of any words when he disguiseth himselfe and desires to be incognito is too much curiosity and ill manners But a resolution not to believe any words proposed as Divine revelation by the Church because it is not evident that God is the Author of them is hereticall obstinacy For its unreasonable to exact a clearer knowledge of the Author then of the truth of the words if we are bound to believe the truth though it be not evident we can have no reason to exact evidence of the Author especially when the truth of his words must be evident if he be knowne and consequently our resolution doth extend it selfe to this that we will not believe untill the truth be evident which is not onely obstinacy but manifest foppery because it is as much as to say We will believe nothing at all It s therefore as evident an injury to God to deny the Doctrine of the Roman Catholick Church though it be not evident that God is the Author thereof as it is to deny the truth of any mens words when they speake themselves though the truth be not evident unlesse perhaps we thinke it reasonable to exact of God what we cannot of men to wit whensoever he speakes not to believe his words unlesse we have evidence of their truth for if God be truth and we are resolved not to believe his words unlesse he manifests himselfe we are resolved not to believe them untill their truth be manifest seeing God is the truth of his owne words because he is truth by essence Of men we exact not so much we believe their words though the truth be obscure 10 This injury which is done to God consists in calling in question his veracity which is an inclination to speake truth Gods veracity is called in question whensoever any thing is sufficiently proposed as his Word and yet it is not believed that it is his Word or revelation Whether the matter sufficiently proposed by the Church as Gods Word and consequently as truth be great or small absolutely necessary or not it matters not as to the deniall or doubt of Gods veracity because he is as necessarily inclined to speake truth in a matter of little concernment as in the greatest Seeing therefore that the deniall or doubt of mens veracity consists in questioning what is sufficiently proposed as their sense and meaning and that the Doctrine and sense of Scripture embraced by the Roman Catholick Church is sufficiently proposed by its testimony and evident supernaturall signes to be the sense revelation and meaning of God his veracity must be as much questioned by calling in question the least Doctrine of the Roman Church as the veracity of men is called in question by doubting of their words whereby their thoughts and meaning are sufficiently proposed 11 From what hitherto hath beene said it s as evidently concluded that the Roman Catholick Church is infallible in all matters great and small proposed by it as Divine revelation as it is cleare that God would have men believe him or that he hath a regard to his owne honour and veracity he is not concerned in either if he permits any one falihood in the least matter necessary for salvation or not necessary to be sufficiently proposed by the Church as his Word or sense seeing he may so easily prevent it and not permit the Roman Catholick Church to erre in any proposall How can God exact or expect from us an undoubted or infallible beliefe when he speaketh and dâ—clareth his minde by men if those very men be not infallible in declaring his minde What injury can it be to God that we doubt of his veracity if in his owne hearing and presence his owne Interpreter the Church is by himselfe permitted to erre and abuse his name and authority We may lawfully suspect his sincerity in greater matters seeing the least blemish is as much as the greatest inconsistent with the infinite perfection of his Nature Therefore either God is contented not to be believed and to forfeit his honour and the esteeme of his veracity or that Church which hath evident and supernaturall signes of being his Interpreter which is the Roman Catholick alone is infallible in all matters great and small proposed as Divine revelation 12. Hence you may gather to what great fopperies hereticall obstinacy doth lead some of the most learned Ministers of the English Church when they print that God is satisfied with an exteriour acquiescence to the definitions of a generall Councell and of that Church which alone hath the signes and markes of being the true Catholick though there remaineth an inward doubt of the controversy defined This is as much as to say that God is content you give him the lye or afront him in private so you be pleased to say nothing of it in publick God is as much injured by thoughts as by words and an exteriour acquiescence is no satisfaction to him without interiour submission of judgement It s true some of these Hereticks grant that when all the Patriarchs and Christian Churches of the world conferre notes and are assembled together in a Councell which is not likely to be as farre as the present state of the world doth promise untill we all meete in the Valley of Iosaphat then is the time to submit our judgements which in plaine termes is to put of all Christian beliefe and obedience to God in his Church and remaine obstinate in heresie untill the day of judgement But of this more when we speake in particular of the English Church in King Iames and his sonnes reigne As for that other shame full shift of theirs to make all Christians the Catholick Church and every reformed Sect part thereof and the same with us in fundamentall articles I remit my Reader to a Treatise lately printed concernig the Nature of Catholick Faith and Heresy with reflexion upon the nullity of the English Protestant Church and Clergy and will now shew in particular CHAP. V. That all Religions pretending to reforme the Roman Catholick are but human inventions grounded upon weake policy strong fancy and sensuall pleasures 1 PRotestancy or Reformation in generall is a text of Scripture corrupted or fondly applied by the first Reformer to his owne fancy dreames or pleasure by Princes and Polititians to worldly interest and by the vulgar sort to liberty of life and rebellion against their Soveraignes Let the most zealous Protestant have so much patience as to read over this Chapter and I am confident he will be convinced by the very history without disputing that his Religion is not injured by this caracter or definition And as for our Polititian he may learne in this historicall part of his Cathechisme as many necessary precepts for his instruction as there are examples of Divine Providence against the Authors and Protectors of pretended Reformation That all may appeare without confusion I will divide this Chapter into Sections and in first place recount the beginning and
though his existence were not demonstrated and whether Atheisme alone without any other sinne be a reasonable and sufficient cause of damnation 1 THe foppery of an ignorant and presumptuous person doth not consist so much in his ignorance as in his presumption Wise men may be ignorant of many things but none can be wise who presumes to knowe what he never could learne or is above his capacity I doe not call Atheists fooles because they doe not demonstrate the being of a God but seeing they can have no reason to thinke the contrary and that wiser men then they doe confidently affirme that God is demonstrated its want of judgement not to believe what they doe not or will not comprehend especially when they runne the greatest of all hazards by not believing He that is resolved not to take any knowledge by trust or tradition is rather a beast then a rationall creature he is not fit for humane society neither can he pretend any kindred or inheritance there being no proofe for either if we reject the testimony of lawfull witnesses There is not a more universall or constant tradition or testimony of lawfull witnesses for any thing then for the being of a God Providence and another life though it were never demonstrated it ought to be credited especially by Atheists who are as ignorant as presumptuous of knowledge We never read that any of the ancient Philosophers or great wits of the world contradicted the tradition of Gods being two or three of the lowest banke rather Philologers then Philosophers as Diagoras Lucian and Pliny looked that way because they declined from vertue and never inclined their minds to solid learning and would faine have rid themselves of the remorse of conscience the soure sauce wherewith sensuall delights are seasoned 2 One of the greatest fooleries a man can commit is to cast himselfe into a manifest danger without cause for danger is not onely the forerunner of evill but is an evill it selfe To expose a man to the hazard of loosing his life is an evill done him though by good fortune he should escape And albeit Atheists fancy to themselves that God is but a Chimaera and the next world Vtopia they cannot deny that this fancy exposeth them to a manifest danger of damnation because if the contrary prove true as it may for all they knowe the evidence of torments will fooles undeceive them and drive them out of their fooles paradise when repentance will be too late The greater appearance there is of any evill the greater is the danger and the appearance of a God though not the reality being evident to Atheists in the fabrike and order of the Vniverse as also in many supernaturall signes and prodigies by denying him they must of necessity incurre the danger of his indignation in case he doth exist from which they cannot rationally expect to be freed by the pretended probability of their erroneous opinion because though it should be as probable as they imagine that there is not a God yet the choice of an opinion more dangerous in practise then probable in speculation as theirs is is so great a foppery that onely mad men can ground upon it their salvation and thinke it a sufficient satisfaction for divine Justice 3 And though we should grant to Atheists that its possible we may be mistaken in our beliefe and hopes of God and another life yet we suffer no great prejudice by the mistake to abstaine from base and transitory pleasures cannot be any great losse But if they will consider the much we have reason to hope for and the little advantage they have of vertuous men by following vice and will also reflect upon the danger they runne by denying and offending God they must cōclude that though our hopes should come to nothing we cannot be deprived of this satisfaction and praise that we did in our beliefe and actions what rationall men ought to have done all circumstances considered whereas they in this world must be esteemed no better then fooles for running so manifest a hazard of damnation and if there be no other life we are no worse then they because they cannot brag of their choice made in this world nor receive in the other any congratulations of friends for the good fortune they had in preferring here vice before vertue and Atheisme before Christianity 4 But now let us prove that though Atheists had no other sinne but Atheisme they can have no excuse to alledge for not believing and worshipping God but rather that they doe him a positive injury and therefore are justly condemned Men may have evidence of their owne obligation to believe a truth that is not evident There is not any principle more evident then that which commands us to deale with others as our selves would be dealt withall what Atheist is there that would not take it for an injury to be treated like a clowne and a knave if he hath the garbe habit and attendance of a Prince and all the outward signes of morall honesty If there be an evident obligation not to injure others and it be an injury not to treate persons according to their appearance its manifest that all men are obliged to believe that there is a God who ought to be honoured and adored because there is greater appearance of his infinite power and wisdome in what is visible to our eyes then any Atheist or other man can shew for his owne nobility or morality If every person may challenge a right to be treated according to his exteriour appearance though his quality be not evident it s an injury to God and a damnable sinne to except his Divine Majesty from so generall a rule Whence it doth follow that though men had no other sinne to answer for but Atheisme that alone is a sufficient and just cause of their damnation 5 The bare possibility of being mistaken in a mans quality or dignity is no sufficient warrant to deny him that honour and respect which is due to others of his ranke and doth sufficiently appeare in himselfe by evident signes and authentike testimonies It s very certaine that Impostours have counterfeited and abused not onely titles of Nobility but also the dignity of Majesty But the fault of few ought not to prejudice the right of many and its better to runne the hazard of being mistaken then to abuse others If the obligation of paying the tribute of honour and respect where it seemeth to be due be so precise that it must not be denyed to any who may claime it notwithstanding the possibility of impostures and mistakes how much more precise is our obligation not to deny respect and honour to an appearance that cannot be counterfeited The fabrike order and beauty of the Vniverse together with the miracles and supernaturall prodigies that are visible to such and so many as make them credible to all are things we may admire but not imitate No Impostour will venter to counterfeit
in that excellent Booke The Protestants Apology for the Church of Rome 4 Whereas ceremonies be the object of phantasy and ours are so decent that no phantasy can except more against them then against those of the Law of Moyses instituted by God himselfe and approved by Protestants the aversion which they manifest against our Ceremonies cannot proceed so much from their fancy as from their understanding dissenting from that Doctrine to which the Ceremonies relate To kneele is not an object ridiculous or offensive to the fancy the most precise practise it out of Churches and at Court and yet all Protestants cry abomination against kneeling to our Lord Iesus Christ in the Sacrament or worshiping himselfe or his Saints in Images these ceremonies agree well enough with their fancy but their understanding cannot brooke them A weake understanding may occasion as great errours as a strong fancy 5 Some fantasticall and fanaticall fellowes call the Roman Catholick Religion an Apith Keligion because forsooth it hath so many odde ceremonies But the fault is not in the Roman Religion or ceremonies they have Apish understandings they looke as Apes upon our ceremonies without considering the mysteries All the ceremonies of the Masse relate to Christs Passion others to the mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation If it was lawful and laudable in the old Law to practise ceremonies representing things that were to come why should we Catholicks be censured for ceremonies that put us in minde of past mysteries and mercies We ought not to be unmindfull or ungratefull and there is not a more efficacious way to preserve a gratefull memory of past benefits then by representing them in ceremonies to the light 6 I must confesse that all Sectaries have as great cause to cry downe ceremonies as we Catholicks have to uphold them Because the strongest pillar of the true Church is a continuall tradition of Catholick Doctrine from the primitive times to this present and this pillar of Tradition is much strengthened by the practise of ceremonies relating to that Doctrine delivered from hand to hand which we now maintaine as Catholick against Heresy or pretended Reformation To adore the blessed Sacrament both in Church and Processions is a strong argument of Christs reall presence not onely in the act or use of Communion but also before and after What mervaile therefore that they who deny Christs reall presence or grant it onely in the actuall use of Communion should oppose the adoration whereby their false Doctrine is so clearly condemned by the practise of the faith full these and other Catholick ceremonies are not odious to Protestants because they are ceremonies but because they put them in minde of the ancient Faith and Doctrine of Christs Church To reject some of the ancient ceremonies and retaine others as the Nags-head Congregation doth is to furnish their adversaries Catholicks and Puritans with unanswerable arguments their choice of ceremonies doth prove their choice of Doctrine and their choice of Doctrine demonstrates them Hereticks an Heretick being he who chooseth out of the Doctrine delivered by the Church what he fancies rejecting what he thinkes not fit for his purpose Our Prelaticall Protestants must with the rest cast away their Bishops bonnet lawne sleeves he white surplise and black scarfe if not they may cast their cap and despaire of answering to Catholick or Puritan objections they must keepe all or nothing unlesse they can produce better evidence for their pretended Reformation then the fancy of 7. or 12. men in King Edward the Sixth his time confirmed by the authority of a yong head of the Church and a Parliament called by the Protector Seamour to establish in England Zwinglian fopperies and reject the Christian Doctrine and discipline of our Catholick Ancestors they must not rely upon Queen Elizabeths she supremacy or their Nags-head Ordination and Synod with their London Assemblies and Hampton-Court Conferences of lay Ministers God must be served his owne way and not by framing Religions â—o the humor of people or interests of Kings Queenes Parliaments and Protectors But before we goe further in censuring these Protestant wayes let us prove CHAP. IV. That to believe God and consequently to serve him his owne way its necessary to repaire to an infallible Guide which is no other but the Roman Catholick Church 1 THe first step in the way of Gods service is to believe God a step of no lesse difficulty then necessity Suppose there were a man dropt downe from the heavens graced with this singular privilege that the sound of his words could no sooner be at our eares then the evidence of their truth before our eyes whatsoever he said in the same instant we did see confirmed by the reall appearance of the objects and our own experience This singular privilege would deprive him of another common to all men of worth and integrity it would make him uncapable or being believed all who heare him would assent to what he said but for their owne evidence not for his veracity When any thing is evident to our understanding or to our eyes we believe our selves and not others though they should tell us the same we doe experience If God were pleased to manifest himself to men in such a manner that they had evidence it is he who speaketh to them he had deprived us of the merit of Faith and himselfe of that duty which we are obliged to give every honest man for though Divine Faith doth exclude all doubts and feares of falshood yet it supposeth in the subject a possibility of doubting if men will be obstinate and imprudent but there is none so obstinate and imprudent that can doubt of the truth of Gods words if it be evident to him that God spoke them Though we heare men speak we doe them a courtesie in believing them because they are fallible and we doe not read the truth in their words though we believe them but if we had evidence that God uttered any words the truth of them must be as cleare as it is that he can neither lye nor be mistaken and if the truth be cleare and evident to our understandings we believe our selves and not God though he should speake it To believe is to trust and he that hath evidence of any truth doth as little trust the speaker as we rely upon anothers credit for the money we have in our own coffers 2 Seeing therefore that either God must not be believed by men or that he must disguise himselfe and speake to them by others who can be so impudent as to deny that we deserve damnation if we doe not believe and obey God in that Church which he hath beene pleased to institute as his owne Interpreter Quod autem rogant unde persuadebimur à Deo fluxisse Scripturam nisi ad Eccleisae decretum confugiamus perinde est ac si quu roget unde discemus lucem discernere à tenebris album nigro c. lib. 1. Inst
Cap. 7. sect 2. Petenda est haec per suasio ab arcano spiritus testimonto c sect 2. Non aliud loquor quà m quod apud se expetitur fideltum unusquisque c. sect 5. for our instruction I cannot deny there is great difficulty in believing that every thing which the Church proposeth as revealed is Gods revelation yet this pill must be swallowed if we resolve to believe God who cannot be believed if he speakes in his owne voice and tone because it is evidently inseparable from truth and we cannot believe what by force of cleare evidence we cannot deny Hence by the way it followeth that no Protestant or Puritan doth believe God if they ground their faith upon the evidence they pretend to have of Scriptures being Gods Word or upon that of their private spirit both which saith Calvin are discerned as clearly by himselfe and his brethren to be Divine evidences and not Diabolicall as white is discerned from black sweete from soure and light from darknesse It s very improbable that God deprived himselfe of his right and was contented not to be believed that Calvin and his Protestant crue might be eased of a duty which they exact and receive from every person that hath a good opinion of their honesty 3 Supposing it is as evident that there is a Church of God upon earth as it is reasonable he ought to be believed by men we must endeavour to finde it our The Church is an infallible Guide to lead us to God but who is the infallible Guide to had us to the Church Reason But reason in obscurity may be mistaken and what is more obscure then the way to the true Church environed with so many false Sects If our bel efe were limited to naturall verities reason might make some shift every man might pretend that his owne wit would be a sufficient guide for himselfe but seeing Christian Faith must stretch further then humane capacity there must be some supernaturall helpe In obscure matters saith Aristotle with all wise men reason must be contented with cleare signes and not expect evidence of the truth And because the Church or God doth propose supernaturall truths the signes must be also supernaturall And because there is so great difference betweene humane understandings God hath beene pleased to make his Church discernable by sensible and visible supernaturall signes that they who have least understanding may not have lesse faith then the most witty and learned if they will but open their eyes and reflect upon what they see This is the reason why so few can pretend ignorance of the true Church if they have any sense in them they may easily distinguish it from all hereticall Congregations The evident signes therefore whereby the true and Catholick Church is knowne consisteth not in exteriour formalities that may take their beginning from humane policy or from a naturall inclination to decency and good order The Protestant Church of England had as few signes of supernaturall grace as any other pretending Reformation yet in the eyes of some it lookt pretily and was more decent in the service then other Northerne Churches of Lutherans and some of their Nags-bead Ministers affected a certaine Ecclesiasticall gravity in their garb and habit notwithstanding in my opinion a secular dresse would better become their meere secularity and want of ordination The Ministers in Germany looke more Protestantlike in their short cloakes spade beards and blew starcht ruffs then our English Common-prayer Ministers doe in their long cloakes and surplises which they weare more for policy then Religion 4 Seeing Reason must be contented with cleare signes when the truth is not evident and that no evident or cleare supernaturall signes appeare in any Congregation of men but in the Roman Catholick it must be concluded that the true Church is that onely Congregation of men which professe the Roman Catholick Faith That no signes of grace doe appeare in any Church pretending Reformation is as cleare as it is that all the world is not blind for as yet neither themselves nor any other could see in any of their Sects one miracle or any other thing that lookt like supernaturall though they tell us of some Divine motions and impulses of the private spirit they are as incredible as it is impossible that God should oblige any man to take a Protestants bare word against the tradition and testimony of the Christian world informer ages confirmed with undeniable miracles and sanctity of life But some seeing the private spirit is ridiculous would faine perswade us that we may read their Reformation in Scripture so evidently declared that they wonder how we can have the least doubt against it We Catholicks have beene above a hundred yeares turning and tossing the Bible with as great care and study as the matter required and yet we could never hit upon one Protestant Tenet â—n Scripture though we have reason to thinke that we understand it as well as our neighbours which is very strange if their Doctrine be evidently contained in it But there is nothing more obscure the evidence wherein men equally learned and honest doe not agree Nothing can make them disagree in the interprettation and sense of Scripture but the obscurity thereof or obstinacy or ignorance if they be obstinate they are not honest if ignorant thâ—y are not as learned as their adversaries and its certain we doe Pro estants a favour in comparing or making them equall w th Catholick Doctors in either but when men dispute he that hath evident truth on his side may grace his adversary with any advantage as I doe at the present supposing not granting that Protestant Ministers were equall with Catholick Doctors in learning and vertue that thereby it may appeare how obscure the Scripture is wh re Protestants pretend it to be cleare and the sense most manifest 5 I will not make a long Litanies of the supernaturall and visible signes which app are in the Roman Catholick Church Miracles have beene in all ages and are now so frequent amongst us that there is not a Countrey or Province wherein the Roman Religion is professed which doth not produce testimonies so prudently credible of true and supernaturall miracles that to deny them were to destroy all human faith and reduce men to credit nothing that is affirmed by men however so well qualified with sound judgement great learning and knowne integrity Yet Protestants object its strange themselves never see any miracle being so desirous and miracles so frequent as we pretend Herod was also very desirous to see a miracle but his curiosity excluded him from that favour men who belive nothing but what they see deserve not to see miracles because they are obstinate Yet there are few Protestants who doe not see miracles what greater miracle then that all Catholicks turne not Protestants If tâ—e continuall victory over naturall and vehement inclinations doth require a miracle of supernaturall grace we are
as naturally and vehemently inclined to their Religion as we are to our owne liberties and pleasures what greater miracle then that sober and learned men should be perswaded that their senses are deceived in the Sacrament of the Altar and that they should suffer death for the mystery of Transubstantiation These must be effects of supernaturall grace and Not of ignorance or obstinacy which cannot be laid to our charge seeing we submit our judgements to every definition of the Roman Church and our very adversaries knowe we are learned 6 Sanctity of life is a supernaturall signe and effect of grace and of the true Church This sanctity is evident in the Roman Church Not to speake of Antomes Hilarions or Stilluas lets drawe nearer our times and consider the lives of Saint Bernard Saint Dominike Saint Francis Saint Vincent Ferrer Saint Francis of Paula Saint Charles Borromeus Saint Teresa Saint Francis Xaverius and many more who were knowne Roman Catholicks professing the same Tenets and obedience to the Pope which we now maintaine against pretended Reformation And not to speake onely of the dead let any indifferent person consider how in all vocations of both Clergy and Layty we have many persons eminent in vertue farre above that degree of morality to which some Protestants may attaine as well as some Pagans and Philosophers who were farre from Christian perfection called sanctity of life Let our English Protestant be pleased to weigh with himselfe whether yong Ladies of as great quality fortunes and gifts of nature as England doth afford could forsake their native Countrey kindred and friends contemne all pleasures of the world and themselves by embracing a religious poore and penitent life in perpetuall end sure submitting their wills to the obedience and humour of a woman could this I say be performed by so many so continually and with so great alacrity and content of minde without a miraculous and supernaturall grace of the Almighty In my judgement it s a greater miracle that such persons should resolve by a voluntary banishiment to dye to their Countrey and friends and to the whole world by a religious profession and to bury themselves alive in a Cloyster then if they had restored life to others and banisht death from graves and monuments 7 Now after that our Protestant Gentleman hath considered our Catholick Monasteries let him examine whether in his owne Church there hath beene or now is any thing resembling so much Religion and supernaturall vertue as that which amongst us is not admired though admirable because so ordinary This kinde of life is as farre from Protestants practise and Doctrine as it is from naturall inclination Yet I have heard that Master Laud of Canterbury was once inclined to erect some Protestant Nunneries in England I believe it would occasion as great stirres as his Reformation did in Scotland because no thing is more opposite to the Tenets of the reformed Ghospel and first Reformers then to make vowes of poverty chastity and obedience Protestancy begunne and is founded upon the dissolving of Monasteries and religions vowes and is not compatible with their observance if things must be carried on by the same meanes that acquired them a being It s very true that Cranmer of Canterbury the first Patriarch of Protestancy in England caused an enclosure of wood to be made I meane a Chest wherein he shut up his woman and carryed her along with himselfe wheresoever he travailed whereof ensued an odde accident at Gravesend where the Chest being much rccomended to those that carryed it to the Inne as containing pretious stuffe belonging to my Lords grace they severed it from the rest and put it up end-long against the wall in my Lords chamber with the womans head downward which putting her in jeopardy to breake her necke she was forced at length to cry out and so the Chamberlins helpt her out of her enclosure This is amost certaine story saith my Author in his Examen of Fox his Calendar cap. 7. n. 27. and testified at this day by Cranmers sons widdowe yet living The Prelates of the Catholick Church carry portable Altars but the first Protestant Prelate and reformed Apostle of England could not travaile without his portable Monastery farre more agreable to the Religion he planted then Matter Lauds intended plantation of religious and chast Nunneries 8. The conversion of Nations to Christianity is not onely a signe of the true Church but also the end of its institution This is so proper to the Roman Catholick even at this present that none who heard the names of America Angola China Monomotappa India or Iaponia can be ignorant of our pious endeavours and miraculous successe in preaching the Ghospel to so remote Nations where nothing that is coveted in this world could be aymed at or expected by our Apostolicall Preachers I will not say any more concerning the signes of the true Church these being susficient to convince any person that desires to be saved that out or the Roman Church there is no salvation seeing it alone hath supernaturall and visible signes whereby God doth declare sufficiently that it is an infallible guide to informe men of his mysteries and direct them in the way he hath prescribed for his Divine service commanding all mortalls to heare and obey it as they would heare and obey himselfe Whosoever doth the contrary injures God and calleth his Divine veracity in question 9 God is as much injured by Protestants and all others who deny or doubt of what the Roman Catholick Church proposeth in his name as any man can be injured by not being believed when he speakes The injury done to men when they are not believed consists in not trusting them or in not taking their word for the truth though the truth doth not appeare If we doe not trust God and take his Word as it is uttered by the Roman Catholick Church for truth we are resolved not to trust him at all because when any truth is evident to us we cannot receive it by trust from another and if God should speake immediatly to us and declare that himselfe speaketh the truth of his words is as evident to us as it is that he cannot lye and by consequence there is no roome left for trust Therefore either we must trust him and take his Word for truth when he speakes by that Church which hath supernatural signes or not at all and that Church is onely the Roman Catholick That God doth not speake to us immediatly by himselfe as men doe but by the Church doth not diminish the injury but makes it possible It doth not diminish the injury clone to God because it doth appeare as clearly and suffiently by the testimony and supernaturall signes of the Roman Catholick Church that what is by it proposed is Gods Word as it doth appeare by any mans owne testimony and signes of integrity and sincerity that he speaketh truth To be solicitous to knowe evidently who is the Author
Pius V. his profession of Faith Declarations against new heresies are no new Creeds they are but explanations of the old not new articles of Faith One article of Faith may be divided into many branches how many doth Saint Athanasius set downe in his Symbol of the Trinity and Incarnation The Catholick Church did alwayes practise this way when it was necessary to confute heresies If it was lawfull for the Church of the fourth age to command all Christians to professe and believe the Symbol of Saint Athanasius which was but an explanation of particulars contained in the mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation why cannot the Church now explaine more particularly the Apostles Creed and any part of Scripture impugned by Hereticks and command all Christians to believe the same All the pretended new articles are contained in the Apostles Creed implicitely as in that of the Communion of Saints Remission of sinnes Catholick Church c. or at least in some text of Scripture as Transubstantiation in Christs words This is my Body The petty Ministers of the English Nags-head Church presume to make a new Creed of 39. articles protesting against the ancient Faith of Christendome and they admire that the Vicar of Christ and a generall Councell should warne all Catholicks to beware of their heresies and to that end declare in a Symbol of Faith more particularly the received Doctrine of the Church of God Away with these shamefull shifts of Hereticks whose last excuse for their Schisme is that they who begunne it were Roman Catholicks So were Rebells once loyall Subjects and yet that doth not excuse themselves or their adherents from the guilt of rebellion With these hereticall devises are many poore idiots misled by ungodly and wicked Preachers who gaine their living and credit by the damnation of soules that Christ our Saviour purchased at so deare a rate 6 The last thing I proposed in the title of this Chapter was that its a greater foppery in Protestants then in Catholicks to deny the Popes infallibily in deciding controversies of Christian Religion That it is a foppery in both must be evident to all persons that will reflect upon the nature of Christian Faith and the Bookes of holy Scripture When men believe as Christians they must exclude all manner of doubts and feares of being mistaken from the act wherewith they believe they cannot defend themselves from a new heresy by onely protesting against it by word of mouth they must detest it with their heart and understanding and believe the quite contrary truth There was never Heretick so simple as to broach an errour upon his owne score he alwayes pretends Gods Word for its fundation and backs it with as many texts of Scripture as Catholicks oppose against his heresy This was the practise of Arrians Nestorians and all other ancient Hereticks which Protestants doe now adayes imitate If the true meaning of Scripture were as visible to us as it is infallible in it selfe no Heretick would make use of the words of holy Writ because his fancy or interpretation would be easily discerned from the sense which God intended at least by combining and comparing one text with another but experience demonstrates that notwithstanding all combinations of one place of Scripture with another the controversy remaines and cannot be decided by Scripture alone To imagine that all which cannot be decided by Scripture alone is superfluous and the beliefe thereof not necessary for salvation is to dispense with the mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation seeing the Councell of Nice Soz. lib. 1. c. 16. Athan Apol. 2. and Saint Athanasius that great Champion of the Catholick Church confuted and condemned the Arrians not by Scripture alone but by tradition and adhearing not onely to the words but also to that sense of Scripture which that present Church had received from the former 7 Seeing therefore that controversies of Christian Religion must be decided by the sense as well as by the words of Scripture and that the said sense is more clearly delivered to us by tradition and the testimony of the Church then by the words themselves in controverted texts and that Hereticks may endeavour to confound their owne tradition with that of the true Catholick Church as the Quartadecimans did in the celebrating Easter and that they may invent new heresies never thought of in former ages supposing I say that all this is possible the remedy of these evills in the Church cannot be impossible and truly the remedy is impossible at least at all times to wit when generall Councells are not assembled if the Pope be not infallible in declaring what is heresy divine Faith and Catholick tradition Such few Catholicks as called in question the Popes infallibity excused their errour not onely with the infallibility but also with the morall possibility of a generall Councell whensoever a new heresy would be invented but they were grossely mistaken as experience doth demonstrate and a perpetuall generall Councell was never intended by God who commandeth the Bishops and Prelates to have a care of the particular Churches which he committed to their charge a thing not compatible with their continuall assistance in Constantinople Trent or any other one City where the Councell is assembled But Protestants hitherto have denyed even the English Church in the 21. of their 39. articles that generall Councells arc infallible and consequently must say that God commanded an impossibility bidding us beware of new heresies Act. 20. and not believe false Prophets when he left us no infallible Judge or Pastour to declare unto us what doctrine is heresy and who are the false Prophets No Catholick was ever so unreasonable as to defend such a foppery 8 And though of late some of our Nags-head Doctours contrary to the 21. article of their Creed and English Church acknowledge that generall Councells are infallible in deciding controversies of Faith and to their eternall shame and the infamy of their venerable Mother the Protestant Church of England are now forced to call the 39. Articles of their Religion by the name of onely probable opinions yet such a definition or description they give in their printed bookes of a generall Councell with so many odde conditions and so insuperable difficulties that onely mad men may hope to see such a Christian Assembly meete and much lesse agree in condemning any heresy or declaring what is Catholick Doctrine This new definition of a generall Councell is but a meere put of to gaine time that Nags-head errours may last as long as their Ministers but they are evidently convinced and condemned by the absurdity of their poore shift it s a greater foppery to admit of infallibility in an impossible Councell then to admit of a possible Councell without infallibility The first is an absolute Chimaera contrary to the evident light of naturall reason the second seemeth onely impossible to Christians that grant there is a Church of God upon earth and that be hath
favoured by God when they are most oppressed by Hereticks and that even in this life he will in due time provide for those who suffer for his sake and persevere constantly in his Faith and service But if they will by taking the oath of objuration or dissembling the Catholick Religion matriculate themselves in the devils bookes and blot their names out of the booke of life they may both in this and the next expect to be dealt withall according to their perjury and perfidious policy whereby though they may thrive for few and uncertaine dayes they may be sure that even in this world God will be revenged of their posterity and deprive them of that poore inheritance which their fond and damned parents purchased for them with the oath of abjuration and the losse of their soules for all eternity 9 Hitherto I have spent much time and paper with Polititians who are either Atheists or Protestants by profession Now I must in the following Chapters instruct not onely them but others also of whatsoever Religion they seeme to be and exhort them to morall honesty without which there can be no solid wisdome or policy Therefore that Princes may be perswaded how contrary it is even to their designes and interest to countenance vice and contemne vertue I will persume to put them in minde of some grosse and dangerous errours mistaken in these later and abortive ages by Polititians The salvation of soules depends much upon Princes whose greatest obligation is to governe their Subjects by men that have soules and are not void of all truth honesty and honour My designe is either to convert Machiavilians or at least to perswade that it is not their interest to pervert others by ill example and unconscionable proceedings And because Princes cannot treate all businesses with their equalls or with their owne Subjects immediatly by themselves but of necessicy must make use of Ambassadours Ministers and Councellours of State I will briefly treate of what vices such persons must shunne and demonstrate that truth and morall honesty is the foundation and prop of Policy which Doctrine is no lesse true then contrary to that definition of an Ambassadour Homo peregre missus ad mentiondum Reipublicae causa so much applanded and practised by men that understand not how prejudiciall untruths are not onely to their businesses but to humane society Therefore in first place I will endeavour to prove CHAP. XI That it is impossible for a Polititian to compasse his designes by untruths and impostures and that nothing is more contrary to Policy then vanity 1 THe principall part of Policy consists in wedding other mens interests to our own by making appeare that there is a necessity or great conveniency in their conjunction And because the interests of Princes are seldome so united but some contrariety may be discovered there is great danger that Ambassadours or Ministers of State may endeavour to set forth their Masters cause not as it is but as they wish it were and supply with untruths what in reality is wanting There are some men who tell lyes with so ill a grace and garb that you may easily perceive how little their thoughts doe agree with their words and how farre themselves are from crediting what they would have others believe their language is so stuffed with affectation that you may see its rather a piece of artificiall memory then a sinceare and hearty expression Others are more cunning and give so good a colour to untruths that they may deceive the wisest men the first or second time This cheating art and eloquence is soone learnt because it requireth little wit lesse judgement and no conscience and this is the reason why it is so common But it cannot be long concealed it will be very soone discovered either by the incoherency of the Oratours speech or by some evidence contradicting his relation or not compatible with his vaine undertaking They must be very simple men who are over-reached by the faculty of lying their first credulity may be attributed to want of judgement but the second argues want of memory with which even fooles abound and may serve their turne by putting them in minde of the former cheate and defend them from being fooled the second time by the same impostour 2 If Polititians who make untruths the foundation of their businesses were to deale with the greatest fooles the most they might expect would be to be credited in their first or second audience in the third they may with reason feare an afront or at least that all businesses will be at a stand for how can a wise Prince or prudent Minister of State build a designe upon a mans information whose custome and passetime is to cheate others He that is given to lyes regards not honour or conscience and consequently will make no scruple to embarke his Masters interest in a rotten bottome provided himselfe may be assured to gaine any thing by the naufrage or miscarriage of the designe This at least will be the suspicion of those with whom he is in treaty and though they may heare with patience his harangues they will suspend their judgements untill their doubts be taken away by some other information and confirmation And though his intelligence should prove true it will not be judged sincere neither will his credit be any thing encreased in their opinions because cunning lyers tell truth sometimes that they may seeme to speake it alwayes therefore the maxime of great Statesmen is rather to delay businesses and hazard the losse of opportunities then undertake any upon the word and relation of an impostour It s as impossible to profit the Prince or Commonwealth by untruths as it is to foole the wisest men of the world with whom businesses are dealt yet this caracter of Mentiri pro Republica hath made the world so suspicious of Statesmens ingenuity that few of them are believed in ordinary discourse Henry the IV. of France assured the Hollanders that Spinola would not besiege a certain Towne of theirs that campana because Spinola told him he would and was as good as his word contrary to the King and States expectation and gained the Towne more by speaking truth then by fighting Ministers of State may conceale the truth and not speake it to curious and impertinent persons but they ought not to conceale it by speaking untruths 3 Vaine men are most given to lyes of any because they tell untruths not onely to others but to themselves to others by words and to themselves by their fond conceits of their owne abilities and parts whence it proceeds that they reflect not upon the incoherency of their words because having deceived themselves by an extraordinary opinion of themselves and of their own judgement they are confident of deceiving without out the least hazard of being caught in a lye the onely thing that makes a lyar circumspect A vaine man doth imagine that wise and sober men are as much taken with
before to his Brother in the Lord and these two Ministers were the onely witnesses that proved Master Hindes murther whereof they had no other knowledge but what he told them in cofession whereupon sentence of death was pronounced against him by Judge Nicholas and executed at Worcester He reflected upon the Religion of his Confessours and witnesses and resolved to change his owne concluding that it could not be the true one which alloweth such treacherous dealings and obligeth men to reveale Sacramentall confessions making it Gunpouder treason not to betray God and the trust which he reposeth in the Ministers of his holy Sacraments as was declared in Garnets case Master Hinde therefore sent for a Priest and was reconciled to the Roman Catholick Church and I hope is saved not by virtue but by the occasion of his Protestant confession whereof I trust in God himselfe will not be the last that will make good use for the salvation of soules by forsaking so false a Church and so treacherous Clergy whereby mens lives are entrapt and their sinnes not absolved By this and other examples its manifest that Protestant Ministers are as unfit to be Counsellours as Confessours and that the Catholick Priests who will rather dye then betray a secrecy have a great advantage of seculars as to this so necessary a part of a Statesman 6 We see also how men besotted with drink and bewitched by bribes are subject to betray their trust in greatest secrecies and I believe it will not be hard to finde at least in this our Northerne Climat where this kinde of debauch is taken not onely for a remedy of melancholy but a point of gallantry Lay Polititians proceed now and then to such excesse as to ease not onely their stomachs but hearts to the great distemper of the Commonwealth As for bribes those who have most expenses and most to provide for and suffer lesse infamy if discovered and ordinarily are lesse provided with grace to resist cannot choose but be more lyable to the danger of this temptation as it appeares by these circumstances and much more by too frequent and knowne experiences 7 These amongst many others are the reasons why Catholick Princes make so frequent use of the Roman Clergy And though Hereticks and Polititians should misinterpret their good zeale they must have patience and not desist from their godly endeavour assuring themselves that though bad Christians carp and repine at the confidence and reâ—pect which Catholick Princes and Ministers of State shew to their Clergy by trusting them with their consciences and affaires that will not diminish but rather encrease their credit A Prince may erre in making choice of a Churchmans person but he cannot be mistaken in choosing one of that function which hath more advantages over a secular vocation as to the management and trust or businesses then I have set downe in this Chapter though I am confident enough is said to vindicate the State of the Catholick Clergy from any incapacity in State affaires and to commend the judgement of the Princes by whom they are employed with no lesse evidence of their talents then satisfaction of their services 8 Now is it time to put an end to this Cathechisme and exhort my Polititian 1. to resolve upon some Religion if he hath none 2. To consider how all Religions pretending to reforme the Roman are but humane and fond inventions grounded upon false interest transitory pleasure and mad fancies contrary to the rules of sound Policy 3. How the Roman Catholick Religion cannot be an invention of men having so many evidences of supernaturall signes and power to confirme its Doctrine 4. In case our Polititian will neither believe in God nor Catholick Church let him consider that the greatest and most effectuall engine to worke his owne interest is truth morall vertue and honour In the last place I must desire my Reader not to be offended with me if I am more bitter against the Protestant Clergy then by nature or custome I am enclined whosoever will reflect upon the prejudice and misery they have drawne upon the three Nations since they planted heresy and how by meere impostures they endeavour to maintaine those errours which have beene the cause of all our misfortunes will easily perceive that our English Ministers ought to be beaten not courted out of their destructive Tenets and practises I b seech almighty God to convert them and others misled by their example and doctrine and grant to all Polititians light to see this manifest truth that a man without Religion is void of reason and Policy without honesty is but a base wicked and witlesse knavery FINIS LIbellus hic cui titulus The Polititians Cathechisme Anglico idiomate conscriptus à Theologo mihi noto lectus altero praelo dignus est Datum 14. Martij 1658. GUIL BOLOGNINO Can. Eccl. Cathed Libr. Censor Antuerp