excellent sort Either then the Fathers condemned these without cause for worshipping creatures or they meant to restraine more than that adoration which ascribeth infinite greatnesse to him that is adored which vndoubtedly they did euen the least and lowest degree of spirituall worship or worship in spirit and truth This most clearely appeareth to bee so by that of the seuenth generall Councell which though it did not onely confirme the placing of pictures in the Church but prescribed that they should be worshipped yet the Fathers of that Councell expounded themselues that they meant nothing else thereby but a reuerent vsage of them approaching to them embracing and kissing of them in such sort as men vse to doe to the bookes of holy Scriptures and all sacred vessels and things consecrated to the vse of Gods seruice but permit not any the least part of spirituall worshippe or worshippe in spirit and trueth the Scripture speaketh of to be giuen vnto them for if it be they judge it Idolatrie But the Romanists at this day giue spirituall worshippe to creatures and thinke they sinne not if it be not in so high a degree as to ascribe vnto them infinite greatnesse Adoration implieth in it three actes First an apprehension of the excellencie of that which is adored Secondly an acte of the will desiring to doe some thing to testifie our acknowledgement of this greatnes and our subjection and inferioritie Thirdly an outward acte expressing the same Wee say therefore that Adoration proceeding out of the apprehension of the excellencie of that is worshipped and the desire to testifie our acknowledgement of it is of two sortes or kinds For either it is limited to certaine times places and things when where and wherein the excellencie of that wee worship presents it selfe vnto vs and requireth our acknowledgement of it as is the worshippe of Kings Princes Prelates and Prophets in their kingdomes Courts Churches and Schooles ruling guiding teaching and instructing or else it is spirituall which in all places at all times and in all things causeth him that worshippeth to bow himself before that hee worshippeth and thereby to testifie his acknowledgement of the excellency of it which he findeth in euery time place and thing to present it selfe vnto him This kinde of Adoration subiecteth not only the body but the spirit and minde also to him whose greatnesse it thus acknowledgeth This worship we say is proper to God For he onely at all times and in all places and things seeth beholdeth guideth and taketh care of vs and ruling disposing and commaunding vs inwardly and outwardly worketh our good But the Romanists say the Saints doe so likewise though not in so excellent sort as God doth for they suppose that they know all things that concerne vs that they watch ouer vs with a carefull and vigilant eye that they carry vs in their hands and by their mediation procure our good from God the fountaine of all good and therefore they worship them with spirituall worship The miracles that God wrought in times past by them made many to attribute more to them than was fitte as if they had a generalitie of presence knowledge and working but the wisest and best aduised neuer durst attribute any such thing vnto them Whether saith Augustine the Saints be present euery where or at least wheresoeuer their memorialls are kept or whether they remaine in one place only and praying onely in generall for the Militant Church God doe worke by himselfe or his Angels that which is fit for the confirmation of the faith they professed and the good of such as remember them I dare not pronounce And who knoweth not that hee inclineth to that opinion that they doe not particularly see know and entermeddle with humane things and confirmeth this his iudgement with sundry excellent reasons and authorities This opinion did the Authour of the glosse follow and Hugo de sancto victore and the Church of God neuer defined otherwise howsoeuer Ierome in his passion against Vigilantius seeme to say the contrary and Gregorie endeauour to confirme it saying hee that seeth God who seeth all things cannot but see all things in him But Occam and sundry other excellent Schoolemen reiect this saying of Gregorie and Gregorius Ariminensis resolueth peremptorily that neither Saints nor Angels know the secrets of our hearts but that this is reserued as peculiar to God alone If then the Saints for ought wee know do not see know and intermeddle with our particular affaires but pray only in generall there remaineth nothing else safely to bee donne by vs but to seeke vnto GOD and then all these both Saints and Angells shall loue vs in him and what in them lyeth procure our good Behold sayth Augustine I worship one God one beginning of all things that fountaine of wisdome and happinesse whence all things that are wise and happie haue their wisdome and happinesse whichsoeuer of the Angels loueth thâ—… GOD I am sure hee loueth mee whosoeuer abideth in him and can heare the prayers and take notice of the wants of mortall men I am well assured hee doth heare mee when I pray to God and endeauoureth to giue mee the best furtherance hee can Let therefore those Adoratores partium mundi worshippers of parts and portions of the world tell mee what good Saint or Angel hee doth not assure vnto himselfe which worshipeth that one God whom euery one that is good doth loue and desire to please Hence it came that though some particular men did aunciently at sometimes when they had occasion to speake of them doubtfully sollicite the Saints and desire them if they had any apprehension of these inferiour things to bee remembrancers for them vnto God yet no man prayed vnto them with bowed knees in set courses of deuotion and prayer Neither was there any forme of inuocation of Saints brought into the seruice of the Church for a long time as appeareth by that of Augustine who sayth they are named by the Minister in the time of the holy mysteries but not innocated For how could there be any inuocation of them generally receiued and allowed or constantly resolued on and vsed in the set courses of the prayers of those primitiue Christians when they knew not nor were not certainely resolued whether the Saints do know or intermeddle with the particular affaires of men in this world seeing the Romanists themselues confesse it were not fit nor safe to pray to Saints if they did not heare vs Now it is no way likely that any generall opinion was holden in those times of the vniuersall presence knowledge and habilitie of Saints to steade them that seeke unto them seeing it was a long time doubtfull in the Church whether the faithfull departing out of this world bee immediatly receiued into heauen and enioy the happie presence of God or whether they remaine or stay in Abrahams bosome or some place
the Patriarch of Constantinople the second which conclusion was not of such force but that the succeeding Bishops of Constantinople cōtinued the same challeng their predecessors made as any oportunity was offered sought to aduance their pretended title till at length there growing some difference between thē in the matter of the proceeding of the holy G whome the Latines affirmed to proceede from the Father and the Sonne the GREEKES from the Father only either pronounced the other to be heretickes schismatickes Wherefore let vs see what the religion of the Greeke Church is and whether these Christians be so farre forth orthodoxe that wee may account them members of the true Catholicke Church of God or so in errour that we may reject them as schismaticks hereticks though in number never so many Bernard speaking of them sayth nobiscum sunt non sunt iuncti fide pace diuisi quanquam fide ipsa claudicaverint à rectis semitis That is they are with vs and they are not with vs they are of the same profession with vs touching matters of faith but they hold not the vnity of the spirit in the band of peace although they haue halted also and in some sort declined from the straight pathes in matters pertayning to the Christian faith Touching the state of these Christians the Romanists lay downe these propositions First that there is a double separation from the Church of God the one by heresie ouerthrowing the fayth the other by schisme breaking the vnity The second that schismaticks though they fall not into heresie are out of the Church cut off from being members of the same and consequently in state of damnation Beleeue certainely and no way doubt sayth St Augustine that not onely all Pagans but all Iewes hereticks schismaticks also dying out of the communion of the Catholicke Church shall goe into everlasting fire The third that the Graecians are Schismatically divided from the Roman Church that they haue long continued so that they are excommunicate with the greater excommunication thundred out against all Schismaticks in bulla coenae Domini and consequently are in state of damnation But whether they bee not only Schismaticks but haereticks also as some feare not to pronounce they are not yet agreed Azorius thinketh they are not to bee censured as hereticks and yeeldeth a reason of his so thinking because in those articles of the faith where they are thought to erre they differ verbally onely and not really from those that are vndoubtedly right beleevers and giueth instance first in the question touching the proceeding of the holy Ghost wherein hee thinketh they differ but in forme of words from them that seeme to bee their opposites and secondly in the questions touching the Pope his power priviledges and authority concerning all which hee affirmeth they haue no other opinion then Gerson the Parisians who were neuer yet pronounced heretickes for they yeeld a primacie to the Bishop of Rome but no supremacy They acknowledge him to bee Patriarch of the West amongst all the Patriarches in order honour the first as long as hee continueth orthodoxe and seeketh not to encroach vpon the jurisdiction of others But they deny as also the Parisians doe that his judgement is infallible or his power authority supreame absolute they teach that hee must doe nothing of himselfe in things pertayning to the state of the vniversall Church but with the concurrence of others his colleagues and that hee is subject to a generall Councell All which things were defined in the Councells of Constance and Basil and the contrary positions condemned as haereticall Neither want there at this day many worthy Diuines liuing in the Communion of the Roman Church who most strongly adhere to the decrees of those Councells and peremptorily reject those of Florence and Trent wherein the contrary faction prevayled For the whole kingdome and state of France admit those and reject the other and would no lesse withdraw themselues from all communion with the Roman Bishoppe then the Grecians doe if they should once bee pressed to acknowledge that his power and authority is supreame and absolute that hee cannot erre and that hee may dispose the kingdomes and depose the kings soveraigne princes of the world as the Iesuites and other the Popes flatterers affirme and defend Whence it will follow that they are not onely free from heresie as Azorius resolueth but frō schisme also So that after so great clamours and so long contendings they must of necessity bee forced in the end to confesse they haue done them infinite wrong and sinned grievously against God in condemning to hell for no cause so many millions of Christian soules redeemed with the most precious blood of his dearest Sonne There are sayth Andreas Fricius who thinke that the Russians Armenians and other Christians of the East part pertaine not to the Christian Church but seeing they vse the same sacraments which wee doe seeing they professe to fight vnder the banner of Christ crucified and rejoyce in their sufferings for his sake farre bee it from vs ever to thinke that they should bee cast off and rejected from being fellow citizens with the Saints and of the houshold of God having borne the burden endured the heate of the day so many ages in the vineyard of the Lord. Nay rather I thinke there can be no perfect cōsociation vnion of the whole Church without them For the Latine Church alone cānot be takē for the vniversall Church that which is but a part cānot be the whole But some man happily will say whatsoeuer we think of these differēces touching the power authority of the B. of Rome yet in the article of the proceeding of the holy ghost they erre damnably so are hereticks that Azorius was deceived when hee thought otherwise Wherefore for the cleering of this poynt first I will make it evident that not onely Azorius but sundry other great and worthy Divines thinke the difference about the proceeding of the holy Ghost to bee meerely verball Secondly I will shew how the seeming differences touching this poynt may bee reconciled Thirdly I will note the beginnings and proceedings in this controversie The Grecians sayth Peter Lombard affirme that the holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father onely not from the Sonne yet wee must know that the Greekes doe acknowledge the holy Ghost to bee the spirit of the Son aswell as of the Father because the Apostle sayth the spirit of the Son And trueth it selfe in the Gospell the spirit of trueth Now seeing it is no other thing to bee the spirit of the Father and the Son then to bee from the Father the Son they seeme to agree with vs in judgement touching this article of faith though they differ in words Grosthed the famous and renowned Bishop of Lincolne writing vpon a part of Damascen deliuereth his opinion touching this controuersie
that vpon his bare word wee should beleeue so shamelesse a lye For Augustine which was before this Persian in his booke De moribus Ecclesiae libro primo capite tricesimo quarto hath the same heresie as it pleaseth these heretikes to call it Nolite inquit consectari turbas imperitorum qui in ipsà verâ religione superstitiosi sunt Novi multos esse sepulchrorum picturarum adoratores quos mores Ecclesia condemnat quotidiè corrigere studet And Gregory after the time of this supposed Persian doth condemne the adoration of Images And the Councell of Frankford likewise after his time as appeareth by Hincmarus and others Besides if Nicephorus follow the judgement of the Fathers of the second Nicene Councell hee meaneth nothing else by that adoration of Images which hee approoueth but the embracing kissing and reverent vsing of them like to the honour wee doe the Bookes of holy Scripture not that Religious worshippe which consisteth in spirit and trueth which the Papists yeelde to their Idoles And so there is as great difference of judgement betweene him and Bellarmine as betweene him and vs. That which Bellarmine addeth against Caluine and others touching the time that Images were first brought into the Church if this place did require the examination of it wee should finde him as notable a trifler therein as in all the rest CHAP. 37 Of the errour of the Lampetians touching vowes THe errour of the Lampetians was as Alphonsus à Castro supposeth that it is not lawfull for men to vowe and by vowing to lay a necessity vpon themselues of doing those things which freely and without any such tye might much better bee performed If they disliked simply all vowing wee doe not approue their opinion as may appeare by that which Kemnisius Zanchius and others haue written to this purpose and therefore wee are vniustly said to fauour their errour That which Bellarmine addeth for the strengthening of this his vniust imputation is a meere calumniation For Luther doth not say that a man should vow to do a thing as long as hee shall bee pleased and then to be free againe when hee shall dislike that which before hee resolued on but that all vowes should be made with limitation to bee so farre performed as humane frailty will permitte that it is better after a vow made to breake it to discend to the doing of that which is lawfull good though not carrying so great show of perfection as that which by vowe was promised than under the pretence of keeping it to liue in all dissolute wickednesse as the manner of the Popish votaries is whereupon the Fathers are cleare that marriage after a vow made of single life is lawfull and that it is better to marry than continuing single to liue lewdly and wantonly CHAP. 38. Of the heresie of certaine touching the verity of the body and blood of Christ communicated to vs in the Sacrament THe last heresie might well haue beene omitted For those heretikes condemned by Theodoret Ignatius and others denied the verity of Christs humane nature and thereupon condemned the Sacrament of his body and blood So that it was not the impugning of Popish Transubstantiation as Bellarmine idlely fancieth that was reprooued in them but the denying of the trueth of that body and blood which all true Christians doe know to bee mystically communicated to them in the Sacrament to their vnspeakeable comfort How then can we be charged with the heresie of these men seeing wee neither deny the verity of Christs humane nature nor make the Sacrament to be a naked figure or similitude only but acknowledge that it consisteth of two things the one earthly and the other heauenly and that the body of Christ is truely present in the Sacrament and communicated to vs though neither Capernaitically to be torne with the teeth nor popishly to bee swallowed and carried downe into the stomacke and belly Thus then wee see how fondly this Cardinall heretike hath indeuoured to prooue vs heretikes and to hold the old condemned heresies of those cursed Arch-heretikes whose frensies wee condemne much more than he and his fellowes doe So that he is so farre from demonstrating either our consent with condemned heretikes that were of old or their consent with the auncient Fathers and consequently the antiquity of their profession that contrarily all that are not blinded with partiality may easily see that the whole course of Popish doctrine is nothing but a confused mixture of errours and all that they write against vs nothing but meere calumniation slander CHAP. 39. Of Succession and the exceptions of the aduersaries against vs in respect of the supposed want of it THus then hauing taken a view of whatsoeuer they can or do alleage for proofe of the antiquity of their doctrine which is the first note of the Church assigned by them let vs come vnto the second which is Succession and see if they haue any better successe in it than in the former In what sense Succession may bee granted to bee a note of the true Church I haue shewed already let vs therefore see how and what our aduersaries conclude from thence against vs or for themselues By this note say they it is easie to prooue that the reformed Churches are not the true Churches of God Ecclesia non est quae non habet sacerdotem saith Hierome against the Luciferians It can be no Church that hath no Ministery And Cyprian to the same purpose pronounceth that the Church is nothing els but Plebs episcopo adunata Thus therefore from these authorities they reason Where there is no ministery there is no Church But amongst the Protestants there is no Ministerie therefore no Church The Minor proposition or assumption of this argument wee deny which they endeuour to prooue in this sorte There is no lawfull calling to the worke of the Ministery amongst the Protestants therefore no Ministery The defects they suppose to bee in the calling of our Bishops and Ministers are two fold first for that they that ordained them in the beginning of this alteration of things in the state of the Church had no power so to doe Secondly for that no man may be ordained but into a voide place either wherein there neuer was any Pastour or Bishop before as in Churches in their first foundation or wherein there hauing beene their place is now voide by the death depriuation or voluntary relinquishment of them that possest it before that so they who are newly elected and ordained may succeede into the void roomes of such as went before them and not intrude vpon their charge wherevnto they are still iustly intituled Our Bishops and Pastours were ordayned and placed in the beginning of the reformation of religion where there were Bishops already in actuall possession These being the defects which they suppose to be in the calling of our Bishops Ministers let
afterwards when they are grown inveterate for that then they will corrupt the monuments of antiquity 8 That the whole present Church may be ignorant of some things and erre in them but that in matters necessary to bee knowne and beleeued expressely it cannot erre and that it cannot erre in any the least thing with pertinacie such and so great as is found in Heretickes Ninthly that Councels and Popes may erre in matters of greatest consequence This our opinion thus layde downe is defended by Waldensis Occam and others Waldensis saith the Church whose faith neuer faileth according to the promise made to Peter who bare the figure of the Church when Christ said I haue prayed for thee that thy faith faile not is not any particular Church as the Church of Africa within the bounds whereof Donatus did inclose it nor the particular Romane Church but the vniversall Church not gathered together in a generall Councell which hath sometimes erred as that at Ariminium vnder Taurus the Governour and that at Constantinople vnder Iustinian the younger but it is the Catholique Church dispersed through the whole world from the Baptisme of Christ vnto our times which doth holde and maintaine the true faith and the faithfull testimony of Iesus CHAP. 6. Of the Churches office of teaching and witnessing the truth and of their errour who thinke the authority of the Church is the rule of our faith and that shee may make new articles of our faith THus hauing spoken of the Churches assured possession of the knowledge of the truth in thenext place wee are to speake of her office of teaching witnessing the same touching the which our adversaries fall into two dangerous errours the first that the authority of the Church is Regula fidei ratio credendi the rule of our faith the reason why we belieue The second that the Church may make new articles of faith Touching the first of these erroneous conceipts the most of them doe teach that the last thing to which the perswasion of our faith resolueth it selfe the maine ground whereupon it stayeth is the authoritie of the Church guided by the spirit of truth For say they if infidels and misbeleeuers demaund of vs why we beleeue the Trinity of persons in the Vnity of the same Divine essence the Incarnation of the Sonne of God the Resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come we answere because these things are contayned in the Scriptures If they proceede farther to aske why wee beleeue the Scripture we answere because it is the word of God if why wee beleeue it to bee the word of God because the Church doth so testifie of it if why we beleeue the testimony of the Church because it is guided by the spirit of truth so that that vpon which our faith settleth her perswasion touching these things is the authority of the Catholique Church ledde and guided by the spirit of truth If it be said that it is one of the things to bee beleeued that the Church is thus guided by the spirit therefore that the authority of the Church cannot be the reason cause of beleeuing all things that pertain to the Christian faith because not of those things which concerne her owne authority Stapleton who professeth to handle this matter most exactly Sometimes seemeth to say that this article of faith that the Church is guided by the spirit and appointed by God to be a faithfull mistrisse of heauenly truth is not among the Articles of faith nor in the number of things to be beleeued Which the Rhemists vpon these words The Church is the pillar and ground of truth most constantly affirme saying We must beleeue heare and obey the Church as the Touchstone Pillar and firmament of truth for all this is comprised in the principle I beleeue the holy Catholique Church Sometimes that though perhaps in that Article it be implyed that wee beleeue whatsoeuer the Church teacheth vs yet not necessarily that wee beleeue that the Church is a faithfull and infallible witnesse mistresse of trueth And sometimes as in his triplication against Whitaker he sayth that when we professe that we beleeue the holy Catholike Church we doe not onely professe to beleeue that there is such a Church in the world but that wee are members of it and doe beleeue and embrace the doctrine of it as being guided infallibly by the spirit of trueth and that wee are taught in the Articles of our faith that the Church ought to bee listned vnto as to an infallible mistresse of heauenly trueth Surely it seemeth his braine was much crased when he thus wrote saying vnsaying saying he knew not what That which he addeth that this proposition God doth reveale vnto vs his heavenly truth teach vs the mysteries of his kingdome by the ministery of his Church is a transcendent wherevpon that article wherein wee professe to beleeue the Catholike Church doth depend as all the rest do is not an Article of the Creede doth but more more shew the distemper of his head But in that which hee addeth for confirmation hereof that we do not professe in the first Article of our faith to beleeue God as the reuealer of all hidden and heauenly truth and to rest in him as in the fountaine of all illumination is the note brand of an impious miscreant For this doubtlesse is the first thing implyed in our faith towards God that we yeeld him this honour to be the great master of all trueth vpon whose authority we will depend renouncing all our owne wisedome knowing that as no man knoweth the things of a man but the spirit of a man so no man knoweth the things of God but the spirit of Got and that flesh and blood cannot reueale these things vnto vs but our father which is in heauen That the precept of louing God aboue all is not distinctly set downe among the rest of the tenne commaundements but is implyed though principally in the first yet generally in all is to no purpose If he thinke it is not at all contayned in the Decalogue his folly is too too great CHAP. 7. Of the manifold errours of Papistes touching the last resolution of our faith and the refutation of the same THus wee see hee cannot avoid it but that the Church is one of the things to be beleeued therefore cannot be the first generall cause of beleeuing all things that are to be beleeued For when we are to be perswaded of the authority of the Church it is doubtfull vnto vs and therefore cannot free vs from doubting or settle our perswasion because that which setleth the perswasion must not be doubted of There is no question then but that the authority of the old Testament may bee brought to proue the new to him that is perswaded of the old and doubteth of the newe and the authoritie of the newe to
seene him and talked with him they professed that they beleeved not for her saying any longer for themselues had heard him speake and did know that hee was the Saviour of the world indeed So men at the first beginne to beleeue moued so to doe by the authority of the Church but rest not in it but in the infallible assurance of diuine trueth Vpon the mistaking of this saying of S. Augustine and an erroneous conceit that our faith stayeth wholly vpon the authority and testimony of the Church hath growne that opinion that the authority of the Church is greater than the authority of the Scriptures CHAP. 10. Of the Papistes preferring the Churches authority before the Scripture TOuching which odious comparison I find some shew of difference amongst the Papistes but none indeede Some affirme that the authorities of the Church and of the Scripture being in divers kindes may in diverse sorts and respects either of them be sayd to be greater then the other to wit the one in nature of an euidence the other of a Iudge and that therefore the comparing of them in authority is vnfit and superfluous Others say that the Church is greater then Scriptures The Rhemists seeme to be of the first sort seeking to conceale that which indeede they thinke because they would not incurre the dislike and ill opinion of men naturally abhorring from so odious a comparison Yet in the same place they doe make the comparison and preferre the Church before the Scriptures 1. In respect of antiquity in that it was before them 2. In excellencie of nature in that the Church is the spouse of Christ the Temple of God the proper subject of God and his graces for which the Scriptures were and not the Church for the Scriptures 3. In power of judging of doubts and controversies the Church hauing judiciall power the Scripture not being capable of it 4. In euidence the definition of the Church being more cleare and evident then those of the Scriptures Stapleton sayth the comparison may be made and the Church preferred before the Scriptures foure wayes 1. So as if the Church might define contrary to the Scriptures as shee may contrary to the writings of particular men how great soeuer In this sense they of the Church of Rome make not the comparison neither doe we charge them with any such thing though Stapleton be pleased to say so of vs. 2. So as the Church may define though not contrary to yet beside the Scripture or written Word of God This comparison is not made properly touching the preheminence of one aboue another in authority but the extent of one beyond the other as Stapleton rightly noteth In this sense the Romanists make the Church greater in authority than the Scriptures that is the extent of the Churches authority larger than of the Scriptures to bring in their traditions but this wee deny and will in due place improue their errour herein Thirdly in the obedience they both challenge of vs where they all say that we are bound with as great affection of piety to obey and submit our selues vnto the determinations of the Church as of the Scriptures both being infallible of diuine and heauenly authority against which no man may resist and that it is a matter of faith so to thinke Yea some of them as Stapleton in the same place are not ashamed to say that wee are bound with greater certaintie of faith to subscribe vnto the determinations of the Church than of the Scriptures and that it is the authority of the Church that maketh vs accept embrace and beleeue the Scriptures Fourthly in the nature of the things themselues in which respect they preferre the Church before the Scriptures as being in it selfe more excellent then the Scriptures as the subject by which the spirit worketh is more excellent then the thing hee worketh by it CHAP. 11. Of the refutation of their errour who preferre the authority of the Church before the Scripture THat wee may the better discerne what is to bee resolued touching these two latter comparisons betweene the Church and the Scriptures wee must remember that which I haue before noted touching them both For first the name of the Church sometimes comprehendeth onely the beleeuers that now presently are liuing in the world Sometimes not onely these but all them also that haue beene since the Apostles times Sometimes all that are and haue beene since Christ appeared in the flesh If the comparison bee made betweene the Church consisting onely of the faithfull that now are and the Scripture wee absolutely deny the equality of their authority and say it is impiety to thinke that both may challenge an equall degree of obedience and faith to bee yeelded to them for it cannot bee proued that the Church thus taken is free from errour nay themselues with one consent confesse that generall Councels representing this Church may erre though not in matters of substance which they purposely meete to determine yet in other passages and in the reasons and motiues leading to such determinations and consequently the whole Church may erre in the same things the one in their opinion being no more infallible than the other Yea some of them feare not to pronounce that Popes and generall Councells may erre damnably and that the Church itselfe may erre in matters not fundamentall though without pertinacy as Picus in his theoremes and Waldensis who freeth only the vniuersall Church consisting of the faithfull that are and haue beene from errour and not the present Church as I shewed before We are so farre then from preferring the Church thus taken as Stapleton in the place aboue mentioned professeth he taketh it in authority before the Scripture that we thinke it impiety to imagine it to be equall That the authority of the Church maketh vs to beleeue with an humane and acquisite faith we deny not but that it maketh vs to beleeue with a diuine faith we deny as before If the comparison be made between the Church consisting of all the faithfull that haue bin since besides the Apostles writers of the holy Scriptures though we think the Church thus taken to be free from any error yet dare we not make it equall to the Scripture For that the Scripture is infallibly true as inspired immediatly frō the spirit of truth securing the writers of it from errour The Church not in respect of the condition of the men of whom it consisteth or the manner of the guiding of the spirit each particular man being subject vnto errour but in respect of the generality and vniversality of it in euery part whereof in every time no errour could possibly be found And for that whatsoeuer is vniuersally deliuered by it is thereby prooued to be from the Apostles of whose faith wee are secure Thus then the whole Church thus taken is subiect to the Scripture in all her parts and hath her infallibility from it and therefore in her
pollution of originall sin and if perhaps any did sometimes vse any forme or rite it was rather a matter of priuate voluntary deuotion than of necessitie For whereas parents stand bound by the generall law of God and nature with all thankefull acknowledgment to receiue their children as a great and speciall benefit from God this their faith pietie and thankefullnesse joyned with desire of and prayer for their Good prosperous and happy estate was accepted and found fauour with God on the behalfe of their children Whereupon Gregory pronounceth that the faith of the parents was of the same force with them of the old time that the Baptisme of water is with vs. And whereas Augustine sayth it is not likely that the people of God before the institution of Circumcision had noe Sacrament wherewith to present their children to GOD though the Scripture haue not expressed it it is not to bee vnderstood sayth Andradius of any outward ceremonies necessary for the sanctification of those Infants but of any rite offering them to GOD whether mentall onely or outwardly object to the eye and sense That which Andradius addeth that it could not be knowne but by tradition onely that the faith of the parents was in stead of circumcision before circumcision was instituted and after the institution of it to them that might not lawfully or could not possibly be circumcised is frivolous for men knew it concluded it out of the generall and common rules of reason and equity Touching the state of the people of God since the comming of Christ our adversaries make no doubt but they can easily proue that the writings which the Church that now is hath are defectiue and imperfect This they endeauour to proue First because the Scriptures of the New Testament were written vpon particular occasions offered and not of purpose to containe a perfect rule of faith Secondly because they were written by the Apostles and other Apostolique men out of their owne motions and not by commandement from Christ the Sonne of GOD. But vnto both these Arguments alleadged by our Adversaries we answere that they containe matter of very grosse errour For first who seeth not plainly that the Evangelistes writing the historie of Christs life and death Saint Luke in the booke of the Acts of the Apostles describing the comming of the Holy Ghost the admirable gifts of grace powred vpon the Apostles and the Churches established and ordered by them and the blessed Apostle Saint Iohn writing the Revelations which hee saw concerning the future state of things to the end of the world meant to deliuer a perfect summe of Christian doctrine and direction of Christian faith It is true indeed that the Epistles of the Apostles directed to the Christian Churches that then were were occasionally written yet so as by the providence of God all such things as the Church beleeueth not being found in the other parts of Scripture purposely writtē are most clearely at large deliuered in these Epistles Secondly touching the other part of their Argument which they bring to convince the Scripture of imperfection because they that wrote it had no commaundement to write wee thinke it needeth no refutation for the absurditie of it is evident and cleare of it selfe For who knoweth not that the Scriptures are not of any priuate motion but that the holy men of God were moued impelled and carried by the spirit of truth to the performance of this worke doing nothing without the instinct of the Spirit which was vnto them a Commandement The imperfection defect supposed to be foundin the Scripture our adversaries endeavour to supply by addition of traditions The name of Tradition sometimes signifieth euery Christian doctrine deliuered frō one to another either by liuely voyce only or by writing as Exod. 17. Scribe hoc ob monumentum in libro trade in auribus Iosuae Write this for a remembrance in a Booke and deliuer it in the eares of Iosuah Act. 6. 14. The written Law of Moses is called a Tradition Audivimus eum dicentem quoniam Iesus destruet locum istum mutabit traditiones quas tradidit nobis Moses We heard him say that Iesus shall destroy this place and change the traditions which Moses deliuered vnto vs. Sometimes the name of tradition signifieth that which is deliuered by liuely voyce onely and not written That which I receiued of the Lord saith the Apostle that I deliuered vnto you In this question by tradition we vnderstand such parts of Christian doctrine or discipline as were not written by them by whom they were first deliuered For thus our Adversaries vnderstand Traditions which they diuide into divers kindes First in respect of the Authors so making them of three sorts Divine Apostolicall Ecclesiasticall Secondly in respect of the matter they concerne in which respect they make them to be of tvvo sorts for either they cōcerne matters of faith or matters of manners and these latter againe either temporall or perpetuall vniuersall or particular All these in their seuerall kindes they make equall with the wordes precepts and doctrines of Christ the Apostles Pastors of the Church left vnto vs in writing Neither is there any reason why they should not so doe if they could proue any such vnwritten verities For it is not the writing that giueth things their authoritie but the worth credite of him that deliuereth them though but by word and liuely voyce onely The only doubt is whether there be any such vnwritten traditions or not Much contention there hath beene about Traditions some vrging the necessity of them and other rejecting them For the clearing whereof we must obserue that though we reiect the vncertaine and vaine traditions of the Papists yet wee reiect not all For first wee receiue the number and names of the authors of bookes Diuine Canonicall as deliuered by tradition This tradition we admitte for that though the bookes of Scripture haue not their authority from the Approbation of the Church but winne credite of themselues and yeeld sufficient satisfaction to all men of their Diuine truth whence wee judge the Church that receiueth them to bee led by the spirit of God yet the number Authors and integrity of the parts of these bookes wee receiue as deliuered by tradition The second kinde of tradition which wee admitte is that summarie comprehension of the cheefe heads of Christian doctrine contayned in the Creed of the Apostles which was deliuered to the Church as a rule of her faith For though euery part thereof be contayned in the Scripture yet the orderly connexion distinct explication of these principall articles gathered into an Epitome wherein are implyed and whence are inferred all conclusions theologicall is rightly named a tradition The 3d is that forme of Christian doctrine and explication of the seuerall parts thereof which the first Christians receiuing of the same Apostles that deliuered to them the Scriptures commended
Sauiour Christ which though they were neuer written by the Evangelists the Apostles and others conversant with him in the dayes of his flesh knew and faithfully preserued and kept as Mary did all things which she heard him speake and saw him doe of which sort was that alleadged by the Apostle It is more blessed to giue then to receiue wee make no question but that there are any of those vnwritten speeches or Actions necessary to bee knowne for our salvation or containing any other matter of diuine knowledge then is written or that are certainely knowne vnto the Church now we vtterly deny All the historicall things saith Bishop Lindan which are reported concerning Christ not contained in Scripture are fabulous or vncertaine Which doubtlesse was the reason why more errours were found in the writings of the first Fathers of the Primitiue Church then in those that were further remoued from those first beginnings because they were abused by the false and vncertaine reports of traditions which in those times men greedily hearkened after as liuing with thē which had beene conversant with the Apostles or their Schollers as wee shall finde by that is reported of Papias and it appeareth by the writings of others Thus hauing made it cleare and evident that it is not safe to relye vpon traditions in things concerning the faith let vs come to those traditions which concerne the manners and conversation of men That the Apostles deliuered many things of this nature to the Churches some by way of precept some by way of Councell and advice onely some to particular Churches and some to all some to continue but for a time and some to continue for euer we make no doubt Of this sort is the observation of the Lords day the precept whereof is not found in Scripture though the practice be and so may be named a tradition And sundry other things there are which doubtlesse the Apostles deliuered by tradition but they are confounded with Ecclesiasticall traditions as Waldensis aptly noteth that wee might the more reuerence the constitutions of the Church and are dispensable by the guides of the Church because the Apostles and Apostolike men that deliuered them did not deliuer them as reporting the immediate precepts of Christ himselfe but by vertue of their Pastorall power and office and so it little concerneth vs exactly to know whether they were deliuered by the Apostles themselues or their next after-commers For if they were deliuered by the Apostles yet are they dispensable by the authority of the Church and if not by them but by others they may not be dispensed with nor altered but by the same authority CHAP. 21. Of the rules whereby true Traditions may be knowen from counterfaite THus hauing set downe the kindes and sorts of traditions it remaineth to examine by what meanes wee may come to discerne and by what rules wee may judge which are true and indubitate traditions The first rule is deliuered by Augustine Quod vniuersa tenet ecclesia nec conciliis institutum sed semper retentum est non nisi auctoritate Apostolicâ traditum rectissimè creditur Whatsoeuer the whole Church holdeth not being decreed by the authority of Councelles but hauing been euer holden may rightly be thought to haue proceeded from Apostolike authority The second rule is whatsoeuer all or the most famous and renowmed in all ages or at the least in diuerse ages haue constantly deliuered as receiued from them that went before them no man contradicting or doubting of it may bee thought to be an Apostolicall tradition The third rule is the constant Testimony of the Pastors of an Apostolike Church successiuely deliuered to which some adde the present testimony of any Apostolike Church whose declinings when they beganne we cannot precisely tell But none of the Fathers admitte this rule For when they vrge the authority and testimony of Apostolike Churches for the proofe or reproofe of true or pretended traditions they stand vpon the consenting voyce or silence of the Pastors of such Churches successiuely in diverse ages concerning such things Some adde the testimony of the present Church but we enquire after the rule whereby the present Church may know true traditions from false and besides though the whole multitude of beleeuers at one time in the world cannot erre pertinaciously and damnably in embracing false traditions in stead of true yet they that most sway things in the Church may yea euen the greater part of a generall councell so that this can be no sure rule for men to iudge of traditions by And therefore Canus reasoneth foolishly that whatsoeuer the Church of Rome practiceth which shee may not doe without speciall warrant from God and yet hath no warrant in Scripture so to doe the same things and the practise of them shee hath receiued by tradition Hee giueth example in the present practice of the Romish Church in dispensing with remitting vowes and oathes and in dissoluing marriages not consummate by carnall knowledge by admitting men into orders of Religion But this practice of the Romish Church wee condemne as wicked and Antichristian CHAP. 22. Of the difference of bookes Canonicall and Apocriphall THus hauing answered our aduersaries obiections touching the obscuritie and imperfections of the scripture which wee affirme to be the rule of our faith it remayneth that in particular wee consider which are the bookes of this Scripture contayning the rule of our faith and where the indubitate and certaine verity of them is to be found whether in the originals or in the Translations The bookes which Moses the Prophets and Apostles deliuered to the world containe the Canon that is the rule of piety faith and religion which the sonnes of men receiued by Reuelation from heauen and therefore are rightly named Canonicall The matter of these bookes wee beleeue to haue beene inspired from the holy Ghost for our instruction whose authoritie is so great that no man may doubt of them The writers of these bookes were in such sort guided and directed by the spirit of trueth in composing of them that not to beleeue them were impious Wherevpon Augustine writing to Hierome saith Ego solis eis scriptoribus qui Canonici appellantur didici hunc timorem honoremque deferre vt nullum eorum scribendo errasse firmissimè teneam at si quod in iis invenero quod videatur contrarium veritati nihil aliud existimem quà m mendosum esse codicem vel non esse assecutum interpretem quod dictum est vel me minimè intellexisse non ambigam alios autem ita lego vt quantalibet sanctitate doctrinâve polleant non ideo verum putem quia ita senserunt sed quia mihi per illos auctores canonicos vel probabiles rationes quod à vero non abhorreat persuadere potuerunt That is I haue learned to yeelde that reuerence and honour to those writers onely that are called Canonicall to thinke that
assembled in Generall councels rely not vpon any speciall and immediate revelations may easily be proued by sundry good and effectuall reasons For first whensoeuer we hope to come to know any thing by speciall and immediate revelation from God wee vse not to betake our selues to study and meditation but to prayer onely and other good workes or at least principally to these Whence it is that Daniel when he hoped to obtaine of GOD the interpretation of Nebuchadnezars dreame by speciall and immediate revelation did not exhort his companions and consorts by study to search out the secret he desired to know but by prayer and supplication to seeke it of GOD. And after hee had found out the secret hee sought for hee saide O God of my Fathers I confesse vnto thee and praise thee because thou hast giuen mee wisedome and strength and hast shewed vnto me those things which we desired of thee and hast opened vnto vs the word of the King Whence also it is that Christ promising-his Apostles that hee would reveale vnto them what they should speake when they should bee brought before Kings and Rulers willeth them To take no care how or what to speake for that it should bee revealed vnto them in that houre what they should speake It is not you that speake saith our Sauiour but the spirit of my Father that speaketh in you When as therefore wee hope to learne any thing of GOD by immediate revelation wee must not apply our selues to study and meditation but to prayer But when men meete in Generall councels to determine any doubt or question they principally giue themselues to meditation study and search therefore they hope not to bee taught of GOD by immediate revelation Secondly when wee desire to haue things made knowne vnto vs by immediate revelation from GOD wee goe not to them that are most learned but to them that are most devout and religious whether they bee learned or vnlearned whether of the cleargy or the Laity whether men or women because for the most part GOD revealeth his secrets not to them that are wiser more learned but to them that are better more religious and devout according to that of our Sauiour r I giue thee thankes O Father LORD of Heauen and Earth because thou hast hidde these things from the wise and men of vnderstanding and hast opened them vnto Babes And therefore the good King Iosias when hee desired by revelation to know the will of GOD touching the wordes of the volume that was found in the Temple hee sent Helkiah the High Priest to Huldah the Prophetesse and sought not concerning the wordes of the Law among the Priests whose lippes are to preserue knowledge and at whose mouth men ought to seeke the Law because though the Law bee to bee sought at the mouth of the Priest in all those things which may bee learned by study meditation search yet in those things that are to bee learned by revelation recourse must bee had to them that haue the spirit of prophecie if any such bee or else to them that are most holy and whose prayers are most acceptable vnto God Neither are men for satisfaction in these things rather to goe to the Priestes then to any Lay-man that is vtterly vnlearned But in councels men goe to them that are more learned and of better place in the church though they bee not the best and holyest men Therefore questions touching matters of faith are not determined in councels by immediate revelation If it be said that the Apostles and Elders in that first councell which is mentioned in the Actes relyed on the knowledge they had of the Scriptures and Trueth of GOD and did not wayte for a new immediate revelation and that therefore this kinde of reasoning will bring them within compasse of the same danger of erring that wee subiect their Successors vnto because they relye not vpon immediate revelation but search and study It will bee easily aunswered that though the Apostles and others assembled in that councell depended not vpon immediate revelation but the knowledge they had of the Scriptures and Trueth of GOD and thence inferred what was to be thought of the matter then in question yet were they not in danger of erring as their successours are because they relyed not on such imperfect knowledge as study meditatiō begets but such as divine revelatiō causeth to wit perfect absolute whēce they knew how to deriue the resolution of any doubt or question beeing specially assisted by the Spirit of Trueth Neither lette any man thinke that the Apostles assembled in this Councell were any way doubtfull what to resolue when they heard the matter proposed because there is mention made of great disputation in that meeting For as it may bee thought that questioning and disputing was among the Elders and Brethren and not among the Apostles the meanest of them being able to resolue a farre greater matter without any the least doubt or stay So that it is absurd that Melchior Canus from hence inferreth that the Decrees of this Councell wherein there was so great a dispute are not Canonicall Scripture any other wayes then the wordes of Pilate are because they are recorded by the Euangelists in the holy Scripture But to returne to the matter whence this obiection made vs digresse it is no way necessary to thinke that the Fathers are any otherwise directed by the Spirit of Trueth in Generall Councels then in Patriarchicall Nationall or Prouinciall Seeing Generall Councells consist of such as come with instructions from Prouinciall Nationall and Patriarchicall Synodes must follow the same in making Decrees as hath beene shewed before and consequently that they are not led to the finding out of the trueth in any speciall sort or manner beyond that generall influence that is required to the performance of euery good worke So that as God assisting Christian men in the Church onely in a generall sort to the performance of the workes of vertue there are euer some wel-doers and yet no particular man doth alwayes well and there is no degree or kinde of Morall vertue commanded in the Law but is attained by some one or other at one time or other one excelling in one thing and another in another yet no particular man or company of men hath all degrees and perfections of vertue as Hierome fitly noteth against the Pelagians so in like sort God assisting Christian men in the Church in seeking out the truth only in generall sort as in the performance of the actions of vertue not by immediate reuelation and inspiration as in the Apostles times there are euer some that hold and professe all necessary truth though no one man or company of men doe find the truth euer and in all thinges nor any assurance can be had of any particular men that they should alwayes hold all necessary truthes And therefore we may safely conclude that
it Thirdly whatsoeuer the most famous in euery age haue constantly delivered as matter of faith receiued from them that went before them in such sort that the gain-sayers were in their beginnings noted for singularity nouelty and diuision and in processe of time if they persisted in such contradiction charged with heresie which is as much as any Papist doth say And then insteed of shewing that I attribute not soe much to the Fathers as I should do or as Papists doe hee turneth himselfe to shew that such consent of Fathers as I speake of is no sure direction for the finding out of the trueth Soe ouer-throwing all that which his owne Diuines haue deliuered touching this point But yet that he may seeme to say something to the purpose he goeth about to proue that I bereaue the Fathers almost of all authority First in that I reiect their testimonies touching all other matters but onely certaine principall and substantiall points Secondly in that I require such a generall consent as can hardly be found touching such principall points Thirdly in that I make the whole Church subiect to error For answere vnto these Allegations I say The first is a shamelesse vntruth For I do not limitte or restraine the consent of the Fathers to certaine principall or substantiall points as hee mis-reporteth Mee but make the same to bee a direction in all thinges that may be cleerely deduced from the rule of faith and word of diuine and heauenly trueth answerably to that of Vincentius Lyrinensis that the consent of holy Fathers is with great studie and care to be sought out and followed by vs not in all petite questions that may bee moued concerning the Diuine law but onely or at the least specially in thinges pertaining to the rule of Faith with whom Pererius agreeth To the second I say that I require no other consent of Fathers then Vincentius Lyrinensis doth who will haue vs onely to followe that doctrine of the Fathers as certaine which all with one consent haue holden written and taught that haue written of such thinges Neither doth this worthy Treatiser admitte any other consent then I require for in this same chapter hee hath these wordes They will obiect that euery one of the Fathers was subiect to errour I confesse it but yet God according to his promise as I haue aboue declared was so to direct and gouerne them that they should not all erre This consent of the Fathers wee make to be a Rule of direction but yet not so generally and absolutely as if truth could not at any time be found out without it but so that wee must not neglect the knowledge of it nor goe against it when wee know it Neither is it necessary for the knowledge hereof as the Treatiser obiecteth to read ouer all the Fathers for the constant concurrence of the principall in all ages without noted contradiction doth suffice to assure vs of such consent The third allegation is partly vntrue and partly inconsequent it is vntrue in that hee sayth I thinke all the Pastours of the present Church may erre in matters of greatest momeÌ„t It is incoÌ„sequeÌ„t because though the whole preseÌ„t Church may erre in some things not pertaining to the rule of faith and Generall Councels in matters of greatest consequence yet it followeth not that the Fathers of all times and places may be thought to haue erred seeing this succession of Fathers is of greater authority then the company of Pastors that now are Neither is it consequent that if error may possesse the greatest part or almost all the present Church that it may bee Catholike also and so found euery where and euer The former Vincentius Lyrinensis yeeldeth to bee possible but disclaimeth the latter and therefore prescribeth that if error creepe into one part of the Church wee should looke vnto other that if it endeauour to staine and defile all we should looke vp higher vnto antiquity and that if some haue erred amongst the Auncient we should looke what all not noâ—…d for singularity did teach §. 2. WHerefore let vs proceed to that which followeth in the next place first hee reporteth what I haue written touching the ground of that perswasion which we haue of the trueth of thinges contayned in Scripture and then taketh exceptions to it In the report first he sayth that I make the principall cause of our beleefe of thinges contained in the bookes of holy Scripture to be the habit or light of faith Secondly that besides the habit or light of faith I require reasons or motiues by force whereof the spirit of God may settle the mind of a man in the perswasion of the trueth of things contained in Scripture that might otherwise be doubted of Thirdly that I make this motiue or reason in some things to bee the evidence of the things themselues in the light of grace in other not so evident vnto vs the authority of God himselfe whom we doe most certainely discerne to speake in the word of Faith preached vnto vs. These things I confesse are deliuered by Mee and rightly collected by him out of that which I haue written Yet doth hee wrong some other of the same iudgment with Me touching this point in that he saith vntruly they reject all supernaturall habits so goeth about to make a difference betweene them and Mee in this respect whereas in truth and in deede there is none But what is that the good man doth or can dislike in this my discourse First hee vndertaketh to proue that neither the evidence of the things contained in Scriptures in themselues presupposing the light of grace nor the authoritie of God himselfe discerned to speake can be sufficient motiues whereby the spirit of God may settle vs in the perswasioÌ„ of the truth of such things as are therein coÌ„tained Whereas yet I think if he were asked what the motiues are by force whereof the spirit doth effect this work if these be not he would not easily giue any answer but how doth he demoÌ„strate the insufficiencie of these motiues Surely very weakly insufficiently For first thus he reasoneth against them if these motiues were of sufficiencie euery one enlightned by the light of grace should by vertue of them bee perswaded of the Heauenly Trueth of all such things as are contained in the books of God which is a very bad inference For by the like kinde of reasoning it may bee prooued that the evidence of things in the light of nature is not the motiue or inducement that causeth our perswasion touching such things as are knowne in naturall knowledge because all that haue the light of naturall reason are not rightly perswaded concerning all such things which no wise man will allow So that as it is not to be imputed to the defect of evidence in the things that are to be knowne in naturall knowledge which should settle the perswasion that all men are not rightly perswaded of
OF THE CHURCH FIVE BOOKES BY RICHARD FIELD DOCTOR OF DIVINITY AND SOMETIMES DEANE OF GLOCESTER THE SECOND EDITION VERY MVCH AVGmented in the third booke and the Appendix to the same ·PECCATA·TOLLE·QVI·EMISTI·O·AGNE·DEI·IESV·CHRISTE ECCE·AGN DEI AT OXFORD Imprinted by WILLIAM TVRNER Printer to the famous Vniuersity 1628. TO THE ILLVSTRIOVS PRINCE THE DVKE OF BVCKINGAM HIS GRACE LORD HIGH ADMIRALL OF ENGLAND c. RIGHT HONOURABLE THat especiall fauour which your Grace was pleased to shew vnto the Author of this worke while he liued hath imboldned me to commend the worke it selfe as it is now inlarged vnto your Gracious protection And though the Authors particular obligement had not directed me in my choyce I know not vnto whom I might more fitly haue presented it then vnto your Grace who in a more peculiar manner then others haue vndertaken the protection of Schollers One example amongst many this Author might haue beene had hee liued but a little longer of your honourable care for the aduancement of learning and encouragement of Schollers The volume which I present vnto your Grace for the bulke and bignesse is not great especially if it be compared with the writings of our Aduersaries whose voluminous workes would make the ignorant beleeue that they had ingrossed all learning vnto themselues But asmany times wee may find in little men that strength of body and vigour of mind which is wanting in those of greater stature so experience telleth vs that amongst bookes the greatest are not alwaies the best Saepius in libro memoratur Persius vno Quam leuis in tota Marsus Amazonide And those that are acquainted with the writings of our Aduersaries are not ignorant how for the most part their great volumes are stuffed If a man will take the paines to reade them like those that digge in mines for gold he must expect to finde paruum in magno but a little gold in a great deale of vnprofitable earth Of this worke I thinke I might safely say thus much that it compriseth much in a little but I intend not a Panegyrique in the praise thereof If I giue it not that praise which it deserues my neare relation vnto the Author may be my excuse seeing whatsoeuer I should say would seeme rather to proceede from affection then judgment VVhat my opinion of it is I thinke I haue sufficiently expressed in that I haue thought it not vnworthy your Graces patronage And thus praying for the continuance of your Graces prosperous and happy estate I remaine Your Graces most humbly obliged seruant NATHANIEL FIELD TO THE MOST REVEREND FATHER IN GOD MY VERY GOOD LORD THE LORD Arch-bishop of CANTERBVRY his Grace Primate and Metropolitan of all England MOst Reuerend in Christ the consideration of the vnhappie diuisions of the Christian world and the infinite distractions of mens mindes not knowing in soe great variety of opinions what to thinke or to whom to joyne themselues euery faction boasting of the pure sincere profession of heauenly truth challenging to it selfe alone the name of the Church and fastning vpon all that dissent or are otherwise minded the hatefull note of Schisme and Heresie hath made me euer thinke that there is no part of heauenly knowledge more necessary than that which concerneth the Church For seeing the controuersies of Religion in our time are growne in number so many and in nature so intricate that few haue time and leasure fewer strength of vnderstanding to examine them what remaineth for men desirous of satisfaction in things of such consequence but diligently to search out which amongst all the societies of men in the world is that blessed company of holy ones that houshold of faith that Spouse of Christ and Church of the liuing God which is the Pillar and ground of truth that so they may embrace her communion follow her directions and rest in her iudgement Hence it commeth that all wise and iudicious men do more esteeme bookes of doctrinall principles than those that are written of any other argument and that there was neuer any treasure holden more rich and precious by all them that knew how to prize and value things aright than bookes of prescription against the profane nouelties of Heretiques for that thereby men that are not willing or not able to examine the infinite differences that arise amongst men concerning the faith haue generall directions what to follow and what to avoid Wee admitte no man sayth Tertullian in his booke of prescriptions to any disputation concerning sacred and diuine things or to the scanning and examining of particular questions of Religion vnlesse hee first shew vs of whom he receiued the faith by whose meanes he became a Christian and whether hee admitte and hold the generall principles wherein all Christians do and euer did agree otherwise prescribing against him as a stranger from the common-wealth of the Israel of God and hauing no part nor fellowship in this businesse But as in the daies of the Fathers the Donatists and other Heretickes including the Church within the compasse of Africa and such other parts of the world where they their consorts found best entertainment reiected all other from the vnity of the Church excluded them from hope of saluation and appropriated all the glorious things that are spoken of it to themselues alone soe in our time there are some found so much in loue with the pompe and glory of the Church of Rome that they feare not to condemne all the inhabitants of the world and to pronounce them to be Anathema from the Lord Iesus if they dissent from that Church and the doctrine profession and obseruations of it So casting into hell all the Christians of Graecia Russia Armenia Syria and Aethiopia because they refuse to be subiect to the tyranny of the Pope and the Court of Rome besides the heauie sentence which they haue passed against all the famous States and Kingdomes of Europe which haue freed themselues from the Aegyptiacall bondage they were formerly holden in These men abuse many with the glorious pretences of antiquity Vnity Vniuersality Succession and the like making the simple beleeue that all is ancient which they professe that the consent of all ages is for them and that the Bishops succeeding one another in all the famous Churches of the world neuer taught nor beleeued any other thing than they now doe whereas it is easie to proue that all the things wherein they dissent from vs are nothing else but nouelties and vncertaineties that the greatest part of the Christian world hath beene diuided from them for certaine hundreds of yeares that none of the most famous and greatest Churches euer knew or admitted any of their heresies and that the things they now publish as Articles of faith to be beleeued by all that will bee saued are so farre from being Catholike that they were not the doctrines of that Church wherein they and wee sometimes liued together in one communion but the opinions onely of
require inward qualities in a man before hee can be at all of the Church but before hee can bee fully of the mysticall bodie of Christ. We say therefore that all they are of the Church that outwardly hold the faith of Christ and that that society wherein the sincere outward professiâ—… of the truth of God is preserued is that true Church of God whose commâ—…on we must imbrace that happy mother in whose wombe we are conceiuâ—… with whose milke we are nourished to whose censures we must submit our selues And so it is vntrue that the same Bellarmine imputeth vnto vs charging vs that we affirme that none of the priviledges which Christ hath bestowed on his Church do pertaine to the Church generally considered but only to that more speciall nuÌ„ber of the elect of God who coÌ„municate in the benefits of effectual sauing grace which who they are is known to none but God only For though we know they were all granted for their sakes do benefit them only yet we say not that they pertaine only vnto them For whereas there are 4 sorts of things pertaining and belonging to the Church to wit First the promises of euerlasting loue mercie secondly the knowledge of God and meanes of saluation thirdly the ministery and dispensation of the word and sacraments and fourthly the performance of such duties as God requireth The first sort of things pertaine onely to the more speciall number of the elect of God the second to the whole multitude of Christians in generall the third to such as are lawfully called thereunto the fourth if they be generall duties pertaine to all if speciall to speciall degrees and sorts of men in the Church according to their severall differences Thus then wee see the divers considerations of the Church and the different condition of them that doe pertaine to it of whom it doth consist notwithstanding all which differences for that they all concurre in the same holy profession and vse of the same happy meanes of saluation they make one holy Catholicke Church in which onely the light of heauenly trueth is to be sought where only grace mercie remission of sinnes and hope of eternall happinesse are found Sola Catholica Ecclesia est quae verum Dei cultum retinet hic autem est fons veritatis hoc est domicilium fidei hoc templum Dei quod si quis non intrauerit vel à quo si quis exierit à spe vitae ac salutis aeternae alienus est It is only the Catholicke Church that hath the true worship and seruice of God this is the welspring of trueth the dwelling place of faith the temple of God into which whoso entreth not and from which whoso departeth is without all hope of life and eternall saluation CHAP. 12. Of the diuers sorts of them that haue not yet entred into the Church THey that haue not entred into this societie are of two sorts Infidels and Catechumens that is infidels and such as though they be beleeuers are not yet baptized The former are without of whom the Apostle speaketh when hee pronounceth that hee hath nothing to doe to iudge them that are without The latter for that they make profession of the trueth of God and with longing desires thirst after the full enjoying of the blessed communion of the Saints of God wishing for nothing more then by baptisme to be admitted into the family of Christ and houshold of faith are in vestibulo pietatis as Nazianzen noteth and are like children formed and fashioned in the wombe and come to the birth though not yet brought foorth And therefore the constant resolution almost of all Diuines is and hath beene that if without contempt and neglect by any vnauoidable impediment they bee hindered from enjoying the benefite of this sacramentall assurance of their adoption they doe notwithstanding the want thereof liue and die in the state of saluation These therefore are within as the Apostle speaketh though not by that solemne outward and sacramentâ—… admission which they doe desire yet in desire purpose and preparation fitting them vnto it which is so farre forth necessarie to saluation that no man euer was or shall be saued that either wilfully neglected or contemned the same And therefore it is not without great cause that Nazianzen in the place aboue mentioned taxeth the folly of some in his time who for that they knew the greatnesse of the benefit of grace which is receiued in baptisme which by no other meanes in so full and ample sort is bestowed on the scâ—…nes of men lest by the euils they might through humane frailtie easily runne into they should fall from it which could not in the same degree and measure be recouered againe deferred and put off their baptisme as long as they could so that some were lifted vp to Bishops chaires before by baptisme they had set one foote within the doores of the house of God not considering as he wisely obserueth that while they sought so providently to auoide the danger of loosing the benefits once receiued in Baptisme they did runne into as great or greater danger neuer to receiue the same And that if the feare of loosing the benefite of the grace of Baptisme once receiued may cause vs iustly to deferre the seeking and obtaining of it we may with as good reason deferre and put off to be Christians at all lest happily in time of persecution and triall we might fall away This was the fault of sundry in the Primitiue Church and which was yet more to be condemned many did therefore differre and put off their Baptisme that so whatsoeuer evill things they did in the meane time might in that Lauer of new birth be washed away thereby taking greater liberty to offend for that they had so present meanes of full remission and perfect reconciliation so making that which was ordained against sinne and for the weakening and ouerthrow of it to be an encouragement thereunto and to giue life and strength vnto it Seeing therefore wee are but in vestibulo pietatis while we remaine vnbaptized and our feete stand but in the outward courts of the Lord of hostes wee must not rest till we enter into his holy habitation till wee may looke into the holiest of all and behold his glorious presence in the middest of his Saints CHAP 13. Of the first sort of them that after their admission into the Church of God doe voluntarily depart and goe out from the same THey which after their entrance and admission into the house of God depart and goe out againe are of two sorts For either they depart of themselues leauing the fellowship and forsaking the faith as Schismatikes and Heretikes or else they are cast out by the censures of the guides of the Church for their wicked vngodly and scandalous conuersation as excommunicate persons and such as are enjoyned publike penance Concerning the first sort
perpetually proper CHAP. 2. Of the divers kindes of notes whereby the true Church is discerned from other societies of men in the world THere are presently and were formerly but three maine differences of religion in the world Paganisme Iudaisme and Christianity Paganisme is and was that state of religion and diuine worship wherein men hauing no other light than that of nature and the vncertaine traditions of their erring fathers to guide them did and doe change the trueth of God into a lie and worship and serue the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed for ever Iudaisme is that state of religion wherein men imbrace the Law which God gaue to the children of Abraham and sonnes of Iacob reforming heathenish impietie teaching saluation to bee looked for through one whom God would send in the last dayes and exalt to bee Lord ouer all Christianitie is the religion of them that beleeue Iesus Christ to be that Sauiour promised to the Iewes and acknowledge him to bee the sonne of the liuing God They which hold this profession are called the Church of Christ neither is there any other society or company of men in the world that professe so to beleeue but they only If we take a view of this Church respectiuely considered seeking onely to difference and distinguish it from the society of Pagan Infidels the profession of Diuine supernaturall and revealed verities is so found in the Church that not amongst any of these and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 respectiuely it is proper to the Church may serue as a note of difference distinguishing it from these profane and heathenish companies but from the Iewes it doeth not seuer it for it is common to it with them both holding the sacred profession of many heauenly and reuealed verities So that if we will distinguish Christians from Iewes we must finde out that which is so proper and peculiar to the companies and societies of Christians that it is not communicated to the Iewes Such is the profession of diuine verities reuealed in Christ whom onely these societies acknowledge to bee the sonne of God and Sauiour of the world But for that when neither heathenish superstition nor the Iewes perfidious impietie could any longer prevaile or resist against the knowledge and glory of Christ but that all the whole world went after him Sathan the enemie of mankinde stirred vp certaine turbulent wicked and godlesse men who professing themselues to bee Christians vnder the name of Christ brought in damnable doctrines of errour no lesse dangerously erring than did the Pagans and Iewes This profession of the faith of Christ though it distinguish the Christian Church from the Iewes and Pagans and is so farre proper vnto it that it is not found in any of them yet doth it not separate the multitude of right beleeuing Christians which is the sound part of the Christian Church and is named the Orthodoxe Church from seduced miscreants being common to both We must therefore further seeke out that which is so peculiarly found in the more speciall number of right beleeuing Christians that not in any other though shadowed vnder the generall name of Christianitie Such is the entire profession of diuine verities according to the rule of faith left by Christ and his first disciples and schollers the holy Apostles This entire profession of the trueth reuealed in Christ though it distinguish right beleeuers from Heretikes yet it is not proper to the happy number and blessed company of Catholike Christians because Schismatikes may and sometimes doe hold an entire profession of the trueth of God revealed in Christ. It remaineth therefore that wee seeke out those things that are so peculiarly found in the companies of right beleeuing and Catholike Christians that they may serue as notes of difference to distinguish them from all both Pagans Iewes Heretikes and Schismatikes These are of two sorts for either they are such as onely at sometemes and not perpetually or such as doe perpetually and euer seuer the true Church from all conuenticles of erring and seduced misereants Of the former sort was multitude largenesse of extent and the name of Catholike esteemed a note of the Church in the time of the Fathers The notes of the later sort that are inseparable perpetuall and absolutely proper and peculiar which perpetually distinguish the true Catholike Church from all other societies of men and professions of religions in the world are three First the entire profession of those supernaturall verities which God hath reuealed in Christ his sonne secondly the vse of such holy ceremonies sacraments as hee hath instituted and appointed to serue as prouocations to godlinesse preseruations from sinne memorialls of the benefits of Christ warrants for the greater securitie of our beleefe and markes of distinction to separate his owne from strangers thirdly an vnion or connexion of men in this profession and vse of these sacraments vnder lawfull pastours and guides appointed authorised sanctified to direct and leade them in the happy wayes of eternall saluation That these are notes of the Church it will easily appeare by consideration of all those conditions that are required in the nature of notes They are inseparable they are proper and they are essentiall and such things as giue being to the Church and therefore are in nature more cleare and evident and such as that from them the perfect knowledge of the Church may and must be deriued Notwithstanding for that our aduersaries take exception to them I will first examine their obiections and secondly proue that neither they nor any other that know what they write or speake can or doe assigne any other And because Bellarmine and Stapleton haue taken most paines in this Argument I will therefore propose the obiections I finde in them assuring my selfe that there are not any other of moment to be found in the writings of any other of that side CHAP. 3. Of Bellarmines reasons against the notes of the Church assigned by vs. BEllarmine his first obiection is By these notes we know not who are elect therefore by these we doe not certainely know which is the true Church The consequence of this reason we denie as being most fond and false He proveth it in this sort The Church according to the doctrine of the Protestants is onely the number of the elect and therefore if the elect be not knowen and discerned by these from the reprobate and castawayes the Church cannot bee knowen by them But the Antecedent of this argument is likewise false as appeareth by that which I haue formerly delivered touching the nature and being of the Church for we doe not say that the Church consisteth onely of the elect but principally intentionally and finally For otherwise it consisteth of all that partake in the outward calling of grace and enjoying of the meanes of saluation and so may be knowen by these notes For that society doubtlesse hath enioyeth the meanes of saluation
in these words The Grecians are of opinion that the holy Ghost is the spirit of the Sonne but that hee proceedeth not from the Son but from the Father onely yet by the Son and this opinion seemeth to bee contrary to ours For wee say the holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father the Son But happily if two wise and vnderstanding men the one of the Greeke Church the other of the Latine both true louers of the trueth and not of their owne sayings because they are their owne might meete to consider of this seeming contrariety it would in the end appeare that this difference indeede and in trueth is not reall but verball onely For otherwise either the Grecians or wee that are of the Latine Church are truely Heretickes But who dares charge this Authour Iohn Damascen or those blessed ones Basil Gregorie the Diuine or Gregorie Nazianzen Cyril and other Greeke Fathers of like esteeme with heresie And again on the other side who dares brand blessed Hierome Augustine Ambrose Hilarie and other like Latine Fathers with the note of heresie Therefore it is likely that though there be contrariety in the words of these fathers so that they seem to bee contrary one to another yet in judgement meaning they agree Stanislaus Orichovius as Andreas Fricius reporteth a man renowned for wit eloquence profound science in divers kinds hath written of the opinions of the Russians and in an epistle to Peter Gamrat an Archbishoppe in Polonia he sheweth how the differences touching the proceeding of the holy Ghost where they seeme especially to bee contrary vnto vs may bee agreed and composed Thomas à Iesu resolueth cleerely that this question touching the proceeding of the holy Ghost is onely de modo loquendi and that the difference is not reall which hee sheweth to be true in this sort The Greekes who deny the holy Ghost to proceede from the Sonne acknowledge that hee is the spirit of the Sonne and that hee is given vnto vs by the Sonne Wee doe not say sayth Damascen that the holy Ghost proceedeth from the Sonne but wee name him the spirit of the Son If any man sayth the Apostle haue not the spirit of Christ hee is none of his And wee affirme that hee appeared by the Sonne was given vnto vs by him for hee breathed vpon his disciples sayd vnto them receiue the holy Ghost but wee neuer say that the Sonne is the son of the holy Ghost or proceedeth from him They teach therefore that the spirit is proceedeth from the Father by the Son as the brightnesse is from the Sun by the beame And that as wee may say the brightnesse is the brightnesse of the Sun-beame aswell as of the Sun but not that the beame is the beame of that brightnesse so the spirit is the spirit of the Son but the Son is not the son of the spirit So then they say the holy Ghost proceedeth or receiueth essence being from the Father onely as from the originall fountaine but by the Son as a middle person in order of subsistence betweene them receiving being immediatly from the Father so mediately deriving cōmunicating it to him Neither Greekes nor Latines therefore deny the holy Ghost to receiue being essence from the Sonne and consequently to proceede from him as from a middle person in order of subsistence betweene the Father him in such sort as the brightnesse that floweth from the sun is from the sun-beame betweene the sun and it Neither of them deny the Father to be the fountaine and the originall as the sunne is the fountaine whence floweth both the beame brightnesse of light And both agree that the Father from whom the Sonne by whom the spirit receiueth being are one cause or one beginning and that by one eternall breathing the spirit receiueth essence or subsistence from them both in such sort as the sonne and beame are one cause and doe by one action send forth that shining brightnesse that floweth from them By that which hath beene spoken sayth Thomas à Iesu it is easie to vnderstand that those Greekes which seeme to differ from the Latines differ but in words only and that the Churches may easily be brought to a reconciliation and agreement if they will but endeavour to vnderstand each the other But the Latines and those Greekes that agree with them speake more fitly expresse the thing whereof they speake better then the other Howsoever it is certaine that some of the Fathers expressed that they conceiued of this mystery in one sort and some in another Tertullian sayth the holy spirit is from the Father by the Son his words are Spiritum non aliunde puto quam a Patre per Filium Hilarie sayth he is from the Father and the Son His words are de patre filio authoribus confitendus est c. When the holy spirit is sent sayth Hierom he is sent of the Father and the Son and in Scripture hee is called sometimes the spirit of the Father sometimes of the Son And again Spiritus à Patre egreditur propter naturae societatem à filio mittitur That is the spirit proceedeth from the Father and in that he is of the same nature and essence with the Son he is sent of him Why should wee not beleeue sayth Augustine that the holy spirit proceedeth from the Sonne also seeing hee is the spirit of the Sonne The Greekes say not expressely that hee proceedeth from the Father and the Sonne for in the creede of Athanasius as it is found in the Greeke the words are the spirit is of the Father not made nor created nor begotten but proceeding without the addition of the Sonne But some of them say he is or receiued being from the Father that he appeared by the Son and is a perfect image of the Son Others that not only the Father but the Son also sendeth the holy spirit Some that hee proceedeth from the Father and receiueth of the Sonne And others that hee is from the Father by the Sonne In all which diversitie of words and formes of speaking there was one the same meaning and therefore no exception was taken by one against another But the controversie that now is touching this point began in this sort The first publishers of the Gospell of Christ deliuered a rule of faith to the Christian Churches which they founded comprehending all those articles that are found in that epitome of Christian religion which wee call the Apostles creed But in processe of time when Arrius and his complices questioned the deity of Christ and denied him so to bee the sonne of God as to bee coequall coeternall and coessentiall with the father Constantine called a Councell and assembled the Bishops of the Christian world at Nice a city in Bithinia these Bishops cleared the poynt in controversie and with vnanimous consent composed a
daies For behold there are many that peruert the holy Scriptures and deny the sayings of the holy Fathers reiecte the Canons of the Church and ciuill constitutions of the Emperours which molest persecute bring into bondage and without mercy torment and afflict euen vnto death them that defend the trueth And that I may conclude many things in fewe words with harlâ—…ttes foreheades and execrable boldnesse doe endeavour to subuert imperiall and regall power and to ouerthrow all lawes both of GOD and man Neither are these young men or vnlearned but they are the elders of the people High Priests Scribes Pharises and Doctours of the Law as they were that crucified Christ so that wee may rightly say of our times that which Daniel long since pronounced in his 13 Chapter Iniquity is gone out from Babylon from the elders and iudges which seemed to governe and rule the people For many that should bee pillars in the Church of God and defend the truth euen vnto bloud doe cast themselues headlong into the pit of heresies Thus spake he in his time of the corrupt 〈◊〉 of the Church wherein so damnable a faction prevailed daungerously pervâ—…ting all things that in the end he submitteth all his writings to the judgment correction of the true and Catholicke Church but not of the Church of malignant miscreants heretickes schismatickes and their favourers CHAP. 9. Of an Apostasie of some in the Church THus then we thinke with Lira that as there was an Apostasie or revolt of many kingdomes from the Romane Empire and of many Churches from the communion of the Romane Church so there hath beene an Apostasie from the Catholick faith in the midst of the Church not for that all at any time did forsake the true faith but for that many fell from the sinceritie of the faith according to the saying of our Sauiour a when the time of Antichrist draweth on iniquity shall abound and the charity of many shall waxe cold and that 1 Timoth. 4 In the last times some shall depart from the faith attending to spirits of errour and 2 Timoth. 3. In the last dayes there shall bee perilous times men shall be louers of themselues men of corrupt mindes reprobâ—…e concerning the faith This hee speaketh of an Apostasie in the middest of the Church it selfe answerably to that of â— Nazianzen who saith that as when one taketh water into his hand not onely that which hee taketh not vp but that also which runneth forth and findeth passage betweene his fingers is divided and separated from that which he holdeth inclosed in his hand so not onely the open and professed enemies of the Catholicke verity but they also that seeme to bee her best and greatest friends are sometimes divided one from another There is no cause then why it should seeme so strange to our Adversaries that our Divines affirme there hath beene an Apostasie from the Faith not of the whole Church but of many in the Church dangerously erring and adulterating the Doctrine of Faith deliuered by Christ and his blessed Apostles And that some say this Apostasie began sooner some later For if wee speake of those grossest illusions wherewith men were abused in these latter ages surely that degree of Apostasie did not enter into the Church in former times For there was no thought in any Christian man liuing sixe hundred yeares agoe that the Pope could dispense the merits of the Saints and giue pardons that hee might depose Princes for supposed heresie that the Sacrament not receiued but elevated gazed on and adored is a sacrifice propitiatorie for the quicke and the dead that Mary was conceiued without originall sinne that the people are to be partakers of the Sacrament but onely in one kinde and sundry other things of like nature But if we speake of a declination from the sincerity of the Christian Faith it is certaine it began long agoe euen in the first ages of the Church Of this sorte was the errour that the soules of the iust are in some part of hell till the last day as Tertullian Irenaeus and sundry other of the auncient did imagine that they see not God nor enjoy not heauens happines till the generall resurrection which was the opinion of many of the Fathers That all Catholicke Christians how wickedly soeuer they liue yet holding the foundation of true Christian profession shall in the end after great torments endured in the world to come be saued as it were by fire This was the errour of sundry of the auncient who durst not say as Origen that the Angels that fell shall in the end be restored nor as some other mollifying the hardnesse of Origens opinion that all men whether Christians or Infidells nor as a third sorte that all Christians how damnably soeuer erring in matter of faith shall in the end be saued but thought it most reasonable that all right beleeuing Christians should find mercy whatsoeuer their wickednesse were This opinion was so generall in Augustines time that very fearefully he opposed himselfe against it and not daring wholly to impugne that which he found to haue so great and reuerend authours he qualified it what he could and so doubtingly broached that opinion which gaue occasion to the Papists of their heresie touching Purgatory For saith he if they would onely haue vs thinke that the soules of men liuing wickedly heere in this World may through the goodnesse of God and the prayers of the liuing find some mitigation of their paines in hell or haue their punishments suspended and differred for a time yet so that they be confessed to be eternall I would not striue with them yea saith he it may be that men for some lighter sinnes and imperfections cleauing to them while they are here may finde pardon remission in the world to come and be saued as by fire which whether it be so or whether there be no other purging but in this life by the fire of tribulation he professeth he knoweth not nor dareth not pronounce Of this sorte was the opinion of a double resurrection the first of the good who should liue in all happinesse on the earth a thousand yeares before the wicked should be awaked out of the sleepe of death and another after the thousand yeares expired when the wicked also should rise and goe into euerlasting fire and the good into euerlasting life which they supposed to bee the second resurrection How generally this errour spread it selfe in the true Church they that haue but looked into the writings of the fathers and monuments of antiquitie cannot bee ignorant The opinioÌ„ of the necessity of infants receiuing the sacrament of the Lords body and blood as well as Baptisme did possesse the mindes of many in the Church for certaine hundreds of yeares as appeareth by that Augustine writeth of it in his time and Hugo de sancto victore so
liue at one time and may be limited also in respect of place for it is not necessary that the Church be in all places at one time but it sufficeth if it bee successiuely Fiftly vniuersality may be a note of the true Church in respect of particular societies of Christians limited in time and place though not by hauing it yet by demonstrating themselues to pertaine to the vnity of that Church that hath it This no particular Church can do but by prouing that it holdeth the common faith once deliuered to the Saints without hereticall innouation or schismaticall violation of the vnity and peace of the Christian world This being the way for particular Churches to demonstrate themselues to be Catholike by prouing they hold the Catholike faith it is easie from hence to conclude that the reformed Churches are the Catholike Churches of God First for that that being Catholike as Vincentius Lirinensis defineth it which is and hath beene holden at all times and in all places by all Christians that haue not beene noted for noueltie singularity and diuision whatsoeuer hath beene so receiued wee receiue as the vndoubted truth of God neither is there any of the things which wee impugne and the Papists defend that is Catholike but they all carry the markes of nouelty and vncertainty Secondly touching the communion the people of God should haue among themselues our aduersaries shall neuer proue that wee haue at any time giuen occasion of those breaches that now appeare But wee will proue against them that they haue and so the note of Vniuersality maketh nothing for them or against vs. Touching the name of Catholike devised to expresse those both men and societies of men which hold the common faith without faction or division I haue spoken sufficiently in the former part touching the notes of the Church and so need not here to insist vpon it Thus haue we runne through the examination of the principall notes of the Church assigned by our adversaries but because they adde vnto these certaine other I will briefly examine their proofs taken from thence for themselues or against vs. CHAP. 44. Of the Sanctity of Doctrine and the supposed absurdities of our profession THese notes are Sanctity and efficacie of doctrine our own confession miracles and predictions the felicity and infelicity of such as defend or impugne the trueth and lastly the holy and religious conversation of the Professours of the truth Let vs take a view of these in such sort and order as they are proposed by them They place in the front the Sanctity and efficacie of doctrine A lyer they say should haue a good memory but surely our adversaries of all the lyers that euer were haue the worst memories by reason whereof euery second page of their writings if not euery second line is a refutation of the first Bellarmine divideth his tract of the notes of the Church into two parts In the first he sheweth what things are required in the notes of the Church and there he saith trueth and Sanctity of doctrine is no note of the Church In the latter he doth particularly assigne the notes whereby he supposeth the Church may be knowne and reckoneth truth sanctitie and efficacie of doctrine amongst the rest But let vs pardon him this ouersight and see how he proueth by this note that we are not and that their faction is the true Church of God Our doctrine is false absurd and vnreasonable and theirs full of truth reason and equitie Therefore our Churches are not the true Churches of God and theirs are Both parts of the Antecedent of this argument we deny For he shall neuer bee able to proue the absurdities he imputeth vnto vs but we are able to demonstrate against him that the whole course of Popish doctrine is most absurd false and impious But least hee should seeme to say nothing hee produceth foure instances wherein he supposeth there is apparant and very grosse absurditie The first he proposeth in this sort The Protestants teach that a man is justified by speciall faith whereby he perswadeth himselfe that he is just Now then he reasoneth thus When men beginne to beleeue either they are just and then their faith justifieth not being in nature after their justification and finding them already just when it beginneth or else they are not just and then speciall faith making a man beleeue he is just is false and so a man is justified by a lye To this horned argument wee answere that speciall faith hath sundry actes but to this purpose specially two the one by way of petition humbly intreating for acceptation and fauour the other in the nature of comfortable assurance consisting in a perswasion that that is graunted which was desired Faith by her first act obtaineth and worketh our justification and doeth not finde vs just when wee beginne to beleeue by her second act shee doeth not actiuely justifie but finding the thing done certifieth and assureth vs of it and so is no lying perswasion as this lying companion is pleased to pronounce it to bee So then speciall faith in her first act which is a kinde of petition is before justification and procureth or obtaineth it but then shee hath not the perswasion of it in her second act shee presupposeth the thing done and already obtayned and so truely perswadeth the beleeuer of it but procureth not the doing of it The second palpable and grosse absurdity of the Protestants doctrine is that it is not lawfull to say the Lords prayer This the Cardinall proueth because no man of the Protestants Religion can without dissimulation aske forgiuenesse of sinnes which is one of the principall petitions of that prayer This petition they cannot make because they hold that all right beleeuing and iustified men are without sinne and know themselues so to be and therefore cannot be excusable from vile dissimulation and mocking of God in asking the remission of their sinnes The impudencie of this imputation is such as I thinke all moderate Papists are ashamed of it For doth any of vs thinke that the iustified man is voyd of all sinne Or is it consequent if a man know himselfe to be iustified that then he may not aske remission of his sins Doe not many right learned and wise amongst themselues teach that a man may be sure he is in state of grace and iustification by the ordinary working of Gods spirit and doe not all Papists thinke that by speciall reuelation men may be sure they are in state of grace as Paul and sundry others were Doe all these teach that men thus assured of their iustification know themselues to haue no sin consequently nothing whereof they should aske forgiuenesse Surely herein I thinke both they we agree that in the iustified the dominion of sinne ceaseth sin hath no longer dominion ouer them that proportionably the guilt of condemnation is taken away but that there are still remainders of sin in them
hee beleeueth whatsoeuer the judgement of the Pope bee And yet the same men which thus teach doe say it is no matter of faith to acknowledge or not to acknowledge the infallibility of the Popes judgement and that a man may bee a true Catholicke that thinketh the Pope may erre These two assertions are directly contradictorie The first they embrace because they find the authoritie Papall to be the surest stay of all their false faith and Antichristian profession and the second they are forced vnto because they dare not condemne so many famous renowned and great Divines as haue beene of that opinion as Durandus Gerson Cameracensis Almaine Waldensis and innumerable moe By this their contradicting of themselues not yet knowing whereon to ground their faith it is evident they haue no faith at all Secondly if wee should graunt them to haue any faith yet will it bee found to be Sophisticall or meerely humane For the reason ground and cause of their perswasion touching things Divine is the testimony of the Church infallibly led into all truth and that there is a Church thus ledde into all trueth whose testimony is vndoubtedly certaine and true they beleeue because the Church telleth them so as if a man should beleeue the reports of such a man because he is wise faithfull and honest and beleeue him to be so onely because he saith so To avoide this Sophisticall circulation sundry of the Schoolemen doe freely confesse that the ground of their faith is nothing else but the multitude and consent of men nations and people agreeing in the profession of it and consequently that it is meerely an humane perswasion and that they haue no faith at all which alwayes stayeth it selfe vpon the certainty of the first trueth Thirdly they teach that mortall men are neuer bound to giue GOD thankes for the greatest benefite that is bestowed on them in this world Nay that to giue him thankes for it were grievous sinne This is most evident for the greatest benefite of all other is justification but for this no man may giue God thankes because no man knoweth whether hee hath receiued it or not nor can assure himselfe of it without intollerable and inexcusable presumption Nay some of these seducers are not ashamed to write that euery man is bound to doubt of it with so fearefull doubting as may cause trembling applying that place of the Apostle to that purpose Worke out your saluation with feare and trembling Now I thinke hee which should come to God and giue him thankes for that which whether hee hath receiued or not hee is so doubtfull that he trembleth for feare should but mocke God and mistake his owne meaning Fourthly they hold that Paul and so many more as knew certainely they were in state of justification did sinne damnably in saying the Lords Prayer and that they did as foolishly as if a man should come to God and aske of him the creation of the world which was made long agoe CHAP. 46. Of the efficacie of the Churches doctrine THus were it most easie for vs to shew in many other particulars that the course of their doctrine is full of palpable absurdities But let these few instances suffice and let vs passe from the sanctity of the Churches doctrine to that the Iesuite addeth touching the efficacy of it where he affirmeth two things the first that heretickes neuer conuert any from infidelity to the faith the second that the Church of Rome hath conuerted This which the Iesuite so confidently deliuereth is partly false and partly to no purpose at all For whereas hee sayth heretickes neuer convert any from infidelity to Christianity the conuersion of the Moscouites by the Greeke Church at that time when it was in his iudgment hereticall and schismaticall abundantly refuteth him besides some other examples that might be alleadged Touching the other part of his speech that the Church of Rome hath conuerted many nations to the faith it maketh nothing to the purpose For wee haue already shewed that wee doubt not but the Church in which the Bishop of Rome with more than Lucifer-like pride exalted himselfe was notwithstanding the true Church of God that it held a sauing profession of the trueth in Christ and by force thereof did conuert many from errour to the way of trueth yet was not the state of that Church such but that a damnable faction of wicked ones was found in the midst of it who being the vassals of that cursed Antichrist adulterated the trueth of God and brought his people into a miserable estate holding men in worse then Babylonical captiuity These men the Romanists succeed at this day For the clearing of this matter see that which I haue noted before to this purpose CHAP. 47 Of the Protestants pretended confession that the Romane Church is the true Church of God THe next note whereby Bellarmine endeuoureth to proue the Romish Synagogue to be the true Church of God is our owne confession Surely if he can proue that we confesse it to be the true Church he needeth not vse any other arguments Let vs see therefore how hee proueth that we confesse the Romane Church to be the true Church of God Luther sayth he clearely yeeldeth it Caluin and others in effect acknowledge the same This wee deny for neither Luther nor Calvin nor any of vs doe acknowledge that the Popish religion is true religion or the Romish faction the Orthodoxe Church of God It is true indeede that Luther writing against the Anabaptists doth affirme that the life of true Christianity was preserued in the middest of those Churches wherein the Pope did formerly tyrannize which thing we haue more fully cleared before But that any part of that doctrine the reformed Churches haue reiected was to be accounted the doctrine of the Church or that those wicked ones in whose steppes the Romanists at this day doe insist peruerting the strait wayes of God and adulterating his heauenly trueth were liuely members of the Church Luther did neuer so much as dreame That which is alleadged out of Caluin touching Bernard and other holy men liuing dying in the Romane Church is to no purpose For we neuer doubted but that the Churches wherein those holy men did liue and die were the true Churches of God and held the sauing profession of heavenly trueth though there were innumerable in the middest of them that adulterated the same to their endlesse perdition whose successours the Romanists are at this day There is therefore a great difference to be made betweene the Church wherein our Fathers formerly liued and that faction of the Popes adherents which at this day resist against the necessary reformation of the Churches of God and make that their faith and religion which in former times was but the priuate and vnresolued opinion of some certaine onely In former times a man might hold the generall doctrine of those Churches wherein our Fathers liued and be
worthy Scofferius whose true report wee oppose against the wicked and vile slaunders of that base and branded runnagate Bolsecus That Zuinglius died in the field with his Countrey-men in defence of their liues liberties and Religion is no certaine note as I take it that his Religion was false but rather an excellent proofe and demonstration of the Christian magnanimitie and resolution that rested in him How infortunate they haue beene in their attempts how vnhappy in their endes that haue most opposed themselues against the trueth of that Religion which wee professe we are able to produce many examples CHAP. 52. Of the Sanctity of the liues of them that are of the true Church THe last note of the Church assigned by them is the sanctitie holinesse and good conversation of such as are of it In assigning of this note as in some of the former they shew how sweetly they conspire and agree together For Cardinall Allen in his preface before his booke of Purgatory confesseth that by the guile and craftie conveyance of our common enemie the diuell falsehood is often so cloaked in shadow and shape of truth and the masters thereof make such shew of vertue and godly life that you would thinke it had no affinitie with vice nor origine of mans misbehauiour at all So did hee couer the wicked heresies of Manicheus Marcion Tatianus and the like with a fained flourish of continency and chastitie So did hee ouer-cast the enemie of Gods grace Pelagius with the apparance of all grauitie constancie and humility And so hath he alwayes where craft was requisite to his intent made shew of a simple sheepe in the cruell carcasse of a wily wolfe transfiguring himselfe into an Angell of light And that his schollers play the like parts our Maister Christ of his singular loue gaue his flock this watch-word for a speciall provizo Take heede of false Prophets that come in sheepes vesture but within are ravening Wolues So that in all cloaked heresies men must haue an eye to the fruit of the doctrines preached and not onely or principally to the liues of such as teach them by the outward appearance whereof it is not alwayes safe to judge This the Rhemists doe more fully expresse in their annotations vpon this place saying the fruits that heretiques are knowne by are division from the whole Church division amongst themselues inconstancie in doctrine and such like and that these are lightly common to all heretiques but that there are some other more peculiar to certaine as wickednesse of life and doctrine directly tending to corruption of good life in all states of men Thus then wee see that appearing sanctity grauity and godlynesse are no sure certaine infallible and perpetuall notes to knowe the true professors by from such as erre and are deceiued But passing by this their ouersight in that they make such things to be notes of the Church as are not proper vnto it nor doe not clearely distinguish it from heretickes let vs see what they indeauour to proue against vs or for themselues by the force and euidence of this note Thus therefore they reason The chiefe guides of the reformed Churches and professours of the reformed religion are apparently wicked and godlesse men of vile and scandalous conuersation and the people wicked yea much worse then they were in the Papacy but their Pristes Prelates Monkes Friers and people are holy and religious therefore the truth of religion is theirs This imputation of wickednesse Bellarmine fastneth vpon Wickliffe and Luther and from them descendeth to the people Touching Wickliffe it is a most impudent and shamelesse challenge for Waldensis sheweth that his conuersation was such and his manner of life soe shadowed with shewes of vertue that he thereby preuailed much thereupon sheweth at large that it is not safe to discerne the truth of religion by the appearance of sanctity and good conuersation of them that professe it and that heretickes haue and often do cloth themselues with the robes and garments of seeming vertue and piety But hath he no proofe that Wickliffe was a wicked and godlesse man Doubtlesse hee hath and that very pregnant For Waldensis reporteth vpon an vncertaine rumour that a Bishoppe of Salisburie in a very great and solemne assembly of the Clergie of the Prouence of Canterbury affirmed that Wickliffe affected the Bishopricke of Worcester which when he obtained not hee grewe discontented and so became an enimy to the Catholike Church impugned the different degrees of Ministerie and the dignity of Bishops If this kind of proofe bee good innocencie it selfe will not be able to abide the triall Wherefore passing from Wickliffe against whom it seemeth our aduersaries are able to say little let vs see what are those greeuous crimes wherewith they charge Luther First they say he beganne to impugne the sale and marchandise of indulgences not led by any iust reason mouing him to dislike them but because the publishing of them was not committed to the Friers of his order but to the Friers predicant This vile slaunder hath no better ground then the former against Wickliffe For who will regard the malitious report of Coclaeus his sworne enimie against the whole course of things that passed in those times and the cleare euidence of the trueth it selfe Guicciardine reporteth that the abuses in the marchandise of those pardons were so intolerable that the pardon sellers set the price of redemption and deliuerance of soules out of Purgatorie as a stake at dice to be played for in euery Inne and Ta◅erne where they came that all good men disliked much this impious and irreligious abusing the people of God and that thereupon Luther began his opposition against them not without the great applause of the Christian world But to make it most cleare to all not wilfully blinded that noe such sinister respect mooued Luther to impugne the Kingdome of the Roman Antichrist It is certaine hee had before this occasion was offered vnto him cleared the doctrine of Originall sinne of Nature and Grace of the difference betweene the spirit and the letter the Law and grace of freewill and the like which are the maine grounds of all that doctrine wherein hee dissenteth from the Romish Synagogue But saith Bellarmine Coclaeus reporteth that Luther in the disputatiō at Lipsia between him Eckius said his opposition against the Pope Poperie was never begun out of any desire of Gods glory nor would euer haue any good end This is is a diuellish slaunder for Luther said no such thing but that this disputation was not begunne on his aduersaries part out of any desire of the glory of God or the good of his Church and that therefore it would neuer haue any good end That which hee writeth to them of Strawesborough that hee would willingly be of their opinion and denie the reall presence of the body of Christ in the Sacrament if the euidence of truth did
not conuince him and force him to bee otherwise minded for that hee might thereby disaduantage his aduersaries of the Romish faction no way proueth that which Bellarmine intendeth For this is all hee sayth Let no man thinke that it is wilfullnesse and a preiudicate opinion that maketh mee dissent from Zuinglius and the rest for in my affection and desire I should rather Wish to consent with them in this point then with the Romanists whose manifolde damnable errours I detest if it were affection and not reason and the cleare euidence of truth that must preuaile in things of this kind Indeede the Romanists are wont to temper their opinions and sway their iudgments accordingly as they finde they may most aduantage their owne cause and disaduantage their aduersaries As appeareth by Bellarmine who in the question whether the eminent degree of Bishoppes aboue Presbyters bee a distinct order of Ministrie doth incline to the opinion of them that thinke it is contrary to the iudgment of the best learned of the Schoolemen for that thereby hee may the more easily impugne the opinion of them that thinke Bishoppes and Presbyters to bee all one iure diuino That which followeth is as little to the purpose as the rest It is true that in the assurance of the truth hee professed and the certaine victorie of the same ouer all the enimies of it of what kinde degree or sort soeuer hee esteemed all the greatenesse of the malicious aduersaries therof as vile as the dirt vnderneath his feete though otherwise out of this comparison with the truth and opposition to it hee respected them as the greatnesse of their place did require That hee saith hee regardeth not a thousand Cyprians a thousand Augustines if they should bee produced proueth not that hee thinketh them to be against him in the cause of religion or that hee contemneth them but that no authority of men or Angells shall euer remoue him from that hee knoweth to be the truth of God as the Apostle requireth the Galathians If an Angell come from heauen and preach otherwise to them then they had beene taught to hold him accursed not as if the holy Angels in heauen now confirmed in grace could either erre themselues from the truth of the Gospell or peruert others or that they should bee vilely esteemed of in the messages they bring vnto vs but that if it were possible for them to erre and misleade others wee should not listen vnto them but hold them accursed That out of his booke of corner masses is as diuellish a slander as the rest For Luther doth not say hee learned of the diuell that the Masse is impious and wicked but that hauing learned that in the schoole of Christ the diuell therevpon tempted him to dispaire for that he had so often sayd such Masses and thereby dishonoured God and misled his people what this can proue against him I see not That hee was of a violent spirit wee deny not nay himselfe gloried in it that hee had an heroicall spirit made to contemne the fury and folly of the Romanists neither had hee beene fitte to oppose against enimies of this kinde if hee had beene of another spirit That he was carried too much with the violent streame of his passions wee impute it to the infirmity of flesh and blood and the perversenesse of the manyfold adversaries hee found in those times Neither was this the peculiar or proper fault of Luther for who knoweth not that Hierome and Chrysostome and diuerse other lights of the World were not without their blemishes in this kinde That the Tigurines Gesnerus and others disliked the distempered passions of Luther is not to bee maruailed at or that there were some differences amongst them seeing the like were in former times betweene Epiphanius and Chrysostome Hierome Ruffinus Augustine and others From Luther the Iesuite commeth to the people of our profession pronouncing that there are many wicked amongst his consorts but that there are none good amongst those that are of the Reformed Religion Thus with the breath of his mouth he thinketh to blow vp all that standeth before him But how proueth he that he saith Our owne confession saith he is proofe enough But against this pretended and imagined confession we protest and professe before God men and Angels that wee neuer thought much lesse spake or wrote any such thing If Luther in his sermons complaine that the world is euery day worse than other who was there euer found that vsed not wordes of the like complaint If hee say that the men of the world abuse the grace of God vnto want onnesse and the more and better meanes they haue bee the worse what strange thing saith hee Did not S. Paul finde that when hee magnified the riches of the grace of God and shewed that where sinne hath abounded grace more abounded many tooke occasion to say It is good to continue in sinne that grace may abound Doth he not charge the Corinthians that there was fornication amongst them and such as was not once named among the Gentiles that they went to law one with another and that vnder Infidels to the slaunder of the Gospell of Christ that there was not a wise man amongst them to interpose himselfe and stay these their proceedings one against another That which is alleaged out of Smidelinus tendeth to the same purpose and requireth no other nor farther answere Touching the judgement of Erasmus it was so variable and vncertaine in things of this kind that neither they nor we can take any advantage by it But for the extraordinary sanctity of the Romish Priests Friars Monkes and other irreligious amongst them whereof they insolently boast and bragge if we should stirre the dunghils of their own histories wherein the liues of these Saints are described vnto vs the stench of them would infect the aire if we should make report of that we reade in Authors not partiall men would stop their eares and pronounce against vs that such things ought not once to be named amongst men This is so euident that Bellarmine in his preface before his bookes of the Pope is not ashamed to make the wickednesse and prodigious villanies of the Popes a proofe and demonstration of the Sanctity of that Chaire in which they sit and of Gods provident care of it Which argument though it seeme strange at the first sight yet it is in his judgement very forcible and vnanswerable For that such and so great hath beene the wickednesse of the Roman Bishops that if God had not strangely vpholden it the Sea and Chaire in which they sit had long since sunk down into hell Thus I hope it appeareth to all not wilfully blinded that this note of the sanctitie of the liues of the Professours of Religion maketh very little for them or against vs. And thus haue wee run through and examined all the notes of the Church by which
tradition of the Iewes numbred only 22 Canonicall bookes of the old Testament as we do and in his Chronicle he sayth expressely that the bookes of the Macchabees are not in the canon Reade saith Cyrill of Hierusalem in his Catechisme the diuine Scriptures that is the 22 bookes of the old Testament and a litle after Reade therefore these 22 bookes but with the apocrypha haue nothing to doe meditate vpon the diuine Scriptures which wee confidently reade in the Church the holy Apostles the guides of truth who deliuered vnto vs these bookes were more wise and religious then thou art Seing therefore thou art but a sonne transgresse not the precepts of the Fathers Now these are the bookes which thou must reade and then numbreth all the bookes of the old Testament and omitteth all those that are controuersed sauing that hee addeth that of Baruch thinking it a part of Hieremies prophesies Of the same opinion is Epiphanius making no mention of any of the bookes reiected by vs as apocryphall but onely the booke of Wisdome and Iesus the sonne of Sirach which hee saith are profitable but not to be esteemed as the 22 bookes or 27 as some count them that were kept in the arke of the couenant which are the bookes by vs acknowledged to bee canonicall Amphilochius Bishoppe of Iconium writing to Seleucus hath these words I will reckon vnto thee all the bookes that proceeded from the holy Ghost and that thou mayest cleerely conceiue that which concernes this matter I wil first number vnto thee the bookes of the old Testament then he nameth the 5 bookes of Moses Iosua and the Iudges Ruth 4 bookes of the Kings 2 of the Chronicles 2 of Esdras Iob the Psalmes 3 of Solomon the proverbes Ecclesiastes Canticles 12 Prophets Hose Amos Micheas Ioel Abdias Ionas Naum Abacuch Sophonie Haâ—…ge Zacharias Malachias the 4 Prophets Esai Hieremie Ezekiel Daniel and concludeth that to these some adde Hester The reason why some doubted of Hester I haue elsewhere shewed out of Sixtus Senensis to haue been the Apocryphall additions to the booke I haue some where cited this booke as a part of Gregorie Nazianzens workes because some thinke it so to be and put it amongst his workes But Gregory hath deliuered his opinion clearely touching this matter though that booke happily be not his Bee conuersant saith hee day and night in the diuine oracles but least such bookes as are not of this sort deceiue thee for many erroneous bookes are inserted receiue the true and iust number of bookes that are diuine and then nameth all the bookes that wee admitte saue that hee omitteth the booke of Hester vpon the same reason that I noted out of Sixtus Senensis and when he hath named these he addeth those of the new testament and then pronounceth that whatsoeuer is not within this number is to bee accounted amongst bastard counterfeit bookes Origen expounding the first Psalme putteth downe a catalogue of the holy Scriptures of the old Testament writing thus in precise words as Eusebius telleth vs Wee must not be ignorant that the bookes of the old Testament as the Hebrewes doe deliuer are 22 which is the number of their letters and then nameth all the bookes admitted by vs and addeth that the bookes of Macchabees are without this number Athanasius agreeth with Origen writing in this sort All our Scripture that are Christians was giuen by divine inspiration neither hath this Scripture infinite bookes but a definite number and contayned in a certaine canon and these are the bookes of the old Testament Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomie Iosuáh Iudges Ruth the first and second of Kings accounted one booke the third fourth of Kings accounted one booke Chronicles first second accounted one booke Esdras the first second one booke the Psalmes of David 151. Proverbs of Salomon Ecclesiastes Canticles Iob 12 Prophets contayned in one volume Osee Amos Micheas Ioell Abdias Ionas Naum Ambacum Sophonias Aggaeus Zacharias Malachias 4 other Prophets Esai Hieremie Ezechiel Daniel the bookes therefore of the old Testament are 22 in number answerable to the Hebrew letters Beside these there are certaine other bookes of the old Testament that are not in the canon and these are read onely to the Catechumens or Novices Amongst these hee numbreth the Wisedome of Solomon the Wisedome of Iesus the sonne of Sirach Iudith Tobit but mentioneth not the bookes of Macchabees at all to these he addeth the booke of Hester accounting it Apocryphall being misperswaded of the whole by reason of those Apocryphall additions as before I noted out of Sixtus Senensis In the conclusion of his Synopsis he mentioneth together with the former foure bookes of Macchabees and the story of Susanna but sayth they are in the number of them that are contradicted The councell of Laodicea decreeth in this sort Let no bookes be read in the Church but the bookes of the old new Testament and then addeth these are the bookes of the old Testament that are to bee read Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomie Iosuah Iudges Ruth foure bookes of Kings 2 of Chronicles Esdras the booke of the Psalmes 150. the Proverbs of Solomon Ecclesiastes Canticles Iob Hester 12 Prophets Osee c Esay Hieremie Ezekiel Daniel The canons of this councell are confirmed by the sixt generall councell holden in Trullo To these we may adde Damascene who hauing numbred all those bookes and those onely as canonicall that wee doe addeth that the booke of Wisedome and of Iesus the son of Sirach are good bookes and containe good lessons of vertue but that they are not numbred in this account neither were layd vp in the arke Leontius advocatus Byzantinus sayth there are onely 22 bookes of the old Testament reckoneth all those and those onely that wee doe All these worthies that wee haue hitherto produced to testifie in this case are of the Greeke Church wherefore let vs passe to them of the Latine Hilary Bishop of Poictiers saith the law of the old testament is contained in 22 bookes according to the number of the Hebrew letters which are so disposed and put in order according to the tradition of the auncient that there are fiue bookes of Moses that Iosuah is the sixt the Iudges and Ruth the seaventh the first and second of Kings the eigth the third and fourth the ninth 2 of Chronicles the tenth Esdras the eleventh Psalmes 12 Solomons Proverbs Ecclesiastes Canticles 13 14 15 the 12 Prophets 16 Esay Hieremie with the Lamentations and epistle Daniell Ezechiel Iob Hester doe make vp the number of 22 bookes some haue thought good to adde Tobie and Iudith and so to make the bookes to bee 24 in number according to the number of the Greeke letters Ruffinus in the explanation of the Creed which is found amongst the works of Cyprian and so attributed to him setteth downe a Catalogue of those bookes
as if we had merited it and that to these purposes it is imputed to vs as if it were ours And farther he addeth that as God doth nothing in nature but by his sonne as God so he will do nothing pertaining to our iustification and restauration but for him as he is man and that there is no benefit bestowed on vs or good done vnto us but it presupposeth a newe application and imputation of the merits of Christ. Soe that euery one is newly made partaker of Christs merits and oweth newe thankes to him soe often as new gifts and benifittes are conferred and bestowed vpon him and he feareth not to pronounce that the righteousnesse of Christ is imputed vnto vs not only when wee are baptized as he sayth a man excellently learned vnaduisedly affirmeth but in other sacraments and as often as men receiue any newe gift from God yea that a new imputation of Christs righteousnesse is necessarily required for the remission of those veniall sinnes into which the iustified fall and the freeing of vs from temporall punishments Bernar Nemo leuia peccata contemnat impossibile est enim cum iis saluari impossibile est ea dilui nisi per Christum à Christo August tam de eo qui leuioribus peccatis obnoxius est quam de eo qui grauioribus pronunciat quod si sibi relinquerentur interirent All therefore acknowledge as he thinketh that the righteousnesse of Christ is imputed but there are as he telleth vs 2 opinions in the Church of Rome touching this point the one that Christs righteousnes is no otherwise communicated or imputed to us but in that for the merit of it wee are accepted all things necessary to fitte vs for iustification are giuen vnto us righteousnesse making vs formally iust that is inclining vs to decline euill do good is infused into vs and what soeuer is profitable to set vs forward and to make us continue in the same is bestowed on vs. Others renowned for learning and piety do thinke that for the attaining of heauen happinesse not only in a twofold righteousnesse is necessary the one inherent the other imputed as to the former but that this imputed righteousnes of Christ is twise offered and presented by Christ to God the Father First that we may be iustified that is that our sinnes may be remitted we accepted and renewing grace may be giuen vnto vs. And secondly that we may avoyd and decline the extremity and seuerity of Gods iudgment that he may accept our weake indeauours and admitte vs to heauen notwithstanding the imperfection and defects thereof that for his sake the imperfection impurity of our righteousnesse may be couered This opinion is clearely deliuered by Cardinall Contarenus he tellethus it was allowed in the conference at Ratisbon by the diuines of both sides his words are these Seeing we haue affirmed that we artaine a twofold righteousnesse by faith a righteousnesse inherent in vs as charity and that grace whereby we are made partakers of the diuine nature and the iustice of Christ giuen and imputed vnto vs as being graft into Christ and hauing put on Christ it remaineth that wee enquire vppon which of these wee must stay and relie and by which wee must thinke our selues iustified before GOD that is to be accepted as holy and just hauing that justice which it beseemeth the sonnes of God to haue I truely thinke that a man very piously and Christianly may say that wee ought to stay to stay I say as vpon a firme and stable thing able vndoubtedly to sustaine vs vpon the justice of Christ giuen imputed to vs and not vpon the holinesse and grace that is inherent in vs. For this our righteousnes is but imperfect and such as cannot defend vs seeing in many things we offend all c. But the justice of Christ which is giuen vnto vs is true perfect justice which altogether pleaseth the eyes of God in which there is nothing that offendeth God Vpon this therefore as most certaine stable wee must stay our selues beleeue that wee are justified by it as the cause of our acceptation with God this is that precious treasure of Christians which whosoeuer findeth selleth all that he hath to buy it Ruard Tapper followeth the other opinion and saith that whereas according to Bernard our righteousnesse is impure though sincere and true we must not conceiue that this impurity defileth our righteousnesse as if it selfe were stayned or any thing were wanting in it for so it should not bee true and right but that it is saide to bee impure because there are certaine staines and blemishes together with it in the operations of the soule for GOD onely is absolutely free from sinne and in many things wee sinne all our righteousnesse therefore according to his opinion is imperfect in vertue and efficacie because it cannot expell and keepe out all sinne out of the soule wherein it is by reason of the infirmity of the flesh but the good workes of the just doe abide the severity of Gods judgment neither can they bee blamed though tryed most exactly and discussed in all their circumstances yea though the divell should be permitted to say what he can against them for they haue no fault nor deformitie Here for the better clearing of this point it is to bee obserued that it is confessed by all that the most righteous liue not without sinne consequently that they haue need continually of remission of sinnes It is resolued amongst all Catholiques saith Andreas Vega that there was neuer any found amongst the Saints the blessed Virgin onely excepted that in the whole course of their liues avoided all veniall sinnes Iob asketh who shalll be cleane from filthinesse and answereth himselfe according to the translation which the ancient Doctors followed namely Cyprian Ambrose Augustine Gregory and others no one though he liue but one day vpon earth And Dauid saith generally no man liuing shall bee justified in thy sight and in another place for this impiety of sinne shall euery holy one pray vnto thee hee saith not euery sinner but euery holy one saith Saint Augustine for it is the voice of the Saints If we say wee haue no sinne we deceiue our selues there is no trueth in vs and Solomon saith there is no man righteous on earth that doth good and sinneth not and those sayings of the Apostles are well knowne in many things wee sinne all If wee say wee haue no sinne wee deceiue our selues c. And who is hee that neuer needed in his whole life to say that part of the Lords Prayer forgiue vs our trespasses And all this is strongly proued in that if wee looke on the liues of all the Saints which are marvailously commended in Scripture we shall finde none of them that had not some blemish as in the most beautifull body Let vs begin with
manner of hauing the truth is inferiour vnto it neither are we bound to receiue her doctrines as the sacred Scriptures Besides though the Church taken in this sort be free from errour yet not from ignorance of many things wherein we may be instructed by the scripture So that it is possible for a man to vnderstand the naturall literall sense of some parts of Scripture and from thence some things that were not in such sort knowne and deliuered by any that went before as Andradius and Caietanus do proue at large If the comparison be made betweene the Church consisting of all the belieuers that are and haue beene since Christ appeared in the flesh so including the Apostles and their blessed assistants the Euangelists we deny not but that the Church is of greater authority antiquity and excellencie than the Scripture of the new Testament as the witnesse is better then his testimonie and the Lawgiuer greater then the Lawes made by him as Stapleton alleageth But he is to proue the present Church greater in authority than the Scripture which hee vndertaketh but performeth not His reason that the Scripture was giuen for the good of the Church and that therefore the Church is better than the Scripture proueth not the thing intended For as the people are more excellent in degree of being and nature of things than the lawes that be made for their good yet are the lawes of more authority and must ouer-rule and direct the people so though the Scriptures being but significations declarations and manifestations of diuine truth be not better in degree of things than the Church yet in power of prescribing directing and ouer-ruling our faith they are incomparably greater That which the Rhemists adde to shew the greatnesse of the Church aboue the Scripture because the Church hath judiciall power to determine doubts and controuersies whereof as they suppose the Scripture is not capable I will examine in the next part when I come to speake of the power of judging which the Church hath This errour of the Romanists imagining the authority of the Church to bee greater than the Scripture all the best learned in the Church of Rome euer resisted as Waldensis Occam Gerson and sundry others CHAP. 12. Of their errour who thinke the Church may make new articles of faith VNto this errour is joyned and out of this hath growne another not vnlike that the Church may make new articles of faith which though Stapleton and some other of our time seeme to disclaime yet do they indeede fall into it For the better vnderstanding whereof we must obserue as Occam fitly noteth that an Article of faith is sometimes strictly taken onely for one of those diuine verities which are contained in the creede of the Apostles sometimes generally for any Catholike verity This question is not meant of articles of faith in the first sense but in the second and so the meaning of the question is whether the Church that now is may by her approbation make those assertions and propositions to be Catholike verities that were not before or those hereticall that were not A Catholike vetity is a diuine truth which euery Christian is bound to beleeue The things which Christian men are bound to beleeue are of two sorts and consequently there are two sorts of Catholike verities to wit some so neerely touching the matter of eternall saluation that a man cannot be saued vnlesse hee expressely knowe and beleeue them others farther remooued which if a man beleeue implicitè and in praeparatione animi it sufficeth These must bee beleeued expressely and distinctly if their coherence with or dependance on the former do appeare vnto vs so that the manifest deduction of them from the former will make them such as must be expressely beleeued Our aduersaries confesse that the approbation and determination of the Church cannot make that a truth which was not nor that a Diuine or Catholike truth that was not so before but they thinke that the Church by her bare and sole determination may make that verity to be in such sort Catholike that euery one vnderstanding of such determination must expressely beleeue it that was not so and in such degree Catholike before But wee thinke that it is not the authority of the Church but the cleare deduction from the things which we are bound expressely to beleeue that maketh things of that sort that they must be particularly and distinctly known beleeued that were not necessarily so to bee beleeued before and therefore before and without such determination men seeing cleerely the deduction of things of this nature from the former and refusing to beleeue them are condemned of hereticall pertinacy and men not seeing that deduction after the decree of a Councell hath passed vpon them may still doubt and refuse to beleeue without hereticall pertinacy We cannot therefore condemne the Grecians as heretickes as the Romanists doe because wee cannot perswade our selues of them generally that they see that which they deny touching the proceeding of the holy Ghost deduced from the indubitate principles of our Christian faith or that they impiously neglect the search of the trueth What is it then will some men say that the decree of a Councell doth effect Surely nothing else but the rejecting of such as are otherwise minded from the societies of those men and Churches with whom the decree of the Councell doth prevaile and with all wise men the more wary and fearefull pronouncing any thing of those matters concerning which so graue authority hath passed her sentence The Papists proceed further and thinke it hereticall pertinacie to gainsay the decrees of a Councell though they finde the reasons by which they of the Councell were mooued so to thinke and determine to bee too weake and not to conclude the thing intended as in the matter of Transubstantiation they thinke it heresie to gainesay the decrees of those Councels that haue defined it and yet many of them judge all the reasons alleaged to proue it too weake to proue it In deed if it were certaine as they suppose that a generall Councell could not erre this were a sufficient deduction These things are decreede in a generall Councell Therefore ture because it is consequent that that is true which is affirmed by him that cannot erre Thus wee see what it is to bee thought touching this question whether the Church may make new Articles of faith onely one thing must be added for the further clearing hereof The Papistes thinke that the Church may adde to the Canon of the Scripture bookes not yet admitted as the bookes of Hermas the Scholler of Paul intituled Pastor and the constitutions of Clement which if it should doe we were to receiue them with no lesse respect then the Epistle of Iames and other bookes of the New Testament This we thinke to be a most grosse heresie and contrrry to their owne principles who making the number
Catholicarum quam plurimum scripturarum solertissimus indagator authoritatem sequatur inter quas fanè illae sunt quas Apostolica sedes habere ab eâ alij meruerunt accipere epistolas So that whereas Saint Augustine saith that in reckoning the Canonicall bookes of Scripture a man must follow the authority of the greater number of Catholique Churches and among them especially such as either had Apostolicall seates as Hierusalem and the like or receiued Epistles from some of the Apostles as did the Churches of Corinth and Galatia Gratian maketh him say that the Epistles which the Apostolicall See receiued or other receiued of it are to be reckoned among Canonicall Scriptures This ouersight of Gratian Picus Mirandula long since obserued and after him Alfonsus a Castro whereby wee may see how easie it was for men in former times to runne into most grosse errors before the reuiuing of learning in these latter times while the blinde did lead the blinde For Gratian was the man out of whom the greatest Diuines of former times tooke all their authorities of Fathers and Councles as appeareth by their marginall quotations And how ignorantly and negligently he mistooke them mis-alleaged thē this one example is proof sufficient But whatsoeuer we think of Gratian we shall find that not only our Diuines but the best learned among our aduersaries also put a greatdifference between the sacred scriptures of the holy Canon and the Decrees of Councels For first they say the Scripture is the word of God reuealed immediately and written in a sort from his owne mouth according to that of S. Peter the holy men of God spake as they were moued by the holie Ghost And that of S. Paul All Scripture is by diuine inspiration which is not so to be vnderstood as if alwaies the holy Writers had had new reuelations and had alwayes written that which before they were ignorant of for it is certaine that the Euangelists Mathew and Iohn wrote those things which they saw and Marke and Luke those things they heard from others as Luke himselfe confesseth in the beginning of his Gospel But the holy writers are therefore said to haue had immediate reuelation and to haue written the words of God himselfe because either some new things and not knowne before were reuealed to them by God or because God immediately inspired and moued the Writers to write those things which they had seene and heard and directed them that they should not any way erre in writing whereas Councels neither haue nor write immediate reuelations or words of God but only declare which is that word of God vttered formerly to the Prophets and Apostles how it is to bee vnderstood and what conclusions may bee deduced from it by discourse of reason Secondly the holy Writers performed that which they did without any further labour or trauell then that in writing and calling to minde what they had seene and heard but in Councels the Bishoppes and Fathers with great paine and trauell seeke out the trueth by discourse conference reading and deepe meditation and therefore the holy Writers are wont to attribute all to God onely and the Prophets were wont often to repeate The Lord sayth Thirdly in the Scriptures not onethe whole sentences but euery word pertaineth to Faith for no word is therein vaine or ill placed But in Councels there are many disputations going before resolution many reasons brought for confirmation of things resolued on many things added for explication and illustration many things vttered obiter and in passage that men are not bound to admitte as true and right nay many things are defined in Councels that men are not bound to stand vnto For it is the manner of Councels sometimes to define a thing as certainely and vndoubtedly true pronouncing them Heretiques that thinke otherwise and subiecting them to curse Anathema and sometimes as probable onely and not certaine as the Councell of Vienna decreed that it is more probable that both grace and vertues accompanying grace are infused into Infants when they are baptized then that they are not and yet is this no matter faith in the Church of Rome Fourthly in the scripture all things as well concerning particular persons as in generality are vndoubtedly true For it is as certaine that Peter and Paul had the spirit of God as that no man can be saued without the illumination and sanctification of the spirit but in the determinations and decrees of Bishoppes assembled in a generall councell it is not so for they may erre in iudging of the persons of men and therefore there is no absolute certainty in the canonization of Saints as both Thomas and Canus do confesse Fiftly in Scriptures there are no precepts touching manners either concerning the whole church or any part of it that are not right equall and just But councels may erre if not in prescribing things euill in stead of good yet in prescribing things not fitting nor expedient if not to the whole church yet to some particular part of it as not knowing the cōdition of things therein Yea some there are that think it not hereticall to beleeue that generall councels may prescribe some lawes to the whole church that are not right profitable and iust as to honour such a one for a Saint who indeed is no Saint to admit such orders of Religious men as are not profitable to receiue the communion onely in one kinde and the like And there are many that confidently pronounce that generall councells may decree such things as may breed inconuenience and may sauour of too great seuerity and austerity which the guides of the church in the execution of the same must bee forced to qualifie and temper So that the onely question is whether a generall councell may certainely define any thing to bee true in matter of faith that is false or command the doing of any act as good and an act of vertue that indeed and in trueth is an act of sinne Touching this point there are that say that all interpretations of holy Scriptures agreed on in generall councels and all resolutions of doubtes concerning things therein contained proceed from the same Spirit from which the holy Scriptures were inspired and that therefore generall councels cannot erre either in the interpretation of Scriptures or resoluing of things doubtfull concerning the faith But these men should know that though the interpretations and resolutions of Bishops in generall councels proceed from the same Sperit from which the Scriptures were inspired yet not in the same sort nor with like assurance of beeing free from mixture of errour For the Fathers assembled in generall councels doe not rely vppon immediate reuelation in all their particular resolutions and determinations as the Writers of the Bookes of holy Scripture did but on their owne meditation search and study the generall assistance of Diuine grace concurring with them That the Fathers
to doe all these things this power the Princes of the World haue not at all much lesse the supreame authority to doe these things but it is proper to the Ministers of the church And if Princes meddle in this kinde they are like to Vzziah that offered to burne incense for which he was stricken with Leprosie The power of Iurisdiction standeth first in prescribing making Lawes Secondly in hearing examining and judging of opinions touching matters of Faith And thirdly in judging of things pertaining to Ecclesiastical order ministery and the due performance of Gods diuine worship seruice Touching the first the making of a Law is the prescribing of a thing vnder some paine or punishment which hee that so prescribeth hath power to inflict Whence it is consequent that the Prince hauing no power to excommunicate put from the Sacraments and deliuer to Satan can of himselfe make no canons such as Councels of Bishoppes doe who commaund or forbid things vnder paine of excōmunication and like spiritual censures but hauing power of life and death of imprisonment banishment confiscation of goods and the like he may with the advice and direction of his Cleargy commaund things pertaining to Gods worship and seruice vnder these paines both for profession of Faith ministration of Sacraments and conversation fitting to Christians in general or men of Ecclesiastical order in particular by his Princely power establish things formerly defined and decreed against whatsoeuer errour and contrary ill-custome and obseruation And herein hee is so far forth supreame that no Prince Prelate or Potentate hath a commaunding authority ouer him yet doe we not whatsoeuer our clamorous Aduersaries vntruly report to make us odious make our Princes with their Ciuill States supreame in the power of commanding in matters concerning God and his Faith and religion without seeking the direction of their Cleargy for the Statute that restored the title of Supremacie to the late Queene Elizabeth of famous and blessed memory prouideth that none shall haue authority newly to judge any thing to be Heresie not formerly so iudged but the high Court of Parliament with the assent of the Cleargy in their Conuocation nor with them soe as to command what they thinke fitte without aduising with others partakers of like precious Faith with them when a more generall meeting for farther deliberation may bee had or the thing requireth it Though when no such generall concurrence may bee had they may by themselues prouide for those parts of the Church that are vnder them From the power and authority wee giue our Princes in making lawes and prescribing how men shall professe and practise touching matters of Faith and Religion let vs proceed to treat of the other part of power ascribed vnto them which is in judging of errors in Faith disorders or faults in things pertaining to Ecclesiasticall order and ministery according to former determinations and decrees And first touching errors in faith or aberrations in the performance of Gods worship and seruice there is no question but that Bishops and Pastors of the Church to whom it pertaineth to teach the trueth are the ordinary and fittest Iudges and that ordinarily and regularly Princes are to leaue the iudgement thereof vnto them But because they may faile either through negligence ignorance or mallice Princes hauing charge ouer Gods people and beeing to see that they serue and worship him aright are to iudge and condemne them that fall into grosse errours contrary to the common sence of Christians or into any other heresies formerly condemned And though there be no generall fayling yet if they see violent and partiall courses taken they may interpose themselues to stay them and cause a due proceeding or remoue the matter from one company and sort of Iudges to another And hereunto the best learned in former times agreed clearely confessing that when some thing is necessary to be done and the ordinary guides of the Church do faile or are not able to yeeld that helpe that is needfull wee may lawfully flye to other for reliefe and helpe when these two things do meete in the state of the Church sayth Waldensis to witte extreame necessity admitting no delay and the want of ability to yeeld reliefe in the ordinary Pastor or Guide wee must seeke an extraordinary Father and Patron rather then suffer the frame fabricke and building of the Lord Christ to bee dissolued If any man happily say that Ambrose a most worthy Bishop refused to come to the Court to be judged in a matter of faith by Valentinian the Emperour and asked when euer hee heard that Emperours iudged Bishops in matters of faith seeing if that were granted it would follow that Lay-men should dispute and debate matters and Bishoppes heare yea that Bishoppes should learne of Lay-men whereas contrarywise if wee looke ouer the Scriptures and consider the course of times past wee shall finde that Bishoppes haue iudged of Emperours in matters of faith and not Emperours of Bishoppes and that therefore it cannot bee without vsurpation of that which no way pertaineth to them that Princes should at all medle with the iudging of matters of faith This obiection what shew soeuer it may seeme to carry is easily answered for first the thing that Valentinian took on him was not to iudge according to former definitions but he would haue iudged of a thing already resolued on in a generall Councell called by Constantine the Emperor as if it had bin free and not yet indged of at all whereas we do not attribute to our Princes with their Ciuill Estates power newly to adiudge any thing to be heresie without the concurrēce of the State of their Clergy but only to Iudge in those matters of faith that are resolued on according to former resolutiōs And besides this Valentinian was known to be partiall he was but a nouice and the other iudges he ment to associate tohimselfe suspected therefore Ambrose had reason to do as he did Wherefore let vs proceed to the other part of the power of jurisdictiō that cōsisteth in iudging of things pertaining to Ecclesiastical Order Ministery Concerning which point first it is resolued that none may ordaine any to serue in the worke of the Ministery but the spirituall Pastours and Guides of the church Secondly that none may judicially degrade or put any one lawfully admitted from his degree and order but they alone Neither doe our Kings or Queenes challenge any such thing to themselues but their power standeth first in calling together the Bishoppes and Pastours of the Church for the hearing determining of such things and in taking all due care that all thinges bee done orderly in such proceedings without partiality violence or precipitation according to the Canons and Imperiall lawes made to confirme the same Secondly when they see cause in taking things from those whom they iustly suspect or others except against and appointing others in their places Thirdly
some vnderstanding that the bread is therefore said to be made the body of Christ because where the Bread is the Body of Christ becommeth present others vnderstanding nothing but the order of succession whereby the body succeedeth is vnder the vailes of those accidents vnder which the Bread which they suppose to bee annihilated was before which opinion in substance Scotus followeth though in the manner of his speech hee seeme to decline it some admitting both the word and thing not wholly but in part as Durandus who thinketh the matter of the bread wine remaineth the forme onely changed some thinking the forme to remaine and the matter to cease Ockam saith there are 3 opinions touching Transubstantiation of which the first supposeth a conversion of the Sacramentall Elements the second an annihilation the third maketh the Bread to be so turned into the Body of Christ that it is no way chaunged in substance or substantially converted into Christs body but that onely the body of Christ becommeth present in euery part of the bread Cameracensis Gersons master professeth that for ought he can see the substantiall conversion of the Sacramentall elemēts into the body blood of Christ cannot be proued either out of Scripture or any determination of the Vniuersall Church and maketh it but a matter of opinion inclining rather to the other opinion of Con-substantiation And therefore in his iudgement it was not witnessed by a thousand a thousand persons of most holy life and profound knowledge testifying the truth thereof vnto death by a thousand a thousand miracles So that the thing which Gerson saith hath bin proued by miracles is the true presence of Christs body blood in the Sacrament the exhibition of thē to be the food of oursoules such a change of the elements in vertue grace power of containing in thē cōmunicating to vs Christs body blood as the nature of so excellent a Sacrament requireth This is the key which M. Higgons found to vnlock his vnderstanding that it might runne riot into all idle childish discourses But see the infelicitie of the man He was no sooner at libertie but presently againe he was incompassed brought into such a strait that either he must disclaime my book or his Protestanticall beleefe Yet did he not suffer himselfe long to bee so inclosed but full wisely chose rather to forsake the Religion hee was bredde in and which as a publique Preacher hee had taught others then to disclaime my booke Because as hee saith that Religion cannot bee good that is so falsely and absurdly defended by mee and all the cheefe Authors that euer applied their paines vnto that seruice Surely the poore fugitiue is greatly to be pittied as weake in vnderstanding and medling with things not fitte for him if hee doe that hee doth in simplicity or exceedingly to bee detested as a gracelesse person if he doe it as it is to be feared out of malice For what is it in my Booke that is so false and absurd as that the consideration thereof should make a man forsake his religion is not Transubstantiation one of the greatest mysteries of Popish religion as I haue said is that falsely deliuered by mee No but I say no miracle was euer done to confirme any thing defended by the Romanistes against vs and yet Gerson highly commended by mee saith many Miracles haue beene wrought for proofe and confirmation of that Transubstantiation which the Papists at this day beleeue and this is the falsitie and absurditie hee speaketh of That no miracle was euer wrought to proue the monstrous conceit of Popish Transubstantiation or any other Popish error shall stand good when heauen and earth shall be no more And if tenne thousand Gersons nay if so many Angells from heauen should affirme the contrarie I would not beleeue them much lesse Gerson a single witnesse in such a case This is then the absurdity that made him become a Papist that I commend Gerson and yet beleeue not euerything hee saith Truely this absurdity would neuer moue any but an absurd smatterer to alter his Religion For doth not Higgons himselfe admire Pighius Catharinus Contarenus and sundry other from whom he dissenteth in the matter of justification originall sinne and the certainty of grace Doth he not highly commend many that thought the Pope may erre that he is subiect to Generall Councells and may be deposed by them not for Heresie alone but for other enormous crimes also and yet I thinke hee will not be of their opinion So that though Gerson should thinke that the Transubstantiation which we deny was proued by miracles it were no such intollerable absurdity to commend him for much piety deuotion learning and vertue and yet to dissent from him in this point In the matter controuersed in former times in the Roman Church touching the conception of the blessed virgin were there not whorthy men on both sides did not the Patrons of her spotlesse conception pretend and alledge sundry miracles and visions for confirmation thereof yet was it no absurdity for Cardinall Caietan following the current of Antiquity to dissent from them how many worthy soeuer they were to call all their pretended miracles in question But indeed here is no such matter for Gerson is not so ill aduised as to dissent from his worthy Master confidently to affirme that a thousand and a thousand renowned for piety and learning by a thousand a thousand miracles gaue testimony to the opinion of the substantiall conuersion of the Sacramentall elements into the body blood of Christ which the Master of the Sentences the Author of the Ordinary glosse professe to be doubtfull and Caietan saith so many admitted not euen in his time But the onely thing hee affirmeth to haue beene confirmed by Miracles is that Christs body blood are truely present in the Sacrament that they are giuen to be the foode of our soules and that the outward elements are changed to become the body and blood of Christ which wee deny not though we dissent from the Papists touching the manner of the conuersion which they imagine to be substantiall to which opinion haply Gerson might consent as Cameracensis also did though he professed he could not see the deduction of it from Scripture or any determination of the Church and inclined rather to thinke that the substance of bread and wine remaine and that the body and blood of Christ become present together with them according to that of Cusanus who saith certaine ancient Diuines are found to haue been of opinion that the Bread is not substantially chaunged but that it is clothed vpon with a more noble substance as we hope to be clothed vpon with the light of glory our substance remaining the same it was and seemeth not much to dislike their opinion Thus wee see poore runnagate Higgons hath made a great out-cry when there
to the purpose of Gods will doe euer retaine that grace that can and will procure pardon and remission of all their sins Surely euen as much as there is betweene these Paul sometimes was an enemy to Christ and Christians and a Persecutor And Paul after his calling was neuer an enemy to Christ nor Christians nor neuer persecuted any of them but suffered persecution himselfe together with them The second supposed contradiction is this All sins done with full consent exclude grace Dauid who was an elect and chosen seruant of God sinned with full consent after his calling and yet Dauid neuer fell totally from grace Heere truly there is a reall and true contradiction but one of these assertions is none of mine for I deny that Dauid euer sinned with full consent after his calling though his sinnes were very grieuous and highly displeasing to Almighty God For the better clearing whereof we must obserue that there are three degrees of sin The first is of those motions to euill that arise in men and sollicite them to the doing of that which is displeasing vnto God yet so that no consent is yeelded to them The second is when the violence impo◅nity of those ill motions is such that men chuse rather to giue way vnto them then to be any longer disquieted and tormented by them and yet wish they were free from such sollicitations and provocations In those that thus sin there is a deliberate consent but it is not absolute and full but mixt Such was the sinne of Peter denying his Master which proceeded from feare whereunto hee so consented that he still retained the good opinion he formerly had of him and loue towards him and wished no doubt from the depth of his Soule there might neuer any such thing haue fallen out that might draw him to doe that he did And such was the sin of Dauid who chose rather to cōmit that vile act with the wife of Vriah then to be tormented any longer with the importunity of those burning inflamed desires that violently seized on him though he wished in his heart that neuer any such motiōs might in such violent sort haue arisen in him The third degree of sin is in thē that absolutely and fully consent to the motions of euil as making thē their cheef delights contentments In them who sin only in the first degree grace not only remaineth but keepeth her standing resisting against euill entreating for pardon of that which it cannot avoid In thē that sin in the 2d degree it remaineth but carried into captivity In the 3d it hath no place at all To the same purpose it is that some worthy Diuines of our profession make three kinds of the being of sin in vs for first it is inhabiting only 2dly it is regnant yet not as a king who ruleth raigneth with the loue liking of his subiects but as a Tyrant that they hate would depose if they knew how 3dly it is regnant as a king welcommed joyfully receiued into al the powers faculties of the soule In the first sort it is in thē that giue no consent to the motions of euill that arise in them In the second in them that giue consent but not free and absolute but mixt In the third in them that giue it the whole heart In the first it neither excludeth grace nor driueth it from the standing and commaund it should haue in the soule of a good man In the second though it exclude it not yet i◅◅eth and hurteth it sore scattering the forces of it leauing it but disseuered desires no entire good affections so that they are neuer able to recouer themselues againe without forraine helpe But when such succour commeth these remaines of good begin to recollect themselues againe to take heart and to joyne with the same as we see in Dauid reproued by Nathan The third contradiction that Master Higgons would fasten on me is betweene that saying of mine The elect and chosen Seruants of God doe carefully endeauour that no sinnes may haue dominion ouer them and therefore notwithstanding any degree of sinne they runne into they retaine that grace that can and will procure pardon and that in the Articles of religion agreed on in the beginning of her late Maiesties raigne that after we haue receiued the holy Ghost we may depart from grace giuen and by the grace of God rise againe Which is no contradiction in trueth and in deede but in the misconstruction Master Higgons maketh of things well meant For when the Article faith we may depart from grace the meaning of it is that the elect of God called according to purpose may swerue from the directions of grace in some particular things and fall into grieuous sinnes out of which they are to be raised by repentance and not that they may totally fall from it Neither doe I deny but that the elect may commit sin yea grieuous sinnes and such as are in their owne nature mortall though not mortall in that not obtayning full consent they cannot bring death vpon the doers of them Wherefore to conclude this point into which Master Higgons digresseth after his idle manner and to send him backe to the matter he hath in hand I say that there is no contradiction betweene any assertion of mine and the Articles of Religion agreed on in the conuocation and farther adde that there is no Papist of iudgment and consideration that can possibly dissent from vs in this point touching the constant perseuerance of the elect and chosen seruants of God called according to purpose and their neuer wholly falling from grace For first they all agree together with vs that they cannot finally depart away Secondly that some good motions and affections will euer remaine in them after they haue beene once seasoned with the liquor ofrenuing and sanctifying grace Thirdly that they loose not their right to the rewardes which God in the couenant of mercy promised to their former vertuous and good endeauours nor the benefit of their repenting from dead works formerly repented of when they fall into sinne though they can make no vse thereof while they continue in such an estate of sinne For saith Scotus as a man that hath much owing vnto him vpon good assurances and is possessed of things of good valew being excommunicated or out-lawed still retaineth the interest and right to all things that formerly he had though he can make no vse thereof nor by course of law force them to doe him right that goe about to do him wrong nor recouer that which is due vnto him if it bee detained from him but all prosecution of his right is suspended till hee procure himselfe to bee freed from the sentence of excommunication or out-lawry So the remission of originall sinne the right to eternall life obtayned in Baptisme the force and vertue of former repentance conuersion from sins past the right to the rewards
reason doth he giue of his dislike these words hee saith seeme to pretend a kind of doubting or staggering which must not be allowed especially in such men as are spirituall As if a spirituall man might doubt of nothing nor be ignorant of nothing whereas yet all men know S. Augustine S. Hierome and other holy Fathers who as wee thinke were spirituall doubted of the meaning of sundry passages of holy scriptures and left many questions vnresolued If happily he say men may not doubt of matters of faith and that therefore they must not be said to haue mindes desirous of truth with resolution to embrace it it will be answered that noe man professing himselfe to be a Christian ought to doubt of such things as all Christians are bound expressely to beleeue yet are there many matters of faith that is such as must be beleeued at least implicite that faithfull men may doubt of and enquire after Yea at first when a man beginneth to beleeue hee doubteth of all points of faith and must be setled in the same by the Scriptures interpreted vnto him the diuine illumination of grace making him vnderstand them Thirdly whereas I reckon the knowledge of the rule of faith and the practise of the Saints according to the same amongst the meanes which are necessarie for the vnderstanding of the Scripture and define that rule First to bee the summary comprehension of such principall articles of diuine knowledge as are contained in the Creede of the Apostles and are the principles whence all other things are deriued Secondly all such things as all Christians are bound to beleeue expressely which haue bin euer constantly beleeued by all such as haue not beene noted for singularity and nouelty Hee sayth most men will dislike my doctrine and pronounceth this rule to bee verie vncertaine and yet presently forgetting himselfe addeth that hee hath proued in the first part of this Treatise that in very deede the Scriptures ought to bee interpreted according to the rule of faith that is the summe of Christian Religion preserued as a depositum in the Church But some man happily will say that howsoeuer he forgetteth himselfe yet hee hath good aduantage against vs. For first he argueth that if the Scripture be to bee interpreted according to the rule of faith the rule of faith it selfe is not knowne and beleeued through the authority of the Scripture Secondly hee sayth the practise of the Saints from the beginning to which I require men to haue an eye in interpreting Scripture canne very hardly be gathered out of the monuments of Antiquity according to my grounds For answere to which obiections First I say that the particular and seuerall parts of Scripture must bee interpreted according to the rule of fath that is the summe of Christian Doctrine receiued in the Church and that yet the same summe of Christian doctrine is no otherwise to bee receiued by vs but because it hath beene deliuered by the Church as gathered out of the due comparing of one part of Scripture with another and from thence confirmed and proued Neither must wee firmely rest in the direction of it till the Church make vs see and discerne how it is gathered out of seuerall places of Scripture layd together Secondly that the practise of the saints may bee knowne out of the monuments of antiquity soe farre forth as is necessary for the helping of vs to vnderstand the Scriptures without any such difficultie as the Treatiser imagineth For example when Saint Augustine was to interpret certaine places of Scripture touching the deriuation of sinne from Adam and to cleare the point whether it were by naturall propagation or by imitation onely as the Pelagians thought it was not hard for him to know that the Church did euer most carefully present her new borne infants to Baptisme before they could bee mis-led and drawne away to euill by following the example of Adams disobedience thence to infer that she euer beleeued that infants are conceiued and borne in sinne and consequently that the propagation of sinne from Adam is naturall and not by imitation onely The fourth thing that I require in him that will take vpon him to interprete the Scripture is a due consideration what will follow vpon his interpretation agreeing with or contrary to the things generally receiued beleeued amongst Christians against which he hath nothing to say yet that hee might bee thought to say something first hee challengeth Luther for not obseruing this rule And secondly affirmeth that it is insufficient if at any time almost all Christians may erre as I teach But first concerning Luther the good man should know that hee cannot iustly be charged with the breach of this rule seeing he broached no new doctrine in the Church as the Treatiser vntruly affirmeth but such as had the testimony of Antiquity and the allowance of innumerable Christians in his time as well in the West as in the East And secondly that the possibilitie of the erring of the greatest part of the Church prejudiceth not this rule he might if hee pleased learne out of Vincentius Lirinensis who acknowledgeth that sometimes error may ouer-spread almost all the present church prescribeth that in such a case men should looke vp higher into antiquity The two other ensuing rules to wit consideration of the circumstances of the places interpreted the occasion of the words the things going before following after the knowledge of all such histories arts sciences as may helpe vs in interpreting the Scripture he passeth ouer as necessary though not sufficient of themselues alone The knowledge of the originall tongues he acknowledgeth to bee profitable but will not admit it to be necessary especially according to the conceipt of the Romanists First because they are sure they haue the Scriptures rightly translated Secondly because they make not the Scripture the propounder of their beleefe but expound it according to the rule of Faith deliuered receiued In which passages he bewrayeth grosse ignorance For first the Romanists are not sure that they haue the Scripture truly translated as it appeareth by that which Andradius hath written who proueth at large that though the vulgar translation were allowed of by the Councell of Trent as containing nothing in it whence any heresie or errour in faith may be inferred yet is it not without many great mistakings And secondly if they were sure yet as Melchior Canus sheweth the knowledge of tongues is needfull for the finding out of the meaning of sundry particular places of Scripture by reason of some ambiguity or obscurity in the translation Thirdly for that though the rule of Faith serue for direction in generality so that following the same we may bee sure not to decline from the truth of doctrine yet will not that rule secure vs from all erring and swaruing from the meaning of each place in particular so that in this respect the
reason wee can discerne no such thinges as in this heauenly doctrine are manifested to vs. Thirdly the reuelation that is now being mediate and depending on a former it must of necessity be graunted that there was a first and immediate reuelation of the things that are beleeued Fourthly that that immediate reuelation was without mixture of error there being no imperfection found in any of Gods immediate workings Fifthly that whatsoeuer bookes they wrote to whom that immediate reuelation of heauenly truth was graunted are diuine without mixture of error and Canonicall Sixtly that all such books as are recommended to vs by the consenting testimony of all Christians not noted for singularity nouelty or heresie as written by those who first learned the doctrine of heauenly truth from God himselfe must be acknowledged to haue bin written by them Which perswasion is confirmed in that when wee reade and meditate vpon the bookes soe commended to vs wee finde a maiesty vertue and power appearing in them more then in all humane compositions captiuating vs to the the obedience of faith and making vs to receiue them as vndoubtedly diuine These are the grounds which wee build vpon Wherefore let the Reader judge whether the Treatiser had any cause to write as hee doth that hee cannot sufficiently maruel that I or any man of iudgement or learning should runne these courses and impugne their doctrine concerning these points as absurd which indeede is most prudent and diuine and yet fall into most grosse absurdities and inconueniences How prudent and diuine their doctrine is touching the ground of their faith I haue shewed before making it most cleare that if they did shew no more prudence in any thing else their part would soone bee ouerthrowne But touching the absurdities into which hee supposeth wee runne they will bee found to bee none at all For as I haue shewed at large wee ground our faith in generall vppon the euidence of heauenly trueth and the authority of Almighty God whom wee discerne to speake in the holy Scriptures and yet in such sort listen to the Church as a Mistresse of heauenly truth in all particular points that wee do not broach any new and strange doctrine vnheard of in the Church nor impugne any thing that was alwaies constantly deliuered and receiued in the same Soe that it is vntrue that the Treatiser sayth that I reiect all generall authority and leaue euery man to follow his owne priuate conceipt hee returneth therefore to proue that supposing wee know the letter of Scripture yet haue wee no certaine rule to finde out the sence of it and mustereth some obiections to this purpose which I haue sufficiently answered already in the defence of the rules proposed by mee and impugned by him Neyther is it soe strange as hee would make it that we confesse euery one though neuer so much enlightned to bee subiect to errour and yet each of vs assureth himselfe hee doth not erre from the Christian verity one hauing no more assurance of not erring then another For is it not soe that in respect of things that may bee knowne by the light of naturall reason each one confesseth himselfe to be subiect to error and yet euery one assureth himselfe he doth not erre in sundry particular things Wherefore hee leaueth this point and proceedeth to another where he bewrayeth the weaknesse of his braine labouring seriously to proue that he who buildeth his faith vppon the English Parliament cannot firmely and vndoubtedly beleeue nor haue any true fath because I say wee can neuer be so well perswaded of any man or multitude of men but that we may iustly feare they are deceiued or will deceiue Truly it had beene well that hee had applyed himselfe to some other thing rather then booke-making vnlesse hee had any greater facility and felicity in it then he hath for who was euer so senselesse as to build his Faith vpon the English Parliament or why doth the Treatiser thus fight with his owne shadow But haply he will be better towards the end §. 6. IN the last place speaking of the supposed divisions and dissentions amongst Protestants he sayth some amongst vs are so bolde as to deny that there is any great or materiall dissention in our Churches that I amongst others write that it so fell out by the happy providence of God when there was a reformation made that there was no materiall or essentiall difference amongst them that were actors in it but such as vpon equall scanning will bee found rather to consist in the diuers manner of expressing one thing to be but verball vpon mistaking through the hasty and inconsiderate humours of some men then any thing else And that further I adde that I dare confidently pronounce that after due and full examination of each others meaning there shall be no difference found touching the matter of the Sacrament the vbiquitary presence or the like betweene the Churches reformed by Luthers ministery in Germany and other places and those whom some mens malice called Sacramentaries that none of the differences betweene Melancthon and Illyricus except about certaine ceremonies were reall that Hosiander held no priuate opinion touching iustification howsoeuer his strange manner of speaking gaue occasion to many so to thinke and conceiue and that this shall be iustified against the proudest Papist of them all this my assertion he saith all the world knoweth to be vntrue and endeavoureth to proue it to be so First by mine owne sayings else-where and then by some other proofes By mine owne sayings in that I complaine of vnhappie divisions in the Christian world and of infinite distractions of mens mindes not knowing in so great varietie of opinions what to thinke or to whom to ioyne themselues that the controversies of Religion in our time are growne in number so many in nature so intricate that few haue time leasure fewer strength of vnderstanding to examine them But this proofe will be found too weake For there are many very materiall divisions in the Christian world infinitely distracting the mindes of men as those of the Greekes Latines those of the Romish Faction such as embrace the reformed Religion and the controversies that are betweene these are in number many and in nature intricate in respect whereof my complaint might bee most iust though neuer any one Protestant had opened his mouth against an other And besides supposing my complaint of diuisions in the Christian World to reach to the breaches that are haue beene amongst the Professours of the Reformed Religion nothing can bee inferred from thence contrary to any thing that I haue written touching the agreeing of these men in iudgement opinion For there may bee great breaches betweene such men as are of one iudgement opinion vpon mistaking one another therefore Gregory Nazianzene in his Oration made in the praise of Athanasius sheweth that the whole world in a
Faith and Religion His meaning it seemeth is that all Protestantes acknowledging Puritanes to bee of one Church with them are Puritanes and therefore hee would haue all to know that howsoeuer hee make shew of blaming Puritanes onely or principally yet in truth hee equally condemneth all and that therefore hee doth but dissemble or say hee knoweth not what But do all these Protestant writers named by him teach that there is no materiall difference betweene protestants and Puritanes Surely no. For touching my selfe I neuer wrote any such thing neither in the place cited by him nor any where else so that hee beginneth with a manifest and shamelesse vntruth But I doe the more willingly pardon him this fault for that it seemeth hee doth not consider what he writeth For in the title of his booke hee professeth that hee will take the proofes of his Catholique religion and Recusancy onely from the writings of such Protestant Diuines as haue beene published since the raigne of his Maiesty ouer this kingdome for that as hee sayth they often change their opinions at the least at the comming of euery new Prince And yet page 30. hee citeth the Bishop of Winchesters booke written many yeares agoe and Doctor Couell his booke in defence of Master Hooker as often as any other which yet was written in her late Maiesties time But what if I had written that howsoeuer there are some materiall differences betweene Protestants and Puritanes as it pleaseth him to stile them yet not so essentiall or substantiall but that they may bee of one Church faith and religion What absurdity would haue followed Would it be consequent from hence as he inferreth that it is not materiall with vs whether men be of a true or false religion of any or none at all Haue there not beene nay are there not greater differences betwixt Papists who yet will be angry if they be not esteemed to be all of one Church faith and religion Did not Pope Iohn the two and twentith thinke that the soules of the just shall not see God till the generall resurrection and did not the French King that then was with the whole vniuersity of Paris condemne the same opinion as hereticall with sound of trumpet Did not Ambrosius Catharinus teach that a man may be certaine with the certainty of faith that he is in state of grace and Soto the contrary Did not Pighius Contarenus and the Authors of the booke called Antididagma Coloniense defend imputatiue justice and other Papists reiect it Did not some amongst them teach the merit of condignity doe not others moued with a sober moderation thinke there is no such merit Doe not some thinke the Pope is vniuersall Bishop others that he is not but prime Bishop onely Doe not some teach that all Bishops receiue their jurisdiction from the Pope others the contrary Doe not some thinke the Pope may papally erre and others that he cannot Doe not some of them thinke he is temporall Lord of all the world and others the contrary Doe not so 〈◊〉 them thinke he may depose Princes and others that he may not is there not a very materiall point of difference amongst Papists touching predestination Let them shew vs if they can so many and materiall differences betweene Protestants and Puritanes And yet these were all of one Church in their judgement yea Pope Stephen who reuersed all the actes of Formosus his predecessour pronounced the ordinations of all those to bee voide whom he had ordained brought his dead body out of the graue into the Councell stript it out of the Papall vesture put vpon it a lay habit and cutting off two fingers of his right hand cast it into Tyber Pope Iohn his successour who called a Councell of 74. Bishops to confirme the ordinations of Formosus the Arch-bishoppes of France and the King being present at Rauenna burned the acts of the Synod which Stephen had called to condemne Formosus and Sergius who againe condemned Formosus and pronounced all his ordinations to be voide reuersing the acts of Pope Iohn and his Synode were all of one Church of one communion faith and religion Nay which is more strange when there were three Anti-popes sitting in diuerse places accursing one another with all their Adherents and that for many yeares yet still they were of one Church of one communion faith and religion Yet may not wee inferre from hence against them as they doe against vs that it is not materiall with them whether men be of a true or false religion of any or none at all Surely they are more priuiledged then other men for some of them may take the Oath of Allegeance disclaime the Popes power and right to intermeddle with Princes states and other refuse it and yet still be Catholicke brethren in the communion of the same Church Yea a Priest may like of this Oath and perswade others to take it and afterwards goe ouer the Sea and alter his iudgement and returning choose rather to suffer death then to take it againe yet no man must take notice of it But if a Minister subscribe and afterwards vpon ill aduice refuse to doe the same againe then all the courses of our Religion are such that by no outward signes communion profession protestation or subscription a man can tell who is of what religion amongst vs. But let vs passe from the Epistle to the booke it selfe CHAP. I. IN the first chapter which is of the supreame and most preeminent authority of the true church and how necessary it is to finde it follow the directions and rest in the iudgement of it he hath these words Doctor Field a late Protestant writer beginneth his Dedicatory Epistle to the Lord Archbishop of Canterburie before his Bookes of the church in this manner There is no part of heauenly doctrine more necessary in these dayes of so many intricate controversies of Religion then diligently to search out which amongst all the societies of men in the world is that blessed company of holy ones that household of Faith that spouse of Christ and church of the liuing God which is the pillar and ground of truth that so we may embrace her communion follow her directions and rest in her iudgement And after some other things cited out of others he addeth the ioyning with the true church is so needfull a thing that D. Field concludeth There is no saluation remission of sinnes or hope of eternall life out of the church To what purpose this allegation serueth I cannot conceiue for there is nothing in any of these speeches of mine that euer any protestant doubted of or from which any thing may bee concluded against vs or for the papists The church of God saith Master Caluine is named the Mother of the Faithfull neither is there any entrance into eternall life vnlesse shee conceiue vs in her wombe vnlesse shee