that such Persons should resolve by a voluntary Banishment to dye to their Country and Friends and to the whole World by a Religious Profession and to bury themselves alive in a Cloyster than if they had restored Life to others and banish'd death from Graves and Monuments 7. Now after that our Protestant Gentleman hath considered our Catholick Monasteries let him examine whether in his own Church there hath been or now is any thing resembling so much Religion and super-natural Virtue as that which amongst us is not admired though admirable because so ordinary This kind of Life is as far from Protestants Practice and Doctrine as it is from natural Inclination Yet I have heard that Master Laud of Canterbury was once inclined to erect some Protestant Nunneries in England I believe it would occasion as great stirs as his Reformation did in England because nothing is more opposite to the Tenets of the reformed Gospel and first Reformers than to make Vows of Poverty Chastity and Obedience Protestancy begun and is founded upon the dissolving of Monasteries and Religious Vows and is not compatible with their observance if things must be carried on by the same means that acquired them a being 8. The Conversion of Nations to Christianity is not only a sign of the true Church but also the end of its Institution This is so proper to the Roman Catholick even at this present that none who heard the names of America Angola China Monomotappa India or Iaponia can be ignorant of our pious endeavours and miraculous success in preaching the Gospel to so remote Nations where nothing that is coveted in this World could be aimed at or expected by our Apostolical Preachers I will not say any more concerning the Signs of the true Church these being sufficient to convince any Person that desires to be saved that out of the Roman Church there is no Salvation seeing it alone hath supernatural and visible Signs whereby God doth declare sufficiently that it is an infallible guide to inform men of his Mysteries and direct them in the way he hath prescribed for his Divine Service commanding all men to hear and obey it as they would hear and obey God himself Now let us see what Luther the Apostate Apostle of Protestants says Velit nolit in praise of the Infallibility of the Roman Catholick in his Book against the Anabaptists who in hatred of the Pope of Rome did reject Infant Baptism Nos We confess sub papatu plurimum esse boni Christiani imo omne bonum Christianismum atque illinc ad nos devenisse quippe fatemur in papatu veram Scripturam Sacram esse verum Baptismum verum Sacramentum Altaris veras claves ad remissionem peccatorum verum praedicandi officium verum Catechismum ut sunt articuli fidei decem praecepta c. Dico insuper sub papatu esse veram Christianitatem imo verum nucleum Christianitatis esse O magna est veritas praevalet Mark what Calvin says Instit. c. 10. § 17. That St. Bernard was a godly and pious Writer Adding Et certe Papista fuit Bernardus nemo est Pius sine vera fide salutem veritatem ab inimicis habemus Mark lastly what Melancthon one of the first Followers of Luther said to his dying Mother whom he perverted from the old Religion to his new one Mother send for a Priest confess your sins before you die Illa securior haec plausibilior via ad salutem She did so and died in the Communion of the old Roman Catholick Faith in which she was born and bred This you will find in Florimundus de Ortu Haeresis lib. 1. cap. 9. What can be said more of the advantage of the Roman Catholick Church than what her mortal Enemies proclaim to the World for to undeceive men and guide them to the secure Ark of Sanctification and Salvation Now to deny this Infallibility so evidently demonstrated is the great crime Protestant pretended Reformers are charged with in this Infallibility is founded all the Power of Christ's Church obliging to believe the inviolableness of her Government the unjustifiableness of any Schism the firm security that Faith is certain and whatever in the Church is Sacred But Protestants never clear themselves from Schism upon any other grounds that those which if admitted would prove all Malefactors in the World innocent and make it lawful nay an obligation in conscience to dissolve the whole Fabrick of the Worlds Government whereas the very posture of a Fallibility of Faith first lays and in time hatches the Cockatrice Eggs of Anarchy and Atheism What Man ever arrived to that height of mistake as to endeavour to manifest his Innocency by the voluntary confession of a crime which implies the objected sin of Schism Now Protestants are accused of Schism they lay for the ground of their excuse that they acknowledge not Christs Churches Infallibility which is charged on them to be both Schism and Heresie and as the very sink of Infidelity Sure they clearing themselves by denying the Infallibility of the Church does the self-same as if some Male-contented Subject having first out-lawed himself by denying the Laws and rejecting the Government of the Land and afterwards this man becoming obnoxious to those Laws by Robbing or Murthering should endeavour to plead not Guilty by alledging that though indeed the Subjects who accept the Laws and allow the Government of England are liable to punishment if they offend against them Yet I quoth he who suppose this Government Tyrannical and the Laws unjust especially having a perswasion and thinking in my Conscience they are so cannot be obliged to obey them and therefore I must not be accounted a Factious Man nor liable to punishment if I break them Pray what will become of this Malefactor Sure Protestants will clear him in favorem Schismatis But I am perswaded wiser Judgments will think him more highly deserving the Gallows for refusing subjection to the install'd Government then it is manifest that Protestants do more deeply merit Excommunication for denying and rejecting Church-Government and her Infallibility CHAP. V. A Paraenetical Admonition to the People of England PRotestants regard the antient Faith of Christ whose Purity Ministers seek to blacken by insufferable Injuries Lyes Invectives and Calumnies of the deepest Dye They full well knowing that its Purity cannot be attacqu'd with solid evident Reasons nor Arguments they found out by experience that their Arguments to prove their new fangled false Doctrine makes but slight Impression in the Peoples minds And they daily see that when they but faithfully represent the Sentiments and real Doctrine of the Catholick Church they can neither justifie their Fatal Separation nor excuse the Extravagancies and Impudencies of their first Reformers they finding it impossible by these means to maintain the ground of their cursed Schism they have a recourse to a most unjust pernicious and hellish Artifice viz. to impute to the Roman Catholick Church an
Truth I say then that it is at once disingenuous dangerous and silly to entertain such blind thoughts I pray God these motives may have a strong influence upon you by the assistance of God's Grace which is never wanting to those that are not wanting to themselves and imprint in your Soul the Character of Truth that you may conquer all oppositions of Vnderstanding or Will which may bar your ready Obedience thereunto First divest your mind of all prepossess'd Opinions and worldly respects in favour of any Sect or in dislike of the true ancient Church so as truly having deposed all obstinate prepossessions of your Iudgment you 'll be easily persuaded that the Roman Church is the true Church wherein only is Salvation to be had Pursue this Quest my Lord suffer not your self to be mis-led by the seducing of flattering blind Guides or Obstinacy Adjourn not this Quest Say not as Felix said to St. Paul Acts 24.25 When I have a convenient season I will call for thee The World expects your happy Return to the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of God. Alexander the Great my Lord being asked if he would run at the Olympick Games said I could be content so I might run with Kings Begin then to exercise a Virtuous Ambition in running after Kings at the Olympick Game for an Eternity of never-ending Glory in the Roman Communion in so doing you may know that you run with two and twenty brave Kings of England that were Saints you run with King Charles II. whose dear Favourite you have been who by the quick-sighted piercing eye of his natural Iudgment said in his Speech That Christ can have but one Church and that the same is the Roman Catholick Church and that Christ left his Power to it even to forgive sins He desired to know How came that Church to lose that Power and by what Authority men separated themselves from it His Majesty answers saying That it was that particular men raised Schism for their own advantage Here my Lord you see the King leaves the heavy guilt of SCHISM at the door of the Protestant Sect. You run with our most Sacred Leige and Sovereign King JAMES II. whom God preserve for many many happy years whose Motto is Let Life and Three Kingdoms lie at stake Before I damn my Soul or true Faith forsake Run with King James I. of ever Renowned Memory who did acknowledge in open Parliament That the Roman Catholick Church is the only mother-Mother-Church of all Churches See Stow pag. 840. Run finally my Lord with all the present Kings in Christendom excep those of Swedeland and Denmark who reign in that Cold Cloudy and Sin-darkned Northern Corner of the World where Heresie is entertained by a company of dull stupid people that will not penetrate Run I pray with the best part of Mankind in all Ages with the wisest Heads of the World for unfeigned Holiness and Learning Run along with these irradiant Pole-Stars and you cannot go astray and it 's an undoubted truth that the Life Example and Heroick Actions of a Prince have usually a greater sway upon the minds of his Subjects than his Laws for the Example of a King is a living Law which secretly over-rules mens minds and bends them to a compliance with it None can deny this but those who have their Iudgments swallowed up by prejudice and whose blind passions have over-run their reason Listen therefore to the Voice of Heaven Apoca. 18.24 Go out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues Schism my Lord and damn'd Heresie to which you pertinaciously adhere are most grievous Plagues from it redeem your precious Soul from forfeiture that has been this long time mortgaged to Death for Sectae non possi debunt Regnum Dei and non est prudentia nec concilium contra Dominum and Sapientis est mutare concilium Make it my Lord your daily Prayer to God to settle you in the right This said my very good Lord begin to put on in the Name of Ever-glorious Iesus a Noble Resolution to shake off those Chains and Bonds of that Monstrous Tyrant Schism which detains you in slavery let the scales of blind misguided Zeal fall from your eyes that you may see to find out a most secure Vnerring Guide in your Iourney towards a happy Eternity I beseech the Father of Lights and Mercy to illuminate your Vnderstanding with Beams of his Saving Grace that you may learn embrace and practise the Faith of Christ which shall be the daily Prayer of me who intreats your Grace to bestow one Grace which is to permit me to bear all my Life-time the Title of your humble Chaplain being always Your most obsequious and faithful Servant I. E. He may be won that longest does resist To pray for your Return I 'll ne'r desist I 'll ne'r despair of any whil'st I see A fruitless Tree may next year fruitful be A WINDING-SHEET FOR THE Schism of England CHAP. I. THe ALMIGHTY as a most Divine Architect rais'd the Fabrick of his Church in this World as a medium to Salvation a Man for not hearing this Church is term'd in St. Matth. 18.18 a Publican or Heathen Protestants segregating themselves and not hearing this Church are in a most lamentable state Sure a natural unity and connection of the Parts among themselves and to the Head is necessary for the conservation of the natural Body Christ promised that there should be Unity in his Church St. Iohn 10.16 They shall be made one Fold and one Pastor This Unity is most requisite in God's Church St. Iohn 17.11 Christ prayed that his Disciples should be one And again 1. Cor. 1.10 I beseech you that you all speak one and the same thing and that there be no Schism among you but that you be perfect in one judgment Protestants denies and flyes from this Unity being divided and subdivided Christ praying Sure his Prayer took effect his People his Flock and Congregation being still one in the bonds of Peace The pretended Reformation have no Unity differing in most essential Points for Salvation therefore no true Church the Roman Catholick Church and no other stands firm and infallible against all the tempests of Apostacy Heresie and Schism and this by her Unity and Uniformity Sure by confession of Protestants the Roman Church was once the true Church according to St. Paul Rom. 1.8 First I thank my Lord through Iesus Christ that your Faith is spoken of throughout the whole World. And again v. 7. To all that be in Rome beloved of God call'd to the Saints Grace to you and Peace Now I say having it once how could they but retain the same Faith still infallibly For no general Council even ever yet condemned her of Error none of the holy Fathers ever wrote against her and by no authority was she to this day reproved of Schism for she left no Church or Company
divers prudent and religious Counsellors And even Nature gives us a Hieroglyphick hereof in the Bees whose sweet Commonwealth is ordered by one King See Georg. lib. 4. Quemadmodum mirantur omnes circumstant fremitu denso stipantque frequentes They all follow and obey like little nimble Courtiers their little King c. All this considered will not a good Judgment see that to go about to oppose any of these two Powers is to do that which St. Austin said To suffer ones self to run into a folly which hasten'd into the height of Insolency and Madness and in the end find nothing but an Ocean of Disturbances and unavoidable Perdition and Ruin. God bless King IAMES our most gracious Pole-Star no sooner His Royal Brother King Charles the Second of ever glorious Memory died but he publickly went to hear Mass confiding in the mercy of ever blessed Jesus who for him doubtless will all Safety and Prosperity provide O Prodigie never to be duly pondered for which he is through all the World praised and admired Magna est Veritas praevalet We must not meddle with things Sacred but with due reverence we must not confound the true Churches Spiritual Authority with the Regal Civil and Temporal both being distinct in Office and severally given and appointed by the Almighty they are like the two Arms of his Divine Power employed by him and distributed to their several Uses the one exercising the meer Spiritual and Persuasive Power the other the Corporal and Coercive Power the one holding the Pastoral-directing and Soul-corrective Staff the other swaying the Royal and All-subjecting Scepter the one unsheathing the Spiritual Sword cutting off by Authority Disobedient Schismatical or Heretical Sinners from the communion of the faithful Flock and from eternal Life the other brandishing the Kingly Sword cutting off the Lives of the Offenders of established just Laws and even as God holds this World in his hands that the vast Sea and firm Land may not mix together but observe their just bounds lest they should come to another Chaos So he will not have those two sovereign distinct Dignities be blinded into one least Confusion and inevitable Ruine should follow Sure since King Henry the Eighth revolted from the Monarchical Spiritual Power of Christ's Church nothing to this day followed but confusion misery disasters in this brave Kingdom of England by degrees ascending to height of unheard-of Iniquity and Tyranny as to cut off the best of Kings Charles the First assuredly those miscreant Hell-hounds that murdered him would not stick to murder even Divinity This is the woful Catastrophe of disjoyning the Spiritual from Kingly and Monarchical Government Now I must say this much of the Roman Catholick Church that according to St. Paul Rom. 1. was and is yet and will continue in perpetuum famous for Faith Religion Sacrifice and Sacraments throughout the Universe for the sound of her Doctrine hath been heard every where and her Fame to the utmost Parts of the World so as it is the same to say Roman as Catholick or Vniversal whereas there where the Roman Eagles Wings did never spread the Roman Faith did reaching down to all Ages and spreading over all Kingdoms for who can view Christianity in its extent but must consider how all Kingdoms and Nations were by Roman Emissaries converted to the true ancient Faith of Iesus we need not make any further Enquiries but embrace and walk confidently in those plain Paths in which Fools cannot err following the foot-steps of the true Flock and the heavenly good Pastor where alone Sanctity Verity and all Virtues inerrability infallibility and perpetuity are found for when where or how she ever err'd or fail'd no Authentick Author have yet related no faithful candid Writer recorded nor have any of those watchful Luminaries and Sentinels whom God hath placed in his Church ever given the least alarm of Innovations gotten into the same only Schismaticks and Hereticks combining conspiring and reviling and in vain CHAP. II. Of the CHURCH THe Church of Christ is one Society or Company of Men link'd and combin'd together in one and the same profession of Christian Faith Religion Sacrifice and use of Sacraments under lawful Pastors and under one supreme visible Head Pastor or conservator of Peace Union and Verity This is a true notion or definition of the Church established by Christ and propagated by the blessed Apostles here the true nature essence and constitution of a Church is manifested and doth truly distinguish it from all Hereticks and Schismaticks vain Pretences whatsoever for they are apparently excluded from Christ's Church and she appears glorious without spot wrinkle or any such thing she is described in holy Writ by the Emblems of a City orderly govern'd by one chief supreme Governour or of an Army govern'd by that Military Discipline that requires subjection to one Generalissimo the King had placed over it of the Body each Member in due subjection to its visible Head on Earth and the Pope in point of Government rul'd by his invisible Head in the highest Heaven Hence it followeth by order of good consequence that Divine Faith and Belief wherein consisteth as well the ground and foundation of our eternal welfare as also the Fruit and entire Utility of Christ's coming into this World is to be had in the Church made plain by the Prophet Esay 45. he foreshewed the wonderful Providence of God in providing for Christians so manifest a way of Direction for their Faith and Religion as that the most simple and unlearned Man in the World should not be able but out of wilfulness to go astray therein his words directed to the Gentiles are these Take comfort and fear not behold your God shall come and save you then shall the Eyes of the Blind be opened and the Ears of the Deaf shall be restored and there shall be a Path and way and it shall be called The holy way and it shall be to you a direct way as Fools shall not be able to err therein Sure the plain and direct way mentioned by Esay wherein no simple or ignorant Men can err is the general Body of Christ's visible Church upon Earth planted by his Apostles throughout all Nations and Countries and continuing by Succession unto the World's end in which Church who remaineth and believeth all things taught therein cannot at all fall into any Error of Faith for that this Church is guided by Christ's Spirit and therefore in no ways subject or within the compass of Error For which cause St. Paul ultimo calls it The Pillar and Firmament of Truth And the same Church is so conspicuous and evidently manifest that it is more easie to find it out than it is to see the Sun or Moon when it shineth brightest at Noon or to behold the greatest Hill or Mountain in the World and for more declaration of this it 's to be noted That in the time from Christ's ascension until the 13
de Eucharistia And was adored with outward Gestures as the true Body of Christ in Concil Ephes. in Epist. and Nestor in Concil Nicaen c. 14. To give prime Honour and supreme to St. Peter Bishop of the first See as Universal Pastor and Vicegerent of Christ Concil Nicaen c. 15. Concil Chalced. Act. 4. 16. constit c. 5. To pray to Saints that they may intercede for us in Concil Chalced. Act. 11. Prayers for the Dead offered publickly and privately in St. Augustin's time August de cura pro mortuis In those days the Church held the Fast of Forty days of Lent as Apostolical Tradition St. Hier. ad Marcel Ep. 54. Fridays likewise Confession and priestly Absolution St. August Homil. 49. saith The Keys given to the Church is to some purpose sure We must not frustrate the words of Christ. So St. Basil Tertullian St. Clement c. And thus of all other Points in Controversy we may find Reason Authority Practice and uninterrupted Custom in all Ages as Napier in his Treatise on the Revelations pag. 145. confesseth saying After 300 years the Emperour Constantine subdued all Christian Churches to Pope Silvester from which time till these our days the Pope and his Clergy hath possess'd the outward and visible Church Protestants employment being not at all to convert Heathens but to pervert those already converted Tertul. praescr c. 42. And we may find in the Writings of Roman Catholick Authors Orthodox Fathers that the Doctrine now held by Protestants were condemned as Heretical in those Persons that then held them For Example The Protestant hold that the Church may err so did the Donatists who were condemned by St. Augustin Potestants deny unwritten Tradition and urge Scripture only so did the Arrians and were condemned by St. Augustin and Epiphanius Protestants teach that Priests may marry so did Vigilantius and condemned by St. Hierom contr Vigilant c. 1. Protestants deny Prayers for the Dead so did Arrius condemned by St. August haer 53. and St. Epiphan haer 75. Protestants deny invocation of Saints so did Vigilantius for which he was condemned by St. Hierom contra Vigilant c. 3. Protestants deny the Real Presence so did the Capernaits and Berengarius who reclaimed and did Penance Protestants deny confession of Sins to a Priest so the Novatian Hereticks did reproved and condemned by St. Ambros. lib. de penitent c. 7. So did the Montanists condemned by St. Hierom Epist. ad Marcel 54. I leave off an addition of many other Points which makes really the new-moulded Protestant Sect appear but a meer frippery or hodge-podge of old condemned Heresies Hence you may understand that the Doctrine of the Roman Church is this day as it was 1600 years ago still one Holy Catholick Apostolick and Unchang'd grounded on such a solid unshaken Foundation that it is never to be brought down by the Gates of Hell i. e. Heresie Schism Apostacy Wranglings foolish Fopperies Lyings Railings c. Now Sir if you are sufficiently toss'd and wearied out with variety of Disputes and desire to put an end to them now follow the guide and direction of the Roman Catholick Church in Faith Religion Sacraments Sacrifice and Doctrine all which are derived from Christ himself to his blessed Apostles from the Apostles down to us and is to continue in the same heavenly Channel of Succession unto the end of the World Which Roman Catholick Church hath obtain'd supreme Authority from the Apostolick See by a wonderous succession of Bishops by the judgment of the People by the gravity and authority of Councils and lastly by the Majesty of Miracles And not to submit to this Divine Authority sure is the height of Impiety and precipitant Arrogancy and not to Dotages of particular idle Intruders Now as Rebellion is the bane of Civil Government in Kingdoms and Peace and Concord the preservation of the same so is Schism Division and diversity of Faith the ruin and calamity of the Church and Unity Peace and Uniformity the special Blessing of God therein and in the Church above all Commonwealths because it is in all points a Monarchy tending every way to Unity there being but one God one Christ one Church one Faith one Hope one Head one Body one Baptism Christ's Church is a Society of those that God hath called to Salvation by the profession of the true Faith Religion dread Sacrifice the sincere Administration of Sacraments and the adherence to a lawful Pastor as Head which Description is so fitted and proportioned to the Church that it resembles the Nest of the Halcyon which according to Plutarch is of such a just and exact size for the measure of her Body that it can serve no other Bird either greater or lesser Since Christianity is a Doctrine of Faith a Doctrine whereof all Men are capable of and since the high virtue of Faith is in the humility of our Understanding and the merit thereof in the ready obedience to embrace it what madness it is for any Man to tire out his Soul to wast away his Spirits in tracing out all the thorny Paths of the main Controversies of these our backsliding days wherein to err is easie and dangerous what through the malice of Authors abusing him what through Sophistry beguiling him what through blind Passion and Prejudice transporting him and not rather betake himself to the right way of Truth whereunto Christ Reason Nature and Experience do all give witness and that is to associate himself to that Church established by Christ whereunto the custody of a heavenly and supernatural Truth hath been from Heaven it self committed to weigh and find out discreetly which is the true Church to receive it chearfully and discreetly without doubt or discussion whatsoever it delivers without any farther inquisition she having the warrant that he that hears her hears Christ and whosoever hears her not hath no better place with God than a Publican and Pagan And what folly is it now to receive Scriptures upon the credit of her Authority and not to receive the interpretation of them upon her Authority and Credit also Sure if God should not always protect his Church from Error and yet peremptorily commanding Men upon pain of Damnation to obey her always then had he made very slender provision for the Salvation of Mankind which conceit concerning God would render us very ungratefully impious These Considerations or Motives may very easily perswade Persons of Reason and Piety to embrace and maintain that which they know to be the Religion of their Fore-fathers before her Adversaries had a Name her Doctrine having had a very long continuance which cannot easily be supposed in the present possessors to be a Design since they have received it down from so many Ages and it is not likely that all Ages should have the same purposes or that the same Doctrine should serve the several different ends of divers Ages relying upon the Grounds to wit that Truth is more ancient than Falshood
saved and that they who believed not should be damn'd Math. 28.19 Mark 16.15 O Soveraign and Heavenly Promises Priviledges and Graces of the true Catholick Roman Churches Infallibility Add to this how the Apostles tell us that the Chuch of the living God is the Pillar and ground of truth 1 Tim 3.15 Sure we may securely rely upon her and they assure us that Christ gave his Son Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Teachers for the perfection of the Saints that henceforth we may be no more Children tossed to and fro c. Eph. 4. Are not these plain and wondrous texts of Scripture and cannot you see clearly an infallible assistance promised to the directing and guiding men that they should not be carried about with every wind of false Doctrine by the slght and wiles of men and cunning craftiness whereby some lie in wait for to deceive No other Congregation under the Sun but the Roman Catholick Church can stand up or pretend to these great Priviledges it follows that Protestants are as they aver fallible saying so they tell all the World an Infallible truth and thereupon we may be infallibly assured that they always are failable and fallible And hence it follows whilst Protestants themselve declare they are fallible they can no ways pretend to be the infallible Church of Christ For if the Word of God should have the first place and serve as a basis for the perpetuating of a Church infallible as it is most reasonable I incessantly challenge Ministers to shew but one only Text of Scripture express formal and irreprovable contrary to the Articles of the Roman Catholick Church sure this they could never yet perform for hitherto they have produc'd nothing but Semblances Stories Lyes and Railings for to delude weak inferior Judgments of the giddy Multitude being unable to make them good before considering and learned understanding Men And if a lawful Succession sacred Mission Character and real Consecration of true Pastors be required which is absolutely necessary for the establishment of an Ecclesiastical Hierarchy the Roman Church can shew that from the Apostles hitherward our Popes and other inferior Pastors do all to this day successively follow one another above two hundred and thirty Popes Magna est veritas prevalet If the Authority of Councils be requisite which are the Sinews Mouths and living Oracles of Religion in the Revolution of sixteen Ages all Councils will be found call'd for to confirm the Roman Church confute and condemn her Adversaries If the Interpretations of Holy Doctors who have been the Lights of their times Instruments of the Holy Ghost and Secretaries of the Divinity they all with one accord and consent speak for the Roman Church condemning loudly the Errors and Schism of new Sects If Miracles which were wrought in all Ages and in the sight of all Mankind with so much approbation that they have evicted Confession even from the most Incredulous and Reverence from the most Stupid Millions and unfeigned Miracles were and are daily wrought in confirmation of the verity of the Roman Catholick Religion So as that there is not a Country wherein the Roman Catholick Religion is profess'd which doth not produce Testimonies so prudently and evidently credible of true Super-natural Miracles that to deny them were to destroy all Humane Faith. Did not Simon Magus impiously boast by the Spirit of his private Fancy that he would do wonders as St. Peter did who provok'd by the said Simon Magus did prove that he had the Spirit of God by raising a Child from Death which the other with all his Black Magick Art could not do yet boldly challenging St. Peter to fly from the Capitol to Mount Aventin while he was doing so by the Prayer of St. Peter loe he came tumbling down and brake his Leg whereof he died soon after Even so that false Apostle Calvin for the credit of his new Damn'd Doctrine he would fain make a shew to the People of doing a Miracle hir'd one that was Sick to counterfeit himself Dead who when Calvin should speak certain words was to arise as it were from the Dead but he not stirring was found dead indeed Withall mark how that the Son of Calvin being bitten by a Mad Dog his Father not being able to cure him sent him to St. Hubert in Arden where the Body of that Saint is kept with Veneration and frequent Miracles wrought thereby where he was perfectly made whole whereupon abjur'd his Fathers Sect became a Roman Catholick and lived and died so Yet Protestants object its strange themselves never see any Miracle being so desirous and miracles so frequent as we pretend Herod was also very desirous to see a Miracle but his curiosity excluded him from that favour Men who believe nothing but what they see deserve not to see Miracles because they are obstinate Yet there are few Protestants who do not see Miracles what greater Miracle than that all Catholicks turn not Protestants If the continual Victory over natural and vehement Inclinations doth require a Miracle of super-natural Grace we are as naturally and vehemently inclined to their Religion as we are to our own Liberties and Pleasures What greater Miracle than that Roman Catholick sober and learned Men should be perswaded that their Senses are deceived in the Sacrament of the Altar and that they should suffer death for the Mystery of Transubstantiation There must be effects of super-natural Grace and not of Ignorance or Obstinacy which cannot be laid to our charge seeing we submit our Judgments to every definition of the Roman Church and our very Adversaries know we are learned Men. Sanctity of Life is a super-natural sign and effect of Grace and of the true Church This Sanctity is evident in the Roman Church Not to speak of Antonies Hilarions or Stillitas let 's draw nearer our times and consider the Lives of St. Bernard St. Dominick St. Francis St. Vincent Ferrer St. Francis of Paula St. Charles Barromeus St. Teresa St. Francis Xaverius St. Anthony of Padua and many more who were known Roman Catholicks professing the same Tenets and Obedience to the Pope which we now maintain against pretended Reformation And not to speak only of the Dead let any indifferent Person consider how in all Vocations of both Clergy and Laity we have many Persons eminent in Virtue far above that degree of morality Let our English Protestant be pleased to weigh with himself whether young Ladies of as great Quality Fortunes and Gifts of Nature as England doth afford could forsake their native Country Kindred and Friends contemn all pleasures of the World and themselves by embracing a religious poor and penitent Life in perpetual Inclosure submitting their wills to the Obedience and Humour of a Woman could this I say be performed by so many so continually and with so great alacrity and content of mind without a miraculous and super-natural Grace of the Almighty In my judgment it is a greater Miracle
being a perpetual Excellence of a spotless Light and Irradiancy From this City of the Sun Decrees of pure Faith are daily call'd for a pure Fountain from whence to the universal world streams of heavenly Truths Doctrines and Sanctity daily flow This is the most triumphant Tribunal of Christ whence the real Conviction and Condemnation of Heresies Sects and Errours do proceed the Oracle of Christians by which and in which alone infallibly all arising doubts about true saving Faith are resolved It 's the sublime and invincible Seat of glorious Peter wherein to this day doth reign and invisibly as President resides Christ never forsaking the same This is the holy Land consecrated by the Sacred Blood of the Apostles in which 72 Popes are Saints so many our B. Saviour's Disciples were O glorious triumphant Hierarchy O Queen O invincible and ever-blessed Kingdom of Christ O flourishing potent and brave resplendent City O Army embattell'd in a heavenly martial order where Christians must stand always upon their guard with weapon in hand fighting here to be crowned in Heaven labouring here to rest there sowing of tears here to reap joys there in a storm here to be in a calm there and therefore our Roman Catholick Church is called Militant here but Triumphant there both which are correlatives I said it is a well-ordered Army set in Battel-array in which the King and Chief in Command is Christ his Under-Vicegerent Vicar-General Universal Pastor is the Pope his Colonels the Archbishops Bishops Prelates and Pastors his Captains and Engineers are all Under-Priests of all Estates his Trumpetters are the Evangelical Preachers his Souldiers all stout Christian Catholicks This heavenly Army is furnished with all the Sacraments Matrimony peopleth the Army with men Baptism presseth and enrolleth them Confirmation armeth and strengtheneth them the most Blessed Eucharist provideth the Camp with Ammunition-bread and heavenly Victuals O brave Church of Christ ever Glorious founded on a Rock and this was Christ who said Matth. 7.25 26. The Rain fell the Floods came the Wind blew and rushed upon the house and it fell not for it was founded on a Rock But the pretended Reformation established by Law on the 20 th of May 1549 And was it not quite abolished on the 26 th of November 1644 by the like failing Authority Assuredly it could expect but the fate of the Fool 's House It fell for being built upon the sandy foundations of humane Invention and black Arts. This sure happened by God's sweetly-chastising Mercy that by weighing their fatal dissolution and the causes of it they may retrieve their wanderings and at length recollect their scattered and distracted Members into the ever firmly united Body of the One Catholick Roman Church This made Mr. Hooker that prudent Protestant-writer affirm That the Protestant Church was not likely to continue more than fourscore years lib. 5. num 79. Nor could he judge otherwise seeing it bears evidently the Principles of corruption and mutability in its very constitution viz. the materia prima of a meer secular Basis the first Governours of it being none of those to whom Christ promised his continual assistance to the Worlds end Forsake then and leave Sirs that fleeting and unbodied shadow of Shism return and unite your selves to the Catholick Church be not wandring Brethren dry and sapless now seeing that as the Elements never rest contentedly but in their Centre so you 'll find no rest but in the bosom of the true Church which is the proper place of every Christian to which I invite the brave Nobles of England to begin to open their Eyes and consider that it 's very strange how that in a manner all the Nobility of England fell from their old Religion establish'd by unfeigned Miracles and readily embraced a pretended Reformation Sure it was not for Conscience sake some fell for liberty some for flattery some for ambition and some for sordid lucre of Church-Lands I ask whether Henry the Eighth or the Nobles that fell with him found any fault or exception against the Sacraments Divine Service or the other holy Rites of the Church Not at all then their woful fall must proceed from their perverse wills which they made their Law hinc lacrymae Sure this dismal change in King and Peers was the sad in-let of all the Wars Confusion and Calamities in Church and State that hapned ever since in this brave Kingdome this general defection from God against Conscience of the Nobility may plead in some measure a plausible excuse their being excited and provok'd thereunto by the example of their passionate King who hath strong influence on his Subjects according to the Poet Claudian Regis ad exemplum totus componitur Orbis Mobile mutatur una cum principe vulgus Scilicet in vulgus manant exempla Regentum Sure we may perceive a just judgment inflicted on the Nobility of England after their revolt pray what 's become of all that manly Courage Prowess Gallantry and Valour that made them still renowned in all Countreys of the whole World All now degenerated into a shameful effeminacy debauch'd cowardice and inconstancy Sure a touch of blindness and madness possessed them and whetted their high Spirits on to such impious actings as to yield to Injustice Sacriledge Schism and Heresie how came they I say to be so stupified as to forget the great Zeal and courage of their Christian Ancestors Who for some small temporal Concern or Priviledge have often bid defiance to their Prince yet in King Henry the Eighth's time the Nobility prov'd Cowards their Spirits low and base in the Cause of God and his old Religion so as very few withstood the Innovation and Usurpation of Henry the Eighth's hinc illae lachrimae think you could the Nobility in whose hands and power it lay to impede the innovations and unparrellell'd Sacriledge of their King expect to escape the Vengeance of God who is a jealous God revenging the Crimes of Parents upon their Posterity even to the fourth Generation yet the floud-gate of of Gods mercy is still open to all Sinners who with a contrite heart shall lay hold on Jesus Christ by Conversion from Schism to his Faith found only in the Roman Catholick Church Fair warning take O brave Nobility sound a retreat fight not any longer against Heaven call to mind the dishonour you have done to glorious Jesus trampling on his precious blood by your Sacrilegious contempt of his Sacred Religion and Sacraments Know that non est concilium nec Sapientia contra Deum leave off to be embroil'd any longer in that most pernicious quarrel of Henry the Eighth's unjustly undertaken Vna manus vobis vulnus opemque feret Sure your will gave you the deadly wound of Schism and Heresie the same must sure heal you by perusing this small Treatise with Gods assistance it may convince your understanding and reduce your perverse will to obedience Begin therefore to reclaim its high time for you to