proue that this Catholicke visible Church doth not consist of the good and elect only which is another erroneous position of Protestant Religion and proued largely by S. Augustine to haue bene the heresy of the Donatists and Pelagians their bretheren but of good and bad togeather vnto the worlds end and for confirmation thereof he doth produce interpret those Parables vsed by our Sauiour Matth. 3. to wit of the good corne and chaffe in the floore and of the net cast into the sea that brought vp both good and bad fish and lastly of the weedes and good corne commaunded to be permitted to grow togeather Vpon which place S. Leo the first giueth the glosse thus In extremo iudicio sunt quaedam vrenda flammis sunt alia condenda horreis In the last iudgement some things are to be burned with the flames of dānation other thinges are to be gathered into Gods granary All these places and many more both S. Augustine S. Leo many of the Fathers do interprete of the good and bad that are promiscuously mixed in the Church togeather Do our Protestants follow these expositions 57. Thirdly my foresaid Authour goeth yet further for prouing of a third assertion as contrary to the Protestants as they are opposite vnto truth to wit that this publike and visible Church granted once by Protestants themselues to haue bene the true Church could neuer faile or euer fall away to the worlds end For prouing of which assertion he alleageth sundry passages of holy Writ farre different for interpretation from the Protestants sense His wordes be That Church saith he that was once of all Nations he meaneth the Catholicke is it not now Hath it perished They say so that are not in her O impudent voice Is not she because thou art not in her This abominable and detestable voice full of presumption and falsity susteined by no truth illuminated by no wisedome seasoned with no salt vaine temerarious precipitate and pernicious is preuented and refuted by the holy Ghost c. And then doth he cyte seuerall places of Scripture to proue that notwithstanding all exposition and contradiction of Hereticks that the said visible Church bring once collected of all Nations and placed vpon the open hill and mount of this world and conspicuous vnto the eyes of al could neuer possibly vanish away againe or fall frō Christ as Protestants do falsely charge the Mother Romā Church and consequently they would neuer agree to expound these Scriptures as S. Augustine did But whom shall we rather belieue VVhether is a Luther or a Caluin or S. Augustine to be followed Or which Church his or this of the Protestants is likest to go neare the truth and to light vpon the true meaning of the holy Ghost in expoūding these Scriptures For certaine I am their expositions vary and are repugnant one to the other 58. And in this manner might I proceed in disclosing this great Doctor and famous pillar of the Church S. Austine his iudgement for the exposition of Scriptures concerning all controuersies or the most of them betweene the Catholickes and the Protestants at this day wherein the sayd Father is no lesse perspicuous and copious then as if being an eye-witnesse and an eare-witnesse of all poynts now controuerted he had written in these very dayes of sirife amongst vs. And eyther this is or I know not what can be a manifest demonstration that the holy Ghost guided the pen of this worthy Doctor to taxe and prescribe against the manifould heresies of our times As for example touching the doctrine of Purgatory whome Doctor Field out of a fanaticall spirit and spirit of heresie surchargeth and falsely traduceth of heresy what writer of this time can deliuer and set downe his opinion more resolutely then he doth his prouing the same irrefragably both by the allegation and exposition of sundry passages of holy Scripture as namely by those wordes of our Sauiour Matth. 12. It shall not be remitted vnto him eyther in this life or in the next Whereupon this great Doctor inferreth that some sinnes are remitted in the next consequently there must be a Purgatory And so that place of S. Paul 1. Cor. 3. Euery mans worke shal be tryed by the fire of what sort it is S. Augustine doth also apply to proue the same purging fire to remaine for some sinnes or bad workes in the next life And these expositions of Scripture confirming Purgatory deliuered by S. Augustine and oftentimes reiterated in his workes were neuer reprehended by any as false nor the Father taxed as teaching any erroneous doctrine dissonant from the doctrine and beliefe of the Catholicke Church which doubtlesse he could neuer haue escaped had his assertion of Purgatory bene erroneous liuing in the age of S. Ambrose S. Hierome and other learned Fathers who wanted neyther learning nor zeale to haue both matched him and confuted him had he swarued in ought from sound faith and the doctrine of their present Church and consequently Purgatory was then held for no errour or heresy And the like I might aboundantly proue in many other pointes both out of S. Augustine and sundry other of like antiquity learning and sanctity 59. Finally the conclusion of all this mayne Chapter and Treatise of sacred Scriptures must of necessity fall out to be this that not all belieuing of Scriptures nor appealing vnto Scripture nor sensing of Scriptures nor presuming of the spirit is sufficient to make a man a Christian Catholick for that as hath beene formerly noted forth of S. Bernard many men presume of Gods spirit when it is not but their owne spirit or rather the spirit of Sathā and consequently take or rather mistake their owne spirits expositions for the interpretation of the holy Ghost Againe some when they erre in expounding Scriptures are notwithstanding of opinion that they follow Scriptures when indeed they follow their owne errours So S. Augustine obserueth 60. Thirdly others by a peruerse interpretation make of Christs Ghospell mās Ghospell or that which is worse the Diuells Ghospell as S. Hierome noteth and yet all these with the Diuell and all former heretickes pretend to vrge and build vpon Scripture But no meruaile if all these appeale vnto Scriptures vpon a false confidence thinking that the word of God maketh for them when it maketh against them For let these Scripturians be but marked let them be vnmasked that is as Vincentius Lyrinensis excellenly deliuereth the obseruation against them let not only their sayings but their meanings not their wordes but their senses of Scripture be noted then their bitternes shall be detected their madnes disclosed their new poyson vented forth their prophane nouelties reuealed then the hedge shal be cut then the boundes of Fathers shall be translated then Catholicke faith shall be violated and the Churches position cancelled Hitherto Vincentius 61. The only way then to make a man a true Christian Catholicke indeed if
with a chast shamefastnes and loue So S. Cyprian in that excellent Tract of his devnitate Ecclesiae which Tract alone though it be but a very short one yet is it sufficieÌ„t to be the bane of all heresies and to keepe any man desirous of truth within the bosome of Catholicke vnity 23. With S. Cyprian agreeth S. Hilary writing to the same effect in expresse wordes affirming Hoc Ecclesiae proprium est vt tum vincat cùm laeditur tum intelligatur cùm arguitur tum obtmeat cùm deseritur This is peculiar vnto the Church that when she is hurt by persecutions then she winneth and ouercommeth when she is reprehended by heretickes then is she perceiued that is to say when she is misconceiued she maketh her selfe in her doctrine to be better vnderstood by declaration of matters called into question when she is forsaken eyther by rebellious children that go out from her or by Gods permission exercising her by tribulation then doth she obteine the victory and gloriously triumph So as here you see that they spake not only of the Church of their time but of all other ensuing ages that it cannot perish or be corrupted And with these agree S. Ambrose saying Haec ergo nauis Ecclesia est quae si quotidiè saeculum istud tamquam aliquod pelagus sortitur insestum numquam eliditur ad saxum numquam mergitur adprofundum So speaketh S. Ambrose in his booke intituled de Salomone the 4. chapter that is to say This ship therefore of the Apostles that was tossed vpon the seas of this world as the true Church of Christ which albeit it do dayly find and feele the world to be troblesome vnto it as a certaine tempestuous and stormy sea yet doth it neuer dash and split in peces by striking against any rock nor yet is it euer dryuen and drowned to the bottome All which priuiledges could not be verified of the said Church if it were possible that the spouse of Christ could become a harlot or fall away from Christ by intertayning any damnable errour or heresy 24. And as S. Ambrose so speaketh S. Hierome in his commentary vpon the fourth chapter of Isay his wordes be these Super petram sundatur Ecclesia nulla tempestate concutitur nullo turbine ventisque subuertitur The Church being founded vpon a rock is shâ—uered with no tempest is ouerwhelmed and ouerthrowne by no fury violence of windes whatsoeuer And the same holy Father in another place putting a reall distinction betwixt the Synogogue of the Iewes the Christian Church but especially betwixt the promises of God made vnto both assumeth the speach of Christ and speaketh to the Iewes in the person of our Sauiour Linquetur domus vestra deserta your house your Church your Synagogue shal be left desolate and empty vnto you But as for the Christian Church saith he aeternam habebit possessionem for that Christ promised vnto his disciples behould I will be with you or as other Readings haue it I am with you to the consummation of the world And the same speaches are reassumed and reiterated by him in his Commentaries vpon the ninth of the Prophet Amos and vpon the 28. of the Ghospell of S. Matthew 25. And here I might tyre out both the reader and my selfe also with alleadging the vnamine consent of all the ancient Fathers to proue that the visible Catholicke Church of their dayes could neuer perish Apostatate or fall away from Christ to the end of the world in regard of Christ his promise made vnto it and yet the contrary hereticall tenent is a common receiued doctrine in the Protestants schooles in this last worst age of the world For do not the Protestants pro aris focis as though it were a matter of the life or death of their Religion as in very deed it is no lesse stifly peremptorily defend that the visible Church that held these foure generall Councells which are admitted by his Matie and the Church and Parlament of England and fourteene other no lesse Generall from that of Chalcedon to the last of Trent this Church say I descending by succession of Christian people and by lawfull and Ecclesiasticall ordination of Prelats Pastours and Bishops for gouernement of the same hath after the aforesaid Councell of Chalcedon by little little say the Protestants Apostated from Christ and his true doctrine and hath left their roome and place for Protestants to enter and supply their defects And this is iust like the allegations and pretences of the Donatists in S. Augustines time And no maruaile that Protestants and Donatists thus conspire against the true Church for surely the right of the Donatists is as good to lay clayme thereunto as the interest of the Protestants for ought that I can see to the contrary And let this suffice for my first Consideration The second Consideration MY second Consideration concerning this present subiect of the foure first Generall Councells receaued by the Protestants lay Parlament as is already premised shal be this that for as much as this Ecclesiastical deuise and inuention of calling generall Councels and this spirituall authority in erecting this great consistory and supreame tribunall of the Church for the deciding and determining of all doubts and controuersies that may possibly arise therein eyther by the friendes or rather enemyes of the Church must be presumed to haue come peculiarly and proceeded originally from the holy Ghost partly for that the first forme origen and practice therof was prescribed by the Apostles themselues as you shal read Act. 15. according to that which we haue formerly noted and partly and especially in regard of the infallible assistance of the said holy Ghost that euer-blessed and neuer erring spirit of truth testified by the words of high and soueraigne commaunding authority vsed by the Apostles in that first Councels decree visum est Spiritu Sancto nobis it seemeth good to the holy Ghost and vs why I say this being so haue the Protestants in our dayes hauing now almost had a full age since their defection from Catholicke Roman Religion neuer as yet called a generall Councell amongst themselues to repaire their owne breaches reconcile their owne emnities determine and decide their owne controuersies which as before I haue shewed are both many and waighty implacable and irreconciliable Truly it seemeth vnto me that if they had beene of the same spirit with the ancient Apostolicke Church that gathered these foure first generall Councels to hould all in one vnion and communion nay if they had not bene led or rather misled with a contrary spirit of schisme heresy and diuision they would haue troden in the steeps of these ancient Fathers and haue imitated them in applying the soueraigne remedies of generall Councells for curing the woundes of their owne home-bred diuisions and damnable dissentions at least wyse they would without faile in a whole age haue called some one forasmuch as
Religion To this I answere in generall that the Diuell and all Heretickes had their Scriptures as well as they as many and more then they but the truth is sheeps clothing belongeth not to wolues nor Scriptures to them their possession of thē is meer intrusiō into thē therfore according to that excellent prescription of Tertullian first they should prooue their right of possession of them before they so bouldly aduentured vpon the interpretation of them which since they could neuer yet do it is apparant and out of questiō that they haue no more right vnto the Scriptures then the Diuell himselfe and all former Heretickes haue had vnto them 37. Yf besides the Scripture they plead the spirit for this is their other ground and these two be all the groūds that euer I could perceyue they had for their Protestāticall Religion I answere this spirit is a spirit of priuate interpretation their owne proper inuention and election it is not the spirit of the Church it is not the spirit of the holy Ghost that breathed these Scriptures and therefore it is the spirit of the Diuell the spirit of all their Grādprogenitors ancient Hereticks And now to cut of with one blow the heades of all pryuate spirits let S. Bernard himselfe speake for me and strike for me Nonnulli adesse putant spiritū cùmnon adest suumque sensum prosensu spiritus sequūtur deuiantes Many thinke they haue the spirit when they haue it not and fall into error following their own sense for the sense of the holy Ghost Dare any man hereafter vaunt of his priuate spirit All this and much more is implied in the heauenly admonition of our Sauiour Beware of false prophets and which was my first place of Scripture against Hereticks I come to the second which followeth thus 38. The Apostle S. Paul that trumpet of the Apostles Preacher of the world and discloser of heauenly mysteries thundereth out a terrible commination against an Hereticke whereby he insinuateth to leaue a premonition to all succeeding posterity to be ware of heresy And albeit I haue touched the place somwhat in the former Consideration in disclosing the nature of heresy yet here I must returne to the same againe for better laying forth the miserable effectes therof and the care the said Apostle had to haue it eschued Auoid saith he an hereticall man after the first or second reprehension knowing that he that is such a one is peruerted and sinneth as damned by his owne iudgment Vpon which place S. Hierome writeth thus Haeretici sententiam in seipsos ferunt suo arbitrio ab Ecclesia recedenies quae recessio propriae conscientiae videtur esse damnatio Heretickes giue sentence vpon themselues and are damned vpon their owne iudgment for that they depart from the Church euen out of their owne selfe will and this departure seemeth to be the damnation of their owne conscience expressely mentioned by S. Paul So S. Hierome And can there be any thing more terrible or dreadfull then this Againe Auoid an Hereticke propter periculum propter consortium propter poenam so S. Thomas vpon this place First auoid them in regard of the perill of infection serma enim illorum serpit vt cancer Secondly auoid them in regard of their fellowship and communion that you be not wrapped and intangled in their sinne whilest you seeme by your familiarity with them to consent vnto the same Lastly auoid them propter poenam euen for feare of the punishment of condemnation which hangeth ouer their heads and yet moneatur let him be admonished to see whether he will amend If he amend not after once or twice admonition auoyd him si curari poterit non est vitandus si non dimittend us est If he can be healed of his heresie he is not to be auoided If he cannot be cured he is to be shunned Hitherto S. Thomas 39. My third place is out of S. Iude conteining a very dreadfull description of Hereticks yea so terrible that the very consideration therof were able to make a man to treamble lest he should be any way intangled and infected with this fearefull sinne of heresie either in being an Hereticke himselfe obstinate and malicious or in beleeuing them as being seduced by them For after the Apostle had premised the salutation togeather with the motiue of his Epistle which was to beseech them Supercertare semel iraditae Sanctis fidei to stand fast and fight for the faith once deliuered vnto the Saintes which were the first Christians presently he giueth a most serious warning to all sorts of Christians of the approach and intrusion of Heretickes Subintroierunt enim quidam homines c. There haue crept in certaine men saith he prescribed or prepared from the beginning vnto this terrible iudgment wicked men who haue turned the grace of God into wantonnes c. And then he thundreth out a terrible commination against them sāying VVoe be vnto them that haue gone in the way of Cain and haue for reward powred out themselues with the errour of Balaam and haue perished in the contradiction of Chore. So he And that this contradiction of Chore against Moyses Aaron for which he his conspirators were by Gods iust wrath swallowed quicke vp into hell the earth opening her mouth deuouring thē represented the contradictiō of all Hereticks against the Catholicke Church and Gouernours thereof no man that hath any insight into Deuinity can deny and therfore our Apostle S. Iude who alludeth and compareth betwixt them denounceth Gods vengeance yet further against them Quibus procella tenebrarum seruata est in aternum for whom a tempest of darknes or of torments in darknes is reserued for all eternity And this being so will any one call another hereticke in iest Or is there any cry me so dreadfull as this 40. But if we passe from the Apostles and Scriptures them selues vnto the succeeding Primitiue Church and withall hould their iudgment sense and feeling concerning Heresy we shall find that all of thē without exception of any one had this very spirit of detesting anathematizing flying and auoiding Heretickes aboue all other sinners and malefactors vpon earth yea wheras towardes others neuer so great greieuous and heyncus offendours wee are exhorted willed and ioyned to be benigne sweet meeke compassionate and the like the cleane contrary is counsailed vnto vs against Heretickes to witt not to salute them not to eat or drinke with them not to receiue them into our houses not to conuerse with them but to fly them abhorre them detest and auoid them as pests and plagues and poysoned serpents infecting vs with the inuenomed poyson of hell as damned soules already vpon earth damned by the guilt of their owne conscience and by the irreuokable sentence of diuine Iustice as before we haue signifyed And that which is most worthy our obseruation such seruantes of God as were otherwise
places of his body as there were seuerall wounds in the same shed his most pretious bloud for the sinnes of the world and redemption of mankind if after all this done and suffered for man he should haue left him no certayne meanes or infallible way for his obteyning the fruites therof by discerning betweene heresy and Catholicke religion 50. Furthermore since heresy as all ancient and moderne Orthodoxe Deuines notify is nothing els but to choose or make choice that is yet more plainly to adhere obstinately to a mans owne priuate opinion and proper election when soeuer different points of religion are proposed vnto him if thē there be not some perspicuous apparant rule and reason left by Christ to conuince vnto ech mans conscience and vnderstanding or at least to make a sufficient conuiction which is truth and which is not which is Heresy and which is Verity which to be imbraced and which is to be abandoned I say if this way rule and reason be not most clearely left in the Church whereby a man may guide him selfe then why may not a man make his proper choice and vse that benefit of his owne election in spirituall matters which God hath bestowed vpon him in morall and ciuill affaires permitting therin a choice to his free will Why may he not choose or be a chooser which in our sense and the Churches acception and appropriation of the word importeth an Hereticke without so greiuous and damnable a sinne as Heresie is by vs already disclosed to be Why should a man be damned by his owne iudgment be left inexcusable for that no plea of pretended ignorance will serue his turne since being such a chooser or hereticall man as S. Paul calleth him and brandeth him for he cannot say Nemo corripuit as S. Chrysostome S. Ambrose Theophilact Oecumenius ioyntly expound the place For if the meanes and way of conuiction decision be not infallible it should seeme that man may make his choice but this particuler choice and election out of a mans owne head and priuate iudgment which makes a choosier or Hereticall man is seuerely prohibited and condemned and that by the iudgment of S. Paul as you haue heard at large therfore it must follow by force of necessary and ineuitable consequence that Almighty God out of the depth of his mercy wisdome equity and piety hath left vnto vs some euident vniuersall certaine and infallible way for deciding of all doubts and controuersies in Religion For so he promised when Isay prophesied thus saying That at the comming of Christ there shal be a holy path and a way and it shall be vnto you a direct way so as fooles may not erre therin Thus he prophesied And is there any doubt that he performed it Hath he promised and shall not he make it good Hath he spoke it shall he alter the thing that is gone out of his lippes Atheisme Heresy and Infidelity may question it but all religion piety and Christianity will vndoubtedly belieue the same 51. Wherfore this ground being presupposed and granted as a chiefe principle in Christian Religion that there is some such way left vnto vs whither we must haue recourse in all doubtfull causes and controuersies of Religion the Question then is betwixt the Protestants and those of the Catholicke Roman Religion where and what this way is how we may come to the notice of it and in what manner it is to be followed after it is once found out The Protestant commonly of what Sect or faction soeuer he be auerreth that the written word of Canonicall Scripture is this infallible way directory-guid and this he doth not in my conscience so much for any honour and reuerence that he beareth vnto the oracles of Gods sacred Writ as he would falsely beare the world in hand he doth but only vpon an hereticall intent that he may auoid therby the iudgement of the Church And no meruaile for Qui malè agit odit lucem the guilt of his Heresy flyeth the censure of the Church Some others do add that when the Canon of Scripture is not perspicuous and obuious vnto euery man then for explication of the word they may inquire of the spirit of God which inspireth ech man and that will instruct him and lead him vnto all truth But now this falsely supposed and imaginary spirit can be no infallible rule of direction For that S. Iohn hath giuen vs a Caueat touching these false spirits Beloued belieue not euery spirit but try the spirits whether they be of God for many false Prophets are gone sorth into the world And was not this the common tricke of all condemned Heretickes and heresies Did they not all of them plead the spirit of God against the liuely authority and speaking voice of the Church Doth not the whole ranke of ancient Fathers that wrote against thē thunder out that terrible comminatiō threatning a fearefull woe and vengeance vnto all priuate lying and deceyuing spirits Vae illis qui sequuntur spiritum suum Woe be vnto them that follow their owne spirit Lastly haue not all ancient Heresies and Heretickes Arians Nestorians Pelagians c. beene vniustly condemned and therefore must not their heresies be raked out of the ashes of Hell againe and set fresh footing in the Church if the rule of interpreting Scripture be ech man his priuate spirit It cannot be denyed for that all of them vaunted of the spirit as the Sectaries do at this day Well then the conclusion is that this vaunting of the spirit is nothing else but a horrible belying and presumptuous blaspheming of the spirit of God making that spirit of vnited verity a spirit of distracted heresy And therfore this their priuate spirit can be no rule to direct them any longer And so much of this way in following euery man his owne spirit 52. And now for the former way of following Canonicall Scriptures for this only rule and sure direction though this be euer to be graunted as most true that the holy Scriptures breathed by the instinct of the spirit be diuine and of infallible truth and direction when they are by the Church both known to be Scriptures rightly interpreted by the assistance of the spirit in the Churches voice sense yet forasmuch as the Scriptures sublimity fitteth not with euery meane and ordinary capacity for the most part of people are vnlearned and cannot read or vnderstand what they read much lesse those learned tongues wherein the Scriptures were originally written It followeth euidently that the Scriptures alone can be no sure vniuersall infallible way for the discerning of Catholicke Religion and discouering of heresie Or at least wise this rule is not generall to all as it ought to be for as much as all must haue sufficient meanes left for their saluation 53. But here me thinketh I heare the Protestāt obiect that howsoeuer the Scripture is no way for the
my brethren of the English Ministry who in like manner some of them with great zeale grounded themselues vpon Scriptures euen as I did which concurrence in opinion did not a little cōfirme me in this my owne headstrong imagination 7. But afterwardes vpon better insight of matters many occurrences and circumstances of no small importance for the shaking and ruinating of this false and tottering foundation interposed themselues to the view of my vnderstanding and these greatly calmed this feruour of mine and abated the edge of my appetite vnto the bare letter of the Scripture and my owne Commentaries therupon 8. For first I found that euen Luther himselfe that did thus confidently triumph vpon alleadging of Scripture against all ancient Fathers Thomists Sophists Henricistes and the like is not admitted nor followed by our English Church in many of his maine positions of Religion though we of England did and do hould him for a great Saint a flying Angell one that had Primitias spiritus the prime spirit of the new Protestant Ghospell whereupon I haue heard some that haue presumed in their popular pulpit declamations amidst their owne Sectaries to inuest him with the tytle of a fifth Euāgelist I say he is not belieued by vs though he cyte neuer so many Scriptures and neuer so confidently in sundry weighty positions and cōtrouersies now in hand as namely about the Reall presence wherein he most of all pretended yea and had indeed foūded himselfe vpon cleare and euident Scriptures And is it any meruaile when heresy departing from vnity must needes breed variety and cause diuersity betweene the Sect-maister and the Sectaries the Father of innouation and the followers the author of Schisme and the mantainers the inuentors of nouelties and the imbracers thereof Let vs heare what old Tertullian saith to the same aboue 1400. yeares agoe when heresies were yet but yong and as it were in their infancy Mentior saith he si non etiam à regulis suis variant inter se dum vnusquisque proinde suo arbitrio modulatur quae accepit quemadmodum de suo arbitrio eadem composuit ille qui tradit Agnoscit naturam suam originis suae morem prosectus rei Idem licuit Valentinianis quod Valentino idem Marcionitis quod Marcioni de abitrio suo fidem innouare Denique penitus inspectae haereses omnes in multis cum Auctoribus suis dissentientes deprehenduntur I am deceaued if they do not yet differ from their owne rules amongst themselues whilest euery man therfore tuneth the things which he receaued after his owne fashion as the author deliuered them according to his fancy The issue of the thing agniseth her nature and argueth the manner of her origen The same is lawfull for the Valentinians that was lawfull for Valentinus and for the Marcionites that was lawfull for Marcion to bring in an innouation in Religion at their pleasure To conclude all heresies being throughly looked into are found in many things to dissent from the first Authors and broachers of them Hitherto Tertullian Can any more effectually prescription be made then this against the Heretickes of our daies Do they not seeme to expresse and present the conditions and qualities of their ancient progenitors and forerunners This then was my first cogitation that albeit our English Protestants did well allow and admire that insolency in Luther of pressing Scriptures neuer so madly vnderstood against Catholickes yet when he vrged neuer so cleare Scriptures against themselues and their opinions they reiect and contemne both him and his Scriptures 9. Secondly I considered that when the Diuell tempted Christ he came not without his Scriptum est he had the Word for his warrant and therefore the lesse I meruailed that all Sectaries and Hereticks from the very first foundation of Christan Religion had principally founded themselues and their heresies vpon pretence of Scripture as may appeare by the seuerall workes of all the ancient Fathers that confuted them Frequentes sunt in citandis Scripturis saith Tertullian they are frequent in citing Scriptures They runne ouer the Law Psalmes Prophets Ghospells Epistles and the residue of holy Scripture with great facility sayth Vincentius Lyrinensis and euen in compitis conuiuijs in market places and banquets amongst their owne Sectaries amongst strangers priuatly publickly in their bookes in sermons will they be full of Scriptures Nihil vmquam penè de suo proserunt quod non etiam Scripture verbis adumbrare conentur they bring nothing in manner of their owne which they shaddow not and cloake with some Scripture or other not vnlike our London Dames and the wiues of other great Towns and Cytties at this day I had almost added Shrewsbury Omnes tument c. all of them swell with pride all of them promise knowledg they are perfect Catechistes before they can their alphabet Ipsae mulieres hereticae quà m procaces quae audeant docere contendere c. their very hereticall women how saucy and malepert they are which dare teach contend c. So Tertullian And then further as S. Nazianzen before alledged well noteth these hereticall Scripturians running ouer all the corps of sacred Writ nay galloping ouer the whole field of the Scriptures as though the whole were but a horserase they do here and there vno verbo vel altero tamquam veneni gutt a inficiunt with a word or two of false exposition as with a drop of poyson infect the whole peruerting the true faith of Christ by their false sense of the Scripture and that to their owne damnation and damnation of their followers as the Apostle S. Peter doth signify 10. Thirdly I considered that not onely the ancient Hereticks but also the moderne Schismatickes and Sectaries of our time did by the one and the same spirit appeale to the tribunall of Scriptures and that both generally against those of the Roman beliefe particulerly among themselues the one against the other as Lutherans against Sacramentaries and Sacramentaries against Anabaptists and those against these and euery Sectary against his fellow and all directly against God his Church and his Truth And though ech Sectary professe to alledge Scripture and pretendeth neyther to build vpon the sandes nor vpon the shore of priuate fancy or his owne vnstable iudgment but vpon the mayne rocke of God his word yet Heresies grow on all sydes and thereupon controuersies become endlesse and interminable I remember not long since that lighting vpon a little booke of the Anabaptists I fell vpon thirty places of plaine Scripture and euery one of these places seemed by the externe letter to make perspicuously for the aforsaid Anabaptists and their heresies which yet in England we do condemne and consequently doe hold all those places of Scriptures to be misalledged abused and falsely interpreted by them be they neuer so many seeme they neuer so plaine or pregnant 11. But here I would demaund of any ingenious Protestant how
children and after the said law was written also euery man and woman was not remitted promiscuously hand ouer head to the reading of those bookes but he was sent to take his instruction and institution from the ordinary Superiours Doctors Gouernors of that Church and these were to expound the law vnto him For which direction and tradition we find this warrant and commaunding yea prescribing authority Aske thy Fathers and they will tell thee thy elders and they will declare vnto thee Againe The lipes of the Priest preserue knowledge And yet in a third place I know that Abraham will demaund and teach his sonnes and househould that they walke in my wayes c. 17. And now to come from the law to the Ghospell from Moyses vnto Christ and so to proceed orderly with the history of the Church as God is no changling but euer like himselfe euen so the beginning proceeding establishing of the new Christian faith and Church was not much vnlike if not altogeather resembling the former For first this Church was planted by our Sauiour at Hierusalem and speedily by the industrious ministery of the holy Apostles assisted by the instinct of the holy Ghost spread ouer the face of the earth and yet neyther the Church nor the Apostles the principall pillars of the Church had as at this time any written instruction or methodicall institution deliuered vnto them concerning their teaching preaching or beleeuing except only the articles of the Creed deliuered by tradition in the Church as will appeare in the subsequent Considerations Secondly the institution that they had they receyued it by instruction from our Sauiour his mouth and from the immediate instinct suggestion and inspiration of the holy Ghost who was promised by Christ himselfe who could not lie nor deceaue to assist the Church continually vnto the worldes end and by this institution and inspiration alone they taught and conuerted both Iewes and Gentils instituted Churches establishing lawes and orders of life by word of mouth and tradition only from hand to hand before any thing of the new testament was committed to writing And this was the condition of the Church for some yeares and that in the infancy and purity of Christian Religion as the Protestant must perforce confesse Thirdly when the Wisdome of heauen thought it expedient that somthing should be written the first thing cōmitted vnto writing in the new Testamēt was the Ghospell of S. Matthew and this was collected and digested in that very order as it is now presented to the Church and that some eight yeares after the ascension of our Sauiour then the Ghospell of S. Marke some fiue yeares after that then that of S. Luke written twelue yeares after the former wherin diuers thinges omitted in the other Ghospell of are recorded And last of all was written the Ghospell of S. Iohn conteyning in it many great and important matters which are not found in any of the rest and this was not written of 66. yeares after the first visible Christian Church was planted and established by the comming of the holy Ghost 18. And now as all the rest were written vpon particuler occasions so especially was this famous Ghospell of S. Iohn which is the very key opening the dore vnto the vnderstanding of all the rest and particulerly vpon the occasion of Ebion and Cerinthus their heresy which impugned the Diuinity of the Sonne of God Whereupon I do inferre that for that which concerneth the new Testament the Church was for diuers yeares without any Scriptures at all and for 66. yeares which is the age of a man the points related by S. Iohn more then were vttered in the other Ghospells which are many and most important were receiued and belieued in the Church by tradition onely And now for Conclusion of all I would demaund but one thing of the Protestants that make such shew of appealing vnto Scriptures and the Primitiue Apostolicall Church this was demāded aboue 1400. yeares agoe by S. Irenaus before cyted who liued in the very next age after the Apostles vpon the very like occasion Sineque Apostoli Scripturas reliquissent nobis c. If the Apostles had left vnto vs no Scriptures at all yet ought not we to follow that order of tradition which they left to those to whom they committed their Churches So that holy Bishop and Martyr especially ought we not to follow that order of tradition since the true worship of God and the sauing doctrine of the Ghospell of Christ cōtinued for 2000. yeares in the time of the law and for many other yeares in the dayes of the Ghospell and that in the brest of the Church to be deliuered by tradition only without the help of any word written 19. Wherby we cannot but discerne and must acknowledge that Scriptures or the written word of God were not so absolute necessary for the reuealing of God his will vnto man kind and the continuing of man in that sauing knowledge of him but that his Diuine Maiesty might haue propagated and preserued his doctrine and man in the truth by tradition only of word of mouth without any Scriptures at all if it had so pleased him as he did for many ages and generations togeather both before the first great diluge by water in the dayes of our first Patriarkes vntill Abrabā his time whome he chose for the head of his people as also afterwardes when he directed the same people by like tradition as well in Egipt where they remayned in most cruell bondage for 400. yeares as else where before Moyses wrote his forenamed bookes And the like he might haue done with Christiās to the worlds great generall consummation last inundation by a flood of fire according to S. Irenaeus his sentence if he had listed as hauing instituted a more orderly exact and authorized Church yea and hauing indued it with greater priuiledges according to the perfection of the new law aboue the old then he had done vnto the former of the Iewes Whereupon it must needes follow by force of necessary consequence that the tradition of this Church and pure authority therof both in propounding Scriptures vnto vs and discerning the same which are truly Scriptures and which are not as also for deliuering vnto vs the true sense and meaning therof in their interpretation and exposition is much more to be respected by vs then was that of the Iewes Forasmuch as Christ our Sauiour promised the continuall assistance of his spirit vnto this Church and that in such measure as that it should alone be able to withstand all the infernall power of Sathan and the gates of hell idest the very entrance of all kynd of errour or herely into it whatsoeuer 20. These then that neuer so solemnely and neuer so confidently professe that they for their partes do belieue and follow the Scriptures without due reference or respect to the Church forsomuch as all Sectaries and Heretikcs that
are no Catholicke Christians do professe the same as hath bene already euidently shewed that is to say they will openly beare the world in hand that they build their whole Religion vpon the maine foundation of the Scriptures wheras notwithstanding it is out of question that they rather build vpon their owne idle heades and fanaticall spirits forsomuch as they deduce their acknowledgement of Scriptures and the interpretation thereof from their owne braine sense and priuate fancy and not from any more stable authority at all 21. This is made euident and perspicuous if we exnmine any the least sect or sectary in the world or compare many of sundry sectes togeather for that euery one of them though as opposite among themselues as heauen and hell light and darkenes God and Beliall yet will all pretend to build vpon God his word all will appeale vnto Scriptures the Lutheran Caluiuist Anabaptist Brownist Protestant and euery other sectary but when you tye them to the point bring them to the examination of the Scriptures question them concerning these two particulers to wit which is Scripture how it is to be vnderstood then do they appeare in the liuely colours of Heretickes then do they discouer their owne hereticall fancies to be both all and the chiefe groundes that euer they had to build their religion vpon as by the ensuing Considerations will better appeare in both the heads before touched The third Consideration IF the Oracle of the Prophets and Apostles the diuine VVrit I meane so called because the holy Scriptures were written by the ministery of Propheticall and Apostolicall men be in their owne nature of that sublime excellency and transcendent eminency as hath bene formerly decyphered and discouered vnto vs If the authority of the said sacred Writ be not humane but diuine not the word of any mortall mā nor proceding frō any earthly spirit but the word of the immortall God breathed nō his heauenly spirit and consequently if it be not in it selfe most holy sacred sure certaine and of infallible truth then let vs assuredly know that as on the one side it is a capitall crime of sacriledge to decree any thing for Scripture which is not or to intrude any humane writing into the participation or association of Gods Diuine word so it is a sinne no lesse damnable on the other side to call rashly into question or to disauthorize any part or parcell of that which is Scripture indeed or to deny therunto the honour due to diuine and sacred Writ and therfore it highly importeth vs aswell in the one as in the other to mannage our selues with all humility sobriety modesty and circumspection in a matter so weighty as the Scripture is and so neerely concerning the eternall saluation or damnation of our soules 23. Now then if the point standeth thus it behoueth vs indeed if in any other matter then especially in this to vse all carefull and exact diligence that we may find out that certaine rule and infallible direction before mentioned that by the immediate guidance thereof we may most certainely attaine vnto this to wit to know what is truly Scripture and what is not if euer this were necessary then much more in these later and worser daies and times of schisme and heresie when as no small controuersies are stirred vp about the same 24. For wheras so many dangerous Sects and heresies of perdition to speake in the phrase of the holy Ghost are raised vp from hell in these our vnfortunate times vnfortunate indeed in respect or them and that within the compasse of one age since one luxurious Luther opened the first gappe to the generall detection all which schismes and heresies as before hath bene notifyed couertly shroud themselues vnder the name and pretensed veile of Scripture the first contention and now most necessary question to be discussed with them is what books of the Bible or partes therof are truely Scripture what are to be wiped away to be cut offrō the sacred Canō of holy writ and all to this end that we may vndoubtedly know vpon what groundes we may stand safely in citing authorities from thence 25. Furthermore forasmuch as all the bookes of the sacred Bible Gods holy volume haue cōmonly anciētly hitherto bene deuided into these three orders or rankes the first into such as were neuer called into questiō by Catholick men though there neuer wanted hereticks calling thēselues Christians reformed Christians as the Protestants do at this day that impugned the same as the Basilidims and the Marcionists reiecting the ould Testament as indited by an euill God and Faustus Manichaeus contemning all the foure Ghospelles as written by impostors 26. The second into such bookes as albeit some men did for some time doubt whether they were Canonicall or not yet afterwardes they are receiued into Canon by the whole Church that is held for diuine books written by the spirit of God and of such infallible truth as they may be a Canon or rule or sure direction vnto our infirmity for any thing that is found in them For so S. Augustine from the Etimology of the word describeth the meaning of the word Canonicall being applied as a fit Epethete vnto the Scriptures 27. The third order is into such bookes which notwithstanding they go ordinary in the common Bibles and containe in them many good morall instructions of piety and were sometimes by some particuler men esteemed for essentiall partes of the Scripture yet were they neuer so accompted by the vniuersall Church and therfore they are called Apecrypha that is hidden or obscure for that their authority was neuer receaued or published generally in the Church and for such are reckoned the third and fourth of Esdras the Appendix of the booke of Iob the booke of Hieremy intituled Pastor the prayer of King Manasses and finally the 151. Psalme 28. I say now this tripartite diuision of holy Writ being thus generally admitted and receiued by all orthodoxe Deuines doth it not concerne euery man that is carefull of his soules saluation to inquire diligently after the pursuite and knowledg of these things especially in this generall sommoning and appealing of all vnto the Scriptures for the finall decision of all Controuersies 29. And now to speake something to the point concerning these three rankes and orders of books The third of these is generally reiected by all as well Catholickes as Protestants the first is admitted by all All the question then is concerning the second and this comprehendeth sundry bookes both of the old and new Testament as of Hester Baruch certaine parcelles of Daniel the bookes of Tobias Iudith Sapientia Ecclesiasticus and the first and second of Machabees out of the ould Testament and certaine parts of the Ghospell of S. Marke S. Luke and S. Iohn with the Epistles of S. Iames S. Iude the 2. of S. Peter the 2. and 3. of S. Iohn and the Apocalyps
out of the new All these I say are receiued by those of the Roman Religion for Canonicall Scriptures in the sense before defined out of S. Augustine that is to say for holy and diuine bookes written by the finger of Almighty God by the ministery of those who were Pennes of a ready writer and consequently these of the second ranke were of no lesse authority nor infallible verity then those of the first order for that in things immediatly and a like proceeding from God his spirit there can not be lesse or more truth but all are of equall credit and so equally to be receaued honoured esteemed and belieued And thus much for the Catholickes who for a infallible ground and assured direction in this matter follow not any priuate erring spirit but the neuer-deceiuing authority of the Church which Church and spouse of Christ being guided by the spirit of God according to the promise of Christ her bridegrome hath from all ancient time in former ages in her Councells Synodes and Ecclesiasticall Decrees notified declared determined and established the authority of these foresaid bookes of the second rew for infallible and Canonicall that is to say declared them to be such and euer haue bene such to wit of most certaine and infallible truth though sometimes and amongst some men there haue bene doubt thereof And this is the manner of the Church to declare what is Scripture but not to make it 30. But as for the Protestants I find such diuersity and contrariety such opposition and contradiction among them that they seeme vnto me as mē in tangled shall I say nay perplexed and distracted not knowing what to doe or whither to fly or which way to turne them in this great busines of discerning and admitting Scriptures And surely the reason of all this misery ariseth from themselues alone Perditio tua ex te it was spoken of Israells transgression but neuer more truly verified thē of hereticall innouation for that these miserable deceiued and deceiuing soules leauing the high rode of the Churches prescription can neuer possibly attaine vnto any infallible direction one following one thing and another another and that in this maine point of the Scriptures importance Quot capita tot sententia euery man will be a chooser euery one will shew himselfe an Hereticke whence it commeth to passe that Gods word is wretchedly abused blasphemed reiected by some rent and torne in peeces by others and that which on God his part was ordained and prepared for them to be a sauour of life vnto life becommeth by their misusage of it a sauour of death vnto death and to speake all in a word through the fault of their owne peruerse will concurring and God his most righteous iudgment following them hard at the heeles it commeth to passe that that word which was giuen as a pillar of fire to direct and lighten them into all verity is turned into a pillar of smoke so darkening and infatuating their vnderstanding that they rush headlong into all kind of heresie 31. This being well peceiued by his Maiesty of England according to that notable apprehension of his Noble Nature he as it were out of a pious zealous and Religious disposition though wrongly missed by some time-seruing and Statizing Theologue who is somewhat to neere vnto his Royall Person writeth as in part before you haue heard concerning the Scriptures and it is in effect as followeth As for the Scriptures no man doubteth I will belieue them But euen for the Apocrypha I hould them in the same accompt that the Ancients did they are still printed and bound with our Bibles and publikely read in our Churches I reuerence them as writings of holy and good men but since they are not found in the Canon we accompt them to be secundae lectionis or ordinis which is Bellarmines owne distinction and therefore not sufficient wherupon alone to ground any article of faith except it be confirmed by some other place of Canonicall Scripture Thus writeth his Maiesty out of a good meaning no doubt and therefore great pitty it is that so Vertuous and Religious a Hart should erre or conceipt amisse But who shall determine whether these Scriptures here called Apocrypha which are those of the second order before mentioned be Canonicall Scriptures or not Herelyeth the substance of the questiō His Matie heere vpon the suggestion of his Domesticall Ministers of England saith no but the ancient Church of Christendome saith yea as doth also the present and her iudgement being in this case aboue all earthly authority is to strike the stroke betwixt God and man Let the word of my Soueraigne in all otherthings stand as the strong moūtaine that may not be remoued and as the law of the Medes and Persians which could neuer be altered only let not my lord the King be displeased with his seruant and subiect in this if his word may not stand but must of necessity fall to the ground as being countermaunded by the word of God that cannot nor will not be disauthorized by the word of any mortall man 32. It was suggested to his Matie but sinister was the information that Cardinall Bellarmine in his first booke de Verbo Dei cap. 4. held the former distinction of secundae lectionis or ordinis and that in his Maiesties sense but it is nothing so in the sense that here is set downe by his Maiesty to wit that this second order of bookes are of lesse authority then the first For albeit Bellarmine doth as before hath bene said deuide all the bookes that are in the Bible into three ranks or orders first into such as were neuer called in question by any Catholicke men Secondly into such as notwithstāding sometimes haue byn doubted of by some yet were afterwards admitted by the whole vniuersall Church And thirdly and lastly into Apocrypha yet doth he not either call those bookes of the second order Apocrypha or secundae lectionis as here is set downe nor yet secundi ordinis in his Maiesties sense as though they were lesse to be belieued and of lesse authority then those of the first ranke but rather he auerreth the quite contrary that they are all of one and the selfe same authority And therfore whosoeuer he was that suggested this place of Bellarmine vnto his Matie he dealt not well and sincerly therin with his Prince and he is bound by the law of conscience and by the law of a subiect towards his Soueraigne to acknowledge his errour were it of malice or of ignorance committed and humbly prostrate vpon his knees to craue pardon for this abusing of his Lord and euer after to beware how he presume to whisper any such vntruth palpable and notorious falshood into the eares of his dread Lord and King 33. But now forasmuch as this point of denying the infallible authority and irrefragable credit of any the least booke part or parcell of
2. booke against Celsus and 5. booke vpon the Romans Eusebius lib. 4. demonst Euang. cap. 12. S. Cyril of Ierusalem Cateches 4. Descendit ad inferos vt iustos inde liberaret Christ descended into hell that he might deliuer his iust from thence S. Athanasius de Incarnatione and in diuers other places of his workes S. Basil vpon the 14. Psalme and 48. S. Gregory Nissen in his first Oration de resurrectione Christi S. Gregory Nazianzen oratione 2. de Paschate Epiphanius in Ancor S. Cyril de recta fide ad Theodosium and Theodoret vpon the 15. Psalme 31. To these Greeke Fathers I may add these latin Tertullian in his booke de anima cap. 31. 32. Hyppolitus the Martyr in oratione de Antichristo S. Cyprian in his sermon de vnctione Chrismatis S. Hilary vpō the Psalme 138. in his 10. booke de Trinitate Philastrius de haeresibus cap. de descensu Christi ad inferos Gaudentius tract 6. de Exod. Prudentius hym 9. 10. S. Ambrose de fide cap. 3. de mysterio Paschae cap. 4. and cap. 10. vpon the Romans and 4. to the Ephesians 3. of Eccles. and vpon the 9. Chap. of Zachary Ruffinus vpon his exposition of the Creed S. Augustine Epist. 47. ad Dardanum the first question and infinite other places of his workes S. Leo sermon the first de resurrectione Fulgentim lib. 3. ad Thrasimundum cap. 23. Vigilius the Martyr in his booke against Eutiches Arator the subdeacō in his first booke vpon the Actes the 2. chapter S. Gregory in the 13. booke of his Morales cap. 20. and 21. vpon the Psalme De profundis Beda in his third booke vpon Iob the 7. chapter All these and many others may be alleaged as all consenting about the litterall meaning of this Article 32. And yet do the Protestants of our vnhappie time differ from all these in the vnderstanding of this Article of Christ his descent into hell though they do professe to admit the whole Creed And amongst the rest the very wordes of this Article of the Creed for some of them by descending into hell vnderstand that he descended into his sepulcher this is the opinion of Bucer that was Regius Professor and publike reader of Diuinity in Cambridge in King Edward the sixt his dayes and the same houldeth Beza in his Commentary vpon the second Chapter of the Actes of the Apostles And Caluin himselfe misliketh not this interpretation in his commentary vpon the 15. Psalme where he interpreteth these wordes Thou shalt not leaue my soule in hell thus Thou shalt not leaue my soule in the graue or sepuscher But how improbable an interpretation this is ech man of common reason will discerne For who euer heard that soules were shut vp in sepulchers 33. But M. Caluin after his fashion persisteth not long in in this but nath another more solemne interpretation in his second booke of Institutions and in diuers other bookes of his and the exposition is this that Christ did suffer the very selfe same paines of hell it selfe and all the torments of the damned in his soule vpon the Crosse as feare despaire distrust horrour and the like by apprehending God his heauenly Father to be angry with him And in this Caluin is so confident that he feareth not to go further and to blaspheme and say that without this his corporall death had beene to no purpose Nihil actum erat saith he si corporea tantùm morte desunctus fuisset Christus Nothing had byn effected if Christ had only dyed a corporall death And so according to this interpretation of Caluin Christes bodily death on the Crosse did not deliuer vs without these paynes of Christes soule and yet saith he the soule went not downe locally to any place of punishment for this doth he not only deride saying there is no such place but especially doth he hould it for a fable as presently we shall see but rather endured as he affirmeth and suffered the paines of hell and of the damned as is before said But the truth is this is a blasphemous speach and quite ouerthroweth the whole mystery of our Redemption For let vs search the Scriptures from the Alpha to the Omega from the beginning of Genesis or booke of Creation to the end of that mysticall booke of S. Iohns Reuelation and we shall not only find not any the like speach to this but the cleane contrary in infinite places all and euery where ascribing the whole mystery of our Redemption to Christ his precious bloudshed and bodily passion And vnto this will euery indifferent Protestant easily subscribe and yeald 34. And now touching his contemptuous censuring of all antiquity in the poynt of Limbus Patrum which was the place where the soules of the ancient Fathers and Patriarches remayned and were detayned vntill Christs Resurrection Haec fabula de Limbo Patrum saith he ad quos liberādos Christum descendisse narrant tametsi magnos habeat auctores nihil tamen aliud quà m fabula est This fable of Limbus Patrum or prison of the Fathers for whose deliuerance they recount Christ to haue descended albeit it hath great authors that make for it yet is it nought els but a fable 35. And who be these authors whom M. Caluin both accompteth great yet reiecteth but those principally whom before we haue named pillars of the Church in the primitiue ages And did euer any man since the first foundation of Christian Religion speake so of all the light learning piety deuotion and Religion of all the whole Christian world togeather this one wretched impostor excepted 36. Thus then we see that Caluin though in words he admit this article of the Creed yet he dissented from all antiquity in the exposition thereof Now as for the Church of England what they hould therein it is hard to say though many and sore conflicts there hath beene amongst Ministers and Preachers of my quality for many yeares togeather about the exposition of the article He descended into hell Only two memorable things I call to mind that passed there in my tyme in diuers partes of that Kingdome and all about the exposition of that article which heere I haue thought good historically as it were to interlace The first was in manner as followeth It happened that some dozen yeares since I light by chance vpon a certaine Exercise for so the brethren call it held by a certayne number of Ministers of the purer straine as vsually these kind of Exercises are The towne where this meeting of Ministers was is called Maxfield in the very vttermost skirt and confines of Cheshire and the text then and there treated vpon by the brethren was the Psalmists Propheticall prediction of Christs descensiō into hell as it is mētioned Psal. 15. v. 8. repeated againe Act. 2. v. 27. Quoniā non relinques animam meam in inferno Because thou shalt not leaue my soule in hell
And the place is very pregnant for prouing the point The bench being set the Ministers ech in time and order spake but God knoweth how few wise and true words were spoken amongst them The first starts vp and expounds it of Christ his suffering vpon the Crosse a second vnderstands it of the Graue a third extended it to Christ his sufferings of hell torments in soule and the fourth yet added and interpreted it of Christs being in the state of the dead The Moderator for such a one they haue in all their Exercises he as wise as the rest insteed of mending all he marreth all for he commendeth all approueth all and receiueth all and then falleth out into a wonderfull admiration of the diuersity of the gifts of the spirit that euery one of his fellow labourers in the Ghospell should haue his seuerall exposition and yet all to agree and all to be intended by the holy Church But this is iust according to Tertullian his prescription Nihil interest haereticis licèt diuersa tractantibus dum ad vnius veritatis expugnationem conspirent it importeth not amongst hereticks though so many men be of so many mindes whilst they can conspire to impugne one truth And do not so many seuerall and erroneous expositions banded against one true meaning of the article forcibly make good this prescription and note of Tertullian 37. And for my part as then so now I am of absolute opinion that if all my brethren and their Moderator with them had bene as farre out of the towne as they were euery one of them from the truth of the text and meaning of the holy Ghost in that place they would neuer more haue returned either to wiues or Cures or made such an other fanaticall exposition tending only to the ouerthrow of the Article 38. But yet my second obseruation goeth farre beyond all this and for the nouelty and absurdity of the exposition it deserueth to be registred in the record of eternall memory that all the world may take notice of the palpable blindnesse of heresy and it is of diuers stipendary Preachers who as they seuerally succeeded one the other in a very eminent place of that Kingdome so they diuersly expounded the article one of them expounded it of hell torments in Caluins sense a second succeding of the graue in Beza his meaning the third and last because he would be sure to proue himselfe an hereticke addidit de suo he found out such an exposition as was neuer heard of before vnlesse it were by one Iacob a turbulent and Schismaticall spirit that opposed himselfe against the Bishop of VVinchester impar congressus I say no more touching this article His exposition in plaine words was this Christ descended into hell that is sayth he he ascended into heauen and this he thought he proued substantially out of the Greeke wordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which said he signifieth no more thē that Christ went 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is said he to an inuisible place and this must be proportioned according to the dignity of the person and consequently must be heauen For what place can be fit for the Sonne of God being thus in the state of the dead but heauen And so as before his conclusion for a full and perfect exposition of this article was he descended into hell that is he ascended into heauen And is not this as Luther merily gibeth at the Canonicall exposition of Hoc est corpus meum as if a man taking vpon him to interpret this text God created heauen and earth should interpret it thus acroked staffe was made a kite or the cuccow did eat vp the kitling bones and all For certaine I am there is as much truth and correspondency betwixt the one as the other Oh miserable Preachers o thrice miserable people that thus suffer their eyes to be put out and their soules to be deluded beguiled and betrayed by such hereticall impostors 39. And now to proceed forward and to see what the Church of England doth hould in this point M. Thomas Rogers Minister of Horninger and Chaplaine to the Lord of Canterbury hauing taken vpon him to set forth in print of late The faith doctrine and religion prosessed and protected in England for so are his wordes in 36. articles agreed vpon as he saith by the Bishops and Clergy of England when he commeth vnto this article he seemeth not to know what to say for hauing laid forth this article of Christs descent into hell he hath these wordes That Christ went downe into hell saith he all sound Christians both in former times and now liuing do acknowledge howbeit in the interpretation of the article there is not that consent that were to be wished And so after he hath set downe diuers opinions of others forgetting to put downe his owne he passeth and posteth the matter ouer in such sort as that no man can tell what they of England do hold or what it is that is agreed vpon by the Bishops or whether they hold any thing at all though in the title of his booke he doth promise to set downe 39. Articles vniformely agreed vpon by the said Bishops and Clergy belike he found no concord or agreement in this behalfe only he recounteth the aduerse opiniōs which he holdeth for opposite erours and aduersaries to the truth and then going on futher he sayth But vntill we know the natiue and vndoubted sense of this article and mystery of Christian Religion we persist aduersaries vnto them that say that Christ descended not into hell at all or that Christ descended into the place of euerlasting tormentes or indured in soule the paynes of damned spirits c. which opinions you haue heard now to haue bene partly of Caluin partly of other Protestants so as with them the Church of England holdeth not nor yet with the Papists sayth he for that presently he addeth for an opposite errour vnto them That Christ in soule went downe into Limbo lake to fetch from thence the soules of our forefathers which soules saith he before Christs death as Papists dreme were shut vp in the close prison of hell Now then to reflect vpon the premises and out of them to inferre the conclusion the illation must needes be this Though all partes do in wordes admit this article of Christ his descent into hell yet do they greatly differ in the sense and the ministers of England as it seemeth haue no certaine faith therin at all neither do they ascribe so much assistance of the holy Ghost to their Church which the true Church could neuer want as to be able to explaine the natiue and vndoubted sense of this article and Mystery of Christian Religion to vse M. Rogers wordes so as their beliefe herein is only negatiue as their whole Religion is which is to belieue that all others are deceiued besides themselues and yet do they affirme nothing in particular And let
to make good against them in the particuler carriage and passage of this present busines of Councells let vs but leaue the barky rind and outward corke and enter into the inward marrow and substance that is let vs giue no credit to their words but looke into their deedes and we shall easily discerne yea the matter will disclose it selfe For to set their wordes aside whome we haue euer found contrary in their deedes if the Church of England do sincerely imbrace and receaue for Catholicke and Orthodoxe these foure first generall Councells which did resemble comprehend and present the whole Primitiue Church for more then foure hundred and fifty yeares togeather after Christ then must it follow if they meane as they say and that their wordes shall not proue wind that the English Church and our lay Parlaments must acknowledge and admit also that doctrine for Catholick and Orthodoxe which without impeachment controllement or contradiction of any can be substantially proued to haue bene taught and held in this visible vniuersall Church whereof these foure Councelles collectiuely represented the whole body for all that tyme. Which foresaid doctrine that both it and euery point therof passed for so many ages vncontrolled this one reason may suffice to proue insteed of all for that the said doctrines should otherwise haue bene noted espied out reprehended and censured by some of these Councells els had they not done their duties neither had they bene so vigilant for the good of the whole body as they ought to haue bene if hauing condemned some heresies as they did they had winked at others Which once to imagine of an Ambrose an Augustine a Hierome for the latin Church a Basill a Chrysostome and an Athanasius for the Greeke nay to suppose it and that confidently though most impudently of all the great Saints and learned Doctors in the world togeather this cannot be no lesse then senselesse absurdity grosse stupidity yea heathenish impiety when as the least of these which I haue named was for learning able to haue resisted the whole Christian world and for their zeale would haue spared none in a point of errour or heresie as I may instance and proue by Tertullian Origen and S. Cyprian were any of these though neuer so great by the rest spared VVere any former merits though neuer so many respected if once they presumed to innouate the least errour whatsoeuer And therefore to strike at the poynt I ayme at in the period of the Conclusion doth the English Church and Parlament admit all the doctrines that were taught in the Church and that continued without the impeachment of any notwithstanding all the zealous vigilant Pastours in the Church I thinke it will make great difficulty and let it reiect them or any of them there needes no more to proue that Church to be hereticall let it admit them it proues it selfe by departure from them and their doctrines to be Apostaticall for that it houldeth not the same points of faith with these foure first Councells which it maketh shew to receiue and imbrace In a word let it admit them or reiect them they shall neuer be able to wipe away the blot and blemish imputation and innouation of damnable errour from their Church For better vnderstanding whereof as also of some other particulers thereto belonging and hereupon necessarily depending I haue thought good to decipher out these ensuing Considerations The first Consideration MY first Consideration which I promise as the very ground-worke and foundation of all the rest must of necessity be this that the Parlament and Church of England admitting these foure first generall Councells of Nyce Constantinople Ephesus and Chalcedon for Orthodoxe and truly Catholicke as representing in their Bishops the complete and entyre body of the Catholicke Church in their seuerall ages must needes acknowledge in like manner that for these first foure hundred and fifty yeares or rather fiue hundred for that it is not probable nay possible that within the compasse of fifty yeares the same should now faile which had allready by vertue of Christ his promise continued foure hundred and fifty yeares the true Catholick Church of Christ consisted not only of the elect and consequently was invisible but of good and bad and therupon was visible vnder visible heades And this was figured by the Parables of the net that caught both good and bad fish and by the field that brought forth good corne and weedes And further that this visible externall Church in those dayes was the very same wherof Christs wordes were to be vnderstood when he gaue this in charge to one vpon occasion and supposal of a complaint made against his brother which if he succeeded not then Dic Ecclesiae tell the Church as also that other of S. Paul that the Church is Columna firmamentum veritatis the Pillar and foundation of truth so as if a man in those dayes would haue had any controuersy in Religion debated and resolued if he would haue knowne what Scriptures the Apostles and Euangelists had committed vnto the custody of the Church for Canonicall Authenticall and further if he desired to know which they were how they might be knowne from counterfait how they might be truly sensed and rightly vnderstood what and how many Sacramēts were left by Christ vnto his Church which they were what were their effects operations how they were to be administred and such other like And if he were a Iew or Gentill that thus demaunded questioning these doubts and would vpon the resolution therof become a Christian but being vnlearned would be instructed in all these cases and the like he was to haue made his repayre and recourse vnto this externall visible Church and to haue stood in all points whatsoeuer vnto her finall determination decision direction instruction and perpetuall gouerment in all these first fiue ages without malepart repugnancy or obstinate reply if he euer intēded to be saued And if vpon any animosity or peruicacity any mā were cast out of that Church in all that time eyther for interpreting Scriptures in his owne sense according to a priuate spirit or for peruerting or innouating de nouo de suo of his owne head or braine in any the least poynt of faith and mystery of Christian religion as the Protestants do both his damnation was by all held and concluded for certaine except he repented and listened yea and obeyed the voice of the Church his mother that sought to reclaine him for that the authority of this Church was euer held for God his highest tribunall vpon earth and therfore irrefragable since the tribunall of heauen standeth expecting what is here done by the Church vpon earth being euer ready to loose or bynd to deliuer ouer vnto Sathan or to release from the bandes of sinne errour and heresy according vnto the former passed doome and sentence of the Church as among other Fathers S. Iohn Chrysostome in his