Errors And why should Words be multiplied I omit other Witnesses for they are almost infinite many Councils have been held since that time and Bishops assembled and the Synod of Basil was expresly call'd as they then pretended for the Reformation of the whole Clergy but notwithstanding from that time forward Errors increased every where and the Corruptions of the Clergy became twice more than they were before 17. THE Cardinals who were nominated and chosen by Pope Paul the III. to consider the State of the Church gave in this Answer That there were many things faulty in the Church and especially in the Manners of the Bishops and inferior Clergy that the Bishops were lazy and did not teach the People feed the Flock or take care of the Vineyard that they lived in the Courts of Princes and were rarely resident that there was sometimes three and at others four Bishopricks held in commendam by one Cardinal which tended very much to the Dammage of the Church for those multiplied Offices as they said were not compatible or to be held together nor could be well managed by any one person and that all the Cloystered Orders should be banished out of the Church After this there was a Council at Trent but did the Bishops from that time begin to feed the Flock or did they cease from their former Non-residence or abstain from frequenting the Courts of Princes did the Cardinals cease from multiplying Bishopricks or was any care taken that the Church might have no dammage by it were the Conventual Orders diminished is Religion reformed amongst them what occasion then was there that so many Bishops should be assembled from very distant places or should to no purpose deliberate so many years concerning the Reformation of the Church this in truth is just as if the Pharisees should pretend to restore the Temple of God to its former Sanctity 18. THEY confess the errors and Abuses convoke Councils fain a great care of Religion and Piety promise their utmost Labour and Industry for the restitution of whatever is fallen into decay and that they will joyn with us in this Work That is just after that manner as the Enemies of the People of God of old said that they would together with Nehemia help to build the Temple of the Lord for indeed their design was not to promote the building of the Temple of the Lord but to hinder it as much as they could possibly they would willingly make a Peace with us but it is upon the terms offered by Nahash to the Jews of Jabesh if we will suffer them to bore out our right Eyes that is if we will suffer them to deprive us of the Word of God the Gospel of our Salvation 19. FOR have they any concern for Religion do they take any care of the Church of God who never regarded the Wrath of God nor the Salvation of the People nor any part of their Office they say let Pan take care of his Sheep They in the mean time mannage Wars Hunt take their Pleasures and fare deliciously That I may not mention any thing that is more base O immortal God! who can think that these men ever think on the Church of God or Religion when or what Errors will these men ever remove what Light will they afford to us whatever you say tho you could bring the Sun it self in your hands yet they would never the more see They excuse paint and comb as much as ever they can the most manifest Errors as Symachus or Porphyrius heretofore did the Heathen Errors and Follies All their business is to perswade the World that they have not deceived the People and that they have not err'd in any thing or if they sometimes prevail upon themselves to reform any thing which they never or very rarely and sparingly do they imitate Alexander the Roman Emperor who not being totally averse to the Christian Religion is reported to have worshiped Christ and Orpheus in the same Chappel or as the ancient Samaritans retained together the Worship of the true God and the Service of Idols so they will sometimes perhaps receive some part of the Gospel upon condition that they may at the same time retain their Superstition and their doting Errors they receive some Truths upon condition they may hold some other things which are false they do so approve ours as not to disapprove their own and so they do not take away Abuses but colour them over and only new case the old Pillars 20. THIS is their way of reforming the Church of God thus they celebrate Conventions and Councils the Truth is not served but Affection the better part is brought under by the greater the very Name of a General Council is beautiful and glorious but Poison is oftentimes given in a beautiful Cup for it is not sufficient that some Bishops and Abbots meet in one place the efficacy of a Council is not placed in Miters and Purple Robes nor is whatever a Council decrees presently to be taken for an Oracle It was a Council of which the Prophet Isaiah writes thus Wo to the rebellious Children saith the Lord who assemble a Council but not by me take Council saith he and it shall come to nought in another place It was a Council of which the Prophet David saith thus The Kings of the Earth stand up and the Rulers take Counsel together against the Lord and against his Christ It was a Council which condemn'd the Son of God Jesus Christ to the Cross it was a Council and celebrated at Carthage under St. Cyprian which decreed that those that were baptized by Hereticks when they returned to the Church should be rebaptized which Error was afterwards forc'd to be repeal'd by so many Councils and Writings of the Fathers And what need is there of so many Words The second Council of Ephesus was openly for Eutyches that the Humane Nature of Christ was changed into the Divine The second Council of Nice decreed a manifest Idolatry in the Worship of Images The Council of Basil as Albertus Pighius saith decreed against all Antiquity against Nature against Reason and against the Word of God The Council of Ariminium wickedly decreed for Arrius that Christ was not God and to conclude many other Councils afterwards erred too as the Selucian and the Syrmian which did both condemn the Homousians or Catholicks and also subscribed to the impious Heresie of the Council of Ariminium Why do you doubt the very Council of Chalcedon which was one of the four which Pope Gregory compar'd to the four Evangelists Pope Leo made no Scruple to accuse that very Council of Temerity of Rashness 21. THUS we see some Councils to have been contrary to other Councils and that as Pope Leo quash'd the Acts of Adrian Stephen of Formosus John of Stephen and that as Pope Sabinian commanded all the Writings of Pope Gregory to be burnt as perverse and wicked so very often a latter Council
to me by Letters or by Messengers I will discover to man to his Damage I will be a Helper to defend the Papacy of the Church of Rome and the Canons of the Holy Fathers and to retain them against all men Of old when the Priests of Apollo Pythius spoke plainly in favour of Philip King of Macedonia there were some who facetiously said that Apollo began 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Philippize And now we see plainly that nothing is decreed in the Council but by the Will and Consent of the Pope why may we not say that the Oracles of the Councils do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Papize that is speak nothing but what the Pope please Verres of old acted wisely of whom it is reported that being plainly guilty of many Crimes he would not commit his Reputation and Fame to any but confiding men of his own Flock and Party But yet the Pope is many degrees wiser for he will not have any Judges but such as he knows will not determine any thing against his Will because they have the same Interest he hath and esteem all things by the relation they have to their Pleasures and Bellies and yet if they would they could not do otherwise because they are bound to him by an Oath too indeed they place the Bible in the midst of the Council because they would seem not to act any thing against the Prescription thereof and yet they only look upon it at a good distance but never read one word of it in truth they bring with them a prejudicated Sentence and never attend what Christ saith or determine any thing but as it best pleaseth them 24. AND thus is all that Liberty which ought to be in all Consultations and especially in those which concern holy things and which doth best befit the holy Spirit and the Modesty of Christian Men wholly taken away St. Paul saith that if any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by let the first hold his Peace but these men command him to be forthwith taken and hurried to Prison and burnt who shall but mutter any thing to the contrary as the cruel Death of the two holy and stout men John of Hus and Jerome of Prague is an excellent Witness against them which two men they murthered contrary to the publick Faith and were thereby false both to God and Man So the false Prophet Zedechias when he had made himself a pair of iron Horns smote Micaiah the Prophet of the Lord and said hath the Spirit of the Lord left me and come to thee thus having now excluded all others they reign in Councils alone and have the sole Right of Suffrages and so make and divulge such Laws as the Ephesians did of old Let no man said they who 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wiser than the rest presume to live here upon pain of Banishment and Transportation for these men will hear none of us About ten years since in the late Council at Trent the Ambassadors of the Princes of Germany and of the free Towns who came thither that they might be heard were excluded out of the Assembly and denied the Liberty of Speech for the Bishops and Abbots said they would suffer no free Debate of the Cause nor would they determine the Controversies by the Word of God and that those of our Side were not to be heard except they would recant which if they refused they were to expect no other terms in the Council but to be condem'd for Julius the III. in his Brief by which he call'd that Council publickly declared that if they did not change their Minds they should be condemned for Hereticks without ever hearing their Cause And Pius the IV. who hath now resolved to call again that Council hath by the prejudice of his own single Judgment commanded all those who have made defection from the Authority of the Church of Rome that is the greatest part of Christendom without ever seeing or hearing them to be taken and reputed Hereticks They are wont to say and that upon all occasions that all things are well and that they will not suffer the least part of their Doctrine and Religion to be altered Albertus Pighius saith that without the Command of the Church of Rome the most plain place of Scripture is not to be believed Now is this their way to restore the Church to her Integrity Is this their seeking Truth Is this the Liberty and Moderation which beâ—its a Council 25. AND altho these things are most unjust and most contrary to the Practice of the ancient Councils and the Usage of modest and good Men in their Deliberations yet it is much more unreasonable that whereas the whole World complains of the Ambition and Tyranny of the Pope of Rome and is perswaded that until he is reduced to a better Order all their Labours for the Reformation of the Church of God will be in vain and nothing will be done yet at last all things are referred to him alone as to the most equal Arbiter and Judge But O good God! to what Man I will not now say any of these things against him that he is an Enemy of the Truth an Ambitious Covetous Proud Man who is already become intolerable to his own But I say that it is the utmost pitch of Folly and Injustice to make him the sole Judge of all Religion who commands all his Dictates to be had in the self same Honour and Esteem as the Words of St. Peter are and saith that in case he should Mislead a thousand Souls and carry them with himself to Hell yet no man ought to reprehend him for it Who saith he can make Injustice to become Justice Whom Camotensis confesseth to have corrupted the Scriptures that he might have a Plenitude of Power And why should I use more words whom his own Companions and Ministers Joachimus Abbas Petrarcha Marsilius Patavinus Laurentius Valla and Hieronymus Savanarola have not obscurly hinted to be the Antichrist To the Judgment and Will I say of this one Man are all things submitted that this very Criminal may be both the Party accused and the Judge of his own very Case that this guilty man may sit aloft upon a Throne and his Accusers stand beneath whilst he gives Sentence for himself for Pope Julius had given us these just and reasonable Laws There is saith he no Council which is valid nor ever shall be unless supported by the Authority of the Church of Rome And Bonifacius the VIII saith that every Creature ought to be subject to the Church of Rome and that as they tender their Salvation And Pope Pascal useth this Expression as if any Councils had given Laws to the Church of Rome when in truth all the Councils have been held and received their Force from the Authority of the Church of Rome and in all their Statutes the Authority of the Pope of Rome is plainly and apparently excepted And another saith
SO we therefore because we are taken by them for mad-men and are traduced as if we were Hereticks and as if we had nothing to do with Christ nor with the Church of God have thought it not unreasonable or unprofitable to propound openly and freely the Faith in which we stand and all that Hope which we have in Christ Jesus that all may see what we think of every part of the Christian Religion and so determine with themselves whether that Faith which they must needs perceive to be consonant to the Words of Christ and the Writings of the Apostles and the Testimonies of the Catholick Fathers and which is confirmed by the Examples of many Ages be only the Rage of a sort of mad-men and a Combination or Conspiracy of Hereticks CHAP. II. Containing the Doctrine received in the Church of England WE believe that there is one certain Nature and Divine Power which we call GOD and that this is distinguished into three equal Persons the Father Son and Holy Ghost all of the same Power of the same Majesty of the same Eternity of the same Divinity and of the same Substance and altho' these three Persons are so distinguished that the Father is not the Son nor the Son the Holy Ghost or Father yet there is but one GOD and that this one God created Heaven and Earth and whatever is contain'd within the Circumference of the Heavens 2. WE believe that Jesus Christ the only Son of the eternal Father as it had been decreed before the beginning of all things when the fulness of time came took our Flesh and perfect Humane Nature of that blessed and pure Virgin that he might reveal to Men that hidden and secret Will of his Father which was conceal'd from all former Ages and Generations and that in this humane Body he might finish the Mystery of our Redemption and might nail to his Cross our Sins and the Obligation which lay against us 3. FOR we believe that for our sakes he died was buried descended into Hell and the third day by a Divine Power returned to Life and arose and after forty days in the sight of his Disciples ascended into Heaven that he might fill all things and that the very Body in which he was born in which he convers'd in which he was despised in which he had suffered most grievous Torments and a most direful Death in which he rose and now ascended to the right hand of his Father was placed above all Principalities and Power and every Name which is mentioned not only in this World but in that which is to come in Majesty and Glory And we believe that he doth now sit there and shall sit there till all things are fulfil'd and altho the Majesty and Divinity of Christ is diffused every where yet his Body as St. Augustine saith ought to be in one place we believe that tho Christ added Majesty to his Body yet he took not from it the Nature of a Body nor is Christ to be so asserted to be God that we should deny him to be Man and as the Martyr Vigilius said Christ left us as to his Humane Nature but he hath not left us in his Divine Nature and tho he is absent from us by the Form of a Servant yet he is ever with us by the Form of God 4. AND from thence we believe Christ shall return to exercise a general Judgment as well upon those he shall then find alive as upon all that are then dead 5. WE believe that the Holy Ghost who is the third Person in the Holy Trinity is true God not made nor created nor begotten but proceeding from both that is from the Father and the Son in a way neither known to Mortals nor possible to be expressed by them We believe that it is He who softens the Hardness of Mans Heart when he is received into their Hearts by the saving preaching of the Gospel or by any other way whatsoever that it is He who inlightens them and leads them to the Knowledge of God into all the ways of Truth into a perfect newness of Life and a perpetual hope of Salvation 6. WE believe that there is one Church of God and that not consin'd as it was heretofore to the Jewish People in one Angle or Kingdom but that it is Catholick and Universal and so diffused or spread over the Face of the whole Earth that there is no Nation which can justly complain that it is excluded and cannot be admitted into the Church and People of God that this Church is the Kingdom the Body and Spouse of Christ that Christ is the only Prince of this Kingdom that there is in the Church divers Orders of Ministers that there are some who are Deacons others who are Presbyters and others who are Bishops to whom the Instruction of the People and the Care and Management of Religion is committed And yet that there neither is nor is it possible there should be any one man who has the care of this whole Catholick Church for Christ is ever present with his Church and needs not a Vicar or sole and perfect Successor and that no mortal Man can in his mind contain all the Body of the Universal Church that is all the parts of the Earth much less can he reduce them into an exact Order and rightly and prudently administer its Affairs That the Apostles as St. Cyprian saith were all of equal Power and Authority and that all the rest were what St. Peter was that it was said to all alike Feed To all go ye into all the World To all teach ye the Gospel And that as St. Jerome saith All Bishops wheresoever they are setled whether it be at Rome or Eugubium at Constantinople or Rhegium they are of equal Worth and of the same Priesthood And as St. Cyprian saith there is but one Episcopacy and each of them hath a perfect and intire share of it And that according to the Judgment and Sentence of the Council of Nice the Bishop of Rome hath no more Authority in the Church of God than the other Patriarchs viz. the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch That the Bishop of Rome who now endeavours to draw all the Ecclesiastical Authority to himself alone if he doth not his Duty that is if he doth not administer the Sacraments if he doth not instruct the People Admonish and Teach he is not to be call'd a Bishop or indeed a Presbyter for as St. Augustin saith Bishop is the Name of a Work or Office and not a Title of Honour so that he who would usurp an unprofitable Preheminence in the Church is no Bishop But then that the Bishop of Rome or any other Person should be the Head of the whole Church or an universal Bishop is no more possible than that he should be the Bridegroom the Light the Salvation and the Life of the Church for these are the Priviledges and Titles of
Princes are to be obeyed as Men sent by God and whosoever resists them resists the Ordinance of God These are our Doctrines these Principles shine forth in our Books in our Sermons in our Lives and in the Modesty and dutiful behaviour of our People 18. AND whereas they pretend we have departed from the Uuity of the Catholick Church this is not only odious but tho it is not true yet it hath an appearance and similitude of Truth in it But then not only those things which are true and certain find belief with the ignorant Multitude but those things also which may seem probable and so we shall ever observe that crafty cunning Men who had not the Truth on their sides have ever maintained their Cause with the Resemblances of Truth that those who could not dive into the bottom of things might be taken at least with the shew and probability of their Arguments Because the Primitive Christians our Fore-fathers when they Prayed to God turned their Faces toward the rising Sun there were some that said they worshiped the Sun and that it was their GOD and because they said that as to their eternal and immortal Life they lived on nothing but the Flesh and Blood of the Lamb without spot meaning thereby our Saviour Jesus Christ Envious Men the Enemies of the Cross of Christ whose only business it was to render the Christian Religion by any means hateful did thereupon perswade the People that the Christians were impious Men that they offered Humane Sacrifices and drank Mans Blood and when the Christians said with God there is neither Male nor Female that is that as to the obtaining of Justification there is no distinction of Persons and did salute one another commonly by the Names of Brother and Sister there were not wanting some who slandered the Christians thereupon and said they made no distinction amongst them of Sex or Age but like Beasts promiscuously lay together And when they met frequently in Vaults and secret places to Pray and hear the Gospel which sort of private Places and Meetings had sometimes been made use of by Conspirators against the Government there was thereupon a Rumor spread abroad that they conspired together and had secret Consultations about murthering the Magistrates and subverting the Government And because in celebrating the Holy Communion they made use of Bread and Wine according to the Institution of Christ they were thought by many not to worship Christ but Bacchus and Ceres because those heathen Deities were worshiped by the Pagans with a like Rite with Bread and Wine These things were then believed by many not because they were true for what could possibly be less so but because they had a kind of resemblance of Truth and by that shew of truth were fitted to deceive them 18. SO they traduce us and say that as Hereticks we have departed from the Unity of the Catholick Church and the Communion of Christ not that they believe this to be true nor are they at all concern'd whether it be true or false but because the thing may in some sort seem true to ignorant Men for we have indeed departed not as Hereticks ever have done from the Church of Christ but as good men ought to do from the Contagion of wicked Men and Hypocrites and yet here they insult wonderfully that theirs is the Church the Spouse of Christ the Pillar of Truth the Ark of Noah out of which no Salvation is to be hoped for and in the interim they assert with the same Confidence that we have revolted that we have rent the Coat of Christ and torn our selves from his Body and made a desection from the Catholick Faith And when they have thus left nothing unsaid which can possibly be tho never so falsly and slanderously objected against us yet at last they cannot pretend that we have forsaken the Word of God or the Apostles of Christ or the Primitive Church 19. NOW we have ever thought that the Primitive Church which was in the times of Christ and the Apostles and holy Fathers was the Catholick Church Nor do we doubt but that that Church is the Ark of Noah the Spouse of Christ the Pillar and Foundation of Truth or to place in it all the Hopes of our Salvation It is indeed an odious thing to break off and depart from that Society a Man has long lived in especially if that Society consist of Men who seem to be and are therefore called Christians tho in truth they are none And in reality we do not so contemn their Church as bad as it now is for the Name sake and 〈◊〉 Gospel of Jesus Christ was once truly and purely taught there as that we have willingly departed from it without necessity But what if an Idol be set up in the Church of God and that Desolation appears there which Christ foretold should stand in the holy Place What if some Pirate or Robber possesseth himself of the Ark of Noah certainly as often as these men thus preach to us of the Church they make themselves only to be that Church and ascribe all those glorious Titles to themselves and triumph like those of Old who cryed The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord or like the Scribes and Pharisees when they boasted they were the Children of Abraham 20. THUS do they impose upon silly men by vain and useless Shews and seeâ— to overwhelm us with the meer Name of thâ— Church just as if a Thief having got poâ—â—session of another mans House and havinâ— by force expell'd or slain the true Owneâ— should afterwards claim it as his own anâ— keep the true Heir out or as if Antichrisâ— after he has seized the Temple of Godâ— should afterwards pretend it were his owâ— and that Christ had no right to it For theâ— our Adversaries have left almost nothing liâ— a Church in the Church of God yet theâ— will needs seem the only Patrons and Defeâ—â—ders of the Church just as Gracchus defendeâ— the Roman Exchequer by making such profuse Largesses and such unreasonable Expenses that he quite ruined the Publick Treasury But then there was never any thing yet so absurd or wicked but it might seem easie to be covered and defended by the Name of the Church for Wasps make Combs and impious Men have their Assemblies not much unlike the Churches But they are not presently the People of God who are call'd so nor are they all Israelites who are of Israel The Arrian Hereticks boasted that they only were Catholicks and they call'd all the rest sometimes Ambrosians and at other Athanasians and Johannites And Theodoret tells us that tho Nestorius was an Heretick yet he covered himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the Pretence and Cloak of the Orthodox Faith Ebion tho he was of the same Opinion with the Samaritans yet as Epiphaâ—es assures us he would needs be call'd a â—â—hristian The Mahometans at this day tho â—t
receive them But if that Expression to thee will I give the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven be to be understood as spoken to all the rest as well as to Peter why then should not all that was spoken as well what went before as what follows after tho spoken to St. Peter yet be common to all the Apostles There is saith Hillary one happy Rock of Faith which Peter confessed with his Mouth and again upon this Confession of Peter's is the Church built and not much after this Faith is the Foundation of the Church And after the same manner the other Fathers also Jerome Cyril and Bede say the Church is built not upon Peter but upon the Faith of Peter that is on Jesus Christ the Son of God whom Peter by an Heavenly instinct confessed Peter saith St. Augustin was so call'd from the Rock not the Rock from Peter nor did Christ say I will build my self upon thee but I will build thee upon me And Nicholas Liranus tho he is not always a good Author for you know in what Age he lived yet he rightly took this upon this Rock saith he that is upon Christ and therefore the Church cannot depend upon any man by reason of his Dignity and Ecclesiastical Power for many Popes have proved Apostates 28. IN what then is this Papal Authority placed In Teaching but they teach nothing in administring the Sacraments but they do not administer them in feeding but they feed none Now this is all the Power which Christ bestowed upon the Apostles Go ye said he into all the World and preach the Gospel c. hence forward ye shall be Fishers of Men and as the living Father sent me so I send you But as to these whither go they what do they teach what do they preach what do they fish for from whence go they or by whom are they sent their 's is nor Apostolick Authority but Pride and an intolerable Lordship usurped by Force and Tyranny None of us saith Cyprian calls himself Bishop of Bishops or compells his Partners to a necessitated Obedience by a Tyrannical Terror Seeing every Bishop may use his Liberty and Power according to his own Discretion as he cannot be judged by another so neither can he judge another And as the other Apostles saith he were the same which Peter was so all Bishops are endowed with this equal Partnership both of Honour and Power And St. Jerome saith greater is the Authority of the World than that of any City Why then do you produce to me the Custom of one City Why do you vindicate that Paucity from which this Pride arose against the Laws of the Church Where-ever a Bishop is setled whether at Rome or Eugubium whether at Constantinople or Rhegium he is of the same Worth and of the self same Priesthood the greatness of Riches and the Humility of Poverty makes not one Bishop superior or inferior to another And St. Gregory saith Peter was a principal Member in the Body John Andrew and James were the Heads of particular People and yet all of them are Members of the Church in one Head yea the Saints before the Law those under the Law and those under Grace and all those who make up the Body of our Lord the Church are to be accounted Members and no man ever yet desired to be call'd an UNIVERSAL 29. THIS is that Power which some men defend so stoutly in this Age so that whatever they think of the Popes Life or Religion yet they would have this Authority Sacred and untouched as if the Church of God could not be safe without it or as if without the Popes Will and Consent a Council could be no Council and that if the whole World should think contrary to what he doth it would be nothing And therefore when you see Sir that these things are thus ill managed you ought not to wonder that when nothing is now sincerely and truly acted in Councils our Men had rather stay at home than travail so far to no purpose to a Place where they are sure to lose their Labour and their Cause too 30. BUT Sir you say in the next place it is a Sin to change any thing in Religion without the Consent of the Pope and a Council Why Sir the very Popes themselves have changed almost the whole State of the Primitive Church without any Council and tho this is indeed a very specious and winning Proposition yet it is made a Cover and Defence for most foul Errors for they only seek to delay the Minds of Men with a tedious Expectation that by lingring and weariness they may take off their Edge and Keenness and so by degrees make them cast off all Hopes of a Reformation For what would they have the People of God be deceived err be deluded and involved in Error and in the Ignorance of God and be led into eternal Ruine and Destruction whilst the Pope calls a Council and the Abbots and Bishops meet debate settle things and then return home Is it not lawful for any of us to believe in Christ to prosess the Gospel to worship God rightly and truly to fly from Superstitions and Worship of Idols except these men please to give us leave In truth the state of the Church of God were very deplorable if in the midst of so many far spread gross blind foul apparent and manifest Errors so that our very Enemies themselves cannot deny them nothing could be done for her Relief without the Concourse of the whole World and a General Council or at least of such a Council as we cannot hope for with any certainty and the event of which if we now had it is much more uncertain When of old the Persians invaded Greece and began to destroy all before them and the Lacedemonians whose valour was then much famed amongst the Grecians and therefore it was but reasonable they should have been the first in the defence of their Country yet because they had an ancient Custom and a Superstitious conceit that had possessed them from the time of Lycurgus that it was ominous and unfortunate to begin a Martial Expedition at any other time than that of the full Moon therefore they sat still and suffered their Enemies to plunder and burn their Country whilst they were foolishly expecting that period of the Moon which was most opportune and fitting to begin their defence in But at last they bethought themselves and cried There is equal danger in the delay The safety of the Church is in danger the Devil like a ramping and a roaring Lyon goes about seeking whom he may devour simple men are easily drawn into the snare and tho they are very often touched with a Zeal for God yet out of Ignorance and Misperswasion they persecute the Son of God And as Nazianzen saith When they think they are in Arms for Christ they do really fight against him And the Bishops who ought in the first place to