waigh together the spouse of Christ with Luther Caluin Melancthon aecumenicall counsels with priuate opinions the reuerend and learned fathers with Arius Aetius Vigilantius men alwaies in their time burned for heretikes the harmony of Churches with the iarring of conuenticles of them that are in as great brawle with themselues as with the catholikes The vniforme practise of 1500. yeares with the often change of others The tradition of the Apostles with the dregs of heretikes Now let any man though ouerbalanced by affection consider with himselfe whether of these should be beleeued in expounding the scriptures and consequently in the truth of the controuersies which relyeth vpon the sence ANSVVERE THis is right the wise man of Athens who thought all the shippes his owne which came to hauen Church councels Fathers Apostolicall traditions all yours And we poore soules turned ouer to a few single spirits Luther Caluin Melancthon c. If I might be so bold with you as Sir Thomas More was in like case with a protestant it were time to put you in minde of one Caius who encountring with a scholler would needs haue his first demaunde graunted to wit whatsoeuer had two eares was a foolish beast For els he could not so gallantly haue come vpon him as otherwaies he had ment Your demand is alike reasonable For you assume no more as graunted but the iudgment of the Church the definition of councells the consent of Fathers the harmonie of Churches the practise of all ages the rule of Apostolicall tradition Which if we giue you and leaue our selues a few particular mens expositions indeede I confesse you may conclude at your pleasure But it is wel knowen we doe no further relie vpon those learned mens assertions then they be authorized by the forenamed witnesses Which testimonies so confidently alledged for your parte I hope you are not ignorant how that all along in our apologies defences and answeres they be brought against you by our defenders especially those witnesses of more ancient times vnto whom we are content to appeale as most indifferent iudges and more sincere then any of later times being neerer to Christ and further from these factions To put you out of doubt I will set downe our owne words Quam ea die Iuellus vocem verissimam ac constantissimam emisit quando ad sexcentorum annorum antiquitatem prouocanit vobisque obtulit vt si vel vnicam ex aliquo patre aut consilio claram dilucidam sententiam afferretis non recusaret quin vobis palmam concederet ea est nostrûm omnium professio idem omnes pollicemur fidem non fallemus THE SECOND MOTIVE THe mysteries of religion do so far exceede the narrow straites of our vnderstanding that because they cannot be comprehended by reason God hath therefore appointed faith to entertaine them which faith is built vpon diuine and vnfallible authoritie the minde yeelding obedience in stead of discourse receiuing indifferently the truth of doctrine vpon the credit and affiance of the teacher Therefore that religion which doth not stay the assent of the scholler and hath not irrefragable authoritie in all matters of faith hath neither merit of beliefe in it selfe nor others But such is the discipline of the protestants that they affoord their schollers no other but humane and mutable authoritie whereby to beleeue the number and dignitie of the scriptures with the sense and interpretation of them in which consisteth the summe of all religion ANSVVERE THe mysteries of religion doe far exceede the narrow straites of our vnderstanding for without controuersie great are those mysteries to wit God is manifested in the flesh iustified in the spirit seene of Angels beleeued on in the world and receiued vp into glorie Amongst which the schollers assent to those misteries is accounted one beleeued on in the world which you haue well expressed appointing faith not reason to entertaine them The mind yeelding obedience in steed of discourse receiuing indifferently the truth of doctrine vpon the credit and affiance of the teacher This teacher you haue determined to be the inflexible testimonie of the catholike Church of whome we receiued the forenamed principles of religion yea the scriptures themselues And surely that minde which would not yeeld obedience to the testimonie of this generall voice were in all sound iudgments most vnreasonable For doth not reason her selfe tell vs That which most men and wisest agree vpon is most true doth she not adde further Those men be wisest next God that are most deare vnto him Then that religion which is professed and taught by the most holy and catholike Church which is venerable for antiquitie certaine for succession comely for order admirable for vnitie approued by experience allowed by prouidence confirmed by miracles rooted in so many kingdomes neuer doubted of but by heretikes is in the very eye of reason to be imbraced How thinke you Is not this reasons discourse And a sound discourse You must not deny it for it is your owne If reason then build vpon Church authoritie how place you faith in reasons roome If this be reasons discourse what is that yeelding obedience in stead of discourse Where is that great mysterie of godlines beleeued on in the world which captiuates the vnderstanding to the obedience of faith Let me helpe you out with a schoole distinction that wee may cleere the way before vs. The schollers assent to the Church testimonie is called faith I confesse but such a faith as the schoole termeth Acquisita fides faith gotten by discourse testimonie of the holy men of God a faith caried along by reason grounding vpon sufficient witnes and conuincing the vnderstanding by euidence of demonstration a faith incident not to wicked men only but the diuels themselues But the schoole diuines haue taught a more diuine faith which they call Infusa fides immediatly inspired by the holy Ghost from heauen informing the minde inclining the will to entertaine the principles of christianitie with all perfect obedience in stead of discourse For the begetting of which faith in the hearts of men that former testimonie of the Church and discourse of argument doth wonderfully dispose and prepare the minde but y t which giues the stroke and addeth life vnto it is the celestiall motion of Gods spirit which Saint Iohn calls the witnes within vs opposing it to the Church testimonie without vs. This is that true faith which Aquin affirmes neuer to bee found in diuels which Scotus aueres neuer to be void of christian charitie which Bellarmin proues and Trent defines neuer to be obtained without diuine reuelation and inspiration of Gods spirit vpon which it is built as vpon diuine and vnfallible authoritie the minde yeelding obedience in steede of discourse and receiuing indifferently the truth of doctrine vpon the credit and affiance of this teacher Hereupon doth our religion stay the assent of the scholler and hath irrefragable authoritie in the
was from the law of nature to the subiection of the law written The second from the seueritie of the law vnto the obedience of the Gospell Christ being the summe of all but with difference For in the state of nature he was discerned a farre of as a bodie In the law he was distinguished neerer as a man In the Gospell he is seene face to face Both these chaunges were restitutions of the former but with some perfection For Moses restored the decalogue sacrifice worship of one God circumcision tenths sabbaths and such like which were in the state of nature but arbitrarie for harmonie In the Gospell Christ the interpretation of the law which was corrupted and the three great parts of religion iustificaon by faith which was exemplified in Abraham the sacrifice of himselfe which was figured in Isaack and in the Pasca the mysterie of baptisme which was instituted in the deluge and redde sea and the Eucharist which was acted by Melchisedech For like as when Thamar the daughter in law of Iuda brought forth her twinnes Zaram and Phares Zaram first put forth his hand and the midwife tied a red threed about it and he pulled it in againe and his brother Phares was borne afore him So the Sacraments of the Gospell which are bound about with the redde threed of Christ his passion did first shew their hand in Abraham and Melchisedech but the Sacraments of the Iewes were borne before them So that these two be not chaunges but restitutions and these are two earthquakes registred in the scripture prophecied of before expected by the Church brought in with prodigious signes confirmed by the visible presence of God in miracles and one more we expect which shall chaunge all things temporall into eternall at the ende of the world Besides these neither the scripture mentioneth any more neither the iudgement of the Chuch and fathers did expect other For what prophesie either in the old testament or in the new made way for this reformation after 1000. or 1500. yeares What prodigious signes gaue the world warning of Luthers comming which of the creatures out of course gaue attendance at his birth with what extraordinarie power was he garded with what miracles was his doctrine graced That a religion venerable for age certaine for succession comely for order admirable for vnitie approued by experience allowed by prouidence confirmed by miracles rooted in so many kingdomes that neuer was doubted of but by heretikes neuer saw change but by her enemies should vpon one mans and such a mans credit and authoritie without greater cause nay without any cause fly the world leaue her kingdom and royalty at the dispose of one Apostata and Monke and an incestuous Monke ANSVVERE THose two memorable varieties one restoring nature by the moral law adding withal a vaile of shadowes and religious ceremonies the second remouing that vaile changing the moonelight of the law into the sunshine of the Gospell haue the preeminence before all other changes whatsoeuer neither is there any past or herafter to be expected cōparable to these two Notwithstanding besides these there haue been many restitutions of the Church from errours and heresies in al ages you discern none at all Yet of all others I wonder you spied not that of the morning starre Iohn Baptist so conspicuous aboue the rest so consonant to your owne notes Registred in Scripture prophesied of before expected by the Church brought in with prodigious signes who made a memorable varietie not onely by way of restitution in the doctrine of repentance but also by addition in his watrie baptisme The rising of which starre was the moone-set of Moses and the Prophets making a period of the law For so saith the text The law the Prophets lasted till Iohn Baptist who shined till the son of God appeared and then ceased Oportet illum crescere meautē minui Moreouer besides these three lights if I should take vpon me to reckon the lesser lights of the Church which haue restored it from darkenesse and corruption in all ages I might as well number the starres in the firmament Were not Abraham and Lot lights to expell the mistes of that idolatrous age Did not false gods after so farre preuaile that they entred into the familie of blessed Iaacob and possessed all that were about him till he rose as a starre in his brightnes to cleere his whole family and make restitution of his former religion in Bethel How many relapses in the time of the law not onely the congregation of Israel adored a calfe but euen the Priest himselfe was vrged to consent as you confesse Pope Liberius was to Arrianisme Did not all Israel after the death of Ioshua and that good generation runne after Baalim In the time of Saul the Arke of God was neuer sought for till that glorious starre of Israel king Dauid restored it againe How many Idols were after erected by the kings of Ierusalem and Iuda All the abhominations of the nations and the whole host of Heauen worshipped in Israel carued Images seated in the temple of God yea the booke of the law lost by the priestes Yet notwithstanding as their backslidings were many so was there manifold restitution made by the lightes of Israel the Church still reformed againe by the Prophets and holy men of God And can you spie neuer a reformation besids those two grand ones of Moses and the sonne of God This was the condition of the natural branches the Iewes and no lesse is to be expected of the Church of the Gentiles in this state militant but that it be sometimes darkned eclipsed as wel in abuse of practise as error of doctrine in some ages more in some lesse again by diuine prouidence raising vp some of notable learning and extraordinary spirit enlightned and restored to her first integritie so farre forth as truth can preuaile with corruption of the time such were the Catholike Bishops that restored her from the deluge of Arrianisme Neither is it to be expected that any of the creatures should be out of course to giue the world warning of such reformers For it is well knowne these reformations be of a farre other kind then those former made by Moses Iohn Baptist the son of God For those were euer with some addition of perfection not reuealed before Therefore no reason the world should take notice of them without diuine confirmation by signes wonders For had Moses Iohn Baptist or the Messias himselfe borne witnesse of themselues without the testimonie of miraculous workes or former prophesies there being neitheir Canon of Scripture to proue them nor diuine reuelation to discerne them by no reason in the world nor religionin the Church could possibly haue entertained them But sithence the last perfection is now reuealed by the Gospell and that absolute Canon of Scripture giuen to the Church to which nothing must be added in paine of eternall plague of
be all sufficient for that ende and purpose to which it is referred and for which it was written denying all other doctrine to be in power and certaintie equiualent with the same For if we should account those reportes which we haue receiued by tradition from our forefathers to be of equall credit with the canon of Scripture I cannot easily conceaue how we should haue due and thankfull regard of that inestimable benefit of committing diuine truth to writing which almightie God did himselfe first ordaine and by diuine prouidence continually hath preserued in his Church euer since the first age of the world that the daies of man were shortned and his memorie waxed fraile For miserable no doubt by this time had the state of the Church been if the meanes of our saluation published by Christ and his Apostles had been deliuered to vs onely by way of tradition from so many reporters We may in some sorte gesse at the daungers by those remnants of diuine storie which the heathen receiuing by tradition haue deliuered to vs in their writings but so broken and intermingled with cloudie phansies and fabulous inuentions as they doe no more resemble the truth then the rainbowe doth the sunne Which though it be the image of the sunne yet are the beames thereof so broken by reflection and refraction in some watrie cloud that it doth alike resemble the sunne as those ancient poeticall fables doe expresse the true scripture storie from whence they borrowed their first light Therefore inualuable is the benefit of the written word aboue relations The ende of the writing whereof was the perfecting of the two premised parts of a Christian mans soule to wit the vnderstanding with diuine truth and the desire with life both ioyntly set downe by Saint Iohn 10. 31. These things are written that ye might beleeue that Iesus is Christ the Sonne of God And secondly that in beleeuing ye might haue life through his name For the effecting whereof albeit the scripture be alsufficient in it selfe yet least by our ignorance we should peruert the more obscure places to our owne destruction we doe with all diligence embrace those meanes which God hath prouided for the interpretation thereof not onely the rules of reason and humane arts sanctified by Gods grace in his faithfull seruants but adding thereto also the record of antiquitie consent of fathers testimony of learned men conferring places waighing circumstances examining translations with such like not singling any one meanes from the rest as you fondly imagine but ioyning them together doe alwaies acknowledge most meanes to make the strongest confirmation Amongst these manifold meanes it liketh you to cull out the conference of places as seeming most of all to be ouerruled by priuat opinion Which rule of interpretation we are so farre from being ashamed of as in earnest I meruaile you will take any exception vnto it since Saint Austin a witnes by your confession without all exception hath bestowed such cost vpon it preferring it before all other rules whatsoeuer In his booke de Doct. Christia laying this ground vndoubtedly that all things concerning beliefe and life are plainly written in the word his first rule is that those things be chiefly noted which are set downe plainly both precepts of life and rules offaith Secondly that obscure and darke sentences be enlightned and opened by the plaine and manifest Thirdly that doubtfull textes bee determined by the cleere and certaine Al this in one chapter After if we cannot finde the true meaning yet let such a sence be giuen as agreeth with the right faith approued by some other place of scripture If that cannot be discussed by sure testimonie of Scripture it might be proued by reason but the safer way farre is to walke by Scripture In that whole worke made for this purpose we finde no mention of your last Remoue from the text to the interpreter from the Scripture to the men But still hath he recourse to the scripture making it the onely Center whereupon we must stay our selues in all discourse and interpretation His generall conclusion is that all places of scripture be expounded by the scriptures which are canonicall as being the rule of godlinesse and faith Yea from the testimonie of the greatest number of ancient fathers alledged by Saint Hierome he still makes his appeale vnto Scripture Hitherto haue I said nothing but Saint Austin whom you acknowledge to assure you not of his owne onely but of the common and constant faith and confession of ancient fathers and Apostolike Church Yet this was Saint Austin his rule of interpretation his golden rule whereupon he so much relied practised at this day in our Church and make you this a motiue to separate your selfe from our Church To put you out of doubt that this rule shal not at last resolue into priuate opinion after all diligence hath been giuen in this kinde we confirme the same by consent of our faithfull and learned brethren and if neede be by the assembly of the Bishoppes and clergie of our Church vnto which our greatest clerkes doe most willingly submit their expositions Their wordes be The sence will I proue by scripture according to the rule of faith the proofe of the sence I submit to the priuat and publike iudgment of the Church Notwithstanding in these quarelsome dayes since each part by likelihood will draw scriptures to their seuerall assertions it is a rule most indifferent euen in your owne iudgments that for pointes of controuersie neither your Church nor ours be iudge but that of olde neerer to Christ and further from these factions which you know to be our owne chalenge and defence aswell as yours So that if you would lay al these together being al held and professed by our Church you should finde our expositions to be neither vncertaine nor priuate Vpon this misconceit you conclude vs to be in a miserable case for that of an infallible proposition and arbitrarie assumption must needes follow a dangerous conclusion It is true indeede but this holdeth onely against protestantes and priuate spirits But wot you not that a counsell and the Pope of arbitrarie premisses can inferre infallible conclusions Cuius Doctrina in medijs discursiua in conclusione prophetica sine preiudicio fidei errare in argumentis potest salua conclusione See now yet are you so peremptorie must needesensue allwaies follow that whilest you lash out these rules of reason you entangle your self in high treason against his holinesse But what meane I still to rubbe this gall Sic tendimus in vetitum Had not your Doctor forbid it I had not so harped vpon it MOTIVE IN like manner they promise security of saluation without respect of repentance and workes which are ineuitable consequences if all be true that they teach So that he which hath faith needeth no more to care for good workes then they that haue drunken a sound purgation for going
to the stoole ANSVVERE IF you respect repentance good works I wonder you regard christian charitie no more but so apparantly to slaunder vs against the generall voice of our writers who protest themselues herein greatly iniuried and vrge as great necessitie of good workes as you doe or can desire secluding them onely from the act of iustification not from the meanes of securitie euery where teaching that the keeping of a good conscience in true faith doth worke in vs that certaintie of hope for saluatiō which is the rest only peace of conscience in this life Notwithstanding whē we haue done what we can in Gods seruice since we are vnprofitable and our workes vnperfect it is not any way safe to trust in our selues or rely vpon them but onely in Gods mercies and Christes merits in which poynt Bellarmine himselfe doth most ingenuously ioyne with vs. Tutissimum tamen est propter incertitudinem propriae iustitiae periculum inanis gloriae totam fiduciam nō in opeirbus nostris sed sola dei misericordia benignitate reponere This is all I can find in our writers that giues any shadow of occasion to this vncharitable slaunder which in the iudgment of a cleere minde will easily vanish as a miste before the sunne Your simile I confesse is too strong and may easily ouercome me and modestie biddes me spare to encounter it MOTIVE THese are the two fallacies whereupon Luther built his rebellion and wherein all the heresies of our time conspire though otherwise at difference with themselues for there can bee no fitter baites to beguile simple men then opinion and sensuall men then ease because euery one lieth open to decay in his owne vices ANSVVERE THus are you taken in the snare which you layd for others For the power of God in our ministery being to encounter with those two vglie monsters of nature ignorance and sensualitie it is the ende of our whole profession both to make the simple wise to saluation in such pointes as be meete for their conceites and expedient for their seuerall callings as also to conuert the sensuall vnto newnes and holines of life Thus we professe and thus we teach neither feeding the one kinde with opinions nor promising ease vnto the other Therefore if you either perceiuing some loosenes of life in the laitie doe ascribe that to our doctrine or obseruing the due execution of this ministerie to be wanting in some of the clergie shall therfore condemne the whole do ye not plainly see the two grād fallacies wherein you beguile your selfe and whereupon you haue built this Apostasie THE FOVRTH MOTIVE AMongst many loadstones that which hath the preeminence of vertue in proportionable distance winneth the Iron from all the rest So Christ being lifted vp in the abasing of his passion promised by his attractiue vertue to draw vnto his seruice all men from all religions For what rebellion of nature cannot he pacifie vnto the vnitie of Faith when he pleaseth to come within compasse that hath vnited humane nature into Gods hypostaticall vnion Therefore to gather vp the effect as a threed to leade to the cause the greatest multitude in consent of communion among the diuerse parcels and rentes of those that beare the liuery of Christ his name is a sufficient demonstration of the true and naturall loadstone which must of necessitie drawe more vnto it then the rest because it effecteth by his owne vertue when all the rest worke onely by the touch thereof ANSVVERE THat I may the better finde you in this discourse I will expresse your meaning more distinctly which you carie in a cloud of generalities the easier to deceaue For when I enquire what kinde of beleeuers they be whose number you endeuour so far to enlarge and extend beyond others me thinkes the resemblance of the loadstone and that attractiue vertue of Christ his passion out of the 12. of Iohn doe import not so much an outward calling to the profession of the catholike faith which makes a visible Church as an inward and effectuall drawing to the power thereof proper onely to the liuely members who make a mystical and inuisible bodie not discernable in the eye of man yet so it falleth out that this number of elect and sanctified persons is not by you intended For many are called into the visible Church but few chosen into the number of the Saintes many clensed in the fount from originall leprosie scarce the tithe shewing due thankfulnesse in the residue of their liues Wherevpon that I may take you right I vnderstand you meane a visible companie of catholikes that is professors of the Apostolike faith And then must you shake hands with Christ his attractiue vertue resembled by your loadstone which is taken in the former kinde to signifie not so much the outward calling of men into the visible Church as an inward and forcible drawing of them into the fellowship of the sonnes of God And so hath Christ and doth still by his death and passion draw vnto him men of all conditions from all the quarters of the world Further if you take that visible companie of professours at the largest for all those that beare the liuerie of Christ his name vnder which liuerie saith Barnard many doe seruice vnto Antichrist then doe you make both the Church of Rome and ours to be members of one visible Church al professing one Lord that is Christ giuing the name to all christians Secondly one baptisme without rebaptization of either hand Thirdly one faith as it is summarily premised in the counsell of Trent and professed dayly in our Church Thus far be we knit togither by a triple bande of vnitie which is not easily broken And so farre is your note of multitude common to both and therefore not to the purpose of this motiue It remaines then in the third place that the middle way be taken twixt these two vnderstanding the companie of sounde beleeuers and orthodoxall professors of Christs truth for in these three seuerall sences is the Church taken by diuers The first that is the companie of Saints is too narrow for your purpose the second containing all professors is too large and for the third that is the companie onely of sound and orthodoxall professors if you proue that that is and euermore hath been preeminent for multitude euen in persecution and inundations of heresies I shall much meruaile MOTIVE THis populous inheritance of such as professe the communion of his doctrine was giuen him as a royaltie in the 2. Psalme And after his resurrection he sent his Apostles to take possession of the dowrie of his Church from Hierusalem vnto the ends of the world and the prophets who from their high tower of speculation might ouerlooke more then the compasse of 2000. yeares and therefore tooke the draught of Christ his kingdome could perceiue no signe more glorious and visible then a multitude reaching from the East to the
West and spreading ouer the earth And yet for the straights of the throng putting vp supplication to the Church to send some colones out to enlarge their habitation Angustus est mihi locus fac spatiū mihi vt habitem And because by diuine dispensation there were some sedition factions to spring in his kingdom that it might not breede admiration in the newe subiects by the noueltie or distraction of doubt if the new parte by number bee mistaken therefore Christ and his Apostles haue both foretold there should bee heretiques and branded them alwaies by the note of paucitie to be distinguished from the generall multitude For they shall come vnder the stile of small and thinne numbers and priuiledged places There is Christ among the Caluinistes in Geneua There is Christ among the Lutherans in Germany In the desert for a thousand yeeres since Phocas In some secret of concealed doctrine since the Apostles time But beleeue them not for not all or the most part shall be apostate but some not many but such as in compare of the whole multitude shall be as errant planets in respect of the fixed starres Therefore this argument from the multitude of communicants in the same faith promised by God foreseene by the Prophets confirmed by the Apostles was esteemed of so sufficient proofe by the primitiue commanders of Christ his Church that they vsed it alwaies against the heretickes and oftentimes when they were to encounter they would brandish this sword as deadly and vnauoidable to amaze and yet not strike with it Poteram omnes propositionum tuarum riuulos vno ecclesiae sole siccare For the experiment whereof if we turne ouer the succession of historyes age by age we shall finde that when any heresie was at the highest floud it was not comparable to the ebbe of catholikes no not in the torrent and inundation of the Arrians by Athanasius testimony Therefore we may presume the euent of that prophesie which hath so equally proceeded hitherto and vse it for a weapon against the heretikes of our time which hath been so often died in the bloud of their ancestors and follow our fathers herein which so happily followed others Deo gratias ANSVVERE ALl these groundes except Athanasius his testimonie I finde translated out of D. Stapleton only Cacus-like that you might not be traced you haue somewhat inuerted the order and good cause why for the same author whence you borrow hath himselfe dissolued all the force of this motiue by adding a cautiō in the fifth chapter how those forealleadged places are to be vnderstoode That Popular inheritance promised to the sonne in the 2. Psalme discouered by Daniel to replenish the earth suruaide by Esay from the East to the West possessed by the Apostles from Hierusalem to the ends of the world is not so to be taken saith Stapleton as if the Church should at once in any one age enioy those large dominions no not in the most flourishing age but only in succession of times yet your argument is so pitched vpon those proofes as if the number of sound beleeuers at one and the same time euen at the lowest ebbe of Catholiks did farre exceed all others An inference without the compasse of those scriptures euen in the iudgement of your owne Doctor albeit himselfe after doe wrest them vnto the same purpose We doe indeed with all due thankfulnesse acknowledge according to those prophesies the Catholike faith of Christ to be preached and beleeued in seuerall ages in all the nations of the world truly and sincerely not at once like the deluge couering the face of the earth but as the water floudes in course winning ground in one place and loosing it in another dried vp at Hierusalem and Samaria before it haue watred the endes of the earth though in some ages full banck in some at a lower ebbe specially when it is pestered with heresies and schismes prophecied to come in the latter daies Insomuch that at the last dissolution the Sonne of God maketh doubt if he shall find faith vpon earth And if a true Catholike faith shal so faile as scarce to be found then maruaile not if your glorious note of the multitude of communicants in the same faith faile you A glorious note I confesse it is in the glorie of the Church when the sunne is in his full strength and well might the fathers in due time and place brandish this sword against vpstart heretikes with Poteram omnes c. but not so well strike with it or stand vpon it as an infallible demonstration since they well wist that in the eclips of the Church when heresies get a head schismes distract it when the diuel waxeth wood and the world groweth old this note of multitude with all must needs faile Your experiment for the torrent inundation of the Arrians is too too weake you striue against a streame of auneients Where be they saith Gregory Nazianzene in his Oration against Arrians who define the Church by a multitude and contemne a small flocke Doth not Hierome witnesse the whole world to haue turned Arrian what say you to Saint Hillary who perswaded men not to regard the outward face of the Church eyther Bishops or Priestes through the world It was a rare thing saith hee to find a Catholike amongst priest or people Did not the Emperour in Theodoret scorne the Catholikes for their paucitie foure or fiue to a world of Arrians Nay your owne Doctor in this yeelds to Luther that there were but a fewe Bishops to the Arrians and those few exiles Ecce in deserto ecce in penetralibus had been as glorious a play for Arrians against Catholikes as now against Protestants to the meaning of the text both alike Vincentius Lirin a man of great note amongst you for this one example of the Arrians doth abandon that note of vniuersalitie And thinke you to cary it with your bare auouching Athanasius his testimonie neither citing his wordes nor quoting the place against so strong a tide This is too too sleight THE FIFTH MOTIVE THis new stampe of religion which Luther and his minsters boast of to be reformed according to the ancient coyne cannot auoide the desert of counterfeit Because so generall a reformation and restitution of the primitiue Church neither can be neither was to be expected For although the worship of adulterous religion haue suffered many changes either by the admiration of some man of extraordinarie account or the intimation of Oracles or the ambition of superstitious or inuasion of neighbours or chaunge of gouernment the state alwaies fashioning religion the fittest consequence of policie yet in the true religion instituted by God himselfe the diuine ordinance hath made onely two memorable varieties not by condemning the former but by preferring the latter not in difference of substance but perfection not by retraction as in chaunge of their counsell but adding of timely accesse The first
which that ancient writer so approued by you doth auere Solus sufficit ad omnia satis superque all reformations of the Church whatsoeuer haue been since or hereafter shalbe must come vnder the name of meere restitutions without addition not instituting any new doctrine but restoring the ancient not creating a new Church as you fondly imagine but reducing the old vnto the primitiue Therefore in this kind there is no need of miracles or prodigious signes seeing our reformers bring no new reuelations of their owne but only make appeales to the iudgement of the primitiue Church desire credit of others no further then they giue euidence of argument drawne from such grounds as be receiued of all hands Then seeing their proceedings be ordinarie what extraordinarie wonders are to be expected Neither was it their desire motion in this reformatiō that the present visible Church should fly the world and leaue her kingdome royaltie but onely this y t it should be purged because reason telleth vs experience hath proued it that the visible Church is not al spirit but some flesh though she be informed by the holy Ghost in her holy and generall assemblies yet she consisteth likewise of earthly fraile sinful men therfore she must of necessity gather some dust in time grow corrupt if she do not clense refine her selfe Wherupon motion was made to the commanders of the Church for the reformation of certaine abuses which being crept in had gotten a head and were growne to that pitch that they became burdensome to the consciences of religious men This complaint being not harkened vnto they perswaded themselues that the backwardnes of their brethren could not be to them a sufficient excuse not to reforme themselues For this cause they protested a separation from their fellowship and communion in those points vntill such time as it should please God to moue their minds so to refine themselues from those corruptions as there might insue conformitie a thing wished and praied for with sighes not to be expressed So that the strength of this your Motiue which makes Martin Luther his fellowes seeme so odious vnto you is resolued into these two questions First whether in his time there were abuses in the Church that required a reformation Secondly reformation being denied vnhoped for whether they were abuses of that nature degree as did bind the conscience of true catholikes not to cōmunicate with others in them Which two points if they be true they cleer our reformers frō all slander suspitiō either of heresy or schisme vntil you haue proued them false this the like generall motiues to this purpose be mere shadows without substance of no value or force at all THE SIXTH MOTIVE AS the cause is the paterne of the effects vpon which ground Saint Paul from the vnitie of Gods Church buildeth the vnitie of faith so may we go backwards from the defference of effects to denie the affinitie of the cause and from the impossibilitie of vnion in faith take away the possibilitie of dependance vpon God Such is the religion of the protestants which hath no certaine principle of vnitie and therefore lacketh the cognisance whereby true religion is knowne For where there is not an infallible authoritie which doth iudge and decide controuersies by remouing all actions of doubt and reply and vnto which absolute obedience is tied there must needs be varietie of iudgements and opinions which cannot be tied in one knot For all vnitie in particulars proceedeth from the vnitie of some cause wherein all agree But there is no such infallible authoritie the iudge of controuersies besides the voice of the Church which the protestants either put altogether to silence or else obey so farre as they please For the scriptures whom they haue erected to be iudges as rebels that put downe all iudges and pretend to be ruled onely by the law cannot alone supply this place to take away all occasionof controuersies And if there were no other argument their owne irreconcilable quarrels in so manifold differences among themselues might suffice to stop their mouthes herein For as diuers parcels of silke of deeper or lighter ground dipped by the Dyar in the same liquour drink in a seuerall tincture of colour according to their former varietie so they that diue in the letter of the holy scripture according as their iudgements are before stained with preiudice of one or other opinion come forth againe not in vnity of minds but in the same differences as they went in more or lesse Or as in the miracle of tongues giuen to the Apostles when many auditors of diuers languages came to heare them although the same men could speake no more but one idiome at once yet the seuerall auditours comprehended them as if they had spoken in the proprietie of their speech so when many of diuers languages in religion come to heare some one of the Apostles speaking in the scripture although the author vse onely the voice of the truth yet euery sundrie faction doth conceiue him as speaking in the seuerall confusion of their opinions Neither can they comfort themselues with any hope to see these diuerse opinions wound vp in one confession For as the vnitie in conclusion in logick cannot be without the vnitie of the medium so they cannot meete in that middle way which should bring them into peace able cōposition vnlesse they returne to the Church For all grant there is no way to accomplish it without a councell but who shall call it when there is none whom they all obey How many factions shall assemble out of what sect shall the president be chosen what number of suffrages shall there be on euery side what rule shall bee allowed for the interpretation of the scriptures And if all this were by a dreame imagined yet the authoritie of the Canons and conclusions shall not be so authenticall but that any priuate head may refuse it if in his owne singularity he thinke it disagreeing from the scripture so desperate is the possibilitie of vnion among them that hope which imagineth impossible things cannot possibly imagine it ANSVVERE AS euery defect and imperfection tendeth vnto dissolution so the good estate of euery bodie aswell politicke and mistical as natural doth consist in the vnity of the whole harmonie of the parts amongst themselues Therfore seeing the band of vnitie knitting many members into one whole maketh an entire body that societie is of all others conceiued to be most absolute which hath attained to the greatest perfection of vnitie Which kind of reason moued the Philosopher to giue the preeminence to a Monarchy before other simple formes So the Apostle in the place whence you take your rise from the vnitie of Gods Church doth build the vnity of faith as also the vnity of spirit in the bond of peace vrging a preseruation and increase of the same as a thing most perfecting the