of Christ And in the 38 page you name the Bishops in the Roman communion your most holy Colleages or fellow Bishops When you writ this you were in no Church but in the Roman into no other Church or cōpany were you then by visible externall profession admitted Wherfore you were Bishop in no Church of Christ but as you were Bishop in the Church of Rome or if you were Bishop in some other Church then were not our Catholike Bishops your colleags or fellowes If then you were a Bishop in the Church of Christ and the Bishops of the Roman were your follow-Bishops most holy it followes out of your owne confession that the Church of Rome is the Church of Christ the society of Saintes Which seing you forsake you cannot deny but you forsake the company of Christ and of his Saints which is to be peruerse to be delinquent and to Apostate Praes c. 8. Well saith Tertullian Erring is without fault where no delinquishing is He wanders securely who by wandering forsaketh nothing This is most true but he that forsaketh the Church of Christ he that abandoneth his Saintes he leaueth somthing yea a thing of great esteem he leaueth and so delinquisheth not without fault yea with great impiety is such wādring And if also he leaue that companie whome he iudgeth whom he tearmeth most holy which is your case then questionlesse he is a delinquent condemned by his owne iudgement Serm. 30. Marke what S. Ambrose expounding these words of the Apostle commenteth against your Apostasy The Heretike condemneth himselfe who casteth himselfe out of the Church of Christ and not being forced by any of selfe accord departs from the companie of Saints Well doth he declare what he deserues at the hands of all who by his owne proper doome is seuered from the company of all For whereas other criminous persons by Bishops censures are driuen out of the Church the heretike preuenteth all and becomes a forlorne from the Church by the choice of his owne will The Heretike then doth suffer the like condemnation that Iudas did being both delinquent and Iudge himselfe the authour and the punisher of his owne misdeed 3. You will say that you forsake the Roman Church with body not with hart that you fly for feare of persecution but are most ready so you may do it with your safety to haue peace and communion with the Church of Rome If you now pleade in this sort you will not be longe of so good a mind neither can this answere consort with your other deeds and doctrine For in the 34. 35. page you write that you are ready to communicate with any that agree with you in the essentiall articles and creeds of faith yet so say you that we all likewise detest new articles either openly contrary to the sacred scripture or els opposit to the aforenamed Creeds Now I aske you whether the Church of Rome teach new articles manifestly opposite to holy Scripture or no If not then you fly from her without any iust cause she being subiect to no cleere or notorious errour If she teach new articles that cleerly repugne with Scriptures and will not detest them yea seeing you say of her that she doth obtrude new articles that containe in them manifest falsity and doth persecute all that dare but mutter against them euen to the death this supposed I say cleere it is that you haue carried away not only your body but also your hart your loue cōmunion and profession from the Roman Church which yet you grant to be the church of Christ and the Company of Saints 4. You will say againe that you indeed abandon the Roman Church which is a Church of Christ notwithstanding you forsake not the Church of Christ but from one Church of Christ defiled with diuers errours you passe to another Church of Christ more pure and more sincere both for doctrine and discipline but this deuise wil not serue to quit you of the crime of Apostasy For Antony the Churches to which you fly be themselues fugitiue and fleeting Churches Companies which haue deuided themselues from the Roman which had they not done no Church no Company had been now in the world to haue receaued you in your flight This do you your selfe in a manner insinuate when you call the Churches to which you depart the Churches which Rome hath raised vp to be her aduersaries The time then was whē they were not Romes aduersaries when they were not raised vp but addicted to that which you call Romish Idolatry lay prostrate on the ground at the Popes feet So that also these Churches haue abandoned the Church of Christ and the Company of Saints if the Roman Church be as you graunt it to be the Church of Christ and the Company of Saintes Now then did these fly to a Church more pure then the Roman when they reuolted from her No but forsaking the Roman Church they departed to themselues being made purer then the Roman in their owne opinion not by cleauing to the purity of some Church before extant in the world but by the purity of a new Company raysed vp made more pure then any other by forsaking and abandoning the rest of the whole Christian world So Caluin sayth It is absurd that we that haue departed from the whole world should now fall out and quarell amongst our selues Caluin ep 107. Your strifes and contentions M. Caluin are in very truth absurde and ridiculous but much more absurde is this your confession that you made a separation from the whole world besids For straight out of S. Augustine I subsume they that forsake the communion of the whole world must needs be Apostata's God forbid wil you say for we haue iustly reuolted from the rest of the world we runne away from errours abuses we haue weighty reasons for what we do No saith S. Augustine you haue no iust reasons you are without doubt reuolting Apostata's Epist 48. for we are certaine saith he none could iustly separate themselues from the communion of the world and againe Ibidem It is no way possible that any should haue reason to separate their Communion from the communion of the whole world to call themselues the Church because vpon iust reasons they deuided themselues from the society of all nations Thus S. Augustine leauing you Antony no way to escape from the gulfe of Apostasy but by returning to the Roman Communion 5. But say you I will haue this my departure or flight to be free from all suspition of schisme You speake peremptorily like a Prince You will but you should know you haue not authority to ouerule the Natures of things If you will take another mans goods without his leaue and not be a theef If you will vpon priuate reuenge bereaue a man of his life and not be a murderer If you will abandon the Church of Christ and not be an Apostata or Schismatike
auerre that I was had in as much esteeme in our Prouinces Churches as any other Modesty requires that men should be bashfull in speaking though with great moderation things tending to their owne praise whereas you proclayme your selfe second to none of the Bishops either of the State of Venice or of the Catholike world besides and this you professe to speake without blushing You say true Shamefastnes is not wont to wayt vpon an Apostata But we howsoeuer you dreame of your being famous had newes of the Archbishop of Spalato his flight before we heard of his name Marke Antony in the Northerne parts was sooner knowne by his face then by his fame he came so fast that he preuented the messenger of his worth and estimation The fugitiue Primate himselfe first declared to many that there was any such Spalatian Primate Notwithstanding you were not more vnknowne to the world then to your self which is the cause you insolently prefixe your name to your booke as already knowne and sufficient to giue it lustre Marke Antony de Dominis Archbishop of Spalato sets downe the reason of his going So you stile your booke as if you were the Pithian Apollo ready to giue Oracles or some Dictator deliuering Lawes vnto the people or Pithagoras prescribing to his schollers Aphorismes or at least some Authour knowne by his former writings able to gaine credit to any worke by the splendour of his name Who notwithstanding were at that time for afterwards you became more notorious through the staine of your fall so vnknowne that many wondred at the title nor were there wanting inquirers who should this Marke Antony be What going is that he speakes of so vncertainly without naming either whither or from whence Is peraduenture that old Marke Antony reuiued againe and fled from Rome to Aegipt that Antony so famous for wine and venery who hauing violated his former faith to his Roman spouse no lesse renowned for chastity then noble of blood ioyned himselfe to that Aegiptian woman infamous for her many foule enormities Thus did men not yet acquainted with your iourney descant vpon the title of your booke framing coniectures of the authour of Marke Antonyes name They could not speake more assuredly of a person wholy vnknowne neither did their rouing discourses much misse of the marke For you hauing left the Roman Spouse and violated your first faith haue matched your selfe to that Lutheran brat who being of her Fathers condition no more able to refrayne from venery then from food differs not much from Cleopatra's manners If you but resemble that drunken Triumuir as well in life as you do in name by this match may that old saying be renewed Bacchus is wedded to Venus THE FIRST PART OF THE SVRVEY OF APOSTASY or the Ladder of Marke Antonies fall consisting of eight steps or degrees SINCE therfore you must be cured by the most true knowledge of your selfe who through your too high a conceite of your selfe haue slid downe into hell in this Suruey I put you in mind of your selfe whom your selfe haue so much forgot and I lay open your Apostasy not so much to the Readers eye that he should detest it as before your owne conscience that you may bewayle it Behould now at last who you were when you seemed a Catholike and by what stepps by litle litle you fell into this abysse The degrees therfore are these secret Pride close Infidelity suspicious Lightnes abandoning the Iesuites Order ambition of holy Dignities audacious Contention for Preheminence open Contumacy against the Pope finally Presumption of your owne iudgment and learning aboue the Church I will handle all these in their order not led by variable rumors but by euident arguments and for the most part taken out of your owne Booke The first degree Secret Pride HERESIES are in number diuers deuided by nations but much more by manners rites and errours amongst themselues Yet all are sisters saith S Augustin borne of the self same mother Pride To which purpose saith S. Gregory Pride is the seat of Heretickes for were they not first puffed vp in their owne conceipt they would neuer fall into strife of peruerse opinions This also Antony was the beginning of al your mischiefe long agoe through a certaine secret Pride you coueted to shew your selfe wise and zealous for the vnion of all Churches aboue all other Catholikes vnder which pretensed zeale you now at last leaue the Church Which pride of yours you discouer in your 9. page in these words I euer cherished in me say you from my first entrance into holy orders a kind of innated desire I had to see the vnion of all the Churches of Christ I could neuer brooke this separation of the West from the East in matters of faith nor of the South from the Northerne parts I was very anxious to vnderstand the cause of so many and so great schismes and to spie out if there could be any way thought vpon to reduce all the Churches of Christ to the true ancient vnion Yea I did burne with desire to behould it and I was vexed with inward grief for so many dissentions which strangely tormented me 2. If you perceaue not the pride that lurketh in these your thoughts I will stirre them vp further I let that passe where you call the Grecian Schisme a Separation of the West from the East when rather you should haue termed it the separation of the East from the West for we left not the Grecians but they departed from vs. We Latines are not the Church which departed but that frō which departure was made What principle of faith euer was common with vs and the Grecians which we haue forsaken They after they had nine times in nine general Councels peace vnion concluded subscribed to the Roman Supremacy so often againe with the note of leuity reuolted With no lesse apparant falshood you call the Lutheran defection a separation of the South from the North as if the South that is Rome Italy had deuided it selfe from the North abiding still in the faith of their auncestours It is not so for what is more knowne then at such time as Luther Zuinglius and Caluin and the first Nouellistes beganne to preach that the North was Catholike and imbraced the Roman doctrine which now they abhor The Roman Church made no diuision but suffereth diursiōs made against her The North falling away into new opinions Rome still remayned immoueable in the faith which before she imbraced nor did the hauen leaue the barke but the barke the hauen But against these your conceits I proceed no further because perhaps they are not so much signes of secret Pride wherwith you were then taynted as of newer errours wherwith now you are blinded 3. I come to your Pride Was it not a part of passing great arrogancy that you being but newly and scarcely yet admitted to holy Orders would take vpon you to be the Iudge of the whole Church
with passion you read them ten yeares togeather In these say you I fully found out what I sought for much more then I sought for How wel you set downe the māner of your fal You hated Heresie but affected Cōtumacy against the Pope and whilest you will not leaue what you loued you are falne into that which you abhorred You would faine without losse of your religion haue remained an obstinate and stubborne Catholike but behould you haue made wracke of your faith and are become a rebellious heretike You sought for Catholike contumacy contempt of the Pope a thing not to be found but in lieu therof you haue found heretical perfidiousnes Verily that haue you found which by such an inquiry you deserued to find Lib. 3. ep 9. which al that haue sought in this same māner haue found For the beginning of Heretikes saith S. Cyprian is to take delight in themselues with a swelling pride to contemne their Superiours Hereupon they rush into schismes and prophane Altars are reared vp out of the Church Malignant feuers neere neighbours to the Pestilence when the Plague is rife alwayes turne to this mischief so neere of kinne vnto them so when Heresies abound the Contempt of the supreme Pastour a sin neerly allied to Heresie can scarcely be conteined but that at least it will empty it selfe into Heresie Let them learne by your exāple that go about to be rebellious what they are like to find at last And let this be the conclusion That very orderly you descended on the steps of the ladder of Apostasy which I set you in the beginning You grow more sinfull one day then other you still more and more fleet away from the Church and euery step you make brings you neerer to Hell The eight Degree Presumption of proper Iudgment against the Church THERE now remaines the eight and last degree in the ladder of your descent a degree and step not only neighbouring vpon heresy but also neere allied vnto it which it doth not only touch immediatly but is the very beginning and head thereof This is too much presuming of your owne learning and wit aboue the Church S. de vera Relig cap. 16. Augustine saith excellently That no errour can be in the Christian religion did not mans soule worship her selfe for God For it were impossible that a Christian should be an Heretike did he still submit himselfe and inthrall his vnderstanding to God and giue him leaue by the voyce of his Church to ouersway their wits which are blind rashe erroneous not only when they wander without diuine Scriptures through the works of Nature but thē also when within the boundes of sacred Writ they discourse according to their owne fense arbitrement Hitherto before you openly fled from vs were you fallen Antony and being in that case you did not so much tend towards Apostasy but rather were you arriued at your iourneyes end You cannot abide Subiection of vnderstanding to the obedience of Faith euery where you impugne it and at last conclude I am no child now whome being nigh threescore yeares of age euery man should perswade what he listeth without weight of reasons This your girding at the Roman Church contaynes either a grosse calumniation or a vast arrogancy For if you meane to taxe the Roman Church as though she did vse to propose to be beleeued of her children with true submission of their vnderstanding whatsoeuer a priuate man or Doctour or Prelate listeth to teach truly you hatefully charge her with that she neuer doth But if by whatsoeuer listeth any man you meane those points of doctrine which you call proper decrees of the Roman Church namely the Supremacy of Peter and his Successour the doctrine that most of all offends you If by euery one you vnderstand the witnesses authours vnto whose iudgment the Romā Church would haue her childen submit the supposed weight of their reasons If I say you meane this doctrine and intend to shew your cōtempt of the authorities that are by the Church alleadged for it refusing to submit your iudgment to them then are you come to this last step which consumates an Apostata For you know all Catholikes all Bishops through out the world and the vniuersall Church now spread through Europe and the new found Indies acknowledge the Romā Supremacy I will not presse you with the old Councells I wil not vrge you with any thing that you may or will deny Only I say that this doctrine was defined by the Tridentine Councell by the Florentine by the Lateran which Lateran for the generall concourse of all Christendome and for the number of Bishops that were in it was the greatest of all Christian councells that haue beene hitherto assembled Will you then submit your iudgment to the censure of these councells You will not The assembly of so many so great and so worthy men by you is tearmed quisque euery one ordinary fellowes Their iudgmēts you accompt no more then quod quisque libuerit you reckon them as trifles Behould now appeares the arrogancy of your speach which though you harboured in your mind yet you sought to cloake with ambiguous words 29. You say that euery man shall not make you belieue what they list being a man as you are of almost three score yeares of age you say that you haue reasons of weight that the Church shal giue you better or as good before you will beleeue her O craft of Heresy what doth not she inuent to saue her selfe she sees that if the matter come to be tried by authority she will not be able to stand nor shew her selfe in comparison with the Catholike Church that her vpstart paucity will blush to appeare before the Catholike authority which in former ages was and now is spatiously enlarged ouer the world What shift then doth Heresy make With full mouth she cryes that she hath weighty reasons on her side hoping by the promise of reasons to counterballance the Churches authority If you will not credit me that this is the tricke of heresie then heare S. Epist 56. Augustine that long ago noted and discouered this fraud Heretiks saith he perceauing that they are vtterly ouerthrowne if the authority of their Conuenticles be brought to compare with the Catholik authority they endeauour by making shew promises of reason in some sort to ouercome the most graue and grounded authority of the Church For this kind of boldnes is the common and ordinary tricke almost of all Heretikes So S. Augustine which in truth toucheth your right who go about to poise the weight of your reasōs against the authority of the Church Nor do I captiously intend to wrest your words to a sense perhaps from your own meaning as if before you will beleeue you demaund of vs weighty reasons drawne out of Philosophy naturall Knowledge I deale not so hardly with you for you meane perhaps reasons grounded on Scriptures but
so that except the Churches reasons do so fully conuince you that it manifestly appeare to you that she proposeth to our beliefe that only which is conteined in the Scriptures except you see this I say you will not yeild nor do you thinke it meet that you should yeild being a man of such yeares Thus to stand vpon reasons drawne from Scripture is I say an hereticall tricke For those ancient Heretikes amongst whome as S. Augustine saith it was ordinarie to oppose their reasons and arguments to countermaund the definitions of the Church these heretikes I say did not vrge reason without Scripture but they boasted that they had and exacted likewise of the Church argumēts out of Scripture so cleere and so perspicuous that mans vnderstanding cannot resist against them And the same kind of conuincing arguments our Nouellestes require of the Catholike Church nor will they graunt any man to be an Heretike but such a oneas being conuinced by testimonies of Scriptures cleerly seeth that to be affirmed in Scriptures which the Church would haue to be beleeued notwithstanding he refuseth to belieue This is their doctrine which if we once admit to be currant t' is impossible there should be any men in the world properlie Heretikes For if that which the Church proposeth to be belieued they find not cleerlie deliuered in Scripture although they disagree from the Church they be not Heretikes as they say And on the other side if they see the doctrines of the Church to be cleerlie contained in Scripture they cannot dissent from them vnles they belieue either that God can lie or that the Scriptures of Christians be not the word of God And if they beleeue either of these two things they be not properly Heretiks For if they beleeue that God can lie they are not Heretikes but Atheists if they beleeue that God is true but thinke that Christian Scriptures be not his word they be not Heretikes but Infidells seing they wholy deny Scriptures and as Tertullian saith There can be no Heretike without Scriptures Praes c. 39. And if you say they be Heretiks that deny the Scriptures not wholy but in part then this followes that there can be no Heretike which doth not refuse some part of Canonicall Scriptures And then I aske of Protestants how they can taxe vs Catholikes for Heresy who from the Canon exclude no booke which they themselues admit nor do we find the doctrines cleerlie deliuered in Scriptures which they so boldly and clamorously contend to be conteined in them But my purpose is not at this time to ouerthrow this proud Tower of Heresy which is not to beleeue the Church vnlesse they see with their owne eys that her doctrine is conteined in Scripture 30. This only I vrge that you Antony were come to this last step towards Apostasy which is not to yield to the Churches authority without she make her word good by weighty reasons that out of presumption of your Wit and Learning but especially out of a great opinion of the ten Bookes you promise to print you haue shamefully reuolted frō the Church That which we read of Agar Sara's handmaide Gen. 16. may very well be applied to you Who perceauing that she had conceaued with child set light by her Mistresse For as soone as you had conceaued in your braine that new forme plot of an Ecclesiasticall gouernement and Christian vnion you forthwith contemned the iudgment of the Roman Church to whō you should haue beene obsequious submitting and captiuating your iudgment But it seemes by your manner of proceeding that you be of opinion that in those your ten Bookes more is conteined then in the whole Catholike world besids For you promise many great wonderfull Benefits which by your Reuolt from the Pope shall redound to the Church to witt the suppression of Schisme the vniting of Churches the extinguishing of Heresies the pacification of Princes from open Hostility and the combining of their forces for the subuersion of the Turke with the infranchisement of Christiā Captiues groaning vnder their yoke These are great and glorious things Let vs now see by what power you will performe them As Dauid with fiue stones encountred Goliah so you with the same number of bookes twice told will enter into combat with the aforenamed Monsters The Church say you shall shortly heare my voyce I will speake to the hart of Ierusalem I will call her forth Thus you and yet if I be not deceaued God only is he that speakes to the hart as for men euen the greatest the most learned and eloquent while they inuite men to heauenly matters of themselues can do no more but knocke at their eares Nor do I see vpon what grounds you may be so sure that your voyce should penetrate into the hart of the Church though I see very well that you imagine there is no small force but rather some diuine efficacy in your voyce Well what is that you will proclayme that shall be heard ouer Christendome Let vs now heare it from you own mouth I will say you shortly put forth my ten Bookes of the Ecclesiasticall Common wealth in which principally I endeauour that the Roman Errours may be detected the truth and soundnes both of Doctrine and Discipline may appeare that many of the Churches cast forth and reiected by the Roman Church may be reteyned still in a Catholike sense That the way of vnion betweene the Churches of Christ may be demonstrated or at least pointed at with a nod or finger And that if it be possible that is if it be possible my bookes wil do the deed we may all say and thincke the same thinges and so all Schismes may be repressed that the occasions may be taken away from Christian Princes of oppressing one another that therby the better they may direct their forces in such sort that the Churches of Christ groning vnder Infidel Tyrantes may be recouered to their former liberty Thus you write of your Booke What victories will this your Child yet in wombe get for the Church What ouerthrowes and woes will he worke vpon Heretiks if he may be once happily borne into the world 31. Whose birth therefore you iudge a matter of such consequence that any wickednes may be committed that he may be borne For I pray you is it not a wicked thing to forsake the Church Yes certainly and yet you finding no possibility to print your booke in a Catholike Country rent your self wholy from the Catholike Church that so your ympe finding no other way of passage to life might worke himselfe into the world by renting his mother Againe is it not great wickednes for Pastours to forsake their flock to the continuall tuition whereof the law of God seuerely bindeth them Without question it is Yet you write in this manner It was very necessary for me to leaue my flocke that so hauing broken also these bandes being at more liberty I might be the
readier to praise the truth and so much the safelier condole the ruines of the Church which it susteynes at the hands of the Roman Marke I beseech you your wordes What is this els but so say let the bands of the diuine Law be broken let soules redeemed by the bloud of Christ perish all is well so that I with my ten stringed Psalter may get liberty to chaunt out the praises of Truth or to deplore the wretched state of Schisme You hold belike the teares you spend for the Roman Church at so high a rate that the Bloud of soules the Law of God must be set at naught and contemned for them Yf you had such a pleasure to singe mourne why would you be a pastour Why entred you not into some Religious family deuoted to the quire and solitude and there haue giuen your selfe to songes and teares Lastly what greater crime then to dissemble in matters of Religiō with body to approach that Church whose faith in your hart you approue not Is not this wickednes Now tell me Antony haue you so soone vomited forth all those Roman doctrines wherewith you were once imbued or haue you suddainly swallowed vp all the articles of the English Faith that you haue so without guide of Conscience imbraced their Communion I cannot thinke it but rather that you dissemble in many points to giue them satisfaction of whom you expect your hire and to get the Kings Protection and assistance for the priuiledge of your Booke that what you could not publish in the light of Christianity you may at last set forth in the darcknesse of Heresie 32. It is reported of a certaine Zoilus that was wont to keep his bed like a sick man when in truth he was not so that he might thereby take occasion to shew forth a purple Couerlet of his wherin he was much delighted Such a kind of languour is it wherein you languish with desire to publish your writings which that you might the better bring to passe you feigne your selfe an Heretike in the English Church you lay your selfe downe at the feet of the Kinges Supremacie ouer the Church as though you were sicke of that Parlamentarian Maladie and all this to get leaue to print your Bookes and shew them to the view of the world and yet alas when these your so highly by you esteemed treasures of learning shall haue passed the print which by committing so many sinnes you haue found out at last there will not want diuers I say not Catholiks but Protestants that hauing read your so much expected Booke will apply to you that which was spoken to Zoilus These riches are but vaine Which make the sicknesse fayne I wish you would rather follow the counsaile that the Angell gaue vnto Agar Genes 16. being great with Child which was Returne home to thy Mistresse againe and humble thy selfe vnder her handes Returne I say home againe to the Church which you haue forsaken Cast prostrate at her feet your selfe your wit your learning your bookes Submit them to the Catholike and Roman Censure As Rachels seruant deliuered her children into her Mistresse lap so do you offer vp your Bookes to the pleasure of the Church But me thinkes I see you turne your head aside at this and say This is base this is seruile this is to become againe a little child It is so indeed But oh noble basenes and high humility whereby a Christian transcending himselfe and his naturall wit comes to be vnited to God reuealing mysteries that surpasse mans capacity by the mouth sometimes euen of vnlearned Prelates Oh happy seruitude that tieth makes men bondeslaues of the Truth which only affoardes true Liberty Oh huge littlenes which only art capable of heauen which only canst intertaine God! So that Antony though you be welnigh threescore yeares of age you shall neuer enter into the Kingdome of Heauen vnles you be conuerted and become as a little child They that scorne to be little ones grow to be great ones indeed not in wisedome but in malice and folly which shal be further demonstrated in the second part of this Suruey of your Apostasy THE SECOND PART OF THE SVRVEY OF MARCVS ANTONIVS de Dominis his Apostasy CONCERNING The state wherein now he is WE will not there being no need vse circumlocutions but plainly set downe the misery of your present state By the former eight degrees not of beatitudes but of maledictions you are falne into eight bottomles Gulfes which within the compasse of Heresy are contayned I will first tell you what they are and then shew that you lye plunged in them These they are Forsaking of the Church of Christ Not to be certaine of any religion Hypocrisy Mendacity against the Church Contumelious speach Arrogancie Inuenting of new flattering doctrine Vayne and idle talking That you are swallowed into these pits belonging to Heresy I will make playne and by no other arguments then such as your owne booke affoardeth This booke now pleadeth against you but more dreadfull euidence will it giue in at the day of doome against your obstinate perseuerance Wherefore Antony rise out of this mayne deep of Heresy wherein as yet you lye not so low but repentance may reclayme you The first Gulfe of Apostasy The forsaking of the Church of Christ TO abandon the Church of Christ and the Catholike Communion is the first though not the shallowest gulfe of Hereticall peruersity All Heretikes saith S. Hierome are Apostata's that is Reuolters The Apostle tearmeth the Heretike peruerse Tit. 3 11. because no man is an Heretike that hath not auerted himselfe and swarueth from the way of Truth wherein once he walked He saith also that the Heretike delinquit proprio iudicio condemnatus that he is a delinquent condemned by his owne iudgment That you are in this Gulfe Antony is a thing so cleare that it need not to be proued yet seeing you deny it I will proue it not by common arguments but such as shall leaue you conuicted out of your owne words 2. He that forsaketh the Church of Christ and the communion of Saintes is peruerse a delinquent an Apostata This you will not deny and that you do it your selfe most manifestly affirme For that you fly from the Roman Church that you depart out of it in the pag. 34. you openly professe This my departing say you this my going out of Babylon or flight I will haue to be cleare from all suspition of schisme You depart then out of the Roman Church which you stile Babilon but the Roman Church is the Church of Christ the Society of Saintes therfore you impiously go from it impiously you call it Babylon If you aske me how I can proue the Roman Church to be the Church of Christ the society of Saintes I answere euen by your owne words which are registred in the 28. page I may not say you be wanting in my charge I being a Bishop in the Church
verily you will misse of your purpose Theft shall be theft murder murder Schisme schisme will you nill you Antony Well but I fly say you from errors I fly from abuses I fly that I may not be partaker of her sins not haue part in her punishments O how liuely did the holy Ghost describe you long agoe The wicked sonne saith Prouerb 30 ver 12. as S. Augustine readeth that he is iust yet doth he not wash cleere his going out You say the Church swarmeth with errours is ful of abuses loaden with sinnes that you are pure iust and thereupon fly not to be partaker of the punishments due to our sinnes who haue no sinns forsooth of your owne to be punished You say you are iust but you do not proue it notwithstanding though you should in your owne cause say the very truth yet could not you therby cleere your selfe from the crime of Schisme which I will make manifest euen by your owne words In the 37. page touching S. Cyprian you write in this māner Cyprian made no doubt but that Stephen the Roman Bishop did erre very grieuously yet rather then to make a Schisme in the Church he chose to communicate not only with Pope Stephen whose beliefe and practise was contrary to his but also with others whome he iudged impure for this cause only because Pope Stephē did admit them into his Communion which example S. Augustine as he sets it before the Donatists so likewise he sets it before vs for imitation Now I will iudge you by your one euidence For why do you not imitate this example which you say is layd before you a purpose that you should imitate it If S. Cyprian could not deuide himselfe from Pope Stephen whome he most assuredly iudged to erre without being guilty of the crime of Schisme may you reuolt from Pope Paul the fifth vnder pretence that he errs and not be a Schismaticke If S. Cyprian had he forsaken Pope Stephen could not haue iustified his departure by saying put case he might truly haue sayd so I fly his errours his abuses his sinnes do you thinke that your defection frō the Roman Church can be washed cleane from the note of Apostasy by your loud exclaiming that you fly errour A protestation vaine though it were true and indeed false vttered without any proofe You go about Antony to wash a bricke you loose your labour your crime cannot be washed away without teares of repentance The second Gulfe Wandring vncertainty about Religion THE second Gulfe wherein you are drowned I call Nullity of fayth because you abandoned the Roman Church and Faith before you had made choice of any other Church or religion that should succeed in lieu thereof You seemed at your departure from vs to be a blanke ready to preceaue any Religion or faith that should be written therin so it were contrary to the Roman A deepe pit of impiety which heretikes do fall into whos property it is not to establish but to ouerthrow fayth to beate downe Christian Churches that stand not to reare vp Christian Churches amongst Pagans They ioyne friendship and communion indifferently with all Sectes sayth Tertullian nor do they regard though they be different from them in opinion Praese cap. 40. so they will concurre with them to ouerthrow the truth This want of sound and solide faith you shew Antony by many signes and tokens First by your perpetuall silence not declaring either in the title or in the body of your booke to what sect or Religiō you meane to passe from the Roman In the title you pretend to shew the reasons of your going but you tell vs neither whence nor whither you take your iourney Motion as Philosophers say receaues forme and shape of the end and marke wherein finally the same resteth which being true your going to which your title prescribes not any end nor restraynes within the compasse of any markes what may it seeme but a vast vncertaine blind and inconsiderate wandering This your omitting to set down in your title the finall marke of your iourney is the more blame-worthy because straight in the very beginning of your discourse you require that euen we Catholikes should approue your departure For how can any prudent man possibly approue your iourney before he know in what Country Church or Religion you meane to take vp your rest We that know not for what place you are bound can we know or approue your course Seing then this circumstance whither is the chiefe thing that giues light to them that are to iudge in the vndertaking of a iourney and therfore is the first thing to be declared in the very beginning of the deliberation why did not you Antony expresse it in the Title of your Booke why haue you not once thoughout your whole pamphlet tould it vs in playne and direct termes The answere is easy you tould it not because you were certaine neither of the Church nor of the Religion wherein you should make your finall abode You compare your selfe forsaking the Church of Rome with the great Patriarke Abraham who following God left his Countrey which comparison though in the mayne point it be very idle yet heerein you are not vnlike to Abraham that as he departed from his natiue soyle not knowing whither he went so you abandoned the Roman Church and Religion before you could tell what other Church or Religion you should imbrace vpon the forsaking therof 6. Secondly of this your doubtfullnesse in choice of Religion which you did but insinuate in the title you make open demonstration in your booke in the 15. pa. wherof you write Now myne eyes being more opened I might easely perceaue that the doctrines of the Churches which being very many Rome hath raysed vp to be her aduersaries which Churches though we sharply censure our Deuines maynly impugne do little or nothing at all swarue from the true primitiue doctrine of the pure Church So you write nor could you haue more disclosed the vast pit of vncertainty in your breast gaping for any doctrine so it be opposite to the Roman For let vs search into the matter I demaund of you Antony whither are you going to Churches say you that swarue very little or nothing from the true Primitiue doctrine I heare you But shew me these Churches which are they they be those Churchs which being very many Rome hath raised vp to be her aduersaries O what a deale of vncertainty and confusiō lyeth couched togeather in these words I let passe that vncertainty very little which how much or little it is no man knowes you only may determine and at your pleasure stretch or contract it I do not enquire where about in the world those Churches are to be seen which you so highly cōmend Which questiō should I propose I could pursue you from country to country and you would sweat to find such Churches in the world as you describe in your booke Churches I
say for number very many in doctrine all opposite to the Roman and all agreeing among themselues in the pure primitiue truth But pretermitting these questions I only aske when you say that the Churches which being very many Rome hath raysed vp to be her aduersaries do very little swarue from the pure primitiue doctrine whether you speake of all the Churches and Companies that in doctine are opposite to the Roman or of some of them only You cannot with truth speake it of all they being so many and so repugnant the one against the other Grecians Lutherans Caluinistes Libertines Anabaptists Arians Trinitarians How can it be that they all should very little or nothing disagree from the true doctrine whose doctrines disagree mainly and allmost infinitly the one from the other 7. If you say that though not all yet some of the Churches aduersaries to Rome do very little disagree from the primitiue truth then I demaund Why do you not distinguish these pure Churches from the other impure before you prayse them Why do you thus at random rashly not to say impiously cast that great commendation to swarue very litle from the pure primitiue doctrine vpon the confuse multitude of sects disagreeing from the Roman Church in which masse euen your selfe being iudge all be not sincere yea many be corrupt many impious many most food sottish And yet by your words no man can perceaue whether this high prayse be bestowed by you on the Grecians or on the Septentrionals on the Lutherans or on the Anabaptists on the Caluinists or on the Arians Verily you be not the mouth of God Antony you be not the preacher of Truth who to good bad layd togeather on an heape giue your approbation without any distinction not seuering pretious from vile noxious from wholsome hereticall from Catholike impious from Christian doctrine And yet herein you are excusable For what els could you do who had not as yet made choice of any certaine Church you might magnify before al other being vncertaine for the present and ignorant what finally your choice might be you durst not condēne any Church of the many opposite to Rome fearing you should perchance condemne that Church which you might be forced to fly vnto Had you singled one Church out of that number extolling it only aboue all other the rest perchance would with lesse willingnesse haue intertained you taking your singular prayse of that one Church as a disparagement to them all nor durst you commend distinctlie and by name all the sectes that are enemies to the Pope knowing that thereby you might expose your selfe to iust exception that Catholikes might take at you as being a friend of damnable errours Wherfore craftily you resolued to shoot at randome in the praise of Churches that oppose themselues to Rome without specifying the name or doctrine of any that so you might haue both freedome to runne to what sect you pleased and shelter against Catholikes should they except against you as fauouring the errours of any particuler heresy Now Antony perceaue you not that your secret wily deuise is layd open that this your booke brings to light the things which you most of al desired should haue byn hiddē 8. Thirdly so great is your vncertainty that you are not only ignorant to what sect to fly from the Roman Church but also you know not from what doctrine of the Roman Church you should fly I confesse you do particularily mislike the Primacy of the Roman Bishop but you were not ignorant that the hatred of this authority is common to all sorts of Heretikes Whosoeuer are wicked in the world the more egregiously that they are wicked the more mortally do they hate the power of the Pope all being herein combined Grecians Protestants Lutherans Caluinists Anabaptists Arians Turkes Iews Atheists What other article of the Roman beleife do you condemne besides this You name no other but in generall you proclaime that you fly the Roman sinnes errors abuses and innumerable nouelties Why name you them not I will tel you the sects that band against Rome being very many do not all mislike the same doctrines in the Roman Church What one condemneth another prayseth what some approue others abhorre so your religion depending on future euents you could not shew detestation of the Roman errours in particuler till you had made certaine choice of your Church You knew that you were to condemne in the Roman Church other articles did you become a Grecian others did you fall to be a Lutheran others did you turne Caluinist others did you cleaue to the Anabaptists others should you stay in Germany others should you fly to France others should you sayle into Englād Wherfore wauering in vncertainties not able to forsee what shall becom of you without naming any particulers with all your might and mayne you cry out on the Roman Errours When you shall haue made your election for your religion therein set vp your rest then shal the Roman Church erre in those poynts and as damnably as it please that company you liue with to haue you say 9. But I pretermitt say you in the 17. page to set downe particularly the Errours of Rome because in my booke of the Ecclesiasticall Common wealth I do fully prosecute them which booke now a good while ready for the print I haue and will set it forth out of hand and bequeath it to the first printer in Germany that by the way I shal find for the purpose I beseech you Antony why did you not performe what here so solemly you promise Met you with no Printer in Germany that was for the purpose or did the King of great Britany countermand your purpose or did you of your self shrinke from your purpose I search not into this secret This I say that now you shall not print the booke you brought out of Italy with you but another Your selfe growing daily worse and worse will change therein diuers things either taking away some points of Catholike doctrine or adding some new doctrines gotten by your reading in the books of heretikes to say nothing of the things which Ministers by their arguments will winne you to alter And what shall I say of his gracious Maiesty so excellent for his knowledge To change some things in your booke and to adde other things to it he will persuade you by his learning to leaue out diuers doctrins that sauour to much of Rome he may compell you by his authority perchāce also sundry of his sayings though he vrge you not yet you to please him will put them into your booke Know you not what befell Casaub one How much changed he was from that affection and mind that he seemed to carry with him into England which alteration he going about to excuse to his friend plainly confesseth that by entrance into the English Court he was become a slaue not daring in any thing gaynesay the Kings pleasure which basenes
promise de vtilitate credend cap. 14. you barke But know that you barke against that Church which as S. Augustine saith by succession of Bishops from the Apostolike Sea hath obteyned the height of authority Heretikes her enemyes round about her barking in vayne against her Sampson sent foxes into the corne of the Philistines with their heads loose but with their tayles tied which signifies saith S. Hierome that Heretikes haue tongues free to barke but for performing they be shackled and cumbred They barke fiercely but they beat but the ayre sooner may they breake themselues then fright and remoue the Roman Church from the imbracing of the faith that hath byn deliuered vnto her She cleauing to the diuine promises as it were fixed in the firmanent being on high secure despiseth her rayling aduersaryes as the moone doth the dogges Who barke but winde drowneth their clamours base Diana chast holds on her heauenly pace The sixt Gulfe Arrogancy of Doctourship and Authority ouer the whole Church THE power which from the Roman Bishop you would faine take you challenge to your selfe so making your selfe the vniuersall curate of the Church in the 29. page To euery Bishop so is a particuler Church committed that he must know that also when need is the vniuersall Church is by Christ commended to him In the 30. page you add that any Bishop by his owne proper authority may remoue to other Churches that are afflicted and oppressed Thus you make a conueyance of power ouer the whole Church for your selfe yet you do it subtilty thinking you should not be seen You offer that vniuersall power to euery Bishop knowing aforehand that out of modesty they will refuse it that so this authority reiected by the rest may retourne to your selfe the first authour therof as being properly and peculiarly yours Yea say you it is most of all properly belonging to my office to succour as farre as in me lieth the Roman Court that makes a schisme and diuision by it selfe and teareth in peeces the flocke of Christ You are the new Atlas you will support the Heauen the vniuersall Church with your shoulders For which enterprise you thinke your selfe so sufficient that if the Pope and the rest of Catholike Bishops will yield to rely vpon your aduise what will follow I hope say you that shortly it will so fall out that full peace and concorde and that so necessary vnion of the holy Churches will thereupon ensue so that we shall beleeue all the same and all abide in the same rule Your hopes are vayne poore soule you take to much vpon you 33. Heresies were before you were borne and will be when you shal be dead the number of Heretiks you now make greater by one through Pride which deserues to be pittied rather then confuted For what Put the case the Roman Bishops would become your subiects and remit the busines of vnion and reconciliation to your wisedome do you thinke the matter ended and that the Sects opposite to the Roman Church Grecians Lutherans Caluinists Anabaptists will also without more ado become obedient to you at a becke Such is your vanity that you seeme not to doubt but that all the rest of Christian companyes besides the Roman will in this affaire of peace beare humble duty and respect towards you You know not Antony and little do you imagine what fierce and furious windes I meane proud and peremptory sects rage in the Northern parts which if you can assemble to a generall Councell or keepe them when they are there in peace verily you shall be more omnipotent then Aeolus But afore-hand I tell you they will not set a rush for you Maydes and Boyes will laugh you to scorne they will preferre their skil of Scripture before yours with sentences flowing thicke and threefold from their tongues vttered with one breath they will ouerload you If you dare but mutter against what they say you shall be stiled Papist if you do not straight yield to beleeue them they will take pitty of your eyes that hauing beene so many yeares togeather accustomed to Popish darkenesse cānot now behold the cleere shining light of the Gospel This is the Caluinian nature which if you be ignorant of you will learne to your cost 34. But to returne to the care of the vniuersall Church which you presumptuously take vpon you togeather with authority to visit any Church at your pleasure which you shall iudge to haue need of your assistance Herein you commit a double errour The first is to thinke that a Bishop to help other Churches that are afflicted may abandon his owne and in such manner adandon it as to leaue it destitute of the meanes of saluation to be rauened deuoured by wolues For this in your conceit you do and this you thinke that lawfully you may do to succour the Roman But what ancient holy Bishop can you name that did so Which of them hath left written that such practise is laudable Euen those Bishops whome you pretend to imitate your selfe confesse that they went to assist other Churchs leauing their owne well appointed and prouided of sufficient persons to teach and instruct them 35. The second errour is to thinke that euery bishop at his owne good liking and by his owne authority may visit other Churches that are in need put them in order though the proper Bishops of such Churches be vnwilling Which doctrine were it brought to practise would breake and vtterly ouerthrow the peace and concord of the Church as any man of iudgment may soone foresee For if euery Bishop may whensoeuer he shall thinke it needfull passe into the boundes of anothers Iurisdiction there sit as Iudge of cōtrouersies and pronounce finall sentence vpon them it cānot be but Bishops will very often encounter and be beaten one against another by mutuall discord nor can I imagine what other deuise can be thought of de vnit Eccles c. 4. or feigned so fit to trouble the quiet of Churches There is as S. Cyprian saith but one Bishopricke whereof a part is wholy possessed by euery one yet so is the Bishopricke one as the body of man is one which hath an Head that commandeth the rest of the members In this manner the one Bishopricke of the world hath one Sea supreme aboue the rest l. 3. ep 4. which the same S. Cyprian tearmeth the principall Sea from which Priestly vnity and concord floweth to which perfidiousnes can haue no accesse The authority of this Sea spread and diffused ouer the rest is that Glew of concord which ioyneth them all togeather in peace and charity This Sea hath care to prouide for the necessityes of the vniuersall Church and to send as Legats other Bishops whose Churches be well prouided to giue succour to others that are in need By this Sea were Osius Athanasius Eusebius Bishop of Vercells Lucifer of Calaris and others sent whome you name and affirme but as your manner
is without any proofe that they put themselues into the busines of visitation of Churches vpon their owne head and authority 36. Theodoret writeth that Lucifer Bishop of Calaris Eusebius Bishop of Vercells went about visiting the Churches of the East Lib. 3. c. 4. and namely the Churches of Antioch and Alexandria to see whether the Decrees of the Nicen Councell were kept That Lucifer at Antioch ordayned Paulinus Bishop that Eusebius at Alexandria togeather with Athanasius called a Councell to which Lucifer sent a Deacon by whome he signified that he would agree to the things that that Councell should ordayne These things you thinke that those two Bishops but of meane Seas did performe by their owne proper authority that you haue sufficient authority of your selfe to do the like when and whersoeuer you shal iudge it expedient Lib. 6. aduersus Iulian I may with reason exclayme with S. Augustine What dares not the pride of rotten flesh presume You should Antony haue known what S. Gregory Nazianzen writeth Monod in S. Basil that Eusebius Bishop of Vercells and Lucifer of Calaris were sent ex vrbe Româ from the Citty of Rome into the East particularly to appease a sedition and tumult at Cesaraea De viris illustribus in Lucifero and that which S. Hierome left recorded of Lucifer that he was sent Legat into the East to Constantius Emperour from Liberius the Roman Bishop Whence you may gather that by power delegated to them from the Roman Bishop they were able to commaund the East and ordaine such great affaires and not by their owne proper authority Wherefore you haue not Lucifer the Bishop of Calaris but Lucifer prince of Pride for your patterne and president when you go about to rayse your selfe a throne in the coasts of the North that as Christ in the South by the Bishop of Rome gouerneth the Vniuersall Church so in the North he that seeks to be like to the highest may by you as Head send forth and display his counsells and deuises vpon all Christendome 37. And what meant you to match your selfe with those most holy and famous Bishops Worthyes of the Church Contrary things layd togeather deserue to set forth mutually ech other In the practise of these Saintes as in a glasse we may behold how opposite all your proceedings are to the rules of sanctity They going left their Churches prouided and well commended to other pastours You leaue your Church wholy destitute to be deuoured as you conceiue by wolues They either went to the Roman Church for succour and counsell or were sent by the Roman to giue succour and counsell to others you fly from the Roman Sea you detest blaspheme it They being men renowned in the whole Church for their learning and sanctity being earnestly inuited by diuers Bishops and by the secret suffrages of the whole Church for that interprise designed went to put an end to the Church Controuersies you being neither for the dignity of your Sea eminēt aboue the rest nor commendable for Knowledge and Holynes of life a man vtterly vnknowne who by your Apostasy now beginne to haue fame You I say offer your selfe for vniuersal Superintendent and Curate to the world which before this your offer had neuer so much as heard of your name They laboured for that faith which had byn settled and defined by Councells you seeke to bring in Doctrine which you know to haue byn many ages ago condemned by the authority of Councells They stroue against Heretikes that seing they had bin accursed in Coūcells they might likewise be reiected from the Catholike Communion your labours are in fauour of damned Heretikes that though they be proscribed by Councells yet they may be reteyned in the Church if so be that they will professe Christ by the essentiall Creedes as you speake And you seeme to be of the same mind that some Donatists were Epist 48. whome S. Augustine condemns that it is no matter in what part or side a man be a Christian nor do you consider that it is sitting that God should be serued in vnity Thus by comparing your selfe with the ancient holy Bishops your sanctity appeares The seauenth Gulfe New flattering doctrine THIS Gulfe imbraceth two vices and both of them properly belong to Heretiks the one is to coyne new doctrines the other to flatter their auditours specially Princes Lib. 1. ca. 1. Of the first S. Irenaeus saith That later Heretiks do day by day inuent some new thing which neuer any man had thought of before Of the second S. Hierome writeth Lib. 1. cōt Pelag. That flattering properly agreeth to Heretiks and to them that study how to deceaue soules according to the saying of the Apostle such persons serue not Christ our Lord but their owne belly and by sweet speaches and benedictions seduce the harts of the innocent 39. Many new doctrines you haue in your booke Antony as are these 1. That a Bishop for feare of persecution may forsake his flock and leaue it wholy destitute 2. That to euery Bishop is giuen the care of the vniuersall Church so that by his owne proper authority he may intermeddle in the affaires of other Bishoprikes 3. That none who professe Christ by the Creeds essential of the ancient Church are to be repelled from the Catholike Communion 4. That Schisme is a farre greater sinne then Heresy These your new conceits haue been mentioned and refuted already 40. Other foure sayings you haue wherin you make fayre with Kings by depressing the authority of the Church The first is That Kings can do many thinges in the Church The second That the Church can do nothing at all in temporalls specially towards Kings The third That all iurisdiction is to be remoued from the Church These three propositions you haue in the 28. and 29. page In the first the English Parlamētarians agree with you The two other be new not only repugnant to the ancient Fathers but also to the Heretikes of this age to Puritans and Protestants and to the eager defenders of the late English Oath For these deny not the Churches authority ouer Kings yea they graunt that euen in temporalls the Church may commaund them though they mantayne that Kings obstinate rebellious against the Church may not be deposed from their gouernement And what is Iurisdiction but power to appoint what is right to enact Lawes to call the transgressors of their lawes before them to sit vpon them and punish thē being conuinced of punishable offences Now that the Church did in former times exercise this power as deriued to her from Christ is so cleere that he that is ignorant therof or so impudent as to deny it I thinke him not worthy to be disputed with 41. The fourth doctrine I dare say is new and properly yours then which scarse any more base can be deuised to flatter Kings Which doctrine you may seem to haue coyned of purpose that therby
you could possibly lay togeather on a heape so many things openly false absurd impious so many things wherein you contradict your selfe wherein you bewray the courses which you would fayne haue hidden wherin you vtterly ouerthrow your owne cause Wherfore you can neuer proceed further except you returne backe to the Catholike Church from which you haue fayled You are gone out of the way you must needs returne before you can make forward 56. The applause wherwith our Adueruersaries intertained you let it not detayne you from this returne Therein they did nothing that swarueth from the nature of Heretikes or from the course that ancient Heretikes held Praesc cap. 40. Being themselues Apostata's saith Tertullian they ioyfully receaue our Apostata's that fly vnto them they bestow on them benefices they aduance them to dignities so tying them fast to their sect by honours whome they cannot bind sure to them by the truth Nor let their exclamations prayses predictions allure you wherwith they shew their great hope conceyued that they shall vanquish the Pope you being their leader These are but bubbles froath which your fall from so high a state into so deep a gulfe hath raysed suddaynly will vanish away Despise them These are the oyle of sinners wherewith wretches appointed for fire euerlasting be in this world anointed that in the next their burning may be the sorer Abhorre them These are but conceits prayses wherwith they make a vaine shew of triumph ouer vs and flatter you to your face who behind your backe play vpon you with scoffes loading you with the disgracefull titles you truly deserue and with some also which perchance you haue not merited when not long ago at S. Dunstans you made a speach in the street do you not know what the people then present vttered against you They called you great-bellied-Doctour made fat vnder Antichrist and some there were also that sayd that before you ranne away from the Pope you got your owne Neece with child and that feare to be punished for it made you trudge away with your great load of flesh in such hast 57. I do not relate these things as beleeuing them or as desiring that they should be beleeued but to shew how vaine be the prayses of Heretikes how vayne a prophet you were in promising to yourselfe that your most beautifull Sara for so you tearme your good Name should remaine pure and vntoucht in the midest of Barbarians For these things were vented against you not in Rome by Catholikes but in London by Protestants openly in the streets Many great Personages also do not sticke to mutter about you that besides grossnes of body you haue brought nothing with you that is answerable to the greatnes of your titles that your booke doth not equall the solemne ostentation and expectation you haue raised therof that you do not performe therein what you promise yea some would not haue it printed at all fearing you may therwith disgrace your selfe and their Ghospell 58. Now then Antony why tarry you in the middest of a depraued and peruerse nation Why do you wretchedly draw on your gray hayres with grief and disgrace to your graue Seeke for true renowne who haue lost the vaine honour that you hūted for irreligiously Enter into your owne hart remember whence you are falne do pennance and turne againe to your first workes Through Gods goodnesse assisting you rayse your self a monument of the diuine mercy which this present age which the future times may admire and make a lasting benefit of Let reioycing posterity to the worlds end be taught by your example this comfortable truth that the bowels of diuine benignity be not so loathing of sinners but that they willingly take in againe euen tepide Apostata's whome they were forced to cast vp Ayme at the dignity of a Penitent seeing you haue lost the state of Innocēcy You that haue let go the sterne you who beaten out of the ship wherein you were Pilot floate in the Ocean lay hold on this board which is reached vnto you whereon you may swimme to a Kingdome You are threescore yeares old very nigh the remnant of your yeares be bad and few Withdraw these your bad yeares from vice that you may see good dayes Bestow these your few yeares in pennance that you may gaine yeares eternall Let not the bitternes of pennāce discourage you which by the dew of diuine Comforts falling from aboue will be sweetned Where sinne hath abounded there grace will more abound The deeper and darker that the dungeon is wherin you are kept by so much more sweet will the breath be that being thence deliuered you shall draw in the lightsome mercies of your Redeemer 59. Nor let it deiect you that you haue shamefully falne but remember that as the depth of the diuine Iustice so likewise the depth of the diuine Mercy is vnsearchable Who knowes the mind of God And whether he hath not ordayned that this your fall be for your owne rising againe and for the rising of many The secret pride wherein you went mounting a loft in your conceyts against your Creatour was to be beaten downe by a mighty thunderclappe that you others might feele it For this your pride standing on foote you could no wayes be saued by him that lookes vpon low things high things knoweth a farre off Wherfore I am not greeued with your defection no not for your owne sake which yet would grieue me could I be persuaded that you should haue byn saued had you continued in the Catholike Church But when I consider the wauering disposition the darke and intangled proceedings of Apostata's both ancient and new I come to be setled in this opinion That none perish by falling from the Church who would not as well haue perished through their secret concealed errours though they had continued outwardly in the Church And these men are by the secret course of diuine Prouidence cast out of the Church to the end that being so forlorne they may reflect on themselues or else that by being out of the Church they may benefit others who by remayning in the Church would neuer haue benefited themselues This to me seemes the opinion of S. Augustine whose golden words I here set downe de vera Relig. c. 8. Seing it is truly sayd that Heresies must needs be to the end that they who are of proofe amongst you may be made manifest let vs make vse of this benefit of the diuine prouidence For Heretikes be made of such kind of men who though they were in the Church would we neuerthelesse erre but being out of the Church they be very beneficial not because they teach the Truth for hereof they are ignorant but because they awake carnall Catholikes to seeke and spirituall Catholikes to declare the truth Thus S. Augustine 60. I could name diuers Apostata's with whome in times past I haue byn acquaynted who euen then when to others yea to themselues they seemed Catholikes were couertly infected with Errours against the Roman Faith and possessed with secret malice against the Roman Sea But you Antony are an example of this truth that may stand insteed of many For to say nothing of your open enimity against the Roman doctrine in your last ten yeares you that still beleeued that the Church of Rome was iustly suspected of errours what could the externall shew and profession of a Roman Catholike haue auayled you to saluation You that still were doubting whether some doctrine more firme then the Catholike did not lye hidden in the writings of Heretikes what good would it haue done you that you kept your eyes from their books your body frō their Conuenticls You had perished secretly nor such was your carelessnes had you perceaued that you did perish Now you erre openly that many may be taught the truth you perish in the sight of the world that diuers affrighted with your example may be moued to work their saluation And why may not this your fall turne to your euerlasting exaltation I will not despayre but when you haue been cloyed with the huskes of swine which now you feed in a farmers house that once were a feeder of sheep in the Church I do not despayre I say but that one day you will call to mind the aboundance of your fathers house and hauing learned by deare experience what a mischiefe secret Pride is retourning to the Catholike Church you will say I had perished vnlesse I had perished FINIS Faultes escaped in the Printing Page Line Fault Correction 6. vlt. of out of 8. 9. hell in hell in 12. 26. vnion vnion 16. 3. your our 19. penult false falne 23. 12. of if Ibid. 21. vnto men vnto you 25. 23. now as this now this 26. 5. prosecuteth persecuteth 31. 20. begon be gone 33. 14. do be to be 53. 3. to rather to Rather Ibid. 4. your selfe You your selfe you Ibid. 6. deeds You deeds you 67. 2. Church Church Ibid. 4. world world 68. 19. guide grudge 72. 19. swarueth swarued 79. 19. one owne 98. 18. fall face 102. 2. so to 111. 6. are were 121. 12. deserue do serue