouing that the visible Church never falleth into heresie which we most willingly grant CHAP 3. Of the meaning of certaine speeches of Caluine touching the erring of the Church THat which he alleageth out of Caluine and others as if they supposed the true Church to be sometimes altogether inuisible and that the outward profession of the trueth doth sometimes wholly faile is to no purpose for they meane not that it is wholly inuisible at any time but that it is not alwayes to be esteemed by outward appearance that sometimes the state of things is such that the greatest in place of Ministery in the Church peruert all things that they that defend the truth make theÌselues a reproach To this purpose Occam hath diuerse excellent things out of Hierome and Vincentius Lirinensis sheweth that the poisoned doctrine of the Arians did infect not onely a part but almost the whole Church soe that almost all the Bishops of the Latine Church were misseled and fewe found to defend and maintaine the truth as beseemed them There are therefore foure things which Caluin sayth The first that the Church may not so farre presume of the assistance of the spirit of truth as that she may deuise newe articles of faith and without the certaine direction of the word of God proceede in the determination of doubts in matters of religion The second that she must not relie vpon traditions a pretended vnwritten word but must coÌtain her selfe within the compasse of that heauenly doctrine which is comprehended in the scripture The 3d that so containing her selfe she connot erre The 4th that we haue no assurance that Church shall alwaies so precisely follow the directions of the word of truth as that she shall neuer erre but soe farrefoorth only that she shall euer be free from all errour in things necessary to saluation and such things that men cannot be ignorant of to erre in without pertinacy or ouer-grosse and damnable negligence yea that shee is secured from erring in any thing with hereticall pertinacy This last part of Calvins speach it is that the Iesuite disliketh that he sayth The Church is not absolutely freed from errour but from some kinde of errour onely Yet Melchior Canus confesseth that sundry great Diuines seeme to be of this opinion as the Authour of the Interlineall glosse Thomas Aquinas Cardinall Turricremata and Alfonsus á Castro Yea Picus Mirandââ¦la in his theoremes is of the same opinion confirming it by the authority of Aquinas who thinketh that the Church may erre in Canonizing of Saints and proposing such to be honoured whom God rejecteth from his presence as vessels of his wrath Notwithstanding the Romanists at this day seeme to hold that the whole Church that presently is in the world cannot erre in any thing that either concerneth faith or manners which they endevour to proue by these reasons CHAP. 4. Of their reasons who thinke the present Church free from all errour in matters of faith FIrst for that it is the pillar and ground of trueth secondly for that it is guided by Christ her
head and spouse and thirdly because it is led by the spirit of trueth These reasons will be found exceeding weake if we examine them Let vs therefore take a particular view of them First the Apostle say they calleth the Church the Pillar and ground of trueth therefore it cannot erre These wordes cannot proue that for confirmation whereof our aduersaries alleage them seeing hee speaketh in this place of a particular Church to wit the Church of the Ephesians in which hee left Timotheus when he departed from it Now that particular Churches may erre in matter of fayth and become hereticall our adversaries make no question That the Apostle speaketh of the Church of Ephesus and calleth it The pillar and ground of trueth it appeareth by all circumstances of the place These things haue I written sayth hee hoping to come shortly vnto thee but if I tarrie longer that thou mayest know how to behaue thy selfe in the house of God That house of God in which Paul left Timothie in which he directeth him how to behaue himselfe till hee come he calleth The Church of God and Pillar of truth that Timothie might bethinke him the better how to demeane himselfe in the government of it The Church of God is named the Pillar of trueth not as if the truth did depend on the Church or as if God could not otherwise man fest it than by her Ministery or that our fayth should be built on the authority of it or that we should thinke it absolutely free from all ignorance and errour but because it doth strongly hold and maintaine the sauing profession of the truth notwithstanding all the violence of wicked and cruell enemies as both the Ordinary glosse and that of Lyra doe interpret it and for that by instructions admonitions and comforts it strengtheneth stayeth and supporteth such as otherwise would fall as the Interlineall glosse seemeth to expresse it So then the Church is The pillar of trueth not because it is absolutely free from all errour or that our faith should be builded vpon the infallibility of it but because it alway retayneth a saving profession of heauenly trueth and by strength of reasons force of perswasions timelinesse of admonitions comforts of Sacraments and other meanes of sauing grace The powerfull force whereof the sonnes of God doe feele it strengtheneth and stayeth the weakenesse of all them that depend vpon it This is it that Calvine meaneth when hee sayth the Church is called The pillar of trueth because it firmely holdeth the profession of it and strengtheneth others by the knowledge of it Bellarmines cavill that if this were all the Church might more fitly be compared to a chest than a Pillar is not worth the answering for it doth not onely preserue the trueth as a hidden treasure but by publique profession notwithstanding all forces endeavouring to shake it publisheth it vnto the world stayeth the weakenesse of others by the knowledge of it in which respect it is fitly compared to a Pillar and not vnto an Arke or chest The second reason is much more weake than the former For thus they argue The Church is governed by Christ as by her head and spouse and by the spirit as by the soule and fountaine of her life therefore if shee erre her errour must be imputed vnto Christ and to the spirit of trueth This their consequence is blasphemous and impious For who knoweth not that particular men companies of men and Churches are governed by Christ as by their head and spouse by the spirit of trueth as being the fountaine of their spirituall life as the Churches of Corinth Galatia and the Churches mentioned in the Revelation of S. Iohn called golden Candle stickes in the midst whereof the Sonne of God did walke yet had they their dangerous and grievous errours and defaults for which they were blamed so that by the argument of our adversaries men may blame the spirit of trueth for their errours That which the Iesuite addeth that Christ the husband of the Church is bound to free it from all errour in matter of faith whence any great euill may ensue is as childish an argument as may be devised For if great and grievous euils may be found in the Church then notwithstanding this argument errours also Now that the Church is subject to great grieuous euils he that maketh any questioÌ seemeth to know nothing at all As therfore God giueth that grace whereby the children of the Church may avoyde great and grievous euils and neuer with-draweth the same but for punishment of former sinne and contempt of grace so he giueth the gracious meanes of illumination and neuer withdraweth the meanes of knowledge but when the contempt of the light of knowledge and the abusing of it procure the same So that the sinnes and errours of the children of the Church proceede from themselues and not from any defect or want of Christ the husband of the Church The third reason is he that heareth not the Church must bee holden for an Ethnike therefore it cannot erre But they should know that Christ speaketh in that place of the Sanedrim of the Iewes which whosoeuer refused to obey they held him as an Ethnicke Yet was not that great Councell of State among the Iewes free from danger of erring If these wordes of our Saviour be applyed to the Church as they are ordinarily by the Fathers they must be vnderstood by the censures of the Church which are not alwayes just and righteous as Augustine sheweth and not of her doctrinall determination But saith Bellarmine the Councels were wont to denounce Anathema to all that obey not their decrees therefore they thought they could not erre To this we answere that they denounce Anathema not because they thinke euery one that disobeyeth the decree of the Councell to bee accursed but because they are perswaded in particular that this is the eternall truth of God which they propose therefore they accurse them that obstinately shall resist as Paul willeth euery Christian man to Anathematize an Angell comming from Heauen if he shall teach him any other doctrine then he hath already learned yet is not euery particular Christian free from possibility of erring The other argument that because the Church is holy and her profession holy therefore shee cannot erre will proue as well that particular Churches cannot erre as the vniversall If they say the vniversall Church is holy and the profession of it holy in such adegree as freeth it from error it is petitio principii Their next argument is that if the Church be not free generally from erring but only from erring in things necessary to saluation many Catholike verities may be called in question doubted of for that there are many things that pertaine to faith which are not necessary to saluation This argument holdeth not for though the Church which comprehendeth onely the number of beleeuers that are at one time in the world may
afterwards when they are grown inveterate for that then they will corrupt the monuments of antiquity 8 That the whole present Church may be ignorant of some things and erre in them but that in matters necessary to bee knowne and beleeued expressely it cannot erre and that it cannot erre in any the least thing with pertinacie such and so great as is found in Heretickes Ninthly that Councels and Popes may erre in matters of greatest consequence This our opinion thus layde downe is defended by Waldensis Occam and others Waldensis saith the Church whose faith neuer faileth according to the promise made to Peter who bare the figure of the Church when Christ said I haue prayed for thee that thy faith faile not is not any particular Church as the Church of Africa within the bounds whereof Donatus did inclose it nor the particular Romane Church but the vniversall Church not gathered together in a generall Councell which hath sometimes erred as that at Ariminium vnder Taurus the Governour and that at Constantinople vnder Iustinian the younger but it is the Catholique Church dispersed through the whole world from the Baptisme of Christ vnto our times which doth holde and maintaine the true faith and the faithfull testimony of Iesus CHAP. 6. Of the Churches office of teaching and witnessing the truth and of their errour who thinke the authority of the Church is the rule of our faith and that shee may make new articles of our faith THus hauing spoken of the Churches assured possession of the knowledge of the truth in thenext place wee are to speake of her office of teaching witnessing the same touching the which our adversaries fall into two dangerous errours the first that the authority of the Church is Regula fidei ratio credendi the rule of our faith the reason why we belieue The second that the Church may make new articles of faith Touching the first of these erroneous conceipts the most of them doe teach that the last thing to which the perswasion of our faith resolueth it selfe the maine ground whereupon it stayeth is the authoritie of the Church guided by the spirit of truth For say they if infidels and misbeleeuers demaund of vs why we beleeue the Trinity of persons in the Vnity of the same Divine essence the Incarnation of the Sonne of God the Resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come we answere because these things are contayned in the Scriptures If they proceede farther to aske why wee beleeue the Scripture we answere because it is the word of God if why wee beleeue it to bee the word of God because the Church doth so testifie of it if why we beleeue the testimony of the Church because it is guided by the spirit of truth so that that vpon which our faith settleth her perswasion touching these things is the authority of the Catholique Church ledde and guided by the spirit of truth If it be said that it is one of the things to bee beleeued that the Church is thus guided by the spirit therefore that the authority of the Church cannot be the reason cause of beleeuing all things that pertain to the Christian faith because not of those things which concerne her owne authority Stapleton who professeth to handle this matter most exactly Sometimes seemeth to say that this article of faith that the Church is guided by the spirit and appointed by God to be a faithfull mistrisse of heauenly truth is not among the Articles of faith nor in the number of things to be beleeued Which the Rhemists vpon these words The Church is the pillar and ground of truth most constantly affirme saying We must beleeue heare and obey the Church as the Touchstone Pillar and firmament of truth for all this is comprised in the principle I beleeue the holy Catholique Church Sometimes that though perhaps in that Article it be implyed that wee beleeue whatsoeuer the Church teacheth vs yet not necessarily that wee beleeue that the Church is a faithfull and infallible witnesse mistresse of trueth And sometimes as in his triplication against Whitaker he sayth that when we professe that we beleeue the holy Catholike Church we doe not onely professe to beleeue that there is such a Church in the world but that wee are members of it and doe beleeue and embrace the doctrine of it as being guided infallibly by the spirit of trueth and that wee are taught in the Articles of our faith that the Church ought to bee listned vnto as to an infallible mistresse of heauenly trueth Surely it seemeth his braine was much crased when he thus wrote saying vnsaying saying he knew not what That which he addeth that this proposition God doth reveale vnto vs his heavenly truth teach vs the mysteries of his kingdome by the ministery of his Church is a transcendent wherevpon that article wherein wee professe to beleeue the Catholike Church doth depend as all the rest do is not an Article of the Creede doth but more more shew the distemper of his head But in that which hee addeth for confirmation hereof that we do not professe in the first Article of our faith to beleeue God as the reuealer of all hidden and heauenly truth and to rest in him as in the fountaine of all illumination is the note brand of an impious miscreant For this doubtlesse is the first thing implyed in our faith towards God that we yeeld him this honour to be the great master of all trueth vpon whose authority we will depend renouncing all our owne wisedome knowing that as no man knoweth the things of a man but the spirit of a man so no man knoweth the things of God but the spirit of Got and that flesh and blood cannot reueale these things vnto vs but our father which is in heauen That the precept of louing God aboue all is not distinctly set downe among the rest of the tenne commaundements but is implyed though principally in the first yet generally in all is to no purpose If he thinke it is not at all contayned in the Decalogue his folly is too too great CHAP. 7. Of the manifold errours of Papistes touching the last resolution of our faith and the refutation of the same THus wee see hee cannot avoid it but that the Church is one of the things to be beleeued therefore cannot be the first generall cause of beleeuing all things that are to be beleeued For when we are to be perswaded of the authority of the Church it is doubtfull vnto vs and therefore cannot free vs from doubting or settle our perswasion because that which setleth the perswasion must not be doubted of There is no question then but that the authority of the old Testament may bee brought to proue the new to him that is perswaded of the old and doubteth of the newe and the authoritie of the newe to
proue the old to him that is perswaded of the new and doubteth of the old but to him that doubteth of both we must not alledge the authority of either of these but some other thing so likewise we may proue the authority of the Scripture by the Church to him that is already perswaded of the Church of the Church by the Scripture to him that is perswaded of the Scripture but to him that doubteth of both we must bring other reasons For no man proveth a thing doubtfull by that which is as much doubted of as it selfe So that to proue the authority infallibility of the Church by the testimony and authoritie of the Church which is the thing doubted of is as if one taking vpon him to be a Lawgiuer whose authority is doubted of should first make a law and publish his proclamation and by vertue there of giue himselfe power to make lawes his authority of making the first lawe being as much doubted of as the second Thus then it being cleare and euident that it is one of the things that are to bee beleeued that the Church is guided by the spirit if Stapleton be asked why he beleeueeth it to bee soe guided hee sayth hee soe beleeueth because the spirit mooueth him so to beleeue But he should knowe that three things concurre to make us beleeue that whereof we are doubtfull The light of Diuine vnderstanding as that whereby wee apprehend the things of God The spirit as the author of this illumination and the reasons and motiues by force whereof the spirit induceth mooueth and perswadeth vs. Euen as in the apprehension of things within the compasse of the light of nature when wee are to be perswaded of a thing seeming doubtfull unto vs not only the actioÌ of him that perswadeth vs and the light of naturall vnderstanding are required to the effecting of it but also the force of reasons winning vs to assent to that we are to be perswaded of Wee therefore demand not of Stapleton who it is that perswadeth vs to belieue or what that light of vnderstanding is that maketh him capable of such perswasion but what those reasons or motiues are by force whereof the spirit settleth his minde in the perswasion of the truth of those things he formerly doubted of Surely he sayth the highest and last reason that moueth a man to beleeu the things that partaine to faith is the authority of the Church Let vs suppose it to be so touching all other things yet can it not be so in respect of those things we are to beleeue touching the authority of the Church it selfe What is the motiue then whereby the spirit moueth vs to beleeue that the Church hath diuine authority Hee sayth because it is so contained in the Scripture and in the Articles of the Creed See then if he be not forced to runne round in a circle He beleeueth other matters of faith because contained in the Scripture and the Scripture because it is the word of God and that it is the word of God because the Church deliuereth it to be so and the Church because it is ledde by the spirit and that it is ledde by the spirit because it is so contained in the Scripture and the Creede This kind of circulation Campian reckoneth amongst the Sophismes he wrongfully imputeth vnto vs but it will euer be found true that the Prophet pronounceth of the wicked Impij ambulant in circuitu The wicked runne round till they be giddie and are in the end where they were when they began Out of this maze Stapleton cannot get himselfe vnlesse hee flye to humane motiues and inducements and make them the highest and last reason of his faith and soe indeede hee doth For fearing that hee hath not sayd well in saying he beleeueth the Church is guided by the spirit because it is contained in the Scripture hee addeth another reason why hee so beleeueth because it is the generall opinion and conceipt of all Christian men that it is so guided and so indeed his perswasion stayeth it selfe vpon humane grounds though hee bee vnwilling that men should so thinke and conceiue Thââ¦se mazes and labyrinths other Papists seeking to avoyd runne without any such shewe of feare as Stapleton bewrayeth into most grosse absurdities some thinking that the authority of the Church is the reason moouing vs to beleeue all other things and that we beleeue that the Church is ledde and guided by the spirit and that the truth of God which the Church teacheth vs moued thereunto by humane motiues namely for that that must needes be the truth which so many miracles haue confirmed which a few weake and silly men contemptible in the eyes of the world haue wonne all the world to belieue haue holden out the defence of it against all the furies of enemies whatsoeuer which they could not haue done had not the spirit and power of the most high beene with them making them more then conquerours This is the opinion of Durandus who maketh humane motiues and inducements the highest and last reason of his faith to which also Stapleton flyeth though vnwillingly Others thinke that wee beleeue by the sole and absolute commaund of the will either finding nothing or nothing of sufficient force to perswade vs. Both these conceipts are to be examined by vs. Concerning the first wee are to obserue that the Schoolemen make two kindes of faith calling the one fidem infusam an infused faith wrought in vs by the inlightning spirit of God and staying it selfe vpon the truth of God the other fidem acquisitam a humane and naturall faith grounding it selfe vpon humane authoritie and wrought by humane motiues and perswasions So that according to the opinion of these men we beleeue the Articles of our Christian faith and whatsoeuer is contayned in the bookes of the Prophets and Apostles because wee are perswaded that they were revealed by Almighty God and this pertaineth to infused faith as they thinke but that they were reuealed there is nothing that perswadeth vs but the authority of the Church and because wee haue so learned receiued of our forefathers and this pertaineth to humane faith and is meerely a naturall and humane perswasion like that the Saracens haue touching the superstition of Mahomet who therefore beleeue them because their Auncestors haue deliuered them vnto them If this opinion were true as Melchior Canus rightly noteth the finall stay of our infused faith and the first reason moouing vs so to beleeue should not be the truth of God but humane authority For wee should beleeue the Articles of our faith because they were revealed and beleeue they were revealed because our Auncestours so deliuered vnto vs and the Church so beleeueth And from hence it would farther follow that seeing the assent yeelded to the conclusion can be no greater nor more certaine then that which is yeelded to the premisses whence it is deduced inferred
we should haue no greater certainty of things Diuine and revealed then such as humane meanes and causes can yeeld And so seeing wee can neuer bee so well perswaded of any man or multitude of men but that we may justly feare either they are deceiued or will deceiue if our faith depend vpon such grounds we cannot firmely vndoubtedly beleeue Nay it is consequent vpon this absurd opinion that the Children of the Church and they of the houshold of faith haue no infused or Diuine faith at all for that whatsoeuer is revealed by the God of truth is true the Heathens make no doubt but doubt whether any thing were so revealed and that any thing was so revealed if these men say true we haue no assurance but by humane meanes and causes But the absurdity hereof the same Canus out of Calvin doth very learnedly demonstrate reasoning in this sort If all they that haue beene our teachers nay if all the Angels in Heauen shall teach vs any other or contrary doctrine to that we haue receiued we must holde them accursed and not suffer our faith to bee shaken by them as the Apostle chargeth vs in the Epistle to the Galatians therefore our faith doth not rely vpon humane causes or grounds of assurance Ne mens nostra vacillet altius petenda quà m ab hominum vel ratione vel auctoritate scripturae authoritas Besides our faith and that of the Apostles and Prophets being the same it must needes haue the same object the same ground and stay to rest vpon in both but they builded themselues vpon the sure and vnmooueable rocke of Diuine truth and authority therefore we must doe so likewise If any man desire farther satisfaction herein let him reade Canus and Calvin to whom in these things Canus is much beholding Others therefore to avoide this absurdity run into that other before mentioned that we beleeue the things that are diuine by the meere and absolute command of our will not finding any sufficient motiues reasons of perswasion hereupon they define faith in this sort Fides est assensus firmus ineuideÌs that is faith is a firme certaine ful assent of the mind beleeuing those things the truth whereof no way appeareth vnto vs. For father explication and better clearing of this definition of faith they make two kindes of certainty for there is as they say certitudo evidentiae and certitudo adhaerentiae that is there is a certainty of evidence which is of those things the truth whereof appeareth vnto vs and another of adherence and firme cleauing to that the trueth whereof appeareth not vnto vs. This later they suppose to bee the certainty that is found in fayth and there vpon they hold that a man may beleeue a thing meerely because hee will without any motiues or reason of perswasion at all the contrary whereof when Picus Mirandula proposed among other his conclusions to bee disputed in Rome hee was charged with heresie for it But hee sufficiently cleared himselfe from all such imputation and improued their fantasie that so thinke by vnanswerable reasons which I haue thought good to lay downe in this place It is not sayth hee in the power of a man to thinke a thing to bee or not to bee meerely because hee will therefore much lesse firmely to beleeue it The trueth of the antecedent wee finde by experience and it evidently appeareth vnto vs because if a doubtfull proposition bee proposed concerning which the vnderstanding and minde of man resolueth nothing seeing no reason to leade to resolue one way or other the minde thus doubtfull cannot incline any way till there bee some inducement either of reason sight of the eye or testimony or authority of them wee are well conceipted of to settle our perswasion Secondly a man cannot assent to any thing or judge it to bee true vnlesse it so appeare vnto him but the sole acte of a mans will cannot make a thing to appeare and seeme true or false but either the euidence of the thing or the testimony and authority of some one of whose judgement he is well perswaded Thirdly though the action of vnderstanding quoad exercitium as to consider of a thing and thinke vpon it or to turne away such consideration from it depend on the will yet not quoad specificationem as to assent or dissent for these opposite and contrary kinds of the vnderstandings actions are from the contrary and different appearing of things vnto vs. Fourthly the sole command of the will cannot make a man to beleeue that which being demanded why hee beleeueth he giueth reasons and alledgeth inducements but so it is that in matters of our Christian faith we alledge sundry reasons mouing vs to beleeue as Christians doe as appeareth by the course of all Diuines who lay downe eight principall reasons moouing men to beleeue the Gospell namely the light of propheticall prediction the harmony and agreement of the Scriptures the diligence of them that receiued them carefully seeking to discerne betweene truth and errour the authority grauitie of the writers the reasonablenesse of the things written the vnreasonablenes of all contrary errours the stability of the Church and the miracles that haue beene done for the confirmation of the faith it professeth Fiftly if there be two whereof one beleeueth precisely because he will and another onely because hee will not beleeue refuseth to beleeue the same thing the acte of neither of these is more reasonable then the other being like vnto the will of a Tyrant that is not guided at all by reason but makes his owne liking the rule of his actions Now who is so impious to say The Christians that beleeue the Gospell haue no more reason to leade them so to doe then the Infidels that refuse to beleeue With Picus in the confutation of this senselesse conceipt wee may joyne Cardinall Cameracensis who farther sheweth that as a man cannot perswade himselfe of a thing meerely because hee will without any reason at all so hauing reason hee cannot perswade himselfe more strongly and assuredly of it then the reason hee hath will afforde for if hee doe it is so farre an vnreasonable acte like that of a Tyrant before mentioned Durandus likewise is of the same opinion Assentiri nullus potest nisi ei quod apparet verum igitur oportââ¦t quèd illud quòd creditur appareat rationi verum vel in se vel ratione mââ¦dij per quod assentitur si non in se sed tantùm ratione medij illud medium apparebit verum vel in se vel per aliud medium si non est processus in infinitum oportet quòd deueniatur ad primum quod apparet rationi esse verum in se secundum se That is No man can yeeld assent to any thing but that which appeareth to him to be true therefore whatsoeuer a man beleeueth must seeme and appeare vnto him to bee
seene him and talked with him they professed that they beleeved not for her saying any longer for themselues had heard him speake and did know that hee was the Saviour of the world indeed So men at the first beginne to beleeue moued so to doe by the authority of the Church but rest not in it but in the infallible assurance of diuine trueth Vpon the mistaking of this saying of S. Augustine and an erroneous conceit that our faith stayeth wholly vpon the authority and testimony of the Church hath growne that opinion that the authority of the Church is greater than the authority of the Scriptures CHAP. 10. Of the Papistes preferring the Churches authority before the Scripture TOuching which odious comparison I find some shew of difference amongst the Papistes but none indeede Some affirme that the authorities of the Church and of the Scripture being in divers kindes may in diverse sorts and respects either of them be sayd to be greater then the other to wit the one in nature of an euidence the other of a Iudge and that therefore the comparing of them in authority is vnfit and superfluous Others say that the Church is greater then Scriptures The Rhemists seeme to be of the first sort seeking to conceale that which indeede they thinke because they would not incurre the dislike and ill opinion of men naturally abhorring from so odious a comparison Yet in the same place they doe make the comparison and preferre the Church before the Scriptures 1. In respect of antiquity in that it was before them 2. In excellencie of nature in that the Church is the spouse of Christ the Temple of God the proper subject of God and his graces for which the Scriptures were and not the Church for the Scriptures 3. In power of judging of doubts and controversies the Church hauing judiciall power the Scripture not being capable of it 4. In euidence the definition of the Church being more cleare and evident then those of the Scriptures Stapleton sayth the comparison may be made and the Church preferred before the Scriptures foure wayes 1. So as if the Church might define contrary to the Scriptures as shee may contrary to the writings of particular men how great soeuer In this sense they of the Church of Rome make not the comparison neither doe we charge them with any such thing though Stapleton be pleased to say so of vs. 2. So as the Church may define though not contrary to yet beside the Scripture or written Word of God This comparison is not made properly touching the preheminence of one aboue another in authority but the extent of one beyond the other as Stapleton rightly noteth In this sense the Romanists make the Church greater in authority than the Scriptures that is the extent of the Churches authority larger than of the Scriptures to bring in their traditions but this wee deny and will in due place improue their errour herein Thirdly in the obedience they both challenge of vs where they all say that we are bound with as great affection of piety to obey and submit our selues vnto the determinations of the Church as of the Scriptures both being infallible of diuine and heauenly authority against which no man may resist and that it is a matter of faith so to thinke Yea some of them as Stapleton in the same place are not ashamed to say that wee are bound with greater certaintie of faith to subscribe vnto the determinations of the Church than of the Scriptures and that it is the authority of the Church that maketh vs accept embrace and beleeue the Scriptures Fourthly in the nature of the things themselues in which respect they preferre the Church before the Scriptures as being in it selfe more excellent then the Scriptures as the subject by which the spirit worketh is more excellent then the thing hee worketh by it CHAP. 11. Of the refutation of their errour who preferre the authority of the Church before the Scripture THat wee may the better discerne what is to bee resolued touching these two latter comparisons betweene the Church and the Scriptures wee must remember that which I haue before noted touching them both For first the name of the Church sometimes comprehendeth onely the beleeuers that now presently are liuing in the world Sometimes not onely these but all them also that haue beene since the Apostles times Sometimes all that are and haue beene since Christ appeared in the flesh If the comparison bee made betweene the Church consisting onely of the faithfull that now are and the Scripture wee absolutely deny the equality of their authority and say it is impiety to thinke that both may challenge an equall degree of obedience and faith to bee yeelded to them for it cannot bee proued that the Church thus taken is free from errour nay themselues with one consent confesse that generall Councels representing this Church may erre though not in matters of substance which they purposely meete to determine yet in other passages and in the reasons and motiues leading to such determinations and consequently the whole Church may erre in the same things the one in their opinion being no more infallible than the other Yea some of them feare not to pronounce that Popes and generall Councells may erre damnably and that the Church itselfe may erre in matters not fundamentall though without pertinacy as Picus in his theoremes and Waldensis who freeth only the vniuersall Church consisting of the faithfull that are and haue beene from errour and not the present Church as I shewed before We are so farre then from preferring the Church thus taken as Stapleton in the place aboue mentioned professeth he taketh it in authority before the Scripture that we thinke it impiety to imagine it to be equall That the authority of the Church maketh vs to beleeue with an humane and acquisite faith we deny not but that it maketh vs to beleeue with a diuine faith we deny as before If the comparison be made between the Church consisting of all the faithfull that haue bin since besides the Apostles writers of the holy Scriptures though we think the Church thus taken to be free from any error yet dare we not make it equall to the Scripture For that the Scripture is infallibly true as inspired immediatly froÌ the spirit of truth securing the writers of it from errour The Church not in respect of the condition of the men of whom it consisteth or the manner of the guiding of the spirit each particular man being subject vnto errour but in respect of the generality and vniversality of it in euery part whereof in every time no errour could possibly be found And for that whatsoeuer is vniuersally deliuered by it is thereby prooued to be from the Apostles of whose faith wee are secure Thus then the whole Church thus taken is subiect to the Scripture in all her parts and hath her infallibility from it and therefore in her
manner of hauing the truth is inferiour vnto it neither are we bound to receiue her doctrines as the sacred Scriptures Besides though the Church taken in this sort be free from errour yet not from ignorance of many things wherein we may be instructed by the scripture So that it is possible for a man to vnderstand the naturall literall sense of some parts of Scripture and from thence some things that were not in such sort knowne and deliuered by any that went before as Andradius and Caietanus do proue at large If the comparison be made betweene the Church consisting of all the belieuers that are and haue beene since Christ appeared in the flesh so including the Apostles and their blessed assistants the Euangelists we deny not but that the Church is of greater authority antiquity and excellencie than the Scripture of the new Testament as the witnesse is better then his testimonie and the Lawgiuer greater then the Lawes made by him as Stapleton alleageth But he is to proue the present Church greater in authority than the Scripture which hee vndertaketh but performeth not His reason that the Scripture was giuen for the good of the Church and that therefore the Church is better than the Scripture proueth not the thing intended For as the people are more excellent in degree of being and nature of things than the lawes that be made for their good yet are the lawes of more authority and must ouer-rule and direct the people so though the Scriptures being but significations declarations and manifestations of diuine truth be not better in degree of things than the Church yet in power of prescribing directing and ouer-ruling our faith they are incomparably greater That which the Rhemists adde to shew the greatnesse of the Church aboue the Scripture because the Church hath judiciall power to determine doubts and controuersies whereof as they suppose the Scripture is not capable I will examine in the next part when I come to speake of the power of judging which the Church hath This errour of the Romanists imagining the authority of the Church to bee greater than the Scripture all the best learned in the Church of Rome euer resisted as Waldensis Occam Gerson and sundry others CHAP. 12. Of their errour who thinke the Church may make new articles of faith VNto this errour is joyned and out of this hath growne another not vnlike that the Church may make new articles of faith which though Stapleton and some other of our time seeme to disclaime yet do they indeede fall into it For the better vnderstanding whereof we must obserue as Occam fitly noteth that an Article of faith is sometimes strictly taken onely for one of those diuine verities which are contained in the creede of the Apostles sometimes generally for any Catholike verity This question is not meant of articles of faith in the first sense but in the second and so the meaning of the question is whether the Church that now is may by her approbation make those assertions and propositions to be Catholike verities that were not before or those hereticall that were not A Catholike vetity is a diuine truth which euery Christian is bound to beleeue The things which Christian men are bound to beleeue are of two sorts and consequently there are two sorts of Catholike verities to wit some so neerely touching the matter of eternall saluation that a man cannot be saued vnlesse hee expressely knowe and beleeue them others farther remooued which if a man beleeue implicitè and in praeparatione animi it sufficeth These must bee beleeued expressely and distinctly if their coherence with or dependance on the former do appeare vnto vs so that the manifest deduction of them from the former will make them such as must be expressely beleeued Our aduersaries confesse that the approbation and determination of the Church cannot make that a truth which was not nor that a Diuine or Catholike truth that was not so before but they thinke that the Church by her bare and sole determination may make that verity to be in such sort Catholike that euery one vnderstanding of such determination must expressely beleeue it that was not so and in such degree Catholike before But wee thinke that it is not the authority of the Church but the cleare deduction from the things which we are bound expressely to beleeue that maketh things of that sort that they must be particularly and distinctly known beleeued that were not necessarily so to bee beleeued before and therefore before and without such determination men seeing cleerely the deduction of things of this nature from the former and refusing to beleeue them are condemned of hereticall pertinacy and men not seeing that deduction after the decree of a Councell hath passed vpon them may still doubt and refuse to beleeue without hereticall pertinacy We cannot therefore condemne the Grecians as heretickes as the Romanists doe because wee cannot perswade our selues of them generally that they see that which they deny touching the proceeding of the holy Ghost deduced from the indubitate principles of our Christian faith or that they impiously neglect the search of the trueth What is it then will some men say that the decree of a Councell doth effect Surely nothing else but the rejecting of such as are otherwise minded from the societies of those men and Churches with whom the decree of the Councell doth prevaile and with all wise men the more wary and fearefull pronouncing any thing of those matters concerning which so graue authority hath passed her sentence The Papists proceed further and thinke it hereticall pertinacie to gainsay the decrees of a Councell though they finde the reasons by which they of the Councell were mooued so to thinke and determine to bee too weake and not to conclude the thing intended as in the matter of Transubstantiation they thinke it heresie to gainesay the decrees of those Councels that haue defined it and yet many of them judge all the reasons alleaged to proue it too weake to proue it In deed if it were certaine as they suppose that a generall Councell could not erre this were a sufficient deduction These things are decreede in a generall Councell Therefore ture because it is consequent that that is true which is affirmed by him that cannot erre Thus wee see what it is to bee thought touching this question whether the Church may make new Articles of faith onely one thing must be added for the further clearing hereof The Papistes thinke that the Church may adde to the Canon of the Scripture bookes not yet admitted as the bookes of Hermas the Scholler of Paul intituled Pastor and the constitutions of Clement which if it should doe we were to receiue them with no lesse respect then the Epistle of Iames and other bookes of the New Testament This we thinke to be a most grosse heresie and contrrry to their owne principles who making the number
is in himselfe and maketh vs already to beginne to tast the sweetnesse of so great and happy an vnion is not only true but Diuine and Heauenly such as nature could not teach vs but is to be learned onely of God himselfe It being presupposed in the generalily that the doctrine of the Christian faith is of God and containeth nothing but heauenly truth in the next place we are to inquire by what rule wee are to iudge of particular things contained within the compasse of it This rule is first the summary comprehension of such principall articles of this diuine knowledge as are the principles whence all other things are concluded and inferred These are contained in the creed of the Apostles Secondly all such things as every Christian is bound expressely to beleeue by the light direction whereof he iudgeth of other things which are not absolutely necessary soe particularly to be knowne These are rightly sayd to bee the rule of our faith because the principles of euery science are the rule whereby wee iudge of the truth of all things as being better and more generally knowne then any other thing and the cause of knowing them Thirdly the Analogie due proportion and correspondence that one thing in this diuiue knowledge hath with another soe that men cannot erre in one of them without erring in another nor rightly vnderstand one but they must likewise rightly conceiue the rest Fourthly whatsoeuer bookes were deliuered vnto vs as written by them to whom the first and immediate reuelation of diuine truth was made Fiftly whatsoeuer hath been deliuered by all the Saints with one consent which haue left their iudgment and opinion in writing Sixtly whatsoeuer the most famous haue constantly and vniformely delivered as a matter of faith no man contradicting though many other Ecclesiasticall writers be silent and say nothing of it Seuenthly that which the most and most famous in euery age constantly deliuered as matter of faith and as receiued of them that went before them in such sort that the contradictors and gainsayers wââ¦re in their beginnings noted for singularity nouelty and diuision and afterwards in processe of time if they persisted in such contradiction charged with heresie These three latter rules of our faith we admit not because they are equall with the former originally in themselues containe the direction of our faith but because nothing can be deliuered with such and so full consent of the people of God as in them is expressed but it must needes bee from those first Authors and founders of our Christian profession The Romanists adde vnto these the decrees of Councels and determinations of Popes making these also to bee the rules of faith but because we haue no proofe of their infallibility we number them not with the rest Thus then we see how many things in seuerall degrees and sorts are said to be rules of our faith The infinite excellency of God as that whereby the truth of the heauenly doctrine is proued The articles of faith and other verities euer expressely knowne in the Church as the first principles are the canon by which we judge of conclusions from thence inferred The Scripture as containing in it all that doctrine of faith which Christ the Sonne of GOD deliuered The vniforââ¦e practice and consenting judgement of them that went before vs as a ãâã and vndoubted explication of the things contayned in the Scripture The Scripture saith Vincentius Lirinensis is full and sufficient to all purposes but because of the manifold turnings of heretiques it is necessary that the line of Propheticall and Apostolicall interpretation be drawnââ¦ââ¦owne and directed vnto vs according to the rule of Ecclesiasticall and Catholique sense So then we doe not so make the Scripture the rule of our faith but that other things in their kinde are rules likewise in such sort that it is not safe without respect had vnto them to judge of things by the Scripture alone For without the first rule we cannot know the Scripture to be of God Without the second and third we haue no forme of Christian doctrine by the direction whereof to judge of particular doubts and questions without the other rules wee cannot know the authors and number of the Bookes of Scripture nor the meaning of the things therein written For who shal be able to vnderstand them but hee that is settledin these things which the Apostles presupposed in their deliuery of the Scripture We doe not therefore so make the Scripture the rule of our faith as to neglect the other nor so admit the other as to detract any thing from the plenitude of the Scripture in which all things are contained that must bee beleeued CHAP. 15. Of the challenge of Papists against the rule of Scripture charging it with obscurity and imperfection THis rule our adversaries least esteeme of charging it with obscurity and imperfection and thereupon rely vpon humane interpretations and vncertaine traditions Touching their first challenge made against this rule of the scripture as being obscure and darke and so not fit to giue direction to our faith vnlesse it borrow light from some thing else wee aunswere there is no question but there are manifold difficulties in the scripture proceeding partly from the high and excellent nature of the things therein contained which are without the compasse of naturall vnderstanding and so are wholly hidden from naturall men and not knowne of them that are spirituall without much trauaile and studious meditation partly out of the ignorance of tongues and of the nature of such things by the coÌparison whereof the matters of divine knowledge are manifested vnto vs. But the difference betweene their opinion and ours concerning this difficultie is first in that they thinke the scripture so obscure and hard to be vnderstood that Heretiques may wrest and abuse it at their pleasures and no man be able to convince their folly by the evidence of the Scripture it selfe Secondly in that they thinke that wee cannot by any helpes bee assured out of the Scripture it selfe and the nature of the things therein contayned that that is the true meaning of it which wee thinke to be but that we rest in it onely for the authority of the Church But wee say that men not neglecting that light of direction which the Church yeeldeth nor other helpes and meanes may be assured out of the nature of the things 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 convince the adversaries and gainesayers CHAP. 16. Of the interpretation of Scripture and to whom it pertayneth TOuching this poynt there are two questions vsually proposed the one to whom the interpretation of the Scripture pertaineth the other by what rules and meanes men may finde out tââ¦e true meaning of it Tââ¦ching the first our Adversaries jangle
to posterities This may rightly be named a tradition not as if we were to beleeue any thing without the warrant and authority of the Scripture but for that wee neede a plaine and distinct explication of many things which are somewhat obscurely contayned in the Scripture which being explicated the Scriptures which otherwise we should not so easily haue vnderstood yeeld vs satisfaction that they are so indeede as the Church deliuereth them vnto vs. The fourth kind of tradition is the continued practise of such things as neither are contayned in the Scripture expressely nor the examples of such practise expressely there deliuered though the grounds reasons and causes of the necessity of such practise be there contayned and the benefit or good that followeth of it Of this sort is the Baptisme of Infantes which is therefore named a tradition because it is not expressely deliuered in Scripture That the Apostles did baptize infants nor any expresse precept there found that they should so doe Yet is not this so receiued by bare and naked tradition but that wee find the Scripture to deliuer vnto vs the grounds of it The fift kind of traditions comprehendeth such observations as in particular are not commanded in Scripture nor the necessity of them from thence concluded though in generall without limitation of times and other circumstances such things be there commanded Of this sort many thinke the observation of the lent fast to be the fast of the fourth and the sixt dayes of the weeke and some other That the Apostles deliuered by liuely voyce many obseruations dispensable and alterable according to the circumstances of times and persons we make no question Onely this we say that they are confounded with Ecclesiasticall traditions so that which they are doth hardly appeare and that they doe not necessarily binde posterities The custome of standing at prayer on the Lords day and betweene Easter and Whitsontinde was generally receiued as deliuered by Apostolique tradition and when some beganne to breake it is was confirmed by the Councell of Nice yet is it not thought necessary to be obserued in our time Out of this which hath beene sayd wee may easily resolue what is to bee thought touching traditions For first the Canon of scripture being admitted as deliuered by Tradition though the diuine truth of it be in it selfe cleare and euident vnto vs not depending of the Churches authority there is noe matter of faith deliuered by bare and onely tradition as the Romanists seeme to Imagine Yea this is so cleare that therein they contrary themselues indeauouring to proue by scripture the same things they pretend to hold by tradition as wee shall finde if wee run through the things questioned betweene them and vs. The onely cleare instance they seeme to giue is touching the perpetuall virginity of Mary which they say cannot be proued by scripture and yet is necessary to be beleeued But they should know that this is no point of Christian faith That shee was a Virgin before in and after the birth of Christ wee are bound to beleeue as an article of our faith and so much is deliuered in scripture and in the Apostles Creede but that shee continued so euer after is a seemely truth deliuered vnto vs by the Church of God fitting the sanctity of the blessed Virgin and the honour due to soe sanctified a vessell of Christs incarnation as her body was and soe is de pietate but not de necessitate fidei as the Schoole-men vse to speake Neither was Heluidius condemned of Heresie for the deniall hereof but because pertinaciously hee vrged the deniall of it vpon misconstruction of scripture as if the deniall of it had beene a matter of faith Touching this Allegation of our Aduersaries concerning Maries perpetuall Virginity wee must know that howsoeuer they pretend to hold it onely by tradition yet the Fathers that defend it against Heluidius endeauour to proue it by the Scripture Their instance of Childrens Baptisme is most apparantly against themselues for they confesse it may be proued by scripture Bellarmine proueth it by three reasons taken from the scripture The first is from the proportion betweene Baptisme and Circumcision the Circumcision of Children then and the Baptisme of them now This argument he saith as they propose it cannot be auoyded The second from these two places Iohn 3. Except a man be borne a new of water and of the spirit hee cannot enter into the kingdome of Heauen And that other Suffer little children to come vnto mee for vnto such belongeth the Kingdome of Heauen This Argument he sayth is strong effectuall and pregnant to proue the necessity of the Baptisme of Infants The third is taken from the Baptizing of whole families by the Apostles in which by all likelihood there were infants Surely in this point of traditions our aduersaries bewray their great folly inconstancie making it euident to the whole world they know not what they say Bellarmine sayth that many things touching the matter and forme of sacraments are holden by tradition as not being contained in scripture and yet in the particulars there is nothing defined in the Church of Rome touching these things which he indeauoureth not to proue by scripture Some alleage for proofe of tradition the consubstantiality of the sonne of God with the Father and the proceeding of the holy Ghost from them both Others constantly affirme that these things are proued by scripture Some of them say Pugatory is holden by tradition others thinke it may bee proued by scripture g Melchior Canus endeauouring to proue the necessity of traditions produceth sundry things as not written as inuocation of Saints worshipping of images the Priests consecrating and partaking in both parts of the sacrament That ordination and confirmation are to bee conferred and giuen but onely once which when hee hath alleaged hee dareth not say the scripture doth not deliuer them for feare of gainesaying the truth in some of them and his owne fellowes in other And therefore hee sayth These things perhaps the scripture hath not deliuered For Bellarmine thinketh the Scripture doeth strongly proue the Invocation and worship of Saints and Angels and who is so impudent to deny that the Ministers of the Church are bound by the commaundement of Christ contayned in the Scripture to consecrate and participate in both parts of the Sacrament That confirmation and ordination once conferred are not to be reiterated may be concluded out of the nature of them described vnto vs in the Scripture So that for matters of faith wee may conclude according to the judgement of the best and most learned of our adversaries themselues that there is nothing to be beleeued which is not either expressely contayned in Scripture or at least by necessary consequence from thence and other things evident in the light of nature or in the matter of fact to bee concluded That there were many speeches and diuine sayings of our
these Epistles as being of no great credit alleageth sundry things mentioned by the Ancient as decreed by the Councell of Nice which yet are not found in those twenty Canons now extant to proue that it followeth not that the Bishops of Rome falsified the Councell of Nice because they could not finde the things they vrged in the coppies sent out of the East seeing they might be in some other as well as those things that are mentioned by the Ancient which are not found in these twenty Canons The things alleaged by him out of the Ancient as decreed by the Nicene Councell which yet are not found in the Canons now extant are in number seauen whereof some were neither decreed in that Councell nor reported by the Ancient to haue been decreed there For Hierome doth not say that the Conncell of Nice reckoned the booke of Iudith among the bookes of the Canon but onely that some said it did but that it did not Bishop Lindan bringeth very good reasons as I haue z elsewhere shewed The like may be said of the permitting of Clergie-men hauing wiues to liue with their wiues For the histories do not say the Councell passed a decree to that purpose but that whereas the Fathers of the Councell were about to haue made a decree for the restraining of Clergy-men from Matrimoniall society with their wiues they were by Paphnutius a worthy Bishop and holy Confessor disswaded from so doing and induced to leaue it free as they found it The obseruation of the feast of Easter vpon the Lords day is the third instance giuen by the Cardinall But if Zozimus Bonifacius and Caelestinus could haue brought as good proofe that the decree they vrged was passed in the Councell of Nice as may be brought for the decree touching the keeping of Easter only on the Lords day they had neuer bin resisted though they could not haue found it in the canons For the order that the Councell tooke for vniformity in the keeping of this feast is mentioned in the Epistle of the Councell to the Churches of Aegypt Lybia and Pentapolis and all histories and writers do agree on it Touching the hauing of 2 Bishops in one city which Augustine saith Valerius his predecessor knew not to be forbidden by the Councel of Nice when hee caused him to be ordained Bishop and to sit together with him while he yet liued it is strange that Bellarmine should deny it to be found among the twenty Canons we speake of when as in the eighth Canon it is expressely prouided that if a Nouatian Bishop returne to the vnity of the Church in any citty where there is a Catholique Bishop already the Catholique Bishop shall looke out for him some place in his Diocese that he may bee a Chorepiscopus or shall appoint him to be a Presbyter that both he may remaine in the Clergie and that yet there may not seeme to be two Bishops in one citty That Atticus in the end of the Councell of Chalcedon saith the manner of writing those letters that were called Litterae formatae was deuised in the Councell of Nice no way proueth the thing in question For we inquire not what was there deuised but what was there decreed Lastly that which the Councell of Africa hath as out of the Councell of Nice that none should celebrate the holy Sacrament of the Eucharist but such as are fasting Ambrose that none should be taken into the Clergie that haue beene twise married might by them be taken vpon vncertaine report as that touching the booke of Iudith was by Hierome But to what purpose doth Bellarmine insist vpon these allegations and why doth hee so carefully labour to shew that all the decrees of the Nicene Councell are not comprised within the twenty Canons now extant Is it because he would thereby make vs thinke the Nicen Councell did decree any such thing cencerning appeales as was alleaged in the CouÌcel of Africa by the Popes agents Surely no. For he professeth hee thinketh it very probable that the pretended Canons were neuer made by the Nicene Councell but that they were the Canons of the Councell of Sardica and his reason is because these Canons are in the Councell of Sardica in the very words alleaged And it is not likely the Fathers in that Councell would make the same Canons the Councell of Nice did and no way expresse it that they did not make newe but renew such as were made before Which if it be so it must needes be confessed that the Bishops of Rome were deceiued and mistooke when they alleaged Canons as made in the Councell of Nice that were not made there but in the Councell of Sardica Yet Bellarmine is vnwilling to yeelde so much to the trueth though it bee very mighty and ready to preuaile with him and therefore rather then he will confesse any errour or mistaking hee affirmeth that both these are to be esteemed but as one Councell because many of the same Bishops were present in them both and confirmed the same faith A strange saying doubtlesse and contradicted by himselfe For in his book De Concilijs sorting Councels into three rankes accounting some wholly rejected some wholly approued and some in part rejected and in part approued hee reckoneth the Councell of Nice among those of the second sort and the Councell of Sardica among those of the third sort because consisting of three hundred seuenty and sixe Bishops the three hundreth Occidentall Bishops confirmed the Catholique faith and they of the East diuiding themselues from them coÌfirmed the heresie of the Arrians whereas here he will haue it to be the same with the Councell of Nice for that it was a generall Councell approued and not reckoned in number the second But let vs pardon them this errour and mistaking and see what it was the Councell of Sardica decreed The words of the Fathers of the Councell are these It hath seemed good vnto vs that if a Bishop shall be accused and the Bishops of the same region shall judge him and degrade him if hee that is so deposed or degraded shall appeale and flye to the Bishop of Rome and desire to be heard if hee thinke good to renew the judgment let him be pleased to write to the Bishops that are in the next Prouince that they may diligently enquire into things and judge according to trueth and equity But if hee that desireth to haue his cause heard againe shall moue the Bishop of Rome to send a Presbyter from his owne side let him do what hee thinketh fit And if he shall thinke fit to send some who being present with the Bishops may iudge together with them hauing his authority from whom they are sent let him do as hee pleaseth And if he thinke the Bishops to be sufficient to put an end to the matter let him vse his owne discretion For the clearing of this matter and that we may the better discerne the
man the things that are humane without diuision confusion or conuersion of one of theÌ into another that the differences of these natures remaine inuiolable But in that he denyeth that there are two actions in Christ the one of Deity and the other of Humanity in that he saith it is absurd to thinke that where there are more natures then one there must be more actions then one and alloweth of Cyrus Bishop of Alexandria and Sergius Bishop of Constantinople who were Monothelites rather then of Sophronius Bishoppe of Hierusalem a right worthy and learned Bishop who defended the truth against them both and whose learned Epistle to Sergius Bishop of Constantinople we finde in the sixth generall Councel it cannot be avoided but that he erred in matter of faith in such sort as by consequence it ouerthroweth that distinction of the two natures of God man in Christ which hee seemed to acknowledge Neither can it be cleared from suspition of hereticall bad meaning that he maketh it but a curiosity of philosophers to acknowledge a twofold action in Christ denieth that the fathers euer defined any such thing whereas Pope Martine the first in the Synode of Rome saith it is cleare by the determination of the Fathers that the two natures of Christ remaine vnconfounded in the vnion vndiuided as also his two wills and the two distinct actions naturall properties of them Maximus in his disputation with Pyrrhus found in the second Tome of the Councells cleareth one sentence of Honorius wherein hee seemeth to acknowledge but one will in Christ affirming out of the testimony of him that wrote that Epistle for Honorius that hee meant it of one will of the humane nature of Christ thereby shewing that there was no such contrariety of desires found in him as in vs. But what is that to the other things that are obiected to him Two obiections our Aduersaries haue against them who thinke that Honorius was condemned for heresie The first is that the sixth generall Councell could not condemne him without being contrary to it selfe in allowing the Epistle of Agatho wherein he saith that the faith neuer failed in Peters chaire and that his predecessours did alwayes confirme their brethren The second that some Writers speaking of the Monothelites and naming diuers of them omit him that Maximus in his Dialogue against Pyrrhus Theophanes Isaurus in his History cited by Onuphrius and Emmanuel Chalica in his booke in the defence of the Latines against the Greekes affirme he was euer a catholicke some other as Beda Anastasius Bibliothecarius Blondus Nauclerus Sabellicus Platina doe speake of him as of a Catholicke Bishop The first of these obiections I haue answered else-where shewing that some of Agathoes predecessours might for some short space faile to doe their duty in confirming their brethren swarue from the trueth and yet that be true he saith in that Epistle that in the See it selfe the faith neuer failed and that his predecessours fell not either so many or in such sort but that the Bishoppes of that Church did euer reach forth their helping hands to other either in the beginning of each heresie or before it was vtterly extinct and suppressed as it fell out in this both in respect of Pope Martine and others before and of himselfe now To the second wee say that it doth not seeme to be strongly proved that Honorius was no hereticke by the silence of some few That Maximus doth not cleare Honorius generally but one sentence of Honorius onely That Theophanes Isaurus doth not goe about to cleare Honorius from heresie but saith onely that the Canons of the sixth Councell were not made by the same Fathers that were at first assembled but by others So speaking nothing of Honorius who was condemned in the Councell and not in the canons and that the rest to wit Chalica and some few other liuing long after the time of Honorius are no sufficient proofe against that cloud of witnesses which wee produced in the beginning And therefore there is yet nothing brought to reproue the testimony of onr witnesses or to make good that hee was alwayes a catholicke which is the thing to be proued With Honorius wee may joyne Gregory the third who in his Epistle to Bonifacius giueth leaue to a man whose wife falleth into some such infirmity as maketh her vnfit to company with him to marry another so that hee giue her maintenance And that he speaketh not of any impediment before marriage not knowne which maketh the contract voyde from the beginning but of such infirmities as fall out afterwards it is evident First in that he saith If any mans wife shall be taken with such infirmity c. Secondly in that he prouideth That the husband shall prouide for her maintenance which in case of a voyde contract from the beginning is no way reasonable Thirdly in that he saith He shall thus prouide for her seeing infirmity and not wickednesse driueth him from her Fourthly in that he saith It were better he should containe seeing in case of abuse by vnknowne defect and impediment making the contract void from the beginning there is no more cause why a man so abused should containe and refraine from marriage then any other Now to permit marriage by reason of any defect or infirmity ensuing after the first marriage I thinke our Adversaries will not deny to be erroneous seeing the contrary is defined in the Councell of Trent Neither doth it excuse this errour of Gregory that Bellarmine alleadgeth out of Austin who maketh some doubt whether the wife with her husbands consent yeelding to the wicked desires of him in whose hands he is to saue his life bee excusable from sin seeing he doth but vpon a particular accident propose a disputable question and the other resolueth and giueth warrant for the practise of an vnlawfull thing and that as a Pope in his directions to Bonifacius hauing newly converted certaine barbarous people to the faith of Christ. Wherefore let vs proceede to see whether therebe any moe Popes that may justly be charged with errour or heresie Wee reade in the stories of the Church that one Formosus Bishop of Portua being hardly thought of and suspected by Iohn the Pope left his Bishopricke and fled for feare of him that being called backe by Iohn refusing to returne he was anathematized by him that at last comming into France to satisfie the Pope he was degraded and put into a Lay habite and made to sweare neuer to enter into Rome any more nor euer to communicate but as a Lay man yet afterwards by Martinus Iohns successour he was restored to his Bishopricke absolued from his oath came to Rome and in the end obtained to be Pope contrary to the mindes of many of the Romanes who desired rather to haue had one Sergius a Deacon of the Church of Rome but prevailed not
no man can certainely pronounce that whatsoeuer the greater part of Bishops assembled in a Generall Councell agree on is vndoubtedly true Neither are wee alone in this conclusion but sundry excellently Learned among our Aduersaries in former times euen in the middest of the Papacie concurred in the same For Waldensis expresly affirmeth that Generall Councells haue erred and may erre and confidently deliuereth that it is no particular Church that hath assurance of holding the trueth and not erring from the Faith neither that of Africa which Donatus so much admired nor the particular Church of Rome but the Vniuersall Church nor that Vniuersall Church which is gathered together in a Generall Councell which wee haue found to haue erred sometimes as that at Ariminum vnder Taurus the Gouernour and that at Constantinople vnder Iustinian the yonger in the time of Sergius the Pope according to Beda certaine other but that Catholicke Church of Christ which hath beene dispersed throughout the whole world by the Ministery of the Apostles and others their successours euer since the Baptisme of Christ and continued vnto these times which vndoubtedly keepeth the true faith and the faithfull testimony of Christ teaching Babes Heauenly wisdome and retaining the truth constantly in the middest of all extremities of errours And againe in another place speaking of Councells hee saith that which the multitude of Catholicke Doctors with vnanimous consent resolueth and deliuereth to be true Catholicke and Orthodoxe is not lightly to be esteemed though haply all that are there present are not led by the spirit for this very vnanimous consenting is a great and excellent thing and much to be respected though sometimes by the faults of men carried with sinister respectes it tend to scandall and ruine and thereupon hauing shewed the different degrees of authority found in the Church which I haue else-where set downe at large he pronounceth that onely the consent of the Fathers successiuely from the beginning as absolutely free from danger of erring and next in degree of authority to the Canonicall Scripture is to be listned and hearkned vnto And that no man should thinke it strange that the Fathers successiuely in all ages should be ãâã ãâã certaine and infallible Iudges in matters of faith then a Generall Councell of ãâã ââ¦ting at one time and in one place seeing so many wise just and holy Fathers can neither bee contained within the straites of one place nor are in the world at one time but were giuen successiuely by Almighty God to giue testimony vnto the faith in their seuerall times in a constant and a perpetuall course all which Fathers wee may gather together and haue present all at once so often as wee desire to consult them and to be resolued by them in matters of difficultie and doubt though they could neuer be all assembled into one place or meete together while they liued in the flesh Neither is this the priuate conceipt of Waldensis onely but Picus Mirandula affirmeth that howsoeuer many Diââ¦es are of opinion that generall Councells wherein the Pope is present cannot define any thing amisse concerning faith and good liuing yet there are other that dissent from them affirming that Councells haue erred and may erre as that at Ariminium and the Second at Ephesus Whereas the former sort answere that these Councels might erre because the Pope was not present in them they reply that the second Councell of Ephesus was lawfully called the Popes Legates being present and yet tended to the ouerthrow of the true faith so that Leo was forced to procure the Councell of Chalcedon for the reuersing of the Acts of it And this their opinion of the possibility of the erring of general Councels they proue and confirme by the possibility of their dissenting one from another and the possibility of their dissenting one from another by the directions which the Diuines do giue to shew to which we are to stand when they are found contradictory one to another Besides these there are other who say that Generall Councells may erre for some short time but that they cannot long persist in error and a third sort who thinke that Generall Councels may erre when they proceede disorderedly or vse not that diligence they should Neither is this opinion of the possibility of the erring of general Councels the priuate conceit of late Writers but the Ancient accord with them in the same For Austine pronounceth that the writings of the Bishoppes that haue beene published since the Canon of the Scripture was perfited may be censured and reproued by such as see more by the grauer authority of other Bishops by the prudence of the learned and by Councels if in any thing they bee found to haue erred from the Trueth that Councels holden in seuerall Regions and Prouinces must without all resistance giue way to those that are generall and that among generall Councels the former must be content to be amended by the latter when by experiment that which was shut vp is opened and that which lay hid is found out and known Neither doth Bellarmines euasion that Austine speaketh of matters of fact wherein Councels may erre or of conuersation and manners which may vary serue the turne seeing the drift of Austine is to shew that no writings of men are free from errors but onely the Canonicall Scriptures and that therefore they must be content to be examined iudged and controuled euen in matters of Faith And Isidore speaking of differences in doctrine and matters of Faith and not of Fact only as Bellarmine in the same place confesseth acknowledgeth that Councels may dissent one from another and consequently erre and giueth direction which is to be followed in case such difference doe fall out I haue thought good saith he to adde in the end of this Epistle that so often as in the Actes of Councells there is found disagreement of iudgement the sentence and iudgement of that Councel is rather to be holden which in Antiquity or greatnes of authority excelleth the other But what neede we insist vppon Authorities to proue that Councels may erre In the time of Constantius the Emperor we know there was a generall Councell holden consisting of exceeding many Bishops gathered together out of all parts of the world one part of theÌ meeting at Ariminium in the West the other at Seleucia in the East In both these diuided assemblies there were exceeding many right belieuing Bishops between these there was a continuall intercourse yet things were so carried that both parts consented to the betraying of the sincerity of the Christian profession and the wronging of worthy Athanasius some purposely out of an hereticall disposition some out of a mistaking of things being abused by cunning companions some for that they could no longer indure to stay in a strange countrey consenting to that which they should not haue consented vnto If it be said that
the notorious negligence of the Court of Rome in omitting to doe that which is fitte other to base corruption and therevpon sheweth that an appeale was put in on the behalfe of the Lords of Polonia to the next Generall Councell against which exception was taken that it was not lawfull to appeale from the Pope in any case or to decline his iudgement in matters of faith contrarie to the lawes of God and the decrees of the same Conncell and to the vtter ouerthrowing of all those thinges that were done in the Councell of Pisa and Constance in reiecting the pretenders and electing a new Pope professing that hee is well assured there will neuer be any reformation of the Church by a Councell without the presidency of a guide well affected and prudent stout and constant of which sort he insinuateth the Pope then beeing was not Thus wee see Gerson thought it no impiety in modest sort to taxe the Popes negligence and in most resolute manner to condemne as impious against the Lawes of God and man his pride in denying appeales from himselfe as if no man might decline his iudgement in matters of faith Which things being so let the reader iudge whether that one poore sentence of Gerson mangled and rent from that which went before and followeth after doe bring more aduantage to Master Higgons his cause then it doth preiudice the same when it is ioyned with the other parts of his discourse in the same place But thus doe these Madianites slay themselues with their owne swordes and turne their weapons vpon themselues to the vtter ouerthrow of their bad cause From this particular of the Popes supremacy wherein Master Higgons hath foyled himselfe and hurt his cause hee proceedeth to some generall euidences whence as hee saith it may be proued that Gerson neuer fauoured the Protestanticall reformation The first is for that speaking of the Romish Church he saith Wee must rââ¦ue the certainty of our faith from it The second for that hee preached zealously at Constance against the articles of Wicklife and the Bohemians For answere to the first of these allegations the reader must remember that Gerson doth clearely resolue that the Pope may erre not onely personally but Episcopally and iudicially also and consequently that wee must not ground our faith vpon his resolutions as certaine and vndoubted The like may be said of the Romane Church that is the Romane Diocesse Prouince or Patriarchship for if it haue any more infallibility of iudgement then other particular Churches it hath it from the Bishoppe which it cannot haue seeing he is not free from errour himselfe the meaning therefore of Gerson is not that wee may or must take whatsoeuer the Romane Diocesse Prouince or Patriarchship deliuereth vnto vs to be vndoubtedly true but speaking of the Indians who are Christians and yet doubting whether they hold the faith of Christians sincerely or not hee saith it may be feared least they doe not seeing ââ¦ey are diuided from the Roman Church from which the certainty of faith is to ââ¦e sought to shew that the truth certainty of faith is to be sought in the vnity of the vniuersal or Catholique Church the beginning being taken froÌ that which of all others is the first and chiefest and hathhitherto beene most free from damnable heresies For otherwise that he is no way resolued that the determinations of the particular Roman Church Diocesan Provinciall or Patriarchicall doe absolutely binde all to receiue them it is most cleare and euident in that in his discourse of the meanes of procuring vnitie betweene the Greekes and Latines one speciall cause of the breach betweene them being the determination passed by the Latines touching the proceeding of the Holy Ghost without the consent of the Greekes he wisheth men to consider whether as we are wont to say of the Articles of Paris that they binde none but such as are within the Diocesse of Paris so it may not be saide that the determinations of the Latine Church binde none but those that are within the compasse of the same which he could not nor would not doe if he thought the infallible direction of all the rest to bee in the Romane Church alone and that all euery-where were bound to receiue as vndoubtedly true whatsoeuer it deliuereth as the Romanists at this day doe thinke Besides this it is to be obserued that by the name of the Romane Church the person of the Pope whom the Romanists name the Virtuall Church is not meant nor the Diocesse or Prouince of Rome alone but the whole Latine or West Church subiect to the Bishop of Rome as Patriarch of the West which wee are perswaded neuer yet erred from the Faith but had alwayes in it many worthy men professing and maintaining the trueth of Religion howsoeuer some erred damnably in the midst of it and a separation be now growne betweene the true members of that Church and such as were but a faction in the same So that that which Gerson hath of fetching the certainty of our faith from the Church of Rome proueth not that hee would haue beene an enemy to the Protestanticall reformation for he speaketh not of our fetching the certaintie of our Faith from the Pope or Court or Diocesse of Rome but of the Indians fetching the certainty of their Faith from the Roman that is the Westerne Church But that he neuer thought that all Christians and Churches of the West are to fetch the certainty of their Faith from the Pope or Court of Rome it is evident In that he commendeth the French King that condemned the heresie of Iohn the two and twentieth touching the soules not seeing God till the Resurrection with sound of trumpets the Nobles and Prelats of France being present and beleeued rather the Vniuersitie of Paris then the Court of Rome Neither is the next proofe of Gersons preaching against the Articles of Wickliff and the Bohemians any better then this for hee preached against such Articles as were brought to the Councell of Constance by the English and Bohemians now those Articles were many of them impious and hereticall nay hellish and blasphemous in such sort as they were proposed by them that brought them as that God must obey the Diuel that Kings or Bishops if they be reprobates or if they fall into mortall sinne cease to be Kings or Bishops any longer and that all they doe is meerely voide whereas Wickliffe neuer deliuered any such thing nor had any such impious conceipt as they sought to fasten on him neither is it to be maruailed at that impious things were falsly slanderously imputed to him seeing we are wronged in like sort at this day For there are who shame not to write that we affirme God to be the author of fin that we teach that God doth sin that man sinneth not that God onely sinneth and that God is worse then the diuell with many other like
himselfe may we not tell him he doth so Shall it be lawfull for Theoph Higgons to vse al words of disgrace that he can deuise against Luther Caluin men of as good worth as the Cardinall may no man say any thing to the Cardinall because he is a Cardinall How much soeuer he forget himselfe truly I am not ignorant that these ministers of Antichrist take very much vpon them For as Clemangis long since feared not to write their spirits are so high lofty their words so swelling their behauiour so insolent that if a Painter would paint pride he could not do it better then by representing to the beholders the forme figure of a Cardinall which kind of men though they were originally of the inferiour clergy yet together with the increase of the pompe of the See of Rome grew so great enlarged spread out their Phylacteries in such sort that they despise as farre inferiour to them and much below them not Bishops alone whom in contempt they vse to call petit Bishops but Patriarches Primates Archbishops also almost suffering themselues to be adored and worshipped of them and yet not content therewith seeke to be kings fellowes for the maintenance of which their imagined and fained greatnesse like wild Boares they made hauocke of the Vineyards of the Lord of hoastes Thus wrote he almost 200. yeares since but Gods name be blessed for it these wild Boares haue beene well hunted out of many parts of Christendome since that time But Maister Higgons as if he meant to make an oration in the praise of his Cardinall to reproue as he saith the temerity of such as steepe theis pens in gall and wormewood to vent malicious vntruths against this happy man commendeth him for his intellectuall and morall parts setting them out at large in the particulars and as his manner is to cast in things sodainly without all cause or reason that are no way pertineÌnt he telleth of a crime which I lay vnto him and though I pardon him yet so vncourteous he is that hee sayth I do it in malice The crime as hee will haue it called is this I charge Bellarmine that hee forgetteth himselfe very strangely in his discourse touching the notes of the Church in that in the former part of it he denieth truth of profession or Doctrine to be a note of the Church and in the latter maketh Sanctity of doctrine or profession which he defineth to be the not contayning of any vntruth in matter of faith or vniust thing in matter of manners and conuersation to be a note of the Church Betweene which two assertions as I thinke there is a manifest contradiction For if truth of doctrine and profession and Sanctity of doctrine or profession bee all one as I thinke they will be found to bee then to say truth of doctrine and profession is no note of the Church and to say Sanctity of doctrine or profession is a note of the Church as Bellarmine doth is to vtter manifest contradictions This is the want of memory I find in Bellarmine for which Maister Higgons who amongst other good naturall parts commendeth him highly for tenaciousnesse of memory is offended with Me. But because he is become so jealous of his Cardinals Honour I will shew him another Scape or two in this kind In the former part of his discourse touching the notes of the Church he denieth Sanctity or purity of doctrine free from error to be a note of the Church because it may be found in a false Church for that Schismatickes who are only Schismatickes pertaine not to the true Church whose profession notwithstanding is free from all error as was the profession of the Donatists and Luciferians in the beginning and yet in his latter part he maketh this purity from error a note of the Church In the former part he denyeth it to be a note because it agreeth not inseperably to the true Church as notes should doe seeing the Churches of the Corinthians had it not and yet in the latter part he maketh this purity of doctrine to bee a note of the Church In the former part hee will haue nothing to be a note of the Church that may be claimed or pretended by any but the true Church and thereby excludeth purity of profession which is claymed by all mis-beleeuers and yet in the later admitteth it notwithstanding any challenge Heretickes or Mis-beleeuers make vnto it By this which hath beene said I hope it doth appeare that Maister Higgons had little reason to charge Mee with want of conscience in accusing Bellarmine But for want of ciuilility of manners and respectiue demeanor towards his person whereof hee complaineth let him know that if he inuolue himselfe in infinite contradictions as hee doth if he wrong vs and the Princes People and States of our profession by hellish and diabolicall slanders as he doth if he basely abuse Luther Caluine Bucer Melachthon and others his equalls in merit and esteeme if he set his face against heauen and open his mouth to the dishonour of our late Soueraigne of famous memory and his most excellent Maiesty now regnant as he doth we will be bold to cast this dirt into his face againe if he were a better man then all Master Higgons his base and slauering commendation of him can make to be §. 2. HEre Master Higgons leaueth me and passeth to D. Morton yet so good a will he hath to say something against Me though neuer so idlely that within two or three pages hee returneth to Mee againe and chargeth Mee full wisely with perplexing and involving my selfe in manifest contradictions The first contradiction he would force vpon Me is this The Elect notwithstanding any degree of sinne which they runne into retaine that grace which can and will procure pardon for all their offences and yet sometimeâ⦠there is nothing found in the Elect that can or doth cry to God for pardon It is strange truly that such as Higgons is should be permitted to play the fooles in print as they doe But our Adversaries know it is good to keepe men busied in any sort and that the greatest part of their Adherents will applaud any thing though neuer so senselesly written against vs For otherwise I know they cannot but laugh at the serious folly of this their Novice in this passage For Ineuer say the Elect haue alwayes in theÌ that grace that can and will procure them pardon for all their sinnes and offences as hee chargeth Me but that the Elect called according to purpose haue that Grace that excludeth sin from raigning and that this Grace once had by them is neuer totally nor finally lost Now what contradiction is there betweene these propositions The Elect at sometimes to wit before they be called haue nothing in them that cryeth for pardon and remission of their sins and the Elect after they are once called according
more fully shall be enioyed Resting in the first degree as the authority of the Church moueth vs to beleeue so if it be weakned that kind degree of faith that stayeth on it falleth to the ground hauing no other sufficient stay But if we speake of fayth in respect of her two other degrees shee hath a more sure and firme ground stay to rest vpon And therefore August affirmeth that the truth clearly manifesting it selfe vnto vs is to be preferred before all those things that commend vnto vs the authority of the church that there are certaine spiritually minded men who in this life attaine to the knowledge of heauenly truth sincere wisdome without all doubt discerning it though but in part weakly in that they are men Of which number there is no question but that Aug was one so that the authority of the Church could not be the sole or principall motiue or reason at that time when hee wrote of his present perswasion of the truth of heauenly mysteries contayned in the Gospell of Christ as the Treatiser would make vs beleeue but hauing to do with the Manichees who promised the evident and cleere knowledge of trueth but fayling to performe that they promised vrged him to beleeue that which they could not make him know to bee true he professeth that if he must beleeue without discerning the truth of that he beleeueth he must rest on the authority of the catholicke church For the Manichees had no authority sufficient to moue a man to beleeue in this sort Now the Catholicke Church commanded him not to listen to Manicheus in which behalfe if they would could weaken the authority thereof he professeth hee neither can nor will beleeue any more with such a kind of faith as they vrged him to which is without all discerning of the truth of the things that are to be beleeued Thus we see the discourse of S. Augustine no way proueth that the authority of the Church was the fole or principall ground of the highest degree or kind of faith he had but it is most euident out of the same that it serued onely as an introduction to lead to a more sure perswasion then it selfe could cause §. 5. 6. THe next thing the Treatiser hath that concerneth Mee is that I acknowledge in the Church a rule of faith descending by tradition from the Apostles according to which the Scriptures are to be expounded Whereunto I briefly answere that indeede I admit such a rule so descending vnto vs but that the rule I speake of is nothing else but a summary comprehension of the chiefe heads of Christian doctrine euery part whereof is found in Scripture and from them easily to bee collected and proued deliuered vnto vs by the guides of the Church from hand to hand as from the Apostles So that my words make nothing for proofe of the papists supposed vnwritten traditions wherefore let vs passe to that which followeth which is the Sophisticall circulation which I say Papists runne into in that they beleeue that the Church is infallibly lead into all truth because it is soe contained in the Scripture and that the Scripture is the word of God because the Church infallibly led into all truth telleth them it is In this passage he sayth I wrong Stapleton in that I charge him that in his triplication against Whitaker he affirmeth other matters to be beleeued because they are contained in Scripture and the Scripture because it is the word of God and that it is the word of God because the Church deliuereth it to be so and the Church because it is lead by the spirit and that it is lead by the spirit because it is so contained in the Scripture and the Creed For that as he saith Stapleton in the last place maketh no mention of the Scripture but of the Creed only Wherefore let vs heare Stapleton himselfe speake Whereas D. Whitaker obiecteth that Papists according to Stapletons opinioÌ beleeue whatsoeuer they beleeue not only by but for the Church that ingenuously he had coÌfessed so much he answereth that indeed he had so professed that he euer would so professe and in another place whereas D. Whitaker saith Papistes beleeue the Church because God commaundeth them to do soe and that God doth so commaund them because the Church whose authority is sacred telleth them so he answereth that they doe not beleeue that God commaundeth them to beleeue the Church either properly or onely because the Church telleth them soe but partly because of the most manifest authorities of Scriptures sending men to the Church to bee taught by it partly moued so to doe by the Creede of the Apostles wherein we professe that wee beleeue the Catholique Church that is not only that there is such a Church but that we are members of it and that God doth teach vs by it Is here noe mention of the Scripture but of the Creed onely Doubtlesse the Treatiser hath a very hard fore-head for otherwise he could not but blush and acknowledge that hee wrongeth Mee and not I Stapleton But to make good that which I haue written that Papists either fall into a Sophisticall circulation or resolue the perswasion of their faith finally into humane motiues and inducements first it is to be obserued that noe man perswadeth himselfe of the truth of any thing but because it is euident unto him in it selfe to be as he perswadeth himselfe either in abstractiue knowledge or intuitiue intellectuall or experimentall or of affection or else because it is soe deliuered to bee by some such as hee is well perswaded of both in respect of their vnderstanding discerning aright and will to deliuer nothing but that they apprehend to be true In the former kind the inducement motiue or formall cause of mens assent to such propositions as they assent vnto is the euidence of them in themselues which either they haue originally as the first principles or by necessary deduction from things so euident as conclusions thence inferred In the latter the authority and credit of the reporter The former kind of assent is named assensus euidens the latter ineuidens of which latter sort faith is which is named a firme assent without euidence because many of the things which we are to beleeue are not nor cannot be euident vnto vs originally in themselues as the first principles of humane knowledge nor by deduction from and out of things so evident in such sort as conclusions in sciences are Yet is not this assent without all evidence For though the things beleeued be not euident in themselues yet the medium by vertue whereof we beleeue them must be evident the proofe of them by vertue of that medium Now the medium by vertue whereof we beleeue things no way evident vnto vs in themselues can be nothing else but the report of another neither is euery report of another a sufficient medium
or inducement to make vs beleeue things we know not but it must be the report of such an one as we know cannot be deceiued nor will not deceiue It must therefore be evident to euery one that firmely and without doubting beleeueth things not knowne vnto him vpon the report of another that he that reporteth them vnto him neither is deceiued nor can deceiue Whence it followeth necessarily that things are as he reporteth These things presupposed I demaund of this Treatiser whether he and his consorts assent to the Articles of the Christian Faith induced so to doe by the evidence of the things in theÌselues or by the report of another That they assent not vnto theÌ induced so to do by the evidence of the things in theÌselues they all professe but by the report of another I demand therefore who that other is whether God or man if man then haue they nothing but anhumane perswasion very weakly grounded wherein they may be deceiued for euery man is a lyar If God let them tel me whether it be evident in it self that God deliuereth these things vnto theÌ pronounceth them to be as they beleeue or not If not but beleeued only then as before by reasoÌ of authority that either of God or man Not of God for it is not evident in it self that God deliuereth any thing vnto theÌ not of men for their report is not of such credit asthat we may certainly vndoubtedly stay vpon it seeing they may be deceiued deceiue other They answere therefore that it is no way evident vnto them in it selfe that God deliuereth the things they beleeue but that they perswade themselues hee deliuered such things vpoÌthe report of men but such men as are infallibly led into all truth See then if they doe not runne round in a circle finding no stay They beleeue the resurrection of the dead and the like things because God revealed it they beleeue that God revealed it because it is so contained in the Scripture and the Scripture because it is the Word of God and that it is the Word of God because the Church so delivereth and the Church because it is a multitude of men infallibly led into all truth and that there is a Church infallibly led into all truth because it is so contained in Scripture and the Scripture because it is the word of God and so round without euer finding any end Out of this circle they cannot get vnles they either grouÌd their Faith vpon the meere report of men as men humane probabilities or confesse that it is evident vnto them in it selfe that God speaketh in the Scripture and revealeth those things which they beleeue which if they doe it must bee in respect either of the manner matter there vttered or consequent effects In respect of the manner there being a certaine diuine vertue force and majesty in the very forme of the words of him that speaketh in the Scripture in respect of the matter which being suggested and proposed to vs findeth approbation of reason inlightned by the light of grace in respect of the consequent effects in that we finde a strange and wonderful change wrought in vs assuring vs the doctrine is of God that hath such effects which is that we say which they condemne in vs. The Treatiser would make vs beleeue that there are two opinions amongst them touching this point whereof the one is as he telleth vs that wee beleeue the Church because the Scripture teacheth vs that shee is to be beleeued the Scripture because the Church deliuereth it to vs to be the word of God And the other that by the assistance of God together with the concurrence of our naturall vnderstanding we produce an act of supernaturall Faith by which wee firmely beleeue the Articles of Christian Faith not for any humane inducements but for that they are revealed by Almighty God without seeking any further which if it be so it must be evident in it self to theÌ that follow this opinioÌ that God hath revealed deliuered the things they beleeue that by one of the 3 waies before meÌtioned theÌ they fal into our opinioÌ for if it be not evideÌt to theÌ in it self that God speakes in the scriptures reveales the things they are to beleeue they must go further to be assured that he doth so speake and reueale the things that are to bee beleeued either to proofe of reason or authority For no man perswadeth himselfe of any thing but vpon some inducements Proofe of reason demonstratiue I thinke they will not seeke and probable inducements they may not rest in therefore they must proceede to some proofeby authority which can bee no other but that of the Church and then they ioyne with them that follow the other opinion and beleeue the articles of Christian faith conteyned in Scripture because God hath reuealed them and that God hath reuealed them because the Church telleth them so and the Church because the Scripture testifieth of it that it is led into all trueth which is a very grosse sophisticall circulation This the Treatiser did well perceiue and therefore to helpe the matter he distinguisheth the cause of beleeuing and the condition necessarily requisite that the cause may haue her working in shew making the Diuine Reuelation the reason or cause that we beleeue and the Churches proposing to vs the things to be beleeued a condition only and not a cause in sort as the fire alone is the cause of the burning of the wood but the putting of one of them to another is a necessary condition without which that cause can produce no such effect but this shift will not serue the turne For it is the fire onely that burneth the wood though it cannot burne vnlesse it be put vnto it so that in like sort if the comparison hold the Diuine Reuelation must of and by it selfe alone moue induce and incline vs to beleeue the things proposed by the Church as being euident vnto vs to be a Deuine Reuelation though without the Churches proposing we could take no notice of it Euen as in naturall knowledge it is the euidence of trueth appearing vnto vs originally found in the first principles and secondarily in the conclusions from thence deduced that is the sole and onely cause or reason of our assent to such principles and conclusions though without the helpe of some men of knowledge proposing them to vs and leading vs from the apprehension of one of them to another happily we should not at all attaine such knowledge But this euidence of the Diuine Reuelation in it selfe the Treatiser will not admit For it is no way euident in it selfe to him that God hath reuealed any of the things he beleeueth but the onely proofe besides humane motiues or reasons which are too weake to bee the ground of Fayth that he hath is the authority of the Church So that the Ministery of the Church is
it Thirdly whatsoeuer the most famous in euery age haue constantly delivered as matter of faith receiued from them that went before them in such sort that the gain-sayers were in their beginnings noted for singularity nouelty and diuision and in processe of time if they persisted in such contradiction charged with heresie which is as much as any Papist doth say And then insteed of shewing that I attribute not soe much to the Fathers as I should do or as Papists doe hee turneth himselfe to shew that such consent of Fathers as I speake of is no sure direction for the finding out of the trueth Soe ouer-throwing all that which his owne Diuines haue deliuered touching this point But yet that he may seeme to say something to the purpose he goeth about to proue that I bereaue the Fathers almost of all authority First in that I reiect their testimonies touching all other matters but onely certaine principall and substantiall points Secondly in that I require such a generall consent as can hardly be found touching such principall points Thirdly in that I make the whole Church subiect to error For answere vnto these Allegations I say The first is a shamelesse vntruth For I do not limitte or restraine the consent of the Fathers to certaine principall or substantiall points as hee mis-reporteth Mee but make the same to bee a direction in all thinges that may be cleerely deduced from the rule of faith and word of diuine and heauenly trueth answerably to that of Vincentius Lyrinensis that the consent of holy Fathers is with great studie and care to be sought out and followed by vs not in all petite questions that may bee moued concerning the Diuine law but onely or at the least specially in thinges pertaining to the rule of Faith with whom Pererius agreeth To the second I say that I require no other consent of Fathers then Vincentius Lyrinensis doth who will haue vs onely to followe that doctrine of the Fathers as certaine which all with one consent haue holden written and taught that haue written of such thinges Neither doth this worthy Treatiser admitte any other consent then I require for in this same chapter hee hath these wordes They will obiect that euery one of the Fathers was subiect to errour I confesse it but yet God according to his promise as I haue aboue declared was so to direct and gouerne them that they should not all erre This consent of the Fathers wee make to be a Rule of direction but yet not so generally and absolutely as if truth could not at any time be found out without it but so that wee must not neglect the knowledge of it nor goe against it when wee know it Neither is it necessary for the knowledge hereof as the Treatiser obiecteth to read ouer all the Fathers for the constant concurrence of the principall in all ages without noted contradiction doth suffice to assure vs of such consent The third allegation is partly vntrue and partly inconsequent it is vntrue in that hee sayth I thinke all the Pastours of the present Church may erre in matters of greatest momeÌt It is incoÌsequeÌt because though the whole preseÌt Church may erre in some things not pertaining to the rule of faith and Generall Councels in matters of greatest consequence yet it followeth not that the Fathers of all times and places may be thought to haue erred seeing this succession of Fathers is of greater authority then the company of Pastors that now are Neither is it consequent that if error may possesse the greatest part or almost all the present Church that it may bee Catholike also and so found euery where and euer The former Vincentius Lyrinensis yeeldeth to bee possible but disclaimeth the latter and therefore prescribeth that if error creepe into one part of the Church wee should looke vnto other that if it endeauour to staine and defile all we should looke vp higher vnto antiquity and that if some haue erred amongst the Auncient we should looke what all not noââ¦d for singularity did teach §. 2. WHerefore let vs proceed to that which followeth in the next place first hee reporteth what I haue written touching the ground of that perswasion which we haue of the trueth of thinges contayned in Scripture and then taketh exceptions to it In the report first he sayth that I make the principall cause of our beleefe of thinges contained in the bookes of holy Scripture to be the habit or light of faith Secondly that besides the habit or light of faith I require reasons or motiues by force whereof the spirit of God may settle the mind of a man in the perswasion of the trueth of things contained in Scripture that might otherwise be doubted of Thirdly that I make this motiue or reason in some things to bee the evidence of the things themselues in the light of grace in other not so evident vnto vs the authority of God himselfe whom we doe most certainely discerne to speake in the word of Faith preached vnto vs. These things I confesse are deliuered by Mee and rightly collected by him out of that which I haue written Yet doth hee wrong some other of the same iudgment with Me touching this point in that he saith vntruly they reject all supernaturall habits so goeth about to make a difference betweene them and Mee in this respect whereas in truth and in deede there is none But what is that the good man doth or can dislike in this my discourse First hee vndertaketh to proue that neither the evidence of the things contained in Scriptures in themselues presupposing the light of grace nor the authoritie of God himselfe discerned to speake can be sufficient motiues whereby the spirit of God may settle vs in the perswasioÌ of the truth of such things as are therein coÌtained Whereas yet I think if he were asked what the motiues are by force whereof the spirit doth effect this work if these be not he would not easily giue any answer but how doth he demoÌstrate the insufficiencie of these motiues Surely very weakly insufficiently For first thus he reasoneth against them if these motiues were of sufficiencie euery one enlightned by the light of grace should by vertue of them bee perswaded of the Heauenly Trueth of all such things as are contained in the books of God which is a very bad inference For by the like kinde of reasoning it may bee prooued that the evidence of things in the light of nature is not the motiue or inducement that causeth our perswasion touching such things as are knowne in naturall knowledge because all that haue the light of naturall reason are not rightly perswaded concerning all such things which no wise man will allow So that as it is not to be imputed to the defect of evidence in the things that are to be knowne in naturall knowledge which should settle the perswasion that all men are not rightly perswaded of
and so much to be desired yet if they cannot bee had the truth may be found out by other meanes yea haue not the Fathers in factious times complained that they neuer saw good end of any councell and yet were resolued in matters of the faith and able to settle others also CHAP. 7. IN this chapter wherein he indeauoureth to shew that traditions are of equall authoritie with Scripture and yet proue the Romane Religion he hath these wordes The dignity and authority of vnwritten and Apostolicall traditions being lawfully proued was euer esteemed such that M. Wootton affirmeth out of all question we are bound to keep them and telleth that M. Perkins was of the same minde This is an ill beginning for whereas he should proue that the Apostles deliuered some matters of faith by bare tradition without writing hee bringeth forth some that say if it could be proued that any thing was so deliuered it were to bee receiued with no lesse regard then if it had beene written which is as if a man should vndertake to proue out of Paules Epistles that the Angels in Heauen and the Apostles of CHRIST are to bee anathematized and accursed because hee saith If wee or an Angell from heauen preach any other doctrine then that yee haue receiued holde him accursed Wherefore to helpe the matter and to make some shew at the least whereas wee say If any thing could bee proued to haue beene deliuered by the Apostles by tradition it were no lesse to be esteemed then things of the same nature written by them hee citeth our words as if we confessed there were certaine vnwritten Apostolicall traditions which were euer esteemed equall with the Scripture but not before they were proued to bee such D. Field saith he speaketh of such traditions in these words There is no reason but these should be equall with Scripture for it is not the writing that giueth these things their authoritie but the worth and credite of him that deliuereth theÌ though but by word and liuely voice onely In this allegation he wrongeth me no lesse then in other before for these are not my words as he vntruely affirmeth against his owne knowledge but speaking of the diuerse kindes of vnwritten traditions imagined by the Papists I say All these in their seuerall kindes they make equal with the words precepts doctrines of Christ the Apostles and Pastors of the Church left vnto vs in writing neither is there any reason why they should not doe so if they could proue any such vnwritten verities for it is not the writing that giueth things their authoritie but the worth and credite of him that deliuereth them The onely doubt is whether there be any such traditions or not Is this to acknowledge that there are vnwritten traditions of equall authoritie with the Scriptures If one of his fellowes should tell him if he were Pope he could not erre would he inferre his fellow were so mad to thinke he could not erre that doth nothing else but erre and mistake all that he citeth But he saith I adde that the perpetuall virginity of our Lady was a tradition only receiued by such authority so do other Protestants that both they I acknowledge Heluidius was condemned of heresie iustly for denyall thereof which could not be except to deny the doctrine of true traditions were to deny the word of God in their iudgements This is an other notable and shamelesse falsification For I neither say the perpetuall virginity of our Lady was a tradition nor that Heluidius was condemned and that iustly for the deniall thereof but my wordes are The Canon of Scripture being admitted as deliuered by tradition though the Diuine trueth of it bee in it selfe cleare not depending of the Churches authority there is no matter of Faith deliuered by bare and onely tradition as the Romanists imagine The onely cleare instance they seeme to giue is touching the perpetuall virginity of Mary which they say cannot be proued by Scripture and yet is necessary to bee beleeued But they should knowe that this is no poynt of Christian faith That shee was a virgine before in and after the birth of Christ wee are bound to beleeue as an article of our faith and so much is deliuered in Scripture and in the Apostles Creede but that shee continued so euer after is a seemely trueth fitting the sanctitie of the blessed virgine and is de pietate but not de necessitate fidei Neither was Heluidius condemned of heresie for the deniall hereof but by such as thought it might bee proued out of Scripture or by such as detested and condemned his madnesse and desperate singularity in pertinaciously vrging the deniall of it vpon mis-construction of Scripture as if the deniall of it had beene a matter of faith And surely whatsoeuer this man thinke to the contrary Melchior Canus is of opinion that the perpetuall virginity of Marie the mother of our Lord is not beleeued onely or principally as deliuered by tradition but that the very consideration of the respect that was due to so sanctified a vessell of the incarnation of the Sonne of God as was her body would make vs perswade our selues shee neuer knew man after she was so much honoured as to be the mother of God This consideration no doubt moued the Fathers to be of this opinion rather then any tradition In the next place hee setteth downe my discourse and diuision of traditions approued by Protestants in the twentieth chapter of my fourth booke of the Church leaving out diuerse thinges in setting downe the same for his most aduantage as the Reader will easily perceiue if hee peruse the place But to what purpose hee produceth this discourse diuision of mine I know not For first if he thinke that I now yeeld more vnto theÌ in the matter of traditions theÌ our Diuines heretofore haue done as he seemeth to doe in that he saith though vntruly that I preuent and confute the vsuall objections of Protestants about the doctrine of traditions he is greatly deceiued For Chemnitius in his Examen of the Tridentine Councell admitteth all those kinds of traditions which I haue deliuered I will set down his discourse in his own words that the reader may see he saith fully as much as I haue done Primum genus traditionum est quòd Apostoli tradiderunt doctrinam viuâ voce sed illa postea in scriptura literis consignata est Secundum genus traditionum est quòd Libri Scripturae sacrae non interrupt â serie temporum sicut Augustinus loquitur certa connexionis successione ab Ecclesia custoditi fideliter ad posteros transmissi nobisque quasi per manus traditi sunt Tertium genus traditionum constituimus illud de quo loquuntur Irenaeus lib. 3. Tertullianus de Praescript Recitant autem quid sit illud quod ex traditione probant sunt illi ipsi articuli fidei
perpetually proper CHAP. 2. Of the divers kindes of notes whereby the true Church is discerned from other societies of men in the world THere are presently and were formerly but three maine differences of religion in the world Paganisme Iudaisme and Christianity Paganisme is and was that state of religion and diuine worship wherein men hauing no other light than that of nature and the vncertaine traditions of their erring fathers to guide them did and doe change the trueth of God into a lie and worship and serue the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed for ever Iudaisme is that state of religion wherein men imbrace the Law which God gaue to the children of Abraham and sonnes of Iacob reforming heathenish impietie teaching saluation to bee looked for through one whom God would send in the last dayes and exalt to bee Lord ouer all Christianitie is the religion of them that beleeue Iesus Christ to be that Sauiour promised to the Iewes and acknowledge him to bee the sonne of the liuing God They which hold this profession are called the Church of Christ neither is there any other society or company of men in the world that professe so to beleeue but they only If we take a view of this Church respectiuely considered seeking onely to difference and distinguish it from the society of Pagan Infidels the profession of Diuine supernaturall and revealed verities is so found in the Church that not amongst any of these and so ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã respectiuely it is proper to the Church may serue as a note of difference distinguishing it from these profane and heathenish companies but from the Iewes it doeth not seuer it for it is common to it with them both holding the sacred profession of many heauenly and reuealed verities So that if we will distinguish Christians from Iewes we must finde out that which is so proper and peculiar to the companies and societies of Christians that it is not communicated to the Iewes Such is the profession of diuine verities reuealed in Christ whom onely these societies acknowledge to bee the sonne of God and Sauiour of the world But for that when neither heathenish superstition nor the Iewes perfidious impietie could any longer prevaile or resist against the knowledge and glory of Christ but that all the whole world went after him Sathan the enemie of mankinde stirred vp certaine turbulent wicked and godlesse men who professing themselues to bee Christians vnder the name of Christ brought in damnable doctrines of errour no lesse dangerously erring than did the Pagans and Iewes This profession of the faith of Christ though it distinguish the Christian Church from the Iewes and Pagans and is so farre proper vnto it that it is not found in any of them yet doth it not separate the multitude of right beleeuing Christians which is the sound part of the Christian Church and is named the Orthodoxe Church from seduced miscreants being common to both We must therefore further seeke out that which is so peculiarly found in the more speciall number of right beleeuing Christians that not in any other though shadowed vnder the generall name of Christianitie Such is the entire profession of diuine verities according to the rule of faith left by Christ and his first disciples and schollers the holy Apostles This entire profession of the trueth reuealed in Christ though it distinguish right beleeuers from Heretikes yet it is not proper to the happy number and blessed company of Catholike Christians because Schismatikes may and sometimes doe hold an entire profession of the trueth of God revealed in Christ. It remaineth therefore that wee seeke out those things that are so peculiarly found in the companies of right beleeuing and Catholike Christians that they may serue as notes of difference to distinguish them from all both Pagans Iewes Heretikes and Schismatikes These are of two sorts for either they are such as onely at sometemes and not perpetually or such as doe perpetually and euer seuer the true Church from all conuenticles of erring and seduced misereants Of the former sort was multitude largenesse of extent and the name of Catholike esteemed a note of the Church in the time of the Fathers The notes of the later sort that are inseparable perpetuall and absolutely proper and peculiar which perpetually distinguish the true Catholike Church from all other societies of men and professions of religions in the world are three First the entire profession of those supernaturall verities which God hath reuealed in Christ his sonne secondly the vse of such holy ceremonies sacraments as hee hath instituted and appointed to serue as prouocations to godlinesse preseruations from sinne memorialls of the benefits of Christ warrants for the greater securitie of our beleefe and markes of distinction to separate his owne from strangers thirdly an vnion or connexion of men in this profession and vse of these sacraments vnder lawfull pastours and guides appointed authorised sanctified to direct and leade them in the happy wayes of eternall saluation That these are notes of the Church it will easily appeare by consideration of all those conditions that are required in the nature of notes They are inseparable they are proper and they are essentiall and such things as giue being to the Church and therefore are in nature more cleare and evident and such as that from them the perfect knowledge of the Church may and must be deriued Notwithstanding for that our aduersaries take exception to them I will first examine their obiections and secondly proue that neither they nor any other that know what they write or speake can or doe assigne any other And because Bellarmine and Stapleton haue taken most paines in this Argument I will therefore propose the obiections I finde in them assuring my selfe that there are not any other of moment to be found in the writings of any other of that side CHAP. 3. Of Bellarmines reasons against the notes of the Church assigned by vs. BEllarmine his first obiection is By these notes we know not who are elect therefore by these we doe not certainely know which is the true Church The consequence of this reason we denie as being most fond and false He proveth it in this sort The Church according to the doctrine of the Protestants is onely the number of the elect and therefore if the elect be not knowen and discerned by these from the reprobate and castawayes the Church cannot bee knowen by them But the Antecedent of this argument is likewise false as appeareth by that which I haue formerly delivered touching the nature and being of the Church for we doe not say that the Church consisteth onely of the elect but principally intentionally and finally For otherwise it consisteth of all that partake in the outward calling of grace and enjoying of the meanes of saluation and so may be knowen by these notes For that society doubtlesse hath enioyeth the meanes of saluation
the Patriarch of Constantinople the second which conclusion was not of such force but that the succeeding Bishops of Constantinople coÌtinued the same challeng their predecessors made as any oportunity was offered sought to aduance their pretended title till at length there growing some difference between theÌ in the matter of the proceeding of the holy G whome the Latines affirmed to proceede from the Father and the Sonne the GREEKES from the Father only either pronounced the other to be heretickes schismatickes Wherefore let vs see what the religion of the Greeke Church is and whether these Christians be so farre forth orthodoxe that wee may account them members of the true Catholicke Church of God or so in errour that we may reject them as schismaticks hereticks though in number never so many Bernard speaking of them sayth nobiscum sunt non sunt iuncti fide pace diuisi quanquam fide ipsa claudicaverint à rectis semitis That is they are with vs and they are not with vs they are of the same profession with vs touching matters of faith but they hold not the vnity of the spirit in the band of peace although they haue halted also and in some sort declined from the straight pathes in matters pertayning to the Christian faith Touching the state of these Christians the Romanists lay downe these propositions First that there is a double separation from the Church of God the one by heresie ouerthrowing the fayth the other by schisme breaking the vnity The second that schismaticks though they fall not into heresie are out of the Church cut off from being members of the same and consequently in state of damnation Beleeue certainely and no way doubt sayth St Augustine that not onely all Pagans but all Iewes hereticks schismaticks also dying out of the communion of the Catholicke Church shall goe into everlasting fire The third that the Graecians are Schismatically divided from the Roman Church that they haue long continued so that they are excommunicate with the greater excommunication thundred out against all Schismaticks in bulla coenae Domini and consequently are in state of damnation But whether they bee not only Schismaticks but haereticks also as some feare not to pronounce they are not yet agreed Azorius thinketh they are not to bee censured as hereticks and yeeldeth a reason of his so thinking because in those articles of the faith where they are thought to erre they differ verbally onely and not really from those that are vndoubtedly right beleevers and giueth instance first in the question touching the proceeding of the holy Ghost wherein hee thinketh they differ but in forme of words from them that seeme to bee their opposites and secondly in the questions touching the Pope his power priviledges and authority concerning all which hee affirmeth they haue no other opinion then Gerson the Parisians who were neuer yet pronounced heretickes for they yeeld a primacie to the Bishop of Rome but no supremacy They acknowledge him to bee Patriarch of the West amongst all the Patriarches in order honour the first as long as hee continueth orthodoxe and seeketh not to encroach vpon the jurisdiction of others But they deny as also the Parisians doe that his judgement is infallible or his power authority supreame absolute they teach that hee must doe nothing of himselfe in things pertayning to the state of the vniversall Church but with the concurrence of others his colleagues and that hee is subject to a generall Councell All which things were defined in the Councells of Constance and Basil and the contrary positions condemned as haereticall Neither want there at this day many worthy Diuines liuing in the Communion of the Roman Church who most strongly adhere to the decrees of those Councells and peremptorily reject those of Florence and Trent wherein the contrary faction prevayled For the whole kingdome and state of France admit those and reject the other and would no lesse withdraw themselues from all communion with the Roman Bishoppe then the Grecians doe if they should once bee pressed to acknowledge that his power and authority is supreame and absolute that hee cannot erre and that hee may dispose the kingdomes and depose the kings soveraigne princes of the world as the Iesuites and other the Popes flatterers affirme and defend Whence it will follow that they are not onely free from heresie as Azorius resolueth but froÌ schisme also So that after so great clamours and so long contendings they must of necessity bee forced in the end to confesse they haue done them infinite wrong and sinned grievously against God in condemning to hell for no cause so many millions of Christian soules redeemed with the most precious blood of his dearest Sonne There are sayth Andreas Fricius who thinke that the Russians Armenians and other Christians of the East part pertaine not to the Christian Church but seeing they vse the same sacraments which wee doe seeing they professe to fight vnder the banner of Christ crucified and rejoyce in their sufferings for his sake farre bee it from vs ever to thinke that they should bee cast off and rejected from being fellow citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God having borne the burden endured the heate of the day so many ages in the vineyard of the Lord. Nay rather I thinke there can be no perfect coÌsociation vnion of the whole Church without them For the Latine Church alone caÌnot be takeÌ for the vniversall Church that which is but a part caÌnot be the whole But some man happily will say whatsoeuer we think of these differeÌces touching the power authority of the B. of Rome yet in the article of the proceeding of the holy ghost they erre damnably so are hereticks that Azorius was deceived when hee thought otherwise Wherefore for the cleering of this poynt first I will make it evident that not onely Azorius but sundry other great and worthy Divines thinke the difference about the proceeding of the holy Ghost to bee meerely verball Secondly I will shew how the seeming differences touching this poynt may bee reconciled Thirdly I will note the beginnings and proceedings in this controversie The Grecians sayth Peter Lombard affirme that the holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father onely not from the Sonne yet wee must know that the Greekes doe acknowledge the holy Ghost to bee the spirit of the Son aswell as of the Father because the Apostle sayth the spirit of the Son And trueth it selfe in the Gospell the spirit of trueth Now seeing it is no other thing to bee the spirit of the Father and the Son then to bee from the Father the Son they seeme to agree with vs in judgement touching this article of faith though they differ in words Grosthed the famous and renowned Bishop of Lincolne writing vpon a part of Damascen deliuereth his opinion touching this controuersie
posterity not by imitation only but by propagation and descent subjecting all to curse and malediction yet not without possibilitie and hope of mercifull deliuerance Thirdly wee must beleeue that for the working of this deliuerance the Sonne of God assumed the nature of man into the vnity of his diuine person so that hee subsisteth in the nature of God and man without all corruption confusion or conuersion of one of them into another that in the nature of man thus assumed hee suffered death but being God could not be holden of it but rose againe and triumphantly ascended into Heauen that hee satisfied the wrath of his father obtayned for vs remission of sinnes past the grace of repentant conuersion and a new conuersation joyned with assured hope desire and expectation of eternall happinesse Fourthly wee must constantly beleeue that God doth call and gather to himselfe out of the manifold confusions of erring ignorant and wretched men whom hee pleaseth to be partakers of these precious benefits of eternall saluation the happy number and joyfull society of whom wee name the Church of God whether they were before or since the manifestation of Christ the sonne of God in our flesh For both had the same faith hope and spirit of adoption whereby they were sealed vnto eternall life though there bee a great difference in the degree and measure of knowledge and the excellencie of the meanes which God hath vouchsafed the one more then the other Fiftly wee must know and beleeue that for the publishing of this joyfull deliverance and the communicating of the benefits of the same the Sonne of God committed to those his followers whom hee chose to bee witnesses of all the things hee did and suffered not onely the word of reconciliation but also the dispensation of sacred and sacramentall assurances of his loue set meanes of his gracious working that those first messengers whom hee sent with immediate commission were infallibly led into all trueth and left vnto posterities that summe of Christian doctrine that must for euer be the rule of our faith that these blessed messengers of so good and happy tidings departing hence left the ministerie of reconciliation to those whom they appoynted to succeede them in the worke so happily begun by them Lastly wee must know and be assuredly perswaded that seeing the renouation of our spirites and mindes is not perfect and the redemption of our bodies still remaining corruptible is not yet therefore God hath appointed a time when Christ his sonne shall returne againe raise vp the dead and giue eternall life to all that with repentant sorrow turne from their euill and wicked wayes while it is yet the accepted time and day of saluation and contrary wayes cast out into vtter darkenesse and into the fire that neuer shall bee quenched all those that neglect and despise so great saluation That all these things and these onely doe directly concerne the matter of eternall saluation is euidently proued by vnaunswerable demonstration For how should they attaine euerlasting happinesse that know not God the originall cause and end of all things the object matter and cause of all happinesse that know not of whom they were created of what sorte to what whereof capable and how enabled to it how farre they are fallen from that they originally were and the hope of that which they were made to be whence are those euills that make them miserable and whence the deliuerance from them is to be looked for by whom it is wrought what the benefits of it are the meanes whereby they are communicated to whom and what shall bee the end both of them that partake and partake not in them Wee see then that all these things and these onely essentially and directly touch the matter of eternall saluation Other things there are that attend on them as consequents deduced from them or some way appertayning to them whereof some are of that sorte that a man cannot rightly be perswaded of these but hee must needes see the necessary consequence and deduction of them from these if they bee propounded vnto him as that there are two wils in Christ that there is no saluation remission of sinnes or hope of eternall life out of the Church that the matrimoniall societie of man and wife is not impure as the Marcionites Tatianus and other supposed nor any kinde of meates to bee rejected as vncleane by nature as the Manichees and some other Heretickes fondly and impiously dreamed other things there are that are not so clearely deduced from those indubitate principles of our Christian faith as namely concerning the place of the Fathers rest before the comming of our Sauiour Christ concerning the locall descending of Christ into the hell of the damned In the first sorte of things which are the principles that make the rule of faith a man cannot be ignorant and bee saued In the second which are so clearely deduced from those principles that who so aduisedly considereth them cannot but see their consequence from them and dependance of them a man cannot erre and be saued because if he beleeue those things which euery one that will bee saued must particularly know and beleeue he cannot erre in these The third a man may be ignorant of and erre in them without danger of damnation if errour bee not joyned with pertinacie The principall grounds of Christian doctrine aboue mentioned are the whole platforme of all Christian Religion The rule of faith so often mentioned by the Auncient by the measure of which all the holy Fathers Bishops and Pastours of the Church made their Sermons Commentaries and Interpretations of Scripture This rule euery part whereof is prooued so neerely to concerne all them that looke for saluation we make the rule to trie all doctrines by and not such platformes of doctrine as euery Sect-master by himselfe canne deduce out of the Scriptures vnderstood according to his owne private fancie as the Rhemists falsely charge vs. This rule is deliuered by Tertullian Irenaeus and other of the Fathers and with addition of conclusions most easily clearely and vnavoydably deduced hence by Theodoret in his Epitome Dogmatum CHAP. 5. Of the nature of Schisme and the kindes of it and that it no way appeareth that the Churches of Greece c. are hereticall or in damnable schisme OVt of this which hath beene deliuered it is easie to discerne what is Heresie and what errours they are that exclude from possibility of saluation It remaineth to speake of Schisme and the kindes and degrees of it Schisme is a breach of the vnity of the Church The vnity of the Church consisteth in three things First the subjection of people to their lawfull Pastours Secondly the connexion and communion which many particular Churches and the Pastours of them haue among themselues Thirdly in holding the same rule of faith The vnity of each particular Church depends of the vnity of the Pastour who is one to whom an
people that adhered to the Catholique verity who haue power to choose their Pastour to admitte the worthy and refuse the vnworthy did forsake the former that were wolues and not Pastours and submitted themselues to those of a better spirit Of the three first kindes of voidance there can bee no question of this fourth there may and therefore I will proue it by sufficient authoritie and strength of reason Cyprian Cecilius Polycarpus and other Bishoppes writing to the Cleargie and people of the Churches in Spaine whereof Basilides and Martialis were Bishoppes who fell in time of persecution denyed the fayth defiled themselues with Idolatry perswade them to separate themselues from those Bishoppes assuring them that the people beeing holy religious fearing God and obeying his lawes may and ought to separate themselues from impious and wicked Bishoppes and not to communicate with them in the matters of Gods service quando ipsa plebs maximè habeat potestatem vel eligendi dignos sacerdotes vel indignos recusandi that is seeing the people hath authority to choose the worthy and to refuse the vnworthy And Occam to the same purpose sayth on this sorte Si Papa maximè celebres episcopi incidant in haeresin ad Catholicos deuoluta est potestas omnis iudicandi If the Pope the principall Bishoppes of the Christian world doe fall into heresie the power of all Ecclesiasticall iudgement is deuolued to the inferiour Cleargie and people remaining Catholique This opinion of Cyprian and the rest if our aduersaries shall dislike or except against may easily be confirmed by demonstration of reason For if it do fall out that the Bishoppes and a great part of the people fall into errour heresie and superstition I thinke our aduersaries will not deny but that the rest are bound to maintaine and vphold the auncient veritie who being not so many nor so mighty as to bee able to eiect those wicked ones by a formall course of iudiciall proceeding what other thing is there left vnto them but either to consent to their impieties which they may not doe or to seperate themselues which is the thing our aduersaries except against in the people of our time Now hauing separated themselues from their former supposed and pretended Pastours what remaineth but that they make choise of new to bee ordained and set ouer them if not by the concurrence of such and so many as the strictnesse of the Canon doth ordinarily require to concurre in ordinations yet by such as in cases of necessity by all rules of equity are warranted to performe the same CHAP. 40. Of Succession and the proofe of the trueth of their doctrine by it THus hauing examined the allegation of the Papists endeuouring to prooue against vs that wee haue not the true Church amongst vs because as they falsely suppose wee lacke the visible Succession of Pastours and Bishops let vs see what they can conclude from this note of Succession for themselues In this part Bellarmine sheweth himselfe to be a notable trifler For first hee sayth that if there bee no Church where there is no succession then where there is succession continued the true Church doth remaine still Secondly being pressed with the example of the Graecians amongst whom a continuall succession of Bishops hath euer beene found hee answereth that succession doth not proue affirmatiuely that to bee the true Church where it is found but negatiuely that not to bee the true Church where it is wanting contrary to himselfe who requireth in the notes of the Church amongst which he reckoneth succession to be one of the prinpall that they be not only inseparable without which the true Church cannot bee but proper also and such as cannot be found in any other society but that which is the true Church of God Thirdly againe forgetting himselfe hee maketh succession proper to the true Church and such a note as may proue all those societies of Christians true Churches which haue it disliketh Calvin for saying that more is required to finde out the true Church than personall succession and that the Fathers did not demonstrate the Church barely by personall succession but by shewing that they that succeeded held the faith of those that went before them Thus he sheweth plainely that he knoweth not what he writeth This matter of succession Stapleton hath much more aptly delivered than Bellarmine confessing that not bare and personall succession but lawfull succession is a note of the true Church And defineth that to be lawfull succession when not only the latter succeede into the voide roomes of those that went before them being lawfully called therevnto but also hold the faith their predecessours did In this sort the Fathers were wont to reason from succession in the controuersies of Religion First they reckoned vp the successions of Bishops from the Apostles times then shewed that none of them taught any such thing as was then called in question but the contrary and consequently that the Apostles deliuered no such thing but the contrary To Bellarmines disiunction that either the Fathers made it appeare to Catholickes or to Heretickes that the succeeding Bishops held the same faith the former did we answere They made it appeare to both For so doth Irenaeus proue the tradition of the Apostles to be for him and against the Heretickes he refuteth because he can number all the Bishops in the principall Churches from the Apostles times downeward none of which euer taught any such thing as those heretiques dreamed but the contrary That which Bellarmine addeth that if it had appeared to heretiques that the true faith had beene kept by succeeding Bishops they would haue yeelded to it is as little to the purpose as the rest For we do not say it did apeare vnto them they held the truth but that they held the same faith their predecessours held Now though the Fathers made this appeare vnto them yet they feared not to oppose themselues as the same Irenaeus witnesseth affirming that when it was prooued against the heretiques of those times that in the succession of Bishoppes those that succeeded held the same faith the former did without any alteration and consequently the Apostles doctrine was still continued in their Churches they thought themselues wiser then the Apostles theÌselues affirming that they mingled the Law and the Gospell together taking exceptions of ignorance and imperfection against them and their doctrine Thus then wee see the Fathers did not reason barely from personall sucession but by shewing affirmatiuely the faith they defended to haue beene receiued by all those Bishops whose succession they vrged against their aduersaries and negatiuely by proouing that none of them euer beleeued any such things as their adversaries dreamed If the Romanists wil dispute against vs in this sort and demonstrate that the Fathers successiuely held those opinions they do and that none of them were of that iudgment in matter of faith that
errour in faith can neuer finde place among the Romanes as being secured from all possibility and danger of erring So that that which Saint Cyprian speaketh of perfidious dealing that hee interpreteth of infidelity and errour of faith So good construction the Iesuite is wont to make of the wordes of the Fathers But let this suffice for the clearing of the first place alleaged out of Cyprian and let vs proceede to the second the circumstances whereof are as followeth Cornelius was elected and ordayned Bishop of Rome A Schisme grew in that Church about this his election Cyprian though he approoued the election of Cornelius yet did forbeare to write vnto him as Bishop till others also might be satisfied touching the validity of the same at which Cornelius seemed to bee grieued Cyprian sheweth him the reasons that mooued him to doe as he did and withall how carefully to auoide all scandals hee wished all that went to Rome to hold the roote of the true Catholike Church which was on Cornelius part and not to be carried away with the faction of Schismatikes who opposed themselues against their lawfull Bishop and brake the vnitie of the Church How this will proue that all Christian men and Churches must perpetually hold communion with the Roman Church and that this is a note of the true Church I see not There was a diuision in the Romane Church about the election of Cornelius Cornelius in Cyprians judgement was rightly chosenâ⦠and so the root and ground of the true Church was with him and his partakers and not with his aduersaries that factiously and Schismatically opposed themselues against him Cyprian wisheth all men to adhere vnto their lawfull Bishop and not to the faction of Schismatikes rent from the roote of the true Churches vnitie Therefore say our aduersaries all Churches must for euer hold communion vpon perill of damnation with the Church of Rome How vveake this consequence is hee is very vveake in vnderstanding that doeth not see But howsoeuer surely Cyprian is very vnaduisedly alledged to this purpose vvho peremptorily standeth vpon it that every Bishop ought to haue his liberty of judgement as being accomptable onely vnto God and that no Bishop should make himselfe a judge of another Who dissenteth from Stephen Bishop of Rome and feareth not to challenge him for pertinacy yea so hot vvas the contention betweene Cyprian and Stephen that Cyprians consorts feared not to charge him vvith heresie and fauouring of heretikes So farre vvere the Bishops of those times from prostrating themselues at the Popes feete and thinking it their duety to submit themselues vpon paine of damnation to all his determinations as his vassals are euery vvhere novv taught to doe The next allegation is out of Ambrose vvho in his funerall oration hee made vpon the death of Satyrus his brother reporteth of him that being desirous to be partaker of the holy mysteries yet before he vvould proceede in an action of that consequence hee called to him the Bishop of the place and asked of him if hee held communion with the Catholike Bishops and because he should not mistake him whether he held communion with the Bishop of Rome who at that time both in the trueth of the thing and in the opinion of Satyrus was Catholike and best knowen both to him and the Bishop of whose faith he inquired This was done in the time of the Schisme of the Luciferians as appeareth by the place of Ambrose Now what consequence is this Satyrus asked of the Bishop of whom hee was to receiue the holy mysteries whether hee held communion with the Catholike Church and to avoide all ambiguity expressed what hee meant by asking him whether he agreed with the Romane Church which at that time in his opinion held the true profession therefore the Romane Church can neuer erre As if I being in France or Germany meeting with some Christians of whose faith I doubt should demaund of them whether they hold the true Catholike religion and adde for explication of the meaning of my question whether they hold the profession of the reformed Churches in England and Scotland which at this time I think to bee the true Churches of God doth it follow that I thinke these Churches can neuer erre or fall from the sincerity of the Christian profession or that for euer it must be a note of the sincere professors of the Christian faith to hold communion with these Churches howsoeuer they degenerate The same answere serueth for the places alleaged out of Hierome Optatus Augustine and particularly touching Hierome who knoweth not that he affirmeth directly that Liberius the Bishop of Rome fell into heresie and disliketh the customes of the Romane Church and will not haue that See and the Bishops of it to giue lawes to all Christendome saying Orbis maior est vrbe and that though he say here that Peters chaire is the rocke the Church is builded vpon yet against Iovinian he professeth that super omnes ex aequo ecclesiae fortitudo solidatur The Church is equally founded vpon all the Apostles And in another place A Bishop whether of Rome or of Eugubium is eiusdem meriti eiusdem sacerdotij equall in merit and office howsoeuer riches and the honour of places seeme to make some difference Hierome was a man of a violent spirit and wrote many things that must haue a fauourable construction to make them accord with that which else-where hee hath deliuered Touching Leo who sayth that that which Christ meant should pertaine to the office of all the Apostles was principally yeelded to Peter and from him as from an head deriued to the rest must be vnderstood onely of a principality of order and that he first in time receiued the promise of that which was meant to all to expresse the vnity that must be in all For otherwise it neither standeth with the trueth nor the iudgement of the Fathers that the Apostles receiued their office and authoritie by deriuation from Peter or held it in a subordination vnder him seeing they were all called and constituted immediately by Christ himselfe without any dependance on Peter or receiuing any thing from him as is easie to demonstrate out of Cyprian and the consent of the most auncient Fathers But because these authorities are too weake to prooue the thing intended therefore from these Bellarmine fleeth to experience from whence he thinketh he may fetch a better proofe All Churches of the world sayth he that euer diuided themselues from the fellowship of the Romane Church like boughes broken from a tree and depriued of the nourishment they formerly receiued from the roote did presently wither away and decay The falshood of this saying of Bellarmine is too apparant For the Churches of Greece Armenia Aethiopia and Syria continued a long time after they had forsaken the communion of the Romane Church Yea many of them continue to this day holding
vncertainety of finding out the trueth by that meanes Thirdly whereas they say wee haue no miracles and therefore not the true faith and Religion wee deny both the antecedent and the consequent For first the restoring of the purity of religion in our age hath not beene without wonderfull demonstration of the power of God to confirme the trueth of our doctrine and the equity of our cause as may appeare by that which is reported by Illyricus the English Martyrologue and other histories of better credite than those out of which they report their miracles And besides we say though we had no miracles wee are not thereby conuinced of errour For the vse of miracles was specially if not onely in respect of infidels as Caietane sheweth in the place aboue mentioned out of 1 Corinthians 11. and the authority of Gregorie in his tenth Homily and serued to make the mysteries of God seeme credible to such as were wholly auerse from them So that now the faith being already generally planted receiued in the world and confirmed by the miracles done by Christ and his Apostles and nothing being taught by vs but the same which was deliuered by them in the beginning nothing contrary to the confirmed and receiued doctrine of the Church of God then in the world when those differences betweene vs and our aduersaries began there is no reason they should vrge vs to confirme our doctrine by miracles If they require vs to confirme our calling and Ministery as being extraordinary wee say it is not extraordinary as hath beene sufficiently cleared in the note of succession That which Bellarmine addeth that Luther and Calvine attempted to doe miracles but could doe none is but the lying reporte of his owne companions their sworne enemies whose testimony in this case is not to be regarded CHAP. 49. Of Propheticall Prediction THe next note of the Church vrged by them is Propheticall prediction The certaine foreknowledge of future contingent things is proper vnto God and therefore none can foretell such things before they come to passe but they to whom God reuealeth them but that this kind of reuelation is made only to them that are of the true Church I thinke Bellarmine will not say For then what shall wee thinke of Balaam and the Sybils so that prediction of future things is no certaine nor proper note of the true Church But if it were it would not helpe them not hurt vs. For those men they speake of that liued in the dayes of our fathers prophesied of things to come were of the true Church and many of them did most certainely foresee foretell the ruine of the Pope his estate and the alteration reformation of the Church in our time gaue most cleare testimony vnto that which we haue done Neither is there any better proofe of the goodnesse of our cause than that that which we haue done in the reformation of the Church was before wished for expected foretold by the best men that liued in former times in the corrupt state of the Church That which Bellarmine scornefully reporteth of Luthers false lying prophesie that if he continued but two yeares in preaching the Gospell the kingdome of the Pope should be ouerthrowen shall wee doubt not bee found true to the confusion of the enemies of Gods trueth Religion notwithstanding all the indeuours of the Iesuites to make vp the breaches of Babylon which must be throwen downe till not a stone be left vpou a stone But that Luther foretold many things before they came to passe wherein his predictions were found most true wee haue the testimony of Melancthon Illyricus diuers others CHAP. 50. Of the felicity of them that professe the trueth THe next note of the true Church assigned by Bellarmine is the temporall felicity of them that are of it It was but his priuate fantasie that mooued him to assigne this note of the Church For his fellowes the Diuines of Rhemes in their annotations vpon the fift of Matthew doe vtterly disclaime it saying in expresse precise wordes Wee see then that the temporall prosperity of persons and countreys is no signe of better men or truer Religion But let vs suppose these pettie Diuines are deceiued in this their iudgement though if they bee wee must condemne all the Primitiue Christians that were in the times of the ten bloody persecutions and let vs grant that the Cardinall sayth truely that temporall felicity and prosperity is a note of the true Church and Religion what doeth hee gaine by it surely nothing at all for he is most blind that seeth not the prosperity of all those Countries of Germany Denmarke England Scotland and the like where the reformed Religion is maintained and the long life happy Reigne of those Princes that haue most favoured and sought to advance the same as of great ELIZABETH of famous memory late Empresse of England c. who as she was the great glorieus protectour of the Reformed Churches so was she the wonder of the world in respect of the happy successe shee had in all things she tooke in hand and the perpetuall course of felicity and prosperity that euer attended her notwithstanding the daungerous attempts of bloody miscreants the hired slaues of the sonne of perdition How the professours of this Religion though fewer in number forsaken destitute of all worldly assurances and being by the falshood treachery of their bloody enemies oftentimes brought as it were to nothing in France other places haue yet strangely and indeed miraculously lifted vp their heads againe to the terrour and confusion of their proudest enimies hee that seeth not is a stranger in the world Wherefore I I will leaue the consideration of this note to the indifferent Reader not fearing any great preiudice that can grow from thence against our cause CHAP. 51. Of the miserable endes of the enemies of the trueth THe next is the miserable end of such as are enemies of Gods true Religion It is true that God hath oftentimes shewed his iudgements most clearely against the wicked enemies of his trueth and glory so that in the end the impiety of their former courses was made to appeare as wee see in Herode Arrius Nestorius and others but that any such thing fell out to Luther Caluine or any of those worthy men Bellarmine is pleased in this place to slander we vtterly deny And to the lewd and lying reports of Coclaeus Bolsecus we oppose the testimony of Iunius Melancthon and others And surely it was the worlds wonder that Luther opposing himself against the bloody Romanists against whom no King nor Emperour in later times resisted but he wrought his owne ouerthrow should notwithstanding liue so long die so peaceably and be buried so honourably as few of his ranke haue euer beene Touching Caluine there were many witnesses of the manner of his sicknesse but of his death none but the
haue it not bee neuer so good they haue no true vertue Bernard in his booke de gratiâ libero arbitrio Liberi arbitrii conatus ad bonum cassi sunt si non gratiâ adiuventur nulli si non excitentur caeterum in malum dicit scriptura proni sunt sensus cogitationes hominis That is the endeavouring of freewill to doe good is in vaine if it bee not holpen by grace and none at all if it be not stirred vp by grace but the scripture saith the senses and thoughts of men are prone to euill Neither can they say that hee speaketh onely of meritorious good and such as is rewardable in heauen for hee speaketh generally of good as it appeareth in that hee opposeth it not to some other kind of good but to euill Anselme Archbishoppe of Canterbury fully agreeth with the rest affirming in the same words that Prosper and Beda did before that the whole life of infidels is sinne that there is nothing good without the chiefe good and that where the knowledge of the eternall and incommutable veritie is wanting if the manners and conuersation of them that haue it not bee nouer soe good and commendable they haue no true vertue Peter Lombard the master of the sentences sometimes Bishoppe of Paris writing vpon the same place hath the same words and soe hath the ordinary glosse Grosthead the renowned Bishoppe of Lincolne in his sermon vpon the Aduent the beginning whereof is this There shall be signes in the sunne and in the Moone hath these words Bright and glittering starres of vertue seemed to shine and appeare in the morall doctrine of naturall men and in the conversation of many Gentiles as of the Scipioes and others but now it is truly manifest and cleare that without the faith of Christ there is no true vertue in the doctrine or conuersation of any man And in his Enchiridion hee sayth that this was the opinion of St Augustine where treating of the foure Cardinall vertues and proposing the question whether Cato and the Scipioes had such vertues hee sayth thus Wee grant with Augustine that no man euer had or could haue true vertue without the faith of Iesus Christ and proueth it immediately after in this sort Non enim potest esse amor ordinatus vbi contemnitur non amatur quod maximè amandum est cum non ametur nisi quod scitur aut creditur vnde patet quod qui nescit aut non credit dominum Iesum Christum non amat aut contemnit quod maximè amandum est quapropter in tali virtus non est quod etiam probat Augustinus talibus argumentis dicens Absit vt in aliquo sit vera virtus nisi sit iustus c that is There can bee no orderly loue of things where that is contemned and not loued that is to be loued most of all whence it is cleere and euident that seeing nothing can bee loued but that which is knowne or beleeued hee who knoweth not or beleeueth not the Lord IESVS CHRIST contemneth or at least loueth not that which is most of all to bee beloued and therefore in such a one there can bee noe true uertue which also Augustine proueth by arguments of this sort saying GOD forbidde that true vertue should be conceiued to bee in any man vnlesse hee be iust c. By these passages of the Bishoppe of Lincolne it appeareth sayth Ariminensis that hee thought as wee doe that noe act morally good canne bee done without the speciall grace of GOD for if there bee noe vertue without such grace then canne there bee noe act morallie good which is yet more fully cleared for euery vertuous and morall good act either is orderly loue or presupposeth it soe that if there can bee noe orderly loue without GODS grace there can bee noe act of vertue or act morally good With this famous Bishoppe of LINCOLNE wee may ioyne Thomas Bradwardine the noe lesse famous and renowned Archbishoppe of CANTERBVRIE who is his Summe de causa Dei contra Pelagium at large confirmeth and proueth the same Soe that it seemeth by Beda Anselme Grosthead and this BRADWARDINE that this was euer the doctrine of the Church of England as now it is Pupperus Gocchianus that liued a litle before Luthers time saith The whole life of infidels is sinne there is nothing good without the chiefe good where there wanteth the knowledge of the eternall trueth if mens manners be never so commendable they haue no true vertue hee that offendeth in one that is in charity is guilty of all hee therefore that hath not faith and charitie every action of his is sinne And he addeth that when Augustine sayth that they that haue not charity may doe good things but not well his words are not to bee vnderstood as if the things which they doe without charitie were good when they doe them without charitie but that they would bee good if they were done in charity or that they are of such nature and kind which being done in charity may bee good otherwise hee should bee contrary to himselfe where hee sayth that every action of him that hath not charity is sinne Andradius saith that there was much difference touching this poynt not onely amongst the latter but the more auncient divines also and that some did so deiect all the actions and endeavours of infidels as to affirme that none of them are or can bee without sinne It is true indeede that there were ever some in the latter ages of the Church that contradicted this verity which wee haue hitherto proved but they were such as had a touch of Semipelagianisme Prosper speaketh of a rule found in the collations of Cassian Cauendum nobis est ne ita ad Deum omnia sanctorum referamus vt nihil nisi id quod malum est humanae ascribamus naturae That is Wee must take heed least wee so attribute all the merits of the Saints to God as to ascribe nothing to nature but that which is evill and perverse This rule sundry carefully followed in the midst of the Church in all the latter ages who so acknowledged that no man can merit heauen without Gods grace that yet they thought they might doe many things morally good by nature without grace But Prosper bitterly reprehendeth this his wordes are these Quasi natura ante gratiam non sit in damnatione non sit in caecitate non sit in vulnere aut non gratis iustificati sint quorum inde sunt merita vnde iustitia That is As if nature before grace were not in a state of condemnation were not in blindnesse and greivously hurt or as if wee were not freely justified all whose merits are from thence whence is our righteousnesse And all they that rightly vnderstood the doctrine of the Church cleared by Saint Augustine against the Pelagians concurred with Prosper and taught as wee doe now
true either immediatly and by it selfe or in respect of that medium by force whereof he is perswaded to beleeue and if it doe not appeare vnto him to be true in and by it selfe but onely in respect of the medium that medium must appeare true either in respect of it selfe or by another medium and because there is no infinite proceeding in these things wee must at last come to some first thing which in and by it selfe must appeare to be true CHAP. 8. Of the last resolution of true faith and wherevpon it stayeth it selfe IN naturall and humane knowledge there are two sortes of thinges some that are evident vnto vs immediatly in and by themselues and some that are not The former of these are likewise of two sorts for there are some knowen onely by intuitiue knowledge as contingent things so that wee cannot apprehend the trueth of any proposition framed of such things vnlesse wee intuitiuely apprehend the things whereof such propositions are framed as that Peter Iohn now walke now leape for ioy or tremble for feare wee cannot know vnlesse wee intuitiuely behold both these men and these things to agree vnto them Other things there are vniuersall necessary and alwayes of one sort these may bee evidently knowen by abstractiue knowledge Of these there may be framed two sorts of propositions for there are some propositions per se notae originally cleare and euident the termini or single wordes whereof being rightly conceiued by vs wee cannot but know the trueth of the whole propositions as that euery whole and entire thing is greater and better then any part of it And other propositions there are which are not thus originally cleare and evident vpon the right vnderstanding of the termini or single wordes whereof they are composed but a man doubteth of them till hee see them deduced by cleare and evident consequence from the former these things a man is properly sayd to learne Thus hauing spoken of things euident in themselues let vs come to the things that in themselues are neuer evident vnto vs either that they are or what they are but that they are and what they are appeareth vnto vs by a forraine medium without the compasse of the things themselues Of this sort are those things wee are perswaded of vpon the report of others this is the certainty wee haue of things beleeued the trueth of them in themselues appeareth not vnto vs nor is seene of vs in which sense faith may rightly be named a firme assent without evidence and there may bee a certainty of adherence as the Schoolemen call it without evidence yet must the credite of him that speaketh bee knowen vnto vs and wee must euidently discerne that he doth speake vnto vs vpon whose testimony wee rely The Schoolemen make three sorts of things some that are beleeued because they are first knowen as the first principles originally cleare and euident vnto vs and the conclusions demonstratiuely prooued out of those principles other thinges that are beleeued and neuer knowen as all the matters of fact that are reported in the Scripture which wee canne neuer know by the immediate euidence of the things themselues but mediately in that wee know they are deliuered vnto vs by him that cannot lie And a third sort of things that are first beleeued and afterwards the vnderstanding being inlightned and the heart cleansed they are discerned of vs to be true The opinion of the ordinary Papists is that the things pertayning to our faith are beleeued because God reuealeth and deliuereth them to be so as wee are required to beleeue but that we know not that God hath reuealed any such thing but by humane conjectures and probabilities so weakely doe they make our faith to bee grounded Wee confesse that faith may rightly bee sayde to bee a firme assent without evidence of many of the things beleeued in themselues but the Medium by force whereof wee are drawen to beleeue must bee evident vnto vs as Durandus doeth rightly demonstrate Augustine noteth that there are three things found in the soule of man Opinion Beleefe or Faith and Science the first of these is necessarily and euer joyned with imperfection and defect to wit danger and feare of erring the third is euer perfect excluding both the second standing in the middest is of a middle nature and dependeth vpon the third For otherwise to beleeue their reports whose credite is not knowne vnto vs is levitie and rashnesse Faith therefore that is commendable and without fault presupposeth knowledge right beleeuing groweth out of it We hold therefore that euery true Christian doth most evidently discerne and know that it is God that speaketh in the Scriptures which Calvin excellently expresseth Illius virtute saith he illuminati iam non aut nostro aut aliorum iudicio credimus â Deo esse Scripturam sed supra humanum iudicium certo certius constituimus non secus ac si ipsius Dei numen illic intueremur hominum ministerio ab ipsissimo Dei ore fluxisse After we are enlightned by the spirit we doe no longer trust either our owne iudgement or the iudgement of other men that the Scriptures are of God but aboue all certainety of humane iudgement we most certainely resolue as if in them we saw the Maiesty and glory of God as Moses saw it in the Mount that by the ministery of men they came vnto vs from Gods owne most sacred mouth Heereunto doth S. Augustine fully agree shewing that the authority of the Church is but an introduction to the spirituall discerning of diuine things and that men rest not in it Wherevpon he sayth Homini non valenti verum intueri vt ad id fiat idoneus purgarique se sinat praesto est auctoritas quam partim miraculis partim multitudine valere nemo ambigit that is Men that are not yet able to discerne the heauenly truth that they may be fitted to it and suffer themselues to be purged from their impurity hindring them from it haue the benefite of the direction of authority which standeth vpon two things the one the greatnesse of miracles and wondrous workes done the other multitude Christ sayth Augustine being to bring a salving medicine into the World and to reforme the most corrupt and wicked manners of the sonnes of men by miracles got himselfe authority by authority wonne credit by the credit he had gotten drew multitudes after him which cotinuing long in one course of profession in tract and continuance of time gained the reverent estimation of antiquity and so strengthened the opinion of Religion professed by them These things saith Augustine are not necessary to men of spirituall heauenly vnderstanding but we are now to shew how men may become wise attaine the knowledge of spirituall things This they cannot attayne to vnlesse they bee purged from their soules vncleannesse from which they cannot be purged vnlesse they listen to them
of Canonicall bookes a tradition must necessarily receiue it from a certaine and constant report of the ancient But hereof no more in this place because the exact handling of it pertaineth to another place to wit touching the Scriptures CHAP. 13 Of the Churches authority to iudge of the differences that arise touching matters of faith THus hauing spoken of the Churches assured possession of diuine truth and her office of teaching testifying and proposing the same the next thing that followeth is her authority to judge of the differences that may arise touching matters of the faith taught by her or any part thereof and more specially touching the interpretation of the Scriptures and word of God Iudgement is an acte of reason discerning whether a thing be or not and whether it be that it seemeth to be and is thought or said to be This judgment is of two sortes The first of definitiue and authenticall power The second of Recognition The judgement of authenticall power defining what is to bee thought of each thing and prescribing to mens consciences so to thinke is proper to God being originally found in the father who by his sonne as by the immediate and prime messenger and Angell of his secret Counsell and by the holy Ghost as the spirit of illumination maketh knowne vnto men what they must thinke and perswadeth them so to thinke So that the supreame judgement wherein the conscience of men doeth rest in the things of GOD is proper to GOD who onely by his spirit teacheth the conscience and giueth vnto it assurance of truth Neither is God the supreme Iudge onely inrespect of the godly who stay not till they resolue their perswasions into the certainty of his diuine testimony and vndoubted authority but also in respect of the wicked who in their erronious conceipts are judged by him and of whose sinister and vile courses he sitteth in judgement while he confoundeth their tongues diuideth them one from another maketh them crosse themselues and bringeth all they doe to nothing This judgement all are forced to stand vnto and this is that that maketh a finall end of all controversies according to that of Gamaliel If this thing be of God it will prosper and prevaile and wee inresisting it shall be found fighters against God if not it will come to naught Thus then the judgement of God the father as supreme the judgement of the sonne as the eternall word of God of the spirit as the fountaine of all illumination making vs discerne what is true is that in which wee finally rest The judgement or determination of the word of God is that wherein wee rest as the rule of our faith and the light of Diuine vnderstanding as that whereby we iudge of all things The judgement of Recognition is of three sorts For there is a judgement of discretion common to all Christian men a judgement of direction proper to the guides of the Church and a judgement of jurisdiction proper to them that are in cheife places of authority The first of these is nothing else but an acte of vnderstanding discerning whether things be or not and whether also they bee that which they seeme to bee The second endeuoureth to make others discerne likewise and the third by authority suppresseth all those that shall thinke and pronounce otherwise then they judge that haue the judgement of Iurisdiction Touching the judgement of Recognition wee acknowledge the judgement of the vniuersall Church comprehending the faithfull that are and haue beene to be infallible In the Church that comprehendeth onely the beleeuers that liue at one time in the world there is alwayes found a right judgement of discretion and right pronouncing of each thing necessary all neuer falling into damnable errour nor into any error pertinaciously but a right judgement of men by their power of jurisdiction mantayning the truth and suppressing errour is not alwayes found So that sometimes almost all may conspire agaââ¦nst the truth or consent to betray the sincerity of the Christian profession as they did in the Councells of Ariminium Seleucia in which case as Occam aptly obserueth out of Hierome men haue nothing left vnto them but with sorrowfull hearts to referre all vnto God If sayth Hierome iniquity prevaile in the Church which is the house of God if iustice be oppressed if the madnes of them that should teach guide others proceed so farre as to pervert all the straight wayes of God to receiue rewards to doe wrong to treade downe the poore in the gates and to refuse to heare their complaynts let good men in such times hold their peace let them not giue that which is holy vnto dogges let them not cast pearles before swine least they turne againe and trample them vnder ââ¦eete let them imitate Ieremie the Prophet who speaketh of himselfe in this sort I sate alone because I was full of bitternesse Euen so sayth Occam when heresies prevaile in the Christian world when truth is trampled vnder feete in the streetes and Prelates Princes being enemies to it endevour with all their power to destroy it when they shall condemne the doctrine of the Fathers molest disquiet and murder the true professours let good men in such times hold their peace keepe silence and be still let them not giue holy things to dogges nor cast pearles before swine least they turne and tread them vnder feete least they wrest and abuse the Scriptures to their owne perdition and the scandall of others but let them with the Prophet sit alone and complaine that their soules are full of bitter heavinesse CHAP. 14. Of the rule of the Churches judgment THus hauing set downe the diuerse kinds of iudgment which must determine and end all controuersies in matter of faith and religion it remaineth to shewe what is the rule of that iudgment whereby the Church discerneth betweene truth and falsehood the faith and heresie and to whom it properly pertaineth to interpret those things which touching this rule are doubtfull As the measure of each thing is that by vertue whereof wee know what it is and the quantity of it so the rule is that by application whereof wee know whether it be that which it should be and be so as it should be The rule of action is that whereby we know whether it be right and performed as it should be or not The rule of doctrine is that whereby wee know whether it be true or false The rule of our faith in generall whereby we know it to be true is the infinite excellencie of God who in eminent sort possesseth all those perfections which in the creatures are diuided and found in an inferiour sort in the full perfect vnion with whom and inioying of whom consisteth all happinesse For by this rule we know that the doctrine of faith which only professeth to bring vs backe to God to possesse and enioy him not as he is participated of vs but as he
the diuine Scripture but because hee thought there is no literall true sense of them but mysticall onely so ouerthrowing the trueth of the sacred history of the booke of God And the fault of many others in former times was that following him too much they neglected the literall sense and ouer-curiously sought out allegories and mysticall senses whereas yet the literall sense alone hath force and power to establish trueth and improue error And this doubtlesse is the first and chiefest vse and necessity of following the literall sense Another is for that being the foundation of the mysticall if wee finde it not out wee may runne into many errours The Manichees out of those wordes of the Psalmist where hee sayth that God hath made a Tabernacle for the Sunne in heaven out of which it commeth in the morning as a Bridegroome out of his chamber to shew the brightnesse of his countenance to the sonnes of men reading Posuit tabernaculum suum in sole God placed his Tabernacle or appointed and made himselfe a Tabernacle in the Sunne inferred that Christ ascended into the highest heauens without our flesh leauing his body behind him within the compasse of the globe of the Sunne so that his flesh is to be adored in the Sunne as in a Tabernacle wherein it resteth and remayneth Now as their course is not to bee excused which follow the mysticall sense onely neglect the literall so they are no lesse faulty that follow the literall sense onely and doe not at all consider the mysteries of spirituall vnderstanding and information of Christian and godly conversation which in the word of God doe offer themselues vnto them For they make the Scriptures especially of the old testament where so many things of outward observation ceremonie and purification were prescribed vnsauorie and to seeme lesse diuine than the lawes and prescriptions of the Gentiles as the Athenians Lacedaemonians and other and the manifold histories of former times to serue little to edification Betweene both these extreames a meane is to be kept that neither the one nor the other be neglected so that we must neither be like them that reiecting the literall exposition seeke out fond and childish Allegories and so ouerthrow the trueth of the diuine historie as Origen did or neglect the knowledge of it publishing their owne idle and ridiculous conceits as if they were the great hidden mysteries of the Christian faith and religion nor like those which rest in the bare and naked wordes and syllables without collecting from thence such instructions as are fit The former sayth Sixtus Senensis are to know that howsoeuer they imagine the literall exposition of the Scripture to bee easie obvious and triuiall yet it is indeed the hardest of all other Whereupon both Hierome and Augustine confesse that at first to decline the obscurities and difficulties of the text of Scripture they followed mysticall senses as being more easie but afterward when they grew in age so in ripenesse of iudgment they sought out the other which is literall Thus we see the difference betweene the literall and mysticall sense of Scripture and how and in what sort the one is the ground of the other Which that wee misconceiue not nor take one for another wee must remember that by the literall sense of Scripture wee vnderstand not that onely which the words doe properly afford but which they primarily affoord according to the intention of him that vseth them and the construction of them that heare them The mysticall sense opposite hereunto is that which is not primarily intended by him that speaketh words hauing such mysticall sense All the allegories therefore parables and Aenigmaticall speaches which are vsed in Scripture not being verified either in the intention of the speaker or construction of the hearer in sort as the words properly import but as signifying things resembled by the things they properly import doe literally signifie that which by comparison of such things they make vs vnderstand Here it is not out of place to obserue the difference betweene a proverbe parable allegory and aenigmaticall speech or riddle A proverbe is a sententious saying much in vse and famous for the most part somewhat obscure by metaphoricall wordes expressing something to vs and alluding to something not distinctly expressed Though sometimes any famous and common saying bee named a Proverbe A Parable is when one thing is compared and resembled to another so Christ compared the kingdome of Heauen to leauen to a graine of mustard seede to ten virgins to a net cast into the sea Though sometimes the similitude of a thing and not any such speach wherein comparison is made betweene one thing and another is named a Parable Abraham recepit filium suum in parabola that is Abraham receiued his son from such an estate as was most like to the state of the dead An allegorie is when he that speaketh intendeth to signifie and insinuate some other thing than his words in their primary vse and signification doe import Behold saith Christ the sower went out to sow c. A Riddle or Aenigmaticall speach is an obscure allegorie The trees went forth to anoint them a King and againe Out of the eater came meate out of the strong came sweetnesse The Scripture is full of these Allegories Parables Proverbiall and Aenigmaticall speaches GOD in teaching vs taking that course he knoweth fittest for vs and making vs vnderstand things heauenly and invisible by those that are earthly and visible And as God doth thus speake vnto vs in parables Allegories and Riddles so did he shew the Prophets of old in dreames and visions the things that are heauenly by those that are earthly and the things that are invisible by those that are visible as in the Revelation Saint Iohn saw seuen golden Candlesticks and one like the Sonne of man walking in the middest of them There is none of these Aenigmaticall Allegoricall or Parabolicall speaches nor none of these visions but either by some things knowne to them to whom they were proposed or by speciall explication added to them or per novi facti exhibitionem by seeming the thing performed that was so obscurely shadowed onely may bee vnderstood From these without these helpes of vnderstanding wee can conclude nothing that is doubtfull An example of vnderstanding Aenigmaticall and hard speaches by force of some things knowne vnto vs giuing light vnto them is the riddle of Samson Out of the eater came meate c. which sny one knowing that out of a Lyon hee had taken hony would vnderstand but another could not By explication added as the mysterie of the seuen starres and seuen golden Candlestickes is expounded to Iohn that saw the vision of them By evidence of the thing exhibited and performed Destroy this Temple sayth Christ and in three dayes I will build it and raise it vp againe The disciples after they saw him
risen from the dead remembred these words vnderstood that they were spoken of our Sauiour of the Temple of his body and the resurrection of it So likewise when they saw the miserable and abhominable overthrow of Ierusalem and the Temple they could not but vnderstand what was meant by the prophecie of Daniel touching the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place Thus hauing cleared that doubt which some make touching the multiplicitie of senses of the words of Scripture as if there were no certaine meaning of them and hauing shewed which is that sense we must principally seek after as being the fouÌdation of the rest it remaineth that we come to speak of the rules of direction the helpes we haue to attaine to the vnderstanding of the true meaning of the Scripture For as Hierome fitly noteth Non putemus in verbis scripturarum esse euangelium sed in sensu non in superficie sed in medulla non in sermonum folijs sed in radice rationis We must not thinke that the Gospell consisteth in the words of Scripture but in the sense and meaning not in the outward rinde and skinne but in the inward pith and marrow not in the leaues of the words but in the roote and ground of reason CHAP 19. Of the rules we are to follow and the helpes we are to trust to in interpreting the Scriptures TOuching the rules wee are to follow the helpes wee are to trust vnto and the things required in the interpretation of Scripture I thinke we may thus resolue First there is required an illumination of the vnderstanding for the naturall man perceiueth not the things of God for they are spiritually discerned but the spirituall man iudgeth all things and himselfe is iudged of none Secondly a minde free from the thought of other things depending on God as the fountaine of illumination desirous of the truth with resolution to imbrace it though contrary to the conceits of naturall men Thirdly the knowledge of the rule of faith formerly set downe and the practice of the Saints according to the same Fourthly a due consideration what will follow vpon our interpretation agreeing with or contrary to the things generally receiued and beleeued among Christians in which consideration the conference of other places of Scripture and the things there deliuered is necessary For the consideration of the circumstances of the places interpreted the occasion of the words the things going before and following after Sixtly the knowledge of all those Histories Artes and Sciences which may helpe vs. For seeing grace presupposeth nature and the Scripture doth not teach vs but presupposeth wee know already the things that may be discerned by the light of nature many doe not vnderstand sundry passages of Scripture because they bring not with them to the study of it that degree of naturall knowledge which is requisite Seuenthly the knowledge of the originall tongues and the phrases and Idiotismes of them Soe that to resolue this matter yet more distinctly and fully there are some things required for the attaining of the right vnderstanding of Scripture as making vs capable of such vnderstanding of which sort is the illumination of the minde some things as meanes whereby wee attaine vnto it These are of two sorts either disposing and preparing only as often reading meditating and praying or else guiding vs in the very search it selfe TheÌse are either generall and most infallible as the rule of faith which if wee follow wee are sure not to depart from the generall verity of the Christian faith or more proper and speciall directing vs to the true finding out of the meaning of particular places of Scripture There is therefore betweene our aduersaries and vs no difference in this matter if they wil vnderstand themselues For we confesse that neither conference of places nor consideration of the antecedentia consequentia nor looking into the originals are of any force vnlesse we finde the things which wee conceiue to bee vnderstood and meant in the places interpreted to be consonant to the rule of faith And they confesse that though alone and without respect had to the rule of faith they be but probable meanes of direction and not absolutely certaine yet that being joyned with the rule of faith they helpe and are exceedingly necessary Illyricus in his Clauis scripturae speaking of the difficulties that are found in Scripture and how they may be cleared sheweth that nothing is more necessary for the vnderstanding of the Scripture than to be rightly taught the generall principles and axiomes of Diuinity out of which doe flowe and on which do depend whatsoeuer things are contained in the Scripture and then commeth to the other media assigned before Neither is there any of our Diuines that euer thought otherwise CHAP 20. Of the supposed imperfection of Scriptures and the supply of Traditions THus hauing shewed what that difficulty and obscurity is which is found in Scripture who must interpret it and by what rules they must be guided in the interpretatioÌ of it it remaineth that in the next place we cleare the scriptures from the other imputation of our adversaries which is imperfection which they indeauour to supply by addition of traditions The necessity of writing for the preseruation and safe keeping of those treasures of learning and wisdome which wee desire should remaine and be knowne to posterities appeareth in that fewe things remaine of Socrates Pythagoras others renowned in the times wherein they liued for wisdome and learning because they left nothing in writing as also by that of blessed Iob Oh that my wordes were written c. as if there were no other meanes to preserue the remembrance of things that they should neuer be forgotten but writing only The Auncients had the knowledge of God without writing but how soone it decayed it easily appeareth Surely it failed in euery family in one at the least till the time of Iacob father of the 12. Patriarkes And therefore after God took the whole posterity of Iacob to be his peculiar people a fauour which he shewed not to any of his fathers before hee gaue them his lawes in writing which Scripture or writing was so full and perfect that the Iewes had nothing deliuered vnto them pertaining to the knowledge or seruice of God that was not written The instance that our adversaries giue to the contrary is concerning the females and males dying before the eighth day who not being circumcised they presume they were sanctified to God and found remission of their Originall and birth sinne by some other sacred rite and Sacramentall meanes appointed by God though not written This instance is clearely refuted by Andradius If sayth he we shall more diligently looke into the thing itselfe wee shall finde that the Iewes had no set or certaine rite of religion wherewith to sanctifie cleanse their women children or males that died before circumcision from the
sibi abstulisse veritatem that while they were vnwilling that we should haue any authoritie for confirmation of our faith in their Scriptures they would depriue themselues of the truth of them which they euer held the richest treasure in the world Especially seeing it hath euer beene thought by the wisest in Gods Church that God in his prouidence hath therefore preserued these forlorne and forsaken Creatures and dispersed them into the seuerall Nations and kingdomes of the World that they might giue testimony to the truth of our faith by those monuments of Moses and the Prophets which they honour and embrace as receiued from God himselfe Thus then we are perswaded that there is no great nor generall corruption of the Hebrew text of Scripture and that the faults which by negligence in time crept into it are but few and such as by helpe of the Mazzoreth may easily be amended But because Andradius Bellarmine and other of our aduersaries haue vndertaken the defence of the truth and confutation of their fellowes error in this poynt I will no longer insist vpon it let vs come therefore to the new Testament CHAP. 29 Of the supposed Corruptions of the Greeke text of Scripture IN the new testament sayth Sixtus Senensis out of Hierome if any question arise amongst them that reade the Scriptures in Latine and there appeare difference variety amongst the translations we must haue recourse to the Greeke as to the fountaine assuring our selues that there were euer some incorrupt and true Copies of the new Testament found amongst them that read the same in Greeke out of which the Latine might be corrected and that if some faults be found in the Greeke Copies by the negligence or mistaking of them that wrote them out they may easily be discerned by laying together sundry Copies casually corrupted it so falling out that what in one booke is depraued by the fault of the writers in another is found right Now sayth he whereas certaine heretikes did say that either Hierome did not translate the same Greeke that now is or that he translated it very ill it is to be aunswered that the Greeke is the same which all Christians read translated before and after Hierome but that he translated it not but onely in some things corrected the old translation he found in vse before and that yet notwithstanding that vulgar and old translation is not wholly to bee abandoned and reiected for that though it doe not exactly agree with the Greeke which is the originall yet it omitteth nothing in matter of faith or truth of story nor hath any thing contrary to the trueth of religion The Romanists to proue that the Greeke text of the new Testament is corrupted and consequently that it is not safe to correct the Latine translations by it alledge certaine places which they presume they can easily demonstrate to bee corrupted Bellarmine giueth instance in these that follow In the 1 Cor 15. the Greeke that now is hath in all Copies The first man was of the earth earthly the second man is the Lord from heaven the later part of this sentence Tertullian supposeth to haue beene corrupted and altered by the Marcionites instead of that the Latine text hath The second man was from heauen heauenly as Ambrose Hierome and many of the Fathers read also Touching this place wee aunswere that not onely the Greeke Copies now extant haue it as we read and translate but the Syriacke Arabicke also and that Damascene de Orthodoxa fide readeth in the same sort Notwithstanding because many of the Fathers both Greeke and Latine follow the other reading we thinke it very doubtfull which is the originall verity This difference of the reading of the Apostles words is a matter of no great moment seeing neither of them contayne any thing contrary to the rule of faith or verity of Christian religion The second place they produce is 1 Iohn 4. 3. Where the Greeke hath Euery spirit that confesseth not c. but the Latine euery spirit that dissolueth Iesus It is true that Socrates in his history sayth that the auncient Greeke Copies had as the Latine now hath and that these words were put out by such as diuided the person of Christ yet seeing not onely all copies of the Greeke text but the Syriacke translation also hath Euery spirit that confesseth not c. and Cyprian so citeth the place and Augustine readeth and interpreteth both wee thinke it likewise very doubtfull which is the originall verity The next place is the 1. Cor 7. where in the vulgar Latine wee reade in this sort He that is with a wife is carefull for the things of the World how hee may please his wife and is diuided that is distracted with many cares but in the Greeke it is thus Hee that hath a wife is carefull for the thinges of the world how to please his wife there is a difference betweene a wife and a virgine or they are divided one from another That the former is the true reading of the Apostles words Bellarmine proueth because Hierome against Iouinian affirmeth it to be so and some other of the Fathers follow the same But he should know that not onely the most part of all the Greeke Copies haue as wee translate but the Syriacke and Arabicke translations also Besides Basil the Greeke Scholiast Theophylact and Hierome himselfe against Heluidius and to Eustochium de Custodia Virginitatis So that this proofe of the corruption of the Originalls prooueth too weake The next allegation concerning the 12. to the Romanes of serving the Lord and seruing the time is much weaker For Beza sheweth that some Greeke Copies haue as the vulgar hath and as Bellarmine sayth the truth is seruing the Lord. That the story of the Adulteresse in the 8 of Iohn is not found in many Greeke Copies doth not proue the generall corruption of the Greeke text which is the thing our aduersaries vndertake to proue For if it did the Latine also should bee reiected as corrupted and false For as Hierome witnesseth many of the Latine Copies wanted this story as well as the Greeke Some of the auncient were of opinion that this story was first found in the Apocryphall Gospell according to the Hebrewes But whatsoeuer wee thinke of it it maketh nothing against the authority of the Greeke text seeing it was euer found in some Greeke Copies though not in all The Rhemists to disgrace the Greeke alledge sundry places where they say our translators choose rather to follow the vulgar Latine then the Greeke thereby acknowledging that it is corrupt But if wee examine the particulars wee shall finde that this their allegation is nothing else but a lying and false report For they euer follow some and those the best and most incorrupt Greeke Copies as Beza sheweth Wherefore fayling in this allegation they betake
state But when Herod swaied the Scepter flue all those that he found to be of the bloud royall of Iudah and tooke away all power and authority that the Sanedrim formerly had then the Scepter departed from Iudah and the Law-giuer from betweene his feete so that then was the time for the Shiloh to come CHAP. 11. Of the manifestation of God in the flesh the causes thereof and the reason why the second Person in the Trinitie rather tooke flesh then either of the other GOd therefore in that fulnesse of time sent his Sonne in our flesh to sit vpon the throne of Dauid and to bee both a King and Priest ouer his house for euer concerning whom three things are to bee considered First his humiliation abasing himselfe to take our nature and become man Secondly the gifts and graces he bestowed on the nature of man when he assumed it into the vnitie of his Person Thirdly the things hee did and suffered in it for our good In the Incarnation of the Sonne of God we consider first the necessity that God should become man secondly the fitnesse and conuenience that the second Person rather then any other Thirdly the manner how this strange thing was wrought brought to passe Touching the necessity that God should become man there are two opinions in the Romane schooles For some thinke that though Adam had neuer sinned yet it had beene necessary for the exaltation of humane nature that God should haue sent his Sonne to become man but others are of opinion that had it not beene for the deliuering of man out of sinne and misery the Sonne of God had neuer appeared in our flesh Both these opinions sayth Bonauentura are Catholique and defended by Catholiques whereof the former seemeth more consonant to reason but the later to the piety of faith because neither Scripture nor Fathers doe euer mention the Incarnation but when they speake of the redemption of mankind soe that seeing nothing is to be beleeued but what is proued out of these it sorteth better with the nature of right beliefe to thinke the Sonne of God had neuer become the Sonne of man if man had not sinned then to thinke the contrary Venit filius hominis sayth Augustine saluum facere quod perierat Si homo non perijsset filius hominis non venisset nulla causa fuit Christo veniendi nisi peccatores saluos facere Tolle morbos tolle vuluera nulla est medicinae causa that is The Sonne of man came to saue that which was lost If man had not perished the sonne of man had not come there was no other cause of Christs comming but the saluation of sinners Take away diseases wounds and hurts and what neede is there of the Phisition or Surgeon Wherefore resoluing with the Scriptures and Fathers that there was no other cause of the incarnation of the Sonne of God but mans redemption let vs see whether so great an abasing of the sonne of God were necessary for the effecting hereof Surely there is no doubt but that Almighty God whose wisdome is incomprehensible and power infinite could haue effected this worke by other meanes but not soe well beseeming his truth and justice whereupon the Diuines doe shew that in many respects it was fit and necessary for this purpose that God should become man First ad fidem firmandam to settle men in a certaine and vndoubted perswasion of the truth of such things as are necessary to be beleeued vt homo fidentiùs ambularet ad veritatem sayth Augustine ipsa veritas Dei filius homine assumpto constituit fundauit fidem that is That man might more assuredly and without danger of erring approach vnto the presence of sacred truth it selfe the sonne of God assuming the nature of man setled and founded the faith and shewed what things are to be beleeued Secondly ad rectam operationem to direct mens actions for whereas man that might be seene might not safely be followed and God that was to bee imitated and followed could not be seene it was necessary that God should become man that hee whom man was to follow might shew himselfe vnto man and be seene of him Thirdly ad ostendendam dignitatem humanae Naturae to shew the dignitie and excellencie of humane nature that no man should any more soe much forget himselfe as to defile the same with finfull impurities Demonstrauit nobis Deus sayth Augustine quà m excelsum locum inter creaturas habeat humana natura in hoc quòd hominibus in vero homine apparuit that is God shewed vs how high a place the nature of man hath amongst his creatures in that he appeared vnto men in the nature and true being of a man Agnosce sayth Leo O Christiane dignitatem tuam diuinae consors factus naturae noli in veterem vilitatem degeneri conuersatione redire that is Take knowledge ô Christian man of thine owne worth and dignity and being made partaker of the diuine nature returne not to thy former basenesse by an vnfitting kind of life conuersation Lastly it was necessary the Sonne of God should become man ad liberandum hominem à seruitute peccati to deliuer man from the slauery and bondage of sinne For the performance whereof two things were to be done For first the justice of God displeased with sinne committed against him was to bee satisfied and secondly the breach was to be made vp that was made vpon the whole nature of man by the same neither of which things could possibly be perforned by man or Angell or by any creature For touching the first the wrath of God displeased with sinne and the punishments which in iustice he was to inflict vpon sinners for the same were both infinite because the offence was infinite and therefore none but a person of infinite worth value and vertue was able to endure the one and satisfie the other If any man shall say it was possible for a meere man stayed by diuine power and assistance to feele smart and paine in proportion answering to the pleasure of sin which is but finite and to indure for a time the losse of all that infinite comfort solace that is to be found in God answering to that aversion from God that is in sinne which is infinite and so to satisfie his justice he considereth not that though such a man might satisfie for his owne sinne yet not for the sinnes of all other who are in number infinite vnlesse his owne person were eminently as good as all theirs and vertually infinite Secondly that though he might satisfie for his owne actuall sin yet he could not for his originall sin which being the sin of nature cannot be satisfied for but by him in whom the whole nature of man in some principall sort is found Thirdly he considereth not that it is impossible that any sinner should of himselfe euer cease from sinning and that therefore seeing
not according vnto that whence the person is denominated This explication or limitatioÌ is theÌ specially to be added wheÌ such properties of one nature are attributed to the persoÌ denominated from the other as seeme to exclude the properties of the other so when we say Christ the Son of God is a creature we must adde that wee neither scandalize them that heare vs nor giue any occasion of errour that hee is a creature in that hee is man Now it followeth that wee speake of the second kinde or degree of communication of properties which is in that the actions of Christ are ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Deiuiriles Divinely-humane Humanely-diuine each Nature so worketh it owne worke according to the naturall propertie thereof that it hath a kinde of communion with the other But lest we fall into errour touching this point we must obserue that the actions of Christ may bee said to bee Theandricall that is Diuinely-humane three wayes First so as if there were one action of both Natures and so we must not vnderstand the actions of Christ to be Diuinely-humane for this is to confound the Natures whereas we must vndoubtedly beleeue that Omnia in Christo sunt duplicia naturae proprietates voluntates operationes solâ exceptâ subsistentiâ quae est una that is that all things in Christ are twofold or double as his Natures properties wils actions his subsistence only or Person excepted which is but one Secondly the actions of Christ may be said to be Theandricall that is Diuinely-humane for that both the actions of Deitie Humanity though distinct yet concurre in one work to which purpose Sophronius in that notable Epistle of his which we read in the ââ¦6 t generall Councell doth distinguish 3 kinds of the works of Christ making the first meerely diuine as to create all things the second meerely humane as to eate drink sleep the third partly diuine partly humane as to walke vpoÌ the waters in which worke vvalking vvas so humane that the giuing of firmnes soliditie to the vvaters to beare the vveight of his Body vvas an action of Deitie Thirdly the actions of Christ may be said to be Theandrical that is Diuinely-humane in respect of the Person that produceth bringeth theÌ forth which is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã God-man In either of these two latter senses the actions of Christ may rightly be vnderstood to be Theandricall that of Leo is most true coÌcerning Christ. In Christo utraque forma operatur cum alterius coÌmunione quod propriuÌ est that is in Christ both natures do work that which is proper vnto them with a kind of coÌmunioÌ the one hath with the other for this saying is true first in respect of the Person the coÌmunion which either nature hath with other therein Secondly in respect of the work effect wherunto by their seuerall proper actions they coÌcurre though in different sort as in healing of the sick not only the force of Deity appeared shewed it self but the humane nature also did coÌcurre in respect of the body in that he touched those that were to be healed laid his hands vpon theÌ spake vnto theÌ in respect of the soul in that he desired applauded rejoiced in that which by diuine power he brought to passe thirdly in that the actions of humane nature in Christ haue in them a greater perfection then can be found in the actions of any meere man from the assistance of the Deity that dwelleth bodily in him CHAP. 14. Of the third kind of communication of properties and the first degree thereof NOw let vs come to the third kind of coÌmunicatioÌ of properties which is that whereby diuine precious things are really bestowed on the nature of man The things which are thus coÌmunicated bestowed are of 2 sorts The first finite created as qualities or habites formally habitually subjectiuely inherent in the humane nature the 2â the essentiall attributes of the diuinity it self coÌmunicated to the humane nature not formally by physicall effusion or essentiall confusioÌ but by dispensatioÌ of personal vnioÌ Touching the things of the first sort there is no questioÌ but that they vvere bestovved vpon the nature of man in all perfectioÌ vvhen it vvas vnited to the Person of the Sonne of God so that in it vvas found the fulnesse both of grace vertue according to that of S. Iohn The word was made flesh dwelt amoÌgst vs. we saw the glory of it as the glory of the only begotten Son of God full of grace truth The fulnes of grace as the Schoolemen excellently note is of tvvo sorts first in respect of grace it selfe and secondly in respect of him that hath it The fulnesse of grace in respect of grace it selfe is then vvhen one attaineth to the highest and vttermost of grace both quoad essentiam virtutem intensiuè extensiuè in the Essence and vertue of it intensiuely and extensiuely that is vvhen he hath it as farre forth as it may be had and vnto all effects and purposes wherevnto grace doth or can extend it selfe as he is said to haue life perfectly or the fulnesse of life that hath it not onely in the essence but according to all the operations and acts of life sensible rationall intellectuall spirituall and naturall in which sort man onely hath the perfection and fulnesse of life in him and no other thing of inferior condition This kinde of fulnesse of grace is proper to Christ onely Of whose fulnesse wee all receiue The fulnesse of grace in respect of the subiect or him that hath it is then when one hath grace fully and perfectly according to his estate and condition both intensiuely to the vttermost bound that God hath prefixed to them of such a condition and extensiuely in the vertue of it in that it extendeth to the doing and performing of all those things that may any way pertaine to the condition office or estate of such as are of his place and Ranke In this sort Stephen is said to haue beene full of the holy Ghost who is the fountaine of grace and Marie the blessed Virgine the mother of our Lord is by the Angell pronounced Blessed amongst women and full of grace for that shee had grace in respect of the Essence of it intensiuely in as perfect sort as any mortall creature might haue it and in respect of the vertue of it extending to all thinges that might any way pertaine to her that was chosen to bee the sacred vessell of the incarnation of the Sonne of God So that there was neuer any but Christ whose graces were no way stinted and to whom the spirit was not giuen in measure that was absolutely full of grace which fulnesse of grace in Christ the Diuines doe declare and cleare vnto vs wherein it consisted by distinguishing a double grace in Christ the one of
passed their sentence before his comming and therevpon without delay before he had put off his cloake or shaken off the dust from his feete as the storie saith assembling the Bishops subiect to him in a Synode deposed Cyrill and Memnon Bishop of Ephesus who were chiefe agents in the proceedings against Nestorius Which deposition of Cyrill and Memnon was something hastily confirmed by the Emperour Theodosius The Synode assembled vnder Cyrill in like sort gaue sentence against Iohn and signified to Caelestinus Bishop of Rome what they had done shewing how vnaduisedly a few had presumed to condemne a great many and the Bishop of the third See Bishops of greater Sees to wit Cyrill of Alexandria and Caelestinus of Rome who was present in the Councell by his Vicegerent yet referring the finall proceeding to his consideration also hee and his Bishops being as much interessed in this businesse as they that were assembled In the end by mediation of many great and worthy ones Iohn and his Bishops that formerly were misconceited of Cyrill were satisfied and he sent the confession of his faith vnto him which he approued and so they were reconciled and made friends without any farther intermedling of the Bishop of Rome Here is nothing to be found that any way argueth or importeth an vniuersality of power in the Bishop of Rome but onely his concurrence with the other Patriarches as prime Patriarch in the waighty and important businesses of the Church and therefore the Fathers of that Councell writing to the Vicars of the Bishop of Rome and other Bishops sent by them to the Emperour to informe him concerning the differences that had arisen in the Councell and their proceedings charge and require them to doe nothing but according to their direction assuring them that if they doe otherwise they will neither ratifie that they doe nor admit them to their communion Thereby shewing that though the Romane Bishop be to concurre with the Fathers assembled in Councells yet he is not absolutely there to commaund but to follow the directions of the Maior part So that he hath a joynt interest with others but not an absolute Soueraignty ouer all others God therefore hauing ordained the high toppes of Patriarchicall dignities as it is in the eighth generall Councell that they might iointly concurre to vphold the state of the Church and the truth of Religion and that if one fell the rest might restore settle and reestablish things againe Which course Cyrill in his Epistle to Iohn of Antioche sheweth to haue beene holden by him For when he obserued that Nestorius his fellow Patriarch erred from the faith he first admonished him and threatned to reiect him from the communion of his Churches Secondly he acquainted the Bishop of Rome and the Westerne Bishops with the impieties and blasphemies of Nestorius who thereupon reiected him professing that they would admitte none to their communion but such as would condemne him Thirdly he wrote to Iuvenall Bishop of Hierusalem and to Iohn Bishop of Antioche shewing his owne dislike of Nestorius and farther professing that for his part hee was fearefull to be cast out of the communion of the Westerne Bishoppes as hee saw he must be if he accursed not Nestorius The next allegation is out of the Councell of Chalcedon where Theodorus and Ischiron Deacons in their bils of complaint exhibited to the Bishop of Rome as president and to the whole Councell call Leo the Bishop Most holy and most blessed vniuersall Arch-bishop and Patriarch of great Rome But they that presse the testimony of these two distressed Deacons flying to Leo for helpe should remember that in the Councell of Constantinople vnder Mennas not Deacons but Bishops they many are reported to haue written to the Bishop of Constantinople in this sort To our most holy Lord and most blessed Father of Fathers Iohn the Archbishop and vniuersall Patriarch and Mennas himselfe also is called Oecumenicall Patriarch Archbishop oftentimes in that Councell of Constantinople and yet I thinke they will not acknowledge the Bishops of Constantinople to haue had an vniuersall supreme commaunding power ouer the whole world Herevnto therefore they adde another proofe out of the relation of the Councell of Chalcedon made to Leo wherein the Fathers complaine of Dioscorus that as a wilde Boare he had violently entred into the vineyard of the Lord and wasted the same plucking vp the true fruitfull vines and planting vnfruitfull in their places and that hee stayed not there but reached out his hand against him to whom the keeping of the vineyard was committed by our Sauiour that is against the Bishop of Rome whom hee thought to excommunicate These words wee willingly confesse to bee words of iust complaint vpon great cause made by the Fathers of the Councell against Dioscorus but they proue not the thing in question For wee make no doubt but the keeping of the vineyard of the Lord of hosts was committed to the Bishop of Rome not onely as well as to other but in the first place as being in order and honour the chiefe But that he onely receiued from Christ this power authority charge and others from him not we onely but many learned amongst themselues doe denie as Bellarmine testifieth There are two other testimonies that may be alleaged out of the Councell of Chalcedon For Paschasinus one of the Vicegerents of the Bishop of Rome in that Councell calleth Rome the head of the churches and Leo the Bishop of Rome head of the vniuersall Church But they who presse so much the saying of the Popes Legate in fauour of the Pope must know that by head hee meant chiefe in order and honour and not one hauing all power originally in himselfe and absolutely commaunding ouer all as the Papists now teach For if he had meant so he had not been endured by the Fathers of that Councell who peremptorily pronounce that it was the greatnesse of the citie and not any power giuen by Christ or deriued to him from Peter that made the Bishop of Rome to be great that therefore they would equall the Bishop of Constantinople vnto him seeing Constantinople was now become equall vnto Rome The next testimony that they alleage is out of the Patriarchicall Councell of Constantinople vnder Mennas wherein the Fathers professe by Mennas their president that they follow and obey the Apostolique See that they communicate with them with whom that See communicateth and condemne all those it condemneth Surely this reason howsoeuer it may seeme to haue some force yet indeed hath none at all For there is no question but that the Bishop of Rome with his Westerne Synods all which according to the phrase of Antiquity are comprehended vnder the name of the Apostolique See was more to be esteemed then the particular Synode vnder Mennas and that therefore they might professe to follow it and obey the decrees of it and yet neither
of the generall Councel though about the same time hee and all the Bishops of the West were assembled at Rome Wherefore this testimony might well haue beene spared The next allegation out of the Epistle of Damasus to the Bishops of Numidia is lesse to be esteemed then the former seeing that Epistle hath many things in it which cannot agree with the state of things in those times For if the Africans had bin so willing to refer all greater matters by way of appeale to Rome as the Epistle of Stephen in answere whereunto this of Damasus is written importeth how could it haue come to passe that in Zozymus his time appeales to Rome should seeme so strange as it appeareth they did That which is alleaged out of the Epistle of Syricius to Himericus Bishop of Tarracon and of Zozymus to Hesychius Bishop of Salona is to little purpose for that Syricius saith he is more zealous of true Religion then all other Christians and that he beareth the burthen of all that are grieued is no more then is attributed to Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria Neither is it to be marvailed at that he saith the Bishop of Tarracon referred certaine matters to the Church of Rome as to the head of his body seeing he was one of the Bishops that were subiect to the Bishop of Rome as Patriarch of the West Which also is the reason why Zozymus giueth directions to the Bishop of Salona touching the time they of the Clergie were to continue in euery of the lower degrees before they might be preferred to higher wishing him to acquaint others neare vnto him with the same and to assure them that he should answere it with the losse of his place whosoeuer should contemne the authority of the Fathers and neglect his prescriptions The next Pope that is produced as a witnes is Innocentius the first in his Epistles to the Bishops of Macedonia the Fathers assembled in the councels of Mileuis Carthage out of which Epistles foure things are alleaged for proof of the Popes supremacie The first is that the Church of Rome is by him called head of Churches yea the wellspring and head of all Churches The second that doubtfull cases were referred to the See of Rome by the Bishops of Macedonia The third that all the Bishops of the world were wont to consult the Romane Bishop in doubtfull questions touching matters of faith The fourth that the Romane Bishops haue the care of all Churches To these seuerall obiections framed out of the Epistles of this Romane Bishop we answer briefly First that the Church of Rome was head of all Churches that is first in order and honour amongst them but not in absolute supreme commanding power Secondly that the Church of Rome was in more speciall sort head of such Churches as were within the Patriarchship of Rome as Macedonia was in Innocentius his time and that this was the reason why the Bishops of Macedonia referred their doubts to the determination of the See of Rome Thirdly that all the Bishops of the world consulted the Apostolique See of Rome and the Bishop thereof in controuersies of Faith and Religion not as an absolute supreme judge to whose determinations they were bound to stand but as their most honourable Collegue interessed as much as any of them in the maintenance of the truth of Religion and the determination of things questioned concerning the Faith Fourthly that they did not consult the person of the Bishop of Rome alone but all the Bishops of the West together with him who were a great and principall part of the Christian world though sometimes hee onely be named as beeing the President of all the Synodes of Bishoppes throughout the West Fiftly that the Bishops of Rome had the care of all Churches not as absolute supreame commanders but as most honourable amongst the Bishops and Pastours of Churches who were first to be sought vnto in matters requiring a common deliberation and from whom all things generally concerning the state of the whole Church were either to take beginning or at the least to seeke confirmation before they were generally imposed and prescribed that so being rightly determined by the Bishops of the chiefe and principall Churches other Churches might receiue the same like waters flowing from a fountaine and running in puritie in all Churches according to the purity of the head and beginning The sixt Bishop of Rome that is produced to giue testimonie for the Popes supremacie is Leo the first out of whom seauen things are alleaged whereof the first is that he appointed Anastasius the Bishop of Thessalonica to be his Vicegerent for the gouernement of the Prouinces farre off from him whence it may be inferred as our Aduersaries thinke that the Bishops of Rome had an vniuersall commanding power ouer all the world The second that he commaundeth Anatolius Patriarch of Constantinople The third that he wisheth the Bishop of Antioch to write often to him touching the affaires and state of the Churches The fourth that Cyril the Patriarch of Alexandria besought him not to permit Iuuenall Bishop of Hierusalem to prejudice the right of the Church of Antioch and to subject Palestina to himselfe The fifth that hee commaunded Dioscorus Bishop of Alexandria The sixt that hee intermeddled in Africa And the last that hee sayth that Rome had a larger extent of Presidence in that by Peters chaire she was made the head of all Churches then in that in respect of earthly dominion she was Lady and Mistresse of a great part of the world To all these objections thus mustered together out of the writings of Leo we answere in this sort First that Thessalonica was within the Patriarchship of Rome and that therefore the Bishop of Rome might haue a Vicegerent there to dispatch some of those things that pertained to him as Patriarch and yet haue no vniuersall commanding power ouer all the world Secondly we say that Leo did not acknowledge Anatolius Bishop of Constantinople to be a Patriach and that therefore it followeth not that he would haue presumed to haue commanded a Patriarch if he had commanded him but that indeed he did not coÌmand him For thus the case stood After the Councel of Ephesus wherein diuers Bishops compelled by Dioscorus subscribed to impious decrees Leo besought the Emperour that a generall Councell might be called but because by reason of warres in many parts of the world such a Councell could not conueniently be presently called he sent certaine commissioners to Constantinople who taking to them the Bishop of Constantinople and being assisted by him and the Bishops thereabout might vpon repentance and due satisfaction reconcile and againe admitte to the communion of their Churches such as they should thinke fit These commissioners Leo directed and commanded as in right he might But that he specially commanded the Bishop of Constantinople it cannot be proued Thirdly we say that Leo
against him themselues alone complained to the Bishop of Rome and shewed him how much he was wronged by the vndue claimes of this Bishop The Bishop of Rome tooke not vpon him to doe any thing of himself but called a Synode of the Bishops of the West and by their aduice with the concurrence of the Emperour directed certaine out of the West authorized by the whole Synode to goe and sitte in Councell with the Bishoppes of those parts who together with them examining the crimes obiected to Polychronius and finding that hee was truely charged with them deposed him from his Bishopricke so that the Bishoppe of Rome did not depose him of himselfe but onely called a Synode as in such a case it was fitte hee should and the Synode deposed him but in trueth it is rather to bee thought that the acts of the Councell vnder Sixtus the third are counterfeit and of no credite For Binnius sheweth that there was no such Polychronius Bishop of Hierusalem in those times bringeth many other reasons to disproue the acts of this supposed Councell besides that the absurdity in the proceedings bewrayeth them to be counterfeit For what can be more absurd then that the accuser of Polychronius making good his accusation should bee condemned for accusing him and he first condemned and then presently vpon slender or no reasons at all restored againe Thus we see how little our Adversaries are able to say for proofe of the Popes vniversall power exercised in deposing Bishoppes Wherefore let vs now proceede to see if they can produce any better proofes of his restoring such as were deposed by others The first example they bring is the restitution of Basilides a Bishop in Spaine but they know right well that the Bishop of Rome did not restore him to his Bishopricke and that therefore this allegation serueth to no purpose but to abuse the Reader to make him beleeue they say something when they say nothing The circumstances of the matter concerning Basilides are these layed down in Cyprians Epistles Basilides Martialis had defiled themselues with some kind of consenting to Idolatry therefore the Clergy people subiect to them fearefull to communicate with them write to Cyprian the African Bishops for counsaile helpe they returne answer that they are to withdraw themselues from them to proceede to the election of new Bishops Hereupon the Bishops of the prouince comming to the place where Basilides was Bishop Sabinus was elected Bishop by the Clergy people with the liking of all the Bishops of the province and ordained by them Bishop in the place of Basilides After this Basilides goeth to Rome mis-informeth Stephen the Bishop and seeketh by his meanes the help of his Bishops to recouer his place againe they communicate with him so as much as in them lyeth restore him to his former place dignity againe Cyprian condemneth the false ill dealing of Basilides and reproueth also the negligence of Stephen that suffered himselfe so easily to be misled taxing him such as consented with him for coÌmunicating with such wicked ones and shewing that they are partakers of their sins that they violate the Canon of the Church which the Bishops of Africa and all the Bishops of the world yea euen Cornelius the predecessour of this Stephen had consented on to wit that men so defiled with idolatry as Martialis Basilides were should be receiued to penitency but bee kept from all Ecclesiasticall honour Hereupon he exhorteth the brethren not to bee moued if in these last times the faith of some men be shaken or the feare of God faile in them or if they hold not peaceable concord with their brethren for that both the Apostle and the Lord himselfe foretold that such things should come to passe in the last times the world decaying Antichrists reuelation drawing on coÌforteth encourageth theÌ to hold on in the good course they were in for that the vigor of the Gospell and the strength of Christian vertue faith do not so wholly fall away in these last times vt non super sit portio SacerdotuÌ quae minimè ad has rerum ruinas fidei naufragia succuÌbat that is that no remnant of Bishops should remaine which should no way sinke or fall in these ouerthrowes of things and shipwrackes of faith but full of the feare of God couragiously maintaine the honour of the diuine maiesty and the dignity of the Priests We know saith he that when the rest yeelded Mattathias valiantly maintained the law of God and that Elias stood and stroue zealously when others forsooke the law of his God Wherefore let them that either violate the Canons or treacherously behaue themselues looke to it there are many who still retaine a sincere and good minde What if some haue fallen away from the faith doth their infidelity make the truth of God of none effect God forbid For God is true and euery man a lyer and if euery man be a lyer and God only true what should the seruants and Priests of God do but leaue the errours and lyes of men and keepe the precepts of the Lord and remaine in the truth of God Wherefore though some of our Brethren and Colleagues thinke they may neglect the discipline of God and rashly communicate with Basilides and Martialis let it not trouble nor shake our faith seeing the spirit of God threatneth in the Psalmes saying Thou hast hated discipline and cast my words behind thy backe If thou sawest a thiefe thou rannest with him and hadst thy portion with the adulterers These are the circumstances of Cyprians Epistle wherein he relateth the proceedings against Basilides and Martialis and the inconsiderate course held by the Bishop of Rome hastily communicating with them whereby wee may see how wisely and aduisedly our Aduersaries alleage Cyprian to proue that in ancient times the Bishops of Rome had power to restore such Bishops to their places againe as were deposed by other For thus they must reason from this place of Cyprian if they will make any vse of it Basilides Martialis iustly put from their office and dignity and others rightly and in due sort chosen into their places flye to Stephen Bishop of Rome hoping by his meanes to procure the reuersing of that which was done against them He with such as adhered to him though they could not restore them to their places yet communicated with them Cyprian offeÌded herewith chargeth Basilides Martialis with execrable wickednesse for abusing Stephen and misse-informing him Stephen with intollerable negligence vnexcusable violatioÌ of the CanoÌs for partaking with such wicked persons wisheth all his Brethren and colleagues coÌstantly to hold on their course against them notwithstanding the failing of Stephen and his adherents Therefore the ancient Bishops of Rome restored to their places such as were judicially deposed by others and were thought by the Fathers to haue power
Catholicarum quam plurimum scripturarum solertissimus indagator authoritatem sequatur inter quas fanè illae sunt quas Apostolica sedes habere ab eâ alij meruerunt accipere epistolas So that whereas Saint Augustine saith that in reckoning the Canonicall bookes of Scripture a man must follow the authority of the greater number of Catholique Churches and among them especially such as either had Apostolicall seates as Hierusalem and the like or receiued Epistles from some of the Apostles as did the Churches of Corinth and Galatia Gratian maketh him say that the Epistles which the Apostolicall See receiued or other receiued of it are to be reckoned among Canonicall Scriptures This ouersight of Gratian Picus Mirandula long since obserued and after him Alfonsus a Castro whereby wee may see how easie it was for men in former times to runne into most grosse errors before the reuiuing of learning in these latter times while the blinde did lead the blinde For Gratian was the man out of whom the greatest Diuines of former times tooke all their authorities of Fathers and Councles as appeareth by their marginall quotations And how ignorantly and negligently he mistooke them mis-alleaged theÌ this one example is proof sufficient But whatsoeuer we think of Gratian we shall find that not only our Diuines but the best learned among our aduersaries also put a greatdifference between the sacred scriptures of the holy Canon and the Decrees of Councels For first they say the Scripture is the word of God reuealed immediately and written in a sort from his owne mouth according to that of S. Peter the holy men of God spake as they were moued by the holie Ghost And that of S. Paul All Scripture is by diuine inspiration which is not so to be vnderstood as if alwaies the holy Writers had had new reuelations and had alwayes written that which before they were ignorant of for it is certaine that the Euangelists Mathew and Iohn wrote those things which they saw and Marke and Luke those things they heard from others as Luke himselfe confesseth in the beginning of his Gospel But the holy writers are therefore said to haue had immediate reuelation and to haue written the words of God himselfe because either some new things and not knowne before were reuealed to them by God or because God immediately inspired and moued the Writers to write those things which they had seene and heard and directed them that they should not any way erre in writing whereas Councels neither haue nor write immediate reuelations or words of God but only declare which is that word of God vttered formerly to the Prophets and Apostles how it is to bee vnderstood and what conclusions may bee deduced from it by discourse of reason Secondly the holy Writers performed that which they did without any further labour or trauell then that in writing and calling to minde what they had seene and heard but in Councels the Bishoppes and Fathers with great paine and trauell seeke out the trueth by discourse conference reading and deepe meditation and therefore the holy Writers are wont to attribute all to God onely and the Prophets were wont often to repeate The Lord sayth Thirdly in the Scriptures not onethe whole sentences but euery word pertaineth to Faith for no word is therein vaine or ill placed But in Councels there are many disputations going before resolution many reasons brought for confirmation of things resolued on many things added for explication and illustration many things vttered obiter and in passage that men are not bound to admitte as true and right nay many things are defined in Councels that men are not bound to stand vnto For it is the manner of Councels sometimes to define a thing as certainely and vndoubtedly true pronouncing them Heretiques that thinke otherwise and subiecting them to curse Anathema and sometimes as probable onely and not certaine as the Councell of Vienna decreed that it is more probable that both grace and vertues accompanying grace are infused into Infants when they are baptized then that they are not and yet is this no matter faith in the Church of Rome Fourthly in the scripture all things as well concerning particular persons as in generality are vndoubtedly true For it is as certaine that Peter and Paul had the spirit of God as that no man can be saued without the illumination and sanctification of the spirit but in the determinations and decrees of Bishoppes assembled in a generall councell it is not so for they may erre in iudging of the persons of men and therefore there is no absolute certainty in the canonization of Saints as both Thomas and Canus do confesse Fiftly in Scriptures there are no precepts touching manners either concerning the whole church or any part of it that are not right equall and just But councels may erre if not in prescribing things euill in stead of good yet in prescribing things not fitting nor expedient if not to the whole church yet to some particular part of it as not knowing the coÌdition of things therein Yea some there are that think it not hereticall to beleeue that generall councels may prescribe some lawes to the whole church that are not right profitable and iust as to honour such a one for a Saint who indeed is no Saint to admit such orders of Religious men as are not profitable to receiue the communion onely in one kinde and the like And there are many that confidently pronounce that generall councells may decree such things as may breed inconuenience and may sauour of too great seuerity and austerity which the guides of the church in the execution of the same must bee forced to qualifie and temper So that the onely question is whether a generall councell may certainely define any thing to bee true in matter of faith that is false or command the doing of any act as good and an act of vertue that indeed and in trueth is an act of sinne Touching this point there are that say that all interpretations of holy Scriptures agreed on in generall councels and all resolutions of doubtes concerning things therein contained proceed from the same Spirit from which the holy Scriptures were inspired and that therefore generall councels cannot erre either in the interpretation of Scriptures or resoluing of things doubtfull concerning the faith But these men should know that though the interpretations and resolutions of Bishops in generall councels proceed from the same Sperit from which the Scriptures were inspired yet not in the same sort nor with like assurance of beeing free from mixture of errour For the Fathers assembled in generall councels doe not rely vppon immediate reuelation in all their particular resolutions and determinations as the Writers of the Bookes of holy Scripture did but on their owne meditation search and study the generall assistance of Diuine grace concurring with them That the Fathers
The councell of Laodicea provideth in this sort touching them that marry the second time Concerning them that according to the Ecclesiasticall Rule are freely and lawfully joyned in the second mariage and haue not secretly so joyned them-selues It is fit that for some short time they giue them-selues to prayer and fasting which being past by a kinde of Indulgence they may be restored to the Communion The Author of the vnperfect worke that goeth vnder the name of Chrysostome proceedeth a little farther in this sort The Apostles saith he commanded to enter into the second mariage for the avoyding of fornication For according to the precept of the Apostle it is lawfull to take a second wife but according to the rule and prescription of Trueth it is indeed Fornication This conceipt grew so farre that the Councel of Nice was forced to make a Canon that the Catharists should not be receiued into the fellowship of the Church vnlesse they would communicate with such as fell in the time of persecution with such as had beene twice maryed whereby it appeareth that some rejected them as though they might not haue beene receiued into the Church no not after Penance So that to conclude this point touching Digamie it is not the hauing of more wiues than one successiuely that the Apostle condemneth but the hauing of more wiues at once Three reasons are brought by our Adversaries to proue the contrary but they will be found too weake if we examine them The first is that Polygamie or the hauing of many wiues at once was not in vse in the Apostles time that therfore the Apostle had no reason to forbid it but this may easily be refuted by good authorities Your Masters saith Iustine Martyr speaking to the Iewes euen to this day suffer euery one of you to haue foure or fiue wiues in his Apologie he vnderstandeth by Digamie the hauing of more wiues then one at one time not successiuely for hee saith they which according to mans Law doe enter into Digamie or second mariages are sinners according to the Doctrine of our Teacher and Master And Theodoret sayth In former times both Iewes and Gentiles tooke vnto them in mariage many wiues Their second reason is this The Apostle requireth that a widdow must haue beene the wife of one husband and his meaning must needes bee that she must not haue had more husbands then one successiuely Therefore when hee prescribeth that a Bishop must be the husband of one wife his meaning is that hee must not haue had more then one wife successiuely the forme of speach being the same That when he speaketh of widdowes hee meaneth that they must not haue had more husbands then one successiuely they proue because howsoeuer Men haue sometimes had more wiues then one at the same time yet Women neuer had more husbands and hereupon they charge vs with intollerable impudencie violent wresting of the Scriptures and bringing such an interpretation of the Apostles words as neuer came into any wisemans cogitation before when wee say hee repelleth such from entering into the order of widdowes as haue had two husbands at once and not such as haue beene twice maried But if it please them to giue vs leaue wee will shew them that they are too violent and say they know not what For wee thinke nay we know it hath bene heard of that a woman should haue two husbands at one time yea that both amongst Iewes and Gentiles in former times women forsaking their husbands or forsaken of them without iust cause haue married againe which the Apostle might iustly condemne and debarre such as had so done from entring into the order and ranke of sacred Widdowes Neither is it hard to shew that our interpretation hath beene thought of and approued more then a thousand yeares agoe by men of as great wisedome as our great maisters that thus insult ouer vs. For Theodoret vpon these very words of the Apostle writeth thus Hereof also it is manifest that he reiecteth not second mariages but decreeth that they liue chastly in matrimony for hee which before hath established the secoÌd mariage by law hath not here forbidden her which hath bin twice married to obtaine bodily reliefe And Theophilact likewise sayth The Apostle requireth Monogamie of her that is to be admitted into the company of widdowes that is that shee haue beene coupled but to one husband at once as a signe of honesty chastity and good manners Concerning these Widdowes two things are to be considered First hovv and in what sort they were imployed by the Church Secondly how farre fortth they were tyed not to leaue the Church-seruice and to marryagaine Touching their seruice it was first and principally about women that were to be baptized for their instruction and the addressing of them-selues to that Sacrament and the sacred Rites of the Church accompanying the same as appeareth by the Constitutions of Clemens it being more fitte for them to haue priuate and often accesse vnto them then for men Which thing also Epiphanius sheweth calling them by the name of Diaconesses Secondly the attending and taking care of the sicke and impotent Touching the second point wee suppose that these widdowes being of great Age destitute of all outward supportes seeking reliefe of the Church and dedicating themselues to the seruice thereof did by this very act professe and make knowne their purpose of continuing in that estate of Widdowhood and performing such seruice as to them any way appertained And therefore the Apostle condemneth them that after such profession made waxed wanton against Christ sought to put themselues out of the holy Ministery seruice they had dedicated themselues vnto to returne to Secular courses of life againe These according to the iudgment of Epiphanius were subiect to ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that is just dislike and blame and were to be condemned for their leuity and inconstancie but not to ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã that is to the condemnation of eternall death and destruction if declining adultery and other like vncleanenesse they choose rather to marrie then to defile themselues with such impurities And Augustine resolueth that their marriage notwithhanding any profession they seeme to haue made to the contrary is not to be condemned as euill or to be dissolued but that onely their breach of promise made to God and his Church and their falling from their purpose is to bee disliked and condemned Thus do these learned and holy Fathers resolue touching such widdowes as the Apostle speaketh of And Peter Lumbard vpon these words of the Apostle in like sort adding that they breake their first faith euen that they professed in baptisme in that violating so solemne a promise and turning away so scandalously from the calling they had voluntarily put themselues into they seeme to forget and cast from them the very faith and profession of Christians Soe
limits set and prescribed by Christ and the Church and professeth that the abuse of the Papall power which the flatterers of the Pope amplified enlarged and magnified beyond all measure gaue men occasion to thinke ill of the Pope and in the end to depart from him With whom Gerson agreeth saying that the Popes intermedling in some kindes and assuming more then was fit gaue occasion to the Grecians to depart from the Church of Rome writing to the Pope at their parting in this sort wee know thy power thy couetousnesse wee cannot satisfie liue by thy selfe So that I haue truely said whatsoeuer Master Higgons blattereth out to the contrarie that it was the pride of Antichrist that made all the breaches in the Christian world But saith Master Higgons Gerson maketh the forme of the Churches gouernment to be Monarchicall which thing is mainely opposite to the opinion of Protestants who will not admit the Pope to bee a Monarch in the Church It is true that Gerson maketh the gouernment of the Church to be Monarchicall but no otherwise but as the gouernment of the state of Venice is Monarchicall wherein the Duke is greater then any one Senator but subiect to the Senate and hath neither absolute negatiue nor affirmatiue therefore it is in truth and indeed according to his opinion rather Aristocratical theÌ Monarchical though he make it to be so in that amongst all the Bs of the world one is first and in order and honour before all other A head he maketh the Pope to bee as a president of a company not as an absolute commaunder Whereas saith Iohn Bachon the denying the Pope to haue an illimited power was condemned as hereticall in Marsilius of Padua Io. de Ianduno some say they were condemned because they denied him to haue an illimited power as head or chiefe of all Bishops and with the colledge of them and that it is not there defined that absolutely in and of himself he hath illimited power of making lawes and gouerning according to the same without the concurrence of his brethren But Gerson saith it is schismatical not to acknowledg with aldue respect the true Pope vndoubtedly known to be soe therefore he must needes be an enemie to the Protestanticall reformation We say no for let the Pope as Gerson teacheth him to doe disclaime the claime of absolute vncontroulable power infallibility of judgment right to dispose the Kingdomes of the world let him without particular intermedling suffer other Bishops to gouerne their owne diocesses as they did in the Primitiue Church without so many reseruations preuentions and appeales receiued from all parts of the world and wee will thinke as Gerson doth that as it is Schismaticall to impugne the gouernment of Bishoppes within their owne diocesses the superiorities of Metropolitans in their Prouinces and of Patriarches in their larger circuites so it is Schismaticall to deny the Bishoppe of Rome contenting himselfe therewith a primacie of order honour and a speciall interest in swaying the gouernment of the whole Church and managing the affaires thereof as first amongst the Bishoppes of the world Wherefore let vs hearken to Master Higgons his suite hee beseecheth vs to consider the resemblance and similitude of these thinges hee that reiecteth the Pope shall not be saued and hee that doth not hate him and the Popedome from his heart shall not bee saued the one of these sayings is Gersons the other Luthers thus saith Higgons they damne themselues mutually in a capitall point and exclude each other from possibility of saluation Wee haue according to Master Higgons his request diligently considered these things and doe finde that betweene these sayings in shew so opposite there is in truth and indeed no contradictions and that Luther and Gerson are farre from damning one another in this point as he falsely saith they doe for it is true as Luther saith that men are bound to hate the Papacie that is the claime of vncontrouleable and absolute power of infallible judgment and interest to dispose of the Kingdomes of the world euen in the judgement of Gerson himselfe and they both agree that for the preservation of order and peace men are bound to acknowledge the Papacie that is to yeeld to the Bishop of Rome a Primacie of order and honour if there be no other matter of difference nor no father claime made by him Neither is it communion with the Pope as prime Bishop that maketh a man a formall Papist as this formalist speaketh but with the vnjust claimes of the Pope So that Gersons communion with the Pope proueth him not a formall Papist and therefore though Master Powels judgement be of value Mâ⦠Higgons may not vndoubtedly pronounce that Gerson is damned to the nethermost hell as he fondly saith he may neither can hee shew any good reason why wee may not truly say that Luther hath accomplished that reformation which Gerson desired therefore he might well haue spared his Risum teneatis amici insteed thereof intreated men to weepe for his pittifull ouer-sight and folly which he bewrayeth in the words immediatly following I will knit vp saith he this matter with the counsell of Gerson which he giueth to the spouse of Christ saying the Church must intreate the Pope the Vicegerent of Christ with all honour and call him Father for hee is her Lord head that she must not expose him to detractions c. Mr Higgons is wont to compare them to the Diuell who alledge any sayings of Fathers or Scriptures in shew making for them and leaue out that which followeth making against them if this course be right good as no doubt it is I will soone make the Reader know to whom Master Higgons is like in citing Gersons testimony against vs. For Gerson speaking of the respect that is due to CHRIST the Husband of the Church and his Vicegerent from her as his Spouse Wife hath these words I deliuer this first vnto thee that for the honour of CHRIST her husband the Church Synodally assembled or not so assembled ought to carrie herselfe towards the chiefe Bishoppe with reuerence and due respect in all louing sort if hee behaue himselfe towards her laudably nay if his entreating of her bee tollerable because in many thinges wee offend all and the judiciall sentence of Diuorce is to bee expected before hee bee cast off as hitherto the discretion of our Fore-fathers hath obserued towardes inferiour Bishoppes In the next place I deliuer vnto thee that the Church for the reuerence of CHRIST her husband ought to name his Vicegerent and him whom hee hath appointed her keeper Father and both in her selfe and her children to bee most ready to giue all honour and to yeelde all obedience to him as to her Lord and head and likewise to shew all due respect to the Romane Church as ioyned to her in a speciall degree of fellowshippe Neither is it
scholler in the schoole of impudency a farre longer time then yet he hath beene But happily he may find vanity in these passages of mine though no vntruth Let vs see therefore what hee saith what aduantage saith hee can Doctour Field gaine from Gersons improbation of the afore-said lewd assertions preiudiciall to the states of Kinges and Princes why doth hee presse the authority of Gerson whose medicine hee knoweth to bee very sharpe against the disease of all such Princes as by the infection of Heretickes are seduced from the integrity of the Catholicke faith to wit persecution by fire and sword Surely heere Theomisus Higgons bewrayeth more then vanity for as if he meant presently to become a traytor against his Soueraigne whom he his consortes suppose to be seduced from the Catholicke verity he beginneth at the very first to talke of sharpe medicines against such Princes and those prescribed by Gerson as he telleth vs but hee will be found a lying and cogging mate for Gerson in the place cited by him hath nothing for the Popes deposing Princes for heresie or any thing else which yet is that medicine he meaneth nay wee are assured hee neuer held any such trayterous position but writing against the flatterers of Princes hee wisheth Princes to take heed they listen not to such men as will instill into them many false opinions touching their power and absolutenesse contrary to the faith and trueth of God whereby in the end they may make themselues so odious as to bee pursued by fire and sword by their subiects So that whereas Gerson speaketh of errours in faith concerning the state of Princes bringing them to doe things so odious as to bee persecuted with fire sword this good fellow turneth his words to another sence as if he had meant that for error in faith the Pope were to depose Princes and whereas to meete with certaine false and foolish suggestions made to some Princes contrarie to the doctrine of faith hee setteth downe certaine propositions whereof the first is that Princes must not iustifie themselues and thinke they offend not whatsoeuer they doe and that the Lawes Ecclesiasticall and Ciuill will auaile for the furtherance of this consideration hee turneth the words into this sence that these Lawes are auailable for the deposing of Kinges so treacherous and trayterous is this Fugitiue become already From this first obseruation he proceedeth to a second saying that if the reformation wished for by Gerson consisted onely or principally or at all in the redresse of lewd assertions preiudiciall to the states of Kings the Protestants haue not effected that which he desired their positions being dangerous likewise and therevpon breaketh out into a long and large discourse concerning the positions of Protestants touching the state and power of Princes But surely he is like a Spaniell not acquainted with his game that runneth after euery bird that riseth before him and is to bee taught better before there will be any great vse of him For I bring not the report of Gerson touching hese assertions so much to shew what he would haue reformed as to make it appeare how strangely things were carried in former times how little hope he other good men had of any reformation by a Councell seeing these positions so dangerous apparantly false could not be condemned in the Councell of Constance by reason of a mighty faction prevayling in the same so all that he saith vpon this false ground is nothing to the purpose notwithstanding if the man were worth the medling with or the matter required it it were easie to shew that Protestants are farre from holding any such trayterous opinions as Papists defend But I haue resolued to confine my selfe to the defence of my selfe against his childish exceptions and no way to follow him into any other of his idle discourses Touching Gersons condemning certaine-positions attributed to Wickliff and Hus and Husses suffering in the cause of CHRIST against Antichrist and the idlenesse of Higgons in charging Mee with contradiction in that I graunt the one and affirme the other I haue spoken already But so plentifull hee is in objections that nine thinges more remaine in this chapter not obiected before which hee obiecteth to mee The first is the extenuation of the turbulent and impious positions of Wickliff in that I say they seemed to derogate from the Cleargy Secondly that I conceale the impiety of Wickliff in other thinges Thirdly that I cite in one place things found in diuers places Fourthly that I exaggerate the seuerity of the Councell of Constance against Wickliff c. and make as if Gerson had disliked it whereas he did not Fiftly that I say Gerson desired a reformation and thought that it was to be assayed seuerally in the particular Kingdomes of the world there being little or no hope of doing any good by a Generall Councell Sixtly that the proceeding in this worke of reformation seuerally in diuerse parts of the world without a common deliberation was the cause of those differences that now appeare in the reformed Churches according as Gerson feared it would fall out 7ly That I say Gerson Grosthead others were of the true Church who yet were meÌbers of the Church of Rome Eigthly that I misalleage a saying of Gerson And the nineth that whereas Gerson sayth the Popes sought to be adored as God I say they sought to bee adored and worshipped as God To euery one of these I will answere in a word To the first that I extenuate not the impious positions falsely and maliciously gathered out of Wickliffes workes as that God must obey the Diuell and if there be any other like but accurse them to the pitte of hell but speaking of those which in Gersons iudgement were not so hurtfull neither to the conuersation of men nor the state of common-weales as those against Princes which the Councell of Constance could not bee induced to condemne I say of them they seemed to derogate from the Cleargy because I know not certainely vppon what ground or in what sence many of them were vttered by him To the second I answere that I concealed not the impiety of any articles where-with Wickliffe was charged but hauing no occasion to speake of any other but such onely as were not so bad in Gersons iudgement as some they in the couÌcell could not be induced to condemn I had no reason to censure theÌ any otherwise then I did for had they beene so bad as Maister Higgons would make them to be the Pope and Councell were not very good that could by no meanes bee induced to condemne such as were farre worse as Gerson telleth vs. To the third I say that it is lawfull for a man to cite in one place out of one author thinges found in him in diuerse places or else Maister Higgons is too blame who doth so To the fourth I say that I exaggerate not the seuerity of the
to the purpose of Gods will doe euer retaine that grace that can and will procure pardon and remission of all their sins Surely euen as much as there is betweene these Paul sometimes was an enemy to Christ and Christians and a Persecutor And Paul after his calling was neuer an enemy to Christ nor Christians nor neuer persecuted any of them but suffered persecution himselfe together with them The second supposed contradiction is this All sins done with full consent exclude grace Dauid who was an elect and chosen seruant of God sinned with full consent after his calling and yet Dauid neuer fell totally from grace Heere truly there is a reall and true contradiction but one of these assertions is none of mine for I deny that Dauid euer sinned with full consent after his calling though his sinnes were very grieuous and highly displeasing to Almighty God For the better clearing whereof we must obserue that there are three degrees of sin The first is of those motions to euill that arise in men and sollicite them to the doing of that which is displeasing vnto God yet so that no consent is yeelded to them The second is when the violence impoââ¦nity of those ill motions is such that men chuse rather to giue way vnto them then to be any longer disquieted and tormented by them and yet wish they were free from such sollicitations and provocations In those that thus sin there is a deliberate consent but it is not absolute and full but mixt Such was the sinne of Peter denying his Master which proceeded from feare whereunto hee so consented that he still retained the good opinion he formerly had of him and loue towards him and wished no doubt from the depth of his Soule there might neuer any such thing haue fallen out that might draw him to doe that he did And such was the sin of Dauid who chose rather to coÌmit that vile act with the wife of Vriah then to be tormented any longer with the importunity of those burning inflamed desires that violently seized on him though he wished in his heart that neuer any such motioÌs might in such violent sort haue arisen in him The third degree of sin is in theÌ that absolutely and fully consent to the motions of euil as making theÌ their cheef delights contentments In them who sin only in the first degree grace not only remaineth but keepeth her standing resisting against euill entreating for pardon of that which it cannot avoid In theÌ that sin in the 2d degree it remaineth but carried into captivity In the 3d it hath no place at all To the same purpose it is that some worthy Diuines of our profession make three kinds of the being of sin in vs for first it is inhabiting only 2dly it is regnant yet not as a king who ruleth raigneth with the loue liking of his subiects but as a Tyrant that they hate would depose if they knew how 3dly it is regnant as a king welcommed joyfully receiued into al the powers faculties of the soule In the first sort it is in theÌ that giue no consent to the motions of euill that arise in them In the second in them that giue consent but not free and absolute but mixt In the third in them that giue it the whole heart In the first it neither excludeth grace nor driueth it from the standing and commaund it should haue in the soule of a good man In the second though it exclude it not yet iââ¦ââ¦eth and hurteth it sore scattering the forces of it leauing it but disseuered desires no entire good affections so that they are neuer able to recouer themselues againe without forraine helpe But when such succour commeth these remaines of good begin to recollect themselues againe to take heart and to joyne with the same as we see in Dauid reproued by Nathan The third contradiction that Master Higgons would fasten on me is betweene that saying of mine The elect and chosen Seruants of God doe carefully endeauour that no sinnes may haue dominion ouer them and therefore notwithstanding any degree of sinne they runne into they retaine that grace that can and will procure pardon and that in the Articles of religion agreed on in the beginning of her late Maiesties raigne that after we haue receiued the holy Ghost we may depart from grace giuen and by the grace of God rise againe Which is no contradiction in trueth and in deede but in the misconstruction Master Higgons maketh of things well meant For when the Article faith we may depart from grace the meaning of it is that the elect of God called according to purpose may swerue from the directions of grace in some particular things and fall into grieuous sinnes out of which they are to be raised by repentance and not that they may totally fall from it Neither doe I deny but that the elect may commit sin yea grieuous sinnes and such as are in their owne nature mortall though not mortall in that not obtayning full consent they cannot bring death vpon the doers of them Wherefore to conclude this point into which Master Higgons digresseth after his idle manner and to send him backe to the matter he hath in hand I say that there is no contradiction betweene any assertion of mine and the Articles of Religion agreed on in the conuocation and farther adde that there is no Papist of iudgment and consideration that can possibly dissent from vs in this point touching the constant perseuerance of the elect and chosen seruants of God called according to purpose and their neuer wholly falling from grace For first they all agree together with vs that they cannot finally depart away Secondly that some good motions and affections will euer remaine in them after they haue beene once seasoned with the liquor ofrenuing and sanctifying grace Thirdly that they loose not their right to the rewardes which God in the couenant of mercy promised to their former vertuous and good endeauours nor the benefit of their repenting from dead works formerly repented of when they fall into sinne though they can make no vse thereof while they continue in such an estate of sinne For saith Scotus as a man that hath much owing vnto him vpon good assurances and is possessed of things of good valew being excommunicated or out-lawed still retaineth the interest and right to all things that formerly he had though he can make no vse thereof nor by course of law force them to doe him right that goe about to do him wrong nor recouer that which is due vnto him if it bee detained from him but all prosecution of his right is suspended till hee procure himselfe to bee freed from the sentence of excommunication or out-lawry So the remission of originall sinne the right to eternall life obtayned in Baptisme the force and vertue of former repentance conuersion from sins past the right to the rewards
not precisely in that they were Apostles as they reported the precepts of CHRIST deliuered the Doctrine of faith but by vertue of their pastorall power in generall common to them with other Pastors of the Church though in that they were no ordinarie Pastors but Apostles they had absolute infallibilitie could make no lawes or constitutions but good profitable in which respect no other are equall to them So that the Pastors of the Church now haue that power by which the Apostles made their Ecclesiasticall constitutions touching order comelinesse but not with like assurance of not erring in making or reversing such lawes therefore the Treatiser cannot from hence inferre that the present Church the guides of it haue infallible iudgement touching matters of faith or ceremonies §. 2 IN the next place first he produceth my distinction of the Church considered as it comprehendeth all the faithfull that are haue beene since Christ appeared in the flesh or onelie such as are haue beene since the Apostles times or such alone as are at one time in the world Secondly an assertion that the present Church may be said at all times to be the pillar of truth not to erre because it euer retaineth a sauing profession of heauenlie truth that is true doctrine concerning all such principall points as are of the substance of Faith and needfull to bee knowne and beleeued expresly by euery man Thirdly he addeth that we deny so much as the virtuall beleefe of other things to be necessary which he pronounceth to be an absurd opinion For the confutation of my distinction of the Church considered in those three different sorts hee asketh if there be now presently any Church in the world including in it all the faithfull that are and haue beene since CHRIST appeared in the flesh or at least since the Apostles times which is a most childish senselesse demaund For it will easily bee answered that the Church that includeth in it all these faithfull ones is now extant in the world as he is pleased to speake in that some of her parts betweene which and the rest there is a connexion are now in the world though all be not as time whereof the parts are present past to come is now though all parts of it be not now But his inference vpon supposall of our answer is more strange then the question For if it bee granted that the Church including in it all these holy ones hath not all her parts in the world at one time he inferreth from thence that the promises of Christ cannot be verified of it As if Christs promises were verified of the church only in respect of those parts that it hath in the world at one time whereas Bellarmine himself teacheth that the promise of the churches being in all parts of the world is not verified of it at one time but successiuely in that though it be not in all parts Provinces of the world at one time yet at one time or other it spreadeth it selfe into euery part of it And Stapleton defineth the church according to the state of the New Testament to be a collectiue multitude of men professing the name of Christ beginning at Hierusalem froÌ thence dispersed throughout the world increasing spreading it self through all nations alwaies visible manifest mixt of good bad elect reprobate in respect of faith Sacraments holy in respect of origin successioÌ Apostolique in extent catholique in coÌnexion order of parts one in duratioÌ continuance perpetuall expressing vnto vs that church that includeth all faithful ones since Christ till now nay till the end of the world Which is no doubt a reall body hath many excellent promises made vnto it though all the parts of it be not in the world at one time But let vs goe forward and wee shall see how this silly Treatiser forgetteth himselfe For first hee confesseth that the diuerse considerations of the church proposed by mee may bee in our vnderstanding and yet presently addeth that wee cannot distinguish them really one from another which hee goeth about to proue because the Church in the first consideration includeth in it the same Church as it is taken in the second and third but the proofe is to weake for euery child will tell him that these considerations may be really distinguished one from another because though the former includeth the latter yet the latter includeth not the former For as euery man is a liuing thing but euery liuing thing is not a man soe the Church consisting of all faithfull ones that are and haue beene since Christ appeared in the flesh includeth in it all those that now presently are in the world but the Church consisting of those onely that are at one time includeth not the other but is included in it as a part in the whole and consequently cannot challenge all the priuiledges belonging to it more then the part of a thing may challenge all that pertaineth to the whole soe that the Church in the former consideration may bee free from error though not in the latter But the Treatiser will proue it cannot seeing if the Church including in it all faithfull ones that are or haue beene since Christ be free from error euery part of it must be free and consequently the present Church as a man cannot be sayd to bee free from sicknesse vnlesse euery part of him be free For answere where-vnto wee say that the Church being a collectiue body may be sayd to be free from error in another sort then a man is said to be free from sicknesse for a man cannot be sayd to be free from sicknesse vnlesse euery part be free but the Church may rightly be sayd to be free from error if all her parts erre not though some doe for otherwise I would aske of this Treatiser whether the Church were free froÌ error in the daies of Athanasius when as Vincentius Lyrinensis sayth almost all the Bishops of the Latine Church were misled by force or fraud and when Liberius Bishop of Rome subscribed to heresie as Athanasius and Hierome testifie If the Church were not free from errour at that time where is the priuiledge of neuer erring If it were it was but in respect of some few partes whence it will follow that the Church may be sayd to bee free from errour though many partes bee not if any continue sound for here the greater and more principall partes did erre But that the Church may be sayd to be free from errour though all parts be not it is euident in that they who most stifly maintaine the not erring of the present Church yet confesse that some parts of it do erre For Stapleton and Bellarmine who both thinke the present Roman Church to be free from error yet deny that she is free in all her parts and tell vs there are some who are
the See of olde Rome and shall be before all the rest in order and honour Neither did Martian the Emperour as the Treatiser most vntruely avoucheth voide the Canons of these Councels which in this sort were confirmed afterwards by Iustinian Wherefore seeing it is evident that almost the whole Christian world in diuerse Generall Councels feared not to make another Bishop the Bishop of Romes Peere I hope the Reader will easily discerne that I haue not passed the bounds of modestie nor fallen into any vnseemely scoffing and railing vaine as the Treatiser chargeth Mâ⦠when I taxe the Antichristian and Lucifer-like pride of the Romish Antichrist who not-with-standing the contradiction of the greatest part of the Christian world sought to subject all the members of Christ to himselfe and pronounced them all to be in the state of damnation that bowe not downe before him as Vice-God and supreame commaunder on earth But it seemeth hee had a great desire at the least to seeme to say some-thing against Me. For other-wise hee would not so shamelesly be-lye Me as he doth when hee saith I would deriue the beginning of the Popes superioritie from Phocas whereas in the place cited by him I haue no such thing but the contrary For I affirme that in the first Councell of Constantinople the Bishop of that citty was set in degree of honour next vnto the Bishop of Rome and before the other two Patriarches of Alexandria and Antioche thereby confessing that the Bishop of Rome had the first place at that time Which when the Constantinopolitan Bishop sought to haue Phocas so concluded matters betweene these two Bishops that the Bishop of Rome should haue the first and chief place in the church of GOD and Constantinople the second so that the praeeminence chieftie which the Pope claimeth lawfully was ancient and not deriued from Phocas howsoeuer he might and happily did enlarge and extend it farther then was fit giuing him a kinde of vniversalitie of jurisdiction §. 11. FRom the Primacie of the Bishop of Rome the Treatiser passeth to the infallibilitie of his judgment and affirmeth that his Decrees though he define without a Generall Councell are that firme Rocke and sure ground vpon which our Faith is to bee builded and that a man may well admit his definitions as a ground of supernaturall Faith and prudently builde an act of such supernaturall Faith vpon it And yet in the same place confesseth it is not yet authentically defined that the Pope in this sort cannot erre Which thing also Bellarmine and Stapleton acknowledge professing expressely that it is no matter of faith to beleeue that the Pope cannot erre if hee define without a Generall Councell In which passages there is as I suppose a most grosse contradiction For how can the infallibilitie of the Popes iudgement bee to them a Rocke to builde an act of supernaturall Faith vpon who neither know nor beleeue that his iudgement is infallible but thinke so onely Can a man certainely and vndoubtedly builde his perswasion of any thing vpon his sayings whome hee neither knoweth nor beleeueth to bee free from errour Wherefore for the cleering of this poynt First the Treatiser saith Though the Church haue not authentically defined that the Pope cannot erre yet the Scriptures and other arguments brought to proue it are so plaine and there are so many that thinke so that a man may very well admitte his definitions to be a ground of fayth Whence it will follow that a man may build his fayth vpon the Scriptures and other arguments and reasons without expecting the resolution of the Church for the vnderstanding of the one and discerning of the force and validity of the other â Whereas else-where hee professeth that without the resolution of the present Church the letter of holy Scripture and the workes of Antiquity yeeld no certaine and diuine argument Secondly hee contradicteth himselfe and denieth the supposed infallibility of the Popes judgement to bee the Rocke on which the Church is builded and maketh that rocke to be onely the consenting iudgement of the Pope other Bishoppes in a Generall Councell contrary to the opinion of almost all learned pious men as he telleth vs himselfe who thinke that that infallibility of judgment and assurance of trueth vpon which our faith is to be builded is not partly in the Pope and partly in other Bishops but altogether in the Pope Thus seeking to avoyd one contradiction hee runneth into many The second Part. §. 1. HAuing surueyed the first part of the Treatise and examined such objections as the Authour of it maketh against Mee I will passe to the second wherein first he goeth about to proue out of that which I haue that Bishops assembled in Generall Councels may interpret the Scriptures and by their authority suppresse them that gaine-say such interpretations as they consent vpon subjecting them to excommunication censures of like nature that according to the prouidence and wisdome of Almighty God Generall Councels should not be subject to errour in such matters for that otherwise men might be forced according to Gods ordinance to obey Generall Councels erring propounding false Doctrine Which is a very silly kinde of reasoning for in the very same sort a man may proue that particular Bishops are free from erring in their proceedings that they can impose prescribe nothing vniustly vnder paine of excommunication for that otherwise men might bee forced and that according to Gods ordinance to obey such Bishops erring in their proceedings and commanding vnjust things whereas there is no question to bee made but that they haue power to excommunicate who may abuse the same and that sometimes it is a thing most pleasing vnto God by refusing to obey them that haue power to excommunicate but abuse the same to run into the vttermost extremities of their censures yea S. Augustine pronounceth that the patient enduring of wrongs in this kinde shall be highly rewarded by almighty God Secondly in the same chapter labouring to proue that Protestants contemne reject the Fathers to that purpose wresting some sayings of Doctour Humfry and others he objecteth that I haply may seem to some one that doth not throughly looke into my words to approue the authority of the ancient Fathers as farre forth as any Catholicke but sayth that in truth I doe not For proofe whereof hee setteth downe what I haue written touching this poynt Namely first that wee must receiue as true whatsoeuer hath beene deliuered by all the Saintes with one consent which haue left their opinion and judgement in writing it not being possible that they should all haue written of any thing but that which was generally receiued in their times and toucheth the very life of Christian fayth Secondly whatsoeuer the most famous haue constantly and vniformely deliuered as a matter of fayth no man contradicting them though many bee found to haue sayd nothing of
theÌ but to the defect of the light of naturall reasoÌ fouÌd in theÌ or the want of due consideratioÌ right proceeding in the searching out of such things as are so to be known so likewise it is not to be imputed to the want of evidence of the truth of the things or at least of Gods speaking in the word of Heauenly Truth that all men beleeue not all the bookes that are diuine canonical the things contained in theÌ but to thedefect of spirituall light in theÌ that should discerne such things or the want of due coÌsideratioÌ right proceeding in the searching out of such things Secondly he laboureth to proue that none of the articles of faith or things beleeued by vs are evident vnto vs in the light offaith whereas yet notwithstanding Hugo de sancto Victore sayth expresly that in some the light of diuine reason causeth approbation of that they beleeue that in other the purity of the heart conscience causeth a fore-tasting of those things which hereafter more fully shall be enioyed And Alexander of Ales pronounceth that the things apprehended by vs in diuine knowledge are more certainly discerned by such as are spirituall in the certainty of experience in the certainty which is in respect of affection by way of spirituall taste feeling then any thing is discerned in the light of naturall vnderstanding according to that of the Prophet How sweet are thy wordes O Lord vnto my mouth they are sweeter then the hony and the hony combe Wherefore that wee may the more distinctly conceiue these things wee must obserue that there are some things which though without revelation we could not know yet after they are revealed are evident vnto vs in the light of grace As first that the defects euils that are found in the nature of man the blindnes of his vnderstanding the way wardnes of his affections and perverse inclination of his will were not from the beginning that hauing beene in all the sonnes of men the first parents of mankind fell from their originall primitiue estate and that seeing these euils are found in all euen in litle infants new borne the propagation of them is naturall and not by imitation Secondly that the very inclinations of our hearts beeing naturally euill in this corrupt state of nature nothing can change them to good but GOD by a speciall worke aboue and beyond the course of Nature which therefore may rightly be named grace Other thinges there are which are discerned by spirituall taste and feeling as the remission of sinnes the joy and exultation of heart that is there found where God is present in grace And a third sort of thinges there are which being not discerned to bee true eyther of these two wayes are beleeued notwithstanding because deliuered vnto vs by God whom wee discerne to speake in the word of heavenly trueth So that the two former sortes of thinges are euident in themselues to them that are spirituall the latter in respect of that Medium by force whereof they are beleeued which is Diuine authority deliuering them vnto vs which thing Hugo de Sancto Victore excellently expresseth Credit fides saith he quod non vidit non vidit quod credit vidit tamen aliquid per quod admonita est excitata credere quod non vidit Deus sic ab initio notitiam sui ab homine temperauit vt sicut nunquam quid esset totum poterat comprehendi sic quod esset nunquam prorsus posset ignorari Oportuit vt proderet se occultum Deus ne totus celaretur propsus nesciretur rursum ad aliquid proditum se agnitum occultaret ne totus manifestaretur vt aliquid esset quod cor hominis enutriret cognitum rursus aliquid quod absconditum prouocaret That is Faith beleeveth that it neuer saw and it neuer saw that which it doth beleeue yet it saw something by which it was admonished and stirred vppe to beleeue that which it saw not God from the beginning did so temper the revealing of himselfe to bee knowne of men that as it could never bee wholly comprehended what he was so it might neuer be altogether vnknowne that he was It was fitte therefore that God should manifest himselfe formerly hid that hee might not bee wholly hidden and no knowledge had of him and againe that having in some sort reuealed and made himselfe knowne hee should so hide himselfe as not wholly to bee manifested that there might bee something which being knowne might nourish the heart of man and againe something which being hid might prouoke and stirre men vp to a desire of attayning some farther thing These things it seemeth the Treatiser thought not of and therefore denyeth that there is any motiue sufficient to make a man beleeue the articles of the fayth setting aside the meane supernaturall by which they are propounded and therevpon asketh Mee what maketh Me beleeue the articles of the Trinity the two distinct natures in Christ in the Vnity of the same person and the resurrection of the dead Wherevnto I answere that the thing that moueth mee so to beleeue is the authority of the Scripture which is the Word of God and that I beleeue it to bee the Word of God because I doe most certainely discerne him to speake in the same and a certaine diuine force and Majesty to present it selfe vnto Mee though the prophane Treatiser professeth hee knoweth not what that authority and Majesty of God is which is discerned in the sacred Scriptures nor how wee discerne it which is not to bee marvayled at seeing blind men cannot discerne the difference of colours but that there is something more then humane discernable in the Scripture all deuout and religious men will acknowledge with vs. Beleeue Mee sayth Picus Mirandula there lyeth hidde in the Scripture a secret vertue strangely altering and changing them that in due sort are conversant in the same So that the reason that all doe not discerne the Majesty of God in all bookes that are diuine and that some doubt of such as other admitte is not because such a diuine power is not discernable in them but because there is some defect in the parties not discerning the same To the former most weake reasons brought to proue the insufficiency of those inducements or reasons by which wee thinke the Spirit of GOD setleth vs in a perswasion of the truth of thinges contayned in the Scripture First hee addeth an vntruth to witte that I deny those parts of Scripture which rehearse matters of fact to bee knowne to be divine by the authority of God himselfe discerned to speake in the Word of faith And secondly an objection that men cannot know the Scripture to be diuine by discerning the Majesty of God speaking in them vnlesse they reade or heare euery part of them read ouer which is very hard to bee
done by euery one Wherevnto we answere according to their owne groundes that those partes of divine and canonicall Scripture which particularly wee haue not read or considered are onely implicitè and vertually beleeued of vs as likewise the thinges that are contayned in them neither should this seeme strange to the Romanists for they thinke it pertayneth to the faith of each Christian man to beleeue all the bookes of holy Scripture to bee vndoubtedly true and indited by the Spirit of God Yet are there many amongst them that neyther know how many nor which these bookes are but beleeue them vertually onely as it appertayneth to the fayth to beleeue that Iesus Mary Ioseph fledde into Aegypt and that Paul mediated for the reconciling of Onesimus to Philemon but it is sufficient for men that neuer read or considered these particulars to beleeue them vertually Thirdly he chargeth vs with contrariety in our sayings in that we make the Scripture to bee the ground and rule of our fayth and yet make the light of faith a meane whereby we come to the knowledge of Scripture because as hee thinketh the Scripture cannot bee a rule of our fayth vnlesse it bee certainely knowne to bee diuine before we beleeue But the good man should knowe that the Scripture may bee the rule of our fayth directing vs touching such particular things as wee are to beleeue though it be not knowne to bee diuine before we beleeue For first God giueth vs the eyes of fayth and openeth our vnderstandings that wee may see and discerne in generall heauenly trueth to bee contayned in Scripture then it becommeth a rule of direction in all particular poynts of faith Fourthly he imputeth to vs that wee relie vpon illuminations and inspirations in the things wee beleeue as if wee beleeued them without any other proofe or demonstration vpon bare imagined inspirations whereas wee beleeue nothing without such proofes and motiues as all men may take notice of and yet knowe right well that none doe make right vse thereof but such as haue their vnderstandings enlightned So that his reasoning against the certainty of this illumination is idle seeing we doe not make illumination or inspiration the ground of our perswasion touching things to be beleeved but a disposition of the mind making vs capable of the apprehension of thinges that are diuine and heauenly This illumination is in some more and in some lesse but in all the chosen seruants of God such as sufficeth for the discerning of all sauing trueth necessary to bee knowne of each man according to his estate and condition Fiftly besides idle repetition of thinges going before to which hee referreth himself and some vntruths mingled with the same First he chargeth Me that I am contrary to my selfe in deliuering the opinions of Papists The first supposed contradiction is in that I affirme that it is the ordinary opinion of Papists that the articles of faith are beleeued because God reuealeth them and yet say in another place that they make the authority of the Church the rule of our fayth and reason why we beleeue The second in that I charge the Papistes in one place that they giue authority to the Church to make new articles of faith and in another place free them from the same This latter supposed contrariety I shewed before to bee none at all but in the Treatisers imagination onely and touching the first if hee were a man of any common vnderstanding or knew what contrariety is hee vvould not charge Mee with any such thing For it is true that all Papists thinke the articles of faith are to be beleeued because reuealed but they thinke also that wee knowe not that they are reuealed but beleeue so onely and that not by reason of any diuine reuelation testimony or authority but because the Church so telleth vs and wee haue many humane inducements mouing vs so to perswade our selues So that they make the authority of the Church and humane inducements the last and finall reason of beleeuing whatsoeuer they beleeue This the Treatiser knew well enough and therefore hee requireth Mee to shew how I know that God reuealeth the things beleeued by Christians If I will not fall into the same fault for which I blame them Whereunto I answere that I know the Scriptures to bee inspired of God by the diuine force and majesty that sheweth it selfe in them in which sence I say the bookes of Scripture win credit of themselues and yeeld sufficient satisfaction to all men of their diuine truth For as the colour in each thing maketh it visible and to be seene so the diuine power vertue that sheweth it selfe in the Scripture maketh vs to beleeue that it is of God But the Treatiser will not thus leaue Mee but still goeth on adding one vniust imputation to another For whereas we say only the Scriptures are not discerned to be diuine and inspired of God vnlesse we be inlightned by grace and not that they are proued to bee diuine by the certaintie of that illumination he maketh vs whether we wil or not to proue the Scriptures by our inspirations and that we are inspired by the Scriptures whereas we proue neither the one nor the other of these things in any such sort For touching the Scripture I haue sufficiently shewed before how we know it to be diuine and for the other the Treatiser should know that we doe not proue by Scripture that we are divinely inlightned and inspired but that as naturall reason hath a direct act whereby she apprehendeth things without a reflexed act whereby taking a view of the former direct acts she findeth out her selfe so the light of Faith first discouereth Heauenly verities in the Scripture such as naturall reason could neuer find out then by reflexion findeth it selfe to be of another nature kind then that rationall vnderstanding that was before Wherefore let vs goe forward Did not mine eyes see and my hands handle the palpable absurdities of this Treatiser I would not beleeue any mans report that one so voide of all sense reason as he euery way sheweth himselfe to be should be permitted to write For whereas I bring a most cleare sentence out of Augustine to proue that howsoeuer the authoritie of the Church serue as an introduction to bring vs to the spirituall discerning of diuine things yet men rest not in it hee answereth that Augustine in the chapter cited by Me affirmeth onely that because all men are not capable at first to vnderstaÌd the sincere wisdome truth taught in the church God hath ordained in it a motiue which may first moue them to seeke it to wit the authority of the Church which partly through miracles partly through multitudes is of force to moue which no way taketh any thing from but rather addeth strength to my proofes for if these motiues be necessary onely at the first before men bee purged made pure in
reason doth he giue of his dislike these words hee saith seeme to pretend a kind of doubting or staggering which must not be allowed especially in such men as are spirituall As if a spirituall man might doubt of nothing nor be ignorant of nothing whereas yet all men know S. Augustine S. Hierome and other holy Fathers who as wee thinke were spirituall doubted of the meaning of sundry passages of holy scriptures and left many questions vnresolued If happily he say men may not doubt of matters of faith and that therefore they must not be said to haue mindes desirous of truth with resolution to embrace it it will be answered that noe man professing himselfe to be a Christian ought to doubt of such things as all Christians are bound expressely to beleeue yet are there many matters of faith that is such as must be beleeued at least implicite that faithfull men may doubt of and enquire after Yea at first when a man beginneth to beleeue hee doubteth of all points of faith and must be setled in the same by the Scriptures interpreted vnto him the diuine illumination of grace making him vnderstand them Thirdly whereas I reckon the knowledge of the rule of faith and the practise of the Saints according to the same amongst the meanes which are necessarie for the vnderstanding of the Scripture and define that rule First to bee the summary comprehension of such principall articles of diuine knowledge as are contained in the Creede of the Apostles and are the principles whence all other things are deriued Secondly all such things as all Christians are bound to beleeue expressely which haue bin euer constantly beleeued by all such as haue not beene noted for singularity and nouelty Hee sayth most men will dislike my doctrine and pronounceth this rule to bee verie vncertaine and yet presently forgetting himselfe addeth that hee hath proued in the first part of this Treatise that in very deede the Scriptures ought to bee interpreted according to the rule of faith that is the summe of Christian Religion preserued as a depositum in the Church But some man happily will say that howsoeuer he forgetteth himselfe yet hee hath good aduantage against vs. For first he argueth that if the Scripture be to bee interpreted according to the rule of faith the rule of faith it selfe is not knowne and beleeued through the authority of the Scripture Secondly hee sayth the practise of the Saints from the beginning to which I require men to haue an eye in interpreting Scripture canne very hardly be gathered out of the monuments of Antiquity according to my grounds For answere to which obiections First I say that the particular and seuerall parts of Scripture must bee interpreted according to the rule of fath that is the summe of Christian Doctrine receiued in the Church and that yet the same summe of Christian doctrine is no otherwise to bee receiued by vs but because it hath beene deliuered by the Church as gathered out of the due comparing of one part of Scripture with another and from thence confirmed and proued Neither must wee firmely rest in the direction of it till the Church make vs see and discerne how it is gathered out of seuerall places of Scripture layd together Secondly that the practise of the saints may bee knowne out of the monuments of antiquity soe farre forth as is necessary for the helping of vs to vnderstand the Scriptures without any such difficultie as the Treatiser imagineth For example when Saint Augustine was to interpret certaine places of Scripture touching the deriuation of sinne from Adam and to cleare the point whether it were by naturall propagation or by imitation onely as the Pelagians thought it was not hard for him to know that the Church did euer most carefully present her new borne infants to Baptisme before they could bee mis-led and drawne away to euill by following the example of Adams disobedience thence to infer that she euer beleeued that infants are conceiued and borne in sinne and consequently that the propagation of sinne from Adam is naturall and not by imitation onely The fourth thing that I require in him that will take vpon him to interprete the Scripture is a due consideration what will follow vpon his interpretation agreeing with or contrary to the things generally receiued beleeued amongst Christians against which he hath nothing to say yet that hee might bee thought to say something first hee challengeth Luther for not obseruing this rule And secondly affirmeth that it is insufficient if at any time almost all Christians may erre as I teach But first concerning Luther the good man should know that hee cannot iustly be charged with the breach of this rule seeing he broached no new doctrine in the Church as the Treatiser vntruly affirmeth but such as had the testimony of Antiquity and the allowance of innumerable Christians in his time as well in the West as in the East And secondly that the possibilitie of the erring of the greatest part of the Church prejudiceth not this rule he might if hee pleased learne out of Vincentius Lirinensis who acknowledgeth that sometimes error may ouer-spread almost all the present church prescribeth that in such a case men should looke vp higher into antiquity The two other ensuing rules to wit consideration of the circumstances of the places interpreted the occasion of the words the things going before following after the knowledge of all such histories arts sciences as may helpe vs in interpreting the Scripture he passeth ouer as necessary though not sufficient of themselues alone The knowledge of the originall tongues he acknowledgeth to bee profitable but will not admit it to be necessary especially according to the conceipt of the Romanists First because they are sure they haue the Scriptures rightly translated Secondly because they make not the Scripture the propounder of their beleefe but expound it according to the rule of Faith deliuered receiued In which passages he bewrayeth grosse ignorance For first the Romanists are not sure that they haue the Scripture truly translated as it appeareth by that which Andradius hath written who proueth at large that though the vulgar translation were allowed of by the Councell of Trent as containing nothing in it whence any heresie or errour in faith may be inferred yet is it not without many great mistakings And secondly if they were sure yet as Melchior Canus sheweth the knowledge of tongues is needfull for the finding out of the meaning of sundry particular places of Scripture by reason of some ambiguity or obscurity in the translation Thirdly for that though the rule of Faith serue for direction in generality so that following the same we may bee sure not to decline from the truth of doctrine yet will not that rule secure vs from all erring and swaruing from the meaning of each place in particular so that in this respect the
that the errours condemned by vs were not the doctrines of that auncient Roman church wherein our Fathers liued died we must obserue that the doctrines taught in that Church were of three sorts The first such as were deliuered with so full consent of all that liued in the same that whosoeuer offered to teach otherwise was rejected as a damnable hereticke such was the doctrine of the Triuity the creation fall originall sinne incarnation of the Sonne of God the vnity of his person diuersity of the natures subsisting in the same The second such errours as were taught by many in the midst of the same Church as that the Pope cannot erre and the like The third such contrary true assertions as were by other opposed against those errours The first were absolutely the doctrines of that Church The third may bee sayd to haue beene the doctrines of the Church though al receiued them not because they were the doctrines of such as were so in the church that they were the Church according to that of Augustine Some are in such sort in the house of God that they also are the house of GOD and some are so in the house that they pertaine not to the frame and fabricke of it nor to the society and fellowship of fruitfull and peaceable righteousnesse The second kinde of doctrines were not at all the doctrines of that church because they neither were taught with full consent of all that liued in it nor by them that were so in the church and house of God that they were the church and house of God but by such as though they pertained to the church in respect of the profession of some parts of heauenly truth yet in respect of many other wherein they were departed from the same seeking to subuert the faith once deliuered were but a faction in it Hence it followeth which is the third thing I promised to shew that howsoeuer wee haue forsaken the communion of the Romane Diocesse yet wee haue not departed from the Romane Church in the later sense before expressed wherein our Fathers liued died but onely from the faction that was in it First because wee haue brought in no doctrine then generally and constantly condemned nor reiected any thing then generally and constantly consented on Secondly because wee haue done nothing in that alteration of thinges that now appeareth but remoued abuses then disliked and shaken off the yoake of tyranny which that Church in her best parts did euer desire to bee freed from howsoeuer shee had brought forth and nourished other children that conspired against her that taught otherwise then we now doe would willingly for their aduantage haue retayned many things which wee haue remoued Thus then I hope it doth appeare that howsoeuer I confesse that the Latine or West Churches oppressed with Romish tyraÌny coÌtinued the true Churches of God held a sauing profession of heauenly truth turned many to God and had many Saints that died in their communion euen till the time that Luther began yet I neither dissent from Luther Caluine Beza or any other Protestant of iudgement nor any way acknowledge the present Romish Church to be that true Church of God whose communion wee must embrace whose directions wee must follow and in whose judgement we must rest But will some man say is the Romane Church at this day no part of the Church of God Surely as Augustine noteth that the societies of heretickes in that they retaine the profession of many parts of heauenly truth and the ministration of the Sacrament of Baptisme are so farre forth still conjoyned with the Catholicke Church of God and the Catholick Church in and by them bringeth forth children vnto God so the present Romane church is still in some sort a part of the visible Church of God but no otherwise then other societies of heretickes are in that it retayneth the profession of some parts of heauenly trueth and ministreth the true Sacrament of Baptisme to the saluation of the soules of many thousand infants that die after they are baptized before shee haue poysoned them with her errours Thus having spoken sufficiently for the cleering of my selfe touching this point I will passe from this chapter to the next CHAP. 3. IN the third chapter he endeauoureth to shew that the Protestants doe now teach the necessity of one supreame Spirituall head and commaunder in the Church of Christ. His words are these Whereas heretofore some vnchristian Sermons and Bookes haue termed the Bishop of Rome to bee the great Antichrist wee shall now receiue a better doctrine and more religious answere That there euer was and must bee one chiefe and supreame spirituall Head and Commander of the Church of Christ on earth c. D Field citeth and approueth this as a generall and infallible rule Ecclesiae salus in summi sacerdotis dignitate pendet c. The health of the Church dependeth on the dignity of the high Priest whose eminent authority if it be denyed there will be as many schismes in the Church as there be Priests Then of necessity one chiefe supreme and high Priest must be assigned in his iudgement These are his words The place he meaneth is not page one hundred thirty eight as he quoteth it but page 80. Let the Reader how partiall soeuer peruse it and if he finde that I haue written any thing whence it may be concluded that I acknowledge there euer was and must bee one chiefe and supreme spirituall Head and Commaunder of the whole Church of Christ in earth I will fall prostrate at the Popes feete and be of the Romish religion for euer But if it appeare vnto him that the author of these pretended proofes hath cited this place to proue that which in his conscience he knew it did not let him beware of such false cozening companions My words are The vnity of each particvlar Church depends on the vnity of the Pastor who is one to whom an eminent and particular power is giuen and whom all must obey Heere is no word of one chiefe Pastor of the whole vniuersall church of Christ vpon earth but of one chiefe Pastor in each particular Church VVho would not detest the impudencie false dealing of these Romish writers But he saith I approue the saying of Hierome before mentioned therefore I must assigne one chiefe Pastour of the whole Church of Christ on earth How will he make good this consequence Doth Hierome speake in that place cited approued by mee of one supreame Pastor of the whole Church of Christ on earth Surely this Pamphletter knoweth he doth not but of the Bishop of each particular Church or Diocesse If saith Hierome thou shalt aske why he that is baptized in the church doth not receiue the Holy Ghost but by the hands of the Bishop which we say is giuen in baptisme know that this obseruation commeth from that authority that the Spirit descended vpon the
not perfectly extinguished that though while they remaine in the state of iustification they ââ¦n not with full consent to the excluding of grace and subiecting of themselues to the guilt of condemnation yet there are many sinfull euils they runne into which subiect them to Gods displeasure for which hee will not faile to iudge them if they iudge not themselues For the weakening abolishing of these sinfull euils and the averting of that displeasure wherewith God is displeased with men for them the iustified doe pray vnto God which is to aske forgiuenesse of sins as in the Lords prayer is meant For the petition is vnderstood of the sinnes of the seruants of God and such as are in state of grace as Augustine teacheth Thus then the iustified man knoweth that the dominion of his sins is taken away and that the guilt of condemnation wherevnto they subiect such as are vnder the dominion of them is already remoued and therefore he doth not desire nor aske forgiuenesse of sinnes in this sort but the inherence of sin he acknowledgeth in himselfe notwithstanding his iustification which still subiecteth him to Gods displeasure punishments accompanying the same These things hee desireth to be remoued and in this sense asketh forgiuenesse of sins If it be replyed that the remission of the sins of the iustified is full and perfect and that therefore they that know themselues to be iustified cannot aske remission which they know they haue perfectly already Wee answere that the remission of the sins of the iustified is full and perfect not for that they are already freed actually from the inherence of sinne and the displeasure of God disliking it but because they haue full title vnto right in that mercy of God which as it hath already deliuered them from the dominion condemnation of sin so it will in the end wholly free them from the inherence of it and the displeasure of God disliking it His next allegation is more friuolous than the former The Anabaptists saith he do most certainly assuredly perswade themselues that they are accepted of God therefore they haue true faith according to the doctrine of the Protestants who define faith to be the assurance of the mercifull goodnes of God yet do the Protestants deny theÌ to be iustified vnlesse they forsake their errors and so by consequeÌt do say they haue true faith yet are not iustified which is to affirme that they are iust not iust To this we answere that there is as great difference betweene true confidence and assurance which only is to be named faith and that which is found in heretickes as betweene the ioy and gladnesse that is fantasticall and is found in men dreaming and that which is true and in men waking That quietnesse of minde either proceedeth from senselesse stupidity in men hauing cauterized consciences though there be iust cause of fearefull apprehensions or froÌ the not finding or hauing any matter of condemning remorse euen as some men are touched with no greefe nor afflicted with any smart or paine though no part be sound or well in them because they are in a dead senseles stupidity and others feele not paine because they are perfectly well It is not therefore every assured confidence that is faith but true confidence Neither is it to be doubted but that heretickes doe oftentimes confidently perswade themselues they please God and thinke they embrace true piety as men dreaming doe perswade themseles they inioy and possesse all things though they possesse nothing But as men waking knowe the things they apprehend are soe indeede as they apprehend them and not in fancie only as men sleeping are deluded so true Christians know the perswasion they haue of Gods goodnesse towards them groweth from due iust consideration not from deceivable fancie and imagination only as in heritickes it doth This point is excellently cleared by Alexander of Hales the first and greatest of all the Schoole-men whose reasons and proofes that true Christians may be assured they are in state of grace and acceptation with God Bellarmine cannot answere Thus wee haue seene the supposed absurd positions wherewith the Iesuite chargeth all Protestants in generall In the next place hee produceth such as are proper to the Lutherans and in the last place such as are peculiar to the Caluinistes For thus it pleaseth him to tearme vs by these names of faction and diuision whereas it is Antichrists pride that hath made all the breaches in the Christian world and would haue layd all wast if God had not preserued a remnant The errour wherewith he chargeth the Lutherans is that children when they are baptised haue faith hope and loue Is this an errour are they iustified sanctified and made the temple of the holy Ghost when they are baptized and haue they neither faith hope nor loue doth not iustification imply all these in it But they haue not the act of faith noe more they haue of reason haue they not therefore the faculty of reason This then is that which these men ââ¦each whom it pleaseth these Antichristian sectaries odiously to name Lutheââ¦ans namely that children when they are adopted and made the sonnes of God when they are iustified and sanctified are filled with the habites or poââ¦ntiall habilities of these vertues and that they haue the beginning roote and seede of faith hope and loue For the farther clearing of this obiection reade Kemnisius in his Examen of the Tridentine Councell The errour of the Caluinists touching absolute necessity and that God is the author of sinne is but the imagination of the Romanists as I haue already sufficiently shewed For Caluin and wee all detest both these absurdities CHAP. 45. Of the Paradoxes and grosse absurdities of Romish Religion THus then the Paradoxes and grosse absurdities which this Cardinall aduersarie of Gods true religion imputeth vnto vs are but the fancies of his owne idle braine But if wee should enter into the examination of the seuerall parts of their profession it were not harde really to convince them of the most senselesse follies that euer the world was acquainted with But because it would be tedious and vnseasonable in this generall controversie of the Church to enter into the particular handling of things more fitly reserved to their owne proper places I will onely touch some few things that may seeme to concerne the whole frame and fabricke of their Religion They all hold at this day that the infallibility of the Popes judgement is the rocke on which the Church is builded and that this is the difference betweene a Catholicke and an heretique that though both beleeue many divine and supernaturall truths yet they build not themselues vpon the same grounds of perswasion For the Catholicke builds himselfe vpon the sure ground of the infallibility of the Churches chiefe Pastours judgement but the Hereticke vpon other things yeelding him satisfaction concerning the trueth of that
hee beleeueth whatsoeuer the judgement of the Pope bee And yet the same men which thus teach doe say it is no matter of faith to acknowledge or not to acknowledge the infallibility of the Popes judgement and that a man may bee a true Catholicke that thinketh the Pope may erre These two assertions are directly contradictorie The first they embrace because they find the authoritie Papall to be the surest stay of all their false faith and Antichristian profession and the second they are forced vnto because they dare not condemne so many famous renowned and great Divines as haue beene of that opinion as Durandus Gerson Cameracensis Almaine Waldensis and innumerable moe By this their contradicting of themselues not yet knowing whereon to ground their faith it is evident they haue no faith at all Secondly if wee should graunt them to haue any faith yet will it bee found to be Sophisticall or meerely humane For the reason ground and cause of their perswasion touching things Divine is the testimony of the Church infallibly led into all truth and that there is a Church thus ledde into all trueth whose testimony is vndoubtedly certaine and true they beleeue because the Church telleth them so as if a man should beleeue the reports of such a man because he is wise faithfull and honest and beleeue him to be so onely because he saith so To avoide this Sophisticall circulation sundry of the Schoolemen doe freely confesse that the ground of their faith is nothing else but the multitude and consent of men nations and people agreeing in the profession of it and consequently that it is meerely an humane perswasion and that they haue no faith at all which alwayes stayeth it selfe vpon the certainty of the first trueth Thirdly they teach that mortall men are neuer bound to giue GOD thankes for the greatest benefite that is bestowed on them in this world Nay that to giue him thankes for it were grievous sinne This is most evident for the greatest benefite of all other is justification but for this no man may giue God thankes because no man knoweth whether hee hath receiued it or not nor can assure himselfe of it without intollerable and inexcusable presumption Nay some of these seducers are not ashamed to write that euery man is bound to doubt of it with so fearefull doubting as may cause trembling applying that place of the Apostle to that purpose Worke out your saluation with feare and trembling Now I thinke hee which should come to God and giue him thankes for that which whether hee hath receiued or not hee is so doubtfull that he trembleth for feare should but mocke God and mistake his owne meaning Fourthly they hold that Paul and so many more as knew certainely they were in state of justification did sinne damnably in saying the Lords Prayer and that they did as foolishly as if a man should come to God and aske of him the creation of the world which was made long agoe CHAP. 46. Of the efficacie of the Churches doctrine THus were it most easie for vs to shew in many other particulars that the course of their doctrine is full of palpable absurdities But let these few instances suffice and let vs passe from the sanctity of the Churches doctrine to that the Iesuite addeth touching the efficacy of it where he affirmeth two things the first that heretickes neuer conuert any from infidelity to the faith the second that the Church of Rome hath conuerted This which the Iesuite so confidently deliuereth is partly false and partly to no purpose at all For whereas hee sayth heretickes neuer convert any from infidelity to Christianity the conuersion of the Moscouites by the Greeke Church at that time when it was in his iudgment hereticall and schismaticall abundantly refuteth him besides some other examples that might be alleadged Touching the other part of his speech that the Church of Rome hath conuerted many nations to the faith it maketh nothing to the purpose For wee haue already shewed that wee doubt not but the Church in which the Bishop of Rome with more than Lucifer-like pride exalted himselfe was notwithstanding the true Church of God that it held a sauing profession of the trueth in Christ and by force thereof did conuert many from errour to the way of trueth yet was not the state of that Church such but that a damnable faction of wicked ones was found in the midst of it who being the vassals of that cursed Antichrist adulterated the trueth of God and brought his people into a miserable estate holding men in worse then Babylonical captiuity These men the Romanists succeed at this day For the clearing of this matter see that which I haue noted before to this purpose CHAP. 47 Of the Protestants pretended confession that the Romane Church is the true Church of God THe next note whereby Bellarmine endeuoureth to proue the Romish Synagogue to be the true Church of God is our owne confession Surely if he can proue that we confesse it to be the true Church he needeth not vse any other arguments Let vs see therefore how hee proueth that we confesse the Romane Church to be the true Church of God Luther sayth he clearely yeeldeth it Caluin and others in effect acknowledge the same This wee deny for neither Luther nor Calvin nor any of vs doe acknowledge that the Popish religion is true religion or the Romish faction the Orthodoxe Church of God It is true indeede that Luther writing against the Anabaptists doth affirme that the life of true Christianity was preserued in the middest of those Churches wherein the Pope did formerly tyrannize which thing we haue more fully cleared before But that any part of that doctrine the reformed Churches haue reiected was to be accounted the doctrine of the Church or that those wicked ones in whose steppes the Romanists at this day doe insist peruerting the strait wayes of God and adulterating his heauenly trueth were liuely members of the Church Luther did neuer so much as dreame That which is alleadged out of Caluin touching Bernard and other holy men liuing dying in the Romane Church is to no purpose For we neuer doubted but that the Churches wherein those holy men did liue and die were the true Churches of God and held the sauing profession of heavenly trueth though there were innumerable in the middest of them that adulterated the same to their endlesse perdition whose successours the Romanists are at this day There is therefore a great difference to be made betweene the Church wherein our Fathers formerly liued and that faction of the Popes adherents which at this day resist against the necessary reformation of the Churches of God and make that their faith and religion which in former times was but the priuate and vnresolued opinion of some certaine onely In former times a man might hold the generall doctrine of those Churches wherein our Fathers liued and be